Monday 9 January: Patients are at risk because GPs no longer fulfil the core duties of the job

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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447 thoughts on “Monday 9 January: Patients are at risk because GPs no longer fulfil the core duties of the job”

  1. Good Morrow, Gentlefolk. Here is today’s story:

    Still funny!

    At St. Peter’s Catholic Church, they have weekly husbands’ marriage seminars.

    At the session last week, the priest asked Giuseppe, who said he was approaching his 50th wedding anniversary, to take a few minutes and share some insight into how he had managed to stay married to the same woman all these years.

    Giuseppe replied to the assembled husbands, ‘Wella, I’va tried to treat her nicea, spenda da money on her, but besta of all is, I tooka her to Italy for the 25th anniversary!’

    The priest responded, ‘Giuseppe, you are an amazing inspiration to all the husbands here! Please tell us what you are planning for your wife for your 50th anniversary?

    Giuseppe proudly replied, “I gonna go picka her up.”

  5. Why Russia’s claim that air strike killed 600 is almost certainly a grotesque untruth. 8 January 2023.

    The fact that you are reading this speaks to the success of Russian propaganda.

    Its claim of a massive air strike killing 600 Ukrainian soldiers in Kramatorsk is almost certainly a grotesque untruth.

    But for Russia it matters not. As a work of misinformation, it’s out there and will work its way through social media and mainstream news sites.

    If people do believe it, so much the better – but it’s not really the point. As long you doubt everything everyone says, it’s a victory for the propagandists.

    So it’s true then? In fact I suspect, judging by the tone, circumlocutions and evasions in comparison to the coverage of the Ukrainian strike that it’s even worse than the claim!

    Why do I think this? Well reading between the lines none of those covering it appear to have actually visited the site themselves. The guy from the Telegraph for example writes:

    On Sunday, reporters in Kramatorsk, Donbas, shared photos which showed the strikes missed their targets and further claimed no one was inside the barracks at the time of the blast.

    Shared photos! These unnamed reporters are supposed to be taking them, not looking at them, and where are these photographs? They are not in any report that I’ve read! (The picture embedded in the article is a stock photograph and posed at that.)

    Why are the Ukies denying this? Well mostly one suspects for reasons of morale and not a little for ass covering. No one wants to admit to failures that they’ve just been attributing to the opposition. How do they think they can get away with it? Ms. Emma Graham-Harrison in the Guardian (she hasn’t been there either) covers this:

    And finally, unlike in Russia, where the media is tightly controlled, Ukraine has been largely open to the media, and hosts a huge domestic and international press pack.

    Even if the site of a deadly attack is kept off limits to individual reporters, every battlefield death and injury affects relatives and friends around the country.

    Thousands would be grieving if hundreds had been killed, and it would be hard to cover up such a tragedy in a country with a free press.

    This is spurious nonsense of course. One of the first things Zelensky did after abolishing the opposition was to muzzle the “free” press. The international “press pack” are there on sufferance and anyone writing hostile comments would be escorted off the premises toute suite. We can see this with the uncritical credence given to the most ludicrous Ukie propaganda. Lastly the relatives of the dead will not be grieving because they will not have been informed!

    https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-war-why-russias-claim-that-air-strike-killed-600-is-almost-certainly-a-grotesque-untruth-12782550

    2. Is Emma Graham Harrison an imbecile? Has she so quickly forgotten ‘the first casualty of war is the truth’? Has she forgotten that Ukraine fired missiles at Poland to try to force them into the war?

      Good grief. As for the free press – the guardian censors every possible comment it can. It’s own reporting is tedious, predictable and biased, written from a poorly researched, ignorant ideological perspective – because that suits the readership.

  7. Patients are at risk because GPs no longer fulfil the core duties of the job

    Just wondering why doctors haven’t returned back to work properly since the pandemic is over?
    They appear to be in hiding and don’t want face to face appointments so much.
    Perhaps they don’t want to answer questions about the jab or something.
    It must be hard having to comply with the government narrative when they must know what has happened.

    1. My Surgery has been back to normal for many months although now they are holding back on some appointments due to the increase in Strep A.
      As for the jab, there are tales of doctors being dismissive of the effects it is having: perhaps this is their preferred method of deflecting away their responsibility for what is happening to patients. Clearly, obvious embarrassment or outright admission of what has been done to unsuspecting and trusting patients would kill the doctor – patient relationship stone dead.

      1. I have a telephone app for my doctors, I just went on it, you can book from a list of telephone appointments but cannot book to see a doctor.

        Which is okay for me really.

        1. I have no need to talk to the doctor, but need blood pressure, bloods, and the piss taken. Reactions to their wee hammer, and physical examination. Maybe even a prostate exam?
          How can that be done down the phone – even with video link?

          1. They’ll get you to stick your phone where the sun don’t shine; be sure the camera is switched on.

          4. When you do your own prostate exam over video link please make sure the link it to your GP and not to Nottle.

          5. Yo Fizz

            For the prostrate exam, I certainly prefer a ‘proper female’ nurse to do it, rather than a man ora tranny!

        2. I have to admit that I prefer seeing the practice nurse. Usually they are middle aged women with common sense i.e. they have seen/heard it all before and are not sticking to the book.

          1. Yo anne.

            To me, the star of our Healtth Cenre is our FleaBottomIst.

            I just faint at the mention of needles, She is soooooooo gooooood

        3. I had an appointment this morning for a 6 month blood test, weight and BP test at 8.20. The nurse called me in at 8.10 and I was back home well before 9. Results will be phoned to me on 24 January at 12.10. My GP will have examined the results.

      2. Docs phoned me last Thursday for my yearly check and had it at 4.15 pm the following day.

    2. Patients are at risk because GPs aren’t allowed to use their intelligence and judgement and are just supposed to shill for big Pharma!

    3. Our surgery has been back to normal for a while although they insist on the wearing of masks

      2. Can’t you just tell them that the government insists it is no longer necessary, Alec?

    4. Weird letter in the Terriblegraph by some guy blaming the Tories for the GPs’ contract fiasco. I thought that was Bliar. Did the Coalition do something I’ve forgotten about?

  8. Good morning all.
    A cold start at 0°C with the rain just starting as I took the empty milk bottle out to the crate and the slightly gibbous waning moon sinking down behind the trees above the ex-pub over the road.

    1. We here are on the cusp of the heating coming on. It is 15.9 with the threshold at 15. It doesn’t ‘feel’ cold though. I put that down to a lack of wind and rain, which move the heat about.

    2. Good morning afternoon, BoB. A few days ago I jokingly suggested that the auction you bid on was for a cherry picker to enable you to lift blocks of concrete, etc. up your sloping garden. Then a few days later, you said you had collected the TIRER JACKS which you had successfully bid on. I had to Google the word to see exactly what that was, and I guess I wasn’t too far out. Yet, try as I might, even with video demonstrations I was unable to understand how you got stuff from the road up to the top of the garden, because all the videos just show a close up of feeding a cable through the TIRER JACK. Do you install and anchor it further up the hill (next to your shed) and then feed the cable through a large pulley fixed to (for example) your shed which goes down to the load on the road? Or is the JACK anchored on the road outside your front door – in which case how do you get the load to the top of your garden? This is a serious question because my mind is getting bottled to working it out.

      1. Heyup Elsie!
        TIRFOR Jack:-
        One of these:-
        https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/QyAAAOSwnm1eeN7W/s-l640.jpg

        Anchor it at the Left end, push the end of a cable into the blunt end, and then use the left lever, with a handle attached, to pull the cable through the machine.
        Works with two pairs of jaws gripping & pulling the cable alternately as you work the lever, about 1″ per stroke.
        2nd lever is to slacked and the 3rd lever is to release the jaws so the cable can be pushed through the machine or pulled out when the job is finished.
        A heavy bit of kit, JUST “man portable”, but excellent for putting a 3 ton pull onto something.

        1. Yes, BoB, but when you “pull” something, to my mind that means that you pull it along horizontally. How do you lift the materials you want to lift up from ground level to the top of your garden?

          1. Usually in small, one man load amounts. i.e. Shovelling sand or ballast into bags of about 15 to 20kg.

            Getting the concrete mixer up and down means removing it from the stand and carrying that up the steps, then the drum and the main chassis is then dragged up from the road using a rope with the assistance of one of the lads.

  9. 369605+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    As I weigh up the current state of affairs ALL aspects of repress,replace, RESET are hitting the front with arry ” look at me I wanna be left alone” plumb centre of the deflection stage and playing a blinder on behalf of the WEF.

    In regards to societies current odious issues the recurring voting pattern bordering on adoration ( Stockholm syndrome ) for the lab/lib/con/current ukip coalition shows out as gross dangerous stupidity.

    In short, the lead steer of the majority within the electoral herd is as BENT as ,mandy.

    Monday 9 January: Patients are at risk because GPs no longer fulfil the core duties of the job

    1. It takes the media bout five years to catch up with the country, and then they write a slew of articles saying no one could have predicted it.

      Of course, anyone could have, they just weren’t looking in the right place. Part of that is, I assume they’re told where to look by the political class. Heck, they’re still blaming Truss for Shunk’s appalling tax grab. The truly insane argument that taxes have to rise to ‘balance the books – when the reason for the debt inn the first place is government waste – is beyond comical.

    1. GoldmanSachs say that gold is going to rise 32% by the end of the year. I’m buying in for another £10,000.

    2. I imagine this is because most of the journalists writing for the press don’t understand the implications.

    3. By far the most likely explanation is that because interest rates have been rising steadily over the last year the value of their bond holdings will have fallen considerably.

    1. It’s getting later each year. We’ll get it about end of January for 2 or 3 cold months into late April.

  13. BTL Comment and response from some bloke called A. Allan:-

    David Arrowsmith
    32 MIN AGO
    The NHS is running at about half what it should be at no comensurate reduction in cost. How is this possible?

    A Allan
    26 MIN AGO
    I am sure there are diverse answers to that question.

    1. Actually, it would be more appropriate to say that the public told the government what to say. I’m sure the press think that every government is a dictatorial and authoritarian as our own but over there it is servant, not master.

      The majority cleared their collective throat and said no to the Left wing stupidity.

    1. I lost count of the articles in the DM. An army officer said he is suffering from PTSD. I think he is just a complete and utter fat head.

      2. He’s in thrall to a narcissist who has him over a barrel. She’s removed his support network, now has the children as claws into him.

        He in turn has no appreciable skills bar his titles. She knows the Monarchy will do nothing about those as it just gives her more ammunition. For her this is win win. For him and the Monarchy, they’ve everything to lose – he especially. He’s an object of pity and derision now.

        Having been in that situation I feel rather sorry for him. He’s trapped, and digging furiously.

        1. His boasting about killing 25 taliban chess pieces should be more than enough to justify removing all his titles including Prince. Already, that scum Choudry (I think it’s that one) is calling for reprisals on British soldiers.

        1. Didn’t he and his odious other half not receive the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Foundation’s Ripple of Hope Award recently for confronting so-called racism in the RF?

    2. Morning Bill. He’s hogging all the column inches! There’s very little else to write about!

      1. It’s not just a good day to bury bad news – it’s going to give the PTB several more days to bury it.

  17. How feminism evolved into a brutal war on men. Tim Stanley. 9 January 2023.

    By the turn of the millennium, feminism had vanquished the worst oppressions of women – yet the idea that men are inherently awful and always in charge had taken root. Weldon gave a talk in Boston at which she read out a list of the awful things she had once written about males, intended as a mea culpa. To her horror, the audience erupted into cheers. “I had done something dreadful,” she realised. She had helped to form the cultural “habit” of finding fault with men, of pinning the blame for every personal crisis upon an entire sex.

    This is bad for men, obviously, because the myth of a “patriarchy” is at variance with their own “lived experience”: far from being in charge, they’ve lost their jobs and status, and are ridiculed by the culture they supposedly dominate as moronic or savage. Some boys are being persuaded by online demagogues that women are emasculating them and must be put back in their place. Thus women are hurt by the backlash to feminism – but also by the price of success, for they all, sighed Weldon, “look tired”.

    This is true of course insofar as it goes. Mr Stanley should have qualified his observations and added White to men! One of the most repellent aspects of feminism is its hypocrisy where truly misogynist cultures and religions get a free pass.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/01/09/how-feminevolved-brutal-war-men/

    1. Alan Sugar seems to have the right idea and the results.
      I didn’t see all of it but the latest edition of The Apprentice, showed plenty of opportunities for the ladies to beat the Lads in a devised unarmed business combat. But the result was a sound thrashing of the pouty lipped and bushy eye browed ladies. Did I mention
      argumentative ?

      1. The apprentice is hardly examples of current business folk. A bunch of mouthy, loud wannabes desperate for the fame of TV. If they really wanted to run a business they would be.

        1. As Moh commented , the females have lips like ducks arses, and the blokes , most of them are just too vain and camera ready. New Spivs.. abit like Alan Sugar.

        1. He sent them all off to a lovely Caribbean island.
          Cuba would have been more appropriate.

    2. Generally though not much is really going to change. The problem is when quotas come in. When the state forces business to hire a set number of a specific sex or ethnicity you end up with chaos. It’s the same when they fix the price of labour. Some people – some *jobs* are simply not worth what the state demands you pay them.

      This is a route to appalling installation of wasters like the current head of John Lewis. A black woman installed after bouncing around the civil service accomplishing nothing now leading a major retailer into the ground.

      1. That’s the direct result of hiring someone based on irrelevant characteristics, as opposed to ability and experience.
        Who thought a civil servant would be any use in running a retailer, a horribly competitive business sector moving rapidly to the Web.

    3. It’s also affected marriage. As I understand it, men are not marrying any more, as many women are dismissive in the first place, and if the marriage ends in divorce, the woman gets everything anyway – so why go there if you are likely to lose everything?
      It’s very sad, but a reaction to being told for decades that you are a violent, useless, idiotic, misogynist shit. Even TV shows and advertisements show man as idiots and women as the smart ones… just to grind it in further.

      2. Part of me hopes younger son won’t marry his partner of 2+ years. His first wife did the dirty on him then walked away with more than enough to put down a deposit on another house (after just 6 months in their joint house!) All thanks to the deposit that we and his grandmother gave him. (Ex blew the lot on a fancy car – good riddance to her)
        Only saving grace is that there were no children. Son kept the dog.

        1. An elderly solicitor writes:

          Shows the sense in having properly drawn up declarations of trust when money is provided by family to a young couple….

          1. We had to provide declarations that the money we gave for the deposit was gifted. Should he decide to marry his current long-term girlfriend, we are hoping his cousin will have a ‘conversation’ with him regarding safeguarding his input – he owns the house and has savings. He might listen to her but would accuse us of interfering.
            From what little we know of her, she seems far more decent than the ex, and comes from a stable family.

          2. Not quite what I meant. A D/T should provide that if the parties separate, the deposit (provided by a parent) should be returned to the donor and not form part of the assets to be split.

          3. I realise that but we wanted the money out of our estate and grandmother’s money was from her will. From what we understood, using the trust version would have given us an ‘interest’ in the house which none of us wanted.

          4. Well, I am glad you took advice. So many people don’t – and then moan/curse afterwards.

  18. Regarding Flott’s letter today,

    SIR – As one of many British singers who are indebted to Glyndebourne Touring Opera, I was so sad to read that it will be unable to tour this year (“‘Devastating’ cuts force Glyndebourne to call off tour”, report, January 7).
    In the 1970s I toured the country with Glyndebourne, English National Opera and Welsh National Opera. We played to packed houses in Manchester, Birmingham, Southampton, Nottingham, Norwich and Oxford.
    It was an invaluable experience for a young singer recently out of music college. The performances were especially well received by audiences who were unable to travel to London or Sussex or Cardiff.
    We train so many wonderful young singers in this country; where will they go? Probably to Germany where the arts are still considered an important part of life rather than an unnecessary extravagance.
    I profoundly hope that Arts Council England will reconsider its destructive policies.

    Felicity Lott
    Bishopstone, East Sussex

    a Tw@ter Comment:-
    https://twitter.com/bob_bonsall/status/1612369922218201092

    2. So many times we hear of problems, usually created by people on committees with ‘a woke worm’ inside their brains and consequently where no manner of common sense seems to prevail.
      I heard about some tree planting in the North East being cancelled because its attracts crows. And for some ridiculous and invented reason it’s no longer a good idea. To be planting more trees.
      Probably because the committee has drained the funding.

    4. Yes, but you’re still calling for me to support your life choices. If your chosen profession doesn’t pay – isn’t in demand – then you have no right to expect me to pay for it. That’s the fundamentals of an economy. I’d love to spend all day writing. Heck, I’d love to spend all day reading, but it doesn’t pay the bills. I have no right to expect someone else to pay for my life choices.

    1. So, in a word, the ONS stats cannot be trusted either. I knew of the monkeying about with the death certs but not all the other detailed shenanigans. The WHO is firmly in charge.

    2. When MiL died in December 2020, we were surprised Convid wasn’t mentioned on her death certificate. Cause was, if i recall correctly, heart failure. Undoubtedly a big element of ‘broken heart’ from feeling abandoned by family – dementia meant she didn’t understand why we weren’t allowed to visit and video calls were perceived as tv programs with people who looked familiar, so no interaction from her.

  20. Morning all 😉 😊
    We had a lovely family ‘birthday party’ for our 35 year old youngest son. Crowded house was the scene. I have a photo on my phone via WhatsApp, but don’t have a clue how to post it on here. As Uncle Bill suggested I do.
    Apart from my younger sisters family who live in Norfolk and far and wide. Only 3 were missing due to it chucking it down with rain. They were going to walk. But couldn’t all get in one car.
    And today’s headline is spot on, GPs have erected barriers that patients are trapped behind when trying to achieve medical advice and treatment.

    1. Your party sounds lovely! If you want to post the photo, there should be a little icon that looks like a picture somewhere when you write a post (I dabble on here via my phone, and it’s the second from left at the bottom.) Press it and then click on the photo in your gallery, and voilà.

      If you’re more used to posting photos from a computer, just email the photo to yourself, then open and save it on the computer and follow normal procedure.

    8. Happy Birthday, Thayric.
      And I hope you got two separate presents, not two rolled into one alleged ‘Big Present’.

  22. 369606+ up ticks,

    Could do the tourist industry a power of good and free up the hotel accommodation,mind, health & safety will dictate that you are confined to your hotel room on account of the civil war raging.

    Just shows you the power of the vote.

    ondon / Europe
    Islamist Hate Cleric Calls for Attacks on British Soldiers over Prince Harry’s Kill Claims: Report

    1. Waiting for Stapleford to downvote it. Obviously he supports killing servicemen. However, should he do that it would label him as a terrorist… ohh, the doublethink must be driving him out of his mind!

      As for Choudjury – or whatever – he should be deported, or locked up permanently on a subsistence diet.

      1. 369606+ up ticks,

        Morning W,

        How about under a health & safety
        ruling we lock up harry & choudry in the tower.

        It would also be a tourist attraction earner funding the civil war to rid the nation of the foreign plague.

    1. I read yesterday that he’s in his mid-30s! Behaving like a teenager!
      “Go and tidy your room!”

      1. I would say that 38 is rather more than mid-30s.

        His wife is 41 so she is hardly a spring chicken though, to be fair, my sister was happily married for nearly 30 years to a man 12 years her junior and had 2 more children to add to the 4 she had with her first husband.

        2. Absolutely MumisBusy, but he’s got a few power cables to go through as yet.

          I wonder if it’s actually planned. A deliberate attempt to do so much damage that he’s ‘dethroned’. Then the real grievance tour can begin.

          1. I hope the King and the rest of his family maintain their dignified silence. It’s almost as if Harry is deliberately becoming more outrageous in his spiteful claims in an attempt to draw a response.

    2. Good morning all.
      If he really thinks there can be a reconciliation after all his vile, despicable behaviour, then he is more stupid than generally perceived. And needs some serious mental health treatment. Stupid boy!
      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2ddeeb9350f65c2320344f61d8e3cf2474716be695d6fbc1fdb70ae839e4781d.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5c4b358d2826d64e548007bd4872b1d2d967a2a514e7410908472ce6351acbc7.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/614db977116bd43a2bd20b4c283e787dc61bb8bf70a416ec656051f7f89b4626.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bdcdc444a5c7
      Teda62472df8eb592e67c3b7612c4f5a817a6a5a0f9f255f9bcbf.jpg

    3. This is from the BBC report on his “interview” – “He blamed the tabloid press as the “antagonist”, who he said “want to create as much conflict as possible”. ” It seems to me that there are only two people seeking to “create as much conflict as possible” and that’s the ginger twat and his awful wife, because it sells books and interviews! If Harry really has a four book contract I suspect he will need even more chances to whine about how badly he has been treated, so conflict it must be, even if it is entirely one sided and largely imaginary. I think he needs psychiatric help.

      2. Most people would run out of complaints before completing 4 books, but those 2 whiners will probably manage it.

  24. Ten things we learnt from Prince Harry’s Spare interviews
    The Duke of Sussex spoke to ITV’s Tom Bradby and Anderson Cooper on CBS to discuss his new memoir – here are the key moments
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2023/01/09/prince-harry-interview-highlights-itv-60-minutes-spare/

    BTL

    Prince Andrew was unwise to be interviewed by Emily Maitlis who was hostile towards him from the start. But at least Andrew was brave enough to face hostile, live questioning which is certainly more than the cowardly Harry who just wants to be interviewed by sycophantic people who will not challenge him or his versions of events.

      1. Almost certainly not – because he is so dim. It would never have occurred to his thick skull that anyone could be “nasty” to such an important royal person.

  25. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/57502152d8c4dcb7cfe15b9eace4d055299391f9254a19c2f550f80101fc502c.png Tropical giant washes up on British beach as seas grow warmer.
    A HUGE sunfish has washed ashore on a beach in Norfolk, becoming the most recent of several arrivals in a phenomenon that experts have attributed to the heating up of the seas.

    The fish, which is more commonly found in tropical waters, was spotted by a wildlife photographer on New Year’s Day.

    The young sunfish, which washed up on North Beach in Great Yarmouth, measured about 5ft (1.5m) from the top to bottom fin. The species has been known to grow up to 13ft (4m) tall and is the largest bony fish in the world.

    The question I have is: why did Mola mola leave Cornwall and go to Norfolk? Was it to visit Billy, or was it because he knew that Cromer crabs are tastier than the Cornish variety?

        2. 369606+ up ticks,

          Morning A,

          And that one that got away was nowhere as big as the one the one armed angler described,

      3. They swim upright so ‘tall’ refers to the span between the extremities, from the top of the dorsal fin to the bottom of the pelvic fin.

    2. It is interesting to query the warmer seas. Are they? Is this a one off phenomena or are all sorts of different species now around here?

      Is there a pattern related to over fishing / an abundance of food /lack of predators in our oceans? As for warming them up – that’s what thousands of windmills will do for you.

    3. Just a relation. What I want to know is how this silly report was written and obviously not researched. Sunfish inhabit tropical and temperate seas. True, we get them more in the summer, but they’re not uncommon in British waters. This little fish should have stuck to the south coast where the water temperature is still in double figures, as opposed to Great Yarmouth’s current sea temperature of 6° or 7°C.

      1. Hello MM

        Years ago when we visited Guernsey by oldfashioned ferry from Weymouth , we were all told by the captain to look on the portside where a huge Sunfish was seen swimming clumsily , what a strange creature it was and a very memorable experience .

        1. About 5 years ago, my wife and I went on a whale-watching trip off the coast of Maine near the Canadian border. It was an off day for whales (nary a one) but we did see the most enormous sunfish bobbing around next to our boat. Lovely creature.

  26. Good morning, everyone. Late on parade for various reasons including walking the Springer rather late.

  27. Saw this on a Farcebook post from British & Commonwealth Forces group.
    Poem courtesy of John Phillips:
    “I [CAN NOT] recommend this book,
    It’s about a man
    Trying to make as much cash as he can
    From spilling the beans and dishing the dirt
    With no regard for who it will hurt
    It’s everyone’s fault but never his own

    He’s had a life of privilege but does nothing but moan
    He shamelessly uses his mother’s name
    Ms Markle’s used him to find fortune and fame
    He plays the race card when it comes to his wife

    Has fled these shores for a more private life
    Loves Oprah, Netflix and being on TV
    He will talk to anyone for a large enough fee

    I don’t know about you but I’m sick of it all
    I think it’s time his father gave him a call
    And gave him the news he was no longer Royal
    We can’t give titles to people who aren’t loyal

    Let’s see how he does with an ordinary name
    Just plain Harry Windsor, things won’t be the same

    Why can’t he shut up and go live his life
    Make my New Year and sod off with his wife.”

  29. 369606+ up ticks,

    I do believe an Englishman with a family tree dating back to Bill
    the conqueror has more chance of deportation

    breitbart,

    Second time around,

    May Allah Destroy You!’ – Rapist Barber Jailed for Sending COVID Cash to ISIS

  30. “I cried for decades about the hardships I was going through and not one servant would listen”

    – Prince Harry.

  35. BBC bias

    But the BBC has a blushing secret. What is often described in rather Leninist terminology as the U.K.’s “state broadcaster,” the BBC has been blatantly politically biased for decades, and is now adapting the clumsily named “woke” zeitgeist. Perhaps the most crass example from last year was the female BBC reporter at the European soccer championships final. England had just beaten Germany (a bit like in the World Wars, but without American help), and although the lady was broadly in favor of the result, she bemoaned the fact that the entire English team was white. Then again, the BBC got on the antiwhite bandwagon early, with then director—whose name honestly is Greg Dyke—claiming in 2001 that his organization was “hideously white.” This always made me chuckle, as the BBC’s HQ, Broadcasting House, is situated in a borough of West London called White City.

    https://www.takimag.com/article/bbc-bias/

    There are several inaccuracies in the article particularly when Blair came to power, but you’ll get the drift.

    1. I was always led to believe that common sense was having a worthwhile and considered objective in life and sticking to it. You know ‘look both ways when you cross the road’ sort of stuff.
      But of course woke worm has entered many peoples heads and is boring away and filling the spaces it leaves with it’s own variety of excrement.

    2. Television Centre is at White City. Broadcasting House sits on land owned by the Howard De Walden estate (listed in the Doomsday Book as Tyburn Manor) in Marylebone.

      1. I suspect there are other errors too, the journalist isn’t generally terribly accurate in his articles.

  36. Afternoon All

    Today’s Medley

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/47df0947dee017b42ddae791c627ca456c5bb9fca27272f757af7c4060a705fa.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e5cc57d9a4b5d8943367c4c03950249fb97503f31f5307160ffcb291e007ced4.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3ad02673e30c7dff2270478b08acc267c32ed2cd56e5a82923314d6bda54e384.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0230fbaf2a1048e36182410e32b163e93080fd6309a32f392ffb81f127c7accd.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bbbabd163802b99f8bf42616a33d0fb72da7f277a8625e94a9ba500402202e9d.jpg

  37. Vax you say……….

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/59dbf40b0976c17fbc8a5f0835830722292da582bb3710e8f117992dd6e11590.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/77277b0b04ad54eef4ded549c108cfe237a19f13af585e50e600c0665099dd92.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7c918168361243aba0a7783e7cd64633d89910f9c8f5b6df5cabad94946e3816.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1d34b447efe08b1ccdfcae00afdee44e794900768475934cbff533f68aee71e0.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/62cb1c8051179b4266e0ef2dc772f778c0a42ae4a76e923a3556113976800999.png

    1. I am slightly worried that the FDA complains it was misled. It’s job is to confirm the safety of drugs. If it isn’t doing the work, what’s it for?

      2. Like the FAA were “bamboozled” by Boeing over the 737MAX fiasco.
        Looks like government isn’t doing it’s job.
        Hoodathunkit?

  38. Civilization in 2022………..
    � Our Phones – Wireless
    � Cooking – Fireless
    � Cars – Keyless
    � Food – Fatless
    � Tyres -Tubeless
    � Dress – Sleeveless
    � Youth – Jobless
    � Leaders – Shameless
    � Relationships – Meaningless
    � Attitudes – Careless
    � Babies – Fatherless
    � Feelings – Heartless
    � Education – Valueless
    � Children – Mannerless
    We are-SPEECHLESS,
    Government-is CLUELESS,
    And our Politicians-are WORTHLESS!
    Today…..
    Only in This Stupid World ……do we leave cars worth thousands of dollars in the driveway and put our useless junk in the garage.
    Only in This Stupid World ……do pharmacies make the sick walk all the way to the back of the Store to get their prescriptions while healthy people can buy cigarettes at the front.
    Only in This Stupid World…..do people order double cheeseburgers, large fries, and a diet Coke..
    Only in This Stupid World….do banks leave vault doors open and then chain the pens to the counters..
    Only in This Stupid World ……..do we buy hot dogs in packages of ten and buns in packages of eight..
    Only in This Stupid World …..do they have drive-up ATM machines with Braille lettering.
    EVER WONDER …..
    Why the sun lightens our hair, but darkens our skin
    Why don’t you ever see the Headline ‘Psychic Wins Lottery’ ️
    Why is ‘abbreviated’ such a long word
    Why is it that Doctors call what they do ‘practice’
    Why is lemon juice made with artificial flavour, and dishwashing liquid made with real lemons
    Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker ️
    Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour
    Why isn’t there mouse-flavoured cat food
    Why didn’t Noah swat those two mosquitoes ️
    Why do they sterilize the needle for lethal injections ️
    You know that Indestructible black box that is used on airplanes? Why don’t they make the whole plane out of that stuff
    Why don’t sheep shrink when it rains
    Why are they called apartments when they are all stuck together?
    If Con is the opposite of Pro, is Congress the opposite of progress
    If flying is so Safe, why do they call the airport the terminal
    …Got to wonder!

    1. Less is never more.

      The human species evolved right up to the end of the 19th century. Its decline since then (aided by weird modern technology and an irrational obsessive attachment to it) accelerates daily.

    2. Why is it that Doctors call what they do ‘practice’
      “Docting” is rather an awkward word… like “buttling” for a, well, butler. But welding is what a welder does…

      1. What doctors do when they work is “practiSe”. A “practiCe” is the place where they work.

    3. Must remember to check out the cigarette counter when I next visit the pharmacy. And ask why they don’t send me to the back of the shop to collect my meds.

  39. I believe that Harry is very capable of murder .. he is so angry and wound up ..and drugged up ..

    I do hope and pray the real Royals are being careful .. There might be a Harry loyal nutter waiting to do the worstest ever .

  40. There is another contender for Harry’s father out there. I have always subscribed to the view that Harry’s father is Charles, I cannot see a resemblance to Hewitt. Harry’s eyes are startlingly blue. He has the nose (and much of the character of Edward VIII, his Uncle David). However, I came across a brief mention of Diana’s first boyfriend, the 17th Earl of Pembroke, Henry George Charles Alexander Herbert. Who knew she had a first boyfriend? He has kept admirably silent. I was shocked at the likeness in the photographs with whom could possibly be his half brother, the 18th Earl of Pembroke. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/47c912dfbe233f712842b35a5a1402372236c1734eae4d87c9ee394c826e6be8.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5e2347cbaf31a52d320256c53d65cb7fbd9119376a812597f375970d9bf9ea7d.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/597ba51572f20472c352683f94ea14a46248ce9ecc89f6b47379ddd8717eab89.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/536a930af0e2b46174034b18c76da10729c3f94e9388f8c00be2592e857a3a85.jpg

    Edit: Insertion of Christian names of Pembroke.

    2. My thoughts are the Sussex children .. they remain the biggest mystery.. Are they really Meghan’s are they really Harry’s .

      Are they another lie ?

      1. I don’t think they exist as such, Belle. I think they are borrowed, for specific occasions, or photoshopped from photographs of their own young years to get a family resemblance.specifically. We never see them here. And a ten month pregnancy for ‘Archie’?

        1. Obviously, they were discussing what gender the ghost baby should be

          Lilibet was a just “sucking up” to HM,The Queen

        3. Are there two lots of them.

          They were one of the places I was considering for an apprenticeship

        4. Highclere Herberts? Harry Herbert runs the Highclere Racing Syndicate. Porchy was a Herbert (from Highclere).

  42. I posted this three years ago – It has got even worse:

    The Bolshevik Broadcasting Company and the Daily Fail are working flat out to undermine the Royal Family and the traditional governance of the UK. I don’t care very much for Prince ‘what’s his name’ and his American wife but they are being used to destroy the integrity of the Royal Family as a whole. They would love to do away with the Queen/King as the head of the Union and instal an EU style president which they could control from the rear (in more ways than one in some cases). Between them they have produced literally hundreds of articles and thousands of hours broadcasting throughout the world in the past few days alone. Why don’t they just ignore them and let them disappear from the headlines altogether? ‘Cause they are useful tools for the political changes they wish to bring about.
    Remember, every time you see something about Ginger and his missus, there is a nasty socialist scumbag trying to get full control of the levers of power.

    https://scontent-cdg2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/81507838_10158068280979954_126082097868701696_n.jpg?_nc_cat=111&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=jprwqq_asv8AX-YqMWl&_nc_ht=scontent-cdg2-1.xx&oh=00_AfBzu6m4tGc-qGHOMdGB3PuXqq-dQn9lRAtf4uHFLCioow&oe=63E37D10

  44. PRINCE Harry pulled out a thong made of ermine for Kate during his speech at her wedding to Prince William.

    Harry – who claimed he was not his older brother’s best man – said an American man wrote to him about wanting to make something special for Catherine.

    The man had “set out to catch 1,000 ermines” – but only caught two, which he turned into the thong with silk strings.

    Harry writes in Spare: “Rough year for ermine, I said.

    “Still, I added, the Yank improvised, made the best of things, as Yanks do, and cobbled together what he had, which I now held aloft.

    “The room let out a collective gasp. It was a thong.

    “Soft, furry, a few silken strings attached to a V-shaped ermine pouch no larger than the ring pouch inside my tunic.

    “After the collective gasp came a warm, gratifying wave of laughter.”

    He added: “When it died away I closed on a serious note.

    Harry says he “winged it” in the two-minute speech, used to introduce William’s two real best men at the 2011 wedding.

    https://www.thesun.co.uk/fabulous/20979492/shocking-item-harry-gave-kate-wedding-william/

    2. Of all their complaints, I really don’t get this one. Royal bridegrooms always have more than one “supporter” rather than a single best man, don’t they?

    1. Not unless you are fond of adding two and two together and getting five. That is what this woman is doing. She is connecting three entirely separate aspects of care together and coming up with a scare story.

      How she is dragging NG191 into it is beyond me. That’s just the Nice guideline for the treatment of COVID-19 and applies to everyone. It’s a perfectly reasonable document.

    2. She highlights a lot of reasonable concerns, I think.
      The plan for increased deaths is understandable though, as the very large baby boomer generation moves into retirement. That’s just demographic planning.
      I don’t like the government’s end of life pathway, especially given the amount of money they stand to save by people dying.
      But the NHS is socialism – you stay poor, and you get the worst service.

      1. A few years ago my mother inlaw had been diagnosed with cancer. She was noncompus in hospital. We went to visit and the nurses asked us to go and wait outside for a few moments while they ‘made her more comfortable’. They boosted her pillows and sat her up. Pulled the curtains around her bed. We sat with her and she passed away within half an hour.
        They must have injected her with something lethal.

        1. It’s a very fine line between ending life compassionately, and the starving to death described by roughcommon a few days ago, and many cases fall somewhere in between.

  46. A woman and a baby were in the doctor’s examining room, waiting for the doctor to come in for the baby’s first exam. The doctor arrived, examined the baby, checked his weight, and being a little concerned, asked if the baby was breast-fed or bottle-fed.
    “Breast-fed” she replied.
    “Well, strip down to your waist,” the doctor ordered.
    She did. He pinched her nipples, then pressed, kneaded, and rubbed both breasts for a while in a detailed examination. Motioning to her to get dressed, he said, “No wonder this baby is underweight. You don’t have any milk.”
    “I know,” she said, “I’m his Grandma, but I’m so glad I came

  47. I see we’ve “given” without doing any taking. As usual.

    “A major agreement between the UK and EU has been reached over the EU’s access to UK IT systems, paving the way for further talks on controversial post-Brexit agreements. “

      2. Theirs is just a copy of ours. We’ve given them access to ours just to speed things up a bit.

      3. There is no mention of a two way deal in the article. I’m sorry I can’t copy it but it’s in the Daily Express.

    1. BBC World News are reporting that Lula vows to punish the rebels. I only caught that snippet, as it’s on a big screen near the lifts in TV Centre. What are the numbers I wonder and what punishment, how?

  52. Yippeee

    Solar panels have fully charged the batteries

    Will be able to afford to boil heat a kettle of water now

  53. Hurrah!!!!
    We have received 3 more Christmas cards. All local.
    One with the stamp scribbled through, one posted on 20th. December and one posted on the 8th. December.

      1. Is it true that with the new barcoded stamps, they will not require franking as the bar code will indicate whether or not the stamp has previously been used?

        2. I thought the barcode was a tracking system although I guess that in itself would tell them if it had been used, whether that info is stored is another matter

      2. Evri finally delivered my parcel today; they have taken a week or more over it. Perhaps successful delivery had something to do with my giving them feedback about their poor service in the survey they sent me, along with complaints that they a) hadn’t read the notice on my front gate, b) didn’t have anywhere on their website to put specific instructions where to deliver tthe package, c) contrary to their assertion there was no “safe place” to put it I had ticked one of the relevant boxes on their web site and d) it would go through the letter box anyway.

        1. Vax sent us a replacement battery (via Evri ) early in November. It didn’t arrive so they sent out another one. The first one arrived (thrown onto the drive between our two cars) on 21st December and the second one is somewhere still in their system. I sent them some bad feedback too.

    2. Why has the population grown so rapidly in such a short space of time? From 20 to 200 million? Are they all have ten children?

      1. A superb sculptor, but his artistic talent has been greatly overshadowed by his sexual perversions.

  57. Am I alone in getting fed up with countries which hold elections (and referenda) but the losers refuse to accept the result?

    3. I’m getting disturbed by elections where there are plausible allegations of election fraud that never appear to get properly investigated.
      The trouble that the action group on Tower Hamlets had getting their concerns taken seriously is a prime example.

  58. In case Elsie misses it, I just posted this in response to her question:-

    Heyup Elsie!
    TIRFOR Jack:-
    One of these:-
    https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/QyAAAOSwnm1eeN7W/s-l640.jpg

    Anchor it at the Left end, push the end of a cable into the blunt end, and then use the left lever, with a handle attached, to pull the cable through the machine.
    Works with two pairs of jaws gripping & pulling the cable alternately as you work the lever, about 1″ per stroke.
    2nd lever is to slacken and the 3rd lever is to release the jaws so the cable can be pushed through the machine or pulled out when the job is finished.
    A heavy bit of kit, JUST “man portable”, but excellent for putting a 3 ton pull onto something.

    1. I’ve seen one in action to adjust the alignment of a lock gate on the Oxford Canal that some errant boater had bashed off it’s collar…Lock gates can weigh several tons…

        1. It’s the boat’s button on the end of 10+tons of steel that tends to ram the gates and knock them askew…

      2. Good bits of kit, aren’t they!

        I’ve another two of the same model, but unfortunately when I picked them up from the auctioneers, I realised they were unserviceable. A problem with remote auctions one has to accept.
        However, I’ve been quoted £60 each plus parts for overhaul and given the cost of the bloody things new, they will be well worth getting fettled so I’m likely to be having a trundle over to Lincoln to drop them off in the near future.

    2. I’ve seen one in action to adjust the alignment of a lock gate on the Oxford Canal that some errant boater had bashed off it’s collar…Lock gates can weight several tons…

  59. Bogey Five today.

    Wordle 569 5/6
    ⬜⬜🟨⬜🟩
    ⬜🟩⬜⬜🟩
    🟩🟩⬜⬜🟩
    🟩🟩⬜⬜🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Got a par 4 today.

      Wordle 569 4/6

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

    2. I’ve not done wordle yet , it’s looking like a difficult one, I prefer those

    4. You wor locky, look at this pathetic effort, 2nd ever fail!

      Wordle 569 X/6

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

  60. Some trivia. I mentioned yesterday that as a teenager in the 70s I worked in Boots main store in York as a Saturday girl and doing holiday cover in the summer. This was the uniform for female sales staff back then. It was made from a heave poly/cotton fabric and was much hated, though if I hadn’t felt OK about wearing it, I wouldn’t have applied for the job in the first place! (No idea who this is in the picture.)
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1256ffb14273cc94c426e93899e2f62c0562bcd955fc0784a1aceb2e6906b89e.png

          5. I actually made a Gutterswipe – consisting of a home made swan neck nozzle mounted on a 5 metre aluminium tube attached to a Wet /dry Vax vacuum cleaner. It did the job without the need to climb (whisper it quietly) a ladder!

  61. That’s me done. Sightly better day than expected. Sunshine though with a very strong – and chilly – westerly wind. Damp and cold tomorrow…so much for global warming….

    Have a spiffing evening – we have the rest of Brash to watch – we turned in half way through (as I was dropping off, anyway).

    A demain.

      1. Perhaps he’s atoning for some grave sin; it is probably the modern equivalent of wearing a hair shirt.

  62. Afghans call for Harry to be put on trial after admitting he killed 25 Taliban insurgents – as UK hate preacher Anjem Choudary issues chilling threat to British troops

    Afghans call for Harry to be put on trial after admitting he killed 25 people

    DM Story

    Perhaps we ought to hand Harry over to the Afghan government and they can organise his trial as the British justice system is just about as broken as everything else is in Britain!

    1. It was war. People get killed. Unless the Afghans have any proof that Harry’s actions amounted to war crimes, there is no case to answer. If Harry were to be prosecuted, then so perhaps might all members of the armed forces who served in Afghanistan.

      Harry’s mistake was in talking about it – something which most military personnel do not do.

      1. “…Harry were to be prosecuted, then so perhaps might all members of the armed forces who served in Afghanistan.”.
        The British seem to want to persecute all members of the Armed Forces who served in Afghanistan, so the Taliban can just sit back & relax.

  63. I’ve just watched the News headlines.
    Hi Risk Anus has possibly the biggest nose I have ever seen on a politician.
    Carlo Collodi would have understood why.

    2. I have no problem providing proof of identity when voting. I have to provide it if I go to a Royal Mail Delivery Office when collecting a missed delivery item, so why not at the polling station? Voters in Northern Ireland have had to provide proof of identity for years, so why not in the rest of the UK?

        1. Same as for a passport photo, which has to be full-face. If you don’t show your face when handing over your passport, you shouldn’t be allowed to travel or enter a country.

    3. It’s parliament that is completely unworkable miz Rayner. I don’t think they have ever completed anything that benefits the general public. Or achieved anything practical.
      Except expenses claims of course.

    4. “The responses are brilliant!”

      Like this:
      “It is indeed outrageous to ask people who vote to show some kind of ‘identification’ that proves they are eligible. In fact, anyone who chooses to be a voter should be allowed to self-identify as one, regardless of age, nationality, residency, etc.”

  65. Whilst Biden launders billions of US dollars through Ukraine and deploys US military intelligence and weaponry there the CCP are intimidating Taiwan. Tens of sophisticated Chinese warships and aircraft threaten to blockade Taiwan and starve the Taiwanese into submission to CCP rule.

    Before we know it North Korea and Japan will be drawn into any conflict.

    Just what was it Obama stated about Biden’s foreign policy decisions?

  66. Just read a thought-provoking article on the Daily Sceptic about the dangers of eulogising the number “zero”.

    “… Anthropologists used to say that primitive man could only count to three: “1, 2, 3, many.” If this was true, then primitive man was way ahead of the advocates of ‘Zero Covid’, ‘Zero Carbon’ and ‘Zero Tolerance’, who can only count to one, and a bad one at that. It is not to the credit of Oxford and Cambridge that they have founded new entities called ‘Zero Institute’ and ‘Cambridge Zero’. Nowadays, academics only seem to be able to count to zero…”

    https://dailysceptic.org/2023/01/09/the-politics-of-zero/

  67. Just watched the Veterans Edition of DIY: SOS and who shoud be on it, but Ginge , husband of Cringe

  68. Here is a photograph of the 17th Earl of Pembroke who could be potentially Harry’s father. Note he has the same bony bump on the right side of his forehead although not so pronounced as Harry’s; it is obvious if you enlarge the photograph.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7e2274b163d90f2b05f6dd71e45ccdc2cebedc7fdb35a44cd5bf71fe20cc01dc.jpg
    Also here he is in his later years.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6106986fa89a804593c09ef3e7cc73e436758beb21866496becfaf7f1630bec7.jpg

    I posted photographs of the 18th Earl of Pembroke earlier today.

    1. Mischief making poppiesmum.

      I am fairly sure that the commercial value of proving the ginger-whinger is not Charles & Diana’s son is such that every servant who has ever worked for or with him will have taken hair and other samples, hoping to hit the jackpot.

      1. I am not deliberately mischief-making, I am sorry that you see it in that light. Until I saw these photographs I have always steadfastly subscribed to the view that Harry was Charles’s son. I could see no real resemblance to Hewitt.

        1. AND, given the current controversy, I also suspect that even Charles would be delighted to prove Harry isn’t a Windsor, it would solve a LOT of problems at a stroke.

          2. That may, or not be so – but at least I am not judgmental unlike others on this site.

          3. I hope you didn’t feel I was being judgemental, that certainly wasn’t my intention.
            I was attempting to point out that it was unlikely and why it was unlikely and that whoever created it was mischief-making. I doubt the gentleman in question would sue, but I am fairly sure it’s libellous/defamatory. Unless oy course it really is true!

            Passing such articles on one becomes part of the process, little different from posting fake news, something that is all too easily done as I know when others have pointed out the sources of things I’ve posted.

      2. I am fairly sure that DNA was done at both boys’ births. I am so heartily sick of this nonsense and I wish everybody would shut up about it. Staying pretty much away from here until all the gossiping stops.
        Shameful, all of it.

        1. I would be staggered if such testing happened, unless there were serious doubts and it was done utterly off record. Even going through the motions would have caused a scandal.

          3. At the time of C&D’s wedding, it was said that D underwent a virginity test. Now, I don’t believe that but this stuff has always been out there. It is worse now with 24 hour news and internet.
            Gawd, now I have joined in sodding gossip- time to go.

          4. ;-))
            I’m tired of it all, too.
            We need a thread about tartan loo-paper and marmalade shred thickness. Or something lighthearted and distracting.
            I could even restart the cracker jokes again … all y’all have been warned!

          6. There was a young man called Paul,
            Jokes? He can tell ’em all.
            When he opens his crackers
            He drives us all quackers,
            That funny young chap known as Paul.

            I’ll go quietly.

          8. They say there’s a “lady” called LotL
            Who teases the old men of Nottle
            She appears as a spectre
            To tickle that sector
            Of dirty old men on the bottle

          9. There is a ghoul known as Sos
            Who lives in a French type of schloss,
            He likes to torment
            We hope it’s well meant,
            By the man known as Sos in a schloss.

          10. When Lotl flapped out of her lake
            The bystanders thought it was fake
            The view to their eyes
            Was such a surprise
            As naked she looked like a hake

            A hake she was not
            Nor a sword-waving “bot”
            Just a lady in waiting
            For Lancelot’s mating
            ‘Cos Arthur had sadly forgot

          12. Young Lotl denies she is fishy
            Her husband exclaims she is dishy
            Her natural demeanour
            Is hostile and meaner
            But only to people like Rishi

          15. I’m not clever or inventive enough. I can only regurgitate the old ones my mother taught me.

          16. There once was an elephant’s child
            With a temperament, kindly and mild
            They called her Ndovu
            But the name is beyond you
            Cos she’s off with the call of the wild

          17. Ndovu is very intelligent
            With the instinct that comes with an elephant,
            She is astute and on task
            Doesn’t hide in a mask,
            And is always said to be elegant.

          23. Charles painted one ball blue and the other one red.

            When Diana looked and said nothing like:
            “I’ve never seen a pair like those before”
            the marriage was allowed to go ahead.

        2. Ann, BBC4 have added an old Omnibus doc about Spike Milligan to their schedule for Wednesday evening at 9pm.

    2. So you’re saying (© Cathy Newman), poppiesmum, that when she finally leaves him, The Spare will have a huge grin of relief on his face?

      1. In view of his demeanour at their wedding, Elsie, I would not be at all surprised. He was an unhappy man.

  69. Nice par four here

    Wordle 569 4/6

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

  71. Evening, all. Very interesting talk this afternoon by the RAFA National (and area and branch – one and the same person!) standard bearer about the funeral of HM.

    Patients are at risk because the whole NHS is broken; too many chiefs, not enough indians, no joined up thinking and the GPs are being paid for the wrong things.

    2. GPs are being paid for the things they no longer do.

      Remind me; who abandoned weekend working for GPs?

      And who rearranged pensions so there is an incentive to retire early?

        2. I always understood the first was the Chinese Army, closely followed by the NHS. Who are the 2nd and 3rd largest employers, then?

        3. Just because they employ a lot of people doesn’t make them either efficient or productive!

      2. I was referring to GPs being paid for the number of patients on their books, not the number they actually saw. Here there are far too many patients signed up to the practice (three practices were amalgamated into one with no increase in doctors), so getting an appointment is rarer than winning the lottery.

          1. Didn’t see that, as I’ve just had to channel my inner Chris Bonnington to read my electricity meter – I had notification to send in my readings.

      3. GPs should be paid according to the patients they physically see rather than the number of patients on their books.

        2. Of course, Alf, there’s a danger in that. Instead of having a face to face lasting around 6 minutes, that time might eventually be reduced to 3 minutes.

          1. They need to be reminded who pays their wages. Our surgery is ALL part time female doctors. Not ideal if you want to see a male doctor.

      4. Did folk see the odious Clarke suggesting that ‘middle class earners’ sould pay a small fee to visit the quack?

        I have to say, I agree. Although I want my national insurance and council tax cancelled in exchange. I don’t think that’s what they meant though.

        1. One of reasons the NHS is in so much trouble is because there are thousands of people using it who have never paid a single penny towards it.
          Clarke’s just another do nothing divot who lives off the public purse. And now expects members of the working public to pay for political more mistakes.

      5. Two of our ex-local GPs took early retirement and set up a specialist private practice.
        Our current GP also runs a part-time private practice.
        No wonder people can’t get appointments. And every time I have been to our surgery there are very few people in the waiting area. Previoysly It always use to be packed.

    3. Not half.
      By emailing my cardiology department and a return phone call from the secretary I managed to get my appointment on the 22nd of July 2023 moved to next month.
      How they expect people to suffer for more than 6 months I simply don’t understand.
      Its no good as advised turning up at A&E they simply can’t cope.
      It shouldn’t be like this, but unless you push it, nothing will happen.
      I’ve also managed to get a GP appointment next week.
      He’s not getting away with hiding behind the reception desk.

  75. I’m off to bed now.
    After the rain stopped, I dropped a dead 6″ elm and later some 3 to 4½” stems from the same cluster. It’ll all go onto the woodstacks!

    1. Yo Mr T

      Not far off being THE The Youngster

      Happy BD Hopon and of coursr 364 Happy Unbirthdays, ’til you next one

  80. Just back from open mic. Walking back with very good friend and close neighbour, ex-head teacher. He hates the present Tory scum, as I do, but also will not vote Labour, despite being a lefty. We don’t see a good future for the country, nor for the next generation.

    1. 369639+ up ticks,

      Morning M,

      That is the very reason party before Country MUST be kicked in touch, NO more best of the worst, party first.

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