Saturday 1 March: The shocking spectacle of Donald Trump bullying Volodymyr Zelensky

Posted on by Geoff Graham

commenting facility (now reinstated, but we prefer ours),
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Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here.

663 thoughts on “Saturday 1 March: The shocking spectacle of Donald Trump bullying Volodymyr Zelensky”

    1. I cannot agree with Adams's supposition that Starmer knows one end of a hammer from the other.

        1. How many of us could do what our fathers did? I certainly could not have governed Northern Sudan or produced the beautiful watercolours he painted!

          1. But, Rastus, have many other wonderful qualities. You have found and cared for your lovely Mrs. Rastus, brought up two sons and shown them fantastic places as you sailed around the world, and created a business from nothing in order to earn a living. And that business has helped a younger generation to improve their language skills. You also keep records of all our individual birthdates and flag them up to us so that we can each wish them an enjoyable day. I reckon that is as much an achievement on as big a scale as that of your father.

          3. Again, Conners, I have to disagree with you, just as I have done with Rastus. What about your caring for Oscar, Kadi and Winston. Then there are your activities with local committees, strong support for your Church and so on. I believe that we all underestimate our many qualities by focussing far too much on what I call our "areas for improvement" but most people call "faults".

          4. I doubt I could have coped with the heat, noise and physical labour, being a wimp. I have many qualities but practical ability isn’t one of them unless it involves a paint brush 😀

          5. Perhaps working in a steel mill with intense heat, noise and physical labour might not have been possible for you, but a wimp you are not, my friend.

          6. Some days I am only too well aware of my physical and mental frailty; then Nttl gives me medicinal compounds and all is right with the world again 🙂

  5. Drat and double drat – Minty beat me to it. Anyhow, Good Morning everyone and welcome to a brand new month. A Pinch and a Punch, White Rabbits, and all that. And a very Happy St David's Day to all our Welsh NoTTLers. And, of course, thanks to Geoff for today's new NoTTLe page.

    I have to confess that I struggled with today's Wordle: after the first four attempts it became clear that what I had put as the first letter, just had to go down as the third, but I found that this would give me at least four or five possibilities for the first letter. I tried one, but it didn't work, so which would I try as my sixth and final attempt? I didn't want to miss out as I did yesterday, so I decided to simply go to the "Hints" page. What was the first clue? Well, it said "The first letter is …" so I immediately put that in and got it today (with help from "Hints") in six.

    Wordle 1,351 6/6

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

  7. Trump tells Zelensky: ‘Come back when you’re ready for peace’. 1 March 2025.

    A televised shouting match broke out between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office on Friday, abruptly halting peace talks between the two leaders.

    In a hostile press conference, the US president told Mr Zelensky to sign a ceasefire or “we’re out” as their summit descended into a furious dressing down of the Ukrainian president.

    Shouting matches at these affairs are not unknown. Sometimes they are quite brutal. In his meeting with the then Austrian prime minister, Hitler (he wanted Anschluss) strode up and down screaming at the top of his voice and then hurled abuse at the hapless man accusing him of wanting war. What is unusual here is that it was in public.

    Whether Trump and Vance arranged this I’m not certain. Whatever; it is plain that they think that Zelensky is preventing (almost certainly true) a peace settlement. Since the end of the war is one of the Donald’s prime aims this makes him less than happy. He wishes to disengage from Europe and prepare for confrontation with China. He knows that Russia poses no real threat and that the Europeans (if they applied themselves) are more than a match for them. Instead they are still trying to inveigle the US into subsiding them. If push comes to shove Trump can cancel all the arms contracts and leave Europe to sort it out themselves. There are benefits to Nottler type people in this. The Political Elites cannot rearm and finance their Social and Cultural Programs at the same time.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/02/28/trump-zelensky-come-back-ready-peace-ukraine-white-house/

  8. Morning all 🙂😊
    Frosty start again, possibly brighter later.
    Trump's behaviour ? Possibly a lesson for the rest of the WEF they have rather taken over all of our lives and wrecked at least our own country it's established culture, social structure and infrastructure…completely. And the dippy Doh nuts are taking over everything.

  9. Yo and Good Moaning to you all,from a Sunny C d S.

    Saint Dai's today, get you Taffodils out and wave them

      1. Daffodils were a Lloyd George confection.
        Given his varied love life, he was against leaks.

          3. My mother danced with a man who danced with a girl who danced with the Prince of Wales. Does that make me Welsh?

  10. Green Party Leader Informed Her Voters Are Most Depressed and Least Happy With Their Love Lives

    Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer sat down with Nick Robinson for his Political Thinking podcast. Denyer was asked which party supporters have been polled to be most unhappy with their work, their social life, and their financial life. She said it was Reform. Nope…

    Even worse, according to More in Common polling only 23% of Green supporters are happy with their love live compared to 54% of Conservatives. Carla said “that’s very sad” before adding she had “no idea” why that was:

    “I mean, I’m not sure as the leader of the Green Party I can offer much advice or policy changes that will help their love lives.“

    Back in the election Denyer and her co-leader Adrian Ramsay were asked what struggles they endured in childhood – Ramsay choked that he wasn’t allowed a dog as a child and Carla offered that her family had second-hand cars throughout most of her childhood. Time to rage against the machine…

    February 28 2025 @ 09:16

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

    Suck Here Starmer
    22h
    If you're an environmentalist, and your love life invariably involves the use of oil derived plastic, petroleum jelly, and batteries, then I can understand how that must be quite upsetting.

    Beebsplaining
    22h
    It might improve if either they had some dress sense or did not get their hair cut in installments 🤔
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/38bf7fd3994175eb1ab288a98a71b3e41b9d0d72fdae93c9ff2107f072785d2f.png
    keith waites
    22h
    It is an immutable fact that the further left people go, the more unhappy they are

    Send in the Clones
    keith waites
    21h
    That explains it then.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1fe64b666fe481f7db069882b099fbbbe2fcf56eaa7590abf4c4519b5244c635.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1e59dab9b68d807dccfc0c87a74b70f1140c27088526226cd023f17dca24b0d0.png

          1. KdF also spawned the VW Beetle, called the KdFWagen.
            I'll get me coat…

      1. Good morning Mr T and everyone.
        Er, generally Green + Black = chocolate, although it may well taste like sludge.

    5. That’s no surprise, really. Greenies are sad people who concentrate on catastrophe rather than appreciating the wonderful world of nature. Let’s start a new thread. What were people’s childhood regrets/unhappiness? Mine was that I didn’t have my own horse. I had to make do riding the coalman’s.

      1. Mine was living out in the boondocks when my friends mostly lived in or near the town.

        1. Mine was missing out on my long summer holiday in Argentina when my father brought me back to England at the end of 1953 and his mother enrolled me in the local primary school for most of my "holiday" so that I would not get in her hair. However, I had the last laugh when we returned in 1954, because there was a revolution by the army to rid the country of the dictator President Peron and school was cancelled for a couple of months as a result.

          1. Goodness Elsie, that was very unfair!
            A similar thing happens whenever a German family moves from Bavaria (school holidays start at the beginning of August) to one of the northern states where the summer holidays END around the 8th August. I knew a family that did that!

          2. Tell the Bavarian Army to start a revolution and hopefully they will impose Martial Law and close schools! Lol.

        2. Mine was missing out on my long summer holiday in Argentina when my father brought me back to England at the end of 1953 and his mother enrolled me in the local primary school for most of my "holiday" so that I would not get in her hair. However, I had the last laugh when we returned in 1954, because there was a revolution by the army to rid the country of the dictator President Peron and school was cancelled for a couple of months as a result.

  11. Good morning, all. Frost overnight and now the Sun is rising in a clear sky.

    Puff pastry to make and then off later to prune my elder sister's apple tree.

    Lee Hurst sums the position of Zelensky and the EU nicely.

    Where does yesterday's Oval Office spat leave Starmer? Rattling his sabre and writing cheques as he vies to become a latter day Napoleon at the head of the EU cabal or has a bit of common sense crept in and revealed the shit-show that he has so eagerly embraced is about to crash bigly?

    https://x.com/FlashForFreedom/status/1895615293919293573

    1. BTL – "Yeah but the Euro fascists will put the Ukraine flag on their Facebook profiles. That will show Trump & Putin"

    1. The comments in the Daily Mail are more balanced than I expected.
      There appear to be more people appreciating the intricacies of the Ukraine war than perhaps we guessed.

  14. Good morning all and a Happy St. David's day to our Welsh contingent!
    A frosty start, -1.3°C on the thermometer, marginally up from a low of -1.4!!!
    Otherwise a bright and sunny morning with the sun already shining on the trees and Pig of Lead over the road.

    They appear to have published the DT Letters rather early yesterday evening, over 300 BTL comments when I logged on with a LOT of criticism of Trump over his spat with the Ukrainian dictator.

    1. I thank you from the depth of socialist republic, being the only one, I think, apart from Oberst who has honorary status.

      1. I have Welsh ancestors. I only live a couple of miles from the Socialist Republic border. Marcher law for the Marches!

        1. My left leg from the knee down, will be celebrating St Paddy's Day on the 17th, to be sure.

        3. I have ancestors from the Marches. My father used to tell us we were the rightful owners of Ludlow Castle. He was a man whose sense of humour I have appreciated increasingly over the 40 years since I lost him but he was occasionally on the level so who knows..

          1. I have only lived in the Marches for the last forty years or so, but I can understand why they had their own laws and were ruled by the Marcher Barons!

  18. Advertisers Double Their Backing of the People’s Channel

    The latest set of GB News’ financial accounts make for happy reading for lovers of a free UK media with the channel’s tv audience share up a stonking 53%. Its radio share up even more…

    Less so for the hapless censorship groups such as Stop Funding Hate, who racked up a cool £28,005 net income loss while flapping at brands for the perplexing crime of advertising their services and products to their likely customers. Perhaps a rebrand is in order at SFH: Stop, Find Help…

    It will come as no surprise to co-conspirators that business didn’t heed SFH’s loopy advice and instead flocked to GB News in their droves as advertising revenue at the People’s Channel more than doubled over the year to more than £8 million. And this doesn’t even include the wodge from the latest big brands to see sense – M&S, Asda and Heinz…

    February 28 2025 @ 16:15

        1. The advertising revenue is still very thin but it's good to see it moving firmly in the right direction. I enjoy walking into local vendors (e.g. Specsavers) who boycott GBN and telling bewildered staff that I am boycotting them…and "Yah-Boo-Sucks"

        2. The advertising revenue is still very thin but it's good to see it moving firmly in the right direction. I enjoy walking into local vendors (e.g. Specsavers) who boycott GBN and telling bewildered staff that I am boycotting them…and "Yah-Boo-Sucks"

    3. I haven’t noticed the upswing in quality advertising yet. I do hope that the various Welsh advertisers who provided some much needed revenue in the early stages are given a hefty discount and we can still find out where to offload our gold jewellery or get a mobility aid.

  19. There are vested interests in continuing the war in Ukraine, continuing the Net Zero climate hoax and supporting dangerously fatal gene therapy. That is why Trump is so loathed.

  20. Good morning all,

    Beautiful sunny frosty morning , very cold . The view from an upstairs window looking north across the village and beyond is glorious .. pinkish sky , trees in the distance , willows nr the river are almost red , and there is a hazy muddle of forest waking up to the start of Spring, looking over and beyond the far distance.

    The puff of condensed air from bungalows and houses as the c/h kicks in is noticeable .. as was the air I puffed out as I stepped outside to put an empty plastic milk bottle in the bin .

    Son is preparing for his Saturday 5k Park Run , so he will be off to Poole this time , a change of venue for him .

    Moh and I were so shocked when we watched the Trump interview , it was very similar to a boxing match face off, as son commented .

    I hope Starmer and co examine that interview , and get prepared , big problems lay ahead , Starmer is an idiot .

      1. Yes , indeed .

        We have 4 bins .. and we have also paid extra for a garden bin .. we use a garden compost bin for grass cuttings and peelings .. but Moh has been scarifying the lawn .. tons of moss .. which will go in the large green garden bin, all bins are collected fortnightly , in rotation.

        1. I just have moss with very occasional grass and a variety of creeping nuisance plants..

    2. A tad below -1°C when I checked this morning and a bit chilly round the back of the house when I checked the gas & electric readings as I try to do every 1st of the month.

  21. Morning, all Y'all.
    News article just now, seems that Zelensky – Trump meeting wasn't a success. To put it mildly.

        1. I thought you were going to write “look forward to a rematch. Best of three “😀

  22. Zelensky will need to eat humble pie or resign, which would be a pity.

    He is a hero in the same mould as Churchill

    Nurse…..

  23. Good Morning!

    Duke Maskell is back with a look at BBC bias, using an exceptionally bad example of the interview with the former leader of the Muslim Council of Great Britain by a leftist interviewer about the aftermath of Hamas’s barbarous attack on Israel. Needless to say, the main concern was Islamophobia. Read BBC Impartiality?  and tell us what you think.

    If you are not outraged at the blatant two-tier justice on display by the release of the violent left wing thug of an MP after spending only three days in clink, you jolly well ought to be. It’s cold outside, so read Two-tier justice on full display to get your blood boiling, and keep warm by writing an indignant comment or two.

    Energy watch 07.30: Demand: 30.3 GW. Total UK Production: 25.01 GW from: Hydrocarbons 33.8%; Wind 18.7%; Imports 19.7%; Biomass 9.9; Nuclear 13.7. Solar: 0%.

    We are importing almost 20% of our electricity, mostly from France despite demand being very low and UK having the capacity to produce all of current demand from our own gas powered stations.

    freespeechbacklash.com

      2. Where the hell were you yesterday?
        I posted some photos (on this forum) for your information but you couldn't get out of bed!☹️

        1. Good morning Grizzly

          Your avatar reminds me that we haven't seen the Hatman here recently – is he appearing under a new alias or has he abandoned us?

          1. Good morning, Rastus. 'Pud' (his preferred name) runs a few YouTube channels of his own and is mainly busy elsewhere.
            He pops up occasionally on here to give greetings.

      3. When dear old Rumpole did something wrong he did not run off; his tail went between his legs, he avoided eye contact and he slunk away guiltily. Poor chap – he was burdened by having a conscience.

  25. Good morning all! White rabbits, and happy St. David’s day!
    It is our youngest grandson’s 1st birthday today (can’t believe where the year has gone!) so we are all convening at the farm for sandwiches, cake and jelly! See you later, chums!

    2. Morning Sue ,

      Early babyhood rushes by so quickly , aren't we all amazing as we learn to crawl then stumble along and babble our early words .. We have all taken the same route .

      Babies are great mimics and fast learners . Has your grandson learnt to say anything yet , or take a few steps?

      Enjoy your day .

      1. Thank you Belle!
        He is absolutely solid on his feet, walks everywhere (hence the new shoes!) and says ‘Ta’ and ‘Dad’! Pretends he can’t say ‘Mum’!

        1. A certain old Anglo-Saxon verb can be used actively and passively.

          Your existence was the result of your father's active use of that verb; your future is thwarted when he suffers the passive application of it by the government.

      5. There is a lot of character there in that little face! And a very sturdy little lad!

  28. 402364+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Most likely has come as a shock too many and a wake up call, if ever.

    President Trump justifiably dressing down Mr Zelensky
    linked with the touch of peoples unrest,seemingly the whole Athens population, clearly shows PEOPLE POWER in the right hands is a major rectification tool.

    The political S(TOOL) realising how lucky he was in
    scarpering with his lying tongue intacked I think will call a Cobra meeting in the snake pit soonest in regards to combating these peace addicts.

    Saturday 1 March: The shocking spectacle of Donald Trump bullying Volodymyr Zelensky

      1. I have walked across Pontcysyllte aqueduct (and been across in a boat). Sadly it seems to be a favoured spot for suicides.

        1. Well, if you are about to leave the world, maybe that as the last view would be comforting.

    3. My late Welsh husband used to call me "Cariad Bach". But I was baffled because I was more of a Beethoven fan. Lol.

    1. I'm sure His Majesty's Official Opposition will call her out for this. Not.

        1. When there is no power and no heating, they might think that it’s better to move back home. Wishful thinking, I’m afraid.

    3. Every day I wonder how Rachel from complaints could be so stupid, and each day she demonstrates that she hasn’t reached her worst yet!!

      1. The lamentable change is from the best;
        The worst returns to laughter.

        ……………… the worst is not
        So long as we can say 'This is the worst.'

        [Edgar: King Lear]

    1. Telegraph View
      Net zero plans are divorced from reality
      If the Prime Minister has any sense he will drop Mr Miliband and remove the CCC’s statutory powers

      Telegraph View 26 February 2025 9:00pm GMT

      Most people are probably only vaguely aware of the existence of the Climate Change Committee (CCC), if they think about it at all. They are, however, fully apprised of some of the thinking that underpins the dash to net zero.

      The CCC came into existence under the Climate Change Act pioneered by Ed Miliband during his first incarnation as Energy Secretary in Gordon Brown’s government. It has powers to advise ministers on the implementation of public policy measured against a set of statutory targets which have been tightened over the years, especially by Theresa May and Boris Johnson.

      The CCC issues regular reports on how well it considers the Government is doing to achieve the removal of all carbon-based sources from British energy production. Its latest publication – the Seventh Carbon Budget – is a work so divorced from reality that it is hard to take it seriously. Yet it will be the basis for energy policy in the coming years unless the Government stops it, as it must if it is to have any hope of generating economic growth.

      The proposed expansion of Heathrow and Gatwick airports will make it harder to achieve carbon change dates. Unless the statutory elements of these targets are removed, the courts will intervene whenever it looks like they will be missed.

      The CCC makes assumptions about purchases of electric vehicles and heat pumps to replace gas boilers that are completely fanciful. By 2040, half of homes will need a heat pump and 60pc of HGVs are going to have to be electric even though at the moment hardly any exist. It projects that meat consumption is going to fall by 25 per cent within 15 years, with the numbers of cattle and sheep plunging as land is given over to trees to soak up carbon. Even if this were desirable, how is it to be achieved?

      We keep being told by Mr Miliband that moving to renewable energy will mean lower bills and yet they are going up again in the spring. The UK has some of the highest electricity costs in the industrialised world, hampering businesses and deterring investors from overseas.

      The moment is rapidly approaching when Sir Keir Starmer will have to choose between the ambitions of his Chancellor and those of his Energy Secretary. We have seen already with overseas aid that he is willing to drop statutory requirements if the circumstances warrant it. If he has any sense he will drop Mr Miliband and remove the CCC’s statutory powers.

      1. As I said above – disband/sack the ignorant zealots, including the CCC and including the idiot Miliband! Sadly TTK lacks the intelligence and leadership to do the right thing.

    5. Got a nice action. Reminds me of my red setter at Bognor. We called it his “Canute “ moment.

      1. 402364+ up ticks,

        Morning OLT,

        Sid Krome,
        latter sec, of my comment
        in short LIFE / MANDATORY DEATH.

  35. Blog by John Leake from Focal Points. He writes plenty of insightful commentary:
    Headline-"Zelensky's Conduct Indicates He is Accustomed to Ukraine Calling the Shots"
    Fiery exchange in Oval Office raises suspicion that Ukrainian operatives have been in charge of U.S. policy for last four years.

    Everything about Zelensky’s conduct in the Oval Office, starting with his dress, indicates he has grown accustomed to believing that Ukrainian operatives are in charge of U.S. policy with respect to Ukraine and Russia. Serious psychologists—including criminal psychologists—should carefully study his behavior and statements.
    I cannot think of a single instance in U.S. history in which a foreign head of state—never mind one who is petitioning the U.S. for assistance—has acted in such an impudent and imperious way. Though British forces burned down the Capitol and the White House in 1814 (during the War of 1812) the British delegation to the Treaty of Ghent the following year treated the American delegation with far more decorum.
    Has the Ukrainian security service been running a blackmail operation in Washington for the last four years? Has Ukraine’s well-known international money laundering complex been kicking U.S. money back to compliant U.S. politicians since the first tranche of financial and military support was sent to Ukraine? Is Zelensky using cocaine? For whatever reasons, his behavior is expressive of the longstanding mental habit of believing that Ukrainian agents have been, de facto, calling the shots in Washington.
    I hope that President Trump and Vice President Vance fully understand the implications of Zelensky’s outrageous conduct, and what this suggests about who has been in charge of Washington for the last four years.
    Indeed, much of Zelensky’s performance—in front of the U.S. media—struck me as characteristic of a foreign agent who is trying to inflame civil unrest in the United States.
    Does Zelensky believe that he can use the insane and catastrophically stupid U.S. mainstream media to incite subversive, anti-Trump elements in the United States to create civil unrest and pressure President Trump to do his bidding?
    If I were President Trump and Vice-President Vance, I would, at this point, regard Zelensky with extreme suspicion of being an outright national security risk.
    On a positive note, President Trump did a good job of articulating that his aspiration at this point is NOT to take sides, but to mediate a negotiated settlement to stop the killing and end the conflict.

    1. Oh Dear – Priti Patel on X – "President Zelensky has led Ukraine through its darkest hour. His leadership, coupled with the remarkable courage of the Ukrainian people, have inspired us all and crucially held back Russia’s illegal invasion. The Ukrainian people have faced horrors that few of us could imagine." Really? A bit more research needed, methinks!

      1. Everything is a carefully curated narrative these days. As the writer above suggests the attitude of Zelensky may be another example of this.

    1. The CCC are obviously ignorant zealots – disband it and save millions, and more importantly, us!

  37. Summary:

    Trump made it clear that the US would continue delivering military aid. All Zelensky had to do was remain calm for a few more minutes and they would've signed a minerals deal.

    Zelensky kept trying to go beyond what was negotiated in the deal.. demanding US troops on the ground.

    Then, Zelensky decided to challenge Vance and ask him hostile questions. He went back to his point that Putin never sticks to ceasefires, once again implying that negotiations are pointless.

    So much incompetence & emotional instability, the relationship with the administration is broken. Ukraine should probably go with new leadership at this point.

      1. Zelenskyy is an actor wearing a costume pretending he is a soldier. He is a delusional fool who thinks he can dictate while having nothing. Trump just slapped some reality into him and so he stormed off.

    2. Trump and Vance certainly stripped away the usual nods, winks and brown envelopes behind closed doors.
      The two ganging up on Zelensky didn't look good, though we must remember that the media only show what pushes their own agenda.
      At the bottom of this affair is an understandable loathing of sending American, British and European youngsters into the meat grinder to pursue a centuries old scrap between Russia and Ukraine.
      This nonsense started with defending "brave little Belgium" – thank you, Victoria for marrying your 'Belgian' cousin.

      1. It was unfortunate that the eyes of the world saw this spat – it should have been settled behind closed doors and the press not invited in till it was signed and sealed.

  38. Call centres using AI to ‘whiten’ Indian accents

    The world’s biggest call centre company is using artificial intelligence to “neutralise” Indian accents for Western customers.

    Teleperformance said it was applying real-time AI software on phone calls in order to increase “human empathy” between two people on the phone.

    The French company’s customers in the UK include parts of the Government, the NHS, Vodafone and eBay.

    Teleperformance has about 90,000 employees in India and tens of thousands more in other countries.

    Would it not be better to employ 'local staff' in the countries that they live in?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/03/01/biggest-call-centre-operator-uses-ai-remove-indian-accent/

    1. Given the extra costs (social and financial) being piled on British employers – next month brings in increased burdens – you cannot blame the out-sourcing.

    2. Local staff in some cities here would have stronger accents or not speak English at all! Oh, you mean indigenous. Perish the thought a firm should employ whitey.

    1. Frankly Belle, I think Winston would have been embarrassed. He was far to clever to walk into that sort of drama.

      1. No, I think it is fair comparison. Britain at the time was facing defeat by the Nazis, as they embarked on bombing and besieging into submission the island nation, dependent on its empire for sustenance. Churchill went to the White House with a begging bowl, same as Zelenskyy.

        What's the difference?

        1. Nobody forced Zelensky to do anything as silly as pick a fight with Trump in front of the cameras. I think he had been told that was his part.

          1. Rumour has it he'd had a meeting with the usual warmongering suspects before going to the White House, presumably to let him know they'd continue to support his unwinnable war against Russia. So he went in to meet with Trump with an inflated idea of his own importance, knowing that there's so many people who'll support him against Trump.

      1. Yep. The White House Rose Garden was dug up for food production in WWII.

        1. I know. It’s not funny, is it? Islam does what it says on the tin – submission.

  41. On the Patrick Christys show in front of a live audience on GB News last night he asked the floor:

    Who is with Team Trump?
    Who is with Team Zelensky?

    The vote was unanimously for Trump.

    I would vote for Trump – any other Nottlers prepared to nail their colours to the mast?

      1. Which is, in its self, not a bad thing if it wakens people up from their complacency.

    3. 'Morning Rastus…all over social media elsewhere…if it's not Trump, it's Vance. Zelensky is finished.

      1. I noticed that all the delicate flowers over at the Telegraph are throwing a hissy fit and all are pro Zelenskyy. Thus goes the MSM.

        1. Bizarre…I know some people, ones I’m usually on the same page with, also pro Zelensky. Re-evaluation ahead, perhaps….

          1. Quite frankly KJ100 I have always though it is better to be on the same page as Truth. It is difficult sometimes and it takes a great deal of effort. To arrive at an opinion I read, read, read, and listen, listen listen and try to cover as many points of view as possible. You can never be right, of course, but you can get to an approximation and if other people agree with you or come along with you then that is awfully nice.

          2. I try similarly, johnathan…read and think. There are a number of flashpoints now…not merely Russia, but China, Iran, Turkey to name but a few. Trying to stay positive, not easy.

          3. Yes. It seems to me that apart from the Islamic invasion of Europe and Britain, the real danger is China. That is why it is foolish to have Russia, a stalwart Christian country, as our enemy. It is short sighted and foolish. They can help us deal with both. The sad thing is that Russia, after the fall of the USSR, asked if it could join NATO and they were rejected.

          4. I recall the application, johnathan. As you say, both short sighted and foolish. I hope it’s not too late, and Trump/Vance find a way to do a deal. Apologies foer brevity, running out of time today…

        2. Trump made a mess of this in front of the whole world. Lost the kindly Grampa Trump public image he likes to project. Short tempered and testy, not good if you want to negotiate in public.
          Americans often give the impression of being out of touch with the world outside the US. They're sweet and sugary so long as their cherished beliefs are not challenged but should that happen lose their cool very quickly .

          1. I'm sorry but I lived in the USA for 40 years. Your image of Americans is a stereotype and therefore completely off kilter with reality. Trump at no time has tried to project "…the kindly Grampa Trump public image…" Those who know him say that what you see is what he is, there is no private or public persona, he is just Trump.

            And in no way are Americans out of touch with the world, sweet and sugary so long as their cherished beliefs are not challenged. They are dealing with much the same problems as us with the PC plague, illegal aliens and the threat of Islam. In fact what you would find quite disturbing is that Americans are much like us. In fact very little difference in the way they think or see the world. But as I have said before if it isn't one thing it is another that many British people pretend to be superiour because in this day and age that is all they have to offer since they have given up the country to radical socialists who are intent on destroying the English, our history, and who we are.

          3. My experience of the US goes back 70 years. Half my family are American and I lived there as child. My son and his family have lived 10 years in LA and as you might imagine my wife and I spend time there.
            British superiority? Well I’ve lived in Spain for nearly 50 years, my wife and children are Spanish and often we get the impression that Americans seem to live on a different planet
            I like America and its people but I do know what they are like.

          4. You may have lived there as a child butt the country has changed a lot since then and you clearly misunderstand and mischaracterise them. 10 years in Lala land is as real as living in London with the screaming pseudo-socialists of Kensington with their soy lattes. It explains your unreal image of the country!

          5. Not at all. California is one of the most populous states. As I previously indicated half my family is American, my ancestors first went to America in the early 17th century and one of my 19th century relatives was a US president. I am in contact with many cousins who hail from different parts of the continent.Some of them visited us last year here in Spain.
            Believe me I speak from experience.

          6. You may have lived there as a child butt the country has changed a lot since then and you clearly misunderstand and mischaracterise them. 10 years in Lala land is as real as living in London with the screaming pseudo-socialists of Kensington with their soy lattes. It explains your unreal image of the country!

      1. I'm afraid that the only person with the capacity to bring peace to Ukraine is Vladimir Putin. It's not Zelenskyy's to give, except in the form of surrender and indefinite vassaldom, any more than it is Trump's, except as a way of getting his cut of the profits, at least a return on investment as a starting point.

        The war would end tomorrow if Putin stopped the bombardments and withdrew his tanks.

        It ain't going to happen though for as long as he thinks he's onto a winner.

        1. Well, as you know, I'm on the side of the Russians. Putin will make peace as long as he is able to keep the Russian speaking areas of Ukraine, as he should because they were persecuted by the Ukrainians. Zelenskyy will still have most of his fake country and still have most of the minerals/precious earth etc and still have most of the rich farm land. He should be thankful because if he doesn't stop he will be ground into the dust because the idea that Russia is militarily exhausted is a matter of false Western propaganda. Russia is on a war footing just as we were for WWII. and their economy is doing well. Russia has not wanted to advance but the West has mistaken that for weakness. They have achieved their ambition and have no reason to go further save as a defensive act.

          1. I'm not convinced Putin, if he thought he was on a winning streak, would stop at that any more than Hitler was satisfied with the ethnically German parts of Europe. He already has designs on Moldova, parts of Georgia and the Baltic republics. If there is regime change in Belarus, he may well go for them too.

            As we learnt from the likes of Erdogan and Netanyahu, any pretext can be found to justify a full-blown ethnic assault on a people.

            And why would it stop at Russia, if others felt they had the strength to try it on?

            It is unrealistic for Zelenskyy to imagine he can maintain allied support indefinitely if he is never able to gain the resources to defend his territory (a key test of sovereignty), but this bitter abandonment needs to be done in such a way that wilful aggression by a superior power is not rewarded, or the world will be in serious doo-dah.

          3. What makes for a real country? I would say the desires of its people. They only thing that gives authenticity to Belgium is that its people do not want to be French or Dutch, despite the frictions between those two main language groups.

        2. Would it??

          Or would Kiev continue its attacks on the Donbass and Donesk regions? Would the Nato countries, without US support, try and provoke Russia again in some way, needing a political diversion from their own domestic troubles?

          1. We already know that Ukraine, especially under its current leader, would not rest easy until the pre-2014 borders were restored, including Crimea. How they achieve this is a mystery though.

            NATO has made it abundantly clear that there is no appetite, least of all with the current US president, for picking a fight with Russia, nor even for spending vast amounts on a lost cause. A recognition of Ukraine’s sovereignty, a reminder to any tin-pot warlord that they cannot get away with invading a weaker nation without reprisals, and a bit of peace and quiet and some good honest business resuming there is about the limit to what the NATO countries would be prepared to pay for.

            Donald Trump himself may well point to the USA and ask “what domestic troubles?”. They went away when he was elected, and it’s beautiful there now. Some may not agree with him, but that’s what I think he believes.

            As for the European contingent, are you suggesting they are up to the job of successfully provoking Russia? The British cannot even build a railway any longer without bankrupting itself. If Russia is being provoked, it is because in their plan to be provoked in order to justify something unpleasant.

            Do you remember that rock in a Moscow park that British spies used to send messages? That must have amused the Kremlin enormously as they used it as a handy way of getting free intelligence for the price of a babushka with a camera. In the end, it was getting so silly, the FSB put MI6 out of its misery and let them know they were sussed.

    5. We'll see how this works out but for the moment Trump and Vance have made a dog's breakfast out of this. Trump comes out as a wannabe Godfather. Where were his much talked about deal making skills? All they did was take advantage of Zelensky's limited English, raising their voices and shouting over him.
      Very disappointing performance.

      1. Have you not seen Zelensky shouting about the West's not supporting the Ukraine with enough guns, drugs and money?

      2. That is nonsense. I suggest you go over to You Tube and watch the whole thing. It is evident that Zelenskyy wants to carry on killing, not make peace and that is why Trump loses patience. Zelenskyy was there to sign rights concerning minerals, that was all that was intended in this meeting. But he was not content with that but started complaining. Even the Ukrainian ambassador to the UK is appalled by Zelenskyy. And afterwards when asked on TV if he would like to say 'thank you' for all the help that the USA has given him he still refuses then posts a sarcastic notice on X. In short it was Zelenskyy that ambushed Trump and that is why Trump was angry. and rightly so.

          1. I did that too. I also posted Trumps remarks afterwards on here from Fox. The link is below.

          3. He did not thank Trump or Vance. He isn't interested in peace. His hatred for Putin is so irrational he would rather have more people slaughtered and the guy is so irrational that he wont admit he has lost. So, well done, 2 million dead, isn't that a great achievement for nothing.

          4. ‘hatred for Putin is so irrational’? That is an incredible thing to say. How would you suggest he should feel about Putin? He’s a very nasty old man who may cause another world war and put the whole world in danger. Indeed he frequently countenances the destruction of the West, gloating about how he’ll destroy the British Isles.

          5. I think Putin has shown remarkable patience in the face of all this, and his requests in the peace dealings have been no more than they were in the first instance when he first 'invaded'. It took him eight years to do so, and under US provocation. Of course, if you get your information from the UK press which, incidentally, is no longer a free press with investigative journalism, they project a 'Putin' gloating over how he will destruct the British Isles when in actual fact he does nothing of the sort.

    6. I'm not a fan of Trump and never have been, but it's about time someone injected some common-sense and truth into the lying world of politics.

      1. One doesn't have to like him to vote for him, he isn't going to be a best buddy. I have warmed to him over the years, despite his bluster he isn't a war-monger and he has common sense in abundance. He is also well prepared, he certainly hit the ground running ready for take-off as soon as his feet were, literally in this case, under the table. What's not to like? Certainly the press and other media manipulate our perceptions of the man as he doesn't adhere to their leftist ideals.

    7. I side with Trump. He tells it like it really is. He also believes in “action this day “.

    8. It is never 100%, and fault can be found in both camps easily enough. Zelenskyy has been asking a lot of the Americans, and there comes a time when one tires of street beggar, however sympathetic one is to his plight.

      However when the school bully is beating up the nerd, cheered on by those who want to side with the winner, I am with the nerd. I was bullied myself and know what it's like.

      Maybe it's the Englishman in me that favours the underdog, if only because the game is better that way. It was an unfair contest to stage that slanging match where one side had two heavyweights on their home turf whose mother tongue is English, shouting down a smaller man on his own, in a position of weakness already, and English is his second language (or even third, since he speaks Russian).

      It wasn't fair, and that offends me.

      And where is the UN in all this?

    12. Given the alternative of Harris, Biden or Clinton, I'd hold my nose and vote for the actor with the giant personality cult around him. Trump's good fun, but he's just a puppet.

  42. Following the Trump/Vance reality check for Zelensky, it has become a really good weekend for "Normie Spotting". This sort of person still listens to/watches Mainstream News. An academic study at the University of Derby (or, perhaps, Lincoln) would likely find a high correlation with number of boosters received and reluctance to give up mask wearing.

    Warning: do not attempt to engage in banter or serious conversation with normies …. they can hold their opinions very strongly …

    1. I'm trying to hold on to a friendship with a 'normie' I have known for 56 years. It is difficult going. Sadly I might have to say goodbye. The sanctimonious drivel is getting to me. Trump is the devil and it's nonsense that there was anything wrong with Biden. (Sigh)

      1. Never do hypocritical sanctimonious progressive liberal frauds whinge more, or have more opinions, than about things which they do not understand.

  43. Following the Trump/Vance reality check for Zelensky, it has become a really good weekend for "Normie Spotting". This sort of person still listens to/watches Mainstream News. An academic study at the University of Derby (or, perhaps, Lincoln) would likely find a high correlation with number of boosters received and reluctance to give up mask wearing.

    Warning: do not attempt to engage in banter or serious conversation with normies …. they can hold their opinions very strongly …

  44. 402364+ up ticks,

    February 26, 2025

    His Excellency
    Lord (Peter) Mandelson
    Ambassador of the United Kingdom
    British Embassy
    3100 Massachusetts Avenue NW
    Washington, D.C. 20008
    United States

    Dear Lord Mandelson,

    We are writing before the upcoming meeting between Prime Minister Keir Starmer and President Donald J. Trump to register our concern about the proposed plans for a new and expanded Chinese “super-embassy” on the site of the Royal Mint Court in London. Although there seems to be some tentative approval by UK officials for the project, it is our opinion that gifting the Chinese Communist government with the largest embassy in Europe is a counterproductive and unearned reward.

    Incongruously, the People’s Republic of China gets the largest embassy in Europe while thousands of political prisoners are detained in Hong Kong (including UK citizen Jimmy Lai), while the UK’s market is flooded with goods—from tinned tomatoes to solar panels—made with forced labor in China, and while diplomats associated with the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices spy on UK and EU citizens. At the same time, the Chinese Communist government is committing atrocities against Uyghurs and Tibetans, uses torture against political prisoners, and employs almost daily military and “grey zone” threats to intimidate the people of Taiwan—including cutting cables, a tactic we have seen employed in the Baltic as well.

    Moreover, conceding the Chinese Communist government such a prominent diplomatic foothold in the UK will only embolden its efforts to intimidate and harass UK citizens and dissidents and experts across Europe who oppose or criticize its policies. China’s transnational repression operations are well-documented in the UK and throughout Europe. In the United States, organizations linked to Chinese embassies spy on Chinese students and scholars and helped mobilize “volunteers” to harass protesters who tried to raise human rights concerns during Xi Jinping’s visit to San Francisco for the APEC conference in 2023.

    In addition, your government is likely well aware of the Chinese Communist Party’s systematic effort to coopt social and business elites to advance its political and economic goals through malign influence operations, which include subverting free speech and other democratic values and overlooking unfair trade practices to gain economic advantages, including the use of forced labor in prisons and in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

    We know that Prime Minister Starmer has expressed concern about Jimmy Lai’s detention and promised to make his release a UK government “priority.” We urge him to use his meeting with President Trump to coordinate efforts to gain Lai’s unconditional release.

    We take seriously the special relationship between the U.S. and the UK and offer these opinions in the spirit of friendship and in service of an ongoing and strong alliance. We ask that you convey our concerns to Prime Minister Starmer during his upcoming visit to the United States and would be happy to discuss them with you at your convenience.

    Sincerely,

    Christopher Smith
    Member of Congress

    John Moolenaar
    Member of Congress

    1. 402364+ up ticks,

      Far from listening to sound logic the political S(TOOL) has his very own political prisoner agenda, starting with Tommy Robinson.

  45. It had to happen but it was when I switched off.
    The BBC this morning programme introduced a new addition to their more than slightly adverse contributions by wishing everyone, happy ram the dam. And introducing a huge over weight lady wrapped in black material. Click gone…… but obviously still out there.
    I wonder how many sheep have been stolen so far ?

    1. I saw the interview and I thought to myself that she wouldn't have any problem going without food for twelve hours or so.

    2. I saw the interview and I thought to myself that she wouldn't have any problem going without food for twelve hours or so.

    3. I saw the interview and I thought to myself that she wouldn't have any problem going without food for twelve hours or so.

  46. Good Moaning.
    And it actually is!
    MB happily playing in the garden supervised by Spartie.

    1. After all the aid in recent years and the massive costs in money and lives in suppressing the slave trade, I entirely agree. Final and best offer – a one way trip back to Africa!

    2. Those third-world countries would do better to concentrate on working to improve their own lot rather than rely on handouts.

  48. Morning, folks. Hard frost last night. Lovely sunny day again today. Just digesting my breakfast and about to slob through a free day. After I have walked the dogs I shall have to get cracking in the garden.
    Poor little Zel. I have no sympathy whatsoever.

    1. Among many other things, I find his tailored "military" wardrobe very irritating.

      2. Maybe so, but criticising someone's attire in public is extremely bad manners. It seems to be the catalyst for the row. I wouldn't be surprised if it were staged to start the spat.

          1. I’m sure Zelensky has made enough money out of all the foreign aid to be able to dress himself very expensively. The reason he dresses like that is to make himself appear as a heroic war leader. Which he isn’t.

          1. Like the Prince Regent (later George IV) persuading himself that he was a real soldier who fought at Waterloo.

          2. With the crowds there, especially at Rush Hour, one needs to have military training…

      3. 'tailored'? It hardly looks like that to me.His country is at war, he probably thinks a business suit is inappropriate. Why does it irritate you?

  50. Statement by Member of the Ukrainian Parliament, Alexander Dubinsky

    The events of the past hours – the public humiliation of Zelensky at the White House, Trump’s acknowledgment of Zelensky's diplomatic failure, and Ukraine’s loss of unconditional U.S. support – have marked the final act of the regime's collapse.
    But Zelensky has not only failed in foreign policy – he has driven the country into a state where anyone who disagrees with his course faces repression.

    I was thrown into prison not for a crime, but for speaking the truth. The very truth that Trump has now stated: Zelensky has lost. He has no cards left to play, he is running out of soldiers, and the country has reached a dead end due to his stubbornness.

    I demand the immediate convening of an emergency session of the Parliament, where Parliament must initiate impeachment proceedings against Zelensky for:

    – the failure of foreign policy, which has led to Ukraine's international isolation and the loss of allied support.
    – a lost war, which is the result of incompetent leadership and catastrophic decisions.
    – violations of citizens' rights and the usurpation of power, manifested in the suppression of the opposition, persecution of dissenters, and authoritarian rule.

    I appeal to all Members of the Ukrainian Parliament: stop wasting time, stop waiting! Zelensky is bankrupt. Zelensky is not Ukraine! It is time to put him on trial. If he cannot offer a real way out of the crisis, then it is up to us to make fateful decisions.

    Zelensky thought he could rule Ukraine through force. Now he has lost.

    Ukraine must decide – will it continue its freefall into the abyss, or will it begin the fight for true independence?

    Alexander Dubinsky
    Member of the Ukrainian Parliament

    1. Some good points but I very much doubt that Zelensky is bankrupt, at least financially! Has he found that $100Bn yet?

      1. Its 1 and a half. And I'm sure that he knows where it has gone. There was a lot of talk in LA about Ukrainian officials buying the sort of cars that normally only Arab princes shop for and a brisk market in real estate by Ukrainians.

        Zelenskyy is worth $20 million but he has a billionaire friend who pretends that his money is his but people say he's holding it for Zelenskyy

          1. No. I don't know his name but he bankrolled Zelenskyy when he was trying to become President.

          2. You're probably thinking of Ihor Kolomoyskyi who was the owner of the TV network that broadcast Zelenskyy's programme.

            On 8 May 2024, while still in detention pending trial for the previous charges, Kolomoyskyi was served with another notice of suspicion for allegedly ordering the contract killing of a law firm director in 2003.[175]

            On 13 February 2025, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy imposed sanctions on multiple oligarchs and individuals including Kolomoyskyi on suspicion of "high treason" and assisting a terrorist organization, particularly their role in compromising national security through unfavorable business agreements with Russia.[176] The next day, the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office announced the opening of criminal investigations against him and other sanctioned individuals.[177]

          3. A good manoeuvre to get his money and Kolomoyski’s. But yes I think that’s the guy I was thinking off.

    2. No doubt MP Dubinsky is in the opposing party to Zelenskyy, and is making a political point as any opposition in a democracy should. A bit like asking Kemi Badenoch what she thinks about Keir Starmer.

      I would like to ask him though what he would do it he were leader of France (another large European nation) in 1940 after the former King of the United Kingdom (whom one would have thought to be an ally of France against the Nazis) informed the German high command of the weaknesses of the French defences.

      Petain or de Gaulle?

    3. Does this clarify anything?
      In Ukraine, the political landscape is diverse, with multiple parties representing a range of ideologies. Since the election of President Volodymyr Zelensky in 2019, his political alliances and party affiliations have been a significant focus. Below are the major political parties in Ukraine, with a specific focus on those allied with Zelensky:

      ### 1. **Servant of the People (Слуга народу)**
      – **Ideology**: Center to Center-Left, pro-reform, anti-corruption.
      – **Overview**: This is the party of President Volodymyr Zelensky. Founded in 2018, the party rose to prominence quickly after Zelensky’s presidential victory in 2019. It advocates for democratic reforms, anti-corruption measures, and modernization of Ukraine’s institutions.
      – **Alliance with Zelensky**: This is Zelensky’s party, and it holds a dominant position in the Ukrainian political scene. The party controls the largest share of seats in the Ukrainian parliament (Verkhovna Rada) and is firmly aligned with Zelensky’s political platform.

      ### 2. **Opposition Platform — For Life (Опозиційна платформа — За життя)**
      – **Ideology**: Pro-Russian, populist, generally more supportive of closer ties with Russia.
      – **Overview**: This party is led by former President Viktor Medvedchuk, a politician with close ties to Russia. It advocates for an end to the war in eastern Ukraine and generally promotes closer economic and political ties with Russia. However, this party has faced significant opposition in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
      – **Alliance with Zelensky**: This party is **not** allied with Zelensky, and it is one of the main opposition forces. However, some of its members have had to adjust their stance or have been banned or sidelined due to the conflict with Russia.

      ### 3. **European Solidarity (Європейська Солідарність)**
      – **Ideology**: Center-Right, pro-European Union, nationalistic.
      – **Overview**: This party is led by former President Petro Poroshenko. It focuses on Ukraine’s integration into the European Union and NATO, and is firmly pro-Western. European Solidarity opposes Russian aggression and seeks stronger security ties with the West.
      – **Alliance with Zelensky**: While **not allied** directly, European Solidarity has at times supported some of Zelensky’s initiatives, especially those related to Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. However, the two parties are distinct, with European Solidarity often critical of Zelensky's governance, particularly in terms of reform and corruption.

      ### 4. **Fatherland (Батьківщина)**
      – **Ideology**: Center-Left, pro-European, nationalistic, populist.
      – **Overview**: Led by Yulia Tymoshenko, this party is one of Ukraine’s oldest and was a dominant force in the Orange Revolution of 2004. It has a pro-European Union stance and emphasizes national sovereignty, social welfare, and economic reforms.
      – **Alliance with Zelensky**: **Not formally allied**, but Fatherland has supported some of Zelensky’s policies, especially those related to defense and foreign policy in relation to Russia. There is cooperation on issues like sovereignty but tension on domestic policies.

      ### 5. **Radical Party of Oleh Lyashko (Радикальна партія Олега Ляшка)**
      – **Ideology**: Populist, nationalistic, center-right.
      – **Overview**: This party is known for its populist and often aggressive rhetoric, particularly towards Russia. It is generally pro-Ukrainian sovereignty and advocates for stronger defense and economic reforms.
      – **Alliance with Zelensky**: The Radical Party is **not formally allied** with Zelensky but has cooperated with his government on some key issues, such as defense and military reforms. However, it remains a relatively independent voice in the Ukrainian parliament.

      ### 6. **Holos (Голос)**
      – **Ideology**: Progressive, pro-European, liberal.
      – **Overview**: Founded in 2019 by former rock musician Svyatoslav Vakarchuk, Holos is a pro-European party that focuses on transparency, anti-corruption, and modernizing Ukraine’s economy and politics. It aims for progressive policies and reforms.
      – **Alliance with Zelensky**: While **not directly allied** with Zelensky’s party, Holos shares many common goals, especially regarding anti-corruption reforms and European integration. Holos occasionally supports some of Zelensky’s initiatives.

      ### 7. **Svoboda (Свобода)**
      – **Ideology**: Far-right, nationalist.
      – **Overview**: Svoboda is a nationalist party that advocates for the protection of Ukrainian culture and traditions, and opposes Russian influence in Ukraine. The party has historically been associated with the far-right of Ukraine’s political spectrum.
      – **Alliance with Zelensky**: **Not allied** with Zelensky. Svoboda is largely critical of Zelensky’s handling of foreign policy and his government's domestic reforms.

      ### 8. **The Radical Democratic Party of Ukraine**
      – **Ideology**: Left-wing, democratic socialism.
      – **Overview**: A smaller party that advocates for socialist policies, labor rights, and greater state involvement in the economy.
      – **Alliance with Zelensky**: **Not allied** with Zelensky and generally does not have a large influence in Ukrainian politics.

      ### Other Parties
      There are many smaller political groups and regional parties in Ukraine, many of which have minimal influence or are mainly focused on specific regional issues, such as those in Crimea, the Donbas region, or western Ukraine.

      ### Zelensky's Alliances and Political Dynamics
      Zelensky’s political style has been pragmatic, attempting to bring together various factions for the sake of national unity, especially in the context of the ongoing war with Russia. While **Servant of the People** is his primary party, Zelensky has worked with other political forces when necessary, particularly on issues like national defense, anti-corruption reforms, and European integration. However, his relationship with other political parties is often marked by tension, especially as Zelensky’s own popularity and the dynamics of the war with Russia shift.

      ### Summary of Zelensky's Main Allies:
      – **Servant of the People**: His party, with a majority in parliament.
      – **European Solidarity**: Sometimes supports Zelensky on foreign policy and defense, though often critical on domestic issues.
      – **Fatherland**: Works with Zelensky on defense and sovereignty but critical on domestic policies.
      – **Holos**: Shares some policy goals, especially on reforms and anti-corruption.

      Zelensky is also supported by smaller, more reform-minded groups, but his primary political base remains **Servant of the People**.

  51. Well I suppose the rest of the world now knows that the USA is not going to bankroll forever wars for the next four years.
    I just hope that this is a lesson for all Western countries to snap out of the self harming malaise they have all been going through for decades.
    Ironically, most of the mad ideology for all this appears to come from the USA, especially the Democrats but also Republicans before Trump, that is.
    Our governments do need to impose proper borders, they do need to control who comes here, they do need to work for the people of their nation state and stop trying to destroy their identity and gaslighting them while their histories and culture are redefined, they do need to stop de-industrialising under net zero, war proves they will need the capacity to make things to defend themselves, they do need to be able to feed their populations, that is if they want their young people to feel that they have something to fight for and defend.
    Most of all we need freedom of speech and freedom of the press, all the above self imposed madness has meant that speech and the mainstream media has had to be controlled, we haven't been informed about the war in Ukraine, it has all been just polarised, we have to support war while not knowing the history of the region or what is happening there, and if we ask questions we are Putin loving traitors, well that is not the way to get people on board to support war, is it

    2. A classic example of most of what you are saying is when it all started in Ukraine. Lord General Sir Richard Dannatt was asked his opinion on a bbc news programme. And because he would have been telling the absolute honest truth about the matter. I dont think he's been seen on TV since.
      If i remember correctly, one of the points he made was. Any country that has an ongoing dispute with a neighbouring country sharing a border, cannot be invited to become a member of NATO.

      1. And when DID it all start in the Ukraine?
        3y ago with Putin's ill advised invasion?
        Or several years before that with the Ukrainian Fascist Militias, particularly the Azov Brigade, attempting to ethnically cleans Eastern Ukraine of it's Russophones?
        Or did it start with the, allegedly, CIA inspired, Maidan Putsch that overthrew the then democratically elected, but pro-Russian Premier??

        1. The attacks on the east began after the February coup. Of course, Wiki puts it the other way around, telling us that the war in the east began in April when Russian rebels 'seized the town of Sloviansk' and Ukraine responded.

        2. It started even before that. It goes back to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the subsequent nuclear arms reduction treaty.

          Russia had forward positioned nuclear missiles in Ukraine and couldn't persuade the Ukrainians to allow their removal. While the Ukrainians never had control of the launch codes there was concern that they might attempt to tamper with the weapons.

          The Russians therefore asked the other sitting members of the UN security council to intervene. A deal was struck between Ukraine, the USA, Russia and the UK to guarantee Ukrainian borders. China and France declined to get involved. This allowed the Russians to remove the nuclear missiles.

          However the guarantee of Ukrainian borders was conditional on none of the signatories interfering in the Ukrainian democratic process. Unfortunately both the USA and Russia saw fit to interfere in the Ukrainian democratic process and which ultimately led to the Maidan coup.

          1. Even before that, J of H. WWII saw many (now blanket Ukrainians) suddenly find themselves of a different nationality – Polish, Lithuanian. Dalmatian, Russian, German etc., etc.. It is not, as you rightly point out, clear cut.

            My personal view is that we should keep our nebs out.

        3. It’s all become very confusing Bob, I wonder why the media is now mentioning minerals that were obviously already known to be in Ukraine. I seems as if they are even more strongly trying to indicate that Russia started the conflict. My overall impression has always been that Russia didn’t start the trouble, they were dragged into it. It made no sense for them to start this.

          1. By minerals, I wonder if they mean oil? The Donbass allegedly sits on a huge, unexploited field of oil and gas.

      2. I remember hearing something similar. However on doing some digging I find that to be likely an opinion rather than a strict rule.

        The problem is that there are actually no hard and fast rules for who is allowed to join NATO apart from all existing members agreeing to it. That's a fairly standard treaty requirement regardless of NATO.

        There are some basic principals involved in membership negotiations though. The show stopper for Ukraine is that membership should increase the overall security of the NATO area as a whole. Russia's stance on Ukraine suggests the opposite. It would in fact decrease the overall security of the NATO area. That pretty much give Russia a veto over Ukrainian membership.

        Interestingly Russian membership of NATO would have a somewhat more positive outcome for Ukraine since membership requires respecting neighbours borders. Don't laugh but that's how the treaty is written.

        I have the feeling that Dannatt's comment may be more linked to membership of the EU rather than NATO. I say that because EU membership requires all border disputes are resolved prior to ascension. That has been an issue in regard to what is now called North Macedonia and in regard to Turkey. Both problematic from a Greek perspective.

    3. As Rastus suggested earlier , we need to claw back money from All countries who gained their Independence in the 1950's and 60's , but who rely on us for Foreign aid .. We need to get strong with Asian and African countries in particular .

      They owe us , no ifs and no buts .

      Remind me who we are supplying £3 Billion to , what does this government think we are made of .

      For heavens sake we have just about finished paying for WW2.

        1. But at least we have the eternal gratitude of those we helped … oh, wait!

          1. Quite, SB. That did ring a bell upon the Trump/Vance fury at Zelensky's entitled "give me your money" approach.

      3. For decades so many of these countries have become totally dependant on UK taxpayers.
        Now they have the cheek to arrive on our shores and claim further expenses.

      4. For heavens sake we have just about finished paying for WW2.

        And the massive loan needed to end slavery.

    4. "most of the mad ideology for all this appears to come from the USA, especially the Democrats but also Republicans before Trump".

      I don't disagree with that statement but I'd like to clarify what it actually means.

      What you are referring to is called Globalism. Globalism in turn is a combination of Capitalism and International Socialism. Add in the resentment of Democrat Al Gore for losing the presidency to George W. Bush who was heavily financed by "Big Oil" (that gives you the climate change connection). Then add China in as a source of cheap labour favoured by the capitalists.

      I'm not going to be too specific about any of this but I'd bet my bottom dollar that the cause of the "mad ideology" is in there somewhere.

    6. They're not going to do any of that.
      They're going to have a good cry, a group hug, then carry on with the destruction of the West.

  52. Well I suppose the rest of the world now knows that the USA is not going to bankroll forever wars for the next four years.
    I just hope that this is a lesson for all Western countries to snap out of the self harming malaise they have all been going through for decades.
    Ironically, most of the mad ideology for all this appears to come from the USA, especially the Democrats but also Republicans before Trump, that is.
    Our governments do need to impose proper borders, they do need to control who comes here, they do need to work for the people of their nation state and stop trying to destroy their identity and gaslighting them while their histories and culture are redefined, they do need to stop de-industrialising under net zero, war proves they will need the capacity to make things to defend themselves, they do need to be able to feed their populations, that is if they want their young people to feel that they have something to fight for and defend.
    Most of all we need freedom of speech and freedom of the press, all the above self imposed madness has meant that speech and the mainstream media has had to be controlled, we haven't been informed about the war in Ukraine, it has all been just polarised, we have to support war while not knowing the history of the region or what is happening there, and if we ask questions we are Putin loving traitors, well that is not the way to get people on board to support war, is it

  53. Reported a number on "Who Called Me" earlier, 01135348432.
    Here's what I wrote:-

    Eeeh That was fun!
    Phone rang and, after a pause, a lady with a heavy Indian accent told me she was part of a "gubment" home insulation survey.
    An obvious scam so I spent 10 minutes playing with her, asking her to repeat and, ultimately spell the name of the organisation she was working for. Which, incidentally she did her best to ignore by simply repeating she was part of the "gubment" home insulation survey.
    After 10 minutes or so I decided to end the call and opened up with a stream of (well deserved) invective, including a good spattering of obscenities, and ended the call.
    At least I stopped her bothering someone else for 10 minutes!

    2. I've been known to tell callers – as soon as it is obvious that the call is coming from a call centre – that they've got the wrong number, and that we are either the morgue or the local psychiatric hospital. Works every time.

  54. Isn’t it a coincidence that Wellington decided to fight his battle at a place that has the same name as the Railway Station?

    2. If they ask me how I am, I have a list of ailments, headed by

      Supturating Piles
      Unstoppable Diarrhea
      Bad Breath
      The urge to kill

      or brought on by unwanted, scam based telephone calls

  56. One of the lines I used to use (I don't any more because I can't hear the phone ring, let alone the native caller) was, after ten minutes of meaningless waffle, "Does it matter that I am bankrupt?"

    1. My favourite response is: "Accident Helpline, how may I help you?….Pause…."Accident Helpline , how…. …..(disconnected phone tone)….

      2. And an Event Organiser. Employed on behalf of the globalist WEF. The Event in this case being never-ending war.

    2. ‘warrior’? No that’s rather an emotive and badly chosen word. I think he wants to remind the world that his country is defending itself against invasion.

      2. The world doesn't need any more reminding. It's been reminded almost daily for 3 years.

        It's play-acting on Zelenskyy's part. Don't forget, before becoming Ukraine's president, he was a comic actor and porn star.

  58. I've done that myself when I had time on my hands. It's fun asking the caller to repeat things over and over. Once I put the caller on hold and checked back after 10 minutes. He was still there.

  59. I am beginning to believe that they are NOT in denial, but are actively welcoming the destruction of our country.

  63. Here's another masterstroke.

    Sir Keir, Lefties & EU: "We must fund the rebuild of Gaza in the meantime.. USA, EU & UK must take in unlimited Palestinian refugees."

    Trump: Nah. I'm mulling over a plan for the US to take ownership of Gaza, expel its Palestinian population to other Arab lands and turn it into a Middle Eastern “Riviera.” Leftie meltdown in background.. screaming he's lidderally a fascist.

    5 Secs later: Arab leaders met in Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh on Friday for the first time to formulate a counterplan to fund a rebuild of Gaza and avoid taking any Palestinian refugees. The meeting – including Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other Gulf Arab nations – took place ahead of a larger Arab summit on March 4, Saudi Arabia said.

    Job done within record time. Next, Leftie mess to be cleared up?

          2. I forebore to point that out in deference to Bill’s great age, high standing and nottlers’ delicate sensibilities 😀

      2. Problemo..
        "Sir Keir's a great guy.. doing a great job. Chagos deal is Ok."
        WTF?

        1. When Trump complemented Starmer on his nice suit, Starmer didn't even realised he was being trolled.

        1. Someone recently said, why doesn't our government just sign a pact with the Islamists, hand over the UK ,(which will promptly turn to a greener version of Gaza) and we can all go move to Florida, or wherever.

    2. There's method in madness sometimes. What the hell is Master Hustler Trump playing at?

      I suppose it takes an explosives expert to handle dynamite safely. They once said of Tommy Cooper, whose act was one of utter incompetence, that he was actually one of the most accomplished magicians of all time. His fame though depended on his audience being convinced he was an idiot, or simply not knowing what was going to happen next.

      Even when he dropped dead on live TV, nobody quite believed it was not part of his act.

  65. Indeed. He talks in bullet points. No depth at all. It is quite frustrating. The thing is on non political topics he is quite alright. So I have a dilemma because I know I will regret saying goodbye. This all started too, with Trump. before that we were able to disagree without his inner Norman Bates popping out.

    2. Ukraine's not on our front line. That would be France.
      We don't have the resources to fight Russia alone on Ukraine's behalf. He's a virtue-signalling, delusional idiot, aka not Cleverley at all…

  68. The warmongers are in full screech mode. The Telegraph has just polished its globalist nameplate. Watching these cowardly people pushing to prolong the Ukraine war – to do anything to roll back the tide of common sense that has finally built a tsunami – is like seeing cockroaches on rotting meat. Starmer in uniform – a likely story. Sending missiles at £2,500,000 a pop to Zelensky to bravely annihilate Donbass civilians is his form. These people are no friends to Britain or its people.

    1. No, that's not what he's doing with them.

      He's using them to shoot down £2,500 Iranian drones.

      There must be a cheaper way to deal with them.

    1. My recent hospital stay included the same self assessment of my pain experience. Mostly low, I'm happy to report, but briefly elevated to 5-6 on a couple of occasions.

  70. I see Zelensky's plane has been directed to land at Stansted Airport. That is just rubbing salt into the wound.

    1. Not far from RAF Lakenheath …so it can be eliminated by USAF before landing if needs be.

    2. Zelensky's plane may need a fighter escort to Stansted Airport as he may have mineral water in his luggage. 🤔

  72. Some additions to Guido's Caption Competition of the Week

    uklegislation
    23h
    "I love having an English butler"

    Dissident
    23h
    Leader of the free world meets China ambassador.

  73. It's a proposal and consultation which encourages public feedback. The headline, suggesting that he alone is to ban Oxford Street traffic, is utterly misleading. Pedestrian only shopping precincts are hardly a new idea and, as far as Oxford Street is concerned, its an idea worth examining. It's not set in stone and might very well not go ahead if it meets stiff oppostion. Your personal animosity towards Sadiq Khan blinds you to the possible upsides of the idea, but its one within the remit of anybody holding the office of Mayor of London.

    1. Cars are already banned from Oxford Street. Only buses and taxis allowed.

      Cars can drive around the nearby streets.

      And should the public consultation not give him the answer he wants, he'll ignore it, as numerous other councils have done, and as he's done before.

      1. My thoughts exactly. I have taken part in lots of “consultations “ and no matter the number of well reasoned objections, the project goes ahead unchanged.

        1. Just how horrendous would life be if Oxford Street traffic were diverted elsewhere? As lms2 says, only buses and taxis are currently allowed along the thoroughfare.

          This is not about the idea, it's about an intense dislike of Sadiq Khan triggering an immediate opposition to any idea he proposes.

          1. No, it’s about the idea that those who have the power to impose their will going through the motions of “consultation” when they will do as they like anyway.

    2. Cars are already banned from Oxford Street. Only buses and taxis allowed.

      Cars can drive around the nearby streets.

      And should the public consultation not give him the answer he wants, he'll ignore it, as numerous other councils have done, and as he's done before.

    1. They may keep their blended cat-piss "whisky/whiskey".

      Give me a Tullibardine/Bruichladdich/Glenfarclas/Ardmore/Lagavulin/Singleton/Glenlivet/Dalwhinnie/Bowmore/Knockando/Talisker/
      Glenmorangie/Highland Park/Bunnahabhain/Caol Ila/MacAllan/Springbank or Balvenie single-malt ANY day.

        1. I don't have a favourite since each is distinct and I enjoy whatever fits my mood at the time.
          having sad that I would struggle to pick three to take to a desrt island. I would probably choose three from this ten:
          Springbank
          Highland Park
          Tullibardine
          Glenfarclas
          Bunnahabhain
          Glenmorangie
          Balvenie
          MacAllan
          Knockando
          Bruichladdich

          1. I'm funding Second Son's experience of whatever single malt we can get locally, shot by shot.
            He's developing taste for the Speysides, rather than the Islays. Personally, as long as he has a reason for liking them, I'm happy.
            Have you tried the Johnnie Walker Black label, and the Blue label? They are definitely worth a tasting. If you sell your car, that is.

          2. Not yet, Paul. They are available here but some only to order.

            I’ve always been a fan of Strathspey and Orkney whiskies.

    2. Some people have to to make a living. Or if they already live there with a car what do they do ?
      But the wealthy will be able to.

    3. I've never attempted it. I preferred to park up in a side road at Stanmore and jump on the Tube.

    4. I learned to drive in London. A few years back I ventured over the river. Driving hazards include Camera TV covered bus lanes and Yellow (peril) boxes, multiple No-Entry Signs on side roads so that one is funnelled away from one's destination, 20 mph zones, and a Mayor who can't get enough money from motorists. Safer to enter the Amazon rainforest!

      1. I, too, learned to drive in London back in the 1970s. I moved out in 1978 and used to visit my parents in South London regularly from my home in Kent. It became progressively more of a chore until eventually I switched to travelling by train. I wouldn’t dream of taking my car into the area bounded by the South Circular nowadays.

        1. Me too. I drove in London from 1958 to 1977. Then, very occasionally, drove to the BBC (when free parking was available). I would not even think of driving to London now.

      2. London learner drivers should be penalised for failing to knock down and run over the Mayor.

  80. 402364+ up ticks,

    The culling program is progressing healthily
    via the Russian / Ukraine conflict.

    We in England seem to have had any form of homeland defence pass us by BIG TIME, is it not a criminal offence to pay for a commodity time & again and not receive, time & again, said commodity.

    As for overseas aid being cut and pensioners having two options that are heat or eat, is there any truth that the savings went on lammys dining bill ?

    Two items on question time.

  81. Stuart Robb
    3h
    Funny that GF journos have been crickets 🦗 on the most important political story of the century. Trump has got precisely what he set out to get. He gets:
    revenge on Zel for supporting Kamala and Hunter Biden,
    an excuse to stop the US funding a war which is in stalemate, which the US has no NATO treaty obligation to support and has no pathway to end,
    Europe to pay for their own defence and realise that the US isn’t going to fund it any longer
    unfreeze relations with Russia which allows the US to restock weapons and focus on Taiwan (although given Trump is an ardent isolationist, I would place a large bet on him intervening there once the US is able to manufacture it own semiconductors again)
    However much people scream about the whole episode, it is an absolutely brilliant piece of strategic diplomacy – a checkmate move from a chess grand-master, and game, set and match for Trump.

    Martin Brookes
    4h
    The bit that seems to baffle so many in this country and all around Europe is Trump puts America first , not like our hapless politicians , who put everyone else first .

    Fallen Angel
    Martin Brookes
    3h
    Case in point yesterday when the Labour Scare crow resigned over foreign aid reduction

    Colin Macinnes
    7h
    Ray Allen & Lord Charles have gone downhill
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7673e0e7112bcef129418bb8fdb13c1202409518c33a14ad94a6809486374261.png

      1. I wonder if the SDP would have done better if it had never allied itself with the Liberal Party.

    1. And building 1.5 million houses on green belt land and handing them over to the illegal invaders who will never be able or even want to pay their own way, or contribute to the costs.
      Another spending Black Hole.

  86. I'm back. A lovely day out in bright sunshine in north-western Britany. Fascinating old churches, strange rocky shores, sandy beaches and a pleasant meal in a little restaurant. Thank you all who posted birthday wishes yesterday, it is greatly appreciated.
    Today's Wordle:
    Wordle 1,351 5/6
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    ⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜
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    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  87. Hello to all you from a beautiful Spring day here in East Dorset.
    Taken just now in the back garden. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1fe9e608f249bfc73eb63a4d662dfd2b01d8d83df7d55011c5cc2d1a21bba035.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a86760c00b9b3dbfcc4cbe7ad66aa928fc6dcd968201c592fe930b3bc084e310.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/75ad5d7f3f1c0fbf681522f9cc49b8925c60717e75ed35616141fdbd4a3d5619.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3780c80ee557c267174b02a8d0678d13c1432a77e0f81749e3dbb42d026cfac4.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9c54ba5692cfd57c9f060fd073cde70c75fa2df391c0ba7cb931709b5cc8aad9.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/da52baeb4ca6cbd15f5cb5ed7e139e91a4a28b35a7700e40ae28a8421582d12d.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3f303cfff8c47469aa79ed2248a71ea66b105ea3e0c4a013431cfdd7bb13019a.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/cffe86bbf2f27ca76d3f2c69f77d1dda9c4086e1e5a90c3d03d9b44c09d9fcb9.jpg

    1. Waves GQ, such enchanting beautiful blooms, I do love the little purple flowers very much. A wonderful reminder that springs on the way.

      1. Yes, Spring seems to have arrived here in Dorset although I have every confidence Winter hasn't retreated too far just yet.

        1. My cousin lives in Dorset, in Poole, she said it's very bright today,
          Keep your vest and socks on for a wee bit longer yet 😉

          1. Indeed yes, the shorts don't leave the wardrobe for at least anothe month.

          2. Yes, best hide those knobbly knees for as long as possible:-)

    2. My snowdrops, hellebores and aconites are just reaching their peak. No sign of the crocuses yet and the daffs are still a good month away.

      1. Sob….the one with the aerator churned up the grass and bulbs, all my beauties lost….

    3. Very nice. I don't have any white crocus, but I did notice a couple of yellow ones today (the rest are purple or lilac).

      1. I’m not sure where they came from because I don’t remember planting them.

  88. Farage: White House spat makes Putin ‘the winner’
    Row between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky ‘is regrettable but not the end of the story’, says Reform leader
     https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/03/01/farage-white-house-spat-trump-zelensky-makes-putin-winner/

    BTL

    What has got lost in all this is that unless the war is ended people – and especially young men – will be killed in the conflict as over a million have already lost their lives.

    Trump wants peace – Zelensky wants the war to continue.

    If I was an Ukrainian mother with sons of military age I might be more in agreement with the US president.

    1. Thank you, Rastus. I don't sub the 'graph, have been looking for a Farage quote. I'd be standing with Trump, too. Having some doubts about Farage/Tice/Reform lately, still trying to work out why….

        1. I think my husband may have that book, Rastus, thanks. Half my lifetime ago, I had a neighbour who worked at a tractor place, red and cream were the colours – on some local children’s bikes, too.

        2. I had that book, read it and then gave it away….no chance of wanting to read it again!

      2. The full quote:
        "The spat in the White House last night is regrettable and will make Putin feel like the winner. But this is not the end of the story, far from it. A peace deal is essential and Ukraine needs the right security guarantees."

        Sir Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, accusing the Reform leader of being "Donald Trump’s spokesman in the UK".

        "“I don’t think he got the balance between Trump bootlicker and actual British MP quite right," he added.

        The Liberal Democrat leader also called on the Prime Minister to invite Mr Zelensky to address Parliament on Monday, adding: "We mustn’t falter in the face of Trump’s bullying now."

        2. It’s quite likely Starmer will invite Z to address Parliament, might just possibly irritate POTUS. Just watched some footage of the trio T/V/Z talking, didn’t go that well from what I saw.

  89. Hello, it's been quite a pleasantly mainly sunny day after a very misty start, rather cold but atleast bright.

    1. Ditto here m'Dear and I've made decent use of the weather to get a couple of outdoor jobs done, including dropping a 3" diameter sycamore sapling which the top third had died off on.
      Just used my hand bush saw for that and then got it cut up with the chop saw to fill a couple of mushroom trays.
      I've a load of brash to get burnt so I might do that tomorrow.

      1. It wouldn't surprise me Bob to learn that you've been banned from entering Brazil on account of the fact they like the Amazon Rainforest just the way it is!

        1. As I’ve said many times, most of the wood I burn has been collected after its has either fallen off the tree or the tree has fallen over.
          The sapling I dropped today was dead at the top and close to the road, so dropping is was justified.
          And there are a couple more sycamores in a similar state.

  90. Gosh it was chilly out – watery sun turned into haze. Fortunately, there was no wind. Cats had a good time climbing on roof of neighbours' large shed; then investigating our garage – as well as cavorting in the garden!

    Now to relight the stove and make a cup of tea (I'm turning into Robert…)

    1. You have a long way to go. You have never seen the Robert size of what you refer to as a 'cup' nor the extent of his beard and you've never spent an evening singing in a pub with him.

          2. I hadn’t realised I lived so close by Grizz….seriously, should see some of mine…G’night 😘

    2. Much though I agree, I don't think that that was a wise move in 2025 Britain.
      Particularly as you are very findable.

  94. "Zelensky to meet King at Sandringham"

    I wonder whether Charlie Boy will shout at him.

    3. Nope, the JWK will make sympathetic noises and promise him the English working classes for the meat grinder. Not 2-Tier Keith’s “working people” of course. Only the indigenous.

    5. The very idea of a king entertaining a Ukrainian gangster is an insult to the indigenous population of our country who have watched our useless governments spaffing billions of our money on Ukraine whilst abandoning its own people.

      1. Let’s face it – he isn’t really a “king”, is he? Just a rather weird bloke who is away with the fairies most of the time.

  95. Wordle No. 1,351 4/6

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    1 Mar 2025

    A floating Par Four?

    1. Par for me too.

      Wordle 1,351 4/6

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    2. Argh – the dreaded -O-ER which has done for me on two previous occasions – I was fortunate to get the key letter in my third starter word and then there was only one real option…..happy with a par today!

      Wordle 1,351 4/6

      ⬜⬜⬜🟩🟩
      🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜
      ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨
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    3. Ah, you're down here as well. Still a 5 for me.

      Wordle 1,351 5/6

      ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨
      🟨🟨⬜⬜⬜
      ⬜🟩⬜🟩🟩
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  97. Wordle No. 1,351 4/6

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

    1 Mar 2025

    A floating Par Four?

    2. 5 here today.

      Wordle 1,351 5/6

      ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨
      🟨🟨⬜⬜⬜
      ⬜🟩⬜🟩🟩
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      1. #metoo.
        Wordle 1,351 5/6

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        ⬜🟩⬜🟩🟩
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    3. Par as well

      Wordle 1,351 4/6

      ⬜⬜🟨🟨🟨
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  98. I have just come back from Dorchester ,Moh has finished scarifying the lawns, he looks shattered , moss has been gathered up and bagged .. and the machine cleaned and returned to friend down the road.

    My visit to Dorchester was to try to locate a hairdresser .. there must have been nearly a dozen male hairdressers of the Iraqi type , but I couldn't find a reasonable ladies hair- do shop.

    If you remember , I mentioned a few months ago that the wonderful male hairdresser who had taken care of my hair for forty years had retired because he had sepsis , cut his finger .. yep and it had travelled up his arm .. he would be nearly 80years old , but all the ladies were charmed by him and were loyal , he was a great snipper , conversationalist , bright and amusing , and he will be missed hugely ..

    I used to travel to Wimborne every 3 months , then visit friends etc ..

    Dorchester is terrible these days , closed shops , no M&S etc, the cacophony of noise today was irritating , pipe and drum band .. headachey repetitive noise played by youngsters, talk about chasing the customers away .

    There aren't many shops over in Poundbury either .. a good little garden centre , rather nice , suitable for the limited little gardens of the huge expensive properties courtesy of His Majesty's strange Germanic weird looking buildings .

    The harshest criticism was that it's against estate rules to BBQ or hang your washing outside.

    https://poundbury.co.uk/

    1. Mother has lovely hair, seen on Facebook a few times each week. Her care home has a hairdresser in weekly, and she usually goes – I know, 'cos I get the bill… But, it's worth it for her to be happy. 😀

      1. Caroline's best hairdresser was a German homosexual who lived and worked in Marmaris. Apparently he was an artist who wielded the scissors with infinite resource and sagacity and knew how to taper the hair perfectly.

        Ever since we got married in 1988 my hair has been cut by Caroline.

        Although she is now in her early 60s she has not a single grey hair but her hair has darkened over the years. My remaining hair is now completely white.

        Here is Caroline's avatar:

        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/944248955987665883a2996da6b08ed2661a6fd138cf2ab7458ec2f1e740a092.png
        and here she is the year we married when she was in her 20s and she had fair hair:

        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2f4a72d9ce2d3d7852225fe16c6cf9f3be8ff4103bddcafe20b6ce2015ebf419.jpg

        2. Lovely youthful Caroline ..

          She still looks so sweet , I had naturally wavy hair as well.

          None of us should ever be fearful of aging , it is natural .

          How about fishing out a young Rastus photo, I expect you were as handsome as you are now?

        1. In my case, although her care home is lovely, I can’t begrudge her a little pleasure, so I’m happy to pay. It’s not a fortune, about £20 a pop.

    2. Don't you know any other women locally who might have recommendations? There must be some ladies' hairdressers in your nearby towns.

      2. Yes I do, and the hairstylists are too noisy, loud music , don't concentrate, answer their mobile phones , tap tap, sorry , ring tap tap, forget where they were on the lock of hair , low concentration etc etc, I tried once , and never again.

        Another local one produces hairstyles similar to Maggie Thatcher or a unisex look !!!

      1. Bill, you darling man , thank you for researching hair do places .. Swanage looks brill, a good afternoon out plus a nice hairdo to look forward to .

        I am delighted you took the trouble and time to have a look for me .

        Blandford is a bit limited , but Swanage has a variety of shops to visit , and a nice journey from here , not too frantic on the roads xx

  99. From Coffee House the Spectator
    01 Mar 2025
    Coffee House
    Svitlana MorenetsSvitlana Morenets
    Did Zelensky fail his nation?
    1 March 2025, 1:44pm

    Volodymyr Zelensky fought for Ukraine’s security guarantees so fiercely last night, it was as if he’d been invited to sign a surrender to Russia, not a mineral deal with the US. It was neither the time nor the place to take on Donald Trump and JD Vance for parroting Kremlin talking points – a fact Zelensky seemed to acknowledge later on Fox News. Looking visibly distressed, he admitted such matters should be handled behind closed doors. There was regret, but no apology to Trump’s camp. ‘I respect President Trump and the American people, but I’m not sure we’ve done something bad. We must be open and honest’, Zelensky said.

    The meeting in the Oval Office turned into disaster because Zelensky couldn’t bite his tongue when he should have, and because he and Trump have fundamentally different visions for how Russia’s war in Ukraine should end. Zelensky insists on receiving security guarantees to achieve lasting peace, while Trump backs quick ceasefire with security discussed afterwards. The American president was so irritated by the topic that, when asked by a reporter last night what would happen if Russia broke the ceasefire, Trump scoffed: ‘What if a bomb drops on your head right now?’.

    Trump doesn’t want to have any obligations in Ukraine and insists that Putin can be trusted not to break the ceasefire because Trump is in office. But Ukraine’s security guarantees cannot depend on another country’s temporary administration. Trump’s ignorance of this fact – and of Ukrainians’ needs to ensure the war never happens again – makes the quick peace he dreams of even harder to achieve. This is what Zelensky tried to explain in his third language last night before Trump and Vance took it personally and accused the Ukrainian president of ‘disrespecting’ them and not being grateful enough.

    For the past two weeks, the Trump’s administration has used blackmail, intimidation and provocation to force Zelensky into a deal that, in its original form, would have saddled Ukraine with $500 billion in debt to the US. Zelensky fought for a better version of the draft – one he still saw as a concession in exchange for a first step to security – before traveling from a war-torn country to the US to sign it. Zelensky may have been better off ignoring Vance’s jabs and focusing solely on speaking with Trump, but that doesn’t change the reality: Trump either genuinely lives in Russia’s disinformation bubble or is clearly on Russia’s side.

    Trump’s rhetoric – calling Zelensky a dictator, blaming Ukraine for ‘starting a war,’ demanding wartime elections to install a more obedient leader, twisting facts and making up numbers about the aid – was seen by Zelensky as a direct attack on him and his country. He entered the Oval Office ready to defend. Did Zelensky overplay his hand? Yes. But when Trump blamed him for having ‘too much hatred’ towards Putin, a man responsible for at least 55,000 Ukrainian deaths in three years, Zelensky knew that staying silent would mean he would have to seek forgiveness later at home.

    Whether it was worth the cost is another question. Reports suggest Trump is already considering halting all military aid to Ukraine. Without Patriot air defense missiles, Ukrainian cities will once again be exposed, and it will take Europe months to replace American arms. In response, Ukrainians began raising donations to build nuclear weapons, collecting £400,000 within hours. Of course, the money will ultimately go toward drones, but their message was clear. Last night, they felt disrespected and betrayed by the Trump administration.

    Svitlana Morenets
    Written by
    Svitlana Morenets
    Svitlana Morenets is a Ukrainian journalist and a staff writer at The Spectator. She was named Young Journalist of the Year in the 2024 UK Press Awards. Subscribe to her free weekly email, Ukraine in Focus, here

      1. Are you not allowed to write articles in the Spectator if you are Ukrainian? Biden during the first presidential debate in 2020 described Trump to his face with ''what a clown!' The only time I have heard a political leader being insulted this way. Were you referring to Trump?

        1. The point is not that she shouldn't be contributing but that she is almost certainly very biased.

          Biden was quite possibly the worst and most corrupt President that the USA has ever endured.

          1. I have no pals,Bill. Although I have often been accused of friendships with Farage, Johnson Trump and many of their ilk I am very wary of such liaisons having been let down too many times.
            I find Trump too much of a brash American for my liking. So difficult to explain anything to them and they always get the wrong end of the stick, never understand arguments.
            Zelensky has a great deal on his plate, he had insufficient language skills for a confrontation with American bullies and came a cropper. But he isn't a clown.

          2. I agree with you about his language skills. He should never have even thought of entering serious negotiations with an English speaker without insisting on using his own language with an interpreter.

            We will – yet again – agree to differ on his ability to act the clown.

    2. This Ukrainian apologist for the gangster regime of Zylensky has missed the point.

      What started as disagreements between various factions within Ukraine has been deliberately escalated by the dolt Biden and his gangster regime to project onto Russia and become an international confrontation, which it never was.

      As an Englishman I am ashamed of my government. The very sight of people such as Boris Jonnson, Sunak and now Starmer hugging the cokehead green goblin is sickening.

      Putin and Trump are in the process of restoring proper diplomatic and trade negotiations and hopefully on positive cooperation between superpowers.

      Europeans and the UK meantime appear to be embarking on a suicide mission. NATO will soon be an ex gravy train and not missed. Likewise the EU will fold under the weight of its hypocrisy and innate contradictions. Good riddance to both.

      1. Nevertheless, it was an appalling display by Trump and Vance and has badly undermined the truth of their message i.e. that the West, especially Europe (well, most of it), has become flabby and complacent.

        It's not the way to get waverers onside.

        1. I disagree. Zelensky deliberately sought to use Macron and Starmer to pressurise Trump into giving security guarantees to enable the war to continue.

          Zelensky then deliberately provoked an argument in front of the world’s press. Check out the translation of his insulting description of Vance.

          1. And they should have simply said to him, in a friendly way: "Come on, that's not the schedule. It's cease-fire first, conditions later" and then to the media "Still a bit of work to do, folks!" before ushering him out the back and giving him a talking to.

        2. That discussion should not have happened in public, and certainly not before an agreement had been struck.

          Who does Zelensky think he is?

      2. Agree. U.K. should never ever have become involved. Starmer is enjoying his limelight just now but I hope to goodness all the EU leaders disagree about what is to be done. For our grandchildren’s sakes.

        1. The EU leaders themselves will be quite happy to sacrifice other peoples' children.

          I hope they disagree on the method of sacrificial offering, so that noting comes out of it.

  100. 302364+ up ticks,

    What with fiilling muslim fodder bags celebrating the ramerdamerdingdong,.
    , and now meeting a serving
    foreign war monger, has he mentioned anything beneficial in regards to his elderly subjects ?

    Will the WEF get the royal seal ?

  101. 402364+ up ticks,

    The culling program is progressing healthily
    via the Russian / Ukraine conflict.

    We in England seem to have had any form of homeland defence pass us by BIG TIME, is it not a criminal offence to pay for a commodity time & again and not receive, time & again, said commodity.

    As for overseas aid being cut and pensioners having two options that are heat or eat, is there any truth that the savings went on lammys dining bill ?

  102. It being St David's Day for the next few hours, some Welsh singinh (the words in English & Welsh follow). All inspired by the halting Welsh from the Prince of Wales – it's a musical culture, hopefully he'd been taught to sing the language, not speak it like an Englishman.
    🙁
    Llanelli Male Voice Choir singing "Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau".

    The words were written by Evan James and the tune composed by his son, James James, both residents of Pontypridd, Glamorgan, in January 1856.

    (Pennill Cyntaf – First stanza)
    Mae hen wlad fy nhadau yn annwyl i mi,
    Gwlad beirdd a chantorion, enwogion o fri;
    Ei gwrol ryfelwyr, gwladgarwyr tra mad,
    Dros ryddid collasant eu gwaed.
    (Cytgan – Chorus)
    Gwlad, gwlad, pleidiol wyf i'm gwlad.
    Tra môr yn fur i'r bur hoff bau,
    O bydded i'r hen iaith barhau.
    (Ail Bennill – Second stanza)
    Hen Gymru fynyddig, paradwys y bardd,
    Pob dyffryn, pob clogwyn, i'm golwg sydd hardd;
    Trwy deimlad gwladgarol, mor swynol yw si
    Ei nentydd, afonydd, i mi.
    (Cytgan – Chorus)
    (Trydydd Pennill – Third stanza)
    Os treisiodd y gelyn fy ngwlad tan ei droed,
    Mae hen iaith y Cymry mor fyw ag erioed,
    Ni luddiwyd yr awen gan erchyll law brad,
    Na thelyn berseiniol fy ngwlad.
    (Cytgan – Chorus)

    And in English:

    The old land of my fathers is dear to me,
    Land of bards and singers, famous men of renown;
    Her brave warriors, very splendid patriots,
    For freedom shed their blood.
    Nation [or country], Nation, I am faithful to my Nation.
    While the sea [is] a wall to the pure, most loved land,
    O may the old language [sc. Cymraeg] endure.
    Old mountainous Wales, paradise of the bard,
    Every valley, every cliff, to my look is beautiful.
    Through patriotic feeling, so charming is the murmur
    Of her brooks, rivers, to me.
    If the enemy oppresses my land under his foot,
    The old language of the Welsh is as alive as ever.
    The muse is not hindered by the hideous hand of treason,
    Nor [is] the melodious harp of my country.

    https://youtu.be/zn10tbDA_l4?si=6j6rw4zuQy2rYfu6

    2. It .always amuses me when I see signs for elderly people – henoid (most road signs round here are in Welsh).

    2. The current Lord Mayor of Birmingham is Ken Wood. In case there's been a misunderstanding, the current Mayor of the West Midlands, which includes Birmingham, is Richard Parker. Neither are Muslim, to the best of my knowledge.

      The current Lord Mayor of Leeds is Abigail Marshall Katung, a Nigerian lady but not Muslim, as far as I know. Leeds is also part of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority. Tracy Brabin is its elected Mayor and she isn't Muslim.

      The Mayor of Blackburn with Darwen is Brian Taylor. He doesn't appear to be Muslim.

      The Lord Mayor of Sheffield is Jayne Dunn, and not Muslim as far as I can tell. Sheffield is also part of the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority. Its directly elected mayor is Oliver Coppard. Not a Muslim.

      The Lord Mayor of Oxford is Mike Rowley, openly gay but not Muslim.

      The Mayor of Luton is Tahmina Saleem. She is Muslim, so a first strike for Mr Mahmood.

      The Mayor of Oldham is Dr Zahid Chauhan. He, too, is Muslim, so another strike for Mr Mahmood.

      Finally, the Mayor of Rochdale is Shakil Ahmed. He's also Muslim so, after a dreadful start, Mr Mahmood has partly redeemed himself but, with a little research, he could have done so much better.

  105. That's me for today. Too cloudy to see the planets…. Useful garden work completed.

    Have a spiffing evening. Another cold night on the way… Sunny tomorrow.

    A demain

    1. No. They fall well short of the legal threshold for treachery. If politicians reneging on electoral promises are to be deemed traitors, not only would a great many fall foul of the law, it would incentivise them to continue with policies promised in election campaigns, even if changing circumstances demonstrate quite clearly that they are no longer in the national interest. And, yes, I'm well aware that politicians pursue policies which some of the electorate complain are not in the national interest, but differences of opinion are not the same thing.

        1. I don't call it treason because I don't consider it to be treason. Were I to call it treason, it would amount to little more than attention seeking hyperbole. It would be a fake representation of me, a pose, a charade.

          1. “Treason doth never prosper: what ’s the reason?
            Why, if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”

            John Harrington

        2. I don't call it treason because I don't consider it to be treason. Were I to call it treason, it would amount to little more than attention seeking hyperbole. It would be a fake representation of me, a pose, a charade.

  111. I rather suspect its true, but I've just seen a reference to the current government introducing a bill to make it illegal to have an opinion that differs from theirs, regarding the Islamic culture in the once united kingdom.
    Popping orff now. Neighbours coming in for 'a sherbet' or two.

  112. These incorrect in time lists get published frequently.

    There haven't been Muslims in place simultaneously, but all the places named have had Muslim mayors.
    The numbers suggest that Muslims are gaining more power and influence.

    1. Yes, either through the electorate in direct elections or by the endorsement of fellow councillors for the ceremonial mayoralties.

      1. No date that I can see, sos…but I think fairly recent, post Oct 7th. Might like Melanie Phillips blog, find her online.

      3. He seems to speak out on a regular basis on this same subject at the UN and elsewhere, but I can't find this particular one.

        1. Why is he allowed to comment, is he an official spokesman for the UK, or can anyone address them?

          3. Scandalous.

            I hadn't realised that UN Watch was an independent organisation, and nothing to do with the UN and the WEF.
            Mea culpa!

            However, the main point is not stated.

            It's Islam that drives it.

    1. The general trend is upward, Maggie, but I've been having trouble with dressings becoming saturated, soiling clothes and bedding. The catheter I had in hospital has left me with a sensitive urethra and bladder, resulting in urination frequent, uncomfortable and feeble. I've also developed an inexplicable haemhorroid which makes my bowel function uncomfortable, a little bloody and messy, soiling myself a little on two occasions. The surgery site is virtually pain free, but a hole has appeared along the scar tissue. Nurses are dressing it appropriately but I am to attend the Surgical Assessment Unit on Monday morning where I hope to receive a less temporary remedy.

      At present, I have to remind myself that this period of discomfort and inconvenience, to repair a hernia which had been trouble-free, is worth enduring to avoid what could have been a rather worse situation down the line of a strangulated or blocked bowel needing emergency treatment. It's the only way to rationalise what I've chosen to do; that the theoretical would be rather worse than the path I've taken. It would be easy to believe I'd made the wrong decision about my healthcare. What would have been the best choice, as I see it, is pure conjecture.

  115. There's a Zelensky love fest going on in the BTL comments over on the DT. I wonder how many would be so loving if commanded to join Ukrainian forces?

        1. I looked this one up using Google Lens – the photo was used by the WEF in 2022 to announce that Zelensky would attend the Forum virtually that year. A little further digging showed that the photo first appeared in 2020, so before the action man costume.

          1. Thank you.

            I'm no fan of Z, but if people want to shoot him down there are better ways that fabrications.

        1. As someone who once had a love affair with the devil's dandruff I can tell you you are wrong the sniffing the gurning the leg tapping
          He's a cokehead

          1. Bad news then.

            My drug is alcohol. Red wine here, beer when I'm in the UK.

            Other than those I've never tried anything else.

    2. It's puke-making that so many European countries seem to think it's OK to accept Ukrainian refugees fleeing from their call up, yet appear to be quite keen that their own soldiers should be sent to Ukraine.

  116. That's me for tonight. Had a couple of stiff vodkas, time for a zed.
    'Night all. Bis später, as Sir Jasper used to post.
    😉

  117. Thought for the day
    Zelensky's alleged bolthole in the USA may well have been concreted over!

  119. My new water bill arrived today. Thames Water have increased their charges by £172. Not impressed.

      2. Well someone has to provide the money for the CEO of Severn Trent’s £3.2 million remuneration package (Liv.Garfield@severntrent.co.uk).

    3. Commiserations Sue. My charges are going to be an extra £132 next year (assuming we don't increase our metered water consumption). Those two 200ltr water butts I installed last year are soon going to pay for themselves!

  121. 402364+ up ticks,

    Pillow Ponder,

    Could this satisfy the needs of many peoples, banning
    halal meat targeting certain stores until the takings are
    really noticeable down, or is it a case of "best we forget" tis only an animal and think of the damage it would bring down on the labour party.

    Silence is truly golden for the benefactors of halal no animal has complained,only a pig could squeal on the killers but he has such bad press due to appeasing islam that who would really listen and risk two years hard ?

    https://x.com/TheBritLad/status/1895919481119261098

  122. 402364+ up ticks,

    Pillow Ponder,

    Could this satisfy the needs of many peoples, banning
    halal meat targeting certain stores until the takings are
    really noticeable down, or is it a case of "best we forget" tis only an animal and think of the damage it would bring down on the labour party.

    Silence is truly golden for the benefactors of halal no animal has complained,only a pig could squeal on the killers but he has such bad press due to appeasing islam that who would really listen and risk two years hard ?

    https://x.com/TheBritLad/status/1895919481119261098

  125. Simon Heffer in the DT:
    "Apart from its climate, there is perhaps no country more like Britain than Australia. Just over half its population can claim British or Irish descent. We share a Head of State, a language, much history and most of our values. An abundance of BBC and ITV programmes fill Australian television. English premier league football teams have strong Australian followings. As a consequence, many Australians keep a close eye on events in the United Kingdom, despite the two countries being less connected after Britain’s 47 years in the European Union.

    When I first came to Australia in 1988 – as the Telegraph sketch writer covering Mrs Thatcher’s bicentenary tour – the internet did not exist, and monitoring life in Blighty depended on having a shortwave radio and finding the World Service. Now, Anglophiliac Australians read British newspapers online – not least this one – and consume broadcast news programmes on internet radio. As a result, and even though Australia has an inept Labor government and is facing a degree of economic uncertainty, a visiting Briton is likely to find the hand of sympathy on his or her shoulder once it is clear whence we have come.

    I have been in Sydney for a month as the guest of the Centre for Independent Studies, the country’s leading classical liberal think-tank. Its frequent events, including lectures I have given here, in Adelaide and in Melbourne, have allowed me to meet a cross section of politically-aware Australians including politicians, businesspeople, journalists and teachers. It is clear from their view of our country, despite the affection almost all feel for it, that we now cut a poor figure in the world. Many Britons know this too: but living there we have, perhaps, become inured to all that is going wrong, and to the chronic incompetence and poor judgement that are diminishing us in the eyes of our international peers. Having spent a month looking at Britain from 11,000 miles away, I have become acutely aware not just of how bad things are, but how utterly unacceptable this mess is.

    Our Australian cousins who watch our political life see a Britain with a feeble and uncharismatic prime minister whose judgement about people and policies is appalling, and whose life is distinguished by a parade of hypocrisy. They all know about his £2,485 spectacles bill picked up by Lord Alli, his free tickets to Arsenal and the provision of free clothes for his wife. They see him as hapless and leading a divided government. They see, too, an administration staffed by ministers with an uncertain relationship with the truth.

    There is a Chancellor of the Exchequer who lied about her career, used to make questionable expenses claims and has, incidentally, torpedoed the economy through her ineptitude, potentially putting thousands out of work, threatening agriculture, and driving wealth creators abroad. There is also a Business Secretary who has repeatedly claimed to be a solicitor but isn’t; and even the hitherto untouchable Angela Rayner is now accused of fabricating parts of her own cv.

    Australia has made huge efforts to control immigration. Its people note that we have a Home Secretary who pledged to “stop the boats” but hasn’t, and who also presides over a crime wave of stabbings, shoplifters, phone-snatchers and Rolex rippers. Britain is renowned for not knowing how many inhabitants it has. Last week’s eruptions by Donald Trump have reminded the world of how little influence America’s supposedly key ally now has in vital international affairs, and that it has a Foreign Secretary who in 2018 called Mr Trump (among other things) a neo-Nazi. The UK welfare bill is much remarked upon, while our failure to spend more defending ourselves appears to come as a direct consequence of that profligacy.

    The NHS is no longer the envy of the world: the Health Secretary adds tens of thousands of people to the NHS payroll while delivering a worse service. The Education Secretary seems driven by class hatred, and is overloading the state schools system following her vendetta against private schools. The Energy Secretary is denying poor people cheaper fuel by insisting on renewables they can’t afford, constructing a fantasy of an electrically-powered Britain that can’t generate enough electricity (that is familiar to Australians, for the same is happening here). And we seem to be surrendering the Chagos Islands to the Chinese, Australia’s bête-noire.

    Before the last election I asked a Labour MP what would happen when, as was obvious, his party won. “Five years of managed decline,” he answered. He said they had no money for anything else. But it is increasingly obvious to the world, as it must be to us, that this isn’t managed decline; it’s unmanaged decline. Our appearance as a failing, flailing, once-great nation is the fruit of stupidity, incompetence, ideological prejudice and atrocious judgement.

    When one lives with this constantly, rather than watches it from overseas much as our Victorian forebears used to be entertained by freak shows, there is a danger of being resigned to it when one should, in fact, feel nothing but outrage. That sense of resignation is reinforced by the likelihood that we may have to wait four years before we can be rid of these blunderers. But rather than just despair about what will become of us, we must relentlessly, and loudly, protest about the serial derelictions that have reduced us to an object of pity among our friends around the world.

    1. I am amazed we still have any friends around the world. Like radio hams, we don't seem to have any in this country.

    2. This article barely scratches the surface. Life in Britain is awful – failing schools, potholed roads, poorly equipped and maintained houses, bad quality food, everything unaffordable for most. People are so poor in comparison to other parts of the world, but they don't realise it.
      It's a recurring theme at church that the church hierarchy (who seem to be stuck in a 1960s mindset where the rest of the world consists of starving hordes) is always lecturing the congregation on how privileged we are.
      We really aren't.

      1. The church hierarchy, it seems to me, is more concerned with diversity and net zero than with connecting with the average pew sitter.

        1. And "safeguarding" – never underestimate the time, money and energy wasted on safeguarding.

          Loada bollox.

          1. The latest is they've agreed to outsource it to an "independent" organisation, but they can't agree on how that is to be done.

          2. Don't forget "Living in Love and Faith" in other words how to square blessing a sin with the ordinary people.

        1. Most of the people round where I am from would say the same.

          How do you get a doctor’s appointment if you need one? Can you ring up and get a face-to-face one the same week? People in France and Germany can.

          When you get to the doctor, is the waiting room bright, clean and airy, with comfortable chairs and sofas as well as hard ones and original paintings on the walls, or is it filled with hard chairs and posters about VD? Does the receptionist sit behind a business-style welcoming counter, or is he or she behind a government style plexiglass protection with posters threatening you if you are rude to NHS staff? You guessed it, in other, not third world, countries, the first answer is true.

          If you want to see a specialist, for example an eye doctor or a skin doctor, do you just phone up and get an appointment at the local practice for the following week, or do you have to go through a long tedious process of getting a GP appointment, then a recommendation, then put on the specialist’s waiting list, then an appointment at a city hospital with not enough parking? In countries with a better standard of living than the UK, the first experience is the norm.

          How much food can you buy fresh from growers or producers within walking or cycling distance, or a short car drive from your home?

          Is your water clean and free from chlorine and fluoride?

          How high are your monthly expenses that you can’t avoid? (property tax, electricity/gas/water, healthcare contributions)
          Other countries don’t have high property taxes, and pretty much every country has cheaper electricity and water than Britain. In some rich countries, healthcare is cheap or subsidised (Algeria, UAE), or people pay up front during their working lives to subsidise healthcare when they are old.

          My point is that people only accept standards in Britain because they have forgotten or never knew how much better life is in other countries. It is a virtue to be happy with one’s lot, but that can become damaging when such poor quality is accepted as normal.

          1. My short answer is that I concur with most of the people in your vicinity. Even if I were to be experiencing your litany of woe in the way you describe, I’d regard it as irritating or frustrating. My threshold for awful is much higher.

          2. The awfulness is here too.
            Mass gang rape in towns and cities. People can’t afford somewhere to live, or a car to get to work (which is now further away than in past years due to planning laws among other things). Rural crime is out of control, but people are forbidden from having weapons to deter intruders. There have been two minor assaults on a family I know that weren’t even reported to the police (theft from a property, a mugging). The police are only there to provide a reference number for the insurance. Corruption is rife in local and central government and government employees. You may not see it, but it spreads a blight over the area when people understand that certain people are advancing and others aren’t. Productive people are leaving while the unproductive are profiting in the area where I grew up.
            Anyway, the constant frustrations, worries and annoyances of the factors that I listed in my first post contribute to the underlying misery, just as they do in any other third world nation. Life just isn’t so irritating or frustrating in other, wealthier countries that have a well-functioning and cohesive society which Britain doesn’t any more.

  126. Oh FFS!!!

    "UK pledges £2.26bn to Ukraine as Zelensky says it will be used for weapons" Beeb.

    1. What, even more?????? I doubt there was ever a £22Bn "black hole" when Rachel from complaints arrived, but there certainly are at least 2 of them now!

    2. Arghhhh!
      Let's empty Whitehall and the Houses of Parliament and send Zelensky some recruits for the front line instead.

    3. "UK pledges £2.26bn to Ukraine as Zelensky says it will be used for weapons"

      That's an absurd statement/ Stephen.

      Who pledged what?

      Zelensky says . . .

      1. "Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has hailed a "meaningful and warm meeting" with Sir Keir Starmer – during which the two sides agreed a £2.26bn ($2.8bn) loan to Kyiv."

        Although a loan will it ever be paid back?

    4. I thought it was £3bn, at least it keeps the black hole going which is the stated reason behind all Labour policy decisions.

      1. Yes, it’s going to be the Solpadeine tonight, itnwill give me a good night’s sleep.

      1. It was an extraction, Belle, with bone graft completed with four stitches. I feel as if I should have a scarf tied around my head under my chin with a knot on top in the best cartoon tradition! Actually, the bone graft isn’t as dramatic as it sounds, but an infection has eaten away at some of the bone – the tooth socket is filled with a type of trellis material to encourage your own bone to grow more to infill the missing bit, then one waits for 4 months whilst it does its stuff. It is in preparation for the bone to support a titanium post for an implant, a lower back molar. I needed double the amount of local anaesthetic all round. Poor tooth, it had simply given up the ghost, already heavily filled over the years it decided its life’s work was done.

        1. Oh dear – that sounds horrendous! My husband broke one of his last remaining molars a few weeks ago and he's had a rebuild job which entailed several visits to the dentist. But I don't hink it was as complicated or as painful as yours. Costly though. Must look after mine for my remaining years…..
          Off to bed now…. good night.

    1. I hate him as much as the next man, but "$2.6 BILLION" doesn't ring true when Starmer deals in £Sterling.

  134. Goodnight, all. The Rayburn is stoked and the hot water bottles are warming the bed. Time to turn in.

    1. Good Night Conners – and Kadi and Winston. PS – What are you turning into? Not a Chinese "sleeper" I hope. Lol. (Seeing as how late it is I plan to wait until the midnight hour before tackling Sunday's Wordle and then going to bed.)

Comments are closed.