Saturday 10 December: A long-awaited family Christmas thrown into doubt by ruthlessly timed strike action

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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549 thoughts on “Saturday 10 December: A long-awaited family Christmas thrown into doubt by ruthlessly timed strike action”

      1. The one benefit of being on my own here the last few weeks is not having the telly on. No Beeb propaganda has passed me for the last three weeks.

        1. But it’s still happening, und zer vil be no escape. 🥸
          Even our family members are starting to wake up to the wrong doings of our political classes.
          It’s effecting their long hours, hard work, income and wellbeing. Shattered is a word we hear quite often.

        2. During the week MB was in hospital, the telly was only on for a brief spot of GBN. My evenings were silent and enjoyable.

    3. I’ve always been a fan of those videos, I expect Vond of Lying is a lot like that in private. With out the tash of course…..or maybe not.

  5. John Kerry examining likely impact of new UK coalmine. 10 December 2022.

    John Kerry, the US climate official, has said he is closely examining the UK government’s approval of a new coalmine, over concerns that it will raise greenhouse gas emissions and send the wrong signal to developing countries.

    Kerry, Joe Biden’s special envoy for climate, said he was taking a close interest in the mine, the first to get the go-ahead in the UK for 30 years, and that he would speak out publicly against the approval if it did not meet strict criteria.

    This is just propaganda by a demented ruling Clique. This mine will produce 2.8 Million tonnes of coal a year. The Chinese produce 13 Million tonnes of coal a day!

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/dec/10/john-kerry-examining-likely-impact-of-new-uk-coalmine

    1. Morning, all. Clear, frosty and cold here in N Essex. Quelle surprise!

      John Kerry, the US climate official…

      The clue is in the name, so what sway does the private jet hopping, hypocritical US climate official thinks he has over the UK government’s business?
      The problem, of course, is that people like Kerry, Sunak, Hunt et al. are all members of the same club with the same mind-set and the same global goals. Is Kerry hoping that his ‘examination’ will induce a change of mind in the U-turn specialist residing in No10?

    5. I think Mr Kerry should be told to foxtrot oscar. Ahh, and then you see that they want us to buy their coal.

      The limitations placed around the use of our own resources by the state is repulsive anyway.

  6. 368845+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    It is the way of the treacherous political / union elites to choose the timing of the organised stoppages as we witness these are done in the most hurtful nasty way possible, to their own likes.

    IMO for the little it’s worth a general strike was needed but NOT at the joint elites timing, things are in such an
    odious state Countrywise it was that or a civil war being the alternative.

    In short who gave the politico’s / union elite enemas the right to the timing.

    No better time NOW for decent peoples retaliation than Christmas in one respect, pack the churches that have been sadly neglected ( part & parcel of RESET) and make it so it is ongoing and part of the main infrastructure
    of a decent society, and for HEAVENS sake kick into touch the ” party before Country” poison.

    Saturday 10 December: A long-awaited family Christmas thrown into doubt by ruthlessly timed strike action

  7. ‘Morning, Peeps.  A modest -4°C here in this part of yer sarf coast, rising to a magnificent 4° later and full sun all day.

    SIR – Because a succession of British governments have failed to ensure adequate investment in energy provision and security, it is now necessary for me to reduce my energy consumption by 15 per cent to avoid possible blackouts.

    Meanwhile if, in order to keep my house warm at current prices, I decide to work more hours, the Government will confiscate a higher proportion of these additional earnings so it can partially reimburse me for the increased cost of energy.

    Round and round we go. How and when can we get off?

    Ian Mackenzie
    Preston, Lancashire

    It cannot be said often enough – successive governments have failed miserably to provide for an adequate and secure energy supply, which is a fundamental requirement for our prosperity.  Instead they decided to preach to the world about destroying such a system in support of possibly the greatest scam ever perpetrated on mankind.  When the history books are written…

    1. Every time somebody mentions the government “rebate” or suchlike, I remind them it’s some our OUR OWN money back. The govt has no money, only tax-payers’ money.

  8. Good morning all.
    Another frosty start at 3½°C this morning.

    EU vice-president and Greek socialist MEP Eva Kaili is ARRESTED by Belgian police in ‘Qatar lobbying scandal’: Politician is suspended from her party amid corruption claims
    Eva Kaili, 44, was voted in as a vice-president of the EU in January 2022
    It follows the arrests of four people in Brussels earlier on Friday in the probe
    It is understood police are investigating alleged corruption attempts by Qatar

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11522373/EU-vice-president-arrested-amid-corruption-probe-linked-World-Cup-hosts-Qatar.html

    Voted in by who? I can’t recall there being EU Elections at the start of the year!

    3. Odd, how an organisation full of failed communists, socialists, Lefties and greeniacs is utterly corrupt, anti democratic, economically destructive and pointless only continues by the massive transfer of wealth from those who get the least from it.

    4. Received 454 votes. She has a young daughter and an Italian partner. Allegedly 600,000 euro seized after 14 people were investigated. No reason to hold more than (say) 2,500 euro equivalent in cash unless you are travelling or living in a sh*thole country.

  10. Morning all 😊
    More than a bit nippy out there today.
    Due to strike action it’s hardly worth sending Christmas cards.
    So if you don’t receive ours, Happy Christmas 🌲🎅🥂everyone.

    1. Posted mine over a week ago.
      All that’s left are a few very local deliveries while walking Spartie.
      Li’l ole fashioned me still thinks a physical card is rather nice when feasible.

      1. Same timing here. Just hoping my senders have been as prompt!
        Yesterday, wife of one of my cousins posted on farcebook that they aren’t sending cards this year. Did she time the announcement to ensure most of her friends & family would have already posted to her? Miserable woman.

        1. My postman has been delivering post as fast as he can.. He is middle aged and was running round the houses. I got my parcel of diabetes test strips the day following my order’s dispatch [free delivery]. I don’t think he was too keen about the strike.

          1. I suspect a good number of posties (ditto other strikers) are none too happy about the strikes. Not sure how it could be done but essential medical items should be an exception. My brother gets his inhalers and other medications through the post, I must ask him what he plans to do.

      2. We’ve had no mail delivery for three days.
        But parcel delivery is ongoing.
        I can see an opportunity for a takeover………Mr Musk 😉

  12. American policeman who kneeled on George Floyd is sentenced for aiding manslaughter. 10 December 2022.

    The former Minneapolis police officer who kneeled on George Floyd’s back while another officer kneeled on the Black man’s neck has been sentenced to 3.5 years in prison.

    J. Alexander Kueng pleaded guilty in October to a state count of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. In exchange, a charge of aiding and abetting murder was dropped.

    Kueng is already serving a federal sentence for violating Mr Floyd’s civil rights. The state and federal sentences will be served at the same time.

    Who would be a policeman in the United States? You arrest a violent criminal and find yourself in gaol! No wonder they are not anxious to deal with offenders as they deserve.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/12/10/american-policeman-who-kneeled-george-floyd-sentenced-aiding/

    2. As it will be far to dangerous for him to be in jail. I hope the authorities do the right thing, give him a face lift, new ID and a new location.

    4. When you prevent law enforceent from enforcing law you end up with them aiding it – such as marching alongside criminals, not investigating crime and attacking innocent people for what they write on twitter.

  13. Headline in today’s DT:

    “Stephen Fry: ‘I don’t understand climate change deniers’

    After travelling the globe for a new documentary, A Year on Planet Earth, the broadcaster reveals his wonder – and worries – for the planet”

    Another demented luvvie with a programme to plug. Listen, Fry: not many would deny that the climate is changing (as it has done for millennia) but to think that the first world has to destroy its economies in order to stop it is just plain bonkers.

    1. Our climate has been changing for millions of years keep up Mr Fry.
      Send him a message and ask him what he thinks the total carbon footprint of this football tournament is, including all the travel involved. And what has he been doing to stop this sort of thing happening. And the carbon footprint of the illegal invasion of the UK.

      1. It was different, because he was only burning all that oil to tell the peasants not to burn oil!

    3. Couldn’t even pass his O-level physics exam… Ended up with an Eng Lit degree, about the same intellectual substance as ‘history of art’.

          2. Nice part of the world Nottingham – used to be voted the best place in Britain to live.
            My son went there a couple of years ago to check it out for a course, he said the city centre was full of drunks and weirdos – not quite how we used to know it.

          3. Like everywhere, it was lovely 30 years ago – before the Labour terror flooded the country with vermin and wasters while massively expanded welfare and the public sector.

      2. English literature is notoriously notional, but don’t knock history of art. After ploughing through three years of an engineering degree, I really learned how to analyse things while studying history of art and politics. I use those analysis skills every day in my programming job. I’ve never needed any of the knowledge I learned on the engineering course, except the ten week course we did on programming – and that was VAX BASIC!

          1. William, I think.
            Charles studied some form of history. Not sure Cambridge did art history in those days.
            But St Andrews was very good for art history in the nineties, that chap who wrote a book on Leonardo was there.

    4. I read the article and I take his point. Nature is wonderful. It IS beautiful and we DO have a duty to live as part of it.

      That means not littering the bally planet. It means aiming for 100% recycling. We’ll never get there, but we should try. It means not pretending we only produce 10 m tons of plastic when we produce 30 and ship the remains to Africa to dump in the sea for the EU to agree with.

      It means not cutting down every bloody tree going. It means preserving hedgerows and allowing farmers to manage the land. It means not building solar panels and windmills in the sea of ground. It means growing real food – not filling everything with palm oil. It means not mining rare earth metals for batteries.

      It means investing in efficient, effective energy sources with a clear goal of truly next generation fuels – fusion, thorium, helium3.

      We cannot change the climate. The Earth is too big. To think we can is hubris. To think moving incredible amounts of money to the state for it to waste is simply a con.

      1. It means population control via political repression.
        The significant growth in population during the last 50 years has been in African and Asian countries.
        Edit: Haiti 1950, 3.1 million; Haiti 2022, 11.6 million.

    5. Who denies? It’s just the cause we argue about.
      As I keep posting, below my garden you can see where the glacier scraped the rock.
      Weren’t no 4×4 or coal-fired power stations back then.

      1. The Romans grew grapes north of Eboricum (York). Must have been all those quadrigae pulled by farting horses.

    6. Today’s commentators are drawing conclusions from temperature observations over the last century or so. Climatic change takes place over thousands of years so any changes must be looked at over that time scale, and thus the 1.5 deg C increase that is highlighted is irrelevant, even if it is true. In another 100 years it may have dropped again. The cause, I would suggest, is that it is just natural variations within a very complex system.

    1. A chum who lives and works in Oxford pointe dout that the green fanatics are organised and disciplined. Because none of them work or are all publisc sector wasters, they have endless time to push nonsense like this while those working are unable to get to the meetings to oppose this sort of nonsense.

      It’s quite clever really. Because they’re all worthless wasters, the greeniacs have all the time in the world to spend dreaming up new ways to ruin the country.

      Therefore I present a new tax: ‘Lefty’. If you attend council meetings, work for the public sector in a non job – DIE, green, climate change – you pay an additional rate of 90% on anything remaining after you’ve paid any other tax. If you proselytise greeniac nonsense, if you are a climate change fanatic, have ever mentioned ‘reducing your carbon footprint without mocking it, a joiler, or, like Gummer invested in the green scam you also pay this tax.

      The way forward is to cripple the scum permanently.

      2. Looks to me that the WEF’s fingerprints and funding are all over this. The greeniacs are a tiny minority but appear to wield great influence despite their numbers. I’d like to demand that the PTB undertake investigations into whom is driving this local agenda but then I remembered that pissing into the wind is not an activity that has a good outcome.

      3. Students get a vote. There are at least twenty thousand of them in Oxford, with the two universities. Plus all the lefty wasters that work in both universities and the hangers on.

      4. An old union trick.
        Most of the members had a life outside work and union activities.
        The fanatics made the meetings even more prolonged and dull; then they took over all the positions that nobody else had the time to fill.

    1. They all seem to have the right answers in hindsight.
      I wonder how he would explain how the worldwide access to ‘vaccine’ seemed to be lined up ‘on the shelves’ ready for action.

    2. ‘Morning Ndovu! Did I read that your husband is going to have a TAVI procedure? A good friend of mine had it last year and is now back at the gym and feeling good!

      1. He thought so but no – the consultant said his arteries are too far gone and HD needs full open heart surgery and a by pass. Still waiting for the date.

        2. Good morning Ndovu. I hope you get a date very soon. Did the hospital give any indication of waiting times?

          1. No – he’s been in the Radcliffe a week now, having spent two weeks in Gloucester for the diagnostic tests.

          2. Hopefully, having him in one of their beds should help. Can’t ignore a patient on the spot like a mere name on a waiting list.

          3. He’s only had one quick chat with the consultant, who said his arteries were in poor condition.

        4. Blimey! He must be demented by now! Poor soul and poor you! As MiB says at least he’s there and waiting, but I don’t expect that’s much comfort to either of you. Do they do operations at the weekend?

        5. My golf partner had a heart attack on the 8th green but didn’t collapse. I told him that he looked very ill and should see his doctor. We played the 9th hole up to the car park. His doctor submitted him to an ECG and told him he had heart trouble and referred him to hospital. I thought he might get stents put in but the surgeon couldn’t get through the arteries. He ended up with 3 by passes. 5 years later he is fit and well but neither of us play golf anymore. He walks, I cycle. I hope it goes well for your husband.

        6. Urgh, sounds horrific, N. Just thinking about it makes me have to sit down.
          Fingers and all other extremities crossed that he gets the surgery a)soonedt, and b) successful, and can come home very soon.

        7. Good luck to you both.
          Looking at the problems some on here are having, I’m only thankful that whatever problems I have seem to be fairly minor in comparison.

        8. How awful J, hope he gets treated soon and successfully, thoughts and prayers with you both

    3. His heroism is easily explained: he simply put his underpants over his trousers and with a ‘biff, zap, pow”, he ‘saved’ America and the world.

  17. Morning all, a quick visit before I freeze my backside off watching Bath Rugby today.

    I thought I would post this extract from today’s Daily Express.

    UK heavy snow warning: Met Office updates three-day alert as icy -15C freeze to grip Brits

    The Met Office has issued three days of yellow snow and ice warnings, as Britain braces for widespread disruption from freezing fog, sleet and snow.

    Yellow snow! Will we recognise the handwriting.

    3. We all knew that the politicians are pissing on us – but has the Met office decided to join in?

    4. We all knew that the politicians are pissing on us – but has the Met office decided to join in?

    5. We all knew that the politicians are pissing on us – but has the Met office decided to join in?

  18. Morning all, a quick visit before I freeze my backside off watching Bath Rugby today.

    I thought I would post this extract from today’s Daily Express.

    UK heavy snow warning: Met Office updates three-day alert as icy -15C freeze to grip Brits

    The Met Office has issued three days of yellow snow and ice warnings, as Britain braces for widespread disruption from freezing fog, sleet and snow.

    Yellow snow! Will we recognise the handwriting.

    1. Plus a few “Oooops” moments while passing over Tower Hamlets, Oxford, Bradford and so on …….

      1. Solar powered, surely?
        It will be fine as long as the Russians have the decency not to invade on cloudy days.

        2. Hitler invaded Austria on a Sunday because he thought there would be no resistance. He was right.

    3. Ah, the MoD, always fighting the last but one war. The modern military does not need arcraft. It needs intelligence, information and then heavily armed and supported small ground combat with long ranged air support. We do not need a fighter bomber, or noisy tanks.

      1. What was the affray about?

        Much of Britain has been buggered beyond repair. We are happy for the moment in rural France but how long will this be the case. The barbarians have destroyed civilisation everywhere.

        1. Whether a ticket nor wanting to get on, or the height of the step up – she’s a savage incapable of rational thought.

  21. Good morning, everyone. Off to the bowls club to read through the Murder/Mystery play we will perform next March.

  22. Southgate looks to Lioness coach who won Euros for inspiration [Bill Gardner, Daily Telegraph]

    THE manager who led the Lionesses to glory has been privately swapping messages with Gareth Southgate as England’s men seek inspiration from their female counterparts.

    Sources in the England camp have revealed that Sarina Wiegman has been in “regular contact” with Southgate as he attempts to emulate the Lionesses’ Euros victory in July, when they beat Germany 2-1 after extra time.

    Wiegman was credited for her methodical and positive style while leading the Lionesses to the first English major tournament win since 1966. The source would not reveal whether Wiegman has been offering tactical advice or simply encouragement to Southgate behind the scenes.

    “The ‘manager’ who led the ‘Lionesses’ to glory …”? Can’t this muppet see the deplorable standard of English he has deployed in that execrable sentence? Use either: “The manager who led the Lions to glory”, or “The manageress who led the Lionesses to glory”. You can’t be selective as to which feminine form you use, especially in the same sentence!

    1. It certainly makes for a confusing sentence. And in any case, the two tournaments aren’t comparable, much as the mainstream would like us to think they are.

    2. Norway’s men’s cross-country skiing team have been trying to learn from the women’s team, who are fabulously successful.
      It seems to be: Teamwork! Care for your mates.
      Who’d a thunk it?
      The men are too unthinking and egoistical, all wanting to be best.

    3. Sunak would do well to listen to the Conservative Women who have more sense than his government.

      2. Sunak takes his orders from on high who have their own agenda – and none of it includes recovering the UK economy.

      1. Good morning, Tim.
        Editorial standards at the DT started to plummet the moment Conrad Black let go of the reins.

        1. Incidentally I read that Skane has lost a court case alllowing primary school children to wear head coverings. Slippery slope.
          The next exemption will be PE and organised games. Certain people will try to prevent their female children in secondary school from showing any flesh, which makes sports sessions impractical.

          1. Where and when did you read that, Tim? I’ve not read about that case in the local Skåne press (yet).

  23. Iran and Russia have now admitted that Iran has supplied dozens, if not hundreds of drones, to destroy Ukraine infra structure and kill civilians. This causes major problems and a continuation of the war ad infinitum.. The West can only complain about this as we don’t want to start a Nuclear WW3

    1. Grattis på födelsedagen, Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians. I raise a flagon of mead to you.🍵
      Hope you enjoy a lovely day.🎂

  25. Good morning everyone, sorry for not being very active but I have been looking in when I can.

    Earlier this week someone posted a link to a documentary about ESG that I’m interested in but cannot now find it. If anyone has got the link or can point me in the right direction it will be greatly appreciated.

    In the meanwhile, keep b’gger’ng on. 😀

    1. Councillors — and all other such imbeciles — need to be captured (love that word), and taken to a ‘place of safety’ where they can then be thrashed to within an inch of their paltry lives.

      Failure to do so, and soon, means capitulation to tyranny.

        1. Which therein, Janet, takes me back to my previous threads on the accelerating increase in the stupidity of the species.

      3. Oi! I’m a councillor! I do my best to provide what my parishioners request (but all too often it’s the remit of County and not the Parish Council, in which case there is NO chance). Only a couple of days ago, I was being thanked that they had got the streetlight they wanted and things were much better.

    2. Control freaks. Are they going to allow anyone who lives in the countryside to go a bit further for daily life?

      1. We’re not meant to be living in the countryside, remember – they want to herd us into ‘smart cities’. 🙄

    3. Control freaks. Are they going to allow anyone who lives in the countryside to go a bit further for daily life?

        1. Quite. But the councillors supposedly represent us.

          They are either unable or unwilling to do so – whatever the outcome.
          I suggest there is no outcome – either they are offered good jobs going forward or (increasingly) the votes can be rigged.

          2. Not surprised.
            People know they’re getting the same shite whichever way they vote.
            And so the taxpayer conning eco gravy train trundles along.

  27. Right, that’s the firewood brought in and work gloves warming up on the Rayburn.
    Wellies and overalls on and let’s get them bags of soil shifted!

  28. Heard on the very early morning Toady that a pop group called Slave had changed its name to Soft Play and apologised for giving offence. Yes, to the descendants of the Cornish people enslaved by the Barbary pirates, the Anglo Saxons enslaved by the Romans, etc., etc.

    1. Everyone knows that the only slaves there have ever been in the entire history of mankind are African people captured by evil white men.

  29. OT – sort of. Last night, th MR and I watched a prog we had recorded. When it ended, the MR noticed that there was a wendyball match on TV – Argentina against Holland. As she spent 10 years in The Netherlands, the MR cried “Hup, Holland, Hup” and we sat through the last fifteen minutes of extra time and then watched the penalties. Now you all know that I know the square root of bugger all about foopball – but I did notice that Messi was the only kicker whose demeanour indicated that he KNEW he was going to score. The other nine were all tentative and betrayed their nerves.

    Why can’t the same chap take all five kicks, by the way? That is what would happen during the match proper.

    1. Bill, you deserve a medal for watching some Wendy all, 👏 well done. I wanted the Netherlands to win but … commiserations to MR.

    2. re Messi. It is a closed loop, superior ability generating confidence generating superior ability.

  30. I am going out – I may be some time. The roads are lethal and it is cold and foggy. Cats happily asleep in chaises variées.

  31. The England team visited an orphanage in Qatar today.
    “It’s so sad to see such sad faces with no hope in their eyes” said a 5 year old orphan.

  32. I’m spending the afternoon watching a load of girls play around right in
    front me, including going down on each other, dancing, roleplay &
    kissing.

    I hope Croatia beat them.

  33. We have a small flock of redwings in our garden devouring the berries from our sorbus. Delightful.

    1. Archprick – Stop virtue-signalling about people for whom – if truth be told – you care neither a jot nor a tittle

    2. We need a system that balances control with compassion and the recognition of human dignity of the Native Brits

      1. How many illegal immigrants could be housed in Lambeth Palace and how many CofE vicarages are there still left so we can kick out the priests in favour of the invaders?

  35. michael gow tolson
    @GowTolson
    ·
    4h
    Replying to
    @JustinWelby
    and
    @UKHouseofLords
    Concentrate o the decline of Christianity – that is what you are paid a large salary to do, not worry about Muslim and atheist refugees.

    1. I think Welby is concentrating on the decline of Christianity; he’s promoting said decline with all his might.

    2. He should keep his nose out of politics and stick to the Church… mind you, he is not much good at that either.

  37. That’s 20 or so bags of soil shifted up the “garden”, not quite as heavy as I’ve done in the past and a load of the smaller logs carried down to where they are going to be sawn & stacked ready for next winter’s log fires.

    Now indoors for a well earned mug of tea and to let my toes warm up and my gloves are back on the Rayburn with my wellies on the floor in front to warm up a little bit before I start shifting the remaining 44 concrete blocks.

  39. Gosh – it is nippy out. The road is frozen (no gritting). The sky is leaden. It is foggy. The frozen hail lies.

    Nonetheless – at least 100 people (so far) have been to the village fête. Tough old buggers, yer Narfurk folk. It goes on till 2 pm.

    2. BUT! Despite all that, when you look at the snow flakes on windows or the ice you can see the most beautiful things going – fractals.

    2. Yo Fizz

      A charity led by a black domestic abuse campaigner.

      I understand, that many black people already suffer domestic abuse, why is she campaigning for more to suffer it

      Shirley, the charity should be campaigning Against Domestic Abuse and for all Ehnicities

      1. Once an organisation is pledged to help with a certain problem, it has a vested interest in that problem continuing in perpetuity….

    3. If the “charity” shuts down, where’s Marlene going to get her £65k salary plus £180k expenses. Have Netflix offered her a series?

  42. Ukrainians call on mobilised Russians to turn against ‘psycho’ Putin | Life on the frontline. 10 December 2022.

    Jack Ross is a volunteer aid worker leading a British humanitarian group that delivers essential food and medical supplies to civilians living amid constant shelling on the Ukrainian frontline.

    He and the other members of Vans Without Borders brave countless dangers as they travel along bombed-out roads.

    The humanitarian group give out aid in the recently liberated city of Lymanin in Donetsk. There they encounter Ukrainian servicemen who fought in a counteroffensive and successfully liberated Kherson and parts of Donetsk from Russia.

    There’s an oddity here. We have six young guys with one van and three cars delivering aid on or near the front line to deserving families. It doesn’t help that they look like squaddies either. On Economic let alone Logistical grounds it’s a nonsense and strikes a chord to those of us who remember Syria and the White Helmets. If I had to guess they are reconnoitring the ground that the Government thinks they will be fighting over shortly!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/12/10/ukrainians-call-mobilised-russians-turn-against-psycho-putin/

  43. What a bad joke,no wonder 250,000 youngsters said they never intended working another Gordon Brown disaster……….

    Telegraph seems to have noticed the absurdity of our over generous welfare system.

    “Britain’s jobless crisis fuelled by benefits anomaly that encourages people to work just two days a week

    a single-mother-of-two, paying £2,000 a month in rent in London, would receive £36,663 a year in tax-free Universal Credit if she worked 16 hours a week at £9.50 an hour – bringing her gross income to £44,567.60.”

    Net tax free income. Scaled up that’s about £70k plus.and no council tax of course

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/12/09/britains-jobless-crisis-fuelled-benefits-loophole-encourages/

    1. So at least two people will not be accompanying their children or grandchildren to Disneyland in the future.
      If they planned to get caught, why did they dress in black? Milk Tray addicts?

    2. WTF? Another fairy tale for consumption by a gullible public. Who put the hammers in their hands and bussed them to the factory?

      China has just announced that they support an independent Palestine with its capital in East Jerusalem by the way – that should put the cat among the pigeons.

    3. WTF? Another fairy tale for consumption by a gullible public. Who put the hammers in their hands and bussed them to the factory?

      China has just announced that they support an independent Palestine with its capital in East Jerusalem by the way – that should put the cat among the pigeons.

  46. OT but it’s actually thawing here! The frost has gone and the bird bath has defrosted! Is this global whatever?

    1. Very sunny up here Sue and the snow is slowly melting, however 40 miles south it’s snowing hard 😘

      1. When I got up at 6.25 it was hard frost and clear as a bell. By 7 it was -7! Then we had snow, then sleet and now the sky is clear again!

    2. Permafrost here at preset, Mrs Macfarlane. The temperature is forecast to remain in negative degrees for at least the next 10 days.

      1. At least you have sensible weather forecasters who know what they’re talking about! Alex Berresford anyone??

  47. We’re all gonna die.

    World’s most dangerous labs RANKED – and China scores 0 when it comes to safety in handling ‘risky’ experiments on world’s most dangerous pathogens
    Experts scored all nations with a working or planned high security pathogen lab
    Only seven countries out of 27 were ranked as good for their biorisk policies
    China which owns the Wuhan virus lab scored 0 on modifying pathogen rules

    And if you don’t believe it, look at the countries which are active in the research and ask yourself “how many would I regard as trustworthy friends of the UK?”

    https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/12/09/18/65428039-11521245-image-a-5_1670610270152.jpg
    https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/12/09/17/65427505-11521245-image-a-37_1670607582263.jpg

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-11521245/Worlds-dangerous-labs-RANKED-China-scores-ZERO-100-handling-risky-pathogen-studies.html

  48. Bryony Gordon has, as usual, written drivel. This time it is about the Duke of Sussex and his fiendlike duchess whom she supports and considers to be her good fiends.

    Jacques’s Justice is full of wise saws and modern instances and even though I have now reached the sixth age – the age of the slipper’d pantaloon – I still search for ‘modern instances’.

    Shakespeare would have understood the couple very well – King Lear wished to retain the name and addition of king while dumping all the responsibilities, on others:

    Only we shall retain
    The name, and all th’addition to a king’

    Harry wants all the titles and the money but wants none of the responsibility.

    And in Hamlet Claudius is well aware that, having murdered his brother he will go to Hell unless he repents – but when he tries to pray he realises he is not prepared to give up Gertrude, his brother’s widow, and his usurped position as king for the good of his soul and his spiritual good health. And even Macbeth saw clearly the very high cost he had had to pay for his fruitless crown and barren sceptre.

    If Harry had renounced the money, the rank and the privileges of being a member of the royal family British people would have empathised with him but he has poured excrement of his fellow British people as well as on his family just as that miserable ‘eco activist’ poured excrement over the statue of Captain Tom Moore..

    When Migraine has finished with Harry and kicked him out will he want to return to Britain? Would we welcome him home and forgive our prodigal son or would he be about as welcome as Shamima Begum?

    1. It’s all gone really silent about Shamima Begum so should we assume that she has quietly returned to a waiting council house?

      1. I expect the lawyers (spit) (sorry Bill) are working up to a real good old sob story – to let her “home” for Christmas to be reunited with her family.

          1. Indeed. The muzzie Big Ishoo seller was whining, “Bless you at Christmas” as I walked the dogs (haram as I well know) past her. I couldn’t help muttering, “how hypocritical is that?” under my breath.

    2. Goodbye Camper and Good night and sweet dreams in Maplin’s in the sky!

      You will be remembered fondly.

  51. Solar panel batteries fully charged

    Grey car and blue car, on the drive, still White

    It’s a funny old world weather-wise!

  53. ‘Real possibility’ of full-blown war between Nato and Russia, warns Nato chief. 10 December 2022.

    The war in Ukraine could spill over into a full-scale conflict between Nato and Russia, Jens Stoltenberg has warned.

    Asked what he fears most this winter, the Nato secretary-general told the Norwegian broadcaster NRK: “I fear that the war in Ukraine will get out of control, and spread into a major war between Nato and Russia.
    .
    Once NATO interfered and made Ukraine its proxy army a full-blown war was inevitable. What was a sideshow became irresistible force meets immovable object. That the Americans were willing to sabotage the Baltic Pipeline and risk Germany splitting the alliance tells you just how seriously they view this opportunity to destroy Russia. Neither side can now back down because of the loss of prestige and damage to their geopolitical interests. On one side the Dollar Hegemony is in doubt and on the other Russia’s actual survival as a Country. With stakes like this it’s a fight to the finish!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/12/10/ukraine-news-russia-war-invasion-putin-bakhmut-iran-drone/

    1. Dollar hegemony formally died yesterday when Xi announced that the Saudis could sell oil in yuan, with a guarantee of exchanging it into gold at the Shanghai gold exchange.
      It’s dead, gone.
      Any lives that are lost now in some pointless war are only sacrificed to enable the elite to steal more wealth from the rest of us, and give satisfaction to a few depopulation nutters like Gates.

    1. He seems unable to distinguish between genuine refugees and economic migrants. He is either naive or wilfully obtuse.

      1. In his mind, like all Lefties; the gimmigrants are simply tools to use to force his agenda. He doesn’t care about them. It’s all about him.

        1. I hope that the Archpillock will discover some very nasty clauses in the smallprint of the deal he made with the Devil.

          4. Used by the plebs and hoi polloi. The elites may catch glimpses of these things as they glide by in their Range Rovers, Jags or BMWs in the Zil lanes.

          6. Something you find in London. If you miss one, there’ll be another in ten minutes or even earlier.

        1. Yes. If you or I wish to emigrate to, say, Australia, we have to complete the necessary paperwork and application forms. We cannot just turn up in a boat in Sydney Harbour and expect to be allowed to settle in the country.

          2. We had to prove that both of us could support our selves before being allowed to emigrate. And have satisfactory medical examinations.
            These days the Aussies have backed off a lot. And are tending to allow who they think they might need in. But have made many, many, mistakes in the process.
            But that’s politicians for you. Useless.

          3. When my cousins moved to NZ some years back, they had to prove they had a spare £500,000 so they weren’t a burden on that country’s resources.
            READY CASH; not property or untouchable savings.

      4. Oh, he can distinguish all right, but calling them “refugees” when they aren’t is a way to virtue signal and shut down debate.

    2. Mr Welby, theyre rapists, paedophiles and drug dealers. They have no business being here at *all*.

      Value and dignity? What value and dignity do you place on the people who’re being forced t pay for these scum? Who are raped, robbed and murdered by them?

      You live a privileged life isolated from the consequences of your waffle. If you care so much, you pay for them. You house them. See how you like finding your churches smashed to pieces, gutted, burned down.

    3. That would be the Archprick who shut down churches when many fellow human beings needed solace and reassurance.

    4. When we fail to acknowledge that calling economic illegal migrants “refugees” is piling up problems for the indigenous people, we deny the essential value and dignity of the indigenous people.

    1. That works until they start killing us.

      In fact, I really don’t understand the eagerness of Muslims to kill, well, anyone. It seems wherever they go, they cause trouble.

      That said, we’ve some home grown nutters as well. https://www.bristol247.com/news-and-features/news/nine-arrested-activists-target-israel-based-company/

      If they want to support Palestine, why don’t they go and live there? That way fanatics can use them as human shields rather than school children.

      1. That is one argument, but we are going to have to face this question. Transplanting large numbers of muslims to Christian lands is a very effective divide and conquer tactic against the peasants by the elites.

      2. They all read the same book.
        Enhancing the same mindset.
        How many protest marches have we seen in the past with banners and placards calling for the death of none believers.
        Didn’t they turned up in Wales yesterday and set about destroying a factory that makes armaments for Israel?

      3. So called Christian countries don’t have a good track record with the likes of Iraq, Syria, Libya and Afghanistan. Western politicians are great at sending their young men to be killed trying to take democracy to those countries as long as they don’t have to witness the carnage their decisions cause. Muslims don’t do democracy and you would have thought our politicians would have learned that by now.
        I am not making a case for muslims, far from it, but how much have we brought upon ourselves including allowing free access to our country, benefits, health service and not investigating and bringing to justice the Pakistani rape gangs.

  57. DM STORY : Acclaimed Hammersmith restaurateur says he could be forced to close with loss of 50 jobs after council jobsworths insisted he close outside terrace that brings in £15,000 every week
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11520285/Acclaimed-Hammersmith-restaurant-forced-close-absurd-council-decision.html#newcomment

    BTL

    Too many snivel serpents, councillors and politicians make decisions about businesses having never run businesses themselves and knowing nothing at all about the practicalities of running a business.

    1. Then they’ll be amazed and horrified when business drops off, and there’s nobody left to pay their business rates. “Oh, noes, why is Hammersmith looking like North Shields, with all the boarded up shops and homeless?”

    2. He should do what the developers do when the councils throw up a brick wall.
      Sue them for damages with the obvious effects to his business.
      They don’t like having to pay to defend, in this case blatent stupidity, when they are threatened with legal action.

        1. It depends.
          Councils will do that if they know the litigant has limited means.
          If it is one of the big boys with deep pockets, they will roll over.

        2. I know. But there are plenty of people who have made a lot of money that is connected to business development after making donations to certain types.

    3. Which is why the fixed absurdity of council tax and business rates should be abolished and replaced with a local sales tax from businesses, at, say 15%. This is the ONLY tax levied against a business and would go to local councils.

      Councils would then be forced into a market, to compete for business to get more business locally, more trade. They would be dependent on people buying things. They’d get more income from business making profit.

      This would cripple the state entirely and force it to adopt pro business policies. Councillors would be stuffed. Council income would be controlled and limited. It’d break the back of the Left, the greens and waster non-jobs.

  58. DM STORY : Acclaimed Hammersmith restaurateur says he could be forced to close with loss of 50 jobs after council jobsworths insisted he close outside terrace that brings in £15,000 every week
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11520285/Acclaimed-Hammersmith-restaurant-forced-close-absurd-council-decision.html#newcomment

    BTL

    Too many snivel serpents, councillors and politicians make decisions about businesses having never run businesses themselves and knowing nothing at all about the practicalities of running a business.

  59. Increasing evidence is emerging from medical iinvestigations that young fit people, particularly males, are likely to have been observed to be suffering from either COVID infections or post COVID vaccinations.
    The evidence however is confounded by the fact that not enough is known about the health of the individuals who may unknowingly have been suffering from myocarditis or pericarditis before COVID became implicated.

    I have found two articles that suggest that worries about both COVID itself and vaccinations for it have focussed on young active people for whom any cardiac investigation into heart irregularities have been completely lacking.

    Here are two references that highlight the need for further investigations into the heart health of younger people which have been deficient before the arrival of the COVID pandemic,

    https://www.bvhealthsystem.org/expert-health-articles/covid-19-and-myocarditis-a-risk-for-athletes

    https://youtu.be/2mWZY6vmdBM

    I conclude that younger people are being convinced that keeping fit by regular workouts is good for their health whereas in fact it is overstretching the ability of their hearts to keep up with ever increasiing competitive targets. COVID has just accentuated this state of affairs.

    2. Many people I meet say I should get one of these jabs.

      Trouble is that I am over 30 and therefore it seems to be less effective than for the under-30s, according to this report. I don’t know about myocarditis or pericarditis, but I might be an unknowing sufferer from senile degeneration, especially if I forget what I did five minutes ago, let alone 60 years ago. How many times do I need to forget that I’ve had a vaccine before it works as people say it should on me?

  60. Increasing evidence is emerging from medical iinvestigations that young fit people, particularly males, are likely to have been observed to be suffering from either COVID infections or post COVID vaccinations.
    The evidence however is confounded by the fact that not enough is known about the health of the individuals who may unknowingly have been suffering from myocarditis or pericarditis before COVID became implicated.

    I have found two articles that suggest that worries about both COVID itself and vaccinations for it have focussed on young active people for whom any cardiac investigation into heart irregularities have been completely lacking.

    Here are two references that highlight the need for further investigations into the heart health of younger people which have been deficient before the arrival of the COVID pandemic,

    https://www.bvhealthsystem.org/expert-health-articles/covid-19-and-myocarditis-a-risk-for-athletes

    https://youtu.be/2mWZY6vmdBM

    I conclude that younger people are being convinced that keeping fit by regular workouts is good for their health whereas in fact it is overstretching the ability of their hearts to keep up with ever increasiing competitive targets. COVID has just accentuated this state of affairs.

  62. Some of my friends and I have concluded the winning team of tonight’s quarter final has probably already been decided. We have come to the conclusion that the Brazilian referee, notorious for waving yellow cards and many reds. With knowledge some of his previous and somewhat dubious decisions, will have been instructed by FIFA that France will be the victors.
    I don’t mind being wrong but……..

  63. Phew!
    A few scattered snowflakes drifting down as I finished moving 16 concrete blocks up the “garden”.
    That makes 30 up there and another 30 left to shift.

    I made a VERY nice cottage pie for dinner earlier which we had with garlic mushrooms and we reheated some of the leftover cauliflower cheese I did t’other day.

    It got up to -1°C today, but it’s a clear sky at the moment so it’s likely to drop overnight.

  64. I was talking with my 97-year-old mother who is housebound because she is terrified of falling over and having to wait for an ambulance to take her to the morgue, where there is a 12-hour wait on a trolley before being admitted.

    I suggested that she get a Mr Blobby outfit, which is designed so that old people can fall over in any direction without getting hurt. Any idea where I can get one in my mother’s size (Age 97)?

    3. I understand your concern. This very morning, at the village fête, an elderly lady fell over on the icy road and broke her wrist. Fortunately, there is sill a hospital with a CASUALTY dept OPEN. And her son drove her there for treatment.

      1. We are having similar sues with healthcare. Emergency departments being closed outside of office hours and so on.

        This week it was found that maternity wards are being closed for extended periods. There was a case this week of a woman in labour turning up at her local hospital and being turned away.

        To think that we have no alternates to our health care(?) system – no bupa, no private clinics.

        2. I know of a lady (with pregnancy complications) stuck in hospital for a week while she awaits a date for a c-section.
          At least she is now being monitored, but her midwife only works two part-days per week.
          Much of the NHS is in a worse state than you read about in the media.

        3. I know of a lady (with pregnancy complications) stuck in hospital for a week while she awaits a date for a c-section.
          At least she is now being monitored, but her midwife only works two part-days per week.
          Much of the NHS is in a worse state than you read about in the media.

    4. My own mother has taken to using the ambulance and hospital as a source of narcissistic supply. As she doesn’t think the world applies to her, I do wonder what will happen should she call for an ambulance.

      Although she won’t tell either my sister or I if she is in hospital (until she complains we didn’t ask after her).

      I don’t mean that in a demeaning way, more one of resignation. We are 500 miles and 6 hours driving away.

    5. Convert her home into a softplay centre, you know, brightly coloured plastic foam, and little ball pits where she could play all day.
      Seriously, de-clutter the rooms that she uses and spend some money making her house much safer. CCTV that you can monitor occasionally; if she is far away from you, bribe her neighbours to be available in case of emergency. There are many simple improvements that you could organise to make her feel more secure; she will of course object to most of them.
      Assuming that there is central heating, install a thermostat (eg Nest) controllable via the web, so she can’t freeze in order to save a tenner.

      1. One of the big menaces in older peoples houses is rugs/mats/runners.
        Several of them, often overlapping and piled on top of the original flooring. Nicely worn and curled up at the edges.
        An absolutely sure fire way of ending up with a broken hip: followed by …..

      2. Actually her room is fine – she has it how she likes it and has this walker device on wheels where she can scuttle around at some speed. It’s going out that bothers her, even though she has cultivated for herself a bunch of neighbours and shopkeepers who do a lot for her.

        As for heating, she has an electric blanket and a TV by her bed. The remote drives her up the wall though, since it’s forever trying to sell her a Netflix subscription. My nephew got her an Alexis, which comes up with some very strange responses when my mother is on the phone, but she puts it down to technological dementia, and says if she ever gets that way, please send her to a clinic in Switzerland.

  65. https://twitter.com/GAdamsOfKent/status/1601532731606695936

    The comments are brilliant , and so is the captioned picture
    Active Patriot
    @ActivePatriotUK
    ·
    5h
    RISE OF THE MIGRANT HOTEL MILLIONAIRES

    Firm makes up to £11 MILLION a year by turning hotels into MIGRANT HOSTELS

    Home Office pays up to £150 a night PER MIGRANT

    Na’im Anis Payman & Hassan Arif have brought over 20 hotels since lockdown

    #BrokenBritain

    https://dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11522837/Opportunistic-investors-buy-cheap-buildings-house-asylum-seekers.html

    1. That’s interesting. The 4-star London hotel where the MR and I stayed last weekend is £260 a night (including a 20% discount as she is a Gold Club Member).

      With that price comes a huge breakfast (starting with a glass (or two) of cava) and FREE snacks AND alcohol (beers, wines and spirits) until 8 pm. There is so much food available in the “snacks” that, for the three nights, the MR and I never left the hotel.

      I am delighted that these illegals are getting the same treatment- though saddened that they don’t trouble to use their OWN money.

    2. The end result of socialism. The state forces a market that shouldn’t exist and tax payers are forced to fund it.

  67. I haven’t watched a single game.
    My son tells me it’s England vs France tonight, so I’ve got a dog in both sides… well. A parent, really.
    Are the teams all kneeling or waving rainbows? I couldn’t bear that.

    1. That won’t cover two nights in your London hideaway!

      Best you tell the parishioners how hard up you are, so they can be more generous next year.

    3. I’ve still got a little wooden dish that I bought for a fiver at a street fête/fayre in nearby Kettletone around 25 years ago. Does that little hamlet still hold one in summer?

    4. I thought your village fair took place in August, Bill. Lol. Missed it (and the MR’s lemon curd) again this year. Must mark it in my diary for 2023.

  69. Blackouts will trigger a people’s revolt against the new eco-tyranny
    Green policies are popular in theory, but can only be sustained if they don’t threaten our quality of life
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/12/07/blackouts-will-trigger-peoples-revolt-against-new-eco-tyranny/

    This is a very dangerous time for the country because the government knows it is finished and will never win the next election and, as a result, it no longer gives a toss about what people think and what they want – i.e. democracy is dead and buried..

    The top BTL comment from a chap called David Morgan : Over 700 upvotes:

    I hope for a long hard winter with some long power cuts, not because I want to suffer, but because it is the only thing that might awaken the sheep/ NPCs who buy into the government propaganda.

    The UK is sleepwalking to disaster unless there is a radical shift in energy policy.

    Net zero is our enemy.

    3. The green Left in government will simply blame something else. Their latest gift is Putin. When it’s been shown that we need energy and unreliables are pointless they scream for more unreliables.

      They’re obsessed and they lie. Why wouldn’t they? Gummer is making a fortune from the damned things.

      https://order-order.com/2022/12/10/unreliable-stats-green-ed-scots-go-if-youre-hard-enough-detente-in-the-commons-compulsory-tributes/#comments:

      Caroline Lucas is a cornucopia. Unreliable Statistics has to be filled, and the sometime leader of the Green Party filled it by herself from a single speech. In the debate on Wednesday’s Finance Bill, she told the House:

      It is estimated that the UK will lose 10% of its GDP by 2050 if we do not tackle climate change.
      BY 2025, global emissions from existing projects will be 22% too high to stay below 1.5 degrees.
      If the net zero transition is delayed by a decade and global temperatures reach 1.8°, by 2050 banks will face losses of £225 billion.
      Scientific reality makes it clear that fossil fuel assets are uneconomic and financially uncompetitive in a 1.5 or 2 degree world.

      You have to love that “scientific reality”.

      The two most unreliable computer models in existence are climate models and economic models. In climate catastrophe discourse they combine in fluid and chaotic combinations that Navier Stokes equations can’t describe.

      It’s not the science that’s at fault – it’s the science activists. And then the science activist lobbyists. And then the science activist politicians. And then Caroline Lucas.

  71. And so, with glass in hand, and extra socks afoot, I am off. I assume that Engerland will prostrate themselves prior to the kick off. Best of luck to anyone voluntarily watch their capers.

    Have a sooth evening. Tomorrow looks like another shyte day.

    A demain.

    1. The weather might be cooler, but it can be a good day.

      I took Mongo out today – Ozzie didn’t seem bothered – and we sat down by the shoreline just the two of us, him leaning against leg, ocassionally looking up and making that goofy grin of his. After a bit he got up to go home.

      We just sat there, letting the world go by as two old farts. In human years he’s 45. For a Newfoundland nearly middle aged.

      It’s notable that the Warqueen said I wouldn’t have got him if I’d been on my own. When Wiggy died that’d be it and I’d be living in my old flat on my own. In short, I’m glad I’ve the great bear, even if he’s more Junior’s dog than mine. Dogs make every day better.

      1. One of my neighbours has a newfoundland, lovely dog but I wouldn’t like it to sit (no ‘h’) on me

        1. I was thinking of getting a cat for company, Alec. But following the impending legislation making cat-calling an offence, I would hate to spend two years in jail after calling “Here, kitty, kitty!” to my pet at meal-time. Lol.

        2. That I can agreewith. Mongo’s a big boy at 80kilos, but he still thinks he’s a lap dog and will try to climb up on you. Most of the time he just wants to be with you, so he’ll sit on your feet, at your side all night long.

  73. London pub launches new ‘Harry’s Bitter’ beer that at 3.9% strength is ‘as weak as its namesake’ after Prince and Meghan’s Netflix whingefest
    The Duke of Sussex pub in London has a new on-tap beer branded ‘Harry’s Bitter’
    The pub in west London unveiled the bitter with an image of Prince Harry’s face
    This comes after the release of Harry and Meghan’s Netflix documentary series

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11524033/London-pub-launches-new-Harrys-Bitter-beer-3-9-strength.html

      1. I suspect Migraine sucked for a session.

        Although now she’s trapped him, I also suspect she blows cold if at all!

  74. Never knew Paddy Mayne, SAS, was still alive until he wasn’t recently.
    Respect. RIP, Sir.

        1. Ironic really, after all he went through – what an ordinary way to go after surviving all those raids and what came later!

  75. Call me a cynic, but does anyone want to bet that this “artist’s impression” is being set up as bait to catch racist hate commentary?
    Rupert Edwards isn’t exactly a “brown name”!
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11522259/Rapist-Met-Police-constable-attacked-colleague-second-woman-space-10-days.html

    https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/12/09/20/65430265-11522259-PC_Rupert_Edwards_29_is_alleged_to_have_carried_out_two_rapes_in-m-43_1670616517496.jpg

  76. Bogey Five today.

    Wordle 539 5/6
    ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
    ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨
    ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨
    ⬜⬜🟩🟩🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. A surprise three. As ever I stared at it for an age before the penny dropped.
      Wordle 539 3/6

      ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
      🟨⬜🟩⬜🟨
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      2. They are getting sneaky with the lack of vowels now.
        Wordle 539 4/6

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

    2. Me too.
      Wordle 539 5/6

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

  77. I remember sending my Gran a parrot for Xmas because she was lonely. . I rang her on Boxing day to see if she liked it. She said it was lovely ‘the meat just fell off the bone’

    1. Thanks for that, Alec. Keeps my chortling muscles well oiled whilst we are waiting for No To Nanny to settle in to his new flat and re-start his morning jokes.

    1. They can be bothered to vote that’s why – stick one candidate forward and all the mussies vote for them. The apathy of the British is to blame

      1. Probably the local imam checks and collects the votes of the men to see if they have voted for themselves and their wives/ youngsters, on pain of punishment if they haven’t. Now if we had people going round to ordinary voters doing that, then the British would vote too.

  80. Maths problem for the day:
    If George is 76 and his girlfriend is 26, how much money does George have?

    5. I am 76 and my wife is 60 but you are only 61 so if you have the same gap as we do your wife/girlfriend/why is only 45?

  81. Evening, all. What a bumfreezer today has been! I was due to go out to a Christmas fair, but the latch on the gate was frozen, then, when I did manage to get it open (having skated down the garden path), I found the back drive was like a skating rink as well (it rained last night then froze hard) and the road had not been gritted. After the dogs and I had slithered and skidded up the back drive and back down again, I decided we’d spend the day indoors, discretion being by far the better part of valour. All the daytime racing was abandoned, including the all-weather. I hope it’s warmer tomorrow.

      1. I tried to put something in the dustbin, but the lid was frozen shut. I’m not a great fan of ice, either. I can’t even skate (my ankles aren’t good).

    2. World shortage of people to drive gritting lorries – allegedly.

      Funny thing – you’d have thought that half a million Albanian illegals could drive them.

      1. Do you really want Albanians, most of whom are of a certain persuasion, to be in charge of large lorries on the roads around Christmas?

    3. World shortage of people to drive gritting lorries – allegedly.

      Funny thing – you’d have thought that half a million Albanian illegals could drive them.

  82. Call your Christmas parties ‘festive celebrations’, civil servants told
    Officials say they have been told events should not be explicitly linked to Christmas in attempt to avoid excluding different faiths

    By
    Tony Diver,
    WHITEHALL CORRESPONDENT and
    Dominic Penna,
    POLITICAL REPORTER
    10 December 2022 • 6:00pm
    Civil servants have been told they must refer to their Christmas parties as “festive celebrations” and cannot drink alcohol if members of their team are sober in an attempt to promote diversity and inclusion.

    The Telegraph has spoken to government officials who say they have been told end-of-year events should not be explicitly linked to Christmas in an attempt to avoid excluding people of different faiths.

    It is understood a government-wide policy on Christmas has not been issued, but that individual managers have interpreted diversity and inclusion advice to mean that the traditional office party should not take place.

    One civil servant at a major Government department said the team had been told to find a restaurant that did not serve alcohol in an attempt to avoid “excluding” a member of staff who does not drink.

    “We’re in a situation where, in the name of inclusivity, one member of staff is being allowed to dictate what other members of staff can or cannot drink,” the civil servant said.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/12/10/call-christmas-parties-festive-celebrations-civil-servants-told/

    1. It doesn’t sound very inclusive to me. Of course, what will happen is that a percentage of people just won’t bother turning up, so next year it will be wound up due to lack of interest or support. Job done.

    2. So the very well attended party at work on Thursday evening shouldn’t have taken place, because my digestive system will no longer tolerate alcohol. Actually it was a perfect lesson in how to get people back in the office. Provide wine and the place is packed.

      1. I cannot tolerate alcohol either, Sue , in fact there are loads of things I can’t eat and drink ..I react and colour up and my heart races like mad , and IBS causes me so much miserable gyp .. ust as it is now .. I have no idea . Had a lovely bread roll with my own cooked ham at lunchtime , and I feel wretched now . Moh is fine ..

      1. I am not surprised that the England football team ‘take the knee’ a sure sign of submission to its opposition and stupid wokery given that most of our over-privileged players are a variety of shades of black.

        As you remark, their antics demonstrate a complete ignorance of the history and futility of such acts.

  85. Off to bed now, folks. Sleep well and all that. (I know it’s rather early, but I find I can only sleep for around 3 hours at a time these days so I will prolly come downstairs later and watch a DVD before returning to bed in the early hours. See you all tomorrow.

      1. I am warm enough, Maggie, but my left hip is a little sore these days so I have to lie carefully on my side which sometimes wakes me in the middle of the night. Also, I note that after my evening meal I often get incredibly drowsy and go to bed to rest. This also results in my waking three or four hours later. However, having posted “I’m off to bed” earlier this evening, I decided to stay up and watch a DVD. So am now back on the NoTTLe site to see if I’ve missed any interesting posts. I’ve also just read the latest Wendyball results, and I now know who plays who(m?) in the semi-finals on the evening of Tuesday and Wednesday. My hope is that the finals will be Argentina against France.

  86. Chaps are watching football., pah to all that.

    Not up to scratch.

    They watched the Portugal and Morocco game which was pacey and intense .. that looked like proper football.

    England are slow thinkers and all they do is pass the ball backwards and forwards..

      1. Have they been released on to the pitch to make the game more interesting? I wasn’t aware any of our voetballers were Christians!

    3. We (Erin and myself) agree entirely Belle.
      But the Brazilian referee has his mind on his new château in the south of France.

  88. I finally finished writing my book on penguins.
    The publisher said it would have been better written on paper!

    2. At each other? Oh……..the footie! I haven’t bothered putting the telly on since I’ve been on my own.

      1. Hope all is well with the OH…haven’t been here much lately so may have missed your updates, but have been thinking about y’all.

  91. I’ll be doing an Elsie very soon. I’ve had enough today.
    All those poor English fans, people, will be heading home from Qatar tomorrow and have to stand In a freezing cold airport queue whilst the border force take the mickey.
    England out……I’m out. So it’s good night from me.

  92. Apparently England have lost and are out of the World Cup.
    Oh well, they can have another go in 4y time.

    G’night all.

    2. My OH has just said: “Well, now you can take me to the talk about Frank Whittle next Wednesday!”

    1. As a long time Spurs fan and an ex goal keeper (back in the day) . I felt that someone else should have taken the second kick. There was just Too much pressure on Harry after the first one.

      1. He never looked as though he was going to score! The Idiot manager should have taken Troy Deeney in the squad just to take penalties!

        3. The England teams mostly comprise players from the top Premier League teams. Throughout history many fine players have been so marginalised.

          In my lifetime John Atyeo of Bristol City, Don Rogers of Swindon Town and Tony Currie of Sheffield United were never selected sufficiently to play for England.

          I reluctantly admit that the ghastly Gary Lineker was the exception when playing for Leicester City, before the infusion of many millions of foreign investment I might add. To be fair, the goalkeeper Shilton came from the same stable.

          Edit: I suppose on reflection that Mick Channon and Matt Letissier of Southampton were given a nibble or two.

    2. No. I watched the match and the referee was bent. The referee cost England the match.

      I thought Rashford should have been on the pitch sooner, after half-time, and should have taken the second penalty rather than Harry Kane who had scored the first penalty. Jordan Henderson is a good penalty taker but by that time (I think) had been substituted.

      The Spanish referee in the Brazil match previously was even worse.

      Yet again footballers of all nationalities demean the game with their theatrics, falling over seemingly in agony at every opportunity and making it more difficult for the referees to judge whether someone is physically hurt. Either way, the referee tonight in the France England tie ruined the game for both sides.

      2. The ref was appalling! Seriously I wasn’t expecting much from him with his previous form, but it was a bit beyond a joke! He may have had to give 2 penalties, but he ‘missed’ two more! A shame for the game.

      4. I think he was very incompetent rather than bent. England suffered more than France, but not a lot more.
        I agree re the rest

    1. There becomes a point where it is entrapment.

      Clearly this is a man out for sex, but my suspicion is that he’s been targeted. I doubt that he had a clue he was meeting a 13 year old, he was out for what he could get.

      Either way, castrate him and send him to wherever he claims to be fleeing from and if he can’t tell the police, then dump him in the middle of the channel to swim.

      1. Raises many questions – how was he able to communicate? These people have supposedly given up ‘everything’ yet still manage to have telephone and cigarettes. Why didn’t he ask the age of the other party?

        As for entrapment, the paedophile grabbers (the group that pretends to be a child to capture paedophiles) were recently warned by police not to carry on. I imagine because they got sick of it always being a muslim, and said so.

    2. We really have got to start talking about the problem in that pakistani muslim community. In the same way not all pakistani muslims are paedophile rapists, all paedophile rapists are muslims.

      Yet the state continues to deny it.

      1. They’ll only take action when a civil servant or politician has to cope with such a terrible experience.

        1. And then I imagine it’ll be hushed up as plod quietly convict and jail the pakistani muslim so it doesn’t embarrass the state.

          1. Something was done (safety certificates) about cheap scape and dodgy electrical wiring a few years ago. But only after a politicians wife was electrocuted and died in their kitchen.

  95. I, too, am going to take my leave. I’m off to stoke the Rayburn and fill the hot water bottles. Goodnight, all.

  97. I hear England are out, I personally could not give a flying fig.
    They are not my England, they lost me when they started kneeling, overpaid virtue signalling poseurs.
    Still look on the bright side, they can all wear their “One Love” armbands on the plane home.

      1. Nah, they were all at it. An act of submission to the dark-skinned on the other side in my view. Not the French I might add who stood tall and ignored this stupid wokery, despite the fact that the French comprise a darker team by that fashionable BLM measure.

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