Saturday 11 December: Lockdowns mean lost jobs, domestic abuse, neglected illnesses and mental damage

Posted on by Geoff Graham

An unofficial place to discuss the Telegraph letters, established when the DT website turned off its comments facility (now reinstated, but not as good as ours),
Intelligent, polite, good-humoured debate is welcome, whether on or off topic. Differing opinions are encouraged, but rudeness or personal attacks on other posters will not be tolerated. Posts which – in the opinion of the moderators – make this a less than cordial environment, are likely to be removed, without prior warning.  Persistent offenders will be banned.

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

773 thoughts on “Saturday 11 December: Lockdowns mean lost jobs, domestic abuse, neglected illnesses and mental damage”

    1. We’re riding along on the crest of the wave,
      News in the Sun and on Sky,
      all eyes on the distant Net Zero horizon,
      look out for party lies!
      We’ll keep a-hailing while all the Whips are out-a flailing
      We’re riding along on the Omnicron wave and the World is ours!

  7. Denver sees first snowfall after breaking 87-year-old record. 10 December 2021

    Denver finally saw its first snowfall of the season on Friday, shattering an 87-year-old record for the latest first snow
    It wasn’t much: The official measurement at the Denver International Airport was three-tenths of an inch (7.6 millimeters), according to Jim Kalina, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Boulder.

    In Utah, where Salt Lake City went snowless through November for only the second time since 1976, the first snowstorm hit this week to ensure the city didn’t match the record for the latest snowfall on record. That was set twice on Christmas Day in 1939 and 1943.

    Sigh!

    ASSOCIATED PRESS.

  8. SIR – Our family are going to a pantomime soon after Christmas. Under the new Covid restrictions, are we allowed to take off our masks to hiss and boo or do we have to hiss and boo through our masks?

    B N Bosworth
    Blakedown, Worcestershire

  9. SIR – Alan Knight’s defence of Drax power station’s use of biomass and woodchip (Letters, December 8) is disingenuous at best. Drax is the biggest single emitter of carbon dioxide in the United Kingdom; Drax itself admits that in 2020 its biomass burning released over 13 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

    That does not come from sawdust, shavings, twigs and broken chairs, as Dr Knight would have us believe; it comes from six million tons of woodchip imported annually from the United States, Canada and the Baltic states.

    His claim that this is somehow “sustainable” is equally fanciful. Trees planted now to replace those felled for wood pellets will take anything from 35 to 90 years to mature and absorb effectively carbon dioxide released by burning millions of tons of woodchip.

    Drax receives over £800 million of taxpayer subsidies each year and is asking for more subsidy to develop carbon-capture and storage facilities.

    Biomass may be the best way of delivering energy in the United Kingdom; on the other hand it may not. The country deserves a full, transparent debate on this contentious subject.

    Lord Willoughby de Broke (Non-affiliated)
    Moreton in Marsh, Gloucestershire

    1. BTL:

      Michael Cox 15 MIN AGO

      The rant, (edited), in full…
      Well said Lord W

      The true cost from production, maintenance, disassembling and disposal of all ‘Green’ energy power generators, (and the eye watering amount of subsidies they receive), needs to be honestly and openly debated
      As I am writing, still dark, and temperatures. here in the Midlands at 4 degrees C, there is zero power production from solar, and less than 4 GW from our 10,900 windmills
      How will we cope if all domestic heating relied on heat pumps? (Bear in mind, also, that heat pumps are less and less efficient as the temperature drops below 5 degrees)
      As for ‘carbon capture’ scams, I fail to see what benefit there is to importing charcoal from Africa, (where it is a main fuel source for many for cooking), to be buried in unused quarries in the UK, so that energy companies can buy a certificate to say that ALL their power is produced ‘Net Zero’
      Rant over!

      1. Martin Selves
        27 MIN AGO
        Lord Willoughby de Broke writes a fine letter, and I wrote the same thing quite often last week. Calling Drax “ green” is seriously misleading. It is a lie. The Lord I believe underestimates the tonnage by a large margin. This is no green power station, this is a seriously big CO2 emitter if you take the transport costs into consideration. Moving bio mass nearly 3000 miles by lorry, after logging, across the Atlantic Ocean to our Ports and onward by lorry to Drax is incredibly stupid. Boris, it is stupid when we have greener energy under our feet namely coal and gas. Fer crying out loud … before you get your P45 (unlikely imho) do some corrective surgery on green, coal and gas extraction, fishing, the NI protocol ….. or at least start. The Country really is waiting for this, and not the cost of wallpaper.

    2. David Verney writes from his home address because at 80+ years of age he refused to undertake a Maoist re-education course; brave (and Jewish) Lord Kalms also refused.

  10. Good morning Geoff and all,

    Whilst Boris takes a break from steering the UK through the consequences of BREXIT, COVID-19 and the DAVOSian uprising, Gove has taken over the wheel by announcing that even more restrictive measures could be necessary due to Omicron confirmed cases doubling in one day.

    Plan B could even be superceded by Plan C but the idea mooted by the PM that you must work at home yet can go to the office for the annual works award presentation is underwritten by new findings from UCL that travelling to work and shopping in superstores will spread Omicron more rapidly than an office party.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/covid-news-plan-b-rules-restrictions-lockdown-omicron-cases/

    I managed to read this DT article after changing to an ‘Omicron’ browser.😉

    1. Morning Angie. These latest measures, and the ones planned, are all in the face of a virus that has not killed one person globally! You could rerun the same campaign against an outbreak of the Common Cold and suffer worse results!

    2. ‘Morning Angie. I’m just wondering what this has to do with Backstabber Gove? As the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Minister for Intergovernmental Relations (has there ever been a more ridiculous ministerial title?) I assume that it’s a “look at me, I’m important” piece in preparation for a leadership bid in due course. Just when we thought it couldn’t get any worse…

      1. I have been astonished at all the arsehole ministers who come out of the woodwork to spout about the plague as if they knew anything about it.

        In my view, only the Health Secretary should ever have pontificated about it No one else.

      2. Morning Hugh.

        Dooes !ook that way. Gove may have jumped into the driver’s seat but it could be like my twelve year old diesel car.

        Yesterday, on my to the surgery for a blood test ( Us&Es and LFT in nurses jargon), my DPF (Diesel Particulate Filter) light came on. Ironically this is not a time to panic, shut down the engine and call the AA. It means you need to drop down a gear and put your foot down to heat up the exhaust by treating your engine to a rave party, getting the juice flowing through your injectors and burning off all those carbon deposits in the cat (catalytic converter).

        I know it’s dirty but that’s what’s likely to happen when the party warms up!

  11. Making Contact

    In a small Irish town, Tommy Lenahan goes to confession. “Bless me, Father, for I have sinned.”

    “What is the nature of your sin, my son?” asks the priest.

    “I’ve been with a loose woman, Father,” replies Tommy.

    “Who was it?” the priest asks him.

    “I can’t tell you that, Father, as I wouldn’t wish to sully her reputation.”

    “Was it Annie Murphy?”

    “No, Father.”

    Was it Bernadette O’Connell?”

    “No, Father.”

    “Perhaps it was Colleen McBride.”

    “No, Father, it wasn’t her.”

    “Then who was it?”

    “As I said, Father, I really can’t tell you.”

    “Very well then, as a penance you can say five Our Fathers and four Hail Marys.”

    Tommy goes back to his pew where his friend asks him, “How did you get on?”

    He replies, “Not bad. I got five Our Fathers, four Hail Marys and three good leads.”

  12. Vast majority of Britons have NO PROTECTION against Omicron: After 100 days two AstraZeneca doses offer virtually zero defence

    Professor Neil Ferguson, the Imperial College London epidemiologist, has warned that the Omicron variant has the potential to ‘very substantially overwhelm the NHS’ and cause up to 10,000 hospitalisations a day if it is as virulent as Delta.

    Ferguson, who has been referred to as Professor Lockdown because of his support for imposing restriction on life to block viral transmission, said the UK was already experiencing a ‘very explosive wave of infection’ from the new variant.

    The number of hospitalisations this would cause depends on the severity of disease caused by Omicron, he added.

    There are signs for hopefulness in this! Every forecast made by Ferguson in his entire lifetime has proved to be wrong!

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10298323/Vast-majority-Britons-NO-PROTECTION-against-Omicron.html

    1. I think he is right about the new strain of virus but wrong about the severity of hospitalisations

    2. ‘Morning, Minty. “After 100 days two AstraZeneca doses offer virtually zero defence”

      Sounds a bit like the batteries in Electric Vehicles – soon depleted and horrendous replacement costs.

      More Boris Bonkers ideas.

      1. Great analogy, NTN. I’ll remember that for a later time. I’m presuming no copyright fee?

        1. Of course not, Ktk, I would have thought (hoped) that it was public knowledge but, given the sheepish state the vast majority of the great unwashed are in, I somehow doubt it.

          Use it freely, old troop.

    3. 340712+ up ticks,
      Morning AS,
      If’s, but’s, explosive, keep the fear pressure on, we are in to deep now to back off.

    4. Why, oh why, is anyone giving any credence whatsoever to Ferguson? He is a doom monger that has been wildly wrong every time over decades. His predictions over Covid have been appallingly inaccurate, which he thinks is fine as they were all ‘on the right side’, obviously uninterested in the damage and pain he’s inflicted on lesser mortals.

      1. ‘Morning, Dale, I wouldn’t consider myself to be a lesser mortal than the moron Ferguson.

      2. If the government is relying on this consistently useless scientist it helps to explain the omicron-shambles being foisted upon us!

      3. He doesn’t need to do any computer modelling. He can talk to the SA doctor who identified Omicron and said it is the same as the common cold.

    5. Morning, Araminta. Here’s some info from ‘Sturgeon’s fiefdom’ that shows cases by “vaccination” status. My conclusion is that the graph shows the waning of the “vaccine’s” efficacy. Your comment shows 100 days for AZ, information from the likes of The Highwire and Dr Peter McCullough have indicated around 120 days, mainly Pfizer and with Moderna and J&J in the USA.

      Anyone fully “vaccinated” as late as July is now back in the ranks of the non-vaccinated. They gave away their lifetime innate and naturally acquired immunity for around three months “protection” from what, exactly?
      When reading the unvaccinated figures be aware that the figure includes children who have not been subject to “vaccination” during the graph’s time-frame.

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0ea17d6f55ad3f06c4e04a8635018f1e1563368f06a42f59b5556673cc7145f0.png

      1. Must go to Specsavers. I missed the ‘l’ and thought his beefy doxy had been too enthusiastic.

  13. Looking at the mish-mash of news and social media junk that is the BBC website front page a few thoughts occur to me.
    Is O’micron real? Does it really exist? Or is it new word for colds and ‘flu?
    When police do not do their jobs and lie about it, and cover it up, and people are murdered as a result, is the word “failings” a proper description?
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59576717
    Liz Truss threatens Russia. She failed to stop EU countries causing long border delays at Customs for no reason other than badness. She was then promoted.
    Is there no way to stop dolts poking bears?
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59616743
    Compulsory vaccination coming here – yes it is now being promoted. (Time for the banner, “Freedom or Death”.)
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/health-59609452

    On the BBC last night presenters on two “news” programmes were very, very supportive of those supporting abortion without restriction, and not presenting any contrary view, of course.
    It is all going downhill.

    1. Morning Horace. Yes! It looks like the entire establishment has lost its marbles and the End Times are upon us!

      2. At least tha madness of The Bonfire of the Vanities only lasted one year.
        We haven’t really progressed in the intervening 5 centuries.

    2. Is O’micron real? Does it really exist? Or is it new word for colds and ‘flu?

      Last evening the TV was on at a friend’s home. I wasn’t paying attention as I was toying with a crossword, however, during a commercial break I’m sure that a new ‘covid’ advertisement, or maybe it was an old one being re-run, indicating how people should wash their hands etc and ending with that awful yellow banner requesting people to, “Stay at Home, Save the NHS etc.” Was I experiencing an extreme case of déjà vu or are the rogues re-running the same old trope from last year?

  14. Amazingly – a good piece by the usually awful Parris. The Grimes today.

    “We’ve got a wrong ’un in Downing Street. Does anyone have the balls to dislodge this impostor, or must cowering Tory MPs outsource their courage to the voters of North Shropshire next week?

    There has to be an alternative to the dismal trickle of dirty little stories that only tell us what Boris Johnson’s parliamentary party long suspected, and the country is now learning fast. The prime minister has been rumbled — and for Johnson it’s over.

    That much we know. The remaining question is whether he’s going to cling wretchedly on next year with his squirming parliamentary party drifting towards an electoral bruising — or does there exist someone on the government benches, someone notable or someone as yet unknown, with the courage to step into the light and say out loud what everyone else is thinking? That’s what Margaret Thatcher did when the whole world could see Ted Heath was finished. Over brandy in the members’ smoking room distinguished senior colleagues whispered about frontrunners in the “second round”. She saw there had to be a first round.

    To that first round in a moment because we needn’t tarry long over the reasons for it. There’s a moral toad crouching at the heart of the British establishment, and it remains uncertain whether that establishment — from a constitutional monarch down through a whole delicate web of formal and informal contacts and connections, operating on information often unarticulated and principles of decency that gentlemen don’t write down — is capable alone of purging itself of the amphibian.

    He knows no rules and trades on respect for codes of honour that others take for granted. Lord Geidt, formerly the Queen’s private secretary and now Johnson’s adviser on standards (I remind you that the previous one, Alex Allen, resigned in protest against his boss) is his latest victim. Geidt assumed a gentleman wouldn’t tell him a barefaced lie about his scratching around for inappropriate ways of paying his interior decorator. Geidt’s assumption was correct. A gentleman wouldn’t.

    Though it perhaps excites less popular fury than reports of unlawful Downing Street revels, the Downing Street refurbishment affair is the more serious. Interviewers are often blindsided by flat denials, but his interrogators over the illicit party were mostly only journalists: fair game (in Boris’s book) for the Lie Direct. Parliamentary colleagues, the electoral commission and commissioners for standards are another matter. We see now why Johnson was so keen to use the Owen Paterson business as a smokescreen for the removal of the parliamentary commissioner for standards, Kathryn Stone.

    “From his every engagement with real human beings,” I wrote on this page five weeks ago, “somebody emerges broken, and it’s never Mr Johnson.” So permit me a personal word about Downing Street’s (then) press spokeswoman-designate, Allegra Stratton. I know her. She is a good person. In a mock-interview before last Christmas, a rehearsal for the job she never did, her embarrassment at an unexpected question about the now-infamous party was obvious, and her inability to spin her way out of it does her nothing but credit. Nice people, when embarrassed, often grin. Now she has been made the fall-guy for the PM himself, and for a party that (so far as I know) he is still saying didn’t happen. His first, his instinctive response to any accusation is to fib. His second is to tip somebody else into the slurry. It was the action of a cad.

    So what (or rather who) next? I had supposed the contest was between Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt, but noises from the undergrowth are that the foreign secretary, Liz Truss, is emerging as a serious competitor — at least in the eyes of the cohort of new and younger MPs.

    If so, they are making a serious mistake. There looks to be a real danger that the Tories, on the rebound from one empty vessel, may fall for the charms of another. Truss is at least no moral reprobate, but look hard and there’s nothing there: nothing beyond a leaping self-confidence that’s almost endearing in its wide-eyed disregard for the forces of political gravity.

    Three days ago she gave a speech at Chatham House, “Building the Network of Liberty”: a barely disguised puff for her own leadership prospects. If you’re tempted to take Truss seriously, please read the speech. Like a hiker bounding across a bog, springing from reed-tuft to reed-tuft fast enough to avoid any tuft sinking beneath the weight it’s asked to bear, the speech leaps from one overweening vacuity to the next, never pausing long enough to explain what, in practical terms, a foreign secretary might actually mean.

    The free world, she says “has taken its eye off the ball”; there follows the usual attack on “woke” thinking. But “it’s time to wake up”; “[Britain’s] scientists are saving the world through their miracle vaccines”; we need “the age of ideas, influence and inspiration” (not “the maelstrom of militancy, mistrust and misinformation”). With a ghastly inevitability there follows the Magna Carta, the rule of law and the free market in “the greatest country on Earth” where, whoever you are, “you can achieve your dreams”. We have “unrivalled influence in the world”.

    Practical examples, however, are in short supply, though the Beatles and Tim Berners-Lee get a mention. Plus “we were the first European country to impose sanctions on Belarus”. Also mentioned are “free trade agreements with 70 countries”, almost all of them replicating the agreements we already had. It is time, she concludes, “to dump the baggage, ditch the introspection and step forward, proud of who we are and what we stand for, ready to shape the world anew”.

    Can you get algorithms to write this stuff? The word “liberty” keeps reappearing. In an ill-disguised pitch to the libertarian tendency among many new young Tory MPs, Truss presents herself as Britain’s answer to the French Marianne, although without the ribbon cockade and red cap.

    As a leadership hopeful, Truss puts me in mind of those dreadful kebabs that, legless after a pub-crawl, you lurch towards at midnight. They seem like a good idea at the time, but peer into the bread pouch and the contents do not live up to the promise. It would be a pity if the parliamentary Conservative Party, drunk on Boris, turns out to have developed a taste for hollow posturing and, having tired of a charlatan, falls into the arms of another sham.

    Boris is set to shrink in our rear-view mirrors. After three years of clowning, it is depth, honesty, thoughtfulness, managerial skills and a certain understatement that the party and the country should be hungering for. It will soon be time for candidates who embody these quieter attributes to come forward.”

    1. Thank you for posting. I shudder at the prospect of Jeremy (Rhyming Slang) becoming PM. I’m on record from 6 or 7 years ago saying I thought he was being groomed for the role. I’ve absolutely no idea about the rags to Rishi chap. The only evidence I’ve seen is his ability to splurge billions……

      1. It is a nightmare, isn’t it. Just think of the contenders: Fishi Rishi; Spamhead Slammer; Priti Awful; Drabb; UnTrussworthy; Shitts; Williamson; Halfcock; Smug; and all the other faceless halfwits who are trotted out to spout the line of the day.

        There isn’t one person in the Commons that I can thimk of that one would be really relieved to see at No 10.

        2. Such a pity that Paterson isn’t there anymore.

          Then again, nor is Thatcher. Will we ever see her like again? Not in this crop methinks.

      2. It is a nightmare, isn’t it. Just think of the contenders: Fishi Rishi; Spahead Slammer; Priti Awful; Drabb; UnTrussworthy; Shitts; Williamson; Halfcock; Smug; and all the other faceless halfwits who are trotted out to spout the line of the day.

        There isn’t one person in the Commons that I can thimk of that one would be really relieved to see at No 10.

      3. Jeremy H. is a determined Remainer, expect a serious effort from him to rejoin the EU, and us pay mightily for the privilege of doing so.

      4. Jeremy H. is a determined Remainer, expect a serious effort from him to rejoin the EU, and pay mightily for the privilege of doing so.

      5. In Janus Towers, Rich-ie (sic) is known as Norman Wisdom, because his walk is so similar. Nothing like as funny otherwise…

        ‘Morning Stephen.

          1. You have to be 10 years old to enjoy Norman Wisdom. Now that you are 11 the magic is gone. I bet you don’t believe in Father Christmas either.

          2. They used to get out a creaky old projector and show us Norman Wisdom films for a treat when we were at prep school.

          3. Or Charlie Drake or Jimmy Clitheroe.
            What was it with the 1950s and unfunny little men? Was it a left over from Charlie Chaplin? (Who was also not funny.)

        2. I believe he avoids being photographed beside his Conservative colleague Daniel Kawczynski, who is 6ft 9in tall, as he is only 5’4″

          2. I avoid being photographed next to Daniel for the same reason – plus, talking to him gives me a crick in the neck!

      6. In Janus Towers, Rich-ie (sic) is known as Norman Wisdom, because his walk is so similar. Nothing like as funny otherwise…

        ‘Morning Stephen.

      7. People who have so much money that they don’t know what to do with it are often also extremely quick to spend other people’s.
        Perhaps Chancellors should be selected from those who appreciate the value of money, because they’ve had to work very hard to accumulate any.

      9. I saw Hunt v. Johnson at the local leadership hustings.
        Hunt has a spiteful streak; he indulged in ad hominem attacks which was not a good look.
        He was also Health Secretary at the time when the decision not to stock up on PPE was taken. Regardless of the type of bacterium/virus, basic PPE is necessary.

    2. I am not up to date with Westminster gossip but weren’t Matthew Parris and Alan Duncan lovers (if that is the correct term) when they were both in the House of Commons?

  16. Good morning all and, looking out of the bathroom window after briefly opening it, it’s a frosty and deep crimson start this morning, dry and a tad more than -1°c outside.

  17. 340712+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Saturday 11 December: Lockdowns mean lost jobs, domestic abuse, neglected illnesses and mental damage.

    Iockdowns = a crooks & paedophiles charter.

    May one say,
    To forewarn these odious overseers that enough is now to much maybe an advert in the Times for Civil war leaders to step forward has been forced upon the decent peoples of the United Kingdom as the only way to go.

  18. Good morning, everyone. Returned home with the Springer yesterday. The top of her shin bone has been cut off and a metal plate screwed in to stabilise the joint. She is on a very strict regime until she goes back in 6 weeks when she will be xrayed to confirm that all is well.
    The bad news is that the vet examined the other leg and said that the cruciate ligament will rupture within 12 months.

    2. ‘Morning, Delboy, that’s a bummer with the springer’s enforced idleness for 6 weeks and possibly another 6 weeks to come – and never mind the costs.

      Good luck old chap and KBO.

    3. That’s bad luck for the pooch. Is it possible that the repair could be done now, to save a further trauma in a years time and to reduce total recovery time?

      1. Big Cat gave neighbours dog a “pat” round the muzzle. Dog doesn’t come here any more.

        1. Yes. Been there done that. My late hound was very interested to meet the white cat that my last wife introduced into the family. He did his doggy thing of shoving his nose in her rear. Freda turned round and whacked him across the nose. Hierarchy was thus immediately established – and they lived happily together for 10 years!

          1. My Golden Retriever Lenny adored our Maine Coon Cat- they even slept together in Lenny’s basket. One evening Lenny was out in the yard and saw what he thought was the cat so he went up and nudged it up the rear end. Big mistake! It was a skunk and poor old Len got sprayed.
            We bathed him and did all we could but for ages afterwards, if he got a bit damp we could smell skunk. A very unpleasant pong.

          3. Yes, I think so but we didn’t have any so we tried orange juice but it was the juice with pulp in it. Total chaos. Also, a mix of vinegar and water is supposed to work but it didn’t seem to.

          4. Sorry, I just laughed when I read that, imagining a dog smothered in orange juice with bits. Especially when he shook himself.

          5. I can laugh now but it was horrible. Thank god there are no skunks in England…apart from those in HoC, of course.

      2. Thanks, Bill. They offered to do both legs at the same time with a reduction in cost. We couldn’t put her through that but we will be back next autumn.

    5. Sorry about that, Delboy. Our 11 year old Lab has the same problems. He has a very strict diet, as Labs are notoriously food driven and is on Gabapentin and co-codamol twice a day. He is a very happy chap except when he gets chilly!
      I hope Supervet has worked his magic!

      1. FYI there is another version of Gabapentin called Pregabalin. More expensive,possibly fewer side effects.

    6. Good that she’s back, though. Is there anything can be done to slow thr damage to the ligament?

    8. Morning Delboy36
      Support recommended for the good leg because of the added pressure.
      Give her a bone from me and a cuddle…x

    4. Is it time for Hansard to produce a glossary of terms?

      ” My Honourable Friend ” – “Awkward Barsteward”
      “My Rt. Hon. Friend” – “Right awkward Barsteward”

    5. “…I referred to the Pfizer data…”

      Which was, of course, utterly objective in a medical sense and betrayed no financial interest whatsoever.

  21. SIR – Am I alone in noticing how gleeful BBC News is when reporting on the discomfiture of the Government?

    Mike Aston
    Stourbridge, Worcestershire

    Mr Aston, it is all part of the broadcaster’s loathing for the indigenous population. Wake up man! Where have you been?

    1. My response, BLT and via Best Beloved’s login:

      “Am I alone in noticing how gleeful BBC News is when reporting on the discomfiture of the Government?”
      Mike Aston, If you insist on getting your daily dose of the Biased Broadcasting Corporation, you’ve only yourself to blame – unless of course you too, are revelling in the discomfiture of the Government.

  22. I have just have the misfortune to hear a snippet from the Toady Programme (the MR is a fan).

    Why is no one apparently able to pronounce the word Omicron properly? I didn’t do Greek at school, but I know how Greek letters are pronounced.

    Presumably they say the constant π as “pee”.

      2. What IS the correct pronunciation? When I was small it was oh-MAY-ga but now it seems to be OH-mi-ga.

    1. Posted on Ar5ebook with the rider “Off you go and fact check (which you’ve admitted is merely your opinion.)”

      1. They must not be criticised for something that is part of their culture – that would be Islamophobic or racist.

  24. The Wail this morning:

    “Vast majority of Britons have NO PROTECTION against Omicron: After 100 days two AstraZeneca doses offer virtually zero defence while two Pfizer jabs provide just 37% protection against new variant – but boosters cut risk of falling ill by 75%”

    In English this means – as I understand – that millions of people are unprotected against something that is a bit of an inconvenience but does not make you go to bed, let alone die.

    Shocking that the NHS (clap) fails us again…(sarc)

      1. Apparently it is now safe for 12-15 year olds to have two jabs, even though previously they only just managed to squeak through approval for one. Does Omicron (weaker than the last scariant) pose such a threat that we should double-jab our children?

        Perhaps this is not about a virus, but about compulsory vaccination and digital ID? Just a thought.

    2. Credibility goes into the bin as soon as I see phrases such as “Vast majority”, “virtually”.

    3. Yesterday I said on this forum that the vaccine gene therapy was a dud.

      One of my Nottler friends here proclaimed vigorously that it is not a dud. I would be interested to hear why he thinks that a vaccine that does not work is not a dud.

    2. Perhaps the Germans could come up with a simple visual representation for those unvaccinated. Maybe it should be a six-pointed star, in yellow.

      1. 342712+ up ticks,

        Morning Anne,
        Then they should cast that eye over the “yesterday”
        channel for enlightenment.

  26. Good morning all. Not sure if anyone here has commented on the Martin Duggan letter. A quick search reveals his profile :
    “Social impact investor and commentator. Martin has worked with social services, social security and healthcare organizations (sic) since 1990. His expertise covers citizen centered government, social assistance, disability, healthcare, employment and pensions programs. Martin has authored a variety of white papers and is a regular conference speaker.”

    1. As he is so enthuastic about it, as far as I am concerned Mr Duggan is more than welcome to remain in New York.

    2. If he can afford to holiday in New York – especially with all the current extra travel expenses – then the taxpayer is paying him too much. (i.e. anything at all.)

  27. 340712+ up ticks,

    Dt,
    Yet another truth assassin,

    Michael Gove hints at tougher Covid restrictions amid ‘deeply concerning’ omicron spread

    3. Little wonder the rogues are in a panic. Five million would be a bit of a problem, upwards of twenty million is really dangerous territory if something begins to happen to the jabbed in the near future.

      Now, of course, there is the growing number of those “vaccinated” whose defence has disappeared and they are now, infection wise, non-vaccinated.

      All hands to the pump to expand the ‘Fear Factor’ via the Omicron variant. Get those sleeves rolled up and prepare for the needle folks.

  32. Because I have the print version of the DT on a Saturday, I have been able to read Charles Moore’s article.

    I think he is wrong to dismiss “Partygate” as trivial. If ministers and minions WERE partying last December at a time when plebs were being heavily fined for doing exactly that – it should be made pubic and those involved sacked and/or prosecuted.

    1. Yes. The ‘Partygate’ incident only reinforced a perception that had been growing over the past months.
      The government panicked and over-reacted to a virus; a classic case of a little knowledge being a dangerous thing.
      It is now trying to ignore Denis Healey’s Law of Holes.

    2. BT, anyone e.g. Richard Tice, who takes your line when posting on Twitter, will be attacked by several people, aka government stooges, claiming it’s unimportant etc. It’s important for the reasons you give and for the level of hypocrisy displayed by these self-important people.

      1. Thanks, Korky. I didn’t think Moore was a stooge – but he is beginning to sound like one.

    3. I hope they were partying. It means that they cannot possibly have the nerve to tell everyone to avoid doing this Christmas what they themselves were doing last Christmas. If another lockdown were to be ordered, the level of compliance would be very low.

      1. I don’t agree. I think it will encourage the bastards to be even tougher on the great unwashed.

    4. I hope they were partying. It means that they cannot possibly have the nerve to tell everyone to avoid doing this Christmas what they themselves were doing last Christmas. If another lockdown were to be ordered, the level of compliance would be very low.

    5. And, as I suggested last week, all the fines imposed on others should be refunded in full from Conservative Party funds.

    1. For poor NOTTLers with no access to the Spekkie, here is the list so far.

      1. Steve Baker

      2. Ben Bradley

      3. Brendan Clarke-Smith

      4. Graham Brady

      5. Philip Davies

      6. Richard Drax

      7. Simon Jupp

      8. Stephen McPartland

      9. John Redwood

      10. Greg Smith

      11. Dehenna Davison

      12. Marcus Fysh

      13. Gary Sambrook

      14. Pauline Latham

      15. William Wragg

      16. Geoffrey Clifton-Brown

      17. Iain Duncan Smith

      18. Christopher Chope

      19. Craig Tracey

      20. Robert Syms

      21. Anthony Mangnall

      22. Greg Clark

      23. Esther McVey

      24. Liam Fox

      25. David Davis

      26. Mark Jenkinson

      27. Alicia Kearns

      28. Mark Harper

      29. Darren Henry

      30. Steve Brine

      31. Craig Mackinlay

      32. Simon Fell

      33. Andrew Bowie

      34. David Warburton

      35. Siobhan Baillie

      36. David Jones

      37. Tom Randall

      38. Ben Spencer

      39. Andrew Rosindell

      40. Charles Walker

      41. Douglas Ross

      42, Karl McCartney

      43. Anne Marie Morris

      44. Johnny Mercer

      45. Tom Tugendhat

      46. Richard Fuller

      47. Giles Watling

      48. Desmond Swayne

      49. Andrew Bridgen

      50. Andrew Lewer

      51. Christian Wakeford

      52. Adam Afriyie

      53. Julian Sturdy

      54. Peter Bone

      55. Chris Grayling

      56. Chris Green

      57. Tim Loughton

      58. Tracey Crouch

      59. Miriam Cates

      60. Jackie Doyle-Price

      61. Lee Anderson

      1. What a surprise – I don’t see my MP’s name on that list! Could it be that she’s too busy sucking up and hoping for a job to actually exercise any independent thought?

        1. Giles Watling seems to be the only North Essex MP who believes in such boring notions as liberty.

      2. I do not see the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Minister for Children and Families on that list. If he doesn’t vote against the Bill does that indicate he supports “vaccinations” for our children? I think his boss is the former “vaccine” creep.

  34. Good Moaning.
    This evening, I will be identifying as a female grandparent who dotes on zer grandchild currently self-identifying as a teenager with a cervix.
    We – self-identifying grand human who claims to be male – and I, myself, in person will be attending a performance of songs associated with the arrival – via a birthing parent – of a dead Jew who behaved as if ze were male through zis 33 years on this planet.
    (Will the above get me into Oxford or Durham? Or even a job in the National Theatre?)

    1. Well, that sounds suitably white/gender/ woke appropriate, SO I hope you all? have a wonderful evening!

    2. Vicious, Anne … but brilliant!

      Good morning, I hope you enjoy this evening’s
      Carols Service.

  35. Welcome to the Free Speech Union’s weekly newsletter, our round-up of the free speech news of the week.

    Rosie Kay forced out of her own company for lawful views expressed in her own home

    We’re supporting Free Speech Union member Rosie Kay, a choreographer who has been forced out of the dance company she founded because she said – while at a dinner party in her own home – that biological sex is binary and immutable.

    Incredibly, several of her guests lodged a formal complaint of “transphobia” with the trustees of the company she had set up and Rosie was placed under investigation for four months.

    She was interviewed by Janice Turner in the Times about the ordeal yesterday. We are now helping Rosie raise funds to fight a legal battle and we urge you to donate to her fundraiser here. Every little helps.

    Liberal professor under investigation for calling student walkout over Rod Liddle speech “pathetic”

    Professor Tim Luckhurst, Principal of South College at the University of Durham, is being subjected to an investigation by university authorities about events surrounding a speech given by Spectator columnist Rod Liddle on the theme of tolerating other people’s points of view. A small number of students walked-out of the event, at which point Professor Luckhurst called the walk-out “pathetic”. He was not directing his comments at individual students, just expressing his view that walking out rather than staying to listen to opinions you find disagreeable – and forgoing an opportunity to debate with the speaker – was “pathetic”.

    A chorus of student complaints about how “hurt” they were by Rod’s words – even though they hadn’t stayed to hear them – prompted the university to launch a formal investigation into Professor Luckhurst and bar him from engaging with students, including a planned talk in favour of free speech at the Durham Union on Monday. He is a member of the Free Speech Union and we are supporting him in full. Our full statement on events in Durham was printed in the Daily Mail:

    The vilification and abuse of Professor Luckhurst for inviting Rod Liddle to give an after-dinner speech is an absolute disgrace.

    If students cannot cope with hearing opinions they find disagreeable they shouldn’t be at university.

    Durham says it believes in upholding academic free speech, but if so why has it placed Professor Luckhurst under investigation for describing the decision of students to walk out of the speech as “pathetic”?

    In expressing that perfectly lawful view, Professor Luckhurst was exercising his right to free speech and penalising him for doing so could well be a breach of the law that requires universities to uphold free speech on campus.

    The Durham UCU branch called for the University “to consider the full range of appropriate disciplinary action”. Its statement also said Professor Luckhurst had not “addressed the behaviour of his wife”, who was filmed remonstrating with students after Liddle’s speech, one of whom had called her a “bitch”.

    In the furore following the talk, the presidents of Durham student associations called for “content warnings” ahead of future guest lectures and hundreds of students protested and gave speeches demanding Luckhurst’s resignation. The Times said that Durham should not “indulge the sensitivities of student protesters”.

    But Imogen Marchant, a current Durham student, wrote in the Spectator:

    As a Durham finalist, I’m fed up. The university has released more communication about Rod-gate in the last three days than I have received all term about what is going to happen with my exams. My college, my department and the university governing body have all sent me emails telling me about the appropriate welfare resources to turn to if I have been unduly affected by hearing about comments that I might disagree with. The university has been quick to affirm that it “categorically does not agree with views expressed by the external speaker at this occasion”. This is precisely my worry: since when has inviting someone to speak been a sign that you agree with everything they’ve ever said? After all, by giving someone a microphone, it should be clear that you are not irrevocably aligning your institution with them. Who would think otherwise?

    Rod Liddle has called for the University to make a “grovelling apology” for its treatment of Luckhurst. He accused Durham of scapegoating Luckhurst and “hanging him out to dry”.

    Michael Deacon said if students can’t handle Rod Liddle’s jokes they aren’t ready for the real world.

    The behaviour of the UCU, a trade union which is supposed to stand up for the rights of university employees against their employers, is yet more evidence that it won’t support academics who express unorthodox views. If you fall into that category, please consider joining the FSU instead. We currently have a special offer whereby academics can get a £10 discount on their first year’s membership. More details below.

    Cambridge students launch witch-hunt to find source of woke “training” leak

    The Wolfson College Student Association (WCSA) has launched a witch-hunt after several students leaked images of compulsory “anti-racism” training to the Telegraph. The mandatory training included the usual woke gobbledegook – Britain is a cesspit of ‘white supremacy’, ‘microaggressions’ should be reported to the university authorities, heteronormative students need to do ‘the work’ to become ‘allies’ of trans students, etc., etc. The Telegraph has more. The president of the WCSA said the leakers wanted “to sow division, uncertainty, and distrust amongst their peers” and that it was “frankly cowardly” to defy the Association.

    Our founder Toby Young was quoted on the search for heretics in Wolfson: “The college authorities should be embarrassed. They’ve relinquished their leadership role and the result is that a student mob is now in charge. Why would anyone want to go to Wolfson if the college is now run by a group of Maoist thugs in short trousers?”

    The recent appearance of Jordan Peterson at Cambridge is one promising sign that academic freedom can be restored.

    Meanwhile, Professor Jo Phoenix has resigned from the Open University after being “harassed and vilified” by her colleagues over her gender critical views. She said: “The University has allowed things to escalate to a point beyond repair. My trust and heart have been broken.”

    Law Commission proposals on hate crime

    The Law Commission has proposed that England and Wales needs its own Hate Crime Bill, much like the one that free speech groups campaigned against in Scotland. Some of the proposals from the Commission were welcomed, but we think they’d be an unprecedented assault on free speech. Toby wrote in the Spectator:

    At present, in order to be prosecuted for stirring up hatred against a ‘protected’ group, the Crown needs to prove you intended to do so, with the exception of stirring up racial hatred, where the threshold is lower. The Commission not only proposes to enlarge the number of ‘protected’ groups to include ‘sex and gender’, ‘disability’ and ‘trans-gender and gender identity’, but wants the lower prosecution threshold to be extended to all stirring-up offences.

    Consequently, you could be sent to jail for using threatening or abusive words that are ‘likely to’ stir up hatred against women and minorities — look out Roy Chubby Brown — even if you didn’t intend to do so. All the Crown would need to show is that you ‘ought to have known’. The Scottish government initially intended to make the same change, but was forced to climb down. The fact that the Law Commission wants to venture into territory where even Nicola Sturgeon fears to tread is alarming.

    The Commission recommended the criminalisation of “public sexual harassment” like cat-calling or lewd comments, the Telegraph reported, while rejecting calls for misogyny to be made a hate crime.

    The Economist called Scotland’s new Hate Crime Act, which the Law Commission wants to replicate in England and Wales and which we campaigned against, the “latest example of growing authoritarianism”.

    The Muslim Council of Britain has issued a report on “Islamophobia” calling for greater restrictions on the reporting of Islamist terrorism. It singles out for criticism a report in the Daily Mail which quoted a Yazidi survivor of ISIS who said: “They called it Islamic law. They raped women, even young girls.” The Muslim Council of Britain said that report risked “perpetuating falsehoods about Islam”. Brendan O’Neill said the report was a “chilling attempt to crush public criticism of Islam”.

    Ceri Black is being prosecuted in Northern Ireland for Twitter threads she wrote about child sexual abuse after a complaint from David Paisley, the actor and “LGBTQAI+ activist”. She accused him of “boundary blurring interventions” in the debate about the Wii Spa incident, where, as Black explained, “A male, who turned out to have a history of sex offences, went into the women’s changing room and exposed his penis to women and girls. A woman complained about him; she was subsequently vilified on social media, called a transphobe and a bigot.”

    Mia Ashton, a British feminist living in Canada, said in the Critic that a proposed amendment to the country’s Human Rights Code will have disastrous consequences on the free speech of gender critical feminists.

    Sceptic doctor triumphs in High Court case

    Dr Sam White has won his case at the High Court against a social media ban imposed on him by the General Medical Council after he’d posted videos doubting the efficacy of vaccines and arguing that mask-wearing was not effective.

    Ban on conversion therapy could criminalise counsellors of trans children

    The Government has extended the consultation on the criminalisation of ‘conversion therapy’, which many have warned will make it illegal to refer children who present as gender dysphoric to a psychiatrist. Both Janice Turner in the Times and Nikki Da Costa in the Telegraph warned against rushing out legislation in this complicated area. Tom Chivers, writing for UnHerd, argued that stifling conversations around gender identity and counselling for children who self-identify as trans will only cause harm. Many parents fear that they could be prosecuted for discussing their own child’s desire to change sex. Church leaders have warned that an overly-broad ban on conversion therapy would risk criminalising Christian teaching.

    Trans ideology continues to dominate public sector

    Hundreds of nurses have called on the Nursing and Midwifery Council to withdraw from Stonewall’s ailing Diversity Champions scheme. One nurse said: “I feel I am unable to protect my female/women patients, and advocate for them without fear of recrimination.”

    James Kirkup accused the BBC of failing to recognise the contentiousness of trans ideology after the corporation included two trans women on its annual 100 Women list. Raquel Rosario Sanchez said the BBC’s recent Womanhood documentary presented “trans dogmas as truth and biology as lies”.

    Meanwhile civil servants are being made to sit through training courses described as “unscientific nonsense”. One course featured a “genderbread person” that described biological sex as a “spectrum”.

    MPs could be banned from making “unreasonable” attacks

    Professor Andrew Tettenborn of our Legal Advisory Council has warned about the House of Commons’ Committee on Standards’ proposals for banning MPs from mounting any “unreasonable and excessive personal attack” and obliging them to promote “anti-racism”. These proposals are currently being consulted about and if you would like to respond you can do so here. We will be responding shortly.

    Judge-written privacy law will encroach on free speech

    Geoffrey Robertson QC has warned in the Mail on Sunday that Meghan Markle’s recent Court of Appeals victory risks judge-made privacy law that shields the rich and powerful from criticism. The Times warned of the same in an editorial.

    Headteacher: young people care about social justice but hate cancel culture

    Vicky Bingham of South Hampstead High School has said most young people hate cancel culture and see it as “performative, virtue-signalling and frightening” and would rather concentrate on “meaningful action than on grand sweeping statements or policy of language”.

    Hugo Rifkind wrote that cancel culture was out of control, and argued that it comes from the right as well as the left. (Well done Hugo. The penny finally dropped.)

    The Colston school in Bristol has renamed itself in the wake of the toppling of Edward Colston’s statue last year.

    Mispronouncing a name isn’t a “microaggression”

    Patrick West wrote in the Spectator about the minefield of mispronouncing foreign names, a difficulty he said is ubiquitous across cultures and far from malicious.

    Broadcasters drop “BAME”

    The BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 are to “move away” from the term BAME. A diversity report found that many people considered it insulting and that white journalists were “nervous” about what language to use.

    EU condemned for attempt to police language

    The Pope and President Macron have both condemned the European Union’s attempt to police language, including advising people to avoid saying “Christmas”.

    Surviving the trans publishing purges

    “While JK Rowling might be too famous to cancel, those with heterodox views in the foothills of literary fame have two choices: keep quiet or leave,” wrote Josephine Bartosch on the “trans publishing purges”. Writer Rose Tremain told the Times that writing now “is like walking through a forest with mantraps”. Meanwhile, woke children’s books have colonised book shops.

    Shakespeare has survived worse than the trigger warnings which bedevil modern productions, wrote Jane Shilling in the Telegraph.

    Forthcoming comedy night

    Following the success of our first comedy night of 2021, we are offering members priority booking for our second, taking place on Wednesday 15 December – perfect timing for a pre-Christmas celebration of free-thinking comedy. And fear not – the new Covid restrictions announced on Wednesday won’t affect this event.

    Our MC for the evening will be FSU favourite Dominic Frisby, and he’ll be joined by comedians Leo Kearse, Mark Dolan and Joe Jacobs. Bringing some additional seasonal glamour, we have a special performance by Vanity von Glow.

    The Free Speech Union team will also be there, so do come and say hello. Round up your friends and family and buy your tickets now!

    If you’re feeling especially full of Christmas cheer, please consider selecting the option of a ticket plus a £10 donation to the FSU.

    Sharing the newsletter

    As with all our work, this newsletter depends on the support of our members and donors, so if you’re not already a paying member please sign up today or encourage a friend to join and help us turn the tide against cancel culture.

    You can share our newsletters on social media with the buttons below to help us spread the word. If someone has shared this newsletter with you and you’d like to join the FSU, you can find our website here.

    A reminder: if you’re a working academic and haven’t yet joined the Free Speech Union, or if you know somebody who should, we’ve put a special offer in place whereby if you join you can claim a £10 rebate. To be eligible, you need to join for the full annual amount of £49.95 and select “Academic” in the dropdown menu asking what profession you’re in. Offer ends on 20 December.

    Best wishes,

    Benjamin Jones

      1. Have you read Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith? It is fictionalised account of the terrors of the USSR under Stalin and Krushchev; and a fabulous piece of writing.

  36. Dominic Sandbrook
    Make History Great Again!
    And stop teaching children to be mortified by the past
    11 December 2021, 7:00am

    https://images.contentstack.io/v3/assets/bltf04078f3cf7a9c30/blt2bc24dc4b57f970d/61b332af1d65f117cf5ec0a5/Battle_of_Lepanto_1571.jpeg?format=jpg&width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds
    The Battle of Lepanto 1571, one of the great turning points in European history (Unknown Artist. National Maritime Museum, Greenwich)

    Why don’t today’s children know more about history? In an age when information has never been easier to access, it’s alarming how many youngsters are ignorant about the past. In July, a survey of 1,000 schoolchildren found that four out of ten had no idea what the Battle of Britain was, while another four out of ten had never heard of Cleopatra. More than half didn’t know the Romans spoke Latin.

    Of course every generation complains that children are ignorant of facts that we used to take for granted. Often it’s simply a question of changing priorities: where children once learned about Walpole and Gladstone, they now learn about the suffragettes and American civil rights. Even so, despite the success of Horrible Histories, you’d have to be wilfully blind to deny that history itself has rarely seemed so embattled.

    In recent years, the culture around our history has been almost entirely negative. Statues are toppled, museums ‘decolonised’, heroes ‘re-contextualised’, entire generations of writers and readers dismissed as reactionaries. When Britain’s past appears in the national conversation, it’s almost always in the context of controversy, apology and blame.

    Sir Francis Drake has been transformed from swashbuckling sea captain to cold-hearted slave trader. We hear more about Nelson’s alleged support for the triangular trade — at most, a footnote in his career — than his heroism at Trafalgar. Left to his critics, Churchill is increasingly portrayed as a viciously racist opponent of Indian independence who, in a minor interlude in the 1940s, happened to lead Britain through a passing international kerfuffle.

    Against this background, who’d choose to study history? For that matter, who’d be a history teacher? Even selecting a topic for your Year 4 children seems full of danger, with monomaniacal zealots poised to denounce you for reactionary deviation. And all the time you’re bombarded with ‘advice’, often in the most strident and intolerant terms. The National Education Union, for example, has advised its members that ‘British imperialism and racism’ should be woven into all history lessons from nursery upwards, so children can learn about ‘white privilege and colonialism’.

    That’s the language: at once priggish, hand-wringing and hectoring, forever painting our history as a subject of shame. The past, we are told, is a place of trauma, suffering and victimhood. The National Trust’s much-criticised dossier about its country houses’ colonial connections opens by talking of the ‘sometimes uncomfortable role that Britain, and Britons, have played in global history’, and piously warns the reader that our history is ‘difficult to read and to consider’. The Trust’s Colonial Countryside Project encourages creative writing about ‘the trauma that underlies’ many country houses. In other words, drag the kids around an old property and make them feel miserable. Maybe I’m wrong, but I doubt that’ll make historians of them.

    What explains all this? Part of it, I think, reflects an unconscious Americanisation of our public discourse, in which the black civil rights struggle of the 1950s and 1960s looms as the most important — indeed, the only important — historical event. Go into Waterstones, and you’ll be hard pressed to find a children’s book on the Norman conquest or English civil war; but you can hardly move for biographies of Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King.

    Behind this lurks the spectre of ‘relevance’, a word history teachers ought to treat with undiluted contempt. History isn’t about you; that’s what makes it history. It’s about somebody else, living in an entirely different moral and intellectual world. It’s a drama in which you’re not present, reminding you of your own tiny, humble place in the cosmic order. It’s not relevant. That’s why it’s so important.

    So how should we write history for children? The answer strikes me as blindingly obvious. As a youngster I was riveted by stories of knights and castles, gods and pirates. What got me turning the pages wasn’t the promise of an ‘uncomfortable’ conversation. It was the prospect of a good story. Alexander the Great crossing the Afghan mountains, Anne Boleyn pleading for her life on the way to the scaffold, Britain’s boys on the beaches of Dunkirk, Archduke Franz Ferdinand taking the wrong turn at the worst possible moment… that’s more like it, surely?

    A great story, then. And a great setting. All children are fascinated by alien worlds, from the planets of Star Wars to Tolkien’s Middle Earth. Why should Cleopatra’s Alexandria, with its melting pot of languages and religions, its temples and theatres, its lighthouse and library, be any less intoxicating? True, it was unequal, poor, dangerous and cruel — and there were a lot of slaves. But do you get children interested by encouraging them to shake their heads in confected outrage? Of course not. You get them to lap it up, to imagine themselves catapulted into a different world.

    There’s also the characters. That’s what history’s really about, don’t you think? Not issues, but people. The great names: Thomas More in the Tower, Edith Cavell facing the firing squad, T. E. Lawrence riding across the desert. And the not-so-great names: a gladiator making his debut at the Colosseum, a Polish schoolgirl in the Warsaw uprising, a boy sailor at the Battle of Jutland. And yes, Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King too. But not just them. The heroes of previous generations were heroes for a reason. There’s not a child alive who wouldn’t be thrilled by the story of Nelson or Napoleon. Why deny them the pleasure?

    Finally, the most important thing of all. Not a place, time or character, but an attitude. ‘The past is a foreign country,’ L.P. Hartley famously wrote at the beginning of his great novel The Go-Between, ‘they do things differently there.’ Exploring that vast, impossibly rich country ought to be one of the most exciting intellectual adventures in any boy or girl’s lifetime — not an exercise in self-righteous mortification. Put simply, it should be fun. This is why children fall in love with history. Not because it’s relevant, or improving, or even instructive. And certainly not because it fosters grievance and victimhood. Not because it’s ‘uncomfortable’ or ‘necessary’. But because it’s fun. That’s the best reason to do anything, isn’t it?

      1. It seems the motivation was to protect what was then Europe against slammer expansionism. A pity it was for nothing.

    4. I loved those gory stories in history lessons told by Mrs. Brill our brilliant teacher.

      She also taught drama……..OFF with their heads.

    5. I loved those gory stories in history lessons told by Mrs. Brill our brilliant teacher.

      She also taught drama……..OFF with their heads.

  37. I was going to the Carol Service at Gresham’s next week. Not any more. Compulsory LF test as entry requirement. Masks to be worn.

    The MR is going. I’ll sit in the car and go to the mince pie and filthy wine event that follows the Carols.

    1. Christo used to sing in the Choir at Gresham’s. One year The School Choir went on tour in the South of France and sang in various cathedrals. As he is bilingual he was called upon to act as the compere to introduce each piece the Choir sang. The French people were not only impressed by the singing – they also thought the school taught French very well!

  38. Before I go & shift another 10 bags of soil, a BTL Comment and response:-

    OW Olivia Wilde2 HRS AGO

    With yet another Lockdown looming, we are now having the plethora of predictable words surrounding this virus such as “tsunami”, each one designed to outdo the last one with each one designed to put the fear of God Into each and everyone of us, failing miserably; pathetic!

    REPLY 2 REPLIES 38 FLAG

    RS Robert Spowart 2 HRS AGO
    Reply to Olivia Wilde
    Message Actions

    One of the problems of overstating the Scaredemic is that you eventually run out of overhyped epithets to use which, when the latest scarient appears to be as mild as this one, leaves you looking totally stupid.

    REPLY 1 REPLY 23

    OW Olivia Wilde
    1 HR AGO
    Reply to Robert Spowart
    Absolutely Robert!

    1. Even his glorious whiskers are reaching for the heat! It’s raw and dreich and miserable here, so I’ll light the fire and start with the decorations!

      1. Weirdly – they don’t. Sometimes they pass between the stove and the chimney when the stove is hot. Cats, eh?

        1. My red setter used to lie in front of the gas fire and you could almost smell his fur singeing! My Patterdale cross actually did get singed one day; an ember flew out of the fire and landed on his coat. I had to douse it smartish!

  43. Good morning friends. It goes without saying really that Alf and I have been worried sick over the last 2 weeks about our son, critically I’ll in hospital wit( double pneumonia. We are so thankful for all your messages of support and encouragement and think he is now slowly recovering from the worst of it. Long way to go still but we thank God and the staff for their care.

    I have been thinking this am about possible mandatory jabs for all and it occurred to me that, if that happens and our bodies no longer belong to us but belong to the State, in any “emergency” declared by any future government it could become mandatory for women to be sterilised. Or men. Or both. I know that is an extreme thought, however, all the other extreme thoughts that I’ve had over the last 22 months have all come true.

    I wonder if any of the sheeple who believe so vehemently tha5 HMG is acting in our best interests in this situation have thought at all about the implications of mandatory anything.

    Sorry to be so dark. Think I’m still, I won’t say suffering, still very anxious about our son.

    2. VW Glad things are improving. I’m sure many here are wondering if your son had been vaccinated and if so what brand of vaccine? And whether prior to the illness he was taking vitamin D?
      Best wishes for his recovery, S

      1. Not vaccinated as far as we know.
        We implored him to take the natural vitamin D3 but not certain whether he did or not. We’ve been taking it for about a year now and have just ordered our second 1,000 pack of D3 capsules. On advice of 2 surgeons I saw earlier this year we’re now taking double our normal 5,000 iu dose for the 1st month of winter, again on advice.

    3. Mandatory you say………..
      Well comrade it just happens your kidney is a perfect match for Herr Gruppenfurher Minister’s,how fortunate you have a spare one………….

      2. Didn’t Gordon Brown try to make it the default that your organs could be harvested and you had to opt out rather than opt in to organ donation?

    4. The anxiety of having children, no matter what their age, never leaves us.
      Bless you all.

      1. Once you have children you become vulnerable in a way you never thought possible for the rest of your life.

    5. “…it could become mandatory for women to be sterilised.”

      Thus fulfilling the ideas of Marie Stopes & Co, heroic figures to the modern feminist movement…

    6. So pleased to learn that the corner has been turned, vw, and I hope that your son goes from strength to strength. Such worrying times.

      I have been thinking along similar lines, once your body belongs to the state, that is it. I hadn’t thought in the direction of sterilisation, but you are quite right. That would be the next stage. My thoughts took me along the lines of taking your blood, your organs, anything your body contains for someone further up their food chain. It is amazing how quickly this sort of thing could be normalised.

      I don’t know if you saw Andrew Neil’s rant the other day about it being time for the unvaccinated to be punished? I felt he was trying to incite the mob to civil war, and all the atrocities that go with that. Someone on Twitter suggested the govt is getting desperate now and suggested that perhaps some have been threatened with ‘died suddenly’ if they don’t come up with the goods i.e. the numbers vaccinated. Was David Amess’s death a warning?

      Lockdown on 5 January is being hinted. This would be the start of the Midazolam season. I have heard that large quantities of Midazolam have been ordered again.

      Interestingly I read a few weeks ago that China is to relax its one child-child policy and will now allow three.

      Just random thoughts, whether there are dots and lines to be drawn I do not know.

      1. It’s terrible to live in such a world, where people are perpetually frightened into certain actions. I hadn’t heard about another possible lockdown but have been anticipating it anyway, thought it would come before Christmas actually. But maybe the new sprig lets Dumbo off the hook of making a decision. Gove seems to be in charge. I wonder wha5 his estranged wife’s opinion of him is.

    7. Glad to hear your news. Let’s hope 2022 is a better year for you all.
      Your thoughts contain a horrible logic to them; until 2 years ago, I thought this country was fairly safe from such a dystopia.
      Now … I fear for my grandchildren.

    8. Your fears are absolutely the logical conclusion of mandatory vaccination, and are why we must fight it.
      Incredibly, Mr Global does seem to be going for mandatory vaccination of 100% of the population.
      A lot depends on the vote in Germany in January. If we win that, then mandatory vaxx may also fail in Austria, because people will simply be able to move elsewhere in the German speaking world.
      Even if we lose this vote, it doesn’t mean that Britain will fall to the mandatory jabbers. Resisting covid passes is extremely important though, because if we accept them, then we’ve tacitly accepted mandatory jabs at some point.
      If European countries start implementing this fascist policy, there will be a great movement of vaxx refugees, I think. Put it like this, not many pro-vaxxers will be moving to Britain.
      Sorry to be so dark in my reply!. A contact tells me that he thinks the vote will be against mandatory vaxxes in the German parliament. There is everything to fight for.

      1. Quite agree there’s everything to fight for. But when our own MPs don’t even bother to vote on extending the Covid act it’s very worrying. It’s as if they have absolved themselves of all responsibility.

  44. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f27c10b5eef6b352e523502e553033668cd3aa697d2ac94a4054da203c3299b5.png
    If only there was regular public transport 24/7 covering 100% of the UK…….
    Fuckwits,fuckwits everywhere but especially in government!!
    Edit
    Woking is actually quite well equipped with buses in daytime I can visit my sister in Horsell via two buses,one into the city centre and one out,if I wish to stay for dinner after 6 o’clock my choices are stay overnight,walk(I can’t that far) or ask BiL for a lift !!
    Gawd knows what more rural dwellers are supposed to do!!

    2. No new infrastructure and too many new homes in rural areas means the only way people will be able to get around for the next 100 years, is by car.
      Get real Trudy it’s your useless government that are effing everything up……….it known as the Tom Jones syndrome.

        1. And It’s too dangerous to travel on public transport, don’t these politicos think anything through ??🤔

    6. If she really believed in what she says why is her Government so keen on building housing estates way out of town in the Green Belt?

    7. If she really believed in what she says why is her Government so keen on building housing estates way out of town in the Green Belt?

    8. ‘Owning a car’ may be outdated 20 century thinking as far as govt is concerned but her virtue signalling to her mates is deffo not a vote winner.

    12. Clearly a woman who lives in a town with a transport network! Here, if we want to go anywhere without taking hours, be confident of being able to get there on time – and back again – we have to use a car.

  45. DM story today: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10298323/Vast-majority-Britons-NO-PROTECTION-against-Omicron.html

    Vast majority of Britons have NO PROTECTION against Omicron: After 100 days two AstraZeneca doses offer virtually zero defence while two Pfizer jabs provide just 37% protection against new variant – but boosters cut risk of falling ill by 75%

    Who will be the first editor of an MSM outlet or the first politician to say:

    * Bugger Big Pharma

    * Vaccines Gene therapies are dangerous duds

    * We must scrap “vaccines” and concentrate on finding effective treatments

    * Big Pharma has insisted that Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine or Chloroquine are banned – why? Because the last thing Big Pharma wants is for there to be effective treatments for Covid that do not give them $ £ € billions. These bans must be lifted immediately.

    Any MP with the testicualr strength to stand up in the HoC and say these things must replace Boris Johnson immediately. The Fight Back must not be delayed any longer.

    1. It seems that right out of the blue this newly and just invented ‘Variant’ is almost curable by the Pfizer vaccine, that now is over 20 pounds per jab and their profits are set to rise by another 30 billion.

    4. 342712+ up ticks,
      Afternoon R,
      The fight back must NOT include current lab/lib/con members or the hill marching general nige.

      Building in contamination at the outset is a definite
      NO,NO.

    1. Don’t know if you have been watching it but there is a new series of ‘The Expanse’ starting.

      1. No,need to catch up with that,just finished “Shards of Earth” bloody excellent Space Opera gagging for part 2 now

  48. Revenge on Boris

    SIR – It’s obvious to the man in the street that the Left and most of the media are obsessed with getting rid of Boris Johnson.

    Without him, Brexit would have been cancelled by a political class determined to overturn the referendum decision to leave the EU. The Left, the media and the Civil Service have never forgiven Boris for his victory. He’s loathed for it.

    Without Mr Johnson, the Conservatives would probably have lost the last election. Just imagine what that would have meant. We could have had Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell and Diane Abbott in charge of the country.

    Labour knows it cannot win as long as Boris leads the Conservative Party. I’m not sure the party realises that without him, Labour becomes a threat. Millions of former Labour voters voted Conservative last time because of Corbyn and Boris. With both out of the way, I suspect a large proportion of those voters would return to Labour.

    “Partygate” is a storm in a teacup. It’s always easy for the media to round up a bunch of enraged victims ready to tell a sob story.

    The Prime Minister is being unfairly targeted by a media witch-hunt. I sincerely hope they fail in their aim.

    Stephen Petty, Bloxwich, Staffordshire

    SIR – With Russian troops massing on the Ukrainian border, China threatening to invade Taiwan and five million people in the world dead from Covid, Her Majesty’s Most Loyal Opposition’s obsession with the wallpaper at No 10 means that Sir Keir Starmer will not be living there anytime soon.

    Keith Field, Potters Bar, Hertfordshire

    Mr Petty starts well. He omits to mention ‘what happened next’. Notwithstanding Covid, Johnson threw away his victory – triumph followed by disaster.

    Mr Field’s observation on lack of perspective could be applied to the entire political class.

    1. “Notwithstanding Covid, Johnson threw away his victory – triumph followed by disaster.”
      Typical behaviour – no plan for what to do after the victory – just look at Iraq. What a clusterfcuk that turned out to be – no strategy for the peace, no exit strategy.
      Tories are just the same. Won the election, then sitting like rabbits in the headlights wondering “Now what?”.

    2. 342712+ up ticks.

      Afternoon WS,
      In my book johnson is the eu semi reentry missile pilot, one & two tier being the wretch cameron & treacherous treasa & her nine month delay.

      The johnson was the “victim ” in the treacherous treasa placement farce, she burnt out leaving it open for ( he makes us laugh ) johnson.

      He really does make a corkscrew look straight.

      The lab/lib/con are a coalition joined at the political hip by mass uncontrolled immigration (ongoing) leading to equally shared odious consequence ie foreign paedophilia practitioners ( ongoing).

      To vote now for either lab/lib or con really is grading sh!te knowingly.

  49. Revenge on Boris

    SIR – It’s obvious to the man in the street that the Left and most of the media are obsessed with getting rid of Boris Johnson.

    Without him, Brexit would have been cancelled by a political class determined to overturn the referendum decision to leave the EU. The Left, the media and the Civil Service have never forgiven Boris for his victory. He’s loathed for it.

    Without Mr Johnson, the Conservatives would probably have lost the last election. Just imagine what that would have meant. We could have had Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell and Diane Abbott in charge of the country.

    Labour knows it cannot win as long as Boris leads the Conservative Party. I’m not sure the party realises that without him, Labour becomes a threat. Millions of former Labour voters voted Conservative last time because of Corbyn and Boris. With both out of the way, I suspect a large proportion of those voters would return to Labour.

    “Partygate” is a storm in a teacup. It’s always easy for the media to round up a bunch of enraged victims ready to tell a sob story.

    The Prime Minister is being unfairly targeted by a media witch-hunt. I sincerely hope they fail in their aim.

    Stephen Petty, Bloxwich, Staffordshire

    SIR – With Russian troops massing on the Ukrainian border, China threatening to invade Taiwan and five million people in the world dead from Covid, Her Majesty’s Most Loyal Opposition’s obsession with the wallpaper at No 10 means that Sir Keir Starmer will not be living there anytime soon.

    Keith Field, Potters Bar, Hertfordshire

    Mr Petty starts well. He omits to mention ‘what happened next’. Notwithstanding Covid, Johnson threw away his victory – triumph followed by disaster.

    Mr Field’s observation on lack of perspective could be applied to the entire political class.

    1. If you run further down this twitter page you will see a short speech by Jacinda Ardern about bribing journalists.

      On Thursday there will be a monster demonstration in New Zealand, called “Jacinda’s Leaving Party”

      Don’t be surprised if it isn’t reported in the MSM.

    2. If properly utilised Omicron could be the answer. It should be welcomed rather than feared.

      If everyone gets it it will stamp out the more aggressive Delta variant and boost everyone’s immunity level.

      1. 342712+ up ticks,
        R,
        Truthfully how aggressive was / is the delta variant
        where are the true accounts ?

        It would undeservedly boost & give the political enemas credibility.

  52. I just went down to the church to take the MR (on fête duty) hot soup and a sangwidge. Full Covidian Action. Masks; six feet part; one way system; problems about cash being handed over….all to “protect” from something that it SO dangerous – it is almost, but not quite, as bad as a cold.

    The only positive is that the event took place.

    1. It’s the RHS Christmas Market this afternoon. No pupils allowed and, presumably masks etc….
      Luckily, grandson has a dicky tummy, so we’re only going to the carol concert to support granddaughter.
      Phew.
      p.s. nipped into ASDA to pick up item missed from order. Not only did they let me take a double amount of the same dog food without charging extra, I did not wear a mask and no-one remarked on it.

        2. Waved piece of paper, apologised for not spotting on the day, mentioned that I tried to phone and couldn’t get through ….. Nice man at help desk turned down my offer to pay for the extra. Spartie now has enough wet dog food to last him to about Easter.
          (ASDA give a phone number, but all you get is a long spiel that boils down to ‘use the interwebby’.)

          4. Similar. I walked out of supermarket, arrived at car, then noticed an unpaid bar of chocolate (dark wrapper) on the child shelf part of the trolley. Unloaded, locked car, rushed back in, explained and paid. Meanwhile, the car alarm went off…

  54. Hi all, just wanted to say I haven’t deserted. At the moment, due to illness, it is to much for me to post. I am following what people say however. Weather forecast’s will resume from West Sussex ASAP.

    2. I hope you’re feeling better soon, Johnathan, and that you are with us in spirit.
      Dull and grey here in south Cambs (and so are my thoughts). Look after yourself.

    6. Hope any medication you have been prescribed is helping and doesn’t proscribe you from following Bill’s advice…

      1. Given that it involves chopping them open… why not? Black kids practice it all the time. Perhaps where the Left say they’re all doctors, engineers and brain surgeons…. just primitive ones.

      2. Reminds me a response given by a doctor in a court case in the US.
        Prosecutor: How many autopsies have you performed on dead people?
        Doctor: All my autopsies have been on dead people.

    3. I simply don’t care. Let them have a blasted party. They’re adults, it’s their choice. The law is an ass.

  57. I’ve just sent this to my MP. I expect nothing except the automated response but I thought I needed to do something.

    Mr Quince,

    I have just this minute perused the list of Conservative MPs who are declaring that they will NOT support the imposition of discrimination and segregation on a section of the population. I have to say that I was disappointed not to find your name amongst these Conservative MPs who believe in free choice under the law.

    The people, i.e. those who have exercised their right under the law not to have a novel, unlicensed but approved for emergency use only serum inoculated into their bodies, must have their choice respected. More especially as the evidence is mounting that the “vaccines” have a limited efficacy i.e. do not stop infection nor stop transmission ( I believe your Prime Minister stated as much recently), and what efficacy remains after those failures, wanes quickly.

    Reports today that the Astra-Zeneca loses potency after 100 days must be a disappointment to those people who risked taking a novel inoculation believing that their health would be secured for years, maybe even a lifetime. The prospect of ‘boosters’ every few months for years will depress those people and will likely increase hesitancy. What then for your government?

    Finally, it is a sorry indictment of the UK’s media that a number of journalists and radio and television news/ chat show presenters are stirring up hatred against those who decided against inoculation. Exhortations of fines, exclusion from normal life, isolation on remote islands or worse, being transported to the Isle of Wight, have been made. That I am seeing in the UK a reprise of 1933 – 1945 Nazi Germany disgusts me and should disgust any person who holds freedom and the rule of law sacred.

    I do hope to see your name on that list shortly.

    2. Splendid.

      Can’t see my MP JRM taking a blind bit of notice which is likely to be my reaction when he and his cohorts come canvassing……

          4. Correct – That’s the last time I take tips from Dad’s Army!!

            (Too wrapped up in the Double entendre to notice the faux pas!)

    5. Excellent Korky, could I ‘borrow’ it to send to our mp? I will change a word here and there if you wish. My brain has stopped thinking for itself, it is too overly concerned with worrying.

    6. Your letter will probably be forwarded to the Afghan email reading centre which now even has a portable version for framed disgusted constituent’s letters.

  58. COVID-19 reports from South African virologists show how Omicron has been rapidly displacing the existing Delta variant.
    I have not seen this information broadcast in the media but discovered an equivalent graph on the internet for the UK by COG:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0611f8511fed8a70659e84542283cba7ebf612adcd9818e08d6bbdcac9a46e47.jpg

    It turns out that the detection of the Omicron variant can only be confirmed by carrying out a full sequencing of the virus’s genome. Until fairly recently this was done in a few specialist laboratories but this has now been devolved into a network of genomic sequencing hubs. This was achieved through the auspices of the COVID-19 Genomics UK Consortium

    https://www.cogconsortium.uk/

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d8f6f6dcc6bce1448ae664d3c34b8c0fdb0a071a780b5392bb472c1b1ecdd729.jpg

    It is important to remember that the common forms of local testing for the presence of a COVID-19 virus only confirm the presence of a marker for COVID-19 in the respective sample and not the detection of the Omicron virus.

    1. Interesting to see a similar chart with (a) seasonal ‘flu (remember that?) and (b) common cold.

  59. ANY QUESTIONS – BBC – today 1pm.

    Q. What will our planet look like in 1,000 years from now.?

    Plum “Am I be bovvered…..”?

  60. ANY QUESTIONS – BBC – today 1pm.

    Q. What will our planet look like in 1,000 years from now.?

    Plum “Am I be bovvered…..”?

  61. ANY QUESTIONS – BBC – today 1pm.

    Q. What will our planet look like in 1,000 years from now.?

    Plum “Am I be bovvered…..”?

          3. His spectaculary duties to be done, to be done. his myopic lot is not a nappy one, nappy one,

      2. I don’t think so. That nose is somewhat hooked. Peter M’s is ski-slope shaped, similar to Helen Mirren’s. Both of Russian Jewish stock.

    1. Who sent the instruction to do the deed?

      A former US president and his fiend-like wife must be high on the list of suspects.

    1. Just think. Getting rid of another nine would save us a million quid +.

      Just ten people. Now let’s make that 100. 10 million. Now 10,000 – mostly squatting in quangos – that’s a billion. Make it 20,000 and suddenly we’ve saved a day’s government spending and got rid of the people responsible for some of the most destructive, backward policies we’re lumbered with.

      Before you know it, it’s not a billion, but fifty. Then 100.

    2. I feel sorry for her as I think she was hung out to dry.

      Of course some people like to get their own back when this happens to them – just look at Dominic Cummings.

      I hope she finds her inner rebel.

    4. One of the reporters at her tearful resignation speech should have asked her if she was having a leaving do.

  67. Covid latest news: Omicron could lead to more hospitalisations than last January without ‘Plan C’
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/covid-news-booster-cases-vaccine-passport-coronavirus-omicron2/

    My favourite BTL Comment from a poster called Graham Leighton

    A world-wide pandemic, so deadly…..that they have to keep reminding us that it is here .
    So deadly you need to take a test to know if you’ve got it.
    And vaccines so effective you need a new one every twenty four weeks.
    And so profitable it just has to continue

  68. Younger son and his partner are spending the weekend with us , all very jolly and happy .

    Moh and elder son were otherwise occupied , so son no2 and partner and I drove to Corfe Castle to see the Christmas lights and the beautiful illuminated castle https://www.virtual-swanage.co.uk/gallery/1474/corfe-castle-christmas-lights.

    The night was as clear as crystal and starry when we moved on out of Corfe Castle , really dark, no light pollution .. because son wanted to revisit the Square and Compass pub at Worth Matravers https://pubheritage.camra.org.uk/pubs/25

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_and_Compass,_Worth_Matravers

    Son and pal drank dry local Scrumpy , really delicious and raw , and I had a bottle of Crabbie’s Alcoholic Ginger Beer . A big wow and thumbs up , loved it .

    Walking into that tiny pub, the warmth the smell of a wood fire , the low beams , the chatter , the sound of a double bass strumming for a local gig , elderly and young men bringing their guitars and saxs, and the smell of food and beer , laughter and goodmanners was just pure joy .

    Locals and some visitors , dogs under arms , terriers , and patient labradors proved how welcoming little local pubs are , so many pubs have been ruined and taken over big companies .

    The ambience was perfect .. and we felt so sad knowing that more Covid restrictions would ruin local life once again .

    We video phoned Moh and son , both were snoozing infront of the TV.

    When we drove back from the pub the little countr lanes had small red marker lights on posts , I guess to stop cars racing off road and ending up in a stone quarry, and of course we were so high that our ears hurt as we came down the steep hill from Kingston into Corfe Castle village .

    An outing like that was so precious because we will soon be once again shackled and restricted , for goodness knows how long .

      1. My words exactly .. and simply perfick.

        Thak you for that Anne , bless you, because I had my glass in my hand giggling like mad when I video called Moh who was half asleep .. it was a direct hit , and so delicious !!

          1. My grandparents had the 50s eau-de-nil craze. 1/2 the decor in their bungalow was e-d-n, as was their Standard Vanguard car.

      3. I have always enjoyed ginger beer shandy and, to my delight, our local supermarket has just started stocking Schweppes ginger beer. Lemonade shandy is not to my taste.

    2. I know that area & those pubs like the back of my hand. That steep hill from Kingston comes out on the Swanage-Corfe road. As a teenager I was up & down that steep hill a few times.

    3. Went to Corfe on a school trip from south London in my last year at primary school. No entrance fee to the castle and we all played a game of Roundheads and Cavaliers in the ruins. I was a Cavalier.

      1. We have all had fun pretending to be this and that at Corfe, but on a more serious note , I wonder how many serfs were sacrificed quarrying the stone in order to build that castle , and how on earth did they have the great physical strength to construct castles like that?

        1. Good point. They did get their grub and ale and maybe earned a groat or two but I am sure many fell to their deaths or were otherwise maimed etc.

      2. When I was in the last year primary, the terms Cavalier & Roundhead had a completely different connotation.

          2. Good evening Peter,

            Did you, as I did, go to prep school and did you have dorm fights as we did? Don’t worry, I shall not ask what side you were on!.

      3. In prep school dorm pillow fights we organised ourselves into two armies: Roundheads and Cavaliers.

        Which side one was on was determined by physical observation which soon established who was cut out to be on the Roundhead side.

        In those days, the 1950s, the division was about 50/50 but I suspect that when circumcision became less fashionable in gentile circles the Cavaliers had more troops.

        But hope for the Roundheads is in sight as more and more people from the Middles East are being educated in English prep schools.

      1. The Germans filmed a lot of the Rosamund Pilcher romances, setting them in the West Country, often in that part of Dorset. All the characters spoke German (of course) & drove brand new expensive German cars. But the most entertaining aspect was the way the geography of the area got turned on its head by the film editors.

  69. Michael Deacon in the Tellygraff:

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/columnists/2021/12/11/poirots-toughest-case-yet-mystery-downing-street-parties/

    Poirot’s toughest case yet: the mystery of the Downing Street parties

    Plus: how Elon Musk can save the world… and why we should all celebrate a very special anniversary

    Michael Deacon11 December 2021 • 7:00am

    If we do end up getting locked down at Christmas again, we’d better hope that there’s something good to watch on television. As it happens, I’ve been flicking through the festive schedules. And it looks as though there’s a real treat in store on ITV.

    Agatha Christie’s Poirot, 9.00pm

    New episode. The Belgian sleuth (David Suchet) takes on his toughest case yet, as a leading politician asks him to investigate whether or not a series of wild parties took place over a period of six weeks inside his own home.

    I’ve only watched the trailer, but it looks terrific.

    “So, Monsieur Johnson… you are telling me zat, on perhaps half a dozen separate occasions, as many as 50 people entered your abode and drunkenly played loud Christmas music for several hours, wizzout you ever noticing?”

    “Well, you know, Inspector… I’m a very heavy sleeper.”

    “You slept right through, each time? Even though zeeze people were behaving as if zey were, how you say, backstage with Mötley Crüe?”

    “I do have quite a stressful job, Inspector. So I always make sure to get a good night’s kip. That’s why, until this week, I’d never even heard about any of these parties.”

    “I see, Monsieur. But you were not invited to attend zeeze parties zat were taking place inside your very own place of dwelling?”

    “No. Never. But then, everyone knows I’m a terribly shy and retiring sort of chap. Not much of a party animal.”

    “Have you tried reporting zis matter to the police?”

    “Yes, but they got back extremely promptly to say that they couldn’t possibly investigate because there was absolutely no evidence that the parties ever took place.”

    “Mais Monsieur, if the parties never took place, why has a young lady in your employment resigned over them?”

    “I say, that’s a jolly good point. It does seem a bit odd, now you put it like that. Perhaps you could investigate that mystery, too.”

    I can’t wait. It promises to be Poirot’s most gripping case since the mystery of the man who discovered to his shock that someone had paid to cover his flat in expensive designer wallpaper.

    Saving the world, one pair of Pampers at a time

    Elon Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur, has issued the world with a stark warning. If we don’t start having more children, he says, civilisation will crumble.

    I fear that he may well be right. Yes, the global population has never been higher. But for years the birthrate has been falling almost everywhere. While the proportion of old people grows, the proportion of young people declines. Eventually, there won’t be enough people of working age to subsidise the retired. So the few children we have will need to be sent out to work, like Victorian chimney sweeps.

    Experts say that the more educated a society, the lower its birth rate. Which suggests that the way to save civilisation is to educate the young less. As it happens, Ofsted says that, during the pandemic, almost every child in England has fallen behind at school. This news may seem dispiriting now. But perhaps in two or three decades we’ll be thankful.

    What Mr Musk plans to do to incentivise procreation among his staff, we do not yet know. Possibly he will offer employees a bonus for each child conceived. He could even encourage office affairs. This may be why our own Government has ruled that office Christmas parties should still go ahead. If so, I congratulate ministers on their forward thinking.

    In my view, we should follow the excellent example set by our Prime Minister, who, according to the latest estimates, now has at least seven children. At this rate he’ll save civilisation all by himself.

    From a Deacon to a Bishop

    Today is a very special day. Because it happens to be the 15th anniversary of perhaps the most enchanting newspaper story of our age. This is, of course, the immortal tale of how a grey-haired man in long, flowing robes was allegedly observed sitting on the back seat of a complete stranger’s parked Mercedes, throwing children’s toys out of the window – and, when asked to explain his actions, replied: “I’m the Bishop of Southwark. It’s what I do.”

    What a delightful vignette that is. Evelyn Waugh would have been proud to come up with it.

    It is of course important to stress that the Bishop, who moved on from Southwark in 2010, disputed the accuracy of these reports, stated that he had no memory of being in the Mercedes, and strongly denied being the worse for wear. Or, as he might have put it, but sadly didn’t: “I’m the Bishop of Southwark. It’s not what I do.”

    I appreciate that the former Bishop might not wish to be reminded of this period in his life. Personally, though, I think he should take pride in it. Because, whatever the truth of the story, the fact is that it lifted the spirits of the entire nation. It conjured such a wonderful image, which to this day never fails to raise a smile. To me, and I’m sure millions of others, the Bishop is nothing less than a hero.

    And so, in these dark and gloomy times, as we face being deprived of so many other pleasures, let us once again picture that magical scene, and celebrate. Tonight, throughout the country, let us raise a glass in toast to this happy memory, clamber into the back seat of the nearest car – ideally our own – and hurl children’s toys out of the window.

    We are the people of Britain. It’s what we do.

    1. I am reminded of that anecdote, I think posted here also, about the renowned boozer, George Brown. He was sent off to Peru on some junket or other and was at a function when he saw an elegant personage on the edge of the throng. Brown, three sheets to the wind as usual, lurched over and asked for a dance.
      The reply;
      No thank you because you are drunk.
      That is not a waltz playing but the Peruvian National Anthem.
      And thirdly, I am the Archbishop of Lima.

      I shall look forward to the Poirot No. 10 show. Wonder if it would coax David Suchet to reprise his role?

      1. I don’t think that Poirot show will appear. The whole article is a spoof, a funny one at that.

      2. I’d forgotten the Bishop of Southwark.
        Which reminds me of a EIR joke.
        Apparently some noble lord let off an absolute rip roarer when he bowed to Good Queen Bess. He was so ashamed he went abroad for several years.
        When he returned to court, Liz’s first words to him were “Welcome, My Lord. I had forgot the fart.”

  70. The collapse of trust can be traced to the fatal flaws in Boris Johnson’s personality

    The latest crisis in No 10 is no fleeting embarrassment; but a game-changer that has stripped the PM of any remaining credibility

    JANET DALEY

    11 December 2021 • 1:00pm, Janet Daley

    I can’t see any way out of this for Boris Johnson. The political crisis hinges entirely on his personality. His policy decisions are in question on the grounds that they may be a consequence of his own character flaws.

    First: either he really was unaware of the parties being held on the premises by his own staff at a time when parties were prohibited by law, in which case he must be an incompetent manager of the most important organisation in the country – or he was aware of those parties and is now prevaricating, in which case he is dishonest.

    Second: either he made the decision to introduce Plan B measures because they were dictated by questionable scientific evidence – or he only announced them because they would provide a distraction from the terrible news coverage of the previous day.

    The suspicion dominating public discussion now is whether Boris Johnson’s judgements are determined by personal predilections and apparently incurable weaknesses. Every member of the public who pays attention to these things will be familiar with his history as an ostentatiously shambolic figure who thrived (in earlier incarnations) on his image as a good natured, manically disorganised showman. He survived by delegating all the research and detailed work to underlings.

    As a journalist, editor, mayor, campaigner and general stand-up act, he positively cultivated this persona. As he made no secret of the fact that his ultimate goal was to be prime minister (that shameless ambition seemed like a calculated part of the image), the assumption had to be that, once this was achieved, the Old Boris would be transformed into the serious figure he had waited all his life to reveal.

    For a while, at the height of a truly frightening national emergency which involved unprecedented government restrictions on normal life, it seemed as if that might have been what had happened. His sombre response to the events themselves (particularly after his own illness) and his initial handling of the vaccine programme (especially the decision to put it in the hands of Kate Bingham, a successful entrepreneurial manager) were hard to fault.

    The country decided that he was fit to lead, even in very dangerous times. That conclusion would have been the happy ending for his dream and the nation’s trust. Now – with the new evidence that has come to light – all of that is in doubt.

    It is important to point out just how damaging the Downing Street party revelations are. This is much more than an embarrassment and it will not evaporate, as many political scandals might have done, after the holiday break has changed the country’s mood.

    What happened last Christmas was, for a great many people, merely disappointing. For my own family, it was the first time in our grown-up daughters’ lives that they were not able to celebrate the holiday with each other and with us, and the first time in their children’s lives that they did not see their cousins and grandparents. It was deeply sad – one of my grandsons told me only recently, how terrible he found it – but on the scale of life’s tragedies it ranked pretty low.

    There were others, however, for whom it was a never-to-be-forgotten nightmare: those whose loved ones died alone because they could not be visited, or who spent the holiday without the company of anyone because they and the people who should have been close to them were obeying the rules.

    At the time that the prime minister’s staff were holding their parties (or “gatherings” in the new semantics), a great many people were going through life-changing bereavements made infinitely more traumatic by the restrictions handed down from his office.

    So no, a significant proportion of the population is not going to let this go, because they would see that as a betrayal of the memory of those they lost. In a devastating moment last week, the sacred mantra, “We are all in this together” was trashed, and that was, by far, the best message the government ever had.

    The most damaging effect is on the credibility of any further pronouncements or policy shifts. What if the government announced this week that – wonderful news – the omicron variant is not producing major illness, there is no need for stricter measures, panic unnecessary: Plan B is suspended.

    Would you believe it? Or would you think that this was yet another political tactic, intended to defuse the terrible publicity storm caused by the previous political tactic?

    Would cancelling Plan B be as suspect as the launching of it – because nobody trusts what the government says anymore? In what still must be regarded as an ongoing national emergency, that would be an appalling outcome.

    The confidence of the people in their government’s soundness and honourable intention is critical to democracy at the best of times. In a crisis, their willing cooperation is a matter of life and death.

    Even before what is now inevitably known as “partygate” burst on the scene there were some pretty alarming hints of the Old Boris breaking through, of quite extraordinary unprofessional lapses – the Peppa Pig speech, the weird jocularity which inserted itself into what were billed as grave pronouncements. (Remember Kermit the Frog’s appearance in his address to the UN?)

    Wit is a fine thing and a useful gift for a politician but it began to seem as if he could never go long between jokes, whatever the solemnity of the occasion. And perhaps more alarming was the sense that there might be some more profound explanation for this compulsion to be entertaining.

    I think most people run on the assumption that politicians seek popularity so that they can gain power. That being liked – or even occasionally loved – is what they must strive for as a route to office. But what if it were the other way round: that being liked, or loved, was the final goal?

    If an elected leader is more interested in popularity than in the exercise of power, what happens then? We may be in the process of finding out.

    4. Power, so they say, is a great aphrodisiac which explains why some repulsively ugly men have beautiful wives or girlfriends.

      Fortunately many of us Nottlers have beautiful wives or girlfriends without the concomitant political power and ugliness!

        1. I suppose we shall never have equality between the sexes until powerful but repulsive-looking ugly women are lusted after by men. Looking at Houses of Commons and of Lords I cannot see any powerful women who aspire to power who are desired by normal heterosexual men even though both chambers are well-stocked with repuslively ugly ones.

    5. Thanks again for posting that article. I no longer read the DT as it has become a tabloid, bar a few writers.

        1. It is apparent that he has been awarded 22 years shelter in a safe haven with free meals, exercise and entertainment.

    1. They went through a large chunk of NC so I hope my son and his wife are OK. Also, my good friend Dan lives in St. Louis- hope he’s OK too.

      1. The beeb has a video of the destroyed Amazon Distribution Warehouse. As you say it looks like massive bomb damage.

      2. In the wind- it picks it up and that’s how so much other damage occurs. Where I lived in NC there was a large Good Year plant. A large grassy area out the front had a huge, granite edifice that said Good Year. A tornado passed 5 mins from us one night- the roads were blocked with downed trees etc. When I next ventured out, that enormous granite block was gone. It was never located.
        A llama at a nearby farm disappeared too. Poor thing.

      1. The British Tornado Society boasts the UK has more tornados annually than the US but of course thankfully they are minor ones

        1. We frequently get small ones here; it’s entertaining watching them swirl across the garden, although some of the bigger ones have removed the odd roof tile and removed branches. I wouldn’t want a large one!

        2. I’ve seen plenty of waterspouts which are more interesting than dangerous I guess, unless you’re turtle or a fishy on the surface.

  73. Brexit fishing talks breakthrough as UK grants licences to French vessels
    Government sources say they have gone to ‘great lengths’ to help French vessels prove their historical fishing activity

    By Joe Barnes DT : https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/12/11/brexit-fishing-talks-breakthrough-uk-grants-licences-french/

    The WET WET WET British government caves in yet again.

    Highly appropriate that the group with this name recorded a song called Sweet Surrender.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXxvpPVr9BQ

    Next surrender coming in Northern Ireland?

    1. I enjoy Rutter’s arrangements. My sons’ various choirmasters frequently chose his pieces for concerts.

      1. He is a super Director of Music. I just looked it up and found that I sang this with my previous choir 9 years ago……

        1. He does a regular newsletter/sales pitch, you can subscribe from his website, if you’re interested.

          1. Thanks for the info.

            I’m surprised he has never been awarded an honour (unless of course he has politely refused).

  76. HAPPY HOUR – new SPAMDEMIC…..!

    Spam sales in the UK hit a record high as people load up on foods that can be stored during the pandemic.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/79367e8be12ac54014256f932ed135eeff99dc686fc2756f3867f192ad19f309.jpg
    Sales have rocketed by 4.2pc this year, according to the data firm Nielsen
    The product became popular in World War Two and has built up a cult following.
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10298407/Spam-sales-UK-hit-record-high-people-load-foods-pandemic.html

    Spam…..Spam….Spam appols. to Monty Python

    2. I was put off spam for life at prep school. Indeed, I can confidently say that I have not eaten any spam since 1959 when I left St. Christopher’s

    1. I had to inform everyone at the 70th party 2 weeks ago today of my decent into lurgydom on the Sunday. I couldn’t have been very popular. All are still untouched which I’m grateful for.

  78. Off topic
    I’m usually a little sceptical of wine awards here, because there are so many competitions to enter.
    I’ve just opened a bottle of a Bergerac red which won a gold medal in Paris. It is a young wine, but for my taste quite superb, even HG thinks it’s delicious. We knew the vineyard because their rosé is excellent; the red is even better. Less than 5 Euro a bottle.
    They are a relatively small independent maker and we have introduced their rosé and their white to friends, all of whom have liked them. I shall be recommending the red too.
    The local large chain supermarket is allowed to buy local and that’s how we found them. I often wonder what such a wine would fetch in the UK if it had a fancy name. I’ve had some absolute dross and paid far more in UK supermarkets.

    1. Interesting. The small Carrefour near Laure sold a lot of stuff from vignerons within a five mile radius. It enabled us to find several hdden away places of which we had never heard, even after 30 years. A great idea to boost local trade.

    2. In Spain at certain times and in certain areas you used to be able to buy surplus wine. When a controlled batch (vintage) was bottled, there was always a small over-run in case of breakages. However, rules prevented the extras from carrying the fancy label, and thus the almost anonymous bottles were sold off cheaply. With modern production lines I expect that perk will have almost disappeared.
      Still, there is plenty of good Spanish cheese available if you ever get offered a job in Downing Street.

      1. In Oz they do similarly with what they term “clean skins” you buy a bottle of a generic, eg Shiraz, but there are no labels. sometimes one strikes gold.

  79. Right that’s it I’m off to join family & friends for some pub grub. Added bonus the pub is canal side 🙂

          1. There were wife markets at Smithfield right up to the 19th Cent. Probably driven more by poverty than misogyny?

          2. Hmmm, one wonders if one can trade in one’s husband for a younger, richer version? Mind you, I’ve only got 5/- …

          3. We are being fed reports of people selling their very young daughters in Afgaf because of poverty/winter and the Taliban as if that was something new. Just propaganda to get support for us sending them millions.

  81. That’s me gone. Dreary old day, weatherwise. Tomorrow should be much milder – though, based on covid news, I expect it won’t be.

    Have a jolly evening knitting festive face masks.

    A demain.

    1. Thank goodness for Nottle. We only get that sort of thing from Bill Thomas and everyone ignores him………………..

        1. I had a spider spin a web on my wing mirror. It lived there for months, we must have driven well over two thousand miles and it only died when we went back to the UK.
          I’m convinced some swine saw it in the car park and killed it.

  85. STOP PRESS

    For those who are keen – “Tosca” from the New York Met is on R3. Not bad – the 50 something – Sondra Radvanovsky – singing the title role isn’t bad – for an oldie…

    TTFN

  86. STOP PRESS

    For those who are keen – “Tosca” from the New York Met is on R3. Not bad – the 50 something – Sondra Radvanovsky – singing the title role isn’t bad – for an oldie…

    TTFN

  87. I read earlier that a New Zealand lawyer has claimed in court that vaccine mandates are illegal. They are illegal because the vaccines are experimental and trials will not conclude until 2023. Experimental vaccines can only be prescribed to a limited number of vaccinees and should never be prescribed for the whole population of the country.

    Sorry but I have mislaid the link. He won.

  88. Moh insists on watching Strictly come dancing … there is no escape from the shrieking and screaming .. he sets the timer for it .. the blinking prog has been running since 2004, it is too wet outside for me to go for a walk . Similar to football , it seems to be his religion .

    No 2 son and pal have taken a trip on the train to the larger connurbation . Making the most of freedoms ..

        1. Err… I’m not Belle.
          I know you’re not altogether the belle of the ball, but possibly the bell of the end.
          };-)

          1. I thought i would attach the message to your comment because if wannafight saw it he would have another hissyfit.

    3. I loved Strictly when Len Goodman was judging and it was still a dancing competition. Over the years it’s been turned into a freak show.

    4. I thank my lucky stars I’ve not seen a single moment of the thing. There again, dancing has never ever been my thing.

      1. Many years ago, whilst out walking in the bush in Nigeria, my Father carefully stepped into a column of army ants (he thought he was stepping over). He did a fine dance ripping his trousers off to get to the soldiers that had swarmed up his legs, biting like F!
        How Mother and I laughed… Poor Dad. :-((

        2. Children and wives, don’tcha lurve them.
          When I stepped on a weaver fish they couldn’t stop laughing for days.
          In fact none of them had laughed as much until the eldest son got stung on the foot by a hornet.
          And I laughed too.
          But then I’m a right bastard

    5. Take the nice booze into the litchen, with book/PC… close the door, and relax away from the idiot box.

          1. You wrote “litchen”.
            I think you meant kitchen.
            Litchen without a “t” is lichen.

            OK, I’ll get my coat…
            Brian

    7. Do not give in to any curb of freedom. I will not and neither will MH. I do think that people here have had enough, in Bournemouth. (So now you know.)

  89. A good article from American Thinker:

    December 11, 2021
    The Great Reset Crowd’s Overreach Will Come Back to Bite Them
    By J.B. Shurk
    So-called “democracies” around the world have proven during these last two years of COVID-1984 just how authoritarian their leaders really are. They censor, compel, threaten, intimidate, and dole out physical and emotional punishments in as arbitrary and terrifying a manner as any mad king. Then the thuggish little tyrants playing Mussolini while raging against fascism run to the video cameras and boast of the joys of “democracy” and the threats of authoritarianism emanating from Russia and China.

    No matter how absurd the State’s “politically correct” declarations, disagreement is now routinely labeled fascist. If you disagree with the lie that boys can be girls, you’re a fascist! If you think killing the economy to change the weather is insane, you’re a fascist! Paradoxically, the only way not to be a fascist is to abide by everything the State decrees. Only by believing and repeating everything our Western “elites” say are you then rewarded with their permission to be “free.” All they do is lie, call it truth, and wait for applause. It’s sickening stuff and the kind of shameless rhetorical tripe that only politicians can stomach.

    However, this “Great Reset” planned takeover of the world through the subterfuge of a “health emergency” is beginning to sever the globalists’ hypnotic control over the people, and those in power seem blind to what’s surely coming next.

    Ask yourself this as a thought experiment: if King John properly grasped that his “force and will” domination over his barons eight hundred years ago would lead to a Magna Carta moment at Runnymede that would forever limit future kings’ powers, would he have tempered his own prerogatives to tax and punish his enemies, swallowed his pride, and shown a little deference to law and custom? Likewise, however prudent it might have seemed for Parliament to impose the Stamp Act after the French and Indian War to recoup revenue from their American colonies, would the British have done so if they had known that “no taxation without representation” would become a rallying cry leading to American independence and the loss of half of their North American empire? Would third cousins Kaiser Wilhelm II and Tsar Nicholas II still have engaged in tit-for-tat testiness after the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand had they fathomed that they were gallivanting toward an unprecedented global war that would shatter their empires and obliterate the monarchies of Europe?

    And how about today? Would the Davos devils and their wholly owned subsidiaries holding offices throughout the West still push mass migration, pandemic theater, and war over disputed foreign borders if they knew that their policies were creating the mother of all popular revolts?

    History is replete with monarchs who failed to appreciate the chaos their actions would unleash, and as a general rule, those who started the fires didn’t get welcomed back to preside over the charred remains. Make no mistake: the West’s international network of central bank–powered financial titans, corporate principalities, techno-fascist robber barons, and Marxist-maven politicos are the twenty-first century’s monarchy — imbued with some new-age-y, atheist belief that they have been given a “divine right” to rule the planet for the planet’s own good. They have elevated themselves into the exalted status of nobility, and they have done everything in their power to make sure ordinary people treat them as royals.

    Only the hoity-toity-flighty-flaunty can jaunt around on private jets to celebrate themselves at “climate” conferences in exotic locales while bashing the hoi polloi for driving around their middle-class hometowns with internal combustion engines under the hoods. If we cut off all of America’s domestic oil production, unleash skyrocketing gas prices at the pump, and force the middle class into outright poverty, that should be sufficient coercion to convince the rabble they should invest in seventy-thousand-dollar electric vehicles. Why, let them eat cake, catch COVID, or croak!

    If I were a member of the self-anointed “ruling class,” I think now might be a good time to “learn to code” before the system they’ve erected to preserve their wealth and power disappears like a sand castle after a hurricane. While they’re preoccupied remaking the world in their own image, the storm around them is getting bigger.

    From my vantage point, the “Let’s Go Brandon” and “Stick Your Vaccine Mandate Up Your A–” anthems (the latter sung to the beat of “She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain”) are just getting started. It’s not as if something as harmless as a political slogan ever ended up turning the world upside-down, right? What was it Benjamin Franklin used to say to describe “the temper and conduct of America”? Oh, right: “Don’t tread on me.” How’d that work out for the world’s pre-eminent empire?

    Hell, we didn’t start the fire, but now that the inferno is blazing, the globalist oligarchy is about to find out why “unintended consequences” have a tendency to send even the best laid plans up in smoke. All these presidents and prime ministers in the West robotically responding to every question with some regurgitated oratory offal promising to build back better won’t know what hit them if the suffering public decides it prefers demolishing the whole wretched system into rubble to taking a knee for a future of obedience and indentured servitude. For whom are those bells tolling off in the distance? Why, they may well be ringing for the West’s “elite.”

    And why shouldn’t they?

    We humans don’t like being manipulated or pushed around, yet every day our political “leaders” do both. What we have today in the West are a bunch of bought-and-paid-for autocrats who constantly tell us to be afraid…about absolutely everything. Fear is what they use to seed their lands. Fear is what they mine and reap. Fear is the currency upon which their power rests.

    What the West needs are new leaders who remind us we are capable of achieving anything, no matter how difficult the struggle. What we need is the return of rugged individualism and an end to State-sponsored conformity. What we need are people who remember the importance of fighting not for their governments, but for their countries. We don’t need to depopulate the world with pandemics, abortions, and economic carnage in order to claim victory and “save it.” We need to dream such grand dreams once again that the Earth becomes our most important home base on our journey to colonize the solar system. We need to stop believing that every problem has a government answer and remember that unbridled innovation requires no mandates.

    For too long, young America has followed the Big State socialism beloved in old Europe, and, unsurprisingly, America now looks and feels just as old as Europe does. Can you imagine how competitive America will be once it finally throws off the shackles weighing it down? Laying off the outdated bureaucrats, trimming the Leviathan down to size, unleashing the free market’s engine for growth, and cutting out all the institutional dead weight — that’s how America gets its mojo back. That’s the America that anyone with a pulse would want to take out for a spin. And in an America that embraces adventure and mocks fear, there’s just no room for an Old Guard cabal that knows only how to over-promise, under-perform, and punish anyone who complains.

    The build back better bullies have set out to cement their grip on world power. What they may very well discover in the years to come is that they set the stage, albeit inadvertently, for a new “New World Order” to arise — one that leaves them out of the picture for good.

    1. I know how to build back better:
      Build a road with plenty of flyovers and fill the concrete stanchions with the globalists’ corpses.
      Just be careful not to weaken the pillars too much.

    1. I still live in the EU and woe betide anyone approaching me with a “mandatory” syringe. They will get a taste of my “mandatory” machete!

      1. Are you going to be able to avoid a green pass though?
        I can’t believe that von der Leyen, married to a boss at a gene therapy company, will succeed in pushing through mandatory gene therapy jabs. The corruption is too blatant, even for the EU.
        My German contact doesn’t think vaxx mandates will pass there – but if it does, the rest of the EU is in deep shyt.

        1. I am simply not interested in what decisions or laws they pass … I shall not be jabbed, by anyone, ever! Anyone even attempting to do so will have made for themselves a life-changing decision forever.
          I have reacted badly to influenza jabs in the past and have no desire to experience that again.

          1. Are you going to go along with the green pass then?

            I am still confident that mandatory vaccination will be consigned to the history books of the 1930s where it belongs, for now. But if the EU accepts the green pass as a standard permission for life in Europe, then there will surely be further attempts in the future – at least as long as that lunatic Gates is alive.

          2. I don’t even know (or care) what a “green pass” is. Whatever it is, it will never play any rôle in my life.

          3. The EU mandated pass that they want you to be showing to get permission to carry out your life. Sweden adopted it last week.
            People have to boycott it right from the start, before it gets a hold on everyday life. Are the Swedes non-conforming enough to do that?

      1. I don’t know.
        I follow a chap called Richard Jones on another blog – you can see if you check my profile. He posted it there.
        He was around at the inception of the EU. He is very old but extremely switched on and knowledgeable. Jules (NDOVU) goes there a lot.
        He is the source of much of what I now know about the EU.
        I still look at that blog but the guy running it is a captured Tory bot.

        1. Richard may be very old but his mind’s as sharp as a tack. I’ve learnt such a lot from him. I’ve been arguing the toss with Robin – he thinks anyone who doesn’t want the jabs needs to be punished. Could do with you there as I’m outnumbered but Jack’s come round a bit.

          1. Robin is so dishonest I can’t be bothered with him anymore.
            I identify him with the cowardly quislings throughout the Axis nations who looked the other way while the the Nazis rounded up their compatriots and justified it by saying the Bolsheviks would have been worse.
            I am afraid I cannot feign courtesy towards him so better not venture there.
            If he had any spine he’d come here or argue on CW.
            TR was as blindly dogmatic but at least he’s got the front to argue his case on the Spectator comments.
            I wish Richard would comment here. As it is, I’ll transfer his comments and finds here when have time.

          2. I think Robin genuinely believes the rubbish he spouts. Have you seen his replies this morning to my comments last night?
            I’m not an argumentative person so I’ll ignore them .

          3. Are you in touch privately with Richard? He sends me the first drafts of his novel and memoirs for proof reading. He has a brilliant mind.

          4. We do send each other occasional emails but we don’t have that level of intimacy.
            I must admit that I do not understand his position on the vaccines.
            He knew there were early treatments and that the vaccine-or-bust policies were inherently corrupt but he supported the rollouts.

          5. I think at the time he thought they were a good thing but he’s less keen now. Though at his age he had the booster.

      2. I see you’ve discovered the Tory Bot I mentioned.
        Honestly, he is implacable and immovable.

        1. Thanks for the link! I remember some of the posters from Telegraph days, I think. I won’t go there very often, as life is really too short to argue on the internet!

          1. It’s always worth going to see what Richard has to say, but I would not bother arguing with Robin about covid.
            A complete waste of time.
            But to give him his due he has a good understanding of elector calculus.

  91. First meal out for 9 months with Firstborn and Second Son together – Firstborn has ben at his farm, looking after pigs until last weekend.
    Upmarket curry, and very enjoyable. Excellent atmosphere, happy buzz in the restaurant, both lads joking and all laughing. Couple of beers there, and now back home, enjoying Bunnahabhain.
    It’s been a good day!

    1. I love a nice “Boon-a-harven”, long time since I had one.

      I like a “Brook-laddie” (Bruichladdich) too.

      1. Been decades since I had a Bunnahabhain. Vinmonopolet sell it ( at £55 a bottle) and I felt like treating myself. My God, it’s good – so smooth, so subtle and flavoursom. Similar price to duty-free in Aberdeen when I was there last, a couple of years ago.
        I’d be happy to share the next bottle, Grizz. When you’re ready, that is…

    1. Is there any way of saying FOAD when confronted withthe ubiquitous demand for effing ‘cookies’; I reject every one …

  94. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10298137/SECOND-UPenn-swimmer-speaks-against-trans-Lia-Thomas-competing-womens-team-crowd-silent.html
    Bring it on.
    The more of these I see, the happier I become, because it’s the best way of stopping this utter nonsense.
    If only there could be more woe-begone-men taking over ALL women’s sport.
    Because until it starts to happen it isn’t going to be stopped.
    Smash professional women’s tennis, golf, football etc etc. with fake women.
    Only then will sanity be restored, when real women say enough is enough and to Hell with the political correctness.

      1. In any professional sport, if you were ranked 100 as a man and could never expect to get much beyond the first round, but could win millions as a woman, wouldn’t you be tempted?

          1. The first time a trans woman wins Wimbledon, there’s going to be a huge row because it will show up how much further ahead the men are, and how the women’s match isn’t worth the same.

  96. Good night all.

    Shoulder of lamb slow-baked with cider
    Parsnips roasted with honey, roast potatoes.

    Good, but not Christmas-worthy.

    1. We’re having lamb for Christmas. Done with turkey.
      Tonight OH had ordered steak for his birthday- had some good sirloin.

  97. Evening, all. It’s my view that the lockdown cost more lives (in terms of suicides, undiagnosed illnesses and people, particularly the elderly, plain giving up because life wasn’t worth living) than it saved.

    1. Conners, I could not agree more, as I posted the other day about 2 elderly relatives giving up because they were left alone, basically, to die.
      How are you and Oscar getting on?

      1. We were doing fine and then tonight he disgraced himself by weeing on my expensive rug 🙁 I put him out and he had another huge wee. Why he can’t come to me and tell me he wants to go out, I’ve no idea. I have to think for him.

        1. What sort of home did he come from? Why was he in a rescue? He sounds badly trained. But you’re doing well with him.

          1. Don’t know much about his previous life, except his owner had a hip replacement and couldn’t cope with him and the family didn’t want him. I don’t think they were very nice to him, to be honest. It took me some time before I could walk past him when he was lying down without his leaping up and trying to bite my feet.

          2. He needs firm treatment- I’m sure he’s happier now with you. But sometimes he doesn’t seem to understand what he should do.

          5. He’s only had six months; it’s no time at all compared with the eleven plus years he spent before he came to me. He no longer bites my feet when I walk past (although he does leap up, just in case).

        3. Jack is deaf and nearly 14 years old .. He will ask to go out , but if it is raining he will sneak away and wee on the bannister in the hall , or table leg in the dining room .. this is what old dogs do sometimes !

    2. I think that was part of the intention, Conway, all part of their plan. And if it wasn’t part of their plan it was, to them, acceptable collateral damage to enable them to implement their plan of world domination. The problem we have is that much of the public thinks that it couldn’t happen here, in our safe, cosy little island(s). Therefore they cannot see it when it is in front of their nose. It can happen anywhere, human nature is pretty much the same the world over, and throughout history, excepting cultural differences. One has only to read Shakespeare to learn that the human condition does not change over centuries. We have known too long a period of peace, and the residents of these islands have become fat, lazy and complacent. They think peace comes with the territory, that it is an entitlement. ‘The price of liberty is eternal vigilance’.

  98. I am listening to Bach’s Sinfonias from Canatas.
    Husband has stormed off in a hissy fit about something or other. Good riddance.

    1. Oh dear. Good choice of music though. When I went to do the shopping yesterday there was a Christmas Market going on – looked quite well supported. I had a look round. There was a chap playing Roland organ – instead of the usual crap he was playing a Bach prelude. I stopped and listened for a while.

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