Saturday 11 November: Suella Braverman, Armistice Day protests and the views of the silent majority

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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543 thoughts on “Saturday 11 November: Suella Braverman, Armistice Day protests and the views of the silent majority”

  2. Good morning all.
    Sat up in the pub at Freckingham having just spotted the last sliver of the Old Moon through the trees.
    No idea what the temperature is, but from the clear sky overnight, it’s going to be cold.

    A bunch of Irish lads in the bar last night enjoyed the couple of songs I did and I had a very enjoyable 3 to 4 mile walk in the dark. Lovely starry sky with a fox yowpling and the bell ringers at Soham having a practice session.

    Got the replacement van to check over before heading home and I need to tank up.

    Did a bloody silly thing yesterday before leaving home. Got my debit card out when I was doing the on-line tax and forgot to put the bloody thing back into my wallet but at least was able to scrounge a sub off the DT!

    1. That has happened to me too. Hazard of using the same card for online stuff. Just another thing to check when leaving the house now!

  3. The Met may get its ‘peaceful’ march, but British society will pay the terrible price. 11 November 2023.

    Surely the disparity is vast. No microaggressions here. The massacres are aggressions about as macro as you can get. Mr Sunak often says that Britain is visibly not a racist country. In general, he is right. Yet here is this blot so large that many cannot see it: big, repeated, threatening, anti-Semitic demonstrations in which significant numbers invoke their religion (Islam) to attack another (Judaism). You should not have to be Jewish to see how horrible this is and how dangerous. The Jews take the worst of it, but they are the canaries in a very dark mine which could poison the whole of our society.

    Could? It’s a little late for that! That these people are allowed to march on the same day as that reserved for the commemoration of the dead who sacrificed themselves for the nation and its people is as sure a sign of the eclipse of the UK as ever the Nuremberg Party Congress in 1935 signalled the end of a Democratic Germany.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/11/10/met-peaceful-march-british-society-terrible-price/

    1. The politicians et al. who set in train this mass immigration of moslems must be very pleased with their handiwork. Dividing our nation along cultural and religious lines and then claiming that diversity is our strength is another great lie/deception, up there with, “Safe and Effective”.

    2. It *IS* an intolerant country. The imposition of hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of aliens who are intolerant, bitter, spiteful and nasty people from foreign countries has created the problem. They’ve got to go. It’s just utterly unacceptable. The invader must be removed for the culture, the basis of this country’s fundamental principles to be restored.

      2. Earlier this year, a lovely Indian family (Hindus, I think) bought our village shop and post office business when the long-standing family retired. From their accents, none were born in this country but they are welcome here, and they are becoming part of the community with the younger children attending the village school. Those sort of immigrants not a problem and are welcome in this country, working hard (with long hours shared between the adults) and paying taxes.

      3. Earlier this year, a lovely Indian family (Hindus, I think) bought our village shop and post office business when the long-standing family retired. From their accents, none were born in this country but they are welcome here, and they are becoming part of the community with the younger children attending the village school. Those sort of immigrants not a problem and are welcome in this country, working hard (with long hours shared between the adults) and paying taxes.

    3. Met Plod, the snivel serpents and politicians have been running down the path of least resistance for the past few decades. Seemingly unaware that there is a rather large toll gate just around the next bend, and they don’t have a means of payment other than blood.

  4. Good morning, chums. It’s dry day today, so I might just gout for an exploratory drive locally this afternoon. Enjoy your weekend.

        1. Indeed I did mean “go out”, Alf. But plans change and I reckon it’s too cold for me, so I’ll stay indoors.

  5. Good morning. For those who Twitt, a thread from Willem Middelkoop about conflicts and wars relating to the end of the fiat dollar.

    “Willem Middelkoop
    @wmiddelkoop
    ·
    29m
    We now have reached the Endgame of this Dollar dominance with U$ debts (and budget deficits) getting out of control

    taxes need to go up 40%, while spending would have to come down 30% to balance the budget”

    We all understand that the over-spending needs to stop – but it won’t until the money runs out, and then it will have to stop, suddenly.
    https://twitter.com/wmiddelkoop/status/1723228878368317846

  6. Just glanced at the Mail, there is a disgraceful pot-stirring headline about the Palestine march and “far right” groups vowing to oppose it, with a very stupid quote that could have been written by any member of the 77th brigade/Antifa/Mail journalist posted as “evidence” of the “far right” threat.

    I never thought that I would see the authorities openly conspiring to stir up violence on our streets! And the saddest thing is the number of compliant credulous people who will lap it all up and believe every word.

    1. And yet they don’t refer to the Palestinian protesters as far left Nazis which is what they actually are.

      1. That would undo the desperate lie the Left have told themselves for decades – the pretence that they’re the good guys. They’re not. They’re the problem. They’re the invader, the oppressor, the intolerant.

        Face a Lefty with the truth and they simply cannot cope.

        1. That’s why they don’t debate on matters such as climate change. They know they’ll lose.

      2. To be fair, most of them are just idiots. One very telling thing is that the peace marches against the Ukraine war were a sea of blue flags with doves on. In the Palestine marches up til now, I’m only seeing the Palestinian flag. Though not having been there myself, I don’t know to what extent the media is manipulating the images to make them look war-like – that was certainly done with the Ukraine peace marches. You have to look right into the background to see that 9/10 of the flags were doves.

    2. But that’s the point. Label your enemies to promote your friends. There is no far right. If defending the country against a horde of Left wing Jew hating invaders intent on destroying our way of life is far right then every soldier who fought against such fascism is. Clearly, they are not. The evil, the enemy is the Left, the fifth columnist cancer intent on destroying us.

      Whenever that socialist worker label appears, just read national socialist. They’re utterly evil and must be opposed.

  7. Women are being forced out of their own sports. Spiked. 10 November 2023.

    Indeed. All the evidence shows that going through male puberty gives men significant physiological advantages over women. Bone density, physical strength, muscle mass, height and lung capacity are all hugely boosted by male puberty. For this reason, most people are able to recognise that allowing biological males to compete in female sport is profoundly unfair. But not the Canadian Powerlifting Union (CPU), it seems.

    I have to confess to some considerable schadenfreude when I read this article. It is only a very few years ago where I remember all of this being specifically denied by the Women’s Lib movement. The absolute refutation that men had any innate advantage over women and should thus be paid the same in competitions and even be allowed (without reciprocal rights of course) to participate. Billy Jean King v Bobby Riggs. Anyone remember that? I don’t like what is going on now but I don’t like it for exactly the same reasons that I didn’t like the feminist tactics earlier. They are both based on lies!

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2023/11/10/women-are-being-forced-out-of-their-own-sports/

    1. The Left have tied themselves in knots trying desperately to pretend men and women are the same. We’re not. As the Warqueen has said, Lefty feminists don’t want to earn it, they want to be given it. When they don’t get it, they squeal and complain. You never hear a Lefty feminists demanding that 50% of brick layer, or sewage worker jobs be for women, do you? They all want the board room jobs, the top jobs.

      As regards sport, it is moronic to allow men – even ones in a dress – to compete against women. That’s why there are separate events. It is the epitome of fairness.

      1. It’s fine for men to compete against women in horse sports – show jumping, dressage, three-day-eventing, polo, racing and horse-ball (although fillies and mares get a weight allowance when competing agaInst entires and geldings, just as younger horses get a weight-for-age allowance).

    2. Billy Jean King v Bobby Riggs.

      All this proved was that a young fit woman could beat an old unfit man at tennis!

      How many points would Katie Boulter, Britain’s current No 1 lady player, get against Cameron Norrie, the current gentleman British No 1?

      I used to be a mediocre squash player. When I was 40 + I used to play squash against my niece who was a good lady squash player. She was a double Oxford blue (Rowing and Gymnastics) and very fit – but I used to win!

  8. Women are being forced out of their own sports. Spiked. 10 November 2023.

    Indeed. All the evidence shows that going through male puberty gives men significant physiological advantages over women. Bone density, physical strength, muscle mass, height and lung capacity are all hugely boosted by male puberty. For this reason, most people are able to recognise that allowing biological males to compete in female sport is profoundly unfair. But not the Canadian Powerlifting Union (CPU), it seems.

    I have to confess to some considerable schadenfreude when I read this article. It is only a very few years ago where I remember all of this being specifically denied by the Women’s Lib movement. The absolute refutation that men had any innate advantage over women and should thus be paid the same in competitions and even be allowed (without reciprocal rights of course) to participate. Billy Jean King v Bobby Riggs. Anyone remember that? I don’t like what is going on now but I don’t like it for exactly the same reasons that I didn’t like the feminist tactics earlier. They are both based on lies!

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2023/11/10/women-are-being-forced-out-of-their-own-sports/

  9. 378685+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,
    A sign of the times, what ever governance party has this in its manifesto is on a certain vote winner.
    A condemnation of kids to suffering prior to having a decent shot at life is to be seemingly recommended.
    All the while we fund the paki space program and pick up the hotel bill for potential
    troops /felons to be kept in a style they have NEVER sampled before.

    By the by carry on down this road via the voting station and one can see the most popular boys name in RESET Britain has got to be Adolf,

    ws
    ‘Miracle’ cystic fibrosis drugs for children are too expensive, says Nice
    Hopes shattered with sufferers risking shortened lives as ‘life-changing’ medications fail to get recommendation for NHS funding

    By
    Max Stephens
    and
    Laura Donnelly,
    HEALTH EDITOR
    10 November 2023 • 7:08pm
    Rufus Oxlade, 15 months
    The life of Rufus Oxlade, 15 months, will be affected as he will not be able to take the ‘miracle drug’ Kaftrio (see box below)
    Children suffering from cystic fibrosis risk having their lives cut short under draft guidance that deems life-saving drugs too expensive for the NHS.

    The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) has drawn up recommendations that say three drugs – Orkambi, Symkevi and Kaftrio – are not “cost-effective” and should not be funded on the NHS for future patients.

    Cystic fibrosis causes the body to produce thick mucus, damaging the lungs and digestive system, and can be fatal. The three drugs have been hailed as a “miracle” cure for the condition.

    When the first of the drugs was given the green light in 2019, Lord Stevens of Birmingham, then head of the NHS, said the day marked “an important and long hoped-for moment for children and adults living with cystic fibrosis”.

    Under the terms, manufacturers agreed a price with the NHS to roll out the drugs to up to 5,000 people while Nice undertook its appraisal, the draft findings for which have now been published.

    Documents published last week, without publicity, conclude that the medications are “highly effective for people with cystic fibrosis”.

    But the draft guidance says: “Even when considering the condition’s severity, and its effect on quality and length of life, the most likely cost-effectiveness estimates for [the three drugs] are above the range that Nice considers an acceptable use of NHS resources. So, they are not recommended.”

    They cost up to £160,000 a year per patient.

    Just half will live past the age of 40
    Nice stressed that no decision had been reached, saying patients who were already on the drugs at the point the final guidance was published would be able to remain on them regardless of the outcome.

    The UK has the second highest prevalence of cystic fibrosis in the world, with around 10,000 sufferers. Just half will live past the age of 40, according to the NHS.

    Research suggests the drugs can offer patients decades, with one study finding that Kaftrio can extend life by an average of 33 years.

    .

    1. Sunak is a globalist happy to take orders from his masters. A group who have stated they want to kill people off to control the population.

      A far easier way is to withdraw welfare.

      1. But the trouble is that the state now says that the old age pension is a benefit rather than something one has paid for throughout one’s working life.

        How better to kill off old people than to steal their pensions from them?

  12. The group opposing the muslim/socialists/Lefty mob have been branded far right by the media.

    The muslim lefty hate mob hate Jews – just as the Nazi’s did. They have invaded this country by wanting to force their views on it, against all semblance of decency – just as the Nazi’s intended.

    Those opposing this horde of vicious, violent, intolerant bigots are not ‘far right’. Armistice day is a remembrance of those who died giving their lives for freedom, not those Left wing muslim scum wanting to destroy it.

    Opposing the invader and their bitter, twisted, evil ideology is necessary. It is precisely what was fought for. It is long past time the media accepted the truth. There is no ‘far Right’. There is only the demonic madness of the psychotic Left, the fifth column of infiltrators determined to do this country down at any cost.

    1. …… There is no ‘far Right’.

      But have the MSM not noticed that there is a real Far Right? The Far Right are those racists who wish to kill all the Jews and exterminate the State of Israel.

      1. I’ve never understood the “far-right” Jew killer stuff.
        The Fascists – particularly in Germany – were left wing.
        And I don’t think Uncle Joe was a Judeophile.

        1. Hitler was a left-wing socialist who wanted to exterminate the Jews. He was an evil man

          The easiest way for the Left to come to terms with this was to say that Hitler was extreme right!

          1. That is their great lie. They so desperate want to pretend their righteous heroes that facing them with the truth of their hypocrisy causes such anger and spite that their minds cannot cope with it.

      2. They’re not the right minded though. Those are the Left, who’ve always wanted their own way to exterminate those they hate.

        The palestinians, the socialists, the entire fifth column muslim horde are the Left. The Right minded folk just want to be left alone. It’s not in the mindset to dictate how others must live.

        1. The definition needs to be clarified.

          Those who wish to exterminate the Jews and eradicate Israel are genocidal racists are not considered to be ‘extreme right wing’ but those who oppose them are.

          The Police are worried that the Extreme Right will interfere with those who advocate genocide!

          So we need a clear new definition – racists are Left Wing; those who are not racists are Right Wing.

    2. 378685+ up ticks,

      Morning W,

      There are a great many of us would admit to being a form of far right, that being “So far, right”

      A prime example of the was UKIP under the Gerard Batten leadership.

    1. It was being advertised as being on still on Friday – but it takes part in the city of London (rather than London town).

    2. The bottom group fought against the top. The top now use that freedoms to destroy everything good and decent their sacrifices bought.

      2. I hadn’t seen that announcement. I do occasionally look in on Nottle and assumed she must have died. One hell of a brave lady. RIP

  15. Good Moaning.
    Off to try to find two poppies. There seems to be a shortage of sellers – including shops.

        1. They must have made more than one new version. Mine uses a pin but the components don’t stay together.

      3. Mine is the usual plastic stalk, fibre petals and black plastic button in the middle to make it all hold together.

    2. Found mine this morning at the Co-Op fuel station in Peartree Road. I was in town last week and didn’t see a poppy seller but a high percentage of foreign faces were on view. Quite shocked.

      1. Yes, they were hovering about outside Tesco with 5 security folk rather than the usual 1 present. It’s a sad indictment.

  17. Good morning all,

    Clear skies at McPhee Towers, wind in the Nor’-West but backing to the East by the end of the day, 4℃≫9℃.

    Getting away from the mess of things this morning –

    To begin at the beginning:

    It is spring, moonless night in the small town
    Starless and bible-black
    The cobblestreets silent and the hunched
    courters’-and-rabbits’ wood limping invisible
    down to the sloeblack slow, black, crowblack,
    fishing-boat-bobbing sea.

    The houses are blind as moles (though moles see fine to-night
    in the snouting, velvet dingles) or blind as Captain Cat
    there in the muffled middle by the pump and the town clock,
    the shops in mourning, the Welfare Hall in widows’ weeds.
    And all the people of the lulled and dumbfound town are
    sleeping now.

    Hush, the babies are sleeping, the farmers, the fishers, the tradesmen and
    pensioners, cobbler, schoolteacher, postman and publican, the undertaker
    and the fancy woman, drunkard, dressmaker, preacher, policeman, the
    webfoot cocklewomen and the tidy wives. Young girls lie bedded soft or
    glide in their dreams, with rings and trousseaux, bridesmaided by
    glowworms down the aisles of the organplaying wood.

    The boys are dreaming wicked or of the bucking ranches of the night and the
    jollyrodgered sea. And the anthracite statues of the horses sleep in the fields,
    and the cows in the byres, and the dogs in the wetnosed yards; and the cats
    nap in the slant corners or lope sly, streaking and needling, on the one cloud of the roofs.

    You can hear the dew falling, and the hushed town breathing.
    Only your eyes are unclosed to see the black and folded
    town fast, and slow, asleep. And you alone can hear the invisible starfall,
    the darkest-beforedawn minutely dewgrazed stir of the black, dab-filled sea
    where the Arethusa, the Curlew and the Skylark, Zanzibar, Rhiannon,
    the Rover, the Cormorant, and the Star of Wales tilt and ride…..

    Despite what we all think of the BBC as a left-wing political propaganda organ it does do some things really well. Thursday night was Dylan Thomas night on BBC 4 with programming from 8 pm to 2 am devoted to his memory. The centre-piece was a re-showing of the 2014 production of Under Milk Wood which we’d seen before. We recorded it to watch at our leisure and it was even more brilliant on the second viewing.

    The cast list is a who’s who of Welsh show-biz. Kicked-off by Michael Sheen as First Voice it includes Tom Jones as Captain Cat, Sian Phillips, Jonathan Pryce, Griff Rhys Jones, Bryn Terfel and Charlotte Church to name just a few. It’s on BBC i-Player for another 4 weeks so you can still watch it if you wish to. Thoroughly recommended.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/044b152079f7754309df4cf0e56a956aefc65915dc07165a7e938f666a555077.png

    Good to see that Michael Oak of Stirling agrees with me.

    ://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0c80d16e6d5aeaa479cf523c6a951bb62989ea02919aef26bf76614490ced11c.png

  20. 378685+ up ticks,

    Gerard Batten
    @gjb2021
    ·
    Oct 11
    Now why might this be?

    Starmer is a member of the Trilateral Commission that works for centralised worgovnt under the control of financial & technocratic elites.

    The Corbynite wing of Labour are out & out Marxist-Leninists, the political wolves in democratic sheep clothing

    .

    Starmer has to manage these two things while still trying to fool the voters long enough to achieve power.

    The only ‘vision’ he can sell to the voters is based on lies, & no wonder its not convincing. But the treacherous Tories have done his job for him. Now he only has not to lose & snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

      1. 378685 + up ticks,

        Morning AtG,
        Granted, the difference being currently there is no opposition, a coalition of treacherous politico’s, the only losers being the voting electorate.

    2. They already have the “answer” to that, Korky – the lockdowns stopped global warming!

      That’s on a par with “The climate of Venus is the result of runaway global warming!” You would think that nobody would be stupid enough to fall for that one, but I first came across this idea when some moron posted that it was safer to stop burning oil, because he didn’t want to take the risk of Earth ending up like Venus!

      1. Here’s the simple answer to the difference between Earth and Venus that even the most moronic Climate Changer should be able to understand.

        Mercury and Venus are not in the habitable zone because they are too close to the Sun to harbor liquid water. However, evidence suggests that the Sun used to be much dimmer. Venus may have once had oceans, but its proximity to the brightening Sun caused the liquid water to evaporate.

        A heavy concentration of water vapour, a potent greenhouse gas, in the atmosphere is not a good idea. I can see the zealots demanding water vapour be extracted from the atmosphere and ‘locked down’ – somewhere, somehow? – if ever their carbon dioxide fetish is demolished.

        According to astronomers the fate of Venus will be visited on the Earth in a few billion years as the Sun becomes a red giant.

  25. Going out shortly – shopping, and meeting a mate for lunch.
    Have my Poppy ready, bought it when last in the UK. Traditional plastic stalk, fibre petals.
    Nobody much over here knows what it’s about, so I enjoy enlightening them when they ask.
    Hope the day goes well at the Cenotaph, and other parade locations.

    1. I hope my new-style one will stay in one piece today. They are very flimsy and the black bit doesn’t stay in . I’ve stuck the pin right through each part.

    2. Fibre petals, lucky you. This year’s Canadian poppy is pressed paper and is so flimsy that it does not survive being pinned to a jacket.

  26. OT – it is exactly 40 years ago today that I found this house. Completely by accident. Looked round it. Fell for it. Returned on Remembrance Sunday (the next day). Made an offer. Moved in the following June. The delay suited me as I had a house t see in London and the sellers because they were buying a new place In Norwich which would not be ready until then. Brilliant. Forty glorious years. And plenty more to come (he adds swiftly)…

  28. A bit of Tittle Tattle Nottler Nonsense for those who enjoy that sort of thing!

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/46fca81764ee494dce94878f94893d25a1d594a8949e491dc2d97607a06b390d.png

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/11/11/badenoch-fell-out-with-gove-over-his-affair-with-friend/

    BTL

    I must say that Sarah Vine looks far better, far happier and far more cheerful now that she has rid herself of that grubby little husband she used to have!

          1. She’s bright enough, but has spent too much of her career too close to the predator class and their agenda.

  29. Look at the arguments advanced for removing monuments of those linked with slavery or “colonialism”. A person of certain heritages has only to say he/she feels “unsafe” or “uncomfortable” to prompt demands that the monument be moved, covered up or cordoned off by trigger warnings.

    The latest report of the Archbishops’ Commission on Racial Justice emphasises that the key thing in such decisions is “to receive, and know how to respect and value, emotive testimony”. The more emotive the testimony, it implies, the more it trumps all other considerations – institutional independence, wider public opinion, freedom of speech.

    In such a culture, “microaggressions”, such as commenting on a person’s hair or asking where they come from, can be used to destroy the alleged aggressor. This hypersensitivity to the feelings of some groups has moved beyond common courtesy to cultural neurosis.

    Now apply these attitudes to these marches. There are approximately 300,000 Jews in Britain. Last month, about 1,400 mostly defenceless Jews (a small number British) were massacred in Israel by Hamas, often the old, women, and children. Some were raped. About 240 were taken hostage and remain so.

    So what are Jews here supposed to feel when march after large march takes place which makes no condemnation of these atrocities, though they are of a horror unique in most people’s lifetimes, when social media pullulate with celebrations of the pogroms or say they are Jewish lies, when crowds cry out for the destruction of the Jewish nation and no one cries out for the release of the hostages? Unsafe, I’d say, uncomfortable – and downright terrified.

    Surely the disparity is vast. No microaggressions here. The massacres are aggressions about as macro as you can get. Mr Sunak often says that Britain is visibly not a racist country. In general, he is right. Yet here is this blot so large that many cannot see it: big, repeated, threatening, anti-Semitic demonstrations in which significant numbers invoke their religion (Islam) to attack another (Judaism). You should not have to be Jewish to see how horrible this is and how dangerous. The Jews take the worst of it, but they are the canaries in a very dark mine which could poison the whole of our society.

    The phenomenon of Holocaust denial is well known. I find its madness grimly amusing: the people who love to say Hitler did not kill the Jews in truth admire him precisely because he did. What happened on October 7 presaged the Holocaust which Hamas and its allies will unleash if they gain power in the Middle East. Marchers like this weekend’s in effect deny this coming Holocaust.

    It is an “operational” matter to work out exactly what, on a given day, the police should do about this. But the issue at stake here is way above the pay grade of Sir Mark Rowley. It is one of the most serious challenges to political leadership in our time.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/11/10/met-peaceful-march-british-society-terrible-price/?li_source=LI&li_medium=liftigniter-rhr

    1. 1 400 Jews murdered just over a month ago, and folk worry about hurting the feelings of those who think this a good thing? Is the world fucking nuts, or what?

    2. I am deeply offended seeing women in bin bags and blokes in pyjamas jabbering away on our streets. When are they going to do something about it? Oh, hello, officer! Come to arrest me?

  31. Belated Good morning all 🙂😊
    Beautiful sunny morning.
    After our lovely evening with our neighbours I’m a bit slow getting off the mark. Quite a few glasses of wine were consumed.
    But hey that’s life.
    Plenty of people attending the London Mayor’s ceremony today. Good to see the armed forces with bayonets on their rifles. Just in case.

    1. And exactly who would those bayonets be aimed against? Three One guess as to whom they would NOT be levelled against.

  32. You can fill in the blanks!

    Rochdale: Teenagers charged after cenotaph defaced with ‘Free Palestine’ slogan

    Two males have been charged with racially aggravated criminal damage following the incident on Tuesday

    On Friday, Greater Manchester Police said two males had been charged with racially aggravated criminal damage, with one also accused of theft. The force declined to give their ages and said neither could be legally identified because of their ages. It added that both had been released on bail.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/11/10/teenagers-charged-free-palestine-rochdale-cenotaph

  33. How Thatcher would have crushed the pro-Palestinian protesters

    The 1980s Prime Minister would have been monumentally unimpressed by the lack of leadership from Rishi Sunak

    NILE GARDINER • 10 November 2023 • 1:58pm

    Margaret Thatcher hated terrorism in all its forms, whether it was carried out by the IRA, al-Qaeda, or state-sponsored. The Iron Lady famously survived an IRA assassination attempt in Brighton in 1984 and was a fearless adversary of terror movements across the world.

    I worked for Margaret Thatcher in her private office in Belgravia during the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States in 2001. As an aide to the former prime minister, assisting her with her final book, Statecraft, I delivered the news to her that the North Tower of the World Trade Center had been struck by a large aircraft. As she watched the twin towers fall live on television, she knew that the world had changed forever. Her immediate instinct was to stand with our allies in the face of tremendous evil. She called on the free world to fight Islamist terror and win.

    Thatcher’s reaction to the barbaric Hamas massacre of over 1,400 Israelis on October 7, 2023 would have been the same. She loved the brave and courageous people of Israel, and abhorred anti-Semitism. Several key members of her Cabinet in the 1980s were Jewish, including her chancellor, Nigel Lawson, and her constituency in Finchley included a large Jewish population. Lady Thatcher had a tremendous affinity with Israel, and a deep-seated distrust of Islamist movements such as Hamas that claim to speak on behalf of ordinary Palestinians. She also viewed Hamas’s puppet master Iran as a tremendous threat to British security.

    The Iron Lady would have been appalled by the rising hatred of Israel and the Jewish people on the streets of British cities in the past few weeks, as well as the open calls for Jihad. I am in no doubt that she would have supported an outright ban on the hate-filled pro-Palestine/pro-Hamas “protests” that have taken over central London. She would have been dismayed by the weak-kneed approach taken by the Metropolitan Police, and strongly condemned the intimidation that has been a constant feature of the anti-Israel marches.

    She would have been monumentally unimpressed by the lack of leadership and at times confused mixed messaging being sent by the present Conservative government. Although Suella Braverman has been robust in her language, the Prime Minister has looked wobbly and uncertain in the face of the protests. Mrs T’s advice to Rishi Sunak would be to demonstrate some backbone.

    For the truth is that if Margaret Thatcher was in Downing Street today, the Government’s response would look very different. There would be large-scale arrests of individuals supporting terror, with a wave of prosecutions of anyone with links to Hamas or other Islamist terror groups. Foreign nationals convicted of support for proscribed terror groups would be deported. She had no time for European courts interfering in British law. In the Brexit-era, she would have swiftly taken the UK out of the supranational European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

    Lady Thatcher had immense respect and admiration for Britain’s war veterans. The idea of pro-Palestine protesters taking to the streets of London on Armistice Day would have horrified her. She would put in place a huge show of force by the police to protect war memorials including the Cenotaph.

    The Israel-hating “protesters” need to stay away from Britain’s sacred memorials. The British people must never give in. We need Margaret Thatcher’s clear-eyed vision today more than ever, as Hamas and other Islamist terror groups seek to destroy our nations from within.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/11/10/how-thatcher-would-have-crushed-the-pro-palestinian-protest/

    Hmm. I think there would have been some very big marches indeed if Mrs T had tried to take us out of the ECHR.

    4. Nah, you’re just hiding all those “Down with mice!” and “Free Norfolk!” banners 😂

    2. HOODAGESTIT?

      As many predicted the MSM will always blame the Far Right. As I said earlier:

      The definition of FAR RIGHT needs to be clarified.

  37. 378685+ up ticks,

    Could one of the current lab/lib/con coalition
    governance party member / voters tell me why
    our indigenous children (first)/ any children be subjected to life shortening suffering just to satisfy hoteliers housing foreign, morally
    in the main, agents of allah.

    N i c e in my book is anything but.

  40. Far-Right protesters detained after missiles thrown in Cenotaph clashes. 11 november 2023.

    Police have detained a “large number” of far-Right protesters after clashes broke out with officers near the Cenotaph.

    The protesters broke down barriers at the entrance to the war memorial and started having pitched battles with officers, who then formed a physical barrier to separate them.

    Officers hit out at those who pushed through with batons, while some protesters threw bottles.

    Predictable if nothing else. Do the protesters have “far-right” stamped on their foreheads one wonders? The muslim protest by a strange coincidence consists of reasonable well balanced humanitarian liberals!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/11/11/pro-palestine-rally-protest-armistice-day-london-police/?li_source=LI&li_medium=liftigniter-rhr

    1. Having watched infiltrators initiate violence at the freedom marches, I shall always be a little cynical about such reports.

      1. It is regrettable but true Ashes that the real enemies of the British People are the Political Elites and their lackeys in the executive branches of governent.

    2. Congratulations to the BBC who produced an obviously Arabic lady announcer to report this news.

      Yes, we thought she was good and wonder why we had never seen her before on BBC TV.

      Why today?

    3. 378695+ up ticks,

      Afternoon AS,

      Tommys fingerprints found on so many missiles they have named him Tommy Durga

    4. That’s a real surprise. I bet they were applauding Tommy Robinson when he announced that he would be there.

      All of those police officers diverted from the Muslim March so they can blame lack of officers for any trouble there.

      Looking at the Daily Mail the objective has even achieved, not much about the remembrance day celebration, all about those far right thugs.

    5. Tommy Robinson’s role in this is a bit suspect.
      He gets let back on Twitter, promptly posts exactly the kind of post that “they” would like to see, then goes to London – the only well known activist to do so!
      Calvin Robinson was there, but he is a priest – Laurence Fox was wisely nowhere near.
      I just feel that there has been plenty of time and opportunity for the security services to get at Tommy and recruit him. Maybe I am being overly suspicious, but there is a whiff of BS about this whole thing somehow.

      1. Afternoon BB. I am in my own Machiavellian way deeply suspicious of all that I see in the public sphere. I understand what you mean about Tommy Robinson but I put his attitude down to a basic simplicity in his approach. He has always confronted the Elites head on and is unable to change it.

        1. I watched Lauren Southern’s long video about why she left political activism, and she had a lot to say about various activists being far more ego-driven than people realise.
          I think Tommy certainly started out as you describe, and he’s certainly not the racist thug that the corrupt media likes to let on – he’s open and easy-going like most English people. His opposition is a logical one to the belief system of islam and what it makes people do. But he’s older now, and he’s got a family to provide for and keep safe with no clear career path, and it’s inconceivable that the security services haven’t made the attempt to turn him for their own use.

          1. I don’t doubt that they have attempted to turn him BB. I just don’t think that they have succeeded!

    6. ………… reasonable well balanced humanitarian liberals!

      who are anti-Semitic and they are eager to kill all the Jews in order to stop the Jews committing genocide.

    7. I have been meaning to post. About Wednesday there was a BBC World Service Business News podcast that popped into my inbox and played to me whilst i was on my way home from work. It was about a report that had been released about who the most charitable people were. Seems Indonesia is top of the list, so they had some Leftard in to discuss why the Indonesians are so philanthropic. Apparently it’s because they are all good Muslims. Nothing to do with the fact there is no welfare state so maybe if you do have money you are grateful enough to help others. Or maybe the respondents are lying about how generous they are.

      The Leftard then said that within the UK, the immigrants were more generous with their money than the natives (because we are all nasty far-right blah blah whereas all immigrants, being non-white, are saints).

      Unfortunately i was on my bike and didn’t want to stop to unbury my phone from the depths of my bag. But there was a lot of swearing.

      Al Beeb just can’t help itslef.

      1. Considering most of the (muslim) immigrants are on benefits, they are being generous with OUR money.

  41. Lord, I have sinned.

    If you see a big finger break through the clouds over Colchester – followed by a loud “kaboommmmmm”, you will know I have committed the ultimate blasphemy. I have criticised Saint Mary Berry’s recipe.
    Are you ready for this? Count back wards from 10. Hold your breath. Cover your eyes. Turn your backs.

    ST. MARY’S RECIPE FOR FLAPJACKS IS CRAP!!!

    There, I feel better for tha ………. aaarrgghhhhhh ………….

          2. The jelly with fruit wasn’t so bad it was the savouries in jellied brawn that looked like autopsies that made you chuck.

          3. I’ve got a nice museum for you. The Jello museum just outside Rochester in New York is a wonderful place to waste the entry fee.

            All you wanted to know about the gelatine mix.

          5. I once won a very prestigious Salon Culinaire award for my hors d’oevres in aspic!! When I find the photo I’ll post it!

  42. Apparently there is trouble in Spain.
    The Prime Minister needed to form a coalition to stay in power, and he has promised the world to Catalonia in order to get the support of Catalan separatists. Imagine Labour promising more money and separatist powers to the SNP and that seems to be roughly analagous. Rest of Spain predictably peeved.
    https://twitter.com/IberianSpirit/status/1723049434852769958

    2. It is easier for the EU to rule small provinces than large countries on the divide and conquer principle.
      This is why the odious Prescott was so keen on having Reginal Assemblies here in England.

    1. Her Highness, ruler of my heart, the Warqueen herself has many admirers. One would notice through her yoga trousers what type of knickers she’s wearing.

  44. How untraceable Russian gold is funding Putin’s war machine. 11 November 2023.

    Executives from across the gold industry will next week gather at the five-star SO/ hotel in Dubai for the city’s annual Precious Metals Conference.

    Speakers include the general counsel of the London Bullion Market Association who will give a talk on “Enhancing governance in challenging times”.

    Hanging over the conference is the spectre of Russian gold.

    That “enhancing governance in challenging times” sent a shiver down the old spine!

    By a strange coincidence I watched a documentary about Napoleon yesterday. Unable to defeat the UK he attempted to sanction it by cutting it off from its continental trading partners, which of course made them desperately unhappy and had no effect on its trade with the rest of the world. England’s gold meanwhile financed a series of coalitions that eventually brought down the Napoleonic Empire. There is nothing herein about the financial position of a West that is steeped in debt and declining into decadence and tyranny. The UK itself is on the edge of Social Dissolution. All Vlad has to do is hold his nerve!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/11/11/untraceable-russia-gold-sanctions-funding-putin-war/

    1. Since the start of the sanctions against Russia it’s been known the Russian gold was being traded internationally.
      From what I have read about the international gold industry, its rules seem to be set at the highest level. There have been claims that the Saudis were not so stupid as to allow themselves to be fobbed off with worthless paper petro-dollars, and that they also got the right to use those dollars to buy gold, not just US Treasuries – which they then sent to Switzerland to have it melted down and re-cast from ounces into kilogram bars.

  45. Ah well just after 10. Off to the local remembrance day celebrations, I hope that we can do it right.

    Probably back to the legion after the ceremony for drinkies and what they call funeral sandwiches.

      1. I noticed someone has tied one to the footbridge over the A316 as it bisects Six. Ross Road/Hospital Bridge Road. I have made up my mind to take some cutters early tomorrow after i have walked the dog and cut it down.

  46. “Princess Anne looks solemn as she attends Armistice Day service in Staffordshire decked out in military uniform”

    Now there’s a surprise.

          1. Where you would have seen blackface, the governor general and a few liberal hacks but the conspicuous absence of opposition politicians.

            So much for a united country.

  47. As I suspected, the whole ‘far-right’ message has failed to hit the mark. Telegraph, Daily Mail, Express… take your pick, the comments are absolutely full of people rejecting the Establishment narrative. They know what is really going on. Ten years ago, the reverse would be true. In a sea of despondency, it’s things like this that give me hope. Plus the push-backs in Spain, Germany, the Netherlands and others. Slowly, slowly, things are turning in our favour.

    Take heart.

    1. Thanks for that. Was getting depressed and thinking of emigrating, but since I did that 25 years ago… Hmm…

      2. I know the feeling. But things are changing. Heroes on white chargers belong to Hollywood. In the real world, change comes slowly. And heroes look just like the rest of us, because that’s what they are. Ordinary people.

      1. Comment after comment after comment. We all see the truth now. I noticed a few stating that they were cancelling their subscription to the Telegraph after that reporting. I wonder if they’ll follow through…

        1. I subscribe to the DT and the Speccie. I have withdrawn my subs, countless times. Inevitably, I have returned. But where does one go for reliable news? I take all the journalism on those sites with a generous pinch of salt. Too often, I’ve read MSM artcles concerning a subject which I’m well-versed on. They are always wrong. So, why should I trust the other stuff?

          1. Here, Geoff.

            I cancelled my Terriblegraph sun in June 2020 over its support of Lockdowns. I then had the Speccie for two years before ditching that over Cakegate and the perpetual Boris-Bashing by the little left-wing girls (their agenda clearly being to support the Leftards/WEF in ushering in a one-world Govt). I was persuaded by a nice young man to retake the Speccie but it’s on a quarter by quarter basis and frankly i will cancel it again when i get round to it.

          2. No idea. Breitbart and Unity News Network, perhaps? Rebel News does good work, though it’s mainly focused on Canada and the U.S. Other than that, I just follow various reporters across the world on Twitter.

      3. Yep. The narrative can’t be spun. There are still some failed Lefties trying to pretend that they’re heroes but these people are swiftly being squashed.

  48. RMS Viceroy of India.
    Troop transport

    Complement:
    454 (4 dead and 450 survivors).
    Ballast

    At 05.24 hours on 11th November 1942 the Viceroy of India (Master Sydney Herbert French) was hit by two of four torpedoes from U-407 (Ernst-Ulrich Brüller) 34 miles northwest of Oran and was missed by the stern torpedo at 05.31 hours. The ship had arrived at Algiers with convoy KMF-1A, disembarked her troops for Operation Torch and was returning empty to Gibraltar when torpedoed. She was taken in tow by HMS Boadicea (H 65) (LtCdr F.C. Brodrick, RN), but sank in 36°24N/00°35W. Four crew members were killed. The master, 398 crew members, 29 gunners and 22 passengers were picked up by the destroyer and landed at Gibraltar.

    Type VIIC U-Boat U-407 was sunk on 19th September 1944 in the Mediterranean Sea south of Milos by depth charges from the British destroyers HMS Troubridge and HMS Terpsichore and the Polish destroyer Garland. 5 dead and 48 survivors.

    https://uboat.net/media/allies/merchants/br/viceroy_of_india.jpg

  50. Sometimes, when I’m on the brink of cancelling my Spectator subscription in utter despair, a comment like this comes along, in this case from @egwarren:

    Once upon a time, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come appeared in a vision before William Gladstone. The apparition spoke in a hushed and sinister voice,

    “I bring you tidings of your country’s future. 100,000 people will march through the streets of London, and hundreds more in cities across the land, claiming to want an end to a war in the Middle East. Many, in fact, will wish to see the destruction of a nation Britain calls an ally, and many of the Jewish race. Moreover, some of these people will call for the deaths of their fellow Britons.

    A Memorial to the dead of two World Wars yet to be fought, in which over a million British and Empire servicemen will lay down their lives, will be guarded by police, for fear that it will be vandalised. A statue of a Prime Minister of even greater renown than you, Mr. Gladstone, will remain boarded up lest it be pulled down by the baying mob. This is your country in 2023.”

    “But what is to be done?!” cried Mr. Gladstone. “Surely a leader of substance and steel will arise and defend the people from such calumnies?”

    The Ghost replied, a smile playing at his lips,

    “A cry will be heard in the corridors of power; quiet at first, but growing in intensity and fervour until it can be ignored no longer…”Send for Grant Shapps!””

    There the vision ended. Mr. Gladstone felt a cold chill gripping his spine, and a sense of foreboding never felt before. “I pray God this Mr. Shapps is up to the task”, he muttered, before drifting into an uneasy sleep.

  51. Bill tells us that he found his house in Norfolk exactly 40 years ago today!

    We signed the compromis de vente on Le Grand Osier 35 years ago having come over to France at the Autumn Term half-term break at the beginning of November to sort out the paperwork.

    Here is the place as we found it and here it is as it is now after we had bought some of the land around it and done some building. First we got a professional French builder to renovate the ruin so that we could have accommodation for our students; then with the help of a very able building worker from Devon we built the garage and then the extension ourselves.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0b34a7012a9e68bea937de4ddfa94e40ab06023ecc9e955c6e7381e44dd1723f.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/07f013da01d3a3ed9ecb547676215da42e24ba018591e80ca8edce0552ddbc1c.jpg

      2. Osier is osier!!! Aka salix viminalis, or basket willow. Because we are in a dip, the land can get very wet and is an ideal growing ground for this reedy stuff. We’ve put in a huge amount of drainage around both houses to keep things dry and haven’t had any problems.

        1. The farm across the fields from us is called Le Petit Osier. It belonged to René and Claudine but is now run by their son Gwénolé. René is our Christo’s godfather.

          The farm is beef and dairy but it obviously used to be involved in basket making.

          4. Yes, it’s a Breton name. His brother also has a Breton name but I can’t spell it – ? Gulven ?

            I’ll get Caroline to correct me tomorrow!

  52. Organisers estimate ‘more than 800,000’ pro-Palestine protesters are marching in London
    Organisers of the pro-Palestine march in London have said the latest estimate was that “more than 800,000” people have taken to the streets, according to the PA news agency.

    A woman using a speaker system from the stage at the end of the march in Nine Elms said: “There are more than 800,000 of us here today and that number may be as high as one million. Making this the second largest march in British history.”

    The Met police said earlier that they estimated 300,000 people were marching.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2023/nov/11/pro-palestine-march-london-israel-hamas-war-gaza-armistice-day
    One, two, three,
    err a lot?

    1. Regardless of how many there are i doubt walking from the Victory Services Club to Rules restaurant or anywhere else for that matter wearing a poppy would be safe.

      2. The restraint practiced by Israel is huge. I’d borrow some of the A10’s yankees have in our bases and use their miniguns to strafe the muslim fifth columnists.

        When the ammo ran out, go back for some more, rinse, repeat.

    2. How many went on the pro-hunting marches? Not to mention the anti-Iraq war marches. How much coverage did they get?

  53. I fell over in the garden last night , just after midnight . Pip was on his lead so that he didn’t chase around after hedgehogs who have NOT hibernated yet. There are 4 visitors in the garden .

    The dog , who is small but very powerful tugged me towards the lilac bush, lots of undergrowth , ivy etc , nice hidey places for hedgehogs.

    I had a torch in one hand , dog on lead in the other , dog started barking like fury , I leant forward to see what he was annoying, HUGE hedgehog , I fell over into the bush , hurt my shoulder , yelled like hell, and felt spines in my left thigh, so painful .

    Moh was in bed , i managed to get up out of the bush , covered in mud .. dog still barking . Thought I had bust my shoulder , but thank goodness no.

    Got back indoors , stripped of my clothes muddy clothes/ jeans in the kitchen and was horrified to see a large area of my left thigh red and dotted with little bloody spots an area the size of my hand where I had tipped over on top of the poor hedgehog into the bush .

    I woke up this morning with an inflamed reddened spotty thigh. Moh was getting excited about his visit watch Saints play, so he was distracted and told me to splash my leg with TCP. Which I did .

    After breakfast I investigated the area where hedgehog had been , expecting it to be squashed .. no sign of it .

    Worried about my leg, so rang my local vet .. Suggested 111 because of the toxic prickles . 111 listened carefully and directed me to an appointment at local hospital walk in surgery for 1240pm .. I drove myself , walked in and one doctor examined my leg did all the usual, then called another doctor , and prescribed antibiotics for a week.. and here I am , feeling an absolute idiot with loads of little puncture marks on the middle of thigh .

    Moh will be on his way back from Southampton after watching his match , and I cannot believe that a tumble in the garden could have such
    repercussions .

    I haven’t had a drink of alcohol for over 20 years.. but I do have a lively very strong little spaniel who pulled me over in his excitement .

    By the way , the doctors were amused and said this was a first , and wasn’t I lucky it wasn’t a porcupine !

    1. Ouch! I know the NHS is broken, but I’m wondering why you called your local vet? Unless it was to euthanise the bloody hedgehog…

      Still – it’s good to know you have such a supportive spouse… 🙄

      1. Vet is excellent and he would know what is toxic and what isn’t , Vet practise is just up the road , they are well up on strange things , pecks from buzzards , snake bites , squirrels etc .

        1. I did catch a fungal infection from a hedgehog one time, years ago – my hands were very sore and sometimes crusty – it took a long time to clear up, and eventually it went into one fingernail, which peeled off, leaving a new one with no problems.

          5. Wow! My toe nails are hopelessly fungally infected. I wonder if I could kidnap some hedgehogs and tie them to my feet. If they infect me, then perhaps all my toe nails will peel off and some lovely new ones may grow in their place. Lol.

          6. Sounds as though you need some treatment Elsie! My OH had a nasty toe nail but eventually he was told of a lady who did home visits – she sorted it out for him and it hasn’t been a problem since then.

      2. When I had ‘Mowhammed’ the robotic mower at the last place (all robots have names), he had an unfortunate habit of ploughing straight across the boundary wire and down the dip into the hedge. Then sending me text messages. At all hours. On more than one occasion, retrieval involved me losing my footing and joining him under the hedge. Once I’m down, I can’t easily get up again, lest I jettison my legs. I don’t think I squashed any hedgehogs in the process, but I have traversed the lawn on my hands and knees on more occasions than I care to admit.

          3. but I have traversed the lawn on my hands and knees on more occasions than I care to admit.

            Fall over, drag yourself back from your local, the Mowhammed.

            Ok I’ll get me coat.

        3. Just carry a bottle of plonk with you. If you fall you can explain it away as being tipsy.

          As an aside, our local wine store had no yellow tail pinot today. Could Lottue have put in a large order a few weeks ago?

          1. That seems distinctly possible. I keep an eye on “25% off six bottles” offers, and – since Morrisons are currently partaking, and YT Shiraz is £7 a bottle, I ordered 12. Sadly, of the 12, 7 were Wolf Blass Cab/Sauv as a substitution. I’m reluctant to blame Ann… 🙂

    3. I hope you didn’t squash the poor little hedgehog – though you might have seen it there in daylight, so perhaps it managed to escape alive………

      Is your shoulder ok now? And your spotty thigh? I hope the antibiotics do their job.

      2. Hello J

        The hedgehog had vanished this morning, certain he / she wasn’t injured . I will search later with my torch , large , medium and 2 smaller ones .

        My shoulder is bruised because of the awkward fall and I am also on blood thinners .

        It was such an unreal experience .. especially so in the dark.

        They said my immunity should be fine re Tetanus jab years ago.

      3. Hi Jools. I was clearing an overgrown corner of the garden a few months back, since the feeding station was attracting rats, and the mostly Honeysucle was providing cover. I just missed a hedgehog with the strimmer. No sign of injury, so I relocated this spiky ball to the corner of a bit of communal space outside my garden. Quite concerned, but next time I looked, it had gone, presumably under its own (uninjured) steam. Phew…

        Got rid of the rats, eventually. No sign of any birds for the last few weeks, either. ICBA to do the research, but presumably they’ve all migrated? No Goldfinches, Great Tits, Dunnocks, Collared Doves, bloody Wood Pigeons (one of my pair lost its mate to a bird of prey, judging by the feathers on the lawn), Jackdaws, Starlings and even the occasional Green Woodpecker. All gone. No food has been touched for weeks.

        Dianne got me started on this, by giving me a Goldfinch feeder. She still has them in her Devon garden..

        1. Did you use poison for the rats? Glad you didn’t strim the hog – they can cause horrendous injuries.
          Your native birds should still be around.

          1. I did. What was interesting was that successive rodents were smaller than the previous ones. There was certainly evidence of dehydration; I watched one rat climb the plants in the raised bed, and attempt to jump across to the feeding station water bowl. It missed.

            I’ll keep an eye out for the spiky ones, but – in truth – I won’t be doing much gardening for the next few months.

            Still no birds, though.

    4. I’m a doctor, Belle. I’d love to get a close-up view of your thigh… of course, I’d have to look closely at the other one for comparison purposes!
      Regards, Oberstleutnant Ph.D.

    5. Blimey, Belle, what an exciting life you lead. Hope all goes well. My Oscar is a dead giveaway when a hedgehog is in the garden, it’s the only time he ever barks.

      1. Snap, Pip is just like Oscar , M.

        We know when he has located one .. He doesn’t attack them , but the hogs grunt like little pigs , and snuffle along the the hedgerow and flowerbeds, and then Pip is on scent .. wow he is fast and strong , but a small spaniel!

        Hopeless on the lead when he wants to fly. Wrenching my arm .

        1. At least spaniels don’t hurt them – Jack Russels are some of the worst for attacking hedgehogs. They can cause some nasty injuries.

          1. My Patterdale cross always tried to pick them up – he never learned; I was forever removing prickles from his nose and wiping up the blood. Charlie, the border cross, on the other hand, just used to dance around them, about a foot away, barking his head off.

      2. My Oscar frequently barks (usually to come in). He, like all my other dogs, has a special “hedgehog” bark, though, so I always know if he’s found one.

    8. “I could a tale unfold whose lightest word
      Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood,
      Make thy two eyes like stars start from their spheres,
      Thy knotted and combined locks to part,
      And each particular hair to stand on end
      Like quills upon the fretful porpentine.

      [Hamlet]

    2. Strange to think that it is perfectly conceivable that my grandfather was in the crowd or possibly even marching

      1. Lovely to have that kind of connection to the past, Sos.
        Good on your Grand-dad, marching there or otherwise.

          1. I was just saying today that mine is a thankful family; nobody in either war was killed or even injured. Maternal uncle served in the RAF and paternal uncle in the army in WW2, but the others were in reserved occupations. Families lived too far from conurbations to be bombed by Heinkels etc or Zeppelins.

          2. That’s life.
            We attended the Remembrance in the village, as usual, this morning.
            They always read out the names of those who died, and the number with the same family names is heart-breaking.
            I tend to read the war memorials wherever we stop on our travels through France. The ratio of deaths WW1 to WW2 here compared to many other places is very, very high.

          4. Here, because names are unfamiliar, it’s hard to tell whether very slight, single letter differences in the spelling means it’s the same family.

          5. I noticed in the civilian section of the cemetary (it also has war graves) the grave of two people with a German surname. Presumably the woman married a German PoW.

          6. My wife’s great uncle is buried in a civilian cemetery, close to one of the end of war battlefields.
            There are French, British and German graves.
            All separate, but all tended by and importantly, honoured by, the local community.

            The graveyard is on the “avenue de Juifs”

            All the young men, had they survived just two or three more weeks would not be there.

          7. I was talking to an elderly lady this morning who said one of her relatives had been killed on 11/11/18. So cruel.

          11. That’s a nice headstone – not sparing of money in the stone, carving and inscription.
            One of very many, I suspect.

          19. A distant relative isn’t buried any place. He was a gunner in a Sunderland, never returned from patrol.

          21. I feel for submariner’s families. So often, their lad sailed, never to return. “Missing, presumed dead” is an awfully sad little epitaph.

          22. Presumably he will be remembered on the Runnymede memorial for those RAF personnel who have no known grave.

          23. I’d expect so.
            Must go over and follow up. Then, maybe John can get a teeny bit of recognition.

          25. Attended the War Graves Commission cemetary near Siracusa, Sicily, some years ago.
            Lots of headstones, all identical, all lined up in rows. So many of them.
            Outside the gate, normal sounds of traffic, birds, and the like. Inside the gate – total silence. Very moving, so it was, and very eerie. A lovely place, beautifully kept. Even the grass was the same height. Kudos to the minders.

          26. My father spent the war inspecting aircraft parts – I think he would have preferred active service. My mother was in the Royal Observer Corps watching for fires etc.

          27. My late Uncle entered Italy ready for action wearing just his underpants. His ship was blown up just off the coast…..

          2. Hmmm… Today (Tuesday) my Amazon delivery of 5 reams of paper (for the Church) was left on the doorstep at lunchtime. Via Evri. Two hours later, I saw an email saying it had been delivered. While my ‘porch’ is open to the elements, the rain – thankfully – was blowing in a different direction. “How was your delivery?” asked Evri. I was on the point of leaving a scathing review, saying “it would have been helpful if you’d rung the effing doorbell”. But I checked the Ring app, only to see a “missed ring”…

            I didn’t hear it. The video confirms that the outdoor Ring bell push chimed. Normally, my phone would have repeated the chime, and Alexa would have chipped in with “Someone is at your Door”. Nada…

            Gotta love modern technology…

      1. Wars throughout history have been fought over access to resources, oil, water, minerals and now natural gas.

        The ongoing conflict in Israel and much else of the Middle East is about access to oil and gas and the wealth it implies.

          1. There are some nice caves at Petra. The walls are striped in shades of pink and orange. Amazing rock strata. There were still Bedouin living in the caves when I went there in 1994. I asked one guy if he’d ever considered a different lifestyle. He answered, “Yes, I lived in Earls Court for six months. I hated it”.

  56. That’s me done for today. Brief sun – then damp and gloomy. Used the new ladder. The MR is VERY pleased with it.

    Just to complete my 40 year on saga. We were looking to move out of London and my then inlaws lived near Dereham.

    My then wife had a whim to buy a converted barn – very popular at that time. We had looked at many and they were all most unsuitable – often with only a tiny bit of garden. We had received particulars of this house – described as “converted barn” and it was on the discard pile. We were driving from looking at a house in Hindolveston (5 miles east) and were on our way to another at Kettlestone (2 miles west) along the road in which house is.

    Needing to sort out the estate agents’ bumph, we pulled in to what is the drive of this house. A lady came down the drive and asked if we had come to view. I thanked her but explained that the house wasn’t our sort of thing. She persisted – so out of politeness, we went to look. And were captivated. Walking back to the car, I said to then wife, “We’ll buy it”…..

    Late, the lady owner told us that the house had been on the market for a year and that NO ONE had ever come to view it.

    Fate or what??

    A demain.

    1. Sunny morning here but rather chilly. We went to a small event run by and for our local Cat Rescue, from whence came our cats. Promised I would write something for the newsletter. Bought a few things – my friends next door will be getting catty teatowels…….

    2. Estate agents like lawyers don’t always work in their clients interest…just sayin’….Personal experience don’t ya know.

  57. A peacock butterfly has come in and is flapping round in the sitting room – Ziggy about to try and catch it! OH now about to try to catch it. It’s on the shade of the table lamp.

      1. He’s now caught it – watched by two cats who wanted to get there first! He took it upstairs as it’s a bit cold and dark to let it out.

  58. Whoops! It looks like far-Right has bit the dust as the Black Fingernail hinted. They have now become Counter-Protesters. The phonelines must have been red-hot!

    1. Undoubtedly, it will be presented as an outrage that Armistice Day was sullied by neo-Nazis [sic] bearing British flags.

      The only outrage is that at the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month, British people were not allowed to be present, peacefully and without police in attendance, at their national war memorial in their own capital city because it had to be protected not from them but from Muslims marching en masse in support of other Muslims committing acts of mass murder in the Middle East.

      2. Except, in the real world, the outrage was peaceful. Were it not for the actions of Suella’s finest. A few idiots, admittedly, but even St Thomas, Son of Robin, went on his newly liberated Twitter/X account, pleading for any neo-Nazis patriotic Brits to behave themselves. Since “Far-Right” activists are not compelled to have that appelation tattooed on their foreheads, how exactly do the MSM and the Met know that they were the disruptive element?

        I’m playing for two services tomorrow. The second one will comence in the (temporarily closed) street, by the War Memorial. Don’t have any medals, but I’ll be wearing my poppy with pride, despite my misgivings about the RBL these days. In sleepy white flight Surrey, there’ll be no trouble. But, if I’m wrong, I guarantee that it will be resisted.

    2. Undoubtedly, it will be presented as an outrage that Armistice Day was sullied by neo-Nazis [sic] bearing British flags.

      The only outrage is that at the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month, British people were not allowed to be present, peacefully and without police in attendance, at their national war memorial in their own capital city because it had to be protected not from them but from Muslims marching en masse in support of other Muslims committing acts of mass murder in the Middle East.

    3. Undoubtedly, it will be presented as an outrage that Armistice Day was sullied by neo-Nazis [sic] bearing British flags.

      The only outrage is that at the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month, British people were not allowed to be present, peacefully and without police in attendance, at their national war memorial in their own capital city because it had to be protected not from them but from Muslims marching en masse in support of other Muslims committing acts of mass murder in the Middle East.

  59. Evening, all. Wreath laying went off well this morning, although the RAF rep, a Flt Lt, clearly hadn’t done it before. He arrived, plonked his wreath on the memorial and then refused an order of service as he would have his hands full! Why? He’d just dumped his wreath! It slowly dawned on him as we went through the last post, the reading of names, the Kohima epitaph, the laying of wreaths and the prayers (which he couldn’t join in because he didn’t have an order of service) that perhaps he might have done it better (as he admitted afterwards when he said there would be a wreath every year from now on). No fly past, alas, but also no uppity foreigners trying to force submission on us, either.

  60. Well, chums, it’s been a freezing cold day here even though I’ve had the heating on all day. So I’ll have an early night tonight and wish you all a good night’s sleep. See you all tomorrow.

      1. Currently 3° here in leafy Surrey. Have hardly ventured out. The sun shone though, raising the temperature indoors by a degree or two, so not all bad.

          2. I ran a bath earlier and when it was nearly full, I found the water was freezing.
            The pilot light has gone out. I’ve tried resetting it a couple of times with no success. The same happened a couple of weeks ago but it righted itself.

            Fortunately, I’m working a night shift tonight so will look at it again tomorrow.

      1. poppiesmum, if I steal one of the neighbour’s dogs just to keep cosy-cosy I fear I shall be arrested by Mr Plod (I don’t have the excuse of waving a Palestinian flag).

  61. Nasty 5 today.

    Wordle 875 5/6

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

    1. Silly mistake here

      Wordle 875 5/6

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

      1. I don’t play but I think I know the basics.
        Why would one get a letter correct but then not place it in the same place each time?
        How does one go from four correct letters, all in the wrong place to one in the wrong place, and then complete it the next move?
        Bizarre.

        1. I am not clever enough to extrapolate a couple of correct letters into the answer so the first three guesses are normally an attempt to get fifteen of the more common letters checked out and then it hopefully comes down to just sorting an anagram.

          1. I find it helps to leave it and come back later – a suitable word often pops into my head then.

  62. Back from our little remembrance day service. To hell with the commandment from on high, they snuck in a prayer or two.

    No disruptions. Pity, people were ready to hand out a bit of silencing.

    Quote of the day from the legion president during the wreath laying “I am going as fast as I can, I am cold as well”.

    1. How to make money out of nothing and the chicks for free….I’m sure someone wrote that song.

      2. Supposedly a shoe in to replace blackface, rumours are that an Ottawa liberal mp is being resigned to make room for him.

        Same woke credentials but more intelligent than Trudeau. Not saying that more intelligent than Trudeau is much of an achievement.

  64. The Metropolitan Police ‘Service’ has been corrupted by the stumpy, odious little no-mark Khan. It is riven by political correctness and Woke ‘philosophy’, and as such is no longer anything remotely approaching deserving of respect. No officer can gain promotion unless they adhere to the grubby left wing agenda and no recruit will be entertained unless they show the ‘correct’ attitude.

  65. Here is a collection or recipes for hungry people for a charity cookbook… Take 4 eggs, butter and double cream….Make sure you have plenty of wonton wrappers available also…just in case some Malay drops by…

    Helpful helpings: A new charity cookbook of nostalgic recipes by top UK chefs aims to help children at risk of hunger…https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/you/article-12724519/Helpful-helpings-new-charity-cookbook-nostalgic-recipes-UK-chefs-aims-help-children-risk-hunger.html

        1. I might have mentioned this before, but an old friend sent me a message saying he had been stopped by police and breathalysed on suspicion of drink driving.
          He was absolutely sober. But the copper asked him why he was driving very slowly and swerving so much.
          He was quite honest with his reply when he told them that he was trying to avoid all the potholes.

          1. I liked the tale of the motorist caught for speeding who having decided eventually to slow down and pull over was asked by the officer, who was about to go off shift, why he had failed to stop.

            He replied that his wife had run off with a policeman and that he feared the policeman was bringing her back.

          2. A bit like the Tommy Cooper gag.
            Police pull him over and say “excuse me sir, she’s okay, but did you realise your wife had fallen out of your car a
            few miles back “?
            Cooper “Oh thank god for that officer, I thought I’d gone deaf”!

    3. I watched some of the ‘real’ London Mayor celebrations and the massive parade on TV this morning.
      It was very encouraging to notice the absence of the nasty little git.

  68. Thought for the day:
    I wonder what would happen in Muslim countries if protest marchers gathered and then desecrated the Muslim’s equivalents of war memorials?

    I suspect that heads would roll.

    Literally

    1. Lots of auto weapon fire i expect. Gnashing of teeth, Burkered women screaming and ullulating, pulling hair out and general hysteria. While i am pouring my tea and having a toasted tea cake.

  69. So lets get this straight pro Hamas supporters tried to spoil Armistice day for war veterans and for the people honouring the ultimate sacrifice that their forbears gave.
    One wonders why they don’t go and fight for their cause instead, like our forbears did, if they feel that badly about it, instead of picking on poppy sellers and causing a general nuisance.

      1. There are more than 700,000 commonwealth casualties of the two world wars commemorated on our war memorials and in our cemeteries across France.

        1. I’m probably incorrect, but I think that that 700k is those with known graves, the lists of names on the major memorials, eg Tyne Cot, Thiepval, Menin Gate put the numbers far far higher.

        2. 22022 are commemorated on the new memorial in Normandy from the Battle of Normandy June 1944….

    2. Hi, Paul. In our leafy Surrey churchyard, there are a handful of War Graves Commision headstones. The CWGC operatives turn up, approximately annually, and care for them. It’s a shame that some of the others don’t merit the same attention.

      1. It is fascinating how many famous and unknown people have very moving gravestones and inscriptions in churchyards all around the country.
        I’ve seen generals, admirals, and highly decorated “other ranks” in my travels.
        OK, it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but looking for the map of the cemetery in the church records, and then reading the background to the story can turn up some real surprises.

          5. …and leave me out – the thought of being buried in the earth gives me the heebie-jeebies hence my wish to donate my body to medical science and, after 3 years, to be be cremated appeals far more. Burn, baby, burn.

          6. I was amused by the Epitaph given to Sir John Vanbrugh the Architect of Blenheim and Castle Howard which reads: “Lay heavy on him Earth for he laid many a heavy load on Thee.”

          8. I was amused by the Epitaph given to Sir John Vanbrugh the Architect of Blenheim and Castle Howard which reads: “Lay heavy on him Earth for he laid many a heavy load on Thee.”

          11. I did the first bit some years ago when I completed all the necessary paperwork. The second bit (dying), I am trying my best to avoid.

          13. You said that you wanted to donate your body to medical science.
            I replied “me too”.
            You then said “you know what to do”.
            I assumed that you were referring to donating my body so then said that I had already completed the paperwork to make the donation but was holding back on delivery.

            Perhaps I misunderstood your comments, in which case I apologise for causing any confusion.

        2. I and a friend often go round the memorials in local churchyards. Some of the graves are very poignant.

        3. We have a headstone in Ashen churchyard which has a weathered inscription on one side and to which a replica slab has been bonded to the reverse.

          The memory of the person was obviously important to the group who turned up to organise and pay for the works.

        4. At St Laurence, Seale, we have a comprehensive record of graves and memorials, openly available to visitors. Including maps. I’m not certain that this is the ‘norm’. But here, it is much appreciated.

          1. A local village near Tunbridge Wells does similarly and it’s fascinating to follow the guide.

      3. We have a single War Graves Commission headstone in the churchyard of Tilbury Juxta Clare, a hamlet near here.

        I noticed similar in the churchyard at Whissonsett where we thought to buy a property which purchase fell through. Both are well maintained by the War Graves Commission.

  71. I’ve just laughed at a comedian on television. A rare event these days. It was Bobby Davro on GBN. He said, “Whenever I see a poppy, I think of my old dad…he was a heroin addict”.

  72. Punctuation can make a difference

    Inside Miami’s ‘Billionaire Bunker’ island – which boats 24-hour marine patrol to protect ultra-wealthy residents from Ivanka Trump and Tom Brady to Jeff Bezos

      1. That too.
        OK, I accept these people are under pressure to put articles out, but sometimes I wonder if autocorrect rules.

      1. Better you than I to pursue that line of questioning.

        I’ve still got my teeth and I’d rather like to keep them…

          2. With reference to the earlier thread re graves your reply is a tad Cryptic….I’ve no idea….

  74. Well, after an excellent run up the A14 & M1, I got back home at 11:45 after pausing at Wirksworth to take part in the Remembrance event at the Memorial Gardens and, after a bite to eat, went back to bed for a couple of hours.

    Been down to the Boat for a couple or three pints with t’Lad and Still@home and walked back home.
    T’Lad had been to the Crich Tramway General Meeting in Matlock and scored some pertinent points against the current leadership. Unfortunately, he is not willing to move up to the board.

    I see the Met Police appear to have deliberately engineered a confrontation between Tommy Robinson and his supporters for which TR (NHRN) have been blamed.
    Well, there is a surprise!

    I’m now about to go to bed, so good night all.

    1. The Met were known for fitting people up, way back when I was nobbut a lad.
      Leopards and spots…

      1. In the late seventies early eighties I completed a building in Pimlico for the Crown Estates Commissioners (Surveyors).

        The building had been pre-let to the Metropolitan Police who were moving from offices on Millbank.

        When drawing up the Fitting Out Contract for the Metropolitan Police Receiver’s Department (think parking fines and the wheel clamp unit) my secretary typed ‘Fitting Up Contract’ on the documents. The error caused much merriment especially within the Metropolitan Police officers with whom I was dealing.

        The building sits above Pimlico Underground and incorporates an entrance to the Underground.

  75. Late thought for the day:

    If Hamas laid down their weapons and crawled out of their ratholes to surrender, the war could end in ten minutes.

    Why aren’t the protesters calling for that?

    2. According to the Times of Israel the Israelis have been talking to the doctors and will be helping to evacuate patients from the Shifa hospital in Gaza tomorrow.

      That should get the propaganda spin merchant’s talking.

  76. Clare Balding , Festival of Remembrance .. has just introduced the Windrush people speech, commemorating those who rebuilt Britain after Ww2.

    We nearly threw something at the TV .

    The Festival has been ruined .

          1. I remember him piloting a hydroplane on Bedfont Lake during a race meeting. I was about 9 I think. He was doing an outside broadcast and had his hefty transmitting gear packed in the boat.

        2. Charles and Diana in the Royal Box. They were newly weds? The Queen Mother too and the Queen looking lovely. The nostalgia! Life always had its difficulties but there was still hope then?

        3. Not quite the same but QARANC at Cosham saved my life 21 years ago and I’m for ever grateful.

          Today – seeing the state of the world – I wish I could pull back on that and be happy to meet my maker and our sweet Ann again.

    3. Typical BBC woke. By then, I was so irritated that I may have been mistaken when I thought that the Last Post was captioned “Reveille”.

      1. Swollen mess , Mm.

        A splodge of little holes.. very red and inflamed , looks horrible .. and bruising on my left arm and shoulder .

        A weeks worth of antibiotics, one a day.

        Cool compress as and when .

        Hedgehogs were in the garden again last night .

    5. The Windrush generation mostly employed by London Transport Executive eventually trashed the London Underground, they stuffed their faces in the subterranean refectory with bacon butties at Kings Cross as the station burned and lives were lost, brought drugs and knife crime to South London and remain a potent force for Evil.

      They made parts of Brixton ‘No-Go Areas’ a possible first in our otherwise peaceful country. Some contribution.

      They will be telling us next that these greasy imports built Stonehenge (sarc.).

    1. Creepy Joe would be in an expensive nursing home by now if Kamala hadn’t turned out to be such a dud?

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