Saturday 12 August: As the junior doctors’ strikes rumble on, it’s patients who are left to pay the price

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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515 thoughts on “Saturday 12 August: As the junior doctors’ strikes rumble on, it’s patients who are left to pay the price”

  3. As the junior doctors’ strikes rumble on, it’s patients who are left to pay the price

    They should make Lee Anderson health secretary, he would tell them where to get off

  6. Putin’s crimes are extraordinary but not inexplicable. We must learn from them. 12 August 2023.

    Hitler, thank goodness, had no real political heirs. Stalin, unfortunately, had plenty. The West had to deal with them. There were all sorts of diplomatic reasons for pulling our punches. The Soviet people themselves were deceived by the lies. Indeed, they knew much less than we did.

    This did not end with the Cold War. Stalin’s latest heir is Vladimir Putin. His lies about Russia’s territorial claims over Ukraine resemble Hitler’s lies about Germany’s right to “living space” in the East. His actions in the current war in Ukraine – notably the eastward deportation of people, including unaccompanied children – resemble Stalin’s. His atrocities against civilians and his attempt to flatten whole cities resemble those of both dictators. It is not easy for the Russian people to distinguish his fictions from fact.

    This is where Finkelstein’s book becomes urgent. In a country like Britain, we tend to see the crimes of Hitler and Stalin then, and of Putin now, as extraordinary, inexplicable aberrations. Extraordinary they are, but not inexplicable. They are what can happen when politics goes wrong.

    This is an attempt to turn a book review into a polemic against Putin by a process of simple comparison. Vlad is not Stalin’s heir, he’s not even a Communist. His activities are geopolitical; unlike those of both Hitler and Stalin, which were characterised by overarching Racial and Political Doctrines. These are now reserved for here in the UK where the demonization and genocide of the indigenous population proceeds unhindered by Moore or his associates in the MSM. As to the “deportations” these are the voluntary removal of people from danger. They have not been selected by any criteria other than that of residency in a War Zone. They are not being sent anywhere to be murdered and in fact of course none of them have been.

    The processes of War are universal. The means common to all who indulge in it. The destruction in Ukraine, compared to the recent wars waged by the West, is actually quite modest. They bear no comparison for example to the attack on Libya which obliterated the water infrastructure and reduced the population to penury or the bombing of Mosul in Iraq, which was effectively destroyed by NATO air forces with massive loss of civilian life.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/08/11/putin-is-exploiting-the-frightening-degree-to-which-we-forg/

    1. 375398+ up ticks.

      O2O,

      Do you also feel that going into town you are intruding into someones else’s country ?

        1. Same with me, not that there’s much to attract me to Colchester town city centre except for my bank and hairdresser i.e. about once every 5 to 6 weeks. The pavements are a dangerous obstacle course with loose and raised slabs in every street.
          Frankly, Colchester has become a real dump and the council have no idea of how to improve the situation. They are well up on sustainability and electrification of vehicles though. They were taught a lesson by some members of the public – Richard Vobes has interviewed two of them and it’s worth a watch – but whether that has sunk in is still to be judged. If the council is being driven by a narrative, as I suspect, then I fear not.

    2. How many people will be enough to change politics, the source of the contagion that allows the unelected, unaccountable transnational entities to operate, and how long will it take for enough people to wake up?
      Time is running out, >750 invaders were brought into the bosom of the British people yesterday, that’s a barge and a half of a disease free residence on ONE day. Rumours are doing the rounds that a third of the Cabinet and >50% of Tory MPs are unhappy with the situation and want the ECHR’s jaundiced influence to be removed from the UK. Better late than never doesn’t, IMO, cover their cowardly behaviour over the last decade or so. They are complicit in the great betrayal and deserve all the opprobrium their betrayal of the British people is bringing to them.

      1. 375398+ up ticks,

        Morning KtK,
        In my book a large segment of the British peoples must shoulder a great deal of blame.

        Most certainly those that chose Party before Country over the last four decades.

        Never ever trying to seriously combat the lab/lib/con coalition party.

        Unbelievable they are once again gearing up for the next GE and make no mistake, MORE OF THE SAME.

      2. Never mind waiting for the ECHR, that could take forever. Action this day! as Mr Churchill was famous for.

    3. We’re British. Nothing. If they haven’t realised by now, they never will.

      Or they say “I just get on with my life, I’m not interested in politics.”

    4. We’re British. Nothing. If they haven’t realised by now, they never will.

      Or they say “I just get on with my life, I’m not interested in politics.”

    2. Hi yourself! Was that going to be the start of a post about Hillman Imps? Hilsborough? the Himalayas?

        1. Oy!!! Our first car was a Hillman Imp. Second hand.
          We used to pack it with camping gear, two small sons and a dog to go up to the Lake District.

          2. That was the Coventry Climax engine. Aluminium, lightweight, and with steel parts, so the aluminium would corrode a bit and block up the cooling passages and the radiator. You needed to use anticorrosive antifreeze, not just water.

          3. Coventry Climax also made fairly decent flat twin side valve engines that powered the RE issue 3,000 and 1,000 Gallon Water Purification sets as well as 4 cylinder in-line engines for a range of fire-pumps.

          4. Were used as portable fire pumps. In a wee frame with handles, two-man portable.

          5. Sounds similar to the pump unit for the 1,000 gallon water purification set.

            The fire pump at Chepstow I was shown how to use*, was trailer mounted and had a 4cyl in line.

      2. That’s all History now,
        .It may have been the start of a hiccup which I was able to suppress with a combination vagal and valsava maneuvre.

  9. Good day everyone,

    Cloudy at McPhee Towers, heavy showers from 1100, wind Sou’-West, 15℃ going up to 19℃ so it looks as though our second brief flurry of average summer temperatures is over.

    Regarding the West Yorkshire Police invasion of a private home and lesbo-nazi arrest of an autistic teenager, a tweet by Morgoth was up here yesterday to which I replied. Morgoth has since expanded on it with a 26 minute Review:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDNJGUBHuI4

    And here’s Douglas Murray’s view on Sky News Australia:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPZ9oBHH4z0&t=247s

    1. My comment to the video:
      “Lessons learned – what bullshit. This stuff seems to be more and more common, so clearly lessons are not learned – and why does anyone need to learn a lesson about not assaulting young women, autistic or otherwise, just for calling hurty names? Didddums. In any case, it was probably true.”

    2. “A drug addled, unemployable crack addict” …. oh, to hear Sophie Raworth utter such words.

  10. Just about to leave home, but enough time to pop in and wish you all a good day, chums.

        1. As with many of the young’s expressions, their grandparents got there first. It was the same when ‘cool’ was all the rage 20-odd years ago.

        2. Peeps was also a cartoon character, a small bird that went around going “peep”.
          I’ll get me coat…

        3. Oh dear, I’m not exactly young, as my next birthday will show! Everything is relative, of course…

          ‘Morning, Bill.

      4. The people. I first came across the expression 34 years ago when I joined British Airways as a pilot. Passengers were referred to by some pilots as the ‘peeps’ which is a bit better than the other terms used, SLF (self-loading freight) or ‘punters’.

      1. Yes, we seem to have more than our fair share this year. Must be something to do with the imminent collapse of the planet, or some other cataclysmic event heading our way.

        1. All precipitated by the beat of a butterfly’s wings. But which butterfly? Better squash them all!

  12. The real reason politicians lie to us
    A senior Labour figure (Chris Bryant) says MPs must be more honest. There’s just one small problem

    Michael Deacon: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/columnists/2023/08/12/real-reason-why-politicians-lie-to-us/

    Chris Bryant said in the House of Commons that Nigel Farage had corruptly received money from Russia.

    This may have been true; it may have been false but Nigel Farage said it was a lie and challenged Bryant to repeat his allegations outside Parliament.

    Bryant refused to do so because he knew that he was protected by Parliamentary Privilege and if he repeated his accusations outside Parliament he would have to prove that his allegations were true and if he could not do so he would suffer legal action.

    Is it not It is a bit rich for Bryant to talk about liars when he is not prepared to put what might well prove to be his own lies to the test without trying to shelter behind Parliamentary Privilege?

    1. ‘Morning, Rastus. Underpants Bryant is in no position at all to lecture MPs or anyone else on standards of behaviour, and the fact that he holds the position he now does is utterly grotesque.

  13. Headline in today’s DT:

    “Tories fear they could lose tens of thousands of members as fees rise”

    …not to mention hundreds of thousands of votes for years of gold-plated, 5-star incompetence!

    2. Grey here – no sun yet though it may break through later. There was a glimmer of moonlight during the night.

  15. Why do politicians lie to us? It’s all our own fault says Michael Deacon because we don’t want the truth.

    Politicians must stop lying to voters. So says Sir Chris Bryant, a senior Labour MP, who is currently promoting a book he’s written about parliamentary sleaze. Politicians’ lies, he argues, do terrible damage to public trust.

    That may be true. But if we really want things to change, we need to ask ourselves a crucial question. Why do politicians lie to us?

    The answer is simple. It’s because we want them to.

    Of course we do. We don’t want them to tell us the truth, because the truth, by and large, is not very nice. So we want them to tell us lies: lovely, comforting lies. We want them to tell us that they know how to make Brexit work, and that we can have loads more money for public services without paying more tax, and that they can solve the shortage of houses without building any new ones near ours.

    In particular, though, we want politicians to lie to us about the NHS. A strictly honest politician would say: “Face it – the NHS will very soon be unaffordable. And one of the main reasons for this is that you voters have become so grotesquely overweight. Here’s a fun fact: if everyone in this country was a healthy weight, the NHS could save 10 per cent of its entire budget. Unfortunately, however, you junk-gobbling, boozed-up slobs just can’t be bothered to take responsibility for your own health any more. So here’s the deal. Either you all go on a diet, or we’re privatising your beloved health service – so that you can each damn well pay for whatever damage you’ve done to yourself.”

    That would be honest. But of course, no politician would ever dare say such a thing, because if they did, we’d riot. So instead, they all endlessly reassure us that they love Our NHS, and that its problems can be solved, as long as we either tip yet more money into it (which is what they say if they’re Labour), or in some mysterious way “reform” it (which is what they say if they’re Tory).

    Politicians may well be sleazy. But they aren’t daft. Because they know that if they went around recklessly telling the truth all the time, they’d never get elected.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/columnists/2023/08/12/real-reason-why-politicians-lie-to-us/

    I see Rastus beat me to it.

    1. I might have guessed that it is the electorates fault – as usual. The last time I recall a politician telling it like it is was Margaret Thatcher saying that recovery from the Labour mess will be long, hard and unpleasant. It was. Look how often she was elected, and with what majorities. So, I don’t believe that the electorate don’t want to hear the truth. That’s just telling more porkies.

      1. Two of the obvious main requirements in becoming a politician is, no sense of guilt and pathological and habitual lying.
        Possible a third and forth cheating and taking large bungs.
        Maybe a fith fiddling expenses.

  16. Morning, all Y’all.
    Not raining. This is good. A day of barn room conversion beckons.

  17. Morning all 🙂😊
    Sunny start again, breezy and rain later.
    Who knew ?
    And my conspiracy theory is these strikes are being stirred by our useless government in an effort to get the public off its reliance on the NHS and bring in more private health care.
    Those who actually can afford to pay are now doing so in droves. But I don’t the reality has hit home yet. These private patients are now paying twice for their health care. There’s no cut in the general tax rate where patients with private medical insurance is concerned.
    Unless of course you are involved in politics or Whitehall and you would claim it back in expenses.

  18. Morning all 🙂😊
    Sunny start again, breezy and rain later.
    Who knew ?
    And my conspiracy theory is these strikes are being stirred by our useless government in an effort to get the public off its reliance on the NHS and bring in more private health care.
    Those who actually can afford to pay are now doing so in droves. But I don’t the reality has hit home yet. These private patients are now paying twice for their health care. There’s no cut in the general tax rate where patients with private medical insurance is concerned.
    Unless of course you are involved in politics or Whitehall and you would claim it back in expenses.

  19. 375398+ up ticks,

    Saturday 12 August: As the junior doctors’ strikes rumble on, it’s patients who are left to pay the price

    How about we divert funding for the paki space program to the junior doctors ?

    How about we have an illegal immigrant cull and divert the hotel bill funding to the junior doctors?

    How about the electorate majority remove their combined heads from their combined arses and realise the REAL garb their chosen party are wearing consists of a black uniform with matching jackboots, and support a party that will pay the
    junior doctors their real worth.

    My choice, RECLAIM.

  20. Moaning again.

    For those who may have missed it, may I recommend the first half of yesterday’s Prom (7pm BBC4 and Iplayer)? Not only is Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a theme by Paganini one of my all time favourites, the performance of the soloist, Yuja Wang, was absolutely mesmerising.

    I suggest you may not wish to bother with the so-called experts pontificating afterwards in the interval, both of whom must have ticked a multitude of wokery requirements now on every BBC selection checklist (the nose-ring on the part of one of them was particularly revolting on an already bizarre appearance for someone who must have taken a wrong turn on her way to a fancy-dress competition) you may find the second half – Belshazzar’s Feast – a very strange and to my mind a discordant pairing after the brilliance of the first half. Each to his/her own, of course.

    1. Yuja was wonderful! And played two encores! My OH has played many of her YTube recordings and she is amazing.
      Belshazzar’s Feast was very different but mighty.
      I was a bit mesmerised by the woman pundit with the odd hair.

    2. Belshazzar’s Feast is a fantastic piece to sing. One of my “stand out” (ugh!!) memories of the days when I could sing.

  21. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/55a017481615a108031fc7847b17e99810ef1adcf3e248334e124710b1afcdcc.png
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/08/11/girl-arrested-lesbian-nana-comment-no-action-west-yorkshire/

    BTL Percival Wrattstrangler

    What thoroughly nasty people are in the police force nowadays. If they were nasty but efficient that would be one thing – but they are nasty, sadistic, incompetent and useless.

    Why don’t the police go out and solve real crimes rather than persecuting an autistic girl with a lesbian ‘nana’?

    1. Or seemingly one of their latest most important issues, checking drivers clothing and their footwear. Tight clothing loose clothing flip-flops.
      They’re actually fining drivers for this. Stopping all the speeding and tail gating is more important.
      But they did make the effort to arrest the law breakers and some trouble makers in Regent Street.
      But they already know what to look for.

    2. “Take on board any lessons learned”. The same old, boring cliché. How about sacking the lesbo-nazi and her gang who did this in a private home (did they have a warrant for entry?)

    3. It’s hard to tell what really happened. Probably the girl cheeked the police officers and then tried to hide behind an autism diagnosis.
      But still, 99% of the population would rather the police turned up when they’ve had a burglary than dragging some cheeky kid out of her home.

      1. People have been cheeking the police since 1829.
        And I dare say the Bow Street Runners faced a fair bit of invective.
        This girl was arrested for a Hate Crime; another blessing from the Blair regime that the Conservatives have failed to repeal in 13 years.

        1. What became of the traditional remedy of a clip round the ear for knocking off a copper’s helmet?

        2. Yes, but open disrespect for the police is not OK in a law-abiding society – which Britain is NOT, and has not been since about 2000. The government broke the social contract.
          I still fail to understand how saying that someone looks like a gay woman can be classed as “hate” anyway. Are they admitting that gay is a bad thing to be?

      2. Strange that they can act decisively against the weak and so feebly against the strong.

        1. Too true, Rastus, too true.
          Because it’s easy. Small lasses are easy prey – just look at the Muslim gangs in, er, Yorkshire, for that.

        2. Yes, they really showed themselves up. Very bad PR. They will have to visit some more mosques and go on some Pride parades.

      3. There is absolutely no excuse for their heavy handed response regardless of what the girl said.
        The Police are now the enemy.

        1. Undeed.
          As I commented: Why do they need to learn a lesson about not assaulting a young woman, autistic or otherwise? Surely that is just common humanity to not do so, and those that do used to be locked up when the police could be arsed to do their job. Now, they are the criminals.

        1. Well as I said, in a law abiding country where the government and the people stick to a social contract, open disrespect for the police is not acceptable.
          The problem with this incident is that it has lifted the veil on two very nasty truths: that the police, representing the state aren’t keeping their side of the contract, because they don’t catch burglars, which removes their right to respect from teenagers, and secondly that they are so unprofessional they don’t even know how to deal appropriately with cheeky teenagers any more.

    4. The sun on the meadow is summery warm.

      The stag in the forest runs free.

      But gather together to greet the storm.

      Tomorrow belongs to me.

      The branch of the linden is leafy and Green,

      The Rhine gives its gold to the sea.

      But somewhere a glory awaits unseen.

      Tomorrow belongs to me.

      Now Parentland, Parentland, show us the sign

      Your Issue have waited to see

      The morning will come

      When the world is mine

      Tomorrow belongs to me

      Tomorrow belongs to me

      Tomorrow belongs to me

      Tomorrow belongs to me ……

      2. The most terrifying part of the the film Cabaret?

        https://www.google.com/search?gs_ssp=eJzj4tFP1zcsNM0qKkuKtzBg9FItyUhVKC7NU8jPUwAxc1MTU_LLFTKLgYK5ualFlQrliUW5ANSaElU&q=the+sun+on+the+meadow+is+summery+warm&oq=The+sun+on+the+meadow+is+summery+warm&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqBwgBEC4YgAQyCggAEAAY4wIYgAQyBwgBEC4YgAQyCggCEAAYhgMYigUyCggDEAAYhgMYigUyCggEEAAYhgMYigUyCggFEAAYhgMYigXSAQkxNzYxNmoxajeoAgCwAgA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:f02d41ad,vid:SDuHXTG3uyY

          1. Remember that thoroughly nasty people ended up ruling Germany because the

            average German voter was fed up with chaos and upset.

            Nowadays what nation does that remind us of?

  22. Good morning all.
    A rather dull and damp start with light drizzle and 11½°C outside.

    At least I had a better night’s sleep last night!

    2. Elizabeth and Philip were wed on 20th November 1947; Diana (third from the left) died on 31st August 1997.

      They must have dug her up from Althorp, made her up and put a dress on her to pose for the picture.

        1. My gosh, it seems that it is Queen Anne-Marie of the Hellenes. It’s a much closer likeness to Diana though.

          Poor old Charles looks utterly miserable. I believe that the King has banished the picture to the smallest room in the gardener’s lodge.

    3. Why is Charlie boy the only one with a drink in his hand? That wouldn’t have happened if Backstairs Billy was around.

        1. Printed on canvas, one of SWMBOs photos from Firstborn’s smallholding. Superb, IMO.

      1. Apparently the picture was painted by “distinguished artist Andrew Festing”. No, me neither.
        Naff and kitsch were the two words that sprang to my mind.

  25. Ref the comment about “Peeps” earlier.

    He is famed for his Diary.

    I’ll get me quill…

  26. ‘Morning All

    What a world we’re living in…….

    “Truth Passes Through Three Stages: First,

    It Is Ridiculed. Second, It Is Violently Opposed. Third, It Is Accepted

    As Self-Evident” ~ Arthur Schopenhauer

    Convid

    Greeniacs

    Jan 6th

    Bidens

    Migrant Invasion

    etc,etc,etc

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c83a05a1ff64b30d669e1d77d45094ebe738edc3ffdb1022d5541520522ea86f.jpg

    https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/1689981522227376130

    https://twitter.com/ThinkingSlow1/status/1689483304808980480?s=20

    https://twitter.com/iluminatibot/status/1689981809621172224?s=20

      1. Bill Gates’s father was said to be a malthusian. Gates has talked about the importance of population control.

        Bill and Melinda Gates have three children. These people never think it applies to them!

        1. Green Johnson and Carrie-on breeding have three children.
          Add all the other little Borislets ….

          1. She’s now produced three in just over three years – only Boris knows how many he’s fathered……….
            it’s time they tied a knot in it.

          2. She’s now produced three in just over three years – only Boris knows how many he’s fathered……….
            it’s time they tied a knot in it.

    2. There is speculation that they have already made people allergic to meat via genetically modified ticks, but I haven’t seen proof.
      Apparently becoming allergic to red meat is a side effect of tick bites in the US, and now nearly half a million people have this allergy.

    3. I agree that citizen militia cannot over throw government, but government should not need to be overthrown. It should serve. When it refuses to serve it has become so corrupt and twisted that nothing can save it.

      Depopulation is a good thing. There are too many humans on the planet, too little recycling. Our technology has exceeded our ethics. A start, strictly local to the UK would be an absolute ban on immigration, an enforced repatriation for any unemployed and welfare dependent individuals, a complete end to child benefit and phased reductions in welfare.

      Keep people out, reduce the population by no longer subsidising having children.

      As for making people allergic ot meat – why not? Start with the WEFfers.

      1. The latter are useful Grizz – but not when they are as big as those in government

  27. Medley Time

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/478f2d010d051979d1b4ee2e02634708494d269db6efc29a7485785070c915c2.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7ff03c473a88b48f6809c17bdc1e9eb6925c4a938d2b38347a830f97fbeed466.jpg

    http://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/32e5e4724a6a6e21bdbe353c41fee6c582ec71d723fb455a6bf1abb72314f275.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f76ca80cf420e8f087cb47b4a0b5a5f6188e604313f14d604a7bfcc4075baa30.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6858780c0b78a8d3f018d01c704b02d690ebd1f1130816286fb046cd3bf5dcef.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6eb7be9ab3ad328b337c74a43aa92fb0d27e58bf1139d45122567ccb594e78a8.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b5b566857a1e6cffb93a57169f8872d6f8b337fffd77f9e59a201f82f93dd8b2.jpg

  29. Morning all. Times are fraught at the Wibbling household. We move on Monday -all things being even and solicitors not being inept.

    However, Oscar is all over the place as he doesn’t want to move (having been abandoned in one before) and literally is glued to the Warqueen not leaving her side. Mongo has been walking but can’t go far without beginning to limp and need to rest. All fine, but you have to keep an eye on him while we’re out.

    Suggesting to Small boy that he packs all but the essentials saw 4 lego kits, numerous toys and the contents of his bed store as ‘essentials’. This caused the Warqueen to explode as her tensions are rising which saw Oscar barking in response which saw Mongo stand between her and Junior, let out a window shattering bark – and he *never* barks (that I heard from inside the garage) setting other dog on edge, worrying Junior and not getting anyone anywhere and needing intervention for all parties wasting an hour that should have been spent packing.

    All the stress is flaring up my IBS which itself is triggering annoyance from the Warqueen of you can’t keep going to the loo!’ which makes me even worse.

    I’ve sent the Warqueen out to acquire more boxes and masking tape, made up half a dozen for Junior, showed him how to secure his spare brick drawers and set him off on the right path. Oscar likes going in the car so he’s out of the way as well. More to the point so is Her Stressfulness.

    My only worry now is that we’re going to need a large barn to store all our stuff. Oh, and that there will be a problem on the day of the move with monies moving very late.

    But apart from that it’s all tickety boo!

    1. You do so have my sympathies.
      This comment is of no practical help to you, but “I feel your pain”.

    2. Moving, up there in life’s most stressful events. It gets worse with age and the more clutter you acquire. Keep calm and carry on….

    3. Not fun.
      We had cleared everything and I was in pre-op for a new knee.
      My wife appeared to tell me that the money hadn’t appeared from the buyers.
      It turned up the following day.
      The buyers pulled a similar trick on exchange of contracts.
      Absolute bastards.

    2. Love it.
      It reminds me of an old victorian cottage I bought with two business partners in North Adelaide. I remember pressing on the archive and it only being paint. The termites had gone right through the house consuming as much timber as they could. You could follow their tracks of destruction.

      1. I live in a small town on the south coast. According to a Halifax survey Fareham is the second best place to live in the UK.
        A 71 year old woman was murdered in the cemetery in July and another murder of a 39 year old man in town yesterday in broad daylight.
        There were 3,200 offences in 2022. The majority being sex and violence. Most around the railway station

        1. I don’t think these surveys mean much. Stroud was voted best place to live some time ago – having said that, we don’t have many murders. One chap was sentenced to life imprisonment last week for murder, but it is infrequent here. The poor woman’s body was not found for six weeks, which also says something.

      2. I live in a small town on the south coast. According to a Halifax survey Fareham is the second best place to live in the UK.
        A 71 year old woman was murdered in the cemetery in July and another murder of a 39 year old man in town yesterday in broad daylight.
        There were 3,200 offences in 2022. The majority being sex and violence. Most around the railway station

      3. Life used to be relatively white round here, but on Friday we were invaded. I have never seen so many black, Asian and muslim people here. They seem to have gone underground today – or at least, they were no longer visible.

          1. Not unless it was a blitz on the charity shops – that was where they seemed to be congregating.

    2. It’s a great pity that shopkeepers cannot taser and mace them.
      And I don’t mean chemical mace.

    4. How is it the police cannot arrest these people on soshul meeja? They seem able to arrest people posting “hurty” words.

      And how long before these mobs turn up on people’s doorsteps, break in and do the same thing?

      3. Try that at my place and the first two barrels will be birdshot, the next two buckshot. The remainder likely 357 hollowpoints.

      4. Try that at my place and the first two barrels will be birdshot, the next two buckshot. The remainder likely 357 hollowpoints.

  32. We haven’t had any cats and dogs for a while so here goes

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e554beb976a9d57ce2bcc3d703dc8bae22295bb376fbcb2c1e2bc07782456fd4.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/319835b772353ab977fd16c61f48b68845e83bafc3308a804582fb24d5a11995.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/080b49b54e81c94e482cf2c0cf3a734c4b8ff8dd0d3697e61638e15033fee61d.gif

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/39b7d2c4eb6cd046de6a379217a5b8acc7bdd37c087ad9d98816d70a49b052f3.gif

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/58982aa5bf8eeaab7a38ace8d63c6099ea3007cd59a7fafa0473c0139d1b4c01.jpg

  34. Awkward………….

    Dwelling

    Sections 4, 4A and 5 may take place in a public or private place. No

    offence under these sections is committed, however, if such conduct

    takes place inside a dwelling and the person to whom it is directed is

    inside that or another dwelling.

    There are some arguments

    about what constitutes a dwelling, but ‘the cupboard under your mum’s

    stairs’ is definitely it. Besides, they had already brought her home.

    If they wanted to arrest her, the time was when she was in public or in

    the car.

    WYP gets both barrels on GB News……..

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_JJ38SRYjg

    1. I thought being a lesbian was compulsory.
      Maybe being compared to a ‘nana’ was ageism.

  35. I found it difficult to maintain a straight face while reading this- for all sorts of reasons: I expect that makes me a baaad person.
    Enjoy:

    “The International Slavery Museum in Liverpool has become the second organisation to cut ties with the architecture firm run by Sir David Adjaye after sexual assault allegations.

    Adjaye Associates had been contracted to lead the £57 million redesign of the museum. The museum confirmed on Friday that it had terminated the contract but would continue to use the designs.

    A spokeswoman for the museum said: “National Museums Liverpool has taken the decision to terminate the contract with Adjaye Associates. We would like to thank the AA team who have worked hard to bring the International Slavery Museum and Maritime Museum transformation project to a developed design stage.

    “We remain committed to the project as we continue to build on the momentum already established and intend to start an accelerated tender procurement for new architects in the coming weeks.”

    Adjaye has been accused by three women of sexual assault and harassment, including different forms of “exploitation”. The women told the Financial Times their dealings with him left them financially crippled and in emotional distress.

    Two of the women said that they were involved in an incident with Adjaye in Ghana in 2018. The unnamed women said that they had been invited to his flat after a dinner when the architect changed into a robe and allegedly pressured them into having sex.

    One of the women, a friend of Adjaye’s for more than a decade with whom he allegedly had previously had sex three times, says she told him that his behaviour was “not right” and left the room.

    The other woman accused Adjaye of saying “You’ve got to do this” as he allegedly pressed against her, later accusing him of another sexual assault in 2019 at OR Tambo airport, in Johannesburg, when he told her to go into a bathroom during a business trip. The woman said she tried without success to complain to police in Ghana about the alleged airport assault. She complained to police in South Africa in September 2021.

    A third woman claims that she was assaulted by Adjaye after a dinner in 2019 when he took her to the Royal Academy of Arts in central London.

    He has previously denied the allegations, although earlier this year admitted he had “entered into relationships which though entirely consensual, blurred the boundaries between my professional and personal lives”, adding: “I am deeply sorry.”

    Last month Adjaye Associates was removed from working on the planned UK Holocaust memorial in Westminster. Adjaye also stepped back from advising the mayor of London.

    The Ghanaian-British architect, who was knighted in 2017, is known for designing such buildings as the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington DC.”

      1. So traumatised that they waited years to complain….

        They sense compensashun in the officng, Paul

  36. What happened to the ongoing story about to the poor little Girl who was found dead in a house Woking and three men have skipped the country >?

          1. There are quite a lot of woke in Woking. We are quite a rare breed here. Muzzies have been here for years, Woking had the first mosque in England, built 1889, and they have never integrated.

        2. It’s quite common.

          Actually it isn’t. I went to lunch in Horsell and as i entered the village i could see a massive improvement in the gene pool. Didn’t see any aliens though. Or wogs.

          2. I did see………………..I thoroughly enjoyed my calves liver lunch at that pub you recommended. Wouldn’t mind doing it again sometime if you are interested. October maybe.

          3. Yes we’d be happy to do that perhaps with Geoff, Richard and any others you can think of.

        3. When we were recruitng in Woking we came up with the tag line for the adverts.
          ” Fancy Working in Woking” it was for our distribution centre. We had a massive response.

          2. I lived with Dianne in Albert Drive for a year or so, John. Needless to say, when she sold her place (1950’s 4-bed semi with huge gardens front and rear), the only interest was from those hailing from the sub-continent. The eventual purchaser has turned it into an utter sh1thole.

            Her ‘white flight’ to Devon was a good plan.

          3. I think we dropped you off there when we had that coffee in West Byfleet.
            The wine buyer for Selfridges used to live along there. I can see his face, his name was Tom but I can’t remember his surname.

        1. Even being suspected of looking at a boy can result in a severe beating. The fathers and uncles become so enraged they lose control. All of them are mentally unstable and should be locked up in camps so decent people don’t have to deal with them. Sieg Heil.

    4. As a former resident of that benighted town, nothing I have read in the MSM to date makes any sense. Perhaps I’m a bit fick?

      It wasn’t even the in the ghettos of Woking, such as Sheerwater and Maybury, but in Horsell, which is our own Alf and vw’s territory…

      1. This immediately made me wonder how many other different occurrences like that have also been covered up. Those three men didn’t leave the country without certain assistance.

  38. My plans have all gone agley!
    The DT woke up with a temperature this morning and had to phone in sick, she was due a late start to do lunchtime relief, so I don’t think me buggering off for a few days would be very fair on her.

    1. We shouldn’t respond when they’re in French water. When they’re in international water, we should nip out, shoot the swine and then come back saying there was no one there.

    2. It would be interesting to find out who gave the instructions for the awaiting British welcoming party to rush deep into French territorial waters and instead of taking the rescued and distressed potential illegal immigrants to the nearest safe haven – that would be in France – have the rescue ships turn round and bring the people rescued into the UK. Does the government have a quota agreement?

      1. The home office. It wants these vermin brought here. I make no apology for that term. Theyre rats. Unwanted, unwelcome spreading a disease.

        Every single one of these welfare shoppers must go and the Home Office be charged with aiding and abetting the enemy, illegal immigration, people trafficking and fraud.

    5. Have sent this to Jonathan Lord along with the link.

      Mr Lord
      Please explain why this is happening. If we can go into French waters ‘save’ illegals then we can tow the dinghies back into French waters with no problem.

      Why does your government continue to lie about this. Your comeuppance will be coming like a hurricane. The trouble is there are only socialist parties in Parliament at present. The Conservative Party died many years ago and it should be prosecuted under the Trades Description Act for false representation.

  42. Well, I got few things done outside before the first heavy shower arrived. The sun is shining again but I think It’s a bit of a ‘sucker’s gap’.

    Someone posted a link to this video on TCW. It features someone called Katie Fanning who is a trooper. It’s worth a watch – just under seven minutes.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lC6FLBSIebA

    Here she is:

    https://uk.linkedin.com/in/katie-fanning-07209890?original_referer=https%3A%2F%2Fduckduckgo.com%2F

    One to watch?

    That vicar who refers to ‘this lovely man’ will find out the hard way about Islam.

    1. Thing is, there is a branch of Islam which is thoroughly decent. I forget which bunch but bluntly the cultural incompatibiility alone is too wide for any of them.

    2. Oh dear. The ‘vicar’: “White men rape women as well, you know.”

      What’s a few more rapes then, eh?

  43. Had Hake for lunch. It was 50% off at Ocado so i bought two. Lightly fried in a spot of olive oil skin side down for two minutes. Flip over and add butter to the pan and baste for two minutes. Chopped parsley and a squirt of lemon juice. First time i’ve had that. Nice and meaty. Would be good with a curry masala sauce.

    1. Those sound just like the instructions for frying salmon…
      For lunch today, pork steak, instead of just frying as per the instructions I added some onion, tomato, mixed spices and gravy to it in the pan. Served with potatoes and carrots. Yum, yum.
      (and Tesco have now stopped selling loose carrots, a 1kg bag lasts me for about six meals over two to three weeks. They never consider single households..)

      1. Firstborn has that problem.
        He just needs an carrot for the recipe, not a kilo of the blasted things, to go all floppy and black before he can eat them.

          1. Maybe, but the freezer part of my fridge/freezer is not big enough. When I bought this one the chap in Curry’s said that they made the fridge bit larger to encourage you to eat fresh food…
            My motto is to ignore the instructions on the packet. Lunch for many years is beef mince casserole (onions/tomatoes/seasoning) done in the microwave for around 20 minutes, stirred half way through when I add some gravy powder. Packet for mince says ‘not suitable for microwave cooking’, it hasn’t killed me yet….

          2. What a performance! Why not just have the ability to buy how many carrots / potatoes / cabbages / whatever that are needed?

      2. Sounds very nice. When i cook pork in gravy or a sauce i do it long and slow.

        I take advantage of big and cheap bags of veg. Carrots and cabbage can be blanched and portioned up for the freezer.

    2. Hake is a good value fine fish but people just do not buy much of it. I can never understand why. The man that ran the fish stall in Dereham market said it was his poorest seller.

      1. Brits buy cod or haddock mostly. Hake is being promoted as it is more sustainable and takes the pressure off other species.

  44. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/08/12/help-buy-scheme-first-time-buyers-downsize/
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9098c84d17a0393772762bfe73035b3e8a9812cb4e26e4510b5be3096e7fde9d.png

    BTL : Ratty Wrattstrangler.

    House prices started to go out of control many years ago when politicians thought they would become more popular if they put more money into the market place to help young people buy their own home – and then with prolonged interest rates of virtually 0%- 1% the floodgates opened and property prices became ridiculous with people borrowing very high multiples of their salaries. In other words the money supply in the housing market should have been tightened and not loosened.

    In fact the only way to restrict massive property price inflation would have been to have limits on how much people could borrow and how much deposit they had to put up. Many old fogies like me said this some time ago but it gives me no pleasure to say “I told you so.”

    Another thing – mortgage rates should be set for the whole term of the loan so that people were not made insolvent when the BoE base rate rose.

    1. Anyone who borrowed many multiples of their salary and expected interest rates to remain low or the same was either badly advised or a total idiot …or both.
      I don’t feel sorry for them at all.

      1. The Canadian finance mi ister was dreaming up budgets based on interest rates remaining low, running deficits was no problem either in the one percent interest world.

        You are right, they are total idiots.

    2. Help to buy was intriduced as a slogan to give the Tories some measure of credence in helping first time buyers. The things that would really have helped – cutting taxes, scrapping stamp duty, changing the house buying system – were of no interest.

      1. Help to buy has become help to bankrupt!

        Another question – that of student loans has been raised in the DT recently. Apparently people will still be ‘paying them back’ when they are in retirement

        I commented on this outrage in a BTL comment and somebody replied with another BTL comment saying that student loans were never meant to be repayable loans – the nominal repayment based on income is a graduate tax.

        I am filled with total disgust that the repulsive politicians are still calling these nasty bits of theft a student loan when it is a graduate tax. Maybe if young gullible people were made aware that by going to university and taking out a student loan that they would be paying a higher rate of tax for the rest of their lives than people earning the same amount of money who had not gone to university they would not want to go to university in the first place?

        Cannot politicians tell the truth about anything. I hold them in total contempt.

        2. That’s an interesting way to look at it, and probably the most likely. It’s stupid though, as with anything – making it more expensive will put the price up or drive demand down.

          That said, notice how many state jobs now require a degree, with vocational training removed?

      2. Help to buy has become help to bankrupt!

        Another question – that of student loans has been raised in the DT recently. Apparently people will still be ‘paying them back’ when they are in retirement

        I commented on this outrage in a BTL comment and somebody replied with another BTL comment saying that student loans were never meant to be repayable loans – the nominal repayment based on income is a graduate tax.

        I am filled with total disgust that the repulsive politicians are still calling these nasty bits of theft a student loan when it is a graduate tax. Maybe if young gullible people were made aware that by going to university and taking out a student loan that they would be paying a higher rate of tax for the rest of their lives than people earning the same amount of money who had not gone to university they would not want to go to university in the first place?

        Cannot politicians tell the truth about anything. I hold them in total contempt.

    3. Borrowing limits… I recall those. 3 x one salary, or 2 times combined.
      I also remeber rates rising to 15%, and me looking for an evening job to help pay for it.

      2. I was a recently made single parent when rates reached 15% – I had three jobs to make ends meet.

    4. The rot set in when building societies became banks and banks displaced those that didn’t in the mortgage market. Part of the predator class’s long-term strategy?

    1. The Left really are bonkers, aren’t they? A waste of materials, damaging to the environment and ecology and some fool would leap at it.

    1. I would be very sad if Scotland split from the UK, as I think things are better that way. However, as with Brexit, if a majority (50% + 1) of Scots vote to leave, they should be allowed to. With a total severance, no cross-border subsidies, payments and whatever, except those that are negotiated as part of a commercial contract.

      1. I make the same point about Northern Ireland.

        There should be a referendum.

        If the majority of people in Northern Ireland want to stay in the UK then the country should be allowed to do so and the EU’s laws, regulations and practices should be immediately extinguished completely.

        If, however the majority vote to leave the UK then the country should do so immediately and the British should immediately remove all financial and moral assistance of any sort.

        Either Northern Ireland is a full member of the UK or it shouldn’t be a part of the UK at all.

        1. As long as it is the clear choice of the locals.
          Ask a question thta has a YES/NO answer. No maybe, but if, whatever.

    1. The sole intent is to make energy unaffordable. If no one can afford it, people use less of it. As a result, government meets it’s targets and all the wasters swan off to their new jobs on the world stage.

      Once you accept that it is deliberate, that high energy prices are being engineered then it all makes sense. Climate change is a lie. Nothing more than a tax scam. It gives scum politicos a way to profit from the poverty of society – while creating and enforcing it!

      1. ‘……..Climate change is a lie. Nothing more than a tax scam.’

        Does the Idiot King

        i) know that it is a lie;
        or
        ii) is he so naïf that he is taken in by the lies?

        Which of the two is worse – a chap who deliberately goes along with a lie; or a chap who is so stupid that he cannot see that he is being manipulated by lies?

        1. He knows full well it’s a pile of pap. They don’t care. It’s the will of their masters to drive us back to the Dark Ages because there are no costs – only rewards to the elites forcing this tripe on us.

    2. The more I think of it the more I want King Charles to spend the whole winter in a tent in the remotest part of the grounds of Balmoral with a small solar panel and a small wind generator providing his sole source of electrical energy for cooking and heating.

      I do not apologise for repeatedly using this quotation from King Lear. Shakespeare’s mad old king had a fuller understanding of what life is like for ordinary people than our dim-witted Idiot King has.

      Poor naked wretches, wheresoe’er you are,
      That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm,
      How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides,
      Your loop’d and window’d raggedness, defend you
      From seasons such as these? O, I have ta’en
      Too little care of this! Take physic, pomp;
      Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel,
      That thou mayst shake the superflux to them,
      And show the heavens more just.

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ec9d4d850cb7563eabff9eb4125b4f82a07de72135993cfc2e5cd5d443b9c643.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/317e025a540432d066c8bf3840b1496949b962764f084039d2b258fd43a70fa7.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/69110f170570fb5643cbc45d674e2c9f4d8ad07b3bd20c1d6ccdb1ca10f3c690.png

      1. When I was teaching I found the set of Common Entrance papers I had taken as a 13 year old. I showed them to my Upper Sixth English Literature Set and those who had gone to decent prep schools were able to distinguish the various different sorts of adverbial phrases and clauses but most of my pupils were rather mystified because I had not had to teach them these things for their “O” level English Language.

        1. Does anybody learn grammar these days? English or foreign languages? I’ve more or less forgotten most of it, but I’m sure it was useful in enabling one to write English (or French etc) in a readable and more or less grammatical format.

          2. I teach grammar. When I ask the 17 year olds who come to us what they need to do, they always say: grammar.

            The grammar content in this Common Entrance paper is harder than what is required at A level.

          4. Grammar is a no-no in state schools (unless things have changed from my day). One of the first things I had to teach pupils, once they got past the present tense and needed to use pronouns, was grammar. Preceding Direct Object? Wassat? Past tense? Eh? Auxiliary verb? Um …

          5. Did you teach French, Conway?

            Since we started running our courses in 1990, the level of French was dropping fairly steadily until Covid came along and knocked it down fast. Since Covid, I’m having to do conjugation of regular verbs in the present tense with most of my groups (Sixth Formers, would you believe!). Beyond that: What’s a pronoun? How can you teach Preceding Direct Object if they have no idea what the direct object of a verb is, let alone its subject?

            I must say that the kids we get are as pleasant as ever, and we also get some very bright ones. The vast majority can see how important grammar is and are grateful that I am prepared to take it on, because their teachers at school don’t, won’t or can’t.

            While most of our pupils come from public schools; I’ve had several recently from state schools and they have clearly been well-taught. I suspect that this is because the state school kids who come to us are either at top-flight state schools, or they are very clever indeed. Many state schools may be failing, but some are clearly not!

          6. Yes, French and German and the occasional Russian lesson. Grammar is important in all of those. I always think native English speakers are at a disadvantage when it comes to dealing with European languages where cases are important because they are marked. We barely make any changes in either verbs or pronouns and we rarely need to make adjectives agree in gender as well, not to mention having virtually lost the second person singular. When I went to grammar school, my first year of English was spent parsing sentences. It was invaluable. I suspect the state schools that are not failing are not your “bog standard” comprehensives!

        2. My mother was far cleverer and better educated than I am, and I have her collection of books here. Just looking at her complete Shakespeares and Thackerays, the Greek primers, the Latin prose composition, and much, much more, makes me realise my education was inadequate. That’s just in the bookcase on my left.

          Then I read the ramblings of some idiot ‘educated’ in the last 20 years and I know how much standards have fallen.

        3. I just looked again at your paper above and noticed the date this time. Was this one before your time or were they similar in your day?

    3. That paper would have beaten me after my O level French.

      Now make it Fortran, Cobol, Algol or just about any other computer language and I would be fine.

      1. const char s[] = “x4fx4bx21”;
        for (size_t i=0; i< sizeof(s)/sizeof(char *); i++) cout << s[i]; cout << endl;

          1. Child’s play to richardl

            actually, looking at it again, I’m not sure it would compile!

    4. If my memory is correct, that is about the standard of Oxford Local O levels in the mid eighties!

    5. I’m dealing with contract review in French, supporting our lawyer with the technical stuff.
      Thank God for A-level French, many decades ago…
      BTW, she’s cute, and blonde, and clever… what’s not to like?

    7. I could do most of that with some errors of course. I don’t know what ‘pond’ is in French and would have had to use ‘un petit lac’ or something. Couldn’t have done it at 13 years old though. Nice to have the brain working and to see just what I can remember after 50 years, especially when I can’t remember why I went upstairs.

  51. I think it is high time that Fishi Rishi came clean and admitted that it is the POLICY of his benighted government to get as many illegal, disease-ridden young men of fighting age into the country as quickly as possible.

    Enough of the obfuscation.

    1. Obfuscation. Just something else they are no good at and will/have effed up on.
      We all know what they are upto.

    3. Not sure why they have to wait until they fall in the water to bring them to our underworked NHS, why not just pick them from the beaches. Edwin Pugh (DT BTL) is having a bit of a battle today.

  52. My herbs runneth over this year.
    I just processed a bag of dried oregano. And one of thyme lovely aromatherapy.
    Cut off some fresh rosemary, mint and basil marjoram, placed in separate old multi prescription paper bags, folded over tops and place clothes pegs on to keep the air out. Kept in the garage. About a month and they’ll all be dry and again processed. Put into sealed jars for winter use. I’ve put some new homegrown garlic bulbs into water for planting in the green house, they only been in for two days and started to sprout. Next week dig up my new potatoes. I rescued them in may from the kitchen compost box. Flowers just finished.
    And now Cuppa tea time. 😉

  53. Help desperately needed.
    I accidentally deleted the archive on my Google Mail.
    This means that information on my email folders has vaporised. (Fortunately I had created separate folders away from email, so I have the house buying and selling info still safe and, being sweetly old fashioned, I print a lot of information and actually file it.).)
    Googlemail helpline is of no help; I don’t understand the website and their phone helpline isn’t active at weekends.
    My computer nerd’s mother is very ill and I don’t like to bother him.
    Can anyone point me in the right direction or give me some tips to retrieve stuff?

    1. Hmm no expert but maybe “control panel” then “system and security” then “system restore” to restore files to a previous point
      Hit the little world at the base of your browser to find control panel

    2. Is this on a local mail client, or in the web UI?

      My first thought would be to go to the gmail web UI directly https://accounts.google.com/ and see if the mails have moved into the bin folder. If they have, restore them from there.

      1. I assumed from what she said that Mrs A had emptied the trash. If so – too late, I fear.

        1. In that event they’re probably gone – I wondered if they’d been downloaded to local over IMAP or something and as a consequence would all exist in the web, just not on the local machine.

    3. I presume these emails are online rather than on your own computer?

      If so, when you are on your gmail inbox page, you will see a greyish column on the left. You’ll probably need to click on “More” and more options will come up: you need to find the Trash folder. If you’re lucky, this Trash folder will have all the deleted emails.

      (This is basically what wibbling is suggesting, but I’m not sure if you understand his instructions; I know Richard would not be able to!)

      1. I’ve just this afternoon had a clear out of some of the rubbish that comes into my emails – and the trash folder has over 1,000 emails in it. Anything that’s been there over 30 days gets automatically deleted, or you can “empty trash” but hopefully Anne didn’t get to that stage so they should be retrievable.

          2. Why on earth don’t you delete all these unwanted mails for good?

            I empty “bin” every day.

          3. You never know when some of them might be useful……. I’ve always been a hoarder by nature.

          5. If Anne pressed ‘delete’ but didn’t actually ’empty trash’ then she could be able to retrieve the ones she wants. There’s method in being a hoarder.

          6. My daughter-in-law has 13,000 e-mails in her INBOX…..

            No filing system/folders – barking!

          7. For my primary email account I have many folders set up in Thunderbird. The secondary one is mainly for stuff that comes from companies, etc. Petitions signed, substacks and things like that. Individual people like yourself have my primary one.

          8. Why on earth do you keep my rubbish mails?

            Whenever we have an exchange as soon as the matter is over – delete – trash – empty trash!

          9. They form an archive which can be retrieved when necessary. You might have said something which I can later disprove………….

          10. Good grief! Does she not know how to filter? If I didn’t, I would have 68,000+ emails from jira alone!

    5. If you deleted from the web page, have a look at the app version (or vice versa). Maybe look at yr phone rather than laptop. If yr quick you might catch your deleted files before the system synchronises. This is by no means expert advice but a stab in the dark!

    6. Did you move them to the trash folder or did you actually delete the trash? If not, they could still be there.

  54. Small boy is very tired and has done well packing his Lego and other toys away. We went to the shop to get some magnums and stopped off at the now cluttered and muddled storage unit.

    Warqueen hasn’t yet returned from walk.

    1. Apparently, LEGO will soon be issuing a model of Concorde.
      Look forward to that.
      Good on t’Lad for tidying up!

        1. Apparently (I didn’t know this), Lego make kits for adults that are hugely detailed and complicated (Titanic is about 4′ long), so I assume it’s one of those.
          Maybe suit a youngster who knows about tidy? Just a thought.

          1. ‘Lego make kits for adults that are hugely detailed and complicated (Titanic is about 4′ long), so I assume it’s one of those.’

            Sounds as if Lego is aiming at our Uncle Bill?

        2. Junior knows about Concorde! He is annoyed he didn’t get to fly on one. He went through a speed phase not long ago and wanted to know how engines worked.

          1. Concorde used to fly over my workplace. We always stopped and went to the window to watch it!

  55. Another Birdie Three today.

    Wordle 784 3/6
    ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
    ⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Par four again for me.

      Wordle 784 4/6

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

    2. Blimey, just a par here.
      Wordle 784 4/6

      ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜
      ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜
      ⬜⬜🟩🟩🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    3. You are good at this

      Wordle 784 4/6

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

      Parker.

  56. Sergeant John Carmichael VC MM (1st April 1893 – 20th December 1977), 9th Battalion, The North Staffordshire Regiment (The Prince of Wales’s).

    On 8th September 1917 near Hill 60, Zwarteleen, Belgium, when excavating a trench, Sergeant Carmichael saw that a grenade had been unearthed and had started to burn. He immediately rushed to the spot shouting to his men to get clear, put his steel helmet over the grenade and then stood on the helmet. The grenade exploded and blew him out of the trench. He could have thrown the bomb out of the trench but realised that by doing so he would have endangered the lives of the men working on top. He was seriously injured.
    He was evacuated to No 53 Casualty Clearing Station at Bailleul and was visited by his Divisional Commander, Major General Hugh Bruce Williams, and Carmichael told him “I didn’t think I was doing anything extraordinary.” When he wrote to his mother, who had heard he was wounded, he told her he was recovering well, but mentioned nothing of his VC award.

    https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/25/John_Carmichael_VC.png

    1. My Physics teacher at school, Mr S Taylor, had a prosthetic hand on his left, and a hand with finger stumps on the right. The story went that he had done the same as Sgt Carmichael, but had held the helmet down rather than stand on it.
      We boys didn’t ask him. He was a very modest and kind man, so would likely have made very little of anything that smacked of heroism.
      I’ve not thought of him for decades. Thanks for awakening the memory.

      1. There are several VCs awarded for this selfless act. Most sadly not as ‘lucky’ as Sergeant Carmichael.

    2. Great that Sgt Carmichael survived. It’s not usual that a VC gets to actually be presented the medal.
      Good man himself!

  58. I think we should be overjoyed that the much maligned NHS is able to treat dozens of illegal, disease-ridden people at the drop of an anchor in the middle of the night. It shows that the meeja have been filling our heads with bare-faced lies about the NHS being “over-whelmed” “at crisis point” again and again.

    It is quite right that we should take the pressure off French hospitals – which were much nearer to those in need of urgent medical care…

    I’ll go and have a lie down.

  59. I found this on You Tube last night. One for the angler’s or those who appreciate anglers. The Late Sir Michael Hordern on ‘Rod and Line’, essays by Arthur Ransome, he of ‘Swallows and Amazons’ fame. It’s about 15 minutes and is part 1 of a 1982 C4 series which I missed the first time around (I don’t know how, probably because it was on at a time of the year when I was out at night fishing for Sea Trout). If you watch Part 1 and like it ( it’s delightful) the following episodes will come up automatically for you (at least another 7).

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_75xW9tVXQ

    2. The BBC produced the whole canon of Shakespeare’s dramatic works in the 1970s and 80s. I have the boxed set.

      I was particularly impressed with Michael Hordern’s King Lear and his playing of Prospero in The Tempest.

      At the other end of the scale he was a fine comic actor too. His portrayal of the Butler in Futtock’s End is very enjoyable.

      https://www.google.com/search?q=Futtock%27s+End&oq=Futtock%27s+End+&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOdIBCDgxNThqMGo3qAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:7ae2a817,vid:QmKjqvAlRqI

      1. A wonderful chap. He and Paul Scofield were my favourite classical actors (Scofield twice turned down a knighthood).

      2. I’d forgotten he was in Futtock’s End. He used to live quite close by me, in Bagnor just outside Newbury, and fish the River Lambourn which is one of the rivers I cast a fly on these days.

    2. That is politically correct speak for “help, everyone in the NHS comes from another culture that we must respect and not criticise, but they laugh at trans people.”

      I will not be wearing an “Ally” symbol, because I do not want people to come up to me and start telling me how they feel.

    3. Nurses and Doctors did their jobs. They never needed badges until mental health and the alphabet people demanded more than was available.

      Dignity and respect goes both ways.
      Not that the new generation understands a simple concept of acceptance and politeness.

    4. Would someone treat me with dignity and respect, please. You know, white, straight, indigenous, etc., etc.

      1. No. That you built everything, paid for everything, continue to pay for everything, wrote the laws in the belief in equality of opportunity, designed an education system for all is irrelevant. You’re horrible and should know it every day of your life – a life spent paying for dross, wasters, foreigners and blithering idiots to squander and demand you do more for them.

        1. I’m afraid that when I see adverts of crying blek children who need me to send money so they can be cured, my answer is “eff off”. Where’s the money (my taxes) that has been poured into the continent over the decades? It’s not my fault their government is useless and corrupt. We’ve got our own problems to sort out!

  61. That’s me done for today. Very frustrating being unable to get a ladder out to do some very simple bits of pruning. Just can’t lift the ladder. Grrr.

    Have a jolly evening – being bright and cheerful and glad that we are so welcoming to tens of thousands of people who hate us and our way of life.

    A demain.

    1. Take care, Bill.
      Relax with a glass of muscle relaxant, followed by a hugely hot bath. And cats! Cats make everything better!

        1. Try a hot water bottle whilst sitting in a comfy chair, but don’t let P & G near it!

      1. I would like to see Rishi Sunak tied by the wrists and ankles to Kier Starmer in a 69 position and answer questions from Ann Widdicombe with whips.

        Actually no…………….i would just like to hear them whimper….for a long time. Fucking boiling oil is too good for them.

    3. “Well er yes, that is me in the video but with 1000 hits I could also cover my vet insurance!”

      1. You jest but I know a Newfie channel that started up solely hoping to cover the costs. He makes a profit now!

  66. Evening, all. There was a time when medicine, like education, was a vocation, not just a job. I’ve just endured the Shergar Cup (in my view racing is not a team sport, I like to see the horses, including mine, in their proper colours and I don’t particularly like my country being teamed with Ireland and coming last), which is bad enough, but that irritating Chapman had to blame Brexit for things it had nothing to do with – especially in view of our not having actually left! They just can’t help themselves, can they?

  69. Off to tackle school again then for Owen Farrell.
    When your captain’s on the naughty step, it’s not a good look, England.

      1. Replied to wrong post- Basham was running forwards with ball in hand, as is the point of the game.

  70. Anybody know why the Beeb coverage of the Hundred cricket uses colours that don’t match the teams’ garbs? Coming into a match half way, it takes me ten min to work out which team has scored what. Its the worst scoreboard in all of sport. (Pretty rubbish game format too)

    1. I like watching test matches and 20/20 but this hundred stuff is glitzy rubbish and it will never be seen on my screen

      1. I don’t blame you, a diminuition of the T20 format, which itself took me a while to get used to.

    4. The Hundred is designed to appeal to people who know nothing about cricket, so we people who do can get a bit confused by the score shown on the screen.

      1. The same principle appears to apply in racing gimmicks like the Shergar Cup, the Racing League (it isn’t football, FFS!) and the Sunday Series.

      2. It’s clear to me that efforts to attract a new demographic of cricket fan is off-putting for traditionalists. I concede, though, that it has boosted the profile of women’s cricket and enabled some to turn fully professional rather than rely on other jobs for a secure income. The quality of women’s cricket has improved quite substantially, in no small measure to the opportunities opened up by The Hundred.

        1. I have watched the women’s cricket and agree – the quality has improved. As in women’s football, the power isn’t the same as the men’s, but skill levels have gone up. I get the impression that women’s football is nowhere near even men’s non-league level.

    7. I totally agree about the text colour scheme, but it’s the same on Sky, the primary broadcaster, so I suspect the Beeb just takes what it’s given. The green and mauve text doesn’t stand out well against a black background.

  73. Well, I just got home safely from some time in Kent. The queues going over the Dartford crossing on the QE II bridge wasn’t too bad, but progress was painfully slow coming back through the tunnels. Tomorrow will be a lot more relaxing, so good night chums and – as usual sleep well.

    1. Many years ago my mother would eat about a pound of raw carrots every day and ended up with carotine poisoning – her skin has a yellowish-orange hue to it.

        1. Yes, she would eat them the way others would devour crisps, chocolates or other sweets.

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