Saturday 12 March: Use of humanitarian corridors in a war that inhumanely makes civilians homeless

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

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

553 thoughts on “Saturday 12 March: Use of humanitarian corridors in a war that inhumanely makes civilians homeless”

    1. Thanks for the Hat Tip, Anne. (Good morning, btw.) I’ll see if I can get to see it later in the week.

    2. ‘Moaning, Annie. While we are on the subject of blackmail (can we still say that?) permit me to recommend the 4-part thriller The House on ITV. We finished the last part yesterday evening and it was well worth the effort.

    3. ‘Moaning, Annie. While we are on the subject of blackmail (can we still sat that?) permit me to recommend the 4-part thriller The House on ITV. We finished the last part yesterday evening and it was well worth the effort.

  3. Ukrainians coming to Britain under ‘rooms-for-refugees’ scheme to get full welfare benefits. 12 march 2022.

    They may also be granted leave to remain for 36 months under a “humanitarian sponsorship” visa, under which the public will be asked to offer them homes. It had previously been suggested they would only have a right to remain for an initial 12-month period.

    The scheme will see tens of thousands of Ukrainians who have no family links to the UK matched with individuals, charities, businesses and community groups who will provide accommodation and potentially jobs.

    The changes would put the sponsored Ukrainians on a par with refugees on the family visa scheme who have relatives in the UK and are entitled to remain in the UK for 36 months, have access to benefits on the same terms as UK nationals and can work.

    Here to stay!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/03/11/ukrainians-coming-britain-rooms-for-refugees-scheme-get-full/

    1. There was no doubt from the begining. Never paid anything in and straight on to benefits. Whats not to like.

  4. ‘Morning, Peeps.

    SIR – Arbitration or mediation always favours the aggressor. If we had agreed to international arbitration when Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands this would almost certainly have resulted in joint sovereignty leading eventually to a total takeover.

    If Ukraine agreed to outside arbitration, again this would almost certainly end with Russia occupying territory that it did not hold before the invasion. Arbitration leads to compromise which means one party, even if it is the innocent party, losing something.

    David Vaudrey
    Doynton, Gloucestershire

    3. Russia has no intention of keeping Ukraine. They have made it abundantly clear that they want it as a buffer state. If they took it over they wouldn’t have a buffer against the EU or NATO, would they? So in keeping it they would defeated their own purpose in dealing with Ukraine, wouldn’t they?

  5. Morning all,

    One day, in Greta’s world, when all that’s left on the planet is a pile of rusting vehicles, some palm trees and herds of wild pigs roaming In the woods planted by the ecoloons, how on earth do we survive?

    Well, Professor Pardal has followed the science as Greta suggested and made the best of what’s left for a grand day out in the woods with a hot grilled snack in his steam powered vehicle:

    https://youtu.be/bfGjIUeZR7g

  6. SIR – Daniel Silva’s book The Heist, written in 2014, included the following: “In the mind of the Russian president, the Cold War had never ended in the first place. I warned that the tsar wanted his empire back. I made it clear that Georgia was just the appetiser and that Ukraine, the bread basket of the old union, would be the main course. And what do the Europeans do about it? Nothing.”

    Later he wrote: “I told them not to grow dependent on trade with Russia. I pleaded with them not to become addicted to cheap Russian natural gas. And now the Europeans can’t bring themselves to impose meaningful sanctions on the tsar because it will hurt their economies too much.”

    Perhaps we should ask Mr Silva what to do next.

    Peter Smeeth
    London SW19

  7. SIR – The new £250 million national flagship (not referred to as a royal yacht) takes pride of place in the national shipbuilding strategy (report, March 10).

    I assume it will be manned by the Royal Navy, so as well as the capital cost (already accepted by the Ministry of Defence), running costs will be borne by the defence budget. Bearing in mind the ship’s planned role, these costs are not appropriate for the MoD.

    Admiral Lord West of Spithead
    London SW1

    Brtannia was manned by RN crews – did he complain about that?

    1. He’s dropped (Lab) from after his name.
      Has he finally realised that Labour are even less impressive than the current Conservatives?

  8. SIR – The new £250 million national flagship (not referred to as a royal yacht) takes pride of place in the national shipbuilding strategy (report, March 10).

    I assume it will be manned by the Royal Navy, so as well as the capital cost (already accepted by the Ministry of Defence), running costs will be borne by the defence budget. Bearing in mind the ship’s planned role, these costs are not appropriate for the MoD.

    Admiral Lord West of Spithead
    London SW1

    Brtannia was manned by RN crews – did he complain about that?

  9. Good morning all. A dull and damp Derbyshire this morning, 4°C and light but steady rain which may clear by lunchtime, according to the Met Office page.

    A cancerstick run to Derby for Stepson this morning. He’s still in the mental health unit and I’ve no idea how long for.

      1. Thank you.
        I’ve reached the point where I just accept what I have to do and get on with it. I don’t expect things to improve with him.

        1. Morning Bob. You have to keep an eye open for Depression sneaking up on you under this cover of acceptance.

        2. Have you ever considered looking for a private specialist who could look at your stepson’s diagnosis and his current medication and give a second opinion?
          IIRC your daughter/step daughter is in the trade, but that’s probably too close.

          1. The problem is “Don’t Care in the Community”. Throw in Human Rights (mustn’t make or trick the patient into taking their medication) and you have the perfect conditions for what Bob is dealing with.

  10. SIR – John Landamore’s sympathy for BT (Letters, March 8) made me furious.

    By removing landlines, BT may, as he writes, be making a business choice, but that choice will leave a huge number of private customers without any way of contacting the emergency services. Since when has risking lives and complete removal of paid access to a phone line been legal?

    In addition, BT’s laughingly called Customer Care team has made little provision to alert private or business customers to the forthcoming changes, has failed to provide battery packs to support vulnerable customers (they are unavailable) and has apparently given no thought whatsoever to those who live in signal black spots.

    This high-handed and thoughtless attitude will cost lives. Rather than good business sense, it sounds like a good way to send a business to the wall.

    Heather Erridge
    Bleadon, Somerset

    Is Heather Erridge a Nottlr?

    1. Why does BT not sell the landline business, working exchanges and all? Given a choice between a reliable landline and the mobile phone system, I’d go for a landline every time. Landlines have worked for me for over 50 years and have included faxes and telexes.

  11. Good morning, everyone. This weekend is a very busy one for me, so I may well not return to this site until Monday morning. Have a great weekend, all.

  12. Camel kills two men at petting zoo in Tennessee. 12 March 2022.

    Two men were killed in a camel attack at a petting zoo in Tennessee, officials say.

    Law enforcement were called to Shirley Farms in Obion, Tennessee, after reports of a “loose” camel in the area.

    When sheriff’s deputies arrived on the scene on Thursday afternoon they found “two unconscious victims on the ground.”

    I just thought that you would like to know that!

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/camel-attack-tennessee-petting-zoo-b2034101.html

    1. If any man gets fresh with me and tries to start petting, Miss Minty, they too might end up dead! Lol.

      (Incidentally, Camels have killed many more Americans – women as well as men – over the years. Moral: don’t smoke!)

    2. If any man gets fresh with me and tries to start petting, Miss Minty, they too might end up dead! Lol.

      (Incidentally, Camels have killed many more Americans – women as well as men – over the years. Moral: don’t smoke!)

    4. Pity they shot the camels, or nobody reported the far more dangerous phenomenon of Americans with guns.

      I once read a book on camel psychology (which also applies to alpacas and llamas, which are related). It is regarded as an act of submission to pet or stroke a camel, and camels feel free to bully and intimidate those they consider their inferiors. They will also guard their own against hostile intruders, and are superb at protecting sheep from wolves and dogs: they regard sheep as we would children.

      If you want to get on with a camel, copy that look of snooty disdain. Hold your nose up high and stand proud and haughty. Then you are an equal, and they will like and respect you.

  13. SIR – Tom Winsor, the retiring Chief Inspector of Constabulary, has felt the need to remind the police that “hate” is not a crime (report, March 11).

    This exemplifies the deep problem which has resulted from the misuse of the word “hate”, which appears nowhere in the relevant legislation (other than the very rarely prosecuted cases of “stirring up hatred”). Even for the controversial recording by the police of “non-crime hate incidents”, the test used is not hate but a subjective perception of prejudice.

    In a Policy Exchange paper, I drew this to the attention of the Law Commission during its “hate crime” consultation. Bizarrely, it justifies this expression’s continued use, even in the title of consolidating legislation, not because it is true, but because it is “widely used” and “has been adopted by government and law enforcement agencies for decades”. It describes this position as “clear and logical”. Others might think it confusing, illogical, and wrong.

    There are those who wish to present this country as a dystopian arena of hate, when empirical studies have repeatedly shown it to be one of the most tolerant places on earth. That the word “hate” has been wrongly used by so many for so long is a powerful reason for the Government to take the lead in correcting its application.

    His Honour Charles Wide
    Glapthorn, Northamptonshire

    He makes a good point.

    Speaking of the misuse of words…gay, homoPHOBIA, attacked instead of criticised, impacted instead of affected…I’m sure there are plenty more that Nottlrs can provide!

  14. SIR – On August 17 last year I posted my correctly completed form to register financial lasting power of attorney with the Office of the Public Guardian (Letters, March 10). I heard nothing more (though the cheque was cashed) until a letter dated October 18 advised me that there was an “issue”.

    I wrote back, asking for details, but have heard nothing. On phoning the Office of the Public Guardian I found I was 42nd and 73rd in the queue.

    I am at a loss as to what to do now.

    Bruce Ridge
    Clevedon, Somerset

    Parts of the public sector should hang their heads in shame. The pandemic is effectively over. So too is anything resembling a proper service, it would seem.

    1. I, too, have completed my LPA, sent it to the Office of the Public Guardian and heard nothing. The cheque, likewise, has been cashed. I can only carry on waiting as there is no notification of any “issues” (last time I did it, for MOH, there was a problem and they were on to it immediately).

  15. SIR – I have watched all of the new Ipcress File (Letters, March 11) and found it entertaining, but how on earth did nobody in the editorial phase pick up that telephones in the 1960s had a double ring?

    Huw Baumgartner
    Bridell, Pembrokeshire

    Perhaps because not one of the production team was from that era?

  16. SIR – To protect our hostas, we bought four Aylesbury ducks to eat the slugs. For the first time the hostas reached full leaf unscathed – until the ducks realised that hostas were also a great delicacy and shredded every plant.

    Simon Martin-Redman
    Frinton-on-Sea, Essex

    Presumably if one is installing ducks, one also has a pond on one’s estate…

    1. A BTL comment:

      Ian Lander
      7 HRS AGO
      Simon Martin-Redman. Your ducks ate the slugs and then presumably, not having any more to eat, cut out the middleman and ate the food source! The next logical step before the ducks ate the hostas would have been to eat the ducks.
      Next year repeat.

    2. He should have bought Indian Runner ducks. The only plants they appear to relish are lettuce and cucumber. Only the seed bearing flesh of a cucumber at that.

    3. But you have to have an island in the middle of the pond or the ducks will be killed by foxes who do not like swimming.

  17. Good morning everyone – I’m off this A.M. to the first local “Repair Cafe” since the kung flu stopped everything in it’s tracks 2 years ago. With an assortment of tools and bit and pieces myself and a bunch of other aged volunteers will attempt to repair anything that the local population can throw at us. We’re not the “Repair Shop” but we do our best. I take no pleasure in admitting the the only thing I have in common with Steven Fletcher ( the amazing horologist ) is his eyesight.

    I’ve noticed a lot of correspondence in the TLs about slugs v Hostas, I had until now been unaware of this plant and thought to have a quick google. The images below demonstrate the whimsical nature of random searches

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c14e3d5693f74b2613fb3100c5f361dabe8f1251fbfb4748d3598528ae7a6155.png

    3. Hostas grow very well in CT and I had dozens. You need to keep the deer away though as they love them and will scoff the lot.

        1. No, there were snakes which I think ate a lot of those critters. Garter snakes, not poisonous, but still scary if you don’t like snakes- like me!
          There was a lot of wildlife; raccoons, skunks, squirrels, chipmunks and, sometimes in the night, you could hear the coyotes howling.
          Black bears too but I never saw one although my son and his friend did in the woods.

          1. That’s a bit like California. In 40 years I never saw a live rattler, only one as road kill on Interstate 5. Never saw mountain lion, a scorpion or a tarantula. I used to go a lot to the Mojave desert, love the place, so heard a cayote but never seen one of those either. But you would think there was nothing living in the desert apart from plants. It is pretty amazing how well wild life hides itself from us, isn’t it? Did see plenty of Black Widows, but they are really quite harmless to adults and, I think, beautiful, look like they are made of black lacquer.

          2. I have lived in three US states- CT, GA and NC. I disliked GA very much although I made some wonderful friends there, most of whom were not native Georgians;-) I also had a job I loved although the pay was much less than CT. NC was OK but by then I was eager to get out of things. If I had a choice of states, were I to return, I would go to CT. It is a sensible state, people have their religions but they don’t bang on about it, they have a dry sense of humour and are great fun- well I found them so. The winters can be brutal and the summers are as hot as anywhere else in the US but it’s a beautiful state, scenery wise, the people are kind and my 20+ years there were mainly happy. One of CT’s nicknames is The Land of Steady Habits. Great state.

          3. I agree with you that CT is a beautiful state but I couldn’t live there for precisely the reason you mention, the cold. I lived in the San Francisco/Bay Area and that wasn’t warm enough for me. For weather, much preferred southern California. But my favourite state, Nevada. I love the emptiness and silence of the place unobstructed by little else than the brush and the rocks and, at night, the stars, absolute magic.

  18. Good morning everyone – I’m off this A.M. to the first local “Repair Cafe” since the kung flu stopped everything in it’s tracks 2 years ago. With an assortment of tools and bit and pieces myself and a bunch of other aged volunteers will attempt to repair anything that the local population can throw at us. We’re not the “Repair Shop” but we do our best. I take no pleasure in admitting the the only thing I have in common with Steven Fletcher ( the amazing horologist ) is his eyesight.

    I’ve noticed a lot of correspondence in the TLs about slugs v Hostas, I had until now been unaware of this plant and thought to have a quick google. The images below demonstrate the whimsical nature of random searches

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c14e3d5693f74b2613fb3100c5f361dabe8f1251fbfb4748d3598528ae7a6155.png

  20. Right Nottlers! I’m off into town to buy some fish (Lightly Dusted Plaice Fillets) from M&S while they are available. It is highly probable that such will become luxuries in the near future and I’m getting my ration while I can!

    1. Good morning Minty and tous les autres.
      “Lightly Dusted” has a nice ring to it. Too obvious as a place name for a P G Wodehouse story, but it would have been good for any sketch by Ronnie Barker, as a house or village.

    2. It is also highly probable that they will become the target of fishy puns. I hope that doesn’t sound too bleak a prediction.

  21. 351326+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Saturday 12 March: Use of humanitarian corridors in a war that inhumanely makes civilians homeless

    Successive governments, their supporter / voters these past four decades
    Should take a bloody good in depth look at themselves, they have left this Country in NO position to help anybody, anywhere, only now to destroy the remnants uf what remains of a once very decent Nation.

  22. Charles Moore in today’s DT:

    COMMENT
    The free West is in danger of forgetting why it has always triumphed over dictatorships

    China and Russia can offer no viable alternative to the modern world we have created. We should take confidence from that fact

    CHARLES MOORE
    11 March 2022 • 9:30pm

    Two years ago next week, Britain began to shut down because of Covid-19. Since then, more than six million worldwide are thought to have died from the disease. (A new study by The Lancet even claims 18 million dead.)

    Although it was deemed almost unsayable at the time, by far the biggest culprit in this global disaster was China. This was because China for several weeks concealed the human transmissibility of the disease, thus allowing it to spread. Even more unsayable then, but now backed up by a good deal of evidence, China may have been yet more culpable: the outbreak of the virus may have been caused by a lab leak which the Chinese authorities covered up.

    Now the world is threatened by another angry, mendacious and secretive power – Russia. Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is not a “special military operation” (his phrase) to quell internal unrest, but an illegal act of war against an independent democratic state. He is killing Ukrainians in growing numbers, deliberately targeting civilians and creating millions of refugees. He is dragging his own country and the wider world into extreme economic difficulties. He threatens a nuclear response to nations trying to stop him.

    What next assault in another two years? Perhaps Iran, emboldened by the revived concessions from the West which seem to be coming its way, will have an atomic bomb ready to chuck at Israel, or at anyone who seeks to challenge its power-grab in the Middle East.

    Many commentators, including this one, have written much recently about how Western weakness has encouraged “bad actors” to perform such bad acts. I stick by that.

    In the case of China, the “Golden Era” of Sino-British relations inaugurated under David Cameron and George Osborne (and comparable developments in other Western powers) made it appallingly hard for free countries to resist Chinese corruption of many of our businesses and universities and some of our politicians. Therefore we held back our criticisms.

    In the case of Russia, our feeble rebukes over the invasion of Crimea in 2014, Germany’s willed dependence on Russian gas (now repented of, but not yet corrected), London’s love of oligarchs, and Joe Biden’s thinking out loud about how a “minor incursion” by Russia into Ukraine might be OK, all helped Putin.

    In power much longer than any Western leader, he had gained a consistent impression of decadent, inattentive opponents. He decided he could get away with it.

    But today I want to look at the question differently. Without withdrawing any criticism of the Western insouciance which began – in Britain at least – in the Blair era, and has continued under governments of both parties, I want to pin down what is wrong with the tone of some critics. More than the tone, actually – also the underlying thought.

    It is a longstanding commonplace on the Left to respond to any criticism of totalitarians, terrorists or extremist ideologues by explaining that all depravities start with the West. The bog-standard, robotic example of this is Jeremy Corbyn – remember his suggestion that Putin was not behind the Salisbury poisonings – but there are more sophisticated versions of the same phenomenon.

    In recent years, however, this tendency has also been observable on the Right. Factors including the excessive ambitions of the European Union, uncontrolled immigration, wokery and a sense that Western civilisation is falling apart have led some conservatives to see the way we are governed as irredeemable. In a cast of mind which reminds me of Vichy France, people who are not naturally totalitarian start to develop sympathy for those who are.

    For many years now, and even after the atrocities of the past fortnight, I have heard too many conversations in which someone says things like, “At least Putin defends his own people” or “Putin is a strong Christian” or (most commonly) “It’s our fault for humiliating Russia”.

    Such people tend to like Donald Trump’s tone too much. Some of them are in that constituency – prominent in the 1930s – which takes a “What’s it all to do with us anyway?” line, a question that can easily be answered by looking at the size of your next gas bill. At the battier end, they believe in conspiracies.

    Almost all points of view have some reason behind them; so it is here. It was unwise to promise Ukraine that it could join Nato if those making the promise had no plan to make it happen. It inspired false hopes in the Ukrainians and groundless fears in the Kremlin. But as the big narrative of the post-Cold War story, it is wrong.

    The biographer of Stalin, Stephen Kotkin, has an arresting way of looking at this question. What would have happened, he asks, if, after the end of the Cold War, Nato had not offered membership to those countries, such as Poland or (later) the Baltic states, who had rejoined the free world? They longed for membership – for the good general reason that they believed in the collective defence of that free world, and for the even better specific one, that they might well need protection against Russia if anything went wrong there.

    At that time reformist, Russia signed up to the agenda – in the Charter of Paris for a New Europe in 1990, for example, in the Budapest Memorandum of 1994 and in the 1997 Nato/Russia Founding Act. None of these agreements was made under duress.

    If such agreements had not been made, Ukraine – and many other countries – would have been swallowed up by a Putinesque Russia long ago. Putin’s horror at the thought of a free Ukraine arises, as he has publicly stated, from his ultra-imperial view of Russian history. This view includes hatred of Nato, of course, but is not caused by it.

    Surely both the Left and Right who feel so disaffected from the West should seriously consider another, wider possibility. This is that the West won the Cold War because it deserved to, and that, in doing so, it was vindicating the civilisation it had been developing since at least the 18th century.

    Led first by Britain and more recently by the United States, the West made the modern world. As always with great changes, some of this was the result of explicit ideas, of liberty and law and the need for institutions to defend them (see the US Constitution), but much grew up more incrementally and less self-consciously – the growth of trade or the power of the Royal Navy, the Industrial Revolution itself. The phrase “the Industrial Revolution” was invented roughly 80 years after the fact.

    Although the Western modern world is almost continuously tested and often makes bad mistakes, it continues to win. Even the Chinese assault on its model, though extremely formidable, is not something that the non-Chinese world wants. As for Putin’s Russia, it offers no viable alternative at all – only the cry of rage that comes from repeated failure.

    If this analysis is broadly right, it is the duty of conservative-minded Western citizens not to indulge Putin’s nihilism, or even Trump’s rancorous partisanship, but to try to re-energise the self-belief which established our dominance and the institutions which sustained it. The extent of our internal divisions, so great in recent years, looks ridiculous in the light of the external threat.

    The Ukrainians seem to unite round – and be ready to die for – the things we say we believe in. That fact should shame and inspire us.

    1. Unfortunately the West has consumed a large number of voracious parasites which are now hollowing it out from within.

    2. Hmm, six million from or with? The rest is from an alternative reality.
      Edit – right on China though?

    3. I have lost almost all respect for Charles Moore.
      edit: his problem is that he’s done too well out of the globalist system, so he can’t see anything wrong with it.

    4. An article big in scope, but low in sense. When was Ukraine an “independent democratic state”? The Ukraine has always been very good farmland that was part of somebody else’s farm.
      I have neither the will nor the time and energy to demolish it all, line by line. The only obvious truism that may be gleaned is that we have gone to the dogs, in culture, defence, industry, social cohesion, education, democracy, economy and pretty much every aspect of the country that we were as recently as 1960, for instance.

      1. And non of that is Russia’s fault. The fault can be firmly put at the feet of our own incompetent politicians.

    5. “If this analysis is broadly right…” Actually no, it is very broadly wrong.

  23. Hells bells! Staggers back in amazement!

    Rain has stopped and the sun is trying to get out!

  26. Right, that’s me off to shop for Stepson’s Cancersticks and thence to Derby!

    Will be back in a couple of hours!

    1. Yo T_B

      May I fiddle:

      Roughly for every £100 you spend on fuel. £3.00 goes to the garage, almost £40.00to the fuel manufacturer (BP, Shell etc), and £57 goes in
      tax to the chancellor.       to pay for the upkeep of the ever increasing number of Doveristas

  28. Anyone notice Macron’s name plastered over the advertising in the W/F rugby last night.

    1. I won’t watch it any more – too much virtue-signalling in what has become a business and is now a long way from the sport it used to be.

      1. Mrs Pea likes the games so I watch along. I dont like the heavyweight violence, the changing of players, the crooked scrum put ins. And, as you say, much of sport now is a business and not sport.

    2. Good morning Maggiebelle

      Macron is more than happy for the illegal immigrants to leave France and go to England.

      If you were the president of France would you want them to stay in France? You could argue that in letting them escape from France he is pleasing the French people and doing what they want; Boris Johnson and Priti Patel are not pleasing the British people and doing what the British people want by letting the illegal hordes swarm in.

  31. What undid Napoleon’s voracious desire to take over the whole of Europe?

    Russia!

    What undid Hitler’s voracious lust to dominate Europe?

    Russia!

    What is likely to lead to the EU’s collapse?

    Eastward expansion towards Russia.

    When shall we ever learn?

    1. In both cases, Russia, ably assisted by General Winter and no little hubris from both Napoleon and Hitler. The latter’s armies were short of adequate transport – horses and mules were employed in millions – for the huge distances to be covered. Winter clothing was lacking and was an unforgivable omission from the planners and the self proclaimed military genius, Adolf Hitler.

    2. Where have all the soldiers gone, long time passing?
      Where have all the soldiers gone, long time ago?
      Where have all the soldiers gone?
      Gone to graveyards, everyone
      Oh, when will they ever learn?
      Oh, when will they ever learn?

  32. Talking of bum plants (see below) two weeks ago I sowed six different varieties of seed. All put in propagator. Tended etc etc.

    Only one lot has germinated. All new seed; very dispiriting. {:¬(

      1. My favourite seed company. Agree with you, great germination rates on almost all I buy from them. Also lots of unusual things worth growing.

    2. Bill. I should have posted this to you rather than David. Buy some GA3. Many plants, especially cacti and other succulents require GA3 to germinate. It tends to be a requirement for almost all plants from arid climates. GA3 = gibberellic acid. I use it on most of my South African species seeds and on most of my Australians. It makes a huge difference in germination if you use it properly.

      2. Thank you. I’ll look into it. All my seeds are very ordinary European species – mostly vegetables.

  33. MoggMentum

    In a devastating blow to the Covid fanatics and Boris bashers…Britain’s Covid death rate ISN’T one of the worst: Country ranks 102nd out of 191 nations in league table of excess deaths, major study finds

    1. According to my leftie dog-walker this morning, Covid is surging again and killing 1,000 people a week!

  34. Letter in The Grimes – must try this on Mrs Balls:


    Sir, Dame Esther Rantzen (letter, Mar 11) should add to her arsenal of “woman” identifiers the quickest of all. Put a jersey on the person and ask them to remove it. If they cross their arms, grab it by its front hem and pull it over their head backwards, they are a woman. If they grab it with one or two hands from the top of the back and haul it forwards, you have a man.
    Marilyn Cox
    Burford, Oxon”

      1. I think, the last word is a typo.

        The bitch he lives with has certainly .mucked os about

      2. Desperate old labour man tries to create a media sympathetic persona to provide some income in his old age…

      3. His wife has certainly got him by the testicles!

        (I must admit I find him far more entertaining now that he is no longer in Parliament and no longer the shadow chancellor. Indeed he is far better value than dreary, limelight ex-chancellors such as Darling, Hammond and Osborne.)

    3. Esther Rantzen appears on GB News from time to time. She spouts complete nonsense and I must admit that the more I see of her the less I like her. Another person who is a regular guest on GB News is Edwina Currie – she is, as they used to say, no better than she should be.

      On the other hand I was surprised at how jolly Christine Hamilton is and how popular she is. If you remember she and her husband were hated by the MSM and I am pretty sure that Neil Hamilton was set up on the brown envelopes business with Dodi’s dad, Mohammed Al-Fayed. (Whether or not Neil Hamilton was guilty of taking bribes I found it astonishing that it was quite acceptable for Fayed to bribe but not acceptable for anyone to be bribed.)

      2. Rancid was an extremely unpleasant person who stamped on many faces in her “rise to the top”. She was a seckertry who got lucky – but did so gracelessly. She had no hesitation in sacking anyone who disagreed with her. Think a female Putin…

        2. We need fewer of her Rants and more of the Zen!

          She is certainly not a very toothsome person in spite of her teeth.

      3. So would David Soul be – I noticed in a Starsky and Hutch episode that he took off a pullover like that.

        1. I’ve just finished re-reading Soul Music; there is mention of the “greatest horn player of all time” – a priest who melted down the gold altar ornaments from the temple of Offler to make his horn and who played so well that he became extremely famous – he was, of course, a felonious monk!

          1. Pratchett is always worth a re-read. Some of his jokes or puns can be very subtle.

            I found it hilarious that there were other incarnations of CMOT Dibbler in other countries.

            Disembowel-Meself-Honourably Dibhala selling suspiciously fresh 100 year old eggs and other felonious merchandise.

          2. I said how subtle Terry Pratchett could be. Thelonious Monk was a jazz pianist and composer !

          3. Yes, I had spotted that! And the “guy works down the chip shop swears he’s Elvish”

    3. Ah but is the pastry gluten free too?
      As a ‘gluten free’ person I would like a gluten free MEAT pie not a vegetarian (spit spit) replacement
      That pie looks like it’s been in an accident

      1. Morning, Spikey. Last week I had a gluten-free orange torte (a type of creamy sponge gäteau) for a birthday celebration . One of my guests is gluten-intolerant. It was surprisingly light and delicious and tasted no different from one made with wheat flour.

    4. Not a pie but a pudding but who cares when it comes down to wholesome food. Made from real wheat flour, a pinch of salt and a few twists of black pepper; real beef suet; finely diced onion; a splash of red wine; quality steak and kidney from my local butcher and three and a half hours steaming. A real comfort food that supplied five good filling portions last week. They can stick veggie/vegan substitutes where the Sun doesn’t shine.

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c3a9e7b0752d5f11ddd0fd6e054fc8da0666dd94941e4e1be9b8abc584bfca5d.jpg

      1. A nearby pub, which was open on a very cold, wet Monday at a convenient point in a rather bleak walk produced something very like that – it was delicious!

        1. Too true. I’m off now to give my flaky pastry its second rolling – sausage rolls for tonight’s get together – before venturing out into the garden for a couple of hours.

          1. Watch out for the strong wind, K. While the sun is nice, and the temp mildish – the wind makes gardening very unappealing.

    6. Does it come with a health warning?

      Why should we not eat jackfruit?

      Allergy to birch pollen or latex:

      Some people who are allergic to birch pollen or latex might also be

      allergic to jackfruit. Diabetes: Jackfruit might lower blood sugar

      levels. There is a concern that it might affect blood sugar control in

      people with diabetes. The dose of diabetes medication might need to be

      changed. https://www.webmd.com/vitamins/ai/ingredientmono-1487/jackfruit

      1. Only in that he used to play wendyball and is now a virtue-signalling moron!

      2. He has a long history of spouting left-leaning nonsense. Oasis guitarist Liam Gallagher, a real Manc, enjoys baiting him.

      3. Closer to Beckham and Rashford. All Man United players.

        Lineker is ex Leicester City hence Walkers Crisps which are made in Leicester.

    3. “Priti Patel’, We have been in Warsaw talking to Ukrainians fleeing the war and applying to the Ukraine Family Scheme 🇬🇧
      How about telling the Ukrainians in Poland to stay in Poland?

      2. Apparently, the Ukrainian government itself is asking refugees to stay close to Ukraine so that they can return quickly and start to rebuild the country once the fighting is over.

        1. Sensible. Better than opening barber shops in the UK. Which reminds me…driving along Portobello High Street a week ago, I noticed a Turkish barber on one side and a Kurdish barber shop right opposite. The “Beverly Hillbillies” immediately came to mind.

    4. Heathrow used to send the “refugee” to Hillingdon Town Hall and they would forward them to the Home Office,Whitehall.

          1. It is indeed!

            Miles Kington played the bass. He was a journalist and made quite a reputation for himself with Franglais – an invented language made up of both English and French.

            https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4e4b8becd386b2298449a281ae185aad12a80c60d999119bfdb722d97d78825c.jpg

            The rest of the group are doctors and Peter Christie, the chap in the centre, wrote the songs. I went to see them perform several times in the 70s and 80s and I included several of their songs in my own repertoire when I attempted to entertain my pupils with my guitar.

            If you like witty satirical songs you will love Instant Sunshine. As my Nottler friends know I am always recommending the songs of Jake Thackray, Jeremy Taylor, Flanders and Swan and Tom Lehrer

    3. I’ve sent the decolonisation one to Henry and Jess (Henry has just done an M.Sc and Jess is doing her Ph.D at Lancaster University), David, my old philosophy tutor at UEA and Roger, my studymate at Blundell’s.

      (Of course my father was a colonial administrator and I was born in a shanty hut in Erkowit in the North of the Sudan by the light of a torch because my arrival was three weeks before it had been planned)

    1. This, I’m afraid Plum, would T off most modern Russians because they do not like to be reminded of the USSR and because, they are tired of being labelled as the USSR.

        1. That’s a new one on me. I sort of gave up on Sting. His music tends to have a sameness about it. From the same era I have always liked Roxy Music, Brian Ferry. But all time favourite and have all their albums, Pink Floyd. And from them, this would be an appropriate song not about Russia but about the inability of the West to hear.

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOyk5qnamjc

      2. I visited Russia as a 13-year old schoolboy on a schools’ cruise when it was a major part of the USSR under Khrushchev. The locals took great pains to inform us that we must not refer to the place as “Russia”.

        Leningrad (as it was in 1964, now reverted to its original name of St Petersburg) is an astonishingly beautiful city and the Winter Palace/Hermitage Museum is one of the wonders of the world. Those I met there, adults and children, were all simple folk but very friendly.

        2. There is a tour somewhere, You Tube? of the Winter palace. It’s one of those things where you can move about as if you were there. Forgotten what that technique is called. But I think you know what I mean. There is also one done in the same vain about the Kremlin. The winter palace really is truly magnificent and deserves to be better known in the West, perhaps it would help change the misconceptions in the West of the Russians not really being Europeans, if it were better known. The Kremlin too is an amazing place. Would love to go and see these places. However I doubt very much that I will ever be able to travel again, much as though I would love to.

  40. Hi everyone. I have just returned from town. I noted after last week’s visit that the self-service check out till had gained a Ukraine Appeal window. This has disappeared! One suspects, but can never know, that this is because of a lack of response and was thus embarrassing to the PTB. Hence its departure.

      3. Oh … sanctioned. I read that as sectioned.
        Note to self; in which drawer did I find these glasses?

    2. I was in Farnham (pop. 39,488) on Tuesday, and could hardly fail to notice the blue and yellow posters at the Town Hall, stating that Farnham Town Council “Stands with Ukraine”. Great, I thought. That’s all sorted, then.”

  41. Back from Derby and stepson has regressed further.
    I now have serious doubts as to whether he’ll ever leave hospital.

    1. Sorry Bob. Is this because of Covid? Whatever the problem, you have my sympathies.

      1. Mentally ill Stepson from 1st marriage.
        Paranoid schizophrenic, cannabis induced psychosis and seriously alcoholic.
        Now shewing signs, to me at least, of premature dementia.

        3. That is one hell of a mess and something that not much can be done about other than institutionalized. It is truly exhausting dealing/trying to help people in that terrible situation. You really have my abundant sympathies. I know a family with two schizophrenic son’s, it amazes me that the parents still keep it together the strain they are under. So again, truly sorry.

        4. Life’s a bitch, BoB, I can only wish you the strength of mind, and your caring nature, to keep on keeping on.

          Good luck, old troop.

    2. Ah, sorry to hear that, Bob. You do so much for him; it must be hard to watch.

    3. So sorry to hear that Bob- what a worry. Hopefully, he’s in the right place and I’m sure they will do all they can for him.

    4. Uff Da Bob,sad news,hopefully he’s getting good care where he is.better than some useless “Care in the Community” program

      1. He’d be better off in a traditional mental hospital with it’s own farm or market garden for him to work in.

        1. Closing all such settings was sheer madness. While there were undoubtedly many ‘inmates’ who could learn to live happily in the community, there will sadly always be a core who genuinely need life-long, secure help.

          1. Absolutely correct MiB. The old Victorian buildings in general were mainly in a terrible state of repair. And were in desperate need of refurbishment. The problem now seems to be that the people in charge of mental health have become more reliant on Drugs and quite often over use them as a form of ‘chemical cosh’. All of this started over 35 years ago. In his latter days my FiL suffered from Alzheimer disease and was sent to one of those old centres before it closed down. They used to keep around 5-10 people in a large ‘common room’ at once and just keep then topped up with drugs. On his more lucid days he would plead desperately to be let out. We had no choice but to leave I him in their charge.
            Close to where i use to live in Hertfordshire there were around three well know centres for the mentally unwell and they have all been mostly demolished and housing has been built on the land.

          2. It was never acceptable to place those with Alzheimer’s disease & dementia in mental hospitals. Similarly those with ‘learning disabilities’ including those with Down’s Syndrome.

          3. Back in the 1980s, an old family friend was a maintenance man in one of these old institutions, and he used to get quite upset at the thought of the patients being dumped into ‘the community’ with virtually no support. many had been incarcerated since either childhood or early adulthood so were thoroughly institutionalised. One of the patients was his severely ‘mentally retarded’ (a term still used then) brother-in-law who was very settled, happy and well cared for there. There were gardens, vegetable plots and assorted workshops on site to provide mental stimulation as well as food for the kitchens and goods to use/sell.

          4. My parents took in three such people. They became part of the family. Attended all the events and celebrations. Two men whose only crime was they were a bit simple and a lady who had been institutionalised for the crime of having a baby at 15 years old.
            My parents motives weren’t entirely altruistic. The money was generous. But those three benefited greatly and had a good quality of life in their later years.

          5. Your parents sound very kind! Those three people were just the sort who should never have been locked up. Different times, different standards.
            My late father-in-law spoke of the old classifications of the mentally challenged. Unimaginable, to our sensibilities, terms were used The one which has most stuck in my mind is ‘low grade, feeble-minded idiot!’

          7. I wonder how many of the LGBTQXYZ brigade would also have been classed that way back in the day. Eco-crazed and net zero advocates likewise.
            Goodnight Conway.

          8. A well run mental hospital was not only often self supporting with regards to food provision, but created a surplus to be sold on to local traders.

          9. Mid 70s i would quite often drive passed the entrance of Shenley Institution. Every single day the same man would be standing out side in his white rain coat and he was rocking backwards and forward. I felt so sorry for him.

        3. Every time I drive past/through what used to be the grounds of Severalls Hospital, my temper goes nuclear.
          Many of the newly built blocks of flats are social housing which harbour the same people who used to be cared for in the old villas dotted round the grounds.

      2. Yet another pointless cost-cutting exercise – which has (as so many such do) caused far more problems and expense than it saved.

    7. Good luck – and may your God be with you.

      One of my very best friends (he is Henry’s godfather) had to put his 93 year-old mother into a nursing home last week because his father, also aged 93, can no longer cope with her at home. He is overcome with sadness and a sense of guilt but I am sure that he – and you – have the strength to cope with it.)

      1. Eventually, it’s seen to be the only reasonable option – however uncomfortable the decision, Rastus.
        I resisted Mother being moved out of her home for two years, but then it was the only choice – she couldn’t look after herself any more, with developing incontinence and forgetting to eat part-way through meals. Then, I got lucky and got her a place in the best care home in South Wales. So, not all bad.

    8. Oh, man. Poor him – and poor you, too. That’s a horrible position to come to, Bob. But it may be the best out of several poor options.

      1. I’m hoping they do accept that he’s too far gone for Don’t Care In The Community. It’ll take a lot of pressure off me.

      1. It’s the uncertainty that is making things more stressful.
        If they decided he is not likely to be discharged in the foreseeable future I could get things done regarding his flat, but this limbo is causing a lot of uncertainty.

        1. I understand. It’s very stressful not to be able to plan anything (and to be at the mercy of people over whose decisions you have no control).

  43. Huge UK energy bills would cause some to ‘starve or freeze’, Martin Lewis warns. 12 March 2022.

    Some of the poorest people in the UK will “simply starve or freeze”, as a result of rocketing energy prices, consumer expert Martin Lewis has warned, as he urged Rishi Sunak to take action in his spring statement.

    Lewis said energy bills for an average household, already set to rise to £1,971 in April, could hit £3,000 in October, when the regulator Ofgem next sets the price cap. “That’s my conservative guess: not the worst case,” he said.

    First things first! Let’s look after the Cross Channel Traffic and the Ukrainians!

    https://www.theguardian.com/money/2022/mar/12/uk-energy-bills-martin-lewis-warns-extreme-poverty

    1. I would prefer Martin Lewis tone urging HMG to resume fracking and drilling in the North Sea for our own energy rather than urging financial help. HMG is insane on this matter.

    2. Such a move will lose him many of his remaining ‘fans.’ Maybe he thinks this refusal to attend a very significant event will prompt a change of heart about his security entitlements while on British soil. What a sanctimonious, entitled, disrespectful and arrogant fool he is. He probably had his instructions from his boss.

  46. I posted this on the DT earlier this morning . I was cancelled .

    So I have just reposted, nothing bad about the comment as far as I can see.. in comparison to the many others , what do you think?

    “Looks to me as if many of the Ukranian refugees used to have an excellent quality of living , Attractive young families with lots of children , dressed for the weather , articulate , nice cars, homes and good lifestyles etc etc .
    How on earth would they fit in here in the UK if they are consigned to drab communitities full of Muslims , blacks and the white underclass who create huge problems in our cities and towns .”

    1. As many here know (because I quote his words regularly) Shakespeare’s Enobarbus was a respected mentor:

      That the truth should be silent I had almost forgot.

        1. This is somewhat annoying because the person who is being ‘showcased’ has had his speech speeded up, I assume to fit in to the time allotted. But if you can, tolerate it. It is about the effectiveness of Ivermectin and studies the prove it is way superior to the “vaccine”.
          Study: Ivermectin VINDICATED?!? – Media Silent!
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXKZp41y8KY

    4. That wont effect them TB. They’ll be moved into the empty homes left by the ‘evacuated’ Russian oligarchs.

    5. The echoes our thoughts here. The Ukraine is being touted as the poorest country in Europe. Lots of cars though.

  48. Blackbirds like cheese,who knew??
    Certainly not me until some NoTTLer revealed it,sadly I’ve forgotten who but many thanks I have some very chuffed Blackbirds on my lawn

    1. Hope you are feeling better now! Five years old and several of them? Good luck and put the gin on ice for later.

      1. Thank you – I am feeling much better now. I am assured it was the dreaded lurgy by our son as I had ‘covid toes’. Just another winter virus, not as bad as the ‘flu bugs I have had, at no stage did I think I would perish, but debilitating for all that. Oh, a classful of 5 year-olds and a bouncy castle….. parents these days….

        1. And don’t forget the “goody bags” that each is given at the end of the day…

    2. There is no debate to be had. The question is what does your DNA say? That is the end of it to anyone rational and not taken in by PC lunacy.

      1. There is a debate to be had – just like the one in Ukraine as to why Russia had to employ destructive force to enforce a ceasefire in Donbas.

        Like it or not, evidence now shows that men and women differ genetically far more profoundly that we have previously recognised.

        https://theconversation.com/not-just-about-sex-throughout-our-bodies-thousands-of-genes-act-differently-in-men-and-women-86613#:~:text=Men%20and%20women%20have%20practically,and%20only%20one%20in%20males.

        1. I’m not quite sure what you mean by your first sentence. Do you mean that force has to be used in order to set a wrong right?

          As for the link. I’m familiar with the argument that genes function in men and women differently, that certain things are expressed or suppressed according to sex. But it isn’t a matter of ones DNA changes. So I’m not sure what you are trying to get at. I assume you mean the argument contained in the article reinforces the fact that the difference between men and women is more profound than just possessing one or another set of DNA?

    3. There is no debate to be had. The question is what does your DNA say? That is the end of it to anyone rational and not taken in by PC lunacy.

    4. That’s what happens when they try to ignore the biological science.
      You are born with a sex and no matter how much you mutilate your body you will die that same sex.

    5. Even if a man is castrated and surgically mutilated to imitate a woman, he’s still a man.

  52. An enterprising humanitarian relief charity got a large white grand piano, put blue and yellow flags on it, and stuck it in the Stephanplatz in Vienna for anyone passing by to play on. Donations to the Ukrainian refugees.

    English composer, Alma Deutscher, who lives in Vienna and who in 2018 performed for Vladimir Putin, found it and released this video of her playing the Ukrainian national anthem.

    https://m.facebook.com/AlmaDeutscher?lst=825527485%3A100044252418750%3A1647086011&__xts__%5B0%5D=115.%7B%22action%22%3A59%2C%22group_id%22%3A%222425724307683644%22%2C%22is_in_overflow_menu%22%3Afalse%2C%22friendship_status%22%3Anull%7D

    Link might not work because of Facebook’s annoying interface.

  53. What a shame the Foreign Office doesn’t apply the same beaurocracy to the channel crossing gimmegrants (sorry refugees) as it does to the deserving folks from the Ukraine

    1. My old neighbour a retired head master, was in Paris and he told me he had been chatting to a local and discussing the wonderful architecture of the city.
      But the local started to get a bit gritty and making comparisons with the London architectural scene. And sarcastically deriding the British capital.
      John rather firmly reminded this rather sardonic Parisian in no uncertain terms that “Paris was never bomb, was it” ?

        1. Because the wogs wot are financing them have neither taste nor sense of appropriateness.

          3. When it was new. I remember what the Rue St Martin was like before that monstrosity was put up.

          4. I liked Montmartre. Nice selection of seafood restaurants. The place had a bohemian feel to it. Though it is much sleazier now.

            I also dined in a posh restaurant in Rue Madeleine. The empty table next to me had a cockroach studying the menu. When i pointed it out to the waiter he just laughed. I wasn’t particularly bothered.

        3. It’s awful i know, but i was told that apparently it’s something to do with subsoils in London, the structures have to be piled through the clay to find solid material.

    2. Several years ago there was a program on our TV that showed how inappropriate speeches could be recorded over normal recordings. They took the recording of a Trump speech and used their fancy technology to modify the recording of an Obama speech so that visually and aurally it was Obama doing a Trump.

      The message being that you cannot trust any recording nowadays.

      1. They can do that with video, too, so the person you saw on a clip doing something awful might well not have. Seeing is not believing.

        1. A bit like when Trump was musing on possible and hypothetical lines of research on the Wuhan virus and made a comments about injecting bleach and shining uv light inside the lungs, the latter of which was already being researched.
          When CNN played the speech, they’d inserted a clip of his medical adviser apparently face-plaming that actually occurred several minutes later purely in order to give the impression of her reaction to his musings.

    3. Many, if not all, of the videos being shared online are library footage which can be traced to source by anyone with the time and energy but most don’t bother.
      A top archive producer told me at work recently that she’d known a film researcher who tried to pass off a computer game as war footage and was found out, sacked and never worked again. Do it now and I doubt the consequence would go beyond a half-arsed apology.

      1. A Lie Can Travel Halfway Around the World While the Truth Is Putting On Its Shoes.

        I have noticed that most of what I hear on RT is the truth. It takes, however, several days before it percolates into the Western media and then only certain parts of the Western media. Tucker Carlson for example goes out of his way to be truthful. But since most of them outright lie, the truth never appears in their broadcasts. That includes all of the American TV new channels, apart from Fox and it includes all the British channels without exceptions, although GB News has a stab at being honest.

    1. If I were Nicola I’d keep quiet about seeking independence from a union:

      Kiev, Ukraine

      Kiev, the capital city of Ukraine and the seventh most populated city in Europe, twinned with Edinburgh in 1989. It is one of the oldest cities in Eastern Europe and it was an important political centre of the Soviet Union.

      Since Ukraine gained independence in the 1990s, the city has flourished as a centre for tourism and culture. Kiev is home to three UNESCO World Heritage Sites, including the impressive St Sophia Cathedral.

      The Scotsman

    2. Ridiculous woman. I would imaging that a three legged spider staggering to the left on a wall would show the need for another referendum. Her excuses are as ridiculous as sooth sayers reading entrails.

  57. Civilian cost of the conflict with Russia and the stories behind the hospitals and schools targeted. 11 March 2022.

    Despite Russian promises it is only targeting military sites, Ukrainians are being killed in attacks on schools, hospitals, shops and factories. The UN estimates that at least 500 people have died, though the real figure is feared to be much higher.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8d97abb979062c6d2ddab3904f0e56460cc9ce39ef7cd6261a00fe4aee39fd13.jpg

    The photograph above is not of Ukraine but Caen in Normandy in 1944 just after the Allied bombing of the city. Around 800 French Civilians were killed. During WWII the Strategic Air Forces of the UK and US attacked over 1500 French Cities and killed more than 68,000 of their inhabitants. This is not meant in any way to excuse Russian operations in Ukraine but simply to illustrate that in War civilian casualties are inevitable. Our own conduct quite recently in the attacks on Mosul can only be described as Aerial Terrorism!

    https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-war-civilian-cost-of-the-conflict-with-russia-and-the-stories-behind-the-hospitals-and-schools-targeted-12562199

    1. In the 70’s World at War series ( I’ve only just finished watching it bty ) there was an interview with the man responsible for making the decision to bomb Caen, even 30 years later ( when the interview took place ) he told of the anguish involved in knowingly causing so many civilian deaths and he was visibly racked with guilt and had nightmares and considered himself a murderer. That’s a dreadful load for anyone to carry. I wonder how the Russian equivalent feels.

      1. Have you recovered from the Calamity Jane party the other night? Or are your ears still ringing?

        1. I was upstairs in my den with a bottle of Rioja ,curtesy of Naked Wines, my own supply of salty snacks and an engaging computer game – old man heaven or my version of anyway. 8^)

    2. The WW2 German V1 flying bomb was an indiscriminate weapon and my mother and I could well have met our doom in the maternity hospital where I was born in South London during the war.

      This antiaircraft gun was actually sited in grounds of the hospital and I would have seen V1s being shot down.
      I don’t remember it but I was told I put two sticks together and made sound of a V1 in flight – my Grandmother cried.

      https://youtu.be/WrYQEqNPskE

      1. The house I lived in when I was first born had an anti aircraft gun parked across the road 100 yards away.

        1. As far as I know, there were no AA guns anywhere near the house where I was born. That’s one of the joys of living in a village away from a sizeable town!

  58. 351326+ up ticks,

    Question time is an arch enema for blocked bowels
    When push comes to shove the question was have we got
    the bollocks to see a commitment through ?

    How has any of the current political trash the nerve to ask
    any Tommy Atkins to act in an aggressive manner after seing the way
    Tommy was treated in the recent past, after having an uncomfortable night on a concrete mattress dreaming dreams of trials regarding Northern Ireland & jail.

  59. What Australians call their skiving workmates.

    Wicket-keeper: – puts on gloves then stands back.
    Harvey Norman: – 3 years, no interest
    Sensor Light: – Only works if someone walks past.
    Noodles: – Thinks all jobs take 2 minutes.
    Blister: – Appears when the hard work is done.
    Showbag: – Full of shit.
    Lantern: – Not very bright and has to be carried.
    Deckchair: – Always folds under pressure.
    Perth: – 3 hours behind everyone else.
    G-spot: – You can never find him.
    Bushranger: – Holds everyone up.
    Wheelbarrow: – Only works when he’s pushed.
    Limo: Carries about 8 people.
    Cordless: – Charges all night but only works for 2 hours.

        1. I did indeed. Just stay away from the Daily Express clues, if you want to play fair… Eventually, this sort of result becomes tiresome:

          Wordle 263 1/6

          🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Mr Shitts:
      Why don’t you:
      (a) sort out DVLA
      (b) scrap Locator forms
      Then;
      Take a running jump?

    3. I remember seeing a photo in a local paper it showed him sitting in his favourite local pub with a pint just th top taken off it and not a single other person was in the bar.
      After he’d been in charge of housing and moved on. There was a massive increase in building of new homes in Welwyn and Hatfield, on sports fields green belt land and agricultural land. I’m not suggesting he had any thing to do with this but………..and he suggests that he lives in his constituency but i believe he lives in a mansion at Brookman’s Park.

    1. Does it involve a picture of Her Majesty? Price rises notwithstanding, I think it’s worth buying in advance, since the inevitable next iteration will feature an image of one of the most enthusiastic supporters of the Great Reset.

      1. Yo Boss,

        Stamps now have finite life.

        People in the UK will only have been issued a warning over any first or second class stamps they might have lying around the house.

        Although the deadline of 01 January 2023 seems far off, Martin Lewis has urged Brits to act soon to avoid being left out of pocket.

      1. I’m going to buy some home brew beer kits. And some parsnips i remember my father making parsnip wine when i was kid but i didn’t taste it it went down very well apparently And it’s cheap because all you do is boil the parsnips and use the liquor. What cold possibly go wrong……….

          1. Great idea. We had a guy renting the house opposite a few years ago, he distilled his own gin, pretty damn good it was.

    2. I’ve got it on with the sound off and peeking now and again. We appear to be making a fist of it with 14.

      1. They’re doing really well, it will be the last 15 minutes when they will feel it.
        My view is that they should try to win it on penalties, just keep kicking them at every opportunity and Ireland might just panic.

      1. It’s the way the game is now played that invites these situations.
        If all tackling had to be below the waist the head aspect would be far less of an issue.

        1. In my day, the aim was to wrap the opponent around his knees – with certainty of his falling and releasing the ball …

          1. When Eddie Jones coached Japan that was what he set in place and it was very effective. Quite why he has turned into a wham bam thankyou mam coach is a mystery.

  65. Our post arrives late in the day , we arrived home this afternoon after a shopping trip for a replacement rail for the bathroom

    Put the kettle on for tea , Moh opened the mail .. we had a shock , the council tax has risen beyond stupidity .. .

        2. Understandably so. But for a Band F property in this part of Guildford Borough, the CT is only £20-odd less than yours. I’m just glad I downsized. Even after single occupant’s discount, I’m paying around £1,500 for a one-bed, Band C retirement bungalow…

          2. I think we paid a little less than £ 1100 when we moved here .. and it remained static for years .

            We don’t live in a grand old huge house , but I suppose this part of Dorset is a bit on the steep size.

            I expect you are happier where you are now , Geoff.

            Our elderly pal lives in a one bedroom semi det bungalow , he has a huge bedroom , wonderful generous living room , galley kitchen , brilliant shower room with shower seat and stuff, airing cupboard.. good size store room the size of a single bedroom in the hall , and another large store room cupboard in the living room where he keeps his vaccum etc

            He used to keep his motorcycle in the living room , but he sold that when the insurance premiums shot through the roof

            Enclosed back garden , grass and shrubs and the front garden , grassed . He has to park his car in a communal carpark . Housing association are a bit of a pain and are slow to respond , but other than that , he is cosy and happy.

          3. Eek! I pay just £50 more (with the discount) for a detached house in Shropshire – and I thought I was hard done by!

    2. We are all clearly being ripped of TB, some one has to pay for all the political cock ups those idiots have been making and still will make whilst they are allowed to sit in that dreadful place in Westminster.

    4. It’s to pay for all those “refugees” (and the policing you don’t get, of course).

      1. No. It’s to pay for all those non-contributory index linked Senior Local Civil Service pensions.

  67. Weather forecasters finally got it right, yesterday we hit 70’s F, this morning temps down to 27deg.F with snow and wind. Guess I’m not going anywhere today! And tomorrow here, USA we lose an hour’s sleep, due to changing clocks.

    2. Unlike our pack of weather ‘presenters’ they rarely get it right, the weather usually happens about two days later with their tomorrows forecasts.
      But they are all well dressed, tonsorially quaffed and manicured.

        1. 😂😄😆 Brilliant.

          ‘Celebrity Mastermind’ is on this evening more lambs to the slaughter.

      4. Ours are generally fully qualified meteorologists and mostly get it right. But here, in West Virginia, we are between the mountains and the ocean so it gets a little tricky deciding where the line is drawn between rain and snow.

        1. Yes, assuming that really is Kyiv [edit, and it’s not old footage] – it’s hard to tell who is telling the truth and who is lying. Because I are cynical, I assume they are all lying until proven otherwise!

          1. Check it out on Google earth SB you might be able to find some of the streets and buildings to confirm either way.

          2. I think the building with the gold coloured Dome is St Sophia’s Cathedral. There appears to be two buildings about a mile apart that are very similar in design and build. Not sure what the second one is but it’s very churchie.

    2. This doesn’t surprise me. Western propaganda media is at variance with RT and, as I said below, I have found that RT is telling the truth but it takes a while for the truth come out in the West. For example, RT was talking about the labs in Ukraine when the USA was flatly denying there were such things. I recall Jen Psaki lying through her teeth and calling Putin a liar about it just a few days ago. I wonder if she sleeps well at night?

        1. Take a leaf out of Pop Larkin’s book- the book, that is. If he wants a drink he has one no matter the time;-)

  70. That’s me gone. Funny day – sunny but chilly. Though I am disappointed about the greenhouse seeds – I shall persevere and sow tomatoes and beetroot tomorrow.

    Have a jolly evening.

    A demain.

    1. Hydroponics. Automatic. You can sit back and sun yourself while watching things grow.

    3. If you can grow greenhouses from seeds, Bill; you will be forever famous in horticultural circles …

  71. RT has been nobbled in Hong Kong. It still works in India. They really are paranoid in letting any news out of Russia/Ukraine that isn’t controlled. Pretty disgraceful and cowardly. Spoke to soon. Slovakia works.

  74. My Ferrari can’t go through here at all!’ Sir Rod Stewart, 77, ditches his microphone for a spade as he fills potholes near his Essex home because ‘no-one can be bothered to do it’
    By NIOMI HARRIS FOR MAILONLINE

    PUBLISHED: 18:51, 12 March 2022 | UPDATED: 19:11, 12 March 2022

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-10606255/Sir-Rod-Stewart-77-fills-potholes-near-Essex-home-Ferrari-through.html?ito=push-notification&ci=XgBPmZS4JC&cri=wRUj9rRbQC&si=26738248&ai=10606255

    1. “Don’t dig there, dig it elsewhere, you’re digging it round when it ought to be square….”

  75. Evening, all. I have had it up to here (indicates above head) with Ukraine and how evil Putin is. I had it from my neighbour and my leftie dog-walker, both of whom wanted Putin assassinated. They clearly go no further than the Bbc and MSM to look at what’s happening (or the background to it). The racing programme even had the nerve to say Cheltenham (NH festival starts next Tues) will take our mind off the awful things happening and then went on to say how there was going to be X in support of Ukraine and Y in solidarity, yada yada. Still, I suppose it will take their minds temporarily off gloating over Irish victories and claiming Scots and Welsh victories (should there be any) as their nation’s victories, while any English trainers, training from England, will be “British”.

    1. Unfortunately, Covid has shown how many people cannot think for themselves but just lap up any old bolux, Conners.
      Note and use for guidance in the future.
      Hope you & Oscar are doing good now it seems to be spring…

      1. Was out today in the garden checking out the new flowers (and taking photos to send to my Canadian friend). Oscar is sleeping more (he even lay down beside me – well, next to my feet – this afternoon when my back was hurting and I lay on the floor to watch the racing.

          1. Thanks, Ann. He does seem to have turned around recently. His table manners used to be dreadful (begging, whinging, whining, barking, trying to climb on my knee and pinch my food …) but the last few days he has sat under the table with his back to me (so I rewarded him at the table) and when I got up to give him the remains he didn’t bark, but went to sit in the kitchen and wait. Now, if only I could get him to accept being washed and brushed …

          2. Last sentence – If you figure it out let me know- it might work with my husband ;-)))

    2. The Russian school in Berlin was firebombed last night (that’ll teach those kids to be Russian, eh!). A surgical practice in Munich said that they would refuse to treat Russian or Belarussian patients, but had to back down and apologise after an outcry. I got these two bits of information from reitschuster.

      I hope we have passed peak stupidity on this.

      3. LAST POST

        Someone is orchestrating this “united Western front”. The universally similar approach; the refusal even to consider the Donbass crimes….

        But WHO?

        1. Oh Bill, do you really need to ask? The WEF globalists of course – it’s perfect for pushing the great reset. They own the media, well, the parts that aren’t owned by the Chinese anyway.

          They’ve been banging on at you for years to stop using your car and eat less meat, and voilà! a handy dandy little crisis that pushes up the price of fuel, and will push up the price of meat by the autumn if wheat is expensive.
          It is fully in their interests for this war to run and run – which is no doubt why idiot Western governments are giving weapons to Ukraine!

          1. I’d better start watching the nauseating veggie-meat ads on TV – talk about going Green (soylent for the use of….)

          3. Read that as “Racist!”…. can’t even blame the eyes, had test today and all OK. Except the bill… 🙁

          4. Behind the WEF are the banking families. Any criticism is often dismissed as anti-Semitic but the reality is that those families bankrolled Hitler. They didn’t actually care who he killed as long as it wasn’t them.

          1. Hmm… many cookies, also they use Disqus.
            It’s only from yesterday, I’m surprised it isn’t in BZ.
            Will look some more…

    3. The two brothers who do the sheepfarm mint sauce chronicles were chatting, one’s son apparently said his Russian friend asked him to still be his freind, the bloody propaganda gets to kids ears and the idiots who disseminate it couldn’t give a toss.

    2. God I lead a sheltered life. Having never been invited nor indeed attended an orgy I now find I’ve not even been invited to a virtual one….

    5. “What has happened to the DT”?

      It changed ownership, Maggie …

      I don’t know the details …

    6. Lowest common denominator. Sex sells papers. The Saturday one today has gone up to £3.50.

  78. Goodnight, all. Busy day tomorrow – church then taking a friend racing (a birthday treat).

    1. Anyone care to guess the EU’s reaction to her ‘unilateral green channel’ to reduce red tape when exporting from GB to NI?

  83. Woke at 2am, not able to sleep.

    I’ve had Covid since Monday, and after brushing my teeth my mouth is bleeding. Part of it is delicacy because of difficulties finding a competent, honest dentist. The last decent one I had was a delightful Ukrainian lady…

    Turned on the World Service for a bit of comfort. Not a good idea! The misery there is relentless. One really needs the famous Slav stoicism not to want to slit your wrists after the constant feed of extreme inhumanity and brutishness, with ever more scope for a mistake setting off WW3. A stray Ukrainian Soviet-era anti-tank drone, like an escapee from a retirement home who forget where home was, turned up in Zagreb. Russian ones are more modern, and therefore targeted on women and children, especially if they are on a “humanitarian corridor”.

    Musicians playing beautiful music amid the rumble of artillery in the suburbs slowly moving in on the concert halls and opera houses from a time when we were once civilised.

    I am trying coffee, which can feed the brain to make sense of it all and fuel escapism fantasy, such as holding tight and safe in my warm bed my pretty dentist and her family.

    2. Good morning JM

      I woke up up far too early , we have no c/h upstairs , only portable oil filled electric heaters.. Moh is a cold mortal he feels the cold .. despite a tog 15 duvet and 2 dogs and me in a hard horrible almost new kingsized bed .

      The room was airless and hot .. he had shut the bedroom window .. I always love fresh air in the room .. so I moved into the spare room .

      The countryside was waking up, cocks crowing, sparrows fighting and a thrush singing her heart out .. I just wanted to get back to sleep ..but couldn’t .

      So I wandered downstairs , the dogs heard me , they went out into the garden , I put the kettle on , and all I wanted was some tranquil time .. instead of me wandering around the garden in my jimjams .

      A good quality sleep is an illusive dream .

      1. Have you tried a memory foam mattress topper? Friends who don’t like hard mattresses swear by them.

      2. Maybe an investment in a single electric blanket for his side, and an openable porthole in the wall on your side?

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