Saturday 13 May: Critics of the small boats Bill ignore the effects of uncontrolled economic migration

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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528 thoughts on “Saturday 13 May: Critics of the small boats Bill ignore the effects of uncontrolled economic migration”

  1. Good morrow, Gentlefolks, today’s story

    Atheist Belief

    A girl comes home from a date rather upset. Her mother asked her what was wrong and she replied

    “Anthony proposed to me an hour ago.”

    And her mother says “Then why are you so sad?”

    And the girl says “He’s an Atheist, he doesn’t believe there’s a Hell.”

    Her mother looks at her sympathetically and says, “Marry him anyway. Between the two of us, we’ll prove him wrong!”

    1. You’ve met my mother in law, then? She’s currently working her way through a bottle of gin in quarter litre steps.

      Then she’ll start on my beautiful wife who has had enough today, so I am intervening and sending them in opposite directions. That and I get to see the warqueen wear jodhpurs and boots, which is always lovely.

    2. Well, Sir Jasper, I personally have had a really miserable two days in succession. I travelled all the way to Kiev to watch the Eurovision Song Contest in Ukraine. But had to come back once I got there because apparently Kiev is not their capital, apparently it is Liverpool.

      POINTS OF INFORMATION: For Herr Oberst and others who reckon I am incapable of jokes, the second and third sentences in the post above are my attempt at humour. The first sentence is unfortunately true.

  4. Morning, all Y’all.
    Cloudy, dull, chilly (long sleeve shirt weather – or as Firstborn called it when he was little, “down sleeve shirt”).

  5. Immigration can’t be boiled down to good vs evil – it’s far more complicated. 13 May 2023.

    There is also a wider background to the small boats which should give perspective to the heated moralising. As foreshadowed by this paper’s story yesterday, it seems likely that the total annual net migration figure, expected next month, may well hit nearly one million, almost twice as much as last year’s. The small boat numbers are roughly 45,000, perhaps 5 per cent of the expected total. There is much in all this to criticise, but if you think the Government demonises immigrants, why is it letting in more than any of its predecessors?

    And if, as so many critics allege, there are not enough safe routes for entry, why do they not consider that, the wider open the door, the larger the number of people who will try to push through it? The accommodation provided for asylum-seekers awaiting judgment is often poor, partly because the number of such people grows so fast, thanks to the traffickers who ship them and the lawyers who find ingenious ways of spinning out their clients’ cases.

    When I was very young I was a Rome fan. I read everything I could find out about them in the history sections of the School and Council libraries as well as the novels of Henry Treece, Rosemary Sutcliffe and Geoffrey Trease. I knew what legions occupied Britain and where they were originally from and about Hypocausts and Gladiators. In fact everything that was to be read.

    No doubt most of this adoration was misapplied juvenile enthusiasm but there was one thing about them that always puzzled me. How did this extraordinarily practical civilisation with its engineering skills, wonderful military machine and superlative organisation come to fall to gangs of ill-educated, badly armed savages? It seemed to defy reason itself and why could no one see what was happening? The answer is of course; which I’ve learned only in the last twenty years and that by observing, was that they must have existed, but like today, the Roman Nottlers had no say and their words are now lost to us. The Elites commanded and they were as decadent, cowardly and corrupt as the inhabitants of Westminster are now.

    No one should doubt that the situation Moore describes above is our doom. These people are the New Barbarians. They don’t need weapons, their presence alone will destroy what is here and they will build nothing new. How could they? This destruction will be total. All public institutions will collapse and every flower of Western Culture. The Literature and the Music; the Achievements of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment will vanish as if the last five hundred years had never been!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/05/12/immigration-cant-be-boiled-down-to-good-vs-evil/

    1. Immigration is a simple thing. There’s no ‘oh, da blick mun, or ‘don’t like the darkies’.

      It is, and only ever has been, about economics. The most brutal, efficient and effective metrics around. The problem is the state uses gimmigration as a weapon for it’s own expansion.

    2. Good grief, Minty, yesterday was bad enough without you cheering me up on my return.

  6. Good morning all.
    Overcast, but, as yet, dry, with a cool 5°C outside.

  7. Wagner troops ‘raped and tortured dozens in Malian killing spree’. 13 May 2023.

    The report was released after a months-long investigation into what rights groups called the worst atrocity in a 10-year conflict between Islamist groups and the army. Thousands have died and millions have been displaced.

    The identity of the white men was not clear, said Seif Magango, UN spokesman for its HRO. But Western countries have raised concerns over the Russian private military contractor’s activities in Mali since late 2021, including allegations of its role in the killings of civilians in Moura.

    Though ostensibly about Mali this is in actuality an anti-Russian propaganda piece and as always the headline is widely at variance with the text. The raping and killing was in fact carried out by the Malians.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/05/12/wagner-group-mercenaries-mali-rape-torture-killing-spree/

    3. For those who can remember the Biafrans, the Hutus and Tutsi, know that Black Africa need no help in the art of massacre, it seems to be a favorite pastime of theirs.

  8. Richard Farrar appears to have rose coloured glasses regarding South Africa and Mandela.

    SIR – You report (May 12) that the United States has accused South Africa of arming Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

    Nelson Mandela will be turning in his grave. It would not have happened during his leadership. Whatever has happened to this once proud nation?

    Richard Farrar
    London SW10

    Steve Jones
    4 HRS AGO
    Richard Farrar of London SW10 suggest Mandela would be turning in his grave at the current state of South Africa.
    He may well be of course but not for the reasons many would suggest. Despite all the careful PR manipulation of Mandela turning him into the worlds most likable grandfather, the truth is he was a bag man for the ANC – the same mob who since 1994 has “governed” South Africa and run it into the ground – a fanatical terrorist and a communist zealot.
    He didn’t go to prison for such a very long time for jaywalking.

    Anastasias Revenge
    4 HRS AGO
    Say it Steve. If I recall correctly he was told he could walk out of jail IF he vowed not to return to terrorism. He never made that vow.
    And that nice wife of his… didn’t she shove burning tyres over the heads of other Africans?

    2. Just as the Dianna death hysteria passed me by so did the lauding of that brutal terrorist. I can’t be the only one that feels this way.

      1. You’re not. I literally and for the only time in my life, jumped for joy at news of the death of Diana, being a staunch royalist I detested her and all her works. As for Mandala and his wife. Pity he wasn’t shot rather than jailed. And I would assume his wife, so fond of “necklacing” people, is in hell where she richly deserves to be.

      2. Skilful make up experts, beauticians and couturiers certainly did a good job in making a formerly simple and plain girl look chic and lovely. However it was the mental deficiencies of both Diana and her dim husband which made both of them uninteresting and unattractive.

    3. Weren’t they going to put her on top of Nelson’ column in Trafalgar Square?

      But must not forget that there is difference between blacks murdering other blacks and white police shooting violent black criminals. The former is quite acceptable; the latter is an unpardonable outrage.

    4. A ‘Soweto necklace’; a tyre was placed around the neck of the victim, filled with fuel, then set alight. Winnie should have been sponsored by Goodyear.

  9. Good morning, all. Overcast and breezy with the promise of sunny weather post midday. Washing day!

    “Identifying” is all the rage at the moment: so why not?

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bf8f885b60ef097ca7ea35a5f7aaf61461fd15374c37b7068cd692b4d466e51a.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/098d02774a3f3a9040968584a33cdb1bb0a740de2cd9f14a21fe2ef8214231fd.png

    Life gets even more strange when…

    https://twitter.com/75otingocni/status/1657152061077852161

    Self-Incrimination
    The Fifth Amendment also protects criminal defendants from having to testify if they may incriminate themselves through the testimony. A witness may “plead the Fifth” and not answer if the witness believes answering the question may be self-incriminatory.

      1. Today is my 18th sunny, clear blue-sky-day on the trot with another 23ºC expected and at least four more similar days forecast.

        1. An Australian has been appointed as Chairman of Imperial Chemical Industries, Alec? Lol.

  11. 371239+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Saturday 13 May: Critics of the small boats Bill ignore the effects of uncontrolled economic migration

    Seemingly a minor part of the odious issue when one looks at the overall picture of mass immigration as treacherously orchestrated
    by the political overseers, put in place by a very obvious, very weak minded, bordering on criminal, electorate majority.

    Cannot be long now until, if not happening now when major decisions in hamlets,villages,towns and cities are made by foreign
    decision makers and tailored to their mindsets.

    Prayer mats at the ready peoples, five times a day , I believe in the case of these Isles,mandatory,

    I never believed this nation to have such a religious fervour as to be on its knees five times a day, but the continuing voting pattern shows otherwise

  12. Whenever destroyers appear among men, they start
    by destroying money, for money is men’s protection and the base of a
    moral existence. Destroyers seize gold and leave to its owners a
    counterfeit pile of paper. This kills all objective standards and
    delivers men into the arbitrary power of an arbitrary setter of values.
    Gold was an objective value, an equivalent of wealth produced. Paper is a
    mortgage on wealth that does not exist, backed by a gun aimed at those
    who are expected to produce it.

    Ayn Rand

    We are nearly there…

    1. Hear all, see all, say nowt.
      Eat all, sup all, pay nowt.
      And if tha’ ever does owt for nowt,
      Do it for theesen.

      A Yorkshireman’s traditional advice to his son.

    1. There’s two who could go to start with. Why are our institutions so infiltrated by people who hate this country?

      1. 371239+ up ticks,

        Morning W,

        I would say,without doubt the fault lies with the electorate majority every time,
        they show with every kiss X the love they feel for the ( non musical) status quo via the polling booth.

    1. The public were warned in 1998.

      They took no notice.

      What makes you think that they will take any notice of the latest warnings?

      1. Morning Pip!
        The above individual in the video is David Icke? Never listened to him before.

        1. Morning JR. Icke has said a lot of things that sound insane but they are very careful with sound bites and context to make him look worse.

          3. Isn’t he the man who claims that many members of the PTB are biological lizards?

    4. Folk laugh and joke…. and take their phone with them.

      Whatspp say they don’t listen in on calls. They don’t. What they do do is see who you’re speaking to, when you talk to them, how often and all the other data which is more valuable.

      For example, my most whatsapped person? The Warqueen. Where’s she been? Oh, in town. Oh look, she paid for a pair of shoes and there was a flurry of messages just before hand between us.

      (these were:

      I’m in town. Want anything?
      Yes. The loo.

      Berk.
      You started it.
      They’re red.
      How do you know? I’ve not been yet.
      The shoes, you nit. And yes you have, you’re on the loo now.
      HOW DO YOU KNOW?!!

    5. Who (or what) does a “World Army” go to war against?

      And who (or what) are they defending us against?

      1. Who (or what) does a “World Army” go to war against?

        Us. The tax slaves.

      2. A World Army is to keep us all in order of course. They will be defending themselves from us.

    6. Last year, I watched a 45 minute video of Icke. I must confess, he said nothing I could disagree with.

  17. 371239+ up ticks,

    Surely it cannot be so seeing the support the three party coalition receives via the polling booth, peoples surely do NOT give consent for their own demise do they ? not again,again,& again do they ?

    Post
    Gerard Batten
    @gjb2021
    ·
    12h
    A top Tory has found the nerve to speak out – a bit anyway.

    Sunak, the Globalist appointee PM & WEF UK Regional Manager, is overseeing the controlled demolition of the UK, never mind the Tory Party.

    He is carrying out the Globalist programme to demolish the UK economy – as the West’s financial system is steered towards the rocks by the international financial institutions – in order to create the chaotic situation needed to bring in complete CBDC control & totalitarianism.

    Its a bit late for Tories to rebel now as a Labour victory is 99% certain at the next GE. Not that anything would change if the Tories won again.

    Rishi Sunak is overseeing the ‘managed decline’ of the Tory party, blasts Priti Patel – inews,

  18. Starmer planning to make working from home a legal right

    Potential manifesto policy making flexible hours ‘the default’ at odds with Tory effort to boost productivity

    Will this abject clown’s “right” to work from home also apply to: police officers, firemen, ambulance drivers, soldiers, sailors, airmen, steel-workers, construction-workers, nurses, doctors, judges, teachers, sewerage workers, lorry drivers, locomotive drivers, delivery drivers, road-repairers, gardeners, butchers, bakers, candlestick-makers, and a thousand other real workers who need to be ‘on the job’?

    2. It won’t matter, the country will be destroyed by a combination of people who hate us and left wing politics.
      Similar to what I wrote recently:

      ANDREW NEIL: Britain could well be heading for seismic electoral reform that’ll keep the left in power FOR EVER… And Starmer may sign up to it without voters even getting a say

      https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12078999/Britain-heading-seismic-electoral-reform-thatll-left-power.html

      Underlying this is the fact that there is a huge bloc vote of Muslims who will elect sufficient MPs to be the power brokers if it should happen.

    3. The ideas that dribble from the mouths of politicians becomes more frightening by the day.

      1. This is becausse they are out of touch morons who’ve never got up at 4am to get to a factory 40 miles away for 6am.

    4. It’s only for middle class pen pushers Grizzly, the least productive people in society.

      1. Err…. really? This middle class pen pusher turned over 7 million last year.

        1. Then you are not a pen pusher. I’m referring to those who make you fill in one or two paragraphs of drivel and tick boxes. Landfill mainly for the ever expanding government who soon will employ two thirds of the population while the rest pay for them with yet more taxes.

    5. Morning, Grizz.

      We’re living in 🤡🤡 World and it isn’t funny, not that I find clowns funny but rather more sinister/scary. Starmer is sinister and scary because he comes out in support of most of the crazy ideas that are put forward by the loons. His membership of the Trilateral Commission, one of only 400 members and the sole Parliamentarian to be so “honoured” should be a concern to voters.

      1. He’s going after the public sector vote, as that’s his demographic. They *can* work from home mostly and it’s a juxtaposition from Rees-Mogg asking them to come into the office.

    6. The problem isn’t the working from home. It’s that some jobs just don’t need to be done *at all*.

      As regards flexible working – I started out on that principle. My team are mostly global and work when they want to. We have some requests for meetings but those are rare. My interest is that work gets done. Heck, I’m the worst example. If want to rokc up at half 11 and leave at 2 because i’m having a crap day I will. Making someone sit there from 8-5 is idiotic if you’re getting nothing from them.

    7. How does one operate the data recording kit on a track inspection train from your bedroom?

  19. Those wanting uncontrolled criminal invasion don’t face the consequences of their arrogance.

    1. The corollary of your post is that those that don’t want the invasion need to solve the issue themselves. And it won’t be pretty.

      1. Too the bus through to the hosiptal the other day. As you pass through Lordshill Soton just becomes a foreign country. Obvious fronts for drugs in ‘Turkish barbers’, foreigners gabbling away, doing nothing, the occassional white face but then you find they’re Polish when they speak slurred, broken English.

        I’m sick of this country being used as a toilet by foreigners, pikeys, freeloaders and dross. Many folk come here to work, and that’s good. Some skills we don’t have. The majority though are just welfare wasters.

        1. In todays Telegraph. Full story for those who can’t read the rag.

          White British children ‘could be minority in schools within 40 years’
          Dr Paul Morland says people who identify as white British at primary school age or in large cities will be a ‘declining minority’ by 2060

          By
          Charles Hymas,
          HOME AFFAIRS EDITOR
          12 May 2023 • 8:10pm

          White British children could be in a minority in schools in 40 years, an Oxford academic has claimed.

          Dr Paul Morland, a demographer and academic visitor at St Anthony’s College, said previous research had suggested that around 50 per cent to 60 per cent of the overall British population would define themselves as white British by the year 2060.

          However, this would likely mean that younger age groups in primary school – and the wider population in large cities – would already have crossed the threshold where white Britons would be in a minority.

          It follows 2021 census data, revealed last year, which showed that Britain’s two largest cities, London and Birmingham, were now minority white British.
          Forecasts by immigration experts also show that net migration for 2022 is likely to rise to between 650,000 and one million, piling pressure on the Government over its election pledge to bring it down.

          Net migration is expected to be at least double the pre-Brexit rate of 200,000 to 300,000, and at least 150,000 above the previous record high of 504,000 for the year to June 2022.
          Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, claimed on Friday that it showed the Government had “completely lost control”.

          “We need a managed approach and we haven’t got that,” he said.

          “Like almost everything else under this Government, there’s no plan, there’s no control and, just like everything else, it seems like the system is broken.”

          No 10 said Rishi Sunak had never put a figure on his preferred level of net migration.

          “The Prime Minister’s overall commitment is to reduce migration overall and that is what we are trying to do through tackling illegal migration and the points-based system,” said his spokesman.

          Analysis of ethnicity has always been contentious because data often relies on how people define themselves. In 30 years’ time, today’s white immigrants could see themselves as white British.

          Rob McNeil, deputy director of Oxford university’s Migration Observatory, said: “Britishness and whiteness are not synonymous. The ‘White British’ category has always been problematic, not least because it is very subjective and depends on how people identify themselves. The way people self-identify changes over time and across generations, and ultimately tells us relatively little about things that we might care about, such as their wellbeing or role in society and the wider ‘British community’.”

          Dr Morland said: “In terms of the speed of the decline, there was work done by demographers at Oxford and other work more recently that looks at 2060, where we’ll have perhaps 50-60 per cent of people defining themselves as white British.

          “But of course at that point, if you look at the primary school or the school age folk or the people in the large cities, it would be a minority and a declining minority.”

          Dr Morland also predicted that immigration into the UK would continue to be driven by people coming from non-EU countries, and not simply because of the end of free movement after Brexit.

          He cited Poland, where a long period of “very low fertility” combined with rising living standards had narrowed the economic motives for them to come to the UK.

          “So even if we wanted more EU immigration, I think we’d find it increasingly difficult to get it,” he said.

          Home Office figures show that in the year to December 2022 there were 1.37 million visas granted to non-EU citizens to study, work or to escape conflict and oppression. That is more than double the 616,499 in 2019.

          Meanwhile, Huw Merriman, the transport minister, said Tories should not be “two-faced” about having migrant asylum camps in their constituencies.

          The Sussex MP, whose constituency has been identified for an asylum camp, said he would not be “two faced” by opposing it as a local MP while supporting the policy as a member of the Government.

          Instead, he urged MPs in the same situation to “step up” and support the Government’s policy to move asylum seekers away from hotels into camps.

          1. White kids are already a minority in cities. Soon they will be everywhere. The gimmigrants just breed because that’s how they get welfare.

            I went to primary school with an Asian lad. Goofy teeth, silly hair. Didn’t matter. His dad was a doctor. Nowadays the white kid is likely to be the only one and will suffer an appalling education as a result.

            Heck, have you seen the literacy papers? It’s all ‘Malik’ this and ‘Sofi’ that, or Abdul, or Mohammed, or Oskar, or Tamar, or Petros. Not a single British name. Not a single male represented. Families? You’re joking. No parents whatsoever.

            Juniors belted past the miserable Oxford reading tree books. I threw the ones he brought home away and he’s on my books now – C S Lewis, Wodehouse, Djano Wexler. The school doesn’t like this.

          5. For those of you who didn’t know I’d just like to point out that Mr Merriman’s house is

            in the neighbouring constituency where there are no asylum camps

        2. And why don’t we have the skills? Because of Blairs idiotic drive to send 50% or more school leavers to university. Twenty years of budding trades trainees lost to wishy washy degrees and the likelihood of their fees’ being repaid, zilch.

        3. The local Kurdish barber offered me cartons of cigarettes at half price. I declined.

          I won’t bother shopping him to the authorities as it is a mess they have made with high taxation.

  20. Andrew Brigden launches a defamation case against Hancock.. He’s looking to crowd fund the action.
    ”The basis of my claim is that Mr. Hancock’s accusation of anti-Semitism against me is a false slur to deliberately try and shut down valid concerns raised by me on behalf of constituents and thousands of others around the world about the safety and efficacy of the experimental Covid-19 injections. This issue is of international importance because every elected representative should be allowed to challenge government policy without being shut down by malicious slurs.”

    1. The lot of them look like stupid schoolboys drunk on power, pushing authoritarian arrogance on others, but not adopting the same restrictions for themselves.

      There should be no defamation case – Hancock should have been shut down immediately and told to first apologise, then to answer the question, bearing in mind his own stupidity and appalling behaviour. Bridgen is morally right, but that uor system of government doesn’t include the censure for stupidity and malice is wrong. A law suit won’t restore that.

    2. The best of luck to Andrew Bridgen with this matter.

      Cannot MPs say what they like in the HoC without fear of legal action? The odious Labour MP, former priest and ex-public schoolboy, Chris Bryant, has often used his platform in Parliament to abuse and misrepresent his opponents. Presumably Hancock will use this dodge which means that Bridgen’s case will have to be based on what Hancock said outside the HoC?

      1. Parliamentary privilege, a device used and abused by the self-appointed ‘Nonce-Finder General’ Tom Watson. He used it to tarnish the name of many without resort to acual evidence, but was bright enough not to comment elsewhere. Both Wanksock and Underpants Bryant were stupid enough to support their priveleged comments through twitter. They deserve to have the book thrown at them for lack of awareness.

  21. Morning all 🙂😉
    Dare I say it, grey again.
    Today’s headline proves something we all know, but they don’t seem to understand. Politicians live in a septic bubble and they don’t have a clue what the outside world is like. They just keep dipping onto the expenses pot, fill their bank accounts and fill their minds with total and utter delusion.

  22. By caving in to the Remainers without a fight, Sunak seals his own fate.
    Demosthenes : https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/by-caving-in-to-the-remainers-without-a-fight-sunak-seals-his-own-fate/

    BTL under this article in The Conservative Woman:

    I cannot understand how Jacob Rees-Mogg, Bill Cash, John Redwood and Mark Francois and his ERG friends can stay in the Conservative Party a moment longer.

    They have been betrayed just as the electorate has been betrayed and if they have one ounce of integrity they will ‘cross the floor’ and form their own political party or join one of the parties whose priority is to implement Brexit such as Reclaim, Reform or Heritage.

    1. The mistake is in thinking Sunak caved in. He’s the ultimate stooge – always happy to do what his masters dictate. To that end he’ll fervently support selling the country out to the EU. He already started with the Windsor agreement. He doens’t care. He’s not a patriot. He’s not even a Brexiteer. He voted remain chained. He doesn’t care about the nation. He only cares about his getting that six figure non-job.

      1. The reply of Conservative Woman‘s reader to Rastus C. Tastey’s post.

        Their job is to fool people into believing the Tories are a conservative party as oppossed to the radical progressive party they really are.
        They are very good at fooling people,they are seasoned con men.

        The Tories are fully on board with the radical net zero agenda.
        The Tories fully support radical race replacement via mass immigration.
        The Tories want the WHO to run the UK via the pandemic scam.
        The Tories went fullbore with the authoritarian lockdown and vaccine coercion.
        The Tories like to tax and spend.
        The Tories promote all things transgender and homosexual including the genital mutilation of children.

        They will never leave the Tory party, they like it as it is.

      2. Let’s face it, he has no stake in the nation. It isn’t the land of his ancestors and he’s a citizen of the world.

    2. That list of drongoes know that if they cross the floor, they will be out at the next election. And be in a party with no influence or status until then, so why would they? They, like all the others, are in this for themselves.

      1. That is why I said “if they have one ounce of integrity” – you clearly agree with me that they do not.

        Here is the leading BTL by Reuben Wade to under this article in TCW by Demosthenes

        Anyone and everyone who voted for Brexit has only to look at the immigration figures in the subsequent years to know that the whole episode has been a grand exercise in deception — the anti-British establishment on manoeuvres behind a smoke-screen of half-promises and lies.

        It was evident as soon as the vote was counted that not a single one of the political class could bear to utter the fact that Britons were sick of having their country, their towns and cities, given away to foreigners. No, all the talk during the pain-faced analyses as the pundits and politicians struggled to understand the earthquake that had just occurred was of ‘taking back sovereignty’. This phrase had to be conjured up and broadcast endlessly because opposition to mass immigration is not recognised as a permissible political position in the UK. One cannot be opposed to immigration without being slandered as a raci5t or someone goo5e stepping foreigners towards the ga5 chambers. Anti-immigration is impermissible, so the substitute phrase to be impressed as the cause of Brexit had to become ‘taking back sovereignty’, and we have had it ever since, with occasional embarrassed nods towards the possibility that mass immigration might have had something to do with it — but only among an insignificant number of raci5t morons whose reprehensible views one has a political and civilisational duty to ignore.

        The people who voted Brexit in their millions were not I think saying to themselves ‘I think I’ll vote Brexit because when the UK has recovered its sovereignty and the political class ramps immigration up even further, and encourages anti-white discrimination in recruitment to jobs and universities and every other aspect of life, I’ll be perfectly content because this is being imposed by our own sovereign parliament.’ No, they wanted and expected immigration to be slashed to Cameron’s famous ‘tens of thousands’, if so many.

        The Tories had spent years pretending that they would do something about the crazy levels of immigration, and spinning the line that their hands were tied by the EU. It was all lies. Cameron attempted to cement the lie in place with a referendum he thought he could not lose, and then lost.

        The fig-leaf was stripped away by the Brexit vote. The immigration figures since prove beyond even the faintest whiff of doubt that we live under an all-party political regime, championed by the Conservatives, that is dedicated to displacing British people with a foreign population in a process where our views about it are of absolutely no consequence.

        We are governed by a class that has dedicated itself to the downfall of the British people. If it has done nothing else, at least Brexit has demonstrated this fact beyond any reasonable doubt.

        1. It’s a simple equation. The immigrants don’t earn enough, nor do enough to pay their way and maintain the country. Very quickly, as the white workers are erased the money will simply stop, the roads will fall apart, nothing will get built, track will crumble, sewers block, fuel won’t get around and the lights will go out and then someone will complain that this is all ‘da white man’s fault’ yet we built everything, pay for everything and keep everything running and the lie of massive, savage genocide will be exposed.

          The gimmigrants live off our backs. It’s as simple as that.

          1. It won’t be a case of Built Back Better it will inevitably be a case of Build Back Worse or Don’t Bother To Build Back At All.

  23. Good morning everyone

    Dull day, we were so cold last evening that we put the c/h on .

    Son is running in the Weymouth 5k park run this morning .

    Moh is 77 years old today. He said he had a great game of golf yesterday, and although his handicap has risen over the past few years , 14 isn’t bad , especially as he is so competitive , he can keep up and present a good score card .

    He will be playing in a competition tomorrow . Hope he does well.

    Trip to the tip this morning . We had to demolish the peach tree, it was damaged by that pre Christmas cold spell, and it was 20 years old .

    2. Good to hear about the other half – I don’t expect to reach 77. I’m sure my remains will be found scattered about the place with those of the mother in law.

      A shame about the tree. Could it not be saved?

    3. Well done and happy birthday.
      Shame I can’t play now I liked the courses i played in Dorset.
      My handicap went from 12 to 14. It was quite comfortable to play at.

    4. Morning Belle. Dull day here as well. Typical spring weather before the downpours of summer. I hear summer is going to fall on the 31st of June with close to 100F weather and dire warning about global crisping as a result. Polar melting will be the result and millions will die.

  24. Blair’s old pal Campbell has a new book out featuring the ‘I’ word. It’s all he knows. But he and it’s been taking a fierce bashing on FB.

    1. Idiot? That applies to Blair.

      Or the inquiry, which is designed to formalise and ensure that officials get away scott free with whatever abomination they carry out?

      2. Blair was never an idiot.
        A scheming, malicious bastard, yes, but he knew EXACTLY what he was doing.

        1. I entirely agree with the gist of your observation, BoB.

          He did know that he was on a mission to undermine much of the fabric of this country. However, I have been told and firmly believe believe that he was outwitted by (a) the appalling Cherie and (b) congenital liar Alastair Campbell on multiple occasions which led to him enabling all sorts of actions where he hadn’t a clue as to their consequences. Nasty as he may be, he is not very bright (was a lousy barrister) and has never known exactly what he was doing except when doing the dirty to make sure he took the Labour Party helm ahead of Gordon Brown (orchestrated by Campbell). Never trust a Campbell.

          Tony and Cherie’s gruesome venality was actively fostered and encouraged by Bill and Hillary. Alastair is more than a bit miffed that he hasn’t been included on the gravy train.

    2. Two War Criminals responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent people and they complain about Vlad!

      1. Perhaps book burning will become fashionable again.
        A stake or two would be useful as well.

    3. Alistair Campbell and Tony Blair. A pair of stinking turds in the shitpan that will just NOT flush away.

  25. The Warqueen has filled in the forms for the house move. It frustrates her hugely as what are we paying solicitors for? 2 hours of idiotic questions – while we use the field for the mare and the dogs’ play room, we don’t own it, nor do we have any rights to it, but occassionally we mow it – where does that come in? Have our boundaries changed? Yes, because our tractor driving neighbour crashed into our fence (he didn’t mean to, it’s an old tractor and he’s a bit doolally) and we repaired that by filling in the holes – does that count?

    One bit is leasehold, an outbuilding as it’s shared with said neighbour but only in that it’s an old cow shed we use as a stable and mechanic bit – for said tractor.

    We were both up before 6 and are tired.

    1. Questions about drains, adopted road … blah, blah, blah.
      We’re paying you £squillions; go and do your job.
      p.s. here’s the link to the local town hall. USE IT!

  26. Par
    Wordle 693 4/6

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

    1. An Elegant Eagle for me!

      Wordle 693 2/6
      🟩🟨🟨⬜⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      1. Yeah, easy peasy today.
        Wordle 693 2/6

        🟩🟩⬜⬜🟨
        🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  27. Gosh – it is another miserable cold day. Thank goodness for the stove and thick pullovers.

    1. I had a survey from the energy people. Have you turned off your central heating?

      Yes.

      Did you want to?

      No.

      What can we do to help? Lobby the sodding government to stop making energy expensive.

      1. I forgot to send my readings last month and it’s given them another excuse to start banging on about smart meters. Although our monthly payments had been reduced by around 20 percent.
        We know when we feel cold we know how to turn it down when we are warm enough. And we only have showers. We don’t leave lights on if we are not in the room. And more importantly we don’t feel it necessary to light up the street or our iluminate the rear garden at night.

        1. I got a “smart meter” because, being sick, I could no longer access my meters to read them. Surprisingly, I’m being charged a lot less now than when I read the meter.

        2. They keep asking me if there is anything they can do to help me use less and I keep telling them I have already put in place all the practical measures to conserve energy that I can.

      2. Scrap Net Zero – Carbon dioxide is necessary. The climate does change over time but humans have nothing to do with it.

      1. Nice here too- sunny and not much breeze. Jobs to do then we’ll sit outside.

        1. The sun shines on the righteous. Which is why Bill is battling a storm. :@)

          1. Cold and cloudy here too in S.Cambs, Stormi, with a hint of rain carried on the breeze.

  28. ‘Morning All

    Medley time

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c5bc2eb4ac79792928007a53545d1154480871339a27ce52a2d75372008c2db8.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0f457cc7b087cc9f4ad385e50ec13b976f623988d7f1eaecf35d56482e1373c0.jpg

    https://media.glamour.com/photos/569634ff16d0dc3747ef0157/master/w_1600%2Cc_limit/entertainment-blogs-obsessed-2012-04-10-0410_texts-from-dog-1_ob.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3f9b000fde72e91888c800604e01bec55468490d68556a2b3314ad4f545d6b17.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4d13834da6e3266846885528778d082d2898b47d31820be7afa1db4c659c47b6.png

      1. All in all, very good fun. Any aspect that was sub-optimal was surely due to Brexit. Biblical downpours in Cornwall. The main feature of Tate St Ives were the unbelievably pretentious and wordy descriptions of the exhibits. Somebody got a Masters Degree in Bullsh!t. Only a couple of items I thought I might steal.

        Stayed at Gurnard’s Head Hotel. Somewhat eccentric with eclectic mix of clientele. I think you, Phizzee, might find it amusing. Beefy young lads and lasses in shorts, big boots, and knobbly knees who come from far away (e.g. Europe!) to revel in walking across the moors in sleet, plus tweedy types who shelter from the foul weather and play scrabble or backgammon while drinking their 2nd or 3rd bottle from the interesting cellar. Outstanding chefs/kitchen staff who outshone their own menu. Even breakfast is a treat. Well worth a visit. Although it’s in the middle of nowhere, one can get there on public transport. (Train to Penzance then there’s a small bus that takes a circular route with a stop at the Gurnard’s Head front door). Also ate at their ‘sister’ Old Coastguard Hotel in Mousehole; OK but their current chefs are not really in the same league.

        Devon weather was better. We behaved really quite well.

        1. Excellent. Sounds like you had a good time.
          Regret is a terrible thing. You really should have pinched those exhibits.

        2. We stayed at the Gurnard’s Head Hotel back in 2019. Interesting place. Unfortunately I had just fractured my ankle and was in need of comfort food, not kemchi! Also we were hoping for rather more fish and sea food on the menu. We checked our bill on departure and found they had overcharged us by about £40-ish. We were there for a week. We stayed at a sister hotel in the Brecon Beacons a few months earlier and they overcharged us there by a similar amount. Although we don’t like pretentious, manicured places we felt GHH rather over-did the shabby chic effect. The staff were delightful and very helpful. Very atmospheric setting.

  31. That’s another 6 bags of soil humped up to The Folly.
    Now enjoying a mug of tea before starting to clean the back of the van out!

    3. Do we think there might now be a general awakening to the threat posed by Islam in Europe?

        1. In my view, much can be ascribed to Richard Nikolaus Eijiro, Count of Coudenhove-Kalergi (16 November 1894 – 27 July 1972), founder and first recipient of the Charlemagne Prize. He was a thoroughly nasty and fundamentally unpleasantly racist piece of work. Such a twisted Nippon twerp that I think he opens an insight into how the Japs treated their WWII opponents and especially POWs, including women and children. I hate those bastards.

          1. Not only Kalergi but i am also reading Atlas Shrugged. You can chuck Orwell into that mix. Many people are going to starve or freeze to death with current policy.

          2. Atlas Shrugged & The Fountainhead, 2 great books by Ayn Rand published in the 1950s and they taught me the evils of socialism.

          5. Not really ‘ripping yarns’, more like a diary following the folly of socialism using realistic examples.

          6. The Fountainhead £0.40 on Kindle, Atlas Shrugged £5.99. Perhaps I should at least download a sample.

          7. Atlas Shrugged is the pre-cursor.

            EDIT: Oops The Fountainhead was written in 1949, Atlas Shrugged in 1957.

            Sorreee for duff gen.

      2. 371239+ up ticks,

        Afternoon AS,

        It has been with us for years, a living daily record for ALL to observe, indigenous fools and their Country being parted, a question that will be asked often in the future will be, did you vote for these political overseers TWICE daddy.

        1. Hi Oggy. I have no problem with this question. I have never voted for them!.

        2. Hi Oggy. I have no problem with this question. I have never voted for them!.

    3. All because a spiteful little bad of scum called Balir and Andrew Neather wanted a voting bloc.

      Bastards, both. They should be flayed alive and then the deportations begun. In fact it’s even simpler. Just stop paying sodding welfare. Just make them leave by cutting off the hose of cash that funds their waste of lives.

      1. It was Starmer in 2003, who took the then Labour Govt to court and won them, the gimmegrunts, the right to benefits.

      2. And when the muslim block voters become a majority, like here in Birmingham, they will ditch the Labour flag of convenience and show their true islamic colours.

    4. It is High Treason and nothing less. And in an intelligent society, capital punishment for those committing it would be brought back.

      Am I alone in thinking [nay: knowing] that removing the tariff of a death sentence from the offence of High Treason was, in itself, and act of High Treason? If I had the wherewithal, I would arrest Blair, frogmarch him up and down for a while, clap him in chains, submit him to prolonged torture, then personally hang the twat for what he has done to the UK.

      I’m a bit old-school mediæval like that, me.

      1. When I was young and lived in a civilised country, I thought execution was barbaric and targeted at the innocent. The globalist cabal have taught me why our forebears had such people hanged, drawn and quartered.

        1. Can’t say that I’m with you on the ‘drawn & quartered’ components of your chosen methods. I used to be against execution but my father wasn’t. I have grown up.

          1. Drawn on a hurdle to the place of execution, hanged, maybe disembowelled before losing consciousness and than his body would be cut in quarters and, together with his head (stuck on a pike) they would be displayed in various parts of the town or city.

            In truth it should read, drawn, hanged, disembowelled and cut in fifths.

  35. Good day all,

    Late today at McPhee Towers. Grey day but clearing up to a sunny afternoon. Wind still Nor’ Nor’ East. It was 9℃ when I was out earlier but should be 16℃ later.

    SWMBO is not very well so I’ve had to assume control . Who’d be a housewife! Off to the shops again.

    From letters:

    SIR – I am increasingly distressed at the growth of QR-code restaurant menus.

    Printed menus provide a significant part of the fun of eating out. Two or more people can discuss their favourites, dishes to share, wines to drink – all with enjoyable conversation and anecdotes.

    “Dishes of the day” can look fresh and appealing. Even a solitary diner can enjoy a more convivial experience than simply staring at the phone. Menus can be well crafted and illustrated, sometimes even becoming a souvenir of a happy occasion.

    For an industry that celebrates hospitality, QR codes are most certainly not conducive to it.

    Nick Crean
    Marlborough, Wiltshire

    I have to agree with Nick. I wonder if he frequents the same little French-style bistro in Marlborough which SWMBO and I have been going to recently. Choice of four starters, four mains and four desserts, all on a blackboard, all the same price. Works out at two courses for £23 or three for £29. Superb basic cooking too. Can’t beat it.

    Need to go and do SWMBO’s bidding again.

    1. I agree, Fisc, but if menus are being taken as souvenirs, that may be one incentive for the restaurant to use QRCs. 🤔

      1. Thanks both. So do I. Otherwise I’ll have to forego my planned day’s trouting tomorrow.

  36. I see that India wants all the “stolen” historic relics back from the UK.

    Fine – we’d like our railways back…..

    1. They can have them back provided every single one of them with Indo/Pakistan/Bangladeshi roots has departed these shores. It would be worth it.

      1. I’d restrict that to followers of the RoP. Hindus, Sikhs and Buddists don’t seem to want to take over.

    3. Indeed
      https://www.irfca.org/assets/images/faq/faq-loco-steam-HGS-alon-siton.jpg

      [I’m a great fan of Indian Railways. In September 1966 I was making my way back to England from NZ/Oz through India. I paid the then Rupee equivalent of 16/- for a 3rd Class Student Reduction ticket with unlimited stop-overs from Delhi to Bombay (no ‘Mumbai’ nonsense in those days). After a week on the journey, the facilities seemed grim, even by an 18 year old’s standards. The last overnight stop was Jalgaon for the Ajanta Ellora Caves (marvellous). The final leg was to Bombay airport for a BOAC flight back to Heathrow. I had a spare day on my train schedule to make sure I wouldn’t miss the flight. I got to Jalgaon at the appointed hour expecting the normal IR delay and was amazed to see a plume of smoke coming round the bend ON TIME! I asked an IR wallah on the platform if this was indeed my train for Bombay. “Oh no, sahib”, he replied. “This is yesterday’s train.”]

      And we would like our Lutyens back

      https://img.theculturetrip.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/t58ep5.jpg
      https://www.stirworld.com/images/article_gallery/india-gate-in-delhi-india-built-by-english-architect-sir-edwin-lutyens-edwin-lutyens-stirworld-200329045742.jpg

    4. Well, considering that all the stuff in the British museum, Victoria and Albert etc were not the property of India but obtained from various various princely states, which the Indian government abolished. Precisely who do we give this stuff back to? It is certainly not the property of the Indian government that exists now.
      Furthermore, our contribution to India in terms of communications, education, law, medicine, hygiene, the English language and many other things is more than recompense. It has enabled them to unify the country, end starvation, and progress in a pretty health fashion from what it was, even when I was a child. Politely, the Indians should be told to stick it where the sun don’t shine.

      1. Now that the Idiot King has opined that we ought to consider reparations for slavery everyone will be knocking at Britain’s door asking for handouts!

    1. No worries, the Democrats will find more to charge Trump with so that their supporters in the MSM can ignore Epstein connections and concentrate exclusively on Trump.

  38. OT – this old Global Warming malarkey. Yesterday in Isola 2000 – yer Sarf of France 90 miles from Nice – it was snowing heavily.

    1. I’ve just been talking to Brucie in Upper Ferntree gully Vic. 6 degrees there last night.
      He’s been splitting a cubic metre of redgum logs all day.

      1. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet but a sewer by any other name would stink as foul.

  39. Good Moa Afternoon.
    After Bankgate (“we tried to contact you about cancelling the appointment, but now you’re here, we’ll fit you in”) and Paintgate (“that bloody well isn’t pale grey – more like daubing the walls with Gentian Violet”) we are now recovering with a cuppa and something very rich and unhealthy from the farmers’ market.
    Ho hum; onward and upward.

      1. 🙂 There were other stalls with lovely unhealthy food.
        And a very nice cheese stall, until I realised the owner was charging far more for Baron Bigod cheese and butter than I pay at my local butchers’.

        1. Increasingly I think we just need to bite the bullet and pay what food costs to produce.I guarantee we would waste and eat less. In addition though, where the costs come from should be examined carefully and those reduced.

          I imagine once people realise that the green agenda hammers farmers with taxes and regulation which is then made up with massive subsidy they’ll start to wonder if it wouldn’t be far simpler to say ‘for goodness sake, government. Sod the flip off, you useless bunch of miserable wasters.’

        2. They all have differing costs and price structures. Depends on what is more convenient to you.

          Market cheeses unless from the makers are often ‘distressed’.

    3. Really sweet! I also have to thank you for your good wishes sent via Rose. So a hearty thank you from me to you, it was very kind of you.

      1. You are most welcome – your posts always give me something to think about. I’m pleased to see you posting again.

    4. Marion, the Newfie breeder who ‘own’s Mongo’s Mum is very, very careful to make sure both Mum and pups are old enough and ready to part, and there’s a strict condition that she inspects them and they return to home many times in the first few months to ensure just this sort of thing doesn’t happen.

        1. I’d have thought that having bred you she’d have had her licence rescinded.

          }:-O

          1. There is a special rasp where you can take the points off of your horns…bastard. :@)

    5. Oh dear. That’s reduced me to tears.
      And not just because she looks like Spartie.

      1. I thought so too except Dolly’s legs are shorter.

        It’s the music that makes you tearful !

    6. That was lovely!
      Was there a puppy missing? Mother seems to be looking for one more.

  41. Disabled army veteran who struggled to his feet to salute the Queen’s coffin now faces being made homeless as council can’t
    find him housing.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12047947/Disabled-army-veteran-struggled-feet-salute-Queens-coffin-faces-homeles.html

    I am sure there are 4 and 5 star hotels who have ground floor or chalet type accommodation. Put him in one of those. These councils house thousands of economic migrants quite easily with taxpayers money.

    2. Some of them write for the Mail! He is a man pretending to be a woman. He has serious mental problems and anger management issues. The ‘she’ the Mail refer to is a figment of his fevered imagination.

    3. That’s a bloke. Jaw, skull lines. Anothe rmentally ill weirdo demanding special treatment for their own psychoses.

      Such people are mentally ill. They need to be told no, by a grown up. Thankfully he has been sacked.

        1. That’s a woman, sure enough. I can’t find it online but there’s some sort of AIDS awareness poster with a… goodness knows, on the front. A heavy jawed woman, or a made up bloke. It’s dire.

        1. When i worked in what i would like to call an upmarket French Bistro in Southsea we always called customers Sir or Madam. I had one middle aged couple one night where the husband embarrassed me by insisting i not call him Sir. I had no idea how to respond because i couldn’t think what to call him other than go and have a look at their booking or my watch ! Both of which i was not allowed to do. His wife took pity on me and said to him ‘Arthur…you are embarrassing the young man’. I was not surprised when they didn’t leave a tip.

    5. Whyat’s most annoying is that the article always refers to him as ‘she’.

    6. He’s a walking túrd. The people responsible for closing down the mental asylums have a lot to answer for.

    7. We use to have special buildings to house people like that. Lunatic asylums.

    9. The way it went into full scream mode shows it never should have had a customer facing job. I’m glad the thing has been fired.

    1. Some gormless Labour Lefty kept spouting about the ‘self harm’ of Brexit and was swiftly kiced in the face with facts and asked to stop lying.

      Lots of remoaners didn’t like this, but the facts stand. The Left need beating with them at every opportunity.

  44. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/05/13/elon-musk-spacex-space-race-renegade-rocketmen/

    The headline annoys me. Men build and make things. We are engineers by mindset. Suggesting that a group comprised of only men is a bad thing is moronic. I have no doubt should a female engineer join these chaps they wouldn’t bat an eye as they’d respect her mind. That’s the fundamental evil of DIE: it wants to create division and difference based on irrelevant factors.

    1. I work and worked with women engineers and scientists. All except one were better than the average male engineer, and many were excellent – capable, organised, enquiring, (extremely) well educated, a delight to work with. None were of the loudmouthed opinionated bastard type that quite a few male colleagues are and were. Women engineers are great!

      1. I knew a woman who was studying engineering.
        On the same evening she won both the fastest pint and fastest yard and also did the “King Street run” and the baker’s dozen in near record times. Her nickname was Scotty, naturally.

      2. I flew with a lot of women pilots. There was the odd ‘iffy’ one but most were top-notch. Just like the blokes.

        1. One of the best engineering officers I worked for was a Wing Officer/Commander

      3. Two problems that bothered rail engineers were “Hunting Bogies” and “Roaring Rails” together with 4 wheel freight vehicles jumping off the tracks.
        A lady called Bridget Eikhoff was one of the lead engineers in the teams that solved the first two and identified the 4 wheel derailment problem, a track fault now called “cyclic top”.

    1. The BBC once stood for the protection of culture. Old white men with bad hair and teeth lecturing the plebs on the glories of Civilisation.

      For some time Kenneth Clark’s version was available on iPlayer but it’s been pulled. The parody by Simple Schama, the Bearded Lady and Sago Lou is still available five years on.

  46. Please let Charles III be our last ever king. Julie Burchill 13 May 2023.

    The spoiled, petulant monarch is a walking advert for a republic.

    Petulance is surely one of the most unattractive traits imaginable in a grown man. It has been an unappetising element in Charles’s emotional landscape for as long as I can remember, and it appears to be getting worse rather than better. His temper tantrum last year over a faulty fountain pen was pathetic, as were the excuses made by the adoring forelock-tuggers. After all, he is a septuagenarian who has been schooled all his life on how to behave in public, and who had just been handed a gig he had been gagging for for 50 years.

    Well Julie you will probably get your wish though whether you will find an Imam an improvement is a moot point!

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2023/05/13/please-let-charles-iii-be-our-last-ever-king/

    1. I don’t bother to check in at Spiked any more. Not after Fraser Myers vs Andrew Bridgen.

    2. I don’t bother to check in at Spiked any more. Not after Fraser Myers vs Andrew Bridgen.

      1. Is petulance the blue-light way you get your sick cat to the vet?
        Definitely getting me coat.
        Night, Tom!

  47. Blair and Campbell – a fitting partnership. The name Blair means a killing field/battlefield and Campbell translates as ‘crooked mouth’.

    They certainly lived up to their names.

  48. Savers have no right to expect an inflation-beating return
    Banks have to be allowed to make a profit
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/05/13/savers-inflation-bank-profit-accounts/

    BTL

    And by the same token the government has no right to tax us on negative income.

    Say our savings account pays 5% then that income will be taxable. But if the rate of inflation – owing to government mismanagement – is 10% we shall have lost 5% and yet still have had to pay tax on it. This is nothing short of robbery.

    This sort of skulduggery encourages governments to be careless and incompetent while still not wanting to give up any chance of grabbing what little we have.

    1. Yeah, how dare the peasants complain when the central banksters steal the fruits of their labour via inflation.

      1. Posted this earlier. Don’t know if you saw it or not….

        Whenever destroyers appear among men, they start
        by destroying money, for money is men’s protection and the base of a
        moral existence. Destroyers seize gold and leave to its owners a
        counterfeit pile of paper. This kills all objective standards and
        delivers men into the arbitrary power of an arbitrary setter of values.
        Gold was an objective value, an equivalent of wealth produced. Paper is a
        mortgage on wealth that does not exist, backed by a gun aimed at those
        who are expected to produce it.

        Ayn Rand

        We are nearly there…

    2. And when those same banks have to be bailed out with taxpayer money to ensure the directors bonuses?

          1. We’re becoming the People’s Democratic Republic of England, aren’t we? My only quibble with that novel is the happy ending. Too neat. Ayn Rand also misunderstood Christianity but I don’t blame her for that. So many Marxists call themselves Christians.

          2. The 1950s, Sue, were a time of great hope, with the Cold war as a constant shadow, so happy endings were almost de riguer.

          3. The 1950s, Sue, were a time of great hope, with the Cold war as a constant shadow, so happy endings were almost de riguer.

  50. 371239+ up ticks,

    Is this now the RESET police procedure of the future being given a trial run, Ian Tomlinson paper vendor clubbed by police on his way home from work, the old lad tasared & kicked for stealing a £1 can of beer, now the two dogs meet police brutality.

    Working to this RESET agenda does that mean this reptile deserves the rope ?

    Former Labour Government MP Jailed for Just 28 Months for Possessing Child Porn ?

  51. Busy day today – Hedgehog Trustees AGMm this morning and this afternoon, since the clouds melted away and the sun appeared – some heavy duty weeding outside. Pots and baskets all need clearing out and refilling with new compost and plants….old compost needs somewhere to be dumped……

    Now I’m knackered and having a rest before I have to cook the dinner.

    1. You should have put the slow cooker on before you went out !

      Follow me for more tips… :@)

      1. I have an old slow cooker put away somewhere. I never really got into using it.

        I don’t do early morning cookery.

    2. We did some hoeing this morning ,and got on top of the weeds the sun came out , blast it , it was very warm , too warm .. Our rear garden is south facing .

      We loaded the car up and went to the tip , it was so hot there , loads of people doing the same as us .

      Masses of holiday makers on the road with their cars and canoes , caravans etc ..this year and last seem to have been one long holiday for many.

      Moh was cold last night so we put the C/H on for a few hours , nodded off in the chairs until 0100.. then put the dogs in garden . went to bed after their wees , 0200 hrs , old Jack spaniel wanted to go out again, so up out off bed to the garden , he did his business.. then Moh had to carry him upstairs again .

      This morning and now , we feel as if we have been partying all night .. shattered .. so little proper sleep , apart from in the chairs .

      Quiet b/day for R, I bought him some nice golf shirts .. the sort that are cool to wear , and not sticky in the heat .

      Son did well in the Weymouth 5k Park run .

      My back and hip really ache ..

      Oh dear Southampton have been relegated , no way up for a long time .

      Moh very upset .

      1. Forest Green have been a one season wonder and are now going back to League 2.

        Sounds like you both need a good night’s sleep.

      2. Living on a hillside is probably cooler than where you are. Our garden is more or less on the south west side.

  52. Ben Wallace will resist pressure from senior generals and push ahead with cuts to the army as part of an overhaul of the armed forces next month, The Times has been told.

    Next month the Ministry of Defence will publish its defence command paper, which sets out the government’s long-term ambitions for the military. Under the plans being drawn up in Whitehall, the army will be rebalanced to reduce the number of infantry in favour of more artillery.

    In 2021 the defence secretary announced plans to reduce the number of tanks from 227 to 148 and shrink the army to 73,000 troops, its smallest size since the Napoleonic era.

    The decision was made before the Russian invasion of Ukraine and proved controversial with Tory MPs. General Sir Patrick Sanders, the chief of the general staff, said that pursuing the cuts at a time of war in Europe would be “perverse”.

    But with Nato allies including Poland, Germany and Finland increasing spending on their land armies, ministers believe that Britain is not under significant pressure to change course and can modernise the armed forces with investments elsewhere.

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/b59366b2-f0d6-11ed-bdc8-c06a4e8c18d7?shareToken=50daab07621ccabc023d152dca484131

    The MoD is facing a squeeze on its budget because the Treasury awarded the department a £5 billion increase in spending over the next two years, about half of what had been requested to manage inflation. Of that figure, £3 billion has been set aside for Britain’s nuclear submarine programme, limiting resources for the army and the RAF. The remaining £2 billion will be used to replenish stocks of weapons given to Ukraine.

    “The defence secretary has directed that the army is to be protected from further reductions and it is for the other services to manage their finances,” a defence source said.

    Senior figures in the MoD believe the war in Ukraine has exposed the vulnerability of tanks to shoulder-launched weapons such as Nlaws and Javelins, justifying the original decision in 2021 to upgrade only 148 Challenger 2s to Challenger 3s.

    “We have too much infantry — a legacy of the counter-insurgency wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. We need more artillery. The jury is out on whether you need main battle tanks,” a Whitehall source said.

    There are 75,710 full-time and fully trained troops in the army, and Wallace has previously admitted that it is unable to deploy a war-fighting division. In a private meeting last autumn, the US commander of Nato forces in Europe warned that the British army was no longer regarded as a tier-one fighting force. Senior army figures have argued that planned cuts to the number of tanks and troops would be a mistake.

    “The main lesson from Ukraine is you need mass,” one army source said. “The truth is we don’t have enough infantry and we don’t have enough artillery.” The source also said it was naive to think that the war in Ukraine justified the decision to cut tanks and suggested poor Russian tactics explained why the Kremlin had lost over half its operational fleet in Ukraine.

    “If you’re being hit by Nlaws in an urban environment, your tank is probably in the wrong place,” the source said.

    As part of the military overhaul the army is expected to field more assault groups armed with drones, reflecting the important role played by artillery spotters in Ukraine.

    The plans are a continuation of tactics from 2021 when the army established the Rangers, only the third regiment created since the Second World War. Deployed in small units before the main battlegroup, the Rangers can pinpoint enemy targets and relay information to drones for further reconnaissance or to artillery for a strike.

    An MoD spokesman said: “Through our updated defence command paper, we will set out defence’s vision and prioritise our activities to ensure the UK remains ready to deter adversaries.We will not be drawn on speculation ahead of publication.”

    1. 73,000 troops.
      Remind me, how many male Muslim gimmegrants between the ages of 18 and 30 are now in the UK?
      A LOT more than 73,000 I would suggest, and God only knows how many of them have some sort of military/terrorist training.

      2. “…how many male Muslim gimmegrants between the ages of 18 and 30 are now in the UK?”

        I don’t suppose many of them have access to guns…

        1. Really?
          How can you possibly know that, given that guns are freely available in the criminal underworld.
          Look back to “the troubles”, the IRA had next to no problem obtaining guns, rifles, explosives and combat equipment

          2. Probably not, but I’m guessing you are not taking IED’s etc into account and all the other ways that terrorists can set about killing people.
            These animals are not like soldiers, they don’t wear uniforms, they don’t give a damn if they kill women and children and any other non-combatants, and many of them are quite happy to kill themselves to kill as many infidel as possible.
            If you don’t believe me, look all over the ME, North Africa, Asia etc.

          3. TBH, they wouldn’t need anything as sophisticated as an IED. Thousands of them out on the streets as they would be on any day and armed only with a sharp weapon. At a given moment…

        2. I suspect they do. There are lots of weapons circulating in the UK, just not legally.

    2. Ben Wallace, reminds me of a phrase my brother heard in passing two bowler-hatted, brolly-wielding, city gent types, on Regent Street.

      Spoiler used to protect the faint-hearted, “The man’s a cunt, an absolute shit”

    3. With all the cuts to the army and the giving away of all the armaments to Ukraine, we will be in a bit of a pickle when WW3 kicks off quite soon.

    1. Hankies? Not me, Mum, I’m not a mum, just a father with 5 grand-children and 2 great grand-children.

    2. To present the woke view on Mothers day celebrations:

      Any mention of Mothers day should be removed because there might be little kiddies out there who do not have a mother and they might be upset by seeing others celebrate.

      So sayest several Canadian schools.

      1. The great socialist principle extended beyond economics: “If all cannot have it, none shall have it”.

    3. Very sweet. But one point I can’t resist. Mother’s Day is the fourth Sunday in Lent.

      2. Agreed, Sue, and it’s called ‘Mothering Sunday’.
        – No Mother’s day here, a pure American, Hallmark invention.

      3. Agreed, Sue, and it’s called ‘Mothering Sunday’.
        – No Mother’s day here, a pure American, Hallmark invention.

      4. I am getting lots of emails regarding “mother’s day”, I’m assuming it’s new import.

      6. That is actually Mothering Sunday. Mother’s Day is a commercial invention:)

      7. Is this the US ‘Mother’s Day’ which occurs later in the year, perhaps?

    4. There are also a few clips on FB of very young children having spectacles placed on their heads and obviously seeing their surroundings for the first time. And throughly enjoying what they see.
      A lovely experience for them and their families.

      1. Our son got his first pair of spectacles at the age of 16. On wearing them for the first time on leaving the eye clinic he said ‘Gosh! Is this what the world looks like, then?!’ We had honestly no idea – he obviously had enough near vision with which to cope, but his distance vision was scrambled – he has astigmatism.

  54. What a lovely afternoon it turned out to be with lovely bright sunshine from about 13:00ish.

    After moving the six bags of soil, I got the dinner started, a fairly mild chilli con carne, and then got the back of the van cleaned out.
    After getting a pan of rice done, had dinner and it was lovely!

    1. You’re lucky Bob, its not reach 10 degs here. Stubborn solid cloud has limited the sunshine to zero. Strange because it’s quite windy. We’ve had to put the CH on again.

      1. You should try the frozen wastelands of Canada. It is 21C today and sunny.

        Not completely sunny though, smoke from the Alberta fires is clouding things up a bit.

        1. Been very nice here too on the south coast. And tomorrow if you can believe the forecasters with the crystal balls.

          1. I wouldn’t trust the forecasters to reliably estimate climate in ten years, let alone acxurately forecast tomorrows weather.

        2. One of my uncles lived in Canada way back when. As a youngster I can remember him coming to stay with us one ‘noorff Lundun’ 😊 Christmas for what he called a ‘warmup’. Lovely bloke. One of my dad’s brothers.

  56. Gosh….went into the garage at 20 to 5 to do a bit of tidying. Thought it would take half an hour max. Just finished…..

    Time for a drink (or three – I follow LotL’s regime).

    A demain – when, on hopes it will be less shyte weather.

  57. First day here this year that has been wall to wall sunshine from daybreak until now, and still not a cloud in sight. Got to 19 degrees too. Centigrade!

          1. According to Accuweather, your sunset is at 21:12, Tom.

            Here in leafy Surrey, there’s still 20 minutes till sunset, around half an hour before yours…

      1. I don’t like too much to be honest, but this has been the chilliest and wettest Spring I can remember in the UK. Can’t take the rays like I used to when working in foreign climes.

  58. Re an earlier thread, a question:
    How many Muslims in the armed forces would put religion before country if “commanded” by their Imams?

      2. One of my father’s memorable saying after his experiences in Algeria and Egypt in WW2.

    2. Countries do not exist in the mind of islam, its a one world order under sharia law, otherwise known as the Caliphate. So muslims are merely mouthing loyalty whilst believing something else, if they are true to their faith.

      2. Well we’d better let them know that we are Sovereign Nation, don’t recognise their One World Order nor Sharia Law.

        The Common Law is good enough for us and, if you don’t like it, just Foxtrot Oscar whence you came.

      3. As I understand it, there are two states: Dar-al-Islam, where they are free to carry out their dubious practices, and Dar-al-Harb, which lands are ruled by us non-believing infidels. Luckily, according to an article in the Speccie, our King is an Islamophile, so that’s alright, then…

          2. Thank you for the translation, although I can get by in six languages, Arabic isn’t (and never will be) one of them. It’s just gibberish squiggles.

  59. Utterly off topic:
    Many here will know that I am fascinated by wild orchids and try to encourage as many as possible into my garden.
    This evening I have counted a dozen different ones.
    Some are single, some are in twos or threes, some are in the dozens and some are in the hundreds, and one or two are literally in the thousands (tongue and pyramidal)!

    1. How lovely, Sos. I still have not found any wild orchids in our woods, but will keep looking. Any photos?

      1. I’ll try tomorrow.
        No promises, because I’m a bad photographer and a technical illiterate

    2. You are very lucky to have such splendour in your garden. Advertise the gite for Orchid season and charge double for a tour.

    1. Nana Akua reminded us on GBN earlier that in 1974 the UK jury gave nul points to ABBA. Whoops.

        1. To get to Liverpool, he’d have to go from King’s Cross or St Pancras, I’d think.

          1. There were very few services running from Waterloo today. Southampton via Basingstoke, and a few places nearer London. Nothing to Guildford / Portsmouth Harbour, and the North Downs line is devoid of trains. Again.

          2. I haven’t been in Londonistan for years, and have little or no interest in ever visiting again.

          6. Yorkshire folk assume that GOC refers to their county. But there is a small coterie of exiled Cumbrians in this parish who know better.

          8. Possible, Sue, I haven’t been around that area for many moons.

            See my comment to Geoff, earlier.

          9. Sue is correct. Last time I went to Carlisle, I found myself on a Avanti West Coast ‘gay train’.

            Rather like the rainbow police cars, but longer, and staffed entirely by queers.

          12. Speaking of bitches, I’ve just worked out the reason for multiple dead patches on my back lawn, which I re-turfed in November 2021. It grew like mad. Resolutely refused to turn brown when all other grass did, in last year’s heatwave.

            But I looked after Dianne’s ‘grand-dog’, Maddie the Schnauzer, for a week or so. All has become clear…

          13. Bitch wee kills grass at first but then the grass comes back stronger. So i heard.

      3. Whoops indeed! Must have been because the UK judges thought that ABBA were chanting a low grade advertisement for British Rail.

  61. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/20584bc81efcdf16dfb9e2b4007fe5b01a94842e79ce593f0a5e9a1654235ef9.jpg
    Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
    Is hung with bloom along the bough,
    And stands about the woodland ride
    Wearing white for Eastertide.

    Now, of my threescore years and ten,
    Twenty will not come again,
    And take from seventy springs a score,
    It only leaves me fifty more.

    And since to look at things in bloom
    Fifty springs are little room,
    About the woodlands I will go
    To see the cherry hung with snow.

  62. Customer, “Why are free range eggs more expensive?”
    Cashier, “They’re harder to catch.”

        1. Here’s one for you….
          How do you make an Irish cocktail?
          Put a potato in a pint of Guinness

          I’ll go now, quietly…..

          5. As I’ve never understood begorrah, I’d think I’d rather be jaysuzed. 🙃🙂

          6. As “bloody” is a mash up of “By our Lady”, so is Begorrah as a way of saying “By God.”
            “In faith and begorrah” is an Irish oath, so I have read.

          9. I suspect he might if we had any space to store it. It’s more a thing about going to the pub and having a pint or two for him.

      3. Today I went to the toilet without my phone.
        There are 124 tiles in there.

    2. Cyclops: How do you spell Hawaii?
      Mrs Cyclops: “Well… you need two i’s!”

  64. Well I’m on my third glass of red and feeling quite good. Erin’s not happy because of my health issues. But……we’ve just been watching the re-rasing of the Mary Rose. Typically English, far too many know it all people interferring.
    Now watching the finally of the race across the world.
    Nearly ten thousand miles across Canada 🇨🇦 we want to go there. What a wonderful country.

    2. A cousin of mine was watching the raising of the Mary Rose live when her elder son asked her if she remembered when it sank. I’ve never let her forget it.

      1. Everyone in Sweden remembers Vasa.

        The silly king demanded a third gun deck which made it top-heavy so, surprise, surprise, it fell over. Now in a museum, as it’s useless as a naval Man o’ War.

      3. Many years ago now, I did a 3 month sub in Kindergarten in an elementary school in CT. The teacher next door and I got together with our classes and showed a filmstrip about Thanksgiving and how the Pilgrim Fathers came to America. The other teacher then said to the kids that Mrs. —— had also come from England to live in America. There was a pause and a small boy raised his hand and asked, ” Is Mrs. ——- a pilgrim?”
        The other teacher, whose name was also Ann, and I could not look at each other, we were in stitches.
        Kids are so funny at times.

        1. When I was a young soldier of about 22 (1978), the son of an Army colleague asked me what I had done in the war…

      4. I watched it live, too. It was the fore-runner of the RORO disaster at Zeebrugge (heeled over and the open gunports filled the lower decks with water).

  65. Hmmm – Amazon sent us 4 books by Jill Patton Walsh recently, as ordered. Sadly while 3 were fine, the 4th had the right cover on it but a totally different book inside – by Jonathan Sacks as it happens. We went through the return process, which was actually quite good – no need to wrap, just take it to a Hub Post Office and show them the QR code and they send it back. Amazon swung into action and sent a replacement of the book, which arrived today – sadly it was an exact copy – right down to being the wrong book inside – I wonder how many other copies they have??

      1. What might be interesting is someone ordering the Sacks book and getting Lord Peter Wimsey!!

        1. Quite, an “English Orthodox rabbi, philosopher, theologian, and author.”

          1. Not according to the title page, which spells it SACKS! “Jonathan Henry Sacks, Baron Sacks was an English Orthodox rabbi,
            philosopher, theologian, and author. Sacks served as the Chief Rabbi of
            the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth from 1991 to 2013” Now Manuel, however …

  66. Hmmm – Amazon sent us 4 books by Jill Patton Walsh recently, as ordered. Sadly while 3 were fine, the 4th had the right cover on it but a totally different book inside – by Jonathan Sacks as it happens. We went through the return process, which was actually quite good – no need to wrap, just take it to a Hub Post Office and show them the QR code and they send it back. Amazon swung into action and sent a replacement of the book, which arrived today – sadly it was an exact copy – right down to being the wrong book inside – I wonder how many other copies they have??

  67. Top tip: Adopt a retired drug sniffer dog to find new friends at parties.

    1. Last time we landed there I couldn’t resist patting a drug dog at Perth Airport. I got into trouble. But I’d do it again just to annoy the dickheads.
      I wonder what the Arabs etc use as drug trackers. Probably slaves.

  68. Cat just jumped off my lap, leaving a cloud of fine hairs in the air, like a fighter shooting off chaff. No wonder there’s hair every place.

      1. Judging by what flew in the door a bit earlier, we have colossal bumblebees.

  69. Kate mixed up in politics again this evening. They are making a huge mistake with all this political stuff, and William and Kate are now as compromised as Charles, which doesn’t bode well for the future.

    1. The Royals are simply not very bright.

      They believe themselves popular with the masses but most of us find them pointless and mourn the passing of the late Queen and her husband, so intelligent and dignified by comparison.

  70. Live it up a little.
    Text to a random number: “It’s done, but there’s blood everywhere!”

  71. To those who wanted orchid pictures, I tried with some I took a few minutes ago, too dark. but no joy, I’ll try again tomorrow

    1. Many thanks. You and HG must get a lot of pleasure from them, how long do they last?

      1. It varies quite a lot, some for a few days, some a few weeks. The early marsh and the early tongue ones appear late Feb, early March and then we get a succession of different ones until the last of the year, autumn ladies’ tresses in September October. Peak months are May and June.

      1. Reminds me of a joke.
        A group of elderly ladies on a coach day trip to the south coast. And taking a toilet break on the way home. Some one organises a group photo along side the coach. With the driver taking a photograph. Three of them are slow making their way back from the facilities.
        Come on you three shouts the organ iser, get a move on, the driver wants to get us all in to focus……what all of us at once says one of the more expectant day trippers.
        And getting all the flowers into focus is very important Sos.

        1. I must be tired, it took me three reads and re-reads to get the joke, Ready Eddy.

  73. Right, if there’s any chance of sleeping through the night, I’ll say, Goodnight and God bless, gentlefolk.

    1. I thought of this point when asking why on God’s Earth would a UK government send depleted Uranium shells and Cruise missiles to the nutter in Ukraine. The outcome is that the fertile land taken back by Russia will henceforth be wasteland polluted with toxic fall out and littered with unexplored ordnance.

      It has been obvious for some time that Russia is prevailing so why send good money after bad if not of truly evil intent.

      Our government is truly evil. It is a mini-me version of the corrupt Biden regime, full of loathing of others and wishing irreversible harm on the innocent in order to remain in power.

      1. He was dismantling a suspension spring assembly from a car without using a spring compressor and was, rather stupidly, holding the assembly between his legs as he did so.
        When the retaining nut came off, the compressed spring sprang up and appears to have mashed his gonads.

  77. Evening, all. Never mind the critics, the government ignores the effect of uncontrolled immigration – largely because it wants to destroy the culture and homogeneity of this country.

    1. I think it’s simpler. Big government wanted a client state to ensure it’s perpetuation. As the white, nuclear family doesn’t want a lot from the state a frenzied attempt was made to destroy it and replace it with those who would.

      Add in Blair’s massive expansion of welfare and the state tocreate a voting bloc, his constant fiddling of unemployment figures and you end up with a state machine utterly obsessed with it’s own perpetuation. That power attracts the useless bitter Left who pervert this obese leviathan for their own ends – chaos, authoritarianism, oppression and control. It’s all they know.

    1. With the amount of compression your brain does to visual data it’s a wonder folk aren’t completely crackers.

      Why don’t men notice a haircut? Because to us, nothing has really changed. However, why do we notice motion? Because it’s change, and we are good at noticing change – it helped us avoid predators.

  80. We are watching Dr Who from the beginning, it’s William Hartnall atm, 25 min episodes – early 60s . I must admit it’s very dramatic, Susan is constantly screaming, the Dr seems redundant and hardly ever seen – it almost looks like a play. It’s just very tiring atm – I assume it wasn’t as popular In the beginning – I never saw it then. Shall stick with it but its so predictable in those early days .
    Mind you the cut glass English accents and superb manners were a delight, and as I remember.

  81. We are watching Dr Who from the beginning, it’s William Hartnall atm, 25 min episodes – early 60s . I must admit it’s very dramatic, Susan is constantly screaming, the Dr seems redundant and hardly ever seen – it almost looks like a play. It’s just very tiring atm – I assume it wasn’t as popular In the beginning – I never saw it then. Shall stick with it but its so predictable in those early days .
    Mind you the cut glass English accents and superb manners were a delight, and as I remember.

  82. Long old day for me today. Just finished – have been on my feet since 7 am, preparing for the onslaught of family tomorrow.

    On Monday I have the day off, to take my mum and dad, and my niece and daughter, to the Palace to get their DoE gold medals. (I am not allowed in, but my folks are too old to go in by public transport).

    My niece lives overseas and has flown in. It was a great surprise my niece and daughter got the same day. It will be lovely for their grandparents to be with them.

    I have made more puddings, stews, flans and salads than I care to think about. Feeding 8 people even if only for 3 or 4 days is time consuming. I am not short of money but wow! I’m glad I don’t have to do this full-time.

    Better go to bed. Dog-walking at 6:15 tomorrow.

    1. Take it easy. But enjoy your time with your family. Such Precious moments in time.

      1. Seconded, Particularly since I have no family left in the UK. My next-of-kin, my eldest daughter, is in Tasmania – a long. long way away.

  83. Well, chums, I am back after a day or so’s absence. Good night, sleep well and see you all tomorrow.

  84. I’ve been trying to stay awake for the last hour but it’s not working, so I’ll give in.
    Good night all.

  87. Anybody watch the Pong Contest?
    We watched Inspector Montalbano.
    Everyone seems to have gone to bed early.
    Nighty night all 😴

    1. My wife watched Montalbano with her headphones on. I liked the earlier episodes but as with everything we like initially, the thing goes downhill speedily. I listened to commentary on the US websites, more interesting and arresting.

      When in practice, I retired last year age 70, I had little time to acquaint myself more fully with world affairs. Retirement has allowed me to read all of those books I had acquired over the years and try to better understand ‘what the fuck’ is going on in the world.

      My dear wife often remarks after our conversations that I am now cleverer. My response is that I was always clever but that now I am much better informed.

  88. 00:37
    I was awake again having gone to bed at 20:00 yesterday but awake again and out of bed at 00:04.

    Dressed and fit to fight.

    1. Hell’s bells, Corrim, you subjected yourself to watch such utter dross?

      I think a lesson has been learnt and it’s no hollow victory for Good Sense.

      1. No Sir J, I simply tuned in to find the result, expecting some Ukrainian Gypsy or neo-Nazi group to have won threatening death to Putin or some such rubbish.

        I have always despised the Eurovision Song Contest. We watched it years ago but as we matured and searched for our own political minds we dropped it as a load of adulterated tosh.

        There was once an excellent programme on TV entitled ‘Eurotrash’. That has vanished despite being both truthful and entertaining.

        1. It might have been good back when we watched it, they had real pop a tslike Abba and Sandie Shaw (real is subjective).

          Nowadays from the snippets we see, it isal, outrage and provocative rubbish. I am surprised that Trudeau doesn’t take part, it is dross at his intellectual level.

        2. I watched the thirty excerpts and an invitation to vote. They all sounded and looked the same to me. Shouty tattooed goosestepping punks, the lot of them.

          I spent the morning rehearsing ‘The Music Makers’ for the Elgar Festival. Written in the year my cottage was built, it has tearful pianissimo with a silence that is disrupted even by turning a page, right up to heavily accented soaring tenor passionate melody and more emotion in a single bar than came out an entire evening of Eurovision.

          I remember ‘Eurotrash’ well. It was actually a parody of Monty Python’s “Pouffes celèbres”, where two real Frenchmen Antoine and Jean-Paul took off Michael Palin and John Cleese with aplomb. One of the featuring stars actually died of cosmetic surgery, giving her life for the “Look at Lolo” spot on the show.

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