Saturday 14 January: Britain’s struggling households are in no position to pursue net zero at any cost

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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610 thoughts on “Saturday 14 January: Britain’s struggling households are in no position to pursue net zero at any cost”

  1. Good morrow, Gentlefolk, a DIY story list for today.

    Tools For DIY Explained

    For those of you who are considering DIY work here is a list of tools and their uses. For those of you who are experienced DIYers you will no doubt recognise them…….

    DRILL PRESS: A tall upright machine useful for suddenly snatching flat metal bar stock out of your hands so that it smacks you in the chest and flings your beer across the room, denting the freshly-painted project which you had carefully set in the corner where nothing could get to it.
    WIRE WHEEL: Cleans paint off bolts and then throws them somewhere under the workbench with the speed of light. Also removes fingerprints and hard-earned calluses from fingers in about the time it takes you to say, ‘Oh shit’
    DROP SAW: A portable cutting tool used to make studs too short.
    PLIERS: Used to round off bolt heads. Sometimes used in the creation of blood-blisters.
    BELT SANDER: An electric sanding tool commonly used to convert minor touch-up jobs into major refinishing jobs.
    HACKSAW: One of a family of cutting tools built on the Ouija board principle… It transforms human energy into a crooked, unpredictable motion, and the more you attempt to influence its course, the more dismal your future becomes.
    MOLE-GRIPS: Generally used after pliers to completely round off bolt heads. If nothing else is available, they can also be used to transfer intense welding heat to the palm of your hand.
    OXYACETYLENE TORCH: Used almost entirely for lighting on fire various flammable objects in your shop. Also handy for igniting the grease inside the wheel hub out of which you want to remove a bearing race.
    TABLE SAW: A large stationary power tool commonly used to launch wood projectiles for testing wall integrity.
    HYDRAULIC FLOOR JACK: Used for lowering an automobile to the ground after you have installed your new brake shoes, trapping the jack handle firmly under the bumper.
    BAND SAW: A large stationary power saw primarily used by most shops to cut good aluminium sheet into smaller pieces that more easily fit into the trash can after you cut on the inside of the line instead of the outside edge.
    TWO-TON ENGINE HOIST: A tool for testing the maximum tensile strength of everything you forgot to disconnect.
    PHILLIPS SCREWDRIVER: Normally used to stab the vacuum seals under lids or for opening old-style paper-and-tin oil cans and splashing oil on your shirt; but can also be used, as the name implies, to strip out Phillips screw heads.
    STRAIGHT SCREWDRIVER: A tool for opening paint cans. Sometimes used to convert common slotted screws into non-removable screws and butchering your palms.
    CROW BAR: A tool used to crumple the metal surrounding that clip or bracket you needed to remove in order to replace a 50 pence part.
    HOSE CUTTER: A tool used to make hoses too short.
    HAMMER: Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a kind of divining rod to locate the most expensive parts adjacent the object we are trying to hit.
    UTILITY KNIFE: Used to open and slice through the contents of cardboard cartons delivered to your front door; works particularly well on contents such as seats, vinyl records, liquids in plastic bottles, collector magazines, refund checks, and rubber or plastic parts. Especially useful for slicing work clothes, but only while in use.
    BASTARD TOOL: Any handy tool that you grab and throw across the garage while yelling ‘Bastard’ at the top of your lungs. It is also, most often, the next tool that you will need.

      1. ‘Morning, Hugh.

        I managed to change some of the Merkin names but was stumped for the English name for “TABLE SAW”. Any ideas?

        3. Not really, it’s what I call mine, even though these days it is used mostly for cutting up scrap wood for the fire.

    2. The list doesn’t include the Puberty Tool – A magnet on a long telescopic handle used for dropped nuts….

  7. Up at 04:30, having gone to bed yesterday at 16:30.

    Not slept through all that, more’s the pity; having to scramble up at odd irregular intervals, to unleash Umberto at the underglaze.

    1. What a fun day to look forward to, Paul.

      Still dark here in The Borders and it’s been raining.

      1. I prefer snow to rain. Although not self-clearing, snow lightens the place up in the darker months and can be used to slide on for fun.

        1. “… and can be used to slide on for fun accidentally”

          My take on it, Paul. I hate the bastard stuff, being prone to falling, even without snow.

  9. The Loudoun County cover-up reveals the moral depravity of woke. Spiked. 14 January 2023.

    A schoolgirl was raped by a ‘genderfluid’ boy – and her school covered it up.

    That image of Smith being arrested was used by the media to portray the parents’ movement as extreme and violent. The National School Boards Association cited Smith’s arrest in a letter it sent to President Biden in September 2021, which called for protesting parents to be treated akin to domestic terrorists. In turn, that letter spurred attorney general Merrick Garland to direct the FBI to investigate threats against school officials and teachers.

    Smith and other protesting parents have now been vindicated. A special grand-jury investigation found last month that Loudoun school administrators attempted to cover up two sexual assaults in the district, both committed by the same ‘genderfluid’ boy. Following the publication of the grand jury’s report, Loudoun schools superintendent Scott Ziegler has been fired. He also faces three criminal indictments.

    The wholeTrans narrative is a lie concocted by the sexually deranged and supported by the brainless adherents of Cultural Marxism. I wouldn’t normally wish the American Justice System on anyone but one can only hope that Ziegler gets twenty years, if only to dissuade his like!

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2023/01/13/the-loudoun-county-cover-up-reveals-the-moral-depravity-of-woke/

    1. Why charge the American taxpayer to pay for this “gender fluid”‘s bed and board for 20 years? Send him to the electric chair asap.

    2. Why charge the American taxpayer to pay for this “gender fluid”‘s bed and board for 20 years? Send him to the electric chair asap.

  10. The Loudoun County cover-up reveals the moral depravity of woke. Spiked. 14 January 2023.

    A schoolgirl was raped by a ‘genderfluid’ boy – and her school covered it up.

    That image of Smith being arrested was used by the media to portray the parents’ movement as extreme and violent. The National School Boards Association cited Smith’s arrest in a letter it sent to President Biden in September 2021, which called for protesting parents to be treated akin to domestic terrorists. In turn, that letter spurred attorney general Merrick Garland to direct the FBI to investigate threats against school officials and teachers.

    Smith and other protesting parents have now been vindicated. A special grand-jury investigation found last month that Loudoun school administrators attempted to cover up two sexual assaults in the district, both committed by the same ‘genderfluid’ boy. Following the publication of the grand jury’s report, Loudoun schools superintendent Scott Ziegler has been fired. He also faces three criminal indictments.

    The wholeTrans narrative is a lie concocted by the sexually deranged and supported by the brainless adherents of Cultural Marxism. I wouldn’t normally wish the American Justice System on anyone but one can only hope that Ziegler gets twenty years, if only to dissuade his like!

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2023/01/13/the-loudoun-county-cover-up-reveals-the-moral-depravity-of-woke/

  11. Morning all. Wet and miserable here – dog not at all keen on being dragged out. But drag him out I did and I am now getting exercised about Charles Moore’s piece in today’s Terriblegraph, on Scotland’s Gender Recognition Reform (GRR) bill.

    Rant 1: Moore writes “…In the case of trans people, you are talking about a small, vulnerable minority who often suffer rising abuse during such controversies.” I am fed up of reading how so-called “trans people” are “vulnerable”. Here’s a definition pulled from the internet: “(of a person) in need of special care, support, or protection because of age, disability, or risk of abuse or neglect”. With the best will in the world, none of the “trans-activists” I’ve read about seem “vulnerable” in any way whatsoever and I actually doubt any “trans people” (sic) are “vulnerable” in the way the activists would have us believe. I do think, however, that young children are vulnerable to being recruited into the “cult of trans” by adults who do NOT have the children’s best interests at heart. To this, the children are very vulnerable indeed. But somehow I know this is not what Moore meant.

    Rant 2: Moore writes “So, in an example Dr Foran gives, suppose a biological woman with a GRC as a man, issued under the GRR, is pregnant. Can he any longer invoke the Equality Act’s protection from discrimination as a pregnant woman? Surely not, if the GRR has decreed that, by self-identification alone, he has become, in law, a man. A recent interpretation of the Equality Act in the Scottish courts implies as much.” The words you are looking for, Moore, are “she” instead of “he” – there is no man in this example, as a matter of biological fact. It matters not what the law says. As a matter of fact, the woman has NOT become a man. That Moore, an intelligent man, has written such is surely therefore not a mistake. He must have written it because that is now where we are in this country – that the law really does say a man can “become a woman” and vice versa. If this is the case, we have to ask again – who are these idiots that create our laws and vote to pass them?

    Rant 3: to add to rant 2, Moore goes on to say “ Under existing law, which the GRR does not alter, it is a criminal offence for a person who has officially acquired protected information – such as a GRC, which is backed by the altered birth certificate it permits and is usable in any part of the UK – to disclose it. So, if the girls say to their teacher, “Miss, why is he allowed into our toilets when he’s a boy?” the teacher is not allowed to reply, “because he has a GRC”. The teacher must say something like, “Because she is a woman.””

    Seriously, my blood is boiling. Our politicians, whom we remunerate handsomely, have got us into this mess. My contempt for them, which I thought had reached rock bottom, is now somewhere out the other side in the antipodes.

    1. …and, above all, while recognising that the GRC is recognisable in the the rest of the UK.

      So the Wee Pretendy Parliament can make law that covers the whole UK?

      I think not; present me with a GRC and I’ll rip it up in front of your very eyes.

      1. This is the point that Westminster has to decide upon.

        “ When Tony Blair began his devolution in 1998, Section 35 was devised more to help devolved government than to hinder it. The Scottish Parliament wanted a big scope. Section 35 was the quid pro quo for allowing this, to prevent legal/ policy mess. The SNP accordingly voted for Section 35.

        It is because of its constitutional importance that the Government almost certainly will invoke it next week. Because it is a constitutional issue not, despite the GRR’S content, a sex-and-gender one, the minister in charge will be the Scottish Secretary, Alister Jack”.

        Although the Tories are utterly, utterly useless and the difference between them, Labour and the Non-Lib Non-Dems is less than a cigarette paper, it was Labour that gave us Devolution and the UK Gender Recognition Act in 2010, both of which have directly led us to where we are today, and Labour who are continuing to champion the “trans” nonsense (presumably as a sort of antecedent to the PIE that members such as Harriet Harman supported back in the 70s. Or maybe because there is money in it, for them. Actually, probably it’s all about the money.)

        1. When ripping up someone’s GRC, I will accompany it with, “This is Scottish Law and not applicable to England; now eff orf back to chasing bare-arsed savages round rocks with a sword and leave me in peace.“

          2. That’s the downside, J. I’d probably still rip it up as ‘Sturgeon’s Law.”

            Who knows when I might do a General MacArthur, “I shall return.”

    2. I might believe it when people can change their xx into xy or vice versa but not just with a piece of paper.

    3. That last paragraph is the worst of all. They want to close off all kinds of jobs to people who won’t go along with the madness – guest house owners, wedding service providers, now anyone who deals with the public as well as teachers.

  12. Morning all. Wet and miserable here – dog not at all keen on being dragged out. But drag him out I did and I am now getting exercised about Charles Moore’s piece in today’s Terriblegraph, on Scotland’s Gender Recognition Reform (GRR) bill.

    Rant 1: Moore writes “…In the case of trans people, you are talking about a small, vulnerable minority who often suffer rising abuse during such controversies.” I am fed up of reading how so-called “trans people” are “vulnerable”. Here’s a definition pulled from the internet: “(of a person) in need of special care, support, or protection because of age, disability, or risk of abuse or neglect”. With the best will in the world, none of the “trans-activists” I’ve read about seem “vulnerable” in any way whatsoever and I actually doubt any “trans people” (sic) are “vulnerable” in the way the activists would have us believe. I do think, however, that young children are vulnerable to being recruited into the “cult of trans” by adults who do NOT have the children’s best interests at heart. To this, the children are very vulnerable indeed. But somehow I know this is not what Moore meant.

    Rant 2: Moore writes “So, in an example Dr Foran gives, suppose a biological woman with a GRC as a man, issued under the GRR, is pregnant. Can he any longer invoke the Equality Act’s protection from discrimination as a pregnant woman? Surely not, if the GRR has decreed that, by self-identification alone, he has become, in law, a man. A recent interpretation of the Equality Act in the Scottish courts implies as much.” The words you are looking for, Moore, are “she” instead of “he” – there is no man in this example, as a matter of biological fact. It matters not what the law says. As a matter of fact, the woman has NOT become a man. That Moore, an intelligent man, has written such is surely therefore not a mistake. He must have written it because that is now where we are in this country – that the law really does say a man can “become a woman” and vice versa. If this is the case, we have to ask again – who are these idiots that create our laws and vote to pass them?

    Rant 3: to add to rant 2, Moore goes on to say “ Under existing law, which the GRR does not alter, it is a criminal offence for a person who has officially acquired protected information – such as a GRC, which is backed by the altered birth certificate it permits and is usable in any part of the UK – to disclose it. So, if the girls say to their teacher, “Miss, why is he allowed into our toilets when he’s a boy?” the teacher is not allowed to reply, “because he has a GRC”. The teacher must say something like, “Because she is a woman.””

    Seriously, my blood is boiling. Our politicians, whom we remunerate handsomely, have got us into this mess. My contempt for them, which I thought had reached rock bottom, is now somewhere out the other side in the antipodes.

  13. ‘Morning, Peeps.  I see that the monsoon season is back again…

    Today’s leading letter:

    SIR – You report (January 13) on the “net zero plan to ban gas boilers in a decade”.

    In a free-market economy, as new and more efficient technologies become available, consumers will naturally rush to adopt them.

    However, until we reach that point, the imposition of arbitrary target dates forcing us to adopt costly and less efficient solutions amounts to economic suicide.

    A grown-up debate on this net zero obsession is long overdue.

    N H Bailey
    Stockport, Cheshire

    I’m sorry to inform you, Mr Bailey, that the debate was over in June 2019 when Mr Skidmark signed us up for the net zero lunacy.  And I can think of no political party, or even group of individuals, in the H of C who would be prepared to overturn it, or even provide any meaningful attempts to do so.  Net Zero is the new religion – and the fact that it is completely bonkers will make no difference.

    When the history books are written (if we as a country last long enough to do so) generations following ours will rapidly conclude that the green disease finally laid low one of the most prosperous and innovative countries on the planet.

    1. At the next election in up to 2 years time, any party stating that it is continuing with Net Zero will not get my vote and I urge others to take that course. If other West Countries strictly adopt Net Zero as our politicians think, then Liquid Natural Gas and other fossil fuels will be cheap. The Reform party should consider abolishing Net Zero in its manifesto with the good reasons for doing so.

      1. Trouble is, Clyde, that by itself, Reform will never be a power for change, or even an effective opposition.

        Amalgamation with ALL the other vote-splitting parties is the only answer.

        1. I agree, and they will need to get their skates on if they are going to form an alternative to what was once a party of the right that was a force to be reckoned with. Sadly, that died with Mrs T.

      2. Trouble is, Clyde, that by itself, Reform will never be a power for change, or even an effective opposition.

        Amalgamation with ALL the other vote-splitting parties is the only answer.

      3. Trouble is, Clyde, that by itself, Reform will never be a power for change, or even an effective opposition.

        Amalgamation with ALL the other vote-splitting parties is the only answer.

  14. Another letter setting out the futility of our so-called energy policy:

    SIR – For a political party to be elected or re-elected, it must possess credibility. There is a distinct lack of this in Britain.

    Why are wind and solar farms being promoted and becoming central to Britain’s energy system, even though they don’t work when the wind does not blow and the sun does not shine?

    Why is there virtually no existing or planned energy storage infrastructure to back up these power sources?

    Why are the sales of new diesel and petrol cars to be banned by 2030 when there are insufficient charging points for electric cars, as well as insufficient energy generation?

    Why are we importing vast quantities of gas, coal and oil when we have our own resources?

    Who is going to pay for expensive non-gas boilers and heat pumps?

    The present Government has lost its credibility in the eyes of the public. The Opposition offers little better.

    Stuart Moore
    Bramham, West Yorkshire

    You may well ask, Mr Moore.  The fact is that our ‘here today gone tomorrow’ politicians struggle to grasp such fundamental points, and until they do so – if ever – we are doomed.  Besides, it is all about bringing this country to its knees, so don’t expect any reversal!

    1. Ordinary people aren’t expected to question these matters. They won’t be able to afford or need electric cars.

    2. Mr Moore, see if you can check and find out who the profit beneficiaries of these companies are. My guess is that they will be amongst the 650 in Westminster. And some people who are inhabitants of ‘the other place’.

    3. The elites are happy for the likes of Stuart Moore to carry on posing these questions ad infinitem.
      Wake up, Mr Moore – Depopulation. Reduction of the masses to serfdom. Happening in front of your eyes.

  15. SIR – Shamima Begum, whose case is discussed by Judith Woods (Features, January 13), has gone to great lengths to persuade everyone that she was an innocent victim, not a terrorist sympathiser.

    However, she herself said she was unfazed by having severed heads in her dustbin. She is not innocent.

    Deradicalisation has been shown to be ineffective, and she has made her choice. Letting her return to Britain would be a huge mistake and an insult to the families of all those who were killed or maimed by Isis terrorists.

    Mick Ferrie
    Mawnan Smith, Cornwall

    Bravo, Mr Ferrie, but why do I get the horrible, sinking feeling that sooner or later we (or the courts)  will give way to her.  If so that will indeed be a terrible decision.

    1. William Fleming of Frimley, bless, is more forgiving: “… Miss Begum was less fortunate. As a 15-year-old girl, she was seduced by a perverted ideology into running away from home and becoming, within days, willingly or not, the underage consort of an Isis activist, and eventually the mother of three dead babies.

      By any civilised standard she was an abused child, and deserves the care and understanding that would be afforded to any such girl, even though she is now an adult.”

      Edit. I do not agree with him, however.

      1. “Bollux“, Mr Fleming of Frimley, “Would you take this murderous bitch into your house?”

      2. ‘Morning, Mir. Methinks Mr Fleming of Frimley has gone a bit soft in the head. It seems as though he would be happy to let back in everyone who embraces savagery. And what kind of a signal would be sent by letting her return?

        Strange, isn’t it, that the age of criminal responsibility in this country is 10 years of age…

      3. The basic cause of the problem is….
        They all read the same book Mr Fleming. Oh oh and seven more.

    2. William Fleming of Frimley, bless, is more forgiving: “… Miss Begum was less fortunate. As a 15-year-old girl, she was seduced by a perverted ideology into running away from home and becoming, within days, willingly or not, the underage consort of an Isis activist, and eventually the mother of three dead babies.

      By any civilised standard she was an abused child, and deserves the care and understanding that would be afforded to any such girl, even though she is now an adult.”

      Edit. I do not agree with him, however.

    3. I have no wish to see her return but we have allowed quite a number of fighters to come back and walk on our streets. I would have thought she might have a better chance of getting to Holland where her husband is enjoying a comfy break in jail.

      1. Probably allowed conjugal visits.
        She could produce more infants that conveniently die before the photographers arrive.

    4. “However, she herself said she was unfazed by having severed heads in her dustbin.”

      They might indeed have been put in the wrong recycling bin. Time the Morality Police taught her the error of her ways.

  18. Britain’s struggling households are in no position to pursue net zero at any cost

    That was the plan all along, wasn’t it.

  19. BBC reporting that the Iranian British citizen has been executed despite the UK trying to stop it. Doesn’t mention the method of execution.

    4. They hung him.

      I don’t know if that’s halal though. I thought they had to slit their throats whilst shouting “Allahu Akhbar”, let the blood drain out, and then hang him.

      Will the forthcoming execution of the executioner get a mention on the BBC?

          1. Yes, pheasants are hung to improve the flavour.

            It doesn’t apply to judicial death penalties – those sentenced are ‘hanged’.

            It’s just the English language, which I love and will defend, and it doesn’t apply to criminal meat.

    5. He wasn’t as photogenic – or employed by the ‘right’ people in the UK – as ungrateful Nazanin Whinger-Ratcliffe.

  20. 369967+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Saturday 14 January: Britain’s struggling households are in no position to pursue net zero at any cost

    Should read,

    Saturday 14 January: Britain’s struggling households are in no position to pursue net zero at any cost and finance a morally illegal politico protection squad / militia in 4/5 star hotels.

    This is not news it is a statement of fact, part & parcel of the annealing repress,replace, RESET campaign.

    The political “elites” are meeting in Davos shortly to discuss progress made & to be made ongoing, the politico following fools are doing their bit acting as a firth column on the home front in the destruction of a once decent Nation.

    1. Come friendly bombs and fall on Davos!
      It isn’t fit for humans now,
      There isn’t grass to graze a cow.
      Swarm over, Death!

      John Betjeman

      2. It’s not their fault they do not know
        The birdsong from the radio,
        It’s not their fault they often go
        To Maidenhead.

        The poor sods are unaware that the MP there is Evila May!

      2. During my nearly two years of problems with atrial fibrillation. Every one I have spoken to in the medical profession has agreed that covid jabs had caused the cardiology problems.
        Around 12 months ago. One of my local friends had a massive heart attack, was rushed into A&E and suffered a fatal stroke.
        All of a similar age group.
        I’ve lost three other lifelong friends since and during the outbreak of covid. But all apparently due to existing health issues.

        1. SWMBOs brother had a massive heart attack & died on the spot. Shortly after the clot-shot.

      4. People are being very cynical and saying that if this man is allowed to say the truth on the BBC, it’s part of the controlled release of information.
        The next mass medication event will have some equally convincing excuse.

    2. “See the latest COVID-19 information on Twitter” Ha ha.

      Try it, “Page doesn’t exist.”

    4. ‘King idiots how many people have they murdered already.
      How many other people have had their immune systems destroyed in the same way.

        1. Same has happened to one of my
          BiL’s had every jab available, he and my big Sis, both had covid in the middle of the ‘pandemic’. Too much church. And he’s been in hospital for weeks with cardiology problems.

    1. All the people in the Rhodesian army were white.
      Weren’t there any black ones?
      Only their privates.
      How exotic!

  23. With my tinfoil hat on I was just wondering about all this Prince Harry malarkey.
    Since under the great reset all avenues of possible future resistance that can unite people will have to go.
    Is Harry just playing his part in undermining the institution with the public?
    Are they all just playing their parts?

      1. Yes but what has he been offered in return for complying?
        I assume all those in government that are steering us down this path are doing it for personal gain

        2. I think that the WEF are confident in knowing that Prince Harry is far too stupid to see and understand that he is being used.

        3. Charles is planning on his family staying at the top of the tree with cars, meat, property, wealth and all the other luxuries denied to the bug-eating peasants when the reset is over.

    2. I think he is just a useful idiot. That his undermining the Royal Family suits the WEF is coincidence.

    3. Charles is in it up to his neck, as are most of the European royals. I think the media is just using Harry to fill pages so that they don’t have to report on sudden deaths or currency collapse (which is going to come as a complete surprise to most people as far as I can see).

    4. It is all theatre for the public. Why should the media suddenly start telling the truth about Harry?

    1. Got all wrapped up for the morning walk. Ozzie sits by the door, Mongo beside him. I open it. A great blast of wind and rain and the great oaf turns tail and goes back upstairs. Ozzie and I headed out like troopers.

  27. Good morning all. And “good” certainly does not refer to the weather outside!
    Very misty with low cloud, a steady fine rain and a tad below 5°C on the thermometer.

  29. Morning All,

    Dr Layla McCay of NHS Confederation has just been Radio 4 commenting on how the ambulance system started working as it should during a period when an ambulance crew was on strike.

    The reasoning for this happeneng appears to be that the system works better when category one incidents are referrred by the control room to the picket line!

    2. Does that mean that only Cat 1 ambulances get through, keeping the ‘taxi rank’ of other ambulances away from the hospital and therefore not counted as waiting times?

    3. I’m tired of this Left wing ‘gimmie’ attitude. They’re paid from the profits of the private sector. There damned well aren’t any, and it’s getting harder and harder every year. They chose a professiona and, from the two ambulances I’ve ever been in, they do it very well.

      The problem is NOT pay. The problem is taxation. The problem is government. The solution is brutality.

    1. Please Shane, read a book. Better yet, sit in a year 3 class to learn basic grammar, spelling and sentence construction.

        1. They had this woman “actor” on this morning insisting she could play Hamlet by glo’alling her Ts.

          2. It identifies that they are not that well read.

            Enough on this thread, J, you have your views and, having read many books since age 6, I think I shall keep mine.

    2. Apparently the ‘They’ have provided information regarding the impact of covid jabs on existing health conditions. But your going to have to wait another 70 odd years before this is made public.

      1. 369967+ up ticks,

        Morning RE

        Unless, I know it has rarely been tried but a determined united peoples front , would I believe work., DEMANDING to know.

        How do we know that the likes of Dunblane was 100% stamped out ?

  31. Good morning from a Anglo Saxon Queen with blooded axe and longbow, with marmalade sandwiches in handbag .

    A grey dull and very windy day today, with the birds singing away.

  32. BTL Comment:-

    N P Harrison
    23 MIN AGO
    The NHS is in the thrall of left wingers – they have infiltrated the clinicians cohort at doctor & nursing levels – and exert an iron Militant-like grip of the principal Trade Unions representing NHS groups.

      1. And the rest of such bodies as the various Royal Colleges of Midwifery. Nursing etc.

  34. One thing I did agree with the jobsworth from Callow Gas was that one cannot save the planet from overheating by forcing householders to install ineffective heat pumps that must be kept running on 2kW all the time, even to get the same heat out of it as my wood burner, let alone to heat the whole house and get enough hot water to wash the dishes. The great thing about my combi boiler is that, once the house is warm enough and I’ve done the dishes, I can turn it off, and then it uses nil fuel.

    Having heard that nugget of wisdom, my betters now announce they are putting the programme to install heat pumps by law forward by two years. Either they are stupid, or someone has a directorship lined up.

    1. Heat Pumps, now identified as produce more polluting HFCs than any CO2 producing boilers.

      HFCs? Look it up – I had to.

      1. I think some came on here yesterday suggesting that HFCs have about 10,000 times more Greenhouse effect than CO2.

        Now tell me about the polluting effects of 10-year-old electric car batteries in landfill, because they cannot be recycled. How many of these would I need to keep my 35-year-old 2CV on the road?

        1. I think, Jeremy, that, with a bit of luck, their Net Zero policies will all come back to bite ’em.

          1. Nah, too deep in the trough. What is criminal though is MPs manipulating demand while heavily investing in it.

          2. Good morning, Tom

            The trouble is that in the meantime it is we who are being bitten.

      2. I think if you dig deep enough Tom you’ll find that a few political people will have invested in those heat pump companies. As they did in ‘windfarms’.

        1. Huh, Wind Farms and Solar Farms, if ever there was/is a misnomer.

          They both destroy good, arable farmland and deprive us all of food.

          I have, in the past, objected to these and the proposals still seem to be ongoing.

      3. That homes have no room for heatpumps is the odd bit. Then we’re told that everything’s getting hotter, yet homes are still built jammed together, with no outside space, walls thin as boards with little ventilation.

        If climate change were really the catastrophe the government lies about, then surely planning regulations would be changed immediately? That they haven’t been proves it’s all a lie.

    3. Everything this repulsive government does from illegal immigration, to Covid vaccines, to suppression of debate on the climate reeks of the most profound corruption.

      1. Indeed. I actually support the theory of global warming and climate change and the peril this places us all in within the lifetimes of many of us. However, I regard scepticism about this theory as a counterproductive distraction from the real nature of “Net Zero” which, as you say, is profoundly corrupt and has little actually to do with solving the planet’s climate imbalances.

        If this were not so, then Government would kick into the long grass fancy ideas about abolishing gas boilers and petrol-fuelled cars, and instead invest in measures to use a lot less of everything, such as insulation, energy efficiency and zoning residential areas so that they are close to places of work, entertainment and family.

        It is like the rep from Callow Gas insisting that I cut down my self-combusting trees before his company will take me on, but is quite relaxed about someone parking their car next to the tank, especially when testing the plugs.

        1. Whatever one’s opinions about climate change, it is smart to conserve resources as best one can, as they are limited and extracting them damages what’s left of the environment.
          If it affects climate change, all well & good, but if there’s no connection, at least one has minimised poisoning the planet.

        2. Oh dear, I shall have to repeat this for you to take heed, Jeremy, can you countermand it?

          Climate Change and You

          The climate ‘science’ is wrong. CO2 being 0.04% of the atmosphere is a cause for good, as it is essential for plant life.

          The atmosphere is 78% Nitrogen and 21% Oxygen. The remaining 1% are various trace elements of which CO2 is but a small part.

          The greatest cause of any change in the Earth’s climate, is due to the cyclical nature of the Sun’s phases, which may lead to vast differences between ice ages and continual heatwaves.

          Please feel free to copy and paste this anywhere appropriate.

          1. A couple of things undermine this argument. One is the timescale – solar phase cycles occur over centuries, allowing enough time for life to adapt. The current one seems to be accelerating exponentially over the last two decades, proportional to the expansion of the world’s human population in my lifetime (2.8 billion in 1956; 8 billion now). Something is causing these records to be broken; Greenhouse Theory is as good as the next.

            My understanding of solar phases is that when I was young, we were predicted to be approaching an ice age, not a warming. It may well be that solar phases are mitigating artificial global warming, rather than causing it. It could be much worse. Conversely, our appetite for energy generation may be staving off the ice age, so it may not all be bad news.

            Then there is the question of natural adaptation. Most human infrastructure is very sensitive to even tiny changes of climate. Any harvest failures or destruction of populated areas due to fire or flood, lead to the sort of mass migrations of people our current political systems seem incapable of controlling. It may well be the destabilising of civilisation that does for us long before the weather does.

          2. “…accelerating exponentially over the last two decades…”

            Only because idiots believe the pap fed them by Governments, with an agenda.

            I take it you’re a believer.

            And you cannot argue with the trace gas element of the atmosphere, but you probably will.

          3. “Something is causing these records to be broken…”

            Given that most of the world’s reliable meteorological data goes back little more than 150-200 years, the breaking of records in that time is not a useful indicator of change. We have no quantitative knowledge of weather before the 18th century.

          4. The natural world can or could survive so-called climate change; the keyword is ‘exponential’. My reckoning is that for the sake of Planet Earth the human population should number no more than 2,000,000,000, and preferably fewer.

        3. Good afternoon all.
          Jeremy, I wonder if Callow Gas is worried about possible root damage to the pipework?

          1. Very unlikely. Jobsworth even pointed to an ash sapling five feet tall, saying that this was enough to be considered a source of ignition. He never mentioned roots.

  36. Update re my husband.
    Just spoken to him and he’s a bit groggy and in pain. However, between noon and 1pm he will be going for the surgery and then be back on the ward 4/5 o’clock.
    Another night in but could be discharged tomorrow.
    So I won’t be going there as he’ll be in surgery or out of it.* Shall focus on things here and make sure it’s nice for when he returns home.
    I am relieved that everything seems to be being dealt with promptly.
    Weather is dreadful again! Does it never run out of rain and gusty winds?
    Shower now, for me, and to the shops at 1 ish. Better to be busy.
    * By out of it, I mean semi-conscious.

    1. That’s good to hear about your hubby. I hope the surgery goes well and he’s back home soon.

    5. Good to hear, Ann, now prepare a good meal and a big, big hug for his return.

      The best of luck to you both.

    7. Great news that he is getting prompt treatment. If you are driving make sure you don’t lose focus.

      2. I can drive but we don’t own or want a car. Our local cab company is great and they are all nice people. A couple of them don’t even turn on the meter and just say it’s a fiver. I always tip as they are polite, funny and very helpful.

      1. Indeed. Going to get some treats for him although I suspect he may not feel like eating much at first.

    9. KBO Ann!
      But I bet the stiff upper lip is getting a bit hard to maintain at the moment.

        1. Yes, it will do.
          Mine goes a bit wobbly now and again this time of year. It would have been my eldest lad’s (from 1st marriage) 48th birthday yesterday.

          1. Sorry to hear that Bob. You can get used to things but you can’t always get over them.

          2. Exactly why the trite use of “closure” gets me annoyed.
            The death of a loved one leave a gap in your life that NEVER closes.
            Yes, the edges of that gap will become less sensitive over time, but it is always there.

  38. I see the ludicrous Brash says that he held back to avoid upsetting his family. Just as well, eh?

    1. ‘The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what Fiction means.’

      [Oscar Wilde]

      I very much fear that the odious Prince who is butchering his family will, together with his fiend-like queen Migraine, get away with the evil they have done and escape the punishment they so richly deserve.

      1. My reading of the BTL comments from both sides of the Atlantic, also Oz, suggests his credibility is in free-fall, and he reveals himself as a spolied, priviledged brat. Even meagain has gone silent, allowing him to dig his own grave – and he’s doing a great job all on his own.

        1. As a self addmitting Drug Addict User, will he be allowed back int the US.

          He had better be, we do not want the ‘self hand operated sexual mechanic’ in the UK, or his boss, Trash

        1. Good morning Anne.

          Have you any good imaginative punishments that could be given to them?

  39. It has occurred to me that the government and Prince Harry are both working on the same premise: that if you have an opposition that has been effectively silenced and does not put its own point of view then you can do and say what you like.

    Harry thinks that the RF’s rule of keeping quiet and following the ‘never complain, never explain policy will enable his account of events to prevail; the government, backed by a corrupt MSM, believes that by silencing Mr Bridgen’s voice in the Conservative Party that they will suppress discussion of the evil effects of the Covid jabs and that by allowing no opposition to be expressed on global warming and the environment they will more easily get away with imposing draconian and absurd measures upon us all.

    2. Trouble is they do/will get away with it. What can we, Joe Public, actually do about it? We need younger people to step up. We’re too old/elderly.

    2. Is Olga Krankie modelling her self on someone in New Zealand ?
      Shirley this will be the end of her.

    3. Looking to ban alcohol advertising.
      We have that in Norway. Has no effect on anything. Certainly not on drinking habits. It’s just an excuse to ban more stuff.

      2. I recall when I was working in Sweden, Friday afternoons were noticeably populated by people going home from work with their ‘anonymous’ paper bags bought from the state operated alcohol shops.

        1. The ‘booze cruise’ 20-minute ferry from Helsingborg (Sweden) to Helsingør (Denmark) is full to bursting several times a day as Swedes cross over to much more liberal Denmark to buy a huge choice of much cheaper alcohol than is permitted in Sweden.

          1. I had a Danish girl called Dorte as secretary for a time. She gave me some bottles of a Danish clear beverage that had a kick like a mule. I’m surprised it didn’t dissolve the glass.

          2. Danish D-in-L’s father used to have a tot of Gammel Dansk for his breakfast. First day, MB and I thought it a bit odd. By Day 3, we could appreciate it: really, really appreciate it.

          4. When I was in Flensburg, I can remember being awed by the amount of booze crammed into coach luggage holds and motorbike sidecars with Swedish registration plates.
            I wondered their axles took the strain.

      3. I recall when I was working in Sweden, Friday afternoons were noticeably populated by people going home from work with their ‘anonymous’ paper bags bought from the state operated alcohol shops.

      4. I’m sure I read somewhere that her minimum alcohol pricing policy resulted in even more of Scotland’s ne’er-do-wells turning to cheaper drugs. Well done Krankie.

    5. The consultation said: “Without branding and other marketing strategies, alcohol products in each beverage sub-sector are essentially variations of the same thing.”

      And Watney’s Red was no different from Fullers ESB…

  41. Good Moaning.
    Phew! It is Sonny Boy’s birthday tomorrow, and for the better part of a week I’ve been brooding on a theme for his birthday card.
    Today, I learn that Sunday, 15th. January is National Pothole Day.
    Hurrah! Something I can really play around with.

  42. Sussex is a close relative of the political leader whose communist Khmer Rouge government led Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. During that time, an estimated 1.5 to 2 million Cambodians died of starvation, execution, disease or overwork.

    Brash’s Cambodian name is Toss Pot

  43. ‘More than 100 Royal Mail engineers are still trying to find a work around’ after cyber attack disabled software for outbound parcels. 14 January 2023.

    The hacking incident has effectively paralysed Royal Mail’s huge Worldwide Distribution Centre near Heathrow with the postal service unable to export any letters or packages.

    It was revealed yesterday that a hacking gang close to Russia called Lockbit had claimed responsibility for the attack.

    There is no escape! Close to Russia. What does that mean exactly? That they are within twenty miles of the border? Lockbit is a criminal (a successful one) enterprise. It has no national affiliations. It is the Mafia of the internet!

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11634265/More-100-Royal-Mail-engineers-trying-work-cyber-attack.html?ico=topics_pagination_desktop

    2. Good morning Minty,
      Glad I popped in and saw this. I was planning on sending some cards and little gifts to our granddaughters in Canada on Monday. Won’t bother now.
      Coupled with the Royal Mail strikes – I think they are about to start up again – it’s not worth bothering.

        2. As it is just 2 cards and very small, light items, I suspect it would be prohibitively costly. Yup, cheapest option £25! but thanks for the suggestion.

    3. As I understand it, the American PTB insist that microchips and systems should always have a ‘backdoor’.
      Hackers are aware of that and presumably they look for any built-in vulnerability.
      Wibbling could probably advise Royal Mail on how to reinforce their security.
      Incidentally, recently I heard that a large company is still using Windows XP.

  44. Back from a quick run to Twiggs in Matlock for a few things. Did intend doing a bit more shopping, but left my bloody wallet at home so only had £12 in pound coins in my pocket!
    Still, it saved me spending too much money!

    1. That happened to me a few years ago when I was meeting someone for a Coffee ☕ 🙃 🙂

  45. Morning, all. Couldn’t add ‘good’ to my opening sentence as it’s another awful start with heavy rain earlier and now fine drizzle and a breeze. Anyway, refuelled car, butcher’s and Lidl shopping done, now about to have second coffee.

    Re Belle’s comment yesterday about properties rated below Band C energy efficiency being banned from sale. The properties falling under this proposed ban will become to all intents and purposes worthless if the property’s owner is unable to afford the improvement costs.
    Will properties that do not meet the energy criterion be left to rot when they become vacant for whatever reason or will ‘purchase for development’ be allowed by those who have the money to exploit the situation? If the latter is allowed I think most people that are awake can see where this will lead – “You vill own nossing…”

    First they came for Band D and below; how long before the rule would be amended to below Band B?

    Chris Skidmore, a Conservative MP, said the target was the “economic opportunity of the 21st century”.

    For whom, exactly, Mr Skidmore?

    1. ‘Morning, Korky, ‘Good Morning’ is merely a wish that you (another person) might have a morning that they might classify as ‘good’.

      Just signing off as today’s grammar pedant.

    3. He doesn’t care, he’s an only child and daddy is a multi-millionaire (hats off, though – self-made). Pretty confident he’s not married.

      1. Absolutely. With fewer weapons it will make it far easier to surrender when the Chinese storm through Europe on their belt and road initiative….

        Morning all…

      3. 18 Tanks at about £5,000,000 each – pocket money for the manufacturers and their political ‘advisers’.

    2. A whole tank squadron?
      Sunak, and his military advisors need to be reminded about the old military adages of not reinforcing failure and of not committing resources piecemeal or in penny packets?

      I’m currently reading FM Montgomery’s, The Path to Leadership, he must be turning in his grave at these amateurs’ behaviour.

      1. I wonder where the Ukrainians are going to get the trained personnel to use the tanks?
        I can’t believe you just hop in and off you go.

        1. One of the talking heads in the Telegaffe earlier in the week [an ex Tankie] reckons that while it takes a good while to train an effective tank crew, transferring an experienced crew to a different tank is much quicker? I’ve no idea how true that is but if we actually start deploying our crews to train them and/or support them, that could be really dangerous.

          1. But even allowing for that, I wonder how many Ukrainian Tankies are still combat ready, rather than dead or injured?

      2. Maybe they are self driving Tesla tanks.

        Just recharge them overnight and they are ready to go.

    3. Idiot! And all who continue supporting the EU/USA land grab that blew up in their faces – literally in some cases.

  47. ‘Morning All

    Jab Medley

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7f08ca71fda9d202c1a889039e3fc0454b618e713ccc97ac383da6307d9c99d0.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b8574e8506a761eff609001943a4d152e536e3ab8d1d4647cc3fc0200b5497be.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/711a6d1b3f819e61b3c3ede2bc7de809d5a0dda1d5149de89a6d3039c859d39b.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3b0b6592e5921697a839dace1851cf1bd53c92ec5e5db5f1e6d9393e5709a208.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a06b9cf31e42c9c6a4a1f68bda90a63e59fc607aefefd2360cfd31289d97119b.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/db17b62aeb5d3fb4e117bfbdd473571bb1f83fad963879632efc32ac56c3c969.jpg

    1. Since most people are vaccinated, you’d expect more deaths from anything in taht group compared with unvaccinated.
      It would be more dramatic to have stack-columns, too.

      3. I’m not vaccinated, Paul, in fact I refuse to be, it would surely be the death of me, if I ever became suicidal again.

          1. Be careful what you wish for.
            I don’t know if they are now forbidden to travel together, but Harry’s actions/memoirs have made William, Katherine and the three children a very juicy target for ISIS.
            King Harry and Queen Meghan does not appeal to me.

          2. No, I wouldn’t.
            The Baitch, yes, so long as at was a termination that didn’t make a martyr of her.
            Hazza is very ill – in part induced by his drug abuse – but his future is a sad one.

          3. Sorry, Anne, it’s what you do with a mad dog.

            Reluctantly, put it down.

            Been there too often, not mad dogs but aged, suffering pets.

  49. Inspired guess for a par 4

    Wordle 574 4/6

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

    1. Well done – so far I’ve got the three middle letters but an stuck on the first & last letter from the choices still open … 🙁
      Finally a bogey 5!

      1. Par Four for me also.

        Wordle 574 4/6
        ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨
        🟨⬜🟨🟨⬜
        ⬜🟩🟩🟩⬜
        🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    3. Hard way for me
      Wordle 574 5/6

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

  50. Good morning all.
    Just heard that son, DiL and both young grandchildren all have Convid – well, tested positive. Nothing more than mild cold symptoms. He and wife have had 5 jabs (latest ones in November) each, children 2 each (older one possibly had 3). He has great stress at work – hoping that combination of multi-jabbed and stress doesn’t result in him suffering a ‘coincidence.)

      1. Because son works in a hospital (Cancer patients), testing is mandated if the employee or household member has symptoms, even mild cold ones. Given his job, I guess being cautious is fair enough – after all, it really is only the medically vulnerable who need protecting. I suspect one of the children brought the lurgy home form school. But, hey ho, they’ve all been multi-jabbed …….

        1. Fair enough.

          It is when ordinary bods test themselves that I become confused…

          We never did that before March 2019 – just waited for the cold/’flu to pass….

    2. The jabs do not work then do they it was sold on a lie. ” Have the jab and you wll not get Covid.”

      1. Many know the jabs were useless. Unfortunately, son and family there are fully paid-up subscribers to the whole shebang, fully supportive of all the restrictions and mandates they had/have over there.. In the summer, they were mocking us because our restrictions had ended. Inconvenient that alleged case numbers here were similar/better than there.

  51. Back from town having seen a house absolutely covered in anti-racist graffiti. I wonder what makes the arseholes who do this think such actions will make the occupants of that house less racist?

    Since we moved here it has been obvious that as the diversity has increased so has the amount of mindless scrawling on walls, bridges, warehouses and the like.

      1. Mainly French, but if I had to guess an element of Franglais, I didn’t stop to read it all.
        Given where it was, I suspect the occupants may have complained to the diverse who mill around doing SFA other than drinking, smoking and littering and who block the pavements and entrances to the houses.

    1. And, as you know in 2019 Farage, as leader of the Brexit Party, withdrew his candidates from contesting all the parliamentary seats held by Conservative remainers.

      In effect Farage lost his nerve and thought that if he contested those seats the Conservatives would lose to Labour and no sort of Brexit – even the disastrous surrender Brexit that buffoon Johnson signed up to – would be achieved. The consequence of this is that the HoC is still stuffed with Conservative remainers.

      Last week Farage almost admitted that he had made a grave error but his arrogance did not allow him to make the abject apology he should have made.

      Sadly, two sad things you and I must have to admit are: without Buffoon Bonker Johnson leading the Conservatives the Conservatives will lose the next election and without Farage getting involved Brexit is probably now as dead as the dodo.

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1473bc50c088dd23ff4be49179d917f9c068941f33d92317864634b99a9354ba.jpg

    2. He’s forgetting the real enemy: the entire state machine. At every turn, big government has fought the public will to ensure high taxes, waste, inefficiency, chaos, strikes, crippling debt continues. None of this was necessary at all. We could have soareed away, but the entire edifice of government has deliberately, spitefully forced our remaining chained to the hated EU.

      1. Trudeau’s Davos trip 2016: The actor Kevin Spacey, rock star Bono, and Justin Trudeau pose for the obligatory selfie at the World Economic Forum. The Prime Minister has been as popular as the celebrities, observers say.

        1. So popular that they only let him out amongst his dwindling crowd of admirers.

          Isn’t there another Davis chinwag coming up soon? Who knows how much their posturing will cost us this time.

        2. One might wonder what possible contribution any of those three could make to a genuine economic forum.

          It’s a woke fest with a view to world dictatorship for the benefit of those who regard themselves as the elite., and that’s all it really is, dangerous as it may be.

  54. Something to look forward to in the coming Nuecovid lockdown:

    Melumbo Gibberumson waiting for King Edumwambo I of Hengulumland to bring his daily porridge. More realistic than the original Brayfart film, said a BBC spokesperthing.

    https://scontent-cdt1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/325587568_738570741119123_7143898475889506092_n.jpg?_nc_cat=103&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=5cd70e&_nc_ohc=bh0xfYu1hUUAX8RpW6y&tn=JF7jIeXEy1kCS5Kk&_nc_ht=scontent-cdt1-1.xx&oh=00_AfC4eAHlgme_LQyQMFKzuAV-ojpNVbQKIMtU-XRJ6FboFg&oe=63C7DEF8

        3. You have never been to a wank circle? Dildos are not a prerequisite. Or someone once told me…

    4. Does it end with him being dragged along the ground by a horse to the place of execution then being hanged and cut down white still conscious to be disemboweled and beheaded?

      2. They ends up as Director General of the BBC with a multi-million pound salary as compensation for someone saying him instead of them.

  58. Prince Harry: Family would never forgive me if I told all

    Now Ladies and Gentlemen (sic) of the Press who will start the bidding? Do I hear $50 million….?

          1. In my teens, I was reading, Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead.

            Both by Ayn Rand – eye-openers on the evils of socialism.

      4. Fresh memories (?) will continue to arrive and the need to talk about them, will push him over the edge of sanity.

    1. Sod off, Sunak. Why don’t you go to Ukraine instead of the tanks? Comically, Putin is more an elected leader than you are.

    3. Our “response” to a war of no interest to us has been madness, utter madness, from the start. Presumably this is to “crush”Russia because they don’t subscribe to the One World Government they’re cooking up for us.
      Edit: One w. Government

    4. I think a Russian Invasion would do the UK good.

      At least it would get rid of the most Common of Houses and Lording House wouldn’t be far behind.

      I’m sure he’d respect and retain the Royal Family, might even revert to the Divine Right of Kings, once we were rid of Charles and Willum.

      I have a very distant claim to the throne – through the Plantagenets.

      Probably not good enough but, I’m sure I could do a better job.

  60. Cracks in the dam are beginning to become more apparent:

    Johan Eddebo, Ph.D, researcher in digitalisation and human rights
    Sture Blomberg, MD, Ph.D, Associate Professor in Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care and former senior physician
    Ragnar Hultborn, Professor Emeritus, specialist in oncology
    Sven Román, MD, Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, since 2015 Consultant Psychiatrist working in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry throughout Sweden
    Lilian Weiss, Associate Professor, specialist in surgery
    Nils Littorin, resident in psychiatry, MD in clinical microbiology

    The authors are members of the bio-medico-legal network of Läkaruppropet. They are organising a conference in Stockholm on January 21st-22nd in conjunction with the Swedish Doctors’ Appeal network. Its main focus will be on the consequences of the global COVID-19 politics and the effects of the Covid vaccines.

      2. Well Ragnar is certainly living up to the name!

        “Throughout the first four seasons, Ragnar goes on a journey from being a farmer in his homeland, to being a fierce Viking warrior in England and becoming an Earl, to being crowned King of Denmark after the death of King Horik.

        “Alas poor Horik. I knew him Horatio”…..

          1. According to H Lyttelton, in the county from which you hail from, the local women, harking back to the days of the Vikings, have a saying: ‘He should be bloody well hung like a Norse!”

  61. Being very suspicious of the current vaccine regime and having been offered a SHINGLES vaccine, what thinks the rest of the forum, should I have it?

    I have until 31st January to cogitate.

    1. Shingles can be extremely unpleasant for older people.
      There are numerous articles on the internet regarding the efficacy of that particular vaccination.

      1. Thanks, Sos, I shall start cogitating by investigating the Internet – but NOT via NHS sites.

        1. Check out something like ‘reviews of shingles jab’ on the internet. I read these several years ago, long before covid. It really put me off and I decided not to go down that route. Of course, you only go to a review site to register your experience if you have had a bad experience with something like this, if everything is ok you generally tend to forget and get one with life. When shingles did emerge in my case (2 years ago) I scarcely knew I had it, a few days lack of energy, very minor discomfort around my ear and that was that, a rash on my back that was not particularly annoying. I was glad I had not gone down the vaccination route simply because of the chemicals these injections contain and the cumulative effect of these on the body’s cells. Also to consider is the fact that it is being said the the mrna component of the covid vax is going to be inserted into all future vaccines. There are two types of shingles vaccines, Zostervax and Shingrix. The nhs uses Zostervax, it is cheaper than Shingrix.

          Yes, keep away from nhs and govt sites when seeking out health information.

          1. Nice to see you back, Mum.

            I shall take your advice with regard to what I’ve found out to date and continue to cogitate.

            Bless you for your help.

          2. Thank you. It’s just that sometimes these things have to be endured, that there is no such thing as a free lunch, that there are ‘opportunity costs’ in life.

          6. It sounds as though you had a mild dose of shingles – in my case it started with an intense pain in my right ear, which spread over the next couple of days and then the rash appeared. I was able to get the anti-viral tablets in time to avoid post-herpetic neuralgia, which my aunt had for the rest of her life. I seldom take pain killers, but I got through a lot of paracetamol that week, and have taken none since. It does seem to be rectivated by the covid jabs – and sometimes by actual infection with the virus.

            I was left feeling very debilitated for several weeks after I’d more or less recovered.

          7. Our son had shingles aged 38 almost 4 years ago and he too had a mild case of shingles. Poppiesdad had it the year before me and he was really ill with it; having an example directly in front of me made me think about vaccine, so I went off in search of information. What I read really put me off, and it does not seem to have a lifetime’s effectiveness either, although that was rather glossed over. We had a friend who had the shingles jab, he could not properly use his left arm for a year, the muscles seemed to seize up. Whether or not his arm properly recovered we don’t know as he developed galloping lung cancer several weeks post covid vaccine, within six months of the first covid vaccine he had died.

          8. Nasty………. I think it just has to be a personal decision. I’ve had many jabs in my life for all sorts of things, mainly for travel purposes.

            That’s why, against my better judgement, I had the two AZ shots. I won’t be having any boosters, or any more jabs for anything, probably, although I’ve had no adverse reactions to any of them. I have to query the childhood ones, now, as well – there are far more now than when I was a child, and had most of the illnesses that are now vaccinated against, eg whooping cough, measles, etc. I didn’t have mumps as a child and it was most unpleasant and painful when I had it aged 25.

          9. I was vaccinated for smallpox (I was very ill immediately afterwards, our doctor made several visits of his own volition after my mum took me to see him or called him in) – those were the days; diptheria, later tetanus (bad reaction – urticaria) and polio immunisations. I have reason to think that the polio jab/sugar lump affected my spine. It is thought that the explosion in cancers over the last decade is caused by the polio jab (see ‘Dr Mary’s Monkey’) – deliberate contamination is suspected. Also ‘Dissolving Illusions’ has been recommended to me, a history of vaccination.

            Yes, it is a personal choice and long may it remain so. NTN asked for advice or opinions, he doesn’t have to take mine. There were others. I won’t hold him to account! This whole covid débâcle has turned me into an ant-vaxxer, my trust in the nhs has gone and will not return.

          10. Not surprising, when you’ve had bad reactions to several jabs. I had the smallpox jab as a baby but I don’t think any of the ones I remember gave me any problems. The only possible reaction was a woozy feeling in the evening of the day I had a typhoid jab in January 2020. I don’t think I’ll need any more though.

            I keep away from the doctor’s surgery – I don’t want to be put on statins, or anything else for that matter. My OH is quite downhearted to think he’s on all these meds now, after a lifetime of being fit and healthy.

          11. I think they only offer it to those in their 70s – possibly because it doesn’t give a very lengthy protection. Most of the travel jabs are for 10 years only, so quite possibly shingles is one with a limit as well.

        1. “Shingels”, Helvetesild in yer Weegie, translates to “hellfire”.
          Sounds worth avoiding if you can, Tom

          2. Very easily.
            I got it after a climbing frame collapsed on my back, and because the pain was getting worse not better I went to the GP.
            The doctor said I was lucky to be seen in time, as the way the ladder had fallen it had hit a nerve centre where the disease was lying dormant. He spotted the shingles developing and I was treated with Zovirax, if I recall correctly.
            And whilst the shingles was still unpleasant, it was nowhere near as bad as it could have been. He said it was almost certainly a throwback to childhood chickenpox.

    4. Afternoon Nan. I had shingles the disease two years ago and you should make every effort to avoid it!

      2. My father contracted it in his late 70’s/early 80’s.
        From playing golf three times a week and going to the gym/swimming pool on the other days, he had to give them all up.
        Unfortunately he didn’t realise what the problem was so didn’t get treatment quickly enough. It went into his eyes, (he lost the sight of one eye and had to give up driving) as well as all over his upper body, he was very ill and was never physically the same man again, limited to gentle gardening until he died. Almost needless to say, he also became depressed. I got it in my 50’s nothing like as bad, but still unpleasant.

    5. Afternoon Nan. I had shingles the disease two years ago and you should make every effort to avoid it!

    6. I had shingles in 2019 and it’s very painful and debilitating. I did take the vaccine for that last year ( 2021) after careful consideration and had no ill- effects from it. Shingles is not something I’d wish on anyone and it can occur more than once as the virus lies dormant in one’s system if you had chicken pox as a child.

      2. My daughter has been diagnosed with Shingles. Is it catching do you know? She has an itchy rash but feels all right in herself.

        2. You can catch chickenpox, if you have not had it at some earlier date, from a person with shingles, but not shingles itself as the basis for shingles is having been previously infected with chickenpox. And even then, to catch chickenpox, you have to be in very close contact with the shingles rash. Shingles is your own past chickenpox infection which has been lying dormant, come back to haunt you.

        3. If you haven’t had chicken pox you could catch it from her as it’s the same virus. But you can’t catch shingles.

        4. Is she getting the nerve pain? That’s the worst part. The anti-viral tablets need to start within 48? hours of the rash appearance (it may be longer than that) or they don’t stop the neuralgia continuing afterwards.

    7. If you’ve had any of the covid jabs, you might want to try and find out any evidence of how they might interact as the covid jab is now known to re-activate shingles.

      It should be possible to track down information on reported side effects – I’ve seen graphs on the web comparing numbers of adverse events for all the different vaccines. Whoever is offering the vaccine should answer any questions so you can give fully informed consent.

    9. Alf and I had the shingles jab, only one mind, no boosters required! This was about 4/5 years ago. We also had the pneumonia one, another one off. However, I’m not sure if we would have gone ahead with either after the recent scamdemic. I must admit we didn’t research either beforehand but then we weren’t suspicious of the medical profession then. Good luck with making up your mind.

    10. I had the shingles jab a few years ago (and the pneumonia one). I had no problems with them (and they don’t require boosters; one is enough like proper vaccinations), but that was before Covid.

  62. Russia claims victory in battle for Ukraine salt mine town. 14 January 2023.

    Russia’s military says it has captured the Ukrainian salt-mine town of Soledar after a long battle, calling it an “important” step for its offensive.

    The victory would allow Russian troops to push on to the nearby city of Bakhmut, and cut off the Ukrainian forces there, a spokesman said.

    To watch the BBC’s Man in Kiev announcing this last night one would have thought that the Russians had actually failed!

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-64263119

  63. Just made this response to Ready Eddie on yesterday’s page concerning the ash trunk I’m planning to offer to Crich for use in tram restoration:-

    This is the ash tree I’m on about, 15″ tapering to 12″ and about 15′ long:-
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/299b95c9be264a83fc068c5c07f4fb65a43be55cbf792f2e5fe71a4f65ab4cfe.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/842aaf53e4fc57c9535605cfbaf067ea34f7c6c1e568e7259003ad8db9b2d767.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a4e73c87a3dac21798b7a684886e2ce959864a1aeae3cd0dc2d0c8aff591452b.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1f250e80ce2550e3f2a23d0435bf11ea0eaa19930ae381c9d59dfdea275047e0.jpg

    It’s going to take a bit of extracting from that old building, but I’ll get there eventually.

        1. Can’t get a vehicle in. I do however have an OPH (Ordinance Pattern Holdfast) earth anchor and there are several usefully placed trees to secure the tirfor to.

          2. Hopefully a straight pull will suffice.
            I do need a means of supporting the bottom end of the trunk to stop it falling to the floor of the building, thinking of a couple of scaffold poles to make a sheerlegs.

      2. One working tirfor and two in need of serving/repair. All model T35s identical to the ones I used in the Army.
        However, I need to stabilise the log to stop it slipping into the old building and then raise the bottom end to make it an easier pull out.

      1. Correct. If I can get it out of the building shell and they can get a hiab lorry to pick it up, it’s theirs to have, so long as the scrap comes back to me as firewood!

    3. I don’t understand the ‘Tram restoration’

      Would it be a chore to elucidate a little?

      You seem to work very hard – well done.

        1. And not to be confused with Crick, in Northamptonshire, where we have stayed a few times – the locals are a little fed up with being asked where the tram museum is!

        2. Thank you, George, not exactly publicised.

          I thought BoB was giving an ash billet for a help on a tram-way.

      2. No problem.
        Many of the trams at Crich have been left in the open for several years before being rescued and the wooden framed trams will be suffering varying degrees of rot in their timber frames.
        This rot needs to be removed and replacement lengths of wood put in in place.
        As the frames will usually have been made of ash in the 1st place, this log, suitable sawn, should be perfect for the job!

        1. Might they be willing to collect it from you?
          I suspect they might have access to suitable equipment and transport.

        2. Thank you BoB, George (Grizzly) has explained about the museum and it sounds like it’s something dear to you and to be proud of.

          More power to your elbow.

  64. As well as the ash pictures I’ve just posted, this is what I’ve been up to today:-
    This is the tree I’ve dropped today looking from above. The line from the centre of the left side of the picture is the rope I used to ensure it fell up the hill as I cut it.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/81a073b37cdace4ffcc2b713ecff15acdc585479d8492dcae6633d3bea4ad2dc.jpg

    The tree I cut down is obscured by the one in front on this view. However, if you enlarge the central section of the left side, you can see the pulling rope going across to the tree.
    The rope is a basic core with a braided sheath that not only resists twisting, but has a fair amount of stretch, over 2′ I reckon, the applied pull continues as it begins to lean over.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ea89c91be936b4702ce89f097f6b5a6f30a9f631551fab666216a3e1e08dfa42.jpg

    A closer look at the base of the two trunks before I began doing the V-cut. The one in the foreground is still to fell, whilst the one behind already has a decent pull on it.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2de105ef5773ddf6e24d8a5f4533170be367cb81abb79322338fa01274841cb5.jpg

    And this is the tree down.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/011f2eb320323a0298be1921b5a568031056d04aa11acbe690bf12f6c09474dd.jpg

    And from above.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8f2e4dd7bc2c7d634ea49a50f25eb9bebc71a4be8b9e6e1f909b802839d309b6.jpg

    And this should make a nice bit of firewood!
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ad1a80a32871c55f355bca92368626cc16058c880c6a9adacf834a87d02b9b30.jpg

    And before anyone quibbles about the legality of dropping these elm, you do not need permission to drop dead or diseased trees. These ones are the arboreal equivalent of the Norwegian Blue parrot.

    1. For trees a jolly good fellow!
      For trees a Jolly good fellow
      For trees a jolly good fell-ow!
      And so say all of us!

  65. Brexit deal at risk amid fears Rishi Sunak will cave in to EU demands
    Lord Dodds accuses PM of ‘softening people up’ for Protocol concessions that could pave the way to a Labour-led Single Market reconciliation
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/01/14/brexit-deal-risk-amid-fears-rishi-sunak-will-cave-eu-demands/

    Of course he will cave in. That’s why Truss was kicked out and Sunak and Hunt were put in place to facilitate the return to the EU as soon as Labour totally wipe out the Conservative Party in the next general election.

    BTL : Another rodent with its neck wrung by Percival:

    The writing was on the wall for Brexit the moment that Farage capitulated and agreed that he would not allow Brexit Party candidates to stand against sitting Conservative remainer MPs.

    Farage’s capitulation to Johnson led directly to Johnson’s capitulation to the EU. We now have the most disastrous agreement with the Northern Ireland Protocol ceding control of trade to the EU and EU fishing boats pillaging British territorial fishing grounds. We also have a House of Commons stuffed with Conservative Party remainers.

    The only thing that genuine Conservatives who believe in Brexit can do is to tell Sunak that they will resign their seats immediately unless he agrees to scrap the NI Protocol altogether without further discussion and without further delay.

    If they cannot do this now then nobody should ever vote for the Conservative Party again.

  66. The Maine chance?

    Two months after a record-breaking $2 billion jackpot, another billion-dollar Mega Million drawing was underway on Friday night. A ticket sold in Maine that matched the winning numbers of 30-43-45-46-61 with a Mega Ball of 14.

    Lottery officials estimated the annuitized jackpot could be worth around $1.35 billion, while the potential lump sum cash payout is around $724.6 million. And all of that is before taxes. After federal taxes, the winner could choose between 30 annual payments of $28.4 million or an immediate cash payout of $456.5 million.

    1. Decisions, decisions….

      Call me a miseryguts (and many do) but that is FAR too much money for one person to “win”.

    1. Is Ian He/ Him a him? I only ask because i draw the line at buying cocktails for bearded ladies no matter how big her penis is !

    3. Some poor sods have chromosomal and other problems where they genuinely do have more “opposite sex characteristics” than the sex they were allocated at birth. I doubt they make the current song and dance about it that those using transsexuality to gain special treatment do.

      Far too many of the “Tranny-by-choice look at me ” individuals are doing the real chromosomal transsexuals a lot of disservice.

      If you want to stir up a hornet’s nest ask him if by any chance he has Klinefelter or XXXY syndrome or some similar problem.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XXXY_syndrome

    5. You should sign your name Bob (Ho/Hum) which is what I do if ever I get a letter signed like that

          2. Look closer – pins both sides.
            I expanded the pic to well over life size… er… Ah!

  70. OT – a question. Well, two. Is there a NoTTLer with knowledge of the funeral business?

    A neighbour in France died on last Monday. She was buried on Wednesday. I found that across the Channel, funerals were generally within a few days of the death. France and the UK have a similar population. Why does it take weeks in the UK?

    This has long puzzled me and the MR.

    1. So they can charge at least twice the amount in the UK?
      I went to three funerals during so call pandemic, when people were dropping like flies. But there was never a visible queue with Hearses.

    2. Over-population.
      I have seen a funeral service cut short because the next cortege was assembling at the crematorium.
      Live a blameless and worthwhile life for 85 years on this planet, but all that counts for nothing if your final send-off over-runs by 5 minutes.

      1. But but – the same population (give or take) in yer France – and they DON’T have these ishoos.

        1. They tend to bury, rather than cremate, and they also seem to have a lot of family tombs so there’s less digging involved.

    3. As I understand it Ropers have first call on burials/funerals. I’m not saying that’s the only reason for thelong time before funerals but it has an effect. Maybe a new business opportunity for an otherwise retired person!

      1. The quick burial is a Middle-East phenomenon due to the heat.

        Doesn’t apply in the UK

        I N T E G R A T E to the adopted country, yes, Jews as well.

        Sod tradition – that went out with Fiddler on the Roof.

        1. Two hopes, Tom. Bob Hope and no hope! Just shows what weak government we’ve had for a long long time.

        2. They won’t. They’re not expected to. No one demands they do. They get whatever they want without bothering. If they’re determined to live as they would there, here, then we should remove them to there.

          2. I’ve lived and worked in France, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and not just Europe but Singapore, Malaysia as well and in each country, I never forced my ideals on those countries, I integrated, understood the local culture and fell in with it.

            No problem.

            Why should we have (particularly) Muslim culture forced upon us here in OUR country?

            They’re visitors here and, as such, should at least, be polite.

          4. Islam means submission. That’s why they act as they do. The only answer is to get rid of the ideology.

          6. We have it forced upon us here because it dilutes, destabilises, undermines and fractures our culture and society. It is the Marxist way. We have to be completely broken down in order to Build Back, er, Better (for Worse). The second reason is that they are a teensy-weensy bit scared of these people, but that is quite a distance from the first reason.

      2. I was about to mention that. Also, the crematoria are working full blast and there is often a waiting list!

        1. They are run like a conveyer belt with one party in at the front – half an hour’s service and then out the back they go.

          1. Every time I’ve been to a cremation it’s been like that. It’s why I want to be buried after a church service.

    4. To give notice to one and all and give them time to sort out their diary. Also, crematorium availability. Its not quite like India where you can bung granny on a bonfire down by the river that evening.

    5. In the case of MOH it was because the doctor didn’t produce the death certificate (no certificate, no cremation). The registrar was on to the case, but even so it took a long time and a lot of badgering.

      1. When an old friend died in hospital the hospital administrator took ages before producing a Death Certificate.

        What could be more important for the administrator?

    6. Doesn’t if you are muslim (i know this because my mother’s cousin converted in the 70s and died about 10 years ago now)

  71. Right – that’s me gone – to have a quiet evening watching a re-run of The Old Devils.

    Have a nice evening.

    A demain.

    1. We all know it was black drug pushers who did it. Until that entire lot are collared and chained nothing will change.

      Labour forced massive uncontrolled race replacement on this country. It imported barbaric savages from anywhere to create a voting block. It’s no surprise that those savages are now behaving to type.

      1. The Conservatives have been in government since 2010 and have done nothing to change the uncontrolled race replacement. If anything they have accelerated it. There’s little hope of change.

        1. Ignoring the fact that we have a TINO Government, the Tories are between a rock and a hard place.
          Their want action to be taken but they are more afraid of being castigated as RACIST!!! by the Left.
          And by “Left” I do include the TINO faction withing their own ranks.

          1. They are not hearing what the public wants. They should know but seem indifferent. It is difficult because, if illegals have no paperwork, where can they be returned to and those with the right paperwork are not being processed fast enough to keep up. The 45,000 or so illegals who arrived last year via the Channel are just the tIp of the iceberg too.

          2. The insanity cannot go on though. The Left will scream no matter what, so better to just cut them off too.

    2. Ms Calderon and her daughter Ms Sanchez apparently both came from Columbia. I can suggest two possible motives for the shooting. Either the mourners were railway workers from the nearby Euston Station who were on strike and the shooters were angry and frustrated folk who had had their train journey cancelled. Or else the shooting had a Columbian drug cartel connection. I tend to suspect it was the latter. (Of, course, it could have been a group of mentally ill Norwegian Methodists who did the shooting.)

    3. Ms Calderon and her daughter Ms Sanchez apparently both came from Columbia. I can suggest two possible motives for the shooting. Either the mourners were railway workers from the nearby Euston Station who were on strike and the shooters were angry and frustrated folk who had had their train journey cancelled. Or else the shooting had a Columbian drug cartel connection. I tend to suspect it was the latter. (Of, course, it could have been a group of mentally ill Norwegian Methodists who did the shooting.)

    1. In the UK the crook would be black, run to the police, have the shop owner arrested and charged, get compo and then later on burn the place down with his multiple conviction chums.

    1. Are you sure you can’t just “try later” and carry on reading?
      It still works that way for me.

      Famous last words!

    1. Don’t insult my friends, Bob 3. When I lived in Ayr, Scotland Ian and Janette appeared for the summer season at the Gaiety Theatre and stayed at my spouse’s flat. (We kept both flats in the same building on when we married.)

  77. Bugger, bugger and sodding bugger. My husband did not have his surgery because they “ran out of time.” He’s the only one on the list tomorrow but, another lie which wasn’t voiced before, is that he will have to stay in for a few more days for physio. Nobody mentioned that before.
    I’ll go on Monday and take his phone chargers and other stuff. He is so pissed off and sounded very depressed.
    My stiff upper lip is non-existent tonight. I want him home!

    1. Mine got quite depressed watching people come in, have their treatment and then go home, while he was in the two hospitals for five weeks. He did get down, but was eventually treated on 15th December and released on the 20th. hopefully yours won’t be there for so long – they do need the beds.

      I hope he gets his op tomorrow.

      1. Yes, you have been through it also. It is so frustrating and infuriating. I do hope your husband is doing better.

        1. He’s up and down……

          I think he thought he’d be much better by now than he is. Still getting breathless and in quite a lot of pain. He’s been trying to cut down on the pain killers, but he leaves it too long. But he’s able to do more normal things around the house. We haven’t been out much.

          2. The GP phoned yesterday evening and he has an appointment with her on Tuesday. Also the first appointment at the cardiac clinic on Monday, which I think will be about the exercise regime.

    3. Be grateful for the physio, it will cover a number of bases. It will give him something to concentrate on, and having been fit it will provide a challenge.
      In the medium to long term it will do him a lot of good.
      You can probably do the exercises together and if he’s competitive, which from your tales I suspect he must be, it will be something to aim at, beating you.

      Good luck to both of you.

    4. In a similar situation I got hold of a sledge hammer, located a lump of waste concrete and proceeded to smash the concrete to pieces.
      My mates at work watching on were gobsmacked!

    5. Winston’s advice seems apposite – KBO.

      Or in my words, “Fcuk ’em you won’t wear ME down.”

      Keep on, Ann, keeping on.

    7. Of course you do. Communication is not their strong point. Fingers crossed that all goes well for tomorrow and he’s home soon.

    8. Tomorrow, and tomorrow and tomorrow
      Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
      To the last syllable of recorded time

      Or Scarlet O’Hara might have a more cheerful outlook:

      Tomorrow is another day!

      Good luck – your Nottler friends are thinking of you.

  79. Evening, all. Britain’s households are struggling BECAUSE of the net zero rubbish. On the weather front, I see that the snow promised for Monday and Tuesday is now forecast for Wednesday and Thursday. With any luck it will recede into the distance and never arrive at all.

    1. Plenty here at Firstborn’s farm. On the flat, it’s somewhere between 5′ and 6′ deep; where it slid off the barn, it’s deeper than the top of the tractor cab. No view from the house downstairs windows, snow is too deep.

    2. Plenty here at Firstborn’s farm. On the flat, it’s somewhere between 5′ and 6′ deep; where it slid off the barn, it’s deeper than the top of the tractor cab. No view from the house downstairs windows, snow is too deep.

    3. The state will never, ever accept that though. The reasons things are expensive is because of tax and policy. Specifically the rigging of the market for energy and the mindless idiocy of trying to shut down our economy in th name of green – destroying industry, burdensome regulation you name it, the problem comes back to energy.

      Why are we doing this? Why is the state cutting the throat of the nation? Because it all ties back to the EU. If we abandon it, it’s ever harder to rechain to that wretched institution. The whole nonsense must be abolished.

      1. Why?

        Three word solution:

        – – – / – – – – – / – – – – –

        [The Great Reset]

      2. I couldn’t agree more.
        And our useless political classes are trying to insist that we support them.
        No chance.
        Our MP is going out of his way on FB attempting to gather support and opinions. I don’t think I have seen one reply or anything to encourage his sudden enthusiasm for the electorate.
        I’d say that he’s worried he’s going to lose his job.
        I certainly won’t be voting for any of the three useless major parties. There is a chance we might have a meaningful independent standing.

  81. I was getting a bit above myself with consecutive birdies… Just got this by the skin of my teeth!

    Wordle 574 6/6

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

    1. A toughy.
      Wordle 574 5/6

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

  82. Government to crack down on trans athletes competing in female sports

    Culture Secretary calls meeting of sports executives and will urge them to ‘protect the integrity’ of women’s events

    The Government is preparing to launch a crackdown on transgender women competing in female sports, The Telegraph understands.

    I wonder, if she will fare better than JK Rowling, when she said something about Trans

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/01/14/government-crack-trans-athletes-competing-female-sports/

    1. I wonder if HMG is beginning to realise what a can of worms they’ve opened up agreeing to the trans lobby!

  84. Goodnight Y’all. Am trying to plan my day tomorrow…. need to sleep as have been awake since 6. Very unlike me.
    Thank you for putting up with my moaning and groaning- worry is not conducive to sleep.

    2. If it allows you to let off steam and have a calmer night then the site is fulfilling an important function for you.

    3. If it allows you to let off steam and have a calmer night then the site is fulfilling an important function for you.

  85. 369967+up ticks,

    Hearken the strains of the turkish laundry blues, the turkish delight offered a million to return.

    1. Bunter has no place in British politics. If I were him I would find some refuge on a distant isle far away from civilisation. This is because we the people are coming after you, you fat useless fart of a man.

    2. Utter madness. The Russians have already conquered those parts of Ukraine where Russian speakers had been persecuted for decades by Ukraine, made worse by Zelensky whose Nazi Azov Battalions had mercilessly murdered them.

      A few Challenger tanks will be useless in any event, the war is already over. At most these tanks will be subject to yet another Turkey shoot, whilst Zelensky and his newfound Hollywood mugs, that is you Sean Penn, relax in their virtue signalling hell.

    3. The main purpose is to help bankrupt Britain to make way for Schwab’s Great Reset.

      1. 370002+up ticks,

        Morning R,
        Plain as day even to the hard core
        lab/lib/con coalition voters, then again that must have been the aim of those coalition members for the last 30 plus years.

  88. Oh bugger. The Dearly Tolerant made some rather nice flapjack this afternoon and I’m afraid I indulged in four pieces.
    As a result I’ve been woken up by a rather nasty gastric reflux and had to come down for some bicarb.

    Now sitting up until it takes effect.

      1. Heyup Lass!
        Not too bad now. Just had a couple of massive burps and feel a lot better!

        I hope you’re keeping well. It’s a colder night tonight, just below zero and there is a bit of a wind over the valley top too.

  89. Morning all 😉
    I don’t know what I was flushed through with intravenously during my three days in hospital just before Christmas. But I seem some how to have been ‘adjusted’. My taste buds have changed dramatically, my sleeping pattern has altered dramatically, my toilet habits are different. And all the time I have a very feint and unusual aroma in my nostrils. It’s not me or anyone who comes near me. Something that I can’t recognise, it’s not unpleasant but it’s hard to explain what it is and why it is happening.
    Now hoping to doze off again now, for an hour or so.
    Could this the Tom Jones effect ? 🤔
    Slayders.

    1. When I sneeze hard, I get a smell of methyl methacrylate (perspex) glue in my nose…

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