Saturday 14 May: If civil servants want to work from abroad, they need to find a different employer

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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522 thoughts on “Saturday 14 May: If civil servants want to work from abroad, they need to find a different employer”

  1. Good morning, everyone. First! (Now – at 12.50 am – I can go to bed.)

    1. Good morning, Elsie, I’d love to go to bed but trepidation for what ‘Best Beloved’ may have to say, this wonderful Saturday, is likely to keep me awake for hours yet.

      Thank God for single malt and any NoTTLers that might have a spare room for an itinerent wanderer.

      1. I fear that I’m going to be out on my ear and will shortly need a new billet.

        Any offers – I can contribute £200 -£500 per month?

        2. I’m sorry to hear this Nan. Now is not a good time to be homeless!

      3. Tom, having read both of your autobiographies, I am so sorry that your relationship with your Best Beloved appears to be breaking up. I hope that some kind NoTTLer is able to help you, temporarily at least.

  3. Politics has become a dismal race to pass as many pointless laws as possible. 14 May 2022.

    They have been replaced by a depressing paternalism where a government takes it upon itself to impose a utopian idea of how life should be, an unattainable perfection where no one gets hurt, no risks are taken, no one smokes, eats or drinks too much, no one thinks badly of other people or of what they believe – and certainly does not express it if they do – and where everything is equal and fair.

    Where, once, it was accepted that human nature was flawed and it was the job of government to make the best of a bad job but interfere as little as possible, it now considers its function to be transformative even if it means limiting the liberties of some people to appease more vocal critics, the hunting ban being one example among many.

    Sad but true. So far as it goes that is. There is however a darker side to this; Westminster will; if their cosy World View is disturbed, retreat into what is technically described as a Blue Funk and refuse even to acknowledge it. One thinks only of Batley Man and Islamic Terrorism, Mass Rape and Illegal Immigration. If you absolutely have too; tell any story; make up any lie, rather than deal with it. Of course Ukraine is a godsend in this respect. Boris can scoot around pretending that he’s Churchill and they can pass any number of Laws seizing other people’s possessions because they don’t have to deal with the consequences. Reality is on its way though. Even if we avoid a war or economic collapse the system itself is in the process of dissolution from years of neglect and misuse. They no longer control even their own Civil Service or Ministries, all of which are moribund in one way or another. Defence the NHS, whatever; all are now on the edge of irrelevance.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/05/10/politics-has-become-dismal-race-pass-many-pointless-laws-possible/

    1. ‘Morning, Minty. Agreed…this government’s instinct is to ban lots of things, presumably to demonstrate to we plebs that they care about us and also to appease vociferous minorities. Very un-conservative – but of course we know that, don’t we?

      1. Isn’t the Slapperthon distraction enough? Or is it not getting world wide coverage?

  6. Jacob Rees-Mogg declares war on ‘three-day week’ for the Civil Service. 14 may 2022.

    Jacob Rees-Mogg has told of his “suspicions” that civil servants are only working a three-day week, as the Government went to war with Whitehall mandarins.

    In an interview with The Telegraph, Mr Rees-Mogg – the Cabinet minister in charge of government efficiency – accused civil servants of working from home on Mondays and Fridays because they “think that the working week is shorter than it really is”.

    Mr Rees-Mogg said he would also examine Met Office weather reports over suggestions officials were staying at home on the sunniest days.

    A Minister for Absenteeism? You couldn’t make it up! These people are regarded with contempt by their own employees! How can they possibly presume that the rest of us should do what they say?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/05/13/jacob-rees-mogg-declares-war-three-day-week-civil-service/

    1. Whenever a minister uses the words ‘war’, ‘bonfire’ and so on we know instinctively that it is all bluster and that nothing much will come of it. In fact, the outcome is likely to be the very opposite.

      1. The ‘bonfire’ of quangos which Camoron promised – his definition of bonfire is different to mine

    2. This government paid people to stay at home, indeed they insisted on it. What did they expect would happen once things began to get back nearly to what was normal? In any case it’s part of the UBI plan, the “you will own nothing and be happy”, the great reset plan. And it’s all working perfectly.

      People do not seem to think ahead, either – they may think oh good, we’ve confiscated Putin’s yacht, locked Russia out of the SWIFT system and frozen his assets, etc. but if the government can do that to a sovereign power nothing will stop them doing the same to the rest of us.

    3. On Friday I started at half 8 and finished at 6. It got the bits and pieces done that needed writing up.

      I’m getting very tired of this ‘remote workers are lazy’. I’m bloody not. The government blithers on about it because it is terrified of the collapse in tax from petrol and shop sales. Tough. Fuel is too expensive and I don’t want to buy an expensive lunch because you’ve made me £200 a month worse off.

      That’s why the state wants remote working to stop. Nothing to do with productivity. It’s just about tax.

  7. ‘Morning, Peeps.  A very sensible leading letter today:

    SIR – Civil Service unions are now demanding the right to work from abroad (report, May 13), further from their offices and, thus, the supervision of senior management.

    This ties in nicely with the Prime Minister’s ambition to reduce Civil Service numbers by 91,000. The Government should give demanding civil servants the freedom to work anywhere in the world – for whichever new employer they choose. This simple act will save the country and taxpayers considerable amounts.

    Ian McNicholas
    Waun-Lwyd, Monmouthshire

    Another on this subject:

    SIR – Now that their jobs are on the line, civil servants will no doubt miraculously return to their offices.

    Gilbert Dunlop
    Great Offley, Hertfordshire

    I wouldn’t bank on it, Mr Dunlop.  After all this time the Snivel Serpents shirking from home probably consider that they have the whip hand and are not about to give it up.  And if they strike, as suggested yesterday, then they will be doing even more damage to the totally inadequate service they currently provide.  I wish I could be confident that this government will take a firm line, but I think we can expect the usual spineless response.

    1. After all this time the Snivel Serpents shirking from home probably consider that they have the whip hand and are not about to give it up.

      Morning Hugh. They do have the Whip Hand!

    2. SIR – It’s incredible that the majority of British citizens who voted in 2016 not to be governed by unelected EU officials now find they are governed by unelected British civil servants.

      Colin Akers
      Eastbourne, East Sussex

      Yes, that’ about the size of it and the really alarming aspect is the lack of a firm response from their employer!

        1. Oh for a man like Ronald Reagan, who stood firm against the flight controllers and virtually replaced every single one of them.

  8. NHS bureaucracy

    SIR – Denis Wilkins (Letters, May 12) is absolutely correct: the intrusion of “management” into the NHS has been to its detriment. Clinical priorities can be made only by clinicians.

    Since 1982 various secretaries of state for health have tried to remove this responsibility from medically trained people, both in specialist hospital practice and general practice, with the result that is all too obvious in today’s unacceptable waiting lists.

    The situation is not helped by the employment of senior managers in the NHS on obscene salaries. Every doctor knows that none of them will make the slightest difference to patients, who continue to tolerate an ineffective system of health care.

    Dr Rob Caird FRCGP
    Greywell, Hampshire

    Couldn’t agree more, Dr Caird.  Unfortunately the bean-counters have been in charge for some time now and the wastage seems to have increased, never mind being tackled.  Those bureaucrats don’t come cheap!

    1. If Dr Caird is concerned about the current performance of NHS management he should be terrified over the plan to outsource our sovereignty with regards health policy to the WHO. We didn’t vote to regain our sovereignty from the useless EU to then give it away in matters of health to the equally useless WHO. The WHO is not a benign NGO and devolving sovereign power to it will be a huge mistake.

    2. I was told by a junior minster at the Department of Health, as well as the Regional Complaints Officer that I am not allowed to suggest that clinical recommendations to medics made by the Department or NICE in order to save money are over-riding clinical decisions made by medics. It is not within their remit to investigate this.

    3. Good letter with the exception of the word “tolerate”. It should have said suffer.

  9. I’ve lived in Britain 22 years and have kids here – why am I being deported to Jamaica? 14 May 2022.

    There are few people who never make any mistakes in life. Most of those who do something wrong admit to it, apologise and are allowed to move on. But if you’re Black and you come from Jamaica it’s a different story.

    I made a mistake and because of it, on Wednesday 18 May, I will be put on a Home Office deportation flight to the country of my birth and torn apart from my five British children and my family.

    Since the publication of this piece, the Guardian has been informed that Mark Nelson’s removal directions are being deferred.

    Of course only an old cynic like myself would think it all arranged from the beginning.

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/may/13/britain-22-years-kids-deported-jamaica-home-office-flight

      2. It really is comical. You can almost imagine ‘I sold drugs. Why should I got to prison?’

      1. Morning Bob

        I reckon he is a Yardie !

        Yardie (or Yaadi) is a term often used, particularly within the Caribbean expatriate and Jamaican diaspora community, to refer to people of Jamaican origin, though its exact meaning changes depending on context. The term is derived from the Jamaican patois for home or “yard”.[1] The term may have specifically originated from the crowded “government yards” of two-storey concrete homes found in Kingston and inhabited by poorer Jamaican residents, though “yard” can also refer to “home” or “turf” in general in Jamaican patois.[2]

        Outside of Jamaica, “yardies” is often used to refer to Jamaican gangs or organized crime groups and gangsters of Jamaican origin, nationality, or ethnicity. In this sense, the term is sometimes used interchangeably with the term “posse” or “Jamaican posse” to refer to crime groups of Jamaican origin, with the term “posse” used more frequently in North America and “Yardies” being used more frequently in the United Kingdom.[3] Yardie gangs or Jamaican “posses” are involved in a wide array of criminal activity depending on their location, ranging from political corruption, political violence, and assassination in Jamaica to drug trafficking and gang violence in the US, Canada, and UK.

      2. You committed a crime, mate. All very nice wailing and squealing now, but we don’t want your sort here.

        It’s called responsibility.

  10. People still wearing masks that do not work can now only be called Doom Mongers.

  12. Good morning all!
    A brighter start, sunny with scattered cloud and 6°C on the yard thermometer.

    1. ‘Morning, BoB. Forecast is sunny all day here, but the promise of much-needed rain tomorrow seems to reduce each time I look. Currently 10°C here, max 15° today.

  14. More a Great Distraction than a Great Reset. 14 May 2022.

    ON April 29 Ofcom announced the appointment of Jessica Zucker as director of their Online Safety Policy team. Formerly of Meta (Facebook), Zucker had previously led their Misinformation Policy team in Europe, Middle East and Africa, and was in charge of the social media giant’s tackling of health misinformation throughout the pandemic. Her reputation therefore precedes her.

    In March 2020 Ofcom wrote to all licensed broadcasters to outline their approach to the coronavirus pandemic, demanding censorship of any statements that sought to ‘question or undermine the advice of public health bodies on the coronavirus, or otherwise undermine people’s trust in the advice of mainstream sources of information about the disease’. Having pierced the flesh of public health, how far can the broadcasting screw now be turned? All the way to the bone of anything deemed a hindrance to the state’s pursuit of its deranged post-Covid era agendas, it seems.

    A name to remember.

    https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/more-a-great-distraction-than-a-great-reset/

    1. “When an infected individual emits aerosols, they are more likely to spread disease in poorly ventilated, indoor spaces. Outdoors, however, the virus can disperse more easily. Several epidemiological studies have demonstrated the potential for COVID-19 aerosols to infect others indoors.

      When 61 singers attended a choir practice in Washington state at the start of the pandemic, a single person was infected with COVID-19. But the 2.5-hour practice resulted in an outbreak of 52 confirmed or strongly suspected cases of COVID-19, as well as two deaths. Researchers have hypothesized that loud singing for a long time may have produced a high, continuous stream of aerosols and caused the vast outbreak.”

      https://www.medpagetoday.co…

      So now , when there are thousands of aircraft travelling overhead , what happens to the stale cabin air .. and could flying be seeding the clouds with the Covid virus ?

      https://www.flightradar24.com/48.86,3.48/5

      1. An old soldier friend of mine went to a re-union in March. He is one of fifteen of those present who went down with the plague. (Fully recovered now.)

  18. What a truly amazing man…

    Lofty Carr, brilliant navigator who had a string of adventures with the celebrated Long Range Desert Group – obituary

    He was captured after an intelligence leak but later made his escape in Poland and walked several hundred miles, navigating by the stars

    ByTelegraph Obituaries12 May 2022 • 6:47pm

    Mike “Lofty” Carr, who has died aged 101, was one of the top navigators in the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG); he worked with the SAS on navigation and took part in many raids in North Africa deep behind enemy lines.

    On the night of September 15 1942 Carr, equipped with a Vickers K machine gun, navigated a mixed force of LRDG and a detachment of the Sudan Defence Force (SDF) towards the Italian-held fort at Jalo.

    Jalo was a desert oasis about 250 miles south of the Mediterranean port of Benghazi on the Libyan coast. In the build-up to General Montgomery’s major offensive at El Alamein, capture of the fort would provide the SAS with a strategic base from which to launch hit-and-run raids on the enemy lines of communication.

    Four miles from the village, the force dismounted from their vehicles and formed three columns. Carr led them forward for more than an hour in pitch darkness.

    They had just skirted a minefield when they were challenged by an Italian sentry. Carr grabbed his Vickers K machine gun and silenced him. The commander, Captain Anthony Hunter, urged his men forward, but they had only gone a few yards when they came under a hail of small-arms fire from the fort. Most of the SDF fled, pursued by their officers. A mortar round landed close to Hunter, blowing out his eardrums.

    Carr tried to fight his way through to the left column, which was engaging defenders inside the fort, but the opposition, equipped with rifles and hand grenades, was too strong. Firing long bursts from his Vickers gun he covered the withdrawal until his gun jammed.

    He could see no sign of his comrades, but he heard Italian voices heading his way; he stumbled over a well and hid in it. Unknown to him, his patrol had pulled back to join the rest of the force on the edge of the oasis.

    At first light, he climbed out of the well, crept through the village and hid in a hen coop. When the owner emerged from his house Carr, using sign language and very basic Arabic, managed to make him understand that he needed a camel to make good his escape.

    The villager, nodding enthusiastically, disappeared – only to return with German soldiers. Carr dived into a heap of straw, but when the Germans started prodding it with their bayonets, he gave himself up.

    The raid had failed. The garrison had been reinforced by the Afrika Corps at the last moment, and intense darkness had prevented the guides from identifying the defences until they were almost on top of them.

    There had also been a leak of intelligence: the enemy was expecting them. It had cost six men wounded, 10 captured and 14 vehicles lost.

    Stuart Michael Carr was born at Frome, Somerset, on October 29 1920 and came from a family of Anglo-Irish soldiers. His father managed a brewery at Stone in Staffordshire, and his mother, an ambitious woman, sent young Michael to Stone Grammar School and his brother to Newcastle-under-Lyme High School.

    Six foot four inches tall and weighing 15 stone, he had the build of a rugby player, but there was more to him than brawn. He had a passion for astronomy and would have become a surveyor but for the outbreak of war.

    In 1939, he enlisted in the Staffordshire Yeomanry TA and swiftly gained a reputation as an accomplished navigator. In 1940, he was a trooper working in the stables when Major (later Brigadier) Ralph Bagnold, the pioneer in desert exploration, heard about Carr’s rare skills and gave orders that he be released from his unit. His commanding officer refused to let him go, however, so Bagnold sent two military policemen to fetch him.

    Bagnold, a 44-year-old veteran of the First World War, had studied Engineering at Cambridge University. In 1927, when he was a major in the Royal Corps of Signals, he and a group of fellow explorers had driven Model T Fords from Cairo to the Siwa Oasis 400 miles to the west.

    In the next 10 years, he established himself as the foremost expert on the Western Desert. He invented the sun compass, a primitive but effective navigational device. The metal in vehicles and ferrous deposits, he discovered, made magnetic compasses unreliable. At night, using a theodolite, he took bearings from the stars. The British Army had adopted his sun compass, but few soldiers had much idea how to use it effectively. By 1939, Bagnold’s expertise in desert navigation was in great demand.

    In June 1940, Italy declared war on Britain and France. A large Italian garrison was stationed at Kufra in south-east Libya, and served as an air base for Italian East Africa. It was then that General Archibald Wavell, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Middle East Command, accepted Bagnold’s proposal that a Long Range Patrol be established, for reconnaissance and to find out what the Italians were up to.

    The men, mostly New Zealanders at this stage, were selected for intelligence, self-reliance, resourcefulness, resilience and the ability to live in close proximity with each other. Their vehicle was a modified Chevrolet truck, crewed by three men, equipped with a machine gun and carrying rations, fuel and equipment to last 2,500 miles.

    With his specialist skills, Carr became an important figure in the unit, soon renamed the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG), much celebrated at the time and photographed by Cecil Beaton. It quickly expanded into two squadrons, each with three patrols. The trucks were equipped with Bofors guns, anti-tank rifles and Lewis guns.

    Early in February 1941, Y Patrol of the LDRG was formed out of volunteers from Yeomanry regiments. It was commanded by Captain Pat McCraith from the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry, and Carr, with his navigational flair, was quickly recruited.

    The Patrol trained on sand dunes. Some of them were 300 ft high and given names like “whaleback” or “razorback”: they had to be negotiated adroitly if disaster was to be avoided.

    In the summer of 1941, Bagnold handed over command of the LRDG to Lieutenant-Colonel Guy Prendergast, but he continued to stay in Egypt and took Carr on missions as his driver and navigator. The two men formed a close bond.

    They crossed the desert to Kharga, about 375 miles south of Cairo. The town was a hotbed of espionage and Bagnold had many contacts there among headmen of the Senussi people. Desert nomads, they had been ill-treated by the Italians and were a valuable source of information for the British.

    Later that year, Y Patrol was split into two units, Y1 and Y2, each comprising 15 men and five trucks. They were commanded by Captain (later Major General) David Lloyd Owen from the Queen’s Royal Regiment and Captain (later Colonel) Frank Simms from the Warwickshire Regiment. Simms, in command of Y1 Patrol, selected Carr as his navigator.

    In November, three Beaufort fighter planes mistook the patrol for the enemy and made three runs, concentrating their machine-gun fire on Carr’s navigation truck with its prominent aerial poles. They flew so low, he said later, that it looked as if their propellors were being polished by the desert. The truck was set ablaze and Carr and Simms ran for their lives. The next day, two German fighters came in low, took them for allies, waggled their wings and flew off.

    On December 1, they discovered a large enemy camp near the coastal town of Derna, Libya. Raiding parties attacked at sundown, destroying 15 vehicles.

    When Carr got back to his truck he found that part of the patrol was missing. He was searching for the men when a German soldier leapt down at him from the back of a truck. Firing from the hip, Carr dealt with him.

    The patrol, assuming that he had been captured, moved off. Carr knew where the next night’s raid was planned, and decided to walk there. He stopped at a Senussi settlement to ask for food and water, but after drinking camel’s milk he became ill and was put to bed on sheepskins.

    It was almost a week before he recovered; then enemy patrols moved into the area and he had to hide in caves to avoid them. His narrowest escape was when six tanks came into the village. He was not sure whose they were and started walking towards them. The crews were wearing forage caps and, at almost the last moment, he realised that they were Germans. Dressed as an Arab, Carr quickly ducked into a tent.

    A week later, a wounded Royal Australian Air Force officer arrived. The man would have died within two days if he had not been rescued, Carr said later. He managed to get a note delivered to a gunner regiment. A few days afterwards, the two men set off on donkeys and were picked up by a truck and returned to the Allied lines.

    Next, Y1 Patrol was ordered to undertake a dangerous reconnaissance mission deep into enemy territory to Marada, about 60 miles south of El Agheila, Libya, where a radar direction-finding station, detecting allied shipping in the Mediterranean, had to be destroyed.

    Carr had the task of navigating the three-vehicle patrol. When he and Simms were within five miles, they went forward on foot with Carr, using his theodolite and the stars to check his bearing. After Carr pinpointed the position of the radar station, Simms and a comrade, Harry Chard, decided to carry out a recce of the fort.

    Two German trucks appeared, and an officer and his driver got out. They quickly spotted the tracks in the sand that Simms and Chard had made, and set off after them. Chard fired at one of them, but his revolver jammed. The two men made a run for it, but Simms was shot in the thigh and both were taken prisoner.

    Simms subsequently escaped by tunnelling out of Campo 35, the Italian PoW camp at the monastery of Certosa di San Lorenzo in Padula. He was recaptured and sent to the Forte di Gavi, the “Colditz” of northern Italy. After the Italian capitulation in September 1943, Simms jumped from an open-top cattle truck taking him to the railway station at Acqui Terme for transfer to a PoW camp in Germany.

    The lorry stopped in a swirl of dust. The guard’s gun jammed. Another guard with a Tommy Gun pursued him into the woods, but Simms outran him and hid in the undergrowth.

    For the next six weeks, he and a companion trekked hundreds of miles southwards down the Apennine range to the British lines near Campobasso.

    Separated from Simms, Carr, who had orders to lead the patrol to safety if his CO was captured or killed, drove through the night, covering almost 300 miles. In daylight hours they hid from the eyes of enemy fighter pilots.

    Meanwhile, the embryonic Special Air Service – after a disastrous first mission involving a parachute drop in 1941 during the North African Campaign – had switched from parachuting as a means of infiltration to using the LRDG as their “Libyan Taxi Service”.

    But in early 1942 the SAS were not yet self-sufficient, lacking vehicles and trained navigators. David Stirling, their commander, tried to persuade Carr, with his skill at training them up in navigation, to join him, but Carr said no, just as he had always declined the offer of a commission. He wanted to stay with his friends and remain in the ranks as a lance-corporal.

    In the first six months of 1942, with the support of LRDG’s “taxi service”, the SAS raided every important German and Italian aerodrome within 300 miles of the forward area and destroyed more than 140 aircraft.

    Carr believed, however, that the SAS grew too quickly and that some of the new recruits were below standard. Stirling, he felt, was a brilliant fighting commander but did not want to be bothered with the humdrum business of administration and worrying about where food and water, fuel and ammunition were to come from. The LRDG, on the other hand, had first-rate administrators in Bagnold, Kennedy Shaw and Guy Prendergast, who was a sort of father figure to Carr.

    Carr maintained that the LRDG had made the desert their accomplice and they could always outwit the Germans on the ground. The Germans, he said, were afraid of the desert; they were efficient but, in any given situation, their actions were predictable.

    It was the low-flying aircraft that frightened Carr, particularly the slow, single-seater, Italian Fiat CR.42 biplane. On one occasion Carr’s truck was strafed by a CR.42 that came in so low that he had a clear view of the pilot. Carr hugged the ground so hard that it left an outline of his body in the clay.

    After Carr’s capture at Jalo, he was handed over to the Italians and flown to Benghazi, where he was interrogated by a German officer. He insisted that he was merely a clerk in the Staffordshire Yeomanry who had lost his way in the trackless, featureless desert. The German listened patiently before revealing that he knew exactly who Carr was.

    He was sent to a PoW camp in Italy, but after the Italian capitulation in September 1943, the Germans began moving PoWs north, and he made his escape from captivity in Poland. He walked several hundred miles south-west, subsisting mostly on carrots from farms and navigating by the stars.

    After two months, Carr was ready to drop from malnutrition when a farmer told him that there were American soldiers in a church two fields away.

    In the spring of 1945 he was flown back to England. His parents had been told by telegram on three separate occasions that he was “missing, believed killed” and they did not expect to see him again. By coincidence, he arrived home on the same day as his brother, Dan, who had been awarded an MC and Bar.

    For many years Carr worked as a surveyor and valuer at the Liverpool office of Atlas Insurance, but in the 1960s he felt he needed a new challenge. He went to university and, having graduated from teacher-training college, he taught art until he retired. He was an accomplished artist as well as a woodcarver and potter.

    Lofty Carr married first, in 1946, Anthea Harber. The marriage was dissolved and their two children predeceased him. In 1959 he married Barbara Leese, a primary school teacher, who survives him.

    Lofty Carr, born October 29 1920, died April 5 2022

    1. What a fantastic ‘career’.
      I wonder if he was related to Colonel Carr from Salisbury then Rhodesia ?

  19. 352673+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    The whole kit & caboodle is crap with regular support from the electorate that are suffering
    Stockholm syndrome regarding the lab/lib/con coalition party’s.

    Every vote they cast is a nail driven in assuring their OWN kids a future of incarceration,rape/abuse,murders, knifings,
    the grandchildren they so lovingly value now
    have NO CHANCE their future has already been set out via todays voting pattern.

    Saturday 14 May: If civil servants want to work from abroad, they need to find a different employer
    No use continuing to stick plasters on the whole setup first award 1000 civil servants the DCM ( don’t come Monday)and a china man ( a wee kin lu) then sit out the strike for a week then repeat the process.

    The innocents will suffer, some will die but that is happening already, the whole system is morally corrupt and change is most definitely called for.

    The opposition to a decent way of life returning is dwindling with every boatload of invaders stepping ashore en route to the polling booth & changing the remnants of
    English culture.
    Thanks to the continuing voting pattern these Isles have become ” no country for old men, white men, Englishmen”.

  20. Good morning , cloudy 12c , best pal spaniel 14years old not on top form this morning .

    Moh and no son are NOW off to do their bit in the Weymouth 5 Park run … competing against each other .. some 200+ runners attend .

    I have been up since 6am .. my dreams and rare slumber ruined by younger dog bouncing around needing to be let out into the garden . The urgency was apparent ..

    2. Good morning m’dear!
      Not good news about your best pal. I hope he gets better.

    3. Dear Belle! They have days a bit ‘off colour’ (can I say that?) We all do! Have fun by your own! (Our daughters expression!) 🌹

  22. ‘Morning All

    Two strains of Omicron from South Africa are labelled ‘variants of

    concern’ by European health officials – who warn they could ignore

    vaccines and increase pressure on hospitals and ICUs

    Omicron variants BA4 and BA5 could lead to uptick in cases across the continent

    The ECDC is encouraging all countries to ‘remain vigilant’ of the new variants

    It encouraged nations to be prepared to roll out second boosters to all over 60s

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10814961/Two-strains-Omicron-South-Africa-labelled-variants-concern-European-health-officials.html

    Hmm,just a few points

    1 It’s obviously not a “vaccine”

    2 Even if it was a vaccine how can it possible protect against new variants when it was produced months ago

    3 Have they gone too early?? They should have waited until the new WHO superpowers were in place fully then The traitor Boris could lock us down and forcibly jab us saying “Not my fault guv it’s Tedros”

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/00c2abacf08db19b9d5f70093a7a820be9feed51e95be407513fe82d804d427f.jpg

    1. Morning! Tedros needs to be sent home to Ethiopia. If he’s not guilty of terrorism and attempted genocide as charged then he can clear his name in court.

  24. Good Moaning.
    If the sun only shines on the righteous, then this posh bit of Essex is on the cusp of worthiness.
    Must try harder.

  26. SIR – I have recently received letters from HMRC claiming that I have not paid my 2021-22 income tax on rent for a flat. I actually paid in full and on time, but they have loaded me with penalties and fines. I have tried writing to explain my case, but there has been no reply. Where is everyone?

    I can’t be the only person suffering from this frightening lack of contact. It is very worrying when you are hit with relatively large bills and feel powerless to defend yourself.

    Brian Farmer
    Braintree, Essex

    You are not alone, Mr Farmer (any relation to Ann?) After trying to get an answer from HMRC about income tax returns, the woman who wrote added, beneath her signature, I do not work on “Fridays”. Or at any other time, it seemed to me.

    Anyway, Mr F – try your dozy, underemployed MP. MPs have a special e-mail address to contact HMRC. (I have it and can supply it for £50 a go!!!)

    1. They’re getting rid of the customer care staff – they’ll be the first to get the hump and leave, and the embargo on recruitment means they won’t be replaced. Remember when you’re hanging on, you can always go online for a clarification of the rules, and of course your call is important to them.

      1. “They’re getting rid of the customer care staff”

        They went years ago.

  30. Morning all.

    If civil servants want to work from abroad, they need to find a different employer
    I expect they are still claiming their expenses as well.

  31. Good morning my friends,

    This is the first time we have been able to connect to the internet since Tuesday – the wi-fi connection is very poor in the marina.

    Rather gloomy having to pack everything up. Mianda has been our floating home for several months each year for the last nineteen years but the boys have left home and I am getting too incompetent to sail so we have sadly come to the end of a era.

    We’ll look in again when we next have an internet connection.

    1. Ah Richard! What a sad time. Sending good wishes to you both, and as one door closes…well, supply your own epithet! Thinking of you! 😘
      And by the way, you’re not incompetent!

      1. If one door opens as another door closes, you probably lve in a prison.
        :-))

    4. That’s sad, Rastus. But better leave at your choosing rather than leaving things too late – as my Mother has. That becomes traumatic as well as sad.
      Have you got much interest in purchasing her?

    6. Oh dear. One of those decisions you hope you’ll never have to make.
      But it is a good idea to get out while you’re still at the top. (The Fawlty Towers method.)

    1. Parish might have a chance locally. I’d vote for him, just to annoy the Cons.

  33. Dripping and lard – old-fashioned fat is back

    As cooking oil prices rise, British shoppers are turning to the traditional fats Granny once used, says Eleanor Steafel

    No longer seen as the devil’s work, lard seems to have had a rebrand –and right on time

    If I poked around in your fridge, how likely is it that I’d find a bowl of dripping? What about a block of lard? A small Tupperware of chicken schmaltz? Any chance of a pat of Trex vegetable fat? No? I’ll hazard a guess that I might find a bottle of extra virgin olive oil by the hob, though, and perhaps a couple of litres of sunflower, vegetable or rapeseed in the store cupboard.

    It used to be that fat was a luxury. The trim on a marbled cut of beef or the thick ivory blanket on a pork belly would always have been rendered, cooled, jarred and used again. Bacon grease would have stayed in the pan for days after a butty, used to fry eggs, leftover veg, slightly stale bread. And a cheap block of lard or vegetable shortening would have been a mainstay in most fridges, a little going a long way – because it had to, but also because, with a bit of thought and care, it could.

    Now, we plonk a bottle of oil in the trolley without paying much attention to the price. It’s considered an essential item; one that three out of four British households buy, use most days, and replenish every eight to 10 weeks. In the UK, we spend almost £400m a year on cooking oil. Well, until now.

    In the past month, Waitrose has seen searches for lard soar by 40 per cent, as we look for “more traditional cooking methods” to get around the oil crisis. Lard has seen the biggest spike, but sales of other animal fats like goose and duck have gone up, too. Searches for beef dripping (which you can buy in a 250g block for 80p or a 200g jar for £1.30) have risen by 17 per cent; salted butter and ghee are proving popular; and sales of cooking and baking fats are up nine per cent compared to just last month.

    So fish out your old Good Housekeeping manuals, or maybe invest in a Mrs Beeton reprint – it’s time to get to grips with dripping.

    The costs of everyday items are now soaring at such a pace that retail analysts have coined the term “shelf shock”. And in no corner of the supermarket are those shockwaves being felt more keenly than the cooking oil aisle. Vegetable and sunflower were already on the rise before the Ukrainian war (80 per cent of the world’s sunflower oil comes from the country and its attacker, Russia) but prices have kept climbing since March. Chefs report that they are paying three times more for cooking oil than they were six months ago (one tells me it’s “dearer than unleaded”, with sunflower oil now over £50 for 20 litres, up from around £17 in August) as their wholesalers are hit by crumbling supply chains.

    For the average home cook, the answer had been stockpiling before some supermarkets began capping the number of bottles you could purchase in one go. Cooking oil sales had risen by 17 per cent in the year from April 2021, according to market analyst Kantar, with sunflower oil – which most Brits use for frying – up 27 per cent in April, and vegetable oil up 40 per cent.

    For some, though, the cooking oil crisis has ushered in a return to old-fashioned methods and those thrifty refrigerated fats we always used to rely on. It’s often the way in leaner times. No matter how innovative our food has become or how much kit now takes up space on our kitchen counters, tradition tends to win out when we need to make do with less.

    Not that any of this is news to people of my grandparents’ generation, who would never have dreamt of discarding the fat from a Sunday roast, and would always have had a pat of lard or bowl of dripping in the fridge rather than relying on processed oils. My Irish Catholic grandmother kept the fat from her beef in a small cream ceramic bowl in the Electrolux. She’d use this dripping – so much more flavourful than vegetable oil – for roast potatoes and chips (whatever was left of it, anyway, once my grandfather had syphoned some off for his dripping on toast), and had a block of Trex or lard on rotation for Yorkshire puddings and pancakes.

    My Jewish grandmother was a rather more haphazard cook (she famously once left a cherry-red false nail in the fruit salad she’d made for a dinner party, only realising when my grandfather announced to the entire room “Marian, I’ve found your nail”) and was oddly partial to a low-cal spray. But I’m told her German mother was religious about saving the schmaltz from a Friday night chicken, using it to sauté the onions for her chopped liver or spreading it on slices of challah, “like Jewish bread ’n’ dripping”.

    For a while, of course, fat was deemed to be the devil’s work – packed with cholesterol and far less healthy than refined vegetable oils. It seems to have had a rebrand – and right on time. These days, a bit of quality animal fat or butter (with its “good” saturated fats as opposed to evil trans fats) is generally considered more acceptable than an ultra processed oil.

    Perhaps inevitably, it’s also considered “foodie”. Fat washed cocktails are all the rage, and no small plates menu is complete without something deep fried or a few delicate shavings of lardo (fatty pork rind, which oddly sounds more appealing than lard) or smear of aged beef dripping on toast. Ocado sells little jars of Iberico pork fat for £3.15, and you can order natural pork lard direct from some farms (try coombefarmorganic.co.uk if you fancy getting in some seriously upmarket fat).

    For chefs, the cooking oil crisis means that deep frying is out. Ellis Barrie, chef-owner of destination restaurant Lerpewl in Liverpool, says that he’s taking his deep fried bar snacks off the menu as the price of sunflower oil has tripled: “We’re going to get rid of our fried products so we’re not using the fryer at all. We’re literally just going to start finding textures from alternative sources.”

    He may look into using a refined British rapeseed oil, but fears it could be just as pricey. Olive oil is out as it burns too fast so can’t be used for frying at very high temperatures. Like most high-end restaurants, they use as much of an animal as possible, rendering off fats and reusing. But unless your menu is entirely meatbased, Barrie adds, swapping oil for lard isn’t really “a viable alternative”.

    At home, though, it may well be the answer. Meat might be expensive (chicken is almost dearer than beef at the moment) but if you can get a tub of cooking fat from it and perhaps a pan of stock, then it starts to feel like better value. Paul Foster, chef-owner of Michelin-starred Salt, in Stratford upon Avon, recommends using the fat already on a piece of meat to cook it in.

    “It’s about thinking: do you need [the oil]?” says Foster, who used to pay £11 for five litres – last week, he spent £42.

    “If you are cooking lamb chops, for instance, you don’t need to put any oil in the pan, you can cook the fat side first and then turn it onto the meat side and use its own fat to cook it in. It’s easy to just add a few tablespoons of oil, but you don’t need to.”

    Time to eschew the bottle of oil and start collecting your leftover fats, then. Turns out, Granny was right all along.

    As I’ve said for so long, seed-based “vegetable” oils (nothing of the sort, really) and margarine are Frankenstein foods of the devil. They have now been proved to cause most modern-day diseases, such as: obesity, heart disease, strokes, and countless other modern diseases and detrimental conditions. Tasty and nutritious lard, tallow, suet, butter and dripping for people: cooking oils for lubrication and mechanical fuel.

    1. Deep fat flyer: transatlantic planes to run on cooking oil.

      THE age of guilt-free flying is to begin next year with the first transatlantic flight powered by cooking oil.

      Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, said he was issuing a “historic challenge” to the aviation industry to have the first net zero flight cross the Atlantic by the end of 2023.

      This would mean a flight powered by 100 per cent sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) made from waste materials such as used cooking oils, domestic and commercial rubbish and flue gases.

      “We must act now to ensure that flying, so crucial to global connectivity in our fast-paced world, can continue without defeating our ambitions for tackling climate change,” Mr Shapps wrote in an online article for The Daily Telegraph. “That’s why, as passenger demand and the aviation industry continue to rebound after the pandemic, we’re not just going back to pre-pandemic normal.

      “Instead I am committed to building a world-leading sustainable aviation fuel industry in the UK, improving fuel security and delivering thousands of green jobs across the UK in the process.”

      Experts estimate a UK SAF industry could support up to 5,200 jobs, as well as a further 13,600 through global exports with a turnover of £2.3 billion by 2040. Planes are currently restricted to 50 per cent SAF fuel, but scientists are developing a fuel that could enable planes to carry 100 per cent SAF which would reduce emissions by 70 per cent.

      To achieve net zero they will have to come up with a way to decarbonise the remaining 30 per cent of emissions.

      The Treasury has already provided £180 million to support new SAF plants.“we now need to turbocharge production in order to build the initial three SAF plants by 2025,” said Tim Alderslade of Airlines UK.

      Rolls-royce, which has already successfully tested its large commercial aero engines on 100 per cent SAF, said Mr Shapps’ proposal was an “exciting and ambitious challenge”.

      Airlines are being invited to register their interest by June 12 this year with those chosen invited to submit a full application to win up to £1 million from the Government to support research.

      1. So, let me get this right. Explain if I’m wrong, Grizz:
        There is a shortage, getting worse, of oils for cooking. Evidence – the shelves are emptying, the prices rising. This partly due to the main suppliers being at war with each other.
        Shapps then suggests that the (ever scarcer) oil be used, not for cooking, but powering flight across the atlantic. What does he suggest the unused AVTUR is used for? Frying chips?
        Is that right? Is Shapps a total fried plonker?

          2. To fuel myself, yes. And, without my consent, as ethanol additive to diesel. But I bitched about the decision then, and still do now. It’s a shite idea

          4. Morning, Paul.

            My point is that “cooking oils” are NOT foodstuffs … they kill you! Better off using them for other purpose than for eating. Just like I do.

        2. He’s thinking of the cooking oil that is left after it’s been used by your local chippy.

          1. Avgas is for piston engines. Nobody flies those over the atlantic any more. Thankfully.

      3. I’ve never felt any guilt about flying in a plane burning fossil fuels…

      4. “Sustainable aviation fuel” is as big a lie as “sustainable palm oil”. The big producers set up a club that then issues them all with certificates.

    2. There’s always been a bowl of dripping in my fridge. If it gets a bit stale it makes fat balls for the birds and I start a new bowl.

      1. A friend called his cat “Trex”.

        Whenever he couldn’t find it he would shout, “Where’s that cooking fat?”

    5. The growth in sales of processed oils was never just about health, but partly due to an endless procession of ‘special interests’. Vegetarians and Hindus would reject beef dripping. Also the Islamites aren’t much in favour of pork fat.
      A starving peasantry could always steal livestock, but ripe sunflowers and oilseed rape are fairly inedible, thus good for agribusiness and collective farms.

      1. The growth in sales of processed oils was due, directly, to big business seeing an opportunity to convert a substance, originally made for industrial lubrication, into something appealing to cook with. Massive advertisement campaigns were mounted marketing this new oil as a superfood and as being “much healthier” than traditional animal fats. The global corporations were assisted in this campaign by health authorities who benefitted from the corporations’ largesse. It became the biggest travesty to human health in history.

        The facts are here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQmqVVmMB3k&list=WL&index=25

  34. DWP on the ball
    A lot of people are moaning about how long government departments are taking to reply. On April 25th I wrote to the DWP, enclosing the 30 page form AA1, to apply for an increase in Attendance Allowance for my increasingly sick wife.

    A text message from the DWP came on 3rd May saying that we should expect a decision within eight weeks.

    I marked my calendar for the end of June, to be ready to chase it up, but today, only 11 days later, my wife had a letter [edit: dated 10th May!] to say that she was due the higher rate of Attendance Allowance, an increase of £30 a week, very useful when fuel bills are shooting up.

    Interestingly, although I sent the AA1 form to the DWP in Wolverhampton, the welcome reply came from Belfast.

    1. Crikey – just enough time to boil an egg and get the top of the shell off for one mouthf……..

        1. With a Nuclear missile on the way, use the remaining time available to think of all the barstewards who escalated the crisis, and fervently wish that one’s radioactive dust will fall on them…

    2. 3 minutes. A scrambled air craft will get in the air and destroy that missile in 2 and a half of those minutes.

      Admittedly, big fat state would take 8 months to make the decision, but if they aimed for London no bugger would notice.

      1. To paraphrase the Caliph of Londonistan – “Learn to die with it.”

    2. Useful for slug removal. We used to have loads of frogs as well as toads, but since it’s got drier, the frogs have all vanished.It’s been some years since I had them in the pond. Lots of newts though.

      2. When we lived in Horsham, we had frogs in the garden. One year, an adder turned up, and all the frogs disappeared. Racists!

    3. Nice!
      The wild pansies (!) are out today.
      Minuscule pansy flowers in bright colours, scattered around Firstborn’s lower paddock and the slope up to his house. Lovely, so they are!

  37. For all those wordlers Wordle 328 2/6. Hooray. Figured out how to do it at last!
    ⬛⬛🟨🟩⬛
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    2. How do you get your greys to become black?
      Have you done today’s puzzle yet?
      Birdie 3 for me today.
      Wordle 329 3/6

      ⬜⬜🟩🟨⬜
      ⬜🟩🟩⬜⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      1. Haven’t done today’s yet, probably later this evening as we’re off to do the teas and bar at the bowls club. Well done on the 3. Don’t know how the greys become black, it may be just when you “share” and then paste?

        1. I’m jealous. I like the black better than my grey. Hope the teas went well.

      2. I Floundered for an Effin’ Five today …
        Wordle 329 5/6

        🟨🟨⬜🟨⬜
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  38. Why is it that Britain always seems to be at the forefront when diseases spread into the “west”?

    You name them, from new variants of Omicron to swine and bird ‘flu, from monkey pox to drug resistant TB, from children’s liver diseases to cardiac problems.

    One might think we are under attack.

    1. Two more people have been diagnosed with monkeypox in the UK in cases not linked to the previous infection, health bosses said today.

      One of the two people – who live in the same household – is being treated in hospital, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said.

      The cases, which are the eighth and ninth ever confirmed in the UK, are not connected to the previously confirmed case in England announced on May 7.https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10815317/Kim-Jong-says-North-Korea-facing-great-disaster.html?ito=push-notification&ci=RTQe1n2gtV&cri=zW2Iiffvia&si=26738248&ai=10815317

    2. 352673+ up ticks,
      S,
      We most certainly are under attack and have been so for the last three plus decades, quietly away to start with,now it is established much more openly.

      The opposition has the edge via the polling booth
      and the fools kiss X also new support arriving daily at Dover

          3. But I don’t want the b*stards here! Why doesn’t my voice matter? Perhaps ogga is right!

          4. Our voices don’t matter to the decision makers and are drowned out in the clamour for ever more diversity by the enemy within. You’re white and thus to be despised.

  39. Cheer up dear people , and take a look at these .. https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/nursery-rhymes-for-our-turbulent-times/

    Nursery rhymes for our turbulent times
    By
    Weaver Sheridan
    –

    May 14, 2022

    Incy Wincey Rishi
    Climbing greasy pole
    Down came Non-Domgate
    And left him in a hole
    Out came his minted wife
    And started paying tax
    But Incy Wincey Rishi’s
    Career is showing cracks.

    Keir-y, Keir-y, quite contrary
    How did your ‘working night’ go?
    Swigging bottles of Bud
    It sure tasted good
    With carry-out curries all in a row.

    One, two, three, four, five
    Once I caught a fish alive
    Six, seven, eight, nine, ten
    Then I let it go again.
    Why did you let it go?
    Because the EU quota told me so
    The Froggies they still have the right
    To trawl just off the Isle of Wight.

    Go on , look at the link , and titter ye not .

    1. “Swigging bottles of ‘Bud’?” [a.k.a. Yankee rice cat-piss]

      Doesn’t he like proper beer?

      1. Although i use to brew ale when we lived in Oz, after 6 months living and working in QLD i didn’t make any. The day we arrived home to stay with my parents in Mill Hill, I asked my wife to drive me up to Finchley where the was a Fullers pub and I had two lovely Pints (in jugs) of 5.5% draft ESB.

    2. You put your left leg in your left leg out
      You do the dopey wokey and you shake all about
      Your left arm in your left arm out that’s what it’s all about
      Oh do the dope wokey
      Oh do the dopey wokey
      Knees bend arms raided Rah rah rah

  40. 352673+ up ticks,

    Gerard Batten
    @gjb2021
    ·
    May 13
    “Non story”. The Govnt, with the approval of Parliament, shut down the country with unprecedented lockdowns. They destroyed lives & businesses, & condemned people to die alone. The full damage to the economy is yet to be felt.

    Meanwhile the PM & the Leader of the opposition were ignoring their own laws & partying.
    And Mogg calls it a “non story”. The phrase ‘Out of Touch’ with reality springs to mind.

    Orchestrated “out of touch” is nearer the truth.

    Jacob Rees-Mogg Clashes With Naga Munchetty Over Partygate ‘Non-Story’ — HuffPost UK

    The cabinet minister said the covid rules had been too strict and “there are other things going on that are more important”.

    apple.news

    1. Beautiful, Uncle Bill! Our garden looks like a confetti factory has exploded – 2 apple trees, 2 cherry trees and the Montana clematis have been devastated by wind and rain for 5 days! It’s very depressing but seems to happen every bl*** year! Alan thought he was driving a hearse!

  42. Who should be prime minister? Anyone but Boris Johnson. Max Hastings. 14 May 2022.

    In the eyes of Conservatives, there is still a pragmatic case for retaining Johnson. Yet if the future of Britain and public faith in our politicians are to count for anything, the alternative principled case for removing him must be recognised as imperative.

    Should he remain prime minister until the general election, a message would go forth to the world and, more importantly, to his prospective successors: that it is no longer cause for disgrace and resignation to have been exposed as a serial liar both in the House of Commons and out of it; that the bar for any man or woman who seeks to govern Britain has been lowered to a moral level that even the basest candidate could surmount.

    Surely this was true after Blair? Whatever Boris’s shortcomings (and they are many) his hands are not yet covered with the blood of tens of thousands of innocents?

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/may/14/prime-minister-boris-johnson-alternatives

    1. The problem isn’t Johnson. The problem is the entire state edifice. Every single high tax, big state proponent, everyone who wants to interfere in ours lives, every statist desperate to pass a law to ‘help’ people needs to go. An entire rethink on the purpose of the state and what it must do and to shred it back to that.

      1. The whole lot needs getting rid of, I think robots would make a better job all-round but of course if the civil service fed the information in to the computers we’d still have the same as we have already.

      2. I would think that a revolution a la France (1789) is the answer but maybe step-ladders, piano wire and lamp-posts might suffice for the the top 650 plus the Lords less the Hereditaries.

    2. Can any NoTTLer recall a time when the “government” consisted of so many useless, ignorant, corrupt, lying bastards

      2. How about when John (curry boy) Major was PM ? He only stepped into the position because of the useless, ignorant, corrupt, lying bastards,like Heseltine and the rest of the rotting vegetation in the commons ganged up on Thatcher. And then along came the B Liar years. And so it has continued within a similar pattern of events. Habitual and pathological and now it seems eschatological lying and more government cock ups than a stick can be pointed at.

          3. I think he lives not far from you Bill, you be careful. 🤔😎 I was fishing with my three sons at Weybourne a few years ago and someone told us he lived in land a bit from that beach.

      3. No.
        You left out “grandstanding, self-aggrandising, virtue signalling”

    3. Aren’t they? He has not pulled a trigger any more than Blair. But he has provided a multitude of weapons, and vast sums of money in order to prolong an unnecessary war.

    4. Given Boris’s penchant for leaping onto every bandwagon these days, he won’t be PM for long after he wins the Eurovision song contest and embarks on a world tour.

    5. Boris should go, he is dishonest and incompetent. I don’t care that we’re not likely to get anything better.

    1. I wonder how the world would react if Vlad stuck a rocket up the lot of them at the next meeting in Davos.
      He’s the only hope we seem to have.

        2. See what I mean? I don’t see Eddy’s original comment.

          I had to refresh and continuously ‘see more comments’ in order to see what might have happened, regarding my own plight.

    10. It seems that most of the comments that were here earlier, have either been suppressed or deleted – what is disqus doing?

  47. ‘Fun in the sun’ photos are a dangerous distraction from the reality of climate breakdown. 14 May 2022.

    Our new research, led by the University of Exeter, highlights a distinct problem with how the European media visually represents news of extreme heat. We examined media coverage from the UK, the Netherlands, France and Germany during the summer of 2019. Importantly, we only included news stories that mentioned both the keywords “heatwave” and “climate change”, reasoning that if we were to see responsible and accurate reporting of heatwave risks, it would be in coverage that at least alluded to the increasing risk of heatwaves becoming longer, more frequent and more intense under climate breakdown.

    We found two distinct themes in visual coverage. The first used images of “fun in the sun” that depicted heatwaves as something enjoyable. In all four countries, the majority of these images showed people having a good time in or by water. This was particularly prominent in the UK, perhaps saying something about how British culture narrates the experience of very hot weather in our historically mild climate.

    Here’s another Miserabilist Climate Changing Bastard trying to abolish seaside holiday snaps!

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/may/14/sun-photos-climate-breakdown

    1. “This was particularly prominent in the UK,…”

      I cannot help wondering if this might be that we are an extremely, over-crowded, small island that is surrounded by sea?

      1. Hi Tom
        OT, bt how is your residential arrangement? Kind of concerned here…

          2. I’ll manage thanks, Lass. Have you sent my e-mail address to damask-rose?

          4. Yesterday morning, I asked Ruth to please ask you for it but she has had to withdraw her offer of help, because of her lease so there is now no need. I still don’t know what to do.

    4. Doing research from media articles is not going to give good examples of reality.

    5. I think ‘university’ of Exeter kind of sums it up! This place was the height of excellence for maths in the ‘70’s!

    6. It’s part of the ‘agenda’ that the globalists are attempting to foist on us: anything that is fun, gives enjoyment or relieves the stresses of everyday life etc. is to be attacked and reduced to being worthless. The open attack on hospitality during the various lockdowns was a prime example. Under globalist authoritarian management those not part of the elite are to have a thoroughly miserable existence serving their masters. The ‘coaches’ have already started their programme of re-education with the warnings of shortages etc.

      Baby milk (Formula) is already in short supply in the USA. Starving babies is of no consequence to these barbarians.

      1. That’s the reason we are being invaded by muslims. They don’t like fun either.

      3. Boobs are still available, and IIRC, ample in the US of A – due to high levels of female nutrition.

        1. Over lunch I listened to the War Room and the discussion came round to this shortage. It appears that the poorer, all shades, and blue collar workers suffer because many of the mothers have to work and do not have time, and maybe neither the nutrition nor the time, to successfully breastfeed.

  49. Fifty migrants to be sent to Rwanda in a fortnight, says Boris Johnson. 14 may 2022.

    Boris Johnson said 50 migrants have been told they will be sent to Rwanda within the next fortnight, and insisted he was ready to fight with “leftie lawyers” seeking to challenge the government’s plans.

    What a difference between the headline and the text. In the one it is certainty and in the other a possibility. I suppose that they will play this pantomime out until it finally dies of political inanition!

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/may/14/fifty-migrants-to-be-sent-from-uk-to-rwanda-in-a-fortnight-says-boris-johnson

    1. They have entered the country illegally. They have no documentation. That should be enough to charter a flight immediately. They will string it out while thousands upon thousand s land on our beaches this year. They are liars.

      1. Among the engineers, doctors etc. there must be a few pilots. Couldn’t they fly themselves there?

          2. Not if there are big towers in the way.
            Look up flight training reports (Twin towers).

    2. I think he meant ‘sent to Rwanda for a fortnight’ – to give the hotels time to get more rooms ready for the next batch.

    3. 50? that’s like farting in a hurricane, send them all IMMEDIATELY , F*** the lawyers

    4. Such a complete waste of money, fuel and effort. The solution is simple. Tow them back to france, destroy the boat.

    1. For some reason, the Russian hierarchy didn’t find it funny. And complained.

    3. We’ve got the DVD and won’t be watching it again, so if anyone would like it, let me know!

  51. Phew what scorcher. Just in from scarifying the “lawn”…. went over it – or 100 square yards of it – three times with the scarifier. Seven enormous barrow loads of stuff disposed of. Still looks as if I hadn’t started….{:¬((

    Will have another go tomorrow..and the next day… and the next…

          4. There is another Nottler in that line of work on here. He’s much more polite. :@)

          7. Where I live you get twice the house for half the money compared with where you are.

          8. True. But i will be able to sell mine much easier. Two bed Bungalows on the south coast are snapped up immediately for £300,000 plus and rising.

          10. It has been improved and maintained. Ask any other Nottler who has visited and they will say the same.

    2. Built a scaffold and been prancing about on the roof setting up to fix winter storm damage. Tiles replaced, now the woodwork and flashing.
      Stiffer than a board now. Red medicine should help.

  52. Clearly being dense today. So many clues but…
    Wordle 329 5/6

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    1. #MeTwo – I Floundered for a Five …
      Wordle 329 5/6

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    2. Easy today
      Wordle 329 4/6

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      2. It kept on infesting the racing. Hello! I watch a racing programme to watch, well, racing, you know! If I wanted to watch the effing footie, I’d tune in to it. I don’t, so I don’t and no amount of irritating promotion of 22 idiots on a pitch running around after a ball will induce me to do so. It just makes me annoyed – much like seeing Call Me Dave interviewed because he knew one of the participants in the charity race.

  54. FA Cup.
    Does anyone else see the crassness of bending the knee in memory/honour of a criminal when 80% of both teams are non-white?
    If you’re good enough you get selected, black, pink or khaki.

    1. And the dreadful commentary telling us how we should feel! I don’t switch on until it’s kickoff!

    3. A few weeks ago I wondered if someone had complained about MOTD. Although the knee-bending was usually shown in only the first match, it was always with the commentator saying something like “the players demonstrating that there’s no place for racism in football”. It was therefore a bit of a surprise one week to hear of “…togetherness and respect for all…”. Still an impertinence but not such a great one.

      Normal service was soon resumed…

      1. The actions perpetuate and exacerbate the racism.
        If anything is needed, which I doubt, a simple announcement is sufficient.

  56. To brighten your evening – read Rod Liddle in this week’s Spectator:

    At long last the state of Oregon has got around to installing tampon machines in the male lavatories of its many schools. I have campaigned long and hard on this issue. It has always seemed to me grossly unfair that girls should be provided with this facility but the poor boys utterly ignored. The sense of shame that these young men must have felt when their monthly cycles arrived unexpectedly – and remember that many of them will be victims of ‘period poverty’. Now, though, thanks to the state’s chirpily named Menstrual Dignity Act, equality has been achieved and I will therefore turn my attention to another consequence of social injustice – the continued proliferation of parking spaces which are not designated solely for disabled persons. All parking spaces should be demarcated thus, much as they are at most branches of Waitrose. We move forward to a progressive upland only because of the tireless campaigning of persons such as myself. Oh, and of course the BBC. We would be nowhere without the BBC.

    You may have noticed that the latest Doctor in Doctor Who, announced this week, is black. Or, if you hadn’t heard this announcement, it is almost certainly what you might have guessed. And you will assume that the BBC made this decision because it is psychotically obsessed with the notion of diversity, to a state of utter derangement. That is exactly what I thought – and I think it is probably true.

    The BBC’s track record is one of ‘celebrating’ diversity or, as the sceptics would put it, rubbing whitey’s nose in it by over-representing ethnic and gender minorities to an enormous level on every programme it broadcasts. And so the black actors, or journalists, suffer as a consequence of this disposition. Ncuti Gatwa, the Rwandan Scottish chap who has landed the part of the Doctor, is a very talented and likeable actor indeed, just as Clive Myrie – who now presents almost everything on the BBC – is an excellent and very personable journalist and was once a mate and highly valued colleague. Both are wholly deserving of their success and I find Myrie, in particular, a very pleasing newsreader. But because the BBC insists on casting black people into every conceivable role solely for the purpose of politically correct virtue-signalling, they can be accused of being there to hit a quota. This is the problem: inverse racism and ‘positive discrimination’ are the handmaidens to racism, not its enemy. They breed resentment and doubt. I daresay that lurking at the back of the minds of many entirely deserving black TV stars is the fear that they were chosen not because of their talent but because of their ethnicity.

    Anyway, I hope that Mr Gatwa breathes life into a character who has been rendered in a persistent vegetative state by scripts which have had, as their priority, a determination to lecture the kiddies on fashionable issues, rather than scare the hell out of them with cybermen and stuff.

    Meanwhile the BBC has decided to spend £50 million (!) over four years finding out what the public want to watch on their TVs and listen to on their radios. The BBC employs 22,000 people. Are none of them charged with the task of finding out what the licence payer wants to watch? Has the BBC heard of that thing called ‘ratings’, in which the people who pay for the existence of this increasingly absurd monolith vote with their remotes? Does it take any notice of ratings at all? Or does it not feel a need to bother with such nuisances because it is insulated from commercial pressure?

    If it did check the ratings, it would find out that one of its most popular stars of recent years was Jeremy Clarkson, whom it had been desperate to get rid of for ages because he did not espouse the idiotic world view shared by most of the staff. It would have found that Sue Barker, the former tennis player and host of A Question of Sport, was very popular with the audience too – but the BBC binned her because it cannot stand people who are getting on a bit.

    Indeed, the BBC continues to lust after the 16- to 25-year-old audience, in the manner of some of its disgraced former light entertainment stars, which is one reason why it has become the acme of wokeness. But this has not worked. The young audience has no time for the BBC, no matter how fatuously, achingly progressive it becomes. It has recently spent £80 million relaunching the dire BBC3, to appeal to yoof – and has been met with audiences which would bring ignominy to a weekly podcast presented by a stammering village idiot. Meanwhile, as a consequence, it has forgotten the people who actually pay for the licence fee – those vast ghastly legions of Middle Englanders who know what a woman is, are quite proud of Britain’s history and heritage, would rather enjoy watching a well-written murder mystery, and won’t get too discombobulated if the cast features an absence of transgendered Pakistani dwarves.

    This is the real issue for Auntie, much as it is for the Labour party: she despises the cultural norms and aspirations of Middle England. In truth the mindset has not changed from the days of the awful director-general Sir Hugh Carleton Greene, who once said of the people who paid for his existence: ‘We are going to use this organisation to change the way the rest of the country thinks. We want them to see stuff they don’t like. We don’t really care if they complain.’

    So here is my prediction. This extravagantly funded inquiry will report its findings and discover that people wish to be entertained, not lectured to, and are pretty bored of wokedom in all its guises, especially when they have to pay through the nose for it in a statutory charge every year. And the BBC staff will dutifully ignore the findings and continue to do what they want to do, convinced all the while that they are right and we are wrong.

    1. Mr Dalek has been relegated to the TV Centre canteen and his ability to say, “Exterminate!” was switched off long ago. Close up you realise that his weapons are actually an egg whisk and a sink plunger.

      2. Exterminate!!!!
        ‘egg whisk and a sink plunger’ I’ll have you know, they were high tech extermination equipment – how dare you………!

    2. Auntie needs to be Sectioned under the Mental Health Acts – it’s for her own good.

    3. Subscription channel. If they believe what they say, they’ll be rich. Or…

  57. That’s me gone, folks. A truly gorgeous summer day in yer North Narfurk. Warm, very sunny virtually no breeze (until just now).

    In shorts and short-sleeve shirt. Bliss.

    Have a jolly evening – voting for any country other than you know which.

    A demain

    3. Yesterday I tried my best
      And today I had no luck
      How about tomorrow then?
      That’s it! – WTF.

      1. Not really.

        It’s what they genuinely believe.
        The religion is the problem and its followers are brainwashed. They can’t help themselves.

        Ah!! OK, you’re right, they’re savages.

      1. Already there in parts of the UK, the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany and France

      1. When an apologist for Islam states that it could never happen in the UK, ask them what they think would have happened to Salman Rushdie had he been captured by Muslims in Dewsbury.

  60. Husband and son did well in their Weymouth 5k Park run .. arrived back home just after 1015 am !

    We had a real panicky moment when old friend turned up in his lovely hardly used new car .. His new bank card had arrived , and he had wandered down our way to fill his car up with petrol ( because it is slightly cheaper here by 2p than the big fuel station outside his village which is horrendously expensive .

    He tried to pay for his fuel by typing his card number in … oh dear .. all went wrong . He came to us for help , we asked him what was what and out of curiousity we asked him how many digits had he typed in …

    He said …” well it is the same number as my service number “( he was a Para in the 1950s)

    Moh and I looked at each other and rolled our eyes .. the army nuumber was about 12 digits long +

    We persuaded him it couldn’t be , so it must be another number …He thought for a moment and reeled off a number which sounded just like his phone number .

    Moh suggested that we pay for the fuel, so Moh and he drove down to the garage to sort things out .. on the way there , old pal suddenl remembered the 4 digit number .. and Eureka , all was well.

    We went out with son this afternoon, miles away so that he could pick up a new motorbike .. Only to find that the bike wasn’t there yet .. confusion over dates, BUT … Moh and I were wowed by the beautiful display of motorbikes and the splendour of the show room .. it really was a delightful moment ..

    Now after arriving home , feeding the dogs , drinking tea, listening to racket of the young starlings splashing around in the water bowl , the weather is clamping in , quite dark , and I reckon it will rain soon.

    I suspect thousands of spectators have paid a small fortune to get to and view a very mundane FA Cup final.

          2. It was a brand new card to replace his out of date one , I think you have to first tap the 4 digits in before you can use contactless.

    2. Is the older dog OK, TB? You said earlier that he wasn’t well, or have I remembered wrongly?

      1. Jack appears to be happier this evening , thanks Sue.

        I went to the local butcher and bought a cooked BBQ’d chicken . Yes , I know , very lazy of me . Easier than roasting one or cooking up bits and pieces .

        I seperated the flesh from the leg bones and thighs and mixed it up with their dry food , and they both gobbled their meal quite happily .

        Jack is asleep the side of my chair , although if I move , he moves .. He has a tumour in his abdominal cavity, not operable , which sometimes affects his breathing , he still enjjoys a short walk , but today has been a bit dfficult , especially this morning .

        1. Our Hector will be 12 to the end of the month. He’s had two cancer ops and 2 joint ops. Plus chemo and radiotherapy plus daily drugs. I can’t imagine life without him and I’m not a dog person. Since old man broke his ankle I’ve walked Hector twice a day, and while he mightn’t be the quickest thing on 4 legs I’ve loved his company.

          1. I was devastated when I lost Charlie (I’d had him just over 17 years). He left a big hole in my life. Oscar is trying to fill it (and getting better every day).

          3. Yes, he’s coming along. I entered him in his first dog show today (best rescue). He didn’t win, but I love him anyway and he’s the best rescue in my eyes.

          4. Having old four legged pals like Hector or Jack who have gone through so many operations and who still manage to rally around deserve medals for their stoicness.

            Our younger 9 year old youngster still bounces around and wakes us up at 6am needing to go in the garden for a pee. He is very lively and always ready for a game and exercise … Pip is a fox red spaniel , and great fun.

            Jack is my shadow , and a very close companion .

    3. You might tell your old friend and your husband that using any sequence from your service number that is memorable is also idiotic. DOH !
      You might also consider changing all you passwords given how long lost friend is/was.

      I don’t believe you and your husband are so soft headed as to leave your selves wide open. IMO.

    2. Candace Owens is obviously a neo nazi white supremiscist KKK baby eater. I’m on the side of the black woman.

  63. Not so good today! Wordle 329 5/6

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    1. How do you get ‘non-runners’ in black, vw.

      I have to use the high-contrast mode – red and blue – because of poor eyesight.

      I am scheduled for a cataract op at the Jubilee hospital, Clydebank, on Tuesday 17 May.

      Perhaps, it will be easier thereafter ?

      [IC you chose ‘mineral’ rather than ‘vegetable’ …]

      1. I’ve got mine in black now. Just go into ‘settings’ and choose ‘Dark Theme’.
        Wordle 329 3/6

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      2. Sorry Lacoste I have no idea how it comes out in black or grey, not techie enough by a long way. Have only just managed to post the chart!
        Best of luck for your cataract op next week, Alf is delighted with his.

    1. Just for clarification purposes: “Silly old dumb head should put his hand in his pocket and raise it himself !!” You are referring to the ship?

    5. The headline is wrong; Prince Charles is yet to have a warship. He commanded HMS Bronington – one of his Mum’s fleet – briefly in the Nineteen Seventies. I witnessed his presence in St. Peter’s Port c.1976.

      Toward the end of his service, in February 1976, Charles was given command of the coastal minehunter HMS Bronington for nine months. Later that year, using his £7,400 of severance pay from the navy, Charles established the Prince’s Trust, a charitable organization dedicated to funding community initiatives that support disadvantaged youth.

      Royal Naval ships don’t sink at their moorings; this event would need to have been ‘procured’ by unfriendly forces.

    6. As much as I don’t want damaging components polluting the seas, what will we do if we did raise it? It’s obsolete, refitting would be ruinously expensive and pointless even if it could be. It’s scrap metal.

    1. Ye did better than me before lots of wine!
      Wordle 329 5/6

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  66. Thought for the day.

    As I write there have been 395 comments on Nottle today.
    I suspect that there will have been fewer than 50 people contributing.
    Are we sufficiently diverse and inclusive???

    On a more serious note, do we chase off potential friends?

    2. John Ward refers to the ‘Dissenters’ as the One in Eight…. here on Nottl I think it is more: One over the Eight!

    3. I believe we have a few Scots and a couple of Welsh as well as one or two from the Emerald Isle as well as at least one representing the Canuks and a couple in the US. At least one lawyer, teacher, ex-armed service personnel and at leat one MH specialist – Isn’t that enough?
      Oh I nearly forgot a Sosaboc Detective…

      1. Indeed.
        But seriously; we used to see 1000+ comments a day and from numerous individuals.

        1. Perhaps it’s cyclical, sos. Some of us are out in the garden and some haven’t been well.

          2. Then this must be Paradise because it seems to me in every other bloody field they do!

          8. That’s what the supermarkets say about our diverse population – rising daily.

        2. I saw that as well – I don’t think it’s anything to worry about. Folk have left, moved on, some will never return and are missed.

        3. That was when furious arguments took place, and occasionally someone was banned. Ages since I modded anybody, its all very quiet.

      2. We also have artists and linguists (and some of us fit more than one category) 🙂

    4. Mola is fishing, Stig isn’t here as much and neither am I. Ashes is in her mobile home and, I guess, has limited access, ditto Rastus. Plus the weather is nice so people are likely taking advantage of the sunshine.

        1. And OLT does so also. I fit in visits here between appointments and stuff round the house. I could use a magic wand to sort things out;-)

    5. Are they all watching Eurovision??? Seriously, I have noticed a reduction here and as far as I am concerned, the conspiracy theories seem to overwhelm everything!! Plus, I have been having computer problems which along with time difference, somewhat hampers my contributions, not many here at this time of day ;-))

      1. I lurk but am not here as often.
        England is having rather nice weather so I think people are taking advantage of it.

        1. Our weather is still very changeable, not yet into shorts and flip-flops!! And before too long, we shall be moaning about it’s too darn hot!!

    6. Nah – things happen. I’m living in chaos with ceilings of 3 rooms being replastered and painted, plus outside gable end woodwork, soffit, and fascia being repaired/repainted etc.

      It’s a nightmare! Bedroom out of bounds, bathroom and kitchen cleared of all except fixtures, plus contents of the three now in the rest of the house, so that getting anywhere is an assault course. I’m whacked and sleeping badly, so NoTTL is for treats!

      Zzzzzz

      1. Ditto on that front. Things have a place. If things are NOT in their place, then life becomes tremendously stressful.

          1. Have either of you (wibbling and Conners) looked in the fridge? Lol.

    7. Birds of a feather Sos. I’ve invited lots of people to join in but ………..

    10. I’ve been working nights (coming to the end of a shift as I type) so haven’t looked in much this past week.

      Brenda’s beano later today though so Ill stay awake – lovely jubbly jubilee

  67. Evening, all. Went to Bangor races today – what a scorcher! Should have got the panama out (although tradition is one doesn’t until after Royal Ascot).

    1. Did you have a loverly time, the day you went to Bangor, Conners? Lol.

  68. Spent the day painting. From 10-4 bashed at the wall withh the roller.

    The Warqueen soon pointed out this was a stupid thing to do and to use it as a roller, not a hammer. Things went better from there on.

    Got the far wall covered, but it has lead to some chaos. As it’s the ‘utility room’ the tumbler is elsewhere, along with all the house’s automation stuff, so no one can turn any lights on….

    Nipped to the Block and Quayle for some white spirit and more paint, a sanding block. Now looking for 1200grit sand paper on the amazons.

      1. Doesn’t cover the truly nasty thick orange paint that covered the walls – otherwise I agree, although I paint my little men with acrylics.

    2. “…people who escaped violent extremist groups…”

      It can be very dangerous attempting to escape from one particular extremist group…

    3. “…becoming too prepared…”

      Prepared for what? Wokism, Leftyism, Common Purposeism or just too prepared to be white, privileged and extremely right-wing and racist by default.?

      1. I think Big Brother is trying to tell you that you’re a nazi if you’ve got more than two cans of soup in the cellar.

  70. The Beeb asks:

    “Eurovision: Where has the UK gone wrong in the past?”

    Answer: Taking part.

  71. Over in the States they are not eggagerating about the scale of bird Flu:

    “Since January, the outbreak has spread to 32 states, killing more than 37 million chickens and turkeys. Of that, 29 million egg-laying hens have died, or about 10% of the U.S.’ total flock of 300 million. Bloomberg says the bird flu is “shaping up to be the worst outbreak of its kind.”

    BTL Comment:

    “understand that the flu kills far more healthy birds than sick birds. When one bird in a facility turns up with the illness, they put down all the birds at the facility.

    It’s Chicken Holocaust, brother.”

      1. If there is no KFC in the UK the blacks and muslims will riot. So chicken meat is sure to continue here.

  73. Just before I turn in.
    What a farce the FA cup final was today 150 years old, with the top two teams of the English league playing after an annual knock out competition.
    i would estimate that between the two teams including subs, both with German managers, there were around 6 English players the rest were from other countries. Our singing of the national anthem was cut short, nobody in either of the two teams seemed to be singing along, why would they ? And after 90 minutes of boring kick and dive, plus extra time it came down to penalties. None of the overpaid experts had the talent to get the ball in the net within the 90 minutes allowed. Something needs to be done about this so it doesn’t happen again. 90 thousand people paid handsomely to go to the once famous Wembley Ground and how many of them came away disappointed. Even once basic sport has become part of Ripoff Britain now.
    Wadda load of Bolero that was.
    Don’t mention the Euro vision song ‘contest’ the winners were decided upon weeks ago. It’s all, yellow and blue. 🟨🟦 job done. Up yours Vlad.
    And its good night from me

    1. I just read that our National Anthem and Prince William were booed. Can’t stand football and all these foreign players in the sport do not help. No national pride anymore.
      This country is a sad shadow of its former self.

    3. You can blame the 90,000 who stumped up megashillings to go through the turnstiles (do they still exist?) and all the other hundreds of thousands who cough up weekly and the Streaming subscribers for providing the wherewithal to fund the managers and exotic species…..

  74. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-10816875/PETER-HITCHENS-Progressives-whod-wreck-Tiger-Heads-school-admit-theyre-wrong.html

    There were always difficult pupils, but difficult schools are the result of unending welfare, broken homes, massive uncontrolled gimmigration and rewarding failure, laziness and sloth and punishing merit, effort and achievement.

    Resolving these things isn’t difficult, but the state needs sa drubbing it’ll never be able to recover from Instead of endless welfare, tax cuts. Stop rewarding single parent families. Demand absent fathers provide for them. As regards black gangs – easily solved by a far harsher criminal code that involves flogging.

    1. Goodnight, Elsie and God bless – I have a long time before tiredness strikes.

  76. Just checked in on the BBC slugfest called Eurovision. The public votes seem to favour Ukraine. Should have placed a bet on it but it is so political and contrived. Very European in fact.

    Edit: Ukraine as predicted. Thank God we lost, the very thought of having to fund that crap had we won gives me the jitters.

    1. I wonder where next year’s contest will be held? Underground in the Mariapol steelworks?

  77. Goodnight and God bless to our wee band og (generally) happy NoTTLers.

    Let’s just see if the arms of morpheus are open and welcoming.

    1. Good morning Geoff, and thankyou .

      Nice wet morning here , and everything looks so green , different shades of green . quite beautiful.

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