Saturday 15 July: Now is the time for radical thinking on how to equip the NHS for the future

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

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

491 thoughts on “Saturday 15 July: Now is the time for radical thinking on how to equip the NHS for the future”

  3. Good morrow, Gentlefolks, today’s story

    Misery Loves Company

    “Look at ME!!” boasted the fit old man, pounding a very flat and firm stomach, having just finished 100 sit-ups before a group of young people.

    “Fit as a fiddle! And you want to know why?? I don’t smoke, I don’t drink, I don’t stay up late, and I don’t chase after loose women!”

    He smiled at them, teeth white, eyes aglitter, “And tomorrow, I’m going to celebrate my 95th birthday!”

    “Oh, really?” drawled one of the young onlookers. “How?”

    1. 374470+ up ticks,

      O2O,

      The big question is, does the voting majority forgive & forget this test run of various tortures and manipulations they, the political top rankers, are capable of using again in the near future.

      For the good of the party name ?.

    2. I sincerely hope Andrew has kept a record of this data. He spoke to the European Parliament recently on this subject and I thought, well, maybe there is a chance he has at least enlightened them about the sinister intent behind these experimental jabs. Evidently it fell on deaf ears.

      Good morning all btw.

  5. Good morning all.
    A dull and damp morning after yesterdays rain which has, for the time being, ceased. 10°C on the yard thermometer.
    A few blue patches visible, but rain forecast.

  6. ‘Morning All

    Medley Time

    https://scontent-lcy1-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/358639415_10159680939568553_8327831278843477589_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_p552x414&_nc_cat=105&cb=99be929b-59f725be&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=8bfeb9&_nc_ohc=NV6zgZB4gDAAX_61JkK&_nc_ht=scontent-lcy1-2.xx&oh=00_AfDqoMADDj9YYDfTc0rJADFBqLm5D9Gty8o_T0vHCf2TmA&oe=64B421CB

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/876174008473dc9941912efe6b4948fb17427755ebaa5c6a633ffcb0f64cbb28.jpg

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  9. UK invites Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman to visit. 15 July 2023.

    The Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, has been invited to the UK on an official visit in late autumn, the first such visit by the heir to the Saudi throne since he was accused of masterminding the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post columnist and dissident.

    Numerous UK ministers have been to Saudi Arabia in the interim, and senior Saudi ministers have also come to the UK, including the foreign minister, Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud.

    Prince Mohammed also spent nearly a week in Paris last month meeting the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and attending a climate finance summit.

    This shows the utter moral corruption of our Leaders! This man is a murderer not just in the detached sense of political necessity but personally. The reason for the invitation is that he is a part of the new alignment that is taking place in the rest of the world that are not involved in Ukraine. If anything I think the visit would confirm to him that he’s on the right track!

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/14/uk-invites-saudi-crown-prince-mohammed-bin-salman-to-visit

    2. We have returned to the late Middle Ages.
      Well, in foreign policies, at least; our rulers show no ruthlessness when it comes to pandering to those destroying this country.

  10. Good morning all,
    Does anyone know how Lottie got on yesterday? I think she had her hospital appointment.
    I scrolled through some yesterday evening’s comments, but didn’t see anything from about her.

    1. I don’t think she appeared here at all, so I suspect it wasn’t a good sign. We may hear later on.

      1. Thank you, and sorry for delayed reply. We travelled up to see son for the weekend, and only just got around to connecting to some internet.
        All we can do is to hope Ann isn’t suffering too much, and that her news wasn’t too bad.

    2. She posted late afternoon, that she’d been ill from the morphine and had been in bed, with need to throw up, and nausea.
      Poor lady is really getting the works, and it makes for painful reading.
      No news about her OH.

      1. I got the impression that she had cancelled her appointment as she was too ill to attend but that he was making some progress, albeit slow.

      2. It is distressing to read. We’ve all seen people suffering like that and experienced the feeling of helplessness.
        I do hope she and her beloved do have some help; they appear to be so lonely.

      3. Thank you. Sorry for delay in replying.
        Soon after posting, we set off to younger son for the weekend.
        Just checked in and got connected.
        Poor Ann, she is in such an awful situation. If only we could do something to help.

  11. Morning, all Y’all. Damp, chilly and autumnal. Beehives to be extended upwards. Bees, sensibly, still in bed.

    1. As I’m now home alone, I’m going to have a celebratory bacon and egg sarnie made from my late yesterday baked white bloomer.

  12. Ukraine’s counter-offensive not making quick progress. 15 July 2023.

    Progress has been slow as Ukrainian troops have been forced to dismount from vehicles and fight through vast minefields laid by Russian forces.
    The best successes have been around the Donetsk region city of Bakhmut, where Ukrainian troops are reclaiming ground around its flanks.

    Its forces advanced 1,700m in the direction of the southern city of Melitopol, in the Zaporizhzhia region, last week, Col Mykolaiv Urshalovych of Ukraine’s national guard said.

    Did they really expect to just drive through the Russian positions? All this is to maintain the illusion that a Counter-attack is still in progress. It is a farce designed to mislead. These “gains” are miniscule. The Ukies have twelve new assault brigades armed and trained by NATO members and yet there is no sign of them engaging the Russian lines.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/07/14/ukraine-counter-offensive-not-making-quick-progress/

    1. There are many similarities between this war and WW2. Certainly the annexation of the Sudetenland under the Munich Agreement and the Aschluss of Austria has been replicated by the annexation of the Donbas under the Minsk Agreement and the incorporation within Russia of Crimea.

      As we progress through the war, the failed liberation of Europe at Dieppe demonstrated the shortcomings of a counteroffensive against a foe that is well dug in. WW2 suggests that the best way to achieve success is to do the unexpected, combined with a campaign of mixed messages, confusing the foe and sending their garrison the wrong way.

      History has shown time and again that any invasion of Russia has proved idiotic. Both Napoleon and Hitler were duped by distance and allowed hubris and easy territorial gains across flat ground to extend their supply lines far enough for Russia to nip behind and cut them off, leaving an invasion force stranded and at the mercy of ruthless Russian fighters.

      However, with generals with better military awareness, a tactical invasion of Russian territory might be more realistic than attempting to fight their way through the minefields and tank traps set in the Donbas. That Prigorzhin believed that it was easy for him to march his army from Rostov to Moscow makes me wonder if the route from Kharkiv to Rostov might be fairly straightforward, cutting off Russian supply lines and making the invasion force vulnerable to being picked off by snipers.

      For this plan to work, it is vital that Ukraine is not a member of NATO, since such a strategy under NATO would almost certainly set off WW3, whereas it is better for everyone kept as a local difficulty.

      1. I read in a book that I lent to someone and has disappeared, that the Dieppe raid was a practice invasion (after buggering about in Dorset/Cornwall being picked off by E-boats) as a pilot run before the full D-Day, and was really valuable in that regard – testing a beach assault against a real enemy who would be properly cross, and then they would retire with a few prisoners.
        One lesson learned was not to try to come ashore on pebbly beaches with tanks. Couldn’t get a grip, the pebbles just kept rolling away.

    2. Its forces advanced 1,700m in the direction of the southern city of Melitopol…

      Advanced a little over a mile. Was that over uncontested ground until they came within range of Russian defences? Drawing/funnelling attacks e.g. using minefields, onto pre-prepared defences is a classic tactic, more especially if the enemy is intent on attacking at several places.
      It sounds as if the Russians are prepared to let the Ukrainians butt up against prepared defences and be worn down by attrition of both weaponry and manpower.

  14. Good Moaning.
    Socks: tick. Cardigan: tick. Vest (NOT Liberty bodice): tick.
    Great; now I’m all prepared for the heatwave.

    1. Good day, O Pushy One. Here I started out with trousers but have quickly gone back to shorts and T-shirt. Madness, I expect.

        1. Tut tut – after two weeks on the Côte d’Azur, mine are a tasteful brown…..

    2. 42C forecast for Siracusa, Sicily, next weekend. Bit warm, that.
      Pigging chilly here, just rolled my sleeves down, I’m cold!

        1. We are being frightfully English; wandering around in unbecoming warm garments and congratulating ourselves on the lawn turning green.

          1. I’m in my farming gear – flannel shirt & tough-as-boots cotton trousers, but rain stopped play / presented an opportunity for more coffee.

    7. Fire extinguisher for when the earth spontaneously bursts into flames (c. BBC).

  15. Morning all 🙂😊
    6am arrival of 8lb 10 oz granddaughter.
    All went smoothly and all are well.
    She looks lovely.
    Now rest……..

    3. She’s a good big’un there.
      I hope she and mum are settled and resting after their exertions.

    4. Oh, wow, Eddy! How truly fabulous! Many congratulations! (Looks like her grand-dad, I guess!)

        1. Firstborn was too thin and small – not that you’d guess looking at the huge bloke he is now, 32 years later…

    6. Well done.
      Well, well done to somebody. Imagine having your first coffee interrupted by having to make such an effort. Puts Spartie jumping on the bed into perspective.

    7. Great stuff. Just remind her parents that the first 20 years are the worst!!

    9. Congratulations to all concerned and welcome little one! It’s a funny old world but still beautiful.

  18. G’day all,

    Blustery at McPhee Towers, wind Sou’-Sou’-West, 14C with 17C forecast. Chance of thundery showers. What a scorcher is this July.

    UK Column highlighted a report by Scott Ritter at the start of yesterday’s bulletin. It’s called Agent Zelensky (Part 1) and it’s investigative dynamite. If what Ritter says is true (why wouldn’t it be?) our government has some serious questions to answer. Here it is (36 mins):

    https://rumble.com/v2zs3r0-a-scott-ritter-investigation-agent-zelensky-part-1.html

    Of t’t market now.

    1. A masterclass in how to properly investigate the events that brought us to this point. Deserves to be viewed by everyone.

      2. I’d love to watch it through but I find the background music, the whooshing sound effects for every graphic deeply intrusive and irritating. And cutting to a 45 degree shot of the subject. Rant over!!

    3. If we could only organise for all the political parties’ conferences, and maybe the WEF as well, to be on board as she hits an unexpected iceberg over the Marianna Trench.

      2. I once went out with a girl called Kerry Trench.

        Not many people know that!

    6. I can’t think of a worse holiday – I wouldn’t go even if it was free.

  20. The Wet Office really is, er, wet. Today they have posed a “weather warning” for “high winds”. Gusts up to 40 mph. Yeah, right. A while back we had continuous gales for days on end – not a dicky bird.

    Project Fear lives…..

    3. 40 mph = 34.75905 nautical miles

      Force 7 28-33 knots Near Gale
      Force 8 34-40 knots Gale
      Force 9 41-47 knots Strong Gale

      So 40 mph is at the bottom end of a full gale on the Beaufort Scale.

      Yes, it’s quite lively but I have been out in considerably higher winds.

      Remember the gale which sank Edward Heath’s Morning Cloud? At the time I was sailing from St Mawes to the Solent in my lovely little 22 foot boat, Inca. One of my crew had chosen ‘Gone With the Wind‘ as his reading matter for the trip!

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0bc07b535886fba32ee6e0a2b9fc64d7839d1c10051838fd5268bd77d469d337.jpg

      1. What is a ‘whole gale’?

        Is it one where bits of other gales are patched together?

  21. Reading through the BTL Comments today it appears that the comments for yesterday’s page were taken down.

    David Cooper
    8 HRS AGO
    What happened to the comments thread on yesterday’s letters? Any particular issue that led to it being taken down?

    Reply by Edwin Pugh.
    8 HRS AGO
    The page was taken down to protect both paper and those making comments from possible legal action.

    Reply by F Maddison.
    7 HRS AGO
    How do you know this, Edwin?

    Reply by Edwin Pugh.
    3 HRS AGO
    Reading some of the comments I would have thought it obvious.

    Reply by Richard Ryan.
    1 HR AGO
    It was obvious to me. The moderators were asleep on the job, unusually for them.

    1. I think the comments regarding the mentally ill one got a bit racy. Odd that he wasn’t off work for a condition that suddenly became catastrophic. Must have been the shock of the huge pay rise.. or some thing else.

        2. Glad to be of assistance. I am a complete amateur and it was after my father forgot to get in his paper return by the deadline a few years ago that he went online. He has a mix of foreign investments, so looking at the rules on foreign withholding tax, CGT, CGT losses, pensions and interest has filled my quiet hours at times. The calculation is useful insofar you can see whether you have made a huge mistake before filing.

          1. Indeed. I think that they over complicate the matter by having lots of irrelevant pages. We got bogged down on “Pension savings tax charges” for half an hour before realising that it did not apply!

  22. “Hollywood strike could last until the end of the year.”

    Excellent, just wish it could be much longer.

    1. I haven’t taken much notice but it’s affecting one of my colleagues at work. Her husband is one of those actors whose name will never be in lights but he’s mostly in work. Jobs being cancelled left right and centre at the moment.

      Methinks Hollywood needs to collectively clean up its act but while the rot remains in Washington DC, that seems unlikely?

    5. Apparently – according to some – the “spat” was started by the Mercers having a go at the fragrant re-shaped one.

  24. Well, not only have the forecast showers failed to materialise so far, but the weather has brightened up considerably with the sun coming out aa the cloud breaks up!

    2. 90% chance of heavy thundery showers forecast for here. Our local show (that we were to have been at today) was cancelled so I’m hoping to get some washing dry somehow.

    1. My first thought was give the channel migrants a shovel but of course the reality is yet more multimillion pound government contracts paid from the public purse?

      1. Estimate £1.7 billion. On completion probably £1,000,000,000 per mile or £568,181.81p per YARD!

      2. Estimate £1.7 billion. On completion probably £1,000,000,000 per mile or £568,181.81p per YARD!

          1. I’ll have you know it is possible for some to hold their breath for at least 6 minutes. Furthermore I understand an Englishman once ran a mile in under 4 minutes!

    4. With the absolutely dire straits the economy is in what on earth is HMG doing approving any more massive spending!

        1. Good morning, Tom

          You may be putting the sin in cynical but your are probably right!

          I can’t remember who it was who put what in Scunthorpe!

      1. If government were interested in learning from mistakes it would stop making them.

        It doesn’t care. It is never affected by the error.

        With no consequences comes the perpetuation of failure.

    1. Utterly repulsive.
      One day I hope one of the little girls pokes him in his eyes before he can back away.

        1. ‘Thick’ does not begin to describe her! If that had been one of my daughters….🔥☄️

    2. Just a example of the shite in charge of global aspects in this sad day and age.

      1. Good morning – we had trouble trying to post your Max Bygraves stories but I think I have seen them posted on the Nottlers before.

        Ag Pleez Deddy sold more records in South Africa than any of Elvis Presley’s songs and became an unofficial National Anthem of the country.

        Jeremy Taylor and my cousin Andrew were in a musical group together at Oxford. When they graduated they both went to South Africa where they put together a musical revue called Wait A Minim which ran for some time in S. Africa before having very successful runs in the West End of London and then in Broadway, New York.

        https://www.google.com/search?q=ag+pleez+deddy&oq=Ag+Pleez+Deddy&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqCggAEAAY4wIYgAQyCggAEAAY4wIYgAQyBwgBEC4YgAQyBwgCEAAYgAQyCAgDEAAYFhgeMggIBBAAGBYYHjIICAUQABgWGB7SAQkyMTA2MmowajeoAgCwAgA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:ee99e6f1,vid:4P7siem6Goc

        1. I saw Jeremy Taylor live in hotel when we were working in Port Elizabeth.
          But in the late 60s they had no TV and radio was not worth listening to.
          But I remember seeing small live bands at weekends under the Harrow Road flyover. Between Hillbrow and Judith’s Parrl. Kweala music was interesting. With a lot of improvised home made instruments.
          I think perhaps the problems with reposting might be that the contents comes from Down under, in a different format. Even when I send them to friends in the UK they sometimes have trouble opening the content.
          But thanks for trying, it’s beyond my computer skills.

  30. Ah, ‘my’ sparrows are back after my atrocious cruelty in providing them with the wrong fat blocks.
    Mercenary little buggers

    1. Our spuggies are also a little picky, although they seem to prefer the ones from the garden centre rather than the [more expensive] RSPB approved ones. At present they have been reinforced by blue/great tits and are going through the food at a rate of knots!

      1. I daren’t let them run out because the local thug robin will be breaking my kneecaps.

  31. Raining here now – blowing a gale……..good call by the show organisers. It wouldn’t have been much fun in a gazebo in a field today.

    1. There is a gap in the universal grey blanket of cloud with a very strange, huge yellow fireball shining through it.
      I’m am wondering if it is something to do with that rascal Putin or possibly Brexit causing Climate Change?

    2. Granddaughter was supposed to her GOSH fundraising sky dive today; it has been postponed until August.

  34. Captain Noel Godfrey Chavasse, VC & Bar, MC (9th November 1884 – 4th August 1917), Royal Army Medical Corps.

    Chavasse was first awarded the VC for his actions on 9th August 1916, at Guillemont, France when he attended to the wounded all day under heavy fire. The full citation was published on 24th October 1916 and read:

    Captain Noel Godfrey Chavasse, M.C., M.B., Royal Army Medical Corps.

    For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty.

    During an attack he tended the wounded in the open all day, under heavy fire, frequently in view of the enemy. During the ensuing night he searched for wounded on the ground in front of the enemy’s lines for four hours.
    Next day he took one stretcher-bearer to the advanced trenches, and under heavy shell fire carried an urgent case for 500 yards into safety, being wounded in the side by a shell splinter during the journey. The same night he took up a party of twenty volunteers, rescued three wounded men from a shell hole twenty-five yards from the enemy’s trench, buried the bodies of two officers, and collected many identity discs, although fired on by bombs and machine guns.
    Altogether he saved the lives of some twenty badly wounded men, besides the ordinary cases which passed through his hands. His courage and self-sacrifice, were beyond praise.

    Chavasse’s second award was made during the period 31st July to 2nd August 1917, at Wieltje, Belgium; the full citation was published on 14th September 1917 and read:

    War Office, September, 1917.

    His Majesty the KING has been graciously pleased to approve of the award of a Bar to the Victoria Cross to Capt. Noel Godfrey Chavasse, V.C., M.C., late R.A.M.C., attd. L’pool R.

    For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty when in action.

    Though severely wounded early in the action whilst carrying a wounded soldier to the Dressing Station, Capt. Chavasse refused to leave his post, and for two days not only continued to perform his duties, but in addition went out repeatedly under heavy fire to search for and attend to the wounded who were lying out.
    During these searches, although practically without food during this period, worn with fatigue and faint with his wound, he assisted to carry in a number of badly wounded men, over heavy and difficult ground.
    By his extraordinary energy and inspiring example, he was instrumental in rescuing many wounded who would have otherwise undoubtedly succumbed under the bad weather conditions.
    This devoted and gallant officer subsequently died of his wounds.

    Chavasse died of his wounds in Brandhoek and is buried at Brandhoek New Military Cemetery, Vlamertinge. His military headstone carries, uniquely, a representation of two Victoria Crosses.

    Chavasse was the only man to be awarded both a Victoria Cross and Bar in the First World War, and one of only three men ever to have achieved this distinction.

    https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/32/N.G._Chavasse%2C_VC.jpg/220px-N.G._Chavasse%2C_VC.jpg

    1. I may be wrong on this one, but I think he may also have been a conscientious objector when he volunteered for the medical corps.

      1. I have looked but can find no mention of that. Of course a lot of COs didn’t want to fight but still wanted ‘to do their bit’ so joined up as stretcher bearers, army service corps and the like.

        1. I can’t recall where I read it.
          I have been to pay my respects at his grave.

    2. Years ago I may have met his granddaughter or a great niece. At that time the VC was still on loan to a regimental museum.

  35. Well my washing got about 10 minutes outside before the next torrential downpour! A crack of thunder and it was all soaked again – I had to change my clothes as I was soaked as well.

    2. Got off the TransPeak bus at Cromford just as the heavens opened about half fourish and got bloody drenched!

    3. I was lucky; I just got back with Kadi before the heavens opened. Oscar, who knows about these things, refused to come 🙂

  36. Well my washing got about 10 minutes outside before the next torrential downpour! A crack of thunder and it was all soaked again – I had to change my clothes as I was soaked as well.

  39. Met Office Wind forecast 29 MPH current actual 5.4 MPH. They have no idea have they.

    2. It’s pretty windy in mid Herts.
      But they always choose the worse case scenario.
      I expect wind is also attributed to their favourite. Two words, Climate Change.

      1. Thats what its all about. Frighten the people. keeps them quiet about other thingsi

      1. You are right of course it should have read 19.5. Their mean speed forecast was 29 mph

        1. It’s notable that the BBC website location forecasts show only gust speed whereas the Met Office shows both.

          1. Thats to frighten you more. Weather forecasts have been weaponised. There should only be a weather warning if there could be loss of life or severe damage to property.

          2. Even then, they can’t get it right – remember Michael Fish and “not a hurricane”?

          3. We were living in Portsmouth then and the Royal Navy knew and pulled all their ships into Harbour.

        2. 20 mph gusts here. North easterly. 21c. Crept up to 23c indoors, which is comfortable. Tempting to join the headscarf brigade when I go out.

      2. One of the best bakeries and coffee-shops I ever enjoyed a visit to was at Surry Hills.

        Surry Hills (not a misspelling) is a district of Sydney.😉

    5. It’s very gusty here – not continually windy but it gets up with each squally shower with thunder as well.

    6. Skies have darkened and there’s thunder about, power was briefly off and it’s started to rain

    7. All Met office calculations factor ‘climate change’ into their formulae. That’s why they’re always wrong.

    1. It can fk off, and then fk off some more!
      I have AI on Visual Studio – it’s always telling me to do wrong things. I certainly don’t want it trying to diagnose me!
      On current performance, if I told it “I have a cold” every week for six months, it would be able to diagnose me with a cold.
      If I didn’t provide it with that information, it would probably say I have prostate cancer.

    1. All black people with a chip on each shoulder are boring old farts. At least white people don’t go out with two left shoes on, Diane.

    2. Fast forward to 2023 and Parliament is irrelevant, children are taught that all white people are racist in school and they’ve got rid of half the Army and converted the rest of it into a Pride movement.
      So they were pretty successful really…

    3. The irony being that the current ‘Conservative’ Party is more closely aligned with the three pictured (top picture) than the voters.

    4. Long past time such people were kicked out of parliament. 2 terms only. Public service is a duty, not a career.

    6. A few Soviet-style gulags (at St Kilda?) to incarcerate that lot in could well adjust their thought-patterns.

    2. Oh BTW, i had a phone conversation with Jill. The lady will be coming to see me next month.

        1. Hopefully a sunny day. We will have lunch at Loch Fyne Gunwharf Quays then do a bar crawl. 2 for 1 at the Slug and Lettuce ! Might have another look around the Marie Rose museum.

    3. Not today but it happens sometimes. Somehow on TCW on my phone I’ve lost my normal Ndovu log in.

    5. Always seems the case here. And if I forget to login at the top and try and post it can’t seem to remember the same login details. Cookies obviously not doing what they are supposed to be doing – Vivaldi browser.

    7. I sometimes do when using the Brave browser. It might have something to do with the built-in ad blocker.

  43. May I commend anyone wity two and a half hours to spare, to watch this Tucker Carlson / Andrew Tate interview?

    My impression of Tate – minimal though it was – was (thanks to the MSM) lower than a snake’s belly.

    That is not what comes out in this lengthy interview.

    1. I’m about ten minutes into it. Not sure if I will listen to the whole thing, but it’s certainly interesting.

    2. I got half way through it and realised that if a quarter of what Tate was saying is true, then the Authorities have screwed up big time.

  44. Amongst the issues underlying the writers and actors strike that includes:
    1.better pay
    2.increased royalties, known as residuals, especially from streaming shows
    3.increased contributions to their pension and health plans

    is

    4.regulations on the use of AI in the industry

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-us-canada-66180350

    Artificial IntelligenceI is fast becoming an issue that is seen to be requiring regulation because it will impact on so many trades and
    professions.

    The PocketMED (which I posted earlier) claims to be more correct than a human. PocketMED is an extension of Google which claims to have up to date AI search access to the latest medical publications. I would therefore not be surprised that any qualified doctor should be aware of what a patient has access to.

    1. The problem with even the most prestigious medical journals is that they are prone to censoring medical findings that do not accord with current main narratives. See numerous Covid-19 related articles that were prevented from being published. Consequently AI doesn’t necessarily have access to the most up to date medical findings….

      1. This leads one to suspect that Artificial Intelligence is no better than the publications of the prevailing self serving individuals who are recognised ‘experts’ in their fields.

    2. Some of the writers on strike contributed toward some of the most egregious, loss making tripe in recent years.

      They don’t deserve better pay and any ‘residuals’ from the ghastly loss making tripe such as Game of Thrones later seasons would see them having to pay the studio.

  45. A puzzled pensioner writes:

    Assuming that Edwards did nothing illegal (and the perlice tell us he didn’t – so it must be true (winks)..) how is his private life a matter that we need to know about?

    All very odd, to my pore brane.

    1. A good sex scandal takes our minds off stuff like war and banking collapse and when the hysteria comes from the same quarter that promotes castrating kids, you know it’s a game of look, a squirrel!

    2. I agree. It’s irrelevant to us.

      However, the BBC is funded by a force backed licence fee. You cannot own a tv and not pay that. Therefore I would argue that he is effectively a public servant and should be held to account on that basis.

      1. I think you can own a TV, just not switch it on – unless you wish to waste your life arguing about ‘live’ television.

          1. Of course you can own a TV and switch it on – at the risk of repeating myself you don’t need a licence unless you watch anything that is being transmitted at that time on any channel inc iPlayer, on any device. You can watch any programs on catch up like Pluto etc without a licence
            Watch this if you’re in any doubt https://youtu.be/MC6GOIl8Clg

      2. Not true – you don’t need a TV licence to own a TV – you just mustn’t watch (or record) anything as it’s broadcast on any channel, including iPlayer, on any device. You can watch any of the programs on ‘catch up’ platforms however.

          1. Not true.

            Do I need a TV Licence to watch or ‘stream’ programmes online?

            Watching online
            You need to be covered by a TV Licence to watch live on streaming services – such as ITVX, Channel 4, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, Now, Sky Go.

            You don’t need a TV Licence if you never watch live on any channel, TV service or streaming service, or use BBC iPlayer*.

            This applies to any device, including a TV, computer, laptop, phone, tablet, games console or digital box.

            Watching YouTube
            You don’t need a TV Licence to watch videos or clips on demand on YouTube.

            But you DO need a TV Licence if you watch TV live on YouTube. An example of this would be watching Sky News live. But it isn’t just live news or sport which needs a licence – it’s any programme which is part of a TV channel, shown or transmitted for everyone to watch at the same time.

            What is streaming?
            Streaming is watching TV using the internet instead of downloading a file to your device and watching it later.

            OK – so for “live streaming”, you need a licence. So don’t watch stuff live. I watch GB News on YouTube, after the event. How long after the event is classed as ‘not live’ is a grey area. I don’t have a TV licence, on principle. Friend Dianne was here for the last couole of days, and watched Wimbledon via iPlayer, logged on to her BBC account. I wasn’t watching. Strictly speaking, I should have a licence to cover that eventuality, but I’m buggered if I’m going to give the BBC £160-odd so that someone with a licence can watch TV at my place…

          2. My comment was in context with the thread, which was talking about live TV and streaming services.

          2. You said “You can watch any of the programs on ‘catch up’ platforms however.” Not BBC programmes on iPlayer.

        3. Thanks, Spikey. A few years ago, a BBC apparatchik appeared on Radio 4 to say that “If you own a TV, or any apparatus capable of receiving TV programmes,you are legally required to have a licence.”

          It was dissembling bollocks then, and remains so now.

    3. It’s more that by virtue of his job, he’s seen as the BBC personified. The Simon of Sudbury de nos jours.
      I suspect people are just plain sick of being treated like ignorant peasants and having to brass up the compulsory fee for such treatment.
      In lieu of storming the Beeb’s Temples to Smuggery and throwing all its panjandrums over the ramparts, cutting down to size an overpaid Welshman with an unfortunately curled lip is a substitute for more robust action.

        1. From what little was reported it seemed like the mother was trying to get some mileage from a consensual arrangement.

    5. The biter bit.

      How many people have lost their jobs for having the wrong opinions and not for having done anything illegal?

      As a schoolmaster I would certainly have lost my job if my employers discovered that I had done what he is accused of having done.

      2. For example, the chap who organised the banner from a plane that said ‘White Lives Matter’ over Burnley’s football pitch. Sacked from his job. I seem to recall all the leftie luvvies piling in with ‘not done anything illegal’, ‘his private life’, etc or maybe I didn’t.

  46. While recovering from the shock of yet another clear-up (we can now use the back gate without tripping over garden rubbish and plastic boxes of STUFF), I read Michael Deacon’s article in the DT.

    “To my mind, there’s no doubt about the most exciting development in the world of show business this year. It’s the unexpected transformation of Carol Vorderman from popular daytime TV personality to hard-hitting political commentator. Day in, day out, her 830,000 followers on Twitter are privileged to read her latest thoughts.

    These thoughts, however, have started to feel just a tiny bit samey. Because almost every single one of them expresses her absolutely fanatical loathing of Tories.

    Of late, she seems to be nurturing a particularly furious animus towards Johnny Mercer, the minister for veterans’ affairs, and his wife, Felicity. Like the rest of us, Ms Vorderman is of course entitled to her views. All the same, it’s hard to help feeling that this hostility to the Mercers has crossed from the political to the personal. Because last week, while ridiculing the couple on Twitter, she scoffed: “Not a degree in sight in spite of expensive private education! So who’d employ them?”

    What an inadvertently revealing comment. Ms Vorderman was attempting to highlight the Mercers’ privileged backgrounds. Yet, by belittling them for not going to university, she’s the one who comes out looking like a snob.

    As Sir Keir Starmer valiantly tried to explain to Labour supporters in a speech little more than a week ago, snobbery about education “has no place in modern society”. Those with degrees shouldn’t look down their noses at those without. And anyway, not every job requires a degree. Take, for example, the job Mr Mercer did before he entered politics.

    Instead of going to university, he became a soldier – a line of work that does not typically necessitate a BA (Hons) in queer theory or gender studies. Unlike Mr Mercer, who served three tours in Afghanistan, I myself have never fought in a warzone, so cannot comment from experience. But when engaged in armed combat with the Taliban, I doubt that many soldiers have thought, “If only I had a Masters in Anglo-Saxon poetry. That would really come in useful right now.”

    Ms Vorderman, at any rate, did get a degree, back in 1981. It may only have been a Third, but I wouldn’t dream of belittling her for that. After all, I’m sure she tried her best.

    Happily, despite this result, she still managed to secure a good job for herself, co-presenting Countdown from 1982 to 2008. These days, she may not be quite such a constant presence on our screens. But she often pops up on ITV’s This Morning.

    What academic qualifications one requires to perform that particular kind of work, I don’t know. Perhaps she completed a postgraduate diploma in Sitting on a Sofa and Smiling.”

    1. I always find the Left to be bitter and vicious. They are characterised by playing the man, not the ball. This is because if they try to engage on the issues of the current Tory party they’d find that those policies are the same as theirs and are utterly wrong in every way.

      They attack the man because genuine Right minded policies are unassailable. They work, and lefties hate that so they attack the man to destroy the message.

      It’s classic Lefty behaviour.

      1. Carol Vorderman has revealed she has five male partners
        as she explained her dating “system.” The 62-year-old media personality
        and presenter said she is “having the best time” dating her “special
        friends.” But she made clear that, even though she’s polyamorous, she is
        “not into one night stands.”

        I bet she doesn’t go ‘dutch’.

        3. Phil, my old plate, you have courage, I’m sure you must have a severe uncle or two and that caps it all!

        4. No doubt all five are Lefty quarter-wits who have as much lead in their pencils as they have neurons between their ears.

        1. Hmmm.

          As I said below some years hours back, it is claimed that the Mercers started it by attacking the fat one.

          She was merely retaliating.

    4. Hard-hitting political commentator? Is that what you call repeating popular views in an echo chamber?
      She can’t shut up soon enough for me.

    1. All the effniks are over at Wimbledon in Armed Forces uniforms. Not quite the same ethnic mix as the troops who went to Kabul as part of Biden’s excellently organised withdrawal.

  49. Oh dear, Aunties favourite North African laydee has lost at tennis. Any suggestions why 3 over paid commentators are needed for one match. And why is the winner covered in children’s drawings.

      3. Because the winner didn’t come up to her and say:
        “You know the score: cheer up – love!”

    2. A disaster at Al-Beeb. The Ukrainian out in the semis and now the African beaten in the final. It’s cheered me up this weekend though!

  51. Thanks for concern. It hasn’t been good. I only took the morphine twice as it made me gently sick. However, the other pills have done a number starting at 2.30 Thursday and continuing all Thurs, all Fri., Fri night and into this morning. I barely slept as I was up and down all night. I have knocked off all pills for now and will call the hospital Monday. Didn’t get up until 2 pm today.
    My husband’s wound is healing but it weeping and painful. What a pair we are!
    Bear with me as I am not a happy camper right now,

    1. Lottie, no apologies are necessary, take care, both of you, more hugs on the way.

    3. Thanks for the update, we all care.

      I am playing nursie at the moment, my wife had a hip replaced on Thursday so I have this great pile of painkillers and other pills to be handed out at regular intervals. No opiates used yet but if the demands for service continue, I might try some.

        1. We need luck lees than you two do.
          The bosses big complaint from her night in hospital was that they took her breakfast muffin away before she could eat it. All she had was lukewarm institutional oatmeal.

    4. Considering what you are going through, I take my hat off to you for bothering to keep us updated. Thank you.
      Everyone is rooting for you both.
      Please try to make it to the hospital, if at all possible

    5. Ooo… poor both of youse.
      Hope you get some proper rest, Ann, and YOH stops leaking.
      Sending best wishes and hugs by express delivery,!

      1. The support and friendship here is fine for now.
        My US friends have been in constant contact which is kind.
        Thanks, Little Bro’.

        1. You’re welcome, BS. Sadly, I dont think we can crowdfund a cure, but – taking horse spittle transport as an example – if the bar stewards don’t help, us Nottlers could – i’m sure – help with taxi fares. Or Pinot… Just saying…

    7. Oh, I am so sorry to hear of your continuing nightmare. It is hard to know what to say, except sending love and hugs.
      Having your husband somewhat incapacitated at the same time just adds to your worries.
      When you are in such a state, even Monday must seem like forever from now.
      When my friend is ‘unwell’ – and that’s putting it mildly – from her cancer meds, she was told to go to her urgent treatment centre, who then contact her cancer team.

      1. I suspect I will end up in MacMillan. Doing a bit better now I have ditched the pills and having a few slurps of Pinot which seems to be helping more.

        1. That at least sounds more ‘comfortable’ – Good for you for ditching the current meds …… and self medicating with some grape juice.
          With any luck, you will be sufficiently tired after the last few days that some sleep will happen tonight.
          Do you have anyone, friends or neighbours maybe, who can pop in with some help or food?

          1. My husband is a good cook, mainly Asian style which won’t go down well with me tonight- trouble is the kitchen looks as though a bomb has gone off-)

          2. Glad to hear that things have eased a modicum.

            I’ll raise a glass to it continuing.

            Love and hugs from us all, Ann.

          3. #metoo.
            The glass, that is. Homemade mead at 15%, and dry z a bone. Lovely!

          5. We can’t even cuddle in bed as I can’t sleep on my right and he can’t sleep on his left. Some bright spark, either here or NHS suggested we switched sides. We tried it and it worked well- husband fell out of bed and scraped his nose. Back to our usual sides, for now.

          6. Sounds like us.
            Unless I’m on the left and HG’s on the right, viewed from the foot end, neither of us sleep well.

          7. Sounds like my kitchen after my husband has been cooking. He’s a good cook though, just as well during this past couple of weeks. For now, the clearing up is entirely his responsibility. What’s not to like? 😁

    8. You’ve every reason to be an unhappy camper, so there’s no need to apologise.
      As NOTTLers are scattered to the four winds, there’s not a lot we can do but we are all mature enough to understand the cause of the occasional rant.
      So let rip.

    9. I am so sorry to hear of your continuing troubles, Lotl. I do continue to pray for you and your husband.

        1. It’s all I can do, unfortunately. I am thinking of you and your awful situation and wish there were something more practical I could offer.

          1. To quote a Blondie song…..One way or another..
            We’ll get through this- we are stubborn buggers.

  52. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/caf7795eca7b2235c9389d5e7b0814d77b900bbba1d712e91eb15a2e37c9dc91.png
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/07/14/school-pupils-prom-rented-lamborghini-injured-crash/

    By contrast in 1921, when my mother was 17 years old she wanted to go to the Royal Cornwall Yacht Club dinner dance to collect a prize she had won.

    The St Mawes Ferry stopped running at 6.00 pm so she packed her smart party dress in a bag and rowed in a dinghy from St Mawes to Falmouth and landed at the yacht club quay and changed her clothes in the club’s Ladies Room. After picking up her prize and dancing she changed back into her normal clothes and rowed home again.

    (the distance from St Mawes Harbour to the yacht club in Falmouth by water is 3 miles – so a six mile row in total)

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/cc46669629351da591dc37665316e45b6e4a08bfeb9e261cf0bd9a5841e53c4f.png

    She was a game young girl who would have put many of today’s young people to shame. Here she is at the age 84 at Caroline’s and my wedding.

    1. I have a schoolgirl annual from the 1920s where the heroines are always doing similar things! It is a nice attitude to have.

        1. Today’s teen literature is over-sexualised and over-politicised in comparison.

  53. Bogey Five today.

    Wordle 756 5/6
    ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟩
    🟨🟨⬜⬜🟩
    ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
    ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Surprise three. Lucky second guess.

      Wordle 756 3/6

      ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜
      🟩⬜🟩🟩🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    2. Same here

      Wordle 756 5/6

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

    4. Par here.
      Wordle 756 4/6

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

  54. We’re just back from taking the 3 and a half year old ‘big brother’ to meet our new grand daughter. His baby sister.
    Daddy will be home later today. Mummy and baby some time tomorrow.
    What a treat to sit and hold a lovely little human being only 9 hours old.
    I’ve not done this for a long time.

      1. Thanking all of you for your kind remarks
        It’s a humbling experience when a newly born baby lies on her or his back and their eyes seem to seek answers to their presumed questions.

  55. A few drops of rain – we are in a dry channel – rain 20 miles west and east but bugger all here. Gale blowing – so many leaves off it looks like autumn.

        1. She’s currently making large bean bags for three of our grandchildren – 15cu ft of fire retardant beans arrived today for the stuffing thereof….

          1. Gosh – I remember them in 1968 – when I bought my first house and my elder son was 2 years old!! They seemed to fade out rather as the years went by… Obviuosly now all the rage.

    1. There is absolutely no point whatsoever in forcing a lockdown for this disease.

    4. Kills 40% of victims? Where are the videos of people dropping dead in the streets? I want to see entire aeroplanes falling out of the sky with everyone on board instantly struck dead by the mystery virus before I will be impressed.
      Come on WHO publicity department, you can do it.

      2. 374470+ up ticks,
        Evening BB2,
        Bit difficult at the moment we have an actors strike.

      1. Covid vintage, April 2020.

        Some more:
        ____________________________________________________________________

        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9fcded657c5a0df725e2d4929e1319416029d50be1cbf6e5604729c4b5f438a0.jpg
        ____________________________________________________________________

        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/277044f74485b6b7bbbfb244b35e0aa013f0f19e50185e192e2e8081ad5aa83a.jpg
        ____________________________________________________________________

        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/029b81d02fb5071a7f4db7e64bff69b69eadb0cc14613011c8e539fcef16eb65.jpg
        __________________________________________________________________

        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/82d5f5125fc244459bbc447ecf603a9fcefce514ede3f13858dc8b91ca2242d9.jpg

  58. That’s me for this wind-blown day.

    I see that the eco-terrorists are planning to disrupt London on Monday morning. Sooner or later one of these people is going to be killed by an enraged motorist. Funny that if one was to protest, say, against mass illegal immigration an armed police squad would arrest you within minutes but these terrorists… Go figure, as they say.

    Have as jolly an evening as you can.

    A demain.

    1. Not only that, but if you protested against said gimmegration there would instantly be a rentamob of left-wing agitators whipped up to attack your gathering with violence and the police would concentrate on you, however peaceful you were.

      1. “…rentamob of left-wing agitators…” Many of whom may well have very, very close connection with the Met Perlice Farce…..

  59. Some of you won’t like some of this…

    It’s time to scrap our ridiculous privacy laws

    Article 8 of the ECHR has become a means to censor public interest journalism – it was never meant for that purpose

    GEOFFREY ROBERTSON • 14 July 2023

    Whatever facts emerge from the BBC’s inquiry into its dealings with the complaint regarding Huw Edwards, it will not live down the five-day farce in which it withheld from its viewers the most important news – his name – which was, in any event, hiding in plain sight on social media. Much of the confusion was put down to the chilling effect of recent privacy case decisions, which should be cleared up – not by the judges, who have made the mess, but by Parliament, which needs to shape a law that favours free speech on matters of public interest.

    Within living memory, this country had no protection for anyone’s private conduct. Back in the 1990s, privacy invasion was a tabloid sport. But after the court of appeal judges found they could do nothing to stop one case of “monstrous invasion of privacy” – an “exclusive interview” with TV star Gordon Kaye after he came round from brain surgery – the judges fastened on Article 8 of the newly adopted European Convention on Human Rights in order to provide a remedy.

    Yet Article 8 simply calls for “respect” for private and family life, and the early rulings, questionable as they were, did not have a serious impact on speech of public importance. But in recent years the courts have been asked to protect a “private” life that is abusive of a partner or to protect confidential documents.

    The public interest may in such case justify publication, but wealthy claimants can put a stop to this by obtaining an injunction against the release of any information in relation to which they claim a “reasonable expectation of privacy” – a vast area that courts have extended to cover political opinions and affiliations, personal correspondence, past involvement in criminal behaviours, the generality of personal and family relationships and so on – and on.

    The rot, whereby privacy law was extended to inhibit public interest journalism, began in 2014 after a police team obtained a search warrant for Cliff Richard’s mansion. The pop star obtained heavy damages – rightfully so – against the police force, which had acted without sufficient evidence, but went on to win hundreds of thousands of pounds in damages, and reportedly £2 million in costs, against the BBC.

    The execution of a search warrant that should never have been granted on the home of a public figure was plainly a matter of public interest. Yet a judge ruled that suspects had a reasonable expectation of privacy at any stage of a police investigation. Given the potential for this ruling to affect public interest journalism, the BBC should have appealed against it, all the way to the European Court. It failed to do so.

    The Supreme Court followed up with a decision even more damaging to press freedom, banning Bloomberg from reporting on developments in corruption inquiries about a suspect it was not allowed to name. This gave rise to a new development in privacy law: persons under any form of police or public investigation should not be named. This was despite the well-attested public interest in doing so (in rape cases, where identification of a suspect often provokes other victims to come forward) and it allows the press a freedom to alert the public to police behaviour that can be oppressive or incompetent.

    This was the background to the confusion that descended on newsrooms and media lawyers as the name they all knew – Huw Edwards – was censored from their bulletins until their collective faces were saved by his wife speaking out.

    The best way forward is to abandon Article 8 as a means of censoring the media – it was never intended for this purpose – and to apply the principles of Article 10: a presumption in favour of free speech, except where it can be proved that there is a countervailing and overwhelming public interest in suppression. This is not a “balancing act”, as British judges always claim, with their finger on the balance. It is a presumption that the law must make, irrespective of hurt to individuals, in honour of a fundamental value.

    Geoffrey Robertson KC is author of Lawfare – How Russians, the Rich and the Government Try to Prevent Free Speech (Harper Collins, 2023)

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/07/14/its-time-to-scrap-our-ridiculous-privacy-laws/

    1. I agree with the concepts, but when cancel culture is being used by the left so effectively we also need a defence against that.

      1. The part that will upset some Nottlers concerns Cliff Richard and the BBC’s airborne intrusion. Robertson is making the point that the media were entitled to take an interest in the case while the police were investigating. It’s only when arrests have been made that the media have to be aware of rules on sub judice. Of course, the BBC could just have easily sent a reporter by car to stand somewhere near to Richard’s property – the use of a helicopter was excessive. The likelihood is now that some criminal investigations could be compromised by HRA rulings.

        EDIT
        Here’s a DT editorial from 2018:

        The ruling on Cliff Richard’s privacy case against the BBC is a serious blow to press freedom

        The High Court’s conclusion is misguided and has serious implications for the media

        TELEGRAPH VIEW • 18 July 2018

        The High Court’s decision to award Sir Cliff Richard substantial damages against the BBC for reporting a police raid on his home in 2014 marks a further dangerous erosion of press freedom. While we sympathise with the singer for the ordeal to which he was subjected, the fault lies with the police, not the media.

        They had no need to stage such an intrusive search in order to investigate a single, unsubstantiated allegation of historic sex abuse. What were they expecting to find at Sir Cliff’s house that would be relevant to such an inquiry? Had they arranged to meet him confidentially, they could quickly have established his innocence.

        The heavy-handedness of their investigation was the principal cause of Sir Cliff’s distress and South Yorkshire constabulary has paid him £400,000 in damages plus £300,000 in costs. However, it does not follow that the historic rights of the media to report freely should be circumscribed because of a botched police action.

        Mr Justice Mann has effectively declared it unlawful for media organisations to name anyone under investigation by the police, establishing anonymity by case law through the extension of privacy provisions in the European Convention.

        However, free speech is also enshrined in the convention and is supposed to be given equal status. So why is it invariably trumped by privacy in the courts?

        Meanwhile, on the unregulated internet, false allegations fly around the world trashing reputations. If responsible newspapers and broadcasters are constrained from reporting the facts then only the falsehoods will remain. This is a bad judgment that needs to be overturned.

        https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2018/07/18/ruling-cliff-richards-privacy-case-against-bbc-serious-blow/

        1. I’m not certain that most Nottlers object to the publication per se.

          It was the fact that it would appear that the police tipped off the BBC to maximise the damage to his reputation.

          Why just the BBC and not every news outlet?

          1. The police certainly came out of it very badly because they had no evidence. Of course, this was a time of hysteria over so-called child abuse, when the lives of elderly and dead men were investigated in the hope that the Conservative Party might be discredited.

            However, it is the HRA that once again works against the interest of the law-abiding.

    3. I don’t agree or disagree, which I guess is the intention of his article.
      Which is Typical of members of the judiciary.
      But it’s amazing how quickly the knob-ility in the UK can make up their minds on matters when it involves what they like to call plebs, the like of Tommy Robinson, I’m not a fan, but he was treated with absolute disgusting disdain when he attempted to make what were extremely salient and honest points.

    4. Parliament should shape a new law? In my view, Parliament has been responsible for too many new laws, most of which have led to unintended or unforeseen consequences. They should do nothing and repeal most of the crap they’ve been responsible for.

      1. Repeal every law passed since 1990 for a start.
        And then go back to 1973 and do a trawl with a very fine net.

  60. Some of you won’t like some of this…

    It’s time to scrap our ridiculous privacy laws

    Article 8 of the ECHR has become a means to censor public interest journalism – it was never meant for that purpose

    GEOFFREY ROBERTSON • 14 July 2023

    Whatever facts emerge from the BBC’s inquiry into its dealings with the complaint regarding Huw Edwards, it will not live down the five-day farce in which it withheld from its viewers the most important news – his name – which was, in any event, hiding in plain sight on social media. Much of the confusion was put down to the chilling effect of recent privacy case decisions, which should be cleared up – not by the judges, who have made the mess, but by Parliament, which needs to shape a law that favours free speech on matters of public interest.

    Within living memory, this country had no protection for anyone’s private conduct. Back in the 1990s, privacy invasion was a tabloid sport. But after the court of appeal judges found they could do nothing to stop one case of “monstrous invasion of privacy” – an “exclusive interview” with TV star Gordon Kaye after he came round from brain surgery – the judges fastened on Article 8 of the newly adopted European Convention on Human Rights in order to provide a remedy.

    Yet Article 8 simply calls for “respect” for private and family life, and the early rulings, questionable as they were, did not have a serious impact on speech of public importance. But in recent years the courts have been asked to protect a “private” life that is abusive of a partner or to protect confidential documents.

    The public interest may in such case justify publication, but wealthy claimants can put a stop to this by obtaining an injunction against the release of any information in relation to which they claim a “reasonable expectation of privacy” – a vast area that courts have extended to cover political opinions and affiliations, personal correspondence, past involvement in criminal behaviours, the generality of personal and family relationships and so on – and on.

    The rot, whereby privacy law was extended to inhibit public interest journalism, began in 2014 after a police team obtained a search warrant for Cliff Richard’s mansion. The pop star obtained heavy damages – rightfully so – against the police force, which had acted without sufficient evidence, but went on to win hundreds of thousands of pounds in damages, and reportedly £2 million in costs, against the BBC.

    The execution of a search warrant that should never have been granted on the home of a public figure was plainly a matter of public interest. Yet a judge ruled that suspects had a reasonable expectation of privacy at any stage of a police investigation. Given the potential for this ruling to affect public interest journalism, the BBC should have appealed against it, all the way to the European Court. It failed to do so.

    The Supreme Court followed up with a decision even more damaging to press freedom, banning Bloomberg from reporting on developments in corruption inquiries about a suspect it was not allowed to name. This gave rise to a new development in privacy law: persons under any form of police or public investigation should not be named. This was despite the well-attested public interest in doing so (in rape cases, where identification of a suspect often provokes other victims to come forward) and it allows the press a freedom to alert the public to police behaviour that can be oppressive or incompetent.

    This was the background to the confusion that descended on newsrooms and media lawyers as the name they all knew – Huw Edwards – was censored from their bulletins until their collective faces were saved by his wife speaking out.

    The best way forward is to abandon Article 8 as a means of censoring the media – it was never intended for this purpose – and to apply the principles of Article 10: a presumption in favour of free speech, except where it can be proved that there is a countervailing and overwhelming public interest in suppression. This is not a “balancing act”, as British judges always claim, with their finger on the balance. It is a presumption that the law must make, irrespective of hurt to individuals, in honour of a fundamental value.

    Geoffrey Robertson KC is author of Lawfare – How Russians, the Rich and the Government Try to Prevent Free Speech (Harper Collins, 2023)

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/07/14/its-time-to-scrap-our-ridiculous-privacy-laws/

  61. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e92ef86a7afb891392b2e583c21cc742ec0f9cba02de1daa25848c6482c3c8ca.png

    Nigel Farage : https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/07/15/i-blame-eu-rules-for-my-banking-travails-which-britain-has/

    BTL

    When is the craven Chris Bryant going to come out in the open and make his accusations about Nigel Farage in public so that he cannot hide behind Parliamentary Privilege.

    Of course he does not do so because he knows that he would be sued by Mr Farage and that he would lose if he cannot support his case with facts.

    If Mr Bryant is as despicable as he seems to be then should we not all be made aware of the fact? If Bryant is right and Farage is guilty of what Bryant accused him then we should also know.

    1. Bryant should be reported to the Standards and Privileges Committee, oh, hang on…………..

      1. They’ve processes to inspect their own but how he got on there in the first place is staggering.

    1. No one else remember vaccine passports? The state didn’t give up on those. It wants people to be afraid to get it’s own way.

  67. Very impressed with the Junior Doctors striking, particularly with the placard that talked about health “heamorrhaging”!

    1. So that’s why their prescriptions are indecipherable – they are covering up the fact that they can’t spell!

    4. Doctors have blood on their hands – a lot of us senior citizens have been prescribed anticoagulants.

  68. Since I’ve hardly slept for the past 4 nights, I’m going to say goodnight and God bless, Gentlefolk.

    2. I hope you get a good night’s sleep tonight, Tom. I haven’t slept very well either for the last 4 nights. There must be something In the air, or the water.

      1. Me too, hoping for a good night’s sleep tonight!
        Would help if I brushed my teeth, had a shower and climbed the wooden hill to Bedfordshire…

        1. I didn’t sleep well, either – I was still awake as dawn broke (about 04.00 here), despite having taken some co-codamol (which normally knocks me out) for the pain.

        1. No, it’s something that just seems to happen from time to time. I awoke this morning to Rico nibbling my ear followed by his nose in my neck. He is peaceful all night long. Bach’s Night Rescue tends to send me off to sleep but I waken anything from 2.00 am. when I am in that phase of not sleeping. Perhaps I have ‘what is going to happen to us all’ wallpapering my subconscious. I was so tired last night though….. awful accident in the conservatory, a little pile of dog poo on the tiles, I didn’t see it and walked it around the living room, it took us ages to clear it up. Soap and water then Vanish for carpets. I’ve also hurt my knee running round the garden with Rico, I think I’ve twisted it dodging the bushes and the apple tree. I should know better at my age. I’m not a very good advertisement for puppy owning, am I?

          1. That’s why I chose an adult dog – my puppy training days are long gone, unfortunately.

  69. Evening, all. Rain has been torrential here so outdoor work had to be put on hold. As for the headline, radical thinking and the NHS in the same sentence? Can’t see that happening, somehow.

  71. There are reports that the Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, the leading supporter for sending billions in armaments and munitions to Ukraine, is going to quit as an MP in a few months time.

    I find it incredible that the arrogant bastard can simply up sticks and doubtless move on to some highly paid sinecure having wrecked our armed services and thrown billions of taxpayer funds into the bottomless pit of Ukraine.

    It was always obvious that the Ukrainian leaders are gangsters operating a giant fraud and extortion racket. Claims that the proxy war is in defence of democracy were likewise ludicrous. The country is as far removed from democracy as any can be.

      2. Rumble
        NOTICE TO USERS IN FRANCE
        Because of French government demands to remove creators from our platform, Rumble is currently unavailable in France. We are challenging these government demands and hope to restore access soon.

        2. It’s been like that for months, restore access soon?
          Who are they trying to fool?

      3. I can well believe that Hollywood ‘put the first man on the moon’ in addition to creating the evil monster Zelensky.

        You find the same actors in many elections where evil goons are plucked from relative obscurity and granted the levers of power. Sunak is a case in point along with Macron, Rutte, Ardern and Trudeau.

        The so called Insurrection in Washington was essentially a distortion of reality and compilation of film clips cut by a film producer.

    1. PS – Couldn’t get to sleep so got up an hour later and have spent the past 3 hours sorting out lots of stuff as well as taking a couple of
      co-codemol tablets to ease the pain of a trapped nerve. Aah, life really is a series of Plan Bs.

    1. I’m fairly sure that a Lefty reporter tried to infilatrate a group she hated and found that they were decent, kind pleasant folk who were vastly kinder than the Lefties she had come from.

      1. I remember a Leftie going to a MAGA Rally and being made welcomed and was treated with a respect that shocked her and made her realise how much she’d been misled about them.

  75. Bed now and hopefully will sleep OK.
    Goodnight Y’all and thanks for your kindness,

  76. Goodnight, all. I’m going to slope off now as I didn’t get much sleep last night – clearly it’s catching!

  78. Just back from another village function, this time it was to celebrate the society for hunting dogs.
    Very odd.
    If we knew half a dozen of the attendees I would be surprised, but it was fun and the food and drink excellent.

    Tomorrow there is the church mass to celebrate the hounds. Then the massed “bands” doing the playing of the hunting horns, followed by the lunch and then the shows and demonstrations take place, much interesting entertainment to be had.

    The under-lying theme is that unless “we” help keep the natural balance, then without alpha predators, large cats, wolves, bears etc, which the townies would hate, the middle range creatures, deer, wild boar and the like would push out the smaller creatures.

    And on the plus, plus side the wine was superb and included in cost of the meal.

    At retail prices I drank enough to cover all the costs of both our evenings out, including lottery tickets!
    LotL would be proud of my efforts to show solidarity.

  79. That’s a bit of a bugger.
    An hour ago, tucked up in bed and asleep, we were woken by a crash outside.
    An Isuzu pick up had rammed the back of the DT’s car and followed through into the gate.
    By the time we’d got out of bed, he’d reversed off the the gate and buggered off up the village.

    Police advised and the S@H got on to his mates who were still about and the pick up was found up at the Lorry Park.
    We’ve got the registration as he left his front bumper behind, also found his wallet in the footwell of the pickup!

    No doubt the tw@ will claim hes pickup got stolen!

    DT’s car is undrivable but at least she’s being given a lift in to work tomorrow by a colleague.

    1. Ah, man! What a pain in the arse for you both. Drunk driver, I assume. Hope the car is salveagble.

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