Saturday 15 March: There’s plenty of bureaucracy left to cut in the unwieldy and outdated NHS

Posted on by Geoff Graham

An unofficial place to discuss the Telegraph letters, established when the DT website turned off its commenting 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.

591 thoughts on “Saturday 15 March: There’s plenty of bureaucracy left to cut in the unwieldy and outdated NHS”

  3. Good morning, chums. And thank you, Geoff, for Saturday's new NoTTLe site.

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    1. Good morning Elsie and all
      Wordle 1,365 4/6

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    2. Citroen ,

      Good morning ..

      Documenting my night time rest .. Yes Pip spaniel sleeps with us , and Moh wears his Cpac mask, which whistles away for hours .. and I wake up in excruciating pain , abdomen … but my doctor says I look healthy , because I never look ill , pale or thin or anything else . I have been awake since 04.30.. and am now dreading the day ahead . https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/563ad69f5601f5ab3e087f20a5f698f87cdff5b8170da2d06f8bd8363ecab0b7.png

        1. IBs, and diverticulitis .. but as doctor says , common as we age , variety of meds to relieve spasms.. but tiredness is the key to how the day will pan out .

      3. Have you another room you could 'retire' to?
        This lack sleep will have serious effects.

  6. Good morning all. I hope you all are keeping well.
    Another beautiful but cold morning. Bright sunshine on the woods opposite and barely 2°C on the thermometer!

    1. Probably all controlled by hamas or the like. Possibly During the later parts of our own rapidly sliding lifetime's, we will find out. And It's going to be far too late to tell our political idiots that we told them so !

  8. Starmer to host talks with EU leaders on peacekeeping force. 15 March 2025.

    Sir Keir Starmer is set to host more talks on a peacekeeping force for Ukraine after warning Vladimir Putin not to play games with a proposed ceasefire.

    The Prime Minister will today hold a video call with as many as 25 potential members of the “coalition of the willing”, nations that could take part in any peacekeeping operation.

    This is Political Masturbation writ large. Much activity and no possible result. Vladimir Putin has specifically ruled out the presence of NATO troops in Ukraine and since this is the primary reason for the war we must assume that he means it. No amount of negotiation, and we are not participants, or privy to them either, is going to change this fact.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/03/15/russia-ukraine-peace-talks-zelensky-putin-war-latest-news/

    1. Starmer is playing the Great Statesman. He is not up to it. He will end up with egg on his face.

      3. And Egg all over, soon.
        The world has already discovered that he's not up to 'it' but up to other things.
        I don't believe that any person in important political positions should be able to bring personal preferences into the system.

    3. Bet there are few who will agree tos send troops. Or, they will ‘promise’ to but not deliver. Starmer is a fool.

  9. Morning, all Y'all.
    Beautiful sunrise today, it all looks tropical outside – except it's -5C or so…

  10. We know it's an invasion, our leaders know it's an invasion, so why are our leaders pissing on us and telling us it is raining?

        1. It has been mentioned before that a great number of those selected to run countries are childless and therefore have no vested interest in the future…..May is one of many….

          1. Ahem! I'm child-free, but I care a great deal for the fate of the country and its future!

    2. A religious school leader has been appointed as chairman of Ofsted for what is believed to be the first time.

      Sir Hamid Patel will take up the interim role until a successor is found for Dame Christine Ryan at the schools regulator.

      He is the chief executive of Star Academies Trust, which runs nearly 40 primaries and secondaries, including several Islamic schools.

      The trust also runs a Christian school and grammar schools, with many of its institutions rated outstanding by Ofsted.

      Sir Hamid has been on the board of Ofsted since 2019 and has led Star Academies since its inception in 2010. He was previously the headteacher of Tauheedul Islam Girls’ High School in Blackpool.

      While in that role, the school became one of the first in the country to urge pupils to wear a hijab outside of school.

      Guidance reportedly told pupils to “recite the Koran at least once a week” and “not bring stationery to school that contains un-Islamic images”, such as pictures of pop stars.

      Criticised over cleric visit
      The school was criticised over a visit in 2010 from Sheikh Abdul Rahman al-Sudais, a Saudi Arabian cleric who had described Jews as “pigs”.

      Sheikh Sudais also prayed for God to “terminate” the Jews and, discussing his visit, Sir Hamid told The Sunday Times in 2013: “The girls wanted to see this guy with 5 million followers. They had seen him on YouTube. He stayed 20 minutes.”

      There is no suggestion these remarks were made at the school.

      A spokesman for the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism said: “We hope that in his new role, Hamid Patel will adopt a higher degree of scrutiny than he appeared to in his previous occupation. British Jews will understandably be concerned that an individual who invited a man who allegedly described Jews as ‘pigs’ to speak to children will be responsible for assessing the performance of schools.”

      The trust’s schools now host speakers from Jewish, Sikh, Hindu, Christian and Islamic faiths.

      Sir Hamid was knighted for his outstanding services to education in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list in 2021 and attended the King’s Coronation.

      Insiders understand Sir Hamid to be a balanced board member who has not opposed attempts to regulate more hardline religious schools.

      ‘A national disgrace’
      Although many of the trust’s schools are Islamic, he has also vowed to help white working class boys.

      “Only one in seven white working class boys will pass their GCSE in English and maths. That is a national disgrace,” he said in 2020.

      The National Secular Society said: “At a time when religious fundamentalism is increasingly impacting schools, we’re willing to support any chairman who upholds principles of equality, regardless of sex and religion or belief.

      “We urge Sir Hamid to ensure that Ofsted remains committed to ensuring that religion does not impede educational standards or undermine children’s fundamental human right to a broad and balanced education.”

      Sir Martyn Oliver, His Majesty’s Chief Inspector, said: “Sir Hamid Patel runs some of the best schools in England. He is a highly respected school and academy trust leader, knighted for his contribution to education. After more than five years on the Ofsted Board, I’m delighted he is stepping up to lead while the secretary of state recruits a permanent chairman.”

      The appointment comes as Ofsted faces criticism for how it carries out school inspections in England, with Sir Martyn defending a new policy on report cards on Friday.

      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/03/14/religious-school-leader-ofsted-chairman-first/

      Ann Chalk
      10 hrs ago
      Two Tier Kier with Two Tier Policing and Two Tier Justice and now Two Tier Education with an antisemitic Islamic leader of Ofsted.

      Blair destroyed the UK with his DEI legislation and now Free Gear Kier is finishing it off.

      All for Labour to cling onto their Muslim voters. edited

      Comments are now closed , only 60 comments.. The DT has not allowed free speech !

      I am now asking , what about the English lad who was a teacher in Batley , who is still in hiding , and fearing for his life?

  11. https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/7a8f55804b1caed270135fc99e63c1cd93c93171/0_0_3614_2709/master/3614.jpg?width=700&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=5d47d6d7df1376baa364405e07ffff4f Grey seals gather on the beach in Saltfleet, Lincolnshire

    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/09040fda291596ee957f3802de3128eb1bba9935/0_0_5000_3333/master/5000.jpg?width=700&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=307772485e1c64a21f210fa8f4d2fd4b A rescued two-month-old male wild Sumatran elephant, separated from his mother in a palm oil plantation, sleeps at the Minas elephant training centre in Riau, Indonesia

    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/99ee8dd5736a4ac81dadd728ba979500e72fe50c/0_0_1946_1297/master/1946.jpg?width=700&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=5b234a4b3423060733ad9ccadb171ed0 A burrowing owl looks disgruntled in Cape Coral, Florida, US. This is one of the few owl species that nest underground; they often take over disused burrows made by badgers, foxes or ground squirrels

    1. Owl looks like I do when someone wants to talk before I've had breakfast coffee…

  15. Michael Deacon
    Why can’t I get pregnant?

    According to several British newspapers this week, men can give birth. I wonder where I’ve been going wrong

    15 March 2025 6:00am GMT
    Michael Deacon

    A couple of years ago, I wrote a column making fun of the NHS trusts that had, in all seriousness, taken to asking male patients if they were pregnant. But now, I fear, the joke is on me. Or so it would seem, looking at the headlines this week on certain newspapers’ websites.

    “Brit Man Shares Joy at Discovering He’s Pregnant,” trumpeted the Daily Star. “First Man in UK to Fall Pregnant Naturally Reveals He Wants More Kids,” proclaimed the Daily Record. “Inside UK Man’s Pregnancy,” whooped the Mirror.

    Naturally I couldn’t wait to read about this incredible turn of events. When I was young, the idea that men could become pregnant would have been considered absurd. Literally inconceivable. Yet now, astonishingly, it had actually come to pass. What could possibly explain such a miracle?

    A few lines into each breathless write-up, the answer was revealed. The subject of the story, it turned out, was a biological female who happens to identify as a man. In the expectant parent’s own words: “I’m just a man who has a vagina.”

    To be clear: I wish nothing but the very best to this transgender gentleman and his partner (a biologically male man who describes himself as gay). I’m sure they’ll make wonderful parents.

    All the same, I’m not desperately impressed by newspapers choosing to publish headlines like “Man Gets Pregnant”. Whether their journalists are zealous adherents of gender ideology, or just engaged in a cynical pursuit of online clicks, the fact remains that the person giving birth in this case possesses female reproductive organs. And people who possess female reproductive organs have been giving birth throughout the entire history of the human race. Indeed, experts estimate that, in the 300,000 or so years since the emergence of homo sapiens, it’s happened roughly 117 billion times. On the whole, therefore, this story is about as newsworthy as “Man Goes to Lavatory” or “Day Follows Night”.

    All of which means that, very sadly, I for one am unlikely ever to experience the magic of being pregnant. Still, perhaps it’s for the best. Women always complain that giving birth is extremely painful. But I can’t help suspecting that, if I somehow had to force a nine-pound baby out of my body, the pain would be quite a lot worse.

    The daftest deportation farce yet
    Remarkable, isn’t it. In this country we hardly ever seem to deport foreign criminals. And then, on one of the rare occasions we actually manage to do it, we end up letting the criminal back in again.

    That’s what’s happened in the case of Samuel Frimpong, a convicted fraudster who was deported to Ghana 12 years ago. Now, we learn, a British immigration judge has allowed him to return to the UK – because Frimpong said that being separated from his two children, who live in Britain, had made him feel depressed.

    The judge was told that the fraudster’s absence had made the children unhappy, too, because they found it “difficult to explain to others at school” where their father was. So, having weighed up all the arguments, the judge concluded that the deportation order must be revoked, because it constituted an “unjustifiable interference” with the fraudster’s right to a family life.

    I’m sure Frimpong and his children are delighted by the ruling. But hang on just a moment. If a foreign criminal can use this argument against being deported, why shouldn’t a British criminal use it against being sent to prison?

    “You can’t possibly jail me for my crimes, Your Honour – because separating me from my children would make me feel terribly depressed. And think how difficult my poor kids would find it to explain to others at school where their father was. It really would constitute an unjustifiable interference with my right to a family life.

    “And anyway, surely the law’s got to treat British criminals the same as foreign criminals. We wouldn’t want anyone to think we’ve got a two-tier justice system, would we?”

    The trouble with Tesla
    Across Europe, sales of Teslas – Elon Musk’s range of flashy electric cars – appear to be plummeting. In January, reports the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, 50 per cent fewer Teslas were sold than in the same month the previous year. Sales are also down in Australia, as well as in California, the biggest US market for electric cars. And, according to a report in Time magazine, the explanation for the slump is simple. Many potential customers are put off by Mr Musk’s political views.

    If so, they aren’t the first. Back in November 2022, the American actress Alyssa Milano expressed her indignation at Mr Musk’s purchase of Twitter – because, she believed, the social media site was now enabling the spread of “hate and white supremacy”. So she announced that, in protest, she had ditched her Tesla – in favour of an electric VW.

    To which, I couldn’t help feeling, the only response was: if you think the man behind Tesla is a Nazi, dear, wait till you hear about the man who commissioned the first Volkswagen.

    Austrian chap. Little black moustache. Bit of a temper. Twitter wasn’t around in his day, but if it had been, I imagine that his tweets would have been fairly problematic, too.

    1. Why can't men get pregnant?

      I'm guessing that squirting a healthy and bonny 7lb baby through a dick might be a tad troublesome for most chaps.

  16. SIR – There is no need for an expensive dual pipe system to separate rainwater from sewage (Letters, March 14). My new-build house is 15 years old, but local building standards required rainwater runoff to be directed to soakaways, so only sewage entered the sewage system.

    These work efficiently and retain water without flooding the sewage treatment plants. Not only should they be a requirement for new builds, but they should also be retrofitted for existing houses.

    Alan Belk
    Leatherhead, Surrey

    What the hell is a 'sewage system'?

    Please don't write letters to newspapers and expect the editors to correct your gormless mistakes. Sewage is effluent. The system that carries it away is a sewerage system. Look up the difference.

    1. Might the letters editor have changed it?

      I know they do edit some of the letters.

    2. When I extended my bungalow 30 + years ago I was directed to build a soakaway for the rainwater from one side of the building. The existing large flat roof, an earlier addition by another owner and now very much reduced, piped the rainwater to the old well in the back garden. That left the other roof discharging into the sewer.

      Later, my paved drive had to discharge into a soakaway as rain water run-off was not allowed on to the road and thence into the drainage system. Therefore, I have three soakaways surrounding my home which is situated on a large plot and on land that drains well.

      On modern compact estates, especially on poor draining land and with houses with small gardens, is there a potential problem with every property having a soakaway or maybe larger communal soakaways concentrating rainwater discharge into small areas? Most likely, time will tell.

        1. Lakes do not make money, packing in homes, does.

          A ‘Garden Town’ development plan was recently abandoned and one of the best arguments I read for not going ahead with the development was the disposal of the rainwater. The development was to be on prime agricultural land, of course, and thousands of homes, shops, and acres of concrete would not allow natural dispersal as before. The nearest waterway, still called a river, is now not much more than a stream and the nearest river of any size is miles away.
          There were other objections, especially the lack of a decent upgrade plan for a very busy A road.

        2. That's what they appear to have done for the large development on former farmland that I walk past occasionally. The land is very wet anyway, so there could be trouble ahead …

  17. Bluebell End
    2h
    Fantastic News.
    Cuba has beaten us again. Not only do they have a much better Health System than us but now they have achieved Net Zero with their forth 100% renewable, 9 times cheaper, national Blackout.

    I was unaware that they were even a big world player in the renewables sector but there's the proof.

    Cuba suffers fourth nationwide blackout in five months

    Mad Ed will be very disappointed.

    1. Democratic Kampuchea was leading the world when Sir Milliband was still at primary school.

  18. 403218+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Better get this new party up and running the decent indigenous are fighting on multi fronts internally.

    Take it as said, reform, since entering the HP sauce factory are in melting mode, if allowed to this anti Brit
    bickering can drag on at least for the duration of labours term in office.

    2029 will see the three ring circus back in town with, at best, an opposing party under a very dubious leadership.

    Post 2029 it will no longer matter it will be taken out of the indigenous hands of decency and gifted to BIG MO
    courtesy of the lab/lib/con coalition party.

    https://x.com/DaveAtherton20/status/1900504970501165248

  19. OK, there appears to be great misunderstanding and confusion over halal.
    It's more than diabolical slaughter methods and meat, it can be washing powder or anything at all
    It's making whatever they possibly can halal compliant so they can collect zakat tax to fund mosques and terrorism. Read this closely!! I used to think same as many of you and thought the slaughter methods horrific enough, but FAR more to it….

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8f3c57b48bc5b5f5df20284acfaf4610d3682ca9bba17e2f2906470570743d26.jpg

    Grabbed from F/B

    1. So it's just a money-raising racket then? Bit like indulgences, a tax on their followers.

    3. Warburtons bread is halal. Examine the paper wrapping carefully and you will find the little halal symbol.

      1. That's why I don't buy Warburton's bread and I've extended that boycott to any other products they sell.

  21. In Crawley
    11h

    It would be rude not to laugh, the 6 year delayed ferry in Scotland that entered service in January is now out of service for repairs.

      1. Never happened when ships were riveted. Only an iceberg (or a torpedo from a U-boat) could sink one of those.

  22. Captain Sensible
    10h
    I've heard a rumour that our local health food shop is closing. No whey!

    Redduke Teleman
    Captain Sensible
    10h
    Hygiene issue? That's what happens when some chick peas on the shelves.

    1. ""My primary task is to uphold the Constitution, and as a doctor, I have the duty and the right to protect the health of Slovak citizens. Yesterday, I also informed the U.S. Minister of Health and Human Services by letter, Mr. Robert Kennedy Jr., who confirmed receipt. Furthermore, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Kash Patel and Pamela Bondi, the U.S. Attorney General, were also informed.

      "34 batches from Pfizer and Moderna have been analyzed so far, which were stored according to the proper cold chain and only those that were used for the Slovak population during the COVID-19 epidemic. Today, I will present the most significant result of the analysis. "

      " The results of the analysis of all, I repeat, all analyzed batches proved that in every single vial, there is an extremely high amount of DNA, a vector that encodes the cassette for the synthesis of the S-protein, if not other proteins as well. Almost in the same amount as mRNA, DNA is also present there. In three cases, the DNA content is even higher than the mRNA. This can no longer even be considered an mRNA vaccine. This genetic code for the synthesis of the S-protein, this information stored in this DNA, is stable compared to mRNA, can integrate into human nuclear DNA, and subsequently, such a human organism becomes—I’m not afraid to say officially— a genetically modified organism. ""

      Dolores Cahill, Mike Yeadon and Sucharit Bhakhdi said this was possible right at the start. If you repeated it to anyone, you were laughed down as a "conspiracy theorist." But it was clear that such eminent specialists in their field would not say something like that unless it was true.

      And nobody has addressed the legal implications of that yet. If I hold on my DNA, a part that is patented – then what happens if the patent-holder decides that I don't have the right to reproduce that patented item?

    2. I haven't asked my friend in Denmark what jab she had. She's got a turbo cancer resurgence from breast cancer and her husband is now in a dementia care home at only 73.

      1. 403218+ up ticks,

        Morning N,

        So sad to hear,

        The only jabs I have had are the necessary for
        foreign travel ( work) and the one coming shortly the three monthly postrap jab

      2. Sadly, there may be a genetic element.
        I know a lad who is now in the early stages and he is about 73, physically healthy.
        Much worse, one of his family developed Early-onset dementia in his fifties.

        1. I was not, at any point during that idiocy, prepared to play Russian Roulette with my life/health/wellbeing.

          1. Me too. A big red flag from Johnson in April 2020 was "we'll have a vaccine for this by Christmas!"

        2. The vaccine was designed to lift the lid on genetic illness. That is what was so sinister and cunning about it, people who took the 'vaccine' come down with different illnesses, so there is no basis for comparison and no trail to lead to the vaccine in the first instance. The other reason, of course, was to get people ill from the diseases which they would have suffered at a much later stage in life to replenish big pharma's depleting coffers.

      3. Caroline's best friend was a nurse with seven children. She was reluctant to have the Covid jab but she had to have it or lose her job. She duly had it and within months she developed cancer.

        Our very large parish church was full to the brim and there were hordes of people outside the building for her funeral.

        (As the PTB will always say there is no connection between the jab and the cancer.)

        1. She could have refused the jab; lost her job; then (in the light of subsequent findings) later sued them for false/constructive dismissal.

    1. Is there anything more pointless and soul-destroying than hearing the Prime Minister's droning voice intoning "clean energy superpower?"

  25. Good morning, all. Grey sky. Touch of blue. Rain in the night. Cold. I am going back to bed.

      1. Nope – because I was feeling idle! In the end I got up because the MR was up and dressed and I felt stupid! It is sort of sunny now.

  26. Ministry of Defence Staff Shifting to Four-Day Weeks Since Election

    Transport for London has today formally tabled an offer for their Tube drivers, who are paid £70,000, to work four-day weeks on compressed hours. A compromise on RMT’s demands for Underground staff to have their hours reduced from 35 hours to 32…

    Tube drivers are in that case set to join four-day week leading lights over at the Ministry of Defence. Guido can reveal that a substantial 171 staff at the MoD are on a four-working day shift pattern, an increase on the 138 who enjoyed compressed hours at the time of the election on 4 July last year. Civil Service union PCS is pushing for a four-day week with reduced hours (like RMT) at the same time across government. Interesting time for defence staff to cut the week short…

    March 14 2025 @ 16:59

    **********************************

    Sir Jimmy Savile OBE
    12h
    Europhile logic:

    The EU uses threats of tariffs to bully Britain into accepting a bad exit deal, paying billions towards a made up "exit fee" and continuing to allow EU fishing fleets access to our waters.

    Well, what did you expect, Brexiters? You wouldn't listen. We got what we deserved.
    Donald Trump uses threats of tariffs to bully the EU into doing things he wants

    How can he do this? He's a madman! This is not what civilised nations do!

  27. Good Morning!

    The covid catastrophe was among the greatest ever atrocities perpetrated on the British people, one we are still suffering from in manifest ways, so rather than a day of reflection, we think we need a month of Remembrance, Lest We Forget’. So today we run a highly personal account of remembrance in Gone Viral , the first part of three.

    That Nigel Farage, he just can’t keep out of the headlines! But these days, the headlines are not always to his liking, and it’s doubtful that he’ll like Iain Hunter’s ‘ A Reform Too Far. A Tale of One Man’s Fragility’ , written after a week’s reflection on the unseemly spat between Rupert Lowe and dear old Nigel, who many now think has lost the plot – or worse.

    Energy watch 07.30: Demand: 30.67 GW. Total UK Production: 23.01 GW from: Hydrocarbons 33.2%; Wind 13.9%; Imports 25.8%; Biomass 9.8%; Nuclear 11.9%. Solar: 3.1%.

    We are currently importing over 25% of our electric power requirements, mainly from France. Over the last 24 hours gas has generated 47.7% of demand, nuclear 10.5% and we have imported 17.1%. Renewables have totalled 14.3%,

  28. Good morning, all. Early frost with broken cloud and barely a puff of breeze. The lack of breeze is having an impact on the windmill output -> 14% at the moment with the interconnectors at 1.5 times that miserable output.

    This morning I picked up a short segment of the Lotus Eaters' podcast from yesterday featuring Andrew Bridgen discussing Reform and especially Nigel Farage. The first item of the full podcast is on the latter and to say that the content throws doubt on both Farage and Reform is an understatement.

    The consensus of the three presenters is that unless Reform changes its style and becomes a more democratic entity it is likely that the party will stagnate and not break through to destroy the corrupt political system that currently bedevils the UK.

    An indicator could be the number of comments on X revealing sackings and resignations within the party's regional management and re-treads from Conservative Central HQ coming in as replacements.

    Lotus Eaters – 14th March

  30. Yo and Good Moaning all, from a SUNNY C d S.

    Just read my e-mails: Energy prices rising from April

    Ofgem (the energy regulator) has announced the energy price cap will rise by a bit less than 7% for a typical home — around £9 a month — from April 1 to June 31

    2. When lazy journalists refer to "typical homes", do they mean median or modal? And would they know the difference?

  31. Morning all 🙂😊
    Lovely sunny start today but not warm.
    🎶Let the sunshine in🎶 The 5th Dimension 1969.
    Brighten up our lives, and let's get rid of this dreadful repulsive and destruction focused government.

  32. Morning all! Icy cold 1°C.
    Wordle 1,365 4/6

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  33. 403218+ up ticks,

    May one ask,

    What is the reform parties stance on the incarceration plight of Tommy Robinson ?

    I know he is marmite to many, but I also know in regards to padophilia he is on my side

    1. You don't need to like Tommy Robinson to feel outraged at his treatment by the PTB and the MSM.

      As I have argued here before Farage did not need to like Tommy and he did not need to invite him join the Reform Party. But he did need to express disgust at the way Robinson is being treated. This is yet another sign of the gross inadequacy that Farage has recently shown us all.

      He does not like Robinson so he doesn't give a toss about the cruel and disgraceful way in which Robinson is being treated.

      He is jealous of Rupert Lowe's success so he resorts to low tricks to try and get rid of him.

      1. 24 hours before a Tommy Robinson rally in London Farage predicted: I know what it will be like. Lots of tattoos on drunken thugs and there will be trouble.
        In fact there were thousands of peaceful people. Families with mums and pushchairs. Farage has a high opinion of himself. He is all mouth and no trousers.

        1. Look at the list of people he has fallen out with starting with Professor Alan Sked who founded the Anti=Federalist League which became UKIP.

          1. Look at his personal life. Very telling, I think, that he cannot maintain a relationship with a woman.

          2. Niggle Farrago doesn't need a woman.

            A hand mirror is all he requires for his self-love onanism.

    2. You don't need to like Tommy Robinson to feel outraged at his treatment by the PTB and the MSM.

      As I have argued here before Farage did not need to like Tommy and he did not need to invite him join the Reform Party. But he did need to express disgust at the way Robinson is being treated. This is yet another sign of the gross inadequacy that Farage has recently shown us all.

      He does not like Robinson so he doesn't give a toss about the cruel and disgraceful way in which Robinson is being treated.

      He is jealous of Rupert Lowe's success so he resorts to low tricks to try and get rid of him.

  35. I know this is old news to us here of the Nottlers' Forum but this is the first time I have seen it on the DT. I was about to comment but the comments had already been closed.

    The DT is becoming like Farage because it backtracks if it fears its BTL comments are being too controversial just as Farage has capitulated to the 'pro Ukraine at any cost mindset.'

    I wonder if the Idiot KIng, the Head of State as well as the Head of the Church of England, has given his Royal Approval to this appointment.

    Religious school leader appointed as Ofsted chairman for first time
    Sir Hamid Patel will take up interim role as head of schools regulator, becoming the first religious school leader appointed to the position
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/03/14/religious-school-leader-ofsted-chairman-first/
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c39abcd9cfda46922c0b83bcc3b0cf866de87368849edd84d3a6dfd55a627d88.png

    2. This reminds me of the apocalyptic exchange between Kent and Albany at the end of King Lear.

      KENT: Is this the promised end?
      EDGAR: Or image of that horror?

    3. 403218+ up ticks,

      Morning R,
      Muslim man hiding behind bush pushes

      BIG MO only way to go patter, young ears will take it as norm.

    4. He'll be excellent for advising on underarm hair for the girls and problems with facial hair for the boys …

    5. The JWK will be ALL in favour…the more diversity the better. Look at him and Mrs P-B dishing out dates at Windsor Castle to feed the 5,000 slammers.

    6. Easiest response is to shut down ofsted entirely, shut down the department for education, make all schools independent and provide school vouchers.

      Of course, alongside this you also must scrap child benefit, so the dross stop breeding, housing benefit, to normalise housing costs to income and welfare, to force the muslim out.

  36. 403218+up ticks,

    Tell me what is extraordinary about telling "nige" the king of rhetoric he has NO clothes on.

    Elon Musk has appeared to endorse Rupert Lowe in the wake of his extraordinary falling out with Nigel Farage that prompted civil war in Reform UK…

    1. I think that Farage sought the advise of Gerald Ratner so that he could find the most effective way of destroying his brand.

      1. Farage has seemingly gotten away with it twice before, perhaps people who know him well have forced him into a corner.

    2. I think that Farage sought the advise of Gerald Ratner so that he could find the most effective way of destroying his brand.

    1. And ……

      It sort of gives us a better idea of how slavery actually originated.

      1. It's that her first response was 'I'll do what I like'. That's the problem we've ingrained into the diversity.

        The hard Left state keeps enforcing this attitude they're superior. They're inferior.

  38. Bet she gets let off with a slap on the wrist – "didn't understand local culture" etc etc

    1. There's a long piece by Janice Turner on Farage – it's a decent read but curiously only mentions the recent fall-out with Rupert Lowe as an aside.

      The majority of the BTL comments, unsurprisingly for the Times, are pretty negative and downright unpleasant towards him.

    1. When other people are given for free things for which one has paid oneself one may feel a bit pissed off.

      I remember when studying Christ's parables in Scripture lessons at school I sympathised with the workers in the vineyard who had toiled throughout the heat of the day and then some itinerants turned up at dusk, did a minimum of work, and still were given a full day's pay.

      2. Morning Richard. The one that always got to me was the Prodigal Son. Here's this bone idle waster who turns up and his dad is all over him.

    1. They mean of course that a flat chested crossdressing woman who calls herself a man can give birth. As these creatures have had their breasts removed, they’re presumably incapable of breastfeeding. Poor baby. Raised by a lunatic.

      1. According to the story, 'his' partner is a gay man. This raises the question – who does what and to whom?

          1. But if they are both men – then there is no need for artificial help. I'm confused.

          4. Yes, so why would the gay man be attracted to a biological woman who thinks she’s a man? And what do they do about it?

          5. An article recently stated the alphabet people were marrying for financial reasons.

        2. There was an old poof from Khartoum
          Who took a Lesbian up to his room
          They argued all night
          About who had the right
          To do what and with which and to whom…

      2. At this point it's simply the ego of the adults to want a trophy. Gays give up the right to have children when they make their choice to be gay.

      3. Lunacy was clearly on the rise, even before they abolished asylums (asyla?).

        Now it is a worldwide and incurable pandemic.

    3. I saw a council notice promoting 'chest feeding' the other day. Utterly moronic. I mostly bottle fed Junior as a baby due to the various issues but it wasn't a mentally ill man pretending he could feed his baby from his biology, it was his Dad doing it (and mostly getting it wrong).

      1. Caesarion (born at the 23th June 47 BC) was the son of Cleopatra and Julius Caesar. The child appears early in hieroglyphic Egyptian sources as Pharaoh, and son of Caesar, whereas in Rome itself Caesar seems never to have mentioned the child.

  44. 'Morning All
    I know This lot are keen on rewilding but……..
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3cab940e0747b79945fe25cc55a7d490677386ea52f249b870b3f67f6d1c6d7e.jpg
    Medley
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5d6203e1473425c1fa4c3325401f16d3dc419dc67166b04ded788533a1ceb693.jpg
    http://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b1a85b8853813505cb4036057c90efa03345b14ff6f9f62c30f49b2c9c03248a.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/acd43b2a0889ed408a6b28486ca77c077a497e8d719b2e6ea201b732082011a3.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f7c0c4b5d16dbd3084f10d6688b373466a6278f7cbac1bcb157a6e7ecf718be7.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/62a015126ea214e43954fbe5848a76d2c22a1f2208dfbe1fb3dff63af61aedf1.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3b7974dec152365961abb4685a95085921145ef5e6d00571927424643602e416.png

        1. "Make him sleep with the Captain's Daughter
          Make him Sleep with the Captain's Daughter
          Make him Sleep with the Captain's Daughter
          Earlie in the Morning

          But 'ave you seen the Captain's Daughter
          'ave you seen the Captain's Daughter
          'ave you seen the Captain's Daughter
          Earlie in the Morning?

    2. Those Canada geese are simply escaping Trudeau! I doubt they'll go back until Carney is voted out.🪿

  46. OT Looking ahead to this arvo, the "lesser" teams have absolutely nothing to lose. Wales will come out fighting (literally, probably) because they can't really get any worse and so can throw the ball around. England are "fragile" – to say the least. Ireland are aggrieved because their best is past – so Italy might just capitalise on the excellent form they showed initially last week. Scotland will try but fail.

  47. Good to see Diplomacy in action(snigger)
    ➖"Russia must now accept the US and Ukraine's offer of a 30-day ceasefire. Russian aggression in Ukraine must stop. The abuse must stop, as must the delaying statements," French President Macron wrote.
    ▪️С a similar statement was made by the British Foreign Secretary.
    ➖"Now is the time for a ceasefire without any conditions. Ukraine has set out its position, it is now up to Russia to accept it," David Lammy said.
    🤬Russian Deputy Secretary of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev responded to this statement.
    🖕"Britain and its minister, diplomatically speaking, can shove this idea back up their arse where it came out of," he wrote on social media X.

        1. And there is more money spent on trying to prove the opposite than he's actually worth.

  48. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/tax/inheritance/pitfalls-trying-avoid-inheritance-tax-family-home/

    At every level, the state has failed. The population is ageing. Government shouldn't have conflated NI into general taxation and set it aside as an investment block for pensions and health care. That it hasn't has councils – under the laughable ' denial of assets farce (as if our money saved is somehow automatically the property of the state's) destroying what we have worked for to pay for absurdly expensive, mostly foreign run old age care.

    That ignores the offensive salaries paid to council wasters in the first place. The state is awash with our money, it just wastes it. Worse, it spaffs our wealth on nonsense deliberately refusing restraint and future investment, all to bloat it's useless incompetence.

    2. Why does the Speaker need to go anywhere on business? He's just the chairman of the commons.

  52. Went into a library and asked for the new Rupert Lowe book on immigrants.

    She started shouting "we don't like your sorts here, get out and stay out".

    I said yes that's the one.

    1. My good lady has just come home from her volunteer stint at the local library. I'll tell her that one………

  54. I bought 2 pints of milk in Lidl today…

    It was an impulse buy, I only went in for an angle grinder, a wet suit and a 40ft ladder.

  55. Chefofsinners
    4h
    I overheard the start of the police investigation into that Reform MP. It went : "A Lowe a Lowe a Lowe, what's all this, then?"

    Reply
    Send in the Clones
    Chefofsinners
    4h
    Does he live in Letsby Avenue?

  57. When Geoffrey Woollard repeatedly warned us about 'Farridge', no one took any notice.

      1. to Volodymyr Zelenskyy? He might need an additional 'Security Adviser' and certainly has loadsa cash.

    2. As I recall, Chief Constable Serena Kennedy kept the Press Conference audience waiting for nearly an hour – and then had nothing to say!

      1. That was the overall impression…but subsequent revelations about what Starmer and she and others already knew shows her to have been an out-and-out liar. Some of those unfortunate protesters who got locked up might consider suing the bejesus out of some people in a 'position of responsibility.'

  60. Look at the alternative career options that are available nowadays to Uncle Bill had he not been recruited into the Exotic World of The Jimmy Young Show…

    The young lawyers shunning £180,000 salaries for an easier life
    Gen Z and millennial solicitors are forgoing big pay packets to prioritise work-life balance
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/briefs/2025/03/12/TELEMMGLPICT000416080217_17417758359130_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqVLvNQ4vBlzywIJ9onYGlit7NI0tvxUCdrfzQt1pOnNc.jpeg?imwidth=680 Former City lawyer Melissa Layton left her stressful corporate job to found her own wellness start-up

    Louis Goss
    Business reporter
    15 March 2025 8:00am GMT
    *
    *
    * https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/briefs/2025/03/12/TELEMMGLPICT000416080214_17417758680680_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqYS1acP-ch22p5qESP2v6g4TQXy-JIYeNHjz2OazuOpE.jpeg?imwidth=680
    Numinity founder Melissa Layton (R) now runs ecstatic dance classes, ‘extended orgasm’ workshops and psychedelic ceremonies
    *
    *
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/03/15/young-lawyers-shunning-180000-salaries-easier-life/

        1. Don't know about a metaphor but it is said that if you can't make it in Marine County you're not going to make it anywhere. Reasoning being that they have more money than sense so any old scam will get you somewhere. It is the home of Skywalker Ranch, George Lucas and Industrial Light and Magic. Although that is actually in San Francisco. But there is all sorts of stuff going on there to do with movies. Animation is done there too at Big Rock Ranch. The most exclusive piece of Real Estate in California is also in Marine, Belvedere Island. Enormous mansions that you can't see at all. Hidden from view. County is 80% White with an average income of $142,000. £109,716. Lived there for about a year in Mill Valley. It was to much for me. I don't like that sort of atmosphere. Very materialistic and, in my opinion, not very pleasant as a result.

          1. I think you mean Marin County, whose denizens were deliciously sent up in the 1970's book, The Serial (also made into a film).

          3. Never seen the film and I can’t find it on line for free. I never pay for movies. Where is it set in Marin County, do you know?

    3. Yes, I too remembered the sayer of sooth and looked at the calendar too. The ides have come but not yet gone.

  63. It would seem that Starmer is itching to get Nato boots on the ground in Ukraine under the pretence of a peace keeping force. Of course, once a bullet is fired, Article 5 is declared and we are up to our necks in another unwinable war. Seeing 2TK grandstanding from the sidelines and gathering his gang in the playground and issue threats to Russia must leave Vlad the bad howling with laughter. As a spin off, TV could rehash Blankety Blank and have a contestant guess what the next podium 3 word mantra will be.

    1. They have to stretch the war out as they haven't got the next Lab grown pandemic ready yet.

        1. Revolution in hot, dry summers when bread runs short … (forget the Russians, they are always out of step).

      2. Funny how Covid went instantly away when the war began. The truckers were winning the PR war; Trudeau was being wholly undermined and then hostilities began between Russia and Ukraine. Suddenly, focus elsewhere.

    2. Bulls**t Detector
      38m
      I see Stammer still trying to be the new European leader.

      Does he know any more about armed conflict and international relations than he does about business?

      Clearly not, or he wouldn't have made The Turnip FS.

      Ernest Nowell
      18m
      Isn’t Starmer loving his grandstanding, the big I am, international statesman role? I did this, I did that etc. all the while things at home are turning to guano!

      1. Just as well that you are not in the EU.

        oh wait, that is coming soon and you will be paying for the great European army.

    3. The sight of Stoma pouncing around in uniform makes me sick with anger.
      It will not be him or his sons who will be brought back in body bags.

  64. Cooking lamb shanks for dinner tonight, cooked in red wine and stock – served with Mashed potatoes and various other veggies. Officially end of winter warming comfort food .

    2. Sounds delicious! I have been craving lamb with good old fashioned mint sauce lately. Think I'll do it next week.

      1. I know exactly what you mean. I get the same craving for roast pork and apple sauce.

    3. We used to go to the Caravan Site at Blue Anchor Bay, by train, in the 1950's

      The train journey was as exciting as the holiday

      2. Don't – it needs doing – but it so cold and unwelcoming despite the so-called sun.

  67. Finally, we found kitchen floor tiles we like, and the right bathroom tiles (grey floor, white wall), ordered and paid, with delivery next week.
    A huge relief – they were critical path for the bathroom & kitchen renovations, so now that's sorted, we can relax a bit. Whew!
    Now, all to sort is the ceiling downlighters…

    1. Just look forward to finding – after installation – that the lighting is either too bright or too dim….

      Just saying (from experience!)

  68. Well, Easter is booked from our side.
    SWMBO is travelling to the UK to stay with her parents, the rest of us staying in Norway. The house needs a lot of clearing ready for the bathroom & kitchen rebuilt, and it won't do iteself, so I'll be staying at home to clear the work areas, boxing up the stuff to keep.
    This will be the first time we are separated at Easter since before marriage, 43 years ago. Feeling some trepidation…

      1. It's also cheaper – fewer plane seats, and rail transfer becomes economic as well.
        No hire car parked for 4 days going nowhere…

    2. Just keep yourself busy.

      If SWMBO gets a little bored you can give her my number. Not met a lady yet that can resist my charms…. :@)

  70. Military planning for Ukraine peace deal entering ‘operational phase’, says Starmer. 15 March 2025.

    Planning for a peacekeeping force for Ukraine will move to an “operational phase”, Sir Keir Starmer has said after a meeting of the “coalition of the willing” on Saturday.

    The Prime Minister announced that military chiefs from a group of Western countries ready to support a ceasefire would meet in London on Thursday to “put strong and robust plans in place to swing in behind a peace deal and guarantee Ukraine’s future security”.

    You would never guess from this and the BBC that Starmer has absolutely no say in any Peace Deal. He's talking as if he was sat at the table. The business is being settled by Trump and Putin. I do wonder if these morons are going to jump in and bring the whole thing crashing down. Perhaps an incursion into Ukraine? This needless to say will not make the Donald a happy man.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/03/15/russia-ukraine-peace-talks-zelensky-putin-war-latest-news/

    1. The Russians have made it very clear, on a number of occasions, that they will only accept any "peace support" troops if they are UN sanctioned! They certainly won't accept NATO member's troops

    2. Starmer is doing a Blair , bloody warmonger .

      Excuse my language .. but we don't want to see full coffins flown back to Brize Norton .

      1. Wouldn't worry about the coffins, but any POWs taken to Siberia or North Korea might suffer.

    4. 2TK is acting like Capita when they start sending threatening letters if you dont pay the telly tax. They ramp up the anti with all sorts of measures being mentioned but threats are all they have unless they return with a warrant. The latest letters have an 'investigation code' which is kindly revealed through a window in the envelope. What the code means is anyone's guess but I have received 3 visits from the goons so far and declined their offers to check my equipment. Vlad is not going to have Nato troops on his border however much Starmer and co bump their gums. He can see the obvious dangers and will ignore this European grandstanding.

      1. So they actually visit?
        I gave up watching and supporting Hamasovision a couple of years ago, feeling that the annual cost of running a dishwasher (for example) was better value than the BBC-TV licence.

        1. I was surprised to get the first visit within 6 months of not renewing and another after 2 months and another since. I follow Chilly con carne on UTube for advice.

      1. Breed the best to the best and hope for the best (writes someone who breeds racehorses).

    1. A nurse over in BC was recently found guilty of refusing to honour the them/him/her brigade and I believe that she has lost her license.

  73. BTL on Guido

    Bumble Bat
    1h
    Wow just Durham, my home, the heartland of Labour’s working-class base, where generations of miners and steelworkers swore allegiance to the red banner, now projected to be dominated by Reform. Tony Blair’s old stomping ground, once a fortress of Labour power, now crumbling before our eyes. Labour losing 38 seats, the Conservatives down by 20, and Reform sweeping up 70—this isn’t just a shift, it’s a complete realignment. The so-called ‘Red Wall’ isn’t just cracking, it’s being obliterated. And yet, the mainstream media barely whisper a word of it. This is what happens when working people, sick of being ignored and betrayed, finally say: enough. It’s a bloodless revolution, but a revolution all the same.

    1. My lot farm in N Yorkshire and Durham ..

      Farmers are furious , they work hard , large farms are suffering . They suffered under Blair and co before when foot and mouth broke out , the government were a disaster , they handled it badly .

      Labour government allowed migrants to infest traditional nestling local towns and villages .. and of course, once wealthy towns are being reduced to nothing , like Darlington and Doncaster , Wakefield , Leeds and Bradford , well everywhere .. now an absolute disaster ..

      Good people whose hard work made this country prosperous , whether sheep farmers, arable land etc , ship workers , steel and coal , cotton mill owners , and even chocolate manufacturers , are now dissed and ignored and dismissed to the end of the queue if they are elderly and their grand children will have NO idea who were the back bone of an economical profitable economy.

      If I am wrong tell me ..

      And now the b#######s have ruined the North sea industry and the steel and car manufacturing and coal .. because we are NOW importing coal from Eastern Europe .

      1. We've been importing coal from "Eastern Europe" (Poland, in particular) for some time, Maggie. We have plenty of our own and should be mining it.

      2. He could be a smarter operator than you realise. Rupert Lowe was simply out of order, because it would be currently impossible to expel the unwanted invaders.

        1. I thought Reform wanted to be a government and then it would be possible. People have had enough of defeatism; they want aspiration and intention.

  74. Just in from 2 hours in the greenhouse pretending that the weather is improving. Trays of seeds sown – some in the propagators others in a tray with plastic covering. One must be optimistic….

    The sun is deceptive – looks nice, warms the house but is COLD in the open air….

    1. Yes, did some hedge trimming and back door checking – in the sun, all ok. Out of it? Bally cold.

  75. How on earth is it a clear knock on if it has to reviewed 9 times from different angles?
    That try should have stood.

    2. Considering how violent, savage, abusive and thug like muslim are, and phobia being an irrational fear surely there's a better term?

      National dangerous muslim awareness day?

      As it is, they're easily combated. Deport the swine.

    3. God that could have been written by Trudeau.

      we even have a special advisor on combating Islamophobia, she has declared that questioning hamas qualifies one as Islamophobia.

      I guess that I qualify.

      1. They have all been indoctrinated by the WEF globalists and promised riches beyond their wildest delusions.
        When the shit hits the fan they will be the ones hanging from lamp posts.

    5. Is there a Day to Combat Christianophobia? What about the Muslim murders of Christians in Africa and Syria? There's a reason most of the world hates Islam.

      1. Not to mention the murders of British citizens, ranging from the 7/7 attacks, to the London Bridge victims, or the Southend MP, or Fusilier Rigby.

        Then of course there is the huge issue of grooming and attacks on young, underaged girls.

        Yet say one word on the subject, and be immediately accused of Islamophobia.

      2. Not forgetting all the vile sex acts taking place on young English children.
        Burn a book and they'll try and kill you.
        Rape a 10 year old and they walk free.

    6. They must be mad.
      They have already had to break up Riots back in 2005. On the beach at Cronulla south of Sydney the local muslim community started it by 'interferring' with local young ladies on the beach. The life guards stepped in to stop them and it all kicked off.
      But it was all turned on its head after and since and the locals including the life guards were blamed.
      One of the ozzie locals involved, was a guy our number 2 had been working with a few weeks prior to that disturbance.

    1. This is what would happen if Labour were to force conscription. The first people I'd use any weapons on are this damned government. All 650 of them.

      1. Rounding all of the invaders up and training them as soldiers doesn't sound too be such good an idea. You guys always talk about the invaders being an army in waiting, this will accelerate the action.

        1. But if they were conscripted they could be deployed overseas for, ahem, training….Georgia in the South Atlantic for example…

          1. They will not be deployed overseas. Our boys will (if these treacherous bastards get their way). The invaders will be armed and deployed internally, against us.

        2. But if they were conscripted they could be deployed overseas for, ahem, training….Georgia in the South Atlantic for example…

      2. What i think is happening, Wib, is that the government plans to conscript our boys to be sent to the meat grinder in foreign wars and will recruit the illegal immigrants into our internal security services (the police, the armed forces, etc.). The result: we are ruled by foreign ideology and foreign forces, with extreme violence.

      3. Have you forgotten all the priviligentsia in the House of Lords?
        PS I would possibly make an exception for the Reform MPs.

    2. Oh ! What a shame. They could have at least strung it out over a few days. With webcams.

  79. Brother received a letter saying he had to have an interview to continue his independence payments. We only found out because the warden in his sheltered accommodation called to tell us he was writing a script of what to say.

    I rather forget in my ranting about welfare loafers that he's also on PIP. It, and whatever he makes from his little company pays for his accommodation and support.

    1. In return for some paperwork and interviews, he will receive money without any fuss for the next year or two.
      Ignoring for a nanosecond his disabilities, several billion people around the world would reckon that he's a lucky bloke.
      Edit: why has he not yet been 'migrated' to Universal Credit?

    2. In return for some paperwork and interviews, he will receive money without any fuss for the next year or two.
      Ignoring for a nanosecond his disabilities, several billion people around the world would reckon that he's a lucky bloke.
      Edit: why has he not yet been 'migrated' to Universal Credit?

  81. Italy will hold a referendum on June 8-9 to decide whether to halve the waiting period for foreigners applying for Italian nationality, the government announced on Thursday.

    If approved, the reform would reduce the required residency period to five years, potentially granting citizenship to around 2.5 million foreign nationals.

    The referendum was triggered after opposition parties and pro-migrant organizations, including Oxfam Italia, collected more than 500,000 signatures last September, meeting the legal threshold for a public vote.
    Despite strong opposition from the ruling Brothers of Italy (FdI) party, led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, the government was obligated to set a date for the vote after a ruling from the Constitutional Court in January approved its admissibility.

    Currently, foreigners must reside in Italy for at least 10 years before applying for citizenship through naturalization. Children born in Italy to foreign parents are also unable to obtain citizenship until they turn 18.

    Proponents of the reform argue that the existing system is restrictive and out of step with other European countries such as Germany, the U.K., Spain, and Portugal, where the naturalization process typically takes five years.

    In France, naturalization is permitted after two to five years, depending on individual circumstances.

    1. Meloni ought to do a Trump and provide a list of countries whose immigrants would be welcome. Sensibly, that would be a very short list.

      Starmer should do the same, but there is no hope of that.

  82. Carnage Carney is making his first trip to the UK next week. Is there any chance that you could arrange a smal problem with his private jet and stop him coming back to Canada?

    1. Bag of sugar in the fuel tank? No scrub that we don't want him he's not our friend…

          2. Well then a 5lb bag of Albert Bartlett’s in at the front end should do the trick and produce a quantity of french fries at the same time!

    2. Patriot missile systems we sent to Ukraine are available on the black market…just sayin'.

  83. Spring is sprung.
    I've just heard the first cuckoo of this year. No replies to the call yet.

  84. Wordle No.1,365 4/6

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

    Wordle 15 Mar 2025

    Plenty for Par Four!

    1. Took some time over this after the first two and could really only come up with one answer!! Birdie!

      Wordle 1,365 3/6

      ⬜🟩⬜🟨⬜
      🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      PS Managed to send this during an interminable TMO process in the Rugby!!

    2. Managed a birdie.

      Wordle 1,365 3/6

      ⬜🟩⬜⬜🟩
      ⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    3. Agreed.

      Wordle 1,365 4/6

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

      Nice birdie yesterday but I was out making real divots.

    4. Par for me too.

      Wordle 1,365 4/6

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

    1. True. The US intelligence world has long referred to the capital as Londonistan, for obvious reasons.

      1. And 'They' knighted the overall culprit for the awful state and goings on in our once British capital city.

      2. Calling London "Londonistan" has long been a measure of Far-right radicalisation, according to those that oversee our armed forces and its recruitment. Other indicators include referring to oneself as a "patriot" and claiming to love one's country. Just saying.

        1. God forbid that any of our own armed forces should like our country, let alone be prepared to die to defend it.

    3. There are retired Hamas leaders living in social housing at tax payers expense in London.

    2. Some retired army high-up plonker has just complained on GBN that,”Putin wants to turn Ukraine into Southern Russia”. While that’s more sensible than claiming he’s going to conquer Europe, it’s still the equivalent of saying he wants to turn Cymru into Wales.

    4. It's a bit strange that they're in full camo gear but have a big red and white target marker on their heads……

  88. It seems that our msm have already found the 'russian in charge' of the container ship guilty of ramming the fuel tanker.

    3. It's not so much the laws but the interminable TMO reviews which piss me off – they just have to get this sorted!!

      1. The men in blazers think it adds interest to the game. They have forgotten the rule that was current when I played (in the 50s)

        "Get on with the game, never mind about the ball…"

        1. Abso-bloody-lutely! It really is damaging the game for spectators – the players love it as it gives them additional recovery time…..

          1. Was the Italy match as good as I think it might have been? I was too busy in the greenhouse.

          2. Italy are certainly on an upward trajectory, and if the U20's results are indicative they might yet get a real break-through.

      2. That first disallowed Welsh try (I laughed out loud at its being disallowed) was down several layers of lawfare wording and finished with a completely, to my mind, subjective decision.

  90. Waltzes in, very chilly late afternoon. I shall make a cup of tea and have a buttered crumpet .

    2. That first half delay for the ruled-out Welsh try was just bleedin' ridiculous – mind you, it enabled me to post my today's Wordle result!

  93. Wow! Just wow! Do you reckon Scotland could do us a favour? Nah! Me neither!

    2. There will be much teeth grinding. Hope France win to deny the auld enemy, if Scotland win we'll be thanked by the auld enemy.

      Which is worse?

      2. I have a Rugby mad Welsh brother-in-law – I dont think I'll text him tonight to gloat…………. NOTTTT!!!!

        3. Ask him how many individual England players scored as many tries as the whole Welsh team.
          And when he says a Welsh player managed as many as any English player remind him how many English players scored.

        1. Do you know – I like Jiffy and I like his commentary. It also helps he was a fabulous player in both codes!

          1. Good grief!! Why?? He’s absolutely atrocious! Biased, boring and on helium!

  95. So, England scraped home. I still don't rate M Smith. (Reminds me rather of Trash Sussex….) Good to see a new boy score twice.

    I didn't watch the Italy match – but they must have given Oirland a real shock.

    1. Oh come on, Marcus had a good game today – even under the high ball.

      I like Fin Smith but was I the only one who noticed how much more classy England looked when George Ford came on??

      1. I agree about Ford. I have always rated him and failed to understand why his selection was always iffy. Smith dropped several balls; kicked directly into touch and was a pillock. In the nicest possible way

        1. OK, I, like you, am not a great fan and I'm not sure about playing him at full-back – it's almost like they are trying to shoe-horn him into the side come what may – and he really isnt good enough to warrant that.
          But I did think, on the balance, he had a good game today.

          1. I still think he’s too short to be a full-back! Mitchell, on the other hand! 🙄

          4. Yes, but come on, Mitchell had a corker today – and I will brook no argument on that one!!

          6. I still think he’s too short to be a full-back! Mitchell, on the other hand! 🙄

          9. Scoop was once a set book when I was teaching English at Allhallows. One of my colleagues in the MCR (Masters' Common Room) was a friend of mine called Graham Salter and my naughty class said the most scurrilous things about him in their essays claiming that they were talking about the character in the book and not their French and Spanish Languages teacher Mr Salter, the cunning modern linguist!

            Graham was a keen singer of music in the chapel so we referred to him as Mr Psalter.

            (His P was silent as was Psmith's in the Wodehouse' stories)
            .

    2. We owe the Welsh people an apology for the 14-68 thrashing, how awful what a way to treat Innocent People.

    3. All that remains now is Scotland to beat France for England to win the championship but I wouldn't put it past Scotland to lose just to spite England

  97. Evening, all. Winston has passed his first civilisation test; we went to sung Evensong tonight (I'd been out for five hours in the morning on Synod business and it was too much to just rush in and rush out again) and he didn't join in the singing! He did settle a lot of the time, but he was very fidgety during the talk on the BCP which preceded it. The (female) Bishop treated us to a display of TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome for those who've had their heads buried in the sand since the US elections), which I though highly inappropriate. "If you think you're something, you're nothing," she told us (a piece of scripture that had previously passed me by) – then, looking round with a smirk, she continued, "someone should email that to the White House" after she'd complained about what Trump was doing in America. I don't know if she heard me say, "He is somebody; he's POTUS", but she changed tack to have a go at Elon Musk – people are losing their jobs (her son works for the UN – vested interest?) and people were sacked by email during a meeting. I didn't enlighten her that that had happened before anybody had ever heard of Elon Musk. I nearly asked her afterwards if she was going to highlight that people are losing their jobs over here because businesses are closing due to government policy, but I wanted to get home. She was brought up in Liverpool and said she was the only white person in her school – as though it was something to be proud of – so it had been happening a long time (yes, but not in the numbers and the Windrush generation were Christians) and she was part of a "global community". Easy to see why she got the job. Pity because apart from that, Evensong (BCP) was lovely. I did get the chance to talk to a newly confirmed (adult) member of the congregation over tea and cakes, though. He said he had two teenage sons and they don't believe the BS that's being taught in schools, which is encouraging for the future. We are not alone, folks.

    Bureaucracy is what the NHS does best. The shuffle won't remove any of it, it's too entrenched and people might "lose their (non) jobs".

    1. To brighten your evening, here is an extract from The Spectator (delivered a day late) from Charles Moore's page:

      "I may have given too much credit to Graham Usher, the Bishop of Norwich, as a suitable candidate to be Archbishop of Canterbury. I had found no evidence of him using the cant phrase ‘global majority’. I am informed that Bishop Usher is so woke as to be sleepless. His diocese recently instructed its churches to move away from ‘Eurocentric’ prayers and use its ‘anti-racist toolkit’ instead. It is also alleged that Bishop Usher, when a suffragan elsewhere, would, if asked to visit a parish church, cause his office to send out a form for the churchwardens to complete, which included the question: ‘Will there be any VIPs present?’ The search for the right Primate of All England goes on."

      1. Synod has added a tenth objective to Seeking the Kingdom – net zero. Guess who didn't vote for it.

      3. Talking of primates I understand there are a lot of orphaned OrangOutangs looking for a dwelling place…

      4. I don’t think anybody gets to be a bishop unless they can pass the woke test (i e full-on).

    2. I'm not at all religious and it sounds like neither is she. A left wing gobshite that preaches politics to an audience that can't (out of civility) answer back.

      1. We have had several in N Norfolk – climate change disaster; net zero desperate need; plucky little Ukrainians.

        And people wonder why I have stopped going….

        1. We endured a sermon from a woke vicar about "global warming is real and the science is settled" – unfortunately for his narrative, it was winter, the boiler had broken down and we were all huddled together for warmth with rugs over our knees. "Bring it on!" we sighed under our (clouds of) breath.

          1. Let's face it, religion, politics, education and a lot of industry have all been infiltrated by globalist et al elites.

        2. Me too. Erm, it's why I stopped going, not that I am wondering why you stopped going.

    3. Here's a good one Conners. Saturday evening and I have just received message from the hospital Trust.
      It reminds me of my long Awaited appointment next week. And ads that if I miss my appointment it could delay my treatment. I've only waited 6 'king years and all I get is a face to face with the surgeon, assuming of course he's going to be present.

      1. Don't be surprised if you are seen by one of the doctors on the consultant's team….

        1. I'm use to it, it won't be the first time. Who ever it might be will be told that after more 30 years since the original cock up arthroscopy, it's about time they tried to make amends. I was told six years ago I needed an operation.

          1. It sounds like a new knee job to me. Don't let them fob you off with another arthroscopy.

          2. I'd settle for injection with a joint lubricant – the vet can do it for my young racehorses, why not for me?

          3. I’m not putting up with any more of their (BS) rubbish PM. I don’t actually need a total replacement just the inside lrft, wear and tear has to be sorted.
            What makes me laugh is we see TV ‘doctors’ telling us about keeping fit.
            I was an athlete at school I ran at the white city stadium. I played football twice a week and ran cross country races. Played squash for 20 years and ran for miles on sandy beaches to keep fit.
            Basically that’s what has caused the damage.
            But I enjoyed it.

    6. Our vicarette wrote a derogatory piece about Trump in the local parish magazine which I too thought was highly inappropriate, these people have obviously had their instructions.

  99. Mitchell scored at try at 55 minutes. Perhaps you were on your second womble…{:¬))

    1. Diversity is one of the original nine. We'd have to bus them in. Even with the government's best efforts there aren't 15% of them (yet).

    2. Absolutely bolero.
      But not yet eh, they are 'working hard' to make sure it will happen.

  101. Ok then – Smith had a stinker, Mitchell had a stinker so I guess that's why England put 68 past the Taffs on their own midden…..

    1. I may have misunderstood your use of the work "corker".

      Wales seem to have forgotten about rugby.

      1. Ah yes, a misunderstanding – where I come from 'corker' means really good, I should have been clearer…..

        I think Mitchell may have made a late run for the Lions – I love the speed of his distribution from the breakdowns.

          1. I'll have you know I have Latin O Level and I'm not afraid to use it – ab initio ad absurdum……..

  102. That's me for today. Of my three predictions, one was slightly adrift; one very nearly came off – and I expect the third to be met.

    Have a smashing evening – being glad you are not a Welsh supporter….

    A demain.

  104. From Coffee House the Spectator

    15 Mar 2025
    Coffee House
    Khadija Khan
    Ramadan can be a time of suffering for those who dare break the rules
    15 March 2025, 6:45am

    Ramadan, which this year runs until the end of March, is viewed by Muslims as a time of compassion and generosity. But for others – especially those who flout fasting rules in Muslim-majority countries – it can be a period of suffering and persecution.

    Liberal Muslims and those from religious minorities can be punished severely for stepping out of line during the ‘holy month’. They face harsh punishments, exclusion, and seclusion for offending religious sensibilities.

    Liberal Muslims can be punished severely for stepping out of line during the ”holy month’

    Several young men were arrested in Kano, northern Nigeria, earlier this month for failing to observe the Ramadan fast. Those selling food were also detained by the Hisbah Board, the state’s Islamic morality police. Deputy commander, Mujahid Aminudeen, said that the operations would continue throughout March. He warned that any “disrespect” for Ramadan would not be tolerated:

    “It’s heart-breaking that in such a holy month meant for fasting, adult Muslims would be seen eating and drinking publicly. We won’t condone that and that’s why we went out to make arrests.”

    People with “inappropriate haircuts”, those wearing shorts and tricycle drivers mixing male and female passengers were also rounded up.

    This isn’t the first time a Ramadan crackdown has taken place in Nigeria. Eleven Muslims were arrested last year for eating during Ramadan. Those detained in 2024 were freed after promising to fast. But, this time around, there appears to be no such ‘tolerance’ from the authorities.

    It’s a similar story in Pakistan, where anyone eating in public places during fasting hours risks being fined or even jailed for up to three months. Draconian Ramadan laws have been deployed to intimidate and persecute religious minorities across the country. A Hindu man in his eighties was assaulted in 2016 for consuming rice prior to Iftar, the evening meal that breaks the fast during Ramadan. In a country already beset by escalating religious prejudice, such a horrifying event set a risky precedent.

    In Iran, according to the country’s Islamic Penal Code, people can be punished with up to 74 lashes or two months in prison, for breaking “Islamic rules” and eating during fasting hours, especially in public spaces such as parks, gardens, or vehicles. Thousands of businesses are temporarily forced to close, and hundreds of people are arrested each Ramadan. Two Iranian men were publicly flogged for eating during fasting hours in 2014. Foreign visitors and non-Muslim Iranians are also forced to comply.

    Good riddance to literary fiction
    Despite tall tales of progress and modernity, it’s a similar story in Saudi Arabia, where public eating during fasting is forbidden for Muslims, non-Muslims, and foreign nationals. Those who violate such draconian laws risk incarceration, or expulsion.

    In Kuwait, publicly eating or drinking during Ramadan can result in a fine of 100 Kuwaiti dinars (£250) and jail time of up to a month. In the United Arab Emirates, public eating or drinking during fasting is punishable by a month in prison or a fine of up to 2,000 dirhams (£420). In Qatar, people caught eating or drinking in public during Ramadan face up to three months’ imprisonment and a fine of 3,000 Qatari riyals (£640).

    Muslims who violate strict Ramadan laws in Oman risk incarceration, fines or arrest. Egyptian police have reportedly detained people for eating and smoking in public throughout the day in Ramadan. An Egyptian religious department authorised to issue edicts, Dar al-Ifta, has officially declared that eating and drinking during Ramadan is a ‘type of anarchy and an attack on the sacredness of Islam.’

    Under the guise of ‘respecting the sanctity of Ramadan,’ these strict regulations are enforced, requiring complete compliance from both Muslims who want to fast and non-Muslims and dissenters.

    Fortunately, in Britain, we are not obliged to follow the rules set down by any one religion – not least a tradition that may cause suffering to people. However, even in a supposedly tolerant nation such as ours, vulnerable members of British Muslim communities can still find themselves in trouble.

    One British ex-Muslim who spoke to me on condition of anonymity was ‘disciplined’ for defying fasting during Ramadan on numerous occasions as a child.

    ‘Ramadan got worse when I began questioning Islam and after I left Islam,’ she tells me. ‘The stigma was exhausting; the family home felt like a minefield; everything was about prayer or getting ready for iftar or sehri. Despite knowing I had left Islam, (my family) would still pester me to read my prayers and fast.’

    Her experience is unlikely to be unique. We don’t know for sure how many suffer in silence in closed communities where challenging cultural or religious edicts is frowned upon.

    ‘Happy Ramadan’ proclaims the lights on London’s Piccadilly Circus. But while Ramadan is indeed a time of joy for many Muslims, for others it can be anything but. We should spare a thought for those living in the UK and abroad who risk paying a heavy price for refusing to join in the festivities.

    Written by
    Khadija Khan
    Khadija Khan lives in west London and has written for Spiked

    1. Under Islamic law the death penalty is imposed for apostasy. Ramadan should be given up for Lent.

      1. March 5 I was sitting on a terrace drinking morning coffee with my wife. An African woman came by selling trinkets and asked for money. My wife had no change (we almost always use credit cards) but asked her if she wanted a coffee. The girl's face contorted, I imagine with angst, no, she said I can't it's Ramadan.
        It was Ash Wednesday which coincided this year with a regional fiesta where parks were full of people eating and drinking, food and entertainment provided by the local authorities in spite of being in a Catholic country on the first day of Lent.
        The girl seemed hungry and bitter and we wondered if her religious observance was more from coercion and peer pressure than actual fervour.

    2. It's a time of suffering for everyone who has to listen to the media guff spewed out about it.

    4. "In Kuwait, publicly eating or drinking during Ramadan can result in a fine of 100 Kuwaiti dinars (£250) and jail time of up to a month."

      In the UK Muslims who piss and defecate in public are just left to go on their merry way because they are of a protected culture.

    7. Working in Nigeria, for a Japanese company. there were three Pakistani engineers in the office. As ramamdan approached, the company sent round an email asking us not to drink at our desks. My self and an Aussie ignored it. In fairness, the engineers concerned had not requested it. But were glad some complied!

    8. Ramadan holds no interest for me. All Muzzies do is cry Islamaphobia and play the protected religion line. I do not care if one of their ilk finds things uncomfortable. They are taking over this country gradually.

  105. Seeing as you are all talking sport im fucking off to the cocktail bar. No big screen !

    And i thought you lot were intelligent !

      1. I managed O Level English at school. Not bad seeing as two of my brothers and my father could not read or write.

        It did put me in a difficult position though. Another of the many reasons i left home at 17.

        Is this a dagger they see before them?

        1. I think you have succeeded very well in the Game of Life, Phizzee. Well done! I haven't succeeded as well as you have done, but I have 'managed', as it were.

          1. We strive.
            You can tell me in person when you come to 'Phizzee's Summer Extravaganzer Party' in July.

            translation…tea and crumpets

          3. Thanks so much! I hope to be there! Hlass has offered me a lift if she’s still living er, where she was living then… but may not be now…..

  108. I was pleasantly surprised. I thought he might join in with his "pack" when we started to sing.

      1. That was exactly what I feared! The Vulcan would have had nothing on him once he got into top gear!

  113. Deciding game starting in 7 minutes.
    Come on Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

  115. The day has been far too pleasant so I need punishing. What channel is the France Scotland game on?

          3. And a fascinating range of items that page offers. "Gender specific edible underwear" being one such

          1. When the masochist asked the sadist to whip him, the sadist thought for a moment and said, “Non!”. (He was French)

    2. I was very impressed with the support Rupert got this afternoon from the English Rugby fans singing:
      "Swing Lowe sweet champion,
      Coming for to carry Re Form"…etc

    2. The man is a real cretin – wrong on Syria, wrong on Russia – his failure record almost matches Ferguson!

  121. I'm off till the morning, after a busy and tiring day tidying up in the garden. Some one has to do it.
    Goodnight all. 😴

  124. 403218+ up ticks,

    If WW3 broke out I would be found in the kitchen busily sawing off my trigger finger.

    Conscription, in this case AKA as press gangs hence a domestic home guard will be formed from the foreign hotel guests and Tommy Atkins, his is not to reason why be at the front doing the dying bit for the king & the WEF / NWO cartel

    The political S(TOOL) will win the next general election
    having cleared up the illegal immigration issue having made all muslim British cits. having nearly fought for England.

    Employment also got a boost via war grave caretakers / guardians taking on a multitude of extra staff and the S(TOOL) got a gong at Davos.

    https://gettr.com/post/p3iqiwv6abf

  126. Well past my bedtime. So Good Night, chums, sleep well, and see you all in the morning.

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