Saturday 19 November: Even the beneficiaries of the Chancellor’s plan recognise that it penalises aspiration

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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704 thoughts on “Saturday 19 November: Even the beneficiaries of the Chancellor’s plan recognise that it penalises aspiration”

  1. Good morrow, Gentlefolk, today’s funny:
    The Confessional

    An elderly man walks into a confessional. The following conversation ensues:

    Man: ‘I am 92 years old, have a wonderful wife of 70 years, many children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. Yesterday, I picked up two college girls, hitch-hiking. We went to a motel, where I had sex with each of them three times.’

    Priest: ‘Are you sorry for your sins?’

    Man: ‘What sins?’

    Priest: ‘What kind of a Catholic are you?’

    Man: ‘I’m Jewish.’

    Priest: ‘Why are you telling me all this?’

    Man: ‘I’m 92 years old … I’m telling everybody!’

  3. Morning, all Y’all!
    Not a funny from me, but trimmed the beard yesterday evening, and got a beard clipping stuck in my thumb-pad, like a wooden splinter! Took a while with a tweezer to extract… Now I see the model for Desperate Dan shooting stubble hairs at hornets! (Remember that one?).

  4. Vladimir Putin’s only hope now is to terrify the West into negotiating away Ukraine’s victories. 19 October 2022.

    Jeremy Hunt briefly explained. Inflation had begun largely as a response to Covid-19, he said. Then it had been “worsened by a ‘Made in Russia’ energy crisis”. Because of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, wholesale gas and electricity prices have risen “to eight times their historic average”.

    According to the IMF, the Chancellor went on, a third of the world’s economy will therefore be in recession “this year or next”. In response to Russia’s “weaponisation of international gas prices”, the Government was working to ensure energy independence, so that “neither Putin nor anyone else can use energy to blackmail us”.

    This entire article is of course a travesty of the truth. The situation we find ourselves in is entirely home grown, the result of twenty years of Criminal Mismanagement and Socialist Policies crowned by the ultimate folly of the Covid Lockdowns. Vlad simply provides a convenient scapegoat from this reality.

    The War in Ukraine is a mere 269 days old; even if Putin harboured the ambitions Moore attributes to him here, how could it possibly account in this short period for the calamity that has overtaken the UK economy? The truth is that the West’s response; the illegal seizure of Russian assets, Sanctions, the Sabotage of the Baltic Pipeline etc. have been the straw that has progressively broken the European camel’s back and not the invasion of the most backward and corrupt state in Europe!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/11/18/vladimir-putins-hope-now-terrify-west-negotiating-away-ukraines/

    1. That Germany based its energy strategy on reliance on Russia gave all the power to Putin, but he didn’t make the UK stop fracking & drilling, close coal power stations and embrace woke power. That was a home grown clusterfuck. Russia didn’t wreck the pipeline – why would they, when they already had control of the stopcocks?
      Now if there is peace today, it will be years before gas will flow.
      Nice one, Brandon. Thanks.

      1. You beat me to it, Herr Oberst, but I hadn’t reached your post before I made mine. (Good morning, btw.)

    2. Morning, all. From what I can see, the patio shows no sign of overnight rain. Currently there is flat cloud cover and a light breeze.

      The situation we find ourselves in is entirely home grown…

      No doubt about that, however, the seeds were sown in Davos and have been carefully nurtured here and elsewhere around the World.

    3. So why, then, did Sunak and Hunt reverse Liz Truss’s sensible relaxation of the rules she instituted to enable fracking?

      1. Morning Elsie. Because this would have reduced the necessity for Europe and the UK to get a large amount of their gas from the United States who plan simply to replace Russia as a primary energy supplier. This of course is also the reason they blew up the Baltic Pipeline.

    5. Just imagine if you were the WEF and wanted to wreck the world’s economies so that you could build back better and create your NWO; could you think of a better way to go about it than is already happening? All it needs now is a nudge of India, Iran and China for a few other regional conflicts and Bob’s your uncle.

  6. I just happened to glance out of the window at the clear night sky at 5:58am when the brightest meteorite I had ever seen blazed across the sky heading eastwards. A few seconds later I spotted a commercial jet at high altitude following the same course / trajectory as the meteorite. The Pilots must have had a first class view of the event from the cockpit window.

    Morning Folks. Oh Bugger I’ve just realised I forgot to wish upon a falling star…..

    1. That’ll be the Leonids! For goodness sake don’t post a photo! Apparently they are pornographic…..
      ‘Morning all!

  7. Brady and his cronies need to be independently investigated about the reason why our ” I am not a quitter” PM, Liz Truss, was persuaded to give up her position to Rishi Sunak . Was it bribery, was it blackmail or was it brutality? If it was bribery where did the money come from? The public should be told the truth.

    1. Morning Scotty. One assumes from her nonchalant response to being defenestrated that she recieved the Mother of all Payoffs for ceding to Sunak and Hunt!

  10. 368061+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Saturday 19 November: Even the beneficiaries of the Chancellor’s plan recognise that it penalises aspiration
    This is just continuing shite fodder for lab/lib/con/ukip hard core members the realioty is these governing political overseers have been at war with the peoples these past 40 years.

    Check out real leadership material and the way
    go in NON COMPLIANCE

    https://twitter.com/TalkTV/status/1593576385695862784?s=20&t=hy9UyWcw47_3qhpJ88u5HQS

    3. Well done that Man. I see there is a woke lefty troll (E9pgG) down-voting.

      Shame on you – leave the country, you’re not wanted.

      1. 368061+ up ticks,

        Morning NtN,
        I use it as a on target indicator & a very good one at that, it’s brand on a post means the posters post is hitting home.

  11. Good morning, all. A grey, wet day. 57 years ago I was married for the first time at St Peter’s, Belsize Park. How time flies….

    1. Good morning, Bill. I won’t congratulate you on your anniversary because that might upset the Most Recent!

      1. The MR would not mind a bit. She gets on very well with the mother of my children. As I do.

  15. “May need to be rethought”, Mr Macdonald (penultimate para)?

    “May”????

    “TAXPAYERS will be forced to fund a 150 per cent jump in public sector pension costs as double-digit inflation prompts the biggest pay rise for retired civil servants in a generation.

    The cost of paying the “gold-plated” pensions is forecast to more than double over the next three years alone, because of a rule which dictates all retired Government workers receive a pay rise every spring in line with the previous September’s rate of inflation.

    The Treasury is expected to spend £3.3 billion on the scheme in 2022-23, rising to £6.2billion in 2023-24 and £8.2billion in 2024-25, according to documents from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) published alongside the Autumn Statement this week.

    It represents an increase of 148 per cent over the next three years.

    Laurence O’brien of the Institute for Fiscal Studies said: “The cost of public sector pensions is much higher than the OBR expected back in March.

    “The sustainability of public sector pensions is uncertain, in a world of high inflation, low growth and falling wages. It has become increasingly expensive as a proportion of GDP.”

    Connor Macdonald, of the think tank Policy Exchange, added: “The Government’s way of funding public sector pensions may need to be rethought. In some schemes, salaries are linked to CPI inflation as well as another percentage rise. These pensions are taking up an increasing proportion of national income each year.”

    He noted that pension inequality is growing between ex-public sector and ex-private sector workers, as generous defined benefit schemes that guarantee a set income on retirement have become increasingly scarce outside of Government.”

          2. No. I was planning to get him one but this admission happened rather suddenly. He rang yesterday morning on the ward phone.

      2. I’m not having a pop at you, Ndovu. I know you were on the “old system” where you were paid a minimum with the pension at the end to compensate. And I have no beef with that.

        I’m having a pop at the post-Brown public sector, after he increased salaries and didn’t reform the pension scheme. Which is why we have the likes of Cressida Dick on over a hundred thousand a year IN RETIREMENT (I think that’s correct- I remember being shocked when I read the figure). There’s a lot of people on very high salaries in the public sector accruing very generous benefits that are not available in the private sector and this does need to be stopped.

      3. I’m not having a pop at you, Ndovu. I know you were on the “old system” where you were paid a minimum with the pension at the end to compensate. And I have no beef with that.

        I’m having a pop at the post-Brown public sector, after he increased salaries and didn’t reform the pension scheme. Which is why we have the likes of Cressida Dick on over a hundred thousand a year IN RETIREMENT (I think that’s correct- I remember being shocked when I read the figure). There’s a lot of people on very high salaries in the public sector accruing very generous benefits that are not available in the private sector and this does need to be stopped.

  17. ‘Morning All

    Well at least they didn’t lie about providing a mince pie*

    https://twitter.com/DaveAtherton20/status/1593515775662366720?s=20&t=PfMAZ7ZReTUBw2KR9KieIA

    * I have read reports the 72 year old man jailed over piegate has had a heart attack and is now handcuffed to a hospital bed and denied visitors

    Meanwhile,remember this??

    https://twitter.com/calvinrobinson/status/1593690401407393797?s=61&t=RAfpevYFh-1x2pt1TJo6IQ
    Ah British Justice another “Envy of the World” moment

    1. This is somewhat lost in the middle of your excellent post, so I just want to highlight it again if you don’t mind.

      “ * I have read reports the 72 year old man jailed over piegate has had a heart attack and is now handcuffed to a hospital bed and denied visitors”.

      I wish I could colour it red and put alarm bells on it. I’m not even clever enough to bold it unfortunately but I have tried.

  18. Modern Life……

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0312c9a65498edb6faf6529d16a4fe7336adb095d13f12ab7a4e66eb641982f4.jpg

    https://twitter.com/B_HQ/status/1593212129175539712?t=z0ADfuvdZjfMLxcOeCE_Kg&s=19

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7c9107048af769bf412cce6415290bd578a4f5b3319e761e8e40341edeb053e7.jpg

    https://twitter.com/1garethwynjones/status/1593701595644035073?s=61&t=RAfpevYFh-1x2pt1TJo6IQ

    And a Laff

    http://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/49150d9dbc7d99391766970d079dfbf35fa0dfcca544176edf2406850088239b.jpg

    3. People should be prepared to pay the real cost of responsibly produced milk.

      I can’t help feeling the supermarkets are being very irresponsible at the moment. When I went shopping this morning, several brands weren’t there, and there was a notice explaining that the suppliers’ prices had gone up too much, so they had stopped stocking them.
      But I don’t want some low quality crud that the supermarket can push at me for the same price. Electricity and diesel have gone up – I’ll eat less if necessary, but I still want good quality food.

  19. Good morning everyone. Unusually early for me to be up and about but we have men coming in early. Not quite as bad as Basil Fawlty’s Mr O’Reilly but I do wonder.
    Only a matter of time for the next ‘deadly’ plandemic or, being cynical, the ‘discovery’ of a new super-deadly Convid 19 variant. These despots will be salivating at the prospect of their strengthened powers of control.
    https://dailysceptic.org/2022/11/18/g20-backs-global-vaccine-passport-and-digital-health-identity-scheme/
    Edit: Papers please. (The ‘Please’ may not be required)

  20. On a lighter note: Wild boar invades McDonalds restaurant in Uppsala. Burst in through a window, rampaged in the kitchen, restaurant and play room before being chased out by an employee using a chair as a weapon.
    :-))

    3. That was one experience my son didn’t have during his stint working at McD’s, but he might have found it preferable to some of the customers…

    4. It was probably just checking that they are not using pork (vildsvin) in any of their plastic, flavour-free hamburgers.

  22. Ain’t this the truth:

    “ SIR – This sometimes Right-leaning population has been put firmly back in its box by a triumphant Blob. The names of the Conservative and Labour parties may persist, but this is now a one-party state.”

  23. 368061+ up ticks,

    More facts,

    TommyRobinson1
    Gerard Batten
    @gjb2021
    ·
    14h
    I totally disagree with baring anyone from standing for election (apart from criminals in prison). Who decides, on what basis, & where does it stop?

    Personally, I think all the pro-lockdown, pump the people full of dodgy vaccines politicians should be tried on criminal charges of some kind, but that is a different matter.

    If constituency parties are dumb enough to select candidates like this, & voters dumb enough to elect them, then that is democracy in action, & ‘let the voter beware’. Their responsibility.

    On the bright side, if Matt is in the jungle eating kangaroo’s balls he isn’t in Parliament making laws over us.

    1. Hancock’s constituents are busily rigging the show by multiple voting. He is so despised. The anticipation is that he will be forced to gobble something toxic.

    1. He’s certainly passionate about obvious vote-rigging by (surprise, surprise) the Democrats – again.

  26. Right, that’s me dressed, shoes on and ready to head to t’Lad’s to give him a hand stripping bits of his wrecked BMW.

    Will be back this afternoon, TTFN.

  27. Nearly through. Another piece – this is Camilla Tominey and again the pertinent point is in the penultimate paragraph. I do so love a lefty. They are such nice, kind, caring people. I know because they constantly tell us, even if their actions belie it.

    “I saw Sir Iain Duncan Smith immediately after he was accosted by anti-tory protesters at last year’s Conservative Party conference in Manchester. As someone who served in the Scots Guards in Northern Ireland, the former Conservative Party leader appeared characteristically unruffled by what happened. But his wife Betsy and her friend Primrose were clearly shaken by the incident.

    On Tuesday, however, Senior District Judge Paul Goldspring cleared all three protesters of the charges against them. He ruled that evidence that identified Elliot Bovill as the person caught on CCTV putting an orange and white cone on the 68-yearold MP’S head was “weak” and “tenuous”.

    The other two protesters had been accused of using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour with intent to cause harassment, alarm or distress, with the case against them centring on the use of the phrase “Tory scum”.

    The judge did not doubt that the protesters were “both insulting and pejorative”. But he accepted that their behaviour was “reasonable” in the context of Articles 10 and 11 of the Human Rights Act – the rights to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly and association.

    “The courts do not criminalise free speech,” he said. “The Crown has not shown me it is proportionate to criminalise those words.”

    Sir Iain is justifiably perplexed. He even fears that the ruling means that anyone “can now walk down the street screaming abuse at me”.

    Indeed, in the context, many will ask whether it was actually “reasonable” behaviour on the protesters’ part. I’ve run the gauntlet at recent Conservative Party conferences and often what you are subjected to isn’t civil discourse but out and out hate.

    I’m all for free speech, but since when did the right to protest trump the right not to be intimidated.”

    1. Putting a traffic cone on somebody’s head – whether or not he’s a 68 year old Tory – is an assault. Frightening for his wife as well. Abuse is not really what I’d call ‘free speech’ either. Where does polite, civilised dissent come these day?

    2. Camilla Tominey is a real star; highly intelligent, probably not particularly right wing but she should be on a Board of Directors somewhere, asking questions.

    1. Does no legal instrument exist, over there, to have this man removed from office on the grounds of mental deficiency? He is clearly not in control of his mental processes and, in the UK, would be in danger of being “sectioned” under the Mental Health Act.

        1. Section 4
          Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.

          1. The point is made later within the article that a V-P might be very chary of doing such an action as it might be considered to be plotting for their own benefit.

          2. Also Harris needs Biden in place long enough that her taking over won’t affect her right to two full terms as POTUS.

          3. That point passed at the mid-terms. If they had turned out as was expected, he would already be gone.

  29. I liked this comment on the DTL

    Echo Fish
    4 MIN AGO
    Sunak has written about how unsafe the UK is for women (as a man more than capable of looking after myself I believe it to be unsafe too) . He goes on about the whole issue, completely overlooking that the Conservative party have had 12 years to reform our poorly performing legal system.
    Yesterday we had the conviction of a murder who took the life of a young lady who’d spent her short life bettering her lot, through hard work.
    The piece of filth that killed her already had 68 prior CONVICTIONS – I say that as many crimes aren’t actually taken to court so the figure could be higher: but why was he out of prison early as he had shown he could not live in society?
    This morning we find the ISIS scum girls are to get funded legal assistance to try and bring their filth back to the UK: all on the Conservatives’ watch.
    The party no longer represents the people.

      1. Yes.
        I remember this conversation on the wards.
        A mental hospital concerning c.1000 ‘mad’ people.
        Out of that number, maybe half a dozen would be singled out as ‘evil’. Not necessarily the most floridly mad, not those who conformed to the stereotype, but the same names would crop up. There was just something about them that suggested an undertow of inhumanity about them; ‘vibes’ if you wish. An ‘otherness’.

      3. Stupidity certainly does. As Frank Zappa mooted, it is commoner in the universe than hydrogen. In fact it has now reached epidemic proportions and it is deeply ingrained in most people, especially politicians, worldwide.

    1. When I was studying phonetics, it was drummed into me that Asian languages like Chinese required mouths to remain almost closed when speaking. Indians had to open their mouths wide to accommodate the reflex sounds where the tongue curled back on itself.

  31. There’s another devastating pandemic under way – so why is no one talking about it?
    Bird flu has caged Britain’s flocks and caused a crisis in farming https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/11/19/another-devastating-pandemic-way-why-no-one-talking/

    Harry Stotle
    29 MIN AGO
    Stuffing 80,000 chickens into a heated gulag is hardly farming. It could be done in a ULEZ except the locals would complain about the smell. Out in the sticks we are not allowed to complain about smells, or farming methods. Farmers may be above criticism but I believe they have brought this plague upon themelves through sheer greed.

    Around this area there are a few dairy farms which are gigantic .. I don’t think the poor things are allowed into the fields ..
    From what I understand is they feed, calve, pooh , milked .. all in the same giant byre ..

    The slurry smell from the slurry ponds is very pongy during warm weather .

    1. That’s what they want us to believe, anyway. As for the truth, who knows?
      “Bird flu” will certainly be used to make eggs scarce and close egg packing plants. In parts of the US, people have been banned from keeping chickens in their gardens too.
      This is about control of the food supply, nothing else.

    2. I expect that has been introduced deliberately by some person or persons who don’t like our political stance or attitudes. As BSE and foot and mouth probably were. We are an island how else could this happen without it coming from elsewhere. And no signs of it anywhere close by.

      1. One or more outbreaks have now been confirmed in 32 European states in 2022. For the first time this year, the figure includes Serbia (four outbreaks). Of the total, more than 40% (1,131) outbreaks have been reported by Germany, followed by the Netherlands (542) and France (237).Oct 3, 2022

        1. Thank you Sos, I don’t think I have seen any mention of this occurring in Europe, on British media. Not that I spend much time watching the broadcasting of directed propaganda.
          But how it has been spread onto our island directly on to farm property is difficult to understand.

      2. Wild birds, incoming and resident are the problem. They can’t be controlled and spread the infection. Disease control areas have been imposed close bye here. It is, I understand, the worst outbreak of Avian flu in the UK.

    3. Round here the animals are outside, free grazing. They’ve all gone from the common but I think they are now in their own fields. Chickens etc are supposed to be inside but I think most people are careful. No very large smelly farms in this area.

  32. This is a post by a poster called Cis from Conservative Woman

    “RED ALERT
    BUG ACTIVE ON HERE
    TCW please pick this up

    Everyone with over a certain quantity of comments has acquired 2 different sorts of bugs in their followers list.

    There are 2 or 3 bots disguised as p o r nstars in lingerie, which you have never spoken to but sit on your followers list.

    There is a Graham Waddle or Chris Waddle who “follows” anyone with over 1,000 comments. I’ve just checked out loads of profiles to suss this out. There is no Graham Waddle. It’s a tracking device that’s hacked the mainframe. It’s hard to suss because it’s got a blank avatar and a “private account” so you can’t see that it generates no comments , yet it “follows” everybody. Even some people who have privated their account, and should therefore have zero followers attached, have some. Check yours by pressing your avatar then looking at ‘followers’.

    Easy to imagine this is just someone you haven’t noticed, and who hasn’t replied to you, but has found you interesting enough to want to read what you say.

    Everybody with 1k+ comments, go into your own profile and check your followers list. If you’ve got
    a follower who isn’t a friend you’ve rapped with on here, and don’t recognise, knock it off, fast.
    Because it isn’t one.

    TCW please contact Disqus. Otherwise we’ll all have to private our accounts to pre-empt this, then we won’t be able to look up eachothers’ threads.”

    I must admit, I hadn’t suspected the lingerie bots of belonging to the 77th Brigade, but who knows?
    In any case, my account’s been private for years, so according to Disqus, nobody should be able to follow me. Yet there were Delilah and Princess, faithfully tagging along.
    I doubt it will make any difference, but I deleted them anyway, and will check regularly from now on. Clearly my name is already down for the concentration camp….

        1. Congratulations, I did wonder who would be the first to think that. You have that honour. 😊

          1. Well one of the two young ladies must have been a cook, she was displaying very large dumplings.

    5. I zapped a sex bot follower a couple of weeks ago – I may have seen Graham Waddle somewhere. Just checked and my only follower is True-Belle, as normal. My account has been private for years. Very odd though.

    6. Good morning BB2,
      I’d like to imagine that you were jealous of my fabric-challenged fans, but thank you for the sound advice. I have deleted loads of names which were following hundreds of commenters despite their never having composed any comments whatsoever. Many of them did not even bother with an avatar.

    7. Morning BB. I have 18 followers and indeed Chris Waddle is among them. I am also “favourited” every day though by whom I do not know. I don’t bother deleting them since they can be replaced in a moment!

  34. 368061 + up ticks,

    Rishi Sunak: My fears for the safety of women
    PM says his wife and daughters are ‘emotional motivation’ for his tough stance on crime

    Even the association of village idiots
    agrees with his sentiments as is clearly seen daily in Dover / Dungeness intake of potential troops, rapist paedophiles, assorted villains escaping from a free nation.

        1. Just a light one I think and it’s been a fine day. Getting cold out there now. Managed to bring my tender plants in. My neighbour lifted the Bourgainvillea in for me.

  37. I must remember to include in my prayers tonight the bit that asks that the wendyball competition comments be as scarce as rocking horse s**t in forums such as this. A month of it, God help us!

    1. The BBC coverage of the World Cup so far has been mostly on one topic – LGBT LGBT LGBT LGBT LGBT LGBT LGBT LGBT.

        2. It could be a message to the Iran football govt –
          Let Girls Buy Tickets –
          they aren’t allowed to watch football in Iran!

          1. Don’t protest too loudly – those already aarresed face the death penalty for emarrasing the mullahs. Believe that to be 1 500 of them!

          3. Up in bed reading etc…. his first action last night was to muck up his email. Don’t ask; I treat the interwebby as I do plumbing; I use it and leave the rest to those what kno.

            This is my kinda poem:

            “Lord Finchley tried to mend the Electric Light

            Himself. It struck him dead: And serve him right!

            It is the business of the wealthy man

            To give employment to the artisan.”

    2. One can only hope that the UK teams are eliminated rapidly. But I think the marketing men have had a hand in making ‘adjustments’ to ensure the agony is prolonged for as long a possible, to keep the income stream flowing.

    3. One can only hope that the UK teams are eliminated rapidly. But I think the marketing men have had a hand in making ‘adjustments’ to ensure the agony is prolonged for as long a possible, to keep the income stream flowing.

  38. Geo politics….
    This is an interesting video clip from Twit. The speaker was Helmut Kohl’s coordinator with the USA for twelve years.
    He says, that when you agree with the Americans, they are all friendly, and hug you so hard that you fear for your ribs.
    When you disagree on secondary issues, they start reproaching Germany for ingratitude for the US having rescued them from the Nasties.
    But when the Germans disagree on important matters, the Americans bring out information collected by the secret services, and threaten Germany into compliance.
    This policy just became a little more obvious this year, when the Germans were forced to stop buying cheap gas from Russia (which was in their interests) and buy expensive gas from the US instead.
    https://twitter.com/RnaudBertrand/status/1593549059419144194
    The great powers are fighting over Germany like dogs over a bone.

      1. Exactly. Schröder and Merkel didn’t listen to American warnings and befriended their neighbour.
        Britain is in the same situation, except that our elite would squash anything before it got going.

      1. The sooner they recognise it a get out of the effin’ way, the better.

        General Election, NOW!.

    2. What an absolute divot that rhymes with is.
      So this was a planned operation was it !

      Those useless political morons have already wrecked our culture and social structure.
      I would stick my neck out and suggest that 80% of recent immigrants legal or more often not legal. Have never worked or paid back a penny towards the economy.
      And during their life time will never financially justify their own existence.
      And that drongo is the chancellor. They have no shame. And they are running the economy into the sludge they paddle in. What a disgusting bunch of AHs these people are.

      1. 368061+ up ticks,

        Evening Bob,
        The comment was posted in good heart and a non deceitful manner and has now been taken down.

  41. Just returned from a trip into town. While there I tried to draw some cash out of the ATM outside the Bank. It refused my Debit Card even though it has another 2 years to run and told me to contact my card issuer. I waited ten minutes for the bank to open and then went inside and asked directly. The young lady (who was sceptical) told me there was no problem and then we went across to the ATM inside the Bank and I drew out £100. Now you could of course say this is just some fluke but I don’t think so. Such an incident is a good way of checking who and where you are, by whom is the interesting part.

      1. Morning Tim. Indeed. I put any anomalies up on this site to see if anyone else suffers the same incidents.

        1. 1) the ATM might have been temporarily offline

          2) you may not have used your card for some time

          3) any hint of suspicious usage ?

          I was once at an ATM behind or near a gentleman with early stage dementia; that was an eye opener.

    2. A few months ago I’d just half filled our car with petrol at a local Tesco express.
      And my card was refused. Fortunately I had enough cash to pay for it. Stranded would have been the result of that.

      1. At Sainsburys petrol stations they ask a few questions to check that you are ‘genuine’ and let you return to pay later. Name & address etc.

        1. It also took me a few weeks to sort out the problem with the card.
          In the end Barclays sent me a new card. Nobody could work out what was wrong with it.

      2. This morning the chap in front of me at the self-service till in my local Tesco Express carefully entered all his shopping on the scale/till and then calmly walked out without paying. When I drew the attention of the cashier to this, she merely shrugged! Talk about blatant robbery!

        1. It mirrors the attitude of our politicians. They get paid whatever happens and are shrugging their shoulders more often than the cashier.

    3. When I was withdrawing money from the NatWest ATM with my Nationwide card there was a note on the ATM saying no other banks would pay out on NatWest debit cards. The NatWest debit card is soon to be Mastercard

    2. Isn’t it amazing how a four letter word takes on a different meaning when people are extremely rich and famous. I don’t know who the third person is. Education, education and education.

    4. High authority once assured me that never mind your politics, Tony has a good sense of humour, and former President Clinton is indeed charming; a temporary shop assistant once served him and almost swooned.

  44. Well Lineker, you virtue signalling lunatic leftie, why don’t you stay in the UK and report from there?
    Or is the all expenses paid jolly too irresistible?
    World Cup 2022: Gary Lineker in Qatar to ‘report, not support’ controversial tournament

    1. I wonder if he’ll report on all the deaths and injures of slaves that have occurred, during the construction of the new city and the football stadium.

        1. That information is quite frightening. I can’t believe any one in their right mind would go there.

      2. Don’t hold your breath RE! The guy is a revolting, lefty, gold-digging, virtue-signalling, champagne-socialist, arse-licking, smug b***ard! And those are his better qualities!

        1. 🤗😃😏
          And during his football career he was never yellow carded or sent off. What a creep.

          4. Allegedly, towards the end of his career he used to say:
            “you don’t want to be remembered as the only ref who booked me do you?

          1. Ooh! Yet another black mark! You do know he was ‘racially’ abused as a child….because he had a sallow skin?? Unbelievable!

          1. That should of course read ‘wouldn’t’ but disqus seems to have withdrawn the ‘edit’ facility.

  45. Morning! Just back from my first eye test in years. Early cataracts in both eyes, which I’m told was inevitable, is treatable and isn’t something I should lose sleep over. I was born with a severe squint, which was cosmetically corrected when I was 18 months old but is again becoming visible as the muscles weaken with age. Even the “good eye” always needed a corrective lens. For the time being just new lenses recommended since as yet the problem is too minor for the NHS to be interested but it will be monitored.

      1. That’s what the optician said. It will happen, she said, in maybe 3-5 years but in the meantime have an annual test and don’t worry.

    2. That reminds me Sue I haven’t had an eye test for ages either. I’ll book one at Boots next.
      I hope it all turns out okay for you.

    3. It’s a doddle.
      Half an hour max.
      The astonishing thing is how much brighter colours become. Because the deterioration is so gradual, you adjust to the condition.

      1. Call me a pessimist……..but after a lifetime’s training….I am always put of by the “95% success rate”

        That means that 5% go blind (or worse). Me, I can guarantee that I’ll be in that 5%……

      2. The newly bright colours was the first comment my dear Mum made. I too have early cataracts to monitor. Old age beckons!

      3. Them wot know have analysed Monet’s paintings of his garden over the years and have charted the progress of his cataracts by the colour changes.

    4. Hmm, NOTHING, Sue, should be too minor for the NHS to be interested.

      We have all paid for it since starting work, right up to retirement.

      Jump in there, Girl and give ’em hell until they recant and fix it.

    1. The latest batch related to the remaining eight, referred to as Does 12, 28, 97, 107, 144, 147, 171, and 183

      Doe 183?!
      God Almighty, how many perverts were involved?

      1. I don’t think there were that many. I think they just spread the numbers out to avoid confusing the Does files.

          1. The BTLs agree – the theme seems to be that a few, less powerful, scapegoats will be named but no one else. And, as one BTL put it, “Those documents will be so heavily redacted there’ll only be the vowels left to read“!!

      2. Forgive my higgorance but I’ve gone through the ‘Mail’ document but still have no Idea what a ‘Does’ is.

        I always thought it was a bunch of female deer. but I’m wrong in this case. The American Language – it sucks, to use one of their phrases.

        1. It’s the way the refer to an individual anonymously;
          John Doe and Jane Doe

          Similar to Joe Bloggs here

    2. I still don’t believe Epstein killed himself, the ‘body’ that was removed with a quick convenient glimpse of the face, didn’t really look like him. And he’s far too rich to have not realised he could get away with it by oiling the right mechanism.
      He’s hiding away some where.
      Probably doing a Murdoch. There was no solid evidence that he had died either.

  47. Princess Anne deserves to be closer to throne

    We need more of the Princess Royal – giving her a prominent position would be a hugely popular move from the new King

    ALLISON PEARSON • 16 November 2022 • 3:00pm

    It felt strange watching coverage of Remembrance Sunday, with its ineradicable memory of courage, whilst absorbing the news that Dominic Raab is the latest minister to be accused of bullying by civil servants because he “threw tomatoes across a room” in an “explosive tirade”. That grave allegation was soon modified. The then Justice Secretary did throw tomatoes, but they appear to have been from his Pret A Manger salad and he chucked them into a bag “making a loud noise”. Was it the tomatoes that made the noise or the minister? Either way, this came across as a pathetic attempt to bag another scalp-scoop by the Westminster media marauders and a shamefully biased administrative class.

    Every year, I wonder if the dead would look at what their country has become and think the sacrifice was worth it. Doubtful. There was added poignancy this year as the new King did the honours at the Cenotaph. He had stood in for his mother, but this time was there for himself. He looked watery-eyed, perhaps recalling his dear mama laying the wreath, as so many of us were. We felt tearful too.

    I suddenly realised that our best memento of the late Queen is her daughter. The Princess Royal both resembles her mother and talks in the same beloved voice. She also shares the same brisk, no-nonsense approach to a life of duty.

    It was ludicrous that Prince Andrew and Prince Harry were “counsellors of state” – Royals who can stand in for the monarch on official duties – when she was not.

    The King has acted swiftly to remedy that, promoting his sister, and younger brother Prince Edward, because two of the five counsellors of state are no longer “working royals”. Andrew is in disgrace and Harry has followed the boss to California. Neither is fit to breathe the same air as Anne.

    Does King Charles dare to go even further? When the question of the royal succession came up on I’m a Celebrity, contestants were asked what number in line to the throne was Mike Tindall’s wife, Zara. I was shocked to discover that Zara’s mother, the Queen’s only daughter, is 17th in line.

    Unbelievably, Princess Beatrice’s 14-month-old daughter Sienna is now 10th in line, far ahead of her great-aunt with her world of experience and Olympic medal. Princess Eugenie is 11th and her baby son, August, is 12th. All because his grandfather, the slimeball Andrew, is, unbelievably still 8th in line – with Archie Mountbatten-Windsor and Lilibet Mountbatten-Windsor behind dad in sixth and seventh place.

    As the youngest son to Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, the Earl of Wessex comes in at 14th because, although male-preference primogeniture has now been overturned in the Royal family, it is not retrospective.

    Why ever not? Anne followed her brother, Charles, in sibling order and should come behind his elder son and grandchildren. This is deplorably unjust and sexist to boot. In what world is the Duke of York superior to his remarkable and dedicated royal sister? It’s a nonsense, and a damaging one.

    Might King Charles find the courage to bump the two “non-working” royals and their children from the line? I hope so. Giving Anne the prominent position she deserves would be hugely popular.

    Say what you like about Princess Anne, she has guts. She would never complain about tomatoes being thrown. She would laugh. We need more of her.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/columnists/2022/11/16/princess-anne-deserves-closer-throne/

    2. It’s all academic anyway, unless most of the royal family gets wiped out when they’re all together at some event cf. “King Ralph”.

    3. Anne is definitely the best of the bunch, by a country mile (however far that is). A blend of her Mother and Father, taking the best of each. Straightforward, practical, arsekicking, won’t take BS.

        1. She got into trouble when she said that AIDS was an own goal by the Homosexual Community. Given the fact that Mike Tindall played rugby rather than soccer I wonder if the jungle antics of her son-in-law could be described as a drop-goal for the Royal Family?

          No, says Alexander Armstrong: A Drop Goal scores three points and is not a pointless answer.

  48. I have come across something which i can’t find in the dictionary or figure out.

    What is an alum-tart smile?

  49. Just Stop Oil are entitled Sloanes with none of the fun

    They won’t let ordinary people get to work on the M25, but air travel and carbon emissions are fine so long as one is on one’s Gap Yah

    ALLISON PEARSON • 16 November 2022 • 1:35pm

    Indigo Rumbelow, I probably don’t need to tell you, is one of those Just Stop Oil brats. Invited by Sky News to explain the group’s tactic of bringing the M25 to a standstill for four days, Indigo sounded like an obnoxious Margo Leadbetter, plummily hectoring lovely, calm Mark Austin until he asked her to “stop shouting”.

    “Do you love your CHILDREN more than FOSSIL FUELS?”, ranted Indigo, whose hair appeared to be curling in the force-field of her rage. Posh girls have always been prone to fashionable fads, but at least they used to have charming manners.

    This new generation of eco-aristos combines the unsmiling zealotry of Jeremy Corbyn with a hereditary sense of entitlement. The result is what their fun-loving ancestors would have called “a total bore”.

    Indigo, 28, has been arrested six times, lived in an “eco-squat” to stop Heathrow’s third runway, glued herself to the M25 for Insulate Britain, and protested against open-cast mining. Funnily enough, she grew up and still lives in my part of Wales (where coal used to pay pretty good wages), but families like the Rumbelows tend to have little concern for the people who live beyond the fences of their rolling acres. Indigo’s father apparently drives a Range Rover and the farm also boasts an old black Mercedes, a Land Rover Freelander and a little red runaround. Not an electric vehicle among them, it would seem.

    I bet the Rumbelows’ farmhouse kitchen boasts an, er, Just Don’t Stop … oil-fired Aga. To make matters worse, after she sprang to prominence, Indigo’s social media revealed that she had enjoyed breaks in Sweden, Lithuania and Croatia. She also appears to have made the 9,000-mile round-trip to Nepal. Twice. “Presumably, she walked there,” snapped one cynic.

    In other words, ordinary people are not allowed to get to work on the M25 because Indigo and her tribe are saving the planet by hanging from the gantries, but air travel and its carbon-dioxide emissions are fine so long as one is on one’s Gap Yah.

    I did like someone’s suggestion (inspired by Indigo Rumbelow) that, to find your Just Stop Oil activist’s name, take a colour and combine it with a defunct high-street store. Here are the ones Himself and I managed so far: Violet Woolworths, Russet Radio-Rentals, Magenta Freeman-Hardy-Willis, Jasper John-Collier, Fuschia Dolcis and jolly old Minty Mac-Fisheries.

    An absolutely super bunch, just back from the, like, totally incredible, Cop27, and shortly glueing themselves to a motorway near you.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/columnists/2022/11/16/just-stop-oil-entitled-sloanes-none-fun/

    I’ll give her Heathrow 3 but in all other respects she is seriously bonkers. There was something quite unnerving about that interview.

    4. Allison is being polite.
      Usually that name game is designed to produce ‘professional’ names for porn stars.
      Names of pets, first cars, schools, grandparents’ retirement bungalow or mother’s maiden name etc…. are used in the combinations.

  50. Just Stop Oil are entitled Sloanes with none of the fun

    They won’t let ordinary people get to work on the M25, but air travel and carbon emissions are fine so long as one is on one’s Gap Yah

    ALLISON PEARSON • 16 November 2022 • 1:35pm

    Indigo Rumbelow, I probably don’t need to tell you, is one of those Just Stop Oil brats. Invited by Sky News to explain the group’s tactic of bringing the M25 to a standstill for four days, Indigo sounded like an obnoxious Margo Leadbetter, plummily hectoring lovely, calm Mark Austin until he asked her to “stop shouting”.

    “Do you love your CHILDREN more than FOSSIL FUELS?”, ranted Indigo, whose hair appeared to be curling in the force-field of her rage. Posh girls have always been prone to fashionable fads, but at least they used to have charming manners.

    This new generation of eco-aristos combines the unsmiling zealotry of Jeremy Corbyn with a hereditary sense of entitlement. The result is what their fun-loving ancestors would have called “a total bore”.

    Indigo, 28, has been arrested six times, lived in an “eco-squat” to stop Heathrow’s third runway, glued herself to the M25 for Insulate Britain, and protested against open-cast mining. Funnily enough, she grew up and still lives in my part of Wales (where coal used to pay pretty good wages), but families like the Rumbelows tend to have little concern for the people who live beyond the fences of their rolling acres. Indigo’s father apparently drives a Range Rover and the farm also boasts an old black Mercedes, a Land Rover Freelander and a little red runaround. Not an electric vehicle among them, it would seem.

    I bet the Rumbelows’ farmhouse kitchen boasts an, er, Just Don’t Stop … oil-fired Aga. To make matters worse, after she sprang to prominence, Indigo’s social media revealed that she had enjoyed breaks in Sweden, Lithuania and Croatia. She also appears to have made the 9,000-mile round-trip to Nepal. Twice. “Presumably, she walked there,” snapped one cynic.

    In other words, ordinary people are not allowed to get to work on the M25 because Indigo and her tribe are saving the planet by hanging from the gantries, but air travel and its carbon-dioxide emissions are fine so long as one is on one’s Gap Yah.

    I did like someone’s suggestion (inspired by Indigo Rumbelow) that, to find your Just Stop Oil activist’s name, take a colour and combine it with a defunct high-street store. Here are the ones Himself and I managed so far: Violet Woolworths, Russet Radio-Rentals, Magenta Freeman-Hardy-Willis, Jasper John-Collier, Fuschia Dolcis and jolly old Minty Mac-Fisheries.

    An absolutely super bunch, just back from the, like, totally incredible, Cop27, and shortly glueing themselves to a motorway near you.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/columnists/2022/11/16/just-stop-oil-entitled-sloanes-none-fun/

    I’ll give her Heathrow 3 but in all other respects she is seriously bonkers. There was something quite unnerving about that interview.

  51. We’re all now paying the terrible price for lockdown. 19 November 2022.

    The UK’s public finances are in a worse state than at any time since the Second World War. Not the Government’s fault, says Jeremy Hunt. It’s the pandemic. It’s Ukraine. It’s world-wide interest rates. It’s just about anything other than the main culprit lurking in the background: the lockdowns of the last two years.

    Let us look at a few sobering facts. First of all, government expenditure associated with the pandemic has been by far the largest contributor to the current deficit. The National Audit Office (NAO) has estimated the total cost at £376 billion, or £5,492 for every man, woman and child in the land.

    It staggers the imagination to think that this sum was expended on a mild infection that was only ever a danger to the very oldest members of Society. They did not simply overestimate the threat but actually made it worse.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/11/18/now-paying-terrible-price-lockdown/

  53. 368061+ up ticks,

    May one say,
    With the tory (jno) party entering it’s death throe period
    and lab,a refuge for paedophiles shared with the tory (ino) party if continued to be supported & voted for will continue it’s fear / plague agenda all under the RESET banner.
    Why one new party , why not two, three, brought about the people power RESET resolve.

    To only have one new party means the odious anti United Kingdom coalition will still be operating, WHY , churning out shite, WHY, WHY, WHY………. maybe Delilah knows

    1. Come on then Ogga, put your meagre weight behind advising Reform and the other vote-splitters, to amalgamate and give us a party we would vote for.

      I’m tired of being the lone voice, crying in the wilderness.

      1. 367061+ up ticks,

        Evening NtN

        There are many lone voices crying on realising just what they have been supporting and voting for for decades
        I repeat , personally I would /will go for if the opportunity arises, reclaim / Lawrence Fox.

        You, I assume voted out regarding the design & triggering of the referendum by UKIP many did, then returned to the pro eu coalition ( currently the voices crying loudest) making UKIP redundant on par with Tommy Atkins sleeping under a viaduct, until another war happens by.

        UKIP under Batten leadership was Savile Road made for today’s issues.

        My opinion reform is tory (ino) MK2 much the same torso different head.

        ‘

    2. Come on then Ogga, put your meagre weight behind advising Reform and the other vote-splitters, to amalgamate and give us a party we would vote for.

      I’m tired of being the lone voice, crying in the wilderness.

  54. Well – that was invigorating. Chilly. Though the sun is in the sky – it is low – and all the lanes along which we cycled were in the shade and decidedly not warm.

    Still, it is the exercise that counts. Opens the lungs etc etc…

  55. I see Fishi has buggered off to the Ukraine. Why? He could have chatted to the Great Hero by Zoom. That’ll be his fifth long CO2 burning (or whatever it is that is bad) flight in a week….

    Effing hypocrite.

    1. What’s the attraction in Ukraine for goodness sake. I’m so sick of this government. They are the most destructive government I’ve ever known, all the while spouting net zero rubbish, and doing everything they can to prevent Joe Public from doing likewise.

      1. The ruling class are in such deep shit having wrecked our economy, deprived us of our human rights of bodily autonomy and freedom of association, injected half the country with experimental killer jabs administered under duress, fraudulently stolen billions from the public purse by exploiting Covid contracts in order to steal billions, murdered old people in care homes with a combination of isolation, neglect and administering Midazolam and lied to us in plain sight about the faux pandemic.

        It is not surprising to witness these cruel and malevolent oiks pressing on with their heinous agenda for a reversal would expose them for the criminal fraternity they represent.

  56. Thanks for the heads up Blackbox. I have never checked my profile. A creep called Alicia is now gone.

  57. Beeboid radio 3 has some black American oboe player doing a programme. Choosing mainly music by, er, black composers. Very diverse.

    I was intrigued that the BBC webpage for the prog contains a “trigger warning”. “This programme contains racially sensitive language”.

    So I just wondered whether the black bloke talked about niggers – or whether he referred to vile white slave owning British people. As I didn’t listen to more than 30 seconds, I’ll never know!!

    2. I had R3 on in the car when I was driving home from Gloucester – he started off with a rendering of Bach’s Brandenberg 2 which I enjoyed but the rest was dreary American music.

      Earlier on there was a discussion about the amount of travel musicians do and how to mitigate ‘climate change’ by reductions in travel………..yawn…….very boring stuff.

  58. A nice northern blizzard has started here and is expected to go on for the next couple of days. It is already a ‘white out’ and it is simply a glaring example of ‘climate change’ happening before my very eyes.

    1. I call it ‘weather’.
    2. What the hell are ‘very eyes’?

      1. Buffalo NY gets lake effect snow as well as ordinary snow. A pal of my son’s went to RIT up there and there were times she couldn’t leave her res. They can get tons of the stuff.

        1. Hello Ann, Buffalo had 70 inches of snow overnight with more to come, just when people want to travel for the holidays. We had 26 degrees F. this morning, but it’s clear and sunny so not too depressing! Hope you are both okay.

        2. RIT, Ann? Really Interesting Thick-stuff?

          Please DON’T use abbreviations without explanation. It is really off-putting.

          6. I have the same problem: living out of UK for more than 30 years, I am always being asked “what do you mean? ” very frustrating for both myself & recipient.

          7. I lived in the US for 30+ years and sometimes assume that everyone in UK knows what I’m on about.
            It can be confusing.

  59. Looks like the upvote thief has been around. Mine are all gone, and those few others I checked also have zero upvotes.
    Sigh.

    2. Mine all went years ago. Otherwise, I would have three times the number that young Phil brags about…. At least. {:¬))

    4. The bot that does this job doesn’t stop at zero Paul it keeps going to drive you into major minuses which eventually means you cannot comment on any disqus site you are not listed as a “trusted user”
      I comment on several sites hence Rik-Redux replaced the original Rik,I wonder when Rik3 will be needed
      If you only comment here obviously no problem

    5. We are now cruising at a level of two to the power of twenty-five thousand to one against and falling, and we will be restoring normality just as soon as we are sure what is normal anyway.

      ‘Douglas Adams’

      It’s all a game.

    1. Bud paid Fifa $63 million to sell their shit beer in the stadia. Hope they all start suing each other.

  62. If you hold even the slightest opinion in thinking that the ‘elites’ aren’t quite both completely barking mad and out of control then this article should make you change your mind.
    The idea in this article has been attributed in the past to Gates and pooh-poohed. Now, the Biden administration is funding research into geo-engineering of the Earth’s climate. Simply put, they are considering using techniques to block out the Sun’s radiation to cool the Planet. What could possibly go wrong. Actually, quite a lot but that won’t stop them.

    When we employ a method like this, it wouldn’t be without extensive modeling(sic). We’d have at least a close approximation of what would occur if it does happen.

    A close approximation when the wellbeing of a whole planet is at stake! That’s OK then.

    If they need a ‘model’ I’m sure Ferguson will oblige.

    Daily Beast – We Might Need to Block the Sun to Stop Climate Change

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2f8c66cdf3a45dac88aa4f0a1fdaa928d145e9ec10784c171c24bbc7d7bce1f9.png

    2. …and then what do you do when you’ve produced a new ‘Ice Age’ over the Northern Continental Regions (including Canada, North America and Northern Europe, to say nothing about Russia., blowing up the ice with nuclear bombs?

      I leave you to your thoughts.

      1. My thought? These ignorant fanatics can’t run their countries without fouling up, and yet they have the arrogance to believe that they are capable of controlling Nature’s immense power and capriciousness?

        1. Yes, Korky they are so full of themselves, it doesn’t occur to them to question the science and what their actions may have upon the outcome.

    4. I have thought for a long time that Gates isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer.
      The whole Bankman-Fraud fiasco sheds a bit more light on the whole thing – it seems to be established practise for Mr Global to pick a crooked young man or woman, shower them with money and opportunities in an emerging industry, and then when the person gets powerful, they perpetuate the agenda on their own.
      With hindsight, you can see that Gates wasn’t a genius, he was just one in a long line of young men who profited from the huge opportunities given to him.
      There are people who come from humble backgrounds and make billions, but they’re a lot rarer than you’d think.

    2. I well remember that prediction in the early 1970s. In 50 years from now, maybe our grandchildren’s generation will laugh at the preposterous doom mongers of today.

      1. …and we are currently trying to pee ourselves laughing but…

        …the danger is that the PTB are bluddy serious about their lunatic course.

    2. Canada basically has death panels already.

      Not content with allowing patients to ask for medically assisted death, doctors are now encouraged to raise the option with patients that they believe would qualify.

      Homeless and in hospital? How about ending it all before winter.

        1. They have authorized medically assisted suicide for mental illness so that psychiatric medicine might be stronger than we think.

      2. Unlimited power in the hands of limited people always leads to cruelty.

        Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

    2. And how much of OUR money [given that we are in recession, according to ‘unt] will Sunak be promising that crook Zelensky this time?

    3. World leaders backed up by no end of risk assessments, must consider parts of Ukraine quite safe. It is a big country and the fighting is now somewhat limited geographically. It is rather surprising that the Ukes could not look after their own. No language, schooling or cultural problems, but as usual, they would prefer to flee to foreign lands and let some other bunch of mugs look after them. 130,000 at the last count bar the one or two who didnt seem to like it here.

    5. I’m mystified.
      I though Ukraine was at war with Russia.
      How come jets loaded with politicians can use Boryspil airport with such gay abandon?
      Makes Heathrow seem like Wattisham on a foggy day.

      1. NATO article 5 dear lady, article 5.
        Shoot down any of the “world leaders” and I guarantee it would be invoked; in fact I’m surprised the Ukes haven’t taken out a leader on a false flag.

  67. I know it’s early but..

    …Goodnight and God bless, Gentlefolk.

    I trust I’ll still be around dans le matin.

  68. Effin TSB have effin cancelled my card for a second time in an effin month. They are going to effin get an email from hell the fuckers. Anyone recommend a card account with another bank that is free?

      1. The last time they said there was a security issue flagged by one the payments i made. He also told me i should have been contacted before the card was cancelled. They didn’t.

          6. I doubt it.
            You probably had a “share” account or a “deposit” account, building societies were not allowed to offer bank style current accounts until the mid to late 1980s after the act of 1986.

          7. Yes, the past can sometimes be a mysterious place, especially when one puts on his much older ‘thinking cap’. I know I was first introduced to Nationwide in 1981, so my first account would be the one where they gave you a book, which was ‘franked’ in a machine each time you made a deposit or withdrawal. When they acquired full ‘bank’ status, they wrote to me and offered a current account (obviously sometime soon after 1986, but I have no idea when). I took them up on it and have enjoyed a current account (with chequebook) which I use for sundry expenses, ever since. I closed my deposit account around the same time.

          8. It was an interesting time for building societies, in the Chinese sense.
            Technically the deposit account gave you first claim on the assets if the BS went bust, the share account gave voting rights.
            When the majority of societies decided to demutualise, many of the shareholders received some tidy windfalls, depositors got nothing.
            Most of those who demutualised were taken over by their peers and the larger ones by banks.

            I have never been convinced it was a good thing.

            The small local societies knew their areas and their customer base well and provided a worthwhile service.

    3. Nationwide.
      Which I think someone else recommended.
      When the Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank (HSBC) messed us about, we moved all our money to them snd so far no problems.

      1. Having recently become an oldie (in terms of travel insurance), I have taken out a Nationwide Flex account. £13 a month for AA breakdown, worldwide travel insurance (inc skiing) and phone insurance. Over 70 you pay a bit more and my high BP costs me another £44 a year. It has a ATM card pays no interest, but they have a 1yr fixed rate bond paying 4% at the mo. Never bought a packaged account before but the travel insurance alone seemed worth it.

      2. I was with HSBC but no card to the account. When i got their new terms and conditions where they could close your account for no reason and on top of that closed the teller counters so i would to travel to another town i withdrew the balance leaving 8 pence.

        1. I woke up one morning and found that Midland Bank was now HSBC. It all went down hill until we eventual moved.
          Probably not helped by me insisting on calling them ‘Hong kong & Shanghai Banking Corporation’ when I corresponded with them.

  69. 368061+ up ticks,

    Post
    Gerard Batten
    @gjb2021
    ·
    Nov 18
    ‘What Can Be Done?’

    That is the question on everyone’s mind right now. When Lenin asked that question in 1902 he wrote a pamplet laying out his plans for revolution.

    I hear that Farage is hosting a lunch in central London with Richard Tice on 9th December to address that very issue.

    However, if you want to go it will cost you £145 per head. Feeling gullible?

    https://gettr.com/post/p1yqafbb965

  70. That’s me for today. I trust you’ll all puke over the three lovely snaps I posted a few minutes ago. These young global puppets are just sickening.

    Have a smooth evening. Looks as though it will be chilly overnight – possibly a touch of frost.

    A demain (when rain is forecast…grrr)

  73. Once again, GentleNoTTlers I say goodnight, as I’m about to enter that dark abyss that is a permanent goodbye

    I have no idea what is on the other side but hopefully it can only be better than here.

    I believe in re-incarnation and each life is a lesson to be learnt.

    This one was ‘disappointment’ and I learned it on a grand scale – now is the time for rest, before the next great lesson to learn.

    I wish you all, my great friends a full life ahead and I’ve enjoyed your company – you have kept me fully sustained on my journey and I’ve loved you, one and all but now is the time to say goodbye one and all. God bless you all for the comfort you have so willingly given me. I have loved you, one and all.

    4. Evening Tom. I sincerely hope we will see you tomorrow. Life can seem rather terrible at some times but try and pick out something to live for. Most of us have suffered great pain at times in our life, divorce and fracturing of a complete social circle, loss of a child, loss of a second child. I try and keep positive and look at what I have. Glass half full, it never is full, but I find I can find enjoyment in the dregs of life. Mrs Pea is from a very poor family in Asia, they are happy if there is rice on the table. See you in the morning, perhaps some of us could arrange a meet up. Distance in this day and age is not a problem.

    6. Tom, there is always hope. Life can be rough but the alternative doesn’t bear thinking about. Stay with us and see what’s round that next corner.

    7. I hope this is not what I think you mean……..
      DO NOT GO GENTLY INTO THAT GOODNIGHT
      There is always a better tomorrow.

        1. He’s not answering his phone, but it still accepts messages, hopefully he might listen and discover how much people care.

    9. Tom, keep on keeping on. I have been where you are, in that dark place, when I could see no light at the end of the tunnel – I was in my late twenties when I should have been living my ‘best life’. Anxiety and depression were my companions du jour, for several years in fact. Just take one day at a time, one foot in front of the other. Keep on keeping on. And keep buggering on for us all, for your jokes and insights. We will all be the poorer without you. xx

        1. #Me too. And it never quite leaves you in the sense that you know how easy it can be to fall over that fence again. Once experienced, never forgotten.

          1. True. I vowed I would manage my stress, but sometimes it just isn’t possible due to circumstances beyond one’s control.

          2. It’s like a balloon that has already been inflated. It responds so much more quickly and easily when the next stressor comes along.

          3. Very true. Sometimes I would feel the symptoms starting and try to step back from stressful situations, which helped. Then, of course, there were some stressful situations (like caring for MOH with dementia) that it wasn’t possible to remove myself from.

          4. Those are the real stressers, Conway. You can’t walk away, because you have responsibility, and theres endless emotional stress as well as needing to manage the situation.
            Just getting over all the crap with Mother needing care, a care home, to sell and clear her house… and no vacation. I’m just getting past all that, but still fragile.

    10. Please say that’s not what it sounds like. You have many friends here, though virtual is not ideal. Do any fellow Nottlers live close by I wonder.
      God bless.

      1. Just spoke to Tom. It is what it looks like. He sends his appreciation to Nottlers all, but is at the end of his tether.

          2. Address given above, and his mobile. Any chance of trying to get the police out? I can’t raise hem on the normal number, and 111/999 don’t work from abroad.

          1. He says he is alone. He’s desolate over that his ex won’t have him any more, and her rejection has broken him.
            The warden isn’t there, even, and is a) useless, and b) quitting in January.

          2. More power to you.
            If I recall correctly, it was after many years of marriage, their 50th, that she left him.

            You have his address, perhaps a call to the Samaritans on his behalf might be possible, but given privacy they probably can’t help.
            The other possibility is the RAF benevolent association, if such a thing exists.

          4. The RAFBF has a team of befrienders to chat to the lonely on a regular basis. I gave Tom the details to contact them, but it seems he hasn’t done so.

        5. Contact the local police Oberst. I don’t know if he is mentally ill but he needs care’ I did that for my elder son in Texas. I got 3 e-mails in succession at 3amwhich I didn’t see until 10am. I thought he would be dead and advised his wife to take the police with her. He was drunk but alive. I cried all morning.

          1. Tried, they don’t answer, then cut you off.
            I can’t call 111 or 999 from here. Can you try? Local Police Scotland number seems to be 01786 289 070

          2. He is said to be in RAF accommodation in Moffat. The RAF police or carers could look in. Does any RAF veteran know where to contact the RAF personnel who deal with the veterans in care. I don’t know his name or address. I do now. I’ll contact police.

          4. Address posted 10 minutes ago. And just now.
            Tom Hunn, Flat 14, Dowding House, Old Well Road, Moffat, Dumfries DG10 9AW.
            Tel: +44 775 768 2036

          6. I can’t get any sense from the police and my line is crackly. Can anyone chase up the Scottish police. The number oberst gave referred me to the 999 with numbers in front I couldn’t pick up. It is an emergency and needs quick attention. The police should also call an ambulance.

          13. Take more water with it…
            trying to lighten the mood, having seen that he’s responded above!

          17. From comments above it looks as if we have reached him in time if the police get their skates on. It wasn’t a simple 999 from North Yorkshire and the woman on the phone couldn’t get off the phone quickly enough.

          18. Really? I got a very charming lady who was very efficient and didn’t make me feel it wasn’t serious.

          21. If you fancy phoning him, Peter I’m sure he’d be delighted with the info. He feels very alone.

    11. It is your decision, but I think you should reconsider.

      There are so many things to enjoy, don’t dwell on the past, look to the future. You have many friends on Nottle and I can be sure elsewhere, who are rooting for you.

      I pray that we will see you tomorrow.

      1. Excellent stuff.
        Come on Tom we are here to support you 👍 👏 don’t give up.
        We’ve all got our problems at our time of life mate.

      2. Excellent stuff.
        Come on Tom we are here to support you 👍 👏 don’t give up.
        We’ve all got our problems at our time of life mate.

    14. Whatever you’re going through wouldn’t it be more valuable to talk about it? You’re too important.

  74. All of those complaints about the Qatar metal box accommodation and there the UK is with an immigrant housing crisis.

    No don’t move the boxes to the UK, move the immigrants to Qatatpr. They have a month or so to sort out the travel arrangements.

          2. The warden’s away on holiday until Monday. I’m surprised that no cover is provided for such times. Either people need a warden or they don’t. There is no half way situation.
            I’ve come off the phone in case anyone is trying to contact Tom.
            Apparently, all the other inhabitants are the widows of army chaps. I get the impression of cliquieness. Do the RAF not have homes in East Anglia?

          3. Hopefully Tom is beginning to realise how many people are on his side.
            Thanks, Anne. You’re a star!

          4. I think they closed the other accommodation (they used to offer respite and short holidays) to concentrate their efforts on Dowding House.

      2. Hi, I’ve been hunting around the internet and contacted “Hanover Scotland”
        I believe they may run those flats on behalf of the RAF BAssn

        https://www.hanover.scot/contact/

        I’ve spoken to their emergency help line and they will try to contact the local police to send someone around
        Fingers crossed

      3. Note to those phoning from within Blighty: add 0 to his mobile number and ignore the +44.
        Apologies if I’m trying to teach any grannies to suck eggs.

  79. Have phoned 999 and reported Toms words to the Police. They have his address and mobile number and the details of his recent sadness. They’re going to send someone out to check on him and let me know.
    He’s not answering his mobile now, but I’ve left a message.

    3. Hopefully they will be getting messages from all directions and realise we think he may be serious about his intentions
      Well done Sue

      1. Thank you! Moffat police have just phoned and they’re on their way to check on Tom. They wanted to know what this forum is! I didn’t tell them, honest!

          2. Obviously very down. His flat seems to be at the top of a large country house.
            He feels very lonely and I think the assembled Army widows may not be terribly accepting.
            Apparently the other male in the building has moved to another home further down the coast; but he’s Scottish so it may have been easier for him to change accommodation.

          4. He could have contacted the RAF Benevolent Fund (I gave hime the details); they have a service called Befrienders who contact lonely ex-RAF people on a regular basis.

          5. Sometimes, one just doesn’t have the energy or enthusiasm, especially when you’re a long way down.

          7. This is making me realise just how lucky I was with the fellow residents of my court who made me welcome the “awkward squad” are to be treasured it could so easily be a bleak as Tom obviously feels

        2. If you explain that this is the UK version of Loony Tunes- they might understand.
          Please let everything be OK.

          6. I suppose we are but when the first lockdown was imposed, the first call I got to check that I was OK wasn’t from my family, it was from Hertslass.

            Mark Dolan on GB News is talking about men feeling suicidal.

          13. We are a reflection of what community life was like 40 or 50 years ago.
            May not know everyone personally, but gather round when help is needed.

          14. Very apt observation. We have all had our moments and somehow we get through them….sometimes. Some folk don’t.
            I truly wish Tom the best but serious depression is a hard nut to crack. And being lonely is very hard to handle.

          16. Have heard from Moffat police. Tom is very sad and lonely but still with us! I’ve just spoken to him and he can’t quite get his head round all the attention! I’m sure he’d be up for a chat anytime! He says he’s cried a lot but sounds more positive. I did manage to make him laugh!

          20. Oh, bless you! Do you know if the police have left anyone with him? The coming night will be incredibly hard for him if unattended.

          21. He didn’t want a mental health person from the police but I’m sure if anyone has some information and advice he’d be pleased to hear from them.

          22. Strange to feel a bit choked up with some relief and hope for someone I’ve never met. I won’t be the only one here feeling like that.

          24. Lots of support here for each other in all manner of situations though none as serious as this.

          12. Broom stick ?……😉🤗 soz I just couldn’t resist it. 😍
            I’ll get my ball and chain…..

          13. I would love to have a flying stick- would beat the traffic round here. Listen to The Witches Ride from Hansel and Gretel ;-))

    5. Dear Sue (and others) I appreciate your concerns but I just wish to retire to a quiet corner and forget about my life to date

      It’s been a disaster and I want it over. Appreciate that you and others care. I didn’t mean to set this hare running. I just wish to fade away.

          2. He’d need full hazmat to approach my keyboard. Especially if I’ve had almond croissants with my coffee.

      3. You mean too much to too many people for us to just sit here and do nothing, Tom. All our lives have been enriched by knowing you, physically or through print, for us to let that slip away.

      5. PS, why not retire to a quiet corner and forget about your life to date?

        Start afresh, you have plenty of people on Nottle who will be happy to join your new beginnings!

      7. Your life has been far from a disaster as viewed dispassionately from a distance. Seek help. Believe me, I’ve been there and it is possible to rebuild and enjoy life.

      9. Dear Tom,

        I’ve been there a couple of times. You have my utmost sympathy. Please hang on. I can’t phone as there is no reception here, but please, please don’t do it.

        Apart from anything else, I’d love to visit you. I considered hopping in the car now, but apparently the journey takes eight and a half hours and the route is closed. Please give me a chance.

        1. His current address and phone ae all over the page today, to be sure it wasn’t missed.
          I take full responsibility for any breach of data protection or confidentiality.

          1. Under the circumstances, I don’t think it’s a problem.
            It only shows the community spirit we have.

      11. Oh gosh, I could have said exactly this thirty years ago. This sounds like medication or gut health messing with your psyche. The ever-lasting grieving, the constant awareness that one is a complete failure; it was just a convincing illusion caused by poor health, but it wrapped itself around genuine problems that I had at the time, and magnified them so that they seemed like my whole life experience. Does this sound familiar?

        It’s hard to hide your real character talking on the internet, it’s like a phone call where people can hear much more than you tell them. All I can say is that you don’t come across as a disaster, but rather as a much-tried, stout, honest and courageous man.

  80. Successful day with t’Lad stripping EVERYTHING off his wrecked BMW. Looking at the bare frame, the force of the impact twisted the frame about 1″ in two different directions.
    The fuel tank has a 4″ dent where his bollocks slid onto it, but luckily he’s not singing castrato.

    Just looked down before pressing SEND and it seems I’ve missed all the excitement.
    Well done all for rallying round and I hope Tom gets the assistance he needs.

    1. Sounds as though he’s had a narrow escape! What a ghastly shock. Sending good wishes to all of you!

      1. I shudder to think what might have happened if he’d been on one of his other, more lightweight bikes.

  82. I’m sure what’s actually going on or what is happening with Tom.
    But I think I’ll call it a day now good people 😌

      1. The actions or rather reactions of all of us might just have saved his life and given him the will to fight on to better times.

          5. Have the police taken him to where he can be looked after? In Texas my son was taken into pollce custody and offered the choice of being arrested and charged or going under control of a psychiatrist in a mental home and join Alcoholics anonymous. He has retired now and is teetotal. I hope he isn’t left alone tonight.

          6. I’m afraid he made the choice not to seek mental help from the police. I think the reaction he caused here has jollied him up a bit.

        2. I do think he felt very alone and seeing all the comments tonight, full of concern for his well being, was hopefully a boost.
          Have noted his phone no. and will call in a few days. Let him get beyond this now he knows we all care about him.

          1. He mentioned earlier this week his daughter lived in Tasmania. I told him if I won the lottery I would take him to see her.

  83. I’m going to log off now. Hope all will be well with Tom. I was due to go to a concert this evening, but I’ve spent all day struggling with a recalcitrant Rayburn which went out this morning and stubbornly refused to relight. In the end I gave up, lit the fire in the grate (at least that caught first time) and put the oil heating on. It would happen the first time the temperatures have dipped, of course 🙁 Will try again after church tomorrow.

  84. I too am going to sleep now we know that Tom is safe, and hopefully going to get some help/support locally. I guess he may not ‘appear’ here tomorrow; tonight’s events will have left him exhausted. Maybe he will look in here even if he stays quiet, and at least then he can see the support he has from his fellow Nottlers. Goodnight all.

      1. A good book to read is Goodnight Mr. Tom by Marjorie Magorian (?), not sure of spelling. Great book and a movie was made with John Thaw as Mr. Tom.

  85. Now we know Tom is safe, T.G.

    I had difficulty getting into Nottles all day; eventually I tried Google – successfully – about 20.00.

    This morning about 10.00, I had an Eagle fly into my lap!

    Wordle 518 2/6
    🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Well done and goodnight.
      Wordle 518 3/6

      🟩⬜⬜🟨⬜
      🟩⬜⬜🟨🟨
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    2. Just a partridge

      Wordle 518 4/6

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

  86. Hi guys and Gals, i’m just saying thank you for the bunch of messages but, at the end of the day it was Sue Macfarlane (local) and HertsLass together who pulled me back from that Slough of Despond and made me realise that life means GO ON!

    2. You bloody idiot !!!
      Life is a bitch but fuck the world and carry on.
      Having said that, best wishes and don’t let the bastards grind you down.

      1. I bet a lot of us have had to do that through the years. And still some of us are dealing with BS.
        Good luck to Tom and I know all our thoughts and best wishes are with him.

  87. Now, exhausted, I’m off to bed. Goodnight and God bless my NoTTLe friends and God Bless you. Love and hugs to you all.

    2. Good night, Tom. I’ve only just logged in and read that you’ve been having a really rough time today. I hope you sleep well and wake up feeling refreshed and more relaxed. I (and all other NoTTLers) send you our love and a big warm hug. PS – Don’t forget to send us one of your wonderful jokes when you feel up to it tomorrow.

    4. My PC had a broken cable and the internet has been playing up, my goodness you must be feeling cold and in need of a good hug .. consider yourself hugged , Tom .

      Leave that liquid best friend alone , and enjoy a warm drink of tea or hot chocolate before you settle down .

      You are needed on here , you have a great presence ..

      Sleep well Tom, untill the morning light ..stay warm , and positive ,

  88. My PC has been up the creek , and as as well as that the internet has been playing up.

    So annoying .. I will have to scroll through and catch up . I hope you have all kept warm . It has been rather cold .

    LittleBoats 🇬🇧NI🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿En
    @LittleBoats2020
    We’re now hearing the
    @HolidayInn
    Bridgwater are throwing out guests this weekend to house yet more self entitled illegals

    What’s unbelievable about this is many paying guests are contractors working at the “Hinckley C nuclear! power station”

    https://twitter.com/LittleBoats2020/status/1594001969810706433

  89. Well, it’s 11 pm so it’s time for me to say a “Very Good Night” to all on here – especially to Tom. Sleep well, everyone.

  90. I hope we all sleep OK tonight, especially Tom. What a rotten day he has had. My sincere wish is that our concern and comments have given him a boost and, hopefully, made him realise how much he is appreciated on this site.
    And on that note, I shall bid you all goodnight.

  91. REVEALED: ‘Cultural insensitivity’ is the Wishy Washy reason that charity Aladdin panto got the Chop Chop
    Complaint over names of Chinese launderette workers led to show being axed
    Concerns raised names could upset audience members from ethnic minorities
    Charities will now miss out on fundraising from the panto in Ansty, Dorset

    For 41 years, it has been a mainstay of the Christmas season in the idyllic village of Ansty.

    But this winter there will be no pantomime after concerns over ‘cultural insensitivity’ led to the last-minute cancellation of Aladdin.

    The row has rocked the previously quiet corner of Dorset and left the outside world puzzling over what could have caused such offence.

    Now, The Mail on Sunday can reveal that a complaint over the names of Chinese launderette workers Chop Chop and Wishy-Washy in the script led to the production’s axing, according to villagers. The complainant, thought to be the mother of a cast member, had written to the production team to express her concerns over the names of the characters.

    She feared the names might upset audience members, particularly those from ethnic minorities.

    After committee deliberations, the production team decided it would not be possible to change the script and their only option was to cancel the show. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11447801/Cultural-insensitivity-Wishy-Washy-reason-charity-Aladdin-panto-got-Chop-Chop.html

      1. Anita Wong Dick or Bjorn Wiffabiggun

        Aladdin banned from flying carpet racing! Sources say…
        …for use of performance enhancing rugs…

        What do you call a genie made of asbestos?
        A carcinojinn.

        Imagine if Aladdin took place in Italy and when he finally finds the lamp and gives it a good rub, out pops…
        The Chicken Fettugenie!

        Good night Lacoste 🤣😎

    2. It’s been proven time and time again, the you can’t fix mend or repair stoopid.
      And therefore another important part of our culture takes a dive. Because of stupidity and a committee deliberately interfering, because one boring Dopey Wokey felt ashamed. Now Virtue Signalling has ruined the outlook and the enjoyment of some people’s Christmas. This will spread.
      Oh hang on Christmas…..isn’t that something to do with Christianity. The islmics won’t like that. So next on the adgenda could be Christmas it’s self.

    3. 368124+ + up ticks,

      Morning TB,

      Cannot be to careful these days, say the leader of the CCCP MR One hung low was in the audience could very well lead to mushrooms over Dorset.

    4. Enter stage left, the middle class do-gooder….

      Reminds me of a story that a friend told me recently…she had a complaint that there was no prayer room for muslims in her company and a request to provide one. It did not come from a muslim, but from a bossy, do-gooding, white non-muslim.

  92. Have not been on here much today and have just been looking at all the posts, so I do send best wishes to Tom and hope he feels better in the morning and more able to cope with whatever life sends him.

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