Saturday 19 October: Israel understands that terrorists can only be defeated with strength and resolve

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.

567 thoughts on “Saturday 19 October: Israel understands that terrorists can only be defeated with strength and resolve”

  5. Morning All (and an especially early Geoff)
    Today's Tale – Family Stories
    Three old boys were discussing their families at the high school reunion.
    “My son is a top computer salesman,” said the first. “He topped the sales for the year last year and they gave him a brand new Jaguar,” said the proud father. “But he gave it away. A very generous chap.”
    “That’s interesting,” said the second old boy. “My son’s an insurance salesman. He won the sales competition last year. He won a penthouse in Cannes. And he gave that away. A very generous man, also.”
    “And what about your son?” they both asked the third old boy.
    “I’m really disappointed in him,” he replied. “He turned out rather badly. He’s a raving poofter and lives in Soho and won’t work. But I suppose he’s managing quite well. Only last week one of his best friends gave him a Jaguar and another gave him a penthouse in Cannes.”

  6. Morning All (and an especially early Geoff)
    Today's Tale – Family Stories
    Three old boys were discussing their families at the high school reunion.
    “My son is a top computer salesman,” said the first. “He topped the sales for the year last year and they gave him a brand new Jaguar,” said the proud father. “But he gave it away. A very generous chap.”
    “That’s interesting,” said the second old boy. “My son’s an insurance salesman. He won the sales competition last year. He won a penthouse in Cannes. And he gave that away. A very generous man, also.”
    “And what about your son?” they both asked the third old boy.
    “I’m really disappointed in him,” he replied. “He turned out rather badly. He’s a raving poofter and lives in Soho and won’t work. But I suppose he’s managing quite well. Only last week one of his best friends gave him a Jaguar and another gave him a penthouse in Cannes.”

  8. Good morning, chums, and thanks to Geoff, for Saturday's NoTTLe site. For some reason, the Wordle posted below is Friday's result. Today's was a failure because even after 6 attempts I failed to solve it. Anyhow, at least I tried.

    Wordle 1,217 6/6

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

    1. Morning Elsie,
      You didn't get it 'cos you was educated in the UK (I am presuming here).
      If you had been brought up in the US of A you would have gotten it.

        1. True, Ndovu, from age 7 to age 11. Outside these dates I was educated in England (primary school and secondary) schools.

      2. True, roughcommon, when looking for a word with an "i" in it you can pronounce it as in "hick" or "hike". Wordle answers have five letters not four, but you will see where I went wrong.

    2. Morning Elsie,
      You didn't get it 'cos you was educated in the UK (I am presuming here).
      If you had been brought up in the US of A you would have gotten it.

    3. Good morning Elsie
      It's another one with lots of options today!
      Wordle 1,218 6/6

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

    2. I remember many years ago reading in a book on astronomy that the Sun was thought to be a long-period variable star. Decades later, with all the new observation techniques and analysis available to astronomers and astrophysicists it would appear that that idea is proving to be true.

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/729fa74572568ddbfc350df0454807cfbd76f0328898d614a2e5db2e30882485.png

      Decades ago we were threatened with an oncoming ice age, that threat was later turned on its head with the threat of global warming via levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere: while "warming" is still on the agenda there is a new 'buzz' phrase, "climate crisis" appearing in the narrative. This new description, can of course, be attached to either "warming" or "cooling" and therefore cover both eventualities. The people driving this scam will have no shame in lurching from "warming" to "cooling" as they did decades ago. The real science is indicating an approaching cooling period and the charlatans running this scam are no doubt aware of this fact. So, "climate crisis" it is.

      Principia Scientific

    3. Obviously all those £’s we paid taxes has paid off.
      I should be experiencing a nice warm glow of satisfaction but I only feel anger at those who have and will continue to rob us blind.

    4. Bringing science to any discussion on the tax scam of 'climate change' is pointless. It's got nothing to do with science whatsoever. It's entire purpose is to force socialism and state control. It isn't about the environment, ecology at all. It's just another tax scam.

  10. Why should Putin negotiate? 19 October 2024.

    If I were him, I'd keep fighting.

    In just a few months we will mark the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The war has resulted in hundreds of thousands of casualties, and has left millions displaced. Ukraine’s infrastructure – in particular the energy infrastructure – is in shambles. The costs of recovery will likely be in the trillions of dollars. And still, there is no end in sight.

    On the other hand he could do the sensible thing; fight and negotiate at the same time. His real problem is essentially that the United States (they are really running the show) do not wish to negotiate. They are not losing any people themselves and the war is writing down Russia’s assets, financial, political and human at the same time. It is still running to their advantage; weakening Russia. Maybe even bringing about its collapse.

    Vlad’s priority of course is to keep the Russian Federation in existence and when one looks at the West one cannot blame him. He must therefore hang onto the end. To be perfectly frank, I have nothing against the Ukies and I wish this war had never started but I hope that he wins. His enemies and ours are the same.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/why-should-putin-negotiate/

  12. Good morning all,

    Awake at 5.30, dog scratching around to go in the garden .. before that I was awake feeling very warm , and quite suddenly after I opened more bedroom windows , a sudden deluge of rain almost a tropical down pour . lasted a few minutes then cleared up .. so Pip had a run in the garden .. the temperature felt very steamy .

    Now dog has gone back to bed with Moh , and here I am , first coffee, and dark outside still.

    1. We've humidity things around the place but the best barometer is Mongo's quiff. If it's really humid it sticks up and he looks like he's been through a car wash.

    1. Good morning Citroen

      I have stopped my subscription to the Times on line , it has become rather shallow.

      There are some decent articles, but it is leaning left and magaziney on the whole.

      3. IIndeed. Dinosaurs were destroyed by catastrophe. We're all headed the same way – the difference is, we could do something about it.

    3. Soon they will catch up with those Lib Dems masquerading as Conservative MPs who were elected in July!

    4. I rather concur with the sentiment. Neither offer anything new. Neither present a practical future. None seem willing to truly confront the leviathan of the state and dismantle the destructive edifice of big government.

      None offer anything worth voting for.

  16. How Lord Alli became Labour’s money man

    He started his career in banking before rising through the ranks in the TV industry – now he’s at the heart of the ongoing donations row

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2024/10/18/TELEMMGLPICT000398319233_17292673978420_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqqVzuuqpFlyLIwiB6NTmJwfSVWeZ_vEN7c6bHu2jJnT8.jpeg?imwidth=680
    18 October 2024 6:07pm BST
    Ben Wright

    It’s never a good idea to judge a book by its cover, but especially so at Waheed Alli’s £18 million Covent Garden penthouse.

    An attendee at one of the plush events hosted by the Labour peer noticed that the volumes on the shelves appeared to have been arranged by colour.

    On closer inspection he realised that the books had been recovered in the colour of the owner’s choice: “I remember thinking that’s a nice flourish you can only pull off if you have serious amounts of cash.”

    Lord Alli, 59, used to run a company that owned the rights to Agatha Christie’s literary estate and his favourite book is the 4:50 From Paddington. But there’s no Cluedo-esque mystery as to why the normally discreet entrepreneur and political fixer has recently found himself thrust into the public eye: it was the very rich man, in the Labour party headquarters, with the large cheque book.

    The many political donations made by Lord Alli, who is thought to be worth in the region of £200 million, to the Labour Party and a variety of individual politicians in recent years have raised question marks about the judgement of all involved.

    The most noteworthy was Sir Keir Starmer and his wife accepting £16,200 and £5,000 worth of clothing respectively, which was initially not properly declared.

    As well as the Prime Minister, six other members of the Cabinet have also accepted donations from the peer: Angela Rayner, the Deputy Prime Minister; David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary; Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary; Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary; Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary and Liz Kendall, the Work and Pensions Secretary.

    Among the odder donations from Lord Alli have been the £2,485 Starmer received for multiple pairs of glasses in April this year; £1,250 for Rayner’s use of a New York apartment on a personal holiday last New Year; and the £4,000 that Phillipson accepted to pay for a number of work events, including one party to celebrate her birthday. Starmer also declared £20,000 of accommodation from Lord Alli during the recent general election.

    The scandal has shone a light on the extent of Lord Alli’s influence at the very heart of the Labour party machine over many years – and now at the heart of government. He was first persuaded to join the Labour Party by his then neighbour Emily Thornberry in the early 1990s, although he’d been politically active since the 1980s.

    As a young entrepreneur working in the TV and entertainment sector, he befriended Tony Blair and became the youngest member of the House of Lords when he was ennobled at just 33. He is reported to have donated £500,000 to the party since 2020.

    He has backed several Labour horses down the years, donating money to eight leadership candidates from the more centrist faction of the party, including David Miliband in 2010, Andy Burnham and Liz Kendall in 2015, Owen Smith and Angela Eagle in 2016, Jess Phillips in 2019 and both Starmer and Thornberry in 2020.

    In 2022, Lord Alli was tasked with being the main fundraiser for the party ahead of the looming general election. He hosted potential donors at lavish dinners at his various homes (as well as Covent Garden he has addresses in Kent, New York and Guyana) and is said to have an extraordinary Rolodex of business and political contacts.

    It is extremely rare to find someone with even a loose connection to the Labour Party who hasn’t met Lord Alli at some point. Interestingly, though, few admit to knowing him well. “He’s pretty self-effacing and quiet,” says one Labour insider. “He’s not a showman or particularly gregarious or given to making speeches and is much more comfortable in the background. I suspect that he’ll have found the attention he’s received over the last few weeks very unpleasant.”

    In a 2011 interview with the Financial Times, which took place soon after riots in a number of cities across the country, Lord Alli expressed some sympathy for the looters who likely felt betrayed by the political class in the wake of the expenses scandal. “When you look up and see everybody on the take – everybody – and you can get a free pair of trainers, tell me what the difference is between a free pair of trainers and a banker’s bonus, or a TV set in a second home that isn’t in your constituency?”

    As leader of the opposition, Starmer filmed promotional videos from another of Lord Alli’s homes in Islington.The peer is said to have developed a close working relationship with Sue Gray, when she was Starmer’s chief of staff, and donated £10,000 to the constituency party of Gray’s son, Liam Conlon, ahead of his election as the Labour MP for Beckenham and Penge in July.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/18/how-lord-alli-became-labours-money-man/

    Gray is understood to have consulted Lord Alli on various potential appointments to government and issued him with a temporary pass to Number 10 Downing Street following the election so that he could help with “transition work”.

    He has since returned the pass but held a garden reception at Number 10 during the time he held it. The peer has been spotted at a number of meetings held in Downing Street in recent weeks.

    Labour insiders have expressed frustration with the way the situation has been handled. One pointed out that Lord Alli could have donated more money to the Labour Party and that this could then have been used to fund a clothing allowance. One Conservative Party insider rather wryly notes that Lord Alli’s largesse is a pretty good example of the importance of wealthy taxpayers to the nation’s finances.

    Another insider pointed out that any whiff of impropriety about the access Lord Alli appears to have enjoyed could have been snuffed out by formalising his role in Number 10. It was partly Gray’s inability to spot and sidestep these rather obvious political landmines that contributed to her being replaced as Starmer’s chief-of-staff by Morgan McSweeney.

    Questions have understandably been raised about what agenda he might be seeking to advance. Proximity to power can be its own reward but Labour insiders claim that throughout the years that Lord Alli has given money to the Labour party, offered advice and acted as a general fixer, he has never asked for anything in return.

    One of the few openly gay Muslims in public life, the millionaire entrepreneur’s maiden speech in the House of Lords in 1999 made the case for lowering the age of consent in gay relationships from 18 to 16 and spearheaded the campaign to repeal Section 28. The former TV executive is also a staunch supporter of the BBC and is said to have helped influence the draft Communications Bill in 2003.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2024/10/18/TELEMMGLPICT000391123410_17292672312100_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqBNET-IdhJ3sWM6xc5eu06aoC1OuoKVHVpafoR5L_WxY.jpeg?imwidth=680
    Lord Alli, Ken Livingstone and Ian McKellen at the London Pride Parade 2004 Credit: Alpha Press

    However, Labour insiders say Lord Alli’s main motivation has simply been a desire to help make the party electable. Those who have seen him operate up close say he takes little interest in the minutiae of policy and has even been known to cut donors off when they start drilling into specifics at fundraisers.

    “People have causes; sometimes it’s giving to the National Portrait Gallery or the World Wildlife Fund,” says Jonathan Ashworth, the former Labour MP and close Starmer ally who was one of the biggest names to lose his seat at the last election. “His cause was helping to get Labour elected after 14 years. I think that’s a pretty noble cause myself. And it’s as straightforward as that.”

    Another Labour insider says: “I have never seen any evidence that he has a policy agenda or a political axe to grind.” A lobbyist who is close to the party points out that he already has a fortune, status and a peerage. “He’s not asking for anything in return, because he doesn’t need anything in return,” says Ashworth.

    A number of Labour insiders suggests the best indication of Lord Alli’s political worldview, other than the types of politician he has consistently backed to become leader of the Labour Party, was his close friendship with the Labour peer Margaret McDonagh, who died in June last year aged 61.

    McDonagh was diagnosed with glioblastoma, a form of brain tumour, in 2021. In March 2023 her sister Siobhain accepted a £1.2m loan from Lord Alli to buy a house in London with downstairs bedroom and bathroom to help with the care of her terminally ill sister. “It was impossible not to be moved by his love and friendship with Margaret, which clearly ran very deep,” says one person who knew them both.

    Labour insiders say the friends shared very similar political philosophies and were both firmly embedded in the pragmatic, Blairite wing of the party. McDonagh was the first female general secretary and described as the “linchpin” of New Labour. Her organisational skills were widely credited with helping deliver the two general election landslide victories in 1997 and 2001.

    “Margaret had no time for all that ideological nonsense about class struggle and Marxist notions of overthrowing capitalism,” says one Labour insider. “She thought Labour should just focus on improving the lives of working people. That sort of pragmatism was not very sexy and deeply unfashionable within the Labour party for a long time.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2024/10/18/TELEMMGLPICT000398081791_17292674525460_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqB5se9bjuzvF8SuJNk7Ykl2ko22oiHKKWmNP5q1l2bEM.jpeg?imwidth=680
    Lord Alli with his friend Margaret McDonagh, the Labour peer who died in June last year aged 61 Credit: Shutterstock

    Lord Alli has similar spent much political capital fighting Labour’s militant wing and his donations to the party dried up when Jeremy Corbyn was leader.

    Baron Alli of Norbury in the London Borough of Croydon, to give him his full title, was born in November 1964 in south London to a Trinadadian mother and a Guyanese father. He left school at 16 after his parents split up to support his mother and two younger brothers, getting his first job via a job centre doing research for a magazine called Planned Savings. He then moved to a more lucrative job as the research executive at financial services group Save & Prosper.

    His big break came when he and his then partner Charlie Parsons founded the television production company Planet24 with Bob Geldof in the 1990s. It specialised in edgy shows like The Word and The Big Breakfast and was an early pioneer in reality shows like Survivor, which unkind critics called “television for morons presented by morons”.

    Parsons was the creative brains behind the enterprise, resulting in him being called “the father of reality television”, while Lord Alli ran the business side. It was a potent combination and the pair became fixtures of the party-loving media set at the time.

    The pair threw a well-attended and fondly-remembered annual bash in Kent often featuring Ferris wheels, dodgems and the like. Lord Alli and Parsons are believed to have broken up about a decade ago but remain close. They both remain trustees of the Charlie Parsons Foundation, a charity to support creative projects in England and Wales, which they set up in 2011.

    Blair seemingly saw Lord Alli as an embodiment of Cool Britannia in the late 1990s, often seeking his advice on”yoof appeal” while Peter Mandelson plotted campaigns from his Kent pile. Blair asked him to join Panel 2000, which advised the New Labour government on the UK’s soft power around the world and was dubbed the “committee for cool”.

    Planet24 was eventually bought by Carlton Communications, the ITV franchisee, in 1999 for £15m (although Parsons and Lord Alli retained the rights to Survivor). During his short stint at Carlton, Lord Alli got to know David Cameron, the future Conservative Prime Minister, then director of corporate affairs at the company.

    He left Carlton in 2000 and became a director of Olga Television, Paul O’Grady’s production company, and backed Shine, Elisabeth Murdoch’s media production company, which was later sold to 21st Century Fox (owned by her father). Lord Alli also branched out from TV production, becoming chairman of Asos, the online fashion retailer, in 2001 and Chorion, the entertainment rights company, in 2003.

    Ask around in the City and you will detect a certain level of sniffiness about Lord Alli’s endeavours. In 2011, he was forced to quit Chorion after failing to persuade lenders to refinance the company’s debt. The private equity bankers then sold Chorion off for parts with Lord Alli buying back the Octonauts franchise and the estate of Beatrix Potter, which he financed by selling a big chunk of his shares in Asos. He was also part of a failed bid backed by private equity firm 3i to buy Virgin Radio from Scottish Media Group (SMG) in 2005.

    Certainly not all of his business ventures have worked out but his hit rate is still pretty enviable. Similarly, his bet on the unfashionable centrist wing of the Labour party regaining the ascendancy and then power – which until just over two years ago seemed like a massive long shot – also came good eventually.

    However, we don’t need Miss Marple to figure out how the saga of donor-gate is likely to end. Ashworth says: “It’s clear that Westminster as a whole needs a new set of rules around donations and the reporting of gifts. The government is looking at that now.”

    The only remaining mystery is why Labour didn’t realise Lord Alli and the like was something that needed looking at before now.

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

    AJ London
    13 hrs ago
    I’ve never met another man in my life who would accept a clothing gift from another man, let alone for his missus.

    James Gray
    9 hrs ago
    Reply to Richie Rich – view message
    It’s called a super-injunction. Alli is incredibly litigious. Also less politically obvious than his friends Blair and Mandelson. The full truth possibly won’t come out until Starmer is gone. Too many people with too much to now lose for everything to come out.

    Shaun Nelson
    13 hrs ago
    The optics of Starmer any wife at the Taylor Swift concert in designer clothes gifted by a Multi millionaire Capitalist then the image of an immortalised OAP who dies from cold this winter will see Starmer finished . That image will stay indelible! 😡😡

    Scin Tilla
    12 hrs ago
    It stinks. End of. Corrupt and grubby.

    Brian McKenna
    12 hrs ago
    Are they going to change the name from the Labour Party to the Alli Party. They might as well since he appears to own the government.

    Neil Ferris
    12 hrs ago
    Reply to Brian McKenna
    He owns Labour as he did with New Labour. I was there !

    Nigel Mills
    12 hrs ago
    Hang on a minute. He has a clear obvious financial interest in the BBC. His business, as I understand it, derived income from the BBC. Follow the money.

    Neil Ferris
    12 hrs ago
    The puppet master ! He was with Blair and Mandleson – new Labour was Waheed. I imagine the current bunch of muppets are being controlled by Alli yet again. He is running the show.

    2. Lord Alli and his partner/husband Charlie Parsons, Tony Blair, Peter Mandelson, David Cameron and Paul O'Grady, what could possibly be the connection between this diverse group of politicians and wealthy entertainers? It is a complete mystery to me!

  17. Good Moaning.
    Michal Deacon just gets better and better.

    "Put a Cork in it, councillors

    For Benjamin Netanyahu, it’s been a week of mixed fortunes. On the one hand, Israeli forces managed to kill Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas. But the news wasn’t all good. Because, earlier in the week, the Israeli prime minister suffered a devastating blow.

    On Monday night, a group of local councillors in Ireland voted to ban him from entering Cork.

    Admittedly, it’s unknown whether Mr Netanyahu had any actual plans to enter it, or indeed whether he has ever heard of it. But, according to one Cork councillor, the move will help to “keep the pressure” on him to agree a ceasefire in Gaza.

    In any case, the councillor explained, it’s a matter of principle. “We have a track record in Ireland,” he declared, “of standing up to evil.” Well, unless you count the fact that throughout the Second World War the Irish government refused to join the Allies’ fight against Nazi Germany, and, in May 1945, sent official condolences to the German ambassador, expressing sorrow at the death of Hitler.

    Conceivably, I suppose, some people may try to argue that the job of local councillors is to fix potholes and organise bin collections, rather than to issue futile pronouncements on foreign conflicts taking place over 3,000 miles away. They may even contend that these councillors in Cork are a pack of delusionally self-important, narcissistic, pompous, grandstanding, time-wasting halfwits.

    Still, I’m sure there will also be some who admire them. So, following the councillors’ example, I’ve decided to make an intervention of my own. Next month, here in Kent, I shall be celebrating my birthday with drinks at my favourite pub. And I hereby announce that Vladimir Putin is officially banned from attending.

    Staff at the pub have been given strict instructions that on no account must President Putin be permitted to join my table. Any attempt by Putin to buy me a pint is to be rejected forthwith. And let the Kremlin be in no doubt: any birthday presents Putin has bought for me will be returned unopened.

    Inevitably, some observers will protest that such a move is risky, and that I’m taking too hard a line. But I make no apology. Without the selfless courage of people like me, Putin will never be defeated."

    1. This is a prime example of the utter lack of democracy in this country. Every single one of those councillors should now be removed and forced to return any monies stolen during their period of time wasting.

      Furthermore, they should be forbidden from holding any public office ever again. If they have done then they repay that as well. All pension rights revoked, all salary. The lot of them cut out, like the cancer they are.

      1. Politics needs to be verboten in public organisations. If the workers want to chat about it, in their own time, fine. But in the workplace it needs to be banned. Draconian? Not when you see the top echelons of these places imposing their politics on their workplace and workforce.

    2. 51% of councils are meant to be going bankrupt within the next 5 years – according to the Local Govt Info. Unit. I can understand why. Clearly their priorities are not the ones we pay them to have.

  18. Who says The West is decadent, corrupt, rotten, and has reached its final phase?

    Mohamed Noor killed five foot tall Ms Shotterand who weighed just 95lb by repeatedly orally raping her as she lay unconscious on a park bench. The migrant overstimulated the nerves at the back of her throat in the horrific attack on July 17, 2021 and caused her to have a cardiac arrest.

    And in Leicester.. Blood tests revealed that in the hours before killing his mother.. Gregor Bauld had taken a cocktail of drugs, including LSD, ketamine and cannabis. Aged 16 he had twice tried to commit suicide and in 2021 his parents had to barricade themselves in the kitchen and call police after he made threats against his mother, saying: 'She's an alien, I'm going to kill her.' Months later he was briefly sectioned having suffered a bout of psychosis.

    'Our only Hope is Apocalypse': said Marshall McLuhan … “Apocalypse is not gloom,” he added. “It’s salvation.”

    1. An illegal gimmigrant, of course.They've no place in a civilised world and should be removed, permanently.

  19. Who says The West is decadent, corrupt, rotten, and has reached its final phase?

    Mohamed Noor killed five foot tall Ms Shotterand who weighed just 95lb by repeatedly orally raping her as she lay unconscious on a park bench. The migrant overstimulated the nerves at the back of her throat in the horrific attack on July 17, 2021 and caused her to have a cardiac arrest.

    And in Leicester.. Blood tests revealed that in the hours before killing his mother.. Gregor Bauld had taken a cocktail of drugs, including LSD, ketamine and cannabis. Aged 16 he had twice tried to commit suicide and in 2021 his parents had to barricade themselves in the kitchen and call police after he made threats against his mother, saying: 'She's an alien, I'm going to kill her.' Months later he was briefly sectioned having suffered a bout of psychosis.

    'Our only Hope is Apocalypse': said Marshall McLuhan … “Apocalypse is not gloom,” he added. “It’s salvation.”

  20. Good morning all,

    Wet at McPhee Towers but drying up mid morning, wind in the West, 12℃ rising to 15℃.

    Free Lucy Connolly.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3eb3601ac4e9f234a8e8c2f320b9ff5ec393e6495d9354b1ec0bfafc01dde8ae.png

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/19/lucy-connolly-should-not-be-in-prison/

    Michael Deacon is right; she should not be in prison. Whether what she tweeted is vile is purely a matter of opinion and we understand Michael has a job to protect.

    1. For all I care burn the hotel down..
      Hardly Mein Kampf is it? Now compare this to your average daily rant of a Muzzie.. cheered on by Leftie.

      Videos show Labour councillor Ricky Jones telling a crowd in east London that far-Right demonstrators needed their "throats cut". He is also alleged to have compared them to Nazis, adding: "We need to get rid of them all."

          1. Along with the arraigment of the judge who imprisoned her?

            Oh, how I long for a 'Post Starmergeddon' which will involve tearing up everything the Labour Party has done since 1945.

          2. Far too long to wait. The savages have got to be dealt with now. Labour won't do it, Labour make everything worse so the public must take the law into their own hands – it's proven itself biased and spiteful.

      2. Perhaps the quran with its 'kill the infidel wherever you should find them' should be taken from the shelves. As the book is accepted as the word of god and cannot be changed, I would suggest preaching from its script is incitement in a number of places.

    2. For all I care burn the hotel down..
      Hardly Mein Kampf is it? Now compare this to your average daily rant of a Muzzie.. cheered on by Leftie.

      Videos show Labour councillor Ricky Jones telling a crowd in east London that far-Right demonstrators needed their "throats cut". He is also alleged to have compared them to Nazis, adding: "We need to get rid of them all."

    3. For all I care burn the hotel down..
      Hardly Mein Kampf is it? Now compare this to your average daily rant of a Muzzie.. cheered on by Leftie.

      Videos show Labour councillor Ricky Jones telling a crowd in east London that far-Right demonstrators needed their "throats cut". He is also alleged to have compared them to Nazis, adding: "We need to get rid of them all."

    4. I took offence at his reference to her "vile comment".

      My BTL Comment:-

      Oh come on, Michael, cut the hyperbole.
      Her comments were not "vile" as you put it and were not even meant to be taken seriously, on the same level as the football fan who, seeing his team have a goal disallowed due to a bad refereeing decision, yells out "The {Expletive Deleted} Ref wants hanging".

      Rather they were an spur of the moment attempt to express her frustration at how the concerns of the General Public over many issues, not just immigration, are not only being ignored and denied by the Government, but at how people raising those concerns and demanding answers are habitually condemned for RACISM!!! or ISLAMOPHOBIA!!! or TRANSPHOBIA!!! by our out of touch and largely self appointed "Great and Good"

      As I pointed out in my 1st sentence, you make use of hyperbole yourself, surely then you need to recognise when others use the same.

          1. Since Jan 6th 2022 for posting links to the Planet Lockdown interviews with Dr Mike Yeadon and Dr Wolfgang Wodarg. No explanation given by the DT but it is the only logical explanation.

    5. I don't think it was a 'vile' comment either. English as spoken by the English people is a language of hyperbole. We exaggerate all the time.

      "I could have killed him"
      "I'm gutted"
      "Fuck him"

      Nobody understands any of these common phrases literally. What this girl posted on Twitter is only the kind of exaggeration that is said all the time. This new two tier justice is an attack on Englishness and our freedom to use our language as generations of English people have, that's all.

        1. Pantomime season starting soon ..

          Jack and the Beanstalk clues explained: – The famous quote is "Fee-fi-fo-fum! I smell the blood of an Englishman." In Shakespeare's King Lear (c. 1606), the quote becomes "Fie, foh, and fum!

          Fee Fi Fo Fum,. I smell the blood of an Englishman. Be he alive or be he dead,. I'll grind his bones to make my bread!

    6. I wouldn't want the hotels burned down. They're someone's property and income. The criminal savages in them though, those should be packed into shipping containers and dumped where they came from. If they won't say where that is, make it the centre of the Sahara.

      I don't care any more. The vermin must be removed by any means necessary. They cannot simply all come here, leech off this country and spew whereever they please.

      1. Careful Wibbs, stating an opinion on certain subjects will get you time away from the home…

    7. Just imagine if an Islamist had issued a tweet which praised the murderer of the three little girls and said that white people should be slain? Would that Islamist be imprisoned?

      I am not sure – and many people are not sure – and this lack of certainty is killing confidence in British justice.

  21. 395007+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Britain should be proud of its history – so why aren’t we?

    More to the point the real question should be
    England,. should be proud of its history, as a great many of us are.

    The british IMHO come in on a cross channel wave
    via a politically driven, aiding & abetting, "invasion" campaign.

    We have / are witnessing in reality, a very treacherous
    british, politically organised coup.

    While the King faces fresh demands for slavery reparations at the Commonwealth summit, back home a crisis of confidence divides our nation

    Regarding the king many of these political odious actions have a royal seal via the WEF link and what with lammy fighting the patriotic corner it WILL come to pass that every tax payers personal savings will be requisitioned
    in part payment, to ALL the colourful arses we saved through years gone by.

    By the by ,
    The crises of confidence was settled on the 24/6/2016

  22. Good morning all,

    Scientists and statisticians falsely claimed that black babies delivered by white doctors were twice as likely to die as white babies, a lie that was quickly absorbed into the mainstream and used to further embed race-based policies and propaganda into hospitals and other medical institutions. The report was subsequently shown to have ommitted significant data and therefore mendaciously wrong – but the policies it spawned are still in place, and the claim routinely used as proof of institutional racism. Today's new article 'Statistic as Woke Propaganda ' by Popeye Doyle, shows that such sinister manipulation of statistics is now the norm in scientific circles – all trending to the woke left.

    As always, FSB asks you to read the article and leave a comment ot two, as this helps with the writers morale and makes us happy.

    Regards,
    Tom Armstrong
    https://www.freespeechbacklash.com/

  23. Good morning all.
    A dull, wet start, absolutely chucking it down with 7½°C on the Yard Thermometer.

  25. Michael Deacon:

    ”On July 29, in the hours following the killings of three little girls in Southport, a 41-year-old childminder named Lucy Connolly posted the following message on social media. “Mass deportation now,” she wrote, “set fire to all the f—ing hotels full of the b——s for all I care.”
    Her words were vile. No question. But should she really have been sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison?
    I think people are entitled to wonder. Especially when they see men like Huw Edwards walk free after being found guilty of possessing images of children being sexually abused. Most people, I suspect, would argue that, of the two crimes, the more heinous is the latter. But the way things are going, they may be starting to feel as if, nowadays, you get punished more severely for what you think than for what you do.
    They may also recall that, in February, three women who had attended a pro-Palestinian march in London were convicted of a terrorist offence for displaying images of paragliders – eerily like the ones who slaughtered innocent civilians on October 7, 2023. Yet these women – Heba Alhayek, Pauline Ankunda and Noimutu Olayinka Taiwo – were spared jail.

    “You crossed the line,” the judge told them, “but it would have been fair to say that emotions ran very high on this issue.”
    Well, yes. They certainly did. But then, emotions also “ran very high” after the little girls were killed in Southport, too.”

    1. One rule for one, one for the other. When the law is not applied equally it should be ignored.

      As for those names – disgusting. Get rid of them.

    2. Educashun, Lucy Connolly.
      Her syntax was faulty, as Our Swedish Correspondent might care to explain more clearly than me.
      If you reverse (invert ?) her sentence it becomes "For all I care set fire to the f… hotels full of the bastards."
      The missing words, which in English are 'understood' might well be 'you could'. She was NOT advocating violence, just explaining that she was unable to express any emotional support for or interest in the wellbeing of thousands of uninvited unwanted indigent foreigners living at substantial cost to the taxpayer.

    3. Educashun, Lucy Connolly.
      Her syntax was faulty, as Our Swedish Correspondent might care to explain more clearly than me.
      If you reverse (invert ?) her sentence it becomes "For all I care set fire to the f… hotels full of the bastards."
      The missing words, which in English are 'understood' might well be 'you could'. She was NOT advocating violence, just explaining that she was unable to express any emotional support for or interest in the wellbeing of thousands of uninvited unwanted indigent foreigners living at substantial cost to the taxpayer.

      1. Of course it was J.K. Rowling's Dementors who sucked the joy out of everything. I think that the trans lobby are rather afraid that she will vacuum away trans people's genitals!

    2. Banning it… no, but I would prevent them segregating men and women, forbid any publication or proselytising. I would prevent their doctrine of refusing dogs entrance and any financial backing so it all had to be funded locally. Fall behind on the rent – and it would be rent, never ownership – and the land is sequestered.

      I'd also permanently revoke any law protecting them, and encourage bacon sandwich sellers to set up outside. They seem to want to enjoy the protections while ignoring the tolerances demanded. That must stop. That'd eventually get rid of them. If it didn't, I'd force ever more Western tolerances on them.

      And I would forbid welfare provision for any muslim and forbid any form of cultural dress.

      1. Not original – It was said by Rupert Murdock James Goldsmith. *

        (*Thanks to the Legal Beagle for the correction.)

          1. Thank you for the correction – I have checked on the Internet and you are right!.

          3. Or as my father would have said, “It’s not often I’m wrong, but, damn me, I’m right again!”

          6. Sir Jams, or Jimmy, definitely and he followed the code enthusiastically. I wonder if the saying came from a French proverb?

      2. Not original – It was said by Rupert Murdock. (I have added the source to my post)

    2. I’ll go Humza! He’s a spectacularly evil man! Some of the vitriol which drips from his mouth is sickening.
      Edit : All the vitriol…..

      1. No sign of Drakeford, but then he's more of the communist leanings. Have the progroms begun in wales yet, or is that next week?

    3. Pleeze, pleeze, let it be Oman Shitweazel, then after he has bombed, the immediate appointment of Jordan Gazaway.

  31. Living standards improve at slowest rate in 50 years as immigration soars
    Real GDP per head rises just 0.3pc as population grows faster than economy

    Households’ living standards are improving at the slowest rate in more than 50 years, as soaring immigration fuels population growth and the economy stalls.

    New figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that real GDP per head, which is often described as a measure of average living standards, is growing at the slowest rate in decades.

    It has increased by only 0.3pc a year on average so far in the 2020s. This is much lower than in any previous decade since at least the 1970s.

    GDP per head has slowed as the population has grown faster than the economy. Net migration added 1.5m to the population across 2022 and 2023. The economy grew by 4.3pc in 2022 as the UK bounced back from the pandemic but growth slowed to just 0.3pc last year.

    David Burdon
    11 min ago
    Living standards are falling because of immigration.

    Only 22% work and their tax contributions are less.

    Comment by Nicholas Price.

    NP

    Nicholas Price
    11 min ago
    This Ukraine and Hong Kong business is a smokescreen. It isn’t immigrants from these places people are angry about. How many Hong Kong people do you see involved in growing cannabis, wielding zombie knives or raping white girls on an industrial scale?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/10/18/households-living-standards-improving-slowest-rate-50-years/

    Have any of you bought toothpaste recently ?

    Colgate tube of toothpaste nearly £7.. now I'm changing brand and buying cheaper.

    1. What a lie! Living standards have been falling for years, and only cheap tat imported from China has pulled the wool over people's eyes.

        1. Read the small print – I must check that on the Sensodyne tube……… but the box is long gone.

          3. My recently discarded end of tube was made in Slovakia; the current one seems to come from Ireland. Made under licence by GSK.

          2. I seem to remember a few years ago the UK handing over around half a billion to the EU which they gave to Poland, who then built a new factory in Warsaw and started making Colgate tooth paste as our own UK factory was shut down. We have not used any made in China.

    3. Well durh. Import the third world, become the third world. It was so screamingly, blatantly obvious what would happen. The Left forced the scum on us and the result could have been predicted by a newt.

  32. SIR – I cannot agree with Caroline Baker that morality is based on reason (Letters, October 18).

    For the Christian, both reason and morality are rooted in, and derive from, God’s character. For those who reject God, there can be no such thing as absolute truth, and morality is no more than human opinion, which itself is merely the result of chemical reactions. Therefore there is no rational basis for any morality at all.

    Likewise, how can one be sure that logic and reasoning are anything other than arbitrary? In practice, nonbelievers intuitively know that morality and reason are real, even if, by abandoning God, they have no rational basis for them.

    Duncan Reeve
    Exmouth, Devon

    I have a lot of friends who are religious and believe in a deity. I accept that, and they accept my view too, and we get along amicably because we respect each others’ views without ramming our own beliefs down each others’ throats.

    Duncan Reeve, though, is the kind of evangelistical zealot who is so far up his own backside that he refuses to acknowledge there are other viewpoints other than his own hidebound dogma.

    His assertion that only Christians have reason and that morality is "only a human opinion" is offensive on an atmospheric level. Also his determination that Christians are a positive entity and those who are not are negative — as witnessed by his declarations of “those who reject God” and “abandon God” are, somehow, not rational — has no basis in sagacity.

    I firmly believe in the scientific research into the evolutionary theory as the basis for the existence of the universe and, consequently, life. Current theories speculate that the universe has existed for around 13·8 – 26·7 billion years (we will never, quite obviously, be sure). Organised religion only sprang up within the past 10,000 years, after humans developed the skills of agriculture and settled from their previous nomadic lifestyle. It’s main purpose was to keep those sedentary people disciplined and provide them with a code of rules by which to conduct their lives.

    In the main this regimen was very effective in instructing people how to be humble and live their lives within a moral code. Unfortunately, every part of the now ‘civilised’ world adopted its own variation of how their people could be controlled and countless other religions were born. Most of these religions existed alongside others in an amicable fashion; however, many did not and wars ensued between them. This attrition has continued throughout modern history and still perpetuates today. The “My God is better than your God” mindset is now endemic throughout the human world.

    I truly believe that I and countless others conduct our lives in a morally-accepted and law-abiding manner. We do so without the need to conform to any religious doctrine. I leave those who retain a religious belief alone and do not hound or criticise them for doing so. In return I expect that they will show me the same consideration for my train of rational thought and not seek — at every end and turn — to diminish me as a negative alternative to their preposterously holier-than-thou mindset.

    1. Mr Reeve ignores that religion, for all his vaunted promotion of it, is the cause of almost all global conflict and most human misery. Certainly it's tenents have held back mankind for at least 500, likely 800 years of progress. Modern religion (circa 500 years ago and what has been adopted by the state) was simply a control system to dictate how the tribe should behave.

      Our society though – England, Britain, the UK, whatever – is rooted in Christian teaching and morality. The reason why so little works these days, why so much is wrong, broken and damaged is because the state has deliberately perverted and destroyed those fundamental principles. It has put the individual above society, the state above citizen, servant over master. It has ruined the prinicples of prudence and deferment, of the family over recklessness, debt, profligacy, fecklessness and waste because those suit the state machine.

      1. Exactly, look how many millions of people have been killed simply because they refuse to get on their knees.

      2. The twin concepts of religion and politics are the two most powerful — potent — means of human mind-control ever devised by those who wish to exert control over their fellow men. In modern history religion was the premier means to achieve that end and it still pervades worldwide.

        In more recent times, though, politics has slowly taken over as the favoured method of creating a tribal system. Both systems have their dedicated adherents and members of one political mindset look down upon and decry those of alternative political creeds.

        This is, effectively, gang mentality. Just as Christians and Muslims will never be reconciled to share or accept each other's doctrines; so it is the same with the Right and the Left of the political spectrum. Routine — and perpetual — conflict is the order of the day.

        Kipling was quite misguided when, in his poem If, he concluded that Triumph and Disaster were the two impostors. In reality those twin mountebanks are Religion and Politics.

      3. Religion has never been the cause of conflict; it has always been religious intolerance

    2. Because there is no answer to many questions about life and how we came to be here. The void is filled by what you can only describe as mumbo jumbo. People should try to live a good and productive life and do not worry about all these unanswered questions. I know I did many years ago and have been all the better for it.

    3. Whenever this discussion occurs it's always a known fact that where ever a certain middle Eastern religion has been spread to amongst others, they are always the trouble makers.

  33. Morning all 🙂😊
    Cloudy and raining.
    But after our very late night/early morning Friday. I actually skept for almost 12 hours.
    And on today's headline I'm getting more than a bit fed up with our media and its obvious suggestions that all the death and destruction in the middle east is the fault of Israel. Why can't the TAS Dopey Wokies be honest and back Israel. Its,pretty obvious what hamas and all the other garbage were trying to achieve but thankfully the Israeli government has been able to stop it.
    TAS = Thick as something-unpleasant.

    1. The narrative doesn't permit the truth. I mistakenly read an open democracy paper which said Israel has killed over 42,000 people of which 16,000 were children. It happily ignores that muslim deliberately uses children as human shields making muslim the real killers.

      The Left want their own way and don't care about the truth. In fact, most of their effort is spent trying to destroy it.

      1. I absolutely agree Wibbers, this continuous and ignorant deliberate 'misunderstanding' of the basic intention of the 'Islamic faith' is what keeps them from leaving others alone.

      2. The US and its allies killed more than 500,000 children in Iraq. Collateral damage, according to Madeleine Albright. Was that to battle terror? No it wasn’t.

        1. Always the same when the shoe is on the proverbial other foot.
          The onset Limping becomes something to hide.

  34. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/10/19/why-british-men-are-giving-up-on-work/

    At the bottom end they can't compete with cheaper, usually criminal foreigners and at the top end there's no point. Why bother working for 6 days a week when you see two thirds stolen in tax?

    That leaves the middle, already struggling unable to give up due to crushingly high costs of living, holding on to jobs but increasingly being forced out by the same quangocrats forcing ghastly DIE nonsense.

    While men are demonised, insulted, abused, wasted and ignored why would they bother?

    1. Good morning Mr Wibbles and everyone.
      Much of the Public Control Sector is now stuffed to the gunwales with Bames and recent immigrants; Sir Starmer and his gang could not possibly reduce the headcount because where would the surplus people go? Few employers in commerce (SMEs) would want to risk employing them if at all possible. IIRC you have a Bame colleague, but presumably male, so there is no risk of having to subsidise maternity leave. Edit: AI is a modern version of Ghengis Khan and his ilk, although you probably will survive because of the wiring needed.

    2. Good morning Mr Wibbles and everyone.
      Much of the Public Control Sector is now stuffed to the gunwales with Bames and recent immigrants; Sir Starmer and his gang could not possibly reduce the headcount because where would the surplus people go? Few employers in commerce (SMEs) would want to risk employing them if at all possible. IIRC you have a Bame colleague, but presumably male, so there is no risk of having to subsidise maternity leave. Edit: AI is a modern version of Ghengis Khan and his ilk, although you probably will survive because of the wiring needed.

    3. Good morning Mr Wibbles and everyone.
      Much of the Public Control Sector is now stuffed to the gunwales with Bames and recent immigrants; Sir Starmer and his gang could not possibly reduce the headcount because where would the surplus people go? Few employers in commerce (SMEs) would want to risk employing them if at all possible. IIRC you have a Bame colleague, but presumably male, so there is no risk of having to subsidise maternity leave. Edit: AI is a modern version of Ghengis Khan and his ilk, although you probably will survive because of the wiring needed.

      1. They are a sign of the times.

        Yesterday I ran into a lass who was taking her sone to therapy. She said he has ocd, adhd, autism, gender dysphoria… I thought… no, he doens't. He's just a kid. You're applying those labels for your benefit, not to help him.

        When was the last time you actually talked to the boy as an equal rather than a set of labels for benefit claiming's sake?

        1. People who give these labels to their children are using them for their own ends – to increase their benefits.

      1. 395007+ up ticks.

        Morning SAID,

        I’m totally assuming the clothing
        will not enter the equation with what it has in mind.

  36. BRUSSELS — There’s a new threatening acronym challenging the global order: CRINK.

    It stands for China, Russia, Iran and North Korea — four dictatorships that are colluding on Moscow’s bloody campaign to subdue Ukraine.

    Their cooperation is forcing NATO to build closer ties with like-minded countries in the Indo-Pacific. For the first time, senior officials from Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and Japan took part in a meeting with NATO defense ministers in Brussels on Thursday.

    So , what is Lammy up to , cosying up to China?

    1. Starmer is a communist; he is Machiavellian in his methods – he appointed Reeves, Miliband and Lammy to destroy the capitalist system in UK as quickly as possible.

    2. CRINK sounds like an invention of the west. They have recently had all guns firing at trying to prove that these four countries are a common enemy. It was reported in the Russian sympathising press earlier this week that Zelensky had claimed that Ukraine is effectively at war with Iran and Norks – even he did not have the nerve to claim that Ukraine is 'effectively at war with' China!

  37. Israel understands that terrorists can only be defeated with strength and resolve
    Letters to the Editor
    SIR – Israel’s killing of Yahya Sinwar (report, October 18), Hamas’s leader, has done more to reduce the threat to Israeli citizens than any of the recent wailing and hand-wringing of Western leaders. Terrorists can only be defeated with strength and resolve.

    As Israel removes its enemies’ leaders one by one, there will be fear and panic stalking the corridors in Tehran. I can only hope that Israel’s retribution for Iran’s missile attacks leads eventually to the Iranian people being set free, and an opportunity for peace in the region.

    Phil Coutie
    Exeter, Devon

    SIR – Had the Israeli government listened to calls from Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and Sir Keir Starmer for a ceasefire in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar would now be alive and plotting further terrorist atrocities against Israel. Yet, instead of calling for the unconditional surrender of Hamas, they continue to call for a ceasefire and a negotiated end to the war.

    The lack of support for Israel’s courageous and successful military campaign against Iran-sponsored terrorism in Gaza, Lebanon and beyond from these and other Western leaders, such as Emmanuel Macron, has forced me, reluctantly, to wish for the re-election of Donald Trump. He can at least be relied on to uphold Israel’s ability and moral right to defend itself.

    Philip Duly
    Haslemere, Surrey

    1. A series of comedy sketches that write themselves from everyday life at the NHS.
      In twenty years time after Starmergeddon & the failed Islamic rising.. there will be whole conferences dedicated to the understanding of the progressive era.
      Many will yawn and believe them a spoof.. after all nobody could be that mental.

      1. People will look back and marvel at the silly things believed in our era. Particularly absurd will be the idea of global warming just as we're heading into a mini ice age.

    2. I remember asking a desperately Left wing trainer just what privileges I had over other people because I was white and male.

      They don't know. They just spout drivel. They want a fight.

  40. Now to check the Lotto:
    Wordle 1,218 3/6

    ⬜🟨⬜🟨⬜
    ⬜🟩🟨🟩⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Four today. Spelling and stuff.
      Wordle 1,218 4/6

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

      2. Awful.

        Wordle 1,218 5/6

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

  41. A series of comedy sketches that write themselves from everyday life at the NHS.
    In twenty years time after Starmergeddon & the failed Islamic rising.. there will be whole conferences dedicated to the understanding of the progressive era.
    Many will yawn and believe them a spoof.. after all nobody could be that mental.

  42. A series of comedy sketches that write themselves from everyday life at the NHS.
    In twenty years time after Starmergeddon & the failed Islamic rising.. there will be whole conferences dedicated to the understanding of the progressive era.
    Many will yawn and believe them a spoof.. after all nobody could be that mental.

  43. Very funny. The Student Union politicians always make fools of themselves.

    Eton in line for £4.8m windfall from Labour VAT raid

    Legislation allows colleges to recover historic VAT paid on building projects

    Pieter Snepvangers Money Writer
    19 October 2024 7:45am BST

    Eton College is in line to receive a £4.8m “handout” from the Government because of a clause in its private school tax raid.

    Under the new legislation, private schools will be able to recover historic VAT they paid on capital expenditure including buildings and land acquisition over the past 10 years.

    It means Sir Keir Starmer’s government is now set to hand back millions of pounds in reclaimed VAT for the cost of Eton’s new swimming pool and boarding house.

    Headteachers of small independent schools, who do not have the outlay to benefit from the clause, described the findings as “outrageous” and “horrifying”. Labour MP Rachael Maskell accused her own party of creating further inequalities.

    She said: “Schools who have the most resources are going to be able to cushion the blow. [Eton] is getting a huge handout from the Government. It is just wrong and it needs to be addressed.”

    Once private schools become VAT-paying businesses from January 1, they will be able to reclaim the VAT they had spent on capital investment that cost £250,000 or more from the last 10 years.
    *
    *
    *
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/jobs/schools-universities/eton-claim-48m-vat-clause-labour-private-school-tax-law/

    2. Small schools, who do not have the outlay… it is a tax on education. One deliberately levied and no doubt carefully planned by the Treasury as yet another assault on Brexit the argument being 'well, we couldn't before, now we can. Should have voted as we told you to, shouldn't you' spite.

  44. I've been trying to get into here for a while now but every time it was locked but yesterday afternoon while I was 'doing paperwork' I got in.
    Not much original since the Victorians rebuilt it, save a couple of memorials from the 17th century and the effigy of a Knight who died in the 14th.
    St. Wolfrida's Horton:
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e30e0635378237fd6928864be9335d8b6c29f58912550f96c20f012b3fb5d31b.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/42123c9f20faa8aea0d2b28bb0fb15a85f6add20ba248f2a41a768def01510f6.jpg

      1. 12th century or thereabouts. The grave of the Knight goes back to the 13th.

  45. Yesterday, I posted a DT article on the decision of an Italian court to declare the government's immigrant repatriation scheme illegal. Our David Wainwright responded with this:

    "Only terrorism will achieve the ends Ms Meloni seeks. It cannot be achieved through democracy, legislation or the judiciary. If you think it's worth it, you must be prepared to murder, including innocent civilians, to achieve your ends. I don't think it is worth it, but those who do must have the courage to act, even though many will be martyred for their cause."

    I would agree that currently, and certainly in the UK, it will be hard to get schemes like this past human rights legislation and the courts – but 'terrorism'? It's possible that the immigration problem here will eventually erupt into serious civil disorder but that's rather different from terrorism, isn't it?

    1. 395007+ up ticks,

      Morning WS,

      Vastly different, in our case ones own
      survival and that of more so, ones family is put on the block,no contest.

      Now tis only a matter of time until serious amounts of blood will be shed.

  46. We need Rastus to create a suitable bardish quote…"Get thee up thine own jacksie, forsooth" or summat like that.

    Shakespeare latest victim of No 10 purge of portraits

    Starmer ‘succumbing to Left-wing embarrassment about our past’, say critics as Bard joins Elizabeth I, Raleigh and Thatcher in storage

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/politics/2024/10/18/TELEMMGLPICT000398188014_17292834364540_trans_NvBQzQNjv4Bqq9LeNVrMvvzElvq3Cytrx8zsCwmSb1AmNvjEJvfhyZM.jpeg?imwidth=680 *
    *
    Shakespeare’s work has been critiqued by The Globe theatre in London through a series of “Anti-Racist Shakespeare” seminars, during which academics have variously claimed that King Lear is about “whiteness” and that Hamlet held “racist” views of black people.

    It was also claimed that A Midsummer Night’s Dream displayed “problematic gendered and racialised dynamics, and that The Tempest could be “harmful” to audiences because of its colonial themes.

    Many of his plays were written during the reign of Elizabeth I, who patronised the early slave trade through pirates like Sir John Hawkins, and whose portrait also no longer hangs in Downing Street.
    *
    *

    2. As I was trying to say yesterday, if you thought the Blair regime was had (it was), it ain't got nuffin' on the rule of the tool-maker's son. Things can only get worse.

    3. “Away, you starvelling, you elf-skin, you dried neat’s-tongue, bull’s-pizzle, you stock-fish!”

      “That trunk of humours, that bolting-hutch of beastliness, that swollen parcel of dropsies, that huge bombard of sack, that stuffed cloak-bag of guts, that roasted Manningtree ox with pudding in his belly, that reverend vice, that grey Iniquity, that father ruffian, that vanity in years?”

  49. Some jocularity insteadof my usual tiresome rantings.

    Wandered into the lair of the Warqueen and said 'The soft brush on the Shark's had it, so I've bought a new one.'
    She replied with hands over heart a swooned 'My hero!'

    1. That's basically a roll call of high profile controlled opposition in the US…
      let's just say they're unlikely to end the Fed

      Kennedy has wound back on pointing out the truth about vaccines and is now pretending that Americans' ill health is all down to their food, which although famously crappy isn't the whole story.

        1. It’s his big new campaign. MAHA – make America healthy again. Focus on food, vaccines scarcely mentioned.

  51. The Guardian effect: Labour ‘help’ could seal a Trump win

    History teaches us that when the British Left tries to influence American politics, it goes wrong

    Freddy Gray

    The good news keeps rolling in for Donald J Trump. The polls are tightening in his favour, the betting markets suggest he’s winning, and Kamala Harris’s ongoing “media blitz” has turned into an exercise in self-immolation.

    Best of all, perhaps, the British Labour Party has decided to send almost 100 of its young activists across the pond to canvas for Kamala in the crucial swing states of Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

    It’s hard to think of anything more likely to put off American voters than a group of Left-wing limeys showing up, uninvited, in order to lecture the locals about the perils of authoritarianism.

    Imagine the scene at the barn doors of Beaver County, Pennsylvania when Marcus and Indy, from Bethnal Green, come a’ knockin:

    “Waddaya want?”

    “Hey, yah, so we’re from the international Progressive Alliance and I’m here to tell you that Donald Trump is a threat to democracy.”

    “Suzanne, git ma AR-15…”

    Team Trump is furious at Labour’s meddling. “Bloody outrageous,” says Sebastian Gorka, the burly former assistant in the president. “This is illegal,” says Elon Musk, Trump’s richest fan. “Direct election interference … and particularly stupid if Trump wins,” adds Nigel Farage.

    That’s true to a point. If a different empowered foreign party – Viktor Orban’s Fidesz in Hungary, for instance – were to attempt to sway the election in favour of Trump, a huge international outcry would erupt, followed by a legal clampdown. But when the centre-Left does election interference, apparently it doesn’t count. The hypocrisy stinks. Donald Trump’s opponents are so convinced that they are “defending democracy” that they are more than willing to break all the usual democratic rules and conventions.

    And it is, of course, dim-witted of Labour to make such a blatant bet on Team Harris at the very moment when Trump seems to be gaining the upper hand. But then David Lammy, a man who once called Trump “a racist KKK and Nazi sympathiser” is our Foreign Secretary, so that’s hardly a surprise.

    In the run up the British general election, when Joe Biden was struggling across the pond, Lammy sensibly endeavoured to build bridges with the Trump campaign. But then, when “Kamalamania” took hold over the summer, Labour returned eagerly to its default position of backing the Democrats at all costs. Several Labour MPs attended the Democratic National Convention in Chicago to pay homage to Harris and offer tips on progressive messaging in 2024.

    That already feels an age away now, however. Nobody seriously thinks of Starmer’s Labour as a model for success any more. So Elon, Nigel et al can’t really be too concerned about the ability of a bunch of Labour kids to win hearts and minds in Nevada, say, or North Carolina. If it were legal, in fact, Musk should be offering to cover their travel expenses.

    History teaches us that when the British left tries to influence American politics, it goes wrong. Let’s not forget “the Guardian Effect” in the presidential election of 2004. Britain’s leading Left-wing newspaper was so concerned about the re-election of George W Bush that it began a “pen pal” campaign, encouraging its readers to write to the wavering residents of Clark County in the key battleground state of Ohio. But the people of Clark County were not won over, to put it mildly. “Each email someone gets from some arrogant Brit telling us why to not vote for George Bush is going to backfire, you stupid, yellow-toothed pansies,” read one reply. “If you want to have a meaningful election in your crappy little island full yellow teeth, then maybe you should try not to sell your sovereignty out to Brussels.”

    “Real Americans aren’t interested in your pansy-ass, tea-sipping opinions,” read another. Sure enough, Bush won Clark County, Ohio, and another four years in the White House. Perhaps, twenty years on, a new generation of transatlantic progressives can have a similar impact.

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

    Barry Guevara
    4 hrs ago
    My family call it the Geldof Effect.
    We're a mix of leavers and remainers but unanimous that Geldof's baiting of Farage and the working class fishermen, on the Thames, with his posh buddies, was a crucial moment for many in their decision making, for the referendum vote.

    Peter Sitch
    3 hrs ago
    Reply to Barry Guevara
    And he's Irish

    Easy With The Tonic
    4 hrs ago
    Isn't there the small point that Musk pointed out that is it basically illegal for foreign political parties to interfere in US elections. Not that it stops the BBC's attempts edited

    Philippe JEANNIN
    3 hrs ago
    leftist mind is all in arrogance…ready to lecture all the world without really knowing. Greta Thunberg is the perfect symbol.

    1. I don't think those dim little lefty activists will be ready for the reaction they will get from the Americans. Stand by for incoming memes…

  53. Sorry, but this is quite long but important.

    'Pure Genocide': Christians Slaughtered in Nigeria and the Great Press Cover-Up

    Muslim militants slaughtered 16,769 Christians [in Nigeria] in just the four years between 2019 and 2023. That comes out to 4,192 Christians killed on average per year—or one Christian murdered for his/her faith every two hours. — Report, Observatory for Religious Freedom in Africa, August 29, 2024.

    The violence has reached the point, the report says, that many traumatized Christian children sleep in trees to try to avoid being butchered during the night, when Fulani are most prone to attack.

    [I]n 2014, there were 1.1 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Nigeria; as of 2023, there are 3.4 million. — "NO ROAD HOME: Christian IDPs displaced by extremist violence in Nigeria," Open Doors, September 1, 2024.

    Behind all these misleading euphemisms, the facts remain: the murderers are Muslim and their victims are overwhelmingly Christian.

    When Muslim terrorists slaughtered nearly 200 Christians last Christmas, the Associated Press failed to mention the identities of the assailants and their victims. Rather, it presented the atrocity, as so many now do, as a regrettable byproduct of climate change — which is, ostensibly, forcing "herders" (Muslims) to encroach on the lands of "farmers" (Christians).

    In another AP report on the 2022 Pentecost Sunday church bombing that left 50 Christian worshippers dead, the words "Muslim" and "Islam" — even "Islamist" — never appear. Rather, readers were told, "It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack on the church."

    "Muslim" and "Islam" — even "Islamist" — never appear. Rather, readers were told, "It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack on the church." To maintain this ambiguity, the AP failed to mention that Islamic terrorists have stormed hundreds of churches and slaughtered thousands of Christians "for sport" over the years in Nigeria….

    "It's tough to tell Nigerian Christians this isn't a religious conflict since what they see are Fulani fighters clad entirely in black [like ISIS], chanting 'Allahu Akbar!' and screaming 'Death to Christians.'" — Sister Monica Chikwe, http://cruxnow.com , August 4, 2019.

    "Removing Country of Particular Concern status for Nigeria will only embolden the increasingly authoritarian government there." — Sean Nelson, Legal Counsel for Global Religious Freedom for Alliance Defending Freedom International, http://catholicnewsagency.com , November 23, 2021.

    For the mainstream media and politicians, Christian lives taken by Muslims apparently do not matter.

    The "pure genocide" of Christians in Nigeria, as it has been characterized by several international observers, is reaching unprecedented levels, according to two separate reports.

    "Countering the myth of religious indifference in Nigerian terror (10/2019 – 9/2023)," a comprehensive, 136-page report published by the Observatory for Religious Freedom in Africa on August 29, 2024, found that Muslim militants slaughtered 16,769 Christians in just the four years between 2019 and 2023. That comes out to 4,192 Christians killed on average per year — or one Christian murdered for his/her faith every two hours.

    More than half of these killings (55%) were committed by radicalized Muslim Fulani herdsmen, who over the last decade have become greater persecutors of Christians than more internationally recognizable terror groups, such as Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) — although the ISWAP, too, are playing their part in the genocide: Fulani killed 9,153 Christians between 2019 and 2023; all other terrorist groups killed 4,895.

    The second report, "NO ROAD HOME: Christian IDPs displaced by extremist violence in Nigeria," published by Open Doors on September 1, 2024, states that the persecution, slaughter, and displacement of Christians in Nigeria is "unrelenting" and "a time bomb." Because "militant Fulani groups have deliberately targeted Christians or Christian communities, their livelihood, faith leaders and places of worship," Christians are becoming "an endangered species" in Nigeria, where they once amounted for more than half of the West African nation's population (the other half being Muslim).

    The violence has reached the point, the report says, that many traumatized Christian children sleep in trees to try to avoid being butchered during the night, when Fulani are most prone to attack. "My children," a parent is quoted, "each time they hear anything, they panic or go into hiding because it triggers the trauma. The terror of the attacks has not stopped, rather it has increased."

    In just the last decade, the amount of people to be displaced by the havoc and chaos caused by the Islamic groups has tripled: in 2014, there were 1.1 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Nigeria; as of 2023, there are 3.4 million.

    One of these displaced persons, a Christian Pastor, Benjamin Barnabas, who has been living in a tiny tent for five years, shared his story. He and his family were working on their farm when Fulani militants "came with guns, machetes and sticks," thrashing the pastor and his family:

    "We lost everything that I had. Everything in my home and village was burnt, I was left with nothing… We are displaced because of violence. The news doesn't care about it, we are remaining in darkness—being forgotten, being disregarded."

    That the media is indifferent, or worse, concerning the plight of Christians — and that it obfuscates the identity of their tormentors — was emphasized by the Observatory:

    "For over a decade atrocities against civilians in Nigeria have been downplayed or minimized. This has proved a major obstacle for those seeking to understand the violence. Misleading euphemisms, such as 'armed herdsmen' and 'cattle grazers' are used to describe continual waves of invasion, torture and killing in rural communities. Descriptions of attacks as 'ethnic clashes', 'farmers-herders clashes' or retaliatory attacks are seriously misleading. The use of the phrase 'bandits' to refer to militias carrying out mass kidnaps, and enforcement of serfdom on communities, is another case in point. And a policy of concealing the religious [Christian] identity of victims also serves to distort the true picture."

    Behind all these misleading euphemisms, the facts remain: the murderers are Muslim and their victims are overwhelmingly Christian. Although the Observatory report focuses mostly on Nigerian media's distortion of events, Western mainstream media has also been devoutly refusing to use the most obvious, bottom-level identifiers of both the attackers (Muslims) and the attacked (Christians).

    When Muslim terrorists slaughtered nearly 200 Christians last Christmas, the Associated Press failed to mention the identities of the assailants and their victims. Rather, it presented the atrocity, as so many now do, as a regrettable byproduct of climate change—which is, ostensibly, forcing "herders" (Muslims) to encroach on the lands of "farmers" (Christians).

    In another AP report, on the 2022 Pentecost Sunday church bombing that left 50 Christian worshippers dead, the words "Muslim" and "Islam" — even "Islamist" — never appear. Rather, readers were told, "It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack on the church." To maintain this ambiguity, the AP failed to mention that Islamic terrorists have stormed hundreds of churches and slaughtered thousands of Christians "for sport" over the years in Nigeria—a fact that just might have offered a hint as to "who was behind the attack."

    Or consider the words of President Barack Obama's then-Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Johnnie Carson, after Muslim terrorists slaughtered 50 Christian church worshippers on Easter Sunday, 2012: "I want to take this opportunity to stress one key point and that is that religion is not driving extremist violence [in Nigeria]."

    Instead, "inequality" and "poverty"— to quote former US President William J. Clinton — are "what's fueling all this stuff" ("this stuff" being the Muslim genocide of Christians).

    Back on the ground in Nigeria, most Christians see these ongoing attacks for what they are. As the nun, Sister Monica Chikwe, once observed:

    "It's tough to tell Nigerian Christians this isn't a religious conflict since what they see are Fulani fighters clad entirely in black [like ISIS], chanting 'Allahu Akbar!' and screaming 'Death to Christians.'"

    The recent reports also include quotes and anecdotes that underscore the true source of the hostility. According to one survivor:

    "When the Fulani gunmen came to attack, they could be heard shouting 'Allahu Akbar (Allah is the greatest), we will destroy all Christians.'…. The Fulani started to shoot, burning houses. They burnt our animals and maize plants."

    As the Christian Association of Nigeria once rhetorically asked:

    "How can it be a [secular or economic] clash when one group [Muslims] is persistently attacking, killing, maiming, destroying, and the other group [Christians] is persistently being killed, maimed and their places of worship destroyed?"

    In 2018, when the attacks were nowhere near as bad as they are now, the National Christian Elders Forum of Nigeria succinctly summarized the ultimate source behind the genocide of Christians in Nigeria:

    "JIHAD has been launched in Nigeria by the Islamists of northern Nigeria led by the Fulani ethnic group. This Jihad is based on the Doctrine of Hate taught in Mosques and Islamic Madrasas in northern Nigeria as well as the supremacist ideology of the Fulani. Using both conventional (violent) Jihad, and stealth (civilization) Jihad, the Islamists of northern Nigeria seem determined to turn Nigeria into an Islamic Sultanate and replace Liberal Democracy with Sharia as the National Ideology…. We want a Nigeria, where citizens are treated equally before the law at all levels…."

    Both reports agree that every day, often nominal Muslims — whom the terrorists see as little better than apostates — are also suffering and being displaced by the chaos, Christians "have been singled out for violence, face harsh living conditions and experience faith-based challenges throughout their displacement journey." The Observatory points out that "Since 2015, there have been consistent reports of disparate treatment meted out to Christian and Muslim captives by members of Terror Groups":

    Forced Labor: Christian captives, including men, women, and children, are routinely subjected to forced labor and grueling physical tasks, often under inhumane conditions. By contrast, their Muslim counterparts are typically spared from such treatment.
    Sexual Violence: Christian women and girls are frequently subjected to rape, sexual abuse, and other forms of sexual violence inflicted by their captors. Muslim women, on the other hand, are generally not subjected to such atrocities.
    Ransom Demands and Release: Muslim captives who cannot afford to pay ransoms are sometimes released without payment — a form of preferential treatment. Christian captives, however are rarely granted such leniency.
    Execution Risks: According to media reports and research conducted over the past 10 years, Christian captives are more likely to be executed than Muslim captives held by the same terror groups. There are numerous instances where Christian captives were brutally murdered by their abductors, even after ransoms were paid.
    The "radicalization" in Nigeria is such that even local officials discriminate against and persecute Christians: "some efforts to pressure, coerce or force conversion to Islam by the local government and members of public were described." For example, "to gain access to critical support" in Borno State camps, "some have felt compelled to convert to Islam or deliberately hide their faith… [and] in some places of education they could not gain access with Christian names."

    Unfortunately, the persecution continues. Below are a few headlines to appear in August and September of 2024, right around the publication times of these two reports and therefore not included in them:

    Oct. 3: Herdsmen Kill Christians in Northern and Central Nigeria
    Oct. 1: Herdsmen Kill Christians in Plateau State, Central Nigeria
    Sept. 23: Fulani Herdsmen Kill Christians at Church Services in Nigeria: Pastor and 30 others kidnapped.
    Sept. 2: Fulani Herdsmen Kill Six Christians in Central Nigeria
    Aug. 20: Fate of Pastor, Daughter Kidnapped in Nigeria Unknown: Captors receive ransom payment but demand another.
    Aug. 14: Muslims Burn Down Church Building in Central Nigeria: RCCG worship auditorium destroyed for second time.
    Aug. 13: Nigeria Continues to Tolerate Terrorism, USCIRF States
    Aug. 12: Bandits Kill Church Cleric, One Other, Abduct Eight Persons In Kaduna State Community
    Aug. 9: Herdsmen, Criminal Gang Kill at least 50 Christians in Nigeria
    Aug. 7: Herdsmen Injure Four Christians in Plateau State, Nigeria: One farmer who was shot suffers a shattered hand.
    Aug. 1: Prominent Christian Woman Kidnapped from Church in Nigeria: Policeman, driver are killed in attack.
    In 2020, President Donald J. Trump placed Nigeria on the State Department's List of Countries of Particular Concern — meaning nations which engage in, or tolerate violations of, religious freedom. Trump, moreover and with characteristic bluntness, went on to ask the then Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, "Why are you killing Christians?"

    During the term of President Joseph R. Biden, on the other hand, the State Department inexplicably removed Nigeria — where one Christian is butchered every two hours — from the list. Secretary of State Antony Blinken apparently made this concession three days before meeting with Muhammadu Buhari.

    At the time, many observers responded by slamming the Biden administration. As Sean Nelson, Legal Counsel for Global Religious Freedom for Alliance Defending Freedom International (ADF), noted:

    "Outcry over the State Department's removal of Country of Particular Concern status for Nigeria's religious freedom violations is entirely warranted. No explanations have been given that could justify this decision. If anything, the situation in Nigeria has grown worse over the last year. Thousands of Christians, as well as Muslims who oppose the goals of terrorist and militia groups, are targeted, killed, and kidnapped, and the government is simply unwilling to stop these atrocities…. Removing Country of Particular Concern status for Nigeria will only embolden the increasingly authoritarian government there."

    That is the current state of affairs: for many years now, a jihad of genocidal proportions has been declared on the Christian population of Nigeria — even as American media and government bizarrely present Nigeria's problems in purely economic terms.

    For the mainstream media and politicians, Christian lives taken by Muslims apparently do not matter.

    Raymond Ibrahim, author of Defenders of the West, Sword and Scimitar, Crucified Again, and The Al Qaeda Reader, is the Distinguished Senior Shillman Fellow at the Gatestone Institute and the Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East Forum.

    1. Perhaps we should accept the Christians whose lives are being constantly threatened with genocide and targeted by Muslims into the UK and send all the Muslims in UK to Nigeria? There is plenty of room in Nigeria to do this as the area of Nigeria (923,768 km²) is nearly four times greater than the area of the UK (242,741 km²).

      It seems there is no hope for Christians in Nigeria just as many people have concluded that Muslims pose an existential menace to the UK.

    2. And That POS Mugabe had around 20 thousand people of another tribe murdered because he knew they would never vote for him.
      And the western media didn't bat an eyelid. Nor did they while white farmers and their families were being murdered by Mugabe.
      Remembering that Harold Wilsons wrecked a well run safe and prosperous country.
      As our own useless political idiots are doing to our own country right now.

    3. And where are these Fulani herdsmen getting their weapons from?

      More publicity -> exodus of Nigerian Christians to Europe + islamic Nigeria. Win-win for the parasite class. Now again, who's supplying the herdsmen with weapons?

      1. My guess would be the same people that own Al Jazeera, Qatar. I would doubt Iran because the Muslims in Nigeria are not Shite.

  54. Bruce Springsteen is calling Trump mentally ill in the Telegraph this morning.

    Hilarious. He and De Niro between them have 2 of the worst ever recorded cases of Trump Derangement Syndrome. De Niro's case is so bad, he literally foams at the mouth and has fits of Tourettes Syndrome at the mere mention of Trump.

    1. As I sugggested yesterday evening Bruce Springsteen needs to stop commenting on political matters and learn how to play the guitar better and to improve the quality of his raucous voice.

      1. He has always been overrated as a musician. I lived for a while in New Jersey and I never understood the peoples' obsession with him.

          5. I didn't like The Smiths in the 1980s but I quite warmed to them since. Not everyone's cup of tea, I know, but Steven Morrissey is sometimes worth listening to now.

          11. "Dylan songs are always occasionally best sung by someone else."

            I don't think anyone could sing Forever Young, Tangled Up In Blue, or Shelter From The Storm better than Mr Zimmerman does.

          12. I liked Bryan Ferry's version of 'Hard Rain', although I have never been quite sure whether he was sending it up a little…

          14. Dylan's album "Nashville Skyline" from 1969 is excellent, unlike a lot of his other stuff.

      2. It was my first year as an undergrad. The TV room in our hall of residence was well populated for a repeat of the Old Grey Whistle Test's best-of-the-year compilation. It emptied when Springsteen came on. Time for a refill at the bar!

    4. WhWho gives a flying f*** what Bruce Springtsein thinks? His very initials sum up his views.

      1. It’s disappointing when you’ve enjoyed someone’s work to discover that talent and intelligence don’t necessarily go together. A great relief that Bob Dylan has the wisdom to keep his gob shut. Sir Andras Schiff is another who should shut up and play the bluddy piano. His habitual lecture on Brexit is mind-blowingly stupid.

          1. I used to like Jonathan Coe and Kate Atkinson, but I won’t touch any of their work now due to their BDS.

          2. Yes. I saw them perform Waiting for Godot together at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket. I’d hated the play since having to read it at school but their comic timing won me over.

          3. I watched Patrick from 3 feet away as he performed Shakespeare at the end of his life in a play called Bingo. No idea why it was called that. It was at the Chichester Festival Theatre.

            Nice lunch too. Plus i saw him scoot out the kitchen door to avoid us idiots.

            I also saw McKellen do his 80th birthday tour ending at the …can’t remember what Theatre but double gin and tonics were £20. !

            He was and is entertaining. Seated a few seats away was ‘Mr… I can’t believe it !’ :@)

  55. Bruce Springsteen is calling Trump mentally ill in the Telegraph this morning.

    Hilarious. He and De Niro between them have 2 of the worst ever recorded cases of Trump Derangement Syndrome. De Niro's case is so bad, he literally foams at the mouth and has fits of Tourettes Syndrome at the mere mention of Trump.

    1. I waver between supporting Israel 100,000,000% and occasional twinges of micro anti-semitism nearer home.
      But as for Mel Phillips (Mrs Joshua Rozenberg, good) let's avoid the blah blah blah and cut to the quick:
      there was a time when Jews quietly walked into the gas chambers
      BUT THEY AIN'T GOING TO DO THAT EVER AGAIN. UNDERSTAND?

    1. I forsee in the not too distant future that no criminals will ever be sent to gaol because it would interfere with their yooman rights.

      1. With apologies for repeating myself…
        “A Communist system can be recognized by the fact
        that it spares the criminals
        and criminalizes the political opponent.”
        ― Alexander Solzhenitsyn

      2. Well, criminals with “protected characteristics”. There’s plenty of room in prison for wHitey for all sorts of non-crimes.

  60. So it looks like the former owner of Harrods could have been one man grooming gang, going by his victims.

    1. He was, but I think it was well known and no one seemed to say much at the time. One of his victims described unspeakable behaviour in the office in her first week and then remaining in his employ for some while even after he allegedly raped her. There was probably a glint of precious metal across the palms to keep AF's gropings quiet.

  63. Now: BBC Radio 4 Jeremy Bowen: Fifteen minute rant about the mass murdering Jews and their unending bombing of hospitals, schools and refugee camps in their lust for revenge over the insults aimed at their hero and saviour, Netanyahu. Why doesn't Biden and Starmer get together and send NATO arms and ammunition to the defenders and help wipe out the evil killers destroying the farms and cites of the peace loving Palestinians?

    If you missed it don't worry, it will be repeated several times in the coming weeks – just after the repeat programmes celebrating the Brighton Bombing and the killing and maiming of far-right Tories and their evil friends.

  64. Good afternoon, all. Wet.

    A Minister of the Crown wriggling on the hook as he tries to defend the decision of not inviting Elon Musk to the International Business Summit.

    https://x.com/LozzaFox/status/1845723969913065791

    Business and Trade Minister /President of the Board of Trade, John Reynolds. His Wiki profile doesn't have much, if anything, to say about his experience in Trade or Business matters.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/dc13f21e57ab2e60f8c465d360a590f1367d1f6035402de61cf2281a869904fe.png

      2. Lawyers who know their stuff and are intelligent largely stay in law. It's the failures who go into politics.

      1. All war crimes are only crimes when carried out by people the winning side doesn't like. The winning side is not always who you think it is either.

  67. Apropos the lady sent to prison for saying she wouldn't care if a certain hotel burned down…

    shouldn't NZ and Polynesian sports teams be arrestedfor inciting violence every time they perform a haka?

    2. There's hardly a page of the koran that could be read out loud if the same standards were applied.

      1. Many years ago when they tried that down in Durban, the SA players moved to one side and a horde of Zulu warriors came out to face down the kiwis.

        I was wearing an all black shirt at the time but the crowd did not act unfriendly in any way.

    1. Well done – I was a dead loss. Not too good with American spelling, me.

      Wordle 1,218 X/6

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

      1. Likewise

        Wordle 1,218 6/6

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

      2. Yes I got it in 4. I don't normally do it to be honest and when I came up with just three alternatives left, one of which was American…

      3. Me neither.

        Wordle 1,218 6/6

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

  69. Quran (47:3-4): "Those who disbelieve follow falsehood, while those who believe follow the truth from their Lord… So, when you meet those who disbelieve, smite at their necks till when you have killed and wounded many of them, then bind a bond firmly (i.e. capture the survivors)… If it had been Allah's Will, He Himself could certainly have punished them (without you). But (He lets you fight), in order to test you, some with others. But those who are killed in the Way of Allah, He will never let their deeds be lost."

    2. It has taken kufiyyeh clad mobs burning the Canadian flag and screaming Death to Canada before the government over here did more that utter a simple tut tut!

      Even now, no one has been charged with anything.

      1. Oh yes another Typo …..well sort of they do know where it is but still haven't recognised who actually caused it and why it continues.

  71. Well, the early morning rain has ceased and it's turned out bright and sunny.
    Not long back from a trip to Matlock that got a bit frustrating!
    Paid in my ERNIE cheques to the Nationwide and the lass dealing with me was not only under training, but the printer went tits up so a 5min transaction took 20.
    Whizzed round Iceland and the Co-op for their "Flog it off cheap" items and then went for the 10:37 Bonsall bus outside Iceland.
    Just before 11:00 I gave up and walked to M&S for a bus to Cromford.
    Luckily when I got off at Cromford, I was offered a lift up the road!

          1. Wow! That’s money!
            Beautiful bike, though. Good choice!
            As soon as Firstborn got the Triumph home, he was walking it backwards into the garage, and it toppled over. He picked it up (!), and I was delighted – for just a few scratches in the chrome, he learned to treat the massive machine with respect, and taht will likely save him from injury, or worse.

      1. I like paying the prize warrants over the counter and mentioning how much of a better interest rate I'm getting of ERNIE!

      2. Mine too but into my bank account – I'd prefer if they bough more bonds but I'm on the limit

        1. I was obliged to reduce my holdings but held the maximum for a few years still have forty three thousand which yields variable winnings. If I win a few thousand then I will likely build up
          My holdings.

          I have a private pension pot but I withdrew the 25% Tax Free Lump Sum about ten years ago to pay to have my property re-thatched. I am mindful that this wretched government will tax any withdrawals from my private pension which I find disgusting. For those with private pensions I suggest they withdraw the 25% Tax Free Allowance before the Reeves crone lowers the figure to 10% in the next budget.

  72. "I'd seen what had happened on January 6th at the Capitol, I was there when Donald Trump gave his 'Fight like hell!' speech and you saw what happened next. I though 'How safe are our democratic institutions?' because for all the faults of Britain, it's wonderful that we live in this society where there's free speech, free elections and peaceful transfer of power."

    Jon Sopel on this morning's Saturday Live on Radio 4.

    I should like to assure Nottlanders that no teacups were damaged while I listened to this tripe – but it was a close-run thing.

    Sopel was promoting a book (advertising is obviously allowed on the BBC for The Chosen Ones). He did, however, make a pertinent observation. He voted for the first time in 1979 and pointed out that there were just three prime ministers in the next 28 years. He returned from the USA in 2022 'and we got through three in one year' (actually, Jonny, not even two months).

    We have not been well served in our 'wonderful society', Mr S.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m00246ct

    1. Fight Like Hell was not to hit some one but work hard. Anyone can see that if the listen to the full comments he made.

      1. Why spout the truth when you can deliberately misrepresent what was said, to Trump's disadvantage?

      2. Why spout the truth when you can deliberately misrepresent what was said, to Trump's disadvantage?

    2. "..it's wonderful that we live in this society where there's free speech, free elections and peaceful transfer of power."

      You have to wonder, or at least I do, how someone could spout such tripe,

    3. President Trump famously described the BBC wretch Sopel as “Another Beauty” during a press briefing. Sopel represents everything that is wrong with the BBC, biased and blinkered to the realities of political life in the US.

      January 6th was deliberately staged by Nancy Pelosi and deep state actors in order to prevent the proper process of state electors questioning the Presidential election results. Sopel should know this and if not the question has to be why not? Sopel claims to be a journalist but I see little evidence of any proper journalism in his rants.

  73. Black face Trudeau nay have bitten off more than he can handle this time.

    During his partisan rant at this week's foreign interference inquiry he asserted that Jordan Peterson (yes that psychologist) is being funded by Russia. These comments were made under oath in the public hearings. Peterson is less than amused and is considering suing our little potato JT for these blatently untrue accusations.

    Four more junior ministers have now resigned from the liberal government, the empire is collapsing at last.

    1. He is a mass murderer, like Horse Face Ardern.

      These people are above the law. They will never face justice for their crimes.

    2. I have a friend who lives near Toronto. She has never been able to understand how he gets re-elected.

  74. Just had a lovely face to face chat with our youngest in Dubai, showed us the view from their new rental apartment over looking the Marina. 24 degs today probably a bit nippy for them.
    Seem to be enjoying life there.

    1. Firstborn is staying with us for the weekend. Wonderful, even if we are a hotel to be based at so he can attend a training and certification couse as Range Officer.
      It's good to have him here, and the cats are delighted!

  75. Who will win the White House? The betting markets have already picked their winner. 19 October 2024.

    Donald Trump will be the next president of the United States, the betting markets believe.

    The bookies have rallied around the Republican candidate with the former president receiving his best odds since the end of July, analysis shows.

    My instincts have settled on Trump. I’m not sure that it is anything he has done but Harris does not look like a President of the United States.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/politics/2024/10/18/betting-markets-presidential-election-odds-trump-harris/

  76. Scientists and statisticians falsely claimed that black babies delivered by white doctors were twice as likely to die as white babies, a lie that was quickly absorbed into the mainstream and used to further embed race-based policies and propaganda into hospitals and other medical institutions. The report was subsequently shown to have ommitted significant data and therefore mendaciously wrong – but the policies it spawned are still in place, and the claim routinely used as proof of institutional racism. Today's new article ' Statistic as Woke Propaganda ' by Popeye Doyle, shows that such sinister manipulation of statistics is now the norm in scientific circles – all trending to the woke left.

    Please do read and leave a comment. Popeye is a new writer and I want him to be happy with the response to his article. Much appreciated Nottlers.

    freespeechbacklash.

  79. Sir Keir Starmer has removed a portrait of William Shakespeare from No 10 – the latest painting of a great national figure to be taken down under the Prime Minister, The Telegraph understands.

    The 18th-century portrait of the Bard has been taken down and placed in storage in a move that has prompted concerns about “philistinism”. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/10/18/shakespeare-latest-victim-downing-street-purge-portraits/

    The Telegraph has revealed that portraits depicting Elizabeth I, Sir Walter Raleigh, William Ewart Gladstone and Margaret Thatcher have been taken down since the Labour Government took power, sparking a Conservative backlash.

    Sir Oliver Dowden, a former Tory culture secretary, said: “The Prime Minister spent the election loudly proclaiming his patriotism, but now the election is over he’s succumbing to the usual Left-wing cringing embarrassment about our past.

    “Not content with removing Thatcher, Gladstone, Raleigh and Elizabeth I, he’s now consigning Shakespeare to the dustbin.

    “Downing Street receives thousands of distinguished visitors every year. He should be using it to proclaim the greatest writer in the English language, not engaging in this philistinism.”

    Robert Jenrick, the Tory leadership candidate, said: “We should celebrate and extol great figures in English history and stop being embarrassed by our identity. No other country would behave like this.”

    The artworks that have replaced portraits of Elizabeth I and Sir Walter Raleigh in No 10
    The artworks that have replaced portraits of Elizabeth I and Sir Walter Raleigh in No 10
    The Shakespeare painting that has been removed is by Louis Francois Roubiliac, and is a copy of John Taylor’s 17th-century Chandos portrait.

    The portrait of the writer, who lived from 1564 to 1616, is part of the Government Art Collection, typically used to project British soft power. Incoming prime ministers are entitled to use the collection to decorate Downing Street on arrival.

    Downing Street said it did not comment on the arrangement of interiors, but changes are expected when an incoming prime minister, or the holders of the seniority of state, enter their new offices.

    Many of Shakespeare’s plays were written during the reign of Elizabeth I, who patronised the early slave trade through pirates such Sir John Hawkins. Her portrait also no longer hangs in Downing Street.

    Raleigh, whose painting has been removed, played a key role in England’s early colonisation of North America.

    PN

    Peter Nixon
    1 min ago
    Spineless gutless useless and hopeless – the Labour Party has shown itself to be so devoid of talent that it had to put Starmer in charge.

    Comment by Christine McDermott.

    CM

    Christine McDermott
    7 min ago
    What an absolute child 2TK is! He's an embarrassment

    Comment by Geraldine Kelley.

    GK

    Geraldine Kelley
    7 min ago
    What an insecure and vapid creature this man is!

    Comment by keith brown.

    kb

    keith brown
    8 min ago
    Make Space for a picture of George Floyd so he can kneel in front of it.

    Comment by Rohan Isaacs.

    RI

    Rohan Isaacs
    8 min ago
    A small, insignificant speck , having had great power bestowed upon him by a broken political machine, uses that power to erase great men and women who will be remembered long after the speck has been erased. That aside, I am keen for Starmer to spend all of his time rearranging the artwork as the more time he spends on that the less he can spend on damaging this country. I say let him, Reeves and the rest of the cabinet of dullards be given an art project a day for the next 5 years.

    Read more
    Reply by We dont need no State Control.

    Wd

    We dont need no State Control
    7 min ago
    A spot of colouring perhaps.

    Comment by Jackie Goudie.

    JG

    Jackie Goudie
    8 min ago
    Why doesn't he do us all a favour and remove himself.

  80. Sir Keir Starmer has removed a portrait of William Shakespeare from No 10 – the latest painting of a great national figure to be taken down under the Prime Minister, The Telegraph understands.

    The 18th-century portrait of the Bard has been taken down and placed in storage in a move that has prompted concerns about “philistinism”.

    The Telegraph has revealed that portraits depicting Elizabeth I, Sir Walter Raleigh, William Ewart Gladstone and Margaret Thatcher have been taken down since the Labour Government took power, sparking a Conservative backlash.

    Sir Oliver Dowden, a former Tory culture secretary, said: “The Prime Minister spent the election loudly proclaiming his patriotism, but now the election is over he’s succumbing to the usual Left-wing cringing embarrassment about our past.

    “Not content with removing Thatcher, Gladstone, Raleigh and Elizabeth I, he’s now consigning Shakespeare to the dustbin.

    “Downing Street receives thousands of distinguished visitors every year. He should be using it to proclaim the greatest writer in the English language, not engaging in this philistinism.”

    Robert Jenrick, the Tory leadership candidate, said: “We should celebrate and extol great figures in English history and stop being embarrassed by our identity. No other country would behave like this.”

    The artworks that have replaced portraits of Elizabeth I and Sir Walter Raleigh in No 10
    The artworks that have replaced portraits of Elizabeth I and Sir Walter Raleigh in No 10
    The Shakespeare painting that has been removed is by Louis Francois Roubiliac, and is a copy of John Taylor’s 17th-century Chandos portrait.

    The portrait of the writer, who lived from 1564 to 1616, is part of the Government Art Collection, typically used to project British soft power. Incoming prime ministers are entitled to use the collection to decorate Downing Street on arrival.

    Downing Street said it did not comment on the arrangement of interiors, but changes are expected when an incoming prime minister, or the holders of the seniority of state, enter their new offices.

    Many of Shakespeare’s plays were written during the reign of Elizabeth I, who patronised the early slave trade through pirates such Sir John Hawkins. Her portrait also no longer hangs in Downing Street.

    Raleigh, whose painting has been removed, played a key role in England’s early colonisation of North America.

    PN

    Peter Nixon
    1 min ago
    Spineless gutless useless and hopeless – the Labour Party has shown itself to be so devoid of talent that it had to put Starmer in charge.

    Comment by Christine McDermott.

    CM

    Christine McDermott
    7 min ago
    What an absolute child 2TK is! He's an embarrassment

    Comment by Geraldine Kelley.

    GK

    Geraldine Kelley
    7 min ago
    What an insecure and vapid creature this man is!

    Comment by keith brown.

    kb

    keith brown
    8 min ago
    Make Space for a picture of George Floyd so he can kneel in front of it.

    Comment by Rohan Isaacs.

    RI

    Rohan Isaacs
    8 min ago
    A small, insignificant speck , having had great power bestowed upon him by a broken political machine, uses that power to erase great men and women who will be remembered long after the speck has been erased. That aside, I am keen for Starmer to spend all of his time rearranging the artwork as the more time he spends on that the less he can spend on damaging this country. I say let him, Reeves and the rest of the cabinet of dullards be given an art project a day for the next 5 years.

    Read more
    Reply by We dont need no State Control.

    Wd

    We dont need no State Control
    7 min ago
    A spot of colouring perhaps.

    Comment by Jackie Goudie.

    JG

    Jackie Goudie
    8 min ago
    Why doesn't he do us all a favour and remove himself.

  81. 305007+ up ticks,

    May one ask what constituency will he represent in the near future ?

    Migrant gangster convicted over murder can’t be deported because of EU rules
    Home Office officials lose six-year legal battle to remove William George, a Belgian, from the UK.

  82. Reporter who praised Oct 7 as ‘moment of triumph’ to speak at London Muslim conference
    Global Peace and Unity festival in London schedules seminar with presenter from Iran-backed TV channel who supported Hamas terror attack
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/19/london-muslim-festival-hamas-oct-7-israel-latifa-abouchakra/

    The PTB are likely to judge that things said by one group of people are quite acceptable while the same things said by another group are a criminal offence.

    BTL

    I think a lot of people are wary of saying what they really think because it could be considered to be hate speech and they might end up in prison.

          3. It’s a tick box destination restaurant for me. I have ticked of a few. Simpson’s and a few others but i won’t be returning. That includes Paris.

            Which also gives me leave to complain about everything!!!

            Just like Jimmy Famawewa about complaining in his guise as a food critic of the black boy which is part of the damned fabric of the building. I will make a point of mentioning it if it has been removed or covered up.

            Then get Michael or Harry to pay the bill as i swan off to Waterloo in my BLACK cab. Innocent face.

      1. Nutmeg is finely grated and used sparingly. To get the hallucinogen effect one would need to consume at least 5 grams. Which we don't as a rule.

        Speaking of Rules. I'm there on Tuesday with some Nottlers. https://rules.co.uk/

        Take a gander at the menu !!!

    1. For 12 billion we could triple the UKs electricity output. The unreliables are just a cost sink. Might have powered 100,000 homes – if the sun were at its highest, on a bright day, in Summer but come overthe day that number dwindles rapidly. Might be 10,000 at 6am, 15 at 8, 20 at 9, 30 at 10 and the same in reverse.

      It's unreliable. Covering farm land in panels is just a waste. Make solar and batteries tax deductible.

  88. Francis Ford Coppola has made some great films. His latest is Megalopolis. Ancient Rome set in the modern era. It's bombing everywhere. 35% on Rotten Tomatoes.

    And then there is Conclave. Starring Ralph Fiennes scoring 93%.

    I will still watch Megalopolis because some films are so bad they are good and become cult films.

  90. OT – some young man of whom I have never heard, who was part of a pop group of which I had never heard – kills himself. Sad and all that – but why is it plastered over every newspaper?

    Just asking.

    2. Quite. I notice that my Echo Show (which has it's uses) is now offering to play tracks by something called "One Direction", gratis. Thanks, Alexa, but no thanks…

          1. Terminal velocity was unlikely to have been achieved unless the pop star fell from a very tall building. Terminating velocity perhaps but Terminal Velocity is when the body is no longer accelerating on descent but falling at a constant speed.

    3. The pop group he was in were very popular a couple of decades ago with teen girls, and that's quite a market. Wouldn't have thought you could monetise death in that way, but apparently it's possible.

      1. I checked and read that this chap came third in some talent show where the winner was Matt Cardle whose name I do know because he attended a school local to us.

        My teenage generation played Joni Mitchell, Simon and Garfunkel, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, The Hollies, Billy Joel, The Beach Boys, Bob Marley, Hendrix and oddballs such as James Taylor, Sandy Denny and Linda Ronstadt. None of the current popular musicians approaches those of the sixties and seventies.

        1. With you, corimmobile. I play Joni most days. Do you know the story about Joni and Graham Nash ‘I met a woman, she had a mouth like yours’…etc..No way is James Taylor an oddball 😀 As for Denny/Ronstadt.hmm…:-)…I was always a Dylan fan…..aaarghhh….

        2. I am in Wolverhampton with mum and dad and mum seems to think the funeral will be held here.

    4. Why is his death of interest to anyone beyond his family and friends? We’re supposed to subscribe to a fantasy that he was a mighty talent struck down by cruel fate. I’ve just come back from a presentation at the Wigmore Hall which told the story of the life and work of Kathleen Ferrier. Not that I needed that perspective, but…

        1. At least with Shakespeares Juliet didn't stuff her face with Meth, Fentanyl and Cocaine. She managed to stand on her balcony and die in a different stupid way. Fucking idiots.

        2. Kathleen Ferrier, 41.
          Dinu Lipatti, deceased aged 33.
          Patricia Janečková aged 25
          Maria Callas only reached 53.

      2. So very many within the industry knew full well he was taking lots of drugs. They are showing faux remorse. In the hope they don't get attached to the incident in a bad way.

      3. Having played a small part in the Carlisle and District Music Festival whilst at school (on more than one occasion), and in later life, directed a Surrey village church choir which counted amongst its membership a certain Dr Sheila Cooper (better known as Sheila Armstrong, and past president of the Kathleen Ferrier Society), I share your puzzlement, Sue.

        1. Yo Geoff! Did you know a Kathleen Gash in Carlisle musical circles? Or her daughter Charlotte?
          They were both brilliant pianists and singers!

    5. He was drunk and on drugs. The balcony rail was only about four feet high. He toppled over with a whisky bottle and a vape in hand.

      It's a morality tale. Don't do it.

      The outcome of this will be new regulations so all balconies have high rails and possibly fencing like they do at open prisons Theme Parks.

        1. No, he is excluded (shock horror) because he already had a child. The point of the Darwin Award is that it is intended for people who die without breeding.

  91. OT – some years ago, while walking in the French countryside, I spotted an odd shaped flint embedded in the path. I extracted it using the key of my hotel room!! (True!!) It is a hand axe. I showed to a distinguished French archaeologist. He was well impressed. He estimated it as between 50,000 and 100,000 years old. When I feel gloomy – I just hold it in my hand. Very calming. Puts many things in perspective.

    2. Almost as old as you, Bill!
      Sorry, hard to resist.
      Firstborn's farm has that effect – wooden farmhouse older than the USA, space, silence, wildlife… balm for the soul, so it is.

  92. Sex offender guilty of rape and manslaughter of woman who had passed out on bench. 19 October 2024.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/026937260b94019d285a3e28c78a64413965c5fc892ec4b3bb832edd5c1325f6.png

    A convicted sex offender has been found guilty of the rape and manslaughter of a vulnerable woman who he found passed out on a park bench.

    Natalie Shotter, 37, suffered a heart attack and died after she was repeatedly raped by Mohamed Iidow in Southall Park in west London in July 2021.

    The 35-year-old, who had a conviction for trying to groom young people online, had initially claimed that the sex was consensual but later changed his story, suggesting that she was already dead when he raped her. But his lies were rejected by the jury following a trial at the Old Bailey.

    This is the sort of person that Westminster is setting to rule over us.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/18/sex-offender-guilty-rape-death-unconscious-woman-park-bench/

    2. I know it's a horrible thing to say, but I wish Yvette Cooper, she of the refugees welcome brigade doing nothing to stop the invasion of such barbarian savages – had gon through this horrific ordeal.

      1. Indeed, I have been saying for many years, I wish those crimes on no person but the simple fact is they will increase in numbers over the coming months and years, so if anyone is to be raped and murdered I would prefer it to be supporters of the mass importation of this dross rather than innocent women and kids.

      2. Wouldn't matter a jot.
        There's 100s of stories of daughters of EU officials being murdered & graped.. they still maintain their progressive death-wish.

        “I’m sure the guy who did it was more desperate than bad and I’m glad it happened to me not someone who would have been badly affected by it.” Dipstick Tommy Corbyn (son of Daddy dipstick Jeremy Corbyn) said after being attacked by a you-know-what aspiring engineer.

      3. I did notice a headline in one of the papers as I went shopping this afternoon, saying when will the drownings cease, stop the boats. If the bleeding hearts manage to stop the boats (even for the wrong reasons) that will be a plus.

          1. Sadly I think you're right. Given the make up of the Border Force for entry into Blighty on the Eurostar, that'll be "step this way for freebies, bro".

    3. The advocates of mass uncontrolled immigration are as guilty of those crimes as the vermin pictured.

      1. Even more so.. because they are doing it deliberately. Whereas Mohamed can't help it.. it's in his blood.. he even told you in writing.

    5. The thing is.. old Mohamed will be in your country forever & ever.. breeding away like a rat.
      A foreign court will make sure you provide for him and make him comfy.
      The only positive is.. wish a 1,000 more of these events every week.. it's the only way you'll wake up the normies and ever get rid of Starmer and his merry band of self-harming progressives.
      They really hate you.

    6. The thing is.. old Mohamed will be in your country forever & ever.. breeding away like a rat.
      A foreign court will make sure you provide for him and make him comfy.
      The only positive is.. wish a 1,000 more of these events every week.. it's the only way you'll wake up the normies and ever get rid of Starmer and his merry band of self-harming progressives.
      They really hate you.

  93. Here tomorrow, St Martin's Church, Wareham, sometimes St Martin's-on-the-walls.

    The church is reputed to have been founded by Saint Aldhelm in the 7th century. It is thought that this earlier building was destroyed by King Canute in 1015. The present building dates from about AD 1030. Anglo-Saxon features include a tall, narrow nave and chancel, late Anglo-Saxon wall-arcading in the north west aisle and traces of a Saxon door. The building has been altered and expanded over the years but the nave and a tiny window in the north side of the chancel are original features. On the north wall of the chancel are 12th-century frescoes depicting Saint Martin on horseback, escorted by attendants, dividing his cloak and giving one half to a naked beggar.
    On one of the walls a number of red stars have been painted, possibly representing plague deaths in the 17th century.

    During the Great Fire of Wareham in 1762, the church was used as a temporary refuge for those who had lost their homes. Later the church fell into disuse but at the beginning of the 20th century a programme of restoration began and the church was rededicated on 23rd November 1936.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/eb8935bec8505644c89763309336dcfbfdb2e4a2b0d4d8cb283b4605726e0647.jpg

      1. Hopefully it's the right way up.
        If not I will put my pedantry hat on and have a word.

        2. Assuming it's an Anglican church, It should be flying the flag of St George, with the Diocesan Crest in one corner. We fly it sans crest when appropriate ( at least, we did when we had a Verger living across the road. Sadly, we had to let him go. I wonder what happened to him?).

          2. He was also the organist, despite having both legs amputated below the knee, thus rendering him useless in terms of playing the pedals. He preferred Yellow Tail Shiraz to comunion wine. His employment contract expires on 30 September 2025.

            If there's still a functioning church by then, no-one is queuing up to take his place.

          4. I suspect the loss of two limbs is a very steep skills requirement for most applicants and possibly a step or two toofar….?

    3. St Martin – patron saint of blacksmiths and farriers. Often horseshoes were nailed to the door of a church dedicated to St M.

  94. A scratchy Bogey Five!

    Wordle 1,218 5/6
    ⬜⬜⬜🟩🟩
    ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
    ⬜🟩⬜🟩🟩
    🟩🟩⬜🟩🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Them yanks can’t spell.

      Wordle 1,218 4/6

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

    2. Silly smelling (sic).

      Wordle 1,218 5/6

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

    3. Dear oh dear.

      Wordle 1,218 X/6

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

    4. American spelling again but I should have sussed it sooner.

      Wordle 1,218 6/6

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

  95. Afternoon, all. Lovely day; sunny, dry, warm – better than some days we've had in July! Had a lovely morning being hands on horsy. I have missed it. I don't know whether I'll be able to take up the opportunity to ride; the horse is a shire x warmblood and 17.2 hh. Even with a stepladder I think I might be struggling to mount and getting off would need a parachute! Still, I have offered to act as groom and that has been gratefully accepted, so perhaps I'll get my "fix" that way.

    Islam only understands strong measures; anything else, including compassion, is seen as weakness.

      2. When I did re-enactments we would make up our armour as close to realistic as we could. Yes, modern steels are far lighter but even I could get on a horse in full plate. The problem isn't riding, it's charging. A horse simply cannot gallop 500 yards carrying a rider in plate and, being honest it became so dangerous for the horses that eventually we dismounted and bashed at each other on foot.

        Although, when you're already very big, adding even more to that in metal and barrelling at even folk who know what's going to happen can be a bit intimidating!

        1. Our 5 year old granddaughter has just started riding lessons and absolutely loves it. She has has a very no-nonsense teacher, and she shouts! I was taught by an ex Household Cavalry man who was wonderful! I miss it too! That smell…

    4. The best horse I ever had the honour of riding was of the same dimensions. I can still remember my astonishment at how far apart my knees were once seated… 🤣🤣

  96. What is steak and kidney pudding, as opposed to steak and kidney pie? I like steak and kidney but I don’t like puff pastry. My dear mother used to always use shortcrust pastry and I developed an early preference that’s stayed with me.

    1. Pudding is the pastry made with suet. It can be heavier than puff and shortcrust but is olde English and very filling.

      I have a Christmas lunch coming up for friends and neighbours who are gluten intolerant.

      My masterpiece showstopper of a 20 inch long beef wellington is going to have to be made with IMO inferior ingredients…grinds teeth ! To counter this i will add a second layer of the nasty pastry with my special cutter which will create a lace effect over the welly. It's not one direction…it's mis-direction.

      At the end of the day it is the sauce/gravy that saves the dish…ahem.

    3. My preference too. Kate & Sidney pudding is often deemed 'more traditional'. I don't dislike it but seldom eat more than 1/3rd of the suet pastry. I need to look after my svelte figure as I'm sure all NoTTLers realise.

  97. Right everyone. I am going to sign off now and read Operation Biting by Max Hastings. It is the story of the WWII British commando raid on the German radar installation in Bruneval France. Ahhh. Happy days.

      3. I recall reading that as a small boy he had a revolver (where from? his dad's?) and shooting in at the television, he liked cowboy programmes. Probably a good idea some of us don't have licences (gun, not tv…that would be a terrible terrible thing, wouldn't it…..)

    1. Barding is really heavy, beautiful though but would be quite rare due to the cost. Even chainmail was expensive.

      Frankly, I've a huge amount of respect for the ancient military that wore all that day in, day out.

  102. GCSE textbook that says jihad in Gaza ‘justified’ pulled from print
    Book, designed for 16-year-old, says ‘social oppression and poverty’ offer justification ‘in places like Gaza/Palestine’
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/19/gcse-textbook-jihad-gaza-justified-pulled-from-print/

    A couple of GCSE questions they are unlikely to set!

    "Which nations and religions use human shields putting their own civilian people in the line of fire in front of valid military targets and what does this say about the people who condone this?"

    "Can rape, murder, torture and hostage taking be justified in order to pursue your religious or political ends?"

    1. The media never admit that the funding of Hezbollah is not by Iran but by Quatar. The top leadership of Hezbollah reside in Quatar and it is rare for any of them to visit Lebanon.

    2. Hang on being poor is cause for holy war? You'd think the correct answer would be to stop being poor by, you know, doing something positive but that goes against the muslim mindset.

  103. That's me for today. Strange one. Drizzle all day but sort of mild. Similar tomorrow, apparently. Monday looks brighter. Wednesday to Hatfield "University" for the last time ever (the MR has an important job based there which is ending).

    Have a jolly evening.

    A demain.

  104. Number one ishooo today for all lefties & Islamists is the mourning of the death of one of the world's worst terrorists in London's capital.
    Star guest speaker.. drumroll.. Jeremy Corbyn.
    Police on hand to bring the full force of the law down on any St George's or Israeli flag wavers.
    After all it's not your country and certainly not your capital.

        2. When all the white people have been got rid of, who will pay the muslim welfare bill? After all, 70% don't work or provide any use or value.

      3. Saw footage today of folks in Great Yarmouth, all of a mind and not happy what's happened in their town, and that they're helpless to change it.

      4. Our once safe and pleasant country that our parents and grandparents offered their lives to protect is (completely effed up) absolutely finished in every single aspect.
        Our collective pile of dung aka politicians have for no apparent reason wrecked it.

    3. The way the Israelis are tidying up in their back yard is admirable – sad about the collateral, though. Maybe if the terrorists were not cowardly scum and hid amongst the civilians, it wouldn't be so bad.

      2. The pallywallys can't complain the house is on fire when they ran around turning the gas on and striking matches. It is, yet again, their fault.

    1. “black and brown people” ffs. So juvenile. And if you dare to talk about “yellow” people, that’s racist for some reason

    1. I lived in and around Colchester for seven years altogether. In Wiv’no, Alresford and in the town (Lexden Rd, East Hill).

  108. Worked with two, many years ago. Came on the Kindertransport – when I worked with them, they were both Professors – and thoroughly good chaps, too.

  109. Popping off after a quite day.
    Good night all 🙄😴
    family day Tmz.
    Next week half term a family few days in a lovely 4 bed house in the lovely Cotswolds.

  110. Lighten our darkness, O Lord! Yesterday I bought some new solar powered lights to replace the ones that had either stopped working or disintegrated. I put some of them up yesterday and this afternoon. They are gleaming bright in the garden now. Makes me feel cosy and Christmassy!

    1. I think we should all be looking for some form of battery/solar lights for indoor use in anticipation of the inevitable power cuts.

      1. I've got wind up torches and a wind up lantern. Also battery tea lights and candles. Plus the flame variety as well and oil lamps.

    2. Problemo Conners we have one of two security lights at our front door.
      One solar. No sunlight during the day no security light. But the other one works all the time.

    3. Has anyone noticed how the price of batteries (re-chargeable or not) has soared this last year?

    4. Which ones did you get, Conway? I'd like something like that for the fence. Won't be much but might be nice to have.

          1. I think it depends on the make – and how much sunshine they get to charge the battery. Some have a battery back up as well as the solar powered one so they'll light up on dull days as well. It's really nice to see them glowing in the darkness. I have them on my arches and on the Christmas tree in a pot.

          2. Much obliged. I don't really do Christmas or other events and seen folk do this in theirs, so thought i'd make an effort

          3. I don't make a big thing of Christmas lights, but I do like lights in the dark days of winter. I particularly like the stars, although I have had small globes in the past (accidentally chopped through the wire of those when I was pruning – oops!).

    5. Which ones did you get, Conway? I'd like something like that for the fence. Won't be much but might be nice to have.

  111. Rather early for bed and to wish you all a Good Night. But I've just enjoyed an excellent self-prepared Spaghetti Bolognese supper with a glass of wine so I'm off to bed to sleep things off. I may be back later, or I may not reappear before Sunday morning. So sleep well and see you all whenever I surface.

  112. Evening folks. Talking of lights just back from Bath Abbey which is staging an electronic Kaleidoscope of continuous moving images with music. Can only show you some stills but the whole thing was rather magical…
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/aa982f4108c162f2d347d8fed9a0f172bc0c59a4924d4f6b238ff8fd6bc51369.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0ab467ec29a7d20a865cc927a8cf731b8a5cfc9295c6c3f2864e74c54096b62a.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7022976f2acdb6e14bdb493e2f5e168a92668adf63a09740bc0fe2e5c17d9dce.jpg

      1. Yes it really was especially a sequence of shooting stars coming directly towards one…

        1. Beautiful photos; thanks! I love displays like that! Have hunted them down in cities in several countries.

          The one I remember most fondly, though, was based on the paintings of Van Gogh, in a little church in York. I'd discovered that my mother had never seen such a thing, so hauled her over there to experience it.

          The look of sheer wonder on her face will stay with me for as long as I live.

          it was her last expedition.

      2. These are beautiful. It's really quite glorious that they've made such a display, on such a scale accentuate and show off the architecture rather than merely the display be the feature.

      1. Despite the Bath Abbey dating from 1499, the fan vaulting is in fact Victorian and designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott.

        The same Architect restored the Octagonal Tower crossing at Ely Cathedral to its mediaeval form after some Cambridge Architect left it in a state of near collapse.

        1. He also revamped the nave in St Mary’s Ellesmere. We’ve just celebrated 175 years of the rededication.

  114. Goodnight, all. Off to bed early as I had to have an early start this morning. I can cope with late nights, but early mornings lay me out!

  115. I just wish that all the world's zealots, whether ideological, political or religious, would just die, along with the megalomaniacs that control them.

    1. It would be nice if there was 'planet nutter' where all the Starmers, Schwabbs, Gates' and so on could be posted.

      The problem is such characters can only exist when they have others to abuse and pay for their madness.

    2. “Class warfare ads hating the rich”. Kamala is worth $6 million. Doesn’t that make her rich?

      1. Er … she might have ready access to $6m spending money, but I'd baulk at calling her "worth" it.😉

  119. Watching Bridget Jones Diary , refreshingly funny even after all those years , TV 5star+1

    .Just good humour and lots of well known faces.

    Musical score /songs are gorgeous , just a warm happy film .

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