819 thoughts on “Saturday 2 November: Exposing Labour’s hostility to the well off, who already pay a large slice of tax”

  1. Good morrow Gentle-folk. Your thought for the day:
    I’ve got you… blunder my skin! Hilarious photos of misspelled tattoos reveal why you should take a dictionary when you get body art

    This man’s ‘awsome’ tattoo is just one of a number of examples that prove why spell check is so important. Simply getting one letter wrong can be very embarrassing.

    Full Story:
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2276949/Hilarious-photos-misspelled-tattoos-reveal-dictionary-body-art.html

  2. Banning Halal and Kosher slaughter would be un-British. Stephen Daisley. 1 November 2019

    Do we want Jews and Muslims to live in this country? It’s a serious question and one prompted by the National Secular Society calling on the next government to ban non-stun ritual slaughter of animals. Dhabihah (halal slaughter) and shechita (its kosher equivalent) cater for Muslims and Jews who observe strict dietary laws on the preparation of livestock for food. Generally, animals must be stunned before being bled, be it by a bolt-gun to the brain, gassing or electric shock, but shechita requires no stunning while the two main halal monitoring bodies disagree over whether some stunning methods (water-bathing and electric-tonging) are permissible. The law currently makes an exemption to allow for these practices.

    Morning everyone. Well aside from there being almost no chance of the National Secular Society achieving its aim in either category. What is the reason for this piece? Well the answer is to draw a false equivalence between Jews and Muslims in which the latter will gain by comparison. It’s a higher form of whataboutery. One method of slaughter has been accepted here for literally centuries and was allowed when the British were themselves unconcerned with such measures. Were the Jews recent arrivals shechita would almost certainly be banned. Daisley knows this and that the Jews have lived in the UK since the time of Cromwell with largely beneficial effects for both. They are usually widely respected and leaders in diverse fields while Muslims are relatively recent arrivals with no record other than import/export terrorism and mass rape. The technical details are also to some considerable extent blinds and are intended to ameliorate the opposition to halal slaughter by invidious comparison. In other words this a cleverly disguised Muslim propaganda article.

    https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2019/11/banning-halal-and-kosher-slaughter-would-be-un-british/

    1. ‘Morning, Minty – a trifle esoteric for this early on a Saturday morning but I get the drift and will continue to have respect for the Jew (allowing for their minor shechita foible) and continue (with good reason) with my Islamophobia.

    2. Daisley is spot on..there should be no faith schools either and the state has no business endorsing any religion.

      Religion…..a load of garbage spouted by people when it suits them and ignored when it doesn’t….

    3. The Danes (not exactly foaming at the mouth racists) have banned both forms of slaughter.

      1. Annie (good morning btw), you are a PR person for Danish Bacon, and I claim my five bob postal order.

        1. Even Danish DiL won’t buy Danish Bacon.
          Obviously halal doesn’t come into it, but other welfare concerns do.

    4. Before the time of Cromwell, I think. I seem to recall reading there were pogroms in York in 1190.

      1. There were indeed but Edward the First issued an Edict of Expulsion against the Jews in 1290 and this was not overturned until the Protectorate under Cromwell in 1650!

  3. Good morning, all. Grey and windy start. Must warm the television up….in time for the match.

    1. ‘Morning, Bill, if you’re warming the TV up this early, I guess it still relies upon a CRT and thermionic valves. Better stoke the boiler and get a good head of steam.

      When you switch off at night, do you still get the white spot persisting for an hour and a half?

    3. Heyup Bill!
      Dull with calm air here, not raining but I see a belt of rain approaching from the South West.

    1. There must be a referendum to decide whether or not there should be citizens’ assemblies….

      The lower number of votes wins…..

      1. On spot. I was thinking along similar lines about December’s election. Will it be one of three or five?

        Morning Bill.

      2. Well the Lib-Dems are already using that approach. as the Lib-Dem’s have said 52-48 is not a mandate to leave but if they win a General Election it is. Now ignoring the fact it would take a miracle for them to win lets go alone with it. If they were to win they would get in with about 33% of the vote so with the Lib-Dems 33% is a clean mandate to Remain but 52% is not a clear Mandate to Leave. It would also most probably be a lower turn out than the referendum

      1. Morning Bob.

        Although I’ve an open mind on the subject, I don’t sit on the fence regarding the hypocrites who want to carry on their wasteful and energy-guzzling lifestyle whilst expecting others to ‘do something’.

  5. Trump-Russia dossier author gave evidence to UK intrusion inquiry. Luke Harding . Fri 1 Nov 2019.

    A report on Russian interference in British politics allegedly being sat on by Downing Street includes evidence from Christopher Steele, the former head of MI6’s Russia desk whose investigation into Donald Trump’s links with Moscow sparked a US political scandal.

    It’s called being “economical with the truth”. Steele is the author of the eponymous Steele Dossier, a fabrication of ginormous proportions dreamed up and authorised by the Cameron Government of which all went awry when Trump was elected. Why anyone would call this professional Mountebank and Serial Liar to give evidence about anything let alone Russia must remain a mystery to all sensible people.

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/nov/01/trump-russia-dossier-author-gave-evidence-to-uk-intrusion-inquiry

  6. Been dazed and confused for so long it’s not true,
    Leaving the club feels like walking through glue.
    Lots of people talkin’, few of them know
    Whether we’re leavin’ and how soon we’ll go…….

  8. According to the Independent, Dave has on his bookshelf a GS book.

    That was just a small titbit of info… but I did wonder if it’s a signed copy of the GS autobiography perhaps given to Dave by GS during a cosy one to one meeting in Davos ?

    Just a theory. Just a coincidence that Dave got a presumably highly paid speaking engagement at a GS funded organization. The same one by coincidence allegedly linked to
    Jo.

    Just a coincidence that Dave’s policies seem to me to be the same as GS policies.

    Small world !

  9. Conservative/Brexit Party Seat Deal

    At the moment the real sticking point seems to be the Brexit Parties demand that Boris drops his deal. It seems now highly unlikely that Boris will drop that.. It therefore makes sense for the Brexit Party to drop that requirement and reach an arrangement will the Conservatives/ IT may not be ideal but it gives the Brexit Party a much better chance of gaining seats meaning they may be able to have some influence on policy. It also reduces the chances of Labour or a Labour lead coalition getting in

    I am sure the hardline remainers will not like it but without a deal either the Conservatives well get in meaning certainty for Boris deal or Labour or a Labour lead coalition gets in meaning No Brexit

    1. BJ,
      You are calling for all round submission then, is
      that right ?
      TOTAL SEVERANCE the UKIP exit is my personal take.

  10. Morning all

    SIR – The wealthiest 1 per cent pay around 28 per cent of income tax collected by the Treasury. Since a surprising number of the electorate are unaware of this, I hope Boris Johnson makes it clear in the run-up to the election. Many Labour supporters seem to be anti-rich.

    Mr Johnson should also ask Mr Corbyn how he would make up the deficit if he took steps that drove the rich to move their wealth to more favourable climes. The wealthy are an asset that the UK cannot afford to lose and Labourites would be foolish not to acknowledge this.

    Barbara Smith
    Stafford

    1. SIR – Interestingly, I have discovered that approximately half of the richest 
1 per cent are earners in the £200,000-500,000 range.

      These people are undoubtedly well off, although hardly billionaires, and as a group already give up 37.5 per cent of their income in tax. A hard-working surgeon or businessman, earning, say, £300,000 a year and contributing over £100,000 of this in taxes, would think that he or she was already doing a fair bit to help the less well off.

      The businessman may be discouraged from putting in all those hours for decreasing rewards, and the surgeon (whose skills Mr Corbyn may one day need) may decide to go elsewhere to work, where there are less punitive tax rates.

      No, the situation is not as simple as Labour would have us believe, and that is without analysing the uses to which this money might be put.

      Bill Townsend
      Leeds, West Yorkshire

      SIR – A vote for any other party than Conservative is a vote for a hung parliament.

      Charles Cheesman
      Orpington, Kent

      1. Corbyn and the Lib-Dems do not understand business which is why they focus on Income tax so you have the Lib-Dem’s claiming 1p on Income tax will solve the NHS’s problems. It will not. Income tax raises relatively little in tax. The real problem is the big corporation who have many ways to avoid payng their fair share of tax. Starbucks and Philip Green avoid massive amounts of tax in most cases they also tax excessive amounts out of the business for themselves. If you take Greens empire it is barely profitable yet he and his wife collect a fortune the same happened with Thomas Cook

    2. Regarding the economy, the Conservatives haven’t had the gumption to get over to Joe Public and his missus that today’s top earners are paying 12.5% more tax, like for like, than under 12 years and eleven months of the last Labour governments. Not doing so has given the Labour party an open goal.

      With both main parties wanting the UK to live on tick, their only knowledge of economics seems to be being economical with the truth.

    3. Given the wealthiest 1% were the ones that the best out of the vast amount spent on QE…they should be being soaked.

    4. The last time that Labour tried to soak the rich (90% tax rates) in the 1970s it led to the brain drain. It will happen again should Corbyn ever get his grubby mitts on the levers of power for a nanosecond.

  11. Corbyn and the NHS

    He was playing allowing to the crowded yesterday . He was claiming under the Conservatives NHS money would be diverted from Patients to US corporations. It is total nonsence but goes down with some of his voters well. The reality is not all NHS money is spent directly on patients. You need hospital buildings, you need medical equipment,and drugs and basic things like toilret rolls and beds

    1. Good morning Bill

      We must never allow them to forget that Tony Blair and his mob rolled out PFI schemes for the NHS which consequently practically bankrupted hospitals and closed wards!

      1. The PFI contracts were drawn up very badly so it is for practicable purposes impossible to get out of them without massive penalty charges

      2. And while Blair was using the Conservative created idea of PFI, every single MP of any colour said f78k all about the new ‘X’ in the consituency was being funded…and when the Blues got in back in ’10, the Blues made it clear e.g the Royal Liverpool debacle, that PFI was the ‘only game in town’.

        TB, every time you as a Blue Tribalist wibble that ‘the Reds’ did ‘X’ , it takes no effort to show that either the Blues created the policy originally or have continued a Red policy….

        …e.g for 40 years Blues and Reds set out to smash UK manufacturing, in a stupid, insane bid to make the UK a purely service based economy….and for 40 years Blues and Reds have not given a s78t about the areas left behind and wrecked by those decisions….

        …in fact Minford the Loon (the architect of so much previous damage and much admired by Blues and Reds) has suggested Brexit is the ideal weapon to all but end manufacturing in the UK….

        1. There are theories, and even more theories ..

          You might be correct .. on the other hand absolutely wrong .

          If I dared to put down on paper my own theories .. I would probably be put away forever!

          3. If Minford had read more widely in the field known as “Public Choice” he might have been able to foresee the approaching Poll Tax disaster. Other very influential economists – CD Foster, John Kay, and Mervyn King – were also guilty of ignorance here.

  12. SIR – The Brexit Party is not a Brexit party, because it will not deliver a government and will therefore only destroy Brexit. The country needs a Conservative government under Boris Johnson to get Brexit done.

    Sir William Cash MP (Con)
    London SW1

    4. After the fiasco of the past three years, who’d trust the Conservatives to deliver a pizza, let alone a clean break with the EU?

      Morning Epi.

      1. Boris has ruled out No Deal. We will remain shackled and as good as fully under the jack boot.

    6. And there rings out the cry Party before Country regardless of consequences, loud & clear.
      Thanks for your input billy boy.

  13. Morning again

    SIR – We are the parents of Caroline Clarke, one of the young people killed by Ivan Milat in Australia. Now he is dead (report, October 28), and it is sad that he did not admit his guilt for these murders and indeed others for which he is thought to have been responsible. It could have brought closure to us and those parents whose children have never been found.

    So often the media is criticised for intrusion into people’s grief, but through your columns we would like to thank all branches of the media for the help they gave us during the search for our daughter and for the unfailing courtesy and consideration they have shown us throughout. Our thanks also go to the police here in Northumberland and in New South Wales for the unstinting efforts that brought Milat to justice, and we thank, too, the many organisations which helped in the search.

    Finally, to parents whose children are about to take time out, we say: let them go. They will grow up and have the time of their lives. But tell them not to hitchhike and that they must phone home every day.

    Jacquie and Ian Clarke
    Hexham, Northumberland

  15. SIR – Good toast (Letters, November 1) starts with good bread. Good bread contains flour, water and yeast – nothing else.

    The bread should be baked, not mass-production steamed. It should be hand-cut to the proper thickness to allow a pillowy middle, then toasted between the metal criss-crosses of an Aga toaster paddle.

    You can monitor the darkness of the crumb by simply flipping the paddle. And you can toast your toes at the same time, if you can shift the dog.

    Felicity Thomson
    Symington, Ayrshire

      1. Making good homemade bread is also more of an art than a science and takes a good while to get it right and even then things can go wrong

        Breadmakers are a reasonable compromise but you never get a really good loaf from them

      2. Ah under the Greens new stringent CO2 regulations toast will be banned as it produces CO2 particularly when burnt

    3. I popped in to see an 86 year old neighbour the other day. Her granddaughter’s car had broken down so their shopping trip had to be put back a day. As you do, she’d just baked two loaves to tide her over till she could get to the shops.

      Part of our conversation harked back to her early life – when austerity meant what it said on the tin – and how a sheep’s head would provide several hearty meals. Brain, tongue, etc. plus some bones for the dog.

      1. THe amount that many claiming poverty spend on food and drink is amazing. They are encouraged as well by so called experts who try to claim fast food is cheap when it is actually expensive. Most of them by fast food because they are lazy it means they dont have to cook and no washing up

        1. Morning Bill.

          I was thinking something similar on the way back just now from the local freezer place, having bought more than I went for but having bagged some bargains. I’m fortunate that I now have the time to shop around and, there being a glut of food retailers in town, can live cheaply.

          Rather than using ‘the poor’ and food banks as a political football, those doing so would be better employed finding out why some people struggle.

          P.S. Despite being lazy and cooking not being my strong suit, I eat well and get plenty of variety.

        2. I don’t know why ‘the poor’ can’t just eat sardines on toast or beans on toast or scrambled egg on toast like wot I do and I’m not well off. All nutritious, delicious and vv cheap.

  16. I’m coming round to the idea that if Labour win at least it will hurt all the wealthy Tory Traitors far more than it will me.

        2. Morning Gunner,
          Soylent green will be the lab answer.
          I don’t know what all the fuss is about
          fairs, fair, it is labours turn, that is how coalitions work is it not ?

        1. He would blow the limit nationalise industries although his first problem would be getting around EU legislation

          He could waste a fortune on Royal Mail as it is a rapidly declining industry. The sensible thing with the Royal Mail is to switch to alternate day deliveris to cut cost,. Most mail is not impotent and there are express delivery options as an alternative

          1. What astonishes me is why Royal Mail cannot take on the parcel couriers making hay from online marketing.

            It cannot be cost-effective for them to be making individual journeys all over the place, with several different carriers going to the same place in a day and all with rounds individually tailored for each batch.

            Surely for the same price or less, the Royal Mail could consolidate all these under one service, together with the regular post?

            When I was a postman back in the early 1980s, all rural van deliveries included parcels; only the big volumes in town separated parcel from letter deliveries, the latter being delivered on foot or by bicycle.

            Oh, I forget, one of the things Thatcher did was to hive off the parcel service into ‘Parcelforce’ in order to stop such co-operation in the public sector threatening the privatisation ideology.

          2. THe Royal Mail already delivers packages that up to 2Kg plus size limits I think and Parcel Force which the Royal Mil own delivers parcels

        2. When landing at London Caracas (I can only afford Ryanair), your luggage will be searched for contraband bog rolls.

      4. The Yank luvvies are buying up properties in New Zealand, have you got any contingency plans? You could still see my ribs sticking out when I was in my early 20’s. I can still bolt the food down my neck to be first in the queue for seconds. Be good for people to go on a diet and lose weight.

          1. Not my idea of a bolt hole. Firstly when the civil unrest starts it’ll kick off big time there. Secondly when the nukes start dropping out of the sky and cruising down Massachusetts Avenue, unless you have your own bunker, you wont even be toast.

    2. All that matters to TPTB is that Brexit is stopped at all costs. May did a brilliant job. Your mates at the other place were always calling her an idiot. I’m sure her handlers were absolutely overjoyed with her efforts and she would have earned a fortune in bonuses for stringing it out for three years and guaranteed their places in the bunkers. Phil, would have done nicely out of it too. As for the Tory traitors, I’m sure they’ve all been well recompensed. The Party is irrelevant in comparison to staying in the EU. It’s demise may bother the Tories in the shires but not the traitors in government.
      Johnson is nowhere near as good as May.

  20. Ultra Low Emission Zone

    I bet there is a lot of bending of the rules as I doubt dustcarts and Post Office Vans and Fire Engines and Ambulances meet those standards and nor will construction vehicles etc

    To help improve air quality, an Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) now operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every day of the year within the same area of central London as the Congestion Charge. Most vehicles, including cars and vans, need to meet the ULEZ emissions standards or their drivers must pay a daily charge to drive within the zone.

    Some drivers and vehicles qualify for at least a temporary discount from the Ultra Low Emission Zone charge (ULEZ). Others are entirely exempt.
    ResidentsVehicles for disabled peopleTaxisPrivate hire vehicles (PHVs)Historic vehiclesOther exempt vehiclesDiscount for showman’s vehiclesNot-for-profit minibuses

    The ULEZ standards are:
    Euro 3 for motorcycles, mopeds, motorised tricycles and quadricycles (L category)
    Euro 4 (NOx) for petrol cars, vans, minibuses and other specialist vehicles
    Euro 6 (NOx and PM) for diesel cars, vans and minibuses and other specialist vehicles
    Euro VI (NOx and PM) for lorries, buses and coaches and other specialist heavy vehicles (NOx and PM)

    £12.50 for most vehicle types, including cars, motorcycles and vans (up to and including 3.5 tonnes)
    £100 for heavier vehicles, including lorries (over 3.5 tonnes) and buses/coaches (over 5 tonnes)

  21. I might be wrong but I get the impression Mr R doesn’t have much enthusiasm for the Con Party anymore..

    1. Mr R is in a small group of Tory MPs who retain some principles. Why would he have enthusiasm for a charlatan like Johnson. Mr R will understand all the bad things in the “deal” and like us, he hears Johnson and his supporters lie and obsfucate about the impact this, “Great deal,” will have on the UK.

  22. UK’s 30 Most Marginal Seats

    Scotland has a lot of marginals

    1. North East Fife SNP majority of 2

    2. Kensington Labour majority of 20

    3. Perth and North Perthshire SNP majority of 21

    4. Dudley North Independent majority of 22

    5. Newcastle-under-Lyme Labour majority of 30

    6. Southampton Itchen Tory majority of 31

    7. Richmond Park Tory majority of 45

    8. Crewe and Nantwich Labour majority of 48

    9. Glasgow South West SNP majority of 60

    10. Glasgow East SNP majority of 75

    11. Arfon Plaid Cymru held the seat against Labour by 92 votes

    12. Ceredigion Plaid Cymru gained from Liberal Democrats by 104 votes

    13. Stirling Scottish Conservatives gained from the SNP by 148

    14. Foyle Sinn Féin gained the constituency from SDLP by 169 votes

    15. Canterbury Labour gained from the Conservatives by 187 votes

    16. Airdrie and Shotts SNP held the seat against Labour by 195 votes

    17. Barrow and Furness Labour held the seat against the Conservatives by 209 votes

    18. Keighley Labour gain from the Conservatives by 239 votes

    19. Glasgow North East Labour gained from the SNP by 242 votes

    20. Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath The Labour party gained the seat from the SNP by 259 votes

    21. Rutherglen and Hamilton West Labour party gained the seat from the SNP by 265 votes

    22. Lanark and Hamilton East SNP held the seat against the Conservatives by 266 votes

    23. St Ives The Conservatives held against the Lib Dems by 312 votes

    24. Preseli Pembrokeshire The Conservatives held against Labour by 314 votes

    25. Motherwell and Wishaw The SNP held against Labour by 318 votes

    26. Pudsey The Conservatives held against the Labour party by 331 votes

    27. Thurrock East The Conservatives held the seat against Labour by 345 votes

    28. Hastings and Rye The Conservatives held against Labour by 346 votes

    29. Chipping Barnet Conservatives held against Labour by 353 votes

    30. Ashfield Labour held against the Conservatives by 441 votes

    1. Where the majority is less than 4%, the seat should be awarded to the #2.
      That’s how it works, isn’t it?

      1. No, not quite. The winner must negotiate the departure terms for the predecessor, whereby the status quo remains in force for the duration – i.e. until the next election, when the process is repeated.

      2. Well I think there is a good case for them to not have been allowed to vote on Brexit where there majority was less than 4%

  24. Uncle George will be pleased…

    Steven_Swinford

    Exclusive: Boris Johnson has abandoned the threat of a no-deal Brexit in the Conservative manifesto He will instead pledge to get his deal over the line ‘immediately’ after the election It’s being framed to appeal to liberal voters thetimes.co.uk/article/191e9d…

  25. Hell of a gale blowing here . Some really fierce gusts , torrential stinging rain , chimney noise , leaves blowing off the trees ..

    Hope the power stays on .

    I wish the Rugby wasn’t so hyped up .. it is a big game .. very big .. the best of luck to everyone .

    Why on earth are the pundits talking about life changers though, it is a game .. not a celebrity scrum..

  26. Barneys Is Sold for Scrap, Ending an Era

    The iconic Barneys Store in New York has gone bust and is closing down. The wind of change in retail is affecting much of the world

    For decades, Barneys New York epitomized a certain kind of aspirational Manhattan cool.

    On Friday, however, Barneys found itself felled by bankruptcy, sold for parts from a courthouse in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

  27. Corbyn to solve the housing problem. Houses will go but you will be allocating a small housing pode the size of it will depend on your families. Kitchens and lounges will be communal

  28. Leadsom on LBC with Andrew Castle. Asked about Trump’s reference to trade deals under Johnson’s “deal”, “The UK will be able to write trade deals…” I didn’t catch the word ‘complete’ nor ‘enact’ nor any other word that confirmed the deals would ever become active. Maybe it was a poor choice of wording by Leadsom but…

    1. She may have had three children but she is still as sterile metaphorically as May is both literally and metaphorically.

    2. You’re catching on. Be very attentive to what they actually say, rather than the impression they are trying to give.

    1. I don’t wish to seem callous, but one gets the impression that the PTB don’t give a toss about these things.

      1. I’m waiting for a red faced PC Plod to admit they mistook Vietnamese migrants for Chinese “because they all look the same”.
        Glug .. glug. Sound of career swirling down the drain.

    2. Morning Anne,
      PC / Appeasement covers a multitude of sins, do not
      obstruct the flow of future PARTY members, remember the lab/lib/con coalition depend more & more on their support.

      2. I could have sworn you used the word zealot in this reply. Reminds me I made a very risqué joke at your expense that got deleted about the film Indecent Proposal and Norway.

  31. May one ask, post brexit which politico will get the franchise for the
    button to the neck tunics ?
    Or will a co-op be formed from the lab/lib/con coalition party ?
    Could it be this influx of Chinese be made up of Chinese tailors ?

    1. I must confess, I have been thinking of this from time to time and horrors! – recently I heard the phrase ‘a good housewife can make a meal out of nothing’ once again in the media. That is the direction in which we are going. That is the point when the millennials will awaken from their ‘wokeness’ – when they are told what, and what colour to wear. These ideologies seem to travel around the world like a Mexican wave.

      1. Morning M,
        When the millennial’s realise that the food source does not start
        in the tesco store would be a start.

      2. M,
        In time and rapid evolution there will be a head additive along with eyes,nose & ears we will have a mobile phone rest alongside the lug, purely for receiving your daily orders.

      3. Google North Korea’s answer to Jamie Oliver.
        He’ll have some good recipes for making tasty and nutritious dishes from grass for the whole family (the ones that have survived).

      4. “That is the point when the millennials will awaken from their ‘wokeness’ – when they are told what, and what colour to wear. ”

        And they’ll love it…youth in the vanguard of revolution…..the Red Guards and all that….

  32. Morning world of NoTTL

    Apropos nothing, a couple of pet peeves:

    1. People who talk to themselves. Do they do this if there is no one else in the room to hear them or are they like Berkley’s trees?
    2. Drying your hands with a towel when only one hand is wet. Try it – it’s weird.

          4. “I will not have whispering in my jungle.” (Windsor Davies – It Ain’t Half Hot, Mum.)

          1. Yep, my last cat definitely responded – most of the conversations occurred with him on the outside of my study window and me on the inside and revolved about whether I should get up and open the front door for him.

          3. I swear mine says ‘hello’ in response to my ‘hello’ when she comes in, she then proceeds to tell me all she’s done whilst out and what she is going to do to me if there’s no cream in her saucer when she gets to it

    2. My boss in Ostfriesland, who was a totally self-centred Serb, used to talk to himself very loudly, a running commentary on what he was doing, or about to do, so that everyone in the practice could hear him. He was a pre-tweeter tweeter. Most annoying.

    3. Try sitting next to someone at work who often shouts abuse in an undertone at his computer on a frequent basis. Drives me mad. Fortunately he’s cut his work days down to two a week.

  33. O.K. So I’m a shallow minded flibbertigibbet. I’m a disgrace to the memory of Millicent Fawcett. Worse still, I’ve read a Bryony Gordon article.
    On this occasion, she does have a point; and posting this does give the more irate NOTTLers a chance to insult someone other than Bozza.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/last-britain-united-hate-high-street-changing-rooms/

    “At last, Britain is united: we all hate high street changing rooms!

    As a columnist on a national newspaper, I like to tackle all the big subjects: Brexit, the general election, Donald Trump, fitting rooms. Yes, fitting rooms.

    I’m sure you will agree that of all the issues facing this country at the moment, Marks and Spencer’s new policy on fitting rooms is by far the most pressing, and so I shall waste not a moment longer of your precious time discussing such trifling issues as who will be running the country by Christmas, or whether or not we will manage to leave the European Union by the time the next millennium rolls around.

    According to a spokesperson for M&S, the company has decided that customers can use any fitting room they want, regardless of their gender. I mean, stop the press! Hold the front page!

    The declaration was made in response to a claim by a woman called Jean Hatchet, who complained on social media that a man had used female changing rooms while a teenage girl was having a bra fitting. “All M&S fitting rooms have lockable cubicles designed to protect each customer’s privacy,” said a spokesperson in a statement. “As a business, we strive to be inclusive and therefore, we allow customers the choice of which fitting room they feel comfortable to use, in respect of how they identify themselves.”

    It’s the word “identify” that always causes the problems, isn’t it? No sooner is it mentioned than the troops are rolling out on Twitter, attacking each other for transphobia on one side, or a lack of concern for women’s safety on the other.

    Many people took to social media this week to announce they would be boycotting M&S in protest at their decision, joining all the people who have been boycotting it for some time in protest at having to leave their house.

    I have to be honest here and say that it’s not M&S’s gender policy regarding fitting rooms that I have a problem with. It’s just fitting rooms generally. There is not a single shop in the whole of the world that will ever be able to get them right, on account of the fact that they make people strip naked and try on often ill-fitting clothes while surrounded by reflective surfaces. It’s not civilised, not at all. It doesn’t matter how much body positivity you have, how much you adore your curves or your lack of them.

    It doesn’t matter if you are the kind of person who views clothes simply as practical items to keep out the cold and protect your modesty. Whatever your point of view – aesthetically, culturally, politically – fitting rooms suck. They are the places your hopes and dreams go to get caught on an awkward zip, where any fantasies of comfort are jettisoned by a mirror that seems to have been drafted in from a fun fair.

    Why are there always bits of fluff on the floor? Why is there always one with a broken door? Why do I always feel like a shoplifter whenever the well-meaning assistant counts the number of items I have on my arm? And why do I feel guilty when I inevitably leave the fitting room empty-handed, as if I should somehow be thanking the shop for the hideous experience by purchasing the garments I have just tried on?

    When I hand a dress back to an assistant, I kind of want to apologise to it, to let it know that it deserves better than me. And yet I know that if I had tried it on at home, I would be keeping it, if only because I am too lazy to bother sending anything back. My god. I’m such an awful, awful person.

    Is it fitting rooms that are the problem, or is it just shopping generally? Perhaps it’s me! Yes, it’s almost certainly me, and my millennial ability to turn even the slightest thing into a mahoosive issue. The guilt associated with buying new things doesn’t help. Shopping used to be something a woman was supposed to do to ‘relax’, but I am now too woke to be able to do anything other than feel blind fury that I am being targeted by big brands and the patriarchy behind them who want me to think that my worth is only found in the way I look.

    Also, every time I buy a new dress, I am single-handedly contributing to the destruction of the planet. Oh, life! It’s so tiring! So exhausting! It no longer fits me at all! I’m just going to lie down here in the corner of this M&S, and wait for a time when I can try on a bra without being felt up or accused of transphobia or… when are we leaving the EU, again?”

    1. Well she has a point in her first few paragraphs but then went off into some twaddle about changing rooms per se.

      If her life is so bad that she can’t cope with checking whether clothes fit and suit before buying them, my heart bleeds.

      1. I thought the first half of the article was better. The second half was more making up the word quota.
        Clothes buying has become a dispiriting exercise unless you use the quirkier privately owned shops in surrounding small towns and villages.

      1. I have admit, I’d rather order two items and try them at home.
        Often the returns are free (but you pay the cost in item price) but it is still less hassle to nip up to the local post office or collection point than schlep endlessly round town.

    4. When I worked in Selfridges in the 80’s, we had a problem with nouveau riche Arabs who used to self-identify the changing rooms as toilets.

    1. They are not playing like winners at the moment, far too many errors, the French ref always gives lots of penalties against us, he doesn’t need much excuse.

  36. Well it is London and violence in London is rife.Perhaps as well she should reflect on her own behaviour. It is hardly surprising that her constituents are bot happy with her

    Jewish MP Luciana Berger today revealed she is not campaigning by herself at night after suffering a barrage of abuse.
    The Lib Dem MP, who quit Labour over anti-Semitism, is running in the Tory-held seat of Finchley and Golders Green.

    Ms Berger said the abuse MPs are facing is now at a level she has “never experienced” since coming to Parliament in 2010.

    She told Good Morning Britain: “Only last night walking through Westminster I had groups of men jeering and chanting at me ‘traitor’. Shouting my surname.

    “I won’t campaign by myself at night. Absolutely not. I was knocking on doors last night and I made sure I was with a group of people.”

    1. Nicholas Soames used to be a cptain in the 11th Hussars – was that who the writer had in mind? They ceased to exist under that name on Balaclava Day 1969.

  38. Jane Fonder arrested again

    Jane Fonda was at the forefront of another climate strike as she hosted a fourth “Fire Drill Friday” outside of the Capitol Building before getting arrested for the fourth consecutive week.

  40. The first head-to-head election debate between Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn will take place on 19 November. It will be shown on ITV and hosted by news presenter Julie Etchingham.

    The channel said it also plans to hold a multi-party debate in the run-up to the 12 December poll.

    1. BJ,
      They are working on their agreed script as we type all the peoples must do is listen & swallow, that won’t come hard as they are well versed in the art of swallowing political sh!te via the three monkey method.

    3. And the Lib Dems are already calling it sexist because it’s two men having a debate, i.e. the Leader of the current government plus the Leader of the opposition, and the Lib Dems think Jo Swinson should be included.

      1. It is a debate between the leaders of the two parties that are likely to win. The Lib-Dems are also ran. If they were invited several other parties would have t be invited

  41. North East Fife UK’s most marginal Seat SNP have a majority of 2

    It is a two horse race between SNP & Lib-Dems No real scope for tactical voting

    Kensington Labour majority of 20

    A seat that the Brexit Party should stand aside in. There is a risk if Labour and Lib-Dems to a deal

  42. The daily express headlines,
    The turkish delight / amnsties R me, boris has
    said vote tory or get corbyn.
    Continuing the same old voting pattern for years that has wracked & ruined a once decent country and kept the same type of political sh!te in power, the lab/lib/con pro eu coalition is political poison to peoples of integrity.

  43. George Soros: ‘Brexit hurts both sides – my money was used to educate the British public’. Sat 2 Nov 2019.

    It is now rare for a week to go by without a populist politician painting Soros as a ruthless Bond villain with nefarious plans to reshape the planet. Last year, Trump suggested that Soros might be paying illegal migrants to come to the US; in Turkey, President Erdoğan has called him “a man who assigns people to divide nations and shatter them”; in Italy, Matteo Salvini has claimed Soros wants the country “to become a giant refugee camp because he likes slaves”. Last month, Soros’s financial support for the anti-Brexit Best for Britain group led Jacob Rees-Mogg to call him the “Remoaner-in-chief” in parliament. Nigel Farage has called him “the biggest danger to the entire western world”.

    As a reporter based in eastern Europe, I have had a ringside seat to the political hostility Soros has faced over the years. I spent a decade in Russia, where Vladimir Putin blamed him for organising revolutions in neighbouring countries; in 2015, his philanthropic foundations were banned from the country as a “threat to state security”. Last year I moved to Budapest, the city of Soros’s birth, where the far-right Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, had taken Soros-baiting to a new level, erecting thousands of billboards featuring a cackling Soros, warning Hungarians not to let him “have the last laugh”.

    They can’t all be wrong!

    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/nov/02/george-soros-brexit-hurts-both-sides-money-educate-british-public

    1. Oh dear. Another victim of ‘Don’t Care in the Community’. Is he part of the Grauniad’s disabled quota?

    1. The banning of fracking is,on the face of it, so irrational that I wonder who ordered it. Over to you, PP!

      1. Probably hoping to pick up a few votes from it. It has not been banned though more suspended

      2. This follows the announcement that new homes will no longer be heated by gas from 2025. This is not, as claimed, an environmental measure but an admission that the UK is about to run out of gas far earlier than expected because it’s been used for generating electricity since the 90s.

    2. Not banned but put on hold, a nice move to placate the greens pre-election. If all goes well and a majority government is formed I’m sure they’ll find a nice tame expert to give it the all clear, it’s possible that said expert may be found under a tree some months late having committed non-voluntary suicide.

        1. We currently import 56% of our gas ( British Gas figures btw ) , I’m sure the Russians and Norwegians will be quite happy to make up the shortfall as the output from the North and Irish Seas dwindles, that would be of concern to me.

  45. A local LibDem Counciller by the name of Ashley Cartman has popped up on Facebook announcing his intention to run against Liam Fox in the G.E. and although Dr Fox is not well respected hereabouts yon Cartman has been finely shredded in about 98% of the comments under his posting. Given that the demo-graph of Facebook in North Somerset is not predominantly retired swivel eyed gammon loonies that was quite interesting.

        1. Rugby is different from football, you lose a game and everyone is still friends and there is no bad losing animosity, well not for long anyway

  49. Congrats to the Boks.

    Everything that England did well last week they managed to do badly today.

    4. “We are all guilty.” Dr. Heinz Kiosk.
      What would Michael Wharton (Peter Simple) have made of the past few years?

      1. General “Tiger” Nidgett and J. Bonington Jagworth would have been Brexiteers while Mrs Dutt-Pauker and Gjoq would have been Remainers. King Norman the Good would have been neutral, along with Julian Birdbath.

        1. Bishop Spacely-Trellis would also be a Remainer.
          The Earl of Mountwarlock and Phantomsby would be Leavers.
          The Nodules wouldn’t have an opinion because ‘we don’t know enough about it’.

  51. I am standing by for Stephen Jones to be back to his usual drone against England…..

    Oddly, considering the match has been over for 20 minutes, there is NO mention on The Grimes website.

  52. England dreams crushed by South Africa in 32-12 Rugby World Cup 2019 final defeat

    Oh dear.
    What a pity.
    Never mind.

    1. “Sad…a win would have brought the country together…” Eh? Why would the Scots, the Northern Irish and the Welsh be pleased about England winning the Rugby World Cup?

          1. Morning Bill, I can’t especially after dunking but I can tell the difference between 22p and 75p

  57. Election 2019: Labour pledges new-build homes ‘zero carbon’ by 2022

    Another daft and undeliverable and very expensive promise

    Labour is promising to make all new-build homes “zero carbon” within three years, in an effort to curb housing shortages and tackle climate change.
    A Labour government would introduce a “tough” standards for new builds which would see homes fitted with solar panels and not having gas boilers.
    The party says the plans would save £200 a year in energy bills.
    The Conservative Party described the plan as “unrealistic” and said it would slow house building.
    The proposals would mean the day-to-day running of the new homes would not add extra carbon to the atmosphere.
    This would be achieved through better efficiency standards and using low carbon and renewable energy sources, it said.
    New homes would not be fitted with fossil fuel heating systems, such as gas boilers, as standard and would have “super-efficient insulation” and triple-glazed windows.

    1. Shame you have to open a door or window from time to time to breath. Never seems to be allowed for.

        1. All new builds should have heat pump piping installed under the foundations, and heat exchanger fresh air systems. The latter to prevent condensation problems.

          1. Afternoon LF,
            All new social housing builds should be given first to the indigenous peoples who have been on the waiting lists
            from 1 day / 40 years.

          2. To do any good a considerable length of pipe (many hundreds of feet) is required. In cities, where the house plots are not big enough to provide the necessary length using buried loops, a deep well is drilled and the pipe is “looped” down the hole. And a primary and spare have to be installed, in case one fails.

            We looked at ground source heat pumps when we built our house, as a neighbour already had such a system, but price got in the way – about twice the cost of the system we actually installed, with an estimated 4 wells being needed – and the drilling costs were in addition to the estimate. We ended up with air to air heatpumps (relatively cheap here in the US), except in the coldest winter months (temps below about 5°C) when heatpump efficiency falls off and we switch to hydronic underfloor heat (gas fired). The heatpumps get used more in summer than winter to deal with the high summer temperatures and humidity.

    2. As a bonus, lots of people, especially those blasted oldies who voted Leave/draw pensions/block beds would die of cold.

        1. Instead of ‘chuck another peasant on the fire’ it would be ‘chuck another pensioner on the fire’.

    4. Codswallop to all of them..

      Several villages are without power today .. trees down etc Train lines delayed , trees on line ..

      We are lucky , we have gas and a coal fire when and if we need it . I can cook on my gas hob.

      I am sick and tired of governments interfering with so called zero carbon .. New builds have tiny tight little windows .. small rooms .. hutches for eating sleeping , and fornicating , if they can afford to.

      City planners are dictating rural planning policy . I wish they would all take a running jump.

    5. …and then there will be a miracle. Does anyone in politics know anything about science and engineering?

  58. Why does Boris want the May deal even though it’s been made slightly less nasty ?

    There seems no point to it at all….

    …except that Brits can’t have a free trade deal unless they agree to a range of EU demands that in reality would mean Britain remains an EU member without any rights at all.

    So does that mean there is something in the background which has not been made public ?

    What could it be ?

    1. Morning PP,
      eu pension, is the answer to the long game,and we are playing, thanks to lab/lib/con supporters / voters, the long game , are we not ?

    2. Morning, Pol,

      I thought it was a who? Plus that we already know who he is? Or is there more than who?

  59. One of my Prom friends has just posted on FB that Bercow is a great hero of democracy. Made me smile rather than fume ‘cause the friend in question calls himself Tina.

  60. I discovered another coincidence yesterday which makes me think there might be a big background secret story…..

    It’s still work in progress !

    1. You sure know how to titillate us Miss P.
      Can I say the “T” word?
      “2.titillate – excite pleasurably or erotically; “A titillating story appeared in the usually conservative magazine”
      stimulate, stir, shake up, excite, shake – stir the feelings, emotions, or peace of; “These stories shook the community”; “the civil war shook the country”
      That’s prophetic!))))

  61. Good afternoon from Saxon Queen.

    Having huge issues with Disqus with logging on and off
    ( cannot log off or it’ll not let me log back on ) even pointed
    the longbow at it to no avail . Other issues with it too
    In regards to my comments not always showing up
    on my account. Seems I am here atm, or I might be in
    a parallel universe which might at least be more easy going then this one.

    1. I’m logged in on a different computer today and it seem’s my old Avatar is back.
      I have somehow managed to set up two accounts using the same email address and password.

      1. Sounds as if You’ve been having huge hassles,
        but didn’t realise people could use the same details,
        glad You’ve got it sorted 😉
        A friend lost her password and had huge hassles
        and now has a backup disqus account.
        I am thinking that’s a sensible idea too, as disqus is
        losing the plot .

  62. From the DT – Here’s one legislator keen to try out the punishment he helped to devise – Well done him.

    “An Indonesian man working for an organisation that helped draft strict religious laws ordering adulterers to be flogged was himself publicly whipped Thursday after he was caught having an affair with a married woman.

    Flogging is a common punishment for a range of offences in the deeply conservative Aceh region, including adultery, drinking alcohol, and having gay or pre-marital sex.

    It is the only region in the world’s biggest Muslim-majority nation that imposes Sharia law, part of a 2005 autonomy deal with the central government that ended a decades-long separatist insurgency.

    On Thursday, a masked officer inflicted 28 lashes on the back of Aceh Ulema Council (MPU) member Mukhlis – who like many Indonesians goes by one name – after he was caught with a married woman last month. His companion received 23 lashes.”

    PS What about equality?

    1. I once received 6 strokes of the cane from the prefects in my house at Blundell’s. My crime was, apparently, being the leader of a malicious sect in the preproom. My great friend, Roger, received 3 strokes for the same offence.

      I claimed that this meant that I was the more malicious and so the undoubted leader of the sect; Roger claimed that he was the leader because he was the more cunning and the craftier as he had managed to receive fewer strokes.

      1. You must sue for PTSD or something Similar – have a word with Bill I’m sure he will act Pro Bonio (being a hound lover that he is)

  63. T’other week, en route back home from an excellent concert in Nottingham, I had 50min to kill at Derby bus station, so I tappy lappied over to the Eagle Market and bought some ham scraps and faggots.
    The ham scraps were used in a very nice pea & ham soup that lasted us a couple of days whilst the faggots were frozen with the intention of doing my own mushy peas to go with them.

    Defrosted the faggots earlier this week intending to buy a packet of dried marrowfat peas to go with them. Problem. Sainsbury’s no longer stock them, nor do the Matlock Co-op.
    Ended up using tinned mushy peas.

    Had a look in Tesco’s on Thursday for them after my hospital appointment, they don’t do them either!
    Getting a bit obsessive by now, I had a run into Belper to try Morrison’s and, with the assistance of a delightful young lady off the Customer Help Desk, finally tracked them down! so I’ll be having a go at my own mushy peas this next week!

  64. Of course the Tories will win the election. But by how much? JANET DALEY. 2 NOVEMBER 2019 •

    I’m going right out on a limb here but I’m determined to say this before anybody else does: there is almost no doubt at all about the result of the general election. The only question is how large a majority the Conservatives will get.

    I have to say that I have no idea! That is no reasoned idea. My instinct, and that is all it is, is for another Hung Parliament unless Boris and Nigel form a Leave Pact!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/11/02/course-tories-will-win-election-much/

    1. You’ll have seen the letter from Bill Cash in the DT today (below – early on). Another turncoat.

    2. I really do believe that after the last European MEP elections, they are running scared that The BXP voters will not turn out to be a UXB but a thermo nuclear device that will shatter the traditional parties.

    3. IT is far from certain they will win. Initial leads tend to disappear as you get into the campaign and also the polls do not factor in possible arrangements by the remain parties over which seats to fight

    4. There was no doubt and the Referendum result was there, and look what happened. Do not count your chickens.

  65. It’s turned bright & sunny now after the rain.
    I suspect, looking at the Rain Radar page, that will not last for long!

    1. Lovely day up here Bob. Sun still shining from a clear blue sky and a light southerly. It’s going to get wet tonight

  66. Good morning all.

    When our washing machine broke, my brother took our family’s clothes to the Laundromat. He was finally ready to go home,
    arms laden with our neatly folded laundry, when he noticed a sign on the glass door that said, “STEP ON”. He stepped on and off the doormat
    several times, but nothing happened, so he kicked the door open with his foot and made his exit. Glancing back at the door, he realized that
    from the outside, the sign said “NO PETS”.

  67. Any overtures yet from the treachery department of the
    pro eu lab/lib/con coalition party regarding not being good enough to win
    a game of rugby yet thinking we are good enough to return to being independent.
    They will not lose the opportunity.

    1. Pfeffel’s 4th Overture in a major key will be in place before 2023. The EU will submit a team selected from the 28 EU states and the 14 Arab countries involved in the Marrakesh Declaration.

  68. More than 1 in 4 inspected buildings in Suffolk and Essex fail to meet fire safety standards

    Many were high risk buildings. The enforcement process sounds to be very casual

    More than a quarter of buildings in Suffolk and Essex inspected by firefighters last year were considered “unsatisfactory” according to new data.

    In Suffolk those buildings which did not meet the sufficient standard included 39 care homes; nine blocks of flats which were four-stories or higher; two hostels; seven hotels; one house which had been converted into flats; two buildings described as “other sleeping accommodation”, one “public building”; 46 licensed premises such as bars or clubs; one school; 14 shops; one warehouse and one other building open to the public.

    Of the 152 care homes inspected in Essex, 51 – more than a third – were deemed unsatisfactory by Essex Fire and Rescue.
    Almost half of the hotels (46%) and half of the schools inspected did not pass at a satisfactory standard.
    While half of the 206 licensed properties, including pet shops and sex shops, also failed audits.

    According to the data published by the Home Office, 118 informal notices were issued requesting improvements in Suffolk; three enforcement notices were issued and six prohibition notices served.

    It resulted in 16 of those properties being given a satisfactory rating following enforcement action.
    In Essex only one building, a licensed premises, received an enforcement notice legally requiring improvements to be made.
    The high number of care homes included in the unsatisfactory list prompted concern from Age UK, as care homes frequently have vulnerable adults who could struggle more if a fire broke out.

  70. An important one:

    Matthew Biddlecombe 2 Nov 2019 1:46PM
    There is now a lot of debate about whether or not to accept Boris Johnsons’ Withdrawal Agreement along with a lot of agonising over who to vote for and whether tactical voting is the way to prevent Labour or the LibDems getting into No. 10 via the back door. One thing that has surprised me in the past couple of days is the number of people who are now, however begrudgingly, accepting the latest deal; indeed only yesterday someone, in a reply to one of my posts, said that Martin Howe QC now accepted that this deal was better than nothing. Let’s get one thing straight. Mr. Howe did NOT say this at all, and in saying that he did people are ignoring the last part of his article.

    Mr. Howe does indeed say that there are some positives (the backstop protocol in Theresa Mays’ deal has removed the UK from being locked into a vassal type customs union with the EU, the Political Declaration now foreshadows a Free Trade Agreement under which we can operate an independent trade policy and lastly, references in the Declaration to us aligning our rules to those of the EU have been removed. Unfortunately, the text of Mays’ WA outside the backstop protocol remains untouched, with the most damaging one to the UK being the long-term adherence to subjection of rulings from the ECJ. We would also still be subjected to all EU laws, both existing and future new ones, but with no vote or veto. Finally, the agreement imposes on the UK massive financial obligations “well beyond those under International law”; these payments are unconditional whether the EU offers us a satisfactory long-term trade agreement or not. The Daily Telegraph, wrongly in my view, has headed this article as “Flawed outcome is a tolerable price to pay for our freedom”, and it’s this that those now supporting Johnsons’ deal appear to have leapt upon.

    But wait,…….there is more. Whilst understanding a political judgement that the revised deal is tolerable as a price for our freedom, by law we can’t ratify an Article 50 Withdrawal Agreement without an implementing Act of Parliament; a bill has been drafted, but with 175 clauses and many schedules. The problem is no government will have any control whatsoever over what amendments are tabled by last-ditch anti-Brexiteer MPs in not just the Commons, but the Lords as well. These amendments could well order a government to hold another referendum or even negotiating changes to the deal.

    Mr. Howe finishes his summary by saying that these events would turn a just tolerable deal into a “disastrous” one. So, those saying that Mr. Howe is saying that the deal is OK are being, at best disingenuous, at worst picking bits of the agreement to match their argument. What I can’t understand is that, for three-and-a-half years, we’ve been subjected to thousands of Brexiteers saying that their decision to vote leave was driven by their desire to have our Parliament make our laws again and for us to cease payments to the EU. This agreement does nothing whatsoever to meet those aims; indeed, the fear is that we will become even more under the thumbs of Brussels but with our mouths gagged and taped whilst paying even more money into the coffers of the EU. For pity’s sake – is this what you voted for? Please, whatever else you do, take time to read Martin Howes’ analysis. This agreement is still infinitely worse than had we voted to remain, and to vote for it is nothing more than a complete and utter surrender to the very people we voted to remove ourselves from in 2016.

    1. The following is an extract from Melanie Phillips’ article in today’s Conservative Woman:

      “Johnson has eviscerated the Brexit vote and made it meaningless.

      “Now he is preparing to fight the election on the boast that he’ll get Brexit done. Not true. He will tell the country that his deal will allow Britain to do beneficial trade deals with the world. Not true. He will claim that the Tories are now the real Brexit party defending the sovereignty of the people against the plot to scupper Brexit. Not true.”

      3. What will Johnson and his supporters have to say a couple of years down the line when the truth becomes clear? Perhaps he is hoping that the people will forget and no longer care. We will need people to keep the treachery in full public gaze. Johnson may win the election and kick the demise of the Tories down the road a little but he is only delaying the inevitable.

        1. Certain members of the ERG who have turned traitor should seriously consider suicide when the full impact of their treachery hits them..

          1. I can only imagine that Johnson has spun them a line and they’ve fallen for it. Not sure where Redwood stands on this; he’s been consistent in opposing any withdrawal agreement and has demanded an FTA after telling the EU we’re leaving. That stance is not a million miles away from Farage’s latest offer to Johnson.
            I’m looking forward to another hung Parliament with Johnson’s face covered in egg. A billion a month to the Brussels’ cabal for a few months will be chicken feed to what Johnson’s madcap scheme will cost us.

        2. They will have nothing to say beyond what they are saying now. They won’t care, because they will be alright, thank you very much taxpayers. Almost goes without saying nowadays.

      4. The sheer fraudulence of Boris Johnson’s sell out must be very widely published on television, in the newspaper, on the internet, on the billboards and even in graffiti. Ot must be brought to the attention of everybody before it is too late otherwise Johnson will go down as another traitor like Lord Haw Haw when the full extent if the betrayal and treachery he is trying to wreak upon Britain is fully understood.

        The Conservative Party no longer deserves to exist. Ideally, people would all vote for the Brexit Party to such an extent that the Conservatives would have no seats at all in the House of Commons but this is too optimistic a wish! Maybe the best we can hope for is that Nigel Farage’s party wins enough seats to stop Jojhnson’s treacherous vandalism.

        1. Good afternoon, Rastus.

          I am surprised you ever believed BJ would do any other
          than betray the UK voters; we don’t count, we are an irrelevance who will be
          won over easily by the ‘right words’ and false promises,
          ‘they’ know it!
          We are a soft touch!!

    2. Fully agree, people seem to have only checked the headlines, which were clutching at straws to find the good bits and quote them selectively.

    3. Matthew B now lives somewhere near Okehampton; is that Nottler country?

      I agree with most Nottlers that the battle has to be fought until the end; for me WTO has echoes of General Patton, whereas May2 is simply an Omar Bradley, or worse.

    2. Thank you, Bill J.
      A pleasant reminder that there is life beyond the B word.
      One of the reasons why MB and I enjoy ‘Repair Shop’.

  72. ‘Political titan Antoinette Sandbach uses her maiden name in public life, choosing not to use her married name – Antoinette Sherratt. There’s nothing unusual in this, bar the fact she continues to use her maiden name in her capacity as company director of Hafodunos Farms Ltd.
    Hafodunos Farms Ltd received £23,588.02 in EU subsidies for 2017, and £25,173.29 in EU subsidies for 2018, through the Common Agricultural Policy. Both payments would’ve given Sandbach a six-figure income from the taxpayer…
    Feathering her big nest even more will be the £27,000 payout she will receive if she loses her seat. If she had just resigned without contesting, she would have left with no payout…’

    Snouts, troughs…

    https://order-order.com

    1. Not true. She is listed under Sherratt at Companies House. £25k in subsidies does not go directly into her pocket, but into running her farm. Now that she has come out as a Lib Undem, I see no reason to encourage her, but she worked as a criminal barrister (barristers’ motto ‘crime doesn’t pay’) for some years, so she knows a bit about life.

      1. Shall we just say that bungs totalling nearly £50,000 would give one a warm fuzzy feeling towards the EU. And possibly stop one questioning its ethos too closely.

  73. Breaking from Al-Beeb. No 10 fury as Grieve hatches plot to publish secret documents. Hell hath no fury like an old Tory unwhipped.

    What might these documents contain? Awaits with bated breath.

    1. If they are truly ‘Secret’, then surely the Official Secrets Act applies and jail awaits.

      1. One can only hope so – the sight of Grievous in a cell would be a wonderful Christmas present!

      3. Why is the current parliamentary session still running even though an election has been called?. Once parliament is prorogued, his protection as an MP ceases.

    3. Dilyn’s feeding schedule? Carrie’s recipe for vegan cheese scones? No.10’s grocery order for w/c 7/10/19?

  74. Clear blue skies here, lots of sunshine – and a solid 0°C. Looks like we are finally moving into winter temperatures.

  75. Many people who thought that a completely clean break with the EU was better than any possible deal with the EU held on to the belief that Steve Baker and Mark Francois were their champions who would be able to persuade Boris Johnson that an electoral pact with the Brexit Party was the only way to honour the referendum, achieve a proper Brexit and win a general election.

    But these two have shown that they are no different from the other self-serving people in Parliament – when it came to the crunch they chose the Conservative Party ahead of the people and the country.

    I suspect that millions of Conservative Brexit supporters will now defect to the Brexit Party. No sincere and genuine ‘Leaver’ should ever vote Conservative again. BRINO is worse than Remain.

    2. In short.
      The building was too high for the area around it.
      Accommodation of this type is only feasible if an Orwellian level of social control is imposed.

    3. It is indeed. A very impressive piece made more powerful by the fact that he clearly knows what he is talking about.

      1. I don’t think the general public, fed on a diet of TV and Movies showing people running around in burning buildings, being able to see and with only a damp sheet over their heads for protection appreciate the appalling heat in a burning building, even well away from the flames. It’s literally an oven and you can’t see an inch. The firefighters search a room by touch if visual aids aren’t appropriate under the prevailing conditions (infra red imaging is only any use if there are cool areas to contrast with the hot). Anyone without protective clothing would roast.

        My son told me once that when he came out from a fire his protective clothing was so hot on the outside, several hundred degrees, that anyone touching it with a bare hand would be burnt. On the inside he was standing in a puddle of sweat in each boot – not from the heat of the fire, but from his own body heat following the exertion of fighting the fire itself, the insulation of the clothing is so good.

        1. I read a book a few years ago, Red Watch by Gordon Honeycombe, about the Worsley Hotel fire. Whatever misconceptions I had about fire fighters disappeared immediately.

        2. I remember reading an article in the late 1970s that in a room with flame retardant furnishings and fittings within 7 minutes of a lighted spill being placed on a bed the subsequent fire and increase in temperature means that “flash over” will occur and everything /one in the room will combust.

  77. Rhetorical question if I may, say there was NOT the number of fools there actually are in the electorate & the pro eu lab/lib/con mass uncontrolled immigration / paedophile umbrella / PC / Appeasement, coalition party did not receive a single vote, nary a one, who would govern by default ?

  78. Brexiteers shouldn’t vote for the Brexit party. Douglas Carswell. 2 November 2019

    The only person ever elected for the Brexit party’s predecessor, Ukip, at a General Election, I really can’t see the point in voting for them now. Why?

    I always thought that Carswell was a Tory mole sent to burrow into UKIP and report back. I haven’t seen anything to change my mind yet!

    https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2019/11/brexiteers-shouldnt-vote-for-the-brexit-party/

    1. Meanwhile, over on the Conservative Woman website:

      https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/on-the-medias-planet-remain-truth-is-now-a-hard-right-concept/
      On the media’s Planet Remain, truth is now a ‘hard-right’ concept
      By Melanie Phillips

      In his audacious LBC phone interview with Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage on Thursday night, Trump said:

      ‘We’re far and away the largest economy in the world and we want to do trade with the UK and they want to do trade with us, and to be honest with you, this deal, under certain aspects of the deal, you can’t do it, you can’t do it, you can’t trade. I mean we can’t make a trade deal with the UK and we can be, because I think we can do many times of numbers that we’re doing right now, and certainly much bigger numbers that you’re doing under the European Union.’

      Downing Street’s response to this was disingenuous. A spokesman said: ‘Under this new deal the whole of the UK will leave the EU customs union, which means we can strike our own free-trade deals around the world from which every part of the UK will benefit.’

      But the deal’s political declaration, which is legally binding, commits the UK to adhere to EU rules and regulations even though it will no longer have any say over them once it stops being a member (quite apart from not having control over its own foreign and defence policies, and remaining under some control at least by the European Court of Justice).
      ….
      Many may therefore fall into line behind the fiction that Johnson will deliver Brexit through his deal. They should therefore be told that this will not bring this nightmare to an end at all.

      It will instead open the way to years more of it, as the UK twists and turns in further agonising negotiations with the EU over the long-term trade deal, the one that really matters; and in which, thanks to the Johnson deal, the EU will once again have the UK precisely where it wants it to be – on the ropes as a powerless supplicant. Which is precisely why the EU agreed to it.

    1. An excellent outline UKIP manifesto published today from David Kurten, pity it has no chance of getting anywhere.

      1. Afternoon K,
        In the nicest possible way I do not know your stance concerning the party, I am personally behind the Braine / Batten and their way forward , Gerard Batten has proved himself without doubt
        hence he could not be allowed to continue.
        IMHO this will be the last internal fight as we try to oust the current Nec, and Kurten is nec material.
        Braine / Batten the men for ALL reasons going forward.

          1. Morning KP,
            So he has, I, and I believe many more, take it as a protest as he is not allowed to operate as a leader by the NEC.
            Certain members of the NEC are running a disruptive anti UKIP
            campaign is my personal view.

          3. K,
            Not unfortunately, a planned campaign at a crucial time.
            UKIP must be suppressed `we have witnessed their potential.

  80. Those who still think that Boris has produced a ‘FANTATSIC NEW DEAL’ should read, mark, learn and inwardly digest this before even dreaming of voting Conservative and imprisoning Britain in BRINO

    The Revised Withdrawal Agreement and Political Declaration: a briefing note

    European Union Comment and Analysis Renegotiation Robert Oulds Thursday, 17 October 2019 21 Comments

    withdrawalagreeementbanner
    The Revised Political Declaration

    Introduction

    So far as we are aware the only material changes in the Withdrawal Agreement (Treaty) are to the NI Protocol, which means that the critical ECJ oversight and Art 184 link to the Political Declaration remain. I am told by UKREP that there are two changes to other Articles in the Treaty but they were unable to tell us which ones.

    Executive Summary

    The Treaty permanently restricts our military independence, demands payment of an unspecified sum, prevents independent arbitration, grants EU officials immunity from UK laws, leaves us with EIB contingent liabilities running into tens if not hundreds of billions and will impose punitive laws on the UK during a transition which is likely to be extended until mid 2022 (just a few months before the next General Election).

    The Political Declaration is such that a future FTA with the EU is made unpalatable because it will restrict our foreign policy and military independence as well as policies in trade, tax, fishing, environment, social and employment, competition and state aid. Free movement is replaced with vague notions of “mobility” and “non discrimination”.

    Specific Provisions in which the Withdrawal Treaty:-

    1.Restricts Parliamentary independence

    Just as before, the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) governs the entire Treaty and EU law takes precedence – binding future British Parliaments and requiring judges to overturn laws passed by the British Parliament if the ECJ considers them to be inconsistent with obligations in the Treaty. (Articles 4, 87, 89 and 127).

    2. Restricts independent trade policy

    Although there is no longer any reference in the Political Declaration to “building on the customs territory” the new provisions may still create difficulties for the UK in agreeing trade deals because any FTA with the EU must satisfy principles and objectives that include “ensuring a level playing field for open and fair competition” (para 17) and “deep regulatory and customs cooperation” (para 21). This will make it difficult for the UK to reduce non-tariff barriers as a means to facilitate a trade deal with a third country – particularly the United States.

    The Political Declaration requires that a FTA “ensure no tariffs, fees, charges or quantitative restrictions across all sectors with… ambitious customs objectives that are in line with the Parties’ objectives and principles” (para 22). This does not exclude the possibility of a Customs Union. It is not clear how the UK could protect its industries against dumping by third countries with which the EU has FTAs.

    The problem also remains that there is no definition in the Withdrawal Treaty for the word “goods”

    and so its scope will be interpreted as the ECJ determines from time to time (Articles 127, 184).

    3. Prevents an independent tax policy

    The Political Declaration still obliges the UK to adopt a future relationship which will impose EU State Aid rules and “relevant tax matters” on the UK (para 77), the EU specifically intends to curb the UK’s ability to have “harmful tax practices”, the Withdrawal Treaty also applies EU law to the UK during the transition period (Article 127) – allowing the EU to sue the UK, including infringement proceedings for: as yet unidentified breaches of State Aid rules (which can take the form of tax exemptions); and billions in unpaid VAT on commodity derivative transactions dating back to the 1970s (Articles 86 and 93).

    4. Controls Fishing

    The CFP continues in UK waters during the transition period (which can be extended) but the UK will have no say in its implementation or enforcement. After the transition, the Political Declaration requires “cooperation on… regulation of fisheries, in a non-discriminatory manner” (para 72), which is code for continuing the current arrangements for EU access to UK waters.

    The Political Declaration also requires that any FTA “ensure service providers and investors are treated in a non-discriminatory manner, including with regard to establishment” (para 29) – this would prevent the UK from introducing the modern equivalent of the Merchant Shipping Act 1988 which sought to protect the British Fishing Fleet’s quota from being bought-up by foreign owners (and which was the subject of the infamous litigation in Factortame).

    5. and 6. Prevents independent military action

    The Treaty permanently restricts the UK’s sovereignty by preventing the UK from taking “any action likely to conflict with or impede” EU foreign policy (Article 129(6)). It is instructive that this contrasts with almost all the other sub-sections of Article 129 – each of which include language limiting them to the duration of the transition period.

    It is also very revealing in the Political Declaration that critical parts of the section on foreign policy and security are not reciprocal. For example, para 99 confirms that the future relationship will not “prejudice the decision-making autonomy of the EU” but no such language is afforded to the UK – we are merely permitted to “maintain the right to determine how [to respond] to any invitation to participate in operations or missions”.

    Additionally, in the Political Declaration the parties “agree to consider” security collaboration in the European Defence Agency, the European Defence Fund and PESCO “to the extent possible under [EU law]” (para 102(c)) which is a prescriptive obligation and not merely a permissive option. Despite making payments to the European Defence Agency during the transition period, British troops in EU battlegroups will not be led by British staff officers (Articles 129(7) and 156-157).

    7. Restricts Foreign Policy

    The UK will be bound by international agreements concluded by the EU despite having no influence in their negotiation during the transition period and must “refrain, during the transition period, from any action… which is likely to be prejudicial” to the interests of the EU (Article 129(3) and (6)).

    8. Demands Payment of a sum to be decided by the EU

    Possibly a 39bn payment to the EU according to HM Treasury but as that amount can’t anticipate EU fines and contingent liabilities it’s just a minimum figure (Articles 138-144, and 152-155).

    9. Replaces one Commission with another

    A new body is established with ‘powers equivalent to those of the European Commission’ (Article 159).

    10. Prevents independent arbitration

    The UK is expressly denied the right to take any dispute about the Treaty to the international courts and must accept the exclusive jurisdiction of the Arbitration Panel (half of whom are appointed by the EU) and, via it, judgments of the ECJ (Articles 168, 174).

    11. Grants EU officials immunity

    The EU and its employees are to be immune to UK regulations, criminal law and exempt from tax (Articles 101, 104, and 106-116).

    12. Imposes a gagging order on the UK

    The UK must keep all EU information confidential but the EU can use UK information as it sees fit. (Articles 74 and 105).

    13. Leaves the UK with EIB risks but no profits

    We abandon rights to not only past and future profits made from our investment in the EIB, but also our share of assets of the EIB and yet remain liable for contingent liabilities of up to 500bn euros of guarantees given to the EIB via the EU budget (Articles 143, 147, 150).

    14. Imposes EU public procurement rules

    EU public procurement rules continue at least during the transition period (Articles 75-78 and 127).

    15. Makes the UK a bystander in laws that govern it

    The UK is permitted to send a civil servant to Brussels to observe the EU passing laws designed to disadvantage our economy during the transition (which might last many years) (Article 34). For example, the EU is discussing regulating London’s huge Foreign Exchange Markets and also imposing a financial transaction tax that would be collected at our expense by HMRC but sent to foreign governments.

    Benjamin Wrench Barrister

    Brussels, 17th October 2019

    1. Boris lied to us about the 31st. You cannot trust him. He will sell us out. He is also a Green nutter as well.

    2. Everyone should be able to understand that this is, “Taking back control.” Oh ye of little faith.

      Was Johnson a ‘plant’ in the Leave campaign? If not, then he’s had a damascene moment and has been ordered to hobble us to prevent us straying from the EU’s control.

    1. John Singer Sargent was famous for his full length portraits of society women. He gave them small and slightly upturned noses. In this portrait he seems to have concentrated on the delicate hands and slender fingers.

        1. I do agree. I had not read your post but those small fashionably upturned noses on his Society women were likely nothing like their actual hooters. Likewise the dumpy ones were given the lithe bodies and stature of an actress.

          Sargent was one of the Broadway Group based at Abbott’s Grange (coincidentally owned by my clients Richard and Topsy Taee for whom I have designed several Huffkins Tea Rooms in the Cotswolds). Sargent’s Carnation Lily Lily Rose of children with Chinese lanterns was painted in the grounds. Henry James was a member and an American illustrator Millet who was lost on the Titanic.

          Whilst Sargent was a great painter with exquisite brushwork he certainly exploited a captive market.

          Edited.

          1. “The Family From One End Street”. The picture so impressed Ma Ruggles that she called her first child Lily Rose.
            Unfortunately, Number 1 daughter proved to be anything but ethereal.

          5. I saw two close up at Sotheby’s earlier this year. As you know, at salerooms, one can get very close to the paintings. And very close, the subjects did look odd. I decided against bidding – because I don’t have a wall 20 feet high!

      1. There is a review in the Tellygraff of a book about him; written by Matthew Parris’ husband/wife/partner …whatever.

        1. And the Speccie.

          I have always thought that Sargent’s models were disproportionately tall. The legs and body are too long and out of kilter with the head.

          1. Knew on which side his bread was buttered.
            Customers don’t fork out squillions for a portrait that makes them look dumpy and dull.

          2. Could be that the paintings were intended to be placed fairly high up a wall – and so might have seemed less elongated.

        2. Thank you; much appreciated as I had no idea who he was – you learn summat every day here!

    3. Grey squirrels?
      Aren’t they a non-indigenous invasive species that has forced the natives out of their homelands?

      1. Yep, history itself – first squirrels, now us. You would have thought we would have known better.

  83. Many of us here complain that the Conservative Party has moved too far to the left.

    So why has that effeminate and rather mincing Matthew Parris – a former Conservative MP – moved even further to the left and declared his allegiance to the Lib/Dems?

    And why are not more Conservative politicians moving the other way?

      1. He is certainly undemocratic – as his endless bleating about the referendum result underlines.

    4. The answer is simple, there are very few true Conservative MP’s but lots of Lib Dem MP’s pretending to be Conservative, they are therefore exactly where they feel most comfortable. I include the present incumbent in No10 who seems more than happy in serving up his t^rd of a deal.
      I will have little sympathy for all those when in the next couple of years, they come to realise what they have been sold during this election and marking their X’s for the Conservative candidate giving the EU what they wanted. One of their first statements was that any deal must be worse than remaining and that is what they have achieved. Johnson’s Brexit will be proved to be just an illusion.

      1. Afternoon VVOF,
        There will come a time shortly when none ,on the way to the mosque for the fifth time in the day will ever admit to supporting / voting lab/lib/con coalition party.

        1. I expect not to be around when the country reaches that stage of decline, but speed of events can be surprising for all.

          Edit Manners, good afternoon to you.

    1. Aha ! I wondered why my husband put on the television this morning
      let alone shouting expletives at it. Now I know .

  85. Prince Harry visits the South African rugby team in their dressing room after crushing World Cup final victory over England and congratulates the Springboks on their ‘outstanding’ performance

    South African prop Tendai Mtawarira welcomed Harry to the changing room, saying: ‘We just want to welcome you to our changing room Prince Harry. It’s a massive honour to have you in our presence. We are all big fans of you and we hope that the family is well, Meghan and baby Archie.’

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7642327/Prince-Harry-congratulates-South-African-rugby-team-World-Cup-final-victory-England.html

    Hmmmm!

        3. I think many of us have, Anne. Human decency doesn’t even enter into it, any more, because we are not dealing with decent humans.

  88. ” Two hundred and fifty highly trained British ground troops are scheduled
    to be deployed to reinforce the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali in
    2020.”
    I am not happy that our guys should risk their lives fighting jihadists in one of the most dangerous places in Africa. A token 250 is not much considering the problem.
    Why us ? ( again ).

      1. Could be. Decades ago we always had somewhere in the world for our soldiers to do real fighting; Borneo, Oman, Belize?, Malaya, Belfast, Iraq, Sierra Leone, other trouble spots were available.

    3. I wonder if it’s the Paras. A couple of days of very noisy training going on in the woods behind my place and firing on the range. Whomever we send we must wish them well and a safe return.

          1. Evening Korky but in 10 years UK Human Rights law firms Hodge Jones & Allen or Slater & Gordon will be representing the Jihadis out of the public purse in seeking compensation against the Paras for violating their human rights & killing the bastards in the jungle!

    4. This news has opened up job opportunities. A number of legal firms have begun placing adverts for French speaking lawyers and investigating agents to be available for deployment in Mali from next year.🙃

    5. Because ours are the most highly trained – and if they die, will make this country weaker…

  89. I have just read an extremely cliche-ridden article in the DT by Juliet Samuel which I shall not bother to post as it is hardly worth reading. .

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/11/01/farages-false-claims-could-sabotage-brexit/

    I quote from this: “Sealing a deal with the EU, despite its flaws, has helped to unify the Conservative Party and finally give it a decent chance of winning a majority.”

    That is at the very root of our corrupted and putrid political system. Unifying the Conservative Party is more important to Boris than the country’s welfare and he would rather have Britain as a vassal state and subjected to the “worst terms ever imposed upon a country which has not been defeated in war” than lead us into a proper Brexit giving the nation back its pride, sovereignty and independence. The Conservatives are rotten to the very core – even those we respected – such as Steve Baker and Mark Francois – have now shown themselves to be treacherous self-serving party sycophants.

    Nobody should ever vote Conservative again but neither should they ever vote Labour, SNP or Lib/Dem. This, of course, leaves Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party as the only one worthy of any support.

    1. Afternoon R,
      How is she hanging ? ( greeting)
      Surely you will upset the many in saying that the lab/lib/con coalition party politico’s are wearing multi starred, blue,cloaks of treachery.
      There have been other choices over the past 27 plus years but the peoples were to busy with the keep in / keep out mode of voting without their continuing input we would never have reached the high state of sh!teness we
      find ourselves in as a country , currently.
      PS,
      We in UKIP advised again,again,& again, never trust a tory.

    3. My MP, Owen Paterson, seems to be a Good Egg, but to my mind is tainted by the company he keeps. There’s only BXP left, although that option might disappear if Nigel comes to some sort of arrangement.

      1. Please would someone prevail upon Owen Paterson to resign from the Conservative Party and join the Brexit Party without further delay?

        After the betrayals of Brexit by Baker and Francois we need some sort of proof:

        i) That not every Conservative MP who believes in Brexit was prepared to sell out;

        ii) That those who have always said they wanted a proper Brexit have the integrity to back their words and beliefs with action and jojn the Brexit Party showing that they are prepared to put the people and the country before the stinking charnel house of the Conservative Party.

        Incidentally Lovely Verity’s MP, Richard Drax, bitterly regretted having been hustled into voting for May’s treacherous surrender WA and apologised most profusely.

        Is he standing again as a Conservative candidate and following the Boris line that “No deal is off the table.”

        If so he is not only a hypocrite but also pathetically naive and stupid in making exactly the same mistake again. If he has a brain and and even the merest smidgen of integrity he will know that Boris’s ‘fantastic deal’ is almost exactly the same as May’s.

        (Indeed, an article in the French newspaper Figaro earlier this week said that the Johnson ‘deal’ was even worse for Britain than the May WA)

    4. I’m in what is now a Labour marginal, having been Conservative until the recent past. So I shall be voting for the Brexit Party since the Conservatives have piled lie upon lie. I finally decided this when they defaulted on the Oct 31st deadline and decided to have the election before we’ve brexited. I have no doubt there will be many consoling words in their manifesto, but as we all know, manifestos have little to do with what actually happens.

  90. A personal comment.

    I loathe Parris as much as the rest of you – more, prolly. But I think we should moderate comments about people who are gay.

    I have lots of gay friends – who share my views about Parris, but NOT because he is gay but because he is a treacherous, turncoat tosser.

    Just saying.

      1. I was just about to ask, don’t say he has re-assigned himself, and got a crush on Jo Swinson ?

      1. Good evening, Hatman.

        Not as much now as I did in 1949, when I first visited.

        It has changed – and not for the better. Slammers everywhere; street tents; muggers…..

        1. Good evening Bill, I haven’t been to Paris for 30 or more years & yes it was reasonably nice back then, at least in the touristy areas.
          Its all de Gaulles fault, he threw in the towel on Algeria & then once the wogs had independence the first thing they did was immigrate to France and proceed to turn it into the Casbah !

    3. If a gay person doesn’t moderate their comment about people who are of a different ilk politically, why shouldn’t people of that political persuasion not moderate their comments about him? Cake and eat it, methinks.

    5. He was quite amusing 30y ago.
      Now he’s just another bloody boring whining windbag.

      1. He calls us foam-flecked and other unpleasant things. I used to have a link to some of his invective but lost it.

          1. Personally, I would find that offensive.

            Attack him as much as you want for his pernicious political views and attacks on people who think differently – but not for his sexuality.

    2. Wotcher, hello Mahatma!

      I have been on and off so sporadically (not just here but everywhere online) that I seem always to be behind nowadays. So nice to see you again – glad you don’t forget us. X

  93. OT – another shocking example of modern life.

    The MR and I are going to Rome – actually, Tivoli, Villa Adriana – in April. For personal reasons we are flying BA business class (personal = there will be less for the children!!).

    All done and dusted until we come to “choose your seats”. Effing £23 per seat each way – nearly £100. We decided against it and will gladly NOT sit together and use the saving to pay for a couple of evening meals!

    Bloody sauce.

      1. The only way to avoid it is to pay the extra £1,000 (I kid you not) for “Business Fully Flexible”.

        We have booked and paid for non-cancellable tickets (for £850) and I’ll take out insurance (hence my request last evening) to cover cancellation. A heck of a sight cheaper.

    2. There are other premium airlines. I always flew Lufthansa 1st class between Düsseldorf & London, because they did a good deal.

      Likewise I always flew with the boys down to Mallorca twice a year with Lufthansa (up front) & we always sat together.

        2. Why don’t you look at flights that stop in Rome that have an ultimate destination further afield.

          Back in the ’90s, we used to fly to Madrid once a year. BA suddenly brought in a smoking ban and Iberia soon followed, so we turned to Aerolineas Argentinas which called at Madrid on its way to Buenos Aires.

          And before you start, I should explain that since we smokers are a public health hazard, and I knew all the other passengers were dagoes, I thought ‘where better to inflict all kinds of terminal diseases on folk than in the bosom of the enemy?’

          It was chemical warfare – I chain-smoked for my country.
          ;¬)

          2. I tried that – VERY very difficult to find these days. It seems that yer airlines are on to this.

  94. Must dash – Don Giovanni is just starting on Radio 3 (very appropriate given Mrs Allan’s obsession with Monsieur Pozzi!)

    A demain. I hope

    1. I am almost afraid to ask – what is that white “Gents Lavatory” man meant to symbolise?

        1. The thought did cross my mind that it was “Lets meet up in the nearest one” but that is so unsubtle that I could not believe a human could be so blatant.

          1. I might be doing this man a disservice. It could be reaction to the insanity swirling around us and it signifies “I am proud to be a white male. Do not try to tell me that I am guilty of something.”

            But that would be a bold move that would have snowflakes fainting at the sight of it.

      5. It’s actually a serious issue.

        It’s to do with prostate cancer awareness.

        All you blokes out there who think it’s amusing, please remember that if you live past 70 the chances are that it will affect you.

        You might not die of it, but there’s a very high chance that you’ll die with it or have had it and been “cured”.

        1. That is a serious issue, and I don’t know anyone who thinks it is funny, but its a bl00dy strange choice for a logo.

      1. Unfortunately, the crate was in the shop and the shop was usually closed when we lit the blue touchpaper (and retired).

      1. We could never get a response from Standard. Brocks’ response was to put a few pebbles in the bottle.

    4. It has been many years since I used one, but we always put 3 or 4 bricks around the base to stabilise it, or dug a shallow hole in the ground and put the bottle in it.

      1. ‘Evening,Aeneas, we still have three deliveries per week and the milk comes in pint milk bottles which we rinse and return.

        Some of the old ways still carry on as normal.

        1. Like milk bottles, I haven’t seen a milkman for years. Supermarkets sold milk much cheaper, so it was a no-brainer to switch.

          1. When it’s a 6 mile round trip down a single-track road, one is grateful for small services. The extra cost is less than the petrol costs and, with trips to any supermarket, one always spends more than the shopping list asked for.

    2. I cannot bear the loud raucous cackling and immature behaviour on Strictly come prancing ..

      Moh believes I am a complete misery ..so what if I am .. I cannot stand the year in year out mentally sapping cosh that is presented as entertainment.

      1. I cannot bear Strictly come dancing – the noise, the colour, the brashness. It is all too much. It is a sensory attack.

    3. I can’t stop watching it because I’ve never started, but I suspect it will be a case of “get woke, go broke”.

    2. I used to love a mug of hot Bovril with a dash of vodka and seasoned with a little Tabasco..

      Rarely drink these days .. Lucky you .. a great evening for doing stuff.. the moon is peaking through

      2. A mug of Bovril is one of my favourite lunches, Belle. I don’t do the vodka anymore, though.

    1. OLT that’s around 400 a day, the same loss rate as me right now! I was hit by the Bot program in mid-June with a loss rate of around 100 upvotes a day till around 24th Oct when Disqus finally deleted the hidden channels & our old posts and straight away my daily upvote loss rate quadrupled !

        1. Well I am very happy if I chapped their sensibly. Guess they must think I am here for the upvotes…

          1. My theory is that it was planned by Disqus back in mid to late 2018 when Sayeed Oday was still in charge of IT for the channels & lists were drawn up of right wing channel posters to be targeted for account reputation destruction. I say that because one of my News mods – Elodie St. James https://disqus.com/by/Elodie_St_J/ quit Disqus in Nov. 2018 leaving her account & her 2 channels inactive.
            I used to check from time to time during 2019 on her channels in case she had suddenly returned to post on them & in July 2019 I noticed that all her tens of thousands of up votes had vanished! Why would somebody bother hitting an abandoned ID that not posted since Nov.2018 with an up vote loss program? The only logical explanation I can think of is that the lists of right wing posters to be attacked by the Bot was drawn up in mid to late 2018 and had not been updated to remove abandoned & dormant accounts!

          2. What small minded people, the very idea of the internet was to disseminate information and “Social” media was for discussion of that information. Now these simians must put their thumb on the scale to silence those they disagree with, petty and vindictive? Definitely belongs to the DNC, the new improved National Socialist party .

  103. Farage on the Marr prog in the morning. I won’t torture myself but will look forward to any nottler feedback.

  104. Isn’t that sweet of the Metropolitan Police , courtesy of the met, the UK’s taxpaying suckers have unknowingly given the Madeline McCann investigation team another £300,000 to spend on holidays abroad! I am really surprised that Mrs. May did not give them a peerage or at least an OBE in her outgoing honours list, after all for six years as Home Secretary under Cameron & then as PM she funded the phony investigation with taxpayers cash to the sum of £12 million in total

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7642335/Madeleine-McCanns-parents-thank-public-300-000-funding-boost.html
    Madeleine McCann’s parents thank vow to continue search ‘for as long as it takes’ after £300,000 funding boost
    •Maddie vanished during a family holiday in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in May 2007
    •Kate and Gerry McCann wrote on official campaign Facebook page this week
    •Met Police’s Operation Grange search for Maddie has cost £12 million in total

      1. Those all expense paid holidays in Portugal & Spain have racked up a hefty bill, plus police wages back to when 30 detectives were on the case full time including a dozen at a time abroad and the cost of diggers & other equipment and lab tests etc. Whoever said that crime does not pay!

    2. It’s high time the Met. justified the obscene amount of money they have spent on this case by explaining exactly what course these ‘investigations’ are taking.

      Physical clues? Ridiculous, after all the years that have passed since the wee girl vanished. Further interviews? With whom for God’s sake, who’s left to interrogate? They’ve had enough time to waterboard the entire population of Praia da Luz …. twice.

      One can only assume that the Met’s officers are spending time in the agreeable and salubrious climate of the Algarve in the hope that somebody might wish to unburden his/her conscience and confess.

      1. Happy Saturday Duncan, from the start when Maddie vanished I was taken in by the pro-McCann media blitz and had sympathy for Kate & Gerry until the moment that two British dogs detected the scent of death in the apartment! Right then just like the dogs I realized that something about the abduction story did not smell right! ( pun intended ) And since then I have considered them the only logical suspects especially after Gordon Brown intervened to get them released from further investigation by the Portuguese police. I think just like the hunt for Jack the Ripper this case will never be solved unless one day we get a death bed confession from the parents !

          1. Thanks anyway Duncan, Shabbat went out at 17:28 locally as it got dark – 15:28 UK time. When Shabbat goes out the customary Hebrew greeting is Shavua Tov ! ( have a good new week )

        2. I came across a consideration of the evidence (as available to the public) by an American detective somewhere on the internet that for various good reasons reached a similar conclusion, that the parents were in some way involved. She was very critical of the approach taken by the British police and made what appeared to be some very valid points. Too long ago to remember the details, but it’s still no doubt out there somewhere on the ‘net.

        3. The Edinburgh Freemasonry have created the nonsense that we poor taxpayers have forked out for. Brown is a Master Mason and there are more Masons per square foot in Edinburgh than even the area of my local hotspot of Braintree District Council.

        4. Oh heavens, now the system won’t let me comment telling me I have already made the comment, hoping this addition will let me gain access.

          Here you are, Mr Hat. Everything to do and connected with Madeleine McCann:
          https://jillhavern.forumotion.net/
          It will keep you absorbed for days. And dogs do not lie. Allegedly these were the most highly trained dogs in the world for sniffing out cadaver.

          1. Hi poppiesmum, I have seen it before, a couple of years ago but never joined it. I used to post on Sky News back at the time of Maddies disappearance when they still allowed readers comments on the blogs of Martin Brunt. The posts started out 90% supporting the McCanns ( including me at the outset ) but after the sniffer dogs evidence emerged & convinced me and countless others of the McCanns involvement there was a swing against them by thousands of readers that they were guilty, apart from a few hardcore McCann supporting posters , so Sky began removing dozens if not hundreds of posts making nonsense of the threads continuity until one day Sky simply shut down all McCann discussions and any attempt to post about the McCann story on any other blog article resulted in an instant ban.

      2. From the beginning the McCanns have shown themselves in a bad light, and have been seen to receive preferential treatment.
        And evey so often further police expenditure has been justified by ” further information ” etc.,which is basically following trails suggested to them by interferers. I am waiting for the constabulary to say – ” we will have found Madeleine by 31st January “.
        That the McCanns have lost all public sympathy long ago is their own fault.
        Sad about the child. I don’t blame the parents, even though they were lying through their back teeth from the start.

        1. I agree that the parents are liars but have to say that I do blame them. Leaving their children was an act of gross neglect for a start and, on top of that, I’m convinced that they know exactly what happened to Maddie.

          Did you ever see the interview that the McCanns gave to the Portuguese journalist, Sandra Felgueiras, in which Gerry McCann pooh-poohed the cadaver/blood dogs as “notoriously unreliable” despite these highly-trained dogs being instrumental in the solving of murders in several different countries.

          When asked why he thought the dogs had signalled the presence of blood and the trace odour of a dead body in his holiday apartment, he replied, somewhat flippantly:

          “You should ask the dogs.”

          If you haven’t seen that interview, it’s available on Youtube.

          1. I haven’t seen that interview, but the first one ( on BBC TV I think ) was, in my eyes and in the eyes of many, very odd indeed.
            I’m sure that they didn’t intend to kill their kid (which is why I said that I didn’t blame them), but that does not mean that they were not responsible for her death.
            My favourite scenario has been –
            1.They drugged the kids so that they would fall asleep while their parents were socialising.
            2. They overdosed Madeleine.
            3. They came to the room later, saw that Maddie was dead, and panicked.
            4. In a flash, they realised that their careers were finished.
            5. They bundled up the girl and……..
            We know the rest.

          3. Have the police ever checked the drugs registry and stocks in the hospitals where the McCanns worked?

          5. I don’t think that those purportedly in charge of NHS Trusts would have any idea about how to manage or go about balancing any type of budget.

          6. Calpol, brand name for over the counter paracetamol/ibuprofen no need for strong analgesic.

          8. Never had much time for the Madeleine conspiracies, but any non-feral parent would look at the tragedy and feel that something doesn’t add up. One might leave a toddler unattended for two or three minutes but for 95% of the adult population it would be inconceivable to leave three young children alone for several hours.

            Calpol seems to sedate children, though IMHO it should be used sparingly or never, well hardly ever.

          9. As I wrote – the dogs evidence convinced me that poor Maddie died in that apartment & that Kate and Gerry were involved in her death & disposal, be it accidental or deliberate !

    3. Sad as it is for her parents there is no value in the police continuing the investigation they have had no new clues in over 2 years. The search should be abandoned. If any new real leads do come to light the search could always be reumed

    4. Yo Mr Hat

      Just read about a programme called ‘The Accident’

      Never seen or heard of it ’til today, but the McCann case is a must to be added to the list the list of :

      Aberfan, noconvictions. Battersea Big Dipper, no convictions. Stardust fire, noconvictions. The second episode of The Accident (Channel 4) ended with a devastating and damning roll call of real-life disasters where justice was never done. The list went on. Bradford City stadium fire, Zeebrugge ferry, Piper Alpha, Marchioness, Stockline explosion. “That’s not mentioning Hillsborough or Grenfell, where the cases are, to varying
      degrees, open,” concluded campaigning lawyer Philip (Adria Scarborough). “But is anyone in actual jail? No.”

      If the McCanns came from a sink housing estate, they would have been locked up for leaving the kid(z) unatteneded

      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2019/10/31/accident-episode-2-review-devastating-fight-justice/

      1. Nah – Bill Cash explaining why Boris’s relipsticked Treason pig is the bee’s knees.

        2. Bill Cash explaining Johnson’s deal as so good makes you realise how deep the infection has taken hold of The Tory Party.
          If it was an animal with such an infection it would have been put down years ago, and that I’m afraid is what needs to happen to Bill Cash and his party!

    6. “…will vote Illib Undem…because he has forgotten what being a Conservative means”.

        1. The whole bang shoot. Even the ones that I thought were trustworthy have failed us.

          And when Bill Cash (of all people) says that Johnson’s relipsticked Treason pig is a very good outcome, I know we really are flucked (sorry, ladies – but I feel strongly).

          2. I have pointed out on more than one occasion that over Maastricht, Cash gave way when it came to party loyalty.

    8. If you got rid of the 150 “one nation Conservatives” aka Liberals, and the other Remainers that are left from the party, and replaced them with actual Conservatives, then this country could leap ahead. But it has taken many of them years to dig themselves in as they attempt to give us one country with all three parties trying to keep us under Europe’s control.

      At least some of them are being flushed out into the open. Now it is just those who are still hiding who will try to hold us back.

        1. Don’t they all – except if they can stand again and get oodles of (displacement compensation) cash for being voted out, as opposed to standing down.

  108. Where have all the Nottlers gone, long time passing?
    Where have all the Nottlers gone, long time ago?
    Where have all the Nottlers gone?
    Remoaners have picked them off, every one

    Oh when will they ever learn, oh when will they ever learn?
    Where have all the Nottlers , long time passing?
    Where have all the Nottlers , long time ago?
    Where have all the Nottlers gone?
    Gone for Muskets , every one

    when will they ever learn, oh when will they ever learn?

  111. Black History: War memorial to black servicemen unveiled.
    Is there not something rather unpleasant about this? The names on War Memorials have only one thing in common and that is that they died in defence of this country. Their country. Our country. Does it matter if they were white? Or black? Or something in between?

    From the BBC website: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-50269303?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk&link_location=live-reporting-story

    https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/EC49/production/_109498406_plaque2.jpg

    2. As you say, a soldier who fights to defend his country is a soldier, the skin tone does not matter if they risk their life.

      We can see the real reason for this being put up by looking at the order of the organisations who “made the memorial possible.” They are the wrong way around. The last 3 organisations should be listed first, and the pathetic virtue-signalling political organisations should be last, if mentioned at all.

      You can almost see the 2 members of the “Race Council Cymru” saying “We’ve got our name on a plaque!” When asked if the soldiers organisations should have greater priority they replied “What soldiers?”

    3. I am totally fed up with this sort of thing. Watching World On Fire, I noticed that they shoe-horned a Sikh in RAF uniform into a scene supposedly set at the time of Dunkirk when the Sikhs didn’t arrive until OCTOBER 1940. It isn’t the first time it’s happened, either. Such gratuitous anachronisms to push the diversity agenda really light my fire.

  112. The Saxon Queen shall venture to sleep as it’s the twilight hours
    and she’s more of a lark then an owl.
    GN .

  113. Evening, all. Of course Labour hate the rich – actually, they particularly hate anyone who has succeeded. It’s in their interest to keep the working class ground down and feeling exploited.

    1. Evening Conway. The working class i come across are busy working. They don’t tend to spend all day discussing what went on in the Hovel of Commons. Those same people don’t feel ground down. They get on with it. They need to earn money to pay the bills.

      1. Indeed. Labour would say that’s false consciousness and they need to have their victimhood pointed out to them 🙂

          2. Quite so. Rather than mock, she needs a smack in the gob. And then another one. And if that doesn’t shut the fukking Commie bitch up ..then another. Too much?

          3. Violence doesn’t solve anything. She needs to be voted out and never heard of again – although with the pin a red rosette on a donkey syndrome, I think that’s highly unlikely.

          4. She is Black and she is a Woman. Those are her only qualifications. She is stupid and bigoted. She is also dangerous because our Media allow her to spout her nonsense and don’t take her to task when she utters her vile racist rants about there being too many white people in the U.K.

          9. There were at least four of them in the other room. After he let us say fucked her but i would be surprised if his tiny sweaty prick managed that. He did then parade her. I wonder how many of his friends had carnal and anal knowledge of her MPness.

          13. She was quite nice looking then. She probably only fucked him to get her Red Beret credentials. Climbing the greasy pole as it were.

          14. I’ve often felt a tiny smidgeon of sympathy for her.
            Labour was so determined to get the first Black Woman MP that she was slotted into one of the safest seats in the country without ensuring that she was up to the job.
            Sadly, as events have subsequently shewn, she was not and has always been very much out of her depth.

          15. Violence may not solve anything. Overwhelming force does. I know it is not a long term solution but at least we would have a period of peace where we didn’t have to listen to their incessent claptrap.

      2. The House of Commons is no
        Hovel. The late Clement Freud, a nasty old man of frankly limited intelligence, described it as The Best Club in England. That rotten old bastard knew his onions.

        1. I said hovel but i’m sure you could come up with a more colourful term.

          Surely the best club is the Lords? £300 a day to snooze before a paid for lunch and then more snoozing.

  114. For something completely different

    I wonder how many of the naughty males, whose naughtiness Tommy R reported a while ago (and got sent to jail for it) are Haram in the eyes of Islam:

    Haram

    that which Allah and the Prophet have completely and specifically forbidden. Engaging in an act that is Haram (i.e. eating food like pork, drinking alcohol, having sex outside of marriage)

    and if so, what the Imams have done to punish them

    Edit PS Reason :Our next door tintenters said a woman in a cowl and wearing a binbag legged it when their dog rubbed against her

    https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Haram

    1. The women / young girls that they abused were not muslims, so that is not a crime under islam. Infidels are “objects” not people. It is one of the recruiting tools for those desperate, sexless men in sandy countries to come here and do what they like. They are doing nothing wrong in their eyes.

      “Muslim men are allowed by Allah to rape non-Muslim or infidel women to “humiliate” them, according to a female Islamic scholar from the prestigious Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt. In a recent interview on Cairo television Professor Suad Saleh said rape is allowed in Islam during times of “legitimate war” between Muslims and their enemies, the Daily Express reported on Monday.

      She said slave women are those who have been captured as prisoners of war, adding that their Muslim captors have the right to own them. “In order to humiliate them, they become the property of the army commander, or of a Muslim, and he can have sex with them just like he has sex with his wives,” Saleh said.”

      In the minds of many of our invaders, we are already at war and they are just waiting for more reinforcements to arrive before they openly move to make this an islamic country. You can see the massive increases in sexual attacks across the countries of Europe as their numbers increase. A 70 year old woman was out walking her dog when she found a muslim youth struggling in a river. She helped him out of the water and was raped as a reward. She did not count as a human being in his eyes.

      We really do not need people who think this way to be allowed to come or stay in the United Kingdom.

  115. I watched a lovely programme about goshawks earlier .. what superb birds they are .. I am sure I have seen one here .. Difficult really because we have a few buzzards in the area , but the younger ones are similar in colour to goshawks .. I spotted a marsh harrier yesterday whilst on the heath at Arne , and we have a frequent visitor who will use our garden as a breakfast bar given half a chance! (Sparrow hawk)

        1. I haven’t been able to post pictures for ages – Disqus tells me I have to be logged in….but I am

          1. Hi FA, its a known Disqus bug which they will never fix, it especially affects Brave browsers & Firefox to a certain extent but rarely affects Google . Cant say about Internet Exploder ( as I call Explorer ) or Edge – the worst browser around & since I don’t use Safari I cant say if it affects it.

        1. Hey Buddy,
          Pardon me if this seems stalkerish.
          I just hadn’t heard from you in a while and wanted to see if you’re okay.
          Looks like you’re still posting so you haven’t fallen off the face of the Earth.
          Hope all is well for you!

          1. Hello chap – Yes I’m still alive and well, but we are having some complex political problems here that are very distracting and taking up a lot of our time. 🙂

            We now have a choice of being a free country able to make our own way in the world in just a few weeks, or being chained to the totalitarian state of the the European Union for at least the next next 11 years. Obviously most of us want to be free, but our 3 main parties all want us to stay. It is a tricky time.

            We have a new party called The Brexit Party that would get us out in weeks, but it depends how many people realise this before our next general election in 5 weeks time. Many, many people voted for them in recent elections to the European Parliament, but that is a meaningless fig-leaf of democracy and they have almost no power.

            So it can be done and we can be free, but these are busy weeks here. 🙂

          2. I’m glad to hear you’re okay.
            Remember, I still owe you some artwork!

            As for politics:
            You and I are on the same wavelength.
            Our two countries face similar problems,
            and, in my opinion, common enemies.

            I’m not terribly religious, but I pray for your success.

    2. We have goshawks in Northumberland too, but they are notoriously difficult to see, despite their large size.

      They are birds of deep woodland and tend to shun open ground. They hunt by chasing their prey through and between the trees within the forest. The best way to see them is to go with a good pair of binoculars to a forest where they breed and watch from afar on a fine day in late winter/early spring when they do their display flights, circling over their territory, high above the trees.

      Apart from that brief period in February or March they are invisible.

      1. Well,

        I am now delighted , because you have just described exactly what I experienced whilst on a woodland walk a few months ago..I saw an incredible bird gliding through the trees .. much too large to be an owl and very fast.

        2. They are often described as ‘a sparrowhawk that’s the size of a buzzard’.

          They are big.

      2. Yo basset

        We ‘have’ a Sparrowhawk near us (at home)

        He likes Flying Rats (pigeons)

        If only he would clear up the mess after he has eaten

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