Saturday 2 November: Labour’s damaging Budget risks breaking both manufacturing and farming in the UK

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

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

732 thoughts on “Saturday 2 November: Labour’s damaging Budget risks breaking both manufacturing and farming in the UK

  1. Good Morning Geoff and All
    Today's Tales – some more for the Ladies

    A woman only wants to have a child, not marry one.
    Some women get excited about nothing, then marry him.

    Why is a pig better than a man?
    Pigs don't turn into men when they have too much to drink.

    Women can take a joke – they get married to prove it!

    What do you call a man who has lost 99% of his brains? A widower.

    When you look at the worms we pick up, it’s no wonder men call us Birds.

    Why is it a waste of time telling a man to go to hell?
    He’d get lost on the way.

    How can you be sure a man is planning for the future?
    He buys two cases of beer instead of one.

    How are men like bread?
    They’re easier to take when you butter them up.

    Why are men like babies?
    They make a fuss when you try to change them.

    Why are men like vending machines?
    They’ll take your money and half the time they won’t work.

    Why did Dorothy get lost in the Land of Oz?
    Because she had three men giving her directions.

    What’s the difference between a man with a mid-life crisis and a circus clown?
    A circus clown knows he’s wearing funny clothes.

    What’s the best way of making sure your man doesn’t make a fool of himself at a party?
    Leave him at home.

  2. Good morning all NoTTLe chums, including especially Geoff who does such a good daily job to provide us with this site.

    Wordle 1,232 5/6

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    1. Good morning Elsie and all
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        1. Morning all!

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    2. As it’s Saturday I had a go in the morning, I usually do it late afternoon.
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  3. Value for money tsar

    SIR – I see that David Goldstone, the chairman of the Government’s new Office for Value for Money, is to be paid the equivalent of a £247,000 annual salary (report, November 1), and work on average only one day a week.

    Mr Goldstone oversaw the delivery of the London Olympics – which cost almost four times the initial estimate – and is involved in the increasingly expensive HS2 project. Is he the best person for the job?

    John Deeley
    Burton-on-Trent, East Staffordshire

    The only surprise for me was it went to him and not Paula Vennels.

    1. Yes – he is the best person to cover up and bury the wastefulness of government spending, which is what he is there for. Government bodies have the opposite function from that suggested by their names. Exhibit a) Department for … Energy Security.

  4. Morning all,

    Free Speech has a new function at the top of the Home page, where we list several ex-forces charities and ask you to vote for the one you think most deserving. We have donated £25 to the one to be chosen (see the donations section at the bottom of the home page) and will give all donations to FSB, between now up to and including 11 November, to the chosen charity. Please give generously.

    Today we have moving article by Paul Sutton, Dream State: Teaching in the Culture Wars , on the challenges of teaching in today's dumbed-down woke environment and how it got that way, beautifully and passionately written and one of a series touching on the growth of the State and it's hold on and power over the collective mind.

    We are also running a related series in the run up to Remembrance Day on 11 November, kicked off today by 19 Pontiac Dream's memory of a D-Day 1940's revival party i n August.

        1. I’m not sure why all these small, medium (or for that matter) large business owners are moaning. After all, money grows on trees. What is their problem?

  5. Relativity
    Do any other "older" Nottlers have this experience? I was saved again this morning by having a MacBook laptop to post today's Tales, instead of my 'main' Windows PC which is being disagreeable. I thought: "How long have I had this MacBook – must be about 4 years".
    Then I checked, and found that I bought it on 25th November 2017, nearly SEVEN years ago. It must be Relativistic Time Compression in old age.

    1. MB is going through the same trauma.
      Pet 'Pooter Nerd is visiting on Tuesday to sort it out.
      (Note to self: make shortbread; lots and lots of shortbread.)

    2. I don't have a problem with windows computers as I never use anything made by Microsoft.
      I don't have a problem remembering dates either 🙃.
      Does this mean I'm still young?

      1. I had a problem remembering dates even when I was a teenager; it's why I failed my history O Level!

          1. I might as well not have. I pleaded after my O Level failure not to have to take A Level. And some fell on stony ground. Guess what. I failed A Level as well – for exactly the same reasons.

  6. Relativity
    Do any other "older" Nottlers have this experience? I was saved again this morning by having a MacBook laptop to post today's Tales, instead of my 'main' Windows PC which is being disagreeable. I thought: "How long have I had this MacBook – must be about 4 years".
    Then I checked, and found that I bought it on 25th November 2017, nearly SEVEN years ago. It must be Relativistic Time Compression in old age.

  7. 395708+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    The black odious beauty of it is they, the political enemas are still pushing it even as they are paying out compensation for life changing injuries, with no shortage of trusting fools queuing for more of the same.

    In many respects to put it in layman's terms the snake on Asclepius' staff has been " GOT AT" big time, and donned a cloak of treachery in the jab,jab, department.

    https://x.com/SandraWeeden/status/1852605649101693288

  8. "Mummy, is hypocrite the same thing as fat cat?"

    From the DT.

    "Rachel Reeves and her husband are making £74,000 a year in rental income alone, The Telegraph understands.

    The Chancellor, who this week hit second home buyers and landlords with a surge in stamp duty costs, is thought to be receiving rent from two properties that adds up to more than £6,000 a month…….

    ….. The Chancellor, who now lives in Downing Street with her family, lets her former family home – a four-bedroom property in south London – for around £3,200 a month.

    While her husband Nicholas Joicey, a senior civil servant, is believed to have let his central London two-bed flat since 2011. It now has a market rental value of nearly £3,000 a month, according to property website Bricks&Logic.

    It means the pair, who both have six-figure salaries, make more than four times the average landlord income of £16,500. Their rental income is also twice the average salary of nearly £37,000."

        1. I have never been so scared in my life when myself and a friend were taken by a local guide along the banks of the Limpopo River.
          The Hippo's were very consciously concerned.

          1. I have a story about this but when I am better (got a badly injured hand playing the One True Sport this morning and am on strong home-prescribed pain killers while I try and face up to the prospect of the Minor Injuries clinic)

          2. One of my jobs in corrosion engineering was pipeline surveying – electrical potential levels and another survey making visual observations, any nearby excavations etc. Once the pipeline was in a safari park and the pipeline went through the animal enclosure. I used to go in with the game warden in a land rover.
            One time, the warden noted that the rhinos had not left their pens in an old farm building, so he drove there to get the rhinos off to work. He got out, reminding me to stay in the vehicle. I did not need any encouragement! It was almost like in a theatre "Rhinos, you're on in five minutes."
            Sure enough the rhinos filed out and past the land rover, just a few feet from me.
            I've done pipeline surveys in Zimbabwe and Mozambique but nothing so exotic – this was in Knowsley Safari Park near Liverpool.

          3. I know how you felt.
            We’d also visited a safari park in SA and had stopped in the car to take photos and a huge Gems Bok tried to get its head including antlers through the passenger window. I’ve a photograph of this somewhere.

      1. Ooooh ….. ask me another difficult question.
        For starters, her sister needs a London pied-a-terre in order to fulfil her parliamentary duties.

    1. Most of them are at it.
      They are absolute crooks and this is why they got rid of Elizabeth Filkin.
      She was onto them and they hated it.

    2. I thought this might be apt: copied from above

      MP's (and any Snivel Serpents) in 'married quarters' ie nos 10 & 11 Downing Street etc, should be made to pay the full rental prices for using these properties.

      The use of servants, any victuals, gas, electricity, water, heating etc used and the upkee should be charged to the occupier. That is life in the real world

  9. Those who govern Britain are increasingly unaccountable – it’s making them corrupt. 2 November 2024.

    Some readers will think me naïve, but I used to believe that this was an uncorrupt country. In many ways, I still believe it, and it is a reason for legitimate pride.

    It used to be. It was quite remarkable for its time. Even now it is corrupt in a particularly British way. It is not a matter of slipping someone a few quid for a favour. We could tolerate that. It is built into the very fabric of the State. Jobs are the thing; mostly in the Civil Service; for relatives and future considerations. It is an extended ethnic nepotism and is almost impossible to prove. No reform can cure it. Like those countries with similar systems; India, Pakistan, etc. it has gummed up the works and made State Institutions completely dysfunctional. The reason for their impending collapse.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/11/01/those-who-govern-britain-are-increasingly-unaccountable/

  10. From Rebel News
    "Establishment Trick Put Tommy Robinson In Danger
    Things were going well enough. Tommy Robinson was in prison at HMP Belmarsh, which is a terrible place, but at least he had the prospect of being kept away from the jihadi prison gangs that dominate British prisons. He even had his first visitor this morning, and was in high spirits.
    But as soon as that visitor left, the prison governor sent Tommy out of HMP Belmarsh, and into another notorious prison, HMP Woodhill.

    Tommy has been in Woodhill before. Last time, he was attacked there by a jihadist gang member, who smashed out Tommy’s teeth. He’s lucky to be alive. That’s where the British government has sent him. No notice. No explanation. No appeal.
    As soon as I heard all this, I contacted Tommy’s specialist prison lawyer. She says she was given no notice. In fact, the prison deceived her, booking an appointment for her with Tommy next week at Belmarsh. They tricked her — and made their deceptive move on a Friday night UK time, when the courts are closed and there’s likely nothing to be done until Monday.
    Woodhill does not have a safe zone like Belmarsh does. So the first thing Nicola Marfleet, the Woodhill prison governor did — another diversity hire, whose expertise before becoming a prison governor was getting a photography degree — was to put Tommy “down the block”, the nickname for the tiny punishment cells that prisoners are sent to when they’re violent.
    Of course, Tommy didn’t do anything to warrant that. It’s the prison’s own failure, Nicola Marfleet’s own inability to uphold the rule of law and basic order. Make no mistake about it: she doesn’t run the prison, the jihadist gangs do, and they’ve got her wrapped around their finger. In fact, even “down the block”, Tommy isn’t safe — other prisoners still have access to him, in the guise of janitors and the like.
    I have been in touch with both law firms helping Tommy — his long-standing lawyers at Carson Kaye, and his new, prison law firm, Reece Thomas Watson. They are engaged and activated, but they pointed out that the prison’s sneak attack decision to do this on a Friday night makes it impossible to respond quickly.
    What a disgrace the UK government is.
    Make no mistake: they want to kill Tommy in prison. It’s our job to make sure that doesn’t happen.
    I promise to stay in touch with the lawyers and keep them pressing forward. And I’ll report news to you as I get it."
    In my letter to my MP I mentioned a "Whiff of State Sponsered Murder" that whiff is turning into a stench………….
    Edit More here
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=MZfCEHOIDNk

    1. Make no mistake: they want to kill Tommy in prison.

      Yes. He should never have returned to the UK.

      1. Of course we want Stephen Yaxley Lennon – whose real name is Tommy Robinson – to survive. But if he is murdered in prison then it will be the obligation of the British people to ensure that this repulsive government falls.

        1. It is the obligation of the British people to ensure that this repulsive government fails in any case.

          1. Starmer was capable of turning a blind eye to the rape of thousands of white girls. He is a proven liar. He has nothing whatsoever to indicate that he is a reasonable ,or decent, or even mediocre human being.

        2. It is the obligation of the British people to ensure that this repulsive government fails in any case.

      2. I saw footage of what appeared to by an eye in the sky, of him by pool (unless taken by family/friend from a balcony, perhaps?), if so he can be targetted from the sky? (as can anyone else).

  11. Good Morning all.
    A dull start with a slight drizzle and a tad over 6°C on the Yard Thermometer.

    Rather a disturbed night. Woke up with a massive acid reflux attack which was not very nice.

    ERNIE coughed up a handful of consolation prizes for us. 1 x £100 and 2 x £25s for me, another £100 and a single £25 for the DT. Still, better than nothing.

          1. I guess the sums aren’t really worth worrying about, but why not get them put into a relative or good friend’s account in the UK? That person can then draw out the cash and keep it to give to you to spend when you come here (or they visit you). It would be a shame to be taxed by the Frogs if you got a good win. After all, they take £millions from us to prevent the dinghies and do sod all for it…

          2. I’ve a policy of declaring everything I’m supposed to here.
            The French fines are absolutely eye-watering, even for honest mistakes.

            It’s why I use a local firm to complete my returns.

  12. Guten Tag Kameraden,

    Cloudy at Schloss McPhee, wind East, 8℃ with 13℃ forecast. Another day in the Counter-Revolution.

  13. Letters to the Editor
    SIR – We have been manufacturing farm machinery since 1847, employing about 60 skilled engineers. We are owned by our workforce.

    Turning over about £10 million, we manage to squeeze out a profit every year, and invest heavily in development, which is why we are still in business.

    The Budget will increase our employment costs (report, November 1) by £50,000 a year – that’s money straight off the bottom line, which HMRC cannot take 25 per cent from by way of corporation tax.

    Our decision to invest in a new machining centre has now been put on ice, and we await the fallout from our customers, all of whom are farmers.

    Add to this business rates, ridiculous health and safety requirements, crippling final salary pension fund rules, the price of electricity, and the general interference from government in so many aspects of running a private company, and is it any wonder that manufacturing in the UK is on its knees?

    In the 47 years I have been a director of the company, I cannot remember having to face such an uncertain future.

    Anthony Bone
    Chairman, Standen Engineering Ltd
    Ely, Cambridgeshire

    1. "The Budget will increase our employment costs (report, November 1) by £50,000 a year – that’s money straight off the bottom line, which HMRC cannot take 25 per cent from by way of corporation tax."

      Well, they are taking 100% of it instead of 25% of it, aren't they?

    2. You will have Nothing and You will be Happy

      (attrib; Klaus Barbie Schwab)

      That is the whole point of Communism : to confiscate all private property for the state.

      "Property is theft!" (Pierre-Joseph Proudhon)

      This is one of the Left's mantras but I think that what Proudhon effectively means is that:

      Government property comes from the theft of private individuals' wealth.

      1. When Schwarb talks about "you" having nothing he never mentions what "We" will have. I.e. that they will own everything and be much, much happier.

  14. Police urge people to avoid Lewes' popular Bonfire Night' with crowds previously exceeding 60,000 people.

    Who the hell would want to celebrate & participate in torch-lit marches wind through the narrow streets burning effigies of politicians?

      1. Don't make yourself a sausage to fortune or you'll find yourself in the frying pan!

    1. I would, for the first time ever, if the effigies are 2TFG farmer-harmer SStuermer “Sir” Kneel (Beer) Korma and his team Thieves, Crayons, Pixie Balls and Lamentable.

    2. I would, for the first time ever, if the effigies are 2TFG farmer-harmer SStuermer “Sir” Kneel (Beer) Korma and his team Thieves, Crayons, Pixie Balls and Lamentable.

    3. I would, for the first time ever, if the effigies are 2TFG farmer-harmer SStuermer “Sir” Kneel (Beer) Korma and his team Thieves, Crayons, Pixie Balls and Lamentable.

      1. Especially the one re numbers of children – that's the excuse for immigration legal and otherwise.

        1. If it wasn't that excuse, the elite would find another one. They are determined to flood us, and wipe us out.

          1. The same reason that Islamists do – because they have a warped belief system that dictates what they do (partly via the Frankfurt school, but completely endorsed by various banking interests). Plus, they are greedy little b*ggers and think they will do rather well themselves in the process.

          2. The same reason that Islamists do – because they have a warped belief system that dictates what they do (partly via the Frankfurt school, but completely endorsed by various banking interests). Plus, they are greedy little b*ggers and think they will do rather well themselves in the process.

          3. Thoughtless running-wheel mania. They hype each other up with competitive virtue-signalling.

        2. Very true in our family:

          My paternal grandmother : 11 Children My maternal grandmother : 7 children

          My mother : 3 children

          My wife : 2 children

          Our sons (now aged 29 and 30) : No children (yet?)

          1. Very similar numbers my family, Rastus (good morning:-)..my paternal grandmother had more miscarriages than live children – her only daughter dying of meningitis age 7. She and I were on the same page with most issues, never seen her as happy as when I took my first baby to see her and holding her. What she would make of Women’s Lib I can only imagine…there’s the start of the issue we currently face, sad to say.

          2. IMO Women's Lib was a convenient tool which was hijacked and used to help implement something far darker, that was intended anyway.

          3. IMO Women's Lib was a convenient tool which was hijacked and used to help implement something far darker, that was intended anyway.

          4. Mine: Nain (grandmother married to my Welsh grandpa Taid) = 5 children.
            Grandmother (mother's mother) = 3 children.
            Mother = 2
            Brother = 2
            Me = 0.

  15. Morning, all Y'all.
    Beautiful sunny day, and totally still.
    Job for the weekend – to schedule and book trip to UK for Christmas for the 4 of us. As SWMBO said yesterday, why cannot any of they buggers come to Norway?

  16. A BETRAYAL OF SMALL FARMERS
    The Budget stripped farmers with assets of over £1 million of their inheritance tax exemption
    Telegraph View 02 November 2024 5:59am GMT
    This week, Rachel Reeves announced that farms will lose their inheritance tax exemption. When passing agricultural land to the next generation, from April 2026 farmers will pay 20 per cent tax on assets over £1 million, a seemingly generous allowance. But land values are high, whilst farming incomes are often modest. Many will be unable to afford tax demands running into the hundred of thousands.

    When they were courting rural votes, Labour repeatedly claimed farmers would be supported. When he was in opposition, Steve Reed, now the Environment Secretary, explicitly ruled out that there were any plans for this tax change, stating “‘we have no intention of changing” it.

    Over 100 Labour MPs now represent rural seats, more than ever before. The wafer-thin majorities that shepherded Keir Starmer into Downing Street with a landslide majority are now looking more imperilled than ever.

    Writing in this newspaper today, Mr Reed says “food security is national security”. He is right – but seems to have not thought through the consequences of his policy. By making it more expensive to produce food in the UK, this punitive political choice will either penalise consumers or jeopardise our food security.

    Applying IHT to farms risks booting family farmers off their land. A model that has existed for centuries faces destruction in a generation. Rather than land being handed down within a family, it may have to be sold off and conglomerated into faceless agri-businesses instead. This tears at the fabric of rural Britain. Without these time-honoured custodians of the countryside, there would be no green and pleasant land. Is this the Britain Labour wants?

    1. Could not the farmer create a company and sell the farm assets to the company for £1? Then, no inheritance tax on his death.

      1. Doubtless the socialists would revalue the company on transfer of ownership and hit it with capital gains tax instead.

      2. They can pass it to their children and live for seven years, but it means a miserable existence of living under the risk of something going wrong and the family losing their home and livelihood.
        This is a life-destroying tax, and that alone means it should NEVER be brought in.

      1. He put out a joint statement with Kirstie Allsop, doubtless online somewhere. Quite a good joke tho:-)

        1. I expect it’s been hidden.
          As Colonel Nathan Jessop said in this case they “you can’t handle the truth”!

    2. MP's (and any Snivel Serpents) in 'married quarters' ie nos 10 & 11 Downing Street etc, should be made to pay the full rental prices for using these properties.

      The use of servants, any victuals, gas, electricity, water, heating etc used and the upkee should be charged to the occupier. That is life in the real world

    3. What a massive hypocrite to talk about food security, when they are doing their best to sabotage it. Does he think we don't know about all the ridiculous carbon capture, carbon offsetting nonsense?

  17. 395708+ up ticks,

    The rot is well in place,festering wilst awaiting a new
    coxswain to steer it through the sea of scams, seeking the choicest.

    The only differences as party figureheads controlled via the WEF/NWO cartel WILL be, their take homes pay
    that will increase immensely, even more so as new scams kick in.

    Peoples must really start to recognise the fact that the three political governing cartels are a COALITION that in turn is under foreign alien control.

    Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick vow to serve in each other’s shadow cabinet
    Contest to succeed Rishi Sunak finally comes to an end when the winner is announced on Saturday

    1. It wouldn't stop the off-load but It seems reasonable to machine gun the boats and people smugglers as they escape.

      Make it a career choice that results in execution.

    2. 395708+ up ticks,

      Morning BOC,
      Agreed, but by the same token that would be us accepting them on a daily basis, with the money spent and future costs ongoing it would prove cheaper using existing morally illegal
      immigrants as a work force,
      in building a protective breakwater construction three miles out, also divert HS2 funds ( the foreign express troop moving project) under the banner of priority use in wartime of public funds.

    3. I've seen footage of them running to waiting cars, couldn't those could be stopped somehow, or at least not allowed to drive/run away. With spies in the skies surely border police know the locations where this is happening. Starting to get the impression it's deliberate.

      1. The root of the problem is that the PTB do not want to deal with the problem. The Conservatives were not any better than Labour.

        We need a completely new political party – we could call it either the Enoch Party or the Powellists' Association.

      2. It is deliberate. Firstly, it was leaked in 2009 that there was a plan within the UN or EU, I forget which to bring 50 million migrants to Europe. It was reported in the press at the time. Secondly, one can't possibly believe that the smugglers would kit all the migrants out with life-jackets of their own accord, or that the authorities couldn't stop the mass purchase and transport of life jackets and boats. It's a government backed operation.

        1. Also how do these people afford the passage, plus their phones. They can't all be promised to the slave traders over here, can they?

    4. Looks like the rubber boats are heading back for more. A second load of ticket-payers at lots of cash each for the cost of one boat. Doesn't look like there are any 'officials' to welcome them stop them melting into the countryside.

    5. Looks like the rubber boats are heading back for more. A second load of ticket-payers at lots of cash each for the cost of one boat. Doesn't look like there are any 'officials' to welcome them stop them melting into the countryside.

    6. The PTB would only use these entirely sensible and practical measures if they wanted to solve the problem.

      The fact that they don't use them shows that they don't want to solve the problem.

  18. Morning all 🙂😊
    I slept like a log and woke up in the fireplace.
    What we must try and remember after the usual suspects have effed up everything they come into contact with is, all any of them needed to do was stop the boats and the illegal invasion. One day they will have to explain why they couldn't understand what was causing the black hole in our economy. And why this illegal invasion has been allowed to continue for so long. There is no justification for what they are,
    doing and there never will be. No 'government' unless under some sort of secret arrangement would have allowed this to happen. Let alone continue while it is wrecking our country and its long standing traditions and culture.

    1. A lot has disappeared in the 76 years I have been alive. And what is sad is that if I live to 100. I will die in a country where the native people are no longer the possessors of their own land. People need to wake up, do they care or really understand what's happening? Our history and who we were will be obliterated.

  19. A ladies' bagpipes band that has been performing for almost 100 years say they are breaking up because they are struggling to recruit younger members.
    According to the Dagenham Girl Pipers, girls do not want to take up the bagpipes any more – their last performance will be on Remembrance Sunday.
    Denise Morrison, who joined the east London band when she was nine, said girls were "more into social media these days rather than the discipline of a band".
    They keep droning on.
    They're disenchantered.

    1. The definition of a gentleman (or gentlewoman) : A man (or woman) who has a set of bagpipes but never plays them.

    2. The first National Day Parade (1966?) of Singapore featured a girls’ pipe band and very good they were too. They were trained by a lady who had been the leader of the Dagenham Girl Pipers. I wonder if the Singapore band is still going!

    1. Very sad. Guess they used the excuse of virus carrier or similar. Many people keep 'exotic pets' eg snakes/tarantulas etc, often captured in the wild, and imported. Better use of authorities time would be to work on policing and banning that.

  20. During the walk along Chew Valley Lake yesterday morning I noticed that a hedge had been planted interspersed at intervals with these shrubs. I don't ever recall seeing these before. Can any of our Horticulturalists or indeed any Haughty Culturalists identify the shrub? Thanks.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a7c01b1739c9076c6bf705e750727f90bc57d64f1ed578a17db92db7abf84b06.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/15aefb383bc2bb201fbab0a65f4ce6d36dbf967b5aa4e95db19007b739951252.jpg

    1. Spindle, Stephen. Long ago, the trunks would be used for spindles in woollen manufacturing. They are very slow growing shrubs, have a delicate white flower prior to berries which are very bright pink, and seen at this time of year.

      1. Thank you KJ. I've collected a couple of seeds which are bright orange which I intent to try to grow!

        1. All parts of the spindle bush are poisonous, including the leaves and berries. The berries have a laxative effect. If you or someone you know experiences severe symptoms like difficulty breathing, swelling of the mouth or throat, or a severe skin reaction, call poison control or seek emergency medical attention. For milder symptoms, contact your doctor or poison control for guidance.

          Said Google AI

    1. The liberal media's distortion of Trump's Liz Cheney comments exposes how panicked they are

      They are trying to make out that the Republican threatened her with violence. Don't they realise that we can read?

      Brendan O'Neill • 1st November 2024 • 8:04pm GMT

      So now Donald Trump wants to kill Liz Cheney? Worse, he wants to drag her before a firing squad. Is there no end to this man's wickedness?

      The Lefty web and progressive media are awash with anguished commentary on Trump's latest dream of violence. "Trump fantasises about guns pointed at Liz Cheney's face", pants an irate Rolling Stone. Trump has "told a crowd" that "Liz Cheney should have guns 'trained on her face'", yelps Vanity Fair. He wants "nine barrels shooting" at her, cries Politico.

      There's only one problem with this vision of Trump as such a lunatic liability that he fancies hauling poor Liz Cheney off for execution – it is completely untrue. It is undiluted poppycock.

      What Trump actually did was criticise Cheney's pro-militarist streak. In a sit-down chat with Tucker Carlson in Arizona, he laid into her "war hawk" tendencies. And he wondered out loud – in his usual, unfiltered language – how she would feel about war if she was in the thick of one herself.

      It kicked off when Carlson asked him what he thought about the Cheneys campaigning against him. Both Liz, a former congresswoman for Wyoming, and her dad Dick, who was vice president to George W Bush, have thrown their weight behind Kamala Harris, despite being lifelong Republicans.

      Trump, in typically abrasive style, responded that Liz is a "deranged person" and "very dumb". She's a "radical war hawk", he said. She "always wanted to go to war with people".

      Then came the "guns trained on her face" thing. These people are all war hawks "when they're sitting in Washington in a nice building saying, 'Oh gee, well let's send 10,000 troops right into the mouth of the enemy'," he said.

      But how would they feel if they had to go and fight in one of those wars they send Our Boys to? How would Liz feel in a war zone with guns "trained on her face"?

      That's it. It was not a threat of execution, it was a moral thought experiment. Trump wasn't calling for violence – he was challenging the violence that he thinks springs from the war-hawking of the likes of Liz.

      Even by the standards of the Trump-hating media, the distortion of his Cheney comments has been extraordinary. They have turned his dislike for foreign interventions into a love of violence. They have misrepresented his agitation against American militarism, making it look like he wants people to die, when the opposite is the case.

      The cant is off the scale. Down the years I heard many Leftists rage against Dubya and Dick Cheney himself by saying: "Why don't you put your own lives on the line?" That's been a standard dig at the war-making elites for years. Yet when Trump does it, it's psychotic, it's a "threat of death".

      What's with this pathological misrepresentation of Trump's beliefs? We saw it with his recent comments on women, too.

      If you were to believe Kamala and her noisy fanbase, you would think Trump had promised to pursue certain policies "whether women like it or not". What a sexist oaf!

      Actually, what Trump said is that his administration would protect women. "I'm going to protect them from migrants coming in. I'm going to protect them from foreign countries that want to hit us with missiles", he said.

      And his sting: he will protect women whether they "like it or not". It was clearly a swipe at feminist types who might baulk at Trump's male saviour complex.

      Now, you can like or dislike Trump's promise of chivalrous protection. But the idea that his comments were anti-women is bunkum. They were pro-women.

      These are Orwellian levels of truth distortion. The Kafkaesque overlords of the progressive media have mangled Trump's anti-war statement into a cry for violence, and his concern for women into a hatred for women. Stalin would envy such a shameless twisting of reality to the end of landing blows on a political foe.

      Trump often doesn't put things well. He can be uncouth. Right now, though, the moral duplicity of his media critics scares me far more than his own unpolished blather.

      There's an ironically authoritarian streak in their manipulation of reality to try to hoodwink the masses into believing Trump is evil. It has the whiff of desperation, too. Nothing better captures the panic in the Harris camp than their placing of words in Trump's mouth. They know we can read what he actually said, right?

      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/comment/2024/11/01/the-liberal-media-is-in-meltdown-its-attacks-on-donald-trum

  21. 395708+ up ticks,

    Morning KJ,
    Agreed, and also banning the entrance of morally illegal immigrants who have carried and reintroduced TB, initially wiped out in GB.

    1. Thanks ogga. Blood boilingly sickening, the whole blasted issue. (Morning back at you, btw, Kate x)

    1. Will see who the new leader is, and how they perform – before I finally make up my mind. Watching Braverman to see if she has the courage (and/or backing of LCP) to finally make the jump.

    1. Worm holes?

      Don't we do time travel anyway re time difference when we fly West to East.

      Time travel… hmm visit any untouched British village , or even the Isle of Wight, and that feels like time travel back to the fifties!

      1. The Wimbledon College of Arts does have a cartoon character course, maybe they can study Wombles at the advanced level.

    2. I listened to a podcast once where the fate of MH430 was attributed to it flying through a wormhole; and all on board are safe, just living in a different dimension. The worst thing is, it all made sense when I was listening to it!!

  22. Delighted to learn that the dinner lady and her bloke are able to keep the wolf from the door with the £74,000 rent they receive each year for one of their properties they let.

    1. Nitpick: dinner ladies are useful, occasionally creative and can be very kind to small children at primary school.

    2. When she's given the boot, I do hope her tenants are co-operative and don't mention their human rights etc….
      Otherwise Ms. Playmobil may have to kip down on a park bench. Worse still, share a bed with Lord Alibungo.

  23. From Facebook, courtesy of Petal to Paw Penchants:
    "Steve Jobs…
    He died a billionaire at the age of 56. And some of his words make us think about the meaning of life…
    – After all, wealth is just a life experience I've had the opportunity to know. At this moment, as I lay sick in bed reminiscing my entire life, I realize that all the recognition and wealth I achieved are insignificant and lack higher meaning in the face of impending death…
    So, take my advice and be courteous and considerate of others. As we get older, we become smarter and we gradually realize that a $30 watch and a $300 watch show the same time…
    Whether we wear $30 or $300 purses, the same amount of money can fit in both..
    Whether we drive a $150,000 car or a $30,000 car, the journey and the distance are the same, we always reach the same destination.."

        1. Three o’clock happens twice each month, am and pm. That’s the one thing I’d change. It’s not as if it actually knows what day it is. It’s a simple mechanical device that assumes 31 days in every month and has to be adjusted manually.

          1. "Three o’clock happens twice each month, am and pm."

            Twice a month? Have you tried winding that Timex up, Sue.😘

    1. That's been my view for as long as I can remember.
      Another similar analogy I use is…..
      When you visit a church or especially a cathedral its usually stuffed with shining expensive items that actually mean nothing at all. And the people it's set to attract are usually the poorest. I'm quite sure that the son of the carpenter would have had quite a lot to say about it all.

      1. “Where two or three are gathered together…” doesn’t mention grand buildings and expensive trinkets.

      1. I turned any graduates away when interviewing for jobs – I wanted people with experience not people who could just pass an exam

  24. Time to check the Lotto results:
    Wordle 1,232 3/6

    🟩🟨⬜🟨⬜
    🟩⬜🟨⬜🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Damn, I was too late

      Wordle 1,232 3/6

      🟩⬜🟩⬜⬜
      🟨⬜⬜⬜🟨
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  25. Good Morning to all. Was out of action yesterday and the day before, abscessed tooth is a little distracting and does not incline one to communication. Today it has done its thing and subsided into normality. Apparently, abscessed teeth are a common side effect of radiotherapy. Nice to know, I suppose. So my apologies in not answering some posts, unfortunatly they get locked after two days, why is that? If I may ask.

    Was, of course delighted to find yesterday that my suspicions about King Charles were correct. Although the article on Orthodoxy, in the Telegraph, was a mess, to be kind about it. But from clues in the coronation, that I mentioned some time ago, it is obvious it is still his preference. Now, he should do something about it. The Church in England badly needs some sort of leadership. You are not going to fight Islam without a faith to oppose it and neither Roman Catholicism or Anglicanism are capable. Although it is a myth, it is widely believed in Orthodoxy, that the crescent below the cross seen on Orthodox Churches symbolizes the triumph of Orthodoxy over Islam against which the church fought for centuries in Eastern Europe and in places like Greece and the Balkans.

    Todays offering in videos. I think most of you will go along with this. So enjoy, if that is the right word!

    A Rift In Reform UK!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdTiC4zF1_g&t=107s

    1. He says what many of us here have been saying in the last few days since Tommy Robinson arrived back in Briatibn only to be arrested immediately.

      Farage is far too bourgeoise and he has the snobbishness which many of the middle class have.

      1. I agree. There is no way that Farage could command the loyalty of 300.000 people to come out on the streets. And I'm also willing to bet that far more people from the middle class support Robinson than they do Farage. It's that they tend to keep quite about it in the same way that middle class people keep silent about supporting Trump.

      1. It is, much worse than a normal toothache. But such things teach you how to be stoic, a good thing.

        1. Have you got antibiotics? One time my dentist put me on metronidazole. You can't drink any alcohol on that one. Boy did it make me ill.

          1. Hi Pip. I have a lot of things due to constant lung infections which I have been taking. But it is fine now thanks. The nerve seems to have died due to the infection so it feels fine.

    2. Farage is steering the correct course politically. He's a seasoned political operative and probably the most influential British politician of the last 50 years. I admire TR and his bravery, but we won't turn this country round through street marches. It has to be through the ballot box.

      1. He won by asking Tommy to direct his people to vote for Reform, Tommy obliged. Farage then stabbed Tommy Robinson in the back. I will not vote for that sort of person who’s ambition over rides a sense of decency. From Farage, at the very least, silence would have been decent. Not unethical conduct when he actually knows that Tommy Robinson is no racist or hooligan but keeps up that pretence for his own corrupt motivations. It makes him no different from the establishment he pretends to be against.

  26. Rober Tombs's article in full.

    Those who govern Britain are increasingly unaccountable – it's making them corrupt

    We still see ourselves as an honest nation – but we are far too soft on official wrongdoing

    Robert Tombs • 1st November 2024 • 6:23pm GMT

    Some readers will think me naïve, but I used to believe that this was an uncorrupt country. In many ways, I still believe it, and it is a reason for legitimate pride.

    I would never expect to offer a bribe, or be offered one, however politely. I have never ever been asked to favour anyone applying for admission as a student to Cambridge, or to write a dishonest reference. I would not expect to give a box of chocolates to an archivist to get access to public records.

    But I know that in many countries, such practices are common, indeed normal, something of a joke. I have close connections with France, where le piston (string-pulling) is almost a national sport.

    But in recent months, my complacency has crumbled. Not because of experiencing petty corruption on a personal level – I haven't – but because of institutional scandals which put questions of corruption on a quite different plane.

    We have a tainted blood scandal dating back to the 1970s, 80s and 90s. So does France. In 1999, the French charged the Prime Minister in office during the scandal, the social affairs minister, and the health minister with manslaughter, and the health minister was convicted, though not imprisoned. The director of the French blood transfusion service was sentenced to four years' imprisonment.

    And here? Twenty-five years after the French put their politicians in court, we finally had the report of a public inquiry, whose chairman stated that: "This disaster was not an accident … those in authority – doctors, the blood services and successive governments – did not put patient safety first."

    Shall we soon see the politicians and officials – those still alive – in the dock? I think we know the answer.

    If this was the only scandal we had lived through, we might think it an exception. But we have had a series of appalling failures, none of which was "an accident".

    The grooming gangs who were ignored by local authorities, social workers and police. The Grenfell Tower disaster, when so many people knew that cladding was dangerous and hid it. The Post Office scandal, in which hundreds of innocent people had their lives ruined by a well-paid but indifferent bureaucracy.

    Recently, there have been the plausible accusations of abuse of power made by Alan Halsall about his mistreatment by the Electoral Commission, egged on by anti-Brexit lawyers, politicians and newspapers to accuse a scrupulously honest Leave campaigner of dishonesty. This is fully documented in his recent book Last Man Standing. [ Below. Don't be nervous about reading an article in the New Statesman.]

    Now we have the disgusting behaviour of Mohamed al Fayed seemingly being overlooked by the police and perhaps by colleagues and senior employees. Readers will doubtless add to the list.

    This deplorable record displays corruption in a very different and more alarming form than the banal exchange of cash-filled envelopes. In some ways, each case is very different.

    Some concern local authorities, others the police, or independent public bodies, or officials, or private enterprise. But what they have in common seems to me more important than their differences. First, there is a lack of effective accountability to any outside body, whether Parliament or the public.

    Second, the evident lack – or at least inadequacy – of people within these organisations who might have had the power and the courage to put a stop to what was being done at an early stage. Instead, there must have been a widespread culture of wilful ignorance or indifference.

    This is surely and sadly a cultural change. I am not saying that there was ever a golden age of honesty and public spirit. There have always been crooks and amoral careerists.

    But recent corruption has been on such a scale, and has involved so many otherwise decent people – one of the Post Office bosses had not only been publicly honoured, but had been considered for a bishopric – that I think something important has shifted.

    Was there no one to say "We can't do this, it's wrong"? Did they feel that no one would support them? Did they shrug and say "Not my business"?

    So many people running our institutions have the same background, the same opinions, the same ambitions. They progress from quango to quango, from boardroom to boardroom. Gamekeepers eagerly turn poachers.

    The result of failure or even misbehaviour is simply to move on. They are the epitome of the "anywhere" people, with little connection to place or community, and little loyalty to institutions that are merely stepping stones to something more lucrative. There are, fortunately, exceptions. But the scandals show that the exceptions are not enough.

    The causes seem plain. We live in a more diverse and mobile society. Old inhibitions against misbehaviour are weakened: we don't worry about what the neighbours might say if we don't know who they are.

    But there is another problem, which can be mitigated, though with difficulty. We have far too many unaccountable institutions.

    Partly because of an old liberal tradition of limiting central authority, and party through a Gladstonian/Thatcherite belief that markets themselves create discipline, we have created a horde of arms-length bodies that behave as a law unto themselves.

    We have charities that do not depend on individual charity but on the largesse of government departments. Quangos, NGOs and public corporations like the Post Office exist on public money, but are not accountable to the public. They also provide vast amounts of taxpayers' money to each other.

    This is the beating heart of the Blob. We have encouraged its expansion because we mistrust politicians. But at least we vote politicians in – and out. We must increase their authority over unelected bodies.

    Perhaps too we could learn something from the Jacobin traditions of our French neighbours: instead of peerages, a few jail sentences for ministers, officials, quangocrats and even chief constables might concentrate minds very effectively.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/11/01/those-who-govern-britain-are-increasingly-unaccountable

    https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/books/2024/10/the-battle-after-brexit

    1. He managed to say all that without referring to the number of migrants from corrupt countries that work in our public sector now!

    2. Making them corrupt? When you have a flood of those with Nigerian practices and who believe that telling lies is justified, it tends to undermine trust somewhat.

  27. From Urban Scoop. The people for whom Tommy Robinson is a journalist
    TOMMY MOVED INTO GREATER DANGER!!!
    Tommy's life is now at greater risk because of the decision of someone 'high up'.

    We were starting this email on a positive note, Tommy's security and rights had all but been guaranteed by the Belmarsh prison governor, after a certain amount of pressure was applied, reminding her of 'her duty of care'.
    Within moments of having his first visit at Belmarsh and being advised he would see out his prison term there in safety as a civil prisoner he was quickly whisked away.
    Tommy has been taken to HMP Woodhill and been forced down 'the punishment block' for at least the next 14 days.
    Tommy was given no reason as to why he was moved from Belmarsh, especially as he had been reassured he would remain there and with recognition of his privileges, after all, he is a CIVIL prisoner, NOT a criminal prisoner.
    The problem now is that Tommy could well end up in contact with another inmate, at a prison that houses notorious jihadists. It wouldn't take much for someone on the wing employed as a cleaner working down the block to 'bump into him'.
    This is an egregious abuse of power, taking away all of his privileges, punishing him, and putting his life in grave danger.

    We can confirm a specialist prison lawyer has been hired to find out what the hell is going on. Tommy has not been provided any answers at all as to why this happened today.

    For now Tommy has asked everyone to support his family and children at https://www.givesendgo.com/tommy-robinson-children .
    We will update you as and when news comes in. For now, please click on the image above to watch the video.
    All communication with Tommy needs to be forwarded to HMP Woodhill using his prison number A2084CG.
    Keep him in your prayers.

  28. Well, that was jolly. At 8 am I started making a loaf. Went to the cupboard to get the equipment and found evidence of mouse activity. Next two hours spent emptying cupboard (the STUFF…!!), washing everything, disinfecting cupboard, drying everything and – eventually – replacing it.

    Wednesday evening, Gus brought a mouse in, released it – alive – and buggered off. Thursday evening spotted mouse in utility room – inserted gus and Pickles – shut the door and hoped.

    They failed. So now plenty of poison put down for Mousie….

    Loaf turned out OK. Only downside, the little black seeds I add to the mixture……….resemble…….

    The MR has left to go to Narridge to see a ballet this arvo. So a day of leisure at resort with assorted animals….

    1. I bought one of these for the rats we sometimes get in the garden due to our duck food and wild bird feeding. They're wonderful at catching mice, only one rat over the years. I shoot the rats these days. Mice are daft and unwary compared to rats.

      Indoors or outside.
      https://www.powertoolsdirect.com/fixman-196052-rat-cage-trap-300-x-150-x-130mm-each-1-5024763114915?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=PMax%3A%20Google%20Shopping%20Smart&utm_term=2334744222502521&utm_content=Ad%20group

      1. Got one when we had a rat “issue”. The rates loved playing with them…snatching the bait but missing the trap door.

  29. King’s canal charity accused of forcing itinerant barge owners out of London
    People living in houseboats claim Canal and River Trust’s new mooring charges are ‘punishingly expensive’
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/11/02/kings-canal-trust-accused-of-forcing-itinerant-barge-owners/

    I am afraid that King Charles is an enthusiastic supporter of the WEF whose leader, Klaus Schwab, is reported as having said: "You will have nothing and you will be happy" – i.e. the state will own everything.

    I am not sure where the monarchy fits into a Communist State but I rather fear that our current Idiot King looks more and more like a turkey as Christmas approaches.

    1. Yes and his mean spirited treatment of his brother reflects his cruelty that we all knew was evident when he lived with his very young wife .

      1. Not only an idiot but a nasty idiot?

        I think he enjoys bullying his younger brother and many of the former Princess of Wales's friends say that he was sadistically unkind to her.

    2. Those are not Schwab's words nor are they exactly those of the person who coined them.

      ""You'll own nothing and you'll be happy" (alternatively "You'll own nothing and be happy") is a phrase originating in a 2016 video by the World Economic Forum (WEF), summarising an essay written by Danish politician Ida Auken. The phrase has been used by critics who accuse the WEF of desiring restrictions on ownership of private property. The phrase has also been used by critics of the subscription business model, and software as a service."

      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/You%27ll_own_nothing_and_be_happy

      It was her image of a world in which things are hired, leased, rented rather than possessed. We lease cars, hire bicycles, stream music and videos, borrow books. It's less radical than you think. And if anyone thinks it will apply to food and drink, they're greatly mistaken.

      1. I know you views which is why I wrote: "Schwab ……. is reported to have said"

        Your quibble about the 'actual wording of the phrases misses the point.

      2. The video was produced by the WEF, and reflects their opinions. The stuff that you will lease (if you can afford continual leasing fees) will still have an owner. It just won't be you.
        What do we call someone who owns nothing? A serf, and just because he's got a trendy beard and loves his serfery doesn't change that.
        People are not exaggerating the negative implications of this sentence. Wiki/Fact chucker FAIL.

        1. If the WEF fairly represented Ida Auken’s musings, I don’t see the problem. Her meandering thoughts are not representative of a collective ideology of the WEF.

          1. They wouldn’t have put out that slick video if they didn’t back the stuff that was in it. It ties in with other outputs from their members and also with what is happening.

  30. Tory leadership result about to be announced.

    And the winner is……The World Economic Forum

      1. Well, That was a mistake. She will do nothing at all about illegals. Jenrick might have.

        1. Jenrick had a lot of opportunity to deal with illegals but did nothing.

          Now he makes promises

          1. Come now, you know very well that the Conservatives intend to do absolutely nothing. How many years were they in power with the never ending promise to do something about illegals? On top of that she refused to get rid of all the EU laws that they promised to deal with. And what about the ECHR what did she do about that? Watching the both of them I was far more convinced that in a position of real power Jenrick might have done something. She has proven by her past performance that she will do nothing.

        2. Jenrick completely overlooked that he had been part of the disaster that was the Tory "government".

      1. It’ll be interesting to see if she turns up at Davos. As yet, she isn’t a WEF member.

        1. Does Mr Schwab admit people with a dark complexion? Once upon a time he may well have had noble intentions, but I am suspicious of people who stay in a salaried role at such an age (86 ish). Our late Queen showed the door to all her reps as soon as they were 75, or earlier if they so wished.

    1. Breaking news

      REUTERS 11.05 02 NOVEMBER 2024

      CONSERVATIVE PARTY LEADERSHIP ELECTION

      "SOOTY WINS THE SWEEP'

  31. I hope she takes Rayner down a peg or two, and hammers Starmer like hell.
    Also the twerp Lammy can't brag on about being the first black whatever ..

    I hope Kemi tells him squarely that her tribe put his lot into slavery, and that if he knows whats good for him , to shut the F up .

  32. 395708+up ticks,

    So advantage goes to the the conners, the tory (ino) party that is, the best thing out of Nigeria is an exit flight path.

    The lab. parties days are now numbered the top ranking political scammers are back in town and much to the relief of the ten surviving tory (ino) hard core members, going active.

    I must admit the tories(ino) do have a better, higher grade of treacherous shite on their a la carte menu as in, to get rid of the oldies a big dangerous prick administering a tiny prick whereas lab. preference is for the club / mash hammer.

    Kemi Badenoch has become the new Conservative leader, beating Robert Jenrick in the contest to succeed Rishi Sunak.

    Still, we the governmental appeasers will continue along the same route, tis easier going downhill
    chanting, Ours is not to reason why, ours is but to do and die,in great numbers freeing up housing stock etc,etc.

  33. All very entertaining but counts for nothing if they don't take the next step and make the parliamentary party small 'c' conservatives. In 2019, we had Boris with a landslide. Unfortunately, parliamentary candidate selection was done by central office who loaded the party with One Nation lefties. Cue more lurch to the left. Truss winning was a blip which they soon rectified by a soft coup and the installation of Sunak to further erode Britain by squashing the NI Protocol and proposed Bill of Rights (which would have reset our relationship with the ECHR). Cameron, May, Truss, Sunak. None of them conservative.

    1. The answer to most of the worlds woke problems.

      By the way, I see that a tranny in New York is suing the Hooters restaurant chain because they refuse to give him a job anfpd kept referring to him as him!

      The rallying call of show us your Tango India Tango Tango India Echo Sierra would fall a bit flat !

    2. A Pedant (and long time qualified Pilot) writes:
      It's not GAMMA, it's GOLF. But I agree with the sentiment.
      Where did you see the signbord?

          1. A1 (pun)(good); B3 (not so good)…

            I think, anyway. That’s my interpretation and I’m sticking with it!

          2. A1 Fitter, RE, was my main qualification in the Army.
            I was also a B3 Driver.
            Army trades were (perhaps still are) split into 3 streams, B, A and T(ech) with 3 grades that depended on the courses you'd done, 1, 2 & 3.

  34. I’ll have to get used to the UK having a female Chancellor. When I saw her waving the budget box, I just thought she was rushing to give her husband his sandwich box before he drove off to work.

    1. Silly boy! Champagne socialists don't do 'sandwich boxes'. They have an account at The Ivy.

        1. My stepdad called it Jock and he carried it in an old gas mask carrier – his Jockbag. He was Yorkshire born and bred. Never did find out why he, and mother, called it Jock.

          1. Never heard of it. May have the same origin. Anyone else come across packed lunch referred to as 'Jock'?

    2. I was somewhat confused by the royal cipher on the box. I would expect it to be 'C III R', but the actual cipher was not the rather plain 'E II R' use by the late Queen, but the more ornate one used by Edward VII, but with II instead of VII.

      What is going on?

      1. There are, apparently, several boxes of that pattern made for the conveyance of state documents with a variety of individual ciphers upon them.

  35. Are Labour being deliberately vindictive against farmers because it will help along their net zero plans for reducing CO2 and methane if a lot of them call it a day, also lots of spare land to meet our rewilding targets plus it frees up land for housing immigrants, a win win all round for our supranational masters.
    Okay we can always import all our food, no problem there.

    1. Just when some of us thought that our once safe and pleasant country couldn't be effed up any further.

    2. The WEF plan is to destroy all small businesses to clear the way for corporations to control everything. Starmer is just doing as he is told.

    3. Starmer had at least one meeting with Bill Gates, hence the cobbing of small farms. Gates will want to do what he's done elsewhere – use his vast wealth to buy up agricultural land at the lowest price, plant a load of soy, sell at market price, add to his wealth. You may not like it, but you'll be eating it.

    4. According to the Mail. A farmer has already hung himself because of the inheritance tax. But you have everything to fear if we import all our food. It means that the government has a major weapon against the people they can use against us if we threaten rebellion. And don't think you could grow your own. There is already a movement to ban that on the grounds that it interferes with the natural ecology of a place. Sounds crazy, I know, but so is the belief in global warming etc etc etc.

      1. Farmers
        Perhaps the first of many suicides.
        Like (I expect) many Nottlers, I enjoyed Jeremy Clarkson's three series of Clarkson's Farm, which showed how immensely hard it is to make a profit in the face of rain, drought, dead piglets, and especially Bureaucracy. He is unhappy at the way UK farmers have had the ground further cut away from beneath them by Wednesday's punitive Budget.

        I've just started reading a book called A Day No Pigs Would Die, by Robert Newton Peck.

        An illiterate boy, growing up on a poor farm in Vermont, is forced to slaughter a pet pig which he has raised from a piglet, in order to feed the family. Farmers have to have true grit, to paraphrase another book and film.

        There is this very short and moving poem at the end of the Foreword:

        A farmer's heart is rabbit soft
        And farmer eyes are blue
        But farmers' eyes are eagle fierce
        And look a man right through.

        1. There are more than plenty enough farmers who kill themselves each year as it is, without adding to reasons to do themselves in.

      2. Farmers
        Perhaps the first of many suicides.
        Like (I expect) many Nottlers, I enjoyed Jeremy Clarkson's three series of Clarkson's Farm, which showed how immensely hard it is to make a profit in the face of rain, drought, dead piglets, and especially Bureaucracy. He is unhappy at the way UK farmers have had the ground further cut away from beneath them by Wednesday's punitive Budget.

        I've just started reading a book called A Day No Pigs Would Die, by Robert Newton Peck.

        An illiterate boy, growing up on a poor farm in Vermont, is forced to slaughter a pet pig which he has raised from a piglet, in order to feed the family. Farmers have to have true grit, to paraphrase another book and film.

        There is this very short and moving poem at the end of the Foreword:

        A farmer's heart is rabbit soft
        And farmer eyes are blue
        But farmers' eyes are eagle fierce
        And look a man right through.

        1. In the USA where I have lived for most of my adult life we do not say someone has “hanged” himself, we say “hung”. I have already compromised on spelling so to placate the idiot vanity of British English spelling, e.g. centre instead of center and other such pretentions that, actually force me to correct myself constantly. So I am not going to cater to anything else just because of the delusions of superiority of British English which is now a minority idiom in the English speaking world.

          1. No. because hanged, hung is to do with the usage of words, not spelling. For example, I used Autumn in my first post today, I would have preferred to say fall because that is my automatic preference. It has nothing to do with spelling but terminology. And it is tedious to have to recall, artificially, ones spelling and terminology when everyone knows what you mean, due to familiarity, anyway.

      3. Suicide is very prevalent in the farming community; rural isolation, money problems, lack of support from any mental health bodies all contribute to depressing (in more way than one) statistics.

    1. I was speaking to a nurse a couple of weeks ago and due to her accent I asked her if she was from South Africa. Close she said, Zimbabwe we spoke of how it was ruined by the murdering crook Mugabe. I was in Rhodesia when that idiot Wilson was holding ‘talks’ with Ian Smith aboard HMS Tiger. The country was thriving and most if not all had jobs.
      And only last week speaking to a guy who had a stronger South African accent and was from the eastern Cape. He came from East London somewhere else I had been to. He spoke of how the whole country had been wrecked by thoughtless and violent ‘black supremacy’.

  36. In other news the bridge over troubled water has been repaired.

    They must have run out of money.

  37. The left wing cbc is running a story about an illegal immigrant having to live in a car after he was expelled from the paid by government (taxpayer) hotel. He has been accused of missing immigration department appointments and of aggressive behaviour in the hotel. He fears that he might be deported back to his home country.

    Seems fair enough to me but the cbc see it differently

    https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/asylum-seeker-refugee-hotel-eviction-notice-1.7369810

  38. All those of you who have procreated and begat offspring — and grand-offspring, take note.

    The deliberate agenda for flooding the west with those who are counter-productive to western values is far more malign than you could possibly imagine. Your sons, daughters, grandsons and granddaughters are entering a world far, far worse than hell*.

    Once they have taken over — and it will happen — those young nationals who are not immediately killed off will be taken as Janissaries.

    Janisseries.

    In the distant past, when those primitives — who have an obsession with goats and camels — were a powerful and all-conquering empire, rampaging across the middle east and Europe, ‘converting’ all in their path, they employed a frightening method of ‘conversion’.

    Janissaries began as elite corps made up through the devşirme system of child levy enslavement, by which indigenous European Christian boys from the Balkans (predominantly Albanians, Bulgarians, Croats, Greeks, Romanians, Serbs and Ukrainians) were taken, levied, subjected to forced circumcision and forced conversion to Islam, and incorporated into the Ottoman army.

    They became famed for internal cohesion cemented by strict discipline and order. Unlike typical slaves, they were paid regular salaries. Forbidden to marry before the age of 40 or engage in trade, their complete loyalty to the Ottoman sultan was expected.

    Our generation will be long dust before this happens, but it will, mark my words. Those in power will decree it thus.

    [*Hell: a notion that terrifies those who believe that if they misbehave, they will spend eternity walking on hot coals.]

    1. The Unsullied. The eunuch slave army of the Unsullied is trained in Astapor of Slaver's Bay. …

      From Game of Thrones.

    2. Grizzly,
      I was trawling through an older PC looking for a particular image when two old maps caught my eye.

      But first, I am re-posting one of Rik's memes from earlier this morning.

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d25e731da22c41b9840499788798fb3e345de735ec9c356cb7524bceb7a316aa.jpg
      Next, a Population Growth map of Africa that I saved to an older PC in 2019, when it was fresh.
      It has grown a LOT since then. It shows that there is one thing that African males are VERY good at.
      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/71a6459c7fe243141d21efcaddc24a0588f3681f667b179b58832292d403f207.jpg
      Thirdly, a staggering map that I pinched in 2015, showing how ENORMOUS Africa is. You can comfortably park very many of the rest of the World's countries (except Canada [EDIT: and Australia and Russia and South America]) inside Africa's border and there's still quite a lot of space left. Look at little UK overlaid in Madagascar alone. Hope it's legible:
      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2cbfb96ef910eb9d033071d755b0c5230b303ff5edc10b31fc1daee85425cc04.jpg
      Lots of food for thought.

      1. One thing African males are good at? Hmm, I think you'll find it the African women that do most of the heavy hauling in population growth

        1. Sure, having visited South Africa I know that. But one man can impregnate a lot of women, while one woman can have only one pregnancy at a time. And by all accounts, African men HATE to use condoms – they prefer 'skin on skin'.

      2. If you accept that over 80% of Canada is uninhibited, you might find space to squeeze useful canada into your chart.

        Omitting countries includes South America – so not Brazil or Peru?

          1. Tom,
            My late elder brother emigrated with his family to British Columbia in 1968. I was visiting them in Victoria, the state Capital, just a year ago.
            The way Turdeau (sic) is managing things, Canadians are being forced to become increasingly inhibited.

          2. Tom,
            My late elder brother emigrated with his family to British Columbia in 1968. I was visiting them in Victoria, the state Capital, just a year ago.
            The way Turdeau (sic) is managing things, Canadians are being forced to become increasingly inhibited.

          3. However diligent one is over proof-reading typos still get through, particularly when people use autocorrect software.

      3. Indeed, RC. In 1984 Cur Bob Gelding was demanding money for “starving Africans”. Innumerable muppets send their dosh. Forty years later the population of Ethiopia has quadrupled!

        99% of that dosh went towards enriching the lives of the ruling élite.

        I am so relieved that I do not ‘follow the herd’. I donated not a brass farthing (I don’t do charities in any case).

    3. Grizzly,
      I was trawling through an older PC looking for a particular image when two old maps caught my eye.

      But first, I am re-posting one of Rik's memes from earlier this morning.

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d25e731da22c41b9840499788798fb3e345de735ec9c356cb7524bceb7a316aa.jpg
      Next, a Population Growth map of Africa that I saved to an older PC in 2019, when it was fresh.
      It has grown a LOT since then. It shows that there is one thing that African males are VERY good at.
      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/71a6459c7fe243141d21efcaddc24a0588f3681f667b179b58832292d403f207.jpg
      Thirdly, a staggering map that I pinched in 2015, showing how ENORMOUS Africa is. You can comfortably park almost all of the rest of the World's countries (except Canada [EDIT: and Australia]) inside Africa's border and there's still quite a lot of space left. Look at little UK overlaid in Madagascar alone. Hope it's legible:
      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2cbfb96ef910eb9d033071d755b0c5230b303ff5edc10b31fc1daee85425cc04.jpg
      Lots of food for thought.

    4. Grizzly,
      I was trawling through an older PC looking for a particular image when two old maps caught my eye.

      But first, I am re-posting one of Rik's memes from earlier this morning.

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d25e731da22c41b9840499788798fb3e345de735ec9c356cb7524bceb7a316aa.jpg
      Next, a Population Growth map of Africa that I saved to an older PC in 2019, when it was fresh.
      It has grown a LOT since then. It shows that there is one thing that African males are VERY good at.
      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/71a6459c7fe243141d21efcaddc24a0588f3681f667b179b58832292d403f207.jpg
      Thirdly, a staggering map that I pinched in 2015, showing how ENORMOUS Africa is. You can comfortably park almost all of the rest of the World's countries (except Canada [EDIT: and Australia]) inside Africa's border and there's still quite a lot of space left. Look at little UK overlaid in Madagascar alone. Hope it's legible:
      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2cbfb96ef910eb9d033071d755b0c5230b303ff5edc10b31fc1daee85425cc04.jpg
      Lots of food for thought.

    5. Grizzly,
      I was trawling through an older PC looking for a particular image when two old maps caught my eye.

      But first, I am re-posting one of Rik's memes from earlier this morning.

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d25e731da22c41b9840499788798fb3e345de735ec9c356cb7524bceb7a316aa.jpg
      Next, a Population Growth map of Africa that I saved to an older PC in 2019, when it was fresh.
      It has grown a LOT since then. It shows that there is one thing that African males are VERY good at.
      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/71a6459c7fe243141d21efcaddc24a0588f3681f667b179b58832292d403f207.jpg
      Thirdly, a staggering map that I pinched in 2015, showing how ENORMOUS Africa is. You can comfortably park almost all of the rest of the World's countries (except Canada [EDIT: and Australia]) inside Africa's border and there's still quite a lot of space left. Look at little UK overlaid in Madagascar alone. Hope it's legible:
      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2cbfb96ef910eb9d033071d755b0c5230b303ff5edc10b31fc1daee85425cc04.jpg
      Lots of food for thought.

    1. No shortage of boats or outboard motors i see. I expect the taxpayer is paying for them too.

      1. They pay for the storage just in case the owner wishes to reclaim them. It just shows how truly barking the government is.

    2. And the financial black hole increases in size by the hour. And still the idiots in waste-monster can't understand what is causing it.

  39. Free Speech has a new function at the top of the Home page, where we list several ex-forces charities and ask you to vote for the one you think most deserving. We have donated £25 to the one to be chosen (see the donations section at the bottom of the home page) and will give all donations to FSB, between now up to and including 11 November, to the chosen charity. Please vote and give generously if you can. Further information about the charities in the poll can be found HERE .

    Today we have moving article by Paul Sutton, Dream State: Teaching in the Culture Wars , on the challenges of teaching in today's dumbed-down woke environment and how it got that way, beautifully and passionately written and one of a series touching on the growth of the State and it's hold on and power over the collective mind.

    We are also running a related series in the run up to Remembrance Day on 11 November, kicked off today by 39 Pontiac Dream's memory of a D-Day 1940's revival party.

        1. We don't have a Welsh equivalent (possibly because we have yellow Welsh poppies meconopsis cambrica in the garden).

    1. And the rest of his useless cohorts.
      But will she have the necessary support from the rest of her party.
      Or could this just be a sleight of hand in some way ?
      As in following orders from elsewhere.

    1. She will be popular with the Idiot King who is very enthusiastic about the WEF.

      Now, having been left of centre in government the Conservative Party can go whole hog and be Communist like Labour because that is what the WEF wants.

      1. 395708+ up ticks,

        Evening R,
        I did comment some time ago many an odious issue today has a royal seal via the WEF.

  40. Lunch break.
    Bamboozled by light cones, event horizons and nullike time lines. I find the whole thing fascinating even though the only words the tutor has said so far that I have understood are Good Morning.

  41. I was disappointed that there was no comment on 'intergenerational theft' by a Labour bug in respect of the budget (if there was, I missed it). Sometime over the weekend, I expect someone in the New Marxist Collective to say "The Tories won't be cured of their incipient racism by the appointment of a black leader."

    I see one or two Nottlanders are unimpressed by her being elected…

  42. Well no change for the Conservative party. Great news for reform.
    Shows how far left they have become.

    1. Good riddance to them. They could have stopped the boats, held on to power and the labour idiots wouldn't have been able to use their ridiculous stupid excuses for looking for a financial black hole.
      As in no boats, no problems.
      These people in politics couldn't run a bath without causing a serious problem.

      1. As for stopping the boats, the British electorate largely abstained from voting for those who might – just might – have had the fortitude to withstand international condemnation and those prepared to protest – violently, if necessary – against allowing people to die at sea, thus letting 20% of the electorate to dictate migration policy for the next five years.

    2. Jeremy Hunt – signals he will not seek to serve in the shadow cabinet.
      And therein lies the problem.. the heavy artillery is basically Liberal at heart.
      I'm not even convinced Kemi Badenoch is actually Conservative as she loathes Nigel Farage & what he stands for.
      This unfortunately means another 5 years of Labour.

  43. Fuss about the haka again this year.
    Teams should just walk away or sit in a circle, have a chat and ignore it.
    The NZs and others will give it up eventually.

    When non-Maori players join in, isn't that cultural appropriation?

    1. Nah, give the orders:

      Form three lines.

      First rank FIRE
      Second rank FIRE
      Third rank FIRE

      Repeat until the haka ends

    2. Seems to me to be a bit like celebrating the Battle of the Boyne.

      Time it was long forgotten…..

    3. It's disrespectful if you participate and disrespectful if you don't. As for England, they should do a morris dance.

    4. I once saw the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra play at the Proms and they opened with a Māori in war paint challenging the conductor for possession of the baton. No symbolic significance whatsoever but it works as a party game.

      1. I used to enjoy it, but since every Pacific nation seems to do one, and NZ started doing different versions almost every match, the pleasure has worn off.

        1. I would guess that every Pacific nation performs a Haka because they are Polynesians and the Haka is a Polynesian custom.
          With me the pleasure remains, whichever version is presented.

          1. I don’t recall them doing one every match, but my memory may be deceiving me.
            Or perhaps more such sides are playing at higher levels and being televised.

    5. I looked at some All Blacks games from the 60s on YT. The hakas were brief, about 20 seconds and not such a big deal.

  44. Some interesting news from across the Atlantic – apparently Trump intends to put RFK Jr in charge of health, and also a covid sceptic doctor as Surgeon General. We'll have to see how it pans out.

    1. What Frisby doesn't mention.. Irony Alert.
      1 Jul 2019 — 'Lion of London Bridge' who was stabbed eight times as he confronted terrorist attackers 'is put on anti-terror watch list as far-right …

  45. According to the Mail, Tory "big beasts" like James Cleverly and Jeremy Hunt will refuse to serve in a Badenoch shadow Cabinet.
    Oh dear
    what a shame
    Never mind!

    1. I expect the Chinese Communist Party rep has told Jeremy Rhyming what to do (or not to do).

      1. I guess he knows he won’t get one of the big jobs, because diversity. He’s not so clever that they have to have him in the top four, and Badenoch won’t risk having another black person in case people say the Cons only represent black people. I guess that is the flip side of getting promoted for being black.
        I don’t think Badenoch falls into that category herself though.

  46. Whoever wins the US Presidential election, civil strife is sure to follow. Janet Daley. 2 November 2024.

    It is notable that the Trump campaign is ramping up its confident predictions that he will win by a landslide presumably in order to lay the ground for an immediate accusation of foul play if he loses. If he is beaten by Kamala Harris narrowly or even (as seems unlikely) decisively, you can bet that there will be orchestrated civic unrest that will put the 6th of January siege of the Capitol into the shade, as well as a deluge of litigious disputes on every possible point of contention.

    I’m sure that Daley has been bought off. It is the only explanation for this utter guff. The Democrats have done nothing but wage litigious warfare on Trump since the last election and the 6th of January siege of the Capitol was a non-event. If the civil strife follows its lead our only problem will be how not to sleep through it.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/11/02/whoever-wins-us-presidential-election-violence-to-follow/

    1. I absolutely believe the civil strife prediction. Neither side will accept defeat peacefully. I'm not predicting civil war, but the worst disorder since then is very much on the cards.

    2. "Trump campaign is ramping up its confident predictions that he will win by a landslide"

      Leftie propaganda: They (the US press) are no match for the BBC and western press – they have constantly claimed that the polls show them neck and neck with only a handful of votes between them. When a narrow win for Camelface is finally arranged they will say it was predicted all along.

      1. Like this:?
        Headline:

        Kamala Harris overtakes Trump in betting market for the first time

        Later text:

        Kamala Harris' chances of winning the 2024 presidential election are now greater than Donald Trump’s, according to one online prediction market.

        With just three days until what could be one of the closest elections in history, the vice president has leapfrogged the Republican nominee on PredictIt.

        The platform lets users share trades on the outcomes of financial and political events and has been deemed one of the most reliable when determining the outcome of this year’s race.

        As of Saturday morning, shares in Harris were trading at 53 cents while Trump was at 52.

        Trump is still ahead on other oddsmakers such as Polymarket.

        In Real Clear Politics’ average of betting odds, Trump is almost 18 points ahead.

    1. I've heard it said that we couldn't build the Pont du Gard these days. That wouldn't surprise me.

      1. If it was reconstructed in the UK, it would take as long to get planning permission as it took to build in the first place.

  47. This is a seismic moment. Kemi must reunite the Right – or we are doomed
    The challenge will be winning over voters attracted by an angrier style while still looking like a prime minister in waiting
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/11/02/seismic-moment-in-the-history-of-britain-kemi-badenoch/

    BTL

    Many people who are posting here feel that the Conservatives have lost the right of the party and that Reform should capitalise on this.

    If Farage cannot come to terms with the fact that Tommy Robinson is a brave and decent man who has the right ideas then he will be lost.

    Yes, Tommy Robinson may look rough; yes, Tommy Robinson may talk rough; but yes Tommy Robinson and Farage are on the same side philosophically. Farage will thwart Reform if he allows his snobbishness to continue to cloud his judgement.

    1. "The challenge will be winning over voters attracted by an angrier style while still looking like a prime minister in waiting"

      That patronising sentence says it all. We're not coming back to the Tories, they are unsalvageable!

  48. Out of interest I've just completed a form on line to see if I was eligible for Pension Credit so I could get WFA – I swear an on-line voice just laughed at me

      1. Yes Jules, I just thought I'd see out of curiosity just what information they wanted about you and your income (the only thing they didn't want was my inside leg measurement) What surprised me was the there were only 2 genders to choose from

        1. I suppose they think that when you get to pensionable age it does not matter whether you have male gender, female gender or no gender at all.

    1. Not surprised, FA.

      I didn't even go there. I've a monthly, modest, private final salary work pension. Plus a twice-yearly annuity payment of around £500 after tax.

      And my musical efforts in the CofE are paid for. All attract tax.

  49. The cultural revolution continues.

    University reported to watchdog after vice-Chancellor 'pushed out for holding Right-wing views'

    Office for Students receives formal complaints from institution's governing body, major donors and the Free Speech Union

    Camilla Turner, Sunday Political Editor • 2 November 2024 • 4:00pm GMT

    The higher education watchdog has been urged to investigate a "political" campaign to oust Buckingham University's vice-Chancellor for being too "Right-wing".

    A formal complaint has been lodged with the Office for Students following the decision by Buckingham's governing body to suspend Professor James Tooley, who is well-known in academic circles for his fierce opposition to so-called "cancel culture" and his defence of free speech.

    Buckingham University, which was opened by Margaret Thatcher in 1976, is one of the most prominent independent higher education institutions in the UK. But the university has come under fire in recent days over the suspension of its vice-Chancellor.

    Prominent donors are understood to have raised concerns with the university about his sudden suspension, and over 30 members of the House of Lords have written to the governing body to express their "serious disquiet" at Prof Tooley's treatment.

    In a letter to the university regulator, the Free Speech Union (FSU) claims that Prof Tooley's suspension was prompted by a series of claims made by his wife, from whom he is in the process of divorcing.

    "These allegations appear to be vexatious in nature and relate to Prof Tooley's behaviour in the couple's private life, e.g. that he keeps a toy gun in his bedside drawer," the letter says.

    The allegations from Prof Tooley's ex-wife "have no bearing on his fitness to carry out his public role as vice-Chancellor of Buckingham" and should have been dismissed as "tittle-tattle", the FSU say.

    The FSU goes on to say that instead, Buckingham University's governing body "immediately suspended Prof Tooley, placed him under investigation, kicked him out of his grace and favour accommodation, and set about destroying his reputation by telling Buckingham's 3,000 students, as well as its staff, that he had been suspended and was under investigation following 'a number of serious allegations'."

    The FSU says it is concerned that Prof Tooley has been humiliated in this way "because some members of the council [Buckingham University's Council] disapprove of the various public interventions he has made in defence of free speech and the history and heritage of Great Britain, which, in their eyes, are 'Right-wing' points of view and therefore beyond the pale".

    A close friend of Prof Tooley said: "He should never have been suspended. He should never have been unlawfully evicted from his home. The university should never have smeared his name, now more than once, in emails sent to all students and all staff. He should be reinstated immediately, receive a full apology, and those behind this attempted coup should resign in disgrace."

    In a separate letter to all the members of Buckingham University's Council, a group of 34 peers say that Prof Tooley's suspension was decided "seemingly on the basis of unproven allegations" and "appears entirely disproportionate".

    They go on to say: "What is more, we are concerned that the principles of a presumption of innocence and natural justice are being undermined by an ill-conceived disciplinary process, risking not only the reputation of Professor Tooley, but also the university itself."

    Lord Vinson, one of Buckingham University's largest donors, told the Sunday Telegraph the episode has caused "unnecessary upset" and that Prof Tooley's treatment has been "unusual, to say the least".

    Lord Vinson, who was on the committee that set up the university 50 years ago, said he has requested a seat on the university's board to ensure that its conduct is "different" going forwards.

    "I think it's important that the board really backs up the work of the vice-Chancellor," he said. "James Tooley was doing a wonderful job in standing up for those who have aired their views on freedom of speech being important."

    A source close to Prof Tooley said that the Free Speech Union is right to demand an investigation into the "shocking, disproportionate and outrageous behaviour of a handful of woke extremists trying to mount an unwarranted coup against the Vice-Chancellor at Buckingham".

    Prof Tooley declined to comment. A Buckingham University spokesperson said: "The University was informed of a number of serious allegations against our Vice-Chancellor. To protect all parties involved, including the Vice-Chancellor himself, he was suspended following due process and legal advice to allow for an independent investigation. This investigation is being conducted by a leading KC and will be completed as soon as possible

    "Although the process has been complicated by the number of allegations made, the University is absolutely certain about the integrity of the process followed and this has been verified by external legal counsel. The University is also subject to the oversight of multiple regulators, who are satisfied with and supportive of the steps taken."

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/11/02/buckingham-university-james-tooley-free-speech

    1. I suspect that very few, if any, of the multiple regulators can be genuinely independent and unbiased, particularly when reviewing an individual who would be regarded as significantly to the right of centre on certain matters is concerned.

      1. If there is genuine free speech there is no need for regulators, so they would

        all lose their well paid jobs with index linked pensions.

        Now tell me whether the regulators are unbiased?

        1. Possibly, but in this instance he's being accused of things other than just being outspoken.
          I think it may be yet another case of leftwaffe lawfare and revenge..

    1. Well done. I’m sort of on a roll. Six yesterday, six today.

      Wordle 1,232 6/6

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

          1. My wife gave me the final word which was CHICHI. Apparently this is a term for dressing flamboyantly. Carol is into fashion.

            I thought it the name of a vicious Panda in London Zoo.

          2. Sorry for late reply, everything off here incl internet…Mrs c is correct, I looked it up 'showily or affectedly elegant or trendy; pretentious'. My mum was into fashion too..me, not so much :-D…good name for Panda!

    2. Well done, a par here. Exciting rugby match.

      Wordle 1,232 4/6

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

      1. Not sure how that graphic appeared. This is the correct one.

        Wordle 1,232 4/6

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

        Sorry read your graphic for mine by accident.

    3. Just a Par because I tried to be clever on line three.

      Wordle 1,232 4/6

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

      1. Hello corim,

        I wonder if it would be possible to have a quick offline conversation with you professionally on something personal to me. I should be grateful if you would email me on Hertslist@gmail.com and then I can get back to you. It’s not my own email that I use for my private correspondence but one that I use for when NoTTlers want to contact each other. So basically it has no emails on it as I delete them after I have answered them (and given my own email if it is a bona fide NoTTLer, which it has always hitherto been). ANyway, if you would drop me a line , that would be much appreciated.

          1. Hi, I just checked, it seems to be working but people sometimes get the name a bit wrong: it’s Hertslist (not Hertslass) @gmail.com

            If you would be so good as to just send a TEST headed but otherwise empty email, I can check further. Otherwise I will try BT.

            Thanks

          2. MOH sent me a mail to that address from his gmail and it came through, and I sent myself one from a hotmail address which also arrived. If you do a search for “unauthenticated email gmail” it tells you a bit; it appears it might be that it is gmail that thinks the address your email was sent from is unauthenticated. It might be worth having a look, because I don’t know how many mails you might send to gmail.

  50. That 's me gone for today. Not a scrap of the heralded sunshine. When the MR returns from Narrige, we shall be going to a talk by the grandson of Piper Bill Millin – who led Lord Lovat's troops ashore at Gold Beach on 6 June 1944. And he will play said bagpipes!

    Should be interesting.

    Tomorrow, brilliant nephew is coming to install my new desktop PC. That, too, should be interesting!

    A demain – eventually!

  51. Planned to venture out in search of a poppy. Last year, no-one in Aldershot was selling them (admittedly at the last minute). So I see that Amazon are selling them, alongside Chinese knock-offs.

    Like all charities these days, all is about woke. I have an elderly, plastic (aargh!) poppy, and that will suffice. I'll contribute to RBL anyway, since they steal take the collection on Remembrance Sunday..

      1. My dad similar – Java end of war, previously parachuted into France. For some unexplained reason supported Labour…let down, yet again.

    1. I have a knitted poppy with a leaf attached to a safety pin .

      Many nice people have collection boxes outside shops .. very few of them are ex service though .

      I proudly showed them my knitted poppy attached to my jacket , but produced a £5 in coins for the sealed tub.

      To tell you the truth , my preference is the Salvation army .. they work miracles for ex servicemen and women who have problems .

      1. That is why I am not contributing this year and my 93-yr-old ex RAF veteran has stopped his standing order.

          1. Back in the days of black and white TV documentaries the Royal British Legion was exposed as a bunch of people living the high life in a country house headquarters and a fleet of limousines to ferry the higher echelons around.

            Pity the blind people in the Poppy Factory. I doubt much money raised gets to veterans.

      2. I find that offensive, and it is an insult to those who have suffered and/or died in the services.

          1. I haven’t seen any of those disgusting poppies being worn, and haven’t spied any in the boxes/stands so far.

  52. Why do otherwise sensible people cut and paste bluddy chain letters on Facebook? My only response would be look, luv, you not only didn’t write this guff but you don’t have a clue who did, so get a life, please. Except I don’t want to cause offence.

      1. Me neither but recently Facebook sends me ‘pages’ in which I have no interest. When I press unsubscribe it reports an error so I have no way of stopping these intrusions.

  53. I am having a sense of humour failure – it is Diwali, (not a festival of light, it appears, but a festival of loud explosions). Happily not so much just here but some neighbouring parts have had relentless banging for days (or should that be nights) until early in the morning. Apparently during Diwali fireworks are allowed until 1 or 2 am – except that Diwali seems to be continuing for days.

    Some people are saying that their animals are frightened, and also that the relentless banging until early morning is too much – they are then getting what appears to be certain sub-continentals retaliating and saying that they have a right to celebrate what and how they like and that the Brits should just suck it up. That attitude is typical of the entitled mindset of some of the people who have come to this country. I wish they would b*gger off.

    1. Thank heavens we still live in England here. The only noise expected this evening is from a young lad's 18th birthday party which his parents kindly warned all the neighbours of. We can live with that.

    2. As you are aware firework night is limited to an hour before midnight.

      We are no longer a Christian country and have to enjoy their five day festivals.

      1. Far as I know, all fireworks have to end by 10pm, any night of the year, most areas of the UK. Might like to check with local Police Association.

        1. I came across this yesterday. On Thursday evening, the village shop's new owners were letting very noisy fireworks off for about an hour until late in the evening. There were many complaints, especially as it was a 'school night.'
          Why on earth are they allowed to set fireworks off until 1 a.m.? I suppose we should be 'grateful' that they stopped by 10 pm.
          https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/24327070ab5da286be0c3f465b45898b34a31519ecc09db03fa8e76fdc87e552.jpg

          1. Thanks..I was unaware of this, locally we’ve had a 10pm curfew because of animals usually horses bolting. 7am to 1am seems excessive, glad I don’t live near it, yet.

          2. I presume local bylaws can be made to over-ride general laws. 10pm is certainly better than 11pm.

          3. I think so, especially in an area with a lot of outdoor animals. Was quite bad last night, but only for around half an hour. More tonight. Comms intermittent here this morning, perhaps Guy did put in an appearance 😆

          4. I guess you’re either a firework fan or you’re not, I’m not so much..there was a fashion a few years ago for newly weds to have fireworks at their post-ceremonies, the cost seems to prohibit that now.

      2. We are no longer an independent country and have to put up with whatever cr*p they throw at us. At pain of being called a racist. Personally I don't care if I am called a racist/nartxi or anything else by uncivilised tw*ts or brain-dead white masochists.

    3. It's the entitled attitude that makes me bristle, too. You are a guest in our country; behave as one and follow our rules.

      1. No, according to them they are as British as anyone whose ancestors have been here for hundreds of years – and of course they are also Indian/African/Pakistani etc. Talk about having their cake and eating it.

  54. Telegraph View
    Kemi Badenoch is a breath of fresh air

    For the moment, the task at hand is to hold this Labour Government to account

    02 November 2024 5:49pm GMT
    Kemi Badenoch’s victory in the Conservative leadership contest is a landmark moment for Britain. The Conservatives now have a leader willing to step outside the boundaries of the technocratic Left-wing consensus and view the challenges facing this country with a fresh eye.

    Ms Badenoch will need to use these skills to their fullest as she sets about her greatest challenge yet. Having won over the party membership with her forthright, no-nonsense approach and her emphasis on principles, she must now apply this same energy to persuading the wider public that she is the right choice to lead this country.

    As she begins this work, Ms Badenoch can take heart from recent polling which has shown the Conservative party with its first lead over Labour in three years. Sir Keir Starmer’s parliamentary majority may be considerable, but it is built on sand, and his personal popularity is already deep underwater. The next election is clearly there for the taking.

    If it is to be won, however, the Conservatives will need to rally around their new leader. All factions of the party must accept that the leadership contest is over, that the membership has spoken, and that there is no more room for the blue on blue attacks and petty infighting that came to define the final years of the last Conservative government.

    Ms Badenoch, meanwhile, must make the most of those talents available to her. Robert Jenrick, who finished second in the contest, ran a remarkable campaign as an outsider. His work on developing policy proposals for controlling immigration, in particular, struck a chord with a chunk of the electorate, and it would surely be in the best interest of the party to put his skills to full use.

    The machinery of party selection and campaigning must also be fixed. Too often, the support offered to candidates is wanting, and the calibre of those candidates themselves in doubt. The last election was a low-ebb that must not be repeated.

    Alongside rebuilding her party, Ms Badenoch must set about winning back former Conservatives who felt let down by the party after 14 years in office. While this will be challenging, it is less so than it might first appear. The Conservative party’s meritocratic nature makes it a natural home for the aspirational classes, as demonstrated by the fact that Ms Badenoch – raised in Nigeria – is the latest in a series of leaders to shatter various ‘glass ceilings’. What it now needs are the correct policies and execution.

    Despite the myth that has taken hold on parts of the Right, it is not impossible to both eat Reform’s lunch and appeal to those who voted for the Liberal Democrats or Labour.

    Polling shows, however, that these groups – and indeed those who didn’t vote at all – are more similar than they are different. Each lists reducing immigration as a top priority, and a majority back a strong agenda on combating crime, cutting taxation and fixing public services.

    There is a coherent offering in that combination that can appeal to those who voted Conservative, and those who did not: securing our borders, cracking down on rampant criminality, supporting the private sector growth that makes it possible to fund our public services, reforming the broken elements of the state that swallow taxpayer funds with little sign of improvement.

    It would be foolish to pretend that developing or implementing such a plan will be easy. In its last period in office, the Conservative party was defeated as much by the structures of the state as by its own internal divisions. It is to Ms Badenoch’s credit that she has demonstrated repeatedly her understanding of the obstructive nature of the modern civil service, human rights industry and quangocracy. This understanding must become the basis for implementing a genuinely conservative policy agenda.

    Here, Ms Badenoch can take inspiration from history. In 1974, Margaret Thatcher faced a similar crisis: a Labour government hostile to private enterprise, attempting to spend its way out of trouble, and a conservative movement in dire need of a guiding philosophy and a plan to change the country for the better. The party today needs its version of the “Stepping Stones” report; an agenda for addressing the social and economic ailments afflicting Britain, giving the party its intellectual footing as it develops its manifesto.

    For the moment, however, the task at hand is to hold this Labour Government to account. Sir Keir’s newfound unpopularity is richly deserved; his early days in office have been marked by a blatant “class war” approach that singles out traditional enemies of his party such as farmers and private schools for punishment, and lavishes rewards upon striking unions and the public sector. Ms Badenoch must stand against this, acting as a voice for conservative Britain and for the private sector, emphasising the virtues of growth over redistribution, and offering a vision of the good that appeals to the country as a whole in contrast to Labour’s ‘divide and rule’ politics.

    If she can succeed in this – appealing to middle class couples in leafy suburbs and young people who feel as if they will never be able to own their own home, to pensioners who fear for their financial security and to taxpayers who see an ever larger share of their incomes fuelling a failing public sector – then the rewards will be immense.

    1. She could make a lot worse first step than to give local associations the sole right to select their own candidates rather than have them foisted upon them by central office.

      1. Central Office might have to get involved if a local party is wet and europhiliac…

        1. I can accept the case where there is an outstanding individual, willing to stand for the party, being offered a safe seat and being forced on that constituency, but such instances are few and far between.

    2. They really are working overtime to try and reproduce the Conservative party of the mid seventies – getting rid of the failed leader who worked for the parasite class (Heath delivering Britain to the Common Market), bringing in the common sense, no nonsense woman leader.

      But Conservative voters are a lot angrier this time, and have been lied to a lot more. A few promises won't cut it. We want to select our own Conservative MPs, and we don't want any WEF young leaders or Common Purpose graduates, for starters. We want to see some signs of economic literacy. Everything else is just promises, "we will cut immigration" "we will improve schools in some vague way that we won't specify" "we will cut IHT (oh no perhaps we won't on second thoughts)"

      Incidentally, my guess is that the WEF will fade into the background, as it largely has since covid. It's been outed, so some other large-sounding acronym will slither in to take its place.

      1. The last Leader we had in the UK was Margaret Thatcher. Since those days we have seen a series of grey middle managers bereft of ideas. Consequently the UK has drifted into gradual managed decline.

        Starmer is the very worst example of this descent into a managerial class of politician. He has no strategy and no new ideas. He will shuffle around pretending to be strong but has already been found wanting in every department.

        Starmer’s budget rewards the unproductive public sector, the union sponsors and health service whilst punishing the private sector, the employers and productive workers. This mad approach just proves that the Labour government collectively have never run a business.

        Much the same rudderless direction applies to the EU which is falling apart yet Starmer wants to climb aboard that sinking ship.

        With President Trump in the White House we might just see an end to NATO and Starmer’s beloved EU. We might also see peace in the Middle East and an end to the Ukraine project in which we are heavily invested and by which we shall become bankrupted when the true extent of our financial losses are revealed.

        1. I disagree with your second sentence; Blair-Cameron was a deliberate revolutionary who planned our downfall. The rest, yes.

          1. Blair and the wrecking crew created the mayhem and Cameron was part of it.

            I blame Blair for 90%+ of our current problems.

  55. Evening, all. A quieter night so far. Kadi has taken himself to bed and seems more relaxed.

    Labour chancellors always wreck the economy. They can't help it, it's their belief system and no amount of proof that it doesn't work will convince them not to go ahead.

  56. The long drawn out torture of Sharif. Teachers reported. Social services closed the case. Neighbours? Hear any screaming?
    Then we have daddy saying i might have beaten her a bit too hard.
    Welcome to Shitistan Britain.

    They seemed to have a large house. They seemed to have a big car. They seemed to be able to book flights to Pakishitstan.

    Where did all that money come from?

    I expect to go to prison and join Tommy now.

    1. Flights in club as well. Im rather surprised they returned. I suspect they will pass the buck around the suspects making it difficult to prove who actually killed the child. Although the concept of joint enterprise is still going I believe.

  57. Back home from my opsimathic day.

    So time travel is possible – all you need in some negative energy or exotic matter.

    I know plenty of people with negative energy. As for exotic matter I thought Phizz might be able to help out.

    1. I time travel every day of my life. I go to bed at 2300 hrs and I get up at 0700 hrs. I then find that time has moved on, at a steady rate of 8 hours.

      I have a clever little device for confirming this travel through time: I call it an 'alarm clock'.

    2. If i could channel it to you now Dolly could take you across the universe. She is terrified. The fucking fireworks going off like bombs. My post code isn't fucking Ukraine or Gaza..

      Though any

      1. It's starting to kick off here now. Kadi is still upstairs and there's no sign of him. I suspect he's burrowed under the bedclothes.

      2. Just a thought.
        Could you take her out, holding her close to your chest, so that she could see the flash and then hear the bang; so that at least she had some understanding of what is happening?

        1. What are you? Some kind of idiot? You think the flashes and bangs would open her eyes? She is already clinging to me you dumb fuck.

          I do have a little pouch of porkie scratchings ready but i didn't want to attract any Millibands.

          1. It was a suggestion because I concluded that your dog might be able to associate what she can see with what she can hear, rather than just being inside, hearing the bangs coming out of thin air.

            But hey ho, do as you wish.

            But don't expect any sympathy from people who have your dogs' interests at heart.

  58. Right. That does it.

    I have full surround sound.

    I have two choices for Nottlers to choose so Dolly doesn't go out of her head tonight.

    Does she get Greased or do her feet come Loose?

  59. 395708+ jup ticks

    All very well but, may one ask,on whos behalf ? Is she pro WEF , she is seen in WEF company, or are all tory ex voters on returning willing to accept the WEF / NWO
    road to RESET agenda, tor the good of the tory (ino) party.

    Dt,
    Badenoch has the strength to fight both Labour and Reform
    New Tory leader has the charisma to take on Nigel Farage – and the ability to savage Sir Keir Starmer at the despatch box

          1. Why?
            He's clearly very upset for his dog.
            I can bite back.
            I accept that such exchanges give a poor impression to newer members of the forum, but Phizzee and I have been exchanging insults and friendship in fairly equal measure for years.
            even though I know he really hates me!

    1. Sorry for you and her, Phiz…wish I had good advice, personally have never found anything (tablets, food, alcohol etc) to work, except a blanket, wrapped in the softest one you have, and keep her on your knee. Also, difficult tho it is, try not to be anxious yourself – if she's anything like my dog, picks up on that straightaway. And put music/tv/radio on loud as you can both stand it. Good luck.

  60. Welcome. I have a dog similar travelling in car, one of those raggy type blankets seems to help him, they're quite heavy. This is the type, on Amazon: Furhaven XL Waterproof Calming Plush Long Faux Fur & Velvet Dog Blanket, Washable – Gray, Extra Large. Different size, too late for this year unless you have Prime, but she'll love it if she's anything like my dog…think they do a donut version too, if she's quite small – even better 🙂

  61. I listened to it. BT sports only. England matches of whatever sport should be available for the English to see. All down to money I suppose. England are playing an ODI cricket match against the Windies as I type, but all I can watch is the scorecard, which is not looking good currently.

  62. Spoke too soon – a lot of money just went up in smoke about half a mile away. Must be fireworks night.

      1. Couldn’t see if they had a bonfire as well as all the expensive looking fireworks – probably at the local footie club.

      1. I've not listened to it all but Slater is saying the same thing about Farage and Robinson as I posted on here earlier. Slater says 'we need all the available soldiers in the fight' and 'on their chosen battleground'. TR is getting people onto the streets, peacefully. Farage is driving the political approach.

        1. I have a lot less time for TR than many on here, but he does get people onto the streets and for that I support him.
          Getting himself locked up for contempt of court was an own gaol (sic)

          1. I think TR my have felt that the original verdict was so politically manipulated, and that the message in his film so important, that it was worth the risk in order to get its meddage out. Having seen the film, it certainly raised a lot of doubts about the alleged bully. and his behaviour.

    1. The Democrat leaning media is going into meltdown. And that includes the DT. Janet Daley has, of course, lost her marbles at the mere thought of Trump winning and may well need some professional help if he does.

      1. Same over here in Norway. Apparently Trump is to be investigated for some crime or other, it's difficult to make out WTF.
        I don't know why they do that. Norway doesn't have a vote in the US for President, or anything else – but we do have the USS Harry S Truman in the Oslofjord – with Norwegian anti-aircraft missiles all set up in the surrounding hills, just in case.

    2. Trump needs to win for America's sake – for the Western world's sake.

      I have no opinion of the man as every story is against him, but under him the right decisions – and Right decisions – were made and showed the world a life without the Left wing hegemony.

      1. I hope he uses his second term, assuming he gets one, to drain as much of the swamp as possible.
        I strongly suspect that the Democrats will bog down his entire Presidency in lawfare.

        He could actually do a lot worse than totally wrong-foot them by giving a Presidential pardon to Hunter Biden

  63. 'evening all,

    On my drive home this evening from a very pleasant day's fishing on the Wiltshire Avon I listened to the latest Delingpod. James's guest in this offering is Simon Elmer who talks about The Great Replacement. He didn't mention that it was the French writer Reynaud Camus who first came up with the term 'Le Grand Remplacement' but there was much discussion of how it is regarded as a white nationalist conspiracy theory – only it isn't.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/76dc12930acef1fd33ca7dc1e82144d81d62587c9532304ddbe32a537fa4d0cf.png

    Replacement migration of white peoples in their own homelands is long planned and well underway. It is the UN, The EU, the WEF and the trans-national corporations which are behind it. George Soros's name cropped up as did Peter Sutherland's (look that traitorous bastard up) and the Kalergi plan..

    Simon Elmer has done the research work and has the receipts. Western governments are conspiring with the UN and the WEF to destroy their own nations through mass migration. He has written four long articles on replacement migration: Part One -The Plan; Part Two -The Impact; Part Three – The Response; Part Four – Solutions. They are on his website.

    If you're not a paid subscriber to James Delingpole's Substack it'll be a week or two before this episode is free to view. In the meantime, you can read Simon Elmer's articles on his website here: https://architectsforsocialhousing.co.uk/page/2/

    1. Our population was adjusting to our technology, culture and quality of life. Massive importing of indolent savages was done simply to create a voting block for the state.

      1. More than that, wibbles. As Simon Elmer shows with stats it depresses wages for the white working class, in all jobs, not just the ones done by the migrants. It will soon be depressing salaries for the middle classes. A globalist oligarch's wet dream. Cheap AND easy to control.

      2. More than that, wibbles. As Simon Elmer shows with stats it depresses wages for the white working class, in all jobs, not just the ones done by the migrants. It will soon be depressing salaries for the middle classes. A globalist oligarch's wet dream. Cheap AND easy to control.

    1. I think the Coservative party is killing itself with no help needed. There are clearly very Left wing people in it who are there for the position, not the ideology. They'd hop to any party that would have them.

      1. I agree. I will never vote to have a Nigerian as Prime Minister. That's if I could even bring myself to forgive that party for the failures of its 14 years in government.

        1. She's a software developer. I'd vote for her if she wasn't a WEFer who has been seen in very bad company.

    1. "I think you're wearing the wrong pair of glasses – can't you see that there's no '10' on this door?"

  64. Here's another actor whose opinion gets more coverage, but whose opinion is no more, nor less, valuable than a down and out in New York:

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14033681/harrison-ford-indiana-jones-politics-presidential-candidate-election.html
    HF spouting as if he's in a film.
    All these anti-Trump former supporters, who didn't do their jobs properly, are coming out precisely because they are exposed as being useless when they had their chance.

  65. Here's an informative video about CBDCs and stable coins from Coin Bureau. I had not realised that stable coins could be a non-state alternative to CBDCs. I always wondered what the point of them was! They just sit there, allegedly backed by dollars or another currency, not doing anything particularly exciting. I guess you're meant to use them to buy things with, but I've never seen anywhere that accepts them.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpTPoZLX59A

  66. Well chums I know that it's early, but I'm ready for bed. So have a Good Night, sleep well, and I hope to see you all early tomorrow morning.

    1. Goodnight, Elsie. Kadi has beaten you to it; he took himself off to bed a while ago to get away from the fireworks.

      1. Yes, I saw your earlier post Conners – I hope you both have a good restful night tonight. And try not to wake Kadi up when you finally retire to bed.

        1. He's just come down because he wanted to go out for a wee. He's a good lad, if somewhat nervous.

      2. Yes, I saw your earlier post Conners – I hope you both have a good restful night tonight. And try not to wake Kadi up when you finally retire to bed.

  67. From Coffee House, the Spectator

    The ‘Trumpmentum’ of the last few weeks couldn’t last forever. Now, with less than four days to go until election day, concern is spreading in Republican circles that the Trump train has ‘stalled’ as the Democrats make late and potentially decisive gains in key areas.

    Across the battleground states, and especially in Pennsylvania, early voting numbers suggest that women are turning out in far bigger numbers than men. This is good news for the Democrats because 2024 is widely thought to be ‘the gender election’: a majority of men favour Trump; a majority of women support Harris. The Trump campaign is also lagging behind Harris in early voting among senior citizens in Pennsylvania. Americans over the age of 65 are traditionally a key demographic group for Republican success, yet Trump campaign sources remain confident that Republican-voting seniors will address that imbalance by voting the more old-fashioned way on election day. ‘Republicans and older Republicans in particular, generally, like to vote on election day because that’s what they’re accustomed to,’ says Charlie Gerow, a Republican strategist in Pennsylvania.

    Is this all late jitters?

    For now, however, it’s a worry for the Trump-Vance campaign. Another concern is that Trump’s popularity among African-American voters may have been as over-hyped as it was in 2020. Early voting patterns show that older black women – a core Harris voter group – are turning out in higher numbers than expected. Democratic insiders are now suggesting that Harris could match Joe Biden’s success in winning 90 per cent of black voters. Some Republicans are also concerned that North Carolina, so far this year the most ‘leans Trump’ of all the seven key battleground states, is slipping towards the Democrats.

    Most popular
    Steerpike
    Labour’s embarrassing Badenoch blunder

    Stephen Daisley
    My unsolicited advice to Kemi Badenoch
    Patrick O’Flynn
    Kemi Badenoch will face an exposed Keir Starmer
    Is this all late jitters? Or evidence that the formidable and better funded Democratic ground game is starting to turn the tide in Harris’s favour? The pro-Democratic media and Harris-Campaign spokespeople are naturally inclined to believe the latter. They point towards Harris’s latest, celebrity-studded rallies, which have been particularly large and energetic in recent days.

    David Plouffe, the Harris campaign manager, has been telling reporters that the Trump mega-rally in Madison Square – the one in which speakers made jokes about Puerto Rico and Harris’s racial heritage – backfired and has moved undecided voters towards the Harris-Walz ticket. He’s also insisting that Trump’s ‘threat’ to Liz Cheney on stage in Arizona on Thursday – selectively quoted all over the Democratic media yesterday to make his words sound more menacing than they were – will further damage Trump’s already limited appeal among women.

    Then again, as Trump campaign manager Chris LaCivita so delicately put it last night: ‘What the hell is he going to say? He’s losing. Fact of the matter is David can’t do anything but bullshit until Tuesday because we are kicking his ass. The only thing the Harris campaign has functional at this point is a bullshit machine that is dutifully repeated by the legacy media as if fact.’

    Freddy Gray
    WRITTEN BY
    Freddy Gray
    Freddy Gray is deputy editor of The Spectator

    1. I've heard enough of the bullshit propaganda, either way. I'm waiting for Mr Trump to humbly accept the voters' decision. One way or another there may be trouble ahead.

      1. Trump will not be permitted to win. His only hope is a landslide victory which would eliminate any possibility of election rigging. But I don’t think that is likely.
        Will he graciously accept defeat? He didn’t last time, but maybe he’s achieved more maturity or at least realised that he’ll achieve nothing by making a fuss. He did say that whatever the result, it’s over. He won’t run again.

  68. England have a great bat to level the ODI match against the Windies. I could only follow by ESPN text commentary and scorecard, but it was a very exciting English fightback

      1. Yeah, at least I could listen to that game. We should never have changed the front row in one fell swoop after such a good first half. Ah well, what's done is done.

    1. That lot get a whole month of 'awareness' – what? Anyway, a phobia is an irrational fear of something; there is nothing irrational about fearing 'The Protected Ones.'

      1. 395708+ up ticks,

        Evening MIB,

        As in, there is nothing irrational about treating with great caution
        the top ranking elite politico’s, the guardians of the protected ones.

    2. I'm reminded of the comment by Christopher Hitchens: "Islamophobia – a word invented by fascists, used by cowards to manipulate morons."

  69. From Coffee House, the Spectator,

    Kemi Badenoch’s victory was not overwhelming. Her margin of victory was smaller than of any of her Tory predecessors since the current leadership rules were introduced. With the support of 57 per cent of the membership and a third of MPs – similar proportions to what Liz Truss managed in 2022 – her immediate task will be to unite her querulous parliamentary party and reach out to her opponents.

    Her finishing cry – ‘It’s time to get down to business, it’s time to renew’ – is familiar from the campaign trail. The most immediate task is building a shadow cabinet. James Cleverly’s choice to go to the backbenches frees a space but leaves an obvious alternative leader untainted by her leadership if she stumbles in the coming years. If Cleverly runs for London mayor, she should support him.

    For 14 years the Conservative party failed in its fundamental objective

    Robert Jenrick’s willingness to serve may lessen his ability to act as a potential fulcrum for right-wing opposition to her leadership. His closeness to leading backbenchers such as John Hayes, Danny Kruger and Neil O’Brien will mean Badenoch will need to judiciously pick off his supporters. A shadow cabinet position for the latter would be wise. His blog has been a font of good ideas since the election.

    In the short to medium term, Badenoch’s position is secure. Rishi Sunak’s parting gift was the party’s first poll lead since December 2021. Against a government as consciously abysmal as Keir Starmer’s, she will never be short of material for PMQs. Yet as William Hague proved, a few good performances at the despatch box are of little value against a government with a landslide majority.

    Yet the foundations of this Labour government are far weaker than Tony Blair’s. The chances of it only lasting for one term are far higher. Voters turned to Labour out of frustration with a Conservative party that promised in 2019 to be different but failed to deliver on its basic promises on immigration, living standards and the NHS, dissolving into futile psychodrama and impotence.

    Labour is proving just as inadequate. The party is trapped between its po-faced assumption that Britain would be better simply because it was in charge, and its own unwillingness to challenge the broken weltgeist and sclerotic Whitehall machine that have constrained government after government. The Budget on Wednesday was a clear signal that Labour is content merely managing decline.

    Throughout her leadership campaign, Badenoch made this point again and again. She blamed the ‘political system… bequeathed to us by Tony Blair’ – the stakeholder paradise of judicial reviews, obstreperous quangos, and bureaucratic inertia – for preventing the Conservatives from delivering. Her promise to spend the next few years working out a plan to overhaul this is welcome and necessary.

    Yet for 14 years, the Conservative party failed in its fundamental objective – to make the country more conservative – not only because of civil service obstacles, but because of the inadequacies of its own leaders and ministers. The decision to massively increase immigration under Boris Johnson was a canary in the coal mine. It showed the party neither understood, nor cared, about its own voters.

    Most popular
    Steerpike
    Labour’s embarrassing Badenoch blunder

    Patrick O’Flynn
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    Stephen Daisley
    My unsolicited advice to Kemi Badenoch
    Many of those voters deserted the Tories in July. Jenrick, by emphasising his decision to resign as immigration minister and his willingness to leave the ECHR, understood this, and made reducing migration the centre of his campaign. Badenoch, studiously unwilling to be drawn on policy, did not, leaving many sceptical that despite a similar analysis of the problem, she did not share Jenrick’s wholehearted commitment to fixing it.

    In 2022, she ran as the insurgent candidate. This time round, she was the choice of the party establishment, winning the support of former leaders such as Hague and Iain Duncan Smith, as well as grandees both in and out of parliament, such as Damian Green and Kenneth Clarke. Appeasing so many different wings meant failing to commit herself to any course of action. That will have to change.

    Would she scrap the Equalities, Malicious Communications, and Human Rights Acts? Cap migration? Break with a planning system that makes ageing Tory voters wealthier, but Britain poorer? We don’t know. Yet any Tory government that was as serious about changing Britain as Badenoch claims to be would have to be willing to do each. Does she have the iron? Or will she surrender to the stakeholders?

    This is the one reason why she is not trusted by many on the party’s right. While many older members may see a second Margaret Thatcher, many of its younger cohort see a second Truss: someone who can appease the Telegraph and GB News circuit with a few tough words on ‘the woke’ but lacks the drive to see such policies through. She has the next few years to prove them wrong. I hope she does.

    If she does not, the major beneficiaries of her victory today will be Nigel Farage and Dominic Cummings, if he can ever get his so-called Start-Up party off the ground. The Conservative party suffered an unprecedented defeat in July. It has no right to exist. It is up to Badenoch to prove to voters that it can deliver in all the areas where its promises have so far rung hollow.

    WRITTEN BY
    William Atkinson
    William Atkinson is the Assistant Editor at ConservativeHome, and a former Spectator intern.

      1. Turning away from the Conservatives meant l letting Labour win.
        Voters were warned about the consequences of their choices and are now living with the five year result of their folly.

    1. For 14 years the Conservative party failed in its fundamental objective

      Really?

      What was the Tory's fundamental objective that they were aiming for? Certainly not traditional right of centre policies coupled with the failure to complete Brexit as promised. By deliberately not targeting those fundamentals the Tories failed the people who put their trust in that organisation. That failure set the scene for the other side of the Uni-party to continue where the laggards in the Tory party left off.

      Now… see Conway's comment below, he is spot on.

    1. A pity his son, Hilary, is such a disaster.

      Tony Benn – who loathed the EU and knew we should never have entered it in the first place – must have turned in his grave to see his repulsive son do so much to thwart Brexit.

      1. Well, I disagreed with my dad about a lot of things and I can't get my son to see everything my way. And my grandpa and my father disagreed about just about everything. And my grandsons even as little kids do not see eye to eye with their father.
        But none of us gave our sons a girl's name.

    2. Interesting to see a younger bearded and long-haired Jeremy Corbyn sitting behind him.

  70. If there's a close result either way it'll be mean a relatively small re-enactment of their 1861-1865 civil war.

    1. There will be a close result and Kamala will be declared the victor. There may be some civil unrest, but they’ll send in the troops or civil guard to control protestors. i don’t think Trump will do much protesting., not this time.

      1. Mr Trump might not protest at all, but his supporters are probably more numerous, more motivated and at least as well armed as any troops or civil guard. Interesting times ahead.

        1. And should Trump win, how will Kamala’s supporters react? They certainly do tend to appear self entitled, I’ve read about so many assaults on Trump supporters and their property during the campaign. El horno no está para bollos.

  71. From the Daily Telegraph

    A Labour MP shared a social media post accusing Kemi Badenoch of representing “white supremacy in blackface” shortly before Mrs Badenoch was elected as the new Tory leader.

    Dawn Butler appeared to endorse comments that also referred to Mrs Badenoch’s election as a “victory for racism”. The Brent East MP has since undone the repost and it is no longer on her profile on X, formerly Twitter.

    The post she shared came from Nels Abbey, a London-based Nigerian journalist, and was headed: Warning: Seven rules for surviving a Kemi Badenoch victory.

    It read: “Today the most prominent member of white supremacy’s black collaborator class (in Britain) is likely to be made leader of the Conservative Party. Here are some handy tips for surviving the immediate surge of Badenochism (i.e. white supremacy in blackface).

    “Don’t allow yourself to be gaslit. Of course, a victory for Badenoch is an obvious, unprecedented and once inconceivable victory for racism…

    “Don’t get arrested… The police don’t do nuance, and they conveniently refuse to understand black and brown intra-communal language or forms of critique, satire or compliment e.g. coconut, Uncle Tom, Aunt Kemi, house negro, choc ice etc.”

    The term “house negro” has been widely used to criticise people of colour who assimilate into a white society at the expense of their own ethnic identity.

    The term “coconut”, also considered derogatory, describes someone who is black but aligns themselves predominantly with white people and culture.

    Downing Street sources noted that the post was no longer present on Ms Butler’s profile and pointed to Sir Keir Starmer’s message to Mrs Badenoch, saying the election of the first black leader of a Westminster party was a “proud moment” for the UK.

    David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, also wrote on X: “Congratulations, Kemi Badenoch. Your election as the first black leader of a Westminster party is an important moment not only for Brits from black and minority ethnic backgrounds, but for our whole country.”

    Florence Eshalomi, the Labour MP for Vauxhall and Camberwell Green, congratulated the new Tory leader “from one British Nigerian MP to another”.

    Mrs Badenoch is the fourth female Tory leader after Margaret Thatcher, Theresa May and Liz Truss. Labour has never had a female leader, and all of its leaders to date have been white.

    James Cleverly, who was one of Mrs Badenoch’s Tory leadership rivals, said Labour “need to sort themselves out”, calling Sir Keir’s party “male, pale and stale”.

    Ben Obese-Jecty, the Conservative MP for Huntingdon, urged Sir Keir to remove the Labour whip from Ms Butler.

    “It never takes much for Labour’s mask to slip. Dawn Butler is not alone on the Government benches in holding this view of Kemi,” he said. “This will be a test to see whether Keir Starmer removes the whip or effectively condones Butler’s abhorrent approval of this smear.”

    Last year, Mrs Badenoch said she had told her children that Britain is “the best country in the world to be black”. In an interview with The Telegraph, she said: “Being an ethnic minority, irrespective of what country you’re in, is challenging and that is just human nature.

    “Even in countries where everybody is black, when you have ethnic minorities within them as I saw within Nigeria they often face very significant discrimination, more so than the sort of discrimination which I have seen myself in the UK.”

    Downing Street declined to comment. Ms Butler was contacted for comment.

    1. “At the expense of their own ethnic identity”? Should Kemi turn up in the HoC in a grass skirt with a bone through her nose and a machete in each hand?

      1. I'm afraid if they want to play ethnic identity politics they should be doing it elsewhere, not in Europe.

      1. Now four different women have led the Tory party. Sunak succeeded by a woman of Nigerian origin. The Labour party is trapped in a world of trade unions and champagne socialism. All that is left to them is to taunt those who have achieved the elusive diversity they crave, as Uncle Toms. But yet they know, Kemi Badenoch is the real thing. And you can’t compete with that.

    2. IMHO, anyone who describes themselves as 'British *' (insert other nationality) should never be permitted to stand for election in the first place. It is clear they still have allegiance to their 'origins' country.

      1. British is the nationality and is what figures on all official documents. If I am asked where I come from I say I’m English, I have friends who say they are Scottish or Welsh normally because they are. But the nationality is British. I remember Ali G asking an Ulster Unionist his nationality to which he answered, British. Oh so you’re on holiday in Ireland, he asked.

        1. Good morning Sir.
          Indeed. But then England is part of Britain. Claiming to be ‘British Nigerian’ (for example) is not the same.

    3. I'm sure that Dawn Butler shared that derogatory post for the purpose of exposing it for ridicule and condemnation. Well done Ms Butler for bringing such unpleasant views to our attention.

  72. From Coffee House, the Spectator

    So Kemi Badenoch is the new leader of the opposition. How best should Labour respond? One person who has shown the perfect example of what not to do is Dawn Butler, the gaffe machine otherwise known as the Honourable Member for Brent East. Shortly before the result was announced she shared a post on Twitter/X accusing Kemi Badenoch of representing ‘white supremacy in blackface’ and suggesting it amounted to a ‘victory for racism.’ Work that one out. The post has subsequently been removed from Butler’s profile. So much for a new Dawn eh?

    Most popular
    Patrick O’Flynn
    Kemi Badenoch will face an exposed Keir Starmer

    Next up, it was the turn of Zarah Sultana – Coventry’s answer to Citizen Smith. The teenage Trotsykite declared that ‘her election marks a shift to the far-right.’ Yes, Mr S is sure that Britain’s blackshirt bigots will be cheering Badenoch’s triumph tonight. Sultana – who was suspended from the Labour Party shortly after her re-election in July – added that ‘Kemi Badenoch is one of the most nasty & divisive figures in British politics.’ Well, she would know.

    Finally, it was the turn of the official Labour party account. Keen to depict Badenoch as a free market zealot, they posted a graphic on Twitter/X questioning her views on the NHS. Yet while Labour’s commitment to public health may be laudable, it is less clear that the party is keen on adult literacy. The Labour attack ad contained not one, but two, spelling errors. It claimed that ‘The Labour Governnment (sic) has announced record investment in our NHS to cut waiting lits (sic).’ Impressive stuff.

    It’s only day one of Kemi’s leadership but if Labour carries on like this, she won’t have much to worry about…

    Steerpike
    WRITTEN BY
    Steerpike
    Steerpike is The Spectator's gossip columnist, serving up the latest tittle tattle from Westminster and beyond. Email tips to steerpike@spectator.co.uk or message @MrSteerpike

    1. That kind of petty adherence to spelling conventions is typical of the elitism personified by public schools. It's little wonder that this Labour government has imposed VAT on such institutions for daring to uphold such anachronistic orthodoxies.

      1. Thanks Stig. Best joke of the day. How you kept a straight face when you wrote that i'll never know.

    2. That kind of petty adherence to spelling conventions is typical of the elitism personified by public schools. It's little wonder that this Labour government has imposed VAT on such institutions for daring to uphold such anachronistic orthodoxies.

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