Saturday 20 April: Rishi Sunak is right to challenge the British approach to sickness and work

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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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.

860 thoughts on “Saturday 20 April: Rishi Sunak is right to challenge the British approach to sickness and work”

    1. Good morning Mr Norfolk , a cloudy and chilly day in East Anglia . The birds are singing and I can hear deer in my woods .

          1. The county of my birth. The rivers could be the Yare, the Bure, The Ant or even the Wensum (the southern border.)

          2. Norfolk is a wonderful and not too far from me. Beautiful villages the same as they always were, delightful places like Holt and Cromer near the coast .

          3. My Great-Aunt used to live in Aylmerton, a pleasure to visit, with tte red squirrel who would appear for his/her breakfast each morning.

      4. A clear and frosty morning here in Co Antrim, a few days promising some much needed dry weather.

  3. Good morrow, gentlefolk. Today’s (recycled) story

    THE DOT;
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a487812850219125a84500f02863dd579f9f056bcb30b02369c0d6c9513bde03.jpg

    Finally, someone has cleared this up. For centuries, Hindu women have worn a dot on their foreheads.

    Most of us have naively thought this was connected with tradition or religion, but the Indian embassy in London has recently revealed the true story.

    When a Hindu woman gets married, she brings a dowry into the union. On her wedding night, the husband scratches off the dot to see whether he has won a corner shop, a petrol station, a curry house, a taxi cab, or an old people’s home in the UK.

    If nothing is there, he must remain in India to answer telephones and provide us with BT technical advice. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/604cb8060a2c8f3be9c74963f07c1f03a4f93a60cde4045e0732424facfd51bf.jpg

    1. Rubbish! It’s a ‘For Sale/Marriage’ sign. They usually get them when they are six years old – unless they are already married.

    1. Looking at London, why did they bother?
      I wonder if there were any “openly Jewish” soldiers amongst them?

    2. I had an uncle who survived the landing at Sword with a Commando unit. He went on to Italy where he was wounded but continued in service. I only met him about three times and he never mentioned it. I only found out after he had died. R.I.P.

      1. I never met my grandfather. He was on the minesweeper leading the fleet to the beach. There is a statue of him on the caisson at Portland.

  9. ‘Morning All

    Early Medley

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3945f9c500550e5a5c7361419ec430f546b066823d0ee9c353b07613f8c3812c.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7ea973e5d257b62a1320d790c7bbe76009931224e58a55e2d7531f6f2fc8633d.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/86bc76584e163075ac2771b1e16ec0cfcdc8d96171ecc5f17eefc1bb94fd7d69.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9bfea7a434ad4a6ed4553b85e47d72fe2c5f03208734e2263a14986a07d94c69.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2eaed509d117af80c4bae68e2f326db4ffffcba05d615d00a8867a0240be4fb0.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e897697cb35eee873cb5df05492738f795bc9d404a00b79a54f128d0c8a652af.jpg

    Yay thinking of P_T

    https://scontent-man2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/437714231_931196569014525_422851059207430646_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_p526x296&_nc_cat=1&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=5f2048&_nc_ohc=rexRwmO5dJkAb6GfFOA&_nc_ht=scontent-man2-1.xx&oh=00_AfD5HDb6AhnVjX8grMvCozEx0jxuykDRjKejHGPcUPQVaA&oe=66285B2A

  11. ‘Commitment to freedom’

    When the blog posts emerged in February, Doug Chalmers, master of the

    college, told students that “we retain our commitment to freedom of

    thought and expression” and accepted Mr Cofnas’s “academic right, as

    enshrined by law, to write about his views”.

    So far so good

    But wait………..you’re fired anyway

    But Lord Woolley, the principal of Cambridge’s Homerton College, told

    students: “I see it for what it is. Abhorrent racism, masquerading as

    pseudo-intellect… There is no place for bigots in institutions like

    this.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/04/19/cambridge-college-cuts-ties-fellow-race-row/
    #HateFact
    Average IQ in Somalia is significantly lower than average IQ in Singapore
    Repeat this at peril of your job!!

    1. Homerton was a teacher training college so that sort of intellectual rigour is par for the course.

    2. Just pinched that!

      Hmm. Do they realise that their action in sacking him with accusations of RACISM!!! rather than taking his supposedly RACIST!!! theories and demolishing point by point, actually reinforces his ideas?

      Here’s a Hate Fact for you:-

      Average IQ in Somalia is significantly lower than average IQ in Singapore

      Repeat this at peril of your job!!

    3. Lord Woolley – Created Baron Woolley of Woodford by Teresa May. Left school without qualifications. Honorary doctorate from the University of Westminster for lifelong Black Activism.

      A totally unprejudiced person who would rather kiss a Frog’s arse than tell a lie – but he hasn’t had the chance to meet President Macron yet!

      https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5b/Official_portrait_of_Lord_Woolley_of_Woodford_crop_2.jpg/220px-Official_portrait_of_Lord_Woolley_of_Woodford_crop_2.jpg

      1. Aha,thanks for that Ped explains it all another race-baiting grifter scum that has risen to the top

  12. Charles Moore
    My letter from Chris Packham
    From magazine issue: 20 April 2024

    I do not know Chris Packham, the BBC nature broadcaster, personally, but he wrote me a letter last month, enclosing a book called Manifesto, The Battle for Green Britain by Dale Vince which, he tells me, ‘has something very important to say at this most important time’. In his letter, Chris says that ‘irrespective of any party politics’, ‘The coming election will be the most important of our lifetimes’ because we are ‘halfway through the last decade’ left to avoid ‘the worst of climate breakdown’. So ‘we must help young voters navigate the new voting rules’. Politics has ‘become the final frontier for a real greener Britain’. What Chris does not mention is that party politics is very important in this most important book. Dale Vince (‘a mate of mine’, Chris explains) has been a multimillionaire donor to the Labour party for more than ten years and was also, until he buckled under the criticism, a big donor to Just Stop Oil. As Dale himself puts it, ‘I pivoted from Just Stop Oil to Just Stop the Tories in late summer 2023,’ a pivot not unrelated to the coming election. Labour, he says, ‘will be the greenest [government] we have ever had and potentially the world has ever seen’. If it gets in, we shall have online voting and proportional representation which, he implies, will get rid of the Tories for ever. At present, Chris Packham is also pursuing his own court case against the Tory government, seeking judicial review of its changed timetable for phasing out petrol and diesel cars. To see the oddity of this, imagine, say, Mishal Husain being allowed by the BBC to help take the government to the International Court of Justice for selling arms to Israel. By promoting his mate Dale’s book, Chris is specifically working against the Conservative party and in favour of Labour. As its title implies, the purpose of Manifesto is a Labour victory asap. Packham’s fame rests almost entirely on presenting nature programmes for the BBC. And yet, because he is technically freelance, he is being excused the full rigour (ha, ha) of its impartiality rules. I would like Tim Davie, the BBC’s director-general, to explain to us all over again how its impartiality works.

    ‘The Iranians probably did not intend to cause serious damage or casualties,’ writes William Hague in the Times, almost as if it was really quite nice of them to hurl more than 330 drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles into Israel last weekend. But if I had been an Israeli citizen enduring Tehran’s efforts in the night sky, I would not have believed I was watching a son et lumière. And if Lord Hague had been a British cabinet minister and Iran (or anyone else) had put on a similar show over London, would he have advised the British people, as he currently advises the Israelis, that ‘The smartest move now is to signal de-escalation of the immediate confrontation’?

    Acouple of weeks ago in this space, I murmured against the London Library bombarding its members with emails pushing contentious events upon us. My point was that this uniquely great lending library is a place for the study of books, not the striking of attitudes. Since then, the library has further woked up and doubled-dumbed down. It is inviting us to a ‘member-exclusive’ for Pride month and ‘an evening dedicated to the great literary taboo of Shakespeare’s real identity’. The most irritating thing about the latter is the word ‘taboo’. Sad to say, there is no taboo against Shakespeare identity speculation. The world is awash with batty theories about Bacon, Oxford, Shakespeare being a woman etc. Even as I write this, I know, with a sinking heart, that I shall be inundated with some of them. Yes, there is reputable scholarly inquiry about the collaborative authorship of several of Shakespeare’s minor plays by other hands, such as George Peele’s and Fletcher’s, but there is no sane theory that Shakespeare is not Shakespeare. Why is a serious library staining its reputation in this way? It is the literary equivalent of Elvis being still alive or Jews having bombed the World Trade Center.

    Last week, the baby son of friends was baptised in Hastings. The parents, who are predominantly Polish, used the ‘extraordinary form of the Roman rite’, which is chiefly in Latin. It begins with a ceremony of which I had heard but had never before seen. Most of it takes place outside the church door, the purpose being, with the help of the godparents, to expel the Devil before entering. The celebrant breathes three times on the face of the child, then exorcises a plate of salt (‘creature salt’) so that it becomes a sacrament for ‘the putting to flight of the enemy’. He applies a tiny pinch of it to the infant’s tongue. Then he exorcises the child, saying that Christ commands Satan (‘maledicte, damnate’) rather as, walking on the sea, He stretched out His hand to ‘sinking Peter’ (‘Petro margenti’) to ‘give honour to the true and living God’. Then we entered the church and baby Antoni became a Christian. I could see why such a ceremony is frowned on today. It is too visceral, arguably primitive. But therein lies its dramatic power. It is saying that baptism is not only a lovely moment but the vanquishing of the fallen world. From the windows of the East Hastings Angling Club, where we celebrated, we could look out upon the sea more thoughtfully.

    The government’s gradual elimination of smoking by date of birth sets an interesting precedent. How about setting a ‘best before’ date for lots of our freedoms this way, thus consoling the old while protecting the young from being triggered by the threat of liberty? As a journalist born in the 1950s, I, for instance, could be allowed to eke out my twilight years attacking, say, mass immigration or gender-neutral lavatories, but those starting out in media would be banned from taking such incorrect positions. Come to think of it, that is pretty much what is happening already.

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

    Trojan
    2 days ago
    I am old enough to remember
    1. The coming ice age predicted in the 1970s
    2. The end of forests through acid rain
    3. The mercury poisoning of tuna ending the world’s fish life
    4. The total world dominance by Japan because of its emerging manufacturing monopoly
    None of these things happened. Things evolve in unexpected ways. Nature copes with many changes.
    I live down in Cornwall and the next valley has a sign marking the sea level several thousand years ago. It is ten metres above the current level. Was that caused by fossil fuels?
    Villages are appearing from under the ice as it retreats in Greenland- does Packham think that these villages were built under ice?

  13. Good morning all.
    Back to a beautiful but cold start this morning. Down to -2°C on the Yard Thermometer this morning!
    Forecast to cloud over, but to remain dry.

  14. Is there a single once respected institution that has not been infested with fuckwits??

    Queen Charlotte was ‘person of colour’, museum claims in LGBT guide

    Royal Museums Greenwich tells visitors that despite what ‘insecure

    white boys’ have said, George III’s wife was from a non-white background

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/04/19/queen-charlotte-person-colour-museum-wrongly-claims/
    Edit it just gets worse……..
    A major London university may have broken equality law by barring staff from promotion unless they support its pro-trans diversity policy.
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/04/19/kings-college-london-staff-promotion-trans-diversity-policy/
    I begin to despair……………it’s remorseless

      1. Unless you are joking, the German aristocracy was predominantly white. If you are not joking I would be interested to know your source.

    1. I’ve never heard of any of these people, but this from the Terriblegraph:
      “J ASON KELCE, a recently retired top American footballer whose brother dates the singer Taylor Swift, has sparked controversy by calling Wales “posh” and filled with “rich, upper class, just beautiful white people”.

      The former Philadelphia Eagles player’s comments were rebuked by Rob McElhenney who, along with fellow actor Ryan Reynolds, bought Wrexham football club, transforming the north Wales team from also-rans to back-toback promotion winners.

      McElhenney suggested that Kelce, 36, should visit the Principality, telling him on X, formerly known as Twitter: “I should show you around someday.”

      The comments were made by Kelce in a podcast called New Heights, which he hosts with his brother Travis, a tight end with the Kansas City Chiefs and Swift’s love interest. The brothers were discussing the decision made by Louis Rees-Zammit to switch sports from rugby union to American football. The former Wales and Gloucester winger, 23, has joined the Chiefs, who are the current Super Bowl champions, as a running back on a three-year contract reportedly worth about £3 million.

      Kelce said: “When I think of Welsh – I think British people call it ‘posh’ – I think of these rich, upper class, just beautiful white people … [Rees-Zammit] is the running stereotype of what I would think of with a Welsh person. I don’t know if that’s an accurate stereotype but that’s certainly what I think of and he’s helping continue that trend in my mind.””

        1. Nah, that’s Barry Island.
          Maybe a well-wisher should send them a boxed set of Gavin and Stacey although I doubt very much that they would appreciate it.

    2. She is considerably richer that you or me. Doesn’t that alone make her newsworthy?

  16. I know that airfryers are very popular ( but nor for me) . Jamie Oliver ( he of the large tongue and fake cheeky chappy persona is advocating air frying scones – no – just no. Scones must be baked in the oven – soft and fluffy on the inside and crunchy on the outside .

      1. I’ve found my air fryer very useful for sausages, pork chops, bacon, garlic mushrooms and potato wedges. Oven chips (disabled son’s favourite) are fantastic from an air fryer . All quicker, less messy and using less fuel than if I used the stove.
        Scones? I have no intention of trying. I don’t regard a recommendation from brand JO as a plus.

    2. The “air fryer” is a tiny oven. That is what it is. There is no reason why scones should not be cooked just the same.

  17. “ GB NEWS is to cut 40 jobs as the broadcaster battles to stem losses.

    Staff were informed of the cuts at a company-wide meeting yesterday following previous warnings that a restructuring would lead to some employees losing their jobs.

    Bosses are offering up to two months’ salary and a possible payment in lieu of notice to any workers willing to take voluntary redundancy. The cutbacks, which represent roughly 14pc of GB News’s workforce, come after the company revealed its losses ballooned to £42.2m last year.

    GB News’s wage bill surged from £12.7m to £21.2m in 2023 as it splashed out on salaries for presenters such as Nigel Farage and Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg. Overall headcount jumped from 175 to 295 last year.

    Angelos Frangopoulos, the chief executive of GB News, has admitted that the channel is facing challenges to stem its growing losses, saying it needed to find “smarter routes to sustainability and profit”.

    GB News has been rocked by an advertising boycott since its launch in 2021, forcing it to explore ways to diversify its revenues away from ads.

    The broadcaster last year launched a paid membership scheme, while it has also expanded into the US and increased the number of live events it hosts with presenters.

    GB News declined to comment.”

    The scandal of an “advertising” ban happening here, under a “conservative” government.

    2. I read in Unherd last week (which too is suffering) about a quango called the Global Disinformation Index which acts as a gatekeeper deciding who does or does not get access to advertising. The usual nutters are in charge of the GDI.

    3. I cannot think of any means by which a “conservative” government could compel organisations not to refrain from advertising on GB News. Imagine a government which mandated that organisations must advertise on GB News in particular or across all news broadcasters in “equitable” proportions. I see nothing “conservative” about that.

    4. I should feel more sympathetic to GBM who have been disgracefully treated by “Hope not Hate” if they had not behaved just as disgracefully in not standing for their employees.

    1. The problem is the number of people having access to the welfare state and the NHS who have never contributed. Unlimited immigration and a welfare state (in which I include the NHS) are incompatible.

  19. A Letter and some BTL Comments:-

    SIR – The Government’s pledge to “end Britain’s sick-note culture” is a punch in the gut for the millions of disabled people in Britain like me.

    We’re not “shirkers” or “scroungers”. While employment isn’t appropriate for everyone, many disabled people do want to work, but the barriers we face can sometimes feel insurmountable.

    Research from our charity shows that half of job-seekers with complex disabilities don’t feel they have the right support and equipment they need to look for a job. There are no Jobcentres in the country offering specialist assistive technology, such as screen readers; how are people who rely on these vital pieces of equipment meant to thrive in paid employment if they can’t even look for jobs online?

    But one of the biggest barriers to finding work is negative attitudes towards disabled people, and the Government’s current rhetoric, compounded by the Prime Minister’s latest speech, is only pedalling this dangerous, damaging narrative further. The Government should be tackling this head on, instead of demonising sick and disabled people.

    Steven Morris
    Campaigns Officer, Sense
    London N1

    R.Spowart2 min ago
    Not only has Steven Morris, the Campaigns Officer for Sense won today’s MRD Award, he’s won the award for the conflation of two separate issues by objecting to the targeting of dole scroungers on the grounds it may effect the claims of the disabled.

    Anastasia’s Revenge
    Steven Morris – “But one of the biggest barriers to finding work is negative attitudes towards disabled people, and the Government’s current rhetoric, compounded by the Prime Minister’s latest speech, is only pedalling this dangerous, damaging narrative further.”

    Sorry Steven, I didn’t “hear” that – I heard the PM attempt to kick start something that would expose the fakes – and make no mistake, we ALL know of people who are playing the system and abusing “disability” status – to the detriment of those of us (I include myself here) who have had life-long disabilities. There would be more respect from the able-bodied towards the sick and disabled if they knew, for a certainty that there were only genuine cases, no freeloaders.

    As for specialist equipment and provisions, I have had to be realistic and allow the fact that the vast majority are able-bodied and in a cash strapped country (which we are) the needs of the many are often dealt with first. Tough, maybe, unfair, certainly – but life has never come with a “fair” guarantee.

    2. Yo and good moaning all.

      I must disagree with “no employment available for the disabled”:

      The House of Commons

      The House of Lords

      Senior Snivel Serpent hierarchy

      NHS management hierarchy

      are awash wih the mentally disabled

      1. Ironic that there WERE employment opportunities available through REMPLOY and similar schemes which have been severely cut back because of complaints that the disabled were being used as “cheap labour”.

        1. Remploy proved to be more expensive than simply paying the ’employees’ benefits. Like a scaled down rNHS, the cost of bureaucracy and administration running the scheme far outweighed the productive gains. Unlike the employees, I expect the bureaucrats simply moved to other parts of the blob.

          1. That it became too expensive was largely due to the bleeding heart activists who insisted that Remploy, by paying an hourly rate that took account of the extra cost of employing disabled people, was making use of cheap labour.
            The original idea was that the workers would still receive their benefits, but that these would be topped up to give them an extra income, as well as a sense of purpose at having a job to go to.
            My step-son may have been a victim of the idea that the workers had to have a full rate as the company he was employed by for a short period, assembling florescent strip lights, appears to have followed the Remploy principle.

          2. A sense of purpose was the bonus for the employees. I can see that the activists helped make it unviable financially, I had presumed a failure at the bureaucratic level.

            Much as the activists had a fit of the vapours when IDS suggested that some disabled would benefit from a sense of purpose if they could find work, even if it was a limited number of hours due to their abilities with pro rata level of pay.

            The minimum (or as it’s turned out, maximum) wage has effectively barred those who couldn’t manage a full working week, but could benefit from a sense of purpose and an extended social life. It wouldn’t be so different to those able bodied employees on 16 hrs per week contracts, who are ‘topped up’ by benefit payments.

    1. Well, tut tut.
      Fancy expecting staff to understand notes written in English. And Latin script.

    2. Comment I just put on Faceache:-

      So, “Our” NHS appears to be doing it’s best to redress the Pensions Imbalance whilst it still has money to throw about on it’s Diversity, Inclusion and Equity initiatives as well as Alphabet Soup Bullshite despite the Cass Report.

  21. Good Moaning.
    Michael Deacon in the DT.

    “Traditionally, the police have tried to protect the public by arresting criminals. In London, however, the Met is experimenting with a radical new approach.

    Arresting victims, instead.

    That, at least, is all I can conclude from watching an extraordinary piece of smartphone footage, filmed in London last Saturday. In the footage, a man wearing a kippah – a Jewish skullcap – is stopped by Met officers in the vicinity of pro-Palestinian marchers. He is then warned that, if he refuses to vacate the scene, he will be arrested – for “causing a breach of the peace”. How?

    By being “quite openly Jewish”.

    In the words of the officers, the “presence” of this “openly Jewish” man risks “antagonising a large group of people”. And the police “can’t deal with all of them if they attack you”.

    Let me see if I’ve understood this apparent line of thinking correctly. These pro-Palestinian marchers are such fanatical racists that, at the mere sight of someone Jewish, they may turn violent. Trying to arrest these violent racists, however, would be awfully difficult. So, to save themselves the trouble, the police would rather arrest the violent racists’ prospective victim.

    I’ve no doubt that this strategy is simpler and more convenient. For some reason, though, I’m struggling to imagine the police trying it with any other ethnic group. Say there were a march by thousands of white skinheads. Would the police threaten to arrest an innocent passerby for being “openly Muslim”, or “openly black”?

    In response to public outcry over the footage, the Met has now apologised for the use of the term “openly Jewish”. It still doesn’t seem to have grasped, however, that the biggest problem wasn’t the language. It was the suggestion that the blame for breaching the peace lies not with the mob, but with the mob’s target.”

    2. R4 slipped in a bit of extra information on this case. It seems that the fellow wearing the kippah was part of a counter demonstration alongside the Palestinian marchers, and that the policeman regarded the close proximity of demonstrators and counter-demonstrators to be risky.

      Where he was at fault was the lazy and glib presumption that all Jews are counter-demonstrators supportive of all that Netanyahu’s forces are doing, or that all those on the pro-Palestine march are Muslims and antisemites, rather than Christians, Jews sympathetic to the plight of Gazas and would prefer them assimilated into Israel or encouraged to co-exist peacefully, and those who have no interest in religious factionalism and just don’t like war.

      I doubt there were many hijabs worn by those attending the counter-demonstration or waving a flag of David, but surely there is no reason why they shouldn’t, if that is what they believe. Saudi Arabs, especially, might be happy to support those who can stick it to those troublesome Shia blasphemers in Iran.

      The police, rather than making false presumptions, should concentrate on keeping the two groups from provoking one another to riot.

      1. I presume he was telling the truth about crossing the road after leaving the Synagogue

        2. Wasn’t it the Samaritan who stopped and crossed the road to help the poor chap who had been beaten and robbed by a bunch of bad guys?

      2. I presume he was telling the truth about crossing the road after leaving the Synagogue

      3. I presume he was telling the truth about crossing the road after leaving the Synagogue

    3. The officer concerned must have regarded the outward appearance of the Jewish man as an act of provocation. He could have avoided the area or chosen not to wear distinctively Jewish garb. That he didn’t was considered to be an overt act of hostility, no different to a Glasgow Rangers supporter dressed in the club’s attire marching through a mob of Celtic fans and bellowing “You’re all Fenian c****”.

      1. Do you not sometimes find my comments on this site rather provocative? If not then I am not getting it entirely right!

  22. Right my friends I am off downtown to do some shopping. Catch you all later.

      1. And here too, a scorching 8°C. With little cold wind, unlike the freezing winds we’ve been having.

  23. 386277+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    The anthony charlie lynton chap AKA blair in court legal circles,
    was to lead the party to three consecutive general election victories we are suffering the fall out of his legacy.

    His legacy, many innocents left dead physically and mentally via war and university.

    Saturday 20 April: Rishi Sunak is right to challenge the British approach to sickness and work

    The tory lookalikes are a follow on to the lab party,ALL of the same destructive political ilk when it comes to governing, the only success they have is in creating major dangerous, killing, problems then rhetorically solve them via lip flapping

    This sunak has firsty put in place the reason for a great deal of sickness through stress & worries on a daily basis hence affecting the work issues.

    There have always beem wasters who have never worked since leaving the school gates behind and into old age, and had no intentions of working, ever.

    The liberal use of welfare for any domestic / worldwide foreign
    welfare seeker is a major magnet, but the sunak & co know this
    them being WEF / NWO agents first & foremost and, making sure the likes of the dover invasion beach-head is protected at ALL times.

  24. Matt Goodwin’s short speech at NatCon Brussels 2024.

    basically.. it’s ten times worse than you think, the political system & every institution is broken.. and you’ll need to speak to & mobilise 80% of the population not just the disaffected 20% of Tories.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DljHujU-eU

  25. Matt Goodwin’s short speech at NatCon Brussels 2024.

    basically.. it’s ten times worse than you think, the political system & every institution is broken.. and you’ll need to speak to & mobilise 80% of the population not just the disaffected 20% of Tories.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DljHujU-eU

  26. Matt Goodwin’s short speech at NatCon Brussels 2024.

    basically.. it’s ten times worse than you think, the political system & every institution is broken.. and you’ll need to speak to & mobilise 80% of the population not just the disaffected 20% of Tories.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DljHujU-eU

  27. Good morning, all. Blue sky overhead with cloud to the south and east. Dry and breezy.

    Following Andrew Bridgen’s speech in the HoC re “vaccine” injuries.

    How obtuse is it possible to be? Gwynne, by his words, doesn’t appear to believe in the evidence presented re the jabs and the resulting injuries but mentions the ‘next plandemic’. Where is his evidence that such an event is likely?

    A response to Gwynne’s speech that contains something Gwynne appears to be lacking.

    https://twitter.com/c_plushie/status/1781419472060039504

    2. Morning. It’s a sunny 3C here in Co. Durham.

      Andrew Bridgen’s speech was superb, well researched and nothing but the facts and the truth. Again, the Establishment is lying to us and still pushing these dangerous mRNA vaccines despite knowing of their potential lethality. Why? And what happened about Bridgen’s letter to the Met police accusing some in government of manslaughter? There seems to have been no response. If anything is a conspiracy, the imposition of these vaccines and the cover up of the damage they cause is one.

      1. Survived the original SARS in 2003, however always thought the variant H1N1 of 2010 was nastier. Now we have the Fauci inspired deformed cousin H5N1 mystery respiratory illness running wild in Argentina.
        Whatever happens steer well clear of any govt vaxx.

        1. Crumbs, really? I avoid the news so I’ve missed this. Do you happen to have a link? Googling (ha, yes; I know!) has come up with nothing out of the ordinary.

  28. Good morning, all. Blue sky overhead with cloud to the south and east. Dry and breezy.

    Following Andrew Bridgen’s speech in the HoC re “vaccine” injuries.

    How obtuse is it possible to be? Gwynne, by his words, doesn’t appear to believe in the evidence presented re the jabs and the resulting injuries but mentions the ‘next plandemic’. Where is his evidence that such an event is likely?

    A response to Gwynne’s speech that contains something Gwynne appears to be lacking.

    https://twitter.com/c_plushie/status/1781419472060039504

  30. Good morning again everyone .
    I think it’s getting warmer now but not warm enough to eat breakfast outside .
    What I love when in Italy is coffee and an almond croissant outside first thing in the morning whilst it’s quiet. I also am very naughty and enjoy glancing at those walking past and guessing what country they come from – I wear a large hat when doing this and peek out beneath the rim so it’s not so obvious I’m doing so 😁

    1. Talking of hats (she often mentions her garb), is Damask Rose all right?
      I’ve not seen her for several days.

      2. No I’ve not seen her for quite awhile, I hope she’s okay too. Maybe someone here has her email address or something .

    2. Re the latter – that’s what sunglasses are for! 😉

      Italy is all about watching other people and being watched in turn. Very theatrical people!

  31. the Press Awards on Thursday night, where we were both losers, my cartoonist colleague Matt (Pritchett) provided a perfect summary of the current consensus among Conservative voters. Telegraph readers, he observed, seemed to agree on two things: “That the Tories deserve to be booted out, and that Labour will be even worse”.

    Faced with the choice of half-baked Conservatism or air-fried socialism (perhaps served with a side order of haggis), it is little wonder that Right-leaning people are dry-retching just at the thought of the next general election – let alone which box to cross.

    On Wednesday, a survey of more than 5,400 voters conducted by former Tory treasurer Lord Ashcroft found that, although Conservative support is at rock-bottom, 45 per cent of voters still don’t want a Labour government. A substantial number of people agree that Labour will be worse for Britain than the Tories, but voters are still set to reject the Conservatives by a massive margin. Why?

    There are a number of explanations, including a general desire for change and the misapprehension that there is no risk attached to putting a net zero nut who cannot decide whether or not a woman has a penis into No 10. But arguably the most compelling reason is a sense of betrayal – the feeling behind the #zeroseats anti-Tory slogan that is gaining momentum on social media.

    Those who normally vote Conservative understandably feel let down that the party has said one thing and done another, and left Britain a much less conservative place than it was 14 years ago.

    Take the sick note culture that Rishi Sunak addressed at the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) think tank today. While it is encouraging that the Prime Minister is looking for ways to tackle worklessness, how did it come to pass that a Tory administration has presided over such a major shift away from personal responsibility in recent years, and a destruction in the old culture of work? The UK is now the only G7 nation where the share of working-age people outside the workforce is higher than pre-Covid.

    Such is the level of naivety inside Downing Street that the Prime Minister still expects to be thanked for furlough. No one wanted anyone to lose their jobs and businesses in lockdown, that’s true. But Sunak must take responsibility for the fact that his £70 billion scheme has not only left us with an economic hangover of epic proportions but also fostered a culture in which some people still expect to receive something for nothing.

    Lockdown, and the free taxpayers’ money that came with it – billions of which were abused by fraudsters – have resulted in more and more people thinking that the state will subsidise them. The welfare system, meanwhile, is failing to encourage people into work, even when it might be good for them.

    The number who are now economically inactive due to long-term sickness has increased by 717,000 since the pandemic. Each year millions of “fit notes” are issued, over 90 per cent of which find someone not fit for work. As a consequence, the cost of disability benefits is set to surge over the next five years.

    This is completely unaffordable – not just economically but socially. Andy Cook, CEO of the CSJ, has rightly pointed out that the focus must shift “on what people can do, rather than what they can’t.”

    Of course there are some desperately unfortunate people who are so incapacitated that they cannot work at all. But others will be able to work but lack the support to do so. Some also face difficulties in getting back into gainful employment by never-ending NHS delays for treatment.

    It is strange that the Government has allowed this situation not just to fester, but to prosper, since the last lockdown was lifted – especially given that Sunak has never been backwards in coming forwards when it comes to telling people how to live other aspects of their lives.

    Instead of fighting creeping state control, the Conservatives are actually making it worse, through measures like the new smoking ban. Still drunk on the draconian, anti-libertarian fumes of lockdown, the Tories, of all people, are now intent on telling people what to do with their lives – and their children, with a Scottish-style smacking ban and even a smartphone ban for under 16s also said to be in the offing.

    Meanwhile, little or no authority appears to be exerted over those who actively seek to undermine British values. People can see the country visibly changing around them, with next to nothing done to require new migrants to integrate into our culture.

    Protesters are allowed to call for intifada on the streets of London – and the nanny state is nowhere to be seen. Where were the Tories when a Batley school teacher was forced into hiding over a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammed? They were equally conspicuous by their absence when the Tavistock clinic was handing out puberty blockers like smarties to children. While the Conservatives have been asleep at the wheel on these issues, it has been left to others to fight the battles in our schools, in the NHS, and on social media.

    This week, Katharine Birbalsingh, “Britain’s strictest headmistress” and bete noir of the Left, won a significant victory in facing down a legal challenge to a prayer ban she has enforced at the secular Michaela Community School in Wembley, London.

    But why was she left to fight this court case alone? It was only after the judgment had been delivered that Education Secretary Gillian Keegan really roused herself, remarking: “I hope this judgment gives all school leaders the confidence to make the right decisions for their pupils.” It shouldn’t be the business of a court to rule on whether headteachers are the decision-makers in their schools – rather than pupils (or their parents). Why wasn’t the Government bolder in riding to Birbalsingh’s defence?

    Similarly, why was it left to Father Ted creator Graham Linehan, JK Rowling and a bunch of feminists – along with a smattering of academics, journalists and other whistleblowers – to fight for women and children’s rights in the face of trans extremism? How did we ever get to the point, under a Conservative Government, of teachers gender-affirming confused pupils behind their parents’ backs? We could expect this sort of virtue-signalling nonsense from Labour (and can look forward to more of it if the polls are correct), but this is a nightmare of the Tories’ own making.

    The benefits crackdown is a good start, but for Sunak to have a hope in hell of winning back voters, he’s got to stop babying the electorate with endless five-point plans and come up with a much more grown-up vision for this country. Voters deserve so much more than having to choose between bad or worse.

    Camilla Tominey nails it.

    1. Get Conservative voters back??
      Simple stop the boats TOMORROW start active deportation of the gimmegrants
      But it ain’t going to happen………..

      1. 386277+ up ticks,

        Morning Rik,

        Self protection is our right to survive, so tis my belief we sorely need an internal, mass peoples protection squad as protection against the WEF lab/lib/con riddled coalition overseers, and treacherous supporters.

        Truth being a current lab/lib/con membership / vote hastens death.

        1. Yes, the sensible people ought to take themselves off to an appropriate county and recuse themselves from participation in the goings on of the rest of the country. Sometimes I really do think that the equivalent of a passport to Pimlico is the best answer.

      2. Nut zero.
        Immigration (legal and illegal)
        DEI

        Brought to us by the Cons.

      3. Why should Sunak bother?

        He has already organised his future in the US and Hunt will take his wife’s nationality and go to China.

    2. What he and the rest of them have to do is stop re-educating themselves as Progressives. If the electorate wanted a form of updated Nick Clegg they would be flocking to Sunak’s camp, even now.

      Lab or Con as government is a bit like the nature / nurture debate. Neither really offers you a genuine free choice.

  32. Rishi Sunak is largely responsible for the current approach to sickness and work, with his lunatic profligacy in handing out millions for doing nowt during the fake pandemic, much of it going to fraudulent claimants. Much responsibility also lies with the Tories for their encouragement of the spongers, indigenous and, far too many, imported, who inhabit our preposterous ‘welfare’ system. With an election due soon, Sunak is now attempting to portray himself as a right wing conservative. He is taking us all for fools. Never trust the Tories.

        1. Yo Sir J,

          As time goes by and the left re-write our history ,the Windrush will have arrived in 1848 1748 1648 The occupants being the only people who saved us from serfdom

          2. Morning Olt

            Strange thing that the Windies or elsewhere on the Carib are crime ridden impoverished nests of iniquity .. at least that is what we are led to believe , and their mindset is that of the victim .. and the freedom that BLM has bestowed on them has proved what malignant criminal – dna infused trouble makers they all are .

      2. There were very many “blackfaces and much child labour” in our Industrial Revolution.

        But in those days they were called coalminers, chimney sweep etc

        1. Absolutely.
          And we had our own bare footed rag wearing children as slaves.
          Whoes offspring built our country and saved it from the invaders.

      3. I think you need to get out more dear. And please stop moaning your relatives didn’t have to board that ship.

        Last night Bill Bailey carried on with his trip to WA, the first thing he did was to have a pot of tea with an indigenous chap. On a beach on an open fire in a metal pot with some eucalyptus leaves in the brew.
        I don’t think they actually grew tea in Australia 30,000 years ago or had metal pots. But hey ho. “Shee’s ryght mayte”.

      4. Her last words:

        “Why is immigration such an issue today?”

        Answer: “Because we’re full up!”

        Oscar Wilde observed that each man kills the thing he loves saying that a coward kills it with a kiss and the brave man with a sword.

        Those who claim to love the Britain they loved are killing it with slothful apathy and refusal to defend herf against those who would destroy us.

      5. Complete bull. The Windrush generation were never invited by any British government. Attlee’s government of the day considered sending them all back. They came due to high unemployment in the West Indies.

    2. Thank you Tom . The 1922 committee placed the unelected Sunak as PM hoping to hide the fact that he was very much part of Boris Johnsons government and as chancellor he was very much to blame for the decisions made .

    3. That’s it in a nutshell. Just rolling out the tired old tropes for the plebs in the run up to an election and thinking that’ll buy you another five years taking the pee just won’t cut it this time, I’m afraid to say.

      All they’re doing is reinforcing what we all think, which is that they’re just a bunch of dishonest sharp suits who’ll stab you in the back just like they have consistently done ever since about 2010.

  34. ‘ The British Approach to Sickness and Work ‘ none of this helped by Sunak insisting on people working from home during the pandemic, many of which have remained working from home and didn’t return to the office after covid . We now have people who chose to work from home ( assuming their job is office based ). The rest is due to the modern culture of victimhood and these so called ‘ issues that can cause issues with mental health and stress. There is a lack of personal responsibility and the leftist wish to get something for nothing with the bloated benefits system .

    1. Anyone who pays the slightest attention to anything Sunak or the Lab / Lib / Con alliance says is wearing out their ears quite unnecessarily.

    2. Anyone who pays the slightest attention to anything Sunak or the Lab / Lib / Con alliance says is wearing out their ears quite unnecessarily.

  36. I like these DTL comments .

    Warren Sheehy
    6 MIN AGO
    There’s the rub. If the police had rightfully let him cross into the path of the Hamas marchers, he would possibly have been lynched, to a lesser degree, I hope. The blame would have gone on the Met, for letting him go about his business.
    No blame would be attributed to the Hamas cult marchers or their evil ideology. The marches need to stop. They are openly promoting terrorism on our streets. It’s digusting.

    Comment by Ed Hooper.

    EH

    Ed Hooper
    22 MIN AGO
    I quote:
    “In a statement, he said: “The use of the term ‘openly Jewish’ by one of our officers is hugely regrettable. It’s absolutely not the basis on which we make decisions. It was a poor choice of words and, while not intended, we know it will have caused offence to many. We apologise.”
    Well to normal people who can remember when we had an unbiased police force to upheld the law, it appears that it is absolutely the basis on which they make decisions.
    If folk of any persuasion object to any person lawfully going about their business on the streets of this country, then it is they that are not welcome here, not the Jews.

    I think ..

    The supporting Hamas terrorist marchers are similar to a pack of Hyenas , all out to intercept their prey

    1. How long before Islam is in complete control in the UK?

      I give it about 25 years by which time I shall be in my grave so my worries are for my descendants.

      1. I’ve already planned to tell our grandchildren to get out. Australia still looks like the best bet.

          1. Not according to my friends and relatives who have lived there for many decades.
            But I do think that the identity of the murdering stabber in Sydney was quickly covered up. And an invention was made. Now all shoved under the carpet.

      1. I doubt if the expression “openly Jewish” would occur to anyone on this site or 99% of the British population.
        Sarge (NW 377?) had swallowed the police training manual whole and spotted his route to promotion.

    1. Can you imagine the power bills for light and heating to grow tomatoes all year around in huge glasshouses?
      At least they taste of tomato unlike the imported Spanish and other rubbish.

      1. Yes agree, but when I was newly married and beginning to realise how to source food and remembering how parents / aunts uncles /gparents .. waited for the first lettuce, tomato, radish, new potato, spring lamb, fresh eggs, creamy milk .. and early strawberry .. home grown !

        Food was seasonal , and windowsill grown tomatoes were pure luxury , but buying tomatoes for over £12 a kg is madness

        1. Out of season I only buy the I0W ones as a treat as I refuse to buy imported produce as far as possible.

    4. If nobody bought them at that price they would ask for less unless they were prepared to let them rot

    5. £3 for 500gms doesn’t sound so bad. They are superior to all the imports after all. Alternatively you could grow your own. I have 5 varieties growing this year.

  38. One theory developed from Darwin’s theory of evolution is that every life event affects our DNA, by activating or suppressing redundant genes, or even mutating our DNA as part of adapting to changing conditions. This is part of the design of life, and was demonstrated by Darwin.

    These genes are then passed down the generations, with the adaptations consolidated for their benefit.

    If this theory is correct, the the mere existence of worklessness might well render someone unemployable as he or she adapts to changing circumstances, and that this adaptation may well be quite swift – three weeks before changes start to take effect.

    The reverse might also be true, in that a state of productivity produces its own adaptations and a spell in work actually makes us more employable in the same time span.

    What is missing is the three weeks of employing someone who is unemployable before the adaptations kick in, and things then steadily improve. Most employers do not have the patience, and would prefer to cherry-pick from the pool of existing workers rather than to train up the unemployed.

    Government has attempted to bridge this gap using various jobstart schemes, but these have so far proved to be too half-hearted and badly administered and ill thought out to be effective.

    1. I thought it was well known that it’s easier to get a job if you already have a job.

      1. Chicken and the egg.

        I was thinking of a 3-week intensive course for the unemployed, with the remit of getting students employable and confident in applying for jobs at the end of the course.

        Much has been said of mental illness and that this is a psychiatric issue, but I disagree. Anxiety and depression is a normal reaction to worklessness, and is part of adapting to changing circumstances. It is best deal with by a psychologist, trained in dealing with normal mental conditions rather than considering them pathological.

        It is important that this course be residential, in order to prevent relapses sitting at home, and ensuring that there is a regime of healthy living and healthy eating.

        Week One would be fun, and far more enjoyable than sitting at home moping. It should concentrate on game playing and social interaction. Both are vital skills in the workplace, but should not be made onerous at this stage.

        Week Two can continue the games, but introduce steadily the rigours and disciplines of work, with some challenges introduced.

        This is further developed in Week Three, whereby at the end, it is possible to put in a full day’s work without being overtired.

        There should then be a follow-up, whereby gains made on the course are consolidated, and at this stage serious applications for employment can be made. It is important that prospective employers have confidence in taking on those coming off the course and give them a fair chance of success at interview.

        Such courses will not be cheap and must not be done on the cheap. It is better to put in the investment, since the returns are obvious. If taxes must be raised to pay for it, then it is surely money better spent than on bling white elephants?

        1. You have some very good points there. The only disadvantage that I can see is that the dead hand of government being involved with at least one quango rising from the ashes and the cost spiralling out of control.
          It would have to ignore all the crap rules to be successful. Perhaps employ a professional training company that will not be bogged down with Diversity, Inclusivity and Equality (DIE a very apt acronym). There would have to be a selection process based on qualifications with penalties if they do not attend the whole course with loss of benefits for, at least, 12 months. I’m sure the training companies have relationships with companies who would participate on the basis that they would not have to pay recruitment costs. If the applicant doesn’t take up a job offered then they would lose benefits for a period.

          1. 12 months is a bit harsh; 3 is better. There may also be a good reason for non-attendance, so a certain amount of discretion should be applied, and there should be no quotas or targets for sanctions. The usual procedure should be to offer the next available course which the claimant can attend.

            I am not sure I trust any professional company in today’s ethical climate. Far too many cowboys about! Wouldn’t it be great though if we could restore some integrity into the Civil Service. Ticking DIE boxes does not ensure competence, honesty or value for money. Lack of imagination is the biggest problem though – people seem incapable of thinking things through.

            A lot of this has been tried before. There was ‘New Deal’ in the opening years of the Blair Government, for example. The problem with that though was that teaching people how to fill in CVs and attend interviews doesn’t do any good, nor make anyone more employable.

  39. King’s College London bars staff from promotion unless they support pro-trans diversity policy
    University may have breached equality law, barrister says, as gender-critical group calls for it to urgently review its hiring policies
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/04/19/kings-college-london-staff-promotion-trans-diversity-policy/

    “King’s College told staff they cannot be promoted unless they sign up to the whole of the university’s “equality, diversity and inclusion ambitions”.

    “The policy states that staff members should provide evidence of what they have done to promote inclusion, such as taking part in activity run by Stonewall, the charity that has recently come under fire for its support of puberty blockers.”

    “A King’s College London spokesman said: “We’re proud of the work we’ve done to build an inclusive atmosphere on campus in collaboration with our staff networks and EDI [equality, diversity and inclusion] experts.”

    BTL

    The whole point of inclusivity is to exclude those whose opinions you decide are unacceptable.

    I beginning to wonder if there is any point at all in ‘universities’ such as King’s College, London. The place’s inclusivity policies seem to be determined to exclude far more people than they will include!

    1. I predicted back in 1997 that the creation of what became Disclosure & Barring, aka “Safeguarding” would set precedents whereby prejudice, malice and hearsay would become legal procedures to exclude the “inappropriate” from society for all sorts of other reasons beyond paedophilia. Mission Creep, I think it is called.

      It has come to pass.

      2. As we said in 1967, when the Sexual Offences Act was passed which decriminalised private homosexual acts between men aged over 21:

        How long bore it becomes compulsory?

        Welcome to the 21st century.

      3. All those middle aged flower arranging ladies might be overcome with lust at the sight of a choir boy.

    2. I predicted back in 1997 that the creation of what became Disclosure & Barring, aka “Safeguarding” would set precedents whereby prejudice, malice and hearsay would become legal procedures to exclude the “inappropriate” from society for all sorts of other reasons beyond paedophilia. Mission Creep, I think it is called.

      It has come to pass.

    3. Am I correct in presuming that Kings College London is going to discriminate against normal people if these people do not agree with people who deny they’re the sex they were born with.
      And Kings College London professes to be a place of learning. Mmmmmmm……..

      1. I don’t think colleges are places of learning anymore .

        They are promoting extreme socialism , gender bending , mind bendingly ghastly anti society , untruths , and are mocking the brilliant brave legacy we have been handed down to us by our historical antecedents , and the lessons we all should have learnt .

        Colleges and some of their tutors are peddling lies and more lies.

          1. University used to be classed as higher education, suited to just the more academically able/gifted.
            To now refer to them just as places of further education is probably more accurate.

          4. Yes, bloated academia with its countless students; countless courses and countless lecturers, has made the whole thing unaccountable.

          5. Strictly speaking ‘Higher Education’.
            Presumably ‘higher’ than those in ‘Further Education’ actually learning something useful.

        2. Academic institutions are overloaded with intellectual lightweights and conformists now, I find. I don’t think I’ve heard one say anything remotely insightful for quite a few years.

    5. In the paper there was something along the lines of “the belief that there are two sexes”. Of course, we all know this is not a belief but a fact; but what can you do when these people are too stupid to think straight yet have been handed all this power by our not-at-all-Conservative government?

      1. Conservatives have outsourced all their power to quangos – and now they are shocked when said quangos turn on them.

    6. Many are pointless. They are really a burdensome extravagance to the country.

    7. This was how the promotion policy was reported by the Telegraph in November.

      Guidance from the human resources team at King’s College London on how to fill out the form, with a deadline of January [2024], says: “You should evidence how you create an inclusive environment where colleagues are valued and able to succeed; how you develop themselves and others; and how you communicate in a way that enables people to excel”.

      It says academics “should use part five of the promotion application form to detail specific activity undertaken to support the university’s equality, diversity and inclusion ambitions”.

      In a list of such examples, the guidance mentions “participating in equality, diversity & inclusion activity such as Athena SWAN, Race Equality and Stonewall LGBTQ groups”.

      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/11/20/stonewall-kings-college-london-lgbt-promotion-inclusion/

      I do not agree that a demonstration of one’s commitment to DEI should be mandatory for those seeking promotion, but it’s misleading to suggest that a particular commitment to “support pro-trans diversity policy” is part of the overall requirement. It’s just one of the options available to those seeking advancement.

      On a minor point, when did “evidence” become a verb?

  40. It wasn’t long ago when the Met were escorting the hate filled Hamas Suporters through London towards the israeli embassy. Who even then were carrying placards demanding the death by beheading of anyone who didn’t agree with their vile murdering intentions.
    And now look what they have done.
    Now they are seemingly ‘matey’ with the police that we pay all the salaries for as protection within our established laws.

    1. The Met is “matey” with The Rainbow, The Carnival and Hamas, now. All in a good cause, you understand. Perhaps just those worthies ought to pay the Met now?

  41. Morning all 🙂😊
    Cloudless but still a bit chilly.
    A planned walk in the woods this morning soon after Breakfast.
    I’m not quite sure what Richie is saying regarding the approach to sickness and work.
    I suppose he’s trying to suggest rubber boat invaders etc (with mental helff ishoos) deserve to be supported free of charge.
    But over the past decades the government’s have made it easy to skive and take hard working tax payer’s money in return for doing nothing. And there are so many in the uk now who have never carried out a day’s work in their lives. But just hold their hands out.
    And are currently better off than many other people who worked for decades, only to receive a pathetic pension that wouldn’t keep one of our political classes eating lunches for even 4 weeks.
    Let alone trying to make ends meet for twelve months !
    What ever it is he’s suggesting will never happen. They don’t have a clue do they ?

    1. He plans that GPs will no longer be allowed to issue sick notes. That job will be carried out by non-medical pen pushers, who will have no way of adequately assessing a patient’s condition other than a tick box form.
      Should such a system come into being, many people who genuinely need to be signed off sick for a short period will be deemed well enough to carry on working, but the scroungers will still get their sick notes.

        1. In deed, but that’s for ongoing/permanent benefit payment. It seems unnecessary for those who are temporarily ill and need to be signed off for longer than a week. How long-winded will the process be? How long will the employee have to wait to get the assessment carried out? At least a GP can see the person (whether f2f, video, or phone call) within a few days.
          Most employers want to see a sick note promptly as soon as the initial (5 working days? Not sure what it is these days) days off work are finished.

      2. “ That job will be carried out by non-medical pen pushers, who will have no way of adequately assessing a patient’s condition”.

        Sigh. Another effing quango or hundreds more bureaucrats. Why can’t HMG actually do something useful. All they want to do is set up another quango/committee/talking shop.

        Also apparently builders are now restrained in the size of windows in new properties. Because so many people have fallen out of them! Can you Adam and Eve it, .

        1. Restricting the size of windows – good grief. Apart from small children, anyone falling out of their windows is simply Darwinism in action, and would improve the gene pool.
          When we moved here, our children were young, and the youngest was quite ‘adventurous’, so we simply had a gadget fixed to each window to prevent them opening too far. Those things are still on the upstairs windows, and stop strong winds forcing windows wide open. Whatever happened to common sense and parental responsibility?
          A bit like the warnings on packs of peanuts – ‘may contain nuts.’

        1. Talk to the parents of the murdered 10-year-old schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.

          A system that by its very nature that excludes can be abused. A case of who watches the watchers. But that within itself is not an argument for no system.

          A DBS check is not “Safeguarding”, it is part of a wider policy designed to protect the vulnerable.

          1. That is utter nonsense. DBS is a form of blacklisting and protects nobody. The real villains can work round the system, whereas the children suffer a denial of benign engagement with adult society beyond the smartphone. No wonder they have mental problems once they grow up.

            The issue with Ian Huntley was that the school that made the appointment did not bother to chase up references. If they had, they would have known he had a dodgy history. It was lack of due diligence, but which led to a draconian sanction and a blanket air of suspicion heaped on everybody.

  43. Queen Charlotte was ‘person of colour’, museum claims in LGBT guide
    Royal Museums Greenwich tells visitors that despite what ‘insecure white boys’ have said, George III’s wife was from a non-white background

    Craig Simpson
    19 April 2024 • 4:03pm

    Queen Charlotte was a “person of colour”, a museum’s LGBT audio guide has wrongly claimed.

    The audio guide for the Royal Museums Greenwich tells visitors that despite what “insecure white boys” have said, George III’s wife was the first British royal from a non-white background.

    Queen Charlotte’s purported ethnicity has been sidelined because of “structural racism”, according to the guide, which states that she was a “person of colour”.

    While Queen Charlotte was depicted as mixed-race in the Netflix series Bridgerton, there is consensus among historians that she was white.

    Inaccurate claims about her race are made in an LGBT-themed history trail of the Queen’s House in Greenwich, one of four sites under the control of the taxpayer-supported group Royal Museums Greenwich.

    The history trail with its own online audio guide was created for Royal Museums Greenwich by Christian Adore, a self-declared “homosexual historian” seeking to share “deliciously gay stories” from the past.

    Royal Museums Greenwich has made efforts to reach a broader and more diverse audience in recent years, and new displays at its largest site, the Nation Maritime Museum, have reflected this strategy.

    In one interactive display, a bust of Lord Nelson is berated by a “migrant goddess” figure, who tells heroic British admirals to “move over” to make room for “unsung heroes of the sea”.

    The audiovisual display states that the “bravery and resilience” of Nelson, who was killed during the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, is also shared by others, including migrants who make sea crossings.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/04/19/queen-charlotte-person-colour-museum-wrongly-claims/

    Up Pompeii
    JUST NOW
    This obsession with race and sex is sickening.

    Comment by Martin Peddie.

    MP

    Martin Peddie
    1 MIN AGO
    Unfortunately, this continued indoctrination is working, kids now actually believe this stuff, all the period dramas depicting black people in everyday Tudor or Victorian life reinforces the lie,

    Comment by Mariette Hubert.

    MH

    Mariette Hubert
    2 MIN AGO
    ‘insecure white boys’… How pathetic.
    They just keep showing over and over how stupid they are.

    Comment by Martin Newman.

    MN

    Martin Newman
    2 MIN AGO
    Yeah, we all know Mohammad Ali was white…….right?! Absolute fools, attempting to change history to match their narrative.

    Comment by David Ridley.

    DR

    David Ridley
    2 MIN AGO
    Like a lot of these Woke organisations, they just keep digging and digging a bigger hole for themselves….at the bottom they’ll find fewer and fewer customers and a vastly diminished revenue stream….brilliant business models….Lord Sugar would bi the lot

    Comment by Charles Hinton.

    CH

    Charles Hinton
    3 MIN AGO
    Hmmm
    Hmmm.
    How many Americans are descended from white fathers and African mistresses.
    Or white mothers and their Mandigos
    https://www.vogue.com/article/was-queen-charlotte-great-britains-first-multiracial-royal

    1. The debutante season used to start with Queen Charlotte’s Ball. It was known as the Harlot’s Hop!

    2. She had an ancestor who might possibly have been from North Africa who was “Moorish” or was a Spanish Mozarab- who were white Christians under Moorish rule in Spain- who had married King Alfonso III of Portugal and was called Madragana. This was about 15 generations back which would mean probably much less than 0.1% of her DNA- a negligible amount. Indeed, as Europeans are reckoned to be 1 to 3% Neanderthal in ancestry it would be far more credible to say she was a Neanderthal. Seven generations get you down to 0.75% of your DNA so you can see how minimal it would be.

  44. * coughs * As most here know, my name is Kitty ( yes I’ve heard the ” hello kitty ‘ and ” here kitty ” . Just so you know I’ve blocked JD just for the weekend for saying ‘ cats are treacherous and disloyal ‘ that’s not true – cats know who they can trust .
    Peta, AA, Richard and all the other cat avatars here might I suggest you make sure he doesn’t come near you with a sack and some rocks . He can’t see this so Im not to be thrown into a river 😬

      1. Well if you attempt to drown them after placing them in a sack, they might disown you.

    3. “cats know who they can trust control”

      Fixed that for you Kitty 😄

      You do realise that bond villain with the white cat, Blofeld, was actually running the show? Blofeld himself was just the mouthpiece and the cat was running the organisation.

      Coincidentally our cat as I write this is marching proudly across the garden with a rat in its mouth. It looks at me as if to say, ‘why do I have to do this myself?’

      1. It’s amusing because if one logs out of Disqus one can read all the comments of the people who’ve blocked you, but the war between dog lovers and cat fanciers is pitiless and eternal. :)!

        1. It is indeed. My other half doesn’t dislike dogs, but having a very sensitive nose she can smell them a mile off if they’re not absolutely clean. We don’t have dogs around although I was brought up with them. That said, I’m committed to looking after them properly if I do have them, so never having the time to do it properly I’ve refrained from ever keeping one since my teen years.

          We do both like cats though and in fact I’d say the other half is definitely a cat person on balance.

          You’ll just have to do your time in the doghouse JD!

        2. I’m neutral in this war, as I loathe cats and dogs equally.

          [Ducks behind sofa to avoid being shot at from both sides.]

          1. While there are many many unsuitable dog owners they are as a rule less misanthropic and more generous of spirit than cat owners. 🙂

        3. I’m neutral in this war, as I loathe cats and dogs equally.

          [Ducks behind sofa to avoid being shot at from both sides.]

        4. John Seymour once wrote in his book how much he likes goats. He liked them best in curry.

        5. Is that what “content unavailable” is about? Because I seem to have been blocked by someone starting well over a year ago and I have no idea why.

          2. As has been mentioned you can see who it is if you log out. I don’t block people over having a different point of view i block people who are terminally boring. Only one at the moment and that’s Polly.

          4. Hi Pip! I don’t block people either on the principle of free speech and that anyone is entitled to say what they think regardless of my opinion or how much I like or dislike someone.

        6. There was no war between dog and cat lovers on here until recently. I wonder what has changed… :@)

        7. Is that why the Spectator wrecked their comment system? (Forgive the simple question but I am slow on the uptake.)

      2. You cat should read ‘ Old Possums Book of Practical Cats by TS Eliot 🙂
        Ernest Hemingway said ‘ when a man loves a cat, he’s my comrade without further introduction. I actually love both cats and dogs – especially labradors but have neither as pets atm . I hope your cat doesn’t bring the rat into the house as a present for you.

        1. Read it. Who hasn’t?

          Over the question of bringing rodents in, well me and Bobby have had a discussion over that. She is prolific when it comes to rodent destruction and in the early days when she arrived she did try it on a couple of times. Nowadays they get as far as the grass outside but no further. Fortunately we don’t possess a cat flap. If she ever forgets I just wag a finger and she retreats back a few feet from the door.

          Cats act all innocent but you give ’em an inch and they’re all over you.

          2. Typical! There’s always one, isn’t there. Tonight’s homework then, Mr Wainwright.

        2. Before being replaced by a serial, BBC Radio 4’s Book Of The Week had Old Possum as it’s featured read and I was surprised that none of the bookshops in Southampton had picked up on it!

    4. One of the couples in our apartment block has a cat that is in complete control.
      Every evening the cat decides that it wants to go sit in the foyer for an hour or so. Failure to meet the cats demand results in a wailing and crying of epic proportions.

      The white cat was tomcat, a real wimp.

  45. Here’s a very interesting 30 minute analysis of “temperature proxies” to deduce temperatures- be they current or historic and the fact that there is so much in the way of dubious selection used to cherry pick the proxies that will guarantee warming- not least the infamous Michael Mann “hockey stick”. The reality is nobody knows what the world’s temperature was even in the recent past and the same is true today- all the “shock horror2 stories are just made up and amplified by the MSM and politicians with an interest in creating a warming scare. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZWWMneHuCE

  46. Good morning all,

    Lovely morning at McPhee Towers is a bit chilly, Wind in the North, 5℃ with the prospect of 10℃ later. Skies chem-trail-free.

    Our glorious leader wants to keep the nut-jobs amongst normal folks at work. What can possibly go wrong?

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a73cfc29a99977bf0e84f6cdd18e81a34225efd46e758b995c3d77838ac17edc.png

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/04/19/rishi-sunak-everyday-problems-no-excuse-not-to-find-work/

    Through Climate, Covid and Wars,The UN, the WEF and the WHO, helping the Rockefellers, Rothschilds and their ilk to become even richer and to cull and subjugate you all.

    Sorry, 77th, good morning to you too.

      1. Morning Johnny, ‘Stop child allowance after 2 children‘, that’s better – if you can’t afford them don’t have them

  48. My husband went to Cornwall on Thursday night to visit his folks and had to take the dog because I work. He (husband) called earlier to say he (the dog) is in a very bad way, has soiled himself and his back legs have gone. I presume this is the end; but I want him home; but that’s a six hour drive.

      1. Thanks. I think it’s the end for the poor chap. Funny. I have been expecting it for a year or so now. But the thought of him not following me round, tripping me up in the kitchen, snuggling next to me when I am reading my book, being there to greet me when I get home (and getting all entangled in my push bike as I bring it through the house). We know we take this stuff for granted every day and that the inevitable will happen, but it doesn’t make it easier when it happens. Anyway. I’m not the first on here and apologies if it brings back memories for others.

        2. I’m sorry to hear about your poor dog. Although I have never owned a dog, I fully understand how these lovable animals really are part of the family.

        4. Poor you ,so sorry for your husband and I feel very tearful for your precious furpal .

          Lend Me A Pup
          By Unknown Author

          I will lend to you for awhile a puppy, God said,
          For you to love him while he lives
          and to mourn for him when he is gone.
          Maybe for 12 or 14 years, or maybe for 2 or 3
          But will you, till I call him back
          take care of him for me?

          He’ll bring his charms to gladden you and
          (should his stay be brief)
          you’ll always have his memories
          as solace for your grief.
          I cannot promise that he will stay
          since all from Earth return,
          But there are lessons taught below
          I want this pup to learn.

          I’ve looked the whole world over
          in search of teachers true,
          And from the fold that crowd life’s land
          I have chosen you.
          Now will you give him all your love
          Nor think the labor vain,
          nor hate me when I come to take
          my pup back again?

          I fancied that I heard them say,
          “Dear Lord, They Will Be Done,”
          For all the joys this pup will bring
          the risk of grief you’ll run.
          Will you shelter him with tenderness,
          Will you love him while you may?
          And for the happiness you’ll know
          forever grateful stay?

          But should I call him back
          much sooner than you’ve planned,
          please brave the bitter grief that comes
          and try to understand.
          If, by your love, you’ve managed
          my wishes to achieve,
          In memory of him that you’ve loved,
          cherish every moment with your faithful bundle,
          and know he loved you too.

          1. Oooph – never seen that before.

            Up there with Kipling’s ‘The Power of the Dog’.

          2. I find that really upsetting; it’s brought back everything I felt about Oscar – I had him too short a time and he didn’t get enough time to appreciate the love he deserved.

        5. It is the little day to day actions and noises that hit you.
          I am so sorry; however much you prepare yourself for the inevitable, it still hits you amidships.

        6. It’s exactly three years today I had to have my 17.5 year old dog put to sleep. What a sad anniversary.

    2. Oh, man. Poor old dog. I remember as a child delivering Patch to the vet on tha last one-way journey.
      My condolences.

    5. So sorry, Mir. What an awful situation for all of you. I hope he makes it home to you. Sending my thoughts and wishes to you.

    7. Sorry to hear that. It’s awful when they go off their legs – bad enough when they are at home with you, but far worse when they are away.

  49. My husband went to Cornwall on Thursday night to visit his folks and had to take the dog because I work. He (husband) called earlier to say he (the dog) is in a very bad way, has soiled himself and his back legs have gone. I presume this is the end; but I want him home; but that’s a six hour drive.

    2. Good morning Belle,
      He’s not even trying to hide his appendages.
      Until these men are completely banned from all women’s sports, women need to take a stand and refuse to compete against these delusional, cheating men.

    3. That ‘appendage’ has been photoshopped in – it’s not even the same colour

      1. Click on the photo Eddy and then you will see the full Monty on twitter. But I would suggest that if you have just had breakfast wait a while. 😁

        1. It’s not real. Why they bothered to photoshop i don’t know. There are plenty of authentic fake women in sport. :@)

        1. Yeah I see what you mean. That’s pretty stupid of the official’s to allow that to happen. Mind you in these present times most of our p official’s are pretty stupid.
          Surely the evidence is obvious.

    8. A pole and a short rod

      Rod, pole or perch.

      The rod, sometimes also called a perch or pole, is a surveyor’s tool measuring exactly 5 ½ yards (16.5 feet), which just happens to be ¼ the length of a surveyor’s chain. The rod is useful as a unit of length because whole number multiples of it can form one acre of square measure.

        1. There are 22 yards in a chain
          10 chains in a furlong,
          and
          80 chains in one statute mile.

          2. The ‘outdoor’ one I hope.

            I was nearly 17 years old before I discovered you could get toilets inside your house

          5. A railway enthusiast’s Portaloo would have a bright orange pedestal, a royal blue seat and lid, and a lime green cistern.

  52. Morning, all Y’all.
    Late up today – long, tiring day yesterday, followed by a big dinner & lots of wine led to a slow start this morning.
    Saw a picture from Gloucestershire of a hedgehod with “football syndrome” – huge amounts of gas under the skin leading to it inflating to the size of a football. Poor little bugger. Was fed some kind of antibiotic and deflated by the use of a hypodermic. Poor bugger, but it survived.

    1. Did Mrs Crusoe, Robinson’s wife, crave a raft of them when he returned to civilisation?

  54. How Britain’s stolen Range Rovers and Rolls-Royces ended up on the streets of Moscow. 19 April 2024.

    Other discoveries include: Bentley, Audi and Toyota cars worth £250,000 sandwiched into a container together; a £300,000 Rolls-Royce Dawn, nestled among the remains of 13 other chopped up cars; and high-end Lexus Saloons stacked like cards on top of one another.
    Last year, Essex Police’s stolen vehicle intelligence unit intercepted more than 60 containers like this before they were exported, carrying 240 cars worth around £13m.

    They are almost always disguised under false papers and usually headed for destinations in the Middle East, Africa or Asia, fuelling a lucrative trade in luxury cars and parts that organised criminals are only too pleased to facilitate.

    TOP COMMENT BELOW THE LINE.

    Anne Bence.

    Where I used to live in Aylesbury, our little village with lots if high value vehicles, Range Rovers etc. were constantly being stolen. There was an attempted violent theft of a fairly new campervan, other motor homes also taken in the area, it has been rife for years. We have cctv on the front of our house and witnessed the thieves driving about in our street in the days and hours before the thefts. We witnessed the guys trying to steal our neighbours Land Rover and actually scared them off as were up in the early hours. If I can sit in my house and watch these criminals on a weekly, monthly basis then the Police can set up a surveillance vehicle in the streets in that part of Aylesbury and catch those thieves if they wanted! We’re all paying through the nose for insurance, cctv systems, paying our taxes, working hard and it’s too easy for us, we’ve become rich pickings and no one cares!!

    The mention of Moscow in the title is the obligatory propaganda side swipe. Like Ms Bence I don’t think that anyone seriously believes that these people couldn’t be caught. It is simply that there is no wish to. It would require activity and the filling in of forms, cases in court and heaven forbid people possibly going to gaol. It is much simpler to sit back and issue speeding fines.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/04/20/uk-criminal-gangs-putin-cronies-british-luxury-cars/

    1. The article says they’re not just bound for Russia but also Africa and the Middle East. There are only 4 police officers looking at intercepting exports of stolen goods.

      2. In a couple of weeks I have a choice of numpty to vote for – Conservative, Labour, Lib Dem, Green or English Democrat. All party-chosen. It seems that those more interested in tackling crime, or with the wherewithalls to do so, do not get to the ballot paper.

        Still the Council Tax goes up. National Government and its taxpayer has washed its hands of the police.

          1. Tempting – the candidate has pledged to remove woke indoctrination from the police.

    2. They can definitely be caught. The fact they’re so brazen about it is because they know better than anyone that the police ain’t coming over the horizon anytime soon.

      1. The local police may well have promised NOT to come over the horizon (in return for a suitable fee …. similar to arrangements with local Turkish Barbers).

    3. They can definitely be caught. The fact they’re so brazen about it is because they know better than anyone that the police ain’t coming over the horizon anytime soon.

    4. They can definitely be caught. The fact they’re so brazen about it is because they know better than anyone that the police ain’t coming over the horizon anytime soon.

    5. I see that the report includes ‘chopped up cars’: is the sale of genuine spare parts more lucrative than selling the complete vehicle?

    6. 30 years ago my brother in law’s year old, very posh and expensive BMW ended up in a container bound for Nigeria. Just after its first service it was stolen from his locked garage.
      Someone knew where it was !
      But they cut the top off it in order to double deck the load.
      A Right off.
      We supposed the top was ‘glued’ back on and it was recycled.

    7. What apart from policing thought crimes, do the police actually want to do?

    8. I read the other day that the Fiesta is the most stolen car. (I love mine). Ford have made the problem worse by discontinuing the manufacture so now they are also being stolen for spares.

    9. The steering wheel would be on the wrong side.
      Would any self-respecting oligarch put up with such hassle?

  55. Bloody hell!
    It’s a bit chilly out there!
    Trying to do a bit of work on the van regards fitting a folding bunk and despite wearing insulated work gloves, after half an hour I’ve had to come in to warm my fingers up!

      1. Of course.
        Just removed the driver’s side ply lining and am in for another mug of tea whilst I consider my next step.

        1. After all of that tea a pee break might be the best next move.

          Do you ever just sit down and relax?

          1. Yes, I do.
            As I am now for a short while whilst I contemplate what to do for my main meal.
            And, whilst I’m contemplating, I may as well do myself a mug of tea!

  56. I see they are showing a film entitled ‘Swallows and Amazons on the telly this evening.

    I notice that Laetitia – who was known as Titty – is now called Tatty. This must be a correction because Arthur Ransome must have meant to name the younger Walker sister, Tatiana, as he had travelled extensively in Eastern Europe and Russia where this was a common girl’s name.

    1. A charitable interpretation. In yet another version she has been renamed Kitty.

  57. Just passed a field with five beautiful cranes in it. Looks like they stopped to refuel on their way North.
    Lovely!

    2. They’re starting to get more common in East Anglia too, because of the Welney reintroduction scheme.

        1. A good programme that worked very well, it seems. As they said at the beginning, the European Crane used to be indigenous to Britain. Looks like it’s back.

        1. We used to do the track inspection runs to Felixstowe several times a year, but ALWAYS at bloody night!
          Even then, instead of getting us in and out as quickly as possible, it was a case of “wait there until these half dozen container trains have gone” and eventually getting the road 2h later.

  58. A slight deviation from the planned walk in the Hertwood forest. Our grandson is playing football, in an away game, at our local sports ground.
    Walk later.

  59. The article in the Telegraph about the Jewish man threatened with arrest for wanting to cross the road while being ‘openly Jewish’ currently has well over 12,000 BTL comments; the great majority of those I have read are full of indignation and scorn. The best one I saw was simply a quotation of these lyrics:

    The BOLD GENDARMES

    “We’re public guardians, bold but wary,

    And of ourselves, we take good care,

    To risk our precious lives, we’re chary,

    When danger looms, we’re never there

    But when we meet some helpless woman,

    Or little boys that do no harm

    Chorus

    We run them in, We run them in,

    We run them in, We run them in,

    We show them, we’re the bold gendarmes”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/04/19/police-threaten-jewish-man-arrest-palestine-protest-london/

      2. Geneviève de Brabant. An opéra bouffe, or operetta, by Jacques Offenbach, first performed in Paris in 1859.

      4. I didn’t know (though I’ve heard it sung), but thanks to BoB below we both now know.

    2. Several of those comments are mine. My p*ss is well and truly boiling over that incident. It seems I am not alone.

      1. I can’t read it, can’t break the paywall, but from the comments, my piss is coming up to boiling point rapidly. What the actual fuck?

        Oh, yes I can! Yaay! Hammer at the esc key for a while, and then the paywall dies of boredom unless refreshed.

        1. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/04/20/police-row-with-openly-jewish-campaigner-deepens/
          The row between the Metropolitan Police and the anti-Semitism campaigner whom an officer called “openly Jewish” has deepened after the force said his plan to “go for a walk as a private individual” next week was a “protest…

          Gideon Falter was threatened with being arrested if he carried on walking near a pro-Palestinian protest last Saturday.

          Mr Falter, the chief executive of the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA), had left a synagogue wearing a skullcap and was described as “openly Jewish” by a Met sergeant who tried to stop him.

          The officer warned him he would be arrested if he persisted in trying to walk across the road at Aldwych, in central London, as a pro-Palestinian march was passing by – telling him he was concerned about the marchers’ reaction to his presence.

          Counter-protesters demonstrate against pro-Palestinian activists
          Counter-protesters demonstrate against pro-Palestinian activists CREDIT: Dinendra Haria/LNP
          Mr Falter has now declared his intention to walk through central London again next Saturday in an assertion of his rights to walk unhindered through any public space.

          But the Met is treating his planned walk as a demonstration and asked Mr Falter to meet officers to discuss policing arrangements for the event.

          A chief superintendent from the Met Police’s public order planning unit wrote to him, stating: “I note your intention to protest on Saturday and would welcome a meeting as soon as possible to discuss arrangements to make sure we can police the event as safely as possible.”

          Mr Falter replied by email: “I am not planning a protest on 27th April. I am going for a walk as a private individual. I have not yet decided where I will walk; however, it is likely that whilst walking I will be quite openly Jewish.”

          The date of Mr Falter’s planned walk coincides with a national march against the sale of arms to Israel, called by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and other groups as part of the protests over Israel’s actions in Gaza.

          Mr Falter has not revealed whether he intends to walk near the route of the pro-Palestinian march.

          He said in his email to the Met: “Others might decide to join me. They might not. That is a matter for them. They might also be quite openly Jewish. They might not. That is also a matter for them.”

          Mr Falter has accused Scotland Yard of failing to address how it intends to protect Jewish people going about their ordinary business on days that pro-Palestinian protests are staged in London.

          ‘Met not doing their job’
          The CAA said: “The Met has yet to say what it will actually do to protect Jews.

          “They are concerned with how they look and whether we might be “quite openly Jewish” again on the streets. They are not concerned with doing their jobs, enforcing the law and protecting law-abiding Londoners.”

          The CAA went on to release further footage of the confrontation with the sergeant last Saturday, in which the officer appears to concede that Mr Falter cannot walk freely in the area because of his faith.

          As Mr Falter continues to try to cross the road where the march is taking place, the officers tell him: “I’m sure there are an awful lot of people of all sorts of faiths and creeds who want to go where they want. But unfortunately today is different, isn’t it?”

          Mr Falter replies: “So basically because I’m Jewish, I can’t cross the road today?”

          The officer responds: “Because of the march,” prompting Mr Falter to say: “Yes, because of Jewish”.

          At this point the officer states: “That is part of, unfortunately, part of the factor.”

          ‘I’m not looking for conflict’
          Mr Falter later added in a video: “I’m not going to be part of a protest on 27th April. I will not be part of a counter-protest. I’m going to go for a walk as a private individual. As a Londoner. As a Jew.

          “I will not be wearing stickers. I will not be holding a placard. I will not be wearing a flag. I will not be chanting slogans. I will just be a Jew walking in London. I don’t want anybody to think I’m going to be going for a walk looking for conflict. I’m not. But I do have a right to walk wherever I want in this city, as a Jew, as a Londoner.

          “If the Metropolitan Police Service truly believe that it is safe for everybody to walk around London during these [Palestinian] protests they need to make sure it is actually safe. They need to make sure that Jews can walk the streets of London without fear of arrest.”

          The Metropolitan Police have been contacted for comment.

  60. Another harrowing one this morning so please don’t read this if it might upset you.

    S.S. Empire Endurance.

    Complement:
    94 (66 dead and 28 survivors).
    General cargo, military stores and two motor launches as deck cargo

    Completed in February 1928 as German Alster for Norddeutscher Lloyd, Bremen. On 18th March 1940 taken over by Kriegsmarine and used as troop transport in operation Weserübung, the invasion of Norway. On 10th April 1940, the Alster was captured by HMS Icarus (D 03) (Cdr C.D. Maud, DSC, RN) in the Vestfjord, north of Bodö and was escorted to Britain by HMS Ullswater (FY 252) (SubLt D.R. Stavert, RN). The vessel was renamed Empire Endurance by the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT).

    At 03.32 hours on 20th April 1941 the unescorted Empire Endurance (Master William Willis Torkington) was hit amidships by one G7e torpedo from U-73 (Helmut Rosenbaum) southwest of Rockall. The ship had been missed with one G7a stern torpedo 7 minutes earlier. She broke in two and sank after being hit underneath the bridge by a coup de grâce at 03.57 hours. The motor launches HMS ML-1003 and HMS ML-1037 were lost with the ship. 39 crew members, two gunners and one passenger were lost. 18 crew members, two gunners and four passengers were picked up on 21st April by HMCS Trillium (K 172) (LtCdr R.F. Harris, RCNR) and landed at Greenock on 26th April. The corvette had searched in vain for the lifeboat in charge of the master with 28 occupants. On 9th May this boat was found by the British motor passenger ship Highland Brigade. However, the most survivors including the master had died of exposure and only seven crew members were still alive. Two of them died shortly after being picked up and another died in a hospital at Liverpool where the men were landed on 11th May.

    Type VIIB U-Boat U-73 was sunk on 16th December 1943 in the Mediterranean north of Oran by depth charges and gunfire from the US destroyers USS Woolsey and USS Trippe. 16 dead and 34 survivors.

    https://uboat.net/media/allies/merchants/br/empire_endurance-ex-alster.jpg

    1. The SS Empire Endurance has a space in what’s left of my memory, but I can’t remember why. Might have been on the convoy PQ17, or something similar I read about when younger.

  63. Michael Crick is someone whom I come across on GB News. I find him self-satisfied, smug and condescending. I also come across Martin Bell on the same channel from time to time – he too detests Free Speech and is piously and intransigently convinced of his own sanctity and human worth.

    Both have first class Oxbridge degrees!

    Do my fellow Nottlers think my views are just unprovoked and unjustified ad-hominem attacks or do my opinions of these two carry some weight?

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0a75475ee8bf0ed777a35f22e80000542d52d7c15ffb1574bd3b96ff69774e31.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5ed89dd9ec88ee10e1788c28905f828fe35732be9cd2c784b55781d94ec8adf3.png

    2. Afternoon Richard. Crick used to pursue Farage when he first emerged on the Public Scene. Usually seeking some scurrilous rumour.

    4. Similar observations here sir. Crick is a ringpiece. Martin Bell is an elitist authoritarian apologist. Both are belligerently smug and self satisfied in their opinions.

      I’ll give you a flipside ex-BBC journo as to how it should be done, Mr Robin Aitkin. A real gent that chap. He will fairly air different views and then will politely but staunchly refute and put holes in opposing claims.

    5. I think Crick is used as the grit in the oyster and to prove to OfCom that GBNews is not ‘far right’.
      We all know that OfCom and its fellow travellers are itching to close down the station.

  66. Just recieved a letter from the Prime Minister. It came by traditional post, so I can’t put it up, and you will probably be getting one yourselves. It is full of the most awful bumf. I dread to think of the cost and wonder who is paying for it. The timing makes me curious as to the date of the General Election. Is it sooner than we think?

  67. Hello folks. It is such a beautiful day here in Wiltshire. The sun is shining brightly and there is just a gentle breeze. Perfect for me – and Fidget.

    1. We started well; now back to usual grey and cold.
      A perfect analogy for the State we’re in.

    2. Greetings m’Dear! Hope things are well with you!
      Nice up here in Derbyshire, provided you’re in the sun.
      Go into the shade and it gets a bit chilly!

    1. A response to that open letter: You are free to leave. Criticisms of a religion are not phobic, it’s part of a functioning tolerant society. Don’t hassle British Jews.

    2. A response to that open letter: You are free to leave. Criticisms of a religion are not phobic, it’s part of a functioning tolerant society. Don’t hassle British Jews.

    3. A response to that open letter: You are free to leave. Criticisms of a religion are not phobic, it’s part of a functioning tolerant society. Don’t hassle British Jews.

    4. We will engage with the Muslim community when the Muslim community is prepared to engage/Integrate into British Society.

      2. HMG doesn’t have to ‘engage’ with the M community – the Muslims just do as they wish and nobody bats an eyelid.

    5. I should like to marginalise the muslim “community” completely – beyond the bounds of this Christian country.

  69. An old man placed an order for one hamburger , French fries and a drink.
    He unwrapped the plain hamburger and carefully cut it in half , placing one half in front of his wife.
    He then carefully counted out the French fries , dividing them into two piles and neatly placed one pile in front of his wife.
    He took a sip of the drink , his wife took a sip and then set the cup down between them. As he began to eat his few bites of hamburger , the people around them were looking over and whispering.
    Obviously they were thinking , ‘That poor old couple – all they can afford is one meal for the two of them.’
    As the man began to eat his fries a young man came to the table and politely offered to buy another meal for the old couple. The old man said , they were just fine – they were used to sharing everything..
    People closer to the table noticed the little old lady hadn’t eaten a bite. She sat there watching her husband eat and occasionally taking turns sipping the drink.
    Again , the young man came over and begged them to let him buy another meal for them. This time the old woman said ‘No , thank you , we are used to sharing everything.’
    Finally , as the old man finished and was wiping his face neatly with the napkin , the young man again came over to the little old lady who had yet to eat a single bite of food and asked ‘What is it you are waiting for?’
    She answered
    ‘THE TEETH’.

    3. Lovely!
      Couple of years ago, we had piglets at the smallholding. Lovely time.

  72. Life in Costa del Skeg, 2024

    Just checked the Mailbox and found an adverting leaflet for

    Free Tena Absorbent Protector Pack FOR MEN

    AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

    4. There have been Tena pants for men for quite a while now. Alf had to buy them for his sister and saw that there were men’s too. Prostate problems.

    5. If you had an incontinent elderly male relative you might appreciate the products in question.

        1. I had the same reaction as you when I was about 12 I think. I’m actually envious.

        2. That Ludwig knew something about music, for sure.
          There’s a lot of fine music written by that gentleman to be explored, Ped.

  75. Wow!
    Over 13,000 comments on the Met becoming the new Brown Shirts.
    Whether that will make Jews feel any safer in Londonistan – or elsewhere in Blighty – is a moot point.
    I am just so ashamed on what I used to think was my country.

    1. Gideon Falter, the chief executive of Campaign Against Antisemitism,
      said that the rally came after weeks of pro-Palestinian protests that
      had made the capital a “no-go zone for Jews”.

      I understand this is the chap that complained to the Met and got Tommy Robinson debreakfasted arrested and banned from London
      Not just a random Jew then but another activist looking for trouble

      Frankly a plague on all their houses take your fights to the ME

      1. Yes Falter is a nasty piece of work. He was obviously deliberately stirring it there.

      2. That’s interesting.
        Yes, he was bringing the situation to the public’s attention and the ham fisted police made matters worse. It’s arguable that someone had to highlight the problem and sometimes these people are not those who you would invite round for tea.
        I think we have to accept that the police are no longer citizens in uniform but a very active arm of government; not so much keeping the law abiding safes pushing damaging bien pensant doctrines.
        All this unrest is the result of actively malign administrations followed by weak ones who have neither the courage nor the authority to push back.

          1. That’s the awful thing.
            A paranoid society on the lines of Soviet Russia or Pol Pot’s Cambodia has been created.
            By first destroying traditional and trusted institutions and the doubling down with weak politicians who can be guaranteed not to defend this country.

  77. Radio 4: Any Questions

    Daisy Cooper MP, Lord Dannatt, Anneliese Dodds MP and Tom Pursglove MP.

    A Lib Dem, a loony ex Squaddie, a climate change worshipper and a Minister for Migration. All of them wanting the British to get more involved in the war in Ukraine. How nice of the BBC to select four wonderfully independent voices whose only wish is to improve the advancement of the US/CIA into Eastern Europe and tackle the scourge of Climate Change at the same time.

  78. Corvid connoisseurs

    If “Corvid” was Convid you would have described

    WEF, NHS Management, WHO, Gates & C0

    1. Thanks, but completely different. Bit too frantic for me. It would be OK at a military reunion – after a few pints, of course.

    1. I do not have any info on it but I shall certainly tell you this: any cretin filming me and asking twat questions — in the same manner as this c*nt with the camera is doing — would soon seriously wish he hadn’t even got out of bed this morning.

      2. That’s the problem with modern life, Grizz: Too many dickheads around, not receiving a robust response that helps them learn to be less dickhead and smarter.

      4. That’s right., Griz, the police should be unaccountable. And PACE was a terrible mistake.

        1. Would you like someone following you around, Joey, filming everything you do and asking you non-stop cretinous questions throughout your working day?

          Come on, give me an answer!

          1. People don’t follow cops around, Griselda, but they do get there mobiles out when they see them acting like dickheads.

          2. That’s the sort of response I would expect from someone who thinks PACE was a good idea, not to mention the abolishment of corporal and capital punishment.

            When the Muzzies and Lefties get so much power and force of numbers that they make every second of your life an utter misery, please remind me not to feel sorry.

            The country was an infinitely better place when discipline underwrote everyone’s behaviour. Since discipline was abolished, anarchy took its place and it is clearly evident everywhere you look.

    2. There any many interpretations of liabikity when it comes to the law.
      For instance the owner of a home video security camera may be sued by an offender who subsequently suffers losses after being recorded committing a criminal offence.

      I find the YouTube videos of barristervhttps://www.danielshensmith.co.uk/ quite informative obout misconceptions of the law.

    3. The whole premise of the ‘complaint’ by the cretinous wanker with the camera revolves around whether or not the security chap is displaying his badge.

      “It’s the law: don’t you understand?” is what the twat moans to the police officer. My response to him would be exactly the same, “So what?” The fact that he is not wearing an identity badge is not the responsibility of the police. His necessity to wear and display a badge might well be the subject of some regulation but he is not committing any offence under the criminal law, which would be a police matter.

      Gobshite, quarter-wit cameraman know fuck-all about the law but is intent on making mischief for nothing more than the hell of it. He is, quite evidently, an anti-police ‘social justice’ wanker who is too brain dead to act in any reasonable way.

      1. You got out in time Grizzly.
        Any time you feel like smashing your phone with a hammer, look up “police auditors” on YT.
        Some of them are making good money from 100s of thousands of views and comments.
        A group of people in desperate need of a collective slap.

      2. Could be an anti police youtuber wanting to get a reaction on film and monetise their posts.

  81. 386277+ up ticks,

    May one ask,This cloud seeding and the components used within, long term and via the water butt,veg growing , could it possibly bring about anomalies, say in childbirth.

    Two heads may well suit the political fraternity to balance out the two faces but ruling out the current lab/lib/con member / voter,
    ordinary,decent peoples would I believe have just cause to raise objections.

    1. Ordinary people would, indeed, Ogga, if only they could get their head(s) around this subject and understood what it means for them (and us). Out of sight and it does not cross their mind.

    3. I remember veteran BBC war reporter John Simpson getting around Iraq dressed in a nice black number, and nobody challenged him.

    2. It’s so long ago that I last saw proper snow that I can hardly remember what it looks like.

    3. Traditionally summer was considered to begin on May 1st. That is why Midsummer’s day is on June 21 st.

        1. Fair enough. But the point remains the same. It is also why the Carol references the bleak midwinter for the 25th December. It makes sense if you think back to the agrarian society which ruled all our lives before the 19th century. Harvest starts in August.

          1. Did you do the Froggie Dance and sing the Swedish version of ‘Incy Wincy Spider’?

    4. Global warming, innit.
      I’m concerned because it was so warm in Auvergne last week that i got a tan mowing the lawn.
      It had been snowing 6 weeks previously.
      So we left without draining the plumbing and now the nights are dropping to -1 and -2.
      I hope they don’t burst. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/53c564a3ad1c9452cc4c06b14efbc6e88aa93c75c376905b21314d5cb4a0f090.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/24bce417972bf3df8097fa19d99564dced23b34d8619d53a900dd159c05013c1.jpg

  87. For the first time in nearly four years I, with my good lady managed to take a long walk first after parking in the busy car park. Up hill for 20 minutes. Shame we didn’t do it last week the massive spread and display of blue bells is starting to fade. But lots of families out together. After two hours walking we made it to the Queens Head one of the three pubs in close proximity.
    Couldn’t find a parking space and just as we were about to give up and leave and old friend tapped on the car window. She was with hubby and just leaving the pub. And provided us with a space. A pint of Abbott a glass of chardonnay, two well filled tasty baguettes.
    Home now feet up cuppa tea possibley a snooze. A great achievement for me.
    England ladies 50 Ireland 3. Rugger.

        1. Used to drink it in my 20s, at Cranfield and more particularly in North Crawley at The Chequers pub (one of the best around in those days – publican understood how to keep and manage his beers. He once refused to sell some to me because the quality wasn’t up to his standards). It was a damn good beer back then – haven’t had a draught pint for decades now.

          1. It was one of my favourites when I lived in Cambridge.
            Either it has gone down hill or my tastes have changed, I suspect the former, the last pint I had was middling to poor.

          2. If it’s Greene King, they’ve spent the money on subbing Black Lives Matter.
            Bit of a bu88er, as many of the best lunchtime pop-in pubs round here are Greene King.

          5. When we lived in Victoria Street in Cambridge we could buy bottled Abbott from Percy Wing’s grocery store around the corner in Clarendon Street. Returned bottles rewarded with a few pence too.

            You could get draught Abbott in several local pubs including The Free Press.

    4. 88-10 final score. Ireland never got to the line. A penalty and a dubious penalty try was all they could muster

    5. Sounds like a lovely day.
      Here has been spoil by a bloody wind that freeze-dries your face.

      1. After watching our 8 year old grandson play football early. We went home and wrapped up in more substantial winter clothing. Wooly Hats gloves and scarfs. But left them all in the car before we went into the pub. Which was packed.

      1. Absolutely, thanks. The last time I walk there was with our dog about 4 years ago. It was once agricultural land that has been plant with thousands of tree by many volunteers. Apart from the footpaths the space now filled with medium mature trees. Lots of family’s with dogs as visitors as well.

        1. Cough (clears throat)… I think formally it counts as the ‘art of the grotesque’.

    4. I think we have a couple of rejects from the Brompton Stomp “Grab-A-Grannie Night”!

  93. Michael Gove is under pressure to scrap health and safety regulations that are forcing homebuilders to shrink the size of windows to stop
    people falling out.

    Developers up and down the country are building “gloomier” and “darker” homes due to rule changes brought in by the Government two years ago.

    My Second AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

    of the day!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/property/michael-gove-pressure-scrap-foolish-window-planning-rules/

    2. D’uh? Why on earth has the h&s lobby taken over government?

      Mind you, I did hear they were considering making catch nets compulsory on the outside wall of any 2nd floor or higher window.

    3. OMG I’ve never heard anything like it.
      How stupid can this pathetic wokie country get.

    4. Why don’t they put bars on all windows? Works in Strangeways.

      My particular bugbear is the placing of electric sockets higher up, rather than just above the skirting board, so that disabled people do not have to bend down. They conveniently ignore the trip hazard for those not in a wheelchair.

      I would not live in a developer-built home, and the further away I can get from the legal professionals, the better. I do not trust them to be honest, let alone sensible.

      As for Michael Gove, it is unlikely he would be in office long enough to scrap silly regulations, as he promised he would when we voted to leave the EU. One thing is certain, however bad the Tories are, “More of the Same” Starmer will be worse.

    6. The idiocy and stupidity of this government knows no ends. They have no reason to legislate on blasted windows. Why won’t they just leave us all alone?

  94. Good afternoon all. Returned home a few minutes ago after some nice grub at the Red Lion.
    It was our bowls club open morning. We had a record 40 people turn up for a taster session and 35 signed up for coaching, another record. Luckily we have 10 coaches but it will still be a challenge to get them all through their coaching within 5 or 6 weeks. While other clubs are closing we go from strength to strength. If they all join the club we will have a membership of about 130 but the clubhouse, due to fire regulations, can only accommodate 60 people.

      1. Thank you Phizz. Yes a couple in their 30s another few in the 50-60 age group more in their 70s and an 80+ year old who used to bowl with us about 15 years ago.

        1. Doing good then. Of course the only thing that would attract me would be a bar rather than a jack. :@)

          1. We have a bar. Bottled beer plenty of different soft drinks, spirits £1 per 25ml and small bottles of red and white wine and small bottles of Mateus rosé. The tonic is more expensive than the gin.

          7. They’re often found with a candle in the neck and solidified wax which had once been dribbling down the side. If not, they are converted to electric lamps.

      1. We probably had another 10-15 members there to chat with the prospective players plus each coach has a helper. A truly combined effort by club members.
        Esprit de corps you might call it. Any idea what the French is for that?

    3. New members is a nice problem to have.
      We have been growing our curling club for quite a few years now with learn to curl sessions that give newbies a basic grounding in the game. We have now reached the how can we accomodate this many members level and are scrambling to rework all of the leagues to make room.

      1. The majority of our matches are friendlies although there are various leagues we compete in. But we also have club competitions and plenty of opportunities to play. When people join the club they’re given keys to access the club and changing rooms. We have a couple of players who go to the club on a Thursday morning and play for 6 hours breaking for the packed lunch they take.

  95. A coherent Par Four!

    Wordle 1,036 4/6
    ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
    ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨
    ⬜🟩⬜🟩🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    2. I’m still on some lucky streak.

      Wordle 1,036 3/6

      ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
      ⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. A boring par

      Wordle 1,036 4/6

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

  98. Gawd Evenness, my lovelies! What a shock to discover that one amongst you has blocked me overnight. Blest if I know why. As I am an aspiring Christian I not only turn the other cheek but offer a full moon to whomsoever this may be.

          1. Thank you, Sir J. I would never have suspected you of such an ungentlemanly act. x

            I now know who it was, as I am now unblocked. The general theory is that it was a “Diqus Glitch” = apparently even the inoccuous and innoffensive Phizzee has been blocked in the past because of these random occurances. Maybe the blocker will provide the definitive explanation at some point.

      1. I think you are correct. I have found myself blocked on occasion from my friends on here. Obviously it isn’t my appalling sense of humour or how i smell. Given how crap their jokes are and how much they pong…… :@)

    4. Blocking someone is an act of idiotic petulance to prove [the blocker] can’t cope with someone else’s opinion. I don’t do it.

      1. I do. Well I do on the Spectator site anyway. I do it to prevent obviously hostile parties from seeing my posts and reporting them.

        1. Goodness, Squire, that had never occurred to me as a reason to block. I have never intentionally blocked, nor downvoted, anyone (fat fingers aside). Would much rather debate – or. if that’s impossible, know what they are thinking but not engage (which is always pointless and raises the blood pressure)

          1. There are a few people, notably Bidochon, who will flag a post thus drawing it to the attention of the moderator. The post is invariably removed. By blocking him he can’t see what you have posted.

          3. Some people get very upset when their cherished opinions are contradicted and/or they are shown to be wrong. They get huffy and block. I’ve been blocked by two or three people over the years.

      2. Neither do I! However, do not know how to block anyone…. how do you know if someone has blocked you?

          1. There is one on here (who I have not blocked or any one else) and all his/her posts appear with that.’content unavailable’

      3. Yes that was my opinion until a few days ago when I blocked someone for the first time. A most disgusting post, not an opinion at all and I decided to use this option.

    5. If yr offering photos of the lunar exposure we will all be blocking you! …so long as yr waxing of course… ahem

    6. It was me (I’ve raised the block temporarily) – I find your increasingly bad language very upsetting (as you might imagine), that and the Welshness is a potent combination. Sospan Fach!

          2. I’m sorry – I didnt receive that on account of the fact that you are blocked – I suspect you were wishing me a very cordial goodnight and good morrow! I find that quite touching…….

  99. Oxford University has ‘allowed political diversity to wither’
    Institute ‘unable to uphold freedom of expression’ after Vernal Scott’s post celebrating closure of Belgian Conservative conference
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/04/20/oxford-university-dons-political-diversity-withered-away/

    Vernal Scott, who has led Oxford’s “equality and diversity unit” since October 2023, hailed the closure of the National Conservatism Conference on Tuesday in a since-deleted post on X, formerly Twitter.

    BTL

    Instead of having Russell Group universities and non-Russell group universities we need to have the Marx Group and the Mencken Group.

    In the former, free speech would be banned and any non communist speakers would not be allowed to visit.

    In the Mencken Group free speech would be encouraged and speakers of all views would be invited to come and address the students.

    I wonder if we have got to the point of terminal intellectual decline in the UK where the repressive Marx Group would prove to be more attractive to school leavers?

    1. If only they thought deeply enough to ponder the alternatives, Rastus. I’m afraid this is all about fashion and the erroneous belief that every petulant act can be reversed. It’s so depressing

    2. Universities celebrating extinction of freedom of speech, and suppressing differing opinions. What has the world come to?

    3. How about the Karl Marx Group v the Groucho Marx Group?

      I know which I would back!

    4. How about the Karl Marx Group v the Groucho Marx Group?

      I know which I would back!

  100. Leave the cherubs to get on with it.
    Darwinism in action. The survivors will create the greater number of ‘baby mothers’. At least they’ll inherit Daddy’s survival instinct. Ummm ….. er ……

    “Shocking moment ‘feral kids’ attack each other with machetes and hammers as innocent passers-by run for their lives before gun-wielding police rush in to break it up on London street in middle of the afternoon

    The terrifying video was taken on Southern Road in Newham at around 3pm yesterday, just outside of Southern Road primary school.”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13330605/kids-attack-machetes-hammers-lives-gun-police-London.html?ito=email_share_article-top

      1. No no no! The nìggers are the West Indians……these fellows are wogs. (With thanks to Fawlty Towers)

    3. If the coppers shot one of the machete wielding ferals no doubt the “community” would be out rioting in seconds…..
      Aspiring architect, he dindu nuffing………….

  101. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0d89f6007716e0ead91cfc4446be43d9c11328f4dd9028a5279ffeb13e4cf74d.jpg

    I think this man James Boswell who wrote the diaries of Dr Samuel Johnson is as equally facsinating as of whom he wrote about . A gentleman of ancient blood, charming, intelligent . His London journals ( not published until the 50s ) are as equal importance . Boswell studied himself with ruthless but forgiving objectivity and had a somewhat colourful life , his travel journals of which were of the time we were at war with France are of great interest but he was very much a scoundrel .

    1. I read Boswell’s London diaries many years ago. The best bit was his liaison with the actress Louisa. Poor old Boswell caught a dose of clap.😂

      2. I have a copy (bought in a 2nd hand book shop about 20 years ago) that I’ve never read. Maybe it is time to peruse it – we oldies need something to spice up our lives and take our minds off the 21st century.

      3. Boswell was the original gentlemanly rogue, not only did he name all his liaisons he said it was their fault, hmm . 🙂

      1. Your dog whose very wise and reads your posts is quite right- but don’t let any tiddles know I’ve said that 😆

    2. What do you think about performing Scarlatti on a modern piano, which makes a sound he could never have envisaged? Would a harpsichord be better? I’m not sure. Sir Thomas Beecham (who else?) once likened the sound of a harpsichord to two skeletons copulating on a tin roof! I like the sound of a harpsichord, however, but can’t stand the sound of an authentic Mozart era pianoforte which sounds like something the pub would chuck out.

      2. This is something I need to give some thought to before answering, I’ll sleep on it and get back to you.

      3. Scarlatti sonatas performed on a Steinway or Bosendorfer by Emil Gilels (probably descended from French Huguenots but born in Kiev Russia) are the most extraordinary recordings of Scarlatti. I reckon Scarlatti would approve.

        My favourite Beecham comment was addressed to a lady cellist: “Madam, you have between your legs an instrument designed to bring joy to thousands yet all you do is scratch it”.

        1. That Beecham quotation is deservedly famous. I can’t make up my mind about Scarlatti on a modern instrument. He may have liked it, but he cannot possibly have imagined what it would sound like. Consider Beethoven’s later piano works after he became deaf. The chords are much thicker in the bass than would have been the case were he able to hear what the rapidly evolving pianoforte was currently sounding like. Relatively early works such as the Pathetique sonata have thick LH chords where the extra thirds are, frankly, undesirable played on a Steinway or a Bösendorfer.

          1. The senior partner of the London architectural practice with whom I worked for many years, Sir William Whitfield, had a Broadwood piano. The Broadwood was one of four produced for Chopin to choose from.

            I heard several of the late Beethoven sonatas played on this instrument by virtuosos (Broadwood maintained and tuned the piano which by now will have passed to the Broadwood Museum).

            Beethoven will have played on a similar Broadwood instrument towards the last ten years of his life and I believe he also possessed a Graf of Vienna.

            I have heard it argued that Broadwood was essential to the composer.and the late sonatas.

  106. Well, it can’t have been anti-feline sentiment from me because I love them (as well as dogs’n’horses and more or less every creature except spiders and arachnids in general, of which I have an almost Islamoguage phobia). I no longer have cats (didn’t replace last one to go as Lord O not keen and I got fed up with refereeing, and the plus side is that birds can confidently enter the house but there are many minuses. They are so warm and purry and beautiful) We have a very nice residual JR and are toying with the idea of a cross-over puppy.

      1. Not this one (on the rat front)! All her predecessors have been quick off the mark, but this one is a genuinely strange little dog, though extremely entertaining

          1. I’ve been meaning to ask you, JD: you mentioned that your family had deerhound-based lurchers (not so common these days) – considering your neck of the woods, were they related to the famous “Jim”, a lovely lurcher patriarch that lived in the vicinity of Blackbury Camp?

          2. I’m not sure. We’re not far from Blackbury Camp but the ones we had were rehomed from Dick Strawbridge of that Chateau in France programme when he divorced his wife to run off with that weird Angel woman. They are buried in our garden. Dylan was my favourite dog ever.

          3. Good God! You have French aristos buried in your garden? That’s a serious one-up on the rest of us

    1. One of my favourite song sets – thanks; that’s my earworm for the rest of the day! 🙂

    1. A great anthem…..very difficult to sing indeed. The words are barking mad, of course!😂

      1. It’s indeed a brilliant anthem but the words as mad as the Hatter in Alice in Wonderland- sometimes music can just be fun 😁

  112. Beautiful day in the garden getting stuff done. My favourite days of the year -fresh breeze, warm Sun, God’s new life of Spring lifting the soul, bluebells, primroses, tulips, azaleas… Beautiful day to be alive.

  113. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/caebf493966a43aa5e8ff22476e4793f31fa1faeb7077945908d7278678ec0c9.jpg Just given one of my large, seasoned, genuine carbon-steel, round bottom woks (I have two) an airing for the first time in donkey’s yonks.

    I braised then barbecued some char-siu pork belly ribs and swerved them with egg fried rice. Nothing, but nothing, beats a proper Chinese wok. Those flat-bottomed non-stick abominations simply do not cut the mustard.

    1. My husband has just used ours for some fresh tiger prawns in a satay stir fry with fried rice. I had some very nice cod in parsley sauce with little potatoes. Yummy fish!

      1. Cod, parsley sauce, peas and spuds is the dish I would order prior to facing a firing squad. It has always been my No 1 comfort food. 😘

          2. Six gill shark buried for 6 months and the rancid remains are a delicacy in some parts of Scandinavia.

          8. It all sounds unbelievably horrid, especially in the dark and the freezing cold. i hope their uninvited guests are force fed on this.

          13. Norway has rakfisk – fermented freshwater fish. Prizewinning producer just up from Firstborn’s place.
            Normally eaten with whipped cream and raw onions – it’s smelly like F, but is actually quite sweet.

          14. It’s recommended to buy only cans that have bulged due to fermentation gas… and open in the garden, NEVER indoors. Some only open it under water…

          17. Surstromming (fermented herring), yuk, smelliest food in the world and tastes yuk as well.

        3. Yuk! I’d go for Lobster Thermidor and a very good white burgundy, safe in the knowledge I wouldn’t have to worry about the cost.

  114. https://www.facebook.com/share/v/rfB5DXRJqCUypG69/?mibextid=w8EBqM

    Posting this in rank defiance of the no-selfies rule (what rule?). 🤣

    Simply because I was scratching my head as to why so many friends sent me this clip – I know they mean well, but I dislike performances being filmed, as it detracts from the immediacy of the connection. I have to admit, though, that it’s a decent way of sharing some of that energy with friends who may be half a world away.

    In that spirit, here’s me singing Happy Birthday to a friend at a milonga (tango social dance) in Buenos Aires a couple of days ago. (I was asked to by his wife, rather than just jumping in and opening my mouth!) Sorry it’s a Facebook post.

    1. Absolutely amazing lip-sync; how do you do that?
      };-O

      Seriously
      I’ll bet he and his wife were delighted.

      1. Everything I know about lip-synching, I learned from.my drag-queen friends… 😉

        Thanks. They were. 🙂

      1. Heh! Not bloody likely; you have to keep your opinions firmly to yourself there, as a soloist. I wouldn’t last a week! 🤣

  115. https://www.facebook.com/share/v/rfB5DXRJqCUypG69/?mibextid=w8EBqM

    Posting this in rank defiance of the no-selfies rule (what rule?). 🤣

    Simply because I was scratching my head as to why so many friends sent me this clip – I know they mean well, but I dislike performances being filmed, as it detracts from the immediacy of the connection. I have to admit, though, that it’s a decent way of sharing some of that energy with friends who may be half a world away.

    In that spirit, here’s me singing Happy Birthday to a friend at a milonga (tango social dance) in Buenos Aires a couple of days ago. (I was asked to by his wife, rather than just jumping in and opening my mouth!) Sorry it’s a Facebook post.

    1. If you are implying that this destruction is down to some kind of israeli badness, then I beg to differ. It is entirely the result of Hamas and Islamist aggression and their stratedgy of putting their own citizens in harm’s way whilst protecting their fighting force in underground tunnels built using intenationally donated resources intended to build a society in one of the most potentially lovely regions in the world. Give the hostages back, surrender the murderers and rapists and this can stop within the hour.
      Am Yisrael Chai.

      1. 386277+ up ticks,

        O,
        Wishful thinking, if that were to be the answer in Gaza then, why not in England,
        Australia, Canada, etc,etc, worldwide ?

        1. I see no parallel. We have not invaded a neighbouring country and raped, tortured and killed its citizens, neither have we taken hostages and kept them prisoner in brutal conditions. What are you talking about?

          1. 385277+ up ticks,

            O,

            We have / are supporting / voting for a coalition of governing parties that have decimated these Isles, via mass uncontrolled immigration / mass importation of criminal activist, not least putting children in dire danger from mass foreign paedophilia, acts of terrorism, beheadings on English streets, etc,etc,etc,

            As for taking hostages and keeping them prisoners I would say the political overseers treatment of the nursing home elderly during lockdown was not far short of just that, ask those that survived.

            That is what I’m talking about.

      2. 386277+ up ticks,

        Evening O,

        I am not implying anything of the sort, far from it and quite the reverse.

    2. He’s right – only pure evil can explain it.

      The evil of Hamas in starting this war by raping, torturing and murdering innocent people.

      1. 386277+ up ticks,

        Evening A,
        Many of the peoples in Gaza, as with many of the peoples in England, were used ( set up) to protect and further a political cause, we are witnessing a war within a war.

    4. Gratifying to see the Gazans are getting the butt-kicking they so richly deserve.

      1. Now, it just needs the tunnels force-flooded!

        Sorry about the hostages, if they still live.

        1. It does sound as if they are enduring fates worse than death, those that do still live

          2. And yet we have people dominating our capital city, every Sabbath day, since the October atrocities took place, waving foreign flags and shouting for the death of the jJews in support of this proscribed terrorist organisation. With impunity.

          5. I reflect on what our Grandparents fought and sacrificed for. I doubt they would be impressed by what we have become. It saddens me.

          7. It goes on because it is sanctioned by Khan and his Metropolitan Police. If Khan is re-elected it will be because of massive electoral fraud and the assistance of Dominion vote counting machines.

            At the mention of the name Khan in an underground carriage the travellers packed in like sardines will erupt in abuse of the nasty little freak. Khan is hated by Londoners.

          8. I don’t think we have such machines in this country, but I could be wrong, The voter fraud takes place through the postal vote, which would be stopped if we lived in a de facto democracy.

      2. Now, it just needs the tunnels force-flooded!

        Sorry about the hostages, if they still live.

    5. Eh? This is all Hamas’ design. Hiding behind the civilian population, digging underneath hospitals and schools. Buying rockets instead of developing the Gaza Strip. Then murdering, raping and kidnapping their way through Israel on October 7th.

      “We love death more than they love life.”

    2. It might help the dirty image of coal if that Black Five loco was renamed a Snowy White.

      1. Cylinder drain cocks are open… good, steamy, effect.
        High boiler pressure – safety valve is lifting. Good steamy effect.
        Cool, damp day – lots of steam effect.
        Great spectacle.
        Especially with the contribution from the locomotive behind… 🙂

    4. Nice! Until my stroke, I used to be fireman and driver on an 0-4-0 steam loco here in Norway.

        1. Never heard that as a reason for rejection before. Guess it’s to do with distance judgement.

    5. There were supposed to be two steam locos passing through Shropshire today, but I don’t know which and which lines they were on because I was otherwise engaged.

        1. I’ve just read about it in the Star. Two Black Fives. Apparently they managed to travel over Chirk Aquaduct! You can’t get the staff these days to know the difference between a viaduct and an aquaduct.

        2. I’ve just read about it in the Star. Two Black Fives. Apparently they managed to travel over Chirk Aquaduct! You can’t get the staff these days to know the difference between a viaduct and an aquaduct.

  119. Well one did if one was foolish enough, as young Boswell was, to imagine the young actress he fancied was not a prostituite. What were the odds in the mid- 18th century? (The date was 1762)

    1. I’m sure that he knew the risks and chose to take them in the heat of the moment

      1. No. He fancied that the young woman was chaste and in love, as his diary makes clear. The ability to self-deceive in such matters is not a new phenomenon, clearly.

        1. Indeed. The human capacity for self-deception being what it is and has always been. Maybe she was both? Well, not chaste obviously, but perhaps thought herself in love and therefore the systematic rape that had gone before didn’t count? Moot.

          2. ‘Structural rapism’? You have a promising career in Gender Studies ahead of you.

          3. No, she’s right. It’s like what goes on under Islamic rule now. It was then “structural” throughout christendom, too, in that it was the norm. Women and children were chattels.

        2. Yes quite so, he said in his diaries that the young woman couldn’t help themselves, that they were overcome with love, maybe he was nieve but he never thought them ladies of the night – he was rather young .

          1. He clearly differentiated between common whores (whom he frequently had congress with and then berates himself subsequently) and Louisa the actress. He was not yet worldly enough to realise that the latter were simply a higher class of concubine.

          2. Yes Boswell often remarked about these sexual episodes and that he feels bad about them and resolves to ‘ do so no more ‘ . At one point he mentioned this to his great friend William Temple that he’d ” not engage in low debauchery ‘ but short lived. No wasn’t worldly to realise the difference between Louisa and the other women

          3. The first night he slept with Louisa he remarked that ‘six times I was lost in the supreme rapture’, noting appreciatively that Louisa thought that to be remarkable. As indeed, I suppose it was!

  120. Well one did if one was foolish enough, as young Boswell was, to imagine the young actress he fancied was not a prostituite. What were the odds in the mid- 18th century? (The date was 1762)

  121. Indeed. Some of the ladies like it. Bottled ales such as London Pride, Spitfire, Hopping Hare, Old Speckled Hen, Fursty Ferret, Banks’, Citra amongst others.

    1. I imagine your ladies are rather less interested in those drinks😂. For some reason I am reminded of an old advertisement from the 1980’s which I’m sure you will recall. The scene is the Australian outback and a pickup truck is being loaded with a huge number of crates of beer. One of the chaps pauses and suggests “a little something for the ladies?”, and so a bottle of sweet sherry is added to the load. At which point the axels collapse under the strain. The men look at each other….”I guess we overdid it with the sherry”. 😂

      1. Yes I remember , Castlemain XXX and was it a bottle of Harvey’s Bristol Cream?

        2. Younger generations do not enjoy this common frame of reference which was forced upon us by the existence of only four tv channels, one of which was drivel.

          1. Like a couple of the Guinness adverts, one with a coach load of rugby fans with a Guinness tanker behind them with a large hose for Guinness attached to the coach. The other one had the strap line “I’ve never tried it because I don’t like it”.

    2. I do enjoy a bottled Citra, especially on a warm day. When chilled, it’s very refreshing. London Pride has long been a favourite of mine, as well as St Austell’s Tribute. I have, though, tired of Old Speckled Hen, so I’m having a break from it.

    2. Nope.
      It’s not as bad as it sounds, but pizza (even frozen) is vastly superior.
      You have to remember that Norway, until mid 1960’s, was a very poor country, surviving on fish and timber.
      Now, one of the richest in teh world per capita, traditional foods are in vogue.

  123. I had a short bimble around the local country park just now and have seen nature is well awake.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d406c739af69dd6074777dea62a5205f6212ec0f92a520cbdc3adc3caecc4bef.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/569245c9f071f8c18f567ec50c7d011260a2f002f36513f92627a4b437216587.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c8379abb0f86eeabde7863de402c13a7bc6a6825363af04da0e3045e3133fac6.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9f65e3bbe68abda3e205eca103cbff33bcdf6e7c02f824db7dadcbb1b70e8de5.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e9fcd841173a25f57d423a5dfed3ea1505a0e35e525e873690d8a107f9917cff.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ddbf6cf030f9a3842f2a2202518456d5ae70fad962a3b29f3bcac95dcdcc6c6b.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c31f9eb7017be79fbcf597e820d344549ab8cb4988b3f5d54a6113863f0d9a3b.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d827b860ddd73d37adf1d75eb7ab0947721803c34a48921bb7afe1ea69abd18e.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b1886df1c426d23a02889b1825c05744027b17c9ed7c5f25cc7c5d1a6e58bc05.jpg

  124. Indeed.
    SWMBO says the same thing about those of us who like, actively choose, haggis.

    1. I’d prefer haggis and neeps rather than Surstromming or rakfisk, Paul – and with Scotch rather than Bãska Droppar

      1. #metoo.
        But – at least Rakfisk isn’t inedible – especially if failing to eat it might offend the hostess.
        How you keeping, Tom. Well, I hope.
        Just re-found your recipe book on my hard drive. I it OK I forward it to the offspring, who both (with support from their mother) are really rather good at cooking.

          1. Love & experience – two of the best reasons!
            Have a filled glass here – raised to you, Tom!
            Cheers! and respect!

  125. Well inevitably after my busy I’m shortly going to turn in. I know it’s early but……
    Goodnight all.
    😴

  126. Another day is done so, I wish you a goodnight and may God bless you all, Gentlefolk. Bis morgen früh.

  128. This is all getting betterer and betterer by the day…

    https://media.makeameme.org/created/the-landlady-waiting-0ce600e853.jpg

    Angela Rayner ‘said she was landlady’ of house she claims was her main residence

    The allegation was made by a neighbour, who spoke to police as part of their investigation

    Will Hazell, POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT
    20 April 2024 • 8:14pm

    Angela Rayner called herself “the landlady” at a property she says was her principal residence, it has been alleged, as police investigate whether she misled officials over where she lived.

    According to The Times, residents of Vicarage Road have told Greater Manchester Police that Ms Rayner was involved in a row in 2015 with the family of a local boy who kicked a football through a window of the property.

    It is claimed that she demanded £240 for the damage and called herself the “landlady” of the property.

    The force has begun interviewing neighbours of the deputy Labour leader’s former home in Stockport as part of its investigation into allegations about where she lived in the 2010s.

    Chris Hinett, a resident of the street, told The Times he had approached a vehicle in which Ms Rayner was sitting when she visited in relation to the window incident. Asking her why she had been parked up for a lengthy period of time, he claims she said: “I am the landlady at number 80. My brother lives there and he isn’t strong enough to deal with you lot.”

    Mr Hinnett said he had given a statement to the police, who are thought to be investigating allegations that Ms Rayner supplied incorrect information to the electoral register in the 2010s when she lived between two houses in Stockport.

    Ms Rayner has faced scrutiny about whether she should have paid capital gains tax on the 2015 sale of her council house on Vicarage Road owing to confusion about whether it was her principal residence or whether she was living with her then-husband at a separate address on Lowndes Lane.

    Greg Smith, the Conservative MP, told The Telegraph: “For a story Labour are desperate to play down as a nothing story, it seems to keep growing and growing and growing. What’s next?”

    Some legal experts have said Ms Rayner cannot be prosecuted over allegations she gave false information about her main residence because the time limit for such action has passed.

    A Labour spokesman said: “Angela has been clear that she will co-operate with any investigation. We do not plan to give a running commentary.”

    Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, has also backed her, saying: “We remain completely confident that Angela has complied with the rules at all times and it’s now appropriate to let the police do their work.”

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

    Andrew Hicks
    39 MIN AGO
    Landlady or madame?

    1. “My brother lives there and he isn’t strong enough to deal with you lot”.
      The only surprise is she didn’t call them scum. It’s what she thinks after all.

  129. Just back from Bristol. Will provide the link to the notes and YouTube recording when available.
    Attendance was higher this year than for the previous two Save the Parish conferences.
    A couple of sound bites. Marcus heard Justin Welby claim, in 10 Downing Street no less, that he shares the aims of Save the Parish. That raised a laugh. As did an observation made by a canoness who was one of the speakers. “Fresh expressions of church” is currently a phrase much favoured by the CofE hierarchy. The speaker noted that “Fresh Expressions” is also a brand of cat litter.

        1. St Thomas the Martyr not far from the grandest parish church in England, St Mary Redcliffe. The church is an odd mix of C18 and mediaeval from memory. I love Bristol despite being a Bathonian.

          I believe the church is maintained by the Churches Conservation Trust. I worked with one of their executive officers, a lovely lady structural engineer, on the Privy Garden Restoration Project at Hampton Court Palace, for which I was the lowly Architect, in the early nineties.

    3. At this point, any mention of Welby sparks the same response as mentioning any of the last seven Prime Ministers!

    4. Good morning Sue.
      Would I be right in thinking that a canoness is a canon with no balls? :-))

  130. Might as well be. Church without clergy and without the Eucharist seems to be the order of the day. The recording of the proceedings today will omit a question asked by a lady who’s an ordinand and not at all impressed by what she’s hearing at the seminary. She fears reprisals for speaking out.

    1. If you hear the word “Re-imagined” be wary that some piece of Marxism is probably being smuggled in.

    3. It’s a spiritual battle and enemy is inside the walls. My sermon tomorrow will be partly about this.

    4. Looking at the quality of the recently ordained, it looks as though it’s a Labour party boot camp whose main concern is fitting Christianity round marxism.

  133. I recently saw a photograph of a Gazan beach teeming with sunbathers and swimmers. We are never given the full picture by the mainstream media but rather nothing but lies and disinformation.

  136. Evening, all. Had a frustrating day; one of my horses was beaten a length having led all the way up to the line, the other one was withdrawn. Apart from that I couldn’t pick a winner so my friends were very disappointed (they bet, I don’t, but I’m usually pretty good with my tips – today I couldn’t tip rubbish).

    As for the headline, why now? How long has he had to address the problem?

    2. Both horses I backed let me down. Luckily the football bets were remunerative.

  138. No you didn’t! You’ve remarked upon the deterioration in my language before now

    1. No point. You’re one of my favourite posters and it was unlike you, out of character. We all get things wrong at times.

      1. There is a point – I would like to know my transgression. But never mind if you don;t want to tell me. i really am going to turn in now, so night night and sleep tight, JD. And thank you for saying that nice thing.

      1. A good plan…..I will have a look to see what I can find in my cellar. 🙂

        Update. I have found a bottle of Lagavulin 16yr old. What a result….I was so sure it had all gone. 😁😁😁😁😁

      2. I am a night owl as others on here for years will attest. This habit derived from my profession.

        As an architect I found that I needed quiet and an alternative to the noisy daytime hubbub and interruptions of the studio office in order to concentrate without hinder.

        The only problem in commenting late and early morning is that few read my posts. No matter. I learn much from reading the posts of others so am quids in so to speak.

      3. I am a night owl as others on here for years will attest. This habit derived from my profession.

        As an architect I found that I needed quiet and an alternative to the noisy daytime hubbub and interruptions of the studio office in order to concentrate without hinder.

        The only problem in commenting late and early morning is that few read my posts. No matter. I learn much from reading the posts of others so am quids in so to speak.

  142. That was fun.

    Hunt feast now eaten.
    01.30 “aren’t you staying for coffee?”

    On the plus side we won a haunch of venison in the tombola.

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