Saturday 20 November: Broken rail promises to the North are typical of this fickle Government

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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563 thoughts on “Saturday 20 November: Broken rail promises to the North are typical of this fickle Government”

        1. We’re supposed to be getting snow in the coming week, but I’ll believe it when I see it.

  4. Putin and Xi’s dangerous miscalculations offer a slim ray of hope. 20 November 2021.

    None of this means that these hostile governments are about to collapse, but they are making dangerous mistakes perpetuated by political systems that stifle scrutiny and debate. As depressing as it is to watch the retreat of freedoms in the West, with draconian vaccine mandates taking hold in Europe and Left-wing activists waging war on free speech here and in the US, there is no reason to be fatalistic about the fate of the democratic world.

    In a couple of weeks, US president Joe Biden will convene a summit of democracies to work out the path forwards. Whatever our own problems, let’s be heartened by the sight of these seemingly all-powerful autocracies mis-stepping badly on the world stage. It’s not over for the free world yet.

    “…a summit of Democracies…” And who pray is going to attend this gathering of the Great and Good? A demented US President? The Globalist Police State UK? The compulsory vaccination Austria? The Lock Down Authoritarian Australia? The non-elected Ursula von der Lyen? And so it goes! The truth is that these people have more in common with their supposed adversaries than differences and in fact exceed them in certain categories. The losers here are the people. They are at least united on that! No matter where you live oppression and tyranny lie in wait for the unwary. Fortunate those who have good masters!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/11/19/putin-xis-dangerous-miscalculations-offer-slim-ray-hope/

  5. Designated Driver
    One night, a police officer was staking out a particular rowdy bar for possible violations of the driving-under-the-influence laws.

    At closing time, he saw a fellow stumble out of the bar, trip on the curb, and try his keys on five different cars before he found his. Then he sat in the front seat fumbling around with his keys for several minutes.

    Meanwhile, everyone left the bar and drove off. Finally, he was able to start his engine and began to pull away.

    The police officer was waiting for him. He stopped the driver, read him his rights and administered the Breathalyser test. The results showed a reading of 0.0. The puzzled officer demanded, “How can this be?”

    The driver replied, “Because tonight, officer, I’m the designated decoy!“

    1. The one time I was given a breathalyser test it was 0.0. It was the first night of my teetotal month. You should have seen the copper’s face.
      That was in March ’74.

      1. I have been breathalysed about five times in my life. Never anywhere near the limit.

        Caroline hardly drinks at all and so we split the driving – I drive to a social event where drink will be taken and she drives home.

  6. Saturday 20 November: Broken rail promises to the North are typical of this fickle Government

    Fickle or Thick all?

    Morning all. I’m looking forward to Choir practice this morning…

        3. I’m not a member of a choir, King Stephen, but as far as the NoTTL site is concerned today I have definitely not come in early (Good morning everyone – 15 hours late) but I have left the site early (Good night everyone).

        4. I’m not a member of a choir, King Stephen, but as far as the NoTTL site is concerned today I have definitely not come in early (Good morning everyone – 15 hours late) but I have left the site early (Good night everyone).

  7. Interesting BTL comment over on ZH:

    Sir Edge
    3 hours ago

    After 18+ months of this disgusting non stop Global Medical PsyOp… ‘Peaceful Riots’… Illegal Lockdowns and ridiculous Shutdowns… Being drowned in Mountains of Medical Lies… and now Criminal Vax Mandates

    Having to deal with all the sheeple idiots listening to the MSMedia spewing the same latrine propaganda 24/7… Since January of 2020… and now… Finally…

    Sanity… Common Sense… Decency… Have finally come roaring back into the light

    Because of 5 simple words… Not Guilty On All Counts…

    Clearly spoken by 12 honorable Americans in a court room in the US Midwest… but in reality really heard round the world for all to hear… Fighting back against all these daily abominations is okay… Is Right… Is True… Is Decent… Is your duty. In whatever little way you can.

    I am sure for a few precious minutes right after this verdict was announced that the MSM was silent… Finally wordless… Shocked to their core that their murderous lies were not brought to fruition but were vomited back out with extreme prejudice..
    The MSM can spin anything about everything… But they cannot spin This Verdict or This Moment.

  9. Biden ‘angry’ after teen cleared of shootings. 20 November 2021.

    On Friday outside the White House a reporter asked the Democratic president whether he stood by his past comments about the teenager.

    Mr Biden replied: “I stand by what the jury has concluded. The jury system works and we have to abide by it.”

    He later released a statement saying: “While the verdict in Kenosha will leave many Americans feeling angry and concerned, myself included, we must acknowledge that the jury has spoken.”

    That’s our Joe. All things to all people!

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-59356081

    3. And even the Daily Mail is joining in with fomenting trouble in the USA:-

      ‘This entire country has slapped us in the face’: Kyle Rittenhouse’s acquittal sparks protests across the nation
      Hundreds of people marched through downtown Brooklyn, New York, Friday in one of many protests following the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse
      A protest in Portland, Oregon was declared a riot after participants began smashing windows and throwing objects at police
      Rittenhouse, 18, was found not guilty in the shootings of three people during a racial inequity protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on August 25, 2020
      Those outraged by the verdict marched and chanted ‘no justice, no peace’
      President Joe Biden called for peace Friday, while the Wisconsin governor released a statement calling for calm
      Kenosha remained largely quiet as the night wore on

      https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10223639/Kyle-Rittenhouses-acquittal-sparks-protests-nation.html

  10. On Slavery:

    The woke will never mention the 800 years of an East African slave trade conducted by Arab merchants up and down the Indian Ocean coast. The woke won’t utter a word regarding present day slavery across the Sahel countries of Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Chad, and Sudan. One hears only silence from the woke when one mentions the “Systemic Ethniscism” that permeates every Bantu nation where wealth and power are concentrated into the hands of a dominant ethnic group.

    The woke ignore the 3,000+ freed African slaves who show up in the ante bellum US census who were granted manumission, inherited plantations from their former owners, and kept the slaves. No woke person ever admits that American Indians owned African slaves nor will they / them accept that slavery permeated Nahuatl culture even as they / them espouse the virtues of Greater Aztlán. And the woke will never accept that it was Europeans who eventually stamped out slavery within the Bantu cultural world despite it being the natural human condition there for centuries.

    And, most importantly, the woke will never acknowledge that all Americans are trapped in a nexus of corporate, bureaucratic, technological, and psychological control where the true “American Experience” has devolved into one where everyone is a slave serving invisible Masters. Until these Masters’ hands are removed from every lever of power and influence in our nation – by any means necessary – abstractions like “equality” and “equity” are nothing more than job promotions on the American plantation. The woke will never become unwoke because they love their servitude, it has opened the door for them to serve an irresponsible existence free of rationality, logic, true meaning in their existence. Through their wokeness, they have essentially been freed from Freedom – they can place no hope in death, and their blind lives are so abject that they are envious of every other fate. The world should let no fame of theirs endure; both true Justice and Compassion must disdain them.

    One final comment about those 4,000 Moroccans at the Battle of Tondibi. The invading Moroccan army was commanded by a one Judar Pasha, but he was not always known by this name. Judar was born Diego de Guevara, an inhabitant of the Spanish region of Andalusia who as a boy was captured by Arab slave raiders, packed off in chains to Morocco, and sold into slavery to the Moroccan Sultan. And just like Kunta Kinte, Diego’s name got changed, but where Kunta Kinte had his foot cut off, Judar was castrated and forced to serve this foreign Sultan as a eunuch. But we will never see a TV miniseries where an Arab slave wrangler hangs one Diego de Guevara upside down by his ankles, thrashes him with a bull whip, and screams repeatedly, “Your name is not Diego, your name is Judar!”

    Full article here:

    https://www.theburningplatform.com/2021/11/10/a-brief-history-of-west-african-slavery-for-the-woke/

    1. TV tonight: unpicking the disturbing ongoing legacy of the British empire

      Empire State of Mind

      9pm, Channel 4

      “I’ve learned how to hide my feelings in public but actually … I get really, deeply upset. I’m regularly on the verge of tears when this subject comes up.” Empireland author Sathnam Sanghera takes an emotional, comprehensive look at the ongoing legacy of the British empire in the UK today. In this first of two episodes, Sanghera speaks with people from all perspectives as he retraces contemporary racism and draws disturbing parallels between then and now. Hollie Richardson

      Morning Stephen. I’m not going to prejudge this. I shall record it and watch it at leisure.

    2. An excellent write up and a good pointer to certain aspects of black history that we are never told about.

  11. Good morning from Derbyshire. Another mild & dry start with 6°C in the yard.
    It’s certainly much less cold than a year ago!

  12. An excellent summation picked up from Going Postal:-

    Plus Tout Est Délibéré • 33 minutes ago
    If there’s one thing about woke media I hate it’s their use of the word ‘divisive’.

    Kyle found innocent ‘divides america’.

    kneeling during the national anthem is heroic and doesn’t divide america
    black lives matter doesn’t divide america, only ‘all lives matter’ does that
    riots and looting doesn’t divide america, everyone is united behind the criminals
    creating ‘free zones’ that the police ignore doesn’t divide america, it shows them how united we can be if we do as we’re told
    killing people in riots doesn’t divide america, it didn’t happen you disinformation specialist
    self-defence is divisive – black people must not be killed wypipo must not be killed if they are rioting on BLM’s behalf

    it’s just an example but its in everything they report – everything is divisive if it upsets the wokes, and powerful, heroic and a unifying force if it destroys what normal people hold dear.

  13. The vast majority of coverage of the Rittenhouse acquittal leads on just that: being cleared of all charges.
    The BBC take? “Biden angry after teen cleared of shootings.”
    Typical BBC spin on the story and if it is true as described, it doesn’t put Biden in a particularly good light.

    US President Joe Biden has said he is angry after a teenager who shot dead two men during racial unrest last year in Wisconsin was cleared.
    The president expressed dismay at the verdict in a written statement after earlier telling reporters he supported the jury’s decision.

    ie Juries are fine if they give the right result. I believe the verdicts were 100% rather than a mere majority.
    I despise Biden.

        3. It isn’t – he’s saying ‘I hate this outcome, go loot, riot and burn again.’

          The Left are not rational creatures. They’ll read what they like, how they like.

      2. Biden should have said “Violence and thuggery will not be tolerated. Mr Rittenhouse was threatened and defended himself from looting, violent criminals. If there are any Lefty whingers who don’t like this, shove it.”

        Although he might take a lot longer to say it.

    3. Who doesn’t despise Biden on this forum.

      We are often given the figures for approval ratings. Maybe we should replace these with contempt ratings – in which case Biden’s levels are rising and Trump’s might even be falling!

      2. Trumps popularity has risen Rastus, so I think you would find in a “contempt rating” a number that reflected the remorse and regret of idiots who voted for Biden.

  14. ‘Morning, Peeps.

    SIR – Nicholas Young’s letter (November 17) on changing attitudes in entertainment struck a chord.

    A few years ago, before watching a film on television, I was warned: “The following film contains offensive language and scenes that some viewers may find distressing.”

    It was Follow a Star, featuring Norman Wisdom, which my mother took me to when I was nine.

    Peter Hamilton
    London SE3

    Quite so, Peter Hamilton. We cannot have generation Snowflake upset, can we??

  16. SIR – Anne-Elisabeth Moutet reports that the Green coalition partners of Anne Hidalgo, Paris’s socialist mayor, are cutting down all the trees (“The people are fleeing Paris, a city ruined by the failing Left”, Comment, November 17).

    What is it with Greens and trees? Here in Brighton our Green-led council also seems to have it in for them. In April this year, for example, it cut down a large section of the Green Wall (note the irony of the name) along the eastern end of Madeira Drive on the seafront.

    Planted along the cliff in 1872 with Japanese spindle trees, fig trees, Spanish gorse, Darwin’s barberry and so on, this – the oldest and longest green wall in Europe – was a wildlife sanctuary and urban haven for many species of bird, with more than 100 types of flowering plant.

    After its desecration, residents gathered to lay wreaths and observe a minute’s silence.

    Graham Chainey
    Brighton, East Sussex

    More collective greenie madness in Brighton!

    2. 341844+ up ticks,
      Morning HJ,
      I take it the same council members will be voted in at the next voting opportunity

    3. It seems to something to do with the noise generated by leaf-blowers.

      How green is my Green-led council?

    5. They also seem to be happy with building on green fields (and building generally), despite the production of urban hot spots and destruction of CO2 using plants and trees.

  17. 341844+ up ticks,
    Morning Each,

    Saturday 20 November: Broken rail promises to the North are typical of this fickle Government

    Misleading,
    Yet another appeasement pro eu scam portrayed by the odious coalition has created yet another level of lucrative lifestyle.

    I don’t know of anyone who wants to get to Brum say,by rail a quarter of a hour earlier, by doing that you have to leave a great many peoples
    standing on the intermediate platforms.

    That monies creating / funding lifestyles before a rail was laid would have been better spent on extending platforms to accommodate longer trains and eliminating the herds cattle trucks.

    To conclude, a lab/lib/con vote is just supporting different grades of treacherous sh!te, we could NEVER have got into this state as a nation without their continuing input.

  18. ‘Morning again.

    More eco-balls – and note the final paragraph of this article – heads in the sand? You bet:

    The great eco con: why homeowners are being punished for going green

    ‘Flawed’ energy certificate system means upgrades can actually lower a property’s rating

    By
    Melissa Lawford
    20 November 2021 • 5:00am

    Homeowners risk spending tens of thousands on eco works that could make their homes less valuable thanks to the Government’s “flawed” Energy Performance Certificate system.

    A senior banking source said that in 10 years’ time there could be a group of “property prisoners” because their homes have fallen in value as they are not deemed green enough. Others could be unable to access cheaper mortgages despite making their homes more energy efficient.

    The energy sector has derided the EPC system – which rates homes from A to G – as “not fit for purpose”. The grading is based on bills, not on carbon output, meaning it can punish people for installing heat pumps and incentivises the use of gas over electricity. Inconsistencies in the system mean that homeowners can pay thousands of pounds for work that they later find actually lowered their EPC rating.

    Tom Spurrier, of the UK Green Building Council, an industry body, said: “We have currently got a metric that incentivises gas because it is cheaper.” If you install a heat pump, which is powered by electricity, your EPC rating may fall.

    The Government wants all homes to be EPC band C by 2035. Landlords will be affected first, with plans to introduce a band C requirement for new lets by 2025 and for existing lets by 2028. But owner occupiers will also be hit. Lenders will be required to have an average band C ranking for their portfolios by 2030, landing those homeowners in worse-performing properties with higher mortgage costs.

    There is a risk that homes that cannot meet the target could become unmortgageable.

    The flaws in the EPC system have created bizarre irregularities. David Simms, 34, is a small-scale developer and landlord in London. When he redeveloped a block in Clapham, he paid £10,000 for energy-efficiency improvements, including installing insulation. “The EPC rating went from a B to a borderline D because we put in electrical heating. It was like being kicked in the face.”

    To increase his rating, the EPC assessor advised him to change the heating system back to overnight storage heaters, despite the fact that this would increase the total energy use.

    On another redevelopment, Mr Simms installed double glazing, energy- efficient lighting and an electric boiler. The EPC rating fell from D to E. “The assessor told me if it had been a gas heating system it would have gone to a B,” said Mr Simms.

    The EPC grading system directly contradicts the Government’s aim to ban gas boilers. Jess Ralston, of the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, a non-profit organisation, said: “EPCs are so focused on cost, they forget the environmental impact. If you install a heat pump, you will be punished.”

    When the EPC system was designed in 2007, electric generation was very different. Ten years ago, using electricity produced more than twice as much carbon as gas; now, it is half that of gas.

    “In terms of overall net zero, we need to switch as much as we can to electricity,” said Mr Spurrier. But because the EPC system has not changed, it incentivises homeowners to do the opposite.

    “Pressing ahead with EPC targets without reform will be extremely problematic. We don’t want to embark on a policy using a tool that is not fit for purpose,” he added.

    David Adams, of the Energy Efficiency Infrastructure Group, an industry body, said: “The EPC system is completely inadequate to tell you how good a dwelling is and how much improvement it needs. People now may have completed on a house and be completely unaware of the liabilities they are taking on.”

    The EPC system is subjective. Craig Powell*, an energy assessor, estimated that one in four EPC ratings was wrong. “Two guys can do the same property and come up with different figures,” he said.

    Julia Rennie, 59, spent £4,000 to replace old night storage heaters in two of her flats with electric radiators.

    Her tenants’ energy bills dropped dramatically. But the EPC assessment did not take into account that they previously had to plug in fan heaters in the evenings at peak rates. The EPC ratings dropped, and each flat had a different result: in one, the EPC fell from C to D, in the second it fell from C to E. “The flats are virtually identical, it doesn’t make sense,” said Ms Rennie.

    In September 2020, the Government published plans to make EPCs more reliable and is reviewing the changes needed to encourage people to improve the energy performance of their homes. But experts are frustrated with the lack of progress so far. “They have done multiple consultations, but nothing has actually been done,” said Ms Ralston.

    Mr Powell also warned that government grant schemes, such as the renewable heat incentive, created opportunities for fraud. He said having a poor EPC rating would financially benefit installers and he had seen evidence of manipulation.

    “It was clear the EPC they used to claim the grant was deliberately inaccurate,” he said. “There’s a lot of nudge nudge, wink wink, don’t look for certain things.”

    A Government spokesman said: “No properties will be made unmortgageable by our plans to boost energy efficiency in homes.

    “Our reforms will deliver a fairer system for all, supporting homeowners and landlords to improve their home energy performance, cut energy bills and increase consumer choice.”

    * * *

    This BTL comment makes sense, ‘cos it’s obviously from someone who knows his subject:

    Daniel Glynn Dennis
    12 MIN AGO
    I developed software to measure energy performance and issue the certificates for 20 years before selling the company in 2016. I sold up because the whole thing is rigged. Quangos have their noses in the trough. The government awarded the contract to manage the MCS (heat pumps) scheme to a city business based in Fenchurch Street that to my knowledge had limited engineering or construction industry experience. They made substantial profits every year on a levy for every certificate issued.
    I have written many times to the BEIS and ministers to explain to them why the system is rubbish. However the arts graduates in the civil service and Parliament cannot look further than the end of their nose and revel in increasing regulations and I firmly believe that they think a certificate makes a difference.
    The solution to this problem is quite simple. Measure the houses by the amount of energy consumed and pro rata this by the number of residents. If you combine this with a progressive taxation to increase in the cost of energy for poorly performing buildings you would create a market for energy efficiency because it would be obvious to the homeowner that if they undertake increased insulation they will reduce their bills. This would also encourage people to turn the thermostat down.
    The above solution does not require surveys, it does not require certificates it utilises the power of the market to create change.
    Across the EU there have been different implementations to meet the energy performance of buildings directive. It will be no surprise to hear that the U.K.’s is one of the most bureaucratic.
    The same applies to the smart meter nonsense.

    1. Nonsense. This whole energy ratings thing is a vicious scam. The above postings prove it.
      In a free country you can live where you like, and use as much energy as you can afford. Why would mortgages be denied to houses that cannot be adequately insulated to the “pulled from the air”standards now being set? I would guess that up to half the houses in the UK would fail this mortgage test, including all the most interesting and beautiful. The houses of Edinburgh New Town, the crescents of Bath cannot be insulated to modern standards without being all but destroyed in the process.
      The notion to control mortgages would simply be a crude enforcement of the man made climate change fakery. Just as the incompetent, destructive and expensive switch to battery cars, the clampdown on the use of cheap energy from coal and oil, is ill thought out and driven by legislation from above and not by desire from below, as was the Industrial Revolution, the development of railways, central heating and individual ownership of motor cars.

    2. The incompetence and inadequacy of government is obvious. It is bloated and useless.

      As for forcing people to pay more for energy unless they get insulation is absurd. Plenty of people can’t afford to or physically actually insulate their homes further. I absolutely despise these useless sewage. It’s all take, take take using force, not remotely for our benefit.

    3. The Smart Meter isn’t nonsense.

      The Smart Meter allows the Government to switch off electrical supply to any house that they wish.

      This gives the Government power to shut up any person who objects to anything that the Government does.

      1. But, Janet, if you don’t have one, Mr Government can whistle all he likes but not switch you off.

        1. You’re right NtN.

          That’s exactly the point that I’m making.

          However I understand that “for security reasons” any car sold after 2022 will have the capability to be switched off

          by the Government.

  19. Vienna braces for violence as Austria becomes first European country to make Covid jabs mandatory
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/11/19/vienna-braces-violence-austria-becomes-first-european-country/

    BTL

    Is it not time to concentrate on natural immunity and treatment, Vitamin C, Vitamin D and zinc to start with and ivermectin immediately somebody shows symptoms or has a positive test?

    Is it not time that politicians admitted that the so-called vaccine programme has been a complete failure and something else has to be done apart from just bullying people into submission?

    1. There’s no money in pre and early intervention medicines but mega bucks in some useless serum that is now close to two years old and requires ‘boosters’ every few months. The people have to wake up and for as long as the majority rush out and bare their arms for a product that fails to do what it says on the vial, the government will continue to fund the profits of their Big Pharma chums while at the same time extending their control over our lives.

  22. Good morning everyone .

    Damp morning , was very foggy earlier, now much clearer, no breeze. 10c.

    Last night a little too late in th evening , Moh and I maxxed out on untill probably 0.230 hrs , a very enjoyable trip around Australia .Comedian Griff Rhys Jones travels across Australia by train, encountering the outback, the coast and everything in between.

    His presentation manner is annoying , but we were very impressed by the travelogue . https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81497540 .

    Travelling anywhere there seems so slick , affordable , clean and fast .

    We have never visited Oz, and I don’t think I could cope with a long haul flight any longer , but one has to admire the infrastructure and no nonsense attitude as cultures integrate and contribute to the wealth and hard wired hard workers in Australia .

    Incredible also to think that Dorset men were marched away to Portsmouth , to be punished in penal colonies to Botany Bay

    https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMD9MV_The_Red_Post_Botany_Bay_Farm_A31_Nr_Bloxworth_Dorset_UK

    1. Incredible to contrast that now with the way some Australian states are treating the people who live there.

      1. Not really. As one Australian pointed out. Along with the deportees went their jailers too.

      1. Unfortunately most of the hectoring on diet over the past 50 years by governments has not been good advice.

      1. So do we. We took VitD3 last winter and stayed well – this time vitC+zinc as well. A healthy diet is good too.

      2. Take Quercetin as well, excellent with zinc and bromelain. Quercetin, so I am told, is the substance you find immediately below the skin of an apple (an apple a day…) and bromelain is an inti-inflammatory found in pineapple. Quercetin is the gun that fires the bullet (zinc) into the cells, and is a suitable equivalent to Hydroxychloroquin, so I have read. You can buy Quercetin+Bromelain as one item.

        2. I’ve been taking Quercitin for many years. I have been liable to bruises appearing for no reason. Usually manifesting as painful lump in a finger or toe. The worst was a golf ball sized swelling in the sole of one foot. About 30 years ago the doctor told me they were nothing to worry about. But I thought,”what if one of these occurs in my brain?”. That was when I started the daily Quercitin in order to improve or maintain my blood vessel walls as Quercitin is good for collagen, apparently.

      3. I take a vitamin D capsule each day, along with a swallowed half clove of garlic. I get all my other necessary vitamins and minerals from my diet.

  25. Dutch police “open fire” on vaccination protesters. Coming to a town near you soon, I shouldn’t wonder.

  26. Priti Awful “promises” crackdown on illegal migrants…..

    Now where have I heard that before…?

    3. On RT News they gave out a Press release stating that the Government was seriously considering the idea of an off shore processing centre

      for illegal immigrants.

      Lembik Opik (remember him??) immediately complained that this move is the Government trying to comply with the wishes of the voters rather

      than the wishes of the immigrants.

      I thought that Democracy was when the Government complied with the wishes of the voters??

      2. Indeed it is, and that is why it doesn’t exist. The system in place is not democracy, it is an elective oligarchy (or elective dictatorship).

        In a democracy, the electorate would have the opportunity of weeding out, immediately, all the under-performers.

  27. 341844+Up ticks,

    France has ‘taken trousers down to the British’ in Brexit battle, say furious fishermen
    Emmanuel Macron insists government is ‘going to continue to fight’ over licences after accusations by boat crews

    Truth be told,

    The British lab/lib/con politico has taken great strides in aiding & abetting the french in dropping their strides.

    3. From anyone else I’d think the ’58th birthday’ remark was meant to be a joke. However, from Biden ….

      1. The MR (who is a Limp Dumb) thinks it WAS a joke. She always sees the best in people…(sighs) I keep working on her……

        1. You’re not alone, Bill, Best Beloved is somewhat like that, all three jabs to date but understands that Climate Change/Emergency is a scam.

          1. On the other hand, the MR does think that the covid plague was a deliberate action by the Chinese. So there is hope….

  29. Completely OT – cat news. Gus and Pickles are now 14 months old. Grown up, really.

    It has been interesting to observe their development. Despite being raised in a house by humans – and kept indoors for the first four months – they are “outdoor” cats, not lap cats. They condescend to come in to eat – and spend the night. They will sleep during the day on various chairs and settees (and, occasionally, beds). Often, however, they prefer the porch which is dry and safe but not heated from which they have access to the outdoors. The cat flap has to be left open as Pickles simply refuses to use it despite months of training, encouragement and bribery.

    When we are working in the garden, they will appear from nowhere (in the ways cats just materialise!), observe and play and then push off. They clearly look out for each other but have different interests. The don’t respond the their names, but do come (thank goodness) to a whistle. Eventually.

    I think if the MR and I dropped dead, and the boys were outside – they would survive quite happily on what they can hunt. They are truly independent animals who acknowledge that there are some benefits in having humans around. Especially those with tin openers. They are clean and fastidious in their habits, though Pickles is a really messy eater!

    It has been a fascinating time watching them. Long may it continue!

    1. Sounds so familiar Bill with the exception of the cat flap – I can’t have one due to the nature of the doors. We had one in our previous house with previous cat but all it’s mates would come in and pinch its food

      1. Every previous cats got the hang of the flap in a couple of days. Gus can do it. Pickles won’t even try.

      2. Our cat flap goes through the wall… The doors are either glass or steel lined. Cutting a hole in the wall was easier.

    2. Wonderful thoughts, Uncle Bill! They make our lives so special, and so difficult! A bit like children, really!

  30. The anti-sleaze backlash risks removing power from voters and handing it to ‘the Blob’
    Giving unelected civil servants statutory powers to punish politicians would change a fundamental principle of the British constitution

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/11/19/anti-sleaze-backlash-risks-removing-power-voters-handing-blob/

    BTL

    The most unelected of his controllers, who inspires complete terror into his craven spirit, is his current wife. Maybe things will get better when he changes wives again.

    1. Goodness, there’s some poison BTL on that one, essentially that “Moore is sticking up for a corrupt Paterson and other sundry troughers.”

      His point is simple: how far should the courts and civil servants be able to instruct Parliament on its procedings? This raises echoes of Article 50 and Johnson’s prorogation.

      Quis custodiet and all that…

    2. Dyslexic children need spelling rules to help them cope and phonics on their own do not always help. Try explaining this to a nine year old who would rather be somewhere else doing something else!

      Learn by heart:

      Words of more than one syllable ending in one consonant after one vowel, double the final consonant before adding a suffix beginning with a vowel if the stress is on the final syllable – but do not double the final consonant before adding a suffix beginning with a consonant.

      e.g.s:
      begin + ing – Stress on gin therefore double final consonant – beginning;
      propel + ed – Stress on pel therefore double final consonant – propelled;
      suffer + ed – No stress on fer therefore do not double final consonant – suffered;
      garden + ing – No stress on den therefore do not double final consonant – gardening;
      inter + ing – Stress on ter therefore double final consonant – interring;
      inter + ment – Suffix begins with a consonant therefore do not double the final consonant – interment
      enter + ing – No stress on ter therefore entering.

      BUT there are exceptions: e.g. travel – travelling even though there is no stress on the vel.

      Any more exceptions that Nottlers can come up with?

      (I wonder if Peter preferred doing fillings to doing extractions and if Bill preferred doing conveyancing to giving advice on the wireless. I preferred teaching literature to teaching spelling!)

      1. I learnt all the above ‘by ear’ rather than from a list of rules. The same with German irregular verbs; they just roll off the tongue. Not so with Swedish, because I wasn’t exposed to the language for long enough (3 years).

        A good surgical extraction can be a lot of fun & is especially satisfying when the final root comes out.

  33. Utterly off topic.
    After many years we have finally been given a road name and a house number.
    I hope that that may result in fewer deliveries going missing.
    The old address consisted of the name of the hamlet and when you get there ask. Difficult when there are never many people about
    Far too many delivery drivers didn’t bother and we have a suspicion that neighbours/the driver often helped themselves to the delivery.

    1. Our house in Laure eventually had a number – but for most people it was still “Fifi Bonnet’s house” – Mme Bonnet being the person who sold it the MR in 1984!

      You have been unlucky, I think. Even if mail or purchases were misdelivered, they always ended up with us – or with the lady 300 yards away who had the keys!

      1. It tends to be things like flowers and “obvious” presents, chocolats and the like. Local firms are fine, it’s the bigger companies where the drivers don’t want to waste time trying to track down a specific property.
        Our area had no road names, no road numbers, no house names nor numbers and the hamlet was a tiny scrap in the much larger commune. I suspect what decided them to do something was the recent amalgamation of three communes, covering possibly hundreds of small hamlets, some with the same name; finding the correct hamlet would have been a nightmare, even with SatNav.

        1. Similar in rural England. Type a post code for a farm in the sat-nav and you would be lucky to get the right farm.

      2. One can only contemplate what Fifi had on offer under the bonnet. Did you get many bemused visitors!

        1. Tut tut. Mme Bonnet lived there for all her married life and then as a widow. She was 80+ when the MR bought the house. A more serious and respectable lady would be difficult to find.

      3. We are the only house at the end of a voie sans issue but they tried to call us No 2 Le Grand Osier even though there is no No 1 and they got the wrong side of the road as odd numbers are on the left as is our house.. They seem to have lost interest.

          3. Spelling is V important. Our first word was ‘crafts’ for our Suffolk home.

            Leaving the ‘s’ off and it sends you to Guangdong in China.

      3. I like that app. It shows my location as the location of the VPN server!
        Free VPN from protonmail, they also have (better) paid versions.

        1. Rather defeats the object of the exercise, which is mainly to be able direct tradesmen and delivery trucks to YOUR address when they’re lost or claiming not to find you. and not the address of the VPN.

          1. Haven’t watched it yet but i don’t mind binning it. Should know if it is worthwhile by the end of the second episode.

          1. It does mean that everyone hears about it though.

            In the case of Rittenhouse he will need that sort of money to protect himself and his family from revenge attacks like arson.

          7. You need to hit the biased, mendacious scum at the MSM, so hard it makes their heads hurt and empties their over-stuffed pockets.

    1. Wasn’t it terrible when one income could cover the costs of bringing up children and paying for the mortgage and everything else?

    1. It is not a case that I have followed, but the teenager was wrong on so many levels. Randomly shooting people dead in order to protect a commercial premises with which he had no connection. The place was insured.

      3. Then perhaps you should have before judging him he didn’t “randomly shoot” anyone he defended himself against rioters attempting to murder him hence the Not Guilty verdict
        The video evidence is clear especially the convicted felon pointing a gun at Kyle’s head before he was shot

      4. Then it is a case you should have followed before making a stupid remark. Karl did not shoot people randomly, he shot three people who were trying to kill him.

  41. Online dating

    Women:

    I hope he’s not a weirdo, or a serial killer, or needy, control
    freak, violent, unhygienic, unemployed, perverted, bad-tempered,
    ill-mannered, insecure, cheater.

    Men:

    I hope she’s not fat.

    1. I suppose attitudes towards using agencies to find a spouse or a partner have changed. Is it a generational thing? I doubt if many Nottlers used online dating – and I can only think of a couple of people of my acquaintance who did – a couple of male teachers who were pleasant enough but one had BO and the other had bad breath; they were both rather dull and notoriously unsuccessful with the opposite sex and were rather desperate. As they say, those who do not like their own company are probably right..

      Mind you times have changed. I never have had much trouble meeting people but I never met someone I wanted to marry until I met Caroline. If I had not met her I would have stayed unmarried as I was not unhappy on my own but, Caroline assures me, I am far happier now!

  42. 341844+ up ticks,
    I strongly assume her proposed United Kingdom sites will be Isle of Wight, Isle of Dogs, Isle of Grain, etc,etc,all close at hand,

    Priti Patel plans Greek-style clampdown on migrants
    Asylum seekers will have to obey strict rules at new holding centres or face their claims to stay in UK being rejected

      1. NO! They are bird and seal sanctuaries. No humans should ever allowed on those.

        I propose the Isle of Wight since it is already a human shithole.

        1. Why not pay Canada for the use of an island or two up north? There are plenty of uninhabited islands available, just a few polar bears and millions of mosquitos to worry about. No need to go much further north than somewhere like Tromso and with global warming it will not be too bad in winter.

          But what about Isle of Dogs? That has a certain appeal to adherents of the invading religion.

          1. I say. What a Capital idea. Do you suppose that the Inuit of, say, Ellesmere Island would mind having a few million permanent trainee seal-hunters in their midst?

            Be a bit of a bugger for the vegans and halal-eaters though.

      2. NO! They are bird and seal sanctuaries. No humans should ever allowed on those.

        I propose the Isle of Wight since it is already a human shithole.

    2. While you hopefully still know where they all are Minister, just get rid of them fly them out.
      What ever it costs it wont hurt you personally Minister and it’ll be cheaper than tending for all their needs and massive costs for years and the hooman riaghts legal bills.
      You know it makes sense.
      Cameron flew thousands of them in with out telling any one, you send them back we don’t need to know.

      1. 341844+ up ticks,
        Afternoon RE,

        THar is what is needed but the majority lab/lib/con supporter / voter will NOT hear of it.

  44. I wonder what Biden’s view was when OJ Simpson was acquitted.
    OJ was sued successfully for wrongful killing, I wonder whether the families of the attackers will go for Rittenhouse similarly.

    1. Acquitted on the basis that a blood soaked shrunken leather glove didn’t fit Simpson’s hand, whilst one of his victim’s blood found on Simpson’s sock was rejected as evidence because of police incompetence in handling the item.

      2. I am doubtful about OJ’s guilt. I suspect that his son did it and OJ is covering for him.

    1. Wow the USA really does have a bad dose of psychopathic claptrap as espoused by the leadership of the ‘Democratic’ party and swathes of the MSM.

  47. Afternoon All
    Will the Maxwell trial be livestreamed as Rittenhouse was??
    No,thought not……..

  48. #CovidClownWorld

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0f586875f2d211e34761b106196e074669bab11fc4fa3d7687759d123bd295fc.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/161ba2227c4e23a40f0f321ff24bd40bf64ae3368b6f127bd4d8ae4448df6f54.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/16d28ae9297174a8772625cd879ef9e194e244dccf5d7479fd7ec26abfb02c3e.jpg

    https://twitter.com/calvinrobinson/status/1461632112289886209?s=20
    In a rare piece of good news I have read the Austrian police and Army are refusing to implement the oppressive measures the government wants
    Which side do you think OUR police and Army would be on??

    2. As I was standing on the stair
      I saw a plague that wasn’t there
      It wasn’t there again today
      I wish that plague would go away!

  49. Rotterdam police open fire as Covid protest turns into ‘orgy of violence’. 20 November 2021,

    Police have opened fire on protesters and seven people were injured after rioting erupted during a demonstration against Covid-19 restrictions in central Rotterdam, in what the city’s mayor described as an “orgy of violence”.

    Ahmed Aboutaleb told reporters in the early hours of Saturday morning that “on a number of occasions the police felt it necessary to draw their weapons to defend themselves” as rioters rampaged through the shopping district, starting fires and throwing stones and fireworks at officers.

    Is my memory at fault here? I thought that I read earlier, before I went into town, that two people had been killed both in Austria and the Netherlands?

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/19/the-netherlands-rotterdam-police-open-fire-as-covid-protest-turns-violent

          1. Chaos umpire sits
            And by decision more embroils the fray by which he reigns.

            [John Milton]

            The MSM no longer wants us to know the truth about anything.

  50. The US FDA is supposed to be one of the main world public health authorities. How far they have become part of the murderous Fauci kleptocracy is shown, if further demonstration is needed by this piece of brazen conduct. They want to help Pfizer conceal the ingredients of their poisonous injectates for the next 55 years!!

    https://greatgameindia.com/fda-2076-pfizer-vaccine-data/

      3. Yet, I’ve just heard from someone who was on a small, local protest today, carrying a banner saying “Protect our Children from the Pharma-Industry”
        She had people shouting at her and insulting her.
        It really is true, they are so scared by the media that they have lost all reason. If you’d told them two years ago “we want to inject healthy 5 year olds with an experimental gene therapy for an illness that kills next to no healthy 5 year olds” they would never have agreed to it.
        She told me “about ten percent of the people who passed would have put us in a concentration camp.”

  51. To call this government fickle is a bit like calling Ronny Biggs a shoplifter….. we need to wake up to the reality of what criminality means when it gets into government.

    2. I hope they nail him and he’s forced to pay back every thing any one can claim against him. The poor chap of course could be suffering from Takiyya or Kitman,…………. Dissimilation by silence or omission.

      1. What does the term Kitman mean in Islam?
        What is “kitman”. Wikipedia. Kitman. In Islamic jurisprudencekitmān (كتمان “secrecy, concealment”) is a subfield of Ḥiyal (the practice of deception or trickery), consisting of the art of making ambiguous statements, paying lip-service to authority while reserving personal opposition, in a kind of political camouflage or reservatio mentalis.

        1. Inspector Clouseau complimented a hotel bell boy saying that he would soon grow up to be a Bellman. He he did not go on to explain whether this would qualify him to go on and hunt the Snark.

          Does a Kitman grow up to be a Catman?

    3. Just another typical hypocritical muslim, as found in places of proscribed entertainment across the western world.

    6. Too shameless or stupid to realise that starting a racism complaint might end badly for him.
      Oh, silly me. He knows he will get away with the lot and probably get compansation for his hurt feelings too. He’s untouchable.

  54. How gang warfare took over Sweden’s streets. 20 November 2021.

    As the story hit the media, members of the local community flocked to the hairdressers in a show of sympathy. Even the mayor, Social Democrat Meeri Wasberg, came by to express her support.

    But even while the mayor was sitting in the salon, the threats continued, as Mayor Wasberg later wrote on Facebook: ‘While I’m sitting there, a young man in a hat pokes his head in and tells them that they have to close, that they have one hour… It’s not clear what he means will happen if they don’t close, but still clear somehow.’ When the channel TV4 sent a reporter to the area to investigate the story, he was attacked on the square.

    It turns out that the gangs are stronger than the Swedish state. Police in the end told the two hairdressers to stay away from Jordbro. They have since moved and can now only visit their old neighbourhood with police escort. They carry personal assault alarms and live under police protection.

    One’s tempted to gloat of course but these people are just a few years ahead of us. This is what you get when an effete ruling class forces its views on everyone else, and worse, those qualities that led to it also prevent their acting to correct it.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/how-sweden-became-the-most-dangerous-country-in-europe

    1. I’m still watching the Vienna one live. If the stream is just from one camera, it’s huge, because it’s been going for an hour.
      Haven’t seen my daughter though!

      PS got an SMS from her – she’s at the front
      I notice a lot of young people – the first generation of students since the 1930s who really ARE fighting fascism.

      2. OK, the back of the procession was at about 16:50 local time, and this person was filming since about 15:20. Roughly 80-90 000 people?
        Not bad for a country with a population of 9 million, and effectively closed borders.

  57. 341844+ up ticks,

    Number 1,
    Getting daily reports on the deaths & carnage covid is causing according to political overseers and their muppet / puppets have we a corresponding daily record of those dying of medical neglect for real ?

    Number two,
    These political overseers must know that witnessing the current issue as with NO new doctors coming through the system & many leaving
    the profession the illegal entrance of potential patients inclusive of witch doctors is doing everything but helping the situation, daily.

    Number Three,
    As for the track department taking four years to decide to axe part of HS2 was it cutting short certain peoples / groups lifestyles when they could have taken the Tommy Robinson option four year ago, NOT good on HS2 fast tracks CV.

    1. Interesting juxtaposition of the emotive article about unvaxed woman nearly dying adjacent to the protest article. Still good to see an MSM outlet actually reporting the protest.

    2. More doctors and solicitors should advertise themselves in the same way as above. And software developers too, now I come to think of it – but nobody ever asks for our advice! They just expect (most unreasonably) their software to work!

      1. When I qualified, I worked for a firm at 147 Strand, London. At 149 was a dry-cleaners; their sign was “Suits pressed while you wait” I fought the urge to add the word “Law”…!!

        2. “You are old,” said the youth, ” and your jaws are too weak
          For anything tougher than suet;
          Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the beak-
          Pray, how did you manage to do it?”

          “In my youth,” said his father, “I took to the law,
          And argued each case with my wife;
          And the muscular strength, which it gave to my jaw,
          Has lasted the rest of my life.”

          [From ‘You Are Old Father William’: Lewis Carroll]

          4. Bliss was in that dawn to be alive
            But to be young was very heaven

            [William Wordsworth]

            Which was your best decade?

        2. Excellent. Had my first ‘proper sing’ in two years, last Sunday evening at St John the Baptist, Wimbledon. Fauré’s Requiem. My old protégé is D of M there, and is a damn good conductor.

  63. Looking at the way the Democrats and their sympathisers are claiming that the Rittenhouse verdicts were wrong, and stirring up racial hatred on the back of it, I wonder how long it will be before members of the jury are attacked, either in the streets or in their homes or workplaces.
    Not very, I fear.

    1. And the ruling party seems hellbent on encouraging their supporters to disregard the laws. One can’t have equality until every major city is just like Chicago with 50 shootings resulting in10 homicides every weekend..

      1. If they eventually succeed in getting their gun control laws I doubt that that will change, either.

    2. It is all part and parcel of the modern sickness of refusing – often violently – to accept a result one does not like.

    3. It is an appalling display of lies by the Democrats. There are genuine arguments over this case, but I’m not hearing them being made. The only positive side is that more and more people are waking up to it.

    4. This situation has been aggravated by Dopey Joe’s statement that “people will be very unhappy with this result”…

      And later – presumably after official advice – “Nevertheless, people should accept the jury’s verdict …”

    5. Well, they can’t complain when Republican supporters claim the Presidential Election was rigged.

  64. Now, here’s a funny thing. Along with lots of you, I cannot stand Matthew Parris. 99.9% of what he writes makes me vomit. So – and here’s the funny thing – he has a piece in the Spectator* this week and another in today’s Grimes – which I set out for your delectation

    “For the first time in her 69-year reign, the Queen did not deliver the opening address to the Church of England’s annual General Synod last week. This was certainly not a royal commentary on the state of the English Church (there’s a non-abdication abdication now stealthily under way) but still there’s something melancholy, something epoch-marking, something bleak about the monarch’s absence. For Anglicanism, it is not going well.

    Later, the Archbishop of York’s speech to the synod served, like the echo of a foghorn in an advancing fog, only to reinforce the shudder. Stephen Cottrell conceded that the Church might be dying. Even if decline could not be reversed (and hopefully it could), he told the General Synod, “let our death be a grand operatic death. Let it be something fantastic. Let’s not crawl into a corner.”

    Dr Cottrell has an attractive habit of blurting things out. He went on to nail the question but not the answer. The Church, he said, must not simply “manage decline gracefully”.


    He was precisely wrong. The Church of England has a lot longer left to live if only it will keep faith with the existing flock, remember what it is about their churches that they love, and deepen, even stabilise, Anglicanism’s hold of a gently dwindling market. People love the fabric of the Church, they love the beauty, the ritual, the music, the familiar. They are — even — increasing attendance in our greatest cathedrals.

    Many churchgoers are (if truth be told) a bit iffy about the actual existence of a deity, let alone a life to come, but put that aside: Anglicanism was never meant for the doctrinaire; that was the whole point. It is almost three centuries since the bishop and theologian Joseph Butler remarked (to the evangelising John Wesley) “Sir, the pretending to extraordinary revelations and gifts of the Holy Ghost is a horrid thing, a very horrid thing!”.

    One struggles, of course, to make a sexy argument for the inevitability of decline. It’s intellectually simpler to rage against the dying of the light, as the present Archbishop of Canterbury seems set on doing. Justin Welby has made a forgivable but serious mistake. He thinks the Church of England is about God. He intones the latest Anglican faddism about “reaching out”, “planting” new churches, targeting the Church’s message on the younger generation, finding new ways, new media, to put Anglicanism across, be it virtually, from his kitchen in Lambeth Palace, or with tambourines and hallelujahs in the pews.

    He admitted at the synod this week, however, that so far the outreach has failed. Next year will mark the 70th year of continuous decline in church attendance. Less than 2 per cent of us are now regular attenders. The decline stems from the lack of young churchgoers to replace the old when they die; and the average age of a worshipper is now 61. In their hearts, both archbishops, most of the clergy, and most churchgoers too must doubt that they will live to see any serious revival.

    So why not accept it? In England, at least, a tide of agnosticism and atheism has been coming in for centuries. There’s a widespread misconception that this is recent. I question the assumption.

    Throughout her life my late grandmother, the dutiful daughter of the church organist in a village in Kent and a pillar of unshowy rectitude, exhibited a reserved but unrelenting conservatism in all things. I never once heard her express an unconventional opinion. In her final months I (aged about 19) was helping her, lame and breathless, up a ramp from the beach in Margate. I was a crass and cocky youth. “Never mind, Grandma,” I said, “in the next life you’ll be leaping around like a spring lamb!”. She stopped dead, fixing me with an irritated glare. Something had snapped. “You don’t think I’ve ever believed any of that nonsense, do you?” I was shocked, having believed myself, surely, to be the first heathen in the family. More mature reflection suggested I could not name anyone related to me who really believed in Heaven. Grandma was born in 1888.

    How then do you explain high levels of church attendance in (for instance) Victorian times, or the rise or fall of nonconformist Christianity? In Skin in the Game Nassim Nicholas Taleb explains it well: quite small minorities (he writes) can corral large but quiescent majorities into apparent obedience to the minority conviction, so long as the former are fiercely intolerant, and the latter disposed to opt for a quiet life. Particularly, he says, this is true where deferring to the minority doesn’t too greatly inconvenience the majority.

    Even though I think it’s silly, I’m content to write “he or she” or “they” instead of “he”, and to say “chair” rather than “chairman”, because — really — it’s no skin off my nose, and why upset people? So it has been with religious observance. How much do I honestly care if pork is off the menu, or I must enter a mosque barefoot, or bow towards the church altar? Do we know what a clerk in 1850 believed? How?

    I don’t believe in God. But I love the Church, pay my subs to All Saints in Elton, sing hymns and delight in the Testaments Old and New. I say my prayers every night not because anyone is listening, but because I always have. Cathedrals fill me with wonder, graveyards with reverence. The inscription on a gravestone in the nearby village of Youlgreave — to an infant who lived only a few months — “Touch’d the Earth and gone to Glory” brings tears to my eyes. I subscribe to the Friends of Friendless Churches. And it goes deeper. I love both the story and the person of Jesus, who I’m convinced was a real and wonderful man, albeit under a serious misapprehension about paternity.

    Permit me talking about myself because there are millions like me. This is the Church of England we want to be part of — if semi-detached. It’s intimately, inseparably, associated with bricks and stones and windows, ritual and music; theologically unchallenging, with a certain mild muzziness as to doctrine, and a sharp distrust of zeal.

    As with The Crown, we don’t really care how much of it is true. Yes, we are a shrinking market but a market Anglicanism had virtually cornered. Turn away from us, Canterbury, in order to “plant” new churches in untilled soil, but when they wither — and they will — there are worse corners to crawl back into than the traditional parish churches of the dear old C of E.

    * I’ll cut and paste if anyone wants.

    1. The Church of England would be growing like Topsy if it actually went out and preached the Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ!

      2. The freedom march through London this pm was lead by a Christian group carrying a Cross and a statue of Our Lady. Usual numbers. We filled Oxford Street. Even GBNews not reporting it, though they mentioned demos in Vienna.

        1. Have you been in touch with GBN about it? They claim to be glad if they are told about “news”…

    3. I had no idea Welby thought the CofE was about God. I thought he believed it to be an inconvenience to be got rid of.

  67. HAPPY HOUR – Finding GOD….

    Shopping in town earlier I chanced upon our local beggar of Eastern appearance, wedged in a shop doorway. Complete with begging bowl, he looked rather sad and forlorn wrapped in his warm blanket in the cold, grey weather.
    I stopped and looked at his plea, hastily written on cardboard
    it read ‘Homeless and Hungry.
    GOD Bless’.

    So I wished him a Merry Christmas and moved on.

    2. That’s almost as good as replying ‘Bless you!’ when the words’ ‘BIG ISSUE’ are bawled in one’s direction….

      1. When I’m confronted in the street in Cambridge, my response is, “Jag talar endast svenska.” That confuses them.

        1. Works when “microsoft” call you about the virus your pc is sending out.
          “Beklager, jeg snakker bare norsk!”. Even when you explain thta since they are calling from a Norwegian number, surely they speak Norwegian?

      1. I don’t think Plum goes around with her cheeks filled with Sherry – but I could be wrong….

    4. Interesting that our beggars have the same message. Spose their gang-master can’t be arsed to think up a line for each one. I try and resist comment as I pass but I did point out to one recently that she was sitting 100 yds from a Macydees sign looking for workers.

    5. There are millions of jobs available. But that means working for a living which is a lot less than begging combined with benefits.

      2. In onevof my rare trips to town recently I saw a young woman with her hand out sitting on the pavement outside a shop which had a sign in the window advertising for staff.

        1. Ouch. It’s entirely possible that she couldn’t read, and was completely unaware of the irony.

  68. For months, we have been planning our first three night trip to London to see or grand-daughter, elder grandson and some culchur. Just now, daughter-in-law has rung to say that she has the plague and is quarantining herself for 10 days (into our stay in Lunnon) and is worried about GD as well.

    Isn’t life a bugger?

      1. Thank you. We are leaving it until Wed (our planned departure is Friday)to see how many others in the family catch it from D-in-L.

        1. Get them to do the tests too.
          I recommend you get the access codes now, because the pharmacies often only allow one pack of 7 rather than the two they are supposed to offer per household.

    3. Tell her you triple jabbed, with bar and clasp, and invincible to all ills. Who could possibly argue with the science (apart from the Dutch who are then shot).

        1. I have had to cancel so many trips because of these sudden lockdowns. VSC, Rules, Seymours Place. Not even mentioning all the foreign holidays i have lost thousands on.

          April 1st Bill. You might want to reconsider. :@)

          2. It’s a joke !….sort of.

            We will miss you. But i quite understand. Let’s face it. Who wants a hunchback at a wedding ! :@(

    6. Does Daughter-in-Law feel ill with flu symptons ?
      Why did she take the test ?

      Posted earlier:
      Recently a dear friend was told to take a Covid test regarding her job.
      She keeps fit playing tennis, golf and swimming when time allows. Her healthy diet
      played an important part of her health and fitness regime, and was in excellent health.
      She booked an appointment for today …….I’m expecting a call from her this evening.
      I bet the test is positive….

      I heard last night……Yup she has Covid!

      1. She has all the symptoms of “covid” including loss of taste and smell.

        That is why she tested herself – and was positive.

        I swither between thinking she has a cold or seasonal ‘flu and – just possibly – the plague.

        That is the problem today. No one really knows anything about what could be one of several options.

          1. Thanks, sos. Her life on her own with GD is tough enough as it is. She is a self-employed designer and has to take what crumbs of work are offered. Being ill is not helpful.

          1. Mother, in horsepickle, has tested positive. No symptoms – she has an immune system that could fight radiation. However, she’s in isolation.

          2. Oh boy Obers, you aren’t half going through it with your mum and being so distant must truly add to your worries and concerns. If I lived anywhere near, I would offer aid but am too far away.

          3. That’s kind of you, Lottie, but there’s little anyone can do, I’m afraid. We’re still fixing her house electrics and cleaning, but given the state of her dementia, she is unlikely to return home.
            The hospital want to talk about do-not-resuscitate…
            It’s a bit stressful.

          4. The best of luck to you and your family. This is not an easy path for you. I shall keep you in my thoughts.

          7. It’s the little things: if she needs some fresh clothes, I can’t sort that. What about books? Her teddy? Does she still have my Dad’s watch with her? The only plus point is that she is unlikely to remember much past life, and miss it.

          8. Oh dear, that is horrible, being in isolation in hospital. Can’t be good for her, and visitors not allowed, I am guessing, even if you were there.

        5. With nearly every cold I have had (and I have had a lot in my lifetime), I have lost my sense of taste and smell, ‘cos me nose is bunged up,

          4. It’s quite a lot longer in my case… the first to return is vinegar but not so much the smell as the fumes, (as in chutney) which smell different from normal.

          5. Vinegar used to be waved under the noses of people being tortured in the middle ages as it revived them when they passed out from the pain.

  70. I am home now and happy to report that no shops were destroyed during my outing. Mind you, I haven’t unpacked the groceries yet….

  71. That’s me for this non day. Grey, unwelcoming weather. Then the London news.

    So I am off to take my evening medicine. Have a jolly evening.

    A demain.

    1. I think it’s really important to take an extra large measure of alcohol as it disinfects the throat effectively terminating any viruses that may lurk there. For me it’s so far so good!

    2. And yet, despite the Andromeda strain attitude, cases continue to rise proving that they simply don’t work and are not needed.

  73. Have our medics decided to use Ivermectin to treat patients with early Covid symptoms or are they still resisting the use of this proven medicine?

    2. No. They have failed grossly in their ancient duty to the sick. Early treatment world wide now would arrest this mass murder. I hope there will be justice.

    3. Ivermectin

      Ivermectin was discovered in 1975 and came into medical use in 1981;[12][13] William Campbell and Satoshi Ōmura won the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for its discovery and applications.[

      It all happened 40 years ago, unlike the present ‘CONVID remedies, which are ring-fenced until 2075.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivermectin

    4. They don’t want us to be cured if we get it they want us to die.

      Deep Evil is abroad.

    1. Wow. I did once pass Mark Knopfler in a corridor at Television Centre. Even that can’t happen now.

    2. One of my all time favourites…could only be British, to celebrate the mediocre in such an expert and beautiful way.

      1. Roy Orbison and Friends, A Black and White Night (1988). It was on Sky Arts last night. Wonderful! They were all enjoying themselves and having fun. Roy Orbison, Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, and others I did not recognise. All playing up to each other, jamming, and enjoying it.
        Thirty-three years ago. Not possible. Really not possible. Last week, OK. 2010 maybe. 1988 – Cannot believe it… but Fabulous.

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLY7P07OSwI

  75. A couple, both age 78, went to a sex therapist’s office. The doctor asked, “What can I do for you?”
    The man said, “Will you watch us have sex?”
    The doctor looked puzzled, but agreed.
    When the couple finished, the doctor said, “There’s nothing wrong with the way you have sex,” and charged them $50.
    This happened several weeks in a row. The couple would make an appointment, have sex with no problems, pay the doctor, then leave.
    Finally, the doctor asked, “Just exactly what are you trying to find out?”
    “We’re not trying to find out anything,” the husband replied.
    “She’s married and we can’t go to her house. I’m married and we can’t go to my house. The Holiday Inn charges $90. The Hilton charges $108. We do it here for $50…and I get $43 back from Medicare

  77. Two hunters are in the woods when one of them collapses. His hunting buddy immediately calls 911. “My friend isn’t breathing,” he shouts into the phone. “What should I do?” “Relax,” the operator tells him. “I can help. First, let’s make sure he’s dead.” There’s silence, and then a gunshot. The guy gets back on the phone and says, “OK, now what?”

  79. 341844+ up ticks,

    Are we to expect a Dunblane type lock if the drips threaten a serious leak of honesty.

    Bat virus was shipped to Wuhan laboratory before Covid outbreak, emails show
    Leaked documents add more weight to theory that virus leaked from city’s Institute of Virology, say campaigners

  80. Hundreds of Tesla drivers were locked out of their cars at the start of the weekend after the manufacturer’s mobile app suffered an outage – and dozens voiced their complaints on social media.

    Elon Musk, Tesla’s chief executive, said on Friday that the company’s mobile application was coming back online after the app server outage. Musk was responding to a Tesla owner’s tweet, who said that he was experiencing a “500 server error” to connect his Model 3 through the iOS app in Seoul, South Korea.

    “Should be coming back online now. Looks like we may have accidentally increased verbosity of network traffic,” Musk said.

    The outage was first reported by specialist electric vehicle website Electrek, which started receiving reports from Tesla owners in the US and Canada, then from Europe and Asia.

    About 500 users reported they faced an error at about 4.40pm ET (9.40pm GMT), according to outage monitoring website Downdetector, which tracks outages by collating status reports from a series of sources, including user-submitted errors on its platform. There were just over 60 reports by about 9.20pm ET.

    “Apologies, we will take measures to ensure this doesn’t happen again,” Musk said on Twitter.

    According to Electek, Tesla’s systems rarely have outages, though the website said that, in September 2020, the company had experienced a complete outage of both its customer-facing servers and internal system for several hours.

    Stuart Masson, editor of the Car Expert website, told the BBC that Tesla drivers were not entirely reliant on the app. “There will be a secondary mechanism to get in or out of the car beyond the app, the difficulty will come for drivers if they are not carrying it,” he said.

    https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/nov/20/tesla-app-outage-elon-musk-apologises

    1. Bwahahahaha….thank God access to my car is not dependent upon there being no bugs in the software that I write! Or even worse, that my colleagues write!!

          10. In 1970 I was offered a 1957 Morris Minor in pristine condition which had trafficators for the princely sum of £15 because it had failed its MOT needing a small spot of welding to the floor pan behind the driver’s seat. Being a student I borrowed the money and then ran the Morris for the next 4 years,

    2. Get used to it folks. When the elites decide who can and who cannot drive how do you think they’ll control you?

    1. Herr Oberst, why is the suited and booted gentleman in the centre busy reading his newspaper and ignoring the Fab Four in their Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band uniforms?

      :-))

  83. Good night all.

    Cold poached salmon with Hollandaise. A crisp, fruity white Rioja.
    Chilled fresh mango.

    1. We had a hearty braising steak done in the black pot with carrots , onions, garlic, then served with potatoes, and purple sprouting, and a bottle of Cahors.

    1. French wines leave a sour taste now.

      Good old Lidl and Aldi. Sticking it to the supermarkets big boys.

      As an aside…I prefer Cremant. For £12.49 you can buy a most excellent one. And there are plenty well below that price that are pretty good.

    2. It was on Boris’s CV FFS! Oh, but it would have been stuffy and old-fashioned, and preachy to criticise his private life…!

    1. Somehow I can’t see Priti dragging them out of their free luxurious accommodation into Greek-style reception centres. The HR parasitic lawyers would slap writs on her.

    1. There are massive protests against vaccine mandates and lockdowns around the world. Major cities figure such as Brisbane, Melbourne, Rome, London, Vienna and many more.

      The Austrian government will have to stand down if the Austrian Police stand down as promised.

      The French health authorities have ruled out vaccination of children presumably on account of risk analysis. We in the UK should do the same. As long as liars such as Chris Whitty in the UK and Fauci in the USA are calling for the shots we at least have the first candidates for Nuremberg 2. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/292b8a0f4a777ed5f778dd09133bf4b44eeda3dc1041f0ad7bc846ce5da5fa4d.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0533c380533502ad6630b22547d3f1d8fe31691b90f6bdcc3eb218f03e316164.jpg

    3. This action protects not only Austrians, but everyone in the EU. If this law is successfully implemented in Austria, Germany will be next, followed by every other EU country.

    1. I must tell you about this evening. As planned I went to Asda for some things and, as normal, I called for a cab home. I was warned that it might be 20 mins as the traffic was awful because of the repairs going on in the shopping centre. So I waited where I told the cab co. I would be. After said 20 mins a chap appeared beside me and asked if I was Mrs. —- and was I waiting for a cab. It had taken him half an hour to get to me and he had had to park down in the lower level. He walked up to find me, pushed my cart into the elevator and thus to his cab. I recognised him as he’s driven me before. I was well impressed. When we were on the road I asked politely for his name, Habib, was the response and I shall commend him to the company.
      When we got home, the cab fare was £5- I gave him £10 and told him to keep the rest. He did not have to come looking for me but he did and my husband when I told him was also impressed.

      1. That is reassuring and something to cherish. This morning I had hearing aids fitted by a lovely Brazilian audiologist with one of those long surnames Machado De Malgalhaes.

        She and her Secretary husband were highly professional and courteous. This was in marked contrast to the audiologist at Specsavers. She smiled animatedly when I told her I have the books of Machado De Assis in my collection and had just re-read ‘Epitaph of a Small Winner’.

        Likewise when skipping the unobtainable NHS dentist, for a molar extraction, I was treated by a wonderful Jordanian dentist and Jordanian surgeon. The BUPA service was exemplary in marked contrast to the NHS shambles.

        We have many accomplished and highly educated professionals from other countries in the UK. Not every Muslim is a potential bomber but some are. There should be a proper vetting procedure for those coming to the UK to work.

      2. It is true that one should not tar everyone with the same brush, however the last time I took a taxi, the Pakistani driver told me that Hitler was not as bad as everyone said, and he had the right ideas.

  91. 341822+ up ticks,

    Surely a bad joke article the tory (ino) party are endangering every indigenous person within these isles as are the other two of the pro eu coalition.

    Migrant crisis puts Tories in peril
    Senior figures warn PM as poll shows 77pc of Conservative voters believe Government approach to Channel crossings is ‘too soft’

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