Saturday 21 March: Considerate shoppers are cruelly punished and the elderly squashed into supermarket crowds

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2020/03/21/lettersconsiderate-shoppers-cruelly-punished-elderly-squashed/

984 thoughts on “Saturday 21 March: Considerate shoppers are cruelly punished and the elderly squashed into supermarket crowds”

  1. ‘Morning All

    Shocking article from the Al-Beeb – shocking because it is truthful

    eg “Every year more than 500,000 people die in England and Wales: factor

    in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and the figure tops 600,000.

    The coronavirus deaths will not be on top of this. Many would be within this

    “normal” number of expected deaths. In short, they would have died

    anyway”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-51979654#
    What’s all this then,rowing back on doom and destruction?? Or just positioning themselves to slag the government off no matter what??

    1. Morning Rik. As a guide to the present situation can I point out that if we used the same methodology for reporting the yearly Flu epidemic (average mortality 17,000 p.a.) as we are doing for CV. People would be topping themselves and shooting the postman! The present known UK deaths are 177!

      1. I don’t have a gun, so I can’t shoot Michelle the Postie. but I can set the neighbour’s dogs on her.

      2. HMG’s own figures state that in the winter of 2017/18 some 26,408 people died of ‘flu.

    2. That article is wrong. The scientists are talking about excess deaths above the normal number.

      EDIT the Chief Scientific Adviser was talking 20000 excess deaths on Wednesday in front of the health committee (as a good outcome). Many forecasts do refer to total deaths and it’s totals which are being reported.

  4. Our liberty must not be a casualty of Covid-19. Spiked. 20th March 2020.

    But the impulse towards authoritarianism in moments like this must be resisted as much as possible. Every new power set to be handed to the government must be closely scrutinised. Whatever might happen in the weeks and months ahead, we need to make sure we still have a free society at the end of all this. Our liberty must not be a casualty of Covid-19.

    Morning everyone. Well since we don’t have a free society at the beginning I don’t see how we are going to have one at the end!

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2020/03/20/our-liberty-must-not-be-a-casualty-of-covid-19/

    1. You will have to arrange for their phones to be surgically removed first.

      ‘Morning, Rik.

    1. If you experience sudden, intense anxiety and fear, it might be the symptoms of a panic attack.

      It might also be because you are in deep sh*t! Morning Belle.

    2. Useful yes. Thanks for sharing reliable info.

      The conspiracy theorists are going to look very stupid once this is over assuming their own stupidity doesn’t kill them.

  8. Homework

    BBC World Service reveals that overall mortality arising from catching the COVID-19 virus is virtually zero from birth to 1 in 12 for those over 80.
    Also that men are twice as likely to die as women..

    Question 1

    Derive mathematical equations to represent the likelihood of dying from a COVID-19 infection for

    a. Women
    b. Men

    Question 2

    Discuss how the likelihood of you dying from any disease other than COVID-19 virus differs from that arising from that pathogen alone.

    Illustrate your reasoning by using a mathematical spreadsheet including a two variable bar chart.

    Time allowed for your answers is 12 weeks

    2. It struck me when reading a link reposted above (later) (this one https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/… ) that everything that is going on is based on predictive modelling and wondered whether the modelling is as accurate as that for climate change.

    1. So true. All the broadsheets are full of the most frightful self-pitying tripe as they try to find new angles on the current situation.

    1. ‘Afternoon, Angie, most of industry and commerce shut down. The electricity suppliers will soon go bust.

      1. Hi NTN

        Hence the urgent need for a Government scheme to increase production of electric vehicles so that our coal fired power stations can start burning British coal using fluidised bed combustion and put Opec out of business by scrapping all our petrol and diesel cars.

  13. Good Morning Folks

    Nice bright start here for a change.
    Not listening to the news any more, watching an old film on channel 81

  14. Having bought up much of Africa,it appears Italy was going the same way…………………………

    But opponents of the project in the Trump administration and in

    the European Union worry that Italy has turned itself into a Trojan

    Horse, allowing China’s economic — and potentially military and

    political — expansion to reach into the heart of Europe.

    The detailed reporting on this slow takeover is expansive, and we

    could continue here for many paragraphs, but let us fast forward to

    early 2020. As China withheld information about the seriousness and

    spread of Wuhan corona-virus, many of these immigrants were returning-

    and arriving – from China. Once news of the virus became mainstream and

    China felt increasing backlash over the handling of the crisis, they

    turned to one of their major economic hubs for some help.

    It wasn’t chance. It wasn’t age. It wasn’t overall health, and it

    wasn’t the good-hearted nature of the Italian people that caused the

    virus to ravage their nation. It was a leadership who are now under the

    thumb of the Chinese government.

    https://uncoverdc.com/2020/03/20/why-italy/

    1. Well, it’s a theory, Rik. In my view it’s one of many conspiracy theories.

  15. John Redwood tells us the government is following advice from the World Health Organization which is a specialized agency of the United Nations.

    As Open Society New York heavily influences the United Nations and their policies are the same, it’s pretty obvious that George Soros now “leverages” the Western world.

  16. Morning all

    SIR – The shelves of my local Co-op have virtually been stripped bare. Yesterday morning my daughter, pregnant and with a two-year-old son to look after, was told, with no notice whatsoever, that Tesco was cancelling her online order booked for that day. Customer services are unavailable.

    She is desperate, as must be the many decent people who took the Prime Minister at his word and bought, at the time, only what they needed. The good are now being cruelly punished, and yet the Government does nothing.

    It is now time for a formal system of national rationing, as in war time. A decisive leader would have brought this in a long time earlier.

    Tim Montagnon

    Uppingham, Rutland

    SIR – An elderly friend, a coeliac, who lives in a remote cottage in the South West, is self-isolating. She has tried to order food online but cannot get any delivery slots. I am fortunate in that I have two booked slots before the end of the month. We cannot be alone in feeling that the country is not coming to the assistance of those thousands of us who need food and food deliveries but are not able-bodied or savvy shoppers who order online from several supermarkets.

    The Government and supermarkets must help – and quickly.

    Miranda Gudenian

    Honiton, Devon

    SIR – My supermarket quandary: do I buy extra so as to visit a crowded place less?

    Steve Cartridge

    Bolton, Lancashire

    1. SIR – On Thursday our local Sainsbury’s allowed over-70s to shop exclusively for the first hour of business. This was a good idea in theory and intention – to allow us older folk to get some supplies.

      However, there must have been more than 150 over-70s in the store at this time. It was heaving with senior citizens. This was against a background of Government advice to avoid large crowds and keep at least six feet away from other people, which was impossible.

      This could turn out to be a virus-spreading disaster.

      Nigel Daniels

      Kirby Muxloe, Leicestershire

      SIR – Tesco announced that it is “prioritising the elderly and most vulnerable” for an hour, three days a week. But these are the people who are advised to self-isolate from this weekend, and so will be unable to shop for themselves.

      If people are kindly shopping on behalf of the elderly, how do they prove this to supermarkets?

      Sue Gresham

      Holt, Norfolk

      SIR – My sister in north London could not find lavatory rolls, washing powder or washing-up liquid. In a large supermarket in south London. I found one packet of detergent at the back of a shelf. I then looked in my local Costcutter and bought everything I needed. It was restricting all customers to one of each item. Pity the large supermarkets have not introduced a similar policy.

      I am ashamed of the selfish behaviour of the British public.

      Linda Major

      London SW15

    2. Moral of Tim Montagnon’s letter – don’t trust the government.
      If the government has let you down once, why on earth are you calling for them to have even MORE influence in your life?

  17. SIR – Alexander Stafford, MP for Rother Valley, has drawn the attention of Parliament to people bulk-buying, then selling items at a high profit (report, March 19). During the war such black markets were made illegal.

    Robin Nonhebel

    Swanage, Dorset

    SIR – My barber has a notice in his window: “One haircut per person.”

    Rodney Gadsden

    Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex

    SIR – Given the grocery shortages, can I now shoot pigeons for food?

    John Smith

    Great Moulton, Norfolk

  18. Morning again

    SIR – As well as being 66 and in poor health, I also have three sisters in the at-risk category for coronavirus. I therefore feel qualified to say this.

    We are demolishing our economy and small businesses and wasting many billions of pounds to protect an at-risk category comprising about 1 per cent of the population. The science suggests that the rest of us may get a mild form of the virus but will recover.

    The best estimates state that up to 250,000 people will lose their lives. This accounts for less than half of 1 per cent of our population. This is extremely sad and awful for those affected, but while governments should be caring, they must be pragmatic. Many of these people –myself included – will succumb to something else in the next few years.

    How can we justify the impact of this path? We are spending, effectively, £1.2 million per expected death on people whose life will be taken soon anyway, yet we cannot find the tens of thousands of pounds for specialist cancer treatment for much younger people. It will take years to recover from this ridiculous path.

    Darryl Davies

    Glan Conwy, Denbighshire

    2. But a fare larger number will become seriously ill from it and if we take no action the numbers could be 10 times higher

      1. Wot Ho! BJ.

        On the off chance that you read replies via your profile, there are a lot of Nottlers missing your contributions and the mod who banned you claims it was only meant to be temporary.

        I can understand if you choose not to return, but either way it appears you have a fan club.

        Take care and good luck, if you have moved on permanently

    5. And perhaps they should look at the statistics for a lot of other things that won’t shut down the country……. take Sad Khans thought police away from their computers and get them out on the streets to do something about the murders that seem to be a commonplace event in London…..
      and we can all find plenty of other examples…..

      The thing is that Wuhan/Corona Virus has a Critical Death Rate of between 3-5%. In China it is trending lower now and they think it may end up at around 0.2%.
      Compare to Marburg at 80% critical death rate. Of course, Marburg was contained quickly so few people were infected and that is the problem with Corona virus.
      I have to say I have wondered about the extent to which politics and big business are dictating the reaction….

      As someone else asked, what is going to be the ffect of the virus on other causes of death? If the hospitals are overwhelmed with virus cases of which only a few will be at risk, the elderly, what happens to all those people who have their scheduled surgeries cancelled? How many collateral deaths will be attributable to the virus response?
      How many people who are unlikely to die are taking up hospital resources?

      You can bet that at the end, when this has gone the way of all those past viruses (9 since 1967 and all with higher critical death rates) when challenged about the policies they will point to the actual deaths and some massive potential deaths and claim that their response was super-effective.
      It reminds me as ever of the story of the man on the train to London….every day he tore his newspaper into little pieces and scattered them around his feet. One day one of the other regular commuters finally asked him why he did it.
      “Oh,” he said, “it’s to keep the elephants away.”
      “But there are no elephants!”
      “I know. Effective, isn’t it.”

  19. The full list of sectors affected is:

    Surely it should also cover hairdressers, nail bars and tattoo parlors ?

    Food and drink venues for consumption on-site, such as restaurants and cafes

    Drinking establishments, including pubs, bars, nightclubs

    Entertainment venues, including cinemas, theaters, concert halls, and bingo halls

    Museums and galleries

    Spas, wellness centres and massage parlors

    Casinos and betting shops

    All indoor leisure and sports facilities, including gyms

    1. Hairdressers will be next, I expect. They’ve been closed in parts of Europe.
      Everything is too overcrowded in Britain, that’s the trouble.

  20. As an aside,once this mess is finally sorted out can we finally discover who thought it was a good idea to install touch screens in all our GP surgeries,the perfect method of spreading disease

    A study of McDonalds touch screens

    “Some stellar investigative journalism performed by The Metro found that of the touchscreens they tested, every single one had traces of faeces on it.

    All the self-serve machines – the ones that people touch before they merrily tuck into their Big Mac Meal – have traces of poo on them. Seriously.”
    Who thinks a similar test in our “health” centres wouldn’t produce the same results!!
    Touch screens……………about as smart as “Smart Motorways”

    2. One unintended consequence of us all wiping everything down and carrying hand sanitiser could be a long-term decrease in our immune systems. I’m sure everything we touch will have a tiny trace of poo on it.

      2. I’ve long been convinced that the obsession with “hygiene” in all its modern guises as opposed to old fashioned good practice, has been an increase in allergies and outbreaks of food poisoning etc.
        The old adage of “eat a peck of dirt before you die” no longer applies and we’re seing the consequences

        1. It’s a balance as ever. Good hygiene is behind most of the gain in life expectancy, but I agree that we shouldn’t over sterilize.

          1. I suspect that medical advances have far more to do with that than ever improvements in hygiene have. By way of some evidence I would look at outbreaks of things such as norovirus and all the extreme nasties one seems to be able to pick up in hospitals.

            As an aside, I was very impressed by how much care the French healthcare workers took over cleaning/mopping/washing down surfaces. Whilst it is anecdotal the whole place, from public lavatories to waiting areas, let alone the wards and shower rooms was infinitely better than my most recent visits to UK hospitals.

            I was staggered by the wastage of clothes/masks/gloves etc.

            Normally I was attended to by one member of staff at a time, ocassionally two. Each time they entered my room they were already fully kitted out head to toe. As they left, each time they stripped off all their protective gear bar the masks and it was all bagged for destruction. I must have cost them (the NHS as they recharge under S1) a small fortune.

    3. I passed a man in Tesco who had BO so utterly disgusting it caused me to recoil.

      If people can’t manage to wash, they deserve to die.

      Conversely, a stupid woman stood about pointlessly at the pay at pump and eventually, after two minutes dithering went in to the shop where she queued. Eventually she returned with a plastic glove. Then she pressed the buttons with her other hand. People are dumb. Frankly if this virus could wipe out those with a low IQ please, please let it.

    4. Everything will have some traces whatever methods you use. No more risk than anything else. The chairs will have traces of poo as will the doors etc

    5. Morning hall.
      The solution is a retrofit windscreen wiper/wash kit.
      The Japanese are good at toilet technology, so once designed the Chinese will have them on Ebay by the following week.

  21. Maybe the current shortages of food etc in the shops will encourage people to waste less

    The amount of food charities etc claim is wasted by families is staggering, Alright this organisation always grossly exaggerate things but there is a lot of food wasted

    If something has a USE BY date it iss safe to use for 2 or 3 days after that date if properly stored

    If something has a BEST BEFORE date it can be ignored , If stored properly it can be used even years later with say tinned products provided the tin is not damaged. For most products you can use it several months after the date or longer but the quality and taste and texture my deteriorate. So biscuit and crisps etc after several months may go slightly less crispy

    Some products may have other dates put on them by the stores such as Display by or Sell by. These can be ignored

    Most loose vegetables dont have a date but if they pack them they do. This will be usually a Use By date. Instead of throwing them out the Supermarkets should sell them. . It is perfectly legal to sell products that are part their Best Before date

    1. If something has a USE BY date it is safe to use for 2 or 3 days after that date if properly stored

      2 to 3 days is a bit short, I’m still using things one or two weeks past the use-by date and some cheeses, especially brie, usually improve if kept 2 or 3 MONTHS extra!

    2. I have found that one set of USE BY dates which shouldn’t be too cavalierly ignored is those on yoghurt pots …

      2. If it’s not growing visible mould, or tastes fizzy or “off,” if yoghurt hasn’t been opened at all, I’ll use it a month or so after the use-by date.

      3. Might depend on the yoghurt but we’ve eaten yoghurt long after the use by date and it’s been fine. Same goes for many things in our household. It really makes you wonder about the preservatives/what’s been done to them. Some have to be used for cooking like sour milk/cream.

    3. I bet most of the hoarded food will end up in the bin if people don’t have to quarantine.
      The eggs were sold out in my local supermarket. They have a use by date of about 2 weeks. We might be quarantining in May or June.
      Once you build up a reserve, you have to be disciplined about using the oldest packs first as well.

        1. I’ve eaten them several weeks over the date, and you can, but they are noticeably old. Most people will throw them imo.

  22. May I report that on this historic morn I am benefitting from a first haircut with my Remington clippers bought from Argos. I now feel fresher and am ready for the intense sun which will, according to the weather forecasters, beat down mercilessly on my back garden. I shall wrap up well as there is also forecast to be a rather sharp easterly wind.

  23. NHS Senior Management – the verdict:

    Salaries – 8.5 out of 10
    Pension Scheme – 10 out of 10
    Beds Available – 2 out of 10
    Hazmat Protection at Front Line – 0 out of 10

    1. The PPE equipment other than the gloves does not appear to be adequate for Corona Virus

        1. Its protective qualities and apparently some is out of date but in general the date should not be a problem as long as they have been stored properly

  24. – I suppose it doesn’t really matter if we shut our economy down, if the rest of the world does it the effect will be the same whether we do or whether don’t.

    2. My mother has one of their hand-powered battery vacuum cleaners which she uses to clear up crumbs and dead woodlice.

      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/businessclub/8055349/Gtech-is-looking-to-solve-the-Chinese-puzzle.html is from ten years ago. I do know that Gtech has been eager to develop a greenfield industrial site just outside Worcester, and is constantly anxious to balance retail price competing with the Chinese with a desire to source components locally, where such factories still exist.

    3. You cannot just build a ventilator in a few weeks. You might be able to knock up a first off prototype but it would be several months before you would have a volume production model and have it qualified

      The way to go about this is the manufacture of existing models get an additional production company to build it. That would be a lot faster, Tooling and jigs might be a problem. I doubt the volumes required are that high so at least initially soft tooling could be used

  26. On Radio4Toady I heard this morning that the 57 year-old British woman who succumbed in Bali to Covid-19 had diabetes.

    Must admit I’m fairly worried that Covid-19 nay be difficult if I catch it.

    ‘Don’t take it lightly – it’s serious’: Charlie Austin warns of severity of illness after suffering coronavirus-like symptoms

    Austin suspects that he may have picked up the virus when he was at the Cheltenham Festival last week

    West Bromwich Albion striker Charlie Austin is recovering after displaying coronavirus symptoms, and having suffered acutely despite not being considered among those vulnerable, he has warned of its potential effect on the young as well as the elderly.

    The 30-year-old is self-isolating at home and has had no face-to-face contact with his family under the same roof since Saturday evening, when symptoms first emerged. Then he called West Brom’s club doctor, Kevin Conrod, and was advised to isolate himself in a bedroom. He has stayed there since, and was told not to resume contact with his wife and three children in the rest of the house until early this evening.

    Speaking to Telegraph Sport, Austin said that his temperature soared to 39.7C on Sunday and Monday nights and he simultaneously experienced cold sweats. “I felt like someone had chucked a bucket of water over me,” he said. “I was soaking.” He has recovered and has communicated with team-mates at West Brom – second in the Championship and on course for promotion when the league was suspended last week – to tell them how ill he felt.

    “Before I started feeling the symptoms on Saturday, I was on the phone to my wife Bianca’s mother and I said to her that I hoped if anyone in our family got ill it would be me,” said Austin, who believed he had the virus. “I felt like I was fit and healthy and I could handle it. A week later and I would say to anyone, even those in their twenties and thirties, ‘Don’t take it lightly – it’s serious’. I get that people who haven’t got it are going about their lives. Last week, I was living my life. Not that I didn’t take coronavirus seriously. But this is extremely serious and we should take it that way.” ….

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2020/03/20/dont-take-lightly-serious-charlie-austin-warns-severity-illness/

    1. What shocked me was that her husband (iirc) said that he knows very few people in their 50s who aren’t on some kind of medication!
      I can only think of one person in their fifties that I know who is chronically ill.

  28. ‘Morning again.

    Listening to the World Service during the night (usually a reliable cure for insomnia) I detected a marked increase in Trump-bashing, later confirmed by a short time on Toady before my sleep-befuddled brain caused an instinctive reach for the off switch.  Some chap called Simpson (remember him?) with the modest little title of the Beeb’s World Affairs Editor, was sounding off on the same subject.  Apparently all of the USA’s stock market gains since The Donald became President three years ago have just disappeared down the toilet, with all the speed of bogroll leaving a supermarket, and doubtless his re-election prospects have gone with them (or words to that effect).  Well, that must be full marks for opportunism, never mind the thought that this BBC employee rarely seems to get off his arse to ‘earn’ his no doubt gargantuan salary….

    Only the most deeply committed Trump-haters could make such a connection, but the Biased Broadcasting Corporation managed it – and so effortlessly, too.

    3. Never mind how Trump has continually bragged about how well the markets have been doing since he took over.

      He has been making the link to the markets, it is no surprise that the anti Trump media have jumped on the opportunity to throw it back in his face.

  29. COVID-19 by NHS Regions

    London is the largest NHS region but even allowing for that you can see London is a massive hot spot. I am surprised the government has not bought in extra measures for London. Should most shops be closed in London for example ?. Should public transport be further reduced in London ?

    London: 1,588

    South East: 410

    Midlands: 389

    North West: 274

    North East and Yorkshire: 233

    East of England: 183

    South West: 169

      4. So, let me get this straight – if the little twerp is right (which he almost certainly isn’t!), and you can’t catch Covid 19 on a crowded tube train, in close proximity to a horde of people, then presumably you also can’t catch it in a pub, restaurant or cinema??????

      6. So why has Sad Dick Khant reduced the number of stations and the number of underground trains?

    5. They did not have the bottle to take action against London alone so closed down the whole country.

    6. London is culturally completely different from the rest of the country. Normal British rules don’t apply in the capital. I wonder if that to55er Khan will still be spouting “Die-versity is strength” when this is all over.
      I guess he never read 1984.

  30. The myth of Western inaction in Idlib. 20 March 2020.

    Moreover, by helping arms flow into Syria, Western governments have poured fuel on the fire. In her memoirs, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton admitted that by March 2012, the US effectively green-lit Washington’s allies Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar to send weapons and money to rebel forces. Around the same time, the CIA arranged its own weapons and training for the rebels, a programme that expanded over time.

    I can remember only 2 or 3 years ago if you posted these self-evident truths online hordes of Trolls would descend on you accusing you of spreading Conspiracy Theories or being in the pay of the Kremlin!

    https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/syria-war-myth-western-inaction-idlib

  31. In all the “leveraging” that’s apparently going on across the political and media world, I wonder if one important factor is being overlooked ?

    Does someone know and have proof of what happened with Epstein ?

          1. I suppose American Flu is considered racist, as should be Chinese Flu, so Clinton Flu it is.

          2. I have no problem calling it Chinese Flu because that’s what it is.

            I also have no problem with your term American Flu if you want to use that. I only suggest Clinton Flu because it’s very specific.

      2. Clinton’s friend with the island.

        I wouldn’t be at all surprised if You Know Who has somehow acquired copies of all the data.

  33. You don’t have to be Catholic to appreciate this one!!

    A man suffered a serious heart attack while shopping in a store.

    The store clerk called 911 when they saw him collapse to the floor.

    The paramedics rushed the man to the nearest hospital where he had emergency open heart bypass surgery.

    He awakened from the surgery to find himself in the care of nuns at the Catholic Hospital.

    A nun was seated next to his bed holding a clipboard loaded with several forms, and a pen.

    She asked him how he was going to pay for his treatment.

    “Do you have health insurance?” she asked.

    He replied in a raspy voice, “No health insurance.”

    The nun asked, “Do you have money in the bank?”

    He replied, “No money in the bank.”

    Do you have a relative who could help you with the payments?” asked the irritated nun.

    He said, “I only have a spinster sister, and she is a nun.”

    The nun became agitated and announced loudly, “Nuns are not spinsters! Nuns are married to God.”

    The patient replied, “Perfect. Send the bill to my brother-in-law.”

  35. Morning All,

    The sun is shining on an almost deserted village.

    Is this life for the next few weeks?

    Lunch with Citreon is cancelled because the pub is closed (thanks Londoners) – so we are planning a picnic on the first warmish day. We will of course keep 2 meters apart!

    2. Consider the possibility that the closedown will carry on for a year, as has been hinted.

      1. The economy and society couldn’t survive that long. Our government needs to start seriously looking at hydroxychloroquine as a treatment, as other countries are doing. And getting local manufacture of surgical masks, gloves, etc, instead of presumably relying on China, hence the reported shortage.

        1. If you care to read the Government website, the export of Chloroquine was banned on 26 February.

          Why the government did not then pressure the manufacturers to go on to 24 hr production I don’t understand.

  36. The best politicians are the amateurs who have done something else first.

    Nobody should be allowed to become an MP before the age of 40 and nobody should be in the government before the age of 50.

    Trump and Reagan were both mocked but they were surely better than Clinton and the likes of most of the ‘professional’ politicians in both Britain and the USA,.

      1. It is de rigueur to mock and berate Trump. In fact the IAWSFL (International Association of Woke Snowflakes and Lefties) insists that you do so if you wish to join their fellowship.

          1. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=c7KiPI6kRuA

            I would have thought his presidency would have proven it to you. Watch the above video, even if it’s just the first few minutes, and see the blatant hypocrisy of the media.
            If Trump walk d on water, they’d sneer that it was because he couldn’t swim.
            And his approval rating is now around 55%…

      2. I, too, am not impressed with Trump. He spends far too much time tweeting. Actions, not words.

        1. So far, his actions have been mainly successful. I don’t care about this tweets except he manages to upset all the right people with them. He drives the Democrats insane, which in turn means they’ve exposed themselves to the general public, and many are now vowing to never vote Democrat again.
          Voters knew about his faults before the election, and voted for him anyway. And they’ll vote for him again. We could do with him here.

          1. It’s his constant mouthing off which gets me. Personally, I don’t care what he does as long as it doesn’t affect this country. It’s up to Americans to make the decision about who becomes President – same as the UK make its own choice of government, or referendum choice to leave the EU. But at times Trump comes across as an idiot.

        2. He’s not good with words – he says or tweets what comes into his head without thinking.

          2. … and provided by their spinning advisors. A politician that speaks his mind, very rare.

    2. Nobody with a degree in politics or law should b allowed to be an MP and all should have had a proper job for at least 20 years and NOT in local government.

    3. Morning Richard. There should of course be some requirements for sitting in Parliament. You should be a long time resident of the constituency you serve. Have had some time in the military and have earned your living as something other than a lawyer. The time you serve should also be limited to fifteen years!

    3. In Scotland the speed cameras are operated by Police Scotland. We have not been travelling around much as it is winter up here. However the last few times that we went up and down the main A68, there were police mobile camera vans in evidence. We passed them on different occasions and in different locations. Each of the places they had stationed themselves was within 200 yards of a fixed camera. Nice work, if you can get it! It certainly beats traditional police work.
      A week or so ago four men from Latvia were convicted of rape of an under-age girl, after a “four year investigation”. The longest sentence was six years, so out again in 3 years if not sooner.
      Priority seems to be given to the wrong things, maybe…

      Sentences for the most horrible violent rapes are trivial, falling well short of the maximum tariff of life imprisonment.

      https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&ei=CP51XryeGZWM8gK_uIPgAw&q=glasgow+rapists+sentenced&oq=glasgow+rapists+sentenced&gs_l=psy-ab.3…13388.13388..13973…0.0..0.114.306.2j1……0….1..gws-wiz.HM8Px5C6Pqs&ved=0ahUKEwi8wu_bvqvoAhUVhlwKHT_cADwQ4dUDCAo&uact=5

      1. You have given us just one of thousands of examples on how our justice system is beyond a joke, and they wonder why they are held in such contempt.

  38. Just watched this YouTube vid which is a scientific approach to surviving in a COVID world.

    This guy lives in a remote house and has enough resources to isolate for some time with products that will keep well in storage. He also explains how the South Koreans got it so right.

    He concludes with his comments on investing in toilet paper.

    The intro at the start is unecessary.

    https://youtu.be/I0Ae0mjMljs

      1. Quite right, you can’t believe anything you read or see on the internet.
        For all I know it could be CGI hole in his trousering and I don’t mean a fag!
        That could go for everything on the BBC because they just copy everything on the internet.

      1. Good Morning PT

        I enjoy Paul McCartney’s acoustic guitar accompaniment.

        Have you come across Laurence Juber? He is surely one of the most proficient guitarists in the business. He was in Mc Cartney’s group Wings for some time and has worked with many of the best bands and done a lot of session work.

        Quite apart from his quite brilliant guitar playing he is an extremely delightful and friendly looking chap.

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3oflW-2HPs

        1. Hi Rastus,

          Maybe,I’m sure I would remember he is sooo good looking. I did meet Moody Blues guitarist Denny Laine. Linda McCarney
          played drums…(disaster)!

      1. Our Cornish ones don’t usually arrive until late April or early May, locally at least, and have frequently all departed by the 3rd week of June.

    1. We were up at 6.00 am for a 7.00 am Waitrose oldies session y’day morning. 6.00 am is a killer, it is the middle of the night to me, I am one of life’s owls.

  41. Well whaddya know…… ?

    Open Society New York and United Nations Headquarters are 5 minutes walk apart, and research shows there has been interchange of staff !

    Looks like Georgie boy has it all sorted !

        1. That bas*d is probably in quarantine on the Moon as we speak. Risks are for little people.

  42. Could we have an end to the use of the word “unprecedented”? We have recently seen the unprecedented use of the word “unprecedented”. The Government spokesman (in Wisbech) who was interviewed this morning used the word no less than six times. This is an almost unprecedented overuse of the word “unprecedented”.
    Almost as overused as Dan Cruickshanks’s “sacred”. But not quite, as neither are as common as “gay”

      1. I am not finding the verification but it was confidently expected to be the case so I am pretty confident that it is correct. Will post link as soon as I can find it.

    2. But but but, they’ve only done the easy bit, designing and building it. The IMPORTANT part, developing the NHS Eu competitive open tender documentation hasn’t even been started. And then there’s the timescales, submission to Brussels for publication in the open tender journal and the several months that must elapse so that tenders can be received, and then the evaluation process. I think we’re probably talking about 15 months before we get to committing to the procurement.

  46. 317329+ up ticks,
    That Margaret becket person found me in AGREEMENT on hearing her say some of these proposal’s gives those of a bent nature an open ticket.
    When the first offenders are revealed it must trigger a Tommy Robinson
    type re-action, ie , same day, nick.

  47. An interesting question

    Are hotels allowed to keep their restaurants open for hotel Guests

    1. Our local posh hotel with restaurant has said it will be providing room only from today.

        1. If you kip on the floor. But rates have reduced so much its worth booking in at some of these places for a look. Wedding anniversary today, it seems I have escaped lightly and a Tesco curry will do!

          1. Congratulations to you both.
            First day of Spring although Spring equinox was yesterday apparently.
            How many years?

      2. They are certainly able to provide takeaway good so provided it is taken to the room that is defiantly ok

    2. I heard someone on the radio this morning – Groom to be married today and spent last night in hotel. Breaksfast served in the room because restaurant closed.

    3. https://www.facebook.com/LanelayHall1/?__tn__=kC-R&eid=ARD9Ln2TlxwwiskSav7wu3NJdeJGHA2qm9tFP-CM07O9R4Ica3rjPTt-4vC3ZAki3LmCyLiIqgJRHpiX&hc_ref=ARQev6Ij0v8rEwZtXaxtLxcHCwKUbTdSY3-FAO4xWf2ocvBxtoNkZ4XAnotETGyVUIg&fref=nf&__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARB_jbtxFNCbsji8-JzZsz0H4e1x0bF1lkqc2Gxf-NOJwSUOLaqOPuwR54yHEz047Hsc03QW_bpsk0kMKRwrYa583o4T5k0xVqdyF13yqo7cmIDjLNdpgUDIzLDPS-yv1Xgfp-gpSL3RWl-17wmUfDMJNddtYVNtWNUqm8xj64gKLz2OYEDO-Ic-FFI7SohC531c67q2YgcOxqk2BcmXro-IPLPo1_Gn1n8nFtkocTdxKBw7PbRn64rI0R_A93gD5huZJ_FQBu-vSXaK4X1HRkOAuzxr18OE0-NzcW8exB_WrqiOdeiy6Gzu_tgwHCZlntQTVYZCRRf6rQ7ljkJJ70gCqGWYLDHk7nCBTL4F0Q9uWLYhwKclUA

  48. Topshop closes its 300 UK stores

    Topshop employees say they have been laid off after the Arcadia Group closed its 300 UK stores an hour before the government announced its coronavirus job retention plan.

    The group owned by billionaire Sir Philip Green said in an emailed statement: ‘In line with many other retailers, the Group has made the difficult decision to close until further notice all of our stores from 4pm this afternoon.’

    This includes the chains Topshop, Burton, Dorothy Perkins, Evans, Miss Selfridge and Wallis.

      1. I’m sure Lady Green will enjoy slumming it on £2,500 per month.
        That wouldn’t cover the bill for her slap.

  49. So not only will Uncle George almost certainly have helped crash markets by shorting everything to shreds and made $billions out of the crisis, he also looks like controlling everything via the UN and WHO.

    Wonder why the MSM says nothing ?

    Ummm, oh wait. Of course, Soros controls the MSM.

  50. Now here’s a fun conspiracy theory.

    Why has Fox News suddenly gone wibbly wobbly on Donald ?

    My guess is that someone knows something about somebody, and I don’t mean Donny..

  51. I am picking up so much information from so many sources, it is impossible to reference them, let alone be sure of their reliability. Never mind, best to leave it to one’s own intuition and judgement, as one would in any court of law.

    The scary thing about this particular lurg is that it is not an influenza, but is a form of common cold. Whilst flu jabs are a routine ritual of autumn for the worried wrinkly, people have been trying to find a cure for this since the dawn of time.

    The problem with the common cold is that it easily mutates. I read somewhere that there are already four variants evolved since they were munching bats in Wuhan. One of them attacks the lungs, is deadly and treats humans like baby elephants in Chester Zoo. One of them gets stuck in the throat, leaving sticky mucus that shifts either side of the epiglottis, but otherwise need not trouble the NHS. All leave us fatigued and under the weather. All are easily transmitted and hard to detect early.

    The scary thing therefore is that there is no natural immunity; if we get it once, we can get it again. It’s a game of Russian roulette whether the next one will be the Chester Elephant or Throat Gob.

    It was ever thus with colds and flu though, and as a society, we must set the point about how rigorously and for how long we endeavour to isolate everyone. Leave it too long and the food and everything else runs out and goes bust, including Government. Ignore it, and we run the risk of Chester Elephant turning scores of corpses into millions and it’s Christmas for viruses. Most of us hunker down in bed for a week with oxo cubes, honey-and-lemon, and either die or recover depending on what mood the Grim Reaper is in today.

    The real beneficiary is non-human wildlife. Fish have been seen in Venetian canals, no longer being stirred up and poisoned by human activity. They may well feel that humans have been acting like a virulent and malign virus for a long time, and in my lifetime have become a serious pandemic threatening a mass extinction on this planet. Karma suggests that never mind scores or even millions of human corpses, we deserve about five billion to die. Not terribly reassuring to those whose greatest sin was to go to the pub after a day’s work.

    Let’s not us worry our pretty little heads about this, and instead fret about offending the wrong sort of people.

    1. Mutations usually are less virulent and anyway none of the versions of the China lurgy seem too much of a problem for peeps with normal immune systems and who are in good health, don’t smoke, do drugs or drink too much.

      Don’t take Ibuprofen though.

      1. They say the best way to deal with the virus is alcohol, which strips off the oily layer that makes it easier to break through cell membranes. The 40% found in gin, whisky and vodka is not enough; it has to be Navy strength, and only one brand here has a strength of 57% and there is probably a run on it in the supermarkets by now.

        To test my theory, does anyone have the coronavirus stats for Poland, whose tipple has a strength of 95% and it imbibed from infancy?

  52. I’ve just popped in to check out the NoTTL site, and it seems most of us are following the MSM in claiming:

    (1) The Government is not doing enough. (Everyone should be forced to stay at home, paid a full wage, supplied by door-to-door deliveries of food, etc.)

    (2) The Government is doing the wrong things. (They should be focussing on scrapping HS2, Brexit, sorting out exams for stay-at-home students, etc.)

    (3) The Government is doing too much (my right to go down to the pub supersedes all other concerns.)

    (4) This Corona Virus is just a sham to enable Boris to control our lives with draconian laws.

    (5) This Corona Virus is just a sham to enable George Soros to buy up everything at rock bottom prices and thus increase his fortune a hundred-fold.

    (6) I don’t understand what is going on, but it’s definitely the wrong things which are being done (even if they do a U-turn a few days later.)

    (7) Whatever is done, it is costing loadsa-money and the poor old tax-payer will end up paying for it.

    Frankly I have had enough of all this “I’m right and you’re wrong” so I think I will take a rest for a few more weeks/months and see how it all pans out.

    Bye for now, fellow NoTTLers.

      1. No, Bob3, just spending a bit more time in my garden. There is also a very nice park just a 3 minute walk from my front door which will enable me to take a few daily walks.

        1. Morning Elsie. You should stay on here. That way when the Aliens are sifting through the remains of our civilisation you will not be forgotten!

    5. I had to laugh at Corbyn trying to score points by saying paying 80% of salary is not good enough. Most people staying at home will save on commuting costs and food and tax

    6. If you are spitting out the dumny, Elsie, you might spell “bye” correctly.
      ;-))
      Anyhow, what else is there for the armchair expert to write about?

      1. Herr Oberst, the minute I read Bob3’s “By Elsie” post I realised my mistake and corrected my own post. Our respective posts obviously crossed in the ether. And I’m not “spitting out the dummy”, just explaining my absence for the next few weeks. Take care, my friend.

        1. My friends always say I should refresh more often.
          :-((
          Don’t be a stranger. See you later!

          1. Don’t worry, Herr Oberst, I’ll pop in from time to time. I just needed to get off my chest my annoyance with all this “I know best and everyone else is doing the wrong thing” craze which is, it seems, infecting all social media. Bye for now, the gardening calls.

          2. Scrapping HS2 – or at least building the Northern end first – is only a sensible economic decision.

            The government is acting only because it feels it has to because people are too damned thick to do the right things themselves.

    7. Too much coronavirus news is not good for anyone, and you are right, it certainly seems to have brought out the self-righteous, the foolish, the whiney and the conspiracy theorists. Everyone else is probably too busy working.
      Stay safe!

  53. Not that any sane person will be flying at present but as from today all food establishments at airports will be closed other than if they sell takeaways

  54. Are the BBC slipping ?

    I would have though the BBC would be going into overdrive blaming COVID-19 on Brexit

    1. You missed it Bill.

      Mr Hammond has already pointed out last week that it is necessary to immediately rejoin the EU.

      How this could solve the problem he didn’t say!

  56. Schools on Monday

    The situation is currently chaotic in many cases as it i not really clear who is and is not as key worker. The published list covers about 70% of the population

    The other issue is school transport particular in the rural countries etc. Many councils are maintain the exist school bus and taxi services at present until the situation becomes clearer. It looks at present as if most school will be open on Monday

      1. You may think so but when you delve into it. it is far from clear and the list is so long it means most schools will have to open

        1. We are getting a good sense of who are essential workers and who aren’t. It’s roughly inverse to pay rates.

          1. A lot of non-essentials appear to have lost their jobs – viz the article in the DT moaning about “freelancers” being out of work. Freelancers indeed – I’m a freelancer and still at work.

            At the moment, I am doing some work for an engineering company that has a consulting arm. The “consultants” are all new graduates who tick all the stereotype boxes for irritating millennials – childish, furnishing their office like a flat rather than a place of work (sofa, tv etc), leaving their avocadoes and expensive thai lunches around the kitchen, drifting in late to make long personal phone calls, making no secret of their belief in their own cleverness etc.
            Their office is nicknamed “The Kindergarten” in the rest of the company.
            The company has made known that consulting is a goldmine that represents the future of the company, not our boring old engineering product.
            Until the coronavirus.
            They have no more work. It dried up overnight.
            We still have our product.
            Schadenfreude is a terrible thing…

    2. One of my favourite authors, he tends to be more than a tad fanatical on the subject of the E.U. , The NHS , Bureaucracy wherever it flourishes and life in general and sometimes he tries my patience with some of his more incontinent ravings but he’s always worth a read.

      1. Quite often ‘incontinent ravings’ are the best way to gain attention.
        As we often see with the left wing politicians.

  59. Chinese Laundrey – Mrs Formby looks quite fit! :
    Beryl Ingham was the wife and manager of singer/actor George Formby, as well as being a variety performer and champion clogdancer. She was born in Haslingden, Lancashire, the youngest daughter of John James Ingham and his wife Elizabeth Ann. At the age of 11 she won the All England Step Dancing Title. Wikipedia
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FK65H3Xdcm0

  60. I posted earlier that the EU are objecting to Boris/Rishi plans. I cannot post the link – anyone with sub to the Times can find it please.

    This is what I am getting…

    Exclusive:

    EU has blown big hole in Rishi Sunak’s bailout package under state aid rules

    Grants & ‘tax advantages’ capped at €800,000 *per company*

    Big retailers & hotel chains will see little benefit from Sunak’s pledged £20bn business rates holiday

    The EU argues the one year business rates holiday is a selective because it goes to specific sectors – retail, leisure and hospitality

    It says it needs to be available to all businesses as a general measure to comply with state aid rules

    UK intends to push ahead regardless

    1. The EU are in denial. Then again, they have already torn up their own rules to help Italy – eventually.

    2. If this is the EU’s stance and I hope it is because it shows how uselessly a hidebound rules led organisation like the EU performs. No empathy nor pity, no flexibility, nothing to be done except follow the rules. Any such organisation deserves to fail and it will, under the immovable weight of its regulations. I agree with Anne, FO in as many languages as it takes.

          1. Hmm, I read that Peddy as a burkarat and thought it quite apt, as you can never be sure what’s under it.

    3. UK could wind up trade talks now and pre-empt the legal EU conformance end date of end 2020.

    6. What a strange comment when the German government has announced that it will bail out Lufthansa, and the Dutch government will bail out KLM.

      1. The EU can take a running jump. It is a parasite of the first order and should be ignored by the U.K. for ever and a day. I suppose one could call the EU a eurovirus. Whatever – get stuffed.

  61. A disaster without precedent. Spiked. 21 March 2020.

    The classical virtue of courage was not about the self. It was rooted within ideas of responsibility, altruism and wisdom. It may seem like a terribly archaic and unrealistic aspiration, but society really needs to engage with these virtues that for so long fortified the human spirit against adversity. Covid-19 is a disaster for humanity, but it need not break the human spirit. History shows that a disaster like Covid-19 is also a test of humanity’s capacity to deal with adversity, and overcome it. That is a lesson we must teach ourselves and our young right now.

    Furedi’s basic argument here is that we have become a society of navel gazing wimps, particularly the young, and it’s pretty difficult to deny the charge. He makes a good fist of explaining how this has come about and its probable consequences.

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2020/03/20/a-disaster-without-precedent/

    1. A good read, thank you.

      What the article doesn’t answer is why we have become infantilised. What’s the root of this hysteria? It’s simple – government, the media and state need us frightened. We are easier to manage’ if we are scared all the time because then they can take control from us over our lives.

      It’s why weak people leap on to twitter or other platforms to demand attention. it’s why when these idolised faux heroes of celebrity are raised up so high, the weak loves to bring them smashing down: when they’re up, they are virtual existential gods, and the mindless live their lives through the other. When they fall comet like to earth, they celebrity is mocked and derided for letting ‘us’ down.

      We saw this with Diana’s death. Millions of people who had no relation to her whatsoever mourned her – why? Because doing so made them feel good. These weak, mindless people have lost any sense of who they are in favour of identifying as a mirror of others.

      Thus when government says ‘there there, we’ll make it all better’ these people accept it blindly because living their own lives is hard. It is only the stubborn libertarian and people of character and awareness who rail against such appropriation and we have no voice, certainly not against the raging tide of the ignorant mob.

      Far too many people are stupid. Worse, they *like* being stupid. Idiocy is no longer something to be ashamed of. To suffer pain from. Shame and emotional incontinence is celebrated rather than contained. We have been made toddlers by apathy, ignorance, poor education and statism. The few adults look at one another and despair becaue we can seewhere this ends.

          2. Going to be difficult. Where will we get the carrots and the small pieces of coal?

          3. We can grow the carrots.
            Growing the coal will take several million times longer.

      2. Soap operas, real-life programmes centred around the emotionally incontinent, the BBC, the entire education establishment, promotion of victimhood as a badge of honour, identity politics, etc etc.

  62. Morning, Campers.
    Is the current hoohah the result of western society becoming a collection self-centred cry babies or is there something about this bug that we are not being told?
    The price for cheap baking tins, ill fitting frocks and badly finished garden furniture does seem rather high.

    1. That has crossed many minds. Maybe it just comes down to not wanting to overwhelm the NHS, and not wanting to see the likes of bodies if that did happen. Destroying the economy in the process is not good either. It could result in more deaths.
      I’d like to hear about the pro-active measures that the government is taking, not just shutting everything down, e.g. local production of ventilators, gloves, masks, etc, clinical trials of hydroxychloroquine for corona virus treatment, more widespread testing to see who has it, who doesn’t…

    1. Ah, but all the raw cooking ingredients have gone too. No potatoes or onions in Tesco on Thursday, nor much else. Someone must be cooking all that raw food….

    2. If I remember correctly that was a BBC spoof broadcast on April 1st sometime in the 1950s.

      1. ’57 or thereabouts? I know they reran it from time to time as I saw it on TV, but my parents did not get a TV until the late ’50’s, and I was away at school then.

        1. Nationwide was much later. Tonight with Richard Dimbleby on 1st April 1957, was the original. I have a vague recollection that Nationwide may have repeated the hoax…

          1. I almost said ‘Tonight’, but for some reason Nationwide popped into my head.

          2. I confess, I thought it was Cliff Michelmore, until I looked it up. Since I was only three-and-a-half weeks old when it was broadcast originally, I may be wrong. My memory is somewhat hazy.

  64. Telegraph btl comment:
    “And in other news, conveniently announced whilst the media virus frenzy is in full swing, the Probation Service has abolished criminals.

    They are now to be known as ‘people subject to probation services’.

    This and other pc ‘ let’s pretend ‘ changes in terminology are to make the ‘service ‘ more ‘inclusive.’

    Soon to no doubt also to criminalise victims for upsetting the offender by wanting them punished.”

    Original article:
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/03/20/offenders-become-people-subject-probation-services-move-create/
    Criminals will no longer be called “offenders” by the probation service under a move to “reset” the language and create an “inclusive culture.”
    Instead of being known as an offender, anyone under supervision will be referred to as a “person subject to probation services”.
    It will cover both criminals serving community sentences for low-level offences as well as prisoners released on licence to serve the remainder of their sentence in the community.
    As part of the reform, the term “Offender Manager” will be replaced with “Probation Practitioner”, while “Offender Management” will become “Sentence Management”.

    This comes straight from the far Left activists in California, who did something almost identical last year, i.e. redefine the terminology for criminals. It’s about controlling the language and thereby controlling people’s thoughts. If they eradicate words from use, you can’t form coherent thoughts on that subject if the words to describe it no longer exists.
    It’s pure communist propaganda/brainwashing, and another nail in the coffin of our society.
    What Boris and his ministers are doing allowing this, I have no idea, but as far as I’m concerned, it’s another vote less for Boris and the rest of his fake Conservatives.

    2. Hmm, that abbreviates to PStPS, or PSPS. The crims could be called puss puss, or similar.
      Or one could try “PERson subject to Probation Services”, aka PERPS .

    3. What a waste of time. Just ask why they are “a person subject to probation services” and the answer will be “because they are an offender”.

    4. I thought offender was what you put in front of the fire to catch the coals before they landed on the carpet.

    5. Let’s redefine ‘tax payer’ as ‘milch cow’. Better still, scrap the term completely.

  65. I must admit Im getting rather Jealous of you Married NoTTLers having the joy of a partner in close contact 24/7 .

    We single Nottlers have feelings too , so I’ve decided to have a

    furious rant with myself in the mirror once a day , and storm off in a

    huff just to show that we can suffer for the cause too :}

    On the other hand…………………..

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/405d3db200019d357f92292e7a7cedccdbba0ee90ecb24e65006a3e23f9d93e5.jpg

    3. Afternoon Rik

      Some of us thought we were hardy and invincible .. 3 of us at home , Moh , me and adult son .. who is working by the way, we all felt like gibbering idiots the other day, no sleep at night , worry , I was shaking like a leaf , Moh thought we were all doomed and insisted on watching the news , and son asked what would happen to the parrot and dogs if we all succumbed !

      Today the roads are jammed packed with visitors in their Chelsea tractors tatgetting our small local supermarkets then heading for our coastline .. TRUE! It is a nice sunny day .. Visitors have headed in this direction like locusts to our pretty touristy areas.

      Anxiety prevails .. are they bringing their bugs with them ?

      Useful link here , with lots of other little links ..

      https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/stress-anxiety-depression/understanding-panic/

    4. After 52 years of marriage we have only had about half a dozen arguments. Given my life all over again I can’t think of anything major that I would change.

  66. Although I wouldn’t take Elsie’s nuclear option, I can see where she’s coming from.
    A great deal of the drastic action taken over these past few days can be laid very firmly at the door of newspapers and broadcasters.
    Having deliberately created the panic in a cynical battle for money and viewer numbers, they then do everything they can to criticise any initiatives to deal with the situation for which they are largely responsible. A nasty thread underlying this behaviour is pure jealousy; a far better journalist and more generous character than they has become Prime Minister, and like rabid pi dogs, they are impatient to drag him down to their own mean spirited level.
    They are too stupid and venal to realise that they are becoming despised and when, as will surely happen, the government has another crack at censorship, they will find supporters of press and broadcasting freedom somewhat thin on the ground.
    Many people do not understand Voltaire’s point and they will cheer on repression until it hits them personally.

    1. The trouble with newspapers now is that they are misnamed; opinion pieces outnumber news reporting by twenty to one

      1. I was just thinking of starting a sub to the Spectator! The DT has been beyond the pale for about ten years now.
        What do you find annoying about the Spectator?

        1. Relentless left-leaning wokery. There are a few good contributors but weighed against those you have the likes of Peston, Cohen, Peston, Parris and Peston.

          1. Oh dear. I agree, Parris is one of the smuggest most annoying “journalists” around. I did look on their contributors’ list and it includes both William Rees-Mogg (but not Jacob?), and Lutfer Ramen, he of Tower Hamlets election fiddling fame.
            Thanks!

  68. Is there a Nottlers’ archivist who can tell us what the highest ever number of posts was recorded in a day?

    Yesterday was 1229 which must be near the top of the list.

    I suspect that when everyone in the UK is confined to his or her home – as we are now in France – that the Nottlers will record some new record scores. Our aim should be always to make more posts than there are new corona cases recorded.

    1. Geoff has the number at his fingertips Richard. I think it’s somewhere around 1400!

        1. Indeed, if we excluded BJ altogether the number would be halved. Maybe we need ratiioning – nobody should be allowed to make more than, say, 20 posts in one day.

      2. Sorry, but the old site has been wiped from existence. Garlands’ guess is about right. I can say that Jun 16 had the highest ever monthly tally of posts, at 41,225, but can’t drill down to daily totals any longer :-((

    2. Good morning, Rastus.

      The highest ever number of posts:

      From memory: 24th. June 2016……2624?

      Edit: 2426?

        1. I will give you the benefit of doubt……..

          A few million voters discovered they were not
          individually sick to death of the EU/MSM
          but a majority of their fellow countrymen felt the
          same!

        2. 16 million smug bastards got the shock of their lives and they still haven’t recovered.

  69. My OH just came up with an idea for key NHS workers to get their shopping: get them to ‘buddy up’ with an NHS admin worker, who gets both their shopping when their 9-5 shift begins or ends.

    1. ~ Total UK deaths as a % of the UK population to two decimal places:
      0.00 (Zero)

      ~ Total UK confirmed cases as a % of the UK population to two decimal places:
      0.01

      1. While driving home from the supermarket before lunchtime, MOH informed me that older male slammers have been hit by the virus in higher proportion than older, stale, pale males ….. what a shame to lose such valuable members of society.

        1. I take it that that is worldwide rather than the UK.

          TBH I am somewhat surprised by that, given the number of Chinks and Eyeties that have snuffed it

          1. UK. It was in an article he read. I misheard, it was just moslums in general. Maybe because they are more likely to live in multi-generational households.

  71. Went for a long walk along the Thames from Hammersmith Bridge to Dukes Meadow and back this afternoon. Not sure it counts as social distancing. A large number of people and their happy doggies had the same idea. I had to hold onto my hat a bit but it’s a lovely walk and very uplifting.

  72. Just so you can compare.

    Source NHS

    18/12/2019

    ​Around
    10,000 deaths are caused by flu each year in England and WalesSource NHS.

    1. Obst sourced these for me yesterday. Put a different slant on things. The truth that must never be spoken.

      Trying to put the 177 deaths in the U.K. from Coronapanic. From a day or two ago, historical UK flu deaths:
      Flu deaths UK 2014-2019, from UK Flu Report (table on page 51 in link).
      2014/15……28,330
      2015/16……11,875
      2016/17……18,009
      2017/18……26,408
      2018/19……..1,692 (15 weeks only)
      https://assets.publishing.s…
      https://www.gov.uk/governme…M

  74. I have heard a few self-employed friends bemoaning their plight due to lack of income due to CV and that they don’t qualify for sick pay.
    Forgive me, but isn’t that why they charge such exorbitant hourly rates for their services…to accommodate a built in margin to be put away for a rainy, or virussy day?

    1. I once met someone who knew someone who had met someone who knew a self-employed tradesman who returned all his income and paid tax on it, but I am not sure whether it was true or just a story.

    3. They pay less NI. They are effectively the employee and employer. If they want sick pay they need to take out a suitable health insurance policy

    4. ‘Afternoon, Stormy, when I was working as a Business Consultant helping industry to put in ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems, a daily fee of between £500 – 700 wasn’t unusual and one could be on a job for anything up to 18 months.

      By careful tax avoidance (legal) one was able to squirrel quite a bit away for the often long times, without employment. It’s a question of responsibility for yourself and accountability to your family. Something that a lot of the young shy away from as if it might burn them.

  75. District No of Cases % per 100.000
    Barking and Dagenham 21 9.9
    Barnet 76 19.4
    Barnsley 7 2.9
    Bath and North East Somerset 5 2.6
    Bedford 1 0.6
    Bexley 31 12.5
    Birmingham 54 4.7
    Blackburn with Darwen 1 0.7
    Blackpool 5 3.6
    Bolton 13 4.6
    Bournemouth 10 2.5
    Bracknell Forest 3 2.5
    Bradford 9 1.7
    Brent 75 22.7
    Brighton and Hove 14 4.8
    Bristol 13 2.8
    Bromley 52 15.7
    Buckinghamshire 39 7.2
    Bury 10 5.3
    Calderdale 5 2.4
    Cambridgeshire 16 2.5
    Camden 46 17.5
    Central Bedfordshire 8 2.8
    Cheshire East 9 2.4
    Cheshire West and Chester 10 2.9
    Cornwall 16 2.8
    County Durham 7 1.3
    Coventry 7 1.9
    Croydon 68 17.6
    Cumbria 52 10.4
    Darlington 2 1.9
    Derby 12 4.7
    Derbyshire 50 6.3
    Devon 30 3.8
    Doncaster 3 1
    Dorset 7 1.9
    Dudley 18 5.6
    Ealing 54 15.8
    East Riding of Yorkshire 15 4.4
    East Sussex 8 1.4
    Enfield 48 14.4
    Essex 43 2.9
    Gateshead 1 0.5
    Gloucestershire 22 3.5
    Greenwich 41 14.3
    Hackney 45 16.1
    Halton 5 3.9
    Hammersmith and Fulham 36 19.4
    Hampshire 107 7.8
    Haringey 44 16.3
    Harrow 60 24
    Hartlepool 2 2.1
    Havering 19 7.4
    Herefordshire 3 1.6
    Hertfordshire 61 5.2
    Hillingdon 34 11.2
    Hounslow 38 14
    Isle of Wight 2 1.4
    Islington 45 18.8
    Kensington and Chelsea 66 42.3
    Kent 32 2
    Kingston upon Hull 1 0.4
    Kingston upon Thames 17 9.7
    Kirklees 6 1.4
    Knowsley 3 2
    Lambeth 103 31.6
    Lancashire 26 2.1
    Leeds 17 2.2
    Leicester 11 3.1
    Leicestershire 20 2.9
    Lewisham 47 15.5
    Lincolnshire 9 1.2
    Liverpool 14 2.8
    Luton 4 1.9
    Manchester 26 4.7
    Medway 11 4
    Merton 45 21.8
    Middlesbrough 1 0.7
    Milton Keynes 7 2.6
    Newcastle upon Tyne 21 7
    Newham 42 11.9
    Norfolk 17 1.9
    North East Lincolnshire 0 0
    North Lincolnshire 1 0.6
    North Somerset 4 1.9
    North Tyneside 12 5.8
    North Yorkshire 14 2.3
    Northamptonshire 17 2.3
    Northumberland 7 2.2
    Nottingham 22 6.6
    Nottinghamshire 41 5
    Oldham 14 5.9
    Oxfordshire 40 5.8
    Peterborough 2 1
    Plymouth 7 2.7
    Portsmouth 13 6
    Reading 7 4.3
    Redbridge 27 8.9
    Redcar and Cleveland 2 1.5
    Richmond upon Thames 16 8.1
    Rochdale 12 5.5
    Rotherham 4 1.5
    Rutland 0 0
    Salford 10 3.9
    Sandwell 11 3.4
    Sefton 7 2.5
    Sheffield 48 8.2
    Shropshire 3 0.9
    Slough 20 13.4
    Solihull 3 1.4
    Somerset 10 1.8
    South Gloucestershire 13 4.6
    South Tyneside 2 1.3
    Southampton 7 2.8
    Southend-on-sea 5 2.7
    Southwark 110 34.7
    St Helens 2 1.1
    Staffordshire 25 2.9
    Stockport 21 7.2
    Stockton-on-tees 9 4.6
    Stoke-on-trent 2 0.8
    Suffolk 13 1.7
    Sunderland 5 1.8
    Surrey 57 4.8
    Sutton 19 9.3
    Swindon 5 2.3
    Tameside 19 8.4
    Telford and Wrekin 0 0
    Thurrock 6 3.5
    Torbay 10 7.4
    Tower Hamlets 43 13.5
    Trafford 15 6.3
    Wakefield 6 1.7
    Walsall 20 7.1
    Waltham Forest 23 8.3
    Wandsworth 98 30
    Warrington 4 1.9
    Warwickshire 13 2.3
    West Berkshire 6 3.8
    West Sussex 19 2.2
    Westminster 99 38.8
    Wigan 6 1.8
    Wiltshire 17 3.4
    Windsor and Maidenhead 13 8.6
    Wirral 9 2.8
    Wokingham 12 7.1
    Wolverhampton 39 14.9
    Worcestershire 10 1.7
    York 6 2.9

    1. Interestingly Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster have by far the highest incidences per 100,000

      1. Nothing they are separate numbers. The formatting as lost when posting

        The first number is total number of verses. The second number expresses it as a percentage per 100,000

    3. SORTED BY % HIGHEST TO LOWEST
      Kensington and Chelsea: 66; 42.3%

      Westminster: 99; 38.8%

      Southwark: 110; 34.7%

      Lambeth: 103; 31.6%

      Wandsworth: 98; 30%

      Harrow: 60; 24%

      Brent: 75; 22.7%

      Merton: 45; 21.8%

      Barnet: 76; 19.4%

      Hammersmith and Fulham: 36; 19.4%

      Islington: 45; 18.8%

      Croydon: 68; 17.6%

      Camden: 46; 17.5%

      Haringey: 44; 16.3%

      Hackney: 45; 16.1%

      Ealing: 54; 15.8%

      Bromley: 52; 15.7%

      Lewisham: 47; 15.5%

      Wolverhampton: 39; 14.9%

      Enfield: 48; 14.4%

      Greenwich: 41; 14.3%

      Hounslow: 38; 14%

      Tower Hamlets: 43; 13.5%

      Slough: 20; 13.4%

      Bexley: 31; 12.5%

      Newham: 42; 11.9%

      Hillingdon: 34; 11.2%

      Cumbria: 52; 10.4%

      Barking and Dagenham: 21; 9.9%

      Kingston upon Thames: 17; 9.7%

      Sutton: 19; 9.3%

      Redbridge: 27; 8.9%

      Windsor and Maidenhead: 13; 8.6%

      Tameside: 19; 8.4%

      Waltham Forest: 23; 8.3%

      Sheffield: 48; 8.2%

      Richmond upon Thames: 16; 8.1%

      Hampshire: 107; 7.8%

      Havering: 19; 7.4%

      Torbay: 10; 7.4%

      Buckinghamshire: 39; 7.2%

      Stockport: 21; 7.2%

      Walsall: 20; 7.1%

      Wokingham: 12; 7.1%

      Newcastle upon Tyne: 21; 7%

      Nottingham: 22; 6.6%

      Derbyshire: 50; 6.3%

      Trafford: 15; 6.3%

      Portsmouth: 13; 6%

      Oldham: 14; 5.9%

      North Tyneside: 12; 5.8%

      Oxfordshire: 40; 5.8%

      Dudley: 18; 5.6%

      Rochdale: 12; 5.5%

      Bury: 10; 5.3%

      Hertfordshire: 61; 5.2%

      Nottinghamshire: 41; 5%

      Brighton and Hove: 14; 4.8%

      Surrey: 57; 4.8%

      Birmingham: 54; 4.7%

      Derby: 12; 4.7%

      Manchester: 26; 4.7%

      Bolton: 13; 4.6%

      South Glocestershire: 13; 4.6%

      Stockton-on-tees: 9; 4.6%

      East Reiding of Yorkshire: 15; 4.4%

      Reading: 7; 4.3%

      Medway: 11; 4%

      Halton: 5; 3.9%

      Salford: 10; 3.9%

      Devon: 30; 3.8%

      West Berkshire: 6; 3.8%

      Blackpool: 5; 3.6%

      Gloucestershire: 22; 3.5%

      Thurrock: 6; 3.5%

      Sandwell: 11; 3.4%

      Wiltshire: 17; 3.4%

      Leicester: 11; 3.1%

      Barnsley: 7; 2.9%

      Cheshire West and Chester: 10; 2.9%

      Essex: 43; 2.9%

      Leicestershire: 20; 2.9%

      Staffordshire: 25; 2.9%

      York: 6;
      2.9%

      Bristol: 13; 2.8%

      Central Bedfordshire: 8; 2.8%

      Cornwall: 16; 2.8%

      Liverpool: 14; 2.8%

      Southampton: 7; 2.8%

      Wirral: 9; 2.8%

      Plymouth: 7; 2.7%

      Southend-on-sea: 5; 2.7%

      Bath and North East Somerset: 5; 2.6%

      Milton Keynes: 7; 2.6%

      Bournemouth: 10; 2.5%

      Bracknell Forest: 3; 2.5%

      Cambridgeshire: 16; 2.5%

      Sefton: 7; 2.5%

      Calderdale: 5; 2.4%

      Cheshire East: 9; 2.4%

      North Yorkshire: 14; 2.3%

      Northamptonshire: 17; 2.3%

      Swindon: 5; 2.3%

      Warwickshire: 13; 2.3%

      Leeds: 17; 2.2%

      Northumberland: 7; 2.2%

      West Sussex: 19; 2.2%

      Hartlepool: 2; 2.1%

      Lancashire: 26; 2.1%

      Kent: 32; 2%

      Knowsley: 3; 2%

      Coventry: 7; 1.9%

      Darlington: 2; 1.9%

      Dorset: 7; 1.9%

      Luton: 4; 1.9%

      Norfolk: 17; 1.9%

      North Somerset: 4; 1.9%

      Warrington: 4; 1.9%

      Somerset: 10; 1.8%

      Sunderland: 5; 1.8%

      Wigan: 6; 1.8%

      Bradford: 9; 1.7%

      Suffolk: 13; 1.7%

      Wakefield: 6; 1.7%

      Worcestershire: 10; 1.7%

      Herefordshire: 3; 1.6%

      Redcar and Cleveland: 2; 1.5%

      Rotherham: 4; 1.5%

      East Sussex: 8; 1.4%

      Isle of Wight: 2; 1.4%

      Kirklees: 6; 1.4%

      Solihull: 3; 1.4%

      County Durham: 7; 1.3%

      South Tyneside: 2; 1.3%

      Lincolnshire: 9; 1.2%

      St Helen’s: 2; 1.1%

      Doncaster: 3; 1%

      Peterborough: 2; 1%

      Shropshire: 3; 0.9%

      Stoke-on-trent: 2; 0.8%

      Blackburn with Darwen: 1; 0.7%

      Middlesbrough: 1; 0.7%

      Bedford: 1; 0.6%

      North Lincolnshire: 1; 0.6%

      Gateshead: 1; 0.5%

      Kingston upon Hull: 1; 0.4%

      North East Lincolnshire: 0; 0%

      Rutland: 0; 0%

      Telford and Wrekin: 0; 0%

  76. Three men arrested after haul of toilet rolls and hand wash found

    Three men have been arrested in connection to a haul of toilet rolls and hand sanitiser, believed stolen from an Essex building site.

    Officers were called at around 10.20pm on Friday, March 20, with reports that a vehicle had driven through a barrier at a building site in Bury Lane in Hatfield Peverel.

    The police located the vehicle on the A13 before stopping it in South Ockendon at around 10.50pm.

    Inside the vehicle was stolen items including hand wash and dozens of packs of toilet rolls.

    Three men were arrested at the scene for burglary offences.

    A 28-year-old man from Aveley, a 37-year-old man from South Ockendon and a 41-year-old man from Purfleet remain in custody on suspicion of theft of a vehicle and burglary.

    1. Go on, Boris, amend the Emergency Powers so that looters and profiteers can be shot on sight…

      2. No, warn them first.

        Just to give them a few of shit moments of panic, then shoot them after making them put down the looted goods.

    2. In the late 40s my family visited a teacher colleague of my father who lived in South Ockendon. There was a mental home there where his doctor wife worked. I remember we went to the hospital sports day which all enjoyed.

      1. Ford’s AVO division was based there in the 1970s, building, amongst other things the Escort RS1600. This was not inside the mental hospital…

  77. Italian doctors have warned medics across Europe to “get ready” for coronavirus in a letter revealing up to 10 per cent of all those infected with coronavirus need intensive care, with hospitals becoming overwhelmed.

    I wonder if China have any data on this

  78. Why are flight to Spain from the UK still being allowed>

    One airline seems to be using the excuse that it is to repatriate Spanish nationals the trouble there though is the flights are open to anyone to book

  79. Just updating my will and just cannot make up my mind who to leave the toilet rolls to.

  81. Wasn’t there a story on the news last year about some local council having ordered ten years’ worth of toilet rolls by mistake and were having to pay for storage for them?
    Hmmm – did they know something we didn’t?

    2. Sounds par for the course. After all, it isn’t the pen pushers’ own money.

    4. Sounds like the order for god knows how many fax rolls made by the stores clerk in our office 20 years ago – who uses fax rolls now?

  82. I Think Boris and Donald are doing a great job under the circumstances. The media however are just bastards.

      2. Due to his age, would have had to be self-isolating. Diane Abbott, as Vice-PM would be in charge.

        1. “Diane Abbott, as Vice-PM…”
          I hope you mean Vice PL. The alternative is too worrying to think of

    2. Yesterdays US press briefing (or how many people can you squeeze onto a platform)

      Question. What would you tell people that are worried about the virus
      Trumps answer. That you are a very bad journalist.

      Now it may be that the media are making this crisis, it may be that government employees are doing as good as they can but to say that Trump is doing a great job is stretching the point somewhat. Or us such a lack of empathy a good point?

    4. I don’t expect Boris or Donald to do anything. Neither are medical professionals or specialised virologists. They just front the information.

      Heck, Boris has faced down Brexit, flooding and a nasty virus. Could something give him a break?

  83. I’ve already posted a song by Kenny Rogers today but here’s another one of him singing with Dolly Parton (who needs Sheena Easton!)
    My joke about his song about the promiscuous serpent-like fish who deserted him (You Picked a Fine Time to Leave me Lucille) used to make my boys groan when I mentioned it.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6IIkpmw8Ow

        1. They have prolonged the suffering of too many children. I will repeat that I believe the charities to be the problem and not the solution. Although the fat cat CEOs would vehemently deny that.

          1. “Although the fat cat CEOs would vehemently deny that.”
            In between writing begging letters to national newspapers.

          2. I’ve always been sceptical of why there are so many charities all with the same aims. If it were anything but a job creation scheme, they would amalgamate and pool resources.

          3. We will only support local charities, as does my bowls club, now closed until at least 1 July, which is mainly Woking hospice and https://www.wsbhospices.co.uk/. where the CEO is a volunteer. Only found that out a week of so ago when we presented them with a cheque. They receive less than 50% of their funding from the NHS but make no charge for patients care but prevent. ‘bed blocking’ in hospitals.

    2. I am long past being moved by the plight of the Africans.
      I know Kenya is a civilised place, but when I read about the bongos in the Congo murdering
      the aid workers trying to cure the ebola epidemic, that was enough. You can’t fix stupid.

    3. I am long past being moved by the plight of the Africans.
      I know Kenya is a civilised place, but when I read about the bongos in the Congo murdering
      the aid workers trying to cure the ebola epidemic, that was enough. You can’t fix stupid.

      1. 60 + years of ‘freedom’ from evil white colonialist rule and they still have water holes miles from habitation with buffalo p!ssing in them. Little girls with undercarriages ripped to pieces to adhere to some primitive beliefs, walk miles to collect a bucket of the stuff.
        And all that time, to assuage our guilt for trying to rescue them from the Stone Age, we have poured £billions into the blasted continent. Let ’em get on with it.

        1. Rhodesia – under colonial rule, affluent, a major food exporter, people well fed.

          Zimbabwe – free, an economic basket case, can’t feed its own people, with murder and mayhem rampant.

          They don’t teach that in schools, I bet.

    5. Don’t care. Their governments have been given billions in aid money by the West for decades and they’ve done bugger all with it. And there’s a much lower incidence of corona virus in Africa at the moment, possibly due to the antimalarial drugs used to treat malaria….

      1. I used to have direct debit donations to a couple of charities giving aid to Africa but stopped them years ago when I realised that they had made not a jot of difference

        1. I came to the conclusion, many years ago, that the more aid you give to the starving of Africa the more starving Africans get produced. Often by a factor of 10.

          1. Charity (def): Taking money from poor people in rich countries tries to give to rich people in poor countries.

          2. Then they grow up and start waving machetes and Kalashnikovs around to get more stuff that isn’t theirs.

        2. Money from poor people in rich countries going to rich people in poor countries.

          There was a clear on LBC last week, who was from Ethiopia, I think, who said more or less exactly that. The Foreign Aid money never reaches the ordinary people, just sits in Swiss bank accounts of multi-millionaire/billionaire leaders who have robbed their own people.

      2. Apart from the Sally Army tin, I’ve not given any donations since the charitable scheme called Sunny Smiles, while in school.
        I don’t equate the Armed Forces Benevolent fund as a charity, so they get donations once in a while.

        2. Possibly that. Possibly not. It was speculation, but something I’d noticed several days ago, which I found odd considering how much business the Chinese had been doing in Africa and there had to have been movement between there and China…

    2. Only lasts one game? You serve, 15-Love, 30-Love, 40-Love, Game. Service over – err…

    4. Our club is closed, but the courts are still open for those who bring their own balls, drink, loos etc.

  87. I dont think this wlll work? You just self declare that you are self isolating or over the state pension age

    We understand this is a worrying time, but many of our customers are elderly, vulnerable or self-isolating and are unable to get to our stores to buy their essential products.

    This means that we’re temporarily limiting online orders to customers who are over state pension age, self-isolating and other vulnerable people, such as the disabled. If you aren’t over state pension age and can get to one of our stores, we kindly ask that you use our Store Locator to find your local Iceland and complete your shop there.

    We’re working hard with our suppliers to get products to all our customers and we thank you in advance for helping us to prioritise our online service to our most vulnerable. Please note that due to continued high demand in our stores, customers may still be missing items in their online orders..

    We’ll be in contact to let you know when online deliveries are back to normal.

  88. Urgent appeal as NHS lives put at risk by poor quality equipment

    Poor quality is the wrong word. Incorrect PPE equipment is more what is meant

    FRONTLINE NHS medical staff are being exposed to coronavirus because of shortages of essential protective gear, a senior doctor warned to

    Lisa Anderson, a consultant cardiologist at St George’s Hospital in London, said the Government had downgraded hygiene rules so they no longer met World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendations. She claimed that since Monday NHS staff were only required to wear a simple face mask, short gloves and a pinafore apron rather than the a full gown and visor called for by WHO bosses.

    1. What I don’t understand is, who dreamed up a system so stupid that politicians have a say in this decision? And why has it been converted into a quasi-religion over the years?
      Hospitals should be deciding what their staff wear. Professional organisations run by qualified people should be setting the standards.

    2. Perhaps the full biftah is no longer avsilabe, supplies having been hijacked by the French.

  89. Not a spud to be had in Asda yesterday. Just been to the farm two miles from home and got a 25kg sack for 8 quid.

    1. Interesting how little the farm gate prices have changed. When we sold our last bag in 2003 they were £6.50 for 56lbs spuds.

      1. In around 1970 I was paying ten bob for a sack. That was the first time I discovered you could do it that way. A portion of chips at the local fish shop was 6d, a twentieth of the price of a bag of spuds.

        A portion at the same shop now is £1.70.

          2. What was the fish where you bought your ‘fish & six’? Here in N Essex ‘fish’ in the order was always cod, you had to specify anything else. I remember being in N Wales – land of my father – and ‘fish’ was haddock in the shop I used. Are there any other regional differences?

          4. Around our way ‘fish’ meant cod, but when I’ve been in Scotland or some parts of Yorkshire it was haddock.

            I prefer haddock to cod, but either does me.

          5. Haddock for me ,too. Haven’t had dripping fried chips since I had a short holiday in Yorkshire over twenty years ago. My father was the chip cooker at home and he used dripping although he got a taste for chips fried in olive oil when he served in the RAF in WWII.

          1. They’ve always been generous at the one I use and they still cook them in dripping. You need climbing irons to get to the fish.

        3. The only time I’ve actually been in contact with a sack of spuds was Back in the early 70’s……….on a blind date.

  90. I’m fairly sure that the next few weeks will see a big rise in mariticide and uxoricide, all due to staring at each other over the dining table.

  91. I have a headache and a cough. I feel achey and weak. I think i have something. I got the shakes yesterday.I will post my symptoms if there is any change.

    Please pour a bottle of bleach over your keyboard. Just to be safe.

    1. I hope it’s nothing sinister Phizz and that you’ll feel right as rain tomorrow.

      1. Thank you. I have a runny nose too but i always that that at this time of year. I said to my Doctor some time ago that the antihistamines were not working. She said to take more. I asked how many more. She said 10.

        Not really very helpful but then she never was.

        I did my own research and if you take them long term you build an immunity.

        The answer was to keep switching brands.

        She is retired now, thank goodness.

        1. I am affected by a sore throat and sniffles and sneezes at this time of the year. It is the pollen from daffodils and the plentiful white hedgerow blossom (blackthorn?) and the pink blossom on garden trees that appears before the leaves. I forgot about it this year, it has only come on over the last 10 years to a greater or lesser extent, I was wondering what on earth I’d caught, a sore throat that wouldn’t go away – then taking Poppie for her evening walk she stopped by a hedgerow …. I was standing next to white blossom and I suddenly realised what was the problem. It’s not bad enough to take antihistamines, it is just really annoying.

    2. It’s just the shock of looking at your investment loss yesterday. Then the drinks that followed. It’s the DTs. Don’t worry.

    3. Wait until you get chesty, then dial 111 and prepare to write off the rest of the day and night. My OH is still waiting for a call-back from yesterday, after waiting to get through for an hour.

      1. I avoid Doctors like the plague. Please pardon the tasteless pun. I hate hospitals I had a bad experience as a child and it has stayed with me. I even find it difficult to visit people in hospital.

        If i have something worse i will just weather it at home and sod the consequences. I don’t have any underlying conditions except for elevated blood pressure due to booze and fags. I’ll be alright.

        Hope things work out for you both.

      1. I don’t often drink beer. Especially when Gin is available. These micro pubs know what they are doing.. I had a beer served in a small glass, chocolate or liquorice tasting. It was really chewy. Difficult to drink a whole pint of that i assume.

        The micro pubs serve Gin so it is taking me a long time to get through their beers.

    5. Large whisky and a plentiful supply of tissues – if you like, you may make it an excuse to lounge around in bed.

      Whingeing isn’t an option – we are bluddy British after all!

      1. Too true.

        I have been nurturing a really bad case of B.O just to ensure other people keep their distance. It’s getting very fruity.

        1. I double garlic intake. There may be some antibacterial or antivirus effect, plus people don’t come close enough to infect you!

  92. Modern journos.

    Don’t they have to have passed an English exam at some time in their lives any more?

    I’m not reading the article because (a) I don’t subscribe to the Telegraph and (b) I’m not that bothered, but there’s one today by somebody called Laura Donnelly who seems to have subscribed all her life to the school of ‘spell as you think you’ve heard, even though the word you use isn’t the word you thought it was’.

    Her article, which has presumably passed the eyes of a sub-editor who must have gone to the same school is ‘How the health service ended up in such a perilous state’.

    ‘Parlous’, Laura, ‘Parlous’. I’m sure that’s the word you were seeking.

    (Qualifier – I might be wrong, because she might actually mean ‘perilous’, but without reading the article I can’t tell).

    2. Perhaps she was just being Purulent. It seems to be the norm with modern journalism.

    3. Don’t they have to have passed an English exam at some time in their lives any more?

      Yes, but don’t forget grade inflation and the prizes-for-all mentality in schools.
      My nephew’s ex-girlfriend went to uni to study journalism. She’d passed her English language A-level, or whatever they call it now.
      Her application essay was barely literate, according to my sister who had to read it, and the girlfriend said she didn’t know the difference between grammar and spelling….

    4. If you want any lessons on pronouncement of English words BE, watch the TV programme The Windsor’s.

    5. I don’t think they have subbies now – and she probably sent that by phone so it’s phonetic spellin.

    1. ‘Afternoon, J, the hand bidet is an instrument similar to that used for contraception in Thailand. After sex an internal douche is used (there is no shower head), it’s just a hose attached to a tap.

      How effective it is, I don’t know; I didn’t hang around long enough to find out.

      1. One would have to trust the water supply had been properly treated and is bug free. A douche should use distilled lightly warmed water.

        There have been two cases of contaminated water in my area over the last 10 years. Rat urine causing Weil’s disease.

        1. …and you would trust that the (distilled) water supply in Thailand was not only bug free but delightfully warmed to your specific requirements?

          Good luck with that, while applying the douche to your female parts.

          2. But the Thai girls certainly do – download and read my book, Not A Bad Life, Page 116 onwards and you’ll see what I mean.

            Available on Kindle for just USD 5.00 and Paul liked it.

    3. He is quite correct, but how come he can get away with being racist and we can’t talk about “brown people” shitting in the open air?
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V35Vw29tay0
      Fascinating talk on this subject from an Indian doctor.
      EDIT: I don’t know how to get rid of the huge graphic, sorry.

      1. We were told that the lawns of the Parliament building in Delhi was used for certain purposes by delegates. That was in 1962, nothing changes.

      2. “The average American uses about 141 rolls of teepee per year”
        What the heck?
        I get through less than one a month at home. Add to that maybe the equivalent at work and it would still be a lot fewer that 140 per year.
        Do yer septics
        a. have smaller rolls or
        b. bigger a*ses or
        c. just produce more sh*t?

        2. Given that the average American is obese from eating to excess on over processed rubbish full of salt, sugar and palm oil i will go for C.

  102. Here’s an idea to reduce ‘hampstering’ – ask supermarkets to hide all their trolleys and apply a one basket per customer policy.

    2. As I said yesterday to the very same comment: how are the old & disabled supposed to cope with that?

    3. I learned a new Dutch verb the other day – hamsteren. To hamster, as in lay in stores of food, currently applied to panic buying.

  103. ” Coronavirus news: UK government gives daily briefing – live updates ”
    This is the one where three snotty people sit above the listeners and talk down to them as though they were stupid little children.

    1. Is ‘snottiness’ a symptom of CV?

      TBH, I’m quite impressed with George Eustace, so far.

  104. Germany is now advising people to stock up on cheese and sausages. This is called the Wurst Kase scenario….

    I’ll get mein Mantel

    2. Kansas Flu? There was a programme on TV recently, which claimed it started there on a farm and spread to Europe when the US joined WWI.

    2. I have seen that clip before, a few years ago. I reckon the present situation is far worse owing to the appeasement of this death cult by politicians and an assortment of Labour and Liberal fools.

      1. 317329+ up ticks,
        Evening C,
        It don’t improve with age, gets worse daily, the politico who deserve s a voice on islamic ideology is Gerard Batten who has been warning of what is happening via rhetoric & book form since 2005 and has been awarded a
        far right racist tag.

        1. I believe that much of the audience in that film clip are innocent but uneducated arseholes.

          Their appearances and shifty nature, casting glances side to side to feel which way to move, are classic examples of the wolf pack mentality. Idiots recruited by religious zealots and morons.

  107. Latest Breaking News – Due to the corona virus outbreak the government has banned putting the clocks forward this Spring, they are saying that touching the big hand may lead to another outbreak of the disease in the Autumn when we move them back again.

  109. Agreement Reached with Private Hospitals

    Under this agreement almost the entire capacity will be made available to the NHS. They will be reimbursed on an at cost basis

    1. I wonder how many ventilators private hospitals have? Close to zero I suspect…

      2. Not so; quite a lot in fact.

        Any procedure done under general anaesthetic will require a ventilator to be available for the patient. Eg hips, knees, etc., lots of which are carried out privately.

          2. OH had his shoulder op last October at the Spire in Bristol – I don’t think the room had a carpet, though I wasn’t really looking. There was a private shower and loo. He had good care, too.

          7. The Spire and the Nuffield in Hampshire. I have been a patient in both. All the guest rooms are carpeted.

          8. The two ops I had done privately in different Bupa hospitals had lovely single carpeted rooms.

          11. I bet it was real chicken and not the slices pumped with nitrates and water sold in it’s own plastic coffin.

          12. OH had his shoulder op last October at the Spire in Bristol – I don’t think the room had a carpet, though I wasn’t really looking. There was a private shower and loo. He had good care, too.

        2. There are different types of ventilators, so the ones used in operations may not be suitable for CV patients. Andy C might know.

          1. I agree that there will be different types of ventilator, but I would be surprised if one that was suitable for a GA patient would be unsuitable for a coronavirus-side-effect patient.

            If anything the GA one might be more than enought for purpose.

      3. Mine has the diver’s decompression chamber for handling the bends in a little hut in the grounds so I suppose that could be used, in an emergency!

    2. One of my friends has been caught in this,
      Her hip operation was scheduled for next Friday.
      She lives on her own and after several months of being pushed from pillar to post by the NHS, decided to draw on her savings and go private.
      She was told yesterday. I have known her for forty eight years, and it was the first time I’d heard her cry.

    3. Why didn’t they commandeer them? I understood the Private hospitals got the NHS to do the expensive operations.

  110. I’m going to assume store cupboard spices* this is my three ingredient tasty meal (just cooked and eaten)
    Onion
    Potato
    Cheese
    Start onion frying gently
    Make up spice mix Mustard seeds,ginger garlic fenugreek tumeric chili flakes salt paprika
    Add to pan once onion softened and fry off gently adding a little water from time to time so the spices don’t burn
    Add cooked potato and mix gently through
    Chop or grate your cheese and mix through until it begins to melt,serve and scoff in my case with a nice IPA
    *I like this mix for this curry but any curry powder or garam masala will produce a tasty dish

    1. I came across a very simple dish in Sweden way back in 1986. Its base was finely diced potato and I think, finely diced bacon or pork with some flavourings. It was tasty but you wouldn’t want it too often. Perhaps one of our Swedish/Scandinavian experts has come across it?

      2. From my time of camping holidays i always took foil packs. You just had to heat them up..I bought them from camping supply shops but they did quite a range.. of potato dishes with onion and bacon. I think the brand was called ‘Chef Select’.

    3. Sounds like a students dish,but at least its not pasta, the most overated staple of them all.

    4. I’m afraid I cheated. Roast chicken (today was the use by date), jacket potato (rubbed with oii and sprinkled with sea salt), and copious veg. OK – veg isn’t one thing – it included carrot, broccoli, green beans and baby corn, but who’s counting? Oh – did I mention the apricot and rosemary stuffing and the gravy?

    5. We had an easy meal tonight :
      A piece of smoked cod ( all that was left on the fish counter yesterday)

      An egg beaten in a little milk.

      Pepper & mixed herbs
      Bake in the oven for 20 minutes or so
      Served with green beans, potaoes and salad leaves.

  111. Just thinking of some who will feel this closedown particularly. Both in Cramlington and in Northfield I got into conversation with a couple of widowers who frequented Sainsbury’s and other cafes most days. I suppose they weren’t into cookery (I’ve always been comfortable with cooking since my student days). I wonder how they are coping.

    1. In life, you have to inter-act with people. Loneliness is a bigger killer than the virus. Self-isolation is a case of the cure is worse than the disease.

    2. This. The old chap who lives sort of next door is in the habit of walking the three miles or so into Aldershot a few times a week to have lunch at one of the local greasy spoons. Another neighbour knocked on my door this afternoon, asking whether I’d seen him today. I had. His grip on reality is somewhat tenuous, but he’s a nice, harmless old chap who’s lived in the village for all his 80-odd years, except for when he was doing National Service. They withdrew the nearest bus service three years ago; the nearest shop is a mile and a half away.

      I said I would ‘engineer a chance meeting’ with him tomorrow, to see how we can help. He’s fiercely independent, like his next door neighbour.

      Happily, while the church has gone into lockdown (don’t get me started), the village has mobilised. Out of a population of around 300, the “Seale and Sands Covid-19 Community Support Group” already has over 100 volunteers. The same is true of the next village. ‘All’ I have to do is to persuade him to accept some help. Given that he turned down the offer of a free car (admittdely, only a very elderly Polo) when his Metro was stolen, ten or so years ago, this might be a bit of a challenge…

    2. The letter doesn’t appear to be on very professionally headed paper. I bet it was mocked up by an employee on his/her own pc and was sent as a ‘joke’

  113. Telly – total cr@p
    All Channels catering for brain dead morons.

    BBC2 4.35pm Film – ‘In Which We Serve’…yeah I know seen it a million times!

    Ah…the Bulldog spirit…what happened?

    1. Based on Louis Mountbatten’s experiences on HMS Kelly, which was sunk beneath him in the Med.

      I bought the book ‘Kelly’ in the 1970s. I’ve still got it. Not read it in about 30 years, mind.

  114. More details on Private Hospital deal

    2000 more beds

    10,000 more nurses

    700 Doctors

    8000 other clinical staff

    1200 more ventilators

    250 Operating Theaters and Critical beds

    2. Based on Italy of 10% of cases needing a ventilator we would need about 400 ventilators at present (WE have gone from almost zero cases to almost 4000 in about 3 weeks. What I dont know is how long they need to be on a ventilator so the number needed might be slightly lower. Rember as well that other patients may need ventilators another figure I dont have. At current rate of increase in cases and assuming the 10% figure applies to the UK demand for ventilators will increase rapidly

      1. Corona virus seems to take a long time, if you look at the rational recovered to infected.

    1. You cannot cancel a contract of work with no notice. If the individual is within their probationary period, perhaps, but not if they’re being considered for a management role.

      If they accepted that agreement then they knew the risks. Equally someone who uses language like “… understand there is going to be casualties …” is a wingnut.

      The problem is that getting monies from the government will take a long time. It’s just not efficient enough.

    2. Hers won’t be the last by a long shot. The wingers will be coming out of the woodwork with a vengeance. And the fraudsters of course.

      1. Fraudsters have started over here. Phone calls are being reported where pensioners receive offers of a twenty percent increase in their pension. All they have to do is send bank and investment details to . . .

    3. Delphine: “If you go to the Liverpool cineworld it’s time to cancel your membership and begin the boycott. Me and 50+ staff who work there have just been let go, while newer members keep their job as cineworld won’t have to pay them sick leave as they havnt worked for 18 months plus.”

      Two things, Delphine darling…
      1. It’s “Fifty staff and I… “. If it were just you, you wouldn’t say ‘Me has just been let go”… would you?
      2. Of course they have. They are trying to save their business so that they can keep as many staff as possible in the long term.

  117. We’ll all be absolutely up sh1t creek if the Magic Money Tree gets some fatal disease.

    The Mandibles: A Family, 2029-2047 is a 2016 novel, the thirteenth by American author Lionel Shriver. It was first published by HarperCollins in the United Kingdom in May 2016 through the company’s Borough Press imprint and was published in the United States in June of the same year under their Harper imprint.

    Synopsis
    The book is set in the United States in 2029 during a debt crisis that results in the collapse of the country’s economy and the rise of a supranational currency, bancor, led by a group of countries. The United States is deliberately excluded from this group, a move that causes President Dante Alvarado to take drastic measures, which includes resetting the national debt. Any and all gold now belongs to the government and owning bancors will result in treason charges. Treasury bonds are now null and void, which results in the bankruptcy of many. One family, the Mandibles, are hit particularly hard by the devaluation of American currency, as they were all expecting to inherit an enormous fortune from the family’s patriarch. Now they are unable to continue living in their former lifestyles and they are willing to go to any length to ensure survival.

    The novel is divided into two parts. The first, which takes place between 2029 and 2032, establishes characters from four generations of the Mandible family: the wealthy patriarch; his children, now in their 60s; his young-middle-age grandchildren and their partners; and his teenage great grandchildren. The story begins with events just before the Great Renunciation and ends three years later with the family fleeing the chaos and social breakdown around their home in Brooklyn to live in upstate New York. The second part takes place in 2047, and follows the now middle-aged great grandchildren (and the patriarch’s sole surviving daughter, now in her 90s) as they strike out, once again, to find refuge from an increasingly authoritarian United States government in the separatist enclave of Nevada.

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

    1. Already happening to me. If Gov bonds go as well i am seriously fooked. A new career in shoplifting is in the offing.

          1. Pretty obvious that (if we survive) there will be massive inflation to wipe out the value of any cash or investments that we have.

          2. Until the payments for all of this borrowed money comes in. Then you will be asked to take a cut.

          5. Not private pensions. You know, the ones people actually paid into all their working lives and are now being robbed blind…again.

          6. Remember Endowment policies ? Standard Life, Scottish Widows, Equitable ? The ones that were always the top ? They sunk like a stone like the rest of them.

          8. Yo HL,

            I’m already receiving a somewhat depleted final salary pension, having retired through ill health. The scheme is underfunded, but that’s not currently my problem. I also have a modest annuity which pays out a fixed amount every six months. Again, supposedly cast in stone. But we live in interesting times.

            At the moment, I’ve other more pressing issues. I live, rent-free, in return for various jobs for the local church. Miss Dorothea S. Courtauld, of the fabric milling dynasty, lived in the village, and in 1936, endowed the Church with a purpose-built cottage for the Verger to live in. In those days, he prolly (©BT) had to stoke the boiler several times a day. In modern times, it has been dangled as a carrot to attract organists, provided they agreed also to be Verger. Which is where I come in.

            Despite being in the heart of wealthy Surrey, collections don’t remotely meet the ‘parish share’. Apparently, we’ve kicked the can down the road for several years, but funds are about to dry up. The wider Church may be a wealthy organisation, but cash moves only in one direction. Parishes are skint. Ours may become bankrupt. So, my home for the last fifteen years is to go on the market on 1st April. In fairness, the parish has offered to subsidise my rent until I retire in five years, so I’m just about to move to a shiny new apartment – in a new neighbourhood nr. Aldershot – formerly the South Camp.

          12. I’m already in receipt of that, HL. The fund is under-funded, otherwise I might have been able to take a lump sum when I retired through ill health. But with the global economy about to crash and burn, who knows?

        1. The official advice has always been with stock market crashes is to sit tight. They will eventually recover. I know. This is not the first time and will certainly not be the last.

      4. You and me both.
        How about I drive the getaway car, you do the face to face charming of the shopkeepers.

    1. We will remember Macron for his small stature both physically and intellectually and make the French pay for his misdemeanours as necessary. Hopefully the French themselves will do away with this Macron cretin and all that he stands for.

      We can start by charging the French for our fish that they have become accustomed to stealing and much else besides.

  120. Well, NHS England, UK – how are all those race liaison and equality managers going to help during this crisis.

    And Jeremy Hunt, Health Secretary from 2012 to 2018, it’s a bit late now to tell us you were always uneasy about the shrinking number of beds, but nobody raised the issue. NHS Executive – what were you doing?

    1. I do not know about others’ opinions of Jeremy Hunt but confess to finding him creepy with those wide unblinking eyes. His eyes remind me of the similarly unblinking Blair’s.

      Hunt was Health Secretary almost for as long as May was Home Secretary and both have proven to have been utterly useless.

      As you state, much of the additional resources given to the NHS have been squandered by and on layer after layer of hopeless management.

      In addition the NHS has been crippled by the numbers of EU workers (Poles where I live) having their babies on the NHS and immigrants and health tourists stealing from us. Add in the cost of translation services and the added complications of dealing with the defects in children arising from in-breeding among Pakistanis and we have a recipe for disaster.

      Then add in the cost of claims made by those whose treatment was judged to be inadequate and you have a double whammy.

      1. There are plenty of Poles where I live and, apart from a few exceptions, they are law-abiding, hard-working, friendly types who, if they have families with them, seem keen to make their homes and settle here. They try to learn English and assimilate. Of course, there are some bad ones but I haven’t heard of any gangs of Poles grooming young girls, Poles wanting special treatment for their religion, Poles trying to change our legal system, Poles treating women as chattels etc. I am sure that there has been a few Poles beating up British citizens but no systematic attempts to kill and maim thousands of us at one time.

  121. The Miller creature surfaced from the depths on Radio 4 this evening. In a short programme about Andrew Bailey, the new Governor of the Bank of England, she criticised his performance as a regulator prior to his appointment, accusing him of indecision and being an insiders’ man. She has even asked the Chancellor to investigate his appointment.

    Presenter Ed Stourton remarked that there was little that was indecisive about Bailey’s cutting of interest rates shortly after entering the building but – Stourton being Stourton – he also had a little dig at Gove and others by saying that ‘experts are back in vogue’. He missed the point. The ‘experts’ who were the subject of the ire of ministers were the Treasury officials and media economists forecasting the collapse of the economy upon our disentanglement from the Brussels mob, not the BoE, even though the previous seat-warmer Carney was of the same mind. He (Carney) was, of course, Osborne’s poodle and presumably under the same instruction as the crew at Horse Guards’ Road.

    Bailey sounds a bit of a dry stick and on his charge sheet is membership of the Fabian Society at Cambridge. However, he likes cricket and the symphonies of Bruckner so he’s not a lost cause.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000gksd

  122. Phase 1 of Rail cuts starts on Monday with most services cut by about 50% a second phase is likely later next week which will further reduce services

  123. HAPPY (AUSTERITY) HOUR – Recipe using 3 ingredients

    Come on NoTTlers let’s hear your austerity recipes – using only 3 ingredients

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4bc73a8c0126312b5192bf41212c4784ecbfd55b299773c81d2298de6ef84dbc.jpg

    3 crowns broccoli
    1 ¾ cups shredded cheddar cheese (175 g)
    3 cloves garlic, crushed
    salt to taste

    Preheat oven to 375ºF (190ºC).
    Spread broccoli in a medium casserole dish.
    Stir in the garlic and cheddar cheese. add salt and pepper to taste.
    Bake for 25 minutes.

          1. Lay them out on a lightly greased baking tray, sprinkle with salt and pepper then throw them in the bin.

        2. I was thinking larder items. I quite like spam, spam and spam. All together now.

          ♫ Spam, spam, spam, lovely spam ♫

    3. Duck under the table is a rare treat.😎

      Thick slice of fresh bread
      Thick slices of Red Leicester cheese
      Lea and Perrins

      Cover bread with generous portion of cheese. Place under a hot grill until cheese bubbles, add dash of Lea and Perrins and enjoy.

        1. Try banana with a scattering of demarara instead of the Lea & Perrins. Then grill til sugar bubbles and nana browns.

        2. I love cheese. Unfortunately, it doesn’t love me. I have to have a towel on hand, thanks to diabetic gustatory sweating. It’s a thing.

      2. Not seen that expression before so i looked it up.

        There was another one there as well.

        Dry as a dead dingo’s donger.

        Sort of thing an Aussie bloke might say before his first beer of the day.

        1. IIRC, I first heard that expression from my MiL. Another from way back is, ‘bread and pull it’. Never sure what the meaning was, probably lost in the mists of time.

          1. That was nothing to put on the bread, so all you could do was pull a chunk off & eat it dry.

          2. I can remember going to school with a piece of bread and some hard cheese. We were poor but we were unhappy…erm.

            The unhappiness stemmed from seeing what others had in their lunch boxes. Some people had an apple And a Club chocolate bar !

          3. Aha. I know that one. Bread and pullet without the chicken. And people are panicking now because supermarkets can’t keep up.

    4. 1 tin of corned beef – chopped
      1 jar tomato with red wine sauce or similar
      Tagliatelle or spaghetti
      Grated Parmesan (0ptional0

      Heat beef & sauce together, simmer for 10 minutes while pasta cooks in boiling water
      Serve in the usual way.

      1. MOH brought home 6 tins of corned beef. Haven’t even opened a tin for 40 years. Made corned beef hash and it was great. Mashed potatoes, onions and corned beef. To be honest, there was garlic, mustard and a host of seasonings, but just 3 main ones.

        1. Corned beef Mousaka …cover with thinly sliced onion, potatoes.. add cheese sauce. place slices of aubergine or tomato on top bake 25mins

    5. To Hell with austerity;
      Relatively cheap and easy.

      Faux filet steak, mushrooms, chips (oven for convenience, the curved version).

      If you really want cheap:
      A bowl of freshly popped corn cooked in salted butter. A glass (or few) of red wine, (for the vitamens, naturally!)

      1. Not forgetting to deglaze the pan with Cognac and butter.

        As you say. Sod austerity. You only get one go.

        1. Yes indeed, Garlands; that’s my fav brunch – but requires several ingredients !

        1. But there’s probably less panic buying of salmon and avocado, so more likely to find the non-austerity ingredients.

    7. Slice a red onion thinly and fry it until it starts to caramelise
      Add a tin of tuna (in spring water, not oil)
      Add boiled rice.
      (If we can have a fourth ingredient, I’d suggest either a beaten egg – keep mixing it around the rice until it cooks and shreds into small pieces, or slices of zucchini lightly fried with the onion)

    8. Supper tonight:

      I fillet poached salmon with lemon (W/rose)
      3 clumps of dried tagliatelle
      W/rose seafood sauce

      Cook pasta in boiling salted water in the usual way
      Flake salmon away from skin
      Toss cooked pasta with seafood sauce & salmon flakes.
      Squeeze of lemon juice & fresh black pepper.

      I washed it down with a bottle of English fizz which didn’t get drunk on 31.01.20

    10. Tuna
      Sweetcorn
      Mayonnaise

      First got a taste for this mixture when in the sixth form. Still like it! I add chopped onion but you may not be such a fan.

      1. One of my fave sandwich and baked potato filings (with a bit of red onion)

        1. The flavour profile match between Tuna and Cue is a match made in heaven. I like white pepper on mine.

  124. Pressure now growing to order the Closure of non food shops, caravan parks and hotels

        3. It has become quite clear you need to lock doewn everything you can to slow the spread down particularly in areas with a high density of population and a lot of people moving about

      2. It is to slow the spread of COVID-19. Italy have overtaken China and Spain is rapidly catching up with Italy. The message from China and Italy is you need to close everything you can > In Italy the highest incidence is now in the Industrial areas where mores things are still open

        1. Italy closed everything, shut off the north from the south and they are the worst case in the world.

          That worked well.

    2. Copying Spain, but slowly.

      Foot in the door time. Once one place does it the rest must follow to avoid criticism.

    1. Who gets within a metre or two of a stranger on a visit to a garden or park?

      Corporal Jones might have something to say about this.

  127. Coronavirus: John Lewis closes all 50 stores across Britain amid global pandemic

    John Lewis has taken the “difficult decision” to close all shops on Monday amid the coronavirus pandemic.

    The firm will temporarily close its 50 department stores at the close of business on Monday due to the outbreak.

    This will be the first time in the 155-year history of the business that it will not open its shop doors for customers, the group said on Saturday.

    The partnership said Johnlewis.com will continue to operate as normal, alongside Waitrose supermarkets and Waitrose.com.

    2. “This will be the first time in the 155-year history of the business that it will not open its shop doors for customers, the group said on Saturday”
      They don’t open on Christmas Day

          1. When the MK store opened, Monday was training day,
            the shop didn’t open to the public.

          2. We lived in MK in 1983, in Bradwell Common so close enough to walk to the excellent shopping centre. Waitrose was a delight as there were none in Scotland at that time.

          3. Lived in Newport Pagnell. Bought the marital bed from JL in MK. Still have it – excellent purchase!

          4. We bought a kingsize over 40 years ago from JL.. wonderful comfy bed , superb. Loved it . It was showing wear and tear so regretfully changed it about 4 years ago .. Bed was expensive but different quality .. I hate it , hard , sort of foam, retains heat , has no give . Moh can sleep .. he doesn’t mind where he lays his head .. but my old JL bed is badly missed.

          5. I was working in MK, from 1983 to 1987,
            at Cotton Valley STW ext1, I agree with
            you, I enjoyed the Centre….but not any
            more…….too large now and very expensive
            parking fees.

      2. Or Easter Day and they used to close on all Saturday afternoons and Sundays. That was still the case when I first came to live in London in 1975.

      3. So let me get this straight; both world wars didn’t close them, neither did the Spanish Flu.
        We really are a bunch of wusses these days.

    3. “Partners” will be redeployed to Waitrose. You can still buy JL&P stuff online and have it delivered, or “Click and Collect” from a Waitrose branch. Sounds eminently sensible to me.

      1. A subtle move, Boss.

        They will then analyse their sales and flog the
        department stores with poor local sales.

        Good evening.

          2. I am sure someone will come up with a use for them,
            if not JL will go cap-in-hand to HMG for a hand-out.

  129. The flooding has been pushed off the hacks’ desks for more up to date things to cause a stir about but I’m wondering, despite all that excess water, if everyone is washing their hands twenty times a day and using three pints of water each time, how long before those same hacks tell us there’s a water shortage?

    2. It’s not necessary to leave the tap running when soaping up and singing happy Birthday endlessly.

      1. But that’s the point – that is what is being advised. The more water the better is what the guidance says.

        1. They are talking out of the wrong orifice. Just like the advice to wash the interior of a chicken before cooking it. You spread bugs all over the place with the tiny water droplets.

    1. Actually we may need to bring the Land Army back. Farmers need a lot of labour to meet the surge in demand as does Bernard Mathews

      1. Excellent. Well volunteered, Bill – we’re proud of you.. Hang up your keyboard, pull on the wellies and go for it. Your country needs you.

        1. I am afraid all NTTL’ers will be called up to assist me. I will jut be managing the land army from my hammock

          1. Canada has just realised the error of their border closing and have now added migrant agricultural workers to the approved list. Our wine harvest is saved.

            I would love to help Bill but I am in quarantine and only able to manage my own crop.

        2. Tiger Moth in the right hand background? Something very like that anyway, same family.

    2. There was certainly a deathly hush over the countryside when I went for a walk this afternoon. Not a soul about, no cars, no shelling on Salisbury Plain, no helicopters from Middle Wallop, no planes out of Boscobe Down. Have I missed total lock down of the country?

      2. V. quiet here in the Surrey Hills. I’ve just realised that there are no planes overhead. I get Heathrow-bound flights, plus Farnborough. Flightradar24 is remarkably short of planes.

        1. We are about 20 miles from Gatwick, but very unusually the skies are eerily quiet and have been all day. And hardly any private flyers on the Biggin/Shoreham Airport route.

      3. The carparks were full down the road ar Lulworth Cove so we hear . The holiday cottage business is still open , reports of steady traffic to Swanage and Corfe Castle .. day trippers , 2nd home owners.. .. but the local children are are now home from school, closed schools , locals on lockdown .. but the area is a tourist magnet .. and our small local shops are nearly stripped to the bone .

        We are fearful , very fearful..

        1. I often think it would be good to return to Sundays as a quiet day of reflection; with a church service would be nice too.

    1. Speed reading again. I misread the text as phosphorus and thought that gloves might help the priest, but heaven help the recipient.

      To distribute prosphoras as well as blessed bread at the All-Night Vigil, disposable hygienic gloves should be used.

    2. Interesting, Sue. CofE decreed that the Eucharist was only to be offered in the form of bread towards the end of last week. Only the priest may consume the wine – this came as a surprise to the Rector, who – thankfully – wasn’t driving home.

      Now, all public services are suspended (achieving something which Hitler failed to do). Even weddings and funerals are limited to five attendees. Organists expressly banned (sob). I expect I’ll be reduced to hanging around chapels of rest – “need any coffin bearers? Gizza job…” :-((

      1. It is at times like this that the Church is even more important. What are they thinking?!

        1. Some churches are posting services on YouTube, or live streaming.
          We were advised “although not theologically correct, you can have bread and wine or fruit juice at home”
          FRUIT JUICE!
          Now we know what the liberals have in store for the C of E, to bring us into line with islam.

  133. Stuart Rose, 71, and his wife have survived Covid:

    I returned from the Middle East nearly two weeks ago and when I woke up on the Wednesday I felt a bit tired, but I thought it must simply be jet lag.

    By the Thursday I was distinctly below par, but travelled with my wife Hannah to our cottage in Suffolk, as we’d planned.

    That lunchtime I suddenly broke out with nasty shakes, it was almost indescribable, but no other symptoms at that stage. I had an early night, but woke up with a high temperature, at which point I thought I must have got coronavirus.

    My wife and I have both had the same symptoms at exactly the same time. We’ve suffered together, if there’s any comfort in that.

    It leaves you unable to control your temperature and gives you really unpleasant night sweats which leave everything soaking, along with a persistent headache.

    For a number of days we suffered very heavy aches and pains, but no coughing at that stage.

    That came on day three or four, when it was worse than anything I’ve ever had before.

    Of course I don’t know for sure if I’ve really had coronavirus because I’m not being tested, as so many people aren’t. NHS 111 are overloaded and can’t respond, so all we’ve been able to do is self-isolate for eight days now.

    This is the first morning when I feel as if I’m starting to reach the other side, but I feel like I’ve been run over by a bus.

    It’s important that people take this seriously. It looks like in reality there are probably around 60,000 people out there with it.

    I know we’ve all heard of people who’ve been able to brush it off and it doesn’t affect everybody in the same way, but you need to take it seriously. You absolutely can’t fight it and it saps every bit of energy

    I’m worried that people aren’t taking it seriously. There are people who go into complete self isolation, but there are also the flat earthers out there who don’t believe it’s that much of a problem and are quite blase about it, but we all have to recognise that age does make a difference. For people like me it seems to have a very marked effect.

    We’re lucky in that we can walk around our cottage garden while we’re in quarantine. I feel for people who are stuck in flats. It must be very tough.

    The Government is trying to maintain the message of keep calm and carry on and that’s all very well, but initially they were simply not tough enough in telling people what they should not be doing, such as not socialising.

    The testing regime has not been good at all because this thing has caught them out and there have not been enough testing kits.

    We need to build our defences before the onslaught of infections, just as we had to hold back Hitler during the early period of the war to give us the time to build the Spitfires we needed.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/03/21/business-chief-stuart-rose-coronavirus-fever-felt-like-hit-bus/

    2. I have some symptoms but i don’t think it is the virus.

      I agree with everything in this post and i would like to help in some way.

      I know diff groups like Church and others are doing all they can but i haven’t heard anything in my town.

      I put a note through the neighbours door which said anything they were running out of that they needed i would do my best to help.

      I think the government response is over reacting and lamentable……….as usual.

      The job of the Government is to have contingency plans already in place for multiple scenario not just to grandstand and react after the shit hits the fan. Then bring in emergency laws that make everyone’s lives more difficult.

      Given the response from the supermarkets and NHs workers, i think they should be running the country.

      I won’t be voting for any political party ever again.

      1. Occam’s Razor.

        It’s the flu and cold season, hundreds of thousands of people at this time every year get flu-ish symptoms that lay them down for a few days. Flu and cold are incredibly common.

        Unfortunately, this year we’ve got the Covid to consider. Nasty, but so far very rare.

        If you’re feeling lousy, it’s a hundred to one or more that you’ve not got the Covid. The MSM have got the whole country in a quiver.

        Hang in and take some paracetamol. You’ll be fine.

        1. I know, but it is depressing and also relentless. I wonder how they face their family after stirring up this nonsense.

      2. Who prepares the contingency plans? Civil Service. Who tries to undermine ministrrs and get thrm thrown out if they don’t like them? Civil Service.
        Where is that report on paki rape gangs, by the way?

          3. She’s well, fed, and getting her meds properly. Haven’t been able to talk to her yet, as no info about phone.
            Thanks for asking!

          5. Yo Bob. I was typing the message with today’s link, when I spotted that I’d created two identical pages, which distracted me from the task in hand. Sorry for the confusion.

  134. Good grief. This is really serious. Pret has closed all its branches. Whatever will that Question Time audience member do now? EU staff or no EU staff…

      2. Our local curryhouse seems to be doing great trade as carryout only. Or delivery by taxi.

  135. What has happened to cartoons….? D/T .Matt . Pugh/ D/M have they given up?

    We need a few laughs…

  136. Off topic

    BT and the MR have arrived back in Norfolk, after a very stressful trip.
    They seem reasonably cheerful to be back, but are totally unimpressed with panic buying, because here in France there is very little evidence of such selfishness.

    1. I wish you could persuade him to come back here. We miss him. Has the house sale gone though now?

      1. Done and dusted.

        I doubt he will reappear, it took the better part of a year of gentle coaxing last time, this time i suspect that’s his end point, even if he does look in.

        1. Eeyore has better things to do than waste his time here….it’s doing my ‘ead in!

          Four months of carceration FFS…

    2. Les freugs have a totally different approach from us to le shopping anyway. They still carry out a daily shop and buy a lot more fresh than we do.

      1. They have to. Their bread is stale almost before they get it home. It only lasts one day.

          1. When I’m in Spain I leave the house in the morning, eat on the move at midday and make a dinner when I get home at night.

            I buy a bag of 5 small bocadillo loaves for a euro at the Mercadona on the first day, use the first one fresh and freeze the rest, taking one out each morning to defrost for ten or fifteen minutes while I get washed, then it forms the basis of the ham sandwich for lunch. A cool-bag & a freezer block keeps it fresh (foil-wrapped) in the car boot until required, even on the hottest of days.

          2. When I’m in Spain I leave the house in the morning, eat on the move at midday and make a dinner when I get home at night.

            I buy a bag of 5 small bocadillo loaves for a euro at the Mercadona on the first day, use the first one fresh and freeze the rest, taking one out each morning to defrost for ten or fifteen minutes while I get washed, then it forms the basis of the ham sandwich for lunch. A cool-bag & a freezer block keeps it fresh (foil-wrapped) in the car boot until required, even on the hottest of days.

          3. When I’m in Spain I leave the house in the morning, eat on the move at midday and make a dinner when I get home at night.

            I buy a bag of 5 small bocadillo loaves for a euro at the Mercadona on the first day, use the first one fresh and freeze the rest, taking one out each morning to defrost for ten or fifteen minutes while I get washed, then it forms the basis of the ham sandwich for lunch. A cool-bag & a freezer block keeps it fresh (foil-wrapped) in the car boot until required, even on the hottest of days.

    4. Is he still in a huff about Nottle?

      It was just one troll with multiple accounts that gave him 20 odd downvotes.

      Tell him he has to come back and bring his shining wit.

      Also, Tell him we know where he lives… (sinister face)

      1. I’ve tried several imes, but he’s found better things to do with his time; but who knows?
        I know he looks in every now and then.

    5. Good evening, Sos.

      Thank you for letting us know they are safely home.
      With reference to the panic buying, it is horrible to
      watch!!

      1. I suggest withdraw all trolleys and use baskets only, that will sort the bar stewards out!
        OAP’s can have baskets welded to their zimmer frames.!

      2. Story in the DM today about a nurse having just finished a 48 hour shift arrived at Tesco and they had no Fruit and Veg.

        She made a tearful video plea on Facebook asking people to stop. If she gets sick because there is no healthy food in the shops she wouldn’t be able to do her job. Caring for the selfish sods doing this to her.

        Good evening, Flower.

        2. Locking up supermarket trolleys is the easiest way to deliver an effective message while having a tangible effect.

          1. Except for the old and infirm. Perhaps they should be the only people allowed a trolley.

          4. Or those who need to spend a hundred quid on a weekly shop because it’s 15 miles to the supermarket and once a week is quite enough to enter those hell-holes.

        3. I saw that story. No one can work a 48 hr shift in a responsible job and if her manager did indeed have her work that length of time, they would be negligent in duty of care. The basic message is valid though.

          1. Medics all over Europe are being worked to death. I think over a 48 hour shift they get a little sack time. Probably only 30 mins or so hot bedding.

            That is when the errors happen most.

    1. Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus was one of our specialist books – A Level, English Literature, Durham Board, 1963 – before the days when white literature was frowned up and only 5% came out with A Grade (including yours truly).

      1. It wasn’t a set book at school, but I read it at the time. My studies were destroyed because I was placed in the science sixth (where I was useless) although my English Literature exams had always achieved top marks. You see, there was a bonus for getting pupils into the science sixth;the ability of the pupil was irrelevant.

        1. Thanks. No warning though. Will have another try. I can’t do 100wpm at typing though……….

  140. “A private doctor has raked in £2.5m in one week by profiteering from thousands of people
    across Britain who are desperate to find out whether they have contracted the coronavirus.

    Dr Mark Ali, a 56-year-old cardiologist, has sold more than 6,600
    coronavirus test kits for £375 each to people who fear they have the
    illness. The price is more than three times what his supplier charges
    the public for the same tests.”

    That’s what you call initiative.

    1. That is what you call a profiteering C%&t. Don’t like the sweary words? then find a another site. People are angry.

      2. Hi Phizzee

        I agree with you . That chap..well you can take the man out of Asia/ Africa, but you will never take Africa/ Asia out of the man .. what a profiteering scoundrel // equivelant to profiteer corner shops charging £10 for a loo roll!

      1. She’s fine, fed and medicated, thanks
        Fell over a day ago, some bruising, but no break acc to xray.
        No release date.
        No direct contact as she doesn’t have a phone.

          2. No evidence so far, and it’s a ward with a code lock on the door.
            She doesn’t know my number, and I can’t get the ward staff on the phone long enough to get any useful information.

        2. Get the staff to wheel her a ‘phone at a pre-arranged time suitable for you, Paul.

        3. Is there anyone who knows your mother who could take delivery of a simple pay-as-you-go mobile phone, charge it etc, and then drop it off at the hospital? You could order one via some firm like giffgaff.

    2. What’s the point of putting that stuff up in the Telegraph ? Might look good in the Mirror.

    3. I agree, this is a dreadful article in the circumstances. People’s mothers are going to be dying of coronavirus.

      Sorry for your situation, and hope all will be well.

  142. Vitamin D is helpful as a resistance to Corona:

    Foods that provide vitamin D include:
    Fatty fish, like tuna, mackerel, and salmon.

    Foods fortified with vitamin D, like some dairy products, orange juice, soy milk, and cereals.
    Beef liver.
    Cheese.
    Egg yolks.

    And I eat the above fairly regularly. Definitely have some potatoes-in-the-jacket (I have in some King Edward’s – they are really tasty and light) with mackerel this week and tuna sandwiches or tuna salad. Must get some liver in – I like calves liver.

      1. The Japanese should be resistant as they eat lots of fish. They do though have a high ration of really old people.

    4. Donald Russel online can be quite costly if they don’t have a sale on but their calves liver is excellent and the gravy that comes from frying it with onions and sage is out of this world. Serve with buttery, peppery mash potato.

      They also sell it in single portion size.

      1. +1 for Donald Russell. In fairness, they usually have some sort of sale on. Their steaks are superb (far better than the grass-fed Sussex cattle which sometimes live in the field across the road). Cider-battered Haddock Fillets, pork sausages, pork chops, minced steak. All of these lurk in my freezer to keep me from imminent starvation.

        1. #MeToo. By Royal appointment too.

          I haven’t been panic buying but i always keep everything topped up. Now is a good time to see what is buried at the bottom of my freezers.

          Donald Russel often give a £10 voucher. When that coincides with a sale then i stock up. They are not that much different in price from Waitrose.

          2. That vid i posted about the young Korean Opera singer has been cut. When the young man said he survived in public toilets he also originally said that he had been preyed upon and he did what they asked because he was offered money. The only way he could survive on the streets. Also, the judge that was most taken with him said she would take him under her wing as it were and make sure he had more tutoring at her expense.

            My situation was never as bad as that when i was a teenager but i met a person that did the same for me for which i am eternally greatful. I wouldn’t be here today otherwise.

          3. I have seen that video before, it did/does make
            me despair at:

            ‘Man’s inhumanity to Man.’

            I am sorry Phizzee that your situation was bad
            enough that you needed such help.

  145. Imperial College Doomsayers………………a study posted here to justify the draconian response to the virus

    Hitchens rips into the government response

    “And so here I am, asking bluntly – is the

    closedown of the country the right answer to the coronavirus? I’ll be

    accused of undermining the NHS and threatening public health and all

    kinds of other conformist rubbish. But I ask you to join me, because if

    we have this wrong we have a great deal to lose.

    I

    don’t just address this plea to my readers. I think my fellow

    journalists should ask the same questions. I think MPs of all parties

    should ask them when they are urged tomorrow to pass into law a

    frightening series of restrictions on ancient liberties and vast

    increases in police and state powers.”

    …………

    Well, is it justified? There is a document

    from a team at Imperial College in London which is being used to

    justify it. It warns of vast numbers of deaths if the country is not

    subjected to a medieval curfew.

    But

    this is all speculation. It claims, in my view quite wrongly, that the

    coronavirus has ‘comparable lethality’ to the Spanish flu of 1918, which

    killed at least 17 million people and mainly attacked the young.

    What

    can one say to this? In a pungent letter to The Times last week, a

    leading vet, Dick Sibley, cast doubt on the brilliance of the Imperial

    College scientists, saying that his heart sank when he learned they were

    advising the Government. Calling them a ‘team of doom-mongers’, he said

    their advice on the 2001 foot-and-mouth outbreak ‘led to what I believe

    to be the unnecessary slaughter of millions of healthy cattle and

    sheep’ until they were overruled by the then Chief Scientific Adviser,

    Sir David King.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-8138675/PETER-HITCHENS-shutting-Britain-REALLY-right-answer.html
    Interesting read in full

    1. I wasn’t aware that Hitchens has any relevant qualifications at all in this area.

      1. Common sense needs no degree. Computer models suggested we were headed for catastrophic global warming but they are wrong. Acid rain, ozone , starvation, mad cows.

  146. I have noticed on my account upvotes from mostly dormant accounts with Russian sounding names. I think our so called security services are in need of getting smarter than that. And they should actually work for their pay rather than try to mess with peoples minds.

    I remember not long ago a manager with said organ said he was concerned about his staff having to watch so much porn to try to identify victims.

    My advice would be that if your staff need counselling after viewing kiddy and bestial porn is to not make them do it.

  148. Very interesting discussion on the subject of ACE- inhibitors, ARBs and Ibuprofen in relation to Covid-19 from The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.

    Please read through to the end in view of the differences in opinion…..

    1) ACE-inhibitors, ARBs and COVID-19: What GPs need to know..

    https://www1.racgp.org.au/newsgp/clinical/ace-inhibitors-arbs-and-covid-19-what-gps-need-to

    2) Ibuprofen and COVID-19: What GPs need to know..

    https://www1.racgp.org.au/newsgp/clinical/ibuprofen-and-covid-19-what-gps-need-to-know

    3) Examining factors that worsen coronavirus severity.

    https://www1.racgp.org.au/newsgp/clinical/examining-factors-that-worsen-coronavirus-severity

  149. National Trust closing all its parks and gardens from midnight tonight

    And at 23:05 this evening I cancelled our Direct Debit to the National Trust (it was due on 8 April). Two can play at that game and I was waiting to see if the NT did this. Have been a member for 15 years, but because of family reasons (lots of time in Poland) and reduced appetite for driving, it’s been nearly 12 months since I last visited any NT place.

    1. As I replied to Bill J,

      Who gets within a metre or two of a stranger on a visit to a garden or park?

      Corporal Jones might have something to say about this.

    2. Parks and gardens are places where people could actually walk safely. But everything has to be over-managed by the National Trust. God forbid that they would actually just leave their outdoor properties open for people walk safely in, without collecting the money.
      I discovered what the National Trust was like in the mid nineties, and have wanted to have nothing to do with them ever since.

  150. SIR – As a diabetic septuagenarian, I am self-isolating with my wife.

    I have been looking for new activities to occupy me, and have found one that seems to fit the bill. I have decided to grow a beard.

    It has the advantage of requiring no effort at all, but it does leave a three-minute shaving gap in my day, which I will need to fill. Getting up later has been mooted.

    Tim Hadland

    Northampton

  151. Am I alone in thinking that Western “Democracies” have devoted far too many resources into bloated welfare spending and far too little into spending on Defence and Border Security, including Contingency Planning.

    If emergency powers are to be introduced, how about reintroducing Capital Punishment for scamming the old and vulnerable as well as for Treason.

  152. Watching scenes from South Africa, it was easy to see that in the black townships there were hordes of children and that “social distancing” was a hopeless cause. It may well be that the earth has got far too overcrowded ….

      1. Don’t think so, Jules. I posted a new page just after midnight, forgot I had done so in my half asleep state this morning, quickly realised my error and deleted the duplicate page. In the ‘excitement’, I forgot to post a link. I’m still alive and kicking. Well, alive anyway… Sorry if I’ve caused alarm.

        1. A’ternoon BoB,

          Blind stag? Excuse my ignorance, but what does that mean, please?

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