Saturday 21 September: Starmer’s handling of the row over gifts has cast grave doubt on his judgment

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

717 thoughts on “Saturday 21 September: Starmer’s handling of the row over gifts has cast grave doubt on his judgment”

    1. Well… yes. Worse, she's advised by the Treasury which is wedded to failed, irresponsible, destructive policy.

      The entirety of government has forgotten it's purpose in favour of simply vaccuuming as much money out of the economy into their own pockets – in the mistaken fallacy that they know best, that government 'matters'. It doesn't.

      Reeves is just the latest moron to present stupid, destructive, backward policies that will do incredible harm to this country. She doens't care about what she does. To her, Taxation is about control over who gets what, not to provide public services.

    2. I would definitely include Starmer, Raynor and Mrs Balls on that list. As for Lammy…..words fail me.

    3. An idiotic society, made up of imbeciles, will always lean towards having members of their own social grouping as leaders.

      Moronocracies are on the increase, worldwide.

  5. 393208+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Starmer’s handling of the row over gifts has cast grave doubt on his judgment

    I took cash for clothes too, admits Rachel Reeves
    Chancellor, Sir Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner declare they will stop taking the donations as row threatens to overshadow party conference

    As soon as they admit that they are compromised, bought and paid for, from the outset.

    History,via fools, never listened to, shows clearly that the labour odious pedigree is being repeated, that is NOT in doubt.

    1. I honestly don't think Starmer understands what he's doing or really thinks beyond his own coterie.

      He's getting what he wants, stuff the nation. Sod the optics. They're in office, they'll do what they want. Why shouldn't they trough? Why shouldn't they pay off their union pay masters with public money? Why shouldn't they lie, cheat and steal? It's not for us to question them. They can do what they like.

  8. Starmer’s handling of the row over gifts has cast grave doubt on his judgment

    Rumour has it that Diane Abbott is now no longer accepting apple pies with cloves in them.

    1. Grave doubts? I imagine he's rather angry that he can't keep troughing away. After all, he deserves it, he's doing nothing wrong. If people don't like it, stuff them. It's none of their business what he does.

      It just shows how little concept of – or interest in – the nature of his role. He's a useless bureaucrat. Same as his continual repetition of 'I'm the son of a tool maker'. No one cared. It was a marketing gimmick that he over used and couldn't read the room and became angry at people who laughed at him because of his lack of awareness.

      Fundamentally he's a petty, small man in a post way outside his competence utterly without care or consideration for the public – we're an annoyance, not his masters.

  9. Jane Austen’s beloved £17 million mansion at centre of demolition row

    New owners submit plans to tear down historical property, to the outrage of residents

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2024/09/20/TELEMMGLPICT000394714999_17268341982660_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqsyG-5wNwpGxH4B2nblnkNEceOkTyr1h3AjItHbDniME.jpeg?imwidth=680
    A) It never was Jane Austen's mansion, beloved or otherwise,

    B) It now belongs to some err um Hong Kong solicitors.

    C) It's been mucked about. Dreadful outbuildings (not in photo); flat roof.

    1. Good morning everyone.
      The Austen lamp is trimmed and maintained by a generous lady called Sandy Lerner, from across the ocean in North America.
      (edited lightly)

    4. Today, Jane Austen’s House is a Grade I listed building, an accredited Museum, and one of the most important literary sites in the world. It holds an important collection of objects associated with Jane Austen, including her jewellery, first editions of her books, furniture, textiles and the table at which she wrote her much-loved novels.

      Complete story here if you have time to read it, https://janeaustens.house/a-short-history-of-jane-austens-house/

  10. Good morning all.
    The dark mornings are certainly coming in. Overcast with a very light drizzle and 10°C on the Yard Thermometer.

    A trip to see Stepson in Stoke planned today.

  11. BTL from Guido

    George Roper
    17h
    The regime relies on the fact that eventually people will get bored of asking if the Manchester airport thugs have been charged yet. Then it is memory holed, and talk of a two tier justice system that treats Muzloons favourably due to fear of community violence will be dismissed as "far right conspiracy theory".

    We cannot allow this to happen. Our ancestors fought for England and their freedoms, and we must do the same.

    1. How, Citroen? What could we do? Write to our MP? When people pushed back against state policy they were jailed. Real criminals were, of course, released and ignored.

      To big fat state crime is an annoyance that costs it money. Defiance of their ideology though – that's the real crime.

      1. I wrote to my MP about it. She hasn’t bothered to reply. Mind you, she is a horse, so maybe she can’t read or write.

    1. If you have a pre-op assessment with the N H S, you are still asked if you have been 'vaccinated' for Covid, and if you have ever had Covid 19.

      1. I say no, and no. They once asked if I wanted the vaccine and I replied 'it doesn't seem to work, so why bother?'

    2. That's not the fault of the weak and simple. It's the fundamental nature of the ignorant to want someone to blame.

      The government played us all for fools. Sadly, it exposed that many people are.

      I will never forget the confusion someone had when I asked them if their measles jab protected me as much as them. They'd been sold a pack of lies and wanted, desperately to believe it because they were scared.

      Big fat state made sure they stayed scared by ensuring the data wasn't comparable day to day and used soundbites rather than data – because it suited them. Remember the sewage Hancock eager to 'release the next wave'? It was about control and power.

  13. Morning, all Y'all.
    Foggy.
    I hear on the radio news that Israel have been solidly condemned in the UN for, amongst other things, terrorism, as a result of the bangy pagers. But – to me, it looked pretty surgical, as only hizbollah had the pagers, so it wasn't random at all – more like a sniper attack.
    But then, Israel are always at fault, regardless.

      1. We've been trained to think of the UN as a necessary cooperation between nations, but in fact it was only ever the precursor to a one world government.

    3. I forget the whole joke but the UN decides to create a football team, representing all nations. One of their number asks 'who would this team play against?' and the reply is a unanimous 'Israel!'

    4. Lebanon is an arab country. From the footage i saw they were all dressed in T-shirts and jeans. Just like the Dover boat people.

    6. The coup de grace came when they bombed members of Hezbollah who, presumably in the absence of pagers and walkie talkies, had decided to hold a face to face meeting. Eggs in one basket spring to mind…..

  14. Cat that went missing in Yellowstone makes his way home – travelling 800 miles in two months. 21 September 2024.

    A cat that went missing on a camping trip in Yellowstone national park has been reunited with its owners after travelling more than 800 miles home to California.

    Benny and Susanne Anguiano lost their cat Rayne Beau in the trees while on holiday in June.

    They took their cat on holiday with them?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2024/09/20/cat-missing-yellowstone-home-800-miles/

      1. If I don't see Mongo, Lucy or even Oscar for 30 minutes I go looking for them. They come in at night and have their places where they sleep. Is that odd?

        For 15 years now there's been a Newfoundland beside my bed. There's now another one at the other side. When I go to the loo during the night, there's two glowing lights looking out, Morlock like from Junior's room that close when he realises it's me.

        Even when The Beast would visit I'd worry about him crossing the road.

          1. I love my cats but I don't take them on holiday. They like to stay at home. Our neighbours have cats and there's always someone to look out for each other's cats and feed them. I've never put my cats in a cattery.

        2. Doesn't sound odd to me.

          Dolly and Harry have a bed each and a heated mat in between. For some reason they keep swapping places.

          I have to keep an eye on Dolly because if Harry is fast asleep she will lay on top of him.

        3. My dogs have always been with me and had their own beds and sleeping places. When Charlie got out of what had hitherto been a dog-proof garden I was frantic until somebody turned up with him thanks to the address on his collar. The hole was found and stopped at once and then there was no more trouble.

      1. Indeed I do. He doesn't really like being put in kennels (his previous owner used to do that). He travels well (he sleeps most of the way) and has adapted to life as a motorhomer.

    3. Of course the cat was returned by a Rescue Centre – It didn't trek by itself using only the stars for navigation… Sheesh!

      1. …OK Vasco da Gama…and you used the stars to navigate your way along the Kennet & Avon? Sheesh!

    5. Apparently, it's quite common. I know someone who takes her cat on holiday camping with her (and takes the cat for walks on a lead).

  15. Good morning, chums. I've been rather busy since I got out of bed at 6.15 am, but here I am at last. And thanks, Geoff, for today's NoTTLe site.

    Wordle 1,190 3/6

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    1. edit – sorry, Good morning Elsie!
      Wordle 1,190 4/6

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    2. edit – sorry, Good morning Elsie!
      Wordle 1,190 4/6

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  16. 393208+ up ticks,

    Dt,

    How Covid destroyed our lives, from newborns to pensioners
    A growing body of evidence shows that the impact of lockdown continues to affect every generation – and will do for decades to
    come

    Only if allowed to, in my view medication was weaponized and tailored to suit an alien agenda.

    Currently the lab/lib/con mass uncontrolled / governing controlled / paedophile umbrella coalition party are on par with the USAs mafia, and on some issues showing the mafia the way to go.

    1. It didn't destroy my life but certainly made me much more wary of politicians. I never rated them very highly but now they are further down the scale as to be beneath contempt.

  18. Nice cartoon about the egregious Gray woman. For someone with colossal power and an enormous salary -she always looks so bloody miserable.

    1. Looking at that hatchet face in the mirror every morning would be enough to put anyone in a bad mood. Knowing full well that no amount of plastic surgery would help.

    2. By the time someone is old, their inner character is starting to be visible in the set of the face. Happy people look happy naturally, miserable people look miserable naturally, and so on.

    1. £120k max pay out. Big Pharma not liable. Most applicants rejected because not disabled enough. Adverse events? don’t go there. Cases of strange aches.. numbers are unknown. MSN news blackout.
      And this was just the warm up act.

  20. Disagree with the letter-writer. We are not America. The PM is not a President.

    “Sir – I am no fan of Sir Keir Starmer, but he is the Prime Minister. I can’t imagine the President of the United States having to pay to watch a baseball game. Get over it, everybody. Robin Cooper“

  21. Good grief. Where to begin with this one. Presumably invading another country, and raping, murdering and abducting its citizens isn’t illegal under international law then?

    “sir – We must bear in mind that the indiscriminate use of booby-trapped personal devices is illegal under international law (“They gathered to mourn victims of booby-trap attacks – then a blast tore through the crowd”, Dispatch, September 19).
    This is merely the latest law, then, that seemingly does not apply to Israel. Martin Yates London N6”

    1. The mythical "illegal under international law.." beloved by Lefties when spouting nonsense. Or the other one.. A violation of international treaty.
      The UK cannot disrespect the EU by renegading on The Withdrawal Agreement, the UK would become an international pariah.

      1. Yes. KLB, it's a fraud. All it is is a series of treaties, all made with zero democratic consent and used to undermine the nation state and national sovereignty.

      2. When I was a court usher I learned a very useful phrase which I have used on two occasions to government departments to recover money illegally taken from me.

        Please provide me with the statutory authority……….

        That meant the Act of Parliament, section and subsection.

    2. The cluster bombs the West used in Afghanistan, Iraq and Ukraine fall into that category. But that was ok.

    3. I don't think it was 'indiscriminate' as only Hezbollah combatants had the devices and a good method of finding out who they were.

      2. From Charles Moore's piece today:

        There were, as so often in armed conflict, some civilian casualties, but far fewer than there would be in conventional bombing in built-up areas. Contrary to what you often hear said, international law does not prohibit the killing of civilians in war: sad to say, that would be simply impossible. It prohibits the targeting of civilians and their disproportionate killing.

    4. If Hamas didn't use human shields to protect military targets – that Israel clearly needs to destroy – then the number of collateral innocent people killed would be far lower. The death of these unfortunate people is the fault of Hamas deliberately putting them in the line of fire for propaganda.

      As an article in the DT pointed out a couple of days ago Hezbollah has killed many British soldiers with bombs activated by mobile phones. If Israel can target the terrorists without killing as many innocent people whom the terrorists have callously put in the line of fire then surely this should be applauded?

  22. SIR — I have long known that the best way to enjoy an actual fish is in the company of my mother, who can fillet blindfolded and patiently walks me (and my father) through the steps. It is slowly rubbing off: I successfully tackled a pair of fresh sardines without supervision last weekend.
    I am 45.

    Dr Tim Brooks
    London

    An actual fish, Doc Timmy? Not just a 'fish' then? Certainly not an artificial fish? The completely redundant, superfluous and utterly pointless adjective, 'actual', seems to be creeping more and more into the speaking (and writing) habits of the gormless and the vacuous.

    Or have I got it wrong? Maybe there is a species of cod called an 'actual'.

    1. I assume the writer means a fish, not smething processed such as fish fingers.
      edit: Grammar & better English.

      2. There is a chef who often appears on television in the UK called Nathan Outlaw. He is from Kent but works in Cornwall. I kid you not, he has come out with gems like this in the past, "You cut up the actual fish on the actual chopping board then put it into the actual pan on the actual stove top."

        The late Gary Rhodes (also, coincidentally from Kent) was equally bad in his liberal and obsessive use of the random application of 'actual'. Drop it, FFS, it is not required … ever!

        1. I can see it, Grizz. Looks to be still there – OP, my reply. 9 hours ago.

          Grizzly
          9 hours ago
          SIR — I have long known that the best way to enjoy an actual fish is in the company of my mother, who can fillet blindfolded and patiently walks me (and my father) through the steps. It is slowly rubbing off: I successfully tackled a pair of fresh sardines without supervision last weekend.
          I am 45.

          Dr Tim Brooks
          London

          An actual fish, Doc Timmy? Not just a ‘fish’ then? Certainly not an artificial fish? The completely redundant, superfluous and utterly pointless adjective, ‘actual’, seems to be creeping more and more into the speaking (and writing) habits of the gormless and the vacuous.

          Or have I got it wrong? Maybe there is a species of cod called an ‘actual’.

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          Oberstleutnant Mod Grizzly
          9 hours ago edited
          I assume the writer means a fish, not smething processed such as fish fingers.
          edit: Grammar & better English.

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  23. Good Morning Nottlers.

    Daily update on new articles in Free Speech: The main one is a commenoration of the start of the Second World War in September 1931 – yes it did – and then a poem about the grooming gangs! Hope you'll pay a visit, read and leave a comment.

    freespeechbacklash.com

  24. Just filling travel mug with tea, then off to Stoke to TRY and see Stepson.
    His phone's been on voicemail for the past week.

  26. SIR – I see we may be subjected to yet more misery: academics from Cambridge University are calling on the Government to stop the serving of beer in pints, so as to reduce Britain’s alcohol intake.
    The pint is part of our national heritage – and the Government should not interfere with it. What it should do, however, is support drinking beer rather than spirits, which are much too cheap and are positively harmful, especially to the young.

    David Ewens
    Wedmore, Somerset

    A true Geordie wouldn't be seen dead holding a pint glass. The tradition with Newcastle Broon is to ask the barman for a bottle of 'dog' He will be then presented with the said opened bottle and an empty half-pint glass. The drinker will then decant as much as he wishes into that glass and top it up frequently as he imbibes his chosen ale.

    Jimmy Nail, playing the character 'Oz' in Auf Wiedersehen, Pet was seen doing just this in many an episode of that superb comedy drama.

    1. At The Rec last week (Bath -v- Newport Dragons friendly) Beer and Cider could be purchase from the bars in 2 pint (or if you prefer 1 quart) measures…..

    3. Yo all

      It is soooo easy to drink 3 half-pints of beer, in the time it takes to slooowly sip a pint

    4. The rules for drinking Nukey(tpyo) Brown used to be on the label on the bottle.

      I don't know if they still are

      1. Reminds me of a line from Cactus Flower, a film starring Ingrid Bergman.

        A rather unattractive chancer, played by Jack Weston, gets a bit too fresh with the lovely Ingrid.

        She slaps him in the face and he indignantly splutters:

        "I'm only human!"

        "Barely," is the merciless retort given by the belle dame.

      2. Reminds me of a line from Cactus Flower, a film starring Ingrid Bergman.

        A rather unattractive chancer, played by Jack Weston, gets a bit too fresh with the lovely Ingrid.

        She slaps him in the face and he indignantly splutters:

        "I'm only human!"

        "Barely," is the merciless retort given by the belle dame.

      3. 393208+ up ticks,

        Morning RE,

        The current lab/lib/con coalition deem it so, purely for the voting value.

        1. My own personal view is, if you don’t work, don’t pay income tax, you don’t vote. It cuts out all of the ongoing problems.
          And those people who have purposely set up their lives with this no tax no work benefits reliant living pattern. Do not qualify for anything that all the rest of us pay for.

    2. And if that man approaching the children happened to be Mohamed Fayed, shopping early for Christmas?

    3. Has anyone else noticed and completely out of prportion, that apart from every single advertisement on tv having non white participants, advertising and msm have now started to introduce muslim women into as many situations as fits their purpose. It's pretty obvious what theses bustards are trying to do.

      1. I don't watch TV so haven't seen it, but it doesn't surprise me. Perhaps a campaign is in order to make it clear to commercial TV stations that this sort of advertising is not appreciated.

        1. The TV ‘cook’? Nadya who ‘won’ bake off a few years ago now, has her own programme and as she use to, instead of wearing a simple head cover type of hat. Is now wearing an Islamic headscarf.
          She’s now quite obviously being used to promote that dreadful excuse for a religion.

          1. I remember when they showed the line up at the start of the season, we nottlers all knew right from the start who was going to win. I thought she always wore some sort of hijab?

          2. One of our old friends was her teacher at school and wasn’t impressed.
            One of the contestants made a wonderful working Mill with a chocolate handle to turn the wheel.
            Paul Hollywood snapped if off quite diberatley.
            She made what she called her Peacock cake. With shop bought blue icing and smarties stuck on it looked like a dinosaur.
            Then she made some revolting looking garbage for the queen’s jubilee. Nobody went near it.

  28. David Lammy has cost Britain a crucial ally against Putin
    The Foreign Secretary’s blunders prove he isn’t cut out for serious diplomacy
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/09/20/david-lammy-is-embarrassing-britain-on-the-world-stage/

    BTL

    George Jackson

    How can a man with a racial chip on his shoulder and a low IQ be expected to take on such a high office and succeed?

    Reply to George Jackson by Percival Wrattstrangler

    I cannot understand how he can have a racial chip on his shoulder when his wife is white and ergo his children are of mixed race.

    My wife is Dutch – I love her dearly and I get on very well with her family. I like Dutch people and I never run them down just as my Dutch family never runs down the English people.

    Politics is a different matter – I loathe and despise Rutte the former Dutch prime minister and soon to be NATO Secretary-General not because he is Dutch but because he is an odious man and is keener on the WEF than his own country; Caroline loathes and despises the ex Chief Prosecutor and now prime minister of the UK – not because he is English but because he is a very nasty hypocrite who cares little for his country or its people and like Rutte is more interested in globalism than his own people..

    1. The article is about Armenia and how Lammy sees it as an ally of Russia, thus justifying the expulsion of 120,000 Christian Armenians from Azerbaijan. This is, of course, about Nagorno-Karabakh. The history of the area is complex. The roots of the dispute go back at least to the interventions of Lenin and Stalin. Azerbaijan is 97% Muslim.

      1. There is a lesson to be learn about the treatment of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh. At root it is the persecution of Christians by the Turks for the sake of Islam. The reality is it is not just the Armenians, it is the Assyrians and the Greeks to who were subject to genocide. Genocide that the current leader of Turkey, the utterly corrupt and fanatical Islamist Erdogan backs and denies the historical evidence of his countries culpability in mass murder.

        The Genocide Turkey Erased From History: The Greek Genocide
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVSyS0vTUII
        Assyrian Genocide: A Fate Worse Than Death
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEJg81ntjTU&list=TLPQMjEwOTIwMjRy0Q2gfmLYbQ&index=2

  29. Morning all 🙂😊
    Bright start for Erin's birthday, as i told her I couldn't get all the trombones in the car. So she has had to accept smaller but more meaning ful and significant gifts. And as the day goes by there will be lots more from our lovely grandchildren given to their very hard working lovable 'nanny'. And daughter's in-law and son's.

    It's not the gifts situation with Starmer it's his more than obvious attitude towards people who in the past years have been proud to be British and have kept our nation in good order by decades of hard work, respect and dedication. Over the past few decades our politicians have turned our country into a human dumping ground.
    They are all useless.

          1. I once heard a work colleague, when the media had been pushing incest, saying "well if they love each other…"
            There is no end to some people's willingness to soak up the message from the media!

          2. These are the people who parrott “love is love” all the while. Well I’ve got news for them. It isn’t.

          3. When people say things like that to me I reply that I love my dog and he loves me. Is bestiality okay then? They go a bit quiet.

          5. I once heard a work colleague, when the media had been pushing incest, saying "well if they love each other…"
            There is no end to some people's willingness to soak up the message from the media!

          6. 393208+ up ticks,

            Morning JG,

            To many peoples mindset is " this happened the other side of town
            today" NOT considering that tomorrow it is in the next street, only when it is next door will you hear " hold up THIS AIN'T RIGHT."

          7. Morning to you too. Exactly so, Ogga. The capacity of people to believe it isn’t going to happen to them right up to the point when it does is breathtaking sometimes.

    3. Virped.org sounds like a verucca treatment.
      Promoting paedophilia is just the latest round in the cultural marxist destruction of the west.
      It didn't work in the seventies and I doubt it will work this time either. In fact, this kind of promotion might make people wake up and ask a few questions!

  32. a BTL comment on the TCW article about Starmer.

    An ancient understanding of men like Starmer:

    "A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself."
    ~ Cicero

  33. a BTL comment on the TCW article about Starmer.

    An ancient understanding of men like Starmer:

    "A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself."
    ~ Cicero

  34. Good morning all.

    Yesterday late afternoon the air was very warm and sticky , Moh played nine holes of golf and a friend of mine arrived with her spaniel and we set off in my car for a visit to wild heathland Dorset to give the spaniels a run .

    We both wore our t shirts and jeans , the temp must have been 23c at least , and there were some huge cumulonimbus building up.. the dogs galloped around , splashed in mucky water . (ughhh) and we hobbled along uneven tracks , the heather colours had faded , gorse has grown out of control , and the bracken was turning brown , lots of toadstools and some were really tall, also clumps of the red toadstool with spots on .

    We knew a storm was building up, the sky looked pink and everything was hazy, similar to wearing steamed up spectacles .

    We must have walked a mile or so, the dogs stank of mud and what ever else .. I have a large dog box in the back of my car .. the best buy ever , had it for forty years , 3 spaniels can sit in it comfortably.

    We arrived home , then friend transferred her youngster into her own car's dog box and we said wow there is going to be huge storm .. sky was dark after 6pm .. bid each other farewell.. and so it goes on .

    My dog was filthy , his ginger coat legs and feather etc were stinking .. so I decided to give him a swim in the River Piddle nr Bere Regis , not our River Frome whish has steep banks .

    So nice wet clean soggy dog , dried off with towels , arrived home , slight drizzle , still warm air .. Moh and son were home .

    Back to the storm , what storm , light rain, two claps of thunder , a streak of lightning ..at about 1930.

    That's it . The bad weather bypassed us .

    Warm night and now muggy overcast miserable morning , 17c.
    Son is running in the Poole Park run now .

    I forgot to mention the mole who is currently excavating our front garden .. we watched piles of earth build up as we were drinking our coffee.. so quick and quite amazing , and Moh is furious !!!

    1. We had a brief thunderstorm mid- afternoon yesterday – washing out and fetched in quickly. Hadn't dried much as it was muggy. Later on it brightened up and I went to do the weekly shop. Sun was out then, and sky fairly clear in the evening.
      Today it's dull and wet.

  35. How Covid destroyed our lives, from newborns to pensioners. 21 September 2024.

    Jostled by others on a packed commuter train, or crowding into a noisy pub, it’s easy to forget that recent inflection point when the world pressed pause on normal life. It is scarcely four and a half years since the UK Government, along with others globally, imposed the first national lockdown to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. But, in some ways, the trauma of that time was swiftly forgotten. We moved on with relief, and shudder today at those distant, bewildering memories of social distancing.

    It was the “cure” that did for them, not the disease.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/how-covid-damaged-every-generation-from-babies-to-pensioner/

    1. The PTB and its lackeys in the legacy media still pushing the transmissible "virus" theory, I see. As bad as the GP surgeries pushing the "vaccine" at every opportunity. They just will not let go and let the sleeping dog of "covid" lie in peace.

      1. So far I've had several texts from the GP surgery urging me to book appointments for the RSV, covid and flu jabs, also an email from the NHS re RSV – telling me to book my jabs. All ignored.

    2. As I said earlier on when Ogga posted that link, it didn't destroy my life, but any shred of respect I may have had for politicians was gone. They are all a bunch of liars and shysters – the latest lot clearly just out for what they can get.
      So many people believed the lockdowns were necessary to defeat a cold virus that mainly harmed the frail, the obese and the already unwell.

      1. I have to admit that respect for all too many of my fellow Britons also evaporated.
        A disturbingly high percentage would have been very happy to live in the old GDR.

        1. That aspect was an eyeopener wasn't it!
          I have to say that round here in our little enclave we carried on more or less as normal. Jo next door was lonely, so we went for a few walks together, and coffee in the garden with a chat from hers to ours. Her garden is upstairs level to ours.
          On her 70th birthday, which was 5th May 2020, still under lockdown, we had a garden party – 8 or 10 neighbours came and went and sat with drinks and nibbles.
          Nobody here went in for pot banging.

          1. Like the Princess Di hysteria, it was one of those unsettling times when I felt like a stranger in my own country.

    4. My life wasn't destroyed because I wasn't taken in by any of the hysteria and I continued to live a normal life. I refused to be injected with an experimental serum and rejected the wearing of a face-nappy. As a result I haven't caught any virus disease and I live my life happily and in robust good health.

    5. They are back to wearing face nappies in these parts. There will almost always be someone in the supermarket who is trying to avoid getting close to other people.

      I have even seen mask wearing idiots alone in their cars.

      1. I saw a woman in one of the shops yesterday. She was wearing a black facemask with a white embroidered logo (can't remember what it said). She looked scared from what I could see of her eyes.

  36. Emma Thompson and Gary Lineker front eco-campaign despite hypocritical jet-set lifestyles
    Two are among a group to sign an open letter demanding world leaders ‘transition away from fossil fuels’
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/09/21/gary-lineker-emma-thompson-eco-campaign-hypocrite-jet-set/

    BTL

    Rather sad – she used to be a moderately good actress: not an actress of the first rank mind you, but a competent journeywoman.

    She has now become a third-rate hypocritical political activist.

    3. Not a patch on her father, the Magic Roundabout chap.
      She seems to have had a sense of humour bypass.

  37. She doesn't explicitly say that paedophilia is ok providing the child 'consents', but that is certainly what one infers from her words. Of course, a child cannot consent to sexual relations with an adult as he or she is too young, so her point is nonsense. A paedophile commits no offence if he or she does not act on their attraction, but I doubt that this is what she meant.

    1. Benjamin Britten was sexually attracted to children but never acted on the impulse. Sad that he felt that way at all and one wonders how the psychological screws come loose, given that no proof has ever been found that these things are genetic. He did exercise restraint though and apparently didn’t try to justify the desire.

      2. I am not a parent by choice; however, when I see young children, my instincts are to protect them and give them decent life guidance.

        I have taken young children out, for the day, alone. One was the ten-year old nephew (of a former wife) who was in serial trouble at school for a catalogue of misdemeanours. I took him birdwatching to Blacktoft Sands and he was agog as I pointed out all the various birds and wildlife to him. He was positively buzzing on our return.

        On another occasion I was asked by a friend — a Warrant Officer in the Lifeguards — if I would look after his teenage daughter for a couple of days while he and his wife were away on important business. I took her to Padley Gorge (a woodland beauty spot on the Derbyshire/Yorkshire boundary near Hathersage) on one day and for a walk along the Humber Bridge in both directions on the second day. Again, she was buzzing after the experience.

        1. Sexual perverts are attracted to jobs which deal with vulnerable people so the teaching profession, nursing, the police, social and prison work have more than their share of such people. I posted this yesterday :

          I am entirely convinced that paedophiles should be locked up for the safety of children but I am not convinced that they are capable of controlling themselves.

          A rather strange man who taught at a school where I taught was sacked under suspicious circumstances in1984 but he managed to get another job in another school where he was caught in flagrante delicto with the adolescent son of the wife he had recently married.

          He quite rightly went to prison in 1990 for about three years. But when he came out he committed another atrocity and went back into prison. I chased this up on the internet and saw that in 2004 he was sentenced to 4½ years of prison for another case of paedophilia with several victims.

          He clearly should never be released because he will doubtless commit the same crime over and over again. He seems incapable of learning from the past or controlling himself.

          I have no idea what he is up to now – I would have thought castration might be more effective than imprisonment.

  38. Good morning Alf

    Great quote , BTL throws up some good stuff.

    How about this cut and paste from me .

    The world says: "You have needs – satisfy them. You have as much right as the rich and the mighty. Don't hesitate to satisfy your needs; indeed, expand your needs and demand more." This is the worldly doctrine of today. And they believe that this is freedom. The result for the rich is isolation and suicide, for the poor, envy and murder.
    Fyodor Dostoevsky

        1. Indeed, Ange's is a blue glass whereas Chuck III's is a rather fetching shade of pink. They were at some sort of King's Trust jamboree at Dumfries House praising 'Young People's Achievements.' He had the general air of disbelief that she had her job of running the country if Keir cops it. She was thinking the same about him. They are not far apart intellectually.

        3. Blue Day, Blue Lady and Blue Monday are just three cocktails made using blue curaçao, a blue-tinted orange liqueur. Although I do believe, in this particular case, that His Majesty and Her Slapperness are drinking from very non-U coloured glasses.

        1. Dunno. Looks as if he's lost his marbles…or can't understand a word she's saying and needs a translator.

    3. Given that devolution has failed in Scotland and Wales with crippling waste, gormless play school politics, high taxes and Westminster being blamed instead of repeating the same stupid error again why not try the exact opposite: less government. Stop dictating. Cap council pay and taxation. Open it all up to democratic accountability. Cut taxes. Get the state out of health and education.

      The entire political class simply are not able to think beyond their own failure. They think having the power makes them powerful and then they blame others for their failure.

    4. Given that devolution has failed in Scotland and Wales with crippling waste, gormless play school politics, high taxes and Westminster being blamed instead of repeating the same stupid error again why not try the exact opposite: less government. Stop dictating. Cap council pay and taxation. Open it all up to democratic accountability. Cut taxes. Get the state out of health and education.

      The entire political class simply are not able to think beyond their own failure. They think having the power makes them powerful and then they blame others for their failure.

    5. Personally I would reinstate York as the capital of the United Kingdom, but prevent most serving MPs from being any part of it.

    1. Don't care frankly. Anything that potentially wrecks a leftist rag is a good thing, old or not.

  42. Good morning, all. Bright, dry and not as chilly as of late here.

    Back from a short and enjoyable break in Lincolnshire. Took the opportunity to visit Louth, a small market town on the edge of the Lincolnshire Wolds. It was as if I had travelled back in time: this small town had all the shops e.g. real butchers, several small bakeries/cake shops etc. that the "city" of Colchester seriously lacks. The market stretched over a couple of mid-town streets and was well patronised. There are several pubs right in the town centre and the recommendation from a local lady was Ye Olde Whyte Swanne. It was exactly that, old and full of character with Timothy Taylor Landlord and a couple of other real ales on tap. The food was good as well.

    As poppiesmum commented yesterday about Sidmouth, diversity appeared to be seriously lacking, although not totally absent: there was a friendly Greek chap selling olives, humus etc on the market but not much else that I noticed. Maybe I caught the town on a good day?

    Washing machine has finished and I must away to hang out the washing and the meadow probably requires a cut.

    1. We drove through Hadleigh yesterday.
      Absolutely heaving; proper shops of the type you've mentioned.
      Colchester has seriously lost the plot. It is drab and has little to attract shoppers. In fact, with its empty cycle lanes and ever-changing traffic rules, it seems to go out of its way to repel visitors.
      One of the friends with whom we had lunch yesterday is a strapping 6ft + chap who was born and brought up in the Suffolk/Essex borderlands.
      Without any prompting from MB and me about our recent experience, he was holding forth about his last visit to Ipswich; he particularly remarked on how run down it had become and admitted that even he no longer felt safe in the town centre.

      1. Sudbury people have been trying to fend off Babergh District Council’s impositions re car park charging and road rearrangements. I’ll have to check on Rachel Mathew’s website to see what the outcomes were.

      2. Colchester was losing its character when I left for the first time in 1974. By the time I went back in 1983, it had become like any other town with shopping malls.

    2. I used to stay in Louth when carrying out gas pipeline checks at three-monthly intervals for Conoco at Theddlethorpe. The Whyte Swanne was of of my favourites especially during the December visit, with its snug atmosphere and open fire.
      Unfortunately, we lost the contract.

    1. Clothes that look alright on the model. I prefer the dresses but that’s my taste. A while ago, M&S had a dress that looked nice on the display mannequin and I liked the style so bought one and tried it on at home, as it was a style that pulled on over the head and I didn’t want to get make-up on it. It was hideous. I took it back and got a refund. A few weeks later I saw a tall slim young woman at work wearing the same frock and it looked as good on her as it did in the store.

        1. Good question.
          We use the word 'frock' as a joke, but if I were using it seriously I have a vague inkling that a frock is slightly posher than a dress.
          I'd wear a dress to work, but a frock when I wished to be dressier.

        2. A frock is a specific form of dress? I use them as interchangeable terms, for variety. Frock coat is problematic and apparently still in use, though I thought it an historical item.

        4. Frocks are more fitted and tend to flare are the bottom. They are very 1950s housewife. Would post pictures if I knew how, but think Janet and John book females.

    2. So she was in effect advertising for ME + EM? Probably not a good idea for the fashion house, given that she looks like she's wearing a sack of spuds in those outfits.

    1. I would love to argue that in court because approx. 34% of Muslims are white. People fail to take into account the Muslims in places like the former Yugoslavia, Russia, the ethnic white Turks etc. etc. The racist troupe is actually Islamic propaganda to stop us from criticizing them.

  45. Too hot to handle?

    https://x.com/zerohedge/status/1837129533947867555?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1837129533947867555%7Ctwgr%5Ec4d0027a906d26952762e4ce8ffe674aed93920f%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fweather%2Fmsm-journos-inadvertently-reveal-shocking-truth-about-global-warming https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7f958d9bb40742e7b640da4f2fd52bf1cd83aa39fd759fa893d4b97cf4b02f90.png https://x.com/zerohedge/status/1837129533947867555/photo/1 https://x.com/zerohedge/status/1837129533947867555/photo/1 https://x.com/zerohedge/status/1837129533947867555/photo/1

    1. The prime consideration of a government and its justice system should be the welfare of its own citizens. This man will obviously pose a danger to people in this country when he is released (if he hasn't been already), so it's a no-brainer – he should be deported to protect our own citizens. The only alternative is to keep him in prison for life in the UK, but either way he should not be at liberty to endanger British people.

  47. Good morning all,

    I’ve been enjoying a lovely week in Cornwall but it's just come to an end with a thunderstorm and torrential rain this morning. Confined to the hotel room at the moment but there is a streak of light on the horizon so we should be able to get out to enjoy our last day soon.

    The big plus is I haven’t had the chance to pay much attention to Clown World for a week but the rain has got me back here for a short while this morning.

    Back to normal next week.

    1. I hate to disappoint you Fiscal, but a lot of folk around here think there's no such thing as normal anymore……

    2. I hate to disappoint you Fiscal, but a lot of folk around here think there's no such thing as normal anymore……

    3. From a seaside village in Valencia

      Strong storms today. Storms may produce large hail and strong winds. Have a plan and be prepared.

  48. Good morning all,

    I’ve been enjoying a lovely week in Cornwall but it's just come to an end with a thunderstorm and torrential rain this morning. Confined to the hotel room at the moment but there is a streak of light on the horizon so we should be able to get out to enjoy our last day soon.

    The big plus is I haven’t had the chance to pay much attention to Clown World for a week but the rain has got me back here for a short while this morning.

    Back to normal next week.

  49. My run of good luck continues – I won 3 € 60 yesterday. Tickets cost 26 €.
    Wordle 1,190 3/6

    ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩
    ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

        1. I did thank you Bilty. About 9.30pm Friday night.
          From the Med to the Manche with one little detour when I found myself heading towards Met

        2. I did, thank you Bilty.
          From the Med to the Manche with one slight detour when I found myself heading for Metz.

    2. Me too. Often what I think is a brainwave is way off the mark but got lucky again today.

      Wordle 1,190 3/6

      ⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜
      ⬜⬜⬜🟩🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      1. From Coffee House, the Spectator Julie Burchill

        University isn’t sexy anymore
        Comments Share 21 September 2024, 5:00am
        Freshers’ Week. It sounds so appealing, even to an uneducated counter-jumper like me who finds the word ‘uni’ so repellent that it’s right up there with ‘gusset’ and ‘spasm’. At British universities it mostly means drinking a lot of alcohol – our historical reaction to most situations – which may contribute to outbreaks of what is known as ‘Freshers’ flu’ in the first few weeks of the university term. But getting the lurgy is the least of the troubles bothering the student body nowadays as they head back to university this week. Thousands are going straight from their studies to long-term sickness, according to an alarming headline in the Times: ‘Students are one of the biggest contributors to rising economic inactivity, with deteriorating mental health a key factor’.

        Most popular
        Jonathan Miller
        Marine Le Pen looks unstoppable

        The general statistics around long-term unemployment are shocking, as we’re all aware now unless we’ve been sitting around watching daytime TV and mainlining Jammy Dodgers ever since the pandemic. Post-Covid, 700,000 more souls have succumbed to ‘long-term sickness’, bringing the total to 2.8 million and more than doubling the cost of sickness benefits.

        Before Mrs Thatcher got into the ring with the unions, Britain was known as ‘the sick man of Europe’. Now that title has returned to us more literally. As is generally the way in this strange world we live in, language means the opposite of what it is. Thus sick-notes are now often called ‘fit notes’ and can be bought online from actual doctors for less than £35 including a ‘consultation’. Not surprisingly, ‘sickness’ is up 27 per cent in the UK since the end of the pandemic – with one in 15 adults now apparently having the ‘long-term’ version – while remaining stable or falling elsewhere in Europe. We’re now twice as sick as Italy, which is mystifying when you consider all those days at the beach they could be enjoying.

        Students seem like scared, soppy overgrown toddlers, with their cancelling and triggering and warnings about books
        A detail of particular concern is that we are not just the sick man of Europe once more, but the sick boy – and girl. The fastest growing age group who identify as long-term sick are the 16 to 24-year-olds, an increase of 18 per cent since before Covid. As this group is likely to be physically at the peak of robustness, it’s dismayingly predictable that all too many of them cite Mental Elf issues. It’s odd that thousands of these are university students, going straight from graduation to being out of work. Why?

        I can understand working-class kids looking around them at the shattered attempt to create a society where social mobility was the norm, and deciding simply not to bother. The fun jobs, from model to journalist, have been colonised by the dreary spawn of the rich and/or famous. If you are young and were born without ‘prospects’ you are more likely to stay that way than you were back in the twentieth century, a survey by the Institute for Fiscal Studies concluded last year. David Sturrock, an economist at the IFS and an author of the report, said: ‘It may be harder now than at any point in over half a century to move up if you are born in a position of disadvantage.’

        It’s also hard to blame youngsters who never bothered to return to education after Covid – the ‘ghost children’ going straight from school to dole. (By the way, the dismal ‘dole’ is a far better word than ‘benefits’, which makes it sound as if being idle is good for a person, when it so obviously isn’t in every way possible.) But university graduates, who have at some point decided to stay at school until the age of 18 – and then commit to another three years of education until they are in their actual twenties? (I had been at work for four years when I celebrated my 21st birthday – and boy, was I ever pleased with myself!) Why are thousands of them giving up before they’ve started?

        Maybe the answer lies in how universities have changed. Even though I wanted to get out to work as fast as humanly possible, I could see in the 1970s that there was something sexy about being a student. Yes, they might look dirty and smelly – but they were obviously having it away loads.

        Now they seem like scared, soppy overgrown toddlers, with their cancelling and triggering and warnings about books. Once students went to university to have their minds stretched by new ideas, but now too many appear to believe that not being challenged is some kind of human right, that university should be a ‘safe space’. This is higher education as a soft-play area. In the short run, over-sensitive students may feel momentarily better about getting adults to give in to them. But they know in their heart of hearts – that greatest and smallest of unsafe spaces – that hearing different viewpoints without covering one’s ears and saying ‘Na-na-na-can’t-hear-you!’ is a vital part of being a grown-up.

        When people are coddled, it makes them more fragile
        When people are coddled, it makes them more fragile – and so the vicious circle of mental health and opting out continues. A friend who teaches journalism (of all the careers that you need to be tough for!) tells me that her students are allowed to ‘self-diagnose’ with stress and depression and thus miss lessons, which she must then make up for by tutoring them individually. When did ‘in loco parentis’ come to mean ‘acting like a crazy helicopter parent who believes that their perfectly average child is the centre of the universe’?

        Of course we need people who stay in education so that those with a talent or a vocation can become the doctors and teachers we so desperately need to grow as a country. But the fact that so many people with no particular gifts are being over-educated is regressive, not progressive.

        I’d be interested to know what the apprenticeship-to-dole (or indeed, the depressed apprentices) stats are. Pretty low, I’d guess. There’s a special satisfaction which comes from doing a useful job, which I get from the eight hours a week I spend steaming clothes in a charity shop. Not to mention that apprenticeships practically guarantee a good income. I knew a posh girl training to be a chef who got sick of being yelled at; she re-qualified as a plumber after a short apprenticeship. Not long afterwards, she brought her week’s cash earnings to my place to measure with a ruler – to amuse me.

        The Economist published a cautionary tale last month about behaviour at work which is by no means unusual in today’s graduates:

        An older boss was correcting a younger female employee. ‘There is no P in “hamster”,’ said the boss. But ‘that’s how I spell it,’ the 20-something objected. The boss suggested they consult a dictionary. The employee called her mother, put her on speakerphone and tearfully insisted that she tell her boss not to be so mean.

        I’ll concede that people like this may be better off staying away from the cut and thrust of the workplace – but why waste all that money on a degree? I’ve never once regretted not continuing in further or higher education. I don’t believe that any institute of learning could have got me further or higher than I got myself, especially considering my extremely humble origins. But reading about the largely self-inflicted sorrow of the school-to-dole mob, I’m gladder than ever that I gave wretched ‘uni’ the swerve.

    3. Well you both beat my par
      Wordle 1,190 4/6

      🟩⬜⬜⬜🟨
      ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩
      ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩Wordle 1,190 4/6

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

  51. With all its faults, Uganda is a Christian country. Send him back and let them administer justice.

  52. Good Moaning.
    Please … Pretty Please … may I have a less frantic day today?
    What with plumbers back and forth (oh deep joy, whole cistern and loo need replacing), prolonged birthday lunch at the Bell, Kersey and then Conservative leadership hustings in Hatfield Peverel, I could do with a deeply boring day.
    Incidentally, James Cleverly (who I'd not previously rated) did well. Worth another look.
    In fact, it was noticeable that he and Kemi did not spout political platitudes designed to please the audience.

          4. Was she making the point that "working class" can be applied to anyone who works?
            I know there are social gradations, but is say, a medical student working class during the hours they earn money as a kitchen porter to finance their time through university?
            (As one of my granddaughter's friends is currently doing.)

          6. Surely "working class" is a lifestyle rather than just applying to someone who works for a living. If the person reads lots of books (not trashy novels), doesn't follow traditional working class hobbies, likes going to concerts and art galleries, that, regardless of what they do for a living, is not a "working class" lifestyle. It used to be according to where you lived and what sort of house you had as much as your job, but that distinction has blurred somewhat these days.

          8. Something along the lines of ‘I went from middle class to working class when I went to McDonalds’. She possibly meant to say her first job was as a teen working weekends in McDonalds. Probably didn’t mean it to sound condescending but for now it has legs, unfortunately for her – large number of ‘working-class’ voters now supporting Reform/Farage (I’m one of them).

          9. Hmmm… unfortunate choice of words. Clearly her parents were professional people so she was middle class.

        1. You are, of course, entitled to your view.

          I find the whole bunch unappetising, unwelcome and far, far from true Conservatives. I'd never vote for any of them.

          3. Some people say Soros, others say Gates, I have no idea. Maybe they all communicated pre, during and post lockdowns, something dodgy about that.

          4. I always remind myself that MT was an indifferent Education Secretary.
            Ultimately, you can only choose from who is standing for election – or not vote at all.

      2. Thanks, Bill..completely agree. What man would joke about giving Rohypnol to his wife, in front of female staff. Was leaning Badenoch until I heard the working class nonsense. Looking like Jenrick…hmmm. Definitely not Tughendhat.

        1. I would rate Jenrick higher if he didn't keep spouting the same stuff we already heard from May and Cameron about doing conservative things, and look how that turned out!
          Oh well if all else fails you could give yourself the satisfaction of writing "NIGEL FARAGE" or "ANDREW BRIDGEN" on the ballot paper! Or perhaps "MY BUDGERIGAR"

          1. Or even FRO, BB2. To think I wasted 39 squid to become a member so I could vote. One born every minute, must have been my turn….

    3. Did he say what folk wanted to hear or did he admit abject failure and discuss unravelling the complete mess of socialism throughout the country?

      1. All candidates were quite open about the failings. Cabinet responsibility is a double edged sword; can you achieve more inside or outside the tent?
        Cleverley made the valid point that the organisation needs a good sort out (without his directly saying it, I got the impression that he's not a fan of CCHQ).
        Both Kemi and James did not declaim buzz words and slogans. They pointed out that empty promises about reducing immigration numbers needed more unglamorous background work in order for any change to be made.
        Kemi pointed out some countries within the ECHR seem to deal with these matters more efficiently than Britain. In other words, there is rather more to the problem than merely blaming ECHR.
        The question is whether we need an iconoclastic leader (“She [Margaret Thatcher] cannot see an institution without hitting it with her handbag.”) to shake things up or an organiser who will sort out the web of inefficiency and drift that has settled on the Conservative Party.
        Tugendhat was not there – he was honouring a commitment made months before the GE – so we had Jackie Doyle-Price representing him; really she was issuing approved thoughts. Robert Jenrick was rather eager and seemed too keen to say what he expected the audience to hear; which was sadly forgettable.

      1. 393208+ up ticks,

        Morning JR,
        My belief is in many ways handcock condemned himself via rhetoric / actions and if “unbelievably” a guilty verdict was reached he could prove to be the
        honesty thread that has needed pulling for a long time, as in,
        “the great unravelling”

      2. I'll have to watch later too, jonathan. Found his Utube channel and subscribed, will see it there if not here. I'm a Bridgen fan, think he's been treated disgracefully.

        1. As is Tommy Robinson.

          Farage says that his Reform party has now "come of age"

          It will only have come of age when Farage can accept that even though he thinks TR is a bit rough he is a man full of common sense and reason.

          To paraphrase and adapt Martin Luther King : TR should be judged on the quality of his thinking and not the roughness of his speech and appearance.

          1. My guess is that somewhere along the line they’ll realise they’ll be better off with each other, and act accordingly. On a lighter note, Kathy Gyngell on TCW has posted three short videos taken on her phone, of yesterday’s Reform Conference. Good fun 🙂

        1. And Frank Kingdom Ward. Wonderful name! But this pernicious tripe is just more of the tearing down of the British. Fact is, Japanese appropriated plants from China, Chinese appropriated from Tibet, Indians appropriated from Persia, Persians from Turkey, and so on and so on. Why is it these left wing scumbags never mention these other civilizations in the game of appropriation. What makes them non-problematic?

          2. Right, so they are not guilty. Just as the Turks and Arabs have nothing to do with the slave trade. And, good morning to you this Sunday, Conway.

    2. choosing to plant non-native species in Britain is problematic..

      Anyone else spot the Irony Alert..

      1. Oh yes. I’ve tried explaining to wokies that Northern Europeans evolved with paler skin to cope with the lack of sunshine. A wasted effort.

        The rose is not a native plant. It was imported from the Levant by the crusaders.

    3. The bbc doesn't seem to understand concepts like seeds and cuttings! They probably think that the evil British stole every camellia in China.

      1. I did have words with her last year. I limit Bobble to 2 handouts per day ( approx 16/20 dreamies).

        1. You sound like my neighbour. "Oh no: I never feed Pickles. Just give him a drop of sweetened condensed milk…."

  57. Playing washing hokey cokey with the prospective rain. It's threatening to, but the radar map shows it moving away.

    Made some shortbread and had to actively push Mongo away. Firstly it's too hot for him, second it's full of chocolate pieces and will make him ill.

    I did give a little bit of the dough to Lucy who bashed my leg with her tail. She's now a healthy weight and her coat's far better, glossy and smooth, as it should be. I won't let the Warqueen put a pink bow on her.

      1. Lucy is being “looked after” for a friend, from memory, but i got the impression Lucy isn’t going back.

        1. Yep. We were intending to forward her on but… probably won't. It was when she got her own bank account that it sort of settled.

      2. She's a Landsser Newfie.

        Her previous owners had medical problems and simply couldn't look after her – well, stopped, really. Marion, the breeder; in one of her visits saw the condition of Luce and took her back.

        The intent was we'd take her in and look after her while another family was found to look after her.
        The one Marion had in mind decided they couldn't after prostate cancer returned and 4 months – I think – we've sort of kept her. I like her. She's calm, quiet and clever.

          1. There's 5 and a half bedrooms for the three of us. The bigger concern is the stairs as the dogs have a tendency to follow their humans. Mongo is about the only one who doesn't think you've gone away forever if you're out of sight.

            Oscar won't go a foot from the Warqueen. In the farmhouse we moved from there was a small rise of about 3 steps which were broad and shallow. This place has a switch backed narrow depth staircase. I don't want Lucy trying to climb that as she's not yet 1.

    2. We have had 2 yellow weather warnings in my part of the country for yesterday and today. I think another one for tomorrow. Yesterday we had about 30 mins heavy rain and some thunder and lightning, today some light drizzle for about an hour at most.
      I know the nature of showers means rain in one location but a mile down the road, dry and sunny but the Met Office boarders on hysterical scare stories, presumably to reinforce their climate change scan.
      Still, we plan to give them the respect they deserve and are now just about to go out for a walk in the sunshine leaving our coats behind.
      If I come back like a bedraggled cat I will be sure to tell you all what an idiot I am (perhaps).

      1. In giving these severe weather warnings to what is essentially normal weather they are changing the paradigm. Older folks aren't fooled but the young are being brainwashed.

  58. Rare polar bear shot dead by police in Iceland after being thought a threat. 21 September 2024.

    A rare polar bear that was spotted in a remote village in Iceland was shot by police after being considered a threat, authorities have said.

    The bear was killed in the north-west tip of the country after police consulted the national environment agency, which declined to have the animal relocated, according to the Westfjords police chief, Helgi Jensson.

    No wonder they are rare if you keep shooting them.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/sep/20/rare-polar-bear-shot-dead-by-police-in-iceland-after-being-thought-a-threat

    1. They couldn't have lured it away? The poor thing was likely looking for food. There are just too many people in the world. Our technology is keeping us going, letting us be in places we shouldn't and letting people breed when they shouldn't. The only way mankind is going to survive is by getting off the planet and out into space

      1. If it was in a location where there are people/shops (which actually sell frozen fish), most definitely. Usually they stay away from human habitation, likely to be shot. This one must have been starving, elderly, or diseased. Or all three. Numbers are increasing btw, but in different areas possibly where fishing not as easy.

        1. True, there is no shortage of Polar Bears, in Alaska they are becoming a serious pest because they will go for humans as much as a seal and you can't run from them. Top speed 25 mph and hight of one of the things is 10 feet. Let one of those take a swipe at you with his 12 inch paw and you are a goner.

          1. Exactly so, jonathan. Do you recall the Beeb footage some years ago, showing apparently healthy and well fed polar bears jumping from a height, committing suicide because of global warming and food/territory disappearing – turned out they were chasing seals – gaining on them and so couldn't stop in time. Clever or lucky seals, the ones who escaped.

          2. You mean the seals rolling off the cliffs? Didn't see one on polar bears. Saw bears in Canada, scary things.

          4. It could have been the one, johnathan…maybe the seals rolling off because they were being chased by polar bears, or similar. Yes, huge especially on hind legs.

          5. IIRC it was a colony of walruses spooked by the BBC camera crews, who became so scared by these media types that they threw themselves off the cliff. Of course, the sainted Attenborough told a different story in his revered voice over.

          6. Thanks opopanax, your memory be more accurate than mine. Hasn’t he died yet, seems to have been going for decades. Looked it up he’s 98!

    3. More propaganda. You're supposed to think that Poler Bears are rare, they aren't, this one had strayed out of its range and therefor posed a threat to granny or little junior.
      I quote from the article:
      The group said the non-native species posed a threat to people and animals, and the cost of returning them to Greenland, about 180 miles away, was exorbitant. It also found there was a healthy bear population in east Greenland, from where any bear was likely to have come.

        1. They are good swimmers Anne, surprising though that may be. It isn't an attribute you would think of for bears. But part of the way was probably on an iceberg.

        2. Between 2004 and 2009, a period of extreme summer-ice retreat, about a third of those bears made swims exceeding 30 miles in distance, according to the study results. The 50 recorded ultra-marathon swims averaged 96 miles, and one bear was able to swim nearly 220 miles, according to the study results.

          https://www.reuters.com/article/business/environment/polar-bears-can-swim-vast-distances-study-finds-idUSBRE84100X/#:~:text=Between%202004%20and%202009%2C%20a,according%20to%20the%20study%20results.

      1. Apparently that is being questioned – if you can trust the Polar Bear Institute.

        There's a lot of them up north but we rarely hear of people being attacked.

    6. Not that I'm condoning it but Polar Bears have flourished since Global Warming melted all the ice in the Arctic.

      2. 8-0 : Nice s'offre un festival de buts face à Saint-Etienne en Ligue 1 … Frog tribes kicking a bag of wind up and down a large lawn.

        8-0: Nice enjoys a festival of goals against Saint-Etienne in Ligue 1…

  60. My son asked me to pass this on to those who may be interested in a nice offer.

    A friend has two tickets for the Formula 1 final race of the season the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, at the Yas Marina circuit on the weekend of the 24th – 26th November. They are box seats and include flights, hospitality, and hotel accommodation.

    He didn't realise when he bought them that this is the same day as his wedding.

    If you're interested and want to go instead of him, it's at St Johns Church, Worcester at 2.15pm on the 25th.

    Her name is Janet. She’ll be the one in the white dress.

    1. A stand-in at Janet's wedding, Rusty? Hmm…be careful with that, brides can be a bit fickle. Of course I never was …

    2. Thanks but Sir Keir's already sorted me out for Abu Dhabi.. along with Oasis tour & Arsenal home games.

      1. Ah, but has he donated to you a pair of Raybans?
        It can be very sunny in those parts of the world.

    1. You may or may not think much to this, Grizzly….this morning two people called to ask if I would attend Bible Class. I said no thank you, they asked me would I say the reason. I replied I find God, every day, in nature – it surrounds the place I live, where I walk every day. They surprised me a little by smiling and saying they liked my reply, and appreciated my honesty. Got the impression they may have received different comments:-(

      2. I would have smiled and said no thank you and shut the door. I never answer questions at the door.

          1. I learned the hard way. I am not into the big society thing. We like a private life.These people calling on you for information I have no time for.

          2. Neither am I. They were on foot bit of a slog I didn’t like to be unkind. I like a private life too 😊

          1. I believe that JWs are Christians and do push Bible Classes, KJ. I have a friend so boring that when he invited them in for a chat they were soon pretty desperate to leave (a circumstance of which he is proud)

          2. Seems I did the right thing not inviting them in, in that case. I can’t believe you have a boring friend! But his technique sounds worth nicking 😀

          3. JWs are increasingly trying to con people into thinking that they are Christians, but they do not agree with the orthodox Christian view of Jesus as God incarnate. I think they have moved away from promoting the Watchtower magazine, as this gives the game away about who they are. However, all that said, these people might have been genuine. The only way to have found out would have been to ask them which church they were linked to, and if necessary, investigated the church. But I guess that is more effort that you were inclined to make.

          4. Thanks Angus. If they had the Watchtower, they kept it hidden. I didn’t ask them which church, as you rightly surmise. Certainly not to step inside, husband likely go ballistic, dogs already kicking off….:-) Yes, more effort than inclined to make (laid back, or lazy, if you will :-D)

        2. Thanks, could be I’d not met any previously far as I know. Don’t they have the Watchtower or something? these guys didn’t. Have had Christian Science previously. Someone I respected was a Quaker most of his life, he recommended me to try it but I never did. I generally ask too many questions, I did at school.

      5. I never stray into matters ecclesiastical, and I seldom venture into matters political. The only exception is if a religionist or politician knocked on my door. He/she/it would soon regret his/her/its decision to do so.

        Especially the politician.

        1. Oh dear….my ‘current’ husband would doubtless start arguing with any politician sufficiently idiotic to stray anywhere near here. Come to think of it, applies to pretty much anyone/everyone. Except me of course.

    1. "We want our children to inherit a world in which they can breathe clean air, enjoy nature, and meet their potential without threat from ever-worsening climate disasters."

      I wouldn't want to be in the same room as these people.

      1. Vile creatures who live in their own black holes.
        Didn't one of the new 'government' speak about increasing the flights from London City airport ?
        Whilst on the ground Kahnt taxes the back sides off any one in a car.

  64. My word……..why are these people in goverment ?

    https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/keir-starmer-in-the-pocket-of-millionaires-says-diane-abbott/ar-AA1qWStw?ocid=msedgntp&pc=U531&cvid=4788efdeb03346238903d9d4a1b6d12d&ei=108

    https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/thousands-of-asylum-seekers-lying-about-their-age-to-break-in-to-britain-as-home-office-accused-of-performative-empathy/ar-AA1qVAMS?ocid=msedgntp&pc=U531&cvid=4788efdeb03346238903d9d4a1b6d12d&ei=115

  65. Had a glossy brochure from Donald Russel this morning.

    Free range turkey crown 1.2 kg £125.

    Email from Farmfoods whole turkey 3.2/4kg £7.99

    I think i will give it a swerve.

    I now know why KFC ran out of chickens which incidently set off riots and looting. A group of Imaams decided that saying a single prayer over machine slaughter only meant the first chicken was halal. So they lost their accreditation.
    They said a prayer had to be said over each bird and slaughtered by hand. Without any form of stunning.

    1. I have used a lot of meat from Donald, in the past

      Seems that I cannot afford it now my WHA hsa been stolen

  66. Fulham women’s team ‘took precautions’ to protect players from Fayed. 21 September 2024.

    Precautions were put in place to protect Fulham’s women’s team from the club’s late owner Mohamed Fayed, a former manager has said.

    Chastity belts? Purdah? Alas they do not tell us. One wonders why his exposure did not take place until he was dead. There was obviously no lack of victims.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/09/21/fulham-women-team-took-precautions-to-protect-players-fayed/

    1. They thought Craven Cottage was unsafe because the owner might screw every woman who set foot inside? He once offered it to All Saints Fulham as a possible event venue for the church but ASF was far too politically correct to go full-on Billy Graham.

      This whole story is a distraction. The WHO are trying again to enforce their “pandemic treaty”. So much going on in the world that matters more than whether Mohamed Al-Fayed was lecherous.

  67. Top of the BBC news:

    Thousands of women and children deliberately killed by Israeli assassination squads for not reading the Torah and not wearing the Star of David. Innocent peace seeking Hamas leaders seriously injured in daylong bombing raids on schools and hospitals. Israeli defence force shoots down hundreds of Iranian and Lebanese Red Cross rockets and drones carrying food and medicine to huddled masses of displaced Palestinian refugees in the heart of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. More news later from our courageous reporters sheltering in poxy 5 star accommodation with no access to champagne and caviar for days on end.

    1. I was astounded to hear the term "Anglo-Saxon" used on Radio 4 this lunchtime to describe Wellingborough.

  68. Nine years ago I was looking after seven feral cats. All disappeared when I went to England for a short while. I have fed many cats over the years but none of them survive when I go away for a while.
    https://scontent-cdg4-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.18172-8/12000804_10153728175364954_3919274126020005330_o.jpg?_nc_cat=104&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=13d280&_nc_ohc=67-qgiOf7WUQ7kNvgEFSGpH&_nc_ht=scontent-cdg4-1.xx&_nc_gid=A-zKpZNwH8hCpIiCQ-fSxhX&oh=00_AYDldt4RAqpIhfGCKI2pCPfzP3QGhQhcDmrAQeJLpZMGLg&oe=67162194

    1. Those cats look a bit posh for strays. The Siamese ones would certainly fetch a price here in the UK. We currently have a very shy feral in our Dutch barn who bears a striking resemblance to the 3rd from left. Unfortunately, the attitude of our JR is not helping it to feel safe.

    2. When I went out to work in the beds, the sun was on the lounger. I have to admit it was very tempting. I resisted and got on with the jobs. My halo is shining bright.

  71. Democracy is not equipped to fight this new, pragmatic Axis of Evil. 21 September 2024.

    So what is this new force and how can it be addressed? Somehow we must adjust to the fact that we are not facing a unified enemy with an identifiable objective. The members of this anti-Western alliance are so wildly disparate and incompatible in their ideals and principles that any common ground between them can only be opportunistic which, paradoxically, makes this a much harder problem to confront.

    This “new force” is not Russia, China etc. It is the rot from within. The Globalist Forces that seek to enslave us all.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/09/21/democracy-not-equipped-to-fight-new-pragmatic-axis-evil/

    1. "Having divested itself, in the most traumatic and humiliating way, of its commitment to communism, [Russia] is now reinventing a medieval sense of nationhood based on a mythical historic legacy."

      All nationhood is based on historic fable. Some of it may be overdone, a little fanciful maybe, but even if the people know this, they are still bound by the truth that is cloaked by the fable.

      The horrors of two world wars blamed on 'the evil' of nationhood led to the mad internationalism that has detached so many from their past and left them open to any crackpot idea. Our real enemies watched and waited. Russia should never have been one of them.

      2. And did those feet in ancient time walk upon Englands mountains green? The question mark is key because we don’t know yet this story of Christ being taken to Glastonbury by Joseph of Arimathea is key to our national identity and it may or may not have happened. That actually doesn’t matter. National identity is always a mix of fact and fable? Greek, Roman and Norse mythology are also key to European identity. I honestly pity those who are ignorant of those stories. Myth doesn’t mean lie, it’s moral teaching. It’s the source of civilisation.

        1. I was talking of those who laid the blame, not asserting that it was so. The outcome was the 'rules-based world':

          Emblazoned on the wall in the EU Parliament's Visitors Centre are these words: "National sovereignty is the root cause of the most crying evils of our time and of the steady march of humanity back to tragic disaster and barbarism…The only final remedy for this supreme and catastrophic evil of our time is a federal union of the peoples…"

          They were written by Philip Kerr, later the Marquess of Lothian, who was a British diplomat and arch-appeaser in the build up to the Second World War. Like the modern Europhile zealots, he never dropped his doctrinaire outlook. Even on the eve of the Battle of Britain in 1940, he was urging Winston Churchill's Government to reach a peace deal with Hitler's regime.

          http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/04/07/the-eu-has-revealed-its-true-nature-a-federalist-monster-that-wi

          ________________________________________

          "To achieve world government, it is necessary to remove from the minds of men their individualism, loyalty to family, tradition, national patriotism, and religious dogmas."

          "The family is now one of the major obstacles to improved mental health, and hence should be weakened, if possible, so as to free individuals and especially children from the coercion of family life."

          Dr George Brock Chisholm, who served as the first Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO) from 1948 to 1953.

          ________________________________________

          "Few legislators who passed these mental health laws realized that (Brock) Chisholm and his associates defined mental illness as a sense of loyalty to a particular nation, a sense of loyalty to a moral code, and strict adherence to concepts of right and wrong. Chisholm has been obsessed for years with the idea that instilling concepts of right and wrong, love of country and morality in children by their parents is the paramount evil."

          John A. Stormer, None Dare Call it Treason, Chapter IX, Mental Health (1964)

    1. Thank goodness for that. I am so relieved you are not a prevaricator (a common mistake some people make) which means you tell lies or distort the truth.

          1. Double Negatives
            An English lecturer was holding forth to his class. He said: "Two negatives always make an affirmative, but there are NO cases where a double positive makes a negative"

            One of his thoughtful students replied: "Yeah, right".

    1. It tells us that the very idea (sixth richest country) is a pack of lies. This is no longer a rich country and the present government (how did that happen?) is dead set on continuing to ensure our final demise, set in motion a few decades ago.

      Afternoon all!

      1. "Sixth richest" is a misunderstood term. We may have the sixth largest economy in terms of turnover, but that does not make us "richer" per capita.
        Norway, Sweden. Denmark, Austria and Switzerland, for example, earn much more per capita than the UK
        but their economies are much smaller.

    2. "What does this tell us about the 6th richest economy in the world?"

      It tells me that we are routinely — and serially — run by a gang of charlatans, mountebanks and freebooters.

      It also tells me that we never learn from our mistakes (exponentially-increasing human stupidity syndrome) and we continue to vote said charlatans, mountebanks and freebooters into power.

    3. If we didn't have the nut zero lunacy which has hiked energy prices to ridiculous levels the WFA wouldn't be such an issue.

  74. This day in 1940 saw North Atlantic convoy HX-72 lose eight ships to the torpedoes of U-Boats, for a total of 56,000 tons.

    S.S. Baron Blythswood.

    Complement:
    35 (35 dead – no survivors).
    5,450 tons of iron ore

    At 04.19 hours on 21st September 1940 the Baron Blythswood (Master John Maclarly Robertson Davies) in convoy HX-72 was hit amidships by one G7e torpedo from U-99 (Otto Kretschmer) and sank within 40 seconds south of Iceland. The master, 33 crew members and one gunner were lost.

    Type VIIB U-Boat U-99 was scuttled at 0343hrs on 17th March 1941 in the North Atlantic south-east of Iceland after being badly damaged by depth charges from the British destroyer HMS Walker. 3 dead and 40 survivors.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1cf1e82755cd11d7a0034f2a2343951e6c249191c1467f7fca83ec87445f533f.jpg

  75. With all the attention currently on Sue Gray, readers here might be interested in this article on UnHerd by their political editor, Tom McTague: 'Sue Gray's deadly grip on Starmer' https://unherd.com/?p=623998
    (Paywall but a few free articles per month.)

    1. It sounds as if Starmer's caucus will be the unwitting agency of his early and inevitable demise.

      Perhaps the Labour Party Conference should be held in the Royal Albert Hall?

  76. And here's some more information on the pager attack on Hezbollah. The source, PJMedia, is a right-wing online news outlet, which seems to have links to sources in the intelligence community. There is also information from a leaked Hezbollah report on injuries, which are reported as more severe that I think has been reported in the MSM.
    https://pjmedia.com/victoria-taft/2024/09/21/this-may-be-the-most-ingenious-part-about-israels-exploding-pager-attacks-n4932717

  78. After more than two months in which we've had just one properly wet day here in NN8, Thor is making up for lost time with a terrific storm, a great curtain of rain, a brief pause, and then an even bigger pulse of hail. Visibility was reduced to about 400 yards.

    My back door leaks. Badly.

    5. Without being unkind, in that photograph, she does look as if she has been up all night working flat out.

  80. Why Britain is so reluctant to take on the powerful
    As more women come forward to claim they were attacked by Mohamed Fayed, the Crown Prosecution Service has come under fire once again
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/09/20/why-britain-is-so-reluctant-to-take-on-the-powerful/

    The decision not to prosecute either Savile or Fayed occurred when Starmer was director of public prosecutions at the CPS. However, the Prime Minister and Number 10, have said that neither case crossed his desk.

    (To quote Mandy Rice Davies : He would say that wouldn't he?)

    1. Given that both Savile and Fayed were so very high profile, I find it extraordinary that the files were apparently NOT seen by the DPP! Surely with such famous people he would have been one of the first to know of the allegations???

      1. If it is true, which I very much doubt, one must wonder what cases actually did pass across his desk and what decisions he made regarding them.

    2. Sorry, we have gone from zero to equating Fayed to Saville with zero proof apart from historic stories that have appeared out of nowhere.
      I think this whole story stinks to high heaven.

      1. A lot of people accused of sexual misdemeanours were never prosecuted: Fayed and Savile were never charged but nor was Prince Andrew.

        Of course it is possible that none was guilty.

        1. Britain’s a small island – people talk. It’s not that he wasn’t charged, it’s that we’ve never heard any rumours.
          Rumours about Ted Heath for example, were circulating for years.

      2. I was working at Selfridges when he owned Harrods. I can only say that there weren’t any stories. I also knew someone at church who’d been secretary to a managing director at Harrods and went from there to working for Princess Anne and never mentioned any culture of sexual abuse. It’s impossible to be sure of course but I figure this a Big Brother Two Minute Hate.

        1. I am sure Princess Anne never engaged in sexual abuse….well, only involving young naval officers…!!

          1. Sandra started work at the palace the day after Diana died. She dressed in black for her first day and they couldn’t find a computer for her. Mrs Queen (her name for the boss) bought her one, though probably not knowingly.

          2. I can tell you a few true stories about her, and her aunt, when staying at their shared 'secret' love nest, Chatsworth House.

  81. Keir Starmer: "Labour top team will stop taking free clothes...now we have been found out."

    (From The Times today + a few added words!!)

    1. His reply was 'It's all within the rules'. He doesn't seem to understand how his behaviour appears. It's legalese to defend the indefensible.

        1. Starmer doesn't understand right or wrong. He only understands legal or illegal.

          He has no moral compass whatsoever.

    3. …and have our winter wardrobes. This policy will be reviewed once we have seen next year's Spring Collections.

    4. As I suggested – perhaps they have enough clothes now – however, freebies in the accommodation, events and holidays areas are still welcome!

  82. Poking the bear?

    NATO's tiny Baltic states have continued to be among the most hawkish within the alliance when it comes to 'confronting Russia' and making war plans.
    One Lithuanian official is making headlines for saying that eventual NATO war with Russia is inevitable, and that Europe must begin preparing now. Andrius Kubilius, a former Lithuanian prime minister and the EU's new defence commissioner, has told Reuters that Europe must prepare to go to war with Russia withing the next six to eight years.
    European Union’s first-ever Defense Commissioner, Andrius Kubilius.
    "Defense ministers and NATO generals agree that Vladimir Putin could be ready for confrontation with NATO and the EU in 6-8 years," Kubilius said in his capacity as the European Union’s first-ever Defense Commissioner.

      1. I think I pointed out a year or two back that if the UK had compulsory conscription the boats would stop immediately…(Two years training down Falklands way….etc…)

  83. I don't disagree but 2 years of Square bashing and peeling spuds, plus free travel to Ukraine (for example) might change a few minds

    1. Combined with no rights to stick your bum in the air and mutter mumbo jumbo on a regular basis. What's not to like from our point of view?

  84. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13869953/Its-like-living-warzone-Fury-leafy-Sussex-street-man-blocks-public-footpath-REFUSES-let-neighbours-near-it.html

    This is silly. The deeds to your property dictate where your boundary is and what you're responsible for. We own a bit of the road leading down to our bit. You can measure it to the cm. We're required, by law to collaborate to ensure it is properly maintained for vehicle access (we know we're home when there are no more pot holes).

    If the deeds say that access is public then it is. If you don't own it then you can't block it. If you have by accident or error, then it's on you to restore access.

  86. A heavenly Par Four?

    Wordle 1,190 4/6
    ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨
    ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
    🟨🟨🟨🟨🟨
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. I had to watch my step.

      Wordle 1,190 5/6

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

  87. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/09/21/how-migration-became-rallying-cry-german-far-left/

    I read this article – a Hard Left socialist Marxist complaining about mass immigration (refusing it does go back to Marxist principles as it ruins the lives and wages of local workers) is a bit odd.

    The Left – the EU – forced massive uncontrolled immigration on the nations of Europe to create a permanently entrenched voting block loyal to the state, not the country. That group is showered with other people's money to reinforce the loyalty of this group. Yet that law comes from the EU – a retirement home for failed communists.

    We gave our government the power to stop the horde invading this country and they have abjectly, deliberately refused to do our will, preferring to drown the country in filth.

    Every problem Europe has can be traced to a Left wing attitude: a big state, high tax approach.

  88. Moh watching Saints play Ipswich…

    Emotions are high…. he has been a Saints fan since the age of 6 years of age .

    There will be a draw .. yes there is .

    2. "He has been a Saints fan since the age of 6 years of age."

      The Saints (Northampton rugby team) lost last night to Bath.

    1. Well, these must be the jobs green is creating. They're just not 'green' and they're definitely not here.

        1. Not just the individual jobs lost, either. It's the entire supply chain. Then it's the services and products those workers bought and on and on through the economy.

          The Oaf Miliband needs to be kicked repeatedly, hard in the face until some sense is bashed into the empty space above his neck.

  94. Rachel Reeves is another one off the PPE Oxford conveyor belt. She then went onto do a Masters of Science at LSC. Tried to find out what that involved but there is not a Masters of Science per se. Rather a bunch of business type masters degrees. As long as something isn't Arts specific, it can be classed as Science, from what I can find out. So, a PPE graduate, then did a masters in some indeterminate subject before working at a bank for about five years (don't know what role). And then she joined Labour and became a career politician mid-twenties. Now she is in charge of the economy. Managing decline whilst taxing everything she can instead of supporting and encouraging the wealth makers. What a bunch of inept clowns.

    1. Rachel Reeves has ideas beyond her station .
      She is similar to a Dalek , intent on exterminating the economy and all the wealth makers .

      Uk farmers are scared stiff .. Labour are ignorant and ill informed about life in the countryside .

      Labour are out of their depth , and always have been .

    3. According to Wiki; Reeves "… then obtained a Master of Science degree in economics from the London School of Economics."

      That doesn't sound right!

      1. I looked at the lsc website. There is currently no msc in economics. There is one in business and economics I think. The course is only for 10 months so I hardly think it will have depth.

    4. According to Wiki; Reeves "… then obtained a Master of Science degree in economics from the London School of Economics."

      That doesn't sound right!

    5. ….then did a masters in some indeterminate subject before working at a bank for about five years (don't know what role)

      Toilet cleaner?

      1. Folk think the Bank of England functions the same way as a bank does. It isn't. It's a giant public sector government department. From a project manager who's worked for both a commercial bank and the BoE, the Boe is a slow, dozy, money no object, no customer is affected inefficient nonsense.

    1. Straight out of the Tory Handbook.
      Big words and promises whilst actively increasing the numbers.

    1. Perhaps a fashion-loving lady NoTTLer could tell me why is though to be a good chic/modish idea for the end of trousers to drag along the ground. Especially outdoors.

      Seems weird to me – but, then, I know nothing.

      1. The other thing I find odd is the fashion for what I call "half mast" trousers – I believe the term is "Capri pants" – that aren't full length but are longer than shorts. Neither one thing nor the other.

    3. As much as I understand your dislike of Chav Central, comparing her to the pervert on the right is a little OTT for my taste.

        1. Very true. One of my grandad’s favourite sayings:-D Can’t imagine what he’d say today, I reckon be very rude.

      1. Are they all secret lizards Grizzly…I think we should be told…hang on..maybe we're all lizards…..just off to look in mirror see if I recognise which type I am….

        1. White men, especially white Britons, invented practically everything of use in this world.

          They even invented the blanket, the bowl and the stick that her type claim as their own.

  98. That's me gone for today. Lunch in t'garden. Watering (prolly for the last time for several days – as rain is forecast). Three of the "Green Magic" broccoli I sowed on Tuesday are through. They'll be planted out later in the (unheated) greenhouse to produce nice fresh broc in February. Bike ride. Finished another novel.

    Time for a refreshing glass. Have a jolly evening.

    A demain.

    1. Another excuse for the meat grinder maniacs to attack Russia. I wonder which flag of convenience it was sailing under?
      If a NATO member in international waters would this be regarded as an act of war?

      1. The article is vague and only states:

        In a statement on Saturday, the ministry claimed that Russian warplanes, drones, missiles, and artillery forces destroyed two Ukrainian ammo depots and “struck a dry-cargo carrier with missiles and ammunition, provided to the Kiev regime by Western countries.”

        Officials did not say how badly the ship was damaged or where the attack took place, though Ukraine relies mainly on the Black Sea and Danube routes to receive sea shipments.

        1. Thought for the day:
          Those earlier pictures of Ukraine destroying Russian depots, might the films be of the Russian attacks on Ukraine?
          Choices, choices.

        2. I haven't seen/heard that reported, Sue. Possibly even fake news? Scratch that…husband confirmed news.

          2. Is that online, Sue? Husband is a Russia fan, so I often hear reports from him, be nice if were to know latest first (doubt that, tho')..I've just been watching Mearsheimer speaking about Russian support for Hezbollah. Edit: reports of heavy bombing in Lebanon 9.30pm UK time. Further reports: USA condemns the action.

          3. Yes, RT.com and yes, both Soviet and Orthodox Russia has shared hatred of the Jews. The Soviets invented the Palestinian Myth and Tsarist Russia having driven out the Jews, Orthodox Russia hates them for returning to Judea and Erdogan pretends that the Ottoman Turks didn’t sell land to the returning Jews. The West freezing them out doesn’t help of course but the problem pre-dates the existence of Ukraine.

  100. Evening, all. Was a lovely day (note the tense!) and I got quite a lot done in the garden (harvesting the last of the spuds, forking over half the veg plot and clearing half of the cut flower bed ready to plant the bulbs). Then it went very dark, so I went in to feed Kadi his tea. When I was about to restart, the heavens opened and the paths were flooded. Cue thunder and lightning of an Apocalyptic nature. I gave up and thought discretion was the better part of valour. Hopefully I'll have another nice day to finish off the rest.

    The cynic in me wonders who, in his/her/its right mind ever thought Starmer had any reasonable judgement in the first place. He is, after all, a socialist. If he'd had any judgement or knowledge of the way the world actually works he would surely have given up on socialism because it doesn't work.

  101. Well, that one chain saw back working.
    Bought a primer bulb for my little Husqvarna as I passed through Ipstones this morning and fitted it earlier on and have just been up the "garden" cutting some of the wood I dragged down yesterday into manageable bits to await further sawing, chopping and stacking.
    Also cut a much larger one that had rolled down the bank when the tree fellers trimmed it off one of the larger ash trees.

      1. You ought to see the amount of wood they dropped yesterday!
        It'll take me a good couple of weeks to sort it out.
        And that's BEFORE take out the standing trunks they left.

        1. I just have to take out the tops of the trees in the orchard and trim the side branches. They aren't log-sized, though, so I'll end up burning them in the incinerator.

          1. If it's thicker than my thumb, it's likely to be stacked and then chop-sawn to fill the mushroom trays for burning on the open fire.
            Also like to cut/snap dry twigs to size to use as kindling.

          2. I might use the slightly thicker ones on the open fire, but a lot of it isn't a great deal of use. I'll end up incinerating a lot of rubbish now I no longer get the green bin collection included in the tax I already pay.

          3. Our LA told me I'd have to wheel our (full) wheelie bin to the end of an unmade lane before they would collect. I advise kicking off, threaten to stop payment. See you in court, I'll defend you….:-)

          4. I am not paying to have my bin emptied, which is why I have a chipper/shredder/mulcher and an incinerator. Weeds will be burned, along with all the stuff that won’t compost like twigs, etc. I intend to be non-compliant. With giving up my TV licence (I don’t miss it) and not paying to have the green bin emptied (in addition to what I already pay in council tax) I have just about covered the drop in income.

  102. Forgot to add, this was to the flash-bang accompaniment of a MASSIVE thunder storm that has just skirted round to the West of us!

  103. A bit of a surprise to find out, but Big Cat likes Bombay mix! Just had some with my G&T, and he got his snout in the bowl and started hoovering the bits up. Quite a sporting mix, as well! Little Cat hates it.

  105. We keep hearing from lefties that most pensioners getting the winter fuel allowance don't really need it, but they don't ask whether Sue Gray really needs £ 170,000 either

    1. The response to any suggestion that someone at or near the top is being overpaid is “well, if we want the best, we have to pay the going rate for the best”. Perhaps so but the question that should be asked is “would second-best at considerable less cost be good enough?”. In the vast majority of cases, the answer is “yes” and there is never a shortage of those who would jump at the chance of being at the top even if it meant less salary than their predecessor.

        2. It’s self-perpetuating – they are all on the remuneration boards or committees of multiple organisations so that failures at one place can move seamlessly to somewhere else at the same or higher salary. You are right, there’s no correlation between high pay and great comptetence.

      3. A name I don't recall seeing here before and I really like your choice!.
        Welcome to Nottle.

        I have long been of the view that if there was a total cull of all managers to be replaced by their deputies on the deputy's salaries that there would probably be an improvement in results, service, and quality of product/outcomes.

        I doubt that one in a thousand senior managers is even fractionally better than their subordinates.

        1. Good evening, James (that's the polite bit). My view is that General Elections are a waste of ********* and *********(insert as desired) because the Civil Service is in charge. They make all major decisions including expenditure. Politicians are just the useful cover to enable the general population to think voting counts – it doesn't. That's the reason all parties seem very similar with the exception of a few tweeks, and why nothing ever really changes. Local elections too. I've realised lately democracy is dead in the UK, we can blame Blair initially perhaps but others have slotted in quite nicely. We've been conned.

          1. Language KJ!

            Hmm.. funnily enough though, I’ve got something to say along those lines myself and submitted it to Tom. Democracy as you say is a bit of a front in this country for all the difference voting seems to make.

          2. Oh my, will look out for it James. Enjoyed your previous one, good to read you there 🙂 Tom knows me as Kate, btw, if he asks about the language…I’ll take the blame…

    2. She's running the government, so the answer is obvs 'yes'..(don't forget her expenses, too). What a shambles.

        2. Reports out today that Reeves is removing all traces of ‘toxic masculinity’ from her office, whatever the heck that means. Almost a joy to watch the implosion, although it means CS will continue to sail on regardless, so nothing will change.

    3. Ah – Sam Tarry. Someone who is as confused about his home address as is his friend, the Deputy PM. I played the organ for his wedding to Dr Julia Fozard (I'm slightly acquainted with her family). She picked a wrong 'un there, and it seems they only stayed together long enough to pop a couple of sprogs.

      Suffice to say that – as Verger at the church, with my contact details on the notice board – I fielded a call from Andrew Gilligan, wishing to view the marriage register. Tarry had claimed on his application to be a South London councillor hat he lived in that borough. The worst kept secret in Labour was that he was living in Brighton. AG wanted to know which address was in the register.

      It was really above my pay grade to divulge that, and referred him to the then Rector, but we did have an interesting chat re. the DT, and the cancellation of Disqus, leading to this site.

      Needless to say, I dug out the register as a matter of curiosity. His address was listed with, er, a BN postcode.

      Sadly, AG's investigation came to nought, although he did send a "runner" to collecta copy of the certificate, which could be obtained for a statutory fee.

    3. Not without constitutional reform. The problem is one bunch of wasters win a popularity contest of who can spend other people's money faster.

      Both sides then change sides and the farce continues again. The fundamental problem is that once elected the public have no control over the elected idiots and said idiots wreck the economy, leave the country another few trillion indebted, expand the state to the sky and back, ruin services and everything gets worse except waste and public sector salaries.

      Universal franchise needs to go and direct democracy, referism and recall instated. That way it doesn't matter who is in office. Milioaf would simply be told no, the budget refused. The public – those with a vote – would simply be able to stop government doing anything we didn't want them to – locally or nationally. If government pressed ahead we send that person the bill – personally and then reversed the policy and sack the minister. We could refuse any tax hike and demand tax cuts, making the state cut waste rather than services.

      1. Doesn’t Switzerland have a system of referenda? If we could bring in something along those lines that would at least be more democratic.

      1. It wouldn't surprise me if the Tories were actually voted back in, if, they accepted that clown Johnson back as leader. The average voter seems to be totally clueless as to the realities of politicians' abilities of lying and breaking promises.

        1. If Johnson ever back in Parliament, and especially as either LoHMO or nightmare Tory leader, that will finally finally be the very last straw for me. The photo of him in his Downing Street office with Azov brigade will be plastered everywhere. Today’s CP just dopey enough to do it. Luckily the missus never go for it.

    1. Well done.
      Wordle 1,190 5/6

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

  109. City in war-torn Sudan is safer than London, Bishop of Leeds says after recent visit
    https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/politics/city-in-war-torn-sudan-is-safer-than-london-bishop-of-leeds-says-after-recent-visit-4781731
    The Rt Rev Nick Baines, made the remark as he encouraged the newly-appointed UK special representative for Sudan to visit Port Sudan.
    The city on the Red Sea serves as the seat of the internationally recognised, military-backed government.
    Sudan descended into conflict in April 2023 when tensions between the military and a powerful paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces, exploded into open warfare.

    Had work in Sudan some 13-15 years ago, including Port Sudan. Liked the place, but there's a lot of fighting now, and it makes me very sad.

    1. Us Brits used to look at places like Cape Town and Caracas with disdain as horrible, nasty places filled with vicious murderers – not a day would pass without a rape, murder, assault.

      Now the same has come to every city in the UK because the state has brought the same people causing the problems there, here.

      1. True. In one of W E Johns' books, Biggles Flies West, the trio are involved in a fracas on the street. Biggles retorts, to the youngest, who is concerned, "This is London, not Port Said!" (and he calls a policeman straight away). Looking at London these days I think it would be more appropriate to say "this is Port Said, not London" and you'd never see a policeman anyway unless there was an "extreme right wing" protester to be arrested. The past is a foreign country; they did things differently there. Now ours has become a foreign country and the same applies.

        1. Two weeks ago I visited the country I left 13 years before and I uttered the words "The past is a foreign country" when I noticed the deplorable deterioration that was vividly apparent everywhere I looked.

          1. You are fortunate in that you only had to visit. I live here permanently and I despair at what's happening to it.

      2. 393208+ up ticks,

        Evening W,

        Over three decades they could not have done it without the peoples help and consent, via the polling stations.

      3. It still looks like you're 30 odd times more likely to be murdered in Cape Town than London, if the figures are to be trusted.

        https://www.capetownetc.com/news/crime-statistics-show-murders/#:~:text=Murders%20in%20the%20Western%20Cape%20are%20up%208.6%25,%2878%25%29%20occurring%20in%20the%20City%20of%20Cape%20Town.

        https://www.statista.com/statistics/862984/murders-in-london/#:~:text=There%20were%20116%20homicides%20recorded%20by%20the%20police,fewest%20occurring%20in%202016%2F17%2C%20when%20there%20were%20107.

  111. Me too, James. It's because they grossly overpay the mediocrities and the failures with other people's money. I don't know why "they" do this, but they do.

          1. I can see that, but you did say "sideways". We have discussed the popularity of smart arses before.:-)))

          2. I did mention sideways because they couldn't promote them in the same place due to their incompetence. I know my place.

    2. Perhaps they ought to be made to pay out of their own pockets then? I myself can be quite extravagant with other people's money, but no one ever asks me if I'll handle the kitty, more's the pity.

      1. Do not have access (to OPM) myself. No doubt I am as venal and corruptible as the rest of 'em – hence I do avoid such opportunities.

        1. I do have access to OPM (I'm a parish councillor and we only have the precept, i e the council taxpayers' money, to spend). I am always mindful that it isn't MY money (I don't live in the parish) that I'm voting on spending. There are others, however, who like to spend freely.

          1. Or at least expressed primarily as the proclamation of the need for ‘social justice’, and all wokethink.

  113. Still waiting for politicians, esp government (lol) opposition (lol) to recognise and make statement. Action should follow.. (just kidding…)

  114. Coo!
    Whilst I was in the bath just now, a 2nd torrential downpour arrived accompanied by a rather close thunderclap.
    Downpour appears to have eased off somewhat and the thunder is now over Nottingham.

    1. No storms in West London. It’s been like summer here today but apparently it’s going to rain all day tomorrow.

      1. The rain it raineth on the just
        And on the unjust fella
        But it raineth most upon the just
        As the unjust has got the just's umbrella….

    2. It stopped raining this afternoon here on the Valencian coast. Parades for local fiestas until 9PM. Luckily the weather has held. They say it may rain early morning but tomorrow should be sunny.
      The forecast I published this morning proved to be an empty threat.

    1. Making bank, more like. Lammy's on the take and as bent as can be imagined. Why is the 'High chancellor' taking bungs?

  117. We need another election, now.
    Our national CO2 production has shot through the roof since Labour have been in.
    The textile industry cannot keep up with demand for all the finest fabrics.
    One pair or trousers for Angela equals a winters worth of energy for pensioners heating

    3. You are ten days early, King Stephen. Try again on October the First (Pinch and a Punch day).

    4. Dave McPhee (a fellow Cestrefeldian and brother of Tony McPhee, lead guitarist and singer of the 1970s British blues and rock band The Groundhogs) owned a successful record shop in Chesterfield which he named Some Kinda Mushroom after the lyrics in this song.

    1. Yes, Maggie, but we don't have proportional representation in our General Elections – not that I would like that to be the case. Just look at the shenanigans in the recent French General Elections.

  120. Ughh!

    "Murdoch family up bid for Rightmove to £5.9bn
    News Corp’s REA may have to increase offer for UK property giant to £7bn, analyst warns"

    1. Thunder and lightning, BoB? (And Good Night, btw.)

      PS – Sorry, BoB, I've only just come across your post about your bath time experience posted a couple of hours ago.

  122. Thunder and lightning, BoB? (And Good Night, btw.)

    PS – Sorry, BoB, I've only just come across your post about your bath time experience posted a couple of hours ago.

    2. Very slick performance. I had never heard of him before today. He certainly said what people want to hear. Very establishment CV though.

  124. Thanks. Tried the link, basically 'not allowed'. Will try to find another way. Isn't hatred of Jews the oldest hatred, goes back a long way. Not sure Netanyahu helping, reported a number of Israelis no longer support him, that's only online reports (including Americans wanting him to go).

    1. might have something to do with the two tier policing policy..
      Nah that one is a freebie.. on the house.

    1. Boris Johnson has probably contracted a venereal disease affecting his brain. Either that or the buffoon has become mad.

      Quite how this idiot ever ascended the geasyy pole to become Prime Minister remains a mystery. But then we have another moron in Keir Starmer now occupying that position.

    2. Is Johnson incapable of seeing what reaction his sabre-rattling could provoke? Advocating two actions that Putin has declared will cause escalation of the conflict is either down to madness or absolute malice without any thought for the millions of people who would be affected by an escalation, or maybe…

      "half a trillion dollars… or even a trillion."

      Is one hell of a gravy train for the major players to exploit.

  130. Floods in northern Nigeria have killed more than 80% of the animals in a large zoo housing wildlife from lions and crocodiles to buffalo and ostriches, the facility has said.

    “Some deadly animals have been washed away into our communities, like crocodiles and snakes,” the Sanda Kyarimi Park zoo added in a statement on the floods in the northern Borno state, urging residents to take precautions.

    Floods began when a dam overflowed after heavy rains, uprooting thousands of people.

    The disaster has affected other facilities in the state capital, Maiduguri, including a post office and a teaching hospital, said the office of the Nigerian president, Bola Tinubu, which told people to evacuate the worst-hit areas.

    “We are up to 20 living in this house, I stay here with my extended family members. We have nothing, we relocated to the school over three weeks ago to manage in, no bed, no mosquito net, no food, and no money. I’m a farmer and a fisherman, we currently have nothing to do. Look at the children, they are sick, with no money to take them to the hospital. We want the federal government to help us. We have experience flooding before but this year is too much.” Mr Suleiman Musa, one of the residents laments. October 3, 2022. Lokoja Nigeria.
    ‘I’ve never seen anything like it’: documenting Nigeria’s floods
    Read more
    “President Tinubu extends his heartfelt condolences to the government and people of the state, especially to the families that have lost their means of livelihood due to the disaster triggered by the overflow of the Alau Dam,” the statement said, saying humanitarian needs would be addressed.

    Floods in the north-east of Nigeria killed at least 49 people last month, while a flood in 2022 killed more than 600.

    Borno state, the birthplace of the Boko Haram jihadist organisation, also continues to grapple with a 15-year insurgency that has killed and displaced many.

    Explore more https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/sep/10/nigeria-floods-borno-alua-dam-maiduguri

  131. Goodnight, all. I'm about to wake Kadi up so he can go out and we can both go to bed. Early start in the morning; I'm giving the second reading, from James 3:13 …

  132. I've just discovered that we need to pay the DT another £30 per year if we want to do any of the puzzles. Well, they can foxtrot oscar. Contrary to paying them more, I will end my subscription.

    1. You might take a look at Pressreader. It needs an account at a public library but you can read a huge variety of national and foreign newspapers, the Daily Telegraph included. I don’t think you can do interactive things like puzzles but at least you can read it.

  133. PETER HITCHENS: Can it be that the Great Prosecutor Starmer is a colourless empty nobody unfit for the top?

    Is it possible that Sir Keir Starmer simply isn't up to the job the Labour Party tried so hard to get for him? Anyone who observes modern politics knows that many who now struggle to the top of the greasy pole are deeply unwonderful. I am always amused by journalists who boast of their conversations with 'ministers', as if such people are especially intelligent, informed or talented. Most of them are dullard careerists who hope for an easy route to wealth and status.

    How could Sir Keir, for instance, not have realised that his childlike readiness to accept shiny gifts was a danger? Honestly, free suits for him and free dresses for his wife? VIP seats at concerts and football matches? This would be a very cheap price to accept for your soul, if you thought you had one, as he doesn't. Perhaps the free glasses failed to improve his vision and made him unable to spot approaching disaster.

    1. Starmer and his bints are dead men (and women) walking. They apparently have no shame. Their actions in accepting lavish gifts and entertainments are beyond the pale.

      Many years ago when I worked in London as an Architect on major projects I was warned by our Senior Partner to be wary of accepting gifts from contractors.

      From memory I was allowed to accept a box of asparagus from a furniture maker and supplier (Gordon Russell) once based in Broadway in Worcestershire. I was allowed to accept a bottle of Cognac from Easton Stonemasonry on Portland and just a few other gifts at Xmas from other suppliers and manufacturers including a box of Swiss chocolates from a Swiss company who specialised in buried oil tanks (Bordari) but everything had to be cleared by the Senior Partner.

      The various gifts I received were modest and by comparison with these disgusting Labour politicians mere tokens of thanks for well mannered and productive associations.

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