Saturday 24 August: Politicians must think carefully about how assisted dying would work in practice

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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688 thoughts on “Saturday 24 August: Politicians must think carefully about how assisted dying would work in practice”

    2. The Conservative Party was in its death throes, Reform was not fully established – Labour would have won the election even if they had told the truth – so why did they lie so very blatantly?

  5. Starmer pledges UK support to Ukraine amid anniversary of independence. 24 August 2024.

    Starmer said: “My message to all Ukrainians, whether on the frontline or here in your second home in the UK, is crystal clear: we are with you today and always.

    “That is what I told President Zelensky when he sat at our cabinet table and where, on behalf of the British people, I outlined that it is not just the British government that’s behind Ukraine – it’s all of us.

    “We are with you for as long as it takes.”

    The Starmer Regime sends its best wishes. Why am I reminded of those communiques from China and the Soviet Union during the Cold War?

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/24/starmer-pledges-uk-support-to-ukraine-amid-anniversary-of-independence

    2. I outlined that it is not just the British government that’s behind Ukraine – it’s all of us.

      Starmer, you do not speak for me. I am sure that many people would prefer that the reported £3 Billion being spaffed annually on an unwinnable conflict in a country of which we know little – but the little we know isn't particularly nice – could be better spent at home. You know, on supporting pensioners with their heating costs?

      Where is the person with the backbone and military understanding of Air Chief Marshal Lord Dowding to educate the politicians of the stripe of Starmer that wasting resources on a lost cause is stupidity writ large? We are not in imminent danger of the Russians invading – that problem is currently happening from another direction – but with modern weapons they do not have to invade.

      THE LETTER THAT CHANGED THE COURSE OF HISTORY

      6th February 2018 Darren Hendley Articles, Battle of Britain

      On 16 May 1940 Air Chief Marshal Lord Dowding, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Fighter Command, wrote this famous letter to the Under Secretary of State at the Air Ministry requesting that a sufficient Home Defence fighter force be maintained in Britain and that until the minimum strength was reached not a single further fighter should be sent to France. Lord Dowding realised how controversial it was – he was effectively saying that the Allies were in great trouble with the fight in France and that if more squadrons were sent there they would just add to the wastage, and that the whole war could then be lost. He also realised that the letter would have to be passed to the highest level.

      The Letter That Changed History

      Emphasis is mine.

      Grandstanding on the World stage whilst one's Country is literally falling to pieces is very poor politics.

    3. Starmer is a fool. Ukraine has lost the war with Russia. Ukraine will likely capitulate completely before the US Presidential election in November.

      What a sorry mess Biden’s administration, supported by the EU and UK, has left stoking conflicts all over the world.

      I sometimes feel ashamed to be British and only trust that Russians see that most of us in the UK never voted for this Starmer shit show.

  7. Britain has become a nation of bystanders to crime. 24 August 2024.

    In London this week, within sight of New Scotland Yard, an off-duty volunteer police officer bravely intervened to apprehend a pickpocket on Westminster Bridge.

    He soon found himself set upon by a pack of thugs who punched, beat, kicked and bit him until he released his grip on the pickpocket. Despite being violently assaulted, nobody came to his aid.

    Aside from the risk of personal injury and the very real probability of your being arrested yourself, why would anyone assist the police who are the accomplices of the Political Elites in the suppression of Freedom of dissent?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/23/britain-has-become-a-nation-of-bystanders-to-crime/

    1. sod that..
      hero for fighting off knife-wielding jihadis during the terror attack said he's now been placed on an anti-terror watch list..

        1. Roy Larner of course
          English authorities placed the man who fended off terrorists during the 2017 attack on London Bridge on an anti-extremist watchlist out of concern over Islamophobia.

          Roy Larner, 49, was deemed a hero after he ran out of a pub to stop three Islamic terrorists after they rammed a van through a crowd of people on London Bridge in 2017, killing seven. Larner was stabbed several times while fighting the men off.
          https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/905808/uk-requires-hero-who-was-stabbed-on-london-bridge-in-2017-to-undergo-deradicalization-to-avoid-islamophobia/
          'Morning Anne

    3. When 60% of London is not British, this is what happens.

      I come across it all the time. Because none of the foreigners know how we behave – the whole “sorry” dance when you have done nothing wrong but it diffuses the situation- then when a situation happens, it doesn’t diffuse and just ratchets up.

    4. TBF, the writer makes those points.
      And the comments reinforce that in spades …… oooops, thah goes the front door.

    5. Isn't the whole point of justice under the new CHANGEd regime to keep pickpockets out of prison to make space for Far Right Extremists (i.e. you and me and Jeremy Corbyn)? These gangs were simply doing their duty to the Government, and no doubt we will be ordered to clap their bravery, especially if they tick the right Diversity, Equality, Inclusion and Pride boxes.

  8. Morning, all Y'all.
    Sunny – I assume all the water in the sky fell to earth yesterday.
    I fell asleep early last night before I could post this, but following on from the film of Auschwitz, both SWMBO and I accompanied our two lads on the Norwegian schools "White Bus" tours, where mid-teen go on a week long school tour of prison- and extermination camps in Europe. You can imagine, it's hard work, mentally-speaking, a new camp every day, new explanations as to the utter hideousness that one part of humanity brought upon another part.
    The bit that got me was, as seen in the film, the poor, broken shoes. These were the shoes not selected for recycling, but to me represented a person, they were his or her property, used daily. In the movie of the case of shoes, there's a small, blue, strappy ladies shoe whose owner was murdered horribly. A link to an individual, a person. It's very upsetting. I guess that makes me human.

        1. So what you are saying Paul is that Nostrils Dam us…..?

          Edit: I'll get my rain coat….

      2. Excellent! My garden needed it after a very hot and sunny week here in downtown Colchester.

    2. Possibly spending a week touring several camps is, in a manner of speaking, overkill.
      The two memories I particularly have of Auschwitz is the busloads of visitors chowing down on fast food – the stench of onions and grilled patties (bit ironic in the circumstances) hung over the entrance like a miasma.
      And it was one small item that really brought home the lies that persuaded the early arrivals to make the move.
      It was a small crumb brush, identical to the one we inherited from Auntie Agnes. It spoke of family meals after which the crumbs would be swept off the table cloth. It spoke of a mother who laid out such a meal and spent time and thought ensuring her family were well fed and minded their manners.
      After that brush was hurriedly packed in Mama's case, I doubt it was ever used to maintain such a civilised way of life.

  9. ”Three people have been killed and four more injured at a music festival in Germany. A police manhunt is now under way for the attacker who had targeted revellers at random at the three-day Festival of Diversity in Solingen near Düsseldorf last night. The exact number of casualties at the event is unknown, but police sources said the attacker had used a knife. The attack reportedly took place at around 9.45pm, local time in the city’s central square.
    AT least three people were killed and four injured at a music festival in Solingen, Germany.
    A police manhunt is now under way for an attacker who targeted revellers on Friday evening.
    The exact number of casualties is unknown, but police sources said that the attacker had used a knife.
    Bild, a German newspaper, said that festival goers had been stabbed at random and that the attacker had not been caught. It is understood to have taken place on the city’s central square, the Fronhof.
    The newspaper and another local news outlet reported that three people had died. The attack reportedly took place at around 9.45pm, local time.
    The three-day music festival, which began on Friday, featured a number of German pop bands, and was organised to celebrate the 650th anniversary of Solingen, a city in western Germany with 160,000 inhabitants.
    Tube and Berger, a pair of DJs who were set to perform at the festival on
    Friday, said their set had been cancelled because of the attack.
    “Beyond devastated,” they posted on X, formerly Twitter.
    “Our show in our beloved hometown #solingen got cancelled last minute. Several people got stabbed. Stay safe everyone!”
    The local Solinger Tageblatt newspaper reported that authorities told people to leave downtown Solingen.
    Approximately 80,000 people were expected to head to the city in the next three days to attend the festival.
    Police helicopters were seen hovering above the scene, as officers hunted for the attacker. Emergency services are on the scene treating injured people.
    North Rhine-Westphalia, where Solingen is located, is on high alert.
    Attendees first heard about the attack when festival organiser Philipp Muller said that emergency workers were fighting for the lives of nine people.
    The local newspaper’s report said that three people had died and four more were injured, but those figures have not been confirmed.
    Police are understood to be hunting for the attacker, and have not identified the incident as terror-related.
    The festival, which included live music, cabaret and acrobatics, has been cancelled after the incident.
    Local police said they were not able to comment on the unfolding situation.”

    1. The individuals might have been attacked at random.
      However, the event was definitely chosen deliberately.
      And yes, the police do have a description.
      It wasn’t a diversity festival, it was a celebration of the founding of the city.

    2. A police manhunt is now under way for an attacker who targeted revellers on Friday evening.

      Don't tell me. He was a white heterosexual Baptist Minister.

        1. don't let the faaaaaaaaaaar right take control the narrative, and stir up hate.
          He was a 'German'.. citizen, radicalised by social media like X. Elon Musk has blood on his hands.

    3. ‘Police… have not identified the incident as terror related’

      Use of the term ‘terror related’ has now become utterly meaningless apart from providing a political pretext for 2 tier sentencing.

  10. The individuals might have been attacked at random.
    However, the event was definitely chosen deliberately.
    And yes, the police do have a description.
    It wasn’t a diversity festival, it was a celebration of the founding of the city.

    1. Ah, I quote merely from the Terriblegraph. But it’s not called that for no reason!

    2. Has the celebration of the founding of the city been hijacked into a celebration of its diversity?

      2. The sad funeral of the third murdered Southport girl had the horses pulling the carriage in rainbow rugs and head dress. Really strange.

        1. One of the funerals was proposed to be a celebration of the little girl's life.

          Perhaps it was to brighten the proceedings rather than making a statement.

    3. Ironically, Solingen is famous for the manufacture of razors and knives. I have a sharp cutthroat razor (inherited) made in Solingen. It is a city not dissimilar to Sheffield in that respect.

    4. Ironically, Solingen is famous for the manufacture of razors and knives. I have a sharp cutthroat razor (inherited) made in Solingen. It is a city not dissimilar to Sheffield in that respect.

  12. Politicians must think carefully about how assisted dying would work in practice

    The politicians already appear to be doing everything in their power to assist in our demise.

    1. Especially trying to freeze the elderly this comming winter. Lets hope glow ball warming is as real as they appear to imagine.

  13. 392325+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Currently, as hostilities are set to continue and having witnessed
    the political overseers odious actions io date, I would advise leaving things just as they are, but then who listens to
    ex fruitcakes.

    Apart from assisted dying which is surely an issue that must be deeply debated I really do not know of another nation set on mass self annihilation as much as the United Kingdom, it surely has a major death wish via the polling stations these past 30 plus years,AND STILL AT IT.

    Saturday 24 August: Politicians must think carefully about how assisted dying would work in practice

    Saturday 24 August:
    Future politicians must think patriotically and hold no malice or thoughts of treachery towards the peoples THEY SERVE.

  14. Guten Tag.
    "Wir schaffen das".
    At least the Germans are honest enough to use the word "terror"..

    "A manhunt was under way in Germany after three people were stabbed to death at a diversity festival.

    Police also said eight people were injured – five severely – when a man began knifing revellers at random during the event in Solingen, west Germany.

    Police said the attacker was still at large and was believed to have been acting alone. His identity was not known."

    1. Morning Anne.
      Identity not known ???
      Really, so who exactly might they be looking for I wonder?

      2. Well, it is a man apparently, that narrows it down by half. A few more details might be helpful, I'm sure they will appear as a managed release in due course when the hoo haa dies down.

    2. honest enough to use the word "terror"..

      However, after.. 'the country has seen a series of knife attacks over the past 12 months'..they still seem to be Shocked. Shocked I tell you, Shocked.

      Philipp Müller, the festival organiser, said: 'People left the square in shock..
      Mayor Tim Kurzbach (SPD) "This evening we are all in shock..
      singer Suzan Köcher.. expression of shock on the singer's face..
      Police spokesperson Alexander Kresta said: Witnesses are in shock or can't speak at the moment.
      A local reporter described the scenes the party atmosphere turned to shock within minutes.
      State Premier Hendrik Wüst said north Rhine-Westphalia 'is united in shock and grief'..
      Interior Minister Herbert Reul visited the crime scene at 1.20am and said: 'Tonight we are all in Solingen in shock.
      German politician Serap Güler posted on social media: 'What happened in Solingen was shocking..

      hold hands, and don't look back in anger..

        1. The diversity loving Notting Hill residents have boarded up their houses and retreated to their Cotswold cottages.
          Apart from the poor sods trying to earn a living, who have merely boarded up their shops and hired skips for the back end of the week.
          The police are learning to rumba and paint their faces.

          1. They purrlice will be so attentive at Notting Hill, let’s hope the rest of London stays safe from possible and past problems.
            North London born and bred, I would be very wary to go near the place anymore.
            We went to Greenwich for a wonderful tall ships experience around ten years ago.
            I’ve never seen anything like it.
            That is, since we called into Djibouti on the way to Oz in 76.

    3. honest enough to use the word "terror"..

      However, after.. 'the country has seen a series of knife attacks over the past 12 months'..they still seem to be Shocked. Shocked I tell you, Shocked.

      Philipp Müller, the festival organiser, said: 'People left the square in shock..
      Mayor Tim Kurzbach (SPD) "This evening we are all in shock..
      singer Suzan Köcher.. expression of shock on the singer's face..
      Police spokesperson Alexander Kresta said: Witnesses are in shock or can't speak at the moment.
      A local reporter described the scenes the party atmosphere turned to shock within minutes.
      State Premier Hendrik Wüst said north Rhine-Westphalia 'is united in shock and grief'..
      Interior Minister Herbert Reul visited the crime scene at 1.20am and said: 'Tonight we are all in Solingen in shock.
      German politician Serap Güler posted on social media: 'What happened in Solingen was shocking..

      hold hands, and don't look back in anger..

    4. From the Telegraph coverage: "The perpetrator aimed specifically for the throats of his victims, the police added. They could not provide further details or a motive." [Italics added.]

      Just remind me – which religious text contains the following instructions? "Therefore, when ye meet the unbelievers , strike off their heads…", "I shall cast terror into the hearts of the unbelievers. Strike off their heads…"

      This gives a strong hint as to potential motive.

      1. Angus, the quote that you are looking for:

        Quran (47:3-4): "Those who disbelieve follow falsehood, while those who believe follow the truth from their Lord… So, when you meet those who disbelieve, smite at their necks till when you have killed and wounded many of them, then bind a bond firmly (i.e. capture the survivors)… If it had been Allah's Will, He Himself could certainly have punished them. But (He lets you fight), in order to test you, some with others. But those who are killed in the Way of Allah, He will never let their deeds be lost."

        Sulaiman certainly followed the instructions "……smite at their necks"

    5. From the Telegraph coverage: "The perpetrator aimed specifically for the throats of his victims, the police added. They could not provide further details or a motive." [Italics added.]

      Just remind me – which religious text contains the following instructions? "Therefore, when ye meet the unbelievers , strike off their heads…", "I shall cast terror into the hearts of the unbelievers. Strike off their heads…"

      This gives a strong hint as to potential motive.

  15. Morning all 🙂😊
    Wet and quite a lot of rain still to come on this grey day.
    I wonder what sort of target's will be set for 'assisted dying' ?
    Perhaps they might try this new ploy in Wastemonster especially the HOL And see how far the 'They' will get.
    In recent years I've already received a couple of letters from cheeky funeral arrangers. Who do the hell do they think they are, that they can suggest I should now book my departure with anyone ?
    And where do they get their information from ?
    My family will arrange this, so sod off.

  16. The money taken from pensioners for winter heating has been put to better use. It has been given to arms manufacturers to pay for the bombs and rockets needed to kill and maim Russian (spit) peasants and annoy Vladimir S'Putin. Any surplus will be diverted to Trade Union chiefs bank accounts to ensure that the necessary factories continue production during the coming year long general strike. If necessary National Service will be restarted to ensure there is enough cannon fodder replacements for the very. very few losses on the Russian front. Long live Chairman Starmer, long live the heroic BBC.
    https://scontent-lhr8-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/456778980_895688119271881_6049674633933108319_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_p526x296&_nc_cat=108&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=127cfc&_nc_ohc=mGKMF4xDkGMQ7kNvgFXugWl&_nc_ht=scontent-lhr8-1.xx&oh=00_AYDWi6XJK2STQ7LOueDlBgyVYkHeU7bXFPLJOtzqfK-BRQ&oe=66CF4E1E

    1. And all along I thought the extra money was going towards keeping executive pay competitive with what they can get in America.

  17. Good morning, chums, and welcome to Saturday's NoTTLe page (thanks, Geoff.) Only just made Wordle today.

    Wordle 1,162 6/6

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

  20. Currently no room in prisons, you'll be put to work cleaning the streets and collecting litter.

  21. You can bet your boots that Politicians 'expenses' will increase due to the extra cash filtered out of the economy.
    They need to stay warm of course.
    But not too warm of course we wouldn't want them to feel uncomfortable.

  22. yep. be prepared.
    or, reverse the nonsense.. Undo Merkel's/Tony Blair's Blairism.. Return to normal. Then you won't be shocked.

    1. He must have known what might happen when he had the 8 ft high brick wall built around his Buckinghamshire property.

      1. And disarmed the British public.
        I felt safer when guns were not restricted by hysterical laws.

  23. Good morning all,

    Cool and wet at McPhee Towers. Winds light and variable, 13-18℃ today.

    Problem in Germany where they certainly seem to have got their diversity.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bab8d5900dc21905e3ba4d7e0a341809d16c2dc1a75bb35006ab88f9274317a8.png
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/08/23/germany-festival-stabbing-solingen-latest-news-attack/

    Solution in Russia.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/549d7b3a98cf8c9eb5be52573f82674acd17817a4f8cd5aea36417f0d0222568.png
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/08/23/islamist-prisoners-hostages-russian-penal-colony-snipers/

      1. Surely Starmer cannot survive as PM for five years?

        But will his replacement just cave in on the immigration question or will he/she just refuse to accept that there is a difference between a phobia and a very justified genuine fear of an ideology which thinks it is acceptable to rape children and knife or behead people in the name of their god?

    3. Surely they would have been marksmen or sharpshooters. We all understand the word 'sniper', but it can be used in a derogatory sense.

  24. Good morning all,

    Cool and wet at McPhee Towers. Winds light and variable, 13-18℃ today.

    Problem in Germany where they certainly seem to have got their diversity.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bab8d5900dc21905e3ba4d7e0a341809d16c2dc1a75bb35006ab88f9274317a8.png
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/08/23/germany-festival-stabbing-solingen-latest-news-attack/

    Solution in Russia.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/549d7b3a98cf8c9eb5be52573f82674acd17817a4f8cd5aea36417f0d0222568.png
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/08/23/islamist-prisoners-hostages-russian-penal-colony-snipers/

  25. We should all take this 'assisted dying' nonsense very seriously. It could easily turn into a cull of 'useless mouths'.

    James Gatehouse, who many of you will have read in comments sections, has a delighful article on A Clockwork Orange over at Free Speech. Please read and leave a comment, it really does boost a writer.

    And if anyone here feels like writing an article, please submit it.

    freespeechbacklash.com

    2. Governmental decree creep:
      CCTV.
      Hate speech.
      Universal education.
      Health service.
      Equality acts.

  26. 'Morning All
    Start with Saturday Laffs
    http://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/16b9d6cd9e87c34ab8d5c01c957f01b8fbc55063c92b435d1104cf73ca3b29a3.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6cbf40690e687e7edbda1571dd0213b9a280d17114430ef8e0d82fe32d211b1f.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3f7a4ddcd2b08f90715bde4cc64faf6cd5ca1638ebf85a7d84f6ae9146aac8bb.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/202c6e5c0b8f9c283530cfebdc746d2557943aa52680639f34fbee34696ddded.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/911039537f0d9d81f645cb61dbe3635e91077b10797ecfeaa8276489cfc75e68.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/615b18e2a2d387de3f64a32f9453931187471bd86149291f123e91aefee03b83.jpg

    1. Bottom picture:
      I can promise you, you don't need to wait until you are 85 to say that.

  27. "Mr La-Di-Da Gunner Graham, you is no longer a poof; you is a ex-poof, a expired poof!"

    RIP John Clegg.

    1. That's sad news, Grizz. I remember IAHHM with much pleasure, watching at home with my parents over the years.
      As SWMBO just said, he must have been a good actor, as the characters he played are not memorable as him, but wre the character. Compare Hugh Grant, who could only play Hugh Grant.
      RIP John Clegg, and thanks, man.

      1. Indeed, Paul.

        Or Bill Nighy who does a remarkable impression of Bill Nighy in everything he appears in.

    2. He was married to actress Mavis Pugh who was 20 years older than him. The marriage last 47 years – until her death at 92. No children that I know of.

  28. 392325+ up ticks,

    Listen up,

    With winter oncoming it could be a life saver and not to be sneezed at,

    Three square a day and ALL energy bills paid, spend the winter months inside, and come out leaner & fitter.

    The one & only problem is trying to avoid early release and obtaining a patriotic proof certificate on doing the full sentence.

    https://x.com/righttowork77/status/1827237667576193272

    1. "There Are Only Two Sexes."

      I will now nip upstairs and pack an overnight bag.
      Or should I wait until October to get the full advantage of free heating?

      1. 392325+ up ticks,

        Afternoon Anne,
        Don’t leave it too late, disappointment is depressing.

  29. Correct me if I'm wrong (or simply naïve).

    Isn't an elected government put there (i.e. voted in) as representatives of the very people who elected them to do that particular job?

    Or are they simply cloak-and-dagger thieves who have more care and respect for insurgents and leaders of pariah states elsewhere?

    If the latter has become the case, surely there is ample evidence in their actions for the country to get rid of them with immediate effect.

    Or is my naïveté becoming so chronic that I require urgent medication?

    1. I was just discussing the same point with SWMBO, Grizz.
      Looks like at least three of us need medicating.

        1. You don't have to live there.

          I've heard that Mombasa is crying out for waitresses. :•)

    2. "representatives of the very people who elected them…". When it comes to the landslide Labour Government of 2024, I presume you mean the 20% of the electorate who elected them, rather than the 80% that didn't.

      Every Government that is not totally isolationist may have a foreign policy. It is what trade relies on, as well as international co-operation over things others may do that affect us.

      1. It really matters not who voted for who. The end result is that we have a government who are not acting in the best interests of the electorate.

        2. 392325+ up ticks,

          G,
          In the true factual blame game
          the political overseers triggered an internal war openly with the political demise of Mrs Thatcher 30 plus years before the voting majority realised what was happening.

          Maybe to late to spark ketchup time but NEVER to late to take out the odious political overseers.

        3. A withering critique on democracy.

          The same could be said for monarchy with similar powers – a good monarch, and a nation thrives; a bad one and it withers, along with its people. The remedy in the past was to behead a bad king and replace him with a Protector. However, if the Protector’s entourage turns bad, then maybe it’s time to restore the King?

          Yet it happened in 1660 in England and Scotland, and it happened as recently as 1975 in Spain. At the moment, I have every confidence in both King Charles and Prince of Wales William. The next three in line are unknown as yet, but they are shaping up well, all of them in their own way. I’d rate any of them over Starmer any day.

          The ones after, however, are moot. Oprah Winfrey feigned great offence over speculation over whom Prince Archie would take after. Ginger or sort of Black (although I always thought Meghan was more Mediterranean than African)? In truth, most likely he is closest to his grandfather Thomas Markle, and serve the Sussexes right!

    3. 392325+ up ticks,

      Morning G,

      The latter, and has been these past 30 plus years as we in the now defunct genuine UKIP tried to warn against year upon year to no avail.

      A most dangerous creature is the family tree voter.

    4. I too wonder if there is some kind of legal case which should be made against them. Misrepresentation, at the very least.

      1. They 'own' the law, judges, the ability to pass laws and enact them, and enforce them.
        Good luck with that course of action. There is only one course left…..

        1. Yes but what were the odds of incomers/anarchists pressuring our country to pay for historical behaviours? If the left can do this then I don’t see it as an impossibility that justice cannot be served on the present governments wrongs, at some point in the future. I think it a distinct possibility actually. Many of those who rioted (because of govt actions in allowing in undocumented immigrants) will be from disadvantaged backgrounds and then this govt bullied then and blighted their chances even more. Will they be targeted in jail? I can quite easily see some kind of tort action in the future. White privilege doesn’t just have to have non-white victims. CRT can work both ways.

    5. MPs hide behind Burke's notion of MPs being elected to "represent" the people, ie. the idea that MPs, having been elected, will exercise their judgement independently of the wishes of the people who elected them (but, according to Burke, still motivated by their best interests). As opposed to the constituents merely having delegated to their MP the ability to vote in order to give effect to their wishes.

      The fact that MPs do not act in the best interests or the wishes of a substantial proportion of their voters, nor do they even attempt to adhere to the promises made in their manifestos, IMO undermines any legitimacy they could claim, even under the guise of representation: as such they are not even legitimate on their own terms, but are simply perceived to be liars.

      The question is how does "the country…get rid of them with immediate effect" and what do we have in its place? The most "democratic" way would be the Swiss-type of direct democracy, but how viable is that, given the demography of our country? FPTP has shown its fundamental failings, and the blatant promising of one things in a manifesto and then doing something else when in power is evident.

      To me, that is the conundrum; I can see what is wrong, but I am not sure how it should be put right. One thing seems certain, something has to change…

    6. MPs hide behind Burke's notion of MPs being elected to "represent" the people, ie. the idea that MPs, having been elected, will exercise their judgement independently of the wishes of the people who elected them (but, according to Burke, still motivated by their best interests). As opposed to the constituents merely having delegated to their MP the ability to vote in order to give effect to their wishes.

      The fact that MPs do not act in the best interests or the wishes of a substantial proportion of their voters, nor do they even attempt to adhere to the promises made in their manifestos, IMO undermines any legitimacy they could claim, even under the guise of representation: as such they are not even legitimate on their own terms, but are simply perceived to be liars.

      The question is how does "the country…get rid of them with immediate effect" and what do we have in its place? The most "democratic" way would be the Swiss-type of direct democracy, but how viable is that, given the demography of our country? FPTP has shown its fundamental failings, and the blatant promising of one things in a manifesto and then doing something else when in power is evident.

      To me, that is the conundrum; I can see what is wrong, but I am not sure how it should be put right. One thing seems certain, something has to change…

    7. Your second paragraph is bang on the money, if a revolution isn't on the horizon, I'm gonna have gastrointestinal problems with the consumption of my titfer.

  31. I'd be very interested to hear the views of any NoTTLers who are former police officers (!!):

    "Detective Sergeant Matthew Parker told his employers he needed to bring his dog Koda to work to help him with his autism and various other mental health conditions.

    However, when he arrived at work with the pet he was promptly turned away and told to return without it, an employment tribunal heard.

    DS Parker has worked for the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary since 2004 but is now hoping to take them to court for disability discrimination, claiming three other officers had been allowed to bring their assistance dogs to work.

    The tribunal heard the long-serving officer suffers from autism, ADHD, PTSD, depression and anxiety."

    What goes through the mind of anyone recruiting police to select someone with all these mental disorders? Just asking…

        1. No I haven't seen them. A lovely photo – thank you.

          Willliam Shawcross, whose wife owns the Hotel Tresanton in St Mawes, owns a beautiful 8 metre – Pinuccia and hotel guests are taken for sails around the bays.

          William's father used to own the lovely William Fife 12 metre Vanity V which they took to St Mawes each summer and lived aboard her. They later replaced her with another Fife boat, Eilean, which was even grander!

          My parents used to race Sunbeams which were traditional wooden racing boats

          Here is a picture of Pinuccia and a picture of Sunbeams racing

          https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8507f0eab05afc847da45f6d00e6273775ecbd9b1c3445efd7cbaed3ac790016.png

          https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c16582fde6799810f90342c8d964f6efd29d1455a7bab23f6b908beecf1da429.png

          2. The Sunbeam is a one-design racing keelboat designed by Alfred Westmacott in 1922. The first examples appeared at Hamble River Sailing Club in 1923.

            Very much the same era as the Garelochs which look like small Dragons.

            Westmacott designed three very popular boats:

            The Sunbeam with V on the mainsail
            The West Solent One Design with W on the mainsail
            And the X class – with X on the sail!

            There are two fleets of Sunbeams still racing today, the Solent Sunbeams and the Falmouth Sunbeams. There is still a large class of X boats based in Lymington and Cowes.

            My parents' first cruising boat, Atahualpa, which they bought in 1958, was built in 1910 and had very similar lines to the West Solent OD. All these designs had spoon bows and long counter sterns – though the X class boat had a stubby counter.

            https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/cef763192f1815e8246054882a2092bd0747a964f23605d515e67b4100ffa522.png
            I'll find a copy of a photo of Atahualpa and make a digital copy for my computer.

        2. I have found them now by looking through yesterday's posts.

          Thank you very much – some really lovely photos.

    2. I'm not ex-police as you know, but is it possible that he acquired the conditions as a result of his job, rather than being recruited with them?

        2. There are plenty of people with autism who hold down jobs perfectly capably. It's a question of degree (pun unintended), as are so many conditions.

          2. That is true Sos but, I doubt that it had failed to manifest by the time he was interested in becoming a policeman. And, by the way, I should have been more precise in that some children become autistic due to illness, apparently , but that happens in the first few months of life and is very uncommon.

    3. I believe they are necessary qualifications for employment in the public sector nowadays – that and LGBT and inherent diversity.

    4. As I have said before, many times, Billy; the entire recruitment policy for the British police altered, irrevocably and detrimentally, when the graduate-entry scheme was instigated. Since that appalling day, every reject social-studies (or 'media studies') graduate saw an opening for a vocation and they were eagerly snapped up by the buffoons in charge.

      Put idiots in charge (of anything) and they will recruit like-minds.

      1. It need not have been a disaster. The whole ethos (?) of the constabulary is that almost everyone started as a Constable (probationary) and was gradually promoted according to merit. However, by the 1970s other careers were offering larger financial incentives and faster promotion so the PTB had to look at a way to attract future leadership material. Around that time, a bunch of organised criminals had brought acts of violence to the UK mainland; the Armed Forces could fight back, but bobbies were (mostly) unarmed and vulnerable. Government was anxious. The Empire had evaporated and the ex-Army pool of recruits was shrinking; why not try a university entry scheme which was already in operation for the Army, with its short term commissions?
        It's easy to see where the concept went wrong, late on any Saturday night; some situations demand brawn and experience, rather than an ability to write a carefully phrased report.

        1. It need not have been a disaster, but it was! Probably the best Chief Constable in British history was Captain Sir Percy Sillitoe KBE, who started his command at my old station, in Chesterfield, and who then went on to smash the razor gangs of Sheffield and Glasgow before finishing his illustrious career as Director-General of MI5.

          Sillitoe wrote in his autobiography (Cloak Without Dagger, 1955) his own words of advice that he offered a century ago:

          It does not seem to me essential that a police constable should be a man of more than average intelligence or that he is necessarily going to be a better policeman if his standard of education is higher than the next man’s. Indeed, I once argued with some passion on this point with Lord Trenchard. Trenchard was called upon by Ramsey MacDonald to deal with corruption in the Metropolitan Police Force and enhance its prestige in the early 1930s, after the case of the notorious Mrs Meyrick and her illegal night clubs. It was his opinion that if university graduates could be induced to join the police force, improved standards of police conduct would automatically result. As an outcome of his belief the Hendon Police College was set up to be a staff college where university and public-school men — together with a small number of special entries of a higher standard of education — would be trained for three years to become an “officer” class in the police. These young men were to leave the college with the rank of Station Sub-Inspector. My view was — and still is — that the police force needs not exceptionally high standards of education, but very great integrity and strength of character, combined with the wisdom which comes to some — though not all — men when they have a wide and varied practical experience of human nature. To me it seemed absurd that these young men should be sent out as the superiors of Superintendents twice their age who often had a great fund of real knowledge acquired through their years of service, and who were now, as a result of this scheme, debarred from any chance of promotion beyond that rank.

          What a world of difference there has been between the proper policing that existed in the 1920s and 1930s to what passes for public service today. All due to the idiots who are now in power in the British police.

      2. And there are plenty of them in the queue.

        Apparently Uncle Bill was seen in his garden today, directing the rain clouds across the North Sea towards Scandinavia. You and Obs .might need to 'have a word'. 🤔😉🤗😊

    6. Good morning Mr T and everyone.
      Scenario: DS Parker separated from his wife and had no dog minder; dog chews soft furnishings in rented accomodation. A colleague suggested bringing the animal to work, but it turns out to be a menace and causes mayhem in the office. Angry words.

      1. He must have been autistic then. If the other “conditions” developed because of work, then, as I said earlier, he should have been discharged on medical grounds.

        Do YOU want police going about who are mad?

        3. A son is a Consulting Engineer. Projects vary over time – new plant + refurbishing plant & equipment. He has 2 people who are autistic – exceptionally bright but limited in many areas. They have a fantastic Maths & Computing abilities and are given work that suits their skills.

          The Police would benefit hugely from employing people with their abilities – their dedication, insight and problem solving. My knowledge of working with Police IT staff is limited (20-30 years ago) but then again the Police staff's ability was also limited.

          1. My cleaner has OCD. I have to tell her when to stop but i find it a great attribute in that job.

    9. I use to play golf a senior police officer. Early to mid nineties, he took early retirement from his position because of certain 'unesecary changes' happening within the force. Without his knowledge or permission a memo was sent around his department saying that his fellow officers were no longer allowed to call the desk sergeant Chalkie although his name was White. But because he was a black officer.
      It seems that this seeping of tradional values including an innocent sense of humour has like many other forms of British common sense is being wiped out.
      He should have employed a pet minder/dog walker. We are led to believe there are plenty of people looking for work.

      1. Folk were often called by a nickname selected because they weren't. Such as the black sergeant called Chalkie because he wasn't (white). and Lofty 'cos they are short, and so on.
        Bah!

        1. Apparently surnames like King and Duke were mediaeval jokes, suggesting a peasant with delusions of grandeur.

        2. My neighbour spent his 30 year naval career being called Shirley. Even by senior officers. Last name Crabtree.
          After retiring from service and going to work for BAE he said when he often bumped into old oppo's confusion reigned in the office when they quite naturally addressed him as Shirley.

          I expect people in the office would be too afraid to ask why, now.

  32. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13775535/Hunt-German-knifeman-woman-two-men-stabbed-death-diversity-festival.html

    Hunt for German festival knifeman: Woman and two men are stabbed to death with five more seriously wounded in 'brutal and senseless' attacks on random passers-by

    And the final part of the article reads:

    The country has seen a series of knife attacks over the past 12 months.

    A police officer was killed and five people were wounded in a knife attack at a far-right rally in the city of Mannheim in late May.

      1. There appears to be a possibility that it was originally for celebrating the town rather than diversity. It’s been hijacked.

    3. 'A police officer was killed and five people were wounded in a knife attack at a far-right rally in the city of Mannheim in late May

      Leading people to believe the assailant was far right. Was he?

    1. I don't know, but it was odd that the only example of knife attacks given was this one

    2. From Wiki:

      The main suspect in the stabbing was identified as a 25-year-old Afghan refugee named Sulaiman Ataee.

  34. 392325+ up ticks,

    Gerard Batten
    @gjb2021

    ·
    1h

    Back in 2018 when I was UKIP Leader Mr Goodwin came to interview me for a magazine article. All I asked was that he was fair in his assessment.

    I discussed my views & policy ideas on immigration & Islam. Which are now the common currency of debate.

    In his article Mr Goodwin accused me of ‘taking UKIP’ to the ‘far right’ & praised Farage, who at the time didn’t want to confront the problems with Islam. It was part of the media campaign to smear me & UKIP & make sure we lost the 2019 Euro election – & it worked.

    In my opinion Mr Goodwin is part of the managed opposition headed up by Farage. The Establishment knows it cannot totally suppress public outrage at the Islamisation of Britain so they have to steer & manipulate it.

    Don’t trust Mr Goodwin.

    1. 392325+ up ticks,

      O2O,
      From when farage was UKIP leader he was on reflection, first and foremost, a tory (ino) party coxswain, IMO.

  35. Sigh…….
    German police are asking the public for help in catching the murderer … but won’t say what he looks like … and if you speculate what he looks like you could go to jail.

    This is where we are…………
    Meanwhile
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bb5e15da1c65df9a08dcf90683d61a708b7f3d885d91eafbf5439e836e940ab0.gif
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f391fddc1314ffdc4c753aaaefa5312b6111a0207893bde044ee51d2eb870cc0.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a2cd5471b7696b09f103f375586ef7c1a7ac6a7b70ac1432a49a0a56729f5518.gif
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b880cb59139a5147647bc7ce64b1622f675fbcffebc3eff33d712fcfe92f3547.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c6fd20065610df31e96b843f30663e51cca204f34337ef563772234fdbef3873.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/323367cd91204688ecbb6994c27a1d9e3a59c10ec0c6fc9d0b2a166bfec6958e.jpg

    1. If it is now not acceptable to say what ethnicity a suspect is when the public is asked to help catch him then what about stating his/her/its sex or gender or age?

      In future should we expect the Police to issue a statement saying simply:

      We appeal to the public to keep their eyes open and help us find a person suspected of murder.

      This may not help find the murderer but at least the Police will not be guilty of racism, sexism or ageism.

    2. As Usual RR spot on.
      Especially number two.
      Not the flowers but…….Where have all the hooman riaghts loryars gone ?

  36. Labour is one step away from turning Britain into France
    European labour protections combined with Soviet productivity is the fate that awaits us

    Annabel Denham

    From the article

    Responding to official figures showing the Government had borrowed almost £5bn more than forecast in the first four months of the financial year, the chief secretary to the Treasury said the Government will “have to consider some tax measures at the Budget… whilst honouring that promise to the public not to increase income tax, employee National Insurance or VAT”.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/labour-one-step-away-turning-britain-france/

    The government has already shown that it has no qualms about breaking any of its promises so we can expect increases in income tax, employee National Insurance and VAT very soon.

    1. C'mon and cough up your 'fair share' you sleazy non-dom tax exile, Rastus, otherwise we'll take out a 2nd mortgage on Caroline.

  37. Watch: Frustrated Rory McIlroy throws club into lake at BMW Championship
    World No 3 lost his cool before the ignominy of having to pick his three-wood out of the water on the 17th hole
     https://www.telegraph.co.uk/golf/2024/08/23/rory-mcilroy-bmw-championship-play-offs-three-wood-pga/

    BTL

    Poor chap. He probably cannot help being a petulant little twerp. He was born like that – it is not his fault. We must sympathise or emphasise – we should not criticise.

    2. His putting has always let him down.
      Perhaps he threw the wrong club away.
      I was playing in Northampton a few years ago and we saw a guy throw his whole bag in a lake.
      Working in St Albans years ago a guy pulled up in his car opened the boot and dumped his bag and clubs into the skip.
      A few hours later he came back but someone had already taken his set of clubs.
      The trouble with golf is it looks so easy. Until you try it. Unless of course you have the natrual ability to be a golfer.

    3. If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
      And treat those two impostors just the same . . .

      If you can't don't take up golf.

    4. It's a shame that someone with such a sublime talent has such a piss-poor temperament; one that has routinely stopped him winning any further major tournaments.

      Didn't George Best and Alex Higgins both come from Ulster?

    5. Scheffler also had quite a breakdown yesterday but resrptricted himself to quite a few choice words that one should not expect to hear on US TV.

      It must be the pressure of making a few more million dollars.

      One of our golf club members launched his three wood into a tree last year. He claims that it was accidental but it was certainly lodged a long way up in the branches for such an error. It took a long ladder and a fearless kid from the pro sho to retrieve the weapon.

  41. Nasturtiums should be kept guarded by a trusted florist who will only release them to be cast at government approved targets.

    1. Mine are running all over the path, having escaped from the confines of their flower beds! Help! What do I do??

      2. Sue , re Nasturtiums..

        My earliest childhood memory of grandparents , and a glorious bank of Nasturtiums growing up the wall and everywhere on the garden shed / Anderson shelter .. and Grandpa picking the seeds off the flowers to make Tartare sauce .. Capers … are capers actually the same fleshy seeds ?

        If you nibble a Nasturtium flower/ seed it has a fresh delicious flavour !

        1. I love the way they grow but absolutely hate the smell! And they’re so fleshy! A bit triffid-like! My Mum said they were capers but I’ve never tried the flowers! Seen them tossed about on ‘posh’ salads!

  44. Morning to all. I didn't realize that Monday is a bank holiday.
    Weather today in England's sunniest county, Rain, drizzle, Wet, damp, with intermittent periods of dank.

    1. From deep in the Spanish interior
      Rainfall Warning State Meteorological Agency 27°C
      Saturday 10:54 Sunny
      High 37°C

          4. I call that very rude and I’m contacting HR right now! Inappropriate messages!

          5. I am now doubly insulted because he never bought me lunch or even batted an eyelid at me. Am now going to sulk for the rest of the morning.

          7. I would love to be back in the Highlands soonest but have to go to the Borders to see my hussys of daughters before too long – they are being disrespectful to their step-father whom I like immensely. Perhaps later. {:^))

    2. Good morning ..

      The BBC represent Sodom and Gomorrah.. They have filled our screens with filth and debauchery .

      They have ruined young minds , saddened older minds and groomed the public to accept the lowest level of human muck.

        1. Luckily, Maggie doesn't live in Dead Lane.
          TBF to Mary Whitehouse, she was an art and sex education teacher.
          She could shoot from the hip, but when she wasn't reacting emotionally, she was applying logic to the situation as it developed. Looking round us, who is to say she was wrong?

      1. Don't you start encouraging coarse misbehaviour. As long as he doesn't display his baton in public, a modicum of decorum should be maintained.

      2. GP was at Edward VI Grammar School with Simon Heffer and they have remained friends: yes, it is hard to imagine.
        When GP behaves 'normally' he is an interesting and learned chap.

    6. I suspect he is serenading Russell T Davies (Dr Who writer responsible for recent changes to gender and ethnicity). His husband died of AIDS many years ago and he hasn't stopped weeping since.

      1. Nice!
        I always recall a great barbie we had as students, where we got a barrel of OBB, allowed it to rest in the garden for 3 days, draped in wet cloths, before tapping it and enjoying a stupendous brew.
        Ah, memories… and top ale OBB.

      2. Always a favourite. Sam Smith's did, for a while, make an even tastier best bitter called Museum Ale. I fondly recall quaffing a pint or two at The Wig and Mitre in Lincoln.

    9. Luckily it performed on August 2nd so thankfully I missed it.

      There is always the Dr Who Prom on Monday to satisfy your pop music needs.

  49. Inside Sunak’s disastrous gamble to call the election early
    In an extract from his new book, The Telegraph’s political editor reveals how the former PM defied his campaign manager and paid the price

    Ben Riley-Smith
    24 August 2024 • 6:00am https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/08/24/rishi-sunak-book-conservative-early-election-gamble/

    Skip the DT waffle ..this comment says it all.

    Chris Sheppard
    1 hr ago
    The reality is that the Tories acted as though they didn’t recognise either the power of Whitehall over Governance decisions, such as control of borders and certainly also didn’t appear to recognise the gross incompetence and excessive costs linked to the archaic State Sector organisations.

    Conversely they did recognise both but had no idea how to deal with them. Boris commissioned Lord Maude to report on Whitehall and in his report last November he described the organisation as “incomprehensible”. Dominic Cummings also recognised the problem but wasn’t given the support to drive the necessary changes.
    Our democratic freedoms and Parliament itself are now constrained and controlled by Civil Servants, the new autocrats of the 21st century. The EU are a step further than us, with the unelected Commission and its President formally in control of Governance.

    We now have the State Sector Unions dictating to the Labour Government huge pay increases, which are now a forerunner to even more demands linked to strikes if not conceded. Inflation will be back into double figures by the end of next year, with taxes and debts through the roof. The extra unfunded pension liabilities for future generations will be like a noose around their necks.

    We need a Party who will commit to reestablishing Parliamentary control and also dismantling the archaic bureaucracies, which will generate 30% savings in State Sector expenditure, with similar levels of improvement in quality of governance and services. This is not pie in the sky dreams but has now been applied in various countries and has been documented in books.

    Alan Kelly
    1 hr ago
    I'm not sure why it is so difficult for the Tory party – at every level – to understand that it was their failure on one issue in particular that finished them in 2024.
    Mass Immigration.
    If they had delivered on that – and delivering on that was merely a matter of will – turning off a tap almost and little else – every other difficulty could have been overcome – since the Tories would have given themselves the time to overcome them.
    This is because a policy gulf between them and Labour would have been established which Labour – rather than the Tories – would have had to cross.
    This is not something Labour could have achieved in one or even two election cycles.
    That this was likely to be true was made clear to the Tories in the Brexit referendum campaign – read Tim Shipman's book "All Out War – and backed up by several other national polls (General Elections and Euro-elections) during 2014 – 2019.
    The 2019 majority which confirmed Brexit should have been a green light for the right policy but the London Salon Tories had their way – betrayed their party, their electorate (and the nation) – so that Labour are now in power with a landslide victory earned by nothing but an electorate's wish for Government by anything that isn't "Conservative". edited

    Comment by Thomas Tripp.

    TT

    Thomas Tripp
    20 min ago
    Sunak had a good work ethic, but behind all that I tended to think that he was in part trying to impress his parents and father in law – and thinking about his own future away from politics. That said, a politician prepared to make hard decisions would have seen the rise of Reform and done a deal with them.

    1. IMO what is missing from the BTLs is the fact that the UK and most of the EU states, the USA, Canada and others are all taking the same path i.e. mass Third World immigration – unwanted by most of the populaces – a deep set and undemocratic administrative state running the show, collapsing economies etc. This pattern of collapse is not coincidental, it has been planned and executed by a cabal that has set itself above governments; governments that have been infiltrated by the cabal's selected leaders who then follow the laid down narrative.

    2. Sunak is a decent enough chap, but … he is an unimaginative bean counter.
      He appears to have no empathy with flawed human beings (i.e. the rest of us) and just cannot fathom out their quirks and deviations from the overtly logical.

    3. If Reform UK had allowed any deal with the Tories of the last 14 years they would have been abandoned by their members.

    1. Just teasing Belle. I wouldn't shed a single tear if the Beeb and all its works wokes was to be scrapped tomorrow….

  51. Those following the extremely important Tickle vs Giggle case in Australia will know it's been a huge win for the pill-poppin commie-woo-woo perverts, as they won the landmark case. This will have repercussions for the other common law Anglophile countries. The landmark decision sets up a precedent to protect transgender people internationally..

    what constitutes a woman under Australian law, and whether someone’s sex can be changed.The decision provides much needed clarity around the meaning of “sex”, a word not defined in the Sex Discrimination Act. Importantly, Justice Bromwich stated that “in its contemporary ordinary meaning, sex is changeable”. The court unequivocally rejected the argument that sex is immutable: that the sex that was presumed and assigned to a person at birth is the sex someone will always be. Justice Bromwich stated:
    They argued this on the basis that the Commonwealth has no power under the Australian Constitution to make laws relating to anti-discrimination.

    This argument was roundly rejected by Justice Bromwich. He found the foreign affairs power in the Constitution authorises the government to enact laws giving effect to Australia’s international treaty obligations.

    There you have it.. Starmer will be all over this. "UKs international treaty obligations."
    sex is changeable..

    disagree with this and you face jail time.

      1. he's right.. the implications are huge.
        eg. Angry woman-hating Trans-Man with beard, voice like Barry White, biceps like Pop-eye, and testes the size of rugby balls.. demands access to wherever he pleases; girl's only.. changing, swimming baths, yoga, even online.. deny him and he will sue. And he will win and claim damages & an apology.

        1. I understand that a judge must follow the law and not judge by his own prejudices. But there has to be a point where a judge says, no I will not do it because it is an offense against truth and reality. Same with the cowards in our courts condemning people who protest online or off against the Islamification of our country. In both instances more is at stake than following the diktats of fashion. In my opinion, these judges are no better than the judges of the USSR or modern China in which justice has been abandoned for allegiance to evil ideologies bent on harming people. And, let us not forget the law is there for justice, a fact that most lawyers seem to have forgotten.

          5. must follow the Law.. It's not how common law works. It evolves through judgments like these.

            The original case in December 2022 forced the hand of the state to define "what a woman is".. particularly in relation to the Sex Discrimination Act.
            Giggle rightly pursued the case shining the spotlight on the absurdity of commie-woo-woo ideology when it interacts with "300 years of Francis Bacon's objective evidence based truth".

            In effect this ruling makes.. "Truth is a Feeling".

            Notice in Justice Robert Bromwich's reasoning he cites; protecting individuals such as Tickle, from “enormous” amount of online hate. And now "International Treaties". Bugger facts.. bugger evidence based truth.

            That is where we are heading.

          7. Nope. He is following common law. That's the whole point. He has been captured by the Leftie bollx and driving home a win for commie-woo-woo bollx. It will be their downfall.

            the Sex Discrimination Act was drafted in the last century to protect women against discrimination on the ground of marital status, pregnancy or breastfeeding in prescribed areas of activities, including: employment. education. provision of goods, services and/or facilities.

            Never in their wildest Trot Tony Blair dreams did they think they would have to define what a woman was. Even Blair & Obama know this is a dangerous overreach. This is why the BBC, Lefties constantly imply that man can breastfeed.. man can become preggers.. it's the most natural thing in the world. LOL.

          10. Changes to the Sex Discrimination Act in 2013 made it unlawful under federal law to discriminate against a person on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity or intersex status.

          11. Nope. He is following common law. That's the whole point. He has been captured by the Leftie bollx and driving home a win for commie-woo-woo bollx. It will be their downfall.

            the Sex Discrimination Act was drafted in the last century to protect women against discrimination on the ground of marital status, pregnancy or breastfeeding in prescribed areas of activities, including: employment. education. provision of goods, services and/or facilities.

            Never in their wildest Trot Tony Blair dreams did they think they would have to define what a woman was. Even Blair & Obama know this is a dangerous overreach. This is why the BBC, Lefties constantly imply that man can breastfeed.. man can become preggers.. it's the most natural thing in the world. LOL.

          13. must follow the Law.. It's not how common law works. It evolves through judgments like these.

            The original case in December 2022 forced the hand of the state to define "what a woman is".. particularly in relation to the Sex Discrimination Act.
            Giggle rightly pursued the case shining the spotlight on the absurdity of commie-woo-woo ideology when it interacts with "300 years of Francis Bacon's objective evidence based truth".

            In effect this ruling makes.. "Truth is a Feeling".

            Notice in Justice Robert Bromwich's reasoning he cites; protecting individuals such as Tickle, from “enormous” amount of online hate. And now "International Treaties". Bugger facts.. bugger evidence based truth.

            That is where we are heading.

      2. he's right.. the implications are huge.
        eg. Angry woman-hating Trans-Man with beard, voice like Barry White, biceps like Pop-eye, and testes the size of rugby balls.. demands access to wherever he pleases; girl's only.. changing, swimming baths, yoga, even online.. deny him and he will sue. And he will win and claim damages & an apology.

      3. Such a beautiful woman (the one on the right).

        The one on the left though. who does s/he think s/he is kidding?

        /SARC

    2. There is, fortunately, the High Court of Australia – it's the highest court in the country and can decide appeals from lower (including Federal) courts.

      I have always had a very high regard for that court. Years ago, it refused to follow a decision of the House of Lords (which was then the final appeal court for Australia.

      One lives – yet – in hopes of commonsense prevailing….

    4. There is a big backlash against an lgbtqwerty parade planned in Ottawa this weekend.
      No they are not against the alphabet mob, the objections are over the parade organizers going all Gazan in their condemnation of Israel.
      CBC being of like mind to BBC gave air time ot one of the parade organisers – objecters are just the powerful middle class CIS gendered minority, they do not represent the real people!

      Just think. Trudeau will not be able to dress up and cavourt with his favourite perverts today.

          2. You can watch him on You Tube because he records everything at Speakers Corner. His site is called ‘Jesus is Eternal’.

    4. He could have mentioned that Islamics captured young white children from Northern Europe took them to Alhambra, kept them in caves so the caliphate could use them for their pleasure. And fed them to their caged pet lions when they were finished with them.

  56. Yo and Good Day to you all, from a rainy C Del S

    I see there have been no posts for an hour, anything wrong?

    2. Won't happen until we have many governments thinking the same way.

      if one leader (even Trump) said this, every other leader of every country would try to earn brownie points by highlighting how harmful the move would be. Think of ths children!

      1. 392325+ up ticks,

        Afternoon R,
        People CAN (in theory change governments) via the polling stations, NOT in England though, the fear of the unknown outside the lab/lib/con coalition party has been inbred for generations.

        And if any thought was given for the childrens welfare, the mall would be festooned with blowing in the wind paedophiles.

    3. I believe it was Cursed Harmer who was the lead lawyer in getting them benefits under human rights legislation.

  58. 392325+ up ticks.

    Seemingly that is their catch of the day , they surround
    louise Armstrong and presumably marched her off to the nick, charge being I believe " playing a bum note.

    A point of disinterest is
    the pre nick constable is sprouting a wanna be beard needed to become a wanna be muslim one could very well assume.

    https://x.com/AgainBraine/status/1827302044287291619

  59. 392325+ up ticks.

    Seemingly that is their catch of the day , they surround
    louise Armstrong and presumably marched her off to the nick, charge being I believe " playing a bum note.

    A point of disinterest is
    the pre nick constable is sprouting a wanna be beard needed to become a wanna be muslim one could very well assume.

    https://x.com/AgainBraine/status/1827302044287291619

  60. Here we have it Lawfare at its best
    "A 45-year-old man has pleaded not guilty to an offence of stirring up racial hatred using images.

    It is alleged that Jamie Michael, of Penygraig, Rhondda Cynon Taf, posted a video of himself on Facebook entitled “this is what I believe” on 31 July.

    Newport Crown Court was told the video was “threatening, insulting or abusive, intending to stirring up racial hatred”

    When he was charged, the Crown Prosecution Service said it was in “relation to the public disorder”. A trial date has been set for 3 February 2025.

    Mr Michael, wearing a dark blue T-shirt, said “not guilty” when asked how he pleaded to the charge.

    There were shouts from the public gallery when the judge told him he would be remanded in custody until his trial date. A number of people left the public gallery."
    Rapists and Nonces walk free but hurty words mean no bail our so called justice system is utterly corrupted

    1. Yo Rik

      Makes you wonder how many Nottling Days we have left, before we all end up in clink

      2. some say 2TK's face veers slightly to the left.. volunteers required to smack it back into symmetry.

      3. 1. Return to handwritten notelets – or even (gasp) letters.
        2. Post the whole video; if it goes on for an hour or more, then a 'balance' will be achieved – no modern orator has Castro or Hitler's stamina to go on for 2 or 3 hours.
        3. Write your own stuff; using allusion and irony.

        For further details, consult any advisory manual published in the late Soviet Union.

      4. I hope the Free Speech Union is trawling through every piece of journalism it can find that denigrates the achievements of white Europeans over the last 300 years in building a civilisation so terrible that millions of non-Europeans wish to be part of it. The hatred of white people in these writings is clear and obvious.

        Perhaps Nottlanders have saved some of their own favourite examples.

      5. I hope the Free Speech Union is trawling through every piece of journalism it can find that denigrates the achievements of white Europeans over the last 300 years in building a civilisation so terrible that millions of non-Europeans wish to be part of it. The hatred of white people in these writings is clear and obvious.

        Perhaps Nottlanders have saved some of their own favourite examples.

      6. I hope the Free Speech Union is trawling through every piece of journalism it can find that denigrates the achievements of white Europeans over the last 300 years in building a civilisation so terrible that millions of non-Europeans wish to be part of it. The hatred of white people in these writings is clear and obvious.

        Perhaps Nottlanders have saved some of their own favourite examples.

      1. It’s an absolute f* ng disgrace and I make no apologies for my unladylike language. Sometimes needs must.

    5. A trial date has been set for 3 February 2025.
      probably wont make it.. Asian gangs and all that.

        2. Do you think it’s a bit odd that yesterdays story about the paedophile BBC car drivers seems to have just ‘disappeared’? Or is it just me…?

      1. 'Shaded' ex footballer who was employed as commentator on a sports programme. I had never heard of him either.

  62. Just a reminder folk, please read and comment on James Gatehouse's thought-provoking piece on A Clockwork Orange and the excersise of free will.

    freespeechbacklash.com

    1. Father of a boyfriend, decades ago, an English Master, had taught Burgess – said the brightest and most able of his pupils but also the most difficult.

  63. "That's the way to do it!" Said Mr Punch….

    Now, one European country has decided it also has had enough: Hungary suggested that it might – like Texas – start transporting migrants who show up at its border straight to Brussels, unless it can resolve a dispute with the European Union on penalties for its asylum policies, Bloomberg reported.

    The European Court of Justice has slapped a €200 million ($223 million) penalty, plus an extra €1 million daily fine, on the country for Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s non-compliance with the court’s earlier judgment on the protection of asylum seekers. Orban already promised retaliation in June for the ruling, one of several issues clouding the start of his stint in the rotating presidency of the EU in the second half of 2024.

    Negotiations with the European Commission will start in September, Gergely Gulyas, the minister in charge of the prime minister’s office, told reporters in Budapest Thursday. Should those talks fail, Hungary will start handing migrants “one-way tickets to Brussels,” Gulyas said.

    “We should find an agreement as soon as possible because we wouldn’t like to pay large amounts on a daily basis,” Gulyas said. “But if Brussels wants to take in migrants, we can help.”

        1. I may be less cynical than you, but he actually seems to love his country and his fellow countrymen!

          1. He does, that's why he could be made an offer he finds difficult to refuse – if it's good for them, it's good for him. Sorry about the cynicism….:-D must try harder….

        1. Talking to my sister yesterday. She’s lived in Greece for 50 years now and following the fires last week she said that the emergency services had been absolutely hopeless/headless chicken-like. On top of the endless stream of immigrants coming in from every island every day, the public services in a real mess, the dodgy fire insurance claims, and pretty much chaos in politics, she thought if she and her husband were younger, they would leave Greece. She’d said that to my younger nephew who lives there, and he replied that he and his wife Sofia are considering it. Sofia runs a very successful language school and Ian works for Hewlett-Packard! We are not alone!

          1. I feel attached to Dorset, siblings have lived in South Africa since 1967.

            Where we are feels safe , but probably things will change soon .

            Fires in Greece were terrifying , poor Greece , once a nest of cultural beauty and civilisation.

          2. Some fires in the Med turned out to arson: fires lit by environment zealots so that they could blame them on global warming.

  64. Just paid 710 quid car tax, for Disco

    AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

  65. Oh, I thought we already had a euthanasia system.
    It’s called removing the winter fuel payment.

    1. Not to mention withholding nutrition, overdosing on Midazolam and do not resuscitate notices. Yes, it exists but would be much worse if brought out into the open.

    1. Good for him! I hope he does really well! Wait for the moaning from the council and the DT nimbys!

  67. Where are the politicians who should be speaking out against this two tier justice system?

    They wonder why the public has no respect for any of them.
    If any of the current Tory party leadership contenders had an ounce of integrity they would be decrying what is happening, they don't so they aren't.

    Or perhaps they too have been cowed into believing anything they say may be taken down and used in evidence against them?

    1. No one "speaks out" about anything any more. Illegals; slammers; "riots"; not a dicky bird.

      I did spot that the fatuous Tugendhat is vigorously opposed to VAT on private school fees BUT refuses to say whether – if he was ever in charge – he would reverse it.

        1. Or, they agree. Just wear a different rosette to look different, but in reality are two cheeks of the same arse.

          1. Don’t forget that the House is in recess until 2nd September, I don’t believe “privilege” applies outside the House.

          2. I guess you are correct – as mentioned by Ndovu above. Forgot that you actually have to be inside the place…

        1. Imagine it were a different colour Govt. Lamestream media would be screaming for Parliament to be recalled.

    1. Or calamity, catastrophe, collapse, crash, debacle, defeat, emergency, failure, fiasco, flood, harm, hazard, holocaust, mishap, setback, tragedy, woe – and worse!

  69. A cut above the rest.
    Wordle 1,162 3/6

    ⬜⬜🟨⬜🟨
    ⬜🟨⬜🟨🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      1. Is the spelling correct? I got it in 4 but hesitated because surely there should be a repeated letter?

    1. She wasn't just blowing a horn but she was doing it with white lips – a serious criminal offence. She will be lucky is she sees her children again before they become adults and get arrested for having white children.

  73. We will find terrorist who tried to blow up synagogue, vows Macron
    Firefighters tackle blaze in La Grande-Motte as police hunt for suspect and find gas canister in nearby car

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/08/24/arson-attack-synagogue-la-grande-motte-france/

    He has not been caught yet and he has a gun. The German stabber may still be on the streets.

    Is fear Islam just a phobia or is it rational fear?

    Starmer is eager to get a legally binding definition of Islamophobia

    We shall soon be committing a criminal offence if we are afraid of anything!

    1. interestingly during the Spanish inquisition they used the nibbling of a chorizo sausage to test 'muzzies faking it as Christians'.. So i guess the Starmer equivalent would be to hold a knife to a rabbi and see if the accused islamophobe winches.. or gleefully grabs the knife and sticks it in the Rabbi's eye.

    2. interestingly during the Spanish inquisition they used the nibbling of a chorizo sausage to test 'muzzies faking it as Christians'.. So i guess the Starmer equivalent would be to hold a knife to a rabbi and see if the accused islamophobe winches.. or gleefully grabs the knife and sticks it in the Rabbi's eye.

    2. Because they are absolutely shit scared of slammers. Simple. Slammers must be appeased.

  75. Needle sharp rain / vertical now .. sporadic rain storms this morning , tropical, took Pip spaniel for a quick gallop earlier in a weather window, sun came out and it was steamy, wow , walk lasted 15minutes and then the heavens opened .

    Moh watching football on TV, Saints and Nott Forest.. patio door was open and down came the rain again , no thunder , just huge dark thunder clouds .

    Flock of starlings feeding in the garden chattering , then they all fluttered off into the hedge , 20 or more .

    I pity the happy campers this weekend, but more importantly , the farmers , they have so much more work to do.

  76. Not that keen on watching him – just interested to know what evidence there is of slammers being scared of him.,

    1. Well Bill, the evidence is in his videos. Muslims who don’t know him are told by other Muslims who have experience, not to debate him because he will beat them.

  77. Well, it has been raining since 5 am but not enough to refill the water butts. And the soil a few inches beneath the surface is dry as a bone. More rain to continue till 0 pm. Then no more for days.

    Still – picked the FIRST trombetti. Normally, we would have been having them since mid-July. Just shows what global boiling can do, eh?

    1. Monty Don has trombetti in his garden.
      Saw them last night when MB was getting his garden fix.

  78. The latest from Janet Doolally – she really has lost it.

    It is now absolutely imperative that Kamala Harris wins the US presidential election. This is essential for the survival of America’s sense of itself as a rational nation, as well as for its continued role in Nato and the free world which relies on it. But, paradoxically, the most immediate and necessary effect of her victory would be to cause the Republican Party to begin the post-Trump reconstruction which will be needed if it is to return to its proper role as a responsible opposition.

    That implosion of the Trump phenomenon and the consequent revival of the Republicans as a legitimate player in the constitutional dialogue which is the basis of democratic life in the United States may turn out to be the greatest achievement of a Harris administration. Because only unambiguous, definitive defeat can undermine the bizarre Trumpite delusion that he is somehow the anointed saviour of a nation whose founding principles he does not appear to appreciate or even understand.

    That cataclysmic event – which Trump himself now seems to be anticipating in his rambling, self-pitying public outpourings – will put an end to what will be seen by future generations as one of the ugliest aberrations in the nation’s history. (In his bitter desperation, Trump has now taken to referring to his predecessor in the White House as “Barack Hussein Obama”. What is this supposed to mean? That the ex-president is a secret Islamist?)

    So forget about the dangers that a Left-wing Harris administration is supposed to represent. If the fears prove realistic, it will become even more necessary for the Republicans to force themselves out of the Trump miasma and start engaging in serious political argument again.

    And they will do that, I promise you. The implementation of what the American Right sees as alarmingly “progressive” measures will bring about a resurgence of tough-minded, well-argued Republican critique – as opposed to Trump’s obnoxious bluster – much of it quite possibly from new players on the scene who are as yet unheard of. They will pull themselves together and regroup in good time for the midterm elections in two years, and then, if the Harris White House really has tried to trample over sacred economic freedoms and governmental principles, it will be blocked by a Republican-controlled Congress. But I am getting ahead of myself.

    At the moment, the anti-Harris rhetoric seems to be making two contradictory claims. One is that she has yet to make any substantive policy pronouncements. Her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention, it is noted, was lacking in any specific promises or detailed plans for her presidency. It consisted almost entirely of sentimental autobiography and vague gestures to both sides of contentious issues like the Israel-Palestine conflict. Therefore we must conclude that she is an empty vessel with no actual programme for government.

    Speaking as one who has listened to more presidential nominee speeches than I can count, I would say that this is pretty much par for the course. The orations may vary in their eloquence and their effectiveness at rousing inspiration – John Kennedy’s “the torch has been passed to a new generation…” has yet to be beaten – but they almost never commit the candidate to concrete objectives. And given the circumstances of Harris’s nomination, using her convention address to introduce herself and describe her personal background seems perfectly appropriate. Presenting herself as being prepared to listen to both sides of a deeply divisive subject like the war in the Middle East does not seem unreasonable either, given the diplomatic delicacy of that crisis.

    But then there are the domestic proposals which she appears to endorse. Surely these are outrageously Left-wing (or “communist” in Donald Trump’s assessment). The least credible of them, which addresses supposed profiteering (“price gouging”) on the part of retailers, seems to amount to price fixing, so that will never get off the ground. Market forces always win through in the United States for good reason – because everyone wants them to work.

    Then there are some suggestions which would only appear alarming to a peculiarly reactionary American audience: the right for employees to take medical and maternity leave is shocking only by its present absence. There is virtually no modern democracy which does not offer working people such rights.

    And what of her suggestion that “seniors” (pensioners) should get a better deal on the price of their prescription medications? Where else in the developed world would this be considered controversial? There are almost no other Western countries which would expect elderly people to pay the full market price for the medicines they need to sustain their lives. Note that Ms Harris is not even suggesting anything as radical (“communist” in Trump’s parlance) as having the federal government subsidise the purchase of such drugs. All that she proposes is that the state Medicare programme negotiate a better bargain with the pharmaceutical companies to bring the price of their products down – which is a perfectly sound market-based approach.

    At the heart of all this noise and fake controversy is something real: a fight for the most fundamental sense of what American politics is about and the beliefs on which it relies. America reinvents itself all the time by finding new ways to present its founding principles. Among those inextinguishable beliefs is the idea that everyone is entitled to self-determination. That is what this extraordinary Democratic convention meant by endlessly repeating its commitment to “hope”.

    This can be rather difficult for the sardonic British – who regard optimism as rather gauche – to understand, but the idea that life offers possibilities which you are morally obliged to embrace is essential to the American dream. Having no hope for the future, failing to take advantage of the opportunities that are available to you, is a sin against the national faith. It is a betrayal of your forebears who risked everything to come to a new world so that you could escape from the limitations with which you might have been born. The message may sound absurd to an Old World audience but it reaches the hearts of American voters for whom hope is a sacred duty.

    1. The latest from Janet Doolally – she really has lost it.

      Afternoon Sam. Her turn has been so marked I have a suspicion that they have bought her off. No sign of Allison Pearson yet, who must still be resisting.

    3. Just two questions for Janet.

      What has Harris accomplished as VP?

      What more do you believe she will achieve as President?

        2. Truss was very successful in selling pig sperm to the Chinese.

          That's not to be sniffed at…

      2. It’s said that thus far she’s shagged her way to the top. Surely before November she has to submit to a live debate? How much longer can she avoid it?

    5. Odd that all the things Harris blithers on about are completely absent in her entire campaign. She isn't offering anything except 'more of the same' failed, Left wing idiocy.

      Trump is. He offers something different. He, unlike Harris, is actually offering hope – the basis of Make America Great Again.

  79. https://www.birdsofpooleharbour.co.uk/osprey/osprey-webcams/

    I needed some more bird food and a walk with my spannel , so I drove to Arne , through Wareham , and I saw an osprey flying overhead , from the Wareham channel (River Frome ending in Poole harbour ) (yesterday, when Moh was playing golf)

    I was more than excited .. slowed the car down and watched the bird .. no it wasn't a buzzard, the wingspan was amazing as was the colouring , it is the third time I have seen one so close .

    Here is where I bought my food , there is a small cafe and car park , and loads of walks down to the hides and waterside . I don't walk my dog there , I need more privacy and peace .

    The area has become so popular thanks to the BBC, no thanks to the BBC, and cars race down the narrow track to the Nature reserve, yep, dead hedgehogs and dead squirrels prove that cars speed!

    PS , will not buy a parking ticket, because I am buying bird food from the shop .

    https://www.visit-dorset.com/listing/rspb-arne-nature-reserve/50441301/

    1. We have scarcely seen any swallows this year, but walking over the cricket pitch part of the green (the widest part) yesterday there were loads of them, all swooping and diving and flying low. Low flying swallows herald rain because the insects are flying low – but it was a beautiful, sunny afternoon although blustery. But sure enough we awoke to pouring rain this morning which didn't clear until early evening. How right those swallows were.

  80. https://www.birdsofpooleharbour.co.uk/osprey/osprey-webcams/

    I needed some more bird food and a walk with my spannel , so I drove to Arne , through Wareham , and I saw an osprey flying overhead , from the Wareham channel (River Frome ending in Poole harbour ) (yesterday, when Moh was playing golf)

    I was more than excited .. slowed the car down and watched the bird .. no it wasn't a buzzard, the wingspan was amazing as was the colouring , it is the third time I have seen one so close .

    Here is where I bought my food , there is a small cafe and car park , and loads of walks down to the hides and waterside . I don't walk my dog there , I need more privacy and peace .

    The area has become so popular thanks to the BBC, no thanks to the BBC, and cars race down the narrow track to the Nature reserve, yep, dead hedgehogs and dead squirrels prove that cars speed!

    PS , will not buy a parking ticket, because I am buying bird food from the shop .

    https://www.visit-dorset.com/listing/rspb-arne-nature-reserve/50441301/

  81. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/eb37db8a8dba02f629f7c088f7f7e7ca3c40d2e392a16b109575675825af29ef.png
    How/ why did the (undamaged) Bayesian superyacht sink?
    This will be the subject of a lengthy enquiry.

    Ambrogio Cartosio, public prosecutor of nearby town Termini Imerese, said in a press conference at the town's court today that his office has opened an initial investigation into manslaughter, according to a translation. Mr Cartosio said the sinking could be caused by 'behaviours that were not in order.

      1. The initial Press Conference was at 09.00 this morning Saturday 24 August..
        I never listen to BBC speculation, Minty.

    2. Mentul elf isshoos, no doubt (unless it was a far-right extremist, of course – in which case he is as guilty as hell).

    3. 'None of us knows why' the attack took place, said Herbert Reul, who is the interior minister of North Rhine-Westphalia state.
      ..and it isn't clear who the assailant was or his motive, he said..

      UK, then Austria, Ireland.. now Germany.
      Gotta be France next.

      Cue: We're all shocked. It's not terror related. Motive not clear. Police are looking for a 'somebody or other'.

        1. just because he's wearing a keffiyeh, draped in a Pally flag and carrying a loaded pistol..

        2. just because he's wearing a keffiyeh, draped in a Pally flag and carrying a loaded pistol..

      2. But the Police don't really want to find him because if they did it might be bad for community relations!

    5. People are dead because of your stupid flags and candles, you useless woman. How would you feel if you were raped by one of these thugs? Still be lighting candles?

  83. From Clarkson's new pub: https://thefarmersdogpub.com/
    Honesty… it won't catch on.

    "I have tried my absolute hardest to make sure that every single thing you consume in The Farmer’s Dog was grown or reared by British farmers. And I have failed.

    Yes, the pork, the beef, the lamb and the venison are all British. And so is pretty much everything else. The milk, the butter, the eggs, the vegetables and the fruit. We even cook in British oils.

    But there have been some problems like, for instance, the simple G&T.

    You can’t have a pub that doesn’t offer a gin and tonic. But there is quinine in tonic water, and you can’t grow that in Britain. Sure, I could have served gin and water instead, but I didn’t think you’d enjoy it very much. Especially as, instead of a slice of lemon, you’d have been given a slice of turnip, or some potato peelings.

    You can, however, run a pub that doesn’t serve avocado or Coca-Cola, so we don’t. Instead, we offer you British fizzy drinks made with British grown fruit. And British grown tea. And before you ask, yes, the wine is British too.

    As is the Hawkstone, obviously.

    So, that’s it really. We’re delighted to be doing all we possibly can to support British farming and we’re delighted that you’re here to help us.

    Thank you

    1. All Clarkson has to do is serve as much British produce as he can.

      We make cheeses that beat the frogs and charcuterie that knocks Spanish stuff into a cocked hat.

      His menu looks like the staples that Brits like in a pub lunch.

      Perhaps he could get locals on side by offering a discount. Which happens to be widespread practice across Europe.

      1. The Cotswalders around him can't stand the man. Doens't matter what he does, it will always be wrong.

      1. Yes, you can grow lemons and all sorts of citrus. But it requires immense care and is not commercially viable.

          1. Well, yes, but I still don't see much call for British lemons. Surely we could trade with nearby countries where they grow more enthusiastically and with more pleasing results?

  84. I have written this on the Tom Armstrong page https://www.freespeechbacklash.com/article/clockwork-orange-case-freedom-will

    Yeah , Starmer and his Droogs have driven angry working class young men into a newly named club , rightwing thugdom .

    They will be exposed to the very devil of cults when they are incarcerated into the judiciary system , then prison .

    Their altruistic stance and subsequent anger against the culture that has run ashore in boats , and made these tough rough young chaps , third class citizens , I have no more suitable words of disgust .. has cost them their freedom .

    Will they come out of prison cured by a totalitarian government.. nah , of course not , they will always be labelled subversive , forever , with a bleak future , unless of course the Armed forces will have them , but by then , the blokes will be really anti everything , especially the police and government .

    How angry am I to see lives wasted , very angry .. what they did damage wise was wrong and terrifying , but who will listen to their fears for their families, sisters , daughters , neighbourhoods , jobs , and the UK?

      2. Worse, they'll come out angry, knowing they're ignored and unwanted. KNowing that they're second class. Every foreigner will be a target, looked at suspiciously.

        Starmer has created the problem he so desperately wanted to crush.

  88. True, but his particular problem is that if he speaks up, given his perceived position, it could be charged as incitement of the far right.

    He’s actually between the proverbial rock and a hard place.
    It will be a test of his true character.

  89. A pinkish Par Four?

    Wordle 1,162 4/6
    ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
    🟨⬜⬜🟩⬜
    ⬜🟩⬜🟩🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Nasty one.

      Wordle 1,162 5/6

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

      1. 5 for me too.
        Had the right end letter but made an error by putting in the wrong one!
        Wordle 1,162 5/6

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

    2. Also par.

      Wordle 1,162 4/6

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

    3. Boring here….

      Wordle 1,162 4/6

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

    2. How can it be an offence to wave an English flag in England but not an offence to wave a Palestinian flag?

      Edit: not to mention an EU flag being waved outside Parliament. Maybe Plod will nick Steve Bray? But then again maybe not..

    5. Every single thing is back to front. Nothing works, or when it does it's abusively.

      The state is utterly, completely hypocritical.

      1. Upside down and back to front. And they know it, they know that we know it, and they know that we know that they know, etc.. This is not a good trajectory and it must be arrested if we are to survive

      2. Upside down and back to front. And they know it, they know that we know it, and they know that we know that they know, etc.. This is not a good trajectory and it must be arrested if we are to survive

  91. I have not watched (or listened to) any beeboid news, politics, current affairs programme since June 2016.

          1. Ta pet – it’s all a long time ago, those sheets and cleats and centreboards! And the dreaded wetsuit, which turned you instantly into a pregnant frog! So I just got cold and wet instead! The Laser racing was wonderful, though!

        2. I have thalassophobia. As a teenager, I couldn't look at Addingham (nr Ilkley) reservoir as we passed frequently in the car. All that water!!

    1. You can add the clueless Jess Phillips to the Burka list. At least muslims are outlawing loud women in their households.

      1. Proverbs 21.9 (King James Version)

        It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house.

      2. Proverbs 21.9 (King James Version)

        It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house.

  96. THESE ARE ACTUAL COMPLAINTS RECEIVED BY "THOMAS COOK VACATIONS" FROM DISSATISFIED CUSTOMERS:
    1. "They should not allow topless sunbathing on the beach. It was very distracting for my husband who just wanted to relax."
    2. "On my holiday to Goa in India, I was disgusted to find that almost every restaurant served curry. I don't like spicy food."
    3. "We went on holiday to Spain and had a problem with the taxi drivers as they were all Spanish."
    4. "We booked an excursion to a water park but no-one told us we had to bring our own swimsuits and towels. We assumed it would be included in the price."
    5. "The beach was too sandy. We had to clean everything when we returned to our room."
    6. "We found the sand was not like the sand in the brochure. Your brochure shows the sand as white but it was more yellow."
    7. "It's lazy of the local shopkeepers in Puerto Vallartato close in the afternoons. I often needed to buy things during 'siesta' time — this should be banned."
    8. "No-one told us there would be fish in the water. The children were scared."
    9. "Although the brochure said that there was a fully equipped kitchen, there was no egg-slicer in the drawrs."
    10. "I think it should be explained in the brochure that the local convenience store does not sell proper biscuits like custard creams or ginger nuts."
    11. "The roads were uneven and bumpy, so we could not read the local guide book during the bus ride to the resort. Because of this, we were unaware of many things that would have made our holiday more fun."
    12. "It took us nine hours to fly home from Jamaica to England. It took the Americans only three hours to get home. This seems unfair."
    13. "I compared the size of our one-bedroom suite to our friends' three-bedroom and ours was significantly smaller."
    14. "The brochure statd: 'No hairdressers at the resort.' We're trainee hairdressers and we think they knew and made us wait longer for service."
    15. "When we were in Spain, there were too many Spanish people there. The receptionist spoke Spanish, the food was Spanish. No one told us that there would be so many foreigners."
    16. "We had to line up outside to catch the boat and there was no air-conditioning."
    17. "It is your duty as a tour operator to advise us of noisy or unruly guests before we travel."
    18. "I was bitten by a mosquito. The brochure did not mention mosquitoes."
    19. "My fiancée and I requested twin-beds when we booked, but instead we were placed in a room with a king bed. We now hold you responsible and want to be re-reimbursed for the fact that I became pregnant. This would not have happened if you had put us in the room that we booked."

    1. 3. "We went on holiday to Spain and had a problem with the taxi drivers as they were all Spanish."

      Yes. They pretend not to understand English after you have noticed they have switched the meter off and then drive you round the houses and charge you 10 times the fare of what it should have been.

      The last one i had was a 'black cab style' and while he was calling the police or at least pretending to i flicked a live cigarette on to his back seat.

      I am a better person now. I have learned several phrases about their mothers.

      1. Never got on with Spain.
        After a contract in Sicily, just south of Catania on the East coast, next was in Spain, Puerta Santa Maria, near Cadiz. 1994.
        I'd happily live in Sicily tomorrow, never going back to Spain. Hated it, didn't get on with the people, food and wine is lousy.

          1. I visited Casablanca and expected similar shakedowns.

            I was happy to part with some money for the street theatre where a guy in a threadbare black suit pretending to be a worker at my hotel said how desperate he was for medication for his sick child. I strung it out to see what he would say.
            All the while pretending concern…

            At the end of the day i was the rich tourist and compared to anything he could earn i was happy with the distraction. At least he didn't try to hit me over the head and steal my phone, wallet and watch which is now rife in British cities.

          3. I went to take a look at the grand mosque in Casablanca. Again i was entertained with street theatre. This time someone obviously an agent of the state. I didn't give him any money.

          4. I was working. Afraid there wasn't time to visit the GM, although I'd have liked to. See if it has the same sens of awe and, to be frank, the presence of God, as does York Minster.

          5. Not sure it would give the same feeling to a Christian as York would but the Mosaics are fantastic.

            Just to add a little more about my trip.
            I stayed at a hotel which was had over the years been used by Air France staff.
            It wasn't that good as it was well passed its hey day. Didn't mind that because it was central and the price was right for my budget.

            I did visit the Hilton which was supposed to have the lounge replica or real from the film.

            I was impressed there by the level of service in the Cocktail Bar. Before you could fully recline in your comfortable seat someone would appear as if by magic and place a cushion for your lower back.
            Of course i tipped well.

        2. I've only been once to Spain, and that was staying with friends, so I can't really say………we had a good time there anyway.

          1. Good!
            I was working, little opportunity for enjoyment, but finding how the country worked, was less fun than Sicily. Spaniards seemed to have the Nothern European hang-ups with the Southern ineffectivenesses. Sicily was the same, but they had charm to make it all right. And, the food, wine, and language… sigh

        3. I spent a week in Barcelona a out two years ago. The food wasnt great. Spanish cuisine has never been to my taste a d I can't see what the fuss is about tapas.

    3. When MB was on one of his 'reptile and flowers' holidays a fellow tourist complained that the rain forest was wet.

    5. Not sure that I am convinced by the truth of your post, Herr Oberst. But, given the rest of the news in this day and age, who knows!

  97. That's me gone for today.

    The rain has eased and a smidgeon of blue sky is showing. Dry but cool tomorrow.

    Have a spiffing evening

    A demain

    3. I've no idea why but as you are often associated with quotes by Shakespear this one popped out of my brain:

      " The devil damn thee black, thou cream-faced loon!
      Where gott’st thou that goose-look?" Macbeth….

      1. When Millibunt was ousted he suddenly landed a job with 'International rescue' in New York paying without bonuses $500,000 a year.
        Cast your eyes back to Nick Clegg and same same same.

    5. "… if a person is mathematically illiterate, they have an inability to recognize and understand basic. mathematical signs, symbols, and operations, and lack the necessary problem solving and critical. thinking skills necessary to function in society."

      Should someone appoint a mathematical illiterate to an important function, it would call into question their fitness for office.

      1. 'Climate change' has never, ever been about the environment. It's purpose is social control.

        1. Freely admitted by all the acronyms that rule us without any legitimacy at all, wibbling. They take us for fools and, by God, far too many prove them right

          1. How does one break away from 'The Acronyms'?

            We know who they are . . . We know where they meet . . .

          2. Wish I knew. Behind the scenes, these people have been stitching us all up like kippers

    6. Miliband has no background in engineering. He is a socialist. His entire reason for being is to ensure 'climate change' does what the UN wants it to: force socialism. There is nothing rational about net zero. It is idiocy based on stupidity based on ideological malice.

      1. Curiously the only politician to date who is familiar with science and the interpretation of research is President Donald Trump, whose uncle was a famous scientist and researcher.

        Others have remarked that President Trump is a singular individual capable of conversing with scientists on scientific matters.

        Miliband by contrast is an imbecile whose views are equally imbecilic. The ‘man’ is a moron similar in many respects to his brother, the Banana Man. I have to question how two moronic children of a Marxist father ever gained influence over a British Parliament. With these dolts in positions of influence we are truly damned as an independent nation state.

    7. Look at him closely: every time he lies, his face makes an involuntary contortion; deep inside he knows he's wrong.

  104. What is the difference between Boris & Starmer?

    Boris at least made a gentlemanly sporting effort at hiding the fact that he was leading us all to oblivion down the path of no return while cajoling us all along with humour and merriment.

    Starmer just shoves it right in your face, like he is getting pleasure out of it.

      1. We really are living in 1984 – the ministries doing exactly the opposite of what they're labelled as, thoughtcrime, thinkpol. It's all there.

          2. What would you suggest as an alternative? This is the bugbear – those that try just that bit harder to tell the truth are banged up by this very sinister Government with which we have lumbered ourselves.

    2. Microscopic bugs aren't the problem. The Somalian, Eritrean, and other dindu invaders brought here by border farce are the real problem.

      1. And are carrying diseases that were eradicated here in Victorian times. Expensive business, importing these people, in so many ways.

      2. Apparently there’s been a dramatic increase in Vietnamese coming here. There’s never any suggestion of a drastic reduction in benefits, is there. What a racist I am.

    3. We have much more dangerous home-grown bugs in Westminster; hundreds of them – with tens of thousands of lackeys . . .

    5. From a February 2,000 article:

      "Abstract.
      Present global temperatures are in a warming phase that began 200 to 300 years ago. Some climate models suggest that human activities may have exacerbated this phase by raising the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Discussions of the potential effects of the weather include predictions that malaria will emerge from the tropics and become established in Europe and North America. The complex ecology and transmission dynamics of the disease, as well as accounts of its early history, refute such predictions. Until the second half of the 20th century, malaria was endemic and widespread in many temperate regions, with major epidemics as far north as the Arctic Circle. From 1564 to the 1730s—the coldest period of the Little Ice Age—malaria was an important cause of illness and death in several parts of England. Transmission began to decline only in the 19th century, when the present warming trend was well under way. The history of the disease in England underscores the role of factors other than temperature in malaria transmission."

      https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/6/1/00-0101_article

  108. Evening, all. Have nearly completed the work I needed doing in the garden. Just got to get rid of the prunings and roots, now. I have until 1/10/24 to stuff it all in my green bin and have the council take it away. Will shortly be buying a long pole hedge cutter so I can cut my hedges without having to get up a ladder. Had a reminder (the second one – I expect the next will involve threats) to pay the TV licence. I logged in to see if I could let them know I no longer have a TV (I gave it away) and the site was down. There was no indication of how to inform them I am not intending to watch TV any more, only ways to pay. Well, they can whistle.

    I think politicians have thought carefully about how assisted dying will work in practice; they'll get rid of those inconvenient pensioners who have experience of the real world and have provided for their old age.

    2. If you buy a long pole hedge cutter can you let me know if it's any good? I'm fed up with paying a bloody fortune each year to get my beech hedges cut.

      I'm considering not paying the BBC licence anymore so, again, keep us all posted with your experiences.

      Finally, to be a little bit controversial, I'm a big fan of assisted dying, I'm aware of all the potential down-side obviously, but I really feel I would want that option for myself in certain circumstances……

        1. Yes I get that, of course and fully agree with it, but as I always say with real thorny issues like this (and eg abortion etc) just because it's hard doesnt mean we shouldnt try to achieve a successful resolution.

          I repeat, I would like that option myself….

          1. I'm sure you could buy the necessary drugs from the internet to DIY – my friend who committed suicide did. That would not put the rest of us at risk. Look what happened to abortion safeguards.

          3. Very sorry to hear about that and I do take the point – but I’d like to think there would not be an inevitability of misuse/abuse with respect to assisted dying – maybe I’m being naive but I dont consider this (assisted dying) as being any more fraught with danger than capital punishment – which we lived with for centuries.

          4. But have put a stop to for the kind of reasons that might apply to legalised assisted dying – unintended and inhumane consequences

          6. Well yes, I am an implacable opponent of capital punishment ( and no, I dont think that is at odds with my view on assisted dying), and I think that provides a good framework for the discussion around assisted dying.

      2. I have one with a head that tilts through 90 degrees, it is good for the tops of the hedges. Mine is battery powered, it is nowhere near as powerful – and hence nowhere near as quick – as the mains powered cutter I use for the sides. Check how thick the stems are that you are trying to cut to be sure whatever you buy can go through them.

        1. Thanks Ken.
          I’ve used battery powered tools in the past and they just dont have the oomph for anything other than light work. I’ve got a long thin garden so mains power can be a real faff.
          I was hoping somebody might have experience of a petrol-powered one – they cost quite a bit more but I’d hope they would be robust enough to handle even quite sturdy beech branches.

  110. Nasa says astronauts stuck in orbit to return with SpaceX crew in February, not on Boeing Starliner
    Sunita ‘Suni’ Williams and Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore have been on the International Space Station since 6 June

    Nasa has decided that the two astronauts currently stuck on the International Space Station will return next February on a SpaceX-crewed Dragon flight where two seats have been made available for Sunita “Suni” Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore.

    Space agency officials said there was “too much uncertainty” for the astronauts to return on the craft that brought them to the space station, Boeing’s Starliner, which has had problems after the capsule sprang small leaks and some of its thrusters failed.

    The announcement comes after an “agency-level review” on Saturday that included Bill Nelson, the agency administrator.

    “Nasa has decided that Butch and Suni will return with [SpaceX’s] Crew-9 next February, and that Starliner will return uncrewed,” Nelson said in a press conference on Saturday.

    “I want you to know that Boeing has worked very hard with Nasa to get the necessary data to make this decision. We want to further understand the root causes and understand the design improvements so that the Boeing Starliner will serve as an important part of our assured crew access to the ISS,” he added.

    “Space flight is risky, even at its safest and even at its most routine, and a test flight by nature is neither safe nor routine, and so the decision to keep Butch and Suni aboard the International Space Station and bring the Boeing Starliner home uncrewed is a result of a commitment to safety,” Nelson continued.

    Williams and Wilmore, two veteran astronauts, arrived at the ISS on 6 June as part of a crucial test by Starliner before it can receive Nasa approval for routine flights. However, the planned eight-day mission turned into a months-long stay for Williams and Wilmore after technical issues emerged, including reaction control thrusters that failed during Starliner’s first docking attempt.

    Four of the spacecraft’s five failed thrusters have since reactivated in orbit, the Associated Press reports, adding that the thrusters are crucial for the spacecraft to back away from the ISS after undocking and for maintaining the capsule in proper position for the deorbit.

    On 2 August, Boeing said in a blog post that it had conducted “extensive testing of its propulsion system in space and on the ground”. The embattled manufacturer, which has struggled to compete with SpaceX and has taken in $1.6bn in losses on the Starliner program, added: “The testing has confirmed 27 of 28 RCS [reaction control system] thrusters are healthy and back to full operational capability. Starliner’s propulsion system also maintains redundancy and the helium levels remain stable.”

    Describing the decision to bring the Starliner back uncrewed in September, Steve Stich, program manager for Nasa’s commercial crew program, said on Saturday: “The bottom line relative to bringing Starliner back is … there was just too much uncertainty in the prediction of the thrusters.

    “If we had a model, if we had a way to accurately predict what the thrusters would do for the undock and all the way through the de-orbit burn and through the separation sequence, I think we would have taken a different course of action, but when we looked at the data and looked at the potential for thruster failures with a crew on board … it was just too much risk with the crew,” Stich added.

    As they wait on the ISS to join the SpaceX crew next February, Williams and Wilmore will do science station maintenance, among other research duties, according to Dana Weigel, manager of Nasa’s ISS program.

    “They’ll execute the SpaceX 31 research and cargo mission,” Weigel said on Saturday, referring to the commercial resupply service mission to the ISS.

    “We may have a couple space walks for them towards the end of their expedition. Since they’ve been up there, they’ve been a welcome set of helping hands. They’ve already done about 100 hours of work on 42 different experiments, and they’ve helped us with some of the critical station maintenance that we’ve had on board,” she added.

    In response to a question on how Nasa plans to rebuild trust with Boeing, Nasa associate administrator Jim Free replied: “I don’t think it’s a trust issue at all. I don’t think we’re rebuilding trust. I think we’re looking at the data, and we view the data and the uncertainty that’s there differently than Boeing does. It’s not a matter of trust. It’s our technical expertise and our experience that we have to balance.”

    Ken Bowersox, associate administrator of Nasa’s space operations mission directorate, acknowledged the “tense discussions” that Nasa has had with Boeing before going on to say: “People have emotional investment in either option and that gives you a healthy discourse. But after that, you have to do some work to to keep your team together, to keep your team restored and ready for the next issue and I’ll acknowledge that we have some work to do there.”

    According to Nasa, SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission will launch no earlier than 24 September.

    Currently, Nasa and SpaceX are working on several items prior to launch including seat reconfiguration on the Crew-9 Dragon, in addition to adjusting the manifest to carry additional cargo and personal effects, as well as Dragon-specific spacesuits for Wilmore and Williams.

    https://www.theguardian.com/science/article/2024/aug/24/nasa-astronauts-return-february-spacex

    2. Sounds like the two astronauts were booked with Easyjet. Happens all the time.

        1. I posted similar recently.
          Of course i now look for the real motives rather than accepting what the newspapers tell me.

          There are lots of why.

  111. Well, chums, it's almost time for bed. Good night all, sleep well, and see you all tomorrow.

  112. DM reports: German police arrest 2nd suspect from refugee shelter close to festival. Well, whoever thought that would be the case, my flabber is ghasted..

  113. evening all. Just had a Quick Look at the daily express front page. We’re all being advised to “keep all our windows closed” for the next six weeks. Why? Spiders!!!!!!! Can you Adam and Eve it! In all seriousness…

    1. What is the problem with spiders? Very few in this country are a problem and as Autumn comes along they like to come inside. I have generations of them living perfectly happy in my hoover bag. They never complain.

      1. You bad lad! Spiders are excellent, they devour flies and other flying insect pests.

        I really like them although once, to show off when everyone else was screaming, I picked up an enormous one that proceeded to bite me! Not joking, it broke my skin but didnt draw blood…. I've read of people suffering massive anaphylactic reactions to spider bites and I have no idea if I might have reacted the same.

        Accordingly I dont pick up (big) spiders any more…….

        1. I don't like the feel of them as they walk over my skin….shudders.

          I do tend to leave any spider webs until a Spring clean because they are better than flypaper or spray. But then they get rehoused.

          What i have found in my garden which was a total delight was a globe of baby spiders. Give it a little prod and they scatter in all directions and then come back to form the globe.

          Then the fat pigeons waddle up to them and snatch the whole lot up. Bastards !!!

          1. Yes, a spider ball is fantastic to watch, as you say, they really are wonderful creatures!

          2. I can't hurt these creatures but things buzzing around my head get the blow torch treatment.

            Things like flies, mozzies, Chris Packham…..

    2. Living under thatch we are used to spiders. We trap the largest ones under a jam jar (catch and release outside) from time to time and live amicably with the rest. Spiders help to trap and dispose of flies and can be lived with. We do have to clean up occasionally as they leave droppings on window sills and the like.

          1. I remember you posting that pic. If i were in the same aisle as you i would turn about and go the other way !

  114. Geoff: what is a "squirrel baffle" (which you claim to have fitted on your bird feeder station) please?

    I am sorry to ask this out of the blue, but Disqus just will not allow me to do so on the post you made yesterday which mentioned the above device

    2. It's something you put on bird feeders to stop squirrels being able to get at the food. It baffles their attempts.

          1. Yes, I am aware of such feeders, but not of a separate "Squirrel Baffle" or how one would be fitted

    3. It is a new technological device which can differentiate between birdies who are welcome and invading species who are not.
      When a little birdie in need of seeds it can feed. When it detects an invading species it fires storm shadow missiles.

  116. All spiders are venomous – even English ones. They have two sets of fangs, typically, one to make the puncture and then another to inject the venom. As you point out, to allergic people even a British spider could prove deadly. Australia is home to some absolute horrors, though. Yours, an arachnophobe.

    Although I do like these in a weird sort of way
    https://youtu.be/d_yYC5r8xMI

      1. if anyone is of the opinion that our creator has no sense of humour then a trip down under and an examination of the flora and fauna to be found there is a worthwhile wake-up

        1. Not sure if you are familiar with Terry Pratchett but he did a very funny story on the points you mention.

          1. Not particularly, though I do have friends who guffaw and endlessly quote and refer a la Monty Python. Maybe I should take the plunge?

    2. Arent they beautiful? – I spend a lot of time with my grandson in the garden picking up all sorts of creepy crawlies and letting them crawl all over us – both his parents are phobic about spiders and I dont want him growing up like that as well!

  117. There are no grey squirrels here in Sweden. I do have red squirrels and they are most welcome to feed in my garden.

    1. Different beast altogether, Grizz. You are very lucky. Invasive, artificially introduced foreign species that wipe out the indigenous are really a huge problem in the UK

  119. Doesnt he?? I’m not a sensitive individual (!) but I have to turn the TV over if that creep ever comes on…..

      1. It makes it more difficult to make out his smug features, I get through a lot of TVs though…….

  120. Rambling speeches peppered with insults, narcissism and an obsession with crowd size have raised questions about the former president’s fitness for office

    Chris McGreal
    Chris McGreal
    Sat 24 Aug 2024 12.00 BST
    Share
    Even some of Donald Trump’s supporters are now asking the question that was the undoing of Joe Biden: is the former president fit for office?

    But while Biden’s run for re-election was largely sunk by a single disastrous televised debate before a national audience, Trump is ramping up doubts with each chaotic, disjointed speech as he campaigns around the country.

    While rambling discourse and outrageously disprovable claims, interspersed with spite and vitriol, may seem nothing new to many of Trump’s supporters and critics alike, the former president appears to have been driven to new depths by suddenly finding himself running against Kamala Harris a month ago.

    Trump has only grown more infuriated as his poll lead over Biden evaporated, with Harris opening up a clear, if narrow, lead. The vice-president’s tactic of mocking Trump more than arguing with him appears to have incensed him further.

    A man wearing a navy suit and red tie (Donald Trump) looks to the side while at a political rally
    Harris’s convention speech sparks live rant from outraged Trump
    Read more
    Since Harris assumed the mantle of the presumptive Democratic candidate, Trump has claimed to be better-looking than the vice-president, questioned whether she is really Black and attacked her laugh as that of “a lunatic”.

    The former president has also characterised Harris as both a communist and a fascist, and described Harris as “dumb” but then told CBS he didn’t mean it as an insult because it was “just a fact”.

    “I don’t think she’s a very bright person. I do feel that. I mean, I think that’s right. I think I am a very bright person, and a lot of people say that,” he said.

    Trump seems particularly obsessed with the size of the crowds at Harris’s rallies, drawing derision for falsely claiming she used artificial intelligence to fake the turnout.

    When he’s not worried about size, Trump is vexed by Harris’s looks. After the vice-president appeared on the cover of Time magazine, Trump compared her appearance to Sophia Loren and his wife, Melania, before drawing a comparison with his own features.

    “I’m a better-looking person than Kamala,” he declared to an audience of thousands who were more amused than convinced.

    Melania’s reaction to her husband’s implicit claim that he is better-looking than his wife is not known.

    Trump has sought to court Black voters in recent months as he attempts to win enough of their support to swing key states such as Michigan. But he will have done his own cause no good by questioning whether Harris, whose mother was born in India and father in Jamaica, is really Black – all while giving an interview at the National Association of Black Journalists, and to the astonishment of just about everyone in the room.

    Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event in a factory
    View image in fullscreen
    Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event at Precision Components Group, in York, Pennsylvania, on Monday. His campaign’s efforts to keep the candidate on-message have met with mixed success. Photograph: Julia Nikhinson/AP

    “She was always of Indian heritage and she was only promoting Indian heritage,” he said. “I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago, when she happened to turn Black and now she wants to be known as Black.”

    Trump also claimed to “have been the best president for Black Americans since Abraham Lincoln”.

    In a similar vein, the former president sometimes veers off the written script to have an open debate with himself about how to pronounce names, whether Kamala or the first name of the CNN presenter Dana Bash at a recent rally.

    At a rally in Pennsylvania a week ago, Trump went as far as rambling on about rambling.

    “I don’t ramble. I’m a really smart guy, you know, really smart. I don’t ramble. But the other day, anytime I hit too hard, they say he was rambling, rambling,” he told the crowd.

    Even some of Trump’s most loyal fans were disturbed by that performance. Joan Long travelled from New York with her husband, Billy, to see the former president speak.

    “I honestly can’t say I know why he starts talking about how to pronounce names. What does that have to do with the election?” she said. “And I wish he would stop talking about Kamala’s looks.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/aug/24/donald-trump-mental-fitness-campaign

    1. I know very little about Kamala Harris. Nor do I have any desire to know more. However, the outcome of the presidential election will be largely determined, in my ill informed opinion, by which is the least unacceptable. I am, though, pleased to have no say in nor influence on the outcome. I wouldn't like to be faced with choosing which of two turds to eat, even though one of them is clearly a graceless shit.

  122. Some nice news, for once:

    “A WEATHER vane that was bought in a salvage yard helped to reunite the families of a Lancaster bomber crew that were all killed on their way home from a raid on Nazi Germany.
    Helen Theron bought the weather vane, which was fashioned into the shape of a Second World War Lancaster bomber, with her late husband John from a scrapyard in Epsom, Surrey, in 2009.
    Upon closer inspection, she discovered that on the side of the weathervane was what appeared to be a serial number JB453.
    She established that this number was the identifying marker for a Lancaster bomber that had crashed in Blankenburg, in Germany’s Harz mountains, on its return from a bombing raid in January 1944, killing all onboard.
    As part of her research, Mrs Theron traced and contacted descendants of the Lancaster’s crew.
    Now those young men, who came from Britain, Ireland, South Africa and Canada, are to be remembered at a wreath-laying ceremony in Berlin.
    She told The Telegraph: “It’s been a huge privilege to be able to pass on what I found out about the men’s last mission to relatives who didn’t know much of what had happened. We filled in a lot of gaps for them.” The wreath laying ceremony to commemorate those who flew in the ill-fated bomber is being organised at the British war ceremony in Berlin on Sept 13 by Mrs Theron and her friend Tony Aston, the author of The Bomber and the Weathervane, with the help of the Royal British Legion.
    The following day a plaque paying tribute to the men will be unveiled at the site of the crash and a tree planted in their memory.
    Attending the ceremonies will be the defence attaches for the British Army and Canadian Air Force, alongside the men’s families.
    The crew of JB453 were typically young, all in their early 20s, when they carried out their last fatal mission. Over
    the course of the Second World War, 44 per cent of Bomber Command crews were killed while serving, the highest rate of attrition of any Allied unit. Each man was a volunteer.
    The weathervane has since been classified by the International Bomber Command Centre as a war memorial and was officially unveiled at Mrs Theron’s home in September 2021.
    Mrs Theron plans to leave the weathervane in her will to RAF Wyton, in Cambridgeshire, where JB453 was based.
    She said: “If we’d put it straight on the roof as soon as we moved house we wouldn’t have noticed the engraved serial number. I immediately wondered what it meant.””

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