Saturday 26 February: China is watching the failure of the West to stop the Russian invasion of Ukraine

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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537 thoughts on “Saturday 26 February: China is watching the failure of the West to stop the Russian invasion of Ukraine”

    1. Chris Morris and his ‘Brasseye’ programme was much maligned – even in such lowly dens of iniquity as the House of Commons, by ardent bandwagon jumpers who had never seen any of the shows – for it’s exposing of the meeja hypocrisy/hysterics to major problems with drugs and kiddie-fiddling.

      Yet his barb via ‘The Day Today’ programme of just such theatrics as Bob’s cartoon portrays barely achieved a mention.

      It’s a funny old world.

  3. Excellent piece from the Slog

    “A second point, unreported (in another news media sin-of-omission)

    though luckily not completely unnoticed, occurred along the

    ceasefire-“Line of Contact” down the middle of Ukraine’s Donetsk and

    Lugansk provinces. The OSCE’s (Organisation for Security and Cooperation

    in Europe) regular monitoring of the line registered a leap in the

    number of ceasefire violations in recent days, as artillery explosions

    rose in mid-February, “from 80 per day to over 1,200 per day over the

    last week” in the days just prior before Putin’s speech. Casualties

    were overwhelmingly on the side of DPR and LPR civilians.

    This essentially made the Russia population in Ukraine into hostages –

    and it escalated harm to them as an unmistakable provocation.”

    Rest here

    https://therealslog.com/2022/02/25/bear-status-update-poked/

    Meanwhile…….

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/872fa8762e1ea35693e53600f93bb8e7dae8593a8af5a0749d5c6ce7a12705be.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ec8b8d85b10940a7511747337b4cc2ee989bee3ce4379b87674106823f621063.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9af0b50e24c46fa2beb3a6eefb1005c29ad2080db1986f710b0ae7f4284680e7.jpg

    1. That first piece of information is disturbing, because it could indicate that the West was trying to provoke the Ukraine conflict.
      It did come at just the right time for them, just as the truth about vaccines was beginning to come out. Also, the first tests were supposed to be completed in May, except that they won’t be valid now because the control group has been jabbed too.
      Who will be interested in this, now that Ukraine is hogging the news?

  6. Putin is an Authoritarian Nationalist but Not a Communist. 26 February 2022.

    The ignorance in America and Europe about the real Putin is staggering. The media, for example, continues to be filled with a false, cartoon description of Vladimir Putin. Some describe him as Hitler. Okay, show me his version of Mein Kampf? Show me the concentration camps he has set up to rid his country and surrounding areas of Jews, Gypsies and homosexuals? Does not exist.

    Others decry Putin as a kleptocrat in league with the “oligarchs.”But the actual facts about Putin’s dealings with the oligarchs is much more nuanced. Shortly after taking power in 2000, Putin gathered the 18 most powerful businessmen in Russia–aka the oligarchs–and put them on notice that their days of looting Russia was over. One of these men–Mikhail Khordadovsky–was arrested and imprisoned a few years later. Others, such as the Chernoy brothers sought refuge in Israel while Boris Beresovky found asylum in London.

    Or in brief Putin is an avowed Patriot who places Russia’s interests ahead of anything else.

    https://turcopolier.com/putin-is-an-authoritarian-nationalist-but-not-a-communist/#more-12702

  7. Morning folks.

    Apparently this is not a S poof:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6e825f8b7f53819d0b1659d957c03f933ecf312ae29e0423ff86d60f51c3a062.png

    ‘An aspiring 37yo West Texas woman running for the Lone Star state’s new railroad commissioner has launched one of the wildest campaign videos ever, according to Houston Chronicle.
    GOP lawyer Sarah Stogner published a five-second campaign video on TikTik on Super Bowl Sunday, featuring her semi-nude atop an oil pumpjack.’

    Can you imagine D Abbot doing such a thing?

    Ad: Cases of Mind Bleach 10% off!

    2. I’ll have you know that The Texas Railroad Commission is a hugely powerful and significant entity. It’s the state agency that regulates the oil and gas industry, gas utilities, pipeline safety, safety in the liquefied petroleum gas industry, and surface coal and uranium mining. Despite its name, it ceased regulating railroads in 2005. I had to present evidence to it in 1978(?) in Austin, Texas in respect of the ETSI coal slurry pipeline and had to pinch my leg very hard to avoid getting the giggles. Whereas the Chairman was formally dressed, the two other commissioners wore big cowboy hats which they kept on throughout proceedings and cowboy boots which they rested on the desk in front of them. They really did look like outlaws from the Wild West

        2. She does have an appalling son. I feel sorry for her; the HoC must be a welcome refuge from life at home.

          1. I don’t like her politics at all but when i saw that picture of her wearing odd shoes my heart went out to her.

          2. She has not been fit for the job, mentally as well as physically, for a very long time.
            Unfortunately, such is the imaginary kudos Labour thinks it is gaining by her being the 1st Black woman MP, her handlers will not let her retire.

  9. Right I’m off to the Supermarket fellow Nottlers. Hopefully MI5 are still in bed! Catch you later!

  13. Morning all. It’s Putin all the way down……..

    Share

    China is watching the failure of the West to stop the Russian invasion of Ukraine

    SIR – Those of us who served in the Armed Forces and fought the Cold War understand all too well the importance of deterrence and military strength.

    Most of us have recognised the continuing threat from Russia, and it is highly regrettable that successive governments have reduced the capability of our Armed Forces to the level where we are no longer able to counter the actions now being demonstrated by Russia.

    Russia also recognises the acute political weakness of Europe, Britain and the United States, and Vladimir Putin knows that our nuclear deterrence is a toothless tiger. Consequently, it is now impossible to reverse the Russian offensive in Ukraine.

    China is watching the reaction of the West to Ukraine, and it will be its turn next in Taiwan.

    Gp Capt Terry Holloway (retd)

    Great Wratting, Suffolk

    SIR – I have no faith in Joe Biden protecting the free world.

    Dominic Shelmerdine

    London SW3

    SIR – At a time when we have the weakest American president in recent history, nominally the leader of the Western world but demonstrably incapable of answering questions on his own policies, we are entering a very dangerous time for humanity.

    The public pronunciations of Mr Putin have caused many to doubt his sanity. His isolation from reality, advancing years and psychopathic personality make his unprovoked invasion of Ukraine a genuine threat to the world’s stability.

    Had this been the only immediate threat to world peace, there might have been a prospect of maintaining the stability of the international order. Unfortunately, this is happening at the same time as the expansionist and increasingly aggressive policies of the genocidal Communist Party in China, under President Xi, destabilise the Far East. There could not have been a worse time for America to be under the leadership of a weak and incapable president. God help us all.

    Phil Coutie

    Exeter, Devon

    SIR – If Ukraine gets no naval, military and air-force help from its so-called friends, our promises will all be broken and democracy further weakened. The way in which President Biden pulled out of Afghanistan showed Mr Putin that this was the time to strike.

    If Nato and the UN are unable to stop Russia invading a sovereign country, what is their purpose?

    Camilla Coats-Carr

    Teddington, Middlesex

    SIR – For more than 70 years, as a British citizen, I have known only the strength and benefit of democracy. This country may be far from perfect, but the situation in which the Ukrainian people now find themselves is terrifying and horrific. It is David and Goliath, but this time David doesn’t even have a slingshot.

    Ukraine can expect little or no support from the United Nations – the current presidency of the UN Security Council is held by Russia, and on Tuesday that honour passes to UAE, which only this week stressed the strength of its ties with Russia.

    The future may look bleak for Ukraine, Europe and Russia, but the Russian people could bring a halt to this madness if they are encouraged to turn on Mr Putin and his Kremlin. This would avert an escalation of hostilities that could lead to a global conflict.

    Melanie Price

    London NW3

    Design, 1873, by Viktor Hartmann for the Gate of Kiev featured in Pictures at an Exhibition

    Design, 1873, by Viktor Hartmann for the Gate of Kiev featured in Pictures at an Exhibition

    SIR – Raffaello Pantucci (Comment, February 24) writes that Western intelligence has redeemed itself since Iraq by predicting in recent weeks the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

    It has been clear for many years that a major European security event involving Russia would happen. Russia is a country with a long history of autocratic regimes with territorial ambitions that have led them to invade other European countries, such as Czechoslovakia and Hungary.

    Vladimir Putin was installed following the demise of the Soviet Union, under which he was a senior officer in the KGB. He was conditioned by the KGB over 16 years until the end of the Cold War.

    Since becoming president of Russia in 1999, he has bypassed democratic safeguards and retained power for 23 years. During his time in office he has engaged in a significant build-up of operational and strategic defence capabilities including new generations of tanks, aircraft, submarines and hypersonic missiles. Russia has also engaged in other hostile activities such as state-sponsored assassinations on foreign soil, including the Litvinenko and Skripal episodes in 2006 and 2018. Mr Putin has also extended Russia’s clout by allowing Western economies to become hooked on its energy resources.

    The true value of state intelligence is to predict events that are over the horizon, then to make their implications properly appreciated and acted upon by governments. Spotting the build-up of an invasion force of 190,000 troops is the easy bit.

    Gerard Conway

    Cuckfield, West Sussex

    SIR – In 1990 the Ministry of Defence initiated the Options for Change process, which meant a reduction by 30 per cent of Army manpower. It told the Army that, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, a resurgence of Russia would take 20 years, which would allow time for the regeneration of our capacity. Where did that all go wrong?

    Roger Little

    Tisbury, Wiltshire

    SIR – Mr Putin would not have dared to invade Ukraine had it still had nuclear weapons. What hope that the world could persuade North Korea ever to relinquish its nuclear arsenal now?

    Rob Dorrell

    Bath, Somerset

    SIR – America and Western Europe must take some of the blame for the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Over the past 10 years the West has prioritised green and woke issues to the detriment of our alliances, defences and economies. This stance has encouraged Mr Putin to see the West as weak and self-absorbed, while he portrays himself as a strong leader and a patriot.

    Stephen Barklem

    Woking, Surrey

    SIR – I watched Boris Johnson’s statement to the House of Commons on Thursday about Ukraine, and the subsequent exchanges. Starting with the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, this was Parliament at its best.

    Michael Brotherton

    Chippenham, Wiltshire

    SIR – In 1935 the inability of the League of Nations to impose significant sanctions on Italy in the face of Mussolini’s invasion of Abyssinia paved the way to war in 1939. If the West does not deny Russia access to Swift, the financial transaction system, how seriously will Mr Putin take any other sanctions?

    Richard Moore

    Head of History and Politics

    Blundell’s School

    Tiverton, Devon

    SIR – The Russian invasion of Ukraine brings back memories of August 20 1968, when we woke to the dreadful news that Russia had invaded Czechoslovakia.

    Widespread, spontaneous demonstrations in the West, in which I am proud to have taken part, contributed, I believe, to the fact that Russia did not kill Alexander Dubček and other deposed Czech leaders.

    Twenty-one long years later, Czechoslovakia was free and Dubček installed as speaker of an independent parliament. Meanwhile, many young people were totally disillusioned with Soviet communism.

    John Howard Hayns

    Banstead, Surrey

    SIR – Boris Johnson quite rightly questioned whether the Russian people support Mr Putin’s actions, and he spoke of the importance of getting the message across that the outside world condemns them.

    Sport can play a powerful role and it’s time that the governing bodies showed some strength. Surely all Russian teams and competitors should now be banned from international competition and all events planned for Russian venues cancelled until further notice.

    This would mean that the IOC expels Russia from the Paralympics, and that Fifa and Uefa expel it from the World Cup and international club competitions.

    Graham Broughton

    Crowthorne, Berkshire

    SIR – Huw Wynne-Griffith (Letters, February 24) suggests that “the children of Russian parents should be excluded from British schools” on the basis that sanctions should target “only” the wealthy. It is important to recognise that not all wealthy Russians are bad people.

    I served on the governing body of a private school that had several Russian-born children on its roll, and discovered that the principal reason their parents had chosen to send them to Britain was to avoid kidnap and ransom in Russia. These parents were not bad people but feared the criminals that the lawlessness of a kleptocracy permits.

    We need to be very careful about whom we choose to punish and I would like to think that this is what the Government is doing.

    I might add that private schools are subject to money-laundering regulations and take these responsibilities very seriously indeed.

    Jeremy M J Havard

    Chichester, West Sussex

    SIR – I have read the complete transcript of the Nuremberg trials. One of the charges levelled against the surviving Nazis was that of waging an aggressive war. Mr Putin and his cronies should be indicted in the International Criminal Court in the Hague. If any were rash enough to step outside Russia, they could then be arrested and tried.

    Clive Williams

    Wrexham

    SIR – It is astonishing that Western-style, democratic and affluent nations have sleepwalked into a terrible trap. We have allowed ourselves to become dependent on the world’s two most powerful authoritarian regimes.

    On China we have, through the greedy drive for profit from cheap labour costs, made ourselves dependent for manufactured goods.

    On Russia we have become dependent for raw materials and energy (and even foodstuffs if the Ukrainian horror is completed).

    It may be too late but we need to restore our manufacturing base and undertake an urgent conversion to alternative energy sources. We must also rebuild our military capabilities.

    The “we” means Western democratic nations. Unfortunately, the Cold War is back on.

    Keith Picken

    Wollaston, Worcestershire

    SIR – There is something very wrong when we are all funding Mr Putin’s war through our energy bills.

    Mike Forlan

    Hayling Island, Hampshire

    SIR – The Prime Minister defies logic in railing against dependence on Russian fuels while doubling down on his refusal to support fracking or coal mining, or expand the use of nuclear power in this country.

    Green ambitions may have seemed harmless in the political climate of their inception, but some reappraisal is necessary in light of the current existential threat to the peace and security of Eastern Europe.

    Patrick Doherty

    Stockport, Cheshire

    SIR – Food as well as energy supplies are vulnerable to the actions of foreign powers, so I would suggest to our politicians that their policy of re-wilding swathes of our countryside is a luxury we can no longer afford.

    John Godfrey

    Hitchin, Hertfordshire

    SIR – Presumably, as Russia intends to expand its territories to what it claims to be its historical right, it will return Kaliningrad, which was until 1945 the historic city of Konigsberg, the capital of East Prussia, and never Russian.

    John Peat

    London SW15

    2. “The public pronunciations of Mr Putin have caused many to doubt his sanity. His isolation from reality, advancing years and psychopathic personality make his unprovoked invasion of Ukraine a genuine threat to the world’s stability”.
      Then again, the 14,000 killed in the fighting in the Donbass may have something to do with it?

    3. “Mr Putin has also extended Russia’s clout by allowing Western economies to become hooked on its energy resources.”

      Right, right, it’s Putin’s fault and not our effing governments.

  14. Good morning all from a bright & dry Derbyshire with a frosty -3°C on the thermometer.
    At least it’s a bit warmer in the house!

  17. Funny Old World
    The MSM are bigging up the anti war demos in Russian cities noticeably unimpeded by blank uniformed baton wielding thugs……
    No,no that response to demos is reserved for Canada/Aus/NZ etc
    Strange Times………..

  19. Send ’em all to Siberia

    Christians in MP Steve Baker’s seat pray for him to quit role on climate thinktank

    High Wycombe vigil implores senior Tory, who has questioned cost of net zero, to quit as trustee of Global Warming Policy Foundation

    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/979f5d9c391563ec434f0915bfc19af6aec9bdae/272_900_5387_3232/master/5387.jpg?width=700&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=e26f2e92ac102d1cbc4e6ea666b928d4

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/feb/25/christians-in-mp-steve-bakers-seat-pray-for-him-to-quit-role-on-climate-thinktank

    1. Bunch of pointless tankers. You’re retired. Retire. Stop bothering the rest of us.

      Or, here’s a better idea. You cna pay all the energy price hikes yourself. What’s that You can’t afford a bill for £1000 a month? Neither can we. Feck off.

  20. Well I never…

    Revealed: Auditors ‘raised red flags at two companies run by Captain Tom’s son in law’ who is also trustee at war hero’s foundation which is being probed by charity watchdog
    Colin Ingram-Moore, 64, was a director at Stone Pit Restoration Ltd
    Accountants had ‘significant doubt’ about its future after losing £5million
    Captain Tom Foundation is being probed over its finances by a watchdog

    https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/02/20/11/54421237-10532449-image-a-7_1645356140389.jpg

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10553729/Auditors-raised-red-flags-companies-run-Captain-Toms-son-law-foundation-trustee.htm

    1. It was obvious from the hype that the campaign received from the start that the control over the funds raised were likely to be inadequate.
      Hence my reluctance to contribute to the bandwagon.

    2. These ‘pop-up’ charities are a financial scam waiting to happen.
      They are usually started by the soft hearted but taken over by the hard headed.
      In this case, what the heck are “NHS Charities”? The WVS trolleys trundling through the wards with newspapers (no more, thanks to covid)? The local hospital support shop has given way to Costa, M&S etc…

  25. Good morning all

    Oh the irony.

    Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky was a Russian–American aviation pioneer in both helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. His first success came with the S-2, the second aircraft of his design and construction. His fifth airplane, the S-5, won him national recognition as well as F.A.I. license number 64. Wikipedia
    Born: 25 May 1889, Kyiv, Ukraine
    Died: 26 October 1972, Easton, Connecticut, United States

        1. Possibly.

          On the other hand, I don’t see baton wielding state employed thugs…..such as in Canada.

        2. Possibly.

          On the other hand, I don’t see baton wielding state employed thugs…..such as in Canada.

        3. Possibly.

          On the other hand, I don’t see baton wielding state employed thugs…..such as in Canada.

  32. I should have added that there is a frost and that I forgot to put the lid on the propagator in the greenhouse. I fear my seedlings have all had it…{:¬((

  33. Tucker Carlson leads rightwing charge to blame everyone but Putin. 26 February 2022.

    “Has Putin ever called me a racist? Has he threatened to get me fired for disagreeing with him? Has he shipped every middle-class job in my town to Russia?” Carlson said as he then recited a right-wing tip sheet of pet causes.

    “Did he manufacture a worldwide pandemic that wrecked my business and kept me indoors for two years? Is he teaching my children to embrace racial discrimination? Is he making fentanyl? Is he trying to snuff out Christianity?”

    Unanswerable questions which is why the MSM avoid them and stick to Primitive Propaganda.!

    https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/feb/25/tucker-carlson-fox-news-russia-putin

    3. Ah, the guardian. Still fighting every enemy it can invent. Notably they don’t properly blame the EU for the chaos either. I think the theme with Lefty organisations is to look at a problem and investigate the cause they want, and ignore the real one.

    4. Only the guardian could describe losing one’s job as a “right wing pet cause.”
      I suppose they all have trust funds.

  35. Years in which countries joined NATO

    Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland (1999),
    Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia (2004),
    Albania and Croatia (2009),
    Montenegro (2017)
    North Macedonia (2020).

    Why did they need to join

    4. I don’t think they did, they were bribed and coerced. I was in Albania in 2005 and there was a team of US military and US government there promising all sorts on the basis that Albania joined NATO. The EU also had a large office in Tirana promising similar to bring the country up to the EU entry requirements. The whole thing was pushed from US and the EU.

    5. I’ve always assumed that it was because Barbara Broccoli wanted some new locations for the James Bond franchise..

  37. Samantha Cohen is a surprise choice to be Boris Johnson’s ‘gatekeeper’, but friends say she’s exactly what No 10 needs right now

    The BTL comments under DT articles often accord far more with my views than the articles themselves do. Here is a dinosaur who calls himself Terry Dactill whose BTL is under this article: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/02/26/harry-meghans-former-private-secretary-became-powerful-woman/

    We need a conservative government and I am afraid the tone is set by the PM who is, together with his 3rd wife, far from conservative. He has also broken trust with the British people having failed to implement anything of substance in the manifesto. He continues to import millions of migrants and has no policy to change this. He allows Stonewall to have access to our children and his wife gave a speech on the merits of LGBTQIX at the Tory conference–far beyond live and let live tolerance. He has failed to secure Brexit with NI still annexed to the EU. His eco-lunacy will kill people as well as bankrupt them.
    I will be voting independent in the May elections or possibly Reform/Reclaim. Not Tory and no way Labour.

    1. 351126+ up ticks,

      “I will be voting independent in the May elections or possibly Reform/Reclaim. Not Tory and no way Labour.”

      What a good idea, many of us knuckle dragging fruitcakes have been doing just that for years via the designer / activators of the referendum.

      1. As you know I agree with you that It is high time that people deserted Lb/Lab/Con but what are you, I and other Nottlers going to do to bring this about?

        1. 351120+ up ticks,

          Morning R,
          Mass return of tory (ino)
          membership card , in pieces.
          Then mass fund / join a chosen fringe party, steer clear of any with farage dealings.
          For me it is “For Britain”
          & Anne Marie Waters.

    2. Many Conservatives I speak to are equally disillusioned. A chap said ‘We have to vote Conservative to keep Labour out’

      and the discussion became how pointless that idea was when Tory were as bad as Labour.

      1. Whenever I meet any of my fellow Conservative activists – most now finding other uses for their time, money and energy – the most frequent adjective used to describe the current government, especially Johnson, is a restrained “disappointing”.

  38. This man, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine, has courage. Let us hope that his courage prevails, amidst the killing and maiming of his peple, and that the monster Putin is defeated and eliminated. Incidentally, Zelenskyy is accused (by Putin and others who ought to know better) of having Nazi allies. He is Jewish. It is a lie. Putin is a liar.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8a7ec7fb169e08708acf69bb21b95336b5d3dc263acf83e12e399c00e2e7aadd.jpg

    1. Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy, was born to Jewish parents on 25 January 1978 in Kryvyi Rih, then in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.[12][13][14][15] His father, Oleksandr Zelenskyy, is a professor and head of Department of Cybernetics and Computing Hardware at the Kryvyi Rih Institute of Economics; his mother, Rymma Zelenska, used to work as an engineer.[16][17][18] His grandfather, Semyon (Simon) Ivanovych Zelenskyy, served in the Red Army (in the 57th Guards Motor Rifle Division)[19] during World War II; Semyon’s father and three brothers were killed in the Holocaust.

      How and why is Putin calling President Zelenskyy a N##i ?

      1. Same reason the Left do the same here. All from the Lenin playbook ‘accuse others of what you are.’

        Putin has learned from the wokers and remoaners that if you set out with a slur to demonise your enemies, you give yourself the high ground. It’s rubbish of course, the West has learned this now.

      2. Morning Maggie.
        Look up the paramilitary Regiment Azov who have been carrying out increasingly lethal attacks on the largel Russian population of Eastern Ukraine.

        The association, founded by nationalist politicians, is considered ultra-nationalist and because of the sometimes openly right-wing extremist political positions of many of its leaders and members and the use of corresponding symbols….
        https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regiment_Asow

        1. Afternoon Bob.

          Very interesting re your comments and from others also ..

          Are our politicians so informed ?

          I do hope no one over reacts before they know the full facts, having said that … War is terrible in this day and age , the whole region are behaving like fools , blood lust seems at the top of their agenda.

          Britain seems to be full to the gunnels with Eastern Europeans who deal in bad things .

      3. I don’t think he is calling him a nazi, merely pointing out that he is relying on the Azov Battalian who are well known neo nazis. I am not an expert in such things, but the lefties on wikipedia, who know far more about it, say that the imagery in the Azov’s flags include known neo nazi symbols.
        These are the soldiers who have been attacking the Donbass apparently.

      4. Besides looking up the Azov Battalion. Look up “Right Sector”. The reality is Belle that the Ukranians were pro Nazi in WWII and unlike the Germans who learnt their lesson, the Ukrainian’s are still pro Nazi.

        1. Their support was reprehensible, but understandable.
          During the 1930s, the Ukraine had been subjected to the Holodomor.

          1. True but people forget that the Russians themselves were subject to just as much persecution by Stalin. The Russians were not the aggressors in Ukraine it was the Communists, who carried out the same sort of treatment on the Russian people. 6 million Russians died in the Gulags alone. Another million by mass executions by Stalin. I don’t know why, but people always concentrate on the Ukrainian famine and ignore the devastation put upon the Russian themselves by the Communists. Most of my stepfathers family and relatives were wiped out by Stalin and, my wife’s family would also have been destroyed if they had not fled to Shanghai. To be identified as a White Russian was sufficient to be murdered, man woman child and babies.

    2. He’s a politician. Putin, like Zelensky, like Boris, is a liar by default.

      Of course, he didn’t help himself by inviting the EU in to discuss joining it, did he?

    3. He’s a politician. Putin, like Zelensky, like Boris, is a liar by default.

      Of course, he didn’t help himself by inviting the EU in to discuss joining it, did he?

    5. Zelensky is a liar and a provocateur. He thought he could use the West against Russia and has come undone as a result. Perhaps you should look into the Minsk agreement and see who it is that violated it and refused to implement it after signing it. It wasn’t Russia. Stop being a mindless goon Geoffrey and do some proper research. Remarkably if you do that, you arrive at the truth rather than the propaganda fantasy that you believe in.

    2. It’s never been the same since we stopped using steam engines; the sparks used to set the sides of the lines alight and keep them clear.

  40. So UK is sending lethal aid to Ukraine. Very provocative as it identifies us as an enemy of Russia in this war and potentially a target for reprisals. Not that I expect military action here, but it might have been better to keep away from military aid and offer humanitarian assistance instead. Its not our war and I do not support our involvement by proxy and being dragged into another foreign conflict.

      1. Morning, good or otherwise. At least the sun is shining in Wales. I await a flood of refugees to Drakeford’s country of sanctury. I am amazed to see how many (weeping) Ukrainians are here already. A demo down The Mumbles today apparently.

        1. To offer sanctuary to the people of Donbass and Luhansk would be more appropriate. They have put up with shelling and murder by Ukrainians for 8 years. The Ukrainians should not set foot on our soil. They started this by signing and then promptly disregarding and violating the Minsk Agreement. Let the Ukrainians stew in the mess they have made and give the real persecuted refuge.

      2. Morning, good or otherwise. At least the sun is shining in Wales. I await a flood of refugees to Drakeford’s country of sanctury. I am amazed to see how many (weeping) Ukrainians are here already. A demo down The Mumbles today apparently.

      3. Morning Araminta. What annoys me more than anything is the disingenuousness of it all. To put the blame on Russia for our own incompetence and out own guile in our dealings with Russia since the fall of the USSR, is at the root of it all. Still the West hasn’t the decency to admit that it is at fault even though the evidence is their to see if anyone really wants to look further than the propaganda that passes for news in the MSM which creates fantasies out of whole cloth pretending that Russia and Putin have gone rogue whilst hiding what Ukraine has been doing since 2014. It is disgusting and it shows our weakness that we hide behind untruth’s so that we can pretend we are the good guys. In fact, rather than annoy me, it makes me furious that Britain should be so low. It is not the country anymore of my birth that actually believed in principles, in decency and in truth. We have degenerated into a society ruled by spineless cowards in a system rotten to the core that holds us, the people, in contempt.

        1. We have degenerated into a society ruled by spineless cowards in a system rotten to the core that holds us, the people, in contempt.

          Morning Johnathan. Depressingly yes!

          1. Morning Araminta. I think the ruling class has little clue about the internet and its power and still believe they can rule us by 19th century methods. That is the problem and that is the reason that the gap is widening between the ruling class and the people. They think they can deceive us whilst having no clue that their deceptions are like a fence of chicken wire, it may give then a false sense of security, but they don’t realize that we can see right through it and their propaganda arm the MSM.

    2. We have seen 8 years of increasingly lethal attacks on the Russian majority in Eastern Ukraine, largely by the Azov paramilitaries. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regiment_Asow

      We have also seen the exposure, though much ignored by much of the western MEEJAH, of the corruption between the Biden family and the Ukrainian government.

      In addition to this, ever since the collapse of the USSR, The West has cosied up to former Soviet Nomenklatura who were asset stripping the country, often ex-KGB, and allowed Western financial institutions to “launder” the proceeds.

      Further to this, the West has moved it’s influence right up to Russia’s borders in denial of agreements made when the USSR collapsed.

      With those factors in mind I am reserving judgement.

  41. We were all laughing at the feeble sanctions put on Russia by the EU, like banning them from Eurovision and hosting the UEFA final, but it occurred to me in the night that these are actually rather clever, because they target young Russians, who, like other young Europeans, are rather more fond of their own comforts than of the idea of their country being at war.
    This is an Achilles’ heel that China doesn’t have, because of their Great Firewall of China, which tends to keep their popular culture home-grown and under their government’s control.

  42. Good Morning, as it may be.
    The second sight is strange thing. I have experienced it on a number of occasions. It might be described as foretelling the future. I tend to think of it as unconsciously spotting patterns of change.
    Around eight years ago I was thinking about buying a boat. In my head the boat was called “Darkness of Kharkov”. The boat, in my imagination,was to be used to leave Europe and go to South America. It does not look good for Kharkov.

      1. I did, a small Fifie built in 1911. However as restoration began on it, I suffered serious accident while on another boat, an old motor drifter. It was struck by a sudden swell and the wooden mast which was lying in the crutch on top of the wheelhouse, leaped out and descended on my head. I was knocked down like a nail by a hammer. The only reason that I was not killed was that mast came to rest on top of the deck winches for the nets and id not follow me down to the deck. The chap responsible for securing the mast had not done it properly.
        The lifeboat took me to shore where an ambulance took me to Aberdeen Infirmary. A young lady doctor shone a torch in my eyes and prescribed painkillers. I subsequently saw my GP and local A&E and same thing. I was a bit”out of it” for a couple of years. I have had constant ache in my neck since. I am also 2 inches shorter. I took painkillers for about year before deciding they were a bad idea. The pain remains.
        I could do no hard work so I sold my boat to an engineer working on the construction new QE aircraft carrier . He moved to Nova Scotia, taking the boat, where the restoration continues, which is wonderful.

        1. I was prescribed opiates for my neck pain. I could see addiction looming and stopped taking them. I found an alternative which works beautifully. https://tensunits.com/blogs/blog/how-to-use-tens-to-treat-neck-pain

          You can wear it under your clothes. Hook the unit onto your belt and go about your normal activities. I even wore mine to restaurants.

          The painless electrical pulses interfere with the pain signals and gives instant relief.

          2. A little gentle yoga helped too to strengthen the muscles in that area. Nothing strenuous. You can do it from your seat. Look on youtube for the neck exercises.

          2. Nick Walker bought a narrow boat from cousins of mine. Peter and Jayne Tracey kept her at Rickmansworth and Nick had her for a couple of years before moving to Scotland and buying and restoring the Puffer. Nick and his wife Rachel featured on one of the programmes with Timothy West and Prunella Scales. Nick’s sister was a very lovely girl.

          5. Well just read the link that Bob provided. An excellent read. I encourage everyone to go look. And thanks to Bob for providing his link! And yes, odd that, I still can’t see Korky’s link.

          6. You must have opened the comment before I had corrected my error. Apologies for that, JR.

    3. OOF!!
      A very interesting and, probably, more accurate narrative than what the globalists would have us believe.

    4. Bloody hell. I don’t know what is going on Korky, but suddenly your link has appeared.

  45. I rather likes this tweet:The US is an oligarchy where 3 billionaires hoard more wealth than half the nation & working class people aren’t guaranteed healthcare or a living wage, yet Biden & the Democrats are on TV pontificating about bringing “democracy” to the world when we don’t have democracy at home.

    1. Democracy – or demos kratos translates to the people have the power.

      To the Left, democracy means people get a vote. Once. And that vote can be changed to suit the answer the Left want.

      True democracy is active public engagement in the process of government. The Left have never liked this and the Right haven’t existed for over 50 years. In a democracy, many of Biden’s policies could be refused. Tae his tax hikes and green nonsense. Those hurt the lower paid most. Biden doesn’t care. It is ironic that when the Left whinged about Trump’s ‘tax cuts for the rich’ they compeltely ignored his removal of tax shelters, loan and pay back, charity tax deductions and so forth in the same bill. You know, the real tax dodging work.

      Bah, the world’s going to the toilet because of spoiled, miserable Lefties. Let them live in the ashes.

  47. Just back from Fakenham – we went because of the Farmers’ Market. None. Zilch. No longer feasible, apparently. Anyway – went to the Puzzle exchange in the church. EVERY SODDING PERSON was bagged up. Ditto at the garden centre (especially outdoors – where the plague is most virulent….)

    Makes one weep.

    1. The CoE seem to have different rules to the rest of the world. Our church has “Wear a mask out of consideration to others” and “Please wear a mask” signs plastered all over the place, as well as those hand sanitiser things on just about every surface there is. It’s the guilt trip that gets me.

    2. Instead of reducing mandates, the Canadian Federal health agency is pushing more worries. It’s too early to relax, more nasty variants coming and more restrictions are promised in autumn.

      Even the provincial health authorities are ignoring the overreach.

  48. For those interested. This psychological portrait of Putin was done sometime ago. It puts to rest the idea he is insane:

    What kind of personality does Vladimir Putin have?

    Here I give the opinion of professional psychologists of the personal and professional portrait of Vladimir Putin.
    Full article political psychologists Vladimir Tanayev and Ivan Karnaukh can be found at: Psychological portrait of the Russian President

    “THE PSYCHOLOGICAL PORTRAIT OF “THE MASTER”
    Basic (standard) characteristics of the psychological type “Master” (international abbreviation – ISTP).
    I. Strong qualities:
    He can take reasonable and useful steps. He adapts new ideas to practice and gains maximum benefit from them.
    He is characterized by low-key, quiet persistence leading to obligatory accomplishment of everything he begins, modesty.
    He is inventive in private life and in work that he enjoys.
    He is an aesthete who fully trusts his taste and prefers moderation and harmony.
    He values friendship. He does not impose his opinion on any one, but in the end everything usually turns out the way he wanted. He is happy when somebody likes the results of his work.
    He has a reputation of an accurate person. He does not like to drag out his meetings.
    He is stress-proof, in dangerous situations he behaves pronouncedly in cold blood. Danger alerts arouse not fear, but an interest in him, a desire to test himself.
    II. Drawbacks:
    He is inclined to skepticism, he likes to analyze things and to joke with people.
    He usually does not show his emotions and feelings in public, although he is very impressionable.
    He is a moody person: his bad mood is always followed by increased efficiency.
    He is reticent, he does not like liberties, he can unobtrusively take a person down a peg or two.
    He is truly efficient only in things that bring him personal satisfaction, which can make an impression that he is a lazy person.
    He will not take up a pointless work.
    He doesn’t like a slow manner of talking, he likes clear and confident utterances.
    III. One cannot demand or expect from him:
    – emotional constant involvement in what goes on around him;
    – compassion and sympathy to those who blame their failures on others;
    – taking for granted projects that are not studied carefully.
    This is supposed to be at least 80% true. We will not burden the reader with details of distant diagnostics on determining the psychological type, but we can explain that on one important example. In answer to a reporter’s question about his behavior in critical situations Putin said that he is calm, “even extremely calm”. He went on: “Later when I studied in intelligence school one of my evaluation forms read that I had a reduced sense of danger, which was considered a negative quality”.* We, however, do not consider it a shortcoming. Moreover, psychologists recommend “Masters” in their carrier-guidance cards to pursue carrier in secret service. In this sphere such people are practically ideal, which, by the way, is very well proved by our President’s biography.
    Ok, secret service is secret service, but, as it turned out, not everyone can govern the country. How good is “Master” in that? We believe everything will become crystal clear after you read the description of the style of management of those who belong to this psychological type.
    ADMINISTRATIVE-MANAGERIAL CHARACTERISTIC OF THE PSYCHOLOGICAL TYPE “MASTER” (LEADER-PATERNALIST)
    He strives to coordinate his work with the work of the members of the group he heads, to determine tasks, to put forward and support ideas and undertakings, to bring a matter to an end in spite of the difficulties. He is oriented at collective efforts. He strives to create psychological atmosphere where people would get satisfaction from work.
    He establishes business contacts with well-wishing coldness. He is usually unemotional in conversations, although there is always a polite smile on his face. He tries to understand another person not through his individual characteristics, but in full: without differentiation between business and non-business qualities. To achieve a common goal he strives to create confidential relations with his partner and convince him of their stable character. He always fulfills his obligations very precisely.
    His active position is oriented at situation and logic of facts. In such logic the most crucial goals are those of adaptation to circumstances. Subjective personal tendencies are not primary. The correct mode of actions is prompted by real life, not a dogmatic scheme, instructions or prescriptions.
    He is inclined to a compromise type of behavior. He can equally compete, cooperate, and cut compromise deals depending on circumstances. In case of misunderstandings he is guided by the code of honor, tries to solve the problem without going to official institutions.
    We can add, having altered a little bit Mr.Gerashchenko’s statement “Money likes silence”, that in such situation Russia must be governed in a quiet way. Noise is out of place here. Putin belongs to the category of leaders who do not create unnecessary stir and fuss around their work.
    RESUME
    We have a rare type of leader who:
    1. can make right decisions in extreme situations objectively and in cold blood;
    2. pursues any case flexibly and persistently to the end;
    3. has a conservative orientation of a manager (“leader-paternalist” who feels a deep inner responsibility for what’s going on, who strives for harmonization of relations).”
    * The quotation is from the book “Talks with Vladimir Putin. Comments by himself” (Moscow, 2000)
    See more at Psychological portrait of the Russian President

      1. With Johnson they will conclude it was a mistake to do a psychological profile of a jelly fish.

  49. For those interested. This psychological portrait of Putin was done sometime ago. It puts to rest the idea he is insane:

    What kind of personality does Vladimir Putin have?

    Here I give the opinion of professional psychologists of the personal and professional portrait of Vladimir Putin.
    Full article political psychologists Vladimir Tanayev and Ivan Karnaukh can be found at: Psychological portrait of the Russian President

    “THE PSYCHOLOGICAL PORTRAIT OF “THE MASTER”
    Basic (standard) characteristics of the psychological type “Master” (international abbreviation – ISTP).
    I. Strong qualities:
    He can take reasonable and useful steps. He adapts new ideas to practice and gains maximum benefit from them.
    He is characterized by low-key, quiet persistence leading to obligatory accomplishment of everything he begins, modesty.
    He is inventive in private life and in work that he enjoys.
    He is an aesthete who fully trusts his taste and prefers moderation and harmony.
    He values friendship. He does not impose his opinion on any one, but in the end everything usually turns out the way he wanted. He is happy when somebody likes the results of his work.
    He has a reputation of an accurate person. He does not like to drag out his meetings.
    He is stress-proof, in dangerous situations he behaves pronouncedly in cold blood. Danger alerts arouse not fear, but an interest in him, a desire to test himself.
    II. Drawbacks:
    He is inclined to skepticism, he likes to analyze things and to joke with people.
    He usually does not show his emotions and feelings in public, although he is very impressionable.
    He is a moody person: his bad mood is always followed by increased efficiency.
    He is reticent, he does not like liberties, he can unobtrusively take a person down a peg or two.
    He is truly efficient only in things that bring him personal satisfaction, which can make an impression that he is a lazy person.
    He will not take up a pointless work.
    He doesn’t like a slow manner of talking, he likes clear and confident utterances.
    III. One cannot demand or expect from him:
    – emotional constant involvement in what goes on around him;
    – compassion and sympathy to those who blame their failures on others;
    – taking for granted projects that are not studied carefully.
    This is supposed to be at least 80% true. We will not burden the reader with details of distant diagnostics on determining the psychological type, but we can explain that on one important example. In answer to a reporter’s question about his behavior in critical situations Putin said that he is calm, “even extremely calm”. He went on: “Later when I studied in intelligence school one of my evaluation forms read that I had a reduced sense of danger, which was considered a negative quality”.* We, however, do not consider it a shortcoming. Moreover, psychologists recommend “Masters” in their carrier-guidance cards to pursue carrier in secret service. In this sphere such people are practically ideal, which, by the way, is very well proved by our President’s biography.
    Ok, secret service is secret service, but, as it turned out, not everyone can govern the country. How good is “Master” in that? We believe everything will become crystal clear after you read the description of the style of management of those who belong to this psychological type.
    ADMINISTRATIVE-MANAGERIAL CHARACTERISTIC OF THE PSYCHOLOGICAL TYPE “MASTER” (LEADER-PATERNALIST)
    He strives to coordinate his work with the work of the members of the group he heads, to determine tasks, to put forward and support ideas and undertakings, to bring a matter to an end in spite of the difficulties. He is oriented at collective efforts. He strives to create psychological atmosphere where people would get satisfaction from work.
    He establishes business contacts with well-wishing coldness. He is usually unemotional in conversations, although there is always a polite smile on his face. He tries to understand another person not through his individual characteristics, but in full: without differentiation between business and non-business qualities. To achieve a common goal he strives to create confidential relations with his partner and convince him of their stable character. He always fulfills his obligations very precisely.
    His active position is oriented at situation and logic of facts. In such logic the most crucial goals are those of adaptation to circumstances. Subjective personal tendencies are not primary. The correct mode of actions is prompted by real life, not a dogmatic scheme, instructions or prescriptions.
    He is inclined to a compromise type of behavior. He can equally compete, cooperate, and cut compromise deals depending on circumstances. In case of misunderstandings he is guided by the code of honor, tries to solve the problem without going to official institutions.
    We can add, having altered a little bit Mr.Gerashchenko’s statement “Money likes silence”, that in such situation Russia must be governed in a quiet way. Noise is out of place here. Putin belongs to the category of leaders who do not create unnecessary stir and fuss around their work.
    RESUME
    We have a rare type of leader who:
    1. can make right decisions in extreme situations objectively and in cold blood;
    2. pursues any case flexibly and persistently to the end;
    3. has a conservative orientation of a manager (“leader-paternalist” who feels a deep inner responsibility for what’s going on, who strives for harmonization of relations).”
    * The quotation is from the book “Talks with Vladimir Putin. Comments by himself” (Moscow, 2000)
    See more at Psychological portrait of the Russian President

  51. Okay, me being very anxious.

    When Mugabe took control of Rhodesia , within about five years it started to deteriorate .. My late stepmother’s relatives arrived there in wagons in the latter part of the nieteenth century , they originated from Somerset and Dorset , they were farmers and engineers .. later on a few of them were lawers , judges and even bishops and successful farmers . Untill life out there became impossible .

    The whole of the federation of Rhodesia were the breadbasket of Africa .

    What has happened to Africa now … ?

    Will Europe end up starving … starved of everything … no one knows. The Ukraine is virtually the breadbasket of Europe , at the moment .

    Putin is a maniac … I wouldn’t be at all surprised to hear he has syphillis or some other brain condition .

    1. About six/seven weeks ago Putin went to China, to talk with President Xi.

      Of course no one knows what was said, but I found it very interesting that soon after that meeting China announced that they

      were banning the export of fertilisers.

      The newspaper article claimed that China was the biggest exporter of fertilisers in the world.

      As Russia and the Ukraine are the two biggest exporters of wheat, can one assume that the price of wheat will go up sharply in the Autumn?

    2. Putin is not a maniac. As I have said. He is the only sane one in the room. Please see the psychological portrait I have posted of him and see the speech to the Russian people he just gave explaining what was going on. Then tell me he is insane.

      1. Putin will also expose the Obama, Clinton and Biden crime families who have been trousering millions from the Ukrainian mafia government for years in exchange for their complicity in crimes against the people.

        In addition Putin has full knowledge of the Democrat-Biden election rigging and understands that he is dealing with weak imposters. Putin can have no confidence in the EU, NATO and other apologists for these crooks.

    3. I think Putin is a very clever man who knows what he’s doing. He saw the West was weak and divided.

      2. Welcome back Ellie, how was it ?
        IMHO from what i have been able to understand I would put the blame for all this firmly on the table of the Brussels mafia. They have stirred up the situation by trying to promote or bring Ukraine into the (we must be aware that Russia developed a lot of their industries and export potentials) EU and also make attempts to include them in the NATO. If you saw the huge list of mineral and other assets owned by Ukraine that TB posted yesterday it will part of the reason that Putin has taken the action his has. I don’t agree with any of it but being enticed to react by the mafiosi in Brussels for a reaction was their main objective.

      3. He’s been working on this for years, decades even, setting Russia up to weather sanctions, updating the military, and getting the West to enter contracts for strategic supplies with Russia – so now he controls the energy supply. And the gullible European governments either didn’t see this, or didn’t want to, and the EUs balls are in a vice with Putin turning the handle.
        I’d say that he and his team are very, very smart, and looking as always to the long view.

        1. We get a very one- sided view of things – whatever Ivan does it’s aggression rather than retaliation or defensive.

    4. I was in Rhodesia when Wilson was telling Ian Smith aboard HMS Tiger how to run his country. I can confirm the people were much better educated than the surrounding countries and crime was relatively low most Africans had work even it it was farming or mining jobs. There’s a decent book I read a few years ago Entitled When a crocodile eats the sun.
      And something that is hardly never mentioned is that POS Mugabe had around 20 thousand people murdered and their bodies thrown into mine shafts because he knew they would never vote for him. But that’s Africa for you i’m afraid. And I suspect somewhere there, still it goes on.
      https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/144214.When_a_Crocodile_Eats_the_Sun

    5. My Uncle Leonard had a very valiant First World War and was decorated with several honours. He went to Rhodesia and, with a small UK government gratuity, he bought a piece of uninhabited, arid and useless land and built it up to be a well irrigated and prosperous farm which gave homes, education, health care and secure employment to hundreds of people. His family continued and expanded his work and his second son, C.G. Tracey, became one of the most successful businessmen in Rhodesia who worked with Ian Smith as an ambassador.

      Of course C.G. was kicked off his farm which was given to Mugabe’s thugs who knew nothing about farming. They either killed or expelled all the farm workers and in five years the farm returned to being arid waste land.

      Was my cousin’s life a complete waste of time and effort? His autobiography entitled All For Nothing? poses that question:

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/76a1e9f4bc99b1a60fdc5dffd63a617c13ff8012ef9125ed11e1abb129a243db.jpg

  52. Morning all. 🙂
    Thank you so much for the good wishes and sympathy towards our little grand son. We have just heard that he and his mother are coming home today, much relief all round. So we assume that yesterday’s test results were good and encouraging. He will have his medication administered by his parents and attend a more local hospital twice a week to start with and hopefully less as times goes by. And a special heartfelt thankyou also for the front line NHS staff. Today the sun is shining for our family. 🌞

    5. Thank you so much everyone 🤩 our fingers are not so tightly crossed now and I may not make so many mis-steaks on the quay board frome nowon. 😉

    6. We needed good news, Eddy, and you provided some! Glad to see the wee lad is returning home.

      1. Yes, thank you, jr. Dry and sunny so I did an hour’s garden tidying and planted three fruit trees in my fruit patch.

  54. Hallo all from Kenya- wrote a post and it disappeared!
    I see Vlad has gone into Ukraine after all. Not getting much news here.
    Watched some lion cubs on a kill this morning.
    Nearing the end of our trip now – it’s been great but we fly home on Monday.

    1. No news, Jules.

      Geoffrey Woolard sends his love and wishes that he too had voted to ‘Leave’. {:^))

    4. Hope you’ve had a good time. Not getting much news has probably contributed to any peace of mind you might have 🙂

  57. This was missed by Nottl a couple of weeks ago.

    Are we doomed to be the sick man of Europe, Mr Javid?

    The Health Secretary needs to be much tougher with the NHS – this is literally a matter of life or death

    ALLISON PEARSON • Wednesday 9th February 2022 • 5:00am

    A Romanian who cut his hand while he was trying to murder his wife has been awarded £17,500 after he sued the NHS for “criminal negligence”. Lawyers for Dorinel Cojanu argued that the failure of a London hospital to perform reconstructive surgery soon enough on two wounded fingers left their client with “life-changing injuries”. You would have thought that murder was the ultimate “life-changing injury”, and that there would surely have been very little objection if Mr Cojanu’s hand had been severed by accident and sent home in a Jiffy bag to whence it came.

    Few stories sum up so well the absurd generosity of our National Health Service, and the misuse of resources. One clinical director writes to say that the failure to invoice and collect fees from foreign patients (as every other country does) is a scandal, costing the UK millions a year, but managers make no effort to recover the costs. “At a time when the NHS has the biggest waiting list in its history, might it not be time,” my correspondent asks, “to raise the issue of eligibility for NHS treatment?”

    Good luck with that, doctor. The current state of dysfunction within the health service is terrifying. Sajid Javid warned that record waiting lists (at least six million) could soar to 14 million if all the stops are not pulled out. Outlining the new NHS delivery plan, which pledges to boost activity by 30 per cent for three years, the Health Secretary said the latest figures suggest that 10 million people “stayed away” from the NHS during the pandemic.

    A tad disingenuous, Mr Javid. Many sick people did not “fail to come forward”, as you have suggested. True, some were afraid to go to hospital, but vast areas of the NHS were closed to non-Covid patients, and the general practice gateway was often slammed shut.

    The Health Secretary promised that, by March 2025, no one would be waiting longer than 12 months. What a wretched boast. Ministers do their best to act like the situation is being brought under control – notice the almost weekly visits by Boris to a cancer centre – but they must know this is a health calamity almost without precedent.

    By the time you have read down to this point, a man, woman or child will have been told they have cancer. That’s one every 90 seconds. The Prime Minister pledged this week that three-quarters of suspected cancer patients will be diagnosed or have the disease ruled out within 28 days. “Total bull—-,” snaps Karol Sikora, one of the world’s leading experts on cancer.

    Professor Sikora tells me that his colleagues in Europe laugh when he explains that a potential cancer patient here might be seen in two weeks. “British people have such low expectations of the NHS. In France, Germany and Italy, you’d be seen the next day. Our system isn’t much cheaper, but it has far poorer results.”

    So what is to be done to prevent tens of thousands of premature deaths? It will take years before the community diagnostic hubs promised by Javid are up and running. Prof Sikora says we have to smarten up the whole diagnostic system: make a map of all endoscopy, biopsy, diagnostic facilities and work out how to staff them. Use those CT and MRI scanners with ruthless efficiency. Teach healthcare assistants how to use them. Work at weekends and through the night. Use private hospitals like we stupidly failed to do during lockdown.

    “The NHS is not easy to manipulate,” Prof Sikora admits, “but Javid needs to tell them we want you to double your scanning capacity. We have to do something within a month if we’re going to make a dent on cancer survival.”

    This is literally a matter of life or death. Can the NHS delivery plan really overcome inbuilt inertia and stop health tourism to reduce waiting times for our own people? Or, as I fear, are we doomed to be the sick man of Europe?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/columnists/2022/02/09/doomed-sick-man-europe-mr-javid/

    1. Before we get to being seen at a hospital we have to wait an age to “see” a doctor! Our surgery wants appointments made online and, if you haven’t contacted them by about 9.30bin the morning they are “full up”!

    2. We already are the sick man of Europe when it comes to cancer survival rates and have been for years. The NHS is good if you are en emergency patient but otherwise …. Absolutely not. The NHS is run for the staff not for patients.

  58. This was missed by Nottl a couple of weeks ago.

    Are we doomed to be the sick man of Europe, Mr Javid?

    The Health Secretary needs to be much tougher with the NHS – this is literally a matter of life or death

    ALLISON PEARSON • Wednesday 9th February 2022 • 5:00am

    A Romanian who cut his hand while he was trying to murder his wife has been awarded £17,500 after he sued the NHS for “criminal negligence”. Lawyers for Dorinel Cojanu argued that the failure of a London hospital to perform reconstructive surgery soon enough on two wounded fingers left their client with “life-changing injuries”. You would have thought that murder was the ultimate “life-changing injury”, and that there would surely have been very little objection if Mr Cojanu’s hand had been severed by accident and sent home in a Jiffy bag to whence it came.

    Few stories sum up so well the absurd generosity of our National Health Service, and the misuse of resources. One clinical director writes to say that the failure to invoice and collect fees from foreign patients (as every other country does) is a scandal, costing the UK millions a year, but managers make no effort to recover the costs. “At a time when the NHS has the biggest waiting list in its history, might it not be time,” my correspondent asks, “to raise the issue of eligibility for NHS treatment?”

    Good luck with that, doctor. The current state of dysfunction within the health service is terrifying. Sajid Javid warned that record waiting lists (at least six million) could soar to 14 million if all the stops are not pulled out. Outlining the new NHS delivery plan, which pledges to boost activity by 30 per cent for three years, the Health Secretary said the latest figures suggest that 10 million people “stayed away” from the NHS during the pandemic.

    A tad disingenuous, Mr Javid. Many sick people did not “fail to come forward”, as you have suggested. True, some were afraid to go to hospital, but vast areas of the NHS were closed to non-Covid patients, and the general practice gateway was often slammed shut.

    The Health Secretary promised that, by March 2025, no one would be waiting longer than 12 months. What a wretched boast. Ministers do their best to act like the situation is being brought under control – notice the almost weekly visits by Boris to a cancer centre – but they must know this is a health calamity almost without precedent.

    By the time you have read down to this point, a man, woman or child will have been told they have cancer. That’s one every 90 seconds. The Prime Minister pledged this week that three-quarters of suspected cancer patients will be diagnosed or have the disease ruled out within 28 days. “Total bull—-,” snaps Karol Sikora, one of the world’s leading experts on cancer.

    Professor Sikora tells me that his colleagues in Europe laugh when he explains that a potential cancer patient here might be seen in two weeks. “British people have such low expectations of the NHS. In France, Germany and Italy, you’d be seen the next day. Our system isn’t much cheaper, but it has far poorer results.”

    So what is to be done to prevent tens of thousands of premature deaths? It will take years before the community diagnostic hubs promised by Javid are up and running. Prof Sikora says we have to smarten up the whole diagnostic system: make a map of all endoscopy, biopsy, diagnostic facilities and work out how to staff them. Use those CT and MRI scanners with ruthless efficiency. Teach healthcare assistants how to use them. Work at weekends and through the night. Use private hospitals like we stupidly failed to do during lockdown.

    “The NHS is not easy to manipulate,” Prof Sikora admits, “but Javid needs to tell them we want you to double your scanning capacity. We have to do something within a month if we’re going to make a dent on cancer survival.”

    This is literally a matter of life or death. Can the NHS delivery plan really overcome inbuilt inertia and stop health tourism to reduce waiting times for our own people? Or, as I fear, are we doomed to be the sick man of Europe?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/columnists/2022/02/09/doomed-sick-man-europe-mr-javid/

        1. Can’t remember off the top of my head, but I was looking through his Twit account recently, and some of the stuff he re-tweeted was already proved to be false. He’s the only Delingpod that I switched off after a few minutes, because they were going on about drugs.
          He’s supposed to have been a software developer; nobody can do software development and drugs, does not compute.

          1. Well – depends on the drugs!! I think he is pretty senior on software. Have another look, do!. The guy is an aikido master I believe too, and a true original – net enough of those around….

    1. Major blunder…the ship will be quietly released and go on its way.
      If piracy becomes part of the sanctions the LNG tankers from the US become fair game.

      1. We have seen how very effectively the Russians have dealt with pirates off the Horn of Africa. The RN gave them tea and cigarettes, and put them ashore in Kenya so that they could do it all again. The Russians killed them.
        It is though, an”act of war” and Russia could take umbrage. Similarly any flight of UK planes into the Ukraine carrying weaponry etc may reasonably be shot down by the Russians.
        It begs the question why would the Ukraine need any weapons from us? The country must be stuffed with armaments left over from the Soviet era. The Ukraine was quite close to the hypothetical front line. Moreover, the BBC (I know, I know) is reporting that the Ukraine is handing out weapons to citizens and that is surely a sign of available surplus, not a dearth. I guess our PM and his Cabinet don’t pay attention to BBC News.

    2. Since the French can seemingly manage such actions, why can’t they stop the dinghies? [Rhetorical!]

      1. They can. They don’t. Not only is there no will to do it, it is surley seen as a wonderful joke. One that clears this dangerous group from France, reducing the problem in France, while sticking it up us.
        As they say in France, “Ils n’aiment pas les lances dans le cul”.

  62. Thumbs up for Britain: Border Force agents bring 90 migrants ashore in Dover after they crossed calm Channel waters in a dinghy as number of arrivals this year hits 1,448
    Around 90 migrants arrived at Dover in inflatable dinghies on Saturday morning
    The boats were picked up by a Border Force vessels and towed to land in Dover
    One vessel eventually had to be freed after it was compromised and began to sink

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10554313/Border-Force-agents-bring-30-migrants-ashore-Dover-number-arrivals-year-hits-1-388.html

    Thumbs up?

    What on earth can the Flail be thinking of .

    1. Why do they bring them here? Get rid of the damned sewage. Take them back to France. We don’t want them. The more we bring in, the more will come. 700 a month? It’s utterly unsustainable. And we’re feeding this tide of crap as well!

      1. We have sewage conaminating our beaches

        from the Sea by Border Farcs
        From land by water companies

    2. Especially galling as none will be genuine asylum seekers. No wonder they are giving the thumbs up (more likely to be a two-fingered salute or middle finger in their hearts) – success in reaching the softest, most generous country, 99.99% chance of soon getting indefinite leave to remain, all the while living on eye-wateringly reckless handouts from our taxes. These aggressive, demanding young males are incompatible with public safety and national security.

    3. What on earth can the Flail be thinking of?

      Afternoon Belle. They are thinking that now everyone is distracted by Ukraine that they don’t have to pretend anymore!

    1. Utter nonsense. I heard R4 news from an early age, and it was all about IRA atrocities in those days. This advice seems to be “wait until the school have had a chance to brainwash your kids before you let them hear anything.”

  64. Each week, my email inbox includes an offer of one free early childhood learning resource. (I signed up when working with special needs children, and now often find fun activities for my little grandchildren).
    This one takes the biscuit for indoctrination/brain-washing, especially when bearing in mind the site is aimed at early years children.
    In the description: “Celebrate International Women’s Day in style with this empowering bunting. Simply download and print, then stick it up around your bedroom or house or create a funky display in your window for everyone to see. Why not also use it to start some conversations about gender bias and stereotyping?”
    Looks like encouragement to celebrate obesity too. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0df322a807c75f5205dd7b4cbc9e499e78f7bd466cc11fbffd312bb13b59c3ff.png

    5. How about a “normal” woman? You know, white skin, not overweight, not disabled, not lesbian, not a victim of something or other.

      1. We’re invisible and in being normal, we are automatically waycist, homophobic, trains phobic and any other insult available.

      1. A lesson in how NOT to behave! Watch out children, these anything-goes-deviants will seriously confuse you, warp your mind, and encourage abnormal and weird behaviour. And watch out for them in your school loos….

  65. Thus twittering by Trudeau about the truckers has annoyed a fair number of decent people:

    Today in the House, Members of Parliament unanimously condemned the antisemitism, Islamophobia, anti-Black racism, homophobia, and transphobia that we’ve seen on display in Ottawa over the past number of days.

    Ukraine is very convenient for him, media has almost completely dropped talking about the truckers.

    2. The Left do so ove to label their enemies. His hatred – and terror – of those with a different opinion to him really is staggering.

    3. Since there has been no reporting of the truckers whaever, how would we know? The only reports that they were being beastly came from turdeau, and so are discarded.

      1. From what I picked up, there may have been an isolated incidence of a dodgy flag, but that was carried by infiltrators out to discredit the truckers. The only violence came from the unidentifiable, tooled-up thugs sent in a week ago by Turdeau.

        1. And the police horse trampling a Granny to death. And the police vandalising construction equipment so it couldn’t join in.
          I’m afraid that the Canadian authorities and their lackeys in police and meda disgust me more than the Russians.

  66. Not a good week for the “vaccinators”. First, mounting bad news from the insurance sectors in the USA and Germany. Now, two reports of the
    mRNA possibly embedding itself in a person’s DNA. If this horror becomes fact, either by design or by sloppy work, those responsible will have
    to be dealt with harshly. All those useful idiots repeating the, “safe and effective mantra,” will have to be dealt with too. The list will be

    long.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6796e3da47b30d45bfe4e9f71398e73f756f3bec92860d80d07e35a17aaf24d6.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/676dd2725ebdb8569da233c4cad36ea59fa37ee9277eb69b8ed6782c5dabaf64.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fe301963390fe64ed4b9dfa5dcf1ec498beee2df14d5a3f5e7974244a0fa5f9b.png

  67. Boris is about to make Nick Clegg one of the most powerful men in Britain

    The Government’s Online Harms Bill gives Big Tech too much power to censor opinions it does not like

    FRASER NELSON • Thursday 17th February 2022 • 9:30pm

    When they first stood together in the Rose Garden of Downing Street, few would have guessed where David Cameron and Nick Clegg would ultimately end up. The former prime minister has slipped into obscurity: mocked, ignored and having virtually no place in public debate. But his erstwhile deputy is now enthroned in Silicon Valley as global affairs chief of Facebook. He’s one of the most powerful men in the world – and I wish that was an exaggeration.

    Murdoch, Hearst, Beaverbrook: none exercised as much power over the world’s news as Clegg is now capable of doing. After the broadcasters, Facebook is Britain’s number one source of news. Its users may think they’re just seeing what they selected – based on who they follow, what they share. But what they actually get is a selection, chosen by algorithms under criteria programmed by Silicon Valley workers. All overseen by the likes of Clegg. In this way, Facebook can edit the way tens of millions see the world.

    The power that all this gives to Silicon Valley is matched only by the utter ignorance in government about its nature and implications. And that’s why Boris Johnson is unwittingly about to give Clegg – and all the Big Tech firms – more power than ever. In a cackhanded attempt to bring them all to heel, the Online Safety Bill will transform Big Tech into our new censors. They’ll obey government orders on a certain number of things, but in return they get the power – nay, duty – to police the rest pretty much as they see fit.

    The original idea is sensible: to tackle pornography, criminality, content encouraging suicide: in other words, genuine online filth. But how to do this in a country with free speech rules? The Online Safety Bill invents a new category – “legal, but harmful” – with fines imposed on any digital publisher that crosses this vaguely drawn line. The danger, of course, lies in the grey areas. What about articles questioning vaccine policy – are they “harmful”? Or Jimmy Carr’s gypsy jokes? Facebook won’t want to be fined or take the risk. The bots will be told: if in doubt, strike it out.

    Consequences can be seen already, with government critics first going digitally missing. The Socialist Workers Party found its Facebook page vapourised. Novara Media, an upstart socialist broadcaster, had its YouTube page taken down. In both cases, services were resumed after an uproar; over-zealous censorship bots were blamed. But this draws attention to something we were never really told: that such bots already are at work, trawling cyberspace, identifying troublemakers and closing them down.

    Clegg has never cared much about free speech. As deputy prime minister, he tried to force newspapers to submit to government regulation, but his job now is to maximise Facebook’s profits. It makes money by showing adverts, with “likes”, “shares” and Baby Shark videos: unlike the media moguls, Silicon Valley doesn’t care about news. It has no interest in defending minority voices. Its general approach is: we’ll do anything, just don’t fine us! In fact, we can be your censors! Look how well we’d do it!

    The Covid era saw Silicon Valley demonstrating just how effective a censor it can be. Facebook boasted that it was “working with government” to combat “misinformation” – which it seemed to define as stories unhelpful to No 10. As a viewer, you won’t miss what you don’t see. But editors like me (even The Spectator swims in a digital sea) soon find out which articles the censor bots dislike. For example, if our weekly YouTube show had criticism of lockdown policy, that episode might have mysteriously fewer viewers – probably because it’s withheld from YouTube’s all-powerful recommendation system. But we’re never told. Sometimes, an episode is deleted entirely.

    Articles, too, are judged harshly. During the debate about face masks, I commissioned an in-depth report from two academics, both experts in their field: they found the evidence unconvincing. The bots hated it and Facebook slapped a “false information” warning on it. I asked Facebook to identify a single error in the article. No response. It’s Facebook: it doesn’t have to respond. I wish I could say it doesn’t matter, but social media drives about a third of our website traffic (and, ergo, our sales). So yes, it matters.

    The British Medical Journal watched all this, thinking (rightly, as it turned out) that it would be next. In an editorial, it highlighted the risk this posed to basic scientific debate. “It seems 2020 is Orwell’s 1984, where the boundaries of public discourse are governed by multibillion dollar corporations (in place of a totalitarian regime),” it wrote. “And secret algorithms coded by unidentified employees.” Except we know the identity of one of the bosses: Sir Nick Clegg. And he’s about to be the new Big Brother. Quite a thought.

    Clegg himself is unlikely to delete Boris Johnson’s account (as Twitter did to Donald Trump) but Facebook could, if it wanted. This raises a question: should he have so much power? More to the point, should Clegg’s colleagues in San Francisco be deciding what Brits should be reading? Why can’t we see the criteria, or the decisions? Might we end up with the Leftwards bias, seen time and time again in social media in America?

    Reports of Covid leaking from a Wuhan lab were once seen, by Facebook, as fake news – and removed. Now they look all too plausible. The nature, power and influence of censorship bots is something that politicians struggle to imagine, let alone regulate. The BBC presents an easier, juicier, more understandable target. When the Online Safety Bill was introduced in Parliament, not a single MP asked about bots or speech protection. “My colleagues can’t see that this Bill would make us more exposed than ever to the wokeward drift of Silicon Valley,” says one minister. “It may soon be too late”.

    Boris Johnson has been pressing “pause” on a few policies of late, and the Online Safety Bill is the biggest disaster waiting to happen. In the four years that this Bill has been in the making, it has been rendered out of date because the dynamics of digital media and public debate have changed so much. If he goes ahead now, it would cement Clegg’s status as the most powerful Englishman in world media. There’s still time to stop, take stock and think of a better way.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/02/17/boris-make-nick-clegg-one-powerful-men-britain/

    1. Except we know the identity of one of the bosses: Sir Nick Clegg. And he’s about to be the new Big Brother. Quite a thought.
      One word covers the scenario it starts with F and ends in K.

      3. Remember Nick Clegg boasting that he had slept with about 30 women?

        Couldn’t some of them get together and put him through the same sort of thing that Prince Andrew has been put through?

        1. Great idea Richard. He’s probably paid them off already and had them sign paper work in his favour.

    2. And of those 14,000, approximately 40 of them were children, killed by indiscriminate shelling of houses and schools by the Ukrainians. No mention of that in the MSM propaganda, is there?

  69. We must take them in!

    Charities demand UK welcomes refugees fleeing Ukraine
    CHARITIES have urged the UK government to “step up and play it’s part” by taking in thousands of refugees fleeing the Russian invasion in Ukraine.
    https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1572028/Ukraine-refugees-Russia-fleeing-UK-asylum-nationality-borders-bill

    ‘More boat people on their way….
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/78151246de5ee3dd91f984b6d061bd85330dfe5e88b49eebaac0fb47e6284b2c.jpg

      1. I received a brochure from the RNLI this morning offering to write my will for free.
        Reading further down the page it concluded a small gift to the RNLI would be appreciated…..!

    2. Any Ukrainian refugees will comprise both men and women instead of >90% young men as is the case with the dinghy ‘refugees’. And they won’t be of the RoP.

    3. Ukrainians tend to be Christian, and not stabby-stabby. And are likely to return when it’s calmer.

    4. Demand? Start with every person employed by those charities taking in at least one family. Any takers? No, thought not. Hypocrites, the lot of them.

    5. Robots would make a better job of running charities they have far more common sense.
      Driving around the country it seems that we are building new homes for the rest of the world already.
      And i get an email message from my energy suppliers to suggest i have a smart meter installed to prevent global warming. Perhaps we should stop accommodating all those who arrive to live here for nothing.

  73. I must admit I’m in a quandry over Ukraine.
    While it is undeniable by anyone who is well informed that this whole mess has been provoked by the West and I agree entirely with Jonathan Rackham, below, what do we do now?
    The West has been pushing at weak Russia for a generation, never having any reverse gear to its globalist drive and we got used to it. We always wanted peace did we not. Poland and Estonia were never going to start a war with Russia and why would the US?
    But that is assuming you are dealing with good faith actors who fear the democratic wrath of their people if they mess up too badly.
    But the American elections showed that democracy can be circumvented and the CoViD outrage showed that we are now dealing with governments who are quite willing to act against their populations – and if they lose an election here and there bad actors pick up sinecures somewhere else – Clegg, for example, and all the top EU apparatchiks.
    And for the first time it seems that the Russians are better armed than we are, but that will not last long.
    So now is the time for them to act.

    The problem is, they have little reason to stop pressing their advantage for as far and as long as the West pressed its advantage against them. As things are, why should they not take Estonia and Latvia and Lithuania?
    Poland would be a bit of a lump to swallow but the West has previous for dropping them in the shit.

    So where does it end? Though I have some sympathy for Russia’s reasons to be angry, at what point do we need to stop worrying about gender-neutral toilets and my two dads, and say to the Russians that is far enough. And saying it without meaning it would be completely pointless.

    1. It’s out of our hands LiM. I’ve looked at most of the possible outcomes and there are no good ones. If we don’t have outright war between Russia and NATO we will have a divided and impoverished Europe split down its centre.

    2. It’s out of our hands LiM. I’ve looked at most of the possible outcomes and there are no good ones. If we don’t have outright war between Russia and NATO we will have a divided and impoverished Europe split down its centre.

          2. I bet he weighs 10 stone and a 28 inch waste as well. I was as fit as that 15 years ago. I might have gone down hill a bit slower but i’m almost rock bottom now.

          6. Someone I was talking to at the stables told me she didn’t think of me as old because “you have a very young outlook”. I told her I’d never grown up 🙂

    3. “So I took off at 9:20 a.m. and at 12:20 p.m. I was upstairs and 1:30 p.m. downstairs” Blimey did he run down Bill ?? Or slip.

      1. There’s been a lot of talk about NATO and I remember when the powers that be removed Gadhafi from his own country and NATO aircraft bomb the water pipe lines that ran from the south of the country to the northern towns and cities. I wonder who organised all that ? NATO seem to be a bit of a loose cannon. Perhaps this is why Vlad invaded he didn’t want them on his door step.
        Why did NATO bomb Brega water pipes?
        On 22nd July, NATO followed up by bombing the Brega water-pipes factory on the pretext that it was a Gaddafi “military storage” facility concealing rocket launchers. “Major parts of the plant have been damaged”, said Abdel-Hakim el-Shwehdy, head of the company running the project.
        War crime: NATO deliberately destroyed Libya’s water

        theecologist.org/2015/may/14/war-crime-nato-deliberatel…
        See all results for this question
        Is NATO’s bombing of critical infrastructure in Libya a war crime?
        Was NATO to blame for the water crisis in Libya?

  76. Ahem,while the war squirrel is deployed……….

    The signs are all there, and they’ve been flashing like neon lights

    for months: New international legislation to “deal with future

    pandemics”.

    We all knew it was coming eventually. Now we have a timeline, and it starts on March 1st.

    Isn’t it amazing what you can almost miss when you’re distracted by a war?

    Speaking of the war, the attitude the WHO takes to Russia during this

    process will be a very interesting barometer. Whether Russia denounces

    the proposed treaty, or is excluded from negotions, will tell us a lot

    about how real the conflict in Ukraine truly is, and what direction the

    Great Reset will take next.

    Indeed, if the war itself is used to further argue we need “stronger

    multilateral institutions” or “important reforms in the security

    council”, it may go some way to revealing the grander agenda.

    https://off-guardian.org/2022/02/26/who-planning-new-pandemic-treaty-for-2024/

    1. 351120 + up ticks

      Afternoon Rik,
      When things really take off will we form a war cabinet
      from the coalition or will that interfere to much with the
      lab/lib/con close shop coalition voting pattern.

      Another thing is when call up is mandatory will our “guest’s” be exempt.

  77. Never mind Russia and Ukraine! I am going to brave the wild territory known as Asda. Meant to go earlier but MH needed me and I needed some pain killer. Ain’t life grand. Age is not for the faint of heart.

      1. Indeed. I was harrassed by a Spook yesterday Geoff. Not something I can prove of course but the conversation and the circumstances strongly suggest it. Keep your eyes open all Nottlers.

          1. Well I’m rather difficult to access socially Bill so there are very limited opportunities to engage directly with me. Now those who read my comments on this Blog might think that I have Vlad Lives tattooed across my forehead but I assure you that it is not so. Thus when complete strangers who look like Worzel Gummidge hail me (from behind) in the street as I’m on my way to my yearly dental check-up (confirmed by email) and tell me how much they admire Honesty and Vlad and how the local MP (who I’ve also emailed) is a schmuck. I suspect that all is not as it appears. Having thus achieved mutual empathy we then enter on a discussion of the geopolitics of the day. If I had advertised for this man he could not have turned out better! This coincidence of time, place and views is just too much to have occurred naturally.

      2. It was scary but I survived. Had an absolutely lovely
        cabbie- he had quite a pronounced accent although spoke very good English. I pointed out to him two planes flying side by side and wondered where they might be headed. He mentioned Ukraine although he pronounced it differently and I asked if he was from there. Not- he is from Kurdistan and he said that all he and his family had known was war. I responded by saying that MH and I were very lucky not to have had to live through any war although grandparents, parents etc had.
        Such a charming guy- he carried all my groceries to the door and when I said that I wished him and his country well, I thought he was going to cry.
        Not a young man either…late 40s early 50s perhaps.
        But I am home and now have a sh** load of bags to unpack.

          4. I haven’t had any vodka since 1968 – I drank it in Moscow and decided I didn’t like it one bit.

  79. Seems we have some Ukrainian sisters staying in the hotel with us. Somewhat tense, because their brother returned to Ukraine to get their mother, and now the borders are closed to men, to keep them in. Brother and mother on the wrong side – not a nice situation to be in.

  82. The bastards aren’t giving up but pressing on!!

    “Using digital IDs will also help door staff to get customers inside the 750 person-capacity club more quickly.”

    The Home Office is also looking to extend the same process into the retail

    sector. Supermarkets such as Tesco, ASDA and Morrisons could also

    introduce AI-powered software that can predict whether shoppers are of

    legal age to buy alcohol and other restricted items.”

    https://www.mrafterparty.com/the-home-office-trials-new-age-digital-id-1account/
    Next………..
    “We note you’ve exceeded your meat allowance for the month please buy more vegetables”
    Later still
    “Eat the bugs bigot!!”

  83. HAPPY HOUR – Man’s best friend…

    A RESCUE dog found tied up who went on to save his owner’s life is among the hero pups shortlisted for a prestigious award.The annual Kennel Club Hero Dog Award celebrates the special relationship between man and his best friend.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/62eb395a693ad343f755a82ef9b8146747547ff2dafde8b01ab69e5f08033c2b.jpg
    https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1570297/hero-pooches-kennel-club-hero-dog-awards

  84. Euromaidan, the original “Ukraine Crisis”

    https://www.theburningplatform.com/2022/02/24/timeline-euromaidan-the-original-ukraine-crisis/#more-261212

    As Russia actually do launch an invasion or “special operation” in Ukraine, we thought now was a good time to recap on how we got here.

    The historical, political and ethnic divisions in Ukraine go back decades, if not centuries, but we don’t have the space for that kind of deep-dive. For now, we’ll be keeping it to three simple parts:

    1) The fall of Viktor Yanukovych.
    2) The Crimean referendum.
    3) The ensuing civil war (which puts the region in a direct path to the events of today).

    Much like our 30 Facts on Covid, this piece is intended as a quick reference guide to help get friends and family up to speed on the recent history of Ukraine, a handy index of contemporary sources, or a refresher course for those who’ve forgotten the details.

    1990
    Following the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany, multiple Western leaders give both written and spoken assurances to then-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, that NATO does not plan to increase its territory eastwards.

    To quote US Secretary of State James Baker:
    “not only for the Soviet Union but for other European countries as well it is important to have guarantees that if the United States keeps its presence in Germany within the framework of NATO, not an inch of NATO’s present military jurisdiction will spread in an eastern direction.”

    1997
    The Charter on a Distinctive Partnership is signed by representatives of both NATO and Ukraine. This document is a long-term agreement that Ukraine will move gradually into cooperation with NATO and eventually become a member. This is in direct violation of the assurances given above.

    2002
    NATO publishes their NATO-Ukraine Action Plan, re-affirming their commitment to “closer ties” with Ukraine, and outlining a long term plan for “reforms” in Ukraine that will make it suitable for “full Euro-Atlantic integration”.

    2008
    US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Volodymyr Ohryzko sign the US-Ukraine Charter on Strategic Partnership, the charter “emphasizes the continued commitment of the United States to support enhanced engagement between NATO and Ukraine”.

    FEBRUARY
    Viktor Yanukovych, leader of Ukraine’s Party of Regions, wins the presidential election and is named Ukraine’s fourth President. Yanukovych is the former governor of Donetsk, the region of his birth, and wins office with a huge percentage of the vote from ethnically Russian east Ukraine.

    MAY
    As one of his first acts as President, Yanukovych signs an agreement with Russia, extending their lease on the Black Sea naval base in Crimea until at least 2042. This extension is met with consternation and rebuke in the Western press, with one paper asking:

    The End of Ukraine’s EU Integration?”

    Writing in the Guardian, Luke Harding called it:

    “the most concrete sign yet that Ukraine is now back under Russia’s influence following Yanukovych’s victory in February’s presidential elections”

    Also noting that “the lease extension is likely to increase opposition to Yanukovych in Ukraine’s western provinces”

    A PEW poll finds the majority of Ukrainians opposed to joining NATO.

    JUNE
    Ukraine’s parliament votes through a new bill barring the country from joining any military bloc. This, as the BBC noted at the time, effectively ends any prospect of Ukraine joining NATO, killing a plan that the West had worked on for 13 years.

    2012
    Yanukovych’s Party of the Regions secures victory in the parliamentary elections, increasing its number of seats and seeing its biggest rival, Arseniy Yatsenyuk‘s Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) party lose 55 seats.

    However, the elections also mark the first time Ukraine elected a far-right MP to its parliament, with Oleh Tyahnybok’s Svoboda party winning 37 seats and over 10% of the vote (entirely from the ethnically Ukrainian west of the country).

    Contemporary press reports, as well as think-tanks such as OpenDemocracy, note the “concerning” rise of “far-right politics” in Ukraine.

    SEPTEMBER
    The Ukrainian cabinet unanimously approves the draft of the long-awaited Ukraine-EU Association Agreement. Yanokuych is expected to officially sign the agreement at the EU’s “Eastern Partnership Summit” in Vilnius on November 28th and 29th.

    Russia – Ukraine’s major creditor and biggest trade partner – warns that this treaty would “cause chaos”, break the terms of an existing treaty between Ukraine and Russia, and lead to Ukraine’s economy collapsing. As a counteroffer, they suggest Ukraine sign a new deal with the Eurasian Economic Union.

    NOVEMBER
    The Ukrainian government issues a decree suspending preparations for the association agreement (AA). Deputy Prime Minister Yuriy Boyko warns the current terms of the agreement would “seriously damage the economy”.

    “Pro European” demonstrations begin in Maidan square within days of the decree being issued. A poll run by the Kyiv Post finds an even split on joining the EU vs the Eurasian customs union: 39% for, 37% against.

    Yanukovych attends the Eastern Partnership Summit on the 28th, but does not sign the Association Agreement, instead suggesting a new tri-lateral agreement between Ukraine, Russia and the EU. Russia is open to negotiating such a deal, but EU rejects this offer completely.

    Despite not signing the AA, Yanukovych tells the press that Ukraine still intends to work for closer ties with the EU: “an alternative for reforms in Ukraine and an alternative for European integration do not exist…We are walking along this path and are not changing direction”.

    Prime Minister Mykola Azarov echoed this: “I affirm with full authority that the negotiating process over the Association Agreement is continuing, and the work on moving our country closer to European standards is not stopping for a single day”.

    Nevertheless, this is ubiquitously covered in the Western media as Yanukoych “refusing to sign the association agreement in favour of closer ties with Russia”.

    Thousands more gather in Maidan Square and others begin occupying Kiev City Hall. Protests intensify as opposition politicians speak of Yanukovych “committing treason”, they call for a re-run of the Presidential election, despite new elections being only 18 months away.

    On November 29th the protesters make their first “official” demands, including the immediate resignation of Viktor Yanukovych.

    DECEMBER
    1/12/2013 – Thousands of protesters chanting “revolution” storm the metal barriers erected by riot police. Protesters throw Molotov cocktails:

    The police withdraw from the square. Over 200 people are injured, including over 100 police officers.

    2/12/2013 – Protesters erect barricades around the Maidan, block access to government buildings and attempt to storm the Presidential administration. Even the Guardian notes that the police withdrew.

    In a press conference, far-right MP Oleh Tyanybohk officially calls it a “revolution”, and asks that police and members of the military defect to their side.

    3/12/2013 – Writing in the New Republic, Julia Ioffe praises the Maidan protesters, citing specifically the throwing of Molotovs at police:

    When the police came, unlike the Muscovites, they didn’t leave. They swung chains and threw Molotov cocktails and built barricades in the streets. They took over municipal buildings. They nearly toppled the city’s main statue of Lenin. They sang the national anthem and chanted “Revolution!”

    8/12/2013 – Protesters topple a statue of Lenin. Grafitti reading “Yanukovych you’re next” is scrawled on walls. An effigy of Gadaffi’s severed head is carried around the square to chants of “Yanukovych the game is over!”. Kyiv Post reports preparation of Molotov cocktails.

    10/12/2013 – Berkut riot police attempt to break down the barricades and clear the square. Tear gas is deployed. They are beaten back.

    11/12/2013 – US Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and US Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt visit the protests and talk to opposition leaders. They are photographed shaking hands and distributing food.

    That same day Foreign Affairs, the official publication of the Council on Foreign Relations, runs an article headlined: “Yanukovych Must Go”

    Also that same day, former President Leonid Kravchuk hosts a “roundtable” political discussion with members of all parties and all of Ukraine’s past presidents, the aim is to diffuse the crisis. The talks have Yanukovych’s blessing, the opposition refuses to attend.

    13/12/2013 – US Senator John McCain visits Kiev where he gives a speech telling the crowd “We are here to support your just cause”.

    Later he is photographed shaking hands with Oleh Tyahnybok, leader of the far-right Svoboda party.

    The UK’s Channel 4 news reported “Far-right group at heart of Ukraine protests meet US senator”.

    2014
    JANUARY
    14/1/2014 – Protest activity resurges after a lull over the Christmas/New Year period.

    15/1/2014 – At a meeting of the US Senate’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Melia admits that the US State Department has spent 5 billion dollars “assisting Ukraine”.

    This includes 180 million dollars on “development programs” for “judges, members of parliament and political parties”.

    16/1/2014 – After weeks of stalemate, the Ukrainian parliament passes ten new bills into law. Known collectively as the “Anti Protest Laws”, these laws allow a strict crackdown on protest activity, including removal of parliamentary immunity from MPs promoting violence and stripping of drivers license from those that used vehicles to obstruct public roads.

    19/1/2014 – Clashes between riot police and protesters on Hrushevskoho Street, many of the protesters are from far-right groups such as Svoboda and Right Sector, and are seen wearing neo-nazi symbols and slogans.

    25/1/2014 – President Yanukovych reaches out to opposition leaders, offering them a power-sharing agreement that would install Yatseniyuk as Prime Minister and Vitaliy Klitschko as his deputy. The opposition refuses the offer.

    28/1/2014 – In a gesture of compromise, the parliament repeals 9 of the ten protest laws, passing a new law granting amnesty to all those involved in the protests, providing they cease occupying government buildings. The opposition refuses these terms.

    FEBRUARY
    7/2/2014 – A recorded phone call between Nuland and Pyatt is leaked to the press, famously dubbed the “fuck the EU” call.

    In the conversation, dated January 28th, Nuland and Pyatt discuss at length the structure of the Ukrainian cabinet once Yanukovych is gone. This is still 25 days before Yanukovych was removed from power

    A poll published that same day by the Kyiv Post found more Ukrainians opposed the Maidan protests than supported them.

    16/2/2014 – In yet another attempt at compromise, the government releases all prisoners arrested during the protests, this time the opposition responds, lifting their 3-month long occupation of Kiev City Hall.

    19/2/2014 – President Yanukovych declares a “truce” in a joint statement signed by the three main opposition leaders. The statement committed to negotiation for a lasting peace.

    20/2/2014 – Snipers open fire on the crowd in Maidan Square, resulting in at least sixty deaths. Both protesters and police officers are killed in the gunfire. EuroNews reports that the “truce is shattered” mere hours after it was signed.

    21/2/2014 – Despite the bloodshed, negotiations continue, resulting in the “Agreement on settlement of political crisis in Ukraine”, signed by all parties plus the foreign minsiters of Germany and Poland.

    The agreement required the creation of a temporary “National Unity Government”, to be replaced following new Presidential Elections by the end of 2014. It also called for a full investigation into the shootings on the Maidan the previous day.

    Yanukovych pledged that the government would not declare a state of emergency or call in the military, and would pull all police back from the site of the protests, in return for protesters surrendering all public buildings and illegal weapons.

    Leaders of the militant protesters – including Dmitryo Yarosh of the neo-Nazi Right Sector – rejected the agreement, and threatened to storm the Parliament and Presidental Residence if Yanukoyvch did not resign immediately.

    22/2/2014 – Rather than abiding by the terms of the agreement, once the police pulled back the protesters stormed government buildings and seized control of Kiev. Yanukovych flees to the city of Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine.

    A contemporary Time article reported:
    Ukraine’s beleaguered President Viktor Yanukovych fled Kiev Saturday as protestors took full control of Ukraine’s capital, signaling a dramatic turn in the three-month crisis just hours after the signing of an European Union-sponsored peace deal […] As police abandoned their posts across the capital, the opposition established control over key intersections and captured the presidential palace, setting up a perimeter around Yanukovych’s former residence
    Within hours of the storming of the city, the Ukrainian parliament votes to strip Yanukovych of his office by 328 votes to 0, with over 120 MPs absent from the vote. This vote was unconstitional and not a legally binding form of impeachment, in any way.
    From the eastern city of Kharkiv, Yanukovych gives a televised speech, declaring he was still the “legitimate elected President of Ukraine“, and that he had no intention of fleeing the country.

    24/2/2014 – Parliament removes 1/3 of Ukraines Constitutional Court from office, issues an arrest warrant for President Yanukovych.

    25/2/2014 – Yanukovych’s own Party of the Regions disavows him in parliament, and he flies to Russia, claiming his life is in danger.

    27/2/2014 – Arseniy Yatsenyuk is sworn in as Ukraine’s interim Prime Minister, a post he would hold onto following elections in May 2014.

    Vitaly Klitschko is relegated to the somewhat lower office of Mayor of Kiev, and Oleh Tyahnybok resumed his office as a simple MP.

    Ukraine’s new government takes shape exactly as predicted by Nuland in her phone call of January 28th.

    The same day Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Secretary General of NATO, tells the press that “the door is still open” for Ukraine to join the military bloc.

    28/2/2014 – UK current events show Newsnight runs this segment, titled “The Neo-Nazi Threat in New Ukraine”:

    MARCH
    Evidence emerges that the snipers shooting at the crowds were not employed by the Ukrainian government, but were shooting at both sides in an effort to stoke chaos.

    This evidence is presented to the EU’s Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton by Estonia Foreign Minister Urmas Paet in a phone call that is later leaked to the press, and confirmed to be genuine by the Estonian government.

    Neither the EU, nor the new government of Ukraine, makes any effort to investigate this evidence or bring the killers to justice.

    On the 21st of March the interim government of Ukraine officialy signs the controversial European Union Association Agreement into law.

    OCTOBER
    Following the 2014 parliamentary elections, the 5-party coalition government officially makes joining NATO a “national priority”.

    So, there it is, a timeline of the key events leading to the fall of Viktor Yanukovych. Genuine grassroots revolution, or NATO backed coup? You decide.

    https://www.theburningplatform.com/2022/02/24/timeline-euromaidan-the-original-ukraine-crisis/#more-261212

  86. That’s me for today. A very pleasant one, too. Gorgeous (if short) sunset just ending. More fine weather tomorrow. And the seedlings I forget to cover last evening ARE alright. Phew!

    Funny how inaccurate the “pin-point accuracy” missiles are. T’was ever thus – if one reads history.

    Have a jolly evening.

    A demain.

    1. You can buy guns in Walmart in the USA. And at gun and knife fairs with no background check.

      1. Quite surreal – when my wife was working in Washington DC I wanted [as a climbing instructor] a knife that I could open one handed, but which wasn’t [certainly at the time] illegal in UK – they sold me a Smith & Wesson tactical effort which was perfect but due to local laws I wasn’t allowed to carry it around so it had to be taped over in a bag while I took it away. Out of interest I asked about buying an HK5 and was told I could collect it on Monday with no tape!!

    2. Remember then there was that islamic terrorist attack in a Kenyan shopping centre?
      I was astonished at the number of guns that suddenly appeared in people’s hands! Rather different from Blighty, where only the criminals have them…

  88. Had a teeny weeny drama today. Hadn’t used my toaster for yonks and when I put bread in and pushed down the lever this morning there were green (not red) sparks in that slot. Switched it off, unplugged and a while later bagged it up and shoved it in my rubbish box (outside and fitted into the wall – all the flats in my block have them). Possibly just needed a good clean but the sparks scared me!

    1. Gawd, nothing scarier than an appliance shooting sparks. Years ago, I had a hair dryer burst into flames while I was using it!

          1. I worked with a huge ex Military policeman many years ago, he’d been in Kenya during Mau-mao, shooting blecks. He once said to me “Your wife frightens me!”
            I told her, and she pretended to be offended, but you could tell she was pleased!
            One tough, lovely, lady. I’m still glad we married 39 years and seven months ago. No regrets. Best decision I ever made, to ask her.

          2. She sounds like a lady I would get on with very well. I am also formidable when required. No kids messed with me in school!

        1. I read that in Soviet times, Russians would actually ask on what day a TV was made. Apparently ones made on Friday were extra shoddy because all those dedicated workers wanted a longer weekend. There was a higher possibility of them catching fire.

          1. To be honest, it was like that with British made cars! Monday morning or Friday afternoon vehicles were dodgy at best!

        2. When we were at university we married and rented a small terrace.
          We discovered a valve TV in the cupboard under the stairs.
          Monty Python was essential viewing, so because the JCR was packed, people came to our small front room (near a pub for later) to watch..
          One night the TV burst into flames. Fortunately one of the group had the presence of mind to leap for the plug and pull it from the socket.
          Water soon solved the fire problem but HG and I were left to clear up as the rest left for the pub.
          The Pike and Eel on Water Street.

    2. Long ago when I was very little we had an electric fire, the kind with a wire-wound element. When my parents were absent I sometimes amused myself by throwing pins onto the element. Lovely blue sparks.

    3. Sue, forgive me but I read that as a rather rude double entendre. In my defence, that’s after a stiff (NO!) gin & It, and a couple of glasses of wine. I blame it on my upbringing at a boys-only school.

    4. MOH set ours on fire – left the bread jammed in it and when smoke filled the kitchen came into town to find me to sort it (I had gone to do the food shopping), leaving all the doors and windows open and the dog roaming in the garden! I have only just had a replacement toaster (a Christmas gift from a friend).

    5. Green sparks due to copper in wire elements, I suspect. Most toasters have a removable crumb tray underneath.

    3. Should have gone all-electric. Then they could just plug-in at any point and wait 6 hours to recharge.

  90. ‘Night All
    It’s all too too depressing at the moment time for some old fashioned escapism
    Everybody knows James Bond I wonder how many know Tommy Hambledon, the books by Manning Coles are a joy,a lost world……

    1. Try some Josephine Tey detective books, Sharon Kay Penman as recommended to Andrew L, Edward Rutherford & etc. There’s a lot out there well worth a good read. If you’re feeling really brave you could try the Brontes or Jane Austen.
      (I do like winding people up.)

        1. They’re like old friends, aren’t they? I return over and over to well loved books and each time I re-read it’s a new experience.
          I did the Brontes for my final paper at university and have never lost my affection for them.

        2. My faves – esp when feeling low – are Brideshead Revisited; and Bomber (the incomparable Len Deighton). I know chunks of each by heart!

          4. Still here?
            I had assumed that you, your children, grandchildren, nephews and nieces would have been on a flight to fight in Ukraine.

            Or are you a typical EUrophile who expects others to die on their behalf.

          6. I look at both sides of the argument.
            EUrophiles don’t. And you certainly don’t.

            So, having asked you several questions over the last few days, none of which you’ve bothered to answer, I will repeat:
            Look at the map of Europe in1989 just after the break up of the USSR. Look at it, and the memberships of the EU and NATO now.
            Are you seriously trying to pretend that Russia shouldn’t feel threatened?
            Are you really going to pretend that the EU and NATO haven’t lied, haven’t dissembled?
            Actually I’ll answer my own question.
            You think all that is good. But then you are a EUrophile and a globalist.

            So Geoffrey, when are you and all your extended family going to fight and die for what you believe in?

            Because until you and yours do, don’t tell me and mine to do so.

          10. I love the Deighton Trilogy of trilogies: Game, set & match; Hook,line & sinker, Failth, hope & charity.
            Beautifully written, nice characteisation, set in a realistic time. I read them often; The, the prequel – Winter.

          13. Marvellous series – although i have to admit I get a little lost at times and have to re-read certain sections! I rather enjoyed the Game, Set & Match TV series with Ian Holm but apparently LD didn’t so they never continued – pity!

          14. I thought your favorite bedside book and bible was Megarry and Wade: The Law of Real Property.

    3. Try Neville Shute, R-R; I enjoyed several of his novels in the ‘Fifties …

      ‘Suddenly, On the Beach’ has become relevant …

      I’ll pull on my racing helmet …

      1. Leon Uris was another of that era.
        I used to read his books instead of studying as I should have!

      1. Putin may well be being painted into a corner and the cornered rat is the most dangerous.
        1 I am still convinced that the EU and NATO are the ones that are really at fault here, but hey ho they’re allegedly the good guys
        2 Poking the bear has produced this reaction.
        3 Threatening Finland and Sweden was stupidity of the highest order.
        4 Ultimately, this is about globalists vs Nation States and their peoples.
        If the globalists win, which I fear they will, people can look forward to Trudeau/Ardern/Macron style controls on every aspect of their lives.
        Great reset, here we come.

      1. They are certainly doing a very good job of turning a staunch monarchist into a republican.

        There are times when I start to believe they have a desire to end it.
        President Johnson or President Blair, or even worse, President Khan.

      1. Taking a step back from my shout.

        I agree, but possibly, just possibly, an a-political pair might get people to talk?
        Soft power is what people keep suggesting Britain has. If there is any way it can be used to de-escalate it must be worth trying?

        If it does, then my shout was wrong.

  93. And so it escalates:
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10555161/Germany-overrules-weapons-transfer-policy-dating-WWII-guns-sent-help-Ukraine.html

    Germany will send 1,000 anti-tank weapons and 500 missiles to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia – after overruling its own weapons transfer policy dating back to WWII
    German Chancellor Olaf Scholz: ‘It is our duty to do our best to support Ukraine in defending itself against Putin’s invading army’
    Germany will let Netherlands ship 400 German-made anti-tank weapons to Ukraine; 14 armoured vehicles and up to 10,000 tonnes of fuel will also be sent by Germany to Ukraine
    Move confirms a shift in policy after Germany faced criticism for refusing to send weapons to Kyiv, unlike other Western allies
    Germany has had a long-standing policy of not exporting weapons to war zones, rooted partly in its bloody 20th-century history and resulting pacifism

    Germany lecturing the world on invasions, not even Woollard could make it up.
    The EU at its very best.

    1. How about a consignment of broomsticks? German soldiers could show the Ukrainians how to use them.

      1. I was discussing this with HG yesterday, she was very surprised that Germany had its soldiers drilling with broomsticks.
        She didn’t believe me.
        {:-((

    2. “Germany will send 1,000 anti-tank weapons and 500 missiles to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia – after overruling its own weapons transfer policy dating back to WWII.

      German Chancellor Olaf Scholz: ‘It is our duty to do our best to support Ukraine in defending itself against Putin’s invading army'”

      I recall – recently – Germany’s commitment to – and indefinite reliance upon – Russia for oil and gas supplies – having shut down future investment in domestic nuclear power generation.

      A case of biting the hand that heats you?

    3. Interesting, as I thought the German constitution had serious limits on what they could do in that regard? At least that seemed to be what they claimed when NATO wanted something? Pity in some ways, as all the Germans I worked with were very good soldiers!

    5. Just shut up about Geoffrey W. You have your opinions and he has his…doesn’t make either of you right.

          1. Indeed.
            My son has just said he’s glad he’s past conscription age.
            Two younger relatives have recently joined up, I wonder what they’re feeling now.

          3. Sorry, I thought you were still discussing my contretemps with GW and the potential for larger scale war.

  94. Evening, all. People derided us Brexiteers as “Little Englanders”. In my view, far from being the insult intended, the Little England policy (i e not getting embroiled in world affairs) has a lot to recommend it.

      1. Probably not.
        But are you seriously suggesting that there won’t be anyone with channels back to Putin?

    2. To be fair, srb; the assumptions and basis of plans for this annual reception have been ‘blown out of the water’ by the events of the last few days in Ukraine …

      It seems wise to postpone and review future plans …

      1. Why?
        If those invited actually talked calmly it might do some good, I doubt it would do any harm.

          1. “Yes, but it was an easy trip, the Woollard family allowed us to use their private jet for its return flight.
            They went to fight for us”

    2. “These US bio-laboratories are funded by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) under a $ 2.1 billion military program– Cooperative Biological Engagement Program (CBEP), and are located in former Soviet Union countries such as Georgia and Ukraine, the Middle East, South East Asia and Africa.”
      I don’t see China on that list. Wasn’t Wuhan in part at least funded by the US? I thought I’d read that.

  97. It seems that the new naval base the UK were building for Ukraine at Ochakiv near Odessa has been destroyed…….shame.

      1. I don’t think payment was ever mentioned.
        It is very rare for Ukraine to pay for anything.

        1. Oh, I don’t know.

          They’re certainly paying now.

          Although I suspect it will be the West/EU/NATO who honour the cheques.

  98. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10555299/Chelsea-owner-Roman-Abramovich-hands-club-charitable-foundation.html

    Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich hands club to charitable foundation hours after fears it could go BUST if he was hit with sanctions

    Surely the issue here is running expenses as much as ownership?
    How will the club survive without his hobby money?

    To be honest, I would be delighted if all these Premier League clubs run off the back of oligarchs/Petrolheads/shopkeepers went bust.

    1. We’d hopefully get more English players in the Premiership as the lack of funds sends the foreign players back home.

  99. Breaking News – Protesters in Russia against the war are having their children taken away, their pets destroyed and their bank accounts frozen.
    Putin has been accused of going full Trudeau

    1. Putin wouldn’t dare.
      There are nowhere near enough woolly headed Woollards to do what Canada, NZ and the EU can.

  100. Odd that all the anti-Putin lefties (and that in itself is ironical) are not dashing off, like Shamima Begum, to join Ukrainian State.

    Now, just as a matter of idle curiosity, can anyone explain precisely what the difference would be?

  102. No coward soul is mine
    No trembler in the world’s troubled sphere….

    It’s a long poem and I can’t recall it all these days. By Emily Bronte.

    It’s been a tough day but will KBO.

  103. I am just so confused and overwhelmed by the bombardment of Putin/Ukraine/Russia/Zelensky ‘facts‘, that I’m not looking at any more.

    1. I agree, it is so hard to know what to believe any more, and when you do believe, you find out it was all a load of codswallop!!

      1. Yes, the MSM has proved totally biased in recent years and governments lying is a matter of course so I don’t trust them. The anti-globalists tell me Putin is the incarnation of an anti-woke, anti-Green, and christian valued leader. I’m going to hedge my bets here, and hope for the best, but expect the worst.

    2. Honestly Mola, it’s about all I can do to cope here right now. Sod everything else and especially what pretends to be a govt in this country.

        1. Thanks Mola- you and David are two of my bestest friends here. Sorry- if I seem maudlin but am exhausted and in some pain. As is MH.
          I do wish you well, as always.

    3. From what, i have read on here and delving into Wiki, it was basically agreed, after the fall of the Iron Curtain (shows my age) that NATO would not advance East,

      EU and NATO have..breached that understanding

  104. Back from the King’s Head!
    Dr. Daughter turned up with her boyfriend earlier this afternoon and decided to go to pub with S@H son, so I followed on to the Barley Mow and had a couple of pints with them.
    Then I walked through the fields to the KH, admiring the excellent view of Orion as I went.
    The pub was very quiet with only a half dozen customers, but soon livened up with the village panto finished ( which I’d forgot about) and the cast came in.

    Two totally different pubs, but both acting as pubs should,

    And now i’m off to bed!

  105. I know there are many wonderful things in life- Bach’s harpsichord concertos… sublime?

  106. The Peace Dividend!

    Remember all the money we had to spend on other things after the fall of the Berlin Wall because armaments, soldiers, sailors and airmen would be needed in far smaller numbers?

    1. Sadly, politicians live for the next sound bite. They failed to appreciate that humans are still tribal despite what niceties are bandied around.

  107. The Peace Dividend!

    Remember all the money we had to spend on other things after the fall of the Berlin Wall because armaments, soldiers, sailors and airmen would be needed in far smaller numbers?

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