Saturday 28 September: What Chris Whitty still gets wrong about the government’s response to Covid

Posted on by Geoff Graham

An unofficial place to discuss the Telegraph letters, established when the DT website turned off its commenting facility (now reinstated, but we prefer ours),
Intelligent, polite, good-humoured debate is welcome, whether on or off topic. Differing opinions are encouraged, but rudeness or personal attacks on other posters will not be tolerated. Posts which – in the opinion of the moderators – make this a less than cordial environment, are likely to be removed, without prior warning.  Persistent offenders will be banned.

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

642 thoughts on “Saturday 28 September: What Chris Whitty still gets wrong about the government’s response to Covid”

  1. Ooh, here’s something novel. Me starting the thread for tomorrow by saying goodnight for today.

    3. I read the American podcasts about now. There is no genuine British news of any relevance at present, just nonsense pieces by idiots on inflated BBC salaries paid for by us via a compulsory licence fee plus contributions from their masters, Soros and Gates and a few others which enables the BBC to carry on with their infantile politics regardless.

    1. I bet he's not going fully electric next year in a grand virtue-gesture of automotive suicide.

  3. The Tories’ enemy is now clear for all to see. The party must equip itself for the fight
    Sir Keir has now clearly articulated the socialist world view. Candidates for the Tory leadership must show why it is so damaging
    Charles Moore: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/09/27/the-tories-enemy-is-now-clear-for-all-to-see/

    BTL

    What we need is The Reformed Conservative Party in about three years time.

    All the left of centre members of the Conservative Party party should not be nominated as future parliamentary candidates and any sitting left of centre Conservative MPs should be deselected.

    All the the candidates for the new party should be firmly right of centre with the majority being those from the current Reform Party. The leader should be Nigel Farage.

    Such a party would wipe out Labour in five years time.

    (Where Johnson went wromng as far as Brexit was concerned in the 2019 election was that he allowed too many remainers to remain as Conservative MPs – they should have been deselected. He should also have come to terms with Nigel Farage who had a greater knowledge of the workings of the EU parliament than anyone in Britain having served so many years as Euro MP)

    1. A nice dream
      However, the conservatives will decide that they need further to the centre to appeal to the mythical undecided voter.

      It took the Canadian conservatives two elections to cotton on to this.

    2. Charles Moore still playing the game of pretending that there's any difference between the main parties.
      Did the Cons reverse net zero? no they didn't – can't remember who set it in law in the first place, could have been either of them.
      Did they stop the invasion? no they didn't.
      Did they bring down national debt? no they didn't
      Did they have discernably different foreign or covid policies? Again no.
      Is there any difference in support for one world government between Labour and Conservatives? Definitely not, they both support it.

      Communism was the parasite class's first attempt at one world government – if they succeed this time via the WHO world "pandemic" rules, which will include anything deemed to affect health, which means ANYTHING, so in effect, a one world government – it won't be different from communism. There will be a small elite at the top with every luxury and a large mass of hungry, controlled humanity living dreary, mundane, rationed, propaganda-ridden lives.

      And Charles Moore thinks I should vote for the blue version of world government instead of the red one!

    3. 393628+ up ticks,

      Morning R,

      "The Tories’ enemy is now clear for all to see. The party must equip itself for the fight"

      They are doing that alright in my book, under the guise of reform the tory mark 2 is coming to the fore, last time was a trial run next time there will be NO survivors in the ranks of the patriotic decent.

      1. 393628+ up ticks,

        O2O,

        In five years time adhering to the same voting pattern ALL leading political capos,will have the the prefix title
        ……………….MOHAMMED.

    1. Good morning, Rik-Redux. Bill Thomas is baffled by the top video. He only needs TWO cats (Gus and Pickle) to produce similar mayhem. Lol.

  7. Tree surgeon bludgeoned wife and killed himself after large tax bill. 27 September 2024.

    A tree surgeon bludgeoned his wife and killed himself in a murder-suicide weeks after receiving a large tax bill, an inquest heard.

    Richard Parks, 63, stabbed and strangled his wife Suratchanee “Lat” Parks, 53, during the attack at their home in Tunbridge Wells earlier this year.

    As you do of course. I’ve had dealings with the Inland Revenue and they are not fond memories.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/09/27/tree-surgeon-bludgeoned-wife-killed-himself-tax-bill/

    1. Good morning, Minty. What a Silly Sausage that man has been. It's the Tax Man he should have killed, not his wife.

        1. Without meaning to be Bernard Woolly; apologies but a machine cannot be undead.

          Bluntly, the tax code is too complicated. It's designed that way to ensure that as much private wealth is stolen as possible. Some of the tax exemptions are impossible to get. Some are literally only available the third Monday in every quarter between certain hours. It is utterly dysfunctional.

          The revenue is a useless entity that employs far too many people who don't provide sufficient value for money. Scrap both.

          Again, it comes down to the fundamental, obvious problem. The UK is not a democracy. The public have no control over the state machine. Heck, far too many of the public are too thick to be permitted such control.

    2. Good morning, Minty. What a Silly Sausage that man has been. It's the Tax Man he should have killed, not his wife.

    3. I wonder if I will get back almost the amount of my heating allowance after the bastards stole it when I made a withdrawal from my already taxed savings.
      I had a HMRC letter this week, right address but totally the wrong name for the address. I was tempted to open it…..

  9. Medley….
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d62b0da161d62e81db8e0c9a13e0e79fad9dd911f9eda30d6ad0873597775d93.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/831db211bcebb2a3b865c88c994d2206619aea204618cc4894cf150d51065e71.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6b40ffb112735a33aba7c633cdb46ecfb07e16007446273384f93f984612e3a0.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c5c8e9623af692e8d4f513a061aa1263d0995492f9c53920afd5c85fb9fc2481.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f82de24177763c8b58ce93df608b688f96a7afc11ba7bad7cf3824e419292861.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/26aeec6fb5b36a1e4d62d090dab769b1f9b911715b4c14eec1ea15d85d137917.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/dabe78760fd0eae9546c74b3c163efc1a5634cd975a6b6d6df54c63804492cd6.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d83893f169dbf324bb4e3b2d7609147a5fe7db37068c68c4455c889013514d68.jpg

  10. Good morning, chums. Wow, Geoff, you certainly got up early this morning. Thanks, as usual.

    Wordle 1,197 4/6

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    1. Good morning Elsie – lLots of options today!
      Wordle 1,197 5/6

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      1. From a seaside village in Valencia

        Wind Warning State Meteorological Agency 20°C
        Saturday 11:37 Sunny
        High 24°C

    1. NWO, WEF, HMG, EU etc say

      (in this case only) You must not believe everything anything that you read in the Press

    2. The green agenda has absolutely nothing – not. A. Thing. to do with science. It is about forcing socialism, the latest scam of taking money from the earner and moving it to the state to destroy.

      As long as science is used as the counter it will fail. The truth must be discussed – it's just the Left's latest effort at control.

  13. 393628+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    The tactical voter could not have been more successful in damaging the already well crinally abused REALM if it tried, and over the last three plus decades, brother has it triad

    They, the political elites and their purchasers are certainly lording it over wanna be serfs in no uncertain manner
    straight in your face "this is how it is going to be"

    Head down, arse up and clear the nasal passages for paying.

    https://x.com/PeteJacksonGMP/status/1839905449228873954

    1. Sadly true. Having spent 15 years whinging about corruption suddenly Labour prove themselves incompetent by not being able to hide their own.

  16. Heat-pump sales plummet by almost 50pc across Europe. 29 September 2024.

    Heat-pump sales in Europe plummeted by 47 per cent in the first half of the year, as fewer households switched from gas boilers.

    Just 765,000 heat pumps were sold in 2024 across the 13 European countries that represent 80 per cent of the market, the European Heat Pump Association said.

    I wouldn’t take one as a gift.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/09/27/heat-pump-sales-plummet-almost-50pc-europe/

    1. We have one as part of this eco4 grant thing. They're ugly, brutalist things. Can they heat the house? Probably, but they're not designed for draghty, wet Britain.

      Yesterday when we got in it was about 17-18 'c inside. If we had gas we'd have tapped the heat on for a couple of hours and then turned it off. You can't do that with a heat pump. First it'd cost about £5, second it's just not how they're supposed to work.

      Bluntly, energy in the UK is the most expensive in the world for the sole reason of the demented obsession with green (when it is none of the sort). Unreliables will never, ever be cheap or practical to run a modern economy – but that's the point. They're intended to destroy our way of life, to force socialism.

      The 'british energy' farce is 8 billion quid – seriously, 8 thousand million pounds for… what? A system of hiding the cost of energy from the tax payer by funnelling real money into the public sector in return for promises of massive ROI – again, at tax payers expense? Does the oaf – the utter, incompetent, useless, stupid, psychopathic low intelligence waster socialist Miliband have a clue how long it takes to earn that money that he wastes on pointless, unnecessary, unwanted drivel?

      Ministers should be made accountable for every penny of their department. That way Milioaf wouldn't be thinking to spaff billions – he'd be immediately jailed.

      I hate them. Truly, honestly, I absolutely hate them.

      1. My father had one in his home near Adelaide in the early 1990s. It was a great big lump of a thing and was supposed to heat the home and save a fortune in energy costs. I went out there in January though and never saw it working in winter. The solar water heating on the roof (black plastic pipework) worked great though.

        My mother said it was always cold indoors in winter, even though Adelaide is on about the same latitude as the Mediterranean, and really they needed supplementary heating as well. Until the last couple of years, my parents returned to the UK in April for our summer. My father died in the middle of winter there, despite the heat pump.

        One fundamental principle of Green philosophy is biodiversity. Applied to energy production, I would have thought that the more different ways there were available to keep warm, the better. Never put all one's eggs in one basket, lest someone then take the basket away and then you'd be as stuffed as the Christmas turkey.

        1. I'd be surprised if a heat pump was pumping warm in in January in Adelaide – that's midsummer.

    2. On the Continent, a lot of towns and cities are installing heating networks, and houses connect just like water or gas. So then the house doesn't need its own heat pump, there is some massive central heat exchange system.

  17. Morning Nottlers All
    Today's Tale
    There was a drum roll, and the lion tamer cracked his whip. The largest, most savage-looking lion opened his mouth, and to everyone’s amazement the lion tamer unzipped his fly and stuck his dick in the lion’s mouth. The applause was tumultuous. There were cheers and calls for an encore.
    The lion tamer went to the microphone and announced, “That act was not difficult. Anyone can do it! The owners of this circus offer $1,000 to anyone from the audience who can emulate that feat right here and now. Do we have any volunteers?"
    “Here!” called a squeaky voice from the back row, and the spotlight picked up a skinny little man with a droopy moustache. He was called down into the ring and the Ringmaster asked him if he was ready. “Yes,” said the timid little fellow. “I don’t think I can open my mouth as wide as the lion, but I’ll give it a go."

  18. <a rant>

    I'd just make a comment on this modern attempt at 'design'. Without the ad blocker there are 4 intrusive cubes at the top fo the page that flicker and flash. Beneath that, posts are truncated so you have to click 'see more' to read them full content. Then some are simply hidden (twitter and video links for example). Some replies are also hidden until you click see more.

    I don't know why this stupid decision was made by disqus, but microsoft, vuckle, reddit, and google all do the same and make communication platforms hard to use.

    It really, truly shouldn't be necesary to employ a script that removes the javascript that crushes comment replies. Computers have more than enough horsepower to handle it and, if the developers did a better job rather than spewing unfinished, open ended dross with no memory management into websites the problem they're pretending to fix wouldn't exist in the first place!

    </a rant>

    1. I have this particular hatred of forced scrolling, especially when trying to buy something online. Anyone tried to get anything from Screwfix since they stopped printing the catalogue? You get two or three items on a screen, a blue one, a red one, a yellow one, going down all the permutations three by three until about fifty screens down, there is an alternative. In the past I could see all the variants on one page and it took about a second to find what I wanted.

      1. Write to them. Tell them what you don't like. Find their technical bods on LinkedIn and contact them directly.

        As daft as that might sound, I know the Screwfix guys. I imagine there was a good reason for the change but if you, as a customer are finding it hard to use their site they will change.

        1. Their PR will always find a good reason for the change, even if only it was a "tough decision". No doubt it was something to do with compatibility with smartphones. Life is too short to be spun at.

          I did mention it a year ago to the man at the counter, who agreed with me and was struggling himself with the system. If Screwfix management and their software developers will not listen to their counter staff, then on their heads be it.

  20. Morning, all Y'all.
    Sunny here, but reading the Telegraph headline, seems that the UK is submerged.
    Joy. We're flying over on Monday for a visit to In-laws. I can see us sitting in traffic a lot… 🙁

    1. Obs, over here we tend to sit in traffic a lot because it is too cold, too hot, too sunny, too dark, too dry, too wet or perhaps because our population numbers has exploded over these past few years and there just too many cars on the roads.

        2. I have mental absences. Suddenly wake up in a bad mood. It also ruins my memory, so I'm not driving, either.

  21. And here's one for you. Neither of us can remember the right word in English: Whats the word that describes the mud or sand equivalent of driftwood, that's moved by the current to form an inconvenient sandbank in the river or the sea? Just can't get it…

    4. If you're discussing an unwanted obstruction in the smooth running of an entity I give you: government.

    6. Yer Norwegian word is "Strømsgods" – stuff deposited by the current or tide.
      So, I guess mudbank or sandbank is the best translation.
      Thanks. Clearly I need more coffee…

  22. This may be of use!

    DVSA Scam message

    We have had a 'scam message' from DVSA and ignored it

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/uk-drivers-scam-dvsa-text-message-b2619322.html

    How to report suspicious text messages, and what to do if you think you’ve responded to a scam text.
    Report a text message you think is a scam

    Most phone providers are part of a scheme that allows customers to report suspicious text messages for free by forwarding it to 7726.

    If you forward a text to 7726, your provider can investigate the origin of the text and arrange to block or ban the sender, if it’s found to be malicious.

    https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/collection/phishing-scams/report-scam-text-message

    1. I like the fact that the scammers included a couple of elementary spelling mistakes to make the message look genuine….

      Morning OLT and all

      1. Yes, I was struggling with a government form yesterday and noticed an error of syntax. Now that the public sector is stuffed with vurreners, it is to be expected. The eventual stumbling block was trying to complete a date (numerically) in the format 'dd-mmm-yyyy'. Gave up.

          1. The format I use is 28Sep24 as it avoids to confusion with 01/06/24 being either 1st of June or 6th of January.

          2. The ISO standard is year month day, just to cause confusion. I guess it’s easier to sort in rising or falling order, but a bit unnatural anyhow.

      2. Yes, I was struggling with a government form yesterday and noticed an error of syntax. Now that the public sector is stuffed with vurreners, it is to be expected. The eventual stumbling block was trying to complete a date (numerically) in the format 'dd-mmm-yyyy'. Gave up.

    2. Makes no difference. One number is shut down a hundred more are created. This ends when we have coded identifiers for sources sending messages and everything else is rejected. That would also guarantee privacy and arguably would mean a peer to peer network to prevent the likes of meta – who own whatsapp – parroting the line that messages are end to end encrypted when they're snooping on your address book to see who you talk to and matching that with what you've bought to sell to others in your book. The messages are irrelevant. It's the social network they're stealing.

  23. Seems the odious Warsi woman has a book to flog: “MUSLIMS DON’T MATTER by Sayeeda Warsi”

  24. Morning all 🙂😊
    Lovely sunny start clear sky.
    A good day to pick more apples from another neighbours tree. A lot less than last time but a different variety.
    No idea what Chris Wittering is talking about. They all spend more time trying to gloss over their inherent BS than the public want to see or hear.
    And we are all the losers which ever way it comes at us.

      1. They really are the fatberg in the sewer. An unwanted collection of detritus, excrement, unflushable waste mostly generated by an unwanted, alien, filthy group who live off other people's money.

  26. Good morning all,

    Sunny at Castle McPhee, wind North-West, 6℃ rising to 12℃ this afternoon.

    Are these an example of modern young Britons:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bca2064db11e7155d78936a98b183ffc55ff117a8a4169cd2fc6cf8b6341fc94.png
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/09/27/couple-caught-performing-sex-act-under-coats-easyjet-flight/

    I'm not so old that I can't remember what it was like to be young and in lust. Looking at the young lady, I can see why her boyfriend perhaps felt some sense of urgency but surely they had just been in a hotel room together for a week or two? Weren't they worn out? Couldn't they have waited until landing and gone straight to the nearest Travelodge? Restraint and anticipation would have made it all the sweeter, would it not? But no, the Me Now cultural god must be appeased. Regardless of the location.

    3. After 6 months of chaste partnership the Warqueen veritably jumped me. We couldn't be prised apart for the next few months, let alone weeks. We were working at opposite ends of Buck Palace road and I'm fairly sure some people must have noticed two people dashing to one another as often as possible.

      1. I can't imagine why they thought they wouldn't be noticed. Or perhaps that was a part of the thrill.

  27. 393628+ up ticks,

    Shebeens & the fair old mountain dew will come to the fore,

    right or wrong via choice, my town you could still find on closing time the ashtrays come out and the drinking continues.

    This would be a surefired case as " politically,do NOT do as we DO but as WE say,"

    Dt,

    First Labour stubbed out smoking. Will it banish booze too?
    After the proposed outdoor smoking ban in pubs and fears over shorter drinking hours, is the state about to call time on alcohol as well?

  28. Good Moaning.
    Girls from north of the river are too canny.

    "An enabler for Mohamed Fayed sought out young women in pubs and clubs for the Harrods billionaire to prey on, it can be revealed.
    The young blonde associate, who cannot be named for legal reasons, would visit pubs in Surrey looking for “pretty young girls” and promise them a job at Harrods, a woman whom she procured has claimed."

    1. Morning Anne

      There was also a procurer who went to various venues etc to persuade girls to be Bunny girls , talking now about the early 1970's.

      A friend of mine was inveigled by a very persuasive man , she spent a few youthful years in London and overseas bobbling her white tail, and keeping her bunny ears clean!!!!

      She really wanted to be an air hostess with BOAC, and she passed all her interviews , but.. I think some one from now BA persuaded her to try for Bunny club hostessing

      When she parted ways or rather was replaced because she was in her thirties , she became travel agent , and then an estate agent in later life .

    2. A woman who had been sexually molested in a Ladies' loo in a restaurant by Fayed when she was 19 years old was interviewed by Patrick Christys on GB News last night. She gave up her anonymity to give a harrowing account of her experience and to explain why people in her position could not come forward at the time. The poor woman explained that she felt ashamed and dirty and knew that she would not be believed. And indeed numerous reports were made of Fayed's rapes and molestations but none of them came to court. Obviously Fayed had bought his way into the police and the judiciary to protect himself

      "Beware of Greeks bearing gifts."

      Nowadays it is Muslim Arabs of whom one should beware and the Labour government should mull this over.

      1. Sorry, I don't believe that an Egyptian was able to buy up the British police and judiciary, especially one as controversial as Fayed.

        Today, perhaps. But in former times, very unlikely.

          1. This is historical though isn’t it? Nowadays, all bets are off. Fayed was such an outsider, I just don’t believe that he could have pulled that off without any rumours.

      2. Sorry, I don't believe that an Egyptian was able to buy up the British police and judiciary, especially one as controversial as Fayed.

        Today, perhaps. But in former times, very unlikely.

  29. The best way to get your enemy to underestimate you is to play stupid..

    The smarty-pants firmly believe Kamala Harris is deliberately putting on a low-IQ act. Like Starmer, she is coming across as benign & harmless. However, once in power they reckon she will go full-on Pol Pot, and set out to erase the past.. manufacture a new culture, invent a new history.

    And like Starmer draped in Union Jacks.. very patriotic. At the border yesterday she said..
    "The United States is a sovereign nation and I believe we have a duty to set rules at our border and enforce them. And I take that responsibility very seriously."

    Beware Harris is the real deal Marxist.

    1. The charade unravels when people realise she is genuinely stupid. If you've ever heard her speak without a teleprompter it's truly embarrassing.

      1. That's just it.. it takes high IQ to pull that off. Anyhow, Obama, Buttigieg, Harris all have fathers who were Marxist professors. Though to be fair Wikipedia has "rewritten" that one for Harris.

    2. It is her administration that ordered the local authorities at the southern border to stop repairing the holes in the fences.

    3. It is far easier to believe that she's a marxist than to believe that she's clever and merely pretending to be stupid.

  30. There is a new book out its title is Led by Donkeys. Showing a familiar clock tower on the front cover.
    Apparently written by four friends.
    I think we all know what it's about. But I guess worth a read. I'll order a copy from my library assistant good lady. 😉

      1. I couldn’t seem to find that much info.
        Thanks for that.
        Perhaps they are worried about sales.

      2. Not the sharpest knives in the drawer, are they. If government avoided anything that might get people killed, they wouldn't do much.
        Roads? Someone might die in a traffic accident, better not build those.
        Defending the border? Might get someone killed.
        etc.

  31. Good morning all.
    A bit of a lie in, so a bright start with scattered cirrus clouds and a rather cool -½°C on the Yard Thermometer.

    1. Imagine wasting that much money on clothes. Worse, having someone else pay for them when you earn so much. How utterly without shame the troughing sewage is.

      1. Through sheer hard work and ability a past acquaintance rose to the top in the world of supermarkets; just as he started to receive the sort of mega salary that made life much easier, his family grocery purchases and his holiday expenses reduced to almost zero. Suppliers sent him samples of every new variety of prepared food that might (might) be suitable for retailing, and the big brands invited him (and his guests) abroad and to sporting and cultural events, free of charge. One significant difference between him and 650 MPs is that a) he didn't have a FIVE YEAR contract of employment and b) the shareholders expected good results.

        Edited

  33. 393628+ up ticks,

    @gjb2021

    ·
    Gerard Batten,

    Oh dear, Unclear Sir Keir will struggle to survive this one.

    His sugar daddy makes some cash from tax havens.

    Good luck to him, but don’t use the profits to fund socialists who want to cripple the rest of us with more taxes.

    Even so, how come none of this came out before the election? Do you get the feeling Sir Keir has been set up to fail?

    But by which side – his own or the other?

    2. Yes, I am getting a strong impression that 2TK has been set up to fall – the stuff that's been reported are the kind of things that newspaper editors sit on until they want to get rid of someone. For example we were told that the Labour cabinet had hoovered up 800 000 worth of freebies since the election by the same media who apparently didn't notice that Theresa May got paid a huge amount for a short series of lectures delivered remotely shortly after leaving office.

      1. 393628+ up ticks,

        Afternoon BB2,
        Getting weighed in piecemeal as he progresses in reverse, yes as with as you say treacherous treasa, weighed in for tour speeches never uttered, and other dodgy dealings
        rendered,treachery ALL the way.

      1. Possible film titles: The Joy of Vegetables. Grow your own orgasmic Carrots. Tulip salad, etc (insert your own puns)
        Update: "No milk today, my love has gone away"

  35. I came across this old joke

    Kier Starmer, Joe Biden, and Vladimir Putin all die and go to hell.
    While there, they spy a red phone and ask what the phone is for.
    The Devil tells them it is for calling back to Earth.
    Putin calls Russia and talks for 5 minutes.
    When he has finished the devil informs him that the cost is a million dollars, so Putin writes him a cheque.
    Next Biden calls the U.S. and talks for 30 minutes.
    When he's finished the devil informs him that the cost is 6 million dollars, so Biden writes him a cheque.
    Finally Kier Starmer gets his turn and calls UK for 4 hours.
    When he's finished, the devil informs him that there is no charge and he should feel free to call UK at any time.
    Putin and Biden go ballistic and ask the devil why Starmer got to call UK free.

    The devil replied, "Since Kier Starmer became Prime Minister of United Kingdom, the Country has gone to hell, so it's a local call."

    1. The lot of them have to go. Not just Starmer, the entire damned government. Get rid of all 650 of them and cut taxes, scrap most of them.

      Stop these fools from doing any more damage to the country by preventing them levying or raisng any tax without public permission – and then stop the dross from having a vote!

      1. Between them all they take home many millions each year in their 'expenses' claims.
        Even property rentals.
        Where's Elizabeth Filkin when we need her ?

          1. Absolutely, made a Dame and dumped into the HoL’s, she’s 83 now.
            Another example of the way our political classes behave. Awful and vile creatures.

    2. I doubt I've spent as much as 16k in my lifetime on clothes, Johnny – let alone 32k. (Now in my late 70s…) And that red dress is designer? who knew.

    3. The only solution is a strict ban on ANY donations to MPs and ministers, or their offices, and making that a criminal offence. Donations in any form, cash, like-for-like, goodwill, etc.

    2. I suspect that Alli is behaving as Al Fayed did and giving lavish favours, bribes and money to as many people in the government as he can in order to buy himself influence in government as well as immunity from prosecution in his lifetime if and when the skeletons start falling out of the cupboards as they are now falling from Fayed's.

      What is he up to and why.

      2. At least the current Princess of Wales doesn't appear to have an appetite for well tanned millionaires.

      1. Shredding government documents is an offence. But not where Blair's concerned, of course.

        There's enough on that loathesome party to have everyone in it shot, repeatedly then to send them the bill for the ammunition.

  39. 393628+ up ticks,

    May one suggest make it an SAS operation, you cannot trust the
    electoral majority they would make his term of office ten years.

    Whistleblower 🇬🇧
    @PeteJacksonGMP
    ·
    32m
    How do the British people get rid of this toxic Labour govt? Now?!
    Serious question!
    They cannot be allowed to remain in office for another 5 years!
    Anything other than rebellion, getting the pitchforks out & marching on Parliament?
    An option.. 🤔

    1. "On August 22, 2024, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved and authorized updated versions of mRNA vaccines from Pfizer-BioNtech and Moderna. The FDA approved the vaccine for people 12 and older and provided emergency use authorization for children 6 months to 11 years old.

      The stated target of these boosters is the Omicron variant which is not causing a significant number of infections.
      The most recent booster approval was granted in the absence of booster-specific clinical trial data performed in humans.
      Furthermore, this booster does not protect against the currently dominant strain, accounting for approximately 37% of infections in the United States      .

      There are currently limited data to inform whether these boosters offer any substantial protection against the virus and subsequent circulating variants.
      Although randomized clinical trials are normally used to approve therapeutics, the federal government has not required COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers to demonstrate their boosters prevent hospitalizations or death from COVID-19 illness.

      Additionally, the federal government has failed to provide sufficient data to support the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 boosters, or acknowledge previously demonstrated safety concerns associated with COVID-19 vaccines and boosters, including:
      prolonged circulation of mRNA and spike protein in some vaccine recipients,
      increased risk of lower respiratory tract infections, and
      increased risk of autoimmune disease after vaccination.

      Health care providers are encouraged to share information in this guidance in discussions with patients regarding the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines and boosters.
      Based on the high rate of global immunity and currently available data, the State Surgeon General advises against the use of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. Any provider concerned about the health risks associated with COVID-19 for patients over the age of 65 or with underlying health conditions should prioritize patient access to non-mRNA COVID-19 vaccines and treatment.

      1. My understanding of Covid is that, like most pandemic virus outbreaks, it loses its lethality after a couple of years and now joins the menagerie of minor diseases that afflict all of us from time time.

        I've probably had some version of Covid five times now, each time with milder ill effects than the time before. The last time, about a fortnight ago, it was the usual day or two flat out in bed, the coughing up of sticky phlegm from deep in the lungs, the bunged-up nose, the muscle aches and the constant tiredness and sleeping in the day. My body knows the routine, and does not need to be reminded of it.

        I will refuse the Covid jab again next month, because I actually feel that since Covid symptoms are a natural reaction to an irritant, the less it is loaded up with anything Covid, the better.

    3. When.. start paying attention to Andrew Bridgen?
      When? Done & dusted. Sorted him out good & proper. He lost everything. Even his ability to insure his car after thirty years of No Claims. And, for the hard-of-hearing.. yes, they can, and you can't do much in the UK without a car let alone a bank account.

    1. If it goes ahead with Labour in office, expect the spiteful bastards to withdraw all defence funding.

    2. If it goes ahead with Labour in office, expect the spiteful bastards to withdraw all defence funding.

  43. A formal good morning all.

    Cold crisp morning , 6c.

    Builders arrived at 8am sharp, to replace soffits etc, the old wooden ones were in a bad way.

    The garden mole continues his journey through the back lawn .. What I don't understand is how he has excavated the front lawn , there are driveways to navigate, lots of obstacles to negotiate.

    Moh has flattened the mounds.

    1. We have them too, 'lawn' is just an old field mown down, beneath is very stony they manage to navigate that fine – perhaps yours are doing similarly? only ever found one mole above ground, it was a dead 'un…fur was the most dense I'd ever seen, beautiful shade of taupe..as for those teeth, worms don't stand a chance. Occasionally see the earth in the mounds moving presumably when clearing a new tunnel. Soil is pretty good to use if stones sieved out:-)

      1. Hello KJ

        I have seen local cat watching a mound grow larger !
        Regarding the mole itself, yep, I have only seen dead moles , and I was so amazed to see the size of the paws and nails and as you say the teeth.

        The fur of a mole is beautiful , as you say dense and so well insulating ..

        I feel sorry for them , they demolish the worms and navigate themselves through the earth, like little submarines .

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRlL1n_ETMs

        1. Thanks Belle, that's a great video :-)) I've read their flesh is quite rancid – why they don't get predated, other than occasional bird of prey. Someone once told me moles would eat bread soaked in milk, I didn't find that to be so 😀

          2. Oh yes…perhaps to line a sleeping bag, keep legs warm and stop cramp? I had many childhood illnesses, one where I couldn’t walk for weeks (GP said I was badly ‘run down’), my mother made me some trousers lined with one of my dad’s old sweaters, itched like mad….

      2. Moles above ground can move surprisingly fast. The one that used to inhabit my garden managed to navigate under my patio from the lawn to the flower bed. When I lifted the slaps, there was a nice, neat tunnel – without a roof.

        1. I guess so they don’t get caught, having poor eyesight? Bit like Mole Resistance Army underground. Love how your mole used the underside of your patio as roof of his tunnel…master tunneler!

          2. Great Escape? Every dog i had loves digging in sand whilst it collapses around ’em…Oscar ever do that?!🤣

    2. My (departed) cat used to specialise in catching moles. The hard part was getting them off him for relocation purposes.

      1. I remember years ago after a Sunday pub lunch feet up reading the Telegraph dozing off paper sliding onto the floor. Waking up and watching the paper move. Thinking I was suffering from the effects of booze. And the cat sitting watching events.
        Picking up the news paper and finding a a large frog under it.
        "Look what the cat brought in".

      2. From Coffee House, the Spectator

        Boris Johnson has just proven he was unfit to be prime minister
        Ross Clark28 September 2024, 11:22am
        For the past five years, I have been in something of a conflict: was Boris Johnson an unconventional but essentially wise prime minister whose ability to see the big picture was more important than his weakness on detail, and whose gift for spreading optimism outweighed his disorganisation? Or was he, as his many detractors have argued, simply not up to the job of leading the country? Fortunately, Johnson has now answered the question himself. Yes, he was stark-ravingly unsuited to being prime minister.

        A couple of weeks after Johnson had considered invading the Netherlands, the government was forced to change policy and limit the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine
        True, he does say that, after calling in military chiefs, he quickly dismissed the idea of launching a military raid on a warehouse in the Netherlands in order to spirit off doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine which he believed were being wrongly withheld from Britain. But the fact that he considered it in the first place should send a shudder through all of us. Did he not immediately think through the consequences of invading a neighbouring democratic and – for the most part – friendly country? It would have atom-bombed a taboo which has been in place in Europe since 1945: that western democracies do not invade each other; they sort out their differences by diplomatic means. Britain’s relations with the EU were already at a low point following the drawn-out Brexit process. A raid on the Netherlands wouldn’t just have poisoned them further; it would have established Britain with a reputation as a rogue state.

        On other occasions, he was of course right to jump into global problems at the deep end. As foreign secretary in 2018, he was quick to persuade western countries to announce a mass deportation of Russian diplomats after the Salisbury poisonings; the only shame is that it did not go further and result in Europe reducing its dependence on Russian gas at that stage. Four years later, as prime minister, he led Europe in helping to arm Ukraine with the weapons it needed to resist Putin’s invasion. As an advocate of quick and decisive action in the face of foreign aggression, he was a valuable presence around the cabinet table.

        But in the top job? To be prime minister requires impeccable judgement – and that is not something Johnson seems to have possessed while he was at No. 10. It seems that he was so drunk on the idea that Britain had scored a massive post-Brexit success with the AstraZeneca vaccine that his judgement was seriously compromised. It wasn’t just his method that was mad; the whole premise behind it was flawed. Yes, the EU did mess up its vaccine procurement, and Britain did much better by going it alone. Yet by March 2021, it was also clear that AstraZeneca had a problem: it had already been linked to cases of fatal blood clots, which went on to kill over 70 people in Britain. At the same time, there were safer alternative vaccines available from Pfizer and Moderna. A wiser leader would have managed what was an enormous disappointment over the AstraZeneca vaccine. Instead, Johnson’s government continued to push it at the UK population. It became the Captain Scott of vaccines – it was certainly a tremendous achievement to have produced it so quickly, but a misplaced sense of national glory blinded Johnson and others to the obvious: that the foreign competition had done the job better.

        A couple of weeks after Johnson had considered invading the Netherlands, the government was forced to change policy and limit the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which was subsequently only used for the over-40s. How ridiculous it would have looked had Britain surrendered its reputation as a civilised, peaceful nation in order to launch a raid to seize a vaccine that ministers were forced to admit needed to be restricted.

        Britain has had plenty of lousy prime ministers, and Johnson caused far less damage than the alternative presented to us at the 2019 general election: Jeremy Corbyn. In some ways, he lifted the country, before Covid ruined everything. But the Conservative party made a serious error in persuading itself that he had the skills to be trusted with the top job. He made a brilliant ambassador for the country as Mayor of London, but he should have been stopped before he reached No. 10.

    1. Thannks, Johnny. But I gave up at "…instrument with twelve strings and an extremely long neck. There it is. Wow. Oh, looks like the top strings could be like a harp." Video without inane interjections is here .

      The instrument is a theorbo, by the way, as any fule kno (alright – I admit I had to look it up, but at least I knew it wasn't a harp… 🙂)

      1. Thanks for that, Geoff. As a J S Bach (and VOCES8) 'nut' I couldn't stand the inane commentary spoiling the music, either.

    1. Adam Brooks is a regular panellist on GB News. I thoroughly approve of him.

      He is a very decent chap and he clearly despises the odious leftie Nina Mishcoff whose sole purpose seems to be to antagonise him.

      Surely the Left cannot survive for long with supporters like Mishcoff and the totally repulsive, Tessa Dunlop, the sniffy Rebecca Reid and the the brain-dead Amy Nickel-Turner. Benjamin Butterworth is just as bad.

    2. Forcing people to behave as you want them to is the hallmark of the Left. Rather than address the problem (ill health costing the NHS money), they attack the symptom.

      High alcohol pricing failed in Scotland and led to higher crimes as chavs just stole what they wanted. The same will happen here.

      1. I'm old enough to remember Scottish pubs closing fairly early in the evening, and the rush to "get a couple in" as closing time approached followed by rapid consumption before being chucked out!

        2. And not open on Sundays – unless you were a ‘bona fide’ traveller! And that was at the end of the 70s!

        3. And not open on Sundays – unless you were a ‘bona fide’ traveller! And that was at the end of the 70s!

      2. 393628+ up ticks,

        Afternoon W,
        If the sausage like kneeling tool was to mean lifting the parliamentary bar prices on par with the external pub prices, he would find some agreeing.

    1. I quite like moles they seem to be hard working and honest. And only come to the surface when necessary.
      A bit like the rest of the British public.
      My sister and BiL use to live in a cottage on the banks of the river Lea.
      They had quite a few moles in their small orchard. And bat's.
      a lovely spot use to be a pub years ago. Royal Oak Cittage near Wheathampstead.

    2. I didn't realise they're not in Ireland.
      You would have thought the damp green earth would be ideal for them.

    1. Well done,

      the first letter took some finding.

      Wordle 1,197 6/6

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

  49. Your Duck is Dead–

    A woman brought a very limp duck into a veterinary surgeon.
    As she laid her pet on the table, the vet pulled out his stethoscope
    and listened to the bird's chest. After a moment or two, the vet shook his head and sadly said, "I'm sorry, your duck,
    Cuddles, has passed away."
    The distressed woman wailed, "Are you sure?"
    "Yes, I am sure. Your duck is dead," replied the vet..
    "How can you be so sure?" she protested. "I mean you haven't done any testing on him or anything. He might just be in a coma or something."
    The vet rolled his eyes, turned around and left the room.
    He returned a few minutes later with a black Labrador Retriever.
    As the duck's owner looked on in amazement, the dog stood on his hind legs, put his front paws on the examination table and sniffed the duck from top to bottom.
    He then looked up at the vet with sad eyes and shook his head.
    The vet patted the dog on the head and took it out of the room.
    A few minutes later he returned with a cat. The cat jumped on the table and also delicately sniffed the bird from head to foot.
    The cat sat back on its haunches, shook its head, meowed softly and strolled out of the room.
    The vet looked at the woman and said,
    "I'm sorry, but as I said, this is most definitely, 100% certifiably, a dead duck."
    The vet turned to his computer terminal, hit a few keys and produced a bill, which he handed to the woman..
    The duck's owner, still in shock, took the bill. "$150!" she cried, "$150 just to tell me my duck is dead!"
    The vet shrugged, "I'm sorry. If you had just taken my word for it, the bill would have been $20,

    but with the Lab Report and the Cat Scan, it's now $150."

  50. DT magazine. About being a Civil Servant.

    “…I head up a small team and act as a conduit between the Government and a certain section of the British public, as well as charities, organisations and service providers who support them.
    I meet with a lot of people and get their views on what the Government is doing, how it is working and give feedback to a minister by preparing briefs and reports…I also write speeches and field requests from other departments or members of the public who wish to meet with the minister. I have had good relationships with all the ministers I have worked with…My job is very meetings-heavy. I am in about four hours of meetings a day. I work from home a lot of the time and you really do get Zoom fatigue. But the hours are nine to five and I have a good work-life balance. The legislation I work on – although it does have a big impact on people – is not life and death, so I am able to shut off at five and not think about work.
    I’m paid £58,000 a year and I feel that is fair remuneration. There are a lot of perks to the role, too. The job is really flexible, we are able to work from home most of the time which is brilliant – and the pension is really good as well.
    There’s definitely a culture of trust for employees. We don’t have to do a timesheet. We don’t have to report when we are going to be at our desks every day. I trust my team to get the work done. They don’t need to tell me if they are going to the doctor; they can just go. I do get put off applying for other jobs when I think of moving into a more stringent culture.
    There’s a lot of anger over civil service work culture, and certain elements of the press characterise us as overpaid time-servers, shirking from home on our Peloton bikes. It’s disappointing: people forget that teachers and doctors are civil servants, too. That’s the worst part of the job: the public perception of civil servants. I know that we are not liked. Some of my family look down on civil servants.
    I’d say the majority of the people who went into the civil service did so because they want to make a difference and work for something bigger than themselves. Considering the kind of work they do and the number of people they manage, they would get paid significantly more in the private sector. But they stay as civil servants because they want to do well by people.
    Keeping the country running requires so much administration and work behind the scenes that people don’t acknowledge. The day-to-day running of the country is done quietly by civil servants.
    Legislation gets passed all the time – building regulations, the introduction of British Sign Language into schools – that make life better and easier for many people in this country. All that is done by civil servants.
    Another benefit is job security – especially in the current economic climate where so many of my friends have been laid off. The civil service doesn’t tend to make people redundant. If your job disappears, they move you to a different role.
    A lot of people stay in the civil service for life. It can be difficult to leave. The pace of the civil service and the kind of reports you write – these skills would be completely useless in the private sector….”

      1. Indeed. So out of touch he/she doesn't even realise how out of touch that little bleat for sympathy is.

    2. Dominic Cummings once remarked that..
      "Walking through the labyrinth of corridors you half-hoped/expected to open one of the doors and see a James Bond type spectacle with lots of clever men in white coats & clipboards testing incredible new gadgets, lots of energy and action. Nope. Always just rows of empty desks."

    3. "A lot of people stay in the civil service for life ….."
      Indeed, but only because they are unemployable elsewhere and cannot get a real job.

    4. It's funny that he arranges meetings about meetings. That's all the civil service does – waffles on about things no one cares abut, wants or needs.

      I'm sure they think they're very important and doing a useful job. They're not. They're utterly moribund and pointless. The country would not miss if 60% of them were sacked tomorrow.

    1. Rejoin the EU?
      What the Remoanalots don't realise, or maybe they don't really care, the EU has everything it requires from the UK; fishing, do$h (lots of it), shackled to EU regulatory orbit with zero influence or input, access to 4 and half Eyes, access to London's capital markets & freedom of goods & services. Anything the EU requests.. the UK immediately obliges.

      Why on earth would the EU jeopardise that cushy little number? Especially in its increasingly vulnerable state.

      1. 393628+ up ticks,

        Morning KB,

        When you can see 48% of the electorate wanted eu incarceration you can see the root of our problems on home turf..

        1. Many of those people didn't know what they wanted and voted for the status quo. Some more voted out of ignorance. More still voted because they're troughing off UK cash force paid to the EU.

    2. Rejoin the EU?
      What the Remoanalots don't realise, or maybe they don't really care, the EU has everything it requires from the UK; fishing, do$h (lots of it), shackled to EU regulatory orbit with zero influence or input, access to 4 and half Eyes, access to London's capital markets & freedom of goods & services. Anything the EU requests.. the UK immediately obliges.

      Why on earth would the EU jeopardise that cushy little number? Especially in its increasingly vulnerable state.

    3. Rejoin the EU?
      What the Remoanalots don't realise, or maybe they don't really care, the EU has everything it requires from the UK; fishing, do$h (lots of it), shackled to EU regulatory orbit with zero influence or input, access to 4 and half Eyes, access to London's capital markets & freedom of goods & services. Anything the EU requests.. the UK immediately obliges.

      Why on earth would the EU jeopardise that cushy little number? Especially in its increasingly vulnerable state.

    4. The Left are already planning this by destroying the economy. Where does Bray get his funding from? Why is he permitted to scream and shout all day long?

      1. "Why is he [Bray] permitted to scream and shout all day long?"

        Because no one has the balls to twat him … hard!

  52. Wow! I'm bowled over!
    Had a double booking with the airport parking for our UK visit next week. Emailed them just now to cancel one, and almost immediately had a reply confirming cancellation! How good is that? Unbelievable! That Sandra in Customer Service deserves a hug!

    2. I'd imagine it's automated. Certainly if our customers want to arrange or cancel a site visit they can do so through a calendar app written by the new boy. Cancelling is as simple as selecting the booking and clicking 'cancel'.

  53. Michael Deacon in today's Telegraph.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/09/28/good-riddance-baroness-warsi-tories-better-off-without-her/

    "Good riddance to Baroness Warsi – the Tories are better off without her

    Why Conservatives should be pleased that David Cameron’s old favourite has finally flounced

    28 September 2024 7:00am

    On Thursday night, Baroness Warsi dramatically announced that she was quitting the Tories. When they heard the news, I’m sure many Conservative party members were distraught.

    But only because, instead of letting her quit, they’d have liked to watch their party kick her out, instead.

    In the 17 years since David Cameron decided that Sayeeda Warsi deserved to become (at that time) the youngest member of the House of Lords, she hasn’t exactly come across as the Tories’ most devoted cheerleader. In 2021, she declared that the party was “institutionally racist”. During this year’s general election campaign, she told the country that the Tories were “embracing the far Right”. And on Thursday she proclaimed that the Tories are now so “far Right”, she could no longer bear to take the party whip.

    Then again, Conservative members may suspect that she was merely jumping before she was pushed. In a recent post on social media, Baroness Warsi celebrated the news that a pro-Palestine marcher had been found not guilty of a racially aggravated public order offence. The marcher had been wielding a placard that depicted Rishi Sunak and Suella Braverman as “coconuts” – a slang term used to insult non-white people who are “brown on the outside but white on the inside”.

    Even if you think the term “coconut” isn’t racist, it seems extraordinary that, in this particular context, Baroness Warsi should condone its use. This is because the politicians being humiliated were her own colleagues. Indeed, one of them was her party leader.

    Tory leadership candidates keep saying that the party needs to unite. The departure of this flouncing, petulant blowhard should help no end.

    Why should taxpayers have to pander to child-killers?

    Here’s a story of our times. A judge in the US state of Indiana has ruled that a prison must provide taxpayer-funded “gender-affirming surgery” (that is, what used to be known as a sex change op) to a prisoner. The prisoner was born male but, post-conviction, has started identifying as a woman. And, in the judge’s view, being denied “gender-affirming surgery” could cause this prisoner “bodily and psychological harm”.

    Purely out of curiosity, you may be wondering what crime the prisoner in question was convicted of. The answer: strangling a baby girl to death.

    It would certainly be intriguing to know what the taxpayers of Indiana make of this judgment. No doubt, as a general rule, many of them are all in favour of castrating baby-killers. On the other hand, I suspect that few of them are especially concerned about the risk of a baby-killer suffering “bodily and psychological harm”. Particularly if they, as law-abiding taxpayers, are forced to stump up for the cost of averting such a risk.

    In light of this, maybe these taxpayers will propose a compromise. The surgery can take place – but, to avoid the expense of hiring surgeons, it must be carried out by fellow inmates. Given the nature of the conviction, I don’t suppose there would be a shortage of volunteers.

    At any rate, I have a feeling that the taxpayers of Indiana won’t be the only ones who take note of this story. Because, as Donald Trump will surely point out to the wider US electorate, in 2019 a very senior American politician argued that prisoners should have taxpayer-funded access to “gender-affirming surgery”. The name of that politician was Kamala Harris.

    Perhaps American journalists would like to ask Ms Harris what she thinks of this particular case. If, that is, they get the opportunity. Since becoming a presidential candidate, she has seemed curiously reluctant to speak to them.

    The great GCSE penthouse mystery

    Many parents will naturally have been sympathetic when Sir Keir Starmer explained that he needed a rich donor to lend him an £18million Covent Garden penthouse so that his 16-year-old son had somewhere to revise for his GCSEs. “Yes,” the ordinary mums and dads of Britain will have thought, “that sounds fair enough. Just as, presumably, Sir Keir needed those free designer glasses so he could read his children a bedtime story. And his wife needed those free designer frocks so she could look nice for the school run.”

    After considering the matter at greater length, however, one small aspect of it may have puzzled them. This year’s final GCSE exam took place on June 19. Yet, according to the parliamentary Register of Members’ Financial Interests, the £18million penthouse was lent until July 13.

    In which case, what did Sir Keir’s son need it for, during the 24 days that followed the final exam?

    Many teenagers like to celebrate the end of their GCSEs by throwing a party. Surely, however, Sir Keir’s son can’t have thrown a party that lasted for over three weeks. If he did, he is the Gen Z Jay Gatsby. An awestruck Liam Gallagher will be inviting him to join Oasis.

    On the whole, though, I think we can rule out this unlikely scenario. But what else would account for the extra 24 days? In my view, there’s only one possible explanation.

    Sir Keir cares passionately about his son’s future. So, as soon as the boy finished revising for his GCSEs, he made him immediately start revising for his A-levels."

  54. Middle East war latest: Hezbollah leader Nasrallah killed in Beirut strike, D Torygaff

    Nasrallah has led Hezbollah for more than three decades. The Iran-backed Hezbollah has yet to issue any statement on the status of Nasrallah, who has led the group for 32 years.
    The military said the strikes also killed Ali Karake, who the statement identified as commander of Hezbollah’s southern front, and an unspecified number of other Hezbollah commanders.

  55. Good morning, all. Up at 04:45, a bit early for me; put in two lots of washing and both are on the line drying in the sunshine and light breeze. Ironed half a dozen shirts/polo shirts and pressed a pair of trousers before taking the break I am using to write this comment.

    Later, I have four holes to dig and 4 short posts to place in the holes and then surround the posts with concrete. These will form the anchors for the final raised area in my garden. Finally, the bed will be covered in gravel and will provide an area for pot plants next year.

    Wayne Dunlap provides plenty of images, memes etc. here's a selection.

    https://x.com/wdunlap/status/1839658720369811553 https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/476b8f7a8b68e014221665cd38c4142d09e455b21201938ef9e79beaed140cfe.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5695d290d5f1f3584773adb0d9e1a6b1ea3b5a23eb3c18a4b422d5dbdb0f3ffd.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b46904c0fc48d0e1c8dab0230e3d3c733251c10127f3e00b32af0e13084e7f42.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7c5bf8c0599c8c4135dc8c2bb73f4b0c0ffaaa068e1b0a08f6d41961b71c63ff.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9fbbcc75d4bfca53eeca57ad33017689d5163586b2bc538075f3b27e53c09229.png
    https://x.com/wdunlap/status/1839324928769998911

    2. Last one own a yacht that doesn't actually have any sails.
      Have friends in politics.
      And probably have a blue disabled badge to avoid parking charges.
      Oh I forgot, i once heard it costs nearly 20 grand to fill the Yachts tank with diesel fuel.

      1. I have a blue badge and didn't have to pay for parking today – mind you, it was in Wales (dim taliadau).

    3. The third one down should be publicised more widely.

      The Medical-Industrial Complex — led by corporate giants such as BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street — own most of the world's manufacturing companies, especially those selling fake (i.e. ultra-processed) 'food'. They are aided and abetted by the WEF and UN and they pay unfeasibly vast sums to Health Authorities and Universities to pass on their corporate message. Their similarly-funded colleagues in crime, Big Pharma, benefit from selling their chemicals to help 'heal' those who are made ill by eating their crap.

      Problem is the sheep [sorry: 'people'] are too gormless to understand what is happening.

    1. Morning Ndovu, 10:51 here. I have already moved and seen the granddaughter and have now returned to while away an hour or two in my favourite comfy chair.
      Enjoy your day.

    1. Yes, flog them, but go a step further and castrate them. Then flay them and throw the screaming remains into the sewer to be eaten by rats.

    2. It’s thought the two men were marching the woman towards the Minster to find a quieter place to attack her. As they did so, they talked about “getting back to (the victim’s) place”, but she said “no”.

      Mercifully, two tourists who happened to be walking around the Minster spotted the woman in distress and “immediately realised something wasn’t right”.

      As they went to her aid, Camara held onto the victim as he and Mohammed tried to reassure the Good Samaritans that they were just trying to get her a taxi home.

      The prosecution said it was only when the couple threatened to call the police that Mohammed walked off. Camara, however, “hung around, watching”, in the hope that the woman would be left on her own again.

      However, the brave tourists stuck by the woman, ensured she got a taxi and even rang her afterwards to make sure she had arrived home safely.

      These tourists need to keep their noses out of other people's business. The Progressive Liberals have a difficult job in ruining the country and so little time left, so it doesn't help with them blabbing about it and spreading disinformation and hate.

    2. How will they check? They'll hire tens of thousands of government wonks to investigate everyone. When the jobs are no longer needed they'll keep the chicken checkers and lumber the tax payer with the bill.

    4. It doesn't work like that. In fact the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and Animal and Plant Health Agency would welcome the overload for two reasons..
      1/ It would be granted a huge increase in budget for the next five years.
      2/ The Office for Migrant Relocation & Ethnasia will have an excellent head start on identifying prime targets. You.

    5. It doesn't work like that. In fact the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and Animal and Plant Health Agency would welcome the overload for two reasons..
      1/ It would be granted a huge increase in budget for the next five years.
      2/ The Office for Migrant Relocation & Ethnasia will have an excellent head start on identifying prime targets. You.

  65. I have Protonmail VPN (the paid version), and it has just connected me via South Sudan…never seen that before, but it's good to see the country trading with the world.

      2. So what you're sayin' is..

        South Sudan which adopted the English Common Law as the country's legal system is flourishing, whereas North Sudan which preferred to revert to Sharia Law, after remembering the success of the 1820 invasion by Muḥammad ʿAlī, and then the Ottoman Empire and particularly all the pillaging & plundering for slaves.. is a sh**hole.

        Oh and btw those evil Anglo-Egyptian colonialists came along in 1899, and The Suez crisis ended that period of growth & stability abruptly in 1956.

  66. Breaking News BBC:

    The Labour MP, David Lammy. has been rushed to Paddington Hospital. He is totally disoriented and bewildered and not yet showing signs of improvement. He was attending the planting of a tree to commemorate the ending of British Rule in Uganda and the committee chairman pointed to three ornamental shovels and told him to take his pick. He is expected to survive though and will return to the Cabinet front bench later next week.
    https://th.bing.com/th/id/OIP.H52XM_Zpwdfatj3X59vhLQHaEK?rs=1&pid=ImgDetMain

    1. Did he think that that the shovels should have been spades – shovels for shovelling and spades for digging – or was he looking around for the 'pick'? Either way…

          10. [Hangs head in shame😔]. Is it me age?

            I forgot the name of the man with the gong in the “Yes/No Interlude”, but I remembered the name of the background announcer: one of the best voices on radio and newsreels.

          15. Didn't Bob Danvers-Walker describe the prizes? I'm not sure if it was him who held the gong on the Yes/No interlude too.

      2. Careful Korky, you're digging too deep. You could end up in the next bed to Lammy if you're not careful.

      3. I am astounded, Korky, at the number of people who do not understand the difference between a spade and a shovel and their respective purposes.

        These people should try digging a garden with a shovel, or scooping up coal with a spade. Then the difference might just dawn on them. Or not!

        1. Spot on, Grizz. I’ve been shovelling 10mm stone this afternoon, try doing that with a spade and you’ll take all day to fill a wheelbarrow.

          I have seen a man digging fence post-holes with a shovel, talk about making hard work of a job.

      5. When you are the guest at a tree planting ceremony you don't dig the hole/s, that is done before you get there, You just shovel some earth over the roots while someone else holds the tree then you go for a free meal and p*ss-up. No hard labour involved. Just the job for politicians.

    1. I'm not keen on the 'good vs evil' approach the author takes, nor am I sure which side i would really be on. Some people think my opinions are the epitome of evil, cruel and nasty because I don't think they should be given money to breed, nor money to heat their homes (I believe the market should provide cheaper energy full stop rather than one group be specifically subsidised). I believe taxes should be lower so people keep more of their own money rather than it being stolen by the state to give to whoever the faddists want.

      To many, these attitudes are evil – what about those who can't work – what about them, I say? The problem with this age is folk look to the state to solve their problems because it has become so big they can no longer solve their own. I would rather a company installed wheel chair ramps for itself, claiming the costs back than were forced to make everywhere accessible, for example. My brother can't function in a noisy, open plan office but given work to do on his own, from home he's a veritable genius, working harder and faster than most others.

      Right and wrong are subjective. I come down on the 'leave people alone to help themselves. If they won't, then tough. If theytry, and need a bit more help, help them.'

      1. In the past, those that couldn't work were supported by neighbours, friends, family and the Church. Charities, in fact.
        Don't forget the old saying "God helps those that help themselves" (and God help them if they're caught)

        1. There’s a big problem with hair ties now though. Especially when you see the salaries of the CEOs. The only charity we support now is our local hospice.

      2. Your position is precisely what I address in that piece. If someone says to you that you don’t know the difference between good and evil do you agree with that statement? I think you know very well, simply on the basis of what I have seen of you here…..

        Begs the question of whether good and evil are forces independent of, but inhabiting, humanity . Big subject. I incline to think so, rather than putting events down to some species of mass hysteria.

  68. I wonder how the so called energy secretary Edge Milliband is managing to justify 'net zero' (intelligence) to all the people who have installed extremely expensive ground source energy systems now that their homes are under two feet of water.. And the same goes for those with air source, now sucking in all that recent moisture and cold air.

    1. As I said to the warqueen yesterday, it's got to prove it's worth over this Winter. Se wanted to put it on last night for a couple of hours and I said no, as it'd cost £5 and take 40 mins to heat up.

      I don't think heat pumps are the answer as they force the human to live with the technology, rather than the tech serve the human (which is the point of technology).

      I'm expecting a high bill, painful costs and to not be especially happy with it. However, I know it works. it buys us time to squash the mortgage a bit more, to set out a moving timetable for us rather than be almost driven out.

    1. I wonder if the child is deliberately set up to look like the offspring of a consanguineous marriage?

  71. Israel cannot destroy Hezbollah, Iran’s supreme leader says from hiding. 28 September 2024.

    Iran’s supreme leader has insisted that Israel cannot destroy Hezbollah, in his first remarks after the IDF said it had killed leader Hassan Nasrallah.

    In a statement, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Israeli “criminals should know that they are too small to cause significant damage to the strong construction of Hezbollah in Lebanon”.

    He added that the “fate of this region will be determined by the forces of resistance, with Hezbollah at the forefront” and called on Muslims “to stand by the people of Lebanon and the proud Hezbollah with whatever means they have and assist them in confronting the … wicked regime (of Israel)”.

    It speaks volumes that he’s in hiding. Hardly a vote of confidence. I’ve just caught the BBC News on this. They are going ape. There are people jabbering away, most of it incomprehensible, nineteen to the dozen. My guess is that the Israeli’s and Iranian’s are going (what the difference will be to now is anyone’s guess) to war. On paper of course the Israeli’s should wipe the floor with them. What we have to watch out for is it spreading. The closing of the Gulf and attack on the Saudi oilfields will bring in the US. What Russia and China’s response to this wll be is a moot point.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/09/28/israel-hezbollah-war-gaza-hamas-latest-news/

  72. That was a pleasant morning.
    In need of a few more mushroom trays, a run to Clay Cross and managed to scrounge a few. Thence to Alfreton where I relieved the greengrocery stall holder in the market of a dozen and then paused for some sausages & burgers in Crich and picked up some more.
    By close of play tomorrow they should all be filled with sticks for t'Lad and Welder Son.

  74. Last updated Oldie of the day

    Kier Starmer in bank: "Good morning", says Mr Starmer, "could you please cash this cheque for me?

    Cashier: "It would be my pleasure Sir, but could you please show me some identification?"

    Starmer: "I did not bring my ID with me as I didn't think there was any need to. I'm Kier Starmer, Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party !"

    Cashier: "Yes, I know who you are Sir, but with all the bank regulations, monitoring, impostors and forgers etc., I must insist on seeing some identification".

    Starmer "Just ask any of the customers here at the bank who I am and they will tell you. Everybody knows who I am!"

    Cashier: "I'm sorry Sir, but these are the bank rules and I must follow them".

    Starmer: "I'm urging you, please cash this cheque for me".

    Cashier: "Look Sir, this is what we can do. One day Colin Montgomery came into the bank without any ID. To prove he was Colin Montgomery he pulled out his putter and  putted a ball along the floor and into a small cup". "With that sort of skill we knew it was Colin Montgomery and we cashed his cheque.

    On another occasion, Andy Murray came in without any ID. He pulled out his tennis racquet and lobbed a tennis ball straight into my teacup with such a spectacular shot that we all knew it was Andy Murray. "

    Starmer starts to think and think and finally says, "To be honest, there is nothing that comes into my mind. In fact I can't think of a single thing that I'm any good at."

    Cashier: "Will it be large or small notes you require Mr Starmer."

    2. Can anyone name one of her songs and describe her voice? If I’ve ever heard her singing, it hasn’t left any lasting impression.

      1. I should imagine that Tosstesterone filled young males wouldn't care two hoots if she was in fact just miming….

    1. 'We' don't put up with them. We're not given any choice over what they do or the policies they pass.

      1. 393628+ up ticks,

        Afternoon W,

        When push morphs into shove
        we have two very clear choices
        and we are, in my book,
        past that time now.

        Fight or flight, with 48% of the pop. wanting foreign leadership
        I still believe decency will win the day.

    4. Excellent rant.

      Did I hear Oliver say puppertician? A word I shall try and remember for future use.

    1. Ah. Now that’s something they hadn’t thought of, that state schools were allowed to use some of their facilities.

      1. Who did Labour think they were going to hurt with their spiteful attack on private education? It can only hurt the state sector when the contribution of private schools is lessened.

        1. From Coffee House, the Spectator
          James Bond is past his best
          Robin Ashenden28 September 2024, 5:02am
          Is James Bond looking knackered, or is it just me? At 54, I’m at an age where I’ve given up on a lot of things. I lost interest in Question Time when David Dimbleby quit, stopped paying much attention to technology after CDs/DVDs went out, and I’m pretty sure Daniel Craig was my last James Bond too. I liked Craig in the part – he was the first Bond to convince you he’d really been in the services – but there are only so many 007s in a lifetime you can take. The last offering seemed to kill off the spy at just the right moment – he’d dwindled from Connery alphadom to a lugubrious, lovelorn loser moaning about his age (something many of us get enough of at home).

          The Daniel Craig films tried, fatally, to have it both ways
          But the clamour for the next Bond film suggests that if I think Bond’s heyday is over, I’m in a minority. ‘Where’s James Bond gone?’ asked the Sunday Times earlier this month. There are regular updates online on ‘Everything we know about next 007 film’, and an endless glut of features about Craig’s possible replacement (anyone from Aaron Taylor-Johnson to Barry Keoghan to people you’ve never heard of but once showed their pecs on Game of Thrones or Poldark). Does an adult nation really care this much, or is Bond simply a tradition we can’t imagine life without, like Chelsea Flower Show or Last Night of the Proms? The hiatus between films – which has now reached three years – seems to be driving even the most rational Bond fan up the wall.

          For nearly all of us, Bond is a childhood memory and about those we’re often sentimental. If you were born in the seventies, the Connery movies, shown regularly on TV, were a surefire way of bonding (sorry) with your father – both of you, for once, equally absorbed by the film. Yet when it comes to choosing our favourite actor in the role – unless you buy the ‘Connery and then the rest’ theory – many of us plump instinctively for whoever played the part when we were ten years old. In my case, this was Roger Moore, who I still feel – to hell with it – was the best Bond of all time. One of the happiest days I ever spent in the cinema was seeing, around the age of eight, a double bill of Live and Let Die and The Man with the Golden Gun. The sense of absolute plenitude, as one film finished and you waited for the next, has stayed with me ever since. But the last Bond film I really obsessed about, seeing it again and again in the cinema, was 1981’s For Your Eyes Only, when I was eleven years old. After that I suddenly lost interest, which tells you something; they are kids’ films, which adults go on liking mostly because they’re things they once adored.

          My choice of Moore, I realise, puts me on collision course with many Bond fans. The Moore films have a reputation for cringy vulgarity – they belong to the era of Bruce Forsyth, teasmades and Cinzano ads – but this is why they’re such a joy. Moore’s lightness of touch seemed to embrace the silliness and draw you in. Both you and he, his cocked eyebrow told you, knew this was all hokum – about as convincing as his smoochy screen kisses – so why not come along for the ride? ‘I try to make films that are entertaining…’ the actor said in interview, ‘People have enough problems in the world without going and seeing them on the screen. It’s better they should escape from the humdrum normal existence into the world of fantasy and relax. That’s what entertainment means.’

          Moore may have been no Connery – while Sean looked as though he’d sauntered in from the gym, Roger was more like a seedily glamorous British airways pilot, and an atmosphere of Langan’s Brasserie, Annabel’s and the tackier Mayfair casinos always hung about him. But this too was part of his appeal. Other Bonds – Connery, Dalton and Brosnan – were your sexual competitors. Roger Moore (the stuff, in my experience, of very few women’s fantasies) was just your mate or the cheeky, raffish uncle of your dreams. He was the happiest Bond, the only one you could believe actually liked people and their company.

          There were other things too to celebrate about the Moore era. Live and Let Die had a theme tune to kill and, with its Papa Doc voodoo-vibe, was genuinely unnerving. The Man with the Golden Gun had kung fu, and that creepy maze in which Scaramanga killed his victims. The Spy who Loved Me had… Well, The Spy who Loved Me had everything: the Carly Simon song, that parachute fall off Mount Asgard, the Lotus Esprit which turned into a submarine, and Jaws, the indestructible 7’2” steel-toothed killer played by Richard Kiel. Bond villains in the Moore period seemed to reach a peak, with stars like Christopher Lee, Curt Jurgens and Michael Lonsdale – great actors all – giving us epic, outsize blackguards who, in the post-Moore era, seemed to dwindle to B-movie ghosts.

          Clearly Roger Moore’s playfulness of tone – the seductions, the flippancy and above all, the freedom from consequences – isn’t, in the 2020s, coming back. It belongs to a time of assumed goodwill – pre-MeToo, mostly pre-AIDS, almost pre-feminist, a time unaware that, beneath Moore’s umbrella of bonhomie and a culture that could smile along with it, characters like Harvey Weinstein, Jimmy Savile and Mohamed Al Fayed were carrying out their crimes. Yet the Craig films have tried, fatally, to have it both ways, aiming for a torpid moral earnestness while serving up the same silly car chases, ludicrous villains and improbable brushes with death as all the others. Given that EON productions killed off the spy in the last picture, are their hearts actually in it any more, or are they demoralised and neutered, like so many, by the fear of giving offence?

          Whether humour or heaviness, EON – which produces the Bond films – must decide which way to jump. A possible reinvention for the franchise is to abandon its audience of gaping ten-year-olds, with what it loses in revenue getting clawed back in production costs. Gadgetry, not a strong feature of the Craig films, should stay gone – superfluous in a world where Mossad can take out thousands of Hezbollah operatives with exploding pagers – and they should go easy on the stunts, Mission Impossible arguably having seen off all comers. Into the rubbish bin too, in an age of budget flights and vloggers, should go the ‘exotic locations’ the series has served up to us like so many Lidl satay-sticks.

          The dream Bond, perhaps, would be confined to Cold War Europe, make a feature of postwar London, and look beyond Fleming’s books and past glories for its atmosphere – to films like The Third Man, Mesrine and Carlos the Jackal, to novelists like Le Carre and Deighton, or the wartime thriller writer Alan Furst. It should tell tales of the GDR’s STASI, Ceausescu’s Romania, dissidents in Brezhnev-era Leningrad. There’s a wealth of adult Bond films to be made, edgy, intelligent, even informative about the past. Do this, and many of will feel like Moonraker’s Holly Goodhead: ‘James… take me round the world one more time.’ Serve us up the recent cocktail, though, and we’ll more likely agree with Hugo Drax, the same film’s baddie: ‘James Bond… You appear with the tedious inevitability of an unloved season.’

      1. Chums of ours have their boy as the head of a VAT exempty charity. The lad goes to school and the charity pays his fees – claiming back the VAT,

  80. Nice video from maneco64 demonstrating that gold is money, everything else is credit.
    tl;dr is that in 1913, you could buy 80 pints of beer with one gold sovereign because beer was 3d a pint.
    In 2024, you can still buy 80 pints of beer (average UK beer price) with one gold sovereign…
    We're so used to BS pretendy money that we don't notice the lack of real money any more.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyEKOjkQfMk

      1. I think I am right in saying that while gold, silver and copper are monetary metals, under international trading law (originating in Roman times), only gold is money. (Alasdair Macleod has a lot to say on this subject). Many countries have been on the silver standard in history though, notably Germany which only switched to gold in the late 19th century.

        Silver is so undervalued (i.e. price manipulated) nowadays that the same comparison doesn't really hold, I think. Though many places in the US accept old silver coins at their silver value, and of course you can buy a lot more with that than you can with the face value. The historic silver : gold ratio was 15:1 and it's currently at about 85:1 I think. So there's lots of potential for that to be corrected.
        In Roman times, a legionnaire got 7 ounces of silver per year as a pension and this was enough to provide food for one person for one year.
        Current silver price per ounce = 23.69 pounds sterling.
        Seven ounces is 165.83, which would be about 3.18 per week. So silver is trading way under its historic price. Manipulated by dishonest dealings with paper ETFs, so people say.

      2. No! The price of gold has not increased because gold is money. It's a decrease in the value of sterling/dollars.

    3. If, and when, things get really bad, a carton of tins of baked beans might become even more valuable.

  81. British army to investigate conduct of troops in Kenya amid rape and murder claims. 28 September 2024.

    The army is to launch an inquiry into the behaviour of British troops posted to a military base in Kenya, after multiple allegations of serious abuses committed by soldiers, including rape and murder.

    The inquiry is to examine the conduct of military personnel posted to the British Army Training Unit Kenya (BATUK). It is where the soldier alleged to have murdered a Kenyan woman, Agnes Wanjiru, was posted at the time of her death in 2012.

    An ITV Exposure documentary, airing on Sunday, returned to Nanyuki, close to the base, and found that allegations of abuse were still emerging. British soldiers were alleged to have regularly paid for sex with local women, and to have raped multiple women as well as girls as young as 13.

    Motivated no doubt by the siren call of Compensation.

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/sep/27/mod-investigate-british-troops-kenya-itv-documentary

    2. The article doesn’t state when all of this is alleged to have happened. Have we ever had a statute of limitations? Has it been thought unnecessary in former times when we were ruled by better informed and relatively sane people?

    1. … how do we run a company so we cn all keep getting paid?

      Diversity kills business. It is only those eater industry that have no customers, no risk, no product and no value that can adsorb the pointless cost.

      1. Top BTL at present – "The press should have a deep dive into the whole of Keirching's career. Has he been receiving gifts at all stages of his life, especially as a human rights lawyer and DPP? I doubt Alli is his only patron. And patrons usually expect something from their client." I do like "Kierching"!

      2. Are they insinuating he is gay? I would find it easier to believe that he has a valet to change his batteries.

        1. He does not strike me as being either homosexual or heterosexual – he is probably mostly asexual. I find him tactilely unattractive – some people one instinctively does not wish to touch physically.

          He does not seem warm in any way and yet he has an attractive-looking wife. I saw something on the internet suggesting that his children are adopted but this is probably untrue.

          Do any other Nottlers – male or female – find him physically very unappealing as I do?

          1. I find him extremely unappealing if that is any help..
            His nasal voice is a complete turn-off, coupled with his hectoring. He appears devoid of any shred of humour and is tetchy.
            Even having kept his hair can’t outweigh those disadvantages.

    1. And Cameron went on where Blair and Brown had left off. Any last chance that the Conservative Party might return to Conservcative principles and values was strangled by the evil Mrs May, the Bumptious Bonker Johnson and Rishi Sunak.

    2. Howe's resignation started the ball rolling, but the rot really started when Heseltine challenged her for the Premiership and the wets persuaded her to stand down after the initial votes.

      Heseltine, the Mandelson of the Conservative party.

  87. A perspicacious Par Four!

    Wordle 1,197 4/6
    ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨
    ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
    ⬜⬜🟩🟩🟨
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  88. I didn't make it in two today.

    Wordle 1,197 3/6

    ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜
    ⬜⬜🟩🟨⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  89. Had a very enjoyable morning at the Butts as my first tyro session. Next to me was a young chap who is off to compete in Slovenia tomorrow. Bare Bow, (that is without sights). He was hitting the centre (think size of 50 pence piece) of a very small target at 20 yards. And then he moved the target to 30 yards and proceeded to do the same. It looks easy but it isn't. By the end of the morning I'd managed to get all 6 arrows on the target!

    Photo taken a couple of weeks ago. I'm holding the camera!

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/35a79f83606020872a471bcbb6381242a6670f04ac7d9a3e4f67cd1cee54d53e.jpg
    PS the targets in the photo are set at 30 yards and the gold centre is the size of a tea plate!

    2. I used to do archery twice a week before my arthritis set in. On a few occasions my first arrow has gone in the bull and my second arrow has split the first

          1. Sorry for that.
            My right shoulder is bad due to longarm & handgun fire. Similar issue.
            Had to switch rifle to left shoulder, and it's actually not so bad, as my left eye works and the right eye might as well be clockwork…

    4. I had a bow similar to the lady on the left but I had the balancing rods too. We used to toe the line not stand astride it

    5. To be honest I think all the sighting/balancing rods should be done away with in competition. Mind you, I haven't loosed an arrow for 50years.

      1. It’s remarkable what an accomplished archer can achieve with a compound bow and carbon fibre arrows with the target set at 80 yards and the gold the size of a tea plate. All 6 in the gold. You can’t see the arrows from 80 yards away without a telescope. You only know they’ve hit the target with a resounding thwack….

  90. The following was developed as a mental age assessment by the School of Psychiatry, at Harvard University.

    Take your time and see if you can read each line aloud without a mistake.

    The average person _over 58 years of age_ cannot do it!

    1. This is this cat.

    2. This is is cat.

    3. This is how cat.

    4. This is to cat.

    5. This is keep cat.

    6. This is an cat.

    7. This is old cat.

    8. This is fool cat.

    9. This is busy cat.

    10. This is for cat.

    11. This is forty cat.

    12. This is seconds cat.

    Now go back and read _the third word_ in each line from the top down, and I bet you, cannot resist passing it on…

  92. Well today has been a pleasant change, dry all day and some sunshine to take the chill off being outside working in the garden this afternoon.
    Let us hope that we get a few more days like today, I may even get through all that needs to be done.🤞

  93. After every one of them since Major I've thought "Well, we can't get any worse than that", but they immediately prove me wrong.
    Every. Damned. Time.

  94. A quick squizz at Companies House shows that Waheed Alli was appointed director of four hollding companies between April 2022 and August 2023. The address of rhe penthouse is Penthouse 501, 25 Floral Street Covent Garden. In fact, i cycle down that road every day on my way to work, so i will report back.

      1. 2TK’s special friend. Ennobled by Bliar. Also therefore known as Lord Alli. Likes to buy presents for rich people.

    3. I worked briefly for a chap who had an apartment in Floral Street. His building works to the flat I recall upset his neighbour the actor Joss Ackland.

      I expect this is the same block. Crispin Vaughan was a multi-millionaire with a country estate viz. Sacombe House near Ware.

    4. Holding companies. Designed to buy shares in other companies without anyone knowing who is doing the buying. With the long term aim of taking over those companies. Then asset stripping them.

  96. Been a strange evening. Feeling of gloom fell over me earlier, the kind of gloom that might accompany the news of the death of one's Mother, but nothing like that announced so far. I do say, that it's really hard work with that feeling.
    Likely bollocks, and an inadequate volume of alcohol for 18:45, but stiil, a downward pressure on one's humour.
    Sorry. I'll try & lighten up.

    2. Perhaps it is this time of year, nights drawing in early with the promise of dank wet gloomy weather for the foreseeable future.
      I notice for example that here in Norf Zummerzet when the pavements get wet next month, they tend to stay wet for what seems an age, a perfect example in my mind of the miserable weather we are going to experience.
      On the bright side, my daughter bought me a SAD light, (pun intended) last year and of course that was worse than useless, I never felt any sadder than normal, quite the contrary I started to feel somewhat chipper. 😊

      1. I love winter. The endless changes between seasons are energising.
        Just the last couple of days. Feels like bad news ia on the way.

        1. We don’t seem to have winter more, just an extension of Autumn without the colour of the leaves. A pity really I liked the crisp cold sunny winter days of yesteryear.
          You may be spiritually linked to 2TK, he has just had some bad news, Rosie Duffield has just lit a rocket up his arse.

        2. Going to be really corny and post this, which helps me through the troughs:

          "If you can keep your head when all about you
          Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
          If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
          But make allowance for their doubting too;
          If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
          Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
          Or, being hated, don’t give way to hating,
          And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;

          If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
          If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
          If you can meet with triumph and disaster
          And treat those two impostors just the same;
          If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
          Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
          Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
          And stoop and build ’em up with wornout tools;

          If you can make one heap of all your winnings
          And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
          And lose, and start again at your beginnings
          And never breathe a word about your loss;
          If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
          To serve your turn long after they are gone,
          And so hold on when there is nothing in you
          Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on”;

          If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
          Or walk with kings—nor lose the common touch;
          If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
          If all men count with you, but none too much;
          If you can fill the unforgiving minute
          With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run—
          Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
          And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!"

          1. Yes.
            Local flower shop, Lily Pad, grossly outreaches Interflora. Lovely lady runs the place.

    4. That is dispiriting, like you I've had such premonitions and they seldom turn out well, I hope you're wrong.

  97. Afternoon all

    Rosie Duffield Quits Labour Over Starmer’s “Sleaze, Nepotism, and Greed”

    Duffield writes to Starmer:

    “The sleaze, nepotism and apparent avarice are off the scale. I am so ashamed of what you and your inner circle have done to tarnish and humiliate our once proud party.”

    Only 166 to go until Starmer loses his working majority…

    Read her full letter below:

    “Dear Sir Keir,

    Usually letters like this begin, “It is with a heavy heart…” Mine has been increasingly heavy and conflicted and has longed for a degree of relief.
    I can no longer stay a Labour MP under your management of the party, and this letter is my notice that I wish to resign the Labour Party whip with immediate effect.

    Although many “last straws” have led to my decision, my reason for leaving now is the programme of policies you seem determined to stick to, however unpopular they are with the electorate and your own MPs.

    You repeat often that you will make the “tough decisions” and that the country is “all in this together”. But those decisions do not directly affect any one of us in Parliament. They are cruel and unnecessary, and affect hundreds of thousands of our poorest, most vulnerable constituents.

    This is not what I was elected to do. It is not even wise politics, and it certainly is not “the politics of service”.

    I did not vote for you to lead our party for reasons I won’t describe in detail here. But, as someone elevated immediately to a shadow cabinet position without following the usual path of honing your political skills on the backbenches, you had very little previous political footprint. It was therefore unclear what your political passions, drive or direction might be as the leader of the Labour Party, a large movement of people united by a desire for social justice and support for those most in need.

    You also made the choice not to speak up once about the Labour Party’s problems with antisemitism during your time in the shadow cabinet, leaving that to backbenchers, including new MPs such as me.

    Since you took office as Leader of the Opposition you have used various heavy-handed management tactics but have never shown what most experienced backbenchers would recognise as true or inspiring leadership.

    You have never regularly engaged with your own backbench MPs, many of whom have been in Parliament far longer than you, and some of whom served in the previous Labour government.

    You have chosen neither to seek our individual political opinions, nor learn about our constituency experiences, nor our specific or collective areas of political knowledge. We clearly have nothing you deem to be of value.

    Your promotion of those with no proven political skills and no previous parliamentary experience but who happen to be related to those close to you, or even each other, is frankly embarrassing.

    In particular, the recent treatment of Diane Abbott, now Mother of the House, was deeply shameful and led to comments from voters across the political spectrum. A woman of her political stature and place in history is deserving of respect and support, regardless of political differences.

    As Prime Minister, your managerial and technocratic approach, and lack of basic politics and political instincts, have come crashing down on us as a party after we worked so hard, promised so much, and waited a long fourteen years to be mandated by the British public to return to power.

    Since the change of government in July, the revelations of hypocrisy have been staggering and increasingly outrageous. I cannot put into words how angry I and my colleagues are at your total lack of understanding about how you have made us all appear.

    How dare you take our longed-for victory, the electorate’s sacred and precious trust, and throw it back in their individual faces and the faces of dedicated and hardworking Labour MPs?! The sleaze, nepotism and apparent avarice are off the scale. I am so ashamed of what you and your inner circle have done to tarnish and humiliate our once proud party.

    Someone with far-above-average wealth choosing to keep the Conservatives’ two-child limit to benefit payments which entrenches children in poverty, while inexplicably accepting expensive personal gifts of designer suits and glasses costing more than most of those people can grasp – this is entirely undeserving of holding the title of Labour Prime Minister. Forcing a vote to make many older people iller and colder while you and your favourite colleagues enjoy free family trips to events most people would have to save hard for – why are you not showing even the slightest bit of embarrassment or remorse?

    I now have no confidence in your commitment to deliver the so-called “change” you promised during the General Election campaign and the changes we have been striving for as a political party for over a decade.

    My values are those of a democratic socialist Labour Party and I have been elected three times to act on those values on behalf of my constituents. Canterbury made history when its voters elected their first woman, and only non-Conservative, MP since the seat was created in the thirteenth century.

    My constituents elected an independent-minded MP who vowed to put constituency before party, and to keep tackling the issues that most affect us here – Brexit fallout, funding for our universities, our desperately struggling East Kent NHS, dire housing situation, repeated sewage pollution and protecting our vital green spaces.

    I am confident that I can continue to do so as an independent MP guided by my core Labour values.

    Sadly, the Labour Party has never shown any interest in my wonderful constituency in the seven years that I have been in Parliament. But I am proud of my community and will continue to serve them to the best of my ability.

    My constituents care deeply about social issues such as child poverty and helping those who cannot help themselves. I will continue to uphold those values as I pledged to do when I first stood before them for election in 2017.

    As someone who joined a trade union in my first job, at seventeen, Labour has always been my natural political home. I was elected as a single mum, a former teaching assistant in receipt of tax credits. The Labour Party was formed to speak for those of us without a voice, and I stood for election partly because I saw decisions about the lives of those like me being made in Westminster by only the most privileged few. Right now, I cannot look my constituents in the eye and tell them that anything has changed.

    I hope to be able to return to the party in the future, when it again resembles the party I love, putting the needs of the many before the greed of the few.”

    Larf a minute

      1. No undies, Darling. I'm doing it all the time. Don't worry, all NoTTLers are far too polite to ever mention it.

        {:^))

  98. Just had an excellent example of Sod's Law. We are going to west Normandy next September (I know, I know – best to expect to be still alive) so I thought I'd get 2½ inch (equiv) map of the village. You would not BELIEVE it! The edge of two adjoining maps goes right through the middle of the place. I then checked out the smaller scale map – same bloody thing!

    I'll have to bite he bullet, I suppose – but order them to click and collect in France – where they are half the price that they are in Engerland.

    C'est la vie, doncha know?

    1. OS now offer a service where you can for example place your home at the centre of your personalised map and have it printed one off. Saves having to buy two maps or even three or 4 ! Of course you can choose any location in the UK to be your centre of interest….

  101. That's me for today. My, it was chilly first thing. Sunny later but not warming sunshine. Starting to put garden stuff – covers, etc – away for t'winter.
    Tomorrow may be a little bit better – but I suppose one must accept the seasonal round etc etc. It's the "common tasks" that get to me!

    Anyway, have a jolly evening – we are half way through a French Maigret on TPTV. Brilliant.

    A demain.

        1. Agree…reminds me of watching it with my dad, who always put his feet up on the mantlepiece when watching TV 😀

    2. Weather definitely turning cooler. 14-15 next week, hopefully a delta of 4'c inside as long as the windows are kept closed.

          1. Reminds me of a guy I worked with decades ago, Fred Tribe. The most Bedford man you ever met… He’s say “Oh! Yew” with that wonderful accent.
            Hope you’re doing well, Fred.

      1. His was a Smith & Wesson, in blued steel.
        This one is a Ruger Redhawk, in 44 MAG stainless steel, and mine.
        Very loud…

  105. Rosie Duffield's resignation letter.

    “Dear Sir Keir,

    Usually letters like this begin, “It is with a heavy heart…” Mine has been increasingly heavy and conflicted and has longed for a degree of relief.
    I can no longer stay a Labour MP under your management of the party, and this letter is my notice that I wish to resign the Labour Party whip with immediate effect.

    Although many “last straws” have led to my decision, my reason for leaving now is the programme of policies you seem determined to stick to, however unpopular they are with the electorate and your own MPs.

    You repeat often that you will make the “tough decisions” and that the country is “all in this together”. But those decisions do not directly affect any one of us in Parliament. They are cruel and unnecessary, and affect hundreds of thousands of our poorest, most vulnerable constituents.

    This is not what I was elected to do. It is not even wise politics, and it certainly is not “the politics of service”.

    I did not vote for you to lead our party for reasons I won’t describe in detail here. But, as someone elevated immediately to a shadow cabinet position without following the usual path of honing your political skills on the backbenches, you had very little previous political footprint. It was therefore unclear what your political passions, drive or direction might be as the leader of the Labour Party, a large movement of people united by a desire for social justice and support for those most in need.

    You also made the choice not to speak up once about the Labour Party’s problems with antisemitism during your time in the shadow cabinet, leaving that to backbenchers, including new MPs such as me.

    Since you took office as Leader of the Opposition you have used various heavy-handed management tactics but have never shown what most experienced backbenchers would recognise as true or inspiring leadership.

    You have never regularly engaged with your own backbench MPs, many of whom have been in Parliament far longer than you, and some of whom served in the previous Labour government.

    You have chosen neither to seek our individual political opinions, nor learn about our constituency experiences, nor our specific or collective areas of political knowledge. We clearly have nothing you deem to be of value.

    Your promotion of those with no proven political skills and no previous parliamentary experience but who happen to be related to those close to you, or even each other, is frankly embarrassing.

    In particular, the recent treatment of Diane Abbott, now Mother of the House, was deeply shameful and led to comments from voters across the political spectrum. A woman of her political stature and place in history is deserving of respect and support, regardless of political differences.

    As Prime Minister, your managerial and technocratic approach, and lack of basic politics and political instincts, have come crashing down on us as a party after we worked so hard, promised so much, and waited a long fourteen years to be mandated by the British public to return to power.

    Since the change of government in July, the revelations of hypocrisy have been staggering and increasingly outrageous. I cannot put into words how angry I and my colleagues are at your total lack of understanding about how you have made us all appear.

    How dare you take our longed-for victory, the electorate’s sacred and precious trust, and throw it back in their individual faces and the faces of dedicated and hardworking Labour MPs?! The sleaze, nepotism and apparent avarice are off the scale. I am so ashamed of what you and your inner circle have done to tarnish and humiliate our once proud party.

    Someone with far-above-average wealth choosing to keep the Conservatives’ two-child limit to benefit payments which entrenches children in poverty, while inexplicably accepting expensive personal gifts of designer suits and glasses costing more than most of those people can grasp – this is entirely undeserving of holding the title of Labour Prime Minister. Forcing a vote to make many older people iller and colder while you and your favourite colleagues enjoy free family trips to events most people would have to save hard for – why are you not showing even the slightest bit of embarrassment or remorse?

    I now have no confidence in your commitment to deliver the so-called “change” you promised during the General Election campaign and the changes we have been striving for as a political party for over a decade.

    My values are those of a democratic socialist Labour Party and I have been elected three times to act on those values on behalf of my constituents. Canterbury made history when its voters elected their first woman, and only non-Conservative, MP since the seat was created in the thirteenth century.

    My constituents elected an independent-minded MP who vowed to put constituency before party, and to keep tackling the issues that most affect us here – Brexit fallout, funding for our universities, our desperately struggling East Kent NHS, dire housing situation, repeated sewage pollution and protecting our vital green spaces.

    I am confident that I can continue to do so as an independent MP guided by my core Labour values.

    Sadly, the Labour Party has never shown any interest in my wonderful constituency in the seven years that I have been in Parliament. But I am proud of my community and will continue to serve them to the best of my ability.

    My constituents care deeply about social issues such as child poverty and helping those who cannot help themselves. I will continue to uphold those values as I pledged to do when I first stood before them for election in 2017.

    As someone who joined a trade union in my first job, at seventeen, Labour has always been my natural political home. I was elected as a single mum, a former teaching assistant in receipt of tax credits. The Labour Party was formed to speak for those of us without a voice, and I stood for election partly because I saw decisions about the lives of those like me being made in Westminster by only the most privileged few. Right now, I cannot look my constituents in the eye and tell them that anything has changed.

    I hope to be able to return to the party in the future, when it again resembles the party I love, putting the needs of the many before the greed of the few.”

        1. Not quite. I'm still keeping my seat and the money that goes with it, I'm just leaving your rotten outfit.

      1. A well crafted letter and a dagger to his heart. I expect others will follow leaving a deserted clique of incompetents in charge. The dominoes are about to fall and about time too.

        1. One can only hope so.
          The danger is that he'll be toppled and a very hard left group will take over.

      2. Hardly….. very doubtful, it would be as a feather fluttering across his rhino hide, and he has no heart for his Party members because that beats only for Davos.

    4. It's good, but it would be even better to resign and let the constituents vote her in as an independent at the by-election. The results would be interesting.

      1. She could well be worried that she wouldn't get voted in – then bang goes her MP salary and perks

    5. 'Brexit fallout' could mean anything. And no mention of immigration.

      She was treated disgracefully over the 'trans' [sic] issue.

    6. What "Brexit fallout"? We haven't left! The problems in East Kent's NHS, not to mention the housing problems are more likely due to the influx of unwanteds via Dover. I wouldn't say 20% of the vote was a mandate, personally. Keeping the cap on child benefit is about the only sensible decision Labour has made.

      1. The housing problems are those suffered by many smaller university towns – an enormous increase in student numbers in recent years.

  106. Explains a lot..

    No wonder he can't explain what a woman is.
    The obsession with sausages.
    Some might even say that Lord Alli has penetrated Starmer’s inner circle.

    2. All should be revealed by Monday.. Tuesday at latest.
      Note.. not a even a squeak from MSN.
      Lots of MPs sniggering, so it's just a matter of time.

    4. I enlightened the people on my table at the harvest supper last night. They hadn't heard Starmer wanting to release the sausages. They laughed.

  108. Our Labour Gov't are not very good at maffs…

    Eco-Madness: Leftist UK Gov’t Green Housing Demands Could Cost Up To £36 Billion, Report Finds

    The radical climate plans by the Labour Party government in Britain could cost landlords, taxpayers, and housing associations up to £36 billion to renovate their properties to comply with impending energy efficiency standards, the cost of which will likely being passed onto renters, a report has found.

    Energy Security and Net Zero minister Ed Miliband has argued that banning landlords from renting older and energy inefficient homes until they make costly upgrades would lift a million families out of “fuel poverty”. However, critics have claimed that such a move would merely push further costs onto renters, who are already struggling under the weight of housing shortages, inflation, and high taxation.

    According to an analysis from The Telegraph of Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) data, which tracks the energy efficiency of houses across the country, the leftist government’s plans to demand upgrades to some 1.6 million private rental properties could cost between £18.5 billion and £36.1 billion to landlords, taxpayers, and housing associations.

    http://ww.breitbart.com/europe/2024/09/28/eco-madness-leftist-uk-govt-green-housing-demands-could-cost-up-to-36-billion-report-finds/

    1. Former prime minister Boris Johnson considered launching an “aquatic raid” on a warehouse in the Netherlands to retrieve Covid vaccine doses amid a row with Europe, according to an extract from his memoir.

      Mr Johnson convened a meeting of senior military officials in March 2021 to discuss the plans, which he admitted were “nuts”, according to an extract from his Unleashed book published in the Daily Mail.

      At the time, the AstraZeneca vaccine was at the heart of a cross-Channel row over exports, with the EU lagging behind the pace of the rollout in the UK.

      The extract says the deputy chief of the defence staff (military strategy and operations), Lieutenant General Doug Chalmers, told the prime minister the plan was “certainly feasible”, using rigid inflatable boats to navigate Dutch canals.

      “They would then rendezvous at the ­target; enter; secure the ­hostage goods, exfiltrate using an articulated lorry, and make their way to the Channel ports,” Mr Johnson wrote.

      But the senior officer said it would not be possible to do this undetected, with lockdowns meaning the authorities might observe the raid, meaning the UK would “have to explain why we are effectively invading a long-standing Nato ally”.

      Writing in his book, Mr Johnson said he “had ­commissioned some work on whether it might be technically feasible to launch an aquatic raid on a warehouse in Leiden, in the Netherlands, and to take that which was legally ours and which the UK desperately needed”.

      The former PM admitted: “Of course, I knew he was right, and I secretly agreed with what they all thought but did not want to say aloud: that the whole thing was nuts.”

      He described the Halix plant as holding millions of doses of the vaccine which AstraZeneca was “trying, in vain” to export to the UK. He believed the EU was treating the UK “with malice and with spite” due to the European rollout being slower than in the UK.

      “They wanted to stop us getting the five million doses, and yet they showed no real sign of wanting to use the AstraZeneca doses themselves,” Mr Johnson wrote.

      He said that around that time, “out of the blue, the European Commission launched a kind of legal war against AstraZeneca, claiming that the company was failing to honour its contract with the EU”.

      However, he said the EU’s “complaints were nonsense” as a result of Kate Bingham, the chairwoman of the UK’s vaccine taskforce, signing a “bomb-proof” contract with AstraZeneca.

      In March 2021, Mr Johnson told a Downing Street press conference: “We’ll continue to work with European partners to deliver the vaccine rollout.

      “All I can say is we in this country don’t believe in blockades of any kind of vaccines or vaccine materials.

      “It’s not something that this country would dream of engaging in and I’m encouraged in some of the things I’ve heard from the continent in the same sense.”

  110. Another gallon of zyder made today. Sweet juicey apples start fermentation within minutes of transferring into demi jons. Bubbling away as are the other three gallons.
    But a lot of work.
    I expect those labour nasty's might be ringing the door bell for a tax collection.
    Popping off feet up and a nice glass of SA Shiraz. 14.5 probably a shade less than the zyder.
    Good night all.

  111. Any intelligent observer, looking at the mourning for the Islamic terrorist leader around the world, should note the huge support there is for the eradication of Israel.
    A word to the wise:
    Muslims will move for Israel first, your country next.

    1. Mohammedans, like communists, believe they have a right to world domination. Some people want to believe that because some communists have been Jews, the whole thing is “a Zionist plot”, ignoring the fact that Soros, Nuland et al clearly hate religious Jews and real Zionism with a vengeance. One of the cheering elements of Tommy Robinson rallies is the number of Israeli flags always on display.

    1. And more power to their collective elbows.
      Just that they show some restraint, not blowing the whole world apart.

      1. I think they show remarkable restraint. They have yet to Nuke their murdurous neighbours despite decades of provocation. And they could.

  113. Rosie Duffield wasn't so principled to actually vote against the withdrawal of the WFA, nor it would seem to actually stand down and trigger a by election.

    1. Well there's principles and politicians, I haven't seen the two side by side since Lord Carrington fell on his sword all those years ago.

    2. She didn't vote for it, either. She's taken enormous flak and despite this (abstaining rather than voting against) I both like her and admire her courage (despite her political delusions re socialism)

      1. I admired her when Russell-Moyle was sitting just a short distance away, seemingly trying to pressure her with his presence. He seems to have grown up a bit since then.

          3. Ah..got you. Yes, tend to agree. Hope they find it with both hands, and soon….although I actually suspect they’re on the downhill slope, will see the next few days. The comparison will be with the Reform conf – did you see any footage of that?

  114. SWMBO just complimented me that we've been married 42 and a bit years. I have absolutely no regrets, either.
    Was reduced to tears. That's difficult when you're a 63 year old hardbitten engineer… but still.
    Such messages are very emotionally charged.
    Now to find out about Mother.
    Don't hold your breath…

    6. Next March it will be 50 years for us. I found on booking dot com the very cottage in Cornwall where we spent our honeymoon. No chance of foreign travels for us then.
      Two nights in Cornwall in March next year would cost us over £700 in the very same cottage. Just the cottage, all self catering, and they wonder why the UK tourist industry suffers at times.
      I would rather spend that money on taking us somewhere warm and sunny for a week.

    1. Where T F did you find that, Sue? It's not on our National Broadcaster. Is it misinformation, like the misinformation they will not report re the corruption at the heart of our shiny new government? Jeremy Bowen is on Beeb speed dial to counteract any suggestion that people are being liberated from Islamist authoritarian brutes by IDF action, and that they are glad.

  118. Utterly off topic

    A good day in the garden/woods today.
    I've been playing Bob of Bonsall for three weeks moving seasoned logs every day, bar Sundays.
    At long last I'm into the last third of the fallen oaks. I've cleared two huge piles of logs and at last I can move on to the last of them.
    They've been cut and chopped and I've been busy carrying them and throwing them over the fence for moving and stacking nearer the chateau.
    I've shifted roughly 30 cubic metres, on top of a similar amount already stacked and in place for the fires.
    At a quick and dirty calculation I've moved three years worth of wood, burning both wood burners simultaneously every day for 6 months a year, where in truth we only do half that.

    HG is a happy lady, she feels the cold badly and the wood burners are her winter lifeline..

    The high winds of 2023 did me some favours.

  119. Evening, all. Went to a '40s weekend event today. Great fun; people dressing up, '40s music, flypast by a Dakota in D Day stripes, vintage cars, lots of memorabilia (I've got one of those – oh, and one of those, too!). Alas, I succumbed to buying a lot of books. Kadi was worn out – emotionally exhausted by all those ladies who wanted to fuss him and coo over him! I think such exposure does him good in the long run. He doesn't seem to be as traumatised by people talking to him and stroking him as he used to.

    I have a new project for my holidays now that I have "collected" all the mainland UK racecourses. I am going to attend as many '40s events as I can.

    2. Glad you had a great time, and Kadi too. My dog suffers from anxiety, especially if other people visiting. Having tried various food, meds, discovered a White Noise video on YouTube. So far, works every time.

      1. I have a pet remedy diffuser at home which seems to calm him down (although not quieten him down when people come).

        1. That’s the main thing, numerous voices, numerous bodies. Plus he’s quite deaf now, so I think that confuses him even more. What’s the pet diffuser please, Conway?

          1. Pet Remedy (a herbal calmer). The oil (?) is in a container and sits in a thing (very technical) that you plug into a socket. It sends out a nice, calming smell.

      1. Thanks. When is that on? Due to the distance to travel I want to cluster events/places to see as far as possible.

          1. Thanks. It's the 20th and 21st September next year. That will probably clash with a local one, but I'll see what I can put together to make it worth the trip.

  120. Latest Breaking News

    The Met Office has issued an amber weather warning to pensioners.
    Due to the severe weather forecast this Winter.
    They are advising pensioners not to bother watching Strictly this season, if they lose the winter fuel payment

    1. I picked up "Erik the Red and Other Icelandic Sagas" a week or two back from a charity book shop.. It looks heavy going!!!

    2. I have a copy of the first edition bought for me by my dear wife on our eleventh wedding anniversary in 1981. I re-read it a few months ago and followed that book with re-reading Wood's, In Search of the Trojan War. Also, I have a signed copy of the author's Domesday, I'll get around to re-reading that book sometime this coming winter.

    1. It is not and should not be a choice between filth or sharia. Where is our backbone? Where are our Christian principles? The erosion of our own standards didn't happen by itself – we need to get them back.
      The cultural marxists have defined "Christian" as someone who doesn't hurt other people's feelings – if you hurt other people's feelings you are out of that silly novel that they made such a great noise about a few years ago in which women are enslaved by Christianity.
      Real Christians know that God is offensive to people who prefer sin.

Comments are closed.