Saturday 29 January: Companies should not bully customers into wearing a mask for fear of being shamed

Posted on by Geoff Graham

An unofficial place to discuss the Telegraph letters, established when the DT website turned off its comments 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.

613 thoughts on “Saturday 29 January: Companies should not bully customers into wearing a mask for fear of being shamed”

    1. Morning Michael and all.

      That reminds me. I must get on; I’ve got a fair amount of painting to do today of the A-dolf kind……!

  4. ‘Morning, Peeps and Geoff.

    SIR – You have published a number of letters from people who, in disgust at the current situation, are either considering giving up their Tory party membership, or else have done so.

    Do these people have no aspirations for the longer term? If they are really Conservatives, the answer is not to jump ship without a lifeboat, but to get involved with a local branch and try to change things for the better. In particular, would they not want to vote if we have a leadership election?

    Mike Keatinge
    Sherborne, Dorset

    I doubt that ‘getting involved’ will make a scrap of difference, Mike Keatinge. What will certainly make a difference is when the party sponsors start withdrawing their support. Money talks!

    1. From the BTLs on the same subject:

      P Lamb
      6 HRS AGO
      Re Mike Keatinge’s letter:
      When I cancelled my Conservative party membership in August 2020, I emailed both my MP and my constituency chairman giving my ten reasons why. These were: covid inconsistency, no economic recovery plan, incomplete Brexit, illegal immigration, education under union control, civil servants not returning to their offices, PHE and NHS failing, BBC unreformed, unrealistic energy policy and police not doing their job.
      Seventeen months on, not one of my reasons has been dealt with and the energy situation has deteriorated further. There doesn’t appear to be a true Conservative in the present Cabinet, so it doesn’t concern me that I won’t have a vote in any leadership election: they’re all as bad as each other. The only consolation is that the opposition parties are even worse. There is a real vacancy in British politics, can Reform fill it?

      * * *

      Time is short for Reform to get their act together and make an impact. The obvious danger is splitting the right of centre vote, although it may be the case that they will benefit from mass abstentions by traditional Conservative voters…

  6. Companies should not bully customers into wearing a mask for fear of being shamed

    I wonder how much of this is down to their mad Health & Safety policies

    1. Well, Bob3, despite the posturing of Sainsbury’s. Morrisons, etc. the customers seem to be mainly ignoring their “demands”. So I am hopeful that the tide will turn. It’s just the BBC and MSM continuing with Project Fear which is preventing this from happening more quickly.

  7. Sue Gray report: redacted version is imminent, say government sources. 29 January 2022.

    A heavily redacted report into Downing Street parties by the senior civil servant Sue Gray will be published imminently, the Guardian understands, after Scotland Yard provoked fury and confusion by revealing it had demanded key details of the worst offending be removed.

    MPs labelled the Metropolitan police a broken organisation after the force admitted it had asked Gray to make “minimal reference” in her inquiry report to matters its officers were now investigating. The Met, battered by criticism, insisted it needed to protect the integrity of its investigation.

    This will in effect destroy the report since the most egregious points will be excluded from it! It’s like the Nuremberg Trials with no mention of the Concentration Camps allowed.

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jan/28/sue-gray-report-fears-indefinite-delay-met-intervention-partygate

    1. ‘Morning, Minty. I despair of the embarrassing shambles resulting from the tug of war over this report. Drinking sessions in breweries, beer and glasses provided, doesn’t go anywhere near this epic disaster.

      Anyway, very brief visit today as I’m bus-driving this morning, and we don’t want any stroppy passengers (sorry, customers) if I’m late!

    2. Another mighty clusterfcuk by government/met police/authority… Delete as applicable.
      Fascinating to see how Brexit, BLM and Covid expose the fifth column’s lies, mendacity and incompetence to public gaze, whilst the press look the other way.

    3. Good morning all.

      Any credibility to this report will have been completely shattered. Even less reason to trust HMG.

  8. Sue Gray report: redacted version is imminent, say government sources. 29 January 2022.

    A heavily redacted report into Downing Street parties by the senior civil servant Sue Gray will be published imminently, the Guardian understands, after Scotland Yard provoked fury and confusion by revealing it had demanded key details of the worst offending be removed.

    MPs labelled the Metropolitan police a broken organisation after the force admitted it had asked Gray to make “minimal reference” in her inquiry report to matters its officers were now investigating. The Met, battered by criticism, insisted it needed to protect the integrity of its investigation.

    This will in effect destroy the report since the most egregious points will be excluded from it! It’s like the Nuremberg Trials with no mention of the Concentration Camps allowed.

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jan/28/sue-gray-report-fears-indefinite-delay-met-intervention-partygate

  9. Ironically it was Labour and all those remainers that called for the police to get involve with the office gathering codswallop campaign
    Now it appears to have all backfired.
    I thought the police would be interested in all those people leaking emails that most probably break their official secrets act the office staff must all have signed

  10. We all know this – 2431 BTL comments and counting…

    Government nudge unit ‘used grossly unethical tactics to scare public into Covid compliance’

    MPs launch investigation after psychologists criticise totalitarian tactics of ‘deploying fear, shame and scapegoating’ during pandemic

    By Tony Diver, POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT
    28 January 2022 • 6:11pm

    The Government’s “grossly unethical” uses of its “nudge unit” inflated fear among the public during the Covid pandemic, psychologists have said – prompting MPs to launch an investigation into scare adverts.

    A group of psychologists have written to Parliament’s Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, warning that a team of civil servants dedicated to “nudging” public behaviour during the pandemic were unaccountable and unethical.

    The letter’s 40 professional signatories – led by Dr Gary Sidley, a retired clinical psychologist – said they opposed the use of dramatic adverts, which included slogans such as: “If you go out you can spread it, people will die.”

    They also condemned the use of “images of the acutely unwell in intensive care units” on billboard and television adverts, as well as the “macabre mono focus on showing the number of Covid-19 deaths without mention of mortality from other causes or the fact that, under normal circumstances, around 1,600 people die each day in the UK”.

    The use of ‘images of the acutely unwell in intensive care units’ on billboards was condemned

    It has been used to encourage the public to pay their taxes, turn up in court and donate their organs when they die.

    It is officially known as the “behavioural insights team”, but little is known about how it actually operates.

    The unit was used to encourage compliance with coronavirus regulations during the pandemic.

    One advert showed a close-up photo of an intensive care patient in a mask, with the caption: “Look her in the eyes and tell her you never bend the rules.”

    Another said: “Look him in the eyes and tell him you always keep a safe distance”.

    The letter drew attention to a government memo from March 2020, which suggested that “the perceived level of personal threat needs to be increased among those who are complacent” and called for more frightening messaging.

    The Telegraph understands that Parliament’s Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee will investigate the use of the behavioural insights team as part of its investigation into the Government’s activities during the pandemic. It will coincide with the second anniversary of the first lockdown.

    William Wragg, the committee’s chairman, said: “I think the central issue is how ‘nudge’ sits within parliamentary democracy and ministerial accountability.

    “Normally, it’s quite straightforward to know where lines of accountability are between the law, parliamentarians scrutinising the law and the public following it.

    “And this is a wider question of how much, in a parliamentary democracy, sits outside of that approach.”

    The psychologists also warned that “scare ads” have had unintended consequences.

    “Shaming and scapegoating have emboldened some people to harass those unable or unwilling to wear a face covering,” they wrote.

    “More disturbingly, the inflated fear levels will have significantly contributed to the many thousands of excess non-Covid deaths that have occurred in people’s homes, the strategically-increased anxieties discouraging many from seeking help for other illnesses.”

    ************************************************************************

    D Walker
    12 HRS AGO
    It’s not a Nudge Unit. It’s a Psy Ops Unit …… and it created and launched the most evil campaign of fear and intimidation a British Government has ever launched against its own people.
    This issue alone is why I will never vote for a Johnson led Government.

    Rick Wall
    12 HRS AGO
    I look forward to the arrests and prosecutions of the psychopathic members of this unit, who scared some people to death.

    sensible libertarian
    12 HRS AGO
    We have known this for a while and Laura Dodsworth has written a book about it “State of Fear”.
    The practise continues however. Shaming the unvaccinated and ‘othering’ them on a daily basis. Disgusting.

    1. No political system in which the government indulges in the psychological coercion of its population could ever be classified as remotely Democratic. It shows how far the Political Elites have strayed from the very idea of being representatives of the people! They have made themselves into the Public’s Conscience and Moral Superiors!

    4. The thing is, these same MPs who have “launched an investigation into scare adverts” never raised a protest at the time . The tide really has turned hasn’t it. But they are all nearly 2 years late. TV full of scary ads, even street notices, daily “reminders”. Not one iota of common sense among the lot of them.

      But now they’re criticising their own nudge unit. What about those who brought them into it in the first place? What about Professor pants down Turdison with every single projection/warning wildly inaccurate.

    5. “And this is a wider question of how much, in a parliamentary democracy, sits outside of that approach.”

      Superfluity, often practised in the phrase , ‘for free.’

  11. A double first in double standards: Cambridge academics want to tear down a memorial to a benefactor who made a tiny portion of his money from investments in slavery. Yet it’s pocketed a fortune from China which enslaves thousands of Uighur Muslims today
    *
    *
    *
    Former media executive and ex-member of the BBC Trust
    https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/01/28/22/53502311-10453607-image-a-12_1643407495240.jpg
    Jesus chose to pursue the ecclesiastical court action in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests, calling it ‘part of a process of critical self-reflection on the long-term legacies of enslavement and colonial violence’. Master of Jesus, Sonita Alleyne, pictured, declared last year: ‘The chapel should offer a welcoming space accessible to every member of our community . . . This is the right solution for our college’

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10453607/A-double-double-standards.html

  14. Good morning, all.

    LewisDuckworth posted the ‘mask’ tweet last night and I would like to share, from Senator Ron Johnson’s Senate meeting on Covid-19 last Monday, the type of mask that is required to give some form of protection: it is a P100 type.

    The man demonstrating this monstrosity is Steve Kirsch, a man with two degrees from MIT, an ex-CEO of a high tech company and a concerned citizen re covid and Biden’s response. This segment elicited some mirth from an otherwise very serious group of people: Senator Johnson quipped that advertising this item may prompt Biden into allocating 100 Billion dollars to provide everyone in the USA with one. This mask’s most obvious failing is that it only works one way i.e. there is no filter on the expiration outlet and therefore only protects the wearer.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/25d641cbf2a0c43ac117a769e40e3bec5ef7a9a1ed2e6ba34d950469c0289f7c.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c0a203bd2dbe17e856a8fca006b862d5b333667ae7338417a7ff5c57f529da3f.png

      1. And dangerous. Look at those spikes on his head, and you can be sure he knows how to stab you and tear you apart with them.

  16. Morning all

    Share

    Companies should not bully customers into wearing a mask for fear of being shamed

    SIR – With the lifting of Plan B Covid measures on January 26, mask-wearing should now be a matter of personal judgment.

    However, a number of companies have said they will continue to ask customers and staff to wear masks “as a courtesy to others”. This is especially troubling as it not only seeks to deny people the right to make their own decisions about face coverings, but also implies that anyone who makes what is deemed to be the wrong choice is showing a reckless disregard for the well-being of others.

    Individual judgment should be welcomed, and the fact that people will come to different conclusions is a reflection of human nature. Rather than being suppressed it should be welcomed as a sign of our slow return to normal life.

    Alison Handy

    Newbury, Berkshire

    SIR – Do Transport for London and large supermarkets just prefer mask-wearing, or is it compulsory? If the former, how is the rule enforced? If you disobey the “request”, can police be called to ensure compliance? Or evict you? I am in a muddle.

    Virginia Ironside

    London W12

    SIR – Morrisons is going to ask me to wear a mask (report, January 27).

    I was recently served at a Morrisons checkout by an unmasked assistant who told me that she had not been vaccinated .

    I will not be wearing a mask.

    Barbara Lucas

    Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire

    SIR – When will the Scottish Government be bold enough to axe face masks in schools?

    Increasingly, we know that learning is being critically, perhaps irreversibly, hampered by their use. Sixteen-year-olds have now spent over 12 per cent of their entire life behind a mask or screen. Safety is a priority, but learning – childhood – is about open dialogue and engagement; a covered face creates suspicion and withdrawal.

    Children need to be seen and heard.

    Dorothy MacGinty

    Head teacher, Kilgraston School

    Bridge of Earn, Perthshire

    SIR – Oliver Gill reports (January 27) that the Government will offer free coffee and bacon rolls to commuters to get them back on the railways.

    How does this square with Sadiq Khan’s insistence that masks continue to be worn on TfL trains?

    George Kelly

    Buckingham

    2. We travelled on the London Underground on Tuesday and didn’t wear masks. Only two other people not wearing masks, both black (whatever that has to do with anything).

    3. Bacon rolls. That’s racist discrimination, that is. And anti -Vegan. Someone should be cancelled for that.

  17. Jubbly dynamics

    SIR – Christopher Howse (Features, January 27) refers to the sucking of frozen Jubbly through a torn-off corner of the packaging. At school in the late 1950s, drinking Jubbly was a complex, even scientific, procedure.

    As the packages rested in the freezer the orange concentrate sank into the lowest corner, resulting in one apex composed of ice and almost devoid of taste. This led to a form of gastronomic Russian roulette, where one had a one-in-four chance of finding the juiciest corner.

    To increase the chance of locating it, enlightened pupils would apply Newton’s laws of gravity, placing one carton corner downwards on the nearest radiator. The concentrate, being of greater density than water, emigrated to the bottom of the pack

    Paul Strong

    Claxby, Lincolnshire

  18. Too common

    Hat crime

    SIR – Letters on what was considered common (January 28) reminded me of what got my father red hot under the collar. Three were: Millicent Martin, green cars and drivers wearing hats.

    Steve Sandall

    Stoke Mandeville, Buckinghamshire

    SIR – When I was a small boy, my mother and I lived with an elderly great aunt who always insisted that, among other things that were far too common, eating Italian ice cream was not to be done under any circumstances.

    After 70 years, I can still hear her explanation: “They keep it under the bed, you know, dear.”

    Tony Pitt

    Evesham, Worcestershire

  19. Watched a bit of news this morning,
    Apparently everything is to blame for the high energy prices coming our way except for the climate change green energy agenda.

    1. `I was first aware of a global energy shortage crisis in 1973, when the Opec cartel restricted supply in order to put up prices. This was long before anyone heard of Climate Change, and when the world’s human population was half what it is today.

      Whilst undoubtedly the Green Levy has added a premium to prices, I don’t think it was more than 15%. VAT adds another 5%. More serious, the closure of the coal-fired power stations in the “dash for gas”, whilst running down our domestic nuclear technology, thinking we can trust the Chinese and the French, was downright stupid.

      I support the idea of local generation of power, encouraging panels on roofs, little windmills in places where there is wind, and the birds don’t mind too much being minced, hamster wheels and pedal-powered generators under school desks to get our little fatties in trim, In fact, a law making smartphones for children not work unless they generate the power for them might be a splendid idea. Remember those wind-up radios?

      Much improved insulation and draught-proofing is a no-brainer. Subsidies for this should be generous and involve as little domestic trauma as possible. I cannot describe the utter idiocy though in exchanging the fridge-like status of tower block flats for a furnace-like status and then back again, simply because they changed the Building regs to allow firelighters as insulation material. Even if this was slapped on energy bills rather than out of general taxation (perhaps from the budget earmarked for HS2?), I doubt it would add more than about 25% on bills.

      Here we are talking about a 300% hike in prices in months. I doubt this is down to the greenies, but rather the commercial manipulations we saw in 1973 – this time Russia diverting gas supplies from Western Europe to China, putting up prices as well as for military strategic reasons.

      Our military intelligence should have seen this coming, and never have shut down Rough, demolished our gas holders and made sure our reserves were well and truly topped up for the winter to thwart any such games by global interests trying it on.

  20. So apparently from today in the interest of safety to cyclists, drivers of cars are supposed to open their doors when getting out with their left hand.
    Osteopaths and physiotherapists have approved this new technique .

    2. Not sure about you peeps but I have a wing-mirror on my car. I always thought it was there to check for things going on behind you.

      1. Indeed. Mine has door mirrors for the same purpose, and I’m capable of turning my head, too, to look over my shoulder without being instructed which hand to open the door with.
        SWMBOs little red car has sliding doors. Open with a button.

  21. Good morning from a brightening Derbyshire. Dry again and a fairly warm start with 5°C.

    Unfortunately, with a run to Derby for Stepson arranged, I’ll not be able to make best use of the weather!

  23. 334750+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Saturday 29 January: Companies should not bully customers into wearing a mask for fear of being shamed

    The peoples have an unbeatable tool as in people power, the political overseers are using big business as a controlling tool, the peoples as in the voting public are hell bent on their “party” lab / lib / con being returned to number 10 unwilling to acknowledge the damage this toxic trio has done to these Isles.

    A party is needed that WILL target & channel people power, as in organised boycotts.

    Yet the majority of the supporter / voters are backing party’s that have
    flooded the country with terrorist, foreign paedophile rapist / abusers,
    assorted killers, plus a force building daily that WILL WITHOUT DOUBT bring in sharia law, the electorate as is, are condoning this every time they enter a polling station.

    The question is why are the electorate beating themselves over the head
    repeatedly with a vote that guarantees, GUARNTEES, more shite, and
    consenting their children to run the gauntlet from the cradle as foreign
    invaders play things, why are they backing this hidden manifesto ?

    1. Just back from butcher and Lidl: the former, four customers all non-masked and staff have been for a long time. Lidl, seven unmasked that I saw, the remainder, estimated at around 30, all masked. Appears a slow drift is occurring but I feel that quite a few will not relent for a very long time.

      1. 334750+ up ticks,

        Morning KtK,
        The masked backbone of the lab/lib/con coalition, their saviours.

      2. We are still in the winter cold virus season, they know of people who are ill with the usual URTIs – I think towards the end of March we will see a difference and people will start to leave the things off. Certainly last year it was a slow drift and then it was 50:50 during the summer months.

    2. Morning ogga.
      I just wished that I’d worn a mask when I popped in to visit my sister a couple of weeks ago. She had a cough which she apologised for. I ended up with a severe respiratory infection.
      Perhaps next time I’ll phone first.
      My wife works at the local library, she is going to continue to wear a mask.
      Lots of children carry lots of germs.

      1. 334750+ up ticks,

        Morning RE,

        But in reality ALL peoples carry lots of germs always have since the year dot we was always taught that the hand smothering the contents of a cough / sneeze sufficed.

        This worked right up until the manufactured ( created / escaped) who knows covid 19 was unleashed / escaped whatever,on a very gullible peoples, then millionaires were made via masks and other useless, in the main accessories.

        The mass manufactured mask is useless, but as a political control, manipulating tool a resounding winner.

        1. Although it wasn’t covid I think in this case I might have had less discomfort if it had been.
          I’ve always thought people sensible in the far East when in the past we see them on public transport. It could be stopping the spread of easily transmitted germs.
          We travelled from Oz to UK via Singapore during the SARS out break. We will never know if all the people at the airport wearing masks might have saved us from transmittion.

  24. Good morning all,

    A fair breeze blowing here , rather damp , dark and gloomy.

    The lambs are bleating , heard them during the night . I wonder whether the ewes sleep or wander around in the dark grazing?

    1. Rescuing abandoned lambs is a thankless task, having them penned up until they bond is all one can do. Good morning Belle.

  25. Morning all, 75 mph winds up here. Electricity has been off 4 times already – generator on standby
    Edit – 120 mph winds on the Munroes – people advised not to go climbing (as if!)

        1. If you fancy cutting fallen trees, watch out as when you cut the release of weight may make them suddenly flip back upright. That kills and badly injures quite a few people every year.

          3. One of the best toys that I ever bought is a Stihl polesaw. Metre and a half of safety distance. Too small for fallen mature trees, obviously.

    3. I hope it’s not a diesel generator Alec 🤔😆
      I’m laughing because I know,a chap who mainly lives east Africa and has made a fortune from selling and renting diesel generators. What would we do with out them ?

      1. It’s petrol Eddy, only a small one but enough for running the central heating, computer, kettle and TV and lights. (hob is bottled gas)

        1. Oh yes the portable size, I had one (Honda) for a couple of years when I was running my building company. Very handy when waiting for sparky to arrive.

          1. It’s a 2.8 Kva and I mounted it on a trolley. Before using it I have to isolate from the mains obviously and also switch off the solar panels

          3. Only if you are near it. It’s in the garage with the doors open so inside the house you don’t hear it.

  26. Yo All

    I will not wear a mask/face covering until forced to by law.

    My present ‘covering’, is a black cotton tube, resembling the upper portion of a black stocking.

    It have allowed it to be washed twice since the Covid fiasco began.

    Any business that demands I wear a mask will not get any money from me

  28. Highway Code revisions make rear-end crashes more likely, warns AA

    Lovely picture of a car turning left, what are the rules when the driver wants to go RIGHT

    Cyclists and pedestrians do not pay ‘Road Tax’: Drivers (generic term) Do Perhaps we should withhold that money until our rights are taken into account

    “The revamped Highways Code is also introducing new guidelines to improve safety for cyclists. For instance, bike-riders are now advised to cycle in the centre of lanes on quieter roads, in slower-moving traffic, and when approaching junctions, to make themselves as visible as possible”.

    There I am, on a quiet hilly, narrow hedged lane in my car, go round a bend and a lone cyclist is in the middle of the road, pedalling up hill at 3mph. The road is blocked in both directions

    ETC

    AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/01/29/highway-code-revisions-make-rear-end-crashes-likely-warns-aa/

    1. Anyone would think there is a group of people sitting in a darkened room dreaming up myriad ways to make life difficult for car drivers. Nah.

        1. The room isn’t dark, it’s very well lit and incredibly warm because I can guarantee the majority passing these nonsense rules are women and women are ‘cold’ unless it is hotter than an active volcano.

    2. BTL:
      Where I live in South west London, I fear the 2,000+ Sunday morning cyclists heading for Richmond park will work together to ‘wrong foot’ motorists to prove a point. In turn, the several thousand pedestrians who Visit Richmond park will also ‘test’ cyclists by stepping out in front of them to force them to brake. It’s all very scary…
      _________________

      Anyone who gets on a bicycle and takes it on to a road while machines weighing more than a ton hurtle past them is insane. If you ever saw what happens to a cyclists head when run over by a lorry you’d never get on one again.
      _________________

      I can see many more cases of road rage with these new rules – some pig headed cyclists will delight in riding in the middle of the road and creating huge tailbacks of cars behind them.
      Just how are cars to safely over take a cyclist if they are in the middle if the lane on a busy road with cars travelling in both directions?
      I think this policy will see drivers having more head on crashes trying to over take as well as tail ending when turning left and a pedestrian just steps out into the road with priority to cross.
      No thought has been given to this safety of cars drivers with this policy.
      _________________

      Who ever thought this up should think again. If I am out as a pedestrian and I need to cross the road I wait for a gap in the traffic. There is no way I am going to step off the kerb at a junction and expect the traffic to stop for me just because they are supposed to. These changes are as stupid as smart motorways and just as bloody dangerous.
      _________________

      If anyone stops for me when turning off a busy road, I will be stepping back and waving them through, as should any pedestrian with half an ounce of sense.

      1. This is all intended to “persuade” us motorists to give up our cars. That’s the only explanation that makes any sense. It will do nothing for our tempers!

        2. By persuade, mean ‘force’.

          I remember starting a ‘vehicle and traffic’ survey run by Hampshire CC. It was utterly biased toward ‘if there was a cycle land would you use it’. What has that to do with motorway congestion? I can’t cycle to work. I could walk to the train and get it from there – and get up at 5 to get in for 9 instead of a 20 minute drive.

        1. There is, as far as I know, next to no mention of horse riders in the Highway Code. It was an excellent opportunity to put something in, given the number of fatalities (mainly horse, but also rider) that happen in a year.

    3. These rule changes are meant to protect more vulnerable road users. I fail to see how a pedestrian waiting on the safety of the pavement to cross the road is vulnerable. I certainly would not expect a car to stop to allow me to cross the road if I were a pedestrian.

      1. One curiosity of Austrian drivers is that they seem to have a sixth sense when someone is about to cross the road, and will stop for this person. I really don’t know how they do it, but it is surprisingly reliable.

        Only on a zebra crossing or a pelican on green does a pedestrian have absolute right of way, and a car must stop however reckless the pedestrian is swaying.

        In other places, despite the new law, a pedestrian not showing sufficient care and attention when crossing the road is at fault, and a driver failing to stop in time in such cases cannot be to blame if there is an incident.

        1. It seems to me that there is an anomaly in this new rule giving a pedestrian priority over a car turning into a side road. A zebra crossing does not give priority to a pedestrian over a road vehicle, unless he/she has already set foot on the crossing i.e. the vehicle driver is not obliged to stop to allow a pedestrian to step onto the crossing. Yet this new rule seems to imply the opposite at a place in the road which has no pedestrian crossing. This is going to cause a lot of confusion, leading to accidents.

          1. At t-junctions the space where a road crosses the pavement has always been a shared space where road users have to give way to pedestrians crossing. See old rule 170 etc. The hatched lines across the full width are there to remind drivers.

          2. As I understand it the hatched line says ‘give way’ to traffic on the main road – if it is a solid line it means ‘Stop’ for the traffic entering the main road

          3. I’m not following you. Hatched markings – “These road markings can be found mainly on dual carriageways and motorways, and are mainly used to help protect traffic from turning right or to separate traffic lanes. If the marking is bordered by a solid white line then you are not permitted to enter it unless it is an emergency.

            If, however, it is bordered by a broken white line then you can enter it to overtake if you have to, but it is generally understood that you shouldn’t use it.”

            As far as rule 170 is concerned , “watch out for pedestrians crossing a road into which you are turning. If they have started to cross they have priority, so give way“. That has always been the case, but this rule change means that pedestrians have priority even if they have not yet started to cross.

          4. Fortunately, pedestrians are not obliged to study the Highway Code, so some of them may survive.

          5. You might find that in the new HC, you are to now give way to a ped approaching the crossing.

          6. No mention is made of any change to pedestrian crossing rules, in these changes, so rule 195 is still in force:-
            195
            Zebra crossings. As you approach a zebra crossing

            . look out for pedestrians waiting to cross and be ready to slow down or stop to let them cross
            . you MUST give way when a pedestrian has moved onto a crossing


            Edit: Rule 195 has been slightly amended, but only to say that motorists SHOULD (not MUST) give way to pedestrians waiting to cross:-
            195
            Zebra and parallel crossings. As you approach a zebra crossing

            look out for pedestrians waiting to cross and be ready to slow down or stop to let them cross
            you should give way to pedestrians waiting to cross
            you MUST give way when a pedestrian has moved onto a crossing

          8. Yet take this example:

            A busy main road, two junctions, opposite one another with traffic constantly moving around it. If I, as pedestrian step out in the junction then a car crossing the road from junc to junc will hit me. It’s up to me, as the pedestrian to be aware of when I can, and cannot cross.

            Comically it is at it’s worst crossing at school times as Mum’s in trucks are appalling drivers with no common sense, no respect, no thought.

    4. Morning all.
      Being Rear ended has been a very prominent problem for a long time.
      It seems that any one who is likely to stick to a speed limit is tailgated with avengegance.
      I think it’s time for cyclists to start paying for road use and also display some form of legal identification.
      There’s been a lot of cyclists that appear to enjoy confrontation by ignoring traffic lights pedestrian crossings the right of pedestrian especially on public footpaths and speed restrictions.
      This is Yet Another stupid mistake from our politicians.

        1. There have been a lot of ‘stand offs’ I’ve heard about on our local footpaths. I once emailed our parish council asking for no cycling notices but they choose to ignore requests like those.
          Cycling has been allowed to become a self right and a priority, where it use to be banned.

    6. I cross an insanely busy junction on my walk. If I just step into the road and assume drivers will stop, I will be killed.

      Similarly, most drivers don’t understand the priorities – such as joining traffic has priority over crossing. Don’t enter a roundabout unless you can exit it (not helped when you can’t see the exit) – which blocks up the roundabout entirely. Most don’t blasted use indicators or know which lane to be in to exit, for goodness sake.

      As traffic – especially around here – is so high, and so intentionally slowed by blocked roundabouts, jammed junctions and endless, never ending, mis-timed traffic lights (that stop one side turning left from moving while traffic turning right is moving) the only way people get anywhere is by ignoring the rules, by nipping through a red light, by jamming the roundabout, by pushing in the lane.

      Of course, having seen it – and sat in it – that jammed roundabout can take 2 hours to clear, with 100 + cars trapped crawling an inch at a time.

      All because the council is incompetent, arrogant and intentionally anti-motorist.

    7. Morning OLT

      Quarry lorries , tractors , milk tankers, slurry tankers , combines , hedge cutting machines and tractors , refuse lorries , delivery lorries and of course mobile home caravan bods all use our narrow roads .

      These new rules are catering for the singletons who are long lanky ultra fit beardy types who race around the roads .

      These new rules do not consider some of us who do the tip run, dog food run , bulk shopping run or anything else , like giving lifts etc . Some of us will be very cautious about leaving our villages .

      The new rules are for the selfish greenie brigade who have all the time in the world to enjoy their hobby .

    8. Morning OLT

      Quarry lorries , tractors , milk tankers, slurry tankers , combines , hedge cutting machines and tractors , refuse lorries , delivery lorries and of course mobile home caravan bods all use our narrow roads .

      These new rules are catering for the singletons who are long lanky ultra fit beardy types who race around the roads .

      These new rules do not consider some of us who do the tip run, dog food run , bulk shopping run or anything else , like giving lifts etc . Some of us will be very cautious about leaving our villages .

      The new rules are for the selfish greenie brigade who have all the time in the world to enjoy their hobby .

  29. Highway Code revisions make rear-end crashes more likely, warns AA

    Lovely picture of a car turning left, what are the rules when the driver wants to go RIGHT

    Cyclists and pedestrians do not pay ‘Road Tax’: Drivers (generic term) Do Perhaps we should withhold that money until our rights are taken into account

    “The revamped Highways Code is also introducing new guidelines to improve safety for cyclists. For instance, bike-riders are now advised to cycle in the centre of lanes on quieter roads, in slower-moving traffic, and when approaching junctions, to make themselves as visible as possible”.

    There I am, on a quiet hilly, narrow hedged lane in my car, go round a bend and a lone cyclist is in the middle of the road, pedalling up hill at 3mph. The road is blocked in both directions

    ETC

    AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/01/29/highway-code-revisions-make-rear-end-crashes-likely-warns-aa/

  30. Graduates hit by ‘stealth tax rise’ as student loan repayment level frozen
    Government accused of burdening students with more costs as threshold at which they start paying back won’t change, even as inflation rises
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/01/28/graduates-hit-stealth-tax-rise-student-loan-repayment-level/

    I have been banging on for years about the scandalous governmental theft practised on young people for years through the students loan scheme. A civilised society does not blight its young people with unrepayable debt at the beginning of their working lives; it does not charge iniquitous and usurious interest rates on these loans and it tries to help the students get out of debt as soon as possible.

    I am glad to see that the top BTL comment from a Mr Peter Wookey on the article makes the point I have been trying to make for years.

    Student loans attract an interest rate of RPI plus 3%. RPI is currently 7.5%, meaning that our young people are being charged interest at 10.5%.
    That is scandalous.
    Students now leave university with debt of £55,000. That means over £5,500 of interest each and every year, or £460 per month of interest payments. Only someone earning over £90,000 is even paying the loan down !
    This is wicked and has to be addressed.

    (One of the best things Caroline and I did was to make sure that our two sons left university free of debt as we both had done. Our respective parents had paid for our studies – it was our duty to our children to do the same for them.)

    1. We could still do that if we only sent the bright ones to university. It’s back to Blair’s disastrous changes again… (which no subsequent government has had the courage to reverse because of the rise in youth unemployment figures that would result).

      1. It was all done to massage the unemployment figures. When i was an adviser I read some of the claim forms filled in by “well educated” graduates and some could barely put two words together.

    2. In a Ideal world we would have

      Infant chools
      Junior Schools
      Grammar/Streamed Comprehensive Schools (both wih an option to transfer or Day Release, to *Technical Colleges )

      Universities

      This all paralleled in Paid for Education

      *Technical Colleges to cover Engineering, Building Trades, Cookery, ‘sewing’, Languages etc, all to ie

        1. Sounds rather like what was in place when I was a pupil. Infant, Junior, Grammar/Secondary (vocational) Schools, Technical Colleges, FE Colleges and Universities.

    3. It’s an even bigger scam on taxpayers who are led to think students are paying, not them. Current projections and sales of packaged loans have taxpayers footing 50% of the bill, with much more for the Mickey Mouse degrees.

      1. The problem was created by that odious Knight of the Garter, Blair, who encouraged gullible young people to get into debt in order to obtain worthless degrees. When people of my generation left school fewer than 5% of school leavers went to university and those that did received grants or were funded, as I was, by their parents so they entered the world of work free of debt.

        Having said that: I think it is is perfectly reasonable for students to pay for their own education.

        What is criminal is that so many people should be sentenced to 30 years of unrepayable debt at usurious rates of interest – student loans should be interest free as they are in civilised countries. What is criminal is that virtually nobody will ever pay off his or her student loans in full. What is criminal is that the repayment of loans is made out of taxed income. What is criminal is that employers cannot pay off some of the employees’ loans for them tax free. What is criminal is that young people on the threshold of their working lives are imprisoned by unrepayable debt.

        1. And a point which should also be made is that the National Union of Students (NUT) is pathetically useless. It should have campaigned vigorously for the financial wellbeing of its members rather than farting about with politics.

    4. If we’re gonig to charge student loans then they should be a fixed interest rate, front loaded and not increased over time.

      However, university loans were designed as a tax raising effort. Brown hoped htey’d hit the middle class parents, then Blair saw the money coming in and a way to reduce the unemployment figures that were soaring – as they always do under Labour – and made lots of public sector jobs degree required.

    5. We didn’t do that, our elder son did not go to university, he joined the RAF as a late entry in his early twenties. Our younger son went to Newcastle. He was not, as a young person, all that careful with money and we both felt it would be useful for him to learn about money in real life, although we did pay his university fees, and gave him some extra from time to time to help him along. We gave both our sons the deposit for their homes when they married. Our younger son is now very careful with money, the elder son less so.

      1. We paid for our boys’ university studies but we are paying for it now which is why, at the age of 75, I am still trying to earn a living by helping Caroline find students so we can continue to run our courses.

        Having operated happily on regularly having 50 students a year with us for many years tyrannical governmental Covid nonsense has meant that we only had 16 with us in 2020 and 8 in 2021 and a few students on online courses.

        At the moment it looks as if we shall find a few more students this year but we shall probably never get back to our former level.

        (For those interested here is a link to our website : http://www.tracey-frenchcourses.com/ )

  31. ‘Morning All

    #CovidClownWorldMegadrop

    https://twitter.com/paulwhitelam/status/1487091271747485701?s=20&t=b4nitfz-Ej_4Hkh_P2Morg

    https://twitter.com/TheFreds/status/1487173255320506373?s=20&t=b4nitfz-Ej_4Hkh_P2Morg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/156d6dffd53898888faf8ab65d3f1150a3702b80b02aee542a0b51d429b8c1ff.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a00b947d95a60262d0d66237733792f8eb080db535ca32687791aaf11b88136b.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e568407c84f9afd637ae08d60e9541996f53c1dd0484ea902abaa0c6bac2ce2d.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5b4b5846df99ab0222371df37e000cd084c51e1d2e5074ec7a5f53b2deb07ecf.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4eb7aa22e648e24711ed5f121dcc988cbcb9b2ae41af2095f3ad6471ad4a3b9c.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2d90aeb2473c78f2444027ede6a7582429a4c0ae36ee72e2170553018a116c8e.jpg

    2. THEY say that Zinc, Vitamin C and Vitamin D boost natural immunity.

      But another THEY are trying to silence this THEY and suppress the truth!

    3. Remember BBC Radio 4’s definition of ‘countryside’: ‘the act of killing Piers Morgan’.

  34. Much Modern Life………..

    https://media.greatawakening.win/post/SEwOUGh9zZvC.jpeg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9cdeb4c548a58f510f88fc50746c5c3fea249b143836e3ac4d9635ae015e66ac.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e01ad3312c0f246be349a064e351dfd691bcf6fe4bc496bc678256d51be3b820.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3f619e622eeaeb6f407c2511b53011fea675f0733ad3e971a3f697c8d9500f1c.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1f67a90bd71ead69cd93aca7a39e4668ebd4cbe18a5bb0c1c8992f04a627d7c4.png

  35. Nicked Laff

    So I’m on the train yesterday and this chap sits down and takes out a
    picture of his girlfriend and showing it to me says: “Isn’t she
    beautiful?”
    I said: “If you think that’s beautiful you should see my wife”
    He said: “Why?, Is she a stunner too?”
    I said, “No,…she’s an optician”

    2. My wife gets lovelier each year and it is not because my eyesight is deteriorating!

  36. Noting that the adoption of slang, mainly American, seems to be somewhat universal these days; standard English seems to be on the way out. It now appears to be de rigueur to commence statements with “So” or “I mean”, and to pronounce the definite article a “thuh” before a word commencing in a vowel [“Thuh egg”, “thuh ink” etc]. The universal adoption of banalities such as “I was like”, “he was like”, and so on just tend to add to this malaise.

    It makes me wonder if any of these modern afflictions, where, for example, everything these days is “amazing”, will eventually die out and be replaced with something even more trite. A bit of an answer was given to me these past few weeks whilst I was exercising on my indoor exercise bicycle. During such sessions I invariably listen to one of my Spotify playlists, each one given a year of origin number. Recently I have listened to my favourite songs from the years 1967 to 1971.

    I found it quite astonishing to discover than a huge number of those popular pieces contained a couple of slang phrases that were the currency of the time. It was almost as though the songwriters thought that those expressions would stand the test of time which, of course, they didn’t. I wonder how many of today’s generation have even heard of the once-popular idioms from that era, “Sock it to me” or “Outta sight” which were repeated in the lyrics of song after song that I played from back then.

    1. Folk who start sentences with ‘So’ particularly annoy me. It’s utterly superflous but they use it because they cannot write, so they write how they speak.

    5. Remember John Denver? “Far out, Man!” He also thought harnessing the wind was the answer to all our energy needs. Bless. The music is still good though.

          1. Thumbs are for staff.
            Cat gets ill, he probably has health insurance. He/she has a chauffeur driven vehicle to reach the vet, never has to talk to the Receptionist and rarely waits more than a couple of hours for an appointment.
            Unlike human gameshooters, he has no close season.
            Unlike dogs, he is not criticised for being fussy about food.
            He is allowed to use a litter tray indoors, whereas a dog has to go outside.
            etc

          2. He was saved from euthanasia by our daughter (a vet) when he was a very expensive kitten! The breeder had to have a certificate to say the whole litter were corona free, but Dobby test was dubious. Emma decided to keep him, and because he can only go out under supervision (he’s a Sphinx) good old Mum and Dad got him! He’s an absolute joy but spoiled rotten! https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9a88ab3331ba6a539465e10897e7ec4ca5facfbc9311af219968c51c9c6df6cd.jpg

    2. Ummmm …… well, millionaire donors have stopped …. er ……
      Student applications are down …….. ah …….
      The pigeons have to cra …. elsewhere …….

    3. The Grimes…
      https://www.thetimes.co.uk/imageserver/image/methode%2Ftimes%2Fprod%2Fweb%2Fbin%2Fb513e22a-8061-11ec-bbb7-54d5cd4b43b0.jpg?crop=3200%2C2133%2C0%2C0&resize=240

      Queries over BLM’s $60m in funding
      The campaign group Black Lives Matter (BLM) faces questions about its finances after it emerged that nobody was in charge of its $60 million in funds. Charity auditors have voiced outrage at the lack of transparency around BLM since Patrisse Cullors, its co-founder, stepped down in May last year amid questions about…

  40. Some groans for you

    What happens to a frog’s car when it breaks down?
    It gets toad away.

    Q: Why couldn’t the leopard play hide and seek?
    A: Because he was always spotted.

    How did the blonde try to kill the bird??
    She threw it off a cliff.

    Q: What did the duck say when he bought lipstick?
    A: “Put it on my bill.”

    Q: How do you count cows?
    A: With a cowculator.

    1. Grandmother-in-law tried to drown a live fresh fish once – she was never allowed to forget it!

      1. From a 6ft. long cracker

        You are on a horse, galloping at a constant speed.

        On your right side is a sharp drop off, and on your left side is an elephant traveling at the same speed as you.

        Directly in front of you is another galloping horse but your horse is unable to overtake it.

        Behind you is a lion running at the same speed as you and the horse in front of you.

        What must you do to safely get out of this highly dangerous situation?

        Get your drunk ass off the merry-go-round!

    1. And about time too. It is high time that the government and the MSM were made to confront their own criminal behaviour.

    2. The NHS managers who decided this Mandate and are prepared to enforce the sackings should be sacked at once and the Mandate discarded. The NHS must get back to normal ASAP o avoid unnecessary deaths.

  44. Boris Johnson will tell Putin to ‘step back’ from the brink of war in Eastern Europe and warn Putin of the unprecedented economic sanctions that will be imposed if he invades Ukraine. 29 January 2022.

    Boris Johnson is to issue a direct warning to Vladimir Putin about the consequences of invading Ukraine.

    In a phone call next week the Prime Minister is expected to demand the Kremlin ‘steps back’ from the brink of war in eastern Europe.
    Mr Johnson will warn Mr Putin of the unprecedented economic sanctions that will be imposed should he send tens of thousands of troops across the border into his pro-Western neighbour.

    Have no fears; one of these men is a wise, humane and courageous leader that anyone would be proud to follow. The other one is the Prime Minister of the UK!

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10454073/Boris-Johnson-demand-Kremlin-steps-brink-war-Eastern-Europe.html

    1. Johnson will tell Mr Putin that if he does not wind his neck in over Ukraine, UK will no longer buy electricity or oil from Russia

      Yah, Boo Sux, get out of that you despot

  45. BREAKING NEWS

    A spokesman for the Prime Minister’s Office has announced that Boris Johnson is to travel to Eastern Europe as part of a British diplomatic initiative to avert armed conflict between Ukraine and the Russian Federation. The Prime Minister will also speak to Russian President, Vladimir Putin, by telephone.

    He added that the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, will be invited to a cake & arse party at Downing Street and that even if Mr. Lavrov doesn’t have any cake, he can still come.

        1. Wild and woolly weather here! Just done battle with a quilt cover on the line! The fence is leaning at a very odd angle!

      2. He would only send him back to London, his blundering around does more for Russia when he is in London.

        1. Boris’s dad has moved to France and applied for citizenship.Doriis could now move to France,hopefully.

          4. Was in Samara a few years ago. AS we drove to the site, we saw the Russian ladies queueng for the bus, all dressed as if they were going out to a party – very feminine, very high heels, pencil skirts, makeup… very un-Norwegian. Nice to see women looking feminine.

  46. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/423c1e127e641262a5b95f5a6bc1ed1547c8881cd5da953495411178c9bdbfaa.png Rockford was always a Maverick.

    Army Pvt. and Korean war vet James S. Bumgarner… most know him better as famed actor James Garner.

    Army Pvt. James S. Bumgarner met a North Korean patrol during the evening of April 23, 1951, during the early stages of the Korean War. You probably know him better as actor James Garner, star of The Rockford Files, Maverick, and The Great Escape, among many others. But before his Hollywood career took off, he enlisted in the U.S. Merchant Marine at the end of World War II, then into the California National Guard before deploying to Korea for 14 months with the 5th Regimental Combat Team.

    In his 2011 memoir, The Garner Files, he wrote:

    Army chow was bearable as long as I could keep the onions and garlic out of it. I cannot stand onions and I’m very sensitive to garlic. I can taste tiny amounts of it, like when they’ve cooked another dish with garlic before and don’t wash the pan. If I get even a hint of it, I might throw up in my plate. This violent aversion may have saved my life: like our South Korean allies, the Chinese and North Korean troops lived on a diet of fish heads, rice, and garlic.

    One night while on guard on the line, I caught a faint whiff of it coming from the direction of the enemy positions. I couldn’t see anything, but I knew there was someone out there and they were coming closer. Once I sniffed them I could hear them, too. It turned out to be a patrol heading straight for our position. They were just the other side of a rise when I passed the word down the line. We were ready for them and stopped them in their tracks.

    He was wounded in that exchange and received his first Purple Heart. 32 years after the war, Garner received another Purple Heart for being wounded during a friendly fire incident where a strafing fighter hit him in the buttocks. The Army mixed up the paperwork and only found it after the actor mentioned the incident on a tv interview.

    “I got it in the backside. I went into a foxhole headfirst and I was a little late. There’s a lot of room for error with a wound in the rear. It’s a wide target.”

    During his long career as an actor, Garner played a number of military roles, including an American airman in the WWII-era British Eagles Squadron, an Army Tanker, and Army infantryman.

    “After 32 years, it’s better to receive this now than posthumously,” Garner said at his ceremony. “It is indeed an honor and I tried to serve my country to the best of my ability.”

    The Giant Killer book & page honors these incredible war heroes making sure their stories of valor and sacrifice are never forgotten. The book which features the incredible life of the smallest soldier, Green Beret Captain Richard Flaherty and several of the other heroes featured on this page is available on Amazon & Walmart. God Bless our Vets

    2. I am reading Patrick Bishop’s “Bomber Boys – Fighting Back 1940-1945”. It is a tribute to the unsung heroes of the war.
      Richard Dimbleby, A BBC correspondent, in January 1943, flew with Guy Gibson on an attack on Berlin. It was a long hazardous trip prolonged by Guy Gibson staying over Berlin for half an hour. Undeterred by this flight Richard Dimbleby went on to make 19 more sorties. I knew RD had one trip in a Bomber attack but was surprised to learn that he had made 20 such flights. A courageous civilian.

  48. Why on earth has the Met office called the latest storm, which is building up strength, MALIK?

    Is this another BAME name game for the weather hitting our Islands?

    1. The Danes chose the name, apparently because Denmark looks as though it is going to be badly affected by the storm.

  49. So, amazing The great convoy has started to arrive in Ottawa, last night the roads around Parliament Hill were blocked by many large trucks and the numerous supporters cheering them on.

    Who knows what is going to happen today, Trudeau and the tame media are going all out to make the protesters into raving extremists intent on violence, convoy leaders are repeatedly stressing that the protest is non violent. Cynics expect a few planted violent incidents to take place in front of conveniently placed film crews.

    We shall see- well maybe, they are doing their best to ignore it.

  50. 334750+up ticks,

    New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern Self-Isolates after Coronavirus Exposure
    as with the trudeau thingy.

    AKA

    Hiding.

    2. BTL:

      ParisTexas
      13 hrs ago
      This must be the easiest country in the world to get into . She puts on western clothes and they all fall for it . The lawyers just look for loopholes like using the modern slavery scam . She’s not even a UK citizen to why is it even being considered . Now watch her develop her career as a celebrity and, like Cummings, all will be forgiven

      1. The law needs reform and any legal cases brought should never be supported by legal aid.
        If we can’t hand her over to Assad, leave her to rot.

          1. Judging by the constant promotion of muslim women on ITV, they’d be at each other’s throats for exclusive rights.

    4. Yo sos

      Regardless of the outcome, she is assured of her place in MSM/MSN history

      Shamima Begum begs for forgiveness in first ever live TV interview

      So, since Logie Baird invented TV, all other interviews have been recorded

      1. I really cannot get too worked up about such headlines/statements.

        Some people on Nottle would be criticising you for starting your sentence with “so” and failing to finish with a full stop.
        };-O.

        2. Purposefully……………………. as you realise

          It seems a shame that on the FIRST LIVE interview EVER, that the interviewee should be a Jihadist

          We have lots of stay at home dodgy Brits who could have been chosen
          PM
          HoC
          HoL

    5. Yo sos

      Regardless of the outcome, she is assured of her place in MSM/MSN history

      Shamima Begum begs for forgiveness in first ever live TV interview

      So, since Logie Baird invented TV, all other interviews have been recorded

          4. I like Polly. I’m talking about the likes of Begum and Markle. Major earners for the Daily Fail.

          5. Polly’s not so bad, Citroen!

            She can be a little repetitive but as I’ve said before, she has unique style. Although she doesn’t write in dactylic hexameters, her posts are reminiscent of Pythian prophesy – where predictions are imparted in an obscure fashion – and the Socratic method of teaching which, by asking questions, encourages critical thinking in the reader.
            ;¬)

    7. Unfortunately since the turn of the century we have an ongoing problem and process in our once sceptred and respected Isle.
      There’s always some sort of W⚓ trying too damn hard to emphasise a useless unessesary and objectionable point.

  52. Country’s biggest double glazing installer Safestyle UK is hit by a cyber attack as spies warn of a threat from Russian hackers linked to fears of military action against Ukraine. 29 January 2022.

    The country’s biggest double glazing installer has been hit by a cyber attack as spies warn of a threat from Russian hackers linked to fears of military action against Ukraine.

    Safestyle UK – known for its ‘You buy one, you get one free’ advertising campaign – is understood to have been targeted in a ‘ransomware’ attack.

    The Russians are knocking out double-glazing companies? What’s next? Radiator production?

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10454141/Countrys-biggest-double-glazing-installer-Safestyle-UK-hit-cyber-attack.html

    1. Much more likely to be the Greeniac zealots who want us all to demolish our conservatories.

    2. “Country’s biggest double glazing installer, Safestyle UK…”

      What happened to Everest?

  53. Sam Leith
    Downflood: the Good Ship Boris is sinking
    We are past the tipping point
    24 January 2022, 7:00am
    *
    *
    Blah, blah, blah
    *
    *
    **********************************************************************

    Rob Dixon
    You’re bit late to the pile-on Sam. People have noted that the media are perhaps just a little too eager to unseat Boris and that their faux outrage isn’t motivated out of any altruistic concern for the people of the UK. Let’s face it, you and your ilk were eerily quiet whilst the people of Britain were being shut in their homes and businesses were forced to close, in fact many of you so-called journalists were clamouring for even more of the same. We know the game you’re playing.

    No, your faux outrage is deeply rooted in your hatred of Brexit and anybody you feel is responsible for it, including the great unwashed. Partygate has given you a smokescreen to vent all your frustrations about a democratic process which delivered something you never thought could happen and you’re hoping that if you maintain the pressure on Boris he will have to go and somehow Brexit will be reversed.
    If you venture outside your bubble, you would detect that articles like this are actually hardening the support for Boris. Our country is ruled by the ballot box, not Twitter or the media and voters will deal with this problem when the time is right.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/downflood-the-good-ship-boris-is-sinking

      1. One really silly aspect is that cyclists needn’t use the cycle lanes if they don’t want to.
        Thus narrowed roads become even more impassable.

      2. I can imagine quite a few people dressed in their cycling gear walking as their bikes have been severly bent or thrown into the back of a truck or delivery van.

    3. Just another classic example of a political and civil service f*ck up.
      I theory a busy narrow two lane road can now be bought to almost a stand still. For heavy rush-hour traffic.

          7. Even my neighbour who has been cycling for many years admitted the other day fellow cyclist’s he knows are proud to be PIAs.

  64. The east coast of the US is dealing with a big winter storm, name of Bobby. Including CT- so I thought I’d share this with you.
    The school I was teaching in allowed the kids to go out for recess in the snow provided they had appropriate snow gear; snow suits, boots, hats and gloves. As you can imagine getting the little guys suited up took some time. I was doing a week in first grade when the following happened.
    The teacher on outside duty lined the kids up and said to her own class, ” When you’re in, take everything off and sit quietly.”
    The children filed in and when she got to her classroom, one little fellow had taken her words to heart and was sitting at his table completely starkers.
    People forget that children are very literal.
    Unfortunately, I didn’t see the look on her face;-))

    1. Biden, Micron, Savile etc would have thought long and hard before commenting, if they had been there.

    2. Echoes of Laurie Lee’s description of his first day at primary school. When he went home he was upset, and his mother asked him why. Laurie said that when he arrived, he had been told to sit here for the present, but that they never gave him any present.

      1. Wonderful book. The story above is one example of why I could never have done another job. With teaching you never, ever get the same day twice!

  65. “Do you like Tolstoy?”, I asked Diane Abbott.
    “Of course”, she replied, “Who doesn’t?”
    “What’s your favourite book?”, I asked.
    “The one where Woody is kidnapped and Buzz tries to save him”, she answered.

  66. Storm Malik to cause damage across the UK this weekend.
    Leaving a trail of sexually abused girls, unpaid tax bills, anti western
    terrorist activities, mutilated vagina’s and uneaten bacon sandwiches.
    You’ve been warned

  67. I was at a job interview and was asked what my biggest regret in life.
    “A few years ago, when I was on holiday, I saved a kid who was drowning.”
    They looked puzzled, “Why would you regret doing that?”
    “Well, I saw him again later that night and he was wearing a Tottenham shirt.”

  68. “Do you know what speed you were doing, Sir?” asked the policeman.

    “I do apologise Officer,” I replied. “I’ve never used this road before,
    and I honestly thought it was an unrestricted zone.”

    “No you didn’t!!” my wife protested. “We only live round the corner, you
    said you were putting your foot down because there wouldn’t be any
    coppers around this late!”

    “May I see your insurance?” the cop said grimly.

    “I’ve just renewed it,” I assured him. “It’ll be in the post, I’ll drop a
    copy to the station next week.”

    “Actually,” said the wife, “you were short on cash this month and said
    you’d leave it til you had the money. It ran out a fortnight ago.”

    I turned to her and snapped “will you keep your mouth shut, you stupid
    bitch….”

    “Does he always talk to you like that, Madam?” asked the copper.

    “No,” my wife replied. “Only when he’s been drinking.” Barry Cryer original.

  69. I get really nervous taking my clothes off in front of women for the
    first time, I’m never quite sure if they going to run out of the park
    screaming or not…

  70. BBC – OUT…
    I was looking forward to the Women’s Final Aus. Open Highlights BBC 1- 45pm.
    After endless repeats of tired comedy/dramas from Aunty I found something worth viewing for my £157 license fee…
    Alas………… HTF are you supposed to see the friggin’ ball on a blue court…?

  71. Time for the Wild Geese to make a last flight??

    Sums up the utter state we’re in………pathetic

    “Disabled Falklands veterans are furious

    after a hotel cancelled their bookings for this summer’s anniversary

    events to make room for migrants.

    Scores of former Parachute Regiment soldiers chose the venue in Aldershot,

    Hampshire, for its proximity to ceremonies taking place on Saturday,

    June 18 to mark the conflict’s 40th anniversary.

    The now-elderly war heroes fought to recapture the South Atlantic islands

    in 1982, a mission which cost 255 British troops’ lives.

    Some of the veterans cannot walk and require carers to accompany them. But

    their bookings were cancelled after owners of the Potters Hotel agreed

    to accommodate asylum seekers”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10453459/Disabled-Falklands-veterans-left-furious-hotel-cancels-bookings.html

    1. Gee… Surely there could have been an accommodation? I hope another hotel steps in and offers the Paras a venue.
      Edit: Hope the gimmegrants trash the place.

      1. The hotel groups don’t care Paul part of the contract is a full refurbishment at the end
        Fully booked,no booking fees captive audience for their restaurants massively profitable and that full refurbishment
        Irristable…………..

    4. From their website…

      Potter’s International Hotel is constructed on the site of the former
      Royal Aldershot Officer’s Club, which was established in 1859 under the
      patronage of Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s husband. Today, Potter’s
      continues the fine tradition of hospitality as a centre of the social
      and society life of Aldershot and the rest of Rushmoor Borough. The
      Queen Victoria Ballroom at the hotel hosts many events and its wall
      mural chronicles the military history of the town.

      Bastards.

        2. Good idea. I will too. They are owned by a French group i believe.

          They have been getting crap reviews on tripadvisor for months.

          I have never seen a vote ratio so bad.

          2. Maybe but it will be difficult for them to get accommodation in the area. Jubilee celebrations earlier in the month too.

      2. Gosh, I remember the officer’s club. One of my cousins had her wedding reception there. Uncle was a colonel in the Royal Signals. Seems the club went the same way as her marriage. Sad.

    6. Once the ILLEGAL gimmegrunts are finally removed, I doubt that Potters Hotel will survive.

  72. 334750+ up ticks,

    KURT ZINDULKA 29 Jan 2022

    breitbart,
    Over 1,000 victims have been identified in an investigation into child sex abuse grooming gangs that operated in the northern English town of Rotherham, Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) revealed this week.

    Nasty bastard that Tommy Robinson you know he was in that there edl
    can’t have his sort running round stirring up trouble revealing this sort of thing,

    1. There seem to be a lot of “whistleblowers” around at the moment, all seeking to discredit Doris – I can’t stand the man but I’m beginning to wonder about the agenda to get rid of him – who benefits? It certainly won’t be the UK taxpayer!

      2. I have also wondered about all these “leaks”. Plus, I think that there is something else going on…what are they trying to bury? And, of course, the report will be redacted. Said that to MH days ago.

  75. Does anyone trust him?

    Rishi Sunak ‘thinks Boris Johnson WON’T survive Partygate and has ALEADY built a dummy campaign website as he prepares leadership bid’
    Rishi Sunak ‘thinks Boris Johnson won’t survive Partygate and has built a dummy campaign website’
    The Chancellor is said to be preparing a leadership campaign in the event the Prime Minister is deposed
    Mr Johnson is fighting for his political life as he awaits results of inquiry into ‘Partygate’ drama
    His wife Carrie Johnson is accused of organising a cake for Mr Johnson’s 56th birthday party in June 2020
    Miss Gray is said to be furious that Scotland Yard has asked for a redacted version of her report
    The Met Police asked for only ‘minimal references’ to ‘parties’ at centre of the row to be in document

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10455085/Rishi-Sunak-thinks-Boris-Johnson-WONT-survive-Partygate.html

    2. “He voted three times in favour of May’s Brexit withdrawal agreement.”
      Says a lot. He fits the bill, bame, son of immigrants and a PPE degree.

    3. “a dummy campaign website”
      He is being a bit hard on himself there, I never thought he was a dummy, just a WEF shill.

    4. Rich Tea hardly takes the biscuit but neither does Adultera Truss. But who is?

      If this is the end of Boris Johnson it is probably the end of the Conservative Part too.

      Will the pro Brexit faction rally round someone like Steve Baker and set up a proper Conservative Party or will they just slump off and see how quickly Keir Starmer can rejoin the EU and bring Britain to her knees?

    1. I find it intriguing that when a report into perceived wrongdoing within the administration is commissioned it usually takes at least a couple of years for it to see the light of day if ever , this seems to have been completed with indecent haste.

    2. I find it intriguing that when a report into perceived wrongdoing within the administration is commissioned it usually takes at least a couple of years for it to see the light of day if ever , this seems to have been completed with indecent haste.

        1. Perhaps. It would be good to see some real Republicans in office, I don’t count Trump as a real Republican.

    2. It’s equally likely that Trudeau is a Manchurian Candidate placed by Peking to duck and dive and ruin Canada

        2. Do I take it you’ve never heard of the Manchurian Candidate?

          It was a joke on the CBC talking head’s stupidity.

  80. Sod’s law.
    Elderly friend taken into hospital. Gets Covid while in there. Daughter visits just before it’s diagnosed.
    Daughter takes two more very elderly and vulnerable women out in her car to go shopping.
    The hospital rings to tell her the good news and now they are all isolating for 5 days, with a good possibility the three of them will get it, and who knows how many others?
    I hope not, but life’s a bitch and then you die.

    1. The daughter is almost cerainly fine – dose up the oldies with vitC and vitD and they’ll be fine too.

      1. They’re reasonably tough old birds but both have recently recovered from other health issues.

    2. The daughter is almost cerainly fine – dose up the oldies with vitC and vitD and they’ll be fine too.

    3. The daughter is almost cerainly fine – dose up the oldies with vitC and vitD and they’ll be fine too.

          1. Bugger. Sorry – same spelling as the worlds nicest wife, sitting close to me and knitting… My fingers are typing what they want tonight :-((

          5. You were fortunate.
            I have no doubt it gave him a lot of pleasure doing that too.
            We had a young friend of my son who said similarly of me, many years after his father died. I was almost moved to tears when he said it.

          7. Nope. She reckons Nottl is a bunch of daft fogeys.
            She likes the jokes & memes, though.

          1. Yeah, well, all that time for siesta… Us northern pale types are a bit more effective.

    3. Unless this current stupid breed of political morons get their arse’s into gear pretty dam quickly, our culture will be wiped out completely over the next 20 years.
      And this is one more thing to add to the list of things they have effed up.
      “Everything they come into contact with”.

      1. Destroying an indigenous population’s culture, by any means is a war crime.

        Massive, unwanted muslim gimmigration is clearly that.

    4. If they won’t do their jobs, they should be sacked. If sacked, then deport them. They’re going to have to start obeying or we start training them to walk at heel. They like being on all fours, slapping a collar on them and teaching them to stay, sit and roll over might be a good start.

  84. Chinese take out delivered 20 mins ago…the driver, an older Chinese gentleman brought it. When I answered the door, he said. “Hallo, my friend, how are you?” He’s delivered here before. I always tip and gave him a couple of quid…he always bows and says thank you.
    Like Ashish in the corner shop- if all immigrants were like this I doubt any of us would have a problem.

    1. PS- I am not suggesting that I want subservient behaviour- Ashish teases us unmercifully at times. It’s the fact that they know how to get on with others.

    2. Now and again I visit an Asian food cash & carry. The cashiers are always our muslim ‘friends’ and invariably they just blank you. If you speak to them they usually take note but will not reply. There is no smile or pleasantry, its just a transaction and I can feel the antipathy towards me. The muslims are not a joyous bunch to begin with and these guys confirm everything I think about them. On the other hand, my Cardiff born Chinese store-man is a delight to talk to and is always chatty as he swops his Cardiff accent for Chinese when talking to his mates.

    1. Used to live in Horsham. Nice place.
      The wearing of face nappies doesn’t surprise me, only depresses me.
      Many like to stay within the gilded cage. It’s easier that way.

        1. Do not look if easily offended by inappropriate language

          When a “woman” with a penis claims to be a cunt, you think you’re fucked.
          When a “man” with a vagina claims to be a prick, you think you’re fucked.
          When that “woman” with the penis fucks the “man” with the vagina, and they broadcast it on Twitter you think the world is fucked.

          When they disentangle themselves you’ll know you were correct.

          Don’t say you were not warned.

          1. Mostly, men want pretend to be women. They cause all the fuss and buggeration. Why is that?

          3. Guess something like that.
            Is it so good to be a woman that so many men want to be one, or pretend to be one?

          4. Go back to the 60s when my dear old dad thought that a secretarial job was a “real job”. He didn’t come to my graduation from university- which took me a long time to forgive him for.

          5. That’s sad.
            One should always support (and guide) the ones you love, and even if they don’t take your advice, still keep on supporting.

          8. Few women want to be or pretend to be men – and when they do they they stop their treatment to have babies.

  88. Am a star!! Just got my email read out on Neil Oliver. From now on, you lot, bow and curtsy;-)))

        1. I did that once for Charity Rag Week – got extremely funny looks in the Gents – so vowed I’d never do it again!

      1. What I said was this….” Neil, you have brought me to tears because what you said is right. There is nowhere we can go. I despise what has happened to the UK and the world.”

      1. Well, duh! Do you know how much librarians have to know? I know I act like a doofus at times but, please, never underestimate my abilities.

          5. Funny, that; Noam* transformed me 🙂
            *Noam Chomsky for the non-linguists; he postulated transformations as a means of explaining grammar.

        2. You have to know the dewey decimal system. My goodness, that’s an impressive skill. No one else does.

        3. Where the books are? I have never come across a librarian that knew what the books contained other than what they had personally read. Just sayin’.

          2. Now that is the rub isn’t it.

            I own my own house outright and you rent yours. I can’t be that much of an idiot.

            Have you seen the new series…The Gilded Cage?

          4. I invented a word to describe Tony Blair:
            “Scrobnofulent”
            It sounds foul, it rolls off the tongue and reminded me of a combination of scrofulus and knob.
            Oddly enough it had a single google hit, almost a googlewhack!

    5. But i thought you supported Biden/Sanders ! and all the other Left wing Fuckups? There is fame and there is infamy.

      1. As I have told you many times, you nothing about me or my political views. Now just leave me alone.

          3. Try to reduce your units per day. I only say this as your enemy.

            Can you not see the humour in my post or do you take it as an attack?

          4. I don’t give a shit what you say. Now, as I said earlier, leave me alone. I don’t like you.

          6. Surprised to find you here at this time. And it is also a bad time for me…..after Martini’s.

            As you can see…some of us can remain mostly polite. Also interesting who actually gets to meet other Nottlers. Some have humour and some have Left wing views.

  90. 334750+ up ticks,

    As a long term now ex UKIP member to think that all the time we were pounding the pavements issues of this nature were being constructed
    via the lab/lib/con mass uncontrolled immigration coalition, I do hope the
    supporter / voter over the years are duly satisfied with the current outcome.

    Disabled Veterans’ Hotel Booking Cancelled to Make Room for Alleged Asylum Seekers

  96. Still watching Neil Oliver… and the Dalmations. When I had my Doggy Tales programme in my library, two of the dogs were Dalmations and the kids came in and read to them. Dottie and Maggie were the two spotty dogs. They were wonderful with the children and so well behaved. One of them, Dottie I think, was deaf which Dalmations are prone to…lovely, lovely dogs.
    Of course, my fave was Clancy a Golden… I love dogs.

    1. I asked a librarian if she had a book about Pavlov’s Dog and Schrodinger’s Cat

      She said it rang a bell but wasn’t sure if it was there or not.

        1. Thankfully no. However, I once acted as an adult escort to a Primary School group to the Tower of London. I was the only one to be bitten by a bloody Raven!

  98. Shame on the Nazi bought Canadian MSM:

    BTL Comment on The Slog:

    cannuck210 on January 29, 2022 at 5:54 pm
    Thank you John. It is 8.45am in Victoria, British Columbia on Saturday 29th Jan and the Canadian MSM media is keeping very very silent on the truckers protest. What little reporting there is, tries to associate the truckers with the ‘far right’. But of course…

    The oldest newspaper in Victoria, (Times Colonist) has not reported the truckers protest any time this week. It will be interesting to see how the crook, Trudeau and his cronies deal with this protest. Hide, ignore or set up a false flag event?

    However, a small free newspaper (Saanich News) ran a poll – agree / disagree with our truckers and over 86% (18,000 votes voted for support) https://www.saanichnews.com/web-poll/poll-do-you-support-the-convoy-of-truckers-protesting-vaccine-restrictions-in-canada/

    1. My Sister-in-Law lives in Saanich. I’m phoning her tomorrow (Sunday) and will ask her what she thinks.

      2. Always interesting to get the vox pop as it were. Ukrainians appear to have a view also which isn’t on our MSM.

  99. Banks won’t give you YOUR Money

    Remembering a DT letter a couple of days ago:

    If the bank refuses to hand over less than £300 and you want £150, here is what you could do:

    Withdraw say £775 at the counter (provided you have enough in the account).
    This means they have to count it out, not just bundles of £20 notes
    Then pay in £625 (so they have to count it again) and you’ll end up with the £150 that you really wanted.

    You smile and leave. Job done.

    1. Way ahead of you. :@)

      Phizzee

      Hugh Janus

      3 days ago

      It is quite simple Mr Alderman. Withdraw £300 at the counter and when they give it to you say i wish to deposit £200.

      Then tell them you would also like to open a savings account and an ISA.

      When they have arranged all that tell them you have changed your mind.

      13

      Edit

      View in discussi

        1. True Story: MoH asked our daughter if our Grandson had a Money box.
          She replied “No”.
          “Excellent we’ll buy him one for Christmas”
          “What for?”
          “So we can put money in it”
          “Why? When he grows up he won’t be using money…..”

          1. We sent the grand monsters £10 each for Xmas. Haven’t had any response but the mail here is crap. But maybe, they don’t know what to do with it…

          6. I pinched her shawl and did a photo shoot outside the restaurant. Not just me but Herts too. Shameless we were. Draping ourselves over all the parked cars in the High St. Then we had a drink. :@)

          8. I spoke as I found. I have observed young people today being unmoved by a £10 note… It barely buys them a burger and sips and a coke. They expect at least £50 – to help with their taxi fares…..

          10. That means nothing, these days, I fear.

            Recipients of presents rarely bother to thank the donor.

          11. Caroline’s grandmother sent all her grandchildren presents at Christmas and received thank you letters from all of them except one. To that grandchild she wrote: “As you have obviously not received your present from me I shall not send you any more presents in future.” And that grandchild received no more presents from her grandmother.

      2. I use my mobile phone for payments and switching between accounts. Painless. I have £70.00 in my wallet and it has been there for two years. No need for paper money.

        We obtain coins for parking meters when buying cheap stuff from a local store ‘Thing Me Bob’s’ by exchanging notes for purchases and cash.

  100. Mimi is about to expire
    and I’m about to retire.
    Much more paint to apply tomorrow
    and then there’s the new kitchen sink to plumb in….

    G’Night!

    1. Off Topic. We are going ahead on the 19th June 2022. If you and hubby can make it then let me know by the end of May.

      2. What’s the do on June 19th, Philip.

        Is a NoTTLerfest.

        If so, please publicise it more – where, when, what for etc. BYOB al la Downing Street?

  102. Nasty weather in the north of UK and Staffs also. Hope Mr. Prez is OK and all others who live there.

  103. I will not reply to the twit who said this…He owns his own house and we rent. I have owned 5 houses in the past. I left an unpleasant and unhappy marriage to be where I am. The fact that I rent is as it is. I would far rather be where I am and with whom than to own any number of houses.

    1. Riled are you. Lottie…you mis-understand me as usual. I would love to have lunch with you but i would prefer you leave your boxing gloves behind.

  104. Evening, all. It’s been 14.5 degrees C here, but the strong wind has made it feel a lot colder.

      2. Another request – what happens (for NoTTLers) on April 1st?

        Please elucidate or is this a private bash?

      1. Well Trudeau Senior invoked the war measures act, Junior is looking for excuses to follow along.

    2. Probably looking for people not taking the knee.

      They did miss the serious defiling of a Terry Fox statue on Parliament Hill (or that is what they would have us believe). The complaints fell flat when someone took photos of the statue – it had a Canadian flag draped over it.

      Actually I would expect police to have observers watching the crowd, any crowd at a demonstration of that size.

  108. Queen’s decision to cut official ties with Prince Andrew ‘could be used against him in court’
    Move could play into accuser’s hands if case gets to trial, sources have warned, suggesting family consider him too toxic for their ‘brand’
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2022/01/29/queens-decision-cut-official-ties-prince-andrew-could-used-against/

    I have no idea whether Prince Andrew is innocent or guilty of the charges against him but I am disgusted that his family is not prepared to stand by him until he is proved guilty or innocent.

    1. I suppose a country where Hunter Biden is the son of the President wouldn’t really understand the concept of the monarch’s son having to step down because he is guilty of being a sleazebag, while not actually having been proven to have broken the law. The RF should have given Andrew an ultimatum years ago – choose between your paedophile friends or your public role.

      My guess is that Andrew witnessed enough grooming and controlling of young girls that they could pin some accomplice charges on him. That would be classic abuser behaviour – make the victims complicit and guilty as well. Same pattern as getting Guiffre to recruit more girls. Maxwell and Epstein were using all of them. Andrew’s combination of thick and arrogant probably made him easy to manipulate.

      But I agree with you, the reaction from the RF was too brutal. It shows a lack of finesse and intelligence that bodes ill for the future.

Comments are closed.