Saturday 29 July: Sadiq Khan must be held to account for his war on ordinary motorists

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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500 thoughts on “Saturday 29 July: Sadiq Khan must be held to account for his war on ordinary motorists”

  1. Good morrow, Gentlefolks, today’s story

    You Wear It Well

    Long ago there lived a seaman named Captain Bravo. He was a manly man’s man who showed no fear in facing his enemies. One day, while sailing the seven seas, a lookout spotted a pirate ship and the crew became frantic. Captain Bravo bellowed, “Bring me my red shirt.” The First Mate quickly retrieved the captain’s red shirt and whilst wearing the bright item he led his men into battle and defeated the pirates.

    Later on, the lookout spotted not one, but two pirate ships. The captain again howled for his red shirt and once again they vanquished the pirates. That evening, all the men sat around on the deck recounting the day’s triumphs and one of them asked the captain: “Sir, why did you call for your red shirt before battle?”

    The captain replied: “If I am wounded in the attack, the shirt will not show my blood, and thus, you men will continue to resist, unafraid.”

    All of the men sat in silence and marvelled at the courage of such a manly man’s man.
    As dawn came the next morning, the lookout spotted not one, not two, but TEN pirate ships approaching. The rank and file all stared in worshipful silence at the captain and waited for his usual response. Captain Bravo gazed with steely eyes upon the vast armada arrayed against his mighty sailing ship and, without fear, turned, and calmly said, “Get my brown trousers.”

    1. 13°c here , rain has now stopped and the sun is struggling to get out but clouds are approaching from the North.

  4. No headline today? so I’ll go on the Farage conspiracy

    It looks like the forces of fascist globalism have overplayed their hand this time, gone too early, they should have waited until they had complete control, they were sailing along quite merrily debanking and picking off all the low hanging fruit, like Christians that spoke out against what was happening to children in schools with all the gender indoctrination malarkey, things like that, people that had no way of defending themselves.
    Well they say that god works in mysterious ways, good will always triumph over evil and all that, now these devils disciples have all got their comeuppance, rather marvelous isn’t it.

    1. Comforting as it is Bob. They are not defeated yet. One would have thought this event the ideal opportunity for the legislature to break out but they have sat mum through it all!

      2. Wars always break out in August – the holiday month. The silly news time.
        Frank Johnson in the Spekkie used to make this point every year.
        We are a bit early this year, but the culture war appears to be taking off very nicely.

    2. Whoever decided that Farage was to be targeted wasn’t thinking straight. One of the most vocal people around with a successful position on a news channel and, by the reaction on social media, plenty of support nationally: absolute madness.
      Farage could use this cock-up by the ‘elite’ as a political springboard, but will he?

      2. Korky, they only targeted Farage after successfully targeting many others.

        The Press claims that over 1300 have been debanked.

        1. Heady with success after 1,300 and then decide to go after a prominent personality such as Farage: someone who has access to a large audience, never mind his personal following? Smacks of over-confidence or plain stupidity. Whatever their reasoning it has let the cat out of the bag re control and cancellation if they decide you do not fit the profile they want you to fit in to.

          1. Purblind arrogance. They had done the same thing to so many ‘little people’ that they thought they could get away with it.
            They thought (if they think at all) that Farage would meekly accept their ukase like a whipped cur.
            Signed
            T. Defarge (Mrs)

      3. He may well use it to political advantage, but needs to move carefully. Rule of Ps: Proper Preparation and Planning Prevents Piss-Poor Performance.

    3. 374924+ up ticks,

      Morning B3,

      It will still find treacherous support via the polling booth for a while longer, NOT enough dead bodies yet.

    4. I thought something looked different, but not sufficiently awake to work it out.

    5. Not really Bob, the BBC and Sky are fighting furiously to protect the people involved.

  5. Most fires in Greece were started ‘by human hand’, government says. 29 July 2023.

    Vassilis Kikilias, the Greek minister of climate crisis and civil protection, told reporters: “During this time 667 fires erupted, that is more than 60 fires a day, almost all over the country. Unfortunately, the majority were ignited by human hand, either by criminal negligence or intent.

    Kikilias said that, in certain places, blazes had broken out at numerous points in close proximity at the same time, suggesting the involvement of arsonists intent on spreading fires further.

    So much for Global Warming! Some years ago the South of France was plagued by fires and subsequent investigation revealed that it was the Firefighters upping their income.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/28/greece-fires-arsonists-extreme-weather

    1. But the initial message is out, that global boiling (!) is the cause. No amount of coming with the facts now will persuade anyone differently, as boiling is what they want to believe and they aren’t listening any more, so won’t register the message.

    2. The Special Arson Squad is financed by the WEF and many governments support them in their efforts to convince us about man-made global warming. It is certainly undeniable that this part is man-made!

  7. Good day all,

    Cloudy skies over McPhee Towers but it’s supposed to clear up to be a sunny afternoon. Wind in the Sou’-West going West, 15℃ with 20℃ forecast to be the high.

    Here’s a piece of great news if you’re concerned about the sexual corruption of our children and grandchildren in schools. Dr Anna Loutfi, head of Legal at the Bad Law Project #ReclaimEducation.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mW86JFn8lwE

  8. Good day all,

    Cloudy skies over McPhee Towers but it’s supposed to clear up to be a sunny afternoon. Wind in the Sou’-West going West, 15℃ with 20℃ forecast to be the high.

    Here’s a piece of great news if you’re concerned about the sexual corruption of our children and grandchildren in schools. Dr Anna Loutfi, head of Legal at the Bad Law Project #ReclaimEducation.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mW86JFn8lwE

  9. 374924+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    An unsightly very profitable scam alive or dead, uncovered, to
    transport them there among the green to remain unseen can be surely seen as an act of deception.

    The money scammed so far coupled with Mo’s hotel bills could surely amount to each indigenous household getting the benefits of a small local nuclear reactor, no more dangerous than what the majority voter is consenting to via the polling stations, entering the Country to daily.

    https://twitter.com/BenFordhamLive/status/1683955510612201474?s=20

    1. 374924+ up ticks,

      O2O,
      Well worth a listen Og, a combo of farmland
      abuse coupled with tree loss on a never ending scale, much like the Dover invasion “government” campaign supported via the polling booth.

      There really has got to be a consenting insanity additive in the water for these political overseeing wretches to be still
      free to operate ( scam).

    2. Well, the blades can’t be recycled, they are carbon or glass fibre with epoxy resin. They could be chopped up into small bites and then dumped, but the stuff doesn’t rot in any case.
      Another case of not thinking the issue through. Beautiful eco-friendly solution actually turns out to be worse than the problem being “solved”. After all, burning fossil fuel, generating CO2, leads to enhanced plant growth and more food for the ever-expanding global population.
      Hmm, a dilemma…

      1. I keep plugging the plant food angle.
        Repetition may be boring, but it’s the only way to penetrate many skulls.

  11. A failed counteroffensive would be catastrophic for the West. Hamish de Crettin-Gordon.

    The offensive will take longer than most anticipate, but it is clear that the detailed and critical groundwork is being done by Ukrainian armoured formations. At some stage, and I judge soon, they will punch through the Russian defence lines and retake the Crimea and the East. Timid Western leaders, fearful of nuclear escalation, need to understand that this is not an option to Putin, and that they must give Ukraine everything it needs to succeed.

    It’s only six weeks (9 June) ago that this moron promised us that, “British-made tanks are about to sweep Putin’s conscripts aside.” Now it’s hasten slowly. The reality is that barring some Military Miracle the Ukies possess neither the numbers nor the resources to defeat the Russians. They are simply being sacrificed here for the US Hegemony.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/07/28/ukraine-failed-counteroffensive-catastrophic-west/
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/06/09/british-made-tanks-about-to-sweep-putins-conscripts-aside/

    1. It would appear that ‘Berlin Bunker Syndrome’ is endemic within the western journalistic and political spheres. How will they explain away the inevitable outcome i.e. many Ukrainian dead and most, if not all, of the donated materiel that wasn’t sold on, lost to Russian action?

      1. Should be interesting, to be sure.
        Problem is, where will the replacement population for Ukraine come from? Seems to be plenty spare in Africa & Middle East, all strong males ready to work the land – or work the system, at least.

    2. So, it really IS the West against Russia. The pretence of it being Ukraine-Russia drops.
      The Ukies can’t do it, judjing by results to date, not even with all the Western technology and American money.
      Best call the Donald and ask him to solve the peace.

  12. Good morning, all. Overcast following rain overnight. Tepid here as opposed to boiling.

    While we’re on the weather theme:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b6cc9ef9a9c0d4fce00b72216e31229c1046a3765490546de31142aa9c0dd853.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5d0fba251082d8fd976e24b548cc544ecaffd815a6d2a57ffd226a807956ebe8.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/17f2617c4992f354e3b280e1d6aec087bb552b0c8f7602e922b95ffa9b1cf33a.png

    BTL
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/30991373086a272bfa198d954aa7f6dc62a8944bb02f4fc940dc890874685ef5.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/95ee36a3f04b12ded09c2f824ba914dd3eac7cbec4b12be55de9404a41d35b45.png

  13. UK’s longest-serving sniffer dog retires from fire service after putting dozens of criminals behind bars. 29 July 2023.

    Britain’s most experienced fire investigation dog is retiring from service after sniffing out criminals for more than a decade.

    Reqs, an 11-year-old black Labrador, has helped the emergency services at around 500 incidents since joining Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service in 2012 – making it the current longest-serving fire dog in the country.

    Its handlers say it has helped to secure convictions for multiple arsonists and murderers by providing evidence with its impeccable sense of smell, which can detect accelerants used to start fires.

    As it retires from active service this week, Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service estimate evidence provided by Reqs has resulted in more than a total of 250 years of prison terms for criminals.

    The use of the “it” to describe Reqs in this article is quite deliberate. One wonders why? Is it some previously obscure piece of Wokery? The author hates Dogs?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/07/28/longest-serving-sniffer-dog-reqs-hertfordshire-criminals/

    4. Later in the article the dog is called “he” rather than “it” but I agree that this unsexing of the dog is probably down to some bitchy wokery somewhere by a resentful would-be hermaphrodite.

      Is Reqs the woke way to spell the male name Rex? Is our new Idiot King a Rex or a Reqs ?

      I see that no comments are allowed under the article – I wonder why?

      Reminds me of Lady Macbeth:

      Come, you spirits
      That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here
      And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full
      Of direst cruelty! Make thick my blood,
      Stop up the access and passage to remorse,
      That no compunctious visitings of nature
      Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between
      The effect and it!

    3. Very Happy Birthday to you LD! Hope you have a spiffing day! 🍾🎂🍷

  15. Morning, all Y’all.
    Looks like another Malaysian day: bright & sunny whilst work needs done (hoping to be finished tiling the Honey Room at Firstborn’s farm, except for the detail) today, then when we’re done and have found a cold beer and sit outside, it’ll be raining (that’s how it’s been all week). Still not hot: 14C at the moment.
    Hope Y’all have a great weekend!

    1. You have a special room for eating honey? I’m not surprised. The minute I lift the jar up from the cupboard shelf, the entire kitchen and I are immediately covered in honey.

      2. Preparation. Although it’s nice honey (light and not very sickly), don’t eat much of it.

    2. Remembering the general stickiness of the kitchen when my father extracted honey from the combs, a tiled honey room sounds wonderful.
      On the plus side, as we turned the handle of the extractor, we learnt about centrifugal force.

      1. Firstborn went to Finland and bought a press that squeezes the honey out of the comb – and can be used to press apples as well, so will get used if we have any apples this year.
        Once we’re done with the tiling, the floor needs painted with garage floor paint, and the ceiling finished off, window brought up to scratch. Water installed, lighting and heating installed (space and water), and a new door with frame. All hopefully complete by the autumn – which is soon!
        Be nice when it’s done.

  16. I came across this article late last night soon after posting birthday greetings for Lewis Duckworth.

    As is my practice I have repeated the birthday greeting for Lewis Duckworth for those who may have missed it last night but I was so outraged by Sir Howard Davies that I have reposted it. I wonder how many people will now wish to take their accounts away from Nat West.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6d567874948f746951baf4915352695c257273b7d640c428ee2394a70c8ed8c8.png

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/07/28/chris-hale-consultant-natwest-law-firm-brexit-tragedy/

    Hoodagestit?

    This is like Jimmy Saville being asked by the BBC to investigate paedophilia in the BBC or getting Harriet Harman to chair a committee judging Boris Johnson’s truthfulness.

    The article:

    A senior consultant at the law firm hired by NatWest to investigate the closure of Nigel Farage’s account has described Brexit as “a tragedy”.

    Chris Hale penned an opinion piece in which he referred to the referendum debate as a “disturbing mix of xenophobia, racism and nostalgia”.

    Mr Hale, who was described by the industry magazine that ran the article as a “pro-Remain lawyer”, works for Travers Smith.

    The leading legal firm was on Friday appointed by NatWest to review Mr Farage’s case and to look at how the bank handles the closure of accounts.

    Mr Farage said the latest revelations raised questions over whether the outcomes of the independent investigation can be taken seriously.

    They come after Howard Davies, the NatWest Group chairman, described the bank’s former chief executive Dame Alison Rose as a “great leader”.

    His comments, which come after Dame Alison was forced to resign over the institution’s handling of the case, sparked consternation amongst MPs.

    Mr Farage tweeted on Friday: “NatWest Group have chosen establishment legal firm Travers Smith to investigate my account closure.

    “The chair emeritus and senior consultant, Chris Hale, is a “pro-Remain lawyer” who said Brexit was “a tragedy”.

    “He wrote about “xenophobia, racism and nostalgia” during the Brexit debate… These are the same words used against me in the secret Coutts dossier.

    “How can anyone take seriously anything this review will say?”

    Mr Hale made the remarks in a column published by the Law.com website on the evening of June 24 2016, the day after the Brexit referendum result.

    ‘Result of vote is a tragedy’
    In the opinion piece he wrote that “the result of the vote yesterday is – for liberal, cosmopolitan Londoners like me – a tragedy”.

    Praising the EU for bringing peace to Europe and creating jobs, he added: “A detailed examination of the economic, political and security arguments pointed in one direction – Remain.

    “The debate, though, was conducted publicly in emotional soundbites and the disturbing mix of xenophobia, racism and nostalgia for a Britain which never existed, underlying much Leave campaigning, adds to my unease as I absorb the result.”

    Mr Hale was at the time a senior partner at the firm. He is now listed on its website as its chair emeritus and a senior consultant in the private equity and financial sponsors group.

    There is no suggestion that in his current roles he would be involved in the review of Mr Farage’s case or would seek to influence its outcome.

    NatWest initiated the internal investigation after the furore over the decision by Coutts, which it owns, to “de-bank” Mr Farage over his political views.

    The scandal has already claimed two bosses’ scalps with Dame Alison having to resign after it emerged she leaked the former Brexit Party leader’s banking details to the BBC.

    Peter Flavel, the chief executive of Coutts, has also been forced to quit over his handling of the affair, with Mr Davies also under growing pressure.

    The two-part review will look at Mr Farage’s case specifically, including whether the bank broke data protection rules by briefing the BBC that he had fallen below its wealth limit.

    Independent lawyers will then look at a sample of other account closures at Coutts over the past two years to assess the reasons behind them.

      1. Did the Bee Gees do their vocal training in especially tight underpants?

        1. Only Barry Gibb did that. Robin (who possessed the best natural voice) sang normally.

          2. Phillip Pope, Angus Deayton and Michael Fenton Stevens -all appeared in Radio Four’s 80 classic comedy, Radio Active. When Radio Four actually made some decent comedy.

    3. Mr T, Brexit is indeed a tragedy, at least for the rest of the EU. You must be aware that some countries use a comma as a decimal separator, and that others use the full stop or ‘period’. The European Commission allows both forms to serve as the radix character. All those salaries over all those years and thousands of Brussels functionaries cannot decide between a comma and a full stop. With computerisation and the growth of agreed international standards, the world will need fewer administrators (yes, like Sudan), but it ain’t going to happen without a big kerfuffle.

      1. “Let the market decide” (c) Margaret Thatcher (well, she might have said it).

      2. Catherine Blaiklock made a Youtube video in which she used a comma as a decimal point and a space as a separator between groups of three digits. Bit odd for a Brexiteer. (Also, she had not heard of the CFA franc and said that Target2 is a net-settlement system – sharp intakes of breath across Nottlland.)

  18. I hope Mr Allen is taking the mickey, otherwise I’d sympathise with his other half. Imagine being partner to someone as anal as this.

    SIR – Holiday observation has shown that the British decline in standards has now reached the soft-boiled breakfast egg.
    We have not quite descended to the Alpine farmers’ level of inserting a thumb into the yolk and sucking it, but the residual egg and shell mess on some plates is unacceptable.

    The top of the egg should be removed with a precise knife stroke, leaving the yolk undamaged. A half slice of buttered toast should be cut into six soldiers, the first two at an angle to achieve a point that can break through the vitelline membrane of the yolk. Care must be taken to ensure yolk displacement does not result in overflow. The other soldiers are used as required until the albumen can be whisked out of the shell and the lid with a spoon.

    Finally, the lid should be replaced on the empty shell, and the other half of toast consumed with a large spread of marmalade. Somebody has to make a stand.

    Malcolm Allen
    Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire

    1. Is our judiciary no longer fit for purpose or does the law need changing to stamp out ULEZ?

    2. I doubt Conservatives with a brain (yes, yes, I know) are too upset by this ruling.
      Very clear lines have now been drawn and the Conservative campaign literature writes itself.
      I assume, once again, that ill-thought out legislation is behind this debacle and it gave the London Mayor the power to over-rule local councils.

  20. The pretend woman who recently threw a tantrum when he didn’t get a key to the women’s changing rooms at a hotel has now been shown up as a paedophile. He got a volunteer job as a pool official at a swimming event in Sheffield, enabling him to use the women’s changing rooms while teenage girls were there.
    The parents complained.
    Devious creep.
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12350741/Parents-raised-concerns-transgender-pool-official-using-womens-changing-room-time-young-girls.html
    Edit: good morning everyone. Sun is shining – for now.

  21. The pretend woman who recently threw a tantrum when he didn’t get a key to the women’s changing rooms at a hotel has now been shown up as a paedophile. He got a volunteer job as a pool official at a swimming event in Sheffield, enabling him to use the women’s changing rooms while teenage girls were there.
    The parents complained.
    Devious creep.
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12350741/Parents-raised-concerns-transgender-pool-official-using-womens-changing-room-time-young-girls.html
    Edit: good morning everyone. Sun is shining – for now.

  22. The pretend woman who recently threw a tantrum when he didn’t get a key to the women’s changing rooms at a hotel has now been shown up as a paedophile. He got a volunteer job as a pool official at a swimming event in Sheffield, enabling him to use the women’s changing rooms while teenage girls were there.
    The parents complained.
    Devious creep.
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12350741/Parents-raised-concerns-transgender-pool-official-using-womens-changing-room-time-young-girls.html
    Edit: good morning everyone. Sun is shining – for now.

  23. It’s the end of the world as we know it….you can forget loo rolls…

    SIR – Holiday observation has shown that the British decline in standards has now reached the soft-boiled breakfast egg.
    We have not quite descended to the Alpine farmers’ level of inserting a
    thumb into the yolk and sucking it, but the residual egg and shell mess
    on some plates is unacceptable.

    The top of the egg should be removed with a precise knife stroke, leaving the yolk undamaged. A half
    slice of buttered toast should be cut into six soldiers, the first two
    at an angle to achieve a point that can break through the vitelline
    membrane of the yolk. Care must be taken to ensure yolk displacement
    does not result in overflow. The other soldiers are used as required
    until the albumen can be whisked out of the shell and the lid with a
    spoon.

    Finally, the lid should be replaced on the empty shell,
    and the other half of toast consumed with a large spread of marmalade.
    Somebody has to make a stand.

    Malcolm Allen
    Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire

      1. I always get gasps of admiration when breakfasting in hotels. I draw my sword for sabrage.

        1. Good morning Sir Phizzee, and lesser mortals. I suspected that you might be a keen swordsman.

          1. I expect he does from time to time – it is all part of his identity.

          2. But, but, My Great Aunt olive had pair of circular scissors with serrated edges for topping boiled eggs – they worked a treat.

        1. Good point. After WWI, domestic staff were in short supply.

          “Ten thousand women marched through the streets shouting, ‘We will not be dictated to,’ and went off and became stenographers.”
          ― G.K. Chesterton

      4. Caroline’s mother used to say that it is more important to know that what one is doing is common.

        It is the unawareness that is the problem.

        1. That’s one thing that we don’t have in Norway, to any noticeable extent – people looking down on others because one section of society reckons what they are doing is “common”. And, thank God for that. Here, it’s normal to roll your egg on the table, to crack up the shell. How naff would that be? Why should one care how someone decapitated one’s egg, FFS?

        2. Funnily enough, my mother actually came from a reasonably wealthy and solid family.
          She ran away in her teens and lived a somewhat rackety life. With hindsight, I wonder if by trying to inflict such suburbanisms on her children, she was trying to make amends.
          She certainly took on some shite jobs to pay for our education.

          1. One of my mother’s elder sisters was the disreputable one in the family which is why the younger members of the family always loved her and begged her to tell stories about her life.

            She married a most unsuitable man: everything old Rob tried to do he failed at and he wasted a lot of his time in Malaya not succeeding to make his fortune in rubber. Aunt Bill and Rob ended up running a sleazy club in Soho before coming to live with us in St Mawes. Old Rob died soon after moving in with us but Aunt Bill lived until the age of 87.

    2. That makes me want to boil an egg just so I can eat it with my fingers, sucking the yolk out and sticking two perfectly symmetrical fingers of toast up in the air.

      1. Lol. It annoyed me too.

        Mr Allen should stop looking around and sneering and concentrate on his own breakfast.

          1. Michael Wharton, writing as Peter Simple, suggested “ironics”, being italics leaning to the left.

      2. Rubbish. I cut the top off my 3-minute eggs with my teaspoon.

        I’m very skilled at it and one slice of toast is simply not enough. I prefer a whole regiment of soldiers, preferably from freshly-baked, well-buttered untoasted, white bread.

  24. Good Moaning.
    Another day of sorting boxes. How on earth can binning battered cardboard produce such balm to the soul?
    The words “get” and “life” spring to mind.
    As an antidote to this unwonted contentment, here are a couple of suitably doomy DM links.

    Firstly – hope you’ve had your breakfast.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12349523/Trans-indigenous-Canadian-slams-doctors-denying-euthanasia-request-saying-death-free-agony-surgically-built-vagina.html

    Secondly: the silence seems to be breaking.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12349685/Sinking-cargo-ship-carrying-3-700-cars-burning-sea-two-days-fire-caused-electric-car-broke-killing-one-crew-member.html

    1. What has the deluded man’s ‘indigenous’ status got to do with his condition? Are we, or in his case the Canadian medics, supposed to feel more sympathy? I presume nobody forced him.

        1. Noble savage, like most of these deluded men/wannabe women, not too bright.
          Attention seeking man should save up his dollars and get the offending part removed.

          2. Let him be a lesson to other wannabe women. He’s beyond help. If his situation convinces even one boy from going down the same route, it has done something positive.

      1. Get a sharp knife and stab yourself under the armpits for maximum efficacy.

        Sorry to be so sympathetic…

        1. Jump off a high building, whist shouting “Geronimo!”
          Works a treat, AFAIK.
          Result can be a bit messy, though.

    3. Why doesn’t he (the trans ‘woman’) just kill himself, instead of getting someone else to do it for him?

      1. That would require initiative.
        I assume indigenes living on reservations get guilt ridden cradle to grave care.

    4. We had enormous satisfaction during the week, by taking several triler-loads of cardboard and boxes to the tip for recycling, so I’m with you, Anne.
      My God, but there was an ocean of the stuff! So much space in the barn now, just waiting to be filled with new cardboard… 🙁

      1. I resolutely try not to remember how much some of those boxes cost.
        Freebies wherever possible (Lidl were delighted to see multiple veg trays waltz out of the door), but serious storage needs serious boxes.

    5. You could have left the boxes out in the rain Anne, they become much easier to fold up.

      2. There is a happy medium.
        If too soggy, the boxes will disintegrate and the dust men will leave them expiring in the middle of the road.

  27. Bloody Hell!
    Common sense from Dame Sharon White!!!

    Shoplifting scourge
    SIR – I wholeheartedly agree with your Leading Article (“At liberty to steal”, July 28).

    It’s time for shoplifting to be regarded as the serious crime it is, with penalties that reflect the impact it has on retail workers across Britain.

    Partners – as we call our employees, since we own the business – face the challenge of shoplifting in our stores on a daily basis, typically from people who make a career of theft, and sometimes even from organised gangs.

    Retailers are doing their best to introduce deterrents. Across John Lewis and Waitrose, we have increased security, improved our CCTV and introduced body-worn cameras, alongside a range of covert ways to stop theft. We take our responsibilities seriously and will continue to invest in this critical area.

    The issue has become so serious that this simply isn’t enough. We need a more consolidated and consistent approach across government and the police. Everyone has a part to play.

    The Scottish government recently introduced the Protection of Workers Act, which makes assaulting a retail worker a stand-alone offence, with tougher sentences acting as an extra deterrent.

    If this could be rolled out across Britain, supported by a consistently strong police response, it could be a real game-changer, sending a strong signal that retail crime will not be tolerated anywhere.

    Shoplifting is never a victimless crime – it can have a big impact on people working in stores, and also drives up prices for genuine customers. It really is time the Government and police took the urgent and decisive action that the retail industry is crying out for. It’s the very least that Britain’s shop workers deserve.

    Dame Sharon White
    Chairman, John Lewis Partnership
    London SW1

    2. The scale of the problem is mind boggling. The Coop reported that they are subject to 1000 attacks a day.

      1. If there’s no consequence worth worrying about, then why not? Free stuff, what’s not to like?

    3. Surely assaulting a shop worker is assault, independent of the occupation of the assaulted, and already covered by law?

        1. But doesn’t grab a headline suggesting that “something is being done” – making a new law that doesn’t get enforced as the old laws don’t get enforced doesn’t help anything, just garners headlines. Perhaps that’s the intention?

          2. Ah yes. The nurse who disappeared, only re-emerge with three dresses over her arm as we sat down for a coffee break.
            “Mrs. XXX needs changing.”

          4. You jest.
            Some of the old girls – through medication, hospital food and little exercise – were um … “bonny”.
            It was an interesting experience when two nurses – one a reasonably well nourished English rose and the other a minute Phillipina – were walking an old biddy who decided to throw a tantrum and chuck herself on to the floor.
            Probably the start of my back problems.

      2. However the Police won’t attend a shop where shoplifting has occurred, with or without threats or assault.

        PS: Sometime ago the Met. announced that 900 police were trawling the internet searching for

        hostile and hurtful comments.

        1. Don’t think yer perlice are interested in theft of anything worth less than £200, to begin with, or interested much at all.

      3. OB, it’s a sop i.e. ‘look we’re doing something’. All the time nothing will be done, if the law that already covers this offence is ignored; why would a new law be any different? The statutes and legislation pile up and the situation worsens.

        What will happen when a retail worker is brutally injured or murdered by a machete wielding ne’er-do-well? A new law re machetes that will go unenforced unless the machete wielder is a gardener or worker using it for its legitimate purpose.

        1. The employee will be prosecuted for assaulting the attacker – and for “hurty words” too.

    4. And just How long has it taken these people to realise that and understand the consequences.
      I suspect most of the shoplifters are here illegally. That’s why nothing has been done about it. Because unlike most honest British citizens, these robbers can’t be traced. So the police and judiciary can’t be bothered because it doesn’t effect them.

      1. They also don’t have the same moral as indigenous, so seeing stuff you can actually pick up provides too much temptation.

        1. I.e., they will NEVER integrate, in the way many other nationalities have,

          And Wbbles Idea to shoot on sight is probably the only way to deal with them or take them on in a very uncivil war.

        2. I.e., they will NEVER integrate, in the way many other nationalities have,

          And Wbbles Idea to shoot on sight is probably the only way to deal with them or take them on in a very uncivil war.

      2. If they are caught, they lie.

        When the police can press charges, they’re usually found to be gimmigrants

        When they are arrested the courts let them off.
        In the 5 years between arrest and the unheard of prosecutions they carry on doing the same thing.

        This will be solved simply – when they’re caught; shoot them.

    5. For goodness sake. She’s the embodiment of the sodding problem.

      A career civil servant who has accomplished bugger all. She soaks up cash and gets rewarded for failure. Why? Because she’s a diversity hire. Now look at the shop lifters. A sense of entitlement, greed, laziness, an abject refusal for the state to punish their criminality and oh look! The diversity again.

      Her incompetence, lack of merit and automatic success is based on her colour, the same demographic shield that protects her, protects the thieves because she, in simple terms is one.

      1. My Father used to swim in the North Sea off West Hartlepool for New Year’s Day.
        No ice on the water, though…

      2. I dangled my unshod feet in the Serpentine in August 1976, during the big heatwave [sorry: “Global Armageddon event”] of that year.

        Pounding the pavements of the West End in leather shoes and socks had become too much for them.

  29. Morning all 🙂😊
    Decent sunny start not all the rain forecast during the night.
    And I totally agree the so called mayor, is completely out touch with his remit and his own zone. He seems to have a hatred for people who have to work for a living and he is probably using the money he’s stealing from them to fund all those who don’t work for a living.

      1. It’s been a few years since I was last in the capital. And ‘diversity wise’ I couldn’t believe what I was seeing sometimes.

          1. After dinning at a local restaurant, on our way back to the hotel. My wife and I sat on one of the many benches out St Barts hospital. There were several cars parked in disabled parking bays. 4 men walk to one of the large Kia’s and all got in. Two women in burkahs came some way behind them, and got in. I saw the driver move the large blue badge from the dash. He drove off.
            The car wax electric.
            Not one of them had an obvious disability.
            Suspicions were aroused by both of us.

          7. One of the occupants was probably the doctor who wrote the letter to the local council to get the permit.
            When I tried because I couldn’t walk more than 30 yards. I was told that I didn’t qualify because it wasn’t considered a permanent disability.
            How would they have known?
            And my best friend isn’t a doctor.

          8. I got mine not just because of that inability to walk more than 70 yards, but Ischaemic Heart Disease and COPD helped, together with a Prolapsed Invertebrate Discs (PID). Keep Buggering On, Eddy, and think of a few extra diseases that you might get your quack to prescribe for. Feel free to nick the COPD (buggered up lungs) and the PID.

          10. ‘Twould be nice, Jules, but that’s just life and getting old.

            They say, “Fortunately it doesn’t last long.”

    2. I don’t think he hates them; I don’t think he has any feeling for them at all, it’s all about the money Khan can milk from them. It is always, always about the money.

    3. No context, no details, no independent verification. It could be anywhere, anytime for any reason.

          1. Is that relevant? What the clip demonstrates is the clash of cultures, how both go about ‘solving’ their differences in completely different ways. They play ‘the game’ using different rules. ‘East is east and west is west and ne’er the twain shall meet’.

      1. No we don’t, my feet are so swollen, I cannot wear shoes – slippers only.

        Yes, I’ve tried going up a size or even two but no joy.. She was no fun anyway!

        1. You’re not wrong about Frey. The documentary made about The Eagles was an eye-opener of the in-fighting that went on in that band. Read recently that Frey berated Meisner about the latter’s concerns about continuing to hit the high note in the song in the video.
          I am a fan of their music but not necessarily of the band as a whole.

    3. We were there in 1996, 50th birthday present from children.
      Don’t remember seeing you. :-)))

  33. German economy faces ‘prolonged’ downturn amid manufacturing slump. 29 July 2023.

    The German economy stagnated in the three months to June, prompting warnings that the industrial powerhouse is facing a prolonged downturn.

    Europe’s largest economy flatlined in the second quarter of the year, according to the country’s statistics office. This compares with quarterly growth of 0.5pc in France and 0.4pc in Spain over the same period.

    While the figures for Germany officially mark the end of a recession that saw six months of economic decline, Claus Vistesen, of Pantheon Macroeconomics, predicted the economy would continue to lag behind the rest of Europe.

    He said: “Germany is really, really weak here. We are looking into a prolonged slowdown. Unless something really dramatic happens, Germany’s GDP is going to fall outright this year. That is pretty bad.”

    The reason for this is quite straightforward, though needless to say, walked around carefully here. Germany’s economic export strength was built on cheap Russian gas. When the Americans destroyed the Baltic Pipeline it cut the legs from under it. They now have to buy US gas at three times the price. The bright side is it was the Germans that propped up the EU!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/07/28/german-economy-faces-prolonged-downturn-manufacturing-slump/

    1. With the German prop weakening and likely to snap under financial and industrial failures how could a UK government and the Remain faction make a case for the UK to re-join such a body? Anyone proposing that the UK could become the new Germany would be laughed out of court: the UK is broke and the government continues to destroy the remainder of its industrial base with its Net Zero nonsense. Hopefully, the EU will founder as Germany’s industrial might wanes and the EU continue to write down farming as they are trying to in the Netherlands.

    2. “ The bright side is it was the Germans that propped up the EU!”

      It’ll be the U.K. once we rejoin!

  34. Neighbour Margaret just popped round with a 1lb of green beans from her allotment. With apples, figs and pears to follow.
    I introduced her to Bill’s Trombetti and promised her some when they are ready and some sweet red peppers.
    We have another Trombetti convert. Getting as prolific as Triffids now.

    1. Some lead – others follow!

      In the Village Flower and Veg show last Saturday, one of the “mix veg” displays contained two small trombetti.

    2. I had a half of an allotment until about 8 years ago and six chickens, until I ran out of steam.
      Potatoes, tomatoes, spinach, onions, runner and broad beans, peas, rhubarb.
      Hard work keeping the weeds down and netting the bloody pigeons off. I even had brown rats eating the chicken feed.

  35. ‘Morning All (just)

    Torygraph
    “Jeremy Hunt suggests Government may have to cap infected blood payouts.
    Jeremy
    Hunt has suggested that the Government could struggle to find the cash
    to fully compensate victims of the infected blood scandal and their
    families.
    “It’s a very uncomfortable thing for me to say but I can’t
    ignore the economic and fiscal context, because in the end the country
    only has the money that it has,” he said.”
    Plenty of cash for illegal gimmegrants though……….
    I bloody despair sometimes
    Edit forgot this
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3e656dbc262b010e62487f9f25aa02c449909780a031521eefe8de53839d6f4a.png

    2. It won’t effect the political classes or those in Whitehall. They get everything free of charge by claiming it back on their expenses.
      130 million last year alone.
      No wonder there’s not enough money out there for honest folk.

    3. Stop sending money to Ukraine.
      Cancel, in total, all foreign aid.
      You obligation is to look after the citizens of the U.K. first and foremost.
      Then those here legally.
      Send the illegals back.

      1. There’s is not one ounce of common sense amongst our ruling classes, there is clearly an organised sense of abrogation amongst them all. And then they spread more lies and ask us to vote for them. It’s not at all appealing is it.

        1. Even less appealing is the fact that so many brain-dead sheep keep on voting for them.

    4. Tow them back to within a mile of teh french coast and destroy the boat. Simple solution.

      1. Agreed, Wibbles, or just shoot their boat the moment it enters British waters, there won’t be many survivors.

  36. ‘Morning All (just)

    Torygraph
    “Jeremy Hunt suggests Government may have to cap infected blood payouts.
    Jeremy
    Hunt has suggested that the Government could struggle to find the cash
    to fully compensate victims of the infected blood scandal and their
    families.
    “It’s a very uncomfortable thing for me to say but I can’t
    ignore the economic and fiscal context, because in the end the country
    only has the money that it has,” he said.”
    Plenty of cash for illegal gimmegrants though……….
    I bloody despair sometimes
    Edit forgot this
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3e656dbc262b010e62487f9f25aa02c449909780a031521eefe8de53839d6f4a.png

  37. Ordered to rest, I’ve been watching the ladies football. As noticed previously in other matches, quite a few of them look as if they shouldn’t be sharing the same dressing rooms and showers.

    1. There was an article in the DM today on the love lives of the ladies footy team. Seems like they already have enough fun with balls and playing the field without the need for any men..

      1. It must be fun in the team bath after the game (do they still have communal baths in football dressing rooms?)

        1. Mine has taken over my computer chair – I’m forced to post this standing up

      1. Gus has a white tip to tail. And a better looking face – though we never mention that in front of Pickles.

  39. Apologies if posted earlier.

    The scandal engulfing Hunter Biden is now so grave even America’s Left-wing media can’t ignore it any longer as claims of $5million bribes, drugs and prostitutes surround the President’s wayward son

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12350259/The-scandal-engulfing-Hunter-Biden-grave-Americas-Left-wing-media-ignore-longer-claims-5million-bribes-drugs-prostitutes-surround-Presidents-wayward-son-writes-RICHARD-LITTLEJOHN.html

    I sincerely hope this brings down the entire rotten family. My ideal result would be for Biden to be impeached and disgraced and for both of them to be imprisoned and then a Republican President to grant them a Presidential pardon, after they’ve done some time.

    1. I hope it brings down the entire rotten political edifice, not just the Biden family.

      2. I think it is only the rotten edifice throwing the Bidens under the bus before the next election.
        Who will they get who is stupid and greedy enough to put his or her name to mass election fraud this time, I wonder?
        Or perhaps they already have him, and he is going to win fair and square (RFK Jr).

    4. Not a chance. The Left protect their own. If they can’t control the narrative they’ll produce countless other spin stories to deflect away from the one they want buried.

      1. Even the pro Biden news outlets are questioning.

        Probably why the UFOs are hitting the headlines, as a distraction.

      1. In this case, it would be to show that liberals are not the only people with clemency.
        Once done, their foundations of being the only “good people” are rocked

    1. I’m not sure it’s young people, although they tend to be the most. I think it’s folk who don’t think rationally, who want to believe in something, who need to believe in something to replace their own void of confidence.

      1. 374924+ up ticks,

        Afternoon W,

        Currently I believe in Andrew Bridgen
        and a party should be constructed around the Fox / Bridgen nucleus.

        I do not believe the English spirit has ever used quitting as an option.

    1. Yes, I think it has.

      The military get al ost no funding.

      Science – well ‘the science’ of climate tax scamming gets masses, where real research is starved.

      The arts is well funded, but wastes it on Left wingery.

      The NHS consumes nigh half our GDP but healthcare is starved as money goes into expanding the bureaucracy.

      Education is well funded, but the sttae consumes 3/4s of the cash.

      1. We are all “Criminals” now in London (except the real ones, they get off Scot-free).

      2. This raises the perennial subjective question:

        “Is it morally wrong to obey a law which is morally wrong?”

    3. Excellent. I would love to join in but as long as I have my job I have to be squeaky clean.

  46. I said the other day I was sad that Sinead O’Connor had died (she is same age as me) although I was never a great fan. But this letter in today’s DT brought a tiny tear to my eye. (apologies if already posted, have been busy today and will catch up later).
    “ I was greatly saddened by the death of Sinéad O’Connor (report, July 27). She was a very different person behind her fame.

    In 1991, my 20-year-old daughter, Louise, was suffering from terminal cancer, when she received a phone call from Sinéad out of the blue.

    Sinéad had heard of Louise’s illness from some source, probably the press, as we were raising funds for our local hospice. My daughter was a great admirer of her and loved her music.

    During this long call, Sinéad invited my daughter to travel to London to spend some time with her. Needless to say, Louise was thrilled.

    A few days later, she met Louise at Euston station and, to cut a long story short, Louise had the best week of her short life. They dined, they drank, they danced – but most of all they laughed irreverently. Sinéad was at the height of her fame at this time and found it highly amusing that, when they were out, people were asking for Louise’s autograph. Louise returned home exhausted and happier than I had seen her since her devastating cancer diagnosis.

    It didn’t stop there: this lovely, compassionate woman always stayed in touch. She sent Louise wine and flowers and letters right up until her death in 1992.

    On Louise’s last visit to London, Sinéad gave my daughter her platinum disc for her song Nothing Compares 2 U and dedicated her Christmas record Silent Night to her.

    During all this time, Sinéad never sought any publicity for these acts of love and compassion. Today my thoughts are with two remarkable women who, I have no doubt, will be somewhere still laughing, dancing and singing. Philip Woolcock Preston, Lancashire”

    2. I thought that was very special. And it made me cry. I’m just listening to my husband on the phone to his brother and my dear BiL has just said she was a real loony. Some people don’t know they’re born. (My BiL has a very loud voice!)

      1. It’s true though, she was a very damaged human being, and not that bright. But people who have suffered are often very compassionate towards others. People are complicated.
        One thing I have learned in my life is that the most surprising people can teach you things.

        1. It’s the lack of thought and care for anyone else besides themselves, and the stigma which is still attached to anything ‘mental health’ related. I believe that sticking a label on something different, and pigeonholing it as an ‘ishoo’ to hide behind, (I’m looking at you Huw!) is a negative reaction.
          People are different, and complicated, and confusing, and horrible, and every other adjective you can find but we are all human and frail, and amazing.

    3. Thankyou for reposting that. Serves as a reminder, not to jump to conclusions about ‘tabloid’ stories of the rich and famous, we cannot really know what makes other people tick.

    4. The problem with wearing glasses is that, when you start to tear up, everybody can see you whip them off to wipe away said tears.
      Good on Sinéad. Respect.

    5. Very moving. A full box of Kleenex story.

      I tear up rather too easily. I remember going through the final part of King Lear with a sensitive “A” level group with tears coursing down my cheeks.

      1. I am a bit like that.

        Years back, on a Third Form WW1 Battlefields Trip – run by the MR – I was asked to read out the list of 102 Gresham’s Old Boys who died.

        By the time I got to the THIRD “Bryant” – there were four – I was in some difficulty (to put it mildly). All four sons – there were no more – gone.

  47. I said the other day I was sad that Sinead O’Connor had died (she is same age as me) although I was never a great fan. But this letter in today’s DT brought a tiny tear to my eye. (apologies if already posted, have been busy today and will catch up later).
    “ I was greatly saddened by the death of Sinéad O’Connor (report, July 27). She was a very different person behind her fame.

    In 1991, my 20-year-old daughter, Louise, was suffering from terminal cancer, when she received a phone call from Sinéad out of the blue.

    Sinéad had heard of Louise’s illness from some source, probably the press, as we were raising funds for our local hospice. My daughter was a great admirer of her and loved her music.

    During this long call, Sinéad invited my daughter to travel to London to spend some time with her. Needless to say, Louise was thrilled.

    A few days later, she met Louise at Euston station and, to cut a long story short, Louise had the best week of her short life. They dined, they drank, they danced – but most of all they laughed irreverently. Sinéad was at the height of her fame at this time and found it highly amusing that, when they were out, people were asking for Louise’s autograph. Louise returned home exhausted and happier than I had seen her since her devastating cancer diagnosis.

    It didn’t stop there: this lovely, compassionate woman always stayed in touch. She sent Louise wine and flowers and letters right up until her death in 1992.

    On Louise’s last visit to London, Sinéad gave my daughter her platinum disc for her song Nothing Compares 2 U and dedicated her Christmas record Silent Night to her.

    During all this time, Sinéad never sought any publicity for these acts of love and compassion. Today my thoughts are with two remarkable women who, I have no doubt, will be somewhere still laughing, dancing and singing. Philip Woolcock Preston, Lancashire”

    3. Lammy only got into office because of the forcing of diversity. The man is a moron who is an insult to morons.

    4. He was yesterday’s guest on BBC Radio 5 Live Sport Extra’s coverage of the Oval test match. He was quite engaging when talking about cricket, his memories of West Indies cricket in its prime and about his parents’ home country of Guyana. He learned to play cricket as a boarder at King’s School in Peterborough. He left a lasting impression on the Test Match Special broadcasting team by bringing a rum-soaked cake which suffused the commentary box with a heady Caribbean aroma.

      Today’s guest was actor and TV presenter Stephen Mangan. He was very entertaining with his amusing anecdotes, both cricketing and acting. He certainly had me chuckling.

      Stuart Broad has just announced his retirement, much to my surprise. He’s still playing very well and in fine physical shape. There’s no obvious reason why he couldn’t continue for another couple of years. At least he’s bowing out before age takes its toll. On the other hand, Jimmy Anderson, 41 tomorrow, has made clear his desire to continue.

      1. So the fat black twat knows a bit about cricket – what does he know about the daily lives of the plebs he stamps down upon in his constituency twits that voted for him?

    2. I think it was Jack Straw who had him jailed, so Straw can now pay for wrongly imprisoning someone who didn’t commit the crime.

      That would be the epitome of justice.

      1. They should take it out of the pensions of the police who destroyed evidence that would have saved him.

  52. I’ve just watched Fireball XL5 on Talking Pictures. A throwback to childhood but real puppetry is much more impressive than CGI or stop-motion animation and the storylines were more wholesome.

  54. In Jamaica, fruit pie $2,50. In Haiti, $2,00.
    These are the pie rates of the Caribbean! 😁

  55. Cremant de Loire £10 at Sainsbury’s. Made in the exact same way as Champagne without the price and snobbery.

        2. Yep, costs more…
          Ooops,
          no it’s the parasitic government trying to maximise its tax-take

        1. Ooh that’s a lot. Cremant (specifically de Loire) is just under £13 over here. Cremant de other places is maybe £1 cheaper.

      4. We sometimes get a Sparkling White blanc de blancs called Opera which, if chilled, makes a good Kir. It costs €3 a bottles and instead of always using the traditional cassis the framboise, mûre, fraise des bois, pêche and myrtle liqueurs are worth a try as mixers.

        2. Agree totally.
          There are numerous wonderful kir-a-like substitutes on the mixer side

      5. We sometimes get a Sparkling White blanc de blancs called Opera which, if chilled, makes a good Kir. It costs €3 a bottles and instead of always using the traditional cassis the framboise, mûre, fraise des bois, pêche and myrtle liqueurs are worth a try as mixers.

      6. I raid the supermarket every time I go to Alsace. Broke down on the way back, and had to give a bottle to the lovely, lovely breakdown man who rescued us!

        1. I made the one for his big day, but I’ve not been too well the last couple of days and I afraid I copped out!! 😩

        2. I bought a couple at the village carnival this afternoon.
          Just had a slice of one of them, very nice!

        1. Ah! That would be one of the twins doing his Ginger Baker impression? on the lid when they were in the trolley!
          And it distinctly says ‘cake’!

  58. Bogey Five today.

    Wordle 770 5/6
    🟩⬜⬜🟨⬜
    🟩⬜⬜⬜🟨
    🟩🟨⬜🟨⬜
    🟩🟩🟩⬜🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Me too, but I screwed up by missing a letter. on 3rd go.
      Wordle 770 5/6

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

    2. Par four today.

      Wordle 770 4/6

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

  59. That’s me for today. Mostly sunny – a couple of showers. When the new oil tank was installed, the chaps dug out a great mound of earth to prepare the place where the slab is laid.

    We are using the soil for “levelling up” (see how up to the minute we are…) where parts of the “lawn!!!” have subsided. A few barrows a day. Should be done by mid-August – then grass seed sown. Quite a satisfying job.

    Have a spiffing evening.

    A demain

    PS I m posting below (or above…) an article from The Spectator reviewing the new version of the beeboid Uni Challenge. Very apt.

  60. From The Spectator – James Delingpole:

    I wish I could say that Bamber Gascoigne would be turning in his grave at what has happened to University Challenge. But unfortunately, I understand from people who knew the Eton, Cambridge, Yale and Grenadier Guards historian, playwright, critic, polymath millionaire and scion of the upper classes that he chose to compensate for his privilege by embracing progressive causes. So, chances are, the shade of Bamber is thrilled to bits at seeing his old quizmaster’s seat occupied by someone who drops his aitches and pronounces ‘h’ where it should be aspirated and landed a mere 2.2 from hearty, insufficiently medieval Downing.

    Bambi’s successor Jeremy Paxman probably isn’t too bothered either. Like a lot of TV presenters who affect to be a bit bufferish, old-fashioned, mildly curmudgeonly, quintessentially English and into stuff like cricket, The Lark Ascending, warm beer, pipes, pre-Beeching railways, fly-fishing – see also Ian Hislop – the real-life Paxman is quite startlingly luvvie-ish. I know this because I once won a prize from a charity quiz he hosted and though he didn’t quite air-kiss me on both cheeks I’m sure he would happily have done so had I proffered them.

    I actually don’t care much that the tediously ubiquitous (though in the flesh very affable) Amol Rajan got the job. Of course he did, for any number of reasons, some of which I have delineated above. But it really doesn’t matter because nobody watches University Challenge any more. Well, I certainly don’t unless my son begs and pleads with me to keep him company – and then tuts at me when I say things like: ‘Why has that student wearing a dress got an Adam’s apple?’

    It’s a shame because for much of my married life University Challenge was the perfect programme: about the only thing we consistently watched, year after year, first as a couple and later, when the children were old enough, as a family. It offered most of the things you could possibly want from half an hour’s family TV: dopamine hits; intra-family competition; light snobbery; mild freakshow-ishness; proof that your Alzheimer’s wasn’t quite as advanced as you’d feared; definitely no sex; reassured intellectual smugness; rare but welcome jokes; and characters such as Gonville & Caius’s Ted Loveday, who rose to international fame by knowing what hapax legomenon was, and with whom, thrillingly, Boy once went out drinking having met him in a Bulgarian student hostel.

    But hapax legomenon was in 2015, before the rot set in. Possibly it had already and I wasn’t quite aware of it or was in denial. Whatever, at some point between now and then, the order went out: ‘University Challenge must die!’

    And so they killed it, not in one blow but by a thousand cuts. Jeremy Paxman remained in place, giving the illusion of stability, continuity and integrity. But little by little you found yourself realising that not only did you not know the answers to many of the questions but that you actually didn’t care to know the answers. The geography questions were no longer about the capital of Mongolia but about climate change. The politics ones were about tedious supranational bodies such as the EU and the UN and their various offshoots, such as the IPCC.

    Maybe worst of all was what happened to the arts questions, which hitherto had always come up as such an incredible relief after the boring, abstruse science questions and the even duller maths ones. Whereas they once tested your knowledge of all the most important writers, painters, poets, composers that ever lived, now they were about the few representatives in those categories that pushed the correct gender and diversity buttons.

    Look, I’ve got nothing particularly against Artemisia Gentileschi, Clara Schumann, or George Eliot but there are only so many times that the heart can leap with delighted recognition in the picture round of ‘Judith Slaying Holofernes’, or the ear can thrill confusedly to an excerpt of whatever it was Clara Schumann may have written. (Still, at least in the science rounds you know one of the answers is going to be Marie Curie.)

    The problem is not confined to University Challenge, I appreciate. Just recently, for example, out of curiosity I did a Google search on the world’s greatest novels. According to the online Encyclopedia Britannica, the top 12 include Toni Morrison’s Beloved, Virginia Woolf’s (unreadable) Mrs Dalloway, Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and a book called Invisible Man (not the H.G. Wells one) by someone called Ralph Ellison, which is apparently a groundbreaking novel in the expression of identity for the African American male. War and Peace doesn’t feature. Nor anything by Stendhal, Dostoevsky or Flaubert.

    So no, I’ve absolutely no problem with the fact that, very much unlike Bambi, and quite unlike Paxo, matey, demotic, lightly bling and laddish Amol Rajan makes no pretence that he could answer all the questions or is familiar with any of the languages in which he attempts to pronounce the foreign names. He’s exactly what the programme deserves.

    1. The science round answer (“one of the answers is going to be Marie Curie”) reminds me of playing Trivial Pursuits with my father and godfather.
      Everyone who played TP knew they could spavin the smart arse mother by asking sports questions.
      One question was on wendy ball; I blurted out the one name I knew; Kevin Keegan.
      “Two names, Anne” my father reminded me. Panic; cogs frantically turning; by sheer fluke, a name jumped into my head.
      “Trevor Brooking,” I croaked. My father accused me of cheating and could not be convinced otherwise for the rest of his life.

      1. My mother familiarised herself with the answers in bed each night. She didn’t like losing to inferiors. Neither did granny when i beat her at Scrabble at the tender age of 14.

        It still annoys me that they were so insecure rather than celebrating my growing up.

        1. I looked forward to my sons beating me and at most things now they beat me easily.

          But I was not going to patronise them by letting them win – they had to beat me fair and square.

          When they were each fourteen they could finally swim 25 metres in 13 seconds and by then I could not still do that.

          But they have still yet to beat me at ping pong.

          It is an odd feeling when you are trying your damnedest not to lose but hoping at the same time that you will be beaten!

    2. Of course Jertemy Paxman and James Delingpole were both at Malvern but not at the same time!

    3. I use to enjoy the tension created by the contestants, but don’t watch it any more. But it’s pretty obvious that the bbc don’t quite understand the phrase regarding digging.

          2. Yes thanks Sue, but not out of the woods yet. I’m taking 3 200mg Amiodarone tablets each day for a week. Then two a day for a week, then one until the packets are empty.
            No sunshine no grapefruit.
            Oh well. 🙃😉
            I really don’t know what dogging means. 😉😏

          3. Dogging: Having sex in public.
            Hope you didn’t spit your malt all over the screen.

          10. I hope you both enjoy it! My OH was not too keen on our Italian anniversary/birthday dinner the other day.

          11. We’ve not been there before. Carlo’s near Newlands Corner, Guildford.

          12. Of course! Excellent drug for the atrial fibrillation! Funny how often grapefruit is mentioned! Take care and take it easy, and don’t Google ‘dogging’! ☺️

          14. I was just winding old Bill up.
            There’s a sheltered layby on the Brocket estate, not far from where we live that was shut down with concrete blocks to stop the dogging that had been taking place.
            And to keep the filthy gypos out. 😏

          15. OK! You had me convinced you’d led a very sheltered life! Bravo Eddy! 👏🏻

          17. The ‘sport’ Of watching heterosexuals carrying out their sexual wills in their cars while you watched – that’s ‘dogging’.

          19. The one unmissable date is when FA are booked for our local theatre.
            We can watch them time and again.

      2. I was recently binge-watching the 2018/9 series on YT. I was horrified when Paxo gave an answer to a question about nursing in the Crimean as Mary Seacole. History continues to be re-written.

    5. What’s sad is that I didn’t know BG is dead, I remember watching him and lunch guests floating down, and then up, the Thames with the tide when I was fishing. I’ve stopped watching UC for all the reasons mentioned above.

    6. A bit further down the cultural scale is another programme that has seen a similar decline – TMS. Previously, you listened to descriptions of action on the field interrupted now and then by a bit of chit-chat between the commentator and the summariser. Now it’s the other way around.

      And someone should remind the verbose Dan Norcross of gentlemen and bagpipes…

  61. I’ve had another unbusy day, resting. So I’m orff until the morrow.
    Enjoy your evening peeps.

          4. I don’t mean England should have declared but they did lose their way quite badly after about 5pm when Root was out. Close of play score should have been around 430- 6.

          5. The team’s ethos has changed. I think I like it, but this last match is going to mean an awful lot, one way or another.

          3. No, I used to follow the Rugby 6 nations until they all started to take the knee for BLM.

    2. But these are desperate ‘refugees’ who have fled persecution in their home countries with only the clothes they stand up in…

      2. Yeah, no wonder, after forking out seven grand for a place with 30+ others in a container.

    3. But these are desperate ‘refugees’ who have fled persecution in their home countries with only the clothes they stand up in…

    4. They should be deported. “From Ilford” indeed!

      The article is all bleeding heart about their lack of concern about the safety of the illegals they are bringing in. How about a bit more about bringing in bl**ding illegals and what that does to this country? TBH, my sympathy duct for the illegals’ welfare has dried up.

    3. But what does that matter – our taxes are still being syphoned out to the friends of the Government who are living nicely while the joke continues.

        1. Not to mention the desecration of vast swathes of countryside and ancient forest

        2. Indeed. The amount that they have spent on small things is completely out of proportion to the work done.

    4. Who needs to travel at ‘high speed’ from somewhere in north London to somewhere in Birmingham?

      1. Performed on home turf. No need to use a proxy e.g. Ukraine.
        Continually escalating costs with no end product after years of construction destruction topped off with compliant governments coughing up the readies: what’s not to like?

    6. So the entire area adjacent to Cardington Street has been devastated for what?

  65. Good evening, chums, I’m back after a good break. Now to check my emails (first things first, I’ve just read 4 or 5 jokes from Sir Jasper.)

    1. Nothing wrong with beans on toast as long as you season (chillies and whatever) it and reduce it to sticky beans.

  71. Having difficulty posting a birthday greeting – will have to try again later.

    1. Has Lewis been on today?
      I prefer to give my best wishes against one of the birthday bint/boys’ posts on the day rather than the one you put up.
      It fails when they don’t appear.
      Your reminder is the trigger, and hats off to you for doing the reminders!

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