Saturday 3 February: Promises to fix Britain’s broken asylum system have come to nothing

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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449 thoughts on “Saturday 3 February: Promises to fix Britain’s broken asylum system have come to nothing”

  1. Good morrow, gentlefolk. Today’s (recycled) list
    SHORT & SWEET – BUT NOT VERY PC – 4
    I was explaining to my wife last night that when you die you get reincarnated but must come back as a different creature.
    She said, “I would like to come back as a cow.”
    I said, “You’re obviously not f–k–g listening.”

    Under new E.U. law the word “Gypo” is no longer politically correct.
    They have to be called (caravan utilising nomadic travellers) or C.*.N.T.S. for short.

    Doctors have just identified a food that can cause grief and suffering years after it’s been eaten.
    It’s called a wedding cake.

    I was in the pub with my wife last night and I said, “I love you.”
    She asked, “Is that you or the beer talking?”
    I replied, “It’s me talking to the beer.”

    The wife has been missing a week now. Police said to prepare for the worst.
    So I have been to the charity shop to get all her clothes back.

    Hi mate I don’t want you to panic but I’m texting you from Casualty.
    Turns out that the new Dyson Ball cleaner isn’t what I thought it was

  4. Our MPs must finally wake up to the Islamist threat – both here and in the Middle East. 2 February 2024.

    Mike Freer will stand down as MP for Finchley and Golders Green at the next election. He says the strain on his husband and wider family is too great. For years, he has had social-media abuse, death threats, hostile graffiti, mock-Molotov cocktails left as his door, an attempt to prise open the windows of his constituency office and a rude note stuck to the windscreen of his car – some of which proved that hostile people knew his whereabouts.

    Other attacks were much worse. Mr Freer occasionally held constituency surgeries in a friendly mosque. One day, the self-appointed “Muslims against Crusades” forced their way in and abused him as a “Jewish homosexual pig” (“They were right about only one of those three words!” he tells me) He had to be ushered away for protection.

    One wonders where Mr Freer was when Batley Man needed his help and support. Or the victims of the Manchester Arena bombing, or the multiple stabbings of the last fifteen years. Where was his opposition to the small boats? What about immigration? Why has he not spoken up until now?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/02/02/middle-east-mp-intimidation-islamism-finchley-golders-green/

    1. Where, indeed?

      Clearly Freer does not have the backbone that USA prospective Senate candidate, Kari Lake possesses.

      Ms Lake has recently exposed an attempt to bribe her to stand down as a Senate candidate in Arizona. The man making the offer has had to resign his post in the Republican Party. In a live podcast Ms Lake has revealed several attempts of sabotage on her car in addition to the bribery attempt.
      Ms Lake gave up a 7 figure media job because she found it was no longer a news outlet but a purveyor of propaganda. Asked to name her price she told the ‘people back east’ that no amount of money would force her out: “They will have to kill me”.

          2. Thanks, BoB, you’re correct. (Reminds me of my own good looks when I was nobbut a wee lassie. Lol.)

          3. Thanks, BoB, you’re correct. (Reminds me of my own good looks when I was nobbut a wee lassie. Lol.)

  6. Good morning all and good morning members of the 77th,

    A cloudy dawn at McPhee Towers, wind in the West, 10-11℃, chance of a shower this afternoon.

    The 2024 Six Nations is under way and with Ireland’s record 38-17 win over France in Marseille last night, the question has to be who is going to beat them? No-one would be my answer. They seem to have a ready-made replacement for Johnnie Sexton who could easily turn out to be even better.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/rugby-union/2024/02/02/france-vs-ireland-live-score-updates-six-nations/

  7. Good morning all.
    A bit of a dull and cloudy start. Dry and fairly calm air when I looked out of the bathroom window but with the clouds scurrying across the sky.
    An almost spring like 6½°C this morning.

    One bit of good news, the double seat that had been jury rigged into the back of the van will be gone today!
    Put it onto E-bay on with a £5 start and a £15 “Buy it now” on Wednesday and sold it last night!
    Now it’s out of the way I can get on with doing things to the back of the van!

      3. Well, she was sat up in bed beside me with a mug of tea when I fired up the laptop and checked my e-mails at 02:45 this morning!

  8. A couple of BTL Comments I think people here may agree with:-

    Matthew Biddlecombe
    18 MIN AGO
    This morning the opening seven letters tell us, intelligently and without using hyperbole, all that is wrong with the UK and the immigration policy that’s been followed since Tony Blair became Prime Minister. My guess is that many commentators here will agree wholeheartedly with their views. So, one question remains.
    If six letter writers, along with Bill Cash (MP) and 62 of his colleagues, can see and understand this, why can’t the other 287 members in Westminster not?

    Echo Fish
    3 MIN AGO
    Reply to Matthew Biddlecombe
    Morning Matthew, last night GB News featured a Labour advert spoken in English and Urdu(?) by two Manchester MP’s.
    What’s happened is that small pockets of voters have formed rotten borough’s, where the direction of the Iman is enough to secure the seat.
    All the parties are at it. I remember an article in this very paper about a Bowling green, used by the locals, sold for a Saudi funded “Super Mosque” in Dewsbury. This was done by the Conservatives.
    We are seen as people who’ll just accept what happens. The polling results for Reform show this may not be the case for much longer. This acid attack could have caused the electorate to cross the Rubicon.
    Remember we will never deport this man now, as even after, yet another sentence, he will claim medical need, and this will prevent us from deporting him.
    Of course I can only hope the girl and her mum have the treatment they need.

    1. In answer to Matthew Biddlecombe’s final question, I can do no better than quote Margaret Thatcher: “They’re frit”.

    2. Can we not incorporate into our law that those have have criminally violated the human rights of others lose any protection by the state of their own human rights?

    1. Don’t cry for us, Argentina!

      We have lost everything on purpose working towards Net Zero and the New World Order and giving a home to Muslim refugees who have no papers and possible criminal records?

  10. Good morning, chums, I’m late on parade today. So after posting this I shall disappear and return shortly with my Wordle efforts.

    2. Well what would you do with an ageing population and a £5 trillion black hole in state liabilites? As Mike Robinson pointed out in UK Column News Extra yesterday, you either stop paying pensions or you kill people.

      With that, off to market.

      1. I see Sir Ed Davey is preparing to resign as Leader of the LibDems and take up a job as a cartoonist. Lol.

      2. Green – immature, raw and lacking experience in life and just about everything else.

        That’s quite close as a description can get.

        1. “My salad days when I was green in judgement.”

          [Cleopatra referring to the days when Julius Caesar was her lover and she was a young girl without judgement.]

          Starmer and Reeves are old enough to know better

    4. Up to a point, Lord Copper. The eugenisist movement, if it exists, has failed miserably. While birth rates plummet in Europe, North America and East Asia, the population of sub-Saharan Africa continues to soar. Do I need to draw you a diagram?

      2. We don’t really know how far it has succeeded or otherwise, because we don’t know what the population of the world would be if so many lives hadn’t been lost to abortion, war, AIDS, covid vaccines, reduced fertility etc, which have all been suggested as part of the depopulation attempts.

      3. From where does ‘Lord Copper’ emanate? I don’t get the connection. Apologies for the time-lag, I’ve had to sleep.

          1. Never read Evelyn Waugh or the Daily Beast, so such references go ‘Woosh’ straight over my head. Sorry to disappoint with my lack of erudition in those fields. Anyway, I prefer Sir Jasper. Originally named for my brother and also A A Milne

  12. Wordle 959 4/6

    I’m back, and it’s another four for Wordle today.

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

    1. Same here
      Wordle 959 4/6

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

    2. My early morning effort.

      Wordle 959 3/6

      ⬜🟨🟨🟩⬜
      ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. All part of Sunak’s Windsor Sell Out deliberately giving a part of the UK gift wrapped to the EU

  14. Good morning all .

    Cloudy wet windy and miserable and very mild , 11c , so far

    I liked this letter

    SIR – Allison Pearson’s article on mass migration (Comment, February 2) reminded me of a warning about the concept of Islamophobia given by the late Christopher Hitchens: “This is very urgent business, ladies and gentlemen, I beseech you: resist it while you still can and before the right to complain is taken away from you, which is all but upon us … And remember, the barbarians never take a city until someone holds the gates open to them, and it’s your own preachers and multicultural authorities who will do it for you.”

    Graeme Brierley
    Sutton Bridge, Lincolnshire

    1. Is there a solution which would be effective and practical?*

      He we already lost beyond all hope or will another Churchill arise?

      [*Answers please on the back of an envelope]

  15. 382754+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Saturday 3 February: Promises to fix Britain’s broken asylum system have come to nothing

    Since the political rodent lifted the latch it has thrived and so have the crime syndicates of the dark side of the planet, governments / crime syndicates in collusion have made a killing at the expense of the nation being drained of democracy & decency.

    The bog man judged his followers well he knew that if he triggered treachery his minions would follow, the devil looks after his own so the saying states and I don’t believe he could believe his good fortune in having the opposition party follow
    but follow they did, BIG TIME.

    He triggered, then sat back and watched the daily erosion of a decent nation, via the party before Country voting pattern took a firm grim among a multitude of obliging dangerous voting fools.

    At the cost of a decent nation, surely loss of self respect, the fools are still at it even over a corpse of a country.

    1. Good morning Lovely Verity

      Some of the lines in Wordsworth’s sonnet seem relevant:

      The world is too much with us; late and soon,
      Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;—
      Little we see in Nature that is ours;
      We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
      This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
      The winds that will be howling at all hours,
      And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;
      For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
      It moves us not. Great God! I’d rather be
      A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
      So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
      Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
      Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
      Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.

      We have not only given our hearts away we have given our country away and have lost our reason. And we have given it all to pagans – but Wordsworth’s pagans were those of Greek myth rather than the barbarians with their medieval practices to whom our politicians have surrendered!

  18. There was discussion on GBNews last night of the Evil of the two teenagers who, egged on by each other, committed the most horrible murder of their transgender victim. Mal à deux (the case where one character is egged on by another) came up with reference to the James Bulger case and the Myra Hindley/Ian Brady cases – and of course the best-known literary case is Lady Macbeth and her husband.

    However these gross evils are surpassed by those involved in the Covid vaccine gene therapy scandal where the politicians were egged on by each other and inspired by the WEF, Bill Gates and other prime sources of Evil who may well turn out to have been guilty of the deliberate murder of millions.

    1. Good morning everyone, and Mr T.
      “horrible murder” Does murder have a hierarchy? Is it less evil to stab to death a 65 year old school caretaker in Nottingham than a deluded teenage boy? No one dared to condemn Mr Calocane for his acts of evil because he was protected by his diagnosis (foreign and dark skinned).

      Don’t worry, you are part of the zeitgeist. After 7/10, the European Commission condemned the barbaric terrorist attacks on Israel. Remind me, who was the largest non-arab donor to the Palestinian authorities?
      Please excuse the rant, as a semi-retired teacher you should be used to it. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2023/754628/EPRS_BRI(2023)754628_EN.pdf
      Disqus won’t let me post a screenshot, but the point is that the European Commissioned budgeted in excess of 3,000,000,000 euros for aid to the Hamas-controlled authorities over the decade 2104 to 2024. That’s a lot of concrete for tunnels.

    2. I was somewhat irritated by news reports describing these 15-year-old monsters as children. Maybe they were being guided by legal definitions but, to my mind, they are adolescents, not children.

      1. Society cannot decide when a person is adult.

        Driving a moped? Age of criminal responsibility? Age of sexual consent? Age of driving a motor bike? Age of driving a car? Age for military service? Age for voting? Age for jury service? etc. etc.

          1. I think that “society” (aka the populace) can say what a woman is. It’s the likes of Starmer and Co that can’t manage that simple task.

          2. You are quite right – I should perhaps have used “the woke elements of society” or something like that.

    3. Never forget that, by the sound of it, most of those vermin (what other word can one use to describe them after their reaction recalled here) cheered Sunak when he claimed that the CV-19 “vaccines” are safe, when responding during PMQs last week.
      The tactic of turning a blind eye to the growing numbers of distressed and dead victims of the “vaccines” is a gross abandonment of a government’s first duty i.e. secure the safety of the people and the nation.

      Note to self: he did drop the word ‘effective’.

      1. Which is ironic since ‘effective’ may be more truthful, in that the negative effects may actually be the desired outcome.

  19. There was discussion on GBNews last night of the Evil of the two teenagers who, egged on by each other, committed the most horrible murder of their transgender victim. Mal à deux (the case where one character is egged on by another) came up with reference to the James Bulger case and the Myra Hindley/Ian Brady cases – and of course the best-known literary case is Lady Macbeth and her husband.

    However these gross evils are surpassed by those involved in the Covid vaccine gene therapy scandal where the politicians were egged on by each other and inspired by the WEF, Bill Gates and other prime sources of Evil who may well turn out to have been guilty of the deliberate murder of millions.

  20. Good morning, all. Overcast with a breeze. Not particularly chilly and so the garden beckons. Lots to tidy up as I’ve dismantled an old wooden fence and an arch and pruned my black bullace tree – what a tangled mess they become without regular attention – hoping for some fruit this year.

    Tucker with more revelations.
    No real surprise here, “Brought to you by ” has been highlighted on a number of conservative shows in the USA.
    It doesn’t appear as blatant over here but must be happening a bit more behind the scenes.

    Tucker with Big Pharma Whistle-blower

    1. Here it was acres of advertising space bought with taxpayer money: “Look into his eyes” ….

      1. That was sheer fear porn. Cleverly done and very effective. Plus having Clive Myrie tour the mortuaries.

        2. Thankfully I switched off if that propaganda happened to come on. I didn’t watch the rest of it.

  21. Morning, all Y’all.
    Rumpelstiltskin awakes – staying at Firstborn’s place, out in the country, had a magic French dinner last night, early to bed, woke up twelve hours later and now blowing the froth off a coffee. Superb zed… it’s totally silent out here, sun shining… peaceful like you couldn’t believe. Sometimes, one has just to give thanks for one’s good fortune.

  22. Biden says US strikes on Iraq and Syria are just the beginning. 3 February 2024.

    President Biden said the US air strikes on Iraq and Syria on Friday night are the beginning of the White House’s response to a deadly drone attack at a US base in Jordan.

    The US carried out airstrikes on 85 targets in Iraq and Syria, targeting command and control headquarters, intelligence centres and storage facilities.

    Yes. They said similar things about Vietnam and Afghanistan.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/02/03/middle-east-israel-hamas-war-latest-news-iran-us-iraq-syria/

    1. But…..has nobody pointed out to the daft old tosser, it’s Iran that’s behind the attacks on Israel.
      I suppose all those middle Eastern places are the same to him.

        1. It is an excellent history of the Vietnamese War and the utter stupidity of those prosecuting it.

          1. The one thing I will say in Harold Wilson’s favour is that he kept us out of the Vietnam War.
            Given that he was – to quote a history master we knew “chicanery on legs” – his motives might be suspect, but the result meant far fewer maimed and dead young British males.

          2. War?

            Politicos throwing a strop and ordering everyone in the pub ‘outside’ for a fight, yet not attending the ensuing brawl themselves.

  23. Morning all 🙂😊
    Not bad out side for February.
    Possible sunshine later. The poor old sun needs a rest it has been working very hard in the southern hemisphere.
    And same old boring story regarding our political classes. They are do nothing absolutely useless.
    Only in politics for what they can gain.
    Unfortunately their arrangement of
    constant gain is the rest of the country’s constant and painful demise.

  24. Good Moaning.

    Never thought I’d be nodding along to Amanda Platell.

    “With the Tories being hammered in the polls, it’s not the best time for the PM to tell us that due to his Hindu faith he never drinks, fasts for 36 hours every week and wants to ban smoking.

    Crikey, those of us hoping for a slim majority at the election want a proper Tory leader, not Mahatma Gandhi.”

    1. Montgomery to Churchill “I don’t smoke, I don’t drink and am 100% fit.”
      Churchill “I drink, I smoke and am 200% fit.”

      Perhaps the reason we have such an ineffective Prime Minister is because he is not like a normal Englishman.

      1. Old Mohindas, even in his present eternal state, would still make a better leader than what we currently have.

  25. Good Moaning.

    Never thought I’d be nodding along to Amanda Platell.

    “With the Tories being hammered in the polls, it’s not the best time for the PM to tell us that due to his Hindu faith he never drinks, fasts for 36 hours every week and wants to ban smoking.

    Crikey, those of us hoping for a slim majority at the election want a proper Tory leader, not Mahatma Gandhi.”

  26. BTL Comment and my two attempts to make my own comment, the 1st was removed as soon as I pressed SEND:-

    Celia Butterfield
    40 MIN AGO
    There are 650 Members of Parliament sitting in a row like the green bottles, except each and everyone of them has their head firmly stuck in the proverbial bucket of sand, with la la sounds softly heard from within. How I would love to shake their heads until every grain of sand was gone and their eyes could actually see what they are doing to the country. OUR country, which has been welcoming and supportive to all for so long. We have been discarded as ignorant fools. We understand the magnitude of the myriad of reasons that the status quo cannot continue. Why can’t they see the direction they are taking us? They probably can and maybe some reward is awaiting them after they have metaphorically, for now, blown this country apart.

    REPLY 2 REPLIES 17 0 REPORT

    R. Spowart
    3 MIN AGO
    Reply to Celia Butterfield
    Message Actions
    Bucket of sand?
    I’d say their heads are firmly up their backsides.
    Whether their own backsides or each others is debatable but it might explain the amount of bull shonet they spout.

    Reply by R. Spowart.

    RS

    R. Spowart
    2 MIN AGO
    Reply to Celia Butterfield
    Message Actions
    Edit!
    Ah! so the DT does not like a commonly used and mild term for “Rear End” that begins with “B”!
    Bucket of sand?
    I’d say their heads are firmly up their rear ends.
    Whether their own rear ends or each others is debatable but it might explain the amount of bull shonet they spout.

    2. 382856+ up ticks,

      Morning Bob,

      Really does make one wonder how they, over the decades , get returned to power,again,again,& again.

    3. They each have their head up the arse of the MP on his/her/its immediate Left.

      A brown daisy-chain of over-entitled, under-achieving, wankers.

  27. I find it really encouraging that, with the wars in the Ukraine and the Middle East, the illegal invasion of death cult members and the breakdown of policing in the UK – that Fishi turns the full glare of his 5 ft nothing on to banning tobacco. And curtailing vapes.

    Gotta get yer priorities right, eh?

    1. Somewhere in his commentaries on the Gulag Archipelago, the

      Russian author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn mentioned that even in the forestry workcamps of Siberia, zeks were allowed a smoking break.

      write

      1. 38286+ up ticks,

        Morning T,
        I started on dry cane & earwigs, all our gang had a yellowish tinge bordering on looking chinese, then progressed to players, tuppence each, sometimes with a touch of menthol powder.

    2. Morning M.Thomas – It’s what the Industrial Psychologist, Harold Bridger called “Working as if working’…. i.e doing everything possible to avoid making difficult decisions.

      2. Being seen to be busy.
        We had a nurse on the geriatric wards who would wander about with a couple of draped dresses over her arm while we spent hours washing, dressing and feeding the patients.
        When we sat down for a coffee break, she would appear and tell us that Mrs.XXX needed changing.

    3. Has anyone noticed how fat people have become since the anti-smoking policies have been rolled out?

    4. He is humanitarian and, as smoking stunts one’s growth, he knows just how disadvantaged one is to be short and he wants to empathise.

      He is certainly too tall to be described as a dwarf but you could use the politically correct term suggested by the novelist, Tom Sharpe: PORG (Person of restricted growth),

  28. 382856+ up ticks,

    Two pieces of well meant advice

    Look, listen, & learn prior to casting a vote.

    Stop & Look beneath EVERY BURKA, made mandatory on
    health & safety grounds.

    Daisy the cow MUST replace NOTA as in a symbolic gesture ( pen to paper ) on your voting return, also it would support the meat eating, farming, dairy industry.

    To spell it out NOTA stops there, whereas Daisy the cow has, beside milk, other beneficial assets.

    1. Given that India is still crashing into the Himalayas might one not expect a degree of tilting of the entire subcontinent land mass which may account for the minuscule rise in sea level at those points on the coast?

      Morning Joseph and all.

    2. I have lived near the English coast for most of my life and a do not detect any drop in sea levels.any where

  30. I’m looking forward to making pin-money by selling cigarettes to people born after 2008.

    2. There’s nothing untrue/not obvious about the fact that it’s broad daylight or that knives – where in hell can you buy those things in the UK? – were being wielded by youths, so, the only part of the statement that justifies the use of apparently is whether or not this incident took place in Nottingham city centre.

        1. Last time I saw anything like that I was on holiday in Italy and took time to visit Sanremo where a shop had hardware like that on display.

      3. 382856+ up ticks,

        Afternoon KtK,

        Last time I observed knives of that caliber was up the Ivory Coast in the hands of sugar cane cutters.

        Maybe Nottingham has become a sugar cane producing area.

  32. The US has launched a barrage of airstrikes on targets in Syria and Iraq in retaliation for last weekend’s drone attack on an American base in Jordan that killed three soldiers.

    In action that was wider than some had anticipated, warplanes, including B1 long-range bombers flown from bases in the US, as well as drones, hit 85 targets.

    Unlike recent strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen, British forces were not involved in these attacks.

    President Biden said: “The United States does not seek conflict in the Middle East or anywhere else in the world. But let all those who might seek to do us harm know this: if you harm an American, we will respond.”

    The strikes are likely to be the first of several against Iran-backed militia operating in the Middle East, threatening what some in Washington fear could spark a wider conflagration in the region.

    The Pentagon confirmed there had been multiple strikes. “US Central Command forces conducted airstrikes in Iraq and Syria against Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force and affiliated militia groups,” the US military said, adding that attacks began at about 9pm GMT.

    • Does America want war and what comes next?

    “The airstrikes employed more than 125 precision munitions,” it added. “The facilities that were struck included command and control operations centres, intelligence centres, rockets, and missiles, and unmanned aerial vehicle storages, and logistics and munition supply chain facilities of militia groups and their IRGC sponsors who facilitated attacks against US and coalition forces.”

    The White House and the Pentagon have promised for a week that the US would respond to the attack in Jordan. John Kirby, the spokesman for the US national security council, said on Wednesday that the US’s retaliatory strikes could continue for some time.

    “The first thing you see won’t be the last thing,” he said, adding that the initial strikes would not be a “one-off”. Other officials said there would be a “tiered response” to the attacks in Jordan.

    On Friday night, Kirby said: “It began tonight, but it will not end tonight.”

    Syria confirmed the strikes, saying that “US aggression” on a number of sites in its desert areas and the Syria-Iraq border had resulted in fatalities and injuries. Some reports put the early death toll at 18.

    “Syrian army affirms continuing its war against terrorism until it is eliminated and is determined to liberate the entire Syrian territories from terrorism and occupation,” the ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

    The Iraqi military said the strikes were in the Iraqi border area and warned they could ignite instability.

    Major General Yehia Rasool, a spokesman for Iraq’s prime minister, called the strikes a “violation” of his country’s sovereignty and said they would bring “disastrous consequences for the security and stability of Iraq and the region”.

    Myriad Iran-backed groups operate in Syria and Iraq. US officials say the attack on its Tower 22 base in Jordan had the “footprints” of Kataib Hezbollah, one of the main Tehran-backed militant groups operating in Iraq and Syria.

    It said on Wednesday that it would end its attacks on US interests in the region out of respect for the Iraqi government.

    The strike against IRGC interests underlines Washington’s belief that Iran bears responsibility for the fatal attack on its base because Tehran arms and finances groups like Kataib Hezbollah. The strikes appeared to stop short of directly targeting Iran or senior leaders of the Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force within its borders.

    Tehran has denied it was behind the Jordan attack and on Friday morning, Iran’s hardline president, Ebrahim Raisi, reiterated earlier promises by Tehran to retaliate for any American strikes targeting its interests. We “will not start a war, but if a country, if a cruel force wants to bully us, the Islamic Republic of Iran will give a strong response,” Raisi said.

    Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, was due to arrive in the region this weekend in an attempt to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas since its terrorist attacks in Israel on October 7. US officials insist that the airstrikes will not hamper these efforts.

    “I am returning to the Middle East this coming week to continue working with our partners on how to achieve durable peace in the region, with lasting security for Israelis and Palestinians alike,” Blinken said on Friday.

    The strikes began as President Biden went to Dover in Delaware for what is known as the “dignified transfer” of the bodies of the three troops killed in Jordan.

    The three soldiers killed: Sergeant William Rivers, Specialist Breonna Moffett and Specialist Kennedy Sanders

    They are the first American soldiers to be killed in combat since the October 7 attacks, which have since triggered a wave of more than 160 strikes by Iran-backed militia against US interest in the Middle East.

    “These service members embodied the very best of our nation: Unwavering in their bravery. Unflinching in their duty. Unbending in their commitment to our country — risking their own safety for the safety of their fellow Americans, and our allies and partners with whom we stand in the fight against terrorism,” Biden said earlier this week. “It is a fight we will not cease.”

    Britain called the US its “steadfast” ally on Saturday and said it supports Washington’s right to respond to attacks.

    “The UK and US are steadfast allies. We wouldn’t comment on their operations, but we support their right to respond to attacks,” a British government spokesman said.

    “We have long condemned Iran’s destabilising activity throughout the region, including its political, financial and military support to a number of militant groups.”

    Iran’s foreign ministry condemned the overnight US airstrikes in Iraq and Syria as “violations of the sovereignty and territorial integrity” of the two countries.

    Nasser Kanaani, a ministry spokesman, said the attacks represented “another adventurous and strategic mistake by the United States that will result only in increased tension in instability in the region”.

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/us-strikes-iran-attack-iraq-syria-59rpr5mc8

    1. “another adventurous and strategic mistake by the United States that
      will result only in increased tension in instability in the region”.       Sounds like a fair assessment, actually!

    2. He’s a war-monger. Doesn’t care at all about the loss of life on his own side or elsewhere.

      1. It is Biden’s string-pullers who are the warmongers. Biden is a puppet who doesn’t know what day it is or where he is.

        Or who he is!

        1. Yes. That too. But if he was in control of his faculties, he would still be a war-mongerig criminal.

          1. He’s a Demon-rat (Demotwat). It’s in his genes.

            The Demotwats didn’t start the American Civil war for nothing, tha’ knows. They didn’t start the Jim Crow laws because they were on the side of the Nigra.

            As for being the only political party — in the history of the universe — to use nuclear weapons in warfare …

  33. S.S. Empire Citizen.

    Complement:
    83 (78 dead and 5 survivors).

    At 01.45 hours on 3rd February 1941 the Empire Citizen (Master Edward Charles Hughes), a straggler from convoy OB-279, was hit underneath the bridge by one torpedo from U-107 (Günter Hessler) southwest of Iceland. The ship had been spotted on a zigzag course six hours before and missed with a first torpedo at 00.19 hours. The U-boat observed how she sank slowly on even keel and the crew abandoned ship, then fired a stern torpedo at 02.23 hours that hit aft and caused her to sink by the stern quickly. The master, 64 crew members, one gunner and 12 passengers were lost. Four crew members and one gunner were picked up by HMS Clarkia (K 88) (LtCdr F.J.G. Jones, RNR) and landed at Londonderry.

    Type IXB U-Boat U-107 was sunk on 18th August 1944 in the Bay of Biscay south-west of St. Nazaire by depth charges from a British Sunderland aircraft (201 Sqn RAF/W). 58 dead (all hands lost).

    https://uboat.net/media/allies/merchants/br/empire_citizen-ex-wahehe.jpg
    .

    1. Thank you for posting. I was aware that many merchant ships were lost during WWII. However, I wasn’t aware of the sheer number of losses including the crews.

      A lady who sang in the same choir as me wrote a book about her father, a Norwegian, who was the Captain of a fuel tanker throughout WWII crossing the Atlantic many times. Very brave.

    2. Another sad story of sacrifice and heroism in WW2. Also, apparently, of honourable conduct by the U-boat captain who waited until all the ship’s crew had abandoned it before firing the final torpedo. By the way, what is “RAF/W” in your penultimate statement?

        1. Only if they flooded the Waddington airfield – 201 Sqn is a maritime reconnaissance squadron and in WW2 were operating Sunderland flying boats.

      3. Perhaps it was going to be the serial number of the aircraft. Some of the 201 Sunderlands had serials beginning with W.

  34. 38286+ up ticks,

    Our MPs must finally wake up to the Islamist threat – both here and in the Middle East,

    You have gotta be joking, they are in very deep
    collusion each & every one, even to the extent of eating halal in the parliamentary canteen
    whilst the qur’an rest’s betwixt the two dispatch boxes for ,wait for it, oath taking.

  35. “Three people have been stabbed at a busy railway station in Paris this morning, French Police have said.

    The attacker, who was armed with a sharp weapon, targeted travellers at the Gare de Lyon station, the third busiest station in France, at about 8am local time.

    Two of the victims suffered light wounds and a third person was more seriously injured, although police said their injuries were not life-threatening.

    French police were able to quickly detain the suspect, who is from Mali. The suspect’s motives were not clear.”

    Methodist, I expect. Mental ishoos. Known to the authorities (yawns…)

        1. African Knifeman Wounds Three People in Paris Train Station Attack

          (AFP) — Three people were injured Saturday in a knife attack at Paris’s Gare de Lyon railway station, a major travel hub, police said, adding that a suspect had been arrested.

          The detained man, a Malian national, went on a stabbing spree at around 8:00 am (0700 GMT) at the station, which operates domestic trains as well as those heading to Switzerland and Italy.

          One person suffered serious injuries to the abdomen while two others were lightly wounded, police said.
          *
          *
          *
          https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2024/02/03/african-knifeman-wounds-three-people-in-paris-train-station-attack/

  36. I don’t know about you but society as we knew it is vanishing down the plughole

    The judge said: “You have expressed the desire to kill again. If those thoughts continue, you will not be released.”

    Church carried out several assessments of Jenkinson in Adel Beck, a secure children’s home in Leeds, and diagnosed her with a severe form of conduct-dissocial disorder, one of the features of which is having no empathy.

    suggestion that you did not know that what you were doing was wrong or that you were unable to control your actions.”

    She added that Jenkinson had been able to “plan in an organised way” the murder and had “full awareness that it was criminal behaviour”.

    “In short, your diagnosed disorder did not drive your actions although it meant you did not have the ‘mental brake’ that most people have to stop them wanting to harm others because that ‘feels wrong’.

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/schoolgirl-stabbed-brianna-ghey-poisoned-girl-cannabis-sweet-scarlett-jenkinson-96btdxsgg

    This is worth looking at .
    https://www.nationwidechildrens.org/conditions/conduct-disorders

    1. …. “a severe form of conduct-dissocial disorder,”
      Medical word salad for homicidal little sh I t.
      No doubt all the condemned at Nurembourg would have been let off if such squeamishness was on offer in 1945.

  37. Is it just me?

    One would think that when the human population of this small planet quadruples — in just the span of my lifetime — then there would be four times as many formidably intelligent brains among that colossal population.

    Reality, though, tells us that human intelligence is inversely proportional to its exponentially increasing numbers. For the proof, just read any publication, peruse the internet, or watch any television channel. Human stupidity is a runaway success story.

    1. Aha , Grizzly

      I found this , what do you think ?

      Exponential regression is used to model situations in which growth begins slowly and then accelerates rapidly without bound, or where decay begins rapidly and then slows down to get closer and closer to zero.

      🙄😉

      1. Afternoon, Maggie.

        I’m not sure what the writer is attempting to say, or the basis for him saying it. I take it this is simply his theory. I would love to see (and hear) his evidence.

      2. Afternoon, Maggie.

        I’m not sure what the writer is attempting to say, or the basis for him saying it. I take it this is simply his theory. I would love to see (and hear) his evidence.

      3. The comforting projection that the world’s population will peak at something between 10 and 12 billion is predicated on the assumption that birth rates in sub-Saharan Africa will fall to levels now seen in Europe. So, nothing to see here, move along.

    2. You have a perfectly valid point.
      The reason why Jews are disproportionately superior in arts and sciences is because they had to be more intelligent than their persecutors in order to survive long enough to breed.

      1. Icelanders also have a high average IQ. It’s a challenging environment for survival. Sub-Saharan Africa is warm and food is plentiful. Evolutionary biology may not be 100% proven but it does make sense.

    2. 382856+ up ticks,

      Afternoon GQ,
      After getting leave to stay, post becoming a Christian i think he was also given the “freedom of the city” award.

  39. Football fan banned from matches until 2026 after Premier League
    conduct four-month ‘stasi’ probe into her social media posts criticising
    transgender ideology – despite police saying she did not commit a crime

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13040209/Football-fan-banned-matches-Premier-League-conduct-four-month-stasi-probe-social-media-posts-criticising-transgender-ideology-despite-police-saying-did-not-commit-crime.html

    They want to scare you into silence.

    2. I’m pretty sure the Premier League have violated a good few laws here [but maybe my learned friends would disagree] . I do hope she gets a hefty sum in compensation and insists on a public apology!

      1. Thank you. I wonder if the stadium stasi were looking at the Manchester Arena pop concert and thought…hey, he’s a protected minority…we don’t need to worry about his rucksack/views.

  42. Our asylum system has been turned against us. Robert Jenrick. 3 February 2024.

    Our asylum system has been turned against the British people. A wave of outrage and anger has swept across the nation at the appalling Clapham chemical attack.

    But it is a damning indictment of where we are as a country that few can say they were shocked.

    We’ve seen this sorry story before. It was not so long ago, in November 2021, when an illegal migrant, granted asylum after fraudulently claiming to have converted to Christianity, blew himself up outside a maternity hospital.

    We were misled. We didn’t mean to pass all those laws. It’s not our fault they got in! It was an accident!

    PS. No comments allowed!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/02/02/robert-jenrick-asylum-system-clapham-attack/

  44. 382856+ up ticks,

    Daisy the cow once having a listening ear would advocate without doubt 🎵underneath the arches for ex veterans plus, a mandatory NO NO.

    Then a mandatory security ruling, seek & peek beneath the burka a YES,YES, reason being a stash of purloined groceries or even an evil felon could well be concealed.

    1. As I have said many times (many, many, many times ….) the majority of Britons would be perfectly content to live in the late, unlamented GDR.

  46. Here’s an article that should ring an alarm bell in the corridors of power but when all of the teams are claiming to be besotted with one single narrative lest they be ousted from the stupid group, I won’t be holding the proverbial.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6c815e23af22aba8a7d32b92b4484d4a9f0c69d2fdadf317d8bf69181a217cb1.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c599e5ee6019a4d9afe47fd071c8848fdd1d1ba3fb86062a6a9da772a8486af2.png

    Daily Sceptics

      1. Luke 22:36
        “Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one.”

    2. Err… hasn’t it? Folk do know the carriers have to pass emissions tests? That the diversity documentation fills shelves where the warfighting is non-existent?

    1. There’ve been lefty female volunteers raped by migrants at Calais surely and the idiot women make excuses for their attackers on account of them being poor traumatised refugees.

    2. Except “begs the question” means to ignore the question. What he means is “raises the question”. Sorry for being a pedant.

        1. No thanks! My excuse is that we’ve just been out for a nice lunch and I’m under the influence.

      2. From Wiki: “ Informal use of the phrase “begs the question” also occurs with an entirely dissimilar sense in place of “prompts a question” or “raises a question”.

    3. The Left will never, ever accept there is anything wrong with massive uncontrolled immigration. They want it because others do not. It is hatred, blind, unthinking hatred. Nothing else.

    4. The Left will never, ever accept there is anything wrong with massive uncontrolled immigration. They want it because others do not. It is hatred, blind, unthinking hatred. Nothing else.

      1. Great story, Richard. My sailing experience is mostly limited to GP14s on Bassenthwaite Lake* whilst at school. And there was a voyage across Poole Harbour on something rather more yacht-like, as part of one of Dianne’s Uni friend’s husband’s** 50th birthday weekend-long celebration. That vessel was jointly owned by two local authority CEOs, since they’re so poorly paid . On hearing that Dianne lived in Surrey, one of the aforementioned said “Me too!” “What do you do?” she asked. “I work for Guildford Borough Council.” “Doing what?” she enquired, presumably expecting him to say that he swept the streets around the Friary Centre. “Since you ask, I’m Chief Executive,” he replied. I was most amused.

        Anyway, to the point. The centre shown is run by the Roman Catholic Society of St. Vincent de Paul. No disrespect to Byker residents, but I doubt whether any of them could find St Vincent on a map. I’d have to use Google Maps.

        *Bassenthwaite Lake is the only “lake” in the Lake District. All the others are …meres, …waters and the like.

        **TB will be aware of the birthday boy (initials AF), insofar as he was CEO of Poole Council before unification with Bournemouth etc…

      2. I was talking to Ex boater Bruce in Oz earlier. He told me about one of his close friends from Cairns who has just given up/sold his 35 footer and bought a flat in town.
        He’s only in his early 60s. He’s been sailing for more than 30 years. He told Bruce he’d been put off after his recent visits to the sailing club. Having seen the unused boats beginning to deteriorate in the harbour as the owners were spending too long in the club house getting drunk.
        He didn’t want it to happen to him.
        Sailor beware.

    2. I wonder how St Vincent’s would react if a few locals who were trying to survive on the basic British pension of a little over seven thousand pounds a year.
      Jeeze our political idiots need a few lessons in reality..

    3. I wonder how St Vincent’s would react if a few locals who were trying to survive on the basic British pension of a little over seven thousand pounds a year.
      Jeeze our political idiots need a few lessons in reality..

    4. SVdP mainly do good works. But – as has often been observed about clergy – “*He’s so Heavenly-minded that he’s no earthly good.”

      Meanwhile, in the good old CofE, I must remember to ask the Rector tomorrow how many Christian converts from Islam he’s vouched for. Here’s a clue – as a former Army chaplain, he spent time dodging bullets and worse in Helmand province. I can probably guess his response…

      Being the same age as me, he’ll have to retire within 4 years. 70 is the compulsory retirement age for CofE clergy. If I were in charge, I’d make him Archbishop of Canterbury tomorrow.

      *The pronoun “he” is fine, since RC priests “were all assigned the male gender” at birth 🙄.

        2. Of course they can swim, probably better than you. But as relatively poor families living in cold countries, children of African heritage have fewer opportunities to spend their summer hols on a beach, learning to swim.

          1. Oh shush. Poor black families living in cold countries? Like the UK? The reason blacks tend not to swim is the crocodiles and water snakes. Though in the Ganges it tends to be because of dead bodies floating by.

        3. Of course they can swim, probably better than you. But as relatively poor families living in cold countries, children of African heritage have fewer opportunities to spend their summer hols on a beach, learning to swim.

    2. Officious bint gripeing about mugs decorated with nudes?
      Volunteer rolled his eyes when told he’d used the wrong pronoun?
      No rainbow flag flying over the lifeboat station?

      1. I do hope while you save me from drowning you have the Stonewall stamp of approval otherwise i am just going to sit here bobbing away until you can prove your diversity and equity and inclusiveness…flaps feet…waiting….

    1. BTL comments seem spot-on… and there are literally thousands of them!
      Maybe some good will come of this, after all, with the death of focus on everybody but the indigenous Brit.
      (Edit: Smelling mistoke)

    2. This from a BTL, which I could have written myself! “I have served and while it was an enjoyable
      experience seeing the absolute betrayal of others I have served with
      leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I would not recommend any young person
      to join up and fight for a government that will stab you in the back at
      the first opportunity.      “

      1. I never got over seeing how the Blair government cynically betrayed the armed forces and exploited Remembrance day to try and garner support for his war. Since then, they’ve actively waged war on us.

    3. The state wants kids to sign up and fight for it using rubbish kit, old weapons and bad tactics while at the other end it imports the very enemy it will be fighting against – and gives them anything they want for free.

      As it is, Dannat can’t talk. While soldiers were being maimed in Afghanistan he was hellbent on FRES and ignored the useless Snatch Landrover problems. The Ajax is the first example of this vehicle. It’s useless. It’s not ready now, despite being 20 years late.

      What’s wrong with the military? Look at the civil service. There are more civil servants in the MoD than serving officers. Much like the department for education where there are more staff than teachers.

      Big government likes spending money. When it runs out of money the first thing it does is cut out the expensive things that can’t complain.

      1. And then spend your retirement waiting for the knock on the door that that precedes being prosecuted for doing your job.

      2. When I first heard of Snatch Land Rovers, I was astonished to find that it differed little from lightly armoured Land Rovers we were issued in Northern Ireland in 1981.

    1. Traitors in high places!

      Ferguson alleges that Teresa May, Tony Blair, Rishi Sunak et al have broken the National Security Act.

      Chilling – but not surprising.

    2. Boot camp??? I hate it when they use American slang for the UK armed forces. I went to a basic training depot, not a boot camp. I was issued two sets of combat clothing, or “combats”, not “fatigues” which are a labouring activity in our Army. I was taught to use a rifle, not “assault rifle” and also a pistol, not a “handgun”. I went on rifle ranges for Live Firing, not “target practise”.
      And I still use “military” as an adjective, not a noun.

  53. 382856+ up ticks,

    Please tell me i’m wrong, but I see extreme lunacy within the electorate majority who support & vote for the political cartels that
    allow these obscenities to continue.

    Maybe the thick as shite card, in place of cash for every purchase users, have forgotten the old descriptive saying ” bent as a nine bob note” that applies aptly to this video.

    https://x.com/Jonnywsbell/status/1753180514175893740?s=20

    1. This type of behaviour would be seen only in the fantasies of Monty Python not so long ago. As ever, I dont take against the mentally ill but I take exception to those supposedly sane individuals who accept and believe these troubled souls.

      1. I doubt whether Monty Python would have gone there. Stan/Loretta’s desire to have babies was hilarious at the time, because the idea was so preposterous. Laugh now, and you may meet the full force of the law, since it is apparently every person’s right. Especilly those “assigned male gender at birth.”

    2. This type of behaviour would be seen only in the fantasies of Monty Python not so long ago. As ever, I dont take against the mentally ill but I take exception to those supposedly sane individuals who accept and believe these troubled souls.

    4. Anyone using the expression ‘gender’ in my presence is invariably given short shrift. I do not have a ‘gender’ … my SEX is male!

  57. Spring is on its way. Taken just now to brighten up a fairly dull overcast day:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d023b08c5e124bad9947946c0ebfaf7d30dfea5cc00ef79babe1a44ce56d9de1.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/13b9a23372e179df286bf998194a63c3a2e3a3bb94b830177607aea5164b770c.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/cdefa7d6fa25254504f3ec35751a71b2d7fb526dfb9dc513a44e47846eccebb4.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6f4e6bac632fd017c01ffb2248e56dbb9e740fd88d7dd005dcfda3f7450ada43.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/60fc7f4411c7a29581b381e5f3d079ee11615266267d6909bb16cb5e330ddf6e.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/01538d6b924988f12d373a19cec03e2d4935cf6c08cbf4729d0a9a78c8ade032.jpg

    1. My snowdrops are still in bud but my winter aconites have started blooming.

      Crocuses? I’ll have to wait another few weeks for them to show.

      Spring is still scheduled for March 20.

    2. To my amazement, when I took Spartie for a walk this afternoon, a south facing bank sported flowering daffodils. And not the miniature ones that usually bloom first.

    2. These foreigners simply do not fit well in our country. They should be encouraged to emigrate to countries ruled by the Mullahs or preferably deported if found to be defacing our monuments or otherwise transgressing our laws.

      2. 382756+ up ticks,

        Evening C,
        I totally agree but the lab/lib/con current voter would have a problem agreeing.

    1. After a display of sumptuous rugby in this year’s Six Nations opener, yesterday between France and Ireland; we are back to earth today with a typically turgid England performance.

      Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.

        1. And Danny Care getting his first six nations start in six years is an utter abomination.

          Why is it necessary for England forwards to sport the most ridiculous mullets?

  63. Oh Dear. Those uppity bints just will not obey their lords and master.

    “Acid attacks in London rise by 45 per cent in a year

    Acid attacks have risen in London by 45 per cent in a year, Met Police figures show. The force recorded 107 attacks in 2022, up from 74 in 2021.

    The data was released by the charity Acid Survivors Trust International (ASTI) following a freedom of information request.

    Overall, police in England and Wales recorded 472 violent and robbery offences involving a corrosive substance in the year to March 2023, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

    There were 525 recorded in the previous 12-month period. The data is published annually and only dates back to March 2020, when current records began.

    The Home Office started collecting data on some offences involving corrosive substances from April 2019 as part of a government pledge to tackle such attacks.

    The figures to March 2023 exclude any reports that may have been made to Devon and Cornwall Police because the force has been unable to supply data due to problems with a new computer system.”

      1. Ones who don’t kowtow to their lords and masters.
        aka, the letterboxes / breeding machines.

      1. It can be battery acid or drain clearer.
        Next – a law will be passed making drain and oven cleaner illegal. Millions of innocent users will be inconvenienced (and put to the additional expense of having to call in a plumber or an oven cleaning company) because the bloody enrichers have brought their vile customs to a formerly pleasant country.

        1. I think hydrochloric acid can still be purchased. It is normally used to clean cement or concrete stains on brickwork. Or clear limescale.

        2. Of course they do!

          I use Spirit of Salts (35% hydrochloric acid solution) to clean my porcelain. I have to cover the metal bits — plughole etc — with vaseline first. I read about it in an industrial cleaning magazine where it was described as the “professional cleaners’ secret”. I could buy it in the UK from hardware shops but I have to obtain it online here in Sweden.

    3. For info: Ohio has adopted “Constitutional Carry” laws – that you can buy and carry in pretty well any location, a firearm. The result has been a noticeable reduction in crime.
      Maybe, if the ladies in London had the ability to shoot those cnuts that throw aid or alkali in their faces, the perpetrators might think again, and fewer horribly painful maimings would be the result.
      Just a thought.

    4. “The figures to March 2023 exclude any reports that may have been made to
      Devon and Cornwall Police because the force has been unable to supply
      data due to problems with a new computer system.”
      Pasty fingers or just because they are not used to electricity?

  64. I have seen the odd daff out. My garden is fairly sheltered and is usually a week or three ahead.

  65. Feeling a bit old just now.
    It seems that similarly aged friends are retiring… good mate, whose wife died a couple of years ago has just managed to clear some of her stuff away. I really feel for him…
    This week, had a talk with the lawyer about Power of Attorney – we’ll conclude next week. It’s a bit discombobulating to discuss issued about “When I’m irrecoverably broken…” – but best done whilst it’s not a crisis.
    ps: Is one allowed to think that one’s attorney is sexy (she used to be a police lawyer)? Like my Doctor, she has a magic arse… 🙂

      4. I’ve, unfortunately, got quite used to it. I just hope I’ve gone before all this truth blows up in their faces. It’ll be dirty and very messy. I think I’ve still got a couple of rolls of piano wire. Free to any user.

        1. Firmly rub the ex-police lawyer’s bum…

          “Well, your honour, it looked like a magic arse and…”

    4. If your talking of LPA for financial affairs, its very easy to do online. I did mine a couple of years back. Pay to register it with the court of protection, and its done. It will sit in my office until its needed or I shuffle off this coil. You might be considering a more complex scenario to take professional help but I was considering an accident or stroke rendering me incapable.

      1. It’s possible to buy a form from a bookshop, but I’d be happier knowing that it’s almost bullet-proof. Lawyeress raised a couple of issued I’d not though about, so although it’s costing money, I’m happier this way.
        Plus the butt, of course… 😉

    5. That reminds me, I have to change mine to Jock lawyer. Thank God I can do it free of charge.

  66. A miserable Bogey Five!

    Wordle 959 5/6
    ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
    🟨🟨🟨⬜⬜
    ⬜🟨🟨🟨⬜
    🟨⬜🟩⬜🟨
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Managed a four. There was a logical progression of sorts.

      Wordle 959 4/6

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

    2. Managed a 3 today. 4 letters in the wrong place only had one solution.

      Wordle 959 3/6

      ⬜🟨🟨⬜⬜
      🟨⬜🟨🟨🟨
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    3. Metoo.

      Wordle 959 5/6

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

  70. That’s me gone. Mildish day. Failed to do any gardening – but did walk down to the bottle bank (to see what I could find!!)

    Have a jolly evening

    A demain…one hopes.

    1. There’s still time but so far it’s been yet another (almost) snow-free winter hereabouts, something that’s been happening with increasing frequency. Autumn turns to spring with ever-briefer winters sandwiched in between.

          2. The flowers in my garden think that spring is on the way and the birds are busy nest-building.

        1. You don’t have the ameliorating effect of the gulf-stream/north-atlantic-drift/whatever-they-call-it-now, though, which softens our British winters.

      3. Local rag was putting out snow warnings for Shropshire. Well, I never! Snow in February. Whoda thunk it?

    1. Could that be more proof our government is filled with habitual and pathological liars ?

      1. That plus the lot of them, Foreign Office, Home Office, MoD, all the Civil ‘Servants’, Security Services and the rest are actually grossly incompetent.

    2. The problem we have is this: Who will have the balls, the funding, the determination and the wherewithal to actually sue the bastards?

      3. Then when/if they get to court, who will clear the judiciary and get someone who isn’t nobbled or woke? Many problems…

    1. Son in Law is in Cardiff with his rugby club! I’ve just texted him….! No reply as yet…

      1. “Mum…[hic]… I’ve run out of money..[hic]…getting very thirsty…[hic]…could you be a darling and immediately transfer funds to my account. Will pay you back…promise”

  75. Coming up to 7 pm and I have a ZOOM meeting with a group of P G Wodehouse enthusiasts based on the West Coast of the USA, so will now sign off until tomorrow. Good night, chums, sleep well, and see you all tomorrow.

  76. Evening folks. All I can say is that the extreme caterwauling currently playing on Radio 3 would make the most apposite soundtrack for the death throes being exhibited by the current Conservative party in ‘government’… Sweet music it ain’t!

    1. When I switched on R3 this morning there was a single bar of music being played over and over again like a needle stuck in the groove. I decided it was some kind of satanic torture and switched off.

      1. The disc jockey had put on the record, then nipped back home to quickly murder his wife, but got stuck in traffic on the way back and was unable to stop the record.

  77. I think this would be OK, but only after a successful seance that confirms the Deceased’s wishes…..

    “A Labour MP has called for the law to be changed so that transgender people can have their gender changed posthumously in official records.

    In a written question to Parliament last month, Charlotte Nichols, the party’s representative for Warrington North, asked if the Gender Recognition Act (GRA) 2004 could be changed “to allow transgender people who are deceased to be legally remembered by the gender they lived by”.

    And these dipsticks are expecting us to vote for them???

  78. Just watched a video on YoutTube about the Grenfell fire.
    What a clusterfcuk.
    Truly appalling – and the small statement that some chose to not evacuate down the (smaoke & fire-filled) stairs – in other words, the poor bastards decided to jump off the higher floors and go SPLAT! rather than burn or choke to death.
    Dear God!
    So may breaches of reasonable HSE actions that we’d not tolerate in the Offshore oil & gas business… but these were civilains, and the either choked, burned or splatted to death.
    I don’t know if I should be totally furious, or just break down in tears. Part of my work in the oil & gas industry to to be sure that the risks are recognised, that there are measures to prevent, detect, control and mitigate the hazards (and they are tested and effective)… and then, a tower block goes on fire in 2017, and so many die. Often horribly.

    1. Wasn’t it also the case that when the building was approved only one staircase was needed and no sprinkler system? Good for the builders i suppose……….not that any of those types would be living there.

        1. I am sure it has been said before but the fire brigade who used to do inspections and make demands were made powerless under EU regulations.

    2. We finished a shift at Ferme Park about 03:00 and had a taxi to the now demolished Euston Thistle and never heard anything of the fire until later that morning.

    3. I saw the Grenfell fire as I walked to work that morning. There were people standing along Wood Lane videoing it on their phones. Did they think through what they were doing? Today we wouldn’t be able to see it from there because the view is obstructed by several new blocks of flats under construction.

      1. I cannot imagine videoing something like that – to play over to friends and family, watch again themselves? Exploit a tragedy for monetary gain by selling to the media? Horrible. I have always taken the attitude that if I cannot be of assistance then walk on by, don’t get in the way.

    4. The suggestion as it seems is being hammered home so much, that now so many people seem to believe that the cladding is entirely at fault.
      As I have mentioned a few times, it burns but its self combustible.
      It doesn’t set its self alight.
      Thousands of people between them have this type of cladding in loft conversions and extensions.
      It’s even been used to insulate cavity walls.

      1. Agreed that the external cladding had to be ignited to burn. But on such a tall building combustible cladding should never have been applied. It was evidently merely a cheap cosmetic application with no understanding as to inherent risk of fire spread between floors via the outside of the building.

        For this reason the London Building Act specified that the cladding separating the window openings should be a minimum of 3 feet and of non combustible materials.

        We once had a robust system of Building Control in London comprising highly qualified District Surveyors applying the provisions of The London Building Act. In addition London Fire Brigade was engaged in the design process and in the case of Crown Buildings Home Office Fire Inspectorate, equally well equipped and highly educated persons of experience.

        Regrettably this has been replaced by The Building Regulations administered by Council or Local Authority Employees of dubious knowledge let alone understanding of risk.

        1. A bit sick but wasn’t there a pop song in the sixties by the Dave Clark Five with beating drums the lyric

          I’m clad all over, clad all over Baby I’m clad all over so clad your mine!

          1. I used to laugh at Dave Clark’s head nodding away frantically at the beats while he was drumming.

        2. Totally Agreed.
          I would even go further and suggest quite a lot of extra cash has probably changed hands under the given tables.
          Around 25 years ago I was once quite shocked to be told one of the local council building inspectors had been reported for taking bribes.
          I often wonder why he seemed to delay his departure from the inspections.

    5. When I was designing tall buildings in London the London Building Act was applied. Any building over 100 feet in height above Mean Pavement Level had to be equipped with a sprinkler fire suppression system. The only relaxation for the 100 feet limitation was for top driven lift motor rooms.

      An examination of the buildings of the fifties and sixties lining the Thames shows the result of this legislation. Buildings not requiring sprinklers nonetheless had to have at least one Dry Riser main and at least two escape stairs (Alternative Means of Escape) one of which contained the Dry Riser and thus designated a Fire Fighting Staircase with associated lift landing access with FR Lobbies controllable by the London Fire Brigade.

      The London Building Act specified the Fire Resistance of elements of construction typically either one hour or two hours for floor separation and non-combustible cladding.

      I was amazed to watch the conflagration at Grenfell Tower which construction bore no resemblance whatever to the accepted norms with which I remain familiar. I observed the colour of the flame which suggested a gas pipe had fractured and this might have caused the fire or else contributed to its rapid spread.

      I suspect we will never know the Truth about Grenfell as most such Inquiries amount to throwing buckets of whitewash on the issues and a desperate attempt of those responsible to cover their own backsides. It is much the same with the Covid and Post Office investigations.

    1. The reason they are having trouble finding him is because they are not looking. Hoping someone tells them he is waiting outside Scotland Yard.

      4. Plod is too busy monitoring Pro- Palestinian Marches to look for criminals of ANY sort. Get on the f**cking job!

  81. Lovely day, had a long chat across the globe with my good old mate Bruce. We had the impression that someone might have been listening in. It’s not the first time we’ve heard strange noises and we were disconnected three times. Similar views on many subjects to Nottlers. Especially about our political classes.
    Spent a couple of hours working on my scrap timber bird nesting boxes. After lunch 3 ish our middle son and his lady wife arrived with their lovely children.
    Beautiful smiley 6 month old granddaughter. And her big brother almost 4.
    So nice to sit with the little lady on my lap. I must be doing something right she never stops smiling.
    And of course rugby in the background.
    And soon to bed.
    Good night all.

    1. Quite possibly you were being listened to, perhaps certain key words trigger that process.

  83. Evening, all. The “promises” were for cosmetic purposes only. I see the Con candidate for North Shropshire is a fugitive from a constituency that has been wiped out in the boundary changes and he was in the Ministry of Immigration! Well that’s a big FAIL for a start. What is it with the Cons? Are they French (look up “con”)?

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