Saturday 30 August: Communities are being punished for the Government’s failure on illegal migration

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

671 thoughts on “Saturday 30 August: Communities are being punished for the Government’s failure on illegal migration”

    1. Just listening to the latest New Culture Fórum “So what you’re saying is…”: Reform embarácese mass deportation: will Farage’s plan work? Is it enough?

      It is interesting, Dan Wootton is a guest.

  4. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/cb811b3ef7f1c7429c9a9338d7489b063ca4340c4ea23a299ee3f675561f3559.png
    Obnox
    10h
    A month ago Scrappy Doo (one half of the Manchester Airport brothers) was found guilty. He was supposedly due a bail hearing two days later which seemed to get adjourned until the 26 August.

    And now the silence is deafening.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/760160afb545d746e58b48099adac1274daed3ddd19ccbdcd8922625a4a3e190.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/74e33759477bf71466fa512172aa12d40b153af858d64952e5c511c4102cbff0.png

    1. Clearly Edward Brown's children, if he has any, don't have to run the daily gauntlet of migrant harassment.

    2. TREASON is the word to be plastered on the flags and banners used for demonstrations.

  7. Good morning, chums. I keep getting up really early, then forgetting to log in here. Anyhow thanks, Geoff, for today NoTTLe site. Wordle Bogey today.

    Wordle 1,533 5/6

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    🟨⬜🟩⬜🟩
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    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. I failed today. I got three green letters on the second attempt, and then five wrong words, each time the two letters grey.

    2. Good morning Elsie and all
      Wordle 1,533 4/6

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

  8. How's it all going in Amsterdam?

    Vivacious 17-year-old stabbed to death by a you-know-what.
    On top of this comes the astonishing revelation that the authorities cannot confirm the man's identity even though a hostel spokesman confirmed to me that the 22-year-old suspect was a registered resident there. In other words, he was in the system, in receipt of €70 per week in state benefits – and yet the state still has no idea who he is.

  9. SIR — Rosemary Corbin (Letters, August 26) asks what has happened to the Church of England, which has still not appointed a new Archbishop of Canterbury. I believe she answers her own question by describing herself as a lapsed Catholic.

    The truth is that first-world countries are leaving religion behind. Clergy, regardless of rank, are becoming irrelevant.

    Huw Baumgartner
    Bridell, Pembrokeshire

    I'm wondering if more and more enlightened people are waking up to the fact that both religion and politics were invented as nothing more than the two most powerful methods of mind control yet contrived?

    The basic truth is that within the span of geological time — especially in regard to how long humans have existed — both concepts are relative newcomers. For millions of years generations of humans were given laws and truths of life and survival by their elder generations; tribal elders still exist in certain demographics and their wisdom is revered.

    It was only when burgeoning populations required systems of stricter control that religion and politics were devised in order that greater control of the masses could be exerted through fear. Superstition and tribalism are powerful forces in the feeble-minded.

    Looking at the detritus that has become of the modern world, it is clear to those of us who still possess an ability to think rationally that both religion and politics have exerted their evil for long enough. They are now nothing more than the twin agents overseeing the rapid decline and eventual extinction of the human species.

      1. Two clear mistakes in one short sentence.

        The modern human species (we are not a 'race': that is a division of species) has existed for around 4·5 million years. There is conclusive provable evidence of that in the archaeological record.

        1. Homo Sapiens is considered to be more than 300,000 years old, but certainly not a million years. They evolved from earlier hominids, but it is doubtful that they had the intellectual capacity to come up with religion.

          1. Early hominids emerged between 20,000,000 and 15,000,000 years ago.

            Our common ancestor rose between 8,000,000 and 6,000,000 years ago.

            Australopithecus (the earliest human-type) roamed the earth between 3,300,000 and 2,100,000 years before now.

            The first stone tools were used around 2,600,000 years ago.

            Homo habilis was the dominant species between 2,400,000 and 1,400,000 years before the present.

            H. erectus — quite simply the most successful and longest-lived human species ever — ranged between 1,890,000 and 110,000 years before the present time. They mastered the use of fire for heating and rudimentary cooking. A massive increase in humanoid brain size developed between 800,000 and 200,000 years ago during the reign of H. erectus.

            H. sapiens emerged around 300,000 years ago [alongside other, shorter-lived humanoids such as H. neanderthalis,H. longi (Denisovans), H. heidelbergensis and a few others]. The Neanderthals were bigger and more powerful than sapiens and examples of their hybrid genes survive until today.

            12,000 years ago brought the birth of animal husbandry (as opposed to just hunting).

            10,000 years ago brought the advent of agriculture.

            Organised religion is no older than 5,000 years.

            H. sapiens may well be intellectual with a cleverness, insightfulness, resourcefulness and inventiveness never seen before. But they are clearly the least intelligent species ever to have evolved. Intelligence equates to the innate use of natural instincts, a feature that clearly serves well every other species of animal. They know which food suits them best for their health and vitality. They do not suffer from a plethora of 'modern' diseases and ailments.

            Only dim-witted, weak, physically feeble, brain-deranged and mind-controlled H. sapiens does that.

    2. Has the world become a better place as people have abandoned Christianity in this country and the developed West? One thing I can confidently predict – if Islam takes over, it will be infinitely worse.

      1. The modern version of Christianity is mostly gentle – except for a few weird sects that are clearly all about control and imposition. In the past, it was pretty brutal with those who didn't comply.

        1. I was reading about Catholic soldiers in France being billeted in Protestant homes with a view to conversion.
          The home owners were treated appallingly unless they converted.
          I could see this government foisting gimmegrants on people and a similar outcome.

    3. Good morning, Grizz. I think you are referring to organised religion here, people have believed in spirits and similar forever, without it becoming a major political issue.

    4. I attended a church of England school in North London and as early as 15 years of age I had the feeling you described. Control was the basic point of religion.
      And having an all make Jewish school close by. Tribalism was an obvious regime.
      We had an incident when myself and two school chums were caught mucking about during the compulsory monthly church service. The science teacher told us to report to his office.
      He took us in individually and we heard wack wack wack. Brian came out holding his backside and had a strange look on his face. When it was my turn I found out why. The teacher told me off for being naughty and cained the top of his desk. It seemed to me at the time he also had a similar feeling regarding religion.

    5. Our chief weapon is surprise!…
      Surprise and fear… fear and surprise…
      Our two weapons are fear and surprise… and ruthless efficiency!
      Our three weapons are fear, and surprise, and ruthless efficiency… and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope…
      Our four… no… Amongst our weapons… Hmf… Amongst our weaponry… are such elements as fear, surpr… I'll come in again.

    6. than the two most powerful methods of mind control yet contrived?

      A bit more to it than that..
      We Shape Our Tools, and Thereafter Our Tools Shape Us. Marshall McLuhan.

      He correctly postulated imho.. that it is the packets of photons or light & its dastardly tools that are doing the business.

      The two protagonists being: Light-On & Light-Thru.. that are fighting it out in real time.
      Light-On being those that read books
      Light-Thru being those that communicate through the CRT (cathode ray tube) as he called it back in the 1960s.

      1. Indeed.

        That CRT (and its modern digital counterpart) have long been utilised — by those seeking influence — to modify and adjust the feeble minds of the masses.

        1. ahhhhh.. but McLuhan & Joyce worked out why & how. And that's why McLuhan's prophetic text made him the 'Patron Saint' of the terminally hipster magazine Wired even though he warned parents of the 50s to limit their children from watching TV.

  10. Good Moanng.
    In the immortal words of Stormy, it's a bit Pearl Harbour.
    Proper English weather; none of that hot, foreign stuff.

    1. I read the other day that our recent summer had been the hottest on record.
      Really,….. 1976 was by far the hottest in memory.

      1. It would be more correct to say this summer was the least cold, as the official figures are based on the daily averages, not the highest temperatures. So if the nights are not as cold, the average for the day is higher.

        2. I think we all realise how the ‘They’ will go to great and much exaggerated lengths to try to justify their invention of ‘glow ball warming’.

    2. Ar. Right you are Anne. Time to get the good ol' cardigans out fom the back of the wardrobe to defend against the nip.

  11. In the eyes of this Government and our judiciary, the rights of illegal migrants trump the rights and fears of the British people

    That was a very serious moment. Even Rylan spotted it.

    The judges are on the side of the state against the people.
    The King of Diversity has taken the side of the repressive state against his people.
    Parliament ought to rule to protect its people. It isn't.
    There isn't anyway back from this.

    Gavin Ashenden, former Anglican bishop and chaplain to Queen Elizabeth II.

    1. Gavin Ashenden should have a few very severe words with the eldest son of the woman he served as chaplain.

  12. 412040+ up ticks

    Morning Each,

    https://x.com/1776General_/status/1961437669440835644

    We are witnessing yet another horror the tribal voters have unleashed on the innocents of the nation, these voting types must now be at the apex of their odious creations as shown with their latest construct the
    monster raving, criminally insane, looney party.

    Political top ranker starmerstien the tool,the above shows starmerstein rapid response team in action
    they show quite clearly that they, and fear, are complete strangers.

      2. 412040+ up ticks,

        Morning Bob,

        Having witnessed some of the English police odious actions, is there a difference ?

    2. I'd be surprised if they were British police – since when did they go armed with handguns? Look at the belt rig.

    3. Why couldn't they have sent a police car?
      This march of shame is an utter disgrace, they must have realised it would filmed.
      It is particularly shameful when one considers how careful they are to pixelate out faces and skin tones of other "children" or even men who have committed far more serious offences.

  13. Good Morning!

    ECHR Chains and the Epping Betrayal is, of course, about the arrogant, politically controlled judiciary bringing the law into disrepute, the rigging of the court with Starmer and Hermer comrades and cronies, and the now official government policy that illegal alien's rights are superior to ours and the use of a foreign court and its laws to encourage mass illegal immigration.

    Yesterday was/ Today is Qixi – China's Valentine Day and Zhang Yingyue tell all about it, it's origins and practice in modern China.

    Energy Watch: Over the last 24 hours: Britain's electric power was sourced from Gas, 22.6%; Solar, 7.5%: Wind 28%; Imports, 17.9%; Biomass, 8.8%; Nuclear 12.7% and Miscellaneous, 2.7%.

    freespeechbacklash.com

  14. Morning All 🙂😊
    13c sunny rain later.
    Here we go….the weekend over pass from aircraft out of Gatwick and Heathrow. Flying north. I thought millipede had a grip on this now, obviously he hasn't noticed. Or realistically doesn't actually know anything.
    It's not just individual communities being punished by illegal invaders, its our culture and social structure that is being destroyed. Because we have a bunch of ignorant thugs in Parliament who have not an ounce of respect for public opinion in any shape or form.
    And now three who are suposed to be at least aware of the dangers of the invaders have on our country and its communities. And have also managed to show no respect or responsibility for the stupid actions of both our major parties in letting hundreds of thousands of illegal invaders into our country.

    1. Why on earth should Ed Miliband have a grip on aircraft which are flying north out of Gatwick and Heathrow???

      1. He's set himself up as the saviour of mankind and is banning the use of fossil fuels Elsie. But it seems that millions of people who travel regardless of his actions are ignoring his so called instructions. 😉🤗

        1. I see what you are saying. But why just aircraft flying north. Doesn't he mind planes flying south? (Good morning, btw.)

          1. It’s just a weekend thing in North Herts Elsie it seems to happen rather too often. We are surrounded by airports North South and East but nothing west. And at least two of the airports are trying for expansions.
            Meaning thousands of more flights.
            Millipede has set himself up as a saviour of humanity. He hasn’t got the slightest clue. None of them live in the real world.

  15. Morning, all Y'all.
    Yesterday's torrential rain has now turned to watery sunshine.

    1. I think of you every time I watch our weather forecasts. All the old cloud seems to blow east and gather over Norway…..no wonder those lovely Fjords are so wet…..🤭🤗😉

      1. Indeed, Eddy.
        Mostly falls on the west coast, as the clouds bump up against the hills, which is why Bergen has the reputation of being very, very, wet.

  16. Good morning all.
    A beautiful morning in Basingstoke where I've just had a Wetherspoon's breakfast.

        1. No but as far as I remember they both became very rich.
          And I met Tim Martn once shook hands with him when the company I worked for, were refurbing a shop and transforming it into one of his pub/restaurants.

          2. Unfortunately the company I was working for Heath Construction, went in to liquidation soon after and before the job was completed.
            We use to carry out a lot of labour only work in Herts London Beds and Bucks. And the building firms were not paying the bills. Therefore a decent well run company was made bankrupt.

          3. Did I see that you went to Radlett on your travels a week or so ago
            Conners ?
            It’s only about half an hour from us but I don’t often have any transport.

    1. And quite a few tory and liberal mps as well. Not to mention higher echelons of the snivel serpents and judiciary. If Farage is allowed to win, it's going to be a fight all the way to get any Reform policies through.

      1. He could make a start by sacking all those working from home. Including those WFH in Bangalore and Islamabad.

        Then sack 75% of the remainder.

    2. The Webbs visited Russia during the Stalin terror and reported visiting a positive paradise.

  18. Standing up to Putin

    SIR – Following Russia’s latest attacks on Ukraine, including the British Council building in Kyiv (report, August 29), it should be clearer than ever that bullies do not respond to diplomacy: they only respond to a punch in the face.

    Vladimir Putin will not stop in his quest to take over Ukraine – and perhaps other countries – unless he is sanctioned massively and threatened with a major military response.

    The current approach is plainly not working.

    Gerald Lamming
    Sutton Coldfield

    The only thing at the moment that can save us from the Caliphate is Putin. I hope he doesn't stop at Ukraine but takes all of Europe.

      2. Better to remain silent and let people think you are deluded than to write a letter proving it.

      1. Apparently his father thought that he would bring about the end of the monarchy.

        2. He seems to be bending over backwards to subdue our own culture in favour of Islam.
          I’ll bet ‘Erin doors isn’t very impressed.

    3. The problem, it seems to me, is that he swans around with incredibly rich sheiks in and around Arabia living in incredibly sumptuous but tacky palaces Arabs are always tacky, and thinks these liberal minded Arabs, who are mostly educated in the West, represent Islam. He simply doesn't see the ignorance and medieval attitudes that lurking behind the facade, are bog standard.

      1. One could say that he cannot be expected to use the brains God didn't give him.

    5. Has he had time count the notes bundled into a carrier bag? The donation from some sheikh to one of his charities – apparently.

    6. Well, there’s 7/7, the Manchester Arena bombing, various car incidents, Lee Rigby and a few other enrichments.

      1. Maybe she has an undeclared night job as well as the day job!

        Apparently there are sites on the internet such as Only Fans which enable women to like her to make quite a lot of money.

    3. It’s all very very murky. We need the solid facts and sound conclusions with regard to timelines and adherence to electoral and tax laws.

    1. In the shape of a cross, surely.
      In fact, if St G Cross, it would have been better to blast wash the white quadrants rather than the arms of the cross.

    2. I was stuck in enough traffic jams yesterday to admire the artwork.
      There was a St. George's Cross crossing in Straight Road.

  22. "Retailers, including Tesco, Harrods, Morrisons and Fortnum & Mason, have been ridiculed for selling Christmas treats in August.

    Shoppers have taken to social media to express their own frustration.

    One X user wrote: “Just seen advent calendars and Christmas-themed chocolate being sold… Mary isn’t even in her third trimester yet!”

    Consumer expert Martyn James said: “At the end of the day, the logic for the retailers is simple – the sooner people see the items, the sooner they will be reminded to start planning for Christmas, and the sooner the preparation starts, the more they will ultimately spend.”

    The above from today's DT.

    Well, I’ve got some news for these retailers. Their promotion of Christmas in August has the opposite effect on me. I will avoid their shops and certainly won’t be considering anything to do with Christmas until December, and even then, reluctantly. Turning a (for some) religious festival into a 5 month long retail event is misguided opportunism. Sadly, if one or two retailers go down this route the rest will feel obliged to follow like sheep. Bah, humbug!

    1. Don't people keep their Christmas bits and pieces (barring food) from one year to the next? Who buys new ones every year?

    3. IIt's Just a reminder that the sprouts should already be on the stove and boiling away.

      1. Robert Lowe for a start, then see how it goes. Can’t be a worse situation now, with a Marxist government and a traitor king.

        2. All facial recognition cameras are counting the suspects. Many seen more than once.
          When are our political idiots going to wake up.

    3. One must wonder of the quality of Palestinian and pride flags. Must admit, I haven't noticed any officials inspecting them. So if this is true, just another example of a crack down on patriots.

    4. One must wonder of the quality of Palestinian and pride flags. Must admit, I haven't noticed any officials inspecting them. So if this is true, just another example of a crack down on patriots.
      No, this must be a wind up!!!

    6. I presume they're worried about the safety of the folk who will be wanting to burn said flags.

      1. We make things that last in my home town. 👍🏻😊

        The factory that makes these flags is situated on an industrial park that was built on the site of the old colliery where my dad worked for most of his working life.

    10. Well colour me surprised.

      They are desperate, aren’t they?

      Are they so diligent policing “Palestinian” flags?

      No, i thought not. Or, if they are, they are too cowardly to broadcast it.

    11. I think it's a spoof.
      Braintree doesn't have a mayor, only a chairman.
      Much as I dislike using AI …..

      No, Braintree District does not have a "Mayor" in the typical sense of a single elected official. Instead, Braintree District Council has a Chairman, who is the First Citizen of the district. This Chairman is appointed annually by the Council to act as a ceremonial ambassador and preside over council meetings, but they do not have the executive powers of a directly elected Mayor

    1. I've never visited Birmingham and have no wish to. Nearest I've been is spaghetti junction.

      1. I've been twice. Once, back in 1978 to attend a football match at Villa Park, and again in 1982 for a shopping expedition. It seemed to me to be a city centre without much character — 'anytown' (but there are a good few of those) — and I've never really felt the urge to revisit.

        Maybe those who hail from there (our good friend, John Standley, for instance) will no doubt tell me the areas I ought to have visited to get a better feel for the place.

        I've never been on foot in Liverpool, Glasgow or Edinburgh, even though I've driven through them.

        1. The fine Victorian centre was replaced by concrete in the60s, sadly. The district I am from is now 90 per cent alien.

          1. It seems, sadly, that many of our former beautiful towns and cities have become anonymous architecturally and commercially; and bereft of locally-born natives.

      2. We lived in Solihull during late sixties/early seventies. There were Muslim no go areas in Brum then. I seem to remember Lozells Road.

        1. I lived in Gillott Road for 5 years from 1985. House backed on to the resser.

          I visited some friends and neighbours a few years later and was appalled. Dark and menacing with groups hanging around staring at you.

          Far far worse now.

          I know Grizz likes to tease me about North and South but i won't ever be going up country again.

          1. I used to visit an elderly relative in Manchester in what had become an immigrant muslim suburb. He was the last remaining indigenous person on the street. Yes, groups of youths hanging around, just watching. I found it very stressful, so stressful it was exhausting. My duty of care was also very stressful, as was my journey. I can't believe I used to drive from Cambridge to Manchester after work on a Friday evening, I simply couldn't do it now although it was 20 years ago. I will never go back, although north Yorkshire (God's and own country, and mine too) would be a possibility if necessary.

  26. Farage and migrants – the gentleman IS for turning
    Bruce Newsome : https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/farage-and-migrants-the-gentleman-is-for-turning/
    A couple of BTLs
    1. Now that Nigel Farage has moved towards the positions advocated by Rupert Lowe and Ben Habib isn't it time that they were both welcomed back into the Reform Party.

    But is the narcissistic hubris of Farage too great to do this? Can Habib and Lowe forgive Farage for the way he has treated them?

    Country before Party is Reform Party's claim. But in this case there should be no conflict because both the party and the country would benefit from having Lowe and Habib back and only stubborn pride from all three men is in the way.

    2. Angela Rayner should expand her house building plans to include kennels as Britain has gone to the dogs.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bcd92c03e4b21e10703e8c084248b5814c39faf5437d73e892b5e9d849a2aea5.png
    These could also be used as a temporary measure for illegal migrants to stay until they are deported though it is likely, with the government's clearly stated priorities, such accommodation would be fine for the indigenous British people but not not good enough for illegal migrants.

    2. Hallo Rastus. Can I suggest you watch this conversation with Ben Habib. He has a lot to say about Reform and explains his own philosophy while criticising Farage for not having one. I found that what Ben had to say compelling, much more so than Farage. But then I joined his party as soon as it started.

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

    3. Preferably with the dogs still in them.
      All that haram stuff should make things interesting.

  27. It is becoming more difficult each day to find a word not already used but this was lurking in the undergrowth:
    Wordle 1,533 3/6

    ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟩
    ⬜⬜🟩🟩🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      1. 412040+ up ticks,

        Morning JR,
        Take a great deal of Cadbury's to bridge the gap in our different cultures.

    2. That girl is very intelligent for an 11 year old. No child should have to suffer what she and the other children did. The perpetrator and the parent that sold her should be . . . . . then publicly whipped and thrown off a high building (to comply with muslim tradition of course).

    3. The conceit that there is anything after brain death – for humans – is idiotic fantasy.

    4. The conceit that there is anything after brain death – for humans – is idiotic fantasy.

  29. Good morning all! Happy to be back after a long period of illness brought about mostly by the heat this year. Ended up with several lung infections due to trying to keep myself cool. Ended up that fans, air conditioners etc were not just a waste of time but actually made me sicker! Anyway that's all I have to say about illness other than I am looking forward to autumn and the cool weather.

    So much has been happening in the news it is hard to know where to start so I'm simply not going to try doing my usual opinionated best at this juncture because where does one start, China, Russia and Ukraine, the struggles of Trump or the struggles of the UK against the Evil Empire that is now in charge and seems to have the judiciary in its pocket? What a joke concerning Epping. The judge Lord Justice Bean was a chairman of the Fabian Society and a member of the Labour Party for at least 28 years and we are supposed to pretend that he is neutral in making judgements. It appears that he is another in the vain of Lord Hermer, an enemy of the English people. Everyone pray hard for the quick end to this government. And if you are an atheist, wish hard, according to Disney all your dreams will come true 😁

    1. Welcome back, people were only yesterday commenting on your absence.
      I hope the recovery continues and things stabilise.

      1. Thanks sos! I haven't been reading so I didn't see those comments. What got me out was the cooling days.

        1. Glad to see you back!
          Yes, the news is awful – how much of it is real, how much is theatre is hard to tell sometimes. Several people I have spoken to in real life have said they are concentrating on their own lives and not reading X or the media any more, as they feel too emotionally drawn one way and the other by the algorithms and the legacy media.
          My own gut feeling is that maybe we are being provoked in the hope that we will go out on the streets attacking migrants or something like that and the govt will have an excuse to crack down / provide a smokescreen for the widely predicted upcoming financial crisis. After all, they got away with blaming Liz Truss for the last one, so loss of confidence due to faaaar right extremists waging war on the streets isn't such a far stretch!

          1. Totally agree. It would also give them the excuse to "postpone" elections on the grounds of "national emergency".

          2. The enemy are not the illegal migrants in my opinion the enemy are those who let them stay.

          5. I agree, but the illegal migrants are likely to be dangerous to us, because they have no family here, no women, no property and no jobs i.e. nothing to lose. If the money stops, they will be hungry with no resources.

          6. That goes without saying. My reasoning was that those who let them stay are responsible. The misdeeds of the illegals flows from that.

      1. I had tickets to see Sarah Millican at the Mayflower Theatre Southampton but she was unwell so changed the tickets to see Bruce.

        I enjoy 'An evening with' type of shows and that's what his turned out to be. He had a piano but only played for 2 minutes. He did a couple of tap dancing steps. Then a cosy chat with the audience.

        I think he forgot where he was. It was to be one of his last performances.

        1. He use to live near St Albans before he was established. Then in Mill Hill.
          I once saw him and Dickie Henderson playing golf together on Hendon golf course.
          And at Finchley GC.

    4. The heat buggered me up as well. With air conditioners you need the very good ones that filter air coming in to reduce humidity but I fully understand how it knocks you sideways.

    5. Huge sympathies.
      MB was completely banjaxed by the heat. Watching him gasping for breath was not something I wish to see again.

      1. I found that the only solution was to lie down and not move until the heat eased up. Since that meant the low 70s it was a long lie down. If it were not for the computer I would have gone nuts!

    7. Glad to see you back, JR.

      I had similar issues with the heat though not as bad as you.

      I'm afraid i Mark Twained you and suggested you might have popped your clogs given your health situation and we hadn't heard from you. Sorry.

      1. Not upending yet although sometimes I feel like it. But I wish to continue being a pestilence for a few years yet. At the very least I wish to see the demise of this king and the end to the Labour Party. After that I'll set another goal in order to keep going.

  30. Good morning everyone.
    Where is Mr Thomas when he is needed?
    Re the unlicensed home of multiple occupation, formerly the Bell Hotel. Yesterday I was disturbed to read the (report of the) Appeal Court judges' reasoning that
    " Hotel actions weren't deliberate: The judges said the High Court judge was wrong to find that Somani Hotels had acted deliberately in not seeking permission for change of use under planning law. They said his discretion in the case was "seriously flawed by his erroneous reliance" on a deliberate breach as a significant factor in favour of granting the temporary injunction."
    Google AI: "In the UK, company directors can be held personally and criminally liable for breaches of planning permission rules. While planning permission is typically granted to the company as the landowner, a director has specific obligations to ensure the company complies with all statutory and regulatory requirements, including planning law.
    A director's personal liability usually arises from their "consent, connivance, or neglect" in allowing the company to commit a planning offence. "
    Wow, simply amazing!
    It doesn't matter whether Google AI (ditto Chat GPT and other AI systems) is 100% correct, but in half a second Google produced several hundred words of legal logic with nary a peruke in sight.

    1. He's fed up with the news and taking gardening leave for a while.
      This is one of the reasons he is so fed up.
      If you recall, he did say at the outset that it would be overturned.

    2. Well they had to say something, didn't they. Bunch of …oh no I forgot, we're not supposed to insult weasels.

  31. Well friends, I’m alive and feeling worse than I ever thought possible but my surgeon tells me the operation was a success and the doctors say I’m doing well. I have a functioning aortic valve again. The fluid retention is colossal but I’m told my kidneys are coping. I feel like a petulant toddler but I’ll get there! I’m afraid my interest in the news is zero at the moment. I confess to only being interested in me right now! Still in the hospital. Hertslass has my location.

      1. Definitely H not P, I texted her. I’m sitting up and on the phone because one of the nurses says it’s good for me and I’m doing as I’m told!

        1. While you've been away he's been busy claiming that you're treating him to tea at Claridge's when you recover.

    3. Good to read your post, Sue Ed, in the sense that the op went well and you are recovering slowly. Also, ignoring the news and just concerning yourself with you is good. You are in my thoughts.

    5. Great news. A gang of us are arranging a lunch Sept/Oct at Francatteli St James's. If you can't make it one or all of us will pop in and see you.

        1. Not yet. Still negotiating with Annie but it is likely to be very early October. We can schedule it for your day off if you like. As long as it's a week day.

    7. Good to hear from you and your positive news! TR plans something to look forward to when you can. Stay well, and haste ye back x

    9. We all wish you the very best. Indeed, get better soon as the Nottlers' Forum needs you

    10. Excellent news(not that you feel like a petulant toddler, of course)! Glad all went well and you are on the road to recovery. We thought about you a lot yesterday.

      1. Hi Anne,
        I thought I saw earlier that you had put Sue's hospital address up but I can't now find it. Could you post it again in reply to this?

    12. You have one way to go Sue and that is up. May you be bloody minded and continue in that direction. Home soon and happy.

    15. Alive is good.

      it takes time to feel human again, sonny boy had bypass surgery in May, it took him three days to realise that he was in the hands of some really attractive nurses!.

      When I had the chainsaw down the breastbone job, I was somewhat depressed and thinking that things wouldn't improve. A nurse suggested that I started to keep track of small things – steps taken and compare myself to previous days. I was swinging a golf club after three months, not that the surgeon approved!

  32. Please would a mod place Sue Edison's post as a highlight, so that latecomers can read the good news.

  33. The headline is misleading as it implies the chaos, carnage and ruin the state has inflicted on this country are in some manner 'accidental' or not planned.

    When you accept that the economic damage, massive uncontrolled gimmigration and societal damage brought about by welfare, currency devaluation, massive unemployment are deliberate and intentional it stops being surprising.

  34. As we thought it was…

    Pro-Palestine protesters interrupt BBC Proms

    Demonstrators at the Royal Albert Hall hold signs accusing Melbourne Symphony Orchestra of being 'complicit in genocide'

    Liz Perkins
    30 August 2025 12:26am BST

    Pro-Palestinian protesters interrupted the BBC Proms in the Royal Albert Hall on Friday.

    Jewish Artists for Palestine brought the performance by Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) to a halt for more than 10 minutes because of the protest. They waved black handwritten fabric signs reading "complicit in genocide" and "Jewish Artists for Palestine" from the upper tiers of the venue leading the BBC to apologise for their actions. "The MSO has blood on its hands," a woman shouted out.

    In a statement Jewish Artists for Palestine said they took the step in opposition to "Zionist funding, censorship and complicity in our cultural institutions" over the Gaza war, including the MSO and the BBC.

    They targeted the MSO after they cancelled a performance by pianist Jayson Gillham last year after he spoke in support of Gazans leading members of the group to shout "you silenced Jayson Gillham" and the "MSO is complicit in genocide".

    The group raised issues over the funding of MSO along with artist, Khatia Buniatishvili, performing alongside the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Boos rang out from the audience in the wake of the protest.

    The MSO has previously said the decision to cancel the concert was a mistake. On Friday, the orchestra then went on to restart their performance and security removed the protesters from the London venue.

    Angela Tanner, who was in the stalls, in an interview with the BBC said: "The whole programme had to start again and has been put into a different order after the piano was put onto the stage and taken off again. There was lots of booing from the audience then eventually they [the organisers] announced thanks for our patience."

    "Overall, the atmosphere seemed to be strongly against the protest, with many members of the audience annoyed and shouting obscenities with anger at the protesters," another audience member added.

    In a statement, the BBC said: "We are sorry about the disruption to our coverage of the BBC Proms on Radio 3 tonight. There was a disturbance at tonight's Prom which meant the concert was paused for a few minutes and the live broadcast on BBC Radio 3 diverted to pre-recorded music.

    "The incident was dealt with swiftly by the Royal Albert Hall. Our priority is always the safety and wellbeing of everyone who attends the BBC Proms, and we would like to thank our staff and the performers whose response helped keep disruption to a minimum."

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/08/30/pro-palestine-protesters-bbc-prom-royal-albert-hall

    2. Perhaps they should have been flung over the upper tiers, just so they could know how Hamas and their ilk would treat them just for being Jews.

      1. This, according to the protestors, is why the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra has 'blood on its hands".

        Gillham, an acclaimed pianist, is suing the MSO over a cancelled Melbourne concert he was contracted to perform at on 15 August 2024. Gillham claims the event was cancelled in an attempt to silence him over his stance on the crisis in Gaza.

        Shortly before his cancellation was announced, at a previous concert Gillham had played a short piece called Witness, composed by Australian multimedia artist Connor D'Netto, which was dedicated to journalists who had lost their lives in the Gaza conflict.

        While introducing the work, Gillham addressed the audience, stating more than 100 Palestinian journalists had been killed, and that the targeting of journalists in a conflict was a war crime under international law.

        In an email sent to patrons, the MSO said Gillham would no longer perform on 15 August because of "a series of introductory remarks" made without MSO's "approval".

        "The MSO does not condone the use of our stage as a platform for expressing personal views", the email said, adding that Gillham's remarks had caused "distress".

        The MSO subsequently issued a statement denying Gillham had been discriminated against because of his political views, saying the action management took in response to the artist's on-stage comments was "not and never has been about free speech".

        But MSO management also said it had made "an error" in cancelling the performance, saying "we have been engaging constructively with Jayson and his management and are seeking to reschedule the concert".

        https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/aug/30/melbourne-symphony-orchestra-performance-london-interrupted-pro-palestine-protestors-bbc-proms-ntwnfb

        1. It does raise the question of whether a performer who did similarly with an anti-Hamas war-crimes statement would have been treated similarly.
          I suspect they would, but we'll probably never know.

          1. Gillham might be a posturing fool but he didn't do what he did at an MSO concert. Neverthless, it hardly justifies this kind of action.

    4. Install facial recognition then ban them for life.

      If they were going to mount a protest it should have been a silent one outside.

      1. If they were going to they should educate themselves, realise how stupid they are and go away to rethink their moronic life choices.

  35. Morning everyone. Am just killing time before I go off to a fundraising lunch.

    Communities are being punished for objecting to the government’s agenda by which they are deliberately flooding the country with people who hate us and our way of life.

    1. Tadiwa and Edwina casually dropped in with the subtlety of a brick thru window.
      They had to do it.. they just cant stop themselves.

  37. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2657ca695c31f4f9743cb7f60352671b000b76277b0a850abde4ea3ca767d3bb.png
    Mr Davies
    Erastus☻
    11h
    Frau Merkel was a greater cause.

    El Gato Malo
    Mr Davies
    5h
    Don't forget that Putin was a KGB officer in the former GDR. He must have a shirtload of dirt on Merkel. Would explain a lot of her actions (or lack of).

    Bluebell End
    Mr Davies
    5h
    A former DDR Communist enacting Communist plans – Just as we have currently, but he's inspired Czech
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c5fc71c071492c99397b5281aff8a469c03c8e3bd2385549464f92f343061c52.png

  38. I cycled home from work last night on an eBike- borrowed from work as the Trust is running free two-week trials.
    It was much too big for me – I should have turned it down, really – but I didn't know how long I'd have to wait for another to be available.

    Well, cycling was fine, quite fun actually, seeing it was the first time I'd ridden a pushbike in about fifteen years. Stopping, and getting off, however was v hit and miss as my feet didn't reach the floor. I had a few hairy moments around the ring road.

    Of course, the problem this morning is that my car is in the car park at work.

      1. This one was quote heavy, but manageable. It was kust too big for me. It has made me think seriously about buying one though, although they’re quite expensive and I’m not sure where I’d store it. It would have to either stay outside at the back of the house or I’d bring it indoors and just leave the battery outside (I’ve heard they’re prone to spontaneous combustion).
        .

          2. And the cars. A few years ago my husband traded in my little red VW complete with CD player for a blasted EV Renault Zoe. I hardly drive anymore, and he doesn’t drive it either. Opopanax told me to move it away from house (and trees/vegetation). It’s a blasted nuisance. Neighbours and others very interested and asked me about it – I told them…just say no….

          3. Apparently, new electric car sales are tanking as nobody wants to buy one used – and then face the enormous expense of changing the battery at a few years use just as they buy the car.

          4. I think the problem is if you buy a second hand one without a charger (aka stolen) and have acquire a charger. You might even get a second-hand charger, to save money. I think if you have on OE bike and charger you should be fine.

        3. I have one – I love it for getting me to work and back. There are advantages and disadvantages and so many different models. The 40% discount (for me) under the bike-to-work scheme is attractive. But I am able to charge it outside in the garden away-ish from the house.

      2. They are – husband has one, we live very hilly area. If he were to fall off I could lift neither him nor the bike.

    4. Why on earth was that plate allowed to be sold? I thought offensive ones were supposed to be kept back.

  40. Lord Hermer’s human rights fanaticism will bring down Starmer
    Labour’s last-ditch attempt to reboot the Prime Minister’s agenda will fail unless the Attorney General is toppled
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/08/30/lord-hermer-will-bring-down-starmers-government/

    BTL from M Gibbons

    How can you get rid of a government that hates its citizens? it’s like being occupied by an enemy

    If Civil War is on the way then it is vital that the armed-forces are on the side of the people and NOT on the side of the current government.

    Just imagine what would happen if Starmer decided to have all those who oppose him to be shot by members of the army, navy or air force. And the Idiot King can certainly not be relied on to support the indigenous British people.

      1. The current Chief of Air Staff is an engineering officer – the first time that the post hasn’t gone to an aircrew officer. It is the best change that the RAF has made for many years. I am personally familiar (in a professional sense!) with a number of female enegineering officers and some of them are every bit as good, and often better, than their male counterparts.

        1. I'm in oil & gas – the female engineers that work for us and Company are top notch, both as engineers and team lead / project managers.

          1. A benefit of this dei crap. Any competent female will always have a Just because she is a woman stigma attached to her career.

          2. I agree but…as a professional they should be able to deal with that crap. It's the ones that can't, can't.

          1. Well, under the previous CAS, there were some very woke introductions but the current CAS is spoken of very highly by people who are in a position to know. Let’s hope that he does do fall prey to woke. I have encountered some female RAF officers who reached senior rank without any evidence of quality and seemed to have been woke-promoted but there have been more who were topnotch.

      1. What klutz would go and willingly start a war with Russia?
        Ok, OK, yes, I got it.

    3. I quite liked this BTL:

      "Yes. Starmer is hard to read and I don't think Mr. Aaroe has quite got this and by some margin.
      Firstly Starmer comes not from the soft but the hard left. This makes him a ruthless authoritarian. Like all authoritarians he does not believe in democracy but in a technocratic state where power is delegated to 'experts'. This in practice means brainwashed commissars who can be relied on to push the official line far removed from democratic accountability.
      In most things he sits doggedly on the fence because he does not do 'politics' except at arms length via 'international law'. The clear decisions he has made – Chagos and his total sellout to the EU – are directly against UK interests and follow 'World Government' agendas set by the UN, the EU and the WEF. His political agenda (hard left remember) is 'World Socialism by Human Rights' – implemented by lawfare. This is why his chief stooge Hermer won't be going anywhere. At least not while Starmer has any say in the matter      ."

  41. With the power that the judiciary and quangos have over what politicians can do and can’t do these days.
    Would it be better for democracy if we elected our judiciary and quangos and let them appoint our politicians?

    1. I used to think that the US system where the electorate voted for their sheriffs, District Attorneys and judges was open to abuse but I am beginning to think that it might be a better way to go.

    2. Erm yes, but look who were elected as our politicians. Politicians = bad. Quangos and judiciary = worse. All = get rid of.

  42. Sorry, dear reader – you aren’t as clever as you think

    Two books about what we know, or think we know, suggest that the story of stupidity may be as long as that of humanity itself

    Take a moment to think about the brainpower of all the different people – family, friends, colleagues, tradespersons – in your life. There might be one bright spark who can do threefigure mental arithmetic, or who always picks up the lingo on holidays abroad. But there won’t, I’ll wager, be any Einsteins or Chomskys. If we’re honest, most of the people we know are fairly average on the grey-cells front.

    Now consider, if this is the case, that half the population of the world will fall somewhere below that average. Moreover, having climbed throughout most of the 20th century, the mean IQ has been in decline these past three decades. So try getting your head around the findings of a recent survey: just two per cent of Britons believe themselves to be of lower-than-average intelligence.

    But then, as Stuart Jeffries remarks in A Short History of Stupidity , “the stupid, like the poor, are always with us.” Jeffries’s new book takes us from the classical world to the digital age. There’s idiocy in the far East – in the Chinese proverb about the man who lost his sword in a river and tried to mark the location with a notch on the side of his boat – then, in the 20th century, the pathetic exculpatory antics of Adolf Eichmann at his Jerusalem trial. We hear about everything from the follies of Flaubert’s great novel Bouvard et Pécuchet to Francis Fukuyama’s wild claims about our having reached “the end of history”.

    Jeffries might be, as he disarmingly confesses, someone who (literally) doesn’t know how to change a lightbulb. But boy, does he know his divvies from his dunces, and he’s gratifyingly keen to define his terms. I was glad to learn the differences between “idiots”, “imbeciles” and “morons”. Not because the definitions are accurate: for the record, an idiot’s mental development apparently never exceeds that of a two-year-old child, an imbecile is about as bright as a child of seven, and a moron has the intelligence of a 12-year-old. But because the man who came up with that outdated taxonomy was a psychologist called Edmund Burke Huey, a double-barrelled hit of nominative determinism – “berk”, “hooey” – topped only by Jeffries’s revelation that the shrink who defined intelligence as “the capacity to do well in an intelligence test” was one Edwin G Boring.

    But what is stupidity itself ? Here, Jeffries is less clear: he pins it down less by describing it than by describing what it is not. For instance, stupidity isn’t ignorance – fair enough, though even the most blockhead could have worked that out. Neither, less obviously, is it witlessness, which Jeffries describes as the kind of “self-preserving, strategically intelligent” foolishness he sees embodied in Big Brother’s Jade Goody – a woman who monetised her numbskullery. Nor is stupidity a kind of madness, which may be inarguable, though I would have preferred it if Jeffries had argued the case. He has, after all, a lot of time for Michel Foucault, one of whose more comprehensible arguments was that madness is a sane reaction to an insane world.

    With the abstractions out of the way, Jeffries gets down to brass tacks. We live, he says, in a world in which the “power-crazed and ignorant thrive”: a world in which a President of the United States (one Mr Trump) can publicly encourage his scientific advisers to research whether Covid sufferers should inject themselves with bleach, and a British Prime Minister (one Mr Johnson) is said to find the “difference between absolute and relative risk ‘almost impossible to understand’”. Like the Athenian statesman Alcibiades before them, such hapless oafs – and anyone persuaded by them – need what Jeffries calls the “intellectual therapy” of the Socratic method. You won’t cease to be stupid and start winning every argument; rather, Jeffries argues, Socrates’s teaching, which by teasing out the implications of your line of argument licenses properly critical thinking, will allow you to get a handle on your limitations. For, as Socrates kept reminding people, the wise man is the man who knows that he is not wise.

    Most of the biggest laughs in A Short History of Stupidity come from the political arena. It was nice to be reminded of Sarah Palin’s suggestion in 2010 that “peaceful Muslims” should “refudiate” plans to build a mosque near Ground Zero in New York. It was even nicer to learn that she later tried to defend her solecism by claiming it was a typing error. (Jeffries points out “how far the ‘f ’ is from the ‘p’ on a QWERTY keyboard”, and calls her claim “pancipul”.) As for Donald Trump’s 2017 speech about Puerto Rico being “an island, surrounded by water, big water, ocean water”, not even Groucho Marx in Duck Soup spoke with such poetic asininity.

    Yet there’s something irksome about Jeffries’s consistent focus on figures of the Right. How could he let pass without comment, for instance, the conspiracist codswallop of the late David Graeber – a leading Left-wing commentator – about our still awaiting a cure for cancer because the ruling class insist researchers pour all their energies into the likes of Ritalin and Prozac, the better to tranquilise anyone contemplating revolution? As Orwell said, some things are so ridiculous that they can be believed only by an “intellectual of the Left … no ordinary man could be such a fool”. Still, this is to cavil. A Short History of Stupidity is bracingly clever, densely didactic, and intimidatingly well-informed. I doubt that anyone who spends some time with Jeffries’s book won’t feel a little less dumb than hitherto.

    The same does not go for Steven Pinker’s mind-boggling When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows. Pinker, a psychology professor at Harvard and the author of numerous pop-science bestsellers, describes this book as one of his “popular” (as opposed to scholarly) works, which makes it all the more galling that I found it a forehead-clutcher from first to last.

    The book purports to be an analysis of the logic and psychology of common knowledge: “how people think about what other people think, and how they think about what other people think they think, and how they think about what other people think they think they think”. And I suppose in the sense that Pinker is forever delivering statements of what Basil Fawlty called “the bleedin’ obvious” the book does point to how common so-called “shared knowledge” can be – from putative dead-cert investments to cure-all ideologies.

    Nonetheless, it’s largely made up of pointless stories: three pages on how different people deal with getting spinach stuck in their teeth at dinner parties! And it isn’t long before the pages blur, and Pinker’s sentences come to look more and more like the Gordian knot: “Sally knows that I’m aware that she realises that I understand that she recognises that I know that she’s aware that I realise that she understands that I recognise that she knows that I’m aware that she realises that I understand that she recognises that I know that she understands that I’m aware of the car crash.”
    It’s not all bad. There’s a nice section on what we might call the semiotics of blushing – “a nonverbal apology, more credible than cheap talk because it emanates from the involuntary autonomic nervous system” – that will get you thinking about the various ways people communicate without necessarily intending to. And Pinker’s discussion of innuendo is genuinely eye-opening. But there’s no denying that it’s all so dull and earnest – think of Pinker as Malcolm Gladwell on steroids – that it leaves you aching to throw the book down and slam a Carry On film into the DVD tray.

    Pinker spends several pages, for instance, examining the layers of knowledge, common or otherwise, that are dramatised by – and implicit in our readings of – The Emperor’s New Clothes. Hans Christian Andersen’s tale must be familiar to anyone past their sixth birthday; yet Pinker decks out his analysis with no fewer than five illustrations of the various ways people have of grasping both the story’s meaning and how other people might or might not be grasping it in turn. By the time he moved on to some riddle about two chaps trying to deduce the birthday of a girl they’ve just met – a story complete with tables and charts – I was perplexed. Paging Mr Stuart Jeffries. Your Short History of Stupidity needs another chapter.

    The vast — overwhelming — majority of people reading these books will be far too stupid to understand their message.

    1. Stupidity is not seeing the wood for the trees. That is why highly educated people are often so stupid that they will adhere to such craziness as Marxism despite its history of wading through blood. Or praise the virtues of Islam without bothering to understand that its history makes it abundantly clear that it is an evil created by a narcissist and psychopath.

  43. Red light flashing.. but not quite the sounding of the klaxxon you get at the end of the James Bond movies.. as an evil ne'er do well empire unfolds.

    AfD Parliamentarian and co-founder Kay Gottschalk told Nick Dunning the party will end all immigration, ban the burqa and reform Germany's relationship with the EU. The party's finance spokesman was adamant the country's currency union with France has become a 'nightmare' and must end.

    1. France is about to seek IMF funding along with the UK. The difference between the French position and the UK is that France is a member of the EU and as such Germany will have to contribute in bailing out the French economy.

      Germany itself is suffering from degraded public services and deindustrialisation all brought about by EU sanctions against Russia and cheap imported Russian gas.

      I read today that the EU is planning yet more sanctions against Russia and plans to have “boots on the ground” in Ukraine. These people must be mad. Bankrupt countries should not wage war against thriving economies. Will somebody blow the gaffe on Starmer and his mad adherence to EU policy. We are on the road to ruin as a nation.

      1. seek IMF funding along with the UK..

        I'm sorry that's absolute tosh. If you have yr own currency you dont need the goons at IMF. Or of course if you are economically illiterate like commies & socialists and Labour govts.

    2. France is about to seek IMF funding along with the UK. The difference between the French position and the UK is that France is a member of the EU and as such Germany will have to contribute in bailing out the French economy.

      Germany itself is suffering from degraded public services and deindustrialisation all brought about by EU sanctions against Russia and cheap imported Russian gas.

      I read today that the EU is planning yet more sanctions against Russia and plans to have “boots on the ground” in Ukraine. These people must be mad. Bankrupt countries should not wage war against thriving economies. Will somebody blow the gaffe on Starmer and his mad adherence to EU policy. We are on the road to ruin as a nation.

  44. Does anyone else have a fond nostalgia for the graffiti that used to adorn the walls of public conveniences? (I dont know, maybe men's toilets are still like that).
    There used to be quite a bit of wee wit to be found in them. Now just clean, but boring.

    1. Out and about with a b/f, many years ago – he visited the gents and came out laughing, he told me what the graffiti was – I couldn't possibly repeat it…..

        1. ok…it's quite tame…'t*rds weighing more than xlb (can't remember exact number) must be lowered by hand'….kaboom….I'm here all day, unfortunately….

          3. I come in peace. I mean you no harm.

            And as Sosraboc would say…never ever listen to Phizzee !

    3. "It's no use standing on the seat …
      The crabs in here can jump six feet!"

      Written in tiny lettering at the bottom of one bog door:

      "You are now shitting at 45º."

  45. Does anyone else have a fond nostalgia for the graffiti that used to adorn the walls of public conveniences? (I dont know, maybe men's toilets are still like that).
    There used to be quite a bit of wee wit to be found in them. Now just clean, but boring.

  46. I've just spoken to Sue and she is doing well*. Obviously her body has gone through a trauma but she is getting lots of support in the hospital, and sounded chirpy. She said that what she meant by her kidneys coping, is that she is on diuretics (which can sometimes cause kidney difficulties, but luckily aren't in her case).

    She is in Ward A9 Hammersmith Hospital, Du Cane Road, London W12 0HS.

    Edit: *Sue is no doubt doing better from a medical point of view than she actually feels!
    She has a nice room on her own at the moment, and is currently scheduled to move to a convalescent home Tuesday next week.

    2. Good news. Hope she gets any support she needs when discharged, and makes a full and speedy recovery. Can we get an e-card to her, Hertslass, from all of us? (although she knows we're thinking of/supporting her).

      1. I'm sure we could. If anyone is on Jacqui Lawson it could be done through that I guess, that is all I know about e-cards. (I am technically illiterate). Has anyone any other suggestions?

          1. BB2 suggested similar to me in an email. Perhaps flowers delivered to her home when she gets back. Herts will know.

            I already have Annie Allan's bank details so we could all charge it to her account..Demon face

        2. We could send a card, but I like Paul's suggestion…flowers could have a card attached (unless she has hay fever – and if hospital allows flowers?!)

          1. I'm happy to send money… well, since it's for Sue, I'm happy, but don't you others get any ideas I like giving money away… I do have Scots ancestry, and come from Yarkshire! I like to conform to stereotypes.

          4. Pity is, Kate, I'm only 'aif Yarkshire.

            T'other 'aif is Derbyshire … and what is more, I were born in t'other 'aif!

          5. You will get no pity from me, Grizz.x..seriously, I love all of the UK (just more keen on some of population than others) any ire I have is for politicians and other crooks.

          8. I sent a card from my Amazon a/c a couple of hours ago…a Get Well Soon from all NOTTLERS, to the Ward 9 address if she's still there tmrw. Sorry, felt sure I'd already posted this Paul. I'm sure she'll keep in touch as soon as poss, she'll be laid up for a while, give her something to focus on :-)))hope she has help from someone, possibly good friend/neighbour. I think she's very brave xxx

          9. I'm happy to send money… well, since it's for Sue, I'm happy, but don't you others get any ideas I like giving money away… I do have Scots ancestry, and come from Yarkshire! I like to conform to stereotypes.

        3. Sent her a Jacquie Lawson one via Facebook so hope she can see that. I don't think I have her email address.

    4. Thanks for repporting!
      Looks like one's concern wasn't needed after all – thank goodness!

    5. Well…I tried e-cards with no success, so I went on my Amazon a/c and took liberty of sending Sue a physical card to hospital (delivery tmrw assuming still there). Greeting is 'FROM ALL NOTTLERS'..sorry not to clear it with you Hertslass and everyone else, was a bit of a performance…

      1. How kind of you, thank you. Sue will be delighted.

        Absolutely no need to clear anything with anyone – I've been pretty busy these couple of days trying to get the house back to showing people around again, and actually showing them around (I'm not putting up with having to be out of the house when there are viewings any more).

        1. Bullets cost. Axes are reusable. Therefore sustainable.

          I'm definitely getting into this green recycling malarky.

    3. How fix? Depends if you are a Leftie (or called Nigel). If so.. put fingers in ears and assert they are just like us and will integrate over time.

    4. How fix? Depends if you are a Leftie (or called Nigel). If so.. put fingers in ears and assert they are just like us and will integrate over time.

    1. He is getting rid of qualified medical staff and replacing them with conspiracy theorists like himself. All it will take is one good epidemic and the stupidity of his actions will become obvious.

    2. He is getting rid of qualified medical staff and replacing them with conspiracy theorists like himself. All it will take is one good epidemic and the stupidity of his actions will become obvious.

  49. Will Trump sack the globalist judges trying to sabotage his tariff agenda to make the USA great again?
    I hope so

    1. Instead of showman style pronouncements from the White House, he could easily work with congress to have them pass regulations that support his drive to close borders to foreign trade. Sometimes he is his worst enemy.

      1. Given that Congress has a GOP majority, he could easily do that. But he wants it to be all about him, so logic is left by the wayside.

        As he was quoted the other day, "I'm the president, I can do whatever I want". Except rather obviously, "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States" which he, like all presidents swore an oath to do.

  50. 412040+ up ticks,

    ALL in a good cause but in my book the old winning UKIP party the second coming was very viable under Gerard Batten, was treacherously taken out in 2019 via the parties OWN NEC along with farage evil input.

    Best advice to Nick is make contact with the Farmers Food and Freedom party, along with Ben and Rupert go under the FF&FP umbrella to make for a formidable patriotic fighting force.

    https://www.youtube.com/live/BSLrAaX4v7c?si=eqZRSPuF6GsnI9O7

    1. 412040+ up ticks,

      O2O,
      Gerard Batten was the best PM we never had with T Robinson as immigration minister.

      2. The alliance of convenience.. to bring down The West.
        What happens afterwards? Refer to Iran on April 2nd, 1979.. the day after the Islamic takeover.
        All the Lefties were hung from hastily prepared cranes.

        That's part of the trouble with Lefties.. they don't do history n stuff.

      3. Whenever I see people in similar attire, I say 'October!'
        And then very sotto voce, 'Halloween is in October'.

  52. Janet Street Porter has BLASTED Denise Welch for suggesting people wouldn’t go in a pub if it was flying the English flag.
    Denise said: ‘We can’t deny that the St George’s flag has been hijacked by the Far Right’.
    But Janet was incensed: ‘Oh f*ck off Denise. Absolute b*llocks. Your like a millionaire’s doorstep after Notting Hill Carnival – full of shit. Just because you look like a hungover Eddie Izzard, doesn’t mean you have to act like him’.

    Well said Janet!

    1. Well said Janet!
      er.. so no. She's an idiot.. always was.. always will be..
      In fact they BOTH agreed that

      "we can’t deny that the St George’s flag has been hijacked by the Far Right.”
      Janet then proceeded to declare: “I would say to anyone watching: ‘Fly whatever flag you want.’ Just flap it around.”

      She reasoned: “The only way we’re going to claim back the English flag from, as you say, the Far Right, is for ordinary, normal people who love England, who aren’t, you know, fascists or whatever, to claim that and own their flag.”

    2. I am going to spend time in my laboratory to see what concoction of chemicals I can combine to make an effective can of spray Lefticide.

      I shall test it — to see if it works — on a collection of Pinko retards.

      After all, it is how we rid ourselves of flies and other noisome deleterious pests.

      1. Here's another one from Janet…

        "Caesar salad is one of my favourite lunch foods. You can shovel it in and talk at the same time"

          1. Hello Sue E! I see you! Delighted to hear that the op went well, and that you’re feeling up to a bit of Nottling! Glad to hear your kidney function is good! Thinking of you! 💐😍

      1. Yes, on reading the article, that's the push. It should be at around a quarter of a million, or even half a million, but the moronic Bell-end wants to cut it to 30K.

        Clearly, Bell should be sacked and made to get a job.

        1. She doesn't seem to last very long in jobs – no doubt that's why she went into politics.

      1. I rather think this was the intent since the Brexit vote.

        The state wanted a way to force us back in and doing as much economic, social and cultural damage as possible is clearly deliberate.

        1. Did you copy and paste from the site? The ones I found via search all came out the same small size.

          1. As you said the copy part is blocked.

            I took a screen shot and used Preview (Mac) to crop and size it.

  55. Two children killed a swan by kicking and stamping on it in a “senseless and unprovoked attack”, it has been claimed.
    The pair were also seen throwing sticks and stones at the bird at Canoe Lake in Southsea, Portsmouth, on Monday evening.
    The female swan was taken to a vet but died 24 hours later.
    Police are investigating and a witness claimed an adult was with the children and their parents were also in the park at the same time.
    A spokesman for the charity Swan Support said: “The fear and pain she must have felt in such a senseless and unprovoked attack is unimaginable.”

    I blame their soft, gormless southern parents. They were probably pissed on too much warm shandy to teach the kids any decency.
    100 strokes of the birch rod is needed for those brats (as well as 100 lashes of the cat-o'-nine-tails for the parents).

    1. Awful to read, Grizzly. Swans are beautiful birds, some of the smaller females very gentle – I was once gifted a couple the other swans were bullying. I'll do the birch if you do the cat-o-9.

    3. Bollocks. The only people who behave like that are immigrants. Worse than fucking rabid dogs.

        1. I rented a town house in Walthamstow just before i left London for good. I saw with my own eyes immigrant families and the way they behave.
          Many were decent but it doesn't take many to change the tune.
          There was a triangle patch of land behind my house where the local kids would hang out and play football.
          A bit different to what i was used to but i understood kids wanted to play. Noisy buggers !
          Quite often some little brown chap would ring my bell and ask for their ball back and i was happy to do so even saying they could come through the back gate to collect their ball.
          Mostly because i didn't want to keep answering the door!
          Then two little boys on the same street broke loads of bottles across the grass. laughing as they did so.

          1. Hear you, Phiz. Similar experiences all over the UK. I live rural area UK, out walking my dog this am came across broken glass bottle luckily before dog did. I’ve seen full poo bags tied to trees or just thrown down on the path. People who live in slums seem to become used to it, part of it.

    4. We have had swans locally for years and a few years ago immigrants from Poland were involved in some of them disappearing. There were also and still seems to be too many people fishing the river, obviously not bothering to pay for a licence at the local post office. But very similar to most other legal issues and actions in the UK nobody seems to be bothered to do anything about it.

  56. 412040+ up ticks,

    After decades of rhetoric political cowboys and mass long term cover-ups by top ranking authorities of the mass rape and abuse of children, eyes tight shut law enforcers, all in the name of diversity.

    I can honestly see only one endgame in the protection of these innocents, it will include blood letting it will come down to that or submitting to allah. https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1961732580312600941

  57. Does this look dreadful to any of you? It is the new ballroom for the White House in Washington DC. The old one is a bit small. Trump and others are going to pay for this privately so it is not going to cost taxpayers one penny. The Democrats, pathetic that they are, insist on complaining about it. Seem that Trump can do absolutly nothing right. Whining about the President seems to be the Democrats only policy they are so bankrupt in ideas. https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/08/1440/810/white-house-ballroom.jpg?ve=1&tl=1

    1. It's the White House, not Versailles. Typical flash design, all pillars and gold as the dominant colour.

      1. If the commentators are correct the way things are going in the UK they'll be lucky to be able hold a State Banquet in a MacDonalds in the not too distant future!

        Afternoon Jack & all.

    2. It's the White House ballroom, has to make an impression. Looks tidy to me. Imagine if the walls were peeling, then we'd be in trouble.

    3. In any sphere of business enterprise or employment, it has always been the norm that under-achievers, those inept at their jobs, or the downright criminal are summarily sacked.

      Why is it that we cannot remove political parties from office for failing in their prime remit: the defence of the realm and the protection of its nationals?

      This current crew should be dismissed from office, forthwith, and remanded in custody pending trial for offences against the state and its citizens.

      This would then be a warning to all that follow.

      2. 411040+ up ticks,

        Afternoon G,
        The silent element of the peoples has proved to be too silent for too long, the only recourse left now I believe is to bypass the middle rhetorical player and go straight for the political gullet, so to speak.

    5. And because of our stupid useless political system they all know that they can and do get away with anything they want to.

    1. Brilliant, have wanted to keep bees for several years…don't suppose she has a blog…does she? x

        1. Not sure. This lot have only been here for a week. Likely heather, St Johns wort, yarrow, blackberry, whatever’s still flowering, I guess.

          1. We have had a lot more bees visiting the garden this summer than previously, and they are still very busy! The lavenders obviously, and the catmint, but also the sweet peas, honeysuckle and fuchsias. They weren’t over impressed with a bougainvillea I bought but the children’s sunflowers and the lupins were a big hit! I’m trying to imagine what that would taste like!

      2. Citrussy is my favourite….I have some lime honey that I bought in France that is peppermint flavoured. Fabulous.

    3. Just having a smoke eh…
      My recently deceased BiL kept Bee's and we were never short of decent yummy Honey. 🐝

          1. Well, we have a smoker, it’s just not been used in a few years. It’s usually not necessary, they shift out of the way if you wait a moment or two.

    4. Nice Cankles !

      Is that their permanent site? Wouldn't it improve things with a few fruit trees planted around those tupperware boxes?

      1. In front of the hives (the picture is from the back), the ground drops away about five metres, and Firstborn’s blackberries, blackcurrants and raspberries are down there (the rasps are wild, the others cultivated). To the right about 100 metres, there’s the orchard.
        Lots of other trees around, plus cranberries, blueberries and all kinds in the forest that starts on the other end of the barn which is just out of shot on the left.

        1. Yes yes, what about the Cankles? >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>adopts new persona and enters government protection scheme…

      1. Clint Eastwood tried that in Paint your Waggon. But they didn't listen to him……
        Oh no….. it was the trees he talked to 🤗☺️🐝🐝🌳🌲

        1. Ahem….anything Clint Eastwood does/says is fine by me, Eddy….absolutely fine….absolutely…fine….

          5. Had an old friend who used to target shoot with one – Bisley quality shooting. He reckoned you could always tell the .44 Mag shooters by the scars on their foreheads from when they were not holding it tight enough when they pulled the trigger.

          6. That would be awkward… one-handed, it can get a bit exciting with full-patch ammunition, I must say. Biggest damage to the ears, despite mufflers, as it’s so freaking LOUD!

          8. He was quite a number, I remember being on holiday in Italy, we went to the flicks…and there he was on the screen ‘Rawhide’ :-DD

      2. Yes, she does.
        As a mass, they are rather cuddly, in a teddybear-fur kind of way, but best not cuddled! As a group, they have moods, too, and you can tell depending on the tone of the buzzing. And so, one can respond accordingly with talk – asking how they are, what’s been happening, that kind of thing.
        Hive #1, on the left of the picture, had settled a hornet’s hash – the hornet was dead! Excellent!

    2. I’m still in the hospital but out of intensive care and back on the ward. The op went well. I have a functioning aortic valve again – animal tissue. I never knew it was possible to feel as bad as I did when I came round afterwards but I’m now tube free and waddling about. Massive fluid retention plus nausea but I’m told that’s normal and treatable. Also they say the sore mouth and throat will heal. Chest hurts like hell but it had to be cut open. I’ll get there. Gradually.

        1. I feel crap but there have been highlights. A woman came into the ICU with a therapy dog on Wednesday. A cute little terrier who licked my hand. Doggie kiss.

          1. Crikey! Glad to hear you have highlights – soon they will outweigh downsides :-)…here’s a X from me, not a doggy one sorry. Hope you can keep in touch xxx keep your spirits up, you sound good.

          2. Winston and Kadi would send kisses too, but they are flaked out after the excitement of attending the charity lunch.

          3. Did you fancy doing Wordle today? It seemed everybody got a bloody birdie apart from me!

          4. I did manage Wordle today but got a bogie. Had total brain fog on Wednesday and couldn’t string a sentence together so not displeased.

          5. Well done, anyway, Sue – great effort in straitened circumstances!

            You sound really good and I hope that continues – just cheat tomorrow and post an Eagle! (you wont be the first…)

      4. So pleased as all of us are that you are okay. No need to tell you to take it easy. You will know all that.
        Do well 😊 take care. x

      5. Brilliant news Sue .

        Feeling uncomfortable is horrid , but things like that pass , and you will gradually forget about the trauma of the post op feeling .

        Animal tissue, goodness , medicine is amazing .

        I have messaged you on F/B

      7. Hi Sue!
        Great to see from you! Hope the pains go away quicckly, and since you're somewhat mobile, taht should help the fluid retention decrease too.
        Sending "Get well soon!" hugs, to be administered just before bedtime!

      9. Good to hear from you Sue – and hope your recovery will continue to go well!
        I sent you an ecard via Facebook – hope you're able to see it!

      13. Blimey, Sue. Vision issues mean that most Nottler content has passed me by for the best part of a year – although things are improving, albeit slowly.

        I'm truly sorry to hear of your travails, and wish you the speediest of recoveries.

      2. That type also own many many nursing homes and make an absolute fortune , I wouldn't be surprised if they also owned the government , the PM is clothed by them .

    1. Well they do have a propensity for young brown skinned males……. and Macron, Trudeau and Steamer do like it up 'em.

  68. Wordle No. 1,533 3/6

    ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩
    ⬜⬜🟩⬜🟨
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    Wordle 30 Aug 2025

    Excitement for For Birdie Three?

    1. Well done – regulation par here…..

      Wordle 1,533 4/6

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

    2. Well done, same here.

      Wordle 1,533 3/6

      🟨⬜⬜⬜🟩
      🟨🟨🟨⬜🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    3. Me too (wonder will not cease)

      Wordle 1,533 3/6

      🟨⬜⬜🟨🟩
      ⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    4. Well if everyone is doing it

      Wordle 1,533 3/6

      ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩
      ⬜🟩🟩⬜⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      1. I learned at primary school that the flag should be tied in a knot to indicate distress. (It was an exercise in Comprehension and Precis.)

    3. …the wide white stripe always goes in the top left hand corner.

      In pictorial depiction, yes, but when flying from a flagpole the white wide stripe is at the top on the hoist (pole) side.

    6. I agree with the comments, below, Maggie.

      However, I may fly my national flag (the St George's cross) either way.
      🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

      1. It's almost five years since my role as Verger ended. My Google Calendar had a list of flag flying days. I failed to convince the powers that be that – rather than fly the St George's flag, we really should have flown the Guildford Diocesan flag (the St George flag with the Diocesan crsst in the 'fly' top corner.

        Fast forward to Easter Saturday this year. Sent a text to the new Merkin happy-clappy churchwarden. "We need to fly the St George's flag first thing tomorrow." "Can't do that – I haven't been instructed in how to do it" Jeez…

        Contract expires at the end of September. Can't wait…

      1. And there was I thinking there were no flies on the Union Flag….

        Or Flagratio a case of suck it and see?

    8. Maggie, it's really hard to fly a conventional flag upside down. The cord which remains on the pole has a loop (1) at one end, and what I can only describe as a dog collar thingy at the other.

      The flag itself has a cord in the "hoist" hem, with a wooden duffle coat thingy at the top, and a loop (2) at the bottom.

      The wooden duffle coat thingy goes into the aforementioned loop (1). The dog collar thingy clips into the loop (2) at the bottom of the flag.

      Pull everything taut, and raise the flag. It helps to wrap the cords around the pole two or three times, to stop them flapping in the wind.

      Here endeth…

    1. As mentioned earlier, these are not British police. The shouting in German, plus the officers having handguns holstered on their belts suggests it might well be in Germany.

      1. Either way, the principles remain the same, does it need that intimidatory approach, couldn't they use a car, is she really such a danger that she needs so many cops?

    1. It's a shame that UK politicians' tax returns can't be publicly scrutinised as they are in the USA.

      1. I think that particular transparency is yet another broken promise from our present troughing Oberstarmerfuhrers

    3. RE. investigative journalism. I have no wish to defend "our Ange", but she doesn't "own three houses".

      Twenty years ago, I took up employment as a church Director of Music (i.e. organist & choirmaster), but If I also agreed to be Verger (i.e. caretaker) I could live rent-free in a purpose-built 1930's cottage across the road from the church. Obviously, I agreed.

      This, I believe, equates to Rayner's "grace and favour" apartment in Admiralty Arch.

      Since, in the course of my employment mentioned above, I have taken an interest in Rayner's activities. I played the organ for Sam Tarry's wedding to Julia Fozard, a delightful paediatrician based in Brighton. Whilst still married to Fozard, he became entwined with Rayner – who apparently was also still married to the guy who was implicated in her dubious council house dealings. I could be wrong.

      Leaving aside Tarry's confusion as to where he lived when applying to be a South London councillor, whilst being resident in Brighton – apparently the worst-kept secret in the Labour Party at the time – he's since served a term as an MP, in addition to being a union official.

      The couple saw in the New Year in Lord Alli's sumptuous New York apartment. In March, the Daily Mail trumpeted that the "soulmates were officially back together".

      In which case, why are the media treating this story as if Ange is single? Tarry was a Brighton resident before, during and possibly after his marriage to Fozard. I've seen the register entry.

      My take on this is that on her rare visits to her constituency, she will either stay in a hotel, or else stay with her ex, paying for the privelige, all on Parliamentary expenses.

      She's surely worked out that – post 2029 – she will be unemployed. Until then, she can function from Admiralty Arch. Post-election, she'll need somewhere to live. Ashton? Too common. She'll retire to her seaside love nest with Tarry, who may well have contributed to the £800k cost of the place.

      And, much as I despise her politics, why not?

      1. I despise her politics but, as I commented yesterday, she has massively over-achieved given her background and start in life – she is, in fact, the Deputy Prime Minister and that, in itself, is no mean feat…..

          1. Well they all do it, dont they? She's no better or worse than the rest of them, but she's achieved, relatively, far more than most.

            If she now comes crashing down, I dont think anybody will be in the slightest bit surprised……

          1. I dont think she will, she’s not that street smart… they’re all so compromised I wouldnt mind betting that an ‘outsider’ could emerge as the new frontrunner – my money’s on Andy Burnham (spit!)…….

      2. I agree re the Admiralty Arch not being hers, but how on earth has she accumulated the wealth (if she really has) that's attributed to her, given her CV?

        1. I agree, the optics are not good. But we don't know the circumstances surrounding her Ashton-under-Lyne house. £800k seems a large amount, but perhaps less so in SE England. And should her "soulmate" Tarry have thrown his resources in, it doesn't seem so bad. But the media have all omitted to mention him (apart from the Mail article in March).

          I'm not defending her, but every MSM article, the subject of which I have any knowledge, is always wrong.

          I enjoy Talk Radio, and it's a constant feature here from 06:00 most days.

          But, for example, yTalk claims that you can now get a Motability car "for constipation". Things may have changed, but had the original plan to amputate my left foot gone ahead, there'd be no PIP. To get maximum twelve points, you literally have to be unable to stand and walk any distance.

          The rules state that to stand and walk, requires the claimant to have biological feet.

          Mine are plastic, with a wooden core. So the rules say I can't walk at all. My smart watch disagrees.

      3. She might become unemployed in 2029 Geoff but she'll have £75 k (or more) pension to look forward to

  75. Anyone who doesn't want to a rugby comment look away now.

    Brilliant.
    I am SO pleased for the Samoans; they've earned a penalty in the scrum against one of the strongest scrummaging teams in world.
    The penalty was scored.
    Their first points in the World Cup and they've ensured they won't be "niled"

    1. I missed that, I turned off all the half time chat, try again eh 🤗🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 whoops sorry about that flag.

  76. The England ladies are doing well in the rugger.
    I hope they won't be arrested for winning the game.

  77. Another big HOORAY the Samoans didn't get ton-ed.
    I think they have done extraordinarily well.
    Amateurs vs professionals at the highest level, and I think they can go home with pride.

    1. "This is the first government in my lifetime where I would say they hate the British people"

      Clearly not awake during the Heath, Wilson, Callaghan, Blair Cameron years.

      1. In fairness, Alex avoided some of those years by not being born yet…

        I like Alex, despite her attachment to Holy Trinity Brompton, and recent baptism in the bloody sea. Does HTB not possess a font?

          1. She has held significant positions in UKIP and the Brexit Party, and now has slots on Talk.TV / Talk Radio.

            Alex is a bit excitable, but is much less irritating than Julia Hartley-Brewer, who – while being on the right side, unfortnately grates on me.

          3. Same with me Geoff. Both are on the side of the Angels (usually) but intensely loud, verbose and annoying.

  80. what a day! My husband is with his mistress again (relax! It’s the boat! Or, at least, I think it’s the boat..)

    Went to the butcher’s, and spent a small fortune stocking up for my (not so) little boy. Then decided I had to tackle the fridge. Ugh. Off to play a pre-season friendly of the One True Sport. So that took up 2 1/2 hours. When I got back I made two more cakes for the freezer – our Ladies 1s are now in the National Premier league, so when they have home matches we will flog cakes to the spectators – and got the “pulled pork” ready for slow cooking overnight. Also made some nice lamb koftas and flatbreads for tea which I served with a tahini/garlic/lemon juice and crème fraiche sauce and did three loads of washing. No reading for me today! Maybe tomorrow morning.

    Now to catch upon what you lot have been up to!

    2. Firstborn had a rifle shooting competition today, and came in the medals!
      Last weekend, I was in a pistol competition, and came top!
      Yaay! Trebles all round!

      2. I won medlas for shooting when I was in the Reserves. Funnilynenough, I was more successful with the moving targets than the stationary.

        1. These were dynamic competitions, where you move rather than the target, and shoot around obstacles. Really rather fun, and quite difficult!

  81. From the DT:

    Open the welcome book at Shannon Airport – thick with the pleasantries of visiting dignitaries – and you’ll find a rare pairing, a few lines apart.

    “To all our friends at Shannon, with gratitude for always making us feel at home away from home,” wrote Antony Blinken, Joe Biden’s secretary of state, in 2024.

    This year, Scott Bessent, Donald Trump’s treasury secretary, left two words directly below: “AMERICA FIRST!”Open the welcome book at Shannon Airport – thick with the pleasantries of visiting dignitaries – and you’ll find a rare pairing, a few lines apart.

    “To all our friends at Shannon, with gratitude for always making us feel at home away from home,” wrote Antony Blinken, Joe Biden’s secretary of state, in 2024.

    This year, Scott Bessent, Donald Trump’s treasury secretary, left two words directly below: “AMERICA FIRST!”

  82. For Hertslass, the Reeves/VAT article:

    “Rachel Reeves is considering raising the threshold at which businesses start paying VAT in an effort to boost growth. The Chancellor is understood to be reviewing the VAT regime as she prepares to launch a raid of at least £20bn to balance the books.

    Ms Reeves is also believed to be considering raising taxes for homeowners and landlords, as well as a stealth raid on working people.

    She will warn next week that the economy is “stuck”.

    RACHEL REEVES is considering raising the threshold at which businesses start paying VAT in an effort to boost growth. The Chancellor is understood to be reviewing the VAT regime as she prepares to launch a raid of at least £20bn to balance the books.

    Ms Reeves is also believed to be considering raising taxes for homeowners and landlords, as well as a stealth raid on working people.

    She will warn next week when she returns to Parliament that the economy is “stuck”. She is preparing to make raising productivity the centrepiece of her second Budget.

    Treasury officials fear that a growth downgrade by Ms Reeves’s official spending watchdog will blow an even bigger hole in the public finances.

    Despite the gloomy economic backdrop, it is understood that Whitehall officials raised the prospect of lifting the VAT registration threshold from its current level of £90,000 as “a growth measure” at meetings before summer recess.
    However, such a cut is likely to be opposed fiercely by Torsten Bell, the pensions minister who is playing a key role in drawing up the Budget plans.

    Mr Bell’s former think tank, the Resolution Foundation, has called for the threshold to be slashed to £30,000.
    Sources said Mr Bell was making his presence felt at the Treasury. “He likes the sound of his own voice,” said one insider.

    The Tony Blair Institute, the former prime minister’s think tank, is also calling for the threshold to be effectively eliminated, though experts have warned that this could fuel inflation.

    It is understood that Dan York-Smith, a long-serving Treasury civil servant who this week moved to No 10 help Sir Keir Starmer, is also a big advocate of eliminating reliefs.

    However, businesses have long complained that the current threshold acts as a barrier to growth. Small firms that turn over less than £90,000 are exempt from charging their customers VAT. However, the rules state that once businesses breach the threshold, sales tax must be charged on every transaction.

    This means that businesses that make even a few pounds over £90,000 currently face a five-figure tax bill.
    Sources highlighted that the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) had determined that former chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s decision to raise the threshold from £85,000 in 2024 increased revenues for the Exchequer by the end of the decade, even though the policy had short-term costs.

    Another option would be to eliminate the cliff edge by smoothing the tax rates paid once the threshold is breached.
    “They are desperate for anything that will lift growth,” said one source close to the discussions.

    Ms Reeves is also looking at ways to go further and faster to ease planning rules, as she looks for ways to increase growth and living standards that do not place a big burden on the public purse.

    The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) confirmed the organisation had discussed raising the VAT threshold with the Government as a way to increase small business growth and generate more tax revenue.

    Craig Beaumont, of the FSB, urged the Government to take advantage of Brexit freedoms: “Outside the EU, Britain has a rare advantage – we don’t have to lock ourselves into low VAT thresholds like our European neighbours. That gives us the freedom to set it at a level that actually helps entrepreneurs and growth.”

    A Treasury spokesman said the best way to strengthen public finances “is by growing the economy – which is our focus”.”

    1. Why on earth are we still levying VAT, an EU tax? Ditch it and ensure all the money goes to the Treasury and none to Brussels (I bet they're still sending a contribution).

      2. Many hundreds of billions. Mostly under the pretence of 'foreign aid' and 'climate aid'. Monies we are borrowing.

    2. I do wish Reeves would stop lying. They don't want to grow the economy. They want to spend more money. The Treasury is dementedly obsessed with 'modern monetary theory' which is neither modern, nor realated to money.

      It has the state taking more of what you earn and giving it to someone else who hasn't earned it. This is plain socialism. There's a clear and obvious reason why high taxes tank an economy. Reeves doesn't understand it and the Treasury isn't able to accept it.

    1. Cut off all aid to Pakistan until they agree to taking back their own citizens. Expel all Pakistani citizens living in the UK who do not have a right to be here.

      1. Treat Pariah Pakistan like Russia.

        Take no nonsense from so called British citizens like the multi millionaire hotel owner Hassanali Karmali Alibhai Somani, who must be playing a big influential part in accommodating all the illegal infiltrators in his dozens of hotels .

        Stop Pakistanis sending benefits back to Pakistan , stop them scamming this country of ours , and stop them treating this beautiful country like a giant latrine .. and stop the bloody lot wailing their call to prayer how many times a day, oh yes , and chop of their hands for stealing sheep, goats and other morsels they consider part of their Halal diet.

        2. So much bile and bitterness here, NoTTLers. I can't say I disagree with your views; I am just sad that the behaviour of the incomers is turning us into a nation full of bitterness. If only our government – of whatever persuasion – were on our side against the incomers of a certain "faith" instead of encouraging them in order to garner votes. I foresee disaster in these beloved isles of ours.

    3. That's a long way to go, Michelle. We should recompense them as well. £100 in pennies each. Get them on the plane, take off, circle to just off Ireland, open bay door, climb.

    5. Just push them out of the plane at the terminal in Karachi. If they cannot clear immigration, that is their problem not yours.

  84. As i suspected, my home-made reduced-sugar ginger cordial is very nice with a tot of whiskey and some soda water

      1. Here's more sacrilege…I like Japanese Asahi and also Japanese Whisky (not in the same glass, I'm not so uncivilised)

        1. No such thing as Japanese Whisky.
          Whiskey, perhaps and it is allegedly extremely good, but whisky it isn't.

  85. Good evening all.
    Sat in the Wheatsheaf in Shedfield after a horribly wet afternoon..
    Picked up this from Faceache:-

    Debbie Johnston
    24 August at 22:06
    ·
    I walked the streets of ulster,
    With a rifle in my hand.
    To protect these beautiful people,
    Of this beautiful but bloodstained land.
    We walked the streets of darkness,
    The street lights long bricked out.
    A cold bead of sweat, or standing hairs,
    When we heard a bang, or shout.
    Dropped by chopper, in bandits fields,
    At height are all our senses.
    A car backfires, on a country road,
    Finds us diving behind fences.
    On council estates, where people dwell.
    Someone’s wives, kids, sister or brother.
    For us their gifts of bile and spit.
    Or bricks, send us running for cover.
    Not to mention, the snipers guns,
    The bombs of petrol, or nails.
    Our nerves are shredded, beyond repair.
    Our young lives forever changed.
    Now we are paunchy old men and women.
    With just memories, and a lifelong bond with each other.
    Our family still strong, still bonded by blood.
    And still know we can rely on our brother.
    But the army taught us how to fight.
    How to face the hate.
    How to hide our shredded nerves.
    How to accept our fate.
    How to disguise our fear and dread,
    How to be brave and bold.
    But they didnt teach us how to cope,
    with our memories now we are old.
    But I wouldn’t swap one sleepless night.
    One blanket covered in sweat.
    To serve with my brothers, all over again.
    Would i do it?
    In a heartbeat. You bet.
    For all my brothers swift and bold
    Stand down your duty is done

    2. Masterful poem. One of the things about it is that it calls the terrorists "bandits", which is exactly what they were and are. Nothing nobler – grabby criminal gangsters.

  87. Bless you all. I'm very very tired and going in my basket. May the Lord bless and keep you all, especially dear Sue Ed

  88. Here's a good one to watch The Thursday Murder Club. Lot's of well known actors and actresses. Amusing script very nice change to boring politics and all the other crap on tv these days.

    1. Having read the books, I’m afraid I won’t be watching! The characters are clear in my head, and the ghastly Helen Mirren is enough to put me off! Looking at Pierce Brosnan as Ron seems a very clear miscast!
      However the stories are very good!

      2. I just felt it was all very amusing to see all these elderly actors at it again. It's got such an English middle class ring to it all.
        I'll have to get a top up, the content of my glass has evaporated, it must be global warming.

        1. Looks good, Belle! Never heard of it! As my Dad would have said ‘a cast of millions…’

    2. Oddly enough, we discussed that over lunch. The point was made about the well-known thespians. Verdict was not favourable if you'd read the books, though.

    3. Currently re-watching Breaking Bad. Not to everyone's taste, but the acting is good (or so I think, anyway).

    4. A good version of a much more complicated book but I feel they've cut too much out – there's one major change which is going to need some fiddling if there is a serial. Most casting good but a couple of oddities – IMHO!

    4. I've given up on the BBC, so I haven't watched any of the Proms. I have heard short snippets on R3 in the car, but I don't go far these days.

      1. I suspect you have, in real life as opposed to the Proms.
        The music is great and I enjoy it.

        1. Very likely, but I don't know what's on this evening's Proms programme as I'm much more interested in watching the cricket on Sky Sports.

          3. The hundred would be better if the commentators shut up or at least stopped talking about unrelated things

    1. "So, tell me young ladies, how do you feel about your brother being able to dress as he is, while you're covered up as if you're so ugly that you should be hidden from the world?"

    2. To a point they're right in that children cannot be filmed with the permission of their parents. They're just uppity, and know that endless law has been created to protect them. Those need to go.

  92. Right, folks, I'm going to say goodnight and disappear. I keep yawning and I have an early start tomorrow.

  94. Well, chums, it's my bedtime once again. So I wish you all a Good Night!. Sleep well, and I hope to see you all bright and early tomorrow morning.

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