Saturday 31 August: A ban on outdoor smoking would harm an already struggling hospitality industry

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

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

723 thoughts on “Saturday 31 August: A ban on outdoor smoking would harm an already struggling hospitality industry”

  1. Good morning, chums (First!). And thanks to Geoff for today's NoTTLe page.

    Wordle 1,169 6/6

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

  3. 392732_ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    It may only seem to be a minor issue when rated with the daily odious issues we face but in fact, it is a whip and chair issue when showing under the guise of doing good to be a mass people control move.

    The nasty kneeler and co in reality, don't give a toss if you burst into flames it would solve a great many problems in he replacement department.

    Saturday 31 August: A ban on outdoor smoking would harm an already struggling hospitality industry

  5. Morning all,

    It is clear where the outside smoking ban is going along with bp and weight measures for improving health.
    The local pub will now be renamed the cuff and scales whilst the landlord will become your family GP..
    It's so obvious because there is a hospital in hospitality and a large round will replaced with big pharma as the measures indicate the need for ongoing cocktails of hypertension drugs as the lipid punters scoff down their statins.

  6. Zelensky fires Ukraine’s air force commander after prized F-16 jet crashes, killing pilot. 31 August 2024.

    Volodymyr Zelensky has fired the head of the country’s air force just days after Ukraine lost its first F-16 in a fatal crash.

    The Ukrainian president did not specify why he had sacked Lt. Gen. Mykola Oleshchuk, but said: “We need to protect people. Protect personnel. Take care of all our soldiers.”

    Zelensky is getting a little tetchy. His hopes (and probably his idea) for the Kursk Offensive have bottomed out as the Russians advance in the Donbass. It won’t have helped that the F16 was shot down by a Ukie Patriot missile. On top of this of course it was the same error as a couple of months ago when they shot down a passenger plane loaded with Ukie POW’s. Oleschuk was lucky not to be sacked then but it was politically risky.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/08/30/zelensky-fires-air-force-commander-f16-crash/

    1. 'F-16 crash' sounds so much better than 'aircraft downed by friendly fire'. Flt Lt Kevin Main and Flt Lt David Williams were killed when their Tornado GR4 was shot out of the sky by a Patriot antimissile system as they returned to Kuwaiti base following their combat mission over Iraq on 23 Mar 2003.

    2. "will not endorse transgender ideology.. by calling a man.. a woman."

      The Garda looked at me.. And he said..
      You're faaar right. You're racist. Homophobe. You're a xenophobe. You patriarchal transphobic. islamophobic. You're spreading HATE. You're SPREADING HATE. YOU'RE SPREADING HATE. You're lidderally Hilter.

    3. "will not endorse transgender ideology.. by calling a man.. a woman."

      The Garda looked at me.. And he said..
      You're faaar right. You're racist. Homophobe. You're a xenophobe. You patriarchal transphobic. islamophobic. You're spreading HATE. You're SPREADING HATE. YOU'RE SPREADING HATE. You're lidderally Hilter.

  14. CAPTION CONTEST (FREEDOMS UP IN SMOKE EDITION)

    https://i0.wp.com/order-order.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/WhatsApp-Image-2024-08-30-at-12.35.34-PM.jpeg?w=1200&ssl=1

    Lord Of Misrule
    17h
    After we have finished in this ghastly working class little place, arrange for some masked goons to rough up the landlord for daring to argue with me.
    https://image.vuukle.com/31de69f3-a48e-4e12-96fa-e21a420efe94-ee4c6f10-e1c0-4fe3-aba0-97adcac02b8e

    Drummond Base
    17h
    "Bitter with a flat head"

    Lord Of Misrule
    17h
    To the destruction of Britain. Cheers!

    stephen dean
    18h
    Sir Keir takes a cautious sip of this strange and unknown liquid that is rumoured to be a favourite of those ghastly working class types before wrinkling his nose in disgust and ordering a small Snowball.

    5. So this is straight from Tony's piss pot, is it? Oh good! I'll take eight barrels for this week and set up a regular order for the Cabinet too.

  15. Italian Prosecutors Expand Superyacht Sinking Probe to Two More Crew Members

    BREITBART LONDON30 Aug 202410
    2:17
    ROME (AP) – Italian prosecutors have put under investigation two more crew members of the Bayesian, the superyacht that sank off Sicily last week, killing seven people, their lawyer said on Friday.

    The move widens the probe into the tragic shipwreck, for which the ship’s captain, New Zealander James Cutfield, is already under investigation for possible manslaughter and culpable shipwreck charges.

    Since Wednesday, Tim Parker Eaton – the engineer who was in charge of securing the yacht’s engine room – and sailor Matthew Griffith – who was on watch duty on the night of the disaster – are under investigation for the same possible charges, their lawyer said.

    “The profile of their possible responsibilities is still unclear, as the investigation has just started,” lawyer Mario Scopesi told The Associated Press.

    Scopesi added that both Parker Eaton and Griffith left Italy on Wednesday, along with Cutfield and the rest of the crew.

    The three crew members were among 15 survivors of the Aug. 19 sinking that killed British tech magnate Mike Lynch, his daughter Hannah and five others.

    Chief prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio, who is heading the investigation, has said his team will consider each possible element of responsibility including those of the captain, the crew, individuals in charge of supervision and the yacht’s manufacturer.

    The Bayesian, a 56-meter (184-foot) British-flagged luxury yacht, went down near Sicily, in the Mediterranean. Investigators are focusing on how a sailing vessel deemed “unsinkable” by its manufacturer, Italian shipyard Perini Navi, sank while a nearby sailboat remained largely unscathed.

    Prosecutors said the event was “extremely rapid” and could have been a “downburst” – a localized, powerful wind that descends from a thunderstorm and spreads out rapidly upon hitting the ground.

    All crew members survived except for the chef, but six passengers were trapped in the yacht’s hull and died.

  16. Good morning all,

    Partly cloudy over the McPhee demesne, wind North-East, 13℃ goin g up to 21℃ this afternoon.

    They're not even trying to hide it, are they?

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6456e7bffde605f528f6dc0379a81651e649ecbd0ddf8996a0425c5ca2db2f87.png
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/08/30/pub-bosses-warned-government-minimum-alcohol-pricing/

    I wonder what Sir Tim Martin will have to say. He's very quiet at the moment. Or has he been cancelled?

    First a ban on smoking, now a minimum price regime. They really are trying to kill off pubs once and for all. Is it the muzzies among them?

    Inventive landlords will find a way around it unless they are going to enforce minmum pricing at the supplier level. However the legislation is framed, there will be loopholes they haven't considered. The obvious one will be to discount food for those who buy an alcoholic beverage; a free Scotch egg with every pint.

    What about supermarket booze pricing?

          2. I strongly believe that village pubs should be kept open. Both of these were due to close for various reasons and the people got behind them. They are both, thankfully, thriving at the moment, but it hasn’t been easy.

    2. And it worked soooo well in Scotland!🤦🏻‍♀️ These people are cretinous!

    3. Most competent teachers will know that the least competent teachers are authoritarians who feel they have to punish their pupils rather than get them to learn anything.

      In a school in which I used to teach the names of all pupils in detention at the weekend were posted on the MCR (Master's Common Room) notice board along with the names of the teachers who had put them there. A colleague of mine decided to open a book and recorded the form of each runner and each rider.

      Some poor pupils appeared several times in each week's list (I remember a boy called Sullivan who was once in the week's detention 6 times) as did some teachers. One teacher who was spectacularly incompetent at actually teaching his subject always headed the list.

      1. This reminds me of the early noughties when No 1 son was given detention. The original crime was to do some sort of eye-roll or not getting up quickly enough at the start of assembly (I forget) but the aggravated offence was a bit of extremely mild back-chat. At the time, my son was over 18 and nearly 6 ft 4. The master who gave him detention was a newly arrived midget who was probably less than 5 years older. The master clearly felt at such a disadvantage in an independent school where boys were used to being treated like adults that he was driven to behave like a prototype Starmer.
        I don’t think it did the teacher too much good with the headmaster who was forced to arrange detention for an adult for a bit of the sort of behaviour that could have been witnessed many times a day in every class, but some younger kids saw my son as a hero. There was a lesson to be learned but not by my son.

    4. Minimum alcohol pricing will not affect prices in pubs. A G&T is already around £5 so raising the min price from 50p to 65p for a single measure (One unit of alcohol) is not going to change things. The change is aimed at supermarket sales where a bottle of spirits will go up from a minimum of £20 a litre to around £26 with the proposed increase. Nanny state really does not want you oldies getting your tipples at home on the cheap.

      1. The differential in duty between on- and off-sales has been a big factor in the decline of pubs.

        1. I have booze cruises to England from the republic of Wales. But now you can bring back 4 litres of Duty free spirits so I have enough gin to comatose a small town.

  17. Good morning. What a lovely day on the internet as the lights go out….

    Adrian Dittmann

    @AdrianDittmann
    BREAKING: Brazil's Supreme Court says anyone using a VPN to access X will be fined up to $8,874 a day

    2. Musk has tweeted that he is keeping his starlink system over Brazil active, and it will be free of charge to existing users whilst Brazil continues to deprive citizens of free speech.

      1. Simon Goddek bought a remote place in Brazil to ride out the storm. He is active on Twitt. Wonder what he will do now.

  18. Good morning all.
    A pleasant, bright start to the day with 6½°C on the Yard Thermometer.
    Dr. Daughter is expected this morning, she's coming down for the 50th anniversary of Scarthin Books that is run by the father of one of her friends.

  19. ‘Meloni Method’ — Italian PM Hailed as Illegal Migration Drops by 64 Per Cent over Last Year

    https://media.breitbart.com/media/2024/08/GettyImages-1243511804-2-640×480.jpg
    Dividends have begun to pay off for Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s migration strategy as figures have shown a near-two-thirds reduction of illegal arrivals over last year.

    Statistics released this week by the Italian Interior Ministry showed that 41,530 illegal immigrants landed on the country’s coasts since the start of the year.

    While still historically high, the figure represents a 64 per cent decline over the same period last year, when 114,513 were recorded reaching Italian beaches amid a massive wave of illegals pouring across the Mediterranean from North Africa, particularly Tunisia. The figures also show a drop compared to 2022 when illegal migration was still hampered by the coronavirus.

    There has also been a marked difference in the number of unaccompanied minor arrivals, with 5,044 recorded so far this year, compared to 18,820 in 2023.

    Meloni has faced criticism at home and abroad for failing to implement a hardline approach to illegal migration, having campaigned on a naval blockade in the Mediterranean but instead choosing to opt for diplomatic solutions through Brussels mechanisms, working closely with EU chief Ursula von der Leyen to negotiate deals with countries like Tunisia and Egypt to crack down on people smuggling networks in exchange for European aid.

    Deals with Tunisia and Libya have also been paying off in the repatriation of illegals, with 5,000 already being sent back to Libya this year and 4,000 being sent back to Tunisia since January.

    Meloni has also negotiated a bilateral deal with Albania to open up asylum processing centres to process their claims rather than allowing them to remain in Italy while awaiting a decision. Although this deal has yet to come into effect, it is not expected to begin within the coming weeks, the threat of being sent abroad by Italian authorities has been credited as playing a deterrent role for further illegal arrivals.

    Meloni’s government has also sought to strengthen laws at home, including increased penalties for people smugglers and migrant boat captains, restricting the right to work for some asylum seekers, and a crackdown on pro-open borders NGOs, whom the government accuses of aiding people smugglers transport migrants to Europe.

    Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi, an ally of immigration hardliner Deputy PM Matteo Salvini, has described the approach as a “360-degree strategy” by the government to reduce illegal immigration.

    Piantedosi said earlier this month that the next priority of the government will be to launch “financial investigations to combat the criminal organizations that manage migrant trafficking.”

    Although Meloni’s strategy seems to be paying off for Italy, it has coincided with a surge in illegal migration to fellow Mediterranean EU nations, with landings surging by 155 in socialist-run Spain and 222 per cent in Greece this year, according to France’s Le Figaro.

    The Italian PM’s relative success has seen her support solidify, with her Brothers of Italy party surging to 28.8 per cent of the vote in June’s European Parliament elections, a fourfold increase over the previous election in 2019 and surpassing the 26 per cent won in the 2022 Italian elections when she came to power. Having personally led her party in the EU elections, Meloni has also cemented herself as a major power player in Brussels, now leading the third-largest coalition within the bloc.

    Commenting on the success in driving down illegal immigration, Marion Maréchal, an MEP in Meloni’s European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) and niece to French populist leader Marine Le Pen, wrote on X: “The Meloni method works! Against immigration, there is no inevitability, we can act to stop the arrival of migrants on European shores.”

    1. Amazing how all these EU countries which have to sign up to all sorts of human rights baloney can get to grips with the invading hordes.

      2. But our spineless politicians from both the Conservative, Labour and Lib/Dem parties do not want to solve the problem – they actually want Britain to be swamped and overrun by immigration.

    2. Giorgia Meloni is —without a shadow of a doubt — the best thing to happen to Italy since Marco Polo.

      1. On the subject of tough female prime ministers, Worm Sturmer can't bear the painted gaze of Maggie boring into him.

        1. The painting clearly upsets the gauche and charmless tyrant –

          Such men as these be never at heart's ease
          When they behold a greater than themselves.

          [Julius Caesar's comment on the lean and hungry Cassius]

    4. Ah, but she's been making deals with Tunisia, Egypt and Alba who appear to be keeping their words. We have to deal with France…

  20. Elon Musk: ‘Probably Wise to for Me to Limit’ Travel After Arrest of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov

    Elon Musk says it’s “probably wise” for him “to limit” his travels to areas where free speech is “constitutionally protected.” The X owner’s comments come after Telegram CEO Pavel Durov was arrested in France in connection to a “lack of moderation” on his messaging app.

    “Probably wise to for me to limit movements to countries where free speech is constitutionally protected,” Musk said in a response to an X user who suggested that he “consider the implications” of his travels in the wake of the arrest of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov in France.

    “While I hate caving to bullies, given the developments in France, Brazil, the UK and elsewhere, please consider the implications of your travels, @elonmusk,” the X user wrote to Musk.

    “Your safety is paramount for the future of innovation and free speech and we need your continued vision and leadership,” the X user added.

    Notably, Durov was arrested last week after his private jet landed at Le Bourget Airport in France. The Telegram CEO is being accuse of “various violations of his encrypted messaging service,” which French authorities say stem from a “lack of moderation” of his platform.

    Musk reacted to Durov’s arrest, calling it an “ad for the First Amendment” that is “very convincing.”

    The SpaceX CEO also wrote “Dangerous times” in response to another X user that pointed out the different ways in which “Free speech is under attack all across the globe.”

    French President Emmanuel Macron responded to the abundance of X users calling out France over Durov’s arrest, insisting his country “is deeply committed to freedom of expression” and that arresting the Telegram CEO was “in no way a political decision.”

    “It would be helpful to the global public to understand more details about why he was arrested,” Musk wrote in response to Macron’s X post.

    Like Durov, Musk has also been under attack for hosting free speech on his social media platform.

    A few weeks ago, the EU demanded that Musk abide by Brussels’ speech restrictions during his uncensored interview with former President Donald Trump on X.

    Thierry Breton, the European Commission’s chief censorship czar, sent Musk a letter claiming that his interview with Trump could result in the “dissemination of content that may incite violence, hate and racism,” and threatened to deploy all powers available to him under the Digital Services Act (DSA) against X if any breaches of EU speech restrictions transpire during the interview.

    1. can we safely put to bed the idea that any sane man would set up a factory in UK..

      Wales hunts for a site for Elon Musk's first Tesla factory in the UK..

    2. We probably ought to ban the Boss (Geoff G) from travelling within the M25 lest he be captured and held hostage by enemy forces. At the very least, he shouldn't travel there without a full escort of catapult armed NoTTLers.

      1. Would a cricket bat do? We have loads as Mr Sapola has a rooted objection to disposing of any bat, regardless of how bad the condition 🙄

  21. Wordle 1,169 3/6

    🟨⬜⬜⬜🟨
    🟩⬜⬜⬜🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    A huge one for me today, first time ever!!! Cornflakes to celebrate 😀

      1. Most things are, lacoste. Got to show my divots at last tho, Kate (glad I have the proof to show famalam)…….

  22. Delivered courtesy of a friendly local milkman.

    SIR – I disagree with the notion that home delivery for milk is out of fashion (Magazine, August 24).

    I used to buy milk from the supermarket but when my husband was in hospital last year the nice man in the next bed was our local milkman. We now get fresh organic milk delivered three times a week.

    The litre bottles have screw tops and are very useful for storing homemade elderflower cordial.

    Alexandra Elletson
    Marlborough, Wiltshire

    I have some news for you, you airhead, ALL milk is organic! It is not made of chalk and water, you dozy cow, and it has certainly not been treated with weedkiller. Also, most milk sold in screw-top bottles is disgusting UHT milk which has had all the flavour boiled out of it.

    The use of the term 'organic' is nothing more than an idiotic and pointless marketing stratagem used, primarily, to get you stump out more than you need to.

      1. I get mine delivered by the Tesco van once a week. I'm lucky if it doesn't go off after 5 days

        1. Try filtered milk – I bet Tesco does their own version. It lasts much longer and doesn’t taste like UHT.

          2. Cravendale is a brand of filtered milk that Tesco may have (but the supermarkets do tend to have their own brand as well). I started getting it during lockdown.

    2. I grew up on fresh unpasteurised milk delivered from the local farm. I think it may have had longterm health benefits as I have very rarely had any illness.

      1. Exactly. Un-mucked about milk is a health food. Has been since cow's were first milked.

      2. The first time I had milk straight from the cooler (aged 18), I thought it had gone off – it tasted really strongly of, well, milk. Up to then, I was used to milk in stubby glass bottles…

      3. Caroline used to give our farmer neighbour's sons extra out of school English and French lessons.

        In return René gave us as much milk as we wanted and I went up to the farm to collect unpasteurised, unsterilised, delicious real milk.

      4. The act of pasteurisation is intended to remove nasties such as botulism and e-coli that can creep into the milk, especially if the milker or machine is a bit lax over hygiene. It is all too easy for the suckers to dip momentarily over a pile of muck when changing cows, or the teats themselves may not have been properly washed.

        What it also does though is to kill off many extremely benign substances that would offer protection against disease and fortify the calf, but which are equally beneficial to humans.

        One other factor which I have heard in the past is that milk that has become contaminated by nasties rapidly goes off, and is detected as a bad taste or smell quite quickly and avoided. Pasteurised milk however can smell and taste fresh for weeks.

        2. The milk was from tb free cows but not pasteurised. Though as a child I was quite prone to infections- especially ear nose and throat troubles. Also had tonsils out and appendix. As an adult, apart from breast cancer 27 years ago I’ve had good health.

    4. I must disagree with you and your upticker supporters here.

      'Organic' means several different things. In chemistry, it means anything to do with carbon, which is a unique element with many complex compounds, many of which extremely useful to man and essential to life.

      When it comes to farming, it is not a marketing stratagem at all but has a defined meaning. In order to produce a viable crop, the soil must be fertilised with plant nutrients, or the yield is inadequate and harvests fail.

      In the past, this was well understood and manures and composts were found to improve the condition of the soil and therefore bring yields up to levels that could sustain a farm.

      In the 20th century however, it was found that these plant nutrients could be manufactured artificially and spread over the land with considerably less effort and with far greater yields that was ever possible using traditional methods.

      However, later on in the 20th century, a movement grew up after a discovery that these artificial fertilisers were having a catastrophic impact on the soil itself, as well as the wildlife around, some of which beneficial creatures responsible at the very least for pest control, processing of waste and the transmission of trace nutrients essential to human health, but little considered conventionally, as well as the avoidance of toxins, which in small doses were not lethal, but did affect human health mildly "being constantly under the weather" a oft-repeated symptom.

      This movement studied plant nutrition, and argued that the direct application of plant nutrients to the soil and the elimination of pests using various poisons should be replaced by a method that applies these nutrients and controls pests indirectly. Feed the soil rather than the crop, and the soil will then take care of the crop better than man could. This philosophy than acquired the official term "organic", and is how it is understood today.

      These ideas were rubbished by many, especially those in the pharmaceutical industries whose corporate profits may be affected. Also by householders, since there was a trade-off in yield that inevitably put up prices out of competitive reach without further subsidy.

      1. My point is that it is a word that has been hijacked by the food industry to be used to sell their produce — to dupes — at inflated prices. ‘Organic’ milk and bog-standard milk are both … organic!

        1. As I said, it is both a chemical term and an agricultural term, and they mean different things.

          I agree with you about marketing hype though. 'Greenwashing' they call it. I went to look for some bog roll made from recycled paper since on principle, I don't feel I should wiping my bottom with something good enough to write to Granny on, and don't care whether it is as shiny white as the teeth of an Americanized (sic) celebrity or as soft as a labrador puppy.

          I couldn't find any in my local supermarket, but they had at inflated prices stacked up stuff market "RECYCLED PACKAGING" hoping that customers would assume the paper itself was recycled.

          In Lidl, I even saw an exclusion clause in the small print on something claiming to be Fair Trade "up to 100% of this may be non-compliant with stated standard". Well, that makes it ok then?

          1. Who Gives a Crap. That's where we get our bog rolls from and we are flushed with pride.

          2. I had a part time job in a grocers when I was at school, a woman came in and was buying some toilet rolls. She said "Have you got any coloured ones?" (they did make them) to which my reply was "Does it matter, they all come out the same colour in the end" She complained to the manager and I got a bollocking although he was stifling a laugh at the same time.

          3. I’ve tried it. What is annoying is the small size of the sheets, which are not large enough to wipe properly. Also, like most brands these days, they may be SuperSoft, but they come apart in my fingers and dissolve to nothing if they get wet.

    5. I assume that it means the cows are fed on certified organic pasture land, hay or whatever.

  23. Good Moaning.
    Grey, chilly morning, so the windmills are doing their thing.
    We is all saved from the fiery furnace.

  24. I’ve been reading, simultaneously, the life stories of football greats Jack Charlton and Brian Clough. These were real men, who could and should have been appointed as England manager in those barren years of the Seventies and Eighties. Although both had a proven track record on and off the field, they were regarded as too awkward and lacking in diplomacy for the top job. The FA, decades before the wokery of Southgate and Gary Lineker, always played safe.
    https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/clough-and-charlton-footballs-real-men/

    An interesting article in the Conservative Woman today about the emasculation of football specifically and of men in general.

    Jack Charlton is probably more fondly remembered than Brian Clough who had great success as a manager. I remember an occasion when Clough was attacked by a spectator and the joke report was : Fan hits the shit!

    1. Fun fact: the one liner originated from Revolver (TV Series 1978) hosted by Peter Cook who each week reviewed the best of the upcoming punk rock bands.. and referred to the man at a Sex Pistols concert who attacked Sid Vicious as.. "a rare instance of the fan hitting the shit."

      Lastly, oldie but goodie Cloughie story.
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beNb9OcJ5LE

      1. 392732+ up ticks,

        Morning Ped,
        ,
        Which leaves us with only one option in such cases, and on the side of decent freedom loving peoples, to be
        BIGGER BALL BREAKING BASTARDS

        Starting in this case with converting this mussie chap into "Jake the Peg" by inserting the stock of the thrashing implement up his skirt and into his rear exit.

      2. 392732+ up ticks,

        Afternoon Ped,

        In our own quaint way and to protect our way of life be
        BIGGER BASTARDS shying away from this odious issue only encourages much more of the same.

        1. 392732+ ticks,

          O2O,
          We should really convert the thrasher into "jake the peg," by inserting the thrashing implement up his dress and into his rear exit.

    1. Thanks – the forecast is promising so we're hoping for a good day. It's a small event but next Sunday we have the last outdoor one of the season and it's a big one.

  28. Good morrow, Gentlefolk. Today’s (recycled) story

    Headlines from the American Papers – or how not to use English!
    Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash, Expert Says
    Police Begin Campaign to Run Down Jaywalkers
    Safety Experts Say School Bus Passengers Should Be Belted
    Drunk Gets Nine Months in Violin Case
    Survivor of Siamese Twins Joins Parents
    Farmer Bill Dies in House
    Iraqi Head Seeks Arms
    Stud Tires Out
    Panda Mating Fails; Veterinarian Takes Over
    Soviet Virgin Lands Short of Goal Again
    British Left Waffles on Falkland Islands
    Lung Cancer in Women Mushrooms
    Eye Drops off Shelf
    Reagan Wins on Budget, But More Lies Ahead
    Squad Helps Dog Bite Victim
    Enraged Cow Injures Farmer with Axe

  30. Yep, they've been chem-trailing.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a79917bf7da3ddf8803c757a75630b3a724fffe18d47a7a38bfa175f8e8eaac1.png

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/08/31/how-taxpayers-cash-funnelled-climate-manipulation/

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2637d8962e4773fca5eb1e424fdafa23c7fa74be8568c09641960f226229fef3.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/abc4eba8f7f63191be254752711887e1e40843a075b9687206e474564d24019e.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7beec599653df0cb0ab31633d5476247b445583547538e3a375426d559ce1da6.png

    1. Not many years ago, we had summers where the TV weather forecasters would happily proclaim a "tropical night" – where the temperatures would remain above 25C. There was little rain, and warnings of forest fire peril; about 5-6 years ago, there was so little rain that the river that runs by Firstborn's farm dried up, and we were concerned for his borehole water supply.
      Not been the case for 2-3 years now. I have been wearing my lambswool jumper much of the summer, the rain has been both cold and biblical, no tropical nights. and the bees really struggle to make honey it's so chilly. Haven't even sat out with a G&T more than twice this "summer".
      Global fucking warming, my arse.
      And, the eejits want to make it colder? So, more OAPs drop off their perches because the kind government have removed a minuscule heating allowance? Hand the PTB, every effing one of them.

      2. They are plain wicked. We are sleepwalking into global mass famine. Russia is actively stepping up their food production.

  31. Good mooning . . . Impressive!
    Wordle 1,169 3/6

    🟩🟩⬜⬜⬜
    🟩🟩🟩⬜🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. A few missed shots here…
      Wordle 1,169 5/6

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

  32. A quicker way to shop

    SIR – People who decry the introduction of self-service checkouts (Letters, August 26) have, quite simply, forgotten the day when they went for a bag of sugar and had to wait behind four families each paying for their weekly shop.

    David Webster
    Bath, Somerset

    Quite right, Mr W. And even if you have a small basket of goods, those behind you give you the hurry-up while you pack your bag as the items are hurled at you at high speed by the till operator.

    There have been some tense exchanges…

    1. There used to be checkouts for "10 items or less" (which should have read "10 items or fewer").

    2. Right You Oldies

      remember the old shops

      Tins of Biscuits on racks infront of the counter
      Shop assistants weighed out every thing by hand
      No 'bar code scanning, all prices entered in the till by fingers
      Later, the tills could add up the total cost
      Ready Reckoners used to calculate item weight costs, which were in Lbs and Ozs
      Butter, cheese etc cut off blocks
      No shopping trollies
      Paid for by Cash or Cheque: no credit/debit cards
      At the CWS (now Co-op) you got your Divi

        1. Green shield stamps were the cause of much family tension while out motoring as my father would not buy petrol from any garage that did not give at least quadruple stamps. One night we almost ran out of petrol in dark woodland near Rochester. You could have cut the atmosphere with a knife.

        2. Green shield stamps were the cause of much family tension while out motoring as my father would not buy petrol from any garage that did not give at least quadruple stamps. One night we almost ran out of petrol in dark woodland near Rochester. You could have cut the atmosphere with a knife.

      4. I remember that – and the cashier sitting high up behind a glass screen to whom the little metal containers whizzed across from the counter.

    3. The supermarkets I go to must buck the trend. If people only have one or two items the shopper in front will invariably ask, "have you only got that?" and on receiving the affirmative, says "then go ahead of me." Provided, of course, their massive shop hasn't already started to be checked out.

  33. Disappearing insects

    SIR – The decline in the insect population is becoming worrying.

    This year I have not had a single wasp joining us for an alfresco lunch, when in years gone by we would be visited by at least three or four of the little blighters.

    The light above our outdoor dinner table in the evenings was previously an unmissable attraction for every flying insect for miles around. This year, not a single one.

    While this of course makes for more enjoyable mealtimes, one further phenomenon is cause for real concern. The bats that feed on the insects have all but disappeared. It appears that the food chain is already in danger.

    Barclay Miller
    Edinburgh

    Come along now, Mr B. Bats don't eat wasps.

    1. Whether bats eat wasps or not it appears that here, in the Deep South, bats have almost disappeared.

      Anybody got a sensible explanation?

      2. The cool wet weather for most of the years. I think we’ll recorded over millennia of feast and famine.
        They’ll be back.

    2. Inseccts are now the staple food of the Wokeratti.

      Fly/insect killing sprays will be deemed illegal and anyone caught swatting such things will be classed aas Right Wing and jailed

    3. I heard some scratching in my attic, and opened the hatch to investigate. A large wasp flew out. I shined a torch and found a large nest, about 18 inches round, hanging from the rafters. No doubt they thoroughly appreciated my shredded paper loft insulation as well as all the fruit I never had time or energy living alone to get round to harvesting.

      I have a peace agreement with my house wasps – they do not bother me, and I do not bother them. They know that I am no threat to them, and whatever language they use, probably a version of semaphore and pheronomes, they rarely sting unless I sit on one, and when I find one in my bedroom, I open the window and give a queenie wave and she flies out.

      They are supposed to abandon their nests in October to hibernate their surviving queens, so I am inclined to leave that nest be and not put anything in the attic now until winter.

      1. We found the most beautiful deserted wasps' nest in our old house.
        The subtle colours and the intricacy of the nest were … well, beautiful
        We had no idea the wasps were there; they got on with their lives, we got on with ours.
        I know they can be a pain, but ever since I sat in a deck chair and heard, then spotted, a wasp diligently scraping at the wood support beside my head to take home building materials, I have viewed them in a very different light.
        We also, one summer, had a rare type of wasp – much smaller and darker – build their nest in a shrub by the front door. The nest was not much larger than a tennis ball, and they had a little tube like entrance at the base of the nest. Again, they were no bother.

        1. I had one hanging from a branch of the trees lining my drive. Amazing structure but apparently they never return to the same nest. I haven't seen many this year in fact there are more bees than wasps which is unusual

      1. The Flat-head Fat Controller doesn't approve of that.
        https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/c4492905-73b6-414c-afc8-3d21369582ba/dfqqn2l-86a552cd-752b-4475-b06a-2cbc2307d26b.png/v1/fill/w_1031,h_775,q_70,strp/tfc10_by_crovanworks_dfqqn2l-pre.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9ODM3IiwicGF0aCI6IlwvZlwvYzQ0OTI5MDUtNzNiNi00MTRjLWFmYzgtM2QyMTM2OTU4MmJhXC9kZnFxbjJsLTg2YTU1MmNkLTc1MmItNDQ3NS1iMDZhLTJjYmMyMzA3ZDI2Yi5wbmciLCJ3aWR0aCI6Ijw9MTExMyJ9XV0sImF1ZCI6WyJ1cm46c2VydmljZTppbWFnZS5vcGVyYXRpb25zIl19.J0Emdq25Uz4k9wGybjW5ivI8DukRuGQ0N_f6nTQJomE

          1. When we last heard from him, he was (very) extensively revamping his sisters house.
            p.s. Scrutineer?

          2. ‘Scrutineer’ might, indeed, be the correct term; but it was not what Gavin called himself.

  35. Surely, the way to put ticket touts out of business is to charge more for the tickets in the first place. Pop concerts are not among life's necessities .

      2. Seeing The Who in the Trade Union Hall in Watford in about 1966 cost me 4/6d. That’s 22.5 pence in new money if you’re too young to remember pre-decimal !

        1. You rich b'tds – My first regular wage was £1/10/- a week, living in (cellar bedroom in the hotel) 10 to 16 hours per day including Sundays.

  36. Morning all 🙂😊
    Grey today and not what was forecast.
    Oh well it's our 50th wedding anniversary and a large gathering for family and friends.

    Our new government has surfaced as unessesarily viciously vindictive.
    I'm not a smoker nor do I know any, but it seems they are he'll bent on stopping people living their chosen lives. What will they come up with next ?
    Kneeling as a relaxing past time ?

    2. Congratulations on 50 years! Have a great day and enjoy a celebratory drink before the meddling killjoy Starmer gets to hear about it.

    4. Repeated congratulations.
      As I'm 2nd time round I'm a decade and a half behind you.

    5. Congratulations.
      You've done the FAST. Fifty and still together.
      Now do the FEAST Fifty enjoyed and still trying.
      Enjoy your day.

    7. Congorats, Eddy, and best wishes for many more. Here's a clue to your question 'Free Speech'….we should all be on our guard…

    9. Happy Golden Wedding Day you you and your wife. A marvellous achievement in this day and age. Not many will achieve this in the future.
      Have a super day with your family.

        1. Well done to both of you. We’ve been married 56 years. Daughter 34 years tomorrow and son 24 years.

          1. Hi Alf

            We are also 56 years married .

            The people we knew and mingled with when we were younger are no longer together , we have very few long term married friends .

            When Moh and I played golf in our thirties , the trend then was for divorce / separation etc .

            It was very upsetting and worrying .

            The golf club we belonged to in those days when we were much younger appeared to be a place where bods congregated to meet and greet new partners , and I was a rarity being one of a few still married in our thirties ..

            These days , Moh plays a lot of golf , and the older senior male players who are still married are a rarity .

          2. Our bowls club has two couples who have been married 60+ years and 3 or 4 married 50+ years. My two sisters were married over 50 years as were mum and dad. My 2 brothers didn’t as my eldest brother died and he’d been married 48 years and my other brother liked marriage so much he did it 3 times. 😉

    10. Yo RE

      Kneeling as a relaxing past time ?

      Only if on kneeling on one knee and doing it in support of blm

      1. Only when you see yourself as a PM. And as long as you don't bang your head on the floor.

  37. Good morning all

    Chilly morning , cloudy, feels like the end of August !!

    Letters ..

    Disappearing insects
    SIR – The decline in the insect population is becoming worrying.

    This year I have not had a single wasp joining us for an alfresco lunch, when in years gone by we would be visited by at least three or four of the little blighters.

    The light above our outdoor dinner table in the evenings was previously an unmissable attraction for every flying insect for miles around. This year, not a single one.

    While this of course makes for more enjoyable mealtimes, one further phenomenon is cause for real concern. The bats that feed on the insects have all but disappeared. It appears that the food chain is already in danger.

    Barclay Miller
    Edinburgh

    I have a theory .. Steet lights , security lights , swathes of lit up areas attract but distract the moths , thus stopping them from feeding and laying their eggs etc ..

    Yes I know street lights are on timers , but domestic lights , built up areas , homes with out gardens , tarmac on front driveways , no greenery , lack of trees , blah blah blah .. all nocturnal insects are vanishing, and bats are having a difficult time as are Nightjars as well.

      1. Thank you for that link , William .

        First time I have seen that sort of evidence , shocking news really .

        I have twittered that link , so I hop more people will be able to access it .

      2. IMHO it is the intensity of the modern LED which causes the damage, not traditional filament or sodium lamps.

    2. You are so right, Belle. I've been away for a week/10 days, usually on return I find many dead insects, not so this time. And only a few wasps. Not a single butterfly this year. I suspect weather too dry when eggs were laid, welcome other suggestions. Still have the pipistrelles, in a different part of the roof, I hear them but not see them, just their droppings – suspect numbers way down. Not seen/heard a nightjar for some years.

    3. The windows of my bathroom are constantly battered at night by moths. It's like the Haunting of Toby Jugg!

      1. You are so lucky, here on the edge of ag land, nothing much .. Working farms , sprayed fields etc ..

        One Elephant Hawkmoth a couple of weeks ago, and that is it!

        1. Unfortunately, our ag land is rapidly being built over – housing estates, solar "farms", anaerobic digesters … We are becoming an urban wasteland.

  38. Just back from the Supermarket. While I was there a shoplifter (Irish accent. Young. Feral.) was detained by a plain clothes (Shorts, T. Shirt, Sandals.) cop. The perp didn’t give up easily. It was a continual struggle (no handcuffs) to hold him while they waited for the Uniforms. Several things occurr to me from this incident. The in house security guard (Bespectacled, Five foot six) would be no match in any contest. That the wrongdoer is experienced. He knew if he could get away he would be clear. That he would not be alone. That there must be a gang in the area. That he would almost certainly be out on the streets by tomorrow.

    Such is the modern UK.

    1. Even before shoplifting became an epidemic the security guards at my local little shopping centre were useless. Someone snatched some jewellery from H. Samuels. The assistant ran out and called security to chase them. They didn't. Apparently it wasn't their job to stop shoplifting. Their job was to protect the building.

      2. Simply not worth getting stabbed when employed on minimum wage on behalf of some multi-billion pound enterprise. One could always grab a sample of the thief's DNA, either from its hair skin or blood.

    2. It's many places, Araminta, just as you suggest. Careful with wallets, bags, credit cards, cash…everyone.

    2. Problem being Prof, for the ederly who 'back in the day' probably spent many collective hours keeping fit. Now have joints that are so worn-out and painful they find it impossible to walk more than a few yards without immense difficulty.

      2. When I first started my daily walk with a target of 3000 steps a day the lampposts were 64 steps apart. Now they are only 57!

      3. I know the problem. Only using good quality olive oil has helped us both.Rape seed oil is not good. its a brassica.

    3. How do you stop obesity in the general (gormless) public?

      Obesity is caused by the consumption of sugar; carbohydrates (i.e. sugar); alcohol (i.e. sugar); ultra-processed crap sold as 'food'; and seed oils. Stop eating all that shit and you will never get obese (or ill).

      1. You are indeed my husband, Grizz, and I claim my chocolate….seriously, you are correct – Carnivore Diet is the way to go, even GP agrees 🙂

        1. What annoys me is that every week, in the Saturday Telegraph, there is a column telling you to stop eating meats and using animal fats and eat more sugar-laden crap, seed-oils and carbs. The paper is evidently funded heavily by the global corporations. The same corporations who donate millions to Harvard and other seats of learning to produce ‘research’ showing that ‘their’ food is good. These outright lies have been told since the early 1980s and the incidence of chronic ill-health has accelerated as a direct result.

    1. And that is only the channel service. There are thousands more arriving weekly via false claims to asylum, hidden in vehicles and through false employment, higher education rackets and family connections. As Musk said, unless it is stopped, it will end up with civil war.

      1. From Coffee House, the Spectator

        A trade deal with Germany can only mean one thing
        Comments Share 28 August 2024, 10:35am
        Britain will not be rejoining the EU, the single market nor the customs union – that ship has sailed, and all we seek now is a closer relationship with the EU. So Keir Starmer assures those who feel a little suspicious about his multiple meetings with Olaf Scholz in the weeks since becoming Prime Minister, the latest of which took place this morning. All he seeks, he says, is a better trade deal which would allow better access to EU markets for UK firms.

        Maybe Starmer dreams at night of being paraded through the streets of Brussels as the man who engineered Britain’s return to the EU
        Maybe Starmer dreams at night of being paraded through the streets of Brussels as the man who engineered Britain’s return to the EU. He did, after all, continue to press for a second referendum right up until the point at which it became too late. I don’t know what is going through his mind, but I do know one thing for sure: the EU is not going to be making any concessions on trade without doing as it continually tried to do throughout the Brexit negotiations: to attempt to bring the UK back within the EU’s regulatory orbit.

        As an unnamed source quoted in the Times this morning puts it, Starmer must ‘realise that any access to the EU’s single market comes with obligations on mobility and alignment with European laws, on food safety for example.’ It should be pretty clear what that would mean: an end to the very limited areas of divergence which Britain has effected, such as creating a more favourable regulatory environment for the gene-editing of crops.

        The EU already appears to be pressing for a deal which would give the under-30s from the EU the right to live and work in Britain for up to three years – which would be reciprocal. It would be free movement lite, in other words. While many young people in Britain would welcome that it does rather raise the question: would it simply mean the return of large numbers of Eastern Europeans travelling to Britain to take up low-paid jobs and thus suppressing wages for UK workers? That is, after all, one of the pressures which led to the Brexit vote in the first place.

        But there is a very big question mark hanging over Starmer’s visit to Berlin. Why, if he says he is seeking to improve trade with the EU, does he seem to be seeking a unilateral treaty with Germany? He is in the wrong city – he should be in Brussels. Quite clearly, trade deals are an EU competence. No individual member state is allowed to do its own trade deal – that is what the Customs Union is all about. Whatever comes of Starmer’s agreement with Scholz, it isn’t going to include anything which makes it easier for us to trade with Germany. The most he can hope for is instigating a process which leads to negotiations with the EU – at which point Emmanuel Macron can be guaranteed to take a far harder line than Scholz.

        But it shouldn’t be any surprise that Germany is keen to talk trade with Britain. Germany is the EU economy which is most in need of an economic boost. The Germany economy shrank by 0.1 per cent in the second quarter after a lukewarm 0.2 per cent of growth in the first quarter. By contrast, UK growth was 0.7 per cent followed by 0.6 per cent. Until recently the industrial powerhouse of Europe, Germany’s manufacturing-heavy economy has suffered from high energy prices and competition from China. Car manufacturing – the beating heart of the German economy and a great source of national pride – is way down from its peak in the middle of the last decade.

        Britain, Remainers once told us, would suffer from Brexit far more than other EU countries – we need them more than they need us. With Germany struggling, it is becoming ever harder to sustain that argument.

        1. "return of large numbers of Eastern Europeans travelling to Britain to take up low-paid jobs and thus suppressing wages for UK workers?"
          No you idiots it will mean the invasion of millions of "New Europeans" benefit farming
          See mass invasion of "Dutch" Somalians for more details

        2. If Starmer has said we're not going to rejoin the EU, expect us to be in asap. The man can't lie straight in bed.

  41. I saw a wasp yesterday. First one this year. And there are no street lights within six miles!!

    1. I had lots of honey bees on my lavender yesterday. Now to find the hive so i can rob it.

      2. The git whose bees steal the nectar from my garden has the ruddy cheek to charge around 8 pounds a (small) pot for the resulting honey!

    5. I swatted a fly yesterday – I think it waa heading in the direction of Fakenham! 🤔

      It felt no pane because it dropped off.

  42. Apparently TTStarmer found the portrait of Lady Thatcher unsettling.

    I can imagine why. He knows what he is doing is evil and he knows what Lady Thatcher would have to say about it.

    I hope the lady continues to haunt his miserable life.

    1. That's interesting because it suggests that 2TK has more of a conscience then Blair, Brown, Cameron, May and Johnson.

        1. I have known two real Marxist in my time. By real I mean dedicated, not students waiting to grow up. Both were women and both, in my opinion, were psychopaths. One was a bookkeeper who used her position to steal money for her group, 'Line of March' a Marxist-Leninist organization. When she was caught, she threatened to sue for unfair dismissal, she was so unashamed of her conduct.

          The other taught Marxism at the University of Colorado, Boulder. She had projected all her nastiness and fears into her daughter that the poor girl was was still wetting the bed at 10 years old and was a totally non-functioning wreck whenever her mother was absent. Her mother would become uncontrollably angry if anyone tried to show any concern or care for her daughter. I can't imagine that the daughter is still alive. She would have committed suicide or taken to drugs, I would imagine.

          Marx said that he hoped his philosophy would be a carbuncle on the arse of humanity. Both these women displayed that attitude in abundance. Knowing such people it is not difficult to imagine them murdering people by the millions. Human beings would just be nuisances, like flies, or statistics to be recorded.

          1. Genuine Marxists are very weird, as they are forced, daily to accept that their ideology has utterly failed yet cling to it.

            It must cause them tremendous pain.

      2. Nah, he's ashamed and guilty yet it won't stop his malice. He's just removing the reminder of his stupidity.

      1. Good one, anne…she'd make absolute mincemeat of him, would be a delight to watch, listen and learn…

        1. The problem we have at the moment is so much money has been transferred to the state that it has reinforced the cycle. It has created and enforced a permanent client class of welfare, debt and waste. That group is growing every single year, further pushing free market, libertarian economics aside.

          This is why nothing works. It's why the language of big fat state has changed. It's why people think not hiking a tax is a grand boon for the public 'unfunded' tax cuts, anyone? It's why the state continually grasps ever more power to itself. It has to. It's why demented Lefties think their attitudes are 'centrist' rather than the petulant rantings of ignorant toddlers.

          1. It’s going to get a whole lot worse, and likely to not improve even after next election following Labour re-election. We’re out-numbered.

    3. Imagine having a constant reminder of your failure, incompetence, stupidity and arrogance, evidential proof that your ideology not only always fails, but that the approach the other took worked, and undid all the damage your nutcase ideology is causing?

      Of course he can't bear to look at Lady T. She is a reminder that everything he is doing is stupid, gormless, moronic and doomed to failure, misery and poverty for millions.

      1. I cannot blame anyone who is not a died-in-the-wool Free Market Conservative to feel uneasy in the presence of a rather good likeness of the Iron Lady. It's like asking a Tory to stare at Karl Marx all day.

        It doesn't stop the fellow being stupid, gormless and moronic.

        1. I think I could comfortably look at Marx. He's outside parliament, after all. He's a reminder of the abject failure of Left wingery.

    5. Trying to hunt down a Lady T postcard to send him. Found some Lady T stickers on Amazon with a backdrop of a Union Jack. He'll like that.

        1. As long as she isn't allowed anywhere close to office I don't care. She and her like are an embarrassment.

    2. Wait until they decide to follow the Ontario model and restrict liquor sales to government run outlets. They set the price of a litre of gin at £27 and that is what you pay, no option there.

      We can now buy beer and wine from some grocery stores but the temperance mob are fighting against encouraging such drunkenness.

    2. Great photo, Quitter, one to remind us of the sheer atrocity of war, as parts of Ukraine today testify.

    1. It won't be like that.

      First they'll force digital currency on us – one that accrues no interest.
      Then that will be monitored – your meat ration for date x to y has been exceeded. Further purchases refused.
      Then it'll be 'you withdrew X in cash. Withdrawal rights suspended for 30 days and limited to £5'
      Soon after it'll be energy debits 'you exceeded your permitted energy allowance, Your debit will still be taken but you will be restricted to 5kw per day.'

      I imagine not long after it'll just be 'Your subsistence allowance will be reduced by 50% as you have posted dissident material contrary to state agreement.'

      And on and on in an ever more authoritarian, creepingly abusive oppressive manner.

      This must be stopped and that can only be done by – at the moment – revolution. The state boot on our neck must be cut off at the knee and while it is screaming given the kicking of it's life and never, ever let up again.

      1. This is too important an issue for me not to comment below, and therefore have it on my own Disqus timeline when all else disappears off the scrolling list.

        I would add that whilst you and I often disagree over our conventional political stances – I am considerably to the Left of you, and actually support State intervention when it is genuinely in the national or public interest, and that it needs to be properly funded, I wholeheartedly share your concerns about this creeping authoritarianism.

        On this issue alone, you and I may man the barricades together!

      2. We're more than half way with digital currency, wibbling. Most things are bought with Credit/Debit cards, online and instore. There's a limit to cash withdrawal – and you need a debit card to do that, as many bank branches have now closed (you can get cash if you want it, paying for fuel etc and asking for an amount of cash to go alongside card payment. Supermarkets will also give you I think £50 in cash when paying for shopping. But it's use is dying, many no longer use it.

        1. I keep some cash handy but it lasts quite a while. The supermarkets have stopped offering cash-back but presumably you can still ask for it. I doubt if they have much cash in the tills these days.

          1. Exactly, Ndovu….it’s gradually being withdrawn from service, and I seem to remember BoE not printing as much as previously although that may also be something to do with the advent of ‘plastic paper’ they now use for printing, lasts much longer. Digital crime rising all the time, hence the reason for 6 digit codes etc for online purchases. Just another item in the ‘Controlling the Population’ box, if you have no digital credit you maybe able to survive for a time but not for a long time.

          2. Last year our little charity was more or less forced to go into the digital age by buying a "Sum up" machine to use at events because people just didn't have enough cash to buy things from our stall. It's made things a bit more complicated, especially when it throws a wobbly because the wifi is weak or whatever, but it has paid for itself.

          3. Good news and bad, Ndovu….this is the problem, we quite often have a weak signal hereabouts, sometimes improved by change of mobile. I hope your little charity goes from strength to strength 🙂

          4. Thankyou – we have a little village event tomorrow so I've just loaded up the car. Then a much bigger event the following weekend and then that's for this season. We have one Christmas market in November.

          1. Good for you, Conway…presumably you made a withdrawal from CP? We no longer have any bank branches locally, and the last CP (local garage) was ripped out by thieves a few years ago, using a JCB….

          2. I got a wadge of cash from the bank a few weeks ago so I could "pay some bills" as I told the woman. I'm paying them bit by bit 🙂

    2. Starmer is unable to do anything about proper drug pushers and so he's doing the easier thing: making criminals out of law abiding people, since they're easier to catch.

    4. Arresting on a charge of possesion of B&H with intent to exhale smoke in a public space could be a bit of a fag for the police to deal with.

        1. Spreading cold butter thickly is not easy without ripping the bread. Best to let it come to room temperature first.

          I never keep my butter (or eggs or tomatoes) in the fridge. Always in a butter dish in the kitchen.

          1. I do put it in the fridge if it's not yet in use. Once opened it's in a dish in the kitchen. Tomatoes never in the fridge, but eggs I do.

          2. You only need to do that with American eggs. Store your eggs how they were sold to you.

      3. I like cheddar and marmalade together. On a new loaf still warm all you need is a decent butter. Welsh butter is superb.

        1. A favourite of mine is a marmalade-cheese toastie: marmalade spread on toast , sprinkled liberally with grated cheese and returned to the grill for it to work its magic on the cheese. A sort of sweet-and-sour munch.

          1. I used to buy Ardennes pâté from Morrison’s (or Sainsbury’s) when I were still living in Perfidious Albion. It is worth seeking out.

          2. Had a fall out with a manager once at Sainsburys, never been back (apparently they’re on a rota, trainees change every three months). Morrisons people are the salt of the earth:-) (Some) perfidious staff @ Sainsburys..:-D

          3. The staff at our Morrisons have mostly been there for many years – very good people. I thought Paul the checkout man must have left – then a few weeks ago I found he'd moved to the smokes and vapes counter – they call it the sins. He's always good for a chat.

          4. I shopped at Sainsbury’s for a while through convenience. I stopped when that utter joke of a supermarket chain, Safeway, ceased trading and their local store was taken over by Morrison’s.

          5. I remember that, too. Once had a conversation in store with Sir Ken, a really decent bloke. Supermarkets all vie for customers today, through price/quality. They’re much of a muchness, the big 5. I like to grow my own, but it’s a bit of a lottery…..

          6. Btw, Grizzly – I also like Jason’s Sourdough from Morrisons, not as good as the real thing but fair as replacement…

    2. Very nice. I am struggling finding a decent recipe as they all seem too much dough for my 2lb loaf tin. Though that looks bigger than a 2lb loaf tin?

          1. One can post an e-mail address for 5 minutes then delete it. Or ask Hertslass to put you in touch… She has a list of those NoTTLers willing to divulge their private parts.

  50. I have long contended that government, regardless of stripe, have wanted to shut down pubs as a danger to their power. It is not healthy for tyrants that people can meet in a friendly atmosphere and talk freely. Herr Starmenfuhrer is simply following in the footsteps of those who precede him but, being a fanatic, he is not interested in being subtle about it. ‘If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – for ever.’ Should be his motto.

      2. Compared with when I was a kid, Christmas is already a pale imitation of what it was. We need some sort of revival otherwise Islam will win.

          1. No. The native population of England is still 80% of the population. So there is still a chance.

      3. I retired in 2011, but long before then, Christmas and Easter holidays were cancelled in favour of "Religious Festival" Civil service-speak of course.

  51. I think you may well be right re: funding. The carb diet initially came from America, far as I know, and from heart medics of all people. It’s taken off because carbs of all source are addictive, they’re not as filling to eat and therefore more are consumed and more weight gained. Fortunately, some are now realising what’s really wrong, and changing diet accordingly. I believe I mentioned to you in an earlier post, our GP seems to have changed/is changing his mind on diet – the more the merrier.

      1. Ah yes, the magical Corn Flakes – raised on them, easy for me to get my own breakfast age 5…at least it was with full milk…

          1. Indeed, Grizzly. Would like to ask you – what’s your thinking on what RFKJr has to say about vaccines? I suspect he may well be right, and improved child health is due to living conditions and not vaccines, which he thinks are dangerous. As ever, no problem if you’d rather not say, or don’t have an opinion whichever way:-)

    2. It was the ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamians, around 10,000 years ago, who first started agriculture and the growing and eating of carbohydrates in the form of vegetables and cereal crops. Tests on their bones showed just how disease-ridden and obese they had become.

  53. Good news from a day out at Lords yesterday, apart from the foreigners being given a thrashing, my son let me know that you are allowed to take in a bottle of wine and 2 cans. However, the other UK grounds prohibit importation of sustenance. Mind you, given the standard of checking I could have probably sneaked in an AK47 without a problem. Failing that, you pay £7.50 for a pint and £12 for a Pimms, plenty of people seemed to be doing just that. I left for the bus home just before one of the MCC was hit on the bonce by a six.

    1. I buy 4 pint bottles of good beer for £7 and I can drink at home. Never go to pubs anymore.

      2. That's sad, Johnny.
        I've recently discovered an English-style pub a mile or 2 away from home here in Norway, where the publican will order (bottled) beer of your choice from his wholesaler. So, I get to drink Fullers London Pride, and have on order for the winter, ESB. He's also ordered Thatchers Cider (on back order), and a number of expats drink there – the craic is pretty good. Shout out for the Sandvika Sportsbar. I'll buy all Y'all a bevvy if you come over.

    2. £12 for a Pimms! I can buy a bottle for that! The last one I bought was discounted and only £9.99!

  54. I am beginning to wonder if Starmer and Corbyn were in it together from the very start.

    They both knew that Corbyn was unelectable so Starmer was able to present himself as a moderate and less threatening socialist/communist. The deal is that when Starmer has had enough of being PM he will stand aside and let Corbyn take over!

    Rubbish?

    But didn't Blair and Brown have a deal like that – only Blair didn't keep his side of the bargain and if the hypothesis is true then Starmer will renege too!

    1. Well spotted Mr T. Starmer will gradually morph into Corbyn, and as with pig and man (Orwell) we'll look from one to t'other and not see any difference. Guess where you and I fit into that picture………

  55. Master stroke or folly? Ukraine could pay high price for its Kursk incursion. 31 August 2024.

    The audacious operation has left cities in Donbas exposed to a rapid Russian advance .

    BELOW THE LINE.

    Graham Boyd.

    The Kursk objectives were achieved. They were not just to get Russia to divert troops, if at all.

    Ukraine has already moved the Kara Dag Brigade to Pokrovsk. If Russia can't take it, having
    been occupied in Kursk, this will be the ultimate humiliation for Russia.

    It wasn’t folly it was a mistake. Unfortunately in war such mistakes can be very costly. There is a humorous aspect to it and that is the 77 Brigade trolls like Boyd above, trying to put a positive spin on it.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/08/31/master-stroke-or-folly-ukraine-could-pay-high-price-kursk/

    2. I realise I'm out of line, Araminta – but I think the whole bloody thing is a disaster, and could have been avoided for various reasons, with various actions. For now, sufficient to say I support Trump 'Stop the Killing' – sincerely hope he's re-elected short order.

      1. Afternoon KJ.

        This war was engineered by the United States to further its geopolitical ambitions in Europe. In the time that I have been following it on the Telegraph and Spectator threads I haven’t read one comment calling for a Russian victory. These dissenters from the official line always wanted (blocked by Boris for one) negotiations. Their reward was to be vilified and abused by the Government Trolls who always called for more. More weapons. More blood More lives. They are the true face of Progressive Western Government Policy.

        1. You may well be correct, Araminta (‘afternoon too btw), I suspect arms manufacturers had something to do with it…got to keep those profits rolling in, question is – where next? Should we watch for Johnson travelling somewhere, wonder what his reward has been for Ukraine. I still believe anyone who thinks this war is worth fighting should go to the front line themselves rather than support sending males from other families. Next up – which companies will re-build Ukraine..hmm…quite a few answers…

          1. The Ukrainian government are seeking every and any means to prolong the war with Russia.

            Zelenskyy and his cabal have made billions of dollars and are known to have purchased estates around the world. The longer the conflict goes on the more they will make. These people and their US, EU and UK backers care little for the generation of young Ukrainians lost and injured in the battle fronts.

            Russian decision making in waging war is complicated by historic precedent. The Russian Army is not allowed to make its own decisions in pursuit of victory. Putin is provided with counsel and is given to attritional warfare. This implies a desire to keep casualties of both his army and Ukrainian civilian populations to an absolute minimum. Many in the Russian military would have preferred to get on with the erasure of Ukraine.

            The incursion into Kursk was a gamble and designed to cause panic within the wider Russian population. It was also intended to show those funding the war that Ukraine is capable of continuing its offensive and deserving of more funding.

            Kursk has backfired. Ukraine is losing and will fall in a few weeks from now.

          2. If Russia had waged war against the Ukrainians as it did against Nazi Germany, and I believe it could have had it chosen so to do, the war would probably have been over. Ukraine would be smouldering rubble and there would have been millions of dead and many more millions of refugees.

      2. Afternoon KJ.

        This war was engineered by the United States to further its geopolitical ambitions in Europe. In the time that I have been following it on the Telegraph and Spectator threads I haven’t read one comment calling for a Russian victory. These dissenters from the official line always wanted (blocked by Boris for one) negotiations. Their reward was to be vilified and abused by the Government Trolls who always called for more. More weapons. More blood More lives. They are the true face of Progressive Western Government Policy.

    1. voters think Starmer is shiite..
      still vote t'Labour though..

      no special needs back then.. Go sit on Thick table, we used to say.. That's what Starmer's cabinet is like.. The Thick Table.

  58. Former Democrat Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (HI) offered a detailed explanation for her endorsement of former President Donald Trump’s 2024 White House bid earlier this week on Fox Business’s “Kudlow.”

    DAVID ASMAN: since you and RFK are part of the Trump campaign, explain why did you go with Trump?

    TULSI GABBARD: 'The choice in this election is very clear and the differences between President Trump and Vice President Harris couldn't be more stark. Frankly, to put it simply, the choice for the American people is a choice with Donald Trump, a man who values peace, prosperity, and freedom. He has a record that proves that. And Vice President Kamala Harris, whose record shows an increasingly tyrannical government undermining our freedoms. We are embroiled in multiple wars and the world is closer to the brink of nuclear war than ever before, with increasing economic hardship for Americans throughout the 3½ years she served as Vice President of the United States. The contrast couldn't be more clear.'

        1. I have been reading up on the subject and it is true that a crouch position when defecating is a healthy position as it straightens the colon.

          Of course Westerners are not used to this and to only provide their style of bogs would be an imposition.

          To get around this to get the best of both worlds as it were would be to use a traditional WC but with a small washable plastic foot stool to bring the knees up.

          I still think they are disgusting filthy savages that don't wash often enough…if at all.

        1. Oi, Grizzly! That is strong language, almost as bad as my "Silly Sausage" insults. Lol.

  61. Woman arrested after six hurt in knife attack on bus in Germany. 31 August 2024.

    Three of those attacked are in life-threatening condition, police said on Friday evening.

    The knife attack took place in Siegen, east of Cologne. The bus was on its way to a festival in the town and at least another 40 people were on board when the attack took place at about 7.40pm.

    Police and prosecutors said the six people wounded were aged between 16 and 30 and all were from the region. By Saturday morning, three of them had left the hospital after outpatient treatment.

    Seems like the Germans have caught the British Disease. An inability to speak the truth.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/31/woman-arrested-after-six-hurt-in-knife-attack-on-bus-in-germany

    2. “The knife attack”. Naughty knife. Oh, what’s that…there was someone holding the knife. No…really?

  62. Record 1.6 Million Out of Work Migrants Costing the Taxpayer £8.5 Billion Per Year: Report

    KURT ZINDULKA31 Aug 202428
    3:41
    The British taxpayer is footing the bill for a record number of out-of-work migrants, who are reportedly costing the government up to £8.5 billion per year.

    A record 1,689,000 foreigners are currently unemployed or otherwise “economically inactive” in the UK, according to analysis of government figures by the Centre for Immigration Control. The think tank noted that the current level is the highest in British history, surpassing the previous high in 2012 of 1,628,000.

    Centre for Migration Control researchers calculated that support for unemployed immigrants could cost the taxpayer as much as £8.5 million per year. However, this estimate did not include the costs of asylum seekers and foreign students to the state, meaning the total financial drain of mass migration policies is likely much higher.

    Speaking to the Daily Mail, Robert Bates, Centre for Migration Control research director, said: “For all the talk of a fiscal ‘black hole’, the Labour Government seem to be missing the glaringly obvious fact that mass migration is causing economic pandemonium.

    “There is no reason for us to continue handing out so many long-term visas when we are currently having to bail out over a million migrants who are already in Britain but not working. This is the very definition of a Ponzi scheme, and we will only compound the problem if we do not change course soon.’

    “Our elderly are facing a potentially deadly winter as Keir Starmer cancels the lifeline of the winter fuel allowance, but at the same time he is doing nothing to clamp down on workless migrants.”

    Reform UK leader Nigel Farage added: “The economic arguments for mass migration are over.”

    Meanwhile, the Home Office, the branch of the British government responsible for immigration, has come under fire for repeatedly overspending on its budget for asylum seekers.

    According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), the Home Office’s spending budget over the past three years to pay for asylum, border, and visa management was initially estimated to have been £320 million.

    However, in actuality, the department spent £7.9 billion over the time frame, meaning that the Home Office underestimated its budget by a staggering £7.6 billion.

    The Institute for Fiscal Studies said that this underestimation has continued into this year, accusing the Home Office of presenting a budget that it “knows to be insufficient” for 2024.

    While the think tank acknowledged that costs have risen as a result of the tens of thousands of illegals crossing the English Channel from France and applying for asylum in Britain, the IFS said that the crisis has been happening for several years and therefore the increase in associated costs should have been “entirely foreseeable”.

    IFS research economist Max Warner told the BBC: “When there is a one-off unexpected spike in costs or demand, spending more than was budgeted is entirely understandable. But when it is happening year after year, something is going wrong with the budgeting process.”

    A Home Office spokesman said: “We have been clear the prior approach was to fund the majority of asylum system costs through the Supplementary Estimate. As part of the ongoing Spending Review, in future, we are seeking to include these costs in the Main Estimate.”

      1. Lovely idea, but a friend of mine was assaulted earlier this year, in a busy street in W1. Seriously injured, assailant was foreign and had mental problems. Who would risk a visit to Khanistan?

        1. Black cab door to door. No Rolex. For me this has been a destination restaurant and i doubt i will ever go again.

  63. Modern Grand Solar Minimum will lead to terrestrial cooling
    Valentina Zharkova . . .

    "This discovery of double dynamo action in the Sun brought us a timely warning about the upcoming grand solar minimum 1, when solar magnetic field and its magnetic activity will be reduced by 70%. This period has started in the Sun in 2020 and will last until 2053. During this modern grand minimum, one would expect to see a reduction of the average terrestrial temperature by up to 1.0°C, especially, during the periods of solar minima between the cycles 25–26 and 26–27, e.g. in the decade 2031–2043."

    "The reduction of a terrestrial temperature during the next 30 years can have important implications for different parts of the planet on growing vegetation, agriculture, food supplies, and heating needs in both Northern and Southern hemispheres. This global cooling during the upcoming grand solar minimum 1 (2020–2053) can offset for three decades any signs of global warming and would require inter-government efforts to tackle problems with heat and food supplies for the whole population of the Earth."
    [My bold]

  64. I didn’t know that, Grizzly – but it could explain the strange almost pregnant looks of some of the (male) Pharaohs, what do you think? And then there’s the in-breeding to consider….

  65. "Two people attacked at Notting Hill Carnival die from injuries"

    Makes Southport seem quite peaceful, doesn't it? Wonder when the Pencil Monitor and Cur Ikea Slammer will denounce the "carnival" for the drug-filled racket that it is?

        1. Nah, they’ll ignore it and go with the story about touts reselling Oasis tickets for inflated prices. Mind, these deaths are the top story on the GBN hourly bulletins. I see the murdered mother is brown. There’s mileage in that without mentioning her killer.

      2. Memory-hole it. Pretend it never happened and don't say a word. Standard BBC practice with news that doesn't fit the agenda of the progressive elite.

        1. "Sadly, two people killed themselves by falling on knives at this year's very peaceful, and most successful, Notting Hill carnival"

  66. "A ban on outdoor smoking would harm an already struggling hospitality industry"

    That's the whole point. What do people do in pubs? They talk about things they shouldn't.

  70. A bragging Birdie Three?

    Wordle 1,169 3/6
    🟩🟨⬜⬜⬜
    🟩⬜🟩🟩🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Another bogey for me but hey, I got there.

      Wordle 1,169 5/6

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

      1. I can't believe I got it in three, first thing this morning, which is now family competition time, husband and daughter both very competitive, me? not at all….:-D

        Wordle 1,169 3/6

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

    2. Wordle 1,169 3/6

      🟨⬜⬜⬜🟨
      🟩⬜⬜⬜🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      here's mine, lacoste…

        1. You're a sweetheart, lacoste:-) We'll see what tomorrow brings, now a family affair so now have even more competition :/-

    3. Seemed a logical word after my first go.
      Wordle 1,169 2/6

      ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      1. Well done! Impressive.

        ETA. Wordle 1,169 5/6

        ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
        🟩⬜🟩⬜🟩
        🟩⬜🟩🟩🟩
        🟩⬜🟩🟩🟩
        🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

        Far too many possibles.

    4. Too many options for that secondl letter

      Wordle 1,169 5/6

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

    1. From Coffee House, the Spectator

      There should be a maximum smoking age
      Follow the science

      Comments Share 30 August 2024, 9:07am
      In January 2022, the New York Times ran a piece that declared that smoking was back, quoting Martin Amis’s daughter saying it seemed like it was. In the summer of 2023, the Guardian ran a piece that declared that smoking was back, because Lily-Rose Depp looks great when smoking. Last month, the Guardian again ran a piece that declared that smoking was back, because Dua Lipa smokes and Charli XCX pretends to.

      Smoking between 35 and 60, however, is really very dangerous
      But it isn’t back, and there’s stats to prove it. However, what those pieces do say is that smoking retains its ‘cool’ image. We know that. Kate Moss and James Dean knew that. And because we know that, we can glean the real tragedy of Keir Starmer’s potential smoking ban – the aesthetic defeat. Nicotine is a decent, but not amazing, microdrug: it can marginally improve your afternoon and moderately improve your evening. But its real power is that it looks good, especially if you’re young.

      I favour no real restrictions on smokers at all (I love smoking), but if you’ve really got to scratch that petty-tyrant itch, then here’s a modest proposal. One that preserves the charm of smoking while keeping the health costs limited: a maximum smoking age, of 35.

      First, the health case. The Spectator’s Wikiman Rory Sutherland points out the following: ‘If you quit smoking at the age of 35, you are likely to enjoy the same life expectancy as if you were a life-long non-smoker’. After then, for every year you smoke, you lose three months, on average. Rory writes: ‘“Shit,” I remember thinking on my 35th birthday, “From now on every cigarette counts”.’ Now, obviously you don’t want 18-year-olds to know that, because they’ll think that they’ve got 17 years of risk-free smoking ahead of them, but you really want 34-year-olds to know that. So, once you turn 35, no more cigarettes for you. If you want to keep going past then, then you need decisions made for you.

      Most popular
      Patrick O’Flynn
      Keir Starmer’s popularity delusion

      The second argument is the aesthetic one. The median smoker in this country is not Dua Lipa. It is the poor 50-year-old bastards who nicotine exerts a cruel grip over, way out of whack with its pleasantness. The maximum number of cigarettes that (sans grog) it’s nice to smoke over the course of a day is probably five, but plenty of people need 20 or more. These people need saving from their dopamine wiring.

      Saying older people look grim when they smoke might sound ageist. It’s not, that’s not what I’m saying. There is a real elegance and dignity to smokers above the age of 60. Look at David Hockney, Carlo Ancelotti, June Brown or the ladies and gentlemen that sit outside European patisseries with a coffee and a cigarette. They are enjoying a reward for a life well lived, a celebration of benchmarks passed, and a small rage against time. Perhaps police can turn a blind eye to them having a fag.

      Smoking between 35 and 60, however, is really very dangerous. It’s very important that you do not smoke heavily in those years. A.A. Gill smoked 60 cigarettes a day until he was 48. On quitting, he said, ‘it didn’t feel like well done. It felt like a defeat – the capitulation to fear’. It didn’t matter. He died of lung cancer at 62. Christopher Hitchens quit smoking at 59. Too late: dead three years later. Hauntingly, there are probably a few smokers out there who missed cancer by a single cigarette, and those who succumbed because of one – one – too many.

      The only problem with my scheme, as far as I can see, is age verification. What poor shopkeeper wants to say to a 28 year-old-woman, ‘um, I’m really sorry about this, but are you over 35?’ The old begging the young to buy their fags will be impractical, but probably quite funny.

      Anyway, we should obviously leave smokers alone. Smoking is a beautiful habit because it is irrational. It is fun because it is so obviously insane to take up. It is a small rebellion against the drive for us all to be perfect. But people will always fight against that, as C.S. Lewis put fantastically:

      Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies… those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth.

      These people are eternal, unfortunately (six in ten of us, according to YouGov), and we will need to find something for them to do. If we’re to let them have anything, at least let it be a sensible compromise. 35 then, that’s your lot.

    2. AB is one of the very few politicians I have any time for, mostly due to his stance on the Post Office and especially on vaccines.

  73. It just gets worse every day. "Funding for Trafalgar Square’s fourth plinth goes to LGBT migrant campaign group." DT Just about ticks all the boxes..

  75. I had a bimble around Cadmans Pool, in the New Forest this afternoon.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8accd460a384d2875955704e9dbf83e12bddc81b26d18f81fa65b62d1cb280cb.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e70ce2e7c978724ad767533b703e6a61fe9d76a81246ff2521c3c69bae79f231.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/518579cdea3ee920ab19a7a1783d58513ce9f13b58badb634dc237fc37b72739.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/430b75d617bdf5dd3463696dd7d2a72ddfea76c96cfa34a730156428691d84f0.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6064814d7228e97565cb5a1c4940b797ccda6b1145f1127f07f59b24c01440e0.jpg

          1. Looks like a perfectly normal conjoined triplet from a Pakistani family of cousins. Don't be such a racist fucking bigot !

          2. [Have just emailed you. Sorry for the delay. Hadn't checked for messages since breakfast this morning. YES PLEEZ 22nd!]

          1. I remember Two-Tier Keir, from the government. I ate his liver, with fava beans … and a nice Chianti … ff,ff,ff,ff,ff!

        1. 392732+ up ticks,

          Evening Pip,
          Give it a little time , liken to
          "the birds" one will settle then………

          2. 392732+up ticks,

            Pip,
            If that be the case then as a leaving legacy we must make sure
            NO political dangerous polluting
            overseeing rodents are still in office.

  76. That's me for this chilly, very breezy day. Watering. Excellent loaf baked. If anyone DOES want the recipe, let me have an e-mail address tomorrow morning – and I'll send it to you.

    Have a spiffing evening

    A demain.

    PS Are Ceylon just not very good at creekit?

    3. 'Night, Bill. I'd be interested to see the recipe. I don't buy bread. Occasionally I do a couple of, er, "sourfaux*" loaves in the Panasonic "Croustina" breadmaker. I have a rotary slicer which – when it's not trying to shorten the length of my index finger – produces slices far thinner than any commercially available sliced bread. Hence hugely fewer carbs per slice. They go in the freezer, and make great toast.

      *Panasonic published a sourdough recipe. It doesn't involve starters passed down the generations. The starter recipe includes commercial yeast, plus balsamic vinegar for the 'sour' bit. The starter is supposed to take twelve hours to be useable, but much depends on atmospheric conditions. It can reach the top of the jar much sooner.

      The breadmaker "lean" cycle takes six hours. So, if i mix a "starter" in the morning, I can wake to a new loaf the following morning. Then, when the machine has cooled sufficiently, do the second loaf.

      1. I’ll e-mail ot tomorrow. Ackshul bread… none of yer sourdough bollox. Takes 2½ hours start to finish (assuming you have an AGA, of course).

      3. Are you quite sure about that, Phiz :-D, see AsianBoss on YouTube, sometimes a defector speaks.

        1. Yes but it would be my choice to live under a tyranny rather than living under one where i was told it was for my good.

          1. All govts are a form of tyranny one way or t’other, Phiz. Can’t have the rogues in charge can we :-DD

    2. Just vicious savages. The blacks shouldn't be here and the Irish seem to need to learn to walk at heel.

  80. Evening, all. My culcha vulcha experience continues – I went to a Private View of the SEqA Exhibition this afternoon. It was packed (not helped by the gallery being small). Some nice art on display, some not to my taste and some, frankly, I thought a bit banale, even if exquisitely painted. Not helped by the paintings being squashed together and the lack of space to get far enough away in some cases. I made one of the exhibitors laugh; she was in a corner with a couple of friends and was introducing them to each other. This is my friend X, this is my friend Y. I was waiting to get past and one of the friends looked at me questioningly. I'm not a friend of anyone, I told her. Although that wasn't strictly true because I am a Friend of the SEqA.

    I wonder if Labour's only qualification is in destruction; destroying viable businesses, destroying the economy, destroying freedoms, destroying our culture … the list of "achievements" is endless, unfortunately.

  81. I hope this hasn't already been posted.
    Imagine if this had been the Little Snoring carnival. Councillors and Plod would ban it PDQ.

    "Two people have died after separate attacks at the Notting Hill Carnival, making this year’s event the deadliest in more than two decades.

    Cher Maximen, 38, was stabbed in the groin in front of her three-year-old daughter when she tried to break up a fight at the west London event on Aug 25.

    Ms Maximen was taken to hospital from the scene in Golborne Road and went into a coma after losing five litres of blood. One of her lungs collapsed.

    Shortly after 11.20pm the following evening, Mussie Imnetu, a 41-year-old Swedish chef, was found unconscious by police close to the festival.

    Mr Imnetu, who is originally from Eritrea and had trained under several Michelin-starred chefs including Gordon Ramsay, was visiting the UK on business from Dubai, where he lived and worked as the head chef at the Arts Club.

    In a statement on Saturday, Scotland Yard confirmed that both Ms Maximen and Mr Imnetu had died from their injuries. It was the highest number of fatalities at the carnival since 2000, when two men were murdered.

    ‘This violence is shocking’
    This year’s event saw eight people stabbed and 334 arrests over the Bank Holiday weekend, the majority for possession of an offensive weapon and drug offences. A total of 50 officers were injured while policing the carnival……."

    3. This is interesting because I had heard from what should be pretty reliable sources that somebody had died from a head injury last Monday. If this was Mr Imnetu, why has it taken until now for the MSM to refer to his death?

    4. I wouldn't lose any sleep over Ms Maximen either.. Swedish my a rse.

      Cher Maximen, 24, attacked police officers
      An actress could be jailed after kicking, stamping and spitting at police officers.
      Cher Maximen, 24, launched the frenzied attack on March 10, 2017 after being taken to Stoke Newington police station, in north-west London.

    5. I wouldn't lose any sleep over Ms Maximen either.. Swedish my a rse.

      Cher Maximen, 24, attacked police officers
      An actress could be jailed after kicking, stamping and spitting at police officers.
      Cher Maximen, 24, launched the frenzied attack on March 10, 2017 after being taken to Stoke Newington police station, in north-west London.

    6. But I read earlier this week that plod were describing the carnival as a family friendly affair.

      surely they were not trying to mislead anyone.

      2. Last day of carnival is boozed up, drugged up, fucked up. First day is dog pissing on lamp post day.

      1. The poor guy was probably only there because it's relentlessly promoted in a positive way despite the darker side.

    10. Rule One. Understand that it is not a carnival.
      Rule Two. Don't go anywhere near the event.

    11. I went to the equivalent of the Little Snoring carnival today. Hundreds of people there, not one stabbing. Police not called. Funny that.

    12. Obviously the police in charge of the event are all ingénues and have no previous information or data from previous Notting Hell Carnalvals.

      I am also sure that the amount of arrests were so low because 7000 police officers were unable to make any more because they had no more cells available and had run out of Vegan ready meals.

    13. But the faaaaaaarrrr rrrriiiiggghhhttt riots (sic) were clearly much more dangerous…..so dangerous we have had to empty prisons of violent criminals to make way for grandmas and their hurty tweets.

      2. More evil, He has desecrated and suborned the church. May only did for our political institutions and the country,

    2. I was baptised into the CoE in 1957. Attended Sunday School from around 1963. Appointed church organist in 1971. In those days, the CoE was dubbed the "Conservative Party at Prayer." What happened?

      I've moved around the UK several times since then. I've been retired from the day job for quite a while. But I'm still a church organist. My current contract expires exactly 13 months from tomorrow. I assumed that I might outlive the Parish in those terms. The Rector has been severely ill in the last few months. He is supposedly easing back into duties in September. He's refreshingly un-woke. For his own sake, he should retire (he'll have to within the next 30 months, anyway). I guess I'll plod on until next October.

      We had a special service to appoint a couple of Pastral Visitors

      3. Yes its been very sad to see the CofE taking the wromg path on so many occasions.I had to stop going many yeras ago.

        1. Sorry to sound trite but the Church is not a building and the leaders we have at the moment are not our Church.
          We are.

          1. I am not. The last service we attended was at Portsmouth Cathedral for Evensong.30 years ago. The left wing sermon given was the end of it for us both.

      4. It saddens me.

        I was never that Churchy (wrong side of the village) but i did go to Sunday School. I was gently told that the money i had bought sweets with was supposed to be for them (Methodists).

        I also attended one day where no other children turned up. I was told i could go into the big room with the adults if i behaved myself. Which i did and was also told i had been a good boy. I found out the reason no other children were there was because they had gone on the Sunday School outing. My parents were of course oblivious to this because they didn't read Church notices .

        Full reveal here. The reason my parents sent me to Sunday School was to get rid of me so they could fuck. Details available if required.

        I did find salvation though. The parents of the young lady at my party with her two young children…Charlotte and Elliot were a life saver for me. And i do mean they did save me.

          3. Well it doesn’t show. Almost everyone at the party ignored your time at my piano until i shouted at them to shut up. :@)

            Though my young friends Matt and Kirsty thought you were amazing.

  83. Now this I approve.. and encourage.. esp if it escalates, and the over-rated race baiter Eni Aluko gets trans-planted.

    First transgender manager ignites row by signing biologically male goalkeeper for women’s team. Blair Hamilton, 34, has been recruited by Clark despite having previously drawn criticism from women’s rights groups for taking the place of a female goalkeeper.

    “Now Clark has signed Hamilton, a 6ft, 34-year-old trans goalkeeper, and the female goalkeeper has been let go. "

    Introducing Blair Hamilton, a trailblazer in the world of sports research at the University of Brighton's School of Sport and Health Sciences.
    of course he is..

    btw, Blair Hamilton self-identifies as a woman, and hasnt had the op yet.

      1. So M'Lud are you asking if my client is a total FFO? fundamental female orifice aka a cnut

    2. One would hope an opposing female team would take to the field and not kick the ball so that any match is called off….

    4. Op is irrelevant. Grew up with a body flooded with testosterone – something a biological woman will not have, so an unfair advantage.

  84. Watching Goodnight Mr Tom on ITV3. The village choir have just sung Jerusalem about building England’s green and pleasant land. After WW2 we almost built that land but successive governments since 1990 have turned the country from that Jerusalem into something more akin to Gaza.
    A pox on all the houses of those politicians and snivel serpents who have and are still contributing to the downfall of our once beautiful country.

          1. I have met the lady in question and i can tell you she has a wry chuckle.

            Nice ass too but don't tell anyone i said that…

    2. Jerusalem is of course a rhetorical question. 'And was Jerusalem builded here amongst those dark satanic mills?' The latter being a reference to the churches preaching hellfire and damnation….Today it would be more apposite to refer them as dark Wokista mills!

      1. Interesting that the "dark satanic mills" were thought to be the churches. Many years ago I saw a critique that accused the universities of being those "mills". So long ago that I can't remember the details.

        Jerusalem was my old school's song, always sung on speech/prize giving day.

        2. Never heard that argument before, Korky, Don't personally think it holds water, though an interesting point of view.

          1. Earls Colne, a medium sized village in Essex with a centuries old Grammar School for boys. The equivalent for girls was in the town of Halstead, four miles further up the old A604, I can’t remember the road’s new designation. Excellent schools now both mainly under bricks and mortar. Eternal shame on those politicians who closed down that avenue of advancement for promising children from all backgrounds.

    1. Same here.
      He may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I really enjoy all his railway and travel programmes.

      2. I rather like him and like his style of presentation. He is one of the few who doesn't have an axe to grind.

        1. He became much more likeable when he gave up politics but i am not sure if that reaches the threashold for forgiveness.

    1. I have two of ’em, a (male) Patterdale thick as mince and cowardly to boot, t’other a small (female) Border – rip your head off if it could only reach it….thus proving, if proof were needed, female of the species etc …what’s your terrierist, Conway?

          5. He makes a good job of it if that’s the case. He stops if he’s about to overtake me, he waits until I’ve finished my food before he gets his, he lets me out of the door/gate first …

          7. Underneath that blond mop lies a calculating brain 🙂 He’s worked out that if he asks to go out, I let him out and then he gets a biscuit when he comes back in. Cue him asking quite often to go out and just a sniff of the air and a bark to come in. We both play the game 🙂

          8. He sounds very cute (and intelligent)…a great partnership. I’ve had many dogs in my life (first one around four years of age) a good number of them rescues and I’ve said I will have no more but family protest. They can be a bit of a tie (family and dogs !:-DD)

          9. Yes, I agree about the tie, but if I can’t do things because of the dog, I just can’t do things and that’s it. I’d far rather have a dog than not. Kadi came to church with me this morning, to lunch in the pub and then back to church for a talk. Nobody noticed him until we went for coffee 🙂

    1. Starmer has no interest in doing anything that disrupts or annoys his favoured client class. He hates Britons. The people who pay for everything. His intent is to make them as miserable and suppressed as possible – because he doesn't want to do the important things.

  88. Something commentators seem unable to understand, even the aledged Far Right ones, no one voted for Keef, what they did do was not vote for the Tories, so to start saying he's not very popular any more misses the point that he was never popular in the first bloody place.

  92. A major fire has shaken London on Saturday evening, with witnesses reporting "explosions" in the capital and orange flames seen near the O2 arena.

    Large plumes of black smoke have been seen pouring into the skies above east London tonight, with social media users taking to X with footage showing the dramatic scenes. Multiple users have said they heard explosions in the area, with one saying: "What were those two loud bangs and black smoke near the O2?" https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/breaking-major-fire-shakes-o2-33575818

    Well , might not be that serious, but a fire is a fire.

    2. I believe the fire is in a film studio also used in the past for filming Marco’s Kitchen or some such. I have the drawings somewhere from a project a few years back. You may be assured it is not a kitchen fire.

      1. Hopefully there won't be any broken shards of glass in their kelloggs. No, i mean that. Really. Honest. Crosses fingers. I'm still in bits over Kate Galloway or whatever her name is on the other channel. Her husband's long drawn out death over so many months and now he is dead we still get daily reports over her terrible suffering continuing. And of course all those medical bills piling up which she as a widower is finding difficult to pay. Obviously ITV haven't coughed up the money for this reality show. Oh dear. I'm so glad no one else had died in the meantime.

  95. The British are world renown for discussing the weather. This on the other hand is taking it to new depths… From the DT:

    'Well, quite. It would be fair to say, though, that Abramović is doubling down. In September, she will mark the opening of the Moco Museum – a contemporary art space in Marble Arch aimed at 18-35-year-olds – with a new show, Healing Frequency. But next year, in a “huge factory space” in Manchester, she is planning to stage her Balkan Erotic Epic, an extension of a not-safe-for-work performance from 2005 that explored centuries-old folkloric rituals. She describes one in which, if the rain was causing floods that would ruin the ­harvest, the women of the village – “from 15 to old women in their 80s” – would run to the fields, lift their skirts and “show the vagina” to scare the gods into stopping the rain. “This is incredible, the idea of the power of a vagina to stop the rain,” she says. “This is a ritual I’m going to do in Manchester with ­24 dancers… so you can imagine the effect on the English.” All I can say Manchester is in for a dry season…apparently….

      3. She was on the Abitur syllabus studied by my daughter back in the day. Later, the Balenciaga scandal happened and opened my daughter's eyes to satanism in high places. Later she expressed her disbelief that M.A. is taken seriously as an artist and was on the art history syllabus. She loathed the stuff at the time, but knew that giving her honest opinion would result in a low mark.

      1. I've absolutely no bluddy idea….

        'The world’s most famous performance artist, Marina Abramović, with a snort. The 77-year-old’s mocking laughter has been triggered by the reaction to her Royal Academy retrospective last year.' if that helps…

    3. How does a woman 'show her vagina'? A vagina is an internal tube. Does she mean 'show her vulva'?

      I am utterly astounded as to how many modern women have no idea about their own anatomy. Many, quite evidently, do not know their arse from their elbow!

    5. "from 15 to old women in their 80s”

      That shows her utter contempt from the start. She sounds like a cultist.

  97. Well, chums, it's now 10 pm so I will away to bed. Good night, sleep well, and (hopefully) see you all tomorrow.

  99. 392732+ up ticks,

    Pillow ponder,

    We most certainly do, you can hum that tune again charlie, the indigenous peoples are in daily dire straights, and are far from being "brothers in arms" with the governing political overseers.

    The indigenous peoples RESET is top of the priority list and in complete opposition to the WEF/ NWO with royal seal agenda.

    https://x.com/BGatesIsaPyscho/status/1829865668126318634

      1. I was thinking more the face of the portrait in the attic.

        Eventually those who have led miserable and selfish lives of delusional superiority look like this. Nothing in this visage is bright or sparkling, all is wrinkled, demented and dead eyed. No signs of jollity, human empathy, ambition, aspiration or serenity, just a miserable wretchedness for all to see.

        1. I am inclined to agree. He does seem to be able to sparkle occasionally but i put that down to his Doctor.

    2. If this chap is given the bricks and the cement I doubt that he will build better – he is more likely to build something lop-sided if he does the job himself.

  100. Ma Vlast just finished on the Proms, slightly delated as I was in the bath at the start, so I'm off to bed.
    Goodnight all.

    1. What would those unions think of our primary school headmaster, who was in the Navy during the War and who tested the whole class on tables with flash cards? If you got one wrong, you were lined up against the wall to be shot later. But you always got a second chance and a third chance if necessary, so nobody ever actually got shot….

  102. I am waiting for a bus.

    I have been waiting for this bus for 20 minutes.

    The app is not interested in telling me how long i have to wait for the next bus. It is, however, very keen to tell me what the carbon footprint for the journey is.

    Just send the frigging bus.

Comments are closed.