Saturday 31 October: Corbyn’s henchmen must accept collective failure over anti-Semitism

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2020/10/31/letterscorbyns-henchmen-must-accept-collective-failure-anti/

845 thoughts on “Saturday 31 October: Corbyn’s henchmen must accept collective failure over anti-Semitism”

      1. Morning, Peddy. I doubt if Polly will put the kettle on – she’s too busy posting about George Soros here and on other sites. So I guess I’ll have to put on the kettle myself. I went to visit friends yesterday – it was good to get out and see new faces for a short time. If this new lockdown comes to pass on Wednesday and the furniture company phones to say it has put paid to my (latest) delivery date of Wednesday then I think I shall get into my own existing bed and try to sleep through until Christmas Day! AAAARGHH!

        1. ‘Morning, Elsie.

          Heavy belt of rain just sweeping in, which should last all day & well into the evening, so I’m off to take my midday nap a little early. Can’t remember when I last had a cuppa.
          Hang on a mo… it was at the Turkish barber’s on Wednesday. They make delicious tea.

          1. It has blown through here now and we have had watery sunshine for a short while (long enough for a short dog-trot), before more rain forecast overnight and a further downpour tomorrow afternoon.

    1. Bloody hell, they are suffering from a persecution complex. That’s all we need…

      ‘Morning, Rik.

  3. The West should not bow before the Chinese regime that made the world ill.31 October 2020.

    This week, the think tank Policy Exchange gave space to American China experts from both Republicans and Democrats – a decision marking the fact that China is the one subject on which America’s two parties are not at war. Matt Pottinger, Trump’s deputy national security adviser, characterised Xi Jinping’s rule as “exquisite authoritarianism”.By using advanced technology and totalitarian surveillance, he said, the CCP is experimenting with a way of governing less contested than democracy and less blatantly inefficient than old-style Soviet Communism. China is doing well by putting out two contradictory messages at the same time: “We own the future, so make your adjustments now” and “We’re just like you, so try not to worry”. Neither message is true, he went on, but people in the West might be in a mood to believe both.

    Morning everyone. I don’t doubt that China is a Totalitarian State, my problem with it is that we are already exceeding its model. We have a controlled media that simply pumps out propaganda and suppresses the truth. There is a large online presence to harass and contain divergent views and the upcoming Online Harms Bill will allow almost all difficult content to be expunged from the Internet. There are multiple real world pressure groups to advance the Globalist Agenda and the Government itself is a part of this. It is quite clear from the response to the virus that those in power see the population as slaves unworthy of anything but orders. Unlike China the authorities are not intent on creating a mono-racial state but a multi- racial one where all are simply economic units without country or home.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/10/30/west-should-not-bow-chinese-regime-made-world/

        1. No shuffling off early, Minty! That might be regarded as cowardice, which would be completely out of character 😁

    1. Worrying, not awkward. If this ‘identify’ bowlux becomes enshrined in law, then Male officers will be able to strip search women, and vice versa.

      A pleasing turn around at the end was when the woman said “Sh*t” in a tone that suggested she had been an identity warrior and had just realised the implications of her belief.

  6. Good morning all.
    Just turned 07:00 and daylight is finally breaking, but VERY dull and dreary outside.
    Just think. This time last week it was still just after 08:00.

  7. Russian woman who was identified as key source in Trump’s ‘golden shower’ dossier denies links to the infamous report, as she’s pictured for the first time. 31 October 2020.

    Olga Galkina, from Russia, was identified as a key source in the dossier by British counterintelligence specialist Christopher Steele

    She said: ‘My mood is rather low because I did not expect this story at all and, of course, it complicated (my life) quite a lot’

    She claimed the allegations that she was a Steele source were ‘not true’, but gave little more detail.

    There is no evidence that this poor woman played any part in either the scenes described in the dossier or was a source for them. She has been selected at random to pump a little life into the Steele Dossier for the election on Tuesday.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8894967/Russian-source-Trumps-dossier-describes-palm-reader-loves-nudity.html

      1. What’s the difference between a lentil and a chickpea?

        Trump wouldn’t pay one thousand dollars to have a lentic on his chin…

        Coat!

  8. Quote of the day:”I feel very confident that Joe Biden will be elected president on Tuesday whatever the end count is”.

    I’m ashamed of myself this morning because I laughed when I read this. It is very serious and deeply sinister. It is the sort of thing that happened in the Union of Soviet Social Republics at the height of communism.

    So who could possibly have said it? None other than the third in line to the presidency, the House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi

    1. The United States of America: the leaders of the free world and the home of the brave.

      Yet wholly incapable, as a nation, of selecting a potential leadership candidate of stature, vision, and leadership potential. The Great American Dream is alive and well. As long as you have billions of dollars and not a single neuron of common sense, you’ll do fine!

    2. So true, wasn’t it Kruschev who said, “Never mind counting voters, it’s who counts the votes.” or words to that effect.

      1. “It’s not the people who vote that count, it’s the people who count the votes.”

        Attributed to Uncle Joe.

  9. ‘Morning, Peeps. Here’s a sobering thought – this lot could be in office after the next GE, as Johnson’s 80-seat majority could evaporate after his crazy response to Covid!

    SIR – If a company was sanctioned to the same degree as the Labour Party over its illegal racist actions, the Labour Party would be clamouring for the whole board to resign.

    When will all the MPs who served in Mr Corbyn’s shadow cabinet and all those on the Labour NEC resign over what the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s report calls a “collective failure of leadership”?

    Sir Keir Starmer was in the shadow cabinet, and as a lawyer has a duty to uphold the law. It seems he has not. Will he resign as an MP?

    Will Baroness Chakrabarti be stripped of her peerage?

    Suspending one person, Jeremy Corbyn, as a scapegoat is risible when the whole Labour Party leadership were either active in the illegality or so supine as to fail to stop it.

    Andrew Keith
    Godstone, Surrey

    SIR – Jeremy Corbyn has rightly been suspended from the party. Almost immediately Len McCluskey, the general secretary of the union Unite, jumps up demanding his reinstatement on the grounds that the suspension will split the party.

    Will this dinosaur never learn?

    David Muir
    Stoke Gifford, Gloucestershire

    SIR – Having sorted out the figurehead of anti-Semitism in the party, Sir Keir must salvage its historically progressive and pioneering role in our society by dealing with the ragbag of Trotskyists, communists, and Momentum extreme-Left activists who infiltrated it in order to install Mr Corbyn as their puppet.

    Ron Giddens
    Caterham, Surrey

    SIR – The Equality and Human Rights Commission’s report makes disturbing reading. Unlawful discrimination is a nasty tag, and even a tag of discrimination is unpleasant.

    Let there be civil war in the Labour Party. Mr Corbyn and his acolytes had made the party unelectable. With no serious opposition, the Government was able to let the country drift into a perfect storm. Lack of leadership, ability, planning and policy leaves Britain on a lee shore, with no one on the bridge with any seamanship skills.

    Sir Keir needs to forge a proper Labour Party and continue to hold the present Government to account.

    James Bishop
    Wincanton, Somerset

    SIR – Sir Keir Starmer has been quick to act and suspend Jeremy Corbyn from the party. But do not forget that before the last election Sir Keir was actively presenting Mr Corbyn as a potential prime minister.

    Charles Penfold
    Ulverston, Cumbria

    SIR – I challenge the BBC, in the spirit of impartiality, to produce a dramatisation of anti-Semitism within the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.

    Chris Winter
    Tiverton, Devon

  10. ‘Morning, Peeps. Here’s a sobering thought – this lot could be in office after the next GE, as Johnson’s 80-seat majority could evaporate after his crazy response to Covid!

    SIR – If a company was sanctioned to the same degree as the Labour Party over its illegal racist actions, the Labour Party would be clamouring for the whole board to resign.

    When will all the MPs who served in Mr Corbyn’s shadow cabinet and all those on the Labour NEC resign over what the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s report calls a “collective failure of leadership”?

    Sir Keir Starmer was in the shadow cabinet, and as a lawyer has a duty to uphold the law. It seems he has not. Will he resign as an MP?

    Will Baroness Chakrabarti be stripped of her peerage?

    Suspending one person, Jeremy Corbyn, as a scapegoat is risible when the whole Labour Party leadership were either active in the illegality or so supine as to fail to stop it.

    Andrew Keith
    Godstone, Surrey

    SIR – Jeremy Corbyn has rightly been suspended from the party. Almost immediately Len McCluskey, the general secretary of the union Unite, jumps up demanding his reinstatement on the grounds that the suspension will split the party.

    Will this dinosaur never learn?

    David Muir
    Stoke Gifford, Gloucestershire

    SIR – Having sorted out the figurehead of anti-Semitism in the party, Sir Keir must salvage its historically progressive and pioneering role in our society by dealing with the ragbag of Trotskyists, communists, and Momentum extreme-Left activists who infiltrated it in order to install Mr Corbyn as their puppet.

    Ron Giddens
    Caterham, Surrey

    SIR – The Equality and Human Rights Commission’s report makes disturbing reading. Unlawful discrimination is a nasty tag, and even a tag of discrimination is unpleasant.

    Let there be civil war in the Labour Party. Mr Corbyn and his acolytes had made the party unelectable. With no serious opposition, the Government was able to let the country drift into a perfect storm. Lack of leadership, ability, planning and policy leaves Britain on a lee shore, with no one on the bridge with any seamanship skills.

    Sir Keir needs to forge a proper Labour Party and continue to hold the present Government to account.

    James Bishop
    Wincanton, Somerset

    SIR – Sir Keir Starmer has been quick to act and suspend Jeremy Corbyn from the party. But do not forget that before the last election Sir Keir was actively presenting Mr Corbyn as a potential prime minister.

    Charles Penfold
    Ulverston, Cumbria

    SIR – I challenge the BBC, in the spirit of impartiality, to produce a dramatisation of anti-Semitism within the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.

    Chris Winter
    Tiverton, Devon

  11. SIR — The National Trust (Letters, October 29), in a “cost-cutting” exercise at Portland House, Weymouth, has dismissed a team of 15 volunteer gardeners, to be replaced by a contractor. The Trust is a wonderful organisation that has lost its way.

    Julie Bowen
    Weymouth, Dorset

    “The National Trust is a wonderful organisation that has lost its way”. This is indubitably true, Julie. What you forgot to add, in this Brave New World, is that most of the rest of the fabric of what used to be society has also “lost its way” and is in urgent need of resurrection, refurbishment and complete overhaul. This includes:

    Government (all political parties at all levels).
    Religion (every creed you care to mention).
    Education (both elementary and higher).
    The National Health Service (GPs and hospitals).
    Entertainment (radio, television, the internet, the theatre and cinema).
    The News Media (newspapers, online media, radio and television).
    Literature.
    The Police.
    The Judiciary.
    The Banks.

    Whingeing about all this in newspaper letters columns and on social media will not take us back to better times. Unless a determined, forceful and lasting uprising, against those whose sworn intent is the destruction of society, is commenced — and very soon — then all we used to hold dear will remain lost.

    Forever.

  12. Good morrow, Gentles all. Another grey, windy day…grrr. It is getting boring.

    Still, must away and greet the kittens.

    1. You mean they’re not greeting you, Bilty? Give it a month or two and they will wake you by jumping on your head in the morning. (I’ve had to put a lock on my bedroom door!).

      BTW, if you haven’t seen ‘Simon’s Cat’, I can recommend the You Tube video cartoons on what to expect as they grow up.

      1. Tiny kitties have very sharp claws and teeth. Used to hold on to your flesh when they slide off because they haven’t yet learned to be a proper cat yet.

  13. Conspiracy or not, this Covid strategy is deeply sinister. 31 October 2020.

    In three years of writing for The Telegraph, I have never received so many comments and emails from a single story. In it I confessed, such was my exasperation over the UK’s ever more nonsensical lockdown strategy, that I was almost starting to believe this pandemic really could be a conspiracy.

    ‘Almost’ was the operative word here. I do not buy into any of the theories that have (yet) been put to me. Indeed my profound scepticism about lockdown extends to most things in life; religion, star signs, and conspiracy theories included.

    But the overwhelming reader response makes one thing very clear: most of you are not keyboard warriors wearing tin hats, but a contingent of people who are understandably alarmed by our Government’s ham-fisted response to this virus, and fed up with having their objections and questions squashed and ignored.

    These are no small quibbles. Not in the history of modern democracy have we been ordered en masse to surrender such monumental freedoms, at such a high cost, for so long, with no end in sight.

    No wonder members of the public are demanding a better explanation as to why we are still hiding, stagnating and going broke over a virus with a 99 per cent survival rate.

    No wonder conspiracy theories are gathering steam all over the world – what do you expect when a situation makes so little sense? We are a species motivated to find answers; prone to getting creative when we lack them.

    We may be used to it now, but step outside our new normal for a moment. If someone, without telling you why, had informed you last October that within a year, Europe’s offices and city centres would stand deserted, its citizens subject to night-time curfews, alcohol bans, travel restrictions and the mandated wearing of face shields; that spending the night with one’s non-live-in partner would be punishable by a fine and visiting one’s family abroad would be banned – you might assume, horrified, that Kim Jong-Un, armed with more nukes than we previously knew existed, had rolled in and taken over the Western world.

    If that same person told you that, no, this wouldn’t be the result of nuclear war, but a virus which in that year accounted for little more than two per cent of the total global death toll; one that presented some danger to the elderly and infirm but spared most of the population even from mild symptoms … well. You probably wouldn’t believe them.

    Why, then, should it come as any surprise, given this is genuinely our reality, that a growing number of people are scratching their heads over our Government’s increasingly unpopular strategy on Covid-19? Or questioning the policy on a public health interest that is no longer serving the majority of the public’s interests?

    As to the conspiracies, there are of course some politicians who will seize this disaster as an opportunity to further their dubious goals, but I am certainly not of the opinion that nearly every leader in the world is embroiled in some Machiavellian plot to reshape our global society.

    When George Orwell’s pigs went rogue on Animal Farm, it wasn’t the result of a devious plan from the start. It was an allegory for the inevitability of human nature. Boris Johnson very probably does realise by now that this China-exported pandemic strategy hasn’t worked, but reasons it’s too late to dislodge the seeds planted by Project Fear.

    We really are in dangerous territory now, and there are two concerns that I just can’t shake off.

    The first is our Government’s continued refusal to paint a balanced picture of the ongoing situation. Statistics which put into perspective the small number of deaths now compared to at the peak of the pandemic, and indeed to the normal number of deaths we can expect to see at this time of year, are available; but they are not presented at Professor Chris Whitty’s weekly addresses to the nation. They are buried in lengthy Public Health England reports which most ordinary people won’t seek out.

    SAGE, meanwhile, has free licence to broadcast grandiose predictions across every TV and radio in Britain, based on models that have been proven wrong time and time again. This team has now had the best part of a year to prove itself worthy of such an influential platform. Enough.

    Second, and arguably worse, is the near-censorship of dissenting scientific views as a result of regulatory body Ofcom’s ‘coronavirus guidelines’, which effectively blocks the media from publishing professional, accredited, expert analysis – debate even – that doesn’t toe SAGE’s party line.

    Enough prominent, frustrated scientists this month banded together to launch The Great Barrington Declaration; a petition drawn up by professors at Oxford, Harvard and Stanford, and backed by tens of thousands of epidemiologists, public health scientists, and at least one Nobel Prize winner.

    Its proposal, in a nutshell, is that those at-risk should be offered protection should they want it, but that the rest of the population should be encouraged to resume life as normal. Hardly outrageous, nor unprecedented – just ask Sweden.

    I’d like to see this proposal get more air time. I’d like, every week, along with the figures on new Covid cases and deaths, to see the number of people who have also died as a direct result of lockdown; the mounting number of missed cancer screenings, the uptick in domestic abuse call-outs, and the rise in mental health emergencies.

    I had a reader get in touch with me over the weekend; a young student at boarding school, who disagreed with my stance. She was intelligent and polite, and we had a constructive debate over Instagram. She suggested that it would be irresponsible to abandon lockdown and let the virus run its course, given more people would undoubtedly lose their lives. I asked what her position would be given the increasingly certain scenario that lockdown will ultimately kill more humans than it saves.

    Forget even the UK; the United Nations predicts that this pandemic-induced recession could plunge as many as 420 million people into extreme poverty worldwide. Unsurprisingly, she hadn’t heard this statistic or considered this angle. It’s simply not on the news agenda. It should be. It’s the sort of maths that should be just as front-and-centre at each press conference as the number of new positive cases each day.

    This confounding scenario in which we find ourselves may not be a grand conspiracy, but it is a profound travesty. The sooner we start having honest conversations on the main stage about it, the better.

    This woman perceives most of the holes in the Government narrative and yet refuses to draw; probably from fear of the consequences, the obvious conclusions.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/10/30/conspiracy-not-covid-strategy-deeply-sinister/

    2. 326030+ up ticks,
      Morning AS,
      “This woman perceives most of the holes in the
      Government narrative and yet refuses to draw; probably from fear of the consequences, the obvious conclusions”.

      Not only this woman but could also be applied to the
      electorate over the last three decades.

  14. SIR – Audley End House, to which Kinvara Balfour refers, is owned by English Heritage and open to the public. This has been the case since 1948, when it was sold to the Ministry of Works. As such, it can hardly be inherited by the 11th Baron Braybrooke as the author asserts.

    Having visited several times to admire the house and gardens, I can thoroughly recommend it.

    Richard Braybrooke
    Richmond, Surrey

    Mrs HJ and I visited Audley End last year. It is a spectacular example of a Jacobean prodigy house and is highly recomended.

  15. Morning all

    SIR – Julia Hartley-Brewer (Features, October 29) is right that fly-tipping is a growing problem. But she and Jeremy Paxman (report, October 27) are wrong to blame the Environment Agency.

    The people responsible for fly-tipping are the selfish individuals who do it. Tackling fly-tipping is the responsibility of local authorities, not the Environment Agency. But we do investigate fly-tipping and illegal dumpings that are large, hazardous or linked to organised crime. We close down two high-risk illegal waste sites daily. We put the worst offenders in jail, seize and crush their vehicles, and confiscate the proceeds of their crimes.

    Emma Howard Boyd

    Chair, Environment Agency

    London SW1

    SIR – We have a four-door sports utility vehicle at our home in Cumbria. I can’t visit a recycling centre in this without permission, because Cumbria County Council won’t accept that it is our “private car”. I therefore have to apply for a permit for recyclables, valid for 12 months, and a permit for landfill rubbish, for use once a month. I then learn that, “owing to Covid-19”, permits are not being issued and we can’t visit any recycling centre in Cumbria.

    Fortunately, Surrey County Council accepts the rubbish – after being transported more than 300 miles.

    Peter Froggatt

    Dorking, Surrey

    1. We have a van. It is solely for our private use. It was not possible to get private car insurance. It had to be insured as a commercial vehicle. Saloon cars used by salesmen (“commercial travellers”) are routinely insured as private cars.

    2. Where there’s muck there’s brass

      (On trouve les déchets où on trouve le laiton)

      There is a recycling centre or déchetterie near us where we can dump all our waste which is then sorted into various skips according to what it is. Our local commune has given us a card which gives us free access to it and open the barrier when put into the machine. This is run so effectively that it actually covers its costs and makes a profit from selling the rubbish.

      Of course some ways France is agreeably shambolic but in some things the French seem to be far more intelligent than the British are.

  16. Well said, Charles Moore:

    The late Denis Thatcher was once at a stiff official dinner in 10 Downing Street, seated next to the wife of the President of Finland. Speaking through an interpreter, he asked her abruptly, “What do the Finns think of the Chinese?” Slightly bewildered, she replied, “Well, in Finland we live next to the Russians. We don’t think much about the Chinese.” “Well, it’s about time you did,” said Mr Thatcher, “because there are more than a billion of the buggers.”

    I often think of Denis’s prophetic words. Since he delivered them more than 30 years ago, the number of Chinese citizens he so roundly characterised has risen above 1.4 billion, and Chinese wealth and power advanced steadily, yet most Western countries have given little more thought to the implications than did the Finns in the Eighties.

    With the coming of coronavirus, that changed. No one – except the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) – seriously disputed it had come from Wuhan. Views differed as to whether Chinese scientists had deliberately engineered the virus in a lab, or accidentally let out a naturally created virus they had captured for study, or whether, carried by bats or pangolins, it had run rife in the city’s wet market without any human assistance; but almost the entire world was appalled. If the CCP had admitted earlier what was going on and acted accordingly, people said, hundreds of thousands of deaths would have been avoided. So would the global infliction of poverty and fear.

    People at last began to look more closely at China’s Communist regime, and did not like what they saw. The secrecy, repression, propaganda and inhumanity shocked them. Although it was not new that the CCP was persecuting Uighurs and Tibetans, forcibly harvesting their organs, clamping down on Hong Kong and threatening Taiwan, such things became much more apparent as Beijing reacted to its own mistakes by ordering further aggressions. When the Australian government suggested it might be an idea to inquire into the origins of the outbreak, an enraged Beijing attempted (unsuccessfully) to chew it up and spit it out.

    We in the West also began to look at ourselves, and noticed that many in our upper echelons were being captured by Chinese soft power, a process guided by China’s United Front Work Department. Significant numbers of our cultural institutions – including grand universities such as Cambridge – had accepted Chinese money, hoping the strings attached would be invisible. A top former civil servant, titans of industry and even one of the Queen’s Lord Lieutenants were found sitting on the board of Huawei UK. It was only after Covid changed the mood that the British Government belatedly listened to American warnings about the threat to national and global security, and reversed its earlier decision to allow Huawei a leading role in our 5G network. Even Conservative MPs, often so dozy about foreign affairs, set up the hard-hitting China Research Group to monitor the CCP threat.

    Now, though, it feels different again. First in with the virus, China now claims to be first out. This month, it was announced that in the previous quarter China’s economy had grown by 4.9 per cent over a year earlier – a far better performance than any Western one. I heard a BBC China reporter say: “China is in a politically buoyant mood over the virus”. I am not sure he was fully aware how weird his words sounded, yet they were, in a way, correct. The regime that infected the world seems to be coming out on top by having done so. Coronavirus has become China’s most successful, indeed world-beating, export of 2020. In Cold War days, the defence elites of totalitarian regimes concocted the materials for biological warfare. Nowadays, there is no need for clunky military applications to get the required deadly results: Covid-19 can be part of a useful business model.

    Because of the absolute control exercised by the CCP, one does not know how to test any claim it makes. Rumours suggest more Covid cases and more economic pain than is officially reported. Nevertheless, the new narrative is now running clearly. Forget about who started the virus, it says: Eastern “values” are better at dealing with it than Western ones. It follows that China is fitter – and more likely – to become top nation than is the United States to retain that role. We must bow before the regime that made us ill. This seems an extraordinary line of argument. We would never have dreamt of applying such reasoning to America or Britain if either nation had been the first to give Covid to the world; yet we let dictatorships off.

    This week, the think tank Policy Exchange gave space to American China experts from both Republicans and Democrats – a decision marking the fact that China is the one subject on which America’s two parties are not at war. Matt Pottinger, Trump’s deputy national security adviser, characterised Xi Jinping’s rule as “exquisite authoritarianism”. By using advanced technology and totalitarian surveillance, he said, the CCP is experimenting with a way of governing less contested than democracy and less blatantly inefficient than old-style Soviet Communism. China is doing well by putting out two contradictory messages at the same time: “We own the future, so make your adjustments now” and “We’re just like you, so try not to worry”. Neither message is true, he went on, but people in the West might be in a mood to believe both.

    Mr Pottinger’s Democrat equivalent was Kurt Campbell, the man credited with inventing Barack Obama’s “pivot to Asia”. He endorsed Mr Pottinger’s notion of the Chinese threat, but emphasised that the idea of a new Cold War was wrong, preferring phrases like “strategic competition”. Biden would be much likelier to galvanise European allies to develop a common policy towards China, said Dr Campbell, whereas Trump’s unilateralism had put European backs up. Both men rejected the idea of American decline – it had been said after Vietnam, the end of the Cold War and the global financial crisis, and had been proved wrong.

    The struggle between the CCP and the West has been well characterised by the China expert, Charles Parton, as a “Values War”. President Xi goes on about “socialist core values”, all of them monolithically anti-democratic. We should counter these values with ours.

    The problem seems to be, however, that we don’t really know any more what our values might be. We remain wedded to the idea of democracy but, especially in Britain and America, see it merely as a forum in which contesting parties must give no quarter. We have forgotten that it is also a process of governing by consent.

    Unfortunately, a pandemic is an event which will tend to show democracy in its worst possible light. Like a war, it seems to require dictatorial power from the centre: Xi, this week declared “core navigator and helmsman” at his party’s plenum, fits the bill. Unlike a war, a pandemic does not provide a common enemy against whom we can cheerfully unite. Such states of emergency empower tyrannies and appear to justify them. All the main democracies in the West look unhappy as they wrestle honourably, but not very competently, to balance our desire to live in freedom with the danger that, by doing so, we might cause others to die.

    Coronavirus could have been specifically designed to help the CCP’s aim of global dominance by 2050.

    One of the leading BTL comments:

    J Hodson
    30 Oct 2020 10:23PM
    A good measure of how much we can trust the Chinese government is to examine how socialist their society is. The government certainly claims to be socialist but presides over one of the most unequal societies on earth. Not that I believe socialism could ever deliver anything like equality, but a nation in which the majority of the poor still have to pay for healthcare (and frequently have to bribe – whoops! – offer a consideration to – the doctor as well) while we export more Bentleys to their rich than to any other country, is not doing very well at implementing the system they claim to have been pursuing since the 1940’s. That or they’re a bunch of liars.

    And the west largely sits back and does nothing while they actively grab everything they can. It reminds me of when the Nazis took back the Rhineland from France in 1936 by simply marching troops in. The French did nothing, unaware that the German troops were under orders to turn and run if the French fired a single shot. How different the 1940’s might have looked if they’d done so.

    It feels like we’re being fed a steady drip drip of insidious drivel from a zeitgeist which longs to believe that if we’re nice to dictatorships they’ll stop being horrible and be nice back. The reality is that every dictatorship treats ‘nice’ as a sign of weakness, and demands more and more

    1. “The reality is that every dictatorship treats ‘nice’ as a sign of weakness, and demands more and more”.

      So does Islam.

      I would prefer to live under the Chinese government than a Caliphate.

      The article mentions mass surveilance. Well we have that too, in all its insidious forms.

    2. “balance”? Nothing like it. It is overpoweringly authoritarian, antisocial, antilife and antihuman.

  17. SIR – Once again Nice and its citizens have become the victims of savage terrorism – eloquently termed by the city’s mayor “Islamo-fascism”.

    It is time for Britain to stand beside France and other democracies and call out the hateful nonsense coming from the likes of Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Pakistan’s Imran Khan.

    The idea that France encourages anti-Islamic propaganda is fanciful.

    We must recognise – and our leaders must be able to state aloud – the fact that murderous attacks on innocents in Manchester and London, in Paris and Nice have been perpetrated in the name of Islam.

    It is not the time to hide behind our British politeness. We must stand up for our values, support our allies and fight this evil.

    Chris Savins

    Eastbourne, East Sussex

  18. Never mind “saving Christmas”; how about saving the economy and the lives of thousands who will receive inadequate treatment of other conditions, or indeed no treatment at all?

    From the Telygraff:

    Boris Johnson is expected to announce a new national lockdown next week after scientists warned Covid-19 was spreading faster than their worst predictions.

    The Prime Minister spent Friday in crisis meetings with ministers and aides after being told deaths were tracking above the “worst case scenario” that suggested 85,000 in the second wave.

    Mr Johnson is understood to have been persuaded that a national lockdown is the only way to save Christmas, and will spend the weekend contemplating exactly how severe it should be.

    Senior government sources stressed that no final decision had been made and the measure would need to be put to the Cabinet before any announcement to the nation.

    Mr Johnson is likely to summon ministers from his Cabinet coronavirus subcommittee over the next 48 hours and could hold a full meeting on Sunday if he decides he needs to act as soon as Monday. The alternative to a national lockdown would be a fourth tier of restrictions on top of the existing three tier system, but government scientists now believe even Tier 3 is not enough to stop the spread of infections.

    Imposing a second national lockdown would be a bitter blow for the Prime Minister, who has insisted for months he did not believe such a move would be necessary.

    He described it as a “nuclear option” and warned that it would be an economic “disaster”. Last month, he told MPs that restrictions would be “completely wrong for the country”.

    But Government scientific advisers told him that by Oct 14 deaths had already reached daily levels predicted in their worst case scenario planning and would exceed their most pessimistic predictions by the end of the month.

    The Prime Minister met Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office minister, and Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, in Downing Street on Friday to discuss the next steps.

    The ministers discussed closing down all but essential retailers and schools, with universities and nurseries also staying open.

    If Mr Johnson decides to announce the measures at a press conference on Monday they could come into force on Wednesday and last until December 1.

    Such a move would meet vehement opposition from many Tory MPs who have insisted that the economy must be protected.

    Many retailers make the bulk of their profits in the run-up to Christmas and a month-long lockdown could be the death knell for many businesses already struggling to break even.

    Another 24,405 people tested positive for coronavirus on Friday, with 274 deaths. The R rate of infection fell week on week from 1.2-1.4 to 1.1-1.3, but that still means infections are spreading exponentially, and the Office for National Statistics said cases “continue to rise steeply”.

    Belgium became the latest European country to announce a second lockdown on Friday, in line with France and Germany.

    One Cabinet minister said: “When you look at what’s happening in France we might have to adapt the tier system and add extra restrictions. The Cabinet is pretty united on this – we don’t want to see a national lockdown because a circuit breaker is not the answer, but we realise we might have to get tougher in the areas where the infections are highest.”

    Mr Johnson believes the public is ready to accept tougher restrictions.

    Another Cabinet minister said: “The polling shows that the public are already there – they know that this is going to be difficult for a while and they are supportive of the measures.”

    To date, 10.6 million people in England have been placed into Tier 3, with another 10.6 million in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales living under similar or harsher measures.

    The West Midlands and the Tees Valley are expected to be moved up to Tier 3 as early as next week. Officials working for Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, believe the capital will be placed into Tier 3 in November, though no formal talks with the Government have been held yet.

    If London, the West Midlands and the Tees Valley are put into Tier 3, it would mean 35 million people living under the strictest regulations, more than half the UK population of 66.6 million.

    Many Tory MPs have urged Mr Johnson to resist calls to go further with restrictions, but Whitehall sources said there was “concern about the data” in Downing Street.

    New documents released by the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) show that by Oct 14, deaths had reached reasonable worst case scenario levels and were likely to exceed them by the end of the month.

    Modelling leaked to The Spectator earlier this week showed that the Government expects up to 85,000 deaths in the second wave, but the death toll may now be higher without widespread restrictions, scientists have warned.

    Discussions are ongoing about whether the harsher restrictions would be referred to as Tier 4 or “Tier 3 plus”.

    One senior government source said: “In Tier 3 everything is up for discussion apart from schools, so Tier 4 is an odd concept in that sense.”

    Dominic Raab, the Foreign Secretary, said the Government was “striving” to avoid blanket restrictions. Asked about the potential for a fourth tier, Mr Raab said: “We’re always ready for further measures that we can take, but I think the most important thing about further measures is that we continue on the track that we’re on of targeting the virus.”

    1. The government could be brave and let more people die. The progress of the disease is inexorable. The young and the fit do not die and could carry on normally. The young and the fit are the ones who support our economy. Let that recommence. The rest of us can stay at home.

    2. Talking of the nuclear option, a nice H bomb over London should produce get it up to a temperature that should kill off the virus, and might even save Christmas.

    3. I’d be quite happy if Christmas were not saved and the commercialism were taken out of it. Then we can invent a different BH next year to make up for it and keep this in years to come as the gift-giving, gorge-eating occasion of the year.

      1. Speak for yourself. My last three Christmases were spent alone at home with my fortnight-lasting turkey and bag of humbugs to keep me festive.

      2. Me too…at the risk of being regarded as another Scrooge, I detest what Christmas has become. It bears no relation to the modest and meaningful celebration that I enjoyed as a child.

  20. A small ray of hope from King’s College.

    In the words of the leading BTL:

    Jude James
    30 Oct 2020 7:38PM
    One thing jumps out of this article:
    “.. hospital admissions are rising, as expected (for this time of year), but deaths are still average for the season”

    Covid-19 rates are not surging, researchers at King’s College have said after results from its symptom tracker app showed a far less deadly virus trajectory than Imperial College findings.

    Earlier in the week, Imperial released interim data from its React-1 study which showed there are now nearly 100,000 new coronavirus cases a day in England, with nearly one million people infected. The Imperial team said rates were doubling every nine days and it was a critical time for lowering the ‘R’ rate.

    However, King’s College – which has been monitoring the symptoms and test results of millions of people through its app – said it was not seeing such alarming numbers. The app found 43,569 daily new symptomatic cases on average, and calculated that doubling was happening every 28 days.

    Tim Spector, professor of genetic epidemiology at King’s College, said: “While cases are still rising across the UK, we want to reassure people that cases have not spiralled out of control, as has been recently reported from other surveys. We are still seeing a steady rise nationally, doubling every four weeks – with the possible exception of Scotland, which may be showing signs of a slowdown.

    “With a million people reporting weekly, we have the largest national survey and our estimates are in line with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) survey. We can’t rely simply on confirmed cases or daily deaths without putting them into context. Hospital admissions are rising as expected, but deaths are still average for the season.”

    New figures released by the ONS also put the number of daily infections far lower than Imperial’s figures.

    The ONS estimates that 568,100 people are currently infected, with 51,900 new cases each day – equating to around one in 100 people, up from 1 in 130 people in the previous week.

    Although the ONS figures show the virus is accelerating, increasing by just under 50 per cent in a week, the doubling time is still between 12 and 14 days, far less than Imperial’s rate.

    The latest nowcasting data from Cambridge University’s MRC Biostatistics Unit estimates there are 55,600 new daily infections, while Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) believes the figures are between 50,000 and 63,000.

    There is also widespread disagreement on the current ‘R’ rate, with Imperial suggesting it is around 1.6 for England but King’s saying it is closer to 1.1. Sage also believes the ‘R’ rate is between 1.1 and 1.3. The figures, produced by the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling (SPI-M) group, are lower than last week when they stood at between 1.2 and 1.4.

    A source close to the Government science team said the lower rates could mean that some of the new restrictions were having an impact. However, they said the virus was still growing at an alarming rate.

    “The numbers are still headed in the wrong direction,” the source said. “It still means everything is growing. It probably implies some of the measures are having an effect, but this is far from a shrinking epidemic.”

    Commenting on the disparities between the groups, Professor James Naismith, of the University of Oxford, said it was difficult to determine which group’s figures were the most accurate.

    “We can’t simply average or say one is right,” he said. “They are all well planned and carried out by experts. They all measure slightly different things and therefore have uncertainty.

    “What is concerning is the numbers and trajectories reported by these three surveys differ significantly from the average of 18,000 detected by track and trace system. The data also help understand why track and tracing has not worked.

    “Using the ONS data, we would estimate 330,000 new cases week ending 21 October. This means, assuming the contact number per person are right, which is a big assumption, one million people need to be contacted.”

  22. The overnight tally:
    Mice – 3 fewer than yesterday and the organic waste loaded with three furry little corpses.
    Morning, all.
    What do you do to the person who takes ALL THE MOBILE PHONE CHARGERS when going to visit her son? Tickle her mercilessly?

  23. Cats are our masters… and they’ll never let us forget it. 31 October 2020.

    The philosopher John Gray has just published a book called Feline Philosophy: Cats and the Meaning of Life. I look forward to reading it. Because it has always seemed to me that human beings have a lot to learn from cats.

    Put it like this. Imagine that alien beings were to arrive on Earth, undetected, and carry out covert observations of life on our planet. Which species would they identify as Earth’s most powerful life form?

    Quite obviously, it would be the domestic cat.

    This small, furry quadruped, the aliens would note, is required to do no work. Indeed, it doesn’t even need to provide its own food. It spends 90 per cent of its day in lordly repose, lounging serenely on beds, sofas, or wherever else it pleases. If it ventures outdoors at all, it is only to stroll its grounds or to hunt for sport, like some indolent aristocrat.

    Meanwhile, its household staff – large, mostly hairless bipeds – wait on their master hand and foot. Like butlers they serve its meals, like footmen they open doors at its command, and like masseurs they caress its back – labours for which they are unpaid and unrewarded. Indeed, the money that pays for their master’s food, accommodation and medical treatment comes directly out of the servants’ own pockets.

    Yet these servants never complain. They never go on strike, or organise protest marches to demand improved working conditions. Instead, they unquestioningly accept their inferior status.

    Forget “Take me to your leader.” The aliens wouldn’t need to ask. They already know where our leaders are. Curled up asleep, at the foot of our beds.

    For Bill!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/10/31/cats-masters-never-let-us-forget/

    2. Jodie Turner-Smith, known for her breakout role in Queen & Slim, will be taking the lead as Anne Boleyn in a new Channel 5 TV thriller aiming to challenge conventions.

      The new series will go against the traditional style of a period drama by showcasing the story as a psychological thriller examining the final months of the Tudor Queen’s life from her perspective.

      Written by newcomer Eve Hedderwick Turner, the production will “shine a feminist light” on Anne Boleyn’s struggle to survive in Tudor England’s oppressive patriarchal society, and the brutal consequences of her failure to provide Henry VIII with a male heir.

      The cast also includes I May Destroy You’s Paapa Essiedu, Trigonometry’s Thalissa Teixeira, White House Farm’s Amanda Burton, Des actor Barry Ward, and star of West End’s Hamilton Jamael Westman.

      This is a Black, Gay, Feminist, Lesbian fantasy on English history. To be avoided at all costs!

        1. Watching wood warp is also another entertaining pastime, Anne. Either that or a five-day test match.

      2. The part of Juliet was played by a black actress in Stratford – went to see that 12 years ago. She was quite good – but it was an anomaly.

        1. JK Rowling got some stick for supporting the stage portrayal of Hermione Granger being nothing like Emma Watson’s film version.

          It was a rare case though when being woke and loose with the script can be made to work – someone put a spell on her after she left Hogwarts.

        1. Cannot find out Peddy. I must confess to some morbid interest. I shall probably record it for a laugh!

          1. I’ve just gone through the Google entries: all very obscure about a date. The nearest said ‘in due course’.

      4. But the cast seem to be in possession of a full set of functioning limbs and appendages ( and possibly wits ) missed a trick there I’m afraid .

    3. Jodie Turner-Smith, known for her breakout role in Queen & Slim, will be taking the lead as Anne Boleyn in a new Channel 5 TV thriller aiming to challenge conventions.

      The new series will go against the traditional style of a period drama by showcasing the story as a psychological thriller examining the final months of the Tudor Queen’s life from her perspective.

      Written by newcomer Eve Hedderwick Turner, the production will “shine a feminist light” on Anne Boleyn’s struggle to survive in Tudor England’s oppressive patriarchal society, and the brutal consequences of her failure to provide Henry VIII with a male heir.

      The cast also includes I May Destroy You’s Paapa Essiedu, Trigonometry’s Thalissa Teixeira, White House Farm’s Amanda Burton, Des actor Barry Ward, and star of West End’s Hamilton Jamael Westman.

      This is a Black, Gay, Feminist, Lesbian fantasy on English history. To be avoided at all costs!

        1. Shakespeare himself made reference to this in Antony and Cleopatra

          One of the spurs which made Cleopatra determine to commit suicide was the thought of the humiliation of being paraded as a trophy in Octavius Caesar’s victory parade through Rome.

          “I shall see
          Some squeaking Cleopatra boy my greatness
          I’ th’ posture of a whore.”

          The double irony of course was that the actor originally portraying Cleopatra would have been more like a 17th Century Kenneth Williams than a 17th Century Elizabeth Taylor.

          .

      2. Wasn’t England’s longest-reigning monarch a man? At least if she wasn’t, then for the sake of equality they ought to play her as one.

        We who is not amused is, since 2015, the new Number Two.

          1. If you count the monarch of the United Kingdom as being also the monarch of England (along with a number of other places), then it actually was Elizabeth II – 68 years and counting.

          2. The Kingdom of England ceased to exist in 1707, so the monarchy of England (not Great Britain or the UK) ended then, in the same way that the monarchy of British colonial countries ended when they chose to become republics.

      1. I suggested they made a bio-pic about Lenny Henry and cast Tommy Robinson in the lead role.

          1. Good morning, Peddy

            I am very flattered by the fact that you pay such scrupulous attention to my whimsical postings here. Some unfortunate people are not so attentive but nevertheless deserve a second chance to enjoy my sad little jokes.

      3. For goodness sake. What’s the point? How can history be taught if it’s twisted beyond recognition? How can we learn from our mistakes if we wwhat they taught us is never taught?

        1. I have just seen the posters for the Secret Garden, where they have made Dicken mixed race.
          Writing the white working classes out of British history, one lie at a time.

          1. They’ll be saying next that John Prescott was a pugnacious fat bloke from Hull, when we all know he was Mandela in drag.

  25. Here is an item that the BBC appear to have missed. Archbishop Vigano sent an open letter to President Trump. In it he says pretty much what we have been saying. He denounces the Pope as supporter of the New World Order. He asks Trump to stop the “great reset”.

    Mister President,
    OPEN LETTER
    TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA DONALD J. TRUMP
    Allow me to address you at this hour in which the fate of the whole world is being threatened by a global conspiracy against God and humanity. I write to you as an Archbishop, as a Successor of the Apostles, as the former Apostolic Nuncio to the United States of America. I am writing to you in the midst of the silence of both civil and religious authorities. May you accept these words of mine as the “voice of one crying out in the desert” (Jn 1:23).
    As I said when I wrote my letter to you in June, this historical moment sees the forces of Evil aligned in a battle without quarter against the forces of Good; forces of Evil that appear powerful and organized as they oppose the children of Light, who are disoriented and disorganized, abandoned by their temporal and spiritual leaders.
    Daily we sense the attacks multiplying of those who want to destroy the very basis of society: the natural family, respect for human life, love of country, freedom of education and business. We see heads of nations and religious leaders pandering to this suicide of Western culture and its Christian soul, while the fundamental rights of citizens and believers are denied in the name of a health emergency that is revealing itself more and more fully as instrumental to the establishment of an inhuman faceless tyranny.
    A global plan called the Great Reset is underway. Its architect is a global élite that wants to subdue all of humanity, imposing coercive measures with which to drastically limit individual freedoms and those of entire populations. In several nations this plan has already been approved and financed; in others it is still in an early stage. Behind the world leaders who are the accomplices and executors of this infernal project, there are unscrupulous characters who finance the World Economic Forum and Event 201, promoting their agenda.
    The purpose of the Great Reset is the imposition of a health dictatorship aiming at the imposition of liberticidal measures, hidden behind tempting promises of ensuring a universal income and cancelling individual debt. The price of these concessions from the International Monetary Fund will be the renunciation of private property and adherence to a program of vaccination against Covid-19 and Covid-21 promoted by Bill Gates with the collaboration of the main pharmaceutical groups. Beyond the enormous economic interests that motivate the promoters of the Great Reset, the imposition of the vaccination will be accompanied by the requirement of a health passport and a digital ID, with the consequent contact tracing of the population of the entire world. Those who do not accept these measures will be confined in detention camps or placed under house arrest, and all their assets will be confiscated.
    Mr. President, I imagine that you are already aware that in some countries the Great Reset will be activated between the end of this year and the first trimester of 2021. For this purpose, further lockdowns are planned, which will be officially justified by a supposed second and third wave of the pandemic. You are well aware of the means that have been deployed to sow panic and legitimize draconian limitations on individual liberties, artfully provoking a world-wide economic crisis. In the intentions of its architects, this crisis will serve to make the recourse of nations to the Great Reset irreversible, thereby giving the final blow to a world whose existence and very memory they want to completely cancel. But this world, Mr. President, includes people, affections, institutions, faith, culture, traditions, and ideals: people and values that do not act like automatons, who do not obey like machines, because they are endowed with a soul and a heart, because they are tied together by a spiritual bond that draws its strength from above, from that God that our adversaries want to challenge, just as Lucifer did at the beginning of time with his “non serviam.”
    Many people – as we well know – are annoyed by this reference to the clash between Good and Evil and the use of “apocalyptic” overtones, which according to them exasperates spirits and sharpens divisions. It is not surprising that the enemy is angered at being discovered just when he believes he has reached the citadel he seeks to conquer undisturbed. What is surprising, however, is that there is no one to sound the alarm. The reaction of the deep state to those who denounce its plan is broken and incoherent, but understandable. Just when the complicity of the mainstream media had succeeded in making the transition to the New World Order almost painless and unnoticed, all sorts of deceptions, scandals and crimes are coming to light.
    Until a few months ago, it was easy to smear as “conspiracy theorists” those who denounced these terrible plans, which we now see being carried out down to the smallest detail. No one, up until last February, would ever have thought that, in all of our cities, citizens would be arrested simply for wanting to walk down the street, to breathe, to want to keep their business open, to want to go to church on Sunday. Yet now it is happening all over the world, even in picture-postcard Italy that many Americans consider to be a small enchanted country, with its ancient monuments, its churches, its charming cities, its characteristic villages. And while the politicians are barricaded inside their palaces promulgating decrees like Persian satraps, businesses are failing, shops are closing, and people are prevented from living, traveling, working, and praying. The disastrous psychological consequences of this operation are already being seen, beginning with the suicides of desperate entrepreneurs and of our children, segregated from friends and classmates, told to follow their classes while sitting at home alone in front of a computer.
    In Sacred Scripture, Saint Paul speaks to us of “the one who opposes” the manifestation of the mystery of iniquity, the kathèkon (2 Thess 2:6-7). In the religious sphere, this obstacle to evil is the Church, and in particular the papacy; in the political sphere, it is those who impede the establishment of the New World Order.
    As is now clear, the one who occupies the Chair of Peter has betrayed his role from the very beginning in order to defend and promote the globalist ideology, supporting the agenda of the deep church, who chose him from its ranks.
    Mr. President, you have clearly stated that you want to defend the nation – One Nation under God, fundamental liberties, and non-negotiable values that are denied and fought against today. It is you, dear President, who are “the one who opposes” the deep state, the final assault of the children of darkness.
    For this reason, it is necessary that all people of good will be persuaded of the epochal importance of the imminent election: not so much for the sake of this or that political program, but because of the general inspiration of your action that best embodies – in this particular historical context – that world, our world, which they want to cancel by means of the lockdown. Your adversary is also our adversary: it is the Enemy of the human race, He who is “a murderer from the beginning” (Jn 8:44).
    Around you are gathered with faith and courage those who consider you the final garrison against the world dictatorship. The alternative is to vote for a person who is manipulated by the deep state, gravely compromised by scandals and corruption, who will do to the United States what Jorge Mario Bergoglio is doing to the Church, Prime Minister Conte to Italy, President Macron to France, Prime Minster Sanchez to Spain, and so on. The blackmailable nature of Joe Biden – just like that of the prelates of the Vatican’s “magic circle” – will expose him to be used unscrupulously, allowing illegitimate powers to interfere in both domestic politics as well as international balances. It is obvious that those who manipulate him already have someone worse than him ready, with whom they will replace him as soon as the opportunity arises.
    And yet, in the midst of this bleak picture, this apparently unstoppable advance of the “Invisible Enemy,” an element of hope emerges. The adversary does not know how to love, and it does not understand that it is not enough to assure a universal income or to cancel mortgages in order to subjugate the masses and convince them to be branded like cattle. This people, which for too long has endured the abuses of a hateful and tyrannical power, is rediscovering that it has a soul; it is understanding that it is not willing to exchange its freedom for the homogenization and cancellation of its identity; it is beginning to understand the value of familial and social ties, of the bonds of faith and culture that unite honest people. This Great Reset is destined to fail because those who planned it do not understand that there are still people ready to take to the streets to defend their rights, to protect their loved ones, to give a future to their children and grandchildren. The leveling inhumanity of the globalist project will shatter miserably in the face of the firm and courageous opposition of the children of Light. The enemy has Satan on its side, He who only knows how to hate. But on our side, we have the Lord Almighty, the God of armies arrayed for battle, and the Most Holy Virgin, who will crush the head of the ancient Serpent. “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom 8:31).
    Mr. President, you are well aware that, in this crucial hour, the United States of America is considered the defending wall against which the war declared by the advocates of globalism has been unleashed. Place your trust in the Lord, strengthened by the words of the Apostle Paul: “I can do all things in Him who strengthens me” (Phil 4:13). To be an instrument of Divine Providence is a great responsibility, for which you will certainly receive all the graces of state that you need, since they are being fervently implored for you by the many people who support you with their prayers.
    With this heavenly hope and the assurance of my prayer for you, for the First Lady, and for your collaborators, with all my heart I send you my blessing.
    God bless the United States of America!
    + Carlo Maria Viganò
    Tit. Archbishop of Ulpiana
    Former Apostolic Nuncio to the United States of America

  26. Now singing the national anthem is banned: Royal Family and veterans can’t sing God Save the Queen on Armistice Day because Covid-19 rules ban ‘communal singing’ at services. 31 October 2020.

    Members of the Royal Family, the Government and the Armed Forces will not be allowed to sing hymns or even the national anthem when they gather at Westminster Abbey on Armistice Day.

    This is simply, as at the Proms, using the virus to advance the Globalist Agenda!

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8899011/Royals-sing-national-anthem-Westminster-Abbey-Armistice-Day-service-Covid-19-rules.html

    1. We had a remembrance service for the fallen of The City of London Yeomanry in church at St Barts last Sunday. The choir sang the National Anthem. (Apparently the “Rough Riders” always have their own service at Barts.)

        1. 326030+ up ticks,
          Morning P,
          In the pipeline, we will NEVER be forgiven for the 24/6/2016 verdict is behind a great deal of this treachery IMO.

  27. Juliet Samuel today, taking a pop at the teaching unions:

    It doesn’t matter how you explain it. If the story involves Tory MPs voting against free lunches for deprived children, the headline is going to be that Tories hate poor kids. Throw in a famous footballer and you’re really stuffed.

    Campaigners for extending free school meals do also have a point. The Covid recession is brutal and poverty is on the rise. The Government ought to be trying to pre-empt the worst effects. Whether a poorly administered scheme for handing out holiday meal vouchers is the best way to do that should be up for debate, but some political battles are not worth it.

    What rankles more than the free school meals row, however, is the double standard among its supporters in the unions and Labour Party. Even as they accused their opponents of callousness towards the poor, they argued that we ought to race into a national lockdown that would hit poor children hardest. The two-week, half-term “circuit breaker” pushed for by the National Education Union, for example, would have once again shut down all schools at huge cost to the education of deprived children when there is precious little evidence of Covid transmission among under-15s.

    After this year’s five month break in schooling, we ought to be abolishing half terms rather than extending them. Research by the Education Policy Institute found that during the previous lockdown, the poorest third of children spent a whole hour less each day on educational activity than middle class and rich children. Every two weeks, they lose 10 hours.

    The quality of the hours they do get is probably also compromised. The research found poor children are less likely to have access to a suitable space and computer in order to study. So if the proposed “circuit breaker” were extended beyond a fortnight, as one might expect, the disparity would grow. There is even less argument for it given some tentative indications that “tier 3” restrictions, which stop a long way short of closing schools, can get case numbers down.

    The most effective way to support deprived families is to keep schools operating normally. But you will never hear teaching unions or their political allies argue for that. They prefer to stick to the emotive single issue of school dinners.

    2. They are just playing politics. Child benefit is for feeding children. If working, they get unlimited top-up benefits. There are food banks, free school meals, reduced food at supermarkets.
      If you’re poor in modern Britain, feeding your children is the easiest thing to do.

      1. This whole wretched story was just a means of some Tory government-bashing. Hats off, it worked well with a compliant media.

        1. Did you notice, the DM let it run for several days, then they posted an article about childhood obesity right next to it? It’s all calculated. People had already spotted the obesity contradiction in the comments.

      2. But the reasons for that poverty need to be addressed and properly resolved. All the welfare in the world is entirely the wrong option. Welfare should be an emergency provision, not a persistent household income.

        1. Yes, I agree. But for that to happen, people would have to pay the real price for goods and services, instead of a subsidised price. And nobody wants to do that!

          It would also make us very uncompetitive in the world, as people would simply source products from other countries where employees get paid less.

    3. The government has dished out a lot of money to local councils to support poor kids whose parents don’t feed them.

    4. She didn’t mention the communist Len McClusky’s Unite union. I wonder how many people realise that its representatives are allowed into schools to indoctrinate the pupils.

      From Unite’s website: “Unite in Schools is a national programme run by the union which aims to teach school students about the role of trade unions in the workplace”.

      2. Then there are the anti marriage lot, the gender-benders…sexual perverts…

        I am not against visits by outside groups per se, but given that so many teachers are far from impartial such a system is bound to be abused. The indoctrination of our children should be stamped on.

    5. What bothers most is no one asks why those children are poor.

      Is it money? Then that’s a combination of political mismanagement – Labour mismanagement: high taxes, high business taxes, massive uncontrolled, deliberate immigration.

    6. There’s a headline in the Grauniad about an Indian school charidee offering to pay for school meals over here.
      Noble, isnt it, how they choose to spend British tax payers’ donations.

  28. New nuclear plant at Sizewell set for green light
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-54754016
    Way down the article, which is quite interesting, is this;
    “Chinese state-owned company CGN already owns a 33% stake in Hinkley Point C in Somerset, currently under construction by French firm EDF, which owns the other two-thirds.

    The Chinese firm also took a 20% stake in the development phase of Sizewell on the understanding it would participate in the construction phase and then land the ultimate prize of building a reactor of its own design at Bradwell in Essex.

    Sources within government and the industry say Chinese involvement in designing and running its own design nuclear reactor on UK soil “looks dead”, given revived security concerns and deteriorating diplomatic relations after the government’s decision to phase out Chinese firm Huawei’s equipment from a new generation of telecommunication networks.

    If a mobile network is considered too sensitive, it’s hard to argue that a nuclear power station is not. Sources close to CGN say the company recognises the new political realities, but still hopes to be able to be an “arm’s-length suppler” to the project, having built a similar plant in Taishan which is already up and running.”

    1. Is this the same type of reactor late and over budget somewhere in Europe?

      If so it makes sense to Boris and clowns to allow another contract to be allowed

    2. Why do we keep building these monolithic reactors when we could be building dozens of modern, efficient far safer micro reactors based on thorium? heck, frackking is vastly safer than all the others.

        1. The big polluting power station companies don’t/won’t want something that doesn’t immediately line their bloated pockets.

    3. Meanwhile EDF and ENSO aim to take over some 500 plus acres in rural Suffolk to litter it with solar panels. Each only producing 49.9Mw of power compared to Sizewell and Bradwell’s outputs.

      You look it up but suffice to say that, under 50Mw, planning permission may come from county and district councils (cheap cost).

      50Mw and over requires Secretary of State permission (expensive and long-drawn out). Go, go, go, cheap ‘renewables ‘ and oh so green! Lots of lovely income from band-wagon jumping, whilst hideously destroying our countryside and putting over 500 acres of good arable land out of commission for 40 years. We already import 39% of our food requirement – let’s increase that ‘cos we now cannot grow our own – over 35,000 tons of food imports.

    1. OLT – why do they allow us to neuter them? We live in enjoyable harmony with dogs and cats and tolerate their life styles.

      1. We’d be overrun with kittens and smelly tomcats if we didn’t.
        But I do abhor the American practice of declawing cats.

  30. Last night was the first night of Holloween – 30+ days of empty nights. I shall probably look like one of those skeleton costumes at the end of it. Still, mustn’t complain, I could be a refugee trapped in a 4* hotel with my extended family and personal support team. Be thankful for small mercies.

  31. BBC News report this morning – The environmental people have suddenly realised that wind and sunshine are incapable of producing sufficient energy to supply demand when the weather is not favourable. A nuclear power plant in Sussex is now on the cards. EDF is the likely builder. Apologies to molamola who has beaten me to it.

      1. Apologies Hugh – Suffolk is the County. My knowledge of the deep South of England is limited,

        1. Ah, that makes a difference…we don’t have any nukes in Sussex, our nearest is Dungeness, in Kent.

    3. You’d never think that the UK were pioneers and world leaders in nuclear power, would you?

    4. The environmental nutters always knew that it was insufficient. They didn’t care.

      What they didn’t ever expect was that they would actually suffer from the lack of energy. I suggest a simple solution: anyone promoting wind and solar has it, and pays for it. When there’s no wind or solar power they still pay, but don’t get any service. They also pay all the subsidy for it.

  32. For once, & only once, the BBC are to be congratulated on the timings of their Saturday night programmes. “Little Mix the search” & “Strictly” in the early evening slots should keep most of the blasted trick-or-treaters at home.

    1. Good morning, Peddy. With my wicked (some might say deranged) sense of humour, I am sorely tempted to turn up at your front door early this evening in order to spook you!

      :-))

    2. Apparently these days they only target houses with a pumpkin lit up in the window or outside – not the people who don’t. So I was told by a friend with grandchildren.

    3. Oh blast, not again. Time to bunker down, turn all the lights off and pretend to be out.

      One year the war queen suggested we go to a Vicar’s and Tarts fancy dress party. It was all going well until she gave me the tarts costume.

      1. In past years I’ve placed a notice in a window: No trick or treat, thank you – to no avail. So I shall do what I’ve taken to doing more recently: all lights blazing, sit conspicuously eating supper, or whatever, & completely ignore any knocks at the door.

          1. My favourite fantasy is handing out chocolate-coated Scotch Bonnets. Instant effect!

        3. Any calls here are met with the accidental release of an excitable Lab…they rarely visit us now.

  33. Just back from the shops. Mainly stocking up with kitten food, kitten litter, kitten treats – and three bananas for me!

    At one place, a masked man sad, “Hello!”. No idea who he was – he removed his mask. Our neighbour who lives four houses away. Simply didn’t recognise him in the awful, frightful, gestapo disguise. How depressing it all is.

      2. When you have aggravated the wife – be careful as you have a nap in the armchair – she might just shine the laser onto your sensitive area – and a cat jumping there with claws out – -ouch.

      3. Hours of fun indeed. I spend many an evening playing with the puddy tats and a laser pen. Caution to all tho’ watch the puddy tats’ eyes.

    2. I’ve walked past close friends and not been recognised. I find that very strange as my silhouette isn’t exactly common.

      Yes, it is depressing. More, it’s frustrating because it simply isn’t necessary.

      1. Sorry – my reference was to the effing mandatory face mask – not the All Souls malarky.

      2. This morning I realised that I hadn’t seen anyone I knew in the supermarket for a long time…

        1. It used to be that we could socialise in the supermarkets. A shopping expedition could easily idle away last half an hour as we chatted to neighbours, friends and staff as we wandered our way along the aisles.

        2. I often used to meet former patients & have a chat in ‘my’ w/rose, but I haven’t seen one for ages, except for one young girl who works there & is usually on the info desk.

  34. Boris Johnson set to announce national lockdown. 31 October 2020.

    Prime Minister to enforce restrictions next week in last-ditch attempt to save Christmas.

    And if you believe that you will believe anything! It’s worth reminding yourself occasionally as you wade through this tosh, that all this is in the cause of saving the one in every thousand infected people who dies from this disease. The final death toll will, due to the ignoring of every other medical condition, certainly exceed that which would have occurred had we simply let the virus “rip” through the population!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/10/30/fourth-tier-covid-restrictions-beckons-scientists-pressure-boris/

    1. His payoff is in the post, soon to be shared out among his various exes for maintenance payments.

    2. All we can do now is think of the good old days of Protect and Survive when, in an emergency, masks were not that important – all you needed was a body bag and a fly swat!

      Morning Minty.

      1. Didn’t it also involve kitchen tables, spare doors and myriad Tinker Belles raining down on you?

    3. Morning AS – Boris is just considering this suggestion. The BBC got it from ” a document which came into their hands”. There is a big leak in the government decision making which is toxic. I hope Boris decides to stick with the actions he is taking at the moment. The NHS seems to be totally unprepared again. The NHS management is a disgrace in some areas of the UK.

      1. I was watching the BBC Breakfast show this morning but it got so depressing with all the Covid-19 news that I couldn’t take it any more and switched off.

        1. Follow my advice.

          Since the 2016 referendum (how long ago that all seems) I have neither watched nor listened to ANY news, political or current affairs programmes.

          As a consequence, my BP remains steady.

        2. “Every cloud has a silver lining”, Aeneas. My decision not to have a TV has kept me sane during all these Covid-19 scare tactics.

        3. Don’t despair – when they stop with Covid 19 . . . . There is always Covid 20 (The Sequel ) waiting to be released.

  37. An open letter to Her Majesty the Queen:

    Madam,

    We need leadership in this time of crisis.

    May I implore you to place the Nation’s wreath of Remembrance personally.

    May I also implore you to command that the assembled dignitaries sing the National Anthem.

    I have the honour to be, Madam, Your Majesty’s humble and obedient servant.

  38. Just a laddy from Lancashire.

    https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/G_H_Elliott.JPG

    http://collinsvariety.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/73-gh-elliot.jpg

    George Henry Elliott (November 1882–19 November 1962) was a British music hall singer and dancer. Known as the “Chocolate Coloured Cóón”, he performed with a painted brown face and dressed entirely in white: white top hat, white tail-coat which came down well below the knees, white gloves, white tie or cravat, white trousers, white shoes and white cane.

    All that white stuff – obviously a white supremacist.

      1. It got covered up back in June 2020. I don’t know what has happened to it since, but there was talk of removing it (along with another headstone next to it with the same offending word).

    2. His surviving family, right down to 3rd cousins, will have to self-flagellate and beg forgiveness.

      1. The grave dug up and contents thrown into the town drinking water. Serve ’em right for harbouring such a blicophobe.

      2. The grave dug up and contents thrown into the town drinking water. Serve ’em right for harbouring such a blicophobe.

  39. SIR – The National Trust (Letters, October 29), in a “cost-cutting” exercise at Portland House, Weymouth, has dismissed a team of 15 volunteer gardeners, to be replaced by a contractor. The Trust is a wonderful organisation that has lost its way.

    Julie Bowen
    Weymouth, Dorset

    Another smart decision from an NT with a death wish that seems to inhabit a parallel universe. Perhaps it is time for all of their volunteers to down tools. Let’s see how long the NT can function without them.

    3. How can employing a contractor save the NT money. I assume the gardeners gave their time freely.

      1. My brother in law plays the piano at an NT house…it is purely voluntary and the only reward is a discount card for 20% off in NT shops. Since their merchandise is invariably expensive for what it is, this is scant reward.

  41. Our criticism of the faith is that there is no gentle form of it when in its essence it is aggressive and expansionist.

    SIR – Rakib Ehsan (“The vilification of Macron by Muslim countries is disturbing”, telegraph.co.uk) is wrong to defend Emmanuel Macron’s “bold stance against Islamic separatism”.

    The crackdown Mr Macron has ordered – closing mosques, searching individuals’ homes and shutting down associations in an attempt to make “fear change sides” – has ramped up tension and inflamed moderate Muslims around the world.

    Religious tolerance is a cardinal indicator of a civilised society, as I know as a Christian and ethnic Armenian who grew up in Baghdad, where I never experienced persecution, and as a member of the Labour Party, from which I resigned over its failure to tackle anti-Semitism.

    Europeans have spent centuries telling others how to live, or interpret, their religion. President Macron stigmatises an entire faith based on the actions of a few violent extremists. It can have only one result – to fuel rage.

    Professor Lord Darzi of Denham

    Director of the Institute of Global Health Innovation

    Imperial College, London

    1. In a bizarre way you have to admire Imperial’s consistency,they are consistently wrong about everything……………
      Islam is a violent foul expansionist intolerant nightmare,murdering its way down the centuries
      “Few violent extremists” my arse,see Malaysian PM for details

    2. If the Islamists could show “religious tolerance”, for example, by not hacking off the heads of Christians, then maybe Macron would teave them alone. But, as they won’t, I hope neither will he. Pushback against the choppy choppy bastards.

    3. I spoke with my mother just now, and she asked what evidence there is that the Labour Party was itself antisemitic, even under Corbyn’s leadership, other than his opponents asserting in the media over and over that it was, until the mud stuck. That is hardly justice, and I personally find it all very sinister, and feel there is something very authoritarian and wrong about the action being taken by its current leader.

      As fas as I could see, there was this long-held sympathy Corbyn has had for the Palestinians, and his understanding of the intafada, which they regard as land grab by foreign settlers. This is a political issue over land rights and who has the best claim over the land, and is only racial because the IHRA and the EHRC make it out to be.

      There was this bit of selective historical claimed aired mystifyingly why by Ken Livingstone about whether Hitler had come to a deal with the Zionists whereby they would be repatriated “where they belong” (i.e. far away from the Fatherland) when the alternative presented to them was the gas chamber. A deal they perhaps could not refuse, but a deal none the less.

      There was this absurd mural, depicting pantomime hook-nosed Jewish bankers playing monopoly over the blood of the proletariat, which can only be regarded as a parody of something Goebbels would have done. Considering Sacha Baron Cohen’s taste in parody, it would not surprise me if the origins of this mural were Jewish, who have a rather dark sense of humour linked with self-deprecation that could be misinterpreted by well-meaning Gentiles lacking Jewish imagination, intelligence and humour.

      Likewise, there was this cartoon, whereby the entire nation of Israel could fit in a patch of ground somewhat smaller than Kansas. I read this in the same light that Australians, who are rather miffed when I suggest that it is an outpost of Asia little bigger than the Isle of Wight, an outpost of England, place the outline of Australia that covers that of either the USA, or that of Europe. I see nothing wrong with pointing out that Israel is a small country; many of the best countries are.

      Then there were these ladies such as Margaret Hodge and Luciana Berger, who have long despised Corbyn and would do anything to bring him down and restore the True Faith set up by Tony Blair, so disgracefully voted down by Labour’s membership, along with the £3 Tories, in 2015. They played the race hate crime card shamelessly, and Corbyn showed considerably restraint not suspending their whip at the time.

      Now we have “Sir” Keir Starmer saying that you are guilty if one commits a crime, and guilty if one denies it, regardless whether one did or not, because of unconscious liability, and enough people accuse you of it. As a lawyer, he should be ashamed to remain a representative of his profession, for as long as there is any connection between justice and the law in this country.

      I am still open-minded and willing to consider the evidence of endemic antisemitism in the Labour Party since it was last led by a Jew (which I believe was in 2015).

  43. Got a feeling Boris panicked after Germany and France went on lockdowns and asked those boys at Imperial College for some project fear stats.
    I can just imagine the conversation,
    “You want project fear Boris, in a bit of a fix? no problem, tap tap tap, change a few parameters here alter the criteria there, hit the save button, don’t worry Boris it’s sitting there in your in box”.

  44. I was looking for the story of the muslims demonstrating in London in support of their right to hack Catholics to death. A search on the BBC website revealed nothing. A general search brought up the Guardian story, “Anti-France protests draw tens of thousands across Muslim world”. No mention of London.
    The Daily Mail carried the story. “‘Officers made a total of three arrests. Two people for Covid breaches and one for possession of pyrotechnics.
    ’13 people have also reported for consideration of a fixed penalty notice.'”
    Despite the fact that a mob of jihadis demonstrated outside the French Embassy and another mob also blocked the public thoroughfare at Cornhill outside the Louis Vuitton shop, and prevented people entering or leaving, the police response was very muted. No riot gear worn, No heads were smashed, batons were not in evidence, and no women were battered to the ground. Funny that.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8898271/Anti-Macron-fury-reaches-London-Police-clash-Muslim-crowds-demanding-respect-Prophet.html?ci=46085&si=19283496

    1. The double knee demonstration breaking all the recent attempts to stop the spread of the ‘virus’ was virtually ignored by the mayor and police who now reserve the right to bang on our front doors on Christmas day and arrest members of our families who might be more than six sitting down to lunch. If the next proposed lockdown happens no body will be able to visit anyone.
      Now watch this it gets worse….. https://www.bitchute.com/video/30lMSVokWCZh/ ………..far worse that any one could ever imagine.

    2. And I’ll bet none of them will get two weeks in jail for peeing against a fence either!

      1. I remember taking a girlfriend from the local youth club, to the Hendon Odeon (now a block of flats) to see from Russia With Love. While she fell asleep on my arm, i loved the film and the fight on the train.
        I ‘spoke’ to her on FB a couple of months (hadn’t heard of her for over 57 years) ago she says she doesn’t remember. Well i do Margaret 🙄

    3. A mediocre film actor – whose main role was always Sean Connery – who, as his fame grew, thrust his personal politics down everyone’s throat.

      1. ‘Afternoon, Bill, but I think a lot of the ladies at the time were dreaming of his thrusting elsewhere as well.

      1. But in Spectre ‘C’ fell through a glass screen to his death………….has someone taken his place ?

          3. Anne of Cleves – second daughter of John III, Duke of Cleves and Count of Ravensberg – it’s in the name.

          4. Big gal, apparently.
            Even by the standards of Tudor England, she suffered from appalling BO.

  50. How modern democracy has given rise to lockdown totalitarianism. 31 October 2020.

    When a British police commissioner publicly threatens to invade people’s homes at Christmas to break up “illegal” family gatherings, you know that you have entered a new political landscape. At least, new for modern liberal democracies. That sort of edict would scarcely have been noticed in the totalitarian states of the old Soviet bloc, or in the distant darker periods of Western history. How in the name of God, have we got here? That such a statement could be uttered – as it was, for the record, by David Jamieson, West Midlands police and crime commissioner last week – let alone regarded as unsurprising, is an indication of some much larger phenomenon than a viral epidemic.

    Well Janet has finally realised, which I suppose is progress of a sort. Far too late of course. Much darker things lie ahead.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/10/31/modern-democracy-has-givenrise-lockdown-totalitarianism/

  51. Good morning, my friends

    We had a power cut yesterday morning and the surge when the power returned wrecked our Internet reception and we were incommunicado until yesterday night.

    However I popped in after midnight to see what was going on only to find that one of our friends seemed to be upsetting people again. I posted the following and, of course, won an immediate downvote! Perhaps we should start a competition to see who can garner the most downvotes and abuse!

    This is really rather sad. Down voters want to drive away many of those whom we consider our friends.

    I have lost count of how many downvotes I have received but I never react to a down voter and I never down vote anyone myself. I don't know what the etiquette is but I think down voting is unspeakably common and uncivilised. Most of us wish to participate on a friendly and civilised site such as this where we can express our points of view without being trolled or insulted and where we can express different points of view without seeking to cause offence..

    I once suggested that the mods applied a 3 Strikes And You're Out Rule.. Once a person has used his or her quota of 3 down votes he or she is expelled from the site and banned from returning..

    1. Morning Richard. I note that your comment itself drew a down vote! I’m sure it was deliberate! That said you should not feed the trolls!

      1. Good morning P-T

        Of course it does not matter any more (as Buddy Holly sang) but it used to lead to some people’s ability to post on some sites being affected and so they had to change their avatars and pseudonyms.

        The sad problem is that some people less robust and more vulnerable than you or I are upset and decide to leave the site.

        1. The downvoter did that and left this site for over a year – she came back. I consider her a lonely person who needs to be able to express her views as we do.

          1. Yet… it’s a community of people who respect one another and each other’s views sufficiently to not simply troll or abuse or insult.

            If you can be open and upfront anywhere, surely it’s here?

          2. I try not to be abusive to anyone, but sometimes it’s hard. If someone argues the toss and I disagree, I generally disengage.

          3. Good morning Ndovu

            I thought she was pushed. But why has she returned to her own vomit?

            But you are right – she needs more pity than censure.

          5. Which she declines to offer to others. I used the pronoun because we all know who ‘she’ is but I don’t want to name names.

          6. She does offer it to others. Try reading her posts more carefully. Since her return she has been much more friendly & helpful, but there are those on here who refuse to see that. As for the person who, thank Goodness, stormed off in a tantrum last night after returning to spit venom with his first remarks, well, he was always looking for trouble. Look at the way he attacked me just for posting a few recipes.

          7. I try to stay out of his way. He, whilst knowledgeable in his professional sphere, is an unpleasant and bullying character.

          9. We are all entitled to air our views – I respect her knowledge on certain topics and try to engage politely – but she dislikes me and makes it obvious. She has certain favourites – you are one, Paul and John also.

            Last night’s tantrum was one of many from that quarter – I think he has a problem late at night. I really can’t see why people can’t just ignore posts they are not interested in, or if they really dislike someone, then block them. It takes all sorts I suppose. I’ve only ever blocked one person, and that was temporary, because I was being trolled.

          13. I think he has a problem late at night

            Why not call a spade a spade & say that he is too immature to hold his liquor?

          14. Please be careful of making such assumptions. The same was said of me last night; in my absence like all the rest of the abuse which is still on view – and I haven’t had a drop in 2020.

          16. Having ‘tantrummed off’ on Friday never to return, only to return last night only to spit venom in each of 3 posts, is he deserving of any sympathy?
            I don’t think so.

          18. Thanks Peddy, but you are wasting your time and energy. When those who have the power to and should censure personal attacks are the ones making them whilst insisting that they don’t – there is no hope of cordiality – or even absence of hostility.

            If the pretence of not naming names is to be regarded as excuse for free abuse…. what more is there to say.

            Were I to have written any of the comments in this section re A N Other (anyone at all) – they would be deleted and I would be banned. That the same law does not apply to both the Medes and the Persians has been well demonstrated since yesterday evening.

          19. No – she wasn’t pushed. However I did delete many of her nasty posts when she was trolling you.

          20. But, J, isn’t it more courageous to enter into debate with someone whose views you might disagree with, rather than the seemingly anonymous down-vote?

            That’s virtually saying, “I don’t like you and cannot muster a good enough argument to disagree with you.”

    3. Morning, Rastus. Glad to see you’re up and running again.

      I’ve never down voted nor checked to see if I’ve suffered that fate.
      But then I know I am so right and so lovely that no-one would dare to do such a thing.
      🎶 Zippedy Doo Dah …..

        1. Someone once asked the same question on the hard-left website StackOverflow. The reply was “if someone downvotes me, I check my answer carefully, and if I find nothing wrong with it, then I laugh heartily at the fool who down-voted”

          An irony-free person commented underneath something like “That’s not funny. Downvoting you.”

      4. Well you are up against it on this forum. I remain totally puzzled by those who choose to support the down-voters. And yes, there are two, in my case, not just the obvious one.

        That dentist chap spills bile too.

    4. If you disagree with a post, the only rational thing to do is present a cogent argument for the other side.

      Just bashing out ‘waaagghh! Don’t wanna! is infantile.

      I’d see no one banned, but I would rather see those people villified with a running tally, a sort of ‘person : downvotes’

    5. To my shame I downvoted someone a few weeks ago. It was a comment that irritated me intensely. However, I was in the early predromal stage of migraine and did not recognise that at the time, that that was what it was. One of the early symptoms that go with this seems to be a certain lack of awareness, that oh, this is migraine. A problem is that the presenting symptom(s) is not always the same before the head pain and nausea kick in.

    6. A downvote should be explained by the downvoter. Since the downvotes are no longer anonymous, it’s easy to see who it is.

      1. Ignore a sad down-voting troll
        And her pathetic wheezes
        She only does it to annoy
        Because she knows it teases.

        [after Lewis Carroll]

      3. A downvote, Paul, is used when the voter knows that to enter into debate – of even the mildest nature – will bring not debate in return but simple abuse – as the reply from R. C. Tastey below demonstrates – what is that if it is not “rudeness or personal attack”… yet it is not even censured and remains, in full view, to the distress of the person abused.

  53. I see from the Telegraph, the BLACK LIVES MATTER movement have another notch in their gun with the BLACK BRITISH BUSINESS AWARDS –
    Hey Ho . . . . .

  54. The French MP for the Nice area – Eric Ciotti – is making a name for himself by calling for a French Guantanamo to bang up all slammers known to the police.

    If only we had an equivalent politician willing to speak out.

    Instead, we have daft letters from “worthies” such as the daft Lord Darzi (in today’s DT). The BTL stuff is marvellous.

  55. George Osbourne, Ed Miliband and others spouting their anti-British ideology on BBC Radio 4. To demonstrate its impartiality Osbourne is the Conservative counterbalance to the other drivelling lefties on the programme. Just by coincidence, Osbourne is anti-Brexit, hates Donald Trump and would vote Biden if he could. The BBC wouldn’t have known that when they invited him to speak though (sarc).

    I am beginning to look forward to a dose of ‘Coconut virus’, or whatever it’s called now, it has to be better than listening to the likes of them.

    1. Last weekend, on BBC local radio about 2am, the host had a go at one caller who used the word “sod” twice. During the week, on BBC1 tv, after 9pm but before 9.30 pm – the F word was used several times. Weird standards they have on the BBC.

        1. Just below it is a shot of the Alan’s Sackbar Appreciation Society on a jolly outside the French Embassy…and our partial Plod apparently let them get on with it. If I were French I would be protesting about their blatant inaction.

          1. Mind you, the French protesting about the inaction of the Met might be just a touch hypocritical??

        2. Sorry about the delay in replying, your reply came through as an “email notification” but didn’t show up on the site – for whatever reason. I have had the same happen to other comments too. As for the BBC and their poppies – I’m not really surprised. If it is for the benefit of people watching abroad then maybe the Beeb should also charge those people a license fee – or is it another case of “Everybody else benefits – WE PAY”?

  58. Good afternoon dear people.

    We navigated flooded roads , strong wind and horrid driving conditions in order to collect a sack of dog food , stuff for the grden birds , and a large box of Bonio from a ag supplier a few miles away , then managed to get to the superstore to re victual the fridge and store cupboard!

    Needed a rest after the trip, everywhere was chaotic with panic buying , we managed to get out early before the real queues built up.

    TV Rugby on , at least the Welsh sing with real passion , as they always have done.

    The storm has blown through , and the afternoon sunshine is pleasant , but with a chill in the air , fallen leaves everywhere, the colours are so pretty.

    1. The queue for ASDA car park was a mile long as i sailed past on my way to Waitrose. Didn’t even have to wait to get in. Very civilised though it did cost me £179

  59. 326030+ up ticks,
    Am I right in thinking Gerard Batten ( politician) was warning of the dangers of islamic ideology back in 2005 going on to suggest a Brexitexit
    course to steer,rhetorically & in book form in 2014 in regards to us winning the referendum.
    All the while b liar was flooding these Isles with future terrorist, paedophile rapist / abusers etc.with electoral backing,
    The start if a long line of pro eu PMs all the while with electoral backing.
    Again & again.

      1. 326030+ up ticks,
        Afternoon TB,
        By the same token years ago we had a certain amount of respect for the politicians, I am talking of the last three decades and a politician who came out and said what he could plainly see was taking place.
        Only to be ,along with others
        vilified & castigated, now much of what was said in all honesty is coming to pass, with a vengeance.

    2. I was warning people in 1990. Oh, how they laughed. They’re not laughing now. ©Bob Monkhouse.

      1. I recall saying something similar to my health visitor after the birth of our second son in 1983. It was possible to talk about these things back then and voice an opinion without being regarded as racist.

      2. Wasn’t his joke “When I told everyone I wanted to be a comedian they all laughed. Well, they’re not laughing now”?
        Clever.

      1. Interesting that they are wearing hair and head coverings as well as masks. That will be on the menu for us next. The next step. “SAGE has discovered that the virus builds extensive families and networks within strands of hair; especially those with long locks make ideal breeding grounds” and before you know it we will be hijabbed and burkad out of recognition. With our men wearing those strange little pill box hats.

  64. Given what happened the last time we had a ‘time limited lockdown’ to ‘flatten the curve’, I took the imminent No.10 press conference as more of the same, rebooked my appointment at the local barber – the last slot still available today and hurried down there. Glad I did. I don’t want to have to go 5 months between haircuts like last time.

    Now I can get on with the important stuff – pushing back on the lies by the MSM, big business, so-called expert scientists and clinicians, civil servants and politicians on the COVID takeover/Great Reset/Agenda 21/30 etc etc.

    5. What terrible time wasters.
      Think what could be done instead of watching them; like ….um … and …. er ….. and ….. something else ….

    1. It’s not over at the BBC. The next 20 years is to be dedicated to highlighting the plight of the black community and the historic oppression by the white British. After that all BBC programmes will be devoted to re-education of the BAMEophobic Brits and promotion of BLM and PersofCol superiority. Just you wait and see.

          7. I knew a guy with six fingers on one hand, he was good at a certain pencil in hand trick.

        2. Everyone in America – and that she was the commander of the US submarine that captured the Enigma machine and defeated the German offensive at the Battle of Stalingrad amongst other world saving exploits which are commemorated in her home town of Birmingham, Alabama.

          5. I remember seeing an excellent school production of Porgy and Bess – in Fife – there wasn’t a black face to be seen.

            Othello, as mentioned some days ago, has been played by a myriad of white actors. If the girl can act, then I really don’t see why anyone has a problem.

    2. After realising that they may have overdone the “Black History” programs recently the tv bosses are apparently going to do something to redress the balance, by having . . . Whitey ( Soon-to-be ) History.

    3. Sub-Saharan Africa was illiterate until the Arab slavers arrived and kept detailed trading accounts.

      1. That was long after the moors from Grenada spent their time cruising the south coast of England and Ireland grabbing as many blonde blue eyed children as they could, for the pleasure of the mullahs and imams.
        Those they had no use for were fed to the equally enclosed pride of pet loins.
        I expect they enjoyed watching that.

    4. I think they have applied for an extension, they are in need more time to included all the wrong doings genocide and terrible murders that have taken place all over Africa over the past 80 years.

    5. I think the main cause of the increase in racism in Britain is that people are being so bombarded with being told what to think and how to behave that they have had enough.

      I often find that the most rational comments about race come from black people like Tomas Sowell and Candace Owens and famously it was a black man who said that a person should be judged by quality of his character rather than the colour of his skin.

      1. I often find that the most rational comments about race come from black people like Tomas Sowell and Candace Owens and famously it was a black man who said that a person should be judged by quality of his character rather than the colour of his skin.
        And up until recently i suspect that is the way most civilised people thought but since being continually bashed over the head with ‘the black stick’, people including my self my friends and family have changed their minds. Enough is enough.

    6. Quite so, A. It has also reminded us that yer bliks can never be accused of being racist. That’s for whitey only.

  72. Abandon ship! 120,000 to die in November!

    PM to hold news conference as lockdown considered

    “…documents seen by the BBC suggest the UK is on course for a much higher death toll than during the first wave unless further restrictions are introduced. Deaths could reach more than 4,000 a day, one of the models suggests.”

    “The spring lockdown did bring cases down. A lockdown now would be expected to do the same.”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-54762048

    2. And of course, they will deem it to have worked because they had ‘locked down’. 4,000 a day was never going to happen anyway.

    3. I wonder who “owns” the model that is predicting such carnage? If only “one of the models” suggests this, how many others are there and what do they suggest?? Lots of “suggest” and “could”!

      “The spring lockdown did bring massive financial problems. A lockdown now would be expected to do the same.” There, fixed!

    4. In the first WEEK in November.

      Undertakers overwhelmed; crematoria burn down because of excess heat…

    5. If, as expected, another lockdown is introduced, no-one will ever know what would have happened if it had not been imposed. So the people who have modelled this catastrophic scenario will never be proved wrong. They will, however, take the credit for ‘reducing’ the number of deaths.

    6. But shirley, all most of the people who were susceptible to the virus and likely to be killed by it DIED in the first wave?

      Just asking…

      Edited to alter “all”

      2. Ah but.

        The lockdowns and lack of treatment for seriously ill, non-covid, patients has ensured that there is now a new supply of people with serious underlying conditions who will die with, not of, covid.

        1. Never mind all those who commit suicide because of loneliness, isolation, despair (money problems, unemployment, marital breakdown) and lack of treatment for mental health.

          1. Indeed, but there are too many one this forum who are badly affected by such experiences that I tend to stay clear.

          3. I’m very, very wary when discussing it.

            Far too many, and too close to home.

            The forum is generally light-hearted and on that particular subject it is extremely easy to cause “hurt” completely unintentionally.

            One frightening aspect is that as a cohort of the general population we will actually be very representative of mental health issues and their worst outcomes.

          5. PS.
            I see that your mate JSP is now lecturing on this subject.
            If by any chance I bite, please warn me off.

          6. We all know that she knows everything there is to know about every subject. It’s a particularly personal one for me, given my personal history (having attempted suicide in my 20s) and the loss of a close friend who was my muse to suicide about ten years ago. I try to ignore JSP as far as possible as she inevitably rubs me up the wrong way – often, I suspect, without meaning to. Life is much less unpleasant that way!

          7. It’s a terrible subject. Far too many of my family have tried and too many were “successful”.

  74. Some players in England shirts on one knee in Rome before 6 Nations match.

    Should never be picked again.

    2. I see that the useless Youngs “led” the team on to the pitch before a crowd of almost a dozen… Ridiculous gesture.

      Only any point if the stadium is full of spectators.

      1. He’s also kicked away possession an astonishing TWENTY TWO times in 40 minutes. My old rugby master would ensure he never played club, let alone International rugby ever again.

          2. He lives a charmed life.

            I still think he’s a good player, but I would only pick him in the centre.

          3. I think his undoubted skill is marred by his petulant thuggishness.

            Don’t England have to win by dozens of points to remain in the running for the No 1 spot?

        2. I have never seen what it is that is supposed to make him a “great” scrum-half. Never.

          The MR taught him English – and he struggled with that. Clearly no one taught him rugger and he struggled with that”

        3. What’s with all the kicking? I thought (silly me) the idea was to run with the ball, and pass it to your teammates, not kick it to the opposition, who then kick it straight back. Like ping-pong, it is, and desperately uninteresting.

    3. There didn’t seem to be any conviction in them, just confusion. Like they thought they were supposed to kneel, then saw that others weren’t and stood straight back up again.

      I wonder who put the idea in their heads that they should kneel?

      Whoever it was, it turned out to be a national embarrassment.

    4. There didn’t seem to be any conviction in them, just confusion. Like they thought they were supposed to kneel, then saw that others weren’t and stood straight back up again.

      I wonder who put the idea in their heads that they should kneel?

      Whoever it was, it turned out to be a national embarrassment.

      1. The Meeeja. And yes, it is embarrassing.

        If you don’t have the conviction, don’t follow the action. Obeying the herd out of a misplaced sense of scrutiny is just hypocrisy.

    1. No description of perpetrator. If priest is too badly hurt to give a description or was bravely shot in the back, maybe the police could take a guess?

    2. For goodness sake. Muslims killed people. Macron stands up and says we won’t be bullied. Muslim world goes mental that murder hasn’t had the effect it wants. Muslims kill more people.

      For goodness sake. What needs to be done to silence these psychotic nutters? Turning the entire middle east to glass?

    1. I’m checking to see if Whitty has his hands anywhere near Boris, pulling the strings. TBH, Boris looks like a beaten man. I also recall that when he was digital minister, Matt Hancock was very much oboard with the World Economic Forum’s ‘4th Industrial Revolution’, which likely means (to me anyway) he’s their man in No. 10, helping along the Great Reset / UN Agenda 21/30 / Build Back Better to use the ‘pandemic’ to usher in a new era of totalitarianism via control by coroporations, China’s puppets in the UN/WHO and civil services around the world, plus a very keen, left wing MSM.

      1. “Roll up your sleeve, Doctor Gates will see you now. Through the one way doors, Room 666.. “

    1. Let’s see if ITV has joined the BBC, CH4 and SKY in going full-on Orange Man Bad. Of course, the Telegraph did so some time ago as well.

  78. Article just now in today’s DT:-

    ‘As Black History Month draws to a close, it is important to ask what has actually been achieved. ‘

    Nothing, as far as I am concerned. I have friends who are a different colour to me but, frankly, whenever someone comes on TV trying to lecture me, or tell me what I am supposed to be feeling, or trying to guilt trip me, I switch off.

    So, no, nothing achieved whatsoever.

    1. I feel actively pizzed off by it, so yes, I guess you could say that it has achieved its goal of stirring up dissent and misery.

      1. https://youtu.be/GeixtYS-P3s

        As far as I can see, this is the best and only rational response we can have to the nonsense of invented racism. Stop treating people as a label. Treat them as individuals. The Left don’t seem able to do that though.

    3. The only black who’s history I find relevant is when that bloke stood up and said stuff like this:

      we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our
      thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. (My Lord, No, no, no, no) [applause]
      We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and
      discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into
      physical violence. (My Lord) Again and again (No, no), we must rise to the majestic heights (Yes) of meeting physical force with soul force. (My Lord) The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people (Hmm),
      for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here
      today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our
      destiny [sustained applause], and they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

      and this:

      We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” – note, no black history month, no promotion of black rights, no black lives matter nonsense

      and finally

      my four little children (Well) will one day live in a nation
      where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the
      content of their character. (My Lord) I have a dream today.

      Where people were not labelled, stamped, tokenised, controlled, labelled divided or used as weapons by the spoiled, chattering classes of the hated Left.

      1. Sorry, Wibbles but it comes across as, obviously an American evangelist – probably imploring the impecunious to subscribe to his channel.

    5. So, after a month of that bs, was there actually any significant black history? Other than buggering up stuff, of course? Did they invent wonder drugs, like penicillin? Nuclear power? Manned flights to the moon? Smartphones? MRI machines? Pencils? Written communication, even?
      Ainsley invented a cocktail, I believe.

      1. What would be more useful is if instead of calling it black history there was a celebration of inventors, scientists, spaekers and just bloody *people* who’ve achieved great things. Let’s stop calling them black, white, brown, green let’s just sodding well call them people.

        I’m a neaderthal, I’ve no grand ideal of being some heroic figure of the new people, leading a great and tolerant lifestyle. I dislike most everyone. I do see people though. Individuals. The idea that my chum Anton represents every Russian is idiotic, nor Franz every German, same as not every Briton is like me.

        However all Frenchmen do we ar onions and have stripey vests and ride bicycles.

    6. I see that the (possibly DT) troll Am F is on the DT Letters Page comments section this afternoon with a vengence, even stating that the original inhabitants of the british Isles were black. Is there no depths this idiot will stoop?

      1. I guess he has photographic evidence.
        I guess it would depend on how quickly dark-skinned folk migrated from Africa northwards. Dark skins don’t synthesize vitamin D nearly as well as light, so if they came over in a year or so, they’d be a bt ricketty and still dark. If it took generations, allowing for selection to reduce the pigmentation, then they would have arrived white-ish.
        The speed would have been driven by the benefits and housing situation. How was that back then?

      2. It could be true. Until the 1980s you could see their descendants emerging each day rom the coal mines of Yorkshire and Lancashire in their thousands. There were several tribes who lived in Wales and southern Scotland too.

        1. There’s a saying in Welsh Wales – “I’d rather be black than be a Swansea Jack” referring to one’s preference of mining over seafaring.
          Misinterpreted these days of course.

      3. I guess he has photographic evidence.
        I guess it would depend on how quickly dark-skinned folk migrated from Africa northwards. Dark skins don’t synthesize vitamin D nearly as well as light, so if they came over in a year or so, they’d be a bt ricketty and still dark. If it took generations, allowing for selection to reduce the pigmentation, then they would have arrived white-ish.
        The speed would have been driven by the benefits and housing situation. How was that back then?

    7. Actually, it HAS achieved something; it has turned me into a racist because I am SO sick and tired of black this, black that, black etc etc being shoved down my throat that I can’t stand the sight of blacks on the screen now. It never used to bother me and I don’t think you should discriminate against people because of the colour of their skin, but that is exactly what the BLM and BHM racists are doing.

      1. #MeToo. I have to agree, Conners. What these virtue-signalling twits don’t understand is that the more it’s shoved down our throats, the more our antagonism rises.

        We also start looking (and complaining) about the slights targeted against us for being the white indigenous population.

        These blacks don’t/won’t realise that they are just guests in our country and, if they don’t like what’s here, they’re very welcome to go elsewhere.

      2. Same with all the lgbtq (or whatever acronym they use) nonsense. Goodnight …. well, good morning. Though what is ‘good’ about it another lockdown imminent.

      1. Yes. But, being in the kitchen, I can hear the Clack! of it shutting.
        Now I have enough mice for dinner!

        3. Interesting. I was always told that a mousetrap would never work twice because subsequent mice would smell the dead one and avoid it.

          Maybe that was just for wooden traps. Or maybe I was a victim of an unscrupulous mousetrap salesman!

          4. Yep, one of those things you are told when you are young.

            Received wisdom, never believe it.

          4. Would your kittys like the spare mice? Can parcel up & send… always assuming the covid hasn’t stopped the post, of course. It’s taken nearly 2 weeks for a parcel to UK to not be delivered. Might be there by Christmas, if we’re lucky.

          7. Well you will keep cats….

            The worst thing any of my dogs ever “retrieved” was a very dead seagull (at least 48 hours dead) which she resolutely refused to put down until I accepted it to hand (after all we do teach them to do it that way). I did drop it again rather quickly.

          8. We received a very manky pack of perennial wallflowers because the PO mucked about. Deliveries are worse now than last Spring.
            I felt terrible complaining to the suppliers as we’ve had loads of lovely stuff from them.
            The lass who dealt with my complaint said they’d had lots of complaints. Money returned and I hope they kicked the PO’s @rse from here to eternity.

          10. I think the mice might be a bit smelly after 2 weeks in the post.

            I spent a chunk of yesterday organising birthday e-cards for my niece and sister-in-law in New Zealand – as the “air”mail for my nephew and brother in the springtime took over 7 weeks to arrive. Even my mother’s birthday card didn’t arrive in Aberdeenshire on time – and I’d allowed 5 days for a “first-class” stamp.

          11. My brother sends Jackie Lawson cards. Awful cutesy puppies or kittens that prance around to dingetty “music”.
            I like to have a physical card that you can put on display; pick up and read an inscription, put down, and repeat for a while. Otherwise, an email would do, and be a damn sight cheaper, too.

          12. E-cards are not a first choice – but at the moment it’s a question of “needs must when the devil drives” as far as communication with the other side of the world is concerned.

          14. My Canadian friend sends me e-cards (received the latest yesterday for Halloween). Like you, I prefer a “proper” card, but I appreciate the thought.

  80. That’s me for the night. Just found that the kittens have discovered the STAIRS – so all bedroom doors will have to be shut, to avoid “accidents”. My last cat, Mousie, when she reached our bed – wee’ed profusely on the duvet…….

    So, I’ll get a glass of calming medicine and rush out to but 500 loo rolls before the shops shut for ever. (Only joking…)

    A demain

        1. Very sadly, he’s a manic-depressive (bi-polar to all you young things) and a shadow of his former self.

  81. Has anyone had any children round yet? It’s been dark here for over an hour…not a kid in sight.

          1. We always have to buy extra sweets so that there will be some left over for the visiting children.

          2. I’ve got to say that the older I get the sweeter my tooth! I never used to eat them or puddings! Nowadays I get a craving about 9 o’clock !

          5. I get a sweet stuff urge during the afternoon.
            I tend to give in because I know I then won’t fancy a pud after our evening meal.
            (Shamefacedly admit I scoffed the rest of the Lidl posh stollen bites with my tea.)

          6. Have you tried the new Lidl White chocolate and raspberry cheesecake?? OMG it’s fab!

        1. I had my share of mice earlier this year but my kitchen refit has sealed up the cracks and solved the problem.

          2. I recommend a mouse trap known as a Spartacus.
            He is far sharper than any cat we’ve ever owned.
            In fact, he has been so efficient that none – so far this year – have invaded Allan Towers. Maybe word travels on the mousevine.

    3. None.
      The monsoon, at about 0,01 deg C might have something to do with it, of course…

    4. If they do ring the bell. I like to stand at the glass in the front door and shine a torch up under my chin with my mouth wide i open. That usually does the trick. 😱
      💡

    7. They are letting off fireworks as I type. No children venture here; too scary to go up an unlit dirt track and then a long path with bushes either side.

  82. Sean Connery was an actor, he provided entertainment . A film star ..

    That is all I have to say .

    There are many quiet people amongst us all, who contribute so much more than a sellout ticket sale!

      1. I thought that when Metric Mark Johnston, the commentator, kept going on about what a proud Scotsman SC was. Hmm, didn’t live there or pay taxes, did he? I thought.

  83. Strewth! Boris & his acolytes have finally emerged, but instead of telling us the nitty-gritty of the lockdown, they’re waffling on about its justification.

    1. Beeb website says four weeks shutdown from Thursday. Pubs, restaurants and non-essential shops to close. Many for ever.

      1. That was only a supposition. We should be hearing the true details from the horse’s mouth.

          1. We have eaten already, farm fresh pork sausages , mashed potato, runner beans and gravy. Pudding , comfort food, Angel delight and blackberries. Very nice it was too. Sausages were delicious .

          2. I was planning a red endive risotto, but that will have to wait until tomorrow.
            Gorgonzola & pears instead.

          3. I made a sausage meat pie. Doves Farm Maizebite flour (50/50 with plain white flour) makes beautiful plain pastry.

          4. Oh that sounds really delicious . I Googled the flour , it sounds as if it Gluten free, and it looks as if they do a huge range of different flour .

            Thanks for that info .

            All 3 of us have had a busy day , son was working , and we had to give the dogs a good gallop on Hartland Moor , no other dogs around , the weather was breezy , very wet underfoot , sun was there behind the clouds , but was dipping fast .

            I bought my sausages from a local farmshop plus some garden bird food , and those fat squares with peanut butter that go in a mesh container to hang in the tree. The woodpecker loves that, in fact so do all the other birds!

          6. Angel Delight! very retro! We went retro as well – trout with flaked almonds…… just needed the prawn cocktail to complete the anbience.

    2. Don’t think I’ve seen such an amateurish and embarrassing presentation in many a year.
      Slides that don’t fit the screen, axes not labelled and cluttered graphs that would be meaningless to a non scientist. What a complete shower.

      1. I made the mistake of watching it. A pack of lies from start to finish. “Reliable test”. I can save you the expense Boris, I have a crystal ball already.

  84. A relatively busy day!
    After shifting 10 concrete blocks up to the garden yesterday in lieu of doing some concreting, I managed to shift another 20 this morning before the rains started. Only another 30 to shift.

    Then about 2ish, after the rain had stopped and the weather turned quite pleasant, I got a start made on mixing and quickly realised I’d bopped a drolock by only ordering one bag of cement so was not able to do the amount I’d planned. Still got a decent 10′ laid though that will allow me to lay another 35 or so blocks once I’ve been to Twigg’s in Matlock and picked up another two bags of cement.
    The concrete I laid today is covered over and I’ll not be touching it until Monday or Tuesday, depending on the weather.

    I’m relaxing with a mug of tea and have just enjoyed this on YouTube, with the volume turned up full of course!
    https://youtu.be/VbxgYlcNxE8

    Now about to listen to this:-
    https://youtu.be/hNfpMRSCFPE

    And then might hunt out a recording of Francesca da Rimini to round the night off.

    And no, I am not commenting on the news. Too much happening and too much to get annoyed with!

    1. Then about 2ish, after the rain had stopped and the weather turned quite pleasant, I looked out & saw that the torrents had washed them all down the hill again. 😉

      3. So I rigged up a beam, with a pulley, at the top of the building and hoisted up a couple of barrels of bricks.

        You know the rest…

  85. Look on the bright side….

    When the Pound has collapsed and loads of great businesses are broke… Gates and Soros can buy everything really cheap and get things going again.

    That’s why in the World Economic Forum video, they said you’d own nothing by 2030 !

  86. Nicked,from Canada I think

    The Great Reset Roadmap

    1.
    Phase in “Secondary Lockdown” restrictions on a rolling basis, starting
    with major metropolitan areas first and expanding outward – expected by
    November 2020.

    ^^WE ARE HERE

    2. Rush the acquisition of or
    construction of Isolation Facilities across every province and territory
    – expected by December 2020.

    3. Daily new cases of COVID-19 will
    surge beyond capacity of testing. Including increases of COVID related
    deaths following the same growth curves – expected by end of November
    2020.

    4. Complete and total “Secondary Lockdown”, much stricter
    than the first and second rolling phase restrictions – expected by the
    end of December 2020, early January 2021.

    5. Reform and expansion
    of the unemployment program to be transition into the Universal Basic
    Income Program – expected by quarter one 2021.

    6. Projected
    COVID-19 mutation and/or co-infection with secondary virus referred to
    as COVID-21, leading to a third wave with much higher mortality rate and
    higher rate of infection – expected by February 2021.

    7. Daily
    new cases of COVID-21 hospitalization and COVID-19 and COVID-21 related
    deaths will exceed medical facility capacities – expected by quarter one
    and quarter two of 2021.

    8. Enhanced lockdown restrictions
    referred to as “Third Lockdown” will be implemented – full travel
    restriction will be imposed including interprovince and intercity –
    expected by quarter two 2021.

    9. Transitioning of individuals into the Universal Basic Income Program – expected mid-quarter two 2021.

    10. Projected supply chain breakdowns in inventory storage, large economic instability, all expected late second quarter 2021.

    11.
    Deployment of military personal into major metropolitan areas as well
    as all major roadways to establish travel checkpoints, restrict travel
    and movement providing logistical support to the area – expected by
    third-quarter 2021.

    1. Of course as with the USSR, travel restrictions are to keep people in, not keep anyone out.

    1. I don’t clicking get it. I really bally well with a trouser and a cherry on top do not.

      We had lock up for months. It did nothing apart from ruin the economy. The evidence proves this. What next? Out again, then back in again like a barmy Benny Hill sketch?

      The virus will simply gestate, mutate and adapt. Yes, lock up creates a firebreak but how long do we make it last for? months? Years? They’re so busy trying to stop deaths that they’ve forgotten the whole sodding point of life!

      1. Just look forward to November 2021 – and the SEVENTH WAVE…

        “We are convinced that, this time, fucking the country up will really work.” (BPAPM)

      2. “They’re so busy trying to stop deaths that they’ve forgotten the whole sodding point of life!”
        Absofuckinglutely!

      3. I don’t think any politician has the right to imprison some of us in our own houses as this, in effect, is which our Prime Minister is planning to do. It surely contravenes our Human Rights. Some Human Rights lawyer may come to our rescue. If not there could be major civil disorder.
        This is the worst year I have experienced in my whole life. Boris Johnson has overstepped the mark.

    2. Actually I’m feeling a bit sorry for the virus – there are so many things for it to process! From Thursday it can’t be in England, because Boris says so and even before that it can’t be in public after 2200, or attack groups of 6 or fewer. However, after 9 November it can go back to Wales as their firebreak has finished. No idea about Scotland, so I suspect the virus may be similarly confused!

      PS – is it true that despite son of lockdown the airports are going to remain open??

      2. I saw them perform that at the Winter Gardens in Bournemouth. They wore white sheets on a darkened stage & at the end each stood over a differently coloured uplighter. It looked like a stained glass window.

      1. Looks like the areas already locked down have the highest rates of infection – shows lockdown’s not working.

        1. Three members of my family are living with cancer (all under the five year mark).
          Thank goodness all were diagnosed before March 2020.

          1. That’s my skill set boosted!! What will I learn if that idiot Boris does go for another lockdown?

    5. It won’t make any difference, MIL is confined to Her room and not allowed to go anywhere.

      A week into the infection she is weak but still bloody minded “I will not eat meals off disposable plates!”

      Actually I do care because if you go lockdown, our big idiot is bound to just follow along with the mob.

      1. The Oslo Mayor, a Labourite, is in full Reichskanzler Terboven mode.
        Not sure he won’t be happy until we’re all put against the wall and shot.

    6. The government takes advice from the Sage scientists who are telling them that infections are running at 100.000 a week and this number will double every 9 days. I’ve worked out that by 12th January 2021 76.8 million people in the UK will be infected. I’m glad I’m not responsible for coming up with a plan of action for that.

      My Maths”0″ level was from 1966 so I’m open to correction

  90. Tens of thousands of small business owners and the self employed who have worked for a lifetime,often damn near 24/7
    Holidays?? Hollow laughter,have just listened to the final death-knell of all their work,all their hope……………
    But Hey,Amazon’s profits are up 200% so all’s well with the world………….
    Utter,utter globalist bastards

    1. As our business collapses along with the businesses of many self-employed small enterprises I wish a gruesome but well-merited retribution to fall upon all the greedy politicians who have given themselves a pay rise on top of their £10,000 Covid bonus.

  92. The BBC has just devoted a whole hour to the life of Donald Trump. What a rare privilege for a presidential candidate. 60 Minutes devoted to his foibles, business deals and finance. Who knew one man could be so corrupt, so incompetent, so self centred and so disingenuous? Only the BBC. If I didn’t know that the BBC is scrupulously impartial I might have suspected an ulterior motive. (sarc)

    2. I’m not religious, but I hope by all the gods that Trump wins. Just the thought of the BBC’s regular leftards crying on air warms the cockles of my heart.

    1. That’s a bad mouse infestation. We always had them in the house when I was a child, but I don’t remember my parents ever catching as many as you have. Perhaps our cats just disposed of the evidence.

      1. Missy & I caught 73 between us in the first 9 months of ’17. A friend came & sealed up all the places they were getting in – problem solved.

    2. It’s so flipping pointless though.

      What do we do? Come creeping out for a few weeks, the government sees the numbers go up then panics and tells us all to stay locked up again and rinse repeat?

      It’s madness. This nonsense cannot continue.

  100. Evening, all. I see the great loon Bojo is now telling us we can’t even meet anyone in our own private gardens. I feel a bad case of Tourette’s coming on. He can take a running jump. Nobody is going to tell me who can or can’t come into my garden.

    1. Germany has got “can only meet with people from one other household at a time” which is reasonable.*

      Not a lockdown supporter myself, but I don’t mind making a show of the rules as long as it doesn’t impede me doing what I want.

        2. Even on the off chance that lock downs and masks have an effect on the spread of this or any virus, I am sure that the impact would only seen if a significant number of people followed the rules.

          Judging by the response around here, maybe the UK should petition the WHO to become a reference model for not locking on then just get on with life.

    3. When he shuts down all airports and sea ports to everybody, including bloody EU negotiators, I will consider closing my garden to visitors. Until then I suggest he FOAD.

          1. Up and down. Up when I’m out and down when I’m back 🙂 I’m not going to be out much in the foreseeable future, it seems. I am having a friend visit (and bring me some shopping) tomorrow afternoon, which will be a nice break. That, of course, will be verboten after Thursday, but I live in the sticks so it’s unlikely that it will be policed.

          2. I’m not really out at all, Con. The pretty one is a) vulnerable and b) paranoid, which has reduced me to a stay-at-home, CBA, recluse. To this, I have no solution!
            Glad to hear there are some positives as well as the usual trials for you.

          3. You have my commiserations, John, for what they are worth. I dread the stables shutting down again. I need to come to an agreement with the owner that I come in and exercise the Connemara – it will be in Coolio’s interests not to be shoved out in the field 14/7 for a month, so hopefully we can come to an arrangement that suits us both.

    6. Germany has got “can only meet with people from one other household at a time” which is reasonable.*

      Not a lockdown supporter myself, but I don’t mind making a show of the rules as long as it doesn’t impede me doing what I want.

      1. Mit Verlaub, wenn ich als Pedant zu einem Anderen sagen darf…

        …as long as it doesn’t impede me my doing what I want.

        1. Whatevah. Sometimes the colloquial way of expressing oneself gets across better what one wants to say.

        1. My guess is that the government will graciously grant us Christmas, and then re-impose lockdown in January.
          We plebs will be expected to fall on our knees and thank the beneficent powers for allowing us to meet our families at Christmas.

          1. You could be quite right. It therefore behoves every one of us to buy the biggest turkey we can find, so there is enough to last right through every day of January.

          5. Both. They have embarked on an insane course, based on flawed figures, with no exit plan.

  101. Marvelous,I now live in a country where the senior politician not only can’t manage a piss-up in a brewery,they can’t organise a Press conference either
    #ClownWorld

    1. Good let’s stop these fools from announcing that they’ve made yet again the wrong decision.

  102. HAPPY HOUR – Sean Connery RIP.
    Do NoTTlers have a fave Bond film….?

    I saw the first James Bond film starring Sean Connery.
    I loved Dr.No….not forgetting the gorgeous Ursula Andress as Honey Rider….. WOW! Winning combination.
    My fave Bond film was Goldfinger……over to you Nottlers

    3. The Spy Who Loved Me – Woj was always my fave, and this one also had the best song.
      Apologies to Burly Chassis

    7. Sean Connery divides opinion; however, he made the rôle of James Bond his own and created an impossible task for all those other actors who followed him in the part.

      Goldfinger had it all: no other Bond film comes close.

      1. That was the first Bond film I saw, Bill, and for a long time it was my favourite. Connery and Robert Shaw were excellent in it. The only disappointment was the scene in Scotland when 007 shot a helicopter out of the sky – cut to a shot of a toy helicopter on fire being lowered to the ground on a piece of string!

        But regarding Annie’s “none of the later ones; they all coagulate into a blur”, I have to agree with her – the single exception was Daniel Craig’s first effort “Casino Royale” which was a wonderful re-boot of the Bond character. As was Lazenby’s “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”.

    11. I’ve only ever watched Dr No. Bond did nothing for me so I never bothered with any of the others.

    4. Haven’t watched. Do I presume they’ve taken Boris out of the cupboard, dusted him off, programmed him and he spoke the words of whom?

      Who’s pulling the strings of Boris? The usual subjects I’m sure.

  106. The masks haven’t been that bloody good then, unless the masks have been impregnated on purpose .

    Funny thing , if we didn’t have such a HUGE population of BAME , would this virus have been just as difficult to control?

    3. 326030+ up ticks,
      Evening TB,
      No way , because the pressure would have been OFF of incarceration, education, accommodation, medication.
      There was only one party that called for CONTROLLED immigration, and it certainly was NOT the mass uncontrolled immigration lab/lib/con coalition party so favoured by the electorate.

    4. If we didn’t have porous borders with 100s of planes flying in to British airports daily from around the globe, with 100s of passengers disembarking from these and being discharged into the general publuc, not to mention the illegals arriving on our shores daily, we might well have stood a chance of containing this. But containment is not what this is all about. They need to keep this going to justify their actions which will result in the dismantling and demolition of our economy.

      Danish scientists have undertaken studies and research into the usefulness and otherwise of face masks but cannot find anyone to publish this!! I think it was on The Conservative Woman earlier this week.

      Always remember – ultimately this is not about the virus.

        1. Quelle surprise! Air molecule 3 microns, virus 1 micron, ergo if your mask stops virus getting through it will stop air getting through and you will suffocate. It is not, repeat, not rocket science. It is printed on the boxes in which the masks are packed.

  107. This is all so predictable …

    A few more games of ‘patients’
    might convince our detractors!

  108. Borus looks awful in the DM photograph. He has a cold sore breaking out left lower lip and his chin looks red and uncomfortable. Stress. I guess the job isn’t turning out as expected.

    2. His hair is falling out.

      Did you hear that young squeaky voiced Asian saying how much better things were in Malaysia, Thailand and Korea ?

      Africa has got away with things lightly as well, God forbid if we have a terribly cold winter

      There are different versions of this virus , and it looks as if we have two varieties running amok in the UK.

    1. Tom, I think you did more than enough last time & we’re very grateful. I think you can sit this one out.

    1. There is no evidence, there is no science, there are only those who are taking the money.

  112. A film about lizard overlords controlling the world”They Live” just starting on Film Four
    I do love a good documentary…………..

  113. I’ve just received a (work) email from a member of the NHS data collections team. The signature block included in brackets after the name (she/her).
    It took a few seconds to dawn on me that these must be her ‘preferred pronouns’! I wonder if this is a personal decision to have included this or a diktat from NHS England

    1. Loads of idiots do this on t’internet nowadays.
      It’s a warning not to bother to engage with them.

      3. Early in the year I looked at a map for the outbreak in Wales. Colours signifying percentage increase in cases. Powys in screaming scarlet with a “>100% increase” – dig down and find the increase is from 3 to 7. Yes it’s greater than 100%, but in an administrative area (I can’t call it a county it used to be 3 counties and a few odd bits) with a population of about 133,000 it’s a helluva long way from being a significant number.

    6. …and why only England – if this is a National Pandemic, doesn’t it require a National solution?

      Take it out of the hands of the tinpot dictators in Wales, Scotland and NI and treat it Nationally.

      1. Then there are always those who love their local vocal yokels, spending their money in useless talking shops, who can only down vote rather than engage in serious debate.

        The state of the world today – the right to be offended without earning anything but strange leftward thinking.

  115. So we have a national lockdown in England starting Thursday, everywhere in England except obviously the airports, Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Birmingham etc, and the ports from large Southampton to the little Kent beach with dinghies. What a clever Government we have, knowing all visitors arriving from around the world is clear of the virus.
    We still allow people in not really knowing what state of health they are in.
    F**kwits running the country, what did we do to deserve them?
    A great distraction for BINO he is going to land us with though.

      3. Brexit In Name Only, but I would wish Boris in North Korea to be honest; he seems to be channelling his inner Fat Boy.

    2. There doesn’t seem to be any deep thinking.

      Delivery drivers cover huge areas of the country , perhaps they are spreading infections .. Aircraft / trains/coaches and buses .. the virus is shifting so quickly, if it is transmitted by aerosol method and we are wearing masks in shops , perhaps it just lingers outdoors in the air that we breathe with out our masks ..

      1. Or perhaps it’s nowhere near as devastating as the lunatics in charge keep trying to convince us it is. We should all have a mass trespass like Kinder Scout, only in the streets, and put two fingers up to them. I, for one, have had enough.

      2. Evening Belle, whilst I understand if you have underlying health problems COVID can be a killer, only a positive test result lets so many people know they have it. Hardly the characteristic of such a deadly virus. How many times have we heard sporting teams have had to concede matches as following routine testing, players have been found to be infected.
        As for wearing masks, who do you know who limits the time worn to recommended limits and removes them the proper way and then wear a fresh one?

  116. We’re watching The Second Best Marigold Hotel.
    Hell’s bells: people are talking, mixing, dancing.
    It seems like another age.
    Christ, I’ve had enough.

  117. I work for two different NHS Foundation Trusts.
    One announced this week that it is giving all its staff an extra day’s holiday next year to thank them for working so hard during Covid. (I don’t qualify because I only have a zero hours contract with this trust). The trust for which I work full time has made no such announcement and I would warn it not to. The offer has caused anger among more staff than it has appeased.
    First – there are plenty of staff who sat at home for three months when the initial lockdown was in force. Is it fair, some ask, that they should get the same thanks as staff who struggled in and worked 12 hr shifts in full PPE?
    Second – many staff have opted or been told to WFH during this time whereas others this is not possible – their work can be done only onsite. Is this a fair recognition of the two working conditions and commitments?
    Third – Staff must have been employed on 01 Oct 20 to qualify and the extra day must be taken between 01 Apr 21 and 31 Mar 22. Several staff who have handed in their notice and will be leaving before this, despite having worked through Covid, will not benefit, while others who may have joined the Trust on 30 Sep 20 will qualify.
    It’s a right bugger’s muddle. I’ll bet they wish they hadn’t bothered.

    2. IMO they shouldn’t have. They were all paid as usual whether or not they worked in site or from home, pensions are safe, jobs guaranteed, and they were doing their jobs, no more, no less. Sorry if that sounds curmudgeonly.

      1. You’re sorry, vw? Why? What you say makes perfect sense and it doesn’t sound curmudgeonly to me.

  118. As I have mentioned before, I was told near the end of September that a lockdown was planned for half term at the end of October. My informant had heard it from someone in the London Fire Servis. Ok, so it’s a week later than expected.

    1. They needed half term to spread it efficiently around the country. Then they could justify the lockdown.

    1. I was reading on a grape vine that something is going to happen very shortly. The first night of lockdown would be an auspicious date. The first sentence is all I know. The second is my supposition.

  120. From the BBC website re lockdown.

    “Everything we are doing is making an impact. The R number – the number of people each infected person passes the virus on to on average – was around 3 in March.
    Now it is around 1.2, but anything above one means the number of cases will continue to grow exponentially. Lockdown should push the R number below one.”
    My underlining. Is this correct? If the number of cases doubled every six weeks the numbers would not increase as the virus runs its course in 3 weeks?

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-54766526

    1. ‘Cases’ are allegedly rising because there is far more testing. On twitface earlier, there was an official post (so tired, can’t recall source) encouraging people to get a test if they had even the slightest symptoms. Not sure how much truth there is in this but have seen suggestions these wonderful tests can’t distinguish between covid19 and regular colds & flu, further inflating figures. Rant over, must shut out this awful situation.

      1. The PCR tests are not Covid19 specific. And there are many false positive results. When you feel stronger you can look it all up and info. The tests are totally unnecessary – are you unwell, then stay at home for whatever reason. Infections are irrelevant. It’s the deaths that matter. And these are not going up. The slight rise recently compared to years past is due to people whose disease have been ignored or not treated by the NHS because of the obsession with Covid.

        1. The plan is now for mass testing of half a million a day in cities, regardless of symptoms or even contact with a ‘case’. How long before those who, however healthy, refuse a test are refused access to all sorts of services.

          1. I think there is a law that protects us against unauthorised medical procedures – informed consent has to be given. Unless of course, that’s quietly been negated by the coronavirus acts.

    2. At the rate I’m going, I’ll be too knackered to resist. Barely functioning….Weeping yet again from no chance to see my sons. One already in a higher tier in Leeds, the other overseas. Last saw one in February, other just before lockdown. What I need is a good swig of night time Benylin! Plucking up courage to ask for some at the chemist – will they assume I have the china flu? Goodnight!

      1. The last time i saw either of mine was last Christmas. One is in Basel, the other locked down in Swansea. That one has his 50th birthday in a few week’s time. Some celebration he’ll have this year.

        We may be allowed to see him at Christmas, but I don’t think the younger one will be over from Switzerland.

        1. Mother-in-law turned 90 in May. I delivered a cake (shop bought) and gifts (which we have to assume she received) to the care home door the day before. We saw her briefly on Skype after lunchtime. Within a couple of minutes, she had nodded off. Apparently, dementia results in a person not fully realising the face on the screen is really their family member. It is all so cruel.
          Husband hasn’t even bothered to have a 15 minute visiting slot. Presumably they will again be stopped. He hasn’t even booked another Skype call. When she passes , he will bitterly regret not taking the opportunity. She must feel abandoned.
          If our house was even remotely suitable, I’d bring her here and have carers in to help. I am just thankful my own dear Mum is no longer with us.

          1. Dementia is such a cruel disease – and lockdowns and this strange way of dealing with a virus have taken their toll on the victims of dementia – both by the virus killing them off, and also by the lonliness and isolation.

            My mother died over 30 years ago – I very much miss her. She was mentally alert, but her body gave up, ravaged by cancer and malnutrition. I wonder what she would have made of all this – I think she would have had something tart to say.

          2. I’m just glad she’d been there over 4 months before March lockdown started and visiting was stopped. At least she’d become accustomed to the staff – and they are a lovely bunch.
            I appreciate you engaging in these comments; it’s good to sound off and feel somebody is listening!

      2. I am SO sorry. We need to resist. All it needs for evil to triumph is for good men (and women) to do nothing. I bought a whole load of bottles of wine before lockdown was announced in case of a drought; it seems (a friend brought me some milk tonight) that I was right to do so; no loo rolls anywhere, so the madness has started again. I despair!

    1. Because they were all socially distanced and players were able to run and score tries untackled?

  123. LAST POST – quite a good TOSCAT (sic) on BBC R3 – Pappano + Kaufman and the Ceaușescu Woman. The kittens revelled in it by lying very still with their eyes shut, the better to enjoy the singing….!!

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