Saturday 5 April: The irony of Jeremy Hunt’s call for Britain to be more like Singapore

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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650 thoughts on “Saturday 5 April: The irony of Jeremy Hunt’s call for Britain to be more like Singapore”

  1. Good morning, chums. And thanks, Geoff, for today's new NoTTLe site.

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    1. Good morning Elsie and all
      I thought it was quite a tricky word today – but Rustytwig will probably be along soon having got it on the second line!

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  6. Good morning all.
    Up on time and off to Loughborough in 20min or so for the GCR event, so you'll be seeing even less of me today!
    Going by train so we will have the chance of some liquid refreshment, other than tea that is, through the day.

    Sun's not up yet, but it's over 6°C outside and promises to be a fine day.

          2. Better thanks. 30 damn minutes on the exercise bike and piled up quilts to raise my legs over night.

            Thankful nod to Angie suggesting my rash may be caused by insufficient venous flow back up my leg. I already knew not enough was going to the foot but no medic, GP or Consultant ever suggested there might be a problem going the other way.

            Hope you are well too…

      2. So after the performances at Whitehall along side the cenotaph and the other performance in Windsor Castle. Next year or anytime in between, they can turn up 'en masse' anywhere in the country and kneel and nobody will be able to do anything about it.

  13. 'Morning All
    Weekend Medley
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    4. All most all of them were wonderful. The Vampire made me laugh a lot, ended in a coughing fit. And Renee was spot on.

    6. I don't really get the top one. i can see the cocaine and the condoms but don't really get it , unless that's the point? God, I'm stupid

  14. Singapore – the biggest council estate in the world, more dirigiste than France. Morning, campers! I'm off to a breakfast meeting that the violent left have got wind of. Where are the alleged knuckle-grazers of the right when you need them? Oh, Tommy, Tommy!

  15. Minty’s Saga. Right my friends. The first thing to say is that I managed to get into the surgery and renew my prescription. I did this by taking Phizzee’s advice and lying shamelessly on the website about everything. It didn’t matter because once I was in there I could explain my difficulties. There are some problems. The Doc didn’t say anything directly but I have vastly increased Blood Pressure and my heart is under suspicion. Tests next week. I suspect that my time is running out. I am hoping that the Old Man with the Scythe interferes before my eyesight becomes a real problem. .

    1. You know there are steps you can take to reduce your high BP. Stop reading the propaganda and go for a walk. Have lunch with friends. Go for a paddle on the beach. Go on the dark web and buy a Walther PPK.

      Erm…possibly not the last one……………..

      1. I have one, in .32inch calibre.
        Excellent wee gun, so it is. Mine is 1932 manufacture, and totally reliable. Excellent wee pistol, so it is.

        1. I wish.
          I do have one but it’s an airgun replica. Still….i’m a good shot. The eyes have it.

    2. Take care, Minty.
      Sending caring thoughts (best I can do at short notice). It's spring, time for renewal.

    3. You did the right thing Minty.
      Twice sofar I have had to write to different hospital complaints Departments about lack of service from the NHS.
      And both times they have turned my complaints into being my fault.
      The cardiologist who couldn't be bothered and his lying secretary are no longer at the hospital.
      This time of complaint history repeats itself, it's my fault that I have a problem with my knee because I didn't complain soon enough after the first breach of medical protocol. 34 years ago.
      Keep it going it's worth the effort.
      I really hope you can beat it. 🤗

    4. Well done for managing that. Everyone always thinks the worst while awaiting tests – stay positive! Watch some comedy – not the grim kind unfolding in the financial markets!

    5. I wish you all the very best. Our wonderful (sarc.) Saint NHS.
      2 months waiting for an 'urgent' liver scan. The way i feel lately, I don't care too much if the wait finishes me off.

    6. Well done Araminta. And your time is not allowed to run out. We all like you being here. Most blood pressure problems are easily dealt with.

    8. Here goes: if you are diabetic you ought to be concerned about your blood pressure because hypertension could damage your kidneys which leads to chronic kidney disease and then you might then need dialysis. Losing the sight of one eye is a minor nuisance compared to dialysis. (I HAVE NO CLINICAL KNOWLEDGE IT IS ALL FROM GOO-GLE)

  16. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e6cac88d5043638e00e14136b8cd3cb8964c8eeba8f90e8f9f9230254c604f07.png
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    School Food
    2h
    There is a reward out for anyone finding a stray dalmation in Westminster.
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  17. Good morning, all. Bright and breezy.

    Miliband minor's bland statements that completely lack any detail re a new off-shore group of windmills, Rampion 2. Fortunately, some people appear to be clued-up on these matters and are capable of asking the questions that expose the lack of detail that ministers hide behind.

    The ongoing problem is Miliband and the support he has from Starmer. How he can be stopped before bankrupting the UK, financially and energy wise, isn't clear.

    https://x.com/Ed_Miliband/status/1908158859547492392
    BTL:

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  18. Morning, all Y'all.
    Brilliant sun – and bacon butties! Scond Son's 24th birthday too, so couldn't be better!

    1. What are they up to now. ?
      I've got a shed full of gardening tools will they be coming to seize them soon.

  22. Morning All 🙂😊
    Bright start and apparently going to be high in the double figures again later.
    It's not quite clear but don't understand what Jeremy Hunt is talking about. But we've been to Singapore twice and really enjoyed it. It's well organised very tidy and safe to be in. Has he suddenly realised what an absolute catastrophic mess his own country is now in?
    All down to his Wastemonster sit about, do nothing and talk colleagues !

    2. Hunt and Co. had 14 years to produce Singapore-on-Thames.
      All they managed to do was inflict a 5p cost for plastic carrier bags and utterly fail to undo the damage of the Blair and Brown years including the deliberate race replacement of this population.
      Oh, and bloviate about being the Saudi Arabia of wind; presumably referring to their verbal output.

    3. When I was there, you would be fine for dropping chewing gum in the street.

      1. Why not. 😉
        I Iiked the groups of police officers that patrol the streets. Taxi drivers only local residents. Driverless trains bang on time and which were spotless. The current mess in Birmingham would never have happened there.

  23. BTL Guido

    WonderingofWilmslow
    9h
    I've just read Alison Pearson's column on Lucy Connolly who was jailed for a social media post after the Southport murder of children by a man with terrorist interests. I am astonished that she was jailed. She can only have been jailed with a compliant judge influenced by Starmer and subsequently kept in prison by a compliant bureaucracy. We pay for these servants with the taxes extorted from us. I recall the 11-0 vote by the so-called Supreme Court to overrule parliaments prorogation. They should have kept their snouts out. I regret to say that I no longer trust the British justice system.
    When we get the opportunity to vote, we should bear in mind that our freedom is fragile and make sure we elect a party who will return this country to a balanced system of justice with robust penalties for judges who act politically.

    1. I read it last night. She was treated abominably as a warning to other people to shut up. She said no more than we do here. Police state. And the sentence was far too long.

        1. She probably wasn’t told she could. Depends on who her criminal solicitor was. Some don’t do a good job.

          1. Tell me about it But she is not a stupid or ill informed person. She would know about the appeal court.

          2. Perhaps, if she wasn’t granted legal aid, she couldn’t afford any more costs. Or they could have told her it wasn’t worth it as it would fail. I no longer have any faith in the “justice” system.

      2. She made an application to be allowed home for Christmas Day to be with her remaining child. It was denied. Absolutely ridiculous and cruel.

        1. Did she plead guilty? Apparently a lot did because they thought or were told they would get a slap on the wrist but that isn't what happened due to Starmer.

          1. Not sure. I just remember reading that her application had been cruelly refused.

          2. I expect so. There is great pressure to get the defendant to plead guilty to speed things up.

    3. What does the term 'incel' mean?

      'Incel” is a portmanteau of “involuntary celibate.” In its most basic form, incel describes someone, usually a male, who is frustrated by their lack of sexual …

      1. They are involuntary celibate because their parents allow them to spend all day in their bedroom wanking and playing video games.

    4. Many of the animated ones have accidently been thrown in the back of the occasional rubbish truck.

    4. It's a first when British people have to read the French version to understand what it means!

    5. From Reddit…

      The wife saw this and said "they are pretending they don't have a word in French for that"

      Edit: Wife consulted a French friend. Friend says 'a la grec' (in the Greek style), which in her opinion is just more pretending they don't have a word.

    1. Yo ogga

      I have not bought anything made by Walkers, since LieMaker started his rants

      Not Warburtons, sinve they put halal on the wrappers

      I have just found out that HP, Daddies and lee & Perrins are going down that road too

      1. 404116+ up ticks,
        Morning OLT,
        In regards to warburton / hp same,same,
        don’t use LP but daddies will receive the elbow also if needed.

        Every little helps as the old lady said when she peed in the Medway.

      2. Hammonds Chop (brown) Sauce is your answer
        still made in the UK unlike HP
        Morrisons do it

      2. 404116+ up ticks,

        Morning DW,

        Cadbury said the decision to axe the popular Easter treat had been made due to “our fans’ changing taste buds”. The popular Cadbury Easter treat was first introduced back in 2013 and consisted of four chocolate eggs filled with either white chocolate or milk chocolate mousse.6 Feb 2025

        3. Taste buds haven't changed, the chocolate has and it's awful compared with what it was.

    3. Since Cadbury's have been taken over by a Yank outfit, their chocolate has become inedible.
      Unless you have a yen for sweet claggy oil adhering to the roof of your mouth.

      1. Why take over a flourishing business and change the successful recipe fundamentally?

  28. Good lady on her way home from staying with number three in Dubai now, pick up from LHR with number one son driving later.
    Lots to talk about early this evening.

  29. Good Morning!

    As you might know we are asking readers to give Nanumaga feedback on a satire he is writing on the antics of the UK Establishment during the Referendum campaign. Please do read Brexit Redux and leave a comment. It’s funny, witty, and oddly accurate.

    A report indicates that over seventy percent of British Muslims identify themselves as being primarily Muslim, rather than British , a frightening finding for which we blame the woke globalist Establishment.

    Energy watch 08.00: Demand: 26.46 GW. Total UK Production: 21.1 GW from: Hydrocarbons 9.7%; Wind 41.9%; Imports 21.9%; Biomass 4.2%; Nuclear 16%. Solar: 1.7%.

    And today I have another appeal: please spare a moment to wish one of our top commenters a speedy recovery. Jacqui Derriman has been unwell for sometime and yesterday I learned that she has been in hospital receiving treatment for cancer. She’s been unconscious for part of the time but was feeling a bit better yesterday. Please join me in sending her your best wishes for a speedy recovery.

    freespeechbacklash.com

  31. Off leafleting today. My effort at Wordle.

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    1. Of ?
      I have no idea how to transfer pictures from my WhatsApp account to here.
      I’ve never been able to post a personal photo as so many other Nottlers have done.

  33. Yo and Good Moaning to you al, from a sunny and warm C d S

    The outside temperature here is steadily climbing, due to the bodyheat being given out by the grockles and emmets

  36. The comedian Russell Brand has been charged with rape.

    That's outrageous! …………………….Calling Brand a comedian!

    1. The same establishment that protects Pakistani pedophile gangs who raped, tortured and murdered English children on an industrial scale now wants me to hate Russell Brand. Sorry, not playing.

        1. Morning! So so. I have an appointment with a surgeon at Hammersmith Hospital on 14 May. No bypass needed. The valve is the issue. The cardiologist thinks the Afib will resolve once that’s sorted.

          Now worried about one of my brothers. He’s 73 and had a blackout and fall. Turns out there’s a lesion on the brain. York Hospital have referred him to Hull for surgery. Don’t have any further details yet. His wife has dementia but social services stepped in very quickly and she’s in a care home.

          1. It goes without saying Sue, that I wish you luck and please keep us all informed as things go along.

          3. Oh good grief! It never rains, eh! Will you get up to see him? Thinking of you. 💕

      3. Totally agree.
        I don't like Him but what has happened seems extremely unfair.
        As in a heavily manipulated situation.
        I hope you're well.

      4. Morning Sue.
        The charges relate to incidents several years ago but have just come to light. Brand – who I don't like – has recently been baptized. Coincidence?

        KBO!

        1. Not several years ago but 20+ years ago. If a complaint was not made then why is a complaint being made now?

          2. Because he has more money now. Or because his politics have shifted to the right.

          5. It smacks of a conversion of convenience. Given his history of dabbling in and hopping from one habit or fad to another, it's a little hard to take seriously. This comes from the Catholic Herald of May last year.

            Russell Brand ‘baptised’ while making oblique Catholic references

            Thomas Colsy
            May 1, 2024 at 1:14 pm

            Russell Brand has announced he received a Christian baptism last weekend, though it remains unclear into which Church he has been received.

            “[I]t was an incredible and profound experience,” the actor and comedian stated in a video published on his Instagram profile.

            Brand, who was the subject of sexual abuse accusations and a slew of negative media reportage towards the end of last year, has for months been sharing his thoughts on Christianity, while occasionally dropping in specific references to Catholicism.

            On 18 April, Brand, who was previously a Buddhist, announced that he had taken up praying the Rosary. Later, he teamed up with the Catholic prayer app Hallow and revealed he had been watching the videos of popular YouTube personality US Catholic priest Fr Mike Schmitz.

            A week later, Brand was baptised, although it has not been made public who performed the sacrament nor which denomination of Church – if any – he was received into. In the Instagram announcement video, Brand noted that his wife is Catholic.

            Some have expressed doubt about the sincerity of Brand’s conversion to Christianity after he posted a video just hours after his baptism in which he talked about telling the future with tarot cards.

            He conceded that “a lot of Christians would say that tarot and even yoga is a kind of heresy”, but asked whether people could follow “hybrid modalities” in their beliefs.

            It is also known that Brand has attended an Alpha course – which educates the inquiring on the fundamentals of Christian belief and is run by the Church of England – and has attended a Catholic church.

            “Something occurred in the process of baptism that was incredible, overwhelming – literally overwhelming, because I was obviously underwater, and it was the River Thames,” he revealed to his thousands of followers.

            The choice to be baptised in the River Thames would indicate that the baptism was not Catholic, as Catholic canon law states that “apart from a case of necessity, the proper place of baptism is a church or oratory”.

            Brand received negative publicity during 2023 after allegations of rape, sexual assault and emotional abuse made against him by four women were made public following a joint investigation by The Times, The Sunday Times and Channel 4’s Dispatches. He denied the allegations, which centred on events alleged to have taken place between 2006 and 2013.

            The comedian and Hollywood actor, known for his promiscuous love life, vulgarity and lewd humour, has appeared to gravitate towards Christianity in the months following the emergence of the sexual assault allegations last year.

            Since December 2023, he has increasingly published photos and videos on social media discussing his encounter with Christianity.

            In one video published four months after the allegations, Brand told audiences: “The reason I wear a cross is because Christianity – and in particular the figure of Christ – are, it seems to me, inevitably becoming more important, as I become more familiar with suffering; purpose; self; and ‘not self’.”

            In his April 29 Instagram video the actor said that he understands the “cynicism” surrounding his religious turn:

            “Some people will just see me as a celebrity…I don’t see me as a celebrity because I was me when I was a little boy. I was me when I was a junkie. I was me when I was poor,” he said.

            In an earlier video posted on 26 April in which he discusses his forthcoming baptism, he said, “I know a lot of people are sort of cynical about the increasing interest in Christianity and the return to God, but to me, it’s obvious.”

            “As meaning deteriorates in the modern world, as our value systems and institutions crumble, all of us become increasingly aware that there is this eerily familiar awakening and beckoning figure that we’ve all known all of our lives, within us and around us. And for me, it’s very exciting.”

            After the baptism, he said: “For me, I’ve made the decision – and I know what the decision is. I pray that it will be relevant to my family in particular.

            “The truth is this: as a person who has in the past taken many, many substances and always been disappointed with their inability to deliver the kind of tranquillity and peace and even transcendence that I always felt I have been looking for, something occurred in the process of baptism that was incredible.”

            Following his baptism, Brand revealed that he felt “changed”.

            “Now of course, even though it’s been less than 24 hours, I’ve felt irritation. I’ve got children, I’ve got a job, I’ve got challenges, I still live in the world. But I feel as if some new resource within me has switched on,” he described.

            “This is new for me. I’m learning. And I will make mistakes. But this is my path now. And I already feel incredibly blessed, relieved, nourished, held.

            “You know I do a show every day, I’ll be talking about this stuff in the show because it’s part of my mission, and it’s part of my ministry, and it’s part of my service,” he told the camera emphatically.

            “This is new to me,” he repeated, “And it’s a joy to me. And I know I’m not expected to be perfect, and I know that’s not something that I’ll be able to deliver.

            “Those of you who have embraced me, I’m so grateful. I can’t tell you how happy I feel and how relieved I feel.

            “But as you know – if you know – my resources are coming from somewhere else…and someone else… now,” Brand said beaming and pointing upwards.

            Commenting on the story, the Catholic Herald‘s Gavin Ashenden, former Anglican chaplain to Queen Elizabeth II and Catholic convert, said that he was “not at all surprised at his becoming a Christian”. As Brand had been, he said, at “the bottom of the ethical ladder” it was understandable that he now “found the concept of salvation personally attractive” and was coming to recognise the “coherent ethical and metaphysical message of Christianity”.

            https://thecatholicherald.com/so-grateful-to-be-surrendered-in-christ-russell-brand-baptised-while-making-oblique-catholic-references/

      5. I have hated Russell Brand for years, and see no reason to change my opinion of him now!

          1. If he isn’t playing satanic 4D chess.
            The attacks on Christianity are legion and coming from all sides.

    2. This is also the constituency of one of the MPs that want a new airport in Kashmir. All the better for the industry of bringing first cousins over to the UK for marriage.

    3. Angela Rayner says it's all the fault of the previous Conservative government. But she would say that, wouldn't she?

      1. It's what ministers are supposed to do. She would be failing in her duties if she insufficiently reminded the public of the previous government's faults, whether real, imagined or fabricated.

        1. We’ve had nine months of Labour blaming everything on the previous government. If I’ve heard ‘£22 billion black hole’ once, I’ve heard it a thousand times. Even if it were true, I’m sick to death of hearing it.

          1. I don't disagree. Political figures with an axe to grind will repeat set party phrases ad nauseum. The law of diminishing returns is an alien concept to them.

            Then again, the world of commercial broadcast advertising seems to be conducted on the basis that subjecting viewers to 200 repetitions of an advert will have at least 10 times the impact of doing so only 20 times. Maybe I'm an outlier but being browbeaten in this fashion fosters a hostility in me towards the product, service or company concerned.

          2. Snap. I think if you're that bloody wonderful, how come you need to keep advertising?

          3. When I went into town this morning there was a poster proclaiming “making X [the town] better for children”. The picture was of a grizzled black woman and a picaninny. I felt like crossing the name of the town out and writing “Africa”.

    4. "There were rats, rats,
      Big as bloomin' cats,
      In the stores … in the stores ….
      In the quartermaster's stores."

  40. Given the advice she was given she may not have been made aware of her rights or options.

  41. One for Grizz…..

    SIR – As someone born and raised just a few miles from Liverpool, I have always regarded “received pronunciation” simply as a way of speaking that is clear and comprehensible, rather than being “associated with the upper class”, as your report suggests (“From Toxteth with love… Scouse actor would be made up to be 007”, report, April 4). The fetishisation of regional accents is one of the reasons that listening to television and radio news is so intolerable.

    Kevin Duffy
    Manchester

      2. It’s possible to have an accent and still speak good clear English. As for it being a class issue, I once had to phone David Lascelles, aka the Earl of Harewood, at work. He has a Yorkshire accent but not of the uneducated oik variety.

          1. Now there was good diction, and a lovely voice to boot. That gave a burst of nostalgia, been decades since I listened to Fyfe Robinson.

      4. I do too though some accents are difficult to understand. Possibly because they never went further than their own neighbourhood,

        The Northern Ireland accent is particularly harsh and a bit like Welsh nationalists they like to keep it that way.

        Saying that i was on the phone to a farmer in NI and he had the accent but it was very smooth and easy to understand.

    1. Yo OL

      If Two Tears can cancel the born and bred British people and their way of Life, I (or we ) should be able to cancel paying taxes

    2. Yo OL

      If Two Tears can cancel the born and bred British people and their way of Life, I (or we ) should be able to cancel paying taxes

  43. Bolesław Ostrowski, Polish paratrooper who took part in Operation Market Garden after Siberian prison. 5 April 2025

    Bolesław Ostrowski, who has died aged 105, was freed from a Soviet slave labour camp in Western Siberia; then, having trained with Polish forces as a paratrooper, he took part in Operation Market Garden, the hugely ambitious but ill-fated airborne assault which aimed to shorten the war by capturing bridges over the Lower Rhine and establishing an Allied invasion route into Northern Germany.

    BELOW THE LINE.

    Cia Hug1 hr ago.

    Never heard of this guy, but I'm well acquainted with his brother Coleslaw.

    I don’t wish to be po-faced about this or indulge in any Nationalist hand wringing but I have to wonder about someone who would post such a comment. The nature of it suggests someone who is quite near the age at which Mr Ostrowki was enduring trials that would reduce today’s generation to blubbering wrecks.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2025/04/04/bolesaw-ostrowski-world-war-2-ussr-operation-market-garden/#comment

    1. I was just 22 when the Attenborough film “A Bridge Too Far” was released. A friend and I went to a preview performance at the Odeon, Marble Arch. The movie was criticised but it was the first I knew of Operation Market Garden. The young today…etc.

      1. Only one of my school friends had lost her father in the war; he was killed when parachuting into Holland during Operation Market Garden. Apparently, one of his fellow paras veered off course.
        When I think back, although our fathers had been involved in the war, the losses and injuries were few. Were they lucky or it was a class thing? They tended to be farmers, solicitors, doctors and small to medium sized business owners.

        1. Father was in reserved occupation. He made atomic bombs. More than that he refused to say, even in the 1990s. He took official secrets seriously.

          1. Same as my stepfather. Years after we had left Libya I realized there was something odd about our stay there. Regiments would come and go but we remained. So I asked and got the reply. "Can't tell you, i signed the official secrets act." And that was the end of that. Not a single word about it ever again.

          2. Same as my stepfather. Years after we had left Libya I realized there was something odd about our stay there. Regiments would come and go but we remained. So I asked and got the reply. "Can't tell you, i signed the official secrets act." And that was the end of that. Not a single word about it ever again.

        2. My father was a steel worker. He was in the home guard. The rest of my family were miners or farmers. The only one who served was my father’s youngest brother. He came back safe.

    2. To be kind, a misplaced attempt at humour. The short version being "Wanker!"
      Mr Ostrowski was a true Pole. And, for one so adventurous, died at an age that almost nobody who has an easier life will reach.
      Top bloke. Respect.

  44. The feral e-bike yobs have won. They taunt me in public after I was forced out of the police for daring to tackle them, reveals hero officer.

    During his 22 years fighting crime in Bognor, where he grew up, he made a point of stopping his Ford Focus patrol car as frequently as possible to talk to shopkeepers, nightclub bouncers, business owners, criminals, everyone and anyone.

    Nurturing relationships and developing intelligence, he says, is a 'lost art' but always got him results. 'Most officers couldn't care less about this side of the job,' he says. 'They turn up for work, put their uniform on, switch their radio on, sit in briefing, wait to be told what to do and where to go, come back to the police station, have a cup of tea and wait for the next job.'

    Mr Bradshaw was what he calls a 'proactive' officer who pursued leads without being ordered to do so. In his black notebook – 'my bible' – he assiduously jotted down all sorts of details that might prove useful. Names, number plates, dates of birth.

    Instead of loafing in the police canteen between jobs, he conducted research, anything that might assist his work. And he developed a 'copper's nose' – a willingness to act on instinct that, he said, his superiors discouraged. Mr Bradshaw paints a bleak portrait of modern policing. To many officers, he says, his story will be familiar.

    He speaks of naive enthusiasm at the start of his career, a determination to do good, to lock up villains, then the crushing realisation that policing is far from straightforward – that you must battle not just the criminals but those above you. Fear of outside criticism, he says, often from single-interest groups, infects decision-making at the top. 'There is the great obsession with how we are perceived,' he says. It also percolates to the front line.

    'Officers are always looking over their shoulders, terrified of doing or saying the wrong thing,' says Mr Bradshaw. 'It makes them reluctant to think on their feet and be hands-on.

    'Nowadays the police don't necessarily recruit those best suited to the job. The hope is that they grow into the job. But many of them don't want to get out of the patrol car, they go from job to job with blinkers on.'

    Full story here: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14550959/e-bike-yobs-taunt-public-forced-police-daring-reveals-hero-officer.html

    Former police constable Tim Bradshaw. For knocking down two yobs on e-bikes, he was charged with causing serious injury by dangerous driving and faced a possible jail sentence. After a five-day trial at Portsmouth Crown Court, a jury took just 20 minutes to acquit him.

    The two yobs concerned are still at it. Mr Bradshaw is now a bus driver.

    2. Round my way, e-bikes are especially popular with young males of a certain skin hue and they’re certainly aggressive.

      1. E-biles? Or illegally converted bikes? Do you ever see the riders pedalling them to get them to move?

        We need to be clear. These are noteworthy-biles. They are illegal.

    3. Proactive policing was taught to — and expected from — officers back in the days when common sense had not been replaced by Common Purpose.

    4. And once again,.

      There are legal e-bikes which you must pedal to get them to work and which are limited to 15mph.

      And there are illegally converted bikes which are essentially mopeds. Which are not bikes. And which are legal.

      In London, you see them everywhere. The riders cover their faces. They are usually “Deliveroo”-style delivery drivers, or thieves looking to steal mobile phones.

      They are easy to spot and would be easy for Plod to target. But Plod won’t, because the riders will all be part of the “global majority” (and may be here legally, or illegally).

        1. Ah yes. I hate them too.

          On my way home from work last night, a man on a proper bike got caught in an accident with a Lime bike. The rider just stopped and then wobbled and he was too close to her.

          I have to say, I try and give them a very wide berth.

    5. And once again,.

      There are legal e-bikes which you must pedal to get them to work and which are limited to 15mph.

      And there are illegally converted bikes which are essentially mopeds. Which are not bikes. And which are legal.

      In London, you see them everywhere. The riders cover their faces. They are usually “Deliveroo”-style delivery drivers, or thieves looking to steal mobile phones.

      They are easy to spot and would be easy for Plod to target. But Plod won’t, because the riders will all be part of the “global majority” (and may be here legally, or illegally).

      2. 404116+ + up ticks,

        Afternoon OLT,
        Lets not knock it it could very well be the saving of this nation, it is feasible / doable and much needed.

        When it does come to pass the HOC / HOL
        laundry department will have to take on extra staff.

  47. …reminds us that 42 per cent of our exports go to the EU,

    We certainly get a lot of imports from the EU, mostly arriving at Dover

    1. Victoria Derbyshire. Used to do the Radio 5 9am phone-in. Has made appearances on Newsnight. Tries to be as noxious as Wark and Maitlis but fails.

      2. Thank you. One of the virtues of not watching TV is that you are spared the likes of that woman.

      1. All evil is. The Left want to paint others as they are. It lets them pretend they’re the heroes of their own fantasy.

      2. Dinesh D’Souza, of Prager University, explains succinctly what fascism really is and how the philosophy came about. He tells us:

        “He’s a fascist!”

        “For decades, this has been a favourite smear of the Left, aimed directly at those on the Right, or (erroneously and witlessly) at others on the Left who have an opposing point of view. Every American Republican president—for that matter, virtually every Republican—since the 1970s has been called a fascist; nowadays, this happens more than ever.

        This label is based on the notion — the false assumption — that fascism is a phenomenon of the political Right. The Left says it is, and — unfortunately — some self-styled ‘white supremacists’ and neo-Nazis witlessly embrace the label.
        But are they correct? To answer this question, we have to ask what fascism really means: What is its underlying ideology? Where does it even come from?

        These are not easy questions to answer. We know the name of the philosopher of Capitalism: Adam Smith. We know the name of the philosopher of Marxism: Karl Marx. But who’s the philosopher of Fascism?

        Yes—exactly. You don’t know? Don’t feel bad. Almost no one knows. This is not because he doesn’t exist, but because historians, most of whom are on the political Left, had to erase him from history in order to avoid confronting fascism’s actual beliefs. So, let me introduce him to you. His name is Giovanni Gentile.

        Born in 1875, he was one of the world’s most influential philosophers in the first half of the twentieth century. Gentile believed that there were two “diametrically opposed” types of democracy. One is liberal democracy, such as that of the United States, which Gentile dismisses as individualistic — too centred on liberty and personal rights — and therefore selfish. The other, the one Gentile recommends, is what he considered to be “true democracy” in which individuals willingly subordinate themselves to the state.

        Like his philosophical mentor, Karl Marx, Gentile wanted to create a community that resembles the family, a community where we are “all in this together.” It’s easy to see the attraction of this idea. Indeed, it remains a common rhetorical theme of the Left.

        For example, at the 1984 convention of the Democratic Party, the governor of New York, Mario Cuomo, likened America to an extended family where, through the government, people all take care of each other.

        Nothing’s changed. Twenty-eight years later, a slogan of the 2012 Democratic Party convention was, “The government is the only thing we all belong to.” They might as well have been quoting Gentile.

        Now, remember, Gentile was a man of the Left. He was a committed socialist. For Gentile, fascism is a form of socialism; indeed, its most workable form. While the socialism of Marx mobilises people on the basis of class; fascism mobilises people by appealing to their national identity as well as their class. Fascists are socialists with a national identity. German Fascists in the 1930s were called Nazis—basically a contraction of the term “national socialist.”

        For Gentile, all private action should be oriented to serve society; there is no distinction between the private interest and the public interest. Correctly understood, the two are identical. And who is the administrative arm of the society? It’s none other than the State. Consequently, to submit to society is to submit to the state; not just in economic matters, but in all matters. Since everything is political, the state gets to tell everyone how to think and what to do.

        It was another Italian, Benito Mussolini, fascist dictator of Italy from 1922 to 1943 who turned Gentile’s words into action. In his La Dottrina Del Fascismo, one of the doctrinal statements of early fascism, Mussolini wrote: “All is in the State and nothing human exists or has value outside the State.” He was merely paraphrasing Gentile.

        The Italian philosopher is now lost in obscurity; but his philosophy could not be more relevant because it closely parallels that of the modern Left. Gentile’s work speaks directly to progressives who champion the centralised State. Here in America, the Left has vastly expanded state control over the private sector, from healthcare to banking to education to energy. This state-directed capitalism is precisely what German and Italian fascists implemented in the 1930s.

        Leftists can’t acknowledge their man, Gentile, because that would undermine their attempt to bind conservatism to fascism. Conservatism wants small government so that individual liberty can flourish. The Left, like Gentile, wants the opposite: to place the resources of the individual and industry in the service of a centralised State. To acknowledge Gentile is to acknowledge that fascism bears a deep kinship to the ideology of today’s Left. So they will keep Gentile where they’ve got him: dead, buried and forgotten. But we should remember, or the ghost of fascism will continue to haunt us.”

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6bSsaVL6gA&frags=pl%2Cwn

      3. I know. You haven't seen my argument that you cannot have a true right wing group because one of the essentials of the true right wing is individualism and independent thought. Therefore, a true extreme right wing group is a contradiction. It would fly apart because of the two essentials I mention.

    5. How dare Trump slap 20% tariffs on her beloved protectionist outlier racket called the EU?
      Do you want higher prices?
      Do you want the elderly to starve & freeze because they can't pay their bills? LOL.

    2. Do you have the lab/lib/con mass uncontrolled / party controlled morally illegal,pedophile umbrella coalition saved on a one-stroke function key? If not, I recommend you apply now. It will eventually save you many hours of keyboard time.

      1. I know what you mean. It does get tedious with repetition. Elsie Bloodaxe does the same with the goodnights….yawns.

      2. 404116+up ticks,

        Afternoon DW,
        Nice of you to seemingly worry on my account but really, not necessary.

        Learn by rote gets my vote.

  52. Prison chiefs accused of blocking mother jailed for social media post from seeing daughter
    Lucy Connolly, whose Southport attack tweet landed her in prison, has been waiting four months to secure home release on temporary licence
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/04/04/prison-chiefs-mother-jailed-social-media-southport-attack/

    This, combined with the heartless action against independent schools in the middle of the school year, tells me that it is the members of this cruel and dictatorial government and their 'bought' judges who should be in prison and not women like this.

      1. Can't imagine why your comment was removed, Rastus! Ah, perhaps because you insinuate that judges have motives other than the fair and impartial application of the law?

      2. I got removed twice last night! Some of the commenters were racist thugs!

          1. 😂you are letting the side down. Nothing less than an extreme far-right fascist racist thug is acceptable

    2. How has all this happened with our legal system ? They seem to be working for this far left bandwagon of a fake government. That's not the job they are employed to do.

      1. The deep state has been entrenched for some time, it has just been waiting for the times it is needed to act. The judges that colluded with Starmer to put down popular dissent are filth.

    3. Read the Secret Barrister. It will open your eyes to what goes on in the legal system.

    16. A lament? A profanity? A stench? An outrage? A liar? A clamour? A dread? An over abundance?
      ETA: A pus bag.

        2. Oh dear………. don’t let us depress you further! Or maybe our doom and gloom will perk you up……….

          1. It is certainly good to know there are decent people who share the fears about the situation here and elsewhere. Apart from the extortionate cost of healthcare there, I could quite happily move to the U.S.!

          2. Trump seems to have sent the Dems into meltdown! And there is serious TDS here too.

        3. Not so good. Is there anything you can do to avoid those drugs? Go out and about. Visit friends. Have lunch with me? Erm…. :@(

          1. Not really, no. I can’t even offload any more to my old friend (61 years and counting), as she has spreading cancer, which makes my situation rather trivial.

          2. We are here for you. I know it’s just talk but folks here can be helpful.

            I know when it is bad it is bad and i have on occasion had a visit from the blackdog myself.

            Find something positive.

          3. Thank you.
            I know there are so many people far worse off than me, not that it makes life any easier.

          4. I posted a pic of the rash on my leg recently and a Nottler correctly identified what the problem is. None of the usual creams would work. It’s not really a rash but insufficient blood flow going back up my leg. Nottlers are useful.

          5. Wouldn’t it be grand if we all lived closer to each other, and could regularly meet up for tea/coffee (and cake).

          6. Then talk to us. Don’t bottle it up. We almost certainly won’t have any solutions, but getting it off your chest will help. Plus we mainly sing from the same hymn sheet.

        4. Not being silly; a cool shower in the morning can work wonders. Have a normal shower and then a quick burst of cold.

          Apparently it affects the vagus nerve and can help in many cases.

          1. Thanks for the thought, but no way am I getting a cold, or even tepid, burst of shower! It’s cold enough when I step out!

          2. Oddly enough, the quick burst of cold closes the pores and leaves a very pleasant afterglow of warmth.

          7. Ouch! I hope you can get it fixed quickly.
            When we rented our first house, while waiting for our newbuild rabbit hutch to be ready, we couldn’t get the hot water working, so we would boil up pans of water to fill the bath a couple of inches. Luxury!

          8. Been there and done that in the past. I could light the Rayburn and get reliable hot water but it’s too warm. I want to replace it with a coil to heat the water from the oil system but the person who was supposed to do it has let me down.

          9. Tradesmen can be hard to pin down. The coil plan you have – is that a standard option with oil systems?
            Our regular plumber (old school, reliable man) is currently ill in hospital. His son (lovely lad, aged 25) did his apprenticeship with him, and recently achieved the gas safe registration. But would I want the lad to carry out more than a service or anything straightforward? If the dad is unable to continue, I would get somebody else in when our boiler gets replaced.
            If proper apprenticeships were readily available, and without the massive extra costs to their placement employers, it would go a long way to increasing the number of skilled tradespeople. I know of a few youngsters who had to abandon their apprenticeship courses because they were unable to find an employer willing to take them on, simply because of the extra burden/costs/paperwork the employer would incur.

          10. When we had the oil heating system installed we had the ability to heat the water as well as run the radiators. MOH decided to have an immersion put in instead. Why I have no idea because our water is very hard and we have been through several immersions since that was done. They don’t last long. I want it put back to how it was. One reason being the cost of electricity and the other the fact I buy the oil in advance at summer prices.

          11. That makes sense.
            When our boiler needs changing, I think we’ll go for a combi one, as our showers are currently electric.

        5. Sorry to hear that. I prescribe giving up your TV and abstaining from all mainstream news media. Accentuate the positive.

          1. It is years since I watched news or current affairs programmes on TV. I mainly watch repeats of very old films or dramas, none infected by all the nonsense that pollutes modern programmes.

  59. If Jeremy Rhyming thinks it such a good idea for the UK to be like Singapore – why didn't he make that happen when he was in office in the last shyte government.

    Just asking

    1. Because he can't make up his mind if he is a Khant or a Kunt. They all stink and sell other people's grannies for votes.

    2. He possibly changed his diet too when he re-married. Look out for being advised to change ours.

  61. The NHS at its best: letter dated Friday 28th March for an appointment on Tuesday 1st April – arrived today.

    1. I am of the opinion that the seat polishers do it on purpose. They can say they did their job but it was a 'no show'. I have experienced it myself in real time.

      During Covid i was in the waiting room waiting 12 hours and i could see what the bitch in her cubicle was doing and saying.
      It was supposedly a locked ward but people were coming and going.

      I heard the nurse ask if a woman could be allowed in to see her husband and computer bitch said no. Even though porters could come and go.

      I know there are Angels in the NHS but their are also Demons.

    2. Similar here. Place packed on arrival – think they do some for the same time which makes sense from the unit's point of view, not kept waiting but patients often are.

    3. Letters sent from France take two weeks to get to England.

      On this occasion the Postal Service may be more to blame than the NHS.

      The postal service is broken.

      In 1984 – 85 I took a sabbatical year to sail my small boat to the Caribbean and back. I sent a postcard to my mother from each place I visited including the remotest of islands in the Windwards and Leewards. Every single postcard arrived and my mother compiled an album and put each one in it.

    1. To be fair they sent me a text on the 2nd to tell me I'd missed the appointment I didn't know I had.

      1. Did they tell you that as you had missed your appointment you had been removed from the waiting list?

        1. Effectively – 'returned to care of GP'. However…I already had an appointment booked in the same department next Tuesday, so they've given me one on the same day AND NOT SEVERAL HOURS LATER BUT IMMEDIATELY AFTER.

          1. Which means that you'll be delayed by the first and thus miss the second, and IT WILL BE YOUR FAULT.

        2. Effectively – 'returned to care of GP'. However…I already had an appointment booked in the same department next Tuesday, so they've given me one on the same day AND NOT SEVERAL HOURS LATER BUT IMMEDIATELY AFTER.

  64. Afternoon, all. Lovely day again. Still cold, though. Have spent time in the garden not doing what I need to do! My clematis had decided to abandon the old arch and climb through the shrubs instead. Now I have replaced the arch I have had to get them back on track.
    Was completely out of kilter today. I went into town to set up my water rates because the bill only came through this morning (to be paid on the first of April- it isn’t only the NHS) only to realise when I got there that it was Saturday and the bank was closed.
    Singapore’s tax code is a slim volume and it’s bilingual. Thanks to Gordon Brown and successive governments ours is several volumes the thickness of telephone directories.

    1. Hello Conway…we lost our last branches years ago, switched to First Direct an online bank, many repeat payments on DD – you might like to check it out if you have time/inclination 🙂 Clematis sounds lovely, which one is it plse?

      1. I have a First Direct account. I’ve just had no success trying to pay bills with it. I have lots of varieties of clematis; these on this arch are Carnaby, Margaret Hunt, Ernest Markham, Comtesse de Bouchard and Marjorie. I also have Daniel Deronda, Polish Spirit, Duchess of Edinburgh, Guernsey Cream, Bees Jubilee, Pilau, General Sikorski, Mrs Cholmondeley, Etoile Violette and lots of others on obelisks and trellises throughout the garden.

        1. I only use the app,maybe try that? Garden sounds fabulous, I’ve only grown a couple of those and until last couple years way too cold here. Well done 🙂

          1. I don’t normally use a smartphone, so I’m reluctant to bank by app – particularly as I’d have to set up two pass security and a whole load more hassle.

    2. At the end of my garden behind the shed the temp in the shade is showing 28c.

      I have high fences and an embankment so it is a micro climate.

      2. My garden is, unfortunately, quite shaded. I do have areas that catch the sun, but the wind finds them, too.

  65. Late on parade.
    Hard work finding a word to fit:
    Wordle 1,386 4/6

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

    1. Not looking good for the new right.
      I'm not a great Farage fan and I think he's his own worst enemy at times.

    2. Unfortunately he suffered from disabilities; he was white, male and had served his country.

    1. I suspect her solicitor advised her to plead guilty for a reduced sentence. What’s that you say? Presumption of innocence? Good laugh.

        1. And the PM who prejudiced the trials by saying he would lock them up

      2. It would seem that people were railroaded into pleading guilty with the threat of being remanded in custody for months before their case would be heard if they pleaded not guilty. Absolutely shameful.

          1. I seem to remember reading that accused people were told that there would be no bail granted, thus remaining in custody until their trial. There seems to have been an inordinate amount of pressure applied to force people into pleading guilty. Certainly the court cases were forced through very quickly.

  74. On the front line of Dorset’s beach hut cartel wars
    Row breaks out over seafront chalets after pensioners evict dozens of tenants

    The sun beats down on the road into town as I drive, flanked on one side by sea, spit of land in the distance.

    Ahead, a collection of huts clustered near the shoreline looms into view.

    This is cartel country. This is Weymouth.

    Here, in a Georgian resort town, is a row drawing perhaps unlikely comparisons with the gangland disputes of Mexico and Colombia.

    On one of Britain’s most popular seafronts, a select group of individuals controls a highly desirable commodity – the humble British beach hut.

    Janet Cridland, 81, Janis Chalker, 76, and Sandy Tubby, 63, have been dubbed the “OAP cartel” by locals after evicting almost half the tenants of a collection of pastel-coloured chalets on the seafront.

    The trio of pensioners, who are unpaid directors of the Greenhill Community Trust (GCT), refused to renew the £2,400-a-year tenancies of 19 people this week – nine for not living in Weymouth and 10 who they accused of wasting electricity.

    It quickly became apparent that the evictions sent a shockwave through the seaside resort, coming in the wake of previous rounds of removals in February 2022, October 2023 and November 2024 when dozens lost their chalets.

    One of the evictees, a well-spoken retired Latin teacher who had leased a beach hut for 25 years, accused the directors of “playing God”.

    “They know that we can’t do anything, we’re absolutely powerless,” said the 65-year-old, who was denied a new tenancy because she lived four miles outside of Weymouth and asked for anonymity.

    “They are playing God. Why can’t they say to new tenants, ‘You have got to live in Weymouth’ and just wait for the rest of us to die off? How they can say we’re not local is a joke.”

    Weymouth has rarely seen as bitter a row as that over the beach huts, for which there is a 200-person waiting list.

    “It’s a bloody nightmare,” said Marcus Howlett, 61, a retired holiday rep walking along the promenade.

    “I think they just want them out. They’ve got a huge queue of people wanting to come in and they’ll use any excuse they can. The directors are always generally polite. As individuals they are quite pleasant to talk to, but they’re ruthless with these chalets.

    They don’t come out and communicate with any of the tenants, they just say, ‘Out!’ The OAP cartel, as they say.”

    ‘It seems very autocratic’
    As I was speaking to Mr Howlett, I noticed a nearby CCTV camera swivel in our direction. Once we had gone our separate ways, I walked out of shot to the other side of the chalets. But soon enough, the camera swivelled again, appearing to observe me. I wondered who was controlling it, feeling even more ill at ease than before.

    The GCT took over the running of the beach huts from Weymouth town council in 2019. The three directors who control GCT have been accused of hypocrisy as they continue to have their own chalet while ending other people’s tenancies.

    “It seems very autocratic,” said Lindsay Jones, a 72-year-old retired drama teacher. “It is the extremely petty kind of stuff you get in small towns. You get that small town mentality, you get these committees and people who get a taste of influence and power, and you just get squabbling.”

    Clive Hatwood, a 69-year-old semi-retired management consultant, branded the evictions “churlish” and “sad”, while tourists Vicky Sansom, 42, and Becca Wood, 26, visiting from Bristol, said they were “ridiculous”.

    But the directors disagree, saying the criticism they have faced betrays “ignorance” and that “name calling” is “not nice”. They claimed all the evicted tenants had breached their licence agreements or were not Weymouth residents, as is required by the town council’s lease of the chalets to GCT.

    Weymouth town council said the GCT had not breached its lease of the beach huts from the council, and that complaints to the regulator had not been upheld.

    Richard Cridland, the husband of Janet, one of the directors, believes the town should be more grateful to them. “They don’t get paid a penny, they don’t get a free chalet and they work perhaps for a whole week at a time,” he said. “It’s just people getting angry because they won’t read their licence.

    “Of course it’s not fair to call them a cartel. If you look at the state of the chalets over the last two or three years, they’ve all been rebuilt, re-roofed, redecorated.

    “All that work has been done by the directors in organising it all. So really, Weymouth should be well and truly proud and grateful. Absolutely.”

    ‘Better cared for by locals’
    The directors also have allies amongst locals and tourists alike. Ian Willdig, a retired aerospace engineer, has been visiting Weymouth for more than 40 years with his wife Pauline, both 68.

    “Why should the locals put up with people with money coming down here and keeping them out?” Mr Willdig said, before Mrs Willdig added: “I can imagine as well that they’re better cared for by locals than someone who only pops down twice a year.”

    Chris Newbery, an 86-year-old retired teacher, argued that it was “perfectly reasonable” to limit the tenancies to Weymouth residents given the “grotesque” number of second homes in the surrounding area.

    Another Weymouth man, 78, who declined to be named, said that while the directors were known for being a “bit bossy”, they were “doing a good job” at maintaining the chalets.

    “The original leases were for the people of Weymouth and Portland so it’s fair enough,” he said. “It’s sad that people who’ve had them for years and years and years are being kicked out, but they shouldn’t have had them in the first place.”

    Whatever critics of the so-called “cartel” may say, it is clear that its directors have no intention to change course any time soon.

    As I make my way out of the town, I realise I have joined the ranks of reporters to suffer injury for their work bringing the truth to light. It takes days before my sunburn finally fades.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/04/04/dispatch-dorset-beach-hut-cartel-wars-weymouth-chalets/

    Christine Pierce
    4 hrs ago
    I thought a cannon ball taken to the local tip was as British a story as one could read, but the OAP beach hut cartel on the Weymouth seafront is a close second. The well-spoken Latin teacher and others accuse the “ruthless trio of Directors” of “playing God”. Surely a BAFTA screenwriter can do something with this fodder. edited

    Helen Macklin
    6 hrs ago
    I remember renting a beach hut in Bournemouth for the day a couple of times when our kids were very young in the '80s. It was a Godsend, because it allowed them to stay out of the sun and have a sleep for part of the day, as well as being right on the sand.

    So I can see the appeal, though not for 25 years! It's a tricky problem but, seeing as two of the three directors are getting on a bit, maybe only a problem for a few more years…

    What I do know is, I would rather be having problems with an OAP Cartel than a barge load of migrants! The Bibby Stockholm is no more, so now they can fret over more trivial matters.

    1. My aunt and uncle owned a beach hut in Dawlish . It was very handy when we spent a day at the beach. They lived in Exeter.

  75. Conspiracy theories are for the birds.. then in five years they pan out to be true.

    Anywhoooo, the Nigel Mirage theories continue.

    At sixty-two he's not in great health and has no energy for his mysterious revolution. A revolution with zero detail.
    He's already seeded the idea of a Muslim man leading the party into GE29, and Yusuf is the legal heir to the pole position within the Ltd company.
    In any case the Blob want Reform polling at a steady 30%.. no more, no less.

    Also, how good is US Intell? Was Trump warned to steer clear.

    Rupert Lowe needs locking up.. for something, or other, or whatever.

  76. Reading this letter brought back a few early memories

    SIR – Guy Dampier is wrong to imply that Quakers support a “hard-Left” ideology. Quakers seek to be guided by what is true and right. This often leads us to work for change in the world, which can bring us into conflict with the state. However, as Mr Dampier’s article tacitly acknowledges, the radical and unpopular positions of today may later become orthodoxy.

    Social reform, including work for a fairer society, is not the preserve of the Left. Opposition to slavery, for example, crosses the political divide, although at one time this was an accepted practice. Quakers’ work for peace and equality may easily be ridiculed, but it led to our involvement in the Kindertransport and our peacebuilding and relief work in post-war Germany (for which we won the Nobel Peace Prize).

    Sarah Donaldson
    Manchester

    During the 19th century, Friends continued to influence the world around them. Many of the industrial concerns started by Friends in the previous century continued as detailed in Milligan's Biographical dictionary of British Quakers in commerce and industry, with new ones beginning. Friends also continued and increased their work in the areas of social justice and equality. They made other contributions as well in the fields of science, literature, art, law and politics.

    In the realm of industry Edward Pease opened the Stockton and Darlington Railway in northern England in 1825. It was the first modern railway in the world, and carried coal from the mines to the seaports. Henry and Joseph Rowntree owned a chocolate factory in York, England. When Henry died, Joseph took it over. He provided the workers with more benefits than most employers of his day. He also funded low-cost housing for the poor. John Cadbury founded another chocolate factory, which his sons George and Richard eventually took over. A third chocolate factory was founded by Joseph Storrs Fry in Bristol. The shipbuilder John Wigham Richardson was a prominent Newcastle upon Tyne Quaker. His office at the centre of the shipyard was always open to his workers for whom he cared greatly and he was a founder of the Workers’ Benevolent Trust in the region, (a forerunner to the trades’ union movement). Swan Hunter and Wigham Richardson, the builders of the RMS Mauretania, refused to build war ships on account of his pacifist beliefs.

    Quakers actively promoted equal rights during this century as well[citation needed]. As early as 1811, Elias Hicks published a pamphlet showing that slaves were "prize goods"—that is, products of piracy—and hence profiting from them violated Quaker principles; it was a short step from that position to reject use of all products made from slave labour, the free produce movement that won support among Friends and others but also proved divisive. Quaker women such as Lucretia Mott and Susan B. Anthony joined the movement to abolish slavery, moving them to cooperate politically with non-Quakers in working against the institution. Somewhat as a result of their initial exclusion from abolitionist activities, they changed their focus to the right of women to vote and influence society. Thomas Garrett led in the movement to abolish slavery, personally assisting Harriet Tubman to escape from slavery and to coordinate the Underground Railroad. Richard Dillingham died in a Tennessee prison where he was incarcerated for trying to help some slaves escape. Levi Coffin was also an active abolitionist, helping thousands of escaped slaves migrate to Canada and opening a store for selling products made by former slaves.

    Prison reform was another concern of Quakers at that time. Elizabeth Fry and her brother Joseph John Gurney campaigned for more humane treatment of prisoners and for the abolition of the death penalty. They played a key role in forming the Association for the Improvement of the Female Prisoners in Newgate, which managed to better the living conditions of woman and children held at the prison. Their work raised concerns about the prison system as a whole, so that they were a factor behind Parliament eventually passing legislation to improve conditions further and decrease the number of capital crimes.

    In the early days of the Society of Friends, Quakers were not allowed to get an advanced education. Eventually some did get opportunities to go to university and beyond, which meant that more and more Quakers could enter the various fields of science. Thomas Young an English Quaker, did experiments with optics, contributing much to the wave theory of light. He also discovered how the lens in the eye works and described astigmatism and formulated an hypothesis about the perception of color. Young was also involved in translating the Rosetta Stone. He translated the demotic text and began the process of understanding the hieroglyphics. Maria Mitchell was an astronomer who discovered a comet. She was also active in the abolition movement and the women's suffrage movement. Joseph Lister promoted the use of sterile techniques in medicine, based on Pasteur's work on germs. Thomas Hodgkin was a pathologist who made major breakthroughs in the field of anatomy. He was the first doctor to describe the type of lymphoma named after him. An historian, he was also active in the movement to abolish slavery and to protect aboriginal people. John Dalton formulated the atomic theory of matter, among other scientific achievements

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Quakers#:~:text=The%20Religious%20Society%20of%20Friends,the%20way%20of%20the%20Lord%22.

    Article is worth reading further .

          1. ☹️ Bugger. I thought he looked quite the dapper Puritan in his ‘plain’ black-and-white outfit.

  77. It's Second Son's birthday dinner in 90 minutes or so, and just had a couple hours chinwag with Firstborn, who is here for the event (and to count the moths flying out of my wallet). Just had a lovely long discussion on many topics, and I realise now how much I miss both lads living at home. So smart, intelligent, experienced… (Firstborn is planning pig farming!) that I find it difficult to believe that I had any part in their upbringing… must have bee the results of SWMBOs superior parenting skills. Enough to bring on a tear as I type, so it is.
    I'm a truly lucky man. Grüss Gott.

    3. " … and to count the moths flying out of my wallet."

      See all, hear all, say nowt.
      Eat all, sup all, pay nowt.
      And if the' ever does owt for nowt,
      Do it for theesen!

      👍🏻😉

      2. Them’s the rules.
        Problem is, it’s me doing the paying.
        It’s so good to have the two lads together over the same dining table, I’d pay almost anything.. Fabulous lads both, A tribute to their Mother.

  78. This has just dropped into my Telegram feed. I have no means of verification but it would not surprise me. If correct, then the international chessboard is starting to look interesting.

    "Putin Drops the Hammer: Bill Gates Faces Extradition for Bioterrorism – The Cabal’s Nightmare Begins!

    The walls are closing in. Putin has made it clear: Bill Gates and Fauci must be extradited for CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY—or else. Russia holds the proof. The elites are panicking. The world is at a breaking point.

    Extradition or Consequences? The Cabal’s Worst Fear Comes True
    For years, they’ve silenced dissent, crushed economies, and forced billions into submission—all for power, profit, and control. But the truth always finds a way out.

    Russia’s intelligence files expose the unthinkable:

    COVID-19 was engineered.
    Lockdowns, mandates, and vaccine passports were pre-planned.
    Gates funneled millions into virus manipulation projects.
    Western governments colluded with Big Pharma to turn a pandemic into a money machine.
    Now, the game is over. Putin is demanding Gates and Fauci be handed over for trial in Russia.

    Putin’s Ultimatum: No Gates, No Peace
    This isn’t a bluff. Russia has made it a non-negotiable condition for ending the war in Ukraine. Extradite Gates and Fauci, or the war continues.

    If the West refuses, they admit their crimes. If they comply, the entire globalist empire crumbles. Either way, they lose.

    Gates and Fauci’s Time Is Running Out
    Gates is no “philanthropist.” He is a bioterrorist facing possible execution. If extradited, he won’t stand before U.S. judges controlled by the system. He’ll face Russian prosecutors—with no mercy for globalist criminals.

    The punishment? Life in a cold cell—or death.

    The Globalists Are Trapped – What Happens Next?
    The Western elite are scrambling. This isn’t just about two men—it’s about the whole system. If Gates and Fauci fall, who’s next?

    The final battle is here. The people are waking up. The question is: Will the elites burn the world to hide the truth?

    Putin just played his most dangerous card. The world is watching."

    https://t.me/GeneralPatton1

    3. I must say, seeing Fauci and Gates sacrificed would be very satisfying!

      I do wonder whether there is genuine disagreement at the top, as there seem to be two opinions streams among top technocrat public operators. One seems to be explicitly anti human (Gates/Harari/Schwab), the other not so much (Musk/Page)
      Am just in the middle of this weeks Delingpod with Patrick Wood, which talks about the history of the technocracy from the 1930s when the first mention of human beings as just another of the earth's commodities occurred.
      Musk's grandfather was a technocrat apparently, and it is clear that Musk is operating with someone's approval, otherwise he would be bankrupt by now.
      All the stuff we heard during covid about "trust the science"/euthanasia etc is just an extension of their belief that science can and should rule the world for the good of the whole planet. In other words, if 'the science' says there are too many humans, you must submit to being culled.

    4. I must say, seeing Fauci and Gates sacrificed would be very satisfying!

      I do wonder whether there is genuine disagreement at the top, as there seem to be two opinions streams among top technocrat public operators. One seems to be explicitly anti human (Gates/Harari/Schwab), the other not so much (Musk/Page)
      Am just in the middle of this weeks Delingpod with Patrick Wood, which talks about the history of the technocracy from the 1930s when the first mention of human beings as just another of the earth's commodities occurred.
      Musk's grandfather was a technocrat apparently, and it is clear that Musk is operating with someone's approval, otherwise he would be bankrupt by now.
      All the stuff we heard during covid about "trust the science"/euthanasia etc is just an extension of their belief that science can and should rule the world for the good of the whole planet. In other words, if 'the science' says there are too many humans, you must submit to being culled.

    5. If this is true, then quite a few other members of 'specter' hopefully will be next.
      Although the Vlad the man is the only person mentioned he will of course have a team of hardened stand in helpers around him.

    9. Billy Goats should taken out: for crimes against humanity, and crimes against computing.

      1. Good grief, Grizzly. Your latest hat makes you look a little like the late Chairman Mao. Do you own a little red book? Lol.

        1. That’s one of me Breton fisherman’s caps, Auntie Elsie. I’ve got three, you know?

      1. Who knows anything these days. Up is down, black is white, innocent is guilty, fake news is….?

      1. Yes. Me too. But you never know. Trump and Putin may have it all sewn up between them.

  79. Thanks, Sue.
    Today, I feel gifted.
    And I'm typing with the verbal tic: "So it is", "So I do", and so on, caught from an Ulsterman mid 1980s and is a great way of applying an emphasis, so it is.

  81. Wordle No. 1,386 3/6

    ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
    ⬜🟩🟩⬜⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    Wordle 5 April 2025

    A bubbly Birdie Three?

    1. A note for yesterday's wordlers:

      Blue whales, despite their massive size, are filter feeders that consume primarily krill, consuming up to 8 tons (or 16 tonnes) of krill daily during their feeding season!

      1. Goodness, so a creature I’d never heard of is the staple diet of the blue whale. Krill must breed fast and die young if they’re being consumed in those quantities.

        1. Yes, krill was yesterday’s answer. I got it only because there were very few letters left and WordHippo suggested krill or kriol.

    2. Well done, a 3 here too.

      Wordle 1,386 3/6

      🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜
      ⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    3. No birdie for me but at least I found today's answer.

      Wordle 1,386 4/6

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

    4. Well done! Chose wrong one of two to miss out on birdie – just a par…..

      Wordle 1,386 4/6

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

    5. Wow. Par for me.

      Wordle 1,386 4/6

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

    6. Surprisingly no choice. There seems to be a pattern if you find and join three letters.

      (Greetings from Addenbrookes. Awaiting further scans for bile duct blockage and resultant jaundice).

      Wordle 1,386 3/6

      ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜
      ⬜⬜🟨⬜🟨
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      3. Well done.
        Wordle 1,386 5/6

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

        Fingers crossed for a swift and good outcome corrie.

  82. “Virus manipulation” is an odd concept given that viral pathogens don’t exist in the sense that bacteria exist. My understanding, such as it is, is that they take millions of samples of infected tissue and manipulate the gene sequences.

    1. There is considerable doubt about whether they can actually do what they claim to be doing!

  83. Great excitement folks! I now have 3 large clumps of frogspawn in my newly cleaned out pond!

  84. I was in the town's main Asda store this afternoon. I took the opportunity to examine Cadbury chocolate egg cartons, at least 10 different products. Every single one, without exception, bore the message Happy Easter or said that the contents included an Easter Egg. Disregard anything you read or hear to the contrary.

      1. To be fair, I noted today after the match that is is nearly Christmas. You read it here first. It will be December before we know it.

        1. If you lived in my street in Colchester like me, LIR, you would think it is Bonfire Night. I've just been treated to a volley of fireworks.

    2. Given it's a Cadbury egg, I think I'd be more sceptical of the claim that it's "chocolate"?

    3. This is what makes me so suspicious of anything one reads from whatever source, Stig.

    4. Good. I've had problems finding the word 'Easter' in the past – perhaps they've listened to feedback.

  85. Delivery of plants just arrived – so I am off to sort things out. Have a spiffing evening. Tomorrow looks similarly sunny – though there is a really cold edge to the wind which puts one off sitting out.

    A demain.

    2. Good grief, Bill, you still order plants ready for planting out? I am younger than you and am currently sourcing a younger gardener to take over from me in order to save my breaking back from more stress. Respect!

      1. Yesterday, we planted a morello cherry tree.
        Dug a hole larger than its pot; as we had expected, discovered rubble under the lawn, albeit rather more and deeper than we had reckoned. It was like excavating Pompeii; me crawling around at odd angles scraping, pulling, heaving, scraping again ….
        This morning, I wondered what the heck was wrong with me. Then I remember muscles that hadn't been used for several months.

  86. Update from Gab about US resistance to the Online Safety Act:

    "Reports confirm that the US government is actively pressuring the UK within these trade talks, demanding assurances that the draconian Online Safety Act will not cripple the operations of US-based digital platforms like Gab.

    Here's the situation:

    – The US and UK are negotiating a significant trade deal, driven partly by the UK's desire to offset potential new US tariffs.

    – A major sticking point is the UK's Online Safety Act – the very legislation demanding Gab implement censorship or face crippling fines (up to £18 million or 10% of global revenue) and even potential criminal charges against individuals like me!

    – The US, historically protective of its tech companies (often citing principles similar to Section 230 which limits platform liability), is pushing back. They are reportedly seeking provisions in the trade deal that would prevent the UK from holding US platforms liable for user-generated content and imposing other restrictive measures mandated by the OSA.

    1. I wouldn’t admit to possibly being a ‘criminal’ if I were you! TPTB need no encouragement. 😉

      1. 404116+up ticks,

        Evening SE,

        I could not agree more,
        the wheels of justifiable change turn slowly, but turn IMHO they will, in our favour.

        Far too late now for the opposition to relent & repent, hence in desperation these odiously extreme prison sentences.

    3. The British are rising up?

      Ha bluddy ha.

      Looking at that clip there must be at least 50.

      1. 404116+ up ticks,

        Evening S,

        Lest we forget, the longest journey starts with the first ……..

      1. 404116+ up ticks,

        Evening VW,

        Same as that, we seem to have a great many
        non believers that anything in serious opposition could kick off ,
        and they themselves are ready to take willingly to the prayer mats.

    5. lol the “financial adviser” touting for my business thinks that Starmer is a “true statesman” and is a “leading statesman” in “Europe” because there is a vacuum within Germany and France.

      2. If your financial advisor is so ill advised politically, are his financial views equally suspect?

      1. 404116+ upticks,

        Evening O,

        There is a certain need among many to at least
        try to resist what a great many via a tribalistic ,
        party before Country voting pattern, have put in place.

  88. A Labour MP has been arrested on suspicion of rape and child sex offences, the Mail on Sunday can reveal.

    Dan Norris, a former Labour minister who ousted Jacob Rees-Mogg as MP for North East Somerset at last year's General Election, was taken into custody after police raided his constituency home on Friday.

    They were later seen removing boxes of Mr Norris's goods from the property.

    Mr Norris, who trained with the NSPCC and worked as a teacher and child protection officer, has been suspended from the party pending the investigation.

    A spokeswoman for Avon and Somerset Police said: 'In December 2024, we received a referral from another police force relating to alleged non-recent child sex offences having been committed against a girl.

    'Most of the offences are alleged to have occurred in the 2000s, but we're also investigating an alleged offence of rape from the 2020s.

    'An investigation, led by officers within Operation Bluestone, our dedicated rape and serious sexual assault investigation team, remains ongoing and at an early stage.

    'The victim is being supported and given access to any specialist help or support she needs.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14574737/Labour-mp-Dan-Norris-arrested-suspicion-rape-child-sex-offences.html

    1. I know it’s unfashionable but I don’t like salad to look like garden waste. The ad on GBN for the Thomas Paine Hotel boasts that they serve garden waste in a dog bowl. If they claim to have class, I’d expect a decent piece of beef on a plate.

      1. I had a gorgeous piece of sirloin steak — cooked a to perfect medium-rare — at an open-air restaurant in Malmö, t'other day.

        Drizzled with a red wine demi-glace reduction, it were beyond gradely.

      2. I had a gorgeous piece of sirloin steak — cooked a to perfect medium-rare — at an open-air restaurant in Malmö, t'other day.

        Drizzled with a red wine demi-glace reduction, it were beyond gradely.

      3. I do wish they would change that recipe , it looks terrible , and the ad for TP hotel looks as if they are appealing to the Indian community ?

    2. Those who whinge and moan about chlorinated chcken make my arse laugh. The routine processed crap they shove in their gobs daily does them far more harm but they are far too stupid to comprehend that.

      1. Yes and these same people do not understand that most countries have been setting high tariffs on USA imports for years and are now upset as trump is giving them a taste of their own medicine.

    1. Cartoons obviously aren't Reality, but the thoughts behind them should never be dismissed as triviality.

  91. Starmer seems to be heavily involved in the trade agreement (a misnomer if there ever was). I was taught the principals should not get involved in initial negotiations or drawing up agreements, that should be done by staff and they isolate the points that cannot be agreed and the resolution escalated to the principals to resolve. A principal, by being involved in the early stages, leaves no ability to escalate. Where are the Treasury, Foreign and Trade principals in these discussions? They don't seem to understand the basics of business or negotiation, but that is no surprise as none of them have ever had to do anything related to business or running anything.

    3. As you say, they've never run a business or done anything in the real world and it shows. I could have made a better job of it!

  92. Either a massive load of fireworks have just gone off or there’s been a mass shooting in Shepherd’s Bush. Odd time for fireworks.

    2. Elsie reported fireworks in Camelodunum so maybe there's a celebration going on.

    3. Doubt you will ever know, Sue, unless it is the beginning of the final reckoning.

  93. For pop music buffs (I'm not); there appears to be a good programme on beeb 2.
    40 Originals at the BBC at 8.20

    If you didn’t know that Rockin' All Over the World is by John Fogerty and not Status Quo, or that Roberta Flack wasn’t the first to perform Killing Me Softly, then prepare for a night of massive musical surprises. This is a top 40 compilation of songs that became bigger hits for the artists who covered them – but here, we’re going back to the source material, serving up the incredible original versions, with artists including Gladys Knight, The Zutons, Neil Diamond, Nine Inch Nails, Dolly Parton and The Village People.

    1. The Sutherland Brothers (Gavin and Iain) wrote and first recorded Sailing. I prefer their version to the ubiquitous cover version by Rod Stewart.

      1. I’ve never been a fan of his grating voice.
        The songs were good, the voice less so.

        1. I so wished for a dirty voice like that, sos. Mine is much too pretty and pure to sing the songs I want to sing the way I want to sing them.

          8. I think he did that quite well but he missed a few… my favourite?
            The village blacksmith he was there
            His balls were made of brass
            And every time he had (to keep with Croce's sensitivities) a girl
            Sparks came out his ass

          10. I learnt this song and many other lewd ditties when I was a schoolboy on the coach ride back to school after an away rugby match match. These verses stick in the mind:

            Then vicar's wife she was there sitting by the fire
            Knitting contraceptives from a ball of rubber wire

            The village idiot he was there he really was a farce
            Pullin his foreskin over his head and vanishing up his arse.

          11. The village Butcher he was there
            A cleaver in his hand
            And every time he turned around
            He circumcised the Band

          12. "Four and twenty less…" "Less, of course should be "fewer", a pedant writes. So if we just re-jig the words a little based on the song's title, we get "Four and twenty virgins came down to Kirriemuir, and when the ball was over, there were……."

    2. Did you also know that Blinded by the Light was written by Bruce Springsteen.

        1. It's still on tv now. There are some wonderful old songs and music. I'm was going to bed but it's making me feel very nostalgic.
          There are also two other program channels with very old music originals on. Wonderful to see it all.

    3. I reckon the Dolly Parton song will be 'I will always love you' which Whitney Houston had a hit with in the film where she starred with Kevin Costner (and I've forgotten the name of the film).

  94. Heyup All!
    Back from Loughborough and I'm knackered so will not even be attempting to catch up on the 414 new comments waiting so I hope I miss nothing important!
    A very enjoyable day was had by all!

    1. I've been through Loughborough more times than I've had hot suppers (On the Midland main line) but I've never set foot in the place.

      1. Loughborough Colleges had a phenomenal Rugby team (and most other sports teams tbh).

        I played against them at University and we got battered by 30 points (and we were quite good!)

  95. Masses of traffic on the M25 to Heathrow this afternoon. Arrived spot on time as she came through the arrival area. Lovely to see Mrs E after her 10 days in Dubai. She loved it but is glad to be home. What a different way of life and so multicultural. But of course relying totally on the production of oil.
    She's dozed off in the chair now three hours ahead and a very busy day.
    Daughter in law once again picked the winner at the grand national. I suggested that she bought a lottery ticket. 🤞

    1. It was 33/1! Did she go on Willie and Patrick Mullins, given their success on the first two days?

      1. Willie nearly wiped the floor with the opposition. Four out of five places! 👍🏻🐴

        1. He did have a lot of runners, though. Probably a majority of the field was Irish trained!

      2. I'm not sure Conners I'll be seeing her tomorrow. 😉
        I've just realised the name of the winning horse Nick Rocket. Nick is the name of the singer in the band our son plays lead guitar in.

    1. No wonder Labour doesn’t want an inquiry into the “grooming gangs” (sic)

      1. I am beginning to entertain the idea that all politicians are depraved perverts

        1. I do think that there is deliberate selection of people who can be controlled by the major parties. They only want yes-men and yes-women in the House of Commons.
          Remember Cameron and Gove's 'A' List of approved candidates? That was the start of it in the Cons.

  97. As we arrived at the airport I told my eldest son who was driving that I went there in the very early 50s with my father and another uncle to collect one of his brothers coming home from Canada for Christmas. The main building was nothing more than a large Nissan hut. And only one runway. It's absolutely frightenly massive now.

      1. No uncle Reg came and stayed with us for Christmas. I was probably 5 years old. I had a toy Tommy gun for a present. It made a lot of noise he hid it in the top of a cupboard out of reach. ☺️😆

          1. He was an optical lens technician worked for Bausch and lomb
            Could see it all.

      1. Change from powerful western economy to slaves to china. Small "c" deliberate.
        No respect. Assholes.

  104. Another story on something that happened to me at Heathrow in the mid 60s. I was working on a refurb of one of the Restaurants. I opened a door that led to a corridor stepped out and I saw five young men approaching. They all said hello as the walked past. Mick Kieth Charlie Brian and Bill. On their way to the US of A, I guessed.

  105. I was up and about at 5am. I've won a wee dram. 🥃
    I think I'll call it a day until tomorrow.
    Good night all Nottlers. 😴 sleep well.

  106. No doubt we will be told that Dan Norris's appointment as a Gov't whip never crossed Keith's desk?

    Hugh Culp
    1h
    I can't say what I think of him, though I can put it via Morse Code: .– …. .- – / .- / .–. .- . -.. — .–. …. .. .-.. . .-.-.-
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3fa9b63b6cd651f9cf348b76429f6a7cc6e4839611ba33c6f93d302bf42994d8.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/19dd3b7ca00976f1d367245764b8a054bc36e6d65cc0f932ffc40596195c5af0.png
    Dont be such a Mong DJ
    3m
    It's almost as if from the top down they have it as part of their party ideology.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/66dcd0860de1a8489d5cf105339b25426db2e67dbfa498bf1be553e297af7b21.png

    1. That last one is so chilling as we all knew at the time – why TF is this ghastly woman now a Lordess???

      1. 'Evening, opo..doing the rounds this evening, Catherine Blaiklock spilling the beans on Farage. Seems like more to come there.

        1. KJ – I am just so repelled by both sides on that, but fassscinated – like a rabbit with a ssssnake!

      1. As a lifelong socialist, she probably is a muzzie hugger.

        Her family married into Lord Porn's family of socialist Catholics.

        Wiki: Her paternal aunt was Elizabeth Pakenham, Countess of Longford (née Harman), the wife of former Labour minister Frank Pakenham, 7th Earl of Longford, and her cousins include the writers Lady Antonia Fraser, Lady Rachel Billington and Thomas Pakenham, Earl of Longford.

    3. If the Harman quote is accurate (and I suspect it is) she should be in prison, if people who comment against Muslim Pakistani rapists are.

  108. Now signing off for the day. Birthday dinner for Second Son, including some Kingfisher beers, so not too lucid (according to SWMBO).
    It's been an amazingly emotional experience. Both lads, SWMBO, good food and beers. As noted some posts below, a really emotional experience, and I don't know why. Not as if we haven't done this before, maybe a premonition?
    I'm still gifted with the tiny family I have.
    + two megacats. Massive, loving, Norwegian Forest cats.

    1. Sounds like your feline fine and sounds like a super day, it is a great relief if one's children can establish themselves in life as responsible adults.

    1. Kinell! That is awful beyond belief. Phobia does not begin to go there. Are you in the South of France?

      1. My picture really doesn't do it justice, the colours and its eyes are incredible.
        It's not really all that large, I'd guess about an inch across and one and a half long.
        I placed it on my hand and moved it to "safer" parts of the kitchen where HG would leave it to its own devices.
        She isn't keen on them.

        1. I appreciate its beauty, sos, but do have a serious phobia, so even having spotted the photo will mean that I will avoid nottl for a while (or at least that bit has gone.

          2. I am the same about snakes – I love them – but some are very scared of them (well it's not just scared, it's a terror, a phobia, a revulsion)

          3. Me for one; I am a confirmed herpetophobe. I'm not that keen on spiders either, but they don't affect me like snakes.

          4. As long as I can see them I’m fairly sanguine, it’s when I nearly step on one that I jump out of my skin.

      2. Need a clear plastic tumbler and a piece of card, cover the spider with the tumbler and gradually cover the top with card…then release outdoors. I'd never touch a spider, they can bite 😀

        1. You're right KJ – I once caught an enormous spider and kept it in my enclosed fist to take outside.

          In the interim it bit me and, whilst it raised the skin on my palm, it didnt break it. It made me a little concerned as I've read about people having massive anaphylactic reactions to spider bites and I had no idea if I was allergic or not!…..

          I still like them though….

          1. ‘Evening, G4, good to hear you:-) Nature has many weapons to fight with, friend once tripped into bed of nettles. Sorry you were bitten – if it was just a common daddy long legs type they’re mostly ok. I like them too, and most things in nature.

        2. What people don't realise, KJ is that all spiders, even British ones, are venomous. They have two sets of "teeth" – one to make the holes, and the next to inject the venom. Mostly, the second thing doesn't happen here (of course it's horribly different in the antipodes) People laugh at us arachnophobes, but it 's not funny. And the French ones are just awful, btw. Really muscular and aggressive. More like animals than insects.

          1. I didn’t know that, opo…thanks! I don’t understand why people keep them as ‘pets’ ..and others eg snakes. Just had adventure out with dog I was few feet behind with torch when suddenly this black object ran by him which at first I thought his shadow but it was bigger with long tail…think it was a cat but it was much bigger than him..eek …

          2. If I discovered that my next door neighbour kept spiders, I would seriously consider moving house! Would probably do it if it's a terrace house.

          3. Today, BB2..we can never know what neighbours are up to, I read some are mary jane farms…..

          4. Not sure what that is, but not knowing what the neighbours are up to is a consequence of our sadly atomised society!

          5. Marijuana, BB2. Uses a lot of electricity in the form of lighting, how farms (in houses) have been caught in the past, I read one had even hooked up to the street light outdoors – can we believe anything we read 😀 ….completely agree re neighbours, never know..

          6. Ah yes those. Never heard that term before. All of us in relatively remote country properties are aware of the risks…

          7. Only thing I ever took was an amphetamine tab, enabled me to dance all night…but then kept me awake following 24 hours. Really stupid but never repeated.

          1. They eat vegetables and flowers in the garden and farmers' crops. Not so cute when you have no veg for the winter.

          2. I was bought a toy version of one when I was a baby and I instantly hated its ridiculous and spooky look. I wouldn’t go near it so my parents placed in on the staircase to stop me going there.
            Coney are unnatural vermin introduced by the Romans and Normans as ‘food’, and which quickly became out of control. Their spread was even more devastating in Australia.
            I was forced to eat the vile tasting emetic crap as a child and I loathe the fact that people think the long-haired rats are ‘cute’.
            I hate fucking rabbits!

    2. Kinell! That is awful beyond belief. Phobia does not begin to go there. Are you in the South of France?

      1. NO!!!
        Beautiful.
        When one gets them to sit quietly on the palm of your hand and then release them elsewhere, and they scuttle off, is a real pleasure, close up nature at its best.

      3. Horrible when they race across the floor, and even worse when you spot one lurking in the corner of the bedroom ceiling just as you are about to put the light out. Attempt to catch it with the humane trapper, but you miss and the wretched creature 'disappears' – I have been known to escape to the spare room in that situation.
        Speaking of which, goodnight!

    4. Cellar spider, sos? They weave Miss Haversham type webs. Around 50 or more ladybirds coming out of hiberation early, too.

    5. I'm with you – I love spiders and will never knowingly kill one – they're so useful!

      Unfortunately 'er indoors is arachnophobic so I have to prove that I have 'escorted' them all from the premises!

    1. And those who cant be bothered to wash their own car… ! Too much money around, I might suggest by the length of the queues at the Romanian car wash up the road.

      1. I never trust that the sponges and drying cloths don't have any tiny bits of grit or other abrasive muck to damage paintwork.

      2. I am the only person I have ever seen in our neighbourhood washing my own car. They all go to the car wash. Makes me feel next door to taking my laundry down to the river to wash it!
        I don't understand how other people seem to have so much money!

  111. No idea, I just like them.

    This has been ladybird central for a few weeks, I've been catching dozens and dozens and releasing them every day.

    1. Mild winter, and Spring early. Collective noun – loveliness, suits them doesn’t it 🙂

      1. It does, and TBH I didn't know that.

        I've got every type imaginable, from no spot to ten, and in every imaginable colour too.

  112. A real socialist then.
    Only a proper socialist is rich enough to force socialism on the rest of us.

  113. Here, either 2 spot or 7 spot, just a few yellow, majority red. Have you seen any (ladybird) nymphs this year?

    1. I had to look them up, but yes, lots of them.

      I keep the garden fairly wild, and encourage most creatures, although I try to kill as many Asiatic hornets as possible.

      The leveret I wrote about yesterday has still been in the same spot all day today. We had a couple of adults frolicking in the garden early this morning, I was half expecting a boxing match as they were moving around.

      I stop and talk to the leveret quietly and it moves its ears and twitches its whiskers.
      This is done from about three feet away.
      As long as I make no sudden movements nor loud noises it's a live and let live relationship.
      I go up and down the drive several times a day, so it's fairly used to my presence. The drive is roughly 150 metres long and then there's the trip to the compost heap, so it has plenty of time to settle down, once I've passed

      1. Garden sounds just the thing, sos. Luckily no Asiatic hornets here as yet. Leveret is likely waiting for its mother who may have been trapped, possibly the leveret not eating? And out in the open at risk of cat/dog, what do you reckon? Someone wrote recently about a leveret she raised, think she wrote a book, it’s on Amazon. Good luck, would love to hear updates if you have time.

        1. It’s fine. It shifts its position very slightly through the day and nibbles on some vegetation.
          I saw a couple of adults in the grass first thing yesterday, up too late today.
          The mothers leave them to hide and only tend to return to feed them at dusk or dawn.
          It will move away when it’s more confident.
          There will probably be a few more scattered around.

          2. Indeed, but I suspect that it’s now pretty quick across the ground.
            It’s basking in the sunshine as a write, and has grown noticeably longer in the body and ears.
            I think it will soon set off into the wide blue yonder.

      2. Kadi and Winston had a set to in the garden this afternoon; they were boxing each other like hares. Big, bad pack leader put an end to it.

  114. My best mate's dog has a brain tumour and is dying of it.
    Bad on two fronts, the first that the poor animal is dying (unpleasantly, apparently), and that it's my bestis dog. Don't know the right response, as the animal is in the UK, and I'm not.
    Not a lot of fun for all, really. But life, I suppose.

    1. Hope your bestie has a good vet, Ober – s/he will make sure dog comfortable. My choice would be to euthanise dog if it is suffering at all. My dog has a liver problem, vet is pretty useless imo only prescribing something akin to tabs from health store following blood tests and scan (looking at several hundred squid to date)..no wonder 'clinic' is always empty.

      1. My advice also.
        Where the only result is death, hen make it as quick and painless as possible. IMO.
        My only regret was to not be there as Magnificat passed, as I was too cowardly to be with him on that last ride to Valhall. I'll always regret that… he even hooked my jumper with a claw as I fled.
        I know better now.

        1. I chickened out with my first adult dog, but I managed to steel myself to do it for the others. When I thought about it, it was the least I could do.

          1. I have done it (had to do it) for all my horses, dogs and cats bar one (and the very few who lay down and died). It is brutalising and makes you feel like an executioner (which of course you are) but my belief is that you have to do it, to sooth the animal you love and alleviate any possible fear, even if you feel bad about it. Their fate would be so much worse if you did not fulfil this responsibility.. Nature does not grant animals an easy death.

          2. It is also the very last thing we can do for them, and it is incumbent upon us to be with them and see their lives through to the end. It is so difficult keeping one's emotions under control so that the animal doesn't pick up on your distress in its final moments. In a way I felt a sense of relief because I knew Poppie wasn't going to suffer going into the future, but the aftermath, the journey home and the days afterwards were awful, the worst ever – I felt as though I had betrayed her even though I knew we had put her to rest, her time had come and she had had a lovely life.

    2. It's always sad to say goodbye to a loved companion, but the dog's interests must come first. It shouldn't be allowed to suffer.

    3. For the dog's sake, he must pull the plug, sooner rather than later. It hurts, but it is his responsibility and it is the responsibility you take on when you choose to have an animal as a pet

    5. No, it's death.
      My Oscar, coming up to 10 years old, is still doing ok. I'm going downhill at about the same rate of knots as he is. If I survive him and he's in pain, he'll be on my lap when he gets that lethal injection.

    2. Sorry, but I don't know what I'm supposed to be outraged by. It's normal electioneering flummery. All parties do it.

      1. He’s a nonce, is the point. Been charged with child rape i think

        1. At the time I posted my comment I knew nothing of the accusations that MP was facing.

    3. Ayup Conners a FSB poster Clive need advice about his doggo I gave him your name I hope you don't mind

  117. Well, chums, I'm off to bed now. So I wish you all Good Night; sleep well and I hope to see you all tomorrow morning.

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