Saturday 5 August: Bank branch closures betray a culture of contempt for the consumer

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

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

534 thoughts on “Saturday 5 August: Bank branch closures betray a culture of contempt for the consumer

    1. The BBC weather forecast for yesterday was for non-stop monsoon conditions, Bill. Instead, there were intermittent segments of rain. Yet another reason to distrust the BBC. (Good morning, btw.)

  1. Thinking about the “invasion” of Fishi’s mansion – presumably that gives the green light to groups of normal people to invade the homes and private property of the eco-freaks. I bet they’d whinge and beg for perlice protection….

          1. Generally geese are vegetarian, but veganism includes the philosophy of avoiding any exploitation of animals, which is an idea beyond the average goose’s level of intelligence. Unlike Jains, geese are happy to eat bread which has been made with yeast.

  2. Good morning, chums. I hope you enjoy your day this 5th day of August. Just 7 days to go to the glorious 12th.

    1. ‘Morning, Elsie. Not if the greedy, self-serving banks continue their vendetta against the countryside…

  3. ‘Morning, Peeps. Headline in yesterday’s DT:

    “Therese Coffey orders Defra to cease engagement with Greenpeace

    It comes after the group staged a protest at the Prime Minister’s house in West Yorkshire on Thursday”

    Blimey, she’s actually got something right for once! But what’s the betting they will quietly resume contact when the dust has settled?

    1. Why were they “engaging” anyway? Does that mean “suport”, “facilitate”? Why is a Department of State engaging with protest organisations and anarchists?
      Edit: Spolling.

  4. SIR – I disagree with Lord Frost.
    The climate emergency – coupled with the crippling effects on the lungs
    of dirty air – means that the so-called war on motorists is right.

    I am young and may still be around in 70 years’ time. Millions in Britain
    are younger than me and will live well into the 22nd century. It is
    therefore the duty of people now to make sure that the future is safe,
    clean, habitable and comfortable.

    We need to massively improve our bus, train, tube, tram and cycle infrastructure, and finally push cars
    into a position where they aren’t prioritised above all else.

    Sebastian Monblat
    Surbiton, Surrey

    I really don’t know where to begin with this letter.

    1. After he wrote the letter he probably asked his parents for a lift to a friend’s 8th birthday party.

        1. His role would surely be in selecting books to hide before they can be withdrawn. Anything about Boris, and any novels by Nadine Dorries.

          1. Librarians do do not censor books. If they are of “doubtful” content, I would keep them in my office and loan upon request.

          2. I suspect not all librarians were like you, Ann. They cancelled Biggles books in the 1970s here.

    2. Silly boy Sebby, perhaps you haven’t noticed how windy it’s been for quite a long time. Not even old dust settles anywhere when it’s windy.

    3. Surbastian lives in Surbiton , within the London Khaghanate. Let’s hope his parents have a compliant car.

    4. If he wants to ensure that in future Britain is safe, clean, habitable and comfortable, he needs to look at dealing with the incomers rather than some fictitious climate “catastrophe”.

  5. Morning, all Y’all.
    Misty, was sunny earlier (like 02:30 or so). Much rain promised.

  6. Good morning, all. Overcast and calm here.

    During my trawl through last evening’s posts I came across William Stanier’s comment re the BBC and boiling seas that elicited a reply from Fallick_ Alec. F_A mentioned the purchase of a generator as a stand-by for potential power cuts. I have no idea what Sunak’s current policy on generators is (he probably doesn’t know yet either, as it’s possible he hasn’t read the WEF memo) but across the pond that fount of leadership, Joe Biden, is working to have the use of generators severely restricted which in fact will lead to a de facto ban. All in the name of climate change, of course.
    This nonsense spreads so it’s possible that Sunak & Co will follow where Biden “leads”.

    Cowboy State Daily – Biden’s War on Appliances

    1. That will be unhelpful to the many operators who need local power to carry out their work – lighting at a vehicle recovery, power for sewer unblocking as two examples.
      There is a change in the wind – I see increasing (from a small base) levels of skepticism and pushback starting. This may either cause TPTB to panic and push forward even faster, or (as apparently resulted from Uxbridge) to start to take fright and back-pedal. Let’s hope for the latter.

      1. I was out at a beach picnic on Thursday and the conversation between a number of people around me centred on the government, mass immigration, the near to useless wind turbines we could see out at sea, electric cars etc. All sceptical, some like me angry but all 70+: a dying breed if the younger generations don’t join us.
        I have my doubts about the Uxbridge effect: Sunak’s U-turn, one of many I might add, will be ineffective should Labour come to power and if the electorate put Sunak/Tories back into power there will be another U-turn. TPTB are determined to break the people’s resolve by making life at best miserable and at worst…

        1. Morning all.

          Similar chat at our bowls club last night. All agreed HMG is stupid. To say the least.

    1. QUICK! Get all those illegal immigrants parachuted into Niger before it’s too late!

    1. Wy oh why would someone do that? I feel sorry for her – something’s not right.

        1. That is so extreme, I think the problem is much deeper than gaming the system.
          (Right, that’s my daily ration of sanctimony out of the way.)

      1. My reaction too, Stormy.
        One assumes that people didn’t like her for something personality-related, now she’s given them a visible physical reason. Now she can accuse them of some kind of hatred.

    2. To quote Dr. Watson : No shit, Sherlock.
      p.s. the tattooist who took advantage of someone who is mentally ill/inadequate, deserves shooting.

  7. Putin is pushing West Africa to the brink of war. 4 August 2023.

    West Africa has become a major front in the competition between the West and authoritarian regimes. A complex multi-dimensional hybrid war is under way between local military juntas, openly backed by Russia, and our friends. It might be seen as an extension of the war in Ukraine – only in this case, we are ill prepared and liable to lose.

    Vladimir Putin and various West African military rulers, such as Ibrahim Traoré, the charismatic 35-year-old leader of Burkina Faso, are now singing from the same hymn sheet. The irony does not seem to have dawned on the junta leaders that, while they claim to be standing up to Western colonialism, they are in fact promoting a new form of imperialism over their continent, strategised in the Kremlin and implemented by Wagner.

    The Kremlin’s approach has been utterly ruthless: it provides barefaced support to those who usurp power and deny their people the right to choose their own governments. This is what Putin perversely calls “sovereign democracy” – regimes dependent on foreign mercenaries and subsidies. Meanwhile, Western minds have been focused on other matters.

    There’s no need to take any of this seriously. Russia had nothing to do with any of this. The Americans have hired the Nigerians to reverse the coup. The article itself is just a cover story to justify the coming attack.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/08/04/vladimir-putin-is-pushing-west-africa-to-the-brink-of-war/

    1. Didn’t someone recently write that Niger has a number of gold mines, but zero gold reserves whilst France, the former colonial power, has zero gold mines but more than a few tons of gold?

      1. Morning Bob. The coups support on the streets was quite staggering; even the BBC couldn’t conceal it. I don’t think that this was support for the miliatary per se but the realisation, as in the UK, that they were being shafted by the former government!

      2. Good morning Bob and everyone.
        The subtext in the Niger story is uranium. The USA and France are keen to prevent extraction of ore from being controlled by hostile elements.

        1. God definitely has a warped sense of humour.
          Oil – febrile Arab states.
          Uranium – bat shit crazy African states.

  8. I don’t want to brag on this cold, wet morning – but yesterday evening, I posted the following comment below an article in The Grimes:

    I have just read a biography of Edward, Duke of Windsor and Mrs Simpson.

    Simply appalling, ghastly. self-obsessed and extremely unpleasant people.

    Vile to their staff. Liars and cheats.

    Gosh! What parallels with Brash and Trash.

    To my astonishment, I see that I have 315 “thumbs”…..so far! Must have struck a chord….

    1. Let’s hear it for the hereditary factor.
      At a lower level, one of our sons is more like my brother than he cares to admit.
      (I wonder if one of the young princes will turn out to be like his ‘lively’ Great Uncle Gary.)

    2. Let’s hear it for the hereditary factor.
      At a lower level, one of our sons is more like my brother than he cares to admit.
      (I wonder if one of the young princes will turn out to be like his ‘lively’ Great Uncle Gary.)

  9. Putin might be on track to achieve his goal of freezing the front line. 4 August 2023.

    The starting gun for the 2024 US presidential election may already have been fired, with the launch of proceedings against Donald Trump on charges of allegedly attempting to subvert the 2020 vote. Regardless, it will not be long before the issue of support for Ukraine becomes an even more fevered topic in US politics than it already is.

    Time is still on Ukraine’s side, for now, but the stymied offensive has forced a change in tactics on the battlefield.

    If the conflict freezes roughly along the lines as they are today, there will not be many more months before Mr Zelensky may have to change tactics politically too.

    Translation: Vlad’s winning and we are going to have to negotiate!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/08/04/ukraine-russia-war-counter-offensive-putin-froze-front-line/?li_source=LI&li_medium=liftigniter-rhr

    1. Negotiations should have started a year and a half ago.
      The Ukraine could have passed it’s Russian Speaking territories off to Russia and the area could have been at peace by now.

      1. All wars end in negotiation. Makes one wonder why they don’t start with that.

      1. Morning Oberst. It’s impossible to grasp the truth of what is going on from Western reports. I just go by the general lack of progress by the Ukies!

        1. I read but disbelieve anything written in English; the Weegie seems more realistic, and I look at what the rest of the non-US world is writing.
          Occasionally a factoid escapes, such as where the Ukie push has got to (Occupied Shitbutt City), and you realise they actually advanced, ooh, a couple of km. for the expenditure of pretty well everything given to them.
          One letter indicated the Ukies have been given materiel to the value of $430 billion so far… now, that’s money! 1,5 times the Norwegian national budget for 2023 ($287 billion).

  10. And it is absobloodylutely tipping it down outside and forecast for heavy rain through the day, so that’s the plans for Cromford Steam Rally kicked into touch.

    1. I always feel sorry for the organisers.
      These events just don’t happen; months of hard work go into them.

      1. At least it’s a two day event. I had originally planned to go to a little Cotswold village show, en route to eldest daughter’s, but I fear that will be totally washed out. A lot of wasted effort.

        At least the weather stayed dry for the fireworks last night.
        Ended up lending a hand to clear up.

        1. I planned to nip into town to get D-in-L’s birthday present (birthday on Monday).
          Tomorrow looks drier, so a quick dash tomorrow should do the trick.
          Today I can concentrate of designing her card.

    2. Bugger.
      Been ages since I were at a steam rally. Would love to have joined you, Bob!

      1. Talking of which; MB was watching BBC news (yes, yes, indulge the credulous old fart).
        Listening from the other room, the auto cuties – male and female – were hyperventilating over global boiling.

        1. I was in the car when I stupidly selected R4. When I heard the words ‘guest’ and ‘editor’ I was out of there like a rat up a drainpipe.

        2. My cynicism reading is prompted to rise when I either hear (a rare occurrence when driving with the radio on) or read on social media the propaganda being spouted by these people. Do they really believe this nonsense or are they motivated by other factors e.g. fat salaries (for some personalities) or presenters lower down the pay scale i.e. local BBC radio presenters with concerns about their employment if they do not conform and sound enthusiastic about what they are promoting? It is/was the same with the “virus” and the “vaccine”. They can’t all be thick and unthinking, surely?

      2. ‘Moaning, Annie and Bill. An hour ago it was a massive 13°C darn here on da sarf coast. A spot of boiling would be really welcome, failing that I’d settle for the return of the weather that should accompany our ‘imminent climate collapse’…

  11. And to cap everything – this filthy morning – I pick up the paper to see the smug, gurning wanqueur Lineker on the front page. What possessed the DT to “interview” this self-obsessed arrishole?

    1. What persuaded them….Hate
      of the British public. Revenge for attacks on the POS.

    2. Outspoken BBC star Gary Lineker claims he received a ‘standing
      ovation’ in M&S days after he was suspended for tweet comparing
      Suella’s migrant crackdown to Nazi Germany – as he denies being
      ‘preachy’

      I find that very difficult to believe. In fact i think it’s an outright lie.
      Perhaps it was M&S Bradford.

      https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12374827/Outspoken-BBC-star-Gary-Lineker-claims-received-standing-ovation-M-S-days-suspended-tweet-comparing-Suellas-migrant-crackdown-Nazi-Germany-denies-preachy.html

        1. It was true.

          They don’t probably have any barges there.

          It was true.

          It was M$ branch in Barnes.

  12. Morning all 🙂😊
    What a grey wet chilly day, what have done to deserve this ?

  13. Interesting video, rather off-topic. A lady YouTube presenter explaining men to women, and from my perspective, it seems pretty spot on.
    The best bits are in the comments, so you should read those. Rather sad, really, but examples of how it is to be male.
    Maybe all the trannies can’t handle it, so want to be women?
    https://youtu.be/BJK2B2Z_OWM

      1. I posted Carole King singing this yesterday alongside Jerry Keller’s Here Comes Summer!

    1. When I left St Barts last week I spent half an hour chatting in the departure area with the guy from the same overnight ward.
      He was about 6-8 years younger but also had Afib but two strokes just after his Covid jabs. Just a coincidence ? Oh no.
      Perhaps the much used Human rights act might pay more attention to those maimed by these pharmaceutical companies rather than seeking a favoured lifestyle for illegal immigrants. Who incedntly none have had even one of the vaccines most Brits have had since birth.
      Fore warnings ⛔️

  14. I went to the flicks last night (That’s twice this year – its becoming a habit) to see Barbie.
    It was very good, v funny. I went to a late screening to try to avoid sharing the auditorium with too many children and had the entire place to myself ! 😄

    1. We’ve done that recently. Only couple in there.
      But it’s a bit of a worry perhaps the next on the list of shut downs.

      1. I went to see Top Gun II back in about March. Before that was Mama Mia about 15y ago.

  15. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a1d603d6c84650c0f22bed46971c6102a094852d9c980c67793f3676f4f6d25d.png
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/08/04/worst-storm-of-the-year-arrives-in-august/

    The Met Office said Storm Antoni would pose the greatest risk to the public in well over a year with millions facing travel chaos. From Saturday, winds of up to 55 mph with the potential to uproot trees and heavy thundery downpours were predicted.

    BTL Ratty Wrattstrangler

    I have frequently been out in small boats in gales with winds above 55 mph. Winds of such velocity are quite unexceptional.

    Why is the DT joining the rest of the MSM in stoking up fear?

  16. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a1d603d6c84650c0f22bed46971c6102a094852d9c980c67793f3676f4f6d25d.png
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/08/04/worst-storm-of-the-year-arrives-in-august/

    The Met Office said Storm Antoni would pose the greatest risk to the public in well over a year with millions facing travel chaos. From Saturday, winds of up to 55 mph with the potential to uproot trees and heavy thundery downpours were predicted.

    BTL Ratty Wrattstrangler

    I have frequently been out in small boats in gales with winds above 55 mph. Winds of such velocity are quite unexceptional.

    Why is the DT joining the rest of the MSM in stoking up fear?

    1. Well, that’s apart from Storm Otto that swept through in Feb 23. The Danish met office named the storm so we can safely ignore it in the cause of a scary headline. The other side of the story is that there have been no other UK Met Off storms this year, so not surprising that Antoni is the ‘worst’, its the only one so far. https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/64673281

  17. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a1d603d6c84650c0f22bed46971c6102a094852d9c980c67793f3676f4f6d25d.png
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/08/04/worst-storm-of-the-year-arrives-in-august/

    The Met Office said Storm Antoni would pose the greatest risk to the public in well over a year with millions facing travel chaos. From Saturday, winds of up to 55 mph with the potential to uproot trees and heavy thundery downpours were predicted.

    BTL Ratty Wrattstrangler

    I have frequently been out in small boats in gales with winds above 55 mph. Winds of such velocity are quite unexceptional.

    Why is the DT joining the rest of the MSM in stoking up fear?

  18. ‘Morning all,

    Everyone surviving the worst storm in history? Cats, dogs, frogs and newts here.

    I’m off to Chichester again to paint daughter’s new abode.

  19. Fulmodeston decided to go ahead with the Church “do” this morning – despite torrential rain. I do not imagine anyone will turn up.

    I’d assumed that it had been abandoned.

  20. Ready Eddy wrote last night about this programme.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/96aa3b000dacfe37659e90e69e05a67af25a0e731e0cd85496ff4b07d7d3992b.png

    Our Lives – Series 7 – Britain’s Busiest Mountain

    The narrative was a little confusing. The programme made much about the long closedown of the railway and the summit facilities. That coincided with Covid but the closure of the railway for major repairs began before the madness and was always going to take a long time – the pandemic simply made it longer. It reopened part of the way last year but to the summit only at the start of July this year. Not all of the scenes were filmed on the day of the reopening but the sequencing rather gave the impression that they were, just for the sake of the story, as it were. It has to be said: some of the English tourists were dolts.

    Some other observations:

    “…it’s fantastic that we are now using Welsh names because in the end you don’t want a place to lose its original name…”

    The Lost Tribes of Bradford will expressing the same sentiments in a decade or two.

    “A hiker has collapsed on the train. She’s been fasting during Ramadan.”

    There’s Welsh for you.

    Liverpudlian blonde commenting upon cars being clamped: “There should be more parking spaces.” Interviewer: “Where would you put them?” Blondie: “There’s plenty of room, isn’t there?” Camera pans across steep hillside…

    How did she mistake Pen-y-pass for Aintree?

    1. Just one example, there must be many others. The original name for Chennai was Madras. The British didn’t commandeer an Indian town and rename it, Madras was founded by the East India Company. Yet it’s always referred to as Chennai. So much for original names.

      1. Good old TMS goes along with it. It will refer to Chennai even when the statistic being quoted was established when it was Madras.

        And then there’s Gqeberha for Port Elizabeth…

        Let’s hear it for Snotingaham.

  21. Ready Eddy wrote last night about this programme.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/96aa3b000dacfe37659e90e69e05a67af25a0e731e0cd85496ff4b07d7d3992b.png

    Our Lives – Series 7 – Britain’s Busiest Mountain

    The narrative was a little confusing. The programme made much about the long closedown of the railway and the summit facilities. That coincided with Covid but the closure of the railway for major repairs began before the madness and was always going to take a long time – the pandemic simply made it longer. It reopened part of the way last year but to the summit only at the start of July this year. Not all of the scenes were filmed on the day of the reopening but the sequencing rather gave the impression that they were, just for the sake of the story, as it were. It has to be said: some of the English tourists were dolts.

    Some other observations:

    “…it’s fantastic that we are now using Welsh names because in the end you don’t want a place to lose its original name…”

    The Lost Tribes of Bradford will expressing the same sentiments in a decade or two.

    “A hiker has collapsed on the train. She’s been fasting during Ramadan.”

    There’s Welsh for you.

    Liverpudlian blonde commenting upon cars being clamped: “There should be more parking spaces.” Interviewer: “Where would you put them?” Blondie: “There’s plenty of room, isn’t there?” Camera pans across steep hillside…

    How did she mistake Pen-y-pass for Aintree?

  22. Russia ‘plotting false flag attack at Belarus refinery’. 4 August 2023.

    Ukraine’s security service accused Russia of preparing to stage a “false flag” attack at an oil refinery in Belarus as part of an effort to draw Minsk into the war.

    The attack on the Mozyr refinery would be blamed on Ukrainian saboteurs but carried out by military and intelligence forces sent by Moscow to Belarus disguised as exiled Wagner mercenaries, it said in a statement on the Telegram app.

    “Russia plans to accuse Ukraine of what they have done in order to try once again to draw Minsk into the full-scale war against our state,” the security service said in a statement, without providing evidence.

    They’ve given up on the Nuclear Power Plant story?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/08/04/ukraine-russia-war-latest-news-putin-zelensky-kyiv/

    1. We are all bored with that one so they have to try something with a different name. They are doing their utmost to keep it all going, but I don’t think anyone bats an eyelid any more.

    2. Oh for goodness sake!!
      The same playbook as the “variant” comment I just posted above. Will they ever stop trying to manipulate people?

    3. Surely when Ukraine accuse Russia of preparing a “false flag” attack [how would they know?] what they really mean is that they, or the Americans, are actually planning to do it. If anyone still believes the Russians blew up their own oil infrastructure, Mr Dibbler has a meat pie to sell them!

    4. Life was so much simpler in the days of parachuting nuns with 5.0 clock shadow and very big boots.

  23. This video explains the limitless applicationS for computer interfaces that employ OpenAI’s ChatGPT and illustrates how you can learn a new computing language, Python, by interacting with ChatGPT

    https://youtu.be/tEn5BjRY8Uw

    This is a usefull overview of the ways of estabishing a dialogue with ChatGPT to get it to explain what you have to do to get what you want from the internet by textual or vocal dialogues: (it also spells out some pitfalls involving fake interfaces).

    https://www.zdnet.com/article/how-to-use-chatgpt-in-your-browser-with-the-right-extensions/

  24. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/add0ee3712b8d39d41f3ab44326611e9bcd8d9007ef35afc3b1d442a05a2c355.png

    Opinion seems to be divided amongst the BTLiners about the football commentator. Is he already transgender? Does he possess biological indicators of both sexes at the same time?

    Amongst the leading comments under the article:

    The Whistler

    Linicker is nothing more than a narcissist bonus hole

    Kevin Atwill

    Arrogant prick. He is the perfect example of why the license fee should be abolished

    1. He thinks people standing up in a shop is an ovation? Is he accustomed to shoppers sitting down? On the floor?

  25. Unless you fancy falling asleep for rest of the weekend, don’t bother to read this article.

    Jacqueline Rose was the fantabuously boring and pretentious professor whose lectures we avoided like the plague.

    Eventually, so many of us dodged her lectures, QMW introduced signing in; apparently I attended one of the lectures 4x over.

    She used to dress in mini mini-skirts, pixie boots and lots of clanking jewellery; even that didn’t keep us awake. Not even the hormonal 20 year old males.

    This article gives you a good idea of the Pseuds’ Corner that we snoozed through.

    https://unherd.com/2023/07/why-did-jacqueline-rose-erase-women/?tl_inbound=1&tl_groups%5B0%5D=18743&tl_period_type=3

    1. It’s an example of the extraordinary linguistic and logical gymnastics required to separate sex and gender.

  26. 1) Booster take-up low and jab stockpiles high and reaching best-before-date? – government concern over taking an out of date jab causing health problems🤣
    2) Incidence of heart attacks, strokes, myocarditis, blood clotting or one of a plethora of other adverse events are not meeting their targets?

    Release another variant!

    They’re not going to give up any time soon.

    https://twitter.com/JimFergusonUK/status/1687744972550807552

    1. They are relentless. I just glaze over when I hear of another variant/mutant/ninja. It’s what coronavirus(es) do.

    2. It has been discovered that the government stockpile of these jabs includes fourteen million doses due to expire this year. We expect there will be new panics introduced just to avoid owning up to such a large waste of money.

        1. All quiet on the toy boy front. A well bribed media will see that it stays quiet.

          He is off on his hols for a week. Sophie and kids are tagging along for a taxpayer funded break.

          It’s weird. She moved out to her own apartment, the kids stayed behind and she will be spending time at Rideau Hall with the kids.

          1. People aren’t shy BTL in the daily mail in speaking about his Brazillian boyfriend.

  27. Precipitation in liquid form is falling at a high rate and garden work is on hold. Therefore I will go forth and make some pastry and prepare the braising steak for the pie I have planned for tomorrow’s dinner.

    A question for foodies: is a fully sealed 8 years old jar of mincemeat safe to eat? A friend has given me such a jar on the off-chance that I will use it and that she will benefit from my dubious culinary skills.

    1. If the jar top is ‘blown’ it means their has been activity and should be binned.
      A lot of companies give a use by date because the quality begins to fail but is still okay to eat.

      1. The jar seal isn’t broken – I use jars with ‘pop’ seals for my jellies and if one doesn’t seal I use that jar first. I’ll open, sniff and taste a small amount if the sniff test passes.
        Thanks.

      2. By law there needs to be a use-by date, even on stuff that never goes off, such as honey.

    2. If it’s still difficult to open then it should be fine.
      If in doubt, follow your nose.
      If it smells strange, it will probably be off.

    3. Last Christmas I steamed some Christmas puddings that I’d made five years earlier (they had lain forgotten at the back of the pantry). They were superb.

      I also found a jar of Duerr’s mincemeat left in the back of the pantry. That too was delicious so I used it to make mince pies.

      1. I remember having a home-made Christmas pud that was three years old, and that was delicious. Duerr’s are still in business, from their website:

        Keeping it in the family, today the 1881 recipe is still made by brothers Mark and Richard Duerr, the great great great grandsons of Mary Duerr.

      2. Our record was a Safeway’s Christmas pudding that had not only survived several years in Southampton, but had made the journey up here in 1991 followed by nearly a decade lurking in out pantry!
        Still tasted good.

      3. I just bought a Duerr’s Christmas pud. Double chocolate and cherry with Kirsch.
        How many decades do i have to leave it before eating?

        1. Just shove it under the bed and forget about it. Either you or a ensuing owner of your abode will get a nice surprise in Christmas Future.

    4. I’ve just has some mince that was cooked and frozen in 2018 – it was fine. I have tins of food going back to 2015 – they also will be fine

    5. I’ve just has some mince that was cooked and frozen in 2018 – it was fine. I have tins of food going back to 2015 – they also will be fine

  28. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/15aa87b22aa87105460de1eb29ae51eb5d669901526c66631baed1fc334a4397.png

    We have had quite a few students on our courses from Repton and they were all very pleasant boys and girls.

    But it can and does happen even in the best regulated circles and it is not always easy to know how to stop it.

    A most unpleasant boy – whom Caroline taught at the public school where we met each other – who was expelled for bullying. He was also suspected of being a drug taker.

    A few years later we heard that when they were cleaning up after the Glastonbury Festival they went into an abandoned tent and found the body of this young man with a machete buried in his head. Apparently he had been murdered for poaching on another drug dealer’s patch!

  29. Finally we’ve got the buyer kicked into motion and getting ready to sell and we’re hoping to complete on the 14th.

    This means packing even more stuff. Another 6 boxes to go today along with 8 really useful ones.

      1. I get to about 2/3rds full then pack the rest with bubble wrap of that Amazon brown paper. They stil weigh 90 tons though.

        We have between us around 3000 books. More, since we set about moving we’ve filled another 4 boxes with books, models, lego bits. If they’d got on with it rather than the dithering solicitor…

        1. Sack barrows are handy for shifting heavy boxes. They can be bought quite cheap. Saves your back.

          1. Normally it’d be ok, but I’ve torn my rotator cuff and my left knee is complaining. There’s also stairs. Lots of stairs.

            Once in storage it’s ok. It’s getting them in there. And, of course, out. But hey. we’re moving. Finally.

    1. Voice of experience here.

      Make sure that you label everything correctly, it will help in a years time when you go through the pile of unopened boxes to see what you really need to keep.

    1. It’s a pity we can’t get Fox News over here. Any ideas why that might be?

      1. There are moves to ban fox news in Canada. It is already a subscription that you need to select before viewing it but that is not enough for the permanently offended, they want it removed from Canadian airwaves.

      2. Subscribe to a VPN service. We recommend ExpressVPN for its amazing speeds.

        Download and install the app to the streaming device of your choice.

        Login using your subscription credentials.

        Connect to a server in the United States. We recommend the New York server.

        Visit the DirecTV Website and sign up if you do not have a subscription. Log in if you have a subscription.

        Get a subscription if you don’t have one. All Subscription plans on DirecTV have Fox News.

        Now, you can stream your favourite Fox News shows in UK.

        https://www.howtowatchinuk.co.uk/vod/fox-news/

      3. Blocked by The Conservatives, Labour, Liberals & greens and BBC led media . They do not want the truth. Thery only want a far left point of view.

    2. The Democrats cannot simply move Biden aside. This is because Biden’s transgressions and influence peddling occurred when he was VP under President Obama. It follows that Obama had a full knowledge of and signed off on the criminal activity of his VP.

      The master puppeteer then and now is Obama. Joe knows where the skeletons are hidden. Everything leads back to Obama.

  30. Where’s Grizz !

    Finally sliced my home made bacon. No excess gloop in the pan. Fries nicely. Needs more salt !
    4×3 packs of quite thick bacon slices (as i don’t have a bacon slicer) and a piece left over for pea and ham soup.

    1. Sounds good.

      I have a German domestic bacon slicer. These things slice OK but tend not to separate each slice at the bottom of the piece. I have worked around this by inverting the joint after every two slices. Thinner slices are necessary if you want your bacon crisp. I always use my offcuts for soup or Italian-style tomato sauce. To get the salt content correct you need a brineometer (or a simple hydrometer) to check that the solution is of 65–70% salinity.

      1. I do have a hydrometer but just guessed it as i do with most things. At least more salt can be added when it’s on the plate. A 1kg pork loin with rind on was 50% off at Ocado with no nitrates so i cut it in half. One half for roasting and the other half for the experiment. 12 thickish rashers and a hunk for the soup/stock cost me £4.00

  31. Transgender ideology has created the biggest medical scandal of our generation

    Vulnerable young people who transitioned before they were ready are paying a high price for this disastrous project

    CAMILLA TOMINEY, Associate Editor • 4th August 2023

    I’m not sure what’s more offensive about Costa Coffee’s cartoon, featuring a young trans person who has had a double mastectomy. How many oak-milk matcha lattes must the snowflakes at Costa have drunk to come up with this orgy of wokery?

    Naturally, the bizarre image went viral on social media, leading to calls for a boycott of the coffee franchise. Following hot off the heels of Nike being criticised for getting transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney to model one of its sports bras, it seems customers have had it up to here with transgender promotion being used to flog products.

    Like all companies which unthinkingly ram this nonsense down our throats in some misguided bid to be down with the GIDS (that’s the recently closed Gender Identity Development Service at London’s Tavistock Clinic), Costa claims it is “celebrating diversity” and creating an “inclusive environment” to “encourage people to feel welcomed, free and unashamedly proud to be themselves”. But that only seems to apply to people who think it’s a good idea to be showing off the scars of what, to women suffering from breast cancer, is often an extremely traumatic experience.

    There is more at stake here, however, than mere gender identity wars. Maya Forstater, the fearless campaigner who is on the board of Sex Matters, a human rights organisation calling for clarity on sex in law and policy, hit the nail on the head when she said in response to the Costa image: “Young women are being sold a lie that if they have their breasts removed and take hormones they can become men, or at least avoid being women.”

    For what Costa is doing here is glorifying major surgery that women may later come to regret deeply. In doing so, it is trivialising the underlying mental distress and body dissociation suffered by teenage girls who think they’ve been born into the wrong body. Sex Matters calls it “a social contagion and medical scandal masquerading as a social-justice movement”.

    Ultimately, this attempted normalising of transitioning turned a largely psychological issue into an ideological one, to the detriment of the troubled young people going through it. And the scars – social, psychological and physical – remain long after people have taken puberty blockers or undergone gender reassignment surgery.

    As Dr Hilary Cass’s interim report into GIDS concluded in April, “there appears to be predominantly an affirmative, non-exploratory approach” that has been applied to young people who identify as trans, which means there has not been adequate exploration of the other issues that may affect them.

    As a consequence, some young people who were encouraged to change gender are now experiencing awful consequences. Far from solving their problems, transitioning has only made them unhappier.

    Brave Chloe Cole in the US described recently how awful transitioning turned out to be for her. The 19-year-old called on Congress to review gender-reassignment therapies and surgeries for minors, arguing that her “childhood was ruined” by the medical interventions.

    “I used to believe that I was born in the wrong body,” she told members of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government. “And the adults in my life, whom I trusted, affirmed my belief, and this caused me life-long, irreversible harm.”

    Describing herself as “a victim of one of the biggest medical scandals in the history of the United States of America”, Cole implored: “We need to stop telling 12-year-olds that they were born wrong, that they are right to reject their own bodies and feel uncomfortable with their own skin.

    “We need to stop telling children that puberty is an option. That they can choose what kind of puberty they will go through just [like] they can choose what clothes to wear or music to listen to.”

    The Biden administration is unlikely to listen, however, because its assistant secretary of health, Rachel Levine, is a transgender woman who believes young people can “go through the wrong puberty”.

    In Britain, the closure of the Tavistock clinic vindicated the concerns raised by campaigners like Keira Bell, who transitioned to male but came to regret it.

    By her own admission, she presented at the clinic “adamant” she wanted to transition. But as she now points out: “It was the kind of brash assertion that’s typical of teenagers. What was really going on was that I was a girl insecure in my body who had experienced parental abandonment, felt alienated from my peers, suffered from anxiety and depression and struggled with my sexual orientation.”

    Like other teenagers claiming to have been “born into the wrong body”, what Keira really needed was therapy, not a double mastectomy. The examples don’t stop there. This week, Sinead Watson revealed how transgender propaganda convinced her to have a double mastectomy that she wishes had never happened.

    Pointing out that there is nothing normal about young women like her having “our healthy breasts surgically removed”, she described her transitioning to male six years ago as “a catastrophic mistake” that she regrets “every single day of my life”.

    She also highlighted the pain and discomfort she suffered after the surgery – not to mention the fact that she will never be able to breastfeed. “I visualised myself shirtless on the beach – just like the Costa cartoon,” she said. “Instead, I woke up in excruciating pain and, when the bandages came off, I saw a chest riddled with scars that looked nothing like a man’s ever would. I looked like what I was – a woman who’d taken testosterone and had a double mastectomy.”

    The harsh reality is that for Keira, Sinead, and other young people like them, it is impossible to detransition completely. They are stuck with the mental anguish as a result of the rash decisions they were encouraged to make as teenagers, fuelled by transitioning evangelists who turned a blind eye to the real issues at the heart of their gender dysphoria to push an extreme ideological agenda.

    The errors made upon the minds of unready people cannot ever be entirely healed, and yet still we have companies such as Costa pandering to flawed practices which risk doing more harm than good. When will we finally wake up to the insanity of this pernicious ideology?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/08/04/transgender-ideology-biggest-scandal-of-our-generation/

    1. I made a clean breast of it by avoiding coffee shops altogether – I now grind my own. ☕

  32. Good morrow, Gentlefolks, today’s short and simple, and I’m late on parade – sorreeee!

    As Seen By A Blonde
    A blonde was sitting by the riverside when she sees a second blonde come walking along the opposite shore.
    “Excuse me!” shouts the second blonde. “Do you know how I can get on the other side of the river?”
    To which the first blonde replies: “But dear, you already are on the other side!”

  33. Net zero’s dam has burst, but the BBC is still papering over the cracks

    For decades, the Beeb’s coverage has been shamelessly one-sided, presenting highly politicised theory as irrefutable fact

    CHARLES MOORE • 4th August 2023

    Last year, Roger Harrabin, the BBC’s “energy and environment analyst”, retired. He tweeted as follows: “Only a month to go now before I leave BBC after 35 years. I did my last turn on Today Prog earlier. Felt very upset walking home. Not for me, but for the fate of the planet.”

    On reading this, I burst out laughing. Although most journalists have delusions of grandeur, few of us think the fate of our planet turns on our individual career path. But I am glad Roger said it, because it displays succinctly the mentality which governs BBC coverage of climate change – very self-important, very emotional and very, very one-sided.

    Since his release from BBC employment, Roger says frankly what he is. On Twitter, he describes himself as a “Green pioneer broadcaster”. That is an accurate phrase for how he did his job.

    It does not seem to strike him as an odd way to work in a national broadcaster committed by Charter to impartiality. More to the point, it does not seem to strike the BBC as odd either. Yet it is like saying, “I’m a fascist broadcaster” (or a communist, Remainer or Leaver one): it declares a committed point of view. Roger Harrabin’s effective successor, Justin Rowlatt, seems, if anything, even more in thrall to his own beliefs. Who can forget his staring-eyed interview with Boris Johnson when he harangued the then prime minister for refusing to stop Britain’s solitary new coal mine?

    Justin is preaching busily. Yesterday, he tweeted: “The world has just recorded the highest average global sea temperature ever – more evidence of the progress of climate change.” Within an hour, Roger Harrabin tweeted in support: “Ocean heat record smashed, with grim implications… Will BBC join the dots? @BBCJustinR.” The answer to Roger’s question, which I think he knows already, is: “Yes. The BBC still thinks as he does.”

    The BBC website this week carried a story by Justin Rowlatt, entitled “The truth about heat-pumps”. It describes them as “extraordinarily efficient”. He admits a few snags but blames the Government for not subsidising installations generously enough. “Whatever choices we make about how we heat our homes in future,” he adds, “one thing is certain, we are going to need a lot more electricity. And it all needs to be green.” His first sentence is factually correct. His second is his point of view. His confusion between the two exemplifies how the BBC has covered climate change for 20 years.

    In recent weeks, the dam which contained popular discontent about net zero policies has burst. Accumulating resentments about the costs and inconveniences involved have taken political form.

    Problems about wind turbines, heat pumps, solar panels, new pylons, electric vehicles, charging points, wood-burning stoves; about energy security threatened if we have no fossil fuels against Putin’s adventurism, energy bills, low traffic zones and Ulez have at last made politicians aware of a blindingly obvious point: citizens and businesses resent having to pay much more for goods and services which are often worse than what they had before. Hence Labour’s surprise failure to win the Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election.

    Voters can see the disparity between the highly speculative and distant achievement of global net zero and the concrete and imminent prospect of becoming colder and poorer (which gets worse the further north you live). They face intimidating deadlines – an end to new petrol cars by 2030, to oil boilers by 2026, and achieving “complete clean-energy production” by 2035; and they don’t like them. The BBC’s attitude to this mood is the environmentalist equivalent of “Let them eat cake”.

    It won’t do. The public are still being shamefully ill informed by the BBC about differing views on climate change policy – on the science (the role, for example, of “natural variability”), the efficacy of government intervention, the real costs, the possibilities of adaptation rather than resistance and so on – but polling suggests people do now know that the main players in the emissions game, China and India, have no intention of decarbonising by 2050.

    In which case, Britain, “the world leader”, is inflicting serious self-harm without discernible gain for the planet. A political party that cannot see this, cannot win. Whatever the rights and wrongs of global warming theory, political climate change is happening.

    A little bit of history helps explain how the BBC got itself in the wrong place. In 2005-6, a BBC executive, Fran Unsworth, was much influenced by Roger Harrabin. He submitted a report asking what the BBC wanted to be remembered for in future years. He suggested it should want to be remembered for warning of climate disaster. This was debated in private meetings of BBC high-ups whose contents the corporation never divulged.

    The BBC changed its approach to the subject, agreeing that “the science is settled” and appearing to move away from traditional impartiality. From that time forth, it became obvious that anyone wanting a career as a BBC science journalist would have to proclaim climate-change orthodoxy.

    The BBC’s culture formally discourages what it calls “a fixed habit of thought”, yet it adopted just that. It therefore sought to refute rather than investigate various green scandals, such as the “Climategate” email leaks of 2009. If a political leader claimed, as did Gordon Brown before the Copenhagen summit which failed, that there were “50 days to save the planet”, the BBC reverently reported it and never explained afterwards how the unsaved planet had somehow survived.

    This went to comic extremes. After Barack Obama became president of the United States, a Newsnight report intoned: “Scientists calculate that President Obama has just four years to save the world.” Those four years elapsed without President Obama achieving this feat, yet here we still are more than 10 years later. It is incredible (literally) what “scientists” will “calculate” if the BBC indulges them.

    Extreme voices were magnified; contrary ones were silenced. Have you ever witnessed a BBC cross-questioning of Greta Thunberg’s claims about imminent destruction? On the other hand, Nigel Lawson, the former chancellor of the Exchequer, and author of a well-reasoned and best-selling critique of climate change arguments, was, in effect, banned from the airwaves on the subject.

    One reason the BBC has got away with this bias for so long is that the political parties too have been all but unanimous. The BBC’s formalistic idea of impartiality is more closely related to party balance than to genuine diversity of thought. That unanimity is starting to change. If we reach a situation where, say, Tories campaign to put off net zero deadlines and Labour campaign to keep them, the BBC will have to air both points of view.

    What would the BBC like to be remembered for in its coverage of climate change? How will the last 20 years of partiality and suppression look? I am not saying the corporation should be the voice of climate scepticism: as an establishment institution, it naturally follows the prevailing wind.

    But surely one of the biggest stories of our time requires particularly careful impartiality. Predictions should not be treated as statements of fact. Science, being a method of inquiry, should never be treated as unanimous. Costs and benefits should be interrogated. Excited films on people’s phones of floods in Chinese streets or burning forests in Greece should be used as part of stories about the now, not as evidence of global collapse, morality lessons for the greedy West or horror stories to frighten the next generation out of having babies.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/08/04/net-zeros-dam-has-burst-but-bbc-is-still-papering-over/

    1. Enough of these global WEF puppet leaders are still tied to net zero that nothing will change.

      1. Worse, it’s affected the RAF. I’ve just got round to reading the latest edition of Air Mail and it’s all about how “green” the RAF will be and it will be net zero by 2040. Electric cars, even electric aircraft (not, presumably, fast jets!) … So when we get the three minute warning and your vehicle is still on charge, what then?

    1. It’s nothing to do with the weather or environment, but everything to do with Marxism.

  34. Where was that Fact Checker when the BBC needed it?!

    BBC admits wrongly claiming far-Right groups attended anti-Ulez protest

    Broadcaster fell short on finding evidence to back up the claim pro-Nazi groups had protested in Trafalgar Square

    By Jack Simpson, Transport Correspondent • 4th August 2023

    The BBC has admitted it wrongly claimed far-Right Groups had attended an anti-Ulez protest. The broadcaster judged the report by BBC London was wrong to suggest that far-Right Groups had been present at the event in Trafalgar Square in April, and admitted it had fallen short of establishing evidence to back up the claim.

    Those who have complaints against the BBC’s coverage can escalate these to the Executive Complaint Unit (ECU), which works independently of content makers, when they are unsatisfied with a BBC decision. The ECU also said the far-Right group statement could have been perceived as corroborating previous disputed comments by Sadiq Khan around these groups being in coalition with anti-Ulez protesters.

    The comments were included in a response to 44 complaints regarding a segment on BBC London’s news show on April 15. In the report, the presenter said local protesters and politicians were “joined by conspiracy theorists and far-Right groups” during the protest.

    The protest was one of many that has been held calling on Sadiq Khan to halt his expansion of the Ulez zone to all 32 London Boroughs later this month. According to the ECU, the complaints revolved around the accuracy and impartiality of this statement, with some suggesting the comments were offensive to those who took part.

    In its response, the ECU partially upheld the complaint on accuracy and admitted that there had been no evidence that far-Right groups had been present. It said while it had found evidence of Nazi imagery, symbolism and slogans directed against the mayor which were consistent with tactics used by far-Right members, there was no grounds to conclude that they were used at the event by these group.

    It said: “While it was clear from our dealings with the programme-makers that the statement about the presence of far-right groups had been made in good faith, we assessed the evidence differently. In our judgement it was suggestive of the presence of far-right groups but fell short of establishing that such groups had in fact been represented among the demonstrators.”

    The programme was also challenged on impartiality, with the complainants suggesting the report had an anti-Ulez bias, while also giving credence to disputed claims made by Mr Khan around the anti-Ulez protesters being in coalition with the far-Right.

    In March at a People’s Question Time event in Ealing, the mayor claimed that people who oppose the Ulez expansion are in league with Covid-deniers and the far-Right.

    The judgement said: “The statement that far right groups were present might well have been perceived as lending a degree of corroboration to the Mayor’s comments which, on our assessment of the evidence, was not warranted. The result was an impression, entirely unintended by the programme-makers, of bias in the reporting of a controversial matter, and the complaints have been partly upheld in relation to impartiality.”

    The admittance of potential bias comes as The Telegraph revealed last month that the BBC had upheld just 25 complaints of bias in the past five years. Elsewhere, the ECU said that there was enough evidence present to justify the reports mention of conspiracy theorists being present.

    It pointed to placards referring to Stop World Control, and the banner warning of the dangers of the UN’s Agenda 2030 and the role of the World Economic Forum.

    It also used the fact that Piers Corbyn spoke at the event as evidence that conspiracy theorists were present. It said he was well-known for rejecting the scientific evidence for climate change and campaigning against Covid-19 vaccination.

    It also said he described organisers of the event as “a controlled opposition organisation”, a term generally understood to mean controlled by the Government.

    It also concluded that the report did not depict the majority of those who took part as conspiracy theorists or far right group members, so there were no grounds for upholding complaints that the reporting was offensive.

    A BBC Spokesman: “We accept the findings of the Executive Complaints Unit (ECU), which is editorially independent of BBC London News. We always strive to set the highest editorial standards and we will reflect carefully on the findings of the ECU to ensure all lessons are learned.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/08/04/bbc-wrongly-claimed-far-right-groups-anti-ulez-protest/

    1. What sort of dipstick parks in such a place with a slightly rough sea in evidence? That doesn’t look particularly windy – maybe a combination of a rapidly shoaling beach, a high tide and the wind in just the wrong direction?

      1. As can be seen from the design of the sea wall with drainage holes it is not a rare occurrence in that spot.

    2. I’ve seen worse at Scarborough. Waves that didn’t just flood the road but reached the hillside beyond the road and that’s going back to when my father was alive and well. He died in 1987.

      1. I remember beach huts at Swanage being swept out to sea on a high tide in 1953 – King Canute had long been dead though.

      2. I remember my uncle driving us along the front at Torquay with the waves breaking over us.

      3. You should see MacDuff in a good old Northern Storm – not pretty, Ilfracombe is just a breeze.

    3. I expect the parking people will be out slapping tickets on them for illegal parking……not being in the bays.

    4. I sited our caravan, towed by a County 110 Landrover, at the top of a steep campimg field at a farm in Carmarthenshire overlooking the sea. If I had let the 110’s handbrake off it would had rolled down the hill and parked itself in the Cardigan bay.

      1. Bloody freeze first up here!
        I’ve just turned the Rayburn on”

        Hello, you sexy gas oven you

        1. I think I might be close behind you, Bob. I put the oil heating on yesterday, but I think the persistent damp calls for something stronger today!

          1. Owing to the fact that the last time I lit the Rayburn I failed to clean it out ready to be relit, I am relying on the oil heating after all. Laziness wins the day!

  35. Brighton Pride this weekend. I hope you are all waving your rainbow flags.

    Weather forecast for Brighton is dire so ‘soggy fags’ all round.

    On top of this, all trains to Brighton have been cancelled.

    I am so upset about this i’ve given myself a hernia laughing.

    1. Water running and cascading in the streets of Old Brighton with black plastic wheelie bins floating in the torrent and rubbish everywhere.

    2. I thought Brighton had a ‘Year of Pride’ – held annually (or should that be anally?)

    3. Plenty of photos from bent Brighton in this piece (which was supposed to be about the ‘danger to life’ storm.)
      I’ve attached one of the photos. Captions please. ‘Damaged deviant fetishist auditions for Mary Poppins.’
      It beggars belief that anyone would think it ok to venture out in public in that twisted deviant state.
      https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12375589/Britain-braces-Storm-Antoni-Met-Office-warns-worst-storm-year-hit-today-heavy-downpours-flooding-gales-65mph.html#comments
      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6b3a995bbf481ecd2997ab19f39cad21727d177b02ff3d2430a1db37e69d70d8.jpg

        1. By ‘thing’, do you mean that particular deviant or the pride/alphabet malarkey as a whole? Having said that, either would be correct.

          1. I was referring to the deviant and/or the weather but yes the whole thing has gone wobbly, Mum2.

    4. Plenty of photos from bent Brighton in this piece (which was supposed to be about the ‘danger to life’ storm.)
      I’ve attached one of the photos. Captions please. ‘Damaged deviant fetishist auditions for Mary Poppins.’
      It beggars belief that anyone would think it ok to venture out in public in that twisted deviant state.
      https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12375589/Britain-braces-Storm-Antoni-Met-Office-warns-worst-storm-year-hit-today-heavy-downpours-flooding-gales-65mph.html#comments
      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6b3a995bbf481ecd2997ab19f39cad21727d177b02ff3d2430a1db37e69d70d8.jpg

    1. That’s why they have to be constantly at war. I expect we aren’t far down that list.

    1. The Kennedy patriarch bought the Whitehouse for his son. The money was made running booze during prohibition.

          1. Some one might ask the nurse who looked after Bore-us how he did during his stay in hospital ‘with covid’ ?
            Very suspicious after his release, how the nurse from Australia suddenly skipped off to the states.

          2. If they are, certified nursie had better make sure she doesn’t indulge in a spot of Arkasanside.

    1. Equally, the doubters’ objections have been rejected. To me, the evidence these vaccine injections were faked isn’t strong enough. If the Trudeaus wanted to fake their vaccinations, they would have done a better job than this.

      This Gigafact rebuttal from September 2021 casts sufficient doubt, for me, on the claims of the certified nurse.

      Although vaccinations for Canada’s prime minister and his wife appeared to be unconventionally administered, effective procedures were used, according to medical experts who spoke to Lead Stories.

      The narrator of a video — excerpted from news coverage of the vaccinations in April — made several claims including that the person giving the shots did not “landmark” the arm area for the shot, nor was the injection aspirated per medical procedure and that the injector “threw the needle in like it was a dart” — indicating the vaccinations were faked.

      A full-length version of the footage discounts one claim, showing the Trudeaus receiving an alcohol swab at “landmarked” injection spots. A medical professional told Lead Stories that aspiration is “neither necessary nor recommended” for the upper-arm site.

      That medical professional discounted the “dart” technique as being likely because using two hands could have blocked cameras recording the scene.

      https://gigafact.org/fact-briefs/does-a-video-prove-that-canadas-justin-trudeau-and-his-wife-faked-the-first-doses-of-their-covid-19-vaccinations

    2. Equally, the doubters’ objections have been rejected. To me, the evidence these vaccine injections were faked isn’t strong enough. If the Trudeaus wanted to fake their vaccinations, they would have done a better job than this.

      This Gigafact rebuttal from September 2021 casts sufficient doubt, for me, on the claims of the certified nurse.

      Although vaccinations for Canada’s prime minister and his wife appeared to be unconventionally administered, effective procedures were used, according to medical experts who spoke to Lead Stories.

      The narrator of a video — excerpted from news coverage of the vaccinations in April — made several claims including that the person giving the shots did not “landmark” the arm area for the shot, nor was the injection aspirated per medical procedure and that the injector “threw the needle in like it was a dart” — indicating the vaccinations were faked.

      A full-length version of the footage discounts one claim, showing the Trudeaus receiving an alcohol swab at “landmarked” injection spots. A medical professional told Lead Stories that aspiration is “neither necessary nor recommended” for the upper-arm site.

      That medical professional discounted the “dart” technique as being likely because using two hands could have blocked cameras recording the scene.

      https://gigafact.org/fact-briefs/does-a-video-prove-that-canadas-justin-trudeau-and-his-wife-faked-the-first-doses-of-their-covid-19-vaccinations

  36. Just made Tiramasu to tempt the neighbours.. BBC recipe said 30 mins. I made it in 10.

    1. Hi Phizzee

      Had a terrible cooking experience last night .

      I bought 5 rump steaks from Lidl, nice size . then giant mushrooms and other bits and pieces .

      Moh fried them etc, and when I put the meal together and we sat down to eat , the meat was like leather , and we couldn’t cut the steaks properly, our usual knives were sawing away and the dog were waiting patiently ! They were successful , and gobbled my badly chewed / sawed meat.

      So Moh has looked up steak knives on Amazon , and has ordered a set , and I also suggested he should also order a meat mallet.

      Do you think the steaks might have been horsemeat ?

      1. Margaret, you can only get decent meat from a reputable independent butcher?

        Your mam would be cross with you, y’know! 😉

      2. Hi Belle. I very much doubt they were horse meat. More likely a case of they haven’t been aged enough. I buy steaks and leave them uncovered in the fridge for a week or so.

        The mallet is a good idea.

        Also, Cook fast and hot to sear in clarified butter and oil 50/50 basting and turning to get a nice crust. Marcus Wareing adds whole garlic cloves and sprigs of rosemary too…and let them rest for longer than the cooking time before attempting to serve.

      3. Good evening, Maggiebelle

        I was staying with Joe – who subsequently became my best man – and we both received the news that we had passed all our “O” levels. His mother cooked us a special steak meal to celebrate which we greatly enjoyed.

        The following day she went to give the dogs the horse meat she had bought them and found the steak we had eaten the previous night.

    1. Here I am in Stevenage and Sky Sports TV cameras have been showing us conditions at Parkhead, Glasgow, Old Trafford, Manchester and Edgbaston, Birmingham. None of the locations have had a storm. Rain, drizzle, cloudy skies, even a brief hint of sunshine here, have been evident, but no sign of a storm. It must be in other parts of the country.

      1. The storm hit Colchester. The match there against Swindon was called off because of a waterlogged pitch. I await news from rain-sodden Korky, Anne and Elsie.

        1. Heavy rain for hours, it started to brighten up and lo and behold from a rather bright sky it lashed down again for about 10 minutes. Stopped raining but it won’t fool me into venturing outside.😎

      2. It’s been a bit windy in the SW but that’s it (and that is where the strongest winds were forecast).

    2. We would say no to the kids sometimes because we had said yes a lot previously.

    1. Even at the end, the stupid girl appeared to think the whole episode was a big joke, and chances are that she will carry on being reckless and dangerous. No doubt daddy will pay any fines.

    2. “Bring me to hospital!”

      Bring me? Why do Yanks get ‘bring’ and ‘take’ the wrong way round? You bring things to you, you take things away from you. Why can’t they get that?

      1. A lot of Americanisms are direct translations from German. American English has a lot of input from native speakers. It’s really not worth getting worked up about – it’s a dialect!

        1. I’m not worked up about anything. I’m just explaining that they are utterly clueless. Is the routine of using ‘convince’ instead of the proper ‘persuade’ just a dialect? Is the routine use of ‘two-times’ when they mean twice just a dialect?

          1. Two times is OK instead of twice. After all, thrice is rarely heard this side of the pond.

  37. Leading Seaman James Joseph Magennis, VC. (27th October 1919 – 12th February 1986), HM Submarine XE-3.

    The citation was published in a supplement to the London Gazette of 9th November:

    Leading Seaman Magennis served as Diver in His Majesty’s Midget Submarine XE-3 for her attack on 31st July 1945, on a Japanese cruiser of the Atago class. The diver’s hatch could not be fully opened because XE-3 was tightly jammed under the target, and Magennis had to squeeze himself through the narrow space available. He experienced great difficulty in placing his limpets on the bottom of the cruiser owing both to the foul state of the bottom and to the pronounced slope upon which the limpets would not hold. Before a limpet could be placed therefore Magennis had thoroughly to scrape the area clear of barnacles, and in order to secure the limpets he had to tie them in pairs by a line passing under the cruiser keel. This was very tiring work for a diver, and he was moreover handicapped by a steady leakage of oxygen which was ascending in bubbles to the surface. A lesser man would have been content to place a few limpets and then to return to the craft. Magennis, however, persisted until he had placed his full outfit before returning to the craft in an exhausted condition. Shortly after withdrawing Lieutenant Fraser endeavoured to jettison his limpet carriers, but one of these would not release itself and fall clear of the craft. Despite his exhaustion, his oxygen leak and the fact that there was every probability of his being sighted, Magennis at once volunteered to leave the craft and free the carrier rather than allow a less experienced diver to undertake the job. After seven minutes of nerve-racking work he succeeded in releasing the carrier. Magennis displayed very great courage and devotion to duty and complete disregard for his own safety.

    https://i0.wp.com/victoriacrossonline.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/1-87.png?resize=268%2C450&ssl=1

  38. Afternoon everyone
    I hope you have all escaped this so called storm .

    The sunshine has been in and out all day , 18c and gusty and showery

    We have had no 2 son and his partner staying here with us for a few days , enjoyable , but we were glad to see them off back to Worthing this morning .

    They were so warm that that the decided to wear their shorts .. the pair of them have rugby player physiques, strong lads , No 2 son has just celebrated his 50th birthday. .. How time flies .

    No 1 son ran in the Weymouth 5k Parkrun this morning , did it in 20 mts, and arrived home with very muddy legs .

    After the Worthing boys left , Moh and I went down to Weymouth to visit Morrisons/ Sainsburys to replenish the fridge , the seaside looked very tropical and people were swimming , loads of people here there and everywhere… so where was the storm?

    I will ignore the depressing Portland migrant barge nonsense because it has upset thousands of Dorset residents including us.

    Fuel prices have climbed back up again and even the price of veg and fruit has gone up in price.

    We don’t drink, neither does son no 1, but the other chaps went to the pub and we were shocked to hear the current price of drinks .. how on earth can anyone afford to drink?

    By the way many thanks for all your kind remarks when I returned briefly yesterday.

    So sorry to hear about the dreadful news about Lotls dearly beloved . I had an email from Ndovu, what a terrible shock for Ann and of course for the Nottlers .

    Lots of bad news in our village and area in recent months , but we must all carry on regardless.

    The sun is still shining .

    PS I heard and saw a GINORMOUS wasp yesterday when I brought the wheelie bin back to its residential position , I actually yelled with fright. it really buzzed and was orangy browny striped ,it flew off over the hedge .

    1. We are a bit further inland than you, but I know what you mean about the terrifying non-storm!
      Are you sure it wasn’t a hornet?

          1. Keep an eye open, you really, really don’t want to find a nest.
            I once saw a hornet catch a bumble bee and take it off to a branch for its lunch. Nasty piece of work!

          2. I see you are picking up on the local lingo – any insect that flies is called a beastie!

    2. According to my car, it was all of 13c as I drove home at lunchtime. It hasn’t stopped raining all day, but at least it’s not too windy.

    3. Good to see you back here Maggie. We had a deluge this morning and high winds too. Annie arrived to open up the gazebo a few minutes before me this morning and found the tables overturned and our stock on the floor. Ankle deep mud everywhere so it was not a good day for us.

    4. There were some heavy bursts of rain this morning with a brief glimpse of sunshine but now it’s simply overcast, largely dry and cool, although some very fine mizzle has blown through on gusts of wind. There’s nothing to resemble a storm, though.

      We’re fortunate to have a local social club with bottled beers at £2.90 – £3.00 each. A little further away a pub sells cask ales at £2.40/pint. Then there’s a Wetherspoon’s further afield in Old Stevenage with its moderately priced drinks, but that’s either a 40 minute walk or two bus rides away.

      Also on the subject of beer prices is another nearby pub, a Greene King outlet, selling cask ales with what I consider to be a large price differential between its standard and premium brands. IPA is sold at £3.50/pint whereas Abbot is £3.96. When I first started drinking in pubs in the mid 1970s, the differential would typically be a few pence.

  39. Afternoon, all. Another dark, damp and miserable day. I was due to go racing at Chester tomorrow, but the horse I have an interest in is a non-runner now thanks to the soft going, so I shall stay at home and possibly light the Rayburn!

    Customers have been an inconvenience to the banks for some considerable time. Covid really brought it home.

      1. The full comment by the dog was “I don’t fcuking know which one of them has the treats”.

          1. That is like our local post office. They keep a supply of dog biscuits behind the counter, some dogs are like that when they get through the door.

  40. Bloomin’ ‘eck.
    Very rarely do we get daylong rain in this area.
    Still, at least we’ve tackled the attics (still full, but not bulging) and the lawn should perk up.

    1. We were promised T Storms and heavy rain and wind. We’ve had a little rain (pavements are now dry) it’s a bit windy – all in all a wash out!

      1. Still not a leaf moving but…

        .. we’ve had rain – that’s all.

        Storm Antoni – pah, do you really think we’re all dumbfucks?

    2. It’s been pouring down most of the day in West London too, with only brief respites but it’s 19c and the wind is only 4 mph, so not what I’d call a storm?
      Did my food shop, laundry and popped into the dentist to book a bit of assault and battery with the hygienist next week. Somewhat overdue.

      1. It’s only 13.5 degrees C here. I’ve given in and put the central heating on as my hands were turning blue and I was cold despite wearing a thick jumper.

        1. It’s a miserable 13 deg outside here in leafy Surrey. Indoors, it’s 21.5, and I promise the heating hasn’t been on for months. I have a large East-facing window in the lounge, and the slightest sunlight results in solar heat gain.

  41. Back early from Gatcombe today – deluging rain and ankle-deep in mud, the cross country was cancelled for taday and they hope to cram everything into tomorrow’s schedule.
    There were some hardy souls around but although the traders selling unbrellas and waterproofs did well, we did very little business down the charity end.

    We decided to pack up and come home shortly after 3 pm

          1. No, Mike Tindall went straight to Bath Rugby from school – the Princess Royal though is married to an Admiral!

          2. Rapidly promoted from Lieutenant I believe once he’d got his feet under the royal table

          3. Soree – he was a rugby player.

            I’m obviously confused, is that The Princess Royal’s husband?

  42. I selected the BingAI icon on my tablet and got this page up:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f611a22b9ba046e19fd26964a0d05ef47c7ef1312601752d9f5929dd534c7dfb.jpg

    then I selected Bing chat icon, asked “how do you cook an egg?” (microphone enabled) and got this:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/18497faac68a15b7f43bb4997e9adef8619c1d170dce6acc50821d62bbab2ca5.jpg

    I’m working on how to get AI set up in a suitable dialogue mode to give the grandchildren a way of interacting in a constructive way with the internet.

    1. Leave them Alone, Angie. There are certain things they need to work out for themselves, with a rational adult to explain the truth between the lies.

      1. The grandchildren are far further ahead than a rational adult.
        When I disussed the role of AI in their education they were already aware that rational adults assessing their university work using an AI plagiarsm checker could return false results if the student had already published their work on the internet.

        In this modern work of rapid application development for so many workplace activities rational adults are far behind the modern child.
        Many professions fear for their future prospects as future generations adapt to the new AI era.

    1. Net Zero Fairy Tale

      The fox missed out on the first little pig – the house burnt down through global warming.
      The fox couldn’t find the second pig – the house got swept away in a flood due to climate change.
      Pig number three was not around – it hadn’t finished the brick house through shortage of fossil fuel materials.

        1. Thank you King Stephen! It’s not easy taking photos up in the air with an iPad!

          1. Hmm, I guess with an iPad, probably an iPhone and an iMac, your OH may have bought you an iRon?

      1. Place your thumb and index finger in the centre of the trackpad then move them apart while maintaining contact with the trackpad. Pinch and reverse pinch are two of the most useful manoeuvres on a trackpad.

          1. Sorry, I have a 21st century computer. My last 20th century computer got chucked in the bin 17 years ago.

          2. Well aren’t you the lucky one? All too easy to be hacked by the PTB and take control. Won’t that be fun?

          1. Hooray for the computer illiterate. I made loadsa wonga out of them before I retired. Alas, all gone.

  43. Par Four today.

    Wordle 777 4/6
    ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
    🟨🟩⬜🟨⬜
    ⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Likewise

      Wordle 777 4/6

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

    2. Surprise birdie three for me.

      Wordle 777 3/6

      🟩🟨⬜🟨⬜
      🟩⬜🟩🟩🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    3. Par 4 here
      Wordle 777 4/6

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

    4. Par 4 here
      Wordle 777 4/6

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

    5. Birdie today.
      Wordle 777 3/6

      🟩⬜⬜⬜🟩
      🟩🟩⬜⬜🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Here too – it hasn’t stopped aaaaallll day.
      Cats are fed up and are getting on my nerves. They need to go out and run off some energy (and probably have a wee)

  44. Iram Kahn is found guilty of doing things people obviously didn’t approve of.
    We’ve got one of those.

      1. I recall that he was a very good bowler but I can’t remember if he could swing it both ways.

  45. That’s me for this cold, wet summer day. Rained all day – not heavy – just, you know, sodding rain.

    The good news is that the washout church do raised over £600 – considering that virtually no one came – that’s not bad.

    And (referring to my bagging about my Grimes comment comparing Brash and Trash to Windsor and Mrs Simpson) – there are now over 500 thumbs! A world record for me!!

    Have a jolly evening drying out…

    Tomorrow south to an Essex birthday party – so I’ll see you on Monday.

    1. Oi! I thought you were going to tell me the date so that I could buy a jar or two of the MR’s home-made lemon curd! I shall now have to badger the Pushy Nurse for a couple of hers. Lol.

      1. You forgot Islamism which is actually the antidote to all that shit.
        How the elites expect to control those savages is anyone’s guess.

        1. That isn’t ‘modern day’. That is a 6th century disease that is still, incongruously, prevalent today.

    1. Okay. Trans are still people. Why are they needed?…They can be, but why are the necessary? Do they have the answer for us to sublime to a higher state of humanity or are they totally fucked up on hormones and drugs?

      Answers on a chromosone of your choice.

      1. They are somewhat like canaries in a coal mine except they are a warning about poisonous trends that are leading to the collapse of civilization, not just a warning about poisonous gases.

    2. Could you repeat that, please, madam? I didn’t catch what you said the first hundred times. (Sarc.)

  46. Well, after a totally foul day, t’Lad has arrived after a day in Crich workshops instead of the Steam Rally.
    Now about to head up to the pub, so logging off.

    G’night all.

  47. I just noticed the headline on the front page of today’s telegraph – ”
    Children of seven to get NHS trans treatment.” Why?? Leave these
    children alone to be children.

    1. “Children of seven to get NHS trans treatment.” Why?

      Because we don’t have a Prime Minister with the balls to stand up and proclaim the obvious:

      ‘This disgraceful practice has no place in British medicine.’

      1. At least with private medical insurance here in US, this would not be covered, so parents would need to be very, very rich to pay the costs.

    2. Better to give those kids the trans treatment before they ae old enough to realize what the different sexes are, let alone the myriad gender bending variations.

      Or so it would seem to be.

      1. Also – boys to girls keeps the features soft. Both sexes – gets them before their natural sex hormones kick in and tells them who and what they truly are, no messin’. It is diabolical, the work of the devil, to which these people are subscribing.

        1. What keeps the features soft?

          Cant see your comment, is near top or bottom of comment page.

          1. My apologies, my comment wasn’t clear – ‘transing’ boys prior to puberty keeps their features softer especially with the artificial input of female hormones – this makes for a more realistic-looking girl, than if they waited until after male puberty when the features will have a more rugged appearance.

    3. While clearly not allaying all fears and concerns about how children are treated for gender dysphoria, these extracts from that Telegraph report do suggest that a more cautious approach will prevail than has hitherto been the case.

      These children will be offered psychological support and therapy that will focus on issues that may have led to their feelings about their gender.

      The {Tavistock] clinic is being replaced by a set of regional centres that will be led by medical doctors, rather than therapists, and consider the impact of other conditions such as autism and mental health issues.

      As part of the new approach, medics have been reminded that for “most” young people, the feeling of being in the wrong body is just a “phase” and does not persist into adulthood.

      Previously, there was no minimum age for referral and children as young as three were treated by the Tavistock. On average, three children aged under seven were being referred every month.

      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/08/04/children-aged-seven-nhs-transgender-treatment/#:~:text=For%20the%20first%20time%2C%20it,their%20feelings%20about%20their%20gender.

      1. None of these children (apart from the miniscule number with “gender dysphoria”) need any of these treatments for what is a perfectly normal questioning of who they are at various stages of development. Children, their parents and teachers have been fed this propaganda and it is subversive programming.
        Girls like to wear trousers – I always do – and if boys want to dress as girls do, then so what? My younger son used to play with his friend (a girl) with her doll’s pram. It didn’t mean any more than that.

  48. Of the four cricket matches in The Hundred tournament Sky Sports had excitedly prepared to broadcast today, three were abandoned (two at Edgbaston, one at Old Trafford) without a ball bowled. In the fourth, also at Old Trafford, players managed to play 80 rain-interrupted balls before it was finally called off without a result.

    Edgbaston:

    https://img1.hscicdn.com/image/upload/f_auto/lsci/db/PICTURES/CMS/365300/365331.6.jpg

    Old Trafford:

    https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/onesport/cps/624/cpsprodpb/849A/production/_130664933_gettyimages-1593725784.jpg

  49. I’m orff for the day. I’ve just cooked a stir fry and made a marinade for the chicken kebabs for tomorrow’s family BBQ to celebrate our middle sons 41st birthday. And also booked a week in Cornwall in September. Three birthdays in close succesion. Not sure exactly where, but Some where between Bude and Padstow on the coast. It’s so Lovely to sit down with a glass of and watch the sun go down. We might take our golf clubs as well.
    With number two and his lovely wife and two children.
    Slayders..

  50. Goodnight, folks. I see, in addition to the cricket match mentioned below, that Goodwood was abandoned after the 6f Sprint. Global warming, eh?

        1. It was a sea of mud today and the cross country was abandoned. But the forecast for tomorrow is much better and we were hoping for a good day. They made that decision this evening so we will just have to go and pack up tomorrow. Our major fundraising event so a bit of a blow for us. Friday was quiet and today was a washout.

  51. https://twitter.com/buitengebieden/status/1687824144279261184

    262 illegal immigrants who set off from French beaches in 5 dinghies were ferried into the UK yesterday.

    The first crossings in a week due to the poor conditions in the English Channel.

    Half a barge full.. what are they going to do with them all .

    Moh says that the rescue boats should drape themselves in the French flag as a deterrent .

    By the way, not boasting, but Moh cut the back lawn this afternoon .

    People are saying WHAT STORM?

      1. I’m usually comfortable in cooler weather so I was quite happy to go outdoors in a short sleeved shirt. I have no need for heating or warm clothing.

      2. I’ m happier with cool weather and don’t mind if the temp is about 21c , temperate climate girl , and ever since my melanoma scare in my twenties , on my leg , and it was removed , and I was uninsurable for 9 years which made endowment mortgages and the whole kibbush very difficult , so I haven’t sunbathed for longer than ten minutes since my younger days.

        I also love windows open and have never complained about the cold … ( brrrr)

    1. They obviously both had treats.
      The winds were late here, but an oak in the woods across the road fell and was a whisker away from taking the power line down. We were without power for most of the day despite that.

  52. Gatcombe cancelled for tomorrow – it’s a bummer for us as it’s an important fundraiser.

    I can understand their decision though as the site was a quagmire before we began yesterday and by the time we left today if was just deep mud.

    1. A bit late today put up a link to your charity tomorrow I’m sure noTTlers will front up a few quid to help out

          1. Thanks very much Rik – I’ve replied via our HHH email account. Very much appreciated.

  53. Perusing BTL comments on a political website one individual was described as a ‘Rump Ranger’…..

  54. Good night, chums. My iMac problems have now been solved by A Grizzly Bear and another computer expert friend of mine. So now I can type something like “Good night, chums” without the screen constantly freezing which makes this simple message a laborious five minute task. Sleep well, everyone, and I shall see you all tomorrow.

  55. Prompt Engineering

    I posted today how I used BingAI to tell me how to cook an egg.
    It gave a reasonable answer but one must realise that BingAI may make up answers, could well deliberately lie or even give up answering you altogether.

    Before using BingAI any further I watched the following video that explains how to phrase requests for answers to my questions and this is not necessarily simple despite Bing’s understanding of natural language.

    This takes some expertise that requires some experience and is called Prompt Engineering. It may become an important skill to meet job requirements in the future.

    https://youtu.be/lulOqbEZga0

    1. Yes, I concur. As someone who is still in the world of work, I know three tech people who use ChatGPT and other AI’s, and the composition of the question is important. Two of the three are employed, and currently their (far away) bosses are not fully aware that a week’s tasks can be completed by Tuesday. The younger one is required to be in the office on standby for any troubleshooting, so the company still gets value for money.

      1. Is this ChatGPT and other AI’s what our public employees are all using now then – although, they can’t be, as the implication is that things get done a lot quicker!

    2. Ah, no, I know how to cook an egg, fried, boiled, poached or scrambled. Why would I want to use AI?

      1. The grey community has had enough lifetime experience to know that they can survive by dropping an egg into hot water. Youngsters of today know that they will be in hot water if they can’t survive unless they click in this:

        https://www.just-eat.co.uk/

Comments are closed.