Saturday 5 December: The Head Master of Eton must understand how he attacked free speech

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2020/12/05/lettersthe-head-master-eton-must-understand-attacked-free-speech/

802 thoughts on “Saturday 5 December: The Head Master of Eton must understand how he attacked free speech”

  1. Top Hong Kong politician announces he is living in exile in Denmark and pledges to move to UK. 4 December 2020.

    Mr Hui, 38, initially fled to Denmark this week where he was joined by his family, but he said he would make his way to the UK to continue his pro-democratic activities.

    He joins Nathan Law, a prominent Hong Kong human rights activist now based in London, and a growing diaspora of dissidents who are continuing to advocate for more international pressure on China to allow greater rights and freedoms in the Asian financial hub.

    Morning everyone. Yes come to the “Democratic” UK! The Chinese won’t mind, that’s why they are screwing Australia into the ground at the moment; because they are really understanding. This is cutting the stick to beat yourself with!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/12/04/top-hong-kong-politician-announces-living-exile-denmark-amid/

    1. The problem we have with Hong Kong is that we only invaded a small island part of it. The vast bulk of the land was on a 99 year lease from China, and they were simply taking back possession after expiry of the Lease in 1997. What they do with it is up to them, but the British did manage to get some concessions out of the withdrawal agreement. These cannot be binding in the long term, unless the Chinese will them to be in their own national interest, any more than the EU can impose long term conditions on the British after their withdrawal from the union.

      The trick therefore is to make enlightened democracy in Hong Kong in the national interest of the Chinese. For as long as it was an important trading post when Red China was isolated from world trade, it made sense, but these days China can trade with the world without Hong Kong.

      Australia, an important supplier to China of raw materials, can apply some pressure on China to act honourably, but in so doing, China may well call Australia’s bluff. Australia right now does need to be backed up by the world.

      1. We should have held on to the bit that we owend and remain there untill the rest was all OK. Wet Patten was not the man for the job.

        1. It would make a splendid plot for a Michael Palin comedy, or a remake of ‘Passport to Pimlico’. A stout garrison of 14 bravehearted tommies holding out on their island against the might of the Chinese Empire. They might even have kept the pubs open.

      2. The Aussies helped dig the British out of a hole in 14-18 and 39-45. The British should give them the same level of support in return.

  2. There was an item of news, unreported on the national media for reasons we can only guess at.

    It was the burning down of a 700 year old Grade 1 listed parish chutch in Derbyshire, a place dear to the heart of ‘Bargain Hunt’ expert Charles Hanson, who was married in that church. I suspected the political censorship was because it was done by Muslim activists, copying the burning down of churches in France, but they have arrested a teenage boy, and it may simply be a bit of old-fashioned juvenile delinquency. Two schools in the area were also recently burned down.

    Then yesterday, I learned of the bulldozing of a one mile stretch of the River Lugg at Kingsland in Herefordshire, a SSSI important wildlife habitat for all sorts of endangered species. The works also damaged spawning beds downstream, and other damage is still being evaluated. When it goes to court, the perpetrators would probably be fined £100. The landowner cannot be contacted, but it seems they simply wanted to maximise their cultivation land while objectors were locked down at home and could not see what was going on.

    I have just written to my MP, copied to the NFU:

    “I have just read the news about the destruction of a one mile stretch of the River Lugg SSSI at Kingsland, near Leominister. There has been major habitat damage to the river, and too great for any successful restoration to be achieved at any cost.

    This is currently being investigated after Natural England inspectors gained access.

    This is likely to be sub-judice, but would the Government please consider amending any laws to allow the court to order the confiscation of land belonging to the perpetrator, and a life ban on owning land of more than one hectare. This land would then come under public ownership and leased on trust to a conservation organisation to attempt to mitigate the long term damage.”

    Then we have the ongoing destruction of the Amazon by order of Bolsonaro, and carrying the support worldwide of followers of President Donald Trump, who cynically dismiss all environmentalists as woke lunatics, even in this forum. I regard them as unpardonable conspirators of a major crime, and perhaps the worse crime ever committed by human beings, considering the scale and extent of it.

    The point is that here we have three examples of wilful vandalism that is robbing us of our heritage, and with it any sense of self-respect, rendering us all savages. All 7.8 billion of us.

    What are we peeps going to do about it?

    1. What are we peeps going to do about it?

      Morning Jeremy. It is pointless to torture yourself with unspoken accusations of pusillanimity and indifference. We do what we can on here by posting the truth! The Forces of Darkness have taken over the whole world and much worse is to come.

    2. The church fire was on the BBC news website this time yesterday. And mention was made of another church fire and the school fires.

      A £100 fine is not going to be the outcome in Herefordshire but your suggestion is ridiculous as well as being inappropriate. The land owned by most “conservation” organisations is grossly mis-managed.

      The offences here were much less (though bad enough) and the fine a great deal higher.

      https://naturalresources.wales/about-us/news-and-events/news/carmarthenshire-farmer-fined-for-polluting-river/?lang=en

  3. Of all the reporters Moscow’s spies could have chosen, why did they pretend to be me? 5 December 2020.

    “Greetings,” the email read. “Our team has carried out an independent investigation into the Salisbury spy poisoning case. We have interviewed one of the witnesses and ascertained previously unknown facts that may help this investigation.

    “Before the materials are published, we would like to consult and discuss the option of cooperation with you. You can review the details of the case in the attachment below. Kind Regards, Katie Morley, The Telegraph Journalist.”

    BELOW THE LINE.

    John Marks4 Dec 2020 9:53PM.

    They didn’t, Katie.

    This is an MI6 propaganda job.

    There speaks the voice of truth, shortly to be deleted one imagines. The whole thing has the unmistakable odour of MI6 bull manure in its very syntax.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/12/04/reporters-moscows-spies-could-have-chosen-did-pretend/

    1. I’m sure the Russians are loving every moment of it though. They adore a good spy intrigue, and must be delighted to be back centre stage after it got boring for a while when the Berlin Wall fell.

      1. The problem with this Jeremy, is what are the Russians really up to behind this farrago of nonsense? They are the Masters of Intelligence. I can remember when the old KGB actually ran MI6 from London!

        1. I feel the Russians are fairly crude in their diplomatic requirements.

          1. They don’t want to be invaded again.
          2. They like to know when they can take advantage of someone else’s softness.

      1. Have you been in the dark all day? Amazing the number of cars being driven without lights at that time.

        1. No, not dark dark, just very dark daylight for a very few hours. Not a tempting day to venture out – but I did my shopping on my way home from work yesterday so I didn’t go far from home today.

  6. Good morning, all. There appears to be a sunrise. First for several days. Just hope it lasts – fed up with the grey and miserable.

    Much news today?

      1. Boris Johnson meets the EU President today. We will all be on tenterhooks. Is the PM going to give away our sovereignty?

        2. 327195+ up ticks,
          Morning C,
          In my book that is a given,
          I believe the meeting is more about future accommodation for himself & the pillow whisper.
          Mission accomplished.

    3. Sikhs complaining they are victims of hate crimes, they are not saying who is mostly doing it they but they did show a blurred picture of some white schoolboys knocking a turban off another schoolboy

      2. Is common-or-garden bullying, which has gone on ever since there have been schoolboys a “hate crime” or rather a menace best met with a clip round the ear and/or ritual humiliation of the offender by the school?

        1. Whilst the white schoolboys may be a pain in the arse, I doubt very much that they are the main cause of the Sikhs’ concern and that the real cause may have links to the fire at Mackworth Church I reported yesterday.

  7. Good Moaning:
    Where’s a desk pilot when you need one? Like No. 9 buses, they travel in convoys.
    “On Friday, 14 officials from agencies including the Environment Agency, the Forestry Commission, West Mercia Police and Herefordshire Council descended on the scene.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/12/05/farmer-bulldozed-beauty-spot-protect-homes-floods/

    Farmer bulldozed beauty spot ‘to protect homes from floods’

    Investigation launched into environmental ‘tragedy’ as residents claim pleas for flood work went ignored

    5 December 2020 • 6:00am

    Winding its way through the peaceful Herefordshire countryside, the Lugg is reputed to be one of the prettiest waterways in the land.

    So when a farmer employed a 16-ton bulldozer to dredge the river bed and strip a mile-long stretch of the bank of trees and bushes, there was widespread dismay and disgust.

    John Price, a local potato and cattle farmer, was accused of committing vandalism on a grand scale, as the Environment Agency announced it had launched an urgent investigation.

    But on Friday night the 66-year-old, who lives next to the river on a farm in Kingsland, near Leominster, said he had acted to protect locals in the nearby hamlet whose homes were devastated in last year’s floods.

    Villagers said they had pleaded with the Environment Agency to clear the blocked river, but their appeals fell on deaf ears and Mr Price had acted out of a sense of community spirit.

    On Friday night, Mr Price admitted bulldozing and cutting trees down but claimed he acted with permission.

    He said he had been asked to carry out the work for free as he was fixing the erosion of the river bed and was helping solve issues caused by last year’s floods.

    He said: “I’m a Herefordshire farmer and have lived at Day Farm and was born here at home. I have never moved and have watched this river all my life and no one knows this river better than myself. I have always looked after the river. I was asked to stop the erosion because I’m the land owner so I’m responsible for the river.

    “It was up to the Environmental Agency to look after these rivers but they don’t do any work and haven’t got any money to do the work because they spend it all on clipboards.”

    He added: “I have not pushed any trees out and I haven’t knocked any trees down I have only cleared what ones came down in the flood.

    Mr Price went on: “The flooding has been getting substantially worse over the last 10 years and will continue to get worse if a certain amount of work is not done like I have been allowed to do by the Environment Agency.

    “I have got the support of the village and parish council and they had a meeting especially about the work being done. They all said what a wonderful job John Price has done and recommended that they send me a letter thanking me for that work and saving the river and helping the flooding.”

    The Environment Agency said it was taking the matter “very seriously” and had launched an urgent investigation.

    The local wildlife trust said the actions would devastate animal life along the river, including otters, kingfishers, salmon and trout.

    Residents of the area leapt to Mr Price’s defence and said they had been appealing to the Environment Agency and council for years to tackle blockages in the waterway, but had been ignored.

    Kelly Flook, 40, who lives in one of the houses flooded during Storm Dennis last year, said Mr Price acted because their pleas had been repeatedly ignored.

    She told The Daily Telegraph: “I have spent the past 10 months living in a mobile home on my parents’ driveway with my children because our home was flooded in Storm Dennis. I have spent a fortune rebuilding our home and we are still not back in it yet. All the locals have been petitioning to have the river cleared but we have been ignored.”

    She added: “John has acted in the best interests of the local community.”

    On Friday, 14 officials from agencies including the Environment Agency, the Forestry Commission, West Mercia Police and Herefordshire Council descended on the scene.

    Dave Throup, the Environment Agency area manager, said: “We are aware of reports of damage to the River Lugg, which due to its environmental importance is protected through Site of Special Scientific Interest status.

    “We are treating this very seriously along with Natural England and the Forestry Commission who have taken immediate action in an attempt to prevent any further works at the site.”

    Helen Stace, of the Herefordshire Wildlife Trust, said: “This is nothing short of a tragedy that will have dire consequences for the wildlife and water quality downstream. This is not about protecting the local area from floods, in my opinion the work that has been done will actually have the opposite effect.”

    1. `i was horrified by the destruction of that stretch of the River Lugg, and said so below. It is good though to hear the argument from the other side. I was hoping the offending landowner would put his case.

      It opens up a wider debate about whether the engineering works required for flood control should prevail over wildlife habitat protection, particularly where such a habitat is endangered by cavalier attitudes by an ever growing and ever more destructive human population. Having seen the impact of, say, the 2007 floods on many homes and livelihoods in Worcestershire, I can understand the villagers’ need to prevent it happening again, especially since we are promised that due to climate change, this is to be a regular occurence. Building on floodplains is not helping things either.

      There was a lot of talk about dredging the Somerset Levels, and that negligence of this had itself led to major habitat degradation, considering the local landscape had already adapted to a managed regime. Coppicing woods is another example where management can sometimes enhance, rather than damage the ecological value of a landscape.

      In the case of the River Lugg though, I suggest that the work was brutal, ignorant and catastrophic. Just because one is born and bred somewhere, it doesn’t mean that one is always sensitive to it, or capable of immense harm. it is a pity that this farmer were not better advised by the conservationists, and that this advice were provided at the cost to the public, not the farmer, since conservation of habitat is a public interest issue. I think the Government may be addressing this, post-Brexit, by encouraging farming methods that minimise ecological harm, whilst optimising production. I only hope that we have the money to pay for it, and not have it passed on to the farmers, already being squeezed by the supermarkets.

      In the long term, much promise has been made by investigating slowing down the passage of water upstream. I remember that one impact of introducing beavers into woodland in Yorkshire, was that during stormy weather, it encouraged waterlogging in these woods, where it did little, if any, harm to anyone, rather than rushing downstream and flooding human settlements.

      1. The action taken does seem brutal. OTH, how many years had the local been begging for just dead trees and general detritus to be removed from the waterway?
        We know that bureaucrats will apply rules and regulations unless their own interests are affected.

        1. The EA has conveniently forgotten about the destruction on the Somerset Levels…

          ‘Moaning, Annie.

        2. It should really be the responsibility of Herefordshire Unitary Council, but I think that George Osborne’s wretched strangulation of funding for local authorities in order to fund Income Tax cuts has led to such important work being axed in order to pay for statutory social services.

        3. The advice of “conservationists” is almost invariably wrong. Farmers are not always right – but they generally know far more than the “conservationists” who tend not to understand more than one miniscule part of the landscape and think that everything else should be subordinate to their particular tiny interest. All the tiny interests do not, ever, add up to a whole.

          Edited – always, not often.

          Farmers do usually have a very good idea of what needs to be done. One of mine asked for permission to remove gravel from the Severn some years ago to repair a track – he was refused and given a long lecture on why it would be a very bad idea to do it. The following year the Environment Agency (now superseded in this area by Natural Resources Wales) came along and removed about six times as much gravel as he had asked permission to remove and then suggested that he pay them about six times the price it would have cost him to get it himself for the stone he needed. He pointed out that he had already bought his stone, from a local quarry, for a much more sensible price as they work couldn’t wait for them to make up their minds.

    2. 327195+ up ticks,
      Morning Anne,
      I am NOT of the hang them high club but in this case would make an exception with helen stace, on reflection a wee bit harsh so try long term incarceration my initial post was made prior to my first pint of tea.

      1. I actually have some sympathy with Helen Stace, but where was she when Storm Dennis flooded the village, and the local vigilante posse blamed the river for it?

        Grubbing up all the life from a mile-long stretch of river using one old farmer and a digger is not something done overnight. How come there was not an inspector sniffing around a lot sooner?

        Rather than incarcerating her in her stable, only to be let out far too late, she should have got to work with her experts and scientists and either exonerated the river, explaining in the parish magazine why, or sought advice with civil engineers as to how best to protect the SSSI whilst diverting floodwater away from the village.

        1. 327195+ up ticks,
          Morning JM,
          I believe what has got up her nasal canals is the fact the farmers actions have shown up her / others lack of action.

  8. Morning all. Eton Mess…..

    SIR – As a retired employment judge, 
I cannot disagree more strongly with the views of Simon Cheetham QC (Letters, December 3) on Eton.

    Mr Cheetham is right in saying there are bound to be restraints on freedom of speech when that right is expressed in the workplace. The schoolmaster Will Knowland rightly accepted this in agreeing not to give his talk in school.

    It is a different matter to require Mr Knowland to take down the talk from his private YouTube site. That constitutes an attack on free speech.

    The High Court has recently said: “Regulators will do well to recognise that it is all too easy to be dogmatic without knowing it; popular outcry is not proof that a particular set of events gives rise to any matter falling within a regulator’s remit.”

    Mr Knowland has not brought Eton into disrepute. Rather it is the Head, Simon Henderson, who has failed to display “common sense” and surely should now consider his position.

    Robert Ashton

    Shrewsbury

    1. SIR – The reputation of Eton and a dozen or so other famous schools, along with Oxbridge, has earned the world’s high regard for British education.

      It is desperately sad to see people who recently seem to have captured these institutions quickly destroying reputations that took centuries to establish. If what happened to Will Knowland can happen at Eton, it will soon be happening with impunity at every independent school. This will be the end of everything that makes British education so valuable and unique.

      Advertisement

      Many foreign parents, particularly from formerly totalitarian counties such as Russia and China, send their children to be educated at our independent schools precisely because they want them to receive a liberal education based on freedom of thought and of inquiry.

      I own a business selling the best of British education abroad, and fear that my colleagues and I will soon have to choose between our integrity and our livelihoods.

      For as long as Mr Henderson remains its Head Master I shall not feel able to recommend Eton to clients and shall not register my own son for it.

      Alexander Nikitich

      Carfax Education

      London SW1

    2. Hear, hear Robert Ashton; I would say that you are spot on, Sir. Cheetham has confused Knowland’s work with his private activities.

      ‘Morning, Epi.

  9. SIR – In August you printed a letter from me regarding my concerns about the proliferation of Do Not Resuscitate orders in care homes, which finished with a hope that an inquiry – called for by the Queen’s Nursing Institute – would be set up.

    The Care Quality Commission has found that this flagrant lack of respect for the rights of care-home residents is still commonplace (report, December 3). It is conducting a review, with the results due out in February.

    Reviews with no specific remit are just an opportunity to paper over the cracks in the system. If the review recommended the prosecution of those who impose Do Not Resuscitate orders without the consent of the families involved, it might serve a more useful purpose.

    Peter Towndrow FRSC

    Grazeley Green, Berkshire

  10. Everlasting crackers

    SIR – Maureen Fletcher (Letter, December 2) cannot find crackers to buy in twos. A search online for “everlasting crackers” reveals a wealth of artisans producing beautiful – and sustainable – designs. You can fill them with gifts of your choice while supporting a small business. They even go bang.

    Mandy Montagu

    Geldeston, Norfolk

    1. This debate over Christmas crackers only being sold in boxes of 6 or 12 is baffling me. Am I expected to believe that families of whatever size only pull them at a single meal on December the 25th? Even if that were the case, what’s wrong with pulling two this year, another two in 2021 and the rest in 2022?

      1. Exactly. We’ve used crackers bought as bargains the year before.
        Don’t store them in a damp place.

        1. As most of my Christmas greetings go out as emails, I can make a box of a dozen cards last 3 or 4 years. Same goes for the stamps.

          1. I do enjoy designing and printing Christmas cards.
            Or, at least, I do when I don’t get landed with a duff Light Cyan cartridge.

  11. Morning again

    SIR – The logistics of vaccinating the population are daunting, even if you ignore storage temperature and transport problems.

    The current adult population of England and Wales is 46.78 million. Best estimates at the moment suggest that a million vaccinations a week might be possible. Allowing for the fact that all current vaccines require two shots, one will therefore need 93.56 million shots. These would take 93.5 weeks to administer (more than 23 months).

    Even if one only targets the 60-plus age group of 13.4 million people, the process would take six months. This doesn’t take into account the frontline staff and young, clinically vulnerable people, who will clearly need to be vaccinated as a priority.

    Lay on top of this the negative impact on other healthcare provision while the focus is on vaccination, and the overall effect on the country’s health and sanity can only be imagined.

    Dr Duncan Casson

    Royston, Hertfordshire

    1. Last night my grandson at Leeds University gave us deep concern as his anxiety mounted. The Student Health Clinic said they could do nothing. What has happened to medicine, to doctors, to dental surgeons,to the obligation of self sacrificing care for the sick?

    2. Does Dr Casson think there hasn’t already been a negative impact on other healthcare provision”? The NHS is an utter disgrace and GPs are not much better.

  12. One for Jennifer.

    “SIR – Rural areas have ideal places for storing the Pfizer vaccine. These are the storage sites where bull semen is kept for the artificial insemination of dairy cattle.

    Semen requires the same storage conditions as the Pfizer vaccine.

    David Gray

    Corfe Mullen, Dorset”

      1. Those temperatures are required for the control of LIVE material. Make of that what you will. I’ll not go near it.

        Here’s another snippet from Lockdown Sceptics exposing what this devious government are doing concerning medical records re the vaccine. Smelling a rat is so easy with the shower we have in HoP.

        Cristi.Neagu
        3 hours ago

        An additional concern I have is that the service specification states that GPs are not to record the vaccination on the patient’s GP electronic clinical record system. Instead it is to be recorded on “Pinnacle”, a system used by pharmacists. As reported in Pulse:

        “Vaccination data ‘will flow from Pinnacle and Sonar to the GP patient record in a similar way it currently flows from community pharmacies for flu vaccinations’, it said.

        “NHS England aims to ‘implement as soon as possible a fully automated process’ via GP practices’ own IT systems, but ‘this is unlikely to be
        in place from Day 1’.

        Translation: The system will most likely not work at the start, so all the people that get serious side effects from the vaccine will not
        be able to sue anyone because “i’m sorry, but we cannot verify that you actually had the vaccine…”

        2. Oddly enough I would prefer it that way round.

          We know that Pinnacle works in getting the information to the GPs.

          I would not trust the GPs to get their records to a central database.
          I would choose a private sector system over a State sector system almost every time.

    2. Thanks Anne. I’m sure I’m not, by any means, the only person who can’t work out why this fact has been overlooked. I mean, we only started to freeze bull semen in the 1950s, so it’s not as though it hasn’t been around for a while.

  13. SIR – I adore going to the pub; it is something that I have been doing daily for at least 45 years. I have rarely experienced a bad visit and have made hundreds of friends over the years.

    Doing what comes naturally – being convivial and enjoying a rapport with fellow drinkers – makes life such a joy.

    I have never considered the pub as an eating establishment, although of course I have often enjoyed a meal washed down with my favourite lager or a glass of wine. Now I am compelled to have a meal with my drink in order to abide by the rules of Covid safety.

    As I write this, I am sitting in my favourite pub in the beautiful city of Bath. The pub was always packed to capacity, and the management and staff have been brilliant in abiding by all the recent safeguarding measures imposed upon them.

    Today, it is empty and devoid of all enjoyable atmosphere. There have only been seven people in so far, whereas, even with the previous restrictions, there would have been two or three hundred.

    Unless the Government moves quickly, the glorious pub, and its wonderful traditions, will be lost forever.

    Dan Rafferty

    Bath

    1. The pubs can find some way round these insane draconian measures, Wetherspoons are changing some pubs to “cafes”. However the small craft breweries who have sprung up everywhere, have no outlet for their beer. Often only brewing draught beer, many of them are small, often a set up by a couple, or a group of friends investing everything.
      They have been devastated by these pointless regulations. The big boys like Heineken will survive, but I fear that the small local brewers, who have appeared across the country like stars on a dark night over the last thirty years, may slip from the sky.

        1. There are “craft brewers” and there are “craft brewers”. The products of some are delicious. The products of others are only fit for cleaning the bog.

          2. The new wave of micro-brewing began in the late 70s. It’s accelerated in recent years because of Gordon Brown’s progressive beer duty. The term ‘craft brewing’ first appeared 40 or more years ago but it’s only recently become a widely used ‘badge’.

            Some of my former CAMRA beer drinking companions were a bit disparaging in the 80s of some of the new companies, dismissing them as ‘garage brewers’ (many of them were set up in industrial units which lacked the visual splendour of the old favourites). ‘Garage’ became ‘garden shed’ then ‘kitchen’ and many of them taste like it. Novelty and enthusiasm go only so far. The best will survive and they’ll just be regarded as ‘brewers’.

      2. The whole point of Brexit was to bring back control to our nationals, not some faceless money-run global corporates with clever lawyers and influential lobbyists in high places.

        It seems that we as a nation, now given the mandate to set our own destiny, are pushing in entirely the wrong direction.

    2. …the glorious pub, and its wonderful traditions, will be lost forever.

      Looking at what both the UK government and the devolved governments are doing I thought that was the object of the exercise. Excising joy, conviviality and social interaction from everyday life chimes with the tyrannical control we are experiencing.

    3. Pubs were done for by the smoking ban. So many died. Only the spoons type establishments have survived, those with ample space for eating and a good menu.
      We probably lost two thirds of our local pubs shortly after the smoking ban. Most were knocked down to make room for more tiny flats at 350-500k a go.

      1. Somehow, all those virtuous non-smokers didn’t flock to their local Dog and Duck when the air cleared.

        1. The non-smokers had never left the pubs and most of the smokers didn’t either. The constant uplift in the use of the breathalyser made a big difference in rural areas especially as many police forces target pub car parks (quite rightly) but there are many factors involved.

      2. There was no drastic drop in pub numbers after the smoking ban at all, it’s a commonly held belief which doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. There has been a very long term tailing off which was exacerbated by the 2008 financial crisis and the swiftest rate of decline has been since 2011/12.

        There are many factors involved not a single one. This is a sensible article and I’ve produced the most relevant graph for those who can’t be bothered to read.

        https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/last-orders-the-decline-of-pubs-around-the-uk/

        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2b6f0664c8d55b1e223bf5913363915d75b42da7f4013f687a3b1714814d85ba.jpg

          1. That’s a rather silly and pointless comment. Just as silly as the claim that “pubs were done for by the smoking ban”. Which is simply and clearly not a fact; but when that is demonstrated to you… you then want to move the goal posts by redefining the terms.

            If you want to define pubs by some narrow and irrational argument of your own then there is nothing much more to be said/written. But it still doesn’t mean that the smoking ban was crucial… or even very important in the demise of premises which held a public house licence (the only possible practical definition).

            The truth is that a lot of people don’t really need pubs any more and even fewer want to spend the sort of money in them that they need to keep going. There are many reasons for that, some good, some less so, but there’s more trade (on the whole) for “eateries that serve beer” so I expect that they will be the ones which survive.

        1. Bone china cup and saucer; cup in one hand, saucer in the other; with little finger stuck out and knees together?
          At 18 months of age? 🤣

          1. Certainly cup and saucer.
            Post war Blighty, particularly when you’d been moved from pillar to post, didn’t contain much bone china.
            And as for crooking your little finger ….. that’s dead common.

          2. I started out with cup and saucer (bog standard pottery, no porcelain or china) before migrating to a mug. Mum always had a china cup or mug and she was of the opinion that tea tastes better in china.

            These days I invariably drink my tea out of a china cup or mug as I too believe that it tastes better. I drink my espresso-based coffee from an outsized cup.

            My finger behaves itself.

          3. My parents like china mugs for their tea – they gave up on using saucers years ago when Mum had as much outdoor work as indoor work and extra washing up wasn’t needed!

            I’m happy with my ordinary mugs for my coffee – but I do have a few nice china ones for guests who drink tea… if I’m ever permitted to have visitors again :-((

          4. My Nana kept a cutting for years.
            The text was whether sticking the little finger out was posh or common.
            The picture was Queen Mary drinking from a cup of tea with her finger firmly tucked in!
            No other words were needed.

        2. My mother had to give up feeding my little brother herself at 3 weeks and she hated his bottles – so he had a baby cup at a very early age but we all had proper cups much earlier than today’s infants.

  15. ‘Morning, Peeps.

    SIR – Maureen Fletcher (Letter, December 2) cannot find crackers to buy in twos. A search online for “everlasting crackers” reveals a wealth of artisans producing beautiful – and sustainable – designs. You can fill them with gifts of your choice while supporting a small business. They even go bang.

    Mandy Montagu
    Geldeston, Norfolk

    Have patience, Ms Montagu; if it’s ‘bang’ you want then what is left of our economy will shortly oblige.

  16. A good letter (although I wonder whether there is a typo in his surname):

    SIR – Readers pleased by the news of prompt approval of the Pfizer vaccine may have noticed unsolicited remarks on how “there isn’t a single example of the EU getting in the way”.

    Interestingly, all is not quite as it seems. The legal power exercised by the United Kingdom in early Covid vaccine approval relies on the same underlying law: Art 5(2) Dir 2001/83. This is the basis for R 174 of the Human Medicines Regulations 2012. As so often, though, it isn’t the letter of the law that matters: it is the attitudes of those who apply it.

    The first FAQ on the EU’s pandemic website asks the obvious: “Why are vaccines to prevent Covid-19 urgently needed?” The website goes on and on about fast approvals – as so often, talking the talk, but mostly delivering red tape, delays and expense.

    On January 1 2021, Britain will get a dose of regulatory independence, and the EU will get a dose of regulatory competition.

    Stephen Dnes
    London EC4

  18. SIR – I am waiting to hear that the Government is inviting tenders from Atlantic and North Sea fishing countries (such as Iceland and Canada) for licences to fish in our waters.

    We cannot fish them fully ourselves, so let us see how much they are worth.

    R B Mills
    Worcester

    So am I, R B Mills – and I hope that the licences are eye-wateringly expensive…in the name of stock conservation, of course.

    1. I despair sometimes. Our government was quick and very eager to pay for the destruction of fishing boats (“decommissioning”), to lay off fishermen, to destroy the fish processing and fish exporting businesses. This happened on three occasions, as if one wild act of immoral vandalism at the bidding of the EU was not enough.
      If we retain the entirety of our fish, we can allow the stocks to replenish*. Our government can give grants to build boats, train fishermen and to assist the opening of processing and packing plants for exports. France and Spain want our fish in their restaurants and shops. We should sell to them direct cutting out EU fishermen entirely.
      Our government needs to build fishery protection vessels, to protect our property.

      * The Grand Banks off the coast of Canada were fished out. They are unlikely to ever be prolific fisheries again.
      As for issuing licences we need to be careful on this. since Britain became “open for business”, any foreigner can buy anything. A policy that resulted in Russian gangsters owning football clubs, Asians taking over pharmaceutical supplies and the cooking oil trade, and Albanian gangsters owing brothels.

  20. 327195+ up ticks,
    Morning Each,
    May one ask, If we had left on the 24/6/2016 along with total severance how would our finances as a nation stack up against the national dept we have currently.

    Also bearing in mind the unwanted “guest’s incurred since the above date ie welfare, housing etc,etc.

      1. 327195+ up ticks,
        Morning J,
        A waiting line of work units at the factory gates has always been a big business
        need/ liking.

    1. “And for Britain? Even as one who voted Remain, I can’t help feeling we
      may have chosen a good time to shin down the drainpipe and leave”.

      Lol.

  22. Vaccine distribution –
    A similar situation arose with the Ebola vaccine. That is distributed in special containers that have built in thermometers, refrigeration and radio data links to send an alarm if the temperature in the container starts to rise.
    I heard a Health authority on TV saying the vaccine could be distributed in pizza boxes!

      1. Mass vaccinations from batches of vaccine delivered in pizza-boxes will result in the recipients falling like Domino’s.

  25. When I stood for UKIP in the 2010 GE, the headmaster of the local grammar school would not let me join my fellow candidates on the stage in front of his charges – he was, apparently, scared of what the parents might think if their boys were exposed to such a racist. It was terrific publicity for me when the local rag got hold of the story.

    He has long since been replaced by an excellent fellow who was pleased to let me address the elite of the future during the 2015 and 2017 GE campaigns. Happy days!

    1. 327195+ up ticks,
      Morning JBF,
      🎵
      Who’s sorry now,
      Theme song of the lab/lib/con coalition party

    2. They had a mock general election at Gresham’s in 2010. My son, Christo, ran as the UKIP candidate but came third behind Labour, who won, and the Conservatives who came second.

  26. All this talk about Lewis Hamilton being “the best F1 driver of all time” makes my bodily fluids boil! He is sitting out the next Grand Prix at Sakhir (?) as a result of testing positive for a currently-fashionable virus. His place has been taken (in the same Mercedes car) by a 22-year old unknown British driver.

    That young driver, called George Russell, has been the fastest driver in both practice sessions. This fact is simply proof that it is not the most talented driver that wins, but the one with the best technology to drive. I have firmly believed that if all the current F1 drivers were given identical cars, then Hamilton would finish halfway down the field. His team-mate, the journeyman (for a Finn) Valtteri Bottas, would finish somewhere at the back.

    1. And let us hope that George Russell does not indulge in any of the usual BLM nonsense. I might start watching F1 again if normality returns.

      ‘Morning, Grizz.

    2. My great hope is that he wins the GP by a considerable margin.
      My suspicion is that he will be told to give way to his senior team mate.

      1. It doesn’t look like Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton HonFREng has signed for next year yet. So if Russel does well on Sunday ???? He would be a LOT cheaper than Hamilton – and the annual budget for the team has been cut . .so . . .it could be interesting.

        1. Then the woke bame would be snapped up by the woke bame beeboids as a “commentator”…. More reason for avoiding the beeboids.

          2. God help us.

            One can just imagine what his “theme” will be. Can’t wait to see Rik Nobinson keeling….

  27. Just back from a dawn raid on w/rose. It’s a beautiful morning, but chilly.

    Now for some chicken samosas for breakfast.

  28. 327195+ up ticks,
    Unquestioning trust in governance political party’s has got us as a Country to where we find ourselves today, now the
    consequences of that trust has got very personal, this is no
    longer a “party first” issue, this has very serious consequences if it goes tits up due to promises, vows,& pledges via the lab/lib/con coalition.

    https://twitter.com/AgainBraine/status/1334882401936433154

  29. Wholly off-topic recommendation: Lidl has a Jamón de bellota Ibérico in its Deluxe range for, as I recall, £3.99. I bought it thinking I might pick at it over a few evenings’ drinks. Nope. Scarfed in minutes and I’m now orf to buy some more.

    1. On the same aisle as Lidl’s posh stollen bites.
      I pondered, but now I will buy.
      Also recommend their posh Marie Rose sauce.

      1. I’m very partial to their in-store baked rye sourdough. But I’ll be looking out for the ham too… I’ll be in Newtown on Wednesday and might have time to look in.

  30. 327195+ up ticks,
    So is Oggas three tier semi re-entry missile coming to pass
    or on target, the wretch cameron, blast off, treacherous mayday the intermediate section & johnson the nose cone ?

    Maybe this weekend will bring to light the depth of treachery
    that has been so obvious to many in UKIP over the last three decades, that is the real UKIP NOT as is currently.

    https://twitter.com/GerardBattenUK/status/1335156958928789505

    1. It has been reported previously that the agreement between Mrs May and Chancellor Merkel was that Britain would be set up for re-entry.

      1. 327195+ up ticks,
        J,
        That would not surprise me in the least but the no leaving was on the cards openly since major.

        To my mind major inclusive the GE manipulations have aimed at re-entry, the wretch cameron told us by letter it is a wrong decision if leave was the peoples choice, and charged us for his input.
        The mayday was the wretch’s henchman,& the leadership farce was so transparent as being just that, an, all in it together farce.
        The three monkeys played a big part among the membership i’ll wager.

        e.

      1. My dear little son got a permanent ban from the Google App store some years ago for posting a glue sniffing simulation app when he was about 13.

    1. It’s so blatant, and such a big theft. I haven’t seen one Democrat even attempt to explain those vertical steps on the voting graphs, or the bellweather states voting for Trump. They are just gloating about “winning” and calling Trump every name under the sun, and the implications of voting fraud don’t seem to have occurred to them.

  33. The Lugg river controversy – see for yourself. The aerial view is of quite poor quality for Google Maps. The before and after viewpoints are arrowed.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b628df4153eba36817d386e73ec0ea71ab54d2837242a08a8d7bd822e779fa99.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/143b22fd58a87216595d9150aacba734a9c7172b8d4bb6e8319d009d738e1797.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fca77e6e51dada6c5e91c1ca6ed2532ebb7ffc0014ecb8d0c940f4d33f631825.jpg

  34. Today’s DT Leader:

    The UK/EU trade talks that culminate this weekend have been described as “critical” and “difficult”. There’s always a bit of posturing in negotiations – both sides want their voters to think they’ve “won” – but there clearly are differences.

    There is tension with France over fishing and state aid, and the Monday deadline is harder than usual. The EU Council has its last meeting of the year on Thursday: a deal would need to be approved before then if it’s to be signed off by the leaders of the member states on schedule.

    If a deal hasn’t been agreed, the UK’s Internal Market Bill will return to the Commons next week with the Northern Irish clauses most likely reinserted. The EU would object to that in the strongest possible terms.

    The clock is ticking, but a deal can be done. Almost every stakeholder on the British side wants one, even Chris Bryant, the Labour MP and implacable Remainer, who has told this newspaper that he will vote for it if it’s put to the House because it would be better than no deal at all. Throughout the Brexit process, the broadcast media presented the EU side as unified and rational, while Britain was characterised as unreasonable and chaotic – and there’s no denying that, prior to Boris Johnson winning his majority in 2019, the UK was all over the place.

    But the roles have been reversed. It is Britain that now wants to move on: we’ve got a vaccine to roll out and an economy to rebuild, so there’s no time to waste. It is the EU that suddenly looks divided and that threatens delay. The talks have turned into a test of the EU’s ability to act in concert or in its own self-interest.

    Can Brussels persuade Paris to do the right thing for everyone? Britain and France have plenty of common ground, given our geographic proximity and the amount of business we do together, and the historical entente cordiale is reflected in our support for military action in the Sahel.

    Britain is determined to strike a fair deal on fishing rights because of its economic and symbolic importance to our people, but if France really is willing to go to the wall over this, or state aid, it will prevent a trade deal for the entire EU – and probably lose the right to fish in our waters altogether.

    If Emmanuel Macron thinks he can make this gamble because Britain would be so chastened by a no-deal outcome that it would return to the negotiating table next year, cap in hand, that just shows that he still doesn’t understand what Brexit was about.

    In 2016, along with the question “should we leave?” was asked, “if we weren’t members, would we join?” Despite all the disruption a no-deal Brexit would involve, it’s hard to imagine Mr Johnson begging for a second chance to be beholden to European rules, let alone to surrender control of our waters.

    Many readers will probably have been reminded of why they themselves voted to leave. In the 1970s, we were told we were joining a free trade bloc: it was, for most Britons, an entirely pragmatic and unemotional question. But the Europeans were intent on forming a political union spanning an entire continent.

    Failure in these talks would suggest that’s a fantasy: the EU is composed of 27 different countries, pulling in different directions, and it can only move as fast as its most conservative member.

    It is obsessed with rules and regulations. Illustrative of the cultural gulf between us is the approval of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. It’s true that its production was an international effort, and correct that under EU rules, member states can, in emergency situations, choose to approve it independently. But the fact stands that those operating under the aegis of the European Medicines Agency have not yet greenlit the vaccine while Britain, operating under its own agency, has.

    The decision was met in the UK with relief but also, after months of the state getting so much wrong, with a touch of pride that we were finally leading the world to get things moving again.

    We could be vaccinating our citizens as of Tuesday. It’s an example of the kind of “can-do” country that Mr Johnson dreams of building, and that’s why the dividing lines of fishing or regulatory divergence are so important: we are trying to maximise our sovereignty and freedom.

    Hopefully the Europeans will come to see that a liberated and revitalised UK is not a threat, but an opportunity.

    A couple of leading BTL comments:

    Gary Lafferty
    5 Dec 2020 2:25AM

    80 years ago Hitler offered Britain peace on his terms to (in his words) ‘avert destruction’. Now the EU offers peace and destruction.

    I can see no difference between the behaviour of the EU in these negotiations and that of an organised crime syndicate exacting extortion.

    B David
    5 Dec 2020 6:05AM
    @gary

    It’s not called the Extortionate Union for nothing.

    Well said, both!

      2. Another great song by them……….Teach your Children, not many snowflake’s would have heard that.

        1. Graham Nash wrote that song when he was still with the Hollies, but sadly, they never recorded it.

  36. Caving in to EU risks leaving UK a ‘permanent client state’, Tories warn Boris Johnson

    Tory MPs fear that the UK is at the point of ‘maximum danger’ as trade talks reach crucial stage

    By
    Harry Yorke,
    WHITEHALL EDITOR
    4 December 2020 • 9:03pm

    Caving in to Brussels on fish and the “level playing field” in order to secure a post-Brexit trade deal risks turning Britain into a permanent “client state”, senior Conservative MPs have warned Boris Johnson.

    With the UK’s chances of agreeing a deal with the European Union hanging in the balance, a group of “die-hard” backbenches have urged the Prime Minister not break the promises he made to Leave voters in last year’s election.

    It comes amid fears that he could be forced to grant a flurry of last-minute concessions after intensive lobbying from Emmanual Macron, the French president, to secure more preferable terms on fishing, state subsidies and non-regression clauses.

    Under British plans designed to placate France, Mr Johnson has reportedly agreed to defer repatriating up to half of the fishing quotas for several years.

    However, the former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith told The Telegraph that fishing was a “totemic issue”, adding that the UK needed to start with control over “100 per cent”.

    “We have to be treated like Norway is treated,” he added. “We’re not looking for an increase, we are looking for control. From there, we negotiate with other countries what access they get. It’s as simple as that.”

    Meanwhile, there is growing concern that the “level playing field” – a common set of rules and standards designed to ensure Britain does not give advantages to its business which undermine the EU – will prevent Britain from diverging in the future.

    The two sides are still believed to be at odds over the policing of the arrangement and how to future-proof the agreement to ensure fair competition over time.

    The EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, has also called for further concessions from the UK on state aid, with Mr Macron determined to prevent subsidies being used to undercut French businesses.

    On Friday night Theresa Villiers, a former Environment Secretary, warned that the UK was now at the point of “maximum danger”, adding that “regulatory autonomy is a core part of delivering Brexit”.

    “This is the main means by which the EU could potentially tie us into their laws and their court. I see this as the main threat to getting Brexit done,” she said. “There are ‘level playing field’ agreements in the Canada deal and arbitration mechanisms that are acceptable. But on the other end of the spectrum we are locked in as a client state.”

    However, several MPs said any potential backlash was likely to be limited to several dozen hardliners, meaning Mr Johnson is unlikely to face any major challenge in pushing a trade deal through Parliament.

    “It’s very much the ones that caused Theresa May a lot of trouble,” said one. “There’s an element of this which is that nothing will be good enough for them except no deal. As long as it looks reasonable, I think most people will wear it.”

    Dr Liam Fox, a former Trade Secretary and a prominent Brexiteer, added: “We have to be realistic, and if we want to get the best for the majority of the British economy we will have to make some compromises. Trade agreements are not a series of ultimata, they are a negotiation.”

    Dr Fox…trade is negotiable, sovereignty idefinitely isn’t. Call yourself a Brexiteer?

    Some BTL comments – I lurve the ‘Poundshop Napoleon jibe!:

    Roger Thrush
    4 Dec 2020 9:29PM
    I hope the UK has someone checking the thousands of pages for stitch up clauses tucked away in backwater provisions, and that we’ve reserved the right to raise draughting issues that we haven’t actually agreed. It’s an EU habit to hide nasty obligations and trick others into acceptance.

    A big advantage of no-deal is that we can’t be caught in this way. I don’t trust the EU doing the writing.

    dominic lennon
    4 Dec 2020 10:05PM
    For God’s sake let’s get out with no strings attached – WTO and tell them to stuff their lousy emasculating ‘deal’!

    Jay Patrick
    4 Dec 2020 10:04PM
    Time to walk away and teach the pound shop Napoleon a lesson or two.

    Claude Tucker
    4 Dec 2020 9:09PM
    Boris it must be real negotiated Brexit deal or no deal, any backsliding will not be acceptable to the voters.

    1. It’s Boris, all bluster and no brains. Lazy and wants quick solutions which is how the withdrawal agreement got signed so quickly.

      He’ll take the quick and easy way out, he’ll cave in. He knows he’s done for now but he doesn’t care he’s secured his PM’s pension and lifelong security teams. To be honest I reckon he can’t run away from the job quickly enough.

      Vassal state here we come.

      1. I think you are right.
        If the MPs chuck him out in January, he’ll heave a sigh of relief.
        And the pressure to marry latest fancy will be removed.

    2. One of our primary objectives must be to divorce ourselves, clearly and forever from the absurd notion of a “level playing field”. This is an expression that means that we must continue to do things in a way that gives preference and priority to the EU, that is, to France and Germany.
      In trade, the objective is to tip up the playing field, and to promote a USP, or Unique Selling Proposition.

  37. 327195+ up ticks,
    Is Mr farage, besides stating the bleeding obvious doing a 180º regarding johnson, after forming a party £25 a pop to
    become a non member to oppose johnson then at crunch time stood a high % of non member / candidates down giving johnson an 80 seat ticket to ride… roughshod ongoing.

    ‘No Deal Is Better Than a Bad Deal’: Farage Predicts Boris Will ‘Sell Out’ Brexit.

      1. 327195+ up ticks,
        Afternoon JN,
        About farage or the deal ?
        The farage is a self confessed
        ( LBC ) ersatz tory.
        The deal in my book is already done & dusted, total severance
        no deal was the way to go.

  38. Good morning, my friends,

    Ampleforth has been put on death row, just as Cromwell did to the monasteries

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/12/04/ampleforth-has-put-death-rowjust-cromwell-did-monasteries/

    Charles Moore has written about the fact that Ampleforth, the leading Roman Catholic school, is no longer allowed to take new pupils as a consequence of cases of child abuse in the past.

    The child abuse cannot be excused – but nor can the fact that this authoritarian, so-called Conservative, government is meant to support private institutions and the new headmaster has done all he can to reform the place.

    The sad truth is that sexually perverted people and sadists have always sought positions of power over those who are seen to be weak: there are many such people in the priesthood, in teaching, in the police, in the medical world and counselling, in the the social services, in care homes and of course in politics.

    So if they close down Ampleforth when will they close down other places? When will they close down other schools, care homes, medical centres, hospitals, town halls and the Houses of Parliament?

    I expect many of us on this site have friends who were at Ampleforth – I certainly have. Also, over the years about 30 of the school’s pupils have been to us on our courses.

  39. Good morning all.

    A BTL which just had to happen ….

    T Sedman-Smith 5 Dec 2020 9:29AM
    It is clear that our fishing industry faces a bleak future as our
    politicians flounder over negotiations. We need someone who is a dab
    hand and will bring a ray of hope to negotiations. Some may suggest the
    ex minister Grayling but I doubt he will be brill enough and you cannot
    trust a sole person like him as he will be out of plaice and doubters
    will carp while having a whale of a time while others will feel eel as
    talks ling-get. Many will just perch as others discus.

    I leave you to mullet it over.

    You knew I was going to write this didn’t you.

    3. The pro-EU attitude of Sturgeon is enough to give what’s left of the Scottish Fishing Industry a real haddock.

    1. Poor little mite.
      There are times when my hatred for the British government goes beyond mere words.

      1. 327195+ up ticks,
        Evening Anne,
        I felt that way since the JAY report / rotherham.
        Also been informed on here / breitbart of being a long term UKIP member
        I should recognise them, real UKIP as a party of amateurs.

        What cannot be seen and especially NOT acknowledged is the damage the treacherous governance party’s have done to these Isles & innocent peoples, by the polished, professional politico’s.
        Give me an honest, patriotic,
        common sense amateur every time.

  41. Daft question from me,

    Have the Brexit discussions been made more complicated than they should be .

    It seems to me that since Cameron’s useless discussions , and the unenthusiastic chitterings of Mrs May have now become a tangle new diplomatic chaos for fear of not to upsetting the EU .

    The UK is being bullied , but we have enemies within , the Scottish Harpie and the pharisaical kneeling Starmer who seem keen to railroad our attempts at Brexit .

    1. Also the Tory leader in Scotland, Douglas Ross MP, who announced a few weeks ago that “the UK could not use all the fish”. I have played poker in the past sometimes in games where anyone who announced a players cards to another player would have been spoken to. This clown is not a Remainer, but appears to have little brain, no worthwhile real life experience, and no advisers reviewing his pronouncements and policy in order to avoid gaffes and betrayal.

    2. Not forgetting most of the Conservative party, Belle, even though they all signed up” to the Brexit cause when Doris was elected. And he’s never been truly convinced either, more’s the pity. (Doris deliberate!).

      1. They have had no real umph re negotiations .

        I cannot believe how much time and energy have been squandered.

        Deep down , I firmly believe the Tories have not the heart for our Brexit. They have never had it so good.

        Our MPs are praying for a big Brexit FAIL.. they have too much to lose, they are in politics for themselves , the power and the glory and all the perks .

        1. Very few conservatives really want Brexit, never did. You are right, they’re on a “nice little earner”, they may actually be expected to make decisions if we do ever get to leave – can’t be ar&ed!

      2. If Johnson had been serious about achieving a proper Brexit he would have deselected all his Remain MPs and made an electoral pact with Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party before last year’s general election and then produced a proper WA rather than the May Mess he landed us with.

        The fact that he did not do these things convinces me that Boris Johnson will capitulate to the EU.

        (As is often the case I sincerely hope I am wrong!)

        2. ‘Evening, Richard, Boris is what the Americans mean when they refer to a ‘Johnson’.

      1. Oh Bill, can you see the two women, hauling him up off the carpet. I wonder if it ever occurs to Larry and Dilyn that they live in a loony bin.

      1. They aren’t even trying to hide it either – contracts awarded with no competition to people with no record in the particular field! According to the Fail this advisor post that Carrie’s mate has been given wasn’t even advertised!

          2. How many Trumplings are employed in the White house and their money puts £350 a day into petty cash territory.

          3. Trump was a multi billionaire when he achieved the White House.

            The Clintons by contrast were comparative paupers before Bill became President and later Hillary became Secretary of State. Both grafted like mad and their front The Clinton Foundation is reportedly holding billions obtained from foreign powers as part of their dishonest dealings around the globe.

            The Biden family have been doing the same, also on a grand scale.

            The least said about the corrupt Obama’s the better. They are probably the worst offenders.

          4. At least Melania is not occupying a fake role with a title like “Director of Race Relations” for a seven figure salary!

        2. No surprise the post wasn’t advertised. I reckon it was specially created for Ms. Nimco Ali, at Carrie’s insistence, to give her pal a place at the trough.

      1. I don’t know about gay but she will be happy. £350 per day for tea and biscuits with Boris’ floozy. Even I would be happy with that..

        …on the other hand, I would demand a substantial pay rise for such an onerous job – and (paid) redundancy after a day or so. There are limits.

        1. Ridiculous as £350 per day is, it is a long way behind the £50,000 per day paid to Wayne Mr Potato Head Rooney for kicking a bag of wind.

          1. £45 an hour. Less tax, NI, etc. Might be worth it, but not a colossal fee.
            My company is paid Kr 1 150 an hour on my current contract, so about £115 for my services. Unfortunately, I don’t see all of that! :-((

          2. Over ten years ago clients were charged $5,000 a day (or part thereof) for my time, £350 a day is minimal.
            I wonder what the expenses and London allowances are.

          3. My employer used to charge clients what I considered to be exorbitant amounts for my time.

            Just a pity that my employer didn’t pass any of it on to me.

          4. even when they managed to charge two clients for the same part day, there was no sharing of the proceeds beyond my normal pittance.

          7. I was happy to get £500.00 per day when consulting on the implementation of IFS (Industrial and Financial Systems – an ERP system).

            Sadly, I’m now retired as I enjoyed meeting so many people in different countries – just about all of Europe and the odd foray to Singapore and the like – more than the money. Yeah, really!

          8. Yes that was the fun part of all of the consulting assignments.

            Not just in the office, there were many casual but pleasant chats with hotel and restaurant staff over the years.

          9. I’d pay them £50k a day to kick Boris around a fie…

            Oh, sorry, you meant a football?

          10. I’d pay them £50k a day to kick Boris around a fie…

            Oh, sorry, you meant a football?

        2. She could get more as a freelance software developer, but then they produce more than hot air.

    5. She is a ‘social activist’, who writes on ‘national gender rights’, whatever that is. She says that Johnson is a “real feminist”. She is the godmother of the unfortunate Wilfred, who had no choice in choosing his woke parents, poor chap.

      Therefore, she is a social meddler of which the country has more than its fair share. In the meantime I hope the other meddler, Symonds, is voted out at the next election. What, did I hear you say? She wasn’t elected to her role as Downing Street’s proxy PM in the first place?

      By the way, if ‘Nimco’ is being paid £350-a-day (advising on what?), how much is Symonds being paid? All from the pockets of the ever-suffering taxpayers!

        2. A very good cause, but “charity”? Pull the other one!
          Organisation propped up by the government more like.
          And if they ever get rid of FGM, she’ll have put herself off this handy little gravy train. I don’t trust people who claim to be doing what’s in their own worst interests.

        1. Well known for their rapacious, degenerate and mercenary lifestyle… and the Somalis are just as bad.

      3. Action against FGM is good, but I do envy these people who float around getting paid telephone number salaries to give advice. Do you think they study it at university – “Masters in Getting Paid A Lot to Do S*d All”?

    1. People are not stupid. Years ago a doctor in Bath, Andrew Wakefield, warned about the MMR vaccine which he linked to autism in children. He was hounded out of the UK by the same medicos now recommending Covid vaccinations. Andrew Wakefield emigrated to the USA where he has devoted his life to warning about the dangers of vaccination.

      You can find Andrew Wakefield on Brighteon.com and he is the most erudite of men. His advice on the link between MMR and autism has proven to be correct. He says that injecting mRNA vaccines will be irreversible and that the Covid debacle is driven by a global agenda combined with the greed of pharmaceutical company executives.

      1. 327195+ up ticks,
        Morning C,
        Being a long term UKIP member
        I can identify & sympathise with
        Dr Wakefield as in the importance of both issues one to protect the peoples health & well-being,tother to protect the
        Country / peoples health & well being.
        Both were castigated in no uncertain manner.

      2. A couple of friends have a severely autistic grandson.
        The boy had a cold when he was given the MMR; his parents questioned the doctor at the time and were told he’d be all right.
        Up till then, the child had been developing normally. Let’s just put it politely and say that over the past 20 years, that family have harboured grave doubts about medical expertise.

        1. I had a scare when my younger son had his first DTP vaccination at four months old. Later in the day, after we were back home, he went extremely pale and rigid. I just felt helpless and hadn’t a clue what to do. Fortunately, by the evening, he seemed fine. Subsequent vaccinations produced no reaction.
          But his weight stayed the same (around 16lb) for the next three weighing sessions at the baby clinic.

        2. It is yet another reason I think this thing is being rushed into general circulation far, far too fast.

          As far as I am aware there have been next to no statistically significant trials of the vaccine given to people with colds, other minor ailments, eg early ‘flu or recently cured ‘flu or even things such as hay fever and asthma.

          Little or none on elderly and unwell people of all ages taking concoctions of medicines for heart, liver, kidney, diabetes or other problems and combinations thereof.

          This a humanitarian disaster of monumental proportions just aching to happen.
          The hubris of the pharmaceutical, medical and political classes is breathtaking.

          1. Not forgetting pregnant women (or transitioned to/from women to be inclusive). Doesn’t that German petition claim a link to pregnancy issues?

            Maybe this is why they have been able to release the vaccine so quickly, all of the side effect testing on animals has been omitted.

          2. It’s not just the animals part, it’s all the “odds and ends” of humanity.
            My guess is that it will kill, cripple and/or shorten the lives of many more millions than ever it will save.

          3. Dr Mike Yeadon, who left Pfizer as a Vice President and Chief Scientist in 2011, has expressed grave doubts, and joined with a German dr in a petition to the EU drugs body.

  44. OT – R3 is discussing Strauss’s 2nd Horn Concerto. One of the recordings featured was by Dennis Brain. A sound all his own (cf K Ferrier’s voice).

    Talk about a trip down memory lane…. The first LP I ever bought was his recording of the 4 Mozart concertos.

    Ah me……

    1. Some of my favourite pieces.
      We had a babysitter who was in the final of young musician of the year who played one of them as her final piece.

    2. Gawd. I’m such a pleb: the first record I bought was Lonnie Donegan’s version of ‘Cumberland Gap’.

        1. That was my second purchase.
          After school on Friday – if I’d saved enough.
          The ‘Radio Center’ (sic) was opposite the bus park.
          You could stand in sound proof booths and listen to your choice.

      2. First single: Do Wah Diddy Diddy by Manfred Mann. First LP: A Hard Day’s Night by The Beatles.

      4. Ah – my first record ever was a 78 of “Britannia Rag” by Winifred Atwell. It was the first LP that was the Strauss…!

        2. We had her playing The Poor People of Paris (apparently a corruption of Les Parapluies de Paris).

          4. We had a Decca SRG 500 and when we bought it, about 1959/’60ish, we acquired, gift or bought I know not, a batch of 78s that I added to and was still playing up to the 1970s!

        1. I saw the film.
          This thread is becoming Nerd Bingo.
          Did your EP have one of those plastic thingies in the middle or did you buy a new one?

  45. The DT has a great screed about the Skripel affair.

    I know there are some differing opinions on NoTTL – but I have often wondered why the two KGB Cathedral fans just happened to be there at the time. Unless they were ackshally MI5 people disguised as KGB men…..

    1. It is quite possible that their admiration of the Cathedral was a ruse. They were here for other purposes. I believe our security services took advantage of the fact that they were here to carry out an assassination on the Skripels. He was after all about to return to Russia with intelligence on the Dirty Dossier that had been cooked up with the help of our security service.

          1. So you say…! You cannot possibly mean to suggest that someone is not telling the truth!

  46. I started the day by wishing everyone a good morning and by scanning the news, resulting in a good laugh.

    It is reported that “French President Emmanuel Macron asked Friday for respect after Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan called him a burden on France.”

    Given that Erdogan is a burden on Turkey and several other countries in the Middle East, perhaps this is one of the finest examples of the pot calling the kettle black!

  48. Nice afternoon coming to an end with clear sky. A cold night ahead and then a sunny day (they say…)

    1. Had a three hour lunch today at my favourite restaurant. As usual the bar bill was more than the food.

      Pan roasted scallops followed by cannon of lamb served with a bucket of Malbec. Burp…Hic.

      http://www.lauros.co.uk/

          1. Out to curry dinner tomight. To prevent us catching COVID, alcohol not allowed, so I’m loading up at home!

          2. Strange how one of the preferred ways of keeping the virus at bay is to use alcohol based hand sanitisers.
            What you might consider is, pour vodka or gin into a bottle marked sanitiser and take it with you. What can they say Obs ?

          6. I haven’t eaten a curry in a restaurant since 1983 .. I had a bad experience , I found what I assumed was a large mango seed, it turned out to be a cooked giant cockroach .

            NEVER eat food in candle light or dimmed lights, and just be careful of everything .

          8. Noooo

            It was revolting , and I spotted the legs attached .. Moh told me not to overreact, he said I would ruin everyone’s meal , the restaurant was crowded .
            It was an anniversary meal .. Moh enjoys a curry .

            I felt like climbing on the table screaming hell.

            I didn’t finish my meal . Just sat there in the candle light with all the horrid Sitar music wafting through. Moh ate his meal , I wanted to leave .. trapped ..

            The grinning head bobbing waiter cleared our plates away when Moh had finished .

            I didn’t even feel like glugging my drink, I felt violated .. So my stiff upper lip was brought into action . Eventually we departed .. and the next day I reported the restaurant to Trading Standards , health and safety , you name it .

            We didn’t have a mobile phone in 1983 , nor did I carry a camera in my handbag.

          11. I thought you would have known that geckos are highly poisonous. In my MiL’s house in India the cooking pots were always kept covered, because if one fell from the ceiling into a pot of food , it could kill the whole family.

          14. Don’t be so disparaging, Richard.

            I would willingly spend an evening
            with Phizzee, rather than with some
            of the so called/self promoted
            heroes on this Site!

            🙂

          16. ‘Coz you know he’ll pay?’

            I read your comment several
            times…..It was only after a few
            reads that I realised you said
            ‘pay’ … not play!!

          22. I do always arm myself with some funny tales and the odd bon mot. I have had a drink or two or lunch with people on here and most of them want to do it again. Not that i’m anything special. Now Rik Redux is special. He paid for everyone last time. (the bloody fool). 🙂

          23. ‘ … and most of them want to do it
            again.’

            Who are the abstainers?

            I shall be round to theirs’
            with a slap of the wet lettuce!

          26. Just the usual wine box. I’ll not take any with me, might cause embarrasement or other trouble to the restaurant – and it’s our favourite. In fact, as times are hard, I’ll pay them for the beer we won’t be drinking.

          27. Magnanimous of you. I have been tipping much heavier because the staff have lost so many hours.

          34. Candles, low lights a little chachacha on the turntable. I think you’re trying to seduce me ! What’s for puddin’? 🙂

          36. Tripping the light fantastic of course. Have you never seen what good dancers Chihuahua’s are?

      2. Home-made pizza tonight. Base dough made from Tipo 00 flour and durum semolina with olive oil. Toppings: tomato purée; chopped onion and garlic; pepperoni; anchovies; buffalo mozzarella; mushrooms; parmesan; olive oil, oregano; black pepper.

        2. Excellent, we had similar in the week, but although I like anchovies, none in the cupboard, but we had all the other bits. And fresh spinach microwaved for 1 minute in water, squeezed almost dry and the mozzarella wrapped in the spinach.
          Do you find that If you use strong bread flour the bases have a tendency to resist being stretched.

          1. I can’t always find 00 flour, but I’ve got some Homepride 00 at the moment. Texture and stretch for bases is superior I feel.

          4. Grizz will probably provide a better answer but my view is…it’s all about the gluten so one must be gentle about making the dough and not overwork it. Then of course you have to stretch it to dinner plate size and spin it over your head like an Italian. 🙂

          1. I really like Oregano. Of course the best thing about it is it is one of those herbs that improves by being dried.

          10. Now, now, dear – don’t be shy. That is – Sue Macfarlane….in Belper….. Google yourself and you’ll see!!

          11. Nah! She’s got a big F! I haven’t! Well I think it’s a ” she” but you can’t be too careful nowadays.

          12. On Thursday, the err, um person serving in the coffee shop had a “My pronoun is he/ him” badge on her boob. I had quite an interesting conversation with her but I still don’t understand why.

        5. There is nothing unhealthy about a properly made pizza. None of that takeaway or supermarket rubbish. My favourite is Capricciosa.

  49. How many times have I seen ‘The Railway Children’?
    And it still reduces me to a blubbering wreck.
    Possibly it’s extra poignant in this bloody awful Stalinist year.

          4. It was? Sorry. My hearing goes off when my blood pressure rises. I blame Jenny Agutter half naked.

    2. Afraid my first thought on reading your post was, oh that film belongs to Studio Canal. The master copy is at Pinewood. Wot I do for a living an’ all that.

    3. I find that as I get older emotional scenes in films give me wet eyes far more often than they used to do. Many of us here are old softies at heart.

  50. Morning all.

    Liverpool mayor arrested on suspicion of helping developers with their planning permission.
    I very much doubt if that’s a first across our nation, by any stretch of the imagination.

    No about to fit the Christmas tree into the stand and get it into position in the lounge. Decs and lights are the responsibility of ‘the management’.
    The tree we bought came from the Shropshire borders. I always think it’s a bit of a shame to cut them down, but as the guy (a local farmer) were we brought said and as most of us realise, farmers need to increase their incomes to survive, apparently the farm us to keep a lot of sheep and it didn’t pay.
    But in the new year the tree will be collected and recycled to make compost.
    Talking of which……our local parish council have decided with out any consultation with the public at all, to remove all the Dog poo bins from the neighbourhood and are now encouraging dog owners to place the bags into to the larger bins for the general litter. Well we know where that one will lead, (scooz the pun) to more dog poo on the footpaths and grass verges and more bags hung in the trees and on fences along the footpaths. Similar to when Daft Vader put a tax on rubbish depots. Copious amounts of Building waste and unwanted household articles dumped in laybys and in country lanes. Who would have thought our political classes could even eff up dog poo disposal. How low and useless can they get.

      1. Also pinched this to put on our local FB page – our football pitch is covered in the stuff and it’s not all visitors that leave it

          2. Irresponsible ones with dogs – human waste has also been seen in fact I caught a guy taking a dump in the middle of a layby in full view of the road. I passed just as the bomb aimer shouted bombs away

    4. “Liverpool mayor arrested on suspicion of helping developers with their planning permission.
      I very much doubt if that’s a first across our nation, by any stretch of the imagination.”

      Reginald Maudling and John Poulson; that was about 60 years ago.

          1. With Liverpool they keep trying to turn a pigs ear into a silk purse and they fail every time. What a dump. I used to vist one of out branches there and the centre was not too bad. Driving through the outskirts it was just a dirty dump. I do not expect it has changed.

          2. Allerton was considered a snob place to live along with Mossley Hill, Woolton and Childwall when I was living there. Not been back for years but the areas were getting worse then. The docklands however is a superb place now whereas when I was a lad it was a slum area

      2. I know he isn’t when I was building for a living at least one of the building inspectors was on the occasional a Bung.
        There is a huge development binging pushed through in Hertfordshire. Hundreds of green belt mature trees and acres of agricultural land is about to be concreted over building a new ‘village’.
        The proposal has jumped from around 1300 homes to over 1500. All of the wild life will be decimated. You might think that in this day there would be a reasonable amount of objection against this and people of importance might care. But when rich corporate business is involved you can bet there has been a few inducements taking place. https://www.whtimes.co.uk/news/symondshyde-green-a-lifeline-for-residents-in-pandemic-say-campaigners-1-6902671

        1. Robert Jenrick the housing minister was recently implicated in something similar in London, but that all went quiet of course.

      3. Corruption is widespread in Scotland. Councils and Scottish government. Building contracts are a favourite. Edinburgh issued improvement notices to householders in flats. Edinburgh then moved quickly to point contractors to do the work. Edinburgh employees got a rake-off.
        Own a listed building? Want to build flats on the site? A quick bit of arson in the night destroys the building. Oh, Dear. Still, some new flats will do do nicely.
        Contracts were awarded to a company by the local council. The contractor then sub-contracted to a subcontractor. The subcontractor then subcontracted to a sub-subcontractor. (By chance, I have seen the documents for this trail of milking the public purse) Nothing can be done. Audit Scotland does not accept any information from individuals.

    5. How very unfair to pick on this one man to make an example of him, when local government is corrupt throughout the British Isles. Is he white and British, by any chance?

    6. Good morning, Paul

      Our déchèterie allows us to make 12 free visits a year for general waste which is sorted into different categories and we make unlimited visits to dump vegetation as bonfires are now illegal. I have been doing a considerable amount of hedge trimming this year and have made half a dozen trips each week to drop the branches and leaves.

      This is certainly an area where the French do things much better than the British – when we first came here 30 years ago there was plenty of fly-tipping – now there is virtually none.

      1. Afternoon Richard, Christmas tree all done now, the most difficult part was getting ‘the management’ to agree to the positioning. 😉
        Each time we have holidayed in France I have noticed how well organised and civilised the rubbish collection is. Our council is pretty good I must say, but there are a number of paces in the UK where the rubbish piles up.

          3. We have the same thoughts about our crawling grandchildren. There was a lovely news item last week where some people in QLD had a baby koala some how come into their home and it was half way up the Christmas tree in their lounge. It growled when they had to remove it and put it back out side.

      2. What about recycling, is that included in the general waste? Or is the general waste unrecyclable stuff?

        1. There are a whole set of different skips for different things and the waste is sold so that the whole operation is self-sufficient. There are employees there to help you decide where each bit of your rubbish needs to be put.

      3. The déchèterie at Laure was very good – much better organised than the one in Fakenham.

        However there was still a lot of fly-tipping of rubble and building debris in the garrigue.

        1. Regarding our conversation about T Dan Smith I have visited Newcastle several times in the past ten years. The greatest loss of historic buildings occurred in his reign and foremost of these was Dobson’s Royal Arcade.

          I prepared drawings and Heritage Statement for Carluccio’s which is in The Triangle, the block bordering on Market Street, Grey Street and Grainger Street. I also designed a shop front for them on the Grey Street elevation. Although The Triangle contains The Central Arcade but this was built in 1906, the original interiors burnt out by a fire. The building was designed as a News Room and this was semi-circular fitted within the triangle.

          I would stay in a hotel with a view of the Tyne Bridge and contemplate the beauty of its detail and construction.

          1. I did reply to you earlier today re. the Civic Centre and the University Theatre, and the destruction of Eldon Square where my Dad has his office. Central Arcade was the place to go on a Saturday morning – Windows was a fantastic music shop, and Bus Stop was an amazing boutique just across the rode by Greys monument. Did you know that the 2 lights at the top changed to red from neon blue if someone had been killed on the roads in Newcastle?
            What hotel did you stay in?

          2. Hello Sue. I did receive your first response. I stayed in the Copthorne on Quayside but if pre-booked by Carluccio’s it would be Hotel du Vin. Same applied in Harrogate and York where I did work for the company.

            I did not know the detail about the traffic lights.

            I tried to find the University Theatre only to discover it subsumed inside a load of tatty additions. It was originally a quite simple design based on models such as Vicenza.

          3. Thank you Corim! We were down for a Newcastle United game last year and, like you, went to look at the University Theatre, Civic Centre and the “Mucky Angel” in the Haymarket. Also, like you, we couldn’t find it in amongst the dross. The Museum of Science and Engineering has also disappeared!

    8. Afternoon to you RE

      You rate payers should send letters of objection into your Parish Council and local council.

      There is so much going on under the radar these days , we need to shout out a bit more.

      1. I’ve complained about lots of things TB they just ignore it. I went to a meeting once which the public are entitled to do and the strange looks I had were quite disturbing.
        We have one of the councillors in our road she has an 60ft high Leylandii ‘hedge’ at the bottom of her garden. If there are more than three such monsters in a row it’s considered to be an illegally high hedge. She had one cut down to save her an awful lot of money and has been able to get away with it. But it still blocks the sunlight from the gardens and solar panels of the people whose southern boundary adjoins her north facing boundary.

    2. Here in Brittany we have a slightly different version: …And here shall rain for ever and ever. Brings tears to my eyes.

  52. A question to all the French residents out there: Is it possible to check the historical register of people born in a particular commune online?
    I’m trying to find a person born in 1919.

    1. You might find something on Family Search – the free Mormon site (though I’ve never found it particularly useful) or Ancestry (but you’d need to subscribe).

        1. Yes – most countries I think. Though since all my ancestors are British I haven’t done much searching of other countries.

          1. I think I may have found her on Family Search! The date of birth is given as 21st of the month instead of 19th, but everything else matches.

          2. You need to be a bit careful with the records submitted by members of the Church (of Latter day Saints) but the “historical records” are usually ok.

    2. I don’t know, but I would suspect it very much depends on the commune and whether there is a tech-savvy member of the mayor’s office who takes an interest in such things.
      Most communes seem to have a website nowadays and you could try that as your starting point.

      1. Thank you. So there’s no central register then? Or did they have anything like our Census perhaps in the 1920s?

        1. The French collect such information unto the nth generation.

          There will almost certainly be central registers, but whether they are on-line and searchable is a different matter. I know that a new chap, who had an interest in such things, was able to track down many people from our commune to add to the village war memorial which now goes back to the Franco-Prussian (Germans of course) war of 1870.

    3. You could try the Archives Départemetales for the Dept in which the commune is situated.

    1. “Justin Welby asked if they were halal!”
      “Bloody cheek; I won’t invite him next year.”

    2. I sold them all after labeling the four small beers and a fruit cake as a substantial family meal,

  54. 327195+ up ticks,
    What a novel idea, probable nearer at hand than a church, we’ll have him in the UK we haven’t got one of them,
    Here he would be pardoned on the grounds he wanted to give the kiddies a warm glow feeling for Christmas.

    breitbart,
    Migrant Who Tried to Set Bus Full of Children on Fire Expressed Hatred of Italians in Revealed Video

    1. Hurray ! They are not racists. They just don’t like commie batsards or people who kowtow to it.

      1. The BBC black commentator said there were only 2,000 watching the game , and he said the cameras could pick them out and the spectators should be punished !

        Why has politics entered sport ?

        1. There were only 2k spectators because that’s all the regulations/rules/laws/oppression allow. The same applies to racecourses (but at least we had people watching yesterday and today – tickets sold out in 17 minutes!).

          4. To encourage others not to show disapproval against the Narrative.

            If they wish to show support for a particular group they should do it in their own time with their own money.

            But then footballers have never been known for having any intelligence.

            They are known for sleeping with each others wives, use of drugs, prostitutes and crashing expensive cars at high speed.

            They should be booed before every match wether they bend the knee or not. Appalling role models.

        3. Keep that up, insisting on unwavering knee-capping, and there won’t be spectators and the lower echelons will really feel the financial costs.

    4. Just resetting what is acceptable, moving normal even further towards woke.

      Didn’t they call out the officials and standing players?

    5. Well I think we all saw that coming! Delighted the twits got called out by Joe Public!

  56. I noticed that there has been another rash of puns. It is getting out of hand. Man up you lot. Stop Eigg-in each other on. Stop Yelling and listen to waRaasay. You’re making yourselves look Scilly. Go Holme to your Flat, sit on your Bute and watch Skye. Isay, listen to your Papa. You’ll feel better for it.

      1. Good afternoon, Maggiebelle

        A good jeu de mots.. The Conservative government has certainly done its best to break us!

        I have sailed around the Channel Islands many times often anchoring at Sark just next to Brecqhou where the Barclay Brothers had their hideaway..

      1. Posting that remark makes me wish that I had donne it. I thought of doing so but you beat me too it.

        Do you get annoyed as I do by that advert for HSBC bank in which Richard Ayoade says that Britain is not an island?

        2. I most certainly do, Mr. Tastey! I expect you can almost hear me bellowing at the screen, from your idyll in yer France!

      2. No man is an island,
        Entire of itself,
        Every man is a piece of the continent,
        A part of the main.

        If a clod be washed away by the sea,…

        …who’d give a toss if it was Boris!

    7. Remember Lewis Carroll gave a list of things by which a Snark can be identified. The third is particularly relevant and I used to give Snark Alerts to warn people when Nottlers fell to punning:


      ‘Come, listen, people, while I tell you again
      The five unmistakable marks
      By which you may know, wherever you go,
      The warranted genuine Snarks.

      ‘Let us take them in order. The first is the taste,
      Which is meagre and hollow, but crisp:
      Like a coat that is rather too tight in the waist,
      With a flavour of Will-o’-the-wisp.

      ‘We have sailed many weeks, we have sailed many days,
      (Seven days to the week I allow),
      But a true Snark on who, we might lovingly gaze,
      We have never beheld till now!

      ‘Its habit of getting up late you’ll agree
      That it carries too far, when I say
      That it frequently breakfasts at five-o’clock tea,
      And dines on the following day.

      ‘The third is its slowness in taking a jest.
      Should you happen to venture on one,
      It will sigh like a thing that is deeply distressed:
      And it always looks grave at a pun.

      ‘We have sailed many weeks, we have sailed many days,
      (Seven days to the week I allow),
      But a true Snark on who, we might lovingly gaze,
      We have never beheld till now!

      ‘The fourth is its fondness for bathing-machines,
      Which it constantly carries about,
      And believes that they add to the beauty of scenes—
      A sentiment open to doubt.

      ‘The fifth is ambition. It next will be right
      To describe each particular batch:
      Distinguishing those that have feathers, and bite,
      From those that have whiskers, and scratch.

      ‘For, though common Snarks do no manner of harm,
      Yet, I feel it my duty to say,
      Some are Boojums—’ The Bellman broke off in alarm,
      For the Baker had fainted away.

          1. Good afternoon, Monarch of the Glen. I have just returned from my five mile bike ride – which ended at the village hall where there is an exhibition of paintings by a neighbour – former Paratrooper. In his description of one, he mentions a former colleague who was at Goose Green – C/Sgt Frankie Pye. Ring a bell?

  58. That’s me for the day. Kittens to cherish. Drinks to pour.

    Have a spiffing evening kneeling to show you submit to the new bame leaders.

    A demain.

    4. Turns out it wasn’t drugs they were taking, it was furniture preservatives. Nobody had the heart to tell them.

  60. The Lugg river controversy – see for yourself. The aerial view is of quite poor quality for Google Maps. The before and after viewpoint is arrowed.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5ade08239acd60be9415a70ccdb53bae0918a8c23d5ed3147417867c5e8a4be9.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c0cf43fd3a02b9d0968727b2c59d1331e20470ec43b57df58150be124b6009f1.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fca77e6e51dada6c5e91c1ca6ed2532ebb7ffc0014ecb8d0c940f4d33f631825.jpg

    1. Give it a few years and it will regenerate.
      But given the flooding problem that lack of a rolling maintenance programme had caused, whilst not supporting the farmer’s action, I would tend to be sympathetic as to why he acted.

      1. That was my thinking. It looks horrific, but it appears this desperate action was taken after the EA and assorted greeniacs ignored the fact that land and homes were being flooded through sheer neglect.
        The Somerset Levels were only the most high profile victim of this stupid theory.

  61. Evening all.

    Just seen the Matt cartoon and don’t think much of it. This particular grandmother is not going to be clamouring for the Pfizer vaccine or any other!

    2. Nice old Bedford CA.
      Because most Ice Cream Vans were put into storage at the end of the summer, old Bedfords & Transits were still chugging about selling their wares long after their compatriots had gone to the scrapyard.

    3. I’m surprised that the recipient of the Wazzock’s award actually has any tangible assets to put to use.

    1. But he’s busy destroying as many small businesses as possible. Or whoever is pulling his strings is.

    2. Brilliant … blah, blah …. fantastic …. yadder, yadder …. amazing …. burble, burble …..

      Same vocabulary, same bullshit adjectives in every speech. Just goes to show what an Eton education can do for you.

      1. I am not too certain he actually listens to what is being said .

        His conversation is what I call cocktail party talk.

        What absolutely excites you right now?

        Yah , righto, what do I say next….Your objective in all encounters should be to make a good impression and leave people wanting more.” To do that “Be bright. Be brief. Be gone .

    3. This total prat hyperbolates and metaphorates (I made those up but they should be words to describe his style of speech) all the while rumours like the following abound:

      https://twitter.com/EssexPR/status/1334929362068656128

      Protecting jobs? He’s destroying whole industries. How anyone thinks that this mess is about a virus, I cannot understand. It’s a destruction derby on our economy and way of life.

        1. Good afternoon, Rastus,

          until about six months ago
          I had always thought you
          to be a gentleman but you seem
          to be coming increasingly crude.
          … Perhaps it is mixing too often with the likes of us plebs??

          1. Good evening, Garlands.

            Of course I try to abstain from the ungentlemanly practice of making personal remarks about my co-Nottlers on this site!

            But I take your point – I suppose that unlike politicians we should try to be incorruptible and more ‘proppa’.

            Mind you I used to have a good fund of improper stories when I was a schoolboy and then as a young man but I could never have competed with our good friend, Fallick Alec, who, when he is on form, is tremendous. The humour I most enjoy hinges more on word play. Without a degree of cleverness, wit and verbal adroitness mere obscenity is not very funny on its own. If I slip into ungentlemanly vulgarity from time to time it is probably the fault of Covid and Brexit Procrastination rather than my fellow Nottlers!

            While on the subject did you ever read a book called The Young Visiters (sic) by Daisy Ashford written when she was 9 years old. Her observation of the remarks and behaviour of adults was marvellously quaint. Her hero, Mr Salteena, was an ‘elderly man of 42’ who was ‘not quite a gentleman’. Indeed he admitted it philosophically saying: “I’m not quite a gentleman but never mind, it can’t be helped.”

            They did a TV adaptation of this story in 2003 with Jim Broadbent and Hugh Laurie but to my disappointment they did not include this line.

    4. Did he mean diverse in that what they do is different?

      You see? This is where things go wrong. The Left keep wanting to change language to control thought. Diverse has become a negative term under their abuse.

    5. What a load of steaming horseshit! This is on a par with Dodgy Dave’s frequent praising of our armed forces whilst slashing them to the bone. Who the hell does he think this kind of guff impresses?

    1. A BTL comment under a DT article about fishing which seemed fair to me :

      EU fishing fleets should be reduced at a rate of 20% each year for five years.
      This is a far better deal than Britain received when Heath betrayed us all by selling British fishermen down the river.
      Subsequent fishing trade deals could be discussed after Britain is completely free of EU chicanery.

    2. Well done her.

      I just hope her stalls get enough Black customers so that they can stay in business

      As a mere whitey, I would go nowhere near them, let alone buy ffom them

  66. A top-rated comment from Lockdow Sceptics today.

    Allen

    13 hours ago

    A (mRNA) vaccine against a cold/flu virus that is not tested properly for years is a bit dangerous wouldn’t you say?

    All (pseudo)-vaccines made for the computer modelled Covid are in
    fact forms of gene-therapy. CanSino, Johnson, Oxford and Zeneca uses a
    living GMO virus bearing the Covid-spike gene.

    Pfizer and others uses messenger RNA. ALL are forms of gene-therapy.

    Sorry folks but this is “live-trialed” human experimentation done by some of the most devious profiteers to ever walk the earth.

    The social engineering and mental/emotional manipulation that has
    been applied to humanity over the last 9 months is as diabolical as
    anything I have seen.

    The physical damage that is going to be done to people over the next 6 months is going to be significant.

    “Hell is empty and all the devils are here.”

    -William Shakespeare

    69

    Reply

    1. If I may suggest an improvement:

      Johnson pulling the string releasing the cork and his balls being ripped off?

    2. The Member of the European Parliament (MEP) tried to escape through a window after police raided (a gay) party for breaking coronavirus rules.

      When police raided the flat after neighbours complained about the noise, he reportedly injured himself jumping from the first floor of a flat above a bar, where the orgy was being held.

      Szajer, 59, was arrested outside with blood on his hands. Drugs were found in his backpack, prosecutors said, but Szajer denied they were his.

      Police fined the 25 revellers, mostly naked men, around $300 each before releasing them. They had broken rules limiting gatherings to four.

      While he distracted the Politzei the rest left by the front door.

  69. 327195+ up ticks,
    Why not use party membership cards ?

    breitbart,
    Coronavirus Immunity Passports ‘Likely to Be Possible’, Say UK Govt Science Advisers

      1. 327195+ up ticks,
        C,
        The macabre black comedy is “this lot” were much the same as the last lot gaining strength via the polling booth and the electoral input.

          1. 327240+ up ticks,
            Morning NtN,
            We can clearly see the damage
            wrought in our daily lives by
            giving the lab/lib/con carte blanche, especially over the last three decades via the polling booth.
            IMO party first regardless of consequence is clearly to blame.

            The nasal grippers, best of the worst has never been the answer
            just delaying and worsening an already odious state of affairs.

            As much as it goes against the grain a NO vote must be considered, to vote for any of the
            governance trio in my book is collusion adding to the political sh!te in what one considers as being the least possible way, is still adding to the sh!te in a positive manner.

    2. Wow, all that power in a bit of paper
      Coronavirus Immunity Passports ‘Likely to Be Possible’, Says Mr Rashid

          1. Our friend Mr Rashid has it in hand. BTW. Would you also like a complimentary Corona negative certificate at the lowly price of your first born and 500 bitcoin?

            Askin’ for a Nigerian friend.

    4. One of my favorite Belgian winter beers.
      Abbaye de Saint Martin Triple pours a deep golden colour and is accompanied by a slightly sweet aroma of candied fruit with a touch of honey and hint of fermentation, preventing it from being excessively sugary.Supple, round and full flavoured, this is a beer for tasting rather than quenching thirst.

      Enjoy Abbaye de Saint Martin Triple with herve cheese briefly prepared in the over with liege syrup (apple and pear).

      This is an award winning beer, including Australian International Awards 2009.

      https://www.beersofeurope.co.uk/beer/country/belgium/abbaye-de-saint-martin-triple

      3. The word pajama comes from the Hindi “pae jama” or “pai jama,” meaning leg clothing, and its usage dates back to the Ottoman Empire. … Pajamas were traditionally loose drawers or trousers tied at the waist with a drawstring or cord, and they were worn by both sexes in India, Iran, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

        1. The word pyjama was borrowed into English c. 1800 from the Hindustani pāy-jāma, itself borrowed from Persian: پايجامه, romanized: pāy-jāma, lit. ‘leg-garment’. The original pyjāmā are loose, lightweight trousers fitted with drawstring waistbands and worn by many Indian Muslims, as well as Sikhs and Hindus, and later adopted by Europeans during British East India Company rule in India.

    4. Oh HELL no. Firemen have seen far worse than the odd bottom.

      Not that I am admitting that my bottoms odd.

    1. That is precisely why Macron’s making a fuss, to divert attention from the reality here.

      1. They now surround the city. Lucky for him he has access to a helipad. The rest of the people just like Notre Dame can burn. Are we seeing a pattern here?

        Also i can’t make out what they are actually burning………………….any help?

          1. After reading further down i think infidels burn better than rockwool but don’t tell them that please.

    2. Bit weak that video. Cars, shops, banks and public buildings are going up in flames daily in Paris and other major cities.

  78. Just posted this little story I pinched from Faceache onto Going Postal:-

    Christmas time was always special, a big log fire, roast wild goose and a glass of port and after lunch me and my old lab would have a stroll and feed the pond.
    Times we spent, sat in the cold waiting for the flight for our Christmas goose, but alas that was many years ago, she grew old and I weary.
    But she came to me one night, like she always did on a wild wind day and sat at the door, tail thumping the floor. I wondered if she was ok, but I understood really, we needed one last flight.
    It was a struggle to put the magnum and bits on my back, but we were on our way, like times before, out in the wild, wind kissing our faces, dust and leaves tossing in the air.
    We found our favourite spot by the lakes and made our pitch, just below the bank, wind on our backs and rushes in front; I forgot how cold it gets lying there under the failing twilight waiting for the moon.
    My old girl was pressed against me, so I opened my coat and covered her over, keeping each other warm as we waited for the flight
    Then I saw her head lift and her ears prick up, I knew she had heard them, and in the distance I heard the music of the wild calling to us, and as they grew nearer I wondered at the sight, weaving on the wind fighting the gusts, a skein of geese were winging in on the wind, and I looked down at my old girl and she was looking at me, and we both looked to the sky as they came past.
    And then I thought how much pleasure we had been given over the years by these beautiful wild birds, and I lowered the magnum and we both watched them sail past, not that I had lost the passion to take a bird home, but I just wanted to be out here with my old girl, just one last time.
    So we settled back in our spot and snuggled up to watch the skeins come past and listen to that music that has filled my life for years.
    Somewhere in the darkness, my dear old girl fell asleep in my lap, and at the end a pair circled us as if the say goodbye to a dear old friend.
    I sleeved the magnum and gently put my old girl across my shoulders and walked the long mile back to the van, my best friend had gone south with the geese.
    In the morning I placed her under her favourite tree up the field we always walked round.
    And yes I still cry when I hear the wild call of geese, as I think of the times we shared under the moon laying there in the mud.
    A man without a dog is a man bereft of a friend.

  82. Stop Press

    Bill Gates ‘given’ COVID vaccination franchise
    It will be administered via the Internet, well by Microsoft to be more exact

      1. Don’t be surprised, JSP if you are the second target after Gates. Spreading dissention and dismay will be an offence under the new Covid Government.

      1. 327240+ up ticks,
        NtN,
        All I can say is, for the best inner picket of the blueflade, pick flowers.

    1. Scrambled eggs , deep golden yolks and buttered toast ( home made bread)..

      Something simple , because when we were out with the dogs we had a RUSSETT apple and ate a segment of delicious rum and raisin chocolate.

      I found the russetts in a lovely private garden centre not far from here, where they also sell fresh chicken , cheese , veg , fruit, spices etc etc.

        1. Moh stretched his culinary talent, and produced a very delicious scrambled egg on toast, I was very appreciative . He also added some sizzled baby tomatoes and a few slices of mushroom .

          4. ‘Evening, Mags, try mixing a little smoked salmon into it – delicious. Wonderful for Christmas morning.

        1. I bought the apples . Russet apples are becoming rarer and rarer . The garden centre said their apples came from Somerset , they are a late season apple.

          My late father used to love eating Blenheim Orange russets with Wensleydale cheese .

          1. I haven’t seen them on sale for years. Bought a tree for the garden a few years ago, as they are my favourite apple. It is now cropping, so at least we get some Russets once a year!

          2. The reason many of our varieties are unavailable is because the E.U as part of a deal ordered us to grub out our orchards.

          3. We were surrounded by orchards when we first moved here almost thirty years ago, all now gone.

            There is a National Collection of Apple trees at Helmingham Hall in Suffolk. It is a lovely moated house Tudor in its origins with a cultivated walled garden. Owned by the Tollemache family.

          8. Me twice but don’t worry. You’ll get yours soon. Like a Christmas card she has shat in.

          9. I remember that. I was shocked. They also wanted us to grub up our Bramley cookers but government said there would be a riot – actually what they meant was that that demand was a step too far in that it would have brought the public’s attention to what the eu was up to. We were to provide a market for tasteless French Golden ‘Delicious’ and Pink Lady. This was at the same time our fishermen were under orders to…..ah.. ‘decommission’ their fishing boats.

          10. Makes me wonder why our rural corespondent in the name of Jennifer konowitall downvoted my comment.

            they paid the small fishers in the Med to smash up and burn their boats. What would have been wrong to change the use of them and have them take tourists out on trips? What an effing waste !

          11. She doesn’t appear to like anything which shines a light on the nefarious doings of the EU.

          13. I bought, as I thought, an Egremont Russet tree because I like russets. Three years later, when it had its first fruit, it turned out to be either a James Grieve or a Gala. What it most certainly was NOT was a russet as it had been labelled! It had been libelled instead 🙂

          14. Garden centres, etc., are notorious for mislabelling plants. The times I’ve told managers that they have mislabelled roses…

          1. I always have a jar of golden sultanas soaking in rum. All one needs then is a good quality vanilla ice cream. I buy Mackies from the local Co-op. Not that i like the Scots or anything…

          3. Mackies has a nice taste of vanilla. (don’t know if it is real or synthetic) but it’s half the price of Cornish. There ya go Scots!

  85. Good night all.

    Simple Madagascan crevettes with crusty baguette with butter & a hint of ‘nduja, with 3 glasses of a really good 2019 Pouilly-Fumé for supper.

  86. Now the Vicar Of Dibley takes the knee: Dawn French will deliver a sermon about Black Lives Matter when the BBC comedy returns for Christmas
    French’s character Reverend Geraldine Kennedy addresses the killing of George Floyd by American police officers and broader issue of racism
    Critics say the move in the comedy show could undermine BBC’s impartiality
    Ms French, 63, made no secret of her views in wake of Mr Floyd’s killing, tweeting: ‘Black Lives Matter. This is a fact not a slogan’

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9022023/Vicar-Dibley-takes-knee-Dawn-French-deliver-BLM-sermon-BBC-show.html

    1. She should remind the black “community” that black lives matter. They seem to be intent on knifing and shooting each other.

      1. Ought she also remind black people in Africa that they should not enslave other black people – especially the black children forced to mine for cobalt with which to make batteries for ‘green’ electric cars.

          1. Then as far as I’m on concerned she can have one. I shall not be watching. Pity because that serial was funny and gentle.

    2. Well, Mags, all that Dawn French has done is to alienate many who thought of her as a comedienne but now see her as an idiotic woke, feminist.

      I hope she might survive the black looting, raping an pillaging that will be coming to a neighbourhood near her. Good luck with that.

    3. Am i allowed to say the fat old cow has lost it? Should have stuck with Lenny. Then at least she would have been the funny one.

    4. Silly old cow. Never was funny and in that regard similar to her hubby Lenny Henry.

      Edit: Expropriating a supposedly Christian mission, comedy or not, to promote a load of diversity bollocks is beyond the pale.

    6. Is anyone surprised?
      I am sorry to say it, but the fat white woman in a relationship with the black man is a cliché in Europe. My Zimbabwean friend was the first one to point it out to me.

  87. David Davies MP said on BBC Radio 4 News this evening that the transmission period may have to be extended to clear up some problems.
    EU President said to be commenting on her talk with BJ this afternoon in about 1 hours time.

    2. 327105+ up ticks,
      C,
      Twatology being practiced by political
      twatologist nearly 5 year nor enough time.

  88. Evening, all. I doubt the Head Master of Eton understands the meaning of real free speech as he’s woke.

    1. I’ll make a prediction. Tonight’s ‘Match of the Day’ will open normally with the titles and preview and then Goatface will tell us: “All that to come but first we must talk about Millwall. There were disgraceful scenes at the New Den this afternoon…” and so on.

      Danny Murphy and Tim Cahill are scheduled to be his guests. Will they go along with it? More to the point, will they be replaced?

    2. ‘Taking the knee’ is a gesture in support of the Black Lives Matter campaign, which is a political organisation, not a Civil Rights Movement. Therefore the knee bending is a political symbol, and should have no place in sport. The spectators were perfectly right to voice their displeasure.

          3. Probably. He is keen on drugs and his favourite firm, Pfizer, make Viagra. Her Native American name is Spread Eagle. Her mother was Indian (As was Gandhi) and her father Jamaican but she pretends to be a black.

          4. By the end of every summer, because I tan like leather, I could easily pass as an Indian, apart from very obviously European facial structure.

            We have Indian friends who used to joke that I was browner than they were.

          5. Back to Kamala. I know several Jamaicans who are white with blond hair and blue eyes. I reckon her dad was such. They are not all machete wielding blacks, those are to be found in Kingston Jamaica.

          6. 2 days after returning from my jaunt in Jamaica many years ago, I attended a party at my dental partner’s home. One of the female guests rather rudely & pointedly asked him in a loud voice if I were “English”.

        1. No, this year was just a warm up. They probably think that they have leverage with Bidens lefty mob.

    3. They should have a year’s pay docked for every political gesture they make and lose 10 points. They would soon learn. More power to the fans (Never thought I’d say that of Millwall.)

    1. The burning question is why have Hancock, Johnson and the SAGE mob gone along with it since rushed vaccines are proven to be generally harmful with unpredictable side effects in use on humans. MMR and Swine Flu being recent examples joining Opren and Thalidomide and many other examples.

      I suspect that our politicians and medical advisors have financial interests in drug companies and have probably been bribed by Gates and Soros. Either that or they care little for us plebs as they fly off to Davos to be indoctrinated each year, dining out on caviar and fine wines.

      1. 327195+ up ticks,
        Evening C,
        The electorate are playing the beneficial to politico’s game,and have been for decades, keep their party in power, regardless of the, clear to see fact, the toxic trio are a coalition.
        This game has cost lives, major injuries and ongoing hardships.
        The worst thing of ALL the odious issues is they have robbed kids of their childhood
        via their don’t give a shit who enters the country, the likes of rotherham, oxford, sheffield etc,etc should have made them
        unelectable as political party’s.

    1. It’s Duncan Mac’s Birthday ! But i don’t have anything prepared! other than a trebuchet and 100 frozen haggisses. Where did you say he lives?

  92. This Pfizer vaccination is going to commence on the 14th December according to the BBC Radio 4 news this evening starting with the over 80s’
    According to the medic on the programme, it is going to be administered in GP surgeries.
    As I understand it this vaccine has not been tested on the elderly people.
    Is Hancock using the UK over 80s as guinea pigs?
    I will decline and wait until the Astra-Zeneca vaccine comes out and and may chose that one if the proper safeguards have been applied.

    1. Our daughter in the Borders, told us today that her midwife/health visitor has an appointment for her jab next Thursday.

      1. Good evening Sue – Nicola Sturgeon is obviously putting the care workers at the front of the queue which is better than people at my age being dragooned into taking the vaccine that I have no trust in. Most of us in our 80s know how to isolate and keep out of unsafe venues. I have my 6 month Diabetes check on the 15th and have been training for it since September. If it is called off I shall leave the next one until next June.

        1. I hate to say that the ghastly little twerp and Fagash Freeman may have got something right, but I agree.
          Particularly in such a rural area, and visiting so many vulnerable people.

        2. I doubt any care workers or front line hospital staff will accept a Covid vaccination. Nurses in particular suffered horrendous after effects when coerced into accepting the Swine Flu jab. Some NHS staff whose claims were filed too late, 3 years after the inoculation, are still fighting for compensation, eleven years on.

          Likewise no GP will take the jab to themselves and hopefully none will allow it within their surgeries.

    2. Definitely using the oldies as guinea pigs. Waiting is a wise decision. We should all be entitled to make an informed choice.

    3. …if the proper safeguards have been applied.

      Ha ha, deep breath, ha haaaarrgghh… dies…

    5. 327195+ up ticks,
      Evening C,
      Trust NONE of the lab/lib/con political persuasion,we have witnessed before their
      ” little tidying up exercises”

    6. Doesn’t Hancock realise that youngsters succumb to dementia as well and many are confined to nursing homes as well .

      More and more people who have indulged in drug taking are consigned to nursing homes .. so if the 80 year olds are having the jab, what about the younger patients?

  93. Good news…Plod has run out of real crooks and is now turning on those who dare to cross a county boundary into a lower-rated tier:

    Police forces will be patrolling the perimeters of some Tier 2 and 3 areas this weekend, in a bid to curb breaches of ‘non-essential’ travel rules.

    North Yorkshire Police confirmed this week that it would be increasing its presence on border areas, to discourage people from travelling to the county from surrounding Tier 3 locations. Automatic Number Plate Recognition technology (ANPR) is also being used to monitor cross-border traffic.

    North Yorkshire is currently under Tier 2 regulations, with all surrounding counties – except Cumbria – under Tier 3 rules. The Government currently advises against non-essential travel from Tier 3 areas, or visiting areas in a higher tier than your own.

    “It is our responsibility to keep the public of North Yorkshire safe,” said Superintendent Mike Walker of North Yorkshire Police. “So, until the threat this virus poses is eradicated, we will continue to play our part in containing it.”

    Police officers will also be on patrol in Liverpool – Tier 2 – this weekend, challenging those who have travelled to the city from Tier 3 areas.

    “It is our responsibility to keep the public of North Yorkshire safe,” said Superintendent Mike Walker of North Yorkshire Police
    “It is our responsibility to keep the public of North Yorkshire safe,” said Superintendent Mike Walker of North Yorkshire Police
    A Merseyside Police spokesperson confirmed: “We will continue to have high visibility patrols on foot and on our roads, and officers will continue to remind the public of the rules, encourage people to adhere to them and explain why it is so important.

    “Where blatant breaches of legislation are seen, we will not hesitate to take enforcement action.”

    Under the new Tier system rules, non-essential travel from a Tier 3 area is currently ‘advised against’ – not actually illegal. However, fixed penalty notices may be issued to those breaking some of the new rules, such as a £200 fine for meeting people outside your ‘bubble’.

    Read more: Can I travel between tiers this Christmas? The new winter travel rules
    Preventing people from travelling to Tier 1 Cornwall is also a concern for Devon and Cornwall Police. The force has announced the deployment of dedicated Coronavirus police patrols across the region, whose “sole purpose will be to respond to Covid-related matters”.

    There will be “up to 10 additional dedicated double-crewed units”, confirmed a spokesperson; with officers focusing on the border areas between Devon and Cornwall.

    Cornwall is currently the only area of mainland Britain to be placed under Tier 1 restrictions, while Devon is under Tier 2.

    But the travel ban between the two areas is being adhered to, said Malcolm Bell, chief executive of local tourism authority Visit Cornwall. “Businesses on the border have been put in a very difficult position; are they really supposed to turn away much-needed custom from just a few miles away?

    “But there have, in fact, been more cancellations than bookings [in Cornwall’s hotels and hospitality businesses]. They’re coming in from people in Tier 3 as they should not travel, and others from Tier 2 as multiple households cannot share cottages, apartments or dine together in hotels and restaurants.”

    No comments permitted…very wise!

    1. For this reason alone, and there are many many others, this government should be dispensed with at the first possible opportunity.

      Who on earth do they think they are?!

      1. While I agree this government should be defenestrated asap, what would they be replaced with? It could be a case of out of the frying pan into the fire! We are in dire straits.

    2. Sheee-it, Hugh, can’t you just hear the Police Farce creaming its knickers at the thought of battening down on the population, just going about their lawful business.

  96. Good News – No Brexit breakthrough after latest talks Boris and Ursula von Der Leyen announce [ Daily Telegraph]

    1. Joke…almost.

      Brexit negotiating teams have been working long hours this week and as a
      result have been ordering in late night take-aways.

      On Monday Barnier ordered the classic French dish boeuf bourguignon, he
      gave Frost half of it. It was a good meal and both enjoyed it immensely.

      On Tuesday it was Frost’s turn to order so he went for the classic cod,
      chips and mushy peas.. As they sat down to divvy up the meal, Barnier
      leaned over and took almost all of the fish off Frost’s plate.

      Frost immediately objected but Barnier simply retorted “No…..that’s
      how it’s going to be from now on”.

  97. Hello all
    Disgust decided it did not recognise me (after a Firefox update)

    Have I missed much

    2. Welcome back! You’re missed! Apart from that, well, the odd wine o clock squabble here and there, cute kitties, corona doom but otherwise nah, business as usual.

      1. Yo T_B

        Well, we almost have

        I think I must have digusted Disgust, as it refused to let me sign in, but all seems OK now.

        We have sold our house in Shropshire and moving back to the East Coast, we have about 10 days left here.

        After trying to pack for moving, I know what the common usage word for a Tardis is a shed

          1. Yo NTN

            A small coastal town, about 15 miles north of a palce that the wind never blows, but it is ‘Bracing’

Comments are closed.