Saturday 6 September: Questions for the Prime Minister in the wake of Angela Rayner’s resignation

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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457 thoughts on “Saturday 6 September: Questions for the Prime Minister in the wake of Angela Rayner’s resignation”

  1. Good morning, chums. Today's Wordle was a Birdie.

    Wordle 1,540 3/6

    ⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜
    🟨🟩⬜🟩🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  4. Morning, all Y'all.
    Overcast. Deffo autumn – a skein of geese have just flown by southwards, honking and the wind whistling in their feathers.

    1. The Net Zero Secretary is fulfilling his mandate, why doesn't Redwood understand that fact.

  7. For our spider-loving friends, from the back page of the Terriblegraph:

    “EARLY September means boom time for spiders, as darkening days drive the arachnids towards closer proximity with people. There are an astonishing 650 species of spider in the UK and right now they are on manoeuvres, scuttling in search of warmth.

    It is not so much that their populations boom in autumn but rather that they suddenly appear more visible to the human eye. Many species of adult male will by now have completed their final moult, meaning they are reaching maximum size in time for mating. House spiders, for example, which every autumn abandon their webs and shimmy into people’s houses in search of a mate, can reach a leg span of 120mm when fully mature.

    Outside of our homes, the dipping light levels also serve to illuminate spider webs. On cold foggy mornings, dew drops cling to silk strands slung between gateposts and tree branches. This shimmering in the faltering sunlight is a hallmark of spider season – one of my favourite signs of autumn. Except, that is, for when I walk face first into a web.
    As well as the vagaries of spider courtship, the recent heavy rain will be having an impact upon sightings of some species, such as lace web spider, which scuttle into houses in search of sanctuary when their webs are flooded out. This weekend expect these rains to continue, in between hazy summer intervals. As the week progresses, the weather worsens with strong winds and some hefty downpours in sight. Temperatures stay close to average.

    The great joy of spider season is that it bucks the trend of things coming to an end. The flowers may be wilting and leaves turning brown; the last few butterflies may be taking their final flights, but in the dark dusty corners of our homes, the party is just getting started.”

    1. The time of year when children – especially boys – stockpile conkers and mothers sigh and tell themselves it's to keep the spiders at bay.

    2. The change of season is one of the joys of the British climate. Just when the current one is becoming bothersome, changes signal the impending arrival of the next. The variations of leaf colour and the fresher, clearer air of autumn are welcome arrivals when hot days, sultry nights and tired, wilting vegetation are making life a bit tetchy. September, though is a month of overlaps when hints of autumn give way to last gasps of summer before the new season finally settles in.

  8. off to the kitchen. Salads and quiches to make for the One True Sport barbecue later on this afternoon.

    1. How exciting , I used to prepare the cricket teas for a local team where we lived years ago . We lived just off the boundary of the cricket field , and husband and no 1 son played with a nice team.

      Sadly and strangely , this village, where we have lived for 26 years , doesn't have a cricket team .

  11. 412258+ up ticks,

    If the side of the righteous ( if any are present ) were allowed, via leveling up rulings, to lie through politico
    English teeth as is, seemingly, allowed through
    collective foreign teeth it would go some way to having a level playing field within the HP sauce factory.

    The islamic presence within the commons on taking the loyalty Oath on the islamic instruction manual are given the ticket to lie in the extreme.

    Surely if the commons political farce is to continue then "permission to lie sah" must come into play for all. https://x.com/ArchRose90/status/1963988930916671626

  12. File this under..

    Undoing Blair. or,
    Farage Red Flag #25. or,
    There's going to be a lot of disappointed people out there. or,
    Pissing in the wind.

    "I am heavily involved in a group namely The Prosperity Institute and the work of its remarkable young Director of Legislative Affairs Amarjeet Johal effectively preparing the legislative programme that Nigel or any incoming government of The Right will need to sweep away the whole terrible Blairite state that has actually stopped even the heir of Blair our present prime minister Keir Starmer of doing anything at all.

    "Fundamental change has to go through the machinery of parliament.
    Nigel has shown himself astonishingly indifferent to parliament. He's rarely there. He's shown no desire to use his seat in the House to acquire experience.
    "Equally isn't there a problem. He's never been happy to work with anyone serious.
    "The incoming government will have to do more radical and more difficult things in the face of uniform opposition from The Blob, from The Lords, from the academic establishment, from the legal establishment.
    "That demands a team of weighty serious people. I see no sign of it.

    David Starkey

  13. File this under..

    Undoing Blair. or,
    Farage Red Flag #25. or,
    There's going to be a lot of disappointed people out there. or,
    Pissing in the wind.

    "I am heavily involved in a group namely The Prosperity Institute and the work of its remarkable young Director of Legislative Affairs Amarjeet Johal effectively preparing the legislative programme that Nigel or any incoming government of The Right will need to sweep away the whole terrible Blairite state that has actually stopped even the heir of Blair our present prime minister Keir Starmer of doing anything at all.

    "Fundamental change has to go through the machinery of parliament.
    Nigel has shown himself astonishingly indifferent to parliament. He's rarely there. He's shown no desire to use his seat in the House to acquire experience.
    "Equally isn't there a problem. He's never been happy to work with anyone serious.
    "The incoming government will have to do more radical and more difficult things in the face of uniform opposition from The Blob, from The Lords, from the academic establishment, from the legal establishment.
    "That demands a team of weighty serious people. I see no sign of it.

    David Starkey

  14. Good morning all.
    Dry, bright and sunny with hazy cirrus cloud this morning and a tad under 13°C on the thermometer.

  15. Good Morning!

    Today we have two short articles by Paul Sutton, the first asks WHO IS WORKING CLASS NOW? and gives examples of working classness. This piece contains a really very good poem. And in the second Paul goes on to lament THE FALL OF A POLITICAL GIANT . Yes folk, he's talking about the Red Ripper, Angela Raynor!

    Yesterday we exceeded 1,000 comments for the first time – 1075 in fact – so well done! Please keep up the momentum and read these two articles and leave your mark in the comments.

    Energy Watch: Over the last 24 hours: Britain's average power requirement was 29.3 GW, sourced from Gas, 26.9%; Solar, 9.1%: Wind 18.5%; Imports, 19.3%; Biomass, 10.6%; Nuclear 12.1% and Miscellaneous, 3.5%.

    freespeechbacklash.com

    2. Leading the poll on Crayons' future is "should be prosecuted for fraud" on 29%, just ahead of "next one worse" on 27%.

    3. Leading the poll on Crayons' future is "should be prosecuted for fraud" on 29%, just ahead of "next one worse" on 27%.

  16. Michael Deacon on good form in the DT today:

    The comedy writer Graham Linehan was arrested after telling women that, if a “trans-identified male” enters a female-only space, they should “punch him in the balls”. I can see why trans activists found these words so offensive. Because what he should have said, of course, was “punch her in the balls”.

    1. Linehan's advice was spot on. Females don't have balls, though many are very brave. 😉

      1. Not strictly true. At a Womad festival, there were some female Maori tribeswomen who were doing their version of the Haka, that involved clacking together two balls on a string like that toy from the 1970s. It seems that this was to remind foreign visitors what they would do to those who outstay their welcome.

        No arrests were made.

  17. Morning All 🙂😊
    High cloud full moon was almost blocked out by it overnight. 12 degs but grey and brightish. Or is that british?
    What a terrible mess our country is in right now and all caused as usual by the same and well known problems.
    The political idiots who think that they already know everything, but of course despite their assertions, eff up every single thing that they come into contact with.
    And now starmer has reinforced his own pointless position by placing in the dugout, lammy as second in-line. Who is going to want to get starmer out now despite what else he effs up ?

    2. Civil Service must be onboard with everything, Eddy – otherwise Starmer & Co would be toast. Chris Wormald quiet, as per.

      1. Oh yes it was always so obvious in two tv shows, Yes minister and prime minister. Although a different era. But shedloads of knowledge on how to run parliamentary affairs. Speeches and written instructions supplied on a daily basis.

  18. I see that the Sainted Mr Grizzle has a letter published today:

    SIR – When I was a young police constable in the 1970s, I lost count of the number of the times I was sent to investigate a report of shoplifting at 1.45 pm on a Saturday, 15 minutes before the end of my shift (Letters, September 5).

    Since those reports came in while I was still on duty, I was not permitted to hand the job over. My highly anticipated Saturday afternoon’s leisure was summarily destroyed.

    Back then, the prevention and detection of crime were my fundamental duties. Any failure on my part to have dealt with the report would have been deemed neglect of duty – a serious disciplinary charge.

    Why are those present-day (mainly fast-tracked) senior officers who have “downgraded” certain crimes not charged with such neglect?

    Alan G Barstow
    Onslunda, Skåne County, Sweden

    We all agree

    1. When is Grizzly going to come out of retirement and become Mark Rowley's chief adviser?

      Perhaps the first bit of advice he gave would be that Rowley should resign and that he, Grizzly, should fill his, Rowley's, role until a suitable replacement was found.

      1. Hear you RCT, I support Grizz whole-heartedly – wouldn't want to see him in any danger …London another city now, they do things differently there…

      2. Thank you for the vote of confidence, Rastus, but trying to advise that lot would be like wading through treacle while attempting to herd cats.

        Thanks, but no thanks.

          3. As a dog owner, I thoroughly enjoy this one.
            Lump of food – cheese, meat, whatever; shove in tablet and …… gulp.

            Pick cat up and cradle it in the crook of your left arm as if holding a baby.

            Position right forefinger and thumb on either side of cat’s mouth and gently apply pressure to cheeks while holding pill in right hand.

            As cat opens mouth pop pill into mouth.
            Allow cat to close mouth and swallow.

            Retrieve pill from floor and cat from behind sofa.
            Cradle cat in left arm and repeat process.

            Retrieve cat from bedroom, and throw soggy pill away.
            Take new pill from foil wrap, cradle cat in left arm holding paws tightly with left hand.
            Force jaws open and push pill to back of mouth with right forefinger.
            Hold mouth shut for a count of ten.

            Retrieve pill from goldfish bowl and cat from top of wardrobe.
            Call spouse from garden.
            Kneel on floor with cat wedged firmly between knees, hold front and rear paws.
            Ignore low growls emitted by cat.
            Get spouse to hold head firmly with one hand while forcing wooden ruler into mouth.
            Drop pill down ruler and rub cat’s throat vigorously.

            Retrieve cat from curtain rail, get another pill from foil wrap.
            Make note to buy new ruler and repair curtains.
            Carefully sweep shattered Royal Doulton figures from hearth and set to one side for gluing later.

            Wrap cat in large towel and get spouse to lie on cat with head just visible from below armpit.
            Put pill in end of drinking straw, force mouth open with pencil and blow down drinking straw.

            Check label to make sure pill not harmful to humans, drink glass of water to take taste away.

            Apply band-aid to spouse’s forearm and remove blood from carpet with cold water and soap.

            Retrieve cat from neighbour’s shed.
            Get another pill.
            Place cat in cupboard and close door onto neck to leave head showing.
            Force mouth open with dessert spoon.
            Flick pill down throat with elastic band.

            Fetch screwdriver from garage and put door back on hinges.
            Apply cold compress to cheek and check records for date of last tetanus shot.
            Throw Tee-shirt away and fetch new one from bedroom.

            Call fire department to retrieve cat from tree across the road.
            Apologize to neighbour who crashed into fence while swerving to avoid cat.

            Take last pill from foil-wrap.
            Tie cat’s front paws to rear paws with garden twine and bind tightly to leg of dining table.
            Find heavy duty pruning gloves from shed.
            Force cat’s mouth open with small wrench.
            Push pill into mouth followed by large piece of fillet steak.
            Hold head vertically and pour 1/2 pint water down throat to wash pill down.

            Get spouse to drive you to accident and emergency of the local hospital, sit quietly while doctor stitches fingers and forearm and removes pill remnants from right eye.
            Stop at furniture shop on way home to order new table.

            Arrange for R.S.P.C.A. to collect cat and call local pet shop to see if they have any hamsters.

  19. Good morning Nottlers, 15°C, high clouds clearing later, and light winds on the Costa Clyde. It's the airshow over Ayr beach today. Something I'd normally avoid as traffic is terrible. If interested, I'd stick to Newton shore to the north of the harbour. However, a former RAF colleague, who lives in the NE, dropped a line last night to say he's attending and thought it would be good to catch-up. So, I'm headed into Ayr shortly.

    1. 'Morning, Rik (won't say good)…things can only get better (or worse?)…we can't afford to surrender…

    2. The appointment of the new home secretary should raise serious concerns amongst the indigenous British.

      Is Islam or the Home Office the priority of Shabana Mahmood? If there is a clash of interests between the two which side will she be on?

      Sajid Javid, another Muslim, but not such a committed one as Mahmood, was home secretary in Boris Johnson's so-called Conservative government. How successful was this?

      1. Good morning, Rastus,
        Then there's that other muzrat who was appointed in March as interim chair of Ofsted. He wears his desert dress and invited a pig from Saudi to talk at his previous school. The radical pig in question, a Saudi Arabian cleric, called Jewish people 'pigs.'
        https://www.gbnews.com/news/ofsted-chairman-former-headteacher-islamic-schools-appointed-hamid-patel
        He has now been replaced by a 'Dame' Christine Gilbert, though whether she will be any use remains to be seen.

      2. She's already said how important her ideology is to her. I think we can infer from that the fate of this once Christian country under her rule.

  21. The Duchess of Kent epitomised the selflessness and duty Meghan should have shown
    Both were seen as beautiful, stylish additions to the The Firm and both gave up their royal duties, but only one handled it well
     https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/09/05/duchess-of-kent-epitomised-selflessness-meghan/

    As far as Prince Phillip was concerned actresses may have had a role to play – but this was not the role of royal wife. His grandson, Harry, ignored this wise advice and the consquences are clear to see.

    Indeed Edward VII embodied this concept when he was the Prince of Wales with many of his mistresses – such as Lilly Langtry, the Jersey Lilly, but he did not make the mistake of marrying her. The same can be said of Charles II and his dalliance with Nell Gwynn, an actress renowned for giving her paramours a slice of orange if they required a rest at half-time!

    1. Today's report of the death of The Duchess of Kent is particularly sad for me for two reasons. The first is that the report was appallingly badly written, spending more time on the writer's idiotic opinion that there were similarities between her and that risible Yank 'Sussex' woman.

      The second was that 30 years ago I had the honour of escorting her around the newly refurbished head office complex of Raleigh Cycles in Nottingham. She was as gracious, beautiful and unassuming as she has always been and I was delighted when she personally thanked me and shook my hand at the end of her tour.

      I fell in love, aged 10 in 1961 with the dazzling radiance of the most beautiful royal I have yet to see. Miss Katharine Worsley simply beguiled me. (I was born on her 18th birthday).

      RIP gorgeous Yorkshire lass.

      1. If there are to be any similarities, it is with the woman who succeeded her at presenting the trophies at Wimbledon.

      3. Unlike too many other royal personalities she was hardly noticed. But quietly working hard and effectively in the background.

      4. Hey Beatnik!

        Bad news, Dude here's my comment about her at the obituary:

        During the era of "Peak Diana" over 30 years ago, a very formidable elderly Latvian woman told me she had been privileged to spend time with HRH The Duchess of Kent- both on their hands and knees scrubbing floors in a hospital. She said, it was her job but her workmate in the task was the incognito duchess- and she further said, she was doing it under the radar without publicity.
        RIP a very public spirited member of the Royal family.

        More bad news, Hombre as Mark Volman has also headed off for the Great Unknown, Man. Anyway, good to know you were keeping the mean streets of Derbyshire free from the local Clyde Barrows before crime was a legitimate and state-approved career option, Dude.

        1. Hey Dean!

          Bummer to hear about the demise of the ol' Phlorescent Leech, Compadre; The swell Elenore will be beside herself.

          Dear, sweet ol' Katharine always, knew, deep down, that scrubbin' them steps was her birthright as a dame, Bro.

          Being Sheriff of Chesterfield was good training for my later emergence as a Bum, Dude. Bamboozlin' them dimwitted yardlets was like shooting fish in a barrel, Man.

          1. Hey Beatnik

            That barrel now overflows, Dude. The wise-crackers in charge just get a bigger barrel, Hombre and fill that up to burstin', Bro! No point cleanin' up the town, as the town's gone to the coyotes and all varmints are welcome.

    2. Let us not forget either the Irish actress Dorothea Jordan, who bore ten children to the future William IV: George, Henry, Sophia, Mary, Frederick, Elizabeth, Adolphus, Augusta, Augustus and Amelia, who brightened up his royal court in the 1830s. The King had five children with his wife Adelaide, but they were all either stillborn or died in infancy.

        1. She actually kept working as an actress to raise enough money to keep the family – including their father – going.
          William IV was always short of the readies; partly by his place in the pecking order and partly because his brother George IV's extravagance meant Parliament was loath to give money to the Royals.

      2. What a conundrum, trying to remember all their names. William and Dorothea would have been wise to pre-empt George Foreman. Mind you, he only applied the same-name technique to his five sons. His seven daughters each had a different name. How he found the time to promote his eponymous grill remains a mystery.

        1. Their surnames were FitzClarence. ‘Fitz’ (from Norman French) is a prefix used to denote an illegitimate child, and William was Duke of Clarence until he became king. William was forbidden to marry Dorothea because she was already somewhat promiscuous; not that this bothered William.

          He had a young niece, daughter of the Duke of Kent, that he was rather fond of, but he didn’t get in with her mother. William hung on grimly to life for long enough to avoid a regency, and the young queen could reign in her own right, which she did for over 60 years. Victoria was also somewhat promiscuous, but only with her beloved Albert, certainly while he was still alive.

    3. The Duchess of Kent was English and from a good family and another age.
      The royal males always go for the trashy grifters, not the millions of perfectly decent and upright American women who would understand and adapt to the odd situation of the Royal Family.

    4. Is this why oranges became the supplement of choice at half time on the playing fields of Britain? I didn't know they cured breathless panting.

      1. Good morning, Ogga,
        Marvellous! One of many songs we regularly sang in my infants and junior schools. Teacher at the piano and several classes all happily belting out many traditional songs. Happy days.
        Who else remembers 'Singing in the hall?'

        1. I don't remember singing in the hall, but I do remember singing that and Hearts of Oak and Men of Harlech plus a few other folk songs.

    1. Fat Boy Fat will not be immortal.
      He is a heart attack on stubby legs.
      When he pops his clogs, the vicious battle between his sister and his daughter will make "I, Claudius" look like a vicarage tea party.

  25. The doves that have been flying into my bedroom when they are not polluting my water butts have now taken up residence in the gap between the solar panels and the slates over my roof. I don't know if they are breeding there, but the cooing is getting louder each day.

        1. Is that a euphemism for 'They're muzrats though, and starmer has kindly provided them with shelter …….?'
          And, like pigeons, they breed all year round, seemingly preferring to use vulnerable English girls (or any white-skinned female of any age when the urges strike) as hosts for their filthy offspring.

    3. How does one shag a flag? Does it involve a hoist or the fly? I'm an innocent in these matters.

    1. This song should be top of the hit parade and the BBC made to play it over and over again!

      1. Hit parade? Such quaint terminology! You are a conduit for the spirit of David Jacobs. Oi give it foive.

    2. Wow! I can see it ok but I don't do X so can't pass it on. Can someone find or make it on youtube or something?

    4. I was just about to post this – you beat me to it! I have to say it's not the flags I am concerned about….

      I hope the weather in Switzerland is behaving itself for you!

      2. It should be the National Anthem of England – Wales and Scotland have their own. I'm fed up with 'God Save the King' being played at sporting occasions where England is competing – that is the National Anthem of the UK. But I suppose there will be objections because it is not 'inclusive' enough – its Christian meaning might 'exclude' non-Christians.

        1. Yes it should be the National Anthem and so what if it excludes 'non-Christians. No other National Anthem that I'm aware of suffers such objections. Frankly if people can't tolerate the Christian roots of this country they should leave.

          1. I tolerate the Christian roots of this country. Leaving it would be a gross overreaction to such an inoffensive irritation.

          2. The Christian roots are the basis of our whole way of thinking and structure as a country. That now exists almost independently of its Christian roots, but will suffer if those roots are trampled on.

        3. 412358+ up ticks,

          Morning A,
          Could very well be depending on which way charlie hangs in the near future.

        4. I don’t like singing God Save the King although I would belt out the Anthem for his mother and mean it. I don’t don’t like being a hypocrite.

    6. Blimey.. the whole caboodle.. melody, lyrics & vid.. made with Ai.

      Just wish they could have sprinkled in a few more of the baddies:
      Blair
      Campbell
      O'Brien
      Soros
      Gates
      Klaus

      2. Obviously "We are doomed", a very appropriate saying just won't go away.
        But something needs to be done about it. The world has dealt with extreem and dangerous inappropriate's in the past. Can someone please get on with it.

    7. Best be careful with Braveheart takeoffs.

      Many years ago a new CEO decided to brighten up a company meeting with a video of him doing a Braveheart skit – we even flew in someone from our Glagow office to add the correct vocal effects.

      It wax a rip roaring success and was shared on one of those streaming sites. Success that is until the movie company found it and issued a very stern cease and exist order.

      We still reminisce fondly on how the CEO introduced himself to most staff while dressed in a sheepskin leotard and his face covered in blue paint.

      1. I know that was her plan; but there was a delay in her release. She is upvoting at times – but not commenting. I hope all is well.

        1. She's fine. Well, convalescing.
          Most importantly, she's had her hair done.
          Girlie NOTTLers will know the vital importance of that.

      2. Be thankful the dogs and cats didn't walk through the "wet patch" – and then into the sitting room.

        1. There's a reason the entire downstairs is either laminate flooring (the karndean stuff, not the wood lark) or tiles. Our farm house was stone throughout. We had thick rugs for some areas but mostly stone. It was fantastic, as the dog's patter in all manner of cruft and it'd be easy to clean up.

    3. They look amazing…. where are you?

      I got complaints about our air fried sausages and hash browns.

      1. Up near Richmond upon Thames. Lovely day today for Club day – mixed matches, BBQ, AGM

    1. Both of them got shunted into their jobs without doing the political apprenticeship first. I am no fan of Boris or Gove, but they both learned their craft as undergraduates in student elections. Cameron was above such things.

    3. No wonder he didn't see any document that passed over his desk.
      Jim must have fixed it for him.

  32. That's a trip to Matlock done.
    Raided Marks & Expensive for their not quite so expensive yellow flashed produce and tried to buy a 3 litre stainless steel sauce pan for jam making, nothing suitable, but why do they label pans by diameter with absolutely no mention of the capacity?

    1. Maybe it's assumed that the M&S customer – being typically older and so having received a non-fluffy education – can work it out.

        1. Smartarse. Admittedly, I would keep filling it up from a measuring jug until I knew the capacity. But you can't do that in a shop.

          1. As a person of great age and wisdom and beauty you should be able to estimate the volume by sight.

            Same as when a recipe calls for 2 ounces of butter. No need for scales.

          2. Mostly, I can, but I had to ditch my old preserving pan when we moved.
            Hence the great grape jelly disaster.

    2. I bet the DT knows your circumference but could only make a wild guess at your capacity. {{:^)

    3. Would depend on depth of pan, Bob…prob work it out in your head? (and some pans are lined at one point mark etc..)

    2. 35,000 in two days? That's just shy of 5 seconds for each call, assuming he didn't sleep, eat or visit the lavatory. He must have hung up almost immediately after each connection.

        1. Indeed, but it was worthwhile calculating what it would take if he had attempted to do so. In reality, he either hired a bank of call centre operators to convey the message on his behalf or used some kind of automated dialling and recorded message system.

  35. There's an outpouring of sanctimony over Rayner this morning. "Marvellous working-class girl made good, came from a poverty-stricken background, made her way to the top, victimised and ousted by the evil TORIES, oh, and here's Farage, with his own property-tax dodge, the bloody hypocrite."

    She did indeed show admirable determination in pulling herself up from a hard start and many will sympathise with her over her son's disability. As a politician, she was ghastly, a dyed-in-the-wool, turned-from-the-sod, thick-as-shit socialist who thought more tax, more regulation and more union rights would improve the chances of employment for poor people. The 'banter ban', furiously denied, was the low point in this agenda.

    She was also a hypocrite, flashing her thighs in the HoC when in opposition and accusing Tory MPs of sexism and misogyny for their reaction, then, during the election campaign, covering herself from neck to toe when meeting Muslim 'elders' to beg for their votes.

    And she cannot blame 'bad advice' for her misfortune. Knowing the history of this particular matter and how many have been caught out by it, she should have got a second, even a third opinion.

    Political satirists will be saddened by her resignation, although they already have some new material to work with: Andrew Marr has described her departure as 'a genuine political loss'.

      1. "Hung by her own petard.
        "The Labour Party is a moral crusade or it is nothing", they claimed.
        "It's a lie. The left is a parade of public morality coupled with ordinary human behaviour.
        The trouble is.. the left is a natural living hypocrisy. She effectively saw her self as good. But like so many people who see themselves as good they effectively licence themselves to do bad.
        "And Rayner is exactly in that position.

        David Starkey

      1. One has to ask – what is the loss? An uneducated, thick, hypocritical crook has been kicked to the back benches when she should have been sacked, pilloried and forbidden ever working in the public sector ever again.

    4. It may be cruel of me but I hope she does lose her new flat. She'll have to pay rent to live in her Manchester house, too – at the rate it was valued (at her own intent to soak up as much cash but just under the tax threshold!).

      I hope she is punished by the authorities and bankrupted for her greed, arrogance and her desperation to levy taxes she sought to avoid.

      I hope she takes the kind of financial drubbing and loss (from selling the flat at a loss) she slaps, oh so happily on everyone else. Even another 25K bill would be appropriate.

      It is cruel. It is petty of me but these vermin are destroying this country and just this once I want justice. I want her publicly humiliated, financially beaten and ruined.

    1. This is starting to get a bit 'warning, contents may be hot' when given a coffee.

      I know it is about insuring against suit, but really, the first time this nonsense was brought to court the person bringing it should have been laughed out of court, told to grow up and forgotten.

          1. There should be large warnings on the doors of the House of Commons and the House of Peers.

            WARNING: THIS ROOM IS PACKED WITH IMBECILES, MORONS, CRETINS AND ASSORTED IDIOTS!

          3. Not forgetting, Eddy: Mr R. Catesby, Mr T. Winter, Mr R. Winter, Mr C. Wright, Mr J. Wright, Mr T. Percy and Mr Bates.

    2. Oh dear🎶 they put their left arm in, their left arm out, they do the Dopey Wokey and shake it all about…..🎶

  37. Oh dear, a friend runs a farely successful local band and he is organizing a video for his latest album. He has asked a group of us to appear as background dancers!
    Right -I am 77 years old with two left feet!

    Where's Katie when we need her tango skills?

        3. Getting there, thanks! Although yer ackcheral Spanish Spanish trips me up – the version they speak here has quite a few differences in pronunciation and a variation 8n the second person singular, for example.

          I skirt around how long I’ve been learning the lingo because most people don’t believe me. 🤣🤣 That will pass.

          1. I had a contract in Sicily mid 1990s, then moved to Spain (Cadiz) for the next one. Although getting a kick-start from Italian vs English, I never got the hang of Spanish or the local dialect. Sicilian Italian I can still just about hold a simple discussion in.

          4. There may be a few on YouTube. Probably on streaming services too, but I wouldn’t know. Good fun.

          6. Good on you! The local variations can be a killer. How does the 2nd singular go when compared to yer "real" Spanish?

          7. We use ‘vos’ instead of ‘tu’, and the verb conjugates differently in the present indicative and imperative. Actually, not a problem. It’s the ‘standard ‘ pronunciation which confuses me! There’s a shushing sound throughout Castellano (as the Argentinians call their version of Spanish) that doesn’t exist in Spain. And we don’t do the lispy thing – maybe it all balances our in the long run! 🤣.

    3. Whitney Houston was not renowned for her dancing ability. It didn't stop her from becoming a huge success.

    4. Collectively, NoTTLers will pay BIG money for a video recording of that event. It could bring new meaning to the term 'Going Vital'…Achooo!

    1. I like Habib (h/t opopanax), admire him for speaking out..only have time to watch a few minutes, audience didn't seem particularly receptive – will watch the rest later, thanks jonathan.

      1. I wish he hadn’t apologised when the offence-seeker registered he had taken offence. He should have told him to F off.

  39. This is why shameful Rayner had to go

    The ideas the former Deputy Prime Minister championed could break what's left of our economy

    Annabel Denham, Columnist and Deputy Comment Editor
    5th September 2025 12:13pm BST

    Going, going – and now gone, on the very morning of Reform UK's conference. If the timing was deliberate, it's either an act of extraordinary political sabotage or a pure kamikaze strategy from Labour's comms team. Regardless, Angela Rayner's resignation was inevitable.

    There's nothing the British public dislikes more than a hypocrite. And in Rayner's case, the charge wasn't merely one of administrative oversight or questionable paperwork – it struck at the heart of her political persona. You cannot spend years calling for higher taxes on those with the "broadest shoulders", pillorying others for avoidance, while dodging them yourself and claiming to have been incorrectly advised. The defence that she ought to be excused because she is a "working-class woman" was patronising to working-class people and insulting to women.

    This wasn't just another example of the supposed iron law of British politics – that there's "one rule for them, and another for us". There is only one set of laws, regulations and obligations. The difference is that the rest of us are expected to display the strictest adherence. Whereas certain politicians, Right or Left, seem to believe they can be nuanced.

    Ordinary Britons are ruthlessly penalised for trivial infractions. Drivers accidentally entering a bus lane in London will receive a £160 fine. Miss the 24-hour Congestion Charge window and you're walloped with a £180 penalty. There is no leniency, no room for error, no mercy, and the punishment rarely – if ever – fits the "crime".

    Then there's HMRC, which this year managed to issue 600,000 late-payment fines to low-income individuals who didn't owe a penny in tax, yet which will charge you £100 if you miss the January 31 deadline. Waltham Forest Council reportedly fined one resident £400 for putting the bins out on the wrong day. Quite how the authorities believe people can afford these fines – larger than those imposed on shoplifters and other real criminals – is anyone's guess. But politicians have built an intrusive, pettifogging system that is completely unbending.

    So, faced with the elite's own dodgy dealings, of course the public is incandescent. When you ruthlessly punish others for minor infractions, you cannot expect leniency when you face your day in the court of public opinion. Off with her head!

    Rayner was also the architect of some of the most economically illiterate proposals, against Olympic-level competition, that this Labour Government has advanced. She gave local authorities carte blanche to slap second-home owners with double council tax, a spiteful move that does nothing to fix the housing shortage. She promised more than a million homes; the Home Builders Federation warned in July that we're building fewer than ever.

    Her Employment Rights Bill will load burdensome obligations on employers at a time when vacancies are falling and unemployment is ticking up. It threatens free speech: earlier this year it was revealed the bill could effectively require businesses to police customer conversations for "contentious beliefs", for fear they might constitute workplace "harassment", that catch-all for the hypersensitive and compensation trawlers.

    It also hands greater powers to trade unions, making it harder for ministers to pursue effective measures to lift the pitiful level of productivity in the public sector. Amid rising strike action, Rayner's reforms would make it yet easier for militant unions to bring the country to a 1970s-style winter-of-discontent standstill. That the Labour Party as a whole, with the collective memory of a backward gnat, sees this as progress should concern everyone.

    With monotonous regularity, politicians keep falling on their swords over personal missteps. But it is their policies – not their properties – that cause the greater harm. Angela Rayner's resignation is welcome. Not just because she bent the rules, or was too incompetent to check them, but because the ideas she championed could break what's left of our economy. Let's hope her successor is an improvement. I'm not optimistic.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/09/05/why-angela-rayner-had-to-go

  40. Well, work done for today.
    Garden waste taken to the tip, food shopping done, visit ti IKEA where we found a floor lamp for our refurbished playroom (Yaay!), bought some interesting beers from the wine monopoly, plus some French Pinot Noir, SWMBO plans roast lamb for dinner tomorrow, so had to have wine to go with it. Now enjoying tea and a Spandauer. Lovely – and the sun is shining, too, much to my surprise.
    Tomorrow, loadsa chores to do- clean, tidy put back.

    2. Roast lamb is my favourite meat.

      Top tip…For a tender, slightly pink roast lamb, aim for a final internal temperature of 62°C (144°F), removing it from the heat 5-10 degrees lower (around 52-57°C) to allow for carry-over cooking during resting.

        1. Drop a couple of degrees more if you like it pinker.

          Generally when people roast lamb they take it out at 62°C. Which means when you carve it after resting it is over cooked. Bleugh !

          10. Had an LPG one, Bill…seemed ok on temps, but I'm not the greatest cook – used Mary Berry's Aga Cookbook. Been 1/4 century since then, still have the Aga pans, used every day.

          11. Ours is oil. Takes about an hour to adjust the heat – a job that takes five minutes with gas or electric. The people I bought the house from in 1984 generously left all the AGA pans. They'd cost a fortune today.

          12. Yes, looked online, high prices but at least longevity. Many people seem to eat ready meals now. I use the air fryer as much as anything else.

      3. I don't have a favourite meat. I love lamb, pork, duck and beef equally.

        Similarly I adore cod, haddock, turbot, brill, bass, sea-bream, pollack, hake, halibut, dover sole and lemon sole the same.

        2. I have an unfavourite meat (if there is such a word): Chicken. Flavourless, textureless, its only benefit is that it can convey tasty sauces to your mouth in polite company, without use of a spoon in the gravy bowl.

          1. The only meat I refuse to eat is the disgusting flavourless turkey.

            No matter what advice you take to attempt to give that crap some flavour it still tastes like eating linoleum!

            When I were nobbut a lad, free-range chook tasted wonderfully delicious, especially from our own hen-house. Supermarket chook though is, as you say, utterly pointless.

          2. Not even tat tasty, Grizz.
            Turkey is like chicken, but there's more of it. A way of eating tasty sauces in polite company. Otherwise, valueless and tasteless.

          3. Katsu Chicken is good. Sauce yes i know but it also depends on wether the bird is Angela Rayner style or Margaret Thatcher.

          5. The tastiest chicken I've eaten was on Excercise in Macedonia. The chefs did their shopping locally and a more scrawny and stringy chicken leg I had never seen but it was delicious. Probably killed that morning, no additives not pumped up and full of water.

    3. Fishcakes tonight what a faff lightly cook the cod/
      haddock offcuts bake potatoes to get very dry mash
      combine with trhe chopped herbs parsley chives then
      the flour/egg breadcrumb farrago
      They better be good!!
      A butter pan fried chunk of cod loin with new spud is soooo much easier but hey waste not want not
      Time for A Weston's cider I've bloody earned it

      1. Pan fry the fish. Pipe mash on top. Sprinkle with bread crumbs which were fried brown in the fish pan.

        No faff.

          3. If the fish, chick or seafood is coated in oil it is fried. @)

            Tell me what is your understanding of broiling. This is not a trick question.

          4. ‘Broiling’ is what Yanks call grilling. Like they call a barbecue a ‘grill’, and call a pan a ‘pot’ (among countless other abominations).

          5. That was a question i asked of a supposed chef at catering college. He deflected me because he didn't know.

            As far as i can gather to broil something under a top heat grill is to cook something en papillote or in a sauce. Or just grill the damned thing from the top as opposed to bottom heat.

        2. Not practical I was using up all the small offcuts from the great Waitrose fish counter raid after I cut it all up into portions
          Otherwise a good idea apart from the only pipe I own is a bit tobacco stained

  42. Just back from a fraught shopping trip, which, in desperation included M&S.
    How on earth can anyone – other than a politician or human rights lawyer – afford to buy groceries from there?
    Secondly, I can't believe that for once I agree with Tom Watson.

    Labour should abolish deputy leader role, says Watson
    Lord Watson, the former deputy leader of the Labour Party, has said the position should be abolished.

    The peer said the role encouraged factional infighting and “muddies accountability”.

    “The role of deputy leader invites theatre without remit,” he said. “It duplicates authority and muddies accountability.

    “It tempts every faction to see a second power base where there should be clear lines of responsibility. At a time when the economy demands focus and steadiness, we should retire the title.

    “Change our rules for who fronts the party when the leader is unavailable, empower a party chair with published objectives. Less parade, more purpose.”

    2. Deputy Leader is such a useful job for the modern Islington Labour party leader. You can park your working class/DEI hires there where they can't do any actual harm.

  45. Good afternoon. No win on the Lotto but another threesome on Wordle:
    Wordle 1,540 3/6
    ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟩
    🟩⬜⬜🟨🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  48. Teenager Mary Rees-Mogg has joined Reform UK.

    Let's hope it will last longer than Annunziata.. easier to spell too.

  49. 412358+ up ticks,

    People power shows at the conference and must be kept up and built on into the future BUT, that does not stop us having a safety net party on stand by, unless we are willing to be taken, and proving to be fools, once again.

    Dt,
    Majority predicted for Reform for the first time – but can they keep it up?
    As Labour reels from the Rayner scandal, Nigel Farage’s Downing Street odds look better than ever

      1. Too right. And they are rising far too quickly. There are nearly four years till a general election. A great deal can and will happen – and it would not surprise me if Reform and Garage faded away completely. Remember the great "Alliance" with the Liberals and the SDP. That almost disintegrated. The idiot David Steel telling his party to "Go back to your constituencies and prepare for government". Scraped just 27 MPs.

        What troubles me is that there is NO party, NO halfway credible person for whom one can possibly vote.

  50. For those of us who enjoy characteristically British films with solid British actors, Mrs Dalloway is available on Iplayer. Written by Virginia Woolf starring Vanessa Redgrave.

    When you view society then and now we have built our own funeral pyre by flooding the country with Alien Cultures and Cult religions.

    1. Woolf was a staunch Labour Party supporter who admitted that she despised working class women but felt it her duty to “help” them. I’ve enjoyed her novels.

      1. I apply the lunch test. I only go out and spend much money to enjoy myself. Not try to overthrow the government !

        Would i want to experience their company again. Clearly people believe in different things but if someone is banging on about some issue or another they are spoiling my lunch.

        You get a free pass. Will we be seeing you in October?

        See how shallow i am lol

  51. Afternoon all. I had an impromptu visit to a steam rally this afternoon. I had to deliver something just down the road so I thought, why not? I haven’t been for years. It’s worn Winston out because he spent the whole time pulling to try to hoover up crumbs from people’s fast food. I had next to no cash because I hadn’t planned on going, but nonetheless it was a nice afternoon.
    Starmer answer questions? I can’t see him changing the habits of a lifetime , somehow,

    1. Hi Conway.

      My neighbour bought me tickets for the steam train on the Isle of Wight for my birthday.

      It just so happened that at one of the stops was the annual steam fair in full swing. Of which i was unaware. My ticket included entry.

      It was a bright sunny day and i was sitting outside the Bar tent. A place i can always be found at any outside event.

      In front of my table was the big Carousel. There was a party of Downs children enjoying the ride.

      The utter joy on their faces was a sight to behold.

      It was a lovely day and a lovely memory.

      Dolly got a hotdog.

        1. It was lovely. And very relaxing. When i got back on the train to have lunch at the https://www.theyarbridgeinn.co.uk/
          I had left my bag hanging on the fence. It contained all the things i needed to keep Dolly dog happy.
          In the compartment i was in with a young family i said i was worried. Apparently someone had given it to the guard.
          They arrived at the Pub with my bag.

  52. Wordle No. 1,540 3/6

    🟨⬜⬜⬜🟩
    ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    Wordle 6 Sep 2025

    A salient feature for Birdie Three?

    1. Overflowing with divots par

      Wordle 1,540 4/6

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

      1. Not going to break the trend here…
        Wordle 1,540 4/6

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

    3. After three guesses it took me forever to come up with a word, any word – went with the first one I could think of, still dont know if there were any others!

      Wordle 1,540 4/6

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

    4. Par today.

      Wordle 1,540 4/6

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

    5. Well done. Made a par before going fishing.

      Wordle 1,540 4/6

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

      2. Many, many years ago the village fete ran a pantomime horse race with straw bales as fences.
        Several races were held.
        I used to be the rear end and the local farmer and I usually won, to the extent that the organisers separated us so that the "bookies" could make more profit for village funds.

        1. It appears that we are both Cassandra. :@)

          What is it with you educated types that as soon as you get free time you dress up as a horse?

  54. Britain’s most apolitical town has turned on Starmer: the Reform revolution has truly begun

    When the normally sedate people of Long Eaton take to the streets, you know a political earthquake is on the way

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/09/06/britain-apolitical-town-turned-on-starmer-supports-reform

    Carpe Jugulum
    10 hrs ago
    Ed Milliband. Keir Starmer. Torsten Bell.

    Labour has survived on misplaced loyalty and knee jerk voting. Until now.

    The above three entirely epitomise how utterly fraudulent and out of touch the Labour Party has become. They no longer speak the language of working people, they no longer understand their concerns and they certainly no longer represent them.

    My father was a miner and a rock solid Labour voter. He was also intensely patriotic. Every Friday he would decamp to the local Labour Club where local Labour councillors were inevitably found and the local MP was a frequent visitor. The members knew their politicians and the politicians knew their constituents.

    The Conservatives turned on their own supporters and betrayed them. The bloody nose they were given in the election wasn’t a warning, it was a divorce. They are not coming back. Ever.

    And now Labour are treading the same path. Net Zero is destroying jobs. Mass immigration is destroying British society. Parasites who refuse to work have their income protected whilst workers see their earnings being taxed ever higher.

    Do the howling cretins of the Labour back benches seriously think they are representing workers when they block the curtailment of benefits?

    Does Rayner think she is healing British society with a government definition of ‘Islamophobia’?

    This is not only a government that is out of touch it is a government of incompetents and charlatans.

    ‘Lord’ Hermer in a Labour Club?

    Foxtrot Oscar.

    1. There is an economic crisis in the UK and Starmer has lost his Deputy in almost comical circumstances. Comical Ali himself chose to travel to Paris for yet another meeting of the laughable ‘coalition of the willing’.

      Meanwhile Farage, whatever we might think of his management style, travels to the US to discuss serious matters with the leaders there and to lay the ground for better business and trade relations.

      The contrast between Starmer and Farage is stark. Farage says he will address the issues which trouble the people and is beginning to announce corresponding policies. Starmer is focussed exclusively on foreign policy and seemingly obsessed by a fatalist attraction to Zelensky and Project Ukraine.

      Is there a single person in the UK who does not loathe this Labour government and despise its leadership?

  55. YouTube has made a playlist for me, to which I'm listening (in awe, I have to say), mostly classical religious Christian, some Welsh, and just now, some Basque. That was new.
    Utterly sublime, so it is, so many talented people able to sing (at all), and play music… Sadly, I'm not one of them, another of my untalents, music. Despite the tinnitus, I can listen for Europe if there's a Ryder Cup of listening to good music and singing!

    3. The Third Man is a wonderful film. It’s in the archive at Pinewood which for some years now has been owned by Studio Canal in Paris.

      2. That's the film where Joseph Cotton played Holly Martins, Orson Welles played Harry Lime, and famous female zither player Shirley Abicaire played Anton Karas! Lol. (I cracked this joke on Mark Steyn's show and it amused him greatly.)

        1. "Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love – they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."

      1. So did my parents, and I used to play it a lot. Sadly everything that belonged to both my parents went to a gold-digger 27 years younger than my widower father, after he died. The old fool married the gd almost before my mother was cold and left gd everything. She was a nasty piece of work who (unknown to me at the time ) made my younger brother so miserable. I can't see the Italian name G££££££££ now without getting angry.

      2. So did my parents, and I used to play it a lot. Sadly everything that belonged to both my parents went to a gold-digger 27 years younger than my widower father, after he died. The old fool married the gd almost before my mother was cold and left gd everything. She was a nasty piece of work who (unknown to me at the time ) made my younger brother so miserable. I can't see the Italian name G££££££££ now without getting angry.

    5. Harry Lime: "Oh, I still do believe in God, old man. I believe in God and Mercy and all that. But the dead are happier dead. They don't miss much here, poor devils.

      "Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love – they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."

  57. That's me for today. Quite nice weather – T-shirt 'n shorts – what the MR calls "Easy dress"! Managed to removed a tree stump that has been irritating me for several years. Fetched it one with a lump hammer – Robert would have applauded!

    Have a spiffing evening

    A demain – with luck.

    1. Yes, I've found that if you leave them a couple of years the roots rot and they become easier to remove.
      Failing that, my Tirfor jack does a decent job!

  58. someone posted on here about the DT quick crossword and how the first few across answers make a saying (or something).

    I mentioned it to dad today and he said he didn’t understand today’s. Something about boy, earn (urn?) and something else i couldn’t understand. Anyone who knows what i’m talking about, let me know!

    1. I dont get the DT but my old Mum used to, and always liked the fact that the across answers in the concise at the top of the grid made a phrase or saying.

      I saw the post earlier (cant remember by who) and the answers across the top of the grid read – 'Toot' 'Ear' 'Kia' ….. make of that what you will……..

      1. Yes. That was it. But that was yesterday’s. Dad was questioning today’s.

        I have no idea- not being clever enough

    2. Ah is that why George Orwell named his book 1984.

      Fabian Society is a Leftie cult for very dim Leftie lawyers who need a leg up the career ladder.

      always in receipt of public money, always over promoted beyond their ability and all marching to the hymn of the cult.

    3. The court of appeal judge who heard the Bell Epping Hotel case is a Fabian.
      Lord Justice David Bean served as the chairman of the socialist Fabian Society.
      Any complaints about bias this will be heard by Shabana Mahmood who is linked to the Fabian Society.
      Three senior judges who decided to overturn an injunction preventing a hotel in Epping, Essex, from housing asylum seekers. All Fabians.

      Fabian Justice Secretary slams 'appalling' personal attacks on Fabian judges which 'put their safety at risk'. LOL

    4. I fired one (NATO 7.62 version) on an exchange visit with the Bundeswehr in 1978. What a beast.

  61. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEc0qTyM2SU

    And… again, Reform fall on their faces. They don't understand.

    Rights are a nonsense. Rights do not exist. They are a failed concept that gives people the idea they can do what they like as they 'have rights'.

    No. No one has any rights. You have responsibilities. Duty to society and others. Those responsibilities are reciprocal. That's how society functions.

  62. A couple of pounds of plums have been turned into plum jam today.
    Another couple of pounds to do, but that is for tomorrow.

    Just enjoyed an omelette with a bit of salad and plan doing same for the DT when she EVENTUALLY gets home from work.

    1. My neighbour opposite promised me a load of plums from his FiL's garden, but the neighbour has gone on holiday and the house with the plums is on the market 15 miles away.
      Oh booger.

  63. What is it with English people speaking English? Just watched a YT video, where the presenter visited a Carsuww – I believe the proper spelling is Castle. Why do so many end a word ending with "l" by pronouncing it as "uww"?

      2. "Settuw into my seat…"
        Not Brissl, just sloppy speech.
        I wouldn't mind if it was a local mannerism, but so many do it. ARGH!

    2. For some unfathomable reason, Paul, people from the south eastern quadrant of England do not know how to touch the tip of their tongue onto their upper front teeth in order to properly pronounce the 'L' sound. They are either too lazy to do so or they have not been properly instructed.

      It's a bit like the Yanks' inability to pronounce a 'T'.

    3. Don’t get me started.

      But the latest “history of English” podcast from Kevin Stroud discusses similar trends back in the 1590s….

  64. Oh well two large Bloomers and two wholemeal granaries baked. Dinner cooked washing up done and I think I've earned another glass of shiraz.
    Football and rugger buggers have both won.
    We found an old program on tv one we use to love. The Durrells….they have just arrived at the new home in Corfu. So many familiar faces..
    On that note I'll leave the world behind.
    Good night all Nottlers sleep well. 😴👍🤗

    2. Good night, Eddy.
      Durrells, eh? Never knew they were on the TV. Read all the books as a youngster.

  65. I'm away to bed now – plenty beer, plenty destressing… see all Y'all in the morning.

  66. 412358 + up ticks,

    Pillow Ponder,

    They had just invented glass when I went to school but I can still remember sticking pictures of cattle and dairy herds into a folder with explanatory joined up writing.

    I do believe now for many, that the life span of cattle
    as far as kids are concerned starts and ends in tesco's.

    https://x.com/JamesMelville/status/1964366022879658125

    1. Talking of meat – or at least, meat based products. I've suddenly started seeing pork scratchings available – in supermarkets, pubs and at the steam rally there were several stalls selling them. I remember them from my childhood, but I hadn't seen them for years.

    2. 412358+ up ticks,

      O2O,
      Cow guardians have since time began
      seemingly have in the main been farmers,so in short, and in politics, you have trusted them with producing your fodder why not support the Farmers Food and Freedom party as a back up supporting the Reform party in case of mishaps.

  68. If the biggest loser of Sir Keir Starmer’s first Cabinet reshuffle was Angela Rayner, the biggest winner was Darren Jones.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/09/06/darren-jones-promotion-cabinet-labour-kier-starmer/

    Rachel Reeves’s former second-in-command at the Treasury has been catapulted to the top of the Government as the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, just days after he was given a role supporting the Prime Minister in Downing Street.

    Mr Jones, 38, is not one of Labour’s more colourful ministers and has established a reputation among his colleagues for quiet competence and steely ambition.

    “He’s not one of the people who takes his tie off at the end of the working day and chills out,” said one MP who has worked closely with him. “He’s comfortable in the fact he’s a geek.”

    Tonia Antoniazzi, who served alongside him on the committee, said: “He’s a brilliant man. He is very competent, bright, and was a great leader as the committee chair.”

    But party insiders said he was always anxious for promotion to the Labour front bench, which came in September 2023 when he was appointed as shadow chief secretary to the Treasury – Ms Reeves’s second-in-command.

    He was unusually present in Labour’s headquarters after that, staff recalled, and would visit to speak to Sir Keir or Morgan McSweeney more often than most members of the shadow Cabinet.

    After last year’s election he moved into the same role in Government, and was placed in charge of Budget and spending review negotiations with his colleagues, most of whom would have their allocation reduced.

    The Government denied accusations that Ed Miliband, the Net Zero Secretary, stormed out of his pre-spending review meeting with Mr Jones, although Whitehall sources confirmed that a row had taken place.

    Labour needs someone to ‘bang heads together’
    Friends acknowledge that while he might be good at policy detail, he is not the most personable minister and would struggle in a charm offensive on Labour MPs.

    “People say he’s quite brusque with colleagues, which may mean he’s effective doing Whitehall stuff, but that means he probably is not the best person to deal with the PLP [Parliamentary Labour Party],” said a party source.

    In March, Mr Jones was forced to apologise after he compared benefit cuts for the disabled to a child having their pocket money reduced. Ms Reeves admitted in a later radio interview that her protege’s example was “not the right analogy”.

    Another MP said they thought of him as “socially awkward” but a “nice guy” who keeps his work and personal lives separate, although he is known to play the saxophone in his spare time.

    “I don’t even know where he stays in London,” they said. “He’s not one of the people who is in the Stranger’s Bar after work.”

    Some compare his approach to Pat McFadden, his predecessor, who is known for his taciturnity in the office and is counted among Sir Keir’s closest confidantes.

    “It’s important to have a politician who can bang heads together and can get Whitehall actually producing the goods,” said a party source.

    1. "The Government denied accusations that Ed Miliband, the Net Zero Secretary, stormed out of his pre-spending review meeting with Mr Jones, although Whitehall sources confirmed that a row had taken place."

      It would be bad news for any opposition party wishing to make capital out of NZ if Jones were to knock sense into the energy department.

  69. Rayner to get £17k redundancy weeks before new rules for disgraced MPs take effect
    Former deputy PM urged to waive severance payout, which is result of system soon to be axed

    (Hang on , she resigned , she wasn't made redundant)

    Angela Rayner will benefit from a golden goodbye of close to £17,000 after losing her job – just weeks before new rules that block disgraced MPs from being awarded severance pay take effect.

    All Cabinet ministers are entitled to a severance payout upon leaving office equivalent to a quarter of their annual ministerial salary.

    But from October, Labour is changing the rules so that ministers who are forced to leave office following a “serious breach” of the ministerial code will no longer receive the payout.

    Because the changes come into effect on Oct 13, Ms Rayner will still be eligible for a £16,876 payout.

    She was forced to resign after a Telegraph investigation revealed that she avoided a £40,000 stamp duty bill on her seaside flat in Hove.

    Sir Laurie Magnus, the Prime Minister’s independent adviser on ministers’ interests, said she had breached the ministerial code because she had failed to meet the “highest possible standards of proper conduct”.

    The severance payment would cover any penalty she may be forced to pay HMRC following her stamp duty underpayment. She may reportedly face fines of up to £12,000, plus interest.

    1. Under these circunstances I am sure she will not claim it. £££££££££*************.

    2. She'll doubtless get offers of employment, memoirs, chat shows etc etc…wouldn't be surprised to see her elected, standing as an Independent MP.

  70. Jake Wallis Simons
    Welcome to Starmerstan, where authoritarianism reigns supreme
    Our freedoms are no longer inherently our own, but granted begrudgingly by the establishment

    06 September 2025 6:33pm BST
    Jake Wallis Simons
    Starmerstan sneered at us twice. First when Home Office lawyers successfully argued that the rights of migrants trumped those of Britons, then when a comedy writer was arrested for wrongthink.

    On both occasions, the Prime Minister capped the sneer with a mask. After the government forcibly kept the Epping asylum hotel open, Starmer posted on X: “I want to see every asylum hotel closed.”

    We see through you, Prime Minister. We see what your apparatchiks are doing to our country. In Britain, the state should be an extension of the family, the village, the city, the nation. It should support and defend us because we consent for it to do so.

    But in Starmerstan, our freedoms are no longer naturally ours but only granted to us begrudgingly by central office, with certain preconditions. The same attitude is taken towards our money.

    How long before we may pass nothing on to our children at all? With theft rebranded as fairness and repression as human rights, it’s sneers and masks all the way down. Meanwhile, the sailors have rotated their roles and Ed Miliband has been left in charge of the engine room as we sail towards the iceberg.

    It’s not all Labour, of course. The slow betrayal has involved decades of reckless migration, the creep of the human rights credo and the tamping down of our selfhood. But the last 14 months have pushed us towards the point of no return. How long does the nation have left?

    When a government loses the affections of the people, authoritarianism is the inevitable result. The American journalist Bari Weiss put it well in an episode of my new podcast, The Brink, which I present with former Parachute Regiment officer Andrew Fox, and which launches a week on Thursday.

    We are not facing a crisis of trust, she argued, but a crisis of trustworthiness. “You should not trust something that’s unworthy of your trust. How can we build things that are worthy of trust again?”

    Not with authoritarianism, we can’t. Yet from free speech to small boats, from tax hikes to Palestine, authoritarianism is all we’re getting, hidden behind the mask of “human rights”.

    In their dull and dogmatic manner, Starmerstan officials beckon the decline of the West. In a 1755 lecture, Adam Smith said: “Little else is requisite to carry a state to the highest degree of opulence from the lowest barbarism but peace, easy taxes, and a tolerable administration of justice: all the rest being brought about by the natural course of things.”

    That is our tradition. The marvel of the West developed by an “invisible hand”, as free people accommodated one another to form a social order, with government lightly following their lead. That tradition is dead.

    Works of art like The Wasteland, after the First World War, and Thomas Mann’s Dr Faustus, after the Second, both lamented the wreckage of civilisation and revived it in the act of creating great literature. Today, 47 per cent of adults do not read by choice, while amongst children, reading has declined by 36 per cent in the last two decades.

    While Starmerstan is stifling us, people remain glued to their phones. That’s how they’re getting away with it.

    Never Again? How the West Betrayed the Jews and Itself, by Jake Wallis Simons, is out on October 2 and can be ordered now

    Stephen Pattison
    4 min ago
    Not Starmerstan, Jake.

    Starmer isn’t clever enough to deserve the credit.

    This is Blairstan or Blairabad.

    Blair planted the seeds of destruction for Blighty society and culture, multiple impotent Tory PMs tended and watered them, and now Starmer gets to reap the benefits.

    It took almost 30 years to mature, and here we are.

    It will take a superhuman PM and government to excise the poison of Blair 💀

    Hugh Tredegar
    28 min ago
    Magna Carta

    The Law is above all men and applies to everyone equally.

    “No free man shall be seized, imprisoned, dispossessed, outlawed, exiled or ruined in any way, nor in any way proceeded against, except by the lawful judgement of his peers and the law of the land.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magna_Carta

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/09/03/starmers-britain-is-turning-into-a-dystopian-police-state/

    Problem is 2 tier justice

    Hugh Tredegar
    30 min ago
    4% of UK population have arrived in the last 2 years.

    The ConLabour policy is to…

    Destroy the UK…and…

    Destroy the British People…

    Hope you care.

    Suggest supporting Reform…..

    …"In the past 10 years almost four million people net have moved to Britain. Those are the ones we know about. We have no real idea of the number of people here illegally. It’s not straightforward to relate these figures to the overall population, thanks to the stupid decision to allow Scotland to conduct its own census separately from the rest of us, and to do so badly. But the ONS notes that the foreign-born population has gone up by nearly 1.5 million people even since census day, the highest increase for at least 75 years – at a time, of course, when the birth rate for people born here is declining. Five in every six migrants now come from outside Europe"….Daily Telegraph

    ….https:// http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/12/20/cardiffs-homelessness-shame-a-microcosm-of-broken-britain/

    Further details…

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/07/17/we-are-still-not-being-told-the-true-costs-of-mass-migratio/

  72. Goodnight, all. Going to turn in a bit earlier because Sunday always means an early start (except for the next fortnight, when I shan't be able to go to church due to other commitments).

      1. Ever heard Artie Shaw playing the clarinet, Grizzly? His limpid tone knocks Benny Goodman's into a cocked hat. And I think that the clarinet (at least in Artie's case) outshines the wonderful oboe.

        2. I love the sound of all woodwind instruments, Auntie Elsie, but the wonderful tones of the double reeds (oboe, cor anglais and bassoon) give me a frisson.

      2. Richard Strauss wrote the most exquisite Oboe concerto. I have the Lothar Koch recording.

        It is occasionally performed in England. The last time I attended a live performance of it was about 25 years ago and given by a soloist with the Britten Festival Orchestra in the church in Orford (Aldeburgh was undergoing renovations at the time).

  75. Sunday 7th September, 2026

    Araminta Smade

    (The Mighty Minty)

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/451b0df5a7c18debed370e03925e3c739625ebea4fb5f0999bef0a474d641a4b.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f15108925be65a9a2608d8e25edca14c950fe7218c958fddb1d38927a117d0b9.png
    We hope all is well with you and that you will visit the forum again soon as you are much missed and a much treasured member of the Nottler family.

    With very best wishes,

    Caroline and Rastus

    1. Happy birthday, Minty. I heartily endorse Mr & Mrs Rastus' comments encouraging you to return to our fold. You are much missed.

  76. It's not what I'd normally post late on a Saturday night but exceptions must be made now and then (and apologies if it's already been posted).

    Labour council leader forced to resign after 'calling grooming gang victims white trash'

    Dennis Jones sent the 'demeaning and classist' message to a young woman

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3709a4f12de4b143c3904dc088a75bf61980fbc288a48cbc4a91747db3d9a595.png

    Telegraph Reporters
    Thursday 4th September 2025 7:51pm BST

    A Labour council leader who appeared to call Rotherham grooming gang victims "white trash" has been forced to resign.

    Dennis Jones was suspended by Peterborough's Labour group following the revelation of his WhatsApp message to a young woman.

    Independent councillor Daisy Blakemore-Creedon, 19, said she received the comment last month after writing to him: "I care about safety, and why should immigration put women's safety at risk[?]."

    On her X account, she shared a screenshot of a message labelled from Mr Jones, which read: "Oh so white British cops f—ing poor white trash in Rotherham is OK, is it? Get a f—ing grip Daisy. You are aiming for populist votes and attention. Forgive me but you are bright enough to know what you are doing and, politically, I wish you no luck at all. But you know what you are setting out to do."

    Ms Blakemore-Creedon responded: "The phrase 'white trash' is demeaning and classist. It dismisses victims of grooming gangs as if their suffering is less serious or less worthy of respect because of their background. That is completely unacceptable, especially from someone in public life."

    Mr Jones remains a councillor and will serve as an independent, pending an investigation.

    Ms Blakemore-Creedon, who quit Labour in May over alleged bullying, said: "I'm slightly disappointed that we haven't seen a full resignation and that he will be sitting as an independent. But for now that is a good outcome for all victims of grooming."

    Mr Jones said in a statement that his resignation was in the "best interests of Peterborough city council".

    He added: "With regard to the topic discussed, let me be absolutely clear: vile perpetrators of sexual abuse must face the full force of the law, and we must all continue to fight for victims of such abhorrent crimes to get the justice they deserve.

    "In trying to assert this view, I used language which some who wrongly dismiss or choose to ignore such evil crimes commonly use to minimise such criminality. In doing so, I was intending to discredit this completely wrong characterisation and highlight the need to stand up for victims of such crimes. "I apologise wholeheartedly for some of the language used in these messages, which was clearly inappropriate, and for any offence I may have caused as a result."

    A Labour Party spokesman said: "The Labour Party expects the highest standards from our members and our elected representatives. The language used here was inappropriate and swift action has been taken, in line with our rules and procedures."

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/09/04/labour-council-leader-calls-grooming-victims-white-trash

    If he'd said something similar about certain other groups in society, he'd be in protective custody.

    2. …."Oh so white British cops f—ing poor white trash in Rotherham is OK, is it?"

      Were the police officers involved in the Rape Gangs White British?
      Those few exposed so far were definitely not.

  77. It's not what I'd normally post late on a Saturday night but exceptions must be made now and then (and apologies if it's already been posted).

    Labour council leader forced to resign after 'calling grooming gang victims white trash'

    Dennis Jones sent the 'demeaning and classist' message to a young woman

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3709a4f12de4b143c3904dc088a75bf61980fbc288a48cbc4a91747db3d9a595.png

    Telegraph Reporters
    Thursday 4th September 2025 7:51pm BST

    A Labour council leader who appeared to call Rotherham grooming gang victims "white trash" has been forced to resign.

    Dennis Jones was suspended by Peterborough's Labour group following the revelation of his WhatsApp message to a young woman.

    Independent councillor Daisy Blakemore-Creedon, 19, said she received the comment last month after writing to him: "I care about safety, and why should immigration put women's safety at risk[?]."

    On her X account, she shared a screenshot of a message labelled from Mr Jones, which read: "Oh so white British cops f—ing poor white trash in Rotherham is OK, is it? Get a f—ing grip Daisy. You are aiming for populist votes and attention. Forgive me but you are bright enough to know what you are doing and, politically, I wish you no luck at all. But you know what you are setting out to do."

    Ms Blakemore-Creedon responded: "The phrase 'white trash' is demeaning and classist. It dismisses victims of grooming gangs as if their suffering is less serious or less worthy of respect because of their background. That is completely unacceptable, especially from someone in public life."

    Mr Jones remains a councillor and will serve as an independent, pending an investigation.

    Ms Blakemore-Creedon, who quit Labour in May over alleged bullying, said: "I'm slightly disappointed that we haven't seen a full resignation and that he will be sitting as an independent. But for now that is a good outcome for all victims of grooming."

    Mr Jones said in a statement that his resignation was in the "best interests of Peterborough city council".

    He added: "With regard to the topic discussed, let me be absolutely clear: vile perpetrators of sexual abuse must face the full force of the law, and we must all continue to fight for victims of such abhorrent crimes to get the justice they deserve.

    "In trying to assert this view, I used language which some who wrongly dismiss or choose to ignore such evil crimes commonly use to minimise such criminality. In doing so, I was intending to discredit this completely wrong characterisation and highlight the need to stand up for victims of such crimes. "I apologise wholeheartedly for some of the language used in these messages, which was clearly inappropriate, and for any offence I may have caused as a result."

    A Labour Party spokesman said: "The Labour Party expects the highest standards from our members and our elected representatives. The language used here was inappropriate and swift action has been taken, in line with our rules and procedures."

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/09/04/labour-council-leader-calls-grooming-victims-white-trash

    If he'd said something similar about any certain other groups in society, he'd be in protective custody.

  78. Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage must unite to crush Labour for the good of the country, says Nadine Dorries
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15072001/nadine-dorries-boris-johnson-nigel-farage-coalition-peter-hitchens-sarah-vine-podcast.html

    Nigel Farage must already regret welcoming Nadine Dorries in to The Reform Party. Within a couple of days she has revealed her fanatical, obsessive infatuation with the bumptious, bonking buffoon.

    Boris Johnson is a dead duck – or to mix my metaphors – he is an albatross with heavy lead weights lining his over-corpulent stomach and he will belly flop and then sink bringing down Farage and the Reform Party with him.

  80. Well, chums, I think I'm going to take a leaf out of Conners' book and have an early night. Good Night to you all. Sleep well and see you all tomorrow.

  82. ‘Shadow system’ of Sharia courts challenges British justice
    Conservatives call for regulation to protect vulnerable women
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/09/06/shadow-system-of-sharia-courts-challenges-british-justice/

    BTL

    Sharia Law must be eradicated in Britain. You cannot have two separate systems of justice in one country.

    As home secretary Shabana Mahmood should be given the job of seeing that Sharia courts no longer infest Britain and are completely illegal under British law. This will show whether it is more important to her to be a good home secretary with Britain's best interests at heart or whether her Muslim religion takes precedence.

    3. Oh no! What's the silly bugger done this time?
      Or is this a throw over from him spilling the soup?

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