Saturday 9 April: By fearing to annoy Putin, Western leaders have made the war harder for Ukrainians

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

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

578 thoughts on “Saturday 9 April: By fearing to annoy Putin, Western leaders have made the war harder for Ukrainians”

  3. Good morning from Derbyshire with another bright and clear start with a light frost of -1½°C.

  4. SIR – Taxation in Britain is rules-based. Both rules and resources are heavily weighted in favour of the enforcers. To add a moral obligation to pay the most tax possible, on top of this mountain of regulations, is no less than autocratic.

    If the Chancellor’s wife is morally wrong to maintain her non-dom status, as senior Labour MPs have alleged, then so is every ISA, every pension fund and every expenses claim they enjoy themselves. In the words of Sir Keir Starmer, “breathtaking hypocrisy”.

    Nick St Aubyn
    Dunsfold, Surrey

    If, as we are told, the Chancellor’s wife complied with the UK taxation rules then I see no reason to criticise her.  I am willing to bet that there will be Labour politicians who bend or break the rules, so I doubt that they are all blameless.  What really sticks in the craw is Labour’s unjustified vilification of the wife of a politician.  If this is their only ‘victory’ of any note against the government then it’s a pretty poor one.  Sir Kneel’s judgement hasn’t improved since he decided not to prosecute the rape gangs.

    If anyone would like an example of hypocrisy, how about the traditional practice of some Labour politicians sending their children to fee-paying schools, or seeking private health treatment when, in public, they pretend to detest both practices?

      1. I think I would have had more respect for Mr Sunak if, instead of persuading her to bow to her Labour critics, he had gone up to Sir Keir and given him a Will-Smith-type smack about the chops! Lol.

      2. If she has any sense then she’ll just move the money into a tax vehicle off-shore while remaining a resident. She doesn’t need it to physically exist in the UK to use it here to buy property. besides, if she did that 10 million would be – because of her husband’s tax and waste policies – devalued by a million every year.

    2. Yes… but the state robs our savings with inflation and our pensions with Brown’s tax raid.

      We save, we’re taxed. We save into a pension, and we’re taxed. It’s time to stop pretending. We pay ten or 12 taxes on everything, and that’s after we’ve paid our own personal taxes. That’s why it is harder and harder to get ahead in this country. It’s why our economy is stagnant, why we’re getting poorer, why the wealth gap is widening like a chasm.

      1. Eradicating as much waste as possible would make one hell of a difference. There again, pigs might fly.

  5. SIR – It is hard to judge whether the attack on the Chancellor’s wife is due to sexism, racism, envy or all three.

    Richard Coulson
    Rainham, Kent

    SIR – I challenge critics (including senior Labour politicians) of the Chancellor’s wife to state whether non-dom tax rules should be changed, and, if so, exactly how.

    Mac Fearnehough
    Holmesfield, Derbyshire

    Indeed!

    1. Ah, yes. Ignore the reality of hypocrisy and blame waycism. Deflect, deflect, deflect. Anything to avoid the real problem.

      1. That’s a very good point about deflection, but if this were the wife of a Labour front-bencher, I suspect that race and sexism cards would be readily deployed.

  6. Kramatorsk station attack: What we know so far. 9 April 2022.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/cb1302ebd0cacfabfed13419beb660a8b711c5069efe330b51f82fbee4dcb7f0.jpg

    Scores of people, including children, have been killed when rockets hit a railway station in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk.

    Ukrainian officials say thousands of people were waiting for evacuation trains on Friday morning, desperate to flee heavy Russian shelling across the wider Donetsk region.

    I’ve been looking at this incident and have to say that I’m even less convinced than I was by Bucha. This was initially sparked by the pictures of the burned cars lined up neatly outside the station with no damage to the buildings themselves. Now there’s the one above. A “Russian” missile has landed on soft grass without so much as a foot of turf disturbed and even has a message ( Za Detei”) written on its side just in case you might have missed the blindingly obvious. There are others, a shot of luggage neatly piled while its owners have been supposedly killed standing next to it! The waiting room with its bodies where the line of chairs has not even sustained scorch marks and the windows are all still intact! Now I admit that I’m a long way from Ukraine but this is too much for me. As far as I’m concerned nothing these people tell you can be believed. Faking has become a Ukrainian cottage industry!

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-61036740

    1. I’m sceptical about most things I see on the ‘news’ but this one certainly didn’t ring true. Why would the Russians bomb the area they want to take back?

      1. Much like the allegations that Assad used chemical weapons, when his troops had almost total control of the area in question. It doesn’t pass the logic test and our meeja/political class do not have the intelligence to notice as they continue to push their narrative.

    3. And of course the obligatory demonization: “Barbaric message reportedly written on Russian missile used to kill dozens of civilians. For the children.” (Fox News)
      Yes, sure I believe the Russians wrote that on a missile and that it just happened that the message was left intact after the thing exploded. The propaganda is becoming so crude only fools can believe it.

  7. Kramatorsk station attack: What we know so far. 9 April 2022.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/cb1302ebd0cacfabfed13419beb660a8b711c5069efe330b51f82fbee4dcb7f0.jpg

    Scores of people, including children, have been killed when rockets hit a railway station in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk.

    Ukrainian officials say thousands of people were waiting for evacuation trains on Friday morning, desperate to flee heavy Russian shelling across the wider Donetsk region.

    I’ve been looking at this incident and have to say that I’m even less convinced that I was by Bucha. This was initially sparked by the pictures of the burned cars lined up neatly outside the station with no damage to the buildings themselves. Now there’s the one above. A “Russian” missile has landed on soft grass without so much as a foot of turf disturbed and even has a message ( Za Detei”) written on its side just in case you might have missed the blindingly obvious. There are others, a shot of luggage neatly piled while its owners have been supposedly killed standing next to it! The waiting room with its bodies where the line of chairs has not even sustained scorch marks and the windows are all still intact! Now I admit that I’m a long way from Ukraine but this is too much for me. As far as I’m concerned nothing these people tell you can be believed. Faking has become a Ukrainian cottage industry!

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-61036740

  8. SIR – There is a lot of talk about food miles, but not about steel or gas miles. Steel produced in China has a much larger carbon footprint than steel produced locally – not just in transportation but also in the lower environmental standards of the smelters tolerated by China.

    Similarly, the process to liquefy, transport and de-liquefy natural gas produces a 20-40 per cent efficiency loss.

    The production of solar panel cells is extremely energy intensive. Chinese cells are made with coal power far dirtier than British gas power.

    If we were serious about reducing carbon emissions we would make steel for wind turbines locally, with locally mined coking coal, and use British-produced gas, via fracking if needed, to power the production of solar cells.

    William Fisher
    Theydon Bois, Essex

    You are not wrong, William Fisher, if you accept that ‘carbon emissions’ is important.  For me, transporting goods made so far away is a waste of fuel, as well as the creation of unnecessary pollution.  And then there’s the export of jobs…

    1. The trouble is, William, that facts and logic play no part in the Greenies plans – importing “stuff” means that we have reduced our carbon footprint [as if that really matters] and can ignore the child slave labour and massive pollution involved in the production of EV cars, windmills, solar panels etc as it’s not in our virtue signalling back yard! Massive hypocrisy but people like Carrion don’t care.

    2. Mr Fisher, the state doesn’t want manufacturing here as that would mean needing more energy. Far easier for the insane Left to pretend there’s no cost to use if things are made elsewhere.

      I suppose that the ultimate hypocrisy of the Left. They shut down our economy and claim success while ignoring China which is producing all the materials they rely upon rather than our doing similar more sustainably.

      I hate them.

      As it is, don’t waste steel on windmills. Build gas power plants.

  9. Good morning All
    – from a chilly Conques sur Orbiel.

    Temperatures varying from 9 to 21 C but the clouds over La Montagne Noire and the sun gloriously shining through helps us forget the parlous state of the world.

    Turning the title on its head
    By insisting on annoying Putin Western leaders are condemning Ukraine to prolonged suffering.
    But at least Germany will have to buy US gas, so its all worth it.

    With what money they will be doing that as the increased energy cost will crash the industry, I am not so certain.
    But its all worth the death and destruction, I’m sure. They wouldn’t be doing it otherwise. Would they?

    1. But at least Germany will have to buy US gas, so its all worth it.

      Morning LIM. The gas (and Oil and Coal) is what it is all about. If they don’t buy it from Russia they will have to get it from the US!

        1. Yes, I did thanks. I did geography at school. Of course it is about coal. Funny that. We have tons of the stuff, yet some of our people die of cold every winter.

    2. Bonjour.

      A challenge for you. Please ask at the Cave Coopé (IN CONQUES) WHEN the “new” inox cuves were installed. I reckon it was about 1998 but would very much like to know! They arrived on 19 July in the year in question – and were made in Jarnac.

      Don’t forget to vote tomorrow. My pals in Laure Minervois are convinced that Mélenchon will fiish in second place!! Misguided fools.

      1. I’m not registered to vote here and come to think of it I don’t believe we received and papers from the French consulate in London. And yet, I reckon I still have more chance of coming in second than Melanchon.
        It will be Macron-Le Pen. And whoever controls the counting machines will win, IMO. So Macron will win and another few years of more of the same.

        There will be some bad news from Ukraine because there are more and more rumours that French “trainers” are trapped behind the lines having been collaborating with the Nazi Azovs (history does not repeat but it does rhyme). That will soon be exposed, but nothing another couple of lockdowns won’t bury before the next election.
        I’ll try to find out about the cuves this evening as I’ll be meeting a few parishioners.

  10. SIR – We’re building eight new nuclear reactors between now and 2030, but meanwhile six advanced gas-cooled reactors are set to go offline.

    The plants to be decommissioned are smaller than the new builds, but it still takes a bite out of the total output increase.

    You’d be forgiven for thinking it’s a case of eight steps forward and six back, with the new strategy merely returning the United Kingdom to the 25 per cent nuclear mix of the 1990s.

    Overall, this is good news, but it could have been great news.

    Vince Zabielski
    London EC1

    Precisely.  This government wants to be seen as the saviour of our energy supply, when in reality they and and their predecessors have created this expensive shambles by failing to plan.  The Conservatives – if we can call them that – have been in office for 12 years so far, so there are no excuses.  (Our only new nuclear station, Hinkley Point, was outsourced to a foreign and potentially hostile power, and is still nowhere near completion. It will also use a system that has yet to be proved safe.)

    1. Chaos umpire sits
      And by decision more embroils the fray
      By which he reigns: next him high arbiter
      Chance governs all.”

      Milton Friedman or John Milton?

      I cannot believe that anyone is guiding this government into such a total shambles!”

    2. Eight reactors in eight years? My arse, they will. The enquiries won’t be finished by then, let alone breaking ground.

      1. Indeed. At the moment they are merely breaking wind, and even that is from the wrong orifice.

    3. “Failing to plan”? Oh, I think they planned alright, planned to do what Johnson and his cabal (including others from earlier governments) stated i.e. drive crazily to a Net Zero position and bugger the consequences. The backlash has been such that U-turn Central has been in a state of confusion and now we have the ‘new strategy’. The latter is a sop to public opinion and the major concerns Johnson’s stance has created as people have woken up to the disaster in the making. The ‘strategy’ will never come to fruition. OB (below) is correct. The future looks very scary.

        1. Inspect A Corner of The Yard (Dickhead’s wife) A perlicewoman. Inspector.

    3. The last time I criticised that woman, a mysterious interviewer came to my door.

  12. A BTL comment about the banning of ICE cars in 2030:

    Edwin Pugh1 HR AGO

    More than half of all UK cars should be electric by 2028, according to the Government, as it looks to solidify plans for a Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate.

    In less than eight years, the Government will ban the sales of new petrol and diesel vehicles in the UK.

    https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/cars/1593104/electric-car-sales-uk-zero-emission-vehicle-mandate-consultation-dft

    How is this going to be enforced? You can’t make people buy something they don’t want especially as for most drivers EV’s are totally useless.

    This whole business is an example of how we are all gradually losing our freedom of choice.

    And you thought that this government couldn’t come up with anything dafter?

    * * *

    Edwin Pugh should also have included the fact that EVs are significantly more expensive to purchase, and when the battery pack requires replacement the vehicle is little more than worthless.  Oh yes, and if ‘carbon footprint’ is important to our smug greenies, many of these vehicles will be far worse than the conventional type.  It is hard not to conclude that the curtailment of personal freedom is really what this is all about.

    1. We won’t have cars and we shall be happy.

      If we are not happy then it’s durable excrement.

    2. In line with this EV nightmare: yesterday I came across a report of additional expansion of housing in Essex. Heybridge, on the river Blackwater, adjacent to the town of Maldon, is to be blessed with >1,100 new homes on a ‘Garden’ development: the initial phase of around 160 will all have EV charging points. I infer from that that the remaining 1,000 or so will also have these charging points. In addition, 30% of the homes will be ‘social housing’; will these people who require assistance with their living accommodation have the wherewithal to afford to buy and charge an EV?

    3. Never mind all that. Where will the electricity to charge them come from, as well as replacing gas & oil heating? There isn’t enough already!

    5. Yes, they can. Alongside htat they’ll make fuel so intolerably expensive that people cannot afford to drive.

      Yep, it’s all about control.

    6. It could become a self-fulfilling prophecy. The more EVs on the road, the less demand for diesel and petrol. Economics of supply and demand will mean closure of non-viable fuel stations, meaning it will become harder to find somewhere to fill your tank. This will mean more drivers will opt for EVs, and so it goes on.

      1. I fully expect the government, in its manic pursuit of the idiocy that is net zero, to increase taxes on petrol and diesel fuels and to raise the road tax on such vehicles in an attempt to tax them out of existence. They do have form for the latter, of course.

  14. From today’s DT:

    Pay more for power at peak hour under surge pricing plans

    Business Secretary backs energy billing shake-up that aims to reduce spikes in demand

    By Matt Oliver 8 April 2022 • 7:23pm

    Kwasi Kwarteng has endorsed plans to charge households higher energy bills if they charge their phone or boil the kettle on a Friday evening, in a scramble to prepare Britain’s creaking power network for the end of fossil fuels.

    The Business Secretary said that it “totally makes sense” for consumers to face higher costs at the busiest times of the week in the strongest sign yet that a radical shake-up is being considered by ministers.

    The surge pricing proposals aim to reduce peaks in power usage which put the grid under heavy strain.

    At present, gas and oil-fired power stations can be switched on to cope with this jump in demand, but this is harder with solar panels and wind turbines that vary in output.

    Under the new billing system, households would be charged less when not many people are using energy, such as in the middle of the night. They would pay more at times – like Friday evenings – when lots of people are cooking, watching television or making a cup of tea.

    The plans have already won support from energy companies but are likely to prove controversial with customers.

    Speaking on a podcast published by Aurora Energy Research on Friday, Mr Kwarteng said: “If we’re serious about net zero and energy efficiency and having a more nimble system, then we have to probably examine what is called price discrimination.

    “So that, if you charge your phone on a Wednesday morning at 2am, it’s going to cost you less than if you were to do the same thing let’s say on a Friday night where people use a lot more electricity.

    “At the moment, it’s just the same blanket price. So I think there is a lot of work we can do to make a more nimble system that reflects actual economic activity in the moment.

    “In order to make it more efficient, we probably have to have more continuous pricing, and more variation, in terms of you know, how we pay for charging electricity, or even putting a kettle on.”

    Consumer rights groups have warned the proposals could force extra costs onto people with poorly insulated homes, old-fashioned appliances or health conditions that require round-the-clock support.

    But Mr Kwarteng claimed the current approach leads to unnecessary costs. He also suggested localised pricing for different areas could be looked at but that this was likely to be more technically difficult.

    Mr Kwarteng said: “A world where you have quite rigid national prices, which stay the same regardless of demand or supply at any single point, that’s quite a rigid system and it builds quite a lot of cost into the system.

    “Whereas a world where you have more nodal pricing, I don’t know about the technicalities of that… but it should be looked into, where you have more localised pricing or you have more continuous pricing, which reflects the supply and demand for electricity at any moment.”

    He said this was partly necessary because a future grid was likely to come under extra pressure from millions of electric cars being plugged in, so “it needs to be more efficient”.

    It is thought to be the first time a Cabinet minister has discussed in detail how surge pricing would work in practice.

    The Government formally endorsed the idea in the energy security strategy that was published on Thursday, arguing that offering cheaper electricity at quieter periods would encourage households to charge their cars overnight and use their washing machines when demand is lower.

    Such a shake-up would amount to sea change in how households pay for energy. It will also hinge on millions of customers sending more regular electricity usage reports to suppliers through their smart metres (sic!).

    Ofgem, the energy regulator, is already putting the building blocks in place. From next month, it will gain legal powers to make smart meters send half-hourly updates to suppliers by default and expects this to be the norm across the industry by 2025.

    Some suppliers, including Octopus, already offer time-of-use tariffs and these tend to be most popular among electric car owners.

    Energy company bosses and Ofgem have insisted the plans will ultimately benefit most customers, saving them between £1.6bn and £4.5bn overall.

    This is because the changes will let more people take advantage of lower prices at “off peak” times, in turn easing demand at peak times and lowering prices for everyone.

    They also argue that less money will need to be spent on upgrading grid infrastructure if the demands on the network are better understood.

    Overall, the Government has estimated the changes could reap cost savings of between £30bn and £70bn in the energy system.

    Citizens Advice has cautiously supported the changes but warned that setting “normal” thresholds for energy use, and charging people more if they exceed them, could unfairly punish those who cannot easily change their habits.

    * * *

    The BTL posters are not feeling very charitable about this:

    Matthew Jones12 HRS AGO

    Listen up government.

    You will not get reelected if you keep pushing this net zero. Open up the coal fired stations.

    Where exactly is our tax money going if not to build powerplants etc?

    Everyone thought I was nuts going on about the great reset but it’s fairly obvious that’s what’s happening.

    Duncan Forsyth11 HRS AGO

    …And lo, yet another conspiracy theory is proven 100 percent correct. The main purpose of the smart meter programme was always to allow for rationing during periods when the expensive and unreliable energy sources selected by the government inevitably fail to provide adequate power.

    I’m feeling quite smug that I refused to have one installed.

    Simon Hinks11 HRS AGO

    “Cup of tea love?” “Yes please”, “I’ll wake you up at 3am when we can afford to put the kettle on”

    The utter failure of the Government energy policy…

    NoLonger ATory11 HRS AGO

    Looking forward to cooking dinner at 3am. Won’t affect ministers they probably eat out at someone else’s expense. We’re being treated like fools, sadly most people lap it up.

    Mr Turner12 HRS AGO

    Good news citizens. Electricity will be available on Tuesday at 2pm for an hour. Please ensure your social usage card is authorised at the usual payment centre.

    L Murphy12 HRS AGO

    This is rationing. They don’t want to call it that, but rationing is exactly what it is. Mandatory smart metres are next, whether by government decree or energy supplier mandate.

    We really need to get these people out of government. It’s easy to imagine the pensioners who put off turning the heating on when it’s expensive, and easy to imagine the consequences.

    Deborah Peach11 HRS AGO

    ‘If we’re serious about net zero…’ this is a mandate no one voted for, at least, not with these outcomes. Good bye Conservatives, this will be your undoing, you’re sacrificing people’s quality of life on the high alter of ‘net zero’ while the rest of the world looks on.

    1. It’s always been the main use for smart meters. We haven’t yet been forced to have one but we still have an economy 7 meter.

      1. Many, many years ago I had one of those. It heated the hot water cylinder overnight – until I realised that the daytime rate for E7 users was loaded, the usual standard, non-E7 meter rate being unavailable. After that the night-time saving was much less attractive.

    2. Our children, who were socialised outside of the home some years ago, have a response to the likes of Kwarteng’s verbiage. “I smell shite”.

    3. H’mmm …. which will get us first?
      A smouldering tumble drier at 3.0 am or one of Pute’s nukes?

      1. Pneumonia from queuing outside the GP surgery in the pouring rain waiting for our meds.

    4. Oh, dear

      Sounds as if that dark twerp wants to introduce us all to to third world outages .. I suspect he has been on holiday to South Africa recently .

    5. Tell me again how smart meters benefit the customer?

      They can’t put you on this variable tarif if you don’t have a smart meter. But they can of course, hike up the price you pay at all times.
      Control of the energy supply was one of the aims of the 1930s fascists in the US – the ones that never got found out and thrown out.

    6. It’s all about control. The energy companies are utterly ill equipped to manage smart meters. 90% of their staff know nothing about them and they’re all managed by a third party – which is incompetent.

      We’re heading for blackouts and brown outs. The state doesn’t care. It wants this. One day, when some oaf blithers on about green or ‘climate change’ I’m going to demand they drink a glass of water with sewage floating in it. That’s what they want, it’s only right that they suffer for their demented idiocy.

      2. Best wear masks – take several tests – self-isolate for a month…..{:¬))

        Lots of fluids to wash the toxins away.

    1. Good morning. I cleared the garden room yesterday of its build up of stored (rubbish) items. Ready for Summer !

          1. Bit crisp here as well; you can potter around thinking and feeling all joyful and springlike – then turn a corner and freeze dry your face.

      2. Well done, Pip! I’m sure you felt a great deal of satisfaction when it was finished. I know I did when my conservatory was finished and ready for use.

        1. I keep popping out and looking at it. Can’t wait til it warms up. I sit out there with my laptop posting on here. :@)

  17. 351906+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Saturday 9 April: By fearing to annoy Putin, Western leaders have made the war harder for Ukrainians.

    Western leaders have made the war harder for Ukrainians, the political carpet baggers, are jockeying for position war = wonga,
    extended war = extended wonga, casualties
    are a side issue in the pursuit of fortunes,
    fortunes = power, absolute power corrupts
    absolutely, check out the bog man charlie
    anthony.

    A whole new set up will blossom within the
    remnants of the United Kingdom as in the
    internal foreign aid program, a war emergency law will put ALL “victims” ahead on ANY indigenous waiting list.

    Also a whole new strata of child misuse / abuse WILL take place, the country is geared up for it, supported by much of the electorate.

    Misplaced do gooding can & will kill.

    1. And there was me thinking that sending weapons to prolong the war was making life harder for Ukrainians!

    1. Surely a trans academic is an idiot who identifies as a clever person?
      That’s most of them.

  19. ‘Morning All

    What the Hell is going on indeed………….

    https://twitter.com/awilliamscomedy/status/1512061386423103493

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/84da8abdd5771addd07ec6cdc98da3a5ada6a258071e2ee6bb8a99c3f233e151.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9db0f906ef876956bc7d85e6a31a994b0d1964255f25665da0b97c91d26f6457.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3ff60fd2ef510112bd523a9ad72f76d2aa0cb0b63a1d46879a0f7131c737b003.png
    A major reason for the hate directed at Putin and Orban is they will have none of this filth directed at children……….

    2. Yet the Left squeal and squeal that Christian values shouldn’t make law. They’re demented. There’s a genuine disconnect between the perversion of the statist Left and the rational normalcy of the rest of us. They will do anything – ANYTHING – to force their agenda and attack rather than accept that they are wrong in everything they say, do and think.

  20. ‘Morning All

    What the Hell is going on indeed………….

    https://twitter.com/awilliamscomedy/status/1512061386423103493

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/84da8abdd5771addd07ec6cdc98da3a5ada6a258071e2ee6bb8a99c3f233e151.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9db0f906ef876956bc7d85e6a31a994b0d1964255f25665da0b97c91d26f6457.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3ff60fd2ef510112bd523a9ad72f76d2aa0cb0b63a1d46879a0f7131c737b003.png
    A major reason for the hate directed at Putin and Orban is they will have none of this filth directed at children……….

    1. It all went wrong when Betty left the Wilson, Keppel and Betty Egyptian sand dance act, Phizzee. And not helped when her husband-to-be met Valerie and was “gobsmacked” – I had no idea that Will Smith was that old and figured in the Betty’s tearooms scandals. Lol.

      1. Good morning, Philip and Auntie Elsie.

        As you know, I’m not a huge fan of Betty’s of Harrogate. Their cakes are oh so pretty pretty but, for me, lack substance and flavour. I was hugely disappointed when I ordered a vanilla slice (my favourite) when I was last there three-and-a-half years ago, it tasted of nothing!

        A few days later I visited a private baker’s shop in nearby Knaresborough and bought, probably, the best vanilla slice of my life. It was half the price (but twice the size) of the lamentable one in Betty’s. It was rustic looking but tasted heavenly with a thick filling of proper crème pât that exploded vanilla all over the palate! Mmmmmmm!

        1. Good morning, George.

          The rumour is that Betty’s don’t make their own cakes any more.

      1. Morning Pip. Are we still being upticked by invaders? It looks like it.

    1. “They are not predicting food shortages, They are planning them.” I was watching Russell Brand the other day, through gritted teeth, I really don’t like his personality. But he was talking about just this in relation to profits that these companies make. Really utterly corrupt people making money out of the potential for starvation. He was actually reading from the documents of various companies. So he could hardly be accused of making them out to be villains, they were doing that quite adequately themselves by their own words.

        1. By God, I’m harvesting so many girly votes that, I’ll be welcome on any blog forum.

    1. I read it. What I can never understand is how people can be so greedy and so petty. But, sadly, this sort of behaviour is all to common.

      1. A serious question! Are there more healthy products to use when frying? I suppose the obvious answer is dont fry food, but just asking…

        1. My bacon for my brunch is sizzling in lard,soon to be followed by a couple of fried eggs
          Healthy?? Dunno but it tastes great!!

        2. By not frying food you live longer.
          You don’t really but it just seems that way. :-))

          1. Unrefined peanut oil — available from Chinese food-stores — when used in small quantities, is also delicious. It is what Chinese restaurants use to achieve that authentic and delicious fried rice flavour.

        4. Lard, beef tallow, suet and butter are all healthy, delicious and time-honoured. They were all (wrongly and irrationally, it turns out) eschewed by governmental “health” authorities, all of whom are heavily funded by global corporations) in favour of “healthier” (a downright lie) “vegetable” oils — that contain no vegetable matter — that have now been proven to be deleterious to health.

          This excellent video explains it all:
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUADs-CK7vI&list=WL&index=31 “Fat Fiction – Full Movie – Free.”

        5. I always and only use Extra Virgin Olive oil for that purpose. Just be careful not to overheat.

        6. Olive Oil and when warm enough, add a pat of butter (saves burning the butter).

      1. I only use one item on that list, refined sugar, you can’t make decent pastries or torte’s without it. Other than that I don’t use it for anything else. But all the same, refraining from all the above did not stop me from getting ill. In truth I think one’s health has far more to do with hereditary factors rather than anything else.

        1. I had to go off refined sugar completely when I was younger, as I had chronically poor gut health. Avoiding all added sugar is tedious beyond belief, so nowadays, I just monitor my input and try to keep it low.

          2. Good for them, Paul, but not my cup of tea.

            The Indians boil the whole lot up in a kettle, tea-bag, sugar, milk. Quite horrible. But, if that’s what you like…

          3. In tea, just a level teaspoon of aspartame and a dash of whole milk. Skimmed milk is revolting stuff. Don’t drink coffee unless I go out and then, latte. Have been thinking of buying an espresso machine but hesitant because it would only get used about once a month, if that. But, at the moment I’m not supposed to drink either beverages. I defy orders by drinking a pint mug of tea in the morning and then lie to the doctor. 😊

            At the moment I’m slogging through apple and mango which I dilute by two thirds water. I have to drink at least 2 litres of liquid per day. It really is a hard slog for me, almost like penance because I don’t drink that much ever, unless it is tea, then enormous quantities. Cannot drink water on its own, it is an invention of the devil. Love Tonic water but the doctor said no.

          4. In tea, just a level teaspoon of aspartame and a dash of whole milk. Skimmed milk is revolting stuff. Don’t drink coffee unless I go out and then, latte. Have been thinking of buying an espresso machine but hesitant because it would only get used about once a month, if that. But, at the moment I’m not supposed to drink either beverages. I defy orders by drinking a pint mug of tea in the morning and then lie to the doctor. 😊

            At the moment I’m slogging through apple and mango which I dilute by two thirds water. I have to drink at least 2 litres of liquid per day. It really is a hard slog for me, almost like penance because I don’t drink that much ever, unless it is tea, then enormous quantities. Cannot drink water on its own, it is an invention of the devil. Love Tonic water but the doctor said no.

      2. I’ve suffered from depression and have arthritis and pain, but I don’t use anything on that list. I’ll have to blame something else, obviously.

    4. I bought a gallon of it about 6 weeks ago – I use 120ml a week – it should last me years

  26. “Safe and effective”?

    Naomi Wolf and her team of 2,500 volunteers, including doctors, lawyers etc, are unearthing very disturbing information from Pfizer’s documentation. The situation does not look good for the FDA, CDC etc. Ignoring the facts will not make them go away. Little wonder that all the concerned parties wanted this data buried for a lifetime.
    The comment re 40 Austrian mayors dropping dead is shocking. The RAIR article mentions Austrian and German mayors of whom two died before the “vaccine” rollout. The remaining 38?

    Steve Bannon’s War Room with Naomi Wolf.

  27. Town centres in decline? M&S are closing their premises in Colchester’s High Street after 90 years of trading and moving to a larger store on the edge of the town. That is Debenham’s and M&S both gone in around 2 years, leaving Fenwick’s as the only shop in the town with a large sales footprint.

    2. Doesn’t surprise me.
      Several years back, MB and I had a coffee in their caff, and it looked very run down then.
      When you look at the floors above the High Street shops, there is plenty of space for flats. What is lacking is the will and imagination.

      1. Many shops were built with what was intended as manager/proprietor accommodation above which, over the years, began being used as either office space or simply storage, leading to so many town centres being so devoid of actual residents.

        1. We lived above shops on the High St in newport Pagnell. Excellent location.

    3. Same thing has happened at WGC Howard centre. First Debenhams in the town square has closed, the ground floor apparently be individual shops, the rest of the building as has happened to much of the office space and factory units in the town have been converted into flats. Very little space for car parking.
      And M&S are shutting their doors and moving to Stevenage very soon. I guess the cause of all this is rent increases and on line shopping.

      1. Hell’s bells!
        The article headline is a trifle misleading though. I gather from reading it that the fuel had not been pumped onto the vessel, but was stored in tank on shore.

    1. Why are they saluting in the first place? They aren’t military, much as though it seems they would like to pretend they are.

        1. What “disciplined” force Grizzly? That was then when my sister and her husband belonged to the police force a few decades ago. Look at that lot in the picture, their trousers aren’t even ironed.

    3. The origin of the salute was to lift the frontal of a helmet to identify the person behind a visor wearing the armour.
      These people have psychological visors and have no reason nor idea how to use them to view the world beyond their freshly laundered brains.

        1. And these are the one’s holding top rank, i.e. those who should be setting the standards of both dress and behaviour.

          2. They wouldn’t have got away with it at Pannal Ash, Eddy. I was ordered to have three haircuts in my first week there!

            Of course, in those days I did have hair! ☹️

          3. I didn’t want to say anything 😅
            I knew a guy who was in charge of the physical training at Hendon, ex military Scot funny off stage, but i wouldn’t have wanted to be cheeky where he worked at NW4.

    7. Senior Plod, unpressed trousers, wrong salute, wonderful example to the rest of the Police Farce.

    3. My only problem with Sunak is that he works for the WEF like the rest of them.

          1. Gus has just killed another rat – five minutes ago. Shall I post it to you?

          2. No thanks. Post it to Klaus Schwab C/o New World Order, Headquarters UN, New York.

      1. It’s Leftwaffe feelz versus Reality. The Leftwaffe don’t like Reality. As far as I’m aware, the present Non-Dom tax laws were made under Blair/Brown. Yet there have been no such concerted complaints in the intervening decades.

      2. I suggest its all in the status of being non dom, which she was certainly declared to be. But married and bringing up a family in the UK doesn’t look to me like being domiciled in India, which is what she claims.

        1. That is to say, KP, that it is the lying that annoys us – not the tax avoidance.

          I have been guilty of that and am willing to expand on that loophole if necessary.

    2. “Let Right be done”

      (Terence Rattigan: The Winslow Boy)

      Often there is a great difference between things that are morally wrong and things which are legally wrong.

    3. The answer is around 75,000. This particular tax loophole provision is around 200 years old, and was invented as a scam so that those who made money in the plantations etc paid less tax in the UK.
      It does seem odd that she may live in the same house as her husband but may be deemed to be domiciled in some foreign land for tax purposes.

  34. From Toby Young

    A preprint study in the Lancet has analysed the mortality data from the Covid vaccine trials and found that mRNA vaccines increase the risk of heart-related deaths by up to 50%.

    1. Good morning Johnny

      I am not surprised.

      (Please would you give us a link for this?)

    2. I may have mentioned i have four medics who have agreed that my covid jabs have caused me my ticker problems. And consequently so far, have ruined a year of my life.
      Some people have had massive strokes also related to covid injections.

    2. I saw one yesterday where the tag thing had been tastefully decorated with stick on flowers.

    3. I saw one yesterday where the tag thing had been tastefully decorated with stick on flowers.

  36. That’s a much needed mug of tea drank and I’ve 9 sandbags, each with 8 shovelfuls of concrete ballast ready to carry up the garden, so off to do a bit of lifting & carting!

  37. The health body NICE have recommended that your waist should be less than half your height. How do they expect me to grow to 8 foot 6?

      1. Or stand in manure, most of us are stuck in such things because of our succession of useless governments.

    2. No need to worry Phizzee, we will all be losing weight soon, whether we like it or not. Fuel rationing, food rationing …

      1. Big deal – I’ve been away for a week and am certainly not going to trawl back through pages of postings.

        O/T Am so glad I no longer live in London. Full of foreigners speaking in tongues and ruinously expensive as compared to Wilts…….and my sister-in-law

        1. We are very glad we left when we did. Saddens me as I grew up in south London, went to school off the New Kent road and did plenty of socialising up in town.
          London is not the city it was.

          1. My mothers side of the family are all Londoners. Not a single one of them lives there now.

          2. My favourite place in England was Westminster Abbey- steeped in history. I will never go there again. Last time was in 2014 and I was horrified at the three ring circus it had become. Far too many people; crowds of school children who were too young to appreciate where they were and what they were hearing and too many tourists with guides blaring away in all sort of languages.
            And they’d closed the Royal Chapel.
            I had a nice chat with a verger about whether the Abbey had attempted to get Richard III’s body for burial there but he said they didn’t have room. I also told him I would not be returning and why.

          3. Your fave crook (literal and metaphorical) isn’t there – but in a carpark!!!!!

          4. Not now, he isn’t. He refused to pay the parking fine so they dug him up and moved him to Leicester ‘Cathedral’.

          8. It is sad and it’s the Abbey’s loss because I bet I’m not the only one to feel this way. Also, admission was free but in 2014 it cost me £15 and that was with a senior discount. It has become all about money. Still, as long as they can bring in Americans, Japs etc I am sure that the loss of some English history buffs won’t bother them.

          9. Although I live 20 minutes from London by train, I do not go there. Haven’t bothered for years, I found it to be a thoroughly unpleasant thing to do. The city is now unattractive to me, dirty, and alien. It is not my idea of London or, for that matter, England.

        2. You are forgiven. The only good thing about Lunnon is that ones buspass works!

          1. My Lunnon buspass includes trains too. Mind, Khan’t will stop that if given half a chance.

    1. Wokeness, or to give it its technical name Cultural Marxism; despite its claims to virtue is actually divisive and a spreader of Racial Envy and Hate.

      1. By the way Araminta. Are you aware that the missile that struck the train station in Kramatorsk was a Tochka-U. It is, apparently, a weapon used by the Ukrainian military. The Russians claim that the weapon does not exist in their armoury at all.

        1. Russians claim… Perhaps they were just getting rid of their outdated stock?

          1. Doubt it. I am far more inclined to believe them. What with the co-incidence of the message on the missile just happening to survive.

    2. The Left have never changed. They can’t. They are evil, bitter, twisted people who want everyone to think and act as they do. They can’t cope with argument or discussion so they rely upon crushing dissent.

      This is why they always lose. Wokers, Lefties, communists, green tyrants – they always lose in the end. The sad thing is it costs so many lives to put them down.

  40. Beware, Remainers are regrouping

    It is so important to get on with our own reforms to improve productivity and growth. All the levers are now in our hands

    DAVID FROST

    The Brexit battle seems long over. The titanic debates after the referendum, in which both Remainers and Brexiteers played to sweep the board, seemingly ended with near-total victory for the advocates of a real Brexit. With a supreme effort, Britain shook itself free of the European Union and became a full democracy once again, an outcome which had seemed impossible almost until the moment it happened.

    The grand new free trade agreement we had been told would take 10 years to agree was put in place in 10 months. And the behaviour of the EU in 2021, from subverting the Northern Ireland Protocol to rubbishing the Astrazeneca vaccine, left few people interested in refighting old battles.

    And yet. On the fringes of politics the unreconciled Remainers are regrouping. The #brexitshambles hashtag is seen once again on Twitter. Andrew Adonis’s European Movement says that “Brexit has failed. We were lied to. It’s time to rethink”. Nick Macpherson, the former permanent secretary at the Treasury, says “the effect on growth from Brexit is tangible”. Lord Barwell, the former Downing Street chief of staff, is even trying to rehabilitate his and Theresa May’s terrible backstop deal from 2019.

    Sir Keir Starmer can see that getting too close to any of these people will make him about as welcome in the Red Wall as Vladimir Putin in downtown Kyiv. Nevertheless he can’t ignore his supporters and therefore has to say that “a poorly thought-through Brexit is holding Britain back”.

    Of course there is little chance of a serious “rejoin” campaign developing in the short term. Remainer Jacobitism in support of Ursula von der Leyen as the queen over the water is just too unpopular.

    The leaders of the pro-EU cause recognise that themselves. Instead, their aim is to keep us aligned with the EU, often using the Northern Ireland Protocol as a weapon. They know that if the UK doesn’t diverge much from EU law, it will be much easier to take us back in later if events work in their favour.

    To do this they have to get it established in the public mind that somehow Brexit is “already failing”, and thus destroy our nerve to do things our own way. Their picture of Britain is not the one the rest of us see: living with Covid successfully, leading on Ukraine, coming out of the economic downturn faster than Germany, and with PMI business confidence levels higher than the eurozone or the US. Instead, they try to suggest that, whatever problems the world has, we in Britain have them worse.

    They use any argument that comes to hand. Last autumn it was HGV drivers and the threat to the Christmas turkey supply chain. This month the story is the latest trade figures and delays at Dover (the latter caused, in fact, by the withdrawal of P&O ships). A chart has been circulating showing that our trade performance has been stagnating since Brexit.

    In reality, it is almost impossible to draw any firm conclusions from the trade figures amid the noise of recovery from the pandemic, trade re-routing, and methodological change. But to the extent one can, the picture is reassuring.

    To get a sense of the orders of magnitude, goods exports to the EU in the last three months of 2018 – the last relatively normal year – were £43.2 billion. In the last three months of 2021, the figure was £42.4 billion – a fall of 2 per cent. Exports to the rest of the world over the same period grew by just under 4 per cent. So maybe the short-run Brexit effect is 5-6 per cent, with every chance of catching up further as traders continue to get used to the new arrangements. Hardly the catastrophe that many are claiming.

    In any case, what matters is not trade, but economic growth. Here Remainers point to this month’s OBR assessment that GDP will be 4 per cent lower in 2030 than it otherwise would have been.

    This is of course not a fact but a prediction, though the distinction seems lost on many. Moreover it is a prediction based on an assumption: that higher trade causes higher productivity. But the association is just as plausibly the other way round. The link between trade and productivity growth found in many analyses of Brexit is often based on evidence from emerging markets or ex-Communist economies, where increased trade went with huge improvements in the way the countries were run more broadly. It doesn’t hold up anything like so clearly for advanced economies. Indeed, the UK’s own trade openness has grown since the financial crash, but productivity has not.

    Of course, no sensible person would deny that leaving the single market and customs union has some effect on trade in the short run. I have always been clear about this. The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, repeated it this week.

    That is why it is so important to get on with our own domestic reforms to improve productivity and growth. All the levers are now in our hands and this really must be the Government’s priority in the upcoming Queen’s Speech.

    Sir Ivan Rogers – another voice from the past – commented this week that “History did not end with David Frost’s Trade and Cooperation Agreement”. He is right. Most of us welcome the cooperative approach we and the EU have taken over Ukraine and would like to see more of it. Our treaty framework can indeed be developed further, in areas such as cooperation between our regulators, youth mobility, or visa facilitation for artists. (Indeed we sought some of these in 2020 but were rebuffed or only offered them on unacceptable terms.)

    We should always be ready to talk about these things. For the EU, the question that will then need answering is, if the terms can be improved, why is the Northern Ireland Protocol sacrosanct?

    In truth it is of course far too soon to draw any of the conclusions the ex-Remain movement would like to. Our destiny is in our hands and it is up to us to do the right things. The economist Tim Worstall noted this week that “the EU had 1973 to 2020 to show that UK membership was a good idea. 47 years. Let’s measure Brexit by that same standard.” I agree.

    If we must, let’s revisit the question in 2067. Meanwhile, let’s get on with the job.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2022/04/06/ultra-remainers-mobilising-prepare-ground-rejoining-eu/

    Remainers are out in force BTL. Such bad losers – and nasty with it.

  41. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f88c08734271687500443b9f39739d538132a42378b7535df999bee82072daa0.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c9171444b348cb69bd48ddd850b1bf70143a4429d85a9eccbdcb360f24820136.jpg Where’s Philip?
    My supper tonight will be slices of roast duck breast in a plum sauce, served with a vegetable stir-fry. I shall reserve the duck fat for later use with roast spuds. The rest of the duck meat will be shredded for a future meal served on Chinese pancakes with hoi-sin sauce, and shredded spring onions and cucumber.

      1. Of course. And not forgetting the boiling water drenching and the hoi-sin basting.

    3. Love roast & crispy duck, with the little pancakes and sauce.
      In Manchester a few years ago, waiting to go down to the airport to fly home, 1stborn & I had crispy duck starter, followed by crispy duck for main, and crispy duck for secondi. Washed down with a couple of cold Rieslings… just made the flight, somewhat overweight, flatulent, tipsy – and very, very happy!

  42. What are these female names that appear as an uptick before any one would have had the chance to have even read the comments ?
    Here goes………………………………

          2. No, but he was stupid enough to add his full address to his emails. Already had a snoop on Streetview to nose around his vast estate. Just in the middle of planning the burglary. Especially easy as he tells us when they are both out.

      1. He has Sue and Ndovu so far. You might want to rethink that comment lol!

      2. Now a days it is far more likely to be Chinese. A major carrier of pornography is TikTok. It is one of the reasons that several countries, including the USA want it banned. It is a deliberately subversive platform used to undermine and, at the same time, promote the Communist Chinese State.

  43. With out much of a clue about horse racing i have asked my youngers son to put a fiver each way on Dingo Dollar at 50 -1. I told him i’ll need a receipt before i hand over the cash. And i chose it because it reminded me of an occasion in Oz where i chose the winner but had no idea how to place a bet.
    Also it will be a jumper as are kangaroos. Can you see what i did there ?? 🤗 And my mate Brucie left a message about an hour ago saying he was going to ring back in 15 minutes……….🤔

    1. Jacinda Adhern wanted to stand out at the races so she bought the biggest hat she could find. It worked too. None of the other horses were wearing hats.

  44. Here is lovely upbeat story that suggests that the NHS is an unplanned, uncoordinated, and mindless shambles. (Note the paragraph that tells us they tried this a few years ago and then the plan subsequently collapsed completely when Covid appeared – just when you needed it to work!)

    https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/lifestyle/health-and-wellbeing/4149287/recruitment-for-the-nhs/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=PJ%20Daily%20Newsletter%202022-04-09&utm_term=Press%20and%20Journal%20-%20Newsletter

    2. Ethical nursing? Bribing much-needed medics to come to the UK from Third World countries whose needs are far greater?

  45. That’s the water poured onto the teabag of my next well earned mug of tea!
    I now have 15 x 8 shovelful bags of concrete ballast by the mixer ready for tipping into the drum.

    Weather permitting, I’ll probably begin mixing tomorrow, 3 x bags at a time with 6 shovelfuls of cement to give a 4:1 ratio and see how far that goes in the 1st bit of shuttering I’ve put in.

        1. Phiz has led a sheltered life and a picture of a teabag would offer great excitement and a learning experience:-))

          2. When you run out of leaf tea (lefty?) you can always use two or three tea-bags in a tea-pot.

            The sky doesn’t fall.

          3. I wasn’t criticising tea-bags; I use tea-bags which contain a superior type or blend, not sweepings.

            My comment, if you read it, properly, was about not using a teapot to make tea in.

          4. That’s why, George, having read it properly, I mentioned tea-bags in a Tea Pot.

            Oh, and the sky not falling wasn’t directed at you in particular.

          2. No need to be sorry, Johnathan, typos happen but I’m just such a lover of my language that devtiations almost physically hurt.

      2. It’s none of their business. It smacks of perversion and voyerism. Perhaps they want to see how well their ‘sex education’ is going…

    3. Same thing already in Scotland. There is no end to the displacement activities these people will carry out in support of the New World Order, when they were voted into the job of fixing the roads, running the health and educational services, looking after the road, rail and sea infrastructures, and balancing the books.

      1. Time to close them ALL down including and especially, the wee pretendy parliament up north.

    1. Amazon, alibaba and… the secret police.

      All of these people were the kids who got picked on in the playground and are taking their petty vengeance out now.

  52. 351906+ up ticks,

    The old “Content unavailable” hard core
    lab/lib/con ( ino) coalition supporters are out in force, five on the trot with faithful old robert
    stapleford making it six.

  53. Defiant Matt Le Tissier admits his Bucha massacre conspiracy was ‘WRONG’ but insists he just used the ‘wrong example’ to support his claims about ‘media lies’.9 april 2022.

    Matt Le Tissier has admitted that he was ‘wrong’ over his tweet spreading conspiracy theories about Russia’s massacre of civilians in Bucha, Ukraine, on Wednesday.

    The former Premier League star, 53, was heavily criticised this week after appearing to suggest that the media have lied about the unfolding horrors in eastern Europe, which have seen thousands of people killed and millions become refugees.

    Actually he doesn’t admit to anything of the kind! His error was of course to voice his suspicions on Social Media. He’s almost certainly right that Bucha; while not a False Flag operation has been misrepresented and distorted to fit an agenda. .

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sportsnews/article-10702457/Matt-Le-Tissier-admits-WRONG-tweet-Russias-massacre-Bucha.html

  54. https://twitter.com/FlowersEnglish/status/1512511125669228545

    “Residents in the barracks are living in the most dreadful of circumstances, and this must end. Many of those living in the barracks have fled conflict and have suffered unimaginable trauma – they should be treated with dignity and respect, and allowed to rebuild their lives,” she added.

    The Independent understands that there are currently 308 asylum seekers living in the camp, which the Home Office says can accommodate around 300 adults.

    The report states that concerns over safeguarding vulnerable people on the site had not been addressed, with “little being done” to identify residents in need of support, such as victims of torture and trafficking.

    The MPs found that the physical environment of the site had not improved, describing it as “run-down, isolated and bleak, with many buildings in an extremely poor state of repair”.

    There remains a “near total lack of privacy and private spaces” in the camp, with residents continuing to be housed in dormitories of up to 12-14 people and having to share showers, toilets, and other facilities, they said.

    The report also described “inadequate” access for residents to healthcare and legal advice, as well as difficulties asylum seekers face in engaging with their asylum claim at the site.

    It calls on the government to ensure the barracks was “closed as asylum accommodation with immediate and permanent effect, and that people seeking asylum accommodated at Napier are moved directly to decent, safe housing in the community that allows them to live with dignity”.

    A Home Office spokesperson said the use of Napier Barracks as contingency accommodation was “vital” in helping it to accommodate and support destitute asylum seekers.

    “Significant works have been carried out to improve the conditions, management and oversight. Napier is safe, warm, dry, and provides a choice of good hot meals as well as proper laundry, cleaning and multi-faith religious facilities,” they added. https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/napier-barracks-fundamentally-unsuitable-asylum-camp-must-close-with-immediate-effect-mps-say/ar-AAW0nqm?ocid=st
    —————————————————————————————————————
    What sort of conditions were these people living in when they were in France… a tent city?

    Why are they here in the UK?

    1. This crackpot woman’s description fits quite closely to my accommodation when I joined the Royal Air Force at 15½. (1960).

      It was then that I learnt both discipline and, more importantly, self-discipline (the ability to see the job through, regardless of the difficulties).

    2. We need more of them, particularly on deserted islands around our coast.

      Publicise it and let them know their future.

    3. ‘multi-faith religious facilities’ since when did that become a priority?
      If genuine refugees, a warm dry and safe environment is all that they should be provided with.

        1. See my earlier response, Bill, we also learnt about how to live together and keep our quarters clean.

          Those camps need a few DIs (Drill Instructors) to help the new inmates smarten up.

        2. Apart from the odd drunk arriving back on a Saturday after a night on the town, quite well thankyou.

          1. And as Spike says in his memoirs…after ten minutes they all knew who’d been drinking brown ale;-)

      2. Besides which, if islam is one of the “faiths”, it won’t be multi-faith for long.

    4. Not much sympathy from me. They’re not being bombed. They get three square meals a day. They should be grateful.

  55. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has travelled to Kyiv to meet Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky in an unannounced visit.

    A picture shared by the Embassy of Ukraine to the UK on Twitter showed the pair sitting across a table in the country’s capital, with their respective flags in the room.

    In the image caption, the embassy simply wrote: ‘Surprise’ with a winking emoji.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10702855/Boris-Johnson-goes-Kyiv-meets-Ukraine-president-Zelensky-unannounced-surprise-visit.html?ito=push-notification&ci=IoJrI5dfcY&cri=bOYxA_eg97&si=26738248&ai=10702855

    2. I bet it’s not as long as Putin’s table.

      Poor little Ukranian Comedian, has been.

    1. Oh great. He can lecture them on net zero. I think, same as us, they might have more important things to think about.

      It won’t stop the oafish wittering, though.

      1. I’m more concerned about what that cretin Boris might be promising to the lying comedy actor!

        2. Our new anti-ship missiles apparently. The Russians will capture one and examine it thoroughly. Makes spying unnecessary.

    3. “Anything you can say, I can say dumber! I can say anything dumber than you…”

        1. I was not referring to moi but to the two turnip heads in Kiev- as you well know.

    4. Hope he taken Carrion with him – so she can stay there and advise the Ukes about important things, such as wallpaper…

      1. 6 metres by 3 metres. Clearing the ground, laying a concrete base and retaining wall plus shed. The damned thing cost £15,000. No room for Ukes. My tools are more important.

          4. Not really. That was inclusive of all the work and materials including electrics over a week. Two men working non-stop.

    2. Our magnolia “Susan” is a bit windblown but still out, and the lovely pale one next door has been savaged by the frost for the second year running.

      I repotted the oleander a couple of years ago and it spends the summer outside.

        1. It’s probably colder in Shropshire than here. Our garden is a bit of a wind tunnel when the wind is south west, and there’s not much shelter from the north-east, either.

      1. That’s the dis-used railway embankment behind. Mostly hawthorn. Lots of twittering going on. I and most of my neighbours extended our gardens on to the bank when we learned the council couldn’t get government money to turn it into a bus route. This is the space behind the shed that i pinched. Paid for from a bequest from a beloved Uncle. When the sun comes round it sizzles. Got lights up there now. And more plants.

        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8079e952120a527219ffb71905bb7970a7d6ba5330ec0243b39b35b648c54c29.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0fd487f76bbdab10b6f33de8bb29e53719e8d3b42d6e989a28bf958afc2f281e.jpg

        1. It is marvellous what one can do with photo wallpaper these days….

          Down to just 8 litres of paint to go (out of 155 litres) and then that’s it the entire house painted inside.

          1. It is just as you finish and are cleaning the brushes for the very last time that Her Indoors will “suggest” that the colour is “not quite right…”

            Just warning you – the voice of experience etc etc

          2. Thanks. I took your earlier advice about not deciding colours, curtains etc. Worked a charm (feeling smug now!)

          6. Is that a proposal? You could have tried to romance me first ! The answer is …i’ll think about it. Nano second passes by……………..okay, if you’re up for it. :@)

        1. Thank you. There’s a verandah on the roof accessible from the two rear bedrooms. I’ve just been potting on some trailing geraniums to dangle over the edge of the verandah (once all danger of frost has passed

      4. Has your Strelitzia flowered yet? I am growing some Strelitzia juncea but they are only a couple of years old.

          1. I know. They really do charge outrageous prices for plants in this country. It really isn’t justified. I see plants on line that in the US you buy at the drug store but here they are treated as though they were rarities. Spider plant is an example. It’s more or less considered a weed houseplant in the US. But on Ebay UK it costs £12.00, and my favourite vine that I used to pick up at Payless, Cissus discolor, costs £19.00 for a one month old plant. For that I would buy a large plant of the same thing. Gorgeous thing.

            https://i2.wp.com/awaytogarden.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/cissus-discolor-or-rex-begonia-vine.jpg?ssl=1

          3. It’s broken at the moment. Only right at midnight and noon. We’ve been quoted a four figure sum to replace one of the auto wind units. I’m not entirely convinced that the diagnosis is correct, but it’s not my responsibility any more. Sadly. We shall see, but it’s not likely to be fixed before August. Due to the plague, obvs…

  58. Don’t know what happened here but I got logged out of all my email accounts and disqus as well. At least the only Capcha I had to do was the tick box.

      1. Bel is switched on I think – she means another conspiracy theory that turns out to be fact.

  60. Kramatorsk station attack: What we know so far. 9 April 2022.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ec220bd6409dcb0343b34c24848e6710fe8ebd2daf28d2a2d6bcbf88cc5a7cde.jpg

    The railway station was hit at about 10:30 local time (07:30 GMT) on Friday, Kramatorsk Mayor Oleksandr Honcharenk told the BBC.

    The BBC’s Joe Inwood arrived at the blast scene a few hours later, reporting that the once busy station was almost entirely deserted – save for a few police officers and the workmen boarding up the broken windows.

    The dozens of bodies that were clearly visible in the gruesome videos of the aftermath were now gone, he says, and the clear-up operation was already well under way.

    Only a few patches of blood remained..

    Well that’s efficiency for you! Cluster Bomb strike and it’s all cleared away a couple of hours later. Fortunately these Russian munitions are extremely smart and only kill people. I’ve looked through numerous photographs and so far as I can see not one piece of luggage has been damaged in this strike even though people were standing right next to it when killed. The moral to be drawn here seems to be to disguise yourself as a suitcase and you will be OK! There are no scorching marks, no collateral damage to the furnishing or buildings that one would expect with such an attack. The only serious damage is to the three cars parked in front of the station entrance and that’s about a hundred yards from the supposed impact zone. There is some phone footage but it’s mostly shouts and screams with lots of shots of people’s legs. As always with these False Flag stories they become less, not more credible as time passes by.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-61036740

      1. Seems to be quite the thing, these days.

        Extraordinary. Jeeves would have, “Had a word”…

      1. According to my crossword dictionary there are around 9,400 viable five-letter words in English. To guess the puzzle in one go means you have a chance of 1:9,400 (or thereabouts) of doing so.

        If you click the word “Share” on your puzzle when you’ve completed it, this allows you to simply paste your result on this forum.

    2. Wordle 294 4/6

      🟨🟨🟨⬜🟨
      🟨⬜🟩🟨🟨
      🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
      My third choice wus an error :((

    5. Wordle 294 4/6

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

  63. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2O3QNSxcS-I
    I just picked this video by Robert Sepehr off Delingpole’s Twit account.
    It starts quite slowly, but about ten minutes in, it describes what Gaddafi got up to that made it imperative for the globalists to crush him.
    The video was made in 2019.
    It certainly sheds a new light on Russia’s current struggle with the west over selling oil in rubles.
    PS According to RT, Russia is now selling oil to China in yuan.

    Can Russia succeed where Gaddafi and Africa failed? With the cooperation of China and India, clearly the answer is yes.

    1. Can Russia succeed where Gaddafi and Africa failed?

      Putin is at least in with a chance. This time the rest of the world has not joined in with the sanctions and the seizure of their Foreign Holdings has alarmed others! If Russia can hold out long enough the whole Dollar Hegemony may come crashing down. This of course means that the Globalist Cabal has to crush them as quickly as possible!

      1. I think the hegemony already has. Just the effects haven’t been felt yet. I am not an economist, but there seems to be nothing backing the dollar or the euro at the moment….?

      2. With a bit of luck and a following wind – yes.
        With China, India and the Middle East countries Ignoring American demands that they fall in line, it looks possible.

  64. I have already emailed Neil Oliver re the Jane Austen BS at Stirling Uni…he lives in Stirling. Just had an email from friend in GA who was my assistant in the library. She sent me an article about certain banned books in US. Charlotte’s Web was banned in Kansas because talking animals are blasphemous and unnatural. Give me sodding strength.
    Wilbur, Charlotte and Templeton are blasphemous??? Why can’t these rabid religious fanatics find something useful to do instead of banning much loved books and interfering with people’s freedom of choice.
    As previously stated, it’s a good thing I am out of education nowadays. I’d be in the Tower.

    1. We can expect that sort of thing from the religious nutters in the USA, they have been doing it for years. What is worrisome about the Woke is that any book or any author is in their sights for any reason even if it seems totally arcane to rational people. And, what is horrible, their disapproval infects everything everywhere. Next thing will be Dickens who’s great grandfather once met a man who’s brother once sat at a table with a slaver for coffee, even though they didn’t speak to each other.

      1. Yes, I was thinking about Dickens yesterday. There are so many ways these fruitcakes could target his works. It makes my blood boil, as a former Lit teacher and children’s librarian. GRRRRRRR!

          1. They’ve been after that for years, especially in the south. That’s why I liked CT- it was a sensible state!

        1. Oh my goodness me. These people are absolutely nuts . Unbelievable. It’s hard to believe that these supposed professors and academics actually go along with this rubbish. Talk about dumbing down.

      2. Not banned but with a trigger warning that she is colonialist- or some such nonsense. To say I am sick of all this BS is an understatement.

  65. https://reitschuster.de/post/hat-sich-lauterbach-verplappert-und-seine-wahren-plaene-verraten/
    The gist of this article from Reitschuster is that the attempt at a vaxx mandate for the over 60s that was shot down in the German parliament on Thursday, was actually an attempt at a universal mandate for all over 18s by the back door.

    Apparently, the law was to pass a mandate for everyone over 18. But if you were under 60, you could escape the mandate if you could prove that you had had an advice session with your doctor.

    What a thoroughly sneaky, sly and pernicious piece of legislation! It would tie up hours of surgeries’ time for nothing, and in the twinkling of an eye, would be transformed into a full-blown universal mandate for over-18s. Probably planned to happen as soon as someone coughs.

    At least there appears to be some sanity among German lawmakers, that they did not vote to launch a war against millions of their own people (because anyone who hasn’t had the jab by now is pretty sure that they don’t want it).

    1. I’ve got thst in the free ITV sweepstake. Chance of a £50,000 win. Bob + No Hope. :-))

    2. Are you referring to that disgusting race that kills horses? Not that I’m prejudiced or anything but…

      1. Don’t you find it strange that when a horse unseats its rider it carries on running and jumping. That says to me they enjoy it.
        Should we ban everything that kills animals and that includes human animals?

        1. It might continue to run out of shear relief to get rid of the dead weight and a desire to stay with its mates since horses are herd animals.
          As for your second question. If people want to kill themselves, that is fine with me, only don’t drag animals into it that don’t have a choice in the matter. I have no doubt that a Spanish bull would agree with me.

          2. Need one of those “deadman’s lanyards” like a water scooter, so when you fall off, the engine goes to idle.

          7. To compare horse racing with bull fighting is disingenuous as in bull fighting the bull always dies.

          8. Then how about greyhound racing and what is done to the dogs after their usefulness is over? Or horses herded into fields, as they were some short distance from me until we left the EU, neglected in all weathers, walking around in mud, and then shipped off to the continent to be killed for meat.

          9. A former sister in law adopted two former racing greyhounds. She said they were the sweetest dogs ever but had to be taught how to go up and down a couple of steps.

          12. One of my friends has an ex-racing greyhound. The dog (actually it’s a bitch) lives the life of Riley.

    3. By announcing to the Russians that it was a diplomatic plane perhaps. I assume their are protocols for that sort of situation. After all we are not at war with Russia, much as though the rabid would like us to be. Someone on here can no doubt clarify.

    1. Beautiful! I have no Magnolias, but I’m particularly taken by the yellow ones.

      1. Thank you. I’m currently raising from seed three Magnolia Stellata Leonard Messle.

        1. Messel.
          Of course you probably mistyped the name. LM started the planting of the garden at Nymans, East Sussex.

        2. Will they come true from seed? But either yes or no, they are a beautiful tree in flower.

      1. I’ve nicked his harpoon anyway- I have wicked plans, to paraphrase The Enormous Crocodile.

  71. That’s me gone. A strange day. Sunnyish – very chilly – and, mid afternoon – from a clear sky – it drizzled for ten minutes. Grey and cool tomorrow, apparently – but milder and damper on Monday.

    Have a jolly evening. Olivia Colman is doing her gloomy face role in a film tonight. Can’t wait….(the MR is a fan of La Colman…)

    A demain

    2. Lost me when the BBC changed Burr’s sex to accommodate her in The Night Manager

    3. Lost me when the BBC changed Burr’s sex to accommodate her in The Night Manager

  72. 351906+ up ticks,

    The lab/lib/con mass controlled illegal immigration / paedophile umbrella ( Dover plus) is well worth checking out.

    Lest we forget rotherham & the Jay report.

    breitbart,

    Fears of Human Trafficking as Thousands of Child Migrants Go Missing In Austria

      1. 351906+ up ticks,
        Evening B3,
        Then we must be a dairy herd because we are milked on a regular basis.

    2. Just to check – are people looking to rescue them or because that Schwab bloke has found them?

  73. From the Express. The propaganda is getting to be truly pathetic. Surely people are beginning to figure out that this is complete bilge.
    “Putin detailed plan to ‘exterminate’ Ukrainians in personal ‘Mein Kampf’ last year”

  74. Schadenfreude
    Noun

    When ones Uncle has been nagging you to get the jab for two years and has had three jabs himself, then catches covid

    1. Yup.
      Everyone I know who has/had Covid has been jabbed. To the eyeballs…

      1. Apparently this thing that’s clobbered me for the last four weeks was a combination of covid and a chest infection.

        I’ve not had any of the vaccines. They don’t seem to work.

      1. I don’t sneer, I might mention it when we next play golf though, when he has a 2 foot putt that I have refused a gimme.

        1. I would mention it as many times as possible using as many obscure ways of getting it into the conversation that I could.

  75. Tweet
    See new Tweets
    Conversation
    Carrie Johnson Retweeted
    Boris Johnson
    @BorisJohnson

    United Kingdom government official
    Today I met my friend President
    @ZelenskyyUa
    in Kyiv as a show of our unwavering support for the people of Ukraine.

    We’re setting out a new package of financial & military aid which is a testament of our commitment to his country’s struggle against Russia’s barbaric campaign.

    https://twitter.com/PaulNewberry8/status/1512819703168786436

        2. The Clasped Hands.

          Symbol above the entrance to Norwich Union Fire Assurance offices in Surrey Street (The Skipper Building). There are lots of Lapis Lazuli plaques with Masonic symbols in the Marble Hall. I designed the granite sett paved forecourt and refurbished the basement in the nineties.

    3. The Left are caught in a hypocrisy of their own making.

      Those supporting Boris are ignorant of the reality involved. If I were Zelensky I’d be worried, as he’s more popular over there than he is here.

    4. Taken for a sucker as usual. All the prat needs is a sentence of praise and he’s anybody’s

    5. Johnson is a fool. We should not be fuelling the hostilities in Ukraine by donating missiles and armoured personnel carriers to that dysfunctional globalist swine Zelensky. Such futile gestures at the cost of millions to UK taxpayers will extend the war and ensure more death and destruction.

      Johnson has no experience in foreign affairs. He is a mere jumped up public schoolboy whose life of privilege and own chaotic and irresponsible lifestyle betrays him at every turn. Tory MPs will pay a heavy price for keeping this evil entitled globalist pig in power.

      Edit: who can forget Johnson’s description of that evil rotting corpse Joe Biden as “a breath of fresh air”. Judgement has he none.

      1. There’s a story doing the rounds that Zelensky is related to Soros. Fact Checkers say it isn’t true, so it probably is.

        1. Sue, if you go back far enough we are all related.
          The Prime Minister is partly of Lithuanian Jewish stock.
          If you wanted to play six degrees of separation, some of Stephen Fry’s ancestors, on his mother’s side, lived in Austria-Hungary, so there could potentially be a connection with George Soros’ neighbours.

          1. Apparently, we are all descended from Edward III- I read about it years ago. E III had many legitimate children and many other side of the blankets- so to speak. So did his sons and daughters it historical gossip can be believed.

        3. Whether related or not Soros and Zelensky are brothers in arms, both fully paid up (paid for) members of the WEF Elite Masters of the Universe.

          Soros and Gates fund many ‘elected’ leaders such as those in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the USA and of course the UK.

          Their wealth also funds every tier of government and the justice systems of many countries.

          Of particular concern is Gates’ ownership of the WHO and his command of its ‘health policies’. We are in extreme danger of having our human and civil rights removed under a dictatorship of patently mad persons such as the execrable Klaus Schwab and his followers.

    6. Boris’ commitment – not in my name. It’ll just take longer to free Dobass and Luhansk from the sticky fingers of Zelensky and the Azov Brigade. Only then will the murders stop.

  78. Good evening. It’s good to see increasing numbers of our politicians taking up the truth. Sir Christopher Chope of our own gets kudos, and of course Senator Ron Johnson In the US. The propaganda sells the “Nothing to see here” stuff as nauseatingly as ever. What there is to see is mass murder of our own citizens on a scale not seen outside wartime. To promote or deliver the injectates is to put people deliberately in harms way. Harm is forseeable. That is no different to encouraging someone to, or yourself, firing a gun into a crowd. It is a serious crime under any code of law, whatever the BS flooding out of the media and perpetrators. I for one will not debate with these creatures except across a courtroom.

    https://www.tarableu.com/let-the-truth-defend-itself-bravo-sen-ron-johnson/

  79. British soldier who shot and killed man, 23, during Northern Ireland Troubles ‘was a scared young man’ who told police he fired by accident, trial hears
    Soldier who killed man during the Trouble was ‘scared young man’, court hears
    David Jonathan Holden, 52, is on trial for killing Aidan McAnespie, 23, in 1988
    He denies one charge of manslaughter, saying he fired accidentally
    On day five evidence was given by former RUC detective chief inspector
    Trial comes amid controversial government plans to ban future Troubles-related prosecutions predating April 1998
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10700657/British-soldier-shot-killed-man-Troubles-scared-young-man-fired-accident.html?login#readerCommentsCommand-message-field

    BTL

    I thought that one of Boris’s promises was that prosecutions against British soldiers who served in Northern Ireland would be stopped. Another broken promise by the Bumbling Buffoon.

  80. I don’t know why the England rugby team don’t swop with the Womens team – they play more entertaining rugby and win every game. The mens team play like a load of girls anyway

    1. If they played like the girls, they too would play entertaining and winning rugby.

  82. On Thursday, a meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels among the alliance’s foreign ministers saw the US and UK lead the way in forging a fresh agreement to give Ukraine “new and heavier” weapons, at a moment a limited number of Czech-provided Soviet-designed T-72M tanks have already been transferred to Kiev – reportedly with the quiet assistance of Washington.

    “There was support for countries to supply new and heavier equipment to Ukraine, so that they can respond to these new threats from Russia,” British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said at a press briefing. It appears Johnson’s meeting likely hashed out with Zelensky precisely what additional weapons the UK is ready to transfer.

    1. I didn’t think we had enough kit for our own armed forces, let alone enough to give away to stoke a foreign conflict.

    3. Once numbers were free, enjoying life in all four corners of the world, all mixed up, no long division, no multiplication, no subtraction, then the white man came along and enslaved them, they invented things like BODMAS, equations and fractions.

  84. Does Putin have his sights set on Latvia next? Kremlin rants against Baltic ‘neo-Nazi’ state in chilling echo of Moscow’s threats to Ukraine as Riga makes May 9 a day of remembrance for victims of Russian aggression
    Kremlin blasted Baltic ‘neo-Nazi’ state in echo of Moscow’s threats to Ukraine
    Riga passed bill to mark May 9 as a day to commemorate Ukrainian war victims
    May 9 is the same day Russia holds annual Victory Day in Moscow’s Red Square
    Russian Foreign Ministry branded Latvia’s commemorative day ‘blasphemous’
    By KAYA TERRY FOR MAILONLINE

    PUBLISHED: 20:14, 9 April 2022 | UPDATED: 20:27, 9 April 2022

  85. Early night for us – we’ve both gone down with colds – the first since January 2020. We were both fine on Thursday- then his started overnight and I could feel mine coming last night. Just normal colds I think – but they can make you feel a bit grim.

    Couldn’t be bothered cooking so we had omlettes- mushroom & bacon – and salad. Followed by Lemsip. It’s beginning to shift the sinus headache.

      1. I’m wondering if not being able to taste or smell anything is part of the new normal for when we have to live on factory farmed insects.
        If only they can invent a covid mutation that prevents the sufferer from feeling cold and hunger

      2. We’ll see how it goes. Colds always did make food taste like cotton wool anyway.
        Turning the light off now!
        Good night all 😴

      3. Hot whisky, lemon juice, 3 cloves and 1sp honey will make you feel much better …

    2. I have been sneezing a bit but I think it’s the tree pollen; I don’t have allergies but I always sneeze a lot in the spring.

      1. It’s the white blossom one sees in the hedgerow at this time of the year, and the daffodils that gets me, I call it blossom fever. I am not affected by the tree pollens so much or the grass pollens later in the year but spring is the sneezing season for me.

      2. I’m a frequent sneezer too but I can usually tell if it’s just a sneeze or if it’s the start of a cold.

  86. Headphones on, with ‘Le Voyage de Sahar’ by Anouar Brahem an Oud jazz musician on the ECM record label.
    A bottle of Jamshed Shiraz and the world can go F.. k its self, life is too short.

    1. Done a little Ben Folds and now a little Vivaldi and bed soon. Busy week with appointments etc.
      As usual, some Pinot Grigio.
      Have a good evening Andrew.

      2. Which Pinot Grigio do you drink. vw likes it and we got some Yellow Tail recently but it was very thin and disappointing.
        Good luck with your appointments in the coming week.

  89. Anyway chums, I am off to bed, perchance to sleep. It is a busy week for us with appointments so will be in and out. Hope y’all sleep well.

  90. Evening, all. The war is hard for Ukrainians largely because it’s basically a civil war. We should keep out.

    1. We are supposedly out of Europe and should leave the EU to sort out the mess it created in respect of Ukraine.

      Instead our ‘Remainer’ PM and his traitorous cabal seem intent on tying the UK in to what is, as you say, a civil war dispute between pro-EU Ukrainians (they want a free meal) and pro-Russian Ukrainians (they dislike the EU as it reminds them of the old USSR).

      This conflict is no longer any of our business. We left the EU according to Fataturk, our ignoble leader, so have no reason to be anywhere near the mess created principally, as it was, by the EU.

      1. Please do not refer to “Europe” and the EU as though they were one and the same thing. The EU fancies itself as representing the whole of the continent of Europe – it doesn’t. It’s an anti-democratic sclerotic institution of a few states.

    2. We are supposedly out of Europe and should leave the EU to sort out the mess it created in respect of Ukraine.

      Instead our ‘Remainer’ PM and his traitorous cabal seem intent on tying the UK in to what is, as you say, a civil war dispute between pro-EU Ukrainians (they want a free meal) and pro-Russian Ukrainians (they dislike the EU as it reminds them of the old USSR).

      This conflict is no longer any of our business. We left the EU according to Fataturk, our ignoble leader, so have no reason to be anywhere near the mess created principally, as it was, by the EU.

Comments are closed.