Saturday 9 August: Kemi Badenoch is to be commended for her honest discussion of faith and doubt

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

394 thoughts on “Saturday 9 August: Kemi Badenoch is to be commended for her honest discussion of faith and doubt”

  2. Good morning, Geoff and chums. Wordle was a Double Bogey today, but only by looking at the Tips page after my first five attempts.

    Wordle 1,512 6/6

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      1. WW2 wouldn't have happened.
        Lammy would already have given away the Empire and Starmer would have surrendered faster than the French having agreed to pay millions in compensation.
        In those days millions were huge sums

  6. Good morning all.
    Another bright and sunny morning, but a tad cooler than yesterday with a little bit under 12½°C on the thermometer.
    The past couple of morning have had an early autumnal feel to them.

    1. I don't remember legislation being passed criminalising legal tender.
      I thought I would have made a note of that.🤔

      1. Lots of places won’t let you pay by cash though. They will say, “our rules”

    2. Someone once sent us the fees for a French course in cash in an unregistered envelope.

      It arrived safely but we had to send the sum to our business account with a cheque from our personal account. The only other option would have been to put the cash in our pockets and not mention it in our accounts.

      It is amazing how cynical and suspicious those working for the tax authorities are!

  8. It appears that the only way of landing in the EU without a return ticket, funds and medical insurance is by arriving by inflatable on a deserted beach.

    In the UK you should avoid Reform infested coastline.

      1. That only applies to grocer's, greengrocer's, fishmonger's, butcher's, baker's and candlestick-maker's.😉

      2. And hang people who think "disinterested" is a posher form of "uninterested".
        And who muddle "discreet" with "discrete".

          1. Take my advise and advice people to practice before visiting the doctor's practise.

        2. I always made the point when teaching that a judge must be interested and not uninterested in the evidence put before him but he must be disinterested.

          There was a teacher at Allhallows whose (not who's!) wife was called Shirley who invariably got me and I confused. He would say: "Shirley and me are going to Lyme Regis this afternoon," or: "You will be hearing from Shirley and I."

          My simple rule was: KILL SHIRLEY – i.e. take her out of the sentences. Even this chap, who taught Geography, could see that "me is going to Lyme Regis," or "You will be hearing from I," was wrong.

        1. In the 50s, patriotic English people would more likely have waved Union flags, not the flag of St George. It used to piss off the Scots and the Welsh. The 1966 World Cup was a particular sore point.

        2. No, Sos, the bearded man would have been clean shaven and would have worn a collar and tie. The little girl to his left would not have worn a baseball cap.

  15. SIR — Regarding the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (Letters, August 8), it is claimed that the use of nuclear weapons shortened the war and that their possession has since kept the peace.

    Whether their use was necessary to shorten the war is highly debatable. And whether their possession has since prevented war is also questionable: post hoc is not propter hoc. In any event, such claims ignore a key ethical objection to such use (or intended use) of nuclear weapons.

    The Just War moral tradition, reflected in international law, prohibits the intentional killing of innocent civilians. That is precisely what the bombing of the Japanese cities involved and why it was murderously immoral, irrespective of any good consequences it may have produced.

    Professor Emeritus John Keown
    Kennedy Institute of Ethics
    Georgetown University
    Washington DC, United States

    Perhaps it is good for all of us that the good professor is emeritus and no longer practising. If he considers that the atomic bombing of Japanese cities was in defiance of international law, since its 'Just Law moral tradition' prohibits the intentional killing of innocent citizens, what does the clearly geriatric imbecile think that the bombing of countless cities using bog-standard bombs achieved?

    Please correct me if I'm am wrong but weren't all those cities populated by millions of innocent civilians?

    2. Morning, Grizz.
      Yesterday, there was a post about a firestorm in Tokyo, as a result of conventional bombing. That was OK, then, because it wasn't atomic.
      From ChatGPT:

      The Tokyo firebombing of 9–10 March 1945 — often called the **Tokyo firestorm** — killed an estimated **100,000 people** in a single night.

      It was the deadliest air raid in history, even surpassing the immediate death toll of Hiroshima or Nagasaki, and left over a million people homeless. Most casualties were civilians, and much of the city’s wooden housing was destroyed by incendiary bombs dropped by U.S. B-29 bombers.

      Contrast:

      The atomic bombing of **Hiroshima** on **6 August 1945** is estimated to have killed about **70,000–80,000 people instantly**.

      By the end of 1945, the total death toll — from injuries, burns, and radiation sickness — had risen to roughly **140,000** out of a population of about 350,000. Deaths continued in the following years due to long-term radiation-related illnesses.

      1. Robert McNamara and General Curtis le May admitted that, if the other sife had won, they would be tried as war criminals for the fire bombing of Tokyo.

    3. They only see the enemy side of things. These people make me sick. Who started it. just like hamas.

  17. Well we have been going just over 2 hours and have battles the Lizard which was not fun. Calming down a bit now….

    1. HatanakaHacker
      GenghisMcCann
      39m
      An incredible career, and says everything about the man that he has a cameo in Apollo 13 (welcoming the crew back after splashdown), Ron Howard wanted him to be an Admiral, he refused and insisted on being a Captain, as that was the highest rank he'd achieved.

      1. As part of the ending, the full version of the film shows a full list of all involved in the effort to get them back. A nice touch, I thought. One advantage of living where I do is that Washington has the Air and Space Museum right in the city, and out near Dulles airport, there is the annex built to handle bigger exhibits, like the space shuttle and the SR71 Blackbird. Plus oddments like the first 707 and an Enola Gay exxhibit.

        It is connected to the airport proper by a taxiway, which is how the Blackbird arrived, after a full throttle run from the West Coast,

        https://theaviationist.com/2020/03/06/on-this-day-in-1990-an-sr-71-blackbird-flew-from-la-to-washington-dc-in-1-hour-4-minutes-and-20-seconds/

        Incidentally, refuelling after take off was standard practice with the Blackbirds.

  19. Good Moaning.
    There is much debate about Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
    This is an account of what American soldiers had witnessed during the previous year.

    In July 1944, American troops in Saipan bore witness to a “banzai” charge, where nearly 4,000 Japanese soldiers charged American troops and fought to their death. They were following the last orders of their commander, Lieutenant General Yoshisugu Saito, who had called for this all-out surprise attack in the honor of the Emperor before committing ritual suicide. American troops also witnessed a different atrocity as they saw women grabbing children and jumping from cliffs rather than submitting to capture.

    As US forces pushed forward, island by island, troops continued to bear witness to Japanese soldiers and civilians taking their own lives. Okinawa was a particularly hellish scene as nearly one-third of the island population died. Among these were Koreans who had been forcibly migrated from annexed Korea to Japanese islands to be press-ganged as laborers and comfort women. While the Japanese government states there was “military involvement” in these suicides, survivors attest to a compulsory mass suicide, or shudan jiketsu.

    1. The battle of Okinawa was the wake up call 50,000 American casualties
      After this planners estimated an invasion of the Home Islands would mean 500.000 Allied casualties and upwards of 5,000,000 Japanese casualties
      Revisionists who moralise against the use of atomic arms are morons they saved countless lives

    2. Good morning, there's a book 'With the Old Breed' by EB Sledge that describes the vivid horror of being in the front line, as the US Marines fought their way across various islands against a very determined enemy before ending up in Okinawa.
      Proof, as if it is necessary, that 'War is Hell' isn't a tagline for a movie.

      The atom bombs shortened the war by up to a year, saved millions of lives, and 'allowed' the Japanese Emperor to save face by surrendering to the Allies. A much better option than surrendering to Soviet forces on Japanese soil, Soviet forces who were succeeding in Manchuria against Japanese forces and would enjoy payback for losing to Japanese aggression in 1905

      1. I think we tend to forget what the Americans went through in the Philippines and Japan.

  21. Bill Quango MP
    12h
    Scientists have found strong evidence of a giant gas planet in the nearest star system to our own.
    Ed Miliband pledges to shut it down to save us all.

    4. Since Jupiter can be seen at night with the naked eye, there must be some who still think this finding by scientists a hoax.

      As for Ed Miliband shutting down Jupiter, I wish him good luck with that. Has it been costed yet, and can we believe the costings?

      1. If he could just nip up there for a closer inspection.
        I'm not being cruel; I'd make sure he was wearing a hi-viz jacket and a hard hat.

    1. IMHO, anyone using a knife to threaten people should be a legitimate target to be shot, and I'd happily do so.
      Never mind a hand-to-hand with the local Law. Yet, the PC is fired… respect, my arse! Shoot the scrote. There's been enough of that shit in Norway now that the police are permanently armed.

      1. I use mine to sharpen a pencil. Which is the offensive weapon? I have sometimes used the pencil to write hurty things. When can I be shot?

        1. I once went to lobby my MP and took a bag I normally use for sketching. I forgot to remove a penknife. The PC was scathing when I said, truthfully, I use it to sharpen my pencils. It was confiscated, but I did get it back when I left.

      2. But not OAPs with a trowel on their tool belt on their way back from their allotment

        1. Unless it's being used as a threat, they should be left alone. It's the threat with a potentially deadly weapon that matters – carrying a carving knife in your shopping bag is no threat to anybody; waving it about, shouting "I'll kill you, you bassa!" is most definitely a threat.

    2. Woke constibule Guildford came through the woke college of policing and receives instruction from The DEI Home Office.

      Anyone with eyeballs & eyes knows this.. the question is.. will Farage undo these three things?
      The likelihood lessens with every passing week.

      August 2025
      Farage Red Flag #20 Reform appoints Trans-Woke-Activist Lesbian Vanessa Frake as justice adviser.

    3. Why are the people who appear to be in charge of everything, act in such a pathetic manner. By doing that the criminals in which ever way will just take advantage. Which is really why crime is rapidly rising all over the country.
      The most obvious lesson is burnt fingers. You put your hand in a fire and ouch ! What's wrong with our society now ?

  24. Morning all 🙂😊
    Grey day 15 degs. Still no rain here.
    What I actually like about the leader of the opposition is the way she rubs starmer's nose in all the mess he is making. Can we have a whip round and present her with a JCB. A proper much more effective job might be possible.

  25. Good Morning!

    We Should Not Trust Our Elites , says Iain Hunter, in a fascinating and thought-provoking article, based on four books and a set of -papers that, if you accept his thesis, effectively capsizes much of what most of us accept as honest history, if there is such a thing. Read, and let us know in the comments what you think.

    Elizabeth Nickson's How Oligarchs Steal America's Public Lands tells of the anti-farm agenda still playing out in the US, and psychologist Xandra H's Gaslighting: A Game For All Humanity , on the western Establishment's game to distort reality are both still attracting comment if you missed them.

    Energy Watch: Over the last 24 hours: Britain's electric power was sourced from Gas, 17.2%; Solar, 10.4%: Wind 36%; Imports, 16.2%; Biomass, 6.7%; Nuclear 10.5% and Miscellaneous, 3%. In the crazy economics of UK's power generation, we are importing 0.154GW from Ireland, while exporting 0.37GW to Ireland. We are, of course importing 3.39GW from France, despite having gas-fired power stations on standby with far more generating capacity than that.

    freeespeechbacklash.com

    1. Imports and exports are necessary to balance the grid, even if to & from the same country, likely from different parts of the UK.
      But yes, it all looks loopy…

      1. I understand, but in my view we should not have to rely on imports to balance the grid Oberst.

        1. If we have it within our grasp to be self-sufficient in energy at a reasonable cost, we should do so. We live in uncertain times.

      2. The country managed without imports or exports for many, many years. The reason for them today is that there has not been the needed planning and investment in either grid capacity or power generation, to feed the growing demand.

  26. Police in free speech row over ‘shoplifters are scumbags’ sign
    Force criticised for ‘woke nonsense’ as JD Vance warns the UK not to stray down ‘dark path’ of censorship
     https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/08/08/police-warn-wrexham-shopkeeper-thieves-scumbags/

    Is a scum-bag, the same thing as a scum-sack or a scum-scrotum?

    Is, for example: Rachel Reeves a scum-purse, Angela Rayner a scum–reticule, David Lammy a scum-suitcase and Keir Starmer a scum-trunk?

    1. 5500+ comments.
      None of them exactly supportive of the perlice.
      Remember, the DT is still a middle class newspaper.
      Plod appears to have lost the plot and the room.

    2. if the word 'scum' is good enough for the deputy Prime Minister to use, it's good enough for the rest of us.

  27. Good morning, all. Sunny – slight breeze.

    I see that the EU punishment beatings will be imposed from 12 October – fingerprints (that's the MR banned – she has none), photographs, insurance, money, return ticket ….

    As you all know, I always look on the bright side. As 10 million people enter the EU each day (leaving the illegals aside, of course – they are fast tracked to Dover) – I imagine after the first day or two – when people have been queueing for 24 hours, planes kept full of passengers for days – the system will collapse.

    I had hoped to read that the UK would reciprocate by demanding all the above plus more – and that all entry points would have many booths for UK passport holders, several for US and Commonwealth, and just the ONE for EU passports. But I fear that hope will be dashed as Cur Ikea bends the knee to Frau Fond of Lying.

    1. I'll try and send that to our opposite neighbours they are in Dorset at the moment in a hired camper van. 🤭😉

  29. I'm off to the Manifold Valley Show.
    Will probably not be back until tomorrow, or possibly even Monday.
    TTFN all.

      1. I thoroughly enjoyed a production of HMS Pinafore when i lived in Birmingham. Starring Nicholas Grace.

    1. They won't have to worry.

      The organisers have also issued every attendee with "the race card" .

      It can be played at any point to prevent arrest or detention in Two Tier Britain.

    1. Reform are only arm waving chat boxes. I don't think they have ever achieved anything or ever will.

      1. I woke up to the fact that Nigel Farage cannot and must not be trusted when he and Zia Yusuf ganged up on Rupert Lowe, the man who genuinely wants reform.

        I think and hope that the high level of support for the Reform Party is like a dam which is faultily constructed and once it starts to crumble the whole edifice will collapse. But let us hope that this will happen soon so there is time for a better option to be in place before the next general election.

        1. I could see Reform getting a large majority, but the leadership would end up with the types of rebellion/arm-twisting that we are seeing with Labour and with similarly disastrous consequences for the country.

          It's almost as if there is a plot to destroy Britain by whatever means necessary, up to and including civil war.

      2. Dunno, Eddy…how about marching people up to the top of the hill then marching them down again? Habib, Hopkins, Lowe (and others?) seem to know. And wasn't there some kind of financial kerfuffle with UKIP?

    1. Why on earth didn't the, excluding labour, the other 30 plus seaters get together and drive the obvious problem into the ground ?

  37. Good morning.
    According to James Roguski, there is a new financial crisis and it's called…
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4d6a6de5c81c093ef6e5bd638f69602743e43f9e9cb7aa0153428d2e0bb4f5b5.png Did I say financial crisis? I meant deadly virus of course.

    Bla, bla, bla….amazing how these videos appear out of nowhere
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/714f676db29e586eebde20c0dff0b87bf7e1112ac8b4228471e8b4153edc5f04.png
    Fortunately we know the cure and it involves turning off the TV and internet….

  39. Recently, I’ve written schadenfreude so often I no longer need to check the spelling.
    Suck it up, Buttercup.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/08/09/iceland-blames-reeves-for-price-rises/

    Iceland blames Rachel Reeves for price rises

    Higher costs hit months after supermarket’s boss told rivals to stop complaining about the Budget

    Iceland has blamed Rachel Reeves for fuelling higher food prices, months after its Labour-backing chairman told businesses to stop complaining about the Budget.

    Bosses said the supermarket “will inevitably have to pass [some cost increases] on to consumers” after food makers were struck by an increase in both employers’ National Insurance contributions and the National Living Wage.

    Iceland said: “We are doing our utmost to offset the growing input cost pressures caused by suppliers seeking to recover the increase in their own labour costs arising from last autumn’s Budget, but will inevitably have to pass some of these on to consumers, where we can do so without weakening our own price position in the marketplace.”

    In accounts published this week and signed off in July, the company said it was now expecting UK food price inflation to peak at between 4pc and 5pc in the next six months.

    The comments follow warnings over the rising cost of the weekly shop, with the Bank of England this week saying it was expecting increases for the rest of the year.

    Officials said supermarket price rises had been fuelled by government policy, pointing to the increase in the minimum wage, the Chancellor’s tax raid and a net zero packaging levy.

    Faster than expected increases in food prices are set to send the overall rate of inflation to a peak of 4pc in September.

    The higher prices at Iceland come after the supermarket’s chairman Richard Walker previously urged rival grocery bosses to stop “wallowing” and “complaining” about Ms Reeves’ tax raid.

    Mr Walker, a former Tory donor who changed allegiance in January 2024, said in December: “This isn’t a time for businesses to wallow… The Government isn’t going to change its mind. It was a tough Budget, but we adapt.”

    Credit rating agency Fitch recently raised concerns over Iceland’s profitability, suggesting the supermarket chain would have to invest in price cuts this year at a time when it is battling higher costs.

    It said the supermarket, which employs more than 30,000 people, would face “momentary profit pressure”.

    1. Who would want to go to Iceland? All those volcanoes, lava flows, geezers…And the prices, my dear…

          3. You're not alone, Sue…and the hair, the skin, the smile, the eyes, and most of all ..the youth! x

          4. I have all of those…except the youth! And I’m a bigger liar than Tom Pepper! 🤣

        1. A friend won a prize of a week’s holiday in Iceland. Second prize was two weeks.

          1. Young relative had a choice for school trip…Croatia or Iceland. Don’t think either garned many votes (perhaps that was the point?) Good fish restaurants Reykjavik, or so the reviews say.

          3. Guess they have a minimum of drunken louts…no wonder Brits don’t want to visit 🙂

          6. Never been, Phiz…just like the look of the landscape. All Vikings there, apparently :-), with a smattering of Brits…

          7. We went a few summers ago… lovely place, so clean you could eat off the pavement.

          9. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f64e4bdace4e2f36f3d80c6919c618cc873bebe57822a63f2d408f2a1f3e71db.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4b3a265a6af036ecc82ed90a7ba71d3377b84f7defe6cd4f8337f0ec877cb2ae.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c40e22d55e1cd98ab7eebcc6b38fd58baec2334a88bba16a4efd9c137086b18b.jpg Yup, in summer, 24 hours daylight – but we have tht here in South Norway, too.
            The street name "Hverfisgata" translates in Norwegian to "Every Fart Street" – the Icelandic means "District Street", "hverfi" meaning "district" or "neighbourhood".

          10. Watched ‘Trapped’ a few years ago, a soap opera kind of programme, but I loved the look of the surrounding countryside. If I visit, I may not return (although likely run out of money..)

          11. Out in the country, whatever direction you look in, you se the pyramids formed by volcanoes… weird!

          13. I'd work it out as "Fish Street", but Hver stumped me.
            Then I remembered "Fisk" is Danish for fish, so I was well off track.

          15. Hello Paul, you sent me a msg re hearing, I replied, but your message now apparently deleted. So if you don't get my reply, that's why. If your intention, that's OK…Kate x

          16. I just thought my message was a bit up myself, that’s all. Self-centred. So I deleted. It wasn’t important!
            😉

          2. I was on a course with an Icelandic girl (very nice and pleasant to talk to) who gave me that information. She wanted to go on a train because she'd never had the opportunity.

        1. I shop at Farmfoods occasionally. Maine lobster for £9.99 is an absolute bargain. I also use Iceland sometimes for their 3 for £10 deals on red shrimp.

    1. There are few things worse than a person who thinks he or she is funny but isn't.

          1. Most if not all LibDems seem to be a complete waste of time and space. Can't recall anything they've achieved as a party.

          3. Yes I did. My mum’s family always voted Liberal, when they were ‘The Liberal Party’ (Richard Wainwright). Dad – always Labour. Me – Maggie, didn’t go down well.

      1. Wouldn't that depend on the angle of the sun overhead?
        It might distort whole the image more, but why would the fin not be visible?

        1. I understand what you are saying but if the fin was in view then the whole shadow would have been foreshortened and not how it is, as I said, in it's present form, the fin would not be seen. As you say the sun at an angle might produce that image particularly if it was in front of the aircraft from that viewpoint

          1. Have an uptick, Alec…for posting something completely incomprehensible to me :-))) x

    3. Hmmm, so how come the "lines" in the green parts of the field are visible in the "bomber" shape. They should have been ploughed under.

    2. Remember Mark Antony's stirring words after the assassination of Julius Caesar.

      Domestic fury and fierce civil strife
      Shall cumber all the parts of Italy.
      Blood and destruction shall be so in use,
      And dreadful objects so familiar,
      That mothers shall but smile when they behold
      Their infants quartered with the hands of war,
      All pity choked with custom of fell deeds,
      And Caesar’s spirit, ranging for revenge,
      With Ate by his side come hot from hell,
      Shall in these confines with a monarch’s voice
      Cry “Havoc!” and let slip the dogs of war,
      That this foul deed shall smell above the earth
      With carrion men, groaning for burial.

  47. Notional Trust
    2h
    Meanwhile, in Scotland.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/99687520f19f35e0c1b1463647a5c42dd8a9247b9fa2bd2f6228c6f3bb49eaa7.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f8de323fe36a7411b8ee12b10312ecf1d0da16e1850139502c6c4c2a70e442cc.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2e5fb33f25c0d36ff71360f828f8f894c3e042f5e6e56d2fef8cafc2dda019bd.png
    Sir John Thomas
    3h
    I don’t think Cranky has done herself or the world any favours by stating she is “non-binary”. Firstly who gives a toss and secondly nobody understands what she’s talking about, other than she’s simply bonkers.

    Send in the Clones
    2h
    Allegedly, they called her Seaweed at Uni because even the tide wouldn't take her out. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6f5bba3c967ac6b4545668d2d026e5e284eb7d69a9d6f56938dc6de5811b174b.png
    Send in the Clones
    13m
    Worst day eh?, but the best for 99% of the rest of Scotland? https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9ae592fbbc56cc2fac9bf2c142ab664a2207fd4cd08384d5809215aae1ec547b.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/aeb6f5f1836d4e74415c96c80f0339b365cfca03f0f3520b78f826da8e32a179.png

    1. Captain Sensible
      1h
      There are 10 types of people, those who call themselves ‘non-binary’ and the relatively sensible.

        1. I was mystified when my son, Henry, told me that he was working in AI as I did not know that he was involved in Artificial Insemination for cattle when he had just done a Masters' degree in Computer Science and Data Analytics.

          He then explained, patiently and, I thought, rather unnecessarily patronisingly, that it was Artificial Intelligence that he was involved with.

          1. Sounds like a son to be proud of, Rastus 🙂 I too have been there, thinking one thing, then realising the reality. Loss of hearing doesn’t help me much:-)

  49. Friday

    Palestine Action and the right to protest

    SIR – I was arrested on July 19 for opposing the proscription of Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation, and take issue with your coverage, particularly in relation to the demonstration this Saturday ("Palestine Action plot to swamp police", August 4). There is no "plot".

    The demonstration has been openly promoted on the Defend Our Juries website, which stated that it had informed politicians and the police of its intentions. Far from being a "mob", those arrested with and around me were ordinary citizens, including a doctor in his scrubs, a retired lady from Twyford and a bar worker from Norwich. They had been calm and mostly silent, holding placards as a form of non-violent resistance.

    Having a terrorism conviction to your name can have severe consequences, such as imprisonment, the loss of a job, a hit to future job prospects or your ability to study, and prohibitions on travelling.

    The people protesting on July 19 were not doing so lightly. The police I spoke with were mostly puzzled by how compliant and polite those of us under arrest were. The Government is on the wrong side of history.

    Stephen Stone
    Norwich

    __________________________________________________________________

    Today

    Palestine Action tactics

    SIR– Stephen Stone (Letters, August 8), a defender of Palestine Action, thinks the Government is "on the wrong side of history".

    He says that he and his fellow demonstrators are peaceful. However, those for whom he has shown support are anything but.

    They stand accused of damaging British military infrastructure, and attacking Jewish people and Jewish-owned businesses (none of whom have any say in the actions of the Israeli government). They attend demonstrations that call for the destruction of a country and the seven million Jews living there, and take up the police and security services' time and money. Unless Mr Stone really thinks these actions are reasonable, he needs to find a better and truly peaceful way to show his support for Palestinians.

    Gareth Kreike
    Bury, Lancashire
    ________________________________________

    SIR – Stephen Stone talks about "the wrong side of history". History has nothing to do with it. Irrespective of its beliefs, any organisation doing actual physical damage to our nation's defences – of the kind that members of Palestine Action are accused of carrying out at RAF Brize Norton – is self-evidently a terrorist organisation and deserves to be proscribed.

    Gregory Shenkman
    London SW7
    ________________________________________

    SIR – Much as I deplore its activities, I do not believe that Palestine Action should have been proscribed as a terrorist organisation.

    The Government has placed the police in the unenviable position of having to either enforce a bad law or be seen to resile from upholding the law.

    David Harris
    London SW13

    1. Whenever I see the phrase "on the wrong side of history", I know that the writer will have the opposite opinion of mine.

  50. Say it aint so..
    Well i never..
    who'dave Adam & Eve it..
    knock me down with a feather..

    The witness claimed that the alleged assault by Tommy Robinson seemed very serious as the man wasn't moving afterwards.

    Five star witness at tube station that just so happened to be passing.. is a.. [drumroll].. Leftie Activist & actor.

    1. Clearly another set up. Tommy needs a couple of mates with him whenever he goes out. Record everything.

      1. You mention "Record everything"..

        'Apparently' five key witnesses just so happened to be connected..
        'Apparently' five key witnesses just so happened to have very spicy leftie social media..
        'Apparently' five key witnesses statements were all in sync with each other.. however..
        five key witnesses statements do not tally with BTP audio recording.

        TR was petrified that 'audio recording' was going to be deleted.

        1. All charges against Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, who uses the alias Tommy Robinson, are rigged. It is very surprising that the recording of the fact that he was attacked and was not the aggressor remained intact. That was clearly a mistake by somebody who should have destroyed it.

      2. You mention "Record everything"..

        'Apparently' five key witnesses just so happened to be connected..
        'Apparently' five key witnesses just so happened to have very spicy leftie social media..
        'Apparently' five key witnesses statements were all in sync with each other.. however..
        five key witnesses statements do not tally with BTP audio recording.

        TR was petrified that 'audio recording' was going to be deleted.

  52. Been reading about this scumbag. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/08/08/james-cartwright-samantha-mickleburgh-murder-bagshot/?recomm_id=eff3c1d9-e45c-4d48-92be-24ee882f5e73
    A Harrow-educated estate agent who murdered his ex-fiancée at a five-star hotel could have escaped justice had it not been for the medical knowledge of her surgeon stepfather, The Telegraph can reveal.

    James Cartwright battered and strangled Samantha Mickleburgh, 54, on his 60th birthday at the Pennyhill Park Hotel in Bagshot, Surrey, in the early hours of April 14 last year.

    The police and parmedics thought her death was accidental – but her stepfather phoned the coroner and got the post mortem brought forward.

  53. The Cotswolds manor house hosting JD Vance

    Vice-president to stay in Grade II-listed property with tennis court

    Samuel Montgomery, Tony Diver Associate Political Editor
    8th August 2025, 10:57am BST

    JD Vance will spend his British holiday at a Grade II-listed manor house in the Cotswolds. The vice-president is to stay in a country home in Oxfordshire, surrounded by members of the "Chipping Norton set".

    The house has six acres of land, two cellars, a tennis court, a rose garden, a basement gym and a Georgian orangery. Secret service agents have already arrived to prepare it for Mr Vance's arrival, after he finishes a weekend stay with David Lammy at Chevening, the Foreign Secretary's grace-and-favour home in Kent.

    The two politicians will hold a formal meeting before being joined by their families at the Grade I-listed residence. The home is reserved for high-level bilateral meetings and personal guests of Mr Lammy.

    Mr Vance, whose wife Usha attended the University of Cambridge for a master's degree in early modern history, has built a close relationship with Mr Lammy since their meetings on Capitol Hill before last year's election.

    But the trip also comes at a more fraught time in relations between the UK and US on some issues, after State Department officials and congressional Republicans voiced concerns about free speech in Britain. Their warnings came after The Telegraph revealed that a Whitehall "spy" unit had reported critics of asylum hotels to social media companies.

    Mr Vance singled out the UK and some European countries in February in a speech about freedom of expression. He said the "basic liberties of religious Britons in particular" were under threat.

    The Telegraph understands that Mr Vance will leave Chevening and travel to the Cotswolds, where a makeshift helipad has already been cut into a local field. Nearby townsfolk are bracing themselves for the arrival of the US vice-president. "You'll probably hear him first – he'll likely turn up in a tank, or in a helicopter like Robert Duvall in Apocalypse Now," one resident told The Telegraph.

    In March, Mr Vance was forced to cut a Vermont family ski trip short after crowds turned out to protest a day after he and Donald Trump had ambushed Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House. When he visited Rome the following month, the Colosseum was closed early to accommodate his family's arrival, infuriating tourists.

    The vice-president is expected to arrive in London with his wife and children Ewan, eight, Vivek, five, and Mirabel, three. The family are also expected to visit Hampton Court Palace before their stay in the Cotswolds.

    The manor in which he is staying is said to have been built in around 1702 for Thomas Rowney, one of the Oxford MPs. It was bought by Johnny and Pippa Hornby in 2017. Mr Hornby, an Oxford graduate, has served as the CEO of Luceco, a lighting and electricals firm, for 20 years. Mrs Hornby is a keen gardener and has advertised their home for horticulturalists to visit.

    The country house is near Diddly Squat farm [two crow miles], owned by Jeremy Clarkson, who has previously criticised Mr Vance and called him a "bearded God-botherer" over his opposition to abortion. After the US vice-president called the UK "some random country that hasn't fought a war in 30 or 40 years", the former Top Gear presenter responded in his Sunday Times column: "I've searched for the right word to describe him, and I think it's 't—'. He also has no clue about history."

    When The Telegraph visited the manor, there were crates of Blenheim Palace sparkling and natural water at the ready. But neighbours have kept quiet, with one saying: "I know why you have come here, but I am not interested in chatting." Asked about Mr Vance's potential visit, another said: "Who's that?"

    Hilda Reed, a former teacher, said: "I think he is devious, a bully, self-interested," she added: "It is the association you won't want. We don't want that kind of person."

    The Cotswolds has been described as the "Hamptons of the UK", offering refuge to runaway Americans such as Ellen DeGeneres and hosting Steve Jobs's daughter's multi-million-pound wedding.

    Father Fergus Butler-Gallie told The Telegraph: "People are bemused by the level of attention we have had this summer. Kamala Harris was [here] last week." He said visitors were always welcome and it was lovely that people wished to "come and share this beautiful part of the world with us", but added: "It is a real place where real people live. It is not a chocolate box. It is not Disneyland."

    Father Butler-Gallie said Mr Vance was angry about Britain in a way he was not with other European countries, adding: "He sees all of the news about London, that it's expensive, violent, dirty – he is getting that fed to him. But there is also his Hillbilly Elegy side – informed by his roots, he has a romanticised view of Old England."

    A Canadian-American, who wished to remain anonymous, said she would not be putting out the bunting for Mr Vance's arrival.

    "The general feeling is that people aren't keen," she said. "I am amazed and disappointed by the state of our leaders. Just stay at home and do something useful."

    Another resident, who wished to remain anonymous, said the area had a strong heritage of voting liberal. "I don't think anyone wants him here," she added. "You just don't want that bully here."

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/politics/2025/08/08/the-sprawling-cotswolds-manor-house-hosting-jd-vance

    The manor house is in the tiny village of Dean. I drove past it many times when the old folks lived in Chipping Norton. It was on one route to the town's tip and just around the corner from Call-me-Dave's mini-pile.

    There have always been snooty, old-money types in the district but the great virtue of Chippy in the 70s and 80s was that despite being labelled The Gateway to the Cotswolds and all that that implies, it was an ordinary working town. Indeed, it frequently returned a Labour councillor to West Oxon DC (though he did live in a nice farmhouse five miles out of town).

    It once had 12 pubs. Now it's down to six. My stepbrother and I rarely managed more than four in an evening, though to be fair only half of that dozen were worth drinking in. Morrell's, Hook Norton, Wadworth's and often in the Crown & Cushion a guest beer rare to the county all made for a decent night out.

    I haven't been there since 2013. The last time was to tie up my mother's affairs at the solicitor's after her death and by that time she was lost to the world after six years in a nursing home near to my sister in Surrey. If a town could be described as quietly lively then it was the old Chippy. On that day it was just like any other town, crammed with cars and people, noisy and overcrowded. I left in a hurry.
    ____________________________________________________________________________________________

    Dean Manor, part of the National Garden Scheme: https://ngs.org.uk/gardens/dean-manor-ox7
    ____________________________________________________________________________________________

    2. Just imagine the embarrassment of having to spend a weekend with Lame Lammy….

      1. Oh i don't know. Swinging from trees. Playing bongo drums and eating monkey brains can be fun.

      2. Imagine the horror of having to spend 15 minutes in the company of Hilda Reed or Father Fergus Butler-Gallie…

    3. I'm currently reading Hillbilly Elegy, recommended. Comes across exactly as he speaks, can hear his voice. Edit: DJT just announced a huge deal re: Ukraine almost ready, be announced tomorrow, Putin and Zelensky both onboard.

    4. I immediately thought of Abbotts Grange, the home of a friend and former client, situated in Broadway.

      Abbotts Grange was the base for the Broadway Group, an association of American artists and writers whose numbers included John Singer Sargeant, (Rose, Lily, Rose was painted in the grounds), Henry Lamb and other luminaries.

      I trust Vance knows of this connection. It is possible to land a helicopter in the grounds.

      Edit: I meant Henry James. He lived in Lamb House in the former Cinque Port of Rye.

        1. I may have mentioned it before but my sons loved the Michael Morpurgo books some of which are set in the Scilly Islands – have you read any of his stories?

        2. No it’s our 34’ Stobro. Annoyingly i can’t upload taken photos, only photos as i take them. A motor cruiser with 2 volvo twin penta 124s (apparently that is 124 hp per engine)

          1. My daughter's horse box which I help restore to road worthiness was powered by a Perkins diesel commonly used on ocean going sailing yachts. I used to get engine spares from Levington yacht harbour stores.

      2. I plan to have a cup of tea at the airport before i leave, now that i know small airports have cafes. New ambition – a cup of tea in everyone i visit. So far, Denham, Torweston and Bobbington. But i only started in June and i don’t get to visit many small airfields!

        2. I saw my Dad off from London Airport North on a BOAC flight which was then a group of rude huts.

          1. I assume you mean the airport was a group of huts, not the BOAC flight… 😉
            Flew from LHR a lot as a kid – return to Nigeria, on my own, for Easter and Xmas holidays from school, and before tthat summer holidays in the UK with my Parents. Then, BOAC swapped the routes to Nigeria with British Caledonian, who also flew a VC10 on the route until some klutz of a pilot landed it very heavily at Gatwick, and bent the fuselage, writing the poor old thing off ( https://www.vc10.net/History/incidents_and_accidents.html#G-ARTA%20London%20Gatwick%2028%20January%201972 ). After that, Boeing 707s, and the last few flights with DC-10s. Hated those, especially after the Turkish crash outside Paris.

          3. TWA – Try Walking Across
            Alitalia – All landed in Tokyo, all luggage in Australia.

        3. The last time I visited my parents' home after my mother's funeral I stopped off at Bobbington/Halfpenny Green/Wolverhampton Airport for a drink in the cafe. I thought I'd never be back that way again, so it was my last chance (I used to go plane spotting there as a child).

    2. Have you a picture of your boat? I'd love to see it.

      Sailing Gypsy of this parish has had some lovely boats in his time – he posted a picture of a very elegant 48 foot ketch (or was it a yawl?) a year or two ago.

      I started sailing with my parents as soon as I was born and did so on my own at the age of 7. My parents gave me an 8' dinghy for Christmas when I was 8 which I duly capsized in St Mawes on boxing day. Coast hopping and cruising started for me when my parents gave up 14' International Dinghy and Falmouth Sunbeam class racing and bought a cruising boat when I was 11 years old. Atahualpa was 32' long, made of teak and built in Burnham-on-Crouch in 1910 but my very competitive mother still thrashed around the buoys during Falmouth and Fowey regatta weeks. I remember my long-suffering father with water dripping from the peak of his yachting cap resignedly saying: "We do this for fun?"

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2edec9dd8b9d1cb3352ea97c8298e34691cd9bd2925960f35c7e888041ccce62.jpg

  56. https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/you-were-never-meant-to-know-about-the-court-service-it-bug/#comments-container

    You were never meant to know about the court service IT bug

    8 August 2025, 6:08pm

    Another day, another scandal in Britain’s collapsing public sector. Today’s concerns the country’s courts. A BBC investigation has turned up an internal report, not for public circulation, from HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) about an IT bug that deleted or hid information on hundreds of pending cases.

    The problem itself was bad enough: Britain’s state IT capacity is very poor, worse than many comparable nations. Things get deleted or disappear; vital information is stolen or hacked. The administrators of these systems are so often simply not up to it. But how this disaster was handled appears to be even worse.

    This particular software error, found in ‘case-management software’ variously called Judicial Case Manager, MyHMCTS or CCD, according to the BBC, meant that some data was not visible – including medial information, contact details and evidence at issue – in case files used in court.

    The report seen by the BBC said that the tribunal dealing with child support and benefits appears to have been the most affected. But the problem went further, including the family courts, employment tribunals, civil claims and probate – essentially most of the legal system to do with the trials of ordinary life.

    This is all scandalous and dreadful enough. It’s not surprising, because the gears of state always stick and scream and things in the public sector are rarely done efficiently and well. But there’s one thing that’s even more damaging than the routine ineptitude of the state: all of this appears to have been hidden from view until the BBC happened to get its hands on secret internal documents.

    You were never meant to hear about any of this.

    The IT problem itself was concealed; the lawyers and judges who likely lost access to vital information – who argued and decided cases on incomplete information – were never told about it. The people whose cases were affected were not informed.

    Even the eventual report assessing the damages of this error was also concealed. This is the dire nature of justice and life in Britain.

    The software was in use for years, sources within the HMCTS told the BBC, but if objections to its problems were ever raised, they were ignored. The internal report seen by the BBC said that data problems were discussed from 2019 onwards and definitively discovered in 2023.

    Higher-ups just didn’t want to know, let alone to fix things. And when the problems grew so large as to be unignorable, the whole thing was hidden from the public and from everyone remotely affected. Internal emails seen by the BBC seemed more interested in the ‘severe reputational impact to HMCTS’ than anything else.

    This is what the British state looks like; this is how it operates. It’s a culture of ineptitude with the bureaucracy protecting itself against all transparency, against every attempt to hold the system and its people to account.

    The primary purpose of the British state is waging a continual campaign to conceal from the public how badly we are governed. How many more stories like this one are there? There’s no way for you to know – they’ve all been well covered up.

    2. I wonder whether anyone else is aware of the way in which the Court Service runs and maintains its buildings and commissions its new buildings.

      The monstrous alterations to Middlesex Guildhall to convert it to the Supreme Court was managed by two firms whose partners were top Freemasons. I had the misfortune to work for one such firm and whose founding partner the late Sir Bernard Feilden advertised the fact. Nepotism was a feature such that another Feilden, a nephew, was made a partner, despite being arrogant and stupid, and given Court Service projects to cut his teeth on. That gentleman died unexpectedly a few years ago.

      Despite doing some good work for that practice I found the experience of working under that particular yoke both excruciating, disheartening and dispiriting.

      Edited: yoke for yolk. One of those days!

  57. The govt ban on membership of, or support for, Palestine Action is a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison, under the Terrorism Act 2000.

    Between 600 and 700 people are participating in a protest supporting the proscribed group in Parliament Square, according to organisers Defend Our Juries, who claimed the Met were preparing for 'the largest mass arrest in their history'.

    LOL

  58. Britain's truckers are fighting for survival in a war which is taking place at UK service stations and lay-bys, with dangerous criminals who beat them up on the roadside, gas them in their cabs and steal fuel and cargo on a daily basis.

    The RHA (Road Haulage Association) plead for help. LOL
    Freight crime is committed by organised criminal gangs. It is dangerous, and it has cost the UK economy £1 billion since 2020.

    Meanwhile,
    Thousands of people in the UK have been detained and questioned by police this year over online posts deemed threatening or offensive.

    1. I frequently see large HGVs crammed into potholed lay-bys with cab curtains drawn. I pity the poor blighters who have to drive these vehicles and search for a lay-by in which to park in the first place.

      Contrast the lack of facilities for overnight parking of road hauliers with the provisions in France. The UK is a total disgrace in its attitudes to its citizens compared with European countries.

      Meanwhile we have to endure the sight and reality of failing public services on an epic scale owing to the deliberate importation of millions of crude uncultured foreign men, the degradation of everything we hold dear and pompous politicians more concerned with supporting criminality in places such as Ukraine and Gaza under the pretence that we are somehow obliged to do so. We have no such obligations and should have nothing whatever to do with these wretched failed states.

      1. When our sons had their business, they allowed the truckers delivering to the factory to park overnight.
        Often the drivers asked to use the loo as many depots wouldn't allow them to do so.
        The way truckers are treated in this country is a disgrace.

      2. A few weeks ago, due to finding out I needed to travel and stay overnight at the last minute so it was too late to book a campsite, I had to camp on a layby in the motorhome. I managed to squeeze in between some heavy lorries. I'm pleased to say we all (2 dogs and I) survived and amazingly I slept well.

      3. I expect they are regarded as "scumbags"…..(Oh – there goes the front door…)

      4. Been there – When I was driving the recovery truck I used to try and arrange my driving hours so I bedded down in a proper truckstop.

        1. I think it essential for HGV drivers to be given the best facilities possible. I am sure the haulier industry work in stressful conditions and need time for recovery, to be properly fed and have proper washing facilities.

          I mention how far the UK is removed from European standards simply because the contrast is obvious when travelling through France and Germany.

          In France where we have holidayed for decades we often followed large trucks on rural roads in order to find decent hostelries where good food could be obtained at reasonable cost.

  59. Just done an hour's ladder work – giving the main (blue) wisteria a good seeing to. That'll teach it to grow what seems like several feet day!

    I notice that many of those stalwarts supporting Hamas and who are being arrested by the dozen – look slightly weird.

    I wonder if there is any connection between supporting a terrorist group and being weird to look at. Answers on a postcard.

  60. Off topic
    Too warm for me to enjoy swimming.

    Pool currently at 32°C and rising: the air temperature is 37° and won't be below 32° before 9pm at the earliest.

    1. Air temperature close to 17C here just now… wearing an ex-Bundeswehr woolly pully (with added moth holes), it's that chilly.

      1. Yes, it's a real nuisance.
        We use good quality multifunction tablets and keep the pumps running with regular backwashing to accelerate the water flow.
        Very expensive.

        1. I do recall. In addition to heat from the sun, we had solar-collectors on the roof which provided hot water. With any surplus heat (and there was a lot in summer) we used the pool as a heat dump! It was that or use the underfloor heating to cool things down. We ended up covering half the solar-collectors in extreme hot weather.

          1. We missed a trick when we moved in.
            Solar panels would have been a good investment.

            Since you left there have been a few years when strange algae has been brought in on storms. A very dark rather the usual light green version.
            It really stuck to the bottom and the walls.
            Last year everyone around here was affected by it: I don’t know anyone who didn’t lose a lot of swimming time, because the usual clearance methods didn’t work.
            It’s times like those when one starts to wonder if cloud-seeding may be a contributory factor.

    3. The modern states of Israel and Jordan were both created in 1948 as a “two state solution”. That isn’t what the Arab faux Philistines want.

    4. Somehow I don't see Israel giving a. Mmoments thought to the ravings of yet another politician pushing for two states.

    5. There is no such a thing as International Law, simply a group of thick lawyers sitting in splendour in The Hague casting judgement on those they disagree with as dictated by their paymasters.

      Likewise there is no such thing as the much vaunted International Order. This is simply to imply that the values pretended to by western leaders are to be preferred to those of other more populous and independent countries.

      Any organisation or charter with the letters UN in its name are by definition biased and likely to generate falsehoods.

      In the UK we need to ditch all of the “international” garbage law and return to our own long established and sovereign common law.

  64. Wordle No. 1,512 3/6

    ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜
    ⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    Wordle 9 Aug 2025

    Nosy Birdie Three?

    1. Just behind again
      Wordle 1,512 4/6

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

    2. Well done. A rather appropriate bogey here.

      Wordle 1,512 5/6

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

    3. Well done, birdie here also! I had a couple of options but thought they might be a bit obscure for Wordle (eg beginning with B )

      Wordle 1,512 3/6

      ⬜🟩🟩⬜⬜
      ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    5. Well done, a 5 for me.

      Wordle 1,512 5/6

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

      1. A Rothschild but I always forget which one. Not sure I blame him for poking Chuck.

  70. SWMBO sitting in the sofa, doing Beaker (think: muppets) impressions. Face sunk in her fleece, only her little nose poking out…

  71. It will be interesting to compare the charges/trials/outcomes after the various arrests over the weekend.
    Will the pro Hamas people get harsher or softer treatment than anti-gimmegrant protesters, will they all be processed equally quickly, will they be held in custody or quickly released?

      1. Hamas lose 10-1.

        British anti-migrant protesters get 10 whatever's for every one handed out to the Pally-Fans

  72. Evening, all. Took the dogs to a local dog show this afternoon. Rather a lean haul of rosettes this time; Winston won third in Best Rescue (he came second last time) and Kadi (who came third last time) was out of the ribbons. Still, it's good experience for them.

      1. I doubt it, which is why we'll keep repeating the experiment (in the hope of a different result <g>).

          2. Do you two have a bit of a 'bromance' going on? No problem, it's a free country (well, at least for another day or two).

          3. Over the years he’s taught me all the things that I didn’t wish, or need to know.
            He’d make a nurse blush.

          5. Ha ha! Richard aka Rachel Levine. Horrible creature. Allowed to practice paediatrics.

          6. Sorry Sue, I actually read that as paedophilia……. (probably not that wide of the mark) – I'm sorry officer, I'll come quietly….

          7. And once the United States assistant secretary for health and the Admiral in charge of the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, from 2021 until 2025.

          10. Be still my beating heart….. Phwoooarr……..I mean you would, wouldnt you (if you were clinically insane).

          14. Hard to tell, but it was brilliant at ticking all the boxes.
            A Biden appointee, so placed there to offend the right.

          15. Succeeded in that regard if nothing else. Never thought of myself as part of ‘the right’ learn something every day.

          16. Even a standard leftie of the 1960's/70's is regarded as right of centre nowadays.

          17. My family were always a mix of Labour/Liberal…I was the first to vote Conservative/Thatcher. Family aghast. Quite good fun….:-D

      2. That females are trying not to pee (hormones) and men trying to keep testicles cool (also hormones)………?…what d'you reckon, Vlad?

    1. I agree re free speech.
      BUT, if the disgusting laws are in place they should be used without fear or favour.
      As it stands too many such creatures get a free pass, where hurty tweeters and nasty bloggers get the book thrown at them.

        1. They’re breaking the law.
          There is an unfortunate tendency for the authorities to ignore some who do so.

  75. That's me for today. Useful garden work done – with ladder and hose (though not at the same time).

    There is an interesting two-parter on PBSAmerica about France from liberation onwards. A Yank documentary (only right as they were the only allies involved in liberating France) but with a lot of French contemporary footage "recoloured".

    Have a spiffing evening.

    A demain – if I am spared.

    1. The Canadians liberated "my" part of Normandy. They have an Avenue named after them.

      2. They did extremely well – one of the few contingents who achieved their D-Day objective.

    2. Not sure that my late uncle who went ashore a couple days after D-Day and got a leg full of shrapnel fighting in France, would have agreed with you that the Americans were the only ones involved.

      1. I suspect he's referring to the Franco-Yanko view, where it was the French that liberated everywhere important and the Yanks were the support.
        To Hell with Britain and the Empire.
        We attended the 1918-2018 11th November where Macron's speech ignored the British contribution, and the mayor and other locals apologised for it.
        Similar attitudes exist re WW2 liberation.

    3. Not sure that my late uncle who went ashore a couple days after D-Day and got a leg full of shrapnel fighting in France, would have agreed with you that the Americans were the only ones involved.

      1. Not a chance – all will be freed without charge – just a gentle slap on the wrist.

  80. Wel did not get as warm as I expected – didn't make past 30° today, due to a lot of haze.

  81. It is high time for me to put an end to your sitting in this place,

    which you have dishonored by your contempt of all virtue, and defiled by your practice of every vice.

    Ye are a factious crew, and enemies to all good government.

    Ye are a pack of mercenary wretches, and would like Esau sell your country for a mess of pottage, and like Judas betray your God for a few pieces of money.

    Is there a single virtue now remaining amongst you? Is there one vice you do not possess?

    Ye have no more religion than my horse. Gold is your God. Which of you have not bartered your conscience for bribes? Is there a man amongst you that has the least care for the good of the Commonwealth?

    Ye sordid prostitutes have you not defiled this sacred place, and turned the Lord's temple into a den of thieves, by your immoral principles and wicked practices?

    Ye are grown intolerably odious to the whole nation. You were deputed here by the people to get grievances redressed, are yourselves become the greatest grievance.

    Your country therefore calls upon me to cleanse this Augean stable, by putting a final period to your iniquitous proceedings in this House; and which by God's help, and the strength he has given me, I am now come to do.

    I command ye therefore, upon the peril of your lives, to depart immediately out of this place.

    Go, get you out! Make haste! Ye venal slaves be gone! So! Take away that shining bauble there, and lock up the doors.

    In the name of God, go! https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6928e42a4157e714db5db4887548836827989d566d4127da28b57d13de7c6611.jpg

  82. Approaching midnight and the full moon is extremely bright and white as I look at it.
    Wonderful to have a completely clear sky and very little background light.

    1. Love the full moon as well as the new moon. Large tides tomorrow and I'm off on a charter boat for some fishing.

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