Saturday 9 July: Let the candidates give us their Vision for Britain, and we can soon choose a new PM

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

601 thoughts on “Saturday 9 July: Let the candidates give us their Vision for Britain, and we can soon choose a new PM”

  4. ‘Morning, Peeps. A restrained 16°C here, with an acceptable 23° at its peak forecast today.

    Today’s leading letter:

    SIR – What we need from the 1922 Committee in order to choose the new leader of the Conservative Party are not hustings. These are yesteryear and time-consuming, when time is urgent. Besides which, we know the candidates really quite well.

    What we need is a ballot paper issued together with a “Vision for Britain” from each of the shortlisted final two. There is every reason to believe the process can be completed in five weeks – mid August at the latest.

    In shortlisting candidates, Conservative MPs will do well to remember that the reason they won a landslide was the promise to “Get Brexit done”. To settle old scores will bring their downfall. Voters are really quite discerning.

    Simon Turner
    Dorridge, Warwickshire

    And can we please see an end to the pointless TV ‘debates’, which are usually all heat and no light. In my experience they are just a soundbite contest of no value. The only people who get worked up are the political pundits and the media.

  5. Good morning all. Bright & sunny with 12½°C outside when I got up a couple of hours ago!

    1. We had BS promises from Johnson and look where that has led the Country.
      How do/can we know where any of the 650 MPs’ loyalties lie when Schwab openly boasts about the infiltration of his nefarious organisation into governments. Look at what is happening in the Netherlands, Rutte appears to be on a mission to destroy the Dutch farming industry, something similar, and very sinister, is happening in the USA. Who would vote for food shortages, reduction in energy provision etc.?

  7. 3540733+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Saturday 9 July: Let the candidates give us their Vision for Britain, and we can soon choose a new PM

    That’s it start as you mean to go on, same as before leading back to major, the curry lover.

    Sad to say this must surely be very near the final act
    prior to the curtain coming down on the United Kingdom,the majority voters efforts will be duly rewarded shortly in what we are about to receive.

    You can put a pristine new head in place but may one ask, how will this work when placed on a corrupt treacherous body, as far as I can see it is purely a cosmetic action to satisfy the misguided party members
    who will only be to glad to accept in their usual party before Country manner.

    Remember you can put lipstick on a pig but ………..

  8. Pressure remains on the Biden family dealings. From about six minutes in, Representative Comer(R) from Kentucky, exposes the obstructions being put in place to stop information being released and promises action after the mid-terms when he expects the Republicans to control Congress. First part of the video deals with the assassination of Abe.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzLlaAuvQQo

  9. SIR – What is the point of the Deputy Prime Minister if he doesn’t take over when the Prime Minister is unfit or unable to carry out his duties of office?

    G M E Barber
    Long Melford, Suffolk

    Indeed – what other purpose does the appointment of a deputy serve, if not to step in when the boss is unwell, unavailable (as in PMQs) or has been thrown out?  In my view the caretaker role is perfectly acceptable as it should not conflict with Her Maj’s authority.

    1. The Little Willy taking over from the big prick in this case. © Margaret Thatcher.

  10. Good morning all. A grey start – but more damned sunshine promised.

    Is it just me – but these slick personal self-promotional videos disgust me.

      1. That politicians lie, and may be expected to do so, has been determined by the High Court in Edinburgh.

  11. SIR – From a wide range of opinion, mainly from within opposition parties but including some Conservatives, it is clear that many consider the demise of Boris Johnson as an opportunity to facilitate the UK rejoining the EU. Lord Heseltine is at least honest to say so; others are not.

    In 2016, 410 constituencies voted for Brexit with only 240 against. If the Tories are to win a majority at the next election, they must hold the Red Wall and try to gain additional Leave-voting, Labour-held seats.

    The parliamentary party would be mad even to consider a leader who had not enthusiastically supported Brexit at the referendum six short years ago.

    Philip Duly
    Haslemere, Surrey

    Quite so, Mr D. All Remainiacs should be struck from the list automatically!

    1. SIR – As a shortcut to choosing the next Prime Minister, would it not be possible for all the candidates to say whether they agree with the six points made by Lord Frost in his article (“There can be no return to Cameron-Osborne-Cleggism”, July 8)?

      Those scoring six out of six could be allowed to proceed to the next stage.

      Julian Gall
      Godalming, Surrey

      Even better, and marginally more democratic than my method!

    2. Is it just a coincidence the name Heseltine has cropped up during the demise of another British tory PM ?

      1. Memo to the DT and all other media types: I have not the faintest interest in anything Michael Waste-of-time says. He had his chance a long time ago and he turned out to be a thoroughly unpleasant individual, along with being a Remainiac.

  12. SIR – Does the Conservative Party really believe Red Wall voters were converted to Conservative policies? If it does, it is mistaken. They voted for Boris even with his known failings.

    Nigel Morgan
    Cockermouth, Cumbria

    Shirley Nott, Mr Morgan? Did not the majority of them vote to keep the hideous Corbyn well away from No10? Surely the prospect of this terrorist-loving nutjob was the main reason for the 80-seat majority?

    1. I think his promise of ending the tortuous delay tactics and failure of the government to enact the people’s vote for Brexit may have had something to do with it!

      And now that Boris Johnson has gone people like Heselslime are taking orgasmic delight in re-opening the delay and the misery and it seems that none of the potential candidates for leadership is likely to put up a fight in Brexit’s defence.

      I have argued before that all the Conservative MPs who owe their seats to Brexit should resign their seats and stand again in by elections in a new pro-Brexit Party but the truth is that none of the existing MPs have the integrity to do so.

  13. SIR – I voted for a blue Tory. I got a green Socialist.

    John Frankel
    Kingsclere, Berkshire

    Unless you live in the constituency of Uxbridge and South Ruislip you did no such thing, Mr Frankel. You could only vote for a member of a party (but I know what you mean).

    2. Strictly speaking, though Party affiliation may be the main reason for selecting who we vote for, our vote actually goes to the candidate him or her self. That party affiliation has no legal standing whatsoever.

      1. I must confess that I once voted for a Lib/Dem. It was in a local council election and the person I voted for was one of my colleagues, a very dear but very muddle headed old chap.

        I voted for old Jimmy – I didn’t give a toss about his politics but I liked him. I think that Steel and Owen were the joint leaders at the time – for neither of whom I much cared.

  15. SIR – Wouldn’t it be nice to get rid of any politician who lied?

    Paul Berry
    Bishop’s Tawton, Devon

    It certainly would, Paul Berry…the Recall of MPs Act has been on the Statute Book since 2015 but has only been used once (Fiona Onasanya). Methinks it is dreadfully under-used, as was the intention I imagine…

  16. SIR – Much has been said of Boris Johnson’s shortcomings but, when it comes to being leader of the Conservative Party, I can only think of two failings – he was no leader and he was no Conservative.

    Martyn Pitt
    Hardwicke, Gloucestershire

    No additional comment required!

  18. SIR – Watching Wimbledon used to be a joy, but it has been ruined by commentators’ drivel, the crowd applauding errors instead of achievements, the players fist pumping themselves and the losers walking off court without waiting for the winner. Clearly, the old courtesies don’t apply any more.

    Diana Gibbons
    Pulborough, West Sussex

    Yes, it’s not a pretty sight and I gave up watching complete matches a long time ago.

    1. 1968 when it opened up to professional players might have been the turning point.

      1. At about the same time (horse) racing ceased to be a sport and became an industry.

    2. No one smiles , I hate the fist clenching , I hate the visciousness , the hard faces , it is similar to gladiators fighting for the money..

      Wimbledon has become so mechanical .

      I watched the wheelchair doubles last night , brave hardy men , but even that was not quite right , really and truly.

      I felt guilty viewing them .

    3. I feel the same, not to mention all the screaming grunting and shouting and it seems to have been weaponised

    5. The losers walk off court before the winners because the tournament (or the BBC) have adopted the AO & FO’s annoying practice of interviewing the winners on court, instead of ‘around the back’ as had hitherto been the case. This has the unfortunate effect of shuffling the non-victor out of the way beforehand.

      Hopefully it’ll be reviewed and scrapped post-tournament, with the idea of playing the middle Sunday (which has predictably thinned out the schedule from Tuesday onwards) be made a just one-time, Centenary thing at the same time.

      (But they won’t be. TV wants them, so they won’t be.)

    6. The losers walk off court before the winners because the tournament (or the BBC) have adopted the AO & FO’s annoying practice of interviewing the winners on court, instead of ‘around the back’ as had hitherto been the case. This has the unfortunate effect of shuffling the non-victor out of the way beforehand.

      Hopefully it’ll be reviewed and scrapped post-tournament, with the idea of playing the middle Sunday (which has predictably thinned out the schedule from Tuesday onwards) be made a just one-time, Centenary thing at the same time.

      (But they won’t be. TV wants them, so they won’t be.)

  19. I’ll put more bobbies on the beat, vows new Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley. 9 July 2022.

    Sir Mark Rowley, the new Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, is to put more bobbies on the beat as part of his plan to turn round the beleaguered force.

    In his first public statement after being appointed to the job on Friday, the former head of UK counter-terrorism policing pledged to “fight crime with communities – not unilaterally dispense tactics”.

    This is expected to see an increase in neighbourhood policing, a more targeted approach to stop and search focused on arresting high-profile offenders, and greater efforts to divert children away from gangs.

    Yet another Woke Plonker! We would do better to reconstitute the Bow Street Runners!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/07/08/sir-mark-rowley-set-new-met-commissioner/

    1. Yo Minty

      From Dick mk 2

      “We will deliver more trust, less crime and high standards for London and beyond, and we will work with London’s diverse communities as we
      together renew the uniquely British invention of ‘policing by consent’.”

      I doubt that the ‘diverse communities’ will include the ever reducing number of Native Brits

      Sir Mark began his police career as a constable in the West Midlands force in 1987, after graduating with a degree in mathematics from Cambridge University.

      Between 2008 and 2011, he was the chief constable of Surrey Police, before joining the Met to become the assistant commissioner for specialist crime and operations.

      From PC to Chief Constable in 21 years, what did Mr Grizzle do wrong?

      https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-62095222

      1. How many of the ‘diverse communities’ want to be policed?
        As in conforming to the British cultural norms that produced a rather pleasant country?

      2. Who was the MP who complained about Hansard; altering her words look what Dick 2 said
        We will deliver ‘more trusr’ Good
        ‘less crime’, I thought, apart from the odd murder, crimes wer delivered by the crooks, not perlice
        ‘less crime and high standards’. High standards covered by the less ie lower standards
        ‘policing by consent’ many immigrant communities do not Consent to being policesd by ‘us’ ie Shariah Law

    2. Yo Minty

      From Dick mk 2

      “We will deliver more trust, less crime and high standards for London and beyond, and we will work with London’s diverse communities as we
      together renew the uniquely British invention of ‘policing by consent’.”

      I doubt that the ‘diverse communities’ will include the ever reducing number of Native Brits

      Sir Mark began his police career as a constable in the West Midlands force in 1987, after graduating with a degree in mathematics from Cambridge University.

      Between 2008 and 2011, he was the chief constable of Surrey Police, before joining the Met to become the assistant commissioner for specialist crime and operations.

      From PC to Chief Constable in 21 years, what did Mr Grizzle do wrong?

      https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-62095222

    3. 54073+ up ticks,

      Morning AS,
      How about he assembles a major force in the Dungeness / Dover areas
      protecting our coastline while combatting a major source of incoming
      criminality on his first day,
      the second day he can use seeking new employment.
      ,

      1. How on earth could he do that? He only has jurisdiction over most of the Greater London area. He has no power, whatsoever, outside his “patch”. That’s like saying Macron has jurisdiction over Switzerland!

        1. 354038+ up ticks,
          G,
          Give him & his force rover tickets, have truncheon will travel reads the card of a policeman…

          We are in a completely different policeman’s ball game than in George Dixons era.

        2. Not sure if you have noticed from your Scandinavian residence Grizz.
          But that little git Kahnt has been extending greater London to take in everything inside the ring of the M25. Many parts of the home counties are no longer known as Herts, Essex, Surrey etc. Middlesex has vanished. And the phrase “London Borough of”, has replaced many areas that use to be independent of London. I belive the long serving Hendon police academy has been flattened and the surrounding area which long ago was Hendon aerodrome has been subjected to masses of housing. The grounds of the squash club where people played hockey and cricket. Have been built over by a school.

          1. Morning, Eddy.

            I think Greater London has been expanding for decades. Middlesex may no longer be a viable English county but I know its many residents still fly a flag for it and it still appears on addresses. Boat Race crews still choose between the Surrey and Middlesex stations, and long may it continue, despite the “Mayor”.

          2. I was born and brought up in North West London. I hate it now, everywhere you look there are women in long outfits and head covering. But largely encouraged by the media this is beginning to reach the same stage as the rest of our country. We are too old to move on again and we have young grand children I guess we will just have to sit it out and watch the demise of our culture and social structure as it speeds up.

    4. TBF – he’s coming out with the right words.
      Whether they’ll ever be translated into action is another matter.

        1. The Met have done quite well in Counter Terrorism. When you consider the high number of people in London who do not share Western values, it is impressive that there are no more incidents than there are.

          He has to talk the talk in order to be accepted by the people who would appoint him.
          Let’s see how he walks.

    5. Let’s give him a chance. If he wants to get more people out on patrol (which he must and on foot) he will have to streamline the paperwork. That is possible but it will require transparency in procurement of IT so that anyone lumbering Plod with yet another system that does not read what is already in place is heavily penalised. The same goes for procurement of uniform, estate and equipment.
      He is absolutely correct about communities and conservatives would do well to recognise that immigrant communities are naturally conservative, they recognise family values, discipline and hard work. They are less likely to be unemployed than native Brits. – I am not talking about the illegals, which are a different subject altogether, but which are also coming in droves under the Tories.
      But communities also means white people – native or immigrant.
      Stop and search is a useful resource, and does need to be targeted – and targeting needs to be intelligence led which means the police need to develop their sources of information – open and covert.

      The top-down approach to governance (policing or other) is fundementally socialist and it does not work unless it listens to voices at the bottom.

      1. I am well past “giving people a chance”. We have had various governments of full of chancers. Our public services are being run down by chancers.

        1. He’s here and we don’t have a choice but to give him a chance.
          So far, in CT he has used his chances well.

          Let’s reserve judgement. He has plenty of time to prove you right or wrong.
          If he starts sending out emails with his preferred pronouns – as he will be under pressure to do – I will admit you are correct.

          In the meantime there’s hope.

    6. Let’s give him a chance. If he wants to get more people out on patrol (which he must and on foot) he will have to streamline the paperwork. That is possible but it will require transparency in procurement of IT so that anyone lumbering Plod with yet another system that does not read what is already in place is heavily penalised. The same goes for procurement of uniform, estate and equipment.
      He is absolutely correct about communities and conservatives would do well to recognise that immigrant communities are naturally conservative, they recognise family values, discipline and hard work. They are less likely to be unemployed than native Brits. – I am not talking about the illegals, which are a different subject altogether, but which are also coming in droves under the Tories.
      But communities also means white people – native or immigrant.
      Stop and search is a useful resource, and does need to be targeted – and targeting needs to be intelligence led which means the police need to develop their sources of information – open and covert.

      The top-down approach to governance (policing or other) is fundementally socialist and it does not work unless it listens to voices at the bottom.

      1. Walked the Springer for an hour at 6.45 a.m. A low sun meant plenty of shade in the forest.

  21. 354073 up ticks,

    breitbart,
    A New Prime Minister Without An Election? How Top Job in UK Is Decided by Political Cabal

    They use the mix,pick & fix method the supporting cast of proven useful idiots are really NOT required.

    1. Not that I am against vulgarity – I can be quite vulgar myself as can many of my Nottler friends – but this is surprisingly vulgar from Matt!

      When I am a bit excessive I try to shield the more sensitive Nottlers by placing my jokes which are in dubious taste behind a spoiler in order to cause less offence.

          1. Making a joke in private is not the same as publicly publishing it. I assume he has been infected by the heat which I understand is present in some areas, though not mine…

          2. No indeed but I think the editor has to approve the cartoon chosen out of several he does.

          3. I read recently that he produces six each day. I wonder if the other five were more humourous but didn’t fit the editor’s political bent.

      3. Classic British vulgarity. It is in exactly the same style as the Seaside Postcard.

        1. One types before the thing one wants to hide then afterwards but without the spaces (it wouldn’t show the html commands if I didn’t put spaces in, it just hid the text).

        2. One types < spoiler > before the thing one wants to hide then < / spoiler > afterwards but without the spaces (it wouldn’t show the html commands if I didn’t put spaces in, it just hid the text).

  23. Morning 😃 again.
    Just a mo, Didn’t Bore-us set out his promises and plans for the people of Britain before the last election. Stop the invasion for one. But the Dopey Wokey he is did everything in his power to encourage and assist these scroungers. He even gave money to Macron. And even used the charity funded RNLI to ferry them across.
    Now because of it we are stuck with them. How green was that Bore-us ? How much has and ongoing will your damn lies cost us ?
    I sincerely hope that your constituents have the sense to dump you. Because you have let the people of this country down, It’s all you deserve.

    1. The RNLI must be facing a donation shortage as well, but I expect the difference will be made up with direct taxpayer support.

      1. If so, that would be illegal. Those involved could be jailed along with the lifeboatmen.

        1. As far as I am aware, most of the larger ‘charities’ receive the majority of their funding from HMG, i.e. the taxpayer. Which is how they can guarantee such massive wages for their CEOs and extended boards. Just another seat on the quangocrat merry-go-round.

          I only give to small local charities these days, as I’ve ‘given at the office’ for all the larger ones.

  24. Anyone but Tom Tugendhat. Spiked 9 July 2022.

    The Conservative Party’s various factions are now desperately promoting their candidates to replace the departing Boris Johnson as Tory leader and prime minister. The most vocal faction so far is the ‘One Nation’ grouping, which is demanding a clean break from the Johnson era. The One Nation Tories want someone with ‘integrity’, a track record of service, someone who can supposedly unify the party and the nation. Unfortunately, the man they have tipped for this role is backbencher Tom Tugendhat.

    Well I wouldn’t go so far so as the title (Zahawi? Truss?) but I can sympathise with it! They are all pretty much of a muchness. Braverman is about the only one with any nous.

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2022/07/08/charlie-on-tugendhat/

      1. Yes, but she is too young. She would be eaten alive by the system.
        I’d certainly consider her in ten years or so.

        1. A good manager, a good Prime Minister, is not alone. The Cabinet is the PM’s support team. Similar views, similar objectives, different personalities. Differences kept in camera, United front to the outside. Focus, clarity, prompt action, brooking no opposition*.
          Age is irrelevant. Courage and determination are important. Either they can do it, or they cannot.
          Johnson had plenty of “experience” and what shambles he made of it.

          * As the”loyal opposition” are powerless, I am referring to the Civil Service. If I were PM I’d set up an especially selected “think tank” to which I would transfer any Civil Servant who was not working to implement my policies. Might end up with a very big “think tank” but they could all be ignored.

          1. Experience is of course not enough. Yes she should be in a cabinet. But not leading it.

          2. I like the ‘think tank’ idea as the CS are very protective of their own and near impossible to sack. Perhaps the ‘think tank’ could be located somewhere near the M62 corridor, where those sent there could see the results of their meddling over the past few decades. If nothing else it may cause them to seek real employment away from the taxpayer’s spigot.

    3. I am one of Suella’s constituents and after seeing what she has achieved at a local level she would get my backing. Accomplished quite a lot but the biggest thing was to give the local GP’s a kick up the backside.

      1. That’s interesting. Our local MP is asking for opinions on the candidates. SB has always struck me as being grounded.

        1. Suella is clear headed. Has her own opinions and is not afraid to voice them. Everything Boris wasn’t.

    4. There is probably only one person who can save the Conservative Party from total oblivion. Unfortunately he is in the House of Lords and would have to renounce his seat and become an MP in the House of Commons. This could be done – Lord Hailsham (Quinten Hogg), Lord Home (Sir Alec Douglas Home) and Lord Stansgate (Tony Benn) have all done it.

      Unfortunately the quality of the intelligence of most of the people in the current Parliamentary Conservative Party is not up to seeing who this person is and what to do about it. And if they can see it they are hell-bent on self-destruction.

    5. Ahem….

      “Tom Tugendhat should be sent to canvass in Hartlepool, they know how to deal with a French monkey”

  25. Good Moaning.
    Lovely day for the Tendring show. A spot of cloud makes schlepping round a show ground much pleasanter.
    Signed,
    Temperate Climate Girl.

  26. 🎶
    “Even constipated fleas do it ….”
    Pass on Yersinia Pestis, that is. Another useless pub quiz fact I’ve just picked up.

    Talking of interesting books, for all history buffs and general readers I do recommend “The Restless Republic” by Anna Keays.
    Covers a decade when Blighty went from the last gasps of seemingly all-powerful monarchy to the constitutional arrangement that suited us until c.1997.

    1. Morning, Anne! I think Hertslass has been kind enough to pass on my email address. May be in your hood soon 😎 Do not reply if a fleetingg visit from the likes of me sends shivers up your spine . . . 🤣

      2. Evening, Ashes,
        Not ignoring you. I’ve felt like shiite over this weekend.
        I will contact you you again during the week.

  27. SWMBO and I (sounds a bit like the Queen) have come across a whole new area of hate crimes that seem to beoverloooked
    Cowboy and Indan films.
    Bad Mr Whitey butchering poor defenceless redskins

    PS all the cowboys came from Britain

    1. Yes. When I was little everyone played Cowboys and Indians. Comics were American, as were many TV programmes for children (presumably) such as the Cisco Kid (Hey, Pancho!). Like many things we look back with warm and friendly nostalgia. The reality was very different. Settlers stole America.
      If we had played different games, Redcoats and Zulus, watched different TV, the Young Empire Builders, Tom of the Tea Plantation, perhaps we would think better of our wonderful Empire and less of the really quite vile USA?

      2. There were well intentioned exceptions of course. William Penn and Chief Tamanend were allies and Penn bought the land on which Philadelphia was built but almost as soon as he was gone, the settlers began taking land beyond what had been agreed and even destroying native villages, though the Lenape Nation were not a threat.

      3. The Cisco Kid and Pancho.
        Zorro.
        Hopalong Cassidy.
        The Lone Ranger and Tonto.
        The Range Rider and Dick West.
        Laramie.
        Bronco Laine.
        Champion the Wonder Horse.
        Bonanza.
        Wyatt Earp.
        Gun Law (aka Gunsmoke)
        Rawhide.
        Wagon Train.
        Have Gun, Will Travel.
        The Big Valley.
        The High Chaparrell.
        The Virginian.
        Maverick.
        Cheyenne.
        The Rifleman.
        Kit Carson.
        Rin Tin Tin.
        Wild Bill Hickok.
        Gene Autry.
        Roy Rogers.
        Annie Oakley.
        Boots and Saddles.
        Tenderfoot (aka Sugarfoot)
        Wanted, Dead or Alive.

        I’ve probably failed to recall one or three, but there were quite a number of Western ‘Horse Operas’ available in the 1940–1970 period.

      4. The Cisco Kid and Pancho.
        Zorro.
        Hopalong Cassidy.
        The Lone Ranger and Tonto.
        The Range Rider and Dick West.
        Laramie.
        Bronco Laine.
        Champion the Wonder Horse.
        Bonanza.
        Wyatt Earp.
        Gun Law (aka Gunsmoke)
        Rawhide.
        Wagon Train.
        Have Gun, Will Travel.
        The Big Valley.
        The High Chaparrell.
        The Virginian.
        Maverick.
        Cheyenne.

        I’ve probably failed to recall one or three, but there were quite a number of Western ‘Horse Operas’ available in the 1940–1970 period.

      5. Tom Mix was in some comic IIRC – I was a Beano/Dandy lad myself and later The Eagle

        1. Tom Mix appeared in B/W cowboy films. Wyatt Earp was technical consultant to Tom Mix and William S Hart.

          2. I mention this because I find it surreal, from the OK Corral to Hollywood films. Mrs Earp died in 1944, another fat that I find astonishing.

  28. Nice picture of Billie Jean King and Ann Jones prior to the final – I think Ann’s handbag says it all about that era

  29. Nobody has a good word for Mr Corbyn. I do not see how he could have done worse than Mr Johnson.

    Anyone may become an MP. Thereafter there is a route to preferment, ministerial posts, the Cabinet and the position of Prime Minister.
    To what extent do our intelligence services investigate or vet contenders for high office? Mr Sunak is first generation British and has an amazingly successful career. One might suspect that he has been sponsored throughout. I merely use Mr Sunak as an example. I do think that we should be very careful as regards the person to whom we give almost complete control of our country.

    1. Unfortunately “we”, as in the voting public, have absolutely no influence or say in who eventually ends up responsible for running the country, it is decided by a closed cabal of self interested nepotistic individuals.

    2. “Nobody has a good word for Mr Corbyn. I do not see how he could have done worse than Mr Johnson.”

      I’d be interested to hear what he thought about the Ukraine/Russia situation a d whether he would have been as gung-ho as Johnson has been about throwing money and munitions at Ukraine. For the new leader of the Cons and Prime Minister I would like somebody far slower to jump in with both feet and far less quick to steal another country’s assets. In fact somebody who didn’t do those things at all.

      1. Corbyn actually was the one person urging caution on Ukraine.
        He doesn’t always get things upside down.

      2. ..somebody far slower to jump in with both feet and far less quick to steal another country’s assets. In fact somebody who didn’t do those things at all.

        Wouldn’t we all, vw? It all comes down to whether or not the person is having his/her strings manipulated by others. Anyone who has attended Davos, Bilderberger meetings or has expressed admiration of both the UN and the WHO along with their policies has to be barred from authority in any level of government. We are in grave danger of losing what remains of our democracy from those associations and their acolytes.

  30. Baker backs Braverman as he rules out leadership bid

    MP Steve Baker has ruled himself out of the Conservative leadership contest after previously suggesting he might consider a bid. The former Brexit minister, who was among the resignations from Boris Johnson’s government on Wednesday, is instead backing Attorney General Suella Braverman for the top job.

    Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Baker said he was being realistic in not running, adding that without cabinet experience, it would be difficult to make it to the final two candidates. “As much as I would love to seriously run, I will get the prime minister I want with Suella,” he said.

    Baker said she has “fierce resolve”, “great authenticity”, and possesses “all the right Conservative values”.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-politics-62086798

    2. Sue-Ellen Cassiana “Suella” Braverman QC MP is a British politician and barrister who has been the Attorney General for England and Wales since 2020. She has been Member of Parliament for Fareham since 2015.

      “Sue-Ellen, you’re a slut, you’re a whore, you’re an unfit mother…”

      Oops! Sorry. Wrong Sue-Ellen!🫢

      1. About 20 years ago I had the pleasure of sitting beside Linda Grey – who played Sue-Ellen – on a flight back to Blighty. Unlike her Dallas character, she was a lovely woman.

    3. Mrs Braverman seems OK, reading her Wiki entry. However she is a first generation Briton. Her career has been meteoric. Just saying.

      1. Most of them are first generation British. None of the indigenous seem any better.

      2. From that Wiki entry:

        Braverman stands on the right wing of the Conservative Party, is a hardline Brexiteer, and supports sending cross-Channel migrants to Rwanda. She has said, “If I get trolled and I provoke a bad response on Twitter I know I’m doing the right thing. Twitter is a sewer of left-wing bile. The extreme left pile on is often a consequence of sound conservative values.”

        British Empire

        She has described herself as a “child of the British Empire”. Her parents, who were from Mauritius and Kenya, came to the UK “with an admiration and gratitude for what Britain did for Mauritius and Kenya, and India”. She believes that on the whole, “the British Empire was a force for good”.

        Rights versus responsibilities

        In a December 2015 op-ed, Braverman wrote, “In essence, rights have come to fill the space once occupied by generosity.” She quotes Eric Posner’s theories on what the Brazilian state sees as its right to use torture by “the police in the name of crime prevention. They justify this by putting a general right to live free from crime and intimidation above their rights of those who are tortured.” She closes:
        “To correct the imbalance, perhaps we should adopt a Universal Declaration of Responsibilities and Duties, to be read in tandem with that on Human Rights? A fair, decent and reasonable society should question the dilution of our sense of duty, the demotion of our grasp of responsibility and our virtual abandonment of the spirit of civic obligation. What we do for others should matter more than the selfish assertion of personal rights and the lonely individualism to which it gives rise.”

        Parliamentary sovereignty and international treaties

        In 2020, as Attorney General, she stated the UK Government’s legal position about the possible impact of the UK Internal Market Bill on the Northern Ireland Protocol:

        “It is an established principle of international law that a state is obliged to discharge its treaty obligations in good faith. This is, and will remain, the key principle in informing the UK’s approach to international relations. However, in the difficult and highly exceptional circumstances in which we find ourselves, it is important to remember the fundamental principle of Parliamentary sovereignty.

        Parliament is sovereign as a matter of domestic law and can pass legislation which is in breach of the UK’s Treaty obligations. Parliament would not be acting unconstitutionally in enacting such legislation. This ‘dualist’ approach is shared by other, similar legal systems.”

        Transgender matters

        In an interview with The Times, Braverman said that schools do not have to accommodate requests from students who wish to change their gender, including the use of the pronouns, uniforms, lavatories and changing facilities of a different gender. She argues that, legally, under-18s are entitled to be treated only by the gender of their birth and that the “unquestioning approach” adopted by some teachers and schools is the reason different parts of the country have very different rates of children presenting as transgender. Braverman also expressed admiration for J. K. Rowling, referring to her as “a heroine” of hers.

        1. Yes, seems OK. But see my recent post on sponsorship. Our enemies play a long game.

  31. Funny old morning – cloudy, chilly an a strong north wind. Just the day for “Open Gardens” in Fulmodeston and Barney…..

    I’ll have to look out a pullover. Cats very irritated. The wind ruffles their fur and makes them niggly.

    3. The problem for cats, Bill, is that, while they can feel the wind, they cannot see it or fight it. That’s what makes them niggly.

  32. I just hope (forlornly) that whoever takes over has NO place in his cabinet for the shameless opportunist Iraqi. Or Priti Awful.

      1. I don’t even think she means well, Jules. She is thick as a plank and completely out of her depth.

        1. She is thick as a plank and completely out of her depth and swimming feebly.

    1. He’s a bullshitter. Labour governments have always done the opposite of what they said.

      2. Sadly true of all political parties.

        Johnson got Brexit so well and irrevocably well done that in a couple of years time we shall be back in the EU again with the euro as our currency!

      3. 354073+ up ticks,

        Morning N,
        Give them credit they work well in
        unison with the other two segments of the coalition
        lib/con.

    2. 354073+ up ticks,
      G,
      I would say very hard to define really seeing as they.the lab/lib/con are a coalition, that can be seen clearly via the mass ongoing illegal immigration
      campaign they are jointly running& have been for decades.
      I do believe the near total
      destruction of a nation i should be equally shared by the toxic trio.

    3. Well a much hidden fact was that Wilson and Callaghan closed more pits than Thatcher. Callaghan lost a vote of no confidence brought about by Thatcher. Wilson effed up Rhodesia by interfering in a well run and prosperous African country. Blair lied about everything.
      Cameron lied about everything and ……oh wait a moment, call me Dave was supposed to have been a tory.
      And my father didn’t know Lloyd George but he was a Lib anyway.

  34. ‘Morning All

    Modern Life……..

    https://scontent-dub4-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/292553031_3313339495569993_2358650864485444236_n.jpg?_nc_cat=1&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=8bfeb9&_nc_ohc=LJ0myjTpkvoAX86cqBL&_nc_ht=scontent-dub4-1.xx&oh=00_AT_4ZkcVCXk_x2v0OzPzcsEevVEnRbXpRXr8rsoLOpEeNg&oe=62CD5E60

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d54fa030450c02bb7eaf9a4f1e4ce063784a96d1227a627053d5035e26317394.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/71d00ec3525e7290426bc9c43c79a38d1fa7fb77f0656bb37698d9dabcc0e63e.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/132a1fe5dd9b92e0aa699ea8cb69062bd548d11655036c1688c00fae8d6b6be6.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4da582c01f7b77356d32d2318db70f062934345af6b44d5289db91a7a3d0aeb3.png

    1. Most of our age group knew at the time it was heard, that what Enoch was saying would happen.
      But we had no real inkling that our future politicians would have lied and flaunted heavily against the wishes of the electorate.

  35. Two examples of ‘people in authority’ using incorrect information to support their respective cases? In one example the perpetrator had forgotten what was written many years ago and in the second case… Where are the ‘fact checkers’ on these issue?

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5be5a68e486b519193ed3f2fcf96db8d4f9c131c6c810dd7b5f2c594812bbf71.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bac94698c1cc8b524dbf9d8dc3e1af25bec7c8d4be5f3e0b90328658103439aa.png

    1. “Fact checking “only works one way. It is used to support the accepted, settled science, big Pharma, the financiers and the politicos.

    2. And if you keep your Vitamin D levels up and take Vitamin C and zinc as well you may not need Chloroquine or Hydroxychloroquine which can have side effects. Mind you, one of the less reported effects of the gene therapies in our parish seems to be the sudden inexplicable death of the multi jabbed of ‘unknown causes’ in their 40s, 50s and 60s.

      Double the number of deaths where Caroline has had to play the organ at funerals this year than the average and several fall in the category above.

  36. I am now going down to the village hall to “help” – that is, stand around while other people do all the work. I’ll take a pullover as the northerly is still blowing hard.

    Toodles.

    1. 354073+ up ticks,

      Morning TB,

      They, the “political disgusting” can only operate with the peoples consent via the polling booth.

      Trouble being we have a majority of bengal lancers
      ruling the roost in the electorate, and they will have their granny in a burka as quick as you can say, O shit man.

    2. Sharia law, at least the LGBTQetal mob will realise how good they had it before, as they’re chucked from the rooftops.

    3. As Ihave been saying for a while

      Before long we Brits will be the effnic minority,in UK, then true Racism will rise up, as w eare blamed by the BAMES for every sin committed in the world, for the time Adam ate the apple

    1. We were thick enough to destroy them and sell the usable parts to …. Germany….

      1. That’s why the German mining towns in Napthalia never really flourished! 😉

      3. How about Yogi and Boo Boo?

        This Fred Wedlock Song listed several well-known characters in the ursine community:

        If you go down to the woods today
        You’re sure of a big surprise
        If you go down to the woods today
        You’ll never believe your eyes.
        For every bear that ever there was
        Is gathered there for certain because
        Today’s the day the teddy bears have their rave up.

        There’s angel bears who come on their bikes
        All dressed in their leather gear
        There’s gallons of scrumpy all green and lumpy
        And horrible Watney’s beer
        Yogi downed a pint of it quick
        And was very promptly horribly sick
        And filled up both of Paddington’s new wellies.

        Rave up time for teddy bears
        The little teddy bears are having a lovely time today
        Grooving to those heavy sounds
        That only Status Quo know how to play.
        Cresta bear is freaking out
        “It’s frothy, man”, he’s blowing his little brain
        Rupert bear is having a trip
        Winnie the Pooh is doing the strip
        They reckon that he’s on the game.

        Now every bear that ever there was
        Is sure of a treat today
        ‘Cause Mummy and Daddy and baby bear
        Have found a new game to play
        Beneath the trees where nobody sees
        There’s Goldilocks tied up on her knees
        You bet your life she’s getting more than porridge.

        If you go down to the woods today
        You’d better not go alone
        It’s lovely down in the woods today
        But safer to stay at home
        ‘Cause it’s a really kinky scene
        A big butch bear is playing the queen
        And they don’t call him Sugar Puffs for nothing.

        Rave up time for teddy bears
        The little teddy bears are having a lovely time today
        Groping in the undergrowth
        Oh, what would Enid Blyton have to say
        See them as they prance around
        Collapsing on the ground; they haven’t any cares
        At twelve o’clock the coppers are coming
        To take them all away
        ‘Cause they’ve been naughty little teddy bears.

  44. Six again 🙁

    Wordle 385 6/6

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

    1. At the second attempt I though yay, I’m going to do ok today. Then look what happened.
      Wordle 385 5/6

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

      1. Having been tempted to join in the craze very recently I managed a fast four play a little earlier…..

      2. A bostin’ three!

        Wordle 385 3/6

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

    1. 354073+ up ticks,
      O2O

      Good question, one answer is fear of their lab/lib/con coalition overseers and such trouble would bring the lab/lib/con political facade coalition into disrepute.

    1. They’re here to manoeuvre a new PM into place. Vote for who you want and you get what they want.
      Wish I was a brown paper envelope manufacturer.

  47. On Friday, there was a major network outage that has taken down much of Canadian mobile phone and internet service. No cash, no service wax the cry at many locations.

    Unfortunately the government chose to insist on a mobile phone app as the only way to present documentation when entering the country.

    Guess what wasn’t working yesterday! Even more chaos than normal at the airports.

    1. I was given EM Forster’s novella, “The Machine Stops” to read at school. Very prescient but I bet it’s not on the school curriculum anywhere now.

  48. The Act of Settlement 1701, which was passed by the Parliament of England, stated the heir to the throne must not be a “Papist” and that an heir who is a Catholic or who marries one* will be excluded from the succession to the throne “for ever.” [*This requirement was removed by an amendment in 2013].

    If Catholics can be excluded by law from attaining the Crown; by the same token why can’t a similar Act be passed that prohibits Muslims from taking high office in the UK?

    1. Because it is still acceptable to discriminate against Catholics because there are no consequences, whilst any opposition to Islam will be met by violence.

      1. It needs to be tried,Aeneas, and, if they kick off, we kick back, twice as hard, which should have happened years back.

      2. Indeed; Prince Michael of Kent had to resign his place in the succession because he married a Catholic. He was so far down the line that it wasn’t a big deal anyway and, also, might have been a relief.

      3. Oh, I don’t know so much about that. At every Old Firm game, fans of Glasgow Rangers ‘discriminate’ against fans of Glasgow Celtic and there are certainly ‘consequences’.

        1. I hardly think that a bunch of nasty, neanderthal Glaswegian morons are representative of either Protestant or Catholic denominations.

    2. “It’s all Greek to me” said a young lady who escaped from Mariupol.

      An interview with a Mariupol refugee on BBC World Service revealed that tensions in the Black Sea region were dominated by religious differences amongst Orthodox Christians.

      Both Russians and Greeks are linked by their religion, Orthodox Christianity, and this bond has brought the countries close throughout the centuries. This likely contributed to the choice to rename cities in Ukraine to sound more Greek

      https://greekreporter.com/2022/03/13/ancient-greek-roots-names-ukraine-cities/

      Despite such close bonds, the Russians chucked the Greeks out of the Crimea who were forced to regroup at Mariupol. Now the remaining Greeks have been chucked out of Mariupol again by the Russians.

      The interviewee had sought refuge in Limassol.
      Perhaps religious differences are the root cause of many conflcts.

      Here’s the Greek outlook for tomorrow:

      https://www.atptour.com/en/players/atp-head-2-head/nick-kyrgios-vs-novak-djokovic/ke17/d643

      1. When I did my MA, there was a Greek girl on the course. After a lecture on Chomsky’s Transformations, she said, “it’s all Greek to me!” whereupon the lecturer replied, “well if it were, perhaps you would understand it better”.

    3. Because that Act was passed when those passing it cared for the future of the country (and the Church of England). Such is no longer the case.

  49. Why extra salt on meals could take years off your life. 9 July 2022.

    Shaking a little extra salt on a meal may seem like a harmless addition – but it knocks an average of two years off life for men and one and a half for women, a study suggests.

    Research based on 500,000 middle-aged Britons found those who always added extra salt to food were 28 per cent more likely to die before the age of 75.

    Who says? We are not born with a Use By date stamped on our arses (OK Grizz?) when we are born, and the study of averages, as here, does not tell us what else might have hastened their ending. I have ignored or actively defied all advice on diet during my earthly span. I have drunk more than copiously and gorged myself to repletion at regular intervals and yet I’m still here! Let us all follow Mr Khayyam’s advice, who like any good Muslim knew which was the working end of a Wine Bottle:

    Drink! for you know not whence you came nor why: drink! for you know not why you go, nor where.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/07/09/why-extra-salt-meals-could-take-years-life/

    1. I have recently been advised by my doctor to take more salt as my sodium level was getting low. It should be above 133 (whatever’s) or above, last year it had dropped to 132 and this year to 131. I was told if it dropped to 130 or below it could cause confusion.
      Who knows I may already be there but that’s for others to decide. :-D))

      1. Cheer up Alf, I often have trouble remembering what I had for breakfast;-)
        Many years ago in GA I bought some special sliders to move the stacks without having to take all the books off the shelves. I boasted about these wonder items to my volunteers and some of them agreed to come in before school started to help me move the stacks.
        Do you think I could find the bloody things? Hunted high and low to no avail, so we did it the long, hard way.
        I found the damn sliders on the last day of school in the first place I’d looked. Life is out to get you sometimes.
        Putting things in a safe place means you will never see them again!

        2. I share your feelings.
          Back from a successful bowls match versus London Welsh. We beat them quite well especially vw who was skip on her rink and won 30-6.

    3. All such studies shirley present only circumstantial evidence. Causation isn’t proven in the way that it is if, say, a healthy person takes an injection and drops dead. Who funded the research?

      1. Who funded the research?

        Afternoon Sue. That’s a good question. I often wonder who’s financing these, what are ultimately useless, research projects!

      2. Who funded the research?

        Afternoon Sue. That’s a good question. I often wonder who’s financing these, what are ultimately useless, research projects!

    4. Why extra salt on meals could take years off your life. 9 July 2022.
      I read that as salt makes you younger.

    5. Always wondered where the expression ‘The Salt of the Earth’ came from now I know – it’s down to those expiring early….

      1. It was also a status thing- seated above or below the salt at a medieval banquet indicated your social standing. Also, salary comes from the word salt.

    6. I have never paid the slightest attention to any of all this BS about food, diet or anything. I don’t overeat because I don’t like stuffing myself; I drink wine and a glass of sherry and Scotch at Christmas and Hogmanay. I do not need some fatuous oiks in any organisation telling me how to live my life.
      Thanks to this government, my health is the worst it has ever been.

    7. Five a day.So many peiople do as they are told and eat at least that and it is too much. Eat more good quality meat is more like it. These veg diets are weakening in the long term.

    8. I am a fervent believer in “Use By” dates, Araminta. I recently poured a whole case of Château Latour 1961 down the sink because it was well past its “Use By” date. Next week I intend to do the same with a few cases of 1979 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti.

  52. BBC Radio 4 Any Questions: Anita Anand presents political debate and discussion from The Electric Palace in Bridport with Baroness Jenny Jones, Peter Kyle MP, Jacob Rees-Mogg MP and Anna Soubry.

    The crowd response is like a fight in an asylum. If there is a Tory voter in the crowd he or she will be lynched if they are revealed. Bridport must be a secret socialist assembly area for anarchism training and street violence.

    1. 354073+ up ticks,

      Afternoon P,
      In my book now there are only two party’s as in the right & the wrong, I to heard the odious baying from the audience in their pursuit of wallowing comfortable in warm shite
      from dawn till dusk.

  53. And another one!

    Adil Rashid: Yorkshire to block social media followers over ‘offensive’ messages

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/62106477

    He’s certainly grown his beard recently. It’s catching. Here’s international umpire Aleem Dar in 2008 and now.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a14571cc69ac46740673b5f7e673a1a7a7a1493459c8115ec40f0e1bb0070fe8.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5c821f5ba802455c3dc59145a0f3d274a28469d3f88fcf33ed5f2f170a39f217.jpg

          4. Well, that just shows how wrong they are!! Most Yanks are Oirish or Spanish….!

          5. They are still living in the 18th Century, when most Americans in the British colonies were English.

          7. Actual they are quite keen on sports: basketball, hockey, baseball, skiing etc; it depends on their interpretation of what it is to be Amish and their location.
            But I’m sure you knew this when you threw in a possible grenade 🙄

  54. Firefighters tackle blaze in truck carrying 40,000lbs of crisps. 9 July 2022.

    Firefighters tackle a blaze inside a trailer filled with 40,000 pounds of crisps after it caught fire at the manufacturing site of Outlaw Snax in central Florida.

    Footage captures the Ocala Fire Rescue crew hosing down the smoking trailer while a colourful array of potato crisp bags flood out.

    Four crews attended the scene and used a “deck gun – a high-capacity jet stream used to knock down fires with a clear line of sight” to tackle the blaze.

    Gary Lineker is reported to be “devastated”

    https://www.independent.co.uk/tv/news/potato-chips-crips-fire-florida-ocala-b2119440.html

    3. Gary Lineker has volunteered to take some packs in, but only for a few days.

    4. 40 thousand pounds of crisps? not a tad under 20 tonnes, then? 40,000 sounds so much bigger and more exciting.

      2. A small packet is about 25g these days, call it an ounce. So 40,000 lbs would be 640,000 packs of crisps, even more exciting.
        Knowing the US eating proclivities though, they probably weighed a pound a pack.

  55. I am going to the shop known as Asda but also known as the Wasteland- I may be some time.

    1. Asda was taken over by Wal-mart so you should feel at home :o)

      Have only been on here for a couple of minutes (first time for a while) and am going off now – things to do. Just your two comments that I saw (I replied to another one as well) were irresistable – so I hope you will forgive me for being unable to resist! xxx

    2. How to shop in Asda.
      Make list
      Get trolley
      Walk around shop putting items on list into trolley
      Push trolley to tills
      Leave it there and walk out.

      Shopping in Asda only reminds you of what you could have bought if you’d gone somewhere else. It’s annoying because it is the closest to me.

      1. It’s not that bad, Stormy. Check the reductions on Prosecco and spirits !

  56. Anita Arnand just finished Any Answers on BBC R4 as to which candidate for PM callers would choose to replace Boris Johnson.

    There weren’t any answers. 🤔

  57. Bernie’s Putin U-turn: Ex-F1 chief Ecclestone APOLOGISES for saying he would ‘take a bullet’ for Russian leader.9 July 2022.

    Bernie Ecclestone has apologised for his controversial comments about Russian President Vladimir Putin and the war in Ukraine.

    Well actually he doesn’t. The video is very poorly recorded, there are no sub-titles and more unacknowledged editing points than War and Peace. What he does appear to say is that he is sorry for the Ukies and for anyone who misunderstood him on the first round! But hey that’s propaganda!

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10997853/Bernie-Ecclestone-APOLOGISES-controversial-comments-backing-Putin-sparked-outrage.html

    2. I bought Tesco salted butter yesterday – £2.80
      Just as good as the branded stuff

  59. Apropos the comments below about some furrin’ umpire growing a defiant beard.

    During our daily visit to (what used to be the exclusive) Plage Mala in Cap d’Ail I noticed that there were far more swarthy young men with aggressive beards eyeing the half dressed young white women on the beach.

    They never used to be seen there.

    What fun diversity and inclusivity is…..

    1. Their women are covered from head-to-toe and are off-limits to Muslim men. That’s why there are so many Muslim grooming gangs in the UK targeting white girls.

  60. Apropos the comments below about some furrin’ umpire growing a defiant beard.

    During our daily visit to (what used to be the exclusive) Plage Mala in Cap d’Ail I noticed that there were far more swarthy young men with aggressive beards eyeing the half dressed young white women on the beach.

    They never used to be seen there.

    What fun diversity and inclusivity is…..

  61. Well, wot a disappointing day. The revived Tendring Show has become a ChavFest with a few animals thrown in for good measure. We cannot remember the entrance fee in 2019, but it wasn’t £24 per person. On the plus side, it was quicker and easier to buy a ticket and walk in that to keep waving phones around to prove you were tech savvy.
    But, oh dear. Little interesting stalls were very sparse – I suspect covid hysteria had done for their businesses; smell of greasy burgers hung everywhere; and every tattooed whale in the North Sea had landed and was manhandling a pushchair round the grounds.

    1. I wouldn’t pay that much for our county show. Our New Forest and Hampshire county show later this month is £19.90. I won’t be going.
      Those burger wagons and stall holders all have to pay for their pitch.
      Who is getting the money?

      1. GOK.
        I noticed a mother and baby changing area. Thank goodness our sons weren’t with us; they would have traded me in for a different model. (Sadly, they are well past the baby stage, so I wouldn’t have been able to return the compliment.)

      1. You jest. There were half a dozen or so mask wearers. It was boiling hot. Whatever the maskurbators were suffering from, hot, re-cycled germs would be far greater killers.

    3. I don’t know the Tendring Show. What kind of thing did it do traditionally? Is it an agriculturalshow?

      1. It is – but the animals are getting fewer and the chav element is growing.
        It is a smaller version of the county agricultural shows.

    1. That dog is just like my Fred- a large Golden…After all these years I still miss that furry guy.

      2. You need the right cat. My Burmese was beautiful beyond measure, and couldn’t bear to be apart.

    3. I doubt you’d get a dog for $20. Even Oscar, old, grumpy and second hand as he is, cost me £120!

  63. I have just returned from the village hall where the MR is STILL slaving preparing teas and ploughman’s lunches and other food. I shall return in an hour to help clear up..

    The “day” was Open Gardens (14 in Fulmodeston) in aid of Alzheimer’s Society. I counted over 100 cars – and – a a very rough estimate – about 600 people. One paid £5 for access all gardens The food will have brought in several hundred pounds – and the raffle and tombola ,earned lots.

    A splendid event on a gorgeous day. The gentils organisateurs* are being treated to fish and chips sometime after 6 pm.

    Half a dozen people planned and arranged this. It is heart-warming to know what kindly volunteers are STILL able to do in this dreary age.

    * Hangers-on included!

    2. , Bill , you and your MR sound such gentle decent folk , who are quite clearly very kind as well as good mannerly towards each other, and behave well in company.

      I am sure you are a good team .

      Said with a deep sigh , and a teardrop in the corner of my eye.

  64. Just finished shifting 46.5 bxes of books to Marie Curie charity shop – about 30kg per box. At least they take books – nobody else wanted them, and many were really nicee, expensive books, too. Very sweaty… ugh.

          1. No.
            Yesterday, first bath in over 24 years. Hmm, what a faff it was, sitting in your own wet effluent…

  65. Just heard on the car’s wireless that Ben Wallace has removed himself from the race to replace Johnson.
    Is Bill Gates still in town? Asking for a friend.

    1. Par Four for me …

      Wordle 385 4/6
      🟨🟨⬜🟨🟨
      🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    2. A bogie 5 for me.
      Wordle 385 5/6

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

  67. That’s me for today. Must get ready for the fish ‘n chips. A rough estimate of the take for the Alzerheimer’s “do”= £3,000. Trebles all round.

    Have a jolly – sunny – evening.

    A demain

    1. Just goes to show that given the right approach, people’s generosity can be boundless.
      Enjoy your fish & chips.

  68. HAPPY HOUR – whaddya think NoTTlers..?

    Are smart phones making you dumb..?

    A new study found that your smartphone isn’t just harming your personal life — it might be making you less intelligent. Research published in the journal Applied Cognitive Psychology found that using your smartphone can lead to decreased suctions when it comes to analyzing information.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/37512fa7694fbf62a96285bcf01fb8032bca1f2e4818fb7ed3a563a62e42f7e0.jpg

    2. Actually, as a conduit for quickly found knowledge/information; I wouldn’t be without mine these days.
      Although those who try calling me on its number would probably scream with frustration. I use it for calls I need to make or as above, but otherwise its off.
      Gone, fortunately, are the days when I needed it on all the time.

    4. Skills such as map reading, planning ahead, mental arithmetic and no doubt many others are not needed with a smart phone and will be lost. Well, that is until the leccee or the signal is cut off at which time you will find yourself in that well-know creek without a paddle.

      1. When I took people out trekking, I always ask how many had a map and compass.
        Almost no one in recent years, “I’ve got my phone and it has maps & gps” so my answer was, how long will the battery last when you are lost?
        There is always one! “I’ve a solar battery charger” I must admit I had one as well, but I also had compass, maps and all the other bits and pieces for staying alive in desert or mountain.

    5. Sorry, this thoroughly inappropriate observation of mine must be hidden behind a spoiler as I don’t want to cause distress and offence.

      After the shocking news broke of what Boris and Carrie were doing when they were caught in flagrante dilecto by Gavin Williamson I wonder if, when Carrie abandons him, it will be for Boris like losing his smartphone – he will have decreased suctions?

  69. 354073+ up ticks,

    This from a ex chief fruitcake patriotic success was the downfall of himself & genuine UKIP party.

    Gerard Batten
    @gjb2021
    ·
    5h
    This where the Green Agenda & the WEF’s Great Reset, & Climate Change lunacy policies will lead when the food & energy runs out.

    Only when the people who have had enough overwhelmingly outnumber the thugs in uniform can they hope to restore sanity & their rights to exist as human beings.

    https://gettr.com/post/p1hn8trc0f3

  70. I saw a reference in print somewhere today that made a reference to a mug (drinking vessel) as a “beaker”. I remember an old-maid headmistress using that quaint term back in the 1950s but haven’t heard it since.

    Is this a Yankism (like they call a jug a “pitcher”); or is it an archaic term like “gamp” for umbrella or “pail” for bucket?

    1. At my elementary school in 1946 we were told to bring a “beaker” for our mid morning milk.

      2. Gosh, that’s posh. At my County Primary we had it straight from the bottle.

    2. I have heard and used all those terms, in everyday use but that was mainly in the 1940s and 1950s. They just appear to have dropped out of favour

    4. There is a television programme about Tracy Beaker, probably one of the Beaker People.

    6. My mum could never bring herself to call a mug, ‘a mug’ – as far as she was concerned it was always ‘a beaker’. She made it sound like a child’s drinking vessel.

    7. I used beaker as a kid. The Dutch for a drinking vessel is “beker”.

  71. Went up to town this afternoon to buy a copy of The Psychology of Totalitarianism in Waterstones and witnessed a display of mass formation psychosis right there in Piccadilly. A Trans Rights rally. A howling mass of hideous humanity, mostly young and almost all white, screeching for the “right” to be neutered. As if that right were being denied and not actively promoted. There were many thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands of them. Hieronymus Bosch would be fascinated. As a race, we’re doomed. Ah well. I’ve started the book. It’s going to be a good read.

    1. 354073+ up ticks,

      Afternoon SE,
      Did you actually see
      Hieronymus Bosch, the last I heard he was no longer with NYPD but working cold cases privately

      1. I have practically all Michael Connolly’s Bosch books on Kindle. He’s concentrating on Renee Ballard now, getting Bosch’s help as her mentor.

        1. 354083+ up ticks,

          NtN,
          You surprise me reading such trivia,
          I would have said you were more of a Hawaii five O fan ” block him tomo”

          1. For me to follow on from your remark, I suspect that you, hypocritically, must have also have read ‘such trivia’.

          2. Ah, but ogga probably doesn’t have the reputation that he reads non-trivia 🙂

          3. 354073+ up ticks,

            NtN,
            Unlike many, I can be read like an open book,no deceit or treachery within.

    3. I have a large pair of large nut crackers, if any of them have the balls (literally and physically) for me to convert them to Sopranos

    8. What rights do trans want?

      Of course… it isn’t about rights. It’s about forcing other people to promote and endorse them. They have and are entitled to no ‘rights’ whatsoever. If they want to mutilate themselves, go ahead. On their own money, after at least 5 years of psychotherapy.

    9. I have it on Kindle. I wish I’d bought a hard copy now, there are points I would like to have gone back to and a yellow sticky would have done the job nicely. There is a lot of information there so I am taking it slowly. I may well buy a hard copy when I’ve finished it on Kindle, I use my Kindle mostly for the fluff stuff I know I’m not going to read again, but I was impatient to read this one.

  72. Following on from Mr Pincher’s escapades we seem to be in a race to the bottom:

    “Shapps latest to enter Tory leadership race”

    FFS is there no hope?

    1. I’ve just heard that – Grant Shitts, arguably an even worse prospect than Rhyming Slang or Truss?

        1. Will the Conservatives wake up in time to realise the fact that the only new leader who could lead them to a victory in the next election is David Frost?.

          I doubt it – their head’s are stuffed with porcine excrement rather than brains.

    2. I’ve just heard that – Grant Shitts, arguably an even worse prospect than Rhyming Slang or Truss?

    3. I’m a campaigner and a doer – and I will deliver as the next PM

      Vision is nothing without organisation. A details man, I will fix the problems that are holding our great country back

      GRANT SHAPPS

      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2022/07/09/campaigner-doer-will-deliver-next-pm/

      I won’t post it all. There’s talk of tax and spending cuts, strengthening the armed forces and taking action against striking unions, which is OK but there’s too much ‘me’. And then there’s this:

      Levelling up cannot be another discredited exercise in regional subsidy. It must involve the root-and-branch regeneration of our left-behind areas so that they approach the South East in wealth. The Government can help, as with first class transport infrastructure, but business is key. We must use the levers of power to foster sunrise industries like hydrogen and car battery production into the old industrial heartlands. The high-quality jobs will follow.

      On yer bike, sunshine.

      2. Shapps, we don’t want a campaigner. We want a PM who is dedicated to cutting taxes, shredding the state and dealing with the carnage of 25 years of socialism.

        That isn’t you.

    4. I’m a campaigner and a doer – and I will deliver as the next PM

      Vision is nothing without organisation. A details man, I will fix the problems that are holding our great country back

      GRANT SHAPPS

      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2022/07/09/campaigner-doer-will-deliver-next-pm/

      I won’t post it all. There’s talk of tax and spending cuts, strengthening the armed forces and taking action against striking unions, which is OK but there’s too much ‘me’. And then there’s this:

      Levelling up cannot be another discredited exercise in regional subsidy. It must involve the root-and-branch regeneration of our left-behind areas so that they approach the South East in wealth. The Government can help, as with first class transport infrastructure, but business is key. We must use the levers of power to foster sunrise industries like hydrogen and car battery production into the old industrial heartlands. The high-quality jobs will follow.

      On yer bike, sunshine.

  73. In response to Hungary’s obstruction of the European Union’s adoption of a 15% global minimum tax on corporate income, the Biden administration on Friday announced it will terminate a 43-year-old tax treaty with the country.

    Hungary blocked the EU’s finalization of the 15% minimum tax scheme in June. Over the past dozen years, Hungary has slashed its corporate tax rate from 19% to just 9%.

    2. Is this the tax that a Conservative government in Britain is going to raise from 19% to 25% next year?

      It is all part of the plan to cripple private enterprise and make more people dependent on the state.

  74. Victoria Derbyshire is to leave Channel 4 salary £170,000 per year,to replace Emily Maitlis on Newsnight.

        1. Emily Maitlis had some brain and was a good interrogative journalist – witness her demolition of Prince Andrew …

  75. Evening, all. It wouldn’t matter what any leadership candidate said their vision for the UK was, experience shows they would be lying about it.

    1. We know they’re liars and thieves, they know they’re liars and thieves. We know they’ll do nothing to help the economy and will only make everything worse. They know the same. Surely the simplest option is to just admit it? It’d be the first honest thing they did.

    1. Nicola – ill-educated, illiterate, innumerate – and a thick ‘lawyer’ – has ever been fit to lead a parish council let alone a national government.

      Her track record is appalling; her prospectus for Scotland is a disaster.

      She is motivated by hatred of all things English and everything in British history.

      She should be put away ASAP ….

      1. This little bit of SNP history seems to have disappeared (like the political history of Ukraine).
        A founding member of the SNP plotted with the Nazis in the hope they could help Scotland gain independence.
        Andrew Dewar Gibb QC, who was one of the country’s top lawyers, met messengers from Hitler’s regime keen to ally themselves with Scotland.

        1. Hugh McDiarmid (1892-1978) was a writer, communist, Scottish nationalist and a founder of the National Party of Scotland (the proto-SNP) whose flirtations with fascism followed him until his death. He once believed that fascism was of ‘the left’ and at first supported Mussolini. The NPS and the GB Communist Party both threw him out of their organisations in the 1930s. He appeared to recant, criticising Chamberlain’s appeasement of Hitler, but later wrote:

          “On balance I regard the Axis powers, tho’ more violently evil for the time being, less dangerous than our own government in the long run and indistinguishable in purpose.”

          … and …

          “Although the Germans are appalling enough, they cannot win, but the British and French bourgeoisie can and they are a far greater enemy. If the Germans win they could not hold their gain for long, but if the French and British win it will be infinitely more difficult to get rid of them.”

          He believed a Nazi invasion of Britain would benefit Scotland. His Who’s Who entry included amongst his hobbies Anglophobia.

  78. So how can anyone have any faith in a minor surgery clinic if they ask you to wear a mask when you go.
    They can’t have any medical training, can they ?

  80. Part two of not everyone is a nasty person.
    For my sins, I went to the dreaded Asda today, as previously mentioned.
    The cabbie who picked me up has driven us before and is a nice guy- he forgot, so he said, to turn on the meter so I payed very little- but gave him a tip.
    Called for a cab to come home and it was our mate Tracey! Not only was she there in record time but she saw me walking to the pick up place, came and met me and pushed the cart etc.
    When we got home, I yelled to MH that it was Tracey( he was watching the cricket) and he came into the kitchen and she gave him kisses.
    I had forgotten to pay her but she named a small sum which I paid and gave her a good tip.
    There are so many bastards but there are also so many nice and kind people. Some of them drive cabs.

    2. Nice is actually the norm, but tends to be a bit introverted in relation to the nasty. Doesn’t mean it’s not still there, just not as vocal.

        1. So far, almost according to plan. Nobody wants collector plates. 🙁
          Found new info about parents by finding theyr wedding certificate… there are rude books, and pictures of Mother aged in lte 20s with very few clothes on… and bond certificates totalling many 10s of thousands of £… so, a rollercoater adventure.

          1. Good luck mate- been through it and it’s hard work. You are in my thoughts.

          2. You are too kind, Ann.
            It’s just hard work at the moment, but I expect that there’ll be some emotion when we lock up on Thursday and leave.

      2. Agree, nice people tend to automatically behave in a way that does not necessarily shout out loud!

      3. Agree, nice people tend to automatically behave in a way that does not necessarily shout out loud!

  81. A bidrdie three today

    Wordle 385 3/6

    ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨
    🟩🟨🟨🟨🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      1. Hope you are doing better, Ann. Have been stranded without lap top for a few days so am out of touch!

    2. Goodnight! I’ve only just arrived! Been a busy day doing not very much but I did do some heavy duty weeding this afternoon.

      1. Not much has happened, just some war in Europe, political turmoil, threat of world starvation, just a normal day under the WEF new world order. Thankfully, most of us will be out of it when the chickens come home to roost. I try not to fall into depression…

    1. Indeed- an alcohol deficiency is not good for our mental health. Bring on the Pinot.

      1. I’m having a glass of water now – two of wine with dinner have left me a bit dehydrated.

        1. That means you’re not getting enough alcohol 🙄
          C2H5OH x3 and H2o x1 is a good ratio.

      2. We have just walked home from “village day” wirh some of the family met lots of old friends and had a few beers. Lots of live music and dancing I loved it.
        More tomorrow. Can’t wait. 😉

          1. What is really strange we have in the village since 1983 and we hardly know any of the people who live here but there are a few hundred cars parked on the two football pitches and car parks which might explain things. Outsiders, Which is great.
            I’m sitting out side now with a glass of viewing the pink sky and breathing in cool fragrant air. Don’t you just love summer evenings.

          2. I do and it’s so special in England…in the US, night falls around 8 and that’s it. No crepuscular evenings at all- one minute it’s light and then it’s dark.

          3. I’ve lived in Africa and Australia where there is no dusk it just gets dark.
            All our surrounding trees are highlighted by tha fading blue an pink sky. Oh dear I’m getting all romantic 🤭

          7. We had the same in Oman, 18:30/19:30 depending on time of year and the big light goes out.

  84. Britain is falling apart – and it could finish the Tories

    Strikes, lockdown and a woeful lack of economic planning have left the country in a state of decay

    ZOE STRIMPEL • 9 July 2022 • 7:00pm

    Beyond the chaos in Westminster, Britain is falling apart. Eventually, possibly sooner rather than later, order will be restored in SW1. But whoever takes over is going to have a far bigger mess to clean up than the current state of our government today. Anyone who has been in Britain over the last few months can feel it, that sense of deadness, randomness, flyblown disrepair, and a new mediocrity. We have a cost of living crisis, a fuel crisis, a materials and food supply crisis – only some of which can be blamed on the aftershocks of Covid and the war in Ukraine. Glutted on furlough, many people aren’t bothering to work. People and things aren’t working – home as well as abroad.

    Tube stations close at random due to “staff shortages”. Airports are in total chaos and flights are being cancelled by the thousands. There are few visible police on streets. Crime is soaring. Those who can afford private health care have – reluctantly – given up on the torturous NHS. Unions are stronger than ever and threatening widespread and crippling strikes; there are fears of the first general strike since 1926. These were meant to be the Roaring 20s. Instead they’re shaping up to be the Rubbish 20s.

    It is getting increasingly hard to get around. By summer 2022, in a blow to millions of urban dwellers’ sense of security, safety, freedom and fun, we find that Uber is totally broken, and even extortionate black cabs are in severe shortage after years of being gazumped by ride-hailing apps. A 70-something year old acquaintance I saw last week near Piccadilly Circus at 9pm, lugging a suitcase, was dolefully scanning the road for a black cab after having given up on Uber: I told him gently his best bet was the Tube to King’s Cross, and he reluctantly agreed, perplexed by this hostile new London, amenable neither to hope or money.

    At least the Tube was running, and so was his train back to Cambridge. Crippling strikes on both rail and Tube – some of the worst in their history – have made it almost impossible this summer to go anywhere, including to work, for entire weeks at a time. Night tube strikes went on for what felt an eternity: five months.

    How have we got to a point where unions are once again holding us hostage unless wildly unreasonable demands are met, and nobody has anything to say about it? Labour offers drizzly mixed messages: Starmer called himself “a proud trade unionist” in a punchy 2020 campaign video but warned his frontbenchers not to cheer RMT on at the picket lines. Meanwhile the Conservatives have merely blamed Labour. It’s been useless.

    So what is the action plan? Being able to get around by public transport is not a small thing. It’s fundamental to daily life and to the economy: to the knowledge that you can go out, and also get home; that you can keep appointments, professional and personal; and that as a woman in a city at night, you don’t have to hang about on streets waiting for a bus that may never come.

    Being able to get out of Britain, and back into it, is just as fundamental. It is what constitutes the basics of life in the modern West, particularly in the country of what was, until 2019, Europe’s busiest airport, Heathrow. Travel within Britain is all too frequently a nightmare, but getting out has become one too. That sense of helpless stuckness is the first taste of something very unpleasant for my generation – especially those of us who, until the pandemic, had been utterly accustomed to cheap, last-minute travel to Europe. It was our post-1970s generation’s birthright.

    You’ll want to get the violins for this one. I wanted to go to Berlin last weekend and in the pre-pandemic era, I would have. A couple of clicks, £80 in flights, quick Airbnb booked and bob’s your uncle – you barely even notice you’re on the Gatwick Express before you’re swigging wheat beer in the Tiergarten.

    But it was £700 to get to Berlin last weekend by the time I looked: Easyjet had sold out or cancelled flights, leaving BA and one or two others. Flights were at hideous hours you’d only accept if desperate.

    Getting to Berlin was therefore out of the question and I stayed put. This may sound like a case of the first world sniffles. But tell that to the millions upon millions who, having been cooped up and rule-bound for more than two years, now jolly well want to go on holiday. Except, the world they last knew in 2019, the one where Europe was within reach for working families, even in summer, has gone bust.

    In the case of the airport mayhem, a perfect storm of macroeconomic crises and stupid industry-think has resulted in staffing shortages. But the sense of decay in Britain more widely, congealing around the prospect of months of striking – including by BA and other airport staff right at peak holiday season – is terrifying. It took all Thatcher’s courage, intelligence, conviction, hard work and clever governmental planning through the stockpiling of coal to see off the miners.

    There is absolutely no indication any similar type of planning or strategy is in place for the next period in which, left as is, Britain will once again be brought to its knees by unions, leaving us with the honour of sliding down once again to second world status.

    The Conservatives under Boris haven’t had a clear economic or a social strategy: under whoever comes next, they will have no choice but to get one, and fast.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/07/09/britain-falling-apart-andit-could-finish-tories/

    1. I’m not sure that a modest reduction in air travel is a bad thing. It will at least put Heathrow 3 back a bit more.

    2. The reference to ‘seeing off’ the miners. That’s not how BBC’s recent drama ‘Sherwood’ saw it. It was instead a deliberate attempt by the Thatcher government, using the 1970’s Ridley Report, to ‘change the political landscape from collectivism to deregulated market forces and in order to achieve that they needed a war by provoking a strike in the nationalised industries. They chose coal.’ [the words of a character in the 4th episode].

    Really? I thought Thatcher simply prepared the country for the miners’ strike that was inevitable from the day that Scargill became NUM president. She had the miners (and the railway men) build her castle. They couldn’t knock it down.

  88. And just to make your day – this just in….

    “Ex-health secretaries Sajid Javid and Jeremy Hunt join Tory leadership race…….”

      1. Evening Lacoste

        I do so agree, calibre is missing , they are all terrible.. Bit like Fred the Shred , Robert Maxwell and Phillip Green and the rest .

        They can certainly talk the talk ..

        What on earth / how on earth will this mess be sorted out .

        1. Good evening Maggie!

          I believe this mess may best be sorted out by one of the female candidates …

          I have been impressed with Penny Mordaunt for some time; my recent research also finds Kemi Badenoch to be a staunch Conservative lady …

          The male candidates all are wishy-washy wets or worse …

          [I wrote this c.22.30 Saturday but ‘lost it’ before posting. Sending it now at 09.15 Sunday]

      2. So what you are saying lacoste, is that they are not ex-ecutive material…..

    2. This is all so very upsetting .. Greedy monsters.

      What were they doing sitting around the Cabinet room , nodding their heads , then claiming expenses and all the freebies .

      They are hard greedy men , with no love for any of us or appreciation of our once beautiful Britain , bleeding towrags .

      1. It has become a cliché quoting Oliver Cromwell, but one can almost feel a repeat of history and his frustration wifh parliament.

  89. And now the time has come for me to go-
    But I’ll be back tomorrow with a brand new show.

    Deputy Dawg??

    Goodnight Y’all. Thanks for putting up with me;-)

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