Saturday 9 November: Is Ed Miliband alive to the security implications of racing to net zero?

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

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

592 thoughts on “Saturday 9 November: Is Ed Miliband alive to the security implications of racing to net zero?”

  1. Good morning all
    Just seen that the newest Delingpod is MiriAF – that should be good value!
    Wordle 1,239 5/6

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    1. Good morning, BB2. My upvote is for your Wordle result. I can't understand your view that MiriAF should be good value – what does this mean?

        1. Well, BB2, thanks for the explanation link but this site makes a lot of assertions about the plans to "steady the ship" for four years so that the nation is prepared for his current Vice President who will then become President and show his really "evil" nature. The site also alleges that the first attempted assassination was planned to give support to Trump. As I have previously mentioned, to wait until Donald Trump moved slightly to his left and then with fantastic precision managed just to nick his right earlobe strikes me as just unbelievable.

          1. I don’t really buy the assassination attempt either – it seems a bit too unlikely. And it worries me that it was used to raise Trump to cult like status among his followers.

  2. Good morning all
    Just seen that the newest Delingpod is MiriAF – that should be good value!
    Wordle 1,239 5/6

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  4. Is Ed Miliband alive to the security implications of racing to net zero?

    Not sure why people are still asking these sort of questions about Net Zero, it became obvious years ago that it was part of an agenda to level down the West

  5. Good Morning Geoff and everyone – Insomnia seems to be spreading
    Today's Tale is about Nuns (Trigger warning)
    Father Ryan was giving the nuns their last bit of advice before they set forth into the wide world from their Convent.
    “There will be many a wicked man trying to take sexual liberties with you,” he said, “but always remember that one hour of pleasure could ruin the whole of your careers. Has anyone got any questions?”
    “Yes, Father. How do you make it last an hour?”

    Zoos are a place for the most unusual accidents. One day, Sister Mary leant too close to the gorillas’ cage.
    The big silverback reached out and grabbed her, pulled her through the bars, tore off her habit and screwed her.
    When she was finally rescued, she was admitted to the hospital in a state of shock.
    It was a week before Mother Superior could speak to her. Sister Mary was crying uncontrollably.
    “What’s wrong?” asked the Mother Superior. “Why are you still so upset?”
    “How would you feel?” sobbed Sister Mary. “It’s been a week and he hasn’t written, hasn’t phoned.”

    1. I read somewhere that sleep problems get worse during solar activity peaks. The last bout of bad sleeping before the current one that I had was in 2013-4, around the peak of the last solar cycle. But it's fatal to get this kind of idea into one's head, as that more or less guarantees bad sleep!

  6. Good Morning Geoff and everyone – Insomnia seems to be spreading
    Today's Tale is about Nuns (Trigger warning)
    Father Ryan was giving the nuns their last bit of advice before they set forth into the wide world from their Convent.
    “There will be many a wicked man trying to take sexual liberties with you,” he said, “but always remember that one hour of pleasure could ruin the whole of your careers. Has anyone got any questions?”
    “Yes, Father. How do you make it last an hour?”

    Zoos are a place for the most unusual accidents. One day, Sister Mary leant too close to the gorillas’ cage.
    The big silverback reached out and grabbed her, pulled her through the bars, tore off her habit and screwed her.
    When she was finally rescued, she was admitted to the hospital in a state of shock.
    It was a week before Mother Superior could speak to her. Sister Mary was crying uncontrollably.
    “What’s wrong?” asked the Mother Superior. “Why are you still so upset?”
    “How would you feel?” sobbed Sister Mary. “It’s been a week and he hasn’t written, hasn’t phoned.”

  8. Solar Power
    Odd coincidence that today's first DT Letter is about the fact that I posted yesterday afternoon: that we have had almost zero power from Solar panels for more than a week now. Doesn't seem to be a power source on which UK should rely heavily.

  9. Solar Power
    Odd coincidence that today's first DT Letter is about the fact that I posted yesterday afternoon: that we have had almost zero power from Solar panels for more than a week now. Doesn't seem to be a power source on which UK should rely heavily.

  10. The internet is still on fire over the US election result…
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7c5743814f857c770893797458ceac4fc704d84c6e6f67f88ef915a03a730de1.jpg

    But CJ Hopkins sounds a well-founded note of caution…
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/401afb3e968ef619b5991c8b09c140aafdb40096514ef07b7d75a0002292f1cf.jpg
    Musk has reinvented himself from chips in brains and electric cars that are tracked and controlled by the manufacturer to Mr Free Speech.

  11. MEA CULPA.

    In some recent posts about the Dawn Sturgess inquiry I have made the claim that it is fake in the sense that there are no witnesses actually present and thus no cross-examination. This is wrong. The inquiry proceeds according to normal practice for these affairs. I can only put my mistake down to its rather draconian, not to say theatrical, security measures and a natural suspicion on my part about the Skripal business. I have no doubts of the latter. The whole thing is a scam.

    1. If vaccines were actually tested versus a non-vaccinated control group, that would pretty much wipe them out.
      They only get tested relative to other vaccines at the moment.

  14. 396160+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Saturday 9 November: Is Ed Milliband alive to the security implications of racing to net zero?

    The genuine pertinent question posed should be, is ed miliband
    physically alive, or is he a replacement prototype reject A1 product .

    1. Gender is decided by nature at conception, when a Y or an X chromosome enters the egg.
      It is not "assigned" at all – sounding rather bureaucratic, that word.

      3. No.
        Gender is NOT confirmed at conception.
        SEX is confirmed at conception, whether one is male or female.

        One's femininity and masculinity is a latter concept.

      1. 396160+ up ticks,

        Morning AS,
        Not all the while we have an indigenous waiting list, and then only into the future for natural disasters,( Temp).

      2. We do need to provide them with shelter and basic food, but that shelter should be basic and secure.

        1. If they're here illegally we don't need to provide them with anything; we should turn them back before they set foot here.

      3. Indeed.
        They should organise and pay for themselves. If they can't pay, too bad, go live somewhere else.

  17. Trump’s return is a disaster for Ed Miliband – his Net Zero dreams may soon lie in tatters. Isabel Oakeshott. 9 November 2024.

    To date, Net Zero has not featured near the top of British voters’ concerns, dominated as they are by the cost of living and the state of the NHS. The same types who smeared Brexit supporters as xenophobes and racists have been extremely effective at shutting down debate.

    They demean anyone who dares question whether we are truly heading for “global boiling”. Supported by an army of pseudo scientists and far too many real ones, these eco-zealots seem to take great pleasure in making ordinary people feel stupid for their instinctive sense that something is not right with all the apocalyptic claims.

    I think that is probably as near as a journalist in the MSM can get to saying it’s a scam. The comments are less reticent.

    TOP COMMENT BELOW THE LINE.

    Anna Leggett.

    I hope he stops the mad net zero Milliband in his tracks and we can make sensible decisions for a greener future without useless wind farms solar farms and huge pylons ruining our agriculture a and countryside. Go for it Donald Trump.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/11/08/trumps-return-is-a-disaster-for-ed-miliband/

    1. A quote from the Press recently:

      Only this week, citizen journalist Ray Sanders produced evidence that points to the UK Met Office inventing temperature data from over 100 non-existent weather stations.

      Sanders quotes real evidence that the Met Office is ‘clearly fabricating’ data, as well as failing to meet high standards of scientific integrity – and all this, to enable the production of ‘reliable and accurate’ data to support climate-hysteria-driven policies which, if carried through, will serve only to de-industrialise the UK economy.

    2. If Starmer had an ounce of leadership quality he would have questioned the viability of the "Net Zero" project whilst in opposition. Unworkable technically, a disaster-in-waiting both in both cash costs and for costs on the health and wellbeing on the UK's population, a realistic leader would have cancelled the project immediately on taking office. That he, Starmer, appointed the NZ zealot Miliband to the energy portfolio says everything people need to know about Starmer's political direction of travel i.e. the road to ruin.

    3. Net Zero might not feature top of the list, but the consequences of the insane rush to reach it will be having their effect – fuel bills, heat or eat choices and all the rest.

  19. Good morning, all. No change in the weather, remains dull, dry and very calm.

    This is a statement of intent from Trump that has Elon Musk's fingerprints all over it. Plenty of squeaky bums in the USA's "Swamp"?

    What a contrast to mealy mouthed Starmer and his almost continuous U-turns and false promises.

    https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1855119856649355729
    And it's not just Trump. Lawyer Mike Davis…

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5be84cff8c7a663ca68df4c57bfd1c822ea1e09e121994b825cedb29296f4571.png

    has been working against and highlighting the 'lawfare' that has been used in an attempt to silence Trump and others.

    https://x.com/krassenstein/status/1854849413014839351

    1. They're not messing around this time.
      Lefties already in next level meltdown.. he's lidderally a fascist.

  20. 396160+up ticks,

    ‘Our heroes are freezing’: how Labour’s winter fuel raid is punishing war veterans
    Retired troops forced to skip meals and stay indoors to make ends meet

    Maybe we have misjudged lab.as they have not yet suggested
    that our veterans HOT BED with our invasion guests, could it be that they (the politico's) don't want to upset the islamic protected species.

  21. Good morning all.
    Another dull but still dry November morning. A bit cooler with a tad below 3½°C on the Yard Thermometer.

    1. Letters yo the Editor
      SIR – Ed Miliband should take notice of what is happening in Germany.

      The government is in turmoil following a fallout between Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his finance minister, Christian Lindner, in part over Mr Lindner’s desire to delay net zero targets. I suspect, however, given the majority Labour enjoys (won with just 20 per cent of the country backing the party), that Mr Miliband will blunder on, leading our country into hardship.

      The sensible course would be to come to a decision on small modular nuclear reactors immediately, and get them into production, positioned near redundant power stations where access to the grid is ready and waiting.

      J S Hirst
      Huddersfield, West Yorkshire

      1. The technology for small nuclear reactors has existed in submarines for a while now, and yet we do not hear of a major pollution incident in the oceans as these things go about their business undetected. Surely, a toxic fart in the Clyde would be noticed, which is perhaps why they have to be safe?

        Electricity generation needs something better than solar or wind to do the heavy lifting, and the benefit of modular generation is that it limits the number of distribution pylons that have to be erected. Each unit can operate co-operatively, spreading any excess locally rather than centrally. In the last century, the complicated calculations required would have been beyond the wit of administrators, but IT has come on since then, and is quite feasible now.

        1. Yes, we need coal, gas and nuclear. Nuclear can provide the majority, say 90%, coal and gas should be there for the additional power when we need it.

          In addition, made solar and batteries tax deductible.

          1. There are major reservations about Lithium-ion batteries, due to the mining process, the fire safety and the unrecylability. However, there are many fewer problems with the similar, but more inefficient Sodium-ion technology. Sodium is abundant in seawater, and is nowhere near as flammable. It is heavier, and the batteries are bulkier and less efficient, so not much use in your smartphone or car, but for domestic use, where there not the same constraint, they may prove quite useful.

            I did a quick search and found this model of domestic storage https://sodiumhomebattery.co.uk/product/sodium-battery-sib4840/

            They claim about 1.9KWh capacity, so ten of them costing £650 each compares favourably with the 14kWh Lithium-ion market leader, the Tesla Powerwall 2.

  22. Letters to the Editor
    Is Ed Miliband alive to the security implications of racing to net zero?

    Letters to the Editor 09 November 2024 2:01am GMT

    SIR – Here in Sherborne, we are experiencing what the Met Office terms “anticyclonic gloom” (report, November 8). My solar panels register zero, and there is no wind to generate power.

    As a former serviceman, I have no idea how our country would fare if the cables that connect us to Europe were cut, or if the power we import had to be turned off for Europe’s own survival. How would the military – so dependent on electricity – cope in such a situation? Should we hoist the white flag to Vladimir Putin now?

    Is Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, aware of how his reckless drive to achieve net zero may affect our national security?

    Philip Congdon
    Sherborne, Dorset

      1. Well then Herr Oberst, we better ban fracking for gas.

        That way we can increase the percentage being produced by wind and solar.

        I commend this inspirational idea to The House.

      2. 17.7GW gas vs 200kW / 0,6% solar.
        Triumph for solar power generation (sarc), all that prime farmland covered up…

      3. We could call this… the seasons but the hard Left call it 'climate change' because they are trying to weaponise the weather.

      1. Socialists don't consider anything rational; as long as they toe the party line all is well in their pretendy world.

  23. 'Morning All
    Medley
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    1. It is quite funny to see the legacy media desperately demonise th electorate and laud the political class while new media does the opposite. New is growing, the latter's dying.

      Just like the entire political class.

      1. It was Peanut the Squirrel and a rabbit that were taken from their owners and "executed" by the State. Caused a lot of uproar.

    3. Morning, Rik.

      Is I thick, or is I simply missing the message in the Taiwan thing in that Financial Times clip?

    4. I particularly liked the 'we're not paying taxes any more' – it really appealed for some reason…

  24. Good morning, chums, I hope you all slept well. As you can see, I overslept today; I must have needed it. And thanks, Geoff, for providing as usual a new NoTTLe page.

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  26. SIR — When I’m asked to explain the differences between the English and Americans, I instantly reply: Guy Fawkes.

    After attempting to blow up Parliament in 1605, Guy Fawkes was hung, drawn and quartered. After attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, Donald Trump ran for president and won.

    To paraphrase George Bernard Shaw, Americans and the English are separated by more than our common language.

    Paul L Newman
    Merion Station, Pennsylvania
    United States.

    Listen up, Blue Eyes. "Hung, drawn and quartered?" Where did you discover that little gem, Noah Webster's Dictionary for Retards?

    It was HANGED, drawn and quartered, if you are able to comprehend the difference, y'all!

    There is no historical record that states if he was 'hung'; well, or otherwise!

    1. He would have been hung if they put him in pies afterwards. Might upset the vegans though.

    2. Hanged implies he was dead when cut down.
      The process was to be hung until nearly dead, cut down, disembowelled while still alive and then cut up loss of the head being the coup de grace.

      1. They might well have been 'hung' as the past tense and past participle of the verb hang. However, The Oxford and Chamber's Dictionaries (not to mention British law) defines the act of someone being specifically hanged by the neck for execution purposes, whether or not that hanging killed them outright or not.

          1. You find me an example, in history, where a judge, upon taking the black cap, said to the condemned prisoner: “You will be taken to a place of lawful confinement where you shall be hung by the neck until you are dead.” It never happened.

          2. I’m sure it didn’t, but the expression hung will be used far more often than hanged.

            And I doubt those sentencing Fawkes used the more modern format.

          2. Oh noooo.
            A bacon and egg sandwich in home made Bloomer white and spelt flour
            My good lady has found a variety of bacon that has not been injected with salt water to increase the profits.

          3. We have just found a farm 10 miles away from here where you can see the meat walking round the field on four legs through the shop window. We saw the piggies playing with pumpkins when we called yesterday, rolling them round. The sheep were in a huddle further down the field having an indignation meeting presumably because the pigs had garnered all the toys…. it's worth the journey. https://www.rosegatefarm.co.uk

          4. My local garden centre has a meat department. They get theirs from a farm just up the road. It's the only way to buy meat IMO. A bit more expensive than supermarkets but superior quality.

          5. When you visit such places it’s quite difficult to relate a joint of meat to the actual living creature.
            On a sheep station near Narran lake in Oz. We went out with the farmer to catch a sheep. Hung it by the back legs slaughtered it and after a day hanging in a fly proof container I went in with a handsaw and large knife to reduce it to more manageable proportions. For the bbq.
            Some one had to do it. 🤗

          7. Thanks Phizz.
            Ours is British outdoor bred dry sweecured M&S Smoked bacon.
            Raised it says to higher welfare standards.

          8. "I found an online butcher that does great middle cut bacon. No nasty goo coming out of it and it crisps up really nice."

            I found one too. It's called 'Me'.

    3. Is it 'hung' or 'hanged'? Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
      Yes, there are two words for the past tense of 'hang.'

      Some people bristle when they hear hanged or hung used incorrectly. Their blood boils. Their vision blacks out. Mixing up hung and hanged will make these people thoroughly cheesed off and mad as heck. Irate copy editors are no fun, but you can escape their ire. Read on.
      https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/hung-or-hanged

      1. Noah Webster was the educationally-subnormal cretin who successfully persuaded millions of Yanks to abandon standard English and use, instead, the illiteracy advocated in his dictionary. Among the spellings he proposed were: ‘Ake’ for ache, ‘Cloke’ for cloak, ‘Dawter’ for daughter, ‘Greef’ for grief, ‘Grotesk’ for grotesque, ‘Iland’ for island, ‘Masheen’ for machine, ‘Porpess’ for porpoise, ‘Soop’ for soup, ‘Steddy’ for steady, and ‘Wimmin’ for women. Thankfully most Americans considered these a Noah too far.

    4. Evening Grizz. I noted that the letters editor failed to correct 'hung' but I relied on your robust response to save me the trouble. Top man!

  27. We all knew that Reeve’s budget was bad, but now, after just over a week, it is becoming apparent that, as Iain Hunter explains in his ‘ Halloween Budget ’ article Reeve’s attack on our wealth was not just bad, but also evil and fully in line with Marxist dogma. The attack on small farmers is directly comparable to Stalin’s attack on the Kulaks, which ended with five million starving to death.

    And in a second new article, just after the Anglican Church has stated that Jesus was not a white man, we publish Clive Matelas’s Open Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the dangers of their endorsing Islam.

    Please do read these articles and leave comments – the more we debate these issues the better.

    We are still collecting for ex-servicemen and women as part of our Remembrance Day appeal, with the charity Help For Homeless Veterans well in the lead in our poll. All donations to FSB up to 12th November will be given to the winning charity.

    freespeechbacklash.com

    1. The premise that Reeves' budget was Marxist (presuming that it is the proletariat that are the primary beneficiaries) is false.

      I heard this morning that the money taps are coming back on for HS2, the business-friendly Zil lane whose primary intention is to convert taxes to handouts for the select super-rich and trash the nation as "hard decisions" are taken for the riff-raff that are not the super-rich.

      Why does nobody at the BBC mention the Regents Park hedgehogs?

      1. Your premise that Marxism's primary beneficiary is the proletariate is false Jeremy. In classic Marxian theory, the proletariate is a tool, to be pushed to the point of violent revolution and then used, in name only, as a tool of oppression by the chosen elite 'the Party' while the socialist paradise is built. Nowhere in Marxism is it stated that the proletariate is to be made better off – a thought dismissed as bourgoise recidivism.

        If you want to discuss this further please nip over to FSB.

      2. Your premise that Marxism's primary beneficiary is the proletariate is false Jeremy. In classic Marxian theory, the proletariate is a tool, to be pushed to the point of violent revolution and then used, in name only, as a tool of oppression by the chosen elite 'the Party' while the socialist paradise is built. Nowhere in Marxism is it stated that the proletariate is to be made better off – a thought dismissed as bourgoise recidivism.

        If you want to discuss this further please nip over to FSB.

      4. The persistent 'we're fixing the foundations' is a lie. They're destroying them as the state doesn't prodce anything. The money has always been there, it's just been wasted, as it is being wasted again by this rabble only more is being stolen to waste.

        They are not creating a future, they're destroying it. The Left know this, they just don't care.

        They keep banging on about the black hole but it is one they created deliberately with their transfer of cash to their union paymasters. Money might pour in to the NHS but it may as well be burned. We'll get nothing for it. Government doesn't create growth. It destroys it. Look at the waste – carbon capture – proven failure. Windmills – useless. 500million for potholes when councils are hiring endless non-jobs and paying obscene salaries.

    2. Starmer will side with the globalist Left. He'll squeal that one world government is a good thing and helps [insert Lefty causes aimed at social control because that is how he thinks. The man doesn't understand Trump. This is why the media hate him.

        1. He certainly needs to order investigations into Soros, Gates and the Black Rock executive board.

  29. 'Morning Peeps and Geoff,

    Headline in the DT: Revealed: How Pro-Palestinian mob organised via WhatsApp to ‘Hunt Jews’ across Amsterdam

    Why is it that the media always uses the label 'pro-Palestinian', when it is blantantly clear that, by their words and actions, the mobs and marches are nothing less than anti-Israel? In other words, they are anti-Semitic. Why not tell it like it is?

    1. Because there is a world of difference between being against a people because of their race or even tribe, out of malice and prejudice and without any justifying evidence, and being against a nation whose elected representatives have embarked on a programme of mass killing, most of whom are innocents, and the systematic ethnic cleansing of a province for personal gain, denying them even the right to self-defence.

      I tell it like it is; it is those who confuse being anti-Israel with being antisemitic that are lying to us, and using their political influence to pervert democracy way beyond the Middle East.

      2. Jeremy, it is a war against Hamas, not a "programme of mass killing". If a similar attack had been carried out within the UK (God forbid), for example at and around Glastonbury, the equivalent hypothetical figure would have been more 9,000 deaths and more than 1,000 hostages taken. The 1941 Pearl Harbour attack resulted in 2,403 fatalities, and consequently the USA declared war on Japan.

        1. I am not convinced, witnessing the evidence unfolding over the last 12 months, and now spreading out into Lebanon. “A programme of mass killing” seems an entirely appropriate description.

          Hamas is a tinpot and violent criminal organisation, similar in size and intent as the IRA, which created no end of troubles for the British. It did not require the comprehensive bombardment of Ulster to bring them to order.

          Propagandists insist it is a war between a sovereign nation (Israel) and a proscribed terrorist organisation (Hamas). However, far more likely is that Hamas is a useful bogey, and the real intention is to clear the province of “Arabs” in order to release valuable coastal real estate to developers.

          The jury is still out as to why a nation that prides itself on national security let a small army of thugs over the wire to do their worst, and furthermore let them back over bearing their trophies, mostly Jewish virgins, to enjoy at their leisure.

      3. Jeremy, it is a war against Hamas, not a "programme of mass killing". If a similar attack had been carried out within the UK (God forbid), for example at and around Glastonbury, the equivalent hypothetical figure would have been more 9,000 deaths and more than 1,000 hostages taken. The 1941 Pearl Harbour attack resulted in 2,403 fatalities, and consequently the USA declared war on Japan.

      4. Thanks for your reply, JM, but my simple mind doesn't buy it. What they have suffered in the hands of their murderous captors doesn't bear thinking about. On the 7th October last year a sovereign country was invaded and unarmed civilians were killed or otherwise captured. The response of Israel was entirely predictable. If Hammas and its many supporters have had enough then their remedy is simple – lay down their weapons, surrender and return the hostages, both dead and alive. Instead they hide in hospitals, refugee camps and other civilian-occupied places, presumably in the mistaken belief that the use of human shields will deter the Israelis from coming after them. How wrong they were! The sad deaths of so many non- combatants was predictable, even desired perhaps in the belief that this would render them safe from retribution. The blood of so many killed is on their hands, and they could prevent any further killings tomorrow if they were so minded. They are not, of course, and are determined to wipe Israel off the map, whatever it takes. That is, unfortunately, the way that fanatics operate.

    2. Hatred of the Jews is deeply ingrained. The term Palestine was invented by the Romans purposely as an insult to the Jews. It’s a latinised rendering of Philistine and the Philistines disappeared from the historical records around the time of the Babylonian Empire. It was in the 1960s that Arabs of mainly Egyptian, Lebanese, Syrian and Jordanian origin were encouraged by Soviet Russia to characterise themselves as Palestinian and wage war on the Jews. The Palestinian Myth has been called out many times but the hatred that makes it attractive persists.

      1. Spot on there , Sue , well done .

        That is the way my father described the Palestinian movement , which no other Arab country wanted to embrace .

        Egypt and Jordan preferred to keep clear of the PLO fanatics .. sadly other Arab neighbouring countries became hiding places for people like Yasser Arafat.

        Why on earth don't they embrace economic prosperity and learn lessons from Israel ?

        1. I think it was very telling that when there were Iranian missiles aimed at Israel, it was the Saudi and Jordanian military who shot many of them down. Credit due to Donald Trump of course, for the Abraham Accords.

      2. IMVHO. Every single type of cultural/religious difference has its own unique problems. But with out any doubt whatsoever the only one that causes more problems where ever they are on the planet, is islamic. They go so far out of their way to be noticed its obviously becoming a concern world wide.
        No matter where they are they are not nice and certainly don't fit in in our Western world.

  30. Letters to the Editor
    SIR – I was interested to read that Sweden has blocked more than a dozen offshore wind farms in the Baltic Sea over fears they could make the country more vulnerable to attacks from Russia (report, November 5).

    This appears to be a rational decision and, refreshingly, has put more immediate security risks ahead of the ideological obsession with achieving net zero.

    Did Ed Miliband include national defence in his risk-assessment when determining the measures to manage climate change?

    Alan Gillett
    Wimborne, Dorset

    1. Yes, he definitely considered national defence, and definitely made the nation extra vulnerable to foreign interference.

        1. We think that he definitely does have a clue.

          It’s just not for the benefit of the British.

          1. His demonstration of complete and utter ignorance is difficult to address in any other way.

  31. Milioaf is a petulant, idiotic child man who hasn't the faintest interest in the damage his desperate socialisation of energy will do. He may understand, but he doesn't care. He's insulated from the effects of his deranged arrogance.

    Net zero must be abolished. The climate change act repealed. If those people who support it want to continue feeling virtuous, fine. They can pay the bills sans subsidy. I imagine once they're slapped with £50 a KW they'll change their minds. The subsidy grifters getting rich from the forced tax scam must be beggared – after all, they only give that cash back to push for more subsidy.

    1. I sometimes wonder what the public response would be had the CC/NZ nonsense begun in earnest in Thatcher's time in office (don't forget that she initially supported the concept of AGW). The idea of public money being used to support manufacturers, contractors, land-owners and canny operators like Gummer and Vince would have had the media in a foment. "Cronyism! Tax-payer funded profits for the already wealthy!" would have been the cry.

      Of course, the CCA was Labour's work but NZ the Tories. In their 14 years, hardly a squeak from the media. Curious.

      1. Mrs T would have been horrified by making the poor subsidise the rich, which is what currently happens with energy bills. MSM is mainly owned by large firms. For corporations and most governments the little people don't matter, vide the totally avoidable flood damage in Valencia.

        1. She might well have been but that rather misses the point, which is that the public would once have been very indignant about corporations and individuals profiting from taxes in this way. Today, hardly a peep except from us, the deniers.

      2. Mrs T would have been horrified by making the poor subsidise the rich, which is what currently happens with energy bills. MSM is mainly owned by large firms. For corporations and most governments the little people don't matter, vide the totally avoidable flood damage in Valencia.

  33. Whose elected representatives have embarked on a programme of mass killing – you're referring to the Palestinians, there, of course?

    Yes, Israel is repeatedly denied the right to self defence. It's utterly wrong.

    Of course, the media shouts pro Palestinian to really mean 'muslim' or Hard Left, as muslim or Lefty slaughter of Jews is something that would rightly annoy people. After all, the Left tried it once before and failed. Now they've found a new ally to continue their plan.

    1. This projection and deceit knows no bounds. Israel has an excellent programme for self defence, one of the best in the world, and is amply supported by powerful forces such as the UK and the USA, as well as covert support from Sunni empires with their own agenda.

      I do not deny that Palestinians also embarked on their programme of mass killing, but it must be said that the scale of their atrocities is twenty-fold less than than of the Israelis. It must be said though that both are dwarfed by the level of atrocity shown by Hitler, Stalin and Mao in the last century.

      1. I've only looked at what you'd said, Jeremy. Surely you're not suggesting that Palestine – the nation that has said it wants to wipe out Jews – is somehow the victim here?

        You're quite right, but they're all Lefties. All having the same attitude toward others.

        1. I only have your word for that. Sure, Palestine has never recognised the State of Israel and restore its own sovereign nation in its place, but it takes quite a leap of logic to translate that into wiping out Jews. Most of them just want to get on with their lives and leave nutter politics to the politicians and the religious zealots and descendants of the Philistines who have disliked Israelites since biblical times, and the feeling is mutual.

  34. Good morning all .

    Another dull day, no breeze , 8c.

    This letter re enforces everything we have been talking about and worrying about recently .

    SIR – Here in Sherborne, we are experiencing what the Met Office terms “anticyclonic gloom” (report, November 8). My solar panels register zero, and there is no wind to generate power.

    As a former serviceman, I have no idea how our country would fare if the cables that connect us to Europe were cut, or if the power we import had to be turned off for Europe’s own survival. How would the military – so dependent on electricity – cope in such a situation? Should we hoist the white flag to Vladimir Putin now?

    Is Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, aware of how his reckless drive to achieve net zero may affect our national security?

    Philip Congdon
    Sherborne, Dorset

    If the weather took a dive in temperature, freezing weather , no breeze, low cloud , no sunshine , “anticyclonic gloom” , how would that snivelling grimacing slobbering lipped Miliband keep us all warm?

      1. Yes , we have partial gas c/h and a coal fire .. but Miliband has not considered the load required re electricity when a cold snap is encountered.

        Many homes are powered and heated by electricity , what happens then..

        Do you remember the power cuts during the 1970's ?

        1. I remember it well. There wasn’t any threat to the gas supply then? It was just the electricity that kept going off and we lit the house with candles. Also being in the family home with mum and dad made that bearable. I fear it more now, being alone in a flat.

          1. Yes. My brother is alone in his little flat and he finds it very cold until his heating is on. Folk forget how much heat people generate doing very little.

        2. Well, I just looked at our solar app and it said 1.9kw being drawn, so the heating has gone off.

          It was nice while it lasted but we'll just have to live in jumpers under blankets for a while until it's properly intolerable.

        3. Of course. And even in the 90s they were quite frequent here. Our power supply has been more reliable lately but that is less certain under Millibrain.

    2. Good morning TB and everyone.
      Not being holier than thou, but IMHO it is wrong to criticise people such as Edward Miliband for their physical appearance, which is part of the lottery of life. By all means comment on his policies, but please pass the sick bag.
      Hundreds of other MPs voted Aye for Net Zeroism, all with enormous salaries, generous expense allowances and five year fixed contracts. Most were members of the I'm-Alright-Jack Parliamentary Pension Scheme. An MP has to slither through the Commons for more than 5 years in order to join that pension club, but at £94,000 per annum that's no hardship.

        1. People's character flaws often express themselves in some way in their looks. That is how we know to steer clear of them. Miliband has the shining, wide open eyes of a mad zealot.

    1. He’ll probably take away our Freedom Passes to pay for it, or restrict them to bus travel only.

    2. I'm with Peter! Incidentally, why is Sad Dick still here – I thought he was leaving Britain if Trump was elected!? On the same topic – have the hordes of leftie luvvies who vowed to leave America left the USA yet? Has Bonio driven his car off a cliff???

      1. Has Bonio driven his car off a cliff???

        No news on that but news on the street is that he has a gnawing concern about being in the presence of canines.

    3. He wants to open up the entirety of London so it is easier for muslims to find more victims.

  38. Morning all 🙂😊
    There is limit to the description of grey and cloudy. Just try and remember the places we have been to that were too hot each day.
    Millipond is an idiot what is he trying to achieve and prove ? If he's really worried and that concerned he should visit (okay they wouldn't let him in) the countries where they have sunshine but still consume more oil, gas, coal than the rest of the world put together.
    But he hasn't got the guts or the backup to do that. He's just another useless arm waver.

      1. But many will say, it is THEIR culture and what right do we have to criticise it?
        To which I will reply, fair enough, let them live like that.
        BUT, NEVER, NEVER ALLOW THEM TO EXPORT THAT IDEOLOGY TO THE WEST.

        1. Well it is not exactly their culture when the women are allowed zero say in it. Recently, the Taliban passed a law that forbids women from even speaking to each other in public. And of course, as the video demonstrates, the little girls have no say in their lives at all. It is a culture where true misogyny is built in. It is the mentality that allows Pakistani men to come here and rape children, mostly young girls but also boys.

    2. Meanwhile we have nascent “anti-Islamophobia” laws and actual anti-slavery laws.

      1. China has the right idea. Lock them up and make them work for their keep. They'll soon stop coming.

  40. He's just another useless moron trying to make a better name for him self and tying to justify his existence.

    1. Khan doesn't care about crime because his lot are the cause.

      I'd point out the victim is white, the thieves are black. It's always the blacks.

        2. Er … apart from Muzzies hating pork, dogs, Jews, alcohol, women, and a thousand other things; I thought they were also against poofs!

          Or is it only when it is convenient to do so?

  42. The rain in Spain
    Fell mainly in the plain
    But with global warming
    It now falls on the coast
    Without warning.

    2. The 'gota fria' has been a well recorded feature of life in Valencia for several hundred years.

    1. Sadly these days batteries are often not removable, or the time needed to dismantle them is so expensive that we just can't do it – and would you trust the Chinese or Indians to bother?

  44. Good Morning all. Another dull day weather wise in West Sussex. Cold too 7c.
    It seems that Trump has already taken over he has done the following so far.
    Told the Mexican President that if she did not stop the caravan of illegals heading to the USA he would slap 25% tariffs on everything they sent to the USA. The caravan has been stopped by the Mexican military and people have been told to go back to their own countries.
    The Houthis have declared a truce.
    Steve Madden, a footwear co, under the threat of tariffs, has announced it is cutting production in China by half. The company makes $475.1 million a year. Trump is still making the demand that businesses return to the USA. This is the first company to comply.
    Hamas has callred for an end to hostilitis.
    Putin is happy to get a peace deal. Not that he hasn't been. The problem for him has been Biden and the warmongers in the USA.

    It is a comment on the absolute inadequacies of the Democrats that Trump has already done more in the last couple of days than the Democrats ands he is not even officially President yet.
    Almost forgot. And Elon Musk says he can shave of 2 two trillion in government waste immediately on taking office.
    So good times are ahead, especially if he puts pressure on the Labour government which, I suspect he will.

    Also learnt something else that was interesting. I remarked the other day that I was worried about violence from the left but nothing has happened on that front. It turns out, apparently, that Trump is no longer the flavour of the month. Antifa and all the other fanatics are now preoccupied with Palestine and the Jews and couldn't give a damn about Trump. Demonstrates, I think you will agree, the lack of sincerity in their politics. Just an excuse for mayhem, thuggery and destruction.

    1. As I think many of us know, solving many of modern day problems just requires a bit of traditional thinking. We all know the simple answers to stopping the boats, reduce the pull factors and repel boarders. What is impressive is the energy the DT has shown throughout the campaign and now in the transition. He has had 4 years to mull over his plan and has the experience from the first administration to work around the blob. If he grooms Vance to continue his legacy and be the 'nice guy' there may be bright uplands ahead.

      1. I wonder how the French would react to the threat of a 50% tariff on wine, to pay back the British tax payer for accommodating the illegals from France. Wine is worth about £64 million to the French, per year, I think?

      2. I wonder how the French would react to the threat of a 50% tariff on wine, to pay back the British tax payer for accommodating the illegals from France. Wine is worth about £64 million to the French, per year, I think?

  46. Muslim teaching assistant claims school discriminated against her for wearing heels at swimming class
    Staff member at Burnley primary school says she was ‘singled out’ while bosses ignored dress code breaches of white, non-Muslim colleagues

    A teaching assistant sued for race discrimination after she was “spoken to” for wearing high heels while accompanying pupils to swimming lessons.

    Sahika Ditta claimed she was “singled out” for wearing the high heeled wedges after a swimming instructor complained the shoes were not appropriate.

    Ms Ditta, who is Muslim, tried to sue St Peter’s Church of England Primary School in Burnley for religious and racial discrimination and harassment.

    She claimed that she had been deliberately targeted as white non-Muslim staff breached the dress code but bosses ignored it.

    In 2022, from March to June, Ms Ditta, a teaching assistant at the school, accompanied pupils to local swimming lessons twice a week.

    Ms Ditta “did not like to attend with the children and be in a warm environment”, the inquest heard.

    There was not a written dress code, however, staff were advised to wear appropriate clothing.

    Ms Ditta wore high heeled wedges to the swimming baths, after which the “instructor Amanda complained to the school” and Ms Ditta was subsequently spoken to.

    The teaching assistant alleged that she had been “singled out for wearing inappropriate footwear at the swimming baths when other white or non-Muslim members of staff were permitted to wear inappropriate footwear”.

    She also claimed a school staff member was asked to “spy on her” to make sure she wore the correct footwear.

    However, it was heard that other white, non-Muslim members of staff at the school were in fact spoken to for wearing “strappy tops” and “gym clothes”.

    ‘Not singled out for special attention’
    Employment Judge Robert Childe dismissed Ms Ditta’s claims of religious discrimination, racial discrimination and harassment, concluding that other members of staff had not been ignored for breaching the dress code.

    Judge Childe said: “We find that [Ms Ditta] was not singled out for special attention regarding her dress and compliance with the school’s dress code.”

    One other staff member was “spoken to directly” about breaching the dress code and was “told to dress appropriately”, Judge Childe said.

    “In addition, all staff [were] sent [an] email on 21 June 2021, which covered the appropriate wearing of strappy/sleeveless tops and footwear.

    “We therefore conclude that breaches of the school’s dress code by white non-Muslim staff were not ignored as alleged by [Ms Ditta].”

    He also said that Ms Ditta had accepted in evidence that the action taken by the school “was not done [due to her] race and therefore it must fail”.

    “There wasn’t a written dress code between April and June 2022. The code was rather that staff should dress in a way that is appropriate for a school setting,” Judge Childe added.

    Ms Ditta also claimed she was discriminated against when headteacher Claire Crowther sent a group WhatsApp during lockdown saying “Happy Eid! Let’s hope everyone celebrates safely so we’re not locked down any more!”

    She claimed the head teacher was making a racist stereotype by suggesting Muslims were not following lockdown restrictions.

    The judge dismissed the claims, ruling that it was simply her expressing a desire for everyone to stay safe.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/11/08/muslim-teaching-assistant-heels-race-discrimination-burnley/

    Strange, the DT aren't allowing comments.

    3. I hope all Burnley schools check the names on the CVs of any teaching assistant applications.

    5. The DT isn't allowing comments because it knows what we think and what we would like to say and instead of being a rational, right of centre newspaper it has fallen into the abyss of Wokedom.

    6. Employment Judge Robert Childe has shown common sense, will he be castigated for doing so I wonder.

  47. Доброе утро, товарищи,

    Groundhog Day 5 as far as the weather is concerned here at the McPhee demesne. A bit cooler at 6-9℃. A bit late this morning – just back from the market.

    Trump Derangement Syndrome is in the heart of this appalling government already.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b2dd428308b7a6cf9e3c979472542844e072f787020dc83077dd59cc1982f847.png
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/11/09/starmer-puts-officials-alert-over-fears-trump-trade-war/

    They're scared shitless.

    1. And yet other sources predict a stunning growth opportunity on the cards with Trump offering UK, but not EU, a trade deal that shifts Britain towards USA/Canada/Mexico alignment ditching Brussels altogether.
      Ireland would ultimately follow in a couple of decades.

      Starmer would fight this tooth & nail.

      1. I think we are deluding ourselves if we think that Starmer or Reeves want the UK to have a successful economy based upon prosperous private enterprise.

        I think they are deliberately trying to destroy the economy in order to turn the UK into a Communist state.

        Chancellor’s NI raid claims first victim: ‘We made it through Covid but cannot survive this Government’
        Connectix Cabling Systems to close British Factories as tax rises and minimum wage increase makes business unsustainable
         https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/11/09/chancellor-ni-raid-claims-first-victim-labour-government/

        While most of us here can see that this is a disaster and a portent of what is to come Starmer, Cooper and Reeves will be rubbing their hands in glee.

        1. "I think we are deluding ourselves if we think that Starmer or Reeves want the UK to have a successful economy based upon prosperous private enterprise."

          You could insert the previous 5 or 6 pairs of PMs and Chancellors and the sentence would be just as true.

        2. It is so blatant to those with eyes to see it. Remember communism has ALWAYS been favoured by the banking elites as their means of making serfs of us all.

        3. It is so blatant to those with eyes to see it. Remember communism has ALWAYS been favoured by the banking elites as their means of making serfs of us all.

      2. Yes, an opportunity which Starmer will turn down and instead he'll fawn on the useless EU because it better suits his ideology.

    2. "The Office for Budget Responsibility this year estimated that UK exports and imports are around 15 per cent lower than if Britain had remained in the EU."

      The OBR might like to ask itself these two questions:

      What happened two months after the UK officially left the EU, lasted for a year and damaged all the economies of the world, especially Europe?

      And just as those economies were beginning to recover, what happened next over in the east of Europe?

    4. Is that supposed to make him look like a competent Prime Minister instead of a tinpot little dictator that 80% of the country doesn't want?

    5. We could have told the EU we were leaving and trading on WTO terms. Instead they did everything they could to obstruct our trade and tied us up to EU rules and regs.

  48. Доброе утро, товарищи,

    Groundhog Day 5 as far as the weather is concerned here at the McPhee demesne. A bit cooler at 6-9℃. A bit late this morning – just back from the market.

    Trump Derangement Syndrome is in the heart of this appalling government already.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b2dd428308b7a6cf9e3c979472542844e072f787020dc83077dd59cc1982f847.png
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/11/09/starmer-puts-officials-alert-over-fears-trump-trade-war/

    They're scared shitless.

  50. The number of children born to British mothers has fallen by a quarter in 15 years, according to official data.

    Babies born to British-born mothers dropped from 538,000 in 2008 to 403,000 last year, the lowest on record, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

    By contrast, births to Indian mothers have risen by 73 per cent, West Africans by 37 per cent and new EU members, such as Poland and Romania, by 32.6 per cent.

    Today, one in 13 (7.9 per cent) children born in the UK was born to parents from India, Pakistan or Bangladesh, up from one in 20 two decades ago.

    The shifts reflect a declining fertility rate, particularly amongst British-born parents. Although this is offset by the bigger families of migrant populations and the surge in net migration over the past five years, the overall fertility rate is still at a record low.

    Mother kissing sleeping baby
    Babies born to British-born mothers dropped from 538,000 in 2008 to 403,000 last year Credit: Tetra Images
    The total fertility rate dropped to 1.44 children per woman in 2023, its lowest value since records began in 1938. This is well below the 2.1 children per woman that is considered necessary to maintain a stable population and replace the older generation in developed countries without migration.

    The rising number of births to foreign parents could help ease fears that the UK will face a labour supply crunch as its population ages and retirees out-pace the rate at which new workers come into jobs.

    But Sir Keir Starmer has committed to reducing net migration and is sticking with Rishi Sunak’s measures to crackdown on foreign worker and student visas. This is expected to cut net migration from a record high of 764,000 in 2022 to around 250,000 to 300,000 a year.

    Nuni Jorgensen, a researcher at Oxford University’s Migration Observatory, said that even while migrant parents were having more children than UK-born families, they still were not having enough to replace the number of older people dropping out of the workforce.

    Some 37.3 per cent of live births were to parents where either one or both were born outside the UK, increasing from 35.8 per cent in 2022, according to the ONS data.

    Newborn Baby Sleeping
    The fall in the birth rate is linked to the rise of women in employment and the cost of childcare Credit: Johner Images
    London had the greatest proportion of births to parents born outside of the UK, accounting for two thirds (67.4 per cent) of all live births. The highest percentages were seen in Brent, Westminster, Newham and Harrow, at more than 80 per cent of births. By contrast, it was as low as 4.4 per cent in Staffordshire Moorlands.

    Most advanced and developing countries face similar pressures of high immigration but low fertility rates. In the EU, birth numbers fell to a record low in 2023, with fertility rates as low as 1.2 children per woman in Italy and Spain.

    All advanced economies except Israel have birth rates below the replacement level of 2.1 children per woman, according to the OECD. Meanwhile, more than half of all countries globally have an average number of births per woman below 2.1, according to the UN.

    The fall in the birth rate is linked by the ONS to various factors including the introduction of the contraceptive pill in the 1960s, the rise of women in employment and education, and the cost of childcare and housing.

    The ONS said that over the past decade, the declining fertility rate was steepest among those aged under 30. Mothers who gave birth to a child in 2023 were on average almost a year older than their 2013 counterparts.

    Not feeling ready and not finding the right partner was preventing many millennials (people born between 1981 and 1996) who wanted children from trying to have them, according to UCL research. This was compounded by the high cost of bringing up children and pressure to stay in work.

    The average weekly price for a full-time childcare place for children under three in the UK is about £300, compared with nearly £430 in inner London, according to a report by children’s charity Coram.

    It has meant some couples have taken a conscious decision not to have children. Typical are HGV driver Chris Taylor and dog groomer Jemma Wrathmell who jointly earn an income of about £60,000 but believe the cost of starting a family is too high.

    The couple, who live in Wakefield in West Yorkshire, considered having children but Mr Taylor said: “After all our bills and essentials there is no room in the budget to accommodate a child. We don’t see how our finances will get any better within the next few years.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/11/08/children-born-british-mothers-drops-25-per-cent-15-years/

    Join the conversation

    1. The indigent Brits are being screwed but the birth rate is dropping like a stone. That's Leftism doing its job!

    2. When I was a young mother there wasn't much room in our budget but I did my bit and had two. Sadly they are both single so I have no grandchildren.

      1. My grandfather, a country GP, said that the world needed more of the right sort of people in it so he had eleven children.

        One of my sisters had six children; the other had 4 but Caroline and I have only had 2 neither of whom has yet had progeny.

    3. "The rising number of births to foreign parents could help ease fears that the UK will face a labour supply crunch as its population ages and retirees out-pace the rate at which new workers come into jobs."

      This is a mathematical model that in no way takes into account the immigrants' lack of spoken English, abhorrent ideologies and foul actions, along with enclave seeking goals.

    4. Covid vaccination + cervical cancer vaccination probably go a long way towards explaining the fertility drop among British born people.

      1. There's a direct correlation between the level of education of a woman and how many children she has.

    5. Don't worry. In a few years a majority of the new borns will have British born mothers even though their family background is mainly mud hut and desert.

      A new non racist euphemism will need to be found to say foreign, not of this culture.

    1. I made a reply on there.
      Ndovu 🇬🇧 🙂
      @hoglet3
      The dodgy computer salesman who wants the world depopulated and wants to jab everything that moves? He should be locked up.

      1. Justice must be served and must be seen to be served. Preferably the death penalty. Ironically we have to show that we value human life by taking a worthless human life, a human life that sought personal satisfaction, gain and profit from the deaths of millions of those lives.

        1. Billy Goats got filthy rich by persuading millions of dupes to buy his flawed third-rate computer software … over and over again!

    3. Ah, what Billy means is he is terrified of the Epstein list getting out and the world realising this 'do gooder' is a bit of a kiddie fiddler and wants to make sure his globalist policies get through regardless.

  52. Being shallow, I do love a bit of scuttlebutt laced with vitriol. And Julie Burchill can deliver that in spades.

    Article in the Spekkie about the Badenochs. Inevitably, it strays into the connubial bliss that is the Sturmer arrangement.

    ……. "I couldn’t help comparing this scene from a felicitous marriage with the weirdness of the Starmer Kiss. Or rather, the almost-kiss, which looked like something which would happen if a robot was faced with a beautiful woman and told that it should show spouse-appropriate affection towards her.

    There’s an amusing episode of the old television show Red Dwarf in which the android Kryten briefly achieves his dream of becoming human; he discovers that his new eyes don’t have a zoom function, that his nipples no longer pick up radio transmissions – and that his new penis is sexually attracted by super deluxe vacuum cleaners. That’s what the Starmer Kiss made me think of. Still, Sir Keir has unashamedly positioned himself as the most uxorious PM since Cameron; ‘Our love gets stronger every day,’ he told the Daily Mail shortly before his election. ‘It sounds naff, but we’re made for each other…she makes me complete.’"

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-triumph-of-mr-and-mrs-badenoch/

    1. I'd never say my love for the Warqueen gets stronger. Some days I could throttle her. I imagine the feeling is mutual. The difference is while that might be one day, for the others I am utterly devoted to her. In fact, I'm devoted to her on the day I'm ticked off.

    2. She makes him complete? She nails back on the bits that fall off? I remember watching a queer singer "kissing" characters on stage (supposedly fiancees or wives) and it was obvious that there was no spark at all (or physical contact either).

  53. So close yet so far away:
    Wordle 1,239 X/6

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

    1. Best Post my result now. I always feel inadequate after @disqus_e56aRLhQyY:disqus finds the word in so few tries.
      Wordle 1,239 4/6

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

    2. Found the green well enough but then three putted.

      Wordle 1,239 6/6

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

  54. Can't the Government understand what a threat priapic w##s are to the safety of women and children , boys , and everything else that moves .

    That grinning thing who owned a huge naff store in the West End appears to be responsible for many gropings of the women who he employed .

    Britain is entering hell slowly as the stories of molestations , murders, and other ghastly things these wretched people commit .

    Everyday we are hearing about the crimes these people of a particular religion and race commit.. They don't even make headlines anymore, every town has a story in their local paper about the crimes that these primitives are involved in .

    Why are the the government cloth eared.. and I am wondering what the next crime and scandal will be involving an MP of a different colour.

    1. The Left do not care. To them, the race replacement is simply following orders. They wanted a voting block, they've got it.

      The damage is irrelevant to the Left. What with Naz Shah say? That the children being raped by pakistani paedophile muslims should shut up for the sake of 'diversity'?

      Well 'diversity' is a con. A lie forced on this country. Nothing but societal rape.

  55. Trump has won Nevada which leaves one more state to report its final tally, Arizona. He now has 301 delagates to the Electorial Collage and Harris (Looooooooser) has 226.

    Nevada has always bewildered me. It is my favorite state it is wild desert and utterly silent apart from Las Vegas. Nevada is a place to listen for cayotes a long long way away. For cacti, 100s of species spectacular in flower, and little eccentric settlement of people determined to live life exactly as they please without hinderance from officialdom. But they almost always vote Democrat, this in a state where every other car carries a sticker that says: "Don't Californicate Nevada". It is a crazy contradiction

    2. Is it because the workers in Nevada want Democrat policies? Worker protections, company controls that they' vote that way?

      1. No, as I said, apart from Las Vegas they are mostly individuals doing there own thing who want nothing to do with government at all. That is why most people, apart from Las Vegas, move there. I have a cousin by marriage that lives there, building a house. The reason he is building it there is because there are next to no regulations. He builds by his own criteria without legal restrictions. He is typical of people that live there. Fortunately he is an electrician so he's not going to burn the house there. And, that's how he makes his living, independent work.

    3. Paiute territory. Remember the JSO/XR demo blocking a Nevada highway? The tribal rangers put an end to their shenanigans in no uncertain terms.

  57. David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary and notable historic critic of Mr Trump, will fly out to New York later this month, given it is the UK’s turn to oversee the United Nations Security Council. D Torygaff

    How interesting. Putting a foul-mouthed ignorant orangutan at the head of the Western World's security council can only lead to world peace – said no-one with two molecules of cerebral cortex. Putin, Xi Jinping and Kim Jong Rong Un will be wetting themselves with joy.

  58. David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary and notable historic critic of Mr Trump, will fly out to New York later this month, given it is the UK’s turn to oversee the United Nations Security Council. D Torygaff

    How interesting. Putting a foul-mouthed ignorant orangutan at the head of the Western World's security council can only lead to world peace – said no-one with two molecules of cerebral cortex. Putin, Xi Jinping and Kim Jong Rongun will be wetting themselves with joy.

  59. They work, so haven't got the money or time for children. The dindu doesn't, so sits on welfare troughing away on our taxes.

    2. It's not even a bat shed. It's a tunnel for the train. The logic being the bats in the woods either side are protected from flying into said trains and dying.

      I expect the bats will consider it a good roosting spot and still die.

    3. It isn’t for the bats of course. It’s more money laundering. Money from the public purse to the private purse. For nothing. That shed didn’t cost £100m.

    4. They've already built bat boxes the length of the line, every few hundred metres, at extortionate cost that must have given enormous profits to the contractor that did it.

      1. Bats decide for themselves where to roost, often in small groups of related ones (which overall look like one large group). They may mostly be pipistrelles, or a mixture. They often move on for whatever reason (often poo piles too large). Often won't stay in a polluted area, but sometimes do. £100m a huge spend, hope there's an alternative use for the shed.

          1. Yup…farmers likely not spend as much…also bats are unreliable so and so’s, moving on as necessary…I can tell where they are daytime due to owl taking a look out. When the bats pour out at dusk, predators know this, have seen sparrow hawk swoop and catch.

        2. The bat boxes that I saw didn’t look particularly attractive, I must say – just a box on a high pole. Don’t know if they are insulated or not, or have lighting conductors.
          The whole thing looks like a racket.

          1. My husband made a bat box, they’ve ignored it, but he placed it in direct sunlight so that could be why..tawny owl box been a bit more successful, had a juvenile last year, a male by the sound of it (twoo)..

  62. Phew!
    I've been cutting and lifting some of the roots of the ash cluster that the tree fellers dropped.
    Totally knackered the sharpness of the chain, so that's another job to do, but the sense of achievement is pleasant!
    The ones I've cut were crossing the area I'm trying to clear VERY close, in fact for a fair bit of the run ON the surface.

    Now about to do a mug of tea and then back out again, this time with camera.

    2. We were charged $51 (about $38 US) for 480 kwh last month. The off peak rate is 7.6 cents per kwh.

      No wonder there is a different attitude here about basics such as heat and hot water being available all of the time.

    3. If he ever laughs he would need someone to explain why he is laughing.
      UAE not mentioned are the most prolific users of fossil fuels to generate electricity.

  64. I just spotted that on twitter. It's crazy. Our son in Canada doesn't know how lucky he is (well, maybe just on that point).

    1. Afternoon Mum. It is pretty obvious from the graph that industry in the UK is unsustainable at those prices. Germany is already collapsing and theirs are less. If we add in the recent employment costs calamity lies around the corner.

    1. If you genuinely don’t watch TV either free to air or streamed, then you should and do not need a licence. However, the reality is that most people who have chosen not to buy a licence do indeed watch TV – that is their choice and they must accept the consequences of doing so. No-one likes paying fees or taxes but those whose finances are stretched do have recourse to help. Those who want to make non-payment a protest cannot expect this to be ignored. The BBC wastes enormous sums, is biased, extremely woke and arrogant but refusing to pay for a licence is unlikely to achieve much and just gives the BBC reason to ask for yet more money. It is our elected MPs who have the power to change things.

      2. Heyup Conners!
        I suspect, given that is by the Babylon Bee, any grammatical errors may be deliberate!

  68. Some twisted garbage in Toronto have used the poppy in adverts a demonstration to celebrate hamas killers. This misappropriation of our remembrance symbol has made headline news in some newspapers. I have to applaud this comment in one paper and wonder how he got his words past the censors.

    The poppy is for the Canadian war dead who were true, honourable soldiers….not slimy, sneaky, slithering, children murdering, women raping, moral-less, heartless, demented cockroaches that crawl out of Hells mud and terrorize innocent people.
    Hopefully this comment helps you sick, twisted demons out

    Well done sir!

    1. White poppies in official events (according to article):
      Haringey – Labour
      Sale Town Hall (Trafford DC) – Labour
      Leicester City Council – Labour
      Aberystwyth Town Council – PC

      1. White poppies? Are they to be considered as being in the same league as white flags … and white feathers?

        Red poppies symbolise the brave. White poppies symbolise the cowardly.

        1. Remembrance Day should be "decolonised", campaigners say as they call for an end to "nationalist narratives" that "whitewash" and "glorify" the British Empire.

          Ceremonies to commemorate members of the Armed Forces who have fallen in service "gloss over the history and violence of colonialism", according to the Peace Pledge Union (PPU).

          The PPU, which distributes white poppies, says that Remembrance Sunday events should "examine the human cost of colonial conflicts" such as the Amritsar massacre in Punjab, India, and the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya, both of which took place when the territories were under British colonial rule.

          Launching their new campaign aimed at "decolonising" Remembrance Sunday, the PPU said: "To remember the victims of colonial wars, we must actively challenge nationalist narratives that whitewash or glorify colonialism. We also need to oppose the racist legacies of colonialism that continue to influence who is remembered and whose histories and experiences are erased."

          Their campaign was launched this week ahead of the weekend of Remembrance which will begin on Saturday evening with the Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall.

          On Sunday, the King will lead the annual Remembrance Day Service at the Cenotaph in London – his first since his cancer diagnosis.

          Colonel Richard Kemp, the former commander of the British Forces in Afghanistan, accused the PPU of trying to "hijack" Remembrance Sunday.

          "Frankly, if they have a genuine interest in commemorating or making a statement about people who died as a result of British colonisation – by all means, do it, but do it on a different day," he said. "Don't do it on the day that we commemorate people who died to give us the freedoms that we have today. Thousands of people from the British colonies from the First and Second World Wars voluntarily served to fight for the British Empire – they weren't forced to, they wanted to do it. And those who lost their lives are commemorated alongside British people on Remembrance Sunday."

          "If people want to wear the white poppy that is entirely up to them but one of the problems is that the money donated to do white poppy goes to propagandising their political cause, it doesn't go to helping wounded servicemen and their dependents as the red poppy does. It is a diversion from some of the benefits of Remembrance Sunday."

          London Poppy Day, the flagship event for the Royal British Legion's annual Poppy Appeal, launched on Thursday, with about 2,500 volunteers and Armed Forces personnel selling poppies and collecting donations at Network Rail and TfL stations across the capital.

          The Royal British Legion distributes about 30 million poppies a year. Last year, the Poppy Appeal raised £49.2 million for members in need of the Armed Forces. This year, the charity's target is £53.1 million.

          James Cartlidge, the shadow defence secretary, said: "The point about the festival of Remembrance is that it is to remember those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice in order to defend the freedom of our nation and all freedom-loving nations. I will be proud to wear the traditional red poppy because we must never forget the sacrifice of those who gave their lives so that we can be free."

          He said that the PPU's campaign to "decolonise" Remembrance Day "would completely undermine that message" adding: "I would encourage everyone to continue to support the poppy appeal and to observe all the traditional facets of Remembrance weekend.

          "As the war in Ukraine has shown, if you want to have peace, you have to be ultimately prepared to fight for it by deterring your adversaries."

          White poppies have been worn since 1933. They stand for remembrance for all victims of war, both civilian and military, of all nationalities, as well as challenging militarism and a commitment to peace.

          They differ from red poppies, which were designed specifically to commemorate and support the British and allied Armed Forces personnel.

          Geoff Tibbs, the PPU's Remembrance Project Manager, said: "When we still see politicians openly celebrating the British Empire, it is vital that we remember the impacts that colonial wars and violence have had – and continue to have – around the globe.

          "We need to make space for the victims of colonial wars on Remembrance Day. This involves listening to the voices of those affected by that history and the ongoing impacts of colonialism, both in the UK and elsewhere. It involves actively challenging the racist legacies of colonialism that continue to influence whose lives are valued and whose are not."

          He said that a number of official Remembrance Sunday events around the country are making use of white poppies in their ceremonies.

          This year, Haringey Council's Remembrance Sunday ceremony will feature a white poppy wreath for the first time – a move which is supported by the Mayor's Office of the north London borough, which coordinates the event.

          It joins several other events including Sale Town Hall, South Manchester where white poppies will be included in the official event for the second year running, as well as ceremonies in Leicester and Aberystwyth.

        2. Red poppies were chosen because they grew in Flanders fields; the churned up soil brought the seeds to the surface. There weren't any white, yellow or purple poppies in the aftermath of the battles.

          1. I think whatever colour poppies had been growing in the Flanders fields, at that time, would have come to symbolised courage.

          2. It’s the blood as much as the courage. Given how many of the sons of the nobility were slaughtered, maybe they should be blue (the French wear cornflowers, not poppies).

      2. White poppies? Are they to be considered as being in the same league as white flags … and white feathers?

        Red poppies symbolise the brave. White poppies symbolise the cowardly.

    2. BTL comments online include: "How dare they? They only enjoy our freedoms because of al those who fought for and lost their lives in the ultimate sacrifice. People in the PPU are responsible for our ever diminishing freedoms because their denial of our history, our great achievements, their twisted versions of events and their ridiculous woke virtue signalling."

    3. Another dopey wokie divot was trying to suggest the Christmas be known as only a holiday, because it is not inclusive of the obvious others. There is a cure for a Fur Cough….take it or leave it.

        1. How about we get rid of Ramadamadingdong and Eid, plus Diwali and all other heathen "festivals" and return this land to Christianity?

  70. Iran wants war with the United States. 9 November 2024.

    The Supreme Leader couldn’t tolerate the return of his nemesis to the White House, and that is why the regime ordered Trump’s assassination in September. On Friday, the Department of Justice revealed charges against an Afghan immigrant to the US, Farhad Shakeri, who was allegedly tasked by the IRGC to murder the then US presidential candidate.

    There is no question that Khamanei and the IRGC meant business. The regime has successfully carried out multiple political assassinations since it came to power in 1979, and has attempted to murder many others.

    Complete cobblers. As one war draws to close they want to start another one. The Ayatollahs may be all sorts of things but terminally stupid is not one of them.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/comment/2024/11/09/iran-has-declared-war-on-the-united-states/

      1. FEMA employee removed from role after telling relief team to skip houses with Trump signs after Florida hurricane..

        At least 20 different homes with Trump signs or flags were passed following the storm because of the order, FEMA employees told The Daily Wire.

  74. The pathetic BBC sounding off again.

    EXCLUSIVE: BBC staff link Trump's election to the Nazis in staggering internal leaked messages
    Story by Steven Edginton

    Leaked messages show BBC staff linked Donald Trump’s election to the Nazis, GB News can reveal.

    Discussing a Guardian article that claimed Elon Musk’s stock prices increased upon Donald Trump’s election, a BBC employee wrote: “a lot of wealthy German industrialists increased their wealth under the Nazis”.

    In a series of internal communications, seen by GB News, BBC staff bemoaned the Republicans's reelection, including one worker say they were “disappointed”, another describing Mr Trump as the “Annoying Orange”, and others using crying emojis to show their dismay.

    A leaked conversation on the BBC’s Slack messaging service discussed a boost to the US stock market following Mr Trump’s shock victory on Tuesday.

    One employee wrote sarcastically: “Don't worry. It'll all trickle down!”.

    Another staffer said they “removed my twitter bookmark yesterday” in reference to Elon Musk, a strong Trump supporter, adding “that'll teach him”.

    An employee concurred, saying they “really want[ed] to minimise my use of twitter but the constant supply of Gary Barlow's Massive Son memes is hard to resist”.

    Responding to the BBC employee who compared Mr Trump’s victory to German industrialists profiting from the Nazis’ election victory, one worker said “…which is the reason aspirin is spelt with a small A” in reference to the pharmaceutical company.

    A BBC source said: "This is yet more evidence of BBC staff's deranged view of Trump as a Nazi.”

    “The BBC is part of the media machine that amplified the claim that Trump admired Hitler's generals and is a fascist.”

    “This kind of nonsense erodes trust in the media and shows how disconnected and out of touch many BBC staff are when it comes to Trump voters."

    Richard Tice, the Reform Party Deputy Leader, told GB News: “Trump Derangement Syndrome has infected the BBC like a super spreader virus.”

    “It did not happen naturally but has been manufactured in the heart of the BBC induction programme.”

    The news comes after the US stock market surged upon Mr Trump’s resounding election victory.

    GB News obtained a series of leaked messages from BBC staffers discussing the US election, all of which were critical of Mr Trump.

    Robert Bates, a political commentator, said: “These comments are hardly surprising.”

    “We all saw the BBC’s coverage on election night and it was frankly a national embarrassment.”

    “These people are so out-of-touch with how whole swathes of the west are feeling, that they’re frankly ill-suited to life in 2024 and don’t know what is coming down the track.”

    He continued: “These comments not only show a pretty cretinous sense of humour, which helps explain why shows like Citizen Khan are regularly commissioned, but also a sense of self-importance indicative of fragile egos that have been incubated by a liberal lifestyle and left these people maladjusted.”

    “Once we have finished relishing in their current distress, they deserve our pity in the long-run because they are simply foot soldiers of an ideology that is set to lose again, and again, over the next few years.”

    The BBC has been accused of anti-Trump bias ever since he launched his political career in 2015.

    In 2020 the broadcaster found that an article published on its website showed partisanship against the then US President.

    The BBC found that the article breached its code for impartiality and expressed the journalist’s views rather than a professional opinion.

    Harrison Pitt, a Senior Editor at The European Conservative and a Fellow at the New Culture Forum, said: "In Donald Trump, a solid Anglophile has won the White House. Thanks in no small part to his Scottish mother, the new President-elect has long professed a great love of our country.”

    “Whatever our politics, Trump's victory presents a golden opportunity for us to co-operate with the incoming administration and advance Britain's national interests in the world–the kind of thing that the British Broadcasting Corporation should, at the very least, be covering impartially and perhaps even welcoming.”

    “That many of their staff are instead making half-educated comparisons between Trump's billionaire backer, Elon Musk, and Nazi-supporting industrialists goes to show how far the BBC has strayed from its remit.”

    “The people who work there do not regard themselves as dutiful guardians of our national interests, but as superior members of a cosmopolitan priesthood.”

    The BBC was approached for comment.

    1. I'm unsure of the complaint. Is it that BBC employees expressed opinions critical of Trump and Musk on a BBC internal forum and should only do so on fora in an independent capacity not representing the BBC, or that that they expressed those particular opinions or that they have expressed any opinions or that they have opinions at all, even if unexpressed. It would narrow the pool of available labour enormously if the BBC were to only recruit people who have no opinions whatsoever in an effort to maintain the purest of pure impartiality in all it does.

      1. The BBC is supposed to be neutral. That is the problem. I recall a time as many older people on NOTTLERS will also, when you had no clue what the political views of individuals at the BBC, private or public were. They strove to be neutral, in fact Monty Python had a sketch about it. In those days the BBC was revered around the world as the most trustworthy source of news in the world. Now look at it. It’s little better than a vehicle for leftist propaganda and hatred for the UK and it’s people.

    1. Everyone will have to upload their digital id to post on social media. Goodbye freedom of speech.
      We always knew this would be brought in via "safety of children"

  78. Apparently, this is not a joke:

    German snap election may not be possible because of ‘lack of paper for ballot'

    1. But as we have seen before they don't need elections, they go along with what they are told to do and arm waving.

    2. Quite. I presume children will still be allowed internet access for education, light entertainment, sport and such like but will somehow be denied access to X, Facebook, TikTok, Whatsapp, Snapchat and similar sites. As to why, I imagine it's to shield children from violence, pornography, grooming and other activities unsuitable for their age. Perhaps the relevant providers will be obliged to ask for data at login which only adults will have.

      1. I don't know about most of those but Facebook has long set 13 as a minimum age. I don't know if they check though.

  82. Just back from a bimble along part of the Castlemain Trailway, a disused railway line torn up as part of the Beeching cuts.
    Autumn is now in charge:
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e62a9c3628d74009fdcc822c0fe009b45b61e96cc9e22a360f34eb26c44f7b2f.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/674099da468949407a02885435f1b68739534d50cbf701c3a92144cc87141555.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e50b0eba3b6c3b0149ae53bf0907cdae4a6b9a71826d48aa0e9a5e0144f68ffe.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e6ac65a139a9c6751875d3a809fb127665f33d81e3e33092b4833ad8331329c7.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d548979b6bbc8bff9b55e27d87a2af5544f66e45b467151b2905f1e49d28bdd9.jpg

  83. Just back from a bimble along part of the Castlemain Trailway, a disused railway line torn up as part of the Beeching cuts.
    Autumn is now in charge:
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e62a9c3628d74009fdcc822c0fe009b45b61e96cc9e22a360f34eb26c44f7b2f.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/674099da468949407a02885435f1b68739534d50cbf701c3a92144cc87141555.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e50b0eba3b6c3b0149ae53bf0907cdae4a6b9a71826d48aa0e9a5e0144f68ffe.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e6ac65a139a9c6751875d3a809fb127665f33d81e3e33092b4833ad8331329c7.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d548979b6bbc8bff9b55e27d87a2af5544f66e45b467151b2905f1e49d28bdd9.jpg

  84. Here's one for you:
    A young guy from Texas moves to California and lands a job at a large department store.
    The manager asks, "Do you have any sales experience?"
    The kid replies, "Sure, I was a salesman back in Texas."
    The boss is impressed and hires him on the spot. "You start tomorrow. I'll check in with you after closing to see how you did."
    The kid’s first day is tough, but he makes it through. When the store is locked up, the manager comes down to see how he did.
    "How many sales did you make today?"
    The kid says, "Just one."
    The boss, a bit surprised, says, "Only one? Our staff usually averages 20 or 30 sales a day. How much was the sale for?"
    The kid replies, "$101,237.64."
    Shocked, the boss asks, "$101,237.64? What on earth did you sell him?"
    The kid explains, "First, I sold him a small fish hook, then a medium one, and then a larger one. After that, I sold him a fishing rod. When he mentioned he was going to the coast, I suggested he’d need a boat, so we went over to the boat section, and he ended up buying a twin-engine Chris Craft. Then he realized his Honda Civic couldn’t tow the boat, so I sold him a 4X4 Blazer."
    The manager, astounded, asks, "So, this guy came in just to buy a fish hook, and you sold him a boat and a truck?"
    The kid laughs, "Actually, he came in to buy a box of tampons for his wife, so I said, 'Well, since your weekend's out of commission, you might as well go fishing.'"

          2. Not really lacoste.

            We suspect that the Police will be ordered not to intervene with Islamic demonstrations, and probably(?) be told to keep faaar right demonstrators away.

            It’s all guessing, so let us see what happens tomorrow before commenting further.

  87. Has Janet seen the light?

    Janet Daley
    Trump is obnoxious – but his victory shows the American Dream is alive
    Latino voters switched over to the Republicans in their millions. They share the hope of building a richer, better life in a new country

    Janet Daley 09 November 2024 11:57am GMT

    Could it happen here? Why does that seem to be a subject of even more interest than the urgent issue of how much the Trump presidency will affect our national prospects? Because it is a fascinating and profound question.

    Whatever the consequences of Trump’s policies on trade or war turn out to be, they are practical matters which will be dealt with in concrete terms. But the really big thing – the ultimate challenge of our time for anyone interested in the governing of free societies – is whether the mass popular uprising that Trump’s victory embodies is a pattern for other Western countries, or a peculiarly American event. In fact it is both, but the differences between the two are critically important.

    First, the sense in which Trumpism can be translatable into British or European terms. That is pretty obvious and was instantly noted by commentators who can justifiably claim to have seen this reckoning coming for a long time.

    That overworked epithet “liberal elites” has never been so totally vindicated. The contempt with which the resentments and fears of ordinary people have been dismissed, not merely as inconsequential but as positively evil, was a crime against democracy.

    Not only did those infamous, self-regarding elites reject the anxieties of whole swathes of the population but, most specifically, they scorned the very people that the Left was designed to speak for: the struggling working classes who do not have the advantages of higher education and the social confidence it provides.

    There is something distinctly decadent about this political fashion: something almost perverse in its interpretation of the word “tolerance” which has been stretched to mean, not forbearance, but the elevation of minorities to be super-protected, specially favoured categories who must be given preference over those born into “privilege” however absurdly that word is construed.

    Much of this was familiar snobbery, of course: a fresh excuse for dismissing (in Britain) working class yobs and (in America), redneck oiks. Somehow even these groups of clearly disadvantaged people came to be classified as “privileged” but that was a contradiction which nobody bothered to get to grips with.

    When Trump stole Franklin Roosevelt’s phrase “the forgotten man” for his early campaigns, this is what he was trying to evoke. So yes, that is something that the British scene apparently has in common with the circumstances that produced the Trump victory. Even the terms in which those American voters described their decision to vote for a man they often claimed to dislike, spoke of the anger with which they condemned the mainstream establishment for its abandonment of them.

    In the UK, and indeed much of Europe, this has a special resonance. It is the parties of the Left that have enthusiastically embraced this elitist cult which denigrates the very classes of society which they were created to represent. That acknowledgement of a class system – and the historic guilt of an entitled bourgeoisie – still runs through European and British politics. The debt that is owed to those who had nothing but their own labour to live by, and the responsibility owed to them from everyone who is initiated into the advantages of middle class life by family or education, is still embedded in the political conscience.

    Now, quite suddenly that whole moral edifice has collapsed. Working people, whatever their hardships, are accused of casual bigotry as well as global selfishness. When Labour politicians tell them that they must willingly cut back their energy use to set an example to the world, they obviously think they are being enlightened idealists but to their traditional audience they sound like Marie Antoinette. How on earth has it come to this? And is it so different from the conditions that produced Trump in America?

    Well yes, it is. As a nation, the United States has a unique historical mission which many European observers fail to take into account. In a country without any aristocratic class, there is very little sense of inherited guilt (except about slavery, which is a different matter).

    With few exceptions, the forebears of today’s Americans arrived with nothing. Most of them are only a couple of generations away from migrants not unlike those who are now flooding their borders in such alarming numbers. The only thing that all these disparate, displaced people had in common was a willingness to work, to aspire, and to make their own way to prosperity and proud independence. All that they asked of their government was to maintain the rule of law and to stand back and let them get on with building their new lives.

    What follows from this is that there is no guilt attached to being wealthy and successful. You – or your family – earned that money through their own industriousness or talent.

    Americans do not regard making a profit from what you do, or taking responsibility for your own future and that of your family as “selfish”. They see it as doing the right thing and giving a purpose to life. Many Europeans who do see this rather brutal work ethic and individual determination still do not necessarily understand what follows from it: there is no Old World feudal paternalism in America, and no noblesse oblige.

    So there was a simple question for US voters to answer: which leader and political party respects my values – which I believe are the central values which made this country what it is? And we know what most of them decided. But what was unexpected is that a huge number of the Latino voters who might have been offended by Trump’s comments about Hispanic migrants, gave the same answer. That is a point which illuminates this chapter in the country’s history.

    The Latino voters who have settled in the US were as concerned about the state of the economy as other voters. They wanted to work, to prosper, to make their way in life – just like everybody else. They did not come to America to be poor, or dependent on the state: they came to make a better, independent future for themselves.

    Even for those observers who are appalled by the election result, that should be good news.

      1. Hopefully the Micks will see what is happening in the UK and will show they are not stupid enough to follow suit.

    2. The same applies to most of the earlier generations of immigrants to our country. Also the sheer numbers currently flooding in and/or invading in a relatively short space of time is a major problem. The curent lot do not intend to either work nor integrate and accept our laws.
      "With few exceptions, the forebears of today’s Americans arrived with nothing. Most of them are only a couple of generations away from migrants not unlike those who are now flooding their borders in such alarming numbers. The only thing that all these disparate, displaced people had in common was a willingness to work, to aspire, and to make their own way to prosperity and proud independence. All that they asked of their government was to maintain the rule of law and to stand back and let them get on with building their new lives."

      1. They do have a lot more physical land room over there than we have. And the Irish feel invaded as well.

    3. The same applies to most of the earlier generations of immigrants to our country. Also the sheer numbers currently flooding in and/or invading in a relatively short space of time is a major problem. The curent lot do not intend to either work nor integrate and accept our laws.
      "With few exceptions, the forebears of today’s Americans arrived with nothing. Most of them are only a couple of generations away from migrants not unlike those who are now flooding their borders in such alarming numbers. The only thing that all these disparate, displaced people had in common was a willingness to work, to aspire, and to make their own way to prosperity and proud independence. All that they asked of their government was to maintain the rule of law and to stand back and let them get on with building their new lives."

    5. "Americans do not regard making a profit from what you do, or taking responsibility for your own future and that of your family as “selfish”. They see it as doing the right thing and giving a purpose to life." It used to be known as "the Protestant Ethic" until the PTB tried to stamp out Protestantism and Ethics (in favour of ethnicity).

  88. Off topic
    Is it just that I'm unfortunate?
    Why do things always seem to break down at the weekend and often at the start of a bank holiday weekend?

      1. We’re lucky in that if it happens Saturday morning you might get a visit or at least a time for the following week.
        Today’s happened at around 4 pm.
        Remembrance is a national holiday here. (And quite right too)

      1. I did three passes, but then I used to play a brass instrument and have never smoked. Plus as a teenager I used to like to do a length and a half of the swimming pool under water. And then when we had annual medicals at work I liked to blow the FEV (Forced Expiration Volume) instrument off the scale. Guess I'm what the Yanks call a Blowhard. But I'll be 84 in under 8 weeks.

        1. I didn't wish to extend it, given my heart situation.
          I suspect I still could, particularly if I pre ventilated.
          I often did a double of the school pool, but that was only 33 1/3 yards each length and I started with a dive.

          1. I thought that Blundell's was the only school which had a 33 1/3 yard pool.

            Allhallows, where I taught for some years, had a 25 m pool as most schools do except for those with an Olympic Pool of 50m.

          2. There were all sorts of strange lengths on the "circuit". 33 1/3 wasn't uncommon
            Several 20 yards, some 25's, relatively few metric pools in my day and the majority of those were 25.
            I doubt that there were more than a few 50 metre pools anywhere, although there were some 55 yard ones.
            I recall that Haileybury had a 44 yard pool and a very strangely shaped running track something like 600 yards, but my memory may be playing tricks.

      2. I did three passes, but then I used to play a brass instrument and have never smoked. Plus as a teenager I used to like to do a length and a half of the swimming pool under water. And then when we had annual medicals at work I liked to blow the FEV (Forced Expiration Volume) instrument off the scale. Guess I'm what the Yanks call a Blowhard. But I'll be 84 in under 8 weeks.

      2. I used to be a diver. Could hold my breath for weeks (slight exaggeration…). Now, not so long. The trick was not to totally fill the lungs…

    4. Done but it becomes hard work past half way. I have stomach palpitations and buzzing in my feet. Anxiety symptoms.

    6. How annoying. I just couldn't resist the challenge.
      Managed it, but it certainly requires effort.

  90. Central heating and hot water system, this time.
    Car last time, electronic gates, in closed position, the time before.

    1. That's a bugger.
      Hope you can get it fixed pretty quickly.
      Our bathroom heating died in a flurry of earth faults. Trying to get it repaired – but meanwhile, it's pigging freezing when taking a shower!

    2. Sos, you are not alone. Two hours ago my son in Twickenham phoned to say that water was dripping from his 3rd floor bathroom into a second-floor bedroom. I told him to turn off the Stop Tap, but he didn't know where that was, (and he had lived there SIX YEARS!). He had to go next door to ask a neighbour where the Stop Tap was.

      When he'd found it, he couldn't turn it off (not having been used for at least 6 years). He finally nipped out and bought some wrenches and a can of WD40. Now at least the water is OFF.

      Another Weekend Special. I'll probably have to drive there (75 miles) tomorrow to help sort it out. London plumbers are like hens' teeth.

      1. Good luck.
        We have an excellent plumber and central heating man and I hope he can get to us on Tuesday.
        Fortunately he knows the system very well, the problem being that it must be at least 30 years old.

      2. And when you can get hold of one, you almost need a bank loan just for the callout fee. it's bad enough in the sticks, but I guess it would be even more costly in London.
        Good luck.

      3. When the clocks go back and w hen the clocks go forward I take the opportunity to turn off the internal water stop cock and turn it back on again and give it a squirt of WD 40 to stop it seizing up. In the last house I managed to break the handle off the stop cock with a wrench trying to use it for the first time after 20 years. Fortunately a recently installed water meter had a stop cock attached…

    3. Sos, you are not alone. Two hours ago my son in Twickenham phoned to say that water was dripping from his 3rd floor bathroom into a second-floor bedroom. I told him to turn off the Stop Tap, but he didn't know where that was, (and he had lived there SIX YEARS!). He had to go next door to ask a neighbour where the Stop Tap was.

      When he'd found it, he couldn't turn it off (not having been used for at least 6 years). He finally nipped out and bought some wrenches and a can of WD40. Now at least the water is OFF.

      Another Weekend Special. I'll probably have to drive there (75 miles) tomorrow to help sort it out. London plumbers are like hens' teeth.

    4. For the electronic gates, I suggest a remote-controlled explosive device, sos; it won't matter if the gates are open or closed.

      1. I created an opening in the fence, which can be moved apart if need be.
        Inconvenient, but it allows an ambulance to access the house. Action stimulated by the heart attack.

  92. An excessive Par Four?

    Wordle 1,239 4/6
    ⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜
    ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
    🟩⬜🟩🟩🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. I posted earlier. Found the green well enough but then three putted.

      Wordle 1,239 6/6

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

    2. Not good today.

      Wordle 1,239 6/6

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

    3. Happy wih a 3 today.Wordle 1,239 3/6

      ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨
      ⬜⬜🟨🟨🟨
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    4. #MeToo – another multiple choice potential nightmare…..got lucky!

      Wordle 1,239 4/6

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

  93. Trump kindly suggests to Hama to release the remaining 97 Israeli hostages by January 6th..
    or face the consequences.

  94. Trump kindly suggests to Hama to release the remaining 97 Israeli hostages by January 6th..
    or face the consequences.

  95. Headline from https://www.aftenposten.no/
    "FN har identifisert 8100 døde på Gazastripen. Hamas melder om 43.000. Hvorfor spriker tallene?"
    (Slightly loose) translation by me: "The UN has identified 8 100 killed on the Gaza Strip. Hamas say 43.000. Why the difference?

    1. He covered it up? Doesn't that make him an accomplice in the crime? Should he not be arrested and charged?
      Lordy (!), that piece of news is depressing – one might have hoped that the AB of C would hold out for truth and honesty… but it seems not.
      What to do now? Who to believe?

      1. He was definitely complicit in those disgusting crimes. Surely he should at least be charged with being an accessory to major crime?
        How many more has he covered up for?

  98. What on earth is happening in Germany?

    Yesterday evening (!) I received a call from VW Financial Services questioning whether I wished to exchange my petrol vehicle for an EV. I explained that I had no intention of switching to an EV for the reason that they are heavier, more costly and more expensive to insure. I then asked why VW are closing three plants in Germany.

    It seems the German economy is on the skids. The damage is self inflicted and has resulted from the loss of cheap gas from Russia. The manic hatred the German political class have for Russia is the root cause because of the Ukraine project.

    The German government is fractured and the Greens seem likely to succeed. If the Greens take control then Germans will become poorer and the EU will implode. This is a warning to Starmer and Milliband as to what is happening in the UK if they persist in their madness of net zero policies.

    1. Starmer appears to want to re-join the faltering EU despite the problems arising in the bloc. They'll need a bail out cheque: how much of our money will he be prepared to p!** up the wall?

      2. I was supposed to have Book Club tonight. Aside from the fact it’s Bonfire Night tonight, earlier today on our WhatsApp one of out members sent a link to a petition to rejoin the EU post-haste.

        I didn’t go to book club.

        1. A sign of the impracticality of Remainers-

          Brussels has stated that rejoining the EU is not a possibility.

      3. I was supposed to have Book Club tonight. Aside from the fact it’s Bonfire Night tonight, earlier today on our WhatsApp one of out members sent a link to a petition to rejoin the EU post-haste.

        I didn’t go to book club.

    3. They could include demented Miliband eco-zealot/extremist in the line-up to make it even harder.

    2. This could save the taxpayer £billions with this Pakistani doctor.
      A sandal touches the affected area and hey presto you are cured.

      Hardly, it turns them into grooming paedophiles.

      1. No wonder they have so many diseases and expensive problems for us to fund when they get here.

  103. German snap election may not be possible because of ‘lack of paper for ballots’. 9 November 2024.

    Early elections in Germany may not be possible because of a lack of paper, the head of the electoral commission has said.

    Olaf Scholz, the chancellor, has caved to pressure to hold a snap election after initially planning to hold the vote five months after the collapse of his coalition government this week.

    Ruth Brand, the president of the German electoral commission, told German television that it was a “great challenge in today’s world to actually procure the paper and carry out the printing orders”.

    The mind boggles. What happened to: “Vorsprung durch Technik"

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/11/09/olaf-scholz-paper-election-germany-cdu/

    2. Crack down on vile Armistice Day protests
      Story by David Spencer • 1d • 2 min read

      Pro-Palestine mob plot to 'swarm' five UK cities in 'coordinated' Remembrance Day protests

      That Pro-Palestine activists again intend to target Armistice Day events comes as little surprise.

      Last year's Remembrance events were held amidst an atmosphere of confrontation.

      Pro-Palestine groups and Hamas apologists held demonstrations in the hours before the two minutes silence at 11 o'clock.

      Far-Right groups gathered in London to 'protect the Cenotaph' and subsequently engaged in pitched battles with police officers.

      The disorder in the Capital overshadowed the solemnity of last year's 11th November events.

      Pro-Palestine mob plot to 'swarm' five UK cities in 'coordinated' Remembrance Day protests

      That these individuals choose to disrupt the most sacred date in our national calendar demonstrates their grotesque disdain for those who gave the ultimate sacrifice on our behalf.

      It is an example of just how far from the political mainstream they are.

      The record of the police and Crown Prosecution Service over the anti-Israeli protests over the last thirteen months has been desperately disappointing, to say the least.

      Thousands have marched through our towns and cities shouting racist slogans.

      Members of Parliament have been subjected to intimidation outside their home addresses and their surgeries. All too common has been an insufficiency of police action.

      As demonstrated by Policy Exchange's recent report into protest, the public support the forces of law and order to take the action necessary to put a stop to this disruption.

      Polling shows that an overwhelming majority of the public believe that the police should intervene if protestors are shouting or threatening passers-by or deliberately blocking the road or public transport network.

      The disruptive and criminal activists who threaten the solemnity of our Remembrance events have rightly earned the contempt of the country's law-abiding majority.

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      The public will support and indeed expects the police and prosecutors to use the law to its maximum extent.

      Organisers who have crossed the line should be arrested on suspicion of a conspiracy to commit criminal offences.

      Last year the police implored protest organisers not to go ahead with their demonstrations – to no avail.

      This year there can be no acquiescence. The forces of law and order have one chance to get this right – they must not fail for a second year in a row.

      David Spencer is Head of Crime and Justice at Policy Exchange

      1. Perhaps, just perhaps, the police should stand back and let them get on with it.

        If the Hamas supporters trying to hijack the Remembrance get 9 flavours of shit beaten out of them, so be it.

      2. For "far right groups" read decent people affronted by disruption of a solemn ceremony commemorating those who died for our freedom.

  104. German snap election may not be possible because of ‘lack of paper for ballots’. 9 November 2024.

    Early elections in Germany may not be possible because of a lack of paper, the head of the electoral commission has said.

    Olaf Scholz, the chancellor, has caved to pressure to hold a snap election after initially planning to hold the vote five months after the collapse of his coalition government this week.

    Ruth Brand, the president of the German electoral commission, told German television that it was a “great challenge in today’s world to actually procure the paper and carry out the printing orders”.

    The mind boggles. What happened to: “Vorsprung durch Technik"

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/11/09/olaf-scholz-paper-election-germany-cdu/

  105. This has been a joint enterprise as in lab/lib/con, via polling stations ever since the ghoul that haunted the public park toilets on cottaging expeditions was deemed to be PM material decades ago, and it is STILL ongoing , very much so.

    The family welfare taking second place to the competitive battle betwixt party names.

    Dt,.
    Murderers and rapists from Eastern Europe allowed into Britain despite criminal records
    ‘Weaknesses’ in UK visa system mean violent foreign offenders with previous convictions can slip through cracks

    The weakness is, in the main, to be found in the heads of the party member / voters

  107. Oh Mr Miliband
    What shall we do
    We can't afford our heating
    And now we're cold and blue
    We know you've got your pylons
    And solar panels too
    We know where to put them – but do you?

  110. 'Nuff Said
    Remember Me
    Duty called and I went to war
    Though I'd never fired a gun before
    I paid the price for your new day
    As all my dreams were blown away

    Remember Me
    We all stood true as whistles blew
    And faced the shell and stench of hell
    Now battle's done, there is no sound
    Our bones decay beneath the ground
    We cannot see, or smell, or hear
    There is no death, or hope, or fear

    Remember Me
    Once we, like you, would laugh and talk
    And run and walk and do the things that you all do
    But now we lie in rows so neat
    Beneath the soil, beneath your feet

    Remember Me
    In mud and gore and the blood of war
    We fought and fell and move no more
    Remember Me, I am not dead
    I'm just a voice within your head

  111. Remembrance.

    Along with Evening Hymn and Last Post played by the Band of the Royal Military School of Music, put up by Bob of Bonsall a few days ago, this more modern piece by John Williams, linked to videos of the USA's War Cemeteries across the World, is equally moving. The sheer scale of loss is staggering.

    Lest We Forget.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Omd9_FJnerY

    1. I recall a quote:
      "The price of freedom is eternal paranoia. Vigilance is not enough!"

    2. I once visited an Allied War Graves cemetary, just outside Siracusa, Sicily (there are plenty to choose from).
      Went in through the gate, the first thing ta
      hat struck me was how tidy the whole place was. There was a low wall separating the cemetary from the road, yet there was no sound from the passing cars. No birds, nothing. It was strange, like the place was frozen in time. And the rows and rows of gravestones… dear God! One location, so many lads killed. Truly awful, it makes me tear up even now, just recalliing it.

        1. Held MiL's funeral yesterday. In The Cemetery we passed several rows of war graves about the same number as those in your photo above. And likewise beautifully kept.

      3. Thousands. This is what Trump wants 'No More Wars'. He made a point of speaking with bereaved parents when he was canvassing. And we all saw how fed up he was/is with Nato.

    3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPtV4Oc_jHY
      This arrangement by Mark Blatchly featured in a St, Edmundsbury Diocesan Choirs Festival at the Royal Hospital School, Holbrook. The score was published in handwritten form, and wasn't easy to read. I was asked to typeset it using an early app called Music Time. This was relatively primitive,compared with Sibelius, which is now the industry standard, but it went into the Order of Serviceh. The organ at Holbrook is huge, as are the acoustics.

      Subsequently, Mark played for a funeral in my 'umble village church. He was at St Edmundsbury Cathedral when I was in East Anglia, and at Charterhouse when I moved to Surrey.

      1. Thank you, Geoff. Wonderful voices even though coming through by small laptop.

        My sole experience of visiting the RHS Holbrook is representing my small grammar school in a First XI football match. A sporting occasion in which we were beaten by a much better team but our hosts were excellent and provided a well received post match meal.

  112. Evening, all. Is it true that Welby has been compromised and may go? Perhaps prayers are answered after all!

    Is Ed Miliband alive? He certainly doesn't think things through.

    1. Seems to be in a difficult position (ha)…Milliband is a zombie, so perhaps he's both dead and alive.

    1. Bill Gates, the buyer up of cheap farmland visits 10 Downing Street and two weeks later the government introduce a tax that will create tens of thousands acres of cheap farmland.

          1. So, just because you were right this time doesn't mean you were right last time?

            that's a very convoluted joke, think about it

      2. Yes, we thought so at the time. I hope many thousands join, even if not to support farmers, but in general gov't protest.

          2. I'm pondering whether to hand it unsullied tomorrow to the manager of the local estate. Former High Sheriff, current Deputy Lieutenant, occasional choir member and Conservative activist. Utterly Establishment. I once declined an invitation to play his custom Art Deco Steinway grand at a 'charidee' event involving the former Countess of Wessex. I believe the estate is in trust, but his reaction could be entertaining…

            But "yer 'tis" as they say in Gloucestershire…

            Not sure why it's -90 deg out, but it's too late to worry about such things.

            https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3c10684ab2924d995d97972b8b4ec8ddf7fbfa49a03c2f8e74504617f0e77fcd.jpg

          3. I hope everyone wears one at Farmers March it’d be grand. I may get one myself..have a habit of buying t/sweat shirts as presents with various slogans. Starmer eff right off! Bet someone wears it. Follow a young chap on Instagram he seems to play different church organs …makes me think of you..can’t recall his name..maybe Josh? Must look him up before we speak again. Take care you old rogue 😉😄

          5. ‘Morning, Geoff – and it’s a foggy one..ugh..no not BM but I do follow him…Jan Lieberman, he’s on youtube.com @liebermann – he’s followed by Richard Gowers if you know him either? We’re getting down the rabbit hole now 😊 x

    4. Just a thought, although it will never happen, Starmer could do a lot worse than to appoint Farage as the UK's special liaison officer to the USA

    5. I might be wrong of course, but it would appear that starmer was trying to take the piss.

  115. Gates clearly has a lot to hide ( who said Epstein??) – his divorce cost $75 Billion, hope it was worth it, Bill (you asshole)…..

    1. She'll know most if not all, G4. I wouldn't know where to start with $75b…Polly will know and spill the beans….

      1. I guess if I had $75Bn I'd probably leave the heating on all the time – and eat scones every day.

        Polly is a sad weirdo that one finds on these pages… 'she's' not unpleasant or nasty, but she is barking mad.

          1. Sorry Ndovu but she really doesnt – she bangs on endlessly about Blair meeting Soros in the New York Plaza, or the sale of Qinetiq etc etc over and over and over again…….
            She could almost certainly do with some professional help.

          2. She's harmless though. She's managed to find photos of all the meetings with various politicians. She's very repetitive. We've put up with her on Nottl for donkey's years.

          3. Yes, I agree, she’s harmless and even just a little endearing (?) – she was all over the Speccie for years also…. bless her, although I challenged her once too often and she blocked me! (badge of honour)… I remain blocked, Thank God.

        2. I've blocked at least 30 versions of the parrot. Tedious and repetitive beyond belief.

    2. My objections to Gates go back a very long way.
      Microsoft had a policy of taking over and eradicating all competition. Bastards

      I used to use a spreadsheet, word processor, database module called "Framework II".

      It worked very well on my Commodore 64 and beat anything produced by Microsoft into a cocked hat

      https://winworldpc.com/product/framework/ii

      Think about that for a moment.
      A Commodore 64 doing all that.

      1. Commodore 64 – is that the same as a Commodore Pet? I remember that from my early days in the IT Industry.

        Gates is a seriously unpleasant no-good but it's hard to see who might be able to stop him.

        1. Next generation, as I recall. I donated one to the Micro museum along with some Word Star word processors and IBM machines. We used to sell PCs.

          1. Really? I spent all my working life in the IT Industry and was involved in the sales of PCs a lot of that time – were you a Value Added Reseller (VAR) or more on the Retail side?

      3. My sons both work in IT – they refused many years ago to have anything to do with Microsoft. That's why they've always maintained the systems we've used here on Linux. I bought a new laptop just before last Christmas and my younger son set it up for me. The only time I've ever used Microsoft was at work.

      1. Sincere apologies, my friend – if I’d spent $75 Billion I’d probably be a bit touchy too!

  118. My dad always said:
    ‘The first rule of theatre is to leave them wanting more.’
    A great man, but a terrible anaesthetist.

    3. My Dad always said;
      'Fight fire with fire'
      Which is why he got pinged from the Fire Brigade…….

      1. "Fight fire with water, sand, gas and foam." fits for the chorus on Metallica's "Fight Fire With Fire".

    1. The outrage of these petulant children is laughable. Trump hasn't done anything yet.

      If his policies were geniunely detrimental to the US I'd understand it, but they just hate him because of who he is, not for any rational reason.

      1. I'm so glad he's upsetting so many Dopey Wokies. Perhaps he and Vlad can get together and tidy things up.

      2. That was the same logic used to get people to vote Harris – who she is, not what she promises to do, or has done.

    2. What's the difference between Bing Crosby and Walt Disney?

      Bing sings but Walt Disney……

      It's a Scottish thing, I'll get me sporran…..

  121. Commodore Pets were utterly brilliant – they looked good too!

    It was Sharp – the only Sharpe I can recall was Lee Sharpe who played for Man U!

        1. I don't claim to have any knowedge of the eccentricities of French organists. Some overcame blindness and other challenges. Most seemed to possess trousers…

      2. Since dispensing with my lower legs, there was one occasion when I rose from the organ bench to take communion, only to find that both prostheses didn't want to co-operate.

        At least, I arrested my descent, and played two voluntaries and the final hymn. But I couldn't exactly leave the organ without dropping my trousers and re-attaching the legs. Henceforth, dear reader, you will inevitably find me wearing Craghoppers convertible walking trousers…

  124. Well, chums, I'm off to bed now. So Good Night, sleep well and hope to see you all tomorrow.

  126. From Julian Assange's Telegram channel:

    BREAKING! Putin Vows To Punish Failed ‘New World Order’ Criminals in Nuremberg 2.0 Trials!

    Putin declares all-out war on the global elite, calling for a “Nuremberg 2.0” to expose the New World Order and bring justice to those he brands as globalist criminals. In a fierce call for accountability, Putin demands a global tribunal to punish those who sought to enslave humanity. The fight for freedom has begun!

    Putin Declares War on Global Elites: Russian President Putin takes an unrelenting stance, accusing elite powers of a failed coup to control the world. The so-called New World Order aimed to enslave nations, strip away freedoms, and drive humanity into poverty, surveillance, and decay. Now, Putin is calling for a global tribunal to hold these elites accountable.

    Putin’s message isn’t just rhetoric; it’s a vow to expose these manipulators and bring them to justice. He wants every citizen on Earth to know that the elites failed in their plot and that they will be punished for undermining humanity’s future.

    Revisiting Nuremberg: By calling for “Nuremberg 2.0,” Putin invokes the famous war crimes trials to signal a global reckoning. The original trials declared that crimes against humanity would not go unpunished. Putin sees this as a moment to shine a light on the darkest secrets of the powerful few who would sacrifice humanity for their gain.

    The “New World Order” Exposed: For years, whispers of a New World Order circulated. But Putin’s declaration claims this is a stark reality orchestrated by elites to strip nations of sovereignty and enslave humanity.

    To Putin, this New World Order is a network of elites united by a single goal: centralize global power. He accuses them of manipulating economies, inciting conflicts, and driving political agendas to create a future where nations are obsolete and humanity itself is controlled.

    A Call for Justice: Putin’s “Nuremberg 2.0” isn’t just about punishment—it’s about redeeming humanity’s future. Putin sees a global courtroom where the world will finally see who’s been pulling the strings behind the scenes.

    Uniting Against the Elites: Putin’s call isn’t just for Russia. He’s urging nations worldwide to unite against the shadowy forces attempting a global coup. Only through collective resistance can humanity fend off these ambitions.

    Putin’s Stand: Putin’s fury shows no mercy. He calls these elites “globalist criminals,” a declaration of war against those he sees as traitors to humanity. There’s no room for mercy—only justice.

    Join and share my channel immediately:
    https://t.me/JulianAssangeWiki

    1. At last Putin and Trump might be united in hunting down the war criminals, Gates, Soros, Pfizer executives, Astra Zeneca executives (including the likes of investor politicians such as Sunak and his in laws), Jeremy Farrar, Whitty and his buddies, Fauci and the rest of the scumbags pushing damaging mRNA vaccines on the world population.

      I feel relieved that common sense is returning to the conduct of world affairs.

      1. Hmm, whatever Trump might want to do if left to himself is something we shall probably never know. I don't think he's any more free than Kennedy was, or any president since then.
        And he has Mr Technocracy in his government. Musk is a bit unpredictable, but most likely to use his large following to usher in digital ids.
        Digital ids are being rolled out in the EU right now under the innocuous guise of a new electronic health insurance card.

  128. I'm late tonight, goodnight all sleep sound.
    I've been taking in hours of very elderly popular music on bbc progs.
    Bringing back many memories.
    Don McLean Crying now.

  129. From Coffee House, the Spectator

    So now we know what happens when you sneer at voters as ‘garbage’. When you view them as ‘deplorables’. When you treat them as the dim stooges of demagoguery, the playthings of powerful men. When you brand them ‘low information’ and chortle in your coffee houses about how Donald Trump is ‘preying’ on their ‘hazy understanding’ of political affairs. What happens is that they don’t vote for you.

    Kamala played the ‘fascist’ card, breezily unaware of what a grotesque slight it is to the voters

    The past 24 hours in the United States have been nothing short of extraordinary. This is the revenge of the deplorables, to borrow the slur Hillary Clinton used in 2016, the first time Trump rose to power. Half of Trump’s supporters belong to a ‘basket of deplorables’, she infamously said. They’re ‘racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic’, she sniffed. Voters rose up against those elitist defamations in 2016, and they rose up against them again yesterday.

    That Clintonite disdain for the lower orders has infused so much of the discussion of Trump voters these past eight years. You see it in the haughty media sending its reporters to mingle ‘among America’s “low information” voters’. You see it in the claims that Trump is tapping into the masses’ ‘deep-seated fear of racial otherness’. You see it in the idea that he is ‘preying on low-information voters’. Shorter version: he’s exploiting you cretins.

    You glimpsed it in those smug celebrity endorsements of Kamala Harris, which always came with the subtext that no decent person in full command of his mental and moral faculties could ever vote for a monster like Trump. You saw it among the complacent centrist dads of the new podcast empire who were certain Kamala would win because they cannot conceive of the existence of human beings who think differently to them.

    And you saw in the commentariat’s enormous folly of calling Trump a ‘fascist’. Not only was that bandying around of the f-word ahistorical and juvenile, a temper tantrum disguised as analysis. It was also a sly indictment of the millions of good Americans who were planning to vote for Trump. It implied that they were either so dumb or so wicked that they were willing to usher Hitler 2.0 into the White House just to own the libs.

    Kamala herself played the ‘fascist’ card, breezily unaware of what a grotesque slight it is to the voters of the working class to depict them as the brainless or heartless facilitators of a new Nazism. Deplorables, easy prey, fodder for a fascist – they really thought such Ivy League gloating over the ‘low information’ little people would be a vote winner? It seems they did.

    Alas, it was not. Of course it wasn’t. The Kamala camp’s seeming desire to consolidate a new bloc of correct-thinking graduates, ethnic-minority voters and those parts of the working class still willing to take a punt on the lame Dems appears to have fallen flat.

    She may have won over the credentialled elites – more than 60 per cent of voters with an advanced degree went for Kamala, as did more than 50 per cent of those with a bachelor’s degree. But she lost huge numbers of Latinos and even some of the female voters who went for Joe Biden last time. And, of course, the non-university educated, which is to say the working class. Just 37 per cent of those who never attended college voted for Kamala, while 62 per cent went for Trump.

    This is a rebellion of the subaltern, a ballot-box insurrection against the turbo-smug coastal elites and their patrician ways. Ignore the mournful tones of every BBC reporter today. Never mind the noisy weeping of centrists on social media. Be sceptical of the million thinkpieces coming very soon that will write off this vote as ‘white man rage’, or the reactionary yelp of the unenlightened, or mass misogynist fear of the prospect of the first female president.

    No, this is people saying: We matter. Our voices matter. Our communities matter. Our families matter. We are not deplorables, we are not idiots, we are not ‘rednecks’. We are citizens and we matter. The only question now is whether the complacent establishment will double down on its mockery of working people and damn them for falling for demagogic trickery all over again, or listen to them for a change. I hope it’s the latter. But something tells me it won’t be.

    Watch more on SpectatorTV:

    Brendan O’Neill
    WRITTEN BY
    Brendan O’Neill
    Brendan O’Neill is Spiked's chief politics writer. His new book, After the Pogrom: 7 October, Israel and the Crisis of Civilisation, is out now.

      2. I post snippets I find interesting and which I think may interest other readers. I like to see the comments they elicit and sometimes I agree with the article published and sometimes not.
        I like to think I have a strong grasp of reality but then that feeling is always subjective.
        Your celestial joy seems to be shared by many. I fear i shall soon disappoint.

    1. Well i had some nice photos but i don’t seem to be able to upload them. Then my daughter and i finished off trash TV (Ludwig)(we quite enjoyed it, unfortunately)

      1. I switched off ghostery and adblock, refreshed and i was able to post pics. Then switched ghost and adblock back on. Might work.

  132. We didn't watch the shenanigans at the Albert Hall.

    The hypocrisy of allowing the UK to be invaded by murderers and rapists and the very people that probably set death traps for our service personnel abroad and here in the UK doesn't sit pleasantly in the nations concience these days or mine.

    No one in recent feeble Government periods is listening or cares .. the invaders are billeted in the the same areas that our military is based .. how insecure do our poor military feel , especially if they are to be virtually beheaded or savaged on home ground .

    Our towns and cities are becoming no go areas , and strangely just for one weekend in November the media are all over the stories that the last of the few can remember .. yet the injustice that prevails amongst all veterans who require help and comfortable provision for their dwindling years is missing .

    Politicians have savaged the goodwill of true English/ Welsh/Scottish and Irish ..

    We are now living with the Mohammaden curse .. that has rooted itself deep into our country .

    We are being plundered financially and mentally.. and the country is now waiting for the next outrage !

    Goodnight everyone ..

    Yet more landings https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/migrants-detected-crossing-the-english-channel-in-small-boats/migrants-detected-crossing-the-english-channel-in-small-boats-last-7-days

    1. One of my objections to the Albert Hall shenanigans, as you say, is the sight of those Royals wearing so many honorific medals.

      None of those medals relate to enemy conflict or achievements in battle. So why do those fools persist with their nonsensical charade?

      It will be much the same at the Remembrance Ceremony in Whitehall. A bunch of commies pretending allegiance to our War Dead yet presiding over the selling off of our cultural heritage to foreign religions and Eastern European and African idlers and spongers.

      Those bastards make me sick to the stomach. I have a veritable war chest of medals earned by my ancestors from two world wars. Those fine people would weep to see the wretched mess our country has become and would I am sure spit on the political class supposedly governing us all.

      2. Corrie

        I wrote my comment late at night , feeling very angry and emotional .

        I absolutely agree with you on every count re the clanking medals on the Royals and more and the politicians who have sold off our cultural heritage .

        Politicians, bah , traitors to our Union flag.

        Also , some senior officers in all three services have allowed wokism , equality, diversity, and inclusion, the senior figures need holding to account for ruining morale.

    2. One of my objections to the Albert Hall shenanigans, as you say, is the sight of those Royals wearing so many honorific medals.

      None of those medals relate to enemy conflict or achievements in battle. So why do those fools persist with their nonsensical charade?

      It will be much the same at the Remembrance Ceremony in Whitehall. A bunch of commies pretending allegiance to our War Dead yet presiding over the selling off of our cultural heritage to foreign religions and Eastern European and African idlers and spongers.

      Those bastards make me sick to the stomach. I have a veritable war chest of medals earned by my ancestors from two world wars. Those fine people would weep to see the wretched mess our country has become and would I am sure spit on the political class supposedly governing us all.

    3. One of my objections to the Albert Hall shenanigans, as you say, is the sight of those Royals wearing so many honorific medals.

      None of those medals relate to enemy conflict or achievements in battle. So why do those fools persist with their nonsensical charade?

      It will be much the same at the Remembrance Ceremony in Whitehall. A bunch of commies pretending allegiance to our War Dead yet presiding over the selling off of our cultural heritage to foreign religions and Eastern European and African idlers and spongers.

      Those bastards make me sick to the stomach. I have a veritable war chest of medals earned by my ancestors from two world wars. Those fine people would weep to see the wretched mess our country has become and would I am sure spit on the political class supposedly governing us all.

  133. We didn't watch the shenanigans at the Albert Hall.

    The hypocrisy of allowing the UK to be invaded by murderers and rapists and the very people that probably set death traps for our service personnel abroad and here in the UK doesn't sit pleasantly in the nations concience these days or mine.

    No one in recent feeble Government periods is listening or cares .. the invaders are billeted in the the same areas that our military is based .. how insecure do our poor military feel , especially if they are to be virtually beheaded or savaged on home ground .

    Our towns and cities are becoming no go areas , and strangely just for one weekend in November the media are all over the stories that the last of the few can remember .. yet the injustice that prevails amongst all veterans who require help and comfortable provision for their dwindling years is missing .

    Politicians have savaged the goodwill of true English/ Welsh/Scottish and Irish ..

    We are now living with the Mohammaden curse .. that has rooted itself deep into our country .

    We are being plundered financially and mentally.. and the country is now waiting for the next outrage !

    Goodnight everyone ..

    Yet more landings https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/migrants-detected-crossing-the-english-channel-in-small-boats/migrants-detected-crossing-the-english-channel-in-small-boats-last-7-days

  134. In reply to poppiesmum: Putin's message IS just rhetoric. He hasn't the means to bring his fantasy to life.

    1. But BRICS will have – if they want to. What we might get in the future is a BRICS-dominated version of the biased, US-dominated international court at the Hague.

  136. Good morning, chums, and thanks to Geoff.

    Wordle 1,240 4/6

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