Satyrday 6 March: Complaining and explaining: an unhappy formula for a royal duchess

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2021/03/06/letterscomplaining-explaining-unhappy-formula-royal-duchess/

700 thoughts on “Satyrday 6 March: Complaining and explaining: an unhappy formula for a royal duchess”

        1. I was beaten too, but I think I gave the most plausible explanation.
          I start oldest first so didn’t see it until later.

      1. Bad luck. Still, good training for your hospital stay.

        I am only up and about because the MR has a two hour international conference starting at 7.30. (Yawns…..)

        1. At least someone is bringing home the bacon !

          *********************************************************

          I’m not staying in. I have already planned my escape.

          I’ll get me stethoscope.

          1. I did’t think I was staying in – they kept me for seven days….. Take a bag with lots of books, slippers, dressing gown, toiletries…. And, above all, your phone AND charger. I use my mobile phone once a month to keep the SIM alive – but in chokey hospital, I used it several times each day. A life saver.

  4. 329911+ up ticks,
    Morning Each,

    Complaining and explaining: an unhappy formula for a royal duchess

    An establishments right royal deflection , if ever.

    1. 329911+ up ticks,
      O2O,
      See it for what it is ( governance smoke ), when what should really be demanded by the peoples is the inside story of the gigantic rift betwixt
      political overseers & the peoples.

      Dt,
      She wanted drama’: The inside story of the rift between Harry and Meghan and The Firm

      2. Within a very short time, some muslim man would appear with a pompous pseudo-scientific explanation of how this isn’t the case.

      3. 329911+ up ticks,
        Morning SiadC,
        Decades ago I said to a mate who had married a Swiss, “they have a referendum on many issues” as in what are the people’s feelings.
        I believe it is this weekend they are having one on the burka being acceptable or not.

    4. That reminds me, the one I’ve been using for the weekly shop hasn’t been washed yet. I can just give a little whistle and it slops and slithers across the floor to me.

      1. I shove my disposable masks into a zip-up pocket of whatever jacked or trousers are getting washed and they clean up fairly well.

  8. Joe Biden plans ‘Ellis Island-style’ entry points as ‘crisis’ grows at US-Mexico border. 6 March 2021.

    Move would aim to process aslyum seekers more quickly amid a surge in numbers of people being caught entering illegally.

    Joe Biden’s administration plans to turn a pair of detention centres for families crossing the US-Mexico border into Ellis Island-type entry points that will release them into America in less than 72 hours.

    Families will undergo medical examinations and criminal background checks, and then be released with instructions to later appear in court for their cases to be heard.

    Joe’s invited them and they are coming! Millions of them. The West as we have understood it to be for hundreds of years; White, Christian, Consensual will be gone within another twenty!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/03/05/joe-biden-plans-ellis-island-style-entry-points-crisis-grows/

    1. I remember that oily, nest feathering international “diplomat” 20 years ago urging unrestricted immigration from the shyte holes of Africa (and poits east).

      “Sutherland strongly advocated unrestricted immigration into the European Union. Sutherland gave his opinion to the UK’s House of Lords Home Affairs Committee on 21 June 2012 as being (a) that “at the most basic level individuals should have freedom of choice” about working and studying in other countries and that EU states should stop targeting “highly skilled” migrants (and, conversely, placing restrictions on low-skilled migrants). Sutherland also argues (b) that migration is a “crucial dynamic for economic growth” and that this is the case “however difficult it may be to explain this to the citizens of those states”. Sutherland’s stated opinions on policy were (a) that “it was fundamentally important for states to cooperate on migration policy rather than developing their own policies in isolation as ‘no state is or can be an island'” (b) that multiculturalism is both inevitable and desirable: “It’s impossible to consider that the degree of homogeneity which is implied by the other argument can survive because states have to become more open states, in terms of the people who inhabit them” and also (c) that “the European Union, in my view, should be doing its best to undermine” any “sense of our homogeneity and difference from others”. An ageing or declining native population in countries like Germany or southern EU states was the “key argument and, I hesitate to the use word because people have attacked it, for the development of multicultural states”, he added.

      Sutherland restated his view in the syndicated article co-authored with Cecilia Malmström entitled “Immigration challenge: Europe’s politicians should accept diverse social communities”, the opening paragraph of which declares:

      “Europe faces an immigration predicament. Mainstream politicians, held hostage by xenophobic parties, adopt anti-immigrant rhetoric to win over a fearful public, while the foreign-born are increasingly marginalized in schools, cities and at the workplace. Yet, despite high unemployment across much of the Continent, too many employers lack the workers they need. Engineers, doctors and nurses are in short supply; so, too, are farmhands and health aides. And Europe can never have enough entrepreneurs, whose ideas drive economies and create jobs”.”

      1. Sutherland stated that “it was fundamentally important for states to co-operate on migration policy rather than developing their own policies in isolation”. And yet Mutti Merkel unilaterally announced “Come one, come all” then panicked and insisted that EU members each accept their “fair share” of those who came in huge numbers after her invitation.

        1. She was only doing what she knew her bosses in Brussels wanted, and she thought Germany’s economic might would bully smaller EU countries into accepting their “share”.
          I don’t think she foresaw the Brexit vote!

      2. Sutherland stated that “it was fundamentally important for states to co-operate on migration policy rather than developing their own policies in isolation”. And yet Mutti Merkel unilaterally announced “Come one, come all” then panicked and insisted that EU members each accept their “fair share” of those who came in huge numbers after her invitation.

  11. Morning all

    SIR – The Queen is well known for following the philosophy of “never explain, never complain”, having been in the public spotlight for most of her adult life.

    The Duchesses of Cornwall and Cambridge have successfully followed her lead, despite years of intense press scrutiny. But the Duchess of Sussex has spent the last year doing far too much explaining and complaining while being handsomely rewarded. My sympathies are with Prince Harry.

    Kirsty Blunt

    Sedgeford, Norfolk

    SIR – It is easy to sneer at the wisdom, or complete lack of it, of choosing an Oprah Winfrey interview as the medium through which to air one’s grievances. Many would rather that they remained unhealthily hidden behind a stiff upper lip.

    In Prince Harry’s case, I don’t think that it is in any way justified to attack his motives when one remembers the utterly harrowing experience of his mother’s devastating death and the lifelong effect that this will have had on him. A little more understanding of this would not go amiss.

    ADVERTISING

    Richard Bryant

    London N16

    SIR – Am I alone in seeing parallels with the late Duke and Duchess of Windsor, who also sought to live a “private” life within the public eye?

    Nick Kester

    Wattisfield, Suffolk

    SIR – The Duchess preaches kindness and compassion on some chat show, safe on US soil, while vilifying the family of her husband’s 99-year-old grandfather, who lies in a hospital bed following heart surgery.

    Geoff Millward

    Ruswarp, North Yorkshire

    SIR – I live in Sussex, which has the county town of Lewes. The Duke and Duchess’s “Sussex” titles are unsuited to their commercial ambitions. But there may be an amicable solution. The United States “corporate capital” is Delaware, which boasts “business-friendly laws”.

    Delaware has a Sussex County, with Lewes as its county town. Could this be a business opportunity made in heaven?

    Dr Tony Parker

    Ringmer, East Sussex

    SIR – Is it not time for the Titles Deprivation Act 1917 to be amended so as to allow royal titles to be removed if any holder brings the monarchy into disrepute?

    Advertisement

    ADVERTISING

    David Coupe

    London SW10

    SIR – I was born in Windsor and live in Sussex. Please could Harry and Meghan take the surname Wales?

    Jeremy Spencer-Cooper

    Easebourne, West Sussex

    SIR – How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless duchess.

    Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

    Northwood, Middlesex

    1. Bollox, Richard Bryant.
      Every adult has had painful misfortune. We don’t all go blubbering in public as if we were a mental retard. What a wanker.

        1. Apols for the coarse language, but my goat has been to the end of my tether.

      2. Yo Ol

        What a wanker.
        At least, being one of those would bring some sort of relief, at least to us ……….from her rantings.

        She is just a BLM, gold digging, immature, meddlesome, limelighter

      1. And answer came there none.

        Because everyone had turned off early, just in case they were caught by a sneak preview advertisement…

      2. I must admit i am tempted. Much like a major car crash on the motorway draws the eyes. But i think i will give it a swerve.

        1. Don’t bother.

          If there is anything the slightest bit interesting the meejah will be discussing it for weeks.

          1. Correction:-

            If there is anything the slightest bit UNinteresting the meejah will be discussing it for weeks.

            Which will apply to virtually the entire “interview”.

    3. If that pair move to Delaware, the good injun folk of the Delaware Nation might be thankful they now live in Oklahoma.

    4. Anybody would think that Harry was the only person ever to lose his mother in a car crash when he was young.

  12. Heroic humour

    SIR – They certainly made them differently in wartime (Letters, March 3). When my father’s cousin, Captain Harry Croxford, had his right leg blown off below the knee, his response was: “Oh dear, I’ve just bought a new pair of shoes.”

    Dean James

    Little Totham, Essex

  13. SIR – My husband had a scan in hospital this week. The nurse told him how grateful she was to have had a job during the Covid pandemic.

    Every NHS worker has done a magnificent job in this traumatic year. But they have been doing jobs. Why do they deserve a pay increase more than, say, delivery drivers or supermarket staff who have gone to work every day to keep our lives running smoothly?

    The less fortunate have lost jobs, businesses or homes, and may have suffered harm to their mental health. Will they get a pay rise this year?

    The Government helped us through tough times. Now we must pay the piper. All of us.

    Geraldine Davies

    Bristol

  14. Good morning and yet another dull but dry & chilly, ½°C, start up here in Derbyshire.

  15. so – © telly totty – I have been vaccinated to protect me and the rest of the population. Safe in the hands of Halfcock.

    But leaving the country is banned because the vaccination is no protection against the spread of the plague.

    Funny old world.

    1. If the vaccine is no protection against the spread of the plague, then it follows vaccinated people are a threat to non-vaccinated people.

      Granny’s turn to kill YOU!

    1. It’s Satyre – please don’t knock it.

      Morning Elsie et al

      PS See Phizee’s post below!

  18. After discussing angling the other day….

    Princess Nut Nut wants to set up a refuge for battered cod…..

    Animal welfare group backed by Carrie Symonds claims fish are ‘suffering’ and their ‘mental wellbeing’ should be protected
    Group Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation is backed by Carrie Symonds
    They argue welfare of fish has not been given same attention as other animals
    Fish Welfare study calls for major reform on how British fishermen operate at sea

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9332119/Animal-welfare-group-claims-fish-suffering-mental-wellbeing-protected.html#comments

    1. We mainly cut the gills (to let them bleed out) and then knock ’em on the head. I’m sure we could give Carrie a demonstration.

      1. Yomm

        Back in the days of Labour banning all ‘field sports’, they firmly avoided interfering with the fisher folk

        Fishing is the largest participation sport? in UK and the majority of those were Liebore voters

        She upsets them, they have a coice between being converted toT oriyists or Anglers

        I bet on the second option

    3. That woman needs to be filleted and battered.

      As for animal welfare, halal butchery anyone? Always the elephant in the room when these nutters start ranting.

      1. 329911+ up ticks,
        Morning SE,
        It is on the parliamentary canteen menu for when the politico nutters go noshing.

    2. 329911+ up ticks,
      KtK,
      Confirming your post,

      ZUBY:
      @ZubyMusic
      ·
      18h
      Pardon me if I don’t take ‘science’ advice from people who think men can menstruate and get pregnant.

      1. Very good, PP.

        A better objective for the government would be to come clean re CV-19. Sadly, they’re so deeply mired in that particular swamp that only trying to go on and win is their only option: backtracking would not save them and they know it.

  23. Good morning from Saxon Queen with longbow and blooded axe .
    A reasonably bright day, hopefully the sun will break through.

  24. How things change. Little baby kitty Gus – out in the garden for an hour. Couldn’t find him. In the hedge – hunting mice….!

  25. Major Tommy Turtle, an SAS veteran born in Ireland in the 1950’s was one of our more modern heroes. His obituary was in the DT yesterday with pictures of him with the Queen and one with Princess Anne. He fought in the Falklands and elsewhere ..

    1. I think her mental welfare needs sorting! Heaven help us with that idiot wittering at Boris.

    2. I am “suffering” and my “mental wellbeing” is challenged every time I open a newspaper or switch on the television.

      2. … so what?

        Do you think that by him dining poorly you’ll get better decisions out of the PM?

    4. Imagine you were compelled to spend the rest of your life living with either Princess Migraine or Princess Nut Nuts in a bedsit under strict Covid regulations which would you choose?

  27. My guess is that the “incident” at Rhondda Cynon Taf on which I am not going to speculate – as per police request – was an honour killing gone wrong.

  28. For the doggie people among us. Spin to poo.

    So THAT’S why your dog gets in a spin on walks

    I go for a run or walk with our dog, Tari, every morning.

    One
    of her more frustrating habits is that after a couple of minutes, when
    we reach the edge of our local wood, she stops, paces, sniffs, spins
    around and finally does her business in the middle of the path, which I
    then have to clear up.

    But why does
    she spin around? It turns out she’s probably using sensors in the back
    of her eyes to detect the earth’s magnetic field, so she can orient her
    body along a north-south axis.

    We know
    dogs do this thanks to exhaustive research by scientists at the
    University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany, who decided to study the poop
    habits of more than 700 dogs.

    The researches found that dogs prefer to defecate with their head pointing north and their bottoms south, or vice versa.

    1. Is it the other way round in Oz?
      Does the bitch face north? Surely it’s not too difficult to tell?

    2. Morning Phizzee

      I saw that article as well, and I think it is true .. they do spin around then poo south nose pointing north ,,

      Observed that in the garden this morning !

    3. I read that comment to Moh, he rubbished it and rubbished me ..

      They spin around so to point their nose into wind s that they don’t have to smell what they produce.

      Moh has some very logical answers sometines.

      3. My theory is they spin to make sure there are no sprouting obstructions protruding from the ground. Ours doesn’t seem to orientate her self with the prevailing air flow. But i do admire the fact that she never does one on a foot path always goes to (usually the right) the side. But that can create it’s own problems when it’s in long grass. You probably get my drift TB.
        I always think it’s amusing how they have ‘a social sniff’ of each other bottoms.

    4. Mine didn’t this morning. He was definitely pointing east when he did his business.

    2. But its won’t buy you beer or take the ugly one at the club. I’ll get my disco pants..

    2. I still refer to the round things near the corners of cars as “wheels”.

    3. Yo Mr Grizzle

      The PTB removed the front mudguard fitted number plates that acted like sythes, in the event they ran into a pedestian,

      The also had mirrors removed from the ‘wings’ the shapes made safer and moved to the doors, to reduce harm in the event of
      an accident. the driver coulr also see the images better, adjust them (later electronically

      2. Bonnet mascots were outlawed in the 30s yet you still see them. Nicely chromed to slice up a pedestrian that dares to step out in front of an self important driver.

        1. You still see The Spirit of Ecstasy but nary a leaping jaguar to be found anywhere.

      3. Yo, Mr Effort.

        A motorcycle without a front numberplate and a car without a mascot will never harm a pedestrian if the vehicle strikes them. 🤨

    5. When my parents grew older they had vertical rubber batons – about 30 cm in height – fitted to the front wings of their car so they could more easily judge where the front of the car was for parking in tight corners and doing other manoeuvres.

      Our 85 year old friend has a car with a bonnet which slopes away sharply so he has no idea where the front of his car is. This meant that he recently hit the side of an archway and had to spent over 600 € on repairing it.

      1. My Peugeot 206 slopes down quite a lot at the front and I find it difficult to judge how far I can go before I hit the wall at the supermarket ( I generally park in the same aea when I can.) Coming home is the same – I reverse in but am sometimes too close and sometimes not close enough. sigh………

      2. Have an orange pole attached to the back of Firstborn’s snowblower so he can judge better where the back end is.

  31. The BBC is planning to resurrect BBC3. I have a better idea. Move everything that is not hard news, documentary, hard science, or entertainment (but not “comedy”) including drama, films and music to a channel we can call BBCSlush which will broadcast all the social media pap and unfunny “comedy” that clutters up BBC1 in particular as well as the other channels.

      1. They are in the business of maximising profits. Cheaper to extract the raw materials.

  34. Big Bill
    6 Mar 2021 8:41AM
    Richard Bryant. Two things I remember about Diana’s wedding day.

    The first was a journalist talking to one of her fathers Grooms whilst he brushed a horse. The female journalist said, ‘she’s such a shy little thing.’

    The groom slightly shocked, stopped working, looked at her and said, ‘Lady Diana, Shy? Oh no, Lady Diana is not shy.’

    He went back to brushing the horse, shaking his head in amusement he said, ‘you are making a great mistake if you think Lady Diana is Shy’.

    The second was, as the crowd outside the gate waited for the couple to leave on their honeymoon, there was a delay, and her Father joined them, he can be heard quite clearly saying, ‘that’ll be Diana, she’ll kill if she doesn’t get her way.’

    A very telling phrase for her Father to use without thinking. He knew his daughter.

    Unfortunately Diana lived her life flirting, encouraging, and using the Media, for her own ends. She was without self respect, and she lost her life because of the person she was.

    Peter King
    6 Mar 2021 8:49AM
    @Big Bill

    She would still be with us if she had lowered herself to level of us proles, and worn a seatbelt.

    Big Bill
    6 Mar 2021 8:59AM
    @Peter King @Big Bill. I’m not complaining.

    1. I remember reading that Diana said about the press “Shy Di? Wherever have they got that from? I’m not shy!” It was her habit of lowering her head slightly then looking upwards through her lashes that made her look shy but she did that, it is claimed, because she was taller than average, it was a compensatory mechanism which she developed.

        1. Yes, it did at times, especially when she half smiled, I had forgotten that.

  35. 329911+ up ticks,
    Bloody racist, how does he think NHS managers would manage he should ask himself that before …….

    Martin Costello
    @MartinPCostello
    ·12h
    People are LOSING their jobs yet others are MOANING about getting a pay rise!

    I’m all for lower paid health staff getting a pay rise but perhaps the 50k+ #NHS staff on over £100k PA should take a cut rather than increasing our taxes to fund it?

    1. Without going into detail…

      Recently seeing a GP and mentioning a problem they failed to treat over 20 years ago I was told it was simply down to old age.

      I left with the feeling that young doctors don’t like the elderly and no doubt contributed to the demise of 1,000’s of care home residents by sending infected patients among them.

      2. 329911+ up ticks,
        Morning H,
        The shipman was horrific enough and that was orchestrated, I would tend to put the nursing homes down to criminal neglect.

      3. See a private gp. I agree you shouldn’t have to do that but socialised medicine is becoming daily more political. If a problem is interfering with your quality of life it is worth it. The Nuffield in Cambridge have four or five private gps, so I expect other places have them.

      6. Age seems to be a standard response. I have a problem with the cartilage in my knee. I went to my then GP about the pain. “It’s growing pains,” he opined. “You’ll grow out of it.” “I’m THIRTY!” I told him. Oops!

  36. Changes to the V&A

    SIR – The impact of Covid-19 on the cultural sector has been
    profound. Across the country, arts organisations are struggling,
    freelancers have lost livelihoods, and theatres have gone dark. Despite
    welcome emergency support from the Government, the V&A is not immune
    to this stark financial reality (“Proposed changes to the V&A would be catastrophic”,
    Christina Faraday, Arts, March 4).

    When I attended meetings, with people outside my close work group, it was drummed into me that on the first use of

    An Acronym

    An Abbreviation

    or Initials
    That the meaning is explained in full

    WTF is the V&A

    2. Morning all. The Victoria and Albert museum. I know it’s no comparison but when I think it was Bill Thomas used BPAPM , or when I first read it, I thought what? I’m sure you know, Boris posing as Prime Minister.

      2. Good morning, VW.
        I had always assumed it was a variation of
        BAME ….. whatever that means!

        1. The Qantas acronym made me laugh…Queers and nymphomaniacs travelling as stewards.

          1. KLM
            KaLaMity Airlines.

            BOAC
            Better On A Camel

            BEA
            Back Every Afternoon

            SABENA
            Such A Bad Experience Never Again

            Scandinavian Airlines (SAS)
            Same As Sabena
            Suave And Sexy

            Air Portugal (TAP)
            Take A Parachute

            Pakistan International (PIA)
            Please Inform Allah

            Air India
            Allah Informed

            Austrian Airlines (AUA)
            Almost Unknown Airline

            El Al
            Every Landing Always Late
            Everyone’s Luggage Always Lost

            Garuda
            Good And Reliable…Under Dutch Administration

            QANTAS
            Quick And Nasty Terrible Australian Service
            Queens And Nymphos Trained As Stewards
            Queasy And Nauseous Tired And Sick

            Ansett
            Aircraft Nosewheel Stuck Expect Tricky Touchdown (after 94 -INJ nosewheel landing)
            Always Notoriously Superior Everytime Truly Terrific

            China Airlines
            Choose Another

            BWIA
            But Will It Land
            Baggage Wandering In Africa

            Malaysia Airlines (MAS)
            Mana Ada Sistem (where is the system – ironically arose after MH won an award from Boeing for its 737 operations).

            Alitalia
            Always Late In Takeoff Always Late In Arrival
            A Little Italian Tit And Lotsa Italian Ass

            Air Canada
            Air Costly

            Korean Airlines
            Kaput Already?

            JMC
            Just More Crap

            Lufthansa
            Let Us Fiddle The Hostess And Not Say Anything
            Lousy Useless Fliers: They Haven’t Any Nice Service Aboard

            Northwest
            Nobody Out Ranks This Horribly Woeful Excruciatingly Sloppy Transport

            TWA
            Try Walking Across

          4. That was the joke winner back in the 1970s when there was a competition held by The Times to perceive the names of large companies as being acronyms.

          5. Having flown from Taipei to Kaoshung on FAT, we quickly renamed it F**king Awful Transportation.

          6. KLM
            KaLaMity Airlines.

            BOAC
            Better On A Camel

            BEA
            Back Every Afternoon

            SABENA
            Such A Bad Experience Never Again

            Scandinavian Airlines (SAS)
            Same As Sabena
            Suave And Sexy

            Air Portugal (TAP)
            Take A Parachute

            Pakistan International (PIA)
            Please Inform Allah

            Air India
            Allah Informed

            Austrian Airlines (AUA)
            Almost Unknown Airline

            El Al
            Every Landing Always Late
            Everyone’s Luggage Always Lost

            Garuda
            Good And Reliable…Under Dutch Administration

            QANTAS
            Quick And Nasty Terrible Australian Service
            Queens And Nymphos Trained As Stewards
            Queasy And Nauseous Tired And Sick

            Ansett
            Aircraft Nosewheel Stuck Expect Tricky Touchdown (after 94 -INJ nosewheel landing)
            Always Notoriously Superior Everytime Truly Terrific

            China Airlines
            Choose Another

            BWIA
            But Will It Land
            Baggage Wandering In Africa

            Malaysia Airlines (MAS)
            Mana Ada Sistem (where is the system – ironically arose after MH won an award from Boeing for its 737 operations).

            Alitalia
            Always Late In Takeoff Always Late In Arrival
            A Little Italian Tit And Lotsa Italian Ass

            Air Canada
            Air Costly

            Korean Airlines
            Kaput Already?

            JMC
            Just More Crap

            Lufthansa
            Let Us Fiddle The Hostess And Not Say Anything
            Lousy Useless Fliers: They Haven’t Any Nice Service Aboard

            Northwest
            Nobody Out Ranks This Horribly Woeful Excruciatingly Sloppy Transport

            TWA
            Try Walking Across

      3. ‘Buffoon’ I think, vw. ‘Boris’ is being too kind.

        Edit: oops and oh-oh, vw, I should have read further down.

        My apologies, Bill.

      4. ‘Buffoon’ I think, vw. ‘Boris’ is being too kind.

        Edit: oops and oh-oh, vw, I should have read further down.

        My apologies, Bill.

    4. They get a lot of poor reviews on Tripadvisor. Rude officious staff.

      One star.

      Reviewed 19 September 2020

      Not disabled friendly

      The security is overzealous with shouting at people who are with a carer to
      wear a mask in the empty Kimono exhibition. The allowances to remove to
      lip read although clearly disabled with aids to walk was ignored. It
      was a humiliating experience. Also the Main entrance which is nearer to
      the Exhibition Halls was prohibited for entrance and I had to go the
      Exhibition Road entrance. No exceptions as in other places. The whole
      experience as a disabled visitor was not good. Ring to speak to the
      disabled and access officer the following morning proved unsuccessful as
      he is furloughed and no one knows how to handle the government
      disability exemptions for face coverings or easier access. So
      disappointing.

      Date of experience: September 2020One star

      I won’t be going.

      1. Well, it is run by the left-wing labour ex-MP Tristram (Aren’t I posh) Hunt.

        There is a funny side to seeing such a rabid socialist having to sack lots of people…..

        1. If what i have been reading about the staff is only half true they all deserve the sack.

          I remember fondly my visit to Sandringham. The staff could not have been more caring and polite. They treated everyone as if they were Royalty.

        2. I remember an interview when the odious Tristram Hunt completely spilt the shandy when he was questioned by Jeremy Paxman about whether or not he considered the teachers in public schools who did not have teaching qualifications were incompetent as a result. At the time he was the Labour Party’s spokesperson on education and he had been to a public school himself. However, he would not commit himself to not sending his own children to a school which employed ‘unqualified’ teachers; time after time he refused to answer the question to Paxman’s astonished and increasing contempt!.

          I spent a year at Southampton University augmenting my UEA B.A. with a PGCE but then taught in the private sector where, as in most private and state schools, there were both good and useless teachers. I had two ‘unqualified’ teachers in my English Department – they both had good degrees, knew their subjects well and had the enthusiasm and drive to instil this enthusiasm and love of literature into their pupils but they did not have PGCEs. On the other hand there was physics teacher who had all the right bits of paper but was completely dull and uninspiring. Whenever one was in his presence one had an overwhelming desire to be somewhere else.

          Here is a bit of T. Hunt’s sad tram-crash:

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5crCEox7qU

          1. In our schooldays most teachers were “unqualified” before the PGCE came into being. Some were good, some were useless but they all learnt by experience.

  37. TV Channel Hopper

    An elderly married couple were at home watching TV.

    The husband had the remote and was switching back and forth between a fishing channel and the porn channel.

    The wife becoming more and more annoyed, finally said:
    “For god’s sake! Leave it on the porn channel. You already know how to fish!”

    1. Regarding the plane – the SNP can hardly comment considering the absurd overspend of the Scottish parliament building. £415m with a budget of £10m.

      Bullying claims – that’s the head bloke I assue – good riddance. He clearly should have been sacked for incompetence long ago.

      Frankly, Brexit is a necessary short term cost with a long term return.

      What these people don’t complain about is the endless quangocracy, the inefficiency of hospitals – after all, if the NHS were competent it wouldn’t have needed an external test and trace program nor PPE spending.

      Te fault there’s less money is their own.

  39. Doesn’t the DT read the letters before printing them? Mark Robbins states ” I still refer mirrors on cars as ‘wing mirrors’ although they haven’t been fitted to doors since the seventies” PRAT – that’s exactly where they are fitted now and they are called ‘door mirrors’

        1. And a Good Morning to you*. Of course not, dear. I just like the word “nonunderreadery”. I’m in a funny mood this morning. The last couple of weeks have been a catalogue of disasters, or in the Great Scheme of Things, a lot of minor irritations.

          *I’m usually here so late it’s like wishing “Happy New Year” in February.

          1. I think anyone wishing ‘Happy New Year’ this
            year must have been overly optimistic! :-))

  40. ‘Morning, all. I hadn’t realised that today is Satyrday 6 March…

    … I’ll get me Viagra.

  41. Something must be seriously amiss in the US. CNN, otherwise known as the Communist News Network, is blatantly pro-Biden, to the exclusion of all else.

    But CNN is now ‘calling out’ Biden for not holding a single press conference after 6 weeks in office. “As we await word on when President Biden will hold his first solo press conference, an analysis of the past 100 years shows he is behind his 15 most recent predecessors, who all held a solo press conference within 33 days of taking office,”

    I doubt if he will ever hold a proper news conference without his helpers close at hand, his earpiece in place to tell him what to say, and someone in the White House to press a button in the likely event that he fluffs his words.

    But more important for the whole world is how he will have an off-the-cuff conversation with those whom we may dislike but who are far more intelligent and erudite than Biden, such as Putin, Kim Jong-un, Xi and the Ayatollahs, for example.

    We may have had a few dubious PMs in the UK but never has there been a POTUS so incapable of fulfilling his obligations. He makes Carter look like a great orator!

    As someone said recently, the party of John F. Kennedy is now the party of Lee Harvey Oswald!

        1. Remiscent of the report about the death of Coolidge “How can they tell?” ( Dorothy Parker)

        3. Apparently, you can only see his top half (I’ve been to the Mausoleum on Red Square) because the rest of him rotted away due to poor embalming.

    2. Perhaps CNN are now lobbying to put Joe in a nursing home and replace him with Kamala Harridan?

  42. This is an advertisement which I will classify as the joke of the day!

    Join the growing communist party. Become a Communist
    Becoming a communist means a serious commitment. Communists are waging the struggle for socialism in trade unions and communities across Britain, in the Women’s movement, alongside anti-racists, anti-fascists and peace campaigners.

    JOIN The Communist Party
    Join us. The Communist Party is growing faster than for decades* and it is recruiting people like you. Apply your skills campaigning for education, healthcare, housing and rights at work. Learn from others and develop your political knowledge through your communist party branch. Join the CP by applying online here.

    * They have all of 1,011 members, (compared with the Monster Raving Loony Party which has 1,434)!

    Nothing to fear from that bunch of freaks!

    1. If you think that the Communists in this country all publicly admit membership, you are very naive.

      The real Communists are quietly beavering away in the Civil Service, some unions, parts of the media, and even some in the Houses of Parliament.

      2. The Scottish Health Secretary, Ms Freeman, is a communist, apparently.

      3. I really don’t understand why people want communism, or even align with it.

        As an ideal, that everyone is fair and equally rewarded is nice, but if I’ll get the same regardless of the effort I put in, I’ll put in zero effort.

        However, that’s a recipe for no one having anything (g’huh!) so someone must force people to do things – even if those things are not right for that person’s interests.

        That forces subsistence, as no one is motivated to produce more.

        Now we’ve got low production, massive enforcement and a control system.

        Why – in all sense of reason, would anyone want that? Communism does not work. It cannot. It is anathema to the human condition, to the very point of efficiency and productivity. Nothing comes of it, nothing is ever invented, made or improved.

        People might want the equality, but they don’t want that – they want to be the rulers over others.

    2. So, they are saying that there is no “education, healthcare, housing and rights at work” in the UK?

  43. The best cricket team England have ever sent out?

    Blimey, which one was the worst?

    India win by an innings and 25 runs.

    1. Root needs sacking. I notice he has 66 written on the back of his shirt. Ha ha Root 66!!

      1. Good spot
        Perhaps it’s the batting average he’s heading for, 8 point something.

      3. The problem is, like when Graham Gooch was Captain in the 1990s, it’s a one-man batting team for the most part when they are abroad, especially on the sub-continent where many of our batsmen’s flaws, especially against spin are exposed. Too much responsibility on his shoulders. It’s also bad management and the general set-up of the game in England.

  44. We have a little issue atm with sparrows ( but mainly long tailed tits ) bashing their beaks against the windows, they prop themselves on the outdoor windowsills and will bash their beaks against the glass, all the windows and the glass kitchen doors. They may be too well fed and have become aggressive or it might be the odd insect. My husband thinks they are attacking their reflections. Beautiful tiny little things, as long as they don’t hurt themselves .

      1. They are very shiny. But I wonder, if they cannot recognise themselves in their own reflections how can they recognise siblings.

        1. They normally see their siblings. It’s not normal for them to see themselves. And when they peck their reflection, it pecks them back…

    2. Stick photo of cat on the inside of the window. I have a photo of mother-in-law in the porch – it deters salesmen

  47. https://twitter.com/True_Belle/status/1368159915521507333

    What is a Fata Morgana?
    A Fata Morgana is a type of mirage that distort distance objects, and can be can be seen on land or sea.

    It’s caused when the sun heats up the atmosphere above the land or oceans, which creates a gradient of temperatures.

    The air close to the surface is relatively cool and above that are layers of warmer air.

    When light hits a boundary between two layers of the atmosphere that are different temperatures – and as a result different densities – it bends and travels at a different angle.

    Our brain assumes that light travels in a straight paths, so when it bends, we think the object is where it would be if the light’s path runs straight.

    1. Don’t tell the ruddy flat earthers! They already don’t understand parallax.

    2. 329911+ up ticks,

      Morning TB,
      Nothing new, years ago the jocks wrote a song about it.

      The Skye Boat ditty.

  49. I don’t care about blood diamonds…..

    The Duchess of Sussex’s decision to wear earrings given to her as a wedding present

    by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was even more crass than first

    thought.

    Meghan wore them three weeks after the murder of Washington Post journalist

    Jamal Khashoggi, for whose death the Saudi prince has accepted

    responsibility. And now royal sources point out that Khashoggi was the

    first cousin of Dodi Fayed, who died alongside Princess Diana in the

    1997 car crash in Paris. Dodi’s mother was Jamal’s aunt, Samira

    Khashoggi.

    Meghan was claimed to have been ‘unaware’ of the global outrage at the time

    about reports the prince had ordered the murder of Jamal.

    What a piece of work is this woman! How ignoble in reason, how finite in faculty!….

      1. The woman takes no ones advice but her own. That’s why she came a cropper with the Royal aides.

        I can see why Kate and William were stony faced and ignored them in church now. Meghan had by an indirect route accused Kate and Camilla of leaking/briefing against her.

        What Meghan fails to understand is not everyone is like her. A two faced manipulative backstabbing bitch.

    3. She doesn’t care. No doubt what she chooses to wear is someone else’s fault.

    1. Worryingly, for some people the answer is yes. Fear and terror give them the belief that only by forcing their views on others can they stay safe.

      Selfishness, stupidity and fear. A recipe for dictatorship.

      1. A friend of 48 years seems to have ‘fallen out’ with me. As the time for vaccination has grown closer, the pressure from her has become stronger for me to succumb “and then we will all be protected.” I have listened to what she had to say, and declined, putting my points forward, which were brushed aside. The last straw came when she sent me a a text ‘sorry, but you must see this’ – it was an emotional-blackmailing video for the Pfizer jab. I watched only 12 seconds of it, those 12 seconds contained highly manipulative input. I sent a terse text back to her with the message “please respect my decision as I respect yours” and I have heard nothing from her since.

        The incident reminded me of Rik’s meme the other day “my vaccine won’t work if you don’t get yours.”

        1. surely my vaccination will work for me, it is up to you what you do with your vaccination.

          As for masks, that message was my mask won’t work if you don’t wear yours.

        2. Sorry to say, PM, but your friend must have a screw loose.

          I’ve had vaccines in the past, for example I’ve had yellow-fever vaccine and it wasn’t necessary for the general population of my destination country to have received that same vaccine to protect me. All true vaccines protect the recipient, nobody else. As has been said many times, the so-called vaccines against Covid-19 are not vaccines at all – they are experiments in genetic engineering, and by the medical experts’ own admissions, they may not even protect you at all.

          Stick to your guns!

          1. My heels are well dug in, Duncan! I understand the jab is a non-vaccine but mostly people just hear the word and that is it. I recall that the word ‘vaccine’ was used to get it past the regulator for approval (another word to hoodwink the public as in this case ‘approval’ doesn’t mean what the public thinks it does). The more people try to persuade me, the harder their sales pitch, if I don’t want to do something the more determined I become. Mostly I am happy to fall in with other people’s wishes, I like harmonious atmospheres and I am uncomfortable with dissent, but sometimes one has to stand up for what one believes in and this is one of those times.

            As for friend, well, she is steeped in the nhs, she worked as a PA for a heart surgeon at Papworth; her two daughters physiotherapist and radiographer, I can see that she suffers from OCD – everytime someone comes into the kitchen the floor is washed down and all deliveries are disinfected with anti-bac….. she confesses to feeling ‘really cross’ and angry when she sees someone not using a face-covering in shops (that would be be me, then!).

          2. ‘Afternoon, Mum, send your friend (fiend) the picture of the bacteria growing in the petri dish from the face mask. That should cheer her up!

        3. It’s rather like those remainers who couldn’t cope with people being leavers.

          1. She was also a remainer, but it is covid that has ‘done for us’, or rather her reaction. I wonder if there is a correlation between Remainers and Leavers and pro-vaccine and anti-vaccine. Everyone we have met in our village is pro-vaccine, and that seemed to be the way of the Referendum – we live in a village full of Remainers.

    2. High IQ is a product of the evolutionary struggle for survival. The smartest win.

      Grizz is right. Intelligence levels are now in free fall.

      1. 329911+ up ticks,
        Afternoon SE,
        The current lab/lib/con coalition members / voters have been / are / will be, sad to say doing their damndest to prove him right.

      2. Each day, Sue, I try to be positive and search for signs of evidence that I may be wrong.

        Unfortunately that evidence is getting more and more fugitive.

  51. Phew! Pickles was out for an hour ad a half. No sign, no trace. Began to fear the worst.

    The MR was going down the drive to ask if we could check neighbours’ sheds. Heard a squeaking (neither cat can miaow – stupid things).

    Pickles was stuck in a hedge where he had, no doubt, been terrorising birds. Home and dry now…

      1. Then he really would get caught up in the hedge. The easy-release ones just get lost the first time they go out.

        1. They had their “cat proof” elizabethan collars (after their neutering) off before we had driven 400 yards from the vets.

    2. We went away overnight many years ago, the neighhours offering to feed our little cat in our absence. On our return the following day no sign of kitty, and no sign the next morning. A fretful day ensued. We called for him around and about our village. Still no sign of kitty. We waited until it grew dark, about 9.00 pm at that time of year when the traffic and general day noises had subsided and stilled. We went down the garden and called again. And then we heard it, the faintest of miaows, coming from the churchyard about 50 yards away. We followed the direction of the miaows, they got ever louder – and there he was, sitting in the pollarded crown of an ivy-covered tree, unable to climb down. P’dad got out the ladders and retrieved the kitty, who jumped from his grasp halfway down; he was hurtling back through the cat flap before p’dad had reached the ground.

      1. Last summer, Little Cat vanished the day before we were due to go away. Put up posters, asked all the neighbours. No cat. Second Son stayed home to look for him, and he returned a few days later, shooting through the cat flap… we guess he’d been shut in someone’s garage. Daft moggy!

        1. Our cats Suzie and Sam always knew when we were coming home and Sam would be waiting for us – Suzie would play hard to get for a while and sometimes we wouldn’t see her for an hour or so, so would spend time calling her.

          Sadly in April 2019 she insisted on going out one evening when we wre trying to keep her in as one of the neighbour’s cats had been caught by a predator. After half an hour we tried to get her in but she was gone and we never found a trace of her. She was 17 and is much missed.

          Now we have Lily but I’m paranoid about letting her be out in the dark.

          1. Over 30 years ago, Pluto, a lovely black and white cat who was in love with my late hound Robinson, disappeared. After a week I had given her up for ever.

            Then, on the 8th evening, opening the font door for Robinson to do his last rounds at 10.30 pm, in strolled Pluto. Right as rain.

            Cats, eh?

          3. Yes – we can only hope it was quick and she didn’t suffer. Dulcie, our neighbour’s cat had disappeared a week or so before, and her fluffy tail was found. We think it was probably a fox that took them.

          4. :-((
            Big Cat had a fight with something, leaving him with a limp. He’s better now, after a vet visit and antibiotics… we had a badger round here a few years ago (ripped the bins apart, the bastard!), wondered if that was the cause. Neighbour lost a couple of cats about 4 years ago…

          5. When we moved to this house 26 years ago, we brought with us two 11 year old cats – Pat and Joe. There was a “grey bruiser” as my neighbour next door called him that had taken over the garden while the house was empty. He beat up both our cats (and others) and we had two trips to the vets in one day for wounds to be dealt with – came back with one poorly cat to find the other had been hurt while we were out. They learned to avoid that one but would see off most of the others.

        2. Many moons ago, cat disappeared about a week before we moved house.

          The people that had bought the house were really good and kept a lookout for our Moggie, their see and confine tactics terrorizing all neighborhood cats in the process.

          I think that it was about three months later that her majesty just strolled back to the house and deigned to be reunited with us.

          1. I have a cat story too. Before I got my two, my neighbours got a kitten. When it was about a year old, they went away for a week and I cat-sat.
            One evening, I let myself into their house to feed it a d it shot out of the door, across the garden and over the fence. It had never been out before.
            I spent two days worrying and looking for it but had to ‘fess up when my neighbours came home.
            Long story short … it turned up in a suitcase under the bed in a house two doors down

        3. A similar thing happened to Hamish, our JR from some years back. He was the one who disappeared for long times when out on walks, got stuck in rabbit holes etc….
          On this occasion I had taken him and his brother for a usual walk around a well known area which included an old orchard beside the path. They both nipped into the orchard to chivvy things up. Only George returned. We yelled and searched with no luck. We delivered flyers in the surrounding roads. Some hours later, a woman from the road backing onto the orchard heard barking. Hamish had investigated a disused garage and fallen into the inspection pit.

  53. Queen urged to ‘publicly apologise’ to Meghan amid Royal Family backlash – celebs hit out
    US CELEBRITIES have rallied around Meghan Markle ahead of her interview with Oprah Winfrey, with co-hosts from popular US talk show The View calling on the Queen to publicly apologise to the Duchess.

    https://www.express.co.uk/news/royal/1406401/Queen-Elizabeth-II-news-Meghan-Markle-Oprah-Winfrey-US-The-View-celebrities-latest-vn

    Don’t have much interest in Markle but added a couple of comments…below. I’m sure you could add some better ones!

    “”Typical celebs attacking a 95 year old female.””

    “”Robinsons Jam has a Royal Warrant so stick her mug on the jars.””

    1. “co-hosts from popular US talk show The View” – who they? I suggest they might like to feck off!

    2. “co-hosts from popular US talk show The View” – who they? I suggest they might like to feck off!

    3. HM “I would like to apologise to my grandson Harriet, the big wuss, because the firm did not train him to recognise shit before he decided to roll on it”

        1. any of them. The twosome and the rest of the Hollywood circus.

          I despair when some celeb spouts off about some in favour cause and all of the gullible star watchers take their words as gospel.

    1. 329911+ up ticks,
      Afternoon Rik,
      I could never understand Peter M, why peoples buy them with ready made holes in.

  56. Would everyone refrain from posting about Ginge and Minge? I am saving the end for later!

        1. When i went clubbing that was the sort of thing i danced all night to. I don’t even manage to stay awake until 10pm now.

          1. I have never been ‘clubbing,’
            I obviously didn’t know what
            I was missing!! but I can see the
            attraction for a production like
            that…. I thought it was great.

          2. Next time we are in London i will take you to ‘Heaven’ (if it is still going). We’ll go on a Wednesday night and tell them we are students. Get in half price then.

            I had a friend in London who often did displays of his art. Huge canvasses where he would put a frame around them giving a depth of anything up to 12 inches deep. Then fill with different coloured paints by the bucket load. He would then stick all sorts of odds and ends in them as they were drying out. Normally a month or two. Some of them were scored and looked like the giants causeway as the paint dried in blocks. They were bloody heavy to shift. But they looked very unusual.

          3. I enjoy the unusual! I think I shall struggle to
            convince anyone that I am a student!
            I have spent many happy evenings dancing
            in ‘Keoghs,’…… with live music, good
            ‘craic’! and plenty of Jameson!

          4. There are three different Bars on three floors. The top floor Bar has comfy seating and is more a Cabaret lounge.

            You can be a student at any age, Garlands. Tell them you are studying the Male naked form and i’m your model and muse. :@)

          5. When I was doing my MA as a mature student I took a couple of fellow students to Newmarket for the Cesarewitch meeting. Before going racing, we went into the museum. We said, “we’re students” and got a funny look from the girl at the desk. Then, one by one, we all produced our student cards.

          7. Well! I stuck with it to the end, some of it was enjoyable,
            unfortunately it was spoiled by the entitled prats!

          9. I know but I do enjoy a little background music
            as I read the erudite, clever, knowledgeable and
            witty comments, posted here!
            I miss the early morning music posts, they were
            very soothing when reading the ‘Letters; as part
            of ‘The Breakfast Club’!!

          13. Agreed. If you can put your prejudices about yoof culture to one side, you have to admit the imagination and technical presentation is something.

            The energy you feel amidst an event like that is overpowering – I can imagine some find it addictive

          14. I don’t go clubbing any more but when i did any older person that was brave enough to turn up was always treated well.

        2. 19 secs was enough for me- that ghastly “thump thump” is a great turn off.

        1. Oh yes. The only reason i was able to dance all night. Then Soho for 5am for the all night coffee Bar waiting for the trains to start running. Tits……..off ’em. :@)

    2. I have no interest, whatsoever, in the public antics of minor royals, Per.

      I don’t read about it in the papers, I switch over if it comes on the telly, and I simply ignore the reams and reams that is posted about them in this forum.

      1. I’ll bet where you live Grizz you are not getting it full on via the MSM 24/7. It’s sickening, even my wife who would never have uttered a bad word against Harry is showing reaction.

        1. I ludec my phone to look at the daily mail yesterday. I their small screen format there must have been up to a dozen ginge and minge stories at the top of the display.

          They are totally absent from my canadian newspaper, their focus is entirely on bashing the inept Trudeau.

          1. The daily Express seems to have taken over from the Mail in is obsession with the couple. I have two friends near Toronto and they hate Trudeau, but how on earth did he become PM if he’s hated so widely ?

          2. a liberal lefty education system indoctrinated them to think that conservatism is bad. He keeps promising money for all whilst creaming off a lot of taxpayers cash in corrupt endeavors.

            For some reason he is still popular and might win an election despite his bungling of covid, countless cases of corruption and his embarrassing public appearances. His poor leadership makes it embarrassing to say that you are Canadian nowadays.

        2. No, Eddy, but I don’t watch Swedish TV (not many Swedes do, it’s that bad!). I read the DT every day online and watch UK telly via a VPN on my computer and use the Samsung TV as a second monitor. I simply switch off to all that ‘celebrity (i.e. nonentity) stuff.

    1. May I say “good girl” to a clothes peg that remains on the line; and may I say “good boy” to a comfy armchair, TITania?

      1. ‘May I say *good girl* to a clothes peg that remains on the line;………’
        You mean you don’t? How cruel you are, Grizzly! :-))

        2. Spoof, a humorous imitation of something, typically a film or a particular genre of film, in which its characteristic features are exaggerated for comic effect.
          It could have come up with a better name than that Obs Ophelia Dickie perhaps.

        3. Spoof, a humorous imitation of something, typically a film or a particular genre of film, in which its characteristic features are exaggerated for comic effect.
          It could have come up with a better name than that Obs Ophelia Dickie perhaps.

        4. He, for it is a male, is an Irish, left-wing, RC, Homogaysual, Brexit supporter called Andrew Doyle… but he is amusing too.

    3. Dog owners, by definition must be denounced. Canine slavery must end and all dogs must be freed. Up the Fido Liberation Front.
      (I know it’s a spoof)

      1. ‘Canine’ is a word not understood by many these days. That’s why the ‘National Canine Defence League’ was renamed ‘The Dogs Trust’.

        3. Ain’t that the tooth. Anyone not cognisant of the meaning should be exiled to the Canaries.

          1. I work in sexual Health, formerly known as the clap ,VD, STD, GUM clinic.

            I keep having to ask Medical HR to remove dentists that have been assigned to my budget.

          2. The first name of the Consultant in charge of the GUM clinic in Croydon was Percy…..

        5. A chap posted on linked in about a sale he had recently made. His post was… an embarrassment of grammar.

          That people don’t know that they’re wrong is embarrassing. That they’ve no concept of checking to improve is shameful.

      2. I set Dolly free and she wouldn’t leave me. So like any good slavemaster i put her to work on a treadmill to power my laptop. You just dangle a piece of steak just out of reach and she goes all day.

    4. I have put this true story in a spoiler as I do not want to offend.

      When I was a boy my best friend’s parents had two male King Charles Spaniels. To the great embarrassment of my friend’s mother the dogs never refrained from buggering each other incessantly. As they seemed to take it in turns we could not work out if there was a clear bugger and a clear buggee.

    5. Two dozen invisible ditches, in other words
      Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha haha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

  58. Well after my brief sojourn from domestic duties i’ll be off again…….. for a while.

  59. “Satyrday 6 March: Complaining and explaining: an unhappy formula for a royal duchess”

    Nice to know woodland nymphs get their own special day to celebrate…

    1. Uncle Claudius was likened to a satyr while Hamlet compared his father with Hyperion.

      When our kind and inclusive Geoff posted today’s page he was sticking up for uncles – if fathers can have Fathers’ Day then why shouldn’t uncles have their day too?

  61. I found myself in need of a laugh.

    A little old lady sits at the luncheonette counter and orders a hamburger.

    The guy behind the counter bellows, “One burger!” Whereupon the huge chef grabs an enormous hunk of chopped meat, stuffs it in his bare armpit, pumps his arm a few times to squeeze it flat, and then tosses it on the grill.

    “That’s the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen,” the old lady says.

    “Yeah?” says the counterman. “You should be here in the morning when he makes the doughnuts.”

  62. Found this from the Daily Mirror:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c08104ca5cf165d5ec0ffe914d3a16cd2d06858a20b12803c3a6b4eae025a12f.png

    What a tight bastard that Harry is, to be sure. With all the mega-buck deals he’s signed with Netflix etc. and seeing his poor old dad living in such straitened circumstances, you’d think he might help Mr. Hewitt out with a modest stipend – for services rendered, so to speak.

    “How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child!”

    1. How did he get overlooked

      High treason – violating the sovereign’s wife*

      Published online by Cambridge University Press:
      02 January 2018

      Recently, the Law Commission has indicated that it will be considering
      the abolition of the crime of high treason. The purpose of this paper is
      to analyse the interesting legal history of one of the offences which
      go to make up high treason – violating the sovereign’s wife or his
      eldest unmarried daughter or the wife of his eldest son and heir – and
      to argue for its abolition.

      https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/legal-studies/article/abs/high-treason-violating-the-sovereigns-wife/993693FEB3902F068685716AE338E3F0

  64. More than a hundred years ago, Rudolf Steiner wrote the following:

    ” In the future, we will eliminate the soul with medicine. Under the pretext of a ‘healthy point of view’, there will be a vaccine by which the human body will be treated as soon as possible directly at birth, so that the human being cannot develop the thought of the existence of soul and Spirit.
    To materialistic doctors, will be entrusted the task of removing the soul of humanity. As today, people are vaccinated against this disease or that disease, so in the future, children will be vaccinated with a substance that can be produced precisely in such a way that people, thanks to this vaccination, will be immune to being subjected to the “madness” of spiritual life. He would be extremely smart, but he would not develop a conscience, and that is the true goal of some materialistic circles.
    With such a vaccine, you can easily make the etheric body loose in the physical body. Once the etheric body is detached, the relationship between the universe and the etheric body would become extremely unstable, and man would become an automaton, for the physical body of man must be polished on this Earth by spiritual will. So, the vaccine becomes a kind of arymanique force; man can no longer get rid of a given materialistic feeling. He becomes materialistic of constitution and can no longer rise to the spiritual “.

    Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925)

      1. “Et adoraverunt draconem quia dedit potestatem bestiae et adoraverunt bestiam dicentes quis similis bestiae et quis poterit pugnare cum ea”
        — Apoc.13:4
        :¬(

          3. Dear HJ.

            I shall be very obliged if you will stop
            posting the answers to this year’s ‘A’
            levels…. I very much appreciate your
            assistance… but, hell’s bells, it does,
            slightly, embarrass me…. good I may
            be, perfect I am not….!

  65. Before upping sticks with his long suffering wife and moving over to La La Land, I understand that Harry Wales was referred to by Palace insiders as ‘The Hostage’.

    As an aside to this whole sad and sordid saga, I find that quite funny. And very incisive.

    1. It’s poor little Archie and his sibling who are the hostages, I would have thought.

    1. And don’t forget that 2020 was a Leap Year. Works out at 51.2 deaths per day in 2018, 51.5 deaths per day in 2020.

      Bring out your dead!

        1. I think we’re all looking forward to 2024, then ’25, then ’26…
          as long as we’re well and compos mentis.

    2. It would be interesting to see the results of that analysis across more age ranges – I might just do a little digging later, unless some other Nottler beats me to it.

      1. Yes please, some of that ‘digging’ can take up a lot of time, then you don’t get what you hoped for, and think, bugger. It does look interesting though.

  67. A spot of Spekkie reading for a dull Saturday afternoon:

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-real-reason-why-the-snp-won-t-issue-scottish-government-bonds

    “Why is the SNP afraid of issuing its own government bonds?

    Rishi Sunak’s budget appeared to offer some good news to Scots, not that the SNP saw it that way. An additional £1.2 billion in Barnett funding was handed over to Scotland’s government. This is on top of £9.7 billion in extra spending delivered over the past year for pandemic support.

    But the SNP Scottish government took a different view. ‘While I welcome some of the announcements today, it is clear the Chancellor has not matched Scotland’s ambition for economic recovery and supporting households,’ said Scottish Finance Secretary Kate Forbes.

    Forbes and her colleagues often point out that ‘Scotland’s ambition’ includes more borrowing powers. Throughout the pandemic, the SNP has been at pains to suggest that if only Scotland had more — or indeed full — fiscal autonomy then it would be in a better position to fund the pandemic emergency and recovery.

    ‘Scotland can make different choices for an investment-led recovery but we can only do it with the borrowing powers and access to capital needed to stimulate our economy,’ said the SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford last June.

    But this begs the question as to why the SNP does not fully utilise all the borrowing powers it currently has. The Scottish government has the power to issue Scottish government bonds to finance capital investment. This is summarised in the Treasury’s latest Debt Management report for 2020-21 as:

    “Both the Scottish and Welsh governments also have the power to issue bonds to finance capital investment. The Scottish and Welsh governments will be solely responsible for meeting their liabilities and the UK government will provide no guarantee on any bonds issued by the Scottish and Welsh governments. If there is an increase in the Scottish or Welsh government’s borrowing limits, the UK government will also review devolved administrations’ powers to issue bonds. In addition, the Scottish and Welsh governments would need further approval from HM Treasury to issue in any currency other than sterling.

    So why is the SNP administration reluctant to issue Scottish government bonds? Even with the limits that apply under the Fiscal Framework, wouldn’t this be a useful way for the SNP to demonstrate how Scotland has the ability to finance itself independently of Westminster?

    The timidity might be to do with what the issuance of such bonds would reveal about the reality of secession

    If the Scottish government issued bonds on the open market, it would be joining the ranks of many sub-national administrations in many countries that issue debt. It would not be unusual: when the coronavirus emergency first gripped Europe, the Free State of Bavaria issued £2.5 billion (€3 billion) of bonds to fund crisis support, for example.

    What would be unusual is that the yields on those bonds would partly reflect the probability of the sub-sovereign debt suddenly turning into sovereign debt if Scotland became independent, and what the risk of default under that scenario would be. The SNP’s ‘sterlingisation’ plan for its currency arrangement means there would be a material risk of default.

    The upshot of this is that any sub-sovereign Scottish bonds would trade with a hefty risk premium to UK government bonds. What’s more, that premium would likely fluctuate in line with assessments of the likelihood of secession. A new poll for instance showing growing support for ‘Scexit’ could push that premium up.

    The SNP like nothing better than seeing news stories that support for independence has risen. Simultaneous reporting that the market is taking a dimmer view of Scottish debt would be an unwelcome dampener for them. And would the Nationalists be keen to see rating agencies like Moody’s putting out regular reports discussing how secession risk is negatively impacting the credit rating on Scottish government bonds? Not likely.

    This then — greater transparency of secession risk — might be why the SNP is reluctant to use the full powers at their disposal. In other words, they’re feart.”

    1. Hush! Hush dear, please. Any money that the Scottish government gets is wasted. Every project goes over budget and they then lie about it.
      The V& A gallery in Dundee cost £80m. It took a year longer to build than planned. The original budget was £40m. The originally agreed contribution by the Scottish government was increased by £6m in consequence. Try finding that information.
      Every month or so some financial disaster is revealed, trains, hospitals, ferries are the obvious ones. Grants to charities started by friends that don’t do anything other that spend the grant on a party. Add to that their manipulation of the education of children…

    2. The English had to pay the EU several billions when they left the European Union but what’s the betting that if/when Scotland leaves the United Kingdom the English will be expected to pay them for leaving?

      I think that everyone has cottoned on to the fact the the English are suckers.

      1. You ‘think……………the English are suckers.’

        No think about it, Rastus, it is a racing certainty!!

    3. If Scotland becomes independent, it will have to accept a proportion of UK National Debt. There is now a standard way of calculating debt apportionment that is approved by the ICJ. Because it is based on proportion of govt. expenditure in the region during the time the debt was incurred, it would be very expensive for Scotland. The ScotNats tell the lumpen Central Belt that an independent Scotland would start of with no debt, but that is completely false. The standards evolved at the time of the break-up of the Soviet Union and they are now well established and fully understood.

      I know that all readers will find the suggestion that the SNP tells lies deeply shocking, but there it is.

      1. Oi! Rodger! I object..no..I am offended by your suggestion that I am “lumpen” just ‘cos I live in the Central Belt! I’ll have you know it used to be called Silicon Glen…

          1. Oh yeah! Bampot is more a term of endearment! Lumpen makes me sound like Morph! How about “tube”? Used to hear that a lot at Murrayfield! Generally describing Scottish wingers!

          2. OTOH, I think you prefer to be confused by facts, hen. The phrase is “the lumpen proletariat”, which in Glasgow tends to be exceptionally thick on political matters. They have to have someone to believe in. Always a mistake.

  69. What activists get wrong about Britain’s history. 6 March 2021.

    As to Empires – whether Persian, Roman, African, Mughal, Chinese, Ottoman or European – they are neither rare nor gentle institutions, and don’t usually arise by invitation. By historic standards the British Empire was extensive, of short duration and comparatively benign. There was, of course, commercial exploitation and the ruled were not invariably treated well.

    But a great deal was good: its administration was remarkably altruistic and impartial and emphasis was generally placed upon the interests of the people of the country. The rule of law replaced despotic whim. Communication, irrigation, new crops and medicines, were established. Education came where there was none. Indian widows were saved from burning on their husband’s pyres. And slavery was abolished.

    This guy is a former judge and one imagines he would not have lasted long had he written this when in Court. His arguments and observations will be familiar to all Nottlers since they are the truth! Particularly this one…

    As is becoming increasingly evident, this activism is far more concerned with the destruction of the spirit of the current British nation than it is with the fate of slaves in distant centuries.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/What-activists-get-wrong-about-Britain-s-history

          2. Bleau!! Nowt to do with colours, more to do with climbing at Fontainebleau – hence Bleausard!

          12. I wish! I used to be Bleausardv2, until the uptick eater latched on to me so I returned as Still Bleau!

          15. Bleau!! Nowt to do with colours, more to do with climbing at Fontainebleau – hence Bleausard!

    1. Oh bless. She still doesn’t get it. Would be fun to ask her at what speed I walk if it takes me an hour to go 4 miles from Shepherds Bush to Marble Arch ( which it does).

    2. Doesnt look as though she even understood the right answer. Froend should have asked her what 80mph meant.

      1. I think she thought the correct answer was too obvious and there was a trick in it somewhere. She has clearly been had before and is wary.

    4. If you have two minutes to drive the two miles to the station to catch your train, what average speed should you drive at?

      If you drive the first mile at 30mph how fast do you have to drive the second mile?

      Not 90mph, you’ve already used up your two minutes, you’ve missed the train.

      1. More than 90mph if you need to buy a bloomin’ ticket and you’re not stopped and receive a ticket.

          2. I was tempted to leave the answer out to see how many said 90, having thought the girl was a bit thick.

            She might have been tricked by that question in the past so as RCT says below, a bit wary, although I must say I doubt it!

      1. I copied and distributed that to several people, including grandchildren. That was precisely my comment.

    1. That is a herring gull Larus argentatus. There is no such thing as a ‘seagull’.

    2. After an hour’s gardening I was ready for a cup of tea. I put the tools away and noticed a seagull had attacked a large polythene bag of shredded paper refuse and scattered the contents everywhere. After sweeping up the contents I was in dire need of a sherry ….or three….

      1. Do a Paxo PT, he shoots grey squirrels with his air rifle, shoot what is ‘commonly known’ as the bloody sea gulls.

          1. Ah you read that as well 😉
            But as he emphasises, only sitting on it. It might have been too much of a challenge other wise.

          2. Damned unsporting to shoot a gull sitting on the toilet … a gentleman would only shoot ’em when they’re on the wing.

    1. That is awful. It would give me nightmares.

      Edit: ‘Wirral Wanderer’ claims that it is from a park in Oslo. Not Bristol! Still awful wherever it is.

    2. It’s a bit of a leap to see how that meaning is represented by the image.
      And by leap, I mean WTF.

    7. Imagine the outcry from BLM, wokes and the like, if the babies had been painted white by protesters over illegal immigration/invasion…

  73. This woke warning on a beloved children’s cartoon is beyond a joke
    Is anyone on Earth genuinely offended by a love story about two animated dogs?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/thinking-man/woke-warning-beloved-childrens-cartoon-beyond-joke/?utm_content=telegraph&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR3T0p9fCxRrY0Co_8qrHHbBmFCD8zaHF3dbL8Hin26rhHlVC5ciMpvGWv4#Echobox=1615046491
    Even the most powerful businesses now live in terror of causing offence. The other day, I was about to watch an old film. But before it began, the screen flashed up a stern warning.

    The film, it said sternly, “includes negative depictions and/or mistreatment of people or cultures. These stereotypes were wrong then and are wrong now. Rather than remove this content, we want to acknowledge its harmful impact, learn from it and spark conversation to create a more inclusive future together.”

    From the tone of this warning, what would you guess I was about to watch? A hagiography of the Ku Klux Klan? A profile of Goering by Leni Riefenstahl?

    Believe it or not, it was Lady and the Tramp. The Disney children’s cartoon about two small dogs falling in love.

    I’d never actually seen the film before, but that disclaimer made it sound like strong stuff. It was my little boy who’d suggested we watch it. For a moment, I wondered whether we should switch to something less upsetting. GoodFellas, say, or The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

    As it turned out, however, there was nothing even faintly offensive about it. I suppose it might be argued that the two Siamese cats sing in slightly unconvincing Thai accents. Perhaps, to ensure authenticity, the director should have got real Siamese cats to sing the words instead.

    This pathetic warning had been added by Disney itself. Either it really is embarrassed by the content of one of its most beloved films – or it’s so petrified of cancel culture, it’s getting its excuses in early, just to be on the safe side

    1. Unfortunately TB the way things seem to going at the moment, it will soon be the recognised idiom that, “You are a no body unless you are completely and utterly stupid”.

    2. Another film I’ve never seen but have seen snippets of. Was that them eating the same piece of spaghetti?

      1. If they’ve put them up for The Muppets, imagine what they did with their earlier Disney cartoons?

    1. I love Venice we have been there twice. That is where we landed from the water taxi first visit. The pace of life has a calming effect……..unless you’re James Bond of course.
      First time was during the winter after floods. I have a day time photograph of St Marks Square with absolutely no one to be seen.

    1. The British should be thoroughly ashamed.

      The BBC has become a disgrace to Britain.

    3. Watch his speech to the (Telegraph’s?) brexiteer event back in 2019. Barnstorming is not strong enough for his performance. Everyone came/logged on to see JRM, but remeber his performance. Not sure where the video is now held though.

  77. That’s me for today. Apart from anxiety over G & P – a quiet day of leisure to resort (as they say in the adverts). In an hour this arvo, I put in three pieces of the jigsaw. I think we’ll be beavering away until the autumn.

    For those interested in opera, the ROH is streaming a very good “The Marriage of Figaro” – costs £3 (what a bargain) – available until 5 April.

    A demain

    2. As a student I used to pay £2 to stand in the Upper Slips at the ROH. Happy days.

        1. I didn’t think you Northerners did posh. My mistake. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>runs and hides.

      2. We had a Waitrose Japanese meal, it all comes boxed up in tray with specific instructions, it was very filling and excellent. 13 quid including the 6 extra and tasty pasty parcels.

    1. Is there ANY NoTTLer who has the misfortune to have Priti Awful as MP? If so – could that person write a suitable letter to the daft bint?

      1. My local one is Suella Braverman (whatever happened to her !). Then as my nearest city MP i have the Daunting Penny. At least if i had Liz Truss i would never be short of pig sperm.

      2. She is MP for Witham the crime epicentre of our part of Essex.

        We are in neighbouring Braintree District which is a nest of Masonic crooks in league with slick developers busily giving approvals to tens of thousands of Noddy Boxes on former farmland.

        My MP is a pleasant enough black man whose name I have forgotten. His predecessor was an American, Brooks Newmark, whose claim to fame was sending photographs of his genitals to lady friends.

  81. Don’t know what was in the curry, but the belching from upstairs is like a beach full of elephant seals in rutting time… RAAAAPP!

    2. Should have had what i had. Boiled beef and carrots (Italian herbed brisket slow cooked). What has me farting like a leaky radiator is the three bloody Mary’s i had as an aperitif. That was my three of five a day.

      I recommend Big Tom spiced tomato mix. By Royal appointment……………naturally. :@)

      Not forgetting the large slugs of Stolly.

      1. You can manage your farts that well? 🙂

        Time for my Indian meal (chicken Pasander) now…

      2. Did you diddle your ‘bloody Mary’s’ with sticks
        of celery?…… there are your five a day!

  82. You will find the full article in Lockdown Sceptics but this should make Johnson, Hancock, Whitty, Vallance and Ferguson very worried. There will have to be a public enquiry into their communistic behaviour which can be seen as wholly inappropriate and a crime against humanity.

    Follow The Politics, Not The Science

    We must be “guided by the science” was an oft-repeated refrain in the early days of the Covid crisis – except we weren’t guided by the science, at least not after March 23rd, as we abandoned Pandemic Preparedness Plan and followed other countries around the world, not least the People’s Republic of China, into lockdown. Our Government was making political decisions, not scientific ones, as this superb original article that we’re publishing today makes clear. It’s an exhaustive analysis of the careful preparation that went into pandemic planning and why abandoning that approach had nothing to do with science and everything to do with political expediency. It also documents in meticulous detail how the political approach ended up causing more harm than good. It’s by an epidemiologist with a PhD from a Russel Group university and a retired Professor of Forensic Science and Biological Anthropology (whom Toby put in touch when they both contacted Lockdown Sceptics asking if he could introduce them to someone with the other’s expertise). Here is the executive summary:

    This article contrasts the policies pursued by the UK Government in response to the COVID-19 pandemic with prior national and international preparedness guidelines. It begins with illustrative reference to Popper’s criteria defining the scientific method and to seven foundational ethical principles proposed for use in public health education. It then examines scientific evidence for the value of Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions (NPIs) in the mitigation of respiratory virus outbreaks.

    It finds that, until mid-March 2020, the UK Government followed existing national and international guidelines recommending low stringency NPIs – such as hand hygiene, social distancing and isolating when sick – to slow the spread of infections. There was some scientific evidence these measures were beneficial and accompanying harms limited. Government advisers assessed SARS-CoV-2 disease characteristics and risks realistically, incorporating known behaviour of similar respiratory viruses.

    However, on March 23rd, 2020, an unprecedented lockdown – involving travel bans, stay at home orders and mandatory business closures – was implemented in the absence of empirical evidence for their utility. As well as contravening the existing pandemic preparedness guidelines, this violated key principles of public health ethics and human rights.

    Many scientific studies have since shown lockdowns cause considerable harm for minimal benefit and the error has been compounded by a failure to abandon these policies as confounding evidence has accumulated.

    These harms could have been avoided if the UK Government had respected the pandemic preparedness guidelines and the scientific and ethical principles underpinning them, and resisted media pressure – or coercion – to behave like ‘many other Governments’. Instead, lockdowns have been extended and repeated, and vindictive suppression of scepticism has increased – including that based on accepted principles of law, ethics and scientific inquiry.

    Politics – not the science – caused the UK to become a ‘lockdown autocracy’ with one of the worst pandemic outcomes in the world. An inept but unchallenged administration arose, funded by borrowing and fiscal easing, supported by an acquiescent public highly dependent on Government subsidies, and led by media fear mongering with the manufacturing of ‘heroes’ and ‘villains’, vilification of dissent and condemnation of rational and viable alternatives.

    The article concludes that an absence of leadership in the UK allowed human rights law and the ethics and principles of evidence-based public health to be disregarded, precipitating economic and social devastation and excess mortality. If a future such occurrence is to be avoided, new legislation and formal censure of those responsible – whether from politics, media, medicine, science or the judiciary – will be necessary
    It’s a long one, so grab a coffee, but very much worth reading in full.

    1. I think the big clue is why didn’t Boris Johnson a year ago call in senior practising consultants and doctors for a conference to decide the best possible plan?

      Instead, Johnson froze out medical practitioners and surrounded himself with Gates linked civil servants and Gates linked SAGE.

      Innovation was prohibited and the only treatment was paracetamol, an antibiotic and ogygen.

      Until March 19 2020 when instructions were reversed.

      Originally the NHS said ”drug re-purposing is prohibited because it might prejudice patient safety”, then suddenly the NHS U turned and said ”the side effects of re-purposed drugs are well known from other uses and your doctor will monitor your progress”.

      Only when administered through the new Gates funded Oxford trials though otherwise it would still ”prejudice patient safety”!

      The NHS was clearly saving the drugs for Gates and keeping the field clear for him.

      Then there is the Gates pandemic planning exercise ”Event 201” in New York on October 18 2019. Johnson and his gang never talk about it which means it’s likely the UK signed up to the Gates plan.

      What’s more……

      Mr Whitty, who knows Gates since 2008, was apponted Chief Medical Officer in October 2019, the same month as Event 201. Whitty met Gates reps in London in Nov and Dec 2019 according to GovUK and one meeting is labelled ”meeting of teams”.

      So I think Johnson long ago sold out to Gates for obvious reasons. Dollars, and lots of them.

      1. I agree. This has been obvious throughout. It is the brazen lies that we are told by the government and SAGE advisors I find difficult to comprehend. Do these despicable people expect in the words of Neil Ferguson to ‘get away with it’?

    2. But who’s politics? If the Chief Science and Medical Advisors or SAGE weren’t fully onboard with lockdowns, they would’ve said so and the PM would never have gone that route. I suspect it was precisely because the were all in favour of that policy and were already pushing it well before the end of March 2020 that Boris was convinced, especially when Klaus Schwab’s chum Hancock started whispering in his ear.

      The members of SAGE and many ion the wider scientific/medical community, egged on by the MSM, were led by the nose (some probably didn’t want to ‘go against the flow’ plus others wanted to show up the Tories) by propaganda from China (especially ones who are employed by the Civil Service), pushed by so-called ‘experts’ in Big Pharma and their friends (many of whom have big investments in that sector) in Big Tech and the media.

      Like with many actors who don’t like the leftists stuff coming out of that sector, most will either stay silent or go along with it in fear of being classed as an ‘outsider’ to be pilloried for outlier views – even when they know they are correct.

      As someone who (as part of my career) has seen both scientists and clinicians engage in some rather nasty behaviour towards colleagues and other professionals just out of spite, to polish their ego or because they won’t admit they were wrong, these people aren’t all the selfless, dedicated people they are portrayed in the media. They are at least as flawed as the rest of us, and often more so, given many nowadays harbour ambitions for power, money and fame, and don’t care what they do to achieve it.

      Many people on other forums I’ve debated many issues with are under the misapprehension that science is now ‘mature’ and we ‘almost know everything’. Utter rubbish. We know a lot, but there’s still a LONG way to go, and many things we thought we knew are regularly being turned on their head.

      What I’m surprised at is the lack on ANY enquiry into still sick and infectious OAPs being force back into nursing homes (this is now coming home to roost in the US, particularly NY state, where a cover-up by the governor looks likely) or the regular transfer of staff (without any testing) from one home to another; similarly the poor hygeine/infection control in hospitals cuasing around a third of serious cases (that could be up to 40k extra deaths), plus the slow-burning issue of the lack of purification of the virus and the use of second-rate testing as a result, which, with the dodgy ‘death’ criteria have been the driver for lockdowns.

      Worth buying the latest version of the book ‘Virus Mania’ – which is actually available on Amazon. Now updated to include COVID-19 and co-authored by Dr Sam Bailey from NZ, whose YT videos are often cited here.

    3. Evidence did give them the answers they wanted. Same as climate change.

      The thing I don’t understand is why the stats were so obviously fiddled.

  83. How interesting that Sadiq Khan has a connection with George Soros……….

    17 June 2016 Dinner George Soros

    https://www.london.gov.uk/people/mayoral/sadiq-khan/gifts-hospitality

    Just by random coincidence, Khan’s policies look virtually the same as Soros policies.

    Just by another random coincidence, Soros met with Blair in New York in April 1996, and Blair policies were virtually the same as Soros policies too !

    1. OK, I’ll bite – why though?

      Politicians are thoroughly corrupt. We know this. Aside from their own personal enrichment what’s the point?

      Eventually along this road the very thing they’re gnawing chunks off simply stops existing – we’re near that point already. What then? They can’t control what turns up without mass slaughter and the entire process has been to bring more in, not get rid of who’s there.

      1. Here is a comment on the Democrats in the States by a commenter in Epoch Times:

        “During all my years in business, I and my colleagues applied an analogical term to the mis-handling of large sums of money by those who possessed not the slightest comprehension of its inherent dangers to one and all. We termed it the “Nitro Glycerin” affect.

        To the uninitiated, nitro glycerin is a highly volatile, highly unstable explosive liquid. AND IF NOT HANDLED WITH THE UTMOST EXTREME CARE, WILL EXPLODE WITH EXTREME FORCE. Such that it will kill, burn and / or maim all those within its area of influence.

        The same applies to handling of large sums of money. All too often we witnessed people lose control of their senses in this respect. Particularly those devoid of experience in the high finance arena. Especially, as in this case, politicians when handling hard (yet to be earned) tax payer dollars.”

        1. Very true, however these are not poor men. Most of the Conservative front bench is rich before they go into politics. The Labour ones come out rich.

          They aren’t stupid or lacking in resources. They have an animal cunning to achieve their goals.

          Surely not all of them are greedy abusive, malignant scum?

          1. I recall the ‘Expenses Scandal’ where almost all were found to be fiddling their expenses, flipping properties to dishonestly claim
            mortgage and renovation payments, charging for moat cleaning and a duck house.

            I still have The Daily Telegraph black supplement pamphlet which listed these misdemeanours and fraud. It was absolutely shocking. MPs have not gotten better but are now far worse in their dishonesty and money grubbing proclivities.

    2. Having been one of his ardent supporters my faith in him was shattered:

      i) By his withdrawing of Brexit Party candidates in the general election from parliamentary seats held by Conservative remainers.

      ii) By the fact that he said the deal was a good deal before he had had time to examine it properly and see its very grave flaws.

      His withdrawal from the fray too soon has had the disastrous consequence of allowing Johnson and Gove to agree to a total disaster deal vis-à-vis Northern Ireland, Fishing, Financial services and contentious officialdom at trade borders.

      Our best hope now is the the EU will commit such an appalling error of judgement that Britain will have every reason – with natural justice and the law on her side – to cancel both the WA and the flawed deal. We shall then have “no deal” which was the best option in the first place

  87. We used watch Dave Allen when I was a kid, it was ‘appointment to view’ TV back in the day.

    I’m watching a best of prog this evening and as usual am amazed at what we used to find funny. Long, laboured jokes and sketches with very weak punchlines.

      1. I was a big MP fan but again, I find that with the exception of ‘Brian’ and ‘Holy Grail’ films, their material hasn’t aged well.

        Not much comedy does stand the test of time. Only two thad I can think of are The Goons, and Morecambe and Wise.

  88. 329911+ up ticks,
    May one ask,
    How are these types getting by ? could it be by felonious
    activities ?

    bnreitbart,
    Record 10,373 Foreign Criminals Eligible for Deportation Are Roaming Britain’s Streets Free

    1. The sight would have been all too familiar to the people in the crowd, so soon after WW2.
      There’d be counselling for all if it happened today.

      1. 1958 I was just a lad, I certainly don’t remember seeing footage of it at cinema.

        1. 1958, I was just 1. I’ve become more interested in aviation since my ex’s eldest started flying; initially for the RAF – latterly for BAe, training Saudi Typhoon pilots. I suppose one has to earn a living somehow. For my sins, I extract a monthly salary from the CoE. Which is prolly (©BT) worserer…

          1. Ahem, Boss.
            I believe it is Tryers who holds the copyright
            on ‘erer’ ‘esterer.’ and ‘esterersterer’
            I am his agent and claim my 15%… :-))

    2. I have two experiences of the Vulcan.

      1. Working on a construction site at RAF Marham, one of the last flying Vulcans did a practice run for an impending review by HMQ (Gawd bless ‘er). I was struck by the side view, where it appeared to be hanging in the sky with minimal forward motion. From behind… the noise was indescribable.

      2. Went to Goodwood a few tears ago, mainly because the ex’s eldest was flying past in a Typhoon. The Typhoon is an awesome beast, but the Vulcan is (was) a truly impressive flying machine.

      3. I did my trade training at St Athan in ’71/’72. I loved the ‘down tools’, ‘smoke ’em if you’ve got ’em’ . The Vulcan take off was the highlight of the day.

  90. Evening, all. Been a sunny day here, but I haven’t managed to get much done. You need energy and enthusiasm for that (and a decent amount of sleep helps, too).

      1. Yes, unfortunately; not getting enough sleep (two sessions of two hours does not hack it for me) wrecks me for the day.

        1. Some years ago, I went through a spell of being unable to sleep properly at night and I found that drinking green tea in the evening restored me to a decent sleep pattern.

          You might give it a try, Con, what’s to lose?

          1. Alas, for me, green tea is a diuretic – it would have me up even more often than the dog!

        2. That sounds like me, Conway. In her youth and middle-age, our little dog would sleep peacefully on our bed on her back, paws in the air, all night long. In old age she is getting up, jumping off the bed, or standing on my husband asking to be let down on the floor if she doesn’t feel like jumping off (she has short legs). Then she has a drink of water, pootles around on the boards, her paws click-click-clicking all the while. Then there is much licking and personal grooming of herself finishing with a jolly good shake. Then she will click-click round to my side of the bed (eventually) and stand looking at me. Somehow I know she is there even if I have by good fortune fallen asleep again and I wake up, because the point of her standing and looking at me is for me to pick her up and put her on the bed, again. This can happen sometimes three times during the night, always once, and mostly twice. It is worse than having a toddler around. Frequently I don’t get more than four hours sleep as once woken I don’t get back to sleep. Last night after picking up the hound I was awake from 4.00 am worrying about having the ‘Vaccination Conversation’ with our sons who do not seem to be all that aware of what goes on around them. They haven’t yet learned not to trust Government and its agencies. This is hampered by their probable thinking that their mum is paranoid and barking. This makes me worry more, sleep less and it is making lit difficult for me to start the conversation. I am wrecked after a bad night’s sleep, it is de-energising and de-motivating and one feels like death warmed up. I sympathise entirely.

          1. I suppose I should be glad that at his age (17) the dog is still clean and compos mentis enough to ask to go out. Some nights he is more restless than others. When he can’t settle he blunders around and it sounds like sharing the room with a herd of elephants!

          2. Poppiesmum

            You have just described a typical night that I have … to a tee.. Unbelievable . My eldest dog is 13 , and the youngest is 8years old and of course Moh who is up and down having a pee 2 or 3 times a night .. If I escape to the spare room , the dogs follow me , and the same routine is repeated again by the dogs, though minus Moh .

          3. We both get out at least three times in the night. I go to sleep but wake up and lie there for hours churning stuff over. No dogs needing to go out though. I have an itchy skin rash on my legs which is worse when I get warm so I have to lie uncovered and get cold. No rest for the wicked!

          4. That must be so uncomfortable J.

            Strange things in this year of Covid , my ears itch inside and out , and I certain it must be the face masks , they are driving me mad.

          6. Sorry, but that made me laugh.
            “This is hampered by their probable thinking that their mum is paranoid and barking.”

          7. That’s okay. Self-deprecation is my nature and I would much rather make someone laugh than cry.

    2. I am sorry to read that, Conway.
      We cannot, physically, do much
      to help but please be assured, we
      do, all of us I am sure, say a prayer
      that your situation may be eased.

      1. Thank you. In theory all was set fair for a good night – the dog had had a long walk, so was tired and I’d taken a sleeping pill. The first time the dog got me up was at 02.40 and I still hadn’t been able to sleep despite the drugs. He settled down, but I couldn’t drop off. He got me up again about an hour later. When I let him out I discovered that MOH had opened the dishwasher (which had been running) and left the door open. I closed it, but it didn’t seem to be doing anything except counting down, so I left it, thinking I’d sort it later. The dog got me up again at about 06.00 and I found the dishwasher had finished, but the door was open again. This time, MOH had put a dirty cup in it. I gave up, emptied the dishwasher leaving the dirty cup in it, made myself a drink and went back to bed to read. I must have dropped off shortly after only to be woken up again at 07.45 because I was expected to fix MOH’s hearing aid. I must have muttered some magic over it because when I gave it back it started working! Who knew swearing could be so effective? I went back to bed and slept for a couple of hours, but I was expecting a phone call so I couldn’t just sleep as long as I wanted. After weeks of broken sleep, it’s starting to wear me down.

        1. Balls of wax in your ears. Lock your bedroom door. Get up when your alarm goes off.
          That’s the way to do it, but possibly like me, a good night’s sleep is a bloody myth.

          1. I contemplated locking the bedroom door, but the dog made such a racket battering it with his head to get out! It was easier (and far less noisy) to leave it open.

        2. So sorry to hear about your interrupted sleep pattern Conway.

          Couldn’t your GP prescribe some sleeping tablets for both you and your Moh ?

          1. The problem with MOH is finding something that won’t interact with the cocktail of drugs. For me, I know it isn’t sleeping pills I need (the one I took last night, which had been prescribed didn’t work). Just got to KBO.

          5. Dear Conway,

            KBO indeed, but oh I sympathise with the difficulty in doing so! I do wish there were something I could do to help.

          6. Very kind of you to say so. Alas, it’s just a case of keeping going and hoping that some semblance of “normality” will return in the not too distant future. Fingers crossed!

        3. It is bad enough to suffer from insomnia
          when one has no outside irritants but you
          are unable to relax, understandably; I wish
          I had a possible answer for you. Please
          continue to post on this Site, we are all
          aware of your plight and wish you well.
          I wonder if it is at all possible for you to
          visit here earlier in the day … a different view
          may help.

          1. Thank you. I never get here earlier because I always seem to have so much else to do – shopping, cleaning up, washing, cooking etc. I am very disorganised at the moment, which doesn’t help. I am doing things for which I have absolutely NO aptitude!

          2. Leave it all, for a couple of days.
            Annie may be able to offer you some
            advice, the morning gang tend to be
            ….. how shall I say without any offence
            intended to anyone… more practical!
            You are looking for help, you do not need
            other’s stories, you need positive help.

          3. Ah, the advice to “leave it all” would be a difficult one to follow. I’m not exactly OCD, but I am a pedantic Virgo. I do like things to be finished and neat and tidy. Where the OCD kicks in is that I really dislike being interrupted in one task before I’ve finished it, to leave it and do another. I do do it, but I struggle. We all have our quirks.

        5. Prayers and thoughts with you, Con. There must be a way to sort out the respite issue, though what I know not.

          1. Thank you. Everything is stopped “due to Covid”. A very convenient excuse not to do anything.

          3. Indeed, but it doesn’t stop those who should be providing services from using it as an excuse not to be offering anything.

    3. Sleep is a strange function and you dont miss it until you don’t get enough. I have not slept well for many years. I thought it was my job which involved getting up at 2:30am some days and not getting in till 8 am other days in the same week. I became retired 15 months ago and I thought my sleep patterns would settle down but I rarely wake up refreshed. Surprisingly, things do not seem to have improved! I think I get more rest than yourself Conway but I find that I have to have an afternoon nap. You are not alone.

    4. Yo, Conners. I never used to have trouble sleeping. I’d stick Radio 4 on, on a sleep timer, and never hear it turn off. These days are different. In the absence of an alarm clock, I’ll wake in the middle of the night, and ask Alexa the time. Usually around 03:30. I’ll crawl to the bathroom, and be awakened again around 06:00. In time to post the new day’s page. Once I’ve sorted a cup of tea, porridge and toast. Whether I get enough sleep is debateable…

      1. I don’t think we need to know about your
        nightly conversations….. ah! is Alexa that
        tart who advertises her wares on Amazon?
        ……I’ll be orf to get my free delivery!

        1. Yup. That’s her. Although, curiously enough, I’ve just today reinstated my ‘traditional’ radio alarm.

          Since downsizing, I prolly don’t need three Amazon Echoes. But we are where we are. I replaced all the hideous CFL light bulbs when I came here, with smart (Chinese?) LED.

          So, with the exception of the bathroom and the front ‘porch’, all my lights are controllable via Alexa. I’m suspicious of Amazon, and Bezos has more than enough money, but they’re quite good at what they do, and there seem to be few alternatives.

          1. Geoff, I think Amazon are an example to be followed;
            I cannot fault their service.
            Indeed Bezos must have a better credit rating than most
            Countries….
            Last week I had occasion to order some [British made]
            products to be delivered directly to Church, my delivery
            proof states: ‘The Occupant signed for the goods.’
            The Church was not open at the time of delivery, I can
            only assume that HE accepted delivery!! :-))

  92. “There must be a beginning of any great matter, but the continuing unto the end until it be thoroughly finished yields the true glory. ”

    Sir Francis Drake …

    The Brexit deal is a shambolic mess as far as fishing, financial services, ludicrous customs behaviour at borders and the EU still trying to call the shots in Northern Ireland.

    Farage said it was a good deal when it wasn’t and has bailed out with the job left unfinished. The job will remain unfinished until the deal and the WA are both torn up.

        1. Rome wasn’t built in a day, Rastus. But we are out, and things can only get better with time.

        3. 329911+ up ticks,
          R,
          We will never be fully out ALL the time the lab/lib/con
          are in, with the continuing support of fools.

          Build a pro English / GB party into a genuine opposition party tis the only way.

        1. You have missed out on ‘Vaccineogate‘, Garlands:

          British success, French and EU shambles …

          1. Yes i have but against my own inclination**
            I had the Pfizer vaccine[?] nearly four weeks ago,
            [my arm feels as if it is under pressure.]
            ** I take an active part in our Communion Service,
            it was, diplomatically, explained to me that without
            having the V. I would not be able to continue my
            duties! [I should point out that I think our New Rev.
            is a little bit of a ….., no it is Sunday, I shall resist!]

          2. Ditto. I had the first Ox / AZ jab a fortnight ago. I remain sceptical, but the writing on the wall suggests that merely going to the pub will require a vaccine passport…

          3. I am thinking early July may be a good date for
            a delayed party?
            The Good Intent has a great out-door space.

          8. A lot of pubs will be empty, Geoff.
            If they ever get this through Parliament who will have the right to ask to see it? Any old Tom, Dick or Harry?

            If the vaccine works then those who’ve had it have no problem as they will be protected and, therefore, whether anyone else has had it is immaterial.

            Time to push back.

          9. A non Christian posing as a Christian.

            Perhaps you should remind him that coercion is illegal.

    2. 329911+ up ticks,
      Evening R,
      He put down some good peoples via treachery and covertly supported some bad uns.

    3. 329911+ up ticks,
      Evening R,
      He put down some good peoples via treachery and covertly supported some bad uns.

    1. Good night J

      I hope you all managed to listen to my G+S excerpt from Iolanthe further down in response to Conway’s lack of sleep?

  94. Watched a few hours of Dave Allen and had many a good chuckle and even some real belly laughs.

    It puts a whole new slant on that Irish saying, “May you die, roaring.”

    With laughter.

    Good night, my friends.

    1. I watched him as well .

      He was a very decent cheerful comedian, so sad he was taken so early .

      Last night we watched a thing about Tommy Cooper , and chuckled our way through about half an hour of TV .. which is rare these days

      Good night Tom .

    3. The BBC would never ever show that again. Not because he made jokes about Catholics. Not even because he is sitting there with a glass of whisky or that he is smoking. They would never show it because it is funny and would put all their other comedy output to shame.

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