Sunday 10 December: A tale from the vaccination centre to give hope for the months ahead

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2021/01/10/letters-tale-vaccination-centre-give-hope-months-ahead/

1,060 thoughts on “Sunday 10 December: A tale from the vaccination centre to give hope for the months ahead”

  4. The Irish Flagpole

    Two Irishmen were standing at the base of a flagpole, looking up. A blonde walks by and asked them what they were doing.

    Paddy replied, ‘We’re supposed to be finding the height of this flagpole, but we don’t have a ladder.’

    The blonde took out an adjustable spanner from her bag, loosened a few bolts and laid the flagpole down. She got a tape measure out of her pocket, took a few measurements, and announced that it was 18 feet 6 inches.

    Then, she walked off.

    Mick said to Paddy, ‘Isn’t that just like a blonde!

    We need the height, and she gives us the bloody length.

    2. There are many nights when I’m not home from work by 8 pm!
      Do you get a free pass if you’re coming home from work, or is it really nobody allowed out?

  10. Hitchins…………

    That revolution is now about 90 per cent

    complete. But there were obstacles: a Parliament with a real opposition,

    an independent Civil Service, an independent, conservative press,

    courts that stood up to the state, a BBC that at least permitted some

    dissent on its airwaves, a police force that at least tried to police by

    consent, independent universities.

    Lockdown,with amazing speed, showed that all these seemingly mighty defences

    were paper tigers. We now have (with tiny exceptions) a lifeless

    rubber-stamp parliament, doormat judges, monolithic state broadcasting, a

    nearly-unanimous media, and a shouty, bossy state militia which obeys

    government rather than law.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-9129667/PETER-HITCHENS-time-afraid-future-freedom-country.html
    Uncomfortable reading

    1. 328347+ up ticks,
      Morning Rik,
      Sad to say the governance party’s so treacherously trusted by many of the ovis over the decades are diminishing the options left to the peoples of decency.

      They have whittled the options down finally to either submit on bended knee or
      “take to the mattresses” mafia speak for political mafia overseers.

    2. 328347+ up ticks,
      Morning Rik,
      Sad to say the governance party’s so treacherously trusted by many of the ovis over the decades are diminishing the options left to the peoples of decency.
      They have whittled the options down finally to either submit on bended knee or
      take to the mattresses.

      Mafia speak in regards to mafia type
      governance overseers.

  11. Hong Kong security law being used to ‘eliminate dissent’ say US, UK, Australia and Canada. 10 january 2021.

    The foreign ministers of Australia, the United States, Britain and Canada have issued a joint statement expressing “serious concern” about the arrest of 55 democracy activists and supporters in Hong Kong last week.

    “It is clear that the national security law is being used to eliminate dissent and opposing political views,” the four foreign ministers said on Sunday.

    Morning everyone. Kettle calling Frying Pan. Dissent and Democracy itself are being extinguished in all four countries!

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/10/hong-kong-security-law-being-used-to-eliminate-dissent-say-us-uk-australia-and-canada

  12. Temp 2018 18.7
    Temp 2020 15.7

    Thats why we have not had any headlines Last year was a cool year. Big drop.

    2. There was a small, shameless headline in the Mail yesterday about 2020 being one of the hottest years on record.

  13. Sunday 10 DECEMBER, eh? Wow. Groundhog Day.

    Good morning, all – frosty and clear in Fulmodeston.

    1. The Full Modeston sounds rather like the Full Montgomery but with warm clothes kept on in full modesty.

    1. Thanks Mr. Kassam for deflecting from the wholly leftist origins of this tyranny onto fascism. Lets put the blame where it actually belongs.

      1. Good morning all.
        But, despite the 1920s & ’30s Soviet propaganda, Fascism is Left Wing as it was devised as a non-Marxist form of Socialism during the aftermath of the Risorgimento with co-operation between the classes as its keystone as opposed to the Class Struggle of Karl Marx.

        1. Indeed.
          The clue is that fascism seeks to control the individuals and make them do what the Führer wants them to do. Right-wing politics is about leaving the individual to do what they think is best.

    1. I suppose that if they gave IQ tests to all current police officers and then sacked all of those with an IQ of less than 100 there would be no police officers left.

    2. 328347+ up ticks,
      Morning AS,
      Lest we forget, ROTHERHAM directly linked to mass uncontrolled immigration and mass foreign paedophile action over decades, overseen by governance employees & three monkeys.

      1. And why does it take three police thugs to do it? No wonder there’s none available when crime is being committed.

        1. There is a crime being committed; sitting on a bench in the open air.
          It’s just that we fuddy duddies persist in thinking of such boring stuff as murder and burglary.

      2. 328347+ up ticks,
        Morning BB2,
        Agreed, should wait until a number are in position then pounce,
        ” The birds” HC.

    5. I spent some time shopping in Colchester town centre yesterday: an awful experience. Whilst there I noticed some small groups sitting/leaning on the wall in Red Lion Square. Some were eating fast food purchased from a nearby shop (a picnic?) when a solitary PCSO strode past completely ignoring the desperadoes on and around the wall. We need clarity, is sitting on a wall an offence? Is eating recently purchased food in the open air, either when walking or sitting/leaning on a wall, deemed to be a picnic?

      The rules seem petty and out of proportion to the more important crimes that must be happening and being ignored because the police are being deployed to harass ordinary people behaving as they always have done. Benches are for sitting on, for respite if one is tired etc. Would sitting on the ground be an offence? Yesterday I read, Lockdown Sceptics IIRC, a government source – someone getting their excuses in early? – stated that the government had gone just as far as it could with lockdown and there was little left that it could implement. How about if one wants to exercise in public it must be done solely by hopping on one’s left foot? Too ridiculous to contemplate? With the clowns in SAGE and government running the Country down anything is possible.

        1. My thought, too. He didn’t even look in their direction, he strode by and turned the corner.

  17. Morning all

    SIR – On Friday morning I received the Pfizer vaccine. No side effects, or anything else. The arrangements were like a military operation: smooth-running and very competent.

    The jab was completed in seconds, done by a young doctor whom I did not know in a community hall, with volunteers guiding patients at every stage. All were charming and helpful.

    The sense of relief afterwards is something to be so grateful for.

    Janet E Hotter

    Radstock, Somerset

    SIR – Back in the Seventies, in the Lincolnshire village where I lived, two local transport companies would collect produce from the farms during the afternoon, and by 5 am the next day it would be at markets across the country. No computers, no mobile phones – just good organisation.

    Now, 50 years on, we cannot get the Covid-19 vaccine delivered to a London GP surgery in time for the Health Secretary to promote the roll-out (report, January 7). There are more delivery companies in Britain than you can shake a stick at. Why have they not been asked to organise and implement the distribution of the vaccine?

    ADVERTISING

    The health service has had weeks to prepare for this, yet we are not surprised to see it stumble. We can only hope that the Armed Forces are able to salvage the situation. This pandemic has shown is that our public bodies and government departments are no longer fit for purpose.

    John S Adlington

    Attleborough, Norfolk

    SIR – Professor David Oliver’s article is a timely and tragic reminder of the perilous state that the front-line staff of the NHS are in.

    For some years, the medical and nursing professions have been warning about the problems of recruitment and retention of staff. Politicians have played down their evidence and ignored their pleas.

    Perhaps now that the public has been made aware of these problems, politicians will come under pressure to pay attention to those who actually treat the patients. If people really do want to “Protect the NHS”, there will need to be a major revision of the terms and conditions under which front-line staff have to work.

    Malcolm Morrison FRCS

    Swindon, Wiltshire

    SIR – Dr A John Shipman (Letters, January 3), who criticises payments for GPs who perform vaccinations in care homes, misunderstands the difference between primary and secondary care funding.

    Unlike in hospitals – where staff and equipment are paid for centrally – GPs are responsible for all costs. A prolonged vaccination policy will require additional resources to pay for extra staff and allow as much routine work to be completed as possible.

    GPs are not looking to profit from the pandemic. I know of many who are offering their services on a voluntary basis at weekends to get this job done.

    Ewan Wallace

    Aberdeen

    1. Don’t worry. I’m sure the managers on their market-led remuneration packages will make sure they get their bonuses in their accounts in good time. Does anything else matter?

    2. The sense of relief afterwards is something to be so grateful for.

      Probably from writing this tosh for 77 Brigade!

  18. Sad stories…..

    Humane dying laws

    SIR – William Baird (Letters, January 3) states that our present assisted dying laws “provide clarity, assurance and stability.” They also provide suffering, misery, pain and despair for many individuals and their families.

    Can we not consider quality, rather than quantity, of life? The motto of the moment is: “Save our NHS”. Yet resources such as hospitals, care homes and social services are being stretched in an effort to look after people who have no pleasure – or, in some sad cases, awareness – left.

    I am sorry that Mr Baird does not want to give me the choice to end my long, happy life as and when I wish.

    Elizabeth Hunter

    Epsom, Surrey

    SIR – Ruth Davidson is right: this subject needs to be discussed openly and urgently.

    I am over 85 and, having been told I have a year at most, should be allowed to say when I am ready to go, and depart this life with dignity.

    Marion Grisdale

    Nantwich, Cheshire

    SIR – I have terminal metastatic breast cancer in my spine and skull. At the moment I am stable and in minimal pain, thanks to superb hospital staff and sheer luck. As the disease progresses, however, I know I shall be faced with three options:

    1. Suffering prolonged agony because Britain has only a partial palliative care system. I am so grateful for the palliative care I am receiving, but I know that towards the end it will fail me. In the last few years I have seen my uncle and two other relatives similarly failed by their hospitals, despite the compassion of their nurses.

    2. Raising a great deal of money to go to Dignitas, consequently having to travel and terminate my life before it is necessary. I would trust the Swiss to conduct the process efficiently, but “process” is the appropriate word. I feel overwhelmed with horror that I should have to do that.

    3. Obtaining whatever drugs I can in order to die by suicide. This option attracts me most, but it is a selfish one. The consequences for my family – either legally or in the event of my failing to do it properly, resulting in being alive but with appalling damage – deter me.

    I do not want to die. I merely want to do all I can, while I am comparatively well, to die as comfortably as possible and to have some choice in when I die, instead of suffering as so many Britons have to do.

    Alison Milledge

    Monmouth

    1. Elizabeth Hunter is free to end her life whenever she wishes right now (I do not mean to imply that she should). If the euthanasia laws that she seeks are brought in, then given our NHS, it is more than likely that people will lose this choice that they have today, because euthanasia will swiftly become the default “treatment” for elderly people.
      If nothing else, 2020 showed us clearly that the NHS exists as an end in itself, and will take the policy decisions that most benefit it.
      Enter euthanasia, the cheapest treatment in the world! Does anyone seriously believe the NHS would not make full use of it?

      2. I understand Holland and Belgium are already on that slippery slope. Depression – which often contains suicidal thoughts – is now a good enough excuse.

      3. I have often heard old people saying “I don’t want to be a burden” and I fear that unscrupulous relatives and “friends” would play on that factor to encourage, if not actively pressurise, the elderly into euthanasia.

        1. I’d make sure I didn’t leave a pile of money to those relatives who appear to actively want my end to arrive.

    2. My ex-wife, when she was out making babies in a Travelodge with her lover, wished I had done the decent thing back in 1991, when I ceased to be a “net contributor to society” (according to Government guidelines).

      It would have made her life a lot more convenient, and the question of her holding the moral high ground with her peers and our own children (now aged 33 and 31) would never have been put in doubt. A quick celebration party, the body thrown in the skip along with everything I ever was, and they could move on, as is their women’s right.

      1. You had me until your last line. Don’t fight feminist identity politics with MGTOW identity politics – they are essentially the same thing!

        edit: The above is rather lacking in sympathy – sorry! I do have a lot of sympathy with the situation you describe – and the current laws (which need reforming) have allowed and encouraged terrible behaviour.

        1. Having ridden the Children Act pit of legality for over five years, I got to learn that about the paramount interests of children, followed by the rights of the parent-with-care, where possession is nine-tenths of the law, and in nine-tenths of cases is vested with the mother.

          I came a long way down the list of priorities, roughly equivalent to the animal rights of the court mouse, when discussing the merits of liberating said creature from the jaws of the court cat, which also has rights. In the end, the judge said there was nothing more she could do for me. That was the law, not identity politics, that said that.

          1. These laws were too heavily influenced by feminist identity politics. One needs to go for the root of injustice, in order to cut it out.

            I agree with you that current divorce laws are not fit for the purpose, and cause a huge amount of suffering. I don’t think they do protect the long-term interests of the children, when the non-resident parent gets such a bad deal (and women have also been caught in this trap, although it’s unusual).

          2. A friend of mine from university days became a social worker. In the course of his work he met a young woman with two children who had been abused and then deserted by the father of her children. My friend fell in love with her, married her and went through the correct legal processes to adopt the children. They then had a child together.

            A couple of years later she deserted him and went away to ‘find herself’ leaving him to bring up the three children on his own. Three years later she returned demanding she had charge of the children. The court awarded her custody.

          3. The greatest fear of all female victims of abusive men is that the men will use equality laws to get custody of the children.

      2. You poor chap.

        Those of us who have successful and joyful marriages should be eternally grateful to God but should also try to sympathise and empathise with those who are less fortunate.

  20. ‘Morning again.

    It seems that the NT has been taking lessons from the BBC in the indoctrination of children…with so few adults receptive to their wokery they have decided to play the long game and get them while they are young:

    National Trust signs up children to lecture staff on colonialism

    Project to ensure that the imperial background of country houses is fully explained sparks backlash

    By
    Christopher Hope,
    CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT
    9 January 2021 • 9:00pm

    National Trust staff and volunteers have been “reverse-mentored” by children so they can explain the colonial and slavery links of some of its country houses, The Telegraph can disclose.

    The Trust arranged for staff and volunteers to be told about the impact of the British empire by so-called “child advisory boards” at a number of “selected properties”, the charity said. None of the Trust’s team was forced to take part.

    The staff were lectured about imperial history by school children who have been taking part in the Trust’s Colonial Countryside project, in conjunction with academics from Leicester University.

    The hope is that the process will ensure that “British imperial history is fully represented in the organisation’s country houses”.

    Reverse mentoring allows big organisations to “pair people who might otherwise not come together. These relationships are often profoundly transforming for both parties and promote a culture of inclusion in an organisation, where everyone matters” according to the Government.

    The four year Colonial Countryside project has been examining “a range of colonial links, including slave-produced sugar wealth, East India Company connections, black servants, Indian loot, Francis Drake and African circumnavigators, colonial business interests, holders of colonial office, Chinese wallpaper, Victorian plant hunters and imperial interior design”, according to a description on Leicester University’s website.

    It has seen 100 primary children visiting 10 National Trust houses to craft fiction and short essays which are then presented to audiences.

    According to the university: “Children will participate in conferences and give public talks. Child advisory boards will reverse-mentor National Trust staff to ensure that British imperial history is fully represented in the organisation’s country houses.”

    Sir John Hayes MP, the chairman of the Commonsense Group of Conservative MPs, said: “It is a source of sadness that the National Trust are out of touch with the reality of militancy that they are explicitly endorsing, out of tune with their increasingly disillusioned members and running out of time to put these wrongs right.”

    Conservative MP Andrew Murrison added: “Given recent concerns over the use of Trust assets to pursue an agenda by its leadership, I’m not entirely comfortable that the sensitive issue of childrens’ education is safe in its hands and would urge close oversight.

    “In my view the Trust should concentrate on looking after its sites for the benefit of the visiting public who by and large don’t want to be indoctrinated with whatever world view the Trust’s leadership takes.”

    A Trust spokesman said: “Colonial Countryside is a project started in 2018 at 11 National Trust houses, bringing children together with writers and historians to explore some of the collections in our care and enable them to use their imaginations and creative skills to discover the stories behind them.

    “The participation of the children, which has now concluded, has tested new ways of working with relevant staff at selected properties, enabling us to hear and reflect the children’s responses. It was not a compulsory exercise for staff and volunteers across the Trust.

    “Allowing children to explore history and nature, to think about their place in the world and create new responses is an important part of our work and we are grateful to all those who partner with us to carry it out.”

    1. My daughter, who has been well indoctrinated in woke philosophy throughout her upbringing, is a member of the National Trust staff employed to implement this policy. She is currently on furlough. Who is organising it then?

    2. Because children are so well informed and have a wide experience of the real world, naturally. Those people who have experienced events from the forties onward and had an excellent, well-rounded education clearly know nothing at all. We are doomed if we don’t strike back.

    1. Good morning, my friends

      I do not support Trump. I do not support Biden. But I don’t not want the winner to win by mass cheating.

      If Trump’s side cheated Trump should not remain president; if Biden’s side cheated he should not be elected president.

      If both sides were honest enough to admit this simple statement about the integrity of elections and tell the truth then there would not be a problem but I suppose I ought to book a passing cloud and head off for cuckoo land.

      2. Hi Rastus, if the Democrats believe that they and Biden won fair and square then surely they should allow the forensic audits requested by the Republicans and Trump. With over 40% of the Electorate believing it was a crooked election Biden will never have authority, (he won’t anyway but that’s a different story), and there will be no chance of a ‘peaceful’ term. There appear to be lots of people prepared to sign affidavits of what they witnessed and there is also video evidence of things that need a proper explanation. The courts have thrown out challenges on technicalities and not actually seen any evidence or allowed any to be presented.

        The whole thing stinks.

    1. Amen and Awoman to that!
      There’s a fine line between asking searching questions, and taking over the role of Her Majesty’s Opposition.

      1. You can’t say ‘Amen’.

        It’s a plural. It must be ‘Aman’ (or ‘Somemen’). 👍🏻

      2. HM Opposition (shouldn’t that have the prefix ‘loyal’?) doesn’t appear to do much opposing of late, although they do try to score political points.

        1. I think Starmer is relying on the Blair effect to get elected – the hideous thing is that it will probably work, and he will probably be our next Prime Minister! Occasionally people talk about him in the Daily Mail comments, and most of them do not seem to recognise how evil he is!

    2. Hi Grizzly, there is absolutely zero chance of the BBC & majority of the MSM even considering this approach. Especially now they have witnessed the way the American MSM have spent four years attacking the elected President, largely based on a fake dossier, yet covered up the criminal actions of Hunter Biden and family. In the end they have helped install the Leftist Government that they want. They have got away with everything and are now actively trying to shut down all non compliant media outlets.
      1984? Animal Farm? They’re happening in America and will surely follow to the UK.

      1. Hi, Hoppy, and good to hear from you. I’m afraid that your assessment is spot-on and I fear for the future of western democracy. The embarrassing factor in all this is that the Right have seen this coming for years and have done bugger all—all over the west—to curtail it. I now fear it may be too late, short of civil war. Unfortunately to mount that needs co-ordination: a factor seemingly known only to the Left.

        1. Hi Grizzly, the ‘Right’ have generally been dis-organised and want to play by the rules, whereas the Left have been very organised since the times of Lenin and are quite prepared to use lies and violence to get their way. They have no qualms about sacrificing any of their supporters “in the name of the cause” either.
          I believe this is why Trump was seen as such a huge threat. He wasn’t really ‘political’ but built a massive support base and showed up the corruption and graft perpetuated on the electorate. The huge turn outs for his rallies were incredible, especially when compared to feeble Joe’s. It is inconceivable that he was beaten in the election without Democrat cheating.

  23. Good morning from a Saxon Queen with blooded axe and longbow in handbag .

    A very hard frost today, hugely cold.

      1. Morning Mr Viking, not quite yet, those of the dark ages never washed their weapons and kept the blood upon them either as proof of success or a warning to the enemy. But I suppose I should clean mine.

  24. Fat people could ask online supermarkets to stop them buying beer and chocolate, suggests minister

    Ministers confirm UK citizens allowed to breathe, under strict supervision of course

    All motor vehicles banned to prevent road accidents

    Children to be euthanised at birth to prevent spread of Covid

    1. I never used to put extra salt on food. but now much salt has been removed I do.. so no change.

      1. So now you buy more salt, while the original ( now reduced in salt ) hasn’t lowered in price. So the shop sells more, gets a bit more profit, therefore the govt gets a bit more tax . . . . multiply by all who are buying extra salt.

  25. Keep calm folks … the assault continues …

    Desert Island discs at 11 this morning ….

    David Olusoga, historian and broadcaster

      1. Me too, Sue. Listening to slebs talking about themselves and plugging their latest programme/book/film does not impress this listener.

        1. Yes! The forced and jolly slapping each other on the back is particularly nauseating!

          1. OH him.
            David Olusoga was born in Lagos, Nigeria, to a Nigerian father and British mother. At five years old, Olusoga migrated to the UK with his mother and grew up in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear. He was one of a very few non-white (but not his mother ?) people living on a council estate. By the time he was 14, the National Front had attacked his house on more than one occasion, requiring police protection for him and his family. They were eventually forced to leave as a result of the racism. Of course.

            Did he know that Bob Marley’s father was Scottish ?

          5. How many blacks or others listen to DID’s anyway .. I bet they don’t .

            It used to have cult status , nah , everything changed and became irritating , just like Woman’s hour.

          6. You need to be sent for re-education, young Phizzee! Write one hundred times, “Only honkeys can be racist”.

    1. At least the copper didn’t throw himself onto one knee pleading for forgiveness. I assume the two gentlemen’s claim for compensation is already been upgraded and approved.

    2. There’s only one police officer there. They don’t act unless A: they outnumber the individual, B: the individual is alone, C: the individual presents no resistance.

    4. Could it be that elderly white ladies, sitting in parks, do NOT carry sharp knives?

      Just asking…

      1. Hat pins. Sharpened knitting needles. Crochet hooks. Sharp tongues. You got to be careful around them.

  29. Mr Khalid Mahmood, MP for Birmingham Pery Barr, in today’s Telegraph, –

    ” Mr Mahmood added that take-up in the BAME community has been below
    average and he wanted to show his constituents that it’s safe and
    worthwhile.”

    So we have a large proportion of our society acting as a potential source of the Covid 19 virus?

      1. Aren’t they the very people who are most at risk? (Not that I believe in the vaccines but still … )

          2. You’d think though they themselves would be! Or maybe they’re of the same opinion as I am – the vaccinations are part of the scamdemic.

          4. And the trouble is – they bring that same attitude when they come here. That is why some of the illegals will rape/kill a young English girl, not considering her at all, but knowing that their claim against deportation for their crime here, will get them a life here, with family to follow. OUR govt cares more for THEIR lives than ours.

    2. 328347+up ticks,
      Afternoon SA,
      That is the least of the worries bearing in mind truncated torso’s.

      2. I’ve just read some. You have to click the comments at the end of the article but I think there are only 6.

          4. Your spelling is fine.

            I get the reason – but you should invent the postcode too.

            I’m familiar with that one for a particular reason. My sister used to live in Stonehaven which has an AB postcode but is on a main route and easy to reach. Her place of work for over 10 years was a farm just a few miles south of Stonehaven which was reached by a long and winding route – much pot-holed, narrow, and full of farm traffic – but with a DD postcode. She regularly had parcels delivered to her at work, by couriers who charged extra for delivery to AB postcodes whereas DD codes were at standard rates. Both she – and the drivers – found this completely farcical as it would have been much easier for them to deliver to her home address (and it would have caused much less wear and tear on their vehicles).

      1. The public service would be onto a winner there, all of those jobs needed to resurrect sales taxes and duties.

        Why not just set vat to zero on a lot of goods, no boom in jobs that way.

          1. at least one country is talking of a wealth tax and where one goes they all follow. Roll up, roll up! Why wait for inheritance tax, we are taking your assets now.

            A wealth tax sounds quite plausible, after all the really rich will have assets offshore or sheltered in trusts, they will not be effected.

          6. Much of Europe has a wealth tax, including Norway. We pay a (small) percentage of nett worth to local & national government. It implies very strongly that all your capital purchases (house, car, boat, works of art) need registered to you, as well as obviously your shares, bank accounts, gold…

    3. The trouble is that I have not only lost confidence in Boris Johnson; I have also lost confidence in Nigel Farage.

      Nigel Farage torpedoed his own credibility as far as I am concerned:

      i) By withdrawing his Brexit Party candidates in Remainer held Tory seats in the general election;
      ii) In declaring that Johnson’s very flawed EU trade agreement was acceptable when he had had no time to scrutinise it properly.

      Fishing? Financial Services? Northern Ireland?

      Of course the ERG has also blown it.

      1. They are politicians, and whatever their private thoughts they fully understand that it is not good to be seen to be constantly fighting. We have an agreement, it is what it is and there is little point in making a fuss at the moment. Far better to sit back, let it roll, watch the problems develop and if things get bad, go again. That gives you a win-win, hero if it works, hero if it fails.

  34. ‘Afternoon, all!

    DT Letters – Sunday 10 January: A tale from the vaccination centre to give hope for the months ahead …… Aye, right!

    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/covid-mutation-stories-show-lockdowns-are-designed-last-forever?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+zerohedge%2Ffeed+%28zero+hedge+-+on+a+long+enough+timeline%2C+the+survival+rate+for+everyone+drops+to+zero%29

    “If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – forever.”
    — George Orwell
    :¬(

  35. Well folks, given all the current information available today, i wonder why there has not been the usual UK winter Flu ‘epidemic’ this year and also I wonder how many of the people who have sadly died from supposedly covid, had been vaccinated against the seasonal flu virus.
    Something once more does not seem to be in keeping with the normal pattern of our UK winters.

    1. Come, come, Eddy. ‘Flu has been abolished – totally defeated by the plucky little virus from Wuhan.

  36. On the Bbc lunchtime news, Hancock and Starmer are banging on about ‘you must stay at home’ to defeat the virus. Totally undermined by a doctor who said: ‘we are in the eye of the storm’. Er, methinks he needs to use a better and more appropriate metaphor.

    1. How will staying at home defeat a virus (not that I think such a thing is possible, anyway)? You won’t be getting any vitamin D from exposure to what sunlight there is, nor will you be meeting milder germs to gee up your immune system. Sounds like a recipe for disaster to me. Those people who live in sterile, hermetically sealed (ie double glazed with no open fires) houses always seem to be the ones constantly going down with coughs, cold, snuffles, etc and whose children suffer from asthma.

      1. And those who keep their houses unnaturally clean – their children suffer from allergies, asthma, and snotty noses.

        1. Indeed. That was what I meant by sterile. They won’t let their children have a pet – or even touch an animal.

  37. On BBC News channel at 9.30 pm tonight – Our World – the Day Moria burned. I saw it the other day. Hearing refugees saying that the refugee camp was set on fire by refugees themselves and some locals. Presumably they hoped for a win-win situation. The locals wanted rid of the refugee problem – and the refugees there wanted to get into Western Europe for better, free, everything.

    1. It’s like when prisoners riot and burn their cells. To hell with fixing it up for them. You broke it, you clean up and then you fix it.

      If they don’t clean up, let them live in ruined squalor.

      1. I remember that happening in a prison in the Australian outback some years ago. They burned the place but didn’t manage to escape. A reporter interviewing the governor asked ” what are you going to do?” meaning about the repairs. She was gobsmacked when the reply was “They burned it, they can live in it”. I applauded the governor.

      4. They should be taught that actions have consequences. It’s like prisoners over here who wreck their TV sets; they’ve given another one straight away. I’d leave them to stew for at least a few months while constantly telling them, you broke it, you’ll have to wait until we fix it.

      5. Having had a client whose husband was a prison officer I would say that their job is quite hard enough without having to manage in a half-wrecked building. I know that some prison officers are implicated in getting drugs into prisons etc etc. but most are just ordinary people trying to do society’s dirty work.

  38. Picking up on the comments from last night on depression. In the late 60s I was on the management committee of a group that can a Laity Centre in Edinburgh under the auspices of the Catholic archdiocese. (I was then quite young, around 19 and one of the other committee members was a lady who was the Deputy Head of the school I had attended hardly a year earlier.)
    We ran courses and lectures on various subjects from a Catholic perspective, some on social issues, theology, morals and the like. Usually the attendance was in the range of 30 – 40. We ran a lecture on “depression” and just over 200 turned up, very predominantly female. It was a bit of a squeeze, but we had interconnected rooms so fitted everyone in. There was a general feeling of surprise, and almost shock, at the number. While there is difference between feeling low for a while and clinical depression, it was clear even then that this was a serious issue. Obviously, people felt “depressed” although the subject was rarely ever brought out in the open. Moreover our target group, and hence our audience, tended to be educated people in the A, B and C1 categories whom one might have supposed had everything going for them.
    In context, this was in the mid-60s and this was a time of music, colour and optimism for most people. Now, there is no rational basis for optimism so one might expect that both feeling depressed, and actual clinical depression, would be more common and increasing.

    1. Covid-19 has been the main news item for almost a year now. I am not feeling depressed, but sick and tired of hearing nothing but bad news, and now the grim reaper (Whitty) appearing on TV lecturing us all. What we hear now is that the restrictions must be increased. Well, lockdowns and tiers haven’t worked, so let’s have more and even more of the same. No wonder people may be feeling depressed.

      1. There is an article in todays daily mail (I know, hardly reliable) that talks about lockdown until the end of March and no pubs before the end of May. That should keep everyone safe until spring when the infections die down naturally.

        If you want real scare them into submission policies. A Canadian so called expert is floating the idea of a serious lockdown to include no going outside for any reason and the shutting down of all industry.

          1. Just trying to cheer everone up.

            They are talking about an 8PM curfew here, I haven’t been out after 8 since early November so that is going to do a lot of good.

        2. There has already been reports that restrictions could come back NEXT Christmas. Is that just after we are due our NEXT delivery from the Far East?

          1. Of course,. This talk of politicians at davos pales into insignificance compared to the expert coordination on covid.

        4. The government here are floating a bill that will give them powers to do just that. Full curfew.

          1. Nowadays they don’t last that long, we are now into the home brew kits, 30 bottles of plonk in four weeks.

        6. That expert should be locked up alone for six months with no contact apart from meals passed through a slot in the cell door, no internet, and certainly no pay, so that he loses his job and home.

          Then ask him if he thinks lock downs are the answer.

          Vicious?

          Yes.

          But only when these people have some real “skin in the game” will they appreciate the side effects of what they are proposing

          1. So true sos. Same as the programs where the rich and poor swap homes/cash for a while. Some real shocks. I’d like a new program where a sleb/woke MP gets to spend a month in a house in the middle of a total immigrant/refugee area. Lets see how “wonderful ” they think they are then.

          3. There’s another one in the DM now about a council leader who told people to “Stay home” from her hoilday in the sunny Maldives.

          4. Don’t let her back.

            I doubt they have lots of suitable and acceptable tests available just for Brits

      2. 328347+ up ticks,
        Afternoon A,
        In a multitude of cases there are three main causes of recurring
        depression guaranteed.

        The malady is brought on by kissing X a lab/lib/con candidate in the polling booth.

        This has proved to be the case after extensive trials lasting over three decades.

      4. Exactly how I feel. MB now watches the news on his laptop with his earphones on, because he knows I go ballistic.
        It’s the constant revelling in bad news that gets to me. Nothing uplifting; nothing faintly light hearted; no hope.

        1. Every night the figures – cases, deaths, hospitalisations……… I’m afraid I just switch off or don’t listen, but OH likes to have the Beeb news for some reason.

          1. Even SWMBO won’t watch or read the BBC – it’s all overexaggeration and biased, she says.

      6. Ponders..;;;;;;;;

        As Mr Einstein said

        Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

        I tend to believe him, more than I do Mr S Whitty!!!!

    2. It is the hidden disease. That’s one reason why, when someone takes his or her own life, the usual reaction is shock and “I never knew s/he felt like that”. Racing welfare has a scheme called “It’s ok not to be ok” to encourage people to talk about their problems.

          1. I would not be surprised if the majority of posters on Nottle knew people who decided to end their lives.

          2. I’m afraid you are right, Sos.
            I know two. One was 36, the other the same age as Second Son, so 19.

          3. It is a taboo subject. When one gets to know people fairly well it is staggering how many do. I’ve posted the story of my inherited sister.

    3. I’m sure you’re correct, which is also depressing. Roll on wine o’clock, that’ll help.

    4. I have sympathy for people who are depressed. I suffered a severe bout a few years ago. Mother’s sudden death, fatal car crash.. You feel completely helpless to do anything about it. You feel trapped in a dark place and can’t think properly. Only the Meds the Doctor prescribed helped. They gave me a little lift so i was able to see over the dark clouds. After a few months i was back on an even keel.

      I definitely don’t want to go there again.

      1. I was depressed for a long time as a young mother. I didn’t seek any treatrment as I didn’t realise what it was. I had suicidal toughts….only the thought that my very young children wouldn’t remember me made me think differently. Eventually it lifted but for a long time I just thought I was a naturally miserable person.

        I was depressed after my mother died, and my marriage was on the rocks, and I couldn’t cope with life, but at that time I did realise why I felt that way.

        1. Some people see depression as a weakness of will or character (pull your socks up brigade). Anyone can be tipped into depression.

          Glad you came out the other side.

          2. Yes – and you too – when it goes on for a long time it becomes a habit, which is why I just thought that was how I was.

            But it can happen to anyone, and I think there will be very many depressed people due to the loss of freedoms at the moment.

          5. This is one of the problems; what those who have never experienced it don’t realise is that it isn’t a case of being able to just pull your socks up, it’s VERY debilitating.

        2. I feel now that, in a similar situation to yours with young children, I stumbled around in a bit of a fog. Wouldn’t say I was depressed but struggling. No rellies nearby (moved from London to Maidstone when we married) and had few friends as I only worked for about 6 months before our first was born.

          I’m sure there are now many who have become depressed, in a big way, and feel desperately sorry for anyone like that. The government has a lot to answer for.

          1. I cannot begin to imagine what life must be like at the moment for young mothers confined with small children in a tower block.

    1. DT columnist, former conservative (as he’s now bent the knee, as you’ll see) Daniel Hannan has now joined the ranks of the Establishment, alongside thos I mentioned yesterday who recently ‘converted’ to save their own skins (more like to keep their nice piles of cash [30 pieces of silver perhaps?] coming in), and Janet Daley:

      Apparently, calling for people to peacably protest and the go home is now ‘treason’:
      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/01/10/donald-trump-guilty-treason-political-violence-democracy-never/

      Ms Daley’s column, calling Trump a ‘despot’:
      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/01/09/donald-trumps-despotic-mania-threat-democracy/

      …and today I find out that YouTuber Dave Cullen has had his channel (Computing Forever) deleted by YouTube. One of the few people doing actual journalism on the pandemic gets censored. At least he can still be found on other platforms that value free speech (how long until the big tech firm’s financial friends come after them?) such as BitChute.

      1. Dave Cullen – certainly one of the best YouTubers going – predicted that YouTube would delete his channel and warned his followers some time ago.

      2. So who had the bright idea of using Google Cloud to host parler? If the west coast boys started purging the social media sites, surely the next step was obviously to dig a bit deeper.

        There are plenty of hosting services around, they could even have gone offshore to escape a democrat biased environment.

      3. One of my fellow dog walkers, who cannot be said by any means to be a lockdown sceptic, told me this morning that he has been keeping a note of all the statistics since it began (he’s a bit of a nerd in that respect) and the numbers just don’t add up.

  40. ‘Morning, Peeps.

    SIR – You report on the row over the Rex Whistler restaurant mural in Tate Britain, which has been condemned as racist.

    In 1944, Whistler gave his life in war so that the Tate ethics committee might be free to magnify their scruples today. They could, however, apply these to better effect by exposing contemporary slavery. But if they wish to continue with their current approach, surely they should also condemn the slavery of the Russian Empire, rather than glorifying Soviet propaganda posters as art in Tate Modern.

    John Nandris
    Merton, Oxfordshire

    Fat chance, John Nandris; wokeists only go after the soft indigenous targets.

    1. Why doesn’t an enterprising tour operator organise special holidays for wokes to visit Central Africa to inspect and ensure that child slaves forced to work in the cobalt mines are given acceptable conditions?

    2. At least the Tate is honest about their admiration for Stalinism. We can’t say they aren’t telling us exactly what they want.

      1. 328347+ up ticks,
        Morning RE,
        It was a success in passing a message as it was meant to do.

        ANY protest peaceful of otherwise will be overwhelmingly shut down by brute force.

        This is the way of things currently after years of constructing our, as a Nation, present plight via the polling booth.

        1. All the guy was doing was standing still. Despite what he had said.
          Vicious unnecessary attack.

          1. 328347+ up ticks,
            RE, I believe he was showing open defiance in NOT
            standing on one leg as I believe is a must on
            Saturdays, Mondays & Wednesdays.

            Besides standing upright , vertical, is like a red rag
            to a bull y, as we are now witnessing.

  43. (Reposted from late last night)

    10th January 2021

    Hopon

    Have an Excellent Birthday

    and

    Many Happy Returns

    with best wishes,

    Caroline and Richard

    We haven’t seen enough of you recently. We do hope you’ll visit us more in 2021

    (This was recorded a couple of years before you were born!)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3KjDpvmtwU

    5. Many thanks Rastus, I’m still hopping about. Work has kept me very busy this last year with trying to juggle through lock downs and all the knock on effects. I have been looking in on the odd occasion and will try to do so more often this year. I hope you, Caroline and all the NOTTLERs are keeping well and a belated Happy New Year to everyone – it will be better than 2020! 🍻🥃😃

  44. Why supermarkets spurn the tastiest apples
    SIR – Rick Stein is correct that our choice of apples has been “dumbed down”.

    The blame for this lies squarely with the supermarkets, which, contrary to their claims, do not sell what customers want.

    My favourite apple, for instance, is the Egremont Russet, which is never to be found on the shelves. While its taste is exquisite, its leathery-looking skin has no sheen, and the apple is therefore deemed unsuitable by supermarket buyers, who prize appearance over flavour every time.

    Dr Alf Crossman
    Rudgwick, West Sussex

    SIR – As a retired home economist, I echo Rick Stein’s support for homegrown apples.

    For two decades I lived in Kent, the so-called Garden of England, 
and witnessed first-hand the destruction of vast numbers of orchards, which ended up being used for firewood.

    Now is surely the time to start flying the flag for all British produce. In France, supermarkets proudly identify their homegrown products, as well as highlighting goods that have been imported. This makes customers stop and consider whether or not to buy a product that has been flown halfway across the world.

    Adopting such a system here would benefit British food producers.

    Lynn Parker
    Ilkley, West Yorkshire

    SIR – Rick Stein should visit the farmers’ markets of Kent.

    Kevin, of Bessborough Farm, sells the tastiest Cox apples, along with other varieties. His raspberries and strawberries are also wonderful, as are his cherries and Victoria plums. He visits my village every Tuesday morning.

    Janet Milliken
    Capel le Ferne, Kent

    SIR – Our local fourth-generation fruit growers at Lathcoats Farm offer a fantastic selection of more than 40 varieties of English apple, some of which are also made into delicious juice, cider and sparking wine. All of this is for sale in their farm shop.

    Michele Matthews
    Little Baddow, Essex

    If people want tasty, locally-grown apples or other fruit, buy locally. The supermarkets do not, despite the letter above, sell stuff that nobosy wants, that would be crazy. So, plenty of people must be buying Golden Delisious or whatever.
    If you like the local, buy from the farm shop or from a local greengrocer who stocks the fruit – if they don’t, ask them to get some. We buy all fruit & veg from our local Turkish shop who have the most amazing selection at unbeatable quality and proce – and a lot of it comes from local producers, too (admittedly, the lemons, limes and mangoes have a bit further to travel…)
    EDIT: Also, if you want flavour, but in season. Out-of-season has travelled a long way and wasn’t ripened on the plant.

    1. Egremont Russet is also my absolute favourite apple. Since the supermarkets stopped selling it, I have bought a tree for my garden. I assumed that the reason they stopped selling it was because it isn’t a very heavy cropper – the tree has grown more slowly than a neighbouring Bramley, and was slower to start cropping. We got a good amount off it last year, but the apples varied a lot in size, another thing that supermarkets would probably hate.

      I don’t buy supermarket apples any more – they are all too sickly sweet and/or acidic for my taste. We have apples in season, from our own trees or those of friends. Occasionally I come across some mild, appley flavoured variety like Worcesters in a supermarket, but all the rest – Braeburn, Jonagold, Gala etc are frankly disgusting.

      1. I don’t buy them because on the whole they are too rotten to eat, I buy from the local shop where if you find a rotten one you can take it back and exchange it for a good one

    2. One of my favourite apples is the Egremont Russet. I bought myself a tree to add to my orchard, but I was very annoyed to find that when it finally fruited, there was no way it was a russet of any description. Too late to take it back, unfortunately. I shall have to try to find a space for another one and hope that this one isn’t mis-labelled. There is a little piece of information missing about the grubbing up of orchards; it was at the EU’s behest. We should start replanting (if they haven’t all been built over by now) and increasing the number of traditional or little known varieties.

      1. It was not “at the EU’s behest”. The EU part funded a scheme for those who wished to give up or reduce in all countries, but no one – no one at all – was in anyway obliged to take the offer. That the British government chose to advertise it and encourage take up was, as ever, the work of Westminster not Brussels.

        1. “The EU part funded a scheme for those who wished to give up or reduce in all countries”. If the EU was funding it (with our money, of course), then whether or not our government chose to encourage it (as good Europeans) or not, it was surely at the EU’s behest as the idea came from them.

          1. No. Although your response is exactly what I would have expected, you should have checked the meaning of the word.

            Since “behest” means an order or command it was not at the behest of anyone. It was a free choice.

          3. And there was an earlier one in 1991. But no one had to participate. The legislation simply specifies what those who took the payment had to do, and must not do within a certain period. There is not a word of anyone being commanded or ordered to remove an orchard.

            Still no “behest”.

            You are still barking up a tree that doesn’t exist.

    3. “The supermarkets” may not sell Russets, but Morrisons certainly do. I’ve bought them there for the last 10 years. Morrisons do quite a lot of local sourcing so varieties may vary up and down the country. They also sell only British fresh beef, lamb and pork, though they do sell imported in their frozen section. I’ve bought early season English apples in Sainsbury’s too (though I haven’t seen Russets – a late season apple – there for a few years).

      As in France all fruit and veg in UK supermarkets bears country of origin labelling (as it must), but most customers are too lazy to bother to look at it and sometimes you do have to be prepared to look for the small print.

      I’m a bit fussy about buying British veg, but I do like my citrus fruit and bananas so I have to settle for imports there.

    1. Morning TB.
      I like Alan Sugars Sugars statement.
      Posted by Grizz.
      Of course our government were not aware of a global pandemic and what it has done to Britain’s economy. Our working tax paying younger generation will be paying to cover the costs of this for the rest of their lives. But who is going to pay for the hundreds of thousands of people who have been considered worthy to arrive in this country with no hope of making a living and the many of them whom have never contributed a penny towards their keep and the many who never will ?
      What any British government really needs to understand is that it’s not their money, they dont have any money of their own. We pay them and let’s be perfectly frank, none of the ruling classes ever get anything into the correct order. Ever.
      That’s what our journalists should focus on.

      1. Exactly what I have said for years. Those coming want their ways/rules/laws/culture etc ( plus schooling, NHS, housing and the full infrastructure that WE have worked and paid taxes towards ) – in a country where they pay nothing towards it. At that rate of immigration – plus breeding here – we will be in the minority in less than 60 years. Thank God I won’t be around to see it.

        1. Not only that Walter they are attempting, and succeeding in many cases, to change the very culture they have arrived in. Into what they were so desperate to get away from.
          We are bending over backwards for them and to put it crudely being profoundly and constantly abused in the process.
          Not only that, the corporate sector is making millions out of providing homes for them and at the same time using up our dwindling country side and agricultural land in the process.
          And it stinks.

          1. Those homes provided – are paid for from our taxes.
            A repeat of a “School swap” program a few days ago showed some immigrant children from Brum area, travelling to a school in Tamworth? and trying to get the kids to interact. Immigrant families were invited to a meal at the white English parent’s houses and vice versa. The white English visitors were served a Halal meal. When the immigrant parents went to the white parent’s house they were served appropriate food. The English had bothered – the immigrant showed THEY didn’t. Their intention is clear, VERY clear.

          2. If you invite vegetarians or vegans to dine with you you will offer them vegetarian or vegan food; how often do vegetarians or vegans offer their guests meals containing meat or dairy products?

          5. We once had two leather armchairs and a three seater sofa for sale on Ebay.
            A man and woman from I think Luton arrived to view. She was looking through an eye slit and didn’t utter a word. The bearded one tried to half the asking price suggestion the furniture might be too large for the house. But, I suggested, perhaps you are the wrong person to be suggesting that the price should be halved. If the goods are not suitable.
            In other words get stuffed and they walked out without another word that I was familiar with.

  47. Good Moaning. Deep, cold frost. On the plus side, this means many garden pests will be zapped.

  48. Morning all.
    Give us all a break please…….Tony effing Blair wants to return to Britain’s political scene to try and restore (vindicate ?) his sagging (rubbish) reputation. Apparently He’s been having a word with Boros.
    Oh dear, I wonder what the confessional priests would love to tell us all about Mr (never knighted) AH Blair.
    We could start with his dodgy Iraq dealings. And so on……

      2. Blair’s carpets would resemble a mountain range.
        That’s probably why he was never invited to ‘take the knee’ at the palace.

        1. It was said that the Queen personally loathes him, for which I do not blame her. She, poor woman, had to put up with the Blairs staying with her every year, and being rude and mannerless.

          2. Hi BB2, Her Majesty has always had good taste and Prince Phillip is a very good judge of character. Good taste & character are two traits totally absent from the Blair clan.

    2. Perhaps he hopes to take part in returning the UK to the EU. Heseltine sounded the rallying call recently and the late posting on here last night showed Boris’s Brexit “Deal” has plenty in it to be used to achieve that aim.

  49. Made Oi larf:
    BTL

    10 Jan 2021 9:50AM
    Great news. Harry and Megan are coming off social media… I guess they can’t find the time now with 16 bathrooms to clean.

    I’m furious Netflix and Spotify use my money to fund these numpties.

    Lynn Hanson
    10 Jan 2021 10:03AM
    @Sune Larsen

    Then stop paying Netflix and Spotify… Unlike the BBC you have a choice.

    Bernard Jones
    10 Jan 2021 10:07AM
    @Sune Larsen

    I can hardly contain my indifference.

      1. We have no need for people like that ..

        In fact the Real Royals in the UK have been invisible for nearly a year now, and I have to say I am not really bothered by their absence ,

        The spoilt King in waiting has done untold damage by smothering the countryside around our County town with Trumpton style houses .

        1. When we passed by the outskirts last September I could scarcely believe my eyes, arising from the land, a bizarre sight of strange houses just plonked there, in no way sympathetic to its rural surroundings and its history.

        2. They’ll probably be filled with the people from your other post – bringing you diversity and multiculturalism.

      1. True. I had to laugh this morning. One of our group having a chat claimed “the vaccine will stop you dying”! Um, it would be truly amazing if it did.

  51. Police at Ringstead target suspected poachers

    A car, an air rifle and a dead rabbit have been seized after police swooped on a suspected poaching gang.

    The Dorset Police Rural Crime Team were conducting patrols as part of Operation Galileo when they came across a car at Ringstead last night and witnessed “suspected poaching offences”.

    A spokesman for the team said last night: “The vehicle has been seized, an air rifle has been seized and a deceased rabbit has been seized.

    “The men involved await interview for poaching, Covid breaches and traffic offences.”

    https://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/19000266.police-ringstead-target-suspected-poachers/

      1. Ooh argh and all that .

        I have mentioned before on here that the spirit of the hanging Judge Jeffries still lingers.
        Still very feudal here , howver , it is lambing time , and the baba’s are everywhere , and there be some folk who lift a few .

        But a dead rabbit, well really , that would make a nice meal for some one , I wonder what the cops did with it, of course it might have been a hare , and that is another story , and far more serious!

        Morning Anne.

        1. 328347+ up ticks
          Morning TB,
          To those of little trust in the current police, the Galileo
          operation was brought to a successful conclusion after many months of tracking this major crime syndicate
          unfortunately collateral damage took a hand in the death of bunny.
          These felons were taken from the streets & benches
          in accordance with the new order.

      3. Precisely. I’d pay the poachers to take as many of the bloody things as they could shoot.

        1. I have rabbits tattooed on the top of my head because from a distance they look like hares

    3. The swooping ‘old bill’ don’t seem to be on the ball so much when sheep are being stolen and processed by the road side.
      One rabbit is hardly a victory.
      Back in the day…..
      In south Oz Dave and Trevor and I would would shoot at least twenty each a night.
      But we had permission from the farmer at Bullocky Wells.
      French farm house rabbit is delicious.

    4. I did 250 miles yesterday on recoveries to Inverness and district, didn’t see one police car. Maybe too cold for them ?

  52. Whilst wishing everyone a good morning, I’m afraid that the message in my comment is anything but good!

    News from the US is very depressing, particularly because people are unable to form a balanced opinion because of a virtual blackout on news that is not left-wing and that doesn’t support the Dems.

    Here are some headlines today from the non-MSM:
    – New Video: Antifa Hands Out Weapons from Bag During Storming of US Capitol
    – Witness at Capital Called Crowd “Overwhelming, Peaceful, Beautiful Crowd” – Media Still Won’t Acknowledge Voter Fraud
    – Utah Activist John Sullivan Organized Antifa Protest Near US Capitol Before It Was Stormed — Tweeted About BLM Buses in DC on the 6th
    – Far Left Activist John Sullivan from Utah Who Was Arrested for Storming the US Capitol Is Released without Charges — Organized Antifa Event in Area at Same Time as “Stop the Steal” Rally!
    – MEDIA LIES… Capitol Police Officer NOT DEAD… Had Medical Emergency During Protest, Chief Resigns

    In other news: Mozilla, developer of the Firefox internet browser, has argued that more must be done to keep Donald Trump and other “bad actors” out of cyberspace, prompting many to vow to never use the group’s services again.

    Nancy Pelosi wants to impeach President Trump, and will formally introduce the articles of impeachment tomorrow, even at this late stage.

    Migrant caravans are already forming in S. America in anticipation of President Biden who promised to erase Trump’s tough approach to illegal immigration. (But I suppose that Biden sees them as future Dem voters)!

    It is theorized that the reason for the Dems’ irrational and extreme castigations against Trump, is that he might decide to release classified materials about the numerous illegal actions, over the last four years, of the Dems trying to overturn the 2016 election. (That is what CNN has been calling for, 24/7)!

    If 90% of all this information and all the videos and photos are forged, the remaining 10% ought to be sufficient to damn the Dems, and most of the MSM and social media, for eternity!

    1. 328347+ up ticks,
      Morning S,
      The biden chap seeing illegals as future
      party members / voters is merely copying
      the lab/lib/con/ coalition party, and the ongoing Dover potential troop / voter campaign.

    2. Mozilla forced their Chief Executive Brendan Eich to resign because he opposed gay “marriage.” They are fully paid up members of the left wing tyranny, constantly preaching freedom and doing their best to subvert it.

    3. Hi SGuest, I have been following events in the US quite closely over the last 18 months or so. It is as you say very depressing at the moment with the Leftist MSM and the big social tech companies now in total control. The way they have manipulated the news and attacked Trump over the last four years is incredible. The shear scale of their abuse of power, the amount of election fraud and the total hypocrisy continually shown by the Democrats is beyond comparison to anything else. They now have, or believe they do, total control and they are going to wreak revenge on anyone that supported Trump. He exposed just some of the swamp and it scared the sh1t out of them.
      Eventually they will screw up and things will improve but the next four to eight years are going to be bloody and violent and it will all be started by the Left.

        1. Taken through the double window – tried going outside, but the PC camera wouuldn’t show anything except white-out. Indoors, it was warmer, so it worked.
          Nice weather, if a tad chilly. Snow is about a foot deep.

    2. Don’t forget to wrap up as my mother use to say.

      It reminds me of a story I use to read to our boys at bed time……..From her little cottage window Mrs Downey Duck looked out, said oh what a frosty morning and what a lot of ice about…..

  54. 328347+ up ticks,
    Ordinarily I have nothing against cows and, as with sheep none should be blamed for human treachery ie the priti orrible politico wants I believe a better class hotels for our daily incoming guest’s & possibly compo if the potential troops, paedophiles, felons in waiting should inherit this type flu.

  55. 328347+ up ticks,
    May one ask, If the current police actions are taken as a benchmark of these governance party’s and there was a GE tomorrow would there be any difference in the voting pattern.

    1. An election tomorrow would be Covid safe, with votes cast online and changed electronically for whoever is the Schwab/Gates/Soros preferred candidate.

      1. 328347+ up ticks,
        Afternoon N,
        There is always choice, in this instance and with great reluctance a no vote would surely
        have to be the option of decent peoples.

        It worked for the referendum
        people power that is.

        To carry on the voting pattern in the same vein must eventually
        lead to 100% down on one knee submission or civil war.

        Also this voting pattern as it stands is building a legacy of disaster.

      2. 328347+ up ticks,
        Afternoon N,
        There is always choice, in this instance and with great reluctance a no vote would surely
        have to be the option of decent peoples.

        It worked for the referendum
        people power that is.

        To carry on the voting pattern in the same vein must eventually
        lead to 100% down on one knee submission or civil war.

        Also this voting pattern as it stands is building a legacy of disaster.

    3. You may ask but I think that you will be disappointed with the result – Scared of change, more of the same.

  56. The energy answer is not blowin’ in the wind

    The rush to ‘net zero’ will most harm those No 10 pledged to prioritise
    Dominic Lawson
    Sunday January 10 2021, 12.01am, The Sunday Times

    You think the government’s policies over Covid-19 have been confused and contradictory? Compared with those it is pursuing in the field of energy and industry, they have been a model of good sense and intellectual rigour. But while shortcomings in the former are revealed within weeks, in mortality figures, flaws in energy policy take years to emerge — by which time the politicians responsible have comfortably retired from the scene.

    But there are already straws in the wind. So to speak. Last week — as is not unusual in a British January — temperatures dropped below freezing, while wind speeds also dwindled. Result? To quote Tuesday’s edition of The Guardian: “Electricity market prices have surged tenfold in a day to reach a record high of £1,000 per megawatt hour … wind turbines come to a virtual standstill only weeks after setting a new generation record.” According to one trader quoted in the article, the UK “is at much greater risk of blackouts this winter than the National Grid has forecast”.

    It is wind power on which the government has staked this country’s energy future. Boris Johnson boasted absurdly that we would become the “Saudi Arabia of wind”, seemingly oblivious to the fact that the Saudis were enriched because they were able to export their oil globally and at vast profit margins. The effect of increasing our dependency on indigenous wind will only add to the likelihood of the sort of market panic we witnessed last week — and of blackouts.

    This was set out with painful clarity by the late government chief scientific adviser Professor David McKay in 2016, 11 days before his death: “Because time is getting thinner and thinner I should call a spade a spade … There is this appalling delusion people have that we can take this thing [renewables] and we can just scale it up and if there is a slight issue of it not adding up, we can just do energy efficiency. Humanity really does need to pay attention to arithmetic and the laws of physics.”

    There are also the laws of economics. When launching his 10-point plan for a “green industrial revolution” (there are always 10, because prime ministers think they are Moses) Johnson promised a “green recovery — with high-skilled, high paid jobs”, and even gave precise numbers: 60,000 new jobs in offshore wind, for example. As the Financial Times’s Jonathan Ford observed: “According to the … National Grid, the total cost … of getting to net-zero is of the order of a thumping £160bn a year over the next three decades. It is hard to imagine that this wouldn’t create some jobs along the way … But where are all these workers to come from? Most likely by diverting people from other, possibly more economically valuable pursuits.” Such as ones not subsidised by the taxpayer, or by energy users in the form of much higher bills — which is a form of impoverishment, not enrichment.

    The people who will suffer most from the government’s equivalent of the USSR’s five-year plans (which had about as much economic sense) are precisely those on whom it relied for its election victory in 2019 — and whose fortunes it has pledged to restore. Last week the think tank Onward, in a report signed off by two former ministers, one Labour and one Conservative, pointed out that of the “10 million jobs” threatened by the government’s commitment to excise UK CO2 emissions by 2050, far and away the greatest concentration were in the former red wall constituencies that had put their faith in Johnson.

    The report supported the net-zero plan wholeheartedly. It simply observed the result would be that “the industrial and manufacturing heartlands in the Midlands and the North are far more likely to experience economic disruption during the net-zero transition than the southeast and London … That many of these places were worst hit from the deindustrialisation of the 1980s and 1990s reinforces this problem.” I’ll say. Not so much “levelling up” but pushing back down and then stamping on its neck.

    British governments’ actions to date in adding more expensive non-fossil-fuel-based energy to the bills of industrial users have not only continued our deindustrialisation but have actually caused global emissions to increase, not decrease: the manufacturing has been outsourced, above all, to China, whose use of coal is more intensive than that of any European country. As Dieter Helm, the professor of energy policy at Oxford, puts it: “The story for the past 20 years is that in Europe we have been de-industrialising, and we’ve been swapping home production for imports, so even though it looks to the contrary, [our policies] have been increasing global warming.” Marvellous. Carry on, chaps. Just remember to turn the lights out as you leave. Assuming you could still afford to have them on in the first place.

    All this, to reduce the likely global temperature average by an almost immeasurably small amount — given that the UK’s emissions are only about 1% of the planet’s total, a proportion that in any case is falling as China’s and India’s grow unchecked.

    And will British governments remain Greta Thunberg-compliant when the voters realise what the policies mean to them personally? The fact that, ever since the fuel-price protests of 2000, no British chancellor has dared to reimpose the fuel price escalator tells us something about what happens when ideology encounters public resistance in a democracy.

    It might also explain another thing that happened (very quietly) last week. The government decided to permit development of the country’s first new deep coal mine for 30 years. The pit will be in the Cumbrian constituency of Copeland, one of those former Labour strongholds that switched from red to blue. Its MP, Trudy Harrison, is the PM’s parliamentary aide. The pit will create about 500 local jobs and provide the coking coal indispensable for the blast furnaces of what remains of the country’s steel industry in Scunthorpe and Port Talbot.

    Since the alternative would be to import the coal from, probably, Russia, or Australia, this is highly rational as well as politically expedient. The nearest Liberal Democrat MP, Tim Farron, complained: “It is disappointing yet unsurprising to see the Conservatives putting winning votes in marginal seats ahead of tackling the urgent and burning need to tackle the climate emergency.” Because, of course, the Liberal Democrats have always been known for their principled refusal to exploit local issues to retain parliamentary seats.

    Anyway, the government does seem committed to spending well over a trillion pounds to make the country less productive and therefore poorer, to no perceptible benefit in terms of the future global climate. Apart from that, it all seems very sensible.

    dominic.lawson@sunday-times.co.uk

    1. What that prat Farron si saying is ‘How dare the government put people before an agenda’.

      What a berk.

  57. Coronavirus latest news: NHS faces the ‘most dangerous situation’ in living memory, Chris Whitty warns

    It is not only the BLMers re-writing history, the NHS is at it as well

    I must have been asleep throughout the Cold War, not cruising across the oceans on a Nuclear capable warship

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War

    I am also pleased that in the 1950’s the friendly ‘spat’ between North and South Korea, came to a satisfactory result, without going
    to extra time,

      1. It may be a reference to the NHS but they were in line for annihilation as well as the rest of the UK during the Cold War, so I think they have faced more dangerous situations than this.

    2. H’mm …. admittedly I had other things on my mind at the time, but I seem to remember a very dodgy week in October, 1962.

  58. For the last time

    Lockdown is about the government exercising total control over the population

    It has very little to do with controlling Covid!!

    I wonder how the Woke History of UK will cover this era, in 2121

          1. Well, Number 1 is a wee-wee & Number 2 is the other, aka in German as ein großes Geschäft.

      2. I prefer:

        BOMB – Before Orange Man Bad
        A-BOMB – After…

        To them, 2016-2020 won’t exist come Biden’s inauguration. The electronic book burning and purging has already started.

  59. I shall not hold my breath waiting to see if this contribution appears in tomorrow’s DT Letters!

    Chez Rastus and Caroline,
    Dinan,
    France

    Sir,

    One of the great advantages of being an on-line subscriber to The Daily Telegraph is that it offers readers the facility to express their views. However, there are certain areas where The Daily Telegraph is clearly nervous of allowing this. Anything to do with race, religion, immigration, gender, sex, the Royal Family and the American presidential elections is now seemingly off bounds.

    If The Daily Telegraph is nervous of what its readers might say then surely it should offer a very clear disclaimer at the top of all its comments facilities stating that the views expressed by the contributors are not those of the paper’s editors. This would go some way to restore the paper’s readers’ faith in its commitment to free speech.

    Richard Tracey

    3. Somehow I doubt that they’ll have the stones to publish it. They certainly wouldn’t if you included ‘certain issues regarding the pandemic response’ or ‘any connection between Bill Gates and what is currently happening’ (especially after his ‘generous contribution’ in 2017).

      I was thinking of sending them a letter (email) questioning why the government felt the need to indeminfy the drug companies (as opposed to them using their own PI cover) for their vaccines, given they say they are certified safe. Then I thought ‘why bother’, given they censor such opinions in the comments feeds on a daily basis, as they do to stop readers presenting the facts about the US Presidential Election and what happened on Wednesday.

      Whether it’s worth writing to the Mail instead and specifically alleging censorship (in our opinion) at the Telegraph, I’m not sure. TBH I think that the Mail just prints any article that is sensationalist as clickbait, hence why they (within reason) don’t care what you type in their comments sections, as long as it isn’t a long, detailed (measured) response. They just want twitter-style rants and arguments.

    4. Richard if they don’t publish it – please post it BTL on the Letters Page tomorrow. If it’s one of the early comments I’m sure you will get dozens of likes.

    1. I don’t know who will be first but i will guarantee that politicians calling for change will be the first to pull their necks in as they scramble to read the tea leaves and further their careers.

    2. The problem one has is finding leaders who have credibility, and followers who cannot be attacked on social media, because you can bet your last cent that the MSM would be shutting and shouting them down.

      Take Nottle, not a representative sample I know, but I doubt there is a single regular poster who hasn’t blasphemed against the God of woke in some form or other, and you can guarantee the social media trawlers could find a career ending post.

        1. Possibly.
          But as followers, those are exactly the ones that the police find easiest to beat up and as leaders those are the ones easiest to find “shit” on.

          Quiet civil disobedience is the way. Things that really wind up the authorities and make life difficult for the woke.

          I think what it needs are the little acts of sabotage. The accidental toppling of woke products in the supermarkets. Pork products dropped in the halal section. Smuggling in Cadbury creme eggs that are full of dog shit,( but with warnings under the wrappers).

          The pulling of the emergency cords on transport because of supposed slights or mask wearing offences or accusing random strangers of homophobic/racist/sexist remarks.

          1. I used to delay paying my poll tax until I got a red, threatening letter. Not much, but every little helps to hammer home the point I was not happy.

  61. Afternoon, all. Have arrived early because it’s too cold to be out in the garden and there is precious little else to do that smacks of even the tiniest iota of human contact. Everybody I talk to (when I’m out walking the dog; these days, that’s the only conversation I get) sees the vaccine as the Holy Grail. I am perhaps the only sceptic in that regard, yet most of those who express an opinion agree that the lockdown didn’t work the first time and it won’t work this time; they are fed up to the back teeth and fear for the economy. They also mentioned that council tax will be going up 5% to help claw some of the money back. My view on that is that more and more people will be losing their jobs and so qualifying for housing benefit, which means they won’t be getting in what they think they will.

    1. People are fed up with being shut in here, too, Conwy.
      Crowds build up at ski centres, and car-parks where you can ski off into the countryside; folk are skating on the ice, and it’s not thick enough. Despite calls for “common sense”, more & more is happening.
      They just want out & for the authorities to stop telling them “no”. Authorities haven’t got the message yet.

      1. We are getting warnings about driving out onto the ice because the ice is still too thin.

        Honestly, how dumb can people be, there is still open water in most places.

      2. I was out for a long walk late this morning (it took me an hour for my hands to get warm, despite wearing ski gloves [admitedly cheapo ones from the local Factory shop]) and was absolutely staggered at the number of other people out and about – both in cars (more on the road than Friday), at the local supermarkets and going for wlaks themselves, especially at the local beauty spot areas – the car parks were jammed full.

        I think that many people say one thing publicly and do another in private or when they believe no-one’s looking/no police etc around.

        I’m personally rather fed up of the Police and their increasinlgy authoritarian tactics, with naive, spineless policticians just doing whatever the scientists want, despite none of them really knowing the full picture or caring what the implications are for our economic wellbeing (which could kill vastly more people) or mental health, never mind what could happen if the Chinese government think that the Western World is now weak and distracted enough for them to make their first of many ‘big moves’ in global domination.

        That the media is egging everything on to make the whole situation far worse rather than using their skills to help pull us back from the brink, is very worrying indeed. Especially when it appears many experienced journalists seem to have given up/bent the knee to the people behind the authoritarian moves/Agenda21-30/BuildbackBetter etc, as I showed earlier about many of the DT’s formerly decent columnists.

        1. It was very noticeable when I was walking the dog this morning how many people were out. Not just the usual suspects (three of my neighbours who regularly walk their dogs, one who goes for a run now the gym is closed and another neighbour who is often loading the car to take stuff to the tip), but people in twos and family groups and one chap who was swathed in a scarf in lieu of a mask telling the two of us in the group of three spread across the road, who weren’t wearing masks, that we’d both die from not wearing one!

          1. Whilst following my arboreal pursuits today I’ve noticed a lot of people walking past, including a couple from up the village I’d not seen for months!

          3. There were lots out and about here, too, though I did stay here. Yesterday when I went to the pharmacy, the town was busy in spite of all the small shops being closed.

            There were more walkers and dog walkers going past this morning than ever normally.

          4. There were lots out and about here, too, though I did stay here. Yesterday when I went to the pharmacy, the town was busy in spite of all the small shops being closed.

            There were more walkers and dog walkers going past this morning than ever normally.

    2. I’m not at all keen to have the vaccine, but I will accept it when it’s offered (hopefully not the Pfizer one) as it’s our only get out of jail card. I want to continue travelling as long as I can, and i think it will become a requirement for that.

      2. I’ll leave it as long as I can. After all, I’ve had the virus back in February last, so what’s the point of the vaccine? It’s supposed to gee up my T cells to fight it should they meet it. They’ve already done that and won.

      3. If forced to, I would only take a vaccine that was based on tried and tested tech, not any of the brand new, DNA-changing ones or any that have been backed by GAVI/Bill Gates or any authoritarian state.

        I am also looking at moving abroad to countries that aren’t going down the authoritarian route we are, preferably who aren’t going to force people to get vaccinated (at least until longer term testing is complete and its verified safe), whether directly or via indirect measures such as COVID passes/apps to be able to travel, go to sports/enetertainment venues, get a job, etc.

        1. It’s coercion which will get us complying. I’m not of an age or ability to up sticks and move somewhere else now.

          1. I need a new career first before I can up sticks. I’m not exactly a spring chicken myself. The problem is that all the original favourites for ones to move to have all one woke/authoritarian and will likely mandate the vaccine. Some will apparently even quarantine you indefinitely for non-compliance. Maybe I should identify as a woman and say I’m pregant. 🙂

      4. I do not think we will be allowed to move around the world in the manner and frequency to which we have become accustomed, Ndovu. I think it will be dangled as a carrot, or hinted at, to encourage vaccination, and then it will be removed. The freedoms we so thoughtlessly and quickly gave away in exchange for a mirage of security and safety will not be relinquished easily by those who govern, not without civil disobedience. It is being hinted at even now that vaccination will not gain a freedom pass.

        1. We can’t move around the world – – but the world can move around and come here. For the rest of their lives.

        2. I have a trip to Kenya booked for March, which I’ve paid for in full already – I think I will probably have to postpone it, especially as they are now saying returning people have to have a negative test before leaving the other country. Might be difficult to arrange in the bush. My passion is wildlife and photographing it and life at the moment is tedious in the extreme.

          2. Yes – but it’s a pain. Will have to rebook the flights as well. We already have to pay for a pre-flight PCR test before we fly.

          3. Out of curiosity, I’ve just taken a little peek to see what Google made of my colloquial German comment:
            You can put your make-up on the trip to Kenya, I think.

            It actually means: You can Forget the trip to Kenya, I think.

            So much for Google Translate.

          4. I won’t be forgetting it as I’ve already paid in full – but it may not take place in March.

          5. Further, I’ve just run Er hat einen toten Vogel in der Tasche through GT. It comes out as: he has a dead bird in his pocket, whereas it really means: he’s just farted.

      5. I tend to agree with poppiesmum. I understand your desire to carry on travelling, but we are just playing into their hands if we do that. Having said that, I may have to get the vaccine against my wishes if they ban people from travelling, in order to visit vulnerable family members.

        1. Who knows how long we have left to live? I just want to make the most of it, and at the moment we are just existing, not living.

          1. My view exactly. There are things I want to do and places I want to see. I just think if I’m injected with some concoction of an untried and untested genome project I may not be able to achieve that.

          2. I understand your point of view completely, and hope that you’ll be able to go on holiday this year – and many more.

    3. All tax rises create unemployment. The higher the tax hike, the higher the unemployment.

      More people are unemployed, more people claim council tax relief, more people can’t afford it…. and so on into a vicious cycle. Council tax is already offensively high.

      1. I agree, which is why I argued when we set the precept for the minimum percentage rise to cover our existing Parish Council commitments. Alas I was a lone voice crying in the wilderness. The rest of the council wouldn’t even reduce what they’d set their hearts on by 1%.

    4. After dropping a 8″ diameter elm tree that appeared to be shewing early signs of Dutch elm on Friday, I had a run into Matlock yesterday morning and spent the rest of the day and today dealing with it and getting a start made taking out a load of ash saplings that have definite signs of die-back.

      Using the el cheapo Chop Saw I got from Lidl, I’ve been making short shrift of the thinner limbs, from about thumb diameter up to a couple of inches, and filling a load of mushroom trays ready for next winter.

      The larger diameter logs I’ve stacked out of the way and will be leaving them until at least next year before I log & chop them to go on the fire the year after.

      1. That’s the beauty of burning wood; it keeps you warm twice – once when you cut it and then again when you burn it 🙂

          2. In my case I even get a little bit of extra warmth and exercise walking the wheelbarrow up to the log piles and bringing wood back.

        2. Once when you fell the tree.
          Then:-
          When you cut it for storage
          Then, a year or two later, when you cut it to stove or fire lengths
          Then when you chop it
          Then when you stack it
          And only THEN when you burn it!

  62. If “What’s My Line?” was still on TV, I wonder what the panelists would make of this very attractive 32-year-old, Olfa Hamdi.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1695277e85826034e15a5dbb4d5b373a055a0a1e075c6dd9b57cb73edf48dc2a.png

    I doubt if they would ever guess that she is the CEO of a national airline with 29 aircraft in its fleet, appointed this week. Unfortunately the airline has suffered badly because of the downturn in tourism in recent years. The airline is Tunisair, founded in 1948, with such a good safety record that it is ranked as one of the safest airlines in the world

    Her credentials are that she is an American-trained engineer, inventor, and Silicon Valley entrepreneur and founder and CEO of Concord Project Technologies.

    EDIT: Perhaps I should declare an interest. My travel records show that I have flown on Tunisair 429 times out of a total of 3,154 flights!

  63. Curious Questions: Why have our oak trees produced so many acorns in 2020?

    https://www.countrylife.co.uk/nature/curious-questions-why-have-our-oak-trees-produced-so-many-acorns-in-2020-220900

    I have been surprised by how many fallen acorns and sweet chestnuts with their green spiky cases have littered the tracks, adding an extra dimension to the soundtrack of my walk. The gentle thuds as they hit the ground are intermingled with the sharp, intensely satisfying cracks, as their casings split under the weight of my boot. Is this apparent abundance of nuts, sufficient to satisfy even the most voracious army of frugivores, normal or yet another unusual feature of the year that was 2020?

    The technical term for the nuts and fruits that our woodland trees produce is mast, derived from the Old English word ‘mæst’, which was used to describe nuts that had accumulated on the ground and then foraged by domestic pigs.

    There are two forms of mast; hard, like acorns and beech nuts, and soft, like catkins and rose hips. By extension, the term mast year is used to describe a year when our woodland trees produce bumper crops of fruit. They occur infrequently, 2013 being the last for oaks, but 2020 looks as though it will be another one. Our forefathers, whose livelihood and well-being were interlinked with the successful fattening of their livestock, were acutely attuned to the peaks and troughs of mast production. However, to this day its mysteries are still not fully understood.

    Trees on farmland near Spennithorne, Wensleydale, Yorkshire Dales. The tree in the foreground is oak.. Image shot 05/2010. Exact date unknown.

    An acorn is how an oak propagates itself, each nut containing usually just one seed, enclosed in a tough leathery shell, sitting inside a cup-shaped cupule. If the seed germinates, it pushes out a taproot that will anchor the tree for the duration of its existence. The problem, though, is that each seed is full of energy-rich starch, which, while designed to give the seedling its first vital nutrients, presents an irresistible snack for the squirrels, beetles, jays, and the occasional deer that make the wood their home. If the tree is to improve its seeds’ chances of survival, a clever strategy is to overproduce so that there are more acorns than the hungry foragers could possibly devour.

    For the oak over production brings a further benefit. Adult trees can grow up to 45 metres tall and spread almost as wide and can take up to seven hundred years to reach old age. Its longevity and size mean that it needs to ensure that its seeds travel some distance away. When there is an abundance of acorns, squirrels will obligingly carry them away and bury them rather than eat them immediately, thereby increasing the range over which the seeds are dispersed. The seed only needs to fall into the hands of an amnesiac squirrel or one that falls into the clutches of its own predator to increase its chance of survival. An oak will not start to produce acorns until it is around 50 years old and, over the span of its lifetime, will produce around ten million of them. Even so, precious few make it even to the sapling stage.

    Producing a bumper crop of acorns comes at some cost to the tree, making significant inroads into its store of sugars and starch. To replenish its store of starches, the oak needs a period of recuperation, forcing it to concentrate on less demanding activities, such as increasing its production of leaves and wood. If 2021 follows the precedent of 2014, then acorns are likely to be thin on the ground. While the branches of oaks were bowing under the weight of their crops of acorns in 2013, the following year the Forestry Commission were reporting that there were barely any.

    “That 2020 is a mast year is a reason to celebrate, a welcome relief from the doom and gloom”
    As well as providing the oak with a well-earned rest, the masting cycle also has an impact on the population of those creatures that feast on acorns. Although a mast year will mean that predator populations increase, a run of lean years will put pressure on numbers so that by the time the next mast year occurs, there are fewer predators to eat the seeds, thereby further enhancing the chances of the seeds germinating. Clever, really.

    It is still a matter of some debate as to why mast years occur precisely when they do and why all the trees seem to synchronise their behaviour. One theory is that weather conditions have an important part to play in the process. A cold spell during spring will freeze the tree’s flowers, upon whose pollination it depends to produce acorns. Similarly, a dry summer will kill the developing seeds and force the oak to close the pores in their leaves to conserve water, reducing its ability to make carbon dioxide for photosynthesis. This spring was dry and warm and the summer wet, ideal conditions for the oak to develop its crop of acorns. As all the trees in a particular area experience the same weather conditions, it makes sense that these climatic triggers will influence their behaviour in the same way.

    Intriguingly, some scientists think that the trees may synchronise the mass production of fruits by releasing some form of chemical signal, as they do to kick start defensive mechanisms when neighbouring species are damaged. Whatever the reason, our local frugivores have had a bumper crop of acorns to feast on and, who knows, some seeds might even survive to produce the next generation of the mighty oak, that most distinctive and ancient symbol of our woodlands. Let us hope so.

    That 2020 is a mast year is a reason to celebrate, a welcome relief from the doom and gloom that has accompanied much that has occurred in this most unusual of years.

    1. “…….green spiky cases”

      Don’t like the sound of that, Maggie. Are you sure they are sweet chestnuts and not Chinese viruses?
      ;¬)

      1. There are strong similarities DM.

        Why are all / most spiky creatures apart from hedgehogs of course , quite threatening .. Caterpillars in particular ..

        I wonder whether the Covid virus is really the spiky little monster that we are being led to believe it looks like ?

    2. If all trees go into hyperproduction of acorns, then the squirrels will have lots to bury. If only one tree did it, then there would be few to bury and they’s be eaten, not abandoned as there are more than enough.
      So, by synchronising, each tree increases it’s chance of having its acorns taken away and allowed to germinate.

      1. Add that bumper years are largely triggered by the preceding weather conditions and it means that they all have the same influences in any given area.

        I do wish that countryside articles didn’t so frequently include egregious errors though. I mean to say:

        If the seed germinates, it pushes out a taproot that will anchor the tree for the duration of its existence

        Is a piece of absolute nonsense. Whilst the oak does make a taproot it is no more than a metre or two long and as an “anchor” it is useless once the seedling is a couple of feet high. It is the long lateral roots, which usually spread rather wider than the branches, which not only absorb water and nutrients but provide the tree with its anchorage.

      1. The phenomenon of heavy mast years is well known. It almost certainly triggered by a) the tree being healthy b) the weather during the preceding year or even two years – leaving the tree with extra energy available to produce a bumper crop. The tree which doesn’t produce heavily along with all its neighbours is probably suffering some ailment, or is deteriorating due to old age. Even oaks eventually outlive their strength.

  64. Here’s another thing to worry about with a Biden presidency. The so-called government in Tripoli is under the thumb of the Muslim Brotherhood, backed by Turkey (one of the principal supporters of the MB). Turkey has thousands of troops in western Libya and has sent further thousands of Syrian mercenaries there.

    The Tripoli Interior Minister is pleased that Biden will be President because he is expecting Biden to support this ‘government’. It should be remembered that Obama and Clinton supported the MB, including entertaining some of its senior members in the White House. Obama’s ambassador in Cairo, Anne Patterson, blatantly betrayed her diplomatic independence to support the MB when Morsi came to power in 2012, mercifully only for a short time.

    The MB is a terrorist organisation, banned in several countries but is allowed to operate with impunity in the UK, to its shame, I’m sorry to say. And there was I thinking that an anti-terrorist, Conservative government had been elected in 2019!

    1. 328347+ up ticks,
      O2O,
      Gerard to be nearer the truth please replace “enemies” in your post with “enemas” much more descriptive in today’s political climate.

      1. 328347+ up ticks,
        Morning W,
        Very sad to say via the ballot booth the electorate tax payers are condoning it,

      2. 328347+ up ticks,
        Morning W,
        Very sad to say via the ballot booth the electorate tax payers are condoning it,

    3. If she’d lay on the bench and said she was homeless and as a white woman she wasn’t entitled to be put in a hotel with free everything . . . . . .?

      1. If she’d lay on the bench and said she was homeless (sic) she would be done for soliciting.

    4. No! democracy means more than that. It means the power rests with the people. It means if the government can be stopped entirely by the public will. It means that is they pass a law we don’t like, we block it. If they have passed a law we don’t like, we can undo it.

      It means if a minister starts disobeying his masters, he gets the sack – permanently. It means absolute power rests with the people. Not with the state edifice.

      2. 328347+ up ticks,
        Afternoon W,
        I know that & you know that ,I have posted time & again if people power, as has been proven, can get us and keep us in deep sh!te for decades I do believe peoples power can get us OUT.

        First the ovis must be convinced that concerning
        the lab/lib/con coalition the Stockholm syndrome mode of voting is a NO NO.

      3. Stig keeps telling us that it is not in the British nature to rise-up against tyranny. I think that a major rethink is on the cards.

    3. It gives Oral a different meaning

      Why are they advertising this sickly disgusting confection in this fashion, it is horrifying , and such bad taste, ‘scuse the pun .

    4. If they’re enjoying oral with a Cadbury’s Creme Egg what on earth are they going to do next with a Flake?

      1. There was TV prog about Cadbury’s a few days ago, in which the actress who did the first Flake advert said she knew it was extremely suggestive at the time but managed to keep a straight face, so to speak.

      1. Reminds me of a German joke.

        A prostitute consulted a gynaecologist because she was experiencing pain in her nether parts. Upon in-depth examination he found a single noisette wrapper, which he reported to her.

        “Ha!” she said, “Die Jungs haben sich reichlich bedient!”

        Who said the Germans have no sense of humour?

    7. Vomit-inducing! What on earth were they thinking of?? I can’t think of a better way to kill sales.

    8. Yuk Rik. Really a million yuks. That is truly disgusting. I hope they lose sales with an advert like that.

    9. Just disgusting. Being gay isn’t normal. It’s a choice freely made by consenting adults, but putting your privates up someone’s backside is not normal.

        1. It is, in fact, well within the normal spectrum of behaviour as recorded in humans (and some other species) over thousands of years.

  71. Donald Trump is guilty of treason: political violence in a democracy is never justifiable. 10 January 2021.

    Insurrection, like treason, might seem a strong word, but it is hard to think of how else to describe an attempt to overturn a democratic election. In the run-up to the violence, an Arizona Republican leader called Kelli Ward started using the hashtag #CrossTheRubicon to rally other Trumpsters against certifying the poll. It was a telling phrase. The crossing of the Rubicon river was the moment when Julius Caesar violated the fundamental laws of the Roman Republic, bringing armed force against the Senate to establish himself as a dictator. America’s Founding Fathers were obsessed with that period, and were determined to establish guarantees against similar “Caesarism” in their new country. Donald Trump was precisely the kind of menace they had in mind.

    Strange how the word insurrection never comes up when the Remainers tried (and are still doing so) to overturn the Brexit referendum. As to Caesar; a populist, he was faced as is Trump, by a hostile legislature in the service of the Elites who would have taken his life without a qualm. He crossed the Rubicon and won. We will live to regret that Trump did not do the same!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/01/10/donald-trump-guilty-treason-political-violence-democracy-never/

    1. How quickly they forget history.

      It’s alright when they do it, but not when the other side do. Their hypocrisy is staggering. As it is, the simplest response would be to call a recount. However, Biden didn’t.

  75. Enjoy Peeps……………

    Dr Stephen Malthouse blows the lid off it all. https://rumble.com/vcesav-brave-reporter-goes-off-script-on-air.html

    And other very interesting items.
    https://welovetrump.com/2021/01/09/fbi-file-dump-nancy-pelosis-brother-charged-with-raping-underage-girls/

    https://welovetrump.com/2021/01/09/gen-mcinerny-says-special-ops-got-pelosis-laptop-this-is-high-treason/

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwtbK5XXAMk&feature=emb_logo

    And has it all been one massive lie ? https://www.bitchute.com/video/tcph98yHQyDK/

        1. I doubt that any modern audience really understands Dad’s Army. It’s target audience in 1968 was the middle aged, the 40 to 60yos. By 1968 it was well understood that their Generals handled it better in 1940 they could fairly easily have invaded successfully in 1940. Sealion was not the way to do it. British land defences in early June 1940 were astonishingly weak and to fend off German infiltration the Home Guard would have had to perform, in battle, against 1st class troops. The backbone of the Home Guard were veterans of the 1918 Army, arguably the best Army Britain ever put in the field. That is why Corporal Jones was so funny, they were absolutely nothing like that, and the audience of 1968 fully understood that. As an aside, the veterans of 1918 were deeply unimpressed with the BEF, and feared for them from the start.

          1. My father in law who in WW2 was captured in Belgium and made to walk most of the way to a prison camp in Poland hated it.

          2. I have the deepest sympathy for the men of the BEF. They were led by a high command who fervently believed that tanks would play no important part in the next war and planned for absolutely nothing other than trench warfare. The middle ranks had been trained to such a poor standard that they were entirely naive tactically. Everything learned up to and including the Battle of Amien had been forgotten. The training was so poor that they would have struggled to survive 1914, and would have been completely lost in the battles of 1918. Kasselschlact, concentration of armour and all the stuff the Germans down to NCOs knew so well, the BEF had been taught nothing of it.

          3. My F i L never fired a single shot.
            Some his fellows from the DLI were captured by the SS lined up and shot with out any mercy.
            A lot of his fellows died on the way to Poland.
            He was fortunate in many ways at least he came home.

          4. Fortunately for us, Hitler was on their side, convinced he could run a war, both strategically and tactically, better than professional soldiers. Having railed against fighting on two fronts, he opens a second front. Then declares war on the US – what kind of stupid was that? interfered in tank design, supplies to the troops… beggars belief.

          5. As late as the Battle of Kursk, which was a good plan until Hitler delayed it and delayed it so long that it wasn’t, had Hitler allowed ‘Plan Manstein’ they might still have won in Russia.

            Plan Manstein: The night before the battle starts, reduce the ‘main’ attacks on the two corners to feints, move the bulk of the armour to the centre of the salient. The initial attacks were going to be primarily infantry anyway, and there were excellent roads around the salient. Wait until the defence is properly committed defending the corners then punch through the lightly defended centre full weight to 20Kms behind the salient box then turn north and south, encircling the entire salient. One reason Hitler wouldn’t have it was because it wouldn’t use his Ferdinand tanks that he held up the battle for so long for, and turned out to be completely useless.

            The Russians had 40% of their artillery in the salient and 60% of their armour. Moscow, is only 200 miles from Orel, the northern corner and would have been completely undefended.

          2. There were as I posted just after it started. But I didn’t notice any. Perhaps I have immunity. 😉
            But it was ethnically and diversity sensitive, black and white.

    4. What have the Vikings ever done for us?

      Apart from Danegeld I can’t think of anything.

    1. It’s odd how, despite all the references to fascism being supported and endrsed by big state, communist/socialist organisations the articles insist on calling it right wing. It’s as if doublethink is real!

    2. And between these two elements they are wrecking the planet. and millions of people’s lives.

    2. Well we can all remember the rhyme we used at primary school for snitchers

      Tell tale tit
      Your tongue shall split
      And all the little puppy dogs
      Shall have alittle bit .

      I was flagged and my comment removed from CW.. what on earth have I said which warranted flagging ?

      1. It’s a reference to the Norniron Cake Shop that refused to put a Rainbow message on a cake for a gay couple, and were fined for it.

          1. The current passion for all things non-heterosexual has revealed a deeply nasty side to the Gay world. They used to be lovely blokes, sadly no more for many of them.

          3. That was the term Paul Johnson used to describe them when he wrote in the Spectator 25 years ago.

          4. The sad thing is that homosexuals have changed.

            When I was a young man one of my best friends was a homosexual. He was very good looking, immaculately dressed, charming, funny, generous and sophisticated. He was also a very talented musician who was an organ scholar and played the organ in local church. He was neither proud nor ashamed of his sexuality. He died of AIDS before it was known how to treat it.

            You do not hear much of homosexuals like my friend nowadays – you only hear of those with a grievance against the world who are always demanding their ‘rights’.

          5. Yes, I played football in Sarf Lunnon and gay blokes were on the team, they didn’t hide, they cordially disliked each, they were good and reliable friends. No one had a problem with them.

          6. That is the problem. The vast majority of the population just gets on with their lives. How many women do the Feminazis represent?

          9. the likes of your friend still exist, they just dont see the need for flashing neon signs advertising their lifestyle.

            There is quite a sizeable gay community around where I live but honestly until you meet their partners, you couldnt tell and once you meet them, it doesn’t matter.

          11. Most of them still are – it’s the vocal minority (isn’t it always) who are stirring.

          12. The trouble is, the vociferous crew make life more difficult for those who just want to get on with life and be left alone.

          14. If they all just shut-up and get on with their lives, we will get on with ours and ignore their peccadilloes as we always did.

            The same with BLM – by their shouting we are turned against them

          15. A militant bunch of idiots suddenly think they are special because rather than ignoring them, some tiny minority of Lefties pandered to them. In short, a small number of spoiled brats were over indulged and have ruined it for the remainder.

      2. Christian bakers must bake the cake for gays, trannies etc because freedom of speech. The fact that they are a private business is irrelevant apparently.

        But if you’re Twitter you’re entirely free to delete Tweets and user accounts because you’re a private entity and no one can force you to propagate speech you don’t agree with.

        However there are many bakers in the world and if one won’t bake your cake another one probably will. But there is only one Twitter and there can only be one such entity really – due to network effects. So many people might think that perhaps Twitter should be held to a higher standard than bakers or at least the same standard.

    2. Ah, but that’s different.

      The Left hate Trump and don’t see a problem with not serving him.

      The Left love gays and hate Christians, tradition and decency and want to force them to obey.

      You see? To the Left wing mind completely different.

  82. Mods.

    I have accidentally flagged a post by walter, the one that should have been flagged is the reply to his post.

    It appears that blocking a user means that it can’t be flagged as spam after doing so, but defaults to the post above

    1. No worries – I’ve zapped a lot of them this morning – just flag them rather than blocking as well – flagging as spam sends them to the spam box on the mod panel. Then they can be dealt with.

  84. That’s me for this 10th December…

    I have to catch up on The Critic – good stuff in the winter double issue.

    A demain.

  86. bbc radio news – mosque staying open – under social distancing rules of course. Wonder if the local cops will be going in to check on numbers?

    1. A friend in South Yorks sent me the above on a text. Can’t find any mention on the bbc news site.

  87. Afternoon all.

    Don’t know if anyone has posted about this before but Carrie Symonds’ mother has “joined” no. 11 Downing Street and “made a bubble” with the young family. How can you just join like that? Or is it one for the us and one rule for them? As usual.

    1. Mother in law moved in with us before Christmas. Apaprently she didn’t want to live in communist Wales.

      And, being a ‘frail’ old lady, both of us working during the day (sort of) and Junior needing to be taught his lessons (and, to be fair his school has tried really hard to get his group the teaching) having her down isn’t too bad.

    3. Perhaps they cannot afford a nanny?

      Boris has made such a complicated life for himself , and I suspect CS’s mother is nearly the same age as Boris, is her mother divorced?

      1. “Perhaps they can not afford a nanny?” You’re avin a larf Belle aren’t you? And I seem to remember reading that the mother is unmarried.

    4. No it’s the same rule for everyone and has been in place for quite a while. Anyone who is single may join with one other household for help and support if they need to do so. The “bubble” is exclusive so no other household may be involved. In addition to this a household with an infant may join with one other household for the purpose of childcare. Since Ms Symonds is single and young Wilfred is an infant both halves of this “bubble” meet the same criteria as would be valid in any other family.

  88. I’ve reset the spambot just now as we have quite an attack going at the moment – so you may find some of your posts with links held up in pending.

    1. Thanks, N. Have been out / in the car much of the day, will get my flit gun out now I’m home!

        1. I just followed through some of the other sites these spammers are attacking, interesting reading in most cases.

          1. Mostly fairly right-leaning I’d guess. My feeling is that as these are old accounts with few comments, they’ve been hacked and taken over by these bots.

          2. I do check the comment history, fearful that a valid account has been compromised. Could there be a disqus insider feeding the disused account information to the hacker?

            It certainly set me up for breakfast though – ban, ban, ban … I felt like I was a mod on the old DT letters comments.

      1. Indeed. A more interesting point is whether he is impeached. As I now understand it, impeachment can apply to former presidents and it results in the loss of various rights and the ability to run for president ever again.

        1. I am no fan of Trump, but shouldn’t the Democrats be taking the opportunity to start healing the divisions in US politics? This impeachment process could well be viewed as vindictiveness rather than justice.

          1. I agree. Things like this are a difficult call because law breaking shouldn’t normally be ignored, but…

        2. It would be poetic justice if his intervention in the Georgia run-offs allowed that to happen. And I believe that the Democrats are sufficiently vindictive to attempt it.
          On their own heads be it, if they trigger civil war 2.

          1. I appreciate the need for the ability to impeach sitting presidents, but I also think it’s a bad sign that the use of impeachment proceedings has increased in recent years. I’m a great believer in democracy and voting out bad leaders, whilst also accepting election results.

          2. Trump’s impeachment was revenge for Bill, the predator, Clinton, nothing more nothing less.

            Our politics is bad enough, the USA has become the swamp that Trump claimed to be fighting but has actually deepened.

          3. The resort to law instead of the ballot box can only harm government. Look at the legal shenanigans after Brexit vote, tying the government’s hands and causing untold damage to the faith in democracy. The Dems followed suit, and look what happens.

    1. I was just reading the Wikipedia entry for one Dr J Göbbels yesterday… apparently it was he who said that originally.

    2. Apparently quite a few of the DT’s letter writers are already believing so. Of course, we have no idea how many are not having their letters published because they espouse views contrary to the DT’s agenda/narrative, especially on Trump and the pandemic.

      1. I used to have so many letters published in the DT that I even received a Christmas card from the DT Letters’ Department.

        I think that my letters are no longer published because the DT has moved to the Left rather than that I have moved to the right.

          1. I was once even asked to submit a letter under a different name as they had published two of my letters the previous week and they did not want people to think my letters were being given favourable consideration. It makes me think of Sir Thomas Wyatt’s poem: They flee from me that sometime did me seek!

          2. Same with Matthew Biddlecombe. Since the Barcalys and Evans took over the reins, this all ceased within a relatively short time.

  92. Starmer talking over a table this morning to Marr. Neither wearing a mask. Hancock telling us not to flex the rules. What does he mean? The threats against the public are getting more vicious – i,e don’t hesitate to hand out spot fines – advice to the police. We will be getting tazered next for minor breeches. Boris and Hancock are digging their own political graves.

    3. The other day I watched the recording of a radio interview in France. Everyone was wearing a mask, even though they were sitting at least 2 metres (it was on the continent, after all) away from each other.

      1. Probably from being returned ( claim facing persecution for the crimes they have ( DELIBERATELY ) committed here ). Familes will have already been phoned to get ready.

    2. They should be presented with a fine notice on the beach and told they will be deported immediately if they do not pay it within the hour . The police could show a bit of generosity of spirit by saying bonjour, bonjour, bonjour as they arrive but having cans of petrol handy to fill up their outboard engines’ tanks before saying adieu, adieu, adieu.

      1. Great idea – realy like it. Can’t see it being used though, mores the pity.They always seem to have cash to pay the traffickers – then expect the UK taxpayer to fund their lives for evermore.

        1. I asked my wife, a very good linguist, if a French policeman would say: “Bonjour, bonjour, bonjour. Quoi avons-nous ici puis?”

          Her reply was a contemptuous look.

    3. They should be presented with a fine notice on the beach and told they will be deported immediately if they do not pay it within the hour . The police could show a bit of generosity of spirit by saying bonjour, bonjour, bonjour as they arrive but having cans of petrol handy to fill up their outboard engines’ tanks before saying adieu, adieu, adieu.

    1. A. They haven’t really recovered.
      B. Anyone in China who recovers is killed as a dissident.
      C. They do have a vaccine, but it kills people who have covid.

      2. A similar thing to crop spraying, I reckon some one seeded the cloud/ sprayed us/ contaminated us, and now we are on our knees , someone had another bash and introduced an even more lethal spore.

        1. Strange you should say that TB.
          My learned internet friend who seems to be perminately on the ball. Posted a link about two weeks ago regarding an aircraft that apparently took off from either Belgium or the Netherlands and flew over the south east of England for around an hour then turned around and disappeared.
          Her comments and the links were removed from public view. She tried several times to reinstate it but it was banned from the public domain.
          I won’t bother her now, but I’ll see what she has to say tomorrow and let you know what she thinks happened.

    2. A. They haven’t really recovered.
      B. Anyone in China who recovers is killed as a dissident.
      C. They do have a vaccine, but it kills people who have covid.

    3. They have a vaccine that Canada paid for, luckily China reneged on the deal Trudeau made so we don’t have to take it.

    1. This may require the nuclear option (metaphorically speaking, Polly) but here’s hoping it is either up the sleeve or in the hat, eventually to be…… in the bag.

    2. I really worry that you are going to be disappointed. As always, the politicians around him are looking out for themselves and now they see that they can benefit by distancing themselves from him.

      He failed to break up the old boys cartel, now they are now talking about impeachment purely to stop him running again so he will not have 2024 as an option.

    3. Pelosi’s laptop? Its about the only thing that might sway the result and even then the swamp do not care if anything is proven. The truth is what they say it is in the post-modern world.

    4. It must be obvious to any unbiased observer that President Trump, Secretary Pompeo and Rudi Giuliani and his team are a lot brighter than Pelosi’s mob of dishonest miscreants.

      It is not at all surprising that Republicans who disfavour Trump wish to keep good relations with the Swamp into which they have been subsumed given the marble halls they now inhabit, the cudos and potential financial benefits of being in the club. Sod their constituents, languishing in poverty, they are all right.

      It is much the same in the UK where after election the moronic MPs enjoy the benefits and make good use of the special London Club and lavish expenses and forget about the constituents they are elected to represent. We witnessed the dichotomy they were faced with when Remainer MPs ignored their constituents who had voted to Leave.

  100. Well one bit of good to come out of Trump’s loss, is that it has moved this forum away from being an echo chamber.

        1. Trolls are very adaptable, they move from one subject to another. Now Brexit has come to some form of a conclusion, at least for a while, they find something else to occupy their time.

        2. Now it appears that we have 5 regularly trolling.
          I can see why Garlands got out of this. Nil iligitimi carborundum. I might not have spelt that correctly but we all know what it means.
          They sneak in under the radar, not atracting too much attention to start with, strike up ‘friendships’, poke around a bit and then relentlessly unload their huge volume of the practiced determined inventory of social indifference on everyone.
          Blocking is surely the best answer.

          1. Unless it is a spambot, never block.

            Ignore them, by all means, but if you feel strongly enough, reply.
            Unlikely as it may seem, I’ve often read pieces from “Trolls” that have made me look at things from a different angle.

            They were still wrong, but at least they made me think about the subject again.

          2. Could we send you to the US please? They need everyone to start looking at what they see and consider the other point of view.

            I don’t care if left or right end up changing most, as long as there is some move towards common ground.

          10. You have spent the last hour going through todays comments, posting derogatory remarks against everyone who does not agree with you.

            Time to stop.

          11. I have just replyed to people, they are not meant to be derogatory. Can we not speak our mind.?

  101. When Aung San Suu Kyi was kept under house arrest in Myanmar for around fifteen years in the period up until 2010 there was an international outcry. The MSM and the social justice warriors of the Guardian and Islington were very vociferous about the iniquity of it. They could not condemn it enough.
    Now when it happens here, when the entire country is held under house arrest with no sensible justification, not only is it not condemned, they all want more of it.

      1. Much harm has been done, how on earth canyou say “no harm done” You need to go back to your room and think about others not just youself.

        4. Again: I suggest you see your GP and ask if they can reverse your sense of humour bypass. Probably not, it might be congenital.

          3. Often difficult to get acorss on the interweb as text. Misinterpretation can be common unless the person is VERY well known as a joker.

        1. I suggest you see your GP and ask if they can reverse your sense of humour bypass. Probably not, it might be congenital.

      3. Tell that to all those who will lose their jobs because they can’t go to work and/or their firm has laid them off because clients are having to furlough workers, and for what, something that has only killed about 400 healthy people under 60. I have no problem in protecting the already sick and vulnerable, but surely it isn’t beyond the wit of man to be able to keep everyone else working as usual?

        The long term ramifications for the nation, as well as our physical and mental well-being are huge.

        1. Again again: I suggest you see your GP and ask if they can reverse your sense of humour bypass. Probably not, it might be congenital.

          1. Maybe if you’d changed out ‘ordinary people’ for ‘plebs’ or ‘serfs’, it might’ve been easier to spot as a joke. A lot of npeople actually mean what you were saying as serious. I’m glad you didn’t, but give a bit more of a hint next time. 🙂

  102. Michael Gove’s daughter has an article in the Daily Mail, no comments allowed underneath.
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-9129721/Telling-exams-scrapped-final-straw-says-level-student-BEATRICE-GOVE.html

    I feel that if she is prepared to stick her neck out for the goodies that come with her privileged position (I doubt the article was written for free), she should also get to hear the opinions of the common herd.
    Judging by the article, they would be pretty evenly split between “Nepotism sucks”, “Well why don’t you tell your Dad to vote against Lockdown?” and “OMG poor kid looks exactly like her Dad”

        1. With luck she would have been evacuated to a peasant’s cottage in the back of beyond – with outside privy, no bath, no hot water – just a cold water pump in the scullery.

          And made to work on the land after school, – the village elementary school where she would regularly have been caned.

          1. Even in the fifties, many farm workers’ cottages had no electricity or running water and the loo was a privy at the bottom of the garden. I had friends who lived in such conditions. I was “posh” living in a semi-detached council house with all mod cons and a large garden.

          2. A boyfriend I had in the mid 60s lived in a cottage with a loo at the end of the terrace, so you had to go up the lane past two other cottages. the loo had no flush, but you dipped a bucket into a tank. They had no mains drainage either, a tin bath which had to be filled and the kitchen sink drained into a bucket.

            We lived in a maisonette which my mother complained about, but it had all mod cons compared to that.

          3. My friends had oil lamps and a pump in the kitchen which had to be primed. The loo was a plank with a hole over a longish drop (what the French call a cabinet à la Turque). They lived out in the country as it was a tied cottage.

          5. No – I didn’t – I married his friend instead, which was a big mistake. But we were still in touch until fairly recently – not sure if he’s alive or not, now. No Christmas card for the last couple of years, and he stopped replying to emails.

          6. When I started school in 1964 there were at least 3 families who lived in houses without indoor or flushable loos, there may have been one more but I was familiar with 2 of those houses and the third was a known slum dwelling (the only one in the village). There were only about 10 families in the school as it was a tiny one.

            The village had electricity in the mid/late ’50s but the outlying farms (including the house I grew up in) didn’t get electricity (other than that produced by our generator) until 1965/6. We did, however, have a bathroom and hot running water – an addition to the farmhouse made by the estate which owned it before my family, built around 1950.

          7. Our village did not have running water until 1953 – access to fresh water was from the village pump (still exists on the green) a quarter of a mile away) and no doubt from rain water butts. We still have no mains gas and we are scarcely out in the wilds – Cambridge is only eight miles away.

      2. Probably staying at some ‘retreat’ away from the cities, enjoying themselves playing tennis, etc.

      3. My bl**dy team of staff, mostly under 30yo have been complaining this week that the offices are too cold. The heating has been a bit sluggish this past week and the site hasn’t been as warm as usual, but by no means cold.
        I get accused of being uncaring when I point out that for my parents and their grandparents, this was a normal temperature.
        I also suggest that they don’t come to work in T-shirts during the winter. (I wouldn’t be surprised if they support XR and bemoan climate change in their off duty hours, yet prefer to turn the thermostat clockwise instead of putting on a jumper)

        1. When I was a child, having frost on the inside of the windows of the bedroom was normal. If you left a glass of water on the bedside table overnight, it would be frozen by morning. I still can’t sleep in a hot bedroom.

          1. Glass? Bedside table? Did you live in the big house at the end of the drive? We had to make do with jam jars! What’s a bedside table anyway? Some peeple don’t no how lukky they were.

    1. But they are your invaders now, not blue and yellow invaders.

      Check for negative covid test documents and fine them for being in a group and more than 1,000 yards frmo home.

  104. It’s inexorable. It is impossible to escape.
    MB tried to watch ‘Ski Sunday’ this evening. The relentless covid blethering sent him mad; he killed the sound and occasionally watched the pictures.
    It is becoming so depressing. We need to see, hear and read about something else.
    This monomania will destroy us.

    1. Don’t renew you TV licence, don’t watch live TV or iPlayer, disconnect your TVs from any aerials and de-tune them – so you’re legal. You’ll feel much better and within a year you’ll wonder why you ever bothered with TV

      1. I looked into that and technically, the law on TV licences states that if you TV is capable of receiving any free-to-air channels via its own tuner or a freeview/sat/cable TV set top box/PVR still needs a TV licence. Even if you delete all the BBC channels, they equipment is still capable of receiving them via the attached cables and equipment.

        The only alternative is – if it’s possible with the TV (or use a computer monitor) is to connect it to a streaming service only or via a computer hub to the Interweb and then just view non-BBC TV via the channels’ own live or catchup TV stream services. Unfortunately not all programmes on free-to-air TV are available on catchup during the ‘normal’ 7 day window after being show live.

        You’ll also need a decent quality setup as well, especially the internet connection, to be able to stream 1080p HD (or greater) TV, especially if any other householders want to surf the wbe at the same time. many areas have substandard download speeds, or you have to pay more per month in upgraded ISP fees than you would in the TV licence just to get the same (sans BBC) as before.

        I believe that as yet, Capita (the enforcers of the TV licence) haven’t got on top of the sheer numbers of people cancelling their licence to start ‘checking up on them’. The one area that might be in our favour is whether you are obliged to let them into your property if they suspect you are still ‘breaking the law’ as they see it.

        This might be far more difficult for them to prove if you live in a flat or terraced housing than in a semi or detached home where their ‘signal detector’ can differentiate between your TV or PVR tuner and those in other properties adjoining yours. The next door flat’s TV is about a half a meter away from mine the other side of the wall between our two flats, so I doubt if they could get a reading that accurate. Still, I may not take a chance until the law gets changed.

        If anyone has definitive proof that things are other than I believe they are, please post them.

        Hopefully the law will change, but given Boris is somewhat *distracted* at the moment, I can’t see this happening anytime soon.

        1. I hold a letter from TV Licensing saying if you don’t watch live TV, and your TVs are not tuned or connected to an aerial then no Licence is needed. That is from before needing a LIcence for iPlayer but I doubt that the reception part has changed.

          I suggest a legal point may be that if the TV is not connected to an aerial, then it is not capable of receiving TV signals. Except many modern TVs have a built in aerial, so who knows on that. If I thought it was a problem I would open mine up and cut the wire.

          I haven’t had a TV license since 2005. The letters go round in a cycle of mounting threat, ending with “We will have investigators in your area next week – get a Licence blag blah”. Then silence, and back to the start. None of them mean anything because they are addressed to “The Resident” but it’s illegal to send junk mail to you by name. If they ring the doorbell I simply tell them to go away over the intercom.

          Crapita have no right of entry without a Search Warrant served by a Police Officer in attendance. Carpita have to pay for that and it’s not cheap. That comes from an ECHR judgement in the late 80s (?) and it will not change. To get a Search Warrant they have to present evidence to a Magistrate, which they rarely do. They mainly rely on doorstep confessions from women who think they are trying to meet a wolf ‘halfway’.

          Their signal detectors always were very dodgy and relied upon heavy leakage from the IF amplifier in a TV. Modern TVs have IF circuitry that is far lower powered and doesn’t leak anyway. Leakage from the old valve circuits was very heavy. If it’s coming over the internet they have no means of detection. They did look at reading peoples screens, which is just about possible, but illegal unless you are the security services. So no dice on that. What they can do is track incoming IP addresses and tie that back to fixed IP locations. But fixed IP is rare in domestic households and the Internet Providers will not help them until the law says it must. At which point everyone who is cheating will sign up to a VPN service,

          I never miss any of the stuff I want from the BBC, because they are always shown by someone else somewhere else, and available on their catch up, and the pictures do not carry the BBC logo, so not BBC, so no problem.

          I have never forgiven the BBC for Saville, and will not until they admit guilt and atone for it. Running two committees to investigate and burying all evidence in the gap between the committees is not admitting guilt.

          1. All of this is correct. I ditched my CRT telly in 2012, shortly after the Olympics. I continued to use iPlayer, until the goalposts were moved. Twice since then, I’ve paid for a licence. But not for long, since the majority of TV is execrable nonsense…

          3. They rely on addictive soap operas to keep women paying up. They’ve given up with men, you can tell that from the utterly pointless “Match of the Day”.

          4. Nobody has ever been prosecuted for licence fee evasion by the evidence of ‘detector vans’. If they have any equipment, then is for propaganda purposes only.

            TV ‘detection’ is, and always has been a myth, albeit a successful one.

            Here’s a pic I took of a ‘detector van’ at Charnock Richard services in 2010: https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1610c9b85fdab0059fe3594af4e159d0446de6d7e954ad8b176ce8a6dbdb9e6e.jpg

            Here, the driver is trying to cover his face. Another pic I took shows a disabled sticker. I reported this to the county council, who put me on to Chorley council who wanted to follow it up but were getting no support.

            He drove off quickly after this.

            https://www.tvlicenceresistance.info/forum/index.php

            I’ve also bee TV licence free since 2005. £2345.50 save to date which will increase by £157.50 after April!

          5. Back in the 70s and 80s they used use them to work out which houses were using un-licenced TVs. They could get quite a good copy of the IF signal and see what channel was being watched. They then applied the right of entry they had at that time. If they found a warm TV they turned it on and showed that it worked. The detector van signal only used to help them know where to look.

            As you say, none of that works today, now they rely on doorstep confessions.

          6. An FOI request by a member at https://www.tvlicenceresist… showed that no prosecutions had ever been made using detectors.

            Edit: I’ll get in touch with the man who made the FOI request and get more details. It’s possible the FOI request was made to the BBC who took over TV Licence collection in about 1991.

            However, were still analogue into the 2000s, so why would the BBC stop doing detection?

          7. Could well be true. I recall them being used in my boyhood in Merthyr. There was no money and many people didn’t pay the Licence. But it was a long time ago and I lacked the adult desire to check details. I remember one story, as Licensing came through the front door, Da was tipping the TV over the fence into next door’s garden. Merthyr didn’t go much on authority.

          8. I should add, the detector vans were clearly not of evidential standard, my understanding is that they were used to find where to enter premises and get acceptable evidence, so an FOI request might come back “never used in prosecution”. They wouldn’t have been part of the evidence.

        2. Your first paragraph is wrong. The requirement for a TV licence is not down to ‘capability’ of any equipment. It is possible to use a TV set as a PC monitor, for gaming, or for streaming etc.

          From https://www.tvlicenceresistance.info/forum/index.php where I have been a regular contributor for over a decade:

          You need a Licence to:-

          – Watch/Record scheduled/linear TV broadcasts received via traditional means (satellite, terrestrial, cable TV).

          – Stream the above content over the Internet in real time (i.e. concurrently with the broadcast).

          – Use BBC iPlayer to watch/download BBC TV content (not radio or S4C).

          They could also usefully add a couple of myth-breaking lines:-

          – You don’t need a TV Licence to watch BBC programs as video-on-demand on other platforms (like Youtube, Netflix, Amazon, Now TV, UKTV).

          – You don’t need a TV Licence just to own equipment. It is a licence for TV reception.

          Also, nobody has ever been prosecuted for licence fee evasion by the evidence of ‘detector vans’.

          TV ‘detection’ is, and always has been a myth, albeit a successful one.

          Capita enforcers have no more legal powers than a double-glazing salesman. They are commission driven with rigid targets.

  105. I see that NZ cricket have a 6’8″ Wunderkind all rounder. “And Starc comes in, bowls a vicious bouncer that hurtles past his shoulder”.

  107. Daily Telegraph reporting that ministers are considering tighter restrictions. They had better be careful. People can be pushed too far.

    2. 328347+ up ticks,
      Evening C,
      After decades of mass immigration. mass murder,mass paedophile rape & abuse I do not know what the lab/lib/con coalition party has to do to get a peoples adverse reaction.
      Maybe a child taken from each family for
      sacrifice on the re-set alter might set the ball rolling.

        1. As do New Zealand’s, Vietnam’s, Mongolia’s, Taiwan’s and Australia’s to name a few. I’m not sure that international comparisons work well because the list I just gave you adopted quite different strategies, but all have low deaths rates. A good comparison might be Northern Ireland v the ROI.

          2. Because it’s an island with similar demographics, population density, health indicators and economic wealth both sides of the border, but certainly early on quite different approaches to countering the virus.

          5. Population density is almost double in NI. I’m having problems finding the same stats for NI in Worldometer as they appear to be lumped in with the UK.

      2. It could be worth comparing Canadian provinces.

        The eastern three almost literally locked the door last March and you cannot get in, they have very low covid counts.
        Alberta refused lockdowns for a long time, they are in deep doggy doo.
        Other provinces are just following the UK lockdown effort, they are also in trouble.

        Our news is rife with reports of MPs, Police chiefs and even hospital chiefs ignoring the no travel guidelines and flying off on their hols. We have high covid counts, you still cannot fly or drive into the Eastern provinces, their counts are still normally in single figures.

        There is probably a case there for keeping outsiders out.

    2. The Swedish government adopted something close to the original strategy of the UK government e.g. encouraging people to work from home if possible.

          1. It’s summer in NZ and Oz, which is probably why their lockdown appears to have “worked”.

    3. The problem is that there is an awful lot of luck in this. Nicaragua completely ignored the whole thing, did absolutely nothing and still has only 27 deaths per million, yet neighbouring Costa Rica which is in all respects very similar has 450 deaths per million. Yes Costa Rica has tried to stop it as the crisis developed, and no Nicaragua has not because it hasn’t happened.

      My view is there is a lot that is important that is simply not known. Mechanisms that no one has yet worked out. I have no idea what.

      1. I’m fairly sure that geography and demographics does have a lot to do with fatalities etc, but Sweden was promised by lockdown countries to be in for severe battering. It doesn’t appear to have happened.

        1. That’s why I chose those two countries. Similar genetic origins, similar terrain, similar climate, similar state of economic development. If anyone can say “Ah but …” I would love to see it, I would like to see something that explains it.

          2. And a slightly older population, average age 29 against 23. Population density I think is probably less important than the percentage in cities, but that’s a guess. Obesity levels are about the same.

          4. Yes, we need some clever scientist in a white coast to tell us what’s what. So we can say, that’s not right ….

        2. It must be said that standard epidemiology never supported that heavy view. I was at the time having long late night discussions on the DT back in March. We got the UK max deaths per day about right, estimating 1,500 max per day when it was 53 per day, and the view was that the Sweden numbers, at that time, did not add up to anything really nasty. The rate of increase just wasn’t there. Ferguson’s model was forecasting at least 5,000 per day even if lockdown was announced immediately. As soon as it was he gave an off the cuff estimate of 35,000 total deaths and never explained where he got got.

          2. I would have gone for conceited prat who doesn’t understand the limitations of his own knowledge. Their forecasting program is an absolute scandal, complete rubbish. OK as a research toy, but should never have been used to formulate govt. policy. Any programmer who reads it comes to the same conclusion, the authors are incompetent, the code is un-managed, there is no design standard, it is just a joke.

          3. I reviewed the paper where he (partly) described his model. There were so many holes in it that I had to email him to ask about them, and answers came there none.
            Personally, I would have rejected his modelling as input to decision-making because of the unexplained and, crucially, unverified aspects of it. For example, he never explained where his data came from on which the model is based. Contrast the Norwegian FHI model, where they explained the data came from surveys of personal interaction taken over a long time period, validated by position monitoring of Apple handphones.
            Strangely, the Norwegian FHI model matched the hospitalisation rate pretty well, until we went into lockdown. You could see this, because the predictions (they used three R value cases) and actual were published in the press daily, so it was easy to follow.
            One thing gets me, and I have seen it before from academics. They predict a catastrophe, the sit back all smug and happly, feeling clever, and are then horrified when those of us who have to deal with it start asking questions and poking holes. Usually to find that the prediction is based on an assumption that was not subsequently tested, and without a sensitivity study. Looks like this was the case initially with Ferguson’s model. When he came up with the initial horrendous figure, did nobody stop to ask, in detail, “And how do you come to that number?”, since, if true, it’s a catastrophe, and if not true leads to yaking unnecessary and inappropriate action.

          4. His program took too long to run. So they introduced concurrency. Then it produced different results every time they ran it with the same parameters; they didn’t tell anyone that, it came out when they were forced to publish the code. “That’s all right”, came the blithe reply, “it’s a stochastic process, we take the average”. FFS.

          5. His programme was a mishmash of amateur additions, edits, changes and so on, made by himself as someone who can just about work Excel.
            He should have given the equations to a proper programmer and a mathematician to code on a professional basis, with all the QA routines that apply – and then introduced proper change control as well.

        3. Sweden has far higher deaths rates than the other Scandinavian nations which are the countries normally used as comparators for all things Swedish.

          1. Someone, somewhere has got to come up with some reasons, but I’m now too tired to think. The stats are not just confusing but conflicting, and how much difference and honesty in data reporting goes on makes it impossible (from our data gathering capabilities) to form anything like even a reasonable estimate.

      3. Surely all the comparisons are useless unless every country uses the same methodology. Our statistics are pretty useless as we are counting every death where Covid is mentioned on the death certificate rather than the actual cause of death. There is no distinction between dying from or dying with. Then add in all those who die within 28 days of a positive test no matter how they died and you have totally meaningless figures.

          1. …. Nicaragua stats are completely meaningless. It would seem we’re using the same ‘system’ as them. :-))

            And this is the so called science.

  109. Good night all.

    Venison haunch steak, pan fried with rosemary & black pudding, roast potatoes. Baron de Ley Rioja 2018
    An excellent Brie.
    Baked Bramley with mixed berries, honey & cinnamon.

    1. You spoil yourself. Well done!

      Roast pork for us with a home brew valpolicella. That wasn’t the plan but the supermarket had whole pork loins on sale at $1 (maybe 60p) per pound

      1. Wow, good value loin. I’ll have to look into home brew wine. Last time I homebrewed was on a US registered ‘dry’ ship. It swung around an awful lot and was drunk as and when.

  111. I was reading and got caught up in bloody coronadamnvirus stuff and have lost 2 hours of my life. ‘night.

  115. Au revoir et à bientôt, mes amis. I’m leaving you for a while to let the dog out and have something to eat.

  116. We are telephoning our eligible patients who meet the priority criteria set out below.

    in the meantime please do not call us, we will call you when we are able to book an appointment for you or the person you care for.

    We are using the information from the JCVI on the priority groups that should be called for the covid vaccination – https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/priority-groups-for-coronavirus-covid-19-vaccination-advice-from-the-jcvi-30-december-2020

    Cohort 1 are residents in a care home for older adults –

    Cohort 2 are all those 80 years of age and over and frontline health and social care workers – please note in this first delivery we do not have enough vaccinations to cover all patients in this cohort therefore we have applied the priority order listed below.

    The patients from the first cohorts being called to the first covid vaccination clinics at Wareham Hospital are:

    Those aged 80 years of age or older who are on the shielding list (those who are clinically highly vulnerable (see https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-on-shielding-and-protecting-extremely-vulnerable-persons-from-covid-19/guidance-on-shielding-and-protecting-extremely-vulnerable-persons-from-covid-19) of becoming seriously ill from a Covid infection) and members of their household who are aged 80 or older.
    Those aged 80 years of age or older who are within a Black, Asian and minority ethnic group and members of their household who are aged 80 or older.

    Those aged 80 years of age or older who live with 6 or more long term conditions* and members of their household who are aged 80 or older (*conditions include, but are not limited to: cardiovascular disease, diabetes, COPD, Atrial fibrillation, cancer, hypertension, stroke).

    Front line health and social care workers – only those who have provided proof of employment and received their flu vaccination from us this flu season (since 01/09/2020), plus those who have not had their flu vaccination with the surgery but have contacted the surgery subsequently and have provided proof of employment).

    Those aged 90 years of age or older who do not fall into one of the above categories and members of their household who are aged 80 or older.
    When we have the next delivery of vaccines (which we hope will be very soon) we will then be calling:

    Those aged 80 years of age or older who do not fall into one of the above categories.
    As these clinics are taking place at Wareham Hospital we are, as yet, unable to call housebound patients to book appointments even if they fall into one of the above categories, this is due to the logistic arrangements around the storage and transportation of the vaccines. When we have a delivery of vaccines for our housebound patients we will make contact with these patients to arrange for them to receive their vaccinations at home, as per the usual arrangements for having their flu vaccination.

    If you appear in one of the other cohorts in the JCVI list which are not detailed above please do not call or contact the surgery or Wareham hospital to ask when you are likely to receive your vaccination.

    We will be calling eligible patients when we have vaccines for your cohort. Thank you for understanding.

    1. Based on a few posts here, they believe Antifa infiltrated the pro-Trump rally (aka mob) and led the attack.

      1. I thought it had been established (police arrest) that Antifa were present in the Capitol?

        1. No idea. there are so many allegations and deliberate falsehoods being slung around that it’s difficult to know what’s true and what is yet another conspiracy theory.

          1. And just why do you think he suddenly pooped (sic) up at this time of the evening, with such a ridiculous “poll”, except to Troll?

          2. It’s his sole reason for reappearing in this forum. The silly old fool is still bitter because his side lost the referendum in 2016 and he knows damn’ fine that most NoTTLers were pro-Brexit.

          3. My thoughts entirely. Like most farming types he is also keen on vaccinations, happy to spray crops with bee killing insecticides and feeding cattle with sheep shit.

          6. It’s of interest particularly given The Times having a right of centre readership who one may well think would be sympathetic to Trump.

          7. The Times ceased to be “right of centre” in the early ’90’s, around the time that Blair succeeded John Smith.
            It once prided itself on being the “paper of record”, but it’s now a hollowed out, politicised, shell of what it was.

          9. I’m not so sure.
            The tabloids tend to hold true to their stances.
            The Sun, for all its faults, may change but at least the editorial team has told its readership how it has changed, and more importantly why.

          10. It’s called “having fun”, and it is a constructive form of trolling, if that’s what it is.

          11. You’re new here.
            GW is an anti-democracy spokesman.
            In 2016 he he was on here/the old DT site daily, telling the world that the vote should be overturned by whatever means necessary.

            I lost almost all respect for him then

            Prior to the referendum he debated many subjects with local knowledge and accepted different viewpoints. After the referendum he caught EURabies.

          13. It was similar in approach re the run up to, and a while after, Brexit. This time it’s gloating about Trump and the Republicans losing.

          14. He’s polite, he argues his case, doesn’t do chanting (that’s all you see BTL on the Graun) – I see nothing to object to. I like people who disagree with me, arguing with them generally means I learn something. Might be they are right, or checking my facts and finding I’m wrong, seeing a new slant, whatever. I like it.

          16. Again, I don’t know how long you’ve followed Nottle before joining in, but the evenings here can become very unpleasant and it usually kicks off with people deliberately targetting those they know they can stir up.

            You might call it having fun, but it has resulted in some very good and pleasant posters departing for good, or at least for a very long time.

          17. Simple policy: once someone is deliberately unpleasant in a conversation, I don’t reply. If they do it three times I never reply again. I have one NTTL on that list already. Elderly keyboard warriors are the most pathetic species on the planet, and I don’t wish to join then.

            Jokes, digs, contradiction, questioning, irony, sarcasm is all OK. Any shade of “moron” , “liar”, and other insults is not.

    4. There is no evidence whatsoever that President Trump incited the breaching of the Capitol building. The time lines and content of his speech show that the breach occurred a full 12 minutes before his speech concluded at the Ellipse a mile and a half away.

      On the contrary Trump asked his supporters to demonstrate peacefully and then go home.

      Given that the Democrats have supported defunding the Police and not lifted a finger to oppose the violent burning and looting of vast swathes of Blue cities by Antifa and BLM I think those showing visceral hatred of Trump are hypocrites.

        1. Trump is the closest thing we have seen to Reagan in years. I forgive his boastful traits because at least he has something to be boastful about.

          If folk in this country think for one moment that the world will be a better place with Creepy China Joe and Cameltoe in the White House, with their strings being pulled by Obama, they are in for a very rude awakening.

          1. Reagan would never have done anything so completely stupid. He would have foreseen the consequences and backed off; Trump did not.

      2. The text of the speech was published to the media before hand as is standard practice. Many, many people knew what he was going to say.

    6. He said he would “lead a march to the Capitol”, and he said it front of a crowd. In fact he slipped back into his motorcade and let others do the marching.

      That is uncomfortably close to saying a “march on the Capitol”, and that’s what his supporters heard. Whether it was treason or not is a legal question that I am not qualified to answer, but he can’t get away with “Don’t look at me”. He made a very bad mistake, and it has completely destroyed him and his allies, made it extremely difficult for the GOP to win in 2024, and the mid-terms in 2022 which should have tied Biden (or Harris) up tightly in Gaffer tape will probably now go their way.

      It was the biggest political error that I have seen in my life time.

      1. Oh I don’t think so……..

        It was a cover to collect 7 Dem laptops now being analysed for election rigging crime.

        1. Why would they do that? What value do you think such laptops would have? Assuming that their owners were daft enough to leave them behind and the FBI had failed to follow standard practice and use encrypted filesystems on all sensitive computers?

          3. No, the one that stores every email ever sent, records of every phone call and the ability to break any code.

          4. Nobody has the ability to break every code. Why do you think the FBI have insisted on backdoors into secure messaging sites?

          6. Because I am a techie who has worked with encryption for decades, I have worked on recovering data from deliberately wrecked disks. Nobody thinks that modern encryption with proper length keys can be cracked in any useful time frame. And those who follow these things have watched GCHQ spend 18 months trying to crack Muslim Terrorist’s laptop, and failing, the FBI going to Court to force Apple to help them crack AES encryption, and many more. No one can do it, the ripples would be visible if they could.

          8. Certainly not, but they would not be able to fully disguise it. It would take some totally new mathematics from someone very clever. His absence from the scene would have been noticed. Ripples. They would have used that info at some time which a lot of people would have known was encrypted. Ripples. Plus the human factor, their mood music would have changed however hard they tried to hide it. They are not an enemy, and socially distant, they are integrated into a scientific community who they talk to at conferences etc. Ripples.

          9. Brownian motion produces random, but I believe analysable, ripples.

            When Wiles proved Fermat’s last theorem, nobody had the slightest inkling that it had been “solved” until it was presented. No ripples, just a sudden denouement.

            If I can decode your encryption I don’t think I would tell you.

          10. Oh come on, everybody in maths at Cambridge knew he was working on it and had been for the whole of his career. There were reports that he’d done it two months before his paper. He hadn’t actually, there was a hole in the argument, he had more work to do before he really got it.

          11. They knew he was working on it, in exactly the same way that your experts “knew/know” that people are working on breaking encryption, but until it was presented nobody knew he had really succeeded, whatever your view on the “hole”.
            And as I said earlier, if the breakers have done it, do you really think they will advertise it?

          13. It was bad enough in the 1940s, trying to crack an Enigma message in time for it to be useful. And that was a simple mechanical system.

          14. Actually, I get fed up with the “we cracked Enigma” schtick. The Germans had a complete break of the American Diplomatic ‘Black Code’. Churchill sent all Western Desert plans to Washington, who forwarded them to Cairo. Rommel had a copy of British plans for every battle up to Alamein II. Not Alamein I because it was improvised, no one outside Auchinleck’s Command knew what was going on, and not many inside. The Desert Army reckoned that Rommel was incredibly clever, he always knew exactly where to be. He did. I suggest that as an exercise you review the Western Desert battles with that knowledge. Rommel wasn’t all that good, but he was lucky (see France 1940).
            The Germans had a partial break of the British Merchant Navy Code from 1940. Only 60% but it was good with numbers and so they could usually read coordinates and directions. There were no “spies in Halifax”, they were reading the British code. More than one convoy commander had rumbled it and departed from the ordered course when they lost air cover, and suffered fewer attacks.

            German cryptography was very good and they cracked a few of our codes. The utterly pathetic Poem Code foisted on SOE by Dansey at MI6 went a long way to convincing them that our guys were idiots. That and we didn’t change the Merchant Navy code until until mid ’43 I think it was.

          22. That one. Yes clear breach of the law which President Obama, surprisingly I don’t think, decided would not be pursued and gave her a letter that effectively indemnified her.

        2. I hope they will be quick, because in fewer than 10 days it’s over.
          Once Biden has control nothing can be done.

          1. Any evicence gained from such laptops will not be valid in any Court in the US. Illegal seizure disqualifies. After that there’s a host of other reasons. No Court will touch it with a bargepole.

          2. But if the laptops were seized by the federal authorities in the course of an investigation?

          3. Too late, chain of custody is lost. Had they marched in and taken them from peoples offices then yes it could be used, but that’s not what happened.

          4. In which case, publish everything and let the public decide.

            Do you really think that the people who might (or might not have) done the seizures were so uninformed and stupid that they didn’t follow the law?

          5. Oh they could, would and should do that. But again, it won’t be that believable. Nancy etc would simply say that they made it up and planted it and there would be no way to disprove it.

          6. I can’t disagree, but there may yet be a Monica Lewinsky who proves that they should not be quite so complacent.

          10. There was no chain of custody. It was worthless, and that wasn’t a technicality, was genuinely impossible to tell what had actually happened to that laptop and the hence the significance of what was found on it.

          11. It depends upon whether any ‘evidence’ gathered on the laptop (which won’t be admissible in court as it was illegally obtained, unlike Hunter Biden’s) can be shown to the public via a credible source to verify its authenticity. I’m sure that the Dems, big tech and the MSM will be doing all in their power to stop it ever being seen on a website or news channel that the public would be able to see.

            The only way would be for the evidence to be so overwhelming that it doesn’t matter that it can’t go to court, because the vast majority of the public will make their own minds up, and if the Dems and their chums in big tech/the MSM try to suppress it or ignore it, then the protests last Wednesday will seem like a proverbial walk in the park in comparison. I suspect the police and military would also not come to their aid either, as I think they are the least likely to side with authoritarians, especially the lower ranked officers and staff.

            The court of public opinion would be key. Rather like with Richard Nixon, they would know the game was up and go, or there might be public retribution, maybe even like what happened in some former Soviet states when the Iron Curtain fell – e.g. Nicolae Ceaușescu in Romania.

          12. The world was innocent in Nixons day. Nowadays there is no level of evidence that would persuade Dems that the leaders had cheated to that extent, just like some here will never believe that it wasn’t fixed.

            If the fix was in, it wouldn’t have been the mob in congress that did the fixing, they would need to look further at the money and influencers behind the talking heads. So for that reason, I don’t see any smoking guns on congress laptops.

          13. I totally agree re public opinion, but it will need to be so overwhelming that the dam bursts and it’s not far from that to civil war.

      2. It is obvious that Trump is not adept in his use of English. His use of language is very basic – almost childish.
        I suspect he didn’t realise how his words would be interpreted by those feeling denigrated and overlooked.
        I agree that the US president – or the ruler of any country – should be more verbally proficient and should weigh his words more carefully.

        1. I think that is quite likely, but there are no excuses at that level. Unless you are Dubya Bush of course, and just obviously an idiot.

          2. I have to disagree with you, I think he is. But he did surround himself with an effective team, so it didn’t much matter, Iraq excepted.

        2. What’s sad is that Biden is far worse on that front. Even so, having someone in office who is a slick operator as regards their words – like Blair, Obama, etc, is not exactly great either, given the achievements of both (or lack thereof for Obama as regards the fortunes of black people in America compared to 4 years of Trump in office).

        3. That’s always been my worry with Trumpy. He is a bit petulant and childish but he was always thinking USA. I just wish our politicians were similarly inclined toward our country.

    7. It must be a lovely feeling having a social media platform such as this to post your views. Such a pity this is not available to the person who is the subject of the poll.

      1. Trump hasn’t been banned here.

        He has a full blown press room in the White house, he has called into Fox TV on many occasions and they have broadcast his comments live, he is hardly cut off

        1. No he isn’t banned here, if however he became a commentator on this site, I do not give much for our chances to keep going, we are after all using a social media platform of some description.

          Regarding your other comment, big tech and MSM has in effect now declared him persona no grata, just another step in the ongoing censorship for anyone who is not on message with what they want, try downloading Parler or Gab and see what I mean.

          I for one wish to see and read alternative views on a variety of issues, not only what happened in Washington at the Capitol, and that is not possible with what is underway now.

          Perhaps your evident contempt for Trump colours your view of things.

          1. Yes my views are coloured, as are everyones.

            The shut down of Trump is very worrisome, there are some real whackos out there who deserve no publicity but Trump is not running little groups talking about assassinating Pence or Biden.

            After Trump who next? Pence or Rand Paul? Do we really want speech controlled by some Californian college kids?

            Unfortunately with free speech comes some responsibility, recent speeches and tweets by Trump have given twitterboy all of the excuse needed.

            But why hasn’t he used the press room, Fox or OANN?

        2. No he isn’t banned here, if however he became a commentator on this site, I do not give much for our chances to keep going, we are after all using a social media platform of some description.

          Regarding your other comment, big tech and MSM has in effect now declared him persona no grata, just another step in the ongoing censorship for anyone who is not on message with what they want, try downloading Parler or Gab and see what I mean.

          I for one wish to see and read alternative views on a variety of issues, not only what happened in Washington at the Capitol, and that is not possible with what is underway now.

          Perhaps your evident contempt for Trump colours your view of things.

    8. When Dean Martin was asked what he believed in, his answer was “I believe I’ll have another drink”. Maybe the 5% are of the Dean Martint school of believers.

          2. Compton Mackenzie is the role model. Drank a bottle of whisky a day and lived to nearly 90. He had rather lost his boyish good looks.

          5. I am astonished that Wiki doesn’t mention Sir Compton Mackenzie’s roll in the foundation of Wexford Festival Opera.

            The origins of the opera festival lie in a visit to Ireland in November 1950 by Sir Compton Mackenzie, the founder of the magazine The Gramophone, and an erudite writer on music, who gave a lecture to the Wexford Opera Study Circle. Mackenzie suggested the group should stage an opera in their own theatre, the Theatre Royal (subsequently the Festival’s permanent venue until 2005), a theatre which he felt was eminently suited to the production of certain operas.

            The result was that a group of opera lovers (including Dr. Tom Walsh who was to become the festival’s first artistic director) planned a “Festival of Music and the Arts” (as the event was first called) from 21 October to 4 November 1951. The highlight was a production of the 19t-century Irish composer Michael William Balfe’s 1857 The Rose of Castille, a little-known opera which had also been mentioned by James Joyce in Ulysses in a striking pun (Balfe is probably best known for The Bohemian Girl).

            I discovered Mackenzie’s roll in the course of research for my – yet unpublished – biography of Michael William Balfe.

          6. Sign up and edit the page. Or perhaps put it in the ‘Talk’ section first to avoid ruffling feathers. If you give references they’ll love it. That has been my experience nayway.

          8. He wasn’t teetotal. There is a utoob clip of him performing “Sway” live with a glass of whisky and a cigarette in his hands, and he was fairly obviously not sober. I agree that he was almost certainly not the alcoholic he pretended to be, his face didn’t show any damage. I suspect he liked to get sploshed once in a while. He ran with the Rat Pack, it was compulsory.

          9. You mean to say he was only acting in Rio Bravo?
            I’m shocked, really shocked. :¬))

      2. Perhaps it was the 95% who followed Dean Martin’s advice to extreme and misunderstood the question, just thinking out loud……

    9. Maybe that the 5% actually watched his speech and saw the footage afterwards? The other 95% watched and read the MSM coverage. Remember, these are the same MSM who lied about the Covington kids ‘incident’ – The Telegraph included, who took their article straight from the output of CNN and the NYT/WP.

      BTW – I do not condone in ANY way what the demonstrators did by breaching the Police barracades, what they did inside the building or the few that fought with Police officers. However you need to realise things aren’t as they are being presented in the media. Dig a bit deeper by using independent media sources and view all the information. Then come back to us.

      1. We watched his speech. It wasn’t quite a direct incitement to riot, it wasn’t “come with me, we will break in and break up the count but it wasn’t far short ”

        If the DT is taking their story from CNN, they deserve the current mass of comments on the letters page that are threatening to cancel subscriptions. CNN is for the Guardian view, they could at least have watched Fox as well.

    10. Good evening, Geoffrey

      Is the majority opinion anything more than an opinion.

      I have my grave doubts about the validity of the election; you do not share that opinion – you think it was honest and fair. This does not necessarily mean that either of us is right!

    11. It’s called an opinion poll and people have differing opinions. It’s not unusual or against the law.

      Why should you be told why they voted that way. I thought it was only the old soviet polls where 99.9% voted the same way.

      1. When Ns Abbot was involved in opinion polls the voting was:

        For 91.3%
        Against 53.7 %
        Don;t Know 34,7%
        Mr Rashid 100% (to be allocated after bribe paid)

    12. Good ol’ Godfrey Wellard, sneak up to the jolly lockdown party, throw a dud grenade in the window and then bugger orf to a Remainer 2nd referendum shindig.

          7. This is the first year that I have not been dry for ages. Last year I was dry from 01/01 right through to Easter.
            I may do a dry February, as that’s a short month.

          8. I did dry February last year because of its being a short month. This year, I have decided to wear the sackcloth and ashes in January. It seemed fitting after the awful year last year.

          10. That remains to be seen. I’ll give it a go. I’ve been a bit concerned of late about just how much I was drinking. I felt it was time to give it a rest, rather than turning to the bottle when things got tough.

  121. 328347+ up ticks,
    This fear element, can decent peoples use it in opposition as in the higher echelon of the overseeing politico’s images
    on a deck of cards for future use, when they the politico’s are seeking service via the butcher/baker/ candlestick maker.

  122. Just when you think things couldn’t possibly get any worse you hear the crypt door creaking..

    Gabriel Pogrund (Sunday Times) twitter = EXC: Tony Blair has held

    secret talks with Matt Hancock and Dido Harding over the course of the

    pandemic

    Ex-PM gave “strategic advice” on mass testing and vaccinesHe is said to believe he left office at the peak of his powers and has lots more to give

    Bless his little socks. Such a very deep well of narcissism.

    2. Major blasts Blair on foot and mouth
      By David Brown. Agriculture Editor, and Richard Savill
      01 August 2001 • 00:01 am

      JOHN MAJOR has accused Tony Blair of deceiving the public over the true state of the foot and mouth epidemic in the run-up to the last general election and has called for a full public inquiry.

      In a letter to The Telegraph, published today, the former Prime Minister criticises Mr Blair for saying that the battle against the disease was in “the home straight” after he took personal control of the eradication campaign in May. “It was a glaring example of misinformation,” he says.

      The cull of thousands of sheep in the Brecon Beacons – where a further outbreak was confirmed yesterday – is “a depressing reminder that foot and mouth is far from over”, says Mr Major.

      Seven new outbreaks were confirmed yesterday, taking the UK total to 1,914. One was in Wales near Abergavenny, five in Cumbria and one in North Yorkshire. It was the second highest daily tally in a fortnight and double the average daily number since May.

      Mr Major says that, as the Government planned for an election on May 3, the public was told it was essential that Britain should not be seen to be “closed for business”.

      He adds: “I warned that there should be no general election until we were certain the disease had been eradicated, not least since the Government’s term had a further year to run.

      “As public disquiet mounted, the proposed election date was shelved. We were told the Prime Minister was acting in ‘the national interest’. He took personal control, telling us that we were on the home straight.

      “It was a glaring example of misinformation. The only home straight we were on was the one that led to the June 7 election. If political self-interest did predominate . . . then it was indefensible.” Mr Major calls on Mr Blair to commit himself to a public inquiry “without delay”.

      Yesterday, vets attacked Mr Blair and other ministers for giving the impression that they did not want a public inquiry into the epidemic despite a call for one from the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons.

      In a letter to The Veterinary Record, Barry Johnson, a vet from Preston, Lancs, and Bob Michell, a past president of the RCVS, said they were “concerned at repeated misrepresentations in Parliament” about what the college had called for recently in a motion the two men had tabled.

      “It unambiguously called for an independent inquiry, once the outbreak is over, modelled on the Northumberland Report into the 1967-68 outbreak.”

      Mr Johnson said last night: “We are not calling for an inquiry like the expensive and lengthy Phillips Inquiry into BSE. To represent that as not wishing for an independent inquiry stretches truth to its extreme limits.”

      The slaughter of another 1,200 sheep was due to begin in the Brecon Beacons last night amid mounting fears among farmers that the foot and mouth epidemic in the region was in danger of “spiralling out of control”.

      The Farmers’ Union of Wales expressed concern that the disease could spread to neighbouring Black Mountain and to Carmarthenshire, a county with a high density of dairy cattle and which has been free of infection.

      The cull was ordered after members of the Welsh Assembly were recalled during their summer break for a special meeting on the crisis. Four thousand sheep in the Beacons national park were culled at the weekend. Tests on a further 4,000 are expected to begin tomorrow.

      Glyn Davies, chairman of the Welsh Assembly rural affairs committee, said if the tests on the further 4,000 proved positive, there would be “much wider testing right across Britain”.

      Until the extent of the virus was identified on the mountains, he said the European Union would not contemplate reopening the export market.

      Alan Morris, a spokesman for the FUW, said: “A month ago we thought it was all over in Wales. Now it is far from being over.”

      Farmers were still angry yesterday over allegations that some were deliberately spreading the disease so they could pocket compensation.

      The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said last night that there was “no firm evidence” that farmers were using infected animals and body parts deliberately to infect their own livestock.

      The National Sheep Association called for a “public inquiry as a matter of urgency” after “extremely damaging claims”.

      Blair?

      I wouldn’t trust him an inch ..
      We all know why, don’t we.

          3. It was in response to the closing remarks: “Blair? I wouldn’t trust him an inch .. We all know why, don’t we.”

      5. “Farmers were still angry yesterday over allegations that some were deliberately spreading the disease so they could pocket compensation.

        The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said last night that there was “no firm evidence” that farmers were using infected animals and body parts deliberately to infect their own livestock.”

        I did some work on a new gas pipeline in mid-Wales during that period. We had to disinfect our boots and survey gear at each field boundary and take other such measures.

        One day, I was given a locally-employed labourer to work with me. He was a local farmer and he told me that this was true – he quoted a figure of £500 for a diseased sheep to be let loose in an uninfected flock.

        Anecdotal I know, but it makes you wonder.

    3. Get it right, Rik!

      ‘Bless his little cotton socks!’

      I am sure there is some hidden insult in there but to be frank
      ‘My Dear, I do not give a damn.’

  124. SIR – John A Tallis (Letters, January 8) argues against a cull of rose‑ringed parakeets.

    Let us take his advice at face value: leave them alone and let them spread throughout the country. Who cares if they wipe out dull native species such as house sparrows, tree sparrows, robins, wrens, dunnocks, blue tits, great tits, coal tits, marsh tits, willow tits, chaffinches, bramblings, greenfinches, willow warblers, wood warblers, chiffchaffs and redstarts, along with the countless other small songbirds that bore Mr Tallis with their refusal to emulate Freddie Mercury?

    The introduction of non-native species (plant and animal) has always led to disaster.

    Alan G Barstow
    Onslunda, Skåne County, Sweden

    Nothing dull about Great Tits!

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