Sunday 10 December: Will the Covid Inquiry achieve anything apart from settling grudges and political scores?

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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430 thoughts on “Sunday 10 December: Will the Covid Inquiry achieve anything apart from settling grudges and political scores?”

  1. Good morrow, Gentlefolk. today’s story

    Watch Where You Dump,
    A drunken Santa gets up from the bar and heads for the washroom. A few minutes later, the patrons hear a loud, blood-curdling scream.
    Then silence… Then another scream! The bartender rushes to the washroom to investigate. He yells through the door,
    “Santa! What’s all the screaming about in there? You’re scaring the customers!”
    Santa shouts back at the bartender, “I’m just sitting here on the john, and every time I try to flush, something comes up and squeezes the hell out of my nuts!”
    The bartender opens the door, looks in and shouts, “Sweet Jesus, Santa! You just took a dump in my mop bucket!

  4. Will the Covid Inquiry achieve anything apart from settling grudges and political scores?

    Are the public even following it?
    They should rename it, We Made A Huge Bungle, Get Me Out Of Here

    2. Rename it, ‘The convid how-best-to-Whitewash-our over-reactions Inquiry.’ None of the players will be criticised or punished in any way. Excuses will be made and ‘lessons will be learned.’

  5. Morning, all Y’all.
    Dark. Snowed approx a foot overnight. Very jingly bells… except I have to shift the stuff. Bummer.

  6. 379351+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    In a nutshell, there is one of our greatest shames, vying among many others,
    Cancer patients in life-saving drugs lottery
    Twice as many French and German patients get cutting-edge care than Britons.

    Our current political mobsters are busy concealing, destroying,medical materials created via the covid scam, plus 5* hotel bills
    keeping a foreign army on standby in lifestyles they have NEVER EVER achieved prior to the “invasion”.

    There are a shower of bastards out there keeping this Country killing exercise running, and as for the political mobsters well……….

  7. 379351+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    In a nutshell, there is one of our greatest shames, vying among many others,
    Cancer patients in life-saving drugs lottery
    Twice as many French and German patients get cutting-edge care than Britons.

    Our current political mobsters are busy concealing, destroying,medical materials created via the covid scam, plus 5* hotel bills
    keeping a foreign army on standby in lifestyles they have NEVER EVER achieved prior to the “invasion”.

    There are a shower of bastards out there keeping this Country killing exercise running, and as for the political mobsters well……….

    1. To which she replies: “Well take it out and wash it with the coloureds then, the rest of the t-shirts are all white.” Lol. (Good morning, Bob3, btw.)

    2. The inspiration for BLM came from Black Floyd rather than Pink Floyd. I am reminded of Hilaire Belloc’s verse:

      Lord Uncle Tom was different from
      What other nobles are.
      For they are yellow or pink, I think,
      But he was black as tar.

      He had his Father’s debonair
      And rather easy pride:
      But his complexion and his hair
      Were from the mother’s side.

      He often mingled in debate
      And latterly displayed
      Experience of peculiar weight
      Upon the Cocoa-trade.

      But now He speaks no more. The Bill
      Which he could not abide,
      It preyed upon his mind until
      He sickened, paled, and died.

    3. The inspiration for BLM came from Black Floyd rather than Pink Floyd. I am reminded of Hilaire Belloc’s verse:

      Lord Uncle Tom was different from
      What other nobles are.
      For they are yellow or pink, I think,
      But he was black as tar.

      He had his Father’s debonair
      And rather easy pride:
      But his complexion and his hair
      Were from the mother’s side.

      He often mingled in debate
      And latterly displayed
      Experience of peculiar weight
      Upon the Cocoa-trade.

      But now He speaks no more. The Bill
      Which he could not abide,
      It preyed upon his mind until
      He sickened, paled, and died.

  9. Well, it took me 6 goes this morning to complete the Wordle. Mainly because I was so preoccupied in finding where to put three letters which were in the wrong place that I forgot that I had found a fourth letter – otherwise I would have done it in five – or maybe fewer.

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

    1. Four here

      Wordle 904 4/6

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

  11. Good morning, all. Dry with a pink sunrise here.

    Celebrity dies suddenly (Sad that anyone dies but I’ve never heard of her).

    Anything but?

    https://twitter.com/stkirsch/status/1733729781932528064

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6905854ed498db9cdeefd0ec41a447e6c1a3114eb83504aeb64da918d08c6221.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f17354bdee92b69b8c84306ecdc6e9d48c3b780376b47d0fcfef0223fbbf2340.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9643449c2f7435892620a5c3a4a5e470e4f4f789304daeca711a71a2694282fc.png

    2. I know from my recent hospital visit putting an ice bag on the back of the neck shrinks the vein/arteries to the head. A hairdryer would do the opposite.
      Perhaps she has a family history or was in other ways susceptible.

      I think it irresponsible of them to say it was the hairdryer though.

  12. Putin’s Russia is closing in on a devastating victory. Europe’s foundations are trembling. 10 December 2023.

    While we are not ourselves at war this time, we are so invested in the Ukrainian cause that a Russian victory – and absorbing conquered territory is a Russian victory, present it how you will – would mean a catastrophic loss of prestige for the West and the ideas associated with it: personal freedom, democracy and human rights.

    Conflicts will spread as regimes that never cared for liberal values in the first place realise that there is no longer a policeman on the corner. Venezuela’s outrageous claims against Commonwealth Guyana are just the start of this process.

    How anyone could write this twaddle is beyond understanding. The West no longer stands for any of these things. Ukraine itself is about power not democracy.
    I think that like most people my political beliefs crystallised sometime around when I was twenty five and they have hardly changed in the fifty years since. Personal freedom and Democracy being top of the list. The West has not only abandoned these but now actively opposes them and I am left in the bizarre position where I am pretty sure that I share more with the President of Russia than I do with any western leader, most of whom I actively despise.

    I don’t live in Russia but I doubt that things are worse there. The unpleasant reality is that the Political Elites are a greater danger to the indigenous people of the EU and UK than Vladimir Putin could ever hope to be.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/12/09/putins-russia-is-closing-in-on-devastating-victory/

    1. …………and yet it doesn’t appear that this spineless government are going to take

      any steps to protect Gyana from aggression by a Communist regime.

      1. My tendency now, is that whatever the BBC are telling me about Guyana, it must be a lie. It is a shame, because sometimes the interests they serve may blurt out the truth. It might even be in my interests to be informed about it.
        But I just won’t believe it.

        1. In this case LiM the BBC has been noticeably quiet about Guyana

          and its vast oil resources.

          We wonder why?

          1. I was using the BBC as a symbol for the MSM – which is already behind Guyana in this. But they are indeed rather quiet. Why would that be? Probably because the Palestine thing has not played out yet, would be my guess.

            And maybe because questions might be asked as to why the West has little more than bricks to lob at the Commies, having sent all their ordinance to SE Europe and the ME.

            Its a proper cluster – I have Venezuelan friends who tell me what a dangerous oaf Maduro is. But the West has been imposing sanctions on Venezuala for ages now and I simply no longer believe that is about their human rights record. They have shown they don’t care about human rights unless these serve the interests of the lobbying corporations. So, why would they be imposing sanctions on an energy competitor? The answer may be in the question.

            So, really, I’d need to know more. I’m just no longer convinced by any dichotomy the media present.

      2. What with? We don’t have the forces any more. Back in the 1970s and 80s we protected Belize from Guatemala with a frigate, a flight of Harrier jets (6), a flight of Puma helicopters (also 6) and a battalion of infantry. I was there in ’77-’78 and it’s the closest I ever came to a shooting war. In those days we had a 100+-ship navy, 800 combat aircraft and a respectable, proper army. We can’t do it now, the forces are too thinly stretched.,

        1. An aspect that nobody seems to consider when saving money by cutting the military. What when you need them? Can’t even mobilise manpower, since nobody has done any kind of military service, but that doesn’t matter, as there’s no gear to be all fierce and warrior-like with, anyway. My gunsafe has more firepower than the Britsh Army these days…

        3. You missed out the feat of the Buccaneers from 809 Sqn, based on the Ark Royal that flew 1,500 miles to deter the Guatemalans.

    2. … and this seems to be coming as a surprise.
      Are they pretending that it was not going to end like this? – for Ukraine, that is. Without air-cover and on Russia’s doorstep, the Russians were not going to lose. They could not permit the absorption of Sebastopol, and the encroachment of the EU up to their boarders.

      For the rest of us, when are they going to grapple with the effective genocide? It is a word too often bandied, but the sons of an entire generation – those too young to be sent by us into the meat-grinder – will grow fatherless in foreign lands because there will be no-one in theirs.
      This is not over for the West.

    3. … and this seems to be coming as a surprise.
      Are they pretending that it was not going to end like this? – for Ukraine, that is. Without air-cover and on Russia’s doorstep, the Russians were not going to lose. They could not permit the absorption of Sebastopol, and the encroachment of the EU up to their boarders.

      For the rest of us, when are they going to grapple with the effective genocide. It is a word too often bandied, but the sonsof an entire generation – those too young to be sent by us into the meat-grinder – will grow fatherless in foreign lands because there will be no-one in theirs.
      This is not over for the West.

    4. Earlier this year and going on Colonel Douglas McGregor and UK Column I forecast a Russian victory by Autumn. I was a month or two out.

    5. Earlier this year and going on Colonel Douglas McGregor and UK Column I forecast a Russian victory by Autumn. I was a month or two out.

    6. The unpleasant reality is that the Political Elites are a greater danger to the indigenous people of the EU and UK than Vladimir Putin could ever hope to be.

      If Deagel is correct you are spot on and we do not have long to wait. Unless the analysts at Deagel know something we do not know, 2025 appears to be rather soon: however, I’m sure that the elites are working on it.

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/445d526f793f6a562c89385943250f766408153e59a281d5d7d29b0d77267a43.png

      1. What a terrifying outlook. Even if the target date has been adjusted, it’s probably still in the plans. 15 million – the savages and their offspring will fill that quota withing a few years.

        1. Doctors and scientists are revealing any number of problems with the potion. Latest are DNA strands left-over from the manufacturing process, well, that’s the story, and now ‘frame-shifting’ resulting in ‘trash’ proteins being created. There is speculation that some of these proteins will reveal themselves as prions: if validated that will be bad news – Mad Cow Disease, anyone? Both problems are being played down by those responsible but serious scientists are not so accommodating in their analysis. Time, as they say, will reveal the truth.

          1. Yes, I know, Korky. I have to stay optimistic as both our sons have had the jab, in fact probably more than one. I sent them information, it didn’t fall on deaf ears, but in the end they were coerced by the nhs, emotionally blackmailed. I wake in a state of anxiety for them every morning which dissipates during the day, but returns during the evening. I have to keep myself as optimistic as possible.

          2. Same here, poppiesmum. My son has taken at least two jabs and his wife, a nurse at the start and now a midwife, goodness knows how many. I tackled my son a few months ago and I’m certain he knows now that he was misled and he told me that he will not take any more. I’m the outlier within my family and friends and at the start my position caused some tensions; the tensions haven’t fully disappeared but the situation has eased. I did all I could to warn people and failed, and I regret failing.

          3. I tried to warn probably five people and indicated to a few more that I was sceptical about it all. One by one they all capitulated to the pressures for varying reasons. In the end one can only save oneself but I wish I could have saved our sons from having it, but both our son’s wives are ‘lefties’ (one is a social worker and the other has an important sounding high-flying non-job); one has an auto-immune illness and more allergies than one can shake a stick at; our younger son’s wife was due to give birth in June 2021 and if our son wished to accompany her he had to have the jab. Any confidence I might have had regarding the nhs has vanished completely. It has done some wonderful things, but it has a very dark political heart at its core, coupled with the most corrupt govt perhaps this country has ever seen. There were so many red flags, I couldn’t understand why other people couldn’t see what I was seeing – they were, I suppose, hypnotised by their atavistic fear of illness. You are fortunate to be able to talk to your son about it (I completely understand your use of the word ‘tackled’!) – when I tried to talk to our younger son in May 2022 I was told to “leave it, Mum” – I opened my mouth to say something again and it was the same “just leave it, Mum” so I did. What more can one do. I was obviously crossing boundaries he did not wish me to cross at that point. I never thought we would live through such insanely terrible times. And now we have the food aspect to contend with.

    7. Not a single mention of the casus belli the West gave Putin by interfering in Ukrainian affairs going back beyond and exacerbated by the Maidan Putsch and the subsequent actions against Russian Speaking areas of the Ukraine that saw thousands killed by the shelling of civilian areas.

    8. Putin was goaded into the war because the West did not want to find a peaceful settlement.

      Putin’s great mistake was to allow himself to be goaded into invasion. Until that moment the sympathies of many people in the west were with him rather than with The Ukraine.

      After Johnson’s tomfoolery in this matter how can anyone think he is anything other than a bloated, and arrogant man driven only by his own hubris.

      1. Putin was goaded into war by the US neo-cons who wished to achieve regime change in Russia.

        This was facilitated by ignorance of the UN Security Council ratified Minsk accords which if implemented would have given peace and security in the region.

        The US engineered regime change in Ukraine and placed the puppet Zelensky and his corrupt oligarch backers in power. This puppet regime was encouraged to carry out regular attacks on the Russian speaking Donbass and Crimea.

        When it became obvious that the US had sabotaged Minsk agreements Russia retook Crimea. The threat of an outright war and the activities of NATO in expanding eastwards posed an existential threat to Russian security.

        There was never any realistic possibility of Ukraine defeating Russia. Such a possibility existed only in the minds of a decrepit US President and his assortment of Obama neo-con retreads in Washington.

        As matters stand Ukraine is beaten and Russia is victorious. The US and its western backers have egg on their collective faces having squandered Russian goodwill, inadvertently strengthened Russia with sanctions and with the destruction of the Nordstream 2 Pipeline ensured Chinese, Indian and Middle East Nation trading support for Putin.

      2. I don’t think Putin allowed himself to be goaded into war, after all he waited probably eight years before taking action, until he discovered the intentions of the US Biolabs on the eastern Ukraine border. At that point he decided to kill two, and a possible three and four, birds with one invasion.

    9. Good morning Minty and everyone. Twaddle? Hannan, Moore, and others: if they want to continue with a highly paid column in the Torygraph, they write what the Editor commands.

  14. G’morning all,

    Clear morning at the McPhee’s but cloud and rain are on the way by 1000. Wind in the South, 8℃≫12℃ this afternoon.

    I need to get out to beat the rain and rake up the leaves while they’re still dry then it’s a fly-fishing association AGM via Zoom for the rest of the morning.

          2. I can’t remember what they called it but it is not a good thing. Can lead to cramps and vomiting. And my bathroom already looks like a murder scene !

          3. Glad you are more stable this morning. Did they give any indication as to the cause or if it might recur?

          9. Famous for it. I even got a mention in the good food guide. They said the waiter looks like David Bowie.

          19. They couldn’t find a direct cause and suggested i have my medicines reviewed.
            Thanks for asking.

      4. Good morning Phizzee..

        I am so glad you are over your trauma , and your shonk is sorted .

        What a frightening experience for you,

        I first became a blood donor when I was a student nurse when a patient had a severe nose bleed , and pumped out nearly 8pints of blood in 48 hours , the hospital blood bank pleaded for donors..

        Over a period of 35 years I have donated 40 pints of blood , then later on in life helped at blood donor sessions , handing out chocolate biscuits and drinks and supporting the fainthearted !!!

        Who looked after your woofles when you were away? x

        1. Good morning Maggiebelle

          Anyone who lived in England at the time of mad cow is not allowed to give blood in France.

          1. I think that they are changing the rules in Canada and I may now give blood.

            A bit too late, they have missed many an armful.

        2. Thanks Belle.
          Giving blood is a generous thing to do but is also benefits the giver.
          Doggies were fine. I have lots of people to call on. One of the benefits of living in the same street for 35 years.

      5. Good morning Phizzee.
        So pleased you’re over the worst of your nose bleeding. Must have been terrifying for you.

        1. Good morning.
          I tend to be sanguine about events like this. Just annoyed i have to spend time in hospital. Everything seems to happen in slow motion. Nurses were lovely though.
          Thank you.

          1. At least it is good preparation for when it happens next month, and the month after that, and….
            on the plus side your sex change appears to be working.

          2. Tell me about it. I have been in hospital so much in the last 5 years they have given me my own room !
            It wasn’t menstrual blood you know !

          9. You get marks for the use of the word sanguine in the context of you recent episodes…10/10 plus 2 for neatness!

  15. ‘morning all

    Medley

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1a6deeae6b728e8d638ece03d2ba3ebeb58dd4380cfb34a64e41426af4508180.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/48b6c3de74e640f20eb905762dff98056e2b8dce240e41f5e1aa09dbd3c0411b.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bdde11541d09c4a05c8e64ae6ecd975f36be75574ef7a419f404498b02cf4d45.png

    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GAwkbEUWQAA3hYo.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/68f1d065d3a552e09b7028bdd0b71525e85795b8022a3fa559fa57dcc31e94f8.jpg

    Laff

    https://twitter.com/dannyroscoe7/status/1733413223058047130?t=mlMkA187iJY2ZTCeOl3eMA&s=08

    Finish with a cracking Neil Oliver

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nlWqzDmURQ

    1. The gorilla soup gets a downvote from me. Gorillas live quietly in harmony with nature, etc etc.

      1. Ah, I zoomed in a bit to see. I’ve never understood that meme, always assumed it was a piece of chocolate or something.

        1. Obviously it’s a bigoted meme, implying that if light skinned people were to breed with those of darker skin, the result would be to lower the population’s IQ.

    2. Another good collection. I particularly liked the Blackface sketch and Neil Oliver. Imagine if somebody with the courage to state the truth could be Prime Minister.

    3. Another good collection. I particularly liked the Blackface sketch and Neil Oliver. Imagine if somebody with the courage to state the truth could be Prime Minister.

  18. Here we have the monarch, dope, duped or more likely both, warning the World, I hope it’s the World as the UK does not have £5 Trillion, the cost of his and his globalist mates’ bill for this year, and the next, and…

    This is a screen shot and cannot be played from here.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e61e933c10301d1f1fd83c5244de53fd5b86582a5ec92faa56ea25e54475c425.png

    Here we have, from 16 years ago, George Carlin opining, in his inimitable style, on saving the Planet. The closing skit on viruses is a prescient statement.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7W33HRc1A6c

    2. Five Trillion Dollars each year to save the planet from the dangers of the beneficial carbon dioxide and a mythical climate crisis?

      What more does the Idiot King have to do or say to convince everybody that he is an arrogant imbecile?

        1. Tax rebate when the unrealised loss is detected? How the IRS must love all that, they will need 3 times the staff and much more surveillance of individuals.

  19. Good morning all.
    A quieter morning after last night’s gale, but found the yard strewn with twigs blown down from up the hill when I took the empty milk bottles out.
    A tad below 1½°C (or should that be a tad above 1°C), overcast with light breezes and intermittent showers.

      1. Seems to be.
        Given the way I’ve been up and down the Bristol Scale in recent months I wonder if it’s IBS or one of the meds I’m on.

        2. From earlier descriptions I thought it was the Beaufort Scale!

          Morning BoB and all (And for those suffering get well soon…)

  20. Boris could RETURN as Prime Minister in astonishing plan being hatched by disgruntled Conservative MPs – and ‘dream ticket’ leadership tie-up with Nigel Farage is even being considered!
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12845793/Boris-johnson-return-Prime-Minister-astonishing-plan.html

    It is a waste of time replacing Sunak : the party is already dead so why not leave him as its leader while all decent conservative Conservative MPs (if there are any) can leave the party and join Reform or form their own party before the new year.

    The idea of Nigel Farage joining Johnson and the Conservative Party is absurd after he was betrayed by Boris on Brexit. Johnson is now a political dodo and the Conservative Party is not just dead – it is beginning to putrefy.

    1. If Farage joined with Boris and the Unconservative party, he’d haemorrhage support. As you say, if we are to stand any chance, all those genuine conservative MPs, and even some moderates from other parties (there must be some……), need to abandon ship and join Reform. Oh, look! A pink elephant just flew past the window. We can but hope.

    3. When will we all recognise that until they have answered criminal charges from a wide range of serious offences we should not be dealing with these people at all? The fact that they lean on the judiciary and the CPS to prevent charges being laid should not stop us clamouring for that, and if the refusal continues dealing with the situation by any other means necessary,. Misconduct in public life, manslaughter, administration of noxious substances and murder and associated conspiracy charges – the list goes on….

    2. Good morning belle,
      I’ve just abandoned plans to visit son and new grandchild because of the weather report. Last time we managed to travel there, it seemed like half the A1 was shut for flooding, diversion routes were chocka and moving at a snails pace.

    3. Wet here all mmorning but I just spotted a glimmer of light. How did your visit go yesterday? Did they eventually arrive?

  22. Good morning all,
    Canada experiencing people turning their backs on the socialist paradise?
    It couldn’t possibly be anything to do with the lunatic Turdeau and his ultra-socialist government could it?
    Though I do agree rents there are absurdly high. The only way my son and his wife, both professionals on decent salaries, can afford to live in their apartment is because the rent is from when they moved in 8 or 9 years ago, with only has small increases which are fixed by their contract.
    https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/canada-s-surging-cost-of-living-fuels-reverse-immigration/ar-AA1lfRBt?ocid=msedgntp&pc=LCTS&cvid=4144986eba394e1bac6f6b6ceffb7421&ei=5

      1. Can’t blame the idiot for this one, there has been rent control in Ontario since the 1970s. Boy blunder is sticking his nose into this area of provincial responsibility so we can expect a few more housing debacle along the way.

        Biggest issue at the moment is the number of fixed term mortgages coming up for renewal. Mortgage rates are shooting up from historic lows and making it impossible for homeowners to renew.

      2. No idea, but quite likely. I remember my son telling me they don’t have to pay hefty deposits either. It sounds like there is no protection for small landlords either.

  23. Conclusive proof that the JWK is completely round the bend:

    “Michael Dixon, a champion of faith healing and herbalism with a questionable CV, has been quietly installed as head of the royal medical household”

          1. I have never heard her sing. I have no idea of her “music”. I could not name one tune she has written (if she does write her own songs). It is simply that I find it totes* weird that she performs in her underwear. As do several other so-called women singers.

            * I can be up to date sometimes!

          3. Ah – so you wear knickers when looking at billionaires. I bet Messrs Gates, Zuckerberg and Musk are glad to know that…

          2. Tastes like one too, Paul! 🤣

            More like tasted. That photo was taken eight years ago at my nephew’s wedding.

    2. If he relies on that charlatan, maybe he will shuffle off this mortal coil sooner rather than later. Not that his heir is much better, but I think (and hope) he has his head screwed on a bit better.

        1. Being a writer and journalist he was probably a spy.
          I did enjoy lost world of the Kalahari though.

        2. When he was 46 in 1953, van der Post sexually abused a 14-year-old girl named Bonnie, whom he was given responsibility for during a sea voyage to England. He later abandoned her after he impregnated her. The girl subsequently gave birth to a daughter, Cari Mostert. Van der Post gave the mother a small allowance and met his daughter on several occasions, but never publicly acknowledged her.

    4. The Idiot King has taken a leaf out of his Russian relatives’ playbook and invited a latter day Rasputin into his household. May it not end well.

      My wife’s cousin employed a faith healer. On his death we discovered that the woman had obtained power of attorney over his affairs and had persuaded him to make a new will in her favour thus disinheriting my wife, her sister and another cousin.

    1. Very seasonal, and a grand view.
      Speaking of views, a new care home opened a while back on the outskirts of Stamford. Optimistically called ‘Grand View.’ it certainly has a view, but from the front windows it is anything but grand – a big Aldi store and other units. I doubt residents with front facing rooms have a lower rent.

      1. A few decades ago back in South Yorkshire they wanted to open a care home for the elderly with Dementia under the name of ‘Walnut Grange’. Fortunately someone spotted the connotation, so instead it was named ‘Plantation View’ and if one squinted one could see the cemetery in the distance!

          1. Before their time…..This was the dark ages when the local Labour Controlled Council thought that the new bungalows for the disabled should have coal fires rather than gas central heating……

        2. Charming. The entry code into the sheltered accommodation where one of my late aunts stayed was 666. It went over the heads of most residents.

  25. “Sadiq Khan has warned progressive voters that they risk handing the London mayoralty to an “increasingly rightwing” Tory party unless they back Labour, amid concern in his camp that most Londoners are unaware of a complete overhaul of the voting system.”
    If only his description of the Tory party was correct. In his mind, anything to the right of Corbin is extremist right wing.

    “Only 30% of Londoners are aware of the change, according to a new Opinium poll. It has led to concern in Khan’s team that, despite his large poll lead, Liberal Democrat and Green voters will be unaware that they can no longer back him as their second preference, as many have done in the past.”
    Limp Dumb and Green-ecoloon supporters probably aren’t bright enough to understand the implications of the change.

    https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/sadiq-khan-urges-progressives-to-back-him-amid-concern-about-new-voting-system/ar-AA1leTGD?ocid=msedgntp&pc=LCTS&cvid=57da3054f10f464c9a4cf32d1e96664b&ei=25

    1. Considering under the lunatic Khan everything has got worse and London is an open sewer of foreigners quite clearly Left wing politics does not, never has and cannot work.

      1. We know that but it doesn’t stop the dyed-in-the-wool Liebour supporters from voting for them. No doubt Liebour will get re-elected again in Wales too. Too stupid to think.
        A significant proportion of khan’s voters are probably instructed to vote for him by their slammer leaders, and Mo fills in the postal votes of his extended family accordingly.

    2. Isn’t khan somewhat responsible for what goes on in London? Instead of griping about the government not telling the electorate about voting rule changes, couldn’t he stop crying and have a notice sent out to households.

      Maybe he is more concerned about the need for voters to have ID.

      1. “Maybe he is more concerned about the need for voters NOT to have ID.”

        Fixed it for you, “Vote early and vote often!”

      2. “Maybe he is more concerned about the need for voters NOT to have ID.”

        Fixed it for you, “Vote early and vote often!”

  26. Was the BBC hideously corrupt as well as white?

    ‘Inconsistent, erroneous and unreliable’: BBC is ordered to release secret Diana emails as judge calls the Beeb’s honesty into question over 3,200 hidden Bashir papers
    Judge has ordered BBC to immediately disclose large numbers of the messages
    Corporation chiefs battled for two years to keep sensitive documents hidden
    Dossier threatens to reveal how bosses tried to cover up the Panorama scandal

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12845741/BBC-ordered-release-secret-Diana-emails.html

      1. I’m in favour of the facts being aired.
        Too many guilty parties carry on avoiding the opprobrium that their actions deserve, leaving it to the junior participants to shoulder all the blame..
        The great pity is that they actually do get away with things because the public eventually becomes bored or another bit of sleazy activity replaces it on centre stage.

  29. More evidence of the skill and medical expertise of the JWK’s new “doctor”:

    Dixon invited a Christian healer into his surgery to treat patients. Her primary method was “applying her hands close to the patient and slowly moving them over the entire body while visualising the passage of white light passing through her and into the patient”.

    3. If the illness is psychosomatic and the patient truly believes it will work, it might be the most effective way of approaching a cure.
      I think it’s fakiry (sic), but if it works, let the patient decide.

    4. On my travels round Twitt the other day I came across someone who asked, How come billionaires never seem to get chemotherapy? They always just get very, very old and then die.

      So perhaps this doctor is a front so that we all think that Charles is loopy, while he privately gets ivermectin and GcMAF, and we get vaccines and chemotherapy.

          6. I have been referring to him as The Idiot King since one week after he became king.

            I gave him a chance not to meddle in politics but within a week of ascending to the throne he had proved his entitlement to the epithet I use by spouting his bogus green nonsense.

            And his recent attendance at the green summit conference in the desert to which he and a couple of government ministers travelled by separate private jets suggests to me that he wears the soubriquet with pride rather than shame!

  32. The 800,000 young people failed by Britain and the real reason for mass immigration. Peter Hitchens 10 December 2023.

    And who will educate and train the skilled and semi-skilled workers, the nurses and doctors and all the other vital workers we are now so bad at turning out? There have always been two solutions to this.

    The first would be to reverse the social revolution that (among many other evils) wrecked state education, stole fathers from children, conscripted young mothers into the world of wage slavery, turned marriage into a minority pursuit and unleashed dangerous drugs into our midst.

    The other is to carry on as we have been, and to import people from elsewhere who can still do the things we cannot do or are not prepared to do. If you really want to bring mass immigration to an end, as I think many do, you will have to accept a deep and lasting counter-revolution.

    I’m for complete revolution. Only that can save the British People from extinction at the hands of the traitors in Westminster!

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-12845735/PETER-HITCHENS-people-failed-Britain-reason-immigration.html

    2. The UK establishment created a vast, uneducated and unemployable underclass – and then spat on them.

    4. We’re in an odd situation where the state has failed so completely that it chooses to pay people to not work or pay them more to work.

      In work tax credits are stupid. Limitations on hours worked are stupid. Offering people money to breed is stupid. The first problem could be resolved by just cutting taxes, but big government can’t permit itself to do that.

      The second problem – being paid to breed – is simple: cut off child benefit.

      1. Child benefit when I had my children was only payable for the second and subsequent child, not the first one. I received 90p per week for my second child – hardly an incentive to breed.

        I stayed at home and looked after my children until after they had both started school. I then worked part time including evenings and weekends for a local catering business.

        2. My mother never did a paid job in her life but I have never met a person more industrious than she was except my elder sister who worked as a secretary for about 18 months before getting married to a wealthy young chap who became a solicitor so she never had to go out to work again but was incredibly active with everything she did. But I, who have almost always had to work to get some money and am still working with Caroline on our courses, am considerably lazier that my mother or my elder sister.

          1. “…she never had to go out to work again”

            I have long pondered on whether people who choose not to work should be entitled to the services that tax payers pay for.

          2. And if those people who don’t need the money take a job which deprives people who do need it?

          3. So a stay at home mother should receive none of the things their family’s taxes pay for?

            Apart from benefit scroungers most people who can afford not to do paid work have a husband or a wife who pays a considerable amount of tax. In fact many people argue that the necessity for both parents to find paid employment has very badly damaged family life.

            And if I send my children to a private school I still have to pay for state schooling – to which I am entitled – with my taxes even though I don’t use it. So every parent who uses a private school is saving the state the cost of educating his or her child. The parent is subsidising the state – NOT the other way round!

          4. That last point is why the government have put off outlawing private education… where to put all those being privately educated if that’s not available? How to pay for it…

        3. Nowt for first kid and 3s-6p (17 1/2p ) for second – should stop child benefit, if you can’t afford them don’t have them – it’ll also stop all these muslims taking over the country through multiplying

          1. It didn’t make a lot of difference, but I used to save the coupons in the book untill there was a reasonable amount to collect. The man who ran the post office wasn’t too keen about that though.

      1. The Camel’s hump is an ugly lump
        Which well you may see at the Zoo;
        But uglier yet is the hump we get
        From having too little to do.

        Rudyard Kipling might have suggested that we all get the camelius hump when we fritter away our time on the Nottlers’ Forum!

    4. Not had either a male or a female in my garden for two months now. Both are regular visitors on autumn migration.

    4. You uncaring batsard ! Have you any idea how difficult it is………………….to get stiletto shoes in a size 12 !

    2. The impracticality of EVs compared with ICE vehicles is demonstrated by the reluctance of buyers to replace their fossil fuelled cars with this electric alternative method of propulsion.

      The technical explanation of this impracticality lies in the legacy adoption of the 12v electric power used by the increasing amount of low voltage devices used in modern vehicles.

      EVs have been designed to treat the 12 volt battery as being flat below 12 volts whereas in an ICE car it can still turn the starter motor at 10.5 volts.

      As can be seen in the following graph an EV cannot activate the EV’s Lithium-on traction battery when only 50% discharged when in fact it would be quite capable of starting an ICE car.

      Fining car manufacturers will not overcome this fundamental deficiency in electrical driven vehicles.

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6245cd60f469c3362581b78a9f86bf830d7004267ca1f9a8687cf0dfee38a66d.jpg

      https://www.thepilotgroup.co.uk/lithium-ion-battery-vs-lead-acid-battery/

    3. The impracticality of EVs compared with ICE vehicles is demonstrated by the reluctance of buyers to replace their fossil fuelled cars with this electric alternative method of propulsion.

      The technical explanation of this impracticality lies in the legacy adoption of the 12v electric power used by the increasing amount of low voltage devices used in modern vehicles.

      EVs have been designed to treat the 12 volt battery as being flat below 12 volts whereas in an ICE car it can still turn the starter motor at 10.5 volts.

      As can be seen in the following graph an EV cannot activate the EV’s Lithium-on traction battery when only 50% discharged when in fact it would be quite capable of starting an ICE car.

      Fining car manufacturers will not overcome this fundamental deficiency in electrical driven vehicles.

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6245cd60f469c3362581b78a9f86bf830d7004267ca1f9a8687cf0dfee38a66d.jpg

      https://www.thepilotgroup.co.uk/lithium-ion-battery-vs-lead-acid-battery/

    4. They’re already doing it for boilers. This isn’t about the environment. It’s about removing freedom.

  42. The Tories could be headed for their worst defeat in history. 10 December 2023.

    If these patterns were replicated in a general election, the outcome for the Conservatives could be bleak indeed – maybe as few as 130 seats, the worst outcome in the party’s history. In pursuing their disagreements with Mr Sunak over immigration, Tory MPs should realise they are potentially playing with fire.

    I personally would be satisfied with nothing less than total annihilation!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/12/09/tories-could-be-headed-for-their-worst-defeat-in-history/

    2. As I keep saying here (and BTL on DT articles) there is no longer any point in the MPs getting rid of Sunak. Instead all conservative Conservative MPs should get rid of their membership of the the Conservative Party and form a new party or join Reform.

      If there is then not one conservative Conservative MP left there will be no further reason for any philosophically conservative person to vote Conservative at all and the party will be wiped out.

      Ergo: It is in the national interest for all conservative Conservative MPs who can see how the electorate has been betrayed to resign from the party before the New Year.

      1. For that to work it would be better if all Conservative associations chose their own election candidates blocking any appointed by Conservative central office.
        If there is to be a revolution it has to start from the grass roots.
        It would also be beneficial if the local associations refused to support sitting MPs who they felt had betrayed the conservative voters.
        Pie in the sky, unfortunately.

    3. While I share your views on the present Conservative shower – I am reminded of the time that Labour were cast into the wilderness after a general election and were thought never likely to recover. Then Bliar came along some years later….

    4. …their disagreements with Mr Sunak over immigration, Tory MPs should realise they are potentially playing with fire.

      Play with fire and you can get burned.

      Sadly, it’s too late for the Country as these MPs have been quite happy to support cabinets and governments that have misled and ignored the electorate for years. Through their gutless inaction they’ve allowed their so-called leaders and outside interests to ride roughshod over the people. They deserve the coming funeral pyre and the ashes of the Conservative party should be scattered to the four winds.

      The fate of the Conservatives should be a warning to the Labour party, however, it’s pretty well nailed on that Starmer will follow the dictates of the same outside influences e.g. the WHO, UN etc. that are driving western governments. Five years of Labour and the UK will likely be done, with little remaining to save.

          8. When he was Ken Doll i wondered given the continuous surgery over many years where the money was coming from. This before he became a so called reality star.

        3. I was about to comment, She?

          Not that I knew it was a male but because I don’t know what it is.

    12. As the Late Mr Milligan was wont to say:

      “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
      Get it out with Optrex!

    14. Bloody hell! Just found out that it’s a bloody MAN!!!
      Surgically mutilated, yes, but a MAN!

    19. I blame the doctors. Instead of performing these surgeries they should be making psych referrals.

    3. Some sensible policies there. Shows it can be done – and they don’t need the Rwanda solution after all.

      2. My sister has an EV – an ID4, as it happens. It’s a comically simple car to drive with none of the gear change hassles, having to worry about a handbrake (it engages automatically when you stop).

        I like the idea. I don’t believe batteries are the sensible fuel type due to weight and – let’s be honest, the intent of the state to stop people driving.

        1. Sue Ed, you have given an upvote to both Fiscal McPhee as well as Bill Thomas’ original post. ?!?!?!?

    2. Having heard Alex Jones he’s clearly a demagogue. He has nothing to really say except his pre-scripted waffle pieces.

      Carlson isn’t as bad – some of what he says is even right. The problem is his audience doesn’t want detail and so he never presents a practical solution to the pretty obvious problems.

      It’s a bit like me ranting on about ‘the Left’ and my only solution being to cut taxes. There’s vastly more to the situation than that.

      1. Nor was the bloke I knew who owned one. I think he changed his mind when LSL passed away, a£ a£…..

  51. That’s me gone. Dreary day AGAIN. Supposed to be sunny tomorrow, but who knows? Certainly not the Wet Office.

    I have said it before- but the “Look at Life” series on TPTV is wonderful. Brings back all sorts of memories about a country that was, without any doubt, completely different from the mess we have today.

    Anyway – have a jolly evening

    A demain.

  52. Just had home-made quiche and salad for dinner, followed by a mince pie made from leftover pastry.
    Scrummy, so it was. SWMBO is a superb cook.

    1. Well done to SWMBO!! I have yet to make my mince pies, in fact I have a new recipe for the pastry to try, it includes vodka!! Will let you know how it turns out, that’s if I have any vodka…..

  54. £ at the Wordle today.

    Wordle 904 3/6

    🟨⬜🟨⬜⬜
    ⬜⬜🟩🟩⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      1. A careless five for me.

        Wordle 904 5/6
        ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
        ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
        🟨⬜🟨⬜⬜
        ⬜⬜🟩🟩🟩
        🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      2. Par for me. You can see what happened.

        Wordle 904 4/6

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

  55. Seems to be a fault in the Disqus site: I have to refresh to see new posts, and they come up with random sorting, rather than the “newest first” which is how I set it.
    Pesky… 🙁

    1. First suggestion is to clear any site caches. Not sure the browser you’re using but you can google how to do that. These days things are quite clever and you can delete only the nttl.blog domain cache.

      Not a perfect solution every time but it might help and you lose nothing except being logged out?

  56. Evening, all. A very mixed day. I went back to my former church this morning because it was a visiting (retired) clergyman. Even he couldn’t overcome the freezing cold (no heating) nor the lack of gaity, joy and choir. Members of the former choir, plus ex-Director of Music and me made up nearly half of the congregation! Very depressing when I think what it used to be like; the spirituality has left the building. By contrast, I’m just back from the Provincial Carol Concert in Shrewsbury Abbey. Packed, joyful and full of Christmas cheer. There may have been no choir (although there was a brass band) but the congregation more than made up for it. I’m back to feeling cheerful again now.

    One thing the covid enquiry will achieve is wasting a lot of money for no tangible result.

    1. We all know the outcome will be that lockdown should have been sooner, harder and for longer. Meanwhile it’s costing millions.

  57. I have a proper cold. A cough that’s like a car back firing, a nose that is a leaking tap, fever and what not. If I pull the duvet over I overheat massively, without it I am cold.

    I’m going to visit el quacks tomorrow and get some antibiotics.

    1. Antibiotics are unlikely to help.

      I recommend a glass of hot whisky, juice of half a lemon, 4 cloves and a tsp of honey.

      It is not a cure – but it will make you feel better!

      1. Aye, maybe they won’t. I’ve had some hot water and honey with paracetamol and that helped a bit. Just feel I’ve got a large hippo sat on me. Haven’t done any hoovering, need to shave the head and beard – bit annoyed that the gym shower was tepid when for once I could have done with hot.

      2. I would definitely go with the hot whisky, lemon and honey….as you rightly say, antibiotics unlikely to do much!!

    2. My sympathy.
      I had that a while ago, so did the DT and the DT’s cough is persisting for a bit longer than I’m happy with.

    5. I have one as well. I will drink plenty, paracetamol every 4 hours. vickvapour but no docs.

    7. When our daughter was a baby, 1969, she had a cold and took her to the doctor. He told us that if he treated it it would last 2 weeks and if he didn’t treat it, it would last a fortnight.

  58. Pauline Maridor
    3 HRS AGO
    Nigel Farage is an old-school Tory, wanting to protect this country’s values, including a welfare system supporting UK citizens who need it, everything he says makes sense and is inoffensive.
    I wonder how Mr Farage will react on his return from the Jungle. So much has happened in the three weeks he has been away, much of which he predicted would happen; especially relating to immigration.
    An asylum seeker (economic migrant) receives £47.39 each week to help with toiletries, clothes, and travel. They automatically receive this cash in asylum accommodation, or if they stay with friends or family. They will not have to pay any rent or other bills whilst living in asylum housing.
    Here in London, we are OVERUN with cyclists (asylum seekers) for Deliveroo, Just Eat, et al. Not forgetting the Big-Issue sellers and the spread of professional beggars.
    Meanwhile a pensioner retiring pre- 2016 receives £156.20 a week.
    THIS MUST COVER EVERYTHING.
    They do NOT have free meals provided,
    NO 4-star luxury accommodation with full-board,
    NO free central heating
    NO queue jumping for housing, dental or medical treatment.
    The RSPCA insists we treat dogs better than pensioners.
    This blatant treatment against those who worked all their lives for a miserable pittance of a pension.
    It is almost as unfair as the way our homeless veterans are treated.
    We can thank Tony Blair for starting this destruction of a once Great Britain; with his desire to ‘Rub the right’s nose in DIVERSITY.

    1. Add to that; if you contributed to a works pension, for example, the government taxes you on it and you aren’t eligible for any help whatsoever.

    2. Add to that; if you contributed to a works pension, for example, the government taxes you on it and you aren’t eligible for any help whatsoever.

  59. Howling gale out there now – and raining again this evening. We did have a short break from the rain this afternoon.

    OH has put new hinges on two of the kitchen cupboards that didn’t shut properly – the first one was quite easily done, the second was a lot more trouble: awkward corner, and quite high, and the doors are heavy, but he managed it after a lot of lateral thinking and got the screws in and in the right order. It shuts perfectly now.

    1. Well done YOH! The sun came out during the consecration of the host this morning and it was quite bright for a while. I drove to Shrewsbury in the dry, but by the time I drove home it was hammering down and the roads were starting to flood.

  60. Well, chums, my alarm to let me know that it’s bedtime has just gone off. So I’ll bid you all a Good Night for now.

  61. And I’m off to bed as well.
    The delayed run to Stoke tomorrow to see Stepson.

    TTFN all.

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