Sunday 12 December: How Boris Johnson’s early promise gave way to chaos and confusion

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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834 thoughts on “Sunday 12 December: How Boris Johnson’s early promise gave way to chaos and confusion”

  3. Beyond Evil:

    “NHS staff have been told to start preparing for the mass vaccination of primary school children as young as five, according to the Sunday Times.
    It says leaked documents from NHS England say parental consent will be needed before jabs are given to five to 11-year-olds.”

    How can there be informed consent when it is still an experimental substance?

    2. At least they are consistent, i suppose.
      Over the last two years we’ve seen all these dystopian covid responses happening around the world while thinking that could never happen here.
      Then the government announces they have no plans for such measures.
      Then they do.
      Then it happens.
      Then nobody does anything.

  4. How Boris Johnson’s early promise gave way to chaos and confusion

    Were people expecting anything else but chaos and confusion with Boris as PM?
    But at least it isn’t boring, I suppose.
    Well apart from the MSM going on the same stories over and over so that one cannot switch the news on or read a paper anymore without tuning out.

  6. ‘Morning All

    Phase 2 of the BoJo attack has been launched all over the MSM,Times,Mirror,Mail,how has he displeased his globalist masters??Has he shown a hint of spine and obstructed our final servitude??

    Funny how none of them are demanding the release of the police logs,far too many of their own in the frame I suspect.

    Govetongue and Mancock on maneuvers now THERE’S a pair that would send us to the camps with a gleeful Laff!!

    https://media.gab.com/system/media_attachments/files/092/876/498/original/9d9bbf9d595f1129.png

    1. Morning Rik et al

      10/10 for Govetongue – the essence of the man distilled into just 10 letters.

    2. Thanks, Rik, another nicked for a wider audience on Ar5ebook.

      Complete with your words as well.

  7. No Excuse

    Bill emerges from the bathroom – naked – and climbs into bed with his wife. As usual, she says, “I have a headache.”

    “Perfect!” Bill says. “I was just in the bathroom powdering my old man with aspirin. Now, how do you want to take it orally, or as a suppository?”

  11. A dangerous and pointless boycott. Spiked 12 deecember 2021.2021.

    Unusually, French president Emmanuel Macron, who does not support a diplomatic boycott, had it about right. This is an ‘insignificant and symbolic’ gesture, he said. After all, the non-attendance of diplomats at the Olympics makes little difference to anyone, certainly not the viewing public. They want to watch the sport, not scan the executive boxes for different nations’ delegations, checking who’s turned up and who hasn’t. ‘You either have a complete boycott, and don’t send athletes’, Macron said, or you don’t boycott it at all.

    I’ve put this up because it is a very rare example of Macron being right! This boycott is simply virtue signalling. If it serves any purpose it is to tell the Chinese that our leaders are on their own! This is a pity, China is one of the very few countries where the propaganda machine doesn’t have to make anything up. It really is as nasty a place as it appears! It is at this very moment engaged in an act of genocide against the Uighurs. I’m not a particular fan of theirs but the wise observe, Them today, Us tomorrow! Or perhaps that should read us today as well!

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2021/12/11/a-dangerous-and-pointless-boycott/

  12. I suppose it has been going on for a very long time but it appears that Doctors have morphed into Pharmaceutictools …..

    1. It could be said that a pharmaceutictool features in NtN’s rather doubtful joke below.

      2. I did warn, Peddy, that we’re coming to the end of the Bumper Joke Book and some of the dross is pretty rank.

  13. Good morning all. 07:20 and still pitch black outside with rain and 5½°C on the thermometer.

    1. Over 11C on the Sussex coast but dark and grey. Shall I go for a swim in the sea today.? I think not.

  14. Omicron could cause 75,000 deaths in England by end of April, say scientists. 12 December 2021.

    Omicron could cause between 25,000 and 75,000 deaths in England over the next five months without tougher Covid restrictions, experts have told the government.

    Scientists from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) also warned that Omicron, first discovered in southern Africa, is likely to be the dominant coronavirus variant by the end of the month.

    Even in the most optimistic scenario, projected infections could lead to a peak of more than 2,000 daily hospital admissions, with a total of 175,000 hospital admissions and 24,700 deaths between 1 December and 30 April.

    I read this in the hopes of discovering how they had arrived at the conclusion that Omicron, that has not yet killed single person, is suddenly going to lay swathe to the population. It seems to defy reason, how can they possibly know this? A clue is provided further down the page

    However, Prof Paul Hunter, of the University of East Anglia, said any model was “only as good as its assumptions”, adding that one key assumption here was that severity of disease outcomes for Omicron was the same as for Delta.

    In other words this forecast if not for Omicron but a New Delta!

    Fear is the Key!

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/11/omicron-covid-variant-could-cause-75000-deaths-in-england-by-end-of-april-say-scientists

    1. Here’s yesterday’s stats:
      Working on the basis that there are approx 150 acute hospitals, the numbers currently in hospital testing positive for Covid average just under 50 ( two wards worth of patients). Given that 2/3rds of these patients are likely to be over 65 years of age it is the sort of numbers one might expect during a normal year for influenza when patients are admitted with respiratory infections. As we know from official DoH weekly monitoring the number of diagnosed cases of flu is very low.
      The figures for Covid cases on ventilation / oxygen also averages 6 per acute hospital. And not all of these cases will necessarily be occupying ICU beds. I’m not a doctor so I do wish a leading light in the Medical Profession would challenge these fearful projections!

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/49f337093ebe6a8527c326b60b92d2b5eb32df8e76730032e97c63ec657b4062.png

      1. According to my calculator, by the end of April we could expect around 216,000 deaths anyway, so it’s a win, win situation.

    3. Building the case for a long, long lockdown. Expect a large spike in deaths early next year!

    4. “...any model was “only as good as its assumptions”” – and, in the case of that moron Ferguson, only as good as his coding whcih seems to be suspect, to put it mildly. Let us not forget that he broke the very rules that he was instrumental in developing!

    5. “...any model was “only as good as its assumptions”” – and, in the case of that moron Ferguson, only as good as his coding whcih seems to be suspect, to put it mildly. Let us not forget that he broke the very rules that he was instrumental in developing!

  15. Omicron could cause 75,000 deaths in England by end of April, say scientists. 12 December 2021.

    Omicron could cause between 25,000 and 75,000 deaths in England over the next five months without tougher Covid restrictions, experts have told the government.

    Scientists from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) also warned that Omicron, first discovered in southern Africa, is likely to be the dominant coronavirus variant by the end of the month.

    Even in the most optimistic scenario, projected infections could lead to a peak of more than 2,000 daily hospital admissions, with a total of 175,000 hospital admissions and 24,700 deaths between 1 December and 30 April.

    I read this in the hopes of discovering how they had arrived at the conclusion that Omicron, that has not yet killed single person, is suddenly going to lay swathe to the population. It seems to defy reason, how can they possibly know this? A clue is provided further down the page

    However, Prof Paul Hunter, of the University of East Anglia, said any model was “only as good as its assumptions”, adding that one key assumption here was that severity of disease outcomes for Omicron was the same as for Delta.

    In other words this forecast if not for Omicron but a New Delta!

    Fear is the Key!

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/11/omicron-covid-variant-could-cause-75000-deaths-in-england-by-end-of-april-say-scientists

  16. Morning all

    How Boris Johnson’s early promise gave way to chaos and confusion

    SIR – Boris Johnson and his chaotic, immature court are now beyond comedy.

    Certainly Mr Johnson is a talented speaker and writer. However, he completely lacks the judgment, strength and gravitas to be a successful prime minister. He tries to please all of the people all of the time and ends up pleasing nobody. He is leading his party to electoral disaster.

    I voted for a strong Conservative administration that would maximise the opportunities presented by Brexit. However, this Government more closely resembles a pilotless plane with engine failure. In the public interest Mr Johnson must go – and quickly.

    Nicholas Dobson

    Doncaster, South Yorkshire

    SIR – Boris Johnson is clearly out of his depth, with a coterie of advisers and hangers-on who have no idea how to even look like a party of government, let alone be one.

    They have total disdain for the public and little respect for the positions they hold. I have been a loyal Conservative voter all my life but the current shambles makes me embarrassed to be so. No policies, no direction, no plan.

    Neil Walker

    Gateshead

    SIR – The video footage of No 10 staff openly joking about a party on December 18 last year is a ghost of Christmas past that will haunt the Prime Minister for a long time.

    In the space of just two years he has turned from an election asset into a complete and utter liability.

    Kim Potter

    Lambourn, Berkshire

    SIR – The mock press conference presided over by Allegra Stratton has been presented as a display of contempt on the part of senior civil servants for people suffering under Covid regulations.

    There is another view. Ms Stratton and her colleagues (socially distanced, note) would have been working under continuous pressure for weeks. People operating under stress – including servicemen experiencing the extreme stress of military action – will sometimes indulge in gallows humour. They are probably wise to do so: it helps relieve the strain. No disrespect was intended by the mock press conference. Disrespect only arose from the leaking of a private event into the public domain.

    The Prime Minister was wrong to say that the conference sickened him, and to have apparently thrown Ms Stratton to the wolves.

    Sir Harold Walker

    London SW14

    SIR – Boris Johnson saw off Theresa May, secured Brexit and has handled the pandemic with skill and determination in the face of constant criticism.

    He continues to receive a daily battering from the BBC, which appears to be out to get him.

    Judy Bromley Davenport

    Malpas, Cheshire

    1. Well, Judy Bromley Davenport, the BBC ain’t the only ones out to get him but it still begs the questions, “Who will replace him?” and what shift in policy direction?

      The Jolly Green Covid Ogre still rules.

      1. Yo NTN

        “Who will replace him?”

        I am available every Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning: anymore would c0ck up my weekends

        I do not think Boros puts in much more time than that.

    2. I put it to Sir Harold Walker that the well paid people in that video are juvenile, arrogant and highly unprofessional time-wasters. If that is a typical example of the conduct of the many staff and advisors in No 10 and the rest of the government then we are probably done for. Perhaps in future they will resist such mucking about, but I am not optimistic.

    3. Sir Harold Walker equates working as some mouthpiece for our economic with the truth, PM, with soldiers huddling in a foxhole under shellfire, enduring poor or no food for days on end and expecting a horrible death at any moment? Methinks Sir Harold should read some books, he could start with any campaign the British Army fought in WWII. 🤡🤡🤡

    4. Isn’t it amazing how people see other people and events in such a drastically different way from oneself.

    5. If I happen to come across Judy in Malpas, I shall disabuse her of the notion that Boris secured Brexit!

  17. SIR – I firmly agree that Britain should keep cash (Letters, December 5).

    Our daughter and husband live virtually without it but came unstuck when a visit from the tooth fairy was expected. They had to rob my grandson’s piggy bank for a pound coin.

    Meanwhile, when my two-year-old granddaughter emptied my purse on a recent visit, she held out a £2 coin and asked me to open it, thinking it was chocolate.

    Lynda Wigelsworth

    Ossett, West Yorkshire

    SIR – I visited a large local hardware store a week after storm Arwen.

    At the entrance there was a sign saying “Cash only”. The card machines were still out of action because of the storm.

    Philip Roberts

    Nant Peris, Carnarvonshire

    SIR – Like it or not, we are heading for a cashless society.

    A digital currency will help the Government to fight tax dodgers and close down the black market. Ultimately it could save billions that “get lost” each year.

    Paul Caruana

    Truro, Cornwall

    SIR – I like cash because the state hates it.

    William Rusbridge

    Tregony, Cornwall

    1. Paul Caruana. If you think a Digital currency will close down the black market you are an idiot.

    2. I was helping collect for the Air Ambulance the other day; so many people said, “I’ve only got a card, no cash”.

  18. Myopic Plan B

    SIR – Why are we still trying to fight Covid with self-harming measures instead of accepting that it will always be with us and always be mutating?

    Have no lessons been learnt in the past 21 months?

    Paul Blundell

    Daventry, Northamptonshire

    SIR – Before the hard evidence is in on how dangerous the omicron variant really is, the Government has initiated Plan B, the timing coinciding with a declaration from Sage that up to 1,000 people a week could be hospitalised with the variant. What is this based on?

    Plan B is going to affect people’s Christmas, along with their mental and financial wellbeing. We need to know exactly how this decision was reached. Nearly two years since the pandemic began, politicians’ control over our lives has decreased not one bit.

    We were told that the vaccine would put us on the road back to normality. Now we have the vaccine – but not our freedoms. How much longer are politicians going to be allowed to get away with their empty promises?

    Lesley Peters

    Lamberhurst, Kent

    SIR – I always get the impression that, when fresh restrictions are announced, the real reason is not to protect the public but to protect the NHS – which is not fit for purpose

    Julie Ralph

    Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire

    SIR – I had my booster on November 3, yet on December 6 I received a text from the NHS saying that its records showed that I hadn’t had one.

    I was advised to ring 119. Upon doing so I was given the usual automated list of options, and chose to speak to an operator. I was told that all operators were busy – then cut off. How many other people’s records are incorrect?

    Mark Rennie

    Newcastle upon Tyne

    1. Have no lessons been learnt in the past 21 months?

      Yes Mr Blundell. The Wise have learned to believe nothing that the Government tells them!

    2. Mr Blundell, ‘we’ the people are not fighting coivd, the government is promoting covid, whatever iteration of it they are able to lay their grubby hands on. ‘We’ the people should be fighting this grubby, lying, sleaze infected and supercilious government. Covid is the least of our worries!

  19. https://twitter.com/PolcaDorka/status/1469311384810885124?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1469801359520288771%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es3_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fdisqus.com%2Fembed%2Fcomments%2F%3Fbase%3Ddefaultf%3Dnottlt_i%3D198720https3A2F2Fnttl.blog2F3Fp3D1987t_u%3Dhttps3A2F2Fnttl.blog2Fsunday-12-december-how-boris-johnsons-early-promise-gave-way-to-chaos-and-confusion2Ft_e%3DSunday201220December3A20How20Boris20JohnsonE28099s20early20promise20gave20way20to20chaos20and20confusiont_d%3DSunday201220December3A20How20Boris20JohnsonE28099s20early20promise20gave20way20to20chaos20and20confusiont_t%3DSunday201220December3A20How20Boris20JohnsonE28099s20early20promise20gave20way20to20chaos20and20confusions_o%3Ddescversion%3D9068118211410bc5f67f5bb8d6806cba

  22. An entire generation are puzzled by the idea that anyone has the right to say things they don’t agree with, writes PETER HITCHENS

    *
    *
    *
    https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/12/11/21/51612407-10300045-Importantly_the_vast_majority_of_students_didn_t_know_who_he_was-a-12_1639257220778.jpg
    The vast majority of students didn’t know who he was. So they used mobile phones to search for ‘Rod Liddle’ via Google. Pictured: Durham students protest after Rod Liddle’s speech
    *
    *
    https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/12/11/21/51494473-10300047-The_woke_mob_had_ramped_up_its_campaign_to_oust_Professor_Luckhu-a-1_1639258644688.jpg
    The ‘woke’ mob had ramped up its campaign to oust Professor Luckhurst last night as seven societies accused him of ‘gross misconduct’. Mr Hannigan is a Jeremy Corbyn supporter who stood for the Labour Party at the local elections this year
    *
    *
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-10300047/PETER-HITCHENS-Generation-puzzled-idea-righ

  24. We’re screeching into a new Dark Age, and bad scientists are leading the charge
    Rod Liddle
    Sunday December 12 2021, 12.01am, The Sunday Times

    Stuck fast in a confined space between his mum and dad, Tane Mahuta eventually kicked out, sending his father, Ranginui, up to the sky and his mother, Papatuanuku, down to the earth. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how the world was formed, according to Maori folklore.

    A little later a demigod called Maui went fishing with a jawbone and was lucky enough to catch the north island of New Zealand, which is how it came into being. The south island was Maui’s canoe. A big canoe, then. I don’t know if the Maoris have an explanation for how their country’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, was brought into existence. Perhaps one of those demigods put some puppies in a blender.

    The Tane Mahuta stuff is a colourful and possibly (your call) delightful explanation of the creation of the world — although not, for me, wholly persuasive. It is not notably more mad than the idea that an all-powerful God, probably masked up and working from home according to guidelines, put in an onerous six-day shift to create everything around us and then took Sunday off to watch the golf on Sky. We create these myths in darkness and hope that they will provide us with a little light until something genuinely illuminating comes along, such as science: evidence-based and empirical.

    So, from New Zealand, comes more evidence that what I call the De-Enlightenment really is upon us. There, a government working party has demanded that the story of Tane Mahuta and his various strange relatives should be given equal emphasis when children are taught the origins of the world: equal emphasis, that is, to the stuff we know to be true. To the science.

    One very eminent scientist called Garth Cooper, a professor of biochemistry and clinical biochemistry at the University of Auckland, slightly balked at this. He signed an open letter suggesting that, while it was important everybody knew about the interesting Maori take on creation, “In the discovery of empirical, universal truths, it falls far short of what we can define as science itself.”

    You might have expected his colleagues to agree. Nope, not a bit of it. Cooper is in the process of being cancelled nationwide, with pretty much only the New Zealand Free Speech Union supporting him. The Royal Society of New Zealand has denounced him and he may be expelled from it. His own vice-chancellor at Auckland, a Brit called Dawn Freshwater, said he had caused “considerable hurt and dismay among our staff, students and alumni”.

    A letter attacking him for causing “untold hurt and harm” was got up by two other academics. The first is Siouxsie Wiles, a pink-haired woman whose hobby is playing with Lego, despite her objections to the gender stereotypes inherent within Lego figurines. The other is Shaun Hendy, who is the mathematical modeller behind New Zealand’s policy of remaining within lockdown for ever in case someone dies. The letter was signed by more than 2,000 academics.

    This story has not gained much traction in the British press, and when it has, it has been on the undoubtedly important issue of freedom of speech. Our own Richard Dawkins has written to the Royal Society of New Zealand voicing his incredulity.

    Yet for once freedom of speech is not the crucial issue for me here. It is instead the burgeoning madness and stupidity, condescension and racism that are propelling us towards the De-Enlightenment. All of those academics, and the Royal Society, know full well that the Maori explanation for the creation of the world is not correct. And yet, hypocritically and patronisingly, they pretend otherwise.

    The argument — facile beyond comprehension — is that science has been used by white, western, developed nations to underpin colonialism and is therefore tainted by its association with white supremacy. As Dawkins pointed out, science is not “white”. (The assumption that it is is surely racist.) Nor is it imperialist. It is simply a rather beautiful tool for discerning the truth.

    It is not just New Zealand. Science is under attack in America and indeed here. Rochelle Gutierrez, an Illinois professor, has argued that algebra and trigonometry perpetuate white power and that maths is, effectively, racist.

    Oxford University has announced that it intends to “decolonise” maths: “This includes steps such as integrating race and gender questions into topics.”

    A lunacy has gripped our academics. They would be happy to throw out centuries of learning and brilliance for the sake of being temporarily right-on, and thus signalling their admirable piety to a young, approving audience.

    It is an indulgence that, with every fatuous genuflection towards political correctness, is dragging us all backwards.

    ● A Gloucestershire man turned up to the A&E department of his local hospital with something painful stuck up his bottom.

    Upon examining him, doctors were surprised to discover that it was a live Second World War artillery shell. They hurriedly called the bomb squad.

    Luckily there was no need for a controlled explosion, which would have sent the chap’s buttocks somewhere toward the Worcestershire border.

    As you will have guessed, the man explained that he had slipped and fallen on the shell. Easily done.

    Dogs know up to 215 words

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/imageserver/image/%2Fmethode%2Fsundaytimes%2Fprod%2Fweb%2Fbin%2F6c72b922-5a9d-11ec-985a-09e80e25697e.jpg?crop=1500%2C1000%2C0%2C0&resize=860

    A short speech and a couple of drinks . . . didn’t it go well

    There is no pleasure, no matter how temporary, like basking in a delusion.

    As I climbed into the taxi after a speech at Durham University nine days ago, for the short journey back to Teesside, I thought to myself: “Hmm. That went quite well, I think.”

    I’d met up with my lovely old friend Professor Tim Luckhurst, chatted amiably for an hour with the young journalists on the university magazine, made a short speech about the importance of listening to other people’s opinions and later had drinks with lots of charming students in a rather soulless hospitality room.

    OK, a few students – 15? – walked out before the speech and a few during it. But about 250 remained. And those departing kids were within their rights to walk out, even if it was a bit impolite and rather made the point of the speech for me.

    But I expected that – no alarms, no surprises. What I didn’t expect was the bizarre and craven behaviour of the university authorities afterwards in siding entirely with the extremists, the mob, in the students’ union, suggesting that while they believed totally and utterly in freedom of speech it did not apply if someone like me was speaking.

    And persecuting Luckhurst, an honourable and decent man, for having invited me – despite the fact that they knew in September that I was coming. The problem on our campuses is not with the kids. It’s with the staff.

    Cornish Dodgem
    7 HOURS AGO

    I find all this baffling and disturbing, not to mention alarming. I’m rather glad I’m the wrong side of fifty and not generally required to mix with a lot of people, otherwise I would soon find myself cancelled and denounced for refusing to pretend I can see the Emperor’s splendid new clothes. I imagine the next move will be actual capital punishment for these ‘crimes’. Because someone losing their livelihood and reputation is never quite enough, is it?

    1. Wokery is not confined to this country. I thought the Kiwis might have had more sense. As for Liddle’s ‘cancellation’ by the pathetic creeps who are supposed to run the university and set a good example…

      Years of Marxist indoctrination in our schools is now bearing a highly poisonous fruit.

      ‘Morning, C1. Not a good start to my day!

    2. A lunacy has gripped our academics.

      Not just them Rod! It’s spread to the entire political class as well. It’s some form of Group Hysteria.

    3. “Oxford University has announced that it intends to “decolonise” maths: “This includes steps such as integrating race and gender questions into topics.”
      Probability and statistics.
      Q1 If a black man has a child with a white woman what is the probability that he will abandon the woman and child?
      Q2 If a white woman is left with a black man’s child what is the probability that she will have further children by different black men?
      Q3 If the genders are changed in Q1 & Q2 do the probabilities change and if so by what %?
      Q4 Do the probabilities change depending upon the colonies the ancestors of the black people originated from?
      Q5 Do the probabilistes change if the ancestors of the white people were slave owners?
      Q6 In each of the first five questions, what degree of statistical confidence do you ascribe to your results?

        1. I doubt any action will be taken against Imams who condemn the Maori version as incompatible with theirs in the way that action would certainly be taken against a Christian priest who stated similarly.

        3. What do you expect with an ex-new labour luvvie in charge:
          Born 26 July 1980 in Hamilton, New Zealand,[11] Ardern grew up as a Mormon[12][13] in Morrinsville and Murupara, where her father, Ross Ardern, worked as a police officer,[14] and her mother, Laurell Ardern (née Bottomley), worked as a school catering assistant.[15][16] She studied at Morrinsville College,[17] where she was the student representative on the school’s board of trustees.[18] Whilst still at school she found her first job, working at a local fish-and-chip shop.[19] She then attended the University of Waikato, graduating in 2001 with a Bachelor of Communication Studies (BCS) in politics and public relations.[20] She spent a semester abroad at Arizona State University in 2001.[21][22]

          Ardern was brought into politics by her aunt, Marie Ardern, a longstanding member of the Labour Party, who recruited the teenaged Ardern to help her with campaigning for New Plymouth MP Harry Duynhoven during his re-election campaign at the 1999 general election.[23]

          Ardern joined the Labour Party at the age of 17,[24] and became a senior figure in the Young Labour sector of the party. After graduating from university, she spent time working in the offices of Phil Goff and of Helen Clark as a researcher. After a period of time in New York City, US, where she volunteered at a soup kitchen[25] and worked on a workers’ rights campaign,[26] Ardern moved to London, England where she became a senior policy adviser in an 80-person policy unit of British prime minister Tony Blair.[27] (She did not meet Blair in London, but later at an event in New Zealand in 2011 she questioned him about the invasion of Iraq.[28]) Ardern was also seconded to the UK Home Office to help with a review of policing in England and Wales*

          *Could explain a lot!

    5. The stupidity (and the rapid devolving back to amoebæ) of the species is accelerating even faster than I had predicted.

      1. But even Rod Liddle can be silly, because there are times when you have to keep your head below the parapet. Remember the ‘George Davis is Innocent’ campaign? The Maori myth works like Santa Claus, which is great for children, then even greater for children; firstly they enjoy Christmas, then they learn that adults talk nonsense sometimes. PS Saint Lucy’s day tomorrow.

    6. The stupidity (and the rapid devolving back to amoebæ) of the species is accelerating even faster than I had predicted.

    1. Morning Mr. T. It’s being reported that Ministers are so confused they’ve now begun stabbing each other in the chest….

    2. Her forte is as a prominent back-bench MP. The posts of Home Secretary and PM were jobs too far for her and I suspect and hope she may realise that by now.

    1. I don’t remember seeing anything like her in the RN, and I’m sure I would have noticed!!

  29. 342755+ up ticks,

    Sunday 12 December: How Boris Johnson’s early promise gave way to chaos and confusion

    Surely it is recognised by now that ALL lab/lib/con mass uncontrolled immigration (ongoing) / mass paedophile ( ongoing) umbrella / political close shop coalition, vows, promises, pledges, are deceiving,
    loco weed, fodder for fools.

    Salves for supporting voters to ease the conscience when entering the polling booth as in “the party leaders DID vow,promise,pledge” thereby carte blanche once again takes a hand, dangerous people.

    1. “Early promise?” You mean, the time when most voters hadn’t twigged what a shyster he is?

    1. We have come a long way from: “A constable is a citizen; locally-appointed; who derives his authority under the Crown.”

      It is now: “A constable is any toe-rag; appointed from wherever; who derives his powers from governmental diktat.”

      1. Sadly, Grizz, within our lifetime, British police appear to have gone down the very route that was predicted in 1829.
        At least, it took over 150 years to reach the sublime standards of police forces elsewhere on the planet.

      2. Morning Grizz

        One thing puzzles me , so don’t over react , but your generation of policemen will probably have had influence and the correct principles that you reassure us should be so , so why has everything deteriorated so badly.

        Did the wrong bods get the top jobs ?

        1. Morning, Maggie (I never “overreact”).

          I think I have explained a number of times on here (and in published letters to the DT) how this came about.

          Back in 1978, after decades of indifference by successive governments, the police had been slowly falling down to the bottom of the pay scale in the UK (the police are forbidden to strike under the Police Act 1919). Something had to be done. A royal commission was set up under the auspices of Lord Edmund-Davies in order to look into police pay and conditions. It found that the country’s police were severely underpaid and it made recommendations to award a decent pay structure and improved conditions of service. All well and good, but this came at a cost.

          Despite an parliamentary vote (all parties) that accepted the proposals of the commission, certain caveats were imposed. The main ones being: increased governmental control over police and their operations; and the imposition of a graduate-entry scheme intended to introduce more “brains” into the higher echelons of the police service (no longer a “force”). What this meant was twofold. First, the government could call on police from all over the country to fight their political battles (Miners’ Strike 1984–85 as an example); second, all manner of low-grade (i.e. 2:2 or a 3rd) social studies or music graduates could apply for rapid promotion within the police. When this happened, these clueless halfwits, none of whom had any experience of life — never mind experience of the general public — were now installed as senior police officers. Moreover, these people, newly empowered and also brainwashed with Common Purpose dogma, had control of recruitment; consequently they recruited many more like-types.

          Yes, the police (including me) went from the bottom of the pay league, overnight, to somewhere near the top. This was a positive result for us. Unfortunately the downside was being taken advantage of by more and more unscrupulous politicians, who had their own questionable agendæ.

      3. We may have come a long way but “Its the not the Destination, It’s the journey.”

        Sadly, we are still en voyage. Retirees from the Armed Forces used to provide a pool of experienced labour for the Constabulary and the Prison Service (and many other fields of employment of course); cut down on squaddies and the effects take a while to filter through.

  31. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fa2daf6d0e02289db5db7ec782cbaddb88eeebfc8bd7f352d1186eaaa791ff16.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b862646e6db21e36603cd24e66b5ed91b0b7b560842f4fe38b968b989435f6d8.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ac73b11c50f86c2eff202bfdb702eb4c33a9564cefc1c8cb7e88caec18b60dd5.png
    It is beyond time that these freaks were told where to go. In any competition or sport there should be three categories: Men; Women; Others. Men to compete against men; women to compete against women; anything not “identifying” as the sex they were born with to compete against similar. I doubt that the “Others” category in, say, the Olympic Games would generate a large audience.

  32. Good Moaning.
    Practically tropical in Norf Essex.
    Should we ask the Doomgoblin to lecture a volcano or three?

  33. BTL:

    Carolyn Bates
    3 MIN AGO
    No one had more hopes for Boris Johnson than myself, however it didn’t take long before he showed his true self, and it was not to my liking at all. Everything I thought I knew about him vanished as his personality traits became clear, particularly after he moved his then girlfriend into No 10.
    Almost overnight he morphed into a green socialist, with no Conservative values or principles to be seen. It has been downhill for over a year now as he has gone from one disaster to the next, however, what has horrified me the most is his capacity for lying. It comes so naturally to him and he has shown time and time again that he can’t be trusted.
    On the back of the Afghanistan travesty came the Owen Patterson debacle, quickly followed by the revelation of the Downing Street Christmas parties. On their own, the parties may seem trivial to some, but the fact they were partying while our Christmas had been cancelled and, that they found it so amusing to be getting one over on us, was appalling.
    The fact that the Prime Minister lied about this as well, has been the final straw for many, who no longer feel he is competent, or shows respect to the Office he was elected to with an eighty-seat majority.
    His downright disregard and disrespect for the British public was then exacerbated even further when, on the same day as we discovered that the rules do not apply to those in Government, only to us, he introduced even more restrictions on to us. Who in their right mind would do this?
    To add even more fuel to the fire, it is now being reported that there is a plan ‘C’ waiting around the corner for us, even though not one single person has died of the new variant. This insanity cannot be allowed to continue, we have to insist that the Prime Minister is replaced, and soon.

    Me too, Carolyn!

    1. Could someone send Carolyn and invitation to Nottle? She neatly summarises my view, but without the expletives!

          3. Those posters who routinely post unfeasibly long lists using double-spacing do the likewise to me.

    3. Heads Boris wins, tails they lose. Boris was chosen by party members and achieved an 80 seat majority. That he has wasted it is partly down to his colleagues.

    4. Maybe. My MP is not on the list. I have written to him pointing out that the leader of the Tory party in Scotland is on the list. I have asked him if he supports the setting aside of the Nuremberg Code and the introduction of compulsory vaccination.
      (My future looks like being in prison as I will pay no fine. As I will not succumb to their vaccination, I will be in prison for ever.)

      1. I suspect they will only let people out on pain of vaccination regardless of whether it is compulsory or not. That will be the deal.

        1. That’s what I was thinking. Of course, they may pass some law that allows them to seize the money in your bank account, so you pay the fines will-nilly.

  38. Rainy mild and I have turned the heating off!

    My original thoughts on Boris are proving to be so .. He has a careless cavalier approach to life , anything goes . He is a bit to frivolous , and if you cast your mind back to the reign of Tony Blair , there are strong similarities , think Foot and Mouth . Blair championed multiculturalism and, between 1997 and 2007, immigration rose considerably, especially after his government welcomed immigration from the new EU member states in 2004. This provided a cheap and flexible labour supply.

    Blair oversaw British interventions in Kosovo (1999) and Sierra Leone (2000), which were generally perceived as successful. During the War on Terror, he supported the foreign policy of the George W. Bush administration and ensured that the British Armed Forces participated in the War in Afghanistan from 2001 and, more controversially, the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Blair argued that the Saddam Hussein regime possessed an active weapons of mass destruction (WMD) program, but no stockpiles of WMDs or an active WMD program were ever found in Iraq. The Iraq War became increasingly unpopular among the British public, and he was criticised by opponents and (in 2016) the Iraq Inquiry for waging an unjustified and unnecessary invasion. He was in office when the 7/7 bombings took place (2005) and introduced a range of anti-terror legislation. His legacy remains controversial, not least because of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.

    Boris means well, he tries to please , but he is being influenced by his GREEN wife , and his personality is as I said is too cheerful and cavalier , too can do etc .. and if he is not careful , a real risk !

    1. “and if he is not careful, a real risk!” He has gone way past that point, Belle. He is in utter contempt of the people of this country and proving a very real and immediate danger to our way of life as it has evolved, and as we have known all of our lives. We are discovering that our veneer of civilisation has a very thin skin indeed. Unfortunately any alternative to Johnson (it is important to call him that, he is not our best mate and everything that goes with that) seems to be so much worse. Shortly they will bring on our ‘saviours’, the NWO!

    3. Aesop’s fable: 2,500 years ago.

      “A Man and his son were once going with their Donkey to market. As they were walking along by its side a countryman passed them and said: “You fools, what is a Donkey for but to ride upon?”

      So the Man put the Boy on the Donkey and they went on their way. But soon they passed a group of men, one of whom said: “See that lazy youngster, he lets his father walk while he rides.”

      So the Man ordered his Boy to get off, and got on himself. But they hadn’t gone far when they passed two women, one of whom said to the other: “Shame on that lazy lout to let his poor little son trudge along.”

      Well, the Man didn’t know what to do, but at last he took his Boy up before him on the Donkey. By this time they had come to the town, and the passers-by began to jeer and point at them. The Man stopped and asked what they were scoffing at. The men said: “Aren’t you ashamed of yourself for overloading that poor donkey of yours and your hulking son?”

      The Man and Boy got off and tried to think what to do. They thought and they thought, till at last they cut down a pole, tied the donkey’s feet to it, and raised the pole and the donkey to their shoulders. They went along amid the laughter of all who met them till they came to Market Bridge, when the Donkey, getting one of his feet loose, kicked out and caused the Boy to drop his end of the pole. In the struggle the Donkey fell over the bridge, and his fore-feet being tied together he was drowned.

      “That will teach you,” said an old man who had followed them:

      “Please all, and you will please none.”

    4. Blair wanted a voting bloc, so he imported millions of utter wasters who would be given a house and generous welfare – if we were lucky, they’d get a government non-job where they’d pontificate on bringing more illegal, unskilled, unwanted immigrants in.

      He wanted to hurt the Conservative voter base. Nothing else mattered.

  40. Well, I won’t hear a word said in favour of Boris:

    There is an overpowering fin-de-regime stench emanating from Downing Street that can no longer be ignored. Why do all governments end up taking their voters for fools? Why do they feel that they have the right to break the rules that the rest of us must follow? That senior advisers chose to party at a time when the rest of the country was in a traumatic Christmas lockdown betrays an appalling lack of judgment, but it is their shocking sense of superiority, the sneering elitism and the subsequent lies that are most angering voters.

    I feel sorry for Allegra Stratton, who is taking the rap for others’ failings, but she did the right thing in resigning. Yet it won’t be enough: the Government’s incompetence and moral failings are a toxic combination that have cut through. The Partygate video featuring officials joking about wine and cheese was an almost perfect encapsulation of everything the public hates about the political class, and will be devastating for the Government, especially as it comes at the very moment Boris Johnson is proposing to impose new restrictions on our freedoms.

    This is why the timing of this scandal is so problematic for the Prime Minister. He stands accused of using the latest announcement to divert attention from the scandal, but the reality is that senior officials are terrified at the prospect of the NHS collapsing. Sage’s apparatchiks are now claiming that up to 1,000 people could be hospitalised a day by the end of the month in England alone.

    The decision to reimpose restrictions is a potentially catastrophic moment for the Prime Minister, one that will infuriate all sides of the debate. The lockdowners will say that the Government should already have shut everything down, but the sceptics will be even more incandescent. Almost two years into this crisis, we now have mass vaccinations, better treatments and antivirals, and yet the NHS may still not be able to cope. Why didn’t the Government do more to avoid falling into this trap? Will this go on forever? Weren’t lockdowns meant to be a last resort? And given that the Government is bereft of moral authority, how many will comply with its new restrictions?

    Johnson suffers from three critical challenges as he seeks to recover from the nightmare of Partygate and to navigate the trauma of omicron. He doesn’t have any allies and isn’t really a Westminster creature. Until now, this didn’t matter: the PM’s genius is that he bypassed conventional routes to power. He is an outsider, a Presidential-style figure who brilliantly captured the parliamentary party for his own ends.

    His fame originates from his charisma, his time as mayor of London and then his plunge into the culture wars with Vote Leave; by contrast, his more traditional parliamentary and ministerial careers were lacklustre and would never, on their own, have led him to No 10. It took Theresa May’s implosion before he was propelled to power, and then only because reluctant Tory MPs realised that he enjoyed an almost supernatural popularity with the public. His unique selling point was that he was the only Tory to be able to deliver a greater share of the vote even than Tony Blair managed in 1997. He was electoral gold, and the party backed him in 2019 in one final roll of the dice to stave off oblivion.

    But his power is at once deep and shallow: he became PM because of his rapport with millions of voters, and this gave him carte blanche to run the Government as he liked, but his unquestioned authority over his MPs relied on his continued popularity.

    All of this is being shattered: a snap poll has 54 per cent saying the Prime Minister should resign, including 33 per cent of 2019 Conservatives, and his and the Tories’ popularity have been sliding for months. Conditions will become even harder if he loses the North Shropshire by-election, as many now believe likely. In recent months, it was privately argued that Johnson was just three negative polls away from a crisis. This analysis was spot-on: with Labour now in the lead, his party is looking for an excuse to rise up and he is desperately sacrificing his closest advisers to buy time.

    This takes us to his second challenge: he has disappointed all ideological sides in his party, so none are coming to his rescue. With the exception of Northern Ireland, he has delivered a clean Brexit, so the Eurosceptics no longer need him. Lockdowners and lockdown-sceptics both feel let down, and are about to become a lot more angry. The Thatcherites are furious at his tax rises, profligacy and failure to deregulate. They knew he was a Heseltinian, but thought that he would also look after their ideological interests. The Red Wallers are equally unhappy. They realise there is no real “levelling-up” strategy that might work, and are especially terrified at sliding poll ratings that threaten their seats.

    Most tellingly, even party loyalists and ministers are refusing to risk their reputation to defend the Government. MPs have learnt their lesson: time and again, Johnson backtracks on unpopular decisions. Why should a minister risk being monstered defending the indefensible if the Government is simply going to change its mind a few hours later?

    Finally, there is the PM’s lack of organisation and his dysfunctional court. He triumphed in 2019 because he empowered a few key advisers, not least Dominic Cummings and Lord Frost, but No 10 soon descended into catastrophic infighting. Cummings’ faction was destroyed, but wasn’t replaced by any meaningful alternative. A chaotic form of creative destruction was replaced by a vacuum, practical as well as philosophical. The centre has been adrift for months, unable or unwilling to grip the NHS, vaccines or antivirals. Woke civil servants are running riot. Why did nobody advise Johnson better about Owen Paterson? Why did nobody grip the Afghan debacle? On top of all this, the Prime Minister’s team is facing extreme scrutiny for partygate. An already broken organisation could be rendered unfit for business just as the country enters another crucial Covid phase. This is an appalling state of affairs: the country cannot be left rudderless.

    It is not too late for Johnson: many prime ministers have bounced back from far worse. But for the first time, his grip on power is starting to look shaky, and his MPs are openly discussing a post-Johnson future. He needs to act decisively to stop the rot, and to rebuild No 10 before the country is again engulfed in a traumatic Covid crisis.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/12/08/boris-johnson-may-not-recover-double-covid-catastrophe/#comment

    I think it’s too late …

    1. I think it’s too late. Look at the top BTL comments:

      3 DAYS AGO
      I think you’ll find it is too late for Johnson.
      We voted Conservative. We’ve got a left-wing, Eco Lunatic who is displaying clear Fascist tendencies with his talk this even of mandatory “vaccination.”
      It’s just a matter of time ……. and not that long, I suspect.
      I will not be complying with any of the restrictions he announced this evening to try and deflect attention away from Partygate. As far as I’m concerned, it’s over.

      REPLY
      556
      FLAG

      OS

      Old Sweat
      3 DAYS AGO
      This country is currently close to the definition of a failed state
      Disorganised and chaotic executive
      Rampant corruption and cronyism
      State capture by unaccountable vested interests
      Deliberate state sponsored misinformation
      Arbitrary authoritarian rule
      Loss of confidence and trust in governance by a significant proportion of the electorate
      Imminent widespread civil disobedience

      REPLY
      3 REPLIES
      495
      FLAG

      1
      1 older reply
      SHOW

      1. This country is currently close to the definition of a failed state.

        Yes Old Sweat, its Politics have failed and its Institutions are all on the verge of collapse! It is highly reminiscent of the Soviet Union just before it cocked its clogs!

    2. Johnson is looking more and more a gutless bugger. In the grip of globalists with whom he undoubtedly has sympathies, he has been led to the edge of the abyss and is taking the UK with him.

      He could, if he had the guts, stave off the mounting criticism from both within his party and the electorate and kill off the exaggerated threat of the bogeyman “virus”. All he has to do is instruct Javid the Bald to initiate immediately the prescribing of early treatment drugs and supplements e.g. Ivermectin, Hydroxychloroquine, vitamins C & D, high dose zinc etc. This would all but eradicate the claimed pressure on the NHS, reduce “deaths” and improve people’s general health into the bargain. He could also order the cessation of mass testing of healthy people.
      He will do none of these things because of the grip the globalists have directing his actions. Therefore the Country will continue to suffer under his Premiership until the globalists decide he has to go, then to be replaced by another of their stooges. If Johnson is suffering a backlash for his over-the-top reactions the replacement will be worse as the authoritarian vice will be tightened. A bumpy ride ahead.

    4. SAGE are wrong, and have been mostly so all through the pandemic. Why does nobody challenge them on the outcomes versus their predictions? You only have to plot the numbers against time to see they talk with forked tongue.
      Of course, the way of understanding what is desired is to look at the outcome not listen to the words.
      If government wanted to stop the flood of illegals, they would. If they wanted no lockdown, they would challenge SAGE and actually follow thenscience rather than the bollocks SAGE come out with.
      But, they don’t. That’s telling.

      1. SAGE tells the government what it wants to hear. All intended to keep the population fearful and compliant. They know it works.

        1. Under the auspices of the Nudge Unit.
          What flavour of bastard uses Psy-Ops on their own people?

      1. Many people are – millions. Frightened silly. A neighbour – ex-SAS – is a true believer. Extraordinary.

    3. Wonderful. I’m going to forward this to some believers!

      Spot of grocery shopping earlier – 99% wearing masks 🙁
      Everyone politely ignored the one person not wearing a face mask 🙂

  43. Patients in hospital with Omicron: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/12/12/boris-johnson-tory-rebellion-plan-b-downing-street-zoom-christmas/

    But did Omicron put them in hospital or are these people in hospital for something else and tested positive, either by having it on entry or by catching it in hospital?

    The government and the media have ignored the fact that over the summer many sources claimed that over half of the people the government counts as ‘in hospital with Covid’ came into hospital for unrelated conditions then tested positive, a large number having tested negative on entry.

    Is this a real issue or Project Fear trying to defend the government’s lockdown actions?

    2. The picture will no doubt be painted in as bad a way as possible. If omicron is more contagious, then more people will test positive. So even if nobody dies “of” it, and the overall number of deaths for any reason stays the same as in normal years, then the number dying “with” covid will be higher than now. At its most extreme, with everyone in the country infected, then the number of deaths “with” covid will be around 1700 per day. Cue Plan E.

    5. Mother tested positive for Covid after being a while in horsepickle and there being Covid found on the ward. Didn’t slow her down much, apparently. Now recovered from almost no noticeable symptoms at all (some tiredness – but that’s maybe to do with being nearly 93…).
      It’s all far too much hysteria.

    6. We were told via MSM in no uncertain terms by SA medics and their own experts that this strain was no worse than a common cold. I have reason to believe that our own people are once again spreading more lies. How could this have spread so rapidly over 6 thousand plus miles then transport has been minimal. My niece and her family who had flown from CT have been isolating at a UK airport and will be released on Tuesday all clear.
      Our neighbour who now resides mainly in France has also retuned from CT to Europe totally unaffected by the latest inverted variant.
      Perhaps the people who have been hospitalised due to covid have had serious life threatening reactions to the booster.
      As I suspect one of our friends who was recently hospitalised after a heart attack, followed by a fatal stroke, did.

  45. To combine Two Letters:

    SIR – Boris Johnson saw off Theresa May, secured Brexitand has handled the pandemic with skill and determination in the face of
    constant criticism.

    Judy Bromley Davenport, Malpas

    People operating under stress – including servicemen suffering the extreme stress of military action – will sometimes indulge
    in gallows humour.

    Sir Harold Walker.

    From your letter, Mx Bromley, I see that the stress has reached the wilds of Malpas

    1. Any decent PM worth his salt would get a panel of Medics & scientists that vehemently oppose the current crop and take advice from them instead. Assuming of course he is not beholding to vested interests.

    2. Look what they did in New York in the face of the Covid crisis!!

      New York Used Federal Coronavirus Relief Funds to Advance Critical Race Theory Indoctrination

      https://media.breitbart.com/media/2021/03/Schumer-Gillibrand-640×480.jpg

      The state of New York used federal American Rescue Plan (ARP) coronavirus relief funds to advance critical race theory indoctrination in elementary and secondary public schooling.

      U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona approved of the plan, saying it “lay[s] the groundwork for the ways in which an unprecedented infusion of federal resources will be used to address the urgent needs of America’s children and build back better.”

      The Empire State’s Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) plan is federally funded to the tune of $8,995,282,324, and “highlights” its commitment to “provide social emotional support within a Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Framework.” [Italics in original].

      “Equity warriors are working to create school communities that are more diverse, more equitable, and more inclusive than ever before,” the ESSER plan says. “Many of New York’s education stakeholders and their organizations have elevated this issue to the very top of their agendas.”

      Further, according to the 263-page ESSER plan, “Culturally Responsive and Sustaining Education (CRSE)” initiatives help “educators create equitable learning environments that: affirm racial, linguistic, and cultural identities; prepare students for rigor and independent learning; develop students’ abilities to connect across lines of difference; elevate historically marginalized voices; and empower students as agents of social change.” [Emphasis added].

      As Breitbart News has reported, given the emergence of critical race theory as a major political issue, institutions that wish to implement it may surreptitiously refer to it by other means, or camouflage it behind phrases like “culturally responsive teaching” — which uses the same CRT acronym — “culturally competent,” “social emotional learning,” “anti-racist,” and “equity.”

      On its CRSE framework web page, the New York Education Department claims that “a complex system of biases and structural inequities is at play, deeply rooted in our country’s history, culture, and institutions.”[Emphasis added].

      “This system of inequity,” it continues, “which routinely confers advantage and disadvantage based on linguistic background, gender, skin color, and other characteristics — must be clearly understood, directly challenged, and fundamentally transformed.” [Emphasis added].

      Education stakeholders in New York can “contribute” to CRSE by “Believing that critical and continuous self-reflection is required to dismantle systems of biases and inequities rooted in our country’s history, culture, and institutions.”

      In doing so, stakeholders can:

      Employ a critical lens (racial, gender, sexual identity, linguistic, religious, ability, socioeconomic, or other salient cultural identities) when developing resources and intervention frameworks to de-center dominant ideologies and pedagogies that ignore or marginalize diverse students. [Emphasis added].
      *
      *
      *
      https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/12/11/new-york-used-fed-coronavirus-relief-funds-to-advance-critical-race-theory-indoctrination/

    2. Higher standards will come when they are forced on them. When politicians face not only financial penalties, but personal ones, up to and including imprisonment – when, to be blunt, there are no bent judges, no cushy committees they can fall back on, when stepping but of line means a thorough drubbing and a beating only then will they learn to behave.

    1. Same old same old political classes are effing useless. From top to bottom. They couldn’t run a bath between them.

      1. They’d try, but tax the bath so heavily that it disintegrated, while complaining that there was no hot water – due to their absurd heat pump fallacy and then, when the bath was both cold and leaking on the floor, they’d blame someone else.

        1. I heard the bath fell through the floor as they all tried to climb in at the same time. 😉

    2. I often express these big numbers as a rate per taxpayer, of which there are some 30 million. Thus, the government’s deficit of £450 Bn in a year goes from boring to interesting when expressed as the government building up additional debt of £15,000 per taxpayer for them to repay.

      1. Per year?

        At the end of the vandal Brown’s hateful tenure we were indebted for £150,000 per person. AS the Conservatives have done bugger all to reduce spending and cut taxes, we’re now closer to £300,000 thanks to compound interest.

        A chum raised his concern over the interest rate rise. I fell off my chair laughing. The idea that this useless, wasteful, incompetent state will ever consider reducing waste is so funny it hurts.

  49. Bit late today, I wanted to put out my three recycled logs reindeer yesterday but bits had broken off, during storage. So i have top take them to my own repair shop, new red nose for the boss and antler repairs for all and they look happy out side the front door. Several of our neighbours have them made by me.
    I’ll try and get a photo uploaded later. And then the Christmas tree was next, trim the base to fit the stand and hey presto now Erin is decorating it. We had two of our Grandchildren and their parents for a curry yesterday, kids had pizza. As Santa in his white 4×4 drawn sleigh and his team were touring the district from a round 5:30 onwards, 30 years they have been doing this and collect money for local charity. They stopped out side our house and he had a chat with the children they were so excited and he told them that he liked their Santa style hats.
    Wonderful technology there was an App to show us where he was and his ETA. Which meant we could all finish our meal and get ready for his arrival.
    Today the whole family are going to the Christmas fair at https://waddesdon.org.uk/whats-on/christmas/ And I don’t have to drive ……… ahhh 🤗

    1. Kids should eat curry – it doesn’t have to be napalm korma, but even so…
      Good on Santa! In my childhood in Nigeria, he used to ride on the back of my Mother’s red Austin Healey Sprite (Spridget model) to the Staff Club, with a sack of presents!
      Jayzuz, that takes me back…wistful sigh

      1. My 2 ate curries from an early age, but not fierce ones. They ate almost anything we ate, but #2 didn’t like mushrooms.
        #1 once amazed friends when we were in a restaurant by ordering & eating snails followed by steak.

          1. I’ve just had a yearly message from one of my old girl friends today. I was 20 when I was going out with her……..we might have gone a long way if the bloody bus to take her home had turned up on time and her father had not threatened to beat me up for keeping her out late.

  50. 342755+ up ticks,

    Brexit fishing talks breakthrough as UK grants licences to French vessels
    Government sources say they have gone to ‘great lengths’ to help French vessels prove their historical fishing activity

    They have also purchased from the french via “the deal” a large quantity of ST. Georges flags minus the cross.

    2. Sell out, betrayal and surrender of Northern Ireland next!

      This shambles that Johnson has created is in order to let a Labour government in so that Britain can re-enter the EU. This is what Johnson’s wife wants as she was never in favour of Brexit in the first place and she has modelled her self on Rider Haggar’s heroine: She Who Must Be Obeyed.

      So, ogga – it’s up to you. You must form a new political party so the British have an alternative to Lib/Lab/Con.

      1. 342755 + ticks,
        R,
        To long in the tooth now, but currently I would think twice, the nige proved a success at being a run away treacherous failure, then when UKIP got a real bona fide, genuine leader in Batten many saw the danger to their individual party either lab/lib/con and went into anti UKIP mode.
        Many of the lab/lib/con coalition have in the past voted tactically to keep UKIP out, those very same people now realise that the shite they have been politically manufacturing over the decades has finally hit a wind turbine and is pebble-dashing the country
        in odious sh!te.

        Hence “we need another party” may one ask what
        happened to ” WE” won post referendum result, leave it to the tory’s (ino), no need of UKIP now,
        make bojo PM he makes us laugh.

        I honestly fail to see ongoing mass uncontrolled immigration, ongoing foreign paedophilia, people dying, seriously suffering via political dangerous, treacherous neglect via the polling booth, as humorous.

    3. Sell out, betrayal and surrender of Northern Ireland next!

      This shambles that Johnson has created is in order to let a Labour government in so that Britain can re-enter the EU. This is what Johnson’s wife wants as she was never in favour of Brexit in the first place and she has modelled her self on Rider Haggar’s heroine: She Who Must Be Obeyed.

      So, ogga – it’s up to you. You must form a new political party so the British have an alternative to Lib/Lab/Con.

    1. No facing sea View from Hove Ogga, I wonder if they were moved because (right on the seafront) they might have been assisting those crossing by lighting the way. And it’s quite a long taxi drive between the two hotels. That’s cost us as well. I expect the local MPs will claim it back on expenses.

      1. Start moving the sponging, caliphate army to the Outer Hebrides, where I’m sure we could find them some tents and barbed wire with which to see out our mild winters.

          1. I’m talking about those (mostly) uninhabited areas.

            I just want the Caliphate Army Recruits to feel unwelcome.

          2. That’s easy. When the effluent get off the boats, fire a few dozen arrows.

            Rinse, repeat. The coastguard will eventually learn, border farce will get the idea. If plod intervene aim at them as well. They’re not doing their job.

            These are illegal criminal invaders who have no right to be here. Drive them back.

          3. The Hebrides is dotted with houses and is by not means uninhabited. There is a mosque in Stornoway paid for by a man in England. It is outsiders, like government agencies, that are moving the foreigners into otherwise homogeneous populations.
            If you are looking for uninhabited areas you should have a look at the big estates owned by the aristocracy, the gentry, Russian oligarchs, and Danish shopkeepers.

            https://www.forbes.com/sites/guymartin/2016/11/30/meet-anders-holch-povlsen-scotlands-largest-landowner-with-11-estates-on-218000-acres/

        2. What has the Hebrides done to deserve that? Round the dross up and shove them out – back into the sea if they won’t go willingly.

    2. Is this Hove in France? Oh! No, it isn’t. Get fecking rid of the dross! Round them up, pack them into a shipping container and built a ruddy catapult to throw them back. Then get the container.

    1. Why would anyone spend that sort of money to get into a sleaze-ball rip-off joint and jump about with a load of your own idiot like?

  54. I have written to Douglas Ross in the past suggesting a route to take to beat the SNP in the polls. He has however continued with the anti-independence approach that repeatedly fails.
    Today I have written to congratulate him in joining the group of rebels who intended to oppose Plan B next week. Seems only fair to do so. He is taking a pasting on Twitter.

    1. In every big decision, there is the “heart” and “head” argument.
      Logically, Scottish independence isn’t a great idea, but emotionally, many seem to want it (come what may), and I have sympathy. Being a loner, I like to make my own decisions based on my own appreciation of the circumstances rather than just follow someone else’s rules, and so I see that Scotland might well want to be their own country, even if it turns out to be an eff up. At least, it’ll be their own eff up, not someone else’s.
      But, like with Brexit, the politicians need to take care, because there’s suddenly nowhere to hide – you’re in charge, and you steered the ship into the iceberg, and there’s no-one else to blame.
      :-))

      1. Queen Nicola was relying on N Sea oil to finance Scotland’s independence but she has now booted that out to appease the greens. Scottish independence will be a financial disaster – oh, and they can’t call it independence if they want to be governed by the EU

        1. Joining in with the Green insanity. The promotion of loonie Green policies was the price paid for the Green Anschluss and the resulting total power of an overall ruling majority. No need to put things to a vote. Rule by the EU seems be preferred, for no reason at all, to the creaking but long-standing Union.

        2. They’ll probably still get the Barnett Formula (although that should cease on independence) as we seem to be still paying the EU enormous sums despite having “left”.

      2. The SNP have not been able to manage things sensibly. In management, pragmatism trumps dogma, but the SNP have preferred dogma. The Tories have not attacked SNP government corruption, overspending, stupidity and all round failure. The Tories have attacked independence. Polls have shown that around half the voters support independence, so the Tories are writing off possible support from half of all possible voters. Never a winning strategy, but what do I know?
        (Setting aside that in an independent Scotland there would be a Tory party – what do they do then?)

  55. Good morning. We really do have to spit out the hook of controlled debate. Anything Johnson says is the parole of a liar and a criminal responsible for the death and injury of thousands of our citizens.

    The obvious saving of energy is not to listen to a word he says again until he is before the bar of a criminal court. And it is energy we can channel into non-compliance at even the smallest level and into encouraging our fellow citzens to look at the facts.

    There are a few simple ones that many seem to be sleepwalking past – for example if you are under 60 in England and jabbed you have twice your prejabbed chance of dying, on ONS metrics.

    https://www.tarableu.com/vaccinated-english-adults-under-60-are-dying-at-twice-the-rate-of-unvaccinated-people-the-same-age

    1. I don’t doubt the figures Jonathan – but couldn’t that be explained by the fact that the majority of people (including most of the old and frail) have been vaccinated by now, and the majority of the unvacced are the young and healthy?

      1. “…the majority of the unvacced are the young and healthy?”

        Not at 77 they ain’t, J, There are a few rebels left – mostly on here.

        I just wish the feeling would spread to the population at large and they could open their eyes to the way they are being conned.

        1. Not just here on Nttl, but over at TCW and Daily Sceptics.
          And there seem to be a lot on the Telegraph comments section. There’s almost no one supporting the latest measures there.

          GBM ran a Twitter poll asking if vaccines should be mandatory, and took it down when the respondents told them in no uncertain terms, No, i.e. 89% against with 11% in favour.
          Other similar polls have had similar results.

        2. I met a neighbour recently who is 81, and the first thing she asked me was “have you been vaccinated?”
          I said no, and she said that she hadn’t either. “if I die, I die”
          Interestingly, she said nobody in her building has been jabbed either. It’s a block of social housing flats, with many foreigners – this woman is from one of the central Asian republics.

  56. Amazing – the Men’s Slalom at Val d’Isère – 8 to go in run 2 and Britain [Dave Ryding] leads Belgium!! It won’t stay that way surely but what a strange top 2 at present.

      1. Armand Marchant, who is indeed representing Belgium. No final results [in case anyone happens to be interested but hasn’t seen it] but it was a thrilling race, especially the final 2!

          2. It would be a great spectacle and the downhill with say 10 skiers off at the same time would fetch a large audience.

          3. Probably rather dangerous at 100kph or more though! The nearest at present is the parallel slalom, but that’s just 2 at a time! Ski cross I think has 4 at a time?

      2. Armand Marchant, who is indeed representing Belgium. No final results [in case anyone happens to be interested but hasn’t seen it] but it was a thrilling race, especially the final 2!

    1. It was never really about the new scariant. That was always an excuse. The plan was ready to go and they just waited for the right opportunity.

  59. Apropos the Tory “rebels” rebellion historically has a heavy price if unsuccessful so what penalty will these “rebels” pay??
    None of course Labour support in our Uniparty state means the government measure will pass easily………
    If these “rebels” were sincere they would be announcing they were resigning the Whip to show how important the issues were to them!!
    As per usual it’s a really round number that have made the commitment……..
    “Rebels” my arse it’s all a Christmas Kabuki Pantomime
    Edit
    Memory of a goldfish forgot my meme
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3e001d116c85ce6034284240e65a81bec97194ceaa7280a813de240b7c02fcd9.jpg

    1. Pay MPs less and then they will have less to lose by resigning on matters of principle!

  60. How simply infuriating. STILL no deaths from omicron. Maddening. Why on earth don’t they make up some false statistics?

    1. Parsec eh? Takes me back to those wonderful days of Astounding Science Fiction with Murray Leinster and Clifford Simak! A world filled with limitless possibilities and the triumph of Good over Evil! Have we really sunk so far? Yes. That was very near the apogee of Western Civilisation.

      1. I doubt people would understand AU.

        However, he’s right. Boris isn’t the issue. The entire state edifice is utterly inept and needs to go.

      2. Clifford Simak “All Flesh is Grass” is on the bookshelf (3/6 from the Blue Circle Bookshop in Henderson Street, Leith). “Sidewise in Time’ by Murray Leinster is on the bedside table at the moment. (35p from Bobbie’s Bookshop in Easter Road, Edinburgh). Who hangs on to old second-hand paperbacks for 50 years? Me.
        Oh to be alive again in 1970.

  62. ‘Afternoon, all.

    I listen to “Talk Radio” every now and then and recently I’ve heard a series of appeals on behalf of the charity, “Crisis at Christmas”. Listeners are invited to make a donation to feed and provide a bed for a homeless person over Christmas.

    A laudable cause, to be sure, but the amount of the donation requested seems strange – it’s £29.06. I found myself wondering why the odd sixpence. Surely twenty-nine pounds would suffice but if more was needed, why not ask for a round thirty pounds? After all, those likely to part with twenty-nine quid would surely not balk at giving a round thirty. What was the sixpence needed for?

    Then, as in a flash, the answer came to me. They stick the sixpence in the unfortunate homeless person’s Christmas pud so that not only might they delight in finding it when they tucked in, they might ask for a wish to be granted – such as not being homeless any more.

    1. You’ve been pondering Duncan and by posting, several more folk are pondering – It seems a clever way to get a message across….

    2. Hi Duncan,

      I posted see (NoTTlers) last week ‘Crisis at Christmas’ …

      I was put off by Joe Brand maths and sent them 6p…!

    3. Why Crisis asked you for £26.08 this Christmas. David Brindle. 4 January 2018

      Homelessness charity Crisis went to the extreme, asking for precisely £26.08 to fund a place at one of its Crisis at Christmas centres. Not a round £25, or even £26, but £26 and 8p. Why?

      Edward Tait, Crisis’s director of fundraising, explains that £26.08 is the exact cost of providing three hot meals a day for nine days at a centre, plus services including healthcare, hairdressing and housing, benefits and employment advice.

      Leaving in the odd 8p, he says, helps people to connect with how tangible the amount is.

      Crisis is a quite extensive organisation with links to the C of E. The salaries of its top employees are somewhat vague!

      https://www.theguardian.com/voluntary-sector-network/2018/jan/04/why-crisis-christmas-fundraising-charity-appeals

    3. That last one – yes, now we understand how it all kicked off in the 30s. It’s surprising that, with endless access to information, people still do what a few tell them to, unthinkingly. And seem to have no moral compass whatsoever.
      I’m glad I have guns. Maybe the 2A folk in the USA aren’t so barmy, after all.

    4. 342755+ up ticks,
      Afternoon Rik,
      The mosley chap would have the following currently of the lab/lib/con, straight off.

    6. It was always obvious this is what they’d do. It will never be ‘you must take the vaccine’ it will be ‘without it you won’t be able to live.’

      These people are obvious and sewage. It’s time to flush them away.

        1. The fact that they think it’s ok to make this threat shows how far we have come from Christian thinking. The consequences of not taking a medical treatment should never be other than medical.

    7. Well, the Germans all did. The repeated routine references to our WW2 adversaries as “Nazis” are quite wrong. It was wrong in 1940 and it is wrong now. They were Germans. It was not the “Nazis” at war with the “Conservative Party” or even a “Conservative led political coalition”, it was the Germans at war with the British people. This terminology has been continued and is almost universal. Programmes about the War frequently use the term “Nazi” when the accurate description would be “German”.
      The Germans voted for Hitler, and after he achieved complete control he was even more popular. The crowds lining the streets were composed of real Germans.
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamberlain_war_ministry

      1. It’s true that there is a certain mentality that we would call “nazi” that is rare in Britain, but more common in Germany. However, most Germans do NOT support what is going on. The nazis never had a majority of the vote either, and they imposed fear by punishing their opponents very quickly. The vaxx mandate question is far more controversial than the mainstream media would have you believe.
        There were very many small demonstrations this weekend across the country in cities and small towns, that aren’t in the media, and most of the response from the public was positive.

        Policitians have been openly stirring up hatred against unvaccinated people in the media – one of the worst offenders is Markus Söder, the detested Bavarian Minister President. He is so unpopular that the local radio station runs a regular comedy slot mocking his vanity and unpopularity. But the media have wantonly stirred up hatred too, which has affected the simple-minded, and must take their share of blame. Anyone capable of thinking for themselves can see through it, and there is a LOT of unease about history repeating itself.

        As an example, the alternative website reitschuster.de gets about 45 million page hits a month. TCW gets 1.7 million.

        1. In my experience, BB2, having lived and worked in both halves of Germany (dare I say it, W Germany and, as first described to me in 1967, Druben, i.e. over there) I have found most Germans, whilst willing to work hard, in need of direction.

          Yes, they will follow orders slavishly and shew little or no initiative in times of doubt.

          Their biggest downfall and difference between Germans and British – we are too individualistic.

          1. When the wall came down & the Ossies invaded the West, they quickly showed up as being completely unable to think for themselves.

          2. That’s because they hadn’t practised. It takes practice to handle change and initiative… and if you and your parents hadn’t practised at it since 1945, then you have a problem. Saw the same when Russia stopped being Soviet – it was a real challenge for many.

          4. As it is a challenge for our Westminster crew (MPs and civil servants) who’ve lost the habit of independent thought through being told what to do by the EU.

          5. Germans are often individualistic, but mostly they do it all in the same way! There are lots of good people there though, who can see exactly where this is all heading, and are determined to stop it.
            My daughter tells me that about 200K people turned out in Vienna, as well as smaller demonstrations in the regional capitals all over Austria. A lot of people are not planning to get vaxxed. It depends who blinks first now, the government or the people.

    8. Re – ‘The ritual humiliation of children [in Germany] who are asked to go to the front of the class and state their vaccination status daily..’

      …it won’t be long before children shop their parents for not being vaccinated…

    9. It’s not only school children. If you’re unvaccinated, your work door pass is deactivated, and you can only gain entrance by ringing the bell and showing a negative test result to a designated colleague. As the media and politicians have tacitly given carte blanche to criticise and abuse the unvaccinated, this can be embarrassing, and also public if you have an open plan office.
      Most companies are offering a test at their expense, but it must be taken in front of the designated colleague, to check that the dirty antivaxxer isn’t cheating on the test.

      1. It is illegal here to ask anyone about their health status on anything. Patient confidentiality.

        1. Nobody talks about it in Germany either in any formal setting, but the rules for unvaxxed make it clear who is who.
          When my elder daughter did the Abitur a few years ago, most of the politics syllabus was concerned with current events. I’m told this year, they are only studying the structures of the EU government etc, and NOTHING about current events.
          I think the reason is probably because parallels would be drawn with the 1930s, and this is illegal, so they can’t talk about it at all.

    1. As Napoleon once said, “Every German carries a drill sergeant’s pace stick in his knapsack”

      1. 342755+ up,
        Afternoon OLT,
        Law breaking by the law seems universal as in,
        criminal by neglect, the JAY report , rotherham.

      1. 342755+ up ticks,
        BB2,
        Yes, forty shades of skinning cats, if they won’t
        willingly accept jabs / ID passports take the Tommy Robinson route.

        2. I do actually quite like it but i wouldn’t serve it to guests unless they were ex-Military but then i would have to coat it in batter and deep fry.

          With a squeeze of lemon and a sprig of parsley of course. :@)

          *I’m surprised i didn’t get more Python !

    3. Used to watch it slither out of the can like some Alien host on Sunday Teatime. Only Luncheon Meat was worse!

      1. I prefer corned beef in a hot pot. Using sweet potatoes/broccoli/onion and cheese sauce with a topping of grated cheese, topped with a beaten egg.
        Bake for 30mins…

        Jeez…. I must be bored posting recipes!!!

          1. As I said the other day, I use corned beef in a lazy Bolognese, ditto chili-con-carne & co.

          6. I like corned beef. Not easy to get over here. Why anyone likes spam is another thing entirely.

    6. Have they changed the recipe since 1959 – the last time I ate the stuff when I was at prep school?

        1. Apropos mum’s cooking, I recall she made an ersatz ‘shepnerd’s pie’ with corned beef, chopped onion, tomato sauce, peas, topped with mashed potato & cooked in the oven in a clear Pyrex dish. I might try to recreate that.

      3. We had it every Monday lunch with boiled potatoes and diced beetroot.
        Our school cook was dead imaginative.

    2. …..and so it goes on…. and on…. and on…. ad..infinitum.
      If you ain’t got Covid ….nobody is interested

      If Arthur Labinjo-Hughes caught Covid he may have had a chance of survival.

        1. 3G = covid pass but you can get in with a test
          2G = vaccinated or recovered within 6 months
          2G+ = ha ha you mug, you got all your vaccines and we’re STILL going to make you take a test.

      1. Maybe some clown was being pathetic and having “revenge” for Brexit, is all I can come up with.

  68. SWMBO has just returned from being boosted

    The jabber told her “The authorities in Sarf Afreeka could be playing the effects Omicron down, to cover up how bad it really is”.

    The NHS in reverse

  70. Just in from a very agreeable ninety minutes in the garden. Lovely sunshine. 14ºC. Won’t last – but it was nice while it did.

  71. F1 final race was interesting.
    But it looks as if the FIA have failed to apply the rules, yet again. Either not let lapped cars through or let them all through, as per the rules, but not let through those that benefit Verstappen and keep back those that would otherwise require another safety car lap. Given the tyre differences, doing what they did could only take a race from Hamilton and give it, and the championship, to Verstappen. Disgraceful.

    Edited to add this, the rules. https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/2021_formula_1_sporting_regulations_-_iss_5_-_2020-12-16.pdf See page 43, 39.12 – all lapped cars will be required to pass

    1. Your, no doubt learned and accurate description of what transpired on Ch4 this afternoon is a more than adequate justification for my having lost interest in F1 since Fangio

    3. Didn’t a tyre difference effectively give Hamilton a race win earlier in the season?
      Poetic justice.

      2. Indeed. I read Mercedes have submitted 2 protests, one on the rules not being followed and one on Verstappen overtaking under the safety car. Does the FIA have the guts to put this right? We had 90 minutes of racing to decide the championship, where there was a clear winner of each of the 2 phases: Hamilton. I despise the guy’s personality and behaviour off-track, but he is true sportsman and his treatment here is outrageous.

  74. Watching the snooker final the ad breaks are filled with glossy begging ads from charities I used to support like the RNLI and the Sally Anne
    Given their current woke performance they can all get stuffed my local Hospice will be the sole benificiary of any Christmas largesse

    1. In NC I used to give $100 to the Sallies every Xmas then I realised that my donation was being spent on postage for more letters asking for more money. So I stopped donating and told them why.

      1. The Sally Ann burnt themselves with a bit of wokeness this year. We want your white money but you need to repent all of the white privilege you benefit from.

        I doubt that will help revenues.

        1. That made me really gloomy, as I always looked at the Sally Army as being one of the most effective at charitable work – and now, we don’t fund them, either.

    1. Headline
      “Evil Pensioner steals double the extra 25 pence he was allotted”
      I am so sick of this shite,may the cold curse be upon them all

  78. I saved and out away safely a pretty piece of ribbon. My plan was to staple the cards to it, then hang on a cupboard door in the living room. Do you think I can find that sodding ribbon? It’s not where I put it….GRRRR. Gremlins?

  79. D i l phoned a few minutes ago.
    Physiotherapists taught our son how to talk through his tracheostomy this morning. Amazing.
    She’s going to try to get him to call us at about 4 pm. We can’t wait.

    1. From the psychological point of view, may I suggest that even if you don’t fully understand what he’s trying to say that you try to work it out from the context. Getting him to carry on will encourage him to continue to speak rather than withdraw, which is what can happen when people feel that they can’t be understood immediately.

    1. I would love to hear Boris speaking German.

      Who remembers Heath’s attempt at speaking French about 55 years ago?

          4. ♫ “Danke Schön Bitte Schön
            wiedersehen
            noch ein bier
            kommen sie hier
            ein grosse
            ein kleine
            I nichts verstehen
            I wish I could Sprechen Sie Deutsch” ♫
            ;¬)

    2. I have been an advocate of this concept for decades. I am not a “non-smoker” with its negative connotations. I am a fresh-air breather.

      In the same vein I am not “childless”, again with its innate negative slant. I am fiercely, defiantly and proudly child-free.

      1. I had a heated disussion with the chairwoman (who was German) of our German Conversation group. I described myself as Kinderfrei (meaning the children had left the nest); she tried to insist I was Kinderlos (without children). I did not back down.

    3. I think this is OK as long as one can say it without sounding self-righteous.
      What I really want to say is “my vaccine status is none of your business and I don’t want to waste another second of my day thinking about vaccines that I don’t need”. So up til now I have chosen to say “unvaccinated” simply because it was the least controversial choice.
      But the post does make a good point about sounding as though people need vaccinations – which is now becoming controversial in itself as Mad Jab Bill pushes injections as the answer to everything.

  83. OT – cat development mews (sic).

    G & P are now 15 months old. They have been together every minute of their lives – never separated.

    About six months ago, Pickles “took over” one of my old pullovers. He kneads it, sucks it (disgusting) and lies on it. It is his comforter. He loves it.

    Recently, Gus has begun to inveigle his way onto the pullover. Picks is NOT pleased.

    Gus is the larger of the two. They are equally skilled at hunting and climbing.

    I suspect this is part of natural development, as nature requires an animal pecking order to be established. Nothing we can do – of course – except watch.

  84. Beware doing the washing.
    Ladies have clothing made of one fabric that looks and feels like another, and then mix them all up, leading to my washing a wool fleece together with the plastic fleeces.
    Guess who is on the naughty step now?
    I think I’ll let her do the washing next time, since I can’t get it right as a result of the booby traps (geddit?).
    EDIT: Specifically, HER new wool fleece.

    1. If she’s going to hang you up to dry it might as well be for a sheep’s wool fleece as a lamb’s wool fleece.

    2. Oops. I am in charge of the washing Oberst, just in case! We don’t really have certain jobs but have long ago settled to what Alf is good at and likes doing and vice versa. It suits us, probably wouldn’t suit everybody.

      On a Friday evening, when we were both working, Alf used to do the shopping while I did all the ironing. Worked well. Now, both retired, I also go 🛍 shopping (like to go in, get it, get out), and still do the ironing. Alf likes to linger and look at everything! We middle along very happily.

      1. We have our clearly defined roles here, too. I do the washing, shopping, most of the cooking; he does the ironing, rubbish sorting and putting out; bird feeding, cat litter, etc. He makes the drinks, I do the food. Seems to work ok here. Neither of us does housework until it becomes too bad to bear any longer……… then one gets the cleaner out and makes the other feel guilty!

        1. MB does the hoovering.
          He’s seen too many go up in smoke/knackered flexes/shards of plastic scattered about/snapped rubber band thingies…..
          Result!!!

          3. We bought a new-fangled batter-operated thing a few months ago – only rund for 20 minutes or so – no way long enough to do this house properly so I still use the old one if I want to do a decent job.

      2. My late son – when about 20 – decided to “help” by doing the laundry. He put everything in the machine – whites, coloured, unsafe colours – on the hottest setting.

        We still have some of the grey items that emerged….!

        Stupid boy.

        1. 😂😂😂 Did it myself once. Washed son’s white shorts in with something or other red. Came out pink!

  85. Nicked Laff

    One Christmas Eve, Santa was under a lot of stress.

    He and Mrs. Claus had just had a fight, it was nearly time to leave and
    his sleigh wasn’t loaded, and the elves were talking about going on
    strike.

    Then an angel walked into his office and asked, “Hey, Santa, what do you want me to do with this Christmas tree?”

    And so was born the tradition of there being an angel on top of the Christmas tree.

          2. Yes, indeed. One could cut one’s toenails 😉 Was it Marty Feldman who said, “Might walk around a bit; might even juggle.” ?

          7. Yes, it can all be a bit overwhelming- I had a rush of blood to the head when I emptied the bins today.

    3. Plan D. Everyone to stay indoors, masked and wait for the vaccination stasi to knock on the door and force a fourth. All shops, offices and railway premises to close. Churches to be bolted shut (but not mosques). Police to be armed and ordered to shoot anyone outdoors.

      Just for starters….

      1. Our church has been locked for weeks for ‘security reasons’. Yesterday I took an offering to the Food Exchange in the church porch and noticed that the door was open once again. I slipped inside, through the ancient door, sat down and ‘contemplated’ for a while, absorbing the atmosphere and creaking sounds and observing the old stone slabs where many generations had trod. I then paid my respects to the cross on high and departed. I do not ‘do’ organised religion but I had sought solace which was provided by the ambience of this truly ancient building, the history of which can be traced back to the eleventh century. Today I have had a sense of spiritual renewal.

        I understand why the state requires our churches to be locked.

          2. Basket of head scarves are on the left if you didn’t already know it. The basket on the right are for severed heads.

            The good thing about preying five times a day is you can always choose a new pair of shoes without ever having to buy any new ones.

        2. You rebel you. It’s the only time i like to be in a Church…when no one else is there. I prefer my conversations to God to be in private.

          3. There’s a huge queue in front of you.
            You’re OK, only a few years in the great scheme of things, I have to cope with all eternity.
            Sheesh.

      1. Please, don’t give me hope like that! At least if he did go his replacement wouldn’t be married to Carrie Antoinette!

    1. Perhaps the unjabbed should march en masse and scare the jabberwankies back into their hides.
      Wander amongst them breathing and touching so that they daren’t go out for fear of meeting an independently minded individual.

    2. From the Sun article:

      “Government advisers have warned that, by the end of the year, hospital admissions from it could reach 1,000 a day — a third of whom are unvaccinated.”

      So only the remaining two thirds of those admissions would be vaccinated?

  88. Message to Stig
    Have just picked up your reply to me 4 days ago about the advantages of tracheostomy versus intubation.
    Thank you, very informative and comforting.

        1. Sorry Phil, my inbox is full of Disqus notifications about “Sorry, heeeeelp me exchange (coins,tokens)” bollocks. I’ll get back to you tomorrow. It’s been a long day…

          1. You of course know my post was a joke???

            You can filter your posts you know. Set up sub files in email etc. Ones from your friends. Ones from work. Ones from God… :@)

            We have lots of techy nerds on here who can show you how… The God thing would possibly need a separate quantum file.

      2. I only looked at the site’s comments.
        No synopsis but here’s what Sergio Pereira is going to do after watching it.
        Vic Pal is going to act on it too!

        4 months ago
        SergioPereira
        Awesome show. I’m from Brazil and I will take out my money from the globalist bank and move to a local credit union. I ended my netflix and won’t buy from Walmart. I’m buying my groceries from a local supermarket. And I will pay in cash.
        LETS DO IT, ALL OVER THE WORLD!

        Reply·70·Flag
        4 months ago
        VicPal
        Great! I’m going to act on this too
        It will be my new way of life and I’m going to feel fantastic about it. Good luck to you.👍

        Reply·00·Flag

  90. HAPPY HOUR – over to you NoTTlers

    Redundant over 70’s…….?

    British author Richard Osman has said over 70s are often no longer seen as relevant to modern culture, as society focuses on the young.
    He continues, ageism has erased over 70s from modern culture – and reveals he’s ‘proud’ that the main characters in his million-selling book The Thursday Murder Club are OAPs
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-10301539/Richard-Osman-claims-70s-disappeared-culture.html

    1. It is true that the elderly are being treated as redundant in a way that I find appalling (DNRs, Midazolam, neglecting health checks and other crimes). However, who is driving the panpanic?
      A cabal of mainly elderly men and women, who appear to have pushed ahead with a plan that was many years in the making, although not every point of it is perfectly in place yet. I can’t help thinking that with Gates, Charles, Schwab and Soros, there is an element of wanting to see their plans come to fruition while they are still in control or even still alive. This is mainly a boomer plot, and I do think that the fact that they have been part of the most privileged generation to walk this earth ever in history, as well as being super-rich, has partly influenced their God complexes. They don’t realise it of course; they’ve never known life any other way than centering around people their age.
      Also, if you look at any breakdown of attitudes towards covid by age, the elderly are the most militant for mandatory jabs for kids and other nasty stuff (not on NOTTL of course where everyone is accustomed to using their brains rather than handing over the remote control to the government).
      So society is broken at both ends and in the middle, it would seem!

  92. From Dr Robert Malone

    https://rwmalonemd.substack.com/p/another-reason-not-to-jab-the-children

    Jabbing the kids with these genetic Spike vaccines is madness.

    The data are clear. Officials

    have reported110 Omicron cases as of Saturday in the USA. Of the 66

    people for whom vaccination status has been reported, 52 were fully

    vaccinated and many of those had been boosted. What we don’t know is

    whether or not those people who have already had COVID-19 actually

    caught Omicron, but it was so mild that they weren’t aware of it or if

    prior infection conferred complete immunity

    1. I have a theory that Boris is on our side really. But he’s been told by the evil cabal that they will kill him if he does a Trump – so he is hoping to save the world from mandatory vaccination and save his own life by assuring them that he’s obeying orders, while doing it so incompetently that he knows it will never succeed….

        1. No, I’m just entertaining myself while I sit at my computer waiting for Omicron to seek me out…

          Though now you mention it, I may have had a few liqueur chocs. But they don’t count!

          1. As a child I used to suck those and then enjoy the “rush” of the drop of alcohol inside!

    2. Gosh there are some normal people on Twitter! Looking at the replies under that post…

      Mark Clay
      @markclay01
      ·
      4h
      Replying to
      @itvnews
      Can’t wait for the next booster jab … Will it be before Xmas, looking to he the first person to get it in my eyeball this time

    3. Another falsehood that gives advance warning the statistics are going to fudged (or similar f word) again.
      They’re not going to give up are they.
      He’s obviously the new Minister for Misinformation .

    4. and yet .. the same government says, as I understand it, that the new variant evades vaccines???

    6. It seeks ’em here
      It seeks ’em there
      Its spikes are sharp
      But never square
      It will make or break him, Omicron is the best
      ‘Cause it’s a dedicated follower of unjabbed.

      Apologies to the Kinks.

  94. That’s me for today. Very pleasant. Gardening. Planting out winter salads. Retrieving oak logs. Now time for a little drinky-poo.

    Have a jolly evening. Expect the worst from BPAPM. I’ll be masked as I watch a bit of telly; can’t be too careful – especially as omicron “seeks you out”… (At least there was a good larf!!)

    AGA man tomorrow – fingers crossed.

    A demain

    2. Not only will omicron seek you out it will hunt you down! I have, just seconds ago, seen a SA report describing it in terms of a super mild variant.

      1. Mandelson did tell us we were in the post-democratic era. Probably one of the few things he said that we can rely on.

    2. I am absolutely certain that Nat’s suspicion is correct! They know the vote is in the bag, so they are allowing a Tory rebellion to appease the country.

      It would be funny if Keir Starmer was bluffing and all the Labour MPs went into the No chamber behind the Tory rebels on the night. But he’s not smart enough, or enough in control of his MPs, and he’s working for the same agenda anyway.

          2. I’m so glad that the circles i move in doesn’t contain such people. I am much more discerning.

  97. Voters and MPs are exhausted and angry – and it’s easy to see why
    For all lessons that should’ve been learnt, the cash spent, and the boosterism, our anti-Covid strategy remains a game of Russian roulette
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2021/12/11/voters-mps-exhausted-angry-easy-see/

    BTL with which I agree:

    Why don’t the politicians face up to the fact that the vaccines are duds:

    They don’t stop you getting Covid;
    They don’t stop you passing it on when you do get Covid;
    They can have very nasty side effects;
    The the long term side effects are not yet known;
    The immunity they offer is very short-lived;
    The jabs and the boosters have to be frequently repeated – maybe forever.

    We need to concentrate on treatment rather than dud vaccines. Maybe we need to ask the politicians why, at Big Pharma’s insistence, Ivermectin has been banned? And why Big Pharma is given immunity from facing any consequences when things go wrong? And why they are allowed to conceal what is in their vaccines for over 50 years into the future? And why anyone who asks such questions should be silenced?.

    1. Thought for the day:
      If “big pharma” is protected, why not sue the CEOs, and the members of the boards of directors as individuals?

  100. DT Headline 11th December

    Brexit fishing talks breakthrough as UK grants licences to French vessels
    Government sources say they have gone to ‘great lengths’ to help French vessels prove their historical fishing activity

    DT Headline 12th December

    French fishermen plan to ruin Christmas for millions of Britons with blockade
    The blockades in Calais and other key ports will likely take place before December 23, with a deliberate focus on Christmas shipments

    THAT’S WHAT YOU GET FOR GIVING IN!

    1. Just a thought.
      For every day this happens the British government should remove five licences that have been granted.

    1. Playing the part of a horse?
      Playing a part of a horse?

      I think Yorkshire tea is extending their marketing in NZ and Australia.

  102. Evening, all. The only reason Bojo showed promise is that he wasn’t entrusted with anything serious until he became PM. Once he had to deliver, the wheels rapidly fell off.

    1. As each becomes PM they are quietly taken aside to be told what is really happening. It is why we haven’t had an effectual PM since Margaret Thatcher. They are not up to it.

  104. Boris’s statement.
    Either we are being bullshitted or there is something genuinely and very seriously amiss and we’re not being told.
    My money is on the bullshit.

    1. Big Bother is Watching!

      Well if that doesn’t frighten the populace into the sheep dip nothing will……

  105. I am not keen on Lewis Hamilton’s political views but he is a great racer. The manipulation of the Abu Dhabi race today by dishonest and incompetent stewards has left a sour taste. Hamilton was the better driver by far and consistently outpaced Verstappen during the race.

    Verstappen by contrast is a hooligan and far too aggressive on track. A bully. Nothing good will come of his elevation.

      1. I found the FIA stewards’ machinations diabolical. It is as though they wanted Verstappen to win at any cost and were engaged in order to accomplish this result.

      2. IMHO, if they uphold Verstappen’s ‘victory’, they will condemn he reputation of F1 racing to permanent disgrace.

    2. I agree, Cori; I dislike Lewis Hamilton’s political views – and his ‘bling’ – but reckon he has always played fairly.

      In contrast, Verstappen is a spoilt child who will break the rules and use dangerous tactics to beat his opponent.

      He should have been disqualified permanently after his dangerous, deliberate and potentially fatal crash with Hamilton earlier this season.

      1. Yup. That is my observation too. These cars are travelling at very high speeds and whilst they have incredible safety measures incorporated in their design it is still a very dangerous activity both for drivers and attendants.

        Drivers must be measured in what they do and take great care to avoid mishaps and collisions which would put others at risk.

      1. Nothing. Lozza Fox on GBNews has just called Bojo, “The Jussie Smollett” of British politics.

        1. I live in hope that he’ll become a pragmatist and a realist rather than just frightened by unaccountable, arrogant ‘scientists’ with a vested interest.

    2. The bastard Johnson is in the pay of Big Pharma and utterly compromised.

      Fauci in the USA set the template and our equivalent Little Hitlers such as Farrar, Whitty, Vallance, Van Tam and the ‘professors’ from London School of Tropical Medicines (funded by GSK and others) and idiotic compromised fools such as Ferguson of ICL plus those recently knighted and Dames at Oxford have denied scientific enquiry with their deathly potions.

      As with Fauci we have allowed the representatives of Big Pharma to invade and control our public health bodies. These people are compromised and should be dispensed with forthwith. These people have a financial interest in the promotion of ‘vaccines’ and have no moral compass on the evidence before us.

    3. It’s a race. Bollocks.

      Sajid Javid, the Health and Social Care Secretary, said: “The Covid-19 booster programme is accelerating rapidly and more than 22 million people in the UK have already received their top-up, securing vital protection ahead of Christmas.

      “This is our national mission – the most recent data shows boosters are the essential defence against omicron and we are doing everything in our power to get jabs into arms as quickly as possible.

      “We are now expanding the offer to over-30s – so please come forward as quickly as possible to get boosted and help our country get ahead in this race with the variant.

      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/12/12/covid-boosters-over-30s-race-limit-omicron-stepped-christmas/

      BTL:
      Angela England
      So the first two vaccines don’t work but let’s inject a few more…

      Joe Mountain
      And surprise, surprise, Boris decides to address the nation tonight…
      Fear leads to compliance.
      This is a move deliberately designed to quell the opposition and get his measures passed on Tuesday.
      Oh, and deflect from all the negative attention he has bought upon himself.
      And just watch him do it draped in Union Jacks.
      Utterly appalling – based on a variant that clearly seems milder.
      Oh, and apparently the vulnerable are protected if they have had the booster – which they all have!
      Enough is enough people.
      Obviously I wouldn’t condone breaking the law – just ignore any stupid rules for the sake of humanity.

      Larry Lar
      This is so phenomenally wrong that serious violence will become the only option.

      And many, many more.

      Will there be a new John Bellingham?

      2. “most recent data shows…” There are around 1400 reported cases O’micron. That is not a lot of data. What I wonder is how they tell O’micron from Delta from First Type discovered. It cannot be by the two current tests as they are inaccurate even on Type 1. Presumably there has been some very efficient and fast laboratory work? (*Laboratory tests can take days to complete.)
        Or maybe this is a tissue of lies?

        *https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/symptoms-testing/testing.html
        *https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/testing/diagnostic-testing.html

        1. They really are running out of ideas, to be trying that one again! Especially when so many people can’t get GP appointments, or have missed checkups. I don’t know whether I’m more sad or angry. That’s just a slap in the face to people dying of treatable diseases.

  107. The new restrictions were introduced on Nov 30 for a period of three weeks – or so we were told. So why is it that vaccine certification on sports grounds applies only from this Wednesday, the 15th, if they’ll expire in a week? You know the answer…

    Passports will need to be shown at all-seated outdoor sports stadiums holding over 10,000. Clubs who don’t often break this figure or whose grounds hold just over this amount will get round this by limiting their capacities to 9,999. Similarly with any unseated outdoor venue where the limit is 4,000.

    We could have the situation where 9,999 could be packed close together in a single stand without showing papers but 4,001 spread out much more thinly around the terracing and hard-standing would need to show theirs.

    “Think of a number, any number…”

    Dunces.

    1. If my gym pushes the a covid passport that’ll properly stuff me. At that point I’d consider getting such as not complying would likely close them down.

      1. I’ve already given up the idea of going racing. They won’t let me in unless I can show proof of being double jabbed or a recent negative test. The last (and one and only) test I had was enough for me; I’m not going through that again.

  108. Good evening all. It seems that more than ever before, the NHS is now to be solely the ‘National Vaccination Service.’ GPs have already been told they can stop doing routine checks on over-75s, (but still get paid as if they had), so sorry if your cancer or dementia is left unchecked. Now it’s ‘down tools’ for everything except vaccination. And all for a ‘variant’ which to my knowledge has killed precisely zero people around the world, and may actually be the natural vaccine which would end this pandemic…

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/12/12/covid-alert-level-4-boris-johnson-announcement-booster-jabs/0

    1. The lazy bl00dy GPs don’t do the health checks anyway. Even before convid.
      The sheer speed at which the rules and ‘alert levels’ keep changing shows they are out of control. Knee jerk reactions, ill considered and contradictory, all in response to a variant which, while it may be more transmissible, is reported to be far milder and is not causing a big spike in deaths.
      I am in utter despair over this bull5hit.
      Even if people are still allowed to gather for Christmas, you can bet another lockdown (in all but name) is coming with the new year.

      1. I’m afraid the only way this is going to be stopped is if if we refuse to comply . This is not life any more, it is misery. Alf and I will carry on as of nothing has changed. We will not be having the jabs (even though our d-i-l is pressuring us to).
        … We will not be …

        1. Please stay clear of the jabs. There is now so much evidence that the jabs are both useless in preventing infection and transmission and are harmful to public health.

          Do not comply. The populace have been coerced and conned by a motley criminal collection of politicos and medicos.

        2. We had our boosters on Thursday. The only reason I am having them is the remote hope that we will one day be able to fly again (without onerous restrictions, tests, masks, locator forms, suddenly changing rules etc) to Canada to see our son and grandchildren. Should such a possibility happen, I don’t want to be banned because I missed a booster or two. Given that the just 6 year old has now been jabbed, and the nature/attitudes of the parents, it wouldn’t surprise me if they wouldn’t let me near them anyway.

      2. None of my GPS have ever given me an injection or taken blood.
        They will now be paid to continue not doing it.
        You couldn’t make it up.

        1. Supposedly, patients are (pre-Covid) able to discuss results of the over-60s health checks. When I went through one of these farcical checks, I was denied this request. As my dear Mum had just passed from a long-drawn-out major stroke, I wanted to discuss this with the GP. Mind you, not sure what use the checks are – blood test, ( which I have to have done every 6 months anyway), blood pressure and a family health history. All done by a ‘health care assistant’ who, in this case at least, was not the sharpest spoon in the drawer.

          1. I haven’t had a ‘health check’ since I had a ‘well woman check’ in my early 40s. The last time i saw a gp at all was in 2019 when I had shingles and saw a schoolboy doctor who confirmed my diagnosis and prescribed the antivirals.

          2. My excellent GP retired over a year ago. He used to ensure I had my routine blood tests every 6 months (medication and health condition requirements), always discussed the results and sent them on to the consultant in time for the 6 monthly appointment. Ran like clockwork. New GP – nothing. Even when I had the blood tests just after Convid landed, and I made a point about the consultant needing them, they couldn’t be bothered.
            The consultant told me to not bother with the GP, just get them done at the hospital.
            The 2 named GPs in the last 18 months qualified in very 3rd world holes.

          3. Our gp I’m glad to say is fairly non-interventionist. But OH has had some problems and the gp phoned him and asked him to come in that morning (back in September) and referred him to a consultant. He had the op at the beginning of November (paid privately as the waiting list was horrendous) and has now recovered and is back playing table tennis twice a week.
            I don’t have any health problems I’m glad to say so I keep away from the surgery. Last time I went was April 2019 when I had shingles.

          4. Your GP is a rarity. Just think, he put his life at risk in seeing your OH! You have to laugh at the whole inconsistency of these people (your GP excepted). At our place (over 20 GPs, near empty patients’ car park which used to be overflowing even after they extended it), the vast majority of face-face-to-face appointments are now with nurses. Cunningly enough, the nurses aren’t catching this killer virus from patients.

          5. Apart from seeing a doctor (who looked about 12) for shingles I have been since for jabs by the nurse. As shingles is nasty and painful, and apparently can come back again – we both had the shingles jab last summer. Last year I did have the flu jab for the first time and also one for pneumonia. I’ve not been pressured to go back for more – I said I didn’t want the covid booster and that was accepted.

          6. I’ve had texts from the health centre three days in a row now urging me to book a booster.
            Last night they put a post on farcebook reminding patients that they are ‘not contractually obliged’ to offer the Convid jabs – I think we are supposed to feel immense gratitude that they now do so (though they only invite those who haven’t booked at one of the hubs, none of which are local) and not to phone them because ‘ it prevents patients getting through to them’. So annoying for them that patients have the audacity to ring, never mind those older more vulnerable people who don’t use computers or have smart phones to access their preferred method.

          7. I wonder how the elderly manage these days if they don’t use computers or smartphones. I have one (phone) but I only use it as a camera, or mini computer and I don’t use it to scan QR codes. OH had an old mobile but he no longer uses one.

          8. They probably have to rely on help from family or neighbours.
            I have an old smartphone which I bought second hand over 3 years ago. It barely has enough storage for the limited stuff i have on there anyway. So many shops now want us to use their app – I’ll stick with a handful of plastic cards.

    2. and may actually be the natural vaccine which would end this pandemic…

      And that’s what they’re scared of. They want to get one last shot in before the crowd turns on them and there are a lot of THEM out there.

    2. 342755+ up ticks,
      Evening LD,
      Does that nige chap consider himself fit to judge johnson considering his own past record of pro tory (ino) jockying.

  110. I am the Pfizer booster
    But won’t keep Covid away
    I am the Pfizer booster
    But won’t keep Covid away
    Keeping everything in the Pharm yard cushti every day
    Media dogs don’t bark as the peons begin to howl
    The dogs won’t bark as the peons begin to howl
    Arms out scaredy cat people
    Pfizer booster’s on the prowl
    If you see the Pfizer booster
    Please present your arm
    If you see the Pfizer booster
    Please present your arm
    There’ll be no peace in the Pharm yard
    Until all stocks of the booster have gone……

    (With apols to The Rolling Stones)

  111. Sod it. Boris can shove his mandates up his arse.
    After spreading two dozen bags of soil up above the lower terrace wall, then refilling 10 of them & carrying them up the garden, I’m off to bed.

    And Boris can shove his passports and vaccines up his chuffing arse.

  113. Panic² Johnson is flailing about like a drowning man. He is literally up to his neck in self inflicted problems and has no way out except resignation. These new measures are his version of a scorched earth policy.

  114. We have been collecting toys and gifts locally for a local charity. Amazed at the generosity of our neighbours and others. Will be taking gifts to Braintree Police Staion for distribution as Christmas Gifts to under privileged children.

    There is true good in this world, despite the politicians indicating otherwise.

  116. Book your Covid booster vaccine in the afternoon ‘to get better protection’
    Scientists in the US found that the time of day a vaccine is administered can affect the number of antibodies produced
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/12/12/book-covid-booster-vaccine-afternoon-get-better-protection/

    Another BTL comment:

    We must all have injection after injection to have a vaccine that will only be effective for 4 months and possibly not effective at all against the now prominent omicron variant which is now no worse than a cold or a mild dose of the flu.

    Of course this is madness but just as great a madness is that people accept this bizarre policy without challenging it.

    “O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
    And men have lost their reason. ”

    [Shakespeare: Julius Caesar]

    1. I’m sure I read somewhere a few weeks ago that morning jabs resulted in more antibodies. Chances are, they don’t really know and different ‘experts’ have differing opinions.

  117. Good night all.

    2 corn tacos filled with cold lamb & redcurrant jelly.
    Bread & Butter pudding.

      1. A thin flexible form of cornbread that you can wrap a filling in, hence the term “wrap” being used for a type of snack using them.

          2. And some come as an edible bowl to fill with goop. Once bitten, it shatters so the whole lot falls into your lap.
            :-((

  118. Good night, everyone. After a busy day writing Christmas cards, I spent the evening watching a DVD of the 1961 Robert Wise version of WEST SIDE STORY. Tomorrow I am going to the local cinema to watch the 2021 Steven Spielberg version. It will be interesting to see how the new version compares.

      1. I always carry it with me, Ndovu, but whether or not I wear it depends on whether I am challenged. Even if I am refused admission unless I wear it (unlikely with the cinema I choose to patronise) there is never anyone to see me take it off when I enter the auditorium. I refuse to spend a couple of hours watching a film with steamed-up specs because I can’t make out what is happening on screen.

        1. Good for you Elsie – I find masks impede my hearing ( when worn by others so I can’t lipread) and vision due to the steamed up specs. I hate the damned things with a passion.

          1. Today I was challenged twice about my not wearing a mask. In both cases I simply said “I am exempt”. This was accepted without question, so I was not obliged to answer the question by stating that my medical history was a matter between my Doctor and myself, and therefore nobody else’s business.

    2. Don’t forget your mask, head-to-toe PPE and vaccine passport. The rules could change overnight. Nothing would surprise me.
      But hope you enjoy the film! Goodnight.

    3. I hope the people in the new version do their own singing! Don’t like all the dubbing over.

      1. Nothing on IMDb (the Internet Movie Database) suggests otherwise, M’Lady, although I find it hard to believe in the case of Rita Moreno, who had her 90th birthday on Saturday (December the 11th). But, whether or not the actual actor or a more proficient singer sings the song, it is usually a recording (of their own or another’s voice) which is mimed to when the scene is filmed.

  120. Oh well, that’s the DT & self sat up with mugs of tea again!
    Don’t know who Poppy Pratt is, (referenced by Rastus below) but she seems to be VERY pro-Vaccination.
    I’m not going to post the graphs etc, but the BTL comments are hammering her!

    Book your Covid booster vaccine in the afternoon ‘to get better protection’
    Scientists in the US found that the time of day a vaccine is administered can affect the number of antibodies produced

    By
    Poppie Platt12 December 2021 • 9:40pm

    Booking a Covid booster jab in the afternoon could provide a higher number of antibodies, a new study suggests, although researchers insist receiving a vaccination at any hour remains the best method of protection against infection.

    Scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital in the US found that the time of day a vaccine is administered can affect the number of antibodies produced, because of a bodily function – which affects the immune system’s reaction to infectious diseases – that reacts differently throughout a 24-hour cycle.

    The cycle, known as a circadian rhythm, can affect how seriously some people suffer from diseases and how effective medical treatments are.

    The team, which assessed the antibody levels of 2,190 British healthcare workers who had received the Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccine, found that people who received a vaccine later in the day had higher antibody levels, but said their research is not yet complete enough to recommend people to schedule their vaccination appointments at certain times.

    Time of day and immune response
    Professor Elizabeth Klerman, a neurophysiology researcher at the hospital, who authored the study, said: “Our observational study provides proof of concept that time of day affects immune response to SARS-CoV-2 vaccination, findings that may be relevant for optimising the vaccine’s efficacy.”

    “We need to replicate our findings and develop a better understanding of the underlying physiology of SARS-CoV-2 and the body’s response to vaccination before we can recommend that people who want an extra boost from the vaccine, such as older individuals or those who are immunocompromised, schedule their vaccine for the afternoon.

    “This research is the first step in demonstrating the importance of time-of-day response to SARS-CoV-2 vaccine.”

    She added that Covid vaccination remains “the most critical step in preventing” infection and severe illness, “regardless of the time of day”.

    Antibodies were also greater in women and young people, as well as those who received the Pfizer vaccine, which challenges earlier studies that concluded the flu vaccine to be more effective for older men when administered in the morning.

    During the study, published in The Journal of Biological Rhythms on December 4, a model was developed to see whether the health workers’ gender or age affected how many antibodies they had after getting jabbed.

    Scientists measured antibody levels by using blood samples that had been collected two to 10 weeks after receiving a first Covid vaccine dose.

    Importance of time of day
    It also examined whether the type of vaccine or the time of day when it was administered had any impact on the body’s Covid defences.

    Prof Klerman said: “If preliminary data show a difference in efficacy and adverse effects from a drug or vaccine based on time of day, it would behove drug companies to administer the drug at the optimal time, which would reduce the number of participants needed to get a statistically significant difference between drug and placebo.”

    The team said more research is required into the timing of vaccines, as the study lacked data on the medical history of participants and their sleep and work patterns, each of which could influence how well people respond to vaccination.

    It also did not include children, older people or those who are immunosuppressed.

    They are now analysing data from patients at Mass General Brigham facilities in the US to assess whether vaccine timings could also impact how likely people are to experience side effects.

    Prof Klerman said: “If antibody levels are higher when people receive the vaccine in the afternoon, we may see that side effects are also greater.”

    The Government has rushed to extend the booster programme in the weeks running up to Christmas, amid concerns over the omicron variant, with 30-year-olds set to be offered their jabs from Monday.

    Data shows that a third jab provides up to 75 per cent protection against infection from omicron, as well as decreasing the chances of severe illness if infected.

    1. You just know that they are lying when they declare protection figures on a variant that only emerged a few weeks ago. Miraculous really, as the first two jabs are apparently ineffective against OhMy gawd

    2. Don’t be unkind to Poppy Pratt, BoB. I personally find that watching a film during waking hours is much more effective than (not) watching it when I am asleep in bed. We must also remember that there was a time when leaving the pub at around 6 pm was much healthier and more effective than at 11 pm when the Corona virus apparently woke up and started infecting people. That must be true because the government told us so. (Sarc.)

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