Sunday 12 September: Losing faith in a Tory Party that splashes cash but shirks NHS reform

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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610 thoughts on “Sunday 12 September: Losing faith in a Tory Party that splashes cash but shirks NHS reform”

    3. Blimey: it must be those dark January nights. Not a lot on telly – apart from a crocheted doily?
      Happy birthday, Eddy.

  4. That’s the Way to Do It

    A construction worker came home just in time to find his wife in bed with another man. So he dragged the man down the stairs to the garage and put his wet willie in a vice. He secured it tightly and removed the handle. Then he picked up a hacksaw. The man terrified, screamed, “Stop! Stop! You’re not going to (gulp) cut off my dick, are you???!?”

    The husband said, with a gleam of revenge in his eye,

    “Nope. You are. I’m just gonna set the garage on fire.”

  5. Got up ‘cos I couldn’t sleep, ordered 5 x French Malbec + i LBV Port, then found we were now Sunday aware.

    Good morning, one and all and I’m going back to bed to read myself asleep – I hope.

    1. That must have been the intention all along then – so they conveniently found some positive covid ‘cases’.

  8. Putin unveils monument to legendary Russia prince. 12 September 2021.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fbc934ed320a502c75f52f6404f4df36367c3a708a9e685793a5a76095d8cc49.jpg

    President Vladimir Putin on Saturday unveiled a huge monument to legendary medieval prince Alexander Nevsky as he praised a “strong” Russia ahead of parliamentary polls.

    Accompanied by Patriarch Kirill, the head of Russia’s Orthodox Church, and top officials, the Russian leader unveiled a 50-tonne monument to the prince and his warriors on the shores of Chudskoe Lake, on the northwestern border with EU member Estonia.

    Putin praised the prince for his victory over the Teutonic Knights on the ice-bound lake in 1242, saying he was a symbol of patriotism and devotion to the Motherland.

    “This victory became decisive, halted the advance of enemies and showed everyone in the west and the east that the strength of Russia is not broken and the Russian land has people who are ready to fight for it,” Putin said.

    Morning everyone. As our own history and its heroes are relentlessly destroyed Putin and Russia reinforce theirs. I’m pretty certain that Vlad fully understands what has happened in the West, and the reasons for it, and is seeking to ensure Russia does not suffer the same fate. He has strengthened the Russian Orthodox Church in contradiction to the destruction of the Church of England and his recent clamp down on “Foreign owned” news outlets can be seen to prevent a Fifth Globalist Column from taking over the Media as it has here.

    What a man!

    https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210911-putin-unveils-monument-to-legendary-russia-prince

  9. It was lovely to see a new generation in women’s tennis yesterday.
    No doubt I am too cynical, but I detested the spectacle of the stinking, corrupt Establishment rushing to fawn over this fresh blood. I doubt she knows or cares who half of the nonentities who, according to the Mail, were leading the congratulations are.

    1. Guten Morgen, BB2.

      I didn’t stay for the aftermath, but flipped over to watch the 2nd 1/2 of the Proms as soon as the match was over.

        1. EU berets. Dark blue with a ring of yellow stars around the top. Quite attractive really. Certainly attracted the camera a few times.

          2. How strange. That is what I thought. They probably cling on to the dream of rejoining despite all the evidence pointing out how nasty they all are.

    2. I saw the match last night, and the two lovely girls having a glorious time taking one another on. Raducanu’s movement around the court and consistency of power was matched by Fernandez’s vicious slices and spins on the ball, one of which led to that fall which drew blood in her opponent. I think these two are looking forward to a long career pitched against one another.

      .The only thing that soured it for me was that the winner became a millionaire overnight. Why must top sport always be about the huge payoff, and not about the joy of an equally-matched battle, and two athletes in prime condition enjoying what they do?

      2. Ah, sport. That Corinthian thing. Now there are sporting activities but almost all, certainly all with a public following, are businesses. The arenas, stadiums, the competitions, the clubs, the TV rights, even the players are owned by investment groups.

      2. 8 and a bit hours of wonderful proper sleep. Only woke to burning sunlight through the windows.

        Must get better ‘outside the window’ blinds.

  11. Guinea coup is latest blow to Tony Blair’s crusade to transform Africa. 12 September 2021.

    Even Tony Blair’s supporters must be wondering if he is cursed.

    In the latest setback to Mr Blair’s ambition to transform Africa, the president of Guinea has been overthrown in a military coup amid allegations of wide scale human rights abuses.

    A photograph released last week shows Alpha Conde – once hailed by Mr Blair as an ideal leader – under arrest, disheveled and surrounded by soldiers from Guinea’s special forces. It was a humiliating end to Conde’s decade in power.

    His demise is also a bitter blow to Mr Blair’s Institute for Global Change, which had been advising Mr Conde since 2012.

    Not cursed but a curse! He is the Kiss of Death to anything that is decent or true. A warmonger without a conscience. A Destroyer! An enemy to all that the UK once stood for. He is the anti-Christ!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/09/11/tony-blair-suffers-another-heavy-blow-plans-nurture-good-leadership/

    3. …once hailed by Mr Blair as an ideal leader…

      Little wonder he was ousted. It would appear that even in Africa the association with the Blair brand is toxic.

  13. Good morning all.
    A dull and overcast, but at least dry, start to the day with a slightly cooler 10°C in the yard.

    I will not offend people with the language I want to use, but checking my Step-son yesterday was a total and utter waste of time.
    Such is his state that I dialed 999 in an effort to get him admitted to hospital and, hopefully, sectioned.
    6 hours and two further phone calls later, I gave up in bitter frustration and left him in his flat.
    I can not believe that ALL the East Midlands ambulances were busy on “life threatening emergencies” to the extent that they were unable to find one to deal with us.

    Mental Health Services in the NHS are a total and utter shambles.

    1. My brother, who is a paranoid schizophrenic, sorted this sort of nonsense out by wandering up to reception with a hold-all containing a crossbow. “You’ll never guess what I’ve got in here” he announced. They sectioned him pretty quickly.

        1. Before coughing became a serious public health issue, a postie in the bear garden at dawn that was two hours inward sorting before going out on delivery coughed at his peril.

          We’d expect no sympathy from colleagues; “Die, you bugger!” the chorus would ring out.

          It seems the NHS has caught up at last with the Royal Mail.

    3. Sorry to hear that. Mental health services are so appalling in the UK. It is a slippery subject at the best of times, as treatment can often be against someone’s will, but there seems to be no help at all in Britain. The only person I know who has had years of free mental health treatment on the NHS is trans and gets it as part of the package.

    5. From experience, I think you might have got a better (but not necessarily swifter) response if you had rung 111.

  14. Presumably the young Romanian girl who beat the Phillipino girl did so because none of the big hitter tennis women were in the tournament.

    Williams would have them fo breakfast!

    1. She might have done a few years ago, but we all get old. Williams herself was one of the two finalists the last time the U.S. Open featured two teenagers.

    2. The Sunday Telegraph is describing this little girl as “…a British hero.”

      I would prefer (if hyperbole is to be the order of the day), “A Canadian (of Romanian and Chinese parentage) heroine.”

      1. We are all heroes now. Goal scorer; make 50 in a test match. Throw a discus – row a boat – heroes all – expecting knighthoods.

      2. A couple of days ago in the racing programme, there was a piece about a “Yorkshire hero”. It turned out it was a woman who worked for the NHS who had come back out of retirement “to fight Covid” and also jab people. Not, in my view, a hero, but at any rate, the feminine form is ‘heroine’.

  15. Why misogyny must not become a hate crime. Spiked. 12 September 2021.

    The Misogyny and Criminal Justice in Scotland Working Group was set up earlier this year by the Scottish government to consider how the criminal-justice system should deal with misogyny. The group’s remit includes establishing whether misogyny, as with other hate crimes, should be an aggravating factor in sentencing for existing offences and whether it should be illegal to stir up hatred against women. It will also ask whether new offences are needed to tackle sexist behaviours that are currently legal. It plans to publish its recommendations next year.

    This of course is the process of demonising one half of the population for having views that the Elites disapprove of. An attempt to Police your very thoughts. They could equally as well have chosen those who don’t like children or the elderly but there’s still some residual sympathy for them whereas Men are widely despised and hated by the Feminist Society in which we now live. We can be certain of one other thing. It will be White Males that will feel the pinch of this legislation. The ethnic minorities will escape all criticism!

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2021/09/11/why-misogyny-must-not-become-a-hate-crime/

  16. Three BTL Comments:-

    Logical Paradox
    12 Sep 2021 7:43AM
    Re: NHS… Are the media , including the DT ‘gas lighting’ us all?

    Only last year we turned out in our millions to clap the NHS on a Thursday… For many it was quite a moving moment.

    For decades the political pundits have told us that we love our NHS above all other institutions.

    The NHS develops a massive problem in untreated patients from an 18month covid crisis…. So, Boris acts decisively to give the NHS extra money to alleviate this problem and speed up the treatment of these poor neglected patients. He also tries to tackle the long neglected social care issue.

    And what do the media do? They turn on Boris… and they say the NHS has always been rubbish anyway.

    It’s right to query the actions of government.. but our media appear to be capricious and vicious in their approach. I know I’ll be criticized for sticking up for Boris.(fair enough) But I’m really objecting to the way that the media creates the narrative that we must all believe.. Look what has happened in the USA due to hysterical media bias against Trump and sickening devotion to the hapless and hopeless Biden.

    Flag2UnlikeReply

    A Allan
    12 Sep 2021 7:52AM
    @Logical Paradox

    The role of the media, particularly during this past 18 months, has been an utter disgrace.

    They have poured petrol on the bonfire and reduced most of the country to countless millions of fearties.

    The cultural, social and financial results of their feckless scaremongering and kowtowing to governmental mismanagement will affect western culture for years to come.

    Flag3UnlikeReply

    Robert Spowart
    12 Sep 2021 7:57AM
    @Logical Paradox “Only last year we turned out in our millions to clap the NHS on a Thursday… For many it was quite a moving moment.”

    Given the wall of useless platitudes I’ve been meeting from the Derby Mental Health Services over the past few years, the “Clap for the NHS” cult was a bit of a sick joke.

    ANY further funds for the NHS should not only have been subject to a detailed spending plan with clear lines of responsibility over who was spending how much and on what, but also a comprehensive review of how much the NHS could actually save by dropping the “Diversity” bullshonet of Critical Race Theory and the Trans-Delusion.
    Edit ()

    1. You can add to this the MSM determinedly criticising everything the Army has done in Afghanistan in the last twenty years, yet when the Army

      leaves, they get criticised for that too.

      1. ‘Morning Janet. You are right, but may I gently point out that all three services have been out there, not just the Army. The media usually ignores the involvement of the others, which is very unfortunate.

    2. It does have an immediate ‘spending plan’: the appointment of 42 additional managers at up to £270,000 each. Time for a wholesale clearout and the introduction of performance-related pay based solely on efficiency targets. (Sorry, just indulging in a brief fantasy there.)

      ‘Morning, BoB.

    3. “We” didn’t clap for the NHS; a proportion of the more deluded GBP did so. The types who are still clinging onto their face nappies and advocating compulsory covid vaccinations.

      1. It was a virtue signalling exercise – people clapped because their neighbours did. As all the front doors here face into the garden and away from the street, nobody bothered.

        1. I certainly didn’t. If we’re going to clap for people doing their jobs – where’s mine?

          If they had magically done something better, such as having prepared for the pandemic in advance, be treating patients immediately, having set up triage arrangements within the first week.. maybe I’d raise an eyebrow.

          But it took the NHS months. Hell Public health England, now a differently named quango under the exact same management with the same remit but avoiding the scrunity of it’s utter, complete incompetence ignored the covid issue in favour of pushing a sugar tax. A sugar tax it has now leapt back on.

        2. Because I’m fairly secluded where I live, I didn’t realise that anybody was clapping on a Thursday – until I stayed out in the garden after 8pm on one occasion. Then I wondered what the racket was. My woke neighbours about a quarter of a mile away, whose children had defaced their drive with chalk rainbows, were virtue signalling.

      2. I could not understand why people in Britain were expected to help the NHS by giving it AIDS or the Clap. I would have thought that with Covid and the knock-on effects of Covid the last thing the NHS needed were sexually transmitted diseases.

    4. The NHS develops a massive problem in untreated patients from an 18month covid crisis…. So, Boris acts decisively…

      @Logical Paradox appears to have been gaslit not only by the the Media but by Johnson along with Uncle Tom Cobley and all. Many people and institutions have a stake in both creating and developing the CV-19 legend. The NHS “crisis” was fomented by Johnson’s reaction to the “pandemic” and the need to promote the latter to open the door to mass inoculation of the UK’s population. That the same or similar tactics have been repeated around the World should arouse suspicion in everyone who makes the effort to get to the facts. Relying on this government, its agents and the Media for the real facts is a complete waste of time. Information from many esteemed doctors and scientists, along with one or two journalists who have retained their integrity, is out there despite the fact checkers’ attempts at censuring criticism.

        1. As was our wail in the Armed Forces as far back as the 1960s – Too many Chiefs, not enough Indians.

    5. No further spending was necessary. The NHS cannot reform. It has no understanding of how to. For decades it’s just been a government department.

      The problem of government demarnding reform is that government reform is the problem.

      Start locally, with a small hospital. Have a private hospital take it over and run it – suspend the entire management team, remove any NHS trust nonsense. In the first instances have the ‘insurance premiums’ paid by the government directly. For the customer, nothing changes – nothing but the hospital is run as if it were a private institution.

  17. ‘Morning, Peeps.

    Not normally a tennis fan but I did watch most of the match. And all the more pleasurable for 1) we won, and 2) there was no screeching and grunting!

    1. There was grunting from the Romanian every time she hit the ball; even I – deaf as a post – was aware of it! No orgasmic screeching, though!

      They are both very young and understandably very, very nervous. It reminded me of the final of the Over 16 tennis cup at Malory Towers. Neither girl has a killer serve. Most of the points won were by the opponent’s unforced errors.

      In a few years I expect the Romanian will be very good. The other girl, less so.

      But it was nice that there were no histrionics or complaining. And it didn’t last long – thank God!!!

      1. The grunting must have passed me by. Admittedly, the volume was low so as not to disturb Mrs HJ – either that or my hearing is giving out.

          2. Yarp – about 12 miles NW of Bristol Lulsgate but the stuff up there isn’t local it’s either off to the colonies (E-W) or ferrying the great unwashed from the north to the fleshpots of the Med (N-S)

          3. It’s all those celebrities in their private jets flying in for the Climate Change Conference to tell all us plebs we mustn’t go on holiday. They’ll all fly off again back to their comfy Caribbean Islands after a few days thinking what a wonderful job they’ve done.

  19. 338765+ up ticks,
    Morning Each,
    Sunday 12 September: Losing faith in a Tory Party that splashes cash but shirks NHS reform

    I believe the “losing faith” is eating into the hard core members much of the main herd have seen this cartel for what it is, a controlling, manipulating, treacherous political syndicate running to its own agenda
    financed & supported by fools still voting for a Conservative party of yesteryear.

    All the while giving controlling,manipulating,treacherous, political power to the reset,new world order alliance, then in a muckingfuddled manner asking ” why is ALL this odious sh!te taking place”.

  20. It’s been twenty years since 9/11. But the West has precious little to show for it. 12 September 2021.

    So the fact that, as the world yesterday marked the twentieth anniversary of the deadliest terrorist attack ever committed on American soil, the Taliban, the original protagonists in this long-running conflict, now enjoy undisputed control of Afghanistan constitutes a defeat of collosal proportions for the major Western powers.

    Having precipitated the Western invasion in the first place over their refusal to hand over al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and the other architects of the 9/11 attacks, the Taliban now find themselves in the privileged position of forming a new government, while new-found allies like China and Iran jostle over the division of the spoils.

    I never thought that I would accuse Coughlin of telling the truth but he has somehow managed it here. It may well be that the shock has worn off and the slow realisation of the implications of this catastrophic defeat has finally sunk in. The West, or what’s left of it, is now on the defensive and looks to be facing cultural and demographic extinction.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/09/12/twenty-years-since-911-west-has-precious-little-show/

    1. So many lives lost, so much materiel wasted and for nothing. No real gains.

      Ignoring that the attack was planned in Syria, Afghan was always about resources, as all wars are. We cannot defeat terrorism except b confronting it.

      That means when they bomb Charlie Hebdo, the response is for every newspaper to print mocking cartoons. It means forbidding halal food. It means forbidding the blocking of streets with prayers. It means ignoring anti muslim jokes like bacon on door handle.

      The problem is we can’t stop them without becoming the very thing we so hate – a fascist dictatorship. It’s ironic that the Left are eager to turn everywhere into such to control what can be said and done to suppress complaint and discussion of the problems yet we want to prevent that very thing – but it is the only approach that will prevent the atrocities again.

  21. Morning all

    SIR – I have never felt so let down by a government in which I had put so much faith. I have no problem with paying more tax (which I can ill afford) or even broken manifesto promises, if they are in the interest of the country – but blasting billions of taxpayer pounds at the NHS does not fall into this category.

    The money will disappear into the NHS black hole – as it always does, because the Government has no plans to implement the huge reforms that are so desperately needed, particularly in social care, despite having had decades to work them out.

    Almost everybody who has experienced the care system with an elderly loved one knows that the latest announcements will make virtually no difference to the inadequate postcode-lottery system currently in place.

    Boris Johnson’s decision is foolhardy and politically suicidal. I feel completely disfranchised. I could not currently bring myself to vote for the Labour Party, which seems to have no policies at all, and I would be fearful of voting for any other party for much the same reason. What do I do?

    Amanda Lovejoy

    Castle Acre, Norfolk

    SIR – My family will soon pay hundreds of pounds a year more in tax to prop up the NHS.

    My mother-in-law’s death from cancer was caused, or at the very least hastened, by a series of NHS administrative blunders. My one-year-old daughter has never been seen by a health visitor, despite having severe allergies. I had to fight tooth and nail to access the maternity services I needed.

    We have all spent over a year having our freedoms curtailed and quality of life diminished to “protect the NHS”, yet our family was not protected by it. The NHS is a bloated and inefficient bureaucracy, surfing on its own hype, unfit for purpose in its current form.

    Never have I felt angrier about taxation, as I fail to see any value for my family.

    Mary Ann Howard

    SIR – At the next general election, millions of small-c conservative voters like myself will calculate that a moderate Labour Party will almost certainly be more fiscally responsible then the “spend and tax” Conservative Party that we have now, with the least competent Cabinet in living memory.

    Like many others, I don’t regret voting for a Conservative Government, I regret that I didn’t get one.

    Andrew Perrins

    Measham, Leicestershire

    SIR – In the 1950s the nation had a run of Butskellism, the outcome of an accord between R A Butler for the Tories and Hugh Gaitskell for Labour.

    Are we heading towards its successor, Johnstarmerism?

    George Hobbs

    Maughold, Isle of Man

    SIR – The Government hasn’t mentioned supporting hard-working families for a while. I wonder why.

    Paul Dawson

    BristoL

      2. Amanda’s right. What choice is there for a low tax, small state Conservative?

        If the vast majority of Britons are completely disenfranchised by having no one to vote for, what do they do? Is this Boris’ mad plan? That with no one to vote for they’ll vote Conservative simply because there’s no alternative?

        That’s pathetic and cynical, and the Tories deserve obliteration to the same extent as the Lib Dems.

  22. Control of migration

    SIR – One of the main reasons why the majority voted for Brexit was to take back control of the nation’s borders.

    Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, has worked hard on the issue of illegal migration but to no avail. The proposed plan of returning illegal migrants to France will only happen in exceptional cases, for legal reasons.

    Has anybody thought about changing the law in order to end these constant court-room obstructions to protecting the public, national security, and stability? Failure to do so would confirm that Brexit was pointless.

    Hugh Jones

    Cardiff

    SIR – How do thousands of illegal migrants get into France in the first place? Perhaps the French land borders should be more secure.

    Liz Hawkes

    London W1

    1. Re Hugh Jones ‘s letter.
      Their should be no legal aid tor illegal entrants to the UK. Solicitors can be allowed to represent such immigrants but not at public expense. Citizenship and benefits should not be given freely.

    2. 338765+ up ticks,
      Morning E,
      Installing a pro United Kingdom party would be a countrywide beneficial route to take, instead of the toxic trio coupled with a great deal of HOPE.

      1. Increasingly I think the entire state machine is devoted to making this country poorer, unhappier and with fewer choices.

        We are being forced back to a miserable period of time.

        1. 338765+ up ticks,
          Morning W,
          “a miserable period of time” say like the eu dominance decades ?

          Much of these odious actions are to reset political dominance over the peoples by the politico’s in repayment for the 24/6/ 2016 result.

  23. “SIR – How do thousands of illegal migrants get into France in the first place? Perhaps the French land borders should be more secure.

    Liz Hawkes
    London W14”

    They come through Italy. Though the border is monitored between Ventimiglia (where 100s of illegals are to be seen every day) and Menton – the clued up ones go a few miles north and walk across an open border.

  24. ‘Morning again.

    The DT has no fewer than seven articles about Emma Raducanu’s win, with the main headline being:

    ‘Raducanu holds nerve to beat Fernandez in US Open and achieve immortality’. Well, that is certainly some achievement if you can pull it off, but personally I don’t want to be around when this country finally hits the buffers!

    2. All this malarkey is to distract from the REAL and URGENT problems facing us all – caused – deliberately – by this gang of wanqueurs posing as a government, Hugh.

      1. You are not wrong, Bill! This and the commemoration of 9/11 have served to distract many from the expensive shambles being foisted upon us by an out of touch government that is rapidly persuading even its diehard supporters that Conservatism as we know it has bern killed off.

        1. Conservatism died when Theresa May called us “the Nasty Party” and instead of putting her back in her box, the party tripped over itself to welcome the Blairite conversion.
          Everything since then has belonged to the same destructive agenda, except Iain Duncan Smith’s valiant attempts to rein in welfare.

          1. As much as it goes against the grain to defend TM, she did not say that.

            In her speech to the Tory Party Conference in October 2002, far from saying “We are the nasty party,” she actually said: “You know what some people call us – the nasty party. I know that’s unfair. You know that’s unfair but it’s the people out there we need to convince – and we can only do that by avoiding behaviour and attitudes that play into the hands of our opponents.”

            The left has a long history of taking tiny sound bite snippets out of context and twisting them round to give a meaning the opposite of that intended, Lady Thatcher’s “No Society” is another example of how they spin their lies. Look up her September 1987 interview with Woman’s Own on the citizens responsibilities in Society for her true meaning.

            Where they can not achieve this, they make up words to fit, David Cameron’s alleged “Hug a Hoodie” comment actually came from Labour’s Vernon Croaker!

          2. She called us “nasty” by the back door! She just didn’t have the courage to come out and do it honestly! Who was going to call us nasty? Sneaky little weasels like her!

          3. The Press and all the pundits were already calling the Tories “nasty” before she made her ill advised, though 100% correct comment.

          4. When did the Tories ever ditch their basic philosophy before, because of a few left wing fools? They should have fought the globalist takeover that Blair was implementing, instead they got on board with it. Power at any cost. I have never voted for them since.

    2. I’ve never read the magazine, but the Smithsonian does come up with some interesting telly.
      Copied and distributed; we need some good news.

  27. I wonder what bad news will be slipped out while the nation is distracted by the young woman’s tennis triumph.

  28. I warned these Tories have no heart or soul… as the Government raises taxes, now do you believe me? 12 September 2021.

    Well, now you know I was right. The Conservative Party is not just drenched in political correctness, useless at practical matters from law and crime to schools and transport and led by ignorant ninnies who are no better than they ought to be.

    It is also a ferocious raiser of taxes and spendthrift with your money. It is in fact New Labour, Blairism but without the Blair creature.

    It even resorts to wild pseudo-popular policy initiatives, such as the latest pretence at getting tough with illegal migration on the high seas, to try to distract your attention from what it is really up to, namely gobbling up more of your income than at any time in modern history.

    Well with all due deference to Mr Hitchens who has done his best to expose the realities of the last twenty years publicly we Nottlers need no instruction. We also knew what was going on!

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-9980875/PETER-HITCHENS-warned-Tories-no-heart-soul.html

    1. I broadly agree with what he’s saying, but to proclaim he was the only one seeing this is daft.

      I don’t know why he wants to abandon metric though. Base ten is the simplest measuring system imaginable.

  29. I warned these Tories have no heart or soul… as the Government raises taxes, now do you believe me? 12 September 2021.

    Well, now you know I was right. The Conservative Party is not just drenched in political correctness, useless at practical matters from law and crime to schools and transport and led by ignorant ninnies who are no better than they ought to be.

    It is also a ferocious raiser of taxes and spendthrift with your money. It is in fact New Labour, Blairism but without the Blair creature.

    It even resorts to wild pseudo-popular policy initiatives, such as the latest pretence at getting tough with illegal migration on the high seas, to try to distract your attention from what it is really up to, namely gobbling up more of your income than at any time in modern history.

    Well with all due deference to Mr Hitchens who has done his best to expose the realities of the last twenty years publicly we Nottlers need no instruction. We also knew what was going on!

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-9980875/PETER-HITCHENS-warned-Tories-no-heart-soul.html

  30. 338765+ up ticks,
    Worth a listen ,
    Some of the comments “liking” politicians of other parties & not becoming members but subscribers so as to stay true to YOUR family tree party
    which in this case has NEVER stayed true to YOU these last three decades.

    The reform party is also mentioned AKA the brexit party, that in the past came out under farage leadership as very,very pro johnson whilst at the same time as putting down a good leader & emerging credible party UKIP
    treacherously via party nec / nige input.

    https://youtu.be/wuiw6jCvuAg

  31. Given the hype surrounding the woman, I wonder how many people realise that a Briton was a winner in the mixed doubles and the men’s doubles. In fact, as far as the men’s was concerned there would have been a British winner whichever pair had won.

  32. Congratulations to Emma for the stunning victory, what a change it was to see two young women with big smiles, happy personalities and without all the arrogance, I hope they can keep smiling through their careers and stay away from politics and the woke agenda.
    I must admit that I slept through most of it so cannot say if it was an entertaining match or not, one thing that I thought was a bit odd was that as a qualifier coming through the ranks she appeared to already have a large entourage of hangers on just like the top seeds have, so someone must have invested a lot of money in her.

    2. She had a large entourage at this year’s Wimbledon. Her need to qualify for the US Open arose because she had to withdraw from that tournament

    3. The LTA, I think.
      It’s a great achievement, but I wish everyone would now lay off, instead of heaping superlatives onto her head.

  33. An interesting article from Heffer, but the answer is, sadly, so obvious – useless leadership, lost their way and purpose – they are now so far Left. One BTL comment sums it up – “Blue Labour”.
    “Why can’t the Tories get a grip on the Blob? Labour governments have used their patronage to install in public posts people who share their values; the Tories have proved pitiful at it.”
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/09/11/cant-tories-get-grip-blob/?li_source=LI&li_medium=liftigniter-rhr

    1. Because they believe in it. They all want the same things. It’s a classic tail wagging the dog. Boris’ govt could have come in and said ‘make efficiency savings. If you can’t save 10 million, then you’re sacked.

      He could have frozen council tax, and set a limit on council manager salaries of say, the average wage, either local or national, whichever is lower.

      He could have got on with frakking
      He could have made solar panels tax deductible.
      He could have cut VAT to 10%
      He could have scrapped corporation tax, or at least lowered it.

      So many simple tax cutting, economy driving policies but no. We get the same tiresome tax and waste policies. The economy will tank, society will regress.

    2. The current “Tories” share these values, though. They don’t have a conservative bone in their collective bodies.

  36. Good morning everyone .

    57,000 runners taking part in the Great North Run … Good luck to them all .

    Weymouth has a population of about 52,000 people living in the seaside town.

  37. We watched a sparkling game of tennis last night when a Romanian/Chinese born in Canada British woman beat an Ecuadorean/Filipino born in Canada Canadian woman win the US Open Tennis Ladies Championship.
    One of the best women’s tennis match for a long time.

    1. But surely Emma and her parents are just the sort of immigrants to Britain that we should welcome? She is fully integrated and speaks and looks like a native English girl and both her parents work for their living and have never been benefit scroungers.

      1. I was not criticising her or Lelah and I agree they are the sort of immigrants we want. It was the mix of nationalities I was commenting on and was a terrific match.
        A couple of lovely young women who are a credit to their parents an the sport of tennis.

    2. I didn’t watch this match Alf; though I hasten to add I hold no hostility toward the two young women who played in it. My interest in tennis is limited to Rosewall and Laver and ended with Sampras, probably the most boring player that ever haunted a tennis court! I have however just sat through twenty minutes of relentless lionessising and golly whoops how great, is there any limit to what she might do from the BBC, who hate everything British except when it’s not!

      1. Sour grapes because they didn’t get to screen the match? Trying to catch up on all the hype and congratulations.

      2. Good morning Minty
        They just got on and played the game of tennis. No histrionics. There was a short hold up when Emma slid to get to a ball, when she got up blood was running down her leg and a medic was called to patch it up.
        Apart from that it was played in good spirit.

      3. Good morning Minty
        They just got on and played the game of tennis. No histrionics. There was a short hold up when Emma slid to get to a ball, when she got up blood was running down her leg and a medic was called to patch it up.
        Apart from that it was played in good spirit.

      4. Someone asked me at church if I played tennis. I replied I used to, but my knees are too bad now. The conversation then turned to this match. I had to clarify that I PLAYED tennis, I don’t WATCH it.

    3. I didn’t watch this match Alf; though I hasten to add I hold no hostility toward the two young women who played in it. My interest in tennis is limited to Rosewall and Laver and ended with Sampras, probably the most boring player that ever haunted a tennis court! I have however just sat through twenty minutes of relentless lionessising and golly whoops how great, is there any limit to what she might do from the BBC, who hate everything British except when it’s not!

  38. The French have the legal duty to prevent unsafe boats leaving their shores. They also have their Navy and Border force ships working with the people smugglers by shepherding these unsafe boats through the dangerous Channel shipping lanes close to and in to English waters, why does the UK not report these activities to the authorities responsible for enforcing the legislation?
    Any news on the body found mid-Channel yesterday?

    2. “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.”
      It is said that Xi is fearful of leaving China because the knives are out for him. That is why his increased repression and interference in almost every aspect of Chinese life. If we are luck he will not last much longer.

    2. Thanks for that. Copied it to my computer. Not sure what I’ll do with it, perhaps stick it on a T shirt?

      2. Given that that’s an illustration of a ‘normal’ day, how can any electric supply company say that they supply 100% renewables?

        Please Datz, allow me to use that, in order to complain to the Advertising Standards Authority but I shall also need the link to its source.

        2. Same reason ISPs say their products are fibre when there’s none involved. It’s just the backhaul.

          It’s a lie. A lie they happily spread and one the advertising agency ignored.

        3. I don’t doubt that they would answer with some very cleverly selected weasel words and labyrinthine semantics with a dash of non-science for veracity.

        4. I’ve had numerous conversations with OVA and a few other companies that state they supply 100% renewable electricity. Their argument is they only buy renewable electricity and supply it to the grid – they don’t supply it to the grid. Customers are duped into thinking the only electricity which they use is renewable sourced – well it ain’t everyone uses the same mix. I doubt if the ASA will do anything as these charlatans are well versed in their wording of their excuses.

    3. Morning! On the subject of blackouts, we haven’t heard from AWK in Nairobi for a few days. It’s usually power outage that keeps him away. Perhaps that’s what we have to look forward to as well! Not sure I could greet power cuts with the stoicism we had in the 70’s.

    4. We have solar panels on our boat: the wind generator disappeared into space during a tornado. We keep Mianda in Turkey and in the summer with plenty of sunshine and little use of lights these give us enough power to run the fridge and our navigational instruments when we are sailing or at anchor. However if we are not in the marina with the boat connected to ‘shore power’ from September onwards we have to use a petrol-powered generator or run the diesel powered engine.

      I am not at all optimistic that solar and wind electricity generation will be able to provide all the electricity we need. But of course the three main party leaders: Ed Davey, Carrie Symonds-Johnson and Keir Starmer, know far more about it than I do.

    6. They will want to get everyone safely onto digital ids and a central bank digital currency slavery before they break the bad news that Mr and Mrs Joe Bloggs aren’t going to be able to afford an electric car.

    7. A canadian journalist just published an article about the number of charging stations that would be needed to replace the service stations on motorways.
      A simple count of fill up at the pumps was translated into the equivalent number of fast charging stations required.

      Instead of a dozen or so pumps, he came up with the need for about one hundred charge points using enough electricity to power a town of about ten to fifteen thousand residents.

      Not thought it through have they!

    1. The greater part of that reform can only come about if the three vote-splitters, For Britain, Reclaim and Reform could bury any differences, compromise on a manifesto and present the electorate with a fresh, renamed alternative to Lib/Lab/Con.

      At the moment, given the propensity of the voters to dismiss small parties, all they do is syphon off a few, insignifigant votes from the current CABAL.

      1. I’ve been saying this for some time.
        The only hope is for all the similar small parties to link together in a loose Alliance, keeping their own names, but agreeing amongst each other which ONE Alliance candidate will stand where.
        This is what happened in Italy, and is how Salvini was able to be in power at all.

          1. If they wanted to serve the people – more than they wanted to “be right” – they would see the sense in doing so.

          2. The big parties do not listen either. Mr Ross was apparently wiped out by Ms Sturgeon last week after he started banging on about Indyref etc. I despair. I have twice written with my advice which is simple. “Do not mention independence, ever. The majority of people in Scotland are steadfastly in favour of independence, and that’s that”.

      2. 338765+ up ticks,
        My opinion alone, trust the reform party after the last outing as the pro johnson brexit brigade under farage leadership, by the by, yet currently another bum president, still in with a shout, is not my cup of tea atall,atall.

        Anne Marie Waters is saying what she means ( islamic ideology for instance) and meaning what she says ,in my book.
        The islamic ideology is the major concern in these Isles NOW and is a far greater death threat than covid ever was,who else is NOT importing it BUT rightly standing
        against it.

    2. Morning ogga. They’re a bunch of silly stunts not worth the time of day, much less a vote. I do like Anne Marie Waters but it doesn’t seem to me that she is getting anywhere. She has been effectively silenced as has been the fate of many who tell the truth in post democratic Britain.

      1. 338765+ up ticks,
        Morning JR,
        The longest journey starts with…… as in a prior post you have to work at building a new party as peoples have been beavering away over decades supporting the lab/lib/con coalition cartel, we are witnessing what they have achieved at this moment in time, high grade treacherous sh!te.

        We have a whole electorate suffering from political Stockholm syndrome.

        Seemingly the Country has gone to the dogs via the love of three monkeys in the polling booth,& it will be one hell of a cat fight against such misguided fools , but it can be done.

        1. That is right. The Scottish National Party was founded a hundred years ago. It has taken since then to win votes, get into power and establish a totalitarian state.

          1. 338765+ up ticks,
            Afternoon HP,
            Credit must therefore go to the lab/lib/con coalition for bringing the English race to the same odious status in HALF the time.

    2. I have no idea what the controversy is here. I don’t follow tennis and I don’t pay attention to the pronouncements of the ‘Wicked Witch of the North’. Is the Raducanu a Scottish clan domiciled in the highlands or what? How does this have anything to do with Scottish independence? The article was as clear as mud on that point.
      And, Good morning to everyone on this pleasant Sunday morning, warm but not sunny here in West Sussex.

      1. “The article was as clear as mud on that point.”

        Well it is the Express. Who the hell with a functioning brain cell reads that pathetic rag? Lord Beaverbrook with be gyrating in his sarcophagus.

    3. With out going into all the newspaper details I think I understand the sentiment within Olga Krankie’s reaction.

      Leave the girl alone, the British MSM have been milking it dry for days and good for her she won. Well done Emma.
      But don’t come home for a few months, if you know what is good for you.

  45. I am concerned with how Simon Heffer ends his article:

    “… Until this supposedly Conservative Government gets off its knees and uses its power of patronage as its supporters would wish, the decline of those institutions, and our country, will remain precipitate…”

    You don’t reward failure by promoting the same mindset into the same role. You excise the bad behaviour. If an individual is failing, you make them work how you expect them to. If they don’t, you remove them.

    Sadly I fear that it isn’t possible to remove officials from office. There is far too much protection for them.

    1. Amonst all the other necessary legislation and Act repealing, remove those layers of protection and then sack the useless twonks.

    2. It seems to me that these people who have the audacity to call themselves a government have been committing and ongoing act of Treason against the people of Britain.
      Why don’t some of the army generals get in to Whitehall and Westminster and get the paras involved. Let us have a much needed revolution.

  46. Morning all, just a quiché, thank you all for the Birthday wished and thanks to Richard and Caroline for posting it.

    We have a busy day ahead and a major problem occurring. Our next but three neighbour who has been locked down running his business in Ghana for well over a year is home. And he has been burning rubbish in his rear garden for two days and now whole or our lawn patios the tables chairs and sun umbrellas etc etc are covered with paper ash. I know that he’s not stupid but, he’s very inconsiderate. My wife has been round trying to get hold of him but he doesn’t answer the door and it’s not possible to get access to his rear garden. Happy birthday eh !

    Perhaps this is the answer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSU5DtLZB3o

  47. I switched on the radio for the 10am news (only to find there isn’t any on R4 on a Sunday morning at that time!) but I did catch the end of ‘Broadcasting House’ and thought I recognised the flat Lancashure vowels of the speaker. This is what I heard:

    “This is the child of Romanian and Chinese migrants, born in Canada, who’s chosen Britain, who is now the global emblem of Britain in the world… [in research] for the book I’ve just written about the far right, I’ve repeatedly met people in this country who want to put people like Emma Raducanu into a van and escort them to Dover.”

    Yes, it was Paul Mason, one of the BBC’s favourite rent-a-gobs, whose anti-Brexit video show was one of the lowest points in the corporation’s recent history and whose appearance on any programme tells us everything we need to know about it.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000zljk at about 57:30.

    1. The people he met were probably all in his head. Or perhaps he silently reads NOTTL and puts his own evil little lefty interpretation on what he sees.

    1. Tales from the Dust Bowl.

      We have just had a phone call from our friends in Perth WA. They told us that the weather had been so cold this (it’s all relative) winter, people are considering having some form of extra glazing to make life more comfortable for them. Not just double glazing in new homes, but probably secondary in existing and older properties.

    2. The dust bowls of the 1930s were caused by the removal of the trees, in order to grow crops, particularly corn, plus grazing for cattle (sheep were anathema, as their grazing tore up grass by the roots).

      …and I learned all that in geography lessons at Bungay Grammar School in the 1950s. Such a far-right education!

      1. It is only aged sheep with poor teeth that tend to sometimes rip up grass roots, Tom. Most grazing sheep are youngsters (lambs and hoggets) with good teeth and they closely crop the grass down to the ground without damaging the plant.

        It was this close-cropping that riled the cattlemen since their cattle can’t get their tongues around closely-cropped grass.

        1. See what 66 years does to one’s memory. I remembered the gist of the reason ranchers hated sheep-farmers.

      3. Me too! Except not at Bungay Grammar School and not in the 1950s. Also the the harvested fields had no cover and the fine soil then just blew away, in our version.

    7. No you can’t feel it. It’s a recent bust of Carrie and Boris said I mustn’t let it out of my care.

  50. That’s another diseased ash dropped.
    8″ across the stump end and a good 42′ of logs cut from the main trunk tapering down to about 2½”. Also a decent amount of firewood cut from the branches making up the crown.

    Now got a load of brash to sort out with the mulcher.

      1. Cost a bit even 2nd hand, but it’s a “Simplicity” and has got a 5h B&S motor on it.
        A bit noisy and the vibration tends to rattle the fingers a bit when feeding the brash into it, but it clears a big heap of rubbish in a short time.

        1. Cambridge is lovely in the early autumn, that time when the tourists are not so plentiful and before the students return, autumn leaves starting to drift in the September sunshine.

      2. I had the Devon crab starter, then Moules frites (the moules were excellent – large & juicy), followed by Messe aux fruits rouges. A St Germaine G&T and a Breton cider.

  52. Meanwhile, in other news….

    Pickles remains stable. Sleeps 22 hours a day. Will eat if offered, but not seek it out. To vet tomorrow deffo.

    I took him out into the orchard so that he could have fresh air and some familiar smells. He immediately sat down. Gus appeared out of nowhere (as cats do) and sat beside him for ten minutes. Then looned around climbing trees and trying to get Pickles interested in some biffing. Picks made his way back to the house – 30 yards or so – and is now back on my chair…resting. Poor little chap.

    This snap shows Pickles in front and Gus watching over him:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/95ec6dfac7d33299bf279ce2c651d6eac7e12814c78b2330aef50adfbb44ebb4.jpg

    1. What is in the 6 monthly tick treatment? I thought most treatments lasted two months if you’re lucky.
      Poor little chap looks … thoughtful.

      1. It’s tape-worm stuff. God knows. One of the side effects is “lethargy”… But not, I’d have thought, for four days.

        My trick of taking him 40 yards away from the house seems to have had a slight benefit. He walked back – and has walked about in the house – even coming into the kitchen. Apart form the general anxiety – I am a bit worried about him getting weak in the leg department – so I am being a bit of a cat physio…

    3. When Poppie was a pup, and for quite a few years afterwards, following her her first flea/tic treatment (Advocate) after a few hours she would curl up and go into some sort of depressive decline, not interested in life, she just wanted to be left alone. We phoned the vet, who contacted the makers. They said it was most likely a very rare effect (now where have we heard that before?) of the flea/tic medication. It can go either way, the dog/cat can become hyperactive. After two or three days the effect wore off. We felt terribly guilty for putting her through this, and we experimented with not giving it to her again, but she quickly started collecting fleas (easy to spot on a white dog) on the first walk along our country paths so we had to continue with the stuff. She did eventually grow out of this reaction, and the duration shortened as well, but it took a few years. I hope Pickles recovers quickly for your peace of mind – it is so upsetting when our pets become unwell.

    1. Half a pound of tuppenny rice, half a pound of treacle. Half a pound of frozen peas, just to cheat the people.

    4. “But one local resident said: ‘The real issue is a sex establishment being run in a small family-oriented village. I don’t think many people especially with young families want such an establishment on their doorstep.’ But, to be honest we have not really asked people with young families where they would like the establishment to be sited. I imagine it would be more convenient if it were to be closer to the High Street”

      1. “I imagine it would be more convenient if it were to be closer to the High Street”
        But parking could be a problem.
        🙂

      1. So has mine. In fact, he wrote the one about silent farting; the subtitle is “how best to produce the silent but deadly”:)

      1. When I was at school the National Union of SCHOOL Students appeared on the scene! That was about 1971/2 and it was quite radical! I wonder what happened to that?!

    2. Well, they certainly are not filling their “quota” if that picture is anything to go by. Where is the stereotypical kiltie?

  57. Phew. Bramble jelly potted up and gelling v. nicely.
    Kitchen looked as if Æthelflaed had passed through with her blooded axe.

    1. Nice!
      Do you squish your brambles through a sieve or similar device to make it smooth & particle-free, Anne?

      2. I have a jelly bag and tripod that I bought from Lakeland several years ago.
        I tip in the fruit glop the night before and leave it to drip into a plastic bowl.
        I must admit I cheat and use jam sugar. I have all too vivid memories of burning a saucepan beyond redemption when I first tried to make strawberry jam.

    2. Son and I got rid of about one quarter of the little cider apples by making chutney this morning. It’s still cooking. He peeled the apples, and I chopped them. Still on the menu for today: pork and apple stuffing, apple crumble and apple bread.

  58. The Guardian never lets you down!

    The Last Night of the Proms review – musically much to enjoy

    This year’s Promenaders charities, acknowledged in conductor Sakari Oramo’s speech, include Help Musicians’ Covid 19 hardship fund, a crucial source of aid for so many musicians who are now struggling to survive. The elephant in the room, meanwhile, was yet again Brexit, even though many people in the auditorium were wearing EU hats or carrying EU flags, the latter distributed by campaigners outside the Hall protesting against the curtailment of freedom of movement that has so catastrophically impacted on performers’ lives.

    https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/sep/12/the-last-night-of-the-proms-skelton-sidorova-oramo-royal-albert-hall

      1. I thought that they looked nice, although some were clearly too small for the heads. They did though clearly distinguish the miserable, mean dolts who cannot admit that we left the EU after a vote. Like an entire team blaming the goalie for their defeat

  61. With this unseemly behaviour the royals are hastening their own demise
    Rod Liddle
    Sunday September 12 2021, 12.01am, The Sunday Times

    The royal family are ardent supporters of Black Lives Matter, according to Sir Ken Olisa, the first black lord lieutenant of London. I have always suspected as much. It is only a matter of time before the Queen, dressed in a balaclava, will be out daubing graffiti on statues and portraits of herself and taking a cheeky knee before she opens parliament.

    I do not have much time for the notion of white privilege, but I am prepared to accept that it might just about be an accurate description of the status of Liz Windsor. In fact I cannot think of anyone in the world who more fits the meaning of that obnoxious phrase. The BLM thing — not remotely denied by the Palace — seems to me a rather desperate last throw of the dice by an institution that knows the end is just round the next corner; a kowtowing not to the notion of racial equality but to a secular, liberal elite that finds the idea of a monarchy absurd and archaic, perhaps rightly.

    It surely won’t work. I suspect we are heading towards a change in the name of our country, because “kingdom” will no longer be accurate. (Nor, come to think of it, “united”, given Scotland’s desire for a gloriously independent bankruptcy and Northern Ireland’s graduated and perpetually fractious estrangement.)

    This has been a woeful decade for the royal family — and, Gawd help us, we are only a couple of years into it. Cheerfully heckling from afar are the woke, pampered airheads Harry and Meghan — ensconced in their Santa Barbara mansion and issuing cringingly fatuous sermons on the state of the world while whining endlessly about their own “struggles”. They are dismal creatures who occupy a place beyond satire, but the damage they are causing the royal family is real enough.

    Then there is the intellectually challenged one about to face charges of sexually assaulting a minor in a US court (charges he denies). I mean intellectually challenged even by the standards of the royal family, which has never been renowned for its vast reservoirs of wit and insight. Andrew, the Queen’s favourite, still not sweating, still out on the golf course, almost universally despised.

    And now nobody’s favourite — not the Queen’s, not yours, not mine — Charlie, the heir to the throne. For decades we have suffered his antediluvian inanities on architecture, farming and Islam as well as his idiotic faith in homeopathy. Fair enough — this is one of the few people alive who can hold a conversation with a rhododendron on an intellectually equal basis.

    We excuse his appalling treatment of the admittedly trying and coquettish Diana and his tendency to interfere in politics by sending ill-considered memos to cabinet ministers. But to hear allegations of his henchmen grovelling round some questionable Russki banker who donated a few hundred thou to one of Charlie’s charities kind of turns the stomach.

    All of this follows a Sunday Times report that his office apparently procured an honour and held out the possibility of British citizenship for another dubiously loaded foreigner, a Saudi moneybags who had bunged a charity a million quid or so. The police are now reportedly investigating this matter.

    To have one prince embroiled in a lawsuit is problem enough. When a second has people calling for a police investigation, you begin to question the probity and efficacy of the entire operation. Charlie has not been accused of doing anything illegal, but royals, especially the heir, are not supposed to allow their position to be demeaned by associates who tout for cash from flash foreigners. Not even for charity.

    But the problem is greater than that: we are far more averse these days (and rightly so) to the notion that people with lots of money should be afforded special treatment and privileges. If the honours system were not already discredited enough, this was the final nail in the coffin. Everybody knows that most of the recipients are people who have bribed their way to a bauble, even if the headlines on every honours day are about Mrs Nora Blenkinsop, 86, from Dudley, who has just been appointed an OBE for handing out pies every day to tramps.

    We respected the royals for their dignity and selflessness. Can either of those descriptions possibly be levelled at Prince Charles? Or Andrew? Or Harry? You may find it still in our Queen, much as you would have in the Duke of Edinburgh. But that generation is passing, sadly. We have the pleasant but mental-health-obsessed William, but that’s about it.

    Time and changing attitudes have sapped our reverence for the royal family. But its inevitable demise as an institution has been hastened by its members’ own behaviour. They do not understand that they are no longer above the law.

    Gaffe-prone Gavin praises Raducanu

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/imageserver/image/%2Fmethode%2Fsundaytimes%2Fprod%2Fweb%2Fbin%2Fe879a936-1312-11ec-a8a6-db0b408d06d6.jpg?crop=1500%2C1000%2C0%2C0&resize=1022

    Educating Gavin
    I have just sent Gavin Williamson, the education secretary, a photographic chart of famous black British people. This is so that the next time he bumps into John Sentamu, the former Archbishop of York, he doesn’t commend him on the excellent goal he scored against Hungary or ask him if he is due to headline the Glastonbury festival again.

    As education secretary, Williamson should, I think, write the curriculum for the next Black History Month. “Some time in the 1950s a large number of black people arrived here on a boat with the sole intention of deeply confusing me 70 years later.”

    Tintin in the Lair of the Book-Burners
    An interesting “flame purification” ceremony took place in Ontario in 2019 but has only now come to wider attention. The stuff subjected to this purification by fire was books.

    A board representing 30 schools chose 30 books that it said might give offence to indigenous Canadians, burnt them and used the ashes as fertiliser for a tree. They included Tintin books and biographies of people from that most disgraceful of places, the past.

    “We bury the ashes of racism, discrimination and stereotypes in the hope that we will grow up in an inclusive country where all can live in prosperity and security,” some halfwit narrated on the video commemorating the event.

    Try as you might, you won’t out-woke the Canadians. It was Heinrich Heine who said: “Those who burn books will in the end burn people.”

    Hitler has only got two genders . . .
    In an exciting interview with The Guardian, the American “gender theorist” Judith Butler said that people who think there are two sexes are fascists. Given that this accounts for at least 99.99 per cent of the world’s population, where are all the black uniforms and stiff one-armed salutes?

    And what if you actually are a real fascist — you’ve got the boots and posters of General Franco on your bedroom wall — but believe there are more than two sexes? Does your disregard of gonads and reality render you a non-fascist?

    It is all very confusing. I must invite Judith to dinner in the hope that she will explain.

      2. Vote for President Blair, every four years, at enormous cost.

        …sounds like a good idea? I think not.

        1. It’s always President Blair, isn’t it? No-one seems to consider the Irish model of a Republic, with a figurehead Head of State (rather like our own monarch), rather than the appalling American model.

          1. No sense of continuity, though. What’s the point of the Irish Head of State? Or the German one?

          2. Someone who embodies the nation, instead of a monarch. It ensures that you don’t get a congenital idiot as Head of State. Or at least, if there is one, he/she can be replaced in a few years after their term of office.

          3. I’m not sure that “you don’t get a congenital idiot” or a freak like Blair, is impossible. Our Queen is better than anyone I could imagine in her position. Charles will have advisers and hopefully will have enough nous to follow their advice; ditto William.

          4. My point being that a President can be replaced if incompetent, unlike a monarch (although some Kings have been deposed in the past).

          5. The Monarchy does not interfere publicly.

            Someone like Blair would see an end to this country. We need referism, recall and direct democracy. Every single member of parliament should go into office and along with expenses, they wear a noose as a reminder of who their master is: us.

          8. Partly because the Conservatives were a shambles, partly because he was a good politician (that isn’t a compliment). We’ve seen him in his true colours since he left office.

          9. There was something to be said for deciding it on the battle field. Harder to fake than a presidential election.

          10. It all depended on who supported you. Richard III lost the Battle of Bosworth because of treacherous ‘allies’.

          12. Because it’s stupid to have a Head of State (or any other position) whose only qualification is who their parents were.

          13. It’s worked (reasonably) well for us, for over a thousand years, I’m pretty happy with that.

            Is there a reason, other than neophilia, to your wishing to change?

          14. Republicanism is hardly new. If one were instituting a new state, a monarchy (even a constitutional one) would be the last system to consider as a form of government.

          15. The last time we tried a republic, we went back to the monarchy – not least because the Protector’s son took over and if you’re going to have a dynasty, you might as well have a royal one.

          17. Do you really think that it would stay like that? Mission creep would end up with a POTUK à la USA.

    2. The royal family are just shills for the WEF agenda now. Philip was involved from the 60s onwards, and even the Queen is up to her neck in it.
      Mass migration – tick
      CO2 fraud – tick
      Covid hysteria – tick
      Population control – tick

      I have always been a royalist because of the stability they bring to our country, and would repeal Blair’s awful House of Lords reform too, to put the Lords back in the hands of people who will never harm Britain, because they own half of it. But the Windsors have outlived their usefulness.
      Don’t we have a King over the Water somewhere?

      2. The senior Plantagenet is the Duke of Beaufort but he’s not any better than his pal, the Prince of Wales. The senior Stuart is a prince of Bavaria and after him a Princess of Liechtenstein, neither the least bit interested. Apparently the princess has a son who already lives in London. Seems doubtful he’d be any better.

        1. The Bavarian would probably be OK, unless he’s in bed with the WEF too. At least they are still adults not self-indulgent overgrown children.

    3. May I nominate Princess Anne for World Dictator?
      (Nothing to do with WWWA – World Wide Web of Annes, natch)

    4. I detest Liddle. Cheap little man totally in cahoots with the left who are trying their best to eradicate this country and its traditions. When I read people like him all I can think of is Yates and his poem: “The Second Coming”.

      And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
      Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

      Well the beast is our future and it is being spawned by the likes of Liddle, people who hack away at the foundations with little regard for the consequences, who should be using their intelligence to fight back, not aiding the termites.

      https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43290/the-second-coming

    5. Are these book burners so utterly ignorant that they don’t understand this si what the Nazi’s did?

      Dear life. The Left: fascists, psychotics, warmongering oppressors.

  62. I would take Steve Baker more seriously if he had not been mono-testicular by abstaining rather that voting against the great Johnson-Symonds NI larceny.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/09/11/disaster-looms-unless-conservative-party-rediscovers-stands/

    A BTL comment from a poster who calls himself the Voting Floater:

    Sorry Steve, the Tories have crossed the rubicon for me and many of my friends.

    Boris is an unmitigated disaster and you’re doomed if you can’t grasp this fact.

    Stop illegal immigration.

    Cancel HS2

    Stop vaccinating children against medical advice

    Stop Covid passports

    Fire up the private sector

    Tear down quangos and the BBC

    Cut bloated public sector waste

    Restore the Police force

    Destroy the WOKE culture warriors

    Bin the NIP

    Claim back our fishing waters entirely

    If you can do this in the next three years I just may lend you my vote again!

    1. VF’s wish list is a Conservative manifesto and a complete non-starter. There’s barely a handful of Conservatives in the party, with none in the Cabinet, that advertises itself as conservative.

    2. Bloody nonsense. Are we seriously meant to believe that demolition experts installed many thousands of explosive packages in the structures of three enormous buildings, a task which would have taken months and been highly visible; that the CIA, FBI et al orchestrated the hijacking of four aircraft, two of which were to be used as cover for the planned destruction of those buildings; and that all of this activity was kept from the President and his team?

      Insane.

    4. If it had been carried out using explosives, surely they would have been located in the base of the building, as is done with 99.999% of demolitions?

      1. If there is enough free ground to topple the structure sideways e.g. chimneys on derelict industrial land. To drop it safely on its footprint, it has to be collapsed inwards by explosives placed throughout its structure. This is also a good way of breaking up a concrete building into manageable chunks.

  64. Heart inflammation is a known side effect of one of the mRNA “vaccines” and it will be a big issue when it develops here. What isn’t so widely known, the effects and numbers have only recently been released, is the blindness and deafness affecting jabbed children. Lets see how these effects go down with parents stupid enough to permit their child/children to be jabbed. Whitty will have nowhere to hide when side effects appear in our children. He is the fall-guy for this duplicitous government whose agenda is to put a needle in to every living soul irrespective of the consequences.

    https://twitter.com/AllisonPearson/status/1436358802782265351

    1. And sew their lips together to stop them overeating. Also, of course, they won’t be able to criticise the government either.

    1. I remember when Gardener’s Question Time was worth listening to, and was about gardening, not diversity or the panel showing off.

      1. How right you are, bb2. In the days of Prof Alan Gemmell, Bill Sowerbutts and others of their ilk the programme was hugely informative and did not waste a moment trying to be funny. I learnt a lot from their wisdom, now it’s wokeist and time-wasting. Un-listenable now for me.

    2. What a ruddy stupid photo opportunity!
      I would have thought any professional politician would know better than to give Private Eye a gift like that.

  71. Vaccine passport plan for nightclubs and large events scrapped in England, announces Sajid Javid. 12 September 2021.

    Sajid Javid has said the Government “will not be going ahead” with plans for vaccine passports in order to gain access to nightclubs and other crowded events.

    Plans had been announced that members of the public would be required to show proof they have had two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine in order to gain entry to clubs and other large-scale events in England.

    But in a U-turn on Sunday, following a backlash from Tory MPs, the Health Secretary said the idea had been scrapped.

    Thank God for that! I was beginning to think that my nightclubbing days were over!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/09/12/vaccine-passport-plan-nightclubs-large-events-scrapped-england/

    1. Hmmm but isn’t there a tricky Parliamentary vote coming up to continue with the emergency measures for another six months?

        1. I remember dancing all night. Leaving the club at 4 a.m to go to an all night cafe for a couple of hours. Watching the sun come up over Embankment. Then getting the Tube home.

          Now i’m in bed by 9 p.m.

          3. Can’t beat Italian lunch. 2 1/2 to 3 hours leisurely eating and drinking with good company.
            Sigh

          6. Looks very good. Prices are very reasonable, especially, I noted, the Deutz champagne which is top class.

      1. It will be needed over winter, the figures will be fiddled come what may. They are not going to give up on their prize, too much has been invested. It was introduced to dampen down the protests and because the conservatives popularity is sliding in the polls.

    4. It is going full goose-step ahead in Scotland. Trouble is, having passed the law they still have not defined who or what is involved. That is, there is no legal definition of a “night club”

      1. Look at how it’s being implemented on the Continent.
        Hairdressers, restaurants and dentists first, then non-essential shops. Non-vaxxed people banned from long distance trains (France?).
        And of course, the definition of vaxxed will keep changing.

        If that doesn’t scare the peasants, I don’t know what will.

        2. I never did like the TGV anyway. Not that I expect to visit Provence ever again (or France, come to that). Hey ho.

          4. I wouldn’t say I’ve given up hope, more I’m resigned to the likelihood of that being the case, so I won’t be fretting.

      2. Look at how it’s being implemented on the Continent.
        Hairdressers, restaurants and dentists first, then non-essential shops. Non-vaxxed people banned from long distance trains (France?).
        And of course, the definition of vaxxed will keep changing.

        If that doesn’t scare the peasants, I don’t know what will.

    5. In the same headline in the Mail, it reminded readers that double jabbed people won’t need to take tests coming back from abroad. How’s that going to work, then?
      Via a vaxx passport, perhaps?
      In other words, the government is lying through its teeth again.

      The DM is sticking to the letter of the government’s rules, but I detect a lot of its usual pot-stirring.

      Just listened to the Delingpod with Dan Tubb today – very interesting episode. Tubb spells out in detail why the elites have run out of options with the current financial situation (can’t reduce interest rates any further to stimulate the ever-lasting growth), and why they need to implement vaxx passports to get us onto a central bank digital currency, so that they can control the economies down to the smallest financial transaction and stop worrying about losing their wealth.

      He has quite a lot of practical suggestions, and alternative scenarios that might happen.

    6. H’mmmm ….. I’ll believe it when I see it. This year, next year and whenever Prof Pantsdown can drag his attention away from his doxy.

    7. From bbc.co.uk:
      Scotland’s passport scheme will not initially allow a negative test result. The Scottish government says this will be kept under review, but it doesn’t want to undermine one of the scheme’s aims – to increase vaccine uptake.

    8. Sod it! I’ve been formulating a letter to my MP – yes, after much thought I had decided to write to him – all the while I was cutting the grass and hacking down a pieris infested with a bramble.

      Actually, as an unrepentant non-jabbed freeborn Englishman I am pleased that this course of action is not being pursued for the moment. As we have been living at U-turn Central since Johnson became PM I will not be laying a bet against the reversal of this decision.
      On Medical and scientific grounds the imposition of “passports” was impossible to justify: it’s clear that the “vaccines” are failing and double “vaccinated” people are both spreading the disease and suffering the consequences. What now for the boosters?

  72. Vaccine passport plan for nightclubs and large events scrapped in England, announces Sajid Javid. 12 September 2021.

    Sajid Javid has said the Government “will not be going ahead” with plans for vaccine passports in order to gain access to nightclubs and other crowded events.

    Plans had been announced that members of the public would be required to show proof they have had two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine in order to gain entry to clubs and other large-scale events in England.

    But in a U-turn on Sunday, following a backlash from Tory MPs, the Health Secretary said the idea had been scrapped.

    Thank God for that! I was beginning to think that my nightclubbing days were over!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/09/12/vaccine-passport-plan-nightclubs-large-events-scrapped-england/

  75. Nicked

    How many dogs does it take to change a light bulb.

    Golden Retriever: The sun is shining, the day is young, we’ve got our whole
    lives ahead of us, and you’re inside worrying about a stupid burned out
    bulb?

    Border Collie: Just one. And then I’ll replace any wiring that’s not up to code.

    Dachshund: You know I can’t reach that stupid lamp!

    Rottweiler: Make me.

    Boxer: Who cares? I can still play with my squeaky toys in the dark.

    Labrador:
    Oh, me, me!!!!! Pleeeeeeeeeze let me change the light bulb! Can I? Can
    I? Huh? Huh? Huh? Can I? Pleeeeeeeeeze, please, please, please!

    German Shepherd: I’ll change it as soon as I’ve led these people from the
    dark, check to make sure I haven’t missed any, and make just one more
    perimeter patrol to see that no one has tried to take advantage of the
    situation.

    Jack Russell Terrier: I’ll just pop it in while I’m bouncing off the walls and furniture.

    Old English Sheep Dog: Light bulb? I’m sorry, but I don’t see a light bulb!

    Cocker Spaniel: Why change it? I can still pee on the carpet in the dark.

    Chihuahua: Yo quiero Taco Bulb. Or “We don’t need no stinking light bulb.”

    Greyhound: It isn’t moving. Who cares?

    Australian Shepherd: First, I’ll put all the light bulbs in a little circle…

    Poodle:
    I’ll just blow in the Border Collie’s ear and he’ll do it. By the time
    he finishes rewiring the house, my nails will be dry.
    Edit
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fbdbb96c3cf6c84a5178b2fee327436942568588d918ed3e786108519708393d.jpg

  76. Oh dear…

    Lewis Hamilton escapes tragedy by inches as title rival Max Verstappen’s car lands on his HEAD during terrifying crash as they raced wheel-to-wheel during the Italian Grand Prix at Monza

      1. Lewis head-butted Max’s car, which bounced off Lewis’s head and then flew over the finishing line in first place

    4. The truth is that the wheel struck a safety bar at the back of the cockpit. Never touched the moron driving the car. Journalists do like to exaggerate sometimes.

          1. No he is no saint but a mere sinner, bless him.

            I thought it curious that the ‘halo’ developed by F1 to protect the cockpit following several accidents was so called.

            The ‘halo’ in F1 is the curved bar with central support that sits in front of the cockpit.

    1. Hitchens is such a ghastly little sucker upper.
      “I’m one of you” “No, really, I’m not a racist. Racists are repellent!” “Trust me, I’m a Man of the People. Just forget that I had my jab while I’m busy being controlled opposition.”

        1. I was a fan until he got the jab against his principles, so that he could retain his privileges. Many people did likewise, but they aren’t making their living out of pointing out what hypocrites the government are!

    2. Hitchens should now there were no mods on scooters in 1962. They didn’t emerge until 1964. 1962 was full of tired old Teds wearing out their winkle-picker brothel-creepers and tight drainpipes while still combing their greasy hair into ridiculous quiffs.

    3. The country ddin’t become a toilet until 1997 when labour imported the third world, welfare dependent dross we’re lumbered with.

      Hell, we can’t even save money on the ones locked up. The prison population – one third muslim – costs a fortune.

      1. I thought so too. There are quite a few films scored by Michael Nyman. All off the wall and quite brilliant. Nothing like the garbage that is Hollywood’s bread and butter.

          1. The house, the costumes, the wigs, the underlying story. Just fantastic.

            Have you seen ‘The cook, the thief, His wife & Her lover?

            Shockingly brilliant and lavish in its execution.

            Michael Gambon and Helen Mirren.

  82. Good luck to the woman, but is it any wonder that politicians are so blasé about spending a billion here, a billion there?
    There is absolutely no sense of how hard “the little people” have to work to even earn £25,000 a year. She earned/won more than most Nottlers will have earned in 40 years.

    https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/emma-raducanu-us-open-sponsorship-deals-b954899.html?itm_source=Internal&itm_channel=homepage_banner&itm_campaign=breaking-news-ticker&itm_content=2

    2. Call me an old cynic but I wonder how long she’ll remain “British” when the taxman comes calling and the “advisors” flock for their %

      3. I hope, for her sake that she doesnt register here and does everything possible to avoid tax of any sort.

        Stick to fingers up to this useless government.

      2. Given her heritage, I suspect she will get good advice and not go crazy.
        I certainly hope so for her sake.

    5. She looks a sweet talented kid, let’s hope it doesn’t go to her head. It’s the advisors/managers et al that seem to drag them into the ‘sleb’ world of drugs and vice along with peer pressure.

  85. 338765+ up ticks,
    The question is will the United Kingdom political cartel follow suit ?

    If not / why not ?

    breitbart,

    Sweden Proposes Law to Compensate Those Injured by Coronavirus Vaccines

  86. Prince George ‘will never be king’ because the modern royals ‘just seen as celebrities’ and the monarchy will die out ‘within two generations’, Hilary Mantel claims
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-9982531/British-royal-family-gone-two-generations-according-writer-Hilary-Mantel.html#newcomment

    BTL Comment:

    ‘Don’t look at the mantelpiece when poking the fire,’ was the advice given to young men a few years ago. Today the better advice might be not to even dream of poking this Mantel piece.

      1. Wrong reasons though. She is shallow, so she can’t see any deeper reasons than celebs in the papers. If the monarchy goes, it’ll be because they backed the wrong horse in the current war on the people, eg Charles being the WEF’s front man on the CO2 fraud.

        A monarchy is a good thing to keep the country stable, I think. We aren’t the US, and we have Tony Blair and his ilk instead of the founding fathers. I’d go back to the true Prince myself, but that is probably a minority view, plus of course he is Catholic which would be inconsistent with a position as head of the C of E – if that still exists in a year or two the rate Welby is going.

        1. Charlie boy wants to be defender of the faiths, in the plural, so he’ll be helping Welby along in his destruction.

          2. ‘Charlie boy’ is far too close to his wealthy Arabian friends ever to be the Monarch of a supposedly Christian nation …

            However, if Charles ‘misses the boat’, I believe William and Kate could restore a credible and popular monarchy.

          1. I read one of her early books, and it was utter left wing bilge! Can’t remember any more details about it than that.

    2. Mantel is simply projecting her self loathing as a lefty onto the British way of life. Her opinion is worth sh##t until she has the integrity to return her DBE. Which, of course she wont. Like most of her ilk she dines off the host like the parasite she is.

      1. The sooner she leaves, after renouncing her DBE [as she’s so anti British that even she must see how hypocritical it would be not to do so], the better! Don’t let the door hit your ar$e Hilary!

  87. I’m not sure I can cope.

    Clear blue sky, 77, absolute silence apart from the birds, even the insects have gone to bed.
    The bats are slowly making their appearance, the hares are moving cautiously and the lizards are making the most of the last of the day’s warmth.

    The moon has appeared in wax-mode and Venus is peeking out as the sun sets.

    It’s such a hard life at château sosraboc…

    Still, somebody has to suffer.

    1. I’m afraid that it’s worse than I thought.

      The ground roosting birds have been flying in.

      The owls are hooting from the four points of the compass and even the hedgehogs are making an appearance. I like the hogs, but I do wish they wouldn’t crap on the paving slabs, Heaven knows there is plenty of meadow to fertilise.

      1. I shouldn’t have spoken.

        HG hates toads.

        Yeah, yeah, I know she married one. She has just gone out to collect some laundry from the line, before the mist tomorrow morning.

        It appears that the paths around the whirligig are alive with them, much shrieking!
        On the plus side slugageddon.

  88. Taliban parade women in hooded veils that appear to block eyesight
    The Taliban education minister has confirmed women students must wear hijab but did not specify if that involves face coverings

    And the avid group of Woke UK Feminists has already booked their flight out to Kabul in order to stage protests!

    1. You forgot , Rastus.
      Radical feminism is against the while male, not the repression of women by Islam.

  89. Surprise surprise. Priti Patel found to have dined with hotel owner and airline chiefs without government attendance. No doubt she is interested in securing the use of Hilton Hotels for housing bogus asylum seekers. Presumably the presence of airline chiefs is to negotiate terms to speed up the importation and save lives ‘lost at sea’. (Sarc.).

    1. Although I accept the sentiment, should we really be expecting a support group, plus all the attendee expense, every time any minister or civil servant goes anywhere?
      Make them declare what’s happening and if they don’t, fire them without compensation and with total loss of pension.
      And then I woke up.

      1. Agreed. On that basis the whole rotten gang would be incarcerated and tried for their underhand dealings. We could start with that tragic-comedic figure of fun Matt Hancock. (Now a very wealthy individual. His wife was well connected if not wealthy but he has presumably become wealthier and able to ditch her as a result of his deals).

        1. Every single talking head of the pandemic should be investigated and if they are as corrupt as I suspect, decapitated.

  90. Hospital just phoned.
    Mother was trying to reach something, and took a tumble. No damage, apparently.
    Further doctoral investigation tomorrow.
    Beginning to look more & more like she won’t be going home, if she can’t stay on her feet.
    Sigh…

        1. One shudders to think what would have happened had she been “sent home” – as the NHS (clap – sarc) are generally so keen to do, especially with people whom they know live alone.

          1. Social Services are keen that she goes into a home (at her expense, of course), so they can avoid some cost, so this is actually working in her favour as it seems she can’t stay at home now :-(( and there will be a delay whilst a home place is found.

          2. OT, but I recall that Little Cat was off his food when he was young, and listless as you describe Pickles, Bill. Wasn’t ill, but wasn’t happy or energetic. Turned out, what he needed was a massive crap. Then, all was well and we had our happy orange cat back! Cost a visit to the vet, though. But worth it – we’d be heartbroken to lose our fuzzy crazy cat!
            Hope it’s something as simple for Pickles to be returned to form!

          3. Our cat, sadly deceased 20 years ago was a great hunter. He scorned garden birds, they were safe from his claws, he was after bigger game, pheasants, pigeons, rabbits, squirrels. On one occasion he had gorged rather too heavily on a rabbit (so we learned later!) and got himself bunged up. I remember now he was lethargic, but he didn’t eat anything as his digestive system had shut down because of being bunged-up. After a few days of being out of sorts, a visit to the vet was deemed necessary. The vet felt Sooty’s abdomen, and then invited me for a feel – it felt as if he had swallowed a can of baked beans whole. So, he was taken into ‘hospital’ and had the investigative works – blood tests, x-rays, the lot. This was followed by the general anaesthetic and ‘operation’ – an enema. He simply would not have passed the contents of his abdomen without assistance such was the size and density of the ‘can of baked beans’ that had taken up residence. The bill came to £500. And that was 20 years ago. Over the years we whittled it down to £99…. (“no, don’t do the x-rays or the blood tests, we know what is the problem”) because unfortunately his feasting had caused his bowel to over-expand and become like rolled-out pastry, it had no longer any muscle tone if he over-ate. One might call it the Rabbit’s Revenge.

            On return from the vet after the first episode, Sooty leapt out of the cat carrier and shot up the kitchen units to the furthest, most north-westerly corner possible.

          4. Little’s problem was that, being full, he didn’t have space for drink, either.
            Been no problem since.

    2. So sorry Oberst! I didn’t realise your mum was in hospital. What a worry for you, but at least she’s in the best place.
      Hope all goes well with her, and you!

    2. I can accept that the twin towers collapsed due to fire, but WTC 7 seems like the perfect demolition.

      1. The only way that I can accept such theories is by working from the assumption that all such buildings have their own demolition built into them at the construction stage.

        1. I have no idea, but I imagine it takes some skill to drop a building within its own footprint. No something I would expect from fires starting randomly.

          1. Come on, you’ve seen plenty of these on the news: block of flats, multi-storey car parks et al.

            The suggestion that either the twin towers or WTC7 were deliberately demolished is laughable.

  93. Evening, all. Had a busy day; church parade in the morning, took Oscar to a dog show (but we didn’t enter any classes because he’d have had the judge’s hand off!) in the afternoon, then went for a walk round a local garden and got thoroughly soaked when the rain came down in monsoon proportions. I was wearing a mac, but it wasn’t designed to cope with such a downpour and stupidly, although I took Oscar’s raincoat I left it in the car. Didn’t sleep well last night, either; I made a start on clearing out MOH’s effects yesterday and it unsettled me more than I expected. Hope tonight will be better.

    1. I remember my Mother clearing my Fathers effects.
      Most of it was just stuff, but there were a few things that seemed so typical him, and one thing that absolutely wasn’t – an old, dark green, suede string tie. I still have it, couldn’t part with that, it was so not him.
      Don’t be in too much of a hurry to get rid of “stuff”, Conners, that you might regret in the future.

      1. Thanks, everyone, for the good advice. I am not in a rush. I am doing a bit at a time. At the moment, it’s clothes and shoes.

    2. It hits you in waves. It would be sadder if there were no sadness.

      Maybe next year there will be a class for the dog that can put up the most resistance to the groomer?

        3. We did have a go at “Temptation Alley” where someone led the dog past toys and bowls full of food and they were supposed to ignore everything and then go straight to the handler when they called. Oscar failed at the first food bowl! He stuck his nose in it and had to be dragged away! Then, when I called him, he went straight back to the food bowl 🙂 He’s a gannet.

      2. There would be no contest for that one, unless I can turn him into Dr Strangelove (or how I learned to stop worrying and love the comb) 🙂

    3. Yes. Clearing out the effects of a loved one can be bloody traumatic. Especially when it was sudden and totally unexpected.

        1. I realise that. I was thinking of when my eldest son from 1st marriage went for a walk up the M3 at Basingstoke.

          3. Good Lord, Bob! What a terribly sad loss for you. How on earth do you cope with a tragedy like that?

          4. Thick skin and stiff upper lip. Head down and get what needed to be done done.
            Will admit the thick skin worn thin at times and the upper lip did go a bit wobbly.

  94. Sod it.
    I’m knackered after today’s arboreal activities so I’m off to be.
    Good night all,

  95. Virtual chocks away as RAF training  jet is phased out

    Earlier this year Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston he was in “no doubt that by 2040 the skill base of RAF people will be entirely different to what it is today”.

    He also said the role of the traditional aircraft engineer in the RAF will become all but redundant in 20 years and be replaced by digital experts.

    Luckily, I will not be around when “digital experts” carry out their first ECU (engine) change.

    The required authorisations and documentation needed for all aircraft maintenance would be interesting to see

    As I have said before digital experts fit into the category of

    They can find two-thirds the square root of the volume of a jar of pickles, but cannot Open the thing

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/09/07/virtual-chocks-away-raftraining-jet-phased/

    3. Assuming the RAF actually will be doing flying stuff, they will need aircraft engineers (whatever is meant by that) to maintain & repair the aircraft.

    2. Whilst I concur with your birthday wishes for a happy day for “our Annie”, Rastus, I have to disagree with your description of her as “the NoTTLers’ favourite Essex Girl”. Shurley you mean “joint favourite?!?!?

      Mrs E. Bloodaxe (Widow of this parish).

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