Sunday 14 May: Outsourcing small nuclear reactors would be a betrayal of British industry

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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520 thoughts on “Sunday 14 May: Outsourcing small nuclear reactors would be a betrayal of British industry”

  2. Good morrow, Gentlefolks, today’s story

    Moth On The Windscreen

    A crazy woman has just cut off her husband’s penis and is driving like a dingbat along the motorway, waving it around and screaming.

    But the severed member is wet, so it slips out of her fingers and into the windshield of the car behind her. The man driving this car sees this severed penis in his windshield, and he wants to keep his young daughter from seeing it, so he hits the wipers, knocking the prick into the road.

    “What was that?” his daughter asks.

    Thinking fast, her father says “Just a moth dear!”

    To which his daughter replies “Damn! That moth sure had one helluva cock on him, didn’t he?!”

  3. ‘Nightmare’ for Russia as Ukraine strikes base with British Storm Shadow missiles. 14 May 2023.

    British Storm Shadow cruise missiles have been fired for the first time by Ukrainian forces, hitting a Russian supply depot and a military command centre 80 miles behind the front line.

    The missile strikes appear timed to coincide with Ukrainian counter attacks this week on Russian positions around Bakhmut, which have routed a Russian infantry unit.

    Obviously we are being lied to here. The supply of these weapons was only authorised a few days ago and here they are in use. There are two possibilities; that the agreement is of long standing and Ukraine’s Russian made planes have been adapted in the interim or that UK planes are being used. Neither is very reassuring; the one shows the duplicity of the Government and the other its foolishness.

    These weapons may or may not be being launched by the Ukies but they are definitely of UK origin. I don’t purport, unlike the MSM lackeys, to have an insight into Putin’s mind but no Russian leader or indeed any leader can stand by and watch his forces being attacked by foreign forces and do nothing. If he lets this go worse will follow! He must either put up or shut up! It is here that the danger lies. Bearing in mind Russian losses or the possible consequences to the Russian State is it even possible for him to withdraw? I don’t know what decision Vlad will come to but I would have thought that the balance of probability was an escalation, even an attack on UK assets. Bearing in mind the scare stories a few weeks ago about them scoping out the undersea cables and pipelines perhaps the UK Government does as well!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/05/13/storm-shadow-missiles-strike-far-behind-russian-lines/

    1. Morning, Araminta.

      If for no other reason Sunak et al. and his cabal have to be pushed aside for this act of folly. It may require a major retaliation from Russia to force this shower out but it’s looking more as if that will be a price, not only worth paying, but will have to be paid.
      I’m no expert but this weapon has been described as an advanced cruise missile and if true will have to be programmed to find its target. Either this deal has been long in the making and the Ukrainians have been trained in using this sophisticated weapon or the British forces are directly involved.
      Is there any resistance to this madness within the ranks of the, supposed, Conservative party? What has led to this group being so cowed that they will not speak up on great issues like this and the massive number of excessive deaths happening around the Country?

  4. Morning, all Y’all, except Tom (for whom the body clock must be telling him it’s early evening), Good Evening!
    Sunny. Off to Firstborn’s place, for a week of hard labour on the farm. Cats to Cat Hotel in the meanwhile.

    1. Thanks for the exception, I’m still here having posted today’s story an hour ago.

  5. Well well i have discovered the reason for a local side road being shut for the last few months. Badgers are digging under it.

    1. Happened to us for two years running, on the single-track road from Flowton to Somersham before the council finally stopped their tunnelling by filling the sett with concrete.

      Nothing can be done until August because of ‘protection’ for these awful pests.

      1. Firstborn had a sett at the end of his orchard.
        A boulder mysteriously rolled into the entrance, blocking it, and the trapped badgers inside clawed the roof down & left. Oh, dear. So sad.

    2. Happened to us for two years running, on the single-track road from Flowton to Somersham before the council finally stopped their tunnelling by filling the sett with concrete.

      Nothing can be done until August because of ‘protection’ for these awful pests.

  6. Good morning, chums. Looks like another lovely sunny day in these parts.

    1. Morning, Elsie.

      Is the Sun really shining over Grimes Dyke? Dull as dishwater two miles away here in Kingsford.

  7. Good morning, all. Grey and foggy and chilly. So much for the Wet Office’s promise of sunshine.

    1. Despite the advertised sunrise time, it started getting light at 04:15, this morning.

      1. There is usually around 30 minutes before sunrise and also after sunset when the sky is pitch black.

      1. Slurp is a good verb to describe how to drink Bud Lite. That, and behaving as the actor(?) in the video, tasteless acts, both of them.

    4. Well, go woke, go broke. You’d think they’d learn from all the recent examples of such incompetence.

      1. We have a weather stone
        If it’s wet, it’s raining
        If it’s moved, it’s windy
        If you can’t see it , it’s foggy
        If it’s warm, it’s sunny

        1. That’s similar to what my grand father use to say, back in the days when we didn’t have a weather forecast every half an hour.
          When you just went out and got on with things.

  10. Benedict Spence’s riposte to the Archbishop of Canterbury condemning the Rwanda migrant plan as “ungodly”….

    “This is unfair given that God deported the first two people from the garden of Eden fairly sharpishly. He didn’t have to deal with the House of Lords or the ECHR.”

  11. Liz Truss wants UK ‘hard power’ to bolster Taiwan against China threat. 14 May 2023.

    Britain must boost defence cooperation with Taiwan and use “hard power” to protect it from Chinese aggression, Liz Truss will say during a historic visit to the island this week.

    The former prime minister is expected to say that if the West wants to avoid a war erupting in the South China Sea it must “get real” about military cooperation, taking a “coordinated approach” on what arms are sent to Taiwan.

    I would have thought that if anything were guaranteed to get the Chinese to attack it would be turning Taiwan into an armed fortress off the coast of China. Truss is of course acting here as an American mouthpiece. The UK is incapable of making any significant contribution in the Pacific!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/05/14/liz-truss-uk-hard-power-bolster-taiwan-china/

    2. There seems to be a determination to get the UK embroiled in wars that we cannot win, and even if by some fluke we are aligned with the eventual winners we will still lose out.
      Does this silly woman want China to up their support for Russia, technically or physically to the extent that our cyber capabilities could be devastated?

      2. Reducing the size of the army is ok as long as we massively increase it’s threat potential. For every 10 men, there should be transport, support vehicles and helicopter support – not to mention ancillary equipment such as man portable rocket launchers, heavy weapons, drones and what not.

        What they really mean is the army are an easy target to cut.

    5. If China does invade Taiwan what, precisely will we do? Because of the Left wing communist green agenda we can’t make anything. We don’t have the power to keep the lights on. The state continues to ignore that China is providing practically our every whim because it isn’t stupid enough to shut down it’s industry – unlike the utter morons in our unelected, unaccountable, anti democratic government.

  12. Liz Truss wants UK ‘hard power’ to bolster Taiwan against China threat. 14 May 2023.

    Britain must boost defence cooperation with Taiwan and use “hard power” to protect it from Chinese aggression, Liz Truss will say during a historic visit to the island this week.

    The former prime minister is expected to say that if the West wants to avoid a war erupting in the South China Sea it must “get real” about military cooperation, taking a “coordinated approach” on what arms are sent to Taiwan.

    I would have thought that if anything were guaranteed to get the Chinese to attack it would be turning Taiwan into an armed fortress off the coast of China. Truss is of course acting here as an American mouthpiece. The UK is incapable of making any significant contribution in the Pacific!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/05/14/liz-truss-uk-hard-power-bolster-taiwan-china/

    1. Don’t the Tories traditionally knife their leaders in the back in November?
      Besides, they need time to manoeuvre the next WEF candidate into place.

      1. I think you are harking back to the time when the Tories were a political party. But, yes. The WEF regional manager will be changed when this one is promoted for services rendered.

    3. At the rate we’re going, Christmas will be gone before Christmas.

      NikNak will just be replaced by another WEF stooge while he staggers off converting his Sterling to a real currency.

    5. Lord Fox is planning to stand down from the HoL and run as an MP.

      But it’s too late. He would be the obvious candidate but he should have been PM as soon as it became clear that Boris John son was a broken reed as far as Brexit was concerned.

    6. Bit pointless by then. The Conservative Party needs to be rolling out a new set of policies now that are truly Conservative. Address the advance of Marxism in education and in the civil service. Abandon net zero implement fracking, nucellar energy etc., address the immigration problem, address Brexit and deal with Northern Ireland, address the problem of a dwindling native population, etc, etc, etc. No such luck, of course, so we can look forward to the inexorable deterioration of life in the UK under permanent rule by Socialism.

  14. The dealer from whom I bought the new car has been unable to provide a printed owner’s manual, so there are features of the controls that I cannot access, and some of which I may be unaware.

    So the dealer can’t provide it. Annoying, but has Mr Kn*b tried looking online, instead of childishly throwing his hands up and saying “Can’t”?

    1. It’s v cold here and raining slightly, in fact it almost looks as if it could snow!

      1. Good morning.
        The foggy start here has cleared to bright sunshine.
        About time I got dressed and did some work!

    1. PETER HITCHENS: The Archbishop of Canterbury is fiercely militant about any efforts to curb mass immigration… But we can’t impoverish our own nation to help the poor of this world

      https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-12080849/PETER-HITCHENS-impoverish-nation-help-poor-world.html

      7 million in twenty years. Whose idea was that? Tony Blair and his wrecking crew.

      And in those 20 years, proportionately far more white British will have died than the relatively younger gimmegrants. We are being race replaced.

      2. Good morning Sosraboc and everybody.
        We being human are all part of the human race. IMHO ‘race’ is often wrongly used in arguments; a more appropriate word might be ‘breed’.
        Imagine a world where Great Britain is inhabited by bulldogs and chihuahuas; suddenly the government and international agencies decide on a policy to import pye dogs; such dogs could interbreed with chihuahuas, but would not necessarily be compatible.

      3. Add on another 10. The population in 97 was about 54 million and falling. It is now well over 80m and rising – all dross.

        1. “The population in 97 was about 54 million and falling…”

          58.3, actually. It fell only in 1975-79 and 1982.

          Had it continued at the growth rate of most of the 80s and 90s (up to 97) without immigration, it would be about 63 million today.

        2. “The population in 97 was about 54 millionn and falling…”

          58.3, actually. It fell only in 1975-79 and 1982.

          Had it continued at the growth rate of most of the 80s and 90s (up to 97) without immigration, it would be about 63 million today.

        3. “The population in 97 was about 54 millionn and falling…”

          58.3, actually. It fell only in 1975-79 and 1982.

          Had it continued at the growth rate of most of the 80s and 90s (up to 97) without immigration, it would be about 63 million today.

    2. Tax, waste, tax, waste, more welfare, more state, more EU – force us back into the single market – which means we become slaved to the EU again.

  17. Outsourcing small nuclear reactors would be a betrayal of British industry

    Lets just face it, it is time to wake up to the fact that the globalist plans for the UK do not include having much in the way of industrial strength, I think the King sees the country as becoming one big Royal Forest as preserve for the globalist aristocracy.

      1. They don’t want you or me in their Chicago neighbourhood. I intend to fully comply with their wishes.

        2. It’s probably a precursor of what is left of the indigenous English, will be saying in a few years.

      2. Mass immigration from across the southern border. 300,000 a month has been mentioned.

          1. The blacks don’t like the Latinos. The Latinos are industrious and show them up.

    2. Good morning, Korky.

      This is what we have always known. If you vote for turds: you end up in a cesspit.

  19. What about outsourcing colour co-ordination of the deck-chairs on the Titanic?

    The Telegraph is such an irrelevant rag.

    Just my normal happy self-on this dismal and cold May Sunday morning. The only thing I have against nuclear reactors is that they apparently do not contribute to global warming.
    Where is my coal-shovel?

  20. 371283+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Sunday 14 May: Outsourcing small nuclear reactors would be a betrayal of British industry

    You mean as they did with the fishing industry and .much more that would have proven beneficial to the United Kingdom.

    These politico’s in power are NOT a benefit to these Isles being as they really are brought & paid for with many a chink showing through their treacherous armour.

    Talking of which the Chinese i’m sure, would knock out a very cheap nuc reactor inclusive of covert override control for future use.

    The lab/lib/con coalition supporters / members / voters have certainly NOT got decent indigenous peoples welfare, or the welfare of the nation in mind when casting their vote.

    The very same vote that has brought us, a race of decent peoples to where we are today, many now still continuing to support / vote for mass immigration / controlled / uncontrolled /mass killings, in the line of duty/ mass paedophilia topped up daily via Dover, coalition.

    The spirit of decency has long left the lab/lib/con coalition party
    leaving in it’s wake a facade of political shite many of the electorate still find acceptable.

    1. Good morning Ogga.
      The British government will of course do what the central bankers tell them to.

    2. Having stated at the beginning of the year that they would support the production of small nuclear reactors, a couple

      of weeks ago the government announced that they would be having a competition, and included asking the Chinese

      and Koreans to bid.

      It would appear that the government doesn’t want a home grown industry that we can rely on.

      Quel surprise !!

      1. I now believe that anything our government think about or react to or carry out underlines exactly how effing stupid they and Whitehall all are. Everything a British government has touched in the past 26 years they have without fail, completely effed it up.

      2. We must ask the question WHY.

        For whom are Sunak and Hunt working? Is it just for the WEF or is it also for the Chinese Communist Party, North Korea and Iran?

        1. Good morning R,

          Why have Rishi and co climbed on a plane to fly around the world , abandoning his desk, just like Cameron used to do.

      3. 371283+ up ticks,

        Morning J,
        The “competition” will comprise of
        envelope (brown) statistics & contents.

    3. We can’t mae our power lines here. The state has driven industry away in the demented green agenda.

      The irony of massively polluting industry in China providing energy to the UK so we can pretend to be green . Utterly hypocritical and sickening.

  21. Greg Abbott: Dominion Must ‘Answer’ Questions About Role Played in Tucker Carlson Firing

    Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called on Dominion Voting Systems to “answer” questions about its alleged role in Tucker Carlson’s firing from Fox News after reports surfaced the outlet fired Carlson as part of the network’s settlement with Dominion.

    Earlier in the week, Carlson’s attorneys reportedly sent a letter to Fox News accusing them of breach of contract and fraud. The letter also alleged the conservative cable news outlet fired Carlson as part of its $787.5 million settlement with Dominion.

    Carlson, who is under contract with Fox News until January 2025, announced this week that he would bring “a new version” of his show to Twitter.

    As Breitbart News detailed:

    The letter came just before Carlson announced on Twitter that he would be bringing his show to the social media platform, signaling that his legal team believes it can argue that Fox News violated its contract with Carlson first, freeing him from it.

    …

    The letter reportedly alleges that Fox News made promises to Carlson that were intentionally broken, constituting fraud, and that the network also broke an agreement not to leak his private communications to the media.

    The letter also reportedly alleges the network broke promises not to settle with Dominion Voting Systems “in a way which would indicate wrongdoing” on the part of Carlson and not to take any actions in a settlement that would harm his reputation.

    Two sources told Axios that Carlson was told by a member of the Fox News board that he was taken off the air as part of a Dominion settlement.

    Abbott on Saturday said the electronic voting company must answer about the role it played in Carlson’s firing before it could be allowed to do business within the Lone Star State.

    Abbot said if the reports are accurate, he is “happy” the company does not operate in Texas.

    “If the public reporting is accurate that Dominion Voting Systems demanded that Tucker Carlson be fired as part of a litigation settlement, then I am happy that Dominion does not operate in Texas, and I don’t think that they should do so in the future,” Abbott said. “We may disagree with others’ positions, but we should never try to improperly silence views contrary to our own.”

    “If Dominion wants to do business with Texas in the future, they should first answer questions about what role, if any, they played in silencing a prominent conservative journalist,” Abbott added. “The answers to those questions, and other factors, should guide whether we want them to operate here.”

    However, Stephen Shackelford, an outside attorney for Dominion, told Axios earlier in the week that the company “did not insist on [Fox News] firing Tucker Carlson as part of the settlement.”

    A Fox News spokesperson also said reports about Dominion’s role in Carlson’s firing are “categorically false.”

    1. Now, this is interesting. – especially as Carlson did not believe the Dominion story. – and it was settled without trial, therefore without disclosure. For what its worth, I wonder whether Carlson was incorrect.

      Could it be that the means to elect (and re-elect) Biden must not be discussed before they are brought to bear, again?

      1. Did not insist – but expected. Same as the state did not force people to get vaccinated. It just set said it would utterly destroy their lives if they disobeyed.

        Funny how Lefties twist words to suit their mania.

  22. Westminster staff told to police pronouns and report transphobes

    ‘Use the facilities that match your gender identity or [the ones] that most closely align to it’

    Parliamentary staff have been told to police gender pronouns and report “negative behaviours”.

    One section of the 15-page guide warns that staff should “learn to identify what transphobic behaviour looks like and understand that these must be met with an attitude of zero-tolerance”.

    It lists examples, including “another colleague refusing to use a trans person’s preferred pronouns or names”.

    The pamphlet has been criticised by campaigners and a senior MP as “concerning” and “compelled belief ”.

    The guidance for the 3,000 staff also says that they can use male and female lavatories interchangeably and includes links to Stonewall, the controversial charity with which ministers have asked Whitehall to sever ties.

    One passage says: “Use the facilities that match your gender identity or that most closely align with it.”

    This is despite single-sex spaces being protected by the Equality Act 2010. The guide states that gender reassignment is a legally protected characteristic but does not mention that sex is too. The Prime Minister is looking at strengthening its legal definition.

    Staff are also urged to “celebrate” transgender identities and ensure that “trans colleagues feel comfortable bringing their authentic self to work”.

    Alongside explaining how to treat employees transitioning to a different gender, the guide warns: “Any negative behaviours will not be tolerated and we encourage you to report them.”

    MPs have raised concerns. Sir Peter Bottomley, the father of the House, said: “I don’t think people in the House of Commons disrespect others or harm others in this field. I read this with some concern that it could be of more use to more people.”

    Kate Harris, co-founder of LGB Alliance, which was set up to defend lesbian, gay and bisexual sex-based rights from gender ideology, said: “This document should have been withdrawn and it’s a compelled belief. As I see it, Stonewall is no longer welcome in Whitehall and should no longer be welcome in Parliament.”

    The House of Commons left Stonewall’s diversity champions training scheme in 2020 along with much of Whitehall.

    Transvestism, along with veganism and socialism, is an imbecilic disease of the mind. Sufferers of all three should be locked in an asylum for their own — and every normal human’s — safety. The same goes for all the supporters of this idiocy, especially those in parliament.

    1. What about the rights of others? The right to be free from a man in a woman’s toilet? Until these mentally ill are treated as such rather than pandered, we’re on a hiding to carnage.

  23. Kemi Badenoch’s proposals would betray Brexit – but there is still time to fix them
    A delay in the Lords’ report stage of the Retained EU Law Bill would enable us to salvage our new freedoms

    Bill Cash : https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/05/13/kemi-badenochs-proposals-would-betray-brexit-but-there-is/

    One of the troubles is that the Brexiteers in the Conservative Party – Rees-Mogg, Francois, Redwood et al – are about as effective as a Lothario with chronic erectile dysfunction!

    BTL Percival Wrattstrangler

    With the government uncommitted and unenthusiastic, with both Houses of Parliament very opposed to it and the BBC and MSM determined to destroy it Brexit never had a chance.

    But well done to these vandals – they have proved conclusively that democracy no longer exists in Britain and stupid plebs who vote the wrong way can be ignored.

  24. After last nights poor attempt, I will try again for a selection of my wild orchids. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c59a0f996f51ed5f30a9634b60f43322d3ae896d2360ff6a53996f6c85f1cfde.jpg
    an immature bee orchid

    EDIT the names will probably be inaccurate, it’s how I refer to them.
    This selection below is only a tiny peek into my garden and excludes several of the earlier spring varieties that have gone to seed and will hopefully spread further.

    Edit 2 My photography doesn’t do them credit, you can open the pictures in a new tab and expand them for much better detail

          6. Thank you, but the reality is that I am the lucky keeper of a garden that seems to encourage them.
            My job is spotting them and avoiding mowing them until the seed pods have set and dried to splitting point.
            I get a huge number of different fungi and I am convinced there is a symbiotic relationship between the fungi and the orchids

          8. Thank you.
            Fascinating, and that would appear to explain the number of varieties here, because we have even more types of fungi here than we do orchids. Hopefully that might mean even more types of orchid will appear in future, if I can keep spotting new leaves; it’s the leaves that are the only sign I get and my marking of them is often unsuccessful from a new orchid perspective, but the sense of achievement if I do find a new one is very gratifying..
            My instincts appear to have been correct.

            I am always slightly amused when watching programmes such as Springwatch where the presenters rave about the area they are filming. I strongly suspect that my plot would be designated as a SSSI if it was in the UK.

          9. Who are you trying to orchid?

            Very jolly. We had them all over the garrigue in Laure. I miss them.

          10. When we arrived here there were three or four types visible. Every year I look out for orchid like leaves and mark their positions so that I don’t accidentally mow them.
            This is the result in a relatively small area.
            The seed is so fine that it blows in from all over the Dordogne.
            I still get an enormous thrill when I identify a new one.

          11. Have you thought of preparing a small illustrated booklet for the benefit of the Commune?

            One of our chums in Laure did that – for orchids and other wild flora. Greatly appreciated.

          12. My technical knowledge isn’t sufficient for anything to be other than a picture book.
            The locals think I’m slightly mad (yes, I know) but if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery I’m making progress.

          13. Do some research on t’tinternet – latin names and French common names. Brief description of habit and likely sites….

            Just the thing to occupy you during a long wet summer.

            Though the natives may think you are mad – I’ll bet you a sou that there are some among them who have great knowledge and would be happy to co-operate. Nothing like seeing your name on the cover of a book…!!

          14. Too much like hard work.

            I actually own a fine orchid reference book in French, but finding which ones are which is a pig of a job, so many look so similar.

          16. However, unlike birds – at least the plant stays put while you search!!

          17. Have you considered taking up watercolours. You could sell them to your guests.

          19. I was trying to grow Calathe in my back garden and Bletilla. sadly, because I became to ill the Calanthe’s have died but the Bletilla are still struggling on.
            https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0085/4882/products/Calanthe-Kojima-Red.s-63318.i-6045.y-2014_1024x1024.jpg?v=1453325370
            http://globalorchids.info/images/1989_1.jpg

            https://www.giardinocarnivoro.it/6644-large_default/bletilla-hardy-orchid.jpg

            I also grew, my favorite orchid by far, Disa. Not quite hardy, but will withstand some frost, but need a lot of attention because of their water demands and dislike of high temperatures. They are all gone.

            https://c8.alamy.com/comp/C5CKH5/display-of-disa-orchids-the-hampton-court-palace-flower-show-C5CKH5.jpg

          20. Lovely looking things.
            I’m fairly sure I’ve seen the yellow one, and the top one. If not, certainly very similar ones, the rest look too exotic for living here. Our temperatures have ranged between minus 20 and plus 42 in the years we have lived here and we can go weeks without any decent rainfall.

      1. Thank you
        I have numerous different “bee orchids” that come through later in the season.

        For the pyramidal and the tongue orchids what always intrigues me is the different colours and the tiny differences in the individual flowers which make up the whole, which suggests to me that they are either completely different or that even tiny positional differences, a matter of feet, can produce what seem to be different types of plant

  25. Morning all 🙂😉
    Still grey, 10degs, rain later.
    I have no idea what and how small nuclear reactors would work and nor I guess as usual does our incompetent government.
    So leave well alone.
    It would be the most sensible option. And the most positive action a British government has carried out for about 30 years..

  26. Morning to all, a nice miserable weather day, as to be expected. The joys of an English spring.
    All for the nuclear energy idea as a source of energy, along with fracking. But this is the story that bothers me far more in the Telegraph today.

    Keir Starmer to give millions of EU nationals the vote
    Labour leader accused of wanting to rig general elections by letting migrants who live in UK and pay tax have a say

    By
    Tony Diver,
    WHITEHALL CORRESPONDENT
    13 May 2023 • 9:30pm

    Sir Keir Starmer will hand the vote to millions of EU citizens if Labour wins the next general election, the Telegraph can reveal.

    Under manifesto plans for the biggest expansion of the franchise in almost a century, Sir Keir will launch a “package of proposals” including votes for settled migrants and 16 and 17-year-olds.

    The move could force the Conservatives out of London altogether and unseat Boris Johnson if he stands again for Parliament in 2029.

    However, the Labour leader faces accusations of trying to “rig the outcome” of a future election and “laying the groundwork for a referendum to rejoin the EU”.

    Under the proposals, migrants who live permanently in the UK and pay tax will be able to vote in general elections for the first time.

    It is expected to affect around 3.4 million EU nationals in Britain, who have already fulfilled those requirements to achieve “settled status”. A further 2.6 million have already been granted “pre-settled” status and could be given voting rights in the future.

    Labour would also expand the franchise to include 1.4 million 16 and 17-year-olds, increasing the size of the electorate by more than eight per cent in total.

    Prof Sir John Curtice, the polling expert, said that migrants and young people were more likely to be Labour supporters.

    Home Office data show migrants with settled status are heavily concentrated in large cities and the south of England.

    “The presumption we all have, rightly or wrongly, is that they’re more likely to be opposed to Brexit, and therefore less likely to vote for the Conservative Party,” he said.

    “London is already so overwhelmingly Labour – there are some Tory constituencies left, but not that many of them, and they are the ones that will be particularly on the line.”

    He added that the policy “might help contribute to the downfall of Boris” in his west London constituency, which has a large migrant population, if he is still an MP after the next election.

    An analysis by the Telegraph suggests senior Conservative MPs who may also be under threat include Bob Blackman, the executive secretary of the 1922 Committee, and Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former party leader.

    Labour’s plans to expand Britain’s electorate are expected to be announced in the party’s next manifesto, with detail being finalised among senior aides in the coming months.

    Sir Keir called for “full voting rights for EU nationals” during his 2020 leadership campaign but there has been no policy announcement since then.

    His other Brexit pledge to “defend free movement as we leave the EU” has since been abandoned, while the plan to introduce votes at 16 has been carried over from Jeremy Corbyn’s manifesto.

    ‘He doesn’t trust the British people’
    A Labour spokesman said: “Keir fundamentally believes that if you work hard and contribute to this country, not only should you be able to get on, but it is fair and right that you should also have a say in decisions being made for your community.”

    But a Conservative spokesman suggested the move was designed to lay the groundwork for a second referendum on Brexit, and accused Sir Keir of trying to “rig” the result of the election at the end of his potential first term as prime minister.

    “Allowing foreigners to vote is Sir Keir Starmer’s admission that he doesn’t trust the British people,” the spokesman said. “He is laying the groundwork for a referendum to rejoin the EU, something he campaigned so passionately for. And now he wants to rig the outcome.”

    Settled EU migrants already have the right to vote in some elections in the UK, including for the Scottish and Welsh parliaments, police and crime commissioners and local councils.

    Sixteen and 17-year-olds were given the right to vote in local and devolved assembly elections in Scotland in 2016 and Wales in 2020.

    Irish and Commonwealth citizens have the right to vote in general elections if they are residents in the UK and register to vote.

    But an expansion of both EU eligibility and the voting age is thought to be the biggest increase in the size of the franchise since women were given equal voting rights to men in 1928.
    Speaking at the Progressive Britain conference on Saturday, Sir Keir said he was prepared for the next election to get “dirty and nasty” after the party’s local elections success.

    “We can’t complain. It isn’t pleasant, but we have to get on with it,” he said.

    The Labour leader added that his reforms would go further than Sir Tony Blair’s decision to abandon Clause IV of the party’s constitution in 1995 and said he “[doesn’t] care” if his commitment to preserving Britain’s way of life and environment “sounds conservative”.

    “With the levels of cynicism in our politics, the let-down, the drifting away, the disconnect, our collapse in Scotland, the loss of the Red Wall, this task is ongoing, difficult and enormous,” he said.

    “It is, if you like, Clause IV on steroids. And the results last week show our work is beginning to pay off.”

    Amid speculation about the prospect of a coalition deal with the Liberal Democrats, if Labour cannot secure a majority at the next election, Sir Keir rejected suggestions he would reform Britain’s electoral system to benefit smaller parties.

    “We’re going to have priorities coming into government, clear priorities. They are going to be the missions and I’m afraid voting reform is not one of the priorities,” he said.

    1. How many other countries allow foreign citizens to vote in national elections?

      1. Blair removed my right to vote in Britain but he did not to insist that those with British nationality living and working in EU countries acquired the vote in the EU countries in which they are resident as a reciprocal arrangement. I have effectively been disenfranchised as I cannot vote in France, where I have resided since 1989.

        As Obama said: “Britain will be at the back of the queue!” and British politicians seem to believe that British people should be at the back of the queue too as far as democracy is concerned.

      2. None that I’m aware of. But it’s a good way for the Socialists to have a revolution in this country without a shot being fired.

    3. There are more than 6 million EU migrants here. How many of those of ‘settled status’ have had children here?

    4. https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=4ecb5088225a0787JmltdHM9MTY4NDEwODgwMCZpZ3VpZD0xZTVhYjNiYy0zNjBlLTYwM2EtMDZhZC1hMGFkMzdkNjYxZTgmaW5zaWQ9NTE5NA&ptn=3&hsh=3&fclid=1e5ab3bc-360e-603a-06ad-a0ad37d661e8&psq=herts+advertiser+Bim+Afalomi+&u=a1aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuaGVydHNhZC5jby51ay9uZXdzLzIzNTAwMDgyLmhpdGNoaW4tY2FsbHMtYmltLWFmb2xhbWktcmVzaWduLW1pc2RlY2xhcmluZy1pbmNvbWUv&ntb=1

    1. ‘Politician’ and ‘corruption’ in the same sentence? My goodness!

      Say it ain’t so!

    2. And nothing will come of it. The Left wing press will ensure it remains buried. ONly those who assumed or knew already will care, and they don’t need to be told.

  28. Busy with links today!

    This is an interesting short talk by Col MacGregor about military strategy and Russia. Interesting bit about Churchill and his generals and a succinct comment about what Russia is all about now a days, Orthodoxy and Tsarism.

    Douglas Macgregor: Margin of Victory
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6r8G7Qc7AKw&t=315s

  29. More than 300,000 Syrian civilians died. Any attempt to rehabilitate Assad is utterly shameful. 14 May 2023.

    The grotesque rehabilitation of Bashar al-Assad’s regime – Syria’s criminal president has been cordially invited to this week’s Arab League summit in Saudi Arabia – makes sense to cynical Arab governments. They hope to reduce Damascus’s dependence on Iran, encourage refugees to return, halt state-sponsored drug rackets and cash in on reconstruction.

    But from a human perspective, their decision is utterly shameful. More than 300,000 civilians have died since Assad turned his guns on Syria’s 2011 Arab spring pro-democracy uprising. About 14 million people, half Syria’s population, have fled their homes. Most who remain are short of food. Then came February’s earthquakes.

    The truth is that almost none of these losses would have occurred if the West had not armed and equipped the Jihadists. The “War” would then have been over within the first three months. Russia’s part in it is to be applauded by anyone who values peace and stability. Without them the Islamists would almost certainly have overcome the Assad Government with all the consequences that would flow from that. A terrorist enclave on the Mediterranean Sea and a massive refugee exodus that would have dwarfed anything that went before.

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/may/14/more-than-300000-syrian-civilians-died-any-attempt-to-rehabilitate-assad-is-utterly-shameful

    1. As usual our incompetent politicians backed the wrong side in the Middle East.

  30. Good morning all.

    Was misty , now sunshine , temperature climbing .

    Awake very early again, Moh golfing .. dogs are quiet .. younger dog ate the Hedgehog food !

    Why has Sunak abandoned his desk to fly off into the great blue yonder?

    1. Grey and dull here, Belle. It’s like living in a bowl of cold porridge.

        1. Very warm here .. I hate flies and the heat .. and creep crawlies .. I have had dogs bitten by an adder , here in Dorset

          I love cool spring weather , not the sort of heat that make the plants droop , I have lived in the heat as a child and adult.

          My skin is fair and burns easily. I had a melanoma on my leg when I was in my early twenties , it was removed , but I was uninsurable for nine years , quite complicated especially re the old fashioned endowment mortgages of the seventies era.

          Moh plays golf 24/7. His ears and forehead and cheeks are a mess .. He has a different skin tone to mine and goes very very brown .
          He never listens to me when I suggest he should slap the factor 30 on .

          Oh well, the summer will be utter misery for me .

          1. Do you shady parts in your garden? If not…rig up a pergola. Some comfy seating. A table to hold a jug of Pimms. Wear a sarong and a big hat and train your husband how to be a punkawallah.

            Or go to the beach more often on hot days. As you know it is cooler by the water.

          2. Going to move the pots of herbs out today and sit- sunny and warm enough to put up the umbrella. Husband is chilling a bottle of Cava to slurp while we bask.

      2. Three weeks now, here, of unbroken sunshine, clear blue sky and 24ºC right now,

        1. So envious…. but hey! The sun has just appeared! For the first time in a week! Fingers crossed.

  31. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/05/13/keir-starmer-labour-plot-give-millions-eu-nationals-vote/

    Sir Keir has previously pledged to give ‘full voting rights for EU nationals’ CREDIT: Yui Mok/PA Wire
    Sir Keir Starmer will hand the vote to millions of EU citizens if Labour wins the next general election, the Telegraph can reveal.

    Under manifesto plans for the biggest expansion of the franchise in almost a century, Sir Keir will launch a “package of proposals” including votes for settled migrants and 16 and 17-year-olds.

    The move could force the Conservatives out of London altogether and unseat Boris Johnson if he stands again for Parliament in 2029.

    However, the Labour leader faces accusations of trying to “rig the outcome” of a future election and “laying the groundwork for a referendum to rejoin the EU”.

    Under the proposals, migrants who live permanently in the UK and pay tax will be able to vote in general elections for the first time.

    It is expected to affect around 3.4 million EU nationals in Britain, who have already fulfilled those requirements to achieve “settled status”. A further 2.6 million have already been granted “pre-settled” status and could be given voting rights in the future.

    Labour would also expand the franchise to include 1.4 million 16 and 17-year-olds, increasing the size of the electorate by more than eight per cent in total.

    The comments are interesting .

    1. Yet again, the exact opposite policy the country needs. Democracy will be restored when only net tax payers have the vote. Most of the problem with this country is down to wasters voting themselves more of other people’s money.

    3. Labour will only extend the right to vote to those it perceives will vote for them. As the SNP did for the 2014 referendum.

  33. An American photographer and explorer, James Ricalton, with a couple of Cashmere acquaintances. The occasion was Edward VII’s Durbar in Delhi Jan 1903. The brothers were 7ft 9 and 7ft 10. Ricalton: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Ricalton

    https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/80/Professor_James_Ricalton_and_two_of_his_Kashmiri_friends_at_the_1903_Delhi_Durbar.jpg/800px-Professor_James_Ricalton_and_two_of_his_Kashmiri_friends_at_the_1903_Delhi_Durbar.jpg

  34. An American photographer and explorer, James Ricalton, with a couple of Cashmere acquaintances. The occasion was Edward VII’s Durbar in Delhi Jan 1903. The brothers were 7ft 9 and 7ft 10. Ricalton: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Ricalton

    https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/80/Professor_James_Ricalton_and_two_of_his_Kashmiri_friends_at_the_1903_Delhi_Durbar.jpg/800px-Professor_James_Ricalton_and_two_of_his_Kashmiri_friends_at_the_1903_Delhi_Durbar.jpg

  35. That’s another 6 bags of soil filled, humped up to the Folly then tipped & leveled.
    Just finished a spot of breakfast and now enjoying a mug of tea!

    1. Have you any pictures or plans of what all your work will look like when you have finished it?

          1. You can FOXTROT OFF with that idea! It’s taking me long enough to get rid of the chuffing things as it is!

  36. The cabinet is divided over immigration policy as ministers brace themselves for migration to reach a record. Forecasts have suggested that the net figure for last year, to be published this month, could be as high as a million.

    To see off a feared backlash from MPs and the wider party, ministers are drawing up plans to stop family members from joining overseas master’s students at British universities. The number coming under that provision has risen more than tenfold in four years, from 12,806 in 2018 to 135,788 in the year to December.

    However, some feel they need to go further and are arguing for a rise in the salary threshold for immigrants. Skilled workers are eligible for visas if the job pays £26,200 — 20 per cent below the median salary of £33,280.

    One cabinet minister said: “The salary threshold in the points-based system is too low. I would advocate raising the salary threshold to a level that more accurately reflects high-skilled work than the present £26,000. But the dependants reform is the most advanced and with the broadest agreement in government.”

    A former cabinet minister accused the government of “tinkering around the edges” and failing to take robust action to bring down net migration

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/suella-braverman-faces-divide-in-cabinet-as-figures-show-net-migration-may-hit-one-million-7wjrjg5bl

    1. Much as I loved my parents the last thing I wanted when I was a university student was to have my family with me. I was more than happy that they lived over 200 miles away from where I was studying.

      2. When my son went to university in CT I told him that if we were planning to visit we would call first. No surprise visits.

          6. I worked there for a couple of weeks.
            Chased out by a mafia union official.

  38. The King or Queen of England often attracts epithets to his or her name.

    For example:

    Ethelred the Unready
    Hereward the Wake
    William the Conqueror
    Richard the Humpback
    Bloody Mary
    Queen Elizabeth l – The Virgin Queen
    Charles ll – The Merry Monarch
    Dead Queen Anne
    etc.

    Any more?

    Charles lll – The Idiot King?
    William V – William the Woke?

    2. Edgar the Peaceable.
      Edward the Confessor.
      Alfred the Great.
      Harold Harefoot.
      William the Bastard.
      William Rufus.
      Stephen of Boise.
      John Lackland.
      Richard Coeur de Lion.
      Edward Longshanks.
      Edward of Caernarvon.

        1. Also known as Silly Billy. When he became King he asked, “Who’s a Silly Billy now then?”

  39. Eurovision: I didn’t see it but I heard that England doubled its usual score to ‘two points’. I caught a glimpse of this frightening apparition on the news – with nails like daggers and contortions like a poisoned lizard, the sound was horrendous. It was a perfect representation of the current agony of the Russian/Ukrainian nightmare. The competition should never have been staged in the UK.

    https://www.eastbaytimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/AP23128859495283.jpg?w=862

          1. You addressed Rastus as ‘Love’. Is there something you should be telling us?

          6. I got it Rastus. Like the book, Panda eats, shoots and leaves. Punctuation is rather useful 😉

          7. “Punctuation is rather useful.”

            I just wish more posters would use it.

      1. I don’t know, I have never seen it. I thought they might all have an entry.

        I have looked it up and it is the United Kingdom, not England.

  40. Eurovision: I didn’t see it but I heard that England doubled its usual score to ‘two points’. I caught a glimpse of this frightening apparition on the news – with nails like daggers and contortions like a poisoned lizard, the sound was horrendous. It was a perfect representation of the current agony of the Russian/Ukrainian nightmare. The competition should never have been staged in the UK.

    https://www.eastbaytimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/AP23128859495283.jpg?w=862

  41. Good day all,

    A sunny day at McPhee Towers, wind gone round from Nor’Nor’ East to West Nor’ West, currently 16℃ rising to 18℃. Late again due to SWMBO still abed and today’s fishing cancelled.

    Here is an Earth-shattering video from the recent International COVID Summit at the EU Parliament. It’s 3 hrs 26 minutes long but for starters just listen to Dr D Martin who speaks from 10:30 to 34:20.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFLPWWCAHfQ&t=4800s

    Does anyone still think no crime has been committed and no-one has anything to answer for?

    1. Some good ones in there. The ‘Guinness’ joke was a bit long. . . and smelly!

  45. Good grief – the Sun has come out. Won’t last, of course, but it is niceto see!

  46. Good grief – the Sun has come out. Won’t last, of course, but it is niceto see!

  47. ‘Afternoon All

    Out shortly for a Greek lunch with friends I see Kleftico in my near future

    Leave you with a medley

    https://twitter.com/PicturesFoIder/status/1657501514514984965

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/27ac54cb855ddfb56da3b0ff1ef98af9a00ebff22acc312ca690014a97a42840.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3f9ff28a4e6030c211e862a5e71cac30f77c295d04f9d2c02bfa16651cb36521.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f3947746ad69bfe0f68d1eb2eb5da54a9d96c8d8227b6c2da52b25015a5b24f3.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c9ac092030cb5e119c851d5ca1fc41286bbf0b58dd5628537420048d2a7b4e9d.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3c506b3fc132ec98791d0260bc7b1b98b849364a44c798e0487f8c2c99038399.jpg

    Yum…………….not

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/49a5aae539744835fe62954ffb3593d4b8e6d1d78e7b622384c1612acecbee06.jpg

      1. I love the sense of fun, but I don’t think you can beat men (only) in traditional Greek dress dancing that.

    2. Vegans eat this shit. In their clamour to avoid eating proper food, they plump for a concoction of dangerous chemicals.

        1. People are not as stupid as TPTB hope – that garbage is always reduced in our supermarket.

  48. A couple of days ago Sir Jasper posted a link to Wikipedia’s page about J Enoch Powell. It took me a while to recall Jean Rook’s anecdote about him: Enoch had watched an episode of Dallas on the television, and (IIRC, very old story) he just could not understand why JR would not remove his hat when he was indoors.
    The reason I am posting this is because Wiki mentioned that Powell was friendly with Tony Benn, and coincidentally they were permanently sceptical about US government foreign policy.

  49. For Lottie and Oberst…

    “Darling, have you seen the dog bowl?”

    “No, I had no idea he could bowl”

    2. As far as I know, this is a true story.
      Last year, leading up to Wimbledon, some bright spark (?) decided it would be easier and cheaper to train dogs to be Ball Dogs instead of using teenagers. It worked well, the dogs ran for the balls, caught them and fetched them but then wouldn’t give them back.
      The plan was scrapped. As the former owner of 3 Golden Retrievers with a tennis ball fetish, I could have told them that! They only give the ball back when they want you to throw it again!

      1. And having had a very keen ball (Lab) dog for 12 years. The balls would also be soaked in dribble.
        We bought a long handled plastic ball chucker, they had previously been known as tossers in the US.😉

        1. Yes, I forgot to mention that the balls would have been all soggy. Nothing worse than soggy balls…

    7. Could be Figure of Eight moth – Diloba caeruleocephala . (Not certain though.) The larvae feed on hawthorn (Crataegus), blackthorn (Prunus spinosa) and apple (Malus). They go through 5 instars (changes).

          1. They aren’t native to Europe, and they kill box trees. A most undesirable pest.

    2. Bike parks…..😉🙂😆 that’s a reference to an old joke from Billy Connolly.

    3. Islam makes no secret of its aim to forcibly convert everyone to its hateful religion.

      1. It should be made illegal and forced out of Europe.
        They can kneel somewhere else.

          2. YES – why on earth should WE pay for illegals to fight deportation? It’s madness.

          3. Sad Khant represented the muslim brotherhood before he came mayor. There’s madness.

          4. Especially mad to allow so many of his ilk into London that he could be voted in, in the first place.

          6. I thought that the slammers didn’t like POCs…? Oh wait, maybe they are just waiting for the moment.

          7. …and the mayors/ politicians/others who have been allowed to get into positions of power. And in some cases already abused that power.

          8. …and the mayors/ politicians/others who have been allowed to get into positions of power. And in some cases already abused that power.

    1. A bit close to the knuckle, as I will be picking up my beloved brother’s in a few days, but funny nevertheless.

        1. Thank you, Oberst,

          That’s why I have been missing, it was very unfortunate and has taken a while to get to this stage, so has been hanging over me for over a month now.

          But I want to thank you all for how kind you were when I said a little while ago that I had had a unhappy experience. There were complications which exacerbated it, but the funeral was two days ago, and now is the time to pick up and move on with living.

          2. And I will to you and to NoTTLers – may we keep on being the lovely community that we are.

          3. Sorry for being late to the show, Dukke.
            Big (Bamse) hugs are coming your way.😘 Thinking of you.

          6. Thank you Annie, that’s kind of you.

            Well that’s life, innit? Ups and downs…

          7. I seem to have missed the critical bits to understanding exactly what went wrong and whose funeral it was, but I send you my condolences and best wishes for moving forward.

          8. Thank you Conway. It was my dear brother, who I was very close to, and was my only remaining close family. Nothing was wrong with Pip’s post – just that it was black humour, and while it was sadly a reminder of my brother’s funeral at the crematorium last Friday, I still thought the cartoon was funny.

          9. So sorry to hear that you have lost your remaining close family. It’s the end of an era in a way. Sometimes black humour is the only way to cope with what life throws at us.

      2. Oh Hertslass, I’m so sorry to hear that. Bless you and thinking of you. 🌹

        1. Thank you sweetheart, it happened a few weeks ago but has been a bit complicated. You were all so kind, and I really appreciated what NoTTLers are, and how this lovely forum works.

      6. A bit of black humour is sometimes necessary to get through a rough patch.

        My condolences.

        1. Indeed, BoB, I actually thought it was funny, although of course it did resonate in a sad way too. Perhaps I shouldn’t have mentioned my own circumstances.

    2. You are very caring for taking it off, but you needn’t have you know, it was still funny. I may have lost one precious thing but I ain’t lost my sense of humour!

  54. Some of our rivers are filthy, so is the sea and our beaches .

    The Brook

    I come from haunts of coot and hern,
    I make a sudden sally,
    And sparkle out among the fern,
    To bicker down a valley.

    By thirty hills I hurry down,
    Or slip between the ridges,
    By twenty thorps, a little town,
    And half a hundred bridges.

    Till last by Philip’s farm I flow
    To join the brimming river,
    For men may come and men may go,
    But I go on forever.

    I chatter over stony ways,
    In little sharps and trebles,
    I bubble into eddying bays,
    I babble on the pebbles.

    With many a curve my banks I fret
    by many a field and fallow,
    And many a fairy foreland set
    With willow-weed and mallow.

    I chatter, chatter, as I flow
    To join the brimming river,
    For men may come and men may go,
    But I go on forever.

    I wind about, and in and out,
    with here a blossom sailing,
    And here and there a lusty trout,
    And here and there a grayling,

    And here and there a foamy flake
    Upon me, as I travel
    With many a silver water-break
    Above the golden gravel,

    And draw them all along, and flow
    To join the brimming river,
    For men may come and men may go,
    But I go on forever.

    I steal by lawns and grassy plots,
    I slide by hazel covers;
    I move the sweet forget-me-nots
    That grow for happy lovers.

    I slip, I slide, I gloom, I glance,
    Among my skimming swallows;
    I make the netted sunbeam dance
    Against my sandy shallows.

    I murmur under moon and stars
    In brambly wildernesses;
    I linger by my shingly bars;
    I loiter round my cresses;

    And out again I curve and flow
    To join the brimming river,
    For men may come and men may go,
    But I go on forever.

    Alfred, Lord Tennyson

    1. From the Grauniad: ‘According to Molesworth, “there is only one piece of peotry in the english language”. It’s Tennyson’s ‘The Brook’,
      and Geoffrey Willans’ schoolboy recites, delightfully: “i come from haunts of coot and hern / i make a sudden sally / and-er-hem-er-hem-the
      fern / to bicker down a valley”. “Even advanced english masters set The Brook they sa it is quaint dated gejeune etc but really they are all in
      leag with parents who can all recite it. And do if given half a chance,”’

      2. Har Fleag,
        Har Fleag,
        Har Fleag onwards
        Inter …… tumpty tum
        Something 600.

      1. I feel tearful pm.

        Years ago , decade plus ago , I was flood warden here , and went to many lectures all over Dorset , when we had a proper Environment Agency.. Can I cry that it is criminal to pollute/ neglect rivers .

        Water bailiffs are no longer .. none cares , riparian duties are neglected ..

        We are in deep dwang , and now that the country is covered in new housing estates and bus motorways , we are finished .

        1. It upset me, too, Belle. Just how can they allow this to happen. Cleanliness is next to Godliness – and we have pushed God and Christianity out of our country. We deserted Him, and this is what happens. It deeply troubles my soul.

  56. Afternoon all, yes I am still here.
    Some of you were commenting on how cold it has got again. I refuse to turn my heating back on but did put a pullover on earlier.
    Seems to have rapidly changed now. Pullover off and almost shirt sleeve walking weather.
    I enjoy walks – which maybe is why I haven’t had time to post here, on Friday 6 mile walk along the Grand Union near Uxbridge. This afternoon my Sunday afternoon walks vary depending what mood I am in. Sometimes a couple of miles through the local woodland where I don’t normally meet a soul. Today decided on the local park which is popular with dog walkers. I thought there must have been something special on as loads of folks and dogs but no, just loads of people out enjoying the sunshine.

    1. I hate to tell you this, Dave but yesterday here in central Scotland, the temperature soared to 20c and stayed there for several hours! It was indeed a golden day and glorious evening!

      1. Just run away and play!

        It HAS become warmer since lunch here – but not what you’d call hot.

        1. Did I not mention that my old man was wearing his shorts? In readiness for our hols, or in case they had shrunk as they have been known to do! I know you wear yours in the snow!

          5. Generous of your neighbours to pay for them, but I can understand why they would wish to…
            };-O

          6. They go commando too so all good. My neighbour on the left when she sunbathes looks like she is cuddling two albino baby seals.

        2. Did I not mention that my old man was wearing his shorts? In readiness for our hols, or in case they had shrunk as they have been known to do! I know you wear yours in the snow!

        3. We had a glimmer of sunshine this afternoon and I went out for a while but found I wasn’t in outdoor mood after all. I didn’t stay outside very long. None too warm out there either.

        1. Not like Canadian woodland. There is no poison ivy underfoot and no mosquitos / bears or anything unimaginable in-between.

          We have plenty of trees, Trudeau promised to plant two billion trees to combat climate change and they just announced plans to plant two or three hundred thousand this year. Basically still two billion to go.

  57. When seat belts were first introduced and air-bags hadn’t yet been invented, some people brought their own. How farsighted of them.
    https://scontent-cdg4-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/345587624_754059229711734_846755898368502197_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_s960x960&_nc_cat=1&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=8bfeb9&_nc_ohc=XWCbI_th9TwAX8I2SsQ&_nc_oc=AQlqCjHsucVOcMsPZY44PyLW2FWDbpnN8BSXD7UJdzQrJY4cF9knwBq4TgEfrTvo2cBdFqIWB-BYHvjjLmedDrHt&_nc_ht=scontent-cdg4-2.xx&oh=00_AfDS2EMvISmXL6qg1-CI0GPBwCawQAEWJ0liazChKaG6uA&oe=64651C4A

      1. TBF, I think the plan is to construct temporary supports to allow reopening with a severe speed restriction and then rebuild the abutment.

    3. I’ve been watching the developments here since it happened. With the amount of work they have done so far, including loads of piles for a temporary support in the river, it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if they did open it on time. Note that that damaged buttress was removed in two to three days flat, they aren’t hanging around.

      Oh and on my walk along the Grand Union the other day I passed the working for the HS2 Colne Valley Viaduct. Wow, a lot of work going on there and all pretty impressive. Together with the mounds of earth excavated from the tunnels they are boring there with the whirl of machines. It may be a white elephant if and when it opens but it is certainly being built in a big way.

  60. Tulsi Gabbard in conversation with Tucker Carlson (ca 1 1/2 hours). Can’t remember if I picked it up off NOTTL! but it is really good, and I enjoyed it a lot. There’s a lot of discussion of US politics, but some philosophical stuff too that affects us, and they’re both entertaining.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKEWD4-nwyA

  61. From https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.telegraph.co.uk%2Froyal-family%2F2023%2F05%2F14%2Fprince-andrew-duke-of-york-king-charles-wales-windsor%2F
    ‘Knives out’ for Prince Andrew as King ‘demands’ he leave Windsor home
    Duke of York ‘fears the royals may turn off the utilities to get him out’ since he is ‘refusing to budge’ from home of 20 years

    The Duke of York is understood to be refusing to leave Royal Lodge, putting him on a collision course with his brother.

    He is said to be unwilling to vacate the 98-acre Windsor property, his home of more than 20 years, at the King’s request.

    It comes after the newly crowned monarch made a cut to the Duke’s annual allowance of £249,000 earlier this year, effectively pricing him out of the running costs of the 30 room home.

    The Duke, who relies on the allowance since he left front-line royal duties, moved into the Grade-II listed house in Windsor Great Park following the death of the Queen Mother in 2002, taking on a 75-year lease.

    But he was forced to step down as a working member of the family in 2019 over his association with the disgraced paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein, and has since been residing in his Windsor home, mostly remaining out of the public eye.

    A friend of the Duke told the Mail on Sunday that he is in low spirits and “refusing to budge” from the property, which is understood to have been earmarked for the Prince and Princess of Wales and their children.

    One friend told the newspaper: “He is so fragile. He’s refusing to see anybody. This has been his family home for the past 20 years. Is it really sensible to kick him out?”

    They added: “He’s concerned that now the Coronation is over, the knives are out. He’s worried that the royals might even turn off the utilities to get him out of there. But we’re dealing with human beings, not real estate.”
    As part of the Duke’s lease for Royal Lodge, he is responsible for the refurbishment costs of the historic building, which are now understood to be vast.

    But since his allowance from the Duchy of Lancaster was cut by the King in his effort to create a value-for-money, “slimmed down” monarchy, the Duke has indicated he can no longer afford the upkeep.

    Frogmore Cottage, the former Windsor home of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, has been earmarked by the King as an alternative for Prince Andrew.

    The monarch asked the Sussexes to vacate the five-bedroom Georgian cottage around the time that Spare, the Duke’s memoir, was published in January, but was understood to have given them until after his Coronation, which Prince Harry attended last weekend without his wife.

    Meanwhile, questions have been raised about where the Duchess of York – Prince Andrew’s estranged wife – will live if the couple are forced to vacate Royal Lodge.

    The couple currently live in separate wings of the Windsor house and it is unlikely they would both live together at the considerably smaller Frogmore Cottage.
    It is understood that Buckingham Palace had initially said the Duke and Duchess of York must leave the property by September, but that they now accept such a quick turnaround is unrealistic.

    The King is believed to have guaranteed Prince Andrew a reduced income and a home, and is understood to have agreed to pay privately for the Duke’s security, estimated at £3 million a year, after the Home Office axed his Scotland Yard bodyguards.

    Royal sources insisted that the monarch would not leave his brother “homeless or penniless”.

    The Duke of York is understood to be frustrated that he cannot deal with the issue directly with his brother while negotiations over the Windsor property continue.

    A friend of Prince Andrew’s suggested to the Mail on Sunday that face-to-face talks might be more successful in order to reach a compromise.

    One told the newspaper: “If Charles wants Andrew to play ball and help the family through these difficult times, aren’t there better ways of going about it?

    “Why not do the decent thing, sit down and talk? If they need the house for William, perhaps Andrew should be told,” they added.

    Buckingham Palace declined to comment.

      1. With 98 acres they would be able to house many migrants.

        Forget wind farms, what about treadmill power?

    3. The curse of Frogmore Cottage.
      And yet 95% of the King’s subjects would move in there like a shot!

      This kind of negotiation is never easy, whether the family is royal or not. Andrew should just exit as gracefully as he can and retain a little dignity. He and his brother don’t get on, and entirely through his own actions, Andrew has placed himself in Charles’s power.

    5. Well Charlie boy, why don’t you carry on being beastly to Andrew?

      Imagine if Andy did a Spare Prick memoire like Harry’s but worse.

      1. There is a petulant, mean and nasty streak in Charles III, The Idiot King.

        Look at his disgraceful reaction to the exploding pens, his treatment of Lady Hussey and Angela Kelly – not to mention his treatment of his brother who has not been found guilty of anything.

        Andrew is of course not exceptionally clever but I almost could believe that Charles is envious of his brother’s stupidity! Charles feels that being the most stupid member of his family is his own entitlement and right as the king and he doesn’t want Andrew to wear that crown!

        1. In this increasingly idiotic world, stupidity is worn as a badge of honour. I foresee a time in the not-too-distant future when ‘A’-levels and bachelor degrees will be awarded for stupidity.

    6. Get the Royal bailiffs in. Turn it into a Royal Star and Garter Home like the one in Richmond was. To accommodate severely disabled military personnel. The Richmond one has been sold off and converted to very expensive apartments.

    1. Thank goodness Spartie’s busy with his snuffle mat.
      If he saw that he’d be unbearable.

  63. I am proud to announce that I have completed the first item on my bucket list!
    I have the bucket.

  64. Little Birdie Three today.

    Wordle 694 3/6
    🟨🟨⬜🟨⬜
    🟩⬜🟩🟩⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. A n opportunity to show off – for once

      Wordle 694 2/6

      🟩🟩⬜🟩⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      2. I do the daily racing solitaire.
        I feel like a woman in an open to trannies competition.
        I had a 7th place out of 50 the other day, I was actually in the top 5000 out of half a million.

        Why do people cheat at these things?
        I can accept being beaten by a human, it’s the bots that wind me up.

    2. Down to par for me.
      Wordle 694 4/6

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

    3. Another five here.

      Wordle 694 5/6

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

    2. To create a credible scientific result, I suggest a minimum sample size of One Hundred, Spikey 🙂 !

      After which, you’l be forever entitled, ‘Has Bean’.

    4. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/41c72ce00925f04a57793e040eab3660505a1a07b8866177c6199a1ab113de56.png At Triangeln station in Malmö, Spikey, the walls surrounding the platform are covered in a pattern of tiny triangles (the little dark marks). Once I was stranded there waiting for a delayed train so I decide to count them to keep me amused for a while.

      Each small panel contains 178 tiny triangles. Each large panel contains 42 smaller panels, i.e. 7,476 tiny triangles per large panel. OK so far? I cannot remember how many panels there are in that station (covering both platforms) but my total came to well over seven figures.

      The next time I’m stranded there I shall try to shove a baked bean into each tiny triangle.🤣

  66. That’s me for today – definitely a day of two halves. Bitterly cold morning – 2 pullovers and stove going. Warmish afternoon and pleasant enough evening to look forward to a little drinky poo on the terrace at 6 pm.

    Just finished watering the greenhouse.

    Serious Question: Any NoTTLers in the East of England planted out tomatoes yet?

    Have ajolly evening.

    A demain.

        1. A week longer under protection should mean the dangers have passed, we almost invariably get a very cold week around this point in May, and if we do, you certainly might!
          Putting them out too early can’t do much good and might do a lot of harm.

          1. I put my fuchsias out yesterday. They’ve been growing on in the greenhouse.

    2. I’m collecting my tomato plants tomorrow evening from the friend who has produced them for me the last few years. She will have hardened them off already – a week or so later than last year. We always make a donation for them to the hedgehog hospital and she sells quite a few as well for HHH.

      1. Serious question 2: a friend aged 70+ still refuses to make a will, but would like to leave some of the money to animal charities.
        Which might be a deserving, non-extravagant hedgehog charity?
        (PS did I ask you this a year ago?)

        2. Help a Hedgehog Hospital. Run by volunteers, no paid staff. We have to buy medication and other stuff; merchandise for fundraising, equipment for the hospitals (on three sites) medication and vet’s bills, industrial waste collection, etc, etc. you can find us on the charity commission website, where you will find our income and outgoing figures. Apart from 2020, when we had a big fundraising drive to upgrade our main hospital, we have kept below the £25,000 mark where we have to submit a full trustees’ report. Our income is usually around the £15,000 mark and our expenditure around that figure as well. All donations and legacies gratefully received!

          https//www.helpahedgehog.org

        3. Help a Hedgehog Hospital. Run by volunteers, no paid staff. We have to buy medication and other stuff; merchandise for fundraising, euipment for the hospitals (on three sites) medication and vet’s bills, industrial waste collection, etc, etc. you can find us on the charity commission website, where you will find our income and outgoing figures. Apart from 2020, when we had a bitg fundraising drive to upgrade our main hospital, we have kept below the £25,000 mark where we have to submit a full trustees’ report. Our income is usually around the £15,000 mark and our expenditure around that figure as well.

    3. I’m collecting my tomato plants tomorrow evening from the friend who has produced them for me the last few years. She will have hardened them off already – a week or so later than last year. We always make a donation for them to the hedgehog hospital and she sells quite a few as well for HHH.

    4. I’m just in the South East and my tomatoes are out. I do have a very sheltered garden though. I have more coming along in the conservatory if the worst happens.

  67. Dublin migrant camp set on fire after violent protests. 14 May 2023.

    Leo Varadkar condemns ‘malign opportunism’ after anti-immigration protesters burn the possessions and tents of homeless refugees.

    Anti-immigration protests turned violent in Dublin over the weekend as tents belonging to homeless refugees were set on fire.

    Leo Varadkar, the Taoiseach, said he condemned the violence “unreservedly” and described it as “malign opportunism”.
    “We cannot tolerate actions such as this,” he added.

    Hmmmm.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/05/14/dublin-migrant-camp-fire-protests-anti-immigration/

    2. One wonders how they managed to get to Dublin, unless they were deliberately imported..

      1. They go to Dublin because they are issued with EU passports and never go back.

    2. A Terrible state of affairs.
      10 pound Pome’s on TV tonight.
      We paid 50 quid each in 76 and had a six week cruise. Calling into port Suez the pyramids etc, the Cairo museum and lunch in Cairo over lookingthe Nile.. And Djibouti…… don’t bother……
      The ship the Australis, ex SS America, Was on its last legs……its now at the bottom of the Atlantic between two of Canary islands.
      It was Probably an insurance job.

          2. Yes i have, he told me about a great programme he saw about war time walks. In Britain. I looked it up on catch-up but was informed I had to pay for it on C5.
            I went to bed early last night and my good lady told me this morning that it wasn’t really authentic. I have to watch the recording.
            although we went to Oz about twenty years after the first lot of Pomes did. We didn’t experience any problems at all.
            Only one rude Italian when I was working on the counter at a Builders (construction had dried up) merchants. I put him in his place and had a round of applause from the rest of the staff and customers as he stormed out.

    3. Just another example of too much information used to spy upon you and therefore, modify your behaviour. Big government controlling the masses. It’s just what they want.

      Be aware and beware!.

  69. The treasures of the world belong to us all. Spiked. 14 May 2023.

    Germany’s attempt to ‘repatriate’ its Benin bronzes has backfired spectacularly.

    Twenty-three Benin bronzes were returned last year to Nigeria from the Ethnological Museum of Berlin. They were handed over in person, in Abuja, by German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock and culture minister Claudia Roth. Unfortunately, the German government’s gesture appears to have backfired. Instead of being put on public display, as was expected, the bronzes were handed over to Ewuare II, the present-day Oba, or king, of Benin. Many now fear they will only be displayed in the king’s private collection in his lavish palace. Ewuare II is believed to have a net worth of around $60million.

    I have no doubts that any slavery “reparations” would meet much the same fate. The cash will vanish into private Swiss Bank Accounts!

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2023/05/14/the-treasures-of-the-world-belong-to-us-all-2/

    1. The same would happen with anything our government chose to repatriate. I see India wants the Crown Jewels back…….

    2. True as of all these ‘reparations’

      Forget it – no chance of facility for those who think the others are automatically guilty.

    3. And Charles III, the Idiot King, has already said he feels he should examine the crown paying reparations for slavery.

      And of course as Head of Church of England his chief executive is the Archbishop of Canterbury who has recently stated that anyone who does not believe in unlimited illegal immigration is not a sincere Christian but an immoral, sinful person.

      3. ” Joy in another’s discomfort.”

        Too many on board English words required, when you can have one that epitomises all the others.

        That’s why English embraces, the mongrel languages, takes these words on board. English is always looking for the precise and succinct way of saying something,

        Schadenfreude, accurately reflects this.

        1. English does indeed absorb many words without them sounding foreign, unlike Schadenfreude which remains distinctly German, hence my little joke. [PS Does ‘whoosh’ translate into German?]

          Anyway, here’s a suggestion but it’s a bit Greek. From an Irishman in The Irish Times, May 2010:

          Madam – Patrick Skene Catling, in reviewing the book of the day, Splendour & Squalor, states that “Schadenfreude is a German word with no one-word English equivalent”.

          But there is a one-word English equivalent. It is “epicaricacy” which means rejoicing at, taking fun in, or getting pleasure from the misfortune of others. The word is derived from the ancient Greek “epi” (meaning upon); “kharis” (meaning joy) and “kakos” (meaning evil).

          The German language equivalent, Schadenfreude, is more commonly used as a loan word in English. – Yours, etc,

          CIARAN J BREEN,
          Crodaun Forest Park,
          Celbridge,
          Co Kildare

          https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/letters/another-word-for-schadenfreude-1.1238915

          It’ll never catch on, Mr Breen.

      4. ” Joy in another’s discomfort.”

        Too many on board English words required, when you can have one that epitomises all the others.

        That’s why English embraces, the mongrel languages, takes these words on board. English is always looking for the precise and succinct way of saying something,

        Schadenfreude, accurately reflects this.

      5. ” Joy in another’s discomfort.”

        Too many on board English words required, when you can have one that epitomises all the others.

        That’s why English embraces, the mongrel languages, takes these words on board. English is always looking for the precise and succinct way of saying something,

        Schadenfreude, accurately reflects this.

  70. Hic,just back from lunch,Kleftiko was superb as were the wines and the metaxa probably best if I sign off now as I’m pissed as a parrot
    See you all tomorrow

          1. Oddly enough, I like Metaxa; it doesn’t like me.
            That puts it in a large crowd, I know!

          2. It was my mothers favourite! As a Horses Neck, with ginger ale! Funny woman, my Mum!

          3. Check out the brandy type composition of Metaxa – Brandy is BAD for your heart which is why I drink only whisky, that opens up the veins and gives your heart more blood to pump. Think on, Old troop.

            At 79, I’m still surviving.

          4. I couldn’t care less what it’s made of now.
            I seldom drink any spirits, Metaxa, Whisky, Brandy, Rum even Gin: any of them.
            I’m a few years younger than you, but I can still hit the qualifying for the world championships in my age group as a swimmer, can you do similarly for anything you used to compete at?

          5. I don’t even try. Sos, I know what works, which is why I’ve survived with a fatal heart condition since 2002.

            You carry on in your own way – I’ll do it my way.

            See you upstairs ‘erelong.

          7. I’ll see you in the lower place and the first round’s on you. A bit of heat would be nice.

          9. I quite like you Sos, on a good day if the wind’s in the right direction 😉

        2. Ah, the old “Ouzo Paradox” at work here?

          My long held theory based upon years of travelling and the experiences gained.

          No matter how much you might enjoy Ouzo when you’re visiting Greece, if you’re tempted to carry some back to Blighty to relive and enjoy that spirit after you return home, you will find that it turns to unpleasant poison at Gatwick airport!

          2. That’s a 10/10 comment for me
            Few of the “exotics” seem to work as well at home.
            At least with Cognac, Whisky, Gin and Rum they seem to travel.

    2. I assume Kleftiko is the name of a Greek restaurant. There are many – in several countries.

      Where were you?

        1. Your spelling is unreliable.

          If Rik-Redux was eating Kleftiko, I assumed he was at a restaurant rather than a friends household – reinforced by the availability of metaxa . . ..

  71. Utterly off topic
    I’m an Arsenal supporter and they have just been thumped at home by Brighton.
    Arteta may be a good manager, but why, oh why, doesn’t he select his sides to take account of the referee?
    Today they got nine flavours of shit kicked out of them before any booking occurred. the man had form.

    If you know it’s a “soft ref” select your own thugs to start, rather than letting your Prima Donnas get kicked off the pitch.

    1. Apart from City, the rest of the top 6 seem to be getting a bit. ‘Spurs y’! How we only managed a draw against a terrible Leeds side with Fat Sam at the helm, I don’t know! HTL

          2. No FOXTROT Interest.

            I remember a series of posters in NI during my ’79 Tour at Castle Dillon with the caption NFI Kills.

  72. Turned out to be quite a nice day.
    Hurray for climate change or “Spring”, as it used to be known.

          4. Agreed, but the words are “prefers her lovey dovey to court” and not “her lovey doggie to court”.

  74. Coming up for 20:00 hours and, if I want a nights repose, I shall say Goodnight and God bless, Gentlefolk, until. the morning’s light. Love you all, for your support during hard times.

  75. If you see me talking to myself, just move on.
    I am self-employed and am in the middle of a staff meeting.

  76. Relaxing after doing another 6 bags of soil! Will be off for a bath once I’ve caught up with the 200+ comments I’ve missed!

  78. Seeing as Paul has lost his joke book, last joke from me;

    Being a man means doing what I want when I want and not having to answer to…
    She’s coming!!
    To be continued.

    (Not that I am a man. Only a part time penguin.)

  81. Lovely concert this evening – all Mozart. Requiem, Coronation Mass and Linz Symphony. Local choir and orchestra and very good soloists. Very uplifting.

  82. Evening, all. British industry has been being betrayed for decades. Most manufacturing has been outsourced because of the stupid net zero requirement.

    1. Good morning and thank you.
      I hope the weather is as pleasant with you as it is here in Derbyshire!

Comments are closed.