Sunday 15 December: The concerns of residents are being dismissed in the mania for housebuilding

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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637 thoughts on “Sunday 15 December: The concerns of residents are being dismissed in the mania for housebuilding”

  1. Good Morning Geoff and Nottlers
    Today's Tale – Journalists

    A Frenchman was on holidays in Australia and, while taking a drive in the countryside, saw a young child being chased by a raging bull. The Frenchman slammed on his brakes, jumped out of the car, vaulted a high fence and sprinted with amazing speed towards the bull.

    Unknown to him, an Australian journalist was passing, and noticed his incredible feat. The Frenchman reached the bull and held it by the horns just five metres from the child. He flipped the bull over onto its back, twisted its head and broke its neck. He picked the child up and comforted him and carried him gently back to the side of the road.

    The Australian journalist was astounded. He ran over to the Frenchman and said, “Hells-Bells! That was incredible mate! I’ve never seen a man so athletic, with such strength and courage! It makes me proud to be an Australian. I’m going to put this story on the front page of every newspaper! Just give me some details about yourself. Born around here, were you?”

    Next day the headlines appeared on the front page: “FRENCH PAEDOPHILE KILLS CHILD’S PET”.

    1. In my limited experience, some breeds of bull are more (or less) aggressive than others. Nature or nurture?
      Why is one expected to refer to 'breeds' of domesticated animals, but 'races' of human beings?

      2. I have read the same thing about the varying aggressiveness of bulls depending on breed, though I don't remember whether it is the dairy or the beef breeds that are aggressive. Perhaps it might be useful to find out more …

        Edit to add: having followed my own suggestion, it appears that dairy bulls are often more aggressive that beef ones, with Jerseys being the worst, at least according to this website:
        https://homesteadontherange.com/2018/09/19/why-are-dairy-bulls-more-dangerous-than-beef-bulls/

        1. I understood Hereford bulls were fairly placid, but I've never wanted to put the theory to the test.

      3. I have read the same thing about the varying aggressiveness of bulls depending on breed, though I don't remember whether it is the dairy or the beef breeds that are aggressive. Perhaps it might be useful to find out more …

        Edit to add: having followed my own suggestion, it appears that dairy bulls are often more aggressive that beef ones, with Jerseys being the worst, at least according to this website:
        https://homesteadontherange.com/2018/09/19/why-are-dairy-bulls-more-dangerous-than-beef-bulls/

    2. In my limited experience, some breeds of bull are more (or less) aggressive than others. Nature or nurture?
      Why is one expected to refer to 'breeds' of domesticated animals, but 'races' of human beings?

  4. ogga1
    a few seconds ago
    398838+ up ticks,

    Morning Each.

    My sing along with the S(tool)

    Jingle CULL,jingle CULL jingle all the way, as old santa starmer sets out on his christmas slay

  5. Good Morrow Gentlefolk, I have lost all my previously prepared Bon Mots So I have to start again by thanking Geoff for all his sterling work on this Site – long may he continue

    1. Morning, Tom.
      It's too early and dark for bon anything, just now.
      Things will look better after coffee…

        1. I used to be able to speak French, but it withered and died due to lack of use.
          Sadly.
          🙁

          1. i’m happy that I have both French and German (Albeit Plat Deutsch)and can grt by i Spanish and Swedish, Almost a polyglot!

  7. Good morning, chums. And thank you, Geoff, for today's NoTTLe page.

    Wordle 1,275 5/6

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    1. Good morning Elsie and all
      Wordle 1,275 5/6

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  8. Morning, all Y'all.
    Goodness, but it's dark today. 08:00 or so, and you can't see the difference between ground and sky. Except for houses being lit up.

  9. 398838+ up tick,

    Sunday 15 December: The concerns of residents are being dismissed in the mania for housebuilding

    Surely should read

    Sunday 15 December: The concerns of British residents are being dismissed,PERIOD.

    Replacement / resettlement is the name of the game nothing like a happy invader, and if justice is to be served then these political cretins have only a short time to achieve their treacherous aims.

    1. Good morning, Oggy. Surely you mean "The concerns of British residents are being dismissed, FULL STOP." don't you? You mustn't upset Grizzly with Merkinisms so early in the morning. Lol.

        1. I din't know that Grizzly did the daily Wordle. Oggie. (Good morning evening, btw.) Don't a lot of Wordle people keep writing "Divot", i.e. "Sod", in their posts.?

      2. Merkinisms

        Elsie,

        The only joke I know that works only in 'American' is this one:

        Fun. Fun. Fun Worry, Worry, Worry.

        Doesn't raise a titter in the UK.

        But if you're a Yank, it reads:

        Fun, Period. Fun, Period. Fun, no Period – Worry, Worry, Worry.

      3. Merkinisms

        Elsie,

        The only joke I know that works only in 'American' is this one:

        Fun. Fun. Fun Worry, Worry, Worry.

        Doesn't raise a titter in the UK.

        But if you're a Yank, it reads:

        Fun, Period. Fun, Period. Fun, no Period – Worry, Worry, Worry.

    1. Mr Davies
      2d
      Reeves was so successful at being an "economist" at the BoE she went straight into the complaints department of a provincial retail bank for her next job, from which she had to resign before she was fired.

      I wouldn't let her run her own piggy bank.

      2d
      She was stopped from using her parliamentary credit card.

      Boris Gump
      2d
      It's beginning to look a lot like recession
      Everywhere you go

      Business is shutting down, all because of a clown

      With a dodgy CV, she crashed the economy, it won't grow.

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f09c3ef7c040ff05085e27b90d96bff33879dd175a424e043df6806b245fb63f.png

      Guest
      2d
      So before she has raised any noticeable tax revenue from the budget she has crashed the economy thereby reducing tax revenue. Par for the course for Labour, but in record time.

  12. Good morning all.
    Still dark, but at least a dry start with little wind and an almost warm 10.6°C on the New Yard Thermometer, though it did get down to 2.9°C through the night!

      1. No need at the moment, 1st woodstack has already been refilled and 2nd stack is only half way down, though I'm probably going to do a couple of hours bramble bashing.

  13. 'Morning All
    Medley Time
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7bb293972dcd30cefce0b21ab1ab1dd4dfbff6306dafd7115d1d7f6d14018c74.jpg
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    1. Re the IQ meme:
      "The relationship between nations and IQ is a controversial area of study concerning differences between nations in average intelligence test scores, their possible causes, and their correlation with measures of social well-being and economic prosperity.
      This debate started in the early 2000's after Richard Lynn and Tatu Vanhanen constructed and published IQ estimates for many countries using literature reviews, student assessment studies and other methodologies. Their results and conclusions caused significant controversy, and their approach has been criticized on theoretical and methodological grounds. The European Human Behavior and Evolution Association issued a formal statement in 2020 discouraging use of Lynn's datasets and describing them as unscientific.
      ……………….. They regard nutrition as the most important environmental factor, and education a secondary factor. "
      Can of worms. One other hypothesis is that children with above average intelligence do not flourish in rural areas, such as most of historic Africa, because such children benefit by studying in proximity to other 'academic' children and adults.

      1. Good morning. That statement misrepresents the work of the late Richard Lynn. Is it from Wiki?

      3. Whilst those might be alternative reasons for the disparity, it doesn't change the fact the distribution of higher IQ individuals doesn't favour those of African descent and even where they have been moved out of Africa generations ago they still don't do as well..

        1. I had kept a film on youtube about the fashionable myth that there are no genuine and inherent differences between ethnic groups. It has now disappeared.

  14. Good morning, all. Diverse as anything outside. Very cloud. Not a nice bright day.

    No news, then – apart from Prince Chinky Epstein.

    1. Possible to feel sympathy for a bird living in a gilded aviary, until it starts pecking its companions.

    2. Mad Ed Millimong, the Secretary of State for Nett Zero, looks as if he's having a stroke whilst attempting to eat that bacon buttie. I hope he chokes on it as he sends the UK back to pre-industrialisation levels, without the benefit of fire.

  16. Good morning everyone.
    After reading the following sentence in the rag formerly known as the Daily Telegraph and the Sunday Telegraph, I hope that Mr Grizzly has an adequate supply of blood pressure medication:
    "Nick Gutteridge
    Chief Political Correspondent
    14 December 2024
    Families will be hit with a sharp rise of at least 20 per cent in water bills to fix Britain’s “broken” sewage system."

    BTL Comment
    Does Mr Gutteridge not know the difference between sewage and sewerage? The former is the waste matter which is carried away by the latter, a system of sewers. I once heard a keynote speaker at a conference introdoced as 'a distinguished sewage engineer,' something that conference host will never live down.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/12/14/water-bills-must-rise-by-a-fifth-fix-broken-sewage-system/

    1. Apparently, this heavily taxpayer-subsidised tube is 62 years of age, yet he dresses like a teenage 'rebel'. Has anyone checked his hard drive?

    2. No idea who that is. Don't want to know either judging by the state of him. Looks like an extra from the Young Ones.

      2. Looks like Dale Vince, who makes millions from businesses which benefit from subsidies paid by the taxpayer, who allegedly pays money to the Labour Party, who then continue paying taxpayers' subsidies to his businesses (allegedly).

  20. Good morning Nottlers, 11°C and blowy on the Costa Clyde, with higher winds and rain forecast for the afternoon. I doubt we'll hack a full 18 holes this morning, but it's good to catch up with friends.

  23. Morning all 🙂😊
    Broken grey cloud and has been raining….again.
    I think this house building mania hasn't been thought out. As happens with most of the idea's politicians have. They just seem to be trying to prove something, usually their self importance or just their existence. But as usual they are failing miserably and about to cause even more very expensive and ongoing irreparable damage.

    1. I went into Wickes yesterday to find that the price of architrave had doubled since the last time I got some. Yuppie prices, and these bonuses don't pay themselves with their own money.

      With so many brickyards and timber mills being shut down and with the Polish builders going home as the bonus barons prefer to poach labour abroad rather than train anyone up here, how much would it cost to build a home these days?

      How much can the Exchequer extort from the farmers to pay for ransomware prices, just to encourage developers to build, rather than to sit on land? And are "affordable" homes viable, when there is still a market for those at yuppie prices?

      Rayner's advisers suggest that it is the nimbies and those irresponsibles feeding the nation that are holding things up.

    3. I think that was the message he hoped to send by consuming a bacon butty "you have no need to fear that I will be shilling for Israel, I, like Disraeli, am not a practising Jew"
      Unfortunately he appears to be a practising international marxist, and let's not even go into the crossover between the two.

    2. Electoral mandate for leaving the EU in 2016 – 37%
      Electoral mandate for Starmer's party in 2024 – 20%

      1. When looking at such figures I always take the view, however incorrectly, that people who didn’t vote didn’t care about the outcoma (sic) either way and that their numbers should be added to those of the winning side.

        1. But, just as in our system of justice, shouldn’t the burden of proof be on the side which wants change? Abstentions can indicate that the arguments are too evenly balanced to choose between them or that the argument for change has not been well put or that, for whatever reason, the voter was not able to register their choice. Of course, in most cases it is apathy but, even so, this should not be taken as approval for whatever is being proposed.

          1. Your argument can be used to stymie any proposal that the Government doesn’t like, whilst at the same time stating the opposite for things it does like:

            “There wasn’t really a sufficient mandate for leaving the EU in 2016”
            “Our 2024 parliamentary majority gives us a clear mandate, which we now choose to use to re-join the EU”

            I would prefer a Swiss style referendum on all matters not specifically and unequivocally mentioned in the governing party’s manifesto.
            It might be inconvenient, but at the moment the UK parliament as a whole is about as two-faced as it could be. Mendacious doesn’t even start to describe them.
            Democracy, to all intent and purpose is dying, if not already dead, in the UK.

          2. Whatever the result of any referendum or vote, there will always be arguments to try to turn the clock back – the winning side lied, we weren’t told that or the case you posit. Your referendum proposal is great for some circumstances but there would have to be exceptions such as actions that needed to be taken to cope with events where decisions needed to be taken almost immediately – the Falklands war or the Covid crisis for example.

          3. Covid became a crisis, largely because of politicians. Perhaps if the case had had to be argued in public for and against a particular course of action, another side (that the government deliberately ignored) might have been aired.

          4. I don’t think that there was time in which to hold a referendum on the issue. Decisions needed to be made without delay.

          5. Some of those decisions went back and forth – we had several lockdowns. Also, there was no discussion, and the government relied on only one, very dubious, side. Ferguson had a proven track record – of being wrong.

          6. I regret citing Covid as a case where there was insufficient time to hold anything like a referendum because so many people are absolutely convinced that their side of the argument is right, and a consensus would have been impossible to reach. However, there are many potential circumstances where a referendum would not have helped.

          7. I agree re Falklands type of emergency, disagree re Covid types where experience tells us that the authorities over-react.
            It quickly became apparent that Covid was no more than a ‘flu type bug as far as deaths and hospitalisations were concerned. There was a perfect petri dish in the Diamond Princess.
            The individuals driving the responses and projections had appalling track records. Fergusson being one of the worst.

          8. My impression is that, at the time, the vast majority of people were fearful of Covid and wanted the government to take action asap. With hindsight, perhaps there was some over-reaction but it didn’t seem so at the time. If anything, it shows that the view of the overwhelming majority of the population might be a democratic view but is still wrong. Referendums might not always give the right result.

          9. The fact that so many UK half-wits were force-fed the bullshit probably means you’re correct, but I suspect that if the Government had been even remotely honest they would have objected.
            Re referenda as a concept, looking at Switzerland I would suggest they get it right more often than not.

            As to the overwhelming majority, I very, very much doubt they agreed, they were cowed into it.
            I know we were, here in France we couldn’t travel, couldn’t go out, couldn’t shop couldn’t do much at all without the evidence of being injected.
            We had to be able to return to the UK, so fait accompli.

            To a great extent I blame my heart attack on the vaccination.

          10. I am sorry that you have suffered a heart attack. Frankly, I am not qualified to say whether or not it was a result of the vaccination but, whatever it was, you have my sympathy.

          11. Thank you.

            Who knows what causes such things, but I wish I had a picture of my GP’s face when I told them.
            It was like a cartoon character jaw drop. Surprise doesn’t cover it.

            I know/knew too many people who had a reaction to the first jab, were refused exemption, so had a second jab to live a normal life, and died.

            I’m afraid I’m a real cynic over those vaccines.

          12. Project Fear was in full flow to frighten the populace in order to make them feel something needed to be done (and the government should do it).

        2. That is not true, though – there are also people who (wrongly, IMO) think "what's the point"? That doesn't mean that they implicitly support the winning side.

          3. Better that than count them on the losing side, which is what many pro EU posters were trying to do here, after the 2016 referendum.

  27. Lee Bowman hits it in the head:

    “Sir – – One reason for the changing demographic in today’s House of Commons is a consequence of Tony Blair changing the hours when Parliament is in session from the evening to earlier in the day.

    When I arrived in Britain in the early 1980s, I felt that the British approach to legislation was vastly better than what I had been accustomed to in the US. First, virtually every member of the House of Commons had a day job in addition to representing their constituency. They may have been bus or taxi drivers, teachers, business people or union officials – which meant that they brought a perspective to their legislative work that directly reflected their primary occupation and personal experience in the real world.

    Almost immediately after that modification of Parliament’s hours we began the inevitable and unfortunate march toward a body of “professional politicians” who had little or no experience beyond working as interns, researchers or speech-writers in the established political parties.

    The second reason I originally preferred the British political system was that very few MPs in the 1980s had a staff or coterie of special advisers (“spads”) supporting them. That meant that they really had to do their homework when preparing to speak in the House on any subject to avoid the embarrassment of being laughed out of the place if their remarks had little foundation. Even in those days the most junior US representatives and senators each had very substantial teams supporting them and preparing their material.

    Lee Bowman
    London SW1”

    1. More than that though, the Commons is simply irrelevant now. So much money is given to departments and quangos that they make the decisions – usually lobbying for more money for themselves.

      Fake charities all push an agenda, all at public expense, all for their own self interest. Thus the nation is really run by a bunch of people who rely upon a colossal state machine doling out money to them, so they become incestuous, one demanding what the other provides and vice versa. It's putrid.

  28. From today's Times:
    Chinese ‘spy’ linked to Andrew met Cameron and May
    Revelation shows how H6’s alleged ‘elite capture’ tactics extended to at least two former prime ministers

    The suspected Chinese spy who became a close confidant of the Duke of York has met two former prime ministers, fuelling concern about Beijing’s penetration of the British establishment. The alleged agent, who has been banned from Britain, met Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton and Baroness May.
     https://www.thetimes.com/uk/royal-family/article/chinese-spy-prince-andrew-theresa-may-david-cameron-fh7qvwm87
    If the operation went well, the spy would have access and influence at the top of British society.
    If the operation failed, the Chinese would be able to destabilise British socierty right from the top.
    Win-Win. (Or is he the spymaster?)

      1. Why would he? His intent has been met, to punish Tory voters. He's paid off his supporters with public money, spaffed 11bn on foreigner 'climate change' nonsense and now turned on the elderly.

        These are not rational people. They're socialists.

    2. I can't see any mention of this in the BBC run down of possible Christmas No 1s? I wonder why??? [rhetorical!]

      2. Remember Jane Birkin's and Surge Forward-Gainsbourg's puff and grunt song which reached No 1 in the charts and yet the prim and prissy BBC banned it and refused to play it! This is what the BBC will do if the Starmer song stays at No 1 over Christmas.

        For those who only ever listened to the BBC here is the banned song which you may have missed!

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlpDf6XX_j0

        1. The ban probably contributed to its success. I used to listen on Radio Luxembourg under the duvet. RL played it to death.

    4. This is what happens when governments break markets. They keep forcing their failure, desperately trying to shore up the ever worsening leaks until the whole wall explodes in a torrent.

      They've got to admit their incompetence, abandon the demented communist 'green' tax scam and let energy sort itself out in a rational market.

      1. They would rather die than do that. Or preferably ,they would rather WE die than they do that.

    5. This is what happens when governments break markets. They keep forcing their failure, desperately trying to shore up the ever worsening leaks until the whole wall explodes in a torrent.

      They've got to admit their incompetence, abandon the demented communist 'green' tax scam and let energy sort itself out in a rational market.

  30. Made an ar*e of it this morning:
    Wordle 1,275 5/6

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    1. That's two ar*es, then. I did such a stupid guess at 4, using a word that didn't contain one of the letters…

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      1. Oh make it three arses while you are at it

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    1. He should be careful and not overdo it!

      One of my brothers-in-law is 70 and fanatically fit. He goes to the gym three times a week and he works with weights every day He is slim but immensely strong and until three years ago he played hockey in a good Dutch team . When he comes to stay with us he is up at dawn trimming our laurel hedges some of which have grown to 12 metres in height down to under 2 metres. He then helps me saw the boughs into logs.

      Last week he had a stroke and had to be taken into hospital. He could not walk but he seems to be making a good recovery and is beginning to walk but not yet steadily. We hope that his stroke has not done any lasting damage – he is certainly psychologically very strong and has the determination he needs – we pray he will fully recover.

      I am physically relatively active (but not obsessively so) and I am very overweight . I had a similar stroke on 2013 when I was 67. I take blood thinners and since then my blood pressure has been normal and I have suffered no ill effects – I never had any trouble walking but I am a very slow walker.

      1. This 'blood thinners' nonsense needs to be stopped. With all due respect, you are using an anti-coagulant to prevent clots; the Tastey blood will not be diluted (ruined) like whisky in water.

      2. My neighbour came round with a card tonight and said she'd had a couple of mini-strokes about a month ago. She eats healthily, isn't overweight and keeps fit as far as I know.

      1. Very clever , Mola , and so true . and even the eaves and under soffits have no capacity for swallows and house martins and swifts to build their nests .. sterile housing estates , no room for ponds , trees . shade . and grassy areas ..

        Estates like that will be just places to rest ones head and nothing else , no hobbies, no room for cars , visitors , ambulances , fire engines .. prams , garden walls , friendliness , no room to even invite bods around for a coffee morning ..

        What is happening to Britain , red brick boring quick build Britain .

        Blandford , Wimborne , Shaftesbury , here , Weymouth ..

        Where once the houses were flint , stone work , mud and wattle thatches which were attractive looking homes .

      2. If there had been chimneys they would probably have been fake – a new build not far from me has one, put there to make the new house fit in with the old ones surrounding it.

  32. In the 18th century, saying the wrong thing got you banned from Parliament. Those times are back. 15 December 2024.

    But that age is gone. Look back at the past couple of months. We have seen people sent to prison – actually sent to prison – for posting obnoxious things online in the aftermath of the Southport riots, even as violent offenders were being released early.

    Hannan (who wrote this piece) sits in the House of Lords. He has not, so far as I’m aware, raised this with his fellow peers. This is not unusual. There are actually no public voices raised against the UK’s decline into a Police State. There is in fact widespread support among the Political Elites for any measures to suppress public dissent.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/12/14/18th-century-wrong-thing-got-you-banned-from-parliament/

    1. I have just read the article. The treatment of Lady Meyer is a complete disgrace and shows what pathetic people seem to have influence in political circles.

      I posted this BTL: We desperately need a Trump-like person who will flush all the woke detritus down the lavatory.

    2. Baron Hannan of Anywhere will be entitled to an EU pension, plus the state pension in UK, plus the House of Lords 'attendance allowance'. Why would he rock the inflatable dinghy boat?

  33. My daughter has a training contract with one of the Big 4 Accountancy firms and has to sit some exams in March, so I thought I would read the syllabus to get a sense of what she needs to know (in case I can support her in any way). It is “interesting” reading. The syllabus is not only about the accounting standards that one needs to know, but also about ethics and professionalism and “sustainability”.

    Indeed, on page 1, the headline reads: “The Accountancy qualification and Sustainability”.

    Amidst the blurb, the ICAEW (“Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales”) sees the role of the accountancy qualification as “seeding this thinking [of integrating…environmental, social and governance issues (“ESG”) into organisations] into the mindset of our members.”

    if anyone has listened to the excellent James Lindsay podcasts I have posted, they will know the whole ESG and DEI (“diversity, equity (sic), inclusion”) thing is a method of implementing Communist thinking. And yet the Accountants, who pride themselves on “professional scepticism”, have fallen for it hook, line and sinker.

    One wonders, given the dual emphasis on “scepticism” and “sustainability”, how a student might fare if they wrote that the whole “sustainability” scam is just that.

    One assumes they would be failed.

    It just goes to show.

    Nb I have known for a while that the Institute had been completely captured by Woke group-think, but hadn’t realised they were indoctrinating students as well.

    1. Indoctrination is everywhere. It's how this nonsense is spread and takes root. It's why they are indoctrating kids in school with climate change and trans rubbish.

    2. Morning MIR

      Twaddle , absolute twaddle speak..

      I attended one of those consultations for re energising the countryside , rivers , floodplains , hedgerows etc..

      There was one of those " How did we do" questionnaires .. We were required put a few things in .. but how nauseating to also see a list of racial profiles , similar to the NHS nonsense we are confronted with .

      Yep , they are encouraging effnics to visit the countryside.. not many will because there are no KFC's or Burger King or other facilities for low concentration youngsters .

      Wild life is becoming scarcer in rural Britain .. why because rural pathways are over run with bike riders and hordes of walkers , and hundreds of middleclass chatterers plus the odd few gallopers/ trail runners like my oldest son .

      1. That'd be because the white folk moved out of cities to get away from the black and brown pollution, crime and litter.

        Now, overcrowded, poisoned , overrun and filthy our cities are open sewers people are desperate to get away from. Those people have moved further out.

    3. Forcing ESG on businesses has done incredible damage. We have to report on the 'sustainability' of all our stuff. There's over 300 questions. It is moronic in the extreme. The state, because it hasnthing to do of any worth or purpose invents utter nonsense to fill it's time with.

    4. That's what they do best. Get 'em young. "It's our way or no job in this career. " Whether it's teaching, accountancy or pollute-tics.

  34. Whilst making my bread this morning, I listened to an up interesting Spiked/Brendan O’Neill podcast with Oh hang on husband home

    1. Right sorry about that. He was down in Cornwall, visiting the boat and his folks, but he likes to surprise me by leaving at 3:30 am and being back in time to disturb my Sunday (you may have noticed i was quiet yesterday as i was cleaning, writing/posting cards, wrapping presents, dying all my old grubby towels, getting the Tesco order for Christmas sorted).

      Anyway it’s the Brendan O’Neill show with Jonathon Turley and they talk about the concept of state rage.

      ““state rage [is] where the state clamps down pretty viciously on speech that it considers harmful or untrue or problematic in some way.”

      From The Brendan O'Neill Show: Jonathan Turley: Free speech in an age of rage, 13 Dec 2024
      https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-brendan-oneill-show/id1436524071?i=1000680267263&r=2716
      This material may be protected by copyright.”

      1. It used to amuse me, too, to start cross-country trips in the very early hours, springing on unsuspecting relatives at breakfast time. 😈

  35. 'Morning, Peeps and Geoff,

    A very fine summary from a DT reader of our present state, and I trust that Mr Anderson will not object if I reproduce it here:

    Trevor Anderson
    2 hrs ago
    Approaching 80. I served my country during the 60's and 70's in the Army through peace and a number of conflicts; subsequently I have paid large amounts of tax when running my own business. I do not boast, but I've done my bit.

    I have seen numerous governments come and go with varying degrees of competence and often shockingly poor performance; but nothing such as we have with the current lot.

    It is time for a revolution, the 14 years of Tory government were bad, but Starmer and his cohorts have moved this country into fast-forward destruction. We are being run by an inept, unscrupulous, duplicitous, lying, cheating, hypocritical bunch of tosspots that have not the faintest clue what they are doing.

    Janet Daly says: "Only when migration is under control will politics return to normal." I suggest that is a major part of the problem but equally the other destructive, self immolation force being run by an insane zealot, is Net Zero. We have no energy security and will continue to have none under this lunacy.

    The list of destructive policies grows daily, we do little except whinge and moan but action speaks louder than words.

    A revolution beckons.

      1. The Tories could, and should have done so much – cut taxes for a start, repealed the HRA, the ECHR, the equalities act, abandoned the climate change farce, the race relations drivel, the communities act – there's a whole host of law they could have scrapped. They could have revoked the funding for thousands of fake charities, they could have proved that low taxes and small government work, as is well known, demonstrably proven and obvious.

        Instead they created abominnation like th eonline harm bill and extended all other dreadful regulation. The Tories let Labour in and when no one voted for them – because they offered nothing we wanted and had grown complacent, lazy and arrogant a minority voted Labour and those fools are now doing everything the Tories did at a faster speed.

        1. The "Tories" didn't need to include all EU legislation in UK law when we voted to leave. They could also have left on WTO terms instead of the crap deals they made.

  36. Sorry to appear repetitive….but has any MSM mentioned Jeremy Rhyming and his Chinese Communist Party lady wife?

    1. OOh er , Bill,

      Wow , is my memory failing , but didn't he confuse her nationality once .. calling her Japanese?

      Jeremy Hunt gaffe: 'My wife is Japanese'

      00:42
      Jeremy Hunt gaffe: 'My wife is Japanese'
      Close
      Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt mistakenly referred to his wife as Japanese during a visit to Beijing to discuss post-Brexit trade deals between the UK and China.

      Mr Hunt's wife is actually Chinese.

      https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-45004765

    2. Is she actually a member of the Chinese Communist Party? If she is then why has the MSM not made a big fuss about it?

    3. A story blown up out of all proportions. Andy is a go between who meets people. China is a country we trade with, all envoys are looking for any useful info on other countries. If the Chinks thought PA harboured deep state secrets, I have a bridge to sell. Let's not forget that our representatives meet with all sorts of people for the greater good. A certain Irish terrorist and the late Queen spring to mind. Didn't 2TK visit China recently.

    1. If they go against the clearly expressed wishes of the electorate, you will have to fight them. Denial of democracy is one good way to start civil war.

      1. The EU is supporting Romania's supreme court in it's suspension of elections because it doesn't like the bloke the public do.

    2. Shifting and shuffling to support the flow of absolute lies pouring out of all of their mouths.

  39. This is FSB’s second day of Christmas. We have no turtle doves, they’re an endangered species now, but we have the Grumpy Old Git Graham Bedford on his facility with language, English and Foreign as well as a short Christmas story, Babouscka , from Russia. Please do read and comment, and browse around if you want ‘seriousness’.

    This abomination of a government is encouraging far left activists the seek out and destroy our history, now in the form of having street names they don’t like replaced with woke names, like George Floyd Avenue and Diversity Drive. At the top of t he Today page we have a poll asking what we should do about it now that the DEI State has taken away residents’ veto. Please vote.

    https://www.freespeechbacklash.com/

  41. Accountability ?

    There’s a rumour that Keir Starmer will be visiting the UK this week.
    But unlike other countries he’s been visiting, there’ll be no money being handed out!

    (Psst) He has been busy giving our fishing rights away , so what is going on?

  44. They played Love me do in Sainsbury's. Recorded the day after my fourteenth birthday, apparently. Blurry nearly cracked a smile.

  45. ‘You’ve stolen my happy retirement’: the letter shaming Rachel Reeves
    Pensioner who faces £1m tax bill on his modest savings urges the Chancellor to think again
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/tax/inheritance/stolen-my-happy-retirement-letter-shames-rachel-reeves/

    This article shows both the incompetence and the sheer cruelty of Starmer and Reeves.

    When politicians say "I feel your pain" we know that they are being hypocritical. But on this occasion one feels that the sadistic, diabolic couple, Starmer and Reeves, are saying :

    "We are enjoying and gloating over the pain we are giving you!"

    1. Reeves will parrot:

      We inherited a bad situation (and we're making it far, far worse)
      And a 22bn blackhole (that we created, it was just convienient to lie)
      And we're fixing the foundations (a complete lie)
      We've made difficult decisions (for you, not for us) to raise taxes.

      The lies, deceit and drivel are tiresome at this point.

      2. Very true. Labour will reap what she sows. If she thinks socialists don't own property/have investments she'll soon know differently.

        1. Starmer will already have sheltered his £millions – and the others will have ringfenced their ill-gotten gains, that's for sure. I don't think Labour politicians will reap what they have sown – only the brain-dead voters.

          2. Considering that they only got in because of people being so angry with the Tories, these five years are bunce for them.

          3. Nose and face, eh? But the Tories were utterly useless, too. Who to vote for? Trump is already elected.

          4. Reform are the only parliamentary party with a chance. Even then, I am doubtful – Farage is far too soft on immigration, especially RoP.

          5. Exactly, Hertslass. Blasted Johnson, I wish he’d stuck to his guns and not listened to Mancock/Whitless and others. But I did, too – thought it was bad form when that lad got Whitty in a headlock 🙄 the risk we run is that next time GBP et al don’t listen, and it’s the real deal.

      1. ‘You’ve stolen my happy retirement’: the letter shaming Rachel Reeves
        Pensioner who faces £1m tax bill on his modest savings urges the Chancellor to think again

        Dear Ms Reeves,

        I’m a pensioner who is 70 in March. I’m writing to try to explain how your Budget has stolen a lifetime’s plans for a happy retirement.

        It’s so dreadful in so many ways that it’s hard to know where to start, but I’ll try to explain as clearly and concisely as possible, so please bear with me.

        I was born and raised on a council estate in Leicester and, like my parents, voted Labour all my life.

        My father died in 1965 after a long, painful, and courageous fight with cancer – he was 45 and I was 10 as I watched him die in our front room. My mum was left heartbroken, with no husband, no job and four children aged one to 12 to raise, alone.

        As a teenager, my father fought in the Second World War, which reinforced in him key virtues in life, which he instilled in me before he died, like hard work, determination, honesty, integrity, respect, aspiration, and an ability to stand on one’s own two feet – you get the picture.

        I tried to follow his guidance. I studied hard at school, at university (the first in our line), and at work. I became a scientist and reaped the financial rewards of a long and successful career. I retired at 60, worn out by a full-on, relentlessly demanding job, but content that I’d done my best and planned and saved wisely for a retirement my parents never had.

        Before your Budget, I’d have paid £200,000 inheritance tax, which is a huge amount of money in any working man’s book, but it’s arguably “fair”.

        However, after your Budget it’s £640,000, which is gut-wrenchingly unjust. The increase of £440,000 reflects your raid on pension funds, which doesn’t end there, as my children could pay £360,000 income tax on the balance they inherit.

        How can you justify such a draconian, double taxation of a life’s work?

        Your IHT changes offer me Hobson’s Choice:

        Live with the sword of Damocles and pray for a Conservative government to rescue me before I die.
        Act now, but ruin the final years of my life by trying to mitigate the plunder of my pension.
        Mitigation means breaking life-long principles that got me to this place, like drawing-down money I don’t need just to spend it, or selling my family home or giving it to my children (which triggers rent from my taxed income that’s then taxed as their income, i.e., another double taxation) or emigrating to save a fortune, if I live long enough, but be apart from my children, grandchildren, and friends.

        Please help me, which choice should I make?

        There’s also a sinister threat hidden in your raid on personal pension funds, that of coercion, which was so chillingly described by many MPs during the debate on assisted dying. The following outlines my situation, but also illustrates the generic trap:

        Dying before April 2027, when I’m 72, would make my pension worth £800,000 more, as no inheritance tax is due by me, or income tax by my children.
        Surviving this milestone but dying before April 2030, when I’m 75, means I’d pay £440,000 inheritance tax but leave a pension worth £360,000 more, as income tax still isn’t due by my children.
        If I die after I’m 75, 40pc is lost in inheritance tax, plus 55pc in income tax when my children draw down the balance.
        Why do you think that inherited pensions should ever be taxed twice? And how did you satisfy yourself that the increased coercive threat to pensioners to die sooner rather than later, which your new inheritance tax creates, justifies your raid on their pensions?

        I also want to say that before retirement, I’d served my time and paid my dues through a lifetime of taxes, a huge amount of taxes, up to 30 times more per year than the average working person – the state has already taken its pound of flesh.

        Nonetheless, until your Budget, it had all been worthwhile; I’d enjoy my retirement and leave a legacy for my family, something my parents couldn’t do.

        But that has been stolen by a Budget that effectively punishes people for following the rules of working hard and saving diligently for retirement so that the state does not have to spend a penny to support them – someone who’s self-sufficient, to the very end.

        In reality though, no one knows when the end will come, so the financial mantra for pension funds has been to withdraw slowly and spend wisely so it lasts a lifetime, however long that may be.

        Regrettably, your Budget means that this will change, and people will think twice before firstly saving into a pension at all – better to spend money “now” and rely on the state to support retirement – and secondly, withdrawing it wisely – better to drawdown rapidly to avoid crippling death duties.

        Do you realise how your inheritance tax raid will inevitably change how people save and spend pensions?

        Sadly, I can’t bring myself to fritter money away, so I’ll emigrate, take my pension with me, try to avoid inheritance tax altogether, spend my money abroad, protect my pension and my estate from you and your appalling raid on hard-working people’s lifetime’s savings, and leave a legacy to my family instead of to you.

        I’m sure that many people who are in the same boat will do something similar and, with the help of their gleeful IFA, nullify this raid one way or another.

        I hope you’ll correct me and explain why what I say is all a misunderstanding, so I look forward to hearing from you, but please, do your best not to mention “tough decisions” or a £22bnb black hole.

        Yours sincerely,
        – Name supplied

        P.S. I wanted to share a quote from a Treasury spokesman, who reportedly said: “We continue to incentivise pension savings for their intended purpose of funding retirement instead of them being openly used as a vehicle to transfer wealth.”

        Try selling that to a 70-year-old retiree like me who’s had it hoisted on them during their retirement with limited opportunity to do anything about it.

        Also, think carefully about the logic, or lack of logic, behind such a crass statement and philosophy – how can anyone save the “right amount” of money for their retirement, as opposed to potentially transferring wealth when they die, when they have no idea whatsoever how long their retirement, if any, will last?

        Please, go back to the drawing board because you have got this one spectacularly wrong, and you don’t need to be an economist to work that out.

        1. " like my parents, voted Labour all my life ".

          That right there is the problem. You think they wouldn't come for you once you had scrimped and saved all your life?

          1. I have never once contemplated voting Labour. I regard it as an anti-British act to do so.

        2. "you don’t need to be an economist to work that out" . There seems to be considerable doubt about whether Thieves is an economist, but I doubt she has the intellect to work out anything that might help UK limited.

          1. I've read somewhere that her role in finance was to deal with complaints – ideal for a Chancellor who is working in a black hole.

        5. Several points here: firstly, more fool you for a) voting Labour and b) being prudent rather than spaffing it all up the wall. Secondly, Labour has now introduced assisted dying to help you in your difficult choice.

    4. Can't imagine how that is, Rastus – does he have an IFA not worth his salt – must have a large amount investments possibly property. Would advise anyone concerned to consult a solicitor, as I said previously they will usually give one hour free consultancy where you can weigh them/their advice up.

    5. I feel for the pensioner, but there is a glaringly obvious option that people should wake up and realise.
      He could draw down the maximum amount of money each year and use the surplus to buy gold anonymously with cash.
      The gold would be out of the system. He could lose it all in a boating accident.
      Other assets are available.

      1. Recently renewing my Will they asked about savings and investments. I told them how much i have in savings and Premium Bonds and my current accounts. There is no gold or silver…it was all stolen.

  46. Lucia Guo, wife of Jeremy Hunt MP, regularly appears on Sky TV's China Hour; Programme is owned by state-owned China International TV …

    She is frequently accused of white-washing China's ghastliness

  47. Lucia Guo, wife of Jeremy Hunt MP, regularly appears on Sky TV's China Hour; Programme is owned by state-owned China International TV …

    She is frequently accused of white-washing China's ghastliness

  48. If the West Taiwanese had any imagination, they'd instruct all their citizens in this country to rise as one and say, "I am H6!" (Have this one on me, Xi who must be obeyed.)

  50. Morning all. Another dull day here in West Sussex. But a rather mild 11c.

    Sunday and apropos the post I made a few days ago of Christians quite literally under the boot of the Islamists in Syria, here is more news of the fate of Christians. There is also a video of the Druze on the Syrian side of the Golan Hights discussing whether they should ask to be annexed by Israel. They know what is coming thanks to the Islamic takeover and the implementation of Sharia law.

    Syria Islamists FORCE Christians To Live As Muslims

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRCJv1PoIow&t=254s
    Druze in Syria want to be ANNEXED!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzIpRNrG6uM&t=739s

  52. 398838+up ticks,

    Good question,

    To prove they have, in their victorious take over as victors, the power to do it, every lab/lib/con coalition member / voter has these past three decades given them that power.

    This is at present the calm before the storm when you have a chap taking a child as a bride and heading up a "religious order"
    with followers acting out the same scenario. and an instruction manual in parliament found betwixt the dispatch boxes then we brothers, as a captive nation, have BIG PROBLEMS.
    https://x.com/GoldingBF/status/1867955251971502216

    2. Because Paul.. your blessed progressive liberals;
      encourage them, facilitate them, bribe them, fund them, fawn over them, house them, feed them, kneel before them, protect them, place them in positions of power.. even allow the nation's children to be folded like deckchairs above their kebab shops.
      Don't blame the Muzzie. They're doing exactly what it says on the tin.

      1. Why not blame the muzzie too? They are the ones that are doing it. Just because you e.g. move to a country that allows marriage with children does not mean that you go out and marry a child.

    3. Because Paul.. your blessed progressive liberals;
      encourage them, facilitate them, bribe them, fund them, fawn over them, house them, feed them, kneel before them, protect them, place them in positions of power.. even allow the nation's children to be folded like deckchairs above their kebab shops.
      Don't blame the Muzzie. They're doing exactly what it says on the tin.

    5. Because they're showing who's boss as far as they're concerned. As Aeneas says, dogs marking their territory.

    1. The best return on investment that I've had recently was my Christmas tree in a pot, which I bought for around 30 pounds four years ago. Currently about to take up residence in the house for the fifth time. Doesn't lose its needles because it is properly watered. Sits in the garden and costs nothing for the rest of the year.
      Has saved me at least 45 pounds that I would have spent buying a real tree each year for 20 pounds. 150% return in 4 years!

        2. Or chipmunks.

          We accidentally brought in a caterpillar on some geraniums a few years ago. My daughter has a phobia of caterpillars. I didn’t even know that existed before she showed it.

      2. I've got one of those……couldn't be bothered bringing it in last year though. Not sure if I will this time either.

        2. We have one, now around 15' tall, some branches made their way into polytunnel….(I say, not me guv, I never planted it…)

          1. Mine’s still a small one in a pot – but it’s alive and has had plenty of watering over the last few months.

          3. I don’t think there’s room in our garden for a full-size Norway spruce! We did plant a silver birch in 2000, and it’s beautiful but very big.

          4. They are very beautiful, especially in light wind. Very shallow rooted tho, keep an eye on it if near house….new development near where I used to live – builder planted sb’s in front of every house…eeek…didn’t do well…

          6. I don’t think there’s room in our garden for a full-size Norway spruce! We did plant a silver birch in 2000, and it’s beautiful but very big.

      3. A couple of my ex-Christmas Trees:-
        A recent planting https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/715e82ee63dc1a274e5f605652cb4736c9a80db0ea986c469982add9680c5c3a.jpg The 1st successful tree I planted 20odd years ago https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3a10fc2a20ebf9df1f035b717d27d445b0f0f691c4697cbb93d19ef8413e5a71.jpg And one planted 10y or so ago is hiding in this picture, just to the right of the taller stump; https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f5e7cab8c06322e82db86d50e532f21e11ff6524240003fbc73ec9c96ea69c52.jpg

    1. Given how flashmobs form via social media i would say it's teenagers having a laugh. The Biden administration is using it as a diversion from their corrupt activities.

      2. General belief is American military, under gov't authorisation. Joe wouldn't know about it, but Jill and Michelle might.

  56. Sweden's Ebba Busch.. the equivalent of UKs ginger gobble queen.. except she's a hottie and left school with more O Levels than kids… complains about the EU Regs that compel Sweden to divert all their electricity to German factories just when they need it. Sending prices up to record levels. A shower cost about £4. It didn't need to be this way. Usual culprits.. The Greens.
    .
    https://x.com/BuschEbba/status/1866912862016250013

      1. Translated. Missed the first part, amended now:

        The roller coaster of electricity prices is horrible. Tomorrow it will be just over SEK 8 in southern Sweden between 5-6 p.m. Many other hours we have extremely low prices. It is a result of decommissioned nuclear power. When it's not windy, we get high electricity prices with this failed electricity system, as German electricity prices of about SEK 10/kWh show.That is precisely why we are doing everything to rebuild the electricity system. The foundation for new nuclear power has already been laid, we protect hydropower. In addition, we have decided on 50 measures with a bearing on now until 2030 that enable us to get more effect from all the electricity that is produced.

        The EU-regulated flow-based capacity calculation model has many effects. Including that more electricity can be transported from the north to the south of Sweden. It is necessary, especially given southern Sweden's serious lack of electricity production in relation to consumption and the grid.

    3. Senterpartiet (Centre Party), one of the governing coalition in Norway are saying to cut the interconnectors to Europe and the UK, because draining the power that way is making it fabulously expensive in Norway.

    4. Senterpartiet (Centre Party), one of the governing coalition in Norway are saying to cut the interconnectors to Europe and the UK, because draining the power that way is making it fabulously expensive in Norway.

    6. No free speech problems in Chinkyland. They say it as it is and sod anyone getting all weepy about that.

    1. I trump your whammy, and up the ante..

      The green-belt site earmarked for Britain's biggest ever Muslim cemetery and which has sparked huge opposition from local residents. The aerial images show the huge scale of the proposed 45-acre Memorial Garden site which would contain 12,250 burial plots, funeral parlour and prayer halls. The cemetery plan has been submitted by the billionaire Issa brothers on land near Oswaldtwistle, west of Blackburn, Lancashire, which has a population of just 10,815.

      2. The Issa brothers are the reason why I've given up even my occasional forays into ASDA.
        I have no wish for my money to have any connection with building a mosque the size of Blackburn.

    1. Haven't they already won the series?
      The sooner the match is over, the sooner they can go home.

  62. Yo All and good moaning from a damp and dull C d S

    Just back from some 'retail therapy'; Tesco are doing their 25% of 6 bottles of wine (costing over 5.50 a bottle ) now.

  63. Clutching at straws.. I believe you call it?

    Kemi Badenoch Must Restore Britain's Constitution David Starkey
    David Starkey Talks

    So much intelligence.. so articulate.. such a clever clogs.
    And yet Starkey can't grasp that the Wet Tories are soggier than ever and have zero intention of undoing anything.

    1. Has Starkey expressed his views on the Reform Party?

      I think there should be a joint leadership where Lowe uses his common sense and business acumen on policy decisions and that Farage uses his 'charisma' and oratorial skills to sell the Party's policies.

      1. Not English. I don't really have truck when a Nigerian, whose mother came over to drop her to get British Citizenship then fly back to Nigeria, talks about "our" constitution or "our" country. She forgets the "y" in front of the word our. It isn't hers.

  64. Saint Mary's in Almer, Dorset:

    The oldest parts of the church building are the south doorway, the north arcade and the font, which all date from the Norman period. The tower is fifteenth century, while the porch and nave windows are eighteenth century (attributed to John and William Bastard of Blandford). There is also some interesting fifteenth and seventeenth-century glass on the north side of the chancel.

    Newman and Pevsner write:

    "Unbuttressed Perpendicular tower. Norman doorway with stop-chamfers and Norman quoins, C1400 aisle, the chancel Victorian. Between tower, aisle, and chancel a nave of the early C1800, probably by the Bastard brothers of Blandford. Arched windows. Inside the Norman theme is taken up again. The arcade of three bays is mid-C1200. Base spurs, round piers, scalloped capitals, square abaci, unmoulded round archers. Font, C1300, Purbeck marble, octagonal, with two flat pointed arches each side."

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c80ff56b5fd7ccac9860b7c4e6db4fcda2e4887b0438bfef469ce44a9759752e.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b2097516fbb71144819b1f6bceae3296269e431a708b4df03ac0108f87a216c8.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/277e3503916ccd1226bf41d2f0c8993736131d4392939e6e3e797fcaba662260.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/06161d1cfd6f866c3cea1e4f3ac749848b6a17cb9008caa319281c5938590712.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e467dd1fc26e252746cc85ba1a8b2a5c5b49b46da583909bf9a3ace83bac25ff.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0c726815f8c016b7ecd637d2318770e7200a11547c9ce78e60af05f8c8905e43.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/be69abb6b1580d1dc16f5e96344c27fcbabbef7098752844062aa1387e3ad801.jpg

    2. Beautiful. Thank you. Could do with some Bastard Brothers in our modern era of so called, architecture.

    3. Beautiful. Thank you. Could do with some Bastard Brothers in our modern era of so called, architecture.

    1. I quite like Lidl, and Aldi (online Aldi is quite good)…depends on what you want to buy…dairy, meat, milk all good. But I still shop Morrisons, know a few people there and like to support them. Met Sir Ken couple of times, had a good chat…my autograph available…😆

      1. Erm….. dairy, milk? Aldi…. Morrison's? I've just put in a twice weekly order with Mcqueen's which has declared itself to be Bovaer free across the cow sheds, organic and in bottles!

        1. Our milkman delivers to the doorstep, or rather the crate in the yard, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

          2. It is…plus someone likely find out and speak out. Not much stays hidden today ‘mum. Remember the McCann case, I mentioned it to someone who’s on social media much more than I am…convinced of the identity of guilty parties from what they’ve read.

          3. Yes, I am convinced of the guilty parties too, and its not a shadowy german lurking in a jail somewhere, I really doubt his existence, he could just be a made-up figure for the purposes of distraction. I have occasionally doubted MM’s existence, at least over the
            their holiday period in the Algarve.

          4. Is this reliable info, regarding McQueen's and Bovaer? Straight from the cow's mouth, as it were? I may have to cancel….. still at my age I don't suppose it matters all that much, it is the poor cows I feel for, they shouldn't be made to eat this stuff.

          5. Can we ever know, ‘mum – what is reliable and what isn’t. I doubt many things post vaccine/virus. Can only hope it’s been thoroughly tested prior, and this isn’t the testing – on the hoof, so to speak. I was vegan for a short while a number of years ago – still have Oatly on cereal, but it’s not healthy has various oils n stuff. What are we to do, starve? RFK has some research, he seems to think various oils in fast foods linked to autism in young people. To say nothing of the sprays on fresh food, in fields and polytunnels, otherwise be overgrown with weed. You may have noticed cereal plug plants in fields, in long rows of plastic as weed suppressant. This stuff is worldwide – millions would starve otherwise. Speaking of which, really should eat some breakfast…….see you later, Kate x

          6. Thank you for the reply, Kate – I can only hope for the best, but I will send McQueen’s an email – I did notice yesterday that the banner written in blue across the top of their web site declaring their dairies were bovaer-free had been removed. Certainly if the milk is organic it should be bovaer-free, as in order to get the licence there must be no additives that act in a drug-like manner. And there hasn’t been testing either, the FDA have simply declared it not to be a drug! so that gets around the need for prior testing. We are indeed the lab rats, as are the cows.

            Our younger son and his family followed a vegan diet a few years ago but eventually found it unsustainable after 18 months – they were influenced by our DiL’s younger brother who had started following a vegan diet the year before and found himself marooned at our son and DiL’s home during lockdown. A couple of years ago someone gave him a hug – and fractured his rib. When I saw him earlier this year I thoughtt although he didn’t look ill, he didn’t look healthy either, and indeed a lot older than his years. Our son drinks Oatly as he became dairy intolerant very soon after The Jab, it really worries me as the stuff is less healthy to drink than Coca-Cola.

            I have just been reading ‘Ultra-Processed People’ – it is a real eye opener even though I am someone who always reads the ingredients on the backs of packs and bottles. I make as much of our own consumption as possible.

            Post ‘covid’ I believe nothing at all of what we are told, and anything that does ring true I realise that there is an ulterior motive to benefit government. pm xx

          7. I wish you success, ‘mum – it’s very difficult to know if manufacturers really do as they claim. I worked in a few different Health Shops some years ago, selling different products and vitamins. Many of the customers were worried about diet, the food they ate, the effect on their bodies and mental health. Some fed their children the same restricted diet as they ate -I believed then and do still that was the wrong thing to do – especially dairy. Some young children have developed rickets because of the diet their parent has fed them. As a species we are omnivores – eat/drink anything edible/potable. Females especially need dairy otherwise they may well develop osteoporosis in later life. Today, we can choose from a vast array of foodstuffs, more affordable than in the past thanks to modern farming methods. I agree dairy is difficult for some to come to terms with – calves separated from cows, for humans to consume milk, and not all are super clean either – I have a couple of friends who’ve driven MMB tankers and collected from small farmers, but that’s another story. End of the day ‘mum…we can all choose where and how to spend our hard-earned :-))) good luck xx

      2. Morrisons is my local one so I still shop there. Most of the older staff have been there for donkeys’ years. Several are chatty and nice to get on with. They are all pleasant and polite.

        Last year I went into Lidl for the first time as my car was having a small tweak at the Peugeot base opposite. I was pleasantly surprised and bought some meat there. It’s a bit further than Morrisons and out of town. I haven’t tried Aldi.

        1. I like all three, but know staff at local Morrisons so usually shop there. Aldi/Lidl quite similar, alcohol included. Aldi online for basic household items, as is Amazon Basics. I think a good number of younger working women shop online Ndovu, deliveries weekend and evenings.

          1. I’ve never bought groceries online – not because I have any particular objection, but for fresh produce and meat especially, I like to see what I’m buying. I may have to in my dotage, if I can no longer drive.

          2. Hear you re fresh items, especially salads 😁 I still like driving, even tho it’s an EV which I don’t really trust…

        1. It wouldn’t surprise me, Conway…and also others, who haven’t confessed. We never really know, about anything any more.

  68. I have received a completely unsolicited telephone message inviting me to the Green Party Christmas Party. I hope that they are suitably annoyed by my lack of effort to do any rsvp-ing.

    2. Report them contacting you as a hate crime. Say you felt offended by there beliefs and assumptions.

  69. Missed an opportunity there.
    Tell them you would be delighted to attend and you will do all the catering for free.
    Then go on holiday.

    2. The are evidently eating too much sugar, weeds, processed 'food' and carbs.

      Otherwise they woud have a fully-functioning brain and would see through all the crap.

  71. 398838+ up ticks,

    Afternoon R,

    GO and introduce to the punch bowl a good helping of powered ex-lax.

  72. 398838+ up ticks,

    Foreign intrigue,
    The fat wretch cameron and treacherous treasa disclaim any chinese connections, i'd wager up to their fat / scrawny necks
    and humming the chinese laundry blues all the way.

        1. Morning, ogga…have you seen the traders in action – today on super fast computers (where does all that leccy come from I wonder)…previously on the trading floor, a high stress occupation. Breakfast time, get dressed, walk the dog – time to crack on, see you later…Kate x

  73. Fire lit; glass refreshed, a few minutes downtime to reflect.
    Tried to go Xmas shopping today, but no parking, so gave up and came home. Still need several small items, the big stuff is taken care of. Bugger. Off to UK on Thursday, Bideford by way of Bristol airport and Penarth. Might be offline a while, who can tell.

    1. Here's my secret…haven't gone back to shopping post-Lockdown, frees up a lot of time for me to do what I want to do.

      2. I went shopping for the first time since lockdown a couple of weeks ago and enjoyed it. I hate internet shopping. I've actually bought very little since 2020. Have been giving money for presents or ordering off the internet.

        1. Good 🙂 I’m not keen on getting stuck in traffic, when I did actually go to shops it was very early in day. I like internet shopping, was one of first 50 Amazon UK customers (they now sell much much more than books). Frees up a lot of my time, when I first started I was working from home, using computers. Famalam all love to be given money, prefer it as they usually have their eye on something or other.

      3. There wasn't any of that 'lockdown' nonsense, here in Sweden, Katy (thank goodness!). Life, here, went on as normal and we all survived the hype and idiocy.

        As for shopping, I have always liked doing it and I like to be able to choose what I buy personally, and not have somebody choose things for me.

        1. Thanks to Tegnell, great man imo. I would like to shop that way, if I still lived in a fair sized village with a choice of shops. Maybe again, one day.

          1. I live in a fair-sized village that use to have dozens of shops. All it has now is the shop (and small café) attached to a brush factory.
            I need to travel four miles to the nearest small town (Tomelilla); 15 miles to the nearest large town (Ystad or Simrishamn); or 35 miles to the nearest city (Malmö or Lund).

          2. Very similar, hamlet more than village. There is a local shop, quite expensive – travel a few miles for more choice. I used to enjoy watching Wallander 😊😊

          5. Swedes prefer Lassgård, the original, but I’ve never seen any with him in the rôle. I’ve often had a coffee and a sandwich or cake in Fridolf’s Konditori, in Ystad, the café that features prominently in the books, where Wallander was a regular. They make a cake called Wallander Bakelse: slices of a cream-layered cake covered in a dark blue marzipan. It is popular with the tourists.

          6. Thanks Grizzly…cake sounds delicious, dark blue marzipan – how do you think that would be achieved – food colouring? I wish the BBC would go back to how it used to be. Tired now, dog already asleep, I’ll play solitaire until I get sleepy. ‘Night Grizz, see you tmrw 😘

      4. Most of our friends and family don't need Stuff.
        Experiences are more popular. Or yer actual dosh if you are an impoverished grandchild.

      5. I like shopping, vw doesn’t. Humans are social animals and need contact with other people. I think a lot of the mental health problems are due to WFH and internet shopping. People losing the gift of interpersonal skills.
        Such a pity.

        1. I quite like shopping for "goodies". Food shopping and necessities not so much. That's a chore that has to be done and done as quickly as possible because it's boring.

          1. I started my sales career in the grocery trade and was taught how to merchandise products for greatest effect.
            The problem with shopping only online is that you never get to see new products. People tend to forget that everything they eat, drink and have in their home was at one time a new product for them.

          2. I started my sales career in the grocery trade and was taught how to merchandise products for greatest effect.
            The problem with shopping only online is that you never get to see new products. People tend to forget that everything they eat, drink and have in their home was at one time a new product for them.

        2. I quite like shopping for "goodies". Food shopping and necessities not so much. That's a chore that has to be done and done as quickly as possible because it's boring.

    2. You can keep us all entertained from the airport lounge when your flight is delayed. Then when you arrive you can keep us all entertained waiting for the train strike to end.

      Planes, trains and automobiles was a good film !

  74. Brainwashed? Scared to speak out because f&fs think/say differently – bet there's a number of those. Ballet box will tell the truth (if not interfered with).

  75. Show's how organised they are. When I joined the CP some years ago, I was asked if I'd like a copy of the Manifesto, never received it. Still not sure what it is. Pretty easy to download the Reform one.

  76. I listened to a Delingpod with Charlotte Gill earlier. She has the world's most annoying voice (sorry, if she is reading this) but what she said was very interesting. Her background is media/journalism and she has ferreted around a lot of links between various UK slebs and organisations. As you would expect, a lot of left wing organisations are funded by the usual sources (def not grassroots!), Just Stop Oil being a classic example.
    A UK company called Global produces media programmes and organises outdoor adverts. They can manufacture celebrities. Celebrities with links to them seem to promote similar things.
    Stuff that we suspected was going on, but this illustrates that the media scene is not as spontaneous as one used to imagine.

  78. Cooper won't set timetable to cut 'dangerous' boat crossings

    Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has told the BBC the level of "dangerous" small boat Channel crossings is "far too high" but she refused to set out a timetable to reduce the number. More than 20,000 people have made the crossing to the UK since Labour took power, up on 17,020 during the same period last year.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c205n3gpd62o

    1. btw, Harlesden has always had a major gun problem.
      "Everybody and their mums is packing round ere"

      Dawn Butler said she was "devastated to learn of the murder" LOL.

      There have been no arrests and police inquiries are ongoing.

      This is a truly shocking incident.. Why?

      A family has been left devastated.. Yeah, course they are.

      Expensive looking cars parked outside council type houses.

      1. Dawn Butler devastated. Yeah…coming from a woman that won't go out at night in her own neighbourhood because it is too dangerous, Well done Dawn.

  80. National Ballet swaps Russian sweets in Nutcracker for Ukrainian treats in confected ballet row. 15 December 2024.

    In the new product, instead of merely the traditional chocolate from Spain dancers will embody Spanish “turron”, a type of nougat.

    The Chinese dance historically revolving around tea instead involves tanghulu, candied hawthorn berries.

    There is also great cultural specificity in the dance which once sought to represent Arabian coffee, and in the new production dancers embody “sahlab”, Egyptian orchid root milk with cinnamon.

    Political Correctness has turned these people into neurotic morons.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/12/15/english-national-ballet-swaps-sweets-ukrainian-nutcracker/

      1. I haven't done that this year. I normally do, but lethargy struck after I'd put the trees up and decorated the outside ones.

  83. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/74f9870f1fcd04adea0085c0da3971e41d2198cdee1f7f5ad621ff66a2702ebe.png Even though I don't currently eat them I was asked to bake a batch of 'traditional English' mince pies yesterday. I made some sweet shortcrust pastry (pâte sucrée) with the added juice and zest of a large orange. This formed the bases. I filled them with my own recipe mincemeat and then topped them with some frangipane instead of the normal pastry pie-lids. This gave them a bit of the character of a Bakewell tart but reports from those tasting them were certainly favourable.

      1. I think most of them have been put in the freezer, Katy. Not too many sweet tooths (teeth?) around here.

  84. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/74f9870f1fcd04adea0085c0da3971e41d2198cdee1f7f5ad621ff66a2702ebe.png Even though I don't currently eat them I was asked to bake a batch of 'traditional English' mince pies yesterday. I made some sweet shortcrust pastry (pâte sucrée) with the added juice and zest of a large orange. This formed the bases. I filled them with my own recipe mincemeat and then topped them with some frangipane instead of the normal pastry pie-lids. This gave them a bit of the character of a Bakewell tart but reports from those tasting them were certainly favourable.

    2. https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-winston-marshall-show/id1727337401?i=1000680365478

      The latest Winston
      Marshall podcast, with Charlie Peters and Guy Dampier

      “The huge scale of the ongoing Grooming Gangs in Britain scandal continues to be revealed.
      I sat down with journalists Charlie Peters and Guy Dampier at the Battle Of Ideas in London to discuss the issue. The two made the film ‘Grooming Gangs: Britain’s Shame’ ( https://youtu.be/VAGk2mvgBEk) and Peters has emerged as the leading journalist on the issue in Britain.
      Often Peters has been the only journalist present to report on high level prosecutions of the perpetrators.
      We discuss their experiences reporting on the scandal, the untold story of the Grooming Gangs and the failure of the media, police, politicians and country.
      We take a closer look at recent events and unknown stories within the scandal.…”

    3. https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-winston-marshall-show/id1727337401?i=1000680365478

      The latest Winston
      Marshall podcast, with Charlie Peters and Guy Dampier

      “The huge scale of the ongoing Grooming Gangs in Britain scandal continues to be revealed.
      I sat down with journalists Charlie Peters and Guy Dampier at the Battle Of Ideas in London to discuss the issue. The two made the film ‘Grooming Gangs: Britain’s Shame’ ( https://youtu.be/VAGk2mvgBEk) and Peters has emerged as the leading journalist on the issue in Britain.
      Often Peters has been the only journalist present to report on high level prosecutions of the perpetrators.
      We discuss their experiences reporting on the scandal, the untold story of the Grooming Gangs and the failure of the media, police, politicians and country.
      We take a closer look at recent events and unknown stories within the scandal.…”

        1. An Édouard Manet (A Bar at the Folies Bergère). Interestingly (and cleverly) the face of the chap, in the far top right corner of the painting, is the reflection of the viewer.

          Manet must have enjoyed a bottle-or-two of Bass beer (two of which are on the bar).

        2. An Édouard Manet (A Bar at the Folies Bergère). Interestingly (and cleverly) the face of the chap, in the far top right corner of the painting, is the reflection of the viewer.

          Manet must have enjoyed a bottle-or-two of Bass beer (two of which are on the bar).

  88. Net zero target at risk as households drop out of electricity rationing scheme

    Participation plunges after payments on offer to those avoiding peak energy hours fall dramatically

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/business/2024/12/13/TELEMMGLPICT000405211769_17341208458110_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqhQi2bHFlCdM9Pu7HDWK17c3p6nJtCIzEwAnAaFgLdyk.jpeg?imwidth=960 Ed Miliband’s mission for a net zero power grid has suffered a setback as hundreds of thousands of households drop out of a national electricity saving scheme.

    The Energy Secretary’s plan for a clean power system in 2030 hinges on millions of homes and businesses voluntarily cutting their consumption at the busiest times.

    In a plan published on Friday, the Government says this will be achieved by using “smart” devices to shift demand from electric car chargers, heat pumps and other appliances such as fridges and washing machines outside of peak hours.

    But despite the policy implying that many millions of consumers will need to sign up in the coming years, participation in the country’s flagship flexibility scheme has gone into reverse – having more than halved this winter, figures provided to The Telegraph show.

    At this time last year, more than 2m consumers had signed up to the so-called demand flexibility service.

    But today the figure stands at about 750,000, a drop of about 62pc, according to the National Energy System Operator (Neso), which manages Britain’s power grid.

    It follows a decision to slash the payments offered to customers by as much as 90pc.

    Energy industry insiders said the decision had dented the attractiveness of the scheme, leading to a lacklustre take-up from most suppliers.
    *
    *
    *
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/12/15/net-zero-target-threatened-electricity-rationing-scheme/
    *******************************

    D T Cook
    9 hrs ago
    Surely one of the best ways to reduce peak demand in the future would be by having car that don't need to be charged up on advance? If only there was some relatively cheap energy source that cars could carry around with them and use to propel themselves when they are actually being driven.

    Phillip Bratby
    8 hrs ago
    Reply to D T Cook
    You'll have to wait until petrol and diesel engines are invented!

    graham merritt
    3 hrs ago
    Reply to D T Cook
    Petrol energy de sity per kilo = 12,200 Wh/kg.
    Li-ion Battery energy density = 120 Wh/kg.
    Factor of 100 worse.
    Electric motors are about 90% efficient in turning stored energy into motion.
    Internal combustion engines are about 30%.
    That still makes ICE about 33 times more efficient than electric (without including the comparative efficiency of producing the fuel in the first place)

  89. Revealed: Ed Miliband warned against giving £1.5bn to retired miners

    Unearthed documents show taxpayers could be left funding years of pension payouts

    Ed Miliband was warned that giving £1.5bn to retired miners could leave taxpayers funding years of pension payments, unearthed documents show.

    According to its latest valuation report, the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme comes with “significant” financial risks and will require government funds to pay pensions if it suffers even a small drop in investment returns.

    The report, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act after the Government refused to release it, also explicitly states that this is more likely to happen without the £1.5bn buffer in place to protect taxpayers.

    However, that pot is now completely empty after Mr Miliband handed it back to miners last month, leaving one expert demanding he “stop arm-waving” and justify the decision.

    When British Coal was privatised in 1994, the Government struck a deal with the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme trustees. The state would guarantee pensions were paid, including annual increases for inflation, even if the scheme went bust.

    In return, it would receive half of any profit the scheme made, with the other half paid to miners in the form of bonuses.

    The Government’s share was kept in the Investment Reserve Fund, an emergency first-port-of-call pot in case the scheme ever needed more money. At the last valuation in 2023, this stood at nearly £1.5bn and the Government had never needed to pay in.

    However, Labour promised in its manifesto to return the money to miners – this was echoed by Mr Miliband on stage at this year’s Labour Party conference. On October 31, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) confirmed the money had been transferred.

    When The Telegraph requested a copy of the valuation report to investigate the decision, DESNZ said it was “not publicly available due to the sensitive nature of the contents”.

    After a successful Freedom of Information request, however, The Telegraph can reveal it warns that the scheme comes with significant short term financial risks.

    It also cautions that in the event of a deficit in the scheme, a consultation would be required to bridge the gap – and the only outcome outlined is an injection of government cash.

    The report goes on to explain that the likelihood of this happening would increase once the Investment Reserve Fund was paid to the Government in 2029 as planned.

    In one scenario, it also shows that if the scheme’s investments fell just 1.6pc a year, this emergency pot would be exhausted by 2026 and the taxpayer might need to pay in.

    However, there is no longer any such buffer after Mr Miliband returned it, with miners already benefiting in the form of increased pension payments.

    Pensions consultant, John Ralfe, said there was already a risk of the taxpayer having to contribute before the money was given back.
    *
    *
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/pensions/ed-miliband-warned-against-retired-miners-pensioners/

    ***************************

    Hc Rob
    8 hrs ago
    Miliband is an Union stooge and has been since he was voted party leader in 2010 . He is their lap dog and not fit for anything else . He is minister for Energy and net Zero because Starmer has been told by the unions to make him so . It will take years to undo the damage Starmer and co will do to the country . We have gone from the frying pan into the fire !!

    1. Me too, happy with par here today.

      Wordle 1,275 4/6

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

      1. 5 for me tonight.
        Wordle 1,275 5/6

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

    3. Yet another bogey – I think that's three on the bounce… Grrrr…

      Starter word keeps drawing a blank – maybe I'll change it, but then again what comes around goes around…

      Wordle 1,275 5/6

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

    4. A whole slew of bogies earlier on. Here was mine.
      Wordle 1,275 5/6

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

    5. I got there…just.

      Wordle 1,275 6/6

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

    6. Er, are you not able to show us your Wordle results in lines of grey, yellow and green, lacoste? I thought you had cracked it after my detailed instructions.

  92. I love receiving Christmas cards, but I hate sending them! Just preparing the envelopes for the post now, and stationery is NOT being cooperative. Sellotape splitting, envelopes refuse to seal themselves, glue has dried up…Grrrr.

      2. Only one received here, and that was early December. What is happening? I posted all mine the day before yesterday.

          1. That would be the dog-shaped shredder, would it? Kadi used to be a terror for shredding letters. Thankfully, he seems to have got over that now (famous last words!).

    2. If a Muslim body was crushed, pulped and dehydrated to a 2" cube you could get 8,000 of them to the m² down to 1m depth, ie to a m³.

    4. Reminds me of a section of the film "The Colditz Story" where prisoners were invited to work for the Nazis. One Frenchman stepped forward and said "I will do it. I would rather work for one German than one thousand Frenchmen". When asked what his profession was, he replied "Undertaker".

  94. Labour minister refuses to rule out letting Shamima Begum into UK

    Dame Angela Eagle, the Border Security Minister, says she cannot comment on future of former jihadi bride held at Syrian camp

    ************************

    W Sewell
    47 min ago
    Ignore her, in her culture she was old enough to marry. Her choice. I’m more concerned about perceived muslim sensitivities being allowed to overrule the abuse of poor little Sara and others

    Rachel Kenward
    36 min ago
    What about our Human Right to be protected from having people like her in our country, supported by our taxes and enjoying Legal Aid from top lawyers?

    2. I hope they allow her to bring her dust bin of severed heads. She could start her own Christmas market. Then we could crash cars and lorries into her chums. Seems fair to me.

    3. What is the matter with these people? They have no shame, no sense of morality and are quite open in their hatred of us the indigenous.

    5. Seems obvious HMG is edging towards saying yes, by all means, we’re happy to receive you back in the U.K.as long as we can find you a nice 3/4 bedroom house, pay you as many benefits as you can think of, give you pocket money, buy you a new phone, etc. etc, well, anything you desire. Please come back, we’ve missed you.

  95. Signing off – about to have Zoom with grand-daughter: well, it was scheduled for 4 pm – so nearly 1½ hours late is not bad going!

    Have a jolly evening – praying for a sunny Monday.

    A demain

  96. Moh and I had a few things to do this afternoon , and visited Sainsbury's in Weymouth for a few bits and pieces .

    The sea was calm , sky blue with large orange clouds , the sand was smooth and there were lots of people enjoying a stroll with their dogs and children .

    We had had our walk earlier .. so needed to crack on and hurry up with a bit of shopping .

    I spotted a couple packs of Ecclefechan Tarts.. on the mince pie rack in Sainsbury's . What a nice surprise ..

    I haven't tasted one for over fifty years .. and they were home made by a Scottish friend we knew up in Ayrshire when Moh was flying Sea king antisubmarine helicopters , based at Prestwick .

    Ecclefechan Tarts.. delicious… we enjoyed a couple when we arrived home with a cup of tea ..

    https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/sainsburys-ecclefechan-tarts-taste-the-difference-x4-185g
    Honestly , that is the first time I have seen them in a supermarket .. and rarely in a baker's shop in England .
    I suspect Grizzly will pop his head up and say … easy , a doddle , and produce a photo of some home made tarts ..

    Ecclefechan is in Dumfries and Galloway.

    1. ## MeToo. They were delightful. And as i swept the crumbs to the floor while reading in bed…Dolly and Harry thought so too !

    2. Ecclefechan Tarts?
      I'm glad you explained; they sound like a couple of Rebus' less respectable witnesses from the Lothian Road..

  97. Evening, all. Was surprised when I arrived at church this morning to find I was serving instead of sitting in the cheap seats to make my Christingle. I have now been booked up for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, so I must be doing okay. At least I managed to wrestle the candlestick out of its holder in time not to keep the choir waiting when we processed out this time.

    This government dismisses all the concerns of voters, the indigenous, residents and taxpayers. They have cloth ears (and not much between them either).

      1. Yes indeed! We only have incense occasionally, but probably over Christmas (I haven't been to Christmas services here; I usually walk into town rather than drive, but I was asked so I said yes – the story of my life!).

          1. Apparently the chaps manning it can be somewhat refreshed.
            All that communion wine and a holy festival.

          1. The circus act is fun, but I don't feel it adds to the religious aspect of worship.
            I always remember "Where two or three are gathered together in My name"… no mention of incence, buildings, pomp & circumstance.

          2. As long as the ceremonies don’t overshadow the word, I think they are OK. There is a lot of encouragement in celebrating together.
            There’s a great push from the C of E now to denigrate buildings and to move services over into people’s houses – of course, the real reason is that said buildings are worth a fortune if sold off. The parishes will quickly die if services are held in people’s houses – in our area, it’s always the rich people who can afford to host services – that is most definitely NOT what Christianity should be about.

      1. Sort of. We carry the cross (crucifer), swing the incense burner (thurifer) and carry the candlesticks (lucifer – oops) 🙂 We also receive the elements (the bread and wine) for consecration, let the priest know how many in the congregation and receive the offertory.

        1. Sounds like a lot of work. When I was an altar boy many years ago we had fewer responsibilities. I often carried a plate to place under the communicant as the host was placed in their mouth. Something we all wanted to do and treated being chosen for this duty as an honour

      1. Irony is, house owners/tax payers paying for the purchases, Paul – where gov't gets it's money from. Two sources – taxes you and I and companies pay, and what they can borrow (and % rate there depends on what anyone willing to pay for UK bonds). So I guess you could be paying to buy your own place…….

  101. Girlie tasting note.
    As a pre-Christmas clear-out, we have just drained a started bottle of Bailey's – opened some time last winter.
    Schtilll perfekly KO.

      2. Yes. The inlaws had several bottles i thought they needed to get rid of as they were cluttering up their cocktail cabinet.
        Half pint glass filled with ice. Then up end the bottle(s).

    2. Several years ago, I came across a recipe for home-made Bailey's. The result was identical to the real thing but it didn't keep, as one of the ingredients was fresh cream. It had to be finished up in a couple of days.

    3. Several years ago, I came across a recipe for home-made Bailey's. The result was identical to the real thing but it didn't keep, as one of the ingredients was fresh cream. It had to be finished up in a couple of days.

    5. Sainsbury's with Nectar were doing litre bottles of Baileys half price for a tenner. You can get pissed at half price !

      At my party my sister was drinking Baileys with raspberry vodka with a splash of Chambord. She never did have any taste !

        1. The offer might have changed by now !

          I do like their substitute promise when buying online. Bought a pack of mach 3 @ £9. They subbed it for a pack of 8 which would have been £17. Then gave me a voucher for £8.

          I think i am going to get a bit more canny with their subs !

  102. That's dinner done. First old-fashioned roast for quite a while, boiled veg, gravy and stuffing.
    Lovely! Glass red wine, and I'm well happy.
    Washing-up taken care of, relaxing over a post-prandial glass.
    Done bugger-all today, and the relaxing has done a great deal of good. Almost energised to look forward to work tomorrow…

    1. Yesterday I did Belly Pork, marinaded in home made cider for 2 days, and cooked on a bed of stuffing made up using the aforesaid cider.
      Served with potatoes, carrots, turnip, parsnips and gravy.

      Today, some rather nice sausages with the DT's concoction of mashed together potato and veg left overs on top of tinned tomatoes topped off with cheese.

  104. I believe the "in people's houses" approach was used in communist East Germany, to avoid the attention of the Stasi.

      1. Some are certainly being re-purposed. Perhaps with a new Archbish the CofE re-energised? depending on who that is, I suppose. Speaking as an outsider, I hope not female (even though I am one).

    2. If we’re in someone’s house, we don’t need the church of england at all – or their covid rules. Not sure they’ve thought of that.

  105. Here's one for all Y'all.
    A good friend has a Newfoundland, and the poor dog is having seizures – mostly managed by drugs, but still not fully effective.
    Do you know any dietary or non-medical action that might reduce the frequency or severity? It's getting both friend and dog down – and she has added stress over that her favourite Newfie, Mother to this one, died just recently.

    2. Wish I could help, Paul…my own dog has dietary probs with kibble, he's now on pro-biotics…everything I tried diet-wise hasn't worked so far. I have heard that epilepsy meds humans can take some time to take effect/the correct dose. Possibly consult a different vet, second opinion? There may be online help in form of a specialist centre, dogs with epilepsy..good luck, Kate x

      1. Thanks, Kate. I'm a bit anxious, this friend is the lady who I would have asked to marry me if I hadn't been already married to SWMBO, and she's unmarried and unattached – no domestic support. So I feel a lot of responsibility for her, she's understandably anxious and stressed by this, and if I can help in some way, so much the better.
        She's in England too, so even rushing round to give her a comforting hug isn't on.

        1. Sigh…I know that scene, Paul – you're not alone. Love isn't selective..what the heart wants, corny but true. As for dog…it's a carnivore, which I know can be an expensive diet for a dog but I'd try it – if friend has a slow cooker, use cheap cuts of beef with some stock, cook all day…and repeat for a week then assess how dog doing? If no or reduced fitting, repeat for a month and re-assess. As for the comforting hug, she'll know x..been there done that too x

          1. We used to feed the beagle lights (hint, they smell vile, but putting Bovril in with it makes it reasonable).

          2. Lungs, I think? Good old Bovril, used to be around 90% beef extract but think lower now. Knorr stockpots quite good, too.

          5. I'm feeding my doggies mostly chicken and some kibble. I'm worried they aren't getting enough salts. Do you recommend Bovril or some marmite?

          6. I think Marmite is yeast extract. Don't know if that's good for them. Bovril is beef. Is your kibble complete meal? I got Kadi a large bone recently. It's done wonders for his teeth. Sparkling pearly whites now!

          7. My little ones can only really handle a lamb chop bone. I might put a smear of Bovril on their plates some times.

      2. Thanks for the thought on the eats. Asked ChatGPT, and it came up with this:
        Probiotic food is not a direct treatment for fits (seizures), but it may play an indirect role in supporting neurological health and reducing the frequency or severity of seizures in some cases. This is because the gut and brain are closely linked through the gut-brain axis, which involves communication between the gut microbiota, the nervous system, and the immune system. Here's what research suggests:

        1. Gut-Brain Axis and Seizures:
        The gut microbiota can influence brain function through the production of neurotransmitters, hormones, and metabolites.
        In people with neurological conditions, such as epilepsy, an imbalance in the gut microbiota (dysbiosis) has been observed. Restoring this balance with probiotics might help improve neurological health.
        2. Anti-Inflammatory Effects:
        Chronic inflammation can contribute to neurological issues, including seizures. Probiotics can reduce inflammation by promoting the growth of beneficial gut bacteria, which may help mitigate seizure activity in some individuals.
        3. Potential Effects on Epilepsy:
        Early studies suggest that probiotics might complement traditional epilepsy treatments. For example:
        A 2018 study found that probiotic supplementation reduced seizure frequency in some patients with drug-resistant epilepsy.
        Probiotics may improve gut health, which can help regulate the nervous system and potentially reduce triggers for seizures.
        4. Probiotics and the Ketogenic Diet:
        The ketogenic diet, often used to manage drug-resistant epilepsy, may alter gut bacteria. Adding probiotic foods can help maintain gut balance during the diet and improve tolerance to it.
        5. Stress and Anxiety Regulation:
        Stress and anxiety are common seizure triggers. Probiotics can influence the production of neurotransmitters like serotonin, which may help regulate mood and reduce seizure risk linked to stress

        1. Dog done just one day on probiotics, bought them from Amazon 'Zesty Paws' probiotic chews. Hasn't sicked it up yet – good sign. And slept all evening without the usual tummy whines and gurglings. Food unchanged, soaked kibble with a chunk of meat as topping. Loves cheese too…that has microbes, I think? I've rarely had antibiotics, but they make me feel really really really ill, think they kill off all gut flora, so possibly similar all living beings. Doc once prescribed anti-bs for me he thought I had HP…tongue turned bright orange, terrible stomach pain. Actually diagnosed with diverticulis by a consultant. If diet's the thing affecting dog might just see a difference quite quickly if changed. Gut ache can cause anxiety, my dog running about whining etc…

    3. I think that really depends on what's causing the seizures. Presumably a vet has been involved given that drugs are being administered.

  106. You'd need a biggish house to accommodate our congregation; there were 45 this morning and numbers are usually in the 40s.

  107. I think you’re right. It’s become more acceptable to receive the host in the hand. I was told that handling the sacred host was a sacrilege but all these rules have fallen by the wayside

    1. Yes, I noticed that at the consecration of the new altar in Notre Dame. Some people knelt to receive the Host into their mouth, but many just stood and held out their hands.

  108. Hi all. I’m in St Mary’s Hospital. Being kept in overnight after the heart scan. Cardiologist will see me tomorrow.

    3. Oh dear, Sue. Difficult to sleep in there I'm sure. Any possibilities mentioned of what they might do for you? Best wishes.

      They're also probably just covering their arses by keeping you in overnight and there's not much wrong with you. Be positive. xxx

        1. Perhaps the two connected, then. Sound like they know what they're doing – a good consultant can seem like a god – to me anyway.

          1. I am taking a small dose f bisoprolol nowadays. The biggest problem is that I am supposed to take half of a tablet and the brand they have started dispensing has a plasticized surface that makes it impossible to cut cleanly. It really is enough to make your blood pressure go up.

    4. All the best for good sleep, Sue – I know hospitals can be noisy, plus different bed, mattress etc. Hope it's good news, look forward to hearing so…Kate xxx

    9. Hope it's only precautionary. At least you're being seen. Don't suppose you'll get much sleep if my most recent stay (when I broke my ribs) was anything to go by.

    11. Good. That's fast, is that. Your troubles will start when they want to release you – Expect at least most of a day – sitting with your bag packed, and your Oystercard in your hand!!!

      KBO, Our Susan.

    14. Don't forget if the noise becomes unbearable under the 1948 Act, which established the NHS, patients have a right to ask for a single room (amenity bed) for which hospitals are permitted to make a reasonable daily charge …

      Hope all goes well with your consultation tomorrow Sue

    16. Hi Sue ,

      Relax and just try to chill out , don't fret . At least they have now got you on their list for procedures .

      Please don't feel frightened , a few of us have had similar .

      Think of your bestest piece of music /comedy/ conversation/experiences.. and the fresh air of Yorkshire , call of the curlew and peewit (plover )

      Hope you have a good book to bury your nose in .. short reads and a good story are a sweet distraction.

      Settle down and have a good sleep

      God bless.

      Tomorrow will tell you more .

    18. Must be something they saw. It's probably a lot better enjoying the upscale NHS bed instead of possibly aggravating yourself in the outside world.
      If they decide to give you a stent, insist on being able to see the TV screen, it's fascinating to see inside your working heart.

  111. One for Conners, although I’ve forgotten the details already. At home in Wolverhampton and my aunty (85) was telling me she’s off to Haydock on Saturday (she’s very horsey) with friends who own race horses who are stabled and trained in Bridgenorth by some lady callex ?Melanie something and the horses are usually ridden by ?Charlie Duce. Anyway i think the horse on Saturday is called My Bobby Dazzler (or something like that).

    2. Charlie Deutsch? Mel Rowley. My Bobby Dazzler, owned by Bob Barrett (home bred) by Malinas (GER) out of Ease and Grace (King's Theatre IRE). Foaled 7th May 2015. Has won 3 times over hurdles, once over fences and once point-to-point.

      1. Ah yes those sound about right! My aunty is very much looking forward to her trip yp north on Saturday!!!

      2. Ah yes those sound about right! My aunty is very much looking forward to her trip yp north on Saturday!!!

    3. Charlie Deutsch? Mel Rowley. My Bobby Dazzler, owned by Bob Barrett (home bred) by Malinas (GER) out of Ease and Grace (King's Theatre IRE). Foaled 7th May 2015. Has won 3 times over hurdles, once over fences and once point-to-point.

      1. It wasn't working not long ago! I think they've finally managed to get it repaired, but it was touch and go. Bridgnorth has a High Town and a Low Town, which is why it needs the funicular.

  112. And that's me off to bed.
    Got a little bit done up the "garden" and even managed to get Grad.Son to assist.
    Good night all.

  113. Is there no end to the madness? From the BBC:

    "UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy has said the British government has had "diplomatic contact" with the Syrian rebel group that toppled the Assad regime. Lammy said Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) remains a proscribed terrorist organisation, but the UK "can have diplomatic contact and so we do have diplomatic contact, as you would expect". His US counterpart Antony Blinken said on Saturday that the US had made "direct contact" with the HTS rebels now in control of Syria.
    Lammy's remarks come as     the government announced a £50m humanitarian aid package for vulnerable Syrians, including refugees in the region".

    1. I don't think the NHS should worry about the forthcoming Flu Season. reading the comments over on the DT there appears to be an Apoplexy Pandemic!

        1. The symptoms are made even worse by the ignorant NHS in Norfolk insisting visitors to the hospitals there wear masks….

        2. The symptoms are made even worse by the ignorant NHS in Norfolk insisting visitors to the hospitals there wear masks….

        3. The symptoms are made even worse by the ignorant NHS in Norfolk insisting visitors to the hospitals there wear masks….

    2. I don't think the NHS should worry about the forthcoming Flu Season. reading the comments over on the DT there appears to be an Apoplexy Pandemic!

  114. Almost choked on my Ovaltine/Nurofen , Conway…I think you may be correct. Christianity and the CofE is badly needed in the UK today, imo …might even return myself. Bell-ringing started again, a good sign I hope.

    1. What sort of bone? Shin, rib, hock? Butcher's bone? I 'd like to get one for Rico…. I don't have a lot of experience with bones…!

        1. Ha! She knew that if you did you would not be presenting your doggies for a tooth cleaning session! Oh what a cynical old rat bag I have turned into.

  120. Monday 16th December, 2024

    Plum

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f15108925be65a9a2608d8e25edca14c950fe7218c958fddb1d38927a117d0b9.png
    We hope all is well with you. You are very much missed here

    With our fond best wishes.

    Caroline and Rastus

    We hope you are still enjoying Howard Spring's novels many of which are set in Cornwall. And we remember how much you loved the Beatles' music and especially the songs of George Harrison:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQetemT1sWc
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UelDrZ1aFeY

  122. Well, chums, it's bed time for me. Good Night, sleep well (especially Sue Mac), and I shall see you all tomorrow morning.

    PS – After posting the above I read a line or two below and couldn't resist watching the two George Harrison clips. Then a little further down I read about Sue Mac being in hospital so I amended the original lines above. And now, I WILL sign off and go to bed.

  128. Ah thanks…I wonder if it depends how deeply they’re planted…main thing is yours is OK.:-)) Trees planted near together apparently feed each other through their roots. They’re all rattling round now in the high wind here..many mountain ash covered in ivy, weight sometimes brings them down.

    1. I love our silver birch – it always was my favourite tree from when I was very young. This one was offered as a free “millenium tree” from Alpen – there were other choices and I chose this one. We planted it in November 2000, and it was just a very small whip. It’s now a very tall, straight, mature tree – beautiful at any time of year.

  129. It sounds a beaut, made a good choice. A number in woodland here but oaks now king after ash affected by die-back, a good number cut down (they burn well) but some resilient ones still going strong.

    1. A lot of the ash trees round here were affected by die-back and there has been extensive clearance of them along roadsides, etc. It all looked a bit bare after they were cleared. I think we have some ash logs in the woodshed.

        1. A year or so ago someone dropped some large logs off for us – OH was a bit annoyed as they were rather big and he couldn’t cope with splitting them. But some went on to other neighbours and the rest were chopped up a bit for us, so we are well- supplied for this winter.

          1. Good news, I suspect could be a hard one…we have grey squirrels here they do some tree damage and also nest rob. Neighbour traps them. Do you still have any reds, Ndovu? I miss ’em..

          2. No reds have been seen here for many years. The last ones we saw were in Northumberland a few years ago, and also Brownsea Island, also about 20 years ago. The grey ones tend to hand upside down on the bird feeders, so they are quite comical, but I know they are a nuisance.

          3. I think there’s a small colony still at Fleetwood but I haven’t been so can’t say for sure. They need Scots Pines to flourish, been a bit scant last few years but likely to do better if cold weather ahead. Greys bury acorns everywhere and fight over ownership. They are indeed clever as the go along finding the hoards they buried earlier. They chewed through metal feeder one time. Not seen any badgers, setts empty and no new ones for quite a few years. One of my terriers got a baby few years ago, it started squealing, mother appeared barrelling towards dog..luckily got there to snatch dog up just in time wouldn’t have fancied her chances against a badger esp one after her pup 🙄🤔😁

          4. We had a visit from a badger one night last week – ripped the bottom off the compost bin and scattered the contents all over the garden – they usually just dig holes in the lawn. But years ago, when we used to look after hedgehogs here we saw what they could do and it was not a pretty sight and was very upsetting.

          5. Hear you, not just slugs the carnivore badgers go for, nature red in tooth and claw. I’m very sorry you were upset, can be distressing to see and hear- I’ve experienced other incidents including one day my own dog which became oblivious to my command.

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