Sunday 15 June: Labour is sabotaging the chances of young Britons to enter the nursing profession

Posted on by Geoff Graham

An unofficial place to discuss the Telegraph letters, established when the DT website turned off its commenting facility (now reinstated, but we prefer ours),
Intelligent, polite, good-humoured debate is welcome, whether on or off topic. Differing opinions are encouraged, but rudeness or personal attacks on other posters will not be tolerated. Posts which – in the opinion of the moderators – make this a less than cordial environment, are likely to be removed, without prior warning.  Persistent offenders will be banned.

Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here.

607 thoughts on “Sunday 15 June: Labour is sabotaging the chances of young Britons to enter the nursing profession”

    1. What's the latest on the Earth's magnetic field? And what is Ed Miliband doing about it?

      1. We know that they know that we know they lie. But still they lie. ©️ A. Solzhenitsyn. (This is where predictive text comes into its own. I can never remember how to spell his name!)

    2. OK, now tell us why we never see groups of women and children in the way that we see gangs of fighting age men?
      If large numbers of women and children were leaving the boarder assistance boats (sic) it would be highlighted on the main BBC news every day.

      I will bet that if the Iranian regime falls that Britain under Labour will be welcoming fleeing Revolutionary Guards with open arms.

    3. All those women and children with beards and moustaches? They are obviously coming here for razor blades and electric shavers. Stands to reason, don't it?

    4. What a complete sh*t! Credit where credit is due, Zia pulled him up on that immediately.

  7. daz
    10h
    So a "thick" football hooligan from Luton who showed more bravery than almost all our politicians put together, who was willing to go to prison for telling us what our politicians didn't want us to know, who had every MSM organisation fighting against him……won.
    We will be building statues of him soon. And so we should.

    Beebsplaining
    12h
    What say jess now🤔 surely she has to go and they can forget the crocodile tears and spittle flecked faux upset as well🥱
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4cad9f76e364f4ffffde56cf6b5a1a85ba9ea4b91aab3324dd9a9e2871c63934.png

    1. What happens if Hungary refuses to pay and tells the EU [that well known, totally undemocratic cess pit] to eff off?

      2. A lot of Hungarians work in the EU, which ties the government's hands somewhat. Have you seen anything concrete about them wanting to leave?

  9. Good morning, chums. And thanks, Geoff, for today's new NoTTLe site.

    Wordle 1,457 3/6

    🟨🟩⬜🟩⬜
    ⬜🟩🟨🟩🟨
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  10. LondonToryJCapnsMate
    9h
    Starmer is worried about the fall out if the public know the 'Truth'.
    Starmer is trying to get ahead of the game and control the narrative.
    Starmer is going to rely on his 'Lawyer' chums to pull a Blair 'Iraq' Scam Enquiry.
    All those Labour MP's who voted against an enquiry should be resigning. First up Jess Philips as that's a given.
    Of course they won't. They will be helped by the legacy media to try and spin out of it.
    Oh and in January Starmer accused anyone who wanted such an enquiry of "Jumping on the bad wagon of the Far Right".

    HatanakaHacker
    9h
    Starmer: "I've never said we should not look again at any issue".
    ANOTHER lie.

    Quite clearly a lie.

    He clearly said in parliament that another enquiry should not happen.

  11. Manny Kent
    9h
    I know its been a long time but I just couldn't keep away. Not when a bunch of left wing extremists are destroying the nation and that that coward u-turn Kier has run away to Canada just as the proverbial is about to hit the fan.He's not thinking of seeking asylum is he?

    Well well well a statutory national enquiry. How many Home secretaries will now be forced to give testimony. Straw (J),Blunkett, Clarke (C),Smith (J), Reid (J), Johnson (A), May, Rudd, Javid, Patel, Bravermen, Shapps, Cleverly. So much blame to go around. Who is going to get exposed for covering it up. Then there are those in local government. Do Khan and Burnham have clean hands? Livingstone? Boris? Then of course there are the PM's from Blair on and the Lord Chancellors . Who knew what when? Then there are the DPP's the Police Chiefs, Councillors and sundry national politicians. Why for example were Labour making up the immigration figures (remember Beverly Hughes was sacked from government after a whistle blower compromised her)? This could shake the very core of the establishment.

    Thing is when things like this happen people get consciences and come clean (in the hope they will be treated with less severity) so how many are looking over their shoulder?

    Two things are already clear. First the policy of multiculturalism has not only failed but is detrimental to the nation's societal health and secondly if not for Labour's reactionary use of the word r***st to address anyone or anything that questions the mass immigration first adopted by Blair. If not for the intimidation and bullying oppression of that Labour regime and their media stooges (BBC Guardian, Mirror) and the establishment culture that arose because of it then the severity of this problem would have considerably less and the assumed cover up would unlikely have happened.

    1. 407513+ up ticks,

      Morning C1,

      I do believe the "parliamentary tight collar season is about to commence".

    1. Those two men are sick beyond human understanding.
      And yes, the death penalty should be applied.
      However, the fact that they are gay is not the point. The fact that they are evil is the cause of this appalling case.

      1. They talk of assisted dying and abortions available up to birth but they won't bring back the death penalty. I hope those men are murdered in prison.

        2. It is the death penalty, but applied to innocent children for the crime of being conceived

      2. What on earth were the woke social service thinking of , and I hope the real parents of that beautiful child suffer guilt all the way to hell.. an unwanted child is an appalling thought.

      3. Just jail them in an ordinary jail, not segregated and justice will soo be done

    2. The Timothy Evans case is indirectly used to justify the deaths of innocents, killed by murderers who were released, and in some cases hurt many.

      There is even a conspiracy view that Evans was guilty of his daughter's death but exonerated as a result of a coincidence of another killer being around simultaneously.

      Christianity is founded on the basis that an innocent man should die to save others.

    3. ogga1, I share your view. Benjamin has many good ideas but on this issue I cannot agree with him. The death penalty is too quick and, as history shows, too prone to mistakes happening.

      For anyone found guilty of heinous crimes the outcome for the perpetrator must be a full life term, no hope of release at any time for any reason. Committing monstrous crime places the perpetrator outside of decent society and that is where they should remain with natural death the only release. Solitary confinement with little, or preferably none, interaction with anyone, including gaolers.

    4. There was a very similar case in America last year. They were sentenced to 100 years each without parole.

  13. Sam AshWorth-Hayes in the Telegraph.

    Officials threw children to the wolves to save their own skins. Now they must pay the price
    A generation of politicians and officials abandoned children who needed their help to avoid ‘tensions’. It’s time they faced a reckoning

    In January, Sir Keir Starmer accused opposition MPs expressing concern over grooming gangs of “amplifying what the far-Right is saying” and “jumping on a bandwagon”. Having fought tooth and nail against any public inquiry into the scandal for months, he now appears to have conceded they were right all along, announcing that he has accepted Baroness Louise Casey’s recommendation of a full statutory inquiry.

    So that’s that. Judged by his own words, the Prime Minister is jumping on a far-Right bandwagon. It demonstrates how absurd his reflexive statement was, but it also illustrates exactly how this scandal was permitted to go on for so long: an instinctive urge to protect the narrative of a cohesive multicultural nation built through immigration, with a few far-Right malcontents, rather than a deeply divided society where neutral enforcement of the law could lead to chaos on the streets.

    The reason the grooming gangs were not dealt with earlier is simple: a generation of politicians and state officials acted as if it was in essence better for society if children were raped by these gangs and officials covered it up, than if the state was to act to stop the violence and risk “tensions” between communities.

    Read that again. And now read what they allowed to happen.

    In Telford, Lucy Lowe died at 16 alongside her mother and sister when her abuser set fire to her home. She was pregnant when she was killed, and her death was used to threaten other children.

    In Rotherham, the father of a 15-year-old rape victim was told by police officers the assault might mean she would “learn her lesson”. The ordeal had been so brutal she required surgery. Children were “doused in petrol and threatened with being set alight”; parents who tracked down their daughters and tried to rescue them were arrested by the police.

    In Oxford, a child was raped by four men simultaneously; “a red ball was placed in her mouth to keep her quiet”.

    And this was allowed to go on because officials were terrified of being called racist, terrified of stoking community tensions. In Manchester, police officers aware “the offending target group were predominantly Asian males” were “told to try and get other ethnicities”. In Telford, when the council became aware that taxi drivers were offering children rides for sex, it leapt into action and suspended licensing enforcement. In Rotherham, a police officer stated that the town would “erupt” if the routine abuse of white children by Pakistani heritage men became public knowledge.

    And remember: these are the stories that have come to light despite the state’s reticence to investigate fully. As Conservative MP for Keighley Robbie Moore stated in the Commons in January, the scale of offending in Bradford, for instance, has still to be fully investigated; what is eventually uncovered may well “dwarf” that uncovered in Rotherham.

    Now it is vital to make sure that this does not become another cover-up. We need answers rapidly; we need names; we need the full publication of evidence, witnesses compelled to give testimony from police officers and council workers to ministers.

    And we need to be honest about the sort of society we are today, and what we’d like to be. If the cover-up of mass rape of children is the price of preserving the status quo, it isn’t worth paying.

    1. Not only that , remember the poor teacher who had to go into hiding in Batley , remember all the injustices against innocent indigenous English people , and of course the girl who is languishing in jail for saying hurty words , remember the slaughter of our own people by imported people from a different culture , remember the young soldier who was practically beheaded when he was set upon by to black thugs.

      It isn't just all about grooming gangs , it is about the indifference of politicians to the chaos caused by their callous uncaring ignorance of the daily arrivals of people from a different continent / 2 different continents/ 3 different continents , and the treatment of our own people who are suffering from violent attacks and verbal abuse by being called racist!

      1. It is about the wholesale betrayal of a once reasonably happy and settled country. A political and social system that had taken a 1,000 + years to evolve.
        All destroyed in a couple of decades.

      1. Yes. Sorry. I don't like reading such things, but we have reached this degraded level because we all chose to trust the authorities or wished such unpleasantness would go away.
        I am one ageing English woman; there is little I can now do but disseminate information.

        1. It's right to get folk riled up over things like that, because the cause might be fixed. And if that's uncomfortable for the perpetrators, then good. It might encourage others to know that we'll come for you if you mess with folk in that way. The same with those two bastards who got themselves a little boy and raped him… would they do that, knowing that retribution will be inevitable and painful?

          1. I feel so helpless.
            Knock thirty/forty years off my age and I could do something more practical and useful.
            Keyboard warrior is all I have left.

    3. A couple of BTL Comments:-

      R. Spowart
      12 min ago
      Message Actions
      About bloody time!
      For FAR too long the Press, including the Telegraph, knew what was going on and followed the coverup.

      And yes, I DO include the sainted Andrew Norfolk, who kept quiet for EIGHT YEARS after reporting Anne Cryer's Keighley speech in that.

      reply 10 0

      Milla Fid
      19 min ago
      If police officers from ethnic minorities are found to have been complicit in these horrific crimes this must have far reaching implications. Neutrality on every level should be demanded from any and every public and civil servant and enforced. We have got to this point because we have allowed a rabid activist class to infiltrate every organisation. They must go.

      reply 1 reply 16 0
      report

      Reply by R. Spowart.
      RS
      R. Spowart
      5 min ago
      Reply to Milla Fid
      Message Actions
      "IF"?????
      It's a racing certainty they will.

    4. Not only were all those cover ups happening. All of those poor abused youngsters are going to have to live with their terrible experiences for the rest of their lives.
      The guilty should be deported.

      1. Not exactly straight backs, either.
        Given the number of black faces, its probably a telly advert.

  15. Good morning all

    Fine sunny start to the day , 14c and I am dreading the so called extreme heat forecast for the week ahead .

    Son ran well in the Poole Park 5k run yesterday , then promptly fell over , grazing his leg badly , and damaged his left wrist .

    One of us will be taking him for an Xray before 9am this morning , he has an appointment , the local Xray dept closed at 5pm yesterday .. yes , 5pm, the queue was long ..

  17. Morning, all Y'all.
    Overcast – rain forecast. Was planning garden work today, so rain likely.

  18. Morning all,

    Experts now believe they think they know why the Air India RAT was ejected from the plane during takeoff, the electrics flashed on and off and passenger in seat 11A left the plane early before the fire started.

        1. Ram Air Turbine.
          Modern aircraft generate power in the main engines or an additional fuel-burning turbine engine called an auxiliary power unit, which is often mounted in the rear of the fuselage or in the main-wheel well. The RAT generates power from the airstream due to the speed of the aircraft. If aircraft speeds are low, the RAT will produce less power. In normal conditions the RAT is retracted into the fuselage (or wing), and is deployed manually or automatically following complete loss of power. In the time between power loss and RAT deployment, batteries are used.

      2. Ram Air Turbine – can be deployed automatically into the airflow if there's an electrical failure. Most airliners have them
        Edit – sorry Del hadn't read down as far as your reply

      3. Ram Air Turbine

        A propeller driven generator which is automacally deployed beneath the fuselage when the aircraft detects an electrical power failure. It will be activated should both of the jet engines that provide electrical power to the plane fail to generate sufficient thrust.

        Unfortunately if this happens at takeoff there is little time for the pilots to take action to recover the required flight path. 787s have been known to land successfully after RATs have been activated at altitude.

        1. Being pedantic – the generating of sufficient thrust is immaterial – it's the insufficient generation of electrical power which activates the RAT – the purpose of which is to supply essential electrical power. The RAT does not generate thrust

          1. The RAT may have chewed through the electrical wiring harness and shorted out the fuel pump? 🤔

          2. Sorry but your answer doesn’t even deserve a reply it’s so ridiculous – please leave comments about aircraft technicalities to those who have spent their lives working on them

          3. Thanks for your reply.
            In my professional capacity as a professional electrical engineer I used to take part in brainstorming sessions where ridiculous ideas were not criticised in a multidiscipline context for reaching solutions to moving forward:

            AI Overview:

            ‘Traditional Brainstorming:
            Free-wheeling:
            Participants spontaneously share ideas without criticism, aiming for a wide range of possibilities. ‘

          4. Understood but I’d be interested in hearing how you came to that theory when all the rotating parts of the RAT are outside the aircraft (in the slipstream) and the wiring for the fuel pumps is inside the aircraft and probably 30 to 40ft away.

          6. This ex Indian Air Force veteran does surmise that an electrical fault of some form may have led to dual engine failure of the plane which would then have resulted in RAT deployment:

            https://youtu.be/P-dTppPwKx0?si=8UY_nPVRCqjLcuSO

            There are still questions that need to be answered which will ultimately further clarify failure possibilities by detailed analysis of the black box recordings.

    1. Problem Is Phizz they will probably turn up here, having seen how they get away with it in pathetic softie Britain.

  23. Good morning all.
    A bit tardy this morning, a load of washing is on, I've already had my 1st mug of tea and the 2nd is brewing!
    Dry with a light overcast and a pleasantly warm 16°C outside.
    Now off to sort my tea out and take the DT her mug of tea and bowl of Weetabix.

  25. Morning all. From Rupert Lowe:

    “Update from the Rape Gang Inquiry

    Dear Supporter,

    We launched the Rape Gang Inquiry because politicians lacked the moral fortitude to fight for the victims of these despicable crimes. Uncomfortable questions about how such a scandal was allowed to unfold in our country were simply going unanswered.

    We began this process with the suspicion that we would find official involvement in these crimes. But we have been shocked at the scale and nature of the involvement that we are being told about from brave survivors.

    Next week a government report will be published that recommends next steps on the Rape Gang scandal. Media speculation suggests that a National Inquiry may be recommended. This would be a huge victory for the tens of thousands of you who have supported this cause, but would not in itself guarantee justice.

    Because whether it’s local councils who have simply failed to collect data on gang-based sexual exploitation, victims who have been denied the compensation and support they deserve, or public officials with direct involvement in these crimes, the rot is deeply embedded.

    We will not stop in our mission to ensure that every victim gets the outcome they deserve and that every culpable individual is held relentlessly to account. Our commitment to this cause has never been stronger and, whilst it appears politicians are beginning to listen, we do not intend to relent.”

    1. For anyone that doesn't click on X, the point of the post is that the journalists from the mainstream media are all there, but they aren't allowed to report on the proceedings….so what are they up to?
      Getting their orders, would be the obvious conclusion.

  27. Tehran threatens UK as Starmer scrambles RAF: Prime Minister sends jets to the Middle East as war rages between Iran and Israel – and refuses to rule out further British action.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14813357/Tehran-threatens-UK-Starmer-scrambles-RAF-Prime-Minister-sends-jets-Middle-East-war-rages-Iran-Israel-refuses-rule-British-action.html

    They have missiles that can deliver a one ton payload that can reach Birmingham.

    Islam-the religion of peace.

        1. Are we sure Brum is Sunni? (It probably is but the wordplay is hard to resist.)

        2. Ah yes. Like the muslim Glaswegian newsagent who dared to be civil to his customers.

          3. I watch Dan Wooton but I do wish he would curb the camp and the gossiping. That nonsense is tedious and annoying.

      2. The Ayatollahs are Shia, the Muslims of Israel, as are all Muslims in that area of the world, Sunni.

        1. I was being slightly facetious, having visited Birmingham a couple of years ago and having seen how many women were walking around in Islamic dress, with a fair few wearing the full veil. It didn’t seem to me be an English city. I won’t be going back.

    2. Shirley the jets were already at RAF Akrotiri. We have a permanent presence in that region.

    3. What a good idea, could they be fuelled to reach Bradford, Rotherham and a few more muslim held cities

  28. Good Morning!

    Xandra H, a psychologist, lets us in on the psychological war being waged by the forces of Globalism to control our minds. Read her Applied psychology – demonic influence or angelic saviour? and let us know your opinion.

    Robin Tilbrook, who recently wrote of his application to the High Court for a full Judicial Inquiry into all aspects of the Rape Gang scandal and cover up, introduces his party, the English Democrats and he associated English workers union in unsurprisingly, the English Democrats and Workers of England Union .

    Energy Watch: Over the last 24 hours: Britain's electric power was sourced from Gas, 13.1%; Solar, 9.9%: Wind 31.1%; Imports, 18.5%; Biomass, 8.8%; Nuclear 15% and Miscellaneous, 3.6%.

  29. Morning All 🙂😊
    Happy fathers day to all you fathers 🤗😇🤩
    A cooler start and hopefully no rain to spoil the planned bbqs.
    We all know The Lowbar party in every aspect are outright dishonest wreckers.
    But it's always been rather obvious that our government's have encouraged thousands of nurses to leave their countries of origin to work in the NHS or more likely now in the private sector.

    1. Morning! Yes, we keep being asked what would the NHS do without immigrants. The answer is change their training and recruitment policy.

  30. Revolutionary Guard commanders are already here. Ready to gather their forces and take control.

    They are regularly seen dining out in West London.

  31. Portsmouth dockyard would be a target. Just a few miles away from where i live.

  32. C'mon, you knew it was coming. It's already in practice.

    Starmer to revive the provision to extend the Equality Act 2010 to include ‘the inequality of social class’.
    ‘By enshrining woke identity politics in law, children will be discriminated against based on their postcode and their parents’ occupation.

    Sorry son.. no treatment for you, and please don't loiter in the A&E Waiting Room, we'll have security remove you.

    1. After attacking the public schools, they'll end grammar schools too, no doubt.

        2. Win or lose.
          Most aspired by the regular salary.
          And of course their very regularly claimed 'expenses'.

    4. "Starmer to revive the provision to extend the Equality Act 2010 to include ‘the inequality of social class’."

      Then stop invoking social class as a badge of honour and maintaining the class war. It is divisive and tribal.
      When I hear "proud working class" I roll my eyes and yawn. I am not working class, middle class or any class. I a, just me.

  34. No Problem. I had to look it up in Wiki. I spent my working life in aviation, both military and civil and I didn’t know about RATs.

    1. They were called APU's when we were in Del – even the Lightning had one. As far as I know the RAT is deployed into the airstream and is a propeller driven generator whereas the APU is within the fuselage and has its own intake but is an small jet engine powered by fuel from the aircraft

  36. Better than yesterday's Lotto:
    Wordle 1,457 3/6

    ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
    ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. No other options with my starter word!
      Wordle 1,457 2/6

      🟨⬜🟨⬜🟨
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  40. Alone in the Commons – searing truths on Islam and freedom of speech from one principled MP.
    https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/politics-fightback/

    I am not sure that anyone who supported Theresa May's leadership can be described as 'principled' but credit to Nick Timothy on the issue of Islam and blasphemy. In my opinion Katie Lam and Rupert Lowe are the most vehement truth tellers in the HoC.

    The Conservative Party fell apart when it alienated its traditional supporters by moving to left in search of new supporters. It found no new supporters and suffered the worst electoral defeat in its history in 2024

    When Nigel Farage appointed his new Chairman, David Bull, did he know that David Bull was:

    "…. an open homosexual who seems keen on sex education for nine-year-olds, with an emphasis on LBGT issues, and is also asserting the obvious untruth that ‘immigration is the lifeblood of this country, it always has been.' "

    If so he has already started alienating his core vote in search of new voters and The Reform Party will collapse just as the Conservative Party has done.

    1. Some say, Rastus 🙂 that Farage is on a similar track to the one he was on re UKIP (see Katie Hopkins, Ben Habib, Rupert Lowe – can they all be wrong?)…is he all talk, wrong action/s…Time will tell.

      1. Time will tell.
        Yep. Time will tell.. then it'll be too late.. and Hope-Not-Hate/Mi6 & The Blob will tick Mission Complete.

      2. Time will tell.
        Yep. Time will tell.. then it'll be too late.. and Hope-Not-Hate/Mi6 & The Blob will tick Mission Complete.

      3. One of Farage's problems is his mixture of arrogance and insecurity.

        On the one had he is arrogant enough to the think that he is the only person capable of being the leader of the Reform Party; on the other hand he is terrified of being challenged by a competent challenger. This means he cannot share responsibility and has poor judgement. Shakespeare's Julius Caesar's summary of Cassius can be applied to Farage:

        Such men as these be never at heart's ease
        When they behold a greater than themselves.

        1. Excellent, Rastus – many thanks. Shakespeare never gets it wrong ime. Supposedly several or more authors, similarly The Bible. But who cares, really? Not me for one:-)

    2. What Nigel is doing Rastas, is ticking all the PC boxes and thus driving his members out of the party. We badly need Rupert Lowe to get going with Ben Habib's Integrity Party. It will be what Reform set out to be. I believe that the members of Reform will switch in a heart beat once they realize that Farage is not a leader but a self centred fraud..

  43. Mel Stride: We will never do a deal with Reform
    Interview: The Tory shadow chancellor says Nigel Farage would put Britain ‘on the road to ruin’
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/06/15/mel-stride-will-never-do-deal-reform/

    BTL

    Nigel Farage and the Reform Party have gone seriously off the rails.

    Many issues have come to light with the treatment of Rupert Lowe, the resignation of Party Chairman, Zia Yusuf, and the new appointed Chairman, David Bull.

    Reform is now well to the left of where the Conservative Party should be.

    1. It's a great shame, Reform has many good candidates ready to stand, and even more supporters ready to vote for them. Sadly as predicted by the likes of Ben Habib, Katie Hopkins, Rupert Lowe.

      1. We desperately need the Reform Party but we need it to have a party leader who can work with competent people round him/her without feeling threatened by them.

        1. Any suggestions, Rastus? I suspect anyone who steps forward who doesn’t fit Farage’s/Tice’s bill will quickly be demonised and pushed out.

  44. 10 Years ago. Singing in the opera Dido. No more choral singing since start of Covid 5 years ago. Real pity, they were a lovely bunch of people.
    https://scontent-cdg4-3.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/467955374_10162448313669954_3816526691126246017_n.jpg?_nc_cat=106&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=9eae26&_nc_ohc=ktTKptS3absQ7kNvwGRYw5_&_nc_oc=AdnocvJBVP2yVg0BzxOwX6iUjkh5cYSYRIpcRgJ5sGJOK8l_wUSe2c3B0WSsX3BLTXbMlO7HAe2kkhyd1ynrB1KC&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent-cdg4-3.xx&_nc_gid=m7i0PssYt9CCyR2GiQgrXQ&oh=00_AfMTZZiKejPU92J8nV_MuFSRZgbtahKEV16ixLp00V9L7Q&oe=68544E28

          3. And much of what the Covid scare destroyed was part of the intended consequences.

    4. That looks great. What a damned shame the covid idiocy deprived you and many others of such pleasures.

      I have a soft spot for Dido – my first role, aged 16.

  45. Neil Wallace
    47m
    Whitewash incoming.

    petersitch
    25m
    If the victims are the 'most important here' then why were they ignored and accused of being right wing before?

    Sir Jimmy Savile OBE
    34m
    It's important because one of the main reasons this went on in so many places for so many years was that people were afraid that if they raised it. they would be called precisely the things that her government called them.

    Monty
    27m
    …meanwhile- the man (if you can call him that) right at the heart of MRG's- is conveniently hiding in Canada.
    This enquiry – will achieve nothing- except to allow the censoring of this report…

    He claimed to have read the whole report- due out on Wednesday- then delayed until after PMQ's – then all of a sudden pulled forward to Monday…when he ain't here…!

    Then all of a sudden announces an enquiry in the middle of the Atlantic…avoiding Questions…yet again!

    Colin Fisher
    30m
    Labour Ministers being wheeled out today to explain their past comments on this matter
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fe36b56e9d35992ff908414e11e5a3a2b6eb21d25b9f2bd5ff73652518e22323.png

  46. Good Morning all. Haven't participated over the last few days. I have been barricaded in my bedroom, prone, with hepa filters and a small air conditioner as my companion. It is ironic having grown up and lived in hot climates most of my life but thanks to emphysema I cannot take the heat at all, it makes me feel quite ill. Today the high will be 72f. which is manageable.

    We are living through exciting times. The fall of the Ayatollahs. Apparently the IDF are looking for Ali Khamenei, alive or dead. The top of the ruling regime are either dead or have fled the country. Apparently 8 large passenger planes have left Iran, some heading for Russia and some for Pakistan. The aim is now to install the crown prince, Reza Pahlavi, and establish a democracy. That is what the majority of Iranians want.

    But what is being buried in all this is that there seem to be major changes going on in China. There are persistent rumors that Xi is dead, incapacitated, or under arrest and there is fighting among the top brass of the party about who is to be his successor.

    1. The world has never been so dangerous since peace broke out with the fall of the USSR in the 1990s.

      Edit – out instead of down.

      1. Without the Ayatollahs I think that a huge peace will break out. Are you aware that Israel was assisted by Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the UAE in bringing down the drones and rockets aimed at Israel? So, I believe that without a hostile but very friendly Iran, the Abraham accords will be fully implemented, other states will join because of the economic benefits and the peace dividend it will bring.

        1. I do so hope so, Johnathan.
          Maybe all the expat Iranians can bugger off back to Iran, too.

          1. I hope not all. All the Iranians I have met have been very good people indeed. And if Mahyar Tousi was to go home it would be very disappointing. He is a great source of news.

          2. All the Iranians (Persians) that I know (admittedly a delightful few) are not on board with the Ayatollahs. Nor with the jihadists. They are wonderful, intelligent and tolerant people who have the same wish as we do – to live in peace with each other and enjoy human variety.

    2. You must remember this
      A x is still a x
      A Xi is just a Xi
      The fundamental things apply
      As time goes by….

      KBO Johnathan

    3. Sorry to hear you are incapacitated by heat, Johnathan. Hope you can keep cool.

      1. Now a days Ober, because of Emphysema, I find it very difficult to breath if it gets hot. So i lie down and try not to move. It's a bit tiresome.

        1. That sounds bloody nasty and very frustrating.
          I'm still very amazed and even more thankful for my current healthy status.

        2. A bit tiresome? Ahhh, true British understatement there. Sending all the best x

    4. Xi is alive & well..

      SCMP yesterday
      Xi called on the party to have unwavering confidence when facing “chaotic and complex turbulence”, and to strengthen its ability to cut a path for China’s economy with “objective and thorough” research..
      US & China, reach a ‘done deal’, Trump says, pending sign-off by President Xi Jinping

      in reaction Starmer declares..
      Tractor production up 45% Glorious DEI dimocracy Five Year Plan bountiful success many wheat strong NHS workers rejoice.

      1. Don’t be deceived. He supposedly met the premier of Mongolia the other week. But the film was old footage spliced together with new.

    5. Sorry to read you're not well, does a humidifier help at all? Many Iranians will support the fall of the Ayatollahs, likely giving information to IDF for some time, Israel having a lot of support from Iranians, many of whom will still remember the Shah, likely returnees from Jordan. Xi is finished, dead or alive, it's the economy what done it.

        1. That would certainly explain how the Americans/Israelis got so much inside information.
          Democracy, shortly to be followed by a Rothschild central bank then…

          1. Traditionally the Iranians are great bankers. Knowing many Jews by marriage, I do not buy the myth about them and money.

  48. HatanakaHacker
    3h
    The very first question for whichever minister is put up on the politics shows this morning: "So Minister, when you voted against the formation of an enquiry in January, were you actually in favour of one?"

    Rogerborg ⬛🟧
    HatanakaHacker
    2h
    "And will you demand the Prime Minister resigns for defying the will of Parliament?"

    Mike C
    3h
    If politicians had a moral compass we would be seeing the resignation of Phillips and Shah sometime this week, I’ve decided against holding my breath.

  49. Good morning folks and a Happy Fathers' Day to all dads.

    There is something profoundly wrong in our current society where we are urged to celebrate Gay Pride for a while month but Fathers for just one day. Perhaps if we have to celebrate "Pride' it should be just for one day and the the remaining 29 days of June to celebrate Fathers!!!

  50. Protesters march through London waving Iranian flags

    Calls for the Government to end military support for Israel and de-escalate tensions in the Middle East

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2025/06/14/TELEMMGLPICT000428655524_17499204955770_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqMA8wZXEz0gQJqLCThTHQ-rImcJqk0Qus0XPeCLCf3Xg.jpeg?imwidth=1280
    Protesters in Parliament Square on June 14 called for the Israeli attack on Iran to stop Credit: Guy Smallman/Getty
    Natasha Leake.

    Patrick Sawer
    Senior News Reporter
    14 June 2025 6:31pm BST

    Pro-Palestine protesters marched through London on Saturday chanting “stop bombing Iran”.

    Large crowds gathered in Parliament Square waving Palestinian and Iranian flags, while also demanding an end to the bombing in Gaza.

    Protesters urged the Government to halt all military support for Israel and lobby the country to de-escalate its actions in the Middle East.

    It comes after Israel launched a series of air strikes against nuclear and military sites in Iran on Thursday night.

    Tehran then struck back on Friday with missile attacks on Tel Aviv.

    The Palestine Solidarity Campaign announced an emergency protest earlier in the week which it publicised on social media, titled: “Emergency Protest: Stop Bombing Iran – Stop Arming Israel”.

    In a post on X, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign shared a video that showed a large crowd chanting outside the houses of Parliament.

    A post read: “Thousands in Parliament Square demanding our Government stop arming Israel and pressure it to stop bombing Iran and end its genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza.”

    Protesters also held placards that read, “Don’t attack Iran” amid other banners saying, “Stop arming Israel” and “Ceasefire now”.

    An Instagram caption from the group read: “As it commits genocide against the Palestinians, Israel is now bombing Iran. Join us to demand our government stop arming genocidal Israel.”

    In a clip on X, Michael Rosen, the English author who was at the march, was shown reading a poem, which included a quote: “They come, they kill, they kill, they go.”

    In Glasgow, groups of Pro-Palestine protesters were also seen waving Iranian flags at a march in the city.

    A crowd walked through the Scottish city in the rain with a number of Palestinian flags and a large Iranian flag.

    The protests come after Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, warned that the country would intensify attacks on Iran in the coming days.

    “We will hit every site and every target of the Ayatollahs’ regime and what they have felt so far is nothing compared with what they will be handed in the coming days,” he said in a video message.

    He added: “We have dealt a very severe blow to Iran’s main enrichment site, and if necessary, we will also hit it again.

    “There is a huge threat from ballistic missiles, we have taken action to destroy Iran’s ballistic missile production capabilities.”

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

    Over 6.8k comments BTL

    Mr Sensible
    16 hrs ago
    Many will have claimed asylum because they claim they are escaping the Islamic government they are now supporting.

    Deport the lot !!!!

    MM

    Miles MAC
    16 hrs ago
    Oh here we go again. Why are the enemies of the UK and its allies allowed to protest freely, but the ones who are pro UK and its allies are locked up, targeted and slandered by the authorities?edited

    1. I see Two Tier has sent RAF jets to the Middle East – his response to questions about how they would be used apparently includes a claim that all his decisions are to benefit Britain!? "I will always make the right decisions for the UK … " I'm sure that comes as a surprise to ,amy of us?

      Ooops – RAF jest amended to RAF jets – Freudian slip?

    2. As with 'River to the Sea'…mostly female protestors, with a few children in tow?

    1. Doesn't surprise me that Soros is behind it. It would be his version of the jewel in the crown because if the monarchy falls it means that the UK is finished.

    2. Pretty Polly would always post on Spectator about Soros Snr, roundly abused for her(?) pains. Next generation now, and more believed than previously.

  53. Two hours in the garden pulling weeds, nettles and grasses, it's started raining, so I have an excuse to come indoors – thank goodness! Utterly knackered, the amount of sweat excuded just shows how unfit I am.

      1. I always remember when Brian Clough was attacked by one of the Nottingham Forest supporters and the headline was:

        Fan hits the Sh*t!

    3. As if Trump & Co. will take the slightest darned notice of anything she says. He will be polite tho. Should possibly have sent Wills & family if you want to impress him.

  56. "I will always make the right decisions for the UK … " – that'll be a first then

    1. Incidentally I see the estimates for how much the Chagos surrender will cost us have gone up by another £5Bn or so as the allowance for inflation was underestimated?

    2. He's making the decisions the EU wants him to make Alec, he'll be off soon…who will replace him, Rayner? Reeves?

        1. I now think, Alec…we’re in it for the long haul, Farage having split the Conservative vote which was always his declared intent. Until people wake up to that, and see him for that, it’ll be Labour all the way. Only possible out is Reeves screwing up the economy big time…..

    1. At least Jess Phillips will soon be toast. The only problem is a Muslim will be replacing her.

      Thick Brummie so she is.

      1. Surely we will bag more than a mere singleton. I'm hoping for two or three brace at least.

        1. She only got in by a slim margin. Then the Muslims in the room started causing trouble. They always do.

    2. They won't give up their Muslim voter base willingly, but they'll be losing it as soon as Muslim numbers and densities reach a critical point.

    1. His argument loses a tad of credibility with his;

      "When you feel love, grief, fear, or peace, your heart transmits it. It is the central frequency modulator of your biology. Not a fucking pump."

      1. 407513+ up ticks,

        Afternoon Mo,

        I thought along the same lines on first seeing that, then put it down to understandable frustration, with maybe repeating the same rhetoric again & again.

  59. UK Legislation
    1h
    gotcha moment for labour
    Reeves " its not important.. the feelings of those people who have been spoken about…"

    so why does Kier lock up people for hurty words?

    1. Do you have a source for context, Ogga?

      Kier locks up those who dissent, as fascists always have.

  60. Just reading this bring tears to my eyes:

    Morning has broken
    Like the first morning,
    Blackbird has spoken
    Like the first bird.
    Praise for the singing!
    Praise for the morning!
    Praise for them, springing
    From the first Word.

    Sweet the rain's new fall,
    Sunlit from heaven,
    Like the first dewfall
    In the first hour.
    Praise for the sweetness
    Of the wet garden,
    Sprung in completeness
    From the first shower.

    Mine is the sunlight!
    Mine is the morning
    Born of the one light
    Eden saw play.
    Praise with elation,
    Praise every morning
    Spring's re-creation
    Of the First Day!

    1. Words by English author Eleanor Farjeon (1931) and was inspired by the village of Alfriston in East Sussex, then set to a traditional Scottish Gaelic tune, "Bunessan". Known to the family as "Nellie", was a small, timid child, who had poor eyesight and suffered from ill-health throughout her childhood but she lived to 84 ( 1965) yet never knew what fame it achieved under Cat Stevens.

  61. Today I bought some glass jars.

    I know that's idiotic to say. but I've wanted to sort out the kitchen stores for a bit and just 'tea' coffee sugar' wasn't enough as we have different types of sugar – soft brown, golden caster, caster, granulated, let alone the diff types of tea.

    So I've bought 2 1l jars to see if they're big enough. Should they be I'll shift things in to them. I know this sounds silly but it's a tricky business as you want a jar that can be dishwashered, one that's air sealed, big enough to fit in my hand but not so big the Warqueen can't hold it too, that fits in the cupboard without moving the shelves around, that's sealable, fits in an 18l xl really useful (for operation shift), robust enough to survive an early morning but not awkward to open. The list goes on.

    She'd say I over think it. Maybe I do but when the new wardrobes magically fitted all the stuff we've wanted to store away and a bit more that was because I measured, planned and re-planned.

    1. You should be in the government.

      Starmer and his useless cabinet never think through the consequences of their actions – they just blunder clumsily from one mistake to the next.

        1. I doubt they ever count the cost Sue – just do as the CS says because it's their (CS) decision.

  63. Headmaster of 125-year-old prep school reveals Labour has cost them £2m
    Prestigious school that boasts C.S. Lewis as an alumnus is forced to move as pupil numbers fall
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/headmaster-125-year-old-prep-school-labour/

    BTL

    The worrying thing is that the recent case against VAT on school fees was lost.

    What price the separation of powers essential to democracy?

    This lost case along with many other recent judgements and punishments (e.g. Lucy Connolly) suggest that the judiciary, the legislative and the executive are not remotely separate.

    1. There are two questions surrounding this development:

      1. Why would anyone want their son/daughter to attend a private school?
      The answer must surely be that they provide an education, contacts and personal development superior to those in a state school.

      2. If so, why should those students be given an advantage over their state-school compatriots that is subsidised by that part of society that doesn’t share that advantage?

      Leave aside all the bs about the sacrifice of parents sending their children to private schools, the easing of pressure on state schools or the sholarships that private schools offer. I accept that private schools are unavoidable in a democracy but I see no reason why I should help subsidise them.

      1. Ref your #1, remember also that children of service families deployed abroad, also others working abroad (as my parents did) where the schooling is rudimentary, will likely need residential schooling, and if the intention is to return to the UK shortly, then schooling in the UK system.
        That was my experience. School in Nigeria to age 8 was OK, thereafter boarding school in the UK. Not due to snobby parents, but to need to get a decent secondary education.
        It means that, apart from school holidays, I never lved at home after I turned 8.

        #2: I think the general princople was that education should not be taxed, and so there was no VAT on school books, for example.
        And, regarding your paying, why should a private school education be better than state education? That's not fair on state-educated pupils, regardless of their position in society.

        1. 1. The size of the Armed Forces is minuscule and there are few accompanied overseas tours left so you are talking about a very small need for residential schools for children of families based in foreign countries. When it is needed, the MoD pay a substantial portion, but not all, of the school fees – actually the Civil Service does the same. I don’t know what the numbers are for parents from the private sector who need residential schooling for their children is but, if their employers want them to work overseas, they should pay for this.

          2. The relief of VAT on school books is something that every sector of education benefits from. The relief of VAT on private education is something that benefits directly only private edcuation.

          If private education did not offer advantages over state education, why on earth would anyone choose it? It is not just the academic excellence that private schools can offer but the extra-curricular activities that enhance self-confidence or public speaking skills, the contacts they establish that can smooth business opportunities in later life, the development from pastoral care or mentoring and the opportunities to network that give private school pupils an edge after leaving school. The evidence is, well, self-evident in the number and proportion of ex-private school educated people in senior ranks of the Armed Forces, holding Cabinet positions, appointed as KCs, working as captains of industry and even working in the acting profession. Yes, there are many exceptions but they tend to prove the rule.

          Edit to correct a typo (bloody state education!)

      2. But, on the contrary, it is the Private School parents who are, via their taxes, who are subsidising the state system by paying for places in that system which are not used.

        1. Come on, Bob, the taxes of every single one of us without school-age children are paying for school places that we don’t use.

        1. Not so much less ability, as being more able to do their jobs because of substantially less disruption from the pupils who do not want to learn, a constant problem in many state schools.

  66. Monty
    Dover Sentry
    2h
    Meanwhile in Australia- the scientists are baffled as to why their predictions of warm winters are not happening- and the opposite is true…
    All whist Antartic ice is INCREASING!
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fd273dbe60598696310e4a6eddf4fcd27c1e922e1ae34d5f2ee16e81ea1e2857.png
    Dissident
    Dover Sentry
    3h
    Yep. 1995: head to the beach for some ice cream!
    2024: wear a mask and hide under the table.

    I see the BBC is now calling it "climate breakdown" in their latest attempt to scare people into atoning for their capitalist sins.

    1. Going to be a lot of fines, and jail sentences. Perhaps use the fines to finance building jails. Whose policy is this, Rayners?

    1. Two peas, same pod, knowing their next moves and congratulating each other….cheers!

      1. Mark Carnage ex governor of the Bank of England. Never out of a well paid sinecure for long.

  70. OT, but you can tell it's summer here: Day times for my house…
    Sun up 03:54
    Sun down 22:42

  71. Dia Chakravarty
    If Sadiq Khan wants money for policing, he could trim his legions of overpaid bureaucrats

    More than 300 people in the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime are on £100k+

    The Mayor of London is not happy. Despite the Chancellor’s alarmingly profligate Spending Review announced this week – with commitments worth an estimated £600 billion – the Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan remains “concerned” with insufficient funding for the Metropolitan police.

    If Sir Sadiq’s concern is keeping London safe, funding need not be a problem. We can provide him with a catalogue of fat to trim, which would free up taxpayers’ money to better serve the public.

    In its City Hall Rich List published last year, the TaxPayers’ Alliance revealed that the Mayor-led Greater London Assembly (GLA) and its subsidiary bodies employed at least 1,146 people who received over £100,000 in total remuneration in 2022-23. A whopping 143 of these employees received over £150,000.

    The same report also revealed that the number of employees at the Met Police (including the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime or MOPAC which oversees it) who received total remuneration of over £100,000 totalled at 301 in 2022-23. The number had almost quadrupled compared to that in 2018-19, when 80 employees received that amount.

    However, the crime rate per 1,000 people in London had gone up in that period.

    Could the money instead have been spent more efficiently on simply recruiting more old-fashioned bobbies on the beat?

    There are more savings to be made. In January, the Conservatives in City Hall put forward an amendment to the GLA budget that would see £22.4 million from the MOPAC fund being reallocated to the Metropolitan Police. Alas, it did not pass.

    Compared to the rest of England and Wales, the Met already “receives the most funding per head of population” according to the Home Office. In 2024-25, it received up to £3.5 billion, which was an increase of up to £119 million on the previous year.

    However, early this year, the Met’s Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley warned that his police force needed an extra £140 million “to address the racism, misogyny and homophobia identified by the Casey Review”. It would appear that the nearly £3.7 million the Met spent on “staff (and the number and cost of those staff) and non-staff initiatives for Diversity, Equality and Inclusion” between April 2024 to Feb 2025 had fallen short of delivering the intended results.

    In the light of these revelations, Waste Watch readers might be wondering if instead of demanding more money, the Mayor might have better luck keeping the capital safe by carrying out an audit of his priorities. I have every confidence that the Mayor would take this advice in the spirit in which it is meant, being the humble man he is.

    After all, he did graciously forgive the King for taking so long to dub him a knight.

      1. Gawd. Our Camilla is seriously unimpressed. I wonder the slimy little rat wasn't turned into a pillar of salt. Talk about a death stare.

  74. Phew!
    A small number of logs split.
    Two mini-builder's buckets of rock picked up from the roadside verge and taken up to where the infill is needed.
    One rather nice smelling Cottage Pie produced and ready to eat
    And, just now, the sun trap defied and 15 bags filled with scalping and waiting to be carried up to the back-filling area.

    A nice quiet, gentle morning in Chateau Bob!

    1. Given that the DT is at work, what else can I do?
      Tasted bloody nice though!!!

  76. Son had his wrist Xrayd at 8.40 this morning , by appointment, at a small local hospital ( He ran an excellent Poole Park 5k run yesterday , then fell over / skidded on gravel , grazed his leg nastily and shoulder and damaged his left wrist )

    There was no conclusion re the xray, perhaps his scaphoid , but he has been informed maybe a scan is required , so now he cannot work , drive etc .. He should be given another orthopaedic appointment in a couple of days .

    1. Poor chap! Our elder daughter fractured her scaphoid just before her Highers! She had to have a scribe for the exams! Nightmare!

      1. Not heard of it, sounds a bit of a nightmare – also quite common, think most people falling would put out their hands and they would take the full weight. Hope she got over her injury. Are a number of exams now taken online? (perhaps completed by AI if so)

    1. Genocide against Jews and Christians practised by Muslims is acceptable.

      Any military action taken against Muslims is called genocide even though it isn't.

  78. I didn't think Labour could become even more despicable than they have been of late…. and then I read this:

    "Britain may soon have one of the most extreme abortion regimes in the world. Next week, the Commons will vote on amendments, proposed by Labour MPs Stella Creasy and Tonia Antoniazzi, to the Crime and Policing Bill that seek to decriminalise abortion up to the moment of birth.

    In Britain, abortion is currently legal until 24 weeks of pregnancy. But for the pro-abortion lobby this isn’t enough. A YouGov survey revealed that 70 per cent of MPs think women should not be liable for prison sentences if they have abortions outside current restrictions. Yet this is wildly out of step with public opinion. Just 1 per cent of British people support abortion up to birth."

    Outrageous!

    1. Abortion after the time a baby is capable of life outside the mother is murder.

      1. You are not going to like hearing this but they cut them to pieces while still in the womb.

        1. They want fighters for the cause. There will always be plenty of girls to impregnate/rape.

    5. The next obscenity will be that Stella Creasey will soon be campaigning for 'post-natal abortion' available to mothers for up to twelve months after the baby's birth if they find the baby's presence in their lives tiresome and irksome.

    6. IMO, if a woman is pregnant because she was raped, or unlucky, she still has a long time to take a pill to stop a foetus from developing. If a reputable doctor deems that the life of the woman or the baby would be unduly adversely and dangerously compromised by its birth further down the line, ditto.

      If a woman is too d*man lazy to bother with contraception, then she should be criminalised for aborting a viable foetus. If a woman or a man wants a male child they should suffer criminal penalties for aborting a viable female foetus. Doesn't the peaceful belief allow abortion up to birth? Also, any man who fathers more than one aborted foetus should be imprisoned, as should any woman who has more than one abortion.

    7. Official stats:

      There were 251,377 abortions for women resident in England and Wales in 2022 the highest number since the Abortion Act was introduced. …

        1. According to HMG stats There were 45,755 people detected arriving by small boats in 2022.

    1. I'd actually reduce further, Stephen, and I'd also criminalise anything longer. But that's just me.

    2. That would make far more sense than the abhorrent proposed law. But TPTB go to extraordinary lengths to shut down any attempts to curb the abortion industry. Gotta keep sacrificing those babies.

  83. I agree, but there will be cases where a child would be sentenced to an appalling existence if it survived birth.
    Horrible though it is, it would be a form of euthanasia, even though the "patient" doesn't get a say in the matter.

  84. It was back in 2004! Gosh that makes me old! She did get over it but we paid for her to go private, as the waiting list…..well you can imagine! Same surgeon of course!🙄 Anyway she’ll be prone to arthritis later on but she is a small animal surgeon and a farmers wife, and needs her hand movement!

    1. Not alone private care – have used it quite a few times (General & Medical Insurance), as you say – same surgeon/facilities as NHS. She may not be too bad if she keeps moving? which it sounds like she’s likely to do:-)

        1. Never enough hours in the day, Sue. When I look back, can’t believe the hours I worked. Don’t think I’d do it again, if I had my time again.

    1. What are the odds that the main goal of the inquiry will be to blame Tommy Robinson for talking about the stuff that mustn't be talked about?

      1. No, the British – so many of whom are in positions of authority but are not English, Scottish, Welsh or N. Irish.

        1. Have you never seen the slogans – ‘”England out of Ireland”?

          BTW – I have English, Scottish and Irish ancestry – I’m even entitled to citizenship of the Republic of Ireland.

          1. I mean that it is often the British who are certainly no English, etc. who are the problem. As the Irish learnt with Varad. the impaler.

  88. Afternoon All
    Nicked Comment
    Oi Laffed
    A comment seen elsewhere re the Ballymeena Riots:

    "All it took to unite the Protestants and Catholics was the black and tans."

    1. Putin has ordered Russian Citizens to evacuate Iran. Flights leaving heading for Russia are Russian citizens. Flights leaving for Pakistan are the remains of the Revolutionary guard and Clerics.

    2. Why would Putin care about Iran? This idea there's an 'axis of evil' and Russia and Iran are in cahoots is daft.

      The real enemy is the hated EU, the state and our own wretched government.

  91. The supreme leader of Iran Ali Khamenei flees to in Mashhad as Mossad agents close in for the kill.. even Hezbollah has declared itself neutral.

    Meanwhile, the IRA, The King, BBC, Sir Keir & Lefties prepare books of condolences and a week of mourning.
    Lammy & Ange still trying to find Iran on something called a map.

  92. Apropos of absolutely nothing, does anyone happen to know how to resize a bracelet correctly? I have a couple of gold bracelets which are now far too big and need shortening, but I don't know by how much.

    1. Won't a good jeweller's shop do it?

      I have had rings altered when they were either too tight or too loose.

      When I was a young man the jeweller could do this at his own premises. Nowadays many shops can't to it any more and have to send items away.

      1. Oh yes; I have an acquaintance who is a jeweller, but I want to get an idea of where they should sit before asking her, and, well, Nottl is the fount of all wisdom! 🤣

        1. I think you will be better off asking your jeweller friend rather than us loons.

          She will know where it should sit on wrist/ankle/belly button/ear/nose.

      1. Nice! Judging from the pawprints in the snow, they live on Firstborn's land.
        He has to give permission to hunt them on his property, and the answer is NO! – don't bother asking.
        Norwegian: Gaupe.
        Fcuking great paws, like snowshoes/tennis raquets, so the prints are.

          1. For protection of local sheep, mostly. A very few felling licences are issued annually, to control numbers. But the landowner must consent to hunts on their land, and for gauper, Firstbor does not.

          2. Understandable. From both sides.

            Are many sheep grazed in the area?

            The Greeniacs here want to introduce wolves.

            Though i think that is part of the plan to force people into 15 minute ghettos.

          3. Wolves live in packs that can be dangerous to people. Wild cats do not, and unless you corner it or try and take it's prey away, you'll be OK.

          4. It is all about hunger. Which is another means of control. Bears, boars, wild cats don't attack except for survival. Disturb at your peril when they have young.

            They Rabbit (sorry) about biodiversity and don't give a fuck about the ordinary people who have to deal with it.

            That said. The Africans are eating everything that moves. Even each other. China is going the same way.

          5. Be careful with any animal that has young. Cattle, sheep, elk, you name it, you get between them and their baby, you'll know about it. Deer & elk are especially dangerous, due to sharp horns.

      2. Nice! Judging from the pawprints in the snow, they live on Firstborn's land.
        He has to give permission to hunt them on his property, and the answer is NO! – don't bother asking.
        Norwegian: Gaupe.
        Fcuking great paws, like snowshoes/tennis raquets, so the prints are.

    6. Visit a jeweller, Kathie? They'll have a sizer, similar to the ones they use for rings, be able to resize for you? May be able to buy a sizer online, but I know the ring ones aren't great…:-D good luck 🙂

    7. If they remove bits make sure you either get the "scrap" or get scrap value for it.

  94. Wordle No. 1,457 3/6

    🟨⬜🟨⬜⬜
    ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    Wordle 15 Jun 2025

    Recoil by Birdie Three?

    1. Well done – same here. Once I had all the vowels there was only one option….

      Wordle 1,457 3/6

      ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
      ⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    2. Well done. Same here.

      Wordle 1,457 3/6

      🟨⬜🟨⬜⬜
      ⬜🟨🟩🟩⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    3. A circuitous route but I got there in the end

      Wordle 1,457 5/6

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

    5. Birdie for me too.

      Wordle 1,457 3/6

      🟨⬜🟨⬜🟨
      🟩🟩🟩⬜🟨
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  96. Dasilva
    1h
    Could Darren Liar confirm what day he visited the border force and where he visited them so some evidence can be produced to confirm his story that the two boats he saw contained mainly woman and children. He claims they were burnt by oil and salt water, outboard engines dont run on oil. Were these people with horrific wounds treated in hospital? there must be some record of treatment.

    1. Presumably the arrivals are recorded, someone must know the make up of the numbers and for that matter where they claim to be fleeing from.

        1. I can well believe it, but they must be able to tell that a 4 ft child or a babe in arms is what it appears to be.

        1. I am confident they know exactly what’s coming in, in terms of age/sex/origin
          They just refuse to let us know

          1. I wish it were so, sos…perhaps the CS does, our real and permanent government. Politicians are just a cover. Even if numbers are released doubtful anyone would believe them, thinking understated.

  98. Previous French President has Medal of Honour removed
    Nicolas Sarkozy has had his Medal of Honour revoked due to being found guilty of corruption and using his position for his own betterment.
    https://www.nrk.no/nyheter/

    2. They are all corrupt. If you cause trouble the Club of Rome will hang you out to dry. Or assassinate you.

      This was their easy option.

      If they revoke the medal tell them to send a first class envelope if they want it back. Then send ricin.

    3. Only the medal of honour? If we removed honours from corrupt politicians the House of Lords would have about 5 people in it. The Commons 3.

    1. Keeps him in power. He's afraid of the gay mafia. His muslim chums know he's just playing them.

    2. I’ve just had mine removed as well, Rastus! No naughty words, no other trigger stuff! I suspect ‘demonstrably stupid’ is a no no!

    3. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend."

      – For as long as muslim isn't able to throw woofters off the Shard and get away with it (which khunt is working on enabling).

    4. Seems like a perfectly reasonable question which, if pointed at any other religion would surely be accepted.

    5. The Shanghai Gold Exchange is about to render the LBMA and its paper gold and silver scams to obscurity.

  100. Look who I've just spotted in the DT comments…….Igonikan Jack!! The same one or a copy?

    1. There's a limit to posts now so he can't put his 5000 words essays in.

      Did anyone ever read all of them?

      2. They were indeed very long but, once in a while, there was a small item of genuine sense swamped in a huge sea of nonsense. It became a sort of “spot the ball” competition to try to spot the rare gem of sanity.

  101. Israel denying they want regime change.

    Of course they do.

    It's a double bluff that exonerates any takeover government from being accused of being Israel's lackeys.

    1. Persia and the Persians do not deserve that, the Ayatollahs and the RG most certainly do.

      I believe that if the other Arab states were serious about peace in the ME they'd join in trying to overthrow the regime.

      1. How? As I am fond of telling yankees, when your enemy has drone fired missiles your pop pop pop gun is pointless.

        Oddly, the middle east's best hope for genuine regime change and thus last peace is Israel.

    2. Yes, it does, but then the entire middle east needs a pasting.

      It's a stupid place that went from being the cradle of science, engineering, technology, democracy, libertarianism to a theocratic dictatorship thanks to a bunch of terrified old men wanting to lord it over others. The problem the middle east has isn't the people. it's muslim.

  105. I might have to resubscribe to troll the bastard.

    If you can reply to his posts tell him "sosraboc's still watching you." ask if he get's more money from his plastic begging cup or his paper one so he'll know it's me in the background.

    It really used to annoy me the way he appeared every day telling the UK how to run ALL aspects of governance and our lives

          1. Ask the same question re begging cups but don't say where it came from, and see if there is a reaction.

    1. I suppose that with a British passport and nationality a person is British – but this does not mean he/she is English, Scottish, Welsh or Northern Irish.

    2. I dont think you're racist at all – but we now have a lot of second, and even third, generation immigrants – a lot of whom I would imagine see themselves as British. They were born here and a lot of them (although certainly not all of them!) adhere to our rules and values. I really dont think skin colour should exclude them…..

      1. It depends what kind of British. Indians, for example, tend to not go around blowing things (or themselves) up, or "groomimg" vulnerable young girls.

        Certain other ethnicities however see that as normal behaviour.

  108. Lord Farquard
    11m
    38.0% of pupils are from a m1nority ethn1c background
    That's across the whole country.

  110. And that now probably applies in public schools too, if not higher.

    Although at the world level whites are the real ethnic minority.

  114. No wonder football players are exhausted.
    Lots of very silly competitions.
    The FIFA Clubs world cup. Wow, that sounds special.
    Latest result:
    Bayern Munich 10 Auckland City 0
    What's the point?

    1. FIFA has done to the World Club Championship what UEFA did to the European Cup.

  115. Bit late to the group today, had the family over for Fathers Day.
    But had a bit of a twilight zone experience this morning.
    I did my usual walk down to the local Londis to get a paper and pick up some lard, as requested by the wife.
    No problem, picked up my paper and asked the man behind the till where the lard was.
    He said, what is lard?
    I said, you know, fat for cooking with,
    He asked the other man working there, but he didn't know what it was either, in any event they had none, so I bought what turned out to be an expensive jar of goose fat instead, which on returning home was told that it is no good for roast beef, apparently.
    So later in the morning I went out to pick up my daughter and grandson,
    Pop into Tesco Express on the way the wife said, they will have lard.
    I parked up and went into Tesco Express, I asked the shelf stacker working there, where is the lard?
    she said, what is lard?
    I said fat for cooking roast beef with.
    We have no lard here, try Tesco she said.
    This is Tesco, I said.
    No, the big Tesco supermarket.
    In any event, the big Aldi had just opened, opposite, my daughter went in while I got a coffee,
    Guess what, no lard either.
    What is it with lard these days?
    I thought later that maybe it was because it was made from pig fat, thus not tolerated these days.
    Other than that I had a great day

    3. I have to buy lard at the one supermarket that stocks it locally. Animal products have been so demonised that lard has vanished from popular culture, although it's healthier than most of the commonly used seed oils (less linoleic acid and saturated fats are not as dangerous as made out).

    5. I remember a few years (?) ago there was a lard shortage and you could only buy one 'block' at the supermarket – not sure why…..

  118. Yet another reason I like living here.
    Our bit was actually resolved within two hours but they keep everyone up to date:
    Madam, Sir,

    We have just closed the incident that occurred on 06/13/2025 at 11:24 p.m. on the electrical network that supplies your installation located:
    Reference 16294066533050
    locallisation PLACE CALLED … our commune
    The last customers who were still without power have just been restored.
    If you still do not have electricity, our breakdown service is available at: 0 972 67 50 (cost of a local call) followed by the two digits of your department.

    We apologize for any inconvenience.

    1. At least in the EC, the tiddlers are now usually eliminated in the qualifying rounds. Old uns will remember Leeds beating Lyn Oslo 10-0 and 6-0 in 1969.

      1. Clearly it's all about the money, but there must be a better way of helping the tiddlers up the salmon leap without having so many competitions that the players are exhausted or worse, injured.

  121. We appear to be getting far more visual coverage of the Israel / Iran war than we have ever got from Ukraine /Russia, for some reason.

  122. Had a great Fathers Day – all the family around me, bliss!

    Got a Fathers Day 'Dad Crappy Joke' toilet roll (a crappy joke on every sheet…) and a 'Happy Farters Day' mini whoopee cushion, classy eh??

    I blame my Grandson……..

    1. Last year the card from one of my daughters read:

      "You are my favourite Dad!"

    3. 2 proper cards, one e-card and an email. Oh and a text message on my mobile at 07.30 which woke me up

  123. As you may already have guessed, I'm a cynical sceptic..

    The Israel/Iran war headlines blaze: TWO KILLED, or TOWER BLOCK FLATTENED, 10 INJURED. etc etc etc

    Either the bombings/missiles are spot on or the strikes really are hitting random targets.
    The death toll doesn't remotely suggest the type of headlines being presented

  125. Well…..and breathe….
    Over whelmed by our our wonderful family once more. 4 super energetic children under nine years old.
    And two of our sons and their lovely wives. What a lovely fathers day afternoon.
    Lovely bbq cooked by number one, prepared by his wonderful parents.
    All cleared away now and or in the DW.
    Lovely very useful presents, none will go amiss. Cheese and wine all well appreciated and lovely.
    We can feel an early night coming on.
    Popping orff now, so good night all
    Nottlers 😴

  126. I still have two, but I will not be renewing my British passport. Once one has gone through the mill of obtaining (in my case) US Citizenship, based on living here for a very long time, with no intent to return to England, my British passport is now surplus to requirements.

  127. It is claimed that Trump stopped the assassination of the "supreme leader" of Iran.
    Now, I understand why top dogs might not like the idea of killing each other, but I can't help wondering if the world might not be a better place if the top dogs were regularly culled.

    2. Yes, bizarre, I'm sure Trump would like regime change in Iran – quickest way is to take out Khameini!

        1. Enough, I'm sure! It is said that 70% of Iranians are against the current regime (I dont know how they measure that) but Iran used to be a pleasant place to visit!!

          1. We have a friend whose father was a colonel in the Shah’s army and he managed to get the whole family out before the end. Kami came here and married, and the rest of the family are in America!

          2. Yes, Sue, I know an excellent bloke who got out just in time – it's such a shame, yet another place poisoned by the Religion of Peace. They have to be stopped……

        2. Reza Pahlavi was born in Tehran (1960) as the eldest son of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran and Farah Pahlavi, the Shahbanu of Iran.

        1. I think just about anybody (including me!) would be a significant improvement, Katya!

    3. That's called the Elephant ploy…Where a foreign power gifts an Elephant to another (disliked) country – which then has the expenses of keeping the beast alive. In this case it seems the US President is gifting the 'Supreme Leader' to Russia ……..

    5. We have no idea whether this is a true statement or not. But we do know Trump has far less influence over Netanyahu than he says he has. Bibi will (and should) do what is best for Israel which has to live with Iran being a close neighbour. Trump is outside their missile range.

    6. I expect when Bibi told him what they were about to do – he said "Whoa,,,, you can't do that!" So when the deed was done he could say "Nothing to do with me! "

  128. He was right all along: the lessons we learnt from Dad
    To mark Father’s Day, Telegraph writers recall the advice that’s stuck – and the words of wisdom they foolishly ignored
     https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/06/15/he-was-right-all-along-the-lessons-we-learnt-from-dad/

    Father's advice and grandfather's advice?

    I believe that the Duke of Edinburgh advised his grandson, Harry, saying that actresses are fine for a bit of fun – but not for marrying.

    I wonder if Harry wishes he had taken that advice?

  129. I bought a large piece of Monkfish from the mobile fishmonger on Friday , he had a large selection of fish to offer.

    We all love fish probably prefer fish to meat .

    I boiled some Jersey Royals , sweated down a large amount of fresh spinach and cooked enough peas for 3 of us .

    We didn't really enjoy the monkfish , I had divided it into several portions , melted butter in my wonderful pan , and sizzled the fish with the pan lid on for a matter of minutes, no herbs , nothing .

    When I served it , squeeze of lemon juice , and salt and pepper ..

    Son and Moh , and including me decided pan frying it in the solitary state was a mistake , perhaps I should have used herbs , tomatoes and lots of other flavourful additives..

    Our memory of monkfish years ago will be similar to this evenings meal , not again , the only redeeming feature was the fresh spinach , fresh peas and new spuds .

    Should have stuck to Moh's favourite , pan fried haddock .

    2. Have you tried Air Fryer, Belle…we use ours for everything. Otherwise as you say, pan fry 🙂

      1. Yes I air fry most things but the monkfish cost a bomb , so would have been a big risk ..

        Monkfish is quite solid , almost like fillet of pork or beef , so pan frying in a little butter with lid on for les than five minutes was preferable , but the fish tasted meaty but flavourless .

        1. Quite a while since we ate it, but that's how I cooked it too. Post-vaccine, no ability to taste, eyes closed can guess from texture/temperature and that's about all.

          1. Oh, that's not fun at all! Poor you!
            I lost my sense of taste after stroke (took to wearing white soxks with sandals…). Food has ceased to be interesting, as I only have tongue tastes.

          2. White sox and sandals….that’s even less fun:-) So sorry to read you had a stroke – I believe we all have mini ones, a lot of the time? I’m not too keen on medics, any stripe. I like to eat fresh fruit, I can sometimes tell what it is by the texture. Porridge fills my breakfast stomach. Marmite I can still taste. Coffee makes my stomach ache. Quite an adventure 😀

          3. I have sweet, salt, sour & bitter, and just occasionally coffee and wine, but only enough to be tantalising. It’s a bugger, my interest in food is almost entirely absent.

          4. Very similar, I recognise the lift from coffee and alcohol but otherwise a waste of time. My mum was never a good cook, only when I learned for myself did I appreciate good food, she learned from me 😀 I count my blessings much as I can x

    6. A shame, Belle, it's not cheap either, is it? We do like a lightly smoked, no stupid colourings, fried or grilled haddock.

    7. Never learned to enjoy fish as a child, there wasn't much that could be delivered on the handlebars of a bike in Northern Nigeria. Live chickens, yes, but fish – no. Even now at 63, don't care for it.

    1. I don’t know how many, but I think society changed generally due to lockdowns and I guess that was some sort of huge experiment done by certain parties. People are now far more sceptical than they were, less likely to trust. Our GP practice more or less closed down, pensioners queuing in the rain to collect regular prescriptions. Am told by someone who works at ours, people who phone in to make appt and denied one become angry with receptionists who are often reduced to tears. All to promote a new type of vaccine…hence the loss of taste and smell, but I count myself lucky compared to others. I tire easily too, hence early bed, off to check the pipestrelles flying first, ‘night Belle, likely see you tmrw. Thx for ‘spot on’! Kate x

      1. Night night Kate

        Yep the bats are flitting around here as well , left the curtains open, clear sky blue fading 22.07 the month moves on .

        We need some rain, not the drizzle we had a few days ago , we seem to live in a strange freaky weather spot, where five miles down the road can be so wet , yet here dry and breezy .

        1. No rain at all forecast for this week – the brief shower a couple of days ago will be the lot. Anyway, next Sunday we're going to our friends in Bristol for their Open Garden Day – people come to see their swift colony flying and enjoy the lovely garden.
          We had a good flying display round the house again this evening,

        2. Just starting here too, Belle…not in the numbers they once were unfortunately. They move on every so often, no-one seems to know why, but it may be because running out of space in a good year to make room for nursery. Husband freaks out if they fly round in house, summer nights when doors/windows open :-DD

    1. Painful , Sue .

      He works for himself , but as part of a team , sadly he won't be working tomorrow or driving .

      He is an electrician, more industrial , heavy stuff .

      Waiting for an appointment to see what bone needs fixing .

    1. Not a happy bunny is he! I retired in 2011 so don't blame me…… I was in the Job Centre, not Pensions.

  134. I’ll keep my fingers crossed it’s not the scaphoid! Tiny little bone – mucho problem!

    1. Thank you sweetie! I'll be standing as the Total Shi'ite candidate – my election slogan is…

      'If you want a Sunni future, vote for a Total Shi'ite!' – I think it's a winner…..

      1. It certainly sounds it, you old Red Rogue :-DD….yes as my young grandson aged around three would say, watching me make dinner ‘winner winner chicken dinner’….G’night Vlad, see you tmrw x

      2. Only a mini hand held one. I've been keeping wet tea towels in the fridge.

  140. And that's me off to bed.
    The DT said my Cottage Pie was very good by the way!
    Off to see stepson tomorrow, he's had another trip to A&E after falling over whilst drinking by the way, but sounds better at the moment.
    Given the weather, I might stop off overnight to try a village pub or two instead of heading straight home.

      1. We had a pot roast bit of brisket – with Jersey potatoes, tenderstem broccoli and a nice bottle of red.

      1. Good morning Stormy,
        Not bad at all.
        A tad under 16°C now with a high of 21° and low of 14½°C.
        Getting to the point where a bit of rain would be welcome.

  141. TThe two 80 Yr old who have joined us have said how relaxing it is.
    For THEM maybe. Dont they realise its relaxing because I'm doing everything for them?

  146. Commentators seem divided on the current war between Israel and Iran. Tousi believes that Tehran has fallen and folk are leaving the city in logjammed vehicles stretching for miles and that those remaining are shouting “Death to Khameini”.

    By contrast Alexander Mercouris of The Duran paints an entirely different picture where “after the dust has settled” Iran will be seen to be the stronger and with a better outcome.

    I earnestly hope that Tousi is correct. The regime in Iran is clearly a vile thing and is possibly the sponsor for much of the terrorism we have witnessed in the Middle East.

    However other countries are powerful influences on the potential outcome of such conflicts. Both Russia and China are involved in supporting Iran and President Trump seems to have appointed (yet again) a bunch of dangerous neo-cons to his administration and is relying on pisspoor advice from these people.

    I pray that a dangerous escalation is averted before yet more death and destruction is visited on innocent people.

    1. Show some respect, Maggie

      He is Sir Mufti Hamid Patel CBE, no less, and we must all bow before him.

      March 14, 2025
      The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) today welcomes the appointment of Sir Mufti Hamid Patel CBE as interim chair of Ofsted, the first British Muslim to be appointed to this role. The MCB also condemns the Islamophobic attacks directed at Sir Mufti Hamid following his appointment, which appears to be motivated by his Muslim identity rather than his professional capabilities.

      Sir Mufti Hamid, the highly respected Chief Executive of Star Academies and respected Islamic scholar brings exceptional credentials to the role, having transformed one of the UK’s most successful school academy networks.

      Naff off, Muslim Council.

      French politicians attack UK Ofsted chair with unfounded 'Islamist takeover' claims
      https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/french-politicians-launch-attacks-against-uk-ofsted-chair-hamid-patel

      1. How is this being allowed! Who appointed this man?

        This country is being, quite outrageously, taken over by foreign people.

  148. Well, chums, it's way past my bedtime. So I wish you all a Good Night; sleep well, and I hope to see you all early tomorrow morning.

Comments are closed.