Sunday 16 June: Once-loyal Tories wish to see Conservatism reborn after years of Blairite betrayal

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

527 thoughts on “Sunday 16 June: Once-loyal Tories wish to see Conservatism reborn after years of Blairite betrayal”

  1. Good morrow, gentlefolk. todays (recycled) story

    How Do Court Reporters Keep Straight Faces!

    Picture yourself sitting in a court room listening to a lawyer questioning a witness sitting in the witness chair.

    If you can avoid laughing while reading these, — you're getting old!

    These are from a book called Disorder in the American Courts and are things people actually said in court, word for word, taken down and published by Court reporters that had the torment of staying calm while the exchanges were taking place.

    ATTORNEY: What was the first thing your husband said to you that morning?
    WITNESS: He said, 'Where am I, Cathy?'
    ATTORNEY: And why did that upset you?
    WITNESS: My name is Susan!
    _______________________________________________________

    ATTORNEY: What gear were you in at the moment of the impact?
    WITNESS: Gucci sweats and Reeboks.
    ______________________________________________________

    ATTORNEY: Are you sexually active?
    WITNESS: No, I just lie there.
    _____________________________________________________

    ATTORNEY: What is your date of birth?
    WITNESS: July 18th.
    ATTORNEY: What year?
    WITNESS: Every year.
    _____________________________________________________

    ATTORNEY: How old is your son, the one living with you?
    WITNESS: Thirty-eight or thirty-five, I can't remember which.
    ATTORNEY: How long has he lived with you?
    WITNESS: Forty-five years.
    __________________________________________________________

    ATTORNEY: This myasthenia gravis, does it affect your memory at all?
    WITNESS: Yes.
    ATTORNEY: And in what ways does it affect your memory?
    WITNESS: I forget…
    ATTORNEY: You forget? Can you give us an example of something you forgot?
    _________________________________________________________________

    ATTORNEY: Now doctor, isn't it true that when a person dies in his sleep,
    he doesn't know about it until the next morning?
    WITNESS: Did you actually pass the exam?
    ____________________________________

    ATTORNEY: The youngest son, the 20-year-old, how old is he?
    WITNESS: He's 20, much like your IQ.
    ___________________________________________

    ATTORNEY: Were you present when your picture was taken?
    WITNESS: Are you shitting me?
    _________________________________________

    ATTORNEY: So the date of conception (of the baby) was August 8th?
    WITNESS: Yes.
    ATTORNEY: And what were you doing at that time?
    WITNESS: Getting laid
    ____________________________________________

    ATTORNEY: She had three children, right?
    WITNESS: Yes.
    ATTORNEY: How many were boys?
    WITNESS: None.
    ATTORNEY: Were there any girls?
    WITNESS: Your Honour, I think I need a different ATTORNEY. Can I get a new ATTORNEY?
    ____________________________________________

    ATTORNEY: How was your first marriage terminated?
    WITNESS: By death..
    ATTORNEY: And by whose death was it terminated?
    WITNESS: Take a guess.
    ___________________________________________

    ATTORNEY: Can you describe the individual?
    WITNESS: He was about medium height and had a beard
    ATTORNEY: Was this a male or a female?
    WITNESS: Unless the Circus was in town I'm going with male.
    _____________________________________

    ATTORNEY: Is your appearance here this morning pursuant to a deposition notice which I sent to your ATTORNEY?
    WITNESS: No, this is how I dress when I go to work.
    ______________________________________

    ATTORNEY: Doctor, how many of your autopsies have you performed on dead people?
    WITNESS: All of them. The live ones put up too much of a fight.
    _________________________________________

    ATTORNEY: ALL your responses MUST be oral, OK? What school did you go to?
    WITNESS: Oral…
    _________________________________________

    ATTORNEY: Do you recall the time that you examined the body?
    WITNESS: The Post-Mortem started around 8:30 PM
    ATTORNEY: And Mr Denton was dead at the time?
    WITNESS: If not, he was by the time I finished.
    ____________________________________________

    ATTORNEY: Are you qualified to give a urine sample?
    WITNESS: Are you qualified to ask that question?
    ______________________________________

    And last:

    ATTORNEY: Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?
    WITNESS: No.
    ATTORNEY: Did you check for blood pressure?
    WITNESS: No.
    ATTORNEY: Did you check for breathing?
    WITNESS: No..
    ATTORNEY: So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?
    WITNESS: No.
    ATTORNEY: How can you be so sure, Doctor?
    WITNESS: Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar.
    ATTORNEY: I see, but could the patient have still been alive, nevertheless?
    WITNESS: Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practicing law.

    3. My greatest sport was a battle of wits with a barrister from the witness box; I used to relish the challenge and I would simply refuse to let them beat me. Many's the time they would attempt to attack my character, since my evidence was invariably watertight, but they soon regretted doing so.

      One, in particular, got redder and redder in the face as his attacks on me were all swept aside. After a while the smirking judge advised him to change tack saying, "It is quite obvious to me, and to this court, that the officer has your measure."

    4. My greatest sport was a battle of wits with a barrister from the witness box; I used to relish the challenge and I would simply refuse to let them beat me. Many's the time they would attempt to attack my character, since my evidence was invariably watertight, but they soon regretted doing so.

      One, in particular, got redder and redder in the face as his attacks on me were all swept aside. After a while the smirking judge advised him to change tack saying, "It is quite obvious to me, and to this court, that the officer has your measure."

  2. Good morrow, gentlefolk. todays (recycled) story

    How Do Court Reporters Keep Straight Faces!

    Picture yourself sitting in a court room listening to a lawyer questioning a witness sitting in the witness chair.

    If you can avoid laughing while reading these, — you're getting old!

    These are from a book called Disorder in the American Courts and are things people actually said in court, word for word, taken down and published by Court reporters that had the torment of staying calm while the exchanges were taking place.

    ATTORNEY: What was the first thing your husband said to you that morning?
    WITNESS: He said, 'Where am I, Cathy?'
    ATTORNEY: And why did that upset you?
    WITNESS: My name is Susan!
    _______________________________________________________

    ATTORNEY: What gear were you in at the moment of the impact?
    WITNESS: Gucci sweats and Reeboks.
    ______________________________________________________

    ATTORNEY: Are you sexually active?
    WITNESS: No, I just lie there.
    _____________________________________________________

    ATTORNEY: What is your date of birth?
    WITNESS: July 18th.
    ATTORNEY: What year?
    WITNESS: Every year.
    _____________________________________________________

    ATTORNEY: How old is your son, the one living with you?
    WITNESS: Thirty-eight or thirty-five, I can't remember which.
    ATTORNEY: How long has he lived with you?
    WITNESS: Forty-five years.
    __________________________________________________________

    ATTORNEY: This myasthenia gravis, does it affect your memory at all?
    WITNESS: Yes.
    ATTORNEY: And in what ways does it affect your memory?
    WITNESS: I forget…
    ATTORNEY: You forget? Can you give us an example of something you forgot?
    _________________________________________________________________

    ATTORNEY: Now doctor, isn't it true that when a person dies in his sleep,
    he doesn't know about it until the next morning?
    WITNESS: Did you actually pass the exam?
    ____________________________________

    ATTORNEY: The youngest son, the 20-year-old, how old is he?
    WITNESS: He's 20, much like your IQ.
    ___________________________________________

    ATTORNEY: Were you present when your picture was taken?
    WITNESS: Are you shitting me?
    _________________________________________

    ATTORNEY: So the date of conception (of the baby) was August 8th?
    WITNESS: Yes.
    ATTORNEY: And what were you doing at that time?
    WITNESS: Getting laid
    ____________________________________________

    ATTORNEY: She had three children, right?
    WITNESS: Yes.
    ATTORNEY: How many were boys?
    WITNESS: None.
    ATTORNEY: Were there any girls?
    WITNESS: Your Honour, I think I need a different ATTORNEY. Can I get a new ATTORNEY?
    ____________________________________________

    ATTORNEY: How was your first marriage terminated?
    WITNESS: By death..
    ATTORNEY: And by whose death was it terminated?
    WITNESS: Take a guess.
    ___________________________________________

    ATTORNEY: Can you describe the individual?
    WITNESS: He was about medium height and had a beard
    ATTORNEY: Was this a male or a female?
    WITNESS: Unless the Circus was in town I'm going with male.
    _____________________________________

    ATTORNEY: Is your appearance here this morning pursuant to a deposition notice which I sent to your ATTORNEY?
    WITNESS: No, this is how I dress when I go to work.
    ______________________________________

    ATTORNEY: Doctor, how many of your autopsies have you performed on dead people?
    WITNESS: All of them. The live ones put up too much of a fight.
    _________________________________________

    ATTORNEY: ALL your responses MUST be oral, OK? What school did you go to?
    WITNESS: Oral…
    _________________________________________

    ATTORNEY: Do you recall the time that you examined the body?
    WITNESS: The Post-Mortem started around 8:30 PM
    ATTORNEY: And Mr Denton was dead at the time?
    WITNESS: If not, he was by the time I finished.
    ____________________________________________

    ATTORNEY: Are you qualified to give a urine sample?
    WITNESS: Are you qualified to ask that question?
    ______________________________________

    And last:

    ATTORNEY: Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?
    WITNESS: No.
    ATTORNEY: Did you check for blood pressure?
    WITNESS: No.
    ATTORNEY: Did you check for breathing?
    WITNESS: No..
    ATTORNEY: So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?
    WITNESS: No.
    ATTORNEY: How can you be so sure, Doctor?
    WITNESS: Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar.
    ATTORNEY: I see, but could the patient have still been alive, nevertheless?
    WITNESS: Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practicing law.

  3. Good morning, chums, and thank you, Geoff, for today's Sunday site. Enjoy your day, everyone.

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  7. Once-loyal Tories wish to see Conservatism reborn after years of Blairite betrayal

    Not sure why they call selling your country down the river, Blairism, Major started it all off.

    1. I cannot stand him. Does he still live in Norfolk or has he moved to China.

      1. Morning, JN.
        I think he spends his time in the fleshpots and watering holes of London.
        Quite how he acquired the wealth for such a life style is buried in mystery.

          2. Perhaps they've silenced her, for getting too close to the truth. Or perhaps not.

      2. Blair lives on his Buckinghamshire Estate, not far from Chequers, with its 8 ft high wall around it and still publicly funded armed protection.
        And his London mansio.
        As probably Major (disaster) does in Norfolk.

  9. Geneviève de Galard, nurse who was the only French woman at the siege of Dien Bien Phu – obituary. 16 June 2024.

    By March 19, there were 400 men to evacuate, and she participated in a daring nocturnal mission to land silently, in a Dakota with its engines cut, on the damaged airstrip. She was back on March 26, but the ambulances could not get to the plane before it had to take off again to escape the intense shelling.

    On March 28, she landed again, on what would turn out to be the last medical plane, which the Viet Minh destroyed. After that, she was trapped in Dien Bien Phu. Airlifts became impossible and each soldier’s family was sent a cryptic telegram: “Impossible to write. All is going well.”

    The stupidity of this operation and the incompetence of its commanders is beyond description. The telegram story, which I have not heard before, just about sums it up. Anyway all respects to Madame de Galard. She deserves it.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk…

  10. Geneviève de Galard, nurse who was the only French woman at the siege of Dien Bien Phu – obituary. 16 June 2024.

    By March 19, there were 400 men to evacuate, and she participated in a daring nocturnal mission to land silently, in a Dakota with its engines cut, on the damaged airstrip. She was back on March 26, but the ambulances could not get to the plane before it had to take off again to escape the intense shelling.

    On March 28, she landed again, on what would turn out to be the last medical plane, which the Viet Minh destroyed. After that, she was trapped in Dien Bien Phu. Airlifts became impossible and each soldier’s family was sent a cryptic telegram: “Impossible to write. All is going well.”

    The stupidity of this operation and the incompetence of its commanders is beyond description. The telegram story, which I have not heard before, just about sums it up. Anyway all respects to Madame de Galard. She deserves it.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk…

  11. Unbelievable – Two two's in two days.
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  12. We hear the term “far-Right” a lot these days. Or at least, we do if we get our news from the BBC, The Guardian or prominent Left-wing pundits. But what precisely do they mean by it? Unfortunately, they rarely say. They tend to just call a party, politician or group of voters “far-Right”, and leave it at that.

    Thankfully, help is at hand. Take our quick quiz to discover whether you too are at risk of joining the ever-growing number of dangerous extremists labelled “far-Right”…

    1. In 1993, the UK had an annual net immigration figure of about zero. Thirty years later, in 2023, it had an annual net immigration figure of 685,000. How do you feel about this change?

    a. It just goes to show how much Rishi Sunak’s racist, xenophobic, Islamophobic, Little Englander Tory Government hates migrants. The 2023 figure should have been at least twice as high.

    b. I can’t see any problems with it. Certainly not in the charming, peaceful and expensive middle-class suburb where I live.

    c. Now you put it like that, the 2023 figure does seem a trifle on the steep side.

    2. Do women have penises?

    a. Obviously. Come on, this is basic biology. As of about 2015.

    b. Oh, must we really keep on stoking these beastly culture wars? What’s wrong with placing convicted rapists in a prison full of women, anyway?

    c. Er… no?

    3. Last Saturday the IDF rescued four Israeli hostages from Gaza. What was your reaction?

    a. Like every other decent, compassionate human being, I was utterly appalled by the premeditated slaughter of innocent Hamas operatives.

    b. Both sides should just set aside their differences and live in peace. Why does no one seem to have thought of this?

    c. If Hamas didn’t want the IDF to launch an armed operation to rescue the hostages, perhaps they shouldn’t have taken the hostages in the first place.

    4. Last month, a councillor in Leeds ended his local elections acceptance speech by screaming, “Allahu Akbar!” How did you feel about this?

    a. There was nothing remotely sinister or threatening about it at all. As anyone who knows the first thing about Islamic culture can tell you, it actually translates as “happy birthday”.

    b. Do we really have to dwell on this sort of thing? It’s all terribly awkward and uncomfortable. Look, let’s just keep our heads down, and I’m sure it’ll all blow over.

    c. He may well be a very nice man once you get to know him, but I can’t say I’ve got any immediate plans to invite him over for wine and nibbles.

    YOUR ANSWERS

    Mostly a: Congratulations! You’re a progressive. You therefore hold all the approved opinions about today’s key issues.

    Mostly b: You’re a centrist. As a result, you believe in moderation, nuance, and never expressing any opinion that might damage your standing in fashionable circles. If Person X argues that 2+2=4 and Person Y argues that 2+2=5, you propose a sensible compromise of 4½.

    Mostly c: You far-Right, bigoted, hate-filled, genocidal, transphobic Zionist. You are literally Hitler.

    1. I am proud to say I scored all 'cs'. When I've had breakfast, I will invade Poland.

        1. Several BTLs suggested a 'd' was needed.
          Personally, I think 'z' would be about (far/hard) right.

      4. I was looking for answer d. in all scenarios! [Sorry Tom A – didn't read under!]

      5. I was looking for answer d. in all scenarios! [Sorry Tom A – didn't read under!]

    2. 1. It shows that John Major and his Maastricht Treaty was right about immigration.

      2. They do if they have active husbands.

      3. Four innocent Israelis rescued, several hundred innocent Palestinians killed doing do. For the IDF and Hamas, business as usual.

      4. Merry Christmas!

  13. Good Moaning.
    MB has already been checking the Poole ospreys.
    It is noticeable that as the chicks have grown and become more adventurous, the parents have built up the sides of the nest to stop them falling over the edge. The nest has gone from a raft to an actual nest. We did wonder why the parents were flying in with large (v. large) twigs; we can now see the reason.

    1. Moring Anne ,

      The ospreys are so caring clever and nurturing .

      I tune in whenever I can , and have seen them in action when they navigate the Arne area .

        1. I’m fearing for bob3 at Loch Arkaig! The weather is atrocious and bob2 is a bully! I can hardly look!
          Good morning from a warm and cloudy Porto!

      2. Afternoon Belle.
        Sadly the third chick at Loch Arkaig has died, probably a combination of exposure and lack of food. I can’t watch any more.

  14. The police are coming in for a lot of criticism this morning for the cowherdly attack

    1. It is an appalling action.
      What the hell were they thinking?
      (Hold on a moment …. thinking ….)

    2. Was it Ernie or Two Ton Ted from Teddington who drove the baker's van?

  16. Good morning all (and the 77th if you're there),

    Sunny at McPhee Towers, a bit of cloud, wind Westerly, 12℃ and we may see 20℃ this afternoon. Hooray!

    Beards on parade again after 100 years? I think it may be more. I don't recall seeing any bearded soldiers in WW1 or Boer war photographs.

    The Irish Guards?

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0b5fbbe4e283616349d618119568bb73658d526f2245f3d636725f575ab60301.png
    Fearsome-looking and representing the ethnic make-up of 2020's Ireland.

    The Welsh Guards, meanwhile, look 'hideously white' and, well, a bit gay?

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e63f4ea49896fad11a8a9cba089ece504ea8a248eb8b1b3e26fe8c309c52a4e3.png

    1. Obviously a ploy to allow muzzies into the forces. Another self-inflicted stab in the chest. Instead of bulling their boots and making their bed up in the morning they will all be required to shout 'Gob is grate', or something similar, every twenty minutes and unroll their prayer mats for inspection by the Company Imam Major.

      1. Train our enemies, pay and give them bed and board. Oh, we are doing most of that now. Our so called elite really are stupid.

      2. Train our enemies, pay and give them bed and board. Oh, we are doing most of that now. Our so called elite really are stupid.

  18. 388613+ up ticks,

    Morning each,

    Sunday 16 June: Once-loyal Tories wish to see Conservatism reborn after years of Blairite betrayal

    It will take some doing after DECADES of betrayal of the tory in name only party in regards to the peoples.

    This started with the demise of the Thatcher era and progressively got worse, and was clear to see getting worse year on year as if to see finally, in 2019 the closeted coalition came out.

    We are yet to observe if these supporting party name voters will adhere to their usual voting pattern, or will go for the name change, more or less same rhetorical aims, vows & pledges, with some agents of deceit crossing over, when the dust settles we will find little if any change.

    As in, the tory (ino) party reformed.

    1. Actually true Conservatism started to perish with the 1981 budget, which gave preference to special advisers and their lobbyists in the casino economy, who did the dirty on small businesses and drove many marginal but essential British industries to ruin, asset stripping or foreign ownership in the drive to be like the Americans. It has persisted ever since.

      When I voted Tory in 1979, it was with the understanding that small business, not global speculation, was the seed corn for future national prosperity and that the party was duty bound to make the best use of the varied talents of everyone in the nation, who all could expect to improve their prospects and that of their families and communities.

  20. The DT/ST is a bit schizophrenic on Nigel Farage. On the one hand it publishes artcles by him and comes up with this balanced piece of factual reporting.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/71db20bfe1e0bb80a3088ec786d7dd47e57add0e991fdd9e7e2e25fa5a6e193d.png
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/06/15/nigel-farage-tories-warfare-reform-general-election/

    On the other hand it publishes a nasty hit-piece by Petronella Wyatt who seems to be letting her personal demons get in the way of her judgement.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6b592938686edca78a245ebab63f21cab10b47f497d347ada800211f0555314e.png
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/columnists/2024/06/13/thatcher-despise-nigel-farage-general-election-2024-reform/

    2. He still looks like a wide-mouthed frog.

      The Mr Toad of politics. I was talking yesterday over strawberries and cream with an old chorister after a concert. An interesting discussion – he was very much a nottler-type Tory. There was also a Labour councillor with us, and me – well, I don't fit into any category.

      We all agreed that Worcester will almost certainly fall to Labour, and that this old Tory might well vote Reform to register with his party which direction it should be going in time for the next set of elections. We all agreed that the Conservative-dominated county council was a waste of space. I said that it takes over 1000 pounds [this new Disqus text editor does not allow the proper pound symbol] off me in Council Tax, and still cannot do social care, for which most of its budget is siphoned towards.

      In my own constituency, West Worcestershire, the incumbent Dame Harriett Baldwin is a bear of little brain, which is probably why the Tory High Command like her – she doesn't rock the boat.

      Mr Toad above doesn't need a boat though – he can swim without one. Poop! Poop!

      1. The motor-car went Poop-poop-poop
        As it raced along the road.
        Who was it steered it into a pond?
        Ingenious Mr Toad!

        (Kenneth Graham)

    3. The problem with journalism is they have a predetermined fallacy that they are right about everything.
      But their judgement is usually completely wrong. A bit like politicians, they never take in to account public opinion. From the long established public of course.
      Not the boaties and the gim meez.

    4. The Left-Green alliance, calling itself the New Popular Front, coalesced under the leadership of Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s La France Insoumise (France Unbowed). D Torygraf
      Not 'France Unbowed' . . . . ''Rebellious France' or 'France in Rebellion'. Why is the Torygraf being soft on the French lefties?

    5. Reform leader says splits in the party ‘will get worse’ as some members become ‘more vociferous’ about their opposing views

      If Farage is correct about Tory splits the question to be asked is, what held them together for so long?

      Power? Is power and the wielding of that power the glue that held this shower together for over a decade? Perhaps the glue is losing its grip under the stress of losing power.

      If that reason, or any other selfish reason, is the answer then it's little wonder that the Tories didn't provide one positive action of note for the UK and its people. Plenty of largesse sprayed about for the right people e.g. HS2, "green" energy projects, PPE, "vaccines" etc. during the fake pandemic, and all the while our existing infrastructure and institutions crumble.

      Good riddance.

    2. I imagine he is far too preoccupied with Somerset Liberal Democrats – these are natural Leavers who abandoned the party in 2015, but since Brexit has come off the agenda can resume their natural bloody-minded West County parochialism. Appealing to non-clown Lib Dems whilst holding on to Reform-minded Tories is a juggling act for Mogg worthy of Corbyn at the last election, trying to keep Flat Cap Leavers on board with Remainer youth, whilst under constant fire from Blairites, the Israel lobby and backstabber Starmer.

    4. Grease-Smogg must join Reform – the Conservative Party no longer represents his views.

      (He must first de-grease himself a bit and come out into the clear clean air!)

  22. In terms of seats in parliament, Reform would need over 36% in the polls and a high turn out to start having meaningful numbers.
    That's about 60% of the brexit voters.
    Well, the outrage factor is there.. the Farage factor is there.. momentum is building.. so anything is possible.

    2. Indeed it is. And we all know the pollsters are usually wrong because the pesky people don't tell the truth.

        1. I learned to do that as a child. The entire school were given a multiple choice exam. They were cagey about what it was for. I only learned later that it was to gather for national statistics.
          As they wouldn't be open about it i answered every question wrong on purpose. I'm still like that when i feel i am being manipulated.

          1. You sound as contrary as my older son. When he was at school, I forked out over 40 quid for something called the Morrisby Career Inventory – some sort of test that was meant to help with careers advice. I complained when his report stated that he was in the bottom centile of the population for English skills as I felt this was incompatible with him having an A* English GCSE and A in English at AS (that was before A levels could be starred). I was also dubious about the conclusion that he should become a nurse or a quantity surveyor. He told me that the instruction they were given was that it didn’t matter what they wrote as there were no wrong answers…

          2. Oh dear. So that was why my careers advisor suggested i work at Thorn. (They made TV’s} both my Mother and my brother worked there.

            I also think the teachers were scared it would reflect on them.. Have you read the Guardians? I did at 11 years old and it well…………………..

            The Guardians is a young-adult science fiction novel written by John Christopher and published by Hamilton in 1970. Set in the year 2052, it depicts an authoritarian England divided into two distinct societies: the modern, overpopulated “Conurbs” and the aristocratic, rarefied “County”.

            Seems not a lot changes in the minds of fools.

    3. I personally think that Farage is biding his time as maybe the lone voice at PMQs to embarrass Starmer at every turn, as he did in the EU Parliament. He has his eyes on the 2029 GE.

  23. In his mid-twenties, Kier Starmer was training for the Bar and editing Socialist Alternatives, a Trotsykist magazine.

    What is a Trotskyist?
    Trotsky believed his country could achieve socialism only if the working classes around the world rose up as one to overthrow the ruling classes – the doctrine of "international socialism.

    What has any of this got to do with 21st Century British politics?

    Trotsky inspired followers around the world and they still survive to this day on the fringes of British politics.

    They have never had much success in elections, seeming to spend more time fighting each other and splitting into rival factions with confusingly similar names than taking on the powers that be.

    1. On the fringes? At the heart, surely. Blair. Starmer. They present themselves a something acceptable in order to gain election. Then….
      There are no doubt some among the so-called Conservatives.

    2. On the fringes? At the heart, surely. Blair. Starmer. They present themselves a something acceptable in order to gain election. Then….
      There are no doubt some among the so-called Conservatives.

    4. ♬Whatever happened to … Leon Trotsky?
      He got an ice-pick … it made his ears burn.♬

    5. But, but…it’s the ruling class who are imposing international communism. The egalitarian myth is just an excuse for wielding power. I suggested to my brothers once that if all the wealth in the world were raked in and redistributed absolutely equally, within a year we’d be back to square one. Brother number three said nah, it’d take less than a week. Good morning!

      2. Good morning Sue and everyone.
        Yes, when the USSR collapsed, workers were allocated shares of state enterprises, but what they really wanted were new fridges and similar white goods. And lo and behold, future oligarchs appeared on the scene.

  24. Morning all 🙂😊
    Summer? Oh dear there's a chance of no rain today, its Father's day today and I guess there will be a lot of people having family BBQs as we have planned, eldest son and second in charge. Four lovely grandchildren to play togethe.
    The youngest brother will join us via face time mobile from Dubai. Where he seems to be enjoying his new life.
    No smoke in his eyes.

  25. Good morning, all. Breezy with the threat of intermittent showers this morning and dry for the rest of the day. On that forecast I've dared to hang out the washing.

    From Wayne Dunlap's X account.

    Applies here, too!

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/755844ca36cc4fab4c2058985b0c0d4718ee93d2db55cd25f8793c81f687b975.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7c932950ee1657e1d962c1088ad97d9d0d1323aabc2864dc084dfa01af448963.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/68b2aee44fae40d3ee6ae97abfead4a12c81ce9624b75240336b10d02d892011.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/da28e5934b15fb752bec3ff06f450c66fcc211c028324776fbf5da368e68cb7f.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/28f64be2b7769397d3456d8fc9c79c8e348fc7804e55919d121237a37ae7da45.png

  26. Theatres taught about ‘anti-fat bias’ Courses by grant-funded ‘plus-size’ instructor criticised for failing to address bad lifestyle habitsThe Sunday Telegraph16 Jun 2024By Charlotte Gill

    Ruth Anna Phillips has offered drama schools classes ‘on size inclusion’
    Theatres and drama schools have been offered “plus-size inclusivity training” to tackle “fatphobia” and help the industry become “more inclusive for bigger bodies”.

    Ruth Anna Phillips, a “plus-size director” who runs workshops to address “anti-fat bias”, told The Stage earlier this month that “one drama school had already agreed to provide the size inclusion training for its staff.”

    The training was devised “following research carried out by Ms Phillips, which she said showed that nine out of 10 respondents felt teachers and facilitators should have training on size inclusion”, according to the weekly theatre newspaper.

    Ms Phillips is co-founder of Inclusion Collective, an organisation that provides training in “creative wellbeing”, “body positivity” and “inclusive movement”, among other areas. Her website contains resources on “fat activism” – “advocacy for the rights and dignity of fat people, combating discrimination” and “the body consciousness scale”, among other materials.

    Phillips says she has been “able to solidify and archive her work” thanks to Arts Council England’s (ACE) “developing your creative practice grant”, funded by the National Lottery.

    ACE records show she was awarded £10,479 last year, which she used to develop her project “body acceptance and inclusion”.

    She has previously run workshops to help “teachers, directors, coaches, movement directors” to enhance their “inclusive practice and allow all bodies

    to be celebrated in [their] work including those, who have often been marginalised and faced stereotyping in theatre”. On Tuesday, Ms Phillips visited Battersea Arts Centre, where she ran a “focus group for plus-size performers”. Pictures show participants engaged in a writing exercise, followed by pieces of paper with words on them such as “curvaceous”, “burly”, “fat”, “stocky” and “portly”.

    The National Lottery has subsidised other projects promoting body positivity, such as “the body positive project”. In 2016, it awarded £9,000 for “body and self-esteem courses in 20 local primary schools.”

    But some critics have questioned the merits of “plus size inclusion” training.

    Prof Karol Sikora, a consultant oncologist, told The Telegraph: “Public health messages about good lifestyle habits will be wasted by such frivolous projects. Normalising obesity has become fashionable in advertising and the media simply to sell stuff. But it’s got nothing to do with celebrating diversity. Nobody needs to be fat. It’s like encouraging risky behaviours such as smoking, driving after a booze up or lying like a lobster on the beach in the sun. A balanced diet and lots of exercise are the cornerstones of a healthy lifestyle.

    “How can anybody possibly justify these projects? ‘Plus-size inclusivity training’ is just the sort of nonsense that‘Nobody needs to be fat. It’s like encouraging smoking, driving after a booze up or lying in the sun’ the senior management in the NHS will make part of the ridiculous politically inspired, mandatory training all doctors are now forced to do.

    “Please bring back common sense!” ACE and the National Lottery declined to comment because of election rules.

    As long as people continue eating carbohydrates and sugar (and alcohol) there will always be obesity (and concomitant stupidity). People who eat a natural, nutritious and healthy high-fat (animal fat), medium-protein (animal protein), low-carb, no-sugar diet will always remain fit, slim and intelligent.

      2. I doubt she'll secure the lead role in 'The Karen Carpenter Story'. Bigots!

    2. Good morning Grizz, didn't read the article but they could be accommodated in 'The Gods' with access only by stairs.
      That should satisfy them.

    4. My Brother lived a healthy lifestyle, with moderate intake and much exercise- running up stairs at work, running in the streets, and so on.
      He is now crippled by collapsed joints, getting to the dunny is now quite an exercise.
      Healthy… hmm.

    5. Also, how is it that all these "inclusion" subjects relate to something that's visually detectable? Fatness, blackness, gayness, and so on. What about those who have so-called mental issues, from chronic shyness to autism spectrum? When will we be harangued to include, rather than shun, those folk?
      Edit: Not having a go at you, Grizz, just venting generally.

        1. There's fashion about who is to be included and who not. We are not allowed to treat all folk equally and kindly, some are more equal than others… based on a visual characteristic, so they can be easily recognised as being more equal. Then, they get advantage, extra money, whatever.
          Those of us with defective brains cannot be so recognised, and since if someone has advantage, someone else must have disadvantage to balance it out, so guess who gets it?
          It's a symptom of the Lefty thought process: Collectively, they decide who is in and who is out. Black – in, white – out. Hetero – out, gay – in. It used to be male – out, female – in, but that has run it's time now and is replaced by the previous in-out. Typical Lefty crap, to actively promote conflict where people got along fine before, and is the reason why I hate those bastards.
          Treat all with respect and kindness, but burn the Left.

          1. Most of the groups that preach inclusiveness are actually very inclusive themselves – they include a number of truly stupid people who would rightly be shunned elsewhere.

    6. Also, how is it that all these "inclusion" subjects relate to something that's visually detectable? Fatness, blackness, gayness, and so on. What about those who have so-called mental issues, from chronic shyness to autism spectrum? When will we be harangued to include, rather than shun, those folk?
      Edit: Not having a go at you, Grizz, just venting generally.

  27. Tories claim Keir Starmer will use satellites to force home owners with gardens to pay higher council tax under a new 'Big Brother' scheme if they are given the keys to Downing Street
    Housing Minister Michael Gove says Labour will 'hammer' families with tax rise
    Labour-run Welsh Government plans to use satellites to assess property size
    Sir Keir Starmer dismissed claims the system will be used in England as 'fantasy'
    By FRANCINE WOLFISZ

    PUBLISHED: 01:59, 16 June 2024 | UPDATED: 08:33, 16 June 2024

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13534523/Tories-claim-Kier-Starmer-use-satellites-force-home-owners-gardens-pay-higher-council-tax-new-Big-Brother-scheme-given-keys-Downing-Street.html

    1. The Terriblegraph misusing the verb “force” yet again. It’s a little game I play every day – how often do they use it every day? Usually about a gazillion, but that mat be an underestimate.

      I was forced to write this email in protest.

  28. Home Secretary criticises police traffic unit for not cleverly dealing with an escaped cow by dealing with it on the hoof.

  29. Perhaps people with trees will get a discount as the trees absorbed carbon.
    If not, he's gonna need some bigger jails.

    1. Ones with trees to get a discount? Nope, but the ones with rotting sofas on the lawn will get one. And a bigger discount if there's a rusty old cooker on the drive, too – stood next to a stack of pizza boxes…probably.

    1. Sir Stafford Cripps, Clement Attlee and John Platts-Mills were members as was the current leader of the British Labour Party and the leader of His Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition Sir Keir Starmer. Sir Keir belonged to the group from the 1980s and served as the group's secretary before leaving the organisation in 2008 upon his appointment as Director of Public Prosecutions.[2][3]

      It is now politically independent, unlike the Society of Labour Lawyers, which is affiliated to the Labour Party, and was formed after the society split in 1949 over the question of membership for members of the Communist Party.[4]

  31. This week's prize for potentially the most confusing email header goes to 'Plugin Alliance' with:

    'Blind Bus Compressor Shootout'

    Any thoughts?

    1. I think it is to do with audio plugins for playing music and gaming. The shootout bit is where they make the comparisons. I could be wrong. Me no techie.

    1. Reminds me of (all sing along now)…

      “No income tax, no V.A.T.,
      No money back, no guarantee,
      Black or white, rich or poor,…”

      Why do only fools and horses work?

  33. If the Right can’t unite, Starmer will change Britain beyond recognitionI share the frustration of so many Conservative voters – but a vote for Reform is a vote for a Labour supermajority Robert Jennrick – https://www.telegraph.co.uk… BTL

    The Conservative Party urged voters not to vote for Reform as it would help Labour.

    What a petard to hoist themselves on!

    Now that Reform is ahead of the Conservatives in the polls they must tell the voters not to vote Conservative but to vote Reform as voting Conservative would help Labour!

    1. He should have drawn the elephant sitting on a large armchair in the corner of the room with a fag and a drink.

    1. Cliff House? Sadly, being perched on a cliff or near the seaside tends to reduce a private school's catchment area.

      1. The school in which Caroline and I taught, Allhallows, near Lyme Regis, was situated above the Undercliff.

        Very sadly the school, originally founded in the Sixteenth century, closed down owing to financial incompetence ten years after we left it in 1989.

        One of its problems was that Colyton Grammar School, just a few miles away, was very often top of both the national "O" level and "A" level league tables.

  40. Since the only leaflet I have received in this election is from a Liberal Democrat in the neighbouring constituency, I went online to see what the six candidates standing here have to say for themselves.

    My conclusion is that, for all the talk of a Tory meltdown, the incumbent Conservative is home and dry. She is a bear of little brain, but is seen in the right places and shows the right level of concern where it matters. Her responses though are invariably platitudes drawn up by staffers and change nothing.

    Labour have put up a paper candidate, a Muslim we know little about, and his literature is all about Starmer.

    The Greens have a senior councillor, who largely fulfils the Labour position on many things, even though the local party is more inclined to small business and environmental protection.

    I was disappointed with both the Liberal Democrat and the Reform offerings. All we got from them were platitudes "Liberal Democrats winning here" or "Reform will tackle immigration" that anyone could say, without being specific on who they are and how they would sort things out. There really is no excuse, and I regard this as a bit insulting to someone who really wants to hear and would definitely vote for them if they were any good.

    That leaves the Women's candidate, who is perhaps the most interesting and the least electable of all of them. She fell ill and was so put out at having to share the hospital toilet with men, she decided to stand for Parliament on this issue. As a permaculture smallholder, she risks splitting the Green vote, but I don't see her having much effect on anyone else's vote.

    So it seems that another abstention is on the cards. Pity democracy!

    1. They don't really tell you everything in their colourful leaflets.
      We have a limp town/city Council.
      Not one mention of the planned 200 new homes they want to build on the outskirts of our village.

    2. Being in the middle of a field vaguely attached to a hamlet we seldom get leafleted. All we've had is the Green Party effort, full of the usual mad drivel about saving the world by recycling and going cold in winter naturally. It did though have a contact address. I felt like offering some feedback along the lines that while I was grateful that the leaflet proudly stated that it was recyclable, could it nevertheless be produced in a softer paper, since the existing one tended to scrape my bottom.

      1. We've had the Labour one, from a local GP. Labour posters everywhere. Tory standing again managed to get several photos in the local paper, as she does every week, but still no leaflets or posters anywhere. Nothing from any of the others.

        1. Lucky us, then. It's a new constituency here, so I'm surprised. Early days maybe. A few weeks before the election had been even announced we did get a leaflet survey from the prospective Con candidate. Unfortunately it came across as a bit bogus by confining questions on it to the sorts of things the two main parties want you to talk about while disregarding the matters people are actually talking about. Typical party stuff in other words. It was big on commitments to bring down inflation, supporting farmers, lowering taxation and increasing funding to the NHS, but had next to nothing on immigration, policing, crime, etc.

      2. Never seen a rep of any party as I'm in the middle of nowhere – good job actually because they would wish they'd never called

      3. My house is fairly inaccessible, too, so the LDs send their leaflets by Post Brenhinnol.

  41. The DT letters about farmed salmon are interesting .

    Comrade Woke
    4 MIN AGO
    Anyone interested in the life cycle of the salmon could do worse than read Alaska by James Michener. Its not one of his best books, but the chapters on salmon are brilliant. Did you know Alaskan salmon swim clockwise around the Pacific while Siberian salmon swim the other way, before migrating back to their original hatching pools? Not a lot do.

    ————————————————————————————————————-
    I loved this book , as well as Tarka the Otter and others as well. Beautifully written books by Henry Williamson aee worth a re read

    Salar the Salmon

    Henry Williamson
    3.70
    99 ratings15 reviews
    Salar the Salmon's migration through the rivers of Devon – surviving porpoises, seals, nets, fishermen, otters, poachers and weirs – is one of nature's great journeys. Intense, brilliantly imagined, the salmon's perilous return leaves us with a vivid, unsentimental picture of how both people and wildlife rely on a river and its estuary. "A rare and beautiful book that should take its place as a classic among the few that are written at once with a poet's insight and a naturalist's knowledge."-The New York Times. First published 1935 by Faber & Faber.

  42. Protests against hard-Right turn violent in France. 16 June 2024.

    French police clashed with protesters in Rennes and Paris on Saturday as tens of thousands of people took to the streets in marches against the hard-Right.Police in Rennes deployed tear gas against black-clad protesters who appeared to throw projectiles towards their lines.Paris authorities reported “numerous attempts at damage”, with at least one person being arrested.Riot officers in the French capital reportedly used tear gas against demonstrators who tried to vandalise a bus stop.

    A bus stop? It must be my suspicious nature but anti hard-Right? Really? Just where have these people sprung from? Didn’t Macron just have his derriere kicked in the Euro elections by these mythical creatures?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk…

    1. IIRC a comment BTL on the article pointed out that the news item should be headlined: 'Protests by the hard-Left turn violent'

  43. Protests against hard-Right turn violent in France. 16 June 2024.

    French police clashed with protesters in Rennes and Paris on Saturday as tens of thousands of people took to the streets in marches against the hard-Right.Police in Rennes deployed tear gas against black-clad protesters who appeared to throw projectiles towards their lines.Paris authorities reported “numerous attempts at damage”, with at least one person being arrested.Riot officers in the French capital reportedly used tear gas against demonstrators who tried to vandalise a bus stop.

    A bus stop? It must be my suspicious nature but anti hard-Right? Really? Just where have these people sprung from? Didn’t Macron just have his derriere kicked in the Euro elections by these mythical creatures?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk…

  44. Protests against hard-Right turn violent in France. 16 June 2024.

    French police clashed with protesters in Rennes and Paris on Saturday as tens of thousands of people took to the streets in marches against the hard-Right.Police in Rennes deployed tear gas against black-clad protesters who appeared to throw projectiles towards their lines.Paris authorities reported “numerous attempts at damage”, with at least one person being arrested.Riot officers in the French capital reportedly used tear gas against demonstrators who tried to vandalise a bus stop.

    A bus stop? It must be my suspicious nature but anti hard-Right? Really? Just where have these people sprung from? Didn’t Macron just have his derriere kicked in the Euro elections by these mythical creatures?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk…

  45. I had to turn her off, kuenssberg let the staunch leftie labour person speak with out interruption.
    But the Tory couldn't get a word in.
    Pointless BS.
    Mrs Gobby needs to wind her leftie neck in.

  46. UK Column Live Stream on line about it's story, where it is now and where it's going. All day. I don't have the time to watch so I'll catch up with the recording later. https://www.ukcolumn.org

    I'm off to ring church bells then I'm going fishing.

  47. UK Column Live Stream on line about it's story, where it is now and where it's going. All day. I don't have the time to watch so I'll catch up with the recording later. https://www.ukcolumn.org

    I'm off to ring church bells then I'm going fishing.

  48. Here's one for you: Local rag reports that the local primary school has had it's flagpole vandalised last night, and because the flagpole was flying the Pride-flag (there's a Pride demo in town today), it's deffo an anti-Gay crime. Maybe you can see the picture from the paper.
    https://www.budstikka.no/harverk-i-skolegard/s/5-55-1733064
    That's too obvious. It's clearly planned – someone needed big spanners to unbolt the base of the pole, and that's not the kind of gear you take to the pub on Saturday evening (knives are the fashion these days, not spanners). The flag is still attached to the pole, although resting on the ground, so was deliberately left there so that folk could see the flag on the dirt and "understand" the purpose of the vandalism.
    BUT: The flag is there, all tidy, not even stamped upon, not torn, not burned or stolen. So, my interpretation is that the act was designed to raise the outrage level about people who are against Pride – "See whar prejudice we have to deal with!" – and thus this was a false-flag operation… (sorry about the pun, it just occurred to me!).

    1. Morning Oberstleutnant, the propaganda machine will be churning away like billy-oh this month. It's Nothing to be Proud About month for sure, but it's also England in the Euros, which as any Establishment mouthpiece knows is a synonym for Little Englander White Van Driving Drunken Racist Thug.

      Even though the Germans have controversially banned serving the English supporters anything other than a sort of 2% lager shandy, because normal German beer is so very strong at 4% (🥺), the British Police spotters on the ground are already claiming they're tanked up on strong beer and openly snorting cocaine in the streets. While the Serbs are apparently "an unknown quantity" (not to people with open eyes they're not) the English are a very real threat to the town and at home back in blighty those that can't go will be inevitably beating up their wives if England lose, according to standard Liberal prognostication.

      Election time and propaganda. Same old, same old.

      1. I notice that when the massed ranks of Scottish supporters were creating a disturbance the other day, the BBC referred to them as ‘British fans’ 😉.

        1. Oh yes, of course they will. There will be trouble, there’s no doubt. But what the media will miss is that Serbia and a couple of other nations are the new “blight” on football and they’ll go for the England fans because that’s the way it is. That’s not the way it’ll be reported tomorrow morning, though.

  49. morning all.

    There are 6 living former U.K. Prime Ministers according to Wikipedia, however Liz Truss is not included. So there are 7 has-beens that the British public is forking out to ‘protect’ from … what, us? Seven leeches par excellence. Soon to be 8 unless hi risk anus does a bunk to USA.

    Edit: Forking out

  50. morning all.

    There are 6 living former U.K. Prime Ministers according to Wikipedia, however Liz Truss is not included. So there are 7 has-beens that the British public is forking out to ‘protect’ from … what, us? Seven leeches par excellence. Soon to be 8 unless hi risk anus does a bunk to USA.

    Edit: Forking out

  51. from the Spectator magazine

    Madrí wouldn’t fool a true Spaniard
    Comments Share 00:00
    Sam McPhail has narrated this article for you to listen to.

    Four years ago, Madrí didn’t exist. Today, the faux Spanish lager is sold in a quarter of British pubs, which makes it one of the fastest-growing beers of all time. ‘Madrí’ is the historic name for Madrid, which is peculiar for a beer brewed in Tadcaster – or Tada as the Anglo-Saxon mead-drinkers called it.

    Madrí has never been brewed in Spain, let alone Madrid. Yet it shares the same sanguine-red label of the real Spanish lagers, such as Estrella Galicia, Mahou (pronounced Mao) and Estrella Damm, which allows it to blend in with them on pub bars and supermarket shelves. ‘People think they are drinking a Spanish beer but it’s not,’ says Aitor de Artaza, international head of Estrella Galicia. He accuses Madrí of ‘lacking transparency’. It’s not an unfair criticism. Madrí’s owners, the Canadian-American brewing giant Molson Coors, claim Spanish heritage from the tiny Toledo-based brewery they own which gave Madrí its ‘inspiration’. That’s it. No recipe, malt or hops.

    Most popular
    Ross Clark
    David Cameron is driving voters into Farage’s arms

    Madrí isn’t the first premium lager to have captured a large audience of drinkers very quickly. Peroni did the same here two decades ago, even though it is a fairly bog-standard beer – albeit actually brewed in Italy – and served in a comically tall glass. Part of the appeal of European premium lagers is that they are stronger than standards – Madrí is 4.6 per cent ABV and Peroni 5 per cent, whereas Carling and Coors are just 4 per cent.

    In truth, all Madrí has going for it is that it’s the latest thing. Stella is crisper, Fosters is smoother, Amstel is more rounded. Their drinkers, however, are often unfairly cast as grubby pintmen or yobbish yoofs. Madrí hasn’t been around long enough to pick up such negative social stereotypes. This makes it perfect for the main cohort of lager-drinkers – young blokes. Many identify with the beer’s mascot, known as Madrí Man, who is plastered on every can, bottle and tap lens. Madrí Man is an amalgamation of the modern lad: hipster beard, Gareth Southgate-style waistcoat, Peaky Blinders flat cap. Up for a pint or ten. The marketing men at Molson Coors insist Madrí Man is a Spanish cultural figure – a ‘chulapo’, who was a dapper dancer in old Madrid. They’re fooling no one.

    Madrí Man has one main rival: Mr Moretti. Birra Moretti is Britain’s most popular premium lager. Its mascot is a slightly slovenly fellow in an old green suit, based on a patron of a sleepy trattoria in Udine from the 1940s. Moretti sells twice as much as Madrí, but Madrí has it in its sights: its sales increased threefold last year. How could Madrí Man lose to such a foe? Madrí Man is a modern lad; Mr Moretti is an old boozer who probably supported Il Duce.

    However, Madrí already faces a new competitor called Cruzcampo, which was introduced on draught in April and has sold 42 million pints since. Cruzcampo is owned by Heineken and brewed in Manchester, but unlike Madrí, it has also been brewed in Spain for 120 years. Heineken has spent £10 million advertising Cruzcampo’s pedigree: ‘Even if you don’t come from Seville, you can choose to live the Sevillian way.’ It’s a clear dig at Madrí’s dodgy credentials.

    Estrella Galicia has joined the inquisition. ‘Don’t fall for fake brews,’ says its new campaign. Under such pressure, how long does Madrí have before punters ask for a pint of Spanish over Spain-ish?

    2. I'm all for UK-based brewing … but according to many reviewers, the results are often disappointing or inferior to the European brew (-Note. it's my wife who is the beer drinker here).

    3. Morning Rob. A generation brought up on Diet Coke can be made to think anything an advertiser wants them to think. These are the same people who think Pot Noodle has depth of flavour. First ruin people's taste buds then sell them fashion masquerading as taste. A marketing dream.

          2. Diet drinks are an unhealthy one, to be sure. But to be fair a lot of the beers are OK. I find that one bland but Moretti does have some genuine taste. Tiger is another and so on.

          3. Aargh hadn’t realised Asahi is Diet?! Will seek out both your suggestions, James – even if they leave me staggering around more than I should 😀

          4. Sorry, no didn’t mean to suggest it’s diet. I meant just the general thing about taste of those far eastern style lagers. I don’t think I’ve ever met a diet beer to be honest, so don’t let me misdirect. Heaven forfend!

          5. I don’t care for diet anything, James. Bit noisy here, lawn dogs in the village together with their actual dogs, fighting by the sound of it. Birds screaming at the sparrow hawk hunting…might just need that beer…:-D

          6. Blackbirds bullying the cat here. Currently eating its food. I think they've repurposed it as "bird food".

          7. Lot of male blackbirds this year, squabbling over a few feet of land. They’ll eat anything, including cat food…guessing your cat, at your expense?

          8. Sorry, James – thought I'd replied earlier but can't see it. Obviously not pressing the correct buttons! Male blackbirds squabble at anything my experience…equivalent of some politicians…

          9. True. I think of them more as life’s busybodies. They are first up, last to bed and bossing everyone and everything in between.

          10. Spot on. They have the largest eye to body ratio of all birds, I think. First to sing at dawn.

          11. We used to drink the real Tiger beer in Malaya not the piss they sell over here

          12. Yes, that’s the point with all these beers. Don’t drink Budweiser piddle, for example, but very much do drink Budvar, the original Czech drink.

      2. I am reminded of the following example from my earlier years. The idea that any old tat can be hawked. At the time we all thought it was ridiculous. But it came to pass, certainly on the goth/metal/industrial scene. I give you Blockaboots.
        https://youtu.be/hITRS0AN_0…

      3. I am reminded of the following example from my earlier years. The idea that any old tat can be hawked. At the time we all thought it was ridiculous. But it came to pass, certainly on the goth/metal/industrial scene. I give you Blockaboots.
        https://youtu.be/hITRS0AN_0…

      4. When I left England bitter was 17p a pint and the brand was imposed by the pub, unless it was a freehouse. Later on holidays in the UK I found myself faced with an enormous choice of beers and needed the advice of my siblings whenever I bought a round. Years later everybody seemed to drink warm lager and bitter was requested only by bitter old men.
        I didn’t know there was a market for Spanish beer. I saw Estrella Damn on sale in some London pubs. Typical I thought, a dreadful Catalan beer popular in its native land but tasting of what in my teens we called gnats’ p>ss.
        Best Spanish beers are Ambar, Estrella Galicia(now very popular) and Mahou.

    4. David Cameron is driving voters into Farage’s arms
      (Ross Clark)

      As I suggested on this forum yesterday Sunak brought Cameron back into government for a purpose.

      But such is the hubris of the common and nasty Dumbo Dave that he is unaware of why he was brought back; he thinks Sunak brought him in to save the party when the truth is that he was brought in to destroy it.

        1. Why would he want to destroy his own (a stretch, I know – he only lives here) country?

    1. Very nice, but what do you do when you need to use the van as a load-carrier?

    1. How about going one better like the Australians and reject them before they even set foot in the country?

        1. YKW needs to be stood up to. It will be painful – very painful, but it must be done or we are lost.

          1. I’ve been trying to persuade John Redwood but he’s the definition of reluctance. Here’s one of my posts to him today…

            Back to George Soros’ puppet, David Cameron!

            Norman Tebbit got it right although he didn’t know the reason for David Cameron’s behaviour…

            “On the right of the party, Norman Tebbit, the former Conservative chairman, likened Cameron to Pol Pot, intent on purging even the memory of Thatcherism before building a New Modern Compassionate Green Globally Aware Party”. Wikipedia.

            The reason why David Cameron was like Pol Pot as Mr Tebbit said was because he was a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and was doing everything the WEF and George Soros wanted. That’s why David Cameron was crazy for green policies and strongly supported the Climate Change Act which Soros bought from Tony Blair with the promise of future riches.

            Blair, D Miliband, Cameron and Turner, all important to the Climate Change Act, received Soros jobs!

          2. Redwood won’t play ball. He wants/wanted to be an MP until he gets voted out, so just rocks the boat a small bit.

    1. So Polly – do you agree with the thrust of what New World Disorder is implying?

      1. Looks like Kate to me! The mystery is why did they mess about with fake pics and a fake video?

        Was it for fun to wind peeps up?

        What do you think?

        1. She was definitely the genuine article yesterday. She looked stunning, though very thin. All says to me she has been very ill.
          I think they've been concealing the extent of her illness.

        1. She probably had most of her insides removed with the surgery. She has either had cervical or ovarian cancer, and now a long spell of chemo. Not surprising she has been too ill to appear in public. I pray it's not ovarian cancer as that is one of the worst. A good friend died of that one.

          2. Let go! Don't be a dog with a bone about poor Kate.

            Concentrate on your special subject: Gates, Soros and the WEF and Schwab.

          3. There's a mystery here. I don't think it's wrong to ask why they faked the pictures and videos. Is anything else faked I wonder? Are you an expert on the latest three dimensional hologram technology and it's extraordinary virtual realism capabilities?

            It's now possible to make a highly realistic movie with actors familiar to you who have at no time been physically present in it. Even if they're in the next life!

          4. It’s ovarian cancer my wife has. Apparently there are three different types and we are told patients with the one she has usually respond well to treatment. I know of three women who were diagnosed over 15 years ago who are still with us and leading normal lives.

          5. My very best wishes to her, Eric. It’s a horrible disease and part of life’s lottery. Let’s hope she’s winner.

        1. Def. Starmer (noun): a tool bought and yet never employed due to its uselessness in any practical situation.

          Usage example: 'I got that screwdriver out to do the job but unfortunately it turned out to be a right Starmer'

        2. I have already posted somewhere (can’t recall where) that Keir is an infinitely adjustable spanner.

    2. When I was at school the slang word for penis was tool.

      I wonder if Sir Keir's father thinks that his son was his chef-d'œuvre or whether he thought he had better tools in the box?

      1. Sorry, I misread your comment and initially wondered why you called him a goat cheese cook.

    3. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
      Oh stop it I can’t breathe for laughing!

  58. Childish, selfish protesters are destroying all the West holds dear
    –
    How much more desecration of private and public space in the name of rankly dangerous causes will we have to take?
    –
    ZOE STRIMPEL • 15 June 2024 • 7:30pm

    Kids will be kids, they say – an adage that allows for quite a lot of latitude. We expect the young to be angry about everything from parents to a general sense of global injustice.

    Well, their blazing fury at the way things are has been given a very great deal of latitude in recent years. So, too, has the anger of their older comrades, so long as the cause is sufficiently fashionable. We let them celebrate and carry out vandalism, violence and other forms of public aggression. And now the result is public and private spaces that are increasingly unliveable; desecrated with the spoilt and selfish tantrums of "progressive" activists.

    The list of their impositions is long. There are the groups protesting against climate change, including Extinction Rebellion with their garish marches, occupations and "die-ins"; the traffic-stopping idiocy of Insulate Britain; and, more recently, the grim antics of Just Stop Oil, including numerous defacements of fine art by posh graduates in the quiet halls of great galleries. The Black Lives Matter protests overtook huge swathes of city centres, seemingly above the pandemic rules applied to the rest of us.

    Since October 7, we have seen a sinister expansion and coalescence of all these protest movements around the "cause" of Gaza. Aesthetically, the results have been ugly enough, with the Israel-hating machine defacing hostage posters and generating a vast trail of evil rubbish, from stickers with every menacing pro-Palestine, anti-Israel falsehood imaginable to cardboard placards scrawled with childish threats and demands for boycotting and divestment; a huge array of Palestinian flags and flag-inspired materials; and, of course, the keffiyeh, the black-and-white-patterned scarves whose motif now appears on headbands, rucksacks, even shoes. The revolution will be commercialised!

    Then there are the vile (but tolerated) encampments on university properties. At UCL, the very letters of the university's name, which greet visitors in the grand courtyard in a large pale-blue sculpture, have been completely defaced, the U replaced with a G for genocide. This must be incredibly offensive, if not painful, to some reasonable quotient of UCL members – and still the brats get away with it.

    As someone who walks about a fair deal, it's the constant sight of this anti-Israel garbage that gets me down, whether I'm strolling home past lampposts covered in pro-Hamas propaganda or entering the Tube through a gate covered in the green, black and red of a "boycott Israel" sticker.

    But if I were a student, I'd feel the selfishness of my peers even more keenly. Especially if I were unable to graduate properly from my university course.

    It began, as much does, in the US, where university graduation ceremonies were disrupted by obsessive Gaza protesters, whose strategy is to hold their institutions to ransom until their demands (such as disengaging from all Israeli investments, cultural output and scholarship) are met – making life as miserable as they can for everyone.

    But rather than facing consequences – including being forced to feel some shame for their vile behaviour – for their actions, in some places, they have been effectively rewarded. Northwestern and Brown universities, for instance, struck "compromises" with protesters. Northwestern agreed to fund places for Palestinian students and faculty, and be more "transparent" about the investments of its endowment, in exchange for the curtailment of the encampments. Brown has promised a vote on divestment from weapons manufacturers.

    No wonder, then, that, so emboldened, this narcissistic taste for destruction has only intensified here in Blighty. Now it seems that our undergraduates cannot graduate properly, either. In May, Oxford Action for Palestine (OA4P) protesters staged one of their ludicrous "die-ins" at the Sheldonian Theatre, forcing graduands and their families to step over them. OA4P said they were disrupting graduation ceremonies because Oxford wasn't responding to their demands, and also – and here the protesters show their spoilt immaturity – because there is no graduating class in Gaza in 2024 (is there a "graduating class" in all parts of embattled Ukraine, or in the Uyghur gulags in China? No interest in that, of course, from these monomaniacal Israel-haters).

    Even worse, Cambridge has had to move its graduations from the beautiful Senate House – where the ceremony has taken place since the 18th century – because protesters have been allowed to get away with threatening the graduation, and being taken seriously.

    How much more "disruption" will we have to take? How much more desecration of private and public space, of roads, squares, lampposts, library entrances, university quads and beautiful ancient lawns in the name of rankly dangerous causes? How much more interference with the rights of the law-abiding majority, to graduate in peace and pride once they've attained their degrees, and much else besides?

    I see no end in sight. All I see is spinelessness in perpetuity, the mealy-mouthed culture around these trumped-up tyrants, the grown-ups in charge desperate to please them, desperate not to upset them, and ultimately terrified that maybe they're right.

    Until the powers that be – mayors, government officials, law enforcement and university vice-chancellors – see clearly what's going on for the ideologically odious, intimidatory law-breaking and vandalism that it is, the rest of us will have to lump it, shielding our eyes and our ears where we can.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/15/childish-selfish-protesters-destroying-the-west/

    1. I am sure that others have also wondered if all of this dissent is at the hands of some unfriendly state. Every western country is becoming less stable, the military are being emasculated, law and order have fallen by the wayside and ill advised climate targets are destroying economies,

      Now if I was an unscrupled dictator of some large expansionist country, what better way forward than to destroy the hitherto powerful opposition.

      As an aside, here is a picture from a peace loving pro hamas encampment in Montreal. Note the no longer legal in Canada rifle. Needless to say, authorities are just sitting back and watching.

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ce5ac378082a3061c8227239d220cceaa089c2a66005ede4a48e1a891910fca3.jpg

    2. They are a nuisance, but central bankers have already destroyed everything the west holds dear.

    2. As the President of Serbia observes in this post we are approaching the crunch point where one of the two main participants in Ukraine, the US or Russia must back down or disaster will follow. This is an existential point for Putin and Russia since it would mean total destruction. You have been warned.

      1. And all this could have been avoided if the warmongers Biden and Johnson had not leant on the corrupt Zelensky and persuaded him not to engage in the peace discussions that had been organised.

    3. As the President of Serbia observes in this post we are approaching the crunch point where one of the two main participants in Ukraine, the US or Russia must back down or disaster will follow. This is an existential point for Putin and Russia since it would mean total destruction. You have been warned.

    4. The first sensible voice I have heard in Europe. It is frightening to see how our leaders have accepted the prospect of a full scale war. But as long as it's only Uke and Russian body bags being repatriated there will be no pushback from the public.

          2. James, please may I ask a favour (no pressure if you prefer not) – I haven’t heard from or seen PetaJ for sometime – if you happen to see her, mention me and where you saw me?

          3. Will do, naturally. She upvoted something by me a day or two ago but that’s the last I saw of her.

    2. "The police then used their firearms. The attacker was injured and is currently receiving medical treatment."

      Oh dear.
      More time on the range needed then.

      2. That's a shame, I thought that they shot to ,kill and avoid awkward questions and disclosures.

        Should have sent in the Met Animal Control Unit,

      3. That's a shame, I thought that they shot to ,kill and avoid awkward questions and disclosures.

        Should have sent in the Met Animal Control Unit,

  63. While the Princess of Wales if grabbing all the headlines and being showered with praise Meghan Markel launches her dog biscuit range…stay classy, Meg.

    3. There's nothing wrong with selling dog biscuits. It's a more honest way to make a living than trashing your in laws on Oprah.

    4. Maybe she is now modelling her career on that of Niagara Donaldson (heiress of Donaldson’s dog biscuits) who also married a younger son of the British aristocracy (the Hon Freddy Threepwood).

    6. She always seems to 'launch' something when the Royals are making news about something momentous. Or is it just me?

  64. Russia overtook US as gas supplier to Europe in May. 16 June 2024.

    Europe’s gas imports from Russia overtook supplies from the US for the first time in almost two years in May, despite the region’s efforts to wean itself off Russian fossil fuels since the full scale invasion of Ukraine. While one-off factors drove the reversal, it highlights the difficulty of further reducing Europe’s dependence on gas from Russia, with several eastern European countries still relying on imports from their neighbour.

    The futility of sanctions when those imposing them cannot manage without.

    https://www.ft.com/content/15e7b892-c4f3-45b8-b375-80ef52e4b83c

    1. But the little emporer maintains that there is no business case for exporting Cznadian natural gas.

      We really need recall legislation for when a village idiot rises out of the swamp.

    2. But the little emporer maintains that there is no business case for exporting Cznadian natural gas.

      We really need recall legislation for when a village idiot rises out of the swamp.

  65. I'm the Brexit OG: Rishi Sunak says he is proud of backing the UK's departure from the EU as he warns Keir Starmer's Labour would 'reverse all the progress' made since leaving https://www.dailymail.co.uk…
    So what was the idiot doing giving Northern Ireland away to the EU with his Great Windsor Surrender and why did Cameron go to Gibraltar if not to give that away too? And how long before the Falkland Islands are lost?

    1. Progress. What progress? We still slavishly follow all the EU says. Brexit never happened, only the vote did.

  66. Peter Hitchens in waspish mood…

    PETER HITCHENS: Scruffy Nick's insult to Sunak shows just how biased the BBC really is
    PUBLISHED: 02:44, 16 June 2024

    I am a lifelong scruff, the despair of several tidy-minded headmasters. Clothes hang badly on my lumpy Cornish frame and my suits look as if I have been sleeping in them, minutes after I first wear them. Perhaps above all, I have loathed wearing ties since I first met one.

    Yet, if I were interviewing the Prime Minister, I would, beyond doubt, struggle into a suit and tie. In fact, among journalists, I would have thought this was common ground. It doesn't matter if you like or agree with the politician involved. He is the King's First Minister. If we do not grant him a measure of dignity, we are insulting our own institutions.

    So it seems to fall to me, of all people, to express surprise and dismay over the behaviour of the BBC's Nick Robinson while interviewing Rishi Sunak last week.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/daabfea918772ce05e32ae9b97289dcf9fafe75e40eef30c54a003451b60b92e.png
    Mr Robinson is of course a very grand person, BBC aristocracy. And we should all treat him with immense respect. But he turned up for his meeting with Mr Sunak in an open-necked shirt.

    He also appeared to be trying, rather unsuccessfully, to grow a beard. I have had several beards and would advise anyone not to go on TV while wearing one until it is properly grown. Unfinished beards make people want to press coins into your palm and offer you sympathy. Or perhaps they will think you are the leader of the Palestine Liberation Organisation. Mr Robinson's effort looks rather as I imagine Jeremy Corbyn's North London allotment looks. The general impression was that the Prime Minister was being interviewed for the Big Issue rather than for the mighty national broadcaster, the BBC, created by Royal Charter.

    If that had been all, it would just have been mildly rude. But it wasn't. Mr Robinson was sharply inquisitorial and dismissive, like a policeman interviewing someone he had just caught in mid-burglary. Shortly after it was over, a Radio 4 bulletin proclaimed (while reporting the interview), that Mr Sunak had 'admitted' something or other about housing. The word 'admitted' suggested that he had blurted it out reluctantly under heavy pressure, as if he had pleaded guilty. He didn't. At most he acknowledged it. It would have been more impartial to say he 'said' it. Verbs such as 'admitted', or 'claimed' or 'insisted' are used to make the person involved sound guilty, or suspect. The BBC, if it obeys its charter and agreement, cannot use them in political reporting. But it does.

    I have no monitoring unit. I would never have the time to listen to all the hours of stuff of this kind pouring out of the Corporation's transmitters, night and day. But not since 1997 have I felt that BBC coverage of a General Election was so blatantly, carelessly partial. I suspect they are not even conscious of it.

    For they, like many others, are assuming the polls are correct. They are not entitled to do this. Polls, in this country, have frequently been wrong. In recent months polls have also been mistaken in India, Norway and Australia. But there are, alas, many weak-minded people whose votes are influenced by polls, who want to follow the crowd and are afraid to stand out from it.

    The effect of the polls on them is frighteningly powerful. My guess is that the main message most viewers carried away from the otherwise forgettable interview was that Rishi Sunak has already lost. If not, he would not have been treated like that. The BBC would have been too afraid of him.

    This insidious, relentless propaganda is Labour's most effective weapon. Lots of people who (like Mr Robinson) have nothing to do with the Labour Party are wielding it for them. They should stop. There is no point in having elections at all if the elite decide the result in advance.

    Why giving Russians' money to Ukraine may not be the wisest act

    It looks as if the Ukraine War will last as long as the one in Vietnam, if not longer. Think of all the coffins. President Biden said at the G7 talks that the US 'will be with Ukraine until they prevail in this war'. Gosh. That could take a while, and many deaths, and what if they do prevail? What next?

    My guess: a Russian leader who makes Putin look like a walking olive branch. At the same time, Mr Biden persuaded the West as a whole to take a very dangerous step. Profits from Russian money in the West, frozen after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, will be handed to Ukraine.

    Well, you say, it's only justice. And it may be, but it's very dodgy in law. China, which is playing a very long game, always watches such events very carefully. We have already given Peking the excuse to freeze our assets on their territory if they think we have behaved badly. Now they have the perfect pretext to use the money against us too. How strange that it is just as the West begins to grow weak that it becomes bolder and rasher.

    I long ago accepted it is impossible to have a rational discussion about Ukraine in a country where everyone thinks it is always 1938, and anyone we dislike is a new Hitler. Actually knowing anything about major world problems is a disadvantage in any debate. But are we being wise here?

    Computer says no

    To my amazement I still have milk delivered in bottles to my doorstep before dawn.

    The drawback is the milk must be ordered through a computer. This malfunctioned the other night and fiercely resisted our attempts to cut the delivery (from four pints to three). But it was worse than that. It decided we wanted 43 pints and – being a computer – told our milkman to deliver this vast load. Luckily he is a man of sense and decided not to do so. But others might have obeyed the electronic god.

    In the same week, another computer decided, for no reason, to terminate a magazine subscription I wanted to keep. And another twice cut off my phone in mid-conversation, just because it felt like it. I also entered the sixth week of an attempt to get the London cycle hire company to accept my subscription renewal, which another computer refuses to do.

    And people say they want a cashless society.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk…

  67. Peter Hitchens in waspish mood…

    PETER HITCHENS: Scruffy Nick's insult to Sunak shows just how biased the BBC really is
    PUBLISHED: 02:44, 16 June 2024

    I am a lifelong scruff, the despair of several tidy-minded headmasters. Clothes hang badly on my lumpy Cornish frame and my suits look as if I have been sleeping in them, minutes after I first wear them. Perhaps above all, I have loathed wearing ties since I first met one.

    Yet, if I were interviewing the Prime Minister, I would, beyond doubt, struggle into a suit and tie. In fact, among journalists, I would have thought this was common ground. It doesn't matter if you like or agree with the politician involved. He is the King's First Minister. If we do not grant him a measure of dignity, we are insulting our own institutions.

    So it seems to fall to me, of all people, to express surprise and dismay over the behaviour of the BBC's Nick Robinson while interviewing Rishi Sunak last week.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/daabfea918772ce05e32ae9b97289dcf9fafe75e40eef30c54a003451b60b92e.png
    Mr Robinson is of course a very grand person, BBC aristocracy. And we should all treat him with immense respect. But he turned up for his meeting with Mr Sunak in an open-necked shirt.

    He also appeared to be trying, rather unsuccessfully, to grow a beard. I have had several beards and would advise anyone not to go on TV while wearing one until it is properly grown. Unfinished beards make people want to press coins into your palm and offer you sympathy. Or perhaps they will think you are the leader of the Palestine Liberation Organisation. Mr Robinson's effort looks rather as I imagine Jeremy Corbyn's North London allotment looks. The general impression was that the Prime Minister was being interviewed for the Big Issue rather than for the mighty national broadcaster, the BBC, created by Royal Charter.

    If that had been all, it would just have been mildly rude. But it wasn't. Mr Robinson was sharply inquisitorial and dismissive, like a policeman interviewing someone he had just caught in mid-burglary. Shortly after it was over, a Radio 4 bulletin proclaimed (while reporting the interview), that Mr Sunak had 'admitted' something or other about housing. The word 'admitted' suggested that he had blurted it out reluctantly under heavy pressure, as if he had pleaded guilty. He didn't. At most he acknowledged it. It would have been more impartial to say he 'said' it. Verbs such as 'admitted', or 'claimed' or 'insisted' are used to make the person involved sound guilty, or suspect. The BBC, if it obeys its charter and agreement, cannot use them in political reporting. But it does.

    I have no monitoring unit. I would never have the time to listen to all the hours of stuff of this kind pouring out of the Corporation's transmitters, night and day. But not since 1997 have I felt that BBC coverage of a General Election was so blatantly, carelessly partial. I suspect they are not even conscious of it.

    For they, like many others, are assuming the polls are correct. They are not entitled to do this. Polls, in this country, have frequently been wrong. In recent months polls have also been mistaken in India, Norway and Australia. But there are, alas, many weak-minded people whose votes are influenced by polls, who want to follow the crowd and are afraid to stand out from it.

    The effect of the polls on them is frighteningly powerful. My guess is that the main message most viewers carried away from the otherwise forgettable interview was that Rishi Sunak has already lost. If not, he would not have been treated like that. The BBC would have been too afraid of him.

    This insidious, relentless propaganda is Labour's most effective weapon. Lots of people who (like Mr Robinson) have nothing to do with the Labour Party are wielding it for them. They should stop. There is no point in having elections at all if the elite decide the result in advance.

    Why giving Russians' money to Ukraine may not be the wisest act

    It looks as if the Ukraine War will last as long as the one in Vietnam, if not longer. Think of all the coffins. President Biden said at the G7 talks that the US 'will be with Ukraine until they prevail in this war'. Gosh. That could take a while, and many deaths, and what if they do prevail? What next?

    My guess: a Russian leader who makes Putin look like a walking olive branch. At the same time, Mr Biden persuaded the West as a whole to take a very dangerous step. Profits from Russian money in the West, frozen after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, will be handed to Ukraine.

    Well, you say, it's only justice. And it may be, but it's very dodgy in law. China, which is playing a very long game, always watches such events very carefully. We have already given Peking the excuse to freeze our assets on their territory if they think we have behaved badly. Now they have the perfect pretext to use the money against us too. How strange that it is just as the West begins to grow weak that it becomes bolder and rasher.

    I long ago accepted it is impossible to have a rational discussion about Ukraine in a country where everyone thinks it is always 1938, and anyone we dislike is a new Hitler. Actually knowing anything about major world problems is a disadvantage in any debate. But are we being wise here?

    Computer says no

    To my amazement I still have milk delivered in bottles to my doorstep before dawn.

    The drawback is the milk must be ordered through a computer. This malfunctioned the other night and fiercely resisted our attempts to cut the delivery (from four pints to three). But it was worse than that. It decided we wanted 43 pints and – being a computer – told our milkman to deliver this vast load. Luckily he is a man of sense and decided not to do so. But others might have obeyed the electronic god.

    In the same week, another computer decided, for no reason, to terminate a magazine subscription I wanted to keep. And another twice cut off my phone in mid-conversation, just because it felt like it. I also entered the sixth week of an attempt to get the London cycle hire company to accept my subscription renewal, which another computer refuses to do.

    And people say they want a cashless society.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk…

    1. I heard snippets of it on the radio. I'm sure he accused the Israelis of deliberately killing civilians in Gaza. A slimy turd.

      1. I used to have a loco drivers certificate for a small 0-4-0 steam loco, until I had a stroke and stopped driving.
        Lots of fun, and hot things to scorch yourself on!

        1. Admiration, hats off to you. I’ve posted a pic under my original post having just got home.

  70. Swiss right-wing leader calls Ukraine summit an ‘embarrassment’. 16 June 2024.

    A leading Swiss right-wing nationalist described the Ukraine peace summit held in his country as an “embarrassment”.

    The right-wing Swiss Peoples’ Party, the biggest group in the lower house of parliament, says neutrality is an integral part of Switzerland’s prosperity, and it has initiated a referendum to embed the principle in the constitution.

    This “conference” was an absolute farce. That Russia was not invited tells you all that you need to know. The US has rounded up its lackeys to conceal the lack of support for their policies in Ukraine.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/06/16/ukraine-russia-war-latest-live-updates/

    2. Numbnuts Trudeau is there, vowing to make repatriation of the Ukranian children a priority.

      It is nice that someone else shares the embarrassment.

    3. Zelensky is the most evil destructive person backed by the neo-cons in the Biden government. I noticed Jake Sullivan monitoring Kamala Harris’ recital of the prepared script.

      The Ukraine project has little to do with Ukraine but is intended to weaken Russia, depose Putin and make a grab for the country. The Europeans, UK and US have completely underestimated the economic and military strength of Russia which is growing daily.

      The Swiss Piss Summit is an embarrassment and demonstrates the absolute stupidity of the collective west “leaders” and their US puppet masters. All are losers, distrusted at home and despised by all good people. Thankfully we will be saying goodbye to Sunak and Trudeau shortly and watching the other rabble sidelined by their peoples.

    4. Zelensky is the most evil destructive person backed by the neo-cons in the Biden government. I noticed Jake Sullivan monitoring Kamala Harris’ recital of the prepared script.

      The Ukraine project has little to do with Ukraine but is intended to weaken Russia, depose Putin and make a grab for the country. The Europeans, UK and US have completely underestimated the economic and military strength of Russia which is growing daily.

      The Swiss Piss Summit is an embarrassment and demonstrates the absolute stupidity of the collective west “leaders” and their US puppet masters. All are losers, distrusted at home and despised by all good people. Thankfully we will be saying goodbye to Sunak and Trudeau shortly and watching the other rabble sidelined by their peoples.

  71. Swiss right-wing leader calls Ukraine summit an ‘embarrassment’. 16 June 2024.

    A leading Swiss right-wing nationalist described the Ukraine peace summit held in his country as an “embarrassment”.

    The right-wing Swiss Peoples’ Party, the biggest group in the lower house of parliament, says neutrality is an integral part of Switzerland’s prosperity, and it has initiated a referendum to embed the principle in the constitution.

    This “conference” was an absolute farce. That Russia was not invited tells you all that you need to know. The US has rounded up its lackeys to conceal the lack of support for their policies in Ukraine.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/06/16/ukraine-russia-war-latest-live-updates/

  72. Swiss right-wing leader calls Ukraine summit an ‘embarrassment’. 16 June 2024.

    A leading Swiss right-wing nationalist described the Ukraine peace summit held in his country as an “embarrassment”.

    The right-wing Swiss Peoples’ Party, the biggest group in the lower house of parliament, says neutrality is an integral part of Switzerland’s prosperity, and it has initiated a referendum to embed the principle in the constitution.

    This “conference” was an absolute farce. That Russia was not invited tells you all that you need to know. The US has rounded up its lackeys to conceal the lack of support for their policies in Ukraine.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/06/16/ukraine-russia-war-latest-live-updates/

  73. afternoon all.

    OT. We have an apple computer and it has recently been a nuisance by taking ages to open up, sometimes necessitating turning it off and on again. We’re wondering whether to buy a Mac book pro. Have looked at them in Curry’s and spoke to an assistant about our problem. He says to ditch any unused files but we really don’t unable bundreds on it. Any ideas/suggestions/help would be very much appreciated.

    1. CaN you just archive anything over a few months old? Two or three copies of course!

    2. The moment when memory use exceeds the physical memory, it goes into dump mode – using the hard drive as a sort of memory, but which takes a lot longer. If the hard drive spare capacity drops below 15%, it takes a lot more faffing around when organising or opening files

      Two things certainly worth doing if your system can support it – swap over the hard drive and RAM for something bigger. RAM upgrades simply involve opening up and swapping over the chips. A hard drive upgrade needs an image file containing everything to be copied over to the new disk before swapping them over. Look it up on YouTube to see which bits need to be unscrewed to get at the works.

      A short term fix if you have a USB port is to buy either a decent sized external hard drive or a USB stick (say 256GB) and copy over anything big and not used often (for example video files), making sure you know where they are. When satisfied they are copied properly (compare the information, which should be identical), then those big files can be deleted.

      Deleting individual files to make space on a mac is not so simple, since they tend to end up in the Recycle Bin, still clogging up space. Best thing to do then is to back up (copy) the Recycle Bin to the external drive, and then it can be emptied completely.

      1. Thank you too for your help. We, well, Alf really, will have a good look at all that you suggest.

    3. A lot depends on how old your computer is and what you use it for.

      The first thing to do is use Time Machine to back up everything to an external hard drive. If you haven’t already got an external drive, they are almost an essential for backups and it is well worth investing in one. Get a solid-state drive (no moving parts) which are coming down in price almost daily. A good 1Tb drive can be had for around £80.

      Once you have backed up your computer you can try simple things like deleting files, knowing that you can always recover them from the backup if necessary. Deleted files go into the recycle folder so don’t forget to empty that. Look for apps that you might have installed but no longer use or need and delete those.

      A slightly more involved measure is to re-install the operating system. Google “reinstall XXXX” where XXXX is your current operating system, to get instructions. The Apple users forum (https://discussions.apple.com) will get you good advice from expert users. That might sound difficult but it really very straightforward if you follow the advice in the Apple users forum.

      If, after re-installing the operating system, your computer is still unacceptably slow, you will probably need to replace it. Depending on what you use it for, consider an iPad rather than a laptop or desktop. The difference between a laptop and iPad is closing and, although I have a new iMac desktop, about 95% of my work is done on the iPad.

  74. Sun's been out for a couple of hours, so took the opportunity to lower the lawn a bit. I like my battery mower – two batteries are enough for one cut, and the whole thing weighs a very few kg. Grass box works well, too! Ryobi is the name.

  75. 388613+ up ticks,

    I do believe that a good many peoples do NOT want to accept that, that could very well be the odious truth, with the General Election very much at hand, could be a face reddener if post election it was found that a good majority of party politico's were
    being quizzed in regards to
    mass corporate manslaughter / murder charges I also believe that would change the voting pattern somewhat,maybe.

    https://x.com/SandraWeeden/status/1802219286431252926

  76. RIP "jillthelass"

    My beloved wife of almost 60 years sadly failed to recover from cardiac arrest she suffered post recent major surgery. She was resuscitated and put on life support, but her heart was severely weakened, leading to her death some days later. Thankfully my daughter and family have moved in with me for a while.

    We met when she was just 18, and she was a month shy of her 80th birthday when she succumbed. It's going to be a tough life moving forward.

    Look after each other…..Jack.

    2. Oh, my God, Jack. That's awful. My heartfelt condolences.
      You look after yourelf, too.

    4. Very sorry to hear your news. You have my sincere condolences. Stay strong, Jack.

    7. Oh Jack, I am so very, very sorry to read that.
      I hope your daughter and her family can comfort you at this terrible time for you all.
      Please accept my condolences, I will miss her contributions.
      Please look in from time to time if you can.
      With every best wish.

    14. Dear dear, Jack, how very sad your news is. Alf and I are so sorry. Your daughter and family will be a great comfort to you.

    16. My deepest sympathy to you. The only comfort that can be offered at such times is that being so greatly missed is the unavoidable penalty of being greatly loved.

    17. Oh no…………..I'm so sorry to see this Jack. Jill was always such a lively and much loved member of this forum. She will be very sadly missed. And I hope your daughter and family will look after you.

    19. I now feel shocked to the core , Jack .

      There aren't enough suitable words to say what a terrible ending poor dear Jill succumbed to .

      She was valued and listened to on this forum and will be deeply missed by us all .

      Deepest sympathy to you and your family .

      Life is so cruel .

      Tenderest thoughts to you all.

    21. So very sorry to hear of your terrible loss, Jack. Such a devastating time for you and the family.
      Jill will be much missed here too.
      Sending much love and condolences to you all.

    22. Deepest condolences, Jack.

      Jill and you have been two of my favourite correspondents of long-standing. Jill will be missed so very much.

      Take care, Jack.

      1. It only seems a short while ago that I was asking Jill about how Jack was, as he had become a very rare poster, a shock to read his RIP for her.

    24. Condolences Jack Jill always came across as a lovely gracious woman. We will miss her.

    26. Such very sad news Jack.
      Jill will be remembered by many of us for her calm messages.
      R.I.P.

    28. So sorry to hear that sad news. Jill was a valued and much loved contributor. She will be missed. Stay strong.

    1. Do you know what the methodology change was?
      You Gov has a tendency to produce the result its supporters/sponsors would prefer.

  80. A bimble around St. Mary's at Sturminster Marshall this afternoon: https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8d7fbff8eaea73aa9075ea38851673546507f1178563b1930fe16884382fb2c1.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7d13c4f984b7aeb4af7411bfe78b255a2e00596d80182ee92a0831207bc3b557.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0a52df264aa2d5b27232315bb47b45458ab60f22541001f6bd431134ed9e9c7f.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7150ff3f888c6bffdcdbe3e255ec101603f2cca44191b092dbde077568802708.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/51059e2c078b4ac45a3027357c9e1b42742a06bf39f22208cb80a79f28862430.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/21b5ee5e3085b4e9ab430530ecc5eb8b109adb3f435129aede67219bf92cf370.jpg

      1. Were your ears burning at lunch time? One of my friends with whom I was having coffee said she wanted to learn to tango. I mentioned you and your adventure so she turned a nice shade of emerald.

      1. Of course John Betjeman loved visiting churches. A very poignant couple of lines in The Cockney Amorist when the girlfriend with whom he used to visit old churches left him:

        I'll use them now for praying in
        And not for looking round.

        Here the poet reads The Cockney Amorist (The reading starts after a one minute musical introduction)

        https://www.google.com/search?q=the+cockney+amorist&oq=The+Cockney+Amorist&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqBwgAEAAYgAQyBwgAEAAYgAQyBwgBEAAYgAQyCAgCEAAYFhgeMg0IAxAAGIYDGIAEGIoFMg0IBBAAGIYDGIAEGIoFMg0IBRAAGIYDGIAEGIoFMg0IBhAAGIYDGIAEGIoF0gEJMTI5NDZqMGo3qAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:d800c7c3,vid:kA7RzfFtaGg,st:0

  82. Good afternoon, we've only just got back from beautiful and wild North Yorkshire,
    stayed in the cottage opposite the castle that Mary Queen of Scots was in prison, I do love it there very much and already miss the vast landscapes, stone walls, friendly people and sheep.

    1. As a Lancastrian I always thought the sheep were significantly more nervous in Yorkshire.

      Good to see you back, Kitty, I've missed your spiritually enlightened input!

    1. "he [Stoltenberg] expected a Labour government to be a staunch Nato ally"

      Has he ever met them?

    2. I would imagine that these weapons are always on standby. Its not like they would be piled up in a heap round the back of a military barracks somewhere.

      1. Afternoon KP. Nato doesn't have any nuclear weapons. They are the property of individual nations. Stoltenberg is warmongering.

      2. Afternoon KP. Nato doesn't have any nuclear weapons. They are the property of individual nations. Stoltenberg is warmongering.

  85. A shiny Par Four?

    Wordle 1,093 4/6
    ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜
    ⬜⬜🟩🟨⬜
    🟨🟩🟩⬜⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Me too.

      Wordle 1,093 4/6

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

    2. 5today.
      Wordle 1,093 5/6

      ⬜🟩🟩⬜⬜
      ⬜🟩🟩⬜⬜
      ⬜🟩🟩⬜⬜
      🟩🟩🟩⬜⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    3. Me too, Rene!

      Wordle 1,093 4/6

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

    4. Having a run of first word friendly answers. It can’t last.

      Wordle 1,093 3/6

      ⬜🟨🟩⬜⬜
      🟨🟩🟩🟩⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  86. OOPS!
    As the weather's been so wet lately, I deemed it safe to get rid of some woodworm infested plywood off an ancient wardrobe at the Cromford end of the garden. Fire duly lit, it was smoking heavily and not really doing a lot else so I decided to come in for a mug of tea.
    Next thing I know, the Wirksworth and Crich fire engines were pulling up outside as someone had reported the blooming mill on fire!!

    1. You and that Bill Thomas!!! Pyromaniacs the pair of you! Nursey will be after you.

      1. Nah.
        Hollin's Mill to give it it's proper name.
        It's where the yarn for Vyella was originally spun.

  87. Just dropped SWMBO off at the station – she's going up-country to run an audit – and on the way out we saw a beautiful red squirrel crossing the road. Lovely!

  89. No, I simply have a long and narrow "garden", in reality a chunk of Derbyshire hillside that misleadingly passes its self off as such, one end is on the Bonsall side of the house and t'other end is on the Cromford side of the house.
    Sod all to do with the respective parish boundaries.

  90. He is constructing the largest Anglo-Saxon hill fort in this side of the Urals. It can be seen from outer space.

  91. I have just been catching up over on the Daily Sceptic website. Underneath an article on how a pro-refugee lobby has managed to infiltrate its way in England’s schools, a poster called SSkinner has brought our attention to the plight of one Martin Speake, a saxophonist (I have never heard of him). Hit seems he is being “cancelled” for saying that the saxophone world is not institutionally racist. SSkinner says:

    “I was at Trinity College of Music in the late 1970s with a Martin Speake. He went on to become a brilliant Jazz Saxophonist. This year he was suspended from Trinity Laban because he wrote a private email where he disagreed with the stance of the College in regard to inclusivity and how BLM was being invoked to describe UK Jaz as Institutionally racist. I pointed out on a Trinity Facebook page that BLM are Marxist and received strong emotional responses followed by my removal. It seems students across the music colleges are demanding Martin’s suspension and he has lost some gigs as well. Here is one such demand from a ‘distressed musician’:
    “As a student at Trinity Laban, I have been deeply affected by the recent comments of Martin Speake. Comments that have perpetuated harmful and defamatory narratives about black musicians in the jazz industry. His lack of sensitivity for individuals of diverse races and backgrounds contradicts the principles that every educational institution should uphold. Furthermore his actions have created an uncomfortable and distressing learning environment, undermining my trust in his ability to provide fair and unbiased supervision or assessment.

    The impact on my mental health has been significant, causing me great distress and discomfort within this learning space. Unfortunately, I am not alone in this experience.

    Jazz is rooted in the African American experience and has been shaped and enriched by generations of black musicians whose talent and innovation have left an indelible mark on the genre. Martin’s behaviour undermines the contributions of black musicians and the idea that black musicians are overrepresented in the jazz industry overlooks the systemic barriers and challenges that black artists continue to face in the music industry. It is widely known that black musicians have encountered (and continue to encounter) discrimination, limited opportunities, and unequal access to resources compared to their white counterparts. The Musicians from the Global Majority Insight Report demonstrates that discrimination is still an unfortunate reality for musicians from the Global Majority, with 85% saying they had witnessed or experienced some form of discrimination.

    We demand that Martin be removed from his position at our university immediately as his conduct and beliefs are inconsistent with the values and principles of the institution. This is essential not only for creating a safe and inclusive environment but also for upholding the university’s educational ethos around diversity, inclusion and providing an excellent student experience.

    Sign here if you believe that all students deserve an education free from racial bias and for the immediate dismissal of Martin Speake from Trinity Laban.”

    There are several links to this story and most on the side of DIE (EDI, EID, DEI whatever) and most sound like how I would imagine a Red Guard would sound during a struggle session. There are currently two partitions for and against Martin. I know Martin and he is not only a brilliant saxophonist but a good person.

    Please sign the following petition in favour of Martin
    https://www.change.org/p/su…
    ”

    2. The letter from the attention seeking student is studded with woke totalitarian jingoism. What's to bet he/she doesn't get enough attention from his/her skills at being a musician, because (whisper it) he/she isn't good enough? How are kids allowed to bring down their teachers/lecturers like this? Will this student be as beneficial to the music world as Martin Speake? I suspect not. I suspect this is just an exercise in 'equity' ie. bringing all down to the level of the mediocre and to block excellence.

      1. Exactly as you analyse. My thoughts to. I particularly dislike the use of the word “unsafe” in this context. What on earth does that mean?

        1. It means they can’t stand being disagreed with and twist it so the person disagreeing is reframed as dangerous in some way. It’s a loaded and coercive use of language which is all they have really, because facts and sense are not their bag.

  92. I have just been catching up over on the Daily Sceptic website. Underneath an article on how a pro-refugee lobby has managed to infiltrate its way in England’s schools, a poster called SSkinner has brought our attention to the plight of one Martin Speake, a saxophonist (I have never heard of him). Hit seems he is being “cancelled” for saying that the saxophone world is not institutionally racist. SSkinner says:

    “I was at Trinity College of Music in the late 1970s with a Martin Speake. He went on to become a brilliant Jazz Saxophonist. This year he was suspended from Trinity Laban because he wrote a private email where he disagreed with the stance of the College in regard to inclusivity and how BLM was being invoked to describe UK Jaz as Institutionally racist. I pointed out on a Trinity Facebook page that BLM are Marxist and received strong emotional responses followed by my removal. It seems students across the music colleges are demanding Martin’s suspension and he has lost some gigs as well. Here is one such demand from a ‘distressed musician’:
    “As a student at Trinity Laban, I have been deeply affected by the recent comments of Martin Speake. Comments that have perpetuated harmful and defamatory narratives about black musicians in the jazz industry. His lack of sensitivity for individuals of diverse races and backgrounds contradicts the principles that every educational institution should uphold. Furthermore his actions have created an uncomfortable and distressing learning environment, undermining my trust in his ability to provide fair and unbiased supervision or assessment.

    The impact on my mental health has been significant, causing me great distress and discomfort within this learning space. Unfortunately, I am not alone in this experience.

    Jazz is rooted in the African American experience and has been shaped and enriched by generations of black musicians whose talent and innovation have left an indelible mark on the genre. Martin’s behaviour undermines the contributions of black musicians and the idea that black musicians are overrepresented in the jazz industry overlooks the systemic barriers and challenges that black artists continue to face in the music industry. It is widely known that black musicians have encountered (and continue to encounter) discrimination, limited opportunities, and unequal access to resources compared to their white counterparts. The Musicians from the Global Majority Insight Report demonstrates that discrimination is still an unfortunate reality for musicians from the Global Majority, with 85% saying they had witnessed or experienced some form of discrimination.

    We demand that Martin be removed from his position at our university immediately as his conduct and beliefs are inconsistent with the values and principles of the institution. This is essential not only for creating a safe and inclusive environment but also for upholding the university’s educational ethos around diversity, inclusion and providing an excellent student experience.

    Sign here if you believe that all students deserve an education free from racial bias and for the immediate dismissal of Martin Speake from Trinity Laban.”

    There are several links to this story and most on the side of DIE (EDI, EID, DEI whatever) and most sound like how I would imagine a Red Guard would sound during a struggle session. There are currently two partitions for and against Martin. I know Martin and he is not only a brilliant saxophonist but a good person.

    Please sign the following petition in favour of Martin
    https://www.change.org/p/su…
    ”

  93. Sssshush everybody.. the tournament awaits half-time analysis of cabbage patch diversity hire £1,000,000 per year Eniola Aluko MBE..

    "Dats 1-0 to Denmark in their opening game.. an dats an average of a goal a game."

    1. She is stunningly intelligent, and obviously employed for her encyclopaedic knowledge of Wendy ball! Not a diversity hire at all!

    2. She is stunningly intelligent, and obviously employed for her encyclopaedic knowledge of Wendy ball! Not a diversity hire at all!

  94. Has the Squire been around these parts recently, just wondering

    1. I may be confusing him with another poster, but I recall that he said recently that he was off on holiday and unlikely to have convenient internet access.

  96. I can imagine thousands of Essex boys, upon reading this, shouting "Goo on, moi son, tell it loike it is!"

    And that's a fabulously unflattering photo of Dave…
    __________________________________________________

    David Cameron is a disgrace to Britain
    –
    Smug, complacent, and snobby, he has convinced me I was right to offer Britain a stronger alternative to a hopeless Tory opposition
    –
    NIGEL FARAGE • 16 June 2024 • 2:36pm

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/661d2301650f8974aebb9f0f013dfdb153da1e156345c82844495672e31c4b37.jpg
    Why would anybody trust the Conservative Party to make the big decisions about the future of Britain, when they can't even agree on what to do about Nigel Farage?

    Former Tory home secretary Suella Braverman last week urged her party to "welcome" me and "unite the right". But Saturday's front page headlines had Tory foreign secretary David Cameron hurling insults at me and declaring that "Farage has no place in Tory Party" – apparently because of my "incredibly divisive" approach.

    If Lord Cameron is worried about damaging divisions, he should look a bit closer to home. The terminally divided Tory Party has proved itself incapable of effective government over the past 14 years – and is set to be even more hopelessly split in opposition, after it gets hammered on July 4th.

    That – and Cameron's complacent, arrogant dismissal of the biggest issue facing the country – is why I'm more convinced than ever that it's right to stand against them.

    It's why more and more people now rightly see Reform UK as the real opposition to the coming Labour government.

    Cameron has the nerve to claim that, after 14 years of failure, the Tories now have a plan to deal with Britain's immigration crisis. By contrast, he says, all I offer is "inflammatory language and hopeless policy".

    By "inflammatory language", does he mean my stating the fact that 3.5 million immigrants have come to the UK over the past three years alone? Or that, under the current the Tory Government, one more migrant enters the UK every minute? Or that, under the Conservatives and Labour governments before them, more people have come to the UK over the past 25 years than in all of British history before that?

    Does the Tory Government now consider these plain facts to be too "inflammatory" for the ears of the British people? (The BBC seems to think so, having desperately fact-checked my statements but failed to find any untruths.) If anybody is being dishonest, it is those who refuse to admit that our country simply cannot cope with this uncontrolled influx, economically or culturally.

    As for "hopeless policy", that's a subject that Rishi "Rwanda plan" Sunak knows all about. By contrast Reform UK's policies – to freeze all non-essential immigration, detain and deport all illegal migrants and leave the European Convention on Human Rights – offer realistic hope of addressing the migration crisis and stopping European judges overruling the will of the British people. This is at the heart of our Contract with the British people, which we are launching on Monday.

    Eight years is a long time in politics, yet Cameron and the Conservatives appear to have forgotten nothing and learned nothing since the EU referendum of 2016.

    Perhaps I shouldn't blame Lord Cameron for his personal animus towards me, since the success of our Leave campaign did cost him his job as Prime Minister. But the Tories' repeated betrayals of the British people and the Brexit they voted for is unforgivable.

    Cameron called that referendum in the smug belief that the Project Fear run by him and his chancellor, George Osborne, would hoodwink the British electorate into voting to Remain in thrall to the EU. When instead 17.4m voted Leave – lest we forget, the biggest vote for anything in British history – he flounced off and left Theresa May and the Remainer-dominated parliament to try to sell out Brexit.

    The victory of my Brexit Party in the 2019 European elections drove Mrs May from Number 10 and brought in Boris Johnson who – with my help – won the general election that year on the promise to "get Brexit done". Yet five years and three Tory prime ministers later, we are patently no nearer to taking back control of our borders and our laws.

    That betrayal of Brexit is ultimately why millions of furious voters have turned their backs on the remains of the Conservative Party. It is why Keir Starmer's Labour is set to win on July 4th, despite the lack of public enthusiasm for his party, his personality or his six big election pledges – which do not include a word about migration.

    It is also why I decided to stand for election. In two weeks, Reform UK has breathed life into this zombie general election and overtaken the Tories in major opinion polls, winning the support of millions of people across the country who have simply had enough of the establishment parties.

    In his lowest personal insult at the weekend, the Tory Foreign Secretary accused me of using "dog whistle" politics to play on popular prejudices. As ever, the biggest insult here is directed at the voters, who snobs such as Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton see as dumb mutts to be herded into pens. I trust the good judgement of the British people to see through such Tory prejudice.

    Cameron is right about one thing. There is "no place for Farage" in this divided, sinking hulk of a Conservative Party. My place is leading the real opposition to Labour, and building the resistance to the threat of a one-party state over the next five years. The last conservatives in the Tory Party, such as Suella Braverman, are very welcome to join the revolt.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk…

    1. Cameron represents everything we rejected. That he's back is simple evidence of the appalling continuity of statism.

      He is everything wrong with the political system of this country.

          2. The enjoyment of misogyny is the prize men won for being bigger and stronger than women.

            But balls are what God gave men for women to kick when they were being misogynistic.

          4. Grizzly wouldn't approve

            Serves: 6-8 Takes: 45-60 minutes

            Ingredients:
            Filling:
            1kg apples, peeled and cored (I use Granny Smith)
            1 tbsp flour
            ½ cup of raw sugar
            2 tbsp lemon juice
            ½ tsp of ground cinnamon
            1 tsp of vanilla bean paste

            Topping:
            100g of rolled oats
            150g of plain flour
            100g of brown sugar
            100g of hazelnuts, roughly chopped
            1/2 tsp of baking powder
            1 tsp cinnamon
            3inch piece of ginger, peeled and finely grated
            Zest of 1 lemon
            Pinch of salt
            125g unsalted butter, melted

            To serve:
            Lashings of custard

            Method:
            1. Preheat Oven to 180 degrees fan forced.
            2. For the filling, dice the apples into 1.5-2cm pieces and put them into a large bowl. Sprinkle over the flour until evenly coated, then add in the sugar, vanilla bean paste cinnamon. Finally add the lemon juice and mix together before transferring to an oven proof dish.
            3. To make the topping, put all of the topping ingredients except the melted butter in the bowl you used for the filling and gently mix everything together. Pour in the butter and continue mixing until clumps begin to form, then crumble the mixture over the top of the filling.
            4. Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oven and let it cool slightly for about 10 minutes to allow the filling to thicken.
            5. Serve with custard and enjoy!

      2. I have a great big Gothic house with turrets here and there
        And I've had the grounds all landscaperd with gnomes leaping everywhere
        I've a lovely crazy-paved patio and an ornamental lake
        Where my wife and I take mid-morning tea with a slice of Maderira cake.

  98. Just catching up on nottl, as I’ve been out most of the day. Had a nasty turn while serving in church this morning but feeling fine now. A bad hot flush with profuse sweating and dizziness with vision breaking up. Scary but came and went and my fellow servers were very helpful. Stunned by the news about Jill. Life is so fragile. RIP Jill.

    Remember the news story a week or so back about a stabby stabby perpetrator who claimed to be a refugee from Trinidad? One of the regulars at church spends a lot of time there, as his wife is Trinidadian and he used to work there. I couldn’t resist asking how the war is coming along! Peter explained. Trinidad and Tobago retained anti sodomy laws and the fake asylum seekers claim to be homosexual and facing persecution if they return home. It seems the reality is that the Chief Justice for the islands is openly gay himself and no one is prosecuted.

    1. Hi Sue

      Sorry you were feeling dreadful earlier.

      Have you considered this?

      Are you suffering from diabetes?

      Hypoglycemia
      Low blood sugar, or hypoglycemia, can trigger your body's fight-or-flight response, which can cause excessive sweating. Other symptoms include anxiety, blurry vision, tremors, slurred speech, and extreme fatigue.

    3. Just playing silly buggers then, Sue. Glad you're feeling better. Horrible about Jill.

    4. Comes the blind Fury with th'abhorred shears,
      And slits the thin-spun life.

      I have always been very moved by John Milton's elegy Lycidas. When I came home from the hospital after my father had died I found a file from him on what practical things needed to be attended to. On the cover off this file were written the words from the poem':

      Nothing is here for tears.

      Of course these words opened my flood gates.

      Several years later when we had just bought Mianda I met one of my former pupils on a beach in St Mawes. He had studied law at Bristol University and was having a spectacular career – he was a Q,C, (now a K.C) and head of the Western Division of barristers. He had loved his "A" level English studies and had decided to learn the whole of Lycidas by heart which he could still do 20 years after leaving school.

      1. Funnily enough, we were discussing poetry over coffee after church and Lycidas came up.

  99. I wonder how long it will be before the BBC connects the football violence at the Euros with Tommy Robinson and his supporters.
    3
    2
    1
    go

    1. I have been surprised by how saddened I have been by jill's and lotl's passing, please keep yourself fit and get a second opinion on what the problem might be.

      1. Oh, Lord, is Jack going to have a terrible night. Empty bed… I'll pray for him.

        1. I got the impression that it was a few days ago. It wasn't that long ago that I was debating with Jill and she was wishing me well after my own episode.
          I was pleased to see he had family around.

          3. You'll have trouble telling your arse from your elbow for months to come, but it will get less painful in time.

          4. Thank you for letting us know.
            I salute your fortitude, I don't think I could have done so so soon, if it had been HG.
            Jill and I exchanged a lot of banter and I appreciated her comments, she cheered me up.
            I was sorry when you stopped commenting as often as you had done, but understood why and was delighted that she continued to post.
            I shall miss her.
            I hope you look back on your life together and savour the good times.

          5. I'm so sorry to hear bout Jill. You have my condolences Jack. I'm glad you have our family with you atthis horrible time.

          6. I'm so sorry to hear this sad news. My sincere condolences to you and your family.
            RIP, Jill.

        2. Hopefully he has a relative or close friend to stay with him. My dad was similar, grieved for a number of years, affected everyone around him.

    2. If you've been hot recently, weating can unbalance blood chemistry, leading to faintness.
      Take care, Sue.

    3. I won't ask age, Sue:-) but I remember menopause symptoms being similar. Medication didn't help. Serenity cream did, but takes a while. Vaccine/covid also given me similar symptoms, now at least some days better than others, mostly memory-related. Good luck.

      1. Many thanks. Yes, I’m 68 and still menopausal. It’s been fifteen years and showing no signs of abating but all tests come back normal. Made a mistake last night by having a large glass of rosé. That kickstarted palpitations and other bowel problems and the rest followed on from there. The flushes were more severe than usual.

        1. I am so sorry to read that – been there and done that. I’m 75 now, free of it for around three years. I’m not sure if a change of diet might help? Try cutting carbs down? There’s a shed load of info on the web, enough to turn you to another glass:-(

    1. Even if Reform doesn't win many seats I hope:
      1 they get sufficient seats to be the official opposition
      2 Farage gets in
      3 Labour doesn't get a majority that can be affected/influenced by a Muslim block vote

      1. At this rate I will be needing another Grauniad account.

      1. I presented some facts on a forum over water quality and the chap absolutely refused to accept it was controlled by the EU. Lefties really, really do not like the truth. It must cause them some sort of pain.

    3. If Reform do win seats the entrenched political class will freeze them out. Departments will spin against them endlessly. The press will attack them continually, relentlessly.

      Unravelling the entrenched state would consume an entire parliament as endless legions of technocrats are fought and removed. Nothing would get done – at all – as the establishment bickered and spun against the public will.

      I want them to win, but as with Brexit the state simply won't let any change. It'll be more declinist, insulting tax and waste mass gimmigration chaos.

    4. Evening, all. I had a phone call from Reform asking me by name to canvass for them. Odd thing was, it was on a mobile phone that isn't my usual one and whose number I have not generally distributed – a few Whatsapp friends and some shopping apps only. I'd love to know where they got that number. As far as I'm aware, none of my "ex UKIP colleagues" who apparently incorrectly informed the caller that I'd left the party had been given that particular mobile contact. I would have asked if I hadn't been interrupted while I was busy and was thus not terribly pleased and wanted to end the call asap. I may now give my vote to the Independent as long as he isn't a rabid climate change nutter. The caller ID was withheld so I couldn't ring back, so quite how they thought I was to "contact them if I changed my mind" is another mystery. Bad move!

      1. Possibly the biggest problem that Reform UK have is organising 650 candidates in such a short a time. Vetting will surely a be a bit of a problem. Historical social media posts will be scrutinised by all and sundry. The odd 5th columnist and infiltrators. My candidate seems ok, I think, I just have to vote for a group that'll get the present scum out, or at least make them cower.

        1. The only non personal and non shopping link I can think of that has my name and that number is the mobile phone company. As they also have my debit card details the thought that I might inadvertently have "donated" some money is more than worrying.

          1. Might think about changing supplier, Conway? Sounds as though they might have been raided.

          2. It's a beggar changing my number, though. I think they may have rung the other number as well (I had a "no caller ID" missed call on that just before the one on the other phone), but at least that is out in the public domain.

          3. Been there done that…use a burner for a while? I used to have to block a good number of numbers, not so much lately – perhaps they have a list of newer numbers, or something. I only generally use WA now for calls/messages.

          4. Sorry to show my ignorance, but what's "a burner"? I have never made a call out on that phone, only sent messages on Whatsapp.

          5. Used to find them at garages/supermarkets…preloaded with a certain amount of storage/memory, loved at one time by dealers (or so I’m told). Perhaps no longer available. Possibly try deleting WA and re-installing, might work for a while. Or change number, contact your provider and explain. It’s a drag, sorry you’ve been targeted. Any ideas if any of your contacts may have been targeted, and that’s how your number obtained..might be an idea to tell those closest to you.:-(

          6. Keep blocking, Conway, eventually they may get the msg. And don’t let it bug you….:-) good luck.

          7. How do you block an unwanted no caller ID number? The hospital always withholds its number when it contacts me. I can hardly block them.

          8. Depending on your phone, usually a line of three dots top right, if you tap there should be option to delete and/or block. Yes, it’s a problem with hospitals, been there done and doing that. I know it’s mind boggling annoying. I’ve been known to throw my phone down – don’t try that one 😀

      1. It would free him up to go and fight on the front line with his Ukrainian mates.

  104. So sorry to hear about Jill, RIP lass
    Yes Jack it'll be tough but at least you have the support of your family

  107. Really sad about Jill's demise and I'm so sorry for Jack. Been there, but they brought me back with the Battery Charger..

    Another day is done so, I wish you a goodnight and may God bless you all, Gentlefolk. Bis morgen früh. If we are spared!

  108. General election: Labour manifesto ‘not sum total of spending plans’ — as it happened
    Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, said the manifesto was a ‘fully costed, fully funded set of promises’ rather than a spending review.

    Labour and the Conservatives continue to trade blows over their tax and spending plans with less than three weeks to go before the general election on July 4.

    Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, claims the UK would become a “taxtopia” under Sir Keir Starmer, who was on Saturday forced to rule out imposing capital gains tax on the sale of family homes. Meanwhile, Labour and the Lib Dems are hoping to switch the focus to the NHS and cancer treatment targets.

    Wes Streeting has refused to rule out revaluing council tax bands or increasing council tax if Labour wins the election.

    Encouraged to rule the measures out, Streeting told the BBC: “We are anxious about the burden of taxation on working people. That’s why we’ve ruled out income tax, national insurance, VAT.

    “It’s our ambition to get our country back to growth so that we can invest in our public services, without bothering people with higher taxes.” https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/uk-general-election-2024-taxes-tories-labour-reform-latest-news-z3fp9qpkw

    There will be a CAMDEN socialist wotshit trying to gain the Tory South Dorset seat .. Born and bred in Dorset to a fish and chip owner , but has clearly been cutting his teeth on hard left socialist policies , and why do these youngsters with severe profiles wear round shaped spectacles and look aggressive , and tell fibs on their leaflets?

    I expect they are all Momentum / Corbyn acolytes.

    Bit like the Nazi youth movement me thinks ..

  112. Good start by England – totally dominant and a great goal from the astonishing Bellingham – alas the clown Southgate dictated the tactics and they were lucky to hold out for a narrow win.
    Looks like they're going to have to win it despite the manager…….

  116. Ye gods! I've just looked up the independent candidate for North Shrops – he is literally a schoolboy. He's doing his A Levels and has no experience of life at all. It looks like Reform or NOTA. Reform have pissed me off by getting hold of a private mobile number, so it looks as though I'm stuffed. I should have stood myself!

    1. Conners, whoever stole your private mobile number, please don't let that influence your vote on the 4th of July. Grit your teeth and vote Reform. Voting for the Independent schoolboy candidate, or marking NOTA on the ballot paper is a vote wasted.

      1. I've emailed them to ask where they got it. If I don't get a satisfactory reply I'm not going to hold my nose and vote for people who breach GDPR. I might as well vote for the lying shysters we've got now.

  117. Right, chums, that's me off to bed now. Sleep well, and I hope to see you all tomorrow.

    1. ' Morning, Geoff, thank you and cheers for all the sterling work you have lavished on us, on our behalf.

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