Sunday 17 December: Western resolve is wilting while Putin inflicts genocidal horror on Ukraine

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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566 thoughts on “Sunday 17 December: Western resolve is wilting while Putin inflicts genocidal horror on Ukraine”

  2. fGood morrow, Gentlefolk. today’s story

    Car Crash
    A rabbi and a priest get into a car accident and it’s a bad one. Both cars are totally demolished, but, amazingly, neither of the clerics is hurt. After they crawl out of their cars, the rabbi sees the priest’s collar and says, “So you’re a priest. I’m a rabbi. Just look at our cars. There’s nothing left, but we are unhurt. This must be a sign from God. God must have meant that we should meet and be friends and live together in peace the rest of our days.”
    The priest replies, “I agree with you completely. This must be a sign from God.”
    The rabbi continues, “And look at this. Here’s another miracle. My car is completely demolished but this bottle of Mogan David wine didn’t break. Surely God wants us to drink this wine and celebrate our good fortune.”
    Then he hands the bottle to the priest. The priest agrees, takes a few big swigs, and hands the bottle back to the rabbi. The rabbi takes the bottle, immediately puts the cap on, and hands it back to the priest. The priest asks, “Aren’t you having any?”
    The rabbi replies, “No… I think I’ll wait for the police.”

    1. The UK could use a PM and government like Hungary’s: Focus on what’s good for the electorate, not the rest of the fcukking world.

      1. The EU, in its customary way, have already said that they will get the payment to Ukraine through in another way.

        1. The EU Commission will have to persuade the Polis not to arrest any Brussels bag carriers. A lady politician called Eva Kaili has been allegedly linked with Qatar, which allegedly supported the baby burners of Gaza. The European Commission has been paying hundreds of millions of euro to the Gazan mafia for years, so refilling the Ukrainian coffers shouldn’t be too difficult.

  5. Good morning all.
    A blustery start to the day with tawny owls calling to each other. Still dark but not raining with a tad over 4°C on the Yard Thermometer.

  6. Wordle 911 3/6

    I did it in three today – Impressive.

    🟨⬜⬜⬜🟨
    🟨🟩⬜🟩⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  7. Watch: Sun emits most powerful solar flare in years

    Pilots report temporary radio problems after strong burst of electromagnetic radiation emanates from the star’s surface

    Telegraph Reporters
    16 December 2023 • 5:03pm

    https://cf.eip.telegraph.co.uk/store/vid-media/b5d17f06/b5d17f06-desktop.mp4

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

    Stephen Dolan
    10 HRS AGO
    Yes, amazing how much power the sun has over our little planet. Apparently, some people still think that we humans can change to climate. What a joke.

    Less is More
    10 HRS AGO
    I knew flares would make a comeback sooner or later.

    2. A predictable BTL Comment:-

      Less is More
      10 HRS AGO
      I knew flares would make a comeback sooner or later.

    3. And they can predict the “average temperature” of the planet* in 2050 down to one decimal point. They can’t even predict next week’s weather.

      *There is no such thing as “global average”.

  8. It must be a record this morning. I turned off the ‘Sunday’ programme on R4 twenty seconds in, after they announced the most important religious event for some time was the blessing of same-sex couples in Anglican churches.

    It seems to the BBC that all there is to Christianity is homosexuality. Nothing else counts. Count me out of that show.

    1. God morning Jeremy and all.

      I switched off Radio 4 over two decades ago – I couldn’t stand the constant licking of Blair all over.

    2. What are the chances of finding vicars who refuse to do this? If there are none, the Church of England truly is lost.

    3. Occasionally I listen to BBC radio news. The other week there was a report of a famous footballer’s funeral, and the newsreader stated that there were (a large number of) ‘guests’ attending the service. Not mourners, but guests.

      1. I listen to the PM programme occasionally just to keep abreast of it’s prejudices. I am never disappointed.

  9. Western resolve is wilting while Putin inflicts genocidal horror on Ukraine. 17 December 2023.

    SIR – Pessimism, fatigue, historical ignorance, and an immoral attempt to appease an aggressor for whom the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for the war crime of illegally transferring nearly 20,000 Ukrainian children: these are what threaten to bring about the end of the international liberal order.

    João Freitas
    Lisbon, Portugal

    Judging by this, and the rest of this highly inaccurate paean, Senhor Freitas is the Mi6 resident in Lisbon.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2023/12/17/letters-western-resolve-wilting-putin-genocidal-ukraine/

    1. What’s the betting that those ‘nearly 20,0000 children’ are from the Russian population of Ukraine?

      1. In which case the Russians organising this evacuation have a defence and nothing to fear from the courts. It is moot whether relocations under duress are a war crime when conducting hostile aggression (involving bombing them out of their homes or systematic demolitions) in a neighbouring sovereign state, or even within an internal province, but I leave that to the human rights lawyers to sort out. Ukraine is by no means the only place this might be going on.

      2. In which case the Russians organising this evacuation have a defence and nothing to fear from the courts. It is moot whether relocations under duress are a war crime when conducting hostile aggression (involving bombing them out of their homes or systematic demolitions) in a neighbouring sovereign state, or even within an internal province, but I leave that to the human rights lawyers to sort out. Ukraine is by no means the only place this might be going on.

    2. This may or may not be true. With any military intelligence, what is really going on is a state secret, and what is disinformation and what is selective disclosure is up to the intelligence of the listener.

      Taking what he reports at face value, it still begs the question – what can we do about it?

      I was hauled up not long ago for suggesting that the allied bombing of Serbia in the 1990s was the result of the UN doing something about its own sanctuaries being breached by Serbian forces, and calling in the services of NATO because their own forces were not strong enough to take on the Serbs. Dealing with Serbs is one thing, but tackling Russia is in quite a different league.

      I might suggest that a crate of vodka achieves much more militarily than any state-of-the-art salvo of artillery.

      1. Morning Jeremy. Sehor Freitas’ letter is a carefully concocted one sided diatribe against Vlad. It makes no attempt to offer any alternative explanation of any kind. No truthful account of the Ukraine business could possibly be so straightforward. More than likely he’s a literal minded bot. An Mi6 bot of course.

        1. I’m sure you give due weighting to his report.

          Often in such cases, it is what is not said that says more than what is said.

      2. Morning Jeremy. Sehor Freitas’ letter is a carefully concocted one sided diatribe against Vlad. It makes no attempt to offer any alternative explanation of any kind. No truthful account of the Ukraine business could possibly be so straightforward. More than likely he’s a literal minded bot. An Mi6 bot of course.

      3. Morning Jeremy. Sehor Freitas’ letter is a carefully concocted one sided diatribe against Vlad. It makes no attempt to offer any alternative explanation of any kind. No truthful account of the Ukraine business could possibly be so straightforward. More than likely he’s a literal minded bot. An Mi6 bot of course.

  10. Good morning all,

    Still dark here at the McPhee demesne but it’s going tp be a grey day, wind South-West 8-9℃ all day. Not that we’ll be here. We’re off to Pembrokeshire for a couple of nights to tend to SWMBO’s family graves pre-Christmas as we do every year.

  11. As the cliché goes, you couldn’t make this up.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d797a6775f0a9d6dee6c799a28e83e65fad27d4f6d632d9ddc3aefcfeddc63f8.png

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/12/16/rishi-sunak-giorgia-meloni-illegal-migrants-britain-reforms/

    Has nobody told our little Indian Prime Minister that prime among our enemies are the UN and its Charter on Migration that Treason May thoughtfully approved the signing of on our behalf and the organisations of George Soros and his heirs?

    2. I wondered if Sunak was standing on a Tom Cruise height-enhancing box for this photo but apparently he is not.

      My googling research came up with the fact that Georgia Meloni is only 5’0″ tall so Sunak is not the shortest European PM which is probably why he likes her.

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

  12. BTL Comment:-
    Well said Mr Pugh.

    Edwin Pugh
    30 MIN AGO
    The correspondant from Portugal, Joao Freitas, needs reminding that there are two sides engaged in the war in Ukraine and that both have committed crimes.
    Between 2014 and February 2022 the Ukrainian government overlooked, if not condoning, the slaughter of 14,000 ethnic Russians in the Donbas.
    Since coming to power Zelensky has invoked martial law to ban 11 opposition parties. The outlawed parties consisted of the entire left-wing, socialist or anti-NATO spectrum in Ukraine. He then ordered an unprecedented domestic propaganda initiative to nationalize all television news broadcasting and combine all channels into a single 24 hour channel called “United News” to “tell the truth about war.” Further, his supporters have systematically silenced by arrest or worse anyone who dares to suggest negotiating with the Russians and in April 2022 Zelensky announced the arrest of his principal political rival, Viktor Medvedchuk, the representative of the country’s ethnic Russian population.
    Zelensky was founder of the ‘Servants of People’ party. As such, he supported the reinstatement of former wartime collaborators with the German SS as Heroes of the Ukraine. Said that this quote – “… was cool.” One of those supported for this rehabilitation was Roman Shukhevych who was accused of complicity in the deaths of 100,000 Jews and Poles. In March last year Al Jazeera noted that the Ukraine was the new hub for far right and state glorification of former Nazi collaborators.
    Zelensky has as much to answer for in this nasty little war as does Putin.

    1. Good comment except the last sentence allows the US deep-state neocons who kept poking the bear off the hook.

    2. I read that report as being 14,000 casualties of all sides in that conflict. Nothing has been said about how many of these were combatants in what amounted to a civil war in the region, with the Minsk Agreement struggling to bring any peace to a simmering situation.

      The charge of historic Nazi collaboration is another matter, and there are many examples of this, from a former British king who exposed secret weaknesses in the Maginot line to those who signed the Molotov/Ribbentrop pact that enabled the carving up of Poland. Zelenskyy is a Jew, and I find it extraordinary, considering the Holocaust, that he should owe any allegiance to Nazi methodology. It is of course deemed “antisemitic” to suggest any covert co-operation between Jews and their foes.

      That said, Ukraine has hardly a spotless war record. I myself visited Kryłów in Eastern Poland, whose inhabitants were exterminated by Ukrainian villagers under provision of the said Molotov/Ribbentrop pact.

      1. One thing I have learned is that there are Jews and there are Jews. They are not a united, homogeneous people with one mind on all matters. Just as with any other human grouping there are good people and there are evil people.

        1. The Delingpod with Miriam Elia was very enlightening on this topic, and suggested a few possible ideas to explain things that have always puzzled me.

          1. Yes. I must listen to that one again. Also his more recent one with Alex Thomson. A book to read is The Controversy of Zion by Douglas Reed.

        2. And there are good Christians and disgustingly evil people who say they are Christians – Tony Blair and Theresa May are firmly in the latter category.

          2. He was born a Jew and while he worked for the Nazis cataloguing Jewish property and possessions he was still a Jew.

      2. Angela Merkel clearly stated they had no intention for the Minsk agreement to work. She said it was just a stalling tactic. With a smirk on her face.

  13. Sorry to spoil your breakfasts:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f6b0abf21757922550b8b56d5b2093898912e8bb2edb767c572e7a25b79d5029.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/05ba554e707aa190b58b2ec2d136de236bc26319b443ef26fc4b9f09b51329da.png

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/12/16/southbank-hosts-childrens-show-with-trans-voices/

    Lionel Shriver probably speaks for most of us although she is a tad restrained:

    “Maybe we should all be grateful when the ‘progressive’ left highlights its own absurdity, embarrasses itself with its own clichés, and so loudly advertises its obliviousness to what kind of entertainment is suitable for small children.

    “As a commentator, I should be professionally thankful when people I would otherwise be obliged to mock do my work for me. But I do worry if these tasteless displays of vacuousness and desperation for attention are publicly financed. Let them humiliate themselves on their own dime.”

  14. Good Morning Folks,

    Another cloudy start here,
    I think we are set for our annual visit to Costco later, I may be some time and much poorer when I get back.

  15. Western resolve is wilting while Putin inflicts genocidal horror on Ukraine

    I think the West is unsure who are the good guys between Nato, the EU and Putin
    It’s a bit like have only the choice of Labour, Conservative and the LibDems at a general election

      1. “And in the fields
        Corn sways with metallic clicks
        Whilst Man hammers nails in Man
        High on his Crucifix”

        Stephen Spender.

  16. ‘Morning All

    “all I want for Christmas”

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/67af1dd90a5f2dd7cc40249f2a7a12e18058ccf2fa48cc5e36fefa7a0482ce77.jpg

    Rest

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ec4847b73e9dd1352eff354a4318842d8ea188c36020fa4f34f39d7941db29fa.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e054201259728b5b37b362d2f1dc3c658ded09c419c3cf21ecaf9105f55256b7.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/727e2ba30d94e1fb5e44d4b8439352dabfb479e75f4fbe03df0df82d6e214b9d.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fa7c1b3ab869a4b948aa79abb6cba64b10bff23284e4810a34d2aec633134e67.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/60007681bb4904464fa20d84dd168d13d3d837208b761dee009dd2b6bc95d931.jpg

    Finally one for our Willum

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7003685149c3e2bfd582204a3e8d1392b42ffa529cec1cc05db80e4f0c62a148.jpg

    1. Good morning.
      I was just about to post that too. Grim sign of our times, that people would rather burn down a perfectly sound building with all the comforts that civilisation can offer (running hot and cold water, heating, electricity, insulation, paint and wallpaper etc), than have seventy young men of unknown but definitely criminal backgrounds* forced on the community.

      *Liberals try to make out that there is no difference between illegal and legal migration, but that is hugely disrespectful to the very many migrants who took the trouble to come the legal route to Europe and work hard in low paid jobs. There is no comparison with the criminal layabouts who pay thousands to people traffickers to break the law by entering illegally and then be put up in hotels and given benefits.

    2. The problem is that the Irish people don’t want them, the British people don’t want them and, worst of all, their co-religionists in the Middle East don’t want them.

      The trouble for Western politicians is that the Middle East regimes don’t give a toss about what politicians think in the West and yet the Western politicians do not dare to criticise Islam for not giving a toss and not looking after their own people.

  20. Statins stimulate atherosclerosis and heart failure: pharmacological mechanisms

    https://cardiacos.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/2015-Statins-stimulate-atherosclerosis-and-heart-failure-pharmacological-mechanisms.pdf

    The hypochondriacs among us will really enjoy this read:

    An extract: “Statins Deplete Vitamin K, Raising Heart Calcification Risk
    Statins impair the production of vitamin K, an essential vitamin in managing calcification, according to the review. Optimal vitamin K2 intake helps avoid plaque buildup of atherosclerosis—thickening or hardening of the arteries—and keeps calcification risk low.

    Coronary calcification happens when calcium accumulates in the walls of the coronary arteries that provide oxygen to the heart. This plaque buildup is a sign of early coronary artery disease, which can block blood flow and trigger a heart attack.”

    2. Statins nearly killed me as they raised my Creatine Kinase from a normal reading, https://labs.selfdecode.com/blog/creatine-kinase/, to over 900. I only took them for a month or so but the Ck level continued to rise for another 2 months.
      I had months of tests after referral to a Rheumatologist that culminated in an Electromyogram that showed damage to the muscles in my lower legs. This test was observed by a Neurologist who thought I might have IBM (Inclusion body myosotis) something similar to muscular dystrophy. The Rheumatologist referred me to him. After more tests including a muscle biopsy the Neurologist concluded that I should never have been prescribed statins and that doctors have got to get back to prescribing for the patient and not by government diktat. I will never have another medication prescribed by the government.

        1. This was about 10 years ago and I haven’t really recovered. They were evil. My GP phoned me 2 years ago, following my hypertension review, and said “I am obliged to recommend you take statins….”. I asked if she’d read the history of my taking them previously. She said “yes”. I asked what my cholesterol levels were and she said “it’s absolutely marvellous it’s only 3.6, what diet are you on, I wish I could get mine down to that level “. So why are you recommending them. She said it’s not only about cholesterol it’s about your age and profile and I have a 50% chance of having a heart attack. She became silent when I pointed out that I had a 50% chance of not having one. Talk about a disconnect between doctor and patient.

      2. I was put on statins during my last ever Army medical, as I apparently had high cholesterol. A few months later, the first civilian GP I registered with took me off them immediately. Thank goodness.

    1. Moloch is described by John Milton in Paradise Lost as the

      “horrid king besmeared with blood
      Of human sacrifice and mother’s tears      …”

      According to MIlton, when Satan and his followers were expelled from heaven they eventually found their way into the affairs of men and were worshipped and idolised by Philistines and other barbarians.

      Moloch was one of the leading speakers in the great debate in Pandemonium – when he went into the world he was worshipped by the Ammonites was reputed to have eaten the children whom he had sacrificed.

  23. Alasdair Macleod
    @MacleodFinance
    It appears Iran has proxy war down to a fine art. Houthi allies attack a few ships in the Red Sea makes the route through Suez uninsurable. Getting Lloyds of London on your side is infinitely more clever than the US’s blundering attempts in Ukraine for example.

  24. Alasdair Macleod
    @MacleodFinance
    Talking to local businesses in the UK’s Midlands, conditions are dire. When I suggested that the Bank of England might have to raise interest rates next year instead of lowering them, they were horrified.
    Things are much worse than the headlines suggest.

    1. It’s not a jolly thought but if the economy contracts next year Labour will successfully claim that they inherited a dire situation from the Tories and that a second term in office will be essential to undo the damage. That will ensure a Labour government comfortably into the 2030s.

      1. Probably! It is so stupid when you see politicians hammering the other side or claiming credit for a financial situation that has been years in the making!

  25. One of the characteristics of C of E worshippers is that most of them are not fanatical and do not attend church services regularly. This does not mean that they do not believe in Christ.

    I have spent some time in Turkey on my boat and I have many Turkish friends who are generous-spirited and tolerant and not at all fanatical about their Muslim religion. I call them C of E Muslims.

    How much more comfortable we would be if more of the Muslims in Britain and the West C of E Muslimsand there were fewer fanatical ones!

    1. I have little doubt that if your CofE Muslims had been commanded by their Imams to cut your throats, on pain of a fatwa being placed upon them for refusing, that they would have sharpened their knives.
      If you had been commanded by your priest (and that, unlike the Imam scenario, is unlikely in the extreme) that you would have sailed away.

      And that’s why Muslims make extremely dangerous neighbours.

    2. Thanks to the koran, kitman and taqiyya you can’t trust any muslim, no matter how tolerant they might appear.

  26. Given that an all inclusive holiday in Pakistan might be over £1000 a week, paying a people smuggler a few thousand to organise a trip to the UK for several months looks very cheap indeed.

  27. Good morning all

    Dull but dry, windy and all quiet in the garden because some one in the neighbour hood has a number of killer cats!

    Sniffly? It might not be Covid, flu or even a cold… experts say it could be your CHRISTMAS TREE making you feel like death
    Mould spores from Christmas trees could be making you sneeze, itch and cough
    Experts say the trees carry up to 50 species of mould that grow in warm places

    Pollen can stick to a tree during the spring then hitch a ride into homes at Christmas, while fungi can grow rapidly in the cold and damp haven of a Christmas tree farm.

    Additionally, a single tree can carry more than 50 species of mould, with varieties such as Aspergillus, Penicillium and Cladosporium most likely to trigger allergies.

    Mould thrives in warm, wet and humid conditions. So once a tree is brought inside, mould production can skyrocket.

    During the first three days inside, levels are around 800 spores per cubic metre of air, according to Dr Samuel White, a researcher at Nottingham Trent University, who has spent years researching the immune system and allergies.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wellness-uk/article-12858465/Sniffly-experts-CHRISTMAS-TREE-making-feel.html

      1. This is, of course, the first year any Christmas tree had spores, and the first year anyone ever got a sniffle, or brought a tree into the house.
        Sigh…

  28. If I were Mrs Sunak (who, I gather, prefers to be known by some other, unconnected, name) I’d be worried at the amount of time Fishi manages to spend with the delightful Signora Meloni….

    Just saying!

    1. One might rewrite a song…..

      Only Meloni
      Know the way she feels tonight
      Only the Meloni
      Know this feeling ain’t right
      There goes his baby
      There goes his heart
      They’re gone forever
      So far apart

      (with Apols to Roy Orbison)

          9. My previous boats, Inca and Raua had tillers but Mianda had a wheel so Caroline did not become a tiller girl when we bought her. She became a wheel girl (and no, I don’t have a lisp like Woy Jenkins)

    1. No Fear!

      (Minds not suddenly seized by mighty, troubled dread. We don’t buy the politicians’ terror propaganda about climate change and Covid!)

  30. Morning, all Y’all.
    Cats delivered to cat hotel – Big Cat has learned how to open the locked cat flap, so was AWOL this morning… fortunately, it’s all snowy and icy out there, so he hadn’t got far and came in for breakfast so could be caught and transported.
    Now packing for trip to MiL Leave this afternoon, overnight at the airport for 07:00 departure via Schiphol to Bristol, then overnight at Cardiff so we can visit Mother Tuesday morning before she is too mazed, then to Barnstaple way for MiL – and the lovely pub just round the corner (they sell excellent ales, good range of whiskies, and superb ciders. Good, simple, home cooking, too – it’s like dying and being transported th Heaven!).

      1. Always do.
        Looking forward to Wiekse Witte at AMS. Can’t get it outside of Netherlands.

      2. Mary of Wiltshire, one of the several Gogglebox hosts, gently admonished her husband, Giles, for his gloomy prognostications saying he suffers doubly by both his predictions and again if they prove to be true. On the other hand, Giles is an irritating perpetual man-child, so I have little sympathy for him. How she puts up with his adolescent behaviour, I do not know.

          1. So I gather. Is it the etiquette and manners column she contributes? She’s a sensitive soul, given to tears at such things as declining standards of behaviour, a yearning for the past and a staunch monarchist. Mind you, she was dismayed by Brexit.

      1. Indeed. We only stop moving once we get to Barnstaple, else we could have taken a beer or 3 with Captain KP in Wales.

        1. Not quite so cold at the moment, but low cloud and drizzle. It would be nice to see some blue sky.

          2. We are having a rare appearance of the yellow orb in Stevenage skies this morning. I don’t know what this part of the country has done right to deserve such largesse from the weather gods.

      2. Indeed. We only stop moving once we get to Barnstaple, else we could have taken a beer or 3 with Captain KP in Wales.

    4. There is no such place as Bristol – it’s ‘Brissol‘ if you don’t want the locals to think you’re a furriner

  31. Don’t believe BBC doomsters – the Conservatives are delivering. Oliver Dowden. 17 December 2023.

    Meanwhile the Government’s work-rate, with the relentless pace set by the Prime Minister, has been tremendous. From the Windsor Framework announced in February to the consultation on the new Advanced British Standard to replace A-levels announced this week, there has been no let-up in our efforts to deliver for the British people.

    We are not afraid to grip the thorniest issues, even if that causes a bit of pain. Take stopping the boats. I’d rather have the Conservative Party’s passion and determination to solve this problem over Labour’s callous indifference any day.

    Beyond fantasy!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/12/16/dont-believe-bbcs-doomsters-conservatives-are-delivering/

    1. I know very little about Oliver Dowden but I don’t like the look of him.

      Yes, I know that is unreasonable and a superficial way to judge people but one’s gut instincts and first impressions are often correct.

      I call upon Oscar Wilde to defend my position:

      “It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances. “

        1. He has friends?

          (I am rather contrary: I rather like olives – especially the black ones)

          3. I’ve yet to eat an olive that I like. Is their much difference in flavour between the numerous varieties? Maybe it’s just a matter of finding one that appeals to me.

          5. I guess I’ve just been unlucky or it’s a particular quality they share in common which doesn’t appeal.

          9. Take a succulent steak. Fry it in butter to your liking (bleu, saignant, or à point) and with the black olive and Madeira Sauce that Caroline makes.

            Yummy Yummy.

          11. The best olives we have ever had were the ones we bought in the markets in South West Turkey.

      2. By personal experience, you have to meet someone to properly judge their character. Made the mistake of hiring a field supervisor by phone, realised what a boo-boo I’d made as soon as he came to the office for briefing & training. Disaster, he was run off the job by the Client. Never again.

          1. It’s weird. I reckon he would have been OK, but he got together with another onnthe rig and declared that, because the hand extinguishers were out of date, all operations must cease, and he was withdrawing our team immediately.
            That was after he had slagged off our inspection plan to the Client. I asked him what was wrong, he replied “It’s shit”. What is shit, give me details and I can fix… but “It’s all shit!”. Perhaps mentally unstable. Client not only threw him off the platform, but escorted him to the airport and threw him out of the country, too.

          2. As soon as he rocked up in reception when we’d hired him, my heart sank. Oh, God, what have I done? was the thought.

          3. Any CV for the post of corrosion engineer which came from an Indian source went straight in the bin.

          4. I prepared a programme of 15 work days for cathodic surveys at BP Easington, E. Yorks. The boss took one look at it and said that surely, I should take only 10. I pointed out that for every two days of work, there would be one day of stand time due to their “safety” men being incapable of making a decision.
            I turned out to be right, still, they were paying us to sit around…

    2. I haven’t noticed a public clamour to replace A-levels, but only to restore them to their previous rigour.

    3. Makes you wonder if they’re slightly drunk. The worrying thing is they believe what they waffle on about.

  32. You bomb Iraq, Libya, Syria and Afghanistan and others and now you say…

    Hostile states will ‘drive’ migrants to UK and destabilise the West, warns Sunak

    PM says lack of action against illegal crossings would lead to growing numbers that will ‘overwhelm our countries’.

    You are a bit late Sunak and our countries are already overwhelmed.

    1. And yet he makes no mention of legal migrants who outnumber the illegal ones by about 15 to 1.

    2. I don’t see a problem there. They can bash on the border all day long – it’s your job to enforce it and stop them getting through it.

  33. If men suffered morning sickness, we’d have had a cure years ago
    Scientists claim to have cracked a possible remedy – but what’s taken so long?
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/12/17/if-men-had-to-suffer-morning-sickness-we-would-have-a-cure/

    BTL

    By your logic if women had prostate glands they would have found the answer to prostate cancer years ago.
    Far more money and research has been spent on breast cancer than on prostate cancer.

    1. Why not convert the Bibby Stockholm barge into a luxury 4 star hotel and make it pay its way. It should attract many customers with its pleasant setting in Portland Harbour.

      In the meantime why not place its current inmates in an enclosed and securely fenced and locked area and give them tents.

    2. The (malign) Power Of The Press at work. I’ve mentioned before that I stayed on Bibby Stockholm in Lerwick while on the Shetland Gas Project. It’s perfectly habitable, with en-suite rooms and great services. But the press decided that such a vessel was, to quote one, “A rusting hulk”.
      Total nonsense, of course, but once the charidees get their hooks into a cliché, it tends to stick.

      1. Unburned diesel soot out of the back, depleted uranium out of the front. Very ecological.

  36. I have one one night off Nottl in months and what did you do last night? Talk about food !

    This is my review. I won’t be posting it to Tripadvisor but i will be posting it through their letterbox.

    The crab cake starter was soft and mushy. No crisped outside.
    Felt old. Served with a bit of iceberg lettuce. Not a lemon in
    sight.

    The doggies will be getting fillet steak. Quite a bit actually.

    Online menu didn’t match the dishes.

    Looking closer at the menu there are no fresh vegetables. Red
    cabbage and Savoy appear on two different dishes but that was
    about it.

    All other veg was prepared what felt like days ago. Rosti tired,
    grey and over salted. We didn’t have these but the roasted
    vegetables looked like they had been cooked off on Monday and
    warmed through.

    Creamed leeks were a paste and again over salted.

    Mushrooms and corn from tins.

    No wonderful Winter sprouts. No butternut squash. No kale. No
    carrots. No peas.

    No Winter salads…No fresh garnishes

    I had high hopes but this wasn’t it. Sat down at 6.30 left at
    7.30. I would normally spend 3 hours over fine dining in the
    evening.

    The restaurant was cold.

    No energy. No spark. No sounds or smells from the kitchen.

    I feel in a quandary as i would always give honest reviews to
    Tripadvisor but this feels like telling the family the bad news
    when they are already on the way to the funeral.

      1. Went to the Red Lion for a drink before. Buzzing and full of energy. Antonio’s was packed too. Windows all steamed up. Not enough heat in Truffles for steamy windows. No tables of Christmas parties either.

          1. It’s worth traveling an hour just to see you and John. I wouldn’t so often though if the food was as bad as i had last night. I still feel a bit disjointed about it all.

      2. Went to the Red Lion for a drink before. Buzzing and full of energy. Antonio’s was packed too. Windows all steamed up. Not enough heat in Truffles for steamy windows. No tables of Christmas parties either.

    2. That’s very bad luck, and I had the impression that you were really looking forward to the meal.
      Perhaps they gave the “A team” some time off prior to the Christmas rush.

        1. We once stayed in a Logis in France rurale, very rurale…

          It was a stunning hotel with rave reviews. Four poster bed, cloistered walkways upstairs and splendid outlook. Excellent looking menu.

          The husband and wife who ran it were clearly going through a very bad patch. Top of the voice rows, smashed plates, pans banging.

          HG had coq bourguignon and I was served boeuf au vin.
          Dreadful.

          1. In a restaurant i worked in the chef would have a complete meltdown at 9pm on the dot. Every night. The customers had come to expect it.

    3. When my elder daughter worked in a kitchen, the owner said to her “you can always tell the quality of a restaurant by the lettuce in the salad” Don’t know if that is true or not, but the curse of the tasteless/over-salted frozen/tinned vegetables does seem to blight a lot of British establishments. Sounds disappointing. Hope the dogs enjoyed the steak!

        1. If made by a decent chef and then vac packed and sent to the restaurant to be warmed, grilled or sautéed

          i don’t see a problem for some dishes. If produced on an industrial scale i would agree with you.

      2. There is some truth to that but it isn’t the whole story. If they can’t get the little things right (like crisp lettuce) then there isn’t much hope for anything else. Also, salad should be seen as important as anything else on the menu.

        I don’t believe i have experienced a proper Niçoise or Caesar salad in the UK. Ever.

    4. We eat out as little as possible. The quality of it all is now so dissapointing. The youger generations have the restaurants they put up with. We do not have to put up with it. We can cook our own far better.

      2. I never eat out unless forced to. I cook healthier food and the mark-up on food is astronomical. I can eat well on less than £3 a day

      1. The chef has arranged his mise en place in such a way he could cook from an armchair in the kitchen. It was dire.

  37. On Match of the Day this morning it was reported that the Luton captain had experienced Atrial Fibrillation which was attributed to his collapse whilst playing.

    How could this have happened if he was earlier pronounced fit?

    The answer could be that his AF was paroxysmal and you can have it spasmodically so it won’t neceesarily always show up on an ecg. Even if AF is present during an ecg it is very difficult to diagnose becaue irregular ventricular function is being triggered by atrial sources rather the difficult to spot p-waves from the sino-atrial node. The inactive p-waves whilst in AF are very difficult to spot on an ecg and may well be buried in noise.

      1. When a cardiologist can’t find the p-wave in your ecg trace and diagnoses AF it’s called taking the p.

      1. I also understood that he had been treated for a heart rhythym abnormality but I don’t think the reason for treatment had been divulged.

        I’m a bit dubious about proper classification of heart rhythm abnormalities after my cardiologist told his students during a ward round that I had atypical arrythmia when he might well have said I had atrial fabrication!

    3. I had an atrial ablation in October 2014 and have not had an episode since. I the 10 months prior to that I had 12 episode the shortest lasting 2 hours and the longest 17 hours. Each episode went back into rhythm of its own accord. 3 times blue lighted to hospital. Had the ablation under local anaesthetic and day surgery.

  38. How Putin Turned a Western Boycott Into a Bonanza. 17 December 2023.

    Mr. Putin has turned the exits of major Western companies into a windfall for Russia’s loyal elite and the state itself. He has forced companies wishing to sell to do so at fire-sale prices. He has limited sales to buyers anointed by Moscow. Sometimes he has seized firms outright.

    A New York Times investigation traced how Mr. Putin has turned an expected misfortune into an enrichment scheme. Western companies that have announced departures have declared more than $103 billion in losses since the start of the war, according to a Times analysis of financial reports. Mr. Putin has squeezed companies for as much of that wealth as possible by dictating the terms of their departure.

    He has also subjected those exits to ever-increasing taxes, generating at least $1.25 billion in the past year for Russia’s war chest.

    Makes me feel good! I want him to win this war! I’m aware of how bizarre all this is but I actually like Vlad better than any western leader. I think that they are far more of a danger to the ordinary people of the West than he could ever be.

    https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/12/17/world/putin-companies-economy-boycott-elites-benefit-ukraine-war.html

    1. Didn’t I read a while back that the US and various others have confiscated Russian assets worth $Billions?

  40. Live cricket provides frequent opportunities for ad breaks, many of them short between overs or after a dismissal. Therefore it gives businesses the chance to bombard you with the same ad every five or so minutes. Apple has been doing so to the max in order to squeeze out one or two sales more of its latest model, the iPhone 15. No doubt it’s the must-have phone of the day, being marginally superior to the iPhone 14 which people bought just last year, but why plug it using a relentless hip-hop beat with obligatory DJ/rapper when that particular target purchaser will just as readily acquire it through street robbery or looting? I’m not in the market for a new phone but I can only deduce that Apple doesn’t want my business. Why else would it deliberately piss me off with this torment? It must be desperate to make a sale to those few people fortunate enough to see this advert just the once when skimming through tv channels.

  41. Flicked on the tv,oh good rugby now endured 45 minutes of blah blah blah and adverts

    and the match still hasn’t started

    I’m losing the will to live…………….

    Have a couple of laffs while I wait

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/61d3625150cb0ef2f906dc16d8c5dc35976b9c3032b8aed6ea345bd1f01a0cd4.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/747cbb4c3543ee11b61e5766f8c0df31ca34ee66999a41cc61e4337cc4366295.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d7ad0d43b8d47f1b8eb9ab5ad47e96e3a87230f2bb23d9036ea788d06b88b248.jpg

  42. While I have the opportunity, I would like to wish you all a lovely and ‘somewhat’ Merry Christmas and a very Happy New year.

    1. I hope you have a merry Christmas too Eddy, and all the best for the new year. Are you going to be off the internet?

      1. I find the above to be one of the funniest images I have seen all year! Humour is notoriously difficult to explain, but it’s their utter seriousness and lack of ability to see that they’re using someone who looks a bit crazy to advertise an experiment on whether the brain is affected.

    2. Do we really need to carry out such an investigation when we know it is stupid to pay a ULEZ charge in a clear air zone?

        1. I dread to think about the level of ozone pollution caused by all fhose electrically powered tube trains.

    2. I expect one of my cousins in QLD will be in touch. She’s been rubbing it in re the recent high Temps there.

  45. Letter showing Lord Nelson to be a racist supporter of slavery is forged, historian says

    Chairman of the Nelson Society says the note was the work of opponents to the abolition to boost their cause

    Nelson was accused in a Guardian article in 2017 of being a “white supremacist” who used his seat in the Lords to “perpetuate the tyranny, serial rape and exploitation organised by West Indian planters”, sparking calls in to pull down his column in Trafalgar Square.

    Soon afterwards, Martyn Downer, a leading Nelson expert, said a letter, on which many of the accusations depended, was a forgery.

    Now, Mr Brett says he has found a second letter was forged, adding that it shows how Caribbean plantation owners were misusing Nelson’s name to turn opinion against anti-abolitionists. He warns that all too many people have “fallen into the trap” created by opponents of the abolition of the slave trade in traducing Nelson.

    He said: “As recently as June this year the St Paul’s Cathedral website informed people of Nelson’s ‘personal commitment to the system of slavery’, without providing any proof. Many historians and public bodies have come to believe that Nelson was pro-slavery, but they have all relied on forgeries even though the content of the original letter was available all the time.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/12/16/letter-lord-nelson-racist-pro-slavery-forged

    When I first saw the headline I thought it was an elaborate modern hoax but no, it was forged 200 years ago. Nevertheless, the report suggests Nelson was rather non-committal on the subject, unlike The Guardian which I doubt will ever offer a retraction.

    2. Thomas Carlyle was against the abolitionist movement. He wasn’t actively pro-slavery. He merely thought that the money could have been better spent improving the lot of the British working class.

  46. Letter showing Lord Nelson to be a racist supporter of slavery is forged, historian says

    Chairman of the Nelson Society says the note was the work of opponents to the abolition to boost their cause

    Nelson was accused in a Guardian article in 2017 of being a “white supremacist” who used his seat in the Lords to “perpetuate the tyranny, serial rape and exploitation organised by West Indian planters”, sparking calls in to pull down his column in Trafalgar Square.

    Soon afterwards, Martyn Downer, a leading Nelson expert, said a letter, on which many of the accusations depended, was a forgery.

    Now, Mr Brett says he has found a second letter was forged, adding that it shows how Caribbean plantation owners were misusing Nelson’s name to turn opinion against anti-abolitionists. He warns that all too many people have “fallen into the trap” created by opponents of the abolition of the slave trade in traducing Nelson.

    He said: “As recently as June this year the St Paul’s Cathedral website informed people of Nelson’s ‘personal commitment to the system of slavery’, without providing any proof. Many historians and public bodies have come to believe that Nelson was pro-slavery, but they have all relied on forgeries even though the content of the original letter was available all the time.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/12/16/letter-lord-nelson-racist-pro-slavery-forged

    When I first saw the headline I thought it was an elaborate modern hoax but no, it was forged 200 years ago. Nevertheless, the report suggests Nelson was rather non-committal on the subject, unlike The Guardian which I doubt will ever offer a retraction.

  47. I am not medically qualified, and don’t know a lot about statins (though I note what various NOTTLers have said about their experiences), but if I were prescribed them, I would certainly want to investigate whether the effect described in this tweet is a possible problem or not. Alzheimers does seem to have increased during my lifetime, though there could be several different causes for that.
    https://twitter.com/VictoryDay_Hope/status/1736318878098083964

    1. If the NHS is giving out statins willynilly to the healthy to keep you safe, then one can be sure that it will do you irreparable harm

    3. Load of crap
      Alzheimer’s disease is thought to be caused by the abnormal build-up of proteins in and around brain cells.
      One of the proteins involved is called amyloid, deposits of which form plaques around brain cells.
      The other protein is called tau, deposits of which form tangles within brain cells.
      Although it’s not known exactly what causes this process to begin, scientists now know that it begins many years before symptoms appear.
      As brain cells become affected, there’s also a decrease in chemical messengers (called neurotransmitters) involved in sending messages, or signals, between brain cells.
      Levels of one neurotransmitter, acetylcholine, are particularly low in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease.
      Over time, different areas of the brain shrink. The first areas usually affected are responsible for memories.

      1. I think the person is trying to suggest a mechanism whereby the proteins might build up. It’s only a point to investigate.

        One reason why I pay through the nose for a care insurance is that in case I ever get Alzheimers, my children will have plenty of financial back-up to deal with it…

        1. Possibility, although during my conversations with the consultant psychiatrist who was dealing with my late wife, cholesterol was never mentioned.
          You’re very wise to take that insurance out as the cost of her care home residency was over £1000 a week until she had very little left then the council paid but they took her pension and gave her £20 a week for essentials. Through some financial jiggery pokery I managed to shield a lot of our savings

          1. I guess a lot more will be found out in the future. But the financial considerations of the medical industry do seem to play far too great a role, with people wanting to protect their own empires.

    4. You’ve probably realised that more and more ailments are being discovered just as the medical profession finds treatments to cure the original ones.

      Entopy theory is a fundamental law of the universe that effectively means that however hard you try to make things better, they will inevitably end up getting worse.

      https://jamesclear.com/entropy#:~:text=Here%27s%20the%20crucial%20thing%20about,will%20always%20become%20less%20structured.

      Statins are a good example because there are no end of ailments they can be prescribed for and all the side effects can be blamed on something else that doctors can try to find a treatment for. It’s called Regenerative Pharming. 🤔

      1. I’ve certainly noticed the regiment of side effects requiring ever more medication once one starts taking pharmaceutical interventions. But what can we do, when most of us have little medical knowledge? I will steer clear of doctors for as long as I can, and then make each decision as it comes. But one’s health can turn in an instant.

    5. You’ve probably realised that more and more ailments are being discovered just as the medical profession finds treatments to cure the original ones.

      Entopy theory is a fundamental law of the universe that effectively means that however hard you try to make things better, they will inevitably end up getting worse.

      https://jamesclear.com/entropy#:~:text=Here%27s%20the%20crucial%20thing%20about,will%20always%20become%20less%20structured.

      Statins are a good example because there are no end of ailments they can be prescribed for and all the side effects can be blamed on something else that doctors can try to find a treatment for. It’s called Regenerative Pharming. 🤔

    6. You’ve probably realised that more and more ailments are being discovered just as the medical profession finds treatments to cure the original ones.

      Entopy theory is a fundamental law of the universe that effectively means that however hard you try to make things better, they will inevitably end up getting worse.

      https://jamesclear.com/entropy#:~:text=Here%27s%20the%20crucial%20thing%20about,will%20always%20become%20less%20structured.

      Statins are a good example because there are no end of ailments they can be prescribed for and all the side effects can be blamed on something else that doctors can try to find a treatment for. It’s called Regenerative Pharming. 🤔

    7. Google Dr Stephanie Seneff. She has been studying statins for over ten years and she thinks statins are linked to dementia.

  48. Costco has got to be making a fortune, got there an hour early to get a parking space as the doors didn’t open until 11am.
    Then walked across the road for a Costa coffee to pass the time
    When I got back at 10.45 there was a queue about 200 yards long to get in
    When we left about 90 minutes later, cars were queuing for about a mile just to get in.

    1. Quelle horreur – the mono-testicular extreme left-wing monster appears in the third picture!

  50. A young relative is a senior nurse. She had been invited to go for a promotion board for a more senior position. During a preliminary interview, she was told that, as a woman, she “ticked the right boxes”.
    However, she was told, unofficially, that a a white person, she has no chance. She withdrew her application there and then.

  53. Ukrainian troops fighting on Dnipro river say official claims of success are misleading: ‘There are no positions. It’s a suicide mission’. 17 December 2023.

    In recent months, the banks of the Dnipro river have taken center stage in the war in Ukraine, with Ukrainian officials claiming that their forces have gained a foothold on the eastern bank.

    However, marines and soldiers on the ground told The New York Times that these claims are overstated and that Ukrainians are dying in huge numbers, often before they even reach the other side of the river.

    “There are no positions. There is no such thing as an observation post or position,” Ukrainian soldier Oleksiy said. “It is impossible to gain a foothold there. It’s impossible to move equipment there

    The lack of progress for these landings would suggest that this is an accurate portrayal of the situation.

    https://www.businessinsider.com/ukrainian-troops-fighting-dnipro-river-suicide-mission-nyt-2023-12?r=US&IR=T

    1. We already know the PTB has no problem with people dying in their thousands. Ukraine should come as no surprise.

  54. I’m told this happened during the Church nativity play this morning. Ten children participated. A seven year old dressed beautifully as the Angel was fussing just before the start because her halo wasn’t on properly…. In due course the narrator said: “And Lo there appeared an Angel…”
    To which the Angel replied: “I’m not here…..!”

    1. Post script: The congregation laughed out loud and the Angel burst into tears and had to be comforted by her mum….

    2. When my niece was about 5, she proudly announced that she was to be in “an activity play”.

    3. Rather like when I was doing the sound effects at our school play many years ago and was in charge of the reel to reel tape recorder. I was supposed to play a bit of a train coming into a station but got distracted. Until I heard ‘I am sure I hear the train coming in.’ repeated a couple of times. Somewhat delayed train eventually arrived as I tried to compose myself.

    4. Rather like when I was doing the sound effects at our school play many years ago and was in charge of the reel to reel tape recorder. I was supposed to play a bit of a train coming into a station but got distracted. Until I heard ‘I am sure I hear the train coming in.’ repeated a couple of times. Somewhat delayed train eventually arrived as I tried to compose myself.

  56. Had a bit of a panic this morning. I went in to feed our neighbours indoor cat, and there was no sign of him in the house! I’d seen him at 1.40am when we came back from babysitting at the farm, but he wasn’t there! I remember the inside door not shutting properly in the porch so was convinced he’d followed me out! Cue frantic searching gardens, under cars and trees in the lane, but he doesn’t miaow like our cats, so there was no reply! After an age my old man went in next door with a thermal imager, and found Archie in the wardrobe, with the door closed! How? I’ve no idea, but I owe OH a curry!

      1. Ah! Our business was industrial control and instrumentation, so we developed systems around temperature control and calibration! We just happen to have a couple in the house! Doesn’t everyone??

          2. You are beginning to scare me now. I was hiding in your garden but you’ve been able to see me all this time !

          6. It’s disguised as an escaped haggis. Why am i even telling you this ! I failed my stalking exams now. :@I(

    4. Big Cat has learned how to use a judiciously placed claw to open the locked catflap! The bugger.

      1. Harry surprises me with his intelligence. But then i have only Dolly as a benchmark. Talk about dumb blondes…or is she? He’s jumping up and down like Tigger and she reclines sedately as if she vants to be alone.

  57. DT BTL Comment:

    ”
    8 HRS AGO
    Rishi Sunak bumped into an Elephant. He is alarmed, and has warned us of a danger. He has told us the UK will be “overwhelmed” without urgent action being taken to tackle the problem. Haven’t we heard this before, haven’t we heard this for 5 years or more, and repeated Infinitum on these pages and in the MSM at large, and by Nigel Farage in particular?
    And what is this danger he speaks of? Well bless me he tells us Refugees are being used as a weapon to overwhelm the UK, and the route is via an invasion from rubber boats and the Conservative immigration policy of permitting 1.200.000 people to settle in the UK every years. He has just found this out, and he, our PM, must save us from this overwhelming problem.
    Welcome aboard Prime Minister. He has said many times he will do everything it takes to solve the problem that is at least 13 years old under Tory Rule and Tory Policy.
    Our population has increased by well over 12% in the last 20 odd years, and everything is at bursting point. How did he miss these facts and the reason behind them? This Insanity must finish soon, before the sheer weight of our huge population density sinks the UK below the waves, well ahead of another “crazy” …. Net Zero..
    I suggest you do something Prime Minister, instead of sacking Cabinet Ministers who understood the problem years before your enlightenment, and you stopped them from doing something to stop it with a P45.
    This is scary stuff. “

    2. Braverman must be grinding her teeth when she hears this sanctimonious, hypocritical drivel issuing from Rishi Sunak’s mouth.

      Someone on Twitt commented that he’s not identifying a problem to be fixed, he’s just telling us what the plan is.

    4. He really is a pathetic little man if he thinks even the dumbest Tory voter will think ‘you know what? I think this man is up to the job’…..He should take his £20 million helicopter up to the red wall and do a walkabout…without security. In fact…he could just get on a train to Birmingham and have a walk around Smethwick.

  58. HMS Firedrake (H 79).
    Destroyer (F-class).
    .
    Complement:
    196 officers and men (170 dead and 26 survivors).

    At 01.15 hours on 17th December 1942, HMS Firedrake (H 79) (Cdr E.H. Tilden, DSC, RN) was hit by one of two torpedoes from U-211 (Karl Hause) while escorting convoy ON-153 in the North Atlantic and broke in two. The bow sank immediately, but the stern remained afloat for some hours, finally sinking in the heavy weather. The commander, five officers and 163 ratings were lost. 27 survivors were picked up after about 5 hours by HMS Sunflower (K 41) (LtCdr J.T. Jones, RNR), but one rating later died of wounds.

    Type VIIC U-Boat U-211 was sunk on 19th November 1943 in the North Atlantic east of the Azores by depth charges from a British Wellington aircraft (179 Sqn RAF/F). 54 dead (all hands lost).

    https://uboat.net/media/allies/warships/br/dd_hms_firedrake_h79.jpg

    2. He/She quoted “That’s what narcissism is all about; looking in the mirror everyday and thinking ‘Damn, I’d like to shag myself.'”

      He is rather peculiar , neither this nor that.

  60. Another view on politics….

    Joan
    @joan_poh
    We asked our Chinese tour guide why she supported her country’s political system.
    Her answer: She much prefer a vigorous vetting system where she’ll know years beforehand the potential leaders rather than be unpleasantly surprised by the results of an election.
    Wise gal 😂👍👍

    Seems to me that we get the worst of both worlds in Britain!

  62. Some of the best entries from this year’s Bird Photographer of the Year contest, in aid of the RSPB

    [Lottie reincarnated?]

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2023/12/17/TELEMMGLPICT000360286394_17028190441890_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqZgEkZX3M936N5BQK4Va8RWtT0gK_6EfZT336f62EI5U.jpeg?imwidth=640&imdensity=2

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2023/12/17/TELEMMGLPICT000360286391_17028191399720_trans_NvBQzQNjv4Bqsy3ljDmKPYvHwR7gjpbrZP4_aXyw36dqAbAG_AJy1hw.jpeg?imwidth=640&imdensity=2

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2023/12/17/TELEMMGLPICT000360286385_17028190954830_trans_NvBQzQNjv4Bq5qBWLdHT6eaZhs6a1tymZGFLEoak0lat2Xjjm0AJ_k0.jpeg?imwidth=640&imdensity=2

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2023/12/17/TELEMMGLPICT000360286399_17028191661840_trans_NvBQzQNjv4Bqi7fXqjy78frWG33CIVt5_oB5sAzc2z7iaJwb-92korA.jpeg?imwidth=640&imdensity=2

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/12/17/bird-photographer-of-the-year-contest-rspb/

    1. Par again here.

      Wordle 911 4/6

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

    3. Five here

      Wordle 911 5/6

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

      1. Me too.

        Wordle 911 5/6

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

  64. Just back from the direst Carol Service I have ever attended. Sixty people in church – great to see such a turn out.

    We don’t have a regular organist – but the chap who plays at Fakenham had been promised. He didn’t turn up.

    So we had a CD of “A Village choir” singing – but played TOO EFFING QUIETLY. So no one sang – well, a handful did – but equally quietly. And the CD singing was FAR TOO slow. Then – to make one feel completely dispirited, “readings” from the, (yes, you’ve guessed it|) Janet and John “Bible”…….

    Even the MR who always sees the best in things was cheesed off and didn’t stay for the tepid mulled wine and cheap and nasty mince pies….
    A small glass of brandy is at my elbow as I type….

    2. Just in from an excellent carol service.
      Lots of well known hymns and the congregation singing lustily.

          1. Les Anges dans nos campagnes … Mon beau sapin … Noel Nouvelet … Il est ne’ le Divin Enfant …

    3. With sixty people, all they needed were two or three confident, loud singers to get everyone singing along, I’d have thought. I agree, I hate it when they bring in a CD.

      1. We just had a singalong at our condo party. No real musicians so we had to stick to the old favorites that we all knew.

      3. Oh Gawd. When the youngest grandchildren attended a nearby village primary school, the dreaded Christingle was inflicted on us.
        Thank God (!) for the RHS with its magnificent organ – plus chapel and choir, she hastily adds.

          2. That’s it. An orange (representing the world) with a red band (the blood of Christ) round it and stuck with four sticks having fruit and sweets (the good things of the earth) impaled on them. Topped off with a candle (only in these days of H&S it was a glow stick) in the top to represent Christ the Light of the World.

    6. I feel your pain, Bill. Recorded accompaniments are the spawn of the Devil. At least we managed four services this weekend with an organist of some sorts. Our Ministry Team is down to two – an 89 year old Reader who has just been in hospital with heart issues, and is recovering at home. And a Rector who was clearly ill last weekend, was said to be suffering from bronchitis midweek, but tested positive for you-know-what yesterday. So the last three services have been lay-led at short notice. I fear i’ve seen the future, and it ain’t pretty…

      Still – at least we didn’t have to bless any perverts…

  65. It looks like Canada has joined the club. The RCMP managed to stop a terrorist attack on a Jewish neighbourhood in Ottawa yesterday.

    Needless to say sweet nothing from Hamas loving Trudeau about this and it is being moved off the front page of news sites very quickly.

      1. The liberals have over a year to con voters into backing them, attack ads are already making unfounded accusations against the conservative leader and we expect the volume to increase.

      1. For all of the good they do, they may as well be on the chorus line.

        Over sixty churches have been burned down in the past year and supposedly the mounties have no leads on any of the attacks.

        1. Things appear to have moved on (as in backwards) since the days of “Susannah of the Mounties”.

        3. As Christian churches are being burned to the ground everywhere one could just possibly point the finger at a particular group. But then if that same group can get away with burning down Notre Dame de Paris then they can do what they like. Nothing from our Archbishop. Nothing from our King.

  66. Just heard from our elder daughter that her 92 year old Granny-in-law has spent 28 hours in A&E in Wishaw, and what they thought was a stroke, may be a urine or chest infection. It seems to suggest no one has really looked at her very carefully.
    What a bluddy shambles!

    1. My brother-in-law was left in a corridor in A&E last week for 48 hours before being given a bed on a ward.

  67. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8d6aa2e4441f5de7880918470c3c3b12ee6817a1dff9a3974bd901cfd63ad946.png
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/12/17/church-of-england-same-sex-marriage-blessings-felixstowe/

    There were only four BTL comments before the BTL comments were stopped. However for the time being the BTL counts are still rising on the BTL comments that remain

    James Neal 1 HR AGO
    The end of the church is near. It caters for the very tiny minority and neglects the majority.

    Up votes114

    Phil Norton 1 HR AGO
    I’m certain that Christ preached against the practice of all sexual perversion, not blessed it.

    Up votes 77

    Richard Bong 1 HR AGO
    The church jumping on the woke wagon!

    Up votes 78

    Heuchter MacTeuchter 1 HR AGO
    For those many Anglicans skeptical that this is a positive development, the location of Ordinariate parishes globally can be found on the web site of the Anglicanorum Coetibus Society.

    Up votes 38

    There is another article in today’s DT about the C of E. (Again BTL comments are now closed:

    Woke Christianity will kill the Church of England stone dead
    Drag queens are not the answer. The churches still thriving are those that refuse to pander to the Left
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/12/16/woke-christianity-will-kill-church-of-england-stone-dead/?li_source=LI&li_medium=liftigniter-onward-journey

    What do you expect when a muddle-headed old goat, Rowan Williams, was succeeded by Atheist Cameron’s choice of another Atheist, Justin Welby, as Archpillock of Canterbury?

    Top BTL (David Morgan)

    The Church of England and the Conservative Party are both going down the same path.
    Abandon your core beliefs and principles and attempt to reinvent your message and you lose the faithful…
    Weak deluded leadership in both .

    up votes 136

      1. Thanks for pointing it out. I got the Christian name and the initial letter of the current anti-Christ’s name correct!

        As usual Typo Tastey spotted the mistake after posting the comment. It has been corrected!

      1. Talking of which did any Nottlers read Simon Raven’s sequence of novels collectively entitled ‘Alms For Oblivion’. Similar in scope to Anthony Powell’s Dance To The Music Of Time?

    4. It was standing room only in Barts this evening. Never seen it so full. They just kept coming. All ages too. Cranmer and the scholars of the King James Version cannot be bettered. All the familiar hymns were there but the music director does love living composers for the choir. John Rutter is the only one I like.

      On the subject of sex and what Jesus taught, I think he did condemn fornication but there’s disagreement as to what constitutes fornication. Some would say that a genuinely monogamous same sex marriage is not fornication.

      1. Whether or not it’s fornication, it’s perverted. Onan was condemned because he spilled his seed. Homosexual relationships surely suffer from the same condemnation.

  68. Evening, all. Got a night in for a change. I see idiots are still writing in to show how ill-informed they are.

  69. Just been reading Baroness Mone’s Wiki biography (yes, I know), but there are details that would be litigation material if they were untrue.
    She and her husband appear to be Flash Harry, Arthur Daly and Daddy Warbucks combined.

  70. We will not forget the names and faces of these criminals, and useful idiots (& all the others not shown here), who shouted for a genocide of the “unvaccinated”

    https://www.theburningplatform.com/2023/12/17/we-will-not-forget-the-names-and-faces-of-these-criminals-and-useful-idiots-all-the-others-not-shown-here-who-shouted-for-a-genocide-of-the-unvaccinated/#more-323778

    Although it necessarily leaves out many perps (Justin Trudeau & his “health” officials, George Clooney & Noam Chomsky, among others), this video recalls the vicious zeal of that whole deadly chorus

    Thanks to Dr. Mark Trozzi, who recently sent out this video by Matt Orfalea.

    People We Should Never Trust!!!!!…

    3. Thanks, Conners. Much appreciated. we had two ‘carol services’ today. Nothing like pre-Covid. Both choirs in the parish are more or less moribund. But we have a few occasional singers whose volume controls are set permanently to 11. Entire (aka both) Ministry Team is sick, so all this weekend’s services were lay-led. Was OK in the circumstances, but I fear I’ve seen the future…

      Meanwhile, there are nearby evangelical happy-clappy parishes in Guildford Diocese who have umpteen clergy. Will they help out? Not on your life.

  72. That’s me gone for what was a quite agreeable day (until the Carol Debacle). Rain tomorrow (as I have booked a chap to come and gather all the leaves…..

    For anyone who cares for art, intelligent comment by people who are experts and is pleasantly surprised to see a 1½ hour film without bames, blacks or endless drivel about slavery – I commend that Sky Arts re-showing of the Dutch Rembrandt film.

    Have a jolly evening.

    A demain.

  73. No further information following investigations into Tom Lockyer’s cardiac arrest on the football pitch. A cardiologist said on BBC News tonight that this shouldn’t have happened.

    MOH reckons that the cardiac pacemaker he may have had fiited affter his first heart procedure may have failed. Pacemakers can be remotely ptogrammed using the same radio frequency as baby alarms.

  74. No further information following investigations into Tom Lockyer’s cardiac arrest on the football pitch. A cardiologist said on BBC News tonight that this shouldn’t have happened.

    MOH reckons that the cardiac pacemaker he may have had fiited affter his first heart procedure may have failed. Pacemakers can be remotely ptogrammed using the same radio frequency as baby alarms.

      1. It will suit Hamas in the propaganda wars, when drowned hostages appear.

        An utter bastard would state to Hamas’s leadership that Israel will kill every single adult male Hamas fighter who doesn’t surrender by the end of the year. And that for every single dead hostage, Mossad will hunt the leadership to the ends of the Earth and kill them too pro rata.

        1. My guess is that unofficially the Israelis have written off the remaining hostages. Any they do manage to rescue will be a bonus. They are looking at the bigger picture – destroy Hamas and ensure they can no longer murder Israelis.

          1. If I was an Israeli commander, I might be inclined to store all Hamas prisoners in those tunnels.

          2. So that’s why they were stripped down to their underpants – so their clothes don’t get wet!

  77. Just had to switch tariffs (was on a fixed tariff which comes to an end on 31/12/23) with my energy supplier. If I did nothing, I’d switch to the Standard which is horrendously expensive. Surprise, surprise, no more fixed tariffs available and the “cheapest” is about £300 per annum dearer than what I was on. They go on about how “green” their energy is. I don’t want green, I want CHEAP and RELIABLE. I’ve opted for the least worst. It’s no use trying to switch suppliers because I’ve tried that before and there’s nothing cheaper in my region. Bloody govt, bloody net zero, bloody renewable rubbish!

      1. In the T&Cs it stated that the smart meter would enable them to reduce your power or cut off your supply! No wonder I don’t want a smart meter.

      1. Octopus has taken over my broadband (from Shell Energy). I’m not impressed. Anyway, I’ve signed up now and I’m not about to start faffing around with the 14 day cooling off period, only to find that Octopus is no better.

        2. My own bank, Santander, likes to tell me that they support Ukraine. But overall, I am happy with my account with them. When I go to watch a film I often don’t like the politics of the actors and actresses, but will judge the film on their talents rather than their political views.

          1. I understand what you are saying. I don’t object to Gary Linecar saying what he wants, but do object to the ridiculous amount he is paid.

      3. I was with Octopus at the last place, tried to transfer them here, with some difficulty, since EDF assumed that my deceased former occupant was still using their energy. EDF blocked the transfer until I settled their account for non-existent energy. I would rather stick needles in my eyes than ever use EDF again.

    3. Our current tariff since the summer is more than twice the price of the one last winter with Scottish Power – no fixed tarifs available and nothing cheaper elsewhere either. It’s suck it up or go without.

  78. For the build up after D-Day the Allies had a problem, no large harbour to offload all the hundreds of thousands of men, tens of thousands of tanks and other vehicles, and hundreds of thousands of tons of ammunition, food, and other stores necessary to prosecute a successful land campaign.
    Their solution? Take a couple with them. A truly staggering engineering feat.

    An aerial view of the Mulberry harbour at Arromanches, which clearly shows the effectiveness of the breakwater – outside the sea is rough, whilst inside ships are at anchor in calm water.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3d38d545cedae1982f226765b7370491510a88bce55d67d2de25be0ea0e9de08.jpg

    1. A British invention – must have been suggested by a black man (or woman – or transgender or non-binary).

      1. Yet another one exploited by British Imperialism.
        We must find his decedents and give them lots of money.

      2. As a second generation Laing employee, I used to have my Dad’s book detailing Mulberry Harbour in great detail. This was some accomplishment. Not to be repeated in the present day, sadly…

        I also had his copy of ‘Life and Belief’ by Sir John Laing. Written from a Plymouth Brethren perspective, it was nevertheless worth reading.

    4. Not that any of his bravery washed off on me but my Grandfather has a statue on the caisson at Portland. He and his crew went in front of the landings.

  80. Well, chums, I’m off to bed shortly. So I will wish you all a very good night’s sleep – see you all tomorrow (hopefully).

  81. We’ve just finished our dinner – lamb, roasties, roasted peppers & courgettes, Broccoli & cauli. and a bottle of Merlot. With Bach’s Mass in B minor.

    Hadn’t heard that for a long time – in fact I’d forgotten it was there on the shelf. A mighty work, which was totally unappreciated in his day. What a genius he was and how neglected for nearly a hundred years after he’d gone.

    This time last year my OH was in hospital, in intensive care, recovering from his triple by-pass op. It was by no means certain he’d be with us now, a year on.

    We raised a glass to our lovely friend Pam, who died yesterday.

    1. Just perfect , J.

      Your thoughts and tender emotions tell us all what a difficult early few months you both coped with .

      So sorry to hear about your friend .

      We were due to meet a good friend on Tuesday for the veterans lunch … sadly on Monday night he was blued and twoed … and that was it .

      There are so many deaths that the difficulties off arranging a funeral for anyone are most likely to be delayed until the end of January .

      1. Yes – and my schoolfriend Mary, whose brother died suddenly on December 7th, said today that the coroner will have to decide when they can release his body, so they don’t know when the funeral can be held.

      2. Life is fragile, and at our age, we have to be thankful for each day, as so many people don’t make it to their seventies and eighties.

        Was that your friend Ray? Is he still ok?

          1. Oh… sorry to hear that. And he’d been looking forward to the lunch. He’d had a full and active life.

  82. Have survived mum’s 80th, which was great fun (mostly). When i have strength, I’ll entertain you with stories of my psychopathic bitch of a sister-in-law and her equally awful daughter (my niece/god-daughter for my sins).

    1. Sounds like fun!
      We haven’t seen or spoken to my sister in law since her son’s wedding in 2008, which she graciously allowed us to attend. She decided about the time their father was dying (in 2000) that she wanted nothing more to do with us. She’s my husband’s only sister. Her son and daughter are fine and we’re in touch with them.

        1. The joys, eh? We haven’t seen or heard from OH’s sister since his mothers funeral in 2003! No great loss but her husband was fun!

        1. Controlled breathing. Then lift your right arm. Form a fist. Pull back. Take a stance. Then whack the …………………………………. person that is annoying you. Not me obviously…

    3. I insist you tell me now and we can compare! I have some good ones too…We could get some TV producer to …..oh they’ve done that and got them out of there…………

      1. Being betrayed by my family was the very best thing that ever happened to me. It encouraged me to find a lovely wife and start a completely new life at the age of 41!

    4. My new wife of 1 month , been together 43 years of course, has 2 evil sisters and 2 equally evil nieces. A large, jointly owned property in St Ives seems to be the problem.

      1. 43 years of living in sin! Was she a dishonest woman before you made an honest woman of her?

    1. Well I hope you all see more than I do, all I’ve been presented with is three revolving wheels. If you want to access it you need to put into your browser ‘youtube Nigel Hess Silent Nights Ding Dong Merrily on High.’ It is a completely different instrumental version, calm and tranquil.

        1. It has appeared on my screen now – it took ages. I didn’t recognise the tune at first, when I heard it on classic fm in the background, these beautiful sounds issuing forth. I have just bought today what I think must be the last copy of the CD available in the UK – I found ‘one copy remaining’ on ebay. At least I hope it is that CD which arrives, you never know with ebay and there was no copy of the CD sleeve to see on view. Fingers crossed.

    2. Yes, but it seems that someone (Palestinian?) has set fire to the Israeli flag (I doubt if the Israelis would torch their own flags) so the chap who ended up with his pants on fire was more of a victim than someone who deserved his fate, poppiesmum.

      1. I think he did deserve his fate. (Edit – unless you are inferring that muslims are perpetual victims, poor chap.)

    1. Ed Davey is the only name that struggles to pop up in my mind! He of the infamous Climate Change Act.

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