Sunday 18 August: Starmerism is taking shape – and will make the Tories’ terrible legacy even worse

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

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

729 thoughts on “Sunday 18 August: Starmerism is taking shape – and will make the Tories’ terrible legacy even worse

  1. Extreme misogyny to be treated as terrorism. 18 August 2024

    Extreme misogyny will be treated as terrorism for the first time under Government plans to combat the radicalisation of young men online.

    Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, has ordered a review of Britain’s counter-extremism strategy to urgently address gaps in the Government’s stance, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal.

    It will look at tackling violence against women and girls in the same way as Islamist and far-Right extremism, amid fears that current Home Office guidance is too narrow.

    TOP COMMENT BELOW THE LINE.

    David Allen.

    Let's start with honour killings, female genital mutilation, child sexual exploitation in northern towns, and forced marriages.

    Not much chance of that Mr Allen. This policy is just another expression of the Socialist megalomania that motivates the current government where people’s thoughts and emotions need to be corrected by the State. It’s not going to work of course but it will cause a lot of misery in the process of finding out.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/17/extreme-misogyny-treated-as-terrorism-government/

    1. The problem we have is that so many people enjoy being told what to do as thery are just so lazy to think for themselves.

    2. Being divorced is seen by British women's groups as a form of misogyny. Men deserve to be punished for their inadequacy. This was thirty years ago when the worst a man failing to live up to expectation could expect is to be excluded from his family, deprived of his home and half his pension, hounded by the Child Support Agency and to be vilified by society as a potential abuser. Prison was not on the cards then.

      I see this is now to be corrected under the "Change UK" doctrine.

    3. It'll just be used as another way to attack white men. What do you bet that one or other of the CIA asset Tate brothers will be accused of terrorism just to let those white working class men know that their masculinity is toxic and they'd better slink back into their boxes?

  2. Good letter on the October the 7th War:-

    Israel’s suffering
    SIR – Sophia Yan (“My bird’s eye view of Gaza”, report, August 2), says Israel has “trapped” the Gazan people and “blocked” aid to them. She neglects to mention that Gaza has a border with Egypt, via which aid and people could move if Egypt so wished.

    Moreover, almost everything reported about the economic and social problems in Gaza could be written about Israelis. Some 250,000 Israelis have been displaced by rocket fire from Hezbollah in the north, and Hamas in the south. They are unable to sow or reap crops, have seen their homes destroyed or abandoned, and are now refugees in their own country.

    Hamas started a war that it knew it could not win. Friends of the Palestinians should be calling for Hamas to agree a ceasefire and release the hostages, in order to save their own citizens. For as long as Hamas is able to put its people in the firing line while staying safe underground, refusing to release its hostages, the war it started has, tragically, to go on.

    Adrian Korsner
    London N20

    BTL Comments:-

    Anastasias Revenge
    6 hrs ago
    Adrian Korsner – Well said. Almost the first door to slam shut was the Rafah Border Crossing.

    Perigo Minas
    6 hrs ago
    For as long as Hamas is able to put its people in the firing line …
    Adrian Korsner

    …………………
    Hamas hasn't got a "people", Hamas is Hamas.

    1. "Moreover, almost everything reported about the economic and social problems in Gaza could be written about Israelis."

      'Almost' is a funny old word – a bit like "up to" in advertisements. I suppose 40,000 dead, many of them women and children non-combatants, at the hands of the enemy, and most of the buildings and civil infrastructure reduced to rubble comes as that bit not counted by "almost".

      Would releasing the hostages actually produce peace, or would it simply allow the enemy to finish the job of clearing lucrative real estate of subhumans ready for settlement by the favoured, without stirring up opposition back home because of the risk of collateral damage to hostages?

  3. Good morning, chums,, and thanks for today's NoTTLe site, Geoff.

    Wordle 1,156 6/6

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  4. Oh dear. This does not go down too well:-

    Picking MP candidates
    SIR – Mel Stride’s idea that local Conservative associations should choose their own prospective parliamentary candidate (report, August 11) is a recipe for disaster. Activists are highly likely to restrict their search to candidates who live locally.
    A potential Cabinet minister who happened to live in a part of the country with little Conservative support would thus find it virtually impossible to be selected to fight a winnable seat.

    The quality of MPs has deteriorated greatly over the last 50 years. This move would only make matters worse.

    Christopher Bowring
    Wokingham, Berkshire

    BTL Comments:-

    R. Spowart 2 min ago
    Christopher Bowring ends his letter:-
    "The quality of MPs has deteriorated greatly over the last 50 years. This move would only make matters worse."
    Ironically, this has, more or less, coincided with Conservative Central Office taking away Candidate Selection from the local party associations.

    Anastasias Revenge
    6 hrs ago
    Christopher Bowring – "A potential Cabinet minister who happened to live in a part of the country with little Conservative support would thus find it virtually impossible to be selected to fight a winnable seat."
    Awww… so the charade which happens now is preferable? You know, the inner circle nepotism parachuting favoured ones into "safe" seats so that they can get their turn at playing politics whilst building up their contacts book with more than half an eye on a lucrative cushy directorship somewhere. A bit like Lord Greensill.

    Perigo Minas
    6 hrs ago
    The quality of MPs has deteriorated greatly over the last 50 years …
    Christopher Bowring
    ………………………..
    The quality of people in general possibly has.

    1. "A potential Cabinet minister who happened to live in a part of the country with little Conservative support would thus find it virtually impossible to be selected to fight a winnable seat."

      Poppycock. If this person is any good, he or she is capable of identifying the nearest winnable seat with an election pending and work on the local constituency association. A move to the constituency could be the sweetener. It did not stop a Margaret Thatcher from appealing to the Finchley association from her roots in Lincolnshire, and in fair competition with a local.

    1. How many immigrants did she eventually house in her second home?
      Answer none, more nonsense from her.

    2. She’ll be going after the men in frocks then, since they’re the worst misogynists? No, of course not. Criticism of the men in frocks will be deemed misogyny. Wanna bet?

  5. Well done Mr. Yardley's Daughter!

    One-up weddings
    SIR – Weddings are becoming something of an arms race. One of my daughter’s friends married abroad, taking along the entire congregation; another had the wedding ring flown by an owl from the back of the church to the best man standing at the front; and a third had a tattoo artist for the use of the guests at the reception.

    When my daughter announced her engagement, I was a bit nervous as to her expectations. She’s decided on a service at the local church and a wedding breakfast in the village hall. I’m happy and relieved.

    Jonathan Yardley
    Wolverhampton

      1. Perhaps the brasher the wedding the shorter the marriage?

        I know of several that I would have regarded as fairly big that have lasted 50+.

        1. her late majesty and Prince Philip for example…
          But I believe that there was some research that found a negative correlation between amount spent and length of time the marriage lasted.

        1. Our wedding was very similar. Only four of us – D and me, and two witnesses, in the rather splendid Cardiff registry office, then a walk through the adjoining park, coffee in the "Secret Garden" there and lunch at a lovely little restaurant.

          (We ended the afternoon/evening in a local pub just down the road from where we were staying, and unbeknownst to us around 20 friends had gathered so we ended up having a party too). Good thing it was so close to where we were staying as D was very heavy leaning against me for the short walk back!

        2. Caroline and I married at the Roman Catholic Church in Lyme Regis in 1988. The reception was held at Allhallows School – where we were both teaches – followed by an informal dance where our friends played the music. The following morning we rose early to drive to Heathrow whence we flew to Athens because we had chartered a boat in which to sail around Greek Islands such as Poros, Hydra and Spetses for our honeymoon.

          We enjoyed this so much that fifteen years later we bought Mianda and spent several years sailing around the Med with our two young sons whom we taught ourselves. We ran our office from the boat and returned to France from time to time to run our French courses as we had to earn our living.

          https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8ac223741ee8186adb826f9c35650ad6440f724851af889690c59c7449b05a8d.png

        3. Caroline and I married at the Roman Catholic Church in Lyme Regis in 1988. The reception was held at Allhallows School – where we were both teaches – followed by an informal dance where our friends played the music. The following morning we rose early to drive to Heathrow whence we flew to Athens because we had chartered a boat in which to sail around Greek Islands such as Poros, Hydra and Spetses for our honeymoon.

          We enjoyed this so much that fifteen years later we bought Mianda and spent several years sailing around the Med with our two young sons whom we taught ourselves. We ran our office from the boat and returned to France from time to time to run our French courses as we had to earn our living.

          https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8ac223741ee8186adb826f9c35650ad6440f724851af889690c59c7449b05a8d.png

        4. I've been married 4 times to two different Women. I in Peckham, One in S Wales, One in Stockholm and One in Gibraltar. One Irish, the other Swedish.

      2. Indeed. They invest so much in the one day they forget about the lifetime of living together.

  6. BTL Comment:-

    Joanne Prescott
    just now
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13753867/Labour-MP-took-4-000-donation-Britains-biggest-train-drivers-union-months-department-offered-workers-pay-rise.html
    How Labour works.
    1. Your mother is appointed Starmer's Chief of staff after holding a very senior position in the Civil Service.
    2. As her son you are parachuted in as "nepo baby" candidate in a Labour safe seat.
    3. You receive a 4,000 pound donation from ASLEF.
    3. You are elected and immediately appointed as a PPS in the Transport Department despite having no experience whatsoever.
    4. Train drivers receive a huge pay increase.
    4. WOW!
    It's a funny old world isn't it?

    1. Wow!! Just Wow! And because there is no effective parliamentary political opposition, it will be allowed to pass without commentary or embarrassment.

      1. And who in the Conservative Party has the testicular strength to raise the matter and make a stink?

        Labour is a cesspit of stinking, decomposing rotten effluent – but by any other name the Conservative Party would smell as foul.

    2. This should lead to a MSM investigation of Sue Gray and her odious son.

      Both should be removed form public office of any sort and extradited to Ireland.

    3. I can’t believe though that Beckenham and Penge was a safe Labour seat. Things must have changed a lot since I lived there (at a time when Philip Goodhart was the MP). But I suppose things have changed everywhere 🙄

  7. Eventually . . .
    Wordle 1,156 5/6

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  8. 391872+ up ticks,

    Then asked the political governing fraternity WHY, tis the route we have taken for decades, and the road to RESET & NWO rightful domination

    Dt,
    Crime writer Ann Cleeves: We can’t write off working-class people as white trash

    1. That would never have happened in my day. Not only were the police dogs properly trained to not attack a uniform; the dog-handlers were smart (by that I mean, in the correct sense, neat and tidy), intelligent, fit, and wore a proper police uniform. They did not carry a massive excess of weight, look utterly stupid and clueless (like the cretin in the video), nor would they been seen dead wearing an idiotic yellow baseball cap!

      In my day you respected the dog-handler as much as his dog. I know that even I, as a colleague, would never cross them.

      1. I have better control over Dolly and Harry and they have not been trained in anything.

        There was a video a while ago of K9's being viciously abused by their police handlers. We know that sort of treatment makes dogs aggressive. That isn't training.

    1. This video should be pasted on the wall of the Elizabeth Clock Tower of the Houses of Parliament. After all they allowed From the River To The Sea to be projected upon it.

      Those who deny the existence of two tier policing should be compelled to watch this.

    1. Train drivers’ pay has grown twice as much as wages for teachers, doctors and soldiers

      Drivers were offered a 14pc pay increase over three years, far outpacing offers for nurses, teachers and Army privates

      Ben Butcher, DATA EDITOR and Dominic Penna, POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT
      17 August 2024 • 8:34pm

      Train drivers’ pay will have increased by twice as much as that of teachers, doctors and soldiers over the past decade if their pay deal is accepted, analysis shows.

      Drivers were offered a 14 per cent pay rise over three years on Wednesday night.

      Despite this, members of the train drivers union announced on Friday that they would strike every weekend for the next three months owing to “a breakdown of industrial relations”.

      Aslef, the train drivers’ union, has urged its 19,000 train driver members to vote for the 14 per cent offer.

      If accepted, average pay for train drivers will have increased by £24,544 since 2011. This would see average drivers’ salaries increase to £67,034 this year, analysis of Office for National Statistics annual earnings data shows.

      The £24,544 pay rise since 2011 far outpaces the £8,793 increase for new nurses, £10,062 for new teachers and £8,186 for Army privates.

      It also outflanks the pay deals secured by police sergeants, who have seen a £13,641 increase since 2011.
      *
      *
      *
      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/17/train-drivers-pay-deal-unions-teachers-doctors/

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

      Michelle Page
      10 HRS AGO
      Makes no sense; how are relatively unskilled people able to hold the government to ransom? Train drivers would be the easiest to replace; doesn't take that long to train them and their European counterparts earn half of what drivers are trousering here. Just say no, there's no way in hell they could earn a comparable salary anywhere else so they aren't going to quit. [Driverless trains are a political impossibility in today's antiquated UK]

      1. Yo Citroen

        Army privates

        Worrabout the Senior( RN) and Junior (RAF) Servicemenpeople?

      2. Good Morning all. In my lowly opinion, nobody in public work should earn more than the prime minister (not that the present one is worth much). Snivel servants, quango people, council leaders, university vice chancellors and their ilk are the ones i mean.

        1. There was a Labour MP about 40 years ago who refused to take more in pay than the average wages of those in his constituency.

          I wonder if there are any MPs today who would do the same?

          1. Those days when the average MP were straight, had principles and believed in their country, even labourites. Seems so long ago, it was a long time ago!

      3. I know someone tried to apply to become a train driver…apparently the waiting list is humongous, no wonder when annual is ~£63k

        1. Surprise!!! I've heard that new recruits are mostly drawn from the families of Rail Union officials.

          1. Ah not heard that but…quelle surprise! Remember the days of Red Robbo….but who will be the next Thatcher?

          2. Agree, can’t even think of one let alone what my dad would call tuthree (two or three), Tom ….suggestions welcome, Kate.

    2. And in the recent DT list of the best authors for children where was The Rev. Wilbert Awdry?

      Who can name the engines?

      (Blue – Thomas; Red – James, Green – Henry)

      1. Also (not in the picture): Edward (blue); Gordon (blue); Percy (green); Toby the tram engine (brown); Donald and Douglas (black). In later books there were also Skarloey and Sir Handel from the mountain railway; Mavis (? A diesel) and Bill and Ben.

        Unfortunately, I believe that the books have now been horribly subverted with new editions featuring Chinese engines and, of course, many female engines. I will not be buying them for my grandchildren.

  9. Ms Begum was born and brought up in the UK. We should not leave her in Syria to be looked after by some UN agency. Whether it is detachable bottle-tops or potential terrorists, we should deal with our own rubbish.

    Following that ethos, it should be lawful for UK to return all illegal immigrants to their country of birth, without interference from Alphabet Soup Agencies

      1. The BTP have no shame, I doubt if they will be embarrassed by anything. They just shrug it off.

    1. How would we find out their country of birth though OLT, when they've chucked all their documentation overboard? One idea is to simply turn them all around back to France.

    2. Being born and brought up in the UK of immigrant parents should not be synonymous with being unable to have your British citizenship revoked. Several countries do NOT allow someone citizenship simply because they are born and brought up there – it is something that is given by the British State, and it should be something that can as easily be taken back if abused. IMO Begum is not "our own", as her father's scuttling back to Pakistan has shown.

      Too many of the incomers can have their cake and eat it by being able to have close contact with, and own property in, their country of origin. This article in the Critic shows how the "biradiri" of the Kashmiri Pakistanis, enable a heads-we-win-tails-you-lose system of playing the benefits of belonging to two countries at the same time.

      https://thecritic.co.uk/carelessness-in-the-community/

        1. Yes, apparently the Pakistanis were baulking at admitting it, but that is a bit of a MRD situation.

          While not keep two strings to your bow if the British state is stupid enough to give you citizenship?

          Edit: apparently it was a Bangladshi citizenship through her mother according to some sources, and Pakistani through her father according to others.

      1. I am trying to reply to a comment that seems to have disappeared – this is just test.

    3. It is a lie that the Supreme Court in the UK is isupreme.

      The ECHR will prove to be supreme and this will be verified when Ms Begum has her full citizenship returned.

      1. The ECHR will be treated by the government as being supreme is a little different to it being "proved" to be supreme – the latter begs the question of what is "proof".

        1. I take your point – but if the ECHR overturns the Supreme Court's judgement and the government allows the ECHR's judgement to prevail then for practical purposes the ECHR is the more supreme court!

          1. Reality is what the government says it is…

            Of course, the fact that giving a foreign court higher jurisdiction over this country than our own highest authority is against our constitution which has been breached for decades, has been ignored by the PTB since before we joined the EEC.

            We could always do what the French do, and simply ignore any rulings that we decide to ignore, but our politicians, the civil service, and judiciary don't want to do that.

        2. Ah I can help you there, or rather ex PM Chretien can. When asked about the proof that Saddam Hussain was up to no good, re replied:

          A proof is a proof. What kind of a proof? It's a proof. A proof is a proof, and when you have a good proof, it's because it's proven
          .

    4. Just because Britain decides to confer citizenship upon all and sundry and decides to deal with any miscreants does not in any way guarantee that other countries will "follow that ethos" and accept them back. So it is like unilateral disarmament – a dodo-esque behaviour which iwll result in the same fate as that which befell the dodos.

  10. Good morningall,

    Cloudy at Castle McPhee but it's beginning to break up. Wind in the West, 14℃, 22℃ later in sunny periods.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/04571cf92b68f10d1584174d916b5f4160c7166bceb65e1430aa4ad01b2ab797.png

    None of the above. Jenrick possibly the best but……

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/85034826bedde16e0b5681c5943fc5e07f74072c84f8c3ab1e81cb901165e778.png

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/08/17/jenrick-10-principles-patel-tugendhat-stride-badenoch/

    This simply will not cut it.

    1. Hopeless! Looks like a Lost Cause. We need to establish a Cayman Island Trust and make all approved NoTTLers beneficiaries The Trust would act as the Editorial Board of the DT. We then petition Elon Musk to put up the moolah to purchase the organ. He wouldn't need to set foot on these shores and risk being banged up by/with Yvette Cooper. We could promise him a minimum annual dividend of an invitation to Phizzee's Summer Party which is more than he gets out of X/Twitter.

        1. They’re well known sinners, Rastus. I need to know more about Reform candidates and also their policies. I’ve thought for some time the Civil Service/Servants are our true government – ‘permanence is power’, Sue Grey/Gray? seems to confirm that. Perhaps just my gloomy mood 😀

          1. We now know what the Conservative Party has becaome.

            I think it is time to reconsider the old adage – we have come to the time when the devil we don't know – The Reform Party – is better than the devil we do know – The Conservative Party.

          2. Quite right Rastus 🙂 They’re a very young party at the moment, need to build momentum in terms of candidates and support. I’d like to see a few Conservatives cross over – that’d set things off, pressure needs to come from local parties first instance. I think the presence of Farage holding quite a few back…

    2. Those running for the leadership of the Conservative Party are giving a tremendous boost to the Reform Party!

      I am beginning to wonder if they have been specifically recruited by Nigel Farage to destroy the Conservative Party just as Welby was appointed by Cameron to destroy the Church of England!

  11. Good morning all,

    Overcast , slight breeze 16c.

    No rest for the wicked here, the spaniel has an inbuilt alarm clock , 6. am .. then son preparing for another run locally , 16k.. nice morning for a run and he has provided me the Garmin link so I can keep track of his position, has already run past RTR Bovington and onwards into the sticks , Clouds hill and then through other villages ,

    Two of our blue hydrangea has changed colour , moh has been saving tea dregs to water in , no joy . How do we make them blue again.. our pink plants are fine

    The plants are in large pots , and planted in ericaceous soil, any tips will be gratefully received.

    1. Bonjour TB and everybody.
      To effectively get rid of the pinkness could take about five years.

    2. Just a random thought – can't you somehow persuade your son that taking the dog out for a pee could greatly enhance his run preparation? Two birds etc etc 😉

  12. "Nearly 14,000 people in Britain have applied for payments from the government for alleged harm caused by Covid vaccines, new figures show.

    Freedom of Information requests made by The Telegraph show that payments have already been awarded for conditions including stroke, heart attack, dangerous blood clots, inflammation of the spinal cord, excessive swelling of the vaccinated limb and facial paralysis.

    Around 97 per cent of claims awarded relate to the AstraZeneca jab, with just a handful of payments made for damage from Pfizer or Moderna.

    Since the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS) was founded in 1979 it has had around 16,000 applications, but the Covid jab has made up the vast majority of claims.

    Seb Sanders, the British champion flat race jockey, has been fighting on behalf of his wife, Leona, who was left hospital-bound after three Covid jabs, but their claim was rejected.

    Mrs Sanders, 52, who suffered from the rare autoimmune disorder granulomatosis – which causes inflammation of the blood vessels – was told the jab would not interfere with her condition and, if anything, would be ineffective, because of her impaired immune system.

    She had her first AstraZeneca jab in February 2021, followed by a booster in April.

    “It was only a day or two after that she collapsed in the bathroom, her left leg had given way, but we weren’t blaming the injection because nobody had warned us, so we never put two and two together,” said Mr Sanders, who is now a pundit for Sky Sports Racing.

    Rapid deterioration after third jab
    However Mrs Sanders’ condition rapidly deteriorated after a third vaccine – this time Pfizer – in December, when paralysis started to move upwards from her feet.

    She was admitted to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, where a scan revealed transverse myelitis, a swelling on the spinal cord, which is a known side-effect of the vaccine.

    Don't worry as you all know it is safe and effective as Dr Fauci and countless vested interested parties told us….

    Good morning one and all.

    1. So glad we refused. I would never take anything that had not been properly tested. Let the buyer beware. Why did so few not fully check. Did they believe the government advice.? The more a government wants you to do something the more you must checkk. ie Heat Pumps etc.
      PS anyone with heart or stroke problems like we have should have run a mile.

  13. What a dishonest headline!
    Payments haven't already been awarded for "alleged" harm but for REAL harm!

  14. Fury as fundraiser is launched for the family of a violent thug jailed for throwing objects at police officers..
    Included on the list of people that have made donations so far including Tristan Tate..

    There's that key word again.. 'List'.
    And as with donors for 'J6' and Trudeau's Truckers.. anyone on zee list will receive an unannounced visit from IRS/HMRC or at very least a call for debanking.

    1. Tristan Tate is far more interesting than his brother, far more intelligent. Unfortunately he doesn't speak very much. He's Christian which is infinitely better than his brother being dim enough to be a Muslim. Being a practicing Muslim nullifies much of what Andrew has to say about todays problems in the West. The last thing we need is more Islam negating our traditions and our history.

    2. Who is advising these people to plead Guilty?

      Are they being placed under duress with threats of being held on Remand until a trial in the dim and distant future?

      Or are they being faced with a MASSIVE escalation of charges should they DARE to plead "Not Guilty"?

      I am not condoning his throwing objects at the Police, but, given the established evidence of Two-Tier Policing, videos of the heavy handed Police actions at the Downing Street Protest for example, I am wondering if someone has video of the incident?

  15. I signed up for the Free Speech Union some time ago, just renewed again. Think we should all take a look at signing up because things are going to get far worse. This is 1984.

    1. Me2, from early days. Daily Sceptic too. Winter of Discontent looming especially if cold weather with high cost of intermittent leccy. We've given up our WFA but it's not going to cover the higher wages being demanded by various bods. Get the whisky in, everyone.

  16. Thought i’d take my husband’s Z3 down to my daughter’s house in Southampton to check on the place, hang the new curtains and keep the cat’s battery ticking over. Am currently sitting in a layby on the Thomas Lewis way with a puncture. Luckily it isn’t raining and i wasn’t on the motorway!

  17. 391872+ up ticks,

    Within the treachery stakes lab are doing very well, I believe in achieving a greater number of invading potential troops than their WEF / NWO colleagues in there sister tory party.

    breitbart,
    3,000 Illegal Boat Migrants Land in Britain Since Labour Took Power

        1. She always has that shifty appearance making her look like a dyed-in-the-wool Provo, now at the heart of Government (as she was with Boris…but at least she was wearing civvies then)

      1. UNNews is an independent small outfit which MSM and others are trying to shut down. They are a bit odd but bravely report news stories other MSNews outfits choose not to. UNN was one of the very first media outlets to report on the illegal boat crossings. They are being hounded and in danger of being shut down.

  18. Reposted from late last night.

    Sunday 18th August, 2024

    Ashesthandust

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f15108925be65a9a2608d8e25edca14c950fe7218c958fddb1d38927a117d0b9.png

    “I would rather be ashes than dust!
    I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot.
    I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.
    The function of man is to live, not to exist.
    I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them.
    I shall use my time.”

    ― Jack London

    Are you still in South America. Are you still living in a brilliant blaze? Are you living with excitement rather than just existing?

    With very best wishes,

    Caroline and Rastus

    Mrs Wentworth-Brewster is my favourite Noël Coward character.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-TdqZ39mXo

    1. Katy (aka ashesthabndust) posted last night:

      I am indeed in South America (how strange life is!), settling happily into Buenos Aires.

      Currently glowing magnificently – although the glass of excellent Malbec I chose to accompany the rib-eye steak, as a treat, might be responsible for a fair bit of that. 🤣

      Now heading across town to dance – a very attractive Argentinian has promised to dance me into tomorrow. And I am very happy indeed to have been asked to collaborate with the genius behind one of the world's foremost electrotango groups in a performance on Monday; we had a ball at the rehearsal before dinner.

      Thanks for your good wishes – and if, as is your wont, you repost this tomorrow, maybe you would be kind enough to copy some of this to explain my undoubted tardiness tomorrow to any Nottlers who might wonder where I've got to!

      😎

      Katy x

    2. Happy birthday, Katy!

      Would love to have done our usual singing but a bit more difficult down the phone nowadays…

      All our love, (D and me) xxxx

          1. Will do when I get a minute! Currently waiting for my favourite empanada ahhhhhh it’s here….🙂🙂

    3. Happy Birthday Katy.

      I do hope your collaboration with the electrotango group gets posted on Youtube. If it does perhaps you will kindly post the link on here.

      very best wishes. S

      1. Thank you, Stephen!

        Should such a thing occur, I shall of course post it. Given that the idea is to surprise the audience, though, might be a long shot.

        Fingers crossed we will collaborate on other projects!

      1. Thank you, dear Anne! Don't know how you got the photo of our shadows, but it's not at all bad. 😉

    4. Grattis på födelsedagen, Katy. Hope you are having a splendid day, lovely lady, with lots of tango, and a good helping of chimichurri on your steak!😘🥂👍🏻🎂😊

    1. The PTB no longer have anything constructive to do so they mess us about and try to annoy us by imposing their tyrannies and things nobody voted for upon us.

      As Rik posts above Aldous Huxley had it right when he wrote:

      … the greater part of the population is not very intelligent, dreads responsibility, and desires nothing better than to be told what to do. Provided the rulers do not interfere with its material comforts and its cherished beliefs, it is perfectly happy to let itself be ruled.

      But the current politicians have gone too far. Most of us accept that we shall be messed about by the state but Starmer is pushing his luck too far and it could lead to catastrophe.

      In Harvey Andrews's brilliant song a chap joins the army – ten years in the army being paid for being bossed – and is sent to Northern Ireland. If you have not heard ths song you must listen to it.

      And now they are ending the amnesty for British soldiers in Northern Ireland. What total filth and detritus those in government are.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrQ190lvALo

  19. Extreme misogyny will be treated as terrorism for the first time under Government plans to combat the radicalisation of young men online.

    Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, has ordered a review of Britain’s counter-extremism strategy to urgently address gaps in the Government’s stance, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal.

    It will look at tackling violence against women and girls in the same way as Islamist and far-Right extremism, amid fears that current Home Office guidance is too narrow.

    This could mean teachers will be legally required to refer pupils they suspect of extreme misogyny to Prevent, the Government’s counter-terror programme.

    It comes after warnings that misogynistic influencers are radicalising teenage boys online.

    Ms Cooper said: “For too long, Governments have failed to address the rise in extremism, both online and on our streets, and we’ve seen the number of young people radicalised online grow. Hateful incitement of all kinds fractures and frays the very fabric of our communities and our democracy.”

    There are several extremism categories ranked by the Home Office as an area of “concern”, including Islamist, extreme Right-wing, animal rights, environmental and Northern Ireland related extremism.

    There is also a category for “incel” – an abbreviation of the term “involuntary celibate” – which refers to a male subculture that includes violent feelings towards women as a result of feeling rejected. Officials now fear that this category does not capture other forms of extreme misogyny. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/17/extreme-misogyny-treated-as-terrorism-government/

    Teachers, healthcare professionals and local authority staff are under a legal duty to make a referral to the Prevent scheme if they believe someone is susceptible to becoming radicalised.

    Anyone who is referred to Prevent is then assessed by their local authority and the police to see if they need to be deradicalised.

    There were 6,817 Prevent referrals in 2022-23, with the highest proportion of referrals were classified under the broad category of “vulnerability present but no ideology of counter-terrorism risk”, at 37 per cent, followed by extreme Right-wing at 19 per cent and Islamist extremism at 11 per cent.

    Violence against women is ‘national security threat’
    The move comes after Sir Mark Rowley, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, said that violence against women and girls should be treated as a national security threat.

    Speaking in the wake of a damning report into the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving Scotland Yard officer, he warned that hundreds of thousands of sex abusers and paedophiles were at large and tackling them would require more resources from future governments.

    Last month, the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) published a major report into violence against women and girls, calling for an overhaul in the way it is dealt with owing to the “epidemic scale” of offending.

    Sarah Everard was abducted and murdered by a Met police officer Credit: Crown Prosecution Service via AP
    Influencers accused of radicalising boys
    Elsewhere, police chiefs have accused online influencers like Andrew Tate of radicalising boys into extreme misogyny in a way that is “quite terrifying”.

    Maggie Blyth, the NPCC lead for violence against women and girls, said young men and boys are at risk of being radicalised in the same way that terrorists draw in followers.

    Tate is a controversial British-American influencer and self-proclaimed “misogynist” who rose to fame after appearing on Big Brother in 2016.

    He is currently awaiting trial in Romania over allegations of rape, human trafficking and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women. He denies the charges.

    Review will dictate new counter-extremism strategy
    Ms Cooper’s rapid review, which will be completed later this Autumn, will form the basis of a new counter-extremism strategy which the Home Office intends to launch early next year.

    Officials will examine emerging ideologies which are gaining momentum, and will assess any gaps in the current system which leave the country “exposed” to threats that promote violence or undermine democracy.

    They will look at the rise of Islamist and far-Right extremism as well as beliefs which fit into broader categories such as an obsession with violence.

    The Home Office has previously been criticised for failing to get a grip on domestic extremism. Earlier this year, the independent reviewer of Prevent warned that Islamist extremism is not being effectively tackled by the Government and it is fuelling a “dangerous” surge in anti-Semitism.

    Sir William Shawcross said the Government had failed to fully implement his proposals to overhaul Prevent, its counter terror programme, which meant the public faced an increased threat from extremists and terrorists.

    He said the failure to take tougher action stemmed from a continuing bias within Prevent towards tackling the rise in Right-wing terrorism rather than the main threat of Islamist terrorism.

    Ms Cooper said: “Action against extremism has been badly hollowed out in recent years, just when it should have been needed most.

    “That’s why I have directed the Home Office to conduct a rapid analytical sprint on extremism, to map and monitor extremist trends, to understand the evidence about what works to disrupt and divert people away from extremist views, and to identify any gaps in existing policy which need to be addressed to crack down on those pushing harmful and hateful beliefs and violence.

    “That work will underpin a new strategic approach to countering extremism from Government, working closely with communities to build consensus and impetus for our plans.”

    Aimed at Muslims I expect?

      1. Fact is that it is the other way round really, misandry rules the roost thanks to third wave feminism. All the privileges now belong to women and precious few to men. One of the largest movements amongst men is 'Men Going Their Own Way (MGTOW). Men dispensing with women altogether, apart from casual sex, because their is no advantage at all in men being involved with women. At the drop of a hat a woman can ruin a mans life, destroy everything he has worked for while, via the courts, she can happily steal everything he has. Fact is, for young men, women have nothing to offer that is worth having anything to do with them.

        Andrew Tate is not a misogynist, he is simply a man who believes that women have their place and it is not to rule over men. And, by the way, he has been found not guilty by an American court.

        1. Ah but, you're making the mistake there Jonathan, of taking the actual meaning of words and weighing them up against each other. If you want a proper, fictionalised account of what causes extremism (I'm using the proper meaning here now – not hers), then simply sticking to the reality will just not do.

          Smearing someone, by the way is a good way of "prevent"-ing them. I think it is clear that that's what Labour is repurposing Prevent for.

          1. Hallo James. You are, of course, correct. The aim of Socialists is to maximise conflict in order to exert control over those they divide. That is why they will do nothing constructive in our present situation, whether it is illegal immigration, conflicts within the immigrant communities or the needs of the native English. They will simply continue to find destructive policies and methodologies to destroy our country. An excellent example is the idea that "Islamophobia" be criminalized. Its a particularly good because Islamophobia is a fiction that we are supposed to take as a reality. Therefore it can be argued about until the cows come home and, to which, no solution will be found because it isn't a reality in the first place.

      2. There's nothing so embarrassing as what is basically the equivalent of an annoying buzzy wasp trying to do serious Communism. Talk about unprofessionalism.

    1. "to see if they need to be deradicalised"

      "Officials will examine emerging ideologies"

      The usual old stuff of course. Did she actually mention gulags and reeducation camps this time around?

      Additionally, does she count grooming gangs as misogynistic? And if so, does she intend to include left leaning ideologies within the framework of ideological extremism? In fact, does she actually mention left leaning thought at all in her ramblings?

      If she wants to genuinely prevent extremism then she really needs to get that plank out of her eye first.

    2. "to see if they need to be deradicalised"

      "Officials will examine emerging ideologies"

      The usual old stuff of course. Did she actually mention gulags and reeducation camps this time around?

      Additionally, does she count grooming gangs as misogynistic? And if so, does she intend to include left leaning ideologies within the framework of ideological extremism? In fact, does she actually mention left leaning thought at all in her ramblings?

      If she wants to genuinely prevent extremism then she really needs to get that plank out of her eye first.

    3. "to see if they need to be deradicalised"

      "Officials will examine emerging ideologies"

      The usual old stuff of course. Did she actually mention gulags and reeducation camps this time around?

      Additionally, does she count grooming gangs as misogynistic? And if so, does she intend to include left leaning ideologies within the framework of ideological extremism? In fact, does she actually mention left leaning thought at all in her ramblings?

      If she wants to genuinely prevent extremism then she really needs to get that plank out of her eye first.

    4. Muslim misogyny will be exempt – making women second class citizens, only worth 1/4 of a man, having no rights to divorce, being able to be beaten as long as the stick is no thicker than her owner's thumb, etc. All that doesn't count.

  20. Morning all 🙂😊
    Bright start and warmish.
    Had a lovely evening with our close neighbours last night five hours of eating drinking laughter putting the world to rights etc
    And we all intensly dislike the labour government. That's no real surprise we not especially political but are all over sixty, down to earth and sensible..

    1. Quite so. Just being sensible counts as politics these days, because our current rulers definitely aren't.

      1. They don’t seem to have a clue between more than 600 of them
        Plus of course both other places.

        1. Nope, but I'm out of breath saying that now. I am very grateful to you Eddy for that!

      2. Yes, calling Labour Scum out on their insanity is rapidly becoming a criminal offence.

    2. Hope there were no more than 12 of you, or that sort of behaviour could be regarded as anti establishment and gathering for a riot. Do they stop your pension whilst you are in clink…

  21. Good morrow, Gentlefolk, today’s (recycled) and long story.

    Game Show

    On the morning show at WBAM FM in Chicago, IL they play a game for prizes, usually vacations and such, called "Mate Match.”

    The DJ's ring someone at work and ask if they are married or in a serious relationship. If yes, then this person is asked 3 very personal questions that vary from couple to couple and asked for their significant others name and work phone number. If the significant
    other answers correctly then they are winners.

    This particular day (12-9-98) it got interesting:
    DJ HEY! This is Edgar on WBAM. Do you know "Mate Match"?
    Contestant (laughing) Yes I do.
    DJ What is your name? First only please.
    Contestant Brian
    DJ Are you married or what Brian?
    Brian Yes.
    DJ "Yes"? Does this mean you are married or what? Brian?
    Brian (laughing nervously) Yes, I am married.
    DJ Thank you, Brian. OK, now, what is your wife's name?
    First only please, Brian.
    Brian Sara.
    DJ Is Sara at work Brian?
    Brian She is gonna kill me.
    DJ Stay with me here Brian! Is she at work?
    Brian (laughing) Yes, she is.
    DJ All right then, first question: When was the last time you had sex?
    Brian She is gonna kill me.
    DJ BRIAN! Stay with me here man.
    Brian About 8 O'clock this morning.
    DJ Atta boy.
    Brian (laughing sheepishly) Well…
    DJ Number 2, How long did it last?
    Brian About 10 minutes.
    DJ Wow! You really want that trip huh? No one would ever have said that if it there weren't a trip at stake.
    Brian Yeah, it would be really nice.
    DJ OK. Final question, where was it that you had sex at 8 this morning?
    Brian (laughing hard) I ummmmm.
    DJ This sounds good Brian, where was it?
    Brian Not that it was all that great just that her mom is staying with us for a couple of weeks and she was taking a shower at the time.
    DJ Ooooooh, sneaky boy!
    Brian On the kitchen table.
    DJ "Not that great"? That is more adventurous than the last hundred times I have done it. Anyway, (to audience) I will put Brian on hold, get his
    wife's work number and call her up. You listen to this.
    (Advertisements)
    DJ (to audience) Let's call Sara, shall we?
    (Touch tones, ringing*)
    Clerk Kinko's.
    DJ Hey, is Sara around there somewhere?
    Clerk This is she.
    DJ Sara, this is Edgar with WBAM. I have been speaking with Brian for a couple of hours now*
    Sara (laughing) A couple of hours?
    DJ Well, a while anyway. He is also on the line with us. Brian knows not to give away any answers or you lose do you know the rules of "Mate
    Match"?
    Sara No, I don't
    DJ Good.
    Brian (laughing)
    Sara (laughing) Brian, what the hell are you up to?
    Brian (laughing) Just answer his questions honestly OK?
    Sara Oh, Brian
    DJ Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sara I will now ask you 3 questions and if you answer
    exactly what Brian has said then the 2 of you are off to Orlando, Florida at our expense. This does include tickets to Disney World, Sea World and tickets to see the Orlando Magic play. Get it Sara? SARA! GET IT
    Orlando Magic, they are on strike Sara, helloooooo anyone home?!?!
    Sara (laughing hard) YES, yes.
    Brian (laughing)
    DJ All right, when did you have sex last Sara?
    Sara Oh God, Brian… this morning before Brian went to work.
    DJ What time?
    Sara About 8 I think.
    (Sound effect) DING DING DING
    DJ Very good. Next question, how long did it last?
    Sara 12 to 15 minutes maybe.
    DJ hhmmmmm
    Background voice in studio That's close enough. I'm sure she is trying not to harm his manhood.
    DJ Well, we will give you that one. Last question,where did you do it?
    Sara OH MY GOD, BRIAN! You didn’t tell them, did you?!?!
    Brian Just tell him honey.
    DJ What is bothering you so much Sara?
    Sara Well, it’s just, just that my mom is vacationing with us and….
    DJ SHE SAW?!?!
    Sara BRIAN?!?!
    Brian NO, no I didn't.
    DJ Ease up there sister. Just messin' with your head. Your answer?
    Sara Dear Lord.. I cannot believe you told them this.
    Brian Come on honey it's for a trip to Florida.
    DJ Let's go Sara we ain't got all day. Where did you do it?
    Sara In the ass.
    (Long pause)
    DJ We will be right back.
    (Advertisements)
    DJ I am sorry for that ladies and gentlemen. This is live radio and these things do happen. Anyway, Brian and Sara are off to lovely Orlando, Florida

  22. Morning everyone. A pleasant 18⁰C today. It must still be Summer, since the flies are everywhere.

    I don't know what that Telegraph article was about, since obviously I don't read the paper, but the headline chimes. They've got a lot to answer for.

    Yvette Cooper getting on with the usual lefty project of recasting language as some form of vague crime I see; "extreme misogyny or beliefs that fit into broader categories like fixation on violence."

    Note the word "beliefs". Very dangerous. I suppose at least it gives a gloss of credibility to Lammy and his assertion that "silence is violence" Apparently everyone to be encouraged to report all incidents of this new form of "hate" to Prevent as it's evidence no less of extremism. Strewth, they really don't have the first clue. The actual extremists, of whom there are plenty are probably rubbing their hands in glee knowing that no one is looking for them, least of all the Home Secretary. It is in keeping with the government's overall strategy of repurposing that which is not to the left in politics as "far right", because as every drone of the cognoscenti knows, that which is unapproved by the Left is actually extremism.

      1. It does doesn't it. But then I tend to find extremists, I don't know… so unimaginative. Wooden almost. They never ever come up with anything new with their tired old plans.

    1. At some level, do you think she realises how ineffectual and intellectually vapid she really is? She pursues power to make up for the deficiencies in her character, I think. Like the reffie in her house business. Sounds good at first, but when it comes to enacting, reality hits so she finds something else to play with.

      1. “do you think she realises how ineffectual and intellectually vapid she really is?”

        Most lightweights don’t, so no!

  23. Policy in action….
    UN Official document:

    https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/412547?v=pdf

    Page 99 of the document:
    "Scenario III keeps the population in the United Kingdom constant at its maximum of 58.8 million
    people in 2020. In order to do so, the United Kingdom would have to receive 2.6 million migrants
    between 2020 and 2050. In 2050, 5.5 per cent of the total population would be post-1995 migrants or their
    descendants. This influx would result in a population of labour-force age of 35 million in 2050, and the
    population aged 65 or older would reach 14 million in 2050, 24 per cent of the total population. The
    potential support ratio would be 2.5."

    Have we not exceeded the 2.6 million number several times over. How do these clowns propose to stop in bound migration….?

    1. The "draw" is free money, free board and lodging, free health care, free education etc. and until that is stopped the numbers will increase.

      Unfortunately, under Labour or the Tories it will only be stopped when the country is bankrupt.

    2. They don't. It has now morphed into an ideological crusade rather than an objective-seeming experiment (based on Neil Ferguson type modelling, I expect). Socialists see the world as they want it to be, rather than as it really is. Everyone else has to pay the price for their dreams/delusions if they get into power.

    1. No question mark so it is not a question.
      It is simply a very correct statement of fact.👍🏻😉

  24. TAKEN FROM TODAY'S DT REGARDING ILLNESS AND DEATH CAUSED BY THE ASTRA ZENECA COVID JAB which was banned in many other countries but continued to be used here until it was withdrawn some while later citing that better drugs were now available. The UK gave AZ legal immunity so govt cannot be sued for the devastation the jab has caused. The taxpayer foots the bill for the compensation claims fuelled by govt mismanagement and disinformation. There are many more complainants than officially recognised but they say only a certain amount fit the criteria for claim.

    Covid vaccine case study
    Gareth Eve’s wife, Lisa Shaw, 44, died from vaccine-induced immune thrombocytopenia and thrombosis VITT following the AstraZeneca jab in April 2021.

    He said: “Lisa was very keen to be vaccinated. It seemed like the right thing to do. But she started to get quite bad headaches and a week later she was taken into hospital and we were told the condition she had was VITT and they gave her a treatment schedule.

    “She started to go downhill a little bit, and got confused and they found a bleed on the brain. She had a cranial operation to release the pressure, which removed part of the skull and after that was in a coma, and she was pronounced dead on May 21. It was just over three weeks since the vaccination.”

    Mr Eve received a VDPS payment and was originally part of a class action lawsuit planning to sue AstraZeneca, but he was advised to withdraw the complaint after it emerged the pharmaceutical company had included warnings about blood clots prior to Lisa’s vaccination.

    Mr Eve added: “The people who produce that product are completely clear of any litigation or legal recourse, and the government will only give you £120,000 pounds, if you can prove this ridiculously long list of things.

    “It just baffles me that they believe that £120,000 is an acceptable amount of money to make up for the loss of a human, or to care for somebody for the rest of their lives.

    “They don't understand what life looks like when your wife dies at the age of 44. They don't understand how you have to pick everything up and literally rebuild your life from scratch.”

    1. I do not know how many times I have to repeat myself. I was saying it long before the scamdemic: do not take government at its word.

      Good old Ronnie had it right when he warned us about that deadly sentence, "Hello, I'm from the government and I'm here to help you."

      No. Don't! The government is not here to help you. If the government wants to help us, instead of publishing information about where to get help if you feel like committing suicide, or how to complain if someone uses a hurty word, it should just show one saying, "Beware government! Keep clear! Run a mile!"

    2. Caroline has Coeliac Disease which is an auto-immune disease. She did some of her own research and discovered that there was no information about the effect of the Covid jabs on those with such diseases. As I had been advised not to have the jabs we both decided not to have them. Thank God and our doctor Françoise.

      I wonder if there will ever be any research done and its results published on the effects the jabs had specifically on those with auto-immune diseases.

      1. There was some information very early being passed around on the grape-vine that those with an auto-immune disease should not get the vaccine, but it seemed to disappear quite quickly and be hushed up under the weight of 'everyone to get the jab as soon as they are called.' And that, was that.

        1. At the time, the official French line was: "There is no gluten in these vaccines which are therefore safe for people with coeliac disease." Both the British and the Dutch official advice was more honest, saying that in the absence of research it was a case-by-case matter of assessing risk-benefit and added that the risk was virtually zero "for most people".

          That was the year when funerals in the parish went spiralling upwards – they still haven't descended to pre-covid levels. So I had a rather different view of the risk factor!

      2. Good to know neither of you were jabbed, Rastus esp Caroline. I still get regular requests from GP surgery here to go for mine, I think ten and counting. They get paid for every jab. Watch out for the monkey pox one.

      3. There was no research on any diseases nor on any interaction of the vaccine with the medications that people take for these diseases. They simply didn't have the time or didn't want to know the results of such research. There was no research done on the effects of the vaccine for those aged 55 and over. They had no idea of how it would affect pregnant women, the nhs was very gung-ho about the advice that they gave. When we are told that ' there is no evidence to suggest that…..etc…' it mean precisely that, they don't have evidence because they haven't bothered to look for it, it is not in their brief, hasn't been requested as a research item, or they suspect the result but don't want to confirm their suspicions by positive research. In the final analysis it is all about the profit.

      4. There won’t be. They don’t care and they know that such results would not be in their interests to even find out. I read the Pfizer report – it stated that they could only guarantee about 80% safety to pick up outlying illness issues. The trial numbers were not great enough to evaluate all outlying illness issues. That is my understanding of what I read. The report was pretty available to read, surprisingly. But even more surprisingly, few actually read it. It wasn’t an easy read, being a medical layperson. The sinister thing to me was children being made to have it when children rarely contracted Covid. I don’t think the sample trialling children was large enough either.

      5. I never had the jab, because when they were offered, Covid was being called some kind of influenza. I only ever had one influenza jab, and that made me sicker than a dog, so assuming the same effect, I declined.

    3. A friend of our had the AZ jab. She developed myocarditis, collapsed whilst sitting at the table, and somehow fractured her neck. She came to under the table, she had no idea how long she had been there, her husband had already retired to bed. She was in and out of hospital for months. Fortunately she survived the ordeal, but she can no longer turn her head from side to side, she has to turn her whole body to speak to one. During the recovery period she developed a vitB12 deficiency (pernicious anaemia?) which requires injections every three months and latterly, the last time we saw her, she had developed a Bell's Palsy. All these are noted side effects of the vaccine. She is required to take 20 different tablets every single day and to submit to daily online reports. She was formerly a very fit lady, she ran marathons and her last 'epic' was the south coast challenge of 100 kms at the age of 68 over the Jurassic coast country. No compensation of course, I don't know if she has made the connection to the vax.

      1. I had two jabs of AZ – I dodged a bullet, didn't I? I had no reactions whatsoever. I had it purely because it was clearly going to be required for travel and it was – I had to present the vax certificate on two trips to Kenya in 2022 & 2023 before they dropped that requirement.

        I've had many jabs just for travel purposes, with no ill-effects. I won't be having any more.

        1. You were very fortunate, Ndovu. I have lost count of the major illnesses that have occurred in our village over the last 2-3 years; cancers, Parkinson’s, recurrent UTIs, recurrent ear infections, the young girl next year had to take a year out of university last year as she was taken ill with fainting, vomiting and extreme fatigue, she was in hospital for a month – our DIL has required 4 bouts of antibiotics for various infections, our two sons – the elder now has alopecia (he has lost his beard, eyelashes and is now in the process of losing his left eyebrow) and a sun sensitivity, the younger has developed a dairy intolerance, he had a chest infection requiring antibiotics and the worst migraines he has ever had. We have not had the jab and we are fine, I can’t remember when I either of us last needed antibiotics for anything. I just get exhausted from worrying about our family.

          1. Gosh – that’s a lot of problems, PM. It does seem to be the younger people who were more susceptible to this poison.

            My OH had the Pfizer jabs – two primary and a booster before I could stop him. He hasn’t had any more since then but has prostate cancer and then the heart problems. He has recovered well from the triple bypass but is on a lot of meds.

            On Friday when his nephew and family were here, we all went for a walk up the hill to the ice cream shop on the Common – he didn’t think he’d make it but he did, (and back) without any problems, just taking the steep part quite slowly. He was signed off by the cardiologists at the end of May as BP and heart rate etc were all normal now, since the cardioversion at the end of January.

          2. I am so pleased things are returning to normal for him, N, and for you. It gives one hope for the future. For us all. xx

      2. So sorry to read about your friend 'mum…much much worse that mine. I initially tried to get on the Yellow Card System, it had already fallen over. Can only hope she gets the compensation and help that she needs. All good wishes for her.

        1. Thank you – her life sounds an absolute nightmare now. We meet up with her husband every so often for lunch, but last year was out of the question. Her husband, as far as we are aware, has had no problems, he had the Pfizer jab. That does not mean the Pfizer jab was any safer – there were batches within batches of variability in all of them. The fact that it develops that which is tucked away within your genes, coupled with batch variability over (what they were intending) 10 doses over 4 years is cunningly ingenious in its evilness. A large percentage of people was intended to develop an inheritable, genetic disease over a much earlier time scale than nature had otherwise intended for them.

          I am so sorry that you are adversely affected by this. There are so many. You are not alone. Dr Peter McCullough (consultant cardiologist) recommends Nattokinase (fermented soy) Bromelaine (a chemical found in pineapple) and Curcumin (found in turmuric). If it were me I would also take ivermectin, it appears to have a very safe reputation. Artemisin annua (sweet wormwood) is worth looking at – if you are interested please do your own research though!

          1. I had one AZ and two Pfizer, affected from the first one but accelerated by other two. Would never have had any if it hadn’t been for family pressure. I think many people will be suspicious another time. That poor couple you know, both affected, I am so sorry for their situation it must seem hopeless. Do you remember Andrew Wakefield who was against childhood vaccines, I think ended up losing his livelihood. Many medics now calling out the vaccines, for babies onwards. I like RfKJr’s stance on vaccines, however my family still stand by their decisions. Thanks again for your reply, p’sMum, appreciate it 🙂

          2. Any communications from GP or NHS regarding injections are now immediately zapped by both of us.

          3. Because MB's health was dodgy, I had the AZ jab to pacify him.
            MB also had it because he was already vulnerable.
            Two weeks later, he had a myocardial infarction that has permanently damaged his already fragile health.
            Fingers very firmly crossed – it did not affect me. I assume if there were to be any repercussions, I would have had them by now.

          4. The further your distance from the jab (in terms of time) the better is your outcome. The highest proportion of deaths have been found to be in the first 3 days following injection, with a marked drop to 14 days which then tails off to a rump thereafter. The govt, in its wisdom, decreed one wasn’t ‘vaccinated’ until 14 days had elapsed from injection, so these figures do not get to be included in the ONS. Cunning or what, eh?

            Our two sons had their jabs to put their wives’ minds at rest. They thought their mum was over-reacting; I have always being cautious, survival is the name of my game. I am sorry MB was made ill from it, I hope he has sufficiently recovered to be comfortable in his skin. It is the scandal of all humanity.

  25. https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/94ab0e08f451af2f3905b85e2f5738930bdce8f0/0_0_3500_2333/master/3500.jpg?width=700&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=843670ba9e3005e9d1702060e8105f17
    Paignton, UK
    Performers from the ‘death-defying’ Circus Vegas show take a walk on Paignton beach

    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/083305bef03510a21b2a220e86c4c9dd1caafcad/0_0_9079_6053/master/9079.jpg?width=700&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=17942ef749f12135079e76a76fc64397
    Bali, Indonesia
    Dancers perform for tourists in a small village that celebrates traditional Balinese culture

    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/f62639094847e4e30d84fb091bc9533e0b3bfc72/0_0_2970_1940/master/2970.jpg?width=700&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=7068127d405f69e1cf3e1d2cdb8c422f
    Pyongyang, North Korea
    North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, visits the children of flood-affected victims who had to be relocated

    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/77c2db0633c4df42083a6b1d082a5786ab199b9b/0_0_3000_1957/master/3000.jpg?width=700&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=ddd3f7f86708e8de3c00f1e4d0ba72bd
    Vancouver, Canada
    Performers get ready for the Pacific National Exhibition

    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/a37eb5153f52d595f4db8422fbee3a5e8756cb69/0_0_4000_2885/master/4000.jpg?width=700&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=42baf805f12a653199d67d2e0ec16a91
    Yan’an, China
    Tourists watch the roaring Hukou waterfall on the Yellow River

    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/182d5a70832536cbd0b669491825fb2141051437/0_0_5819_3880/master/5819.jpg?width=700&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=4cdb4695666d134779c96d92e4c71c0f
    Khan Muhammad Mallah, Pakistan
    Villagers gather to watch a video on social media

    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/395cfb76e3e9fd9151d79fbb3bcdea36c0ff3510/0_0_6396_4264/master/6396.jpg?width=700&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=74e1fee479fdec42aca1cb2194ed3549
    London, UK
    Swifties on Wembley Way enjoy the buzz before Taylor Swift’s latest Eras tour concert

    1. From Coffee House, the Spectator

      How was the Stonehenge Altar Stone moved from Scotland?
      Comments Share 18 August 2024, 6:00am
      I’ve had a keen interest in Stonehenge since I directed my first excavation there more than 40 years ago. A personal highlight was identifying a skeleton in London’s Natural History Museum, which archaeologists thought had been destroyed in the Blitz, and which turned out to be the remains of an Anglo-Saxon man beheaded beside the stone circle. Claims are made weekly, it seems, for some new insight into Stonehenge’s meaning, history or construction – and not all of them are mad. But I cannot remember an occasion when a single discovery changed the way I think about Stonehenge as much as the one announced this week.

      I cannot remember an occasion when a single discovery changed the way I think about Stonehenge as much as the one announced this week.
      A Nature study has found that Stonehenge’s Altar Stone was quarried in the far north-east of Scotland. Which means – depending on the route – it was carried as far as 800 miles before it was finally laid in Salisbury plain. The impressive study – which involved electron microscopes, lasers, and the geological aging of individual mineral grains in rock samples – could not be more clear cut. And geologists are convinced the stone was carried, rather than moved by an ancient glacier. It was Neolithic people who travelled all the way from the top of Scotland to the site of Stonehenge.

      How did they do it? And why?

      Let’s start at Stonehenge. What we call the Altar Stone was named in the 1620s by the architect Inigo Jones, who saw that it lay flat at the centre of Stonehenge, at the back of an arc formed by the tallest megaliths. In the 2020s we focus on how the midwinter sun sets between the tallest of these tall stones, casting its darkening light over the Altar Stone – or at least it would, if the stone was not largely buried, and further covered by two stones which fell and broke it on some distant, unrecorded day.

      Archaeologists have tended to group Stonehenge’s megaliths into two categories. There are the really big ones, which are made of an extremely hard, local sandstone known as sarsen, which we think came from around 20 miles to the north; and there are the bluestones. Over decades, a determined team of British geologists, led by Richard Bevins at Aberystwyth University and Rob Ixer at UCL, has traced almost all the bluestones to various outcrops in south-west Wales, in a few cases to suspected Neolithic quarries. The origin of one bluestone, however, stumped them: the Altar Stone. Unlike the other bluestones, the Altar Stone is made of sandstone. Academics gradually eliminated all potential Welsh sources, until last year they proposed an origin in northern England or Scotland. This latest Nature study came about when an Aberystwyth colleague, Nick Pearce, responded to a request for some Welsh samples from an Australian PhD, and sent him two Altar Stone slides.

      How did the Altar Stone travel all this distance? Weighing around six tons, it is a little heavier than the other bluestones, but it is lighter than most of the sarsens, which weigh as much as 40 tons. The latter can only have reached the site over land. So whatever mechanisms they used, Neolithic people would have had no trouble shifting the Altar Stone by land if they wanted to. A popular idea is that log rollers were used, as shown by a full-scale model at the Stonehenge visitor centre. They don’t work: rollers are impossible to control. I think people would have used the sophisticated technology of boat building to create strong sledges, which could be dragged with ropes and slid over loose branches to prevent sinking into the ground. For the very large sarsens, fixed timber tracks must be a real possibility.

      The sea remains an option. They had the boats – their ancestors crossed the English Channel with cattle, sheep and pigs. Many pundits believe the Altar Stone was taken by sea, but for me the land route is the more credible option.

      The clue is in the geography. Neolithic people didn’t travel as far as north-east Scotland to fetch a stone for Stonehenge: there were plenty of similar stones much, much closer. They went to make a point. The longer the journey took, and the more people who gave their labour to the project, the more successful it was. They went because it was so far. Because by doing so, they could meet other, distant communities. And because they wanted everyone to know what they were doing with Stonehenge. By moving the stone over land, you could get people involved. To have them see the stone go through their villages, to lean on the ropes as it did so, to mark the moment with feasting and celebrations.

      This is what’s new about this Stonehenge revelation. This journey that reached right across the British Isles implies there was direct, physical communication between Neolithic communities across Britain. These were complex, networked societies in ways we are just beginning to understand.

        1. All Lammy's ancestors. They were brilliant. LNER to King's Cross – Circle Line to Paddington – GWR to Pewsey.

  26. She's not very good at maffs…

    Labour’s winter fuel savings to be wiped out by £4bn benefits bill

    Up to 850,000 pensioners could rush to claim pension credit to qualify for payments

    Tom Haynes, MONEY REPORTER
    18 August 2024 • 7:00am

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/money/2024/08/16/TELEMMGLPICT000387097352_17238286920750_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqgsaO8O78rhmZrDxTlQBjdP4Xpit_DMGvdp2n7FDd82k.jpeg?imwidth=680
    Labour’s planned savings from scrapping winter fuel payments could be wiped out by an unintended £4bn benefit bill, analysis has suggested.

    The Chancellor estimated the move, which would restrict payments to people claiming means-tested benefits, would save the Treasury £1.4bn a year.

    But a report suggests the move could cost the taxpayer up to £3.8bn if hundreds of thousands of retirees rush to claim pension credit in order to qualify for winter fuel payments.

    An estimated 850,000 eligible pensioners do not currently claim pension credit, according to official figures.

    Nigel Huddleston MP, Shadow Financial Secretary, said: “Labour promised they would not pull the rug from pensioners this winter and are doing it anyway. They misled you in a cynical political move just to get your vote.

    “Now it’s clear this exercise won’t even raise the money it is intended to, as pensioners being pushed into poverty by it would need to claim the benefits they currently don’t.”
    *
    *
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/tax/labour-winter-fuel-savings-wiped-out-4bn-benefits-bill/

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

    Craig Wellum
    3 HRS AGO
    The reality is that the Tory Party did not leave a £22 billion black hole in the public finances.
    The truth is that £22 billion is what Labour are spending spraying money around in public sector wages.
    Basically, Labour are conning us as to what they are up to.
    The tax rises coming are to fund the £22 billion Labour are paying to their fellow comrades!

    Jacky Pugh
    2 HRS AGO
    Reply to Craig Wellum
    It’s going to be a lot more than 22 bn . Reeves is preparing us for a massive tax increase on assets. She’s going to do it whatever the state of the economy – the politics of envy.

    JOE MORAN
    2 HRS AGO
    Reply to Paul Smith – view message
    Well if there was a " black hole" it means that Reeves either cannot read, or cannot be bothered to read. Almost every penny is accounted for by the OBR among other bodies. There are no secrets.
    Reeves and Starmer are on a war against pensioners, working class people not in the public sector and those who opposed mass illegal and legal immigration.

    Mark Talbot
    1 MIN AGO
    Counting down the days to when Reform win a landslide at the next election. Every day, every decision, is yet another reason for those of us who disagree with Starmer and his identity politics, you know, the “far right” have our say.
    We got rid of the Tories, Labour, you are next.

    nick inkster
    3 MIN AGO
    Can someone please snatch the abacus back from Diane Abbott?

    1. People who face deportation after a crime should not be going round effectively free to commit more crimes.

    2. I have never been able to get my head around the concept of "waiting for deportation". If a convict is ordered to be deported, he should be a plane that afternoon.

      I recall just before we left Laure, three slammers living in Toulouse were ordered late one morning by the Interior Minister to leave France. The CRS and PAF went straight to their house, arrested them, took them to Toulouse Airport and by 3 pm they were in the air to Algeria.

      That's the way to do it.

      1. But how else would the Human Rights lawyers be able to earn a crust if deportations were enacted the day of the order?

      2. I believe that was once tried Bill, possibly in Scotland, only to be surrounded by a very hostile local crowd, so it was abandoned. We have a legal process to go through now, ECHR etc….and they know it.

  27. Britain’s role as leader on Ukraine has ‘unfortunately slowed down’, says Zelensky
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/08/18/ukraine-russia-war-lzelensky-britain-latest-news21/

    What would be the most acceptable additional new taxes be to feed the avaricious maw of Mr Zelensky? Britain is already bankrupt and has nothing more to give.

    This whole horrible war could have been stopped before it even got started – discussions were already being set up but the hubris of Biden, Johnson and Zelensky stopped the talks from getting off the ground.

    We blame Bush and Blair for the Iraq war. Whom will history blame for Ukraine?

  28. More Idiotic government:

    The Amish community (those religious folks that eschew modern stuff and drive around in horse drawn carriages) have been fined $400,000 because they failed to use the government app for cross border travel.

    It is obviously beyond our canadian border overseers to understand that the Amish do not indulge in such trivialities as computers and certainly they don't pack smartphones.

    https://www.rebelnews.com/amish_community_under_attack_over_digital_mandates_they_didnt_know_existed?utm_campaign=buzz_08_16_24&utm_medium=email&utm_source=therebel

    1. They hate the Amish because those people don't buy into the system. Their (unvaxxed) children apparently have almost zero autism.

  29. In case anyone wonders, the lovely snap of Grace and Pickles posted first thing has been removed. The wise headed MR was worried that nefarious malefactors might make paedophilic use of it.

    What miserable times we live it.

    1. We do live in strange times Bill, but the photo you posted is so beautiful, one of your talented family should attempt to put that very pretty scene on canvas , because it is so pretty and gentle .

  30. In case anyone wonders, the lovely snap of Grace and Pickles posted first thing has been removed. The wise headed MR was worried that nefarious malefactors might make paedophilic use of it.

    What miserable times we live it.

  31. 391872+ up ticks,

    I do honestly believe the fear worm has entered the body politics
    and it is down to the decent indigenous peoples to give it succour as in, cultivating it via one unified party.

    I do see the political overseers (kapos) are going into trot mode trying to stem the people opposition they are meeting, the opposition if kept up will cause the trot to break into a gallop of desperation eventually. .

  32. It turns out that the UK is not the only country where police troll through online postings looking for ways to stitch people up. The RCMP have arreasted a BC woman for posting racially offensive content on social media. The RCMP would not disclose who she is, what she is alleged to have posted and what charges have been laid.

    1. Did they smash her door down at 3am and put a bag over her head before dragging her away to an undisclosed location?

    2. They never tell you what the post was. That's all anyone wants to know when they read the report – what was the post? Too terrible to be repeated…better that everyone shivers in their shoes not knowing if their next post will land them in court

    1. Never has an administration better fitted my acronym.
      sosraboc
      shower of shits running a bunch of cunts

  33. Two tier policing huh! We are moving towards a three tier system over here that is codified in legislation.

    For much of Trudeaus reign, first nations have received special treatment in court with community care within the tribe instead of being locked up like whitey would be. Now they are pondering a parallel justice system for the black transgressors that would have blacks only courts, easier bail and more lenient punishments than the white man receives.

    They must really hate us.

    1. It's almost as if the powers that be are trying to ferment civil wars across the globe as a means of culling populations but without the destructive forces of all out wars…..

      1. One thing that concerns me is how these powers appear to be working in a coordinated way to bring division and misery to the world.

        it is almost as if the great conspiracy theories are true.

    2. It has been interesting to see how quick the police have identified and rounded up the perpetrators of anti establishment crimes. I know there are cameras everywhere, but unless you are on record, how does plod know which door to break down. Ahh yes, the much improved and praised passport office which has had a revamp of their systems so that anyone with a passport has a digitised image. This can be read across government departments, such as DVLA and, no doubt, the local stazi. No need to be on a wanted list any longer; game, set and match to the clever blob it seems.

    1. I see the local perlice are all Inclusive

      Sussex Police Superintendent Rachel Swinney

    1. Whatever his salary from GB News, what’s it got to with the BBC? They don’t pay him, whereas they do use public funds to pay highly inflated salaries to many of their TV personalities.

      1. It’s publicised to stir up envy and outrage from those who think he’s earning too much money.

    2. 'Denies' – journalese for "Yeah, we know he's lying, but we can't actually say it 'cos we'd get sued".

    1. How on earth can this happen, the acts he committed and the verdict. One guess what he has in mind now.

    2. The name of the 'Judge' Mr Recorder David Gordon who passed the non-sentence should be writ LARGE

      If When he re-offends, the judge should then be prosecuted as an accomplice

    3. Good job he didn't post something on social media which upset someone's feelings. Then he would have received a few years' imprisonment.

    4. Thank god he has a nice tan. If he was white, he would be enjoying hospitality in a jail cell.

    5. My bold.
      I can understand why they would stop once a clear case was established, but I wonder how many hours have been spent recently, trawling social media in an attempt to catch the rioters and those supposedly encouraging them. And then I compare their and his sentences.
      I'm sorry, but I know which people I would prefer to be walking the streets still.

      His mobile phone was found to contain indecent images of children. There were 63 of the most serious, category A images and one category A video, 83 categeory B images and one video and 93 category C images and one video.

      Newcastle Crown Court heard the children ranged in age from six months to 15 years. There were a further 62,034 images and 561 videos which were not categorised due to "proportionality" in the use of police time.

      Touati told police he was depressed and had got addicted to watching pornography. He had then joined a group which was sharing illegal material. He said he knew it was wrong but he was "nevertheless curious", the court heard.

      https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/newcastle-dwp-worker-caught-indecent-29737392

      1. 391872+ up ticks,

        Afternoon VW,

        Justice does NOT enter the equation the courts are being used as a manipulating,controlling ,suppressing
        fear tool.

      1. 'Bun'? A bun is something with currants in.

        That is a cob/roll/bap/tea-cake/bread-cake/batch/scuffler/barm-cake/rowie/stottie/bara/softie/oven-bottom …

          1. I'd call it a sesame-seeded cob (or roll, or bap, or bread-cake).

            Buns are dessert items.

          2. No one asks for a burger in a cob. Not even Northerners. Before the advent of MacDonalds and other chains we had bunless rissoles. The buns came with the culture.

          3. No one with an education asks for a ‘burger’ (the completely retarded call it a ‘beefburger’) it is neither.

            It is a hamburger (original name ‘Hamburg Steak’). No one calls a Frankfurter a ‘porkfurter’, or just a ‘furter’!

          4. True, but I was referring to the song

            “You know it’s a lie
            ‘Cause that’ll be the day
            When I die”

          5. Yes i know. But for years they have been advertised as 100% beef. Now people just call them burgers .

          6. I buy red Dansk pølser (for hot dogs) frequently. They are nice with crispy roasted onions, mustard and ketchup.

          7. If you went up to any counter or wagon and asked for it in that way they would think you were soft in the head. Go on. Try it. It would be like asking for a Watneys pale ale and lemonde rather than asking for a shandy. And before you go off on one. I know what you are going to say.

            ‘Hello, I would like a sesame-seeded cob with a Hamburger. Doesn’t work does it?

          8. I'll tell thee this for nothing: When I did used to occasionally go to a hamburger seller, if they asked me "Would you like 'fries' with that?" I would reply, "No, but I'd like some chips!"

          9. When I was a boy after a visit to the school dentist my mother would take me to the Lyon’s Tea Room on Southgate Street in Bath for a treat.

            The treat was a cup of milky coffee served in a translucent bone china cup accompanied by a Bath Bun. The Bath Bun contained currants and lumps of sugar. An alternative was either Lardy Cake or else a Chelsea Bun.

          10. But I can read and understand 'vapid Americanese'.

            Yet I cannot get acclimated to being burglarized.

          11. As the late HM Queen Elizabeth II said, "There is Standard English… and there is wrong."

        1. That's not a barm cake, they are flatter and don't have grass seed sprinkled on the top

          1. Lancastrians, oh that's different. They are definitely not what a Cheshire lad would all a barm cake.

        2. Those have eat that kind of thing (burgers) call it a bun. I would probably call it a roll or maybe a bap as it’s quite big.

        3. When I was a child, any bread roll was a bun. Not sure which part of the country that's from but it's definitely known.

          1. You will have discovered that your new locals don't follow suit. You are now living in cob land.

    1. Are you a burger master or the chairman of the executive council (or cabinet) of a town in Germany?

          1. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/056011239e1fbf28b42994534f22316e055adc398d6badd148d892a4266d7b96.png

            Non Angli sed Angeli

            "It is said that one day, when some merchants had lately arrived at Rome, many things were exposed for sale in the market place, and much people resorted thither to buy: Gregory himself went with the rest, and saw among other wares some boys put up for sale, of fair complexion, with pleasing countenances, and very beautiful hair. When he beheld them, he asked, it is said, from what region or country they were brought? and was told, from the island of Britain, and that the inhabitants were like that in appearance. He again inquired whether those islanders were Christians, or still involved in the errors of paganism, and was informed that they were pagans. Then fetching a deep sigh from the bottom of his heart, “Alas! what pity,” said he, “that the author of darkness should own men of such fair countenances; and that with such grace of outward form, their minds should be void of inward grace.” He therefore again asked, what was the name of that nation? and was answered, that they were called Angles. “Right,” said he, “for they have an angelic face, and it is meet that such should be co-heirs with the Angels in heaven" – St Bede the Venerable.

            This window in Canterbury's Catholic church recalls the scene described above by St Bede.

          1. Wasps are said to be in short supply this year (although not in the outdoor cafe I was in last week). It hadn’t previously occurred to me that this was because Labour front-benchers were chewing industrial quantities.

    1. So you're merely giving NoTTLers a big hint as to what you really, really want for Christmas?

    1. I really don't know why people sign these things. No petition has EVER resulted in a government changing its mind.

        1. I used to sign them.
          Heck, I'd even read the 'replies'.
          No government of any stripe has the slightest inclination to pay attention to the voters' opinions.

      1. It creates an impression that people's views are taken into account. Hence a sort of safety valve. Rather like this site, in fact.

        A place where frustrations can be vented safely, at least for the moment. Were it not so, I'd be incarcerated somewhere.

        How long this can continue? I've not been sleeping too well, of late. Perhaps it's in anticipation of the front door being kicked in early one morning on behalf of the state?

        1. As ringleader you're in the hot seat.

          Plea bargain, by telling them all about the weirdos here.

        2. We'll send you a file, Geoff…or whatever your preference. Possibly the heat, or longer daylight, or even age – think supposed to need less sleep with age?

        3. I'd be in the next cell,, just think, three meals a day, nice heated cell and all the tv you could wish for, well perhaps not that.

    2. As I understand it.. the axing of Winter Fuel Payment only affects those with savings. It is Means Tested.

      This aligns with Herr Starmer's hit list.. You are only in Month No2 of the regime, and he's just getting started.

      1. Not so. It will only be available to pensioners who are entitled to Pension Credit. They may be denied to pensioners with savings, private pensions, other incomes, or merely those who have ever criticised Labour*.

        *I may have exaggerated the last example.

        1. I'm not certain you did, Geoff 😀 We may snicker at them now, but we're only at first glances through the Looking Glass….if you have any pips, listen up for them squeaking….

        2. And with all the benefits that come with pension credit, these pensioners are a whole lot better off than those that fall into the poverty trap cut-off point just above the level to be entitled to pension credit.

          Edit: Pensioners are not required on the WEF/Labour ideological journey.

        1. That depended where you live. Something to do with average temperatures.

          Our winter temperatures here in Dordogneshire are lower than the UK's, but because France includes its overseas departments the average for France is higher.

        2. I suspect the means testing will prove to be more costly than simply paying it as a universal benefit.

          1. It always has been in the past. I doubt anything will have changed for the better or more efficient.

          2. Means testing of course requires more staff to check the qualifying conditions. It is also labour intensive to check the bank and investment status of claimants.

      2. No it was universal. Now it will be only people who have not made provision for themselves by paying into an extra pension to look after themselves in old age who won't get it. I contributed all my working life to have a reasonable standard of living after I retired. I need not have bothered; I still pay tax and I get nothing.

    3. As I understand it.. the axing of Winter Fuel Payment only affects those with savings. It is Means Tested.

      This aligns with Herr Starmer's hit list.. You are only in Month No2 of the regime, and he's just getting started.

    4. As I understand it.. the axing of Winter Fuel Payment only affects those with savings. It is Means Tested.

      This aligns with Herr Starmer's hit list.. You are only in Month No2 of the regime, and he's just getting started.

  34. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1XiBVB-qkY

    Alain Delon, magnetic French film star who projected a moral ambivalence on screen and in life – obituary
    Dubbed ‘the most handsome man in the world’ he made his breakthrough as the psychopathic charmer Tom Ripley in Plein Soleil.

    Alain Delon, who has died aged 88, was one of the most prominent and magnetic French actors of the post-war era; his dazzling good looks and his lack of formal training sometimes led people to underrate his talents as an actor, yet there were few better equipped to portray enigmatic and morally corrupted youth.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2024/08/18/alain-delon-french-star-obituary/

    When I was a teenager , I thought he was .. well wow!

  35. Am I alone in never having heard a "song" by Taylor Swift? Just asking – as she appears to have achieved some local popularity…{:¬))

    1. Taylor Swift is hugely successful with her target audience. I haven't listened to any of her music either. Ken Bruce refuses to play her songs until she sings one that doesn't trash her many ex boyfriends.

      1. I think because huge numbers of young women identify with her. She's previously written songs around how awful men ('boys') are. Now she has a hulk of a new boyfriend, he's an American soccer player or similar.

        1. Once she has worked through that relationship and dumped him she will have lots of new material.

          1. She was, started writing her own music quite early I think. Then introduced ‘how awful males are’ into songs, very popular 😀

      2. She moans a lot about her failed relationships and how unconfident she feels. My daughters think it is unbecoming in a woman of nearly thirty.

      3. My understanding is that she comes from a very wealthy background and is a highly finished product that has been marketed in a very skilled way.
        The days when a performer could rise from the gutter to international stardom, in the manner of Edith Piaf, are long gone.

    2. If I have, it was instantly forgotten. Our young assistant priest at church also has the first name Taylor. He has perfect pitch, lucky boy.

      1. I still don't know who she is, other than she made a lot of money from pop songs. I could walk past her in the street and not know.

    3. Neither have I but a lot of people have . . .

      Swift became the first billionaire with music as the main source of income and the highest-grossing female touring act.
      Swift is one of the world's best-selling music artists with estimated
      global sales of 200 million records. Seven of her albums have opened with over one million pure sales in a week. Wiki

    4. She has a very good voice. The videos that go with her songs are incredibly slick and well-produced. The melodies are easy to follow and to sing along with, and eminently forgettable. It's all very commercial – a bit like Abba but at least they did lovely harmonies. I can think of a lot worse piped music to have to listen to when I do my weekly supermarket shop, but I'd never play it for myself.

    5. I believe one of her offerings was on our radio earlier this week.
      When the announcer mentioned who had just been singing, my thought was Oh that's her is it? Even about thirty seconds after the music stopped, I had no recollection of the song.

    1. We no longer have a Justice system in this country more of a Law system with prosecutors, Judges and Magistrates making up law on the hoof.
      Perhaps we will be able to bring them to book when the public will be able to reverse the rôles.

    1. Want a local council pet project?

      Our local mob are trying to push through a new water system at a cost of $300 million. They have a plan (sort of) that assumes any land zoned as industrial will soon be built on as industry beats its way to our door and population is supposed to double in the next ten years.

      We are a rural area with a population of about twenty five thousand, our biggest industries are tourism and vineyards, neither of which are impacted by us being about 50km from major roads and rail access. They have completely lost the plot when it comes to paying off loans that they want to use to finance the project, and there is of course no contingency planning for what happens if population growth doesn't pan out as they are hoping.

      As always, public protests are being met by closed, we know best minds.

      1. You should look at Rayner's builders charter (otherwise known as the changes to the planning regs). Presumption to build, destruction of the green belt, redefining land so it can be built on, compulsory travellers sites, allocation of numbers of houses to be built set by the government, if councils don't comply regional committees will make them cough up. I could go on, but I'm already depressed enough with this short intro.

    2. As a Bear of Little Brain, I make that an increase of £26.3 billion in 23 years, i.e. just over a £1 billion per annum increase in Council Tax. With increasing levels of housing built over the past 23 years, is that such an enormous increase as suggested?

    1. Fast food suppliers and other delivery boys.
      I wonder how much tax they actually pay, and how many don't declare so they can claim benefits.

    1. I might be mistaken but it appears that successive governments have actually been committing treason against the British people for many years.

      1. It was only in relation to the WFA, In this instance by defining what the territory was.
        The UK looked at average temperatures over France as a whole. France defined "France"

    1. Starmer's going nowhere.. just like Obama.

      What's interesting nobody knows why they are doing it..
      Katie Hopkins reckons it's driven by money & funding from religious groups & NGOs.
      John Waters & Michael Yon think it's some sinister plan to cull the natives.
      Peter Hitchens 'knows' it's a commie plan to destabilise the West implemented way back in the 80s.
      That silver haired ponytailed liberal Peter Zeihan thinks it a harmless attempt to redress the doom demographics.

      Take yer pick..
      though, none of them will talk about it.. and go into a hissy fit if you ask them.

      1. 391872+ up ticks,

        Afternoon KB,

        Easy money, power illusion, scam addicted political mercenaries.

      2. Back to the 80s? It goes back a lot further than that. The First World War was about establishing the New World Order. (Preemptive text pretty much wrote that for me!)

      3. I wonder if it is mass elite hysteria. The two parties egg each other on whilst at the same time trying to outdo each other regarding who is the most progressive. These people are unhinged. I think we need PR to put a stop to the uni-party. They have morphed into one another, neither can be trusted. They have no principles or even allegiances. It's an ego thing.

    2. How do we get rid of him legally and without having to resort to violence or kidnapping?

      1. 391872+ up ticks,

        Afternoon R,

        Are you a roundhead perchance you’re taking all the fun out of life.

  36. A famished Birdie Three?

    Wordle 1,156 3/6
    ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨
    🟨🟨⬜⬜🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Oh show off.

      I lucked in with a bogey and that was all guesswork. Different computer, I don't have access to my painful lack of progress.

    2. Par four today.

      Wordle 1,156 4/6

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

    3. Well done. Can't even remember what I got before I went for a beer with a friend who lost his dod yesterday.

      Wordle 1,156 4/6

      🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜
      ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨
      🟩🟩⬜⬜⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
      Ah, par for me.

      Edit: That's dog. Poor old Tammy a 14 year old long haired Dacshund.

    4. Well done. Can't even remember what I got before I went for a beer with a friend who lost his dod yesterday.

      Wordle 1,156 4/6

      🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜
      ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨
      🟩🟩⬜⬜⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
      Ah, par for me.

      Edit: That's dog. Poor old Tammy a 14 year old long haired Dacshund.

  37. What an exciting finish to the ladies 100 cricket match. London Spirit win win a six with two balls left

    1. Dare I say it? Yes – I will. Women's cricket is entertaining which, compared with women's football – seems amateurish.

      1. I like both to be honest.
        Women’s football reminds me of what football used to be like in the 60s.
        Good entertaining sport.
        Cricket is Cricket.

      1. I turn the sound down and imagine I am there, you wouldn’t hear them at the ground.

  38. This morning an eleven year old boy was fatally stabbed while he was playing (or watching) football at a sports centre in Mocejón, Spain. The male suspect apparently had fair hair and tattoos on one hand, or both; he fled in a grey or silver Ford Mondeo.

    1. Poor lad, and how awful for his friends and family. Takes the shine off the day, reading that.

      1. The lad came from a well known and popular family in a small provincial town. Is there a pattern somewhere?

    1. On Oxford Street W1 it’s sweet shops. Fronts for drug dealing and money laundering I’m told.

      1. Sweet shops. Barber shops. Nail Bars. Plod oblivious.

        Chinese restaurants…..raided every year.

  39. That's me done for today. Apart from half an hour's heavy duty watering this morning, I spent a day at leisure at resort! Just picked a pound of raspberries. Once they start they go into overdrive.

    When I posted that charming snap this morning (since removed at the MR's sensible request) I should have added that when the little maid arrived, G & P were in the porch. She was told their names and then, very formally, said, "Good morning, Gus: good morning, Pickles." {:¬))

    Have a jolly evening training to be an engine driver.

    A demain.

    PS Many happy returns, Ashes: you have urned them (creekit joke!)

  40. Renmore Army Barracks attacker was.. drumroll.. a Muslim jihadist. (MSN deadly silence).

    and..

    The two Muslim brothers still not charged more than two weeks after … Manchester Airport is a complex case," said a sharia law expert. (MSN deadly silence).

  41. Renmore Army Barracks attacker was.. drumroll.. a Muslim jihadist. (MSN deadly silence).

    and..

    The two Muslim brothers still not charged more than two weeks after … Manchester Airport is a complex case," said a sharia law expert. (MSN deadly silence).

      1. Don't be naughty. It means Bottle Holder With Clip. The latest way to save the planet before we all die next week in nuclear explosion. Wouldn't want to leave any bottle tops behind that could choke cooked dolphins.

        1. I determinedly part the top from the bottle. Can’t be doing with the nonsense. This is where XTwitter comes into its own. I saw a whole thread of people who do what I do. Twist it off and trim the bits.

          1. I know the new tops can be rough on the skin. I have to open at least two a day and i noticed damage to the skin on my finger trying to get the thing open. New methods required.

          2. I found the new ginger beer bottles left a spur when the top was wrenched off. The first time the bit of plastic went through my finger. I cut them off straight away after that. The idiot who thought it up should be run through several times with the spiky bits of plastic!

      1. Now you tell me !… You can monetise that on Only Fans ! You with your big wossname and me as your pimp agent.

        1. Charity ride? Raising money for the Air Ambulance? Environmental work in the countryside? All typical Hunt functions.

  42. School starts again tomorrow, so the traffic on the way home from Firstborn's place was horrific. Took ages… but home now! Excellent… left the wine at his place, though. Bugger!

          1. Haven't driven in a while now.
            Have unexplained blackouts, no warning, so won't sit in the drivers seat. Not all bad, when thinking of a glass or two.

          2. It's a real pain in the arse, Tom. Can't go anywhere by myself now. Have alineup of medical appointments to "look into it"…

          3. Do as much of your own research as you possibly can. Doctors hate people researching like that because they are always playing catch up. At the very least you would know which direction to steer them.

          4. With my cataract problem I haven't driven for over six months. But I'm looking forward to getting back to it. I don't think it will be long now.

    1. 6. The Merlot Monologue
      “I am the noble Merlot,” it begins with a flair,
      “Rich and velvety, beyond compare.”
      In glasses swirled, it finds its voice,
      A red so fine, it makes hearts rejoice.

      A monologue of berries, oak, and earth,
      Of dinners grand, and fireside mirth.
      “A sip of me,” it proudly states,
      “Transports one to a grander place.”

      So here’s to the Merlot, so lush and divine,
      In its ruby depths, a world so fine.
      A soliloquy of flavor, bold and bright,
      In the Merlot’s monologue, we find delight.

  43. 391872+ up ticks,

    Afternoon BB2,

    The vote has been the consenting key for decades IMO, if unified en masse
    the peoples have a powerful tool, to unseat an odious tool.

    1. Our conservative leader is promising that no member of the government will attend WEF meetings, let alone become board members of that organization.

      Only a year until we can dump the WEF riddled Liberals!

  44. Here's a gentle little story I just found on Facebook.
    Seems appropriate.

    It occurred to Pooh and Piglet that they hadn't heard from Eeyore for several days, so they put on their hats and coats and trotted across the Hundred Acre Wood to Eeyore's house.
    Inside the house was Eeyore.
    "Hello Eeyore," said Pooh.
    "Hello Pooh. Hello Piglet" said Eeyore, in a glum sounding voice.
    "We just thought we'd check on you," said Piglet, "because we hadn't heard from you, and so we wanted to know if you were okay."
    Eeyore was silent for a moment. "Am I okay?" he asked, eventually. "Well, I don't know, to be honest. Are any of us really okay? That's what I ask myself. All I can tell you, Pooh and Piglet, is that right now I feel really rathr sad, and alone, and not much fun to be around at all.
    Which is why I haven't bothered you. Because you wouldn't want to waste your time with someone who is sad, and alone, and not much fun to be around at all, would you now."
    Pooh looked and Piglet, and Piglet looked at Pooh, and they both sat down, one on either side of Eeyore in his stick house.
    Eeyore looked at them in surprise. "What are you doing?"
    "We're sitting here with you," said Pooh, "because we are your friends. And true friends don't care if someone is feeling sad, or alone, or not much fun to be around at all. True friends are there for you anyway. And so here we are."
    "Oh," said Eeyore. "Oh." And the three of them sat there in silence, and while Pooh and Piglet said nothing at all; somehow, almost imperceptbly, Eeyore started to feel a very tiny little bit better.
    Because Pooh and Piglet were there.
    No more; no less

    1. Lovely story Obs.
      My mate Brucie rang me Saturday morning. He's not feeling good but he's come to terms with his condition
      I wish I could be with him but I don't want to interfere because sadly I don't feel it would help in any way. He's promised to phone me when he can.

      1. Had the same recently. I sent a personal gift to be there instead of me. Amazon is your friend.

          1. Could you possibly use facebook or zoom to send a video message. At least he would see you.

          2. Yes, we speak to our youngest in Dubai using that.
            But Bruce is a private sort of person who doesn’t appreciate that sort of thing. He’s probably not looking to good due to so much weight loss.

    1. 391872+ up ticks,

      O2O,
      LD,
      After the rotherham 16 plus year cover-up revealed by the Jay report, lab is teflon coated.

    1. Peter Hitchens was right..

      Starmer is deadly serious.. and dogmatic. He doesn't care what you say, think or do,

      1. It's very difficult to understand why and how so many nasties end up in dominant positions in British politics.

      2. His brother was lauded for many years. Peter went through the crucible and then his eyes opened.

      3. Look at those blunt little eyes of his. Strangely, his head is shaped like a rhinoceros' – without the horn. Thick and kind of oblong.

    2. Is there not anyone in the UK, in this day and age, who has the balls and brains of: Robert Kett, Robert of Locksley ("Robin Hood"), Robert Catesby (quite a few Bobs, there), Wat Tyler, George Loveless, Francis Drake, Winston Churchill, Rob Roy McGregor, Margaret Thatcher, Edward I, Elizabeth I, Edward III, Duke of Wellington, Horatio Nelson …?

      Time for such an individual to stand forward.

        1. You've got to have a radical group name such as ANTIFART.
          How about OHALLRIGHT or RIGHTHO?

          1. Tried to join those groups. One lot said i wasn't posh enough and the other said i was too posh. Story of my life when i tried for an allotment.

          2. Sounds like Life of Brian and the Allotment Liberation Society. As for poshness, I imagine you to be truly and deeply Anglo Saxon , not one of those unwanted Norman immigrants.

      1. Not forgetting Henry "Orator" Hunt (6 November 1773 – 13 February 1835).

        Regrettably also deceased.

      2. Perhaps best that such an individual starts out incognito – sort of Hereward the Woke….

    3. I watched Rowan Atkinson's YouTube video today on free speech.
      He recounted an incident where a citizen was arrested for calling a horse gay.
      I also watched a video from the BlackBelt Barrister who explained how UK law could be interpreted to allow a citizen to be arrested for making such an utterance. I understand the arrest could have only been made on suspicion that the utterance was made to intentionally insult the horse.

    1. Catching up with other media. Consoling (I hope) a friend whose Father died just a couple of days ago. Winding up to work tomorrow…

      1. I know the feeling, my wife's sister died a fortnight ago……………

        You are lost for words

        1. I never had much family, so never got used to the loss of a family member, there were so few. So I never had any practice over what to say or do when someone else is in that position.

          1. It doesn't matter because whatever the relationship it's extremely difficult to find the right words. The son of some friends of mine committed suicide a week ago. Desperately difficult to know what to say – there are no words.

          2. So awfully sad.

            It's the wrong time to mention this, but suicide per se is not a crime, so one might write that someone 'died by suicide', rather than 'committed'.

          3. Either way, whatever the semantics, it was a horrible thing to happen. Suicide is NO LONGER a crime. Perhaps the phrase has echoes of the past.

          4. Oh, man. Bad enough to just die of something, utterly awful that they feel so bad that they take their own life.

          5. It's not really His fault – after all, the design specification had "3-score years and ten", and that's about valid now as well.
            The loss of my Father hit hard, though, even though it was a long while ago.

    2. Here. Did something dumb. Saw some ants in the kitchen sink and sprayed on it an insect repellent intended for skin but probably past its date. Fumes were awful so backed out quickly and opened the front door. Stepped into the fresh air and felt OK but then drank some water and coughed a lot. Alright now. No eye irritation. Protected by glasses.

        1. Last time I had them, the whole building was infested and I put up with it till the pest control people organised by the management came. (I live in a 30s “mansion block”.) I thought the stuff I used was safe because it’s intended for spraying directly onto skin and I didn’t expect fumes but thought it might kill the little buggers.

          1. Glad you survived in any case.

            A lot of them around. I had loads in the summer house so had to “Nippon” them. We’ve had a swarm of flying ants in the other day, which all huddled in the corner of a window. I had to pick them up one by one in the end and throw them out. Little blighters.

      1. Ants are not your enemy. Pesticide spray is. Ants are coming because they have found a food source. Remove the source. They will hunt elsewhere.

        1. If only that were so. They are immensely strong and can work their way through masonry. You don't have to live in squalor to find them a menace

          1. The red ones are worse, but yes. The winged jobs are really interesting – they rise up out of the ground like smoke once a year and provide a feast for songbirds. I assume they then disperse to greener pastures if they survive the feeding frenzy, but they don't keep their wings.

          2. As a child i learned red ones bite. Blacks were okay. Though i don't live in the Amazon so it could all be reverse ferret.

          3. They dispersed in our porch the other day – farsands of the little buggers! Did a quick google and hoovered them up!

      2. Caught a wasp under a glass on the table today.
        Given the scarcity of bees and wasps I decided to release it outside as surely by now it must be one of the protected species.

    3. Giving the dog a good couple of miles gallop, then back home .Watering the garden , Moh watching cricket on TV , we are eating a prawn Tikka Masala meal from Tesco's , nan bread etc , followed by a cream caramel pud !

      No formality today , too busy , but dipping in and out of here when I can , oh yes and elderly old chap we know , has been wandering again, he lives in another village and is back in hospital , doesn't drink enough tea , squash water during the day , another UTI I suspect .

  45. Evening, all. I come to Nttl replete with chicken pie, home grown boiled spuds, parsnips and roasties (not homegrown, unfortunately). I foreswore matins with hymns this morning in favour of said Eucharist this evening so have polished my halo for the time being.

    Starmerism is really a continuation on the Non-Cons policies, just worst because it is Labour. I was thinking as I drove past a housing estate on formerly green fields that the socialists who sold the land should have been stripped of their profits and the money given to people who had less than them. They are, after all, socialists. Me, I'm an out and out capitalist barsteward who thinks that what I've worked for should remain mine.

    1. Once again my ruinously expensive new glasses have failed me – "home frown boiled squids".

      1. Have you considered lens wipes? Failing that…adjust the brightness on your device?

        More seriously…don't scan. Read a bit more s l o w l y.

        Sorry. :@(

  46. Watched the 2 finals of the Hundred, thank goodness again for the mute button. I lasted 'sound on' in the womens final until after 5 min they were chatting about shampoo and conditioner. These twats aren't commentators – they'd be more at home in a chat room. I left the sound off for the mens final too

  47. Oh bugger. I'm in shock.
    There were lots of police vehicles going up the Via Gellia this morning and it turns out 5 motorcyclists killed in two separate accidents, two on the A6 heading towards Dove Holes, and three on the A53 Leek Road coming out of Buxton.

    1. That's awful. There have been a lot of motorcycle fatalities of late – worse than usual.

    2. That is terrible , horrible , poor motorcyclists .

      Grit on the road , potholes and even a deer or flying pheasant let alone potholes are evil destroyers of good people who enjoy their motorbikes .

      My son rides a powerful bike .. I am always apprehensive, but so happy when he returns home .

  48. Right, chums it's time for me to say "Good Night" to you all. I hope you sleep well and awake refreshed tomorrow mornning.

  49. Still haven't caught up with the earlier posts, but I'm off to bed.
    Good night all.

  50. Jacob Rees-Mogg ‘strongly’ considering standing at next election
    Ex-Tory minister says losing his North East Somerset seat was not a shock
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/08/18/jacob-rees-mogg-considering-standing-next-election/

    BTL

    Dear Mr Rees-Mogg,

    You like Nigel Farage far more than you like any of the current Conservative Party leadership contestants. You also agree far more with Nigel Farage's ideas than you do with the ideas of any of the remaining Conservative MPs in the House of Commons.

    You seem to have rather more brains that any of your former colleagues in the Conservative Party so it seems that it would be mad for you stay with the Conservative Party if you decide to run for Parliament again.

    You must join The Reform Party without any further delay.

Comments are closed.