718 thoughts on “Sunday 19 January: The HS2 project has been a catalogue of delays and broken promises”

    1. Bonjour.

      Are those ‘bugs’ on your knees viruses or bacteria? [I ask because only Americans call insects ‘bugs’.] :•)

  2. Boris Johnson is shoving retired British soldiers back into the firing line for crimes allegedly committed during the Troubles. Mail. Peter Hitchens. 19 January 2020.

    Let’s see if Al Johnson can get out of this one. The Tories have said many times that they will put a stop to the pursuit of long-retired British soldiers through the courts, for crimes allegedly committed during the Northern Irish Troubles.

    But they have also just agreed to do exactly the opposite. A key part of the resurrection of ‘power-sharing’ in Northern Ireland is a pledge to revive a rather nasty deal called the Stormont House Agreement, swallowed by the Cameron government just before Christmas 2014.

    Morning everyone. I’m OK here because I’ve always regarded these assurances to stop the prosecution of old soldiers as pure waffle. Boris will sell them out as has every administration since Blair. It is one of those things that is small in itself but tells you a great deal about the sort of country that you actually live in.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-7902773/PETER-HITCHENS-Boris-Johnson-shoving-retired-British-soldiers-firing-line.html

    1. Morning AS,
      Since the b liar era there has been little change in the voting pattern, just re-shuffling of the same odious politico’s.
      Some being culled from the ranks
      ( political collateral damage) to satisfy
      the believers.
      Party before Country, power kept at ANY cost.

      1. Leicestershire Police described the suspect as a light-skinned Asian man, in his mid-20s, about 5ft 10in tall, of chubby build, and wearing a brown jacket.

        Morning Peddy. These people now know that they can get away with anything!

  3. According to The Times, Corbyn has nominated Bercow for a peerage. Does he get the right to do so because he’s standing down as leader of the Opposition? Or is it merely a ploy to distract from Brexit celebrations? The Great British Public must be allowed to speak…..[and make rude suggestions about where Bercow should be Baron of]

    1. Bon jour, mon ami. On dit omelette de fromage, n’est-ce-pas?

      (Bon jour, achetez la rue!)

      :-(( (Gallic shrug.)

      1. Yum! Toast with honey and ginger here. I love porridge but I put on weight very quickly if I indulge every day (ditto toast, but not quite so quickly). I have to treat carbs with great respect and eat sparingly.

    3. Good morning all.
      Just about back to normal this morning,
      Pint mug of tea two Ryvitas, one with pate and the other with Marmite & cream cheese, both topped with thin slices of onion.
      Chased down by an assortment of specially selected medications!

  6. As per Minty’s posting below

    PETER HITCHENS: Boris Johnson is shoving retired British soldiers back into the firing line for crimes allegedly committed during the Troubles

    PUBLISHED: 01:04, 19 January 2020 | UPDATED: 01:09, 19 January 2020

    Let’s see if Al Johnson can get out of this one. The Tories have said many times that they will put a stop to the pursuit of long-retired British soldiers through the courts, for crimes allegedly committed during the Northern Irish Troubles.

    But they have also just agreed to do exactly the opposite. A key part of the resurrection of ‘power-sharing’ in Northern Ireland is a pledge to revive a rather nasty deal called the Stormont House Agreement, swallowed by the Cameron government just before Christmas 2014.

    This pretty much makes sure there will be more of these politically motivated cases.

    It is the latest stage in the appeasement of the Provisional IRA and of the other Ulster terror groups, which began in 1998 with the lawless mass release of scores of grisly terrorists, ‘loyalist’ as well as Republican.

    This surrender to criminal violence, the most shameful and abject in modern British history, is generally ignored or forgotten on the mainland.

    Its dire effects are mostly felt in Northern Ireland itself. But there is one part of it which reaches across the Irish Sea, and that is the unceasing attempt to pursue these cold cases.

    Every time it happens, the Tories say they will stop it. And then it happens again. This is because it is what the IRA (and its front organisation Sinn Fein) want. And what they want happens. Guess why.

    Maybe some of these cases are just. I cannot tell. It is not the point. Justice has never been the point of the 1998 agreement.

    This not only led to the rapid freedom of many serious murderers, it also effectively prevented the prosecution or punishment of alleged terrorist criminals who were not tried before the deal was reached.

    You may remember the case of John Downey, the alleged culprit of the bloody 1982 Hyde Park bombing.

    He was one of nearly 200 people who had been given written official promises that they would not be prosecuted.

    And, as the judge said, even if he had been convicted he would have served no more than two years – for a crime of astonishing savagery.

    So that is the deal for the terrorist side, who are supposed to have been defeated in 1998.

    But the Stormont House Agreement, which Mr Johnson has just agreed to put into effect, promises: ‘Legislation will establish a new independent body to take forward investigations into outstanding Troubles-related deaths; the Historical Investigations Unit (HIU).’

    It adds: ‘In respect of its criminal investigations, the HIU will have full policing powers.’

    The observant Sarah Jones, Labour MP for Croydon Central, quizzed the Prime Minister about this on Wednesday.

    She asked: ‘The press were briefed last year that the Prime Minister was going to bring an end to all ongoing investigations from the conflict, and he said on Monday that he would not support vexatious claims when there was no new evidence.

    However, the Stormont agreement includes the HIU, and the point of all the ongoing investigations is that the original evidence has never been properly investigated, so will the Prime Minister tell us today, yes or no, whether he now supports the investigation of every single outstanding claim?’

    Mr Johnson’s answer was pure waffle, full of holes: ‘Nothing in the agreement will stop us going ahead with legislation to ensure that no one who has served in our armed forces suffers vexatious or unfair prosecution for cases that happened many years ago when no new evidence has been provided. We will legislate to ensure that cannot happen.’

    Who decides what is vexatious or unfair? What if the HIU insists that the evidence is new and the Belfast prosecution service agrees?

    Heaven help poor British soldiers if this is all the protection they have. The shadow of the gunman still lies across this land.

    War twisted into a stupid fairytale
    What is the point of the much-praised film 1917, an absurd fairy tale with almost no connection to reality?

    Two Great War soldiers are sent on foot across no-man’s-land on a ‘desperate mission’ to prevent a massacre.

    Leaving aside the obvious point that futile massacres were pretty much a regular occurrence throughout the First World War, and there’s no sign that the high command cared all that much, why go on foot?

    As the two heroes stumble from hazard to hazard in what my colleague Matthew Bond has rightly noted is quite like a video game, they watch British planes flying overhead. Couldn’t these planes have taken the message?

    Having wriggled and struggled sweatily through a deadly maze to get into no-man’s-land, the pair are then overtaken by a convoy of British lorries, which appears to have got there by taking the first right turn off the Ypres by-pass.

    If the roads are open for trucks, why not send the message by motorbike? And here’s another question.

    When was the last time a film started collecting awards before it had even been shown in cinemas?

    Keep out of my opinions, Mr Plod
    The Guardian newspaper, voice of the Establishment, has been squawking like an indignant parakeet about counter-terrorism police listing Extinction Rebellion as an extremist organisation.

    XR turned out to be on a list of ‘extremist ideologies’, which was to be reported to the Prevent programme.

    In a way, I agree with The Guardian’s outrage. The police have no business probing people’s opinions. There should be no such lists.

    The word ‘extremism’ has no objective meaning and it could one day be applied to me or you, if things carry on as they are.

    Policing in this country is already far too political and, to put it politely, police officers really aren’t very good at understanding such things.

    We have a very expensive Security Service, MI5, which –thank heaven – has no powers of arrest or prosecution, to keep an eye on those who might move from angry speechmaking into acts of violence.

    When I was a Trotskyist in the 1960s and 1970s, MI5 did a pretty good job of watching us without interfering in our freedom of speech and thought.

    Alas, all their files on us were destroyed soon after New Labour came to power, as the Blair government was crammed with ex-Trots (including the Blair creature himself), who may not have been all that ex.

    And when extremists become the government, who dares call them extremists? But XR can hardly blame the authorities for being interested in them.

    The think-tank Policy Exchange made a fascinating study of their nature and origins.

    Many who have gone on their protests might be surprised to learn just how radical and fanatical they are.

    Remember how they seriously discussed disrupting Heathrow. And how, about the same time, they tweeted (last April 1) that ‘this movement is the best chance of bringing down capitalism’.

    But they deleted the tweet after nine minutes, presumably when they realised they had given away too much.

    Worth watching? Yes, but not by Mr Plod.

    **********************************************************************************************
    Talking of Mr Plod, I’m pleased to see that new research by Cambridge University has confirmed what all good coppers know and what I’ve been saying for decades.

    A visible police presence on foot reduces crime. Just four 15-minute patrols a day on some of the capital’s most crime-ridden Underground platforms reduced reported crime by 28 per cent in patrolled locations, while it rose by 16 per cent on platforms without patrols. Will anything happen? I doubt it.

    Meanwhile, a major newspaper has just published on its front page, as hot, big news, the fact that police have given up pursuing the serious crime of marijuana possession.

    While rejoicing over the sheep that was lost, etc, I have to say that any reader of this column could have told them that years ago.

    1. This surrender to criminal violence, the most shameful and abject in modern British history…

      Coming up fast on the rails is the surrender to the Pakistani rape and sex slave trafficking gangs. Another disgusting act of politically driven appeasement benefiting a group that has an inherent threat of unrest attached to it.

    2. Morning Z,
      “Any reader on this column could have told them that years ago”
      But that was before the times that
      submission / PC / Appeasement took a firm hold and became fodder for the herd.
      Submission/PCism /Appeasement
      does & will continue to kill & maim.

  8. A ho-hum bunch of letters today. I like the headline on this Breitbart piece, even if there’s nothing much new in the article

    Delingpole: David ‘Greta of the Third Age’ Attenborough Launches BBC’s Climate Bedwetting Blitzkrieg
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/01/18/attenborough-launches-bbc-climate-bedwetting-blitzkrieg/

    https://twitter.com/Martin_Durkin/status/1218231739644104704

    This is from the programme notes for a broadcast on BBC2 on 20 Nov 1974

    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EOgj6reX0AAo3VK.jpg

    2. He admits to effectively knowing nothing, just parroting what others (eco-loons) tell him. He even claims the devastating Australian bush fires to be evidence of global warming, ignoring that fact that the ban on previously successful bush management fire limiting policies (by eco-loons) has enabled the rapid spread of the fires.

      1. Never admit that you were wrong. The flooding of the Somerset levels was due to the ‘no dredging’ rules of the EU. Dredging had managed to prevent the problem arising for generations but no, the EU cannot be wrong – it must be down to climate change.

    3. In 1974 the world’s human population was 4 milliards (I wish to use correct terminology), today it is 7·7 milliards. No ‘action’ has (or ever will be) taken to prevent this getting out of hand!

      [What the vacuous Yanks call a “trillion” (1,000,000,000,000) is, in fact, a billion.]

  9. Morning, all. Beautiful clear and frosty morning here in N Essex with a waning crescent Moon high in the south-east.

  11. January 19 2020, 12:01am, The Sunday Times
    Listen to things that go plink in the night and you hear the death knell of society
    Rod Liddle

    Plink, goes my smartphone at two in the morning, and then plink again at four. When I get up I discover the first plink was someone sending me a photograph of the inbred child banjo player from Deliverance alongside a photograph of Labour’s Rebecca Long Bailey and asking if I can spot the difference. The second is from a woman who doesn’t exist but who, nonetheless, would gladly accede to sexual intercourse. They are the only women who will, these days.

    My first task of the day is to wade through this cyber-morass, this moronic inferno of gifs and memes, demands and insults, solicitations and associated toss, in the hope that one of them might be of even the mildest interest.

    I hear my 14-year-old daughter’s phone, charging on the landing, chirruping in the early hours too. Things that go plink in the night: middle-aged men digitally transmitting their appalling gonads? A schoolfriend calling her a stupid cow or a skanky thot?

    It is both otiose and Luddite to object to smartphones, seeing as we have kind of asked for them and the market has delivered. But I will do so anyway, given their growing ubiquity and the menacing control they have over our lives. Yes, of course, their purpose is to facilitate us, to do our bidding. But this is not quite how it works out.

    The latest figures suggest we spend almost three hours a day on our smartphones, wrapped up in a world of our own, insulated from the real stuff that is happening. This matters: in bars, in cafes, at bus stops, we no longer interact with real people. Instead we sit there, hunched like rock goblins, communing with phantasms.

    Psychologists tell us it is more gratifying to exist in cyber-space than it is the real world. Replies to whatever wittered bilge we have posted on one or another social network gives us a “burst of reinforcement” that is more pleasing to us than the terrifying unpredictability of responses that you get from flesh-and-blood people when you say “hello” to them.

    Most technological and societal developments over the past 40 or 50 years have led to us distancing ourselves from our fellow citizens: the decline of pubs and churches, the replacement of the traditional high street by the impersonal out-of-town megastore, the rise of the internet. We have become less communitarian as a consequence, less likely to know our neighbours, more narcissistic in our pursuits and outlook.

    This all accords with the prevailing individualistic liberal ideology, of course — it’s no coincidence. But we at least are adults and should have the wherewithal to call time on ourselves. With kids, it’s far more difficult. A recent British study suggested that teenagers spend up to 12 hours a day swiping back and forth on their phones. Teachers report that children are presenting at school with “limited communication skills” and that older children are now unable to handle formal social interactions, such as ordering food in a restaurant or buying ketamine from the local dealer.

    This is not simply a consequence of the children using their phones too much. It is also due to their parents being forever engaged in cyber-space to the extent that proper conversations scarcely exist between parent and child.

    Depression rates among teens have risen in parallel with the growth in smartphones: girls suffer the most because, apparently, they tend to use smartphones for being spiteful to each other, while boys use them for playing fatuous games.

    I am aware that smartphones are useful, and that similar jeremiads were written about the advent of television. Those jeremiads may not have been wrong either, though. I suppose it is up to each of us to judge if becoming ever shallower, ever more narcissistic, ever more atomised, as a people is an acceptable price to pay for a technology to which we are increasingly addicted.

    Brexit worst fears realised
    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/imageserver/image/methode%2Fsundaytimes%2Fprod%2Fweb%2Fbin%2Fd53a9d2e-3a12-11ea-9741-875f0512cf29.jpg?crop=1500%2C1000%2C0%2C0&resize=600

    ● Embarrassment at the BBC when the PM programme’s Evan Davis thought he was interviewing Robert Shapiro, OJ Simpson’s former lawyer — only to find on air it was Robert Shapiro, a Democratic Party adviser.

    There have been worse mistakes in the same studio. Nearly 30 years ago I was working on World At One as the Soviet Union fell apart. After many calls I was excited to secure an interview with Gennady Gerasimov, foreign affairs spokesman for Mikhail Gorbachev. He was charming. “Now we are fryends! No more wyar!” He even said the Soviet Union might join Nato. It was only on saying goodbye I learnt it wasn’t Gennady Gerasimov the foreign affairs spokesman, but Gennady Gerasimov the insurance salesman from Minsk.

    “Let’s keep this a bit quiet, Rod, hmm?” the editor said when I nervously confessed.

    We may be on the cusp of leaving the European Union, but Brexit derangement syndrome will be with us for a while, I think.

    Lecturer Mark Berry, for example, does not think we should hold a celebration. This is how he put it on that conduit for obsessive narcissists, Twitter: ”Could you explain why you have given provisional agreement to this re-enactment of Kristallnacht, @SadiqKhan? Anyone can see this is a pogrom waiting to happen.”

    Berry is a musicologist at Royal Holloway, University of London, and describes himself on Twitter as “an abhorrer of Johnson and a resistier [sic] of fascism”. But not a “jackass”.

    Labour’s pay-to-vote poll fleeces all of us
    The Labour Party offered a two-day “window” so that lucky supporters could pay £25 to cast their vote in the exciting leadership election. This steepish tariff was presumably meant to deter people like me from signing up in a spirit of mischief to vote for the mesmerisingly brilliant Richard Burgon.

    The Labour Party is against imposing voter ID at public elections, claiming it discriminates against impoverished voters who may not wish to fork out the minuscule costs involved. But it has no qualms about fleecing the poor when it comes to its own party.

    Labour is really against voter ID because it is by far the largest beneficiary of electoral fraud, something one hopes this government might address, quickly.

    Mistaken for Sven across the Severn
    Hate crime alert: the website TripAdvisor, on which people leave scathing one-star reviews of restaurants because the waitress was a bit off, does not handle reviews written in the Welsh language. The Welsh, or some of them, have latterly discovered this and are not best pleased. One man submitted a review and got a reply in Swedish, which seems to have been the consequence of a bemused computer making the best possible guess.

    I’m not sure why an American company should be forced to grapple with a Welsh translation of “★ It rained all week and they gave us seaweed for lunch”, but there we are. Ymlaen ac i fyny, as I’m sure they say all the time on the other side of that windy, sodden and desolate bridge.

      1. During the war, Churchill was keen to meet Isiah Berlin. His flunkies duly presented him with Irving Berlin.

    2. Cheer up, Rodders.
      The dystopia you describe relies on an uninterrupted supply of electricity. Either convert your phone to candle power, or train up a team of very fit hamsters.
      Meanwhile, switch the bl00dy thing off.

    3. I’ve found a great use for my smart phone….I talk to other people with it and they also ring me……this might catch on

    4. Cheer up, Rodders.
      The dystopia you describe relies on an uninterrupted supply of electricity. Either convert your phone to candle power, or train up a team of very fit hamsters.
      Meanwhile, switch the bl00dy thing off.

      2. Which reminds me it’s probably time I found where I last abandoned my unsmart phone and charge it.

    5. Sadly, this si just human nature. We seem doomed to destroy ourselves through spite, cruelty and nonsense.

      Our every step forward in bringing ourselves together allows another conduit to abuse each other.

    1. Matrix Chambers is the fragrant Cherie’s pocket money scam.
      Looks like a case where both sides are equally unpalatable.
      Still, I’m sure Daddy-in-Law will be paying the bills. Harry can continue manipulating Dad’s guilt feelings over marrying a mad brood mare.

      1. It appears that Daddy-in-Law is going to continue to shell out pocket money für den kleinen Scheißer.

    2. Certainly popcorn time. Her father is going to be called to testify against her. I’m so looking forward to it.

  13. Morning Each,
    The HS2 project has been a catalogue of delays and broken promises, in the field of current politics and concerning the toxic trio is there any other sort ?
    HS2 has been / is a great success keeping many an inflated life style of the brussels rubber stampers on track.
    Seek and yea shall find that the real chief on the UK side
    is pro eu and goes by the name of Lola.

  14. John Bercow nominated for peerage by Jeremy Corbyn

    John Bercow has been nominated for appointment to the House of Lords by Labour.
    The former Speaker ¬appears on a dissolution honours list, compiled by Jeremy Corbyn, the Sunday Times reported. However, the report added that it was unclear whether he would become a Labour peer or cross-bencher.

    Of course Corbyn nominated him, it’s one weasel sponsoring a rat.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/01/19/john-bercow-nominated-peerage-jeremy-corbyn/

      1. Really? I’m astonished at you Bob! He hates everything about it and its native inhabitants even more!

          1. Lauding killers of innocent Britons suggests he lacks warm feelings towards his fellow countrymen.
            (Sigh) Yes, and women.
            And LGBTXYZs as well.

          2. Morning Anne

            Corbynism is similar to the mad Mullahs of Iran .. He really has a hold on many .. and his Momentum party is a canker that has infected society.

      2. I’ve never realised why people like Corbyn – demented Lefty socialists – don’t leave the country and live in Venezuela.

        It just seems a bit odd.Perhaps they’ve a fondness for loo roll?

      3. A visceral hatred of the UK and the British people in particular.

        visceral
        relating to deep inward feelings rather than to the intellect.

        That’s Corbyn, right enough.

          2. In comparison to politicians, rats are decent chaps. If we really need to label them we must search for a far more suitable name.

            I propose “amœbæ” [love the double diphthong!].

    3. As I said above, this is a smart move by Corbyn. He detests the House of Lords and so the appointment of Bercow as a peer would bring about its reform or dissolution all the more quickly.

  15. Surely Bill Thomas will be unable to resist this open goal/golden opportunity to post a reply to the following…

    From BTL@DTletters

    “A Allan 19 Jan 2020 8:05AM
    @David Potter

    I don’t remember men in the 1960s wearing detachable collars.

    Maybe I’m just dead common.”

    1. I was at Blundell’s in the 1960’s. We had to wear shirts with detachable collars: it cut down on laundry as we changed the collars every day while the shirts were washed twice a week.

    2. “I don’t remember men in the 1960s wearing detachable collars.”

      Neither do I, but I do remember my grandad, dad and various uncles still wearing them in the late 1950s. Collar studs were as commonplace as cufflinks.

      I also remember the ladyfolk using Robin starch to stiffen them.

      1. My dad wore detachable collars. When you purchased a shirt from the tailor it came with two detachable collars. I have several in a drawer somewhere, too tight to wear nowadays until I shrink back into them.

        My dad had a circular leather stud box inscribed ‘A stud in hand is worth two under the bed’.

        1. I’m on a determined “shrink”, Corim.

          I’m under orders, not from my doctor, but from my knees and my feet!

    3. My husband did .. when he was serving in the Royal Navy.

      They were an absolute pain and fiddle to fit .. and the starch used to cause neck rashes sometimes .

      Forgot to mention , I did as well , part of my nursing uniform .. 6 starched collars and starched cuffs , for our ward dresses.

      1. Fidgeting with collar studs and cuff links was an essential part of a public school education

      2. Similar in the Royal Air Force when I joined in 1960. As time went on we got hold of plastic collars along with anodised cap badges and buttons. Still had to ‘bull’ boots though.

    5. My maternal grandmother told me about her late husband’s detachable collars. I have no first-hand experience of them, and I’m 71yo.

    1. Predictably and hilariously and with no concept of the massive irony “LILY Allen has launched a bizarre attack on “luvvie” Lawrence Fox after his Question Time racism row. The singer said the actor “shouldn’t rant about things you don’t anything about” in a bizarre Instagram post.”

    2. Predictably and hilariously and with no concept of the massive irony “LILY Allen has launched a bizarre attack on “luvvie” Lawrence Fox after his Question Time racism row. The singer said the actor “shouldn’t rant about things you don’t anything about” in a bizarre Instagram post.”

      1. Quite. Laurence Fox went through an absolutely wretched time over his divorce with Billie Piper, wiping out the money he made from Lewis, destroying his belief in the sanctity of the traditional family, and yet willing to work for minimum wage in order to help out the British film industry.

        I don’t think Lily Allen or that Woke plant on QT can lecture him on privilege.

      3. I’m not on Instagram or Twitter, but I’ve read that he is ‘punching back’ and making jokes about ‘bathing in Leftie tears.’ Good for him! Instead of the usual grovelling apologies, we on the Right need to stand up for ourselves more, encourage these Leftie cry-bullies to rant and rave, they just demonstrate how juvenile they are and how little logic they have to back up their arguments .

        Keep up the good work Mr Fox!

    2. Morning Bill,

      I fear for that poor baby and the dogs… and if that woman is so dysfunctional and controlling and self centered , I hope Canadian Social Services are monitoring her.

      1. Be a brave social worker that suggests that, Belle. Be crucified at work & in the media.

  18. It seems as if global cooling has set in today. I surprised the Guardian is not running an entire article on it

    1. Delighted to see that Dominic Bess, a young man who learnt his cricket at Blundell’s, my alma mater, took five South African wickets yesterday.

      1. While they were teaching him to bowl (in excellent fashion, I must add), Rastus, did they forget to teach him how to bat? He copped a pair in the first test (very nearly a king pair) and has only contributed one run in this test.

        1. He can bat – but he certainly had a failure with the bat in the last test and in the first innings of this one. I hope he will have the chance to redeem himself in the future. His best friend at school, Jack Maunder (with whose great uncle I was at school), got a cap as scrum half for England against Argentina but so far he has not been given another chance.

  20. Good morning all!
    Pleased to report that I’m back to normal after my ill health in the small hours of yesterday morning!

    Letter from Mick Moor, an agricultural contractor who lives up the Dale in the village, on the stupidity of the HS2 uncertainty:-

    SIR – We hear much about the cost of HS2 but little about the effect it is having on businesses on the route.

    I was recently called to a farm to repair a large slurry store. Slurry cannot be spread in many areas until plants are ready to use the nutrients in the spring – so it has to be stored. After examining the store, I recommended that it be replaced. However, the farm’s grazing land is earmarked to be taken by HS2, which would make the store redundant.

    Providing a replacement, the main activity of my rural enterprise, would be totally uneconomic until this uncertain situation is resolved. I had to cobble together a repair, emphasising that it was only temporary; use next year could result in a pollution incident. I am certain that this situation is not unique to that particular farm. HS2 should be cancelled immediately to let sound businesses continue to thrive in an environmentally sustainable way.

    Mick Moor
    Matlock, Derbyshire

    1. The only way they could get HS2 to meet the budget required of it by Parliament was to remove all costs of environmental protection and compensation for landowners.

      Furthermore, they got tame judges to throw out applications “under national interest provision” for there to be an environmental audit made at least by Hillingdon and by somewhere in Warwickshire. We are not told about those made by campaigners in the Chilterns or Camden Town. My mother. living near Primrose Hill, reports that many urban trees near to where she lives have been felled, along with a hedgehog sanctuary (bulldozed to make room for a contractors’ vehicle park), numerous historic buildings around Euston… and that is just within the immediate neighbourhood. None of this was costed, it seems, when submitted to Parliament for approval.

      The parliamentary legislation was based on a fraud and they know it. With a fresh election and a better House of Commons, perhaps now HS2 can go the way of TSR2 and be buried before it does any more harm?

      1. Yep, TSR2 would have done a great deal of harm – to the enemy, so Wilson scrapped it, Philistine.

      2. Has anyone undertaken a study on the identity of the people who are making vast sums of money out of HS2, and to their connections with governments/sponsors?

    2. As HS2 will travel from London, everything then has to get to London first. It all seems completely daft. Reduce the cost of the rail network. Cut out the franchise lark and pay for rental to use a line to rail track.

      Cut government out.

    3. HS2 is part of the EU Infrastructure project which, I assume, has much the same intention as Bonaparte’s wide boulevards, to enable an EU army quick access to all parts of any dissident nation.

      But should we expect Bozo to drop it or allow it to go ahead because Siemens needs the business? (I wonder if all we now will be told is that Siemens is the German company which gets the rolling stock contract but every train comes in a box marked Made in PRC.
      https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Triang.jpg

  21. Nadia Whittome , new Labour MP on Marr.

    Why are these leftie women so humourless and un smiley and so lip curlingly serious . She is donating half her salary to some good cause.

    Good philanthropic idea.. we will wait and see what happens in a year or so?

    1. ‘Morning, Belle.

      She also said that £35k was enough for anybody. After tax & NI & GOK what else, it’s peanuts.

      2. “She grew up in The Meadows, Nottingham.”

        I’ve been to The Meadows. Not many white faces there!

    3. Good morning Dorset Belle

      There was once a Labour MP who took no more that the average salary of those in his constituency for his wages. I approved of that.

      Once there is a financial incentive which makes it too attractive to be an MP we are lost. Very few young politicians in parliament would expect to earn anything like as much in another job – especially when you take into account the monstrous level of expenses they receive.
      .

        1. I wonder what the old boy, who is vehemently opposed to the monarchy, makes of the Harry and Meghan mallarkey?

    1. Sorry, girls, she’s the sort that gives you bad names – but we know you’re luvverly.

    2. WTF is a “top”. No one wears “bottoms”!

      Why has this risible word supplanted blouses, shirts, tee-shirts, slips, halters, Oxfords, polos, singlets, smocks and tunics.

      2. George, George, you’ve got to allow the ladees their own special language – I still mourn the passing of suspenders and stockings – ah, boy hood fetishes.

          1. My mother and her sisters always used the term ‘bust bodice’. One of my colleagues at the school in which I used to teach referred to jock straps as testicle braces.

          3. Actually she didn’t. That was popular folklore.

            When Rachael Heyhoe-Flint was asked about it, by Michael Parkinson, she laughed, “No, it wasn’t me; but I wish it had been!”

          5. That’s perverted, Cori, it’s what your Granny would keep it all together with – now if it were a basque…

        2. ‘Morning, Tom. I hope you don’t mind but I availed myself of your impressive cookery tome, late last night. And impressive it truly was.

          It is only lethargy and torpor that has prevented me compiling my own version. I do have, however, a number of good recipes in my possession that I could pass on to you, if you would like them.

          1. I’m just glad it pleases, Hertslass will pass on the e-mail, as I’m always glad of new recipes – just ask her, citing this post.

          3. Yes, of course, I’m forgetting these things as it was originally written for family and known (at that time) Swedish friends.

            Please feel free to e-mail those recipes and, of course, you e-mail address will stay secure with me.

        2. I don’t jog. The dude who “invented” jogging, died whilst out jogging!

          Linda McCartney had factories churning out millions of Frankenstein hamburgers and sausages for similar Vegan retards like herself. She died whilst still young.

          I take note of such people and live an opposite life to them.

        1. I never touched Mrs Allan’s bodice nor any other part of her. Honest! I don’t possess that type of courage! :•(

  23. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/01/19/time-boris-tackle-tyrannical-silencing-free-speech-campuses/

    It’s time for Boris to tackle the tyrannical silencing of free speech on our campuses

    It is the politicians’ fault in the first place.

    Once they started making laws about what it was acceptable to say and what it was acceptable to think Freedom of Speech was dead.
    George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty Four should be compulsory reading for everyone working in universities and before each new student goes up to university.

      2. I know that Tony Blair interpreted it as an instruction manual – but that was certainly not the intention if his namesake Eric.

      2. What is interesting is that in his day Orwell was described as radically of the left; today he would be described as a right wing fascist.

  24. House of Lords May be Moved to York

    Government are considering moving the house of Lords to York

    3. After they’ve dismantled the building for reconstruction at Eboracum, what will they do with the ensuing gap?

      Build another Commons tearoom, or just leave it as an open quadrangle?

      2. Most likely build a mosque, Mr G. The House of Commons will then have its ‘very own mosque’ as the Cambridge Evening News excitedly proclaimed on behalf of its citizens.

      1. The rivers Ouse and Foss at York regularly break their banks and always have. That’s why the Ninth Legion set up camp there. Great defensive site, surrounded by marsh land.

        1. “The Eagle of the Ninth.”
          A wonderful book and the Beeb did it proud on Children’s Hour.

        2. I know Sue, while serving at RAF Linton-on-Ouse, we lived at Burtonstone Lane and then in Manor Drive, Acomb. My eldest daughter was born at Fulford Hospital.

          2. I suppose it’s not unusual that many NoTTLers have crossed each others paths – we are a small (overcrowded) island after all.

  25. I’ve just been reminded that this Chinese New Year takes us into the Year of the Rat.
    Jolly prescient, those Chinamen.

    1. Yo anne

      Burns Night 25 Jan

      Chinese New Year 25 Jan

      The Stewards of the Rally we are on were stumped which one to celebrate

      So our ‘do’ on this coming Saturday will be

      Chinese Burns Night

    2. Ye olde double standard. Black women straighten their hair and wear wigs but dumb white models can’t do the black plaits thing. Lord knows why they want to of course but hey ho.

      1. Does this type of thinking spell the end for theatrical performances where people pretend they are someone else. Where would all the luvvies go then.

        1. They have already removed ” blackface “. Nobody seeing Othello for the first time, with a white Othello can have a clue what the play is all about. Ditto for the opera of the same name.

      2. When the football world cup was held in Brazil in 2014, there were lots of black people in the crowds wearing whited-out faces. Not a peep from anyone (of any race) complaining about “racism”.

        1. Of course not. It only goes one way.
          Remember: if they didn’t have double standards, they wouldn’t have any.

    3. Everything is a hate crime, according to the Guardian and the far Left.
      Another fine example of the Left eating itself. Let’s just hope they hurry up with it.

  27. Men Teaching Classes for Women at
    THE ADULT LEARNING CENTRE

    REGISTRATION MUST BE COMPLETED
    By January 31st 2020

    NOTE: DUE TO THE COMPLEXITY AND DIFFICULTY LEVEL
    OF THEIR CONTENTS, CLASS SIZES WILL BE LIMITED TO 8 PARTICIPANTS MAXIMUM.

    Class 1
    Up in Winter, Down in Summer – How to Adjust a Thermostat
    Step by Step, with Slide Presentation.
    Meets 4 weeks, Monday and Wednesday for 2 hrs beginning at 7:00 PM.

    Class 2
    Which Takes More Energy – Putting the Toilet Seat Down, or Bitching About It for 3 Hours?
    Round Table Discussion.
    Meets 2 weeks, Saturday 12:00 for 2 hours.

    Class 3
    Is It Possible To Drive Past a Supermarket Without Stopping? –Group Debate.
    Meets 4 weeks, Saturday 10:00 PM for 2 hours.

    Class 4
    Fundamental Differences Between a Handbag and a Suitcase– Pictures and Explanatory Graphics.
    Meets Saturdays at 2:00 PM for 3 weeks.

    Class 5
    Curling Irons–Can They Levitate and Fly Into The Bathroom Cabinet?
    Examples on Video.
    Meets 4 weeks, Tuesday and Thursday for 2 hours beginning
    At 7:00 PM

    Class 6
    How to Ask Questions During Commercials and Be Quiet During the Programme
    Help Line Support and Support Groups.
    Meets 4 Weeks, Friday and Sunday 7:00 PM

    Class 7
    Can a Bath Be Taken Without 14 Different Kinds of Soaps and Shampoos?
    Open Forum …
    Monday at 8:00 PM, 2 hours.

    Class 8
    Health Watch–They Make Medicine for PMS – USE IT!
    Three nights; Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 7:00 PM for 2 hours.

    Class 9
    I Was Wrong and He Was Right! –Real Life Testimonials.
    Tuesdays at 6:00 PM Location to be determined.

    Class 10
    How to Parallel Park In Less Than 20 Minutes Without an Insurance Claim.
    Driving Simulations.
    4 weeks, Saturday’s noon, 2 hours.

    Class 11
    Learning to Live – How to Apply Brakes Without Throwing Passengers Through the Windscreen.
    Tuesdays at 7:00 PM, location to be determined

    Class 12
    How to Shop by Yourself.
    Meets 4 weeks, Tuesday and Thursday for 2 hours beginning at 7:00 PM.

    I’ll get me tin hat.

      1. We did and we were lucky with the weather, considering it’s January. No rain and sun every day until yesterday when it was cloudy fror the trip back to Malaga, and raining when we got there. Chilly and clear at 1600m in the mountains (frost on the ground until mid-morning, mild later) with no wind, 18° on the coast and 21° on the plains a few miles inland.

          2. Just noticed the time. My excuse is i’m keeping pub hours. Always morning on a Sunday until teatime.

            It does costa lot which is why we are virtually wogless.

    2. I like this one of the comments –

      “This is classic song. I use to have a teddy bear with an umbrella and rain coat it would sing this song. I loved it so much!”

      2. Mother in law has one of those bears. We were at a restaurant when she saw it, for some reason they had included the bear in a display.
        It took some sweet talking to persuade them to sell their not for sale prop.

  31. Good morning Nottlers

    Frosty morning here , crisp grass underfoot.. I could hear my 2 dogs as they raced around the garden.

    I turned over and woke up after having a very strange dream , as I stirred the dogs were urging me to let them out.. which I did , then ran the tap to fill the kettle up .. and just didn’t get a chance to slide back to bed and puzzle over my dream.

  32. I just went into the lounge and switched the television on. It’s BBC 1 and all about that bloody Meghan woman again. Cooing and smiling like a virgin bride, sitting next to Harry the lummox. I can’t bloody stand the woman. Enough is enough.

    (Apologies if this offends anyone)

    1. I must be in a very small minority when I say that while I’ve seen countless photos of the actress Meghan Markle, I’ve never once heard her speaking.

      I intend to keep it that way.

      1. I used to watch Suits, so I’ve heard her speak, but not since she hooked up with Harry. I’m glad to say.

    2. I am pleased to report both BBC World News & BBC entertainment channels ceased being part of the channels I get on my cable package on Dec.31st and I wont miss the pro-Arab propaganda on the news or the endless repeats of Dr.Who, East Enders & other crappy BBC series on the so called entertainment channel !

        1. Happy Sunday Grizz, I hope at least you watch Malmo TV to catch up on all the latest Jihad news & commodity prices especially pork belly futures on the Mecca exchange!

          1. I openly walk through the “bazaar” in Malmö and buy pork from the butchers’ shops there. No raghead has ever challenged me yet!

          2. Haven’t you heard, George, it’s not rags they wear on their heads it is better known as a little sheet…

            …now you know what (and how) to call them.

          4. Still being cautious, but at least I can break wind without having to sit on the bog “just in case”!

    2. Hejsan, min vän.

      Living in Sweden does have some benefits: like not having the agenda of Lefty UK TV rammed down my throat all the time. And no, before you ask, I do not watch execrable Swedish TV. I simply watch UK TV whenever I want, on iPlayer. Or Sky (and many other channels) on a cable service.

        1. Tack, Lass.

          I enjoy watching a Danish crime drama called (in English) Follow The Money, in which one of the main characters was a lad called “Bimse”. Now I know what “Bamse” means. What does “Bimse” mean?

          1. (rimeligvis af † bimse, føjte, løbe gal (Moth. B169); jf. bimmelim og vims; dagl.) som er bragt ud af ligevægt; som ikke har herredømme over sine tanker.

            There was a children’s series about a girl and her teddy bear (her bamse) who was called Bimse – so I think the word is meant in a nice context.

          1. Alas not so!
            Abdul Abulbul Amir
            The sons of the Prophet are brave men and bold
            And quite unaccustomed to fear,
            But the bravest by far in the ranks of the Shah,
            Was Abdul Abulbul Amir.

            If you wanted a man to encourage the van,
            Or harass the foe from the rear,
            Storm fort or redoubt, you had only to shout
            For Abdul Abulbul Amir.

            Now the heroes were plenty and well known to fame
            In the troops that were led by the Czar,
            And the bravest of these was a man by the name
            Of Ivan Skavinsky Skavar.

            One day this bold Russian, he shouldered his gun
            And donned his most truculent sneer,
            Downtown he did go where he trod on the toe
            Of Abdul Abulbul Amir.

            Young man, quoth Abdul, has life grown so dull
            That you wish to end your career?
            Vile infidel, know, you have trod on the toe
            Of Abdul Abulbul Amir.

            So take your last look at the sunshine and brook
            And send your regrets to the Czar
            For by this I imply, you are going to die,
            Count Ivan Skavinsky Skavar.

            Then this bold Mameluke drew his trusty skibouk,
            Singing, “Allah! Il Allah! Al-lah!”
            And with murderous intent he ferociously went
            For Ivan Skavinsky Skavar.

            They parried and thrust, they side-stepped and cussed,
            Of blood they spilled a great part;
            The philologist blokes, who seldom crack jokes,
            Say that hash was first made on the spot.

            They fought all that night neath the pale yellow moon;
            The din, it was heard from afar,
            And huge multitudes came, so great was the fame,
            Of Abdul and Ivan Skavar.

            As Abdul’s long knife was extracting the life,
            In fact he was shouting, “Huzzah!”
            He felt himself struck by that wily Calmuck,
            Count Ivan Skavinsky Skavar.

            The Sultan drove by in his red-breasted fly,
            Expecting the victor to cheer,
            But he only drew nigh to hear the last sigh,
            Of Abdul Abulbul Amir.

            There’s a tomb rises up where the Blue Danube rolls,
            And graved there in characters clear,
            Is, “Stranger, when passing, oh pray for the soul
            Of Abdul Abulbul Amir.”

            A splash in the Black Sea one dark moonless night
            Caused ripples to spread wide and far,
            It was made by a sack fitting close to the back,
            Of Ivan Skavinsky Skavar.

            A Muscovite maiden her lone vigil keeps,
            ‘Neath the light of the cold northern star,
            And the name that she murmurs in vain as she weeps,
            Is Ivan Skavinsky Skavar.

            This song was written in 1877 by Percy French at Trinity College for a college concert. He then sold it to a publisher for five pounds. The publisher never credited French with authorship, and despite its later popularity, French never received any royalties.

    2. Where’s the news in that? The oceans are nobbut fish piss. Just think of the quadrillions of fish that have lived in them since the year dot and you have your answer! :•)

      1. I don’t recall David Attenborough warning us all about the dire consequences of fish farts.

  37. HS2 is a waste of money and will be hugely destructive to property and the environment, including ancient woodlands. That’s it. That’s the comment.

  38. Outrageous.

    Tom Watson, Nonce Hunter Pursuivant, to be elevated to the HoL in Corbyn’s dissolution rewards list. I wonder what he’ll find there?

    3. Why the heck do we have to have more Lords, appointed by both winners and losers, every election? No wonder there are so many of them.

      1. A much better idea would be for dissolution lists to be made up of people to be removed from the Lords.

        2. For every new appointment, they should have to name two of their party’s previous appointments to be removed.

    1. It’ll be interesting to see what the wind speeds turn out to be overnight.
      I can see the surviving coal power stations firing up to cope.

      2. Might kill off the remains of last summer’s geraniums though – the baskets are still live, but few flowers now. The ones in the posts have been well chewed by the Roebuck.

          1. I went from around 2-3Mb/sec to over 150 Mbs/ sec when I changed from the ordinary copper wire connection to fibre optic – I’m with BT, their new Halo 2 package isn’t a lot more expensive than the old wire connection

          2. They’ve been bullying me for ages to change over – but surely the connection to the house is still the old copper wiring? BT have been installing fibre cabling a couple of miles away.

          3. That result on my earlier post is on a mix of fibre and copper. The box for those connections is about 3/4 mile away so that’s 3/4 mile of copper on the end of the fibre-optic.

            It might be worth re-considering, J.

          4. I probably will eventually – if it makes that much difference. I wonder what the maximum lenth of copper wiring is for there to be no benefit.

          5. Blasted annoying more than anything else.

            Run blasted fibre. If someone asks for it, blow fibre through the ducts and get on with it.

          6. Network speeds in the UK are godawful. Thanks BT.

            Other countries have synchronous connections. What do we get?

  42. Even in the unlikely event Trump was convicted, he will obviously refuse to step down calling it “a hoax” and “fake news” and saying being forced from office would risk civil war.

    In any case, funny after voting for Trump to have additional powers over war and national security and voting for his defence budgets the Democrats now say he’s a “threat to national security”.

    https://twitter.com/politvidchannel/status/1218902881245351936

    1. The Republican majority in the Senate have already said they will not impeach him regardless of evidence. Many have said they do not need to hear evidence, there should just be an immediate vote. This is despite the fact that they have all taken a solemn oath to judge him strictly on the evidence.

      He may or may not be a crook, but in any case he’s their crook so will never be impeached, regardless of his actions.

  43. Purely in the interests of helping those who may be Hard of hearing……
    From ZH comes this news:
    “He is suing PornHub not only to request closed captioning, but also for damages.
    PornHub, on the other hand (no pun intended), actually does have some closed captions.
    PornHub’s VP, Corey Price responded by saying:
    “We understand that Yaroslav Suris is suing Pornhub for claiming we’ve denied the deaf and hearing impaired access to our videos. While we do not generally comment on active lawsuits, we’d like to take this opportunity to point out that we do have a closed captions category.”

    We hope Yarslav doesn’t spend too much of his spare time on the site, however. He could wind up deaf and blind.

    1. UK trucks have those brush things that are supposed to stop that happening. But I suppose all the Aussie brush has been burnt…

    4. Judging by the wholesale lack of lane discipline on the street below, I would suggest that is Russia.

  45. The Guardian today has an onslaught of pages about Palestine and a write-up by Erekat, the PPT (Palestine Peoples Terrorist) –

    https://www.theguardian.com/profile/erakat-saeb

    The EU are about to decide whether to accept “Palestine” as an independent State.

    Funny thing, the Guardian hate Trump’s guts, disapprove of Netanyu, but are all lovey-dovey to the Palestinians.

    Just saying.

    1. The West Bank will likely soon be officially annexed by Netanyahu which will be promptly recognised by Trump, thereby leaving Palestinians as non citizens in Bantustan like enclaves in the towns and cities like Ramallah and Jenin under control of the PA.

      1. It won’t happen like that at all. The Arab citizens will simply stop their daily knifings of Israelis and intermittent attempts at murder of Israeli civilians; Hamas in Gaza will stop firing rockets over the border, They will just relax and settle down and live peaceful lives, beating their wives and fornicating with their goats, and the PA will just disappear like the Labour Party is doing over here.

        1. FYI Tony John Drake is IMO the multi-ID Troll & Jew hater who used to post as Gedore on the DT & then on the original NTTL channel
          His screen name & account changes from time to time but the poisonous lies he spews remains the same now as it did years ago!

          1. By far the worst Jew-baiter on the old DT letters page was William Garrett. He was far more direct than is John Drake.

      2. I’ve spoken with the examiner of banks at the Bank of Israel in Jerusalem & he has assured me that there is no West Bank licensed for banking in Israel. If you mean Judea & Samaria please say so & you cant annex your own sovereign territory and as for the Fakestinians not being citizens – their own beloved leader the grand mufti haj Mohammed Amin al-Husseini when asked about the Arabs wanting Palestinian citizenship under the British Mandate ( they were by & large not citizens but subjects & nomadic people under the Turks too ! ) said in an interview to a Damascus newspaper in the 1930′ s that the Arabs rejected any form of citizenship of Palestine because ” We are all citizens of a Greater Syria ”
        https://www.azquotes.com/picture-quotes/quote-arabs-rise-as-one-man-and-fight-for-your-sacred-rights-kill-the-jews-wherever-you-find-haj-amin-al-husseini-59-36-49.jpg

        1. In the event then of Israel ending its belligerent occupation of the territories (in the words of the Israeli supreme court) and formally applies sovereignty over what you call ‘Judea & Samaria’, will the 2.5 million Arab residents there automatically be given Israeli citizenship?

  46. I believe that for once Corbyn is not being entirely stupid.

    His contempt for the House of Lords is well known so by recommending that John Bercow should become a peer Corbyn will help bring about its reform or abolition all the more quickly.

    1. Corbyn will help bring about its eform or abolition all the more quickly.

      Eform, eh? So it will go online instead of to York

          3. Strange how no moderator ever downvotes Plum-Tart.

            No one, but no one, spews out more insults than her.

    2. I think the only reason Corbyn made this nomination was to get up the noses of the Government benches. Bercow won’t be in a position to bring about reform or abolition.

      1. No, the point I clearly failed to make was that the corruption and nastiness of the House of Lords would become so apparent with Bercow in it that Johnson would be compelled to do something.

    3. Sheer happenstance. Corbyn is driven by his loathing of all things British.
      He doesn’t have the intellect to have Machiavellian ideas.

    1. Aren’t the Left lovely?

      It’s such a delight when they show their racism, bigotry and poison so openly. Will, however, the police investigate arrest and charge this individual for ‘hate speech’? Of course not.

      1. W,
        We have been brought to this pretty pass as a nation by alternating governments as in lab/lib/con parties put in place by the electorate, year on year.
        This is not just a left wing, right wing issue , this is cross party wing.
        The police were seemingly reluctant to go near the rotherham evil issues for something like
        1 6 plus years.

          1. The bot has stripped all your upvotes. And more. You actually have minus 443 likes (but Disqus won’t display negative totals, hence 0 votes displayed. I’m around minus 70,000…

          2. Geoff, I don’t usually take any notice of votes but notice that I now have zero votes and the comments seem to be stuck. How do I get my votes back again?

          3. You can’t at the moment I’m afraid…..unless you know someone at Disqus or a tech wizard who managed to replace all the votes of a couple of mods…so it can be done. This current problem has been going on for months but the history of the upvote bots.. at least 4 years old that I know of. Mahat may know more.

    3. No clouds at all in Wilts and as a result a disappointing sunset compared to yesterday’s.

    1. But did he catch it?

      We had a less dramatic experience once when we were kayaking, a pair of small whales surfaced right beside us and blew a nice stream of whale snot at us.

      1. It is evidence of the increasing devolution of the English language, which is rapidly deteriorating back towards grunting. When you have Socialist cretins in charge of education in this country then this is what you get.

        Scholars, students and pupils are no longer taught anything; they are instructed in “how to think” by the Liberal establishment, who have inveigled themselves (under our very noses, whilst we remained sitting with our thumbs up our arses and our heads in the sand) into the very core of education in the UK.

        It will only get worse.

      1. Oh yes you will indeed. I have Gus lying here beside me cuddled in…he spends most days and nights here beside me. Poor Luna doesn’t get a look in…she often comes and jumps on the arm of the sofa and as soon as she sees there are no vacant spaces…off she goes. It is rare she can come lie beside me. So hubby brought her whicker basket down and I have put a new blanket in there…so we can at least ‘hold paws’…..as soon as I touch her paw, she purrs. I am at peace with the world with a kitty at each side of me and I suspect you are the same and others here…..xx

          1. Good evening!!….it is a lovely picture and yes, so peaceful and tranquil, I need nothing else in life.

  53. Bought some alchol free ‘Buck’s Fizz’ at Christmas. Just opened it….yuck. Watered down perfume of some kind is the closest I can get to a description. Not for me which is a shame as I love ‘Buck’s Fizz’ but can’t have alcohol….or shouldn’t…lol. I will risk a glass of the proper stuff in future.

    1. Hi, Jenny.

      I, personally, do not enjoy any type of fizz. I think champagne tastes like sweetish fizzy vinegar. It gives me terrible indigestion.

      If I had any reason to celebrate, I would go for a good single-malt Jock-juice every time.

      1. I’m not a great fan of fizzy wine and rather than indigestion it has brought on too many asthma attacks for me to risk drinking it.

      2. I like specific champagnes including two I used to sell. Heidseick Monopole and Perrier Jouët.

      3. I agree with you on the fizz, but prefer a decent red wine. Whisky is definitley not my choice.

      4. I hate champgne…..the only alcohol I ever have is the M and S Buck’s Fizz….and only on special occasions. That said, I was treated to a Mojito on my wedding anniversary….yum.

          3. Love him…..but the words are that he gets no kick out of champagne and alcohol doesn’t thrill him at all…I was agreeing with him.

          1. Obers, I asked this the other day but I guessed you missed it….do your cats come when you call for them?

          2. Yes, also when they see we have come home – tey come galloping along the drive to meet us. This doggish kind of behaviour is apparently typical of Norsk Skogkatt.

      1. Afternoon KP,
        Same link worked perfectly well
        on Saturdays page.
        IMO the truth is now known and has been since the Jay report,
        but in many cases taking a three monkeys stance is a lot more comfortable, then there is the parties name to consider.

        1. It’s obvious that the government were alerted and hacked into your attempted re-post.
          Beware of the knock on the door.

          1. T,
            Sort of like at 3am,that would mean we have become a police state.
            Do you mean that the tory party in governance
            would condone a 3 am knock on the bell push
            due to an anti paedophile post ? gettaway.

            NOT BLOODY MANY BENNY.

        2. The post is still there if you remove “re” from the link.

          The answer is the same as ever.

    2. Link doesn’t open. I can guess the topic though, and it’s been discussed here ad infinitum.

      The Police need to deal with these criminals.

      1. Morning N,
        Check Saturday page, same post.
        As for the police who are the governance employees they, in a number of cases, are in collusion.
        The government is the political power the people have voted in.
        This issue is not just popped up it has been continuing for years.
        It was made quite clear via the Jay report what was happening yet the same political parties find support, why ?.

        1. There are only two main parties so we just have to take the one which ticks the main boxes. Labour was hopeless, so that only left the Tories.

          1. N,
            Does that then mean they MUST be
            supported / voted
            for ?

            Surely that flies in the face of health & safety
            regarding the under the age of consent youth ?

            & condones submission / PCism / Appeasement, three odious tools the political toxic trio use on a regular basis, ie, daily.

          2. There is always the option to abstain, vote for a small party, or spoil one’s paper, if it makes you feel better.

          3. N,
            I have no other option than to do just that.
            I have witnessed the actions of the pro eu coalition party over the decades as the Country deteriorates daily.
            In short it boils down to mass uncontrolled immigration,murder, rape & abuse and the near destruction of ALL our infrastructure.
            Currently as practised by all three parties we are suffering fools practising submission / PCism / Appeasement.
            Self respect MUST once again be considered
            when entering a polling booth.

      2. The link begins with ‘ re ‘ which needs removing. When you do that it takes you to twitter which tells you that the page does not exist.

  56. As an antidote to the moggies:

    The Croydon Cat Killer. Spiked. Ieaun Joy 21 Septmber 2018.

    Urban myths always spring from irrational fears, and the Croydon Cat Killer was no different. The idea that we live in dangerous times, full of dangerous people, still plagues society. Yes, there are some bad people out there. But, as a whole, we are safer than ever before. And as for our cats, the thing still most likely to do them harm is a busy road, not some weirdo with acne scars.

    Below the Line.

    Guderian • 6 hours ago

    Hello Ieuan

    I’m afraid the rumours are true, there is a cat killer and that killer is me. I am responsible for this most philanthropic public service, thank you very much.

    Cats are an evolutionary mistake. Unlike dogs, they haven’t evolved into full pets. They remain wild and just pretend to be domesticated. This is dishonest behaviour, like Bruce Jenner pretending to be a woman or Germaine Greer pretending to be an academic. In the name of honesty they must be killed.

    Cats are never happy when they see their owners, they couldn’t care less. If you have a dog, he will love you unconditionally, he will howl in despair at your grave, he will rescue a baby from a house on fire, he will guide a blind man. A cat hates you silently and perhaps he is right to do so, as only a complete idiot would house and feed an enemy. Cat owners deserve to be freed from their pathological attachment to vermin. In the name of humanitarianism, cats must be killed.

    Cats are the favourite pet of evil people: Blofeld, Gargamel, Dr Evil, Cinderella’s stepmother. They all had cats and their evilness was clearly enjoyed by their feline mascots. You cannot think evil thoughts when you are playing with a dog, it is psychologically impossible. It’s like trying not to like chocolate. It can’t be done. But stroking a cat will bring the worse out of you. Just like reading the Guardian would turn even a Thomas Jefferson into a Jess Phillips, cats will awaken the Lucifer in you. In the name of everything good and decent, cats must be killed.

    If all these arguments fail to convince you here’s the clincher. Jeremy Corbyn, David Cameron and George Osborne own cats. I should get a medal for my work.

    2. I am mildly feeling the effects of a pleasant evening with alcohol last night, and even that first comment is causing disbelief “But, as a whole, we are safer than ever before” Really? That might change very fast. As for those cat comments…

      Here is one clip that was famous a while ago about a cat defending a boy from a dog. It is a bit unpleasant as the dog clearly goes into hunting/attack mode and would have killed the boy the way he was shaking him. The cat showed no fear and went into attack mode itself to protect the child. When the dog is clear the cat still goes after it, and tries to accelerate so fast that its paws cannot get a firm grip on the ground. An excellent cat.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEa6jZv-Khc

      2. Nothing beats sheep.

        They provide milk, meat, wool and are exceptional lovers!

        [Says a Derbyshire-born man!] :•)

    4. That is one very twisted in the mind individual there who clearly knows nothing about cats.

        1. I have never been a fan of FB nor Twitter….but to answer your question – not if our Bob uses it.

        1. Trump makes a lot of his own rules and we are the better for it. It is a good way to avoid the crushing propaganda of the “bought and paid for” media. (It was not a serious comment in any case, as the “;-)” suggested. 🙂

    3. Hi Nedlam,
      I’ve just checked your twitter feed too.
      If someone called it vacuous it would look like a compliment.

    1. I have just brushed Gussy’s ruff…and it looks not too dissimilar to this lovely mane at the moment…..

      1. I love them so much….well, most cats actually. I wish you could see my Gus…he looks so sweet when his ‘mane’ is brushy. Female cats also have ruffs but not as big as males – well, in Persians anyway.

      2. I’m not a cat or dog lover.
        However I make an exception for the Bengal Tiger one of the most graceful animals on our planet. Strong and purposeful.

          1. For old times sake we should flag your comment to avoid upsetting any disqus automoderators.

          2. You know what really annoys me…innocent references. I was talking about a beautiful male hen one day which I had taken an image of at the local farm one summer….it went into pending because I used the proper word.

          3. Jenny try posting a proper term such as magna c-u-m laude on a blog using the Disqus filter . I had a comment in pending for 3 weeks on the Daily Telegraph a number of a few years ago for using the C word. Eventually after e-mailing them twice they simply deleted my post as the comments were closed on the article page

          4. I just say male hen…lol. I was really annoyed at the time I remember. BTW, I visited your site and made a post as suggested so you can whitelist me…xx

          9. Happy Sunday Geoff – I was spending too much time when I was on channels fishing posts out of pending because of their PC Restricted Word filter that was pre-set on channels without the option to override it so I made it policy not to use their RW filter on my blogs. Now I only have to fish out of pending the victims of the up vote loss bot with Low Reps when they make their initial post on one of my blogs.

      3. My favourites:

        1. Cougar
        2. Lynx
        3. Leopard (especially Panther).

        I hate Cheetahs, the BBC’s go-to big cat! Yawn!

        1. It looks like a dog with one of those “fake manes” on it, from the way the hair is sliding back and forth. It is hard to imagine the time required to achieve that effect with real dog hair.

        3. “The Leonberger is a giant dog breed, whose name derives from the city of Leonberg in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. According to legend, the Leonberger was ostensibly bred as a “symbolic dog” that would mimic the lion in the town coat of arms.”

    4. Dad, dad, tell me again about the time you once took on the pack and whipped their arses,
      Quiet son, I’ll tell you later, meanwhile don’t make eye contact.

        2. I am in the midst of “morning after” food blindness. Half of me wants to make a roast dinner (even at this hour of the night.) The other half just wants to put a tray of 20 mini-sausages wrapped in bacon into the oven, then dive into them with a fork and a range of sauces / dips. The choice of dips will be subject to capricious appetite stimulated by the inevitable cooking aroma of sausages and bacon.

          Not the most refined of eating options, but at least it is not a Simpsons Ribwich.

          https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/24bd1d7cad0e092c574b1b8c4ae70703027d9e661d373c1887be693b936671e2.jpg

          1. I’d go with the sausages wrapped with bacon, a roast dinner is a lot of effort once the sun goes down :-))

          2. Yes, the sausages have it. Any that I don’t get through tonight will be chilled and enjoyed tomorrow, with the delicious extra flavour that many meats acquire when they have been been allowed to go cold. Those student days of morning-after chilled meat-feast pizzas still bring back memories of them being a very good hangover cure. Just short of a bacon sandwich.

          3. Talking of memories…. I remember being horrified when my teenage son ate cold pizza for breakfast, before heading out for school!!

          8. Have not seen Maris Piper potatoes here, not sure what to substitute them with. I use Russets for roasts when I do a big family dinner.

          9. Maris Piper are floury potatoes similar to King Edwards. Parboiled then roughed up in a colander and roasted. Divine.

          2. Nothing special. Beef stew with celeriac mash. A TV dinner – it wasn’t very good

            Now a bit of Dundee cake.

    3. Like Parliamentary QT – the chimps’ tea party. Only the chimps were better behaved and more amusing.

      2. We could always revert to the endlessly rehashed arguments over how pure a Brexit the UK will get, if it makes things better. Or Megzit, if you prefer.

      3. This makes me wonder….. thoughts I have been thinking for a few days now. My apologies for being somewhat cryptic. I could say there is more than one way to skin a cat….. Or death by a thousand cuts….

  61. I find this very sinister.

    DM Story

    Actors union Equity brands Laurence Fox a ‘disgrace’ and calls for the industry to ‘unequivocally denounce’ him over Question Time Megxit comments – then deletes tweets blaming ‘two rogue members’

    But Hugh Grant and Emma Thompson are not criticised because they stay on message!

    So now RADA and the Royal Central School for Speech and Drama will insist that nobody who does not conform to the Luvvies’ Accepted Political Mindset should be permitted to become an actor?

    3. Good afternoon Richard
      As I have said before – these people and organisations want diversity but when somebody is really diverse, thank you Lozza Fox, they want conformity to their idea of diversity.
      Could those organisations be taken to the ECHR for preventing him his right to work? That would be fun I think they call that hoist by their own petard.

      2. Have Equity twigged that they aren’t actually representative of the general public, and don’t wish to alienate their paying customers?

    5. What he said was far comment but it appears unless what is said aligns with their views it cannot be said

      I listened to several radio phone in’s about Megan and whilst a number of people phoned in claimed there was racism none could actually identify any. Well bar one who raided the Danny Baker post but that was the only thing they managed to find. Some claim tried to claim it was racist to mention that her mother come from Compton . I had to look it up . It is an area of LA

      1. The Danny Baker post wasn’t racist. He was saying that children of the royals often end up as little more than performing monkeys. If they choose to think monkeys = black people, that’s their perception, and their problem.

          2. There was that unfortunate incident 5 years ago, when Google were proud of a new App of their’s that could identify pictures using artificial intelligence algorithms. It was doing so well until the faces of two black people were given to it. It was just a computer, but the result did not go down well with those lacking any sense of humour:

            https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/98a16c863d3023ab54e641a922bf5f3ec009515c1b0c21a0f21e9b8799d081e2.jpg

            One paper reported the story as:

            “Google is a leader in artificial intelligence and machine learning. But the company’s computers still have a lot to learn, judging by a major blunder by its Photos app this week. The app tagged two black people as “Gorillas,” according to Jacky Alciné, a Web developer who spotted the error and tweeted a photo of it.

            “Google Photos, y’all f**ked up. My friend’s not a gorilla,” he wrote on Twitter.”

            https://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/07/01/google-mistakenly-tags-black-people-as-gorillas-showing-limits-of-algorithms/

    1. I may be some time.

      I shall retire to my workshop and try to come up with an aerosol spray that will annihilate all flies, mosquitoes, Democrats, Socialists, Greens and members of the RoP, but leave other life forms unharmed.

      As I said, I may be some time.

      1. Just ask Vladi P to create a special type of veggie food and market it as a Thunburger; please leave the flies alone, and most mosquitoes do a lot of practical work.

        1. I’ll leave the flies alone for as long as they don’t crap and vomit on my food.

          I’ll leave the mozzies alone for as long as they don’t bite me.

          Any transgressions the the truce is over!

      2. For what?

        They could impeach him, erase the last three years of his presidency as if it never happened….which means he could run again in 2020 and 2024. And probably win. Now that would make me laugh.

  63. So, I suppose now we are going to see M & H doing the chat show circuit on tv? Glad I don’t watch any of that stuff!! Better things to do with my time…

    2. A few days ago there was a much better cartoon (pr perhaps a photoshopped photo) with Harry saying “Oh, hello Uncle Andrew, who’s your little friend?”

  66. Purely in the interests of helping those who may be Hard of hearing……
    From ZH comes this news:
    “He is suing PornHub not only to request closed captioning, but also for damages.
    PornHub, on the other hand (no pun intended), actually does have some closed captions.
    PornHub’s VP, Corey Price responded by saying:
    “We understand that Yaroslav Suris is suing Pornhub for claiming we’ve denied the deaf and hearing impaired access to our videos. While we do not generally comment on active lawsuits, we’d like to take this opportunity to point out that we do have a closed captions category.”

    We hope Yarslav doesn’t spend too much of his spare time on the site, however. He could wind up deaf and blind.

    1. What would the captions show?
      “Uh, uh, uh, do it, babe”?
      Who wants to read when there are jiggling mams in sight?

  72. New Theme Park to open in US based around Harry & Megan will also be a TV series based around it

        1. Money to be made from an alternative to the Toby Jug. The Harry Mug could be a best seller and revive the Staffordshire Potteries. The Meghan Mug might do even better.

  74. May one ask what has this harry chap done so bad other that upset his granny, compared say to many who have been supporting / voting for the lab/lib/con proven eu asset parties year on year as the nation sinks deeper & deeper into the sh!te.
    He had no choice in his birth place / birthright, that is
    no choice.
    It certainly does not warrant the attention it is receiving all the while mosques are being built and aliens flooding in on a daily basis.
    If child welfare received one eight of the attention that harry & co are currently getting a great many kids now would appreciate it later on in life.

  75. Boris Report Card

    It is early days in fact just over a month but he has hit the ground running and seems to be getting things going and is mking all the right noises. Only time will tell if he delivers

    1. Just listening to Boris talking about the Big Ben issue on Brexit day…ha said the money is to replace the clapper if folks want to hear the ‘bing bang bong’….lol. Made me laugh.

    2. I liked the letter he sent to that snp woman. Short and clear that should have been sent some years ago.

        1. BJ,
          The may did almost nothing, give credit where due she played her part as the second stage of the partial re-entry rocket to perfection.
          So far johnson has talked a good fight but it is the end action that counts.

  76. The 22nd is when the commons reviews the Lords amendments. I suspect most if not all will be thrown out as Brexit Day would be only 9 days away

    There is a sort of logical reason as to why we are leaving at 11pm and thats because we are an hour behind European time. So in Europe it will be Midnight

        1. She was reported to have been hospitalised to remove splinters from her thighs – half the cabinet had been through her!

  80. Anyone else read about the Angolan bitch who stole £2 billion from the peasants in Angola. PWC are involved as ever. Doubtless the bitch is on Meghan’s party list.

    1. An excellent detailed write-up on the Guardian pages, of all places. Nobody ever seems interested in the ex-Portuguese colonies.
      Meghan probably couldn’t put Angola on the map. (Not sure that I could, without cheating).

    2. I saw the biggest blue marlin in the world chasing a shoal of 100lb yellowfin tuna just offshore of Luanda. Its eyes were the size of dinner plates.

  82. Watched the 3 part series about The Queen’s Castle on Yesterday TV this afternoon. Made in 2005 a terrific documentary including personal clips of the Queen and the final episode given over, mainly, to the rôle of Prince Phillip as Ranger of Windsor Great Park. It’s available on UKTV catch up. Well worth watching.

    1. A certain (ex?) Duchess should watch this. Her performances could never match this wonderful family acting our their ‘normal’ lives.

      1. Absolutely. I know they have their problems but I love our Queen and all the heritage surrounding her. I am just off to find the series….xx

      2. She won’t. It’ll be boring and not mindless or woke enough for her. Harry may not be the brightest star in the sky but she is taking him away from everything he knew and loved. I hope she’s worth it, but I have my doubts. One day the scales will fall from his eyes and then he’ll be unhappier than ever.

        1. I fear you’re right. However I think HM has acted absolutely correctly and swiftly. I think he will particularly miss being involved in the military side of things. Very sad.

          1. HM the Queen has been exemplary. She is a wise lady in this instance. The only thing that worries me is that security has not been mentioned. That is potentially very expensive.

          2. Hi, HL. Bottom line is that if security cover is removed, will Harry be a viable target? If he is killed as a result of terrorist activity , do we just shrug and say he brought it on himself? Not really, not me anyway.

          3. No – but (like many other famous people) they should provide their own. Why should they be different?

          4. Because at the moment they’re famous in name only. What money they have (and I can only rely on what I read) would keep their security going for about six months. We all cheered when Harry fired his machine gun in Afghanistan and flew his Apache, he was the Royal in the firing line. That he has married some American gold digger and has to honour that decision does not diminish our obligation to him.

            Much as I wish it were otherwise.

          5. Erm, what about his obligation to us? He can afford some security and so can she, while they get started on raking in their millions.

            Apart from that, I have read several articles saying that the people serving with Harry weren’t too impressed that he did very little to get his beret.

          6. I don’t want to argue, HL. My point is that he would be a very high profile target for any Islamic terror plot and, regardless of the rights and wrongs of what he has done, or whether he did or didn’t shine in the Army, he deserves, as a consequence of the accident of his birth, a level of protection by the state.

            Emotions aside, that is what I believe.

          7. That says a lot more about Islam than about Harry. A reminder that every one of us is at risk, any tim, anywhere.

          8. Edited.

            I don’t want to argue either. I just differ in my view. He knows all what you say and so does she.

            We all suffer for our mistakes. Why should a royal be let off because they are a royal who puts two fingers up at us people who supported him and Meghan, just because, after dropping a sprog she says it isn’t “working for her”? Harry is banking on getting the money he has always received.

            Centuries ago people like that were hanged. Our constitution, through a royal family, has been around for centuries. I’m afraid I think Markle is an opportunist, sociopath, and bad influence on our weak Prince. He has problems – she has capitalised on those for her own benefit.

            All our births should be protected by the state. Not just spoiled brats. Look at Manchester to see if ours are being protected! How much difference could the money saved by paying for protection for two worthless individuals help the police do something about the foreign bast*rds who are raping our girls?

        3. I thought that on day 1, listening to the interview with the betrothed couple. She just talked over him, all the time. My thought then was ‘There’s only one star in this show, luv, and it ain’t you’ and nothing since has changed my mind.

          1. Did you see the videos I posted earlier. She is already pushing Harry out of the way (literally) in public to get her say in. It’s disgraceful.

          2. She was doing it from Day 1. Nearly everything that is published in the media is from her PR – which is from her. All this has taught me not to believe a single word that is presented to us in any published form, and especially in regard to the H&M débacle, right down to the sudden naming of the godparents today.

          3. Yes, one could tell by the americanisms – “diapers” FGS, “corroberate” with HM Queen Elizabeth. That woman is so common she should be on a yacht.

            If Harry is stupid enough not to listen, then sorry he made his bed, he can lie in it. Without us paying.

          4. Apologies, I think the term they used was “collaberate”. That is even worse. If Harry can be that stupid, at some stage sympathy runs out. Mine had run out.

        4. The heart-break for Harry – a proper military like his uncle Andrew – will be the relinquishment of his honorary military titles: Commodore-in-Chief of Small Ships and Diving; Honorary Air Commandant of the Royal Air Force and Captain General of the Royal Marines (in December 2017).

      1. Enjoy it Jenny it is so much more than just the buildings. It is real special people and I include the staff in that.

    1. It started a while back when I listed it and got a lot of replies..:-)
      But it does deserve a second showing……
      It’s nuts, isn’t it ?

          1. Still have my record store promotional posters for The Bangles. Mid 80’s memorabilia. Same with Heart. And Samatha Fox. They were easy on the eyes so to speak.

      2. These people have nothing real in their lives, so they are on a continual lookout to find something new to be offended by. An unending day by day effort to keep their simmering anger rolling along.

        It stops them from looking at their own lives and realising how empty they are.

    2. Surely, by extension, the logic also says that Africans can only live in Africa, Britons in the UK? So, no refugees or gimmegrants.
      That’ll rattle their skulls for them!

    5. They could have just said they look stupid although no doubt that would upset another priority group.

      Must dash. Any idea how many beaver pelts I need to combat the -17C temperature?

  84. All you afternoon Beeb TV watchers will soon say ‘Goodbye’ to Flog It

    A spokesperson for the BBC confirmed to RadioTimes.com that the series – which sees competitors bringing their prized possessions to experts for valuation – has been axed to make room for a slew of new daytime programming.

    “We have announced six new commissions to modernise the BBC1 Daytime schedule and to make room Flog It! will not be returning after next year,” they said. “We’d like to thank BBC Studios and host Paul Martin, who we will be working with on other programmes.”

    BBC controller of daytime programming, Dan McGolpin, expanded upon this to The Mirror, saying: “If we’re trying to create the new generation then some of the long-running shows will have to go. Now and again, we reach a time to move on and modernise, bringing through some new shows.”

    BBC Daytime’s new commissions include Britain’s Housing Scandal, Mark Allwright’s deep-dive into the UK’s housing crisis, and the Nick Knowles-fronted amateur art competition Home is Where the Art is.

    At that time, in the afternoon, should not the ‘New generation’ be at work

    https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2018-10-02/flog-it-axed-by-the-bbc-after-17-years/

      1. The only thing you cannot repeat is the licence fee

        Perhaps there should ve a clause in the BBC contract that says if the number of repeats go above 25% ythe licence fee is reduced by 5% for every 10% they go above 25%

    4. Of course we will…no use BBC keeping decent programmes on. As I was saying about having to pay for our TV license again and we don’t watch BBC to begin with.

  85. France see’s a surge in the number of rapes, murders, & violence in 2019 but no worries, I do believe we in the UK have the beating of them.

    1. No, it’s worse in France. Unpleasant things like that rarely happen in the U.K. There are a few knifings in parts of London, but no big deal.

      2. T,
        Yes, In the UK overall a bit of facial disfigurement due to acid spillage, a rape or three, a murder or two probably domestics etc,etc.
        I hold a strong conviction that three monkey
        piss has been introduced to the water system in great quantities, nothing else fits this mass insanity bill.

  86. Oh dear.
    DT was vomiting last night and we’re both Bristol No.1 at the moment.
    Sat up finishing of mug of tea at the moment, but at least we’re not feeling as bad as I was Saturday morning.

  88. That’s it – I’ve had enough. All hell broke loose on this site last night, and now one of the offenders has the temerity to blame me. Some of us sleep at night; other Mods were run ragged trying to put a lid on things. I’m closing all open pages to comments. Have a taste of life without NoTTL. It might return in due course, but don’t hold your breath.

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