Sunday 20 April: What Britain needs to bear in mind in its dealings with China

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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642 thoughts on “Sunday 20 April: What Britain needs to bear in mind in its dealings with China”

      1. I think we have coastel gloom for the day. just as well we are going inland.

    2. I have a second cousin named Sue who I have never met, her birthday is also today. She is resident in sunny Spain.

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

    Wordle 1,401 6/6

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    1. Here's a question which is currently puzzling me, and which some on here (Conway?) may be able to answer for me. As a child I knew that Christ was crucified on Good Friday. And the expression "on the third day He rose again" I took as a child to mean that he rose three days later, i.e. on Easter Monday, which is three days after Good Friday. But, since he died on Friday afternoon after His crucifixion, three days later would in fact be Easter Sunday. This makes sense when we read that it was on the Sunday that the women went to pay their respects only to find that the stone covering His tomb had been removed and the tomb was empty. They were worried by this, thinking that His body had been stolen, but He appeared to them further down the road to reassure them that He had in fact risen again.

      My query is what exactly happened on Easter Monday? I know that at a later date Christ appeared to all his disciples including "Doubting" Thomas who would not believe it was Christ until He allowed him to place his hands in the holes in Christ's hands after He was crucified. And then the disciples saw Him physically ascend into the Heavens. But this incident occurred some thirty days after Easter Sunday, did it not? So what is the significance of Easter Monday? Surely just not another Bank Holiday to extend the length of the Easter break?

      1. He rose on the 3rd day AFTER the Crucifixion, which suggest that the day OF the Crucifixion is counted as Day 0 making the 3rd day Easter Monday.

        1. I beg to differ, BoB. He (physically) rose after the Doubting Thomas incident which was some thirty days or so after His crucifixion and not on Easter Monday.

      2. The third day is Sunday, with Friday being the first day. 'After three days' would to us mean Monday, but there is an explanation citing the fact that Jews deemed any portion of a day to be day and night:-

        How can “three days and three nights” mean “three days and two nights”? Well, the answer is not nearly as impossible as those employing a very literal, word-for-word hermeneutic in the interpretation of this verse might suggest (and let me say that literal interpretation is certainly one I generally advocate, except for cases where we’re dealing with an idiom in Scripture). The reason for this is that, in Semitic idiom, any portion of a 24-hour period of time could be called “a day and a night” (i.e., “a day and a night” = 1 day). With Jewish days beginning and ending at dusk, that gives us about 3 hours on “Friday,” 24 hours on “Saturday,” and up to almost 12 hours on “Sunday” – three days, or, in Semitic idiom, “three days and three nights.” (For supporting evidence, see the respective commentaries on Matthew’s Gospel.)

        https://biblicalfoundations.org/raised-on-the-third-day/

        2. Thanks, Aeneas, as an adult I understood that He rose again on Easter Sunday which was the third day. What has baffled me is why do we celebrate the fourth day, i.e. Easter Monday?

          2. As others have said, we don’t ‘celebrate’ Easter Monday (not in a religious sense, anyway). It’s just a Bank Holiday linked to a Holy Day (like Good Friday).

        3. Thanks for the link. I had come across Andreas Kostenberger before (as co-author, with Thomas Schreiner, of Women in the Church) and rated him very highly for scholarly biblical exegesis. I didn't know he had his own website – now bookmarked.

      3. Conners posted late last night that Winston had escaped his crate and caused “a fair bit of damage”. He didn’t elaborate and it was too late to ask. I hope it was all manageable to clear up.

        1. He “savaged” ie eviscerated Oscar’s fleecy bed and flung some of Kadi’s coats around (stolen from the box of dog clothing). He was not flavour of the month! He is was ostracised (put outside) while I cleaned up and then I took the remains outside to show him what he’d done wrong. He grovelled, crawled on his belly and generally craved forgiveness, but it wasn’t forthcoming until this morning. He was ignored and when he tried to ingratiate himself at bedtime was sent to bed peremptorily with no cuddles. He got in his bed,turned his back on me and went to sleep. This morning he was forgiven (it is Easter after all). He stayed in his crate while I was in church, was dry but ripped up the mattress in his bed, which was not a problem as I expected that. I shall try a cheap blanket in the bed (no filling to pull out) and see if that works.

          1. Oh Winston. Still, there’s always the possibility of redemption, even for dogs, isn’t there?

          2. I forgave him eventually. It was a bit of a metaphor for man’s sin and redemption. No matter how often he transgresses, I’ll be prepared to forgive him – as long as he repents and tries to sin no more.

      4. That confused me too as a child. I didn't know what we were celebrating on Easter Sunday!

        1. I was underthe assumption that we rolled eggs on Easter to commemorate the stone being rolled aside on the third day, i.e., Sunday.

          1. My Father's family "jarped" eggs… where you hard-boiled eggs, the children painted hem once cooled, and you bang them together until one breaks, and that egg "loses".

          2. Oh crikey! ‘Jarping’!Haven’t heard that for ages! Christos Anesti to you all!

      5. Good Morning, Elsie.

        "So what is the significance of Easter Monday?"

        It's the Irish Grand National, silly.

        1. Mine was a serious question, Citroen 1, and your reply shows that you are a Very Silly Sausage. Go to the Naughty Step at once! Lol.

      6. It has no religious significance as far as I know. Just another day off. Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday are the main days.

        1. Thank you, Conway. I wonder why it has been embraced by the Church in that case.

    2. Well done for getting it in six!
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      1. It was one of those where, once you got the last four letters, there were innumerable options for the first letter. I got lucky, BB2.

        1. I sacrificed one line by using a word that had three of the five alternative beginnings, getting it in five.

    1. The caption above the photo, which explains Lord Ashcroft’s comment, is: “28 Unite members in PM’s top team”

  7. Good morning everyone .

    Easter , yes here again , and I hope you all have happier memories of earlier Easter Sundays when you were younger , when Easter was more relevant in our British Christian calendar ..

  8. Good morning and a Happy Easter to all.
    A better nights sleep as the DT was not coughing so much.
    A dullish overcast with a cool 7°C on the thermometer.

    1. Good morning Bob ,

      Happy Easter .. if you have any chocolate in the house , persuade your Moh to suck a little piece , and let it dissolve slowly , many people say that sucking until it is dissolved rather than crunching does help a cough calm down .

      Sucking on chocolate, particularly dark chocolate, can provide some relief from a cough due to the presence of theobromine, an alkaloid found in cocoa. Theobromine may help suppress the urge to cough by inhibiting vagal nerve activity in the throat. The stickiness of chocolate may also help soothe the throat by lining it and covering nerve endings.

      Theobromine:
      This compound in cocoa has been found to be more effective at suppressing coughs than codeine, a common ingredient in cough medicine.
      Throat Coating:
      The sticky nature of chocolate may help coat the throat and soothe irritated nerve endings, reducing the urge to cough.
      Scientific Evidence:
      Studies have shown that chocolate-based medications can be effective in reducing cough symptoms.
      Alternative to Cough Syrup:
      While not a substitute for a doctor's recommendation, sucking on dark chocolate can be a home remedy for some cough relief.

  9. Reeves has a manic glint in her eye , what IS her relationship with China , remember her first visit to China as Chancellor ..She has a game plan , dubious dealings with a regime that HAS always been cruel devious and aggressive .. and do you remember that their Covid control showed the nastiest ever lockdown where people were locked / concreted/ stapled down in their homes and starved during the control of the already spreading pandemic .

    Heartless , Marxist Commie Reeves is sucking up to China .. that glint in her eye is dangerous .

    SIR – Rachel Reeves is an unimpressive Chancellor and, worse, a hypocrite.

    She champions supposedly virtuous policies here, such as raising the minimum wage, then advocates cosying up to China (“Reeves: It is foolish to cut our ties with China”, report, April 19).

    China suppresses human rights, uses slave labour, carries out industrial espionage and is a world leader in pollution. It may be a rich nation, but this wealth is tainted. Ms Reeves should understand that it’s not all about money.

    Mick Ferrie
    Mawnan Smith, Cornwall

    1. Don’t expect politicians, especially the Leftards, to understand hypocrisy

    1. Good morning Bill,

      We enjoyed the Elton John performance .

      I had forgotten what an excellent jazz pianist he is .. my sort of music , and thoroughly enjoyed listening to him.

      Strange how pianist fingers differ , some are long and elegant , but I am always amazed to see the dexterity of Elton's chubby little fingers dancing along the keyboard .

  12. Easter Sunday blessings to everyone here, Christ is risen .

    The Bishop of York will be Easter Sunday service ( due to Welby reasons).

    I always thought the retired Bishop of London, Richard Chartris would have made a rather fine Archbishop of Canterbury. A fine Christian man with a strong booming voice .

  13. Central Celebration:
    Both churches celebrate Easter as the most important event in the Christian calendar, commemorating the resurrection of Jesus.
    Theological Foundation:
    Both base their understanding of Easter on the biblical accounts of Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection.
    Easter Vigil:
    Both traditions observe an Easter Vigil, a special service on Saturday evening leading into Easter Sunday. This vigil often includes the lighting of the Paschal candle, a symbol of Christ's light, and the renewal of baptismal vows.
    Communion:
    Both churches typically hold Communion/Mass on Easter Sunday, celebrating the resurrected Christ.

    Origins of Easter
    SIR – David Frost (Comment, April 19) is spot on regarding the historical evidence for Jesus and Easter.

    The latter is inextricably linked to Passover and its date is determined in a similar way. In most languages, the term for Easter is similar too – pasch, for example. It is only in English that the pre-Christian word Easter, for the spring festival, was given to the

    Feast of the Resurrection. By history and calculation, it has nothing to do with the pagan goddess Eostre.

    Msgr Dr Michael Nazir-Ali
    London SW1

    1. Dr Nazir-Ali is married to Valerie Cree and has two sons, while his pastimes include hockey and cricket, together with poetry-writing, both in English and Persian.

      Michael James Nazir-Ali (Urdu: مائیکل نذیر علی; born 19 August 1949) is a Pakistani-born British Catholic priest and former Anglican bishop. He served as the 106th Bishop of Rochester from 1994 to 2009 and, before that, as Bishop of Raiwind in Pakistan.[1] He is currently the director of the Oxford Centre for Training, Research, Advocacy and Dialogue.

      In 2021, he was received into the Catholic Church and was ordained as a priest for the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham on 30 October 2021,[2] one of several Anglican bishops who converted to Catholicism that year. In 2022, he was made a monsignor and Prelate of Honour of His Holiness to the Holy See. He is a dual citizen of Pakistan and Britain.

      He understands English, Arabic, Persian, Punjabi, Urdu, Hindi, Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac, and Latin.[7]

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Nazir-Ali

      I don't understand the conversion from Anglican to Catholicism, how and what is different ?

      1. The head of the Catholic Church is the Pope. The Archbishop of Canterbury is nominally head of the Anglican Church with KC3 as Defender of the Faith.
        Neither of those do much to defend faith in this country.

        3. KFC is worse than useless. He does nothing to protect the people of "his" realm. Mind you, neither did his mother, if truth be told…

        4. KFC is worse than useless. He does nothing to protect the people of "his" realm. Mind you, neither did his mother, if truth be told…

        1. Wow and thankyou .. and don't some of us feel the same ?

          He said, “The [Anglican] church councils and synods are permeated by activists who each have a single-issue, often faddish agenda, whether it is about cultural correctness, ‘climate change,’ identity politics, multiculturalism (which actually encourages communities to live separately), or critical theory on race, religion and gender — a neo-Marxist theory developed to create conflict by dividing people into victims and villains.” It would have been “easier at the age of 72,” he went on to say, “to have remained [an Anglican]” so as “to work from the inside to change the things that I feel so strongly about.”

          And, he believes, his attempts to improve things from within failed.

          “People want a sense of the presence of God and the teaching of Christ when they go to church,” he told the Daily Mail interviewer, “especially those who don’t go often. They don’t want a happy-clappy chat show or a glorified yoga center, where the Bible, prayer and true worship are sidelined.”

          EXACTLY my thoughts .. totally and utterly true .

          1. I can vouch for that description of the synods . They all seem to be signed up to woke ideology.

      3. what is different ?

        For deep answers to that question perhaps go to Marshall McLuhan, the Catholic convert who predicted the internet.

        McLuhan's Catholic perspective, the Protestant Reformation supposedly ruined Christianity.
        Hells, bells & smells.. the sensory order resonates with the divine Logos.
        McLuhan refers contemptuously to “Protestant morals and the dull dead day-light of Protestant rationalism which ruinously bathes every object …
        He opposed the 'protestant' relegation of faith to the conceptual realm..
        Everything that is especially hateful and devilish and inhuman about the conditions and strains of modern industrial society is not only Protestant in origin, but it is their boast.
        McLuhan was for communal participation as encouraged by oral-aural culture and opposed to the distanciation and separateness that he thought eye-dominance brought about.

        1. He may despise Protestant morality, but the Protestant Ethic has been a driving force for progress .

      4. I studied McLuhan for a decade.. the short gist of it is.. the Gutenberg printing press and the mass reading of books essentially made mankind become logical & protestant as it tended to shut down the right side of the brain. This gave the world the cold dead eye of "The Newtonian Yardstick & the industrial revolution.".. the difference best illustrated by the industrialised protestant Belfast as oppose to the oral tradition of Catholic southern Ireland.

      5. And Catholics also believe in transubstantiation, i.e that Communion Bread and Wine literally do become the body and blood of Christ.

        1. That belief I find difficult to agree with – metaphorically transform, maybe, be a symbol, definitely, but actually transform (cannibalism, anyone?) – nope.

          1. Over the centuries there's all manner of dodgy doctrine that has been espoused by the Vatican in general and the Curia in particular. Keeping alive the spirit of Doubting Thomas and Victor Meldrew, I discard anything that I find "Unbelievable!"

      6. In Catholicism you are not given a choice. You are told what to do and what to believe. My RC friends find it difficult to understand why the CofE is so diverse.

    1. Mr Lammy is already organising a trip there, for himelf and his staff, if he can find his way out of his house

      1. And he has set the printing presses rolling so he can distribute largesse whether they need it or no .

    1. Happy Easter J .

      You will enjoy these, I am on a learning curve.

      Easter Eggs
      Originally a pagan symbol of fertility and rebirth, the Christian tradition of Easter eggs came to symbolize the resurrection of Jesus on Easter. The eggshell symbolizes the tomb in which Jesus’s body was placed; opening the egg represents his rising from the dead.

      Additionally, early Christians who celebrated Lent would not eat eggs for the 40 days before Easter — so delicious eggs on Easter morning was an especially rewarding treat.

      The Easter Bunny
      So if eggs are such an important part of Easter, why do children get presents from the Easter bunny instead of the Easter chicken?

      One theory for the origin of the Easter bunny comes from the pagan festival of Eostre, as the goddess was traditionally represented by a rabbit (another symbol of fertility due to how quickly they reproduce).

      In 18th-century German folklore, the rabbit (Osterhase, or “Easter Hare”) laid eggs for children to discover on Easter morning. The tradition followed German immigrants to America, where the Easter bunny became a mainstay of American Easter mornings — religious and nonreligious alike.

      https://www.yourdictionary.com/articles/easter-symbols-meanings

      1. Our vicar in her sermon mentioned that the infant class she spoke to about Easter wanted to know where the Easter bunny fitted in. She said he didn’t really; he just hopped in to see what was going on.

  17. Good Morning, all

    A few wispy clouds in bright sunshine.

    Happy chocolate day
    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/dd214ef4d80c3d137219134cdeae8780105a0cff/0_0_685_1254/master/685.jpg?width=980&dpr=2&s=none&crop=none https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/dd214ef4d80c3d137219134cdeae8780105a0cff/687_0_435_1254/master/435.jpg?width=980&dpr=2&s=none&crop=none https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/dd214ef4d80c3d137219134cdeae8780105a0cff/1127_0_1799_1254/master/1799.jpg?width=980&dpr=2&s=none&crop=none https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/dd214ef4d80c3d137219134cdeae8780105a0cff/2930_0_598_1254/master/598.jpg?width=980&dpr=2&s=none&crop=none https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/dd214ef4d80c3d137219134cdeae8780105a0cff/3532_0_597_1254/master/597.jpg?width=980&dpr=2&s=none&crop=none

    1. Reminds me of Sir Francis Drake's prayer:

      "There must be a beginning of any great matter, but the continuing unto the end until it be thoroughly finished yields the true glory."

  19. Yo and Good Moaning all, from a dull (wetherwisw) C d S

    A Union flag and the flag of China outside British Steel in Scunthorpe Credit: Peter Byrne/PA Wire

    The Union Flag is flown incorrectly.

    It should be upside dowm, to reflect life in UK, under Starmer

    "Flying the Union Flag upside down is generally understood as a distress signal or a sign of distress."

    1. Some might regard a sign of distress to be an indication of vulnerability and an invitation to take advantage and profit from it.

        1. Fortunately, the forecast has thus far been wrong and we've been blessed with plenty of sunny spells.

  20. The Easter Rising was an armed rebellion by Irish republicans against British rule in Ireland that took place during Easter week in April 1916. The uprising, which began on Easter Monday, April 24, 1916, was primarily centered in Dublin, with rebels seizing key buildings like the General Post Office. Although quickly suppressed, the Rising became a pivotal moment in Irish history, contributing to the eventual establishment of an independent Irish Republic.

    My maternal grandmother's brother played a significant part in SW Cork , stuff I have recently learnt about .

    Dark, isn't it?

    1. We’re complaining Easter is late this year, but in 1935 when my parents got married, Easter was on 21st April and clearly in 1916 it was later still.

    1. Warqueen has 20 mins of her yoga class yet to go. I'm moving things around to cler the room out ready for the radiator and electricians.

      Not sure who's working harder…

  22. Morning all 🙂😊
    Not sunny, but bright and warmish so I expect the grandchildren will be playing in the garden later.
    Im not sure what china has to do with our lives and furure expectations. So far I would suggest that our so misnamed hierarchy don't have the slightest clue on how to keep the standards we are and have been use to for decades running smoothly. Their aims are definitely set on the lowest common denomination. Except for themselves of course.

    1. Morning Eddy,
      Have you ever heard of Temu.. a cheap shoddy Chinese selling site .. full of useless plastics and items of which are called clutter ..

      This government has the same pedigree .. shoddy , ghastly mind cluttering twerps .

      1. Part of building this box room out has exposed just how much stuff we still have.

        Not odd things, but towels. I'm binning two pairs of shoes that've worn on the wrong side, for example. Junior and I did some hobby yesterday and trimmed parts off 4 big A4 sprues.

          1. A4 sized plastic frames holding the parts of a plastic model?
            Think large sized Airfix kits.

          2. As Bob said, it's a frame which holds plastic components from plastic injection moulding.

            Junior likes building things (and cough, so does his Dad *cough*) and we have dozens of tanks, little mens and giants, dragons – some 3d printed, some bought.

            (The less said about the 3d printers the better, but they never seem to stop running).

  23. There is now a Jesus AI influencer who people can contact in real time who offers advice and ' Christian ' guidance. I've got a very strange feeling that this can go very badly.

    2. I find the very profession "influencer" to be profoundly sinister. I do not want to be influenced.

      1. Influencer has the same value as reviews. If they can be bought then there's no point being 'influenced' by them.

        I try to find people who review, and then report their frustrations. I want to know about the product, flaws and all. That way I can make an informed decision.

        1. Yep. Actions, not words. I would never take seriously anyone who describes themselves as an influencer. 🙄

          1. Like many words which have evolved a meaning in recent times – "influencer" in the sense we understand of prominent figures on social media who have a persuasive power – its modern use is older than we might think. The OED cites an example from 1968. Although too old to be on social media, its use in commerce is quite clear.

            1968
            The role of the child as an influencer of consumer decisions was investigated by studying the interaction between mother and child.
            Journal Marketing Research vol. 5 70

            https://www.oed.com/dictionary/influencer_n?tl=true

          2. I have no bone to pick with the word itself — it’s the self-description which negates the possibility for me.

          3. Some earn an income from this status. Businesses will pay for these endorsements.

            Influencer earnings in the UK can vary widely, ranging from micro-influencers with small followings earning around $200-800 per sponsored post to mega-influencers with millions of followers potentially earning $3,000 – $10,000 or more per post. Average annual salaries for social media influencers in the UK are estimated to be around £31,868, with potential for additional earnings through bonuses, commissions, and other incentives.

            AI Overview

      2. As you always come across as an open minded contributor on this forum, Jeremy, I'm guessing that you "do not want to be influenced" in a rather narrowly defined way. I find that "influencer" as some kind of occupation is not one I take at all seriously. Its claimants would have us believe that they are somehow engaged in an honourable profession.

        2. There was a video a while ago that showed how “influencers “ themselves could be influenced.

  24. When you do, will she say "My name is Sue, how do you do?" as Johnny Cash used to say/sing? Incidentally, I too have a cousin called Sue.

    1. Cool and brisk is how I describe it!
      Just in for a mug of tea after trying to chop a few bits of log that I really should take the chainsaw to first.
      Not very long, but VERY dense and twisted grain.

  26. Msgr Dr Michael Nazir-Ali is not the only Bish who has had enough of the CofE and joined us left-footers (Papists). In the 26min youtube below, Dr Gavin Ashenden (former CofE bishop and Chaplain to The Queen) gives a full scale bollocking to JWK Chuck regarding his heretical Easter Message. https://youtu.be/SAcp71mHe34
    BTL:

    @nigthwtachman-lac
    9 hours ago
    As a Christian in the U.S., thank you for standing firm for Christ. Jesus is King.

    @michaelgreen9326
    10 hours ago
    Dr Ashenden PLEASE PLEASE keep on telling the truth. Keep shouting, the silent majority can no longer remain silent.

    @robkeeleycomposer
    16 hours ago (edited)
    For all his life, Charles has gotten away with so much plausible-sounding tosh, but very few people were able to challenge him – under a veneer of civilisation, culture and 'spirituality', together with apparently-well-intentioned tolerance, he simply isn't up the the job.
    Thank you Gavin, once again for speaking the truth. Happy Easter!

    @janelindsey7445
    12 hours ago
    Charles is an utter disgrace to those of us who are Christians…

    @fayvoshell466
    15 hours ago
    Beautifully and eloquently stated. I pray your voice will be heard by the King, your nation and the world.

    @johnlow6671
    15 hours ago
    He is a Heretic . A Heretic King . So stands for nothing but a Falsehood

    1. He has his reputation as the Idiot King to live up to!

      He cannot for one moment do or say anything remotely sensible or his reputation as an total imbecile would be in danger.

      His German ancestors consider him to be the Dimmest of the Dummkopfs.

    8. Grattis på födelsedagen (and Glad Påsk), John. I didn't realise you were so young! Hope it's a good 'un.😊🍷🎂👍🏻

      1. Hello, Grizzly. It looks like changing your avatar every single day is thirsty work. Lol.

  28. 404482+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Sometimes one must sup with a long spoon.

    I know the CO-OP is lab. orientated BUT on this occasion should receive an anti boycott boost,one that is noticeable at the check- out.

    The Co-op plans to sell only British-grown strawberries across their entire own-brand range, starting on April 19th, 2025. This marks a shift towards supporting local growers and a move earlier than in 2024, with the company aiming to offer British strawberries for the entire summer season.

    The Co-op plans to sell only British-grown strawberries across their entire own-brand range, starting on April 19th, 2025. This marks a shift towards supporting local growers and a move earlier than in 2024, with the company aiming to offer British strawberries for the entire summer season.

    The Co-op plans to sell only British-grown strawberries across their entire own-brand range, starting on April 19th, 2025. This marks a shift towards supporting local growers and a move earlier than in 2024, with the company aiming to offer British strawberries for the entire summer season.

    1. I expected there to be differentiation as if each were an option but… it's the same text. Why the repetition?

    2. I'm surprised that British strawberries will be available in sufficient quantity this early in the season to supply Co-op stores with the numbers needed. Nonetheless, I wish them well. I presume they will return to importing them once the British season has ended.

      1. I tend not to buy strawberries once the British season has ended. The imported ones are never as good. I do make an exception for grapes though.

      2. I expect someone has opened a high-tech indoor facility pumped full of CO2 for extra growth and without any soil!

        1. There is one on the Isle of Wight. The troughs of strawberry plants rotate on frames so they all get as much sunlight as possible. They call it vertical farming.

          1. It makes sense – up to a point!
            I saw a very good video on youtube of someone growing salad in a hydroponics tower in their tiny back yard, somewhere in south east Asia. Very good use of space to produce a lot of food in a small area.

      3. 404482+ upticks,

        Morning DW,

        A symbolic one punnet triggering a buying boost at the check-out would suit me fine.

      4. Morning David and all

        This morning I ate a British grown strawberry which was bought from Sainsbury's. It was delicious!

    3. They are also anti hunting so British strawberries notwithstanding, I shan’t be patronising them.

  30. Junior has had 2 glass display cabinets in his room for some time. Thing is, the new Lego models (the Formula 1 cars) are just too big to sit inside them so they sit on top, and are duly dusted.

    They are also 'glass' which, when you've an 80kilo bear wallowing around the inevitable happened when Mongo decided to roll around scratching his back and whacked one of the doors.

    Aside from calmly telling him to stay still so he didn't get glass in his paws (And if you've ever lifted 80 kilos off the floor, I suggest not doing so often) we hoovered the glass up and picked bits out of his fur, followed by a thorough brushing – which had us hoovering again only with the mega hoover 10000. Junior then brushed him again with the fine brush. Bless him, he did do as he was told and didn't struggle or argue. Keeping the other two out was also a delight.

    The shelves survived, but that did have us thinking of better, more robust storage and display larks. The wood frame ones are overblown and expensive, the cheaper ones too small. The shop display items high four figures or more.

      1. I'm not sure that'd be quite the same. We've several dozen 'really useful' boxes full of older models and their instructions. Junior does donate these sometimes.

        But his new thing is the F1 cars and they're half a metre long and 30 odd wide.

          1. I'm starting to wonder if that might be the best choice! We tried so hard to get all the cruft gone and still, somehow there's an 18l box full of USB and power cables. Another of cat5/6/DAC/fibre!

            I've given away bath mats, thrown out old trainers, finally got Junior around to building models rather than having the boxes sat about.

    2. My next door neighbour kept a succession of Newfies. They were all lovely and it was always a pleasure to greet them when they were being walked. However, he – the neighbour – is getting on a bit, now, and the sheer weight and bulk of the breed was becoming increasingly difficult to handle, so, after his last Newfie passed, he decided to downsize to a spaniel.

      1. I'm thinking of one in Ramsgate. It's piled so high you risk setting off an avalanche if you disturb a hill of odds and ends.

  31. 290 drones fired at Ukraine during Easter ‘ceasefire’. 20 April 2025.

    But on Sunday Mr Zelensky accused Russia of only creating an “impression” of a ceasefire, saying Russian forces were continuing their shelling and assaults along the front line.

    “Across various frontline directions, there have already been 59 cases of Russian shelling and five assaults by Russian units,” said Mr Zelensky.

    He said that in the six hours up to midnight Saturday, there were “387 instances of shelling and 19 assaults by Russian forces,” with drones “used by Russians 290 times”.

    The question that arises is why would Vlad do this? There is nothing to be gained from it and the loss of credibility would be actually harmful.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/04/20/russia-ukraine-truce-zelensky-putin-war-latest-news/

    2. Possibly trying to bring it to a close, albeit a bloody one. Might this be part of the agreement he has with Trump, or in defiance of it?

    3. The question that arises is why would Vlad do this? There is nothing to be gained from it and the loss of credibility would be actually harmful.

      Quite. Even having made the charitable assumption that Zelensky is being truthful and that we can rely on what he tells us in the absence of empirical evidence for his assertions in the western media: cui bono?

  32. Service on BBC now ..

    The reading in Arabic and English

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002b947

    Prayers of Intercession

    The prayers of intercession will be read in two languages.

    Risen Lord, bursting from the tomb in joy and light,
    You call us into new life, new hope, and renewed purpose.

    Make your Church a place of belonging
    where all are valued and uplifted.
    May our worship lead to action,
    and our fellowship reflect the diversity found in Christ.

    Lord in your mercy

    Hear our prayer

    Make us Easter people meeting the needs of our neighbours
    and standing in solidarity with those in crisis.
    May we be bold and generous,
    bearing your light into the world

    Lord in your mercy

    Hear our prayer

    Within these sacred walls
    may we offer locals, travellers and pilgrims
    both a place of welcome
    and a story to live by

    Lord in your mercy

    Hear our prayer

    Make us attentive to the cries of the earth
    Give us courage to choose both justice and care,
    and wisdom to remain faithful for future generations.

    Merciful Father,

    accept these prayers
    for the sake of your Son,
    our Saviour Jesus Christ.
    Amen.

    2. They really are trying desperate to erase our entire society and culture.

      However, answer me this: When all the white people have been obliterated, the nuclear family done in who will pay the welfare bill, who will police the streets from the rampant crime? Who will pay for everything?

      Cos it sure ain't gonna be the welfare classes or the diversity.

    3. Which Arabic will they use.
      We were in Dubai, a few years ago, having a bite to eat. Sitting next to us were two Arab looking men. We got talking to them and asked why they were speaking English. They said Arabic is their native language but one was from Lebanon and the other from Morocco but they couldn’t understand each other. English it had to be.

      1. I ate mine in bed last night. I've had to wash the pillow case !

        Chocolate hair anyone?

    2. I don’t have an Easter egg. Nobody but God loves me and He thinks it’s bad for my waistline 😀.

    1. The problem is, to keep their cash flowing in they have to parrot the state line. As many are Lefties, this isn't an issue but the rest do so for money. Therefore of course they hate anyone who questions their hegemony. Having spent decades building up the hoax, they've got to keep it going.

  36. 'Recommend a bishop to the crown, Prime minister….'

    Ah, Yes Minister. Genius, comedy, parody. It is brilliant.

    1. Thatcher's favourite TV prog. Definitely worse, we're in it for the long haul with Labour – I can't see government of any different stripe in my lifetime, certain voters have it all stitched up for as long as he's convenient.

  37. It must be very satisfying to have a shared interest with your lad. I always enjoyed some of the activities Dad and I did together. He constructed a model train layout for me and mounted it an a hardboard frame. There were two locomotives, tenders and carriages we'd run around the track. Then there was a Scalextric set on which we'd have races. The other that springs to mind was a junior-sized billiard table with short cues. We'd play long games of snooker. They main problem was the space these things would occupy, which would eventually get on Mum's nerves as we'd create these obstacle courses in the middle of the room for her to negotiate.

    1. My mother would hate them as well, but I married a woman who can cope with 3 large bears, so it's horses for courses. Much of our reason for moving was for storage and to give Junior 'two' rooms (one which has now been sequestered). He has a decent sized bedroom now for all his things and we play games and hobby together in the garage, where all the bits and pieces are kept.

      But, as you say, you run out of room for things. Ever the pragmatist, the Warqueen mentioned, thereare far worse things we could both be doing that gluing plastic together.

        1. Such a lovely view to wake up to and to enjoy the changing of the seasons.

          The early evening sky here before sunset yesterday looked like it had been painted by an Old Master. The sunset-tinged fluffy clouds in an azure setting were quite beautiful.

      2. My daughter lives in Southampton now and likes walking and i wanted to show her how beautiful Shropshire is. I think she was impressed.

      1. Our drive home was via Church Stretton and involved a drive over the Long Mynd. Beautiful.

        There are two bridges at Bridges, and the pub there was rammed. But then we realised a) it clearly serves good beer and food and b) it’s near the Long My d.

  40. SIR – In the 1960s, it was deemed necessary for biology students to know the cranial nerves of the dogfish.

    Only ’Orrible Old Teachers Teach Any Facts About Grisly Vertebrates was the mnemonic (Letters, April 13), and it is still with me 60 years later. It stood for: olfactory, optic, oculomotor, trochlear, trigeminal, auditory, facial, abducens, glossopharyngeal, vagus.

    Dr Dee Dawson
    London N20

    Before some of the names were changed, medical students remembered the eight carpal bones of the wrist by a mnemonic.

    Simple Simon Couldn't Pee Thus Through Curious Habits, for Scaphoid, Semilunate, Cuneiform, Pisiform, Trapezium, Trapezoid, Capitate, Hamate.

    1. Such mnemonics are handy for recalling the names and order of things but they don't much help with the spelling – or even pronunciation for the more tongue-twisting ones.

    1. I don't know. Charles is a product of his time. I am not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

      Honestly the time of Kings and Queens has passed and the last true monarch I respected, Her late majesty is now dead. We have a prince wanting to shirk the duty but cash in on the brand. Another dealing with a queen in waiting dying from cancer.

      They are all too human.

    1. A Swedish Easter greeting, I take it, Grizz.

      Are there some Swedish Easter traditions, perhaps unfamiliar to us British, you'd care to divulge?

      1. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/dc155c0b385bd46958d384c291e3b73eeba62c03f582958e3364ffa37fcee4d0.png Indeed it is, Stig. Glad is (obviously) Happy, and Påsk means Easter.

        No real traditions except it being one of only three occasions in the calendar (despite what forigners believe) that pickled herrings are routinely eaten [Christmas, Easter and Midsummer].

        The photo shows my supper table, yesterday evening. The only thing not show was the Janssons Frestelse ("Jansson's Temptation") a simple potato dauphinoise dish containing a few sandalwood-infused canned sprats. I had a small spoonful. I like it but my carb consumption these days is limited.

        Two differently-flavoured pickled herring dishes along with some chillied prawns were served. Hard-boiled eggs are an essential.

        The dark brown 'tile' is Danish rågbrød (rye bread), which I smothered with butter.

        The small glass contain my homemade snaps, in which I'd infused some vodka with caraway seeds. It tastes a bit like a grown-up, intensely-boozy, version of Nurse Harvey's Mixture gripe water. {Being the eldest of five siblings born over an extended seventeen year period, I am well aware what that stuff tastes like!].

        1. Thanks, Grizz. And a Happy Easter to you, too. Will you allow yourself a little chocolate?

          2. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c04575f8fbd7c805a14a80e0f422ce4e951d8fe5956c18549046702badca43c4.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d0ecbd546bf74caab70d4bbb2ff79181f9d3ffe3afce1ab8dacaee20e37c91ba.png This morning, on request, I baked a white loaf from an overnight-autolyse dough (500g strong white flour; 280g cold water; 10g salt; 20g fresh yeast).

            My solitary meal today was pan-European. Finnish butter, Swedish eggs, English (Colston Bassett) stilton, Swiss (cave-aged) Gruyère, Dutch Maasdammer, Spanish Serrano ham, Italian salami. It was delicious.

      2. I would presume that the Easter connection can be seen in the similarity between Påsk and paschal.

  44. Bloody hell! £40 delivery charge for the Ikeas! Not everyone drives a chuffing great van.

  45. Have they said that is what he has?
    My OH has prostate cancer, which has metastasised into his pelvic bone, but it's kept under control with a three monthly hormone jab. The oncologist warned that that would eventually stop working, but all's well so far.

    1. Good to know re OH – mine too, but early days as yet, just regular blood tests. Interesting to know about the hormone jab, thanks. As for Charles – most men his age have some prostate problems, it’s been suggested he has prostate cancer, but I don’t think any official announcement – if so, would be calls for him to step down and all that that would entail. So much cancer…the way/length of how we live today?

      1. I wish. It is cool and raining here. Most welcome though, since it's our first rain since early February.

        1. OK…how fed up are you, on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being not at all, 10 quite a bit…)

        2. Since the end of February we've had a lovely late winter/spring, largely dry with plenty of sunshine. It has more than compensated for an especially dreary February. It wasn't particularly cold but sunshine and blue skies were scarce commodities.

  48. From Coffee House the Spectator
    19 Apr 2025
    Coffee House
    SteerpikeSteerpike
    Labour MPs rage against trans ruling fall-out
    20 April 2025, 11:59am

    Happy Easter Sunday to LGBT+ Labour. Today’s Mail on Sunday splashes on leaked messages from a WhatsApp chat of MPs who all belong to the campaign group. The paper claims that Labour ministers are now plotting to defy the Supreme Court ruling on Wednesday that the legal definition of a woman should be based on biological sex. A judgment that not all within Labour seem to agree with…

    In the messages, sent on Thursday evening, Culture Minister Sir Chris Bryant joined an attack on Baroness Falkner, chairwoman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, who earlier that day had said that the ruling – that a woman is defined by biological sex – clearly meant trans women could not use single-sex female facilities or compete in women’s sports.

    When Steve Race MP said that Lady Falkner’s words on the Today programme were ‘pretty appalling’, Bryant wrote: ‘Agreeed [sic].’ Bryant’s fellow minister Angela Eagle meanwhile suggested that they should seek a meeting ‘ASAP with [the] relevant Equality Minister’ after Easter recess – a move which prompted hearty agreement on the chat. A meeting without coffee, perhaps…

    As Observer writer Sonia Sodha pointed out, Falkner’s comments were merely setting out the correct application of equalities law in the UK. So much for all that Labour pre-election talk about the sanctity of independent bodies…

    Steerpike
    Written by
    Steerpike
    Steerpike is The Spectator's gossip columnist, serving up the latest tittle tattle from Westminster and beyond. Email tips to steerpike@spectator.co.uk or message @MrSteerpike

    1. Does this mean that if the owner of a single-sex female facility or organising body of a sport allowed m-to-f transsexuals to use the facility or compete in the sport, that it could be challenged in courts and deemed unlawful? While I understand the concept of determining what "woman" means in legal terms, such that where laws refer to women there is no doubt about who is and who is not a woman, does it necessarily mean that those offering facilities, services and competitions to women are no longer free to apply their own definitions where the law is silent on a particular facility, service or activity? Take, for example, the Women's Prize for Fiction. If m-to-f transsexuals are allowed to compete and one were to be declared the victor, could law be used to strike it down?

      1. 'Oh what a tangled web we weave
        When first we practice to deceive'

        Treat all such categorizations as male, female and everything else.
        Three categories, strictly enforced.

      2. I can just see all being forced to nave a third category of facilities. All for ‘trans’ people.

        2. We shouldn’t pander to their demands. I blame (the lack of) Brexit. They got away with ignoring a democratic vote and now they think they can get away with whatever they want.

          1. The thing is, Conway, they’re right. And they do. I would think that the majority of the British public don’t agree with ‘giving’ the Chagos Islands away and paying for the privilege, or sucking up to thr Chinese, or sucking up to Europe, or Net Zero (the basis of all our troubles), all the tax ri she’s, the outrageous rises in salary for public sector workers, etc.etc.

      3. I imagine if a man goes into a women's changing room then the women using it could complain and potentially sue.

      4. The ruling applies to the equalities act, previously if a m-f tranny decided to apply to take part in a female activity, you could not stop them and would transgress the law if you did. . Now you will not fall foul of the law if you tell them to get lost and find a male or gender neutral activity. It does not stop any organisation setting their rules so that trannies can take part in an activity, but it is then up to the cis gendered to decide if they wish to partake in that activity.

    2. Why can’t they just accept things. I don’t see many women pretending to be men to enter their sports events or go into their toilets.

      1. The Left wing mind is a series of contradictions and hypocrisy. They don't care at all about trans. They do want their vote. More, they hate those who support normalcy and common sense, as if that can be undone they can do what they like.

  49. Happy Easter, everyone!

    I am revelling in the taste of some little Swiss chocolate eggs given to me by a friend. Chocolate is another of the things that Argentina has spectacularly failed to get the hang of, so I never eat it – this is a rare treat! 🙂🙂

    1. Enjoy it, Kathie – you deserve the treat (are they Lindt?…always good). Can you still sing after eating it tho…hope so! x

      1. No idea what they are (*cough…were*). I sure they would aid my singing immensely but today I am.going to paint until the light goes, then dance my heart out. 🙂🙂

        1. You’re a painter…what are you painting today plse?! Dancing sounds fab…don’t lose your heart to anyone (unless they deserve it, natch)x

          1. Massive, brooding sky over Valetta harbour. I want to get it vaguely finished, with makeshift frame (all this is from cardboard I have snitched from the streets, as the real stuff is too expensive) before friends come to dinner tomorrow. To work!!

    3. Happy Easter, Katy! I am surprised at what you say; when I was a child I loved the chocolate Easter bunnies produced by Bonafide. Are they still in business?

      1. I believe so (I recognise the brand, although I don’t remember seeing the bunnies) but my experience of Argentine chocolate has not encouraged me to try it all.

        Luckily I’m not that bothered about chocolate. 🙂

  50. I think it’s usually quite slow-growing in older men and they generally die ‘with’ it rather than ‘of’ it.

    1. Yes. Aggressive prostate cancers are very much in the minority.

      I was catheterized for a week in February to drain urine following surgery. Neither the "wearing" nor removal were in any way problematic, but urination was troublesome for a few weeks after removal. The flow was restricted and mildly uncomfortable. I expected the urethra had become a little inflamed and tender. Fortunately, the condition faded and now all is back to normal. If not, I might have to had to resort to a prostate examination to establish an alternative possible cause.

      1. Did you have a TURP? My OH did, and after things settled down the catheter was removed and he’s ok on that score now. His was found when he had urinary retention which needed draining off in A& E in January 2021.

    2. Agree. When specialist confirmed test sounded a bit alarming until he said to husband ‘no more than I’d expect to see in a man of your age’. He still has regular checks – one time was really bad until surgery confirmed had been left out of fridge over bank holiday.

  51. As one might have predicted – the trans terrorists refuse to accept the Supreme Court judgment.

    Just as people refuse to accept election results that go the "wrong way".

    Tedious, isn't it?

    3. As Rowling pointed out, they haven't lost anything. What this ruling affirms is that a woman is an adult human female, which is basic fact.

      It does mean that women only space – such as changing rooms – are now women only. Not usable by trans. They demanded access before, and some organisations agreed. Now they can demand, and organisations can point to the law and say no. The only change is their ego is refused.

      1. Many of them have been using public loos intended for women for many years. If they’d kept their stupid gobs shut and not got aggressive and demanding, they could continue without any fuss.

    5. It would seem that some MPs dont accept the judgement either. Standby for an amendment to the Equality Act .

      1. I am sure Plod will rock up on their doorsteps to "check their thinking".
        Do I need to add <sarc> to that comment?

    2. I know, won't make a blind bit of difference. Even the Chinese think he's an idiot. Hope you're doing bit better today, catch some sun (Vit D) if poss? x

    3. The problem normal (rational) people have with the climate change scam is that they think it's about science, ecology and the environment.

      It isn't.

      The 'climate change' tax scam is about control. Control over what you can do, when and where. It's nothing but plain, tired, constantly failing socialism.

      1. Hello Anne ,

        Rather weary , but thankful to be here . I am actually concerned that if I have a second episode as painful as that , there won’t be any strong enough medication to alleviate my pain , and secondly , if my bloods were okay , what on earth is causing my upper right abdominal pain , when I noticed the expression on the nurse practitioners face when I said my pain wasn’t in my lower bowel area !

        I am worried they have missed something , but so has my doctor for 10 years or more !

        Do you think I have a duodenal ulcer ?

        1. Hi TB, very sorry to hear about your pain.
          A while ago you mentioned irritable bowel syndrome, and so it looks like you need to request a proper investigation.
          As for IBS, a friend suffered from it until she gave up drinking gin; my own hypothesis is that a course of antibiotics followed by an improved diet might help. An occasional spoonful of inulin powder might be good, because it apparently helps the gut bacteria.
          As a nurse, perhaps you could ask Google AI.
          For example:
          "Several organs can cause abdominal pain, including the stomach, gallbladder, pancreas, liver, intestines, and appendix. The specific location and nature of the pain can help pinpoint which organ might be involved.
          Here's a more detailed look at some of the common culprits:

          Stomach:
          Ulcers, gastritis, and conditions like stomach cancer can cause upper abdominal pain.

          Gallbladder:
          Gallstones and inflammation (cholecystitis) are common causes of right upper quadrant pain, sometimes accompanied by pain radiating to the shoulder.
          Pancreas:
          Pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas) can cause severe pain in the upper abdomen, often radiating to the back.
          Liver:
          Hepatitis, liver disease, and liver cancer can cause pain in the upper right abdomen.
          Intestines:
          Conditions like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and obstructions can cause pain in various areas of the abdomen. "

          1. Hello Tim , I haven’t had a drink for over 25 years, I don’t smoke , hate spicey foods , had gall bladder removed in my 20’s , and I have various allergies .

            My fridge is full of food that Moh, type 2 diabetic athletic man , and an athletic 56 year old son eat.. except I tolerate salads, and certain fruit which sets me off .

            A&E bod told me my bloods were okay , I was concerned whether I had an infection , because I itch scratch feel uncomfortable and have pain in my right upper gastric area , under my rib and radiating to my back ..

            I have no energy and spark , and after the dismissive attitude of A&E, I have dark thoughts .
            My doctor has been aware of this for ten years , and my condition has got progressively worse .. if it is Pylori , I am stuffed because I am allergic to 2 of the recommended antibiotics.

  53. Does anyone else (and I doubt you do, to be honest) have positive air ventilation?

    I tend to keep at least 2 windows open upstairs to let air out and when it's warmer all of them. I never cloes the trickle vents but still. Having air 'forcibly' moved around would be quite nice.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwQXDdjBla4

      1. Mine's on the hook at the moment, but when the Warqueen gets out of the shower we'll open the other window fully to get some air in.

        My thought was during the winter when it can get quite humid indoors and because of the cost of heating I don't want to open a window.

      2. I have a vent in the skylight window in winter.

        In summer that skylight is wide open but I've made a frame containing a flyscreen to cover the opening to keep out unwanted mozzies and flies. We get the light and the fresh air but not the nuisance.

    3. My colleague had it installed. I gather it's the new swanky status symbol for people who can afford perfect houses < (gazes sadly at hole in floor)>
      He loves it and has never complained about it, and knowing him, if there was anything bad about it I would have heard complaints by now.

  54. Afternoon, all. Happy Easter! Alleluia! Turned out to be sunny but not overly warm. As I could only find stewing meat in the freezer, I am making something that might vaguely resemble a stew but is more likely to end up inedible.

    The thing to remember about communists, Chinese or home grown , is that they are dangerous people.

    1. Hello Conway – Happy Easter 🙂 similar weather here. I probably already told you this, husband is Carnivore Diet. He only eats once, evening time – the beef he put in the slow cooker (with onions, seasoning) before he went out for the day. I'm sure your stew will be lovely. If not – always the dog or even the fireback (friend of mine once did that with her husband's dinner….)

          1. I wouldn’t describe it as “fab”, but the meat was fine. The veg will have to be disposed of. Had cheese and crackers after.

  55. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8a2d7eb3830240d6f42d576f951051da5113256008ba903d6005bd191a251cf5.jpg My first routine each morning is to feed Findus. This morning, however, he demanded more attention than usual. He followed me up to my workstation and, for the first time since we had him, he leapt up onto the desk, careful not to tread on anything on there, sniffed at my tea mugs then started to rub his face on mine while purring loudly. After a few minutes he jumped down expecting me to play with him on the floor. After I refused he leapt straight back up onto the desk and this time lie down right over my keyboard demanding more attention.

    I think I might just barbecue the little bugger.

      1. He's now lying asleep on my old piano stool, right up against the radiator, in my workshop office.

        He's decided there is nowhere that is out-of-bounds to him in this house.

    3. Boil the keyboard and cuddle Findus! He loves you. One of the guys at work has a lovely black and white cat who likes to point her bum at the camera and waive her tail at us when we have team Zoom meetings. I agree with her.

          1. There are some ginger females but they are unusual. Torties are always female. Our two gorgeous girls are both tabbies.

          4. Tabby.
            Long-haired black.
            Seal-point Siamese.
            Short-haired black.
            Tortoiseshell.
            Chocolate-point Siamese.
            Lilac-point Siamese.
            British blue.
            Norwegian Forest cat.
            Marmalade.

          5. I haven’t had any of the fancy varieties or pedigrees. Just good old English cats that needed a home. The latest two are middle aged girls who like a comfy place to sleep and food on demand. They are past hunting so our birds are safe from them, though Jessie caught a live mouse last year and let it run indoors.

          6. A ginger cat in our road attacked a black female in our garden and I picked up a small twig and tried to shoo it away. He really wanted to attack the black, was very reluctant to leave it alone. It was really vicious.

          7. I had a similar situation with my first cat, back in the 1970s. She was a gentle tabby and was chased one day by a vicious large ginger tom. I had to chase him away with a stick.

    5. He reminds me of my old cat. She used to plonk herself on the newspaper when I had it spread out on the garden table for a read in the summer sunshine.

    6. Good looking cat! We trained our two monsters by use of a spray bottle with water, and the nozzle slightly unscrewed to the water came out as a jet. They hated it! Now, you just have to shake the sprayer at them and they realise they shouldn't be doing whatever it is.

      1. Someone used empty water bottle half filled with pebbles, … dog seemed to go its own way.

    8. What do the two mugs of tea say, Grizzly? "I'd rather be Nerving / Herding (cats)"? I think we should be told.

      1. My brother takes the p••• out of me for making two concurrent mugs of tea instead of pouring another from the pot after I’ve drunk the first.
        My retort is that a second mug is often stewed, whereas two poured together means I have two fresh mugfuls.

          1. I can't find a bigger mug made of china. I only drink tea from china mugs (or cups).
            In any case two half-pint mugs suits me.

        3. Make a pot of red tea. I make a pot with two tea Rooibos bags, we each have one cup then we have a second each. No scum.

          1. I've tried both rooibos and chamomile. I don't like rooibos and chamomile is utterly putrid. I only like proper tea from the Camellia sinensis bush.

          2. Never tried chamomile tea, it sounds disgusting. (I don’t like it so I’ve never tried it,😂😂😂)

  56. I'm not mean at aal, man woman pet.

    I spend all his non-sleeping hours playing with him. He demands it.🐈🤣

  57. I keep a daily record of our weather in my large diary. The most common weather we have had for the past three months is sunshine. It's been cool but blue skies have been de rigueur here for some time.

    1. The tribal Americans were Stone Age cannibals with no written language. If they didn’t disturb nature it’s because they were too stupid to figure out how. I’m through with romanticising them. White European culture is superior and it’s improved the lives of the tribal people beyond measure. Likewise African Americans.

      1. Also, they were so backward, they didn't live long enough to seriously populate the land.

      2. They didn’t have horses until the Europeans arrived, I read recently.

  60. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/04/15/special-needs-private-school-vat-system-govt-disarray/

    The state will win because it has endless time to draw out the nonsense and impoverish the claimants.

    The private school fees raid was done so purley out of spite, spite, malice, mendacity, hatred and cruelty., done at the worst possible time solely because they could, unthinking, with no interest in research, damage or impact. It was purely evil. A scam to take money from those who had it and give it to the unions. Labour will have to fight it because they've already handed the cash over.

    What would be a success is their losing and the Labour party – not the government – have to pay to restore private school fees to parents mugged by their act of petty vandalism.

    I hate Lefties. I really, truly do.

  61. I see the Trans activists get a free ride on any kind of declaration of hate.. from open threats to kill Terfs.. to public hanging.. and eye gouging.

    And like their deformed cousins.. the Islamic nutjobs.. they can sleep tight in the safe knowledge that Starmer's Stasi will do nothing..

      2. It'It's amusing the way small men fold their arms when in a situation that challenges them. Many senior Army officers do the same.

  62. I see the Trans activists get a free ride on any kind of declaration of hate.. from open threats to kill Terfs.. to public hanging.. and eye gouging.

    And like their deformed cousins.. the Islamic nutjobs.. they can sleep tight in the safe knowledge that Starmer's Stasi will do nothing..

  63. Good afternoon.
    TURN THAT BLOODY WIND OFF!!!!!!
    Been beavering away at a Hot Cross Bun recipe. Good results, but a little more spice and lower oven temperature needed.
    Will have another go tomorrow.

        1. A bit late for that. Don't you need to apply for permission to wield a dangerous kitchen implement first.

      3. :-). I left off the crosses. I was more interested in getting the recipe right.
        Couple of tweaks and we should be there.

  65. Wordle No. 1,401 3/6

    ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
    🟨⬜🟨⬜🟨
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    Wordle 20 Apr 2025

    A puppy for Birdie Three?

    1. Well done, a phew more needed for me.
      Wordle 1,401 6/6

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

    2. HHang On a sec, still computing.

      There, a boring par.

      Wordle 1,401 4/6

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

    3. I confess. Realising there were four possible answers and only two chances left, I sought clues and found a site that told me Wordle today starts with…and having got the other four letters already, that settled it.

      Wordle 1,401 5/6

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

    4. Well done – a potential real tricky one. I was lucky to get the key letter in my usual second starter word. Happy with a par!

      Wordle 1,401 4/6

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

  67. Dolly has been chewing the lamb leg bone all afternoon. As her jaw has got tired she has hidden it under the sideboard. If she spots me watching her do it she moves it to a new hiding place. Sneaky.

    1. Am I right in suspecting bitter experience has taught her that there are bone thieves about?

      1. Possibly. When she first did it she would try to bury the bone in the garden but i didn't like the idea of her digging it up and eating the dirt.

          1. Harry got the gristly bit. He can't cope with big bones.

            When i have rack of lamb he gets one.

          5. Nothing wrong with my mind sweetie. You were alluding to balconies…Don't deny it ! Especially on Easter Sunday !!!

          10. There is a secret that women of a certain age don't want their husbands of a certain age to know.

            …and it isn't Viagra…..

    2. Spartie has his sacred lamb bone. It has been buried several times over; sometimes in a flower bed, sometime muddled up with the hearthrug, other times unimaginatively under a chair.

    3. Dolly wouldn't have got the opportunity if I had been there. [Nor would any other domestic pet, anywhere].

      Lamb bones are my territory. I have stripped every edible morsel off them — with me teeth — since I were nobbut a sprog. I've broken the heart of many a cat and dog.

      1. Yeah yeah. After having the nice roast and later stripping the meat and freezing it in sauce for the future there was some left which i boiled.

    1. That encapsulates where we are now. I'm getting too old to bother with all this nonsense.

      Just being in a restaurant and being called Sir, then demanding a free meal because you have been gendered.

      Idiocy.

      I expect to be called…My Lord !

    2. "Really? Well they couldn't brainwash you, since that would be a mammoth task to do to someone with a vacuum-filled cranium."

  69. Brendan O’Neill
    The trans-rights movement’s howl of male rage
    20 April 2025, 2:20pm

    They defaced the statue of Millicent Fawcett. That’s all you need to know about yesterday’s march for ‘trans rights’. Someone clambered up the Parliament Square monument to one of Britain’s best-known feminist icons and daubed it with offensive words. ‘Fag rights’, they scrawled upon Fawcett’s likeness. A warrior for women’s suffrage vandalised with a homophobic slur – and these people think they’re on the right side of history?

    The eruption of fury following the Supreme Court’s ruling on the definition of a woman has been an extraordinary spectacle. It is a truly mask-off moment. We’ve seen activists not only damage a suffragist statue but also call for the return of witch trials to deal with uppity women and even hint at death for any broad who dares to oppose their agenda. Let’s be real: this is a howl of male rage masquerading as a civil-rights movement.

    No sooner had the Supreme Court said what every toddler once knew – that men are men and women are women – than the trans lobby was fuming in the streets. Men who think they’re women are hopping mad that they will no longer be allowed into women’s spaces, including women’s loos. They’re demanding the right to urinate wherever they please. I’m serious: ‘We piss where we want’, said a placard at the Manchester demo.

    Tell me you’re a man without telling me you’re a man! ‘We pee where we want’ is literally the cry of unpleasant blokes everywhere. That haughty demand was made in St Peter’s Square. People once gathered there to demand the right to vote, giving rise to the Peterloo Massacre. Now they gather there to demand the right to relieve themselves in the women’s bathroom. It’s less Peterloo than Portaloo: from demanding the franchise to advertising your fetish.

    ‘After this protest, I’m going to use a women’s toilet, then I’m going to use another women’s toilet’, said a trans activist at a protest in Dundee. To me that just sounds like a bloke saying he’s going to mark his territory. He’s going to arrogantly splash his urine around to demonstrate his dominion. ‘J.K. Rowling, you’ll never stop me from peeing’, he said. She doesn’t want to stop you from peeing, pal. She just wants to stop you from peeing in the company of women who don’t want you there.

    They pose as marchers against ‘hate’ and yet hate bubbles up from their own ranks. There was a hilarious moment when Jo Grady, General Secretary of the University and College Union, tweeted some photos from the marches alongside the slogan, ‘Hate will never win’. Yet in one of the pics she posted there was a placard saying ‘The only good Terf is a _ _ _ _ Terf’, complete with a cartoon of someone being hanged by the neck. What was that you were saying about hate, Jo?

    Another placard invited ‘transphobes’ – i.e. people who understand science and support women’s rights – to stab themselves in the eye. ‘I love pissin’ on Terfs’, said another. Fellas, what’s this obsession with urine? ‘Bring back witch burning… J.K.’, said a chilling banner in Edinburgh, seemingly targeted at J.K. Rowling. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that men who call for the death by fire of ‘unruly’ women are not as progressive as they think.

    A sense of menace clings to so-called ‘trans activism’. For Women Scotland, the brilliant band of trouble-making feminists who spearheaded the Supreme Court case, have been inundated with threats since the ruling. You are ‘stupid women’ and you ‘deserve death’, they’ve been told. ‘God will rip you from your family one day and nobody will mourn you’, said one of the hateful screeds they received.

    Sadly, such violence-flecked bigotry is par for the course in ‘trans activism’. Every woman who speaks out against the hocus-pocus idea that men can become women risks a mauling online. They’re called gross sexist names. They’re threatened. Some are blacklisted from university campuses and even sacked from their jobs. Here’s my question: if trans women are women, why do some of them behave like the absolute worst of men?

    And now we have mobs on the streets defacing feminist icons and dreaming of strapping women to the stake once again. Are we allowed to speak honestly at last? Can we now call this the rage of entitled men, the revenge of misogyny? What we’ve witnessed these past 48 hours is an orgy of reactionary anger dolled up as a progressive campaign. This is a movement not for rights but for power – power over women’s spaces and even women’s thoughts. Its demise cannot come soon enough.

    1. Looking at today’s Sunday Mail, it appears our lovely Government wants to somehow get this decision reversed.

      My dad hasn’t heard of Lucy Connolly. It is beyond depressing as he is an intelligent man. However, he is 86 and doesn’t do “social media” so of course the only news he gets is via the Terriblegraph (Mon-Sat) and Sunday Mail with Al-Beeb and a very occasional dollop of GB News.

  70. Evidently Macron believes that France can defeat Russia militarily and with Starmer’s assistance in sending troops to Odessa.

    These illegitimate western “leaders” are barking mad. Their imaginary armies will be obliterated or rather what is left of our armed forces and those of France.

    President Trump will not be on hand to rescue the idiots and we shall all suffer unless these nutters are made to see sense and recognise reality. The only regime change the world needs is the replacement of western “leaders” with mature and experienced diplomats and policians. The present occupants are entirely superfluous and lacking in all departments of state.

    1. Will Macron the mini Napoleon be leading the troops?

      Asking for a Russian friend who can't stop laughing…

        1. He’d have been on the battlefield directing his troops but not fighting on the front line.

    2. Britain and France but Odessa not Sevastopol. Reminds me of this. Whatever, they have no right. Odessa is also Russia.

      Cannon to right of them,
      Cannon to left of them,
      Cannon in front of them
      Volleyed and thundered;
      Stormed at with shot and shell,
      Boldly they rode and well,
      Into the jaws of Death,
      Into the mouth of hell
      Rode the six hundred.

      1. Hard to believe.. but the Brits were on the side of the Turks as their empire dissolved leaving a lovely power vacuum in the Balkans. Eventually, a bloke called Archie Duke shot an ostrich 'cause he was hungry.

  71. He’s saying that white Americans needn’t feel superior to have value. Why? I’m describing the Red Indians. The people who migrated from Siberia and occupied the Americas when the Europeans first went there.

  72. Guido BTL:

    Leon
    3h
    Listening to the BBC's Archers Omnibus for this week , why am I not surprised that the BBC has scripted the Archers and people of Ambridge in favour of Rachel Reeves and her government's action to tax ordinary farmers with inheritance of their farms to finance the common good of the country.

    Rogerborg ⬛🟧
    Leon
    2h
    How are they pitching it? "We'll need to sell half the farm to Bill Gates, but really, it's all that kulaks like us deserve." ?

    Chefofsinners
    Leon
    2h
    Never mind. By next week the omnibus drivers will be on strike.

    1. Why torture oneself by listening to the Archers? My sympathy with Leon is limited – can't he find the off switch, or better still, the bin?

      2. I stopped about 20 years ago when they gave voices to the ghastly children and I found that I was unable to tell which was which. And when the 150% improbable hindoo set up home with the woke vicar.

        Dan will be turning in his grave….

    1. With photoshop we no longer know what is real.

      Just look at the tax payer photo crews who follow the toothy ugly bitch Jess Philips and the appalling fucking witch of the West Rachel liar Reever.

    1. With any luck all the injured cops were whities. They might then begin to get the message we are trying to tell them. Nah.

    2. It's a good thing he didn't commit any real crimes, like making a mean tweet that would have got him banged up for 31 months.

      1. Nope. BB2, wrong sounding name to be punished for that (or anything else ite seems)

    1. "While he is dozing mischievous people have been meddling with his belongings rearranging the furniture and stealing anything they can find laying around.. all the time they glance over, fearful of him waking catching them at their tricks. They're hoping he will fall into a coma. So they can continue to loot his possessions and take control of his home."

    2. Starmer and his hideous, clueless mob of idiots are indeed Lilliputians when it comes to a government.

      This is, beyond any reasonable doubt, the most risibly hapless administration in human history.

  77. That's me signing off for this cold Easter Day. Tomorrow – no sun; 20/20 cloud. Rain in the afternoon. Typical Bank Holiday weather.

    Tonight we will indulge ourselves with the Elton John concert (that Maggie so approved of).

    Boeuf en daube awaits me.

    A demain.

      1. Fermanagh, Armagh, Tyrone, Londonderry/Derry, Antrim, Down.

        A mnemonic to remind you of the names of the six counties of Northern Ireland.

        2. As the catholics drop the London from Londonderry is the song now called the Derrière?

        4. There is a memorial window for Captain Robert Nairac in one of our local churches. He came from round here.

      1. He is pathetic isn't he. How can we support a King and Monarchy in our country where we are not put first.
        I think the problem is that Charles is Middle Class.

    3. cringe at "to all who celebrate."

      He seems more concerned with avoiding offending anyone than with giving an Easter greeting.

  80. Waltzes in . Blessings of Easter Sunday evening . I hope you all had a blessed day.

    1. Thankyou – yes – it's been good – pottered in the garden this afternoon….. cooked dinner this evening.

  82. Patronising LOL of the day from Sir Keir.
    As we look to the future with hope, I want to thank Christians for their huge contributions to our country.

    2nd LOL of the day.. Starmer caught snogging man on CCTV. Victoria Starmer consulting divorce lawyers.

    3. Starmer has been caught snogging a man on CCTV?

      Is the footage out there, or is it more a case of "All the social media accounts I follow with their red flashing lights tell me he has, so it must be true."?

      1. I agree. I think it nonsense.

        But at the same time while being funded by multimillionaire queer Ali and others whose predelictions enjoy Bacha and Posh i would not be surprised if he didn't 'let one slip in'……………….

      3. Yes, the footage is out there. Widely shared on XTwitter. Is it Starmer? Impossible to tell. Probably not.

    2. "How beastly the bourgeois is especially the male of the species"

      D.H. Lawrence

  84. I attended a lovely Easter Sunday service today and now I'm going to have some of my Easter Egg . God's blessings to all .

    1. A packed church this morning. Apparently not far off our fire safety maximum. I’d like to think it was typical but London really isn’t.

        1. Why? I can’t say maximum capacity because it would be entirely possible to cram in more people than is considered safe and it’s the fire safety rules that ultimately dictate what’s acceptable. It’s about evacuation routes and how many can be evacuated within a safe timeframe.

          1. As i thought.

            So…why in a tower block like Grenfell was it acceptable to only have one exit staircase that would be needed for the fire hoses and firemen…

            I just feel rules are interpreted rather than followed…When it suits.

          2. Why would fire be a problem at a church service? A terrorist? Churches have survived for millennia without fire regulations.

        2. I wonder if we ought to start going again, even if only once a month. Christianity needs to start fighting back.

          1. I agree, which is why I now visibly wear my Christening cross on a chain, and why I said “Happy Easter” to absolutely everyone I met today.

            I do think about going to Church more than once or twice a year, and may actually (if it gets less Woke).

            I financially support Jamie Franklin of the Irreverend podcast and did consider going to his Church (Winchester) the other day – I probably will one day, en route to or from Southampton.

            (Or indeed to spy on son’s girlfriend)(JOKE).

  85. It's all gone quite now, the family left at 6:30.
    All washing up in the DW a few washed by hand All tidy.
    But what a lovely afternoon. Children can be so funny at times. Too much chocolate maybe. Lovely to see two of our sons and their families.
    Now feet up and rest. Then bed time looming.
    Good night all Nottlers, I hope you've had an enjoyable Easter weekend.
    😴

    1. Nice you had such a good time with the family. Now of course the parents have to deal with the chocolate overdose.

      2. I didn’t know there was such a thing as a ‘chocolate overdose’. How many truckloads is that?

    1. Food was a pretty random assortment of seafood Ocean Medley in a too heavy garlic sauce light oil d'ail.

      1. Hullo, GQ! From one who doesn't, to one who I know does – Easter blessings to you and yours.

    4. We had a NZ Sauvignon Blanc with the starter and a bottle of Black Stump with the main course.

  87. I see the crazed eco-loon Miloaf is accusing those who oppose the nut zero agenda of telling lies!!

  88. Lion kills 14-year-old girl in Nairobi
    Animal still on the loose after snatching teenager from a residential compound and leaving her body near a river

    A 14-year-old girl has been killed by a lion on the outskirts of Nairobi after being snatched from a residential compound.

    According to the Kenya Wildlife Service, the teenager was mauled on Sunday evening in Savannah Ranch, located near Nairobi National Park.

    Another teenager witnessed the attack and raised the alarm.

    Rangers then followed the lion’s tracks to the nearby Mbagathi River, where they found the girl’s body, which had injuries on her lower back.

    The lion has not been found, but rangers said they had set a trap and were searching for the animal.

    “We have set a trap and deployed teams to search the area,” the Kenya Wildlife Service said. “We are reinforcing security measures to prevent further incidents.”

    The girl was reported to be a student at a nearby primary school. A post-mortem will not be carried out.

    Nairobi National Park lies just 10km from the city centre and is home to animals such as lion, buffalo, giraffe, leopard and cheetah.

    While it is fenced on three sides to prevent animals roaming into the city, it is open to the south to allow them to migrate to larger parks beyond.

    On its website, the Kenya Wildlife Service says that last year more than 143km of electrified perimeter fencing was installed, which led to a “drastic reduction of human wildlife conflict”.

    The conservation agency also said that a 54-year-old man had been killed by an elephant over the weekend.

    The elephant was grazing in Mere Forest when it attacked the man, who sustained serious chest injuries, fractured ribs and internal trauma, the agency said.

    The incident happened in the central Nyeri country, about 130km north of Nairobi.

    Last year, CCTV footage captured the moment a lion snatched a Rottweiler from a home near Nairobi National Park.

    And in March, footage emerged of a lioness hunting in a residential area of Ongata Rongai in Kajiado County.

    According to local press, wild animals – especially lions and hyenas – are increasingly spotted in public areas of Nairobi, although attacks on people and deaths are unusual.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/04/20/lion-kills-14-year-old-girl-in-nairobi-kenya/
    Ravi Shah
    1 hr ago
    And how many are killed by fellow human beings?

    Comment by Peter Benson.

    PB

    Peter Benson
    1 hr ago
    Very sad. 200 people are killed by lions each year, but 500 by hippos and 500 by elephants.

    Reply by Moira Oram.

    MO

    Moira Oram
    43 min ago
    Out in East Africa recently heard a story from an ex-Park Ranger about how he survived the attack from a raging elephant who charged him. He had a rucksack on and flung it off towards the beast as he ran for his life. Elephants have a tremendous sense of smell but poor eyesight and it proceeded to tear up the rucksack containing the ranger's scent, while he made his escape. My hope in writing this is to save any poor DT readers who find themselves in similar predicament!

    Reply by David M A.

    DM

    David M A
    31 min ago
    I think I'd be leaving a fairly strong scent trail running from a crazed elephant.

    1. I've been to Nairobi National Park many times but human encroachment is a problem there.

    2. Always best to walk about in Africa with another person who can't run as fast as you.

      2. My dear late father and mother , brother and 2 sisters were out in a large wagon , in the Kruger park , they parked in a safe area , according to my 2 sisters , dad parked up , excused himself , he wanted to pee .. they were somewhere in the high veldt .. where images blend into tall grasses , bushes / rocks , etc ..

        Legend says , dad stepped away for minutes to pee , and unknown to them a pride of lions were relaxing in the grasses, he wandered back to the wagon just about to climb back in and a lioness grabbed his foot /shoe , my brother hauled Dad back into the wagon so quickly , that the lioness was left bewildered with just a shoe in her mouth . Dad was 6'2".. he was foolish and so lucky, .

        No one smelt the lions , or had an inkling that they were resting camouflaged in the grasses .

        1. Erk! If that was me, I'd have been propelled into the vehicle by a savage stream of brown!

      1. Nobody likes cheese in this house – I only buy it for grating on top of lasagne or potatoes.

    2. My grandson told me the other day that I smelt of cheese – I think he intended it as an insult……PS Like the experts!

      1. Trimethylaminuria (TMAU), also known as "fish odour syndrome," is an illness that can cause a body odor that smells like cheese or fish. It's a genetic condition where the body can't properly process trimethylamine, a compound that naturally occurs in some foods. This leads to an accumulation of trimethylamine, which is then excreted through breath, sweat, and urine, producing a noticeable odor.

        Just a thought…

        1. Thanks for that, it made me feel a lot better!

          He also calls me Poo Poo Head – should I be worried?

  90. Just finished our dinner….Paschal lamb with dauphinoise potatoes (though they soaked up all the milk and cream so were somewhat dry) with baby carrots and broccoli. Musical accompaniment was Pergolesi Stabat Mater (with Andreas Scholl and Barbara Bonny) while I was cooking, and the last part of the Matteaus Passion with dinner. ( Also with Andreas Scholl).

    1. Hello J.
      Goodness me , you are both high end eaters and consumers of fine music .

      What a gorgeous scene you have set , and you still enjoy cooking.

      1. Thankyou! OH has now settled back into the snooker. Not cooking tomorrow – we've been invited next door. We have good friends here. Our 30th anniversary dinner was hosted by our neightbours on the other side.

      1. I don't think I've heard Jaroussky. But I have several of Scholl's records. He did a couple of concerts in Bristol in the early 2020s that I went to with a friend.

        2. The things you learn. My penfriend lives I. Wiesbaden, but I’ve never heard of Eltville. Or the Timber-Framed Road, but that’s something else to add to my “to do” list.

  91. Simon Heffer
    BBC drama has become pure liberal-elite poison
    The rot set in with The Village but has reached its nadir with the new Doctor Who. We must take a radical solution – axe the licence fee

    Recently, I had an interesting conversation with a Labour Party stalwart. He told me that “our people”, as he put it, were increasingly hostile to the BBC licence fee: not just because it took a chunk out of these voters’ disposable income, but because they rarely consumed the BBC’s services at all.

    The Corporation’s charter is due to be renewed in December 2027. Whether the Government will renew it on the same terms is unclear, which should trouble BBC executives profoundly. Dr Samir Shah, the present chairman of the BBC board, called last November for the renewal process to be ended, arguing for a permanent establishment in the manner of the Bank of England and the British Council. In that case, the BBC should be funded out of taxation and subject to intense parliamentary scrutiny. Such scrutiny would almost certainly result in a contraction of its functions, as ways were sought to cut costs: I suspect Dr Shah and BBC executives would not approve.

    It has been apparent for years that the quality of the BBC’s original content is sinking fast. A comparison between television dramas produced in the first quarter of this century in America and those produced here makes the point: we haven’t managed a Sopranos, The Wire, Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Billions or Succession. Several of those gave a showcase to British acting talent, and their stories were both gripping and intelligently told.

    Much of what one has seen on the BBC, by contrast, seeks to “educate” viewers about race, multiculturalism, gender, sexual orientation and much else on the woke agenda. No wonder fewer and fewer people watch the Corporation’s output. These are not the obsessions of the British public, but of a tiny minority who dominate senior roles at the BBC, talk mainly to each other and seek to impose their contemporary liberal-elite doctrines on others.

    This is a primary reason for the BBC’s failure with its original content: millions of us simply don’t share such thinking, and don’t want our televisions to pump it out. Indeed, such a patronising view of the preferences of the culture of the masses has helped to drive many Britons away from Labour and the Conservatives, and into the arms of the Reform Party.

    Historical drama is a particular casualty. I first registered this in 2017 in the BBC’s dramatisation of Howards End, in which two prominent characters, including Mrs Bast, were played by women of colour. Both were fine actresses, but this representation nonetheless distorted the social reality detailed in the book. (What is termed “colour-blind casting”, of course, does not cut both ways. By precisely the opposite logic, no one at the BBC today would cast a white actor as Othello.)

    Worse yet, the BBC uses historical drama to right the wrongs of the past. I first saw that in The Hour, a 2011 BBC drama set in the BBC of the 1950s, during which the characters said all sorts of earnest things about the social iniquities of the time, in order to teach 21st-century viewers a lesson.

    Historical accuracy was not a consideration; it rarely is. In 2013, the BBC launched a series called The Village, which was supposed to chart the life of a Midlands community from just before the Great War through the 20th century. I sensed it would not last long when men going off to war in 1914 were serenaded with Jerusalem, two years before it was, in fact, written. Happily, the series petered out in the 1920s, viewers presumably having tired of watching a factually incorrect, relentlessly socialist tract.

    And while I haven’t watched Doctor Who since about 1970, I read recently that the ratings went off the proverbial cliff because of its woke storylines and obsession with diversity, with London apparently being rescued from disaster because the saviour was trans, and the Doctor himself realising that he had a tendresse for Sir Isaac Newton. Apparently, some people still let their children watch this manipulative garbage, and those of us still insane enough to buy a licence pay for it.

    BBC television has ceased to be relevant to its customers. If the licence fee is abolished in 2027, it will not be a second too soon.

    Tom Frieling
    13 min ago
    “Colour blind casting “ AKA Check box casting” insults both the audience and condescends to the actors cast in inauthentic roles.

    Note the ten years’ gap in filming the last season of Wolf Hall—-The earlier episodes were cast authentically, but the last season was full of anachronistic casting.

    Who knew the Court of Henry VIII was so integrated? Or that Jane Seymour’s sister was a person of color?

    Reply by Maggie Jones.

    MJ

    Maggie Jones
    just now
    Colour blind casting is one thing but these programmes are being used as proof that Britain was heavily multi-ethnic. Britain is now originally African (they built Stonehenge) as is Greece, Egypt and Germany. Where Whites, North Africans or Mediterranean people came from is anyones guess apparently.

    Comment by Amarone Classico.

    AC

    Amarone Classico
    19 min ago
    I can't think of a single reason to keep the BBC. Its just a propaganda channel these days.

    Comment by Night Owl.

    NO

    Night Owl
    22 min ago
    The wokeratis in the BBC and elsewhere think very wrongly they have won the ‘war of position ‘ that has given them the absolute cultural hegemony to preach on their ‘war of manoeuvre’ ( Gramsci ) as they destroy our culture in favour of another.

    This is their ideology after as they like to think completing the long march through the institutions’ ( Rudi Dutschke )

    They do believe they can dictate what our culture means and will always mean and should take for granted so we shall forget our values, traditions, heritage and faith for this that have it.

    That our country is in so perilous a situation ( insurmountable debts and unconcontrolled mass immigration ) and so parlous a condition ( so many of pubs, police stations, post offices, Banks branches and ATMs, not to mention Churches closing or closed ) does not cross their addled minds.

    If they can just make us all believe their obsession with race , gender and climate they can make us woke too. We will worry about the US criminal Floyd more than the imprisoned Southport protesters who stood and watched or tweeted their frustrations, etc etc.

    Well NO , we wont , no they cannot

    We will outlive them and bury their madnesses

    Including the bizarre BBC output

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/0/bbc-the-village-doctor-who-howards-end/

    1. "Much of what one has seen on the BBC, by contrast, seeks to “educate” indoctrinate viewers about race, multiculturalism, gender, sexual orientation and much else on the woke agenda." I do NOT want my taxes to go to propping up this propaganda machine.

          2. I was told at the outset. Stimulants are not a good idea when you have heart problems.

          5. I have decaf coffee. The alcohol issue is because the meds also affect the enzyme levels in the liver.

        1. Secondary Moderns didn’t have chemistry labs. Woodwork, metalwork, needlework, kitchens, a pottery. No chemistry lab.

          1. We had a chemistry lab……… as well as physics and biology labs. Our chemistry teacher was a funny old stick – she couldn't really keep any sort of order in class. One day someone made a lot of stink with chlorine gas just as an inspector walked in.

          2. At a Secondary Modern? Or a Grammar School? Those of us who failed the 11+ didn’t do chemistry and physics. I went to the Grammar School later, in the Sixth Form but by A level, we chose our subjects.

          5. At CSE we did something called General Science. It was never more specific. Not in York anyway.

          6. I did a general science (mix of physics and chemistry) for the first three years then specialised just in physics for the fourth and fifth years leading up the CSE.

          7. We did, too. Our biology mistress was a Cambridge MA. She illustrated the power of adrenaline by telling us about the time she and a friend walked across a field and were charged by a bull – they scaled a fence at the far side that they couldn't even have attempted otherwise!

          8. Our biology teacher had great embarrassment when she tried to teach us about reproduction.

          9. Ah, ours was canny; she did chapter 6 reproduction in rabbits, told us to read chapter 7 reproduction in humans over the summer holidays and in September we started on chapter 8! Bearing in mind this was a co-ed school …

          11. No, just practical. Comprehensives are socialist. Teachers in the Secondary Mods were trained in Teacher Training Colleges. They weren’t graduates but many of them were very talented teachers.

          12. My Grammar School, in addition to the science labs (and a gym and swimming pool), had metalwork, woodwork, needlework and domestic science rooms. It was co-ed. We didn't have a pottery, but we had an art studio (and did life drawing).

          13. No swimming pool at ours – we had to go to the baths in town. But we did have needlework and domestic science rooms but not metalwork or woodwork as we were all girls.

        1. No degree but chose philosophy in the Sixth Form. For all I knew that chart could be a variation on Wordle.

  95. Yes and from the scans too. The blood tests are mostly fine and within acceptable ranges but with issues to monitor. The scans showed the ejection fraction has recovered and the arteries are good. Seeing the surgeon on 14 May, about the aortic valve. Thank you for remembering.

    1. OH was due for an aortic valve replacement via a TAVI -but he got the full works and triple by-pass. A few days after his 80th birthday. But he's still with us.

        1. He’s still with us more than two years later. It left him with AF – but a cardioversion in January last year seems to have sorted that out. He’s watching the snooker now.

      1. I might get a decent zed tonight. SWMBO is getting close to home, on the train from the airport.

  100. I’m back in London now and have been trying to upload a few photos from today, but no matter how hard I try (and it’s been a problem in the past) I can’t upload photos I’ve taken, only photos I am taking in the moment. Which is a shame, as I have a pretty one with lambs and a nice one of the eponymous pub (Bridges) where we started and ended our Stiperstones walk today.

    on a side note, on the way home I said to my daughter we would detour via Church Stretton, as a signpost by Bridges said it was a mere 4 1/2 miles away. The route took us up and over the Long Mynd, initially using a road I didn’t know existed and which was thrilling to drive along. Eventually we joined the “main” road over the Long Mynd back into Church Stretton, which was no less thrilling but in a completely different way (a convoy of cars coming up, a convoy going down, pedestrians everywhere and all on a “yellow” road, which apparently is defined as being less than 4 m wide (I assume the original definition would have been in feet but wotevs, as the youf say.))

    However, the proximity to the Long Mynd probably explained all the super-turbo-charged electric mountain bike riders that were in the pub, and the general popularity of the pub which otherwise appeared to be completely in the middle of utterly nowhere.

    1. When i have difficulty uploading pictures i close down ghostery and adblock and sign in anew to Disqus.

    2. Not sure on the current 50thou maps, but yellow roads used to come printed in two widths. thick and thin.
      Thick ones were generally over 4m wide and thin ones under 4m.
      Also, yellow roads, often referred to as "unclassified" are. never the less, still given a "C" or "D" classification and are numbered.

  101. A separate side note. I took the time to say “Happy Easter”;to everyone I met today, including the Indian man from whom I bought petrol at 22:15 in Richmond, who had the very good grace to wish me Happy Easter back.

    1. We have lots of Indians at work. Excellent folk, polite and very clever. Not like the shits of Pakistanis.

      1. I can only think it comes down to intelligence. I suppose Indians aren't as inbred as Pakis.

  102. Yaay!
    SWMBO met at the station, and was spot on time… it's good to have her home, I'm surprised how much I missed her and just a few days away.

      1. Morning Minty, I've been reading since 05:00. Can't wait to post today's Giggle.

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