Sunday 22 December: Can the construction industry keep pace with the Government’s housebuilding targets?

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

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

625 thoughts on “Sunday 22 December: Can the construction industry keep pace with the Government’s housebuilding targets?

  1. Good morning, chums. Well, I hope you all slept well last night, I slept like a baby. And thanks to Geoff, for his wonderful work in providing our daily NoTTLe page.

    Wordle 1,282 5/6

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    1. My stock letter combinations didn't work today!
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      1. I only seem to have one word in my stock, which is my first one!

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  2. Good morning, chums. Well, I hope you all slept well last night, I slept like a baby. And thanks to Geoff, for his wonderful work in providing our daily NoTTLe page.

    Wordle 1,282 5/6

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  3. Good Morning Geoff and all Readers
    Today's Tale
    A man is walking through the forest and sees a sign in front of an old house that says "Talking dog for sale."

    He rings the doorbell and the owner tells him that he can find the dog in the backyard.

    The man enters the yard and sees a beautiful Labrador sitting there. "Do you talk?" he asks. "Yes" the Labrador replies. After the man recovers from the shock of hearing a dog speak, he asks:

    "So, what's your story?"

    The Labrador looks up and says: "Well, I discovered that I could talk when I was quite young. I wanted to help the government, so I told the CIA. Next thing I knew, they had me flying from country to country, sitting in rooms with spies and world leaders, because no one thought a dog would be eavesdropping."

    "I was one of their most valuable spies for eight years. But I got tired of it all and knew I wasn't getting any younger, so I decided to settle down. I signed up for a job at the airport to do some undercover security, wandering near suspicious characters and listening in. I uncovered some incredible dealings and was awarded a bunch of medals." "I got married, had a mess of puppies, and now I'm just retired."

    The man is amazed. He goes back in and asks the owner how much he wants for the dog. "Ten dollars" the man says. "Ten dollars? This dog is amazing! Why are you selling him so cheap?" "Because he's a big liar.  He never did any of that stuff."

  4. Good Morning Geoff and all Readers
    Today's Tale
    A man is walking through the forest and sees a sign in front of an old house that says "Talking dog for sale."

    He rings the doorbell and the owner tells him that he can find the dog in the backyard.

    The man enters the yard and sees a beautiful Labrador sitting there. "Do you talk?" he asks. "Yes" the Labrador replies. After the man recovers from the shock of hearing a dog speak, he asks:

    "So, what's your story?"

    The Labrador looks up and says: "Well, I discovered that I could talk when I was quite young. I wanted to help the government, so I told the CIA. Next thing I knew, they had me flying from country to country, sitting in rooms with spies and world leaders, because no one thought a dog would be eavesdropping."

    "I was one of their most valuable spies for eight years. But I got tired of it all and knew I wasn't getting any younger, so I decided to settle down. I signed up for a job at the airport to do some undercover security, wandering near suspicious characters and listening in. I uncovered some incredible dealings and was awarded a bunch of medals." "I got married, had a mess of puppies, and now I'm just retired."

    The man is amazed. He goes back in and asks the owner how much he wants for the dog. "Ten dollars" the man says. "Ten dollars? This dog is amazing! Why are you selling him so cheap?" "Because he's a big liar.  He never did any of that stuff."

    1. I'll believe it when I see it. Bet you it won't be broken dow by demographic, type or such.

      Fundamentally, if we want to know what proportion of muslim are entirely, totally welfare dependent we'll have to go back a decade or more to before the state stopped recording these stats as they were too embarrassing.

    1. 7'c here. It's one of those days I'd like to fling the windows open, get some fresh air in then button down and have the heating on later, but alas, we can't do that.

    1. And not a Rothschild, Warburg or Orsini among them! Amazing!

      I think the really rich don't appear on these lists.

      1. Note that they're mostly all Americans. Most of their personal wealth is linked to companies.

        Now look at the UK, where companies are demonised and attacked by every tax going. Our stock market forces waste into 'esg' which destroys value and wealth. Diversity is pushed over raw profit. This is why companies are not listing in London.

        At every step big fat state makes and keeps the UK poor.

    2. "World of Statistics" gives ample proof of the Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics theory.

      There is not even one billionaire on the planet. The richest man, currently, is worth (on paper) 444 milliard dollars, which is not even halfway to becoming a billionaire.

      444,000,000,000 [10⁹] is 444 milliard.

      444,000,000,000,000 10¹²] is 444 billion.

      444,000,000,000,000,000,000 [10¹⁸] is a trillion.

      A billion (i.e. bi-million) is a million million (not the universally-accepted innumerate American bollocks of a thousand million).

      A Trillion (i.e. a triple-million) is a million million million.

      1. And Quintillion would have been the name of a F-Off huge wide beam barge that I never achieved!

        1. 1 = One [10⁰]
          10 = Ten [10¹]
          100 = One Hundred [10²]
          1,000 = One Thousand [10³]
          10,000 = Ten Thousand [10⁴]
          100,000 = One Hundred Thousand [10⁵]
          1,000,000 = One Million [10⁶]
          10,000,000 = Ten Million [10⁷]
          100,000,000 = One Hundred Million [10⁸]
          1,000,000,000 = One Thousand Million (or One Milliard) [10⁹]
          10,000,000,000 = Ten Thousand Million (or Ten Milliard) [10¹⁰]
          100,000,000,000 = One Hundred Thousand Million (or One Hundred Milliard) [10¹¹]
          1,000,000,000,000 – One Billion [10¹²]
          10,000,000,000,000 = Ten Billion [10¹³]
          100,000,000,000,000 = One Hundred Billion [10¹⁴]
          1,000,000,000,000,000 = One Thousand Billion [10¹⁵]
          10,000,000,000,000,000 = Ten Thousand Billion [10¹⁶]
          100,000,000,000,000,000 = One Hundred Thousand Billion [10¹⁷]
          1,000,000,000,000,000,000 = One Trillion [10¹⁸]
          1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
          000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
          000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
          000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
          000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
          000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
          000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
          000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 = One Centillion [10⁶⁰⁰]

  5. Good morning all.
    Yesterday's post from maneco64 with Simon Hunt is very interesting and well worth a listen.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qIe8Q3aibc
    maneco64 always speaks very slowly, so I listen to his videos on 1.25 speed!
    Re the discussion in the last few minutes; precious metals prices usually fall back a bit over Christmas, I think, and that seems to have happened this year too, especially silver.
    Royal mint has come out with some adorable 1/10 ounce pure silver Britannia coins. Perfect for putting in the Christmas pud! They only cost a few pounds each.
    Also, in the event of emergency, they would be good for buying small things, though not at supermarkets of course. We have no folk memory of that, but in middle Europe in 1945, in the US during the banking crisis and recently in Argentina during the hyperinflation, it happened.

    About the shooting in Magdeburg, egyppius has written an interesting article about the shooter's background
    https://www.eugyppius.com/p/magdeburg-christmas-market-attack?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email#media-8cb5a7c6-03f8-4b23-b677-cd1c7895d928
    Details about the shooter were across the world's media within hours, his passport is being circulated…it is beginning to stink of being organised. I don't know what really happened, but a pre-Christmas attack plus Starmer's embrace of islamic blasphemy laws is stoking up the anti-muslim feeling.
    In one of my business travels this month, I visited a Christmas market in a large German town a couple of weeks ago. The diversity barriers were huge (I noticed them!), no car could have sped in as that BMW did. Why weren't similar barriers in place at Magdeburg?

    1. Details about the shooter were across the world's media within hours, his passport is being circulated…it is beginning to stink of being organised.

      Morning BB. Yes they couldn't wait to get it out there. The man's identity was established within a few hours of the incident. Something unheard of.

      1. Not quite unheard of Minty! The convicted murderer of Jo Cox was arrested shortly after her murder as he walked down the street, by police who called out to him **by name.**

      2. Reports that he was 'anti-muslim' were spread rapidly by the usual suspects. As a shia muslim, that could just have meant that he was anti sunni muslims. As if the media would lie by ommission!

        However, many on X have been following this terrorist for years. He claims to be an apostate to prevent his extradition back to Saudi Arabia to face criminal charges, but, as his tweets reveal, he's no friend of German Christians.

        1. I wonder how many Muslims there are claiming to be apostate, homosexual, or guilty of other Sharia crimes, to avoid deportation.
          Tens if not hundreds of thousands would be my guess.

    2. I an many others instinctively smelled a rat. Fortunately, many now have lost all trust in the MSM.

      1. People are still obediently running off and hating on muslims though.
        I reject islam entirely, but muslims are not my enemies.

        1. Some are though, and those are the once ruling the Muslim roost – thanks to the idiot establishment. We need to take action soon and get the majority of moderate ones on our side. It’ll be too late else.

          1. ‘Moderate’ muslims are the ones who are too scared, too intelligent or too pragmatic to follow their religion as it is laid down. We will never get them, because their allegiance is to islam (that’s why they turn a blind eye) UNLESS we get the ones who genuinely believe in and practise islam to recognise that there’s a bigger enemy than ordinary Christians or Jews.
            It’s as hard for us to swallow as it will be for them to understand that Jews are not their enemy either.
            You only have to look at how the state of Israel has treated its citizens over the last five years to realise that the sociopaths in charge of the money don’t care about Jews any more than they care about Christians or Muslims.

          2. Moderate’ muslims are the ones who are too scared, too intelligent or
            too pragmatic to follow their religion as it is laid down. We will
            never get them..

            I agree – if the current establishment stays in power. But they could be led into becoming normal British citizens if we had a british government willing to make it worth their while to do so.

          3. What do you mean by "worth their while"? Either you genuinely believe something is right or you don't.

            If you believe as a muslim, you will always be a muslim, whatever someone may make it "worth" your while to pretend otherwise. Most "moderate" muslims will always be muslims unless or until they become apostates – which is still defining them in muslim terms.

            It's a bit (but not quite the same) like the old once-a-Catholic-always-a-Catholic doctrine. How many non-believers classed themselves as "lapsed" Catholics as opposed to, say, agnostics or atheists?

          4. Sorry Hlass, really pushed for time today and this is a subject that could take hours. Tell you what, you write an article for FSB on the subject and we’ll debate it at length.

          5. On reading over your comment, by “worth their while” were you referring to worth the government’s while, or worth the muslims’ while?

          6. That’s what I thought. My reply would have been totally different had it been the other way – it’s very much in the government’s (and our) interests to try to change the slave-like adherence of even so-called moderates (a poll was taken in which over half of moderates wanted sharia law in this country). But I don’t think it can be done. What’s bred in the bone…

  6. End of Scholz is end of Germany as we know it. 22 December 2024.

    Olaf Scholz has lost a vote of confidence in his leadership and Germany now faces its first election of the truly post-Angela Merkel era.

    Now Mrs Merkel’s legacy is tarnished, Germany is in recession, and the days when its economy was powered by cheap Russian gas are over.

    Scholz is not completely responsible for what has happened to Germany. Once the access to cheap Russian gas came to an end with the US destruction of the Baltic Pipeline its economy was doomed. The sanctions have completed this act of aggression. Scholz’s failure is his inability to deal with the political aspects of this. Instead of laying the blame where it lies he has attempted to dodge this with an electorate that knows the truth. Hence his and his Party’s decline and the rise of a more assertive Germany. How this will play out long term we have yet to see. The whole EU project looks endangered. This is the same EU that the UK is attempting to rejoin surreptitiously.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/12/21/end-scholz-end-germany-as-we-know-it/

    1. As quoted in my introduction on FSB today by Greta, a 65 year-old from Magdeburg on the latest horror and mass immigration “It has been too much and too fast, I would have preferred it if it had been done in a more regulated way and with more planning,” she said. “I fear that we have lost our cultural identity in Magdeburg. We are lacking in a collective belief system, a collective language, a collective set of values.”

      1. Note, she doesn't object to it, just to the speed and the numbers. It would have been fine with more planning, is the implication.

    2. Scholz dragged his feet on getting involved with Ukraine, and did the minimum he could get away with under strong pressure from the Americans. Other German politicians have been far more stupid and inflammatory.
      It could be a LOT worse in Germany.

      1. Not just to Germany. Merkel was keen for other EU countries to take on some of Germany's excess gimmegrants.

        1. Oh yes, our "fair share". Why on earth should a country who fought against Germany take ANY share of Germany's post-Holocaust guilt trip welcoming of immigrants? Any share at all wasn't the least bit fair.

          1. Never – but they are more than happy to talk about “fair shares” when they want us to take some of their cr*p.

      2. Indeed, Ndovu. She announced "Come one, come all" to broadcast her "intolerance" ** I meant to write " her LACK of intolerance" ** and to get cheap foreign workers; once that had been achieved and the Mozzies came in their millions, she then changed to saying "Everyone in the EU must take their fair share".

    3. Indeed, whilst Scholz is facing the firing squad, there are images of graffiti on some of the concrete 'Barriers of Peace' saying 'Danke Merkel'. The Germans know where the source of their gimmegration troubles lie.

      Intriguingly, the German regions with the strongest support for the 'right wing' AfD cover the area that was formerly East Germany. It's almost as if, having lived under 45 years of USSR communism, they don't want to relive such horrors under EU communism.

    4. It's very important that the UK rejoins the EU.

      The EU is desperately short of money, and the British government can be relied on to contribute lots and lots.

      ………….just like last time.

  7. Good morning, all. Darkish, strong breeze and a clear sky with a waning half Moon high in the southern sky.

    This is the state of affairs in the UK, a mess where opinions, thoughts and silent prayers can result in a police record. Flourishing under Tory governments for a decade or so, the current Labour government will surely make hay with this situation: Starmer with his reaction to the Southport atrocity has made a "good" start.

    The second X thread may go some way to explaining how we have arrived at this point in time. The change in the type of person standing for election as MPs and voluminous legislation making reading, and therefore understanding, of what is contained in the papers difficult, are two problems.

    https://x.com/newstart_2024/status/1870407895499563021
    Click on the link… …1870062… to unroll the thread and display the thread in a form that is easy to read.
    https://x.com/threadreaderapp/status/1870209744348070329

    1. From Coffee House, the Spectator

      Another day and another thumping defeat for Keir Starmer. This time, it’s for one of three seats in the previously safe ward of Brockmoor and Pensnett in Dudley. Labour previously won here in July with almost 64 per cent of the vote. But, this morning, it transpires that they have now slumped to third in the West Midlands, winning just 28.9 per cent of ballots cast. The party’s candidate, Karen Jordan, finished beneath both Reform’s Richard Tasker and the Tories’ Alex Dale, who won on 35.4 per cent. Talk about a three-way split.
      Such is the anger of the local Labour group at the loss of this seat that one of Karen Jordan’s colleagues has now taken to social media to vent his displeasure. Councillor Steve Edwards, who is one of the three councillors in Brockmoor and Pensnett, wrote on Facebook that on the doorstep the ‘overriding message’ is ‘anti Starmer and rightly so. Keir Starmer’s attack on the working class, our children and parents/grandparents is unjustifiable.’ He added that:
      He lied to us all to get elected and does not deserve to be the leader of the Labour party. Good honest councillors will lose their seats because of Kier [sic] Starmer’s actions and his attack on working class people. I hope that election results like this, Labour coming third in a seat that only 6 months ago became one of our safest seats, will be the kick up the arse the National Labour Party needs but the truth is I don’t think Starmer gives a damn.
      Edwards added that ‘Keir Starmer is not your friend but we are’ before concluding ‘have a great Christmas folks.’ Talk about season’s greetings eh PM?

      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. The insidious twisting of political reporting in the media likes to point out that Corbyn led his party to defeat in 2017 and Starmer led his to victory in 2024. The 2019 defeat was the worst for Labour since the 1930s, so we are told.

        In fact, pretty well everywhere Corbyn's popular support and that for the party he led was considerably greater in 2017 than Starmer's was in 2024. The one person to have achieved more than anyone else in the 2024 election was actually Liz Truss, who destroyed the Tory vote. So often, I heard Sunak being held to account for Truss's brief spell as PM, and that Tory defeat has been inevitable since 2022.

        What Corbyn did achieve was to lay into Theresa May's cast iron assurance that she could increase her majority and push through the May/Barnier surrender. Instead, thanks to Corbyn's capabilities on the stump and manning the barricades, which he is much better at than as a parliamentarian, May not only lost her majority, she was forced to rely on the DUP to support her programme for Brexit, which clearly was not going to work.

        By 2019, because of Starmer's stint as Shadow Brexit Secretary after the 42 Tory defections to the Remainer cause, the electorate had the choice between anarchy under Labour or Government under Boris, and chose the latter.

        The media, however, kept pushing the "antisemitism" line, despite Corbyn being not in the slightest antisemitic, but rather an international socialist, cross about Israeli treatment of Palestinians, and a rather simplistic idea about what constitutes a freedom fighter, and what sort of freedom they are fighting for.

          1. My memory of her is freezing like a startled rabbit each time anyone asked a challenging question, and that infamous Special Fiscal Operation (aka “minibudget”) which pledged tax cuts for the very wealthy combined with a huge splurge of public spending on energy support that even made Sunak blush, and a promise of a lot more to come in the autumn. I think she called it “delivering growth”. I suggested at the time that Stage 4 growth is perhaps not always welcome except as a preparation for assisted death.

            The guiding theories were a combination of trickle down, Laffer Curve economics and keeping up with the Americans. We are not America though, and have to accommodated a lot of people in a much smaller space.

            Liz Truss’s most notable achievement is being able to serve under two monarchs despite having the shortest tenure in history. Up until then, even I had only lived under one, and I was already voting whenLiz Truss was born.

      2. My grandmother lived in Brockmoor. She's buried in the church alongside my grandfather. Staunch Labour the lot of them.

    2. The article by Camus should be read by anyone and everyone who is concerned about the loss of free speech in the UK. It is truly Orwellian. Britons are now classed with the former peasants of the Soviet Union, North Korea, China and the Third Reich as untermensch . . . and I could be sent to jail just for saying it..

  8. Good day everybody. Practicing psychologist Xandra H is back in Free Speech today with a fascinating article on the State’s Mind Control program , involving the use and abuse of language to arrest the development of individuals into mature, independent-minded adults, with use of ‘approved’ words designed to limit the thought process – a tactic copied directly from Orwell’s prescient 1984, now apparently a working manual on how to establish a woke tyranny.

    On carrying on our series of Christmas stories, today we tell the tale of Joseph of Arimathea at Glastonbury and he came to plant a Mystic Thorn tree.

    Your support is very much appreciated, and I hope to see you in the comments section.

    freespeechbacklash.com

  9. Good day everybody. Practicing psychologist Xandra H is back in Free Speech today with a fascinating article on the State’s Mind Control program , involving the use and abuse of language to arrest the development of individuals into mature, independent-minded adults, with use of ‘approved’ words designed to limit the thought process – a tactic copied directly from Orwell’s prescient 1984, now apparently a working manual on how to establish a woke tyranny.

    On carrying on our series of Christmas stories, today we tell the tale of Joseph of Arimathea at Glastonbury and he came to plant a Mystic Thorn tree.

    Your support is very much appreciated, and I hope to see you in the comments section.

    freespeechbacklash.com

  10. Good morning all.
    A bit quieter after a stormy night, high winds and a rumble of thunder at 03:30 this morning.
    Currently 2.7°C on the new digital Yard Thermometer with yesterdays max at 11.9° and a min of 1.9°.

  11. I was pleasantly surprised to receive an e-card from an American correspondent which wished me a "Merry Christmas".

    1. Raynor is a useless waster. She has absolutely no concept of any part of business and just assumes 'it's there' to do what she wants. She's thick. Worse, she's stupid.

  12. 399150+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Sunday 22 December: Can the construction industry keep pace with the Government’s housebuilding targets?

    Should read,

    Sunday 22 December: The day the construction industry keep pace with the Government’s housebuilding targets will also be the day they ordain " Miranda " as Pope and the current political governing S(tool) as archbishop of Canterbury.

    When things get really tight the political crime syndicate WILL mandatory put current owners names top of the replacement lists.
    Until you see proEnglish patrol boats operating in the English Channel NOTHING WILL CHANGE.

    WHY were these ahti Christian,heathen anti Brit.politico's, via the polling stations, allowed through a voting / non voting process into parliament by way of a willful act of full blown treachery and is electoral lunacy.

  13. The answer to the question above is no, it can’t. Good morning! The met weather man on GBN has just informed me that there’s “frost develipin this mornin”. Where did this fashion come from and why?

      1. I didn’t notice that but probably. They have a couple of news readers who drop the soft gee as well. It’s becoming more prevalent.

        1. The quality of spoken English is collapsing. I put this down to an increasingly less educated and gimmigrant poplace who are used to american.

    1. Morning Sue ,

      I cringe when I listen to his is wever report.

      His first name gives us a clue as to his origins ..

      (I am a complete snob when I see the current trend of strange Christian names /white names)

  14. Well said Philip Barden:-

    A life ruined
    SIR – It is not only from the Upper House that natural justice is missing (“In the 18th century, saying the wrong thing got you banned from Parliament. Those times are back”, Comment, December 15).

    My client, the former Cabinet minister Owen Paterson, was similarly treated by the Commissioner for Standards in the House of Commons. She decided to investigate, carry out whatever investigation she chose and act as judge and jury in finding Mr Paterson guilty. I was allowed to attend the only substantive hearing that took place, but I was not allowed to speak.

    No contact was made with any of the 17 witnesses who spoke for my client’s innocence. Even though their evidence was unchallenged and no evidence to the contrary provided, my client was found guilty of something of which he is entirely innocent. Thus, his life has been ruined.

    Philip Barden
    London EC2

    1. And the persecution he was put under drove Owen Paterson' s wife to suicide.

      Owen Paterson should have been the prime minister – he was one of the very few competent ministers that Cameron had. And it was this very competence – and the fact that he was in favour of Brexit – that led to his being sacked.

      But the filthy rat, Cameron, could not leave it there – he had to enlist the help of the Labour Party's most disgustingly repulsive man in the House of Commons, Michael Bryant, to wield the knife.

      My idea of just retribution would be for Cameron and Bryant to be locked in a prison cell together for the rest of their miserable lives without access to any other company.

      1. Cameron, along with Blair, Mandelscum, well, the list is long – should be chained by the neck in a sewer so they're forced to drink the stuff or strain their necks to avoid it.

    1. Eh? And again, eh?

      Why were plod even involved? It seems as if the Met, so desperate to record any crime they can are using this nonsense to pad the figures.

      We're already in an Orwellian nightmare. The Left have always loved 1984 and see it as a guidebook. Thinng is, they consistently think they're the heroes of their own story.

      1. 399150 + up ticks,

        Morning W,
        There is much more than a large dose of Mein Kamph involving the current political overseers actions,
        much more.

    1. I often wonder how why and what sort of bunch of pratts invented that.
      What's the point?
      To the tune of the Hokey cokey.
      🎶They put their left arm in, their left arm out, the do the Dopey Wokey and shake it all about…..🎶

  15. Ref the title – no. Raynor, like all Lefties, doesn't understand supply and demand, logistics, resourcing or , well, any part of industry because she's a useless waster who's never had a job.

    1. How many members of the government have actually ever worked in the private sector – let alone run their own businesses?

      1. Very few, probably approaching zero. Another point that was made (by others) in conversation last night. I do believe people are starting to wake up.

  16. Good morning Nottlers, it's 5°C and forecast as wild, wet, and windy. Though, as the sun clambers over the horizon, it's merely wild and windy. Golf is therefore cancelled this morning, as there's no way I'd get the ball through the windmill in these conditions.

    1. Good morning Feargal.

      Dry bright and very windy here .. a visit to the driving range is off the cards for Moh, still there is always tomorrow.

    1. Nah. I believe the good people of UK & EU have reached that Tipping Point where they don't really trust a politician to do anything.
      Imho, the whole of Europe is one step away from the inevitable.
      Ireland first, then Germany.

      1. 399150 + up ticks,

        Morning KB,
        This creation ( governing ino) created via the polling stations
        through the lab/lib/con coalition will get away with paedophilia, adult rape, murder etc,etc, through the ballot box it is a proven fact,
        the only mistake will come about when they go after the majority voters cars.

      2. It's pretty obvious that the people across Europe have been very poorly let down by so many of their political classes.
        The attempts to cover their stupid mistakes are so obvious.
        Why will they be surprised when 'it all kicks off'. There needs to be a bottomless pit for these horrible people to be tipped into.

      3. It's beginning to look that way. Pity the weather's so bad. Most revolutions start in the summer (July is a good month). Ah, ca ira, ca ira!

          1. 399150+ upticks,

            Afternoon HL,
            Good question,
            Sheer weight of numbers difference tells me we are allowing these odious actions to take place.

            Either criminal lethargy, or love and trust in the “party” being the prime blame.

    1. Tirez l'autre, il en a les cloches.

      (The MSM and the PTB should pull the other one – it got bells on it!)

    1. The cat one made me laugh; had the cat been black and white it would have made me laugh even more. Winston (the cat) is notorious where the tree is concerned.

        1. That doesn’t bother me in the slightest. It is his cocky, oleaginous oikiness as well as his common way of torkin.

  17. I knew it, you knew it, we all knew it. The German authorities, the EU, the MSM led by the BBC has revealed that the mass murdering Saudi killer is an extreme right-wing fanatic bent on exterminating left and centre-left Christians and their offspring. It must be true, it has been repeated often on the BBC's World and domestic services.

    1. Let them carry on with their duplicitous lies, every word they say, every time they say it just strengthens the view most now hold on the authorities and their tame MSM.
      Only those who believe each and every word they are told and will fail to see the truth behind the narrative are beyond redemption and are a lost cause.

  18. Morning all 🙂😊
    High cloud blue patches windy and very chilly.
    What good fun the old Christmas panto is.
    Cinderella at St Albans. (Look it up) The villainous ugly sisters were very funny.
    The grandchildren loved it. And so did their parents and grandparents.
    And today out for lunch at Luton Hoo. It's all go isn't it….

    Let alone the supply of suitable materials for the government's insane un-researched decision to build 1.5 million houses. Where do they think all the materials are coming from ?
    Billions of bricks and millions of tonnes of everything else needed. Homebase ?
    The production of carbon for the materials will put our efforts back centuries.
    They are absolutely stupid.
    Oh and as one of the leftie labour mayor's has stated, it's not the (illegal) immigration that has caused the housing crisis ! If that's the case where will the building end ?

  19. Rod Liddle
    Who is the worst political commentator?
    21 December 2024, 6:00am
    https://www.spectator.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Screenshot-2024-11-06-at-06.06.01-1.png Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart have their eyes on the prize (Youtube)

    We are approaching the deadline for the prestigious ‘Most Odious Political Commentator of the Year’ award. Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart’s joint bid is so far out in front of the pack, that the result is surely a foregone conclusion. But this should not deter us from running through some of the other noble contenders.

    I am keeping my eye on Newsnight’s Nick Watt as a dark horse. Frequently seen gracing Watt’s programme (and on which he was a staffer) is the ghastly Lewis Knowall, who plies his trade now with the shriekingly right-on Emily Maitlis on something called The News Agents. If only that’s what they actually were: ‘I’ll have the Telegraph, a packet of Polo mints and a copy of Razzle, please love.’

    Owen Jones has had a quietish year, for which we should all be supremely grateful. Meanwhile, Kehinde Andrews at Birmingham Polytechnic and the BBC’s Lyse Doucet were disqualified because simply carping on about slavery or Israel does not count as political commentary.

    Gary Lineker was at one time a serious contender but now that he is leaving the BBC, people are rightly worried that, pace Assad, what comes next might be much worse.

    Kay Burley and Ros Atkins have been quietly picking up one or two late votes, but my suspicion is that the Campbell/Stewart axis will carry off the gold, with the perennially dreadful James O’Brien nicking the silver. This could be a big year for James as he is also shortlisted for the David Lammy Award for Outstanding Stupidity.

    Please add your own contenders in the comments below.

    *******************************************
    John Lilburne
    a day ago
    I actually listened to two episodes of “The Goebbels and Gollum Show” show just so I could comment with that much authority.

    The first one was a dreary recital of Establishment likes and dislikes, no analysis or exploration of the derails and complete agreement between the two.

    But it was the second one the stopped me dead in my tracks. Campbell was ranting away in his usual aggressive but unimpressive manner and got onto the subject of Putin. I was literally astonished to hear this creature say that given the numbers killed in a futile war, he had “no idea how Putin could sleep at night.”

    I remain amazed.

    1. Blair and Campbell should be in prison! On a less serious note I love the idea of the David Lammy Award for Outstanding Stupidity – so many possible winners in Two Tier's team, including the man himself!.

    2. As President Putin's wife/partner is a much younger fully-trained gymnast, sleep could be the easy part.

    3. Owen Jones has been frequently posting his anti-Semitism on YouTube all year. He has not been quiet.

  20. oops sorry – did not mean to confuse – you are quite right, I had other similar attacks in my head.

    1. Where they 'locked up' and stopped from having a good festive time ?
      It wouldn't surprise me in our country at the moment.

  21. So far over the weekend our family has received three parking tickets. It seems local councils might be making use of the surplus of available persons.

    1. I got done for going into a Low Traffic Neighbourhood one Saturday lunchtime. The form said “Cheques to be made payable to London Borough of Hounslow”. So i sent them about 60 cheques for random small amounts. They have just cashed them.

  22. The other week we had the garage bonkers insulated with 10cm of this multifoil and insulated plasterboard with underfloor heating run from the heat pump. It is the warmest 'room' in the house by far getting to 23 while the upstairs inside gets to 19.

    As the garage isn't big enough for a car to get in (because none ever are) we've made it into a storage room. What Junior doesn't know is there's a hose and extractor fan (a whopping powerful one) along wth some hefty humidity controlled fans for his (our) 3d printers. Combined with the sink that was already in there (which we changed as well to a big deep trough jobbie specifically for cleaning big, lumpy metal things) it's a nice hobby room.

    With 8 shelving racks with 5 shelves each he now has a proper desk arrangement with drawers, vertical storage and so on. There's power and ethernet as well as wireless. That means he doesn't need to go in and out of the 'big cupboard' where the water cylinder and gubbins are.

    That, not the Lego is his Christmas present (and ours, as we clear a ton of stuff out of a room). Yes, it's at the other end of the house but it lets him spread out a bit. I've cheated a bit and shifted the networking kit in there as well (the Warqueen has never liked it being in the kitchen). It's big enough and ventilate sufficiently that laundry could go in there too.

  23. Days of the errl: named after gods. Half the moths of the year: named after gods. The year numbering system: offensive!

  24. I remember talking to a council wonk once who was complaining about the drop in revenue from parking charges and businesses in town.

    I said to them over a cheap red – do you not understand the correlation? He looked back and said 'No, people have to pay to park. They'll still go shopping.'

    After a while of looking at him and realising he was too dense to understand the problem, I said 'So what're your plans to do about it?'

    He said – and I don't make this up 'put up business rates and parking charges to recoup the lost revenue, and continue the one way plan to make the town centre greener'.

    I squeezed my eyes closed incredulously and walked off. They're morons.

  25. I remember talking to a council wonk once who was complaining about the drop in revenue from parking charges and businesses in town.

    I said to them over a cheap red – do you not understand the correlation? He looked back and said 'No, people have to pay to park. They'll still go shopping.'

    After a while of looking at him and realising he was too dense to understand the problem, I said 'So what're your plans to do about it?'

    He said – and I don't make this up 'put up business rates and parking charges to recoup the lost revenue, and continue the one way plan to make the town centre greener'.

    I squeezed my eyes closed incredulously and walked off. They're morons.

  26. Flipping heck! That was quick!
    Half an hour ago I was please to see a waning half moon high in a cloudless sky.
    Now, I've just had to turn the light on to see what I'm doing! The sky, whilst not pitch black, has become a VERY dark shade of grey.

    1. Still sunny over this side BoB, but very windy!

      30 mins later – belay my last – now very dark cloud and sleet!!

  27. Are you sure it's the sky, Bob? Last time the sun went out here I'd dropped a blanket over my head while making the bed.

    We have bright sunshine, which I'm glad of as it means the solar will be saving some money to run the dehumidifier!

  28. SIR – A few years ago the people in the village where I live identified areas of land where houses could be built. Various building companies are now erecting houses on these sites. These are all soon to be occupied by families.
    It is often pointed out that older people should move out of their family-sized houses and should be given an incentive to do so.

    Where are the small houses for them to move into? Many such houses have expanded upwards and outwards to accommodate families.

    Small houses for the elderly need to be built, preferably close to village or town centres where there is access to shops, churches and meeting rooms.

    Gillian Kenny
    Chiddingfold, Surrey

    Small houses?

    They are an insult to humanity .
    A good friend invited three of us for back for a cup of tea after a trip out .. She lived in Somerton at the time . Lovely 2 bedroomed terrace .. lovely looking stone and flint .. but a real squeeze !!

    She apologised for the squashed conditions , room only for an armchair and a two seater sofa, so one of us perched on an arm of the sofa . We followed her to her kitchen and then had to back out … no room for a chatter over the kitchen sink or whilst the kettle was boiling .

    She told us it was the biggest mistake ever to dumb down, no parking for visitors , no green house to potter in , no room for visitors or a stairlift , and when she had an accident and broke her hip downstairs .. there was huge difficulty for the ambulance bods manoeuvring their kit in to take her to hospital .

    Some people make the mistake of buying those homes that sit on camping sites .. they are noisy / hot/ kennels / people buy them then wait for God ..

    1. Is this the net zero carp designed to stop food waste by taxing food so that it's too expensive to buy??

      The Telegaffe article now has 2019 comments – here's a typical one – "If this is supposed to usher the world towards net zero, they are insane. Every country will be watching the UK destroy itself and will back off massively. If a country that contributes less than 1% destroys itself trying and failing, there is no way US, China or India will jump off the cliff after us"

      1. Yep.

        Just a new tax to squeeze more money out of everyone so that we will have to eat bugs instead of meat leading eventually to ‘you will own nothing and be happy’.

        1. Which is all 'green' is.

          It's supposed to drive down the use of plastic packaging, but this is impossible in most cases as food safety is mandated by EU regulation, so it's adirect tax on consumers – as all taxes are. This is all the green con is. If government were serious about ecology it would be presenting significant recycling plants, but those require masses of energy.

          1. Is there a brave person somewhere, anywhere in the U.K. who will call this net zero scam out for what it is. We’re being herded towards utter disaster and all the politicians are happy to see it.

            They can’t think, surely, that they are amongst the chosen few who will have entry to the Promised Land of plenty? When will this lunacy be brought to a shuddering halt!

          2. Lots of people call it out, but they are totally ignored by the PTB, if they're lucky.
            If they're unlucky they can be cancelled and lose their livelihoods.

          3. It's about conforming, and paying tax. Not me. Started during lockdowns against what for most would be no more than a common cold …herding sheep very attractive to our permanent government (CSs).

          4. We refused to comply with ever restriction imposed and the experimental gene therapy and we think ourselves very lucky to have avoided injury and or death at the hands of these control animals. Wish our family felt the same.

          5. I was the only one in my family, at least I persuaded them to avoid young male relative. I went for vaccine against my own judgement, persuaded by family. Taken a very long time, but feel more like on road to recovery now, many months later. I don’t usually look back in anger, think it a waste of time, but on this occasion I sometimes do. Now, we learn both virus and (new type of) vaccine developed by same company – Pfizer. Says it all really. Perhaps your family won’t comply another time, which may not come soon, but in a few years/decade. One risk is that if a truly deadly virus turns up, no-one will take any heed at least initially.

          6. There are many and have been for some time. The media simply ignores them because they hinder the crusade.

            Remember, the BBC has invested it;s pension fund into unreliables. A lot of people are getting very rich from the scam.

          7. Recycling is a farce, according to someone I know who in turn knows people in recycling – it isn't, it's burnt, buried in landfill or often dumped at sea. More bx.

          8. If the government were serious about fighting climate change and carbon net zero it wouldn't be building all those houses on green field sites, cutting down trees and grubbing up hedgerows. It's a money-grabbing scam.

    2. Is this the net zero carp designed to stop food waste by taxing food so that it's too expensive to buy??

    3. Does indeed, another layer of bureaucracy, all in the name of 'Climate Change'. Total bx, rejigged. Gove was always a snake.

      1. Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is a tax that requires businesses to pay for the costs of managing and recycling packaging waste:
        Purpose
        EPR aims to reduce the environmental impact of products and packaging by holding manufacturers, importers, and brand owners accountable. It also encourages producers to use materials that are easier to recycle.
        Who's affected
        EPR applies to all UK organizations that import or supply packaging.
        How it works
        Businesses pay a fee to the environmental regulator for each packaging category they handle or supply. The fee is based on the local authority's packaging waste management costs for that category.
        When it starts
        EPR will start in 2025. The first EPR data submission was on October 1, 2023.
        What's included
        The reporting categories for EPR are plastic, paper/board, aluminum, glass, steel, wood, fiber-based composites, and other.
        What happens to the money
        The money paid through EPR goes to local authorities for waste disposal, collection, and other purposes.

        (No, i hadn’t heard of it till 2 minutes ago either!!)

          1. We think that it is an excellent idea to open an EPR department.

            Think of the size of the department of civil servants that would be.

            Think of the number of well paid managerial posts available for politicians' friends and relatives.

            Think of the respect important politicians will get when it is known what top positions are
            in their gift.

  29. G'day all,

    Oops, forgot to set the alarm so we overslept by an hour and a bit this morning. Never mind.

    'tis a breezy, bright day here at Castle McPhee, 4-6℃. Off to ring church bells then a bracing walk. Toodle pip.

    1. I can't wake up on these dark mornings – especially since I seem to have developed a sleep pattern of being awake for a couple of hours in the night.

      1. I'm similar, wake early…dog wants out so have to get up n go. Never been good at going back to bed, even when ill (dog has no problem with sleeping all day). Grand day weatherwise, rainbow and sunshine after snow showers. Btw have you tried a sleep mask, might help you stay asleep? K

        1. No – I was put off any kind of mask by you know what…….
          I have to get out for the loo several times and I do eventually nod off again. I'm not an early riser unless I'm on holiday.

          1. Me2, never again. And no more feckin jabs. Try pelvic floor exercises, helped me. And watch what you drink – more water than soft drinks or anything with caffeine eg tea coffee. Or alcohol -that’s right, I am the Grinch at Christmas..even tho I seem like a sweet old lady…🤶

          1. Have to smile..the lengths we go to. He snores and if I make any move at all, one of his eyes opens. Sleeps most of the time now, old dog.

  30. The Warqueen gets back from teaching her yoga in an hour and a bit (it's nice when she gets home in tight spandex) so best get on with the washing and encourage Junior to do his chores. Toodle pip for a bit.

    1. I find this utterly depressing and not a cause for laughter as the cameraman seems to think. Ask yourself why those bollards are there in the first place.

      1. Magdeburg: intelligent automated bollards on the tram route, together with smart cards/ANPR for residents and emergency services.
        Not rocket science, which is just as well since most German rocket engineers emigrated back in 1945.

  31. I wonder how millipede could ever even try to justify the huge unmeasurable carbon emissions that will be caused by all the planned houses his collegues seem set on. Just the 23 billion plus clay bricks will leave a huge hole in the earth, let alone the massive heat generation for baking them all.
    And then the occupation which will massively extend the emissions.
    They have Not a clue do they.

    1. An article in today’s Terriblegraph which i haven’t had time to read yet has the strap line “the country [Germany] is struggling to adapt to new realities while the economy may be at the point of no return.”

    2. Apart from the houses that will eventually need to be built for the 4-6+ offspring that 3/5 of the "families" of the originally built houses are each likely to have…

    1. The last time we discovered the picture was Dame Laura Knight's 'Cornwall in Spring'. I have to say I don't recognise this one.

        1. It can't be!

          I have seen The Sketchers by John Singer Sargent and it didn't have little squiggly lines all over it!

  32. Today's effort:
    Wordle 1,282 4/6
    ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜
    ⬜🟩🟩🟨⬜
    ⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  33. Lord Mandelson will make a terrible US ambassador
    Starmer will quickly come to regret this hubristic diplomatic blunder

    Matthew Lynn
    20 December 2024 11:04am GMT

    He will bring huge political experience. He has the political savvy and cunning to cut deals that would be impossible for anyone else. And he will have the clout to carry real influence in Washington. There were, in fairness, some good arguments for making Lord Mandelson the new British Ambassador to the United States. The trouble is, he is also someone who had to resign from the Cabinet twice in disgrace the last time he was in government, and whose brand of Blair-ite centrism looks hopelessly old-fashioned. In reality, Mandelson will prove a catastrophic appointment.

    It was always going to be a far more important appointment than usual. With Donald Trump returning to the White House, the UK needs a heavyweight as Ambassador. The UK will need to steer a middle course between the US and Europe, avoid the tariffs Trump plans to impose, while keeping Brussels on board as well. Who better than Peter Mandelson, the dark genius of the New Labour era, and a man who, by reputation at least, always made Machiavelli look like an amateur when it came to negotiating deals? Well, almost anyone as it happens. In reality, there are two big problems with this appointment.

    First, Mandelson is damaged goods. In the New Labour government, he resigned as Secretary of State for Trade and Industry after details of a loan he had received emerged. He was then re-appointed as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, and had to resign all over again, as details of a passport application were made public.

    Sure, Mandelson always insisted he had done nothing wrong, but, to put it politely, he was always accident-prone, and the accidents always seemed to involve money. It hardly helps that he has been running a successful consulting business, Global Counsel, which will now, quite rightly, come under intense scrutiny.

    Second, he is surely well-past his sell-by date. You could make a case for Mandelson as Ambassador during the Clinton, or indeed Obama, Presidencies. He was one of the driving forces of third-way, liberal centrism. The trouble is, the Trump second term will be dominated by techno-libertarians such as Elon Musk who despise the Mandelsons of this world and everything they stand for.

    They won’t be interested in what he has to say, nor will they be open to the backroom deals he will try to negotiate. He might be a big name, and he might have a good contacts book. But the harsh reality is that Mandelson is the wrong choice – and will prove another mis-judgement by a Prime Minister hopelessly out of his depth.

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

    Julius Seizure
    2 days ago
    “Clown appoints muppet”

    Robert le Gaillard
    1 day ago
    Reply to Benjamin Bear
    Mandy would be better off and happier in Berlin. Look up the German for Ambassador…

    Jasper Derbyshire
    1 day ago
    Reply to Robert le Gaillard
    Botschafter……..

    1. Perhaps Starmer is being unusually cunning.

      If our relationship with the USA is utterly poisoned they can claim there is all the more need to re-join the EU and go ahead without further ado.

      I wouldn't put it past these bastards.

    2. Glib and Oily Mandy's lies and mortgage I could not excuse
      Twice I sacked the sleazy bugger though his spittle shone my shoes!

      (From the lyrics of The Populist Prime Minister from a Minor Public School)

    3. Why to we have to keep the EU happy? I thought we'd voted to leave. If we were trading on WTO terms, as we should have been, the EU would have been irrelevant.

  34. No, of course not. They never lie.
    Under their rules there is no such thing when Allah requires it of them.
    /sarc

    1. Strange, isn’t it, that the Big A always seems to want/require the uncivilised, barbaric and primitive actions that some of its followers inflict on innocent people. Or perhaps Big A wants all those first cousin marriages that can lead to the mental problems so many followers of that religion seem to suffer from (one of the reported mental consequences of repeated intermarriage is increased aggression…).

  35. Lord Peter Mandelson has called his appointment as the UK's next ambassador to the US, which has now been officially confirmed, "a great honour".

    The Germans think he will make a first class 'Botschafter'. He has often demonstrated his willingness to bend over backwards (and forwards) to please his friends, and his husband is in complete agreement.

  36. We took the Z3 for a spin today (it costs is £12.50 every time we pull off the drive) but it needs to move, plus don’t forget it has a very expensive new tyre. We had a nice round walk along the river – Hammersmith to Putney. I am now making bread, soup, and possibly circuses. 🙂

      1. I miss London – I was born, brought up and spent most of my working life there.

        I never go there now – it's too depressing.

        1. Hi Hertslass. So you’re a Londoner too! Alf and I were born and brought up in London, me in High hey (Canonbury where the socialists moved to) Alf in London EC1. We moved away when we married in 1968 to Maidstone. Wouldn’t dream of moving back – hate what itself become. And our capital city.

        2. I'm a country boy so I've never been a fan of London (nor any big city really). I miss the North York Moors, The Peak District, The Yorkshire Dales, Exmoor and North Norfolk (among other rural locations) more than anywhere else.

        3. I was watching 'Escape to the Country' and was somewhat disheartened to hear that the town of my birth had changed unrecognisably since the 1970s and was these days an inner city hell-hole, rather than a pleasant riverside village. It was referred to as being in "South-west London" whereas it was, for all the time I lived there, in Middlesex.

          The family moved to near Dorking when I was seven, and I settled near a rustic Herefordshire market town after I got married, eventually ending up in Worcestershire where I have been for the last thirty years.

          Whilst I have fond memories of old Teddington, I can never go back there now. As for London, I still do not forgive it for the thief that broke into my car and stole my mother's violin that I taught myself to play. It is a heartless and soulless place. Even more so now they've knocked the best bits down.

          1. Teddington is still quite nice; but yes, part of “London”. Though don’t leave your bike there, no matter how well locked up, as it will be nicked and Plod won’t care.

  37. Kristina Murkett
    Labour’s axing of Latin lessons is an act of cultural vandalism
    21 December 2024, 5:14am

    The Labour government seems determined to undermine excellence in schools. The Department for Education has announced that from February it will be terminating its Latin Excellence Programme, which taught Latin to over 5,000 pupils, as part of a cost-saving measure. The cutback comes a month after a review suggested ‘middle-class bias’ should be removed from the curriculum and that ‘high-brow pursuits’, such as ‘visits to museums, theatres and art galleries’, might be replaced with more ‘relatable’ activities such as graffiti workshops.

    The decision to effectively end Latin lessons in some state schools is particularly hard to bear. Latin helps create intellectually curious, interesting and interested students; it gives them a rich interior world and the opportunity to imaginatively experience another time that is so like, and so very unlike, our own. It introduces them to new literature, history, theology, rhetoric, culture; it is brilliant at developing both logic and language acquisition. It is precisely because it is a ‘dead’ language, and therefore must be taught through its grammatical rules rather than its spoken use, that it is so useful for understanding the mechanics and structure of language in general. And if we must measure importance in terms of outcomes, then it also advances literacy: in one study Latin students advanced their English-reading age by 36 months in just one year.

    The Latin schools programme was only established in 2022, but it successfully championed accessibility and equality of opportunity: it covered 40 non-selective state schools, largely in economically deprived areas, and over a third of the students were eligible for free school meals. Cancelling it mid-way through the school year seems unnecessarily punitive and disruptive: almost 1,000 of these pupils were due to take Latin GCSE in the summer, and now may no longer be able to because the government wants to recoup £4 million – a relatively small saving that will barely register in the public services black hole, but will make a huge difference to the children benefiting from it.

    This retrograde decision is also deeply frustrating because it makes the so-called elitism surrounding Latin, and the classics in general, a self-fulfilling prophecy. Latin’s unfair reputation for being the preserve of the Eton-educated elite is hardly going to be challenged when, as is the case currently, less than three per cent of state schools teach it at Key Stage 3. Around 70 per cent of Classics undergraduates studying the three-year degree at Cambridge are privately educated, which isn’t surprising given that more than 60 per cent of Classics GCSE entrants come from independent schools. There is also a critical dearth of Classics teachers: not a single Scottish university offers teacher training in Classics, while only four universities in England provide it.

    The more utilitarian Gradgrinds will ask why the DfE should bother when Latin offers no ‘practical’ skills. Yet this is precisely why we should defend it at all costs. Latin epitomises the pleasure of learning for learning’s sake; it is enjoyable exactly because it ‘useless’. The idea that the classics are irrelevant, impenetrable or unexciting to today’s young people is both nonsense and another example of the soft bigotry of low expectations.

    In an educational landscape dominated by emphasis on STEM subjects, the Latin Excellence Programme was a rare government scheme designed to enrich rather than stifle the curriculum. It also funded trips both in the UK and abroad; surely a programme that gave disadvantaged children the opportunity to marvel at the preserved wonders of Pompeii or discover the history of our Roman baths is worth saving? It is also worth noting that, because the programme was voluntary, these students wanted to study Latin, and were not being forced to sit through a subject they disliked. Surely we should be encouraging that kind of proactive mindset?

    Alas, instead the programme has been sacrificed at the altar of austerity. Of course the Labour government has inherited, to put it mildly, a difficult fiscal situation. Yet £4 million seems good value for money compared to some of the other pet projects the government has previously spent money on: £8 million for portraits of King Charles; £19 million to translate school reports for foreign-born parents; £115 million on failed free schools that closed or were never completed. Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has repeatedly said that she wants to expand opportunities for working-class children, and yet she is overseeing the closure of a programme that was genuinely academically aspirational.

    I fear that Labour’s curriculum review, with its dogged focus on ‘relatability’, will only make matters worse, by fixating on students’ current horizons rather than opening new ones. The arts and the classics belong to everyone, irrespective of background, and are about transcending your place in life rather than knowing your place in life. Part of the reason private schools are so successful is because they thrive on cultural capital, and education that goes beyond examination point-scoring or churning out qualifications for the employment marketplace. Cancelling this programme at all, but particularly before the end of the school year, is a misguided, short-sighted decision, and one that only proves this utilitarian fear of excellence and difference.

    Written by
    Kristina Murkett is an English teacher, private tutor and journalist

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

    Larry Shelton
    a day ago
    "‘high-brow pursuits’, such as ‘visits to museums, theatres and art galleries’, might be replaced with more ‘relatable’ activities such as graffiti workshops."
    China, India, the US and Dubai will be rubbing their hands with glee, as they watch us slip further down the international GDP/head league tables…

    MikeBrighton
    a day ago edited
    What is most striking is how Labour has gone after their class enemies within the first few months of office.
    Rich school parents and private schools – check
    ”Rich” pensioners – check
    ”Rich” farmers – check
    Big business – check
    Latin lessons is simply another attack on private schools by hatchet-faced ideologue-in-lipstick Philipson.
    Notice how when the defend their actions many of their outriders use the ‘well they are rich’ defence.

    They are truly nasty intersectional thugs. I never imagined they would be this vile.

    Jim Richardson
    a day ago
    Graffiti workshops? Yet again, the experience ministers and DfE civil servants have of working class people appears to extend no further than Lambeth.

    Jlmh
    a day ago
    How despicable. These people not only want to inflict their ignorance and stupidity on everyone, but also make sure no one can escape.

    1. Latin to be axed. I give English no more than 2 years before they stop teaching it too. Mind you, listening to some younger people talking you'd think it wasn't taught now.

      1. Whenever I mention that fact I am lambasted by those who insist English is an 'evolving' language.

        They think that 'evolving' and 'rapidly deteriorating' are synonymous.

        They then have to look up in a dictionary what 'synonymous' means.🤣

        1. I replied to one of your posts recently about English being an evolving language but was in no way lambasting you. I only commented that it has always changed, a bit like the climate, and will continue to do so.

          1. Greetings, Alf. Sorry for the misunderstanding, I wasn’t referring to you.
            It was more (clumsily) aimed at a few former contributors (most of whom seem to have long disappeared) and many of those long “discussions” occurred on the old DT letters forum well before NoTTLe was born.

    2. This is the most appallingly vicious government I can think of (at the age of 77, soon to be 78). They are simply smashing this country to smithereens. God help us all.

      I have no axe to grind, never learned Latin, just French. But they are utterly ruthless and determined to crush any ambition, self responsibility and independent thinking. In this case just to save £4million.

      There are no words to describe this Labour government that come anywhere near what I think of them and the future they are condemning people to.

      1. I learnt Latin at school – passed the O level ok, did A level Latin and failed miserably. But I enjoyed learning it and reading classical authors like Ovid and Horace.

        1. I was the first boy from my Prep school to score 100% on the Latin Common Entrance Exam. Mr Cornwall, the Latin master, was every bit as surprised by my success as I was and took me out to a slap-up cream tea. Soon thereafter, he went off to become a Catholic priest. (Do not assume 'cause' and 'effect')

          I was put in the Top Latin Set at Ampleforth and, after two years of being taught by Mr T, a Yorkshireman whom I loathed, I scored 40% in the Latin 'O' level, the precise pass mark. Mr T had the good grace to congratulate me on my economy of effort.

          I still enjoy reading it occasionally.

      2. One of the themes in conversation last night was that people couldn't believe how awful this government had been so quickly.

      3. Reminds us of the Wilson government.

        Not only did the quality of education fall during his reign, but the British Government paid Australia,

        New Zealand and Canada to take immigrants from here.

        It would surprise you to know that they took the best educated, and during the seventies

        approx five hundred (mostly white) well educated or well skilled departed every day.

        The implication is that Socialism is only attractive to poorly educated or incompetent people.

      4. Reminds us of the Wilson government.

        Not only did the quality of education fall during his reign, but the British Government paid Australia,

        New Zealand and Canada to take immigrants from here.

        It would surprise you to know that they took the best educated, and during the seventies

        approx five hundred (mostly white) well educated or well skilled departed every day.

        The implication is that Socialism is only attractive to poorly educated or incompetent people.

      5. Reminds us of the Wilson government.

        Not only did the quality of education fall during his reign, but the British Government paid Australia,

        New Zealand and Canada to take immigrants from here.

        It would surprise you to know that they took the best educated, and during the seventies

        approx five hundred (mostly white) well educated or well skilled departed every day.

        The implication is that Socialism is only attractive to poorly educated or incompetent people.

    3. I learned Latin at my state grammar school. It was invaluable when I came to study Russian. It also helped when I did my MA in Applied Linguistics. When I was singing the Latin Mass it all made sense. Biology, botany and pharmacy all used Latin. It seems to me, that all the positives mentioned in the article are the very reasons Labour wants to get rid of it; we can't have the "working classes" getting ideas above their station, can we?

          1. If any fell out when the machine was knocked over it could certainly have rolled there.
            It looks as though he found something.

      1. He wouldn't know how to. They aren't taught to 'defecate' in holes or anything that resembles one. The pavement is much safer.

    1. The Gestapo will beat them up and arrest them in their hundreds. The "camps" still exist…..

      1. Hear you, but I think they are too many. May continue through ‘Holiday Period’ or whatever Christmas now is in Germany.

      1. Yes, Paul…might even widen…have yet to see anything else being organised, Farage will doubtless be aware.

    2. They haven’t even deported the Shia terrorist, have they? If he was really a farrrr wight narrsti, they’d have shot him themselves. As it is, they’re still protecting him from the Saudi take on justice. If the EU lefties had any honesty and integrity they’d admit they were wrong and hand him over. Quibbling about degrees of evil between a Shia murderer and a Sunni executioner is brain dead moral bankruptcy.

          1. His neighbour had been tipping off authorities, or so it was reported yesterday (I think eugyppius blogger). Thanks for arrest info, I wasn’t aware. Will look out for sentencing.

          2. Police said they believe the suspect acted alone. The prosecutor said they are still clarifying a motive behind the attack.

            Germany's Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told reporters on Saturday that it was "clear to see" that the suspect had "Islamophobic views."

            They can't even bring themselves to point out any Muslim connection he might have or have had.

    1. Clouded over here……… I rushed out and fetched the washing in but the few drops of rain didn't come to anything. Sunny again now.

  38. Looking out my window now (90 m I nutes later)…. Dark as a Dungeon, gusty Pounding Rain …

  39. Good day everybody. Practicing psychologist Xandra H is back today on Free Speech with a fascinating article on the State’s Mind Control program , involving the use and abuse of language to arrest the development of individuals into mature, independent-minded adults, with use of ‘approved’ words designed to limit the thought process – a tactic copied directly from Orwell’s prescient 1984, now apparently a working manual on how to establish a woke tyranny.

    On carrying on our series of Christmas stories, today we tell the tale of Joseph of Arimathea at Glastonbury and he came to plant a Mystic Thorn tree.

    Your support is very much appreciated, and I hope to see you in the comments section. Best wishes at Christmas.

    freespeechbacklash.com

  40. Nine-year-old Christmas market terror attack victim named. 22 December 2024.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f1cf2dff19c9bf501736484851ecae86092f6a7d73bde3ef72f2736afad7e63e.png
    A nine-year-old boy is the first victim to have been named from the Magdeburg Christmas market attack on Friday.

    André Gleißner died alongside four women after a Saudi doctor allegedly drove a dark BMW through a the market in eastern Germany.

    Lol. I was just about to post, “Let’s see how long this thread will remain open”, and they closed it. It’s a tossup whether the Telegraph was more offended by the references to Southport or the frank disbelief in the narrative.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/12/22/nine-year-old-christmas-market-terror-attack-victim-named/

      1. I've just seen it Tim. I would think that someone is getting a real reaming out at the Telegraph at the moment.

    1. He's 2 years younger than Junior. The parents have been through sleepless nights, exhaustion, walking around constantly to get him to sleep. Then teething, then liquid food, first steps, potty training, seen him learn to read and write. Seen that show of delight as he first realises some basic maths problem. Worried over a rash or cough.

      And now he's dead. Slaughtered by a muslim fanatic who hates us, who had no reason to be here at all, who was only in Germany because of a fervent communist's obsession.

      There's a point where our morality cannot be trusted. We've let savages into our countries. We've got to stop pandering and start pushing back. If the hard left don't like it, treat them the same. How many more children will the Left allow the muslim to kill? How many is enough to slake their ego?

    2. On the news earlier It sounded as if the media might be blaming the police for not realising this terrible thing might happen.

    3. I saw the ages of the others who were killed. All women, all mature.
      RIP all.
      Edit: 45, 52, 67, 75.

    1. Ooh! Thank you for that, Oberst! Have just pinned it to Favourites! My Dad would have loved it!

    2. Indeed it's very good for drilling down to one's current location and clicking on Sfc wind ….

    1. I know they pad it for the algorithm but really, such complete long winded dog waffle is annoying.

      1. Long story short:

        it turns out the veteran that Baron Trump gave his seat up for had once also been helped by Donald Trumps’s father, Fred.

        Not forgetting, Trump is a fascist who wants to abolish democracy etc etc

        1. Long story short:
          Thx.. saves me having to listen to that click-bait drivel.
          YouTube is filled with these ai generated diarrhea.. and getting worse by the day.

    2. I believe his name is spelt Barron. Raised by his mother, without attendants, multi-lingual with a very high IQ. Looks a very decent young man.

  41. Indeed…possibly taper off over Christmas but may start again afterwards, depending on weather 👍🤞

    1. I bought both daughters a new super dooper tape dispenser this year! I’ve just sent that to both of them!

  42. Signing off early. Must get the church ready for the 4 pm Carol Service. Bluss, it is chilly out – a biting wind.

    Have a spiffing evening.

    A demain.

    1. I've just emailed you a card. I see to my horror that it has a couple of typos in it which I spotted just after pressing the send key!

      1. Failing to proof-read is an improvident habit. Are you sure you're not a votary of Mohammedanism?🤣

  43. Our late Queen deserves better than a woke statue

    Demands that a new monument has to be ‘inclusive’ and ‘sustainable’ says more about our times than the service of Her Majesty

    Dia Chakravarty
    22 December 2024 8:00am GMT

    What do the words egregious, bully and silly have in common? They are fascinating in their evolution as all three, over centuries, have transformed into something unambiguously negative in a complete departure from their original positive meanings.

    One word which has managed to cram centuries’ worth of etymological development into just a few years is inclusive. Last week, the Government launched a search for a designer to create the Queen Elizabeth II memorial to mark the late monarch’s birth centenary in 2026. The memorial, prospective artists and engineers have been told, must be inclusive and sustainable.

    What does this guidance mean? How can a memorial – which is to be located in a park open to the public – not be inclusive by definition? In what other way does the Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee, the body charged with delivering the project, expect this requirement to be addressed by the designer?

    Is the figurative representation of the late Queen, which is to form part of the monument, meant to be in a sari to be more relatable to me? Or will this confused ideology of inclusion produce an obnoxious concoction which alienates every single community?

    The plan reportedly includes the construction of a new bridge across the lake in St James’s Park. How does one build a bridge in a public park which is not inclusive?

    All this is evidence that the concept of ‘inclusion’ has lost all meaning.

    The truth is that inclusive – unfailingly and mindlessly injected into every Government directive these days – now represents a clear demand for declaring allegiance to an ideology, the manifestation of which can only take a handful of carefully prescribed visual clues: a rainbow flag or an instantly recognisable symbol of an ethnic or religious minority group, for example.

    But the Queen was the queen of every one of her subjects across these isles and the Commonwealth, irrespective of their ethnic, religious or sexual identities. In that role, she herself was the embodiment of inclusion in the original sense of the word.

    For any memorial dedicated to her to be genuinely inclusive, it simply needs to remain true to the late Queen and what she symbolised throughout her 70 years of dedicated service to her nation: a united people, undefeated in the face of adversity.

    For those who do not accept that, and of course there are many across all communities, no amount of superficial symbolism which the designer inevitably comes up with is likely to rouse a sudden Royalist streak within them to compel them to feel included in this project.

    As for being sustainable, monuments tend to be fairly sustainable until, admittedly, they are brought down by frenzied activists, probably also in the name of sustainability and inclusion. Any monument built would by law be sustainable from an environmental perspective.

    But in a world of virtue-signalling, grandstanding is of vital importance and so sustainability merits a separate mention.

    The Queen was the ultimate symbol of unity for an overwhelming majority of her subjects, a bastion of stability to her country and its people. Her subjects would no doubt want her memorial to be as faithfully representative of her values of tradition and steadfastness as possible.

    To use this memorial to further a very particular political agenda is deeply disrespectful to both to those people as well as to the memory of the late Queen.

    If she is to be celebrated, Queen Elizabeth II must be honoured as she was: grounded in tradition and duty, rejecting the tediousness of specious ideologies.

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

    Simon Watson
    6 hrs ago
    Great article Miss Chakravarty. There have already been some dreadful statues of the late Queen unveiled so let's not go in that direction.
    I still remember President Macron's most memorable comment upon her death that wherever you went in the world, Elizabeth II was simply "the Queen".

    PJ Spiers
    4 hrs ago
    Reply to Simon Watson
    Standby for a selection that will dismay and disgust Royalists everywhere.

    Martin Potten
    5 hrs ago
    My vote would be for an equestrian statue of her at Trooping the Colour

          1. The old name may have conveyed a false impression, I like children . . . but I couldn't eat more than one at a sitting.

          1. An English associate, ‘Andy’, who has lived in Sweden for 43 years, told me that he holds three passports.
            British (where he was born); Swedish (where he has long been a citizen); and — latterly — Irish.
            He explained that he applied for an Irish passport since his grandparents were Irish — and they gave him one!

            I have just the two: British and Swedish and , like you, I am both an EU citizen and a non-EU citizen.

      1. Best statue of HM I've seen yet. The harmony of the three figures really captures her love of horses doesn't it.

  44. Here's one for all Y'all: Old age begins when your nasal hairs turn grey… just plucked a number of grey ones…

    1. It's true that men don't go bald, their hair just moves to other places, ears, nostrils etc, etc.

    2. Cut, don't pluck !

      Skin damage
      Plucking can damage the skin inside your nose, which can lead to:

      Ingrown hairs: As the hair grows back, it can curl into the follicle and cause bumps, discomfort, and inflammation.
      Infections: Plucking can release pathogens from the base of the hair, which can lead to infections like nasal vestibulitis. This infection can lead to serious complications, such as cavernous sinus thrombosis.

      Nasal Furunculosis
      In severe cases, plucking can lead to a deep infection of a hair follicle called Nasal Furunculosis, which can be life-threatening if left untreated.

      1. What's the long silver thing that the bald-headed bloke is blowing down?

        It looks a bit like a seed drill to me!

    1. The Singapore governments and the backgrounds and history and philosophy of the people in Singapore are totally different from those in this country.

  45. Afternoon, all. Here for a brief time and then off again (9 Lessons and Carols this evening). Weather is foul; blowing a gale, raining hard and trying to sleet. Have lit a fire to supplement the oil heating. It will soon be time to light the Rayburn and leave it on permanently until spring. The only reason I haven't is that it's been fairly mild and I've been out such a lot of late that I wouldn't get much benefit out of it.

    A short answer to the headline question is, NO! It's pie in the sky from people who have no connection with reality.

    1. I haven’t missed a Sunday morning but I’ve skipped the evening carol services in church. Not feeling up to crossing town in bad weather and the church has anyway been packed to fire safety capacity with people turned away. I’ve made it to quite a few Christmas concerts at the Wigmore though, including a sell-out last night with the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress of the City of Westminster (no, not Khan) as guests of honour. Over this Christmas season, if I had to choose one performance it would be Lucy Crowe singing “Minuit Chrétiens”.

        1. My favourite at Barts is the Dickensian carols. Charles Dickens was once vestry secretary and some of his descendants still attend. Timothy Spall is the star turn for the readings.

      1. Park a few thousand trained terrorists in an aircraft carrier and you would find that therapy sail it up the Thames and besiege parliament.

        That or drive over to Calais and pick up several thousand accomplices.

    1. In the olden days they used naval hulks for prisons.

      Any country short of prisons could do the same nowadays…..if they really

      wanted to keep criminals locked up.

    2. In the olden days they used naval hulks for prisons.

      Any country short of prisons could do the same nowadays…..if they really

      wanted to keep criminals locked up.

    1. Looks good, dude.

      I'm having a light nibble on Saturday (after the Christmas blow-out).

      Freshly-baked bread; crackers; foie gras; lardo; Colston Bassett stilton (the best); cheddar; camembert; fig conserve; Graham's LBV port.

      I shall keep off the bread and crackers since there will be more than enough carbs in the fig conserve and the port!

      1. Sounds great.
        I tried foie gras once but i found it a bit too rich for my taste. Especially as lardo is on the table.

        Chicken liver parfait i had recently at the https://www.heroniow.co.uk/ryde was like silk.

        The rest of your menu sounds great but on its own not after a blow out meal. My appetite is tiny now

          1. Excellent. Get that cheese out of the plastic and put a damp cloth over it.

            When Harry and Mrs Kobeans visited in the Summer they brought me a hamper of cheeses in wax just like that one. I used the strong cheddar one in a cauli sauce. Best ever. I don't see the point in cheap cheddar.

    2. It all looks delicious.
      I hope the guests have as much pleasure eating it as you have from preparing it.

      1. I was told the fillet was perfect. I knew it was from the thermometer. 35 degree interior temperature.

        One of the invited couldn't make it as he had a charity event to do. So i made up a hamper so he didn't miss out.

    3. Oh Phizzee , you are the most generous cleverest host with the most .

      Such a delicious spread .. I would have loved to have seen a slice of your Beef Wellington..

      Your lemon roulade is so perfect .. I can smell the lemon from here .

      1. Thanks Belle. My beef was pink ! (no sniggering at the back !)
        All gluten free for the guests.

        Making Wellington that size is all about construction. I should have been a builder!

        Pastry then pancakes then spinach then duxelles. Then the seared beef.

        Beef cold from the fridge to give the pastry a chance to brown without over cooking the meat.

        I started the prep on Friday and finished the veg today.

    4. I've just had my thinking cap on. I have only ever made one beef welly in my entire life, and that was way back in 1981.

      I know the date because I remember the lady I made it for. She was 15 years my senior and she taught me a lot! She enjoyed the welly though.

        1. Oh dear – if ONLY you had relied on Jamie Oliver…then it would have been a great success.

          1. Maybe, but he would have buggered up a classic to put his twist on things. I am a traditional cook. My guests appreciate my efforts. Why would i want to copy that little twit…It would only make my guests think i was an idiot.

      1. I've been harping on about it for ages. All the drudge work i had to do etcetera etcetera etcetera.

        1. Oh. I just thought that you were complaining about sosraboc!

          Seriously though it does look good. Where did you find the square cow to fill the pastry casing?

      1. '''takes a bow…

        Wish you were here. I would have given you a big portion of my beef…………….

    5. Looks sublime, Phiz! interesting that you have made your Welli square like that (I have always made them long and thin, like the fillets). Presumably you have put the fillets side by side?

      1. The fillet was in the middle. Given how large it was i put the spinach around one side and the duxelle on the other side. Still looked good when cut.

        I used jus rol gluten free pastry so the size of those determined the shape. One on the bottom. One over the top. And a third as the lattice.

    6. Will you please stop it, Phizzee! I am trying to reduce my calorie intake until Wednesday the 25th.

    1. Par for me.

      Wordle 1,282 4/6

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

    2. Well done Rene! Disappointing bogey here…..

      Wordle 1,282 5/6

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      ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
      ⬜🟩🟩🟨⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    3. Well done. A familiar story here. Bogey.

      Wordle 1,282 5/6

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

    4. Here's my divot pile.

      Wordle 1,282 4/6

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

  46. Report: Trump Transition Team Looks to Pull U.S. out of W.H.O. ‘On Day One’
    Simon Kent22 Dec 2024

    The U.S. will exit the globalist World Health Organization (W.H.O.) on day one of President-elect Donald Trump’s new administration taking power, a report Sunday predicts.

    The U.S. is the W.H.O.’s largest single donor. It provides the home to over 8,000 career bureaucrats with about 16 percent of its budget, which in 2024 stood at U.S.$6.83 billion.

    It has previously been criticised by conservative voices for its extraordinary drain on U.S. taxpayer funds while Trump has called it a slave to China’s own global ambitions.

    According to the Financial Times, members of Trump’s team told the experts of their intention to announce a withdrawal from the Geneva-based health body on January 20 — inauguration day.

    The departure would remove the W.H.O.’s biggest source of funds in one fell swoop. The FT report notes the withdrawal will complete a process Trump started last time he was in office:

    In 2020, Trump initiated the process to leave the WHO as Covid-19 spread, accusing the agency of being under China’s control. But the process was never finished and his successor Joe Biden restarted relations with the agency on his first day of office in 2021.

    Experts have been told that some in Trump’s team want to move much faster this time around after initiating the process immediately.

    Ashish Jha, Biden’s former White House coronavirus response co-ordinator and dean of Brown University’s school of public health, told the outlet the transition team wanted Trump to withdraw on the first day because of the “symbolism” of reversing Biden’s own inauguration-day move.

    “There are lots of people who are going to be part of the inner circle of the administration who do not trust the W.H.O. and want to symbolically show on day one that they are out,” he said.

    The Trump transition team did not comment directly on the potential withdrawal. One person familiar with the plans told the FT: “The same W.H.O. that we left in the first administration? It seems like we wouldn’t much care what they have to say.”

    Trump previously criticized the W.H.O. for siding with China despite heavy criticism for their lack of transparency about the coronavirus and its spread and origins, as Breitbart News reported.

    “They seem to be very China-centric,” he said in April, 2020. “That’s a nice way of saying it, but they seem to be very China-centric, and they seem to err always on the side of China.”

  47. Christmas Market Attack Suspect Was a Saudi Arabian ‘Leftist’ Asylum Activist Promoted by BBC: Reports

    The suspected perpetrator of the Magdeburg Christmas market attack was reportedly an asylum seeker activist who was promoted by legacy media outlets, including the BBC.

    UPDATE 1700: Prosecutors have announced that the suspect has been charged with five counts of murder and 200 counts of attempted murder with dangerous bodily harm. They revealed that one of the slain victims was a nine year old child and that 41 people were seriously injured and, therefore, the death count may continue to rise, Welt reports.

    Senior public prosecutor Horst Walter Nopens said that the suspect acted alone and said of his motive: “According to the current situation, the background could have been dissatisfaction with the treatment of Saudi Arabian refugees in Germany.”

    The original story continues as follows…

    “Taleb A.” has been identified in the German press as the main suspect in the attack, in which a rented car was plowed into a crowd gathered for a Christmas market, leaving multiple dead and over 200 injured.

    According to reports, the Saudi Arabian man arrived in Germany in 2006 after allegedly fleeing his homeland for fear of persecution for being an atheist. He was granted asylum in Germany in 2016 and had been living in the town of Bernburg — near Magdeburg — where he worked as a psychiatrist.

    After moving to Germany, the suspect reportedly established a service to assist other asylum seekers move to Germany. For this work, he was profiled in “several media outlets from FAZ (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung) to BBC to promote his mission for human rights in Saudi Arabia,” Welt reports.

    The BBC noted in 2019 that he focussed on helping ex-Muslims flee from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf region, with a particular focus on women.

    In an interview with FAZ during the same year, Taleb proclaimed that he was “the most aggressive critic of Islam in history,” claiming that he was ostracized from the Muslim community in Germany over his atheism. In the article he also detailed his move to become a pro-asylum seeker activist in Germany.

    An editor’s note attached to the article following him being identified as the suspected Magdeburg attacker, FAZ wrote: “This interview with Taleb Al A. was published in June 2019. Entries of the alleged assassin in the social media indicate that he has also been increasingly quarreling with Germany and its migration policy over the five and a half years since then. There are also signs of persecution delusions. Nothing of this was felt in 2019. Here is the unchanged wording of the conversation.”

    Since then, Taleb A became increasingly critical of the German government and its migration agenda, accusing Berlin of promoting the “Islamization” of Europe. He appears to have been particularly angered over the acceptance rate of “Syrian jihadists” compared to ex-Muslims from Saudi Arabia.

    While much media attention in the wake of the attack has focussed on statements Taleb made in support of the populist right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party over its critiques of Islamic immigration, he apparently considered himself to be a leftist.

    “Taleb A. said in the interview that he was not a right-winger and described himself as a leftist,” Der Spiegel reports.

    The German news magazine also reports that Berlin security agencies received three warnings from Saudi Arabia about the suspect. They were also warned following a 2023 post vowing “revenge” against Germany for supposed persecution of Saudi Arabian refugees and that the country would pay a “price”. However, officials allegedly dismissed the statements and reportedly did not consider him to be a threat as a potential extremist.

    In another post in 2024 reported by Welt, he is claimed to have said: “I assure you: If Germany wants war, we will have it. If Germany wants to kill us, we will slaughter them, die or proudly go to prison. Because we have exhausted all peaceful means, we have only encountered more crimes from the police, the state security service, the public prosecutor’s office, the judiciary and the Ministry of the Interior. Peace is of no use to them.”

    There are increasing suggestions that the suspect may have suffered from some form of mental illness, with German media describing his posts online as having been “confused”.

    According to the BILD newspaper, a saliva drug test taken after the attack indicated that the suspect may have been intoxicated at the time of the attack. While it is currently unclear what drug he may have been on, the paper notes that the test scans for seven different drugs, including amphetamines, benzodiazepines, cannabis, cocaine, opiates, cocaine, and methamphetamines (MDMA, ecstasy).

    At the time of this reporting, five people have died as a result of the attack and over 200 were left injured, many of whom seriously.

    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2024/12/21/christmas-market-attack-suspect-was-a-saudi-arabian-leftist-asylum-activist-promoted-by-bbc-reports/

    1. Fear of persecution for being an atheist? More like a sleeper practising taqiyya awaiting the call to jihad.

      1. I'm told that Taqqiya doesn't translate into German.

        It's about time that they tried to understand it.

        1. There are drips on X saying but why would he lie for that long? Because it kept him alive, dimwits. The alternative was to be sent home to Saudi Arabia and sing, “Fame! I’m Gonna Live ‘Til Friday”! He was careful not to meaningfully interact with real apostates.

    2. But the Left believes every word the MSM says, climate change is real, jabs are good for you, farmers are all super rich, we would be better off in the EU, mass immigration is a force for good and the German Doctor was right wing.

    3. " interview with Taleb Al A"
      Dr Taleb al Abdulmohsen. Weird that journalists cannot remember his name.
      A brief interview with Dr Taleb was recorded by the BBC in 2019.
      The man was actually filmed wearing a hat indoors, extraordinary behaviour.

    4. Another story where warnings were ignored. You would have thought that if Saudi Arabia raised the alarm about a Saudi citizen, the Germans would have taken the threat seriously.

    1. Like the old joke about the man who fell in the huge vat of wine.
      He got out three times for a pee before he drowned.

    1. I use to try that one on our lovely black Lab. But she knew what I was upto. She wouldn't let me get away with any of that.

  48. We had a wonderful lunch at Luton Hoo today.
    It was much quieter than it usual is, I guess people popping orff somewhere for Christmas.
    The food was excellent and the service was outstanding. Paid for by some old friends for our 50th wedding aniversery gift.
    They are coming to us on Christmas day.
    Out again later for a winter celebration at a village church. I don't think I will need anything to eat until breakfast tomorrow morning.

  49. Champagne and canapes to begin. We only got through two bottles of red for six people.

    It was lunch time !

    1. Well………..i did get the decanter of Port out too. One has to if serving Stilton. It's the law.

  50. But not surprised.
    I wonder if AI was involved with the old interview they used to try and suggest he wasn't involved in what the rest of the world suspect.

  51. And Colston Bassett is the Rolls Royce of Stiltons — just as Graham's is the Stradivarius of ports.

    And I have both! 👍🏻 I have no wish to break the law!

  52. Then why is Islam in Singapore and malyasia so very different to that in Iran? And why was Turkey pretty much secual from Attaturk in 1920 up to Erdogan?

    1. Re Turkey I believe it is because a strong man kept islam in check; once encouraged it shows its true colours. Probably the same applies to Singapore. You can't get away from the fact that islam means "submission" and it intends to do what it says on the tin. It may start off pretending to be moderate, but when numbers reach critical mass – wham!

      1. But that’s my very point. The lid can be kept on its fanaticism by correct government. And that is what we lack here and now.

        1. The trouble is they have reached tipping point and are too entrenched in our institutions. Strong government won’t be enough.

  53. A bientot, mes amis. About to don my Arctic gear in order to survive the carol service. I was sitting in such a draught this morning that the four candles in the Advent wreath nearly got blown out.

    1. My guests for this sort of thing are generally neighbours. I like it when they wax lyrical about previous dishes i have made while eating the new one.

      Apparently i am famous around here for my deconstructed crumble !

  54. So the powers that be are saying that the Saudi Doctor was far right.
    I think I will ask for a second opinion

    1. Try today's substack post by Matt Goodwin for more information on the Magdeburg atrocity:
      https://www.mattgoodwin.org/p/what-i-think-about-the-latest-atrocity
      As I'm a subscriber I can't tell if it's paywalled. If it is, perhaps consider subscribing.

      The article starts as follows:

      Don’t trust the legacy media. Because they lie.

      Few things make that clearer than the latest terror attack which took place in Magdeburg, the state capital of Saxony-Anhalt in Germany.

      In the latest atrocity to take place in Europe, a Saudi national, a 50-year old doctor, drove his car into crowds at a Christmas market.

      He killed five people. One of them was a nine-year old child.

      Perhaps 200 people were injured.

      The footage, which can be found easily enough on social media, is truly horrific.

      The market was crowded, full of people eagerly anticipating Christmas. They had no time to respond or get out of the way before the car hit.

      Unsurprisingly, a lot of people assumed it had to be an Islamist.

      The truth is stranger.

      Taleb Al Abdulmohsen was a prolific tweeter. It turns out that he is a Saudi atheist, an asylum seeker, and an advocate for refugees.

  55. Just passing through. Carol Service well attended. About 60 people. And one miniature horse identifying as a donkey at the crib. I read the first lesson and was told by several present that I was the only one that could actually be heard. Quite why people offer t rad a lesson and then speak so quietly – mumble, even – is beyond me.

    As we arrived – a very agreeable red sky. We were very lucky – the moment the Service started it rained hard for an hour – then stopped. So no one was deterred from turning out.

    I am off to pour a drink (or two). I am not stingy like young Phil….!!

    1. Wait until Trump speaks about Mandelson rather than leaving it to a subordinate. Has Mandelson done anything to make him acceptable to the US government?

      1. Hasn't Mandelson got a criminal record? I thought you weren't allowed into the States if you did.

    2. Peter Mandelson 'took on the Establishment' ?? FFS He is the bloody Establishment, totally and utterly corrupt on so many levels……

  56. But if you are looking down from the UK, Saudi Arabia is far lefterer. That would also leave Trumps to the right which is correct.

    Damn it's sometimes hard to misspell a word when the spelling checker gets in the way.

  57. Take a look at this link. Ghastly two-faced woman.

    : ‘Two-faced’ Yvette Cooper confronted in mince pie row

    The Home Secretary was urged to hand out blankets to pensioners who are ‘freezing to death’ after Labour scrapped their winter fuel payments
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/04d7db3d9257debcd1f272c36a8c916a63a760fbd8d9779d0b3fad87482b8f3e.png
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/12/22/yvette-cooper-confronted-angry-voter-two-faced-mince-pies/

      1. Hello. My name is Yvette. Would you poor persons like a beige mince pie?
        No ? But i am doing this for a photo opportunity. I could be at home snorting coke rather than mixing with you smelly awful people.

        More and more Labour MP's will require safe spaces, counseling and protection officers.

        I hope their sleep is disturbed with nightmares and they piss their beds,

    1. It's a regular event. But when responding to Bill teasing me about Jamie Oliver i answer his sarky posts in a serious and mature way. Makes him look the idiot that he so desperately pretends not to be. :@)

      1. A wheni story here so forgive me.

        In the late seventies when Moh and I were in Nigeria, a married accompanied post .. All meat was local .. expensive and the cuts of beef were debateable .

        I bought a large length of fillet of beef , like pork fillet.. I was warned it would be rather tough and was advised to marinade it .. which I did .. in red wine and some herbs and crushed garlic .. Marinaded it for 3 days !! It was almost red and the marinade smelt nice .

        Don't forget the heat in Nigeria was hot humid and sometimes stifling . Electric power cuts were frequent , and we cooked with calor gas ..

        I patted the meat dry , and made the pastry .. shortcrust , with difficulty , sifting the flour weevils out and other crawlies , and used stork marge .. the only fat apart from oils to make the pastry .. then covered the meat with 2 jarfuls of French pate then some crushed black olives and then the pastry .. The meat was so tender ..

        The result was delicious according to the guests , but it was very rich , I used the marinade to make a gravy . We had mash and French beans , and a baked Alaska type of Bomb for pud .. I made !

        My goodness .. it was hard work , and I haven't attempted to make it since

        1. An Alaska type Bombe…in Nigeria. Yep. You are round the bend.

          How much alcohol was served !!!

    1. TV producers thought the cheeky chappy was good telly. And it was. Though i avoided most of it.

      He has become very rich on it. His two best friends are the worst chefs i can think of. Contaldo who can't even fillet a fish and Carluccio who thinks his staff should work for nothing.

      Oliver also sacked several hundred people by text and bailed on his suppliers.

    2. The scumbag let his Italian chain go bust leaving many small suppliers completely buggered
      I read he has paid himself 7 million in dividends this year the man's a fraud and a swine

  58. Well today we had an interesting tea.

    Not because the lass was entertaining us. No, she went back to Southampton yesterday “to play tennis” and hasn’t managed to make it back. Not that I mind – but she did originally say she would come up on Friday and stay through till New Year, and so catering arrangements have been made accordingly.

    It was the lad who was entertaining. He cracked open one of the beers he bought with his £20 credit from Co-Op (the irony of my “mummy, daddy, would you like a beer?” went whooshing over his head like the proverbial airplane). Well, maybe “entertaining” isn’t the word. Perhaps “informative”.

    I know a number of his school peers have been in trouble with the law (and more than that: jailed, for assault, drugs and drugs respectively). It turns out they were all let out as part of the post-Southport amnesty, to make way for the likes of poor Peter Lynch.

    I feel sorry a little bit for some of them. The guy who was jailed for assaulting his girlfriend had been brought up by his single grandmother, after his father murdered his mother. At 18, this ”assaulter” came into a lot of money (£2m), his inheritance from his mother.

    The one drug-dealer’s father hanged himself just after “drug-dealer” had done his A-Levels, as he was out celebrating the end of his exams with his friends. It’s easy to see how you can go off the rails with back-stories like this (but I will point out the other friends who also had difficult childhoods but who haven’t got into trouble).*

    Then there are the friends (?) who haven’t been jailed but nevertheless have ended up in the wrong company and going down the wrong path. There are easily four or five of them. Usually triggered when the kids change school. I can understand it – the need to fit in, the “bad boys” taking you under their wing. But, what a worry.

    *edit. Like friend “A”, whose father is in prison for trying to murder his mother and him. I will point out the mother and father of “A” are Kenyan.

    1. Sorry to read this, more info rq'd. General breakdown of society (in parts) seems on the cards, perhaps tracing back to the free for all lockdowns when more or less anything went provided it was under the radar. We need a strong man/woman to life us up as a society….I don't see one, yet. Good luck to you and yours, hope they stay out of trouble.

    1. I like Bridgen very much, for his stance on Post Office and also on Covid vaccine. Hope he stays on the fringe, so he can still be heard whilst powers that be think he's just a conspiracy theorist.

    2. I'm not so sure that Blair repealed the treason laws, wasn't it just the death penalty that he abolished? Of course, this would dilute and reduce the enormity of the crime across society. What would they get today? A slap on the wrist? That is if the judiciary were not already bought and paid for.

      1. Yes, a decision by the then Law Lords held that the crime of treason could not constitutionally be repealed – effectively to do so would itself be treason…

  59. We hear so much about scrapping winter fuel payments. I reckon that returning them would be much less effective than a 10% reduction in the unit price of gas or electricity….

    PS I spent my winter fuel payment on vodka (but please don't tell the goverment).

    1. I do hope it was the Russian epicure Beluga. No point in drinking Vodka unless it is expensive.

      1. In the book "The Want Makers" published in the 1980s Smirnoff Vodka was given as an example of the power of branding and its ability to charge £1 a bottle more than its rivals for a colourless, tasteless liquid…..

        1. The cheaper the Vodka the bigger the hangover.

          The best Vodka is served in small glasses in ice rooms. Canapes of the most pungent caviar.

          Make sure you are wearing a fur coat.

          1. I would say no to knickers.

            Joan Collins didn't feel the need in the lift when she was acting (?) to Oliver Tobias.

            Still….I expect it was warmer there. Hot even.

      2. Actually, Phizzee, my memory failed me …. I now distinctly remember that I spent it on Gift Cards (Sainsbury’s and British Garden Centres).

  60. Imam on GBN a few minutes ago. “Sharia court necessary to protect woman [sic] rights”. I suppose giving these creatures airtime exposes them as well as appeasing Ofcom.

    1. Sharia courts are necessary to protect the rights of muslim women. If those women were to remove their veils they would be raped and killed by other muslims. Sounds perfectly sensible to me. Just not in this country.

      1. Didn't they the same in Afghanistan about protecting women as they forced them to give up living.
        Iran isn't much different.

    2. Ahh I missed that as daughter finally arrived back after her “tennis match” yesterday. But I would have liked to see how Josh Howie handled it.

  61. A couple had their Christmas post suspended by Royal Mail following claims that a postman was bitten by one of their cats.

    Alastair and Lucy Humphreys received a letter last Thursday saying that the “exceptional step” was being taken “to safeguard the health and safety” of staff.

    Delivery driver Mr Humphreys, 33, at first thought the letter was a joke, but when he checked with the local Royal Mail office he found out it was genuine.

    He was told his post would only be delivered again once he fitted a cage or a bag around the inside of his letterbox, or got an exterior box installed, to prevent future attacks.

    In the meantime, he was told that he must pick up his post from his local delivery office near his home in Great Cornard, near Sudbury, Suffolk.

    ‘The whole thing is mad’
    The couple own two large Maine Coon cats – three-year-old Peanut and 18-month-old Garfield – but they do not know which one was responsible for the alleged attack.

    Mr Humphreys said: “They are a docile breed which are slightly bigger than normal cats with long fluffy hair, and I have never known them to bite or scratch anyone.

    “We get plenty of leaflets and all sorts of junk mail coming through, and they sometimes run over to investigate when they hear something being pushed through the letterbox because they are nosy.

    “I couldn’t believe it when we got this letter out of the blue. I thought it was a wind up at first, so I phoned the number, and I was told it was real.

    “I think the whole thing is mad. It seems like a knee-jerk reaction. It is not as if I have got some kind of massive XL Bully dog which could seriously injure someone.

    “They said that it was a generic letter which could be sent to any house, regardless of whether it was a dog or cat involved. When I asked for proof of the injury, they could not provide it.

    “They just said that I needed to fit a bag or a cage around the letterbox, or have an outside one, so it looks like we might have to get that done.

    “I just think that whatever happened was probably very minor and it would have been far better to have sorted out by having a chat with us. But they are making it out to be really serious.”

    Royal Mail say the incident was ‘serious’
    Mr Humphreys said he was unable to get any further details about how the postman was allegedly bitten, but believes it must have happened when post was being pushed through his letterbox because his cats do not go outside unless under supervision.

    He added: “I asked the Royal Mail how they were able to deliver the letter, saying my deliveries were stopping, if our address was so dangerous. They said it was done very carefully.”

    Mr Humphreys said his long working hours in the run up to Christmas meant he would have no time to pick up his post, including Christmas cards, until after the festive break. His wife is unable to pick up letters as she is recovering from an injury.

    The letter which was addressed to the occupant of the couple’s three-bed terraced house stated that a member of staff had been bitten and injured last Wednesday.

    It added: “Due to the seriousness of the incident, I’m sorry to advise that deliveries to your address will be suspended.

    “I hope you understand that this exceptional step has been take to safeguard the health and safety of my staff.”

    A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “Deliveries to an address in Maldon Court have been suspended due to the postman being bitten by a cat while delivering to the property.

    “The team at Sudbury Delivery Office will work with the customer to try and resolve the issue. Deliveries will not resume until we are sure our colleague will be safe whilst carrying out their work.

    “We have offered the customer an alternative arrangement for collection of their post should they be unable to get to the Delivery Office during opening hours.” https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/12/22/cat-bites-postman-royal-mail-refuses-deliver-christmas-post/

  62. Well, I was thinking, "Not a lot done today", but then I added up what I had done.
    Loaded large load of washing into machine and set it away before I made my 1st mug of tea.
    When washing finished, got it hung up on the airer.
    Made a beef stew & herby dumplings.
    Got a load of washing up done.
    Then did an hour up the "garden" before the DT told me the potatoes, to go with the stew, were ready.
    So I actually think I did a reasonable amount!!

    Still windy as hell up here and occasional heavy showers interspersed with glorious sunshine!

    And as I head to bed, here's a memory of a very interesting broadcaster:-
    https://youtu.be/xI6u_nWZwAg?si=mXGBJz3UIcLvWwOs

  63. Bonsoir, mes amis! Me voici de retour. The gale was even worse this evening (but I was wearing three extra layers); it nearly blew my candle out.

  64. That's for the likes of us.

    there are certainly a lot of Canadians who cannot go down to the US because of minor convictions

    1. Christmas carols are already edited; "man" seems to have been edited out. I was amazed "the sons of men" was still left in.

    1. No, someone was asking about him yesterday and remarked that Tom hadn't wished Elsie a happy birthday, which wasn't like him.

      1. That's true, Conners. I had so very many kind birthday wishes that I lost track of who had and hadn't wished me well.

    2. This is worrying. Perhaps Richard (MiB) can try and phone him?

      I have my own issues at present. I had another retinal bleed in the "good eye" a couple of weeks ago. Ironically, I had a folllow-up appointment on 11th December. Unfortunately, that coincided with the funeral of one of my former choristers. Fiona Lorimer* was a stalwart member of the choir, while it lasted. I cancelled an eye clinic appointment on that day, and was offered 9:00 am on Christmas Eve. Fair enough: it's not as if I have any other commitments on the 24th….

      I'm now booked in for laser surgery on the 27th. Fingers crossed.

      *Fiona's son has 'done good'. Search "Sir John Lorimer" if you're interested.

      1. Morning Geoff. Hope all goes well with the clinic appointment and the laser treatment. Can I also take this opportunity to wish you a Merry Christmas and thank you for providing an Oasis of Sanity in an unbelievably crackers World!

      2. Good luck. I also have had similar issues and am now on a list to have a cataract removed when I return to Spain.

      3. Lieutenant General Sir John Gordon Lorimer, KCB, DSO, MBE! Currently Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man.

        Hope you eye problems get sorted out, Geoff.
        I had my retinopathy checkup done last month and I'm still clear.

      4. Hope you get it sorted quickly and successfully.
        I have a cardiologist appointment today following a heart MRI.

      5. I hope all will go well with the eye surgery tomorrow Geoff! You can’t do without eyes. Mine aren’t the best but I’d certainly be lost without them. Literally.

        I hope Richard can get through to Tom. He’s very depressed and on the verge of giving up on life I think.

      6. Tom was last seen in a brief reply to KJ last Wednesday. Definitely worrying. I hope he’s in hospital rather on his floor alone.

    1. Goodnight Conners – and Kadi. (Why, I hear you ask, are you posting this at turned 3 am? The answer is that I popped up to bed for a short "zizz" at 9 pm and have just awoken.)

    1. We've all been persuaded that what you eat is far more important than what goes directly into your bloodstream, which is crazy when you think about it.

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