Sunday 23 February: Tory-supporting constituencies won’t be happy to see HS2 completed

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2020/02/23/letterstory-supporting-constituencies-wont-happy-see-hs2-completed/

726 thoughts on “Sunday 23 February: Tory-supporting constituencies won’t be happy to see HS2 completed”

  1. Good morning Geoff

    Wow, an empty page

    I am awake because I heard son and husband yell excitedly downstairs … They were watching the Tyson Fury match .

    Storm raging outside , the wind is ferocious .. dogs dashed outside … their ears whiffling in the wind , back inside now.. Cup of tea for me then perhaps back to bed.

    What on earth is happening to this weather .. Poor country is being battered to bits

        1. Out of those two options, What. Definitely not kinky. ‘Portland Bill to Lyme Regis’ sounded severe.

        1. Morning, Jenny.

          My favourite since childhood. I recite the pertinent verse at the beginning of every month.

  2. How the ultra-left silent revolution took over Britain. Peter Hitchens. 23 February 2020.

    Are you beginning to work out what has happened? Police do nothing while self-righteous ninnies dig up an ancient lawn in a beautiful city.

    The same police force close the roads in the name of ‘human rights’, to suit the same arrogant, dogmatic protesters.

    Not enough? Think this is just an isolated incident? No.

    Will you please wake up to the fact that this country has undergone a silent but deadly revolution, and the takeover of the country by people who despise you and your morals is almost complete.

    Morning everyone. Well we don’t have to wake up on Nottl Peter, we already know, though it is nice to read about it in the papers. There’s you and Rod Liddle and Douglas Murray so we are not completely alone. Of course if any of you slip up you will quietly disappear from the scene as well and I suppose this blog will eventually come to an end. There’s nothing to be done except to keep buggering on, eventually this deeply corrupt system will collapse from its own internal contradictions or be destroyed by extraneous forces, either way the UK that you and we were born into will have long since ceased to be.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-8032787/PETER-HITCHENS-ultra-left-silent-revolution-took-Britain.html

    2. Also Dan Hannan.

      “The police’s inaction over Extinction Rebellion is criminally disturbing

      Tweet something unwoke and you’ll have your collar felt. Deliberately and determinedly deface a Cambridge college, on the other hand, and the police will stand by and watch. Not only that, they will use emergency powers to divert traffic, giving you a clearer run at your target.

      Coppers are human beings, sensitive, like everyone else, to political currents. In the present climate, any infraction of the norms associated with identity politics is considered a heinous offence. Environmentalism, by contrast, is seen as A Good Thing, so we tend to smile indulgently when the more fanatical eco-activists overstep the mark.

      When I say “we”, I don’t mean the general population: most people take the sensible view that damaging property is a more serious matter than expressing an opinion. I am referring, rather, to what Antonio Gramsci called the “cultural hegemony”, the dominant ideology as upheld by public intellectuals, broadcasters, politicians, commentators and, these days, actors. It is to their mood, not that of the country at large, that ambitious chief constables defer.

      Hence the readiness to see Extinction Rebellion, whose vandalism in Cambridge is just the latest in a series of destructive protests, as well-meaning. Yes, they may go too far, we are supposed to think, and yes, they may technically break the law, but at least their hearts are in the right place.

      In fact, Extinction Rebellion is a profoundly illiberal, anti-democratic and misanthropic movement. It displays a disregard for the scientific consensus that would shame even the most extreme climate change sceptic. Its claims are not exaggerations, but inventions. It tells us that “billions will die” of climate change, when not a single scientific body thinks that. It says climate change is causing mass population movements, when the chief causes of migration are economic ambition and political violence.

      It says sea-level rises are “unmanageable”, when the IPCC estimate is that they might rise 2ft by 2100 – a problem for some countries, but hardly an unmanageable one. It says “millions are already dying” because of climate-related disasters. Really? In 2019, 11,000 people died from natural disasters. To put that in context, the equivalent figure in 1931, when global population was a quarter of what it is today, was 3.7 million.

      We are not dealing with an ecologist movement here, but with something more like a medieval religious cult. The protesters dress in red cowls, smear themselves with blood and shout at every passer-by that the end is nigh, that Judgment Day is coming. These are not people with a reasonable point of view who happen to be expressing it too exuberantly. They are more comparable to, say, the Seekers, the Fifties American sect who believed the world was going to be drowned in a new flood, and that a righteous few would be rescued by a flying saucer.

      Such cults should be tolerated, but not humoured. They are free to disseminate whatever crazy ideas they like. But when they act outside the law – gluing themselves to buildings and vehicles, blockading streets, causing criminal damage – they should be treated the same as any other group of yobs who decide to smash things up.

      It is worth remembering that Police and Crime Commissioners are there precisely to ensure that the police don’t stray too far from public opinion. The PCC for Cambridgeshire resigned recently after a criminal probe, and his place was filled by his deputy, a Tory councillor called Ray Bisby. Mr Bisby has so far backed his local constabulary, claiming that it was an operational decision, while also saying he understands why there is public anger.​ The public, I suspect, will take a different view. They will understand that allowing, even facilitating, vandalism sends out the worst possible message to potential lawbreakers. If PCCs won’t step in in cases like these, what the blithering flip are they for?”

      1. What is the PCC for? To endorse and promote the police.

        What’s the Police for? The enforcement and promotion of state control and ideology. It long stopped being about law and justice.

      2. some comments:-

        Robert Spowart 23 Feb 2020 9:18AM
        Am I the only one disturbed by the Police’s inaction on these protests when compared to the way they went in mob handed to clear a pub of Luton football supporters a while back, despite protests from the landlord that the fans were not causing any problems?
        Perhaps it is time for the Common Purpose elephant in the room to be evicted.

        Fred Bloggs 23 Feb 2020 8:44AM
        It needs to be clearly understood that every serving member of any police force, has been educated to understand that to express any form of dissent, is highly likely to result in professional victimisation, up to and including loss of livelihood. They need not expect any form of defence from their union or professional body, against such accusations.

        The implications of such a dismissal regarding future employment prospects, need hardly be described.

        Senior police officials, appointed for political reasons, devote their time to ideological activism under the guise of “human rights”, exceeding their authority by campaigning for further legislation and compiling databases of citizens who have committed no actual offence.

        Police and Crime Commissioners, appointed through a political process and with no actual contacts or powerbases within the Constabulary, are impotent at best and dangerous activists at worst.

        Flag11UnlikeReply
        A Benson 23 Feb 2020 9:17AM
        @Fred Bloggs Purge of PC correct (sorry) senior officers and PCCs appears to be badly needed.

        Flag3UnlikeReply

        Robert Spowart 23 Feb 2020 9:20AM
        @A Benson @Fred Bloggs Essentially any Police Officer that has received any form of training by Common Purpose or it’s associated companies should be relieved of their duties.

        1. In response to an email from myself, the Justice Minister in Scotland replied to the effect that he had no control over Police Scotland.

    3. Good morning Minty

      I quote from your comment:

      “…… there’s nothing to be done except to keep buggering on, ” I suppose I was at prep school when somebody explained what buggering is. We all thought it was so disgusting that we never developed the remotest desire to become homosexual.

      1. The cure is to share big bath with a rugby team that has just finished a rough game on a muddy pitch (such as Old Rutabagians 3rd XV (social)). If that does not put you off men, nothing will.

    2. Good morning all.
      We had heavy rain when I woke to pump bilges at 3, but it appears to have passed over laving a cold and dank morning.

  4. ‘Morning All
    Bleaugh,nothing stands out in the news,weather looks miserable,back to bed until you lot have have bought the world up to date

  5. Morning

    SIR – Lord Randall, Boris Johnson’s predecessor as MP for Uxbridge, speaks for many in his disappointment that HS2 has not been cancelled (Comment, February 16).

    HS2 is causing misery to those affected, made worse by the arrogance and incompetence of its promoters and planners. Now a Conservative Government with a large majority is to spend £100 billion connecting up five Labour-controlled cities, slashing through dozens of Tory constituencies in the process. Much-loved landscapes will be ruined and these communities will not even be served by the line.

    Alternatives to HS2 that would have cost much less and delivered far greater benefits have been ignored. Boris Johnson’s review of the project turned out to be a sham. This seems a poor way to treat those who put their hope in Mr Johnson to ditch what Labour had started.

    Mark Sullivan

    Chairman, Campaign to Protect Rural England (West Midlands)

    Warwick

    1. The old Great Central line is largely intact and that line was built to a very high standard. Reopening that line would have been far more sensible and cheaper and quicker to build. Unfortunately shortsightedly this line like most was not protected so some of it has been built over but these section could be put in tunnels

  7. SIR – In view of the recurrent flooding suffered by many householders, it is time that building on floodplains was subject to more suitable building techniques – such as making the ground floor a waterproof utility area.

    Electrics should be high up on walls and waterproof building materials used where water is likely to reach. Living and sleeping accommodation should be on the first and second floors to lessen flood damage.

    In existing flood-prone houses, the ground floor could be converted where possible into a waterproof utility area as above and domestic living areas relocated to the first floor. Bedrooms could be put into a converted loft. At least then if flooding recurs residents would not lose everything.

    Carole Montgomery

    Heswall, Wirral

    1. That though is just a fudge. Those houses may not flood but they will contributes to flooding in the area. The problem has been building up for decades with over development in areas subject to flooding. The other problem is the so called flood defenses which just involves building up the river banks which just shift the problem elsewhere

      Another problem is draining particularly in low lying area. When new homes are built they are just connected up to the existing drainage network and most of these networks are now overloaded and cannot cope with heavy rain

      With the current levels of building things unfortunately can only get worse which is probably why the politician are keen on Climate change as it deflects the blame from them

  8. Morning again

    SIR – Your dispatch from India (“Christians in firing line of Indian leader’s Hindu zeal”, February 16) graphically illustrates the depths to which the country has sunk under Narendra Modi.

    Why are we continuing to send foreign aid to a regime that clearly thinks nothing of our democratic and tolerant values?

    Roy Ellis

    Pontesford, Shropshire

    SIR – An easy calculation shows that our predicted foreign aid expenditure for this year equates to £231 from every single person in the country.

    For this amount of money one would expect to see great progress within the recipient countries. We need a ruthless examination of where and how it is spent.

    Allan Crossley

    Stafford

    1. We need a ruthless examination of where and how it is spent.

      We need to stop spending it all. It is a scam! It is embezzlement!

    2. Foreign aid is a nice thing. It almost certainly lubricates the wheels of trade under the counter.

      However, when we’re borrowing that money to give it away we are, bring blunt, stupid.

    3. It needs stopping altogether!!! We need a fund to help crisis hit areas after national disasters only…tsunami damage for example. We are not a charity. The name is ‘Foreign Aid’ and should be renamed and given to anyone suffering from national disasters or disease…including this country. That money could be helping many here who have been flooded out of their homes. It should ONLY be for crisis hit areas in the world.

    1. My favourite bit, from the end of the article:
      ” Ireland will contribute much more to the EU budget but will actually receive less back in terms of payments to Irish farmers and also funds for regional development and social development.”

      To which there are only two rational responses:

      Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.
      and
      We’re going to need a smaller violin.”

      1. The EU are going to have to make big cuts to their budget and that’s not going down well in fact it has gone down so badly that they have not managed to agree a budget yet. France will face big cuts and that will not go down with them well. To date they have been big beneficiaries of the EU . Brexit will of course compound the EU’s problems

          1. You mean you have no sympathy for the Irish and French farmers who will no longer be o the receiving end of big subsidies

            Of course it does not help that we are leaving and we are one of the largest contributors to the EU but got the least back. The other problem is all those Eastern European countries that joined the EU non are net contributors. With us out of the EU only about 3 countries are significant contributors . There will be a lot of fun and games with them this year trying to agree a budget not helped by the French and German economies not doing well

          2. I suppose the French and Irish farmers could produce and sell what their customers need.
            Possibly France is the greater problem; their allotments are hardly big enough to park the taxpayer funded John Deere behemoth.

          3. Our survey says: Eh Urr!

            Making and selling what the customer wants is a market, and the EU does NOT like markets. It far and away prefers to ensure that an exact amount of production if planned and only that amount available for a fixed price – plus taxes, EU overheads, bureaucracy, waste, subsidy. Product £1, Eu waste £800.

          4. But… but remainers kept telling us how much we got out of the EU! How it would thrive without us?

    2. Hands up any NOTTLer who didn’t predict this one.
      (It’s all right, we’ll snigger afterwards to save you any embarrassment.)

      1. Not only predict Anne but looking forward to it…..what a mighty hole this small island was filling whilst we have so many problems this ‘hole money’ could have been helping.

  12. Winston Churchill victory speech to be broadcast in public places to mark 75th anniversary of VE Day. Indy 22 February 2020.

    At 3pm, an extract from Churchill’s speech announcing the end of war will be played across the UK, while veterans will attend a service of thanksgiving held at Westminster Abbey.

    The traditional May Day bank holiday has already been shifted to 8 May to mark the historic moment, which commemorates the anniversary of the Allies accepting the surrender of Nazi Germany.

    Pubs will also stay open an extra two hours for the commemoration, allowing landlords to remain open until 1am on 8 and 9 May.

    I don’t actually know how I feel about this. I would point out that it is not costing Boris or the Government anything and they actually despise the things these people believed and stood for. It will probably be a little like the Queens Speech! Please yourself!

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/winston-churchill-ve-day-7th-anniversary-victory-speech-broadcast-locations-a9352606.html

    1. Boris & Co will rake in extra dosh from the drinks being sold during the 2-hour extension.

  13. Veteran who was being investigated over his actions in Northern Ireland takes his own life. 23 February 2020.

    The veteran, named by friends as Eddie ‘Spud’ Murphy, was found dead by his wife last Thursday following an investigation into his service during the Troubles.

    Friends fear the pressure he felt at being investigated over historic allegations may have contributed to the tragedy.

    The Government has promised to protect veterans from prosecution, but there has been concern over the length of time being taken to introduce any measures to safeguard them.

    How many times must I read this twaddle? It is a bare faced lie! They have no intention of protecting those who risked their lives to protect the rest of us!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/02/22/veteran-investigated-actions-northern-ireland-takes-life/

    2. Reading your earlier comment re VE Day celebrations brought the ongoing persecution of our military to mind; then Andrew Castle (LBC) interviews Patrick Mercer, who served in NI, about this latest tragedy.
      What better occasion could there be than VE Memorial Day for Johnson to announce the persecution will be at an end, once and for all. The PM could also throw in some real help for military veterans who are suffering all manner of problems, including homelessness. Then, sadly, I woke up.

      1. Morning Korky. Yes it’s just lip service! Of course if the lid were to blow off it would be “Tommy this and Tommy that!”

    3. It was posted on Tw@ter t’other day by a mate of his.
      WTF is our Government doing to the our servicemen, past and present?

    1. The asthma thing puzzles me. I started primary school in South London in the mid-1950s. These were the days when the air quality was still poor, despite the Clean Air Act (I remember walking to school in the fog and feeling my lungs burning). But it wasn’t until I started secondary school that I met someone who had asthma (he also had eczema and other conditions). Yet there seems to have been an explosion of cases in children over the past 20 years or so.

      1. Good morning

        The smell of muck spreading here in the countryside sears the lungs and makes our eyes water , and the introduction of 1,000 milking cow dairies and the resulting smell is also quite nauseous .

        Chemical spraying is also something it seems we have to tolerate ..

        However browsing around a massive furniture shop , with all the false leather/real leather and dipped material sofa’s and curtain fabric is really toxic to the system..

        1. Apparently the mandatory fireproofing of upholstery is causing male infertility and possibly increased chances of prostate cancer.
          Morning, Belle.

    2. This makes sense to me….

      ”Lack’s research shows that ‘early consumption progresses the immune system towards a tolerant response’. His team showed that introducing small amounts of peanut butter to the diet of babies aged between fourand 11 months old reduced peanut allergies by more than 80 per cent, compared to those who avoided them. He fears that delaying introduction of such food ‘is harmful’.

      1. Some years back, I was told that the peanut allergy increase was due to cheap baby oils. That is backed by the comment about skin absorption causing the immune system to view new substances as the enemy.
        Morning, Jenny.

        1. Morning Anne…I have often thought where these allergies spring from and how they are increasing. Lack makes a lot of sense.

    3. The only allergies I was aware of 65 years ago were to strawberries & shellfish & only because my wretched cousin & his even more wretched mother claimed to be allergic to both.
      I discovered my first asthmatic in the first year at Grammar School.

      1. Not a problem I imagine that bothers you, but women (of all sexes) with a fish allergy have to avoid glittery eyeshadow as it incorporates powdered fish scales.

        1. I had a typically frustrated late-40’s patient in Germany who claimed to be allergic to everything: all the local anaesthetics, all the antibiotics, dental alloys, etc., etc., but she always turned up plastered in make-up.

    4. Morning all.
      As a child growing up i don’t remember any one having any allergic reactions to anything.
      We were all too busy playing in the surrounding fields of horses and cows. And making camps and rope swings over ditches in the woods. We walked to school and home again. Drank milk ate school dinners. And the waste was taken away to feed the pigs.
      But the area where most of us grew up, certainly where I did. Is much more built up now with probably too many people living on top of each other. Schools classrooms are more than doubley occupied. All families have at least one car, nobody walks to school etc etc etc.
      Our mother’s used a gas fired boiler to wash the laundry and it went through a hand cranked mangle, then hung it to dry on a line outside, or on a ceiling mounted clothes drier in the kitchen.
      Our parents didn’t have cars but burnt logs and polluting coal and coke to keep warm. We didn’t have central heating and the curtians were often frozen to the inside of the single glazed windows in the winter. Mothers cooked all our own meals. We helped with shopping and house work. And we ate sweets as treat once a week.
      Perhaps we didn’t really have time for allergic reactions or mental health issues.

      1. I remember throwing teenage wobblers, but I was saner than the brightest girl in the class who would have tantrums and chuck herself down onto the floor.
        It was a ‘phrase’ we went through and was treated as such.

      2. Here in Norway, it’s called lørdagsgodt – Saturday sweets. Quite normal that sweeties are bought on Saturdays only.

        1. In the 50s along with my two sisters we were given 6d on Friday to pop into the news agent/sweet shop on the way home from school to pick what we liked. Mars bars and walnut whips quite often featured.

    1. I’ve thoroughly searched the Guardian’s website to find that opinion piece and can find no trace of it. Has anybody read it? Does it even exist? Might it be a confection?

    4. Tongue in cheek racist hate:

      There are times when I think that perhaps Idi Amin might have been on to something.

          2. There has been rising tension between various ethnic communities.

            But on balance, give me the Sikhs and and Hindus rather than the black and Muslim gangs.

    5. My goodness – is this for real! In any other country saying such things would find you locked up and the key thrown away.

      1. Good morning, Jenny

        I cannot believe she would seriously say something like this unless she was trying to be ironic.

        2. Good morning, Rastus.

          But therein lies another conundrum. People like her are permitted to be “ironic” in their “humour”, but no white man or woman may enjoy that same facility.

      1. Morning, Joe.

        Oh yes there are some Pikeys in Sweden (mainly Balkans) but nowhere as near as many as in the UK.

        My “we” means British. I may be a resident wog in Sweden but I’m still a north Englishman [Despite what Bass and Bob say to the contrary] :•)

      1. The wind here was dreadful yesterday – the worst. Everything seems okay thank goodness. We had some roof tiles repointed or whatever they do to them….after some strong winds a couple of years ago and that must have helped.

    2. Why are people called Mike frequently “Mad”? You never hear of “Mad Brian”, or more alliteratively, “Bad Brian” or “Bonkers Brian”.

    3. That’s sad. He sounds an interesting guy, and he was quite good looking too.

      ”The Flat Earth thing is like everything else to me. I just want people to question everything. Question what your congressman is doing, your city council. Question what really happened during the Civil War. What happened during 9/11.”

        1. Yes, but this sounds like a publicity thing linked to other issues, and to make people think.

  19. ”One has to free oneself from the illusion that international climate policy is environmental policy.”

    This gem was stated in November 2010 by Ottmar Edenhoffer, one of the co-chairs of the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), who said in an interview with German NZZ Online……..

    “One must say clearly that we redistribute defacto the world’s wealth by climate policy. One has to free oneself from the illusion that international climate policy is environmental policy.”

    https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/another-climate-alarmist-admits-real-motive-behind-warming-scare/

    Not long before that amazing revelation, multi billionaire investor George Soros, who of course is highly influential at the UN and on the IPCC, unveiled a proposal to provide up to $150billion of cash for poorer countries to receive clean technology……

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8405577.stm

    What a remarkable totally innocent random coincidence !

  20. How Many Members do we need in the Lords or do We even need the Lords and how should they be selected ?

    Remember the Lords have no involvement in Scottish , NI or Welsh legislation

    The role of the Lords as their name implies is to just peer review legislation or rather just English & UK wide legislation

    Interestingly in the Lords Scottish Welsh & NI can vote on English only legislation. It i a part of the mess or partial devolution that we have

    1. The whole edifice is out of control. I dont know what the answer is, but a culling of the numbers and clearing out those who are already nearly dead would do for a start. Perhaps like most households, if you start with a budget and see what you can afford. I’m sure it will never catch on where a tax free appearance fee is doled out to those who appear for a day at their club.

    1. We are doing all we can to bring it back to this country. Hiring jumbo 3 jets so that 500 at a time can get on board, pity only 30 elected to do so this time. Why the extravagant expense of 2 coaches and a police escort, I guess only snivel serpents will know. They knew there were only about 30 of them for at least 24 hrs.

  22. 316577+up ticks,
    Has the political persecutors of NI veteran Spud Murphy
    made any comments on his suicide last Thursday ?
    may one ask.

    1. Eddie Murphy’s suicide doesn’t seem to have gripped the headlines in quite the same way as Caroline Flack’s.

      Odd, that…..

      RIP

      1. 316577+ up ticks,
        Morning DM,
        I purposely omitted RIP on my initial post on the grounds that
        I didn’t want his name linked to the persecutors in any way.
        I do not believe that the hounding of Caroline Flack was via
        governance channels whereas the case of persecuting Spud was.

  25. Who should Fund S4C ?

    It used to be funded by the government but this is being phased out and it will be funded by the TV Licence. My view is it should be funded only by Wales. How they choose to fund it being down to them

    The BBC is opposed to the decision to use the licence fee to provide all of S4C’s public funding.

    In this financial year and 2019-20, S4C will receive approximately £81.3m, of which around £6.8m comes from the UK Government and £74.5m from the licence fee.

    The funding that it will receive after 2022 through the licence fee will be decided as part of the UK Government’s funding settlement negotiations with the BBC and S4C. The Culture Secretary will retain his remit to ensure S4C receives sufficient funding.

    1. Bang Heno am 9.00. Lansiwyd ymchwiliad llofruddiaeth
      pan ddarganfyddwyd corff dyn yn hongian ben ei waered mewn bocs ceffylau
      ar draeth Aberafan.

      1. ‘Morning, Tony, If that’s a crime drama in Welsh then I don’t think it’s going to get a very large audience.

        1. S4C in figures

          314,000 average weekly viewers in Wales (2017/18: 365,000) or about 45.000 a day or about 2,500 an hour

  26. From the Times, not the Guardian –

    ” Iranians put their kidneys on sale as sanctions bite

    Sanctions levied by the US have had the perverse effect of strengthening Tehran’s hardliners as the economy crumbles”

    There is absolutely nothing that Trump can do to protect us from the evil regime getting the bomb, that is not thrown in his face
    by the Western media.

    1. Ah but if it were to happen now it would be Armageddon. WE would have Greta the modern day Oxford Street sandwich board proclaiming its the end of the world

      1. Apparently the EU has decreed that people who own tractors and sit on mowers will have to have insurance. Not sure if the details but would farmers have some kind of insurance for their equipment already?

        1. I think that has actually been law for some years, but at last, now we’re supposedly leaving, someone has noticed.

          2. It was part of the general attempt to move us to Napoleonic Law espoused by Blair and his ‘lady’ wife. ‘You cannot do anything unless we say you can, and you have a permit’. Our Common Law says you can do anything until there is precedent that says you cannot. Innocent until proven guilty and all that…

          3. Our Common Law was far superior to Napoleonic law – until fairly recently when PC and “wokeness” reared their ugly heads. And, of course, it was our own idiotic MPs who passed the hate laws. Idiots.

            Alf and I have often talked about how our legal system is being edged towards Napoleonic laws – witness the closure of many of our Magistrates’ courts – not local justice any more. I could go on but it’s time to be watching the rugby!

    4. We had the “Beast from the East” only two years ago at the end of February, beginning of March. We came back from our holiday to find our bedroom flooded as the froxen pipes had burst and thawed in spite of leaving the heating on. If our neighbour hadn’r been coming in to feed the cat, it would have been a lot worse.

      2. Two years ago I finished my last ever Welsh Valleys shift in Cardiff in the very small hours of St. David’s Day and opted to make use of the extra night I was booked into the hotel for and return home on the 2nd.
        I quite enjoyed myself!

        A colleague in Merthyr Tydfil in the small hours:-
        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/06aecbc123f46e7c65d238665771794acc149b136309e83efe6754f88820d448.jpg

        Looking out of the hotel room window after a couple of hours sleep:-
        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/91bc522e13e39979050a000a5659741f0184eef8454b7a7f4a516938cbd65232.jpg

        Having a wander round Cardiff in the late afternoon:-
        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/978f2eea99bdca97d9da363c49946fa1299eb74d1b93b84053d30d79cea4da3c.jpg

        A bunch of students on a night out:-
        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a0e2342094cb6df9f0cd50071c0fa71787f6a82ae6729044b9277db801559609.jpg

    5. I remember it well. I went to stay with friends in Burrington (near Cheddar Gorge) on a Saturday evening for their son’s 21st birthday party and could not get back to Lyme Regis until Wednesday via Exeter because Crewkerne and Chard were completely blocked. Even so they were still clearing the road on Wednesday afternoon at Sidmouth and so it was a long journey.

      A very good party though.

  29. Does anyone else here enjoy the Vince Flynn ‘Mitch Rapp’ novels? It’s just always so pleasing when the Jihadis get their comeuppance.

      1. I’ve read 6 or 7 of them (out of order) and am always impressed by the ‘Frederick Forsythian’ political and practical detail in them.

        1. If you like political thrillers that are somewhat topical, try Daniel Silva, can be a bit ‘ suspension of belief type’ but well written.

  30. BBC reporting that House of Lords membership is approaching 800 and that Lords are claiming mind boggling expenses. Time these members were thoroughly investigated. Some will have lucrative day jobs and only pop into the HoL to sign in. Over 100 never spoke in the HoL last year. Time to stir things up and stop this possible fraud and significantly reduce their numbers.

      1. As I have argued before:

        200 maximum
        New Appointments only when someone leaves and makes room
        Automatic retirement after 10 years or death (which ever comes first)
        Resignations welcomed

        etc. etc.

        1. …and, as I’ve argued before, only the hereditaries, law lords and bishops.

          Trim the Commons to 300 max.

          Remove the devolved assemblies and the Wee Pretendy Parliament.

          1. Why should the accident of birth, or holding the position of a bishop in the Church of England, qualify one to have a say in formulating the laws of the UK?

          2. Because they have a long-term view of the country (in general), and have a vested interest in making sure it continues.
            I’m not keen on an elected second chamber as it’ll be full of the same spivs and chancers that are there now and in the Commons. Plus: look at the gridlock over in America between the House and Senate when they’re controlled by different political factions.

          4. Thank you for the support Ims2 – just back after the Rugby. I won’t give the result as others may have recorded for watching later.

          5. I would agree, but, consider the main problem with Democracy.
            How many politicians can see further than the next ballot box?

            Pre-Blair’s Constitutional vandalism, the Upper Chamber, for all its anachronisms, actually produced better thought out and formulated amendments to proposed legislation and even produced better primary legislation than many proposals from the Commons.

            Also, with Labour in the wilderness during the ’80s, The Lords were often the only effective opposition to the Tories.

            So yes, I will agree that it is an anachronism, but it’s one saving grace was that it actually worked!

    3. Bin the lot.
      If you must have a second house, take one only rep for 5 years from all of the existing professional institutions.

    4. Over 100 never spoke in the HoL last year.

      Cull them first.

      Anyone who merely signs in to collect their money can go too.

      If it was me, I’d go back to the hereditary peers. They at least have a long-term view of the country, and aren’t there because of political favours.

      1. Makes one wonder why Africa, which has a far longer history of slavery and conquest, hasn’t prospered in a similar manner.

    3. You forgot to mention the white privilege of Europeans to conquer the Americas and almost completely annihilate (or imprison on “reservations) the indigenous populations of those continents (Native American “Indian” tribes; Aztecs, Mayans, Incas, etc …).

      Or the white privilege of Europeans to invade and take over the ancestral homeland of the Australian aboriginals.

      Or the white privilege of Europeans to increase their empire (and total influence) in the Indian sub-continent and south-east Asia.

      Or the white privilege of Europeans to invade and “colonise” the vast African continent for their own enrichment.

      [I’m willing to bet that the naysayers will find plenty of excuses to “justify” those actions. I also bet that I don’t receive a fraction of the upvotes that Rik has enjoyed by those who think white privilege is a “God-given” right.]

      1. Those, seen with modern eyes should not have happened -but did. Can’t change that, but can maybe fix the future by working to ensure all have an equal chance.
        The strong tendency of those who are a bit more powerful to subordinate the weaker is a human trait that isn’t to be admired. Even from the Bible “Blessed are the meek”, restraining this tendency didn’t work.

        1. I recall another saying, Herr Obst. – though not from the Bible, I hasten to add. It’s an historical truism.

          “Those who beat their swords into ploughshares will be doing the ploughing for those who do not”

          :¬)

      2. “I also bet that I don’t receive a fraction of the upvotes that Rik has enjoyed….. “

        I bet you’re right, Grizz.
        ;¬)

      3. I don’t think anyone believes “white privilege” is a God-given right. What we’re really talking about is not “white privilege” but majority privilege in those countries where we are a majority.
        Perhaps those early explorers should have stayed at home, rather than going out to discover the world.
        If white Europeans (mainly the British) hadn’t discovered the existence of Australia, for example, you can bet the Japanese or Chinese would have done so by now, and they weren’t widely known for their kindness and compassion towards those they conquered.
        The only reason that we’re being guilt-tripped by other peoples is that they wished they’d done it first. And because they’re influenced by Marxist ideology and see an opportunity to destroy Western countries.

      4. Take a look around the UK and ‘white privilege’ that might have existed is leaking away fast for many. The poor ancestral British don’t see any ‘privilege’. They’ve been abandoned by their own tribe.

        Islam had been practising successful imperialism for 800 years before white Europeans set out. Bloody, nasty, cruel, ruthless, pitiless. And now it’s here. Our turn next. And yet you lecture us as though you were Owen Jones.

        1. I don’t need telling about all that, and I’m not lecturing anyone. All I’m providing is a history lesson that has been conveniently forgotten; not least by the hysterics who inhabit this forum.

      5. Yes, it’s certainly a pity they were not left to their own devices.

        There would have been far fewer of them as a result.

        Either way, mankind of whatever colour or belief system has a history of attacking, conquering and enslaving/subjugating its neighbours, particularly when they (the attackers) were economically and technologically stronger.

        Now the numbers and economies are changing in the brown/yellow men’s favour I suspect that whites will eventually find themselves in the descent.

        (Edited to cover who was stronger)

    4. WHITE GOLD – The Extraordinary Story of Thomas Pellow and Islam’s One Million White Slaves
      by Giles Milton
      I cannot recomment this book highly enough…

      The true story of white European slaves in eighteenth century Algiers, Tunis, and Morocco

      In the summer of 1716, a Cornish cabin boy named Thomas Pellow and fifty-one of his comrades were captured at sea by the Barbary corsairs. Their captors–Ali Hakem and his network of Islamic slave traders–had declared war on the whole of Christendom. France, Spain, England and Italy had suffered a series of devastating attacks. Thousands of Europeans had been snatched from their homes and taken in chains to the great slave markets of Algiers, Tunis and Salé in Morocco.

      Pellow and his shipmates were bought by the tyrannical sultan of Morocco, Moulay Ismail, who was constructing an imperial palace of such scale and grandeur that it would surpass every other building in the world, a palace built entirely by Christian slave labor.

      Resourceful, resilient, and quick-thinking, Pellow was selected by Moulay Ismail for special treatment, and was one of the fortunate few who survived to tell his tale.

      An extraordinary and shocking story, drawn from unpublished letters and manuscripts written by slaves and by the padres and ambassadors sent to free them, White Gold reveals a disturbing and long forgotten chapter of history.

  32. “Italy cases from 3 to 132 in a few days – Angelo
    Borrelli, Chief of National Civil Protection service in press conference
    right this morning”
    How blessed we are that our cases aren’t increasing at the same rate……………………..

    1. The first known case of the Black Death in England was a seaman who arrived at Weymouth, Dorset, from Gascony in June 1348. By autumn, the plague had reached London, and by summer 1349 it covered the entire country, before dying down by December. Low estimates of mortality in the early twentieth century have been revised upwards due to re-examination of data and new information, and a figure of 40–60 percent of the population is widely accepted. WIKIPEDIA.

      From little acorns mighty oaks doth grow!

    1. I like the translation of the headline beneath it:-

      Hiking trail closed indefinitely due to rock breeding

      1. Small local papers are an endless source of amusement. Back in the late 70s, the Penarth Times has the unforgettable headline “Man found drunk in street”!
        Still gives me a chuckle even now.

  34. “Heavy snow forecast for Leeds on Monday morning – forecast in full as fresh freezing blast weather warning issued”
    It’s freezing cold now, strong winds, and the back garden fence is toppling over.
    I have had enough of this weather; if that’s the best Boris can do, I’ll vote for Jeremy Corbyn.
    Where is eveyone here today ?

        1. It saves going to the pub, buying a beer and seeing a punch up. With Rugby on TV you can watch many punch ups from the comfort of your own armchair. 🙂

          3. I’ll be going to the local to watch it. It’s the only time that the pub’s telly gets an outing from the attic.

    2. Very mild and sunny here – I’ve taken some photos of my pots of daffodils as they will probably all be over when we come back from our trip. They have been out for well over a week now – usually not till early March.

          2. Have a great time N…of course, I know you will. Would love some elephant and lion images…..xxxx

    3. Mild sunny and windy here, just had a walk with the dogs..
      Getting the garden ready for the removal of the telegraph pole on Thursday to be replaced by a new one .. NOT our doing …

      Very upset and annoyed because the ivy up the pole to disguise it, is full of sparrows and starlings and nest boxes .. I also have a climbing rose … Masquerade, 20 years old and a lovely scented honeysuckle … all bang next to a peach tree which is in nearly in bud.

        1. Nope, they won’t listen … We are one of many in the village who are having replacement poles .

          What a mess the garden will become , it is very sodden at present .

          1. That’s a real shame. Sorry to hear it.
            We have no sparrows around here that I’ve seen, other than one or two strays who have been brief visitors to our garden.
            The upside is that we get a lot of other birds, i.e. dunnocks, robins, blue Titus, long-tailed tits, etc. We sometimes get partridges and pheasants visiting. The garden is still relatively new, so we don’t have any nesting birds yet, but I’m hopeful.

    4. Mild and sunny here, but still very windy.
      Have been busy moving clothes and furniture around, putting garden cushions up into the loft. Stuff like that.
      Also have been haunting CW on and off today.

      How’s things??

  35. 316577+up ticks,
    Morning Each,
    Rhetorically lessons will be learnt, in practise, no way jos’e, there was no way the peoples were going to get away with the ruining of many a political lifestyle via the result of 24/6/2016.
    On that date we hit the treachery trail big time also triggered the limited damage to brussels campaign.
    No matter which of the governing bodies ie lab/lib/con was in power being a coalition HS2 was still on track ( so
    to speak) to be completed.
    This is a power play showing just who is in charge & the
    peoples will toe the line, when it is laid.

    1. She’s becoming another Billy Graham, the evangelist who drew large crowds in the middle of last century to his shows . People in their thousands attended and at the end of each performance many went forward to him to show their support.

      1. Sheep followers scare me….use your OWN brain – that is my thinking. We have been looking into this for over a century I know of…..there is NO solution…we are on the moving escalator of time and we can’t get off.

    4. On Feb 28 our road is closed for several hours while the council does something. Since they’ve actually plugged a pothole I’m not sure what else they can do.

        1. Haven’t been to Bristol since elder son graduated.
          I think I can give it a miss for another fortnight. 🙂

      2. Morning, Anne.

        So, your street won the February lottery on pothole filling. Drivers continue having to swing out to the centre of the road to avoid two large holes around drain covers a few yards from my home. One of the holes must be 3″ – 4″ deep.

        1. Yes. When faced with oncoming traffic, we had the choice of hitting the cars parked on the right or the left.
          This area was built on heathland and the potholes go down to the original sandy soil.

        2. Along my route to work the council did a mass of work repairing all the collapses around the drains.

          A week later they had all collapsed again. Why? Because they didn’t do it properly. Filling the hole is only useful as long as the reason it collapsed in the first place is resolved.

          1. Close to where I live there has been the case of the recurring sinking road at two locations. The first spot was excavated and refilled a number of times and on one occasion became so large and dangerous that someone sprayed painted a warning to motorcyclists on the road’s surface some yards in front of the hole. To me, the sinking looked as if there was a water leak under the road and the water was eroding the soil some way down and causing the road surface to sag. The sinking was cured eventually by repairing the water main.
            There is now another, much smaller sag in the road about 100 yards away and close to where there has been a persistent water leak in the grass verge. This sag in the road has been filled and each time the sag has reappeared within weeks. Not repairing the problem correctly in the first instance leads to more expense in the long run and of course, more jobs for the boys.

    6. So another of her boring we are all doomed unless we change. Change what she never says and does not even know

      The big problem we have particularly in the UK is overpopulate but that never gets a mention

      1. There has been awareness of such issues since the beginning of the last century and maybe beyond that…you can’t stop progress. Once evolved – we can’t go back. Morning Bill……x

      1. What a little sweetie….thank you Korky…looks like a she…..the third kitten in the litter I got my two from was that colour exactly…..mine are chocolate and blue grey…three chocolate box kittens. The mother 1s chocolate and the father, a blue cream colour point like this one in your post. A very unusual trio but so beautiful. These are my two but adults now.

        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d2cb04b94a2a607e1b5e994af291ee45944b423e6120692c8de7361747621ccd.jpg

  37. No significath flooding in the Somerset levels this year due to the full dredging and other work done after the 2014 floods.This needs to be repeated in all risk areas.

    2. In the Guardian today, how to tempt fate:

      https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/23/more-than-11000-homes-to-be-built-on-land-at-high-risk-of-flooding

      If people must build on flood plains, the ground floor needs to be raised high enough to make sure the living areas are well above likely flood levels. The US has a lot of beach and river front houses, and they are typically built on a platform raised anywhere from 10′-12′ off the ground. That way flood waters can sweep underneath and the only likely losses are any vehicles not moved to higher ground. They also raise things like electricity and gas meters so they don’t get swamped.

      Not cheap, but it works.

      1. Jaywick style eh.
        Apparently the reason so many floods happen and hundreds of people have died in the indus river delta is because the dredging carried out during the now so called period of racist colonialism, has been stopped.

    3. And Owen Paterson, who was minister of the environment at the time, exposed the extreme folly of the EU dredging ban. Of course Cameron could not stand competence in his ministers so he sacked Paterson and replaced him with Adultera Truss.

  38. Good morning Fellow Nottlers

    I came across this interesting word, ‘pathocracy’, under a DT article about quangos which are usually stuffed with sociopaths.

    Pathocracy is ” a form of government in which individuals with personality disorders occupy positions of power and influence. The result is a totalitarian system characterized by a government turned against its own people.”

    1. During our training, the only example of constructive psychopaths was always politicians. Nowadays, we could add many civil servants and quangocrats.

    4. Morning Richard. Kakistocracy: Government by the most unscrupulous or unsuitable people, or a state governed by such people

    5. I think wee can safely state that ER are full of those with pathocracy as are the LGBT brigade

  40. ‘RAPE OF BRITAIN’. Russia rolls out the Red Carpet. for Tommy Robinson. Sarah Hurst. 23 February 2020

    Robinson, 37, the founder of the English Defence League and a recent convert to the Conservative Party, has served prison time in the UK for various crimes, including assault and mortgage fraud, and last year for contempt of court for broadcasting a Facebook Live video of defendants in a trial, in breach of reporting restrictions. Russian media didn’t think any of this was worth mentioning, but instead depicted him exclusively as a victim of censorship and EU oppression.

    I suppose Tommy will get the old harassment treatment when he returns to the UK!

    https://bylinetimes.com/2020/02/23/rape-of-britain-russia-rolls-out-red-carpet-for-tommy-robinson/

    1. Oh the Irony
      Tommy Truthteller slagged off just as the UK government is too scared to release its own Rapejihad report

  41. It does look as though the two sides are reluctant to part company regarding the brexitexit trade talks commencing.
    A war of words has broken out a week before the unnecessary trade talks start.
    At risk of repeating myself I do believe total severance,
    one month celebratory period, then lift the receiver to brussels, and ask brussels to explain their needs in a courteous manner.
    In my book johnson is the thread carrier attached to the string,then the rope to the steel bonding wire.
    All will shortly come to light.

  42. The Labour Party

    When you look back in history the Labour Party has never been very successful. It apparently since its formation has only been in power for 30 years and 15 of those were under Blair. I dont see the current bunch of headship candidates changing that unless Boris messes up big time

    Complete list of UK goverenments can be found here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_British_governments

      1. Thirteen! There must be something in that! All it took to destroy a country that has lasted a millenium!

          1. Spot on…..Blair was not a Labour supporter….born and raised in a Conservative home and privately educated. What a scam.

  44. ‘Morning, all, Happy Sunday!

    They just played this song from 1978 on the wireless and it fair took me back…… I was in “Norn Iron” when I first heard it.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QUi8MFElq0

    Here are the lyrics, for those not familiar with them:

    “Super flumina Babylonis ibi sedimus et flevimus cum recordaremur Sion.
    Quoniam ibi interrogaverunt nos qui captivos duxerunt nos verba carminis et qui adfligebant nos laeti canite nobis de canticis Sion.
    Quomodo cantabimus canticum Domini in terra aliena.”
    — Ps. 136:1,3 & 4

    “Sint placentes sermones oris mei meditatio cordis mei in conspectu tuo Domine fortitudo mea et redemptor meus.
    — Ps 18:15

    :¬)

    2. When Moh climbed down from the flying in the RN.. we had a short spell in Nigeria .. flying again.. I had in my shipment the newly released Boney M tape.. ( remember tapes?).. within 48 hours the tape vanished …. a week later it reappeared.. but the local Nigerian markets played Boney M non stop .. including their favourite Brown girl … so the clever bods had obviously copied it and distributed it everywhere.

      1. In 1992 was on train from Orenburg to Moscow – 25 hour journey. They played a single Boney M tape non-stop for the entire journey as it got stuck on repeat-play and no-one knew how to turn it off. Haven’t been able to listen to them since!

    3. By the rivers of Babylon is psalm 137 in the King James Version of course. The numbering is different in the KJV and the Vulgate.

    2. There’s a Web site named The Death of Johannesburg.
      It’s become an absolutely disgusting crime ridden filthy tip since the ANC took over.
      Lots of building is knew are scared with smoke staining were the windows use to be. The streets are full of litter. Prostitution and drugs are rife.
      In one of the city squares where a fountain was set with a string of bronze statues forming leaping Impala, a plastic table and chairs is a poor substitution.
      No excuses all the locals own doing. But they all have the vote now. For many in the townships nothing had changed. Still sharing out side taps.
      I lived there for about 18 months during the late 60s.
      It was a once well run bustling thriving and wealthy metropolis.
      Crime was almost unheard of.

  46. Pollution in London

    Contrary to Khan;’s claims pollution and congestion in London is increasing. Khan like to focus on very narrow bit such as pollution near schools and nitrogen oxide emissions

    The pollution near schools is only very marginally low as pollution does not stay in one area

    1. Bill, Ask him why Barnet council are being allowed to build a 50 megawatts gas fired power station in a green belt Valley in NW7.

      1. First he does not understand what green belt is. HE thinks any land not built on is green belt. Second he does not understand the purpose of the Green belt

        The Green belt around London is to stop London merging into areas outside of London and to provide some green space for Londoners but Khan now sees it as building land for his Great London expansion program

        Some parts of London have already merged into towns out side London such as Enfield and Waltham Cross and many areas such as Potters bar are close to merging into London

  47. Diane Abbott to stand down from shadow cabinet when new Labour leader is elected

    Probably jumping before she is pushed. I doubt any of the leadership candidates would want her in their cabinet

    3. Good. She ought to have been retired on health grounds at least two General Elections ago.

      1. Unfortunately she is only standing down as a Minister(Probably Corbyn’s replacement would have rejected her in any case) She will remain as a back bench MP

  48. David Dimbleby has launched a scathing attack on Boris Johnson, branding him a ‘liar’ and accusing him of “apeing” Donald Trump.

    The comments come as part of an interview with Germany’s ARD state TV channel though some were not broadcast and were later obtained from a transcript by the Daily Mail.

    In the comments broadcast by ARD, veteran broadcaster Dimbleby said: “The BBC is under threat in a way it has never been before. The pernicious route they [the Government] are using is to say the licence fee is wrong or unfair. I don’t believe it is wrong or unfair.”

    https://www.aol.co.uk/news/2020/02/22/david-dimbleby-brands-boris-johnson-a-liar-in-interview-about/?ncid=webmail

    1. I’d be surprised if DD did think the TV tax wrong or unfair. The whole Dimbleby tribe has done very nicely out of it, thank you!

    2. Come on David….HUGE pay and bonuses for repeats and bosses……and taking the free license away from over 75s in order to maintain obscene pay and bonuses. You think that is fair? Time you worked for your money. Times have changed since BBC were the only channel. Free handouts in the form of a fee need stopping.

      1. Spot on, Jenny. Subscription only, a la Netflix. Then, if they are right, they’ll be fine. But, if people are fed up with funding the likes of Lineker & Dimblebore, well…

        1. That is what they are afraid of…..well they are not getting money out of us come June or whenever it starts. I never watch the TV…only Netflix and my DVDs if i can be bothered…..more entertaining being online and talking to real folks…imo.

      2. The licence fee made sense when TV was just 1 channel and possibly it could be justified when there was just 1 BBC TV channel and 1 ITV channel but once digital TV and the internet arrived the justification for a compulsory TV licence went. They did not help themselves neither by doing away with the free TV licence for pensioners

        Th Free TV licence could have been slightly more restrictive so could have been linked to the state retirement age so you got it 10 years after your state retirement age also with couples both would have to have reached that age to get a free licence. It could also be restricted to non taxpayers and basic rate taxpayers

        1. When Channel 4 came into being in 1982, the idea was to extend the licence fee to cover public service broadcasting with the instruction that only material that was not covered adequately by the commercial sector was to be covered by the licence fee. Later on, this was also to cover the digital broadcasting infrastructure on Freeview, with a much more efficient use of bandwidth.

          I don’t see why this principle cannot be applied in future. By all means have the BBC as a public service providing good programmes that are not viable commercially, but abandon the “popular” shows, the high-vis celebrities, Premier League, the soaps and chart music to the commercial broadcasters. Any other broadcaster (such as ITV, C4, Five, or UKTV) could apply for a grant for certain programmes that do not attract enough advertising or sponsorship, but enhance the nation’s culture or reputation abroad by having them made.

          We then have the knotty problem about what is in the public interest to have made. No doubt charges of elitism or wokeism will be levelled at all the stuff we do not like, so there has to be a better measure of good quality than popular opinion and The Done Thing.

          Reith managed it, but do we have the imagination to do it now?

    3. I’d be surprised if DD did think the TV tax wrong or unfair. The whole Dimbleby tribe has done very nicely out of it, thank you!

    4. Well he does not want his gravy train to dry up. He should at least declare he has a vested interest in he TV licence remaining

  49. Cricketer

    An English lady walked into a Police Station and the desk Sergeant said “Can I help you?”

    “Yes” she said, “I’d like to report a case of sexual assault”.

    “Where did it happen?” the Sergeant asked.

    “In the park just down the road” she replied.

    “Can you describe what happened?”

    “Yes, I was walking along the footpath in the park near the trees when a man jumped out of the bushes and dragged me into them.”

    “He removed my underwear then he dropped his pants to his knees and had his way with me”.

    “Could you give me a description of him?”

    “Yes, he was wearing white shoes, long white trousers, a white shirt and he had these two big long pads from his feet up to and over his knees, one on each leg”.

    “Sounds to me like he was a cricketer, most probably a batsman”, said the Sergeant.

    “Yes”, said the lady, “He was an Australian Cricketer”.

    “That’s very observant”, said the Sergeant, “You worked that out from his accent?”

    “No”, she replied. “I worked it out because he wasn’t in for very long”.

  50. Complete List of Labour Governments (Dates are approx) Labour Party was formed in 1900

    1924 Ramsey McDonald 9 Months
    1929 Ramsey McDonald 3 years
    1945 Clement Attlee 5 years
    1964 Harold Wilson 2 years
    1974 Harold Wilson /James Callahan 3 years
    1997 Tony Blair / Gordon Brown 13 Years

    Note : A number of years above were Labour Minority Governments

    1. That list is incorrect (and poorly researched).

      Ramsey MacDonald’s second term as prime minister lasted 6 years and 3 days. From 1931 this was as head of the National Government, a loose coalition with the Conservatives and the Liberals.

      Clement Attlee’s government lasted for 6 years and 3 months.

      Harold Wilson’s first government lasted for 5 years and eight months (elections in 1964 and 1966).

      His second government lasted 2 years and 1 month, directly followed by James Callaghan’s 3 years and 1 month, giving a total of 5 years 2 months.

      Tony Blair’s administration lasted 10 years and 1 month, followed by Gordon Brown’s 2 years an 11 months, giving a total of 13 years.

    3. They never lasted long, did they? Thrown out when people realised their mistake.
      Blair was Tory-lite, with a hidden agenda.

      1. Morning N…a good way to ensure a Tory Gov was to throw one with the gift of the gab in the other camp.

      2. 316577+up ticks,
        Morning N,
        Then the peoples have surely lost the art these last couple of decades at least, of realising their mistakes.

    4. Wilson/Callaghan 5 years
      Blair/Brown 13 years

      (Is that right, you used to work for HMRC?)

  51. Well we have a few things to do today…decorators tomorrow – hate the place upside down but back three bedrooms are being gutted – have to do it in stages. So i will see you later. Have a good day all…..

  52. The lunatics have been gathered on BBC 1 big question. Everything they are kicking up about is the fault of the ubiquitous ‘Farr Riaght’.
    The Daft little snowfakes.

  53. Beauty and the bloke: why more men are wearing makeup

    ‘Where do you buy your concealer?’: French president Macron and US president Trump at the Bastille Day celebrations in Paris, France. Both men are known to use makeup.

    In 2017 barely concealed sniggers greeted the reveal that French president Emmanuel Macron spent €26,000 (£22,000) on makeup in his first three months in office. And in December, the Washington Post hinted that Donald Trump used Bronx Color concealer, which was gleefully reported elsewhere.

    For all this talk about confidence, the clandestine element of men’s makeup is still significant. As is women’s validation around its use. When Victoria Beckham admitted that David nicked her products (“David 100% steals my beauty products,” she told This Morning. “We share beauty products”) she hit upon the importance of women’s attitude towards men’s grooming.

    https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2020/feb/23/beauty-and-the-bloke-why-more-men-are-chooisng-to-wear-makeup-warpaint

    1. Would it be because of the now popular self acclaimed “do you know who i am” star status.

        1. A male friend of ours who was a great one for being butch and going shirtless in the sun, eschewed sun protection.
          He did also this when on holiday in hot countries (they are keen on Spain).
          He has, for several months, been undergoing treatment for skin cancer all over his back.

          2. Moh’s brother lived in Australia for fifty years.. died 2 months after their mother, 4 years ago .. skin cancer of the back .

            The men in the article are more conscientious about their appearance .. face make up and mascara, but I bet they don’t slip slap slop the cream on the important bits.

        2. My younger sister and B i L have just returned to the UK from living in Spain for over 4 years. Poor old B is rapidly losing his r permatan, he played golf at least 3 times a week. And with Spanish golfing dignitaries.
          I’ll have to nip up to Lincolnshire to give a good thrashing. ⛳ 😆
          I’m in the process of arranging a get together in Dorset with some well spread out old mates one in Cornwall, Somerset, Bedfordshire, North London, and me.
          Two of us are golfers, i want to play Purbeck with Peter. I’ve played
          the course three times. This time we’ll have to use a buggy.
          I can’t imagine walking all the way around that picturesque course.
          My handicap was 12 but over 10 years ago. Short game OK but I’ll need a few shots back.

      2. Don’t you know who I am. I am famous on Instagram I have all of 5 followers

        The whole concept of followers is daft. All it means is someone went to a sit and ticked a box. I suspect that most of the so called followers never visit the page again

    2. Anyone that appears on tv uses make-up to avoid looking like a ghost under tv lighting,it is a major cause of the sale of dangerous skin whitening products in countries like Thailand and parts of Africa
      The “whitening effect” of the tv lighting leads to unrealistic role models of beauty

          2. Do you mean to say that David Lammy’s even blacker in real life than he appears to be on TV?

            Good Lord, he must be blacker than the Earl of Hell’s waistcoat.

    3. “In 2017 barely concealed niggers greeted the reveal that French president Emmanuel Macron spent €26,000 (£22,000) on makeup.” Mr Macron’s boyfriends and no criticism to make.

    2. Cannot be for long that a vicar will report some for challenging his belief of life after death to the police as a hate crime

  56. New plan to auto enrol teen workers

    Seem’s sensible

    THE GOVERNMENT will outline plans to allow employees to join workplace pension schemes from 18 instead of 22 this week, to build on the success of auto-enrolment

    The work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey will applaud the scheme for boosting the number of people in retirement savings schemes and reversing years of falling participation rates.

    Coffey said: “Automatic enrolment has been an incredible success. It has transformed the retirement prospects of millions of people, bringing them into a workplace pension when they could otherwise have slipped through the savings net.

    “But while automatic enrolment has been a triumph, I will not rest on my laurels.”

    According to a Department for Work and Pensions’ evaluation report due this week, the percentage of people saving through an employers’ scheme has gone up from 55 to 87 percent over the six years to 2018.

    It means 10.2 million more people now have a pension but the industry is impatient for more change.

        1. There is normally taxation when you access the money which at the moment is your marginal rate, with 25% being tax free (values subject to gov control and variable depending how desperate they are).

  57. House of Lords expenses soar by almost a third as taxpayers forced to pay £23million bill

    I can see no logical reason as to what the expenses have gone up by that amount other than very lax control of expenses

    HOUSE OF LORDS expenses are spiralling out of control as a new report revealed the cost of peers’ allowances rose by 29 percent in just one year.

    Peers were discovered to have paid themselves almost one-third more last year than in the previous tax year. The rise comes as the House of Lords is set to expand to its largest in two decades

    The average tax-free payment was £30,827, higher than the median salary of a UK worker.

    However, 31 Lords claimed more in expenses than the standard take-home pay of an MP.

    According to official House of Lords figures, former Labour minister Lord Cunningham claimed a total of £79,437 last year.

    The Lord made just 17 spoken contributions to the upper chamber despite checking in for his allowance on 159 of a possible 161 days.

    Lord Paul claimed £47,885 in expenses despite his family having a £2billion fortune and only speaking in the chamber once.

    More than 110 peers did not make any spoken or written contribution to the House during the period, but claimed a total of more than £1million.

    An internal report released earlier this month for the Lords audit committee warned Lords expenses are still “vulnerable” to being “exploited for personal gain”.

    Electoral Reform Society senior director Willie Sullivan said: “Unelected Lords are taking advantage of the lack of scrutiny in the upper chamber.

    “The Lords is a rolling expenses scandal — and we’ll see this year after year unless there is reform.”

      1. What that much. That is way to excessive . That equates to almost £0,015 for each years since he retired

      3. 316577+ up ticks,
        Afternoon TB,
        Think overseas aid, there will be some down to his / her last mill despot, who will need a financial boost.

      1. In my view we need under 200 Lords most do very little other than pop in to get their daily allowance

        Has any one even looked at what thei rel work load is. It seems to be not a lot and of what they do a lot is just inventing things to do

          1. Possibly. NI. Scotland and NI produce legislation without the need for the Lords and I have seen nothing to indicate that their legislation is any the worse for that

      1. I can see no logic for having hereditary peers. I can see logic in not having ex MP’s as peers though

        1. They did a better job and didn’t follow a party whip. It’s a bit like democracy, a dreadful system but better than all the rest. If you don’t want ex MPs then how would anyone become a Lord. By appointment? In which case it becomes just another quango and we all know they stuffed with left wing placement.

          What’s your suggestion then Bill?

          1. I would certainly ban MP’s.

            There are plenty of academics, business people, lawyers, ex-services professionals, etc. who could do a good job.

            As to how to appoint, one could do it on a one in, one out, basis.

            The government can appoint a new member, but the opposition get to choose who departs.
            Any non-government appointments, same basis, except the government chooses who leaves.

          2. Understand your feeling but, as I said, it would become just another quango. Appointments by the government? Afraid I have no faith in any government since Margaret Thatcher. Look at the mess they make selecting candidates, ministers and government owned companies like HS2.
            Would you really trust them?

          3. That is why I would select from a recognised pool of talent, and the eviction process ought to ensure that seat-warmers get removed. Having no ex-politicians should remove a lot of the politicised quangocrats.

            Set the remuneration levels (ideally expenses only) at the point where to do the job you have to have sufficient personal wealth to not need the money and are doing the job out of a sense of duty and a desire to do genuine public service.

          5. The disadvantage of that is the “perceived privilege”.
            You have to sell it to the electorate.

            One needs the brightest and best and the hereditaries have too many clowns.

          6. Would you include the ‘backwoodsmen’? Peers who rarely, if ever, attended but who were wheeled out to help carry a close political vote. If the hereditary peers are to make a come-back then they must be committed to serving the country, apolitical and few in number, say 200.

          7. It would be fair to make them turn up and vote in a minimum number of debates and have their expenses adjusted accordingly. They would have to be ‘full time’ and commit to a certain number of appearances for the whole day. I agree with drastically reducing their numbers. 175-200 maybe.

          8. I dont think you want only the rich in the Lords but the current level of expenses is way to high. Perhaps an attendance allowance of say £100 a day plus essential travel expenses over 12 miles a day ie they dont get anything for the first 12 miles that being deemed a reasonable commute they should pay out of their own picked

          10. ex MP’s by their very nature are political. WE could have elected experts going to the Lords. You would need legal experts, Engineering, Experts, Science experts. IT experts , Finance experts etc. So we could have say 4 or 5 Finance experts put themselves up for the Lord and the Public can vote for which one they want

            Certainly the Lords should in my view not be political

          11. Who decides whether they’re experts or not? We can’t event get an expert Lord Chancellor who is a) already a Lord and b) who is a lawyer.
            Economists are supposed to be experts and you can count on the fingers of one finger (sic) how many get their economic forecasts any where near correct. None.

          12. No, please, no.
            We would be better off with an upper chamber populated by nominees from the WRI, Fire Service, Boy Scouts, karate clubs etc…

        2. They are rooted in the country. Literally. What is good for them is good for us (even Republicans “R” Us).

    4. The problem is surely that there are far too many of them. Blair stuffed the lords with people who’d vote through his policies. Cameron did the same. The Lib Dems practically infest the place.

      It’s daft. There should be at best 200 lords of whom no more than half can be life peers and equally represent the political parties so no more than 33 members of the Upper House are Conservatives, for example.

    1. I like him.

      Shame about our own appeasers who then try to downplay the enormity of what they have done and are still doing to us.

      Come on Priti…get a bloody move on.

      1. How wonderful to hear someone sticking up, unashamedly, for his own population and country. If only we had someone like him.

        1. Viktor Orbán in Hungary is of the same opinion.

          They continually try to threaten and shame him but he ain’t giving an inch. It’s the only way to deal with these people.

        2. 316577+ up ticks,
          Afternoon V,
          We have had them until they were kicked into touch & suppressed, still around though.
          People preferred the
          vote lab/lib/con & whinge when dealing
          with the ballot booth.

      2. 316577+up ticks,
        Afternoon P,
        The current appeasers are the same appeasers of yesteryear
        just reshuffled and redealt,as
        before that, then that,then that.

      3. I’m coming to the conclusion that more of our appeasing politicians are coming to realise the enormity of what they and their predecessors have done. Some do not care because what is currently going on suits their warped ideas. However, others are in a state close to panic as they can see the problem, see what is coming down the line but are too frightened to admit what they have done and have absolutely no idea what to do to get rid of the problem. In the end the people will have to deal with the future but the PTB that want this calamity will continue to try and brainwash the younger generation into accepting second class status in their own land.

        1. “However, others are in a state close to panic as they can see the problem, see what is coming down the line but are too frightened to admit what they have done and have absolutely no idea what to do to get rid of the problem.”

          Well, they begin by covering up reports on this…

          1. In the beginning they were covering up the actual crime and did so for years before the crime became too big to keep out of the public domain. Hiding a report from the public does nothing more than confirm that panic is starting to build.

    4. Why do these Metro people think that ‘We’ have any responsibilty towards any Tom, Dick or Hamid who decides to pitch up on our shores without the documentation that the rest of us are forced to carry even if we’re popping away for a long weekend?

      Patronising tossers seem to think that these illegals are somehow child-like and they need us to care for them, rather than the criminals that they all are.

  59. Ireland still in Chaos following the General Election

    Every party is engaged in discussions with every other party but there is little common ground between them. If they do manage to form a government I dont see it lasting long. The current deadlock could go on for months leaving Ireland pretty much without a government. It will leave Ireland in a strange position with regard to the Brexit trade talks

    1. All those that keep going on about PR elections and how good they are should take a look at Ireland, this horse trading would be the norm at every election if we had it.
      Not that it really matters I suppose when you are ruled by the EU.

      2. As opposed to unlikely bedfellows like the Tories and the LibDems, or Labour cosying up to the SNP? Oh wait, scrub the latter…

      3. Coalitions never work well. Look at 2005-10 when the Lib-Dem tail wagged the Conservative dog for 5 years.

        The minority partner always has more power than it deserves.

    2. Shouldn’t worry too much, Bill. Ireland’s been in chaos since at least the time of the Cattle Raid of Cooley.
      :¬(

      1. The things I learn on NOTTL.
        Makes Alfred’s exercise in cake incineration practically last week.

      3. A very true observation from the classic history book by Sellar and Yeatman, ‘1066 and All That.’

        “As soon as they got near to finding an answer to the Irish question the Irish changed the question.”

  60. Dawn Butler trying to be even more daft than Diana Abbott

    On TV she came out with the claim that babies are not born a specific sex. What next the doctars will not be able to inform the parents what gender their baby will be ?

  61. Just caught the end of an interview with Tommy Robinson on RT’s Worlds Apart if anyone wants to record it!

    We feel alienated in our own communities, and the whole time we’re told diversity is great while our daughters are being kidnapped and raped. TR.

  65. Joanna Cherry will leave MP role if she wins Ruth Davidson’s seat

    Joanna Cherry has confirmed she will step down from Westminster if she is elected to Ruth Davidson’s Holyrood seat.

    The Edinburgh South West MP said on Saturday she would seek support from her party to challenge for the Edinburgh Central constituency.

    Angus Robertson has already announced plans to bid for the seat.

    Ms Cherry confirmed on Sunday she would step down as an MP if she succeeded in being elected to Holyrood.

  66. Should we have a variable State retirement age ?

    You can already stay working after the state retirement age and although you no longer pay in the state pension is increased. Currently though you are not allowed to draw yo a reduced state pension early. Also if you are shoert of the minimum number of NI contributions you should allowed to continue to pay NI so as to top it up

    The minimum age to draw the state pension could be 60. You would though have to have a secure income of say at least the full state Pension

    1. Yes we should have a variable SRA. If you are able and want to…then work, if not, a caring society should allow early retirement on health grounds at 60 and especially if you have paid in NI contributions for minimum 35 years as currently stated for full pension.

      1. If you were to retire early at 60 it would mean that assuming enough stamps have been paid the pension would be about 15% less( the amount would depend on how it is calculated)

        1. The choice would have to be down to the individual whether they could live on a reduced pension….would be better than the current disability payment chaos.

          1. There would probably have to b a requirement that they have a secure income say in the form of a private pension to at least have a total income of the the new state pension

          2. The new state pension even with a 15% reduction is better than the old pension….so I think it is a reasonable option Bill.

          1. For stamps read NI Contributions. The minimum age to retire would probably have to move up in line with the state retirement age
            So if the state retirement age is 60 it would be 60 if 68 it would be 63

            You can if you have a decent private pension retire at 55 but the state pension is not payable at that age currently

          2. If you were self employed you used to have a card to which National Insurance Stamps, which you had to buy yourself, were attached.
            Married women could also pay a reduced rate by the same method.

    2. You can already pay a lump sum towards your state pension to make up for any shortfall in NI contributions due to raising a family – I did that some years ago. Can’t quote figures as I’ve forgotten.

      1. I paid up up three missing years in the 70s just before I retired in 2011. I got most of it back in arrears payments so it was a no-brainer.

        1. #metoo. I also deferred my pension for a year and it was enhanced although I can’t say by how much now. Too long ago!

          3. This is why our civil servant for immigration resigned. It wasn’t about bullying from Priti. It was about her telling them what was what and they couldn’t stomach it.

      2. What I don’t understand is people being released from quarantine 14 days later, despite any further instances of the CORVID-19.

        Surely the release should only be 14 days AFTER there have been no further instances.

    3. A work colleague who has been in Beijing since last October arrived back in the office last week and was greeted with hugs all round. I don’t know her that well and don’t make a habit of hugging colleagues anyway but I pray she isn’t carrying the virus.

        1. Two weeks, I think, yes. Prior to returning, she and her family were confined to their apartment in Beijing 24/7.

      2. I wonder just how much of a similar nature is happening all over the planet.

        “Thank God you’re OK”,
        oooopps.

        There is still relatively little information coming out of Africa and S America.
        Once it gets a hold in Africa the fun will really begin.

  68. Interesting

    “So BAMEs are in, Jews are out, and Poles never stood a chance. At least,

    that’s the situation in the UK. In the US, blacks are still in,

    Hispanics are on their way out, and the Chinese never stood a chance.

    Down under, it’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians (to

    use their formal label) who form the only genuinely sympathetic

    minority, so sympathetic that there is strong (white) elite pressure to give them

    a constitutionally enshrined ‘voice’ in parliament. What all of the

    sympathetic minorities share is their political usefulness to white

    elites in their own societies – both via their votes and (more

    importantly) through the moral claims that white elites can make in the

    names of marginalised others. Don’t like Donald Trump or Boris Johnson? Just label them racists on behalf of blacks or BAMEs.”

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2020/02/21/the-use-and-abuse-of-ethnic-minorities/

    2. “Nor does the UK host minority indigenous populations of the kinds found in the settler colonies of the old dominions.”

      Well, not yet anyway…

      1. An interesting statistic from Country File this evening, if I heard it correctly.

        The BAME population of the UK is greater than the populations of Scotland and Wales combined.

    1. And how I laughed when the gypsie king won his boxing match last night.
      Racism at its premium 😆
      And possibly Chips knocked off the shoulders.

  71. Peter Hitchens MoS column is not pay to view but it’s still worth reproducing this in full here.

    History buried under a snowdrift of lies

    I have now struggled half way through the BBC’s most recent travesty of Agatha Christie, The Pale Horse. And in the same week I endured the latest episode of ITV’s Endeavour. Agatha Christie isn’t holy writ and I don’t, in principle, object to messing around with her stories if it makes them better. But this seemed to me to be a hymn of hate against the Britain of 60 years ago. It was almost as if the camera lens had been smeared with a yellowish slime, to make the era look grim and sordid. Was anyone happy?

    Was anyone normal? It appeared not. I am often accused of viewing the 1950s as a ‘Golden Age’, when I do not. There never was a golden age. Much about the 1950s was worse than now, the incessant smoking, the medical care, the food which often contained actual gristle. Yet it was also a more carefree time than most of us can now imagine, when most people could afford to live reasonably well on modest pay, when children did not hide indoors, in constant fear of paedophiles, traffic and pollution. My own recollection is it was also much kinder, softer spoken and more patient, but I may have been lucky.

    A time I recall in much more detail is 1970 in Oxford, my home town, supposedly portrayed in Endeavour. Last week’s episode claimed to be about events surrounding the General Election that summer. It featured two racially motivated knife murders, which I cannot recall (odd, as such things were so rare then), and invented a political party (a sort of BNP) and its candidate who definitely did not stand for election that year. This false plot, set in an invented past, gave an excuse for the young Morse and his boss Fred Thursday to go around lecturing everyone on how racist they were, from the smug point of view of 2020.

    They may have solved some crimes while doing so, but it’s the woke lectures I recall. Bit by bit the actual past is lost under a great, thick snowdrift of propaganda and falsehood. Much of it takes the form of fiction and drama. And once they’ve persuaded us that the past was all bad, they’ll move on to the next bit, getting us to believe that the present is wonderful.

    The criticism of ‘Endeavour’ is justified. Since its start it has been of very mixed quality with some really good episodes making accurate observations of the times, especially the changes in policing, and one or two real stinkers. However, too often it effectively lectures us in the way that Hitchens describes.

    We must have our instruction…

    2. Didn’t the Teddy Boys put razor blades in their lapels? And weren’t victims of domestic violence left undefended by the law? And weren’t queers routinely bashed? As Hitchens says, there never was a golden age.

    3. It featured two racially motivated knife murders, which I cannot recall (odd, as such things were so rare then), and invented a political party (a sort of BNP) and its candidate who definitely did not stand for election that year.

      I can remember when I was about seven a woman was murdered in town. My mother and her friends talked about it for the next fifteen years!

      1. There was a programme about skiffle and early British rock-and-roll music the other night, and even that had to end on a piece about racism, a sour note in an otherwise interesting documentary.

  72. Of course it did.

    It is now thought the coronavirus started spreading as early as late November (and not the Wuhan Seafood Market as first propounded) according to researchers investigating the genome data.

    Enough time to infect major world cities unhindered before the International Alert was sounded. World image is important to the Chinese. https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1246207/coronavirus-uk-virus-origin-wuhan-china-seafood-market-covid-19-spread

    1. It is so selective in its appearance, that it is reasonable to assume that cases elsewhere have not been declared.

    1. I think the odd shoes episode showed she’s in the early stages of dementia and should be retired forthwith.

        1. The carer was trying to make the point….. ‘look folks, she has dementia…. do you really want her in charge of the Home Office?’

  75. World is approaching coronavirus tipping point, experts say. 23 Feb 2020

    The world is fast approaching a “tipping point” in the spread of the coronavirus, according to experts, who warn that the disease is outpacing efforts to contain it, after major outbreaks forced Italy and Iran to introduce stringent internal travel restrictions and South Korea’s president placed the country on red alert.

    This thing is going Supernova! Time to stock up on grub and seal the front door!

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/23/world-is-approaching-coronavirus-tipping-point-experts-say

    1. ” Time to stock up on grub and seal the front door! ”

      We were warned that this would happen after Brexit .

      1. I made sure our little family avoided beef for years – it must have been at least eight years before I could – and would – cook minced beef in any form.

        1. I was the same…I didn’t eat meat and was terrified I had fed my family with something not right. I lost much sleep over that……

    3. I am planning a supermarket raid tomorrow. Ssshhhh. Rice, pasta, tinned tomatoes, all ideas welcome. And, don’t forget the cleaning items either, no point in avoiding coronavirus to come down with an e.coli….. Domestos should be high on the list!

        1. I can give you a grand recipe for corned beef hash – it even incorporates Marmite – how good is that!

          1. No thanks; I like my Marmite on toast.

            I make a very good cheat’s Bolognese using corned beef.

      3. Just received my Aldi order of 12 French Malbec and 6 Highland Earl litres of whisky – that’ll do for a week – maybe a fortnight if I’m careful.

      1. I’m not yet seriously alarmed Stephen but think it would be wise to keep an eye on events and not to believe what the government tells us!

        1. Agreed. However, the ZH piece does make quite a few serious points about the plight of small businesses in China if the lockdowns continue and the knock on effects are potentially very serious for ordinary men and women.

          1. Economic impact of coronavirus outbreak deepens. 23 February 2020.

            The head of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, said on Sunday that the global lender of last resort was ready to provide additional support, particularly to poorer countries by way of grants and debt relief.

            Speaking at a G20 meeting of finance leaders and central bank chiefs, she said the IMF assumed the impact would be relatively minor and shortlived, although she warned that the continued spread of the virus could have dire consequences.

            Hmmmm.

            https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/feb/23/economic-impact-of-coronavirus-outbreak-deepens

          2. I thought the IMF was in trouble given that Argentina is reported to be on the verge of repudiating its IMF loan repayments….

          5. Do you suppose that’s why the Earth was put into quarantine – millions if not billions of light years from any other intelligent life?

    6. A coward dies a thousand deaths, a brave man only one.

      I hope there’s a coward willing to take mine as one of their thousand!

        2. No, it can’t have you! Effin cheek! We need you here on nttl, Jenny! I dare say your OH would have something to say about it, too.

          1. He would be on the first plane to Nashville with my insurance money because they would need my body for science…..lol. That was very kind btw….xxx

        3. No! I’m not ready to go yet! I have a lifetime’s photos to sort out for our ‘boys’ (a task I keep putting off because it is emotional).

      2. Calm down ! Don’t panic !!

        ”

        “A coward dies a thousand times before his death,
        but the valiant taste of death but once. It seems to me most strange
        that men should fear, seeing that death, a necessary end, will come when
        it will come.”

        1. “Omnia tempus habent et suis spatiis transeunt universa sub caelo; tempus nascendi et tempus moriendi, tempus plantandi et tempus evellendi quod plantatum est.”
          — Prov Ecc. 3:1&2

          4. Time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven; a time to be born and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to uproot the plant. “

          8. I’ve tested Google Translate with Latin and it’s not to be relied on.

            Latin is a much too inflected language, the algorithm can’t handle all the changes in the words, brought about by the various moods and declensions.

          9. I only had one year of Latin at school, when I was eleven. The Latin master liked slapping the kids on their bare legs when they got things wrong,so I did pick up the basics of Latin. That one year was great for understanding Latin-based languages later in life.

    4. It’s just a ruse to do the bare minimum.
      Could be a profitable business plan – but will she pull if off!

  78. Taking our dog for evening walk I strolled past the rear of the local village school (only thatched school in the country). I was shocked, shocked I tell you to see the rainbow flag fluttering gaily in the evening February winter’s breeze. Perhaps I am naive but this is a C of E primary school. What else is going on in there? I reflected, not for the first time, that islam will, amongst other things, sort this out.

      2. ‘Evening, J, not only hijacked the rainbow but a useful word in the English Language. I will always think of them (male or female) as homosexual, I refuse to distort my English language.

      1. Yes! The very same! We have forty listed buildings in our village. We live only 100 yards from that roof!

    1. Goodnight, Jenny.

      “Si dormieris non timebis quiesces et suavis erit somnus tuus”
      — Prov. 3:24

          1. That’s good…I thought of you as soon as I saw the snow this morning. Have a great time N – and don’t forget some nice images of elephants and lions for me if you can. I would love that…safe journey.

    2. It has been happening intermittently for a long time. It just doesn’t get reported over here, until the Israelis respond and are castigated.
      The pro-Palestinian version is in the Guardian just now, but who believes anything in that rag?

      1. Yup. It must be intensely annoying to have the perpetual attacks on your cities by a bunch of hostile Arabs with no actual claim to the land and supplied by Iran.

        I remain both impressed and amazed by the moderation of the Israelis.

    1. Tonight: the thoroughly anglicised Sri Lankan vet, the Japanese snowdrop fan in Dorset (just passing by, I’m sure) and the full-fat, global-warming-is-coming-to-a-farm-near-you scare story with a ‘carbon auditor’ [sic] who had definitely eaten more than her fair share of carbohydrate.

      2. The large lady may be part of this “carbon-offsetting” scheme

        After all, the human body is about 18% carbon so the bigger her body grows, the more carbon she absorbs, thus removing it from the environment.

    1. It would be dead funny if coronavirus wiped us all out, before climate change did for us. All Greta’s efforts wasted.

      1. Anyone entertaining the child idiot and tool Greta Thunberg needs their head testing. They must be mad to give credence to the recitals of this stupid child. Thunberg should be taken into care for her own protection as a minor.

        1. The world has gone mad over her. The poster girl of the United Nations.
          But she’s only a spokesperson of course, for those behind her. She won’t be able to keep it up.

          1. I think the kid’s promoters have already worked out that the Thunberg child is a perfect puppet and stooge for global climate change activists and the industrialists backing and supporting them. I refer to those making money from wind farms and solar farms, both of which are comparatively useless in meeting both our present and future energy needs.

        2. She is thrilling the residents of Bristol this Friday by leading a school strike. I guess if your followers dont have a descent education, they are likely to believe whatever they are told. I am keeping a lookout over the Bristol Channel for a large sailing yacht.

          1. I was born in Bath and have a detailed knowledge of neighbouring Bristol. Regrettably, in my lifetime, Bristol has been overrun by both imported and home grown wogs.

            The wogs here care nothing for the city and its citizens but wish merely to be given free rein to deal their drugs and shit on everyone standing in their way.

            This reality is not peculiar to Bristol but applies equally to every major city in the UK.

    2. 316577+up ticks,
      Evening Rik,
      Really should be seen that as one scam closes ( eu) another opens, the politicos demand it & a multitude of peoples will give it succour and support it.
      Not looking good what with the global warming, HS2, & the eye’s diverted from the final “deal” that in my book has already been done.

  86. The government has been warned not to rely on carbon offsetting to

    reach its net zero goals, after a Telegraph investigation revealed major

    flaws in some schemes.

    The Department for Transport is currently considering whether to

    force airlines and other transport companies to include a carbon

    offsetting charge for all journeys.

    The government has also indicated that it will rely on an

    international offsetting scheme in order to reach net zero emissions

    from the aviation industry.

    But they have been warned that they risk making a “terrible mistake”

    after The Telegraph revealed some voluntary offsetting schemes, which

    are self-regulated, risk fooling consumers hoping to mitigate their

    emissions contribution….

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/02/22/government-warned-not-rely-carbon-offsetting-reach-net-zero/
    Meanwhile I have set up a scheme flogging indulgences and free passes to heaven for only a tenner undercutting the Pope by a large margin
    As soon as you see the words “Carbon Offset” you KNOW you are dealing with liars,frauds and fuckwits
    Edit
    Ahem
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/02/21/carbon-offsetting-may-gold-mine-west-madagascar-sapphires/

    1. Principally our government!

      It had to come. They will find a way to prevent or curtail the number of air travellers and, once again, it will be we plebs who end up paying the price.

    3. Another scheme whereby the rich don’t pay and the poor pick up the tab.
      I am not against people being rich, on the contrary, but can I buy carbon offsets to sell on? I don’t know but I bet there is some scheme whereby very wealthy can purchase them while Mr & Mrs Joe Bloggs pay their 5% fuel tax.

      1. Well, there was a scheme whereby investors could by entitlements to farm subsidies. Without the tedious bore of having to own farmland, ploughs, sheep, farmers boys etc.

    1. Good night, Peddy – and Missy. Just finished watching the latest episode of ENDEAVOUR Series 8 (3rd of 3) and am now off to bed myself.

      1. The only person who can truly get rid of them is the Queen, herself. Heavy is the head that wears the crown. All this has to play out, in a certain order. It will happen.

          1. No problem! I blame the evening anaesthetic…. I knew what I was trying to say, the fingers simply translated it differently!

    4. “Abdication has its attractions, but I will honour my Coronation Oath and speech of commitment.”

      Well, Your Majesty, for the Nation’s sake, long may you reign.

      “I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great Imperial family to which we all belong.”

      And she has done that in exemplary fashion.

      2. Well, let’s hope so. Prince Charles can’t be expected to honour a Coronation Oath as his wedding vows were lies.

    1. And so it goes on and on and on.
      Any where close by and slammers go out of their way to cause as much trouble as they possibly can.

      1. But, but, but, it’s the Religion of Peace, innit?

        No, they are rabid followers of a Mohammedan paedophile.

  94. It is a great pity that a few of the commentators who comment on the COVID-19 and state that SARS 2002/3 was much more serious don’t read sites such as Nottle..

    A little link for all those congenital bloody idiots.

    https://www.who.int/csr/sars/country/table2004_04_21/en/

    The deaths rates (so far) might have been worse with SARS, but take a very deep breath and look at the cumulative number of cases of SARS vs COVID-19.

    1. The infection rate is much higher this time but the death rate seems to be lower. Many people have only had a mild dose.

      1. And I’m afraid that that is exactly the problem.

        People are looking at it as you have, (from your comment, not necessarily your conclusion). We are underestimating what is happening here.

        People look at the lower death rate for COVID-19 but don’t look at the bigger picture.

        Total cases of SARS, just over 8,000, deaths just under 800. BUT disease importation was a LOT lower and at the moment the COVID-19 case numbers are rising exponentially, even if death rates remain the same.

        8,000 SARS cases producing 800 (10%) deaths might seem bad, but in absolute terms, for sake of argument, 200,000 COVID-19 cases producing 2% gives 4,000 deaths; and rising, and rising rapidly.

        Because the death rate appears lower it is discounted as “mild/not so serious” BUT the eventual number of deaths may well be much, much higher.

      1. I think we will be too.

        One problem is that panic feeds on itself.

        Two schools of thought, batten down the hatches, or, it’ll be alright on the night.
        When it goes horribly, horribly pear-shaped the survivors tend to be the bunker bandits.

      2. I’m told that a local with flu-like symptoms dialled 111 and was told to report to the local A&E……..

          2. You wouldn’t…
            ..but the 111 operator would know after cutting you off for heavy breathing!

        2. Terrific,I have a couple of fairly minor issues that I could use seeing my doctor about
          They will keep I don’t fancy visiting a petri dish surgery at the moment

          1. I shouldn’t think the GPs are too thrilled either. We will now when the horse has finally left the stable when all GPs are issued with full Noddy suits

      3. My wife and I received a text each from the NHS (No reply), probably our GPs’ surgery, the other day giving us the information about not going to the surgery or to A&E if we have symptoms that could be COVID-19. Stay at home and if really unwell contact NHS 111. My wife would be particularly at risk as her immune system is shot to pieces from the drugs she has had to take for decades.

  95. The governing party has declared it is not in the public interest to know the ethnic background of
    raping / abusers as it would interfere with ministers wanting to shape policy.
    IMO they have been shaping / rubber stamping policy for years as in mass uncontrolled immigration being given carte blanche via the polling booth.
    Two who no doubt had a hand in policy making being lord steele, cyril smith.

    1. The fact that they are unwilling to make the report public it confirms what e have suspected from newspaper crime reports.

      1. 316577+ up ticks,
        Evening AA,
        The Jay report came out in 2014, did it alter the peoples take on the issues ? made no difference via the polling booth.

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