Sunday 23 May: How the BBC came adrift from its Reithian founding principles

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2021/05/22/letters-bbc-came-adrift-reithian-founding-principles/

687 thoughts on “Sunday 23 May: How the BBC came adrift from its Reithian founding principles”

      1. rule 1 = whatever they say, take opposite point of view / approach. Accept that not all are bad, but it’s ingrained in their DNA / behaviour and UK. like nearly everything else, is a soft touch

        1. So many of those who ought to know better cannot step away from their Christian origin (lying is a sin) Euro-centrism (democracy is desirable, a man’s word is his bond).

  3. Russia is ‘our number one threat’ as its submarines circle Britain. 23 may 2021.

    Normally Russian vessels are spotted in the North Sea or English Channel. However, Mr Wallace said a Russian kilo class submarine was spotted in the Irish Sea at the end of last year, adding that the UK had not seen one there “for a very, very long time. It might have been for the first.”

    In an interview with The Telegraph, he said this showed that Britain was “back” as a global military force able to project that power thousands of miles from home.

    Morning everyone.Wallace regularly makes announcements to raise his political profile and remind Boris that he’s still alive. This particular article shows that either his enthusiasm or common sense is in decline. Aside from the infantile (the idea that Russian submarines are circling the UK in ever decreasing circles is more Monty Python than Machiavelli) nature of his accusations; one wonders at someone who sends troops to Scandinavia and ships to the Black Sea to make eyeballs at the Russians, complaining about their possible attentions. It seems pretty obvious from the comments section here and others that the PTB have lost this particular anti-Russia campaign. There is no support for his assertions and a great deal of opposition pointing out the true nature of our enemies; most of whom masquerade as our friends!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/05/22/exclusive-russia-number-one-threat-submarines-circle-britain/

    1. mng Araminta. Wallace certainly is the correct size to don the clothes of Captain Pugwash. Beyond that, he’s less use as SofS for Defence than a pot plant

    3. That is why the Whipsnade bears were shot. It’s yer symbolism, innit.
      “Wotch out, Vlad.”

  4. mng all. As expected, House of Saville waffle again. More utopian waffle also about eco friendly super yachts. Quentin Skinner having fired off his emotive mail is now enjoying his semester back in the Priory:

    SIR – When I joined the BBC in the 1960s, the Reithian principles of public service, probity and equal consideration of all views were drummed into us, along with our ethical responsibilities towards listeners and viewers. It took years to move up the ladder from production assistant to programme editor, but those
    standards never wavered.

    In the mid-1990s, however, experienced producers such as myself were quietly made redundant: too old and expensive for the new age of youth-focused programming. Talented journalists and directors saw any chance of progression dashed as in-depth documentaries and current affairs programmes disappeared.

    Television journalism became sloppy and partisan. Gone were the days of objective and informed debate. The case of Martin Bashir and Princess Diana, where deliberate deception was involved, is (I hope) rare, but the BBC’s ethical standards have been found wanting for the past two decades. In 2003 there was the “outing” of Dr David Kelly; in 2007 we had the fake Blue Peter competition; in 2008 there was the Russell Brand Show’s “prank” telephone call to Andrew Sachs; and in 2014, there was the live coverage of a police raid on Sir Cliff Richard’s home.

    Most of these cases did not involve deceit, but they show a worrying absence of editorial oversight. I feel less than hopeful about the future of a BBC that I was so proud to be part of.

    Carol Jones
    Honiton, Devon

    SIR – There have been suggestions that Princess Diana would have given an interview even without Mr Bashir’s appalling deception.

    This may be true, but the way that the deception would have hardened her resolve to speak out more boldly, based on her understanding of a fraudulent premise, was surely a significant factor in the awful turn of events. Mr Bashir and the BBC should be ashamed.

    Quentin Skinner
    Warminster, Wiltshire

    SIR – It is bad news for all of us for the BBC to sustain serious reputational damage, which it manifestly has. Despite its many flaws, its independence and investigative journalism are vital parts of maintaining the checks and balances of a democracy. Some of its antagonists are pretty sinister, so it is a good thing that it is a better-led organisation now than it was 25 years ago.

    It is a pity, nonetheless, that Lord Hall’s apologies were so mealy-mouthed. He was probably not wholly responsible for the culture of cover-up, but it would be good if he took a little more responsibility. The key point, however, is that a national broadcaster must not have the culture of a tabloid newspaper. The BBC should seek not to excite its audience, but to inform it calmly and accurately. Chasing ratings and scoops is exactly what it should not be doing. Trust has become an elusive commodity in the 21st century; we must be able to trust the BBC.

    Hilary Davan Wetton
    Steeple Claydon, Buckinghamshire

    Stick to the roadmap

    SIR – What is the point of a nationwide vaccination programme, if not to allow a return to normal life – which means, among other things, scrapping social distancing and enforced mask-wearing?

    Andrew Hughes
    Durham

    SIR – The Government set June 21 as the earliest – not absolute – date for restrictions to end. While businesses would prefer more certainty, surely it is better to be given an indication of the timescale than to have nothing.

    We are hoping to reopen on this date but accept that it is not fixed, and have planned accordingly. Although the vaccination programme has been extremely effective, the Government is right to wait until it has seen the effects of the new variant before removing the final restrictions.

    Jonathan Mann
    Director, Launceston Steam Railway
    Launceston, Cornwall

    Resilient red tape

    SIR – I was amused by your headline: “Treasury prepares for bonfire of EU red tape” (Business, May 16). It reminded me of David Cameron’s vow to have a “bonfire of the quangos”.

    If recent events are anything to go by, Mr Cameron’s quangos proved exceptionally fire-resistant so I hope the Treasury uses a few more fire-lighters to get its blaze going.

    Terry Lloyd
    Derby

    Imperial v metric

    SIR – Various aspects of SI (metric) and imperial units were discussed in last week’s letters. The previous day, you remarked in an editorial that the French still used the old word livre for a pound weight.

    Indeed they do, and the Germans and Austrians have a similar word: pfund. However, these are not really their old pounds but colloquialisms for a half kilogram, so are actually 1.102 lbs. When you are buying potatoes, it’s near enough.

    Similarly, anyone who has poured a half-litre bottle of beer into a pint glass will know that, with the head, this is almost exactly what we get in a pub – so, even if we went fully metric, we could still “pop out for a pint”.

    But the most surprising example is milk. At the time of the changeover, the dairy lobby complained that it would result in them selling slightly less, so the quantity is pints but the label is in litres. Thus the everyday conversation: “If you are going to the shops, get me 0.568 litres of milk.”

    Roger Hannaford
    Haddenham, Buckinghamshire

    Bath Club memories

    SIR – Your feature (May 16) brought back so many memories of learning to swim at the Bath Club that I cannot resist adding to those of Myra, Lady Butter.

    She is correct that, before being allowed in the pool, we had to lie on a mat learning the breast stroke movements of “YITX” under the eagle eye of Miss Daly. But it is not correct to refer to the Bath Club as a gentleman’s club. It was very much a family club, and it was my mother who was a member, not my father.

    Each year there was a competition at which almost everybody got a prize. In my year the prizes were presented by the then Princess Elizabeth. I often wonder if that was the first of the Queen’s many thousands of public engagements.

    Dion Beard
    Sunningdale, Berkshire

    Face-to-face care

    SIR – I struggle to understand why certain areas of the NHS are having difficulty re-establishing face-to-face consultations as the norm.

    In my NHS clinic I have found telephone consultations to be of very limited value. Nearly every clinical decision requires a physical examination, so most remote consultations result in a decision to decide later (ie, a face-to-face consultation). This is clearly a waste of time, with obvious consequences for future clinic capacity.

    All of our staff are vaccinated. Most of the patients are elderly, and therefore vaccinated, and the majority of younger patients seem happier to attend the clinic than wait any longer than they have already.

    We have been seeing emergencies in the flesh throughout the pandemic, so social distancing and other hygiene measures are no longer onerous and the clinic space is set up appropriately despite its small size and the necessity, in ophthalmology, of face-to-face contact (meaning literally that: 30cm, or less, apart). Only we, dentists, ENT surgeons and anaesthetists require such close contact with patients, so if we can do it I am sure others can.

    This (modified) normal working required simply offering the patients a physical consultation rather than a phone call. Most accepted. After a month, in my clinic last week all of the appointments were face-to-face.

    Most consultations took less time than they would have done over the phone and all resulted in a proper clinical decision being made. One third of patients were put on the surgical waiting list, one third were discharged with treatment or advice and one third required investigation or treatment and a future appointment.

    Reverting to these consultations has resulted in a two-thirds reduction in the need for future appointments. Now we just have to address the surgical waiting list.

    Neil Rowson
    Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon
    Burwash, East Sussex

    How to act

    SIR – The actor Martin Freeman has poured scorn on the school of method acting promulgated by the likes of Marlon Brando many years ago.

    When the Hollywood legend Spencer Tracy was asked the secret to being a successful actor, he replied: “Know your lines and don’t bump into the furniture.”

    Martin Henry
    Good Easter, Essex

    Why are amateur choirs still being kept silent?

    SIR – Churches across the land are this morning celebrating Pentecost – but despite now being in Stage Three of the Government’s Covid roadmap, they must do so without their choirs.

    Guidance published this week – 36 hours after we entered this phase – reduces the number of singers amateur church choirs can include. So, while enclosed gyms can have dozens of panting bodies participating in an exercise class, amateur church choirs – no matter how spaced and how much ventilation is available – are limited to a single group of six people.

    Last weekend 10,000 people were at Wembley – many singing – at the FA Cup final, we’re told with no ill effects. Perhaps it’s time for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to be honest and rename itself the Ministry of Football. It clearly has no interest in, understanding of or desire to support the great tradition of choral singing in our parish churches.

    Marie Price
    Director of Music, Parish of Harpenden

    A royal yacht would boost Britain’s morale

    SIR – I believe that a new royal yacht, dismissed by Kevin Platt (Letters, May 16) as a “useless floating palace”, would be a boon for trade, diplomacy and the nation’s sense of pride (assuming such a thing is not a crime now).

    I would be glad to contribute, as would many other individuals and businesses. It could be our yacht.

    Alan Sabatini
    Bournemouth, Dorset

    SIR – Several recent letters have objected to the idea of the royal yacht being a “fighting ship”, crewed by Royal Navy personnel.

    However, one reason for this is that it could then be built in the United Kingdom, thereby giving much needed work to British shipyards. To designate it as anything else would mean putting the vessel out to tender internationally.

    Vanessa Arnold
    Conisbrough, South Yorkshire

    SIR – C A Anderson (Letters, May 16) worries that the royal yacht could end up looking like an oligarch’s super-yacht, but this allows prejudice to overtake fact.

    Almost without exception, today’s super-yachts, however owned, represent the most advanced design and engineering, as well as being the most eco-friendly vessels available. Prince Philip of all people would have appreciated this.

    John Walker
    Cadnam, Hampshire

    SIR – C A Anderson is incorrect in saying that the hull of the Royal Yacht Britannia was black.

    It is a deep blue. This was personally requested by the Queen, and the colour was subsequently known as Britannia Blue. It does, from a distance, appear black.

    Frank McCallum
    Glasgow

    1. German bike frames size are in inches as is copper tube thats half inch . I fully understtnd metric but try to avoid using it. Imperial is based on human feachures. I like that.

    2. There is no need for any contracts be put out to tender internationally. The requirement for this was an EU rule. It allowed their State-subsidised yards in France, Germany, Finland, Poland and Italy to win contracts against UK yards.

        1. Well, maybe. Perhaps Ms Arnold has delved deeper into the WA and trade agreements than we have?

          1. It would seem to be another May and Oily stitch-up.
            Stop ‘obeying orders’, Blighty and develop a spine. (My other two wishes are for a nonagenarian billionaire with dicky heart and self-zapping ground elder.)

    3. Rubbish, Mr Hannaford. Quite apart from the fact that more and more pubs are using lined glasses, if you’re ever given short measure in a brim glass, get a top-up.

    4. Rubbish, Mr Hannaford. Quite apart from the fact that more and more pubs are using lined glasses, if you’re ever given short measure in a brim glass, get a top-up.

    5. “Despite its many flaws, its independence and investigative journalism are vital parts of maintaining the checks and balances of a democracy. Some of its antagonists are pretty sinister, so it is a good thing that it is a better-led organisation now than it was 25 years ago.” Independence and investigative journalism from the Bbc? Is this an entrant for the MRD award? Is the writer under 25? And what about the unsubstantiated claim that some of its antagonists are pretty sinister? Define sinister – clearly it doesn’t mean ‘of the left’.

  7. Body language expert reveals Duke ‘addresses Charles direct’ when discussing ‘history repeating itself’ with Meghan and isn’t self-conscious when he ‘acts out his distress’ for live therapy session. 22 May 2021.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/698b23a6e6049ed2e795574402edaac01dc82826ad19a01a01477366f4c4f353.png

    He also allowed cameras to film him undergoing an ‘extraordinary’ therapy session, during which he received ‘eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing’ (EMDr) treatment for anxiety attacks he said are triggered every time he flies into Britain.

    Utter plonker!

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-9604513/Prince-Harry-addresses-Charles-direct-new-series-body-language-expert-claims.html

      1. Daft, Bill? He’s more than that, he’s bonkers! (Good morning to you, the MR, and all NoTTLers. Oh, and to Gus and Pickles too.)

          6. Yes the first so called Palestinian leader who declared in a 1930’s interview with a Damascus newspaper ” We Arabs reject British Mandatory Citizenship of Palestine as we are all citizens of a Greater Syria “

  8. Good morning, all. SUNSHINE!! It won’t last, natch – but it ain’t half nice to see.

  9. So, when Hancock et al. repeat ad nauseam that the jab is safe they are claiming to know more than Ruud Dobber, a senior executive of AZ who will not claim that side effects will not arise. The current toll of short term side effects, including death, should be sufficient to have these potions banned and those advocating/coercing their use investigated.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4ad51b9674d33af90fd5e7c24cf95328a90e892d1c6203d9ee1d05b6d4c480a5.png

  11. A live rehearsal set up by the Elgar Chorale in Worcester after the 17th May lifting of some lockdown restrictions was cancelled at the last minute.

    A report by Christian Barnett, Local Democracy Reporter for the Worcester News as to what set it off has now been published in the local paper here: https://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/19320834.three-choirs-festival-worcester-jeopardised-last-minute-rule-changes-banning-indoor-singing/?ref=ebln

    “AN HISTORIC festival is in jeopardy because of last-minute rule changes banning amateur choirs of more than six people from practising indoors.
    As people around the city return to pubs, gyms and sporting venues following the easing of lockdown, members of the Three Choirs Festival Chorus say they have been “hung out to dry” by government rule changes stopping them singing indoors.

    The city group gathered at Worcester Cathedral on Monday (May 17) to sing together only to be told less than a day later that the rules had changed and they could no longer meet up indoors. As a result, the choir was forced to practice outside on Thursday.

    Chorus member Claire Horacek said she was devastated and reduced to tears by the news.
    “We had the most fantastically happy first rehearsal on Monday night with the choir safely spread out, much more than two metres apart, in the huge nave of Worcester Cathedral,” she said. “The news on Tuesday afternoon of the late guidance was absolutely heartbreaking, more so due to having had such a great first rehearsal together after 15 months. I only stopped crying when the al fresco rehearsal in the cloisters had been organised.”

    Writing to city MP Robin Walker, she said the historic festival has been jeopardised because of “illogical and ignorant” decision making.
    “For choral singing, in ventilated, controlled spaces with two metre distancing, to be deemed more risky that going to the pub, the sauna, a spin class at a gym, a noisy restaurant – is patently ludicrous. And to add insult to injury the DCMS didn’t even release this guidance until lunchtime [on May 18] – more than a day after it was supposed to come into force – despite the likely date for stage three having been known for months.”

    In late April, ministers advised the intention was for non-professional music activity to resume with bigger numbers indoors. But after consulting with public health ministers, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) guidance was updated on May 18 to clarify that only six amateur singers can meet indoors, and up to 30 singers can meet for a rehearsal outside.

    The Three Choirs Festival, which will be held in Worcester this year following last year’s postponement due to the Covid pandemic, is a week-long celebration with choral and orchestral concerts, recitals, talks and services. The festival is more than 300 years old and is hosted in rotation by Worcester, Gloucester and Hereford.

    A petition calling for the rule to be changed has so far attracted 20,500 signatures. ”

    This is the email from the Elgar Chorale:

    “Subject: FW: Wednesday live rehearsal. IMPORTANT. PLEASE READ.

    Dear All,
    Further to my earlier message, I am sorry to say that we will NOT be meeting at St Andrews, Worcester, tomorrow evening.
    You will read in the letter from Chairman Tim that we will be zooming instead, as we have done for some weeks now.
    I hope you all still have the joining Link? If not please let me know and I will send it on to you.
    Best wishes
    Joan

    “Dear all

    Thanks to Joan for very efficiently sending out her latest letter to you all, but unfortunately developments over the last 24 hours mean that at least for this week we will have to cancel our in-person rehearsal at St Andrews at the very last last minute.

    There has a been a lot of confusion among choirs since Monday, when it was expected that the rules would change enough to enable us to gather indoors as planned. I know that the Three Choirs rehearsal went ahead in the Cathedral on Monday evening. Since then however much attention has been paid to the small one-liner in the latest Government edict which states that ‘non-professional singing indoors should only take place in a single group of up to 6 people’.

    This is hugely irritating, and our go-to advice body, Making Music, is expressing much frustration, even encouraging us to write to our MPs urgently.

    For this reason I am having to pull the plug for this week, rather than knowingly break the law. You can imagine how unhappy this makes me. (I’ve been sent an article penned by a aggrieved musical barrister who encourages us to meet and sing ‘whatever’, but he’s obviously much cleverer than me and can fight his way easily through the legalese loopholes he claims to have identified.)

    I am proposing that we revert to Zoom this week, for a sing-through and also so we can have a general chat about this sorry state of affairs. I’m optimistically imagining that within the next couple of days the situation will be clarified for all of us.

    Sorry to let folks down at the eleventh hour. I for one was disproportionately excited about meeting up tomorrow for a group warble.

    Best wishes to all

    Tim” ”

    This is the previous email setting up the first proper rehearsal since March 2020:

    “Dear All,

    Tomorrow, 19th May is the evening of our first Elgar Chorale Rehearsal back at St Andrew’s Church, Pump Street, Worcester.

    May we ask that you all arrive punctually please? The rehearsal begins at 7.30pm.

    Andrew will be at the outside door to let you in, and check that you have all the music you need.

    The rehearsal will be taking place on the second floor in the Church Room. There is a lift if you wish to use it.
    Please remember to bring a mask.

    You will be registered in, as you arrive at the door to the upstairs Church Room, and directed to your seating, which Piers has arranged
    by producing a “seating plan” to make it easy to know where you should sit.

    Please do not move from your allotted seat during the rehearsal.

    If you need to use the “facilities” during the evening, that will be in order, but we must remain spaced !!

    If you are late arriving, please message Tim or Andrew and, as Tim so nicely puts it, “a rescue party” will come to find you and you will be let in!

    We look forward to singing together again tomorrow evening.

    Kind regards
    Joan”

    1. Maybe they should have chosen a mosque rather than a cathedral for their rehearsals.

    2. Our choir was zapped by the six only rule this morning as well. It’s GUIDELINES, not law! We need to ignore it and tell them to go forth and multiply.

    2. Amen to the latter comment! I’m still waiting to get an appointment and an X-ray (never mind the results of the last X-ray from a few weeks ago).

  15. Alternatives Are Available

    A lady dies and goes to heaven. She arrives at the pearly gates and is greeted by Saint Peter.

    There are a few people waiting, so she strikes up a conversation with him

    Just then, she hears a blood-curdling scream!
    “What was that?” she asks.

    “Oh, don’t worry about that,” says Saint Peter, “It’s just someone getting a hole drilled in their head so they can be fitted for their halo.”

    A few seconds later, she hears another agonised scream, even more terrible than the one before.
    “What was that?!” she asked anxiously.

    “Oh, don’t worry,” says Saint Peter soothingly, “It’s just someone getting holes drilled in their back
    so they can be fitted for their wings.”

    The lady starts to back away.

    “Where are you going?” asks Saint Peter.

    “I think I’ll go downstairs, if it’s all the same to you,” says the lady.

    “But you can’t go there,” says the saint, “You’ll be raped and sodomised!”

    “It’s OK,” says the lady, “I’ve already got the holes for that.“

    2. Morning Minty

      Bashir must have had dozens of ground crew , planners , camera men , producers , all the floor whizz kids who scripted the interview .
      Diana loved publicity , she was an actress, her facial expressions and contempt for her husband were there for all of us to see.

      Remember as well that she had a very rocky relationship with her mother/ step mother/ sisters and brother and some members of the Royal family .

      Anyway, now that Harry is repeating the same nonsense encouraged by his 2 bit actress wife , who is to say that Oprah W will not end up in the same position as Bashir in a year or so when disaster strikes?

    2. Don’t tell me they actually forgot to gang up on us and instead let us win?!?!?

        1. Norway got there first.
          Much more exclusive club than winners… puh, one of those every year.

        2. Norway got there first.
          Much more exclusive club than winners… puh, one of those every year.

  20. We are hoping to reopen on this date but accept that it is not fixed, and have planned accordingly. Although the vaccination programme has
    been extremely effective, the Government is right to wait until it has seen the effects of the new variant before removing the final restrictions.

    Jonathan Mann Director, Launceston Steam Railway Launceston, Cornwall

    Being a cynic, I wonder if any government grants are heading towards a certain railway!

    We need our freedom. NOW

    2. From the article:- “At least 20 military officers have lost their lives in the last three months in three crashes involving Nigerian Air Force jets.”. To lose one Jet may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose two looks like carelessness and to lose three looks reet odd.”

    3. Morning OB

      I read the comments , and it almost felt as if I was there .
      Poor old Nigeria , so many tribal divisions , you can feel the contempt and suspicion that they have for each other .

      Whilst they are busy infighting , their real enemies are getting stronger , and the slaughter of innocent people doesn’t stop.

  22. Welcome to the Recce squad [hit squad]. Somali-American Bashir Mohammed, doing business with government on large projects, brushed connected people the wrong way, ie; got into bed with wrong side [VP William Ruto]. Bashir was an engineer who was running big contracts in Kenya. He was last seen in Kengeles, a restaurant in Lavington, then Miale Kilimani. The news speculation https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2021-05-23-body-of-somali-trader-bashir-mohammed-found-at-kerugoya-morgue/?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1621752357 . Bashir was abducted and body subsequently found in Mwea, Kirinyaga [200km from Nairobi] – , Car set on fire and found in forest off Ngong road. Summary- old guard money do not want Ruto to join the exlcusive money control cartel viz attempting to be President. Bashir was too close to Ruto [$$$ / Ksh]. this is fourth occasion this year those close to “supporting Ruto” get dropped, the previous three cases were on edge of Mombasa

  24. Rightwing attack inevitable, warns informant who identified London nail bomber. 22 may 2021.

    An undercover informant who identified the man behind Britain’s deadliest far-right attack has warned that a similar atrocity is inevitable due to the spread of extreme ideology online.

    The mole, codenamed “Arthur”, told his handler, who then informed the police, that David Copeland was behind a series of attacks that killed three and injured more than 100 over a bombing campaign lasting less than two weeks in 1999.

    Arthur – who spent a decade inside the British National Party when it was the UK’s pre-eminent far-right movement, and pushing a “rights for whites” campaign across east London – met Copeland a number of times in 1997.

    Yes that British National Party, the one never blew anything up or murdered anyone. Oddly enough this failure encompasses all the Right Wing organisations in the UK. They are uniformly useless as a terrorist threat. You have more chance of being murdered by the RSPCA. This is so much a rule that one suspects their entire provenance. Their leaders are invariably personally repellent and stupid while they make no headway in a political system fraught with division. Can all this be an accident? Certainly when the PTB seek a credible threat they turn to the history of individuals who are motivated only by their own beliefs. Thus people who have done no worse than read the Anarchist’s Cookbook are transformed into “Far-right” ideologues bent on World Domination. All this must be placed in a background of successful Islamic attacks on both individuals and groups. As to the article; reading between the lines, it looks more like a softening up exercise for the On-Line Harms Bill than a personal memoir.

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/may/23/rightwing-attack-inevitable-warns-informant-who-identified-london-nail-bomber

  25. Rightwing attack inevitable, warns informant who identified London nail bomber. 22 may 2021.

    An undercover informant who identified the man behind Britain’s deadliest far-right attack has warned that a similar atrocity is inevitable due to the spread of extreme ideology online.

    The mole, codenamed “Arthur”, told his handler, who then informed the police, that David Copeland was behind a series of attacks that killed three and injured more than 100 over a bombing campaign lasting less than two weeks in 1999.

    Arthur – who spent a decade inside the British National Party when it was the UK’s pre-eminent far-right movement, and pushing a “rights for whites” campaign across east London – met Copeland a number of times in 1997.

    Yes that British National Party, the one never blew anything up or murdered anyone. Oddly enough this failure encompasses all the Right Wing organisations in the UK. They are uniformly useless as a terrorist threat. You have more chance of being murdered by the RSPCA. This is so much a rule that one suspects their entire provenance. Their leaders are invariably personally repellent and stupid while they make no headway in a political system fraught with division. Can all this be an accident? Certainly when the PTB seek a credible threat they turn to the history of individuals who are motivated only by their own beliefs. Thus people who have done no worse than read the Anarchist’s Cookbook are transformed into “Far-right” ideologues bent on World Domination. All this must be placed in a background of successful Islamic attacks on both individuals and groups. As to the article; reading between the lines, it looks more like a softening up exercise for the On-Line Harms Bill than a personal memoir.

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/may/23/rightwing-attack-inevitable-warns-informant-who-identified-london-nail-bomber

    1. Incitement to violence, even if he is Bill’s Mr Rashid.

      ‘Morning, Ogga.

      1. 333262+ up ticks,
        Morning NtN,
        When it erupts into actual violence as it surely will, will it change the voting pattern any ?

        After the governance parties members giving their consent over the decades in a manner of good faith & stupidity it is totally unfair of the ” guest” to rampage through the nation on a rape & abuse / knifing,ect,ect campaign and now trying to drum up an internal war.

      1. 333262+ up ticks,
        Morning Anne,
        I believe it will be sang by ALL submissive retards at all reset rallies, Roy Rogers leading
        🎵
        Git along little doggies git along.

      1. The women are even worse and have to be kept under wraps for fear of scaring horses.

    5. Right… it’s on twittwat, plod love to patrol this s let’s hear him arrested for inciting religious racism and genocide and have the BBC publicly acknowledge it.

      Or, is that only for the men who think they’re women?

    1. Yesterday, I watched an episode of Endeavour that I recorded. The superintendent was offered a badge to wear to support the moral movement, but he refused on the grounds that he was obliged to be impartial and not take sides. Ah, those were the days!

    1. Still beaming here in Mid-Suffolk and apart from that, Good morning, Bill.

    3. Good afternoon. No sunshine (as forecast) on a breezy Costa Clyde but we managed to get around the golf course without requiring waterproofs, just fortitude.
      As a bonus, no need to be sat in a wet pub beer garden later as the great Nictator (aka TV’s Nicola Sturgeon) has relented to allow us to have a pint indoors!
      *remembers to doff cap*

    4. Good afternoon. No sunshine (as forecast) on a breezy Costa Clyde but we managed to get around the golf course without requiring waterproofs, just fortitude.
      As a bonus, no need to be sat in a wet pub beer garden later as the great Nictator (aka TV’s Nicola Sturgeon) has relented to allow us to have a pint indoors!
      *remembers to doff cap*

        1. ♪♫All I want For Christmas, Is My Two Front Teeth♪♫

          ‘Morning, Hat.

  30. A good morning and bye bye from Bursledon.
    Just finishing off getting my personal kit sorted, then t’Lad & I will be Derbyshire bound!

      1. Well, I have lived her for the past 30 years!
        The trips down to Bursledon are to help the DT and her sister clear out their parents’ house.

      2. Heyup Bill!
        A nasty heavy shower as we left, but it cleared up and was reasonable for the rest of the trip.
        Jack’s Hill Cafe, on the A5 just North of Towcester, is open so we called in.

    3. So long. Thanks for visiting our beautiful county of Hampshire. Please wipe your boots on the way out.

      1. Good morning.

        Something occurred to me with all these Palestinian protests. These are probably the same men who dress in black and wear balaclava, waving jihadi flags in London.

        As we saw in Iraq, when things aren’t going their way or they wish to redirect the narrative they do a quick costume change.

    4. ‘Afternoon, Philip, I have put up the following BTL comment:

      “I think a major shift along the San Andreas fault can’t come quickly enough and maybe allow California to quietly slide into the sea.”

    5. But they will still vote Democrat, and then wonder why Texas and Florida go the same way

  32. Good morning & happy Sunday all Nottlers, Some good mood music, enjoy!
    Souvenirs Souvenirs (Johnny Hallyday) – Avalon Jazz Band
    “Souvenirs” is a song written by Cy Coben and originally recorded by Barbara Evans in 1959. Later the song was adapted into French by Fernand Bonifay. French rockstar Johnny Hallyday released it (under the title “Souvenirs, souvenirs”) as an EP in 1960.

    This video was shot at the Keep in Brooklyn by Edward Bally and Stephen Lamarche, recorded by Adrien Chevalier.

    Vocals – Tatiana Eva-Marie
    Saxophone – Patrick Bartley
    Violin – Gabe Terracciano
    Guitar – Vinny Raniolo
    Bass – Wallace Stelzer

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnK3kv21Gik

  33. I see that Norwich City are in awe to yer blicks. I thought that I would send them a note as suggested by someone on Twotter yesterday.

    “I note that you are commemorating the death of the black icon George Floyd. It is regrettable that he died in the course of his arrest but a career criminal is hardly the type of person that I would want to see British Government bodies celebrating. There are Blacks who are positive role models and the Black community would greatly benefit from them being promoted as successful and hard working, something which the youth can aspire to. Sadly, black culture, and rap music in particular, inspire little more that crime, violence and gangsters.
    It is very disappointing to see your Council supporting the BLM movement, who I’m sure you know has marxism at its heart and is trying to reduce civil society to the law of the jungle. You will be also aware of their establishment of the Capitol Hill Autonomous zone in Seattle where the police were excluded so summary justice was delivered by the ruling gang. Be careful who you support because revolutions eventually eat their own.”
    Kaypea
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ec9f384ae94c4ade3697c3da901b14c6dec97d86dbecc3f2b7a5e71c6180cd2b.png

      1. Remarkable skill by these effigy trans women. I’ve not been able to do that since I was at primary school, and we used to aim over the low wall at the girls on the other side.

    2. Clearly they lack the nous to figure out that by supporting one particular community defined by its colour they are, in fact, being racist!

  34. While passing through the exercise room (aka lounge, TV room, drawing room) there was a short segment on the BBC News. Apparently the United Kingdom’s new Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth is going on an operational tour. It carries six F-35 jets which “will make operational flights over Iran”. I’m not sure that I heard that right.

    (Sorted?)

    1. I heard a report yesterday which said that the F35s were going to give ISIS a pounding as they went past Iraq. The whole idea of seems a bit odd when conducted on a world tour seemingly aimed at rattling China’s cage.

      1. Hmm. Maybe they did say that, then. This may be a voyage of no return. The Chinese won’t be welcoming them into the South China Sea.
        If the task force is sunk, then the USA will have a casus belli as they would lose a couple of unimportant escort ships.

      2. Iran may send out a few little boats to welcome them in their old-fashioned Iranian way.

    3. 892 NAS (Naval Air Squadron) ALWAYS took at least one more aircraft aboard HMS Ark Royal, than its’ operational commitmeent required

      It was put on jacks and became a ‘Christmas Tree’ to supply parts to the the rest of the squadron aircraft.

      I wonder how 617 RAF Sqn will get on…… more to the point, why has not an RN NAS been deployed?

        1. Well, the wings did fold…………….
          .F4K Phantoms, Air Defence

          Buccaneers, Bombers (nuke of course}

          Scimitars, In flight refuelling
          Gannets, Aircraft Early Warning & Communications

          Sea Kings, Anti Submarine
          Wessex V Air SeaRescue

    4. In the absence of Peddy, I will temporarily assume the mantel of Chief Pedant. ;-))
      Apparently the HMS Queen Elizabeth is going on an operational tour.
      No “the”. Otherwise it’s “… the Her Majesty’s Ship Queen Elizabeth…” which don’t make sense.
      .

  35. Will this train of thought cross the pond to the HoC? https://www.zerohedge.com/political/desantis-critical-race-theory-offensive-expect-taxpayers-pay-teach-kids-hate-their given silent majority here figured out the social engineering attempt ages ago. Certainly since the effects of the abolition of Grammar schools started to take effect. Also the Woke’s Long March through Education meant most of the lecturers who were “of a left bent” who had been in Higher Education were then in a position to continue the process of brainwashing that’s continued ever since.They teach the next generation and then the process continually repeats itself and each generation gets more and more woke extreme.

    1. “And the Pavlik Morosov Prize for dobbing in your family goes to …………..”

      1. spin the roulette wheel – “All members of the Hoc, UK MSM, Universities, Edukashun, The Dork of Sussex – eyes down for a full house, spin that wheel. Remember keep out of black and in the red, nothing in this game for three in a bed” unless your’e woke

      2. spin the roulette wheel – “All members of the Hoc, UK MSM, Universities, Edukashun, The Dork of Sussex – eyes down for a full house, spin that wheel. Remember keep out of black and in the red, nothing in this game for three in a bed” unless your’e woke

    2. “Altogether now, Class …. “FREE PALESTINE”.
      Very good: but, Fatima, could you clench your fist a little more tightly?”

    3. “Living in London, I wonder what gives me that idea…”

      Isn’t it more like “Existing” in London, Debbie? It must be purgatory.

  37. The BBC – white people should not only apologise they should pay for the misdeeds of their forefathers for their colonialism and links to slavery.

    Also – the Bashir interview happened 25 years ago so we shouldn’t be blamed for it.

      1. I really need to watch that again, it’s 35 years since I last sat down and watched it. I seem to remember it was split into two films each being about three hours long.

    2. In the 1960s, there was a show called ‘All our Yesterdays’ which tracked events as they happened 25 years earlier. Mostly wartime footage then.

      Today, such a show is breaking news.

    3. Johnson and Blair have both apologised for things which happened when they were children or long before they were even born in which they had no involvement .

      Virtue signalling hypocrisy like this should be an imprisonable offence!

    4. ‘Morning, BA, er, just one problem with the BBC’s thinking there – to whom will my payments be made and why?

      1. Due to the circumstances now revealed, can the public now make a legal demand for a refund ?

  39. I greatly enjoyed reading the opening paragraph of Douglas Murray’s excellent article:

    Cambridge alumni should withhold donations so long as it is in the grip of this woke vice-chancellor
    Under the leadership of a Canadian lawyer called Stephen Toope, Cambridge University has become a home of politically correct absurdity
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/05/22/cambridge-alumni-should-withhold-donations-long-grip-woke-vice/

    “Conservatives underestimated a lot of things about the woke wave. Not the least of these was the presumption that the country’s elite institutions, such as higher education, might be protected from it, that while the lower-ranking universities might fester in a soup of “peace studies” and feminist dance courses, the jewels in our crown would remain sparkling and unblemished.”

    I cannot see that Oxbridge will remain the gold standard for British universities for much longer – and especially if the entry requirements for non-whites is reduced to GCSE level.

    1. Rastus good morning & happy Sunday.
      Cambridge University is known for producing only two things – KGB Spies & BBC staff, in fact the two are interchangeable !

      1. I wonder what Cambridge University thinks about my father – an alumnus and Foundation Scholar of St John’s College, Cambridge with a First Class degree in Classics who then passed out top in his year in the Civil Service Arabic exams before entering the colonial service and finishing as the governor of the Northern Province of the Sudan.

        You only have to look at what has happened in the Sudan since the British left nearly 70 years ago : genocide, famine, plague, endless civil war, religious persecution and torture, collapse of infrastructure and partition.

        One thing is clear: the woke, left-wing, anti-colonial wokists do not give a toss about the lot of the ordinary black person whose lives were very much better when humane, wise and benign people like my father were there.

          1. Thank you – corrected. He was certainly better at Latin than I am!

        2. When we visited Uganda a few years ago I was struck by the perfect English spoken by an elderly bee-keeper. He told me that he “learnt from the British teachers at his British school”.

    2. As high as that, Rastus? Some will surely fail and we can’t have that, can we?

  42. “Unwittingly”.
    Yer … Right.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/05/22/millions-unwittingly-tracked-phone-vaccination-see-movements/

    Millions ‘unwittingly tracked’ by phone after vaccination to see if movements changed

    A report revealed that data from one in ten peoples’ phones were tracked in February

    22 May 2021 • 8:17pm

    Millions of Britons had their movements “unwittingly tracked” using their mobile phones to see if vaccinated people moved about more after their jabs, the Telegraph has learnt.

    A report from the SPI-B committee of Government scientists admitted that data from one in ten peoples’ phones were tracked in February, without their owners’ express knowledge.

    The figures were used by researchers at Oxford University, who carried out studies for the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Behaviours (SPI-B), which advises the Sage group of Government scientific advisers.

    Using “cell phone mobility data for 10 per cent of the British population”, the Oxford University experts found 4,254 individuals were vaccinated.

    This group was then tracked through 40 “CDR [call data records] with corresponding location observations” every day, and monitored for behavioural change by analysing their data for the week prior and week after the vaccination event.

    The report said that “various robustness checks are undertaken by age, distance from home to vaccination point” were checked.

    The experts also looked at “gyration (radius of gyration on vaccination day), time (opening hours) and home (do they go home directly after vaccination)”.

    By comparing the movements of the vaccinated people against a different control group the scientists found that their “average pre-vaccination mobility increased by 218 meters [sic]”.

    Campaigners against greater state surveillance in the UK said Britons would be “disturbed to discover they were unwittingly tracked and subjected to behavioural analysis via their phones”.

    Silkie Carlo, a spokesman for Big Brother Watch, said: “No one expects that by going to get a vaccine they will be tracked and monitored by their own Government.

    “This is deeply chilling and could be extremely damaging to public trust in medical confidentiality.

    “Between looming Covid passports and vaccine phone surveillance, this Government is turning Britain into a Big Brother state under the cover of Covid. This should be a wake up call to us all.”

    A Government spokesman said: “All the data sets used in this research are set out in the paper which makes clear that the mobile phone location data used is GDPR-compliant and has been provided from a company that collected, cleaned, and anonymized the data.

    “The data is at cell tower rather than individual level and the researchers were granted access to the dataset under a research contract with ethical approval provided to the researchers from the University of Oxford, working on behalf of SPI-B”.

    A Government source said: “This analysis is at the cell tower level of anonymised data and is therefore not individual surveillance.

    “This coarse resolution of data at the cell phone tower level can range from around 300 meters to 1-2 kilometres and even up to 12 kilometres in rural areas.

    “Although the location is smaller in urban areas, the population density is also higher, meaning it is not possible to identify individuals.

    “It is not GPS tracing data which is commonly used by some large commercial companies for targeted advertising.”

    The source added the project was approved by an Ethics committee at Oxford University, with the data “provided by the company as part of the Covid-19 response of sharing data for the public good.

    “This data is incidental and automatically generated when people use their mobile phones and is part of the general terms and conditions.

    “Data was extensively anonymised by the company before it is used for research.

    “Users are given a new token of identification each month to preserve anonymity and the only basic demographic data that is shared is age within a two-year bracket and self-reported sex.

    “Only a small group of pre-approved researchers had access to the data.”

    1. They wouldn’t have learned much from my phone as I usually leave it at home……

      2. Snap. Somewhere in the house. Probably time I sent a text just to keep the thing going.

      2. More loo roles are in the side cupboard ……with the cream crackers and cheese.

          1. You cant eat a cream cracker with out safety goggles in case they shatter and fill your eyes with …..well crumbs.

    2. e.g. : “There is absolutely no evidence that the 2020 US election was corrupt.”

    3. Seems true of most media outlets.

      Does the Beeb recruit from ex Daily Fail journos?

          2. I’m not sure – I’ve given up tracking the wokery in the Bbc. All I can remember is feeling disgusted when an infidel got the job. It may have changed hands in the meantime (but the basic anti-Christian trend won’t have altered).

  44. Today’s guest on Radio 4 Desert Island Discs is a well known celebrity who once said of a politician;

    “He is a beacon of hope in the struggle against emergent far-right nationalism, xenophobia and racism in much of the democratic world”, “He’s ascetic and morally incorruptible”.

    Who is that illustrious celebrity and of whom was he speaking?… … … … Alexei Sayle (Lifelong communist) and Jeremy Corbyn (Communist diety).

        3. How long did it take him to look in the mirror and come to terms with the fact that possibly only his family like him.

  45. EUROVISION 2021 saw James Newman score a dismal null points after he represented the UK with his song Embers.

    I think the clue lies in the song title!

    If we won it would cost UK £200-300 million to host this rubbish!
    Well done EU and thanks.

    1. Perhaps we have learned our lesson at last. they hate us and ‘it’s not usual’ to have most of the songs sung in English. I never watch it, but as describe by my mate who is a musician and a decent singer,….. WTF was that Italian stuff all about, pronounced as winner.
      He said it reminded him of the Brussels mafia, running the around on the stage like deranged head less chickens

        1. Apart from the early days when common sense and good music prevailed. In the more recent past I have seen the Contest as someone opening the doors of the asylum and letting people run riot. It makes no sense what so ever to be part of it. We’ve had some of the best bands, musicians and singers on the planet The UK is above all that.

          1. We have been way ahead in the music scene spotting new trends
            and talented musicians. The Uk have lead the way for others to follow.

            Next years entry………… Rule Britannia

          2. It’s gone off the boil a bit since Britain’s got Talent and The Voice came on t the TV.
            As we have discussed earlier the best bands worked their way up from pubs and clubs.
            Our eldest’s (lead guitar) band are back rehearsing and have local pub gigs arranged.

          5. Next year’s entry should be 500,000 illegal economic migrants with fixed “Return to Sender” stamped on forehead

          1. Happy Whitsun, Hat. Before they felt entitled to put us down because we were subordinates in their institutions, rather than a free people.

      1. 333262+ up ticks,
        Afternoon P,
        In its current condition ( government parties input) you would have a job giving it away although 48% of the electorate
        did their damndest to do just that.

    2. Looking for any fish that might be left in our waters ?

      I liked your comment about Noel Edmonds yesterday TB. I knew him and his first wife Gill in the early 70s. He lived at the time in a road named Brookland Rise NW London. He use to present Top of the pops as well as his radio show. A nice guy with a good sense of humour. He needed it with me and my business partner Ian fitting his kitchen and other types of work.
      They had a local residents association who wrote him a letter because they didn’t like the colour of his new solid timber back gate. They didn’t realise that is was only pink primer.

    3. More fear factor. I would have though that last thing the Russians would want is a woke, immigrant infested land running on windmills. On the plus side, it seems that the country is full of marxists. On this wet day, a G&T at lunchtime might have to be administered.

        1. It’s the Hitler flipping government that worries me EVEN more than these scum.

    4. More fear factor. I would have though that last thing the Russians would want is a woke, immigrant infested land running on windmills. On the plus side, it seems that the country is full of marxists. On this wet day, a G&T at lunchtime might have to be administered.

  47. Families who refuse to quarantine after trips to India are blamed for Covid surge in Bolton – mainly in overcrowded areas where ‘up to eight people live in two-bed homes’
    About 1,500 of Bolton’s residents are thought to have travelled to South Asia in February and March this year at the peak of lockdown
    Rush to return may have brought Indian variant as people refused to self-isolate
    In the week to May 16, Bolton saw 982 positive cases, up 438 on previous week

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9608141/Families-refusing-quarantine-India-trips-blamed-Bolton-Covid-Indian-variant-surge.html

    1. And once again the real reason for this has not been mentioned, with far too much emphasise on the word and country of India. The M or I word is taboo to our press, they are pathetic. Why should people from India bare the brunt of what others have done and are still doing. How long is the rest of the British public supposed to put up with all this fakery ?

      1. 333262+ up ticks,
        Morning RE,
        ALL the while lab/lib/con coalition rule the roost with no opposition.
        I don’t care if the lumberjack wears fishnet tights and is bent as a nine bob note if only he cut down the family tree that finds succour in the ballot booth.
        The electorate are supporting / voting for parties that have long since died & are as dead as that stuffed parrot.

        lab/lib/con (ino) coalition that bares the
        Country / indigenous peoples ILL WILL
        guaranteed.

          1. 333262+ up ticks,
            TB,
            Tell Noel ” you are never alone with a strand “( lonely man)
            And he can rest assured that as long as the governance party sees fit to keep the door on the strand at DOVER open we never will be.

          2. There may be 29 million homes but you haven’t counted the sheds in Southall and the like in Brum, Bradford, Leicester and other BAME hotspots. What about ♪♫”Underneath The Arches”♪♫?

        2. I understand where you are coming from Oga but……….we have never had more than the usual three boring witless candidates in our general elections.
          Once I voted for an independent and his support doubled, but never to be seen again.

          1. 333262+ up ticks,
            Afternoon RE,
            In which case sad to say NOTA must come into play otherwise if the choice is only between the three in the close shop the electorate don the mantle of voting chemist having to find the party containing the least sh!te.
            Minite amout of sh!te, middling amount of sh!te, high grade sh!te, in the long run as we are now witnessing , makes no difference.

          2. It makes not a lot of difference what we vote for in the UK with three parties there are always more people who vote against the government than for the incoming. So we always end up with an unelected dictatorship. Three parties are the down fall. Of the three i would prefer if labour were wiped out. Since Blair they did more damage to the UK than Hitler. But it wont happen in our life time.

          3. 333262+ up ticks,
            RE,
            Sad to say they have three party names for voters consumption in reality there is only one party, now proven peoples condemn their kids future voting for that ONE PARTY.

            One party consists of lab/lib/con coalition.

      2. We only had 6 in the choir this morning (but at least we had a choir able to sing) because of new “guidelines” that amateur (our choir is only amateur in the sense that they are not paid) performers can’t number more than six, while professionals can number as many as you like. Even the stand-in vicar (we are in a Vacancy) commented that he couldn’t see any sense in it. I agree, especially as we’ve had far more members of the choir singing in previous weeks without the plague decimating the congregation. If I’d had had time I’d have suggested that each choir member was paid 1p, thus making them professionals, which they could donate back to church funds at the end of the month. If they gift-aided it, we’d actually make money! We need to fight dirty to oppose the lunacy.

          1. They never miss an opportunity to prove to people with even half a brain cell that they really do not have a clue. The time for rebellion is long overdue.

        2. Where as if you’re a kneeler you can get away with a lot more.
          Our middle son and his wife and 15 month old son were turned away from the local church last Sunday after they had walked the mile or so from home. Because they already had 30 people sitting in the pews. It’s laughable i bet that has never happened in Bolton.
          Next month after a 12 month forced wait it’s the little toddlers christening service. I don’t think he’s going to be at all happy with being ‘man handled’ and doused with drops of water, as it were.

          1. Should have reminded the jobsworths that Jesus said, “suffer the little children to come unto me”. I did wonder (I didn’t go last week to get the notices) if I should have booked to come this morning as it was Pentecost, but in the event there were only about 2 dozen in the congregation (and it’s a large church).

  48. I hate Sunday
    Moh playing golf , competition
    Son out on his motorbike
    Me, my car still hasn’t been fixed , spare part needed but not available
    Dogs need to go out for a gallop

    Bad weather will be back with us shortly, the wind is building up, and it feels quite cold with the patio door open .
    I have things I would like to do , but I can’t .

    1. It’s not very inviting – howling gale blowing out there. Think I’ll stay in here.

      2. Dogs have been bouncing around , take me out take me out , but a walk around the village is not what they want , nor I.

        Moh will be knackered by the time he arrives home , he had an early start this morning, and at some point he will have got rather wet!

        1. Belle, if bored you can slave over a hot stove and prepare a delightful roast dinner for your OH when he arrives home….

          1. We are eating salmon fillets (courtesy of Sainsbury’s) , mashed spuds and vegetables later on .

            Having a cup of tea now , Moh arrived home a couple of hours ago, took the dogs out for a gallop , then the rain appeared , horrible weather again.

            Son home safely from riding in the Motor Bikethon nr Bournemouth.

    2. Sorry to hear about the car still being a problem, Mags, I’m happy to say that my wonderful garage man and his electrician mate, managed to fix the problem by by-passing the loom. Warning light out, battery charging like a beast.

      He’s a bit too far away to help you though. KBO.

    4. Have you tried making sour dough TB, it can take up to 48 hours. The starter takes about 7 days to produce. Three ingredients strong white Flour water and salt.
      I’m back from the garden it rained it was bright and sunny at 6am today. And home from delivering a condolence card to a friends letter box, she recently lost her hubby.

      1. Son managed to cultivate a sourdough mixture years ago , and after weeks it was ready to use, and the bread was delicious .
        All a bit of a fiddle daddle these days .

    6. SWMBOs car had it’s MoT a month ago. There’d been an airbag fault, traced to a wire that triggers the side airbag. Airbag fault = fail. Impossible to get the wire, about £5 worth, but with special connectors, and safety-critical part. So, to avoid scrapping a perfectly good car, Firstborn made a new wire from scratch. Problem gone.
      You might need to go to a scrapyard, Belle. But anything that crosses the customs border of the UK is taking stupidly long to be cleared, so that might be the problem.

  49. Here we go with another side-effect post being jabbed. Wafted away, as per usual, as a coincidence by a medical person but being investigated by the USA’s CDC nevertheless. Coincidences are on the up, another symptom of this extraordinary virus.

    The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is investigating several dozen reports of heart inflammation in teenagers and young adults after Covid vaccination. These cases occurred in people days after receiving an mRNA vaccine, though the agency did not specify
    whether this was linked to the Pfizer or the Moderna vaccine (or both).

    Lockdown Sceptics

  51. Before i shuffle off and go out gardening again. Not cutting the grass, too we still.
    Old joke….
    Local dignitaries including the mayor were on a visit to an old country house where people with ‘mental health’ issues were looked after 24 hours a day.
    After looking around the inside for an hour or so one of the mayor had noticed from the large windows how kempt the gardens were.
    As they were all lining up out side the impressive main entrance of the Victorian building for a press photograph, for the local news paper the mayor noticed a man cutting the lawns with immaculate precision. He went over to speak to him as was followed by the cameras crew and reporters. The man stopped his mower and was spoken to by the mayor. The crew members homed in as the council leader spoke with a praiseworthy attitude, to the who he found was the deputy head gardener. He asked the inmate how long he had been at his job. Oh 25 years man and boy I’ve been here he said. Wonderful job said the Mayor. I’ll recommend you to the council we could do with some of your first class work around the towns gardens. He firmly shook hands and the mayor turned to take his seat in the Limo. Just as he was closing the door the lawn mower flew through the air and landed on the roof of the car………..the mayor opened the window and shouted, what on earth was that about ? The gardener shouted back ……….you wont forget will you ?

  52. Richard Burton: the wild Victorian explorer boasted that he had ‘committed every sin in the Decalogue’
    ‘Ruffian Dick’ was a polyglot, brawler and diplomat like no other, whose exploits across the Empire had tongues wagging in London clubs
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/authors/richard-burton-wild-victorian-explorer-committed-every-sin-decalogue/

    My BTL post wasn’t taken down – it was censored before it even went up!

    “In the 10 Commandments Adultery features at Number 7 – but where is buggery and did Richard Burton, the explorer, commit it?”

    1. I always wonder why there hasn’t been a film of Burton’s exploits. I remember the 70s series about him and Speke, but he did so much more.

      1. He was great in “Where Eagles Dare”! “Broadsword calling Danny Boy…”

      2. And Speke was immortalized at British Rail stations when I was a lad, they had scales where you inserted a penny by the sign that said ” I Speke your weight “

    2. Try using Sodomy instead, Richard, considering that it’s BBC policy (Sod ’em all).

    3. Mentioned by Alan Whitehead in both of the books , The White Nile and The Blue Nile ..
      I have loads of books about Africa, some of which belonged to my father .

      1. I have loads of books about Africa, some of which belonged to my father .

        Some of Africa belonged to you Dad, T_B? wow

        1. Oh no, oh dear , have Peddy and Grizzly given you a nudge to nudge me .

          Glad you pointed that out , in fact I probably named the author incorrectly .

  53. On a gentler note , and after the discussion re Desert Island Discs earlier down the thread , what d you think of this

    Desrt Island discs Alfred Wainwright (1988) – The final walk
    Sue Lawley talked to the fell-walker Alfred Wainwright when he was 81 years old. He described how producing his guide books became an obsession for him: “I had a single-track mind and it ended, finally, with my wife walking out and taking the dog. And I never saw her again.” His account of the very last time he took a fell walk was both poignant and eloquent. His eyesight was gone, he kept losing his footing and it was pouring with rain. “The mountains wept tears for me that day.”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p009mfrs

      1. Heartbreak Hotel

        Chuck Berry
        Sweet Little Sixteen

        Benjamin Britten
        Courtly Dances (from Gloriana)

        Orchestra: Julian Bream Consort

        Gene Vincent
        Be-Bop-A-Lula

        CASTAWAY’S FAVOURITE

        John Lennon
        Beautiful Boy

        The Coasters
        Searchin’

        Little Richard
        Tutti Frutti

        Country Ham
        Walking In The Park With Eloise

        BOOK CHOICE
        Linda’s pictures – Linda McCartney
        LUXURY CHOICE
        Guitar

        https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p009ml01

    2. Afternoon Belle. Happy days wandering the Lakeland Fells. I still have my original Wainwrights; though like Alfred himself I am beyond using them!

  56. Eurovision 2021 results: Italy wins as UK gets nil points – and 8 other big moments from the night

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2021/05/22/eurovision-2021-final-song-contest-finalists-results-winner/

    Was it something I said?

    The last two BTL comments I tried to submit were not put up.

    I suggested the following under an article on the Eurovision Song Contest in which England, as usual, got zero

    How about having some rather more combative lyrics since whatever we produce will get ‘Nul Points’ anyway so why not go for broke!

    How about:

    Bugger and stuff and then screw you,
    We’ve escaped from the EU’s foul voodoo,
    So let’s sing it – not text it;
    We’ve pulled off a Brexit
    Don’t you wish you could pull off that coup too?

    Your pathetically sad Eurovision
    Attracts nothing but scorn and derision,
    And your limp, listless stance
    In Greece, Spain and France
    Couldn’t even inspire coition.

    (Sung to a tune of Hickory, Dickory, Dock)

      1. IMHO That whole event is a rigged opportunity to show off extreme pre arranged bias and inherent stupidity.

        1. It’s another propaganda event is it not? Good little marketeers win, bad boys lose!

          2. I suggest we pick up our ball (the 28% of the cost of the horror-show that we cough up) and we go home! There is the added bonus of the ghastly simpering tart, Amanda Holden, no longer being anywhere near a microphone or camera ever again!

          3. I couldn’t bring my self to watch the program.
            When i saw it featured with that ‘chap in drag’, it made things even worse.
            I don’t think i’ve seen one since the bearded israeli ‘won’ it ???
            I have certain standards.

          4. I don’t reacll watching it since the days of Terry Wogan & Katie Boyle. It’s definitely to be avoided.

      1. Yo Plum. It appeals to my sense of humour too. We must both be really old codgers.

      1. She always has. If I’d lived in her constituency (Vauxhall, I think) I’d have voted for her.

        1. #Me Too, even though I’ve never managed to bring myself to vote Labour in all the years I’ve had the franchise.

    2. Be careful what you wish for. Here, they put the licence fee onto income tax. Now, there’s no evading it.

  60. I forced myself to watch and listen to the UK Eurovision song entry… and I must say that it was a load of cráp. Zero points was far too high a score for such rubbish. I want my money back.

        1. Indeed. I have just seen that, like the Beeb, my county council has wasted another load of dosh hiking the money they pay to the new leader and deputy leader.

    3. I understand the UK had to pay over 300K to enter for this crap…!

      Thank fully we won’t be hosting it next year.

    2. Viewing footage there are a lot of white wokist students accompanying the scum on their march. Several holding a banner ‘Refugees Welcome’.

      The so-called Palestinians freely occupying the Gaza Strip have had fifty odd years in which they could have built a prosperous society. Instead their obsessive hatred of Jews has prevented their progress. They have squandered their wealth on destructive weaponry and a terror network of tunnels from which to deliver their arsenal.

      London and our former Second City, Bristol, are no longer safe places to be.

      1. As they used to say: The Palestinians never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity. (c) H Kissinger, I believe.

    3. Viewing footage there are a lot of white wokist students accompanying the scum on their march. Several holding a banner ‘Refugees Welcome’.

      The so-called Palestinians freely occupying the Gaza Strip have had fifty odd years in which they could have built a prosperous society. Instead their obsessive hatred of Jews has prevented their progress. They have squandered their wealth on destructive weaponry and a terror network of tunnels from which to deliver their arsenal.

      London and our former Second City, Bristol, are no longer safe places to be.

    4. I was driving along behind an Albanian registered car whose back window had the palestian fist salute, and the slogan in english “stop massacring palestians”
      Yeah, Albania, that beacon of civilisation and success.

  62. Afternoon, all. Still cold and miserable here so I’ve come inside to plague you all again. The sermon this morning (Pentecost) was all about the Holy Spirit coming in a rushing wind. When I came out of church, we had such a strong wind that it nearly whipped my trilby off!

    2. Colder than a cold place here.
      Apparently “north of the Arctic Circle”, they are getting summer – well, we’re only 1 000km south, and it’s already early winter. And raining. And windy. In fact, effing awful.
      It’s making me grumpy.

      1. They don’t need riot gear or firearms to control a crowd of Muslims, as everyone knows that Islam is the Religion of Peace.

        1. And if you don’t acknowledge that ‘fact’ they will chop your head off or blow you up.

      2. That’s not fair. The government does a great job with Muslims.

        It gives them free food, water, homes, healthcare, hides their crimes, excuses their behaviour and rewards them with special treatment whereever possible.

        1. 333262+ up ticks,
          Afternoon W,
          A shout in parliament & caters for them on the parliamentary canteen menu, halal nosh.

        1. We moved out in 1982 after the Brixton riots of 1981, which were not confined to Brixton and extended to Clapham Common, and after my wife was mugged on Crescent Lane by several
          Black youths.

      2. I spent a couple of years in London between school and university.

        I loved it but I was happy to leave: here are the lyrics of a song I wrote at the time:

        Leaving London : Richard Tracey (1966)

        The city is a magnet
        And we’re powerless to resist,
        We are drawn and then enveloped
        And we can’t see in the mist
        Our hearts are filled with hope
        That the streets are paved with gold
        And we waste our youth in rented rooms
        That are sordid, damp and cold

        And I’m trying to find a meaning
        And I’m trying to write a song
        But the words come out as cliches
        And they don’t seem to belong
        And the tune is just an echo
        Of some other tune I’ve heard
        And my mind’s become a vacuum
        With no music and no words

        So the city is my nightmare
        And I don’t know why I came
        But I know if was still 18
        I’d go there just the same
        And now that I am leaving
        There is still a part of me
        That wants to stay in London
        And it will not set me free

        And I’m trying to say something
        But I don’t know what to say
        And I’m trying to find some idols
        Who have not got feet of clay
        And I wish I were original
        And gave and earned respect
        And I wish my mind was real
        And not a pseudo-intellect.

    3. Why? That’s how they like it, isn’t it? Part and parcel of life in a big city, I thought.

    2. I had a sort of ersatz paella – mainly rice with a few bits thrown in for good measure. Gave me an excuse to down a few glasses of red, though 🙂

    3. Liver pate with peppercorns on sourdough bread + coleslaw, and a can of pils.

      1. Bacon and beetroot sandwiches on white bread, with a dish of pea and ham soup [every item home-made].

        No midday Sunday meal tradition here in Sweden. Main meal of the week is Saturday supper.

        1. Nice!
          No bacon, no beetroot here, just a few sad home-pickled onions, made to a Polish recipe.
          No pea soup, either… :-((

          7. My brand names for web-whitener and button-polisher in my day – are verboten ! Both begin with ‘B’ …

        1. WTF happened to “spring”? Never mind the green bit.
          Afternoon, Grizz.

    7. We finished off some chicken goulash ( diced chicken, carrots, onions, potatoes , tomatoes in a tomato & paprika sauce ) . I cooked it last Thursday & made far too much so I fridged it & added some more tomatoes & tomato puree today before reheating it.

    8. About 8.00pm:

      Tesco frozen Chicken Dinner, Sweetie !

      Chicken/ stuffing/ peas/ carrots/ roast potatoes – augmented with a half portion of Tesco chilled Broccoli-Cheese …

      And lots of Aussie Shiraz …

    9. more early evening meal given daughter was in usual Sunday comatose state. Made her favourite Chicken / mushroom pie wth spring onions, mushrooms and local pili pili and mash. Hence having to “Lord Lucan” it yesterday pm

      2. I’m perhaps a bit harsh, but what pillock uses his mental anguish as an excuse to publically stick it to his family and country, and tells all on TV – whilst asking to be left in peace? The man is deranged, and should be locked away for his own good.

          2. Tut, tut! I thought you knew I am a fully paid up member of Pedants ‘R Us 🙂

          3. Sorry Conway! I had forgotten your dogged determination! How is the search for a canine pal going?

          4. Very badly, I’m afraid. I found one, put in an adoption request and was told they would wait until they’d got enough applicants then sift through them and select the one they wanted 🙁 I just want a suitable dog! Now, not at some undetermined date in the future. Currently, I don’t know if I should keep on looking (my record in picking my name out of a hat is dire, to say the least) or hope that they will deign to find me suitable after a home visit. I don’t want it to drag on and on; it will have been five weeks on Tuesday. Constant disappointment is getting hard to bear.

          5. I can imagine! When you see the charity adverts and the distressing pictures, you assume that they are crying out for people like you willing and able to give a great home to an older animal. I used to foster cats for a local cat register and it was up to me to vet the prospective owners. I found it quite daunting but only because I had to turn a couple of people down. Most people are genuinely keen to help an abandoned animal. I once got a phone call from a man who said he’d found 3 kittens on his lawn and if I didn’t go and get them he’d throw them in the canal! When I arrived I saw his lactating cat being hidden in the kitchen!
            Best of luck to you.

          6. Thanks. I keep being directed towards Romanian rescues and I’m resisting those – we have enough home grown pets needing help without importing more (I know they have kill shelters, but the RSPCA isn’t renowned for not putting down healthy animals). All I want is a healthy, medium-sized adult male that will tolerate the yappy dogs my neighbours seem to let out into their gardens at all hours of the day and night. I can’t cope with anything too strong on the lead as my arthritis is playing up and I don’t need something like a collie that needs constant stimulation, either. Some people seem to have a strange idea about “medium sized” – lots of people have told me that greyhounds are looking for homes! Yes, I know, but they are hardly “medium-sized”!

          7. I assume you’ve tried word of mouth – avoiding the officialdom altogether?

          8. Yes, that, too. I’ve told all my friends, the local vets, the local dog groomers, the pet shop; I even approached Age Concern in case they knew of people whose dogs would need rehoming if they went into care … Nothing. I even put out a request on Facebook (a place I normally avoid like the plague, but needs must). Nothing of any worth. My last two dogs were “free to good homes”, but that seems to be a thing of the past. People now scent that dogs are worth money and ask (in my view) exorbitant prices for second-hand dogs. I am prepared to “donate” £125, but I draw the line at £400 or £500.

          9. Strewth, that’s some money for a second-hand / pre-loved dog!
            Seriously, are you open to a puppy, and what’s a “medium-sized” dog? I have a friend in Dorset breeds & shows Newfoundlands (likely too big), but she can maybe put the word around some in doggy circles. She lives near Belle.

          10. Indeed. There are several rehoming centres asking £300 or £400 and the cost for bringing one over from Romania is nearly £500. Most of those are “broken” as well, so in addition to forking out a small fortune, you have to invest a lot of time and effort in overcoming their issues. All I want is a dog to be a friendly companion, go on walks with me without wanting to start WW3 when he sees another dog and good to travel (he’d come in the camper van). Medium sized is a large Border Terrier, large Patterdale (a cross of either of these would be good) or a Kelpie. Newfies are lovely, but far too massive. I don’t want to take on a pup because at my age, it would likely outlive me! My last two dogs both lived to be over 17.

          11. I’ll spread the word. Don’t be holding your breath, though. ;-))

          12. Thanks. The more people that are out there looking, the better. I need a male (because I’ve never owned a bitch and I’m too old to learn new ways).

          15. If at next election your candidates are woke female, you can make the point if you vote for them then they are your bitch and that you will own them as they’re your rep. That’s even before digging into detail on what they think they do and don’t stand for

          16. Greyhounds make good pets – might be worth considering. I was talking to a friend yesterday who took one in a few months ago and she’s settled in well.

          17. A couple of my friends have one. Apart from the difficulty of having my tottery spouse negotiate around a large dog, I am not keen on gaze hounds with a high prey drive that need to be muzzled in public and, judging from their experiences, such dogs are high maintenance in terms of vet’s bills. Add to that that none of the existing dog clothing would fit, so I have ruled out a fast dog.

  67. Tea and stroopwaffel – couldn’t get better!
    :-))
    Edit: And the mug SWMBO got me, with one of her better scenic pictures printed on it, is perfectly sized to stand the stroopwaffel over the tea, to get all warm and gooey!

  68. Came through the port of Dover this morning. Didn’t see any invaders or Royal Navy vessels or aeroplanes. Perhaps they were further down the coast, or perhaps they’re on their hols today.

    There is now a ferry direct from Dunkirk to the republic of Ireland! Bypassing Blighty, so that the naughty Brits can’t hold the Irish hostage. Anglesey must be pretty quiet 🙁
    They have brought one of the trans-Mediterranean ferries out of Marseille for the longer distance route, with the higher doors.

    The new paperwork was causing quite a kerfuffle. The government has made it a law that the carriers are responsible if someone gets on a boat without the online form, the covid test and the proof of having bought the Day 2 and Day 8 tests – the ferry company can get fined 10K if someone lands up in Dover without these papers.

    The poor ferry company was nit-picking (“Can we see the receipt from your tests? Why doesn’t it have the same reference number that’s on your form? (I don’t know, I didn’t send the blinkin email did I?) “this covid test isn’t valid because it doesn’t have your date of birth on it” (well luv, that’s how it was issued to me by the military authorities))

    The poor girl behind the desk was getting all the flak from angry passengers, which rightly belonged to the government’s passport checkers. If she made the wrong decision, her company would get fined, but she had no control over how passport control would interpret the rules.
    You can just see some snivel serpent in London thinking up this cunning wheeze.

    Two people I saw were refused passage because they didn’t have a receipt for the pre-ordered tests.
    The government website doesn’t warn you in advance to take the email with you, and the company I ordered the tests from managed to send an email without the official reference number on.

    So, for anyone else returning to the UK: make a note of the official reference number when you buy the tests, because the government’s online form only accepts this official reference number – and print out the confirmation email along with your online form and your covid test result.

    Printouts beat phone screenshots hands down any day. When my son passed through the airport, he cruised through with the printouts I had done for him, while other people were trying to get their stuff legible for the border control on their little, badly lit phone screens.

    Oh, and I talked to a couple from Germany on the boat. They had had the vaccine – but they still have to quarantine on return to their country…..it was beginning to dawn on them that perhaps they had been had….

    I said “All my life, I’ve been told that conservatives are nazis, and now real fascism has arrived – and they don’t recognise it!!”
    They laughed and agreed, which surprised me a little.

    1. I can’t see myself going abroad in the near future. I have another year before it’s our turn for the Twinning to visit France, so maybe (some hope!) they will have sorted themselves out by then. “The new paperwork was causing quite a kerfuffle. The government has made it a law that the carriers are responsible if someone gets on a boat without the online form, the covid test and the proof of having bought the Day 2 and Day 8 tests – the ferry company can get fined 10K if someone lands up in Dover without these papers.”- oh, the irony!

      1. Indeed.

        It is a hassle, and the quarantining is annoying. Fortunately, my current work situation fits round it.
        The paperwork and tests are expensive and time-consuming.
        But once you’ve been through this barrier, it’s OK.
        I want to travel as much as possible before they ban it for the non-vaxxed….

        1. You could do us all a real service – if you have time – to spell out in simple terms just WHAT one has to do to comply with the buggerment created by HMG.

          1. Travelling INTO the UK:

            0.
            Take a very large dose of patience, and a coloured cardboard folder to be filled with documents for the entertainment of Her Majesty’s government.

            1.
            Go here: h tt ps: // w w w . gov . uk/uk – border – control

            “Everyone travelling to the UK must:

            – book at least one coronavirus (COVID-19) test for after you arrive
            – provide your contact details by completing the online passenger locator form
            – provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test taken in the 3 days before you leave for the UK”
            (there are regional variations if you’re from Wales, Scotland or N Ireland).

            2.
            Identify whether you are coming from a green, amber or red country. You have to say each country where you’ve spent the night during the last ten days, I think.

            3.
            green list – you must take a coronavirus (COVID-19) test on or before day 2
            amber list – you must quarantine in the place you’re staying and take 2 COVID-19 tests
            red list – you must quarantine in a hotel and take 2 COVID-19 tests

            4.
            First book your one or 2 Covid tests to be delivered to your home address in Blighty.
            Save the reference number (you’ll need it for the online form), and print out the confirmation email.

            5.
            Next, book your PCR test to be taken up to 3 days before you cross the UK border. You have to allow enough time to get the result and to travel.
            When you get the result, print it out.

            6.
            48 hours or less before you cross the border, fill in the online passenger locator form here:
            h tt ps: // w w w . gov . uk/provide-journey-contact-details-before-travel-uk
            Print out the completed form.

            Checklist for each person travelling:
            – covid PCR test result (negative)
            – email confirmation of pre-booked covid tests to be taken at home during quarantine
            – online passenger locator form

            Direction of travel INTO France:

            1. Print out a declaration sur l’honneur from here, and fill it in.
            h tt ps: // w w w .interieur . gouv . fr/Actualites/L-actu-du-Ministere/Certificate-of-international-travel#from4

            2. Get a PCR test in the UK 72 hours or less before you enter France. Print out result.

            3. Quarantine for seven days in France.

            My checklist for entering France:
            – covid PCR test result (negative)
            – Declaration sur l’honneur
            – any written evidence of quarantine address

            I booked the ferry tickets before doing any of the above.

          3. You’re welcome! Hope someone else can benefit from the hours of frustration that I spent to get used to the new rules.
            That’s until they change again of course, when the billionaires tighten the screw on the peasants a bit more.

          4. Having to quarantine for 7 days in France would be tricky; the Twinning visits only last a long weekend!

          5. Yes. Nobody clarifies what happens in that case, though it is tacitly admitted that people pass through countries, eg from Brussels to the UK passing through France.

          6. Thank you very much. Trying to cope with the govt website is hell on wheels. The experience of a sensible, patient human being who has done it is invaluable.

          7. The French government website is a model of clarity and brevity in comparison. Plus the French authorities are far more lax about asking to see the documentation (though I wouldn’t risk not having it).

          8. Meanwhile, a poor chap who works at Stansted, who I often see when I’m out on walks, has absolutely no idea, interminable months later, when he will return to work. I was chatting with him today and he looks ever more dejected.
            But heck, he’s only a peasant who’s not in some state funded sinecure, so what does he matter?

          3. Boasting again.
            We had a friend who lived in an old fisherman’s cottage in Alma Street and others who lived opposite the Black Buoy.
            In both cases, parking was such sweet sorrow.

  69. The BBC is currently celebrating more than one thousand programmes, articles and interviews about the brutal and repressive British during the ‘Troubles’ in Northern Ireland since the beginning of the year – and that’s just Radio 4. God knows how many more they have broadcast worldwide.

    1. I listened to LBC this morning on my way past London.
      What a treat! They were really laying into the BBC about the unspeakable Bashir scandal. It wasn’t even Julia Hartley-Brewer, but another presenter.
      Sadly, we lost them when we got a few miles outside the M25.

    1. I read somewhere that a journalist on the flight was arrested.
      Strange coincidence?

  71. Russia and China expected to ‘behave responsibly and not respond recklessly to aircraft carrier, First Sea Lord says, as Carrier Strike Group sets sail on maiden deployment. 23 may 2021.

    Russia and China are expected to “behave responsibly” and not respond recklessly to Britain’s aircraft carrier, the First Sea Lord has said, as Britain’s Carrier Strike Group sets sail on its first deployment.

    Translation: We are going to sail our aircraft carriers off your coast and threaten you but we don’t want you to do anything about it!

    One could point out that a UK warship would be a perfect target for a China seeking to demonstrate that it doesn’t like this at all. Would the Americans really go to war because the UK had received a bloody nose? One that might be pointed out on the World Stage that they well deserved for sticking it into matters that are none of its business?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/05/23/russia-china-expected-behave-responsibly-not-respond-recklessly/

    3. China and Russia have a common interest, the destruction of the USA. They appear to be working together. The proof will be if Putin is exiled from Moscow.

      With Trump removed by a combination of the Fauci-funded virus, electoral rigging under cover of CCP Wuhan Laboratory-manufactured Covid, the imposition of the dolt Biden by the corrupt Democrats and a large segment of the Swampy GOPs.

      The whole Covid scam could not have been executed without Fauci and the Pelosi Democrats.

      The USA is now highly vulnerable to hostile actions having been sold down the river by the Obama’s, Clinton’s and Bush’s.

  72. Does anyone know how Spikey is?
    Obviously, in the circumstances, he’s not going to rock up on NOTTL with a morning joke, but I just wondered if anybody had heard from him.

      1. Spikey is OK, considering, but he’s taking a moment of reflection and I think he’ll be back when he feels up to it. I, and a few others, are keeping an eye out for him.

        2. Thaat’s good – thanks Grizz – give him our best – we’re thinking of him.

    2. I’m ok thanks Anne, just coming to terms with my loss. The paperwork and stuff are taking my time up. The funeral was a bit traumatic but I had the support of my family. I’m finding it hard to accept I’m never going to see her again and my last sight of her wasn’t pleasant and it’s an image which will haunt me. Thank you for asking

      1. Glad to see from you, Spikey. Wish I could contribute something comforting, but all I can give is that you are in my thoughts.

      2. Glad to see from you, Spikey. Wish I could contribute something comforting, but all I can give is that you are in my thoughts.

      3. We think about you, Spikey – it might help a little to know that there are lots of people who wish there was something practical we could do.

      4. Alec, in the Jewish tradition I wish you & family long life & good health and may you not know anymore sorrow. I’ve dealt with loss & the best thing to do is think of the good & happy times you had together as much as you can.

      5. I haven’t been on here for about 10 days and by chance I just clicked on today and what do I find – a lovely crowd of friends asking how I am – believe me I am touched – thank you all

        1. Bless you Alec. Can’t imagine what you’ve been through so can only say that we’ve been thinking of you.💕

        3. We’re reassured to see that you are coping under difficult circumstances.

          Thanks for keeping Nottlers that you know in the picture so they could update us.

          Good luck, you’ve lots of Notts rooting for you.

      6. It must be really distressing. I remember seeing my mother for the last time – that was an image I would rather expunge. We are concerned for you, F_A.

      7. No empty words, Spikey, but you have been and are in my thoughts and prayers.

      8. Thank goodness. I was really wondering about you. I know what you meant about that last image. I remember the photo you posted,
        We may be scattered around the country – indeed all over the globe – but we are still linked by this quirky site.

  74. I know this is from the Wail – but….sounds about right:

    “Colleagues of a policewoman who publicly supported Palestinians during a demonstration believe she may escape dismissal because officers who took the knee during Black Lives Matter protests last year faced no sanctions.

    PC Nusheen Jan was recorded shouting, ‘Free, Free Palestine’, while on duty at a rally in Central London last weekend.

    Senior officers are now considering whether to bring a gross misconduct charge against the 20-year-old, who is from South-East London and of Iraqi origin.”

    Good to know just how “diverse” the Met Farce really is…

    1. This is the result of weak management not stopping all this woke & rainbow bollocks way back when it started. Now, they can’t.

      2. They can. They just need to announce to all their officers that from a set date any demonstration of partisanship in performing their job will result in immediate dismissal.

      1. Oh, I don’t know.

        Wronging Blair twice, thrice, dozens of times should be a right; for everyone…

      2. Wartching a video of a big policeman punch a young woman in the face at a lockdown protest lost them my support.
        Whatever the provocation, that wasn’t an action leading to arrest, it was just thuggery.

  76. Letters: How the BBC came adrift from its Reithian founding principles

    BTL:
    SIR – When I joined the BBC in the 1960s, the Reithian principles of public service, probity and equal consideration of all views were drummed into us, along with our ethical responsibilities towards listeners and viewers. It took years to move up the ladder from production assistant to programme editor, but those standards never wavered …

    In the mid-1990s, however, experienced producers such as myself were quietly made redundant: too old and expensive for the new age of youth-focused programming. Talented journalists and directors saw any chance of progression dashed as in-depth documentaries and current affairs programmes disappeared ...
    Carol Jones
    Honiton, Devon.

    Is it not a coincidence that John Birt was appointed Deputy Director-General of the BBC in 1987 ?

    John Birt* was appointed Deputy Director-General of the BBC in 1987 for his expertise in current affairs. The forced departure of Director-General Alasdair Milne after pressure from the Thatcher government required someone near the top, preferably from outside the BBC, with editorial and production experience (Milne had been summarily replaced by Michael Checkland, an accountant).

    During his tenure as Director-General, Birt restructured the BBC, in the face of much internal opposition. However, others have credited him with saving the corporation from possible government privatisation, and say he prepared for the era of digital broadcasting. After leaving the BBC, Birt was Strategic Advisor to Prime Minister Tony Blair from 2001 to 2005.
    *Wikipedia

    Birt was latterly awarded a seat in the House of Lords, becoming John Baron Birt in February, 2000.

    Arguably, his award was for dismantling the Reithian principles of public service, probity and equal consideration …

    1. There is much talk about Reith and his Golden Age of broadcasting but it is worth remembering that he hated Churchill and made every effort to keep him from commenting on appeasement on the Pre-War BBC airwaves!

      1. I am not a Reith ‘Fan’, Minty.
        He had weird background; son of the manse and an engineer to boot!

        “Reith was the fifth son and the youngest, by ten years, of the seven children of the Rev. George Reith, a Scottish Presbyterian minister of the College Church at Glasgow and later Moderator of the United Free Church of Scotland. He was to carry strict Presbyterian religious convictions forward into his adult life. Reith was educated at the Glasgow Academy then at Gresham’s School, Holt, Norfolk.[3] He spent two years at the Royal Technical College at Glasgow (later the University of Strathclyde) followed by an apprenticeship as an engineer at the North British Locomotive Company.”
        Wiki.

    2. Michael Checkland was DG from ‘87 to ‘92. Birt took over in ‘92. I joined in ‘91 and yes, Birt removed all the creative teams – sets, costumes, production designers – and replaced them with 140+ business units, each with an accountant.

      2. In certain professions, accountants should be, never on top, only on tap

        I worked in banking as what became an internal auditor. In the early days such creatures were the “inspection department”
        Every “Inspector” was expected to know the job inside outside and from top to bottom.

        They knew the scams, the frauds, the cheats, every different way of breaking the system.

        Then the great divide.

        Accountants were employed on top. Very bad decision.

        If I had even 10% of what it cost because the theorists overlooked what the realists saw I would be a multi-millionaire. A regular feature of my career was being called it to discover what had happened.

        Time after time it was down to some clever accountant breaking procedure.

        Hey ho. Auditors, brought in after the battle to bayonet the survivors.

  77. Afternoon everyone, an interesting story that has still some mileage in its tank. The chap in question may not be to everyone’s taste but that does not excuse what appears to be happening to him.
    If this is shown to be true, it would only confirm what Nottlers instinctively knows, the BBC and the police are in need of surgery to cut away the bad parts for any hope they could improve. Personally I consider it too late for the BBC as a PSB.
    https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1439974/alex-belfield-bbc-nottinghamshire-police-latest

      1. A
        Former DJ turned Youtube star sues police over ‘scandalous’ BBC allegations

        LAWYERS acting for former BBC DJ Alex Belfield have filed court papers to sue Nottinghamshire Police for wrongful arrest. Supporters of the prominent Youtube commentator and broadcaster have told the Sunday Express that the legal case could be “the next big scandal to hit the BBC”.

        By David Maddox, Political Editor PUBLISHED: 08:52, Sun, May 23, 2021 | UPDATED: 08:52, Sun, May 23, 2021

        BBC ‘has become a national disgrace’ says royal commentator

        Mr Belfield was arrested on March 27 after he was blamed for an alleged bomb hoax at the BBC. During the arrest, the police smashed down his front door, confiscated all his equipment, dismantled his car, strip searched him and searched his home for four and a half hours. The arrest was the fifth time Mr Belfield has been arrested by Nottinghamshire Police in the last 18 months after a series of complaints made against him by the BBC or its employees.

        Related articles

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        Law student’s degree is at risk because she said women have vaginas

        No charges have ever been brought against Mr Belfield, who is in a civil legal dispute with the Corporation, but Nottinghamshire have extended his bail on a number of occasions despite failing to get approval from the courts to do so.

        The issue has been raised in a letter to Home Secretary Priti Patel by North West Leicestershire MP Andrew Bridgen who is concerned that Mr Belfield is a victim of attempts to silence him and curtail his free speech.

        In the letter to Nottinghamshire Chief Constable, Mr Belfield’s solicitor alleged that officers who arrested him on March 27 “were not wearing insignia…or any form of identification” or body worn video equipment breaking National College of Policing rules.

        The letter complains that Mr Belfield was “unlawfully arrested, subsequently assaulted and wrongly detained for a period of about six hours.”

        The Sunday Express has seen proof that Mr Belfield was send a “No Further Action” letter by the police.

        alex belfield

        Alex Belfield was blamed for an alleged bomb hoax (Image: Twitter)

        However, a spokesman for Nottinghamshire Police said: “Mr Bellfield remains subject of a live criminal investigation. We are aware of the Court proceedings you refer to. Consequently we will be making no further comment at this time.”

        Mr Belfield told the Sunday Express: “The cover up by the corrupt BBC and Nottingham Police continues as this proves, I can’t wait to see the disgraceful Chief Constable and his lying officers in the High Court and expose, in entirety, his forces ineptitude, harassment and pure incompetence.”

        Referring to the Princess Diana interview scandal where a report by retired judge Lord Dyson revealed the BBC had tricked her and subsequently covered up, he added: “Clearly, after the events of this week – the BBC is already exposed as the despicable, vile and seemingly shameless organisation it is. See them all in court.”

        Mr Bridgen said: “There are serious questions that need to be asked about both the BBC and the police in this case.

        “This could be the next big scandal to hit the BBC.”

        The BBC declined to comment.

        Apologies for rough copy and paste.

      2. A
        Former DJ turned Youtube star sues police over ‘scandalous’ BBC allegations

        LAWYERS acting for former BBC DJ Alex Belfield have filed court papers to sue Nottinghamshire Police for wrongful arrest. Supporters of the prominent Youtube commentator and broadcaster have told the Sunday Express that the legal case could be “the next big scandal to hit the BBC”.

        By David Maddox, Political Editor PUBLISHED: 08:52, Sun, May 23, 2021 | UPDATED: 08:52, Sun, May 23, 2021

        BBC ‘has become a national disgrace’ says royal commentator

        Mr Belfield was arrested on March 27 after he was blamed for an alleged bomb hoax at the BBC. During the arrest, the police smashed down his front door, confiscated all his equipment, dismantled his car, strip searched him and searched his home for four and a half hours. The arrest was the fifth time Mr Belfield has been arrested by Nottinghamshire Police in the last 18 months after a series of complaints made against him by the BBC or its employees.

        Related articles

        UK-Ireland tunnel from Holyhead to Dublin in 2035 plan – EU would pay

        Law student’s degree is at risk because she said women have vaginas

        No charges have ever been brought against Mr Belfield, who is in a civil legal dispute with the Corporation, but Nottinghamshire have extended his bail on a number of occasions despite failing to get approval from the courts to do so.

        The issue has been raised in a letter to Home Secretary Priti Patel by North West Leicestershire MP Andrew Bridgen who is concerned that Mr Belfield is a victim of attempts to silence him and curtail his free speech.

        In the letter to Nottinghamshire Chief Constable, Mr Belfield’s solicitor alleged that officers who arrested him on March 27 “were not wearing insignia…or any form of identification” or body worn video equipment breaking National College of Policing rules.

        The letter complains that Mr Belfield was “unlawfully arrested, subsequently assaulted and wrongly detained for a period of about six hours.”

        The Sunday Express has seen proof that Mr Belfield was send a “No Further Action” letter by the police.

        alex belfield

        Alex Belfield was blamed for an alleged bomb hoax (Image: Twitter)

        However, a spokesman for Nottinghamshire Police said: “Mr Bellfield remains subject of a live criminal investigation. We are aware of the Court proceedings you refer to. Consequently we will be making no further comment at this time.”

        Mr Belfield told the Sunday Express: “The cover up by the corrupt BBC and Nottingham Police continues as this proves, I can’t wait to see the disgraceful Chief Constable and his lying officers in the High Court and expose, in entirety, his forces ineptitude, harassment and pure incompetence.”

        Referring to the Princess Diana interview scandal where a report by retired judge Lord Dyson revealed the BBC had tricked her and subsequently covered up, he added: “Clearly, after the events of this week – the BBC is already exposed as the despicable, vile and seemingly shameless organisation it is. See them all in court.”

        Mr Bridgen said: “There are serious questions that need to be asked about both the BBC and the police in this case.

        “This could be the next big scandal to hit the BBC.”

        The BBC declined to comment.

        Apologies for rough copy and paste.

    2. The UK is a dysfunctional Police State VVOF. Such incidents are inevitable!

      1. The courts seem to acting as a last line of defence, and that is something I would not expect to see continue.

    3. I follow and support Alex B and find him very convincing. He originally worked for the BBC but is in dispute with them over a number of seemingly complex accusations. What is not in dispute is the way the police have harassed, illegally arrested and battered in his door and carted away his broadcasting equipment. He has a strong following and financial support and I wish him the best. I realise that there are two sides to every story but I think that he has become the new Tommy Robinson figure of hate, to be taken down by actors guided by the deep state. He is on You Tube.

    1. What is he being arrested for?

      And if he’s being arrested, why are the other lot not being?

      1. 333262+ u,p ticks,
        Evening W,
        Seems like a form of selection is being practised without the
        deadly dire results… as of yet.

        1. We get various deer around here all the time, they jump into the road looking to crash the car and given half a chance will be in the garden.

          I like to watch them but I don’t want them in the grounds.

          I’m lucky, the previous owners put the fence at the top of a trench that runs all around the property; half a mile of fences and slopes, but at least I can grow vegetables and roses.
          Smaller creatures can still get in, so it’s a winner on both counts.

          Rastus will tell about wild boar and we have them in the hamlet.

          A country version of Palestinians, judging by the digging and the damage!
          The bastards can wreck half an acre over night.

          Again the trenches and the fence keep them out too.

          1. That’s the trouble with the Westminster set; they have never tried to maintain a productive garden so they have no idea of the importance of strong borders boundaries.

    3. What a swizz! The clip is cut off just before he plays “Delaney’s Donkey” with Val Doonican.

      :-))

  81. I am off. See you tomorrow in the rain.

    Have a jolly evening.

    A demain.

    2. We don’t have to wait until tomorrow for the rain, Bill; it’s lashing down now.

    1. 333262+ up ticks,
      O2O,
      ” This poison, it’s now being grown on British soil
      cultivated and given succour by every lab/lib/con vote cast in every polling booth”

    1. Muslims using Christ as a justification for their anti-semitism? Hmm – wasn’t Jesus a Jew? And wasn’t he crucified by Romans?

      1. At the urging of Jewish priests who hadn’t the powers under Roman rule.

        1. I think what upset the Pharisees most was when Jesus drove the moneylenders out of the Temple. It was a nice little earner, and this upstart spoiled everything.

      2. If one believes, surely the whole thing was pre-ordained by God.

        Following on from that premise nobody, not even Judas, was to “blame”, they had no choice, it was a play no different from a Shakespeare play.

        Christ’s life went through what was prophesied.

        1. That was the burden of the reading today; that Christ had said beforehand what would happen and this was the fulfilment.

        2. At school, I was taught that it was me who put Christ on his cross – my sins put him there, not the Romans or the Jews. The Catholic sense of guilt was instilled from a very early age.

          1. Indeed, but my view has been that if it is true, his father, God, sacrificed him/himself (as part of the Trinity) so that my and every other believer’s sins were assuaged

          2. Yes – the Christian narrative is that Christ died for the remission of sins, and the salvation of all who believe in him.

          3. I never believed that it was as simple as that. The salvation that Christ offers is not so that all you need is to say “Jesus” enough times, and you will be let off all your wrongdoings scot-free. It is to give one the courage to love, and it is this love that provides the salvation.

          4. Indeed.
            I was overly simplistic. We have to follow the guidance/example set.

          5. I was thinking just now of that bandit on the cross next to Jesus. He was a bad man, suffered the penalty and was to die for what he did. Yet the reason Jesus said that this night he would be in paradise with him was because despite all his bad deeds, he had the capacity to love and to speak generously to his neighbour.

          6. The more one looks at scripture (and I’m only slightly to the belief side of agnostic) the more one sees goodness, in a literal sense, in the story.

          7. Being raised agnostic and not baptised until the age of 46, I was spared the guilt. By the time of my own catechism, I learnt that guilt was an intolerable state and something to be shed through confession, penance and absolution at the first opportunity.

            What put me off the Catholic sense of guilt was the handwringing by the bishops over the priestly abuse scandal to the extent that Safeguarding Rules, imposed by Government edict, not by Canon Law, imposed a cloud of suspicion over everyone. I cannot worship God in that atmosphere, so I walked out three years ago, and have not yet returned until they dwell on Love rather than Abuse again.

            Society has become a very lonely place.

            [edited because I forgot Penance – an important part of the process, which apart from the Hail Marys is about doing the right thing]

        2. “What did the Romans ever do for us?”

          1. Built the the mostly straight ‘A’ roads;
          2. Tried to keep the Krankies at bay with Hadrian’s Wall …

          6. There’s the giveaway, we knew you are rich.
            Most Nottlers are lucky to have a bath.
            Lawyers once a week.

      4. If those are muslims using Christ to further their aims, that is utterly vile. They have no idea how profoundly anti-Christian that banner is. Not a clue.

          1. Have you ever heard any sentiment like this being expressed in church, because I have not. I don’t subscribe to the jews-are-eternal-victims-who-can-do-no-wrong line of thought, but Palestinians comparing themselves to Christ’s suffering is so far off the mark that it’s ludicrous.

            If the Palestinians and the Israelis swapped territories tomorrow, within ten years Israel would be a shithole, and Gaza would be Israel!

  84. Just read Julie Burchill; here’s a corker of a quote.

    “There was never any lockdown – there were just middle-class people hiding while working-class people brought them things.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/05/23/remainer-fussbudgets-want-steal-european-sun/

    Remainer fussbudgets want to steal our European sun

    Britons were holidaying abroad long before the EU was ever a gleam in Konrad Adenauer’s eye

    23 May 2021 • 11:00am

    “There’s a lovely bit in John le Carre’s perfect novel The Perfect Spy when the hero recalls a childhood memory of being with his spivvy dad, driving through war-time England in a souped-up car. When they see one of the many petrol-saving IS YOUR JOURNEY REALLY NECESSARY? posters they yell out joyfully ‘NO!’ Though we understand that the dad is a bad lot and that the war effort was a wonderful thing, if we have any sort of seditious spirit we can’t help but feel a thrill of recognition at their mutinous jaunt.

    I was reminded of this revved up insurrection recently by the attitude of those sticky-beaks who believe that people desirous of a little bit of Factor 15-worthy sunshine are behaving about as responsibly as if they were scattering brightly-hued laundry pods in a soft play area with “Please eat me” written on them.

    But there’s more going on here than fear of an imminent Benidorm variant. (Symptoms include losing your sense of taste when entering a karaoke bar.) Yes, it’s our old mates the Great and the Good – who don’t get out much these days, since the proles discovered populism and realised that they didn’t necessarily owe over-educated no-marks their loyalty at the ballot box – returning to the default setting of looking down their noses at hoi polloi.

    Travel was a flashpoint in the war of attrition between the Woke and the Bloke long before the pandemic. Flying is condemned as being the worst culprit in causing climate damage, though mysteriously carbon footprints neutralise themselves when the passenger has been to a decent university. “It’s only the Brits who down pints in airport bars at 7am” sneered Lady Muck columnist India Knight recently, and that’s the crux of the matter: “Why do the wrong people travel?” wondered Noel Coward before nipping off to his house in Jamaica for six months.

    I remember a famous writer smugging; “I never need to go on holiday as I love my work so much.” And of course she flew regularly around the world to be feted at various literary events. Like the Dowager Countess in Downton Abbey asking “What is a weekend?” it’s hard for people who do what they enjoy (or do nothing) to understand what holidays mean to those who work for a living, not for the love of it. It’s certainly not selfish to want to go on holiday if you’ve spent the last year on the frontline; as the social media wit J J Charlesworth put it, “There was never any lockdown – there were just middle-class people hiding while working-class people brought them things.”

    So much of what happens now is still about Brexit, about the corralling and controlling of the masses by an anxious liberal establishment which views us as naughty children still high on the E numbers of knocking down the Red Wall and running away. With the baffled bitterness so typical of them, I just heard a Remoaner on Radio 4 sneering “Ooo, why do all these people who voted Brexit want to go abroad!”

    The first thing I did when the Brexit vote came in was book a long weekend in Barcelona; it’s the difference between a love affair and a forced marriage, clown.

    Britons were going abroad long before the EU was ever a gleam in Konrad Adenauer’s eye; think of a penniless Laurie Lee in 1934 deciding to go to Spain on a whim and ending up assisting the anti-fascists, or the artists colonies on the Greek islands which acted as a magnet for the louche of all nations. We’re lucky enough to be out of the EU now, but we need to consider our poor continental cousins still locked up in Fortress Europe – especially the attractive Southern ones, due to get yet another spanking from Mutti Merkel when all this is over.

    Spain has called to us – “I can therefore announce that from next Monday the 24th of May we will be delighted to welcome all UK tourists without restrictions and without health requirements” said their delightful PM Pedro Sanchez – and we must go to her aid, as surely as Laurie Lee did all those years ago, no matter what the fussbudgets tut.

    It is us, the hedonistic binge-drinking money-splashing oiks of the UK, that Europe wants – not you stingy Remainers with your short arms, long pockets and dreary moderation. Speedy Boarding ahoy!”

    1. “The first thing I did when the Brexit vote came in was book a long weekend in Barcelona; it’s the difference between a love affair and a forced marriage, clown.”

      What a splendid phrase -I shall use it!

      1. Remainiacs still don’t get it. They cannot understand the difference between Europe, Europeans and the EU.

    2. Remainers have never understood that leavers love Europe – they just can’t stand the EU.

      1. They don’t understand the difference between Europe and the eu. Good evening, Conway.

        1. It’s something that irritates Germans enormously. “Since Brexit, why do you talk all the time of Britain and Europe, as if they are different continents? Britain might be an island, same as Cyprus or Corsica or Sardinia, but it still European, rather than Asian, African or American (although many folk living in British cities today might not think so).

          I actually agree with the Germans here, and feel culturally closer to Europeans than I do to Americans, even though I share a common language with the USA and much of Canada, and barely any across the Channel. Yet I voted Leave in the Referendum, because I do not like the way the EU is set up, and the conflict between English Common Law and Napoleonic Law cannot be reconciled satisfactorily.

          Therefore, I go back to the terminology I used pre-1973, which served fine then and works fine now, even with Germans. We have Britain, and across the Channel is the Continent. Both are part of Europe. If the continentals want to club together for convenience across borders, that’s ok by me, but we don’t have to join their club to be a part of Europe.

          2. We may be geographically “European” but we have a totally different mindset from the continentals (and I use that term advisedly). We are an island nation and that shapes our culture.

        2. Good evening, pm. Increasingly they try to conflate the two. It’s all part of their desire to take over the whole continent in my opinion.

  85. There is a biopic of Henry Ford on PBS America (Freeview 84) at 7.20 pm.

    The end of an era that began with the ‘Model-T’.

    Learn to build windmills, ride horses, shovel shit, Lithium and Cobalt – or charge batteries …

    1. I was looking forward to it, but I had to turn it off after 10 minutes because the background muzak was getting on my nerves.

      1. You didn’t miss much; HF was a very unpleasant, albeit successful, man …

  86. Off topic, but it cheered me up enormously.

    Great pleasures in life.

    Watching a fledgling blackbird being fed on the ground by both parents.

    I suspect it was slightly precocious, and had jumped a day too early.
    It could just about fly, 5 yards or so at a time. The parents went into overdrive; feeding, encouraging, squawking, pushing.
    The youngster improved rapidly and was last seen higher up a small tree and well within striking distance of where I think the nest is.
    Happy days.

        1. Ah, yes. The school I attended was a selective senior secondary {aka “grammar”). notable pupils, 2 UK ambassadors, judges, cardinals, world famous artists, film directors, entrepreneurs and Lord Mayor of London.
          Then it was closed and replaced by non-selective comprenhesive school, whose most famous pupils were the Bay City Rollers.
          (Education, education, education.)

          3. Mine went the same way. Highly respected throughout the north of England, ditto. Then it went, ah, ‘comprehensive’. Fortunately after I left, just. It kept its name but moved location (it was demolished as asbestos was found within its construction) three or four miles. It was never the same again, of course it wasn’t, how could it be.

          2. Delighted Sinbad has improved, and long may his progress continue .

            I am sure your home will attract lots of interest. The best of luck with that .

    1. They de facto ended 3 weeks ago and never once was I asked anywhere over the last year to show my vaccination certificate anyway even before I was vaccinated !

    2. But they will remain for international travel?
      Once people have accepted the principle of vaxx passports for international travel, the globalists will wait for the next scam before pushing the next step.
      Technocrats are patient, the origins of this movement lie in the 1930s and the Trilateral Commission (originator of UN agendas) was founded in the early 70s.
      All their other weapons like “sustainability” and the carbon fraud are still in place.

  89. Wise Words…

    And, on the 8th day, God created Seniors.

    Then God considered the function of bladders and decided seniors would have additional calls of nature, requiring more trips to the bathroom, thus providing more exercise. God looked down and saw that it was good.

    1. Yep, I get up at the same time on work and non-work days because what gets me out of bed is my bladder.

      1. It could be a lot worse; you might have Bill Thomas’s bladder and Phizzee’s piss taking…

        };-))

    3. After seven days, God realised there was little time left to create an eighth day and so kept Senior day very short due to the sense of urgency.

          2. Evg O1
            I wouldn’t normally elect to pass water in an emergency but if I had voted for the Diuretic Party I would seriously consider it!

        2. And on the eleventh day they realised that lifting the lid was a bad idea, because Joe Biden slithered out and became President of the USA?

          1. The Republicans thought he was Russian to conclusions by considering he was flushed with success.

    2. I bet they have come from Africa too, but at least they build their own houses and booger off at the end of the season.

      1. Here’s a question. If you’re a muslin martyr and you go to paradise to claim your seventy-two virgins, what do you do on day seventy-three? Where do you get more virgins from? Or are you stuck with seventy-two slags for all eternity?

      2. There is no Palestinian cause. Countless millions of folk were displaced after WWII. Many lost their property and possessions and made good in the areas to which they were obliged to relocate.

        Likewise the group of Arabs now referred to as Palestinians are anything but. These are displaced Arabs who have been given a very important stretch of land with a coastal boundary and the same rights as are granted to Israeli citizens.

        Regrettably, their vast resources are squandered on a pathetic Hamas regime whose main object is the destruction of Israel and all Jews. The Hamas obsession with the destruction of Israel has held their people back for decades. Hamas cares nothing for the lives of their people.

        Iran and Egypt are deeply implicated in the continuance of the destruction of property and warmongering by providing arms and encouragement to Hamas.

        Biden in the White House has exacerbated tensions. He presumably thought (his minders that is) that Netanyahu and Likud would gain advantage electorally from the successful utilisation of the Iron Dome technology. Even so people on both sides of the divide suffer greatly.

      3. There is no Palestinian cause. Countless millions of folk were displaced after WWII. Many lost their property and possessions and made good in the areas to which they were obliged to relocate.

        Likewise the group of Arabs now referred to as Palestinians are anything but. These are displaced Arabs who have been given a very important stretch of land with a coastal boundary and the same rights as are granted to Israeli citizens.

        Regrettably, their vast resources are squandered on a pathetic Hamas regime whose main object is the destruction of Israel and all Jews. The Hamas obsession with the destruction of Israel has held their people back for decades. Hamas cares nothing for the lives of their people.

        Iran and Egypt are deeply implicated in the continuance of the destruction of property and warmongering by providing arms and encouragement to Hamas.

        Biden in the White House has exacerbated tensions. He presumably thought (his minders that is) that Netanyahu and Likud would gain advantage electorally from the successful utilisation of the Iron Dome technology. Even so people on both sides of the divide suffer greatly.

      4. She used to visit schools to tell the children that mass immigration was good, if I remember rightly.

    2. Expect lots of references to the rising tide of European ethno-nationalism of which Thomas Mair was a leading light, and links between his crime and Leave voters.

      There are no depths etc…

    3. Is her brother-in-law going to be part of her campaign or will he be banned from the hustings for his past very inappropriate behaviour?

    4. virtue signalling and seeking £££ and 15 mins of fame. Nothing of any relevance to read / see in link, sos summed it up in straplines

    1. Love the headline,the implication it’s some far-right white terrorist,if not Tommy Robinson himself……………
      I’ll give 100/1 it turns out to be some chippy dindu whose manhood she “disrespected”

    2. Peckham says it all. Nice of DM to put pics of bullet proof vest, pity the head shot wasn;t more accurate. One down…

  96. Imperial v metric

    SIR – Various aspects of SI (metric) and imperial units were discussed in last week’s letters. The previous day, you remarked in an editorial that the French still used the old word livre for a pound weight.

    Indeed they do, and the Germans and Austrians have a similar word: pfund. However, these are not really their old pounds but colloquialisms for a half kilogram, so are actually 1.102 lbs. When you are buying potatoes, it’s near enough.

    Similarly, anyone who has poured a half-litre bottle of beer into a pint glass will know that, with the head, this is almost exactly what we get in a pub – so, even if we went fully metric, we could still “pop out for a pint”.

    But the most surprising example is milk. At the time of the changeover, the dairy lobby complained that it would result in them selling slightly less, so the quantity is pints but the label is in litres. Thus the everyday conversation: “If you are going to the shops, get me 0.568 litres of milk.”

    Roger Hannaford
    Haddenham, Buckinghamshire

    Roger Hannaford must be more forgiving of short measures than I am. If served seven-eighths of a pint, more often than not I’m inclined to ask for a top-up, although not since the mandated table service has made it just a bit too bothersome for all concerned.

    As for milk, when sold in pint quantities – or multiples thereof – although it’s labelled in litres, the imperial quantity is clearly shown, too, as the Iceland example below shows, as also does the Safeway pint I have in my refrigerator.

    His idea of an everyday conversation is quite rare in my experience.

    https://assets.iceland.co.uk/i/iceland/iceland_pasteurised__whole_milk_1_pint_23447.jpg?$pdpmain$

  99. Goodnight, all. May your birthday bring you lots of happiness, Tom (NoToNanny).

  100. mng all. This may of interest to quite a few with interest in and in this case aware of history https://off-guardian.org/2021/05/23/serbian-wwii-film-smeared-by-war-propagandists-in-western-media/ no surprise the woke MSM trash it and attempting to block downloads /and viewing without payment. If those who have interest wish to download, here’s the torrent https://yts.mx/movies/dara-of-jasenovac-2020 if the woke don’t like it, then it’s good. It’s current movie rating is 8.3 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10554232/ accepting it won’t appeal to everyone

  101. Yo all

    I can hear those typed and saved posts circling this page, awiting the Boss

    The race to be First is on!

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