Sunday 24 April: A drifting Government and a hopeless opposition: where do true Tories go now?

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 we prefer ours),
Intelligent, polite, good-humoured debate is welcome, whether on or off topic. Differing opinions are encouraged, but rudeness or personal attacks on other posters will not be tolerated. Posts which – in the opinion of the moderators – make this a less than cordial environment, are likely to be removed, without prior warning.  Persistent offenders will be banned.

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

703 thoughts on “Sunday 24 April: A drifting Government and a hopeless opposition: where do true Tories go now?”

  2. Good morning all from wild Wales.
    A beautifully clear start with a bitterly cold wind outside.

    Don’t know how long I’ll be able to be on line for, I left my bloody laptop charger at home!

  5. A drifting Government and a hopeless opposition: where do true Tories go now?

    There isn’t anywhere and certainly nowhere that could possibly make any impact in the timescale required.

  6. ‘Morning, Peeps.

    Today’s leading letter which, I suspect, will find favour among many on here:

    SIR – I suspect I am among the majority of voters in being greatly disappointed by this Government, which lacks the drive and focus to slash bureaucracy, encourage growth and make the most of Brexit.

    In addition, we have a Prime Minister who, for all his charisma, is proving to be lacking in judgment.

    Given that I could not vote for Sir Keir Starmer, a man who tried to overturn a democratic vote and backed Jeremy Corbyn to be prime minister, I feel disfranchised.

    I shall not vote in May. My fear, however, is that the inevitable drubbing that the Government will receive will still not be enough to persuade it to return to Conservative priorities.

    Ron Butcher
    Great Dunmow, Essex

  7. SIR – I voted Conservative until Boris Johnson was elected leader.

    Anyone with an ounce of sense knows that more fines will come, probably of a higher value. It’s sickening to see ministers following the script and supporting him.

    Mr Johnson should step down now. He has a deputy who can step up, and an excellent Defence Secretary who can lead the response to the Ukraine crisis.

    A Prime Minister who misleads Parliament cannot be excused.

    Mervin Milton
    Romford, Essex

    Some still regard Partygate as a minor sideshow and therefore not worthy of further consideration.  The fact is, however, that it isn’t going away, and further damage is inevitable.  Call me old-fashioned if you like, but to me honesty and integrity are essential, and particularly in politicians.  If the country turns a blind eye then things can only get worse.  And unless the boil is lanced we run the risk of the return of a socialist government, and that would be a a complete disaster.

    1. I think Mervin is missing his medication – who is this “excellent Defence Secretary” he mentions?

      2. I’m not sure about ‘excellent’ but he does at least have military experience (Scots Guards if I remember correctly) so that alone places him head and shoulders above his colleagues for this job.

  8. SIR – During the two years of the pandemic, I witnessed many cases of the rules being broken.

    For instance – staff at my brother’s care home taking a well-earned coffee break on a couple of benches outside, in their uniform, but doing their job. A group of policemen following a road accident, some unmasked but nevertheless doing their gruesome job. A group of teachers taking a well-deserved tea break during playground duty, again doing their job. Ambulance drivers outside the casualty department of the local hospital, drinking from cups, but also doing their job. Nurses sitting outside and having a break. Back-garden family parties without masks. I myself broke the rules, having failed to realise, while doing the job of burying my brother, that the undertakers and attendant grave digger took us over the permitted number of people at the cemetery.

    I am certain that there are very few people who did not witness rules being unwittingly broken, and that many knowingly broke the rules themselves.

    I seem to remember the saying: “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone”. Am I the only person who thinks the hounding of politicians is mostly being done by those seeking vengeance? There are serious problems in the world, and we should be more concerned about war than bottles of wine.

    Michael Flood
    Staplehurst, Kent

    That’s all very well, Michael Flood, but you and those around you were not responsible for setting the rules for everyone else, and then ignoring them in your own backyard before trying to pretend that they were in fact observed.  Two entirely different situations!

  9. SIR – If only our MPs had spent as much time this week on sorting out the cost-of-living crisis as they did on Partygate.

    Simon Morpuss
    Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire

    That’s because a number of Conservative MPs can see the electoral damage coming.  Who can blame Sir Kneel and his motley crew for running full tilt towards an open goal created by the Prime Minister?

  10. SIR – Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Stephen Bowler would be unwise to hold meetings with Lancashire locals in an attempt to persuade them to embrace fracking.

    Lancashire County Council and Fylde Borough Council have voted overwhelmingly against it. We do not have America’s open spaces. Drilling three miles under houses, with many container lorries of water travelling daily on narrow country roads, is not acceptable to any community.

    Like most climate-conscious people, I am prepared to pay more for my fuel if necessary.

    Catherine Starkie
    Burnley, Lancashire

    Well, bully for you Ms Starkie!  Spare a thought for the elderly and the frail who are of limited means before you condemn them to misery and possibly worse…

    SIR – Sir John Armitt, the National Infrastructure Commission chairman, proposes that all gas boiler production must be banned so that British citizens are forced to buy heat pumps.

    His view is that no one will willingly replace their gas boiler because heat pumps are more expensive.

    Wrong. The reason people won’t buy heat pumps is that they are useless in the British climate.

    Jim Sokol
    Minehead, Somerset

    Got it in one, Jim Sokol!

    1. A couple of BTL comments on the Starkie letter:

      Edwin Pugh
      4 HRS AGO
      Might I suggest that Catherine Starkie (letters) together with Lancashire County councillors find out more about fracking before dismissing it. Refusing to meet or listen to experts is for those who are frightened that their reasons for opposing will be exposed as not valid.
      The lorries she mentions are only there while the well is being drilled and this, once productive, is silent and quiet.

      Bernard Mahan
      3 HRS AGO
      Catherine Starkie should read https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10744595/As-Britains-shale-gas-lies-untapped-state-shows-fracking-thriving-nature.html

    2. For many years they have been fracking for oil in Dorset.

      Why is that acceptable, yet fracking for gas in the same strata is unacceptable?

      2. Donkeys’ years, yes, but I think most of the reservoir is out in Poole Bay. I honestly don’t know if they frack though. In the 80s they were into horizontal drilling to expand production.

        1. Interesting, molamola.

          So why don’t they frack underneath the North Sea?

          Oh…….That’s right. It’s forbidden.

    3. … and how big a stake in Heat Pump production and sales, does Sir John Armpit have?

      Ms Starlie is stark staring bonkers.

    4. Ms Starkie is right. Fracking is considered desirable in Lancashire because it is easy and cheap. Any unfortunate consequences for Mrs Starkie and her fellow citizens will be denied. I doubt that Ms Starkie can afford lawyers to go up against Ineos*. Mr Ratcliffe brooks no opposition. Check the confrontation between him and the Scottish government over Grangemouth refinery**.
      However, fracking can be carried out in the North Sea, safely and with no danger to the residents of the UK mainland. It just costs a little more. The insistence on fracking on the mainland is just unmitigated selfish greed.

      * Last time I consulted a lawyer the cost was £500 an hour.
      **https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/09/ineos-unite-union-grangemouth-oil-refinery

    1. All we need to do is send all the human rights lawyers to Rwanda and cut out the middle men.

  12. SIR – William Sitwell calls veganism a “craze” and a “fad”.

    In fact, it is increasingly recognised that a big shift away from the consumption of meat, eggs and dairy is part of what is needed for Britain to meet its climate-change commitments.

    Animal farming is responsible for a seventh of greenhouse gas emissions globally. Veganism is a sensible response to the most significant environmental threat we face today.

    Iain Green
    Director, Animal Aid
    Tonbridge, Kent

    So says a fully paid-up member of the global warming scam! I have no problem at all in detesting cruelty to animals, but to suggest that veganism is the answer to it is just plain daft. By all means campaign for the eradication of cruelty in animals bred for food…

    2. It was a recognised fact that the world was flat once, too.
      If we don’t eat animals, how much diesel & CO2 will be involved in ploughing, harrowing, seedind, spraying, combining, transporting the grain? Will that be less than produced by cows? (clue: No). And animals can get nutrition from untillable land so making it useful. Note: Norway has 2% tillable land area.

      2. “It was a recognised fact that the world was flat once, too.”. What do you mean, “was”?

    3. It was a recognised fact that the world was flat once, too.
      If we don’t eat animals, how much diesel & CO2 will be involved in ploughing, harrowing, seedind, spraying, combining, transporting the grain? Will that be less than produced by cows? (clue: No). And animals can get nutrition from untillable land so making it useful. Note: Norway has 2% tillable land area.

    6. ‘Morning, Minty, “By all means campaign for the eradication of cruelty in animals bred for food.”

      Particularly the practice of ‘Halal’ and ‘Kosher’.

    7. Well there’s another way of looking at it Mr Green ……….at least the animals are vegan.
      Never mind the government are working very hard to irradiate all areas of green belt and woodland habitat by building thousands of cheap houses for hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants……….coming to a field near you Mr Green. Very soon i would estimate.

  15. Where is the peace effort? Peter Hitchens. 24 April 2022.

    I have pointed out here before the shocking fact that the war in Ukraine is actually between the USA and Russia. Ukraine and its suffering people are being used as a battering ram by both sides. Some people think I have imagined this.

    Let me give you two good reasons for believing that I am right. The first is a recent statement by Leon Panetta. Mr Panetta was Secretary of Defence in the US government from 2011 to 2013. He was Director of the Central Intelligence Agency from 2009 to 2011.

    He was White House Chief of Staff from 1994 to 1997. He knows what he’s talking about. And on March 17 he said in an interview with Bloomberg Politics: ‘It’s a proxy war with Russia whether we say so or not. That effectively is what’s going on.’

    The second is that there is no serious effort to make peace, from any direction. Why is this?

    This is a disgusting war, and we have only seen a small part of its horrors. What aim can possibly justify it continuing a second longer than it has to? Shouldn’t serious statesmen be straining to bring it to an end? But I see no sign of this.

    It’s pretty obvious that Ukraine is being used as an American glove puppet. There is no attempt being made, which should have been the approach from the beginning, to throttle down hostilities and reach a negotiated settlement. Instead we have a continuous program to widen and deepen the war. This and small pointers like the recent disappearance of a Russian offer to Zelensky which has CIA written all over it, tell us that real intention here is to destroy the Russian Federation.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-10746663/PETER-HITCHENS-Did-need-arts-graduate-hurry-universities.html

    1. We are at war with Russia. We are fighting with the Ukraine. We are sending “military advisors”, vast quantities of weaponry, and pushing the boundaries.
      Others are even more provocative. The USA is using its surveillance technology to provide real time information to the Ukraine. Poland is to send tanks, and we send our tanks to Poland. Suppose Russia decides to intercept these actions, as it has a perfect right to do?

    1. My good lady and I tried to watch a Netflix film last night, State of Play with Russel Crowe and many others, but we had to set the volume at 70 plus (usually set around 20) and still couldn’t hear what some of the actors were saying and of course if music was included and action stirred it was deafening.
      We tried subtitles but they seemed to be in a foreign language. So we had to give up.

  18. From today’s DT:

    Quangos face the axe under Jacob Rees-Mogg’s cost-cutting plan

    Minister for government efficiency writes to Cabinet ministers warning that cost and number of quangos ‘continues to increase’

    By Edward Malnick, SUNDAY POLITICAL EDITOR 23 April 2022 • 8:00pm

    Quangos such as the DVLA could be shut down or merged under a cost-cutting overhaul of public bodies ordered by Jacob Rees-Mogg.

    Mr Rees-Mogg, the minister for government efficiency, has written to Cabinet ministers warning that the cost and number of quangos “continues to increase”.

    He has asked each secretary of state to provide a list of government bodies that could be merged or closed, including cases in which their functions “could be provided by organisations other than the state”.

    His intervention came ahead of a public bodies “review programme”, which will be launched this week to identify cost savings at individual quangos.

    The Treasury had previously told public bodies to slash their costs by five per cent, but The Telegraph understands ministers involved in the review now want to increase that to between 10 and 20 per cent.

    ‘Public bodies should only exist when there is a pressing need’

    In his letter to secretaries of state, Mr Rees-Mogg wrote: “Necessary public bodies are an important delivery mechanism for the Government. The cost and number of these bodies continues to increase.

    “Public bodies should only exist when there is a pressing need, must be accountable to Parliament and be efficient and effective. Please review your public bodies for any that you consider could be provided by organisations other than the state and therefore closed.

    “There are other bodies that have duplication in the types of service they provide, often causing confusion to the public. These organisations could well be merged to create a more coherent service for the public, share best practice and reduce cost.”

    He asked for ministers to provide  “a list of your public bodies sponsored by your department” and “your proposals to close and merge bodies from that list”, by June 24.

    The move comes after Steve Barclay, Boris Johnson’s chief of staff, used an article in The Telegraph in February to pledge that the Government would take “a step back from people’s lives” as it sought to “restore a smaller state” in the wake of the Covid pandemic.

    Mr Rees-Mogg said: “Taxpayers’ money should be spent efficiently and on worthwhile areas. It’s right, then, that we should always look at public organisations and whether they are delivering for the British public.”

    ‘Constantly writing to the DVLA’

    One Whitehall source said there had been a “total failure” by the DVLA “to provide the public service it is meant to”. The agency has come under fire for presiding over a huge backlog of licence applications and renewals in the aftermath of the pandemic.

    Last week, Mr Rees-Mogg told Bristol Live he was “still constantly writing to the DVLA on behalf of my constituents to get them driving licenses, and we know that the DVLA was simply not working properly with people working from home. That’s very unfair on my constituents.”

    MPs’ concerns about Public Health England’s handling of the pandemic led to its closure and replacement with the UK Health Security Agency last year.

    The TaxPayers’ Alliance has called for little-known bodies such as the Civil Society and Youth Directorate and Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner to be ditched.

    The campaign group has said High Speed 2 Ltd, the government-owned firm constructing the HS2 rail line, should be overseen by an independent commission following years of controversy over spiralling costs.

    So-called “arms length bodies” such as the DVLA now spend more than £220 billion per year and employ in excess of 300,000 people, according to government figures.

    Separately, Mr Rees-Mogg has embarked on a drive to end the work from home culture in the Civil Service.

    On Saturday, Dave Penman, who leads the FDA trade union for civil servants, criticised as “crass and condescending” a note left by the Cabinet Office minister in an empty government office that stated: “Sorry you were out when I visited. I look forward to seeing you in the office very soon.”

    * * *
    .
    Not unexpectedly the BTLs are in favour, although some are resigned to the fact that Whitehall will inevitably obstruct and frustrate in the process:

    Stephen Clues11 HRS AGO

    What’s “crass and condescending”, Mr. Penman, is the situation in which your civil servants fail to turn up to their place of work while drawing salaries at the public expense.

    Michael Staples10 HRS AGO

    Even if you believe in the “climate catastrophe” fantasy, it makes no sense to outsource statutory powers to a non-elected body of green fanatics. Ministers and MPs should be seen to be making their own decisions.

    Rowland Pantling9 HRS AGO

    Repeal the Climate Change Act, probably the most expensive economic suicide note ever written in history as the late Christopher Booker put it, and job done!

    C Copestake6 MIN AGO

    Hopefully, the civil servants who refuse to work in the office (have relocated to the country ?) will be dismissed and not redeployed elsewhere. Time to get a functioning machine following the directives given by government for implementation of policies.

    Martyn Lincoln10 HRS AGO

    Unions say his empty desk note was ‘insulting’ ….what IS insulting is the lazy civil servants taking our money for doing very little…..Unions say ‘civil servants say they are going to leave in droves’…….GOOD…..quicker the better to save culling costs.

    Start in Swansea and work out……

    WA Clark11 HRS AGO

    Every time we are promised a bonfire of the quangos the number increases.

    1. Morning, HJ.

      Thank you for two consecutive posts highlighting ‘promised’ action from our moribund government: add in Patel’s Rwanda ‘promise’ and it’s a hat trick of action just as the local elections are nearing. Anyone believing this that tripe will ever come to fruition is living in clown land.

  19. A headline in the DT:

    Pledge to ban trials for Army veterans over Troubles deaths

    And how many times have we heard this? If the government is serious it will introduce a statute of limitation for any cases brought against veterans – I suggest that it should be no more than 10 years, after which it is ‘case closed’.

  20. How the trans ideology dehumanises women. Spiked. 24 April 2022.

    I’ve seen some gaslighting in my time, but the new book from transgender professor Grace Lavery takes the biscuit. It is almost entirely about Lavery’s penis – as confirmed by its title, Please Miss: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Penis – and yet if any of you dare to refer to Lavery as a man you will be branded a bigot. It has page after depressing page about Mr Lavery’s cock – how shrivelled it has become since he started popping female hormone pills, how it ‘does very little but flop around’, how it occasionally ‘takes a stab at stiffening’ – and yet anyone who says ‘He must be a bloke, then’ will be denounced as a foul transphobe deserving of cancellation. It goes on and on about boners and ballsacks and the ‘Lacanian phallus’ – imagine Jay from The Inbetweeners getting a PhD in Queer Studies – and yet woe betide those who refuse to bow down to the idea that this dick obsessed with his dick is in fact a woman. Literally, legally, actually a woman.

    Though I hesitate to condemn anyone on someone else’s word, this is a wonderful exposé of this book and its author that saves you having to read it yourself. The writer is clearly unhinged but this hasn’t prevented him becoming a Professor at Berkeley University in the United States. A confirmation; as if any were necessary, that advanced learning institutions are now as debased as their political counterparts. The “West” is fast declining into decadent imbecility.

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2022/04/23/how-the-trans-ideology-dehumanises-women/

    1. This is abuse perpetrated on society, pure and simple. It has little to do with wanting to be a woman, and everything to do with wanting to force other people to kowtow to and repeat obediently, ideas that they know to be false. It is controlling abuse, nothing more.

      Now imagine that this person is a close family member. If you don’t go along with the lie, they threaten suicide, and write all over the sympathetic social media and media that you are a cruel, far right wing, knuckle-dragging oaf and bigot, or try court actions for hate crime, sometimes getting custody of the children because the spouse is portrayed in court as an abuser.

      The families of trans people have no outlet, as the only thing they are allowed to say in public is “I was a bit upset at first, but now I totally accept XXX”.

      1. One way around the pronoun-bending mental cases is simply to always refer to them by their full name, e.g. Joe Bloggs or Matilda Honeysuckle Bloggs – these people never seem to go for simple names.

        Never use him/her/it/asylum escapee, just Joe Bloggs/Matilda Honeysuckle Bloggs. It might seem a little long-winded but would spike the guns of the deranged as they seek to take offence at normal people referring to them solely by their name.

        1. They have already tried to criminalise that, by making rules on popular websites that people can be sanctioned or blocked for formulating sentences that don’t include the preferred pronoun. This was one step too far for the progressive tech website stackOverflow, and they lost most of their useful membership.

          1. That is lunacy, if their own name isn’t good enough for them they will be ignored by me. I’ve no time for childish shenanigans in attention seeking halfwits.

          2. Don’t care. If he came across me which, if I still lived in Berkeley would be a distinct possibility, I would refer to him as he and nothing else. He could rant and rave as much as he wanted but I would not budge one iota to accommodate the foul bigot. For that is what he is in his efforts to demean women.

  21. Good morning, everyone. Open Day at the bowls club to recruit more members. I will look in later.

    2. Good morning Delboy. We had our Open Day on 16th April and we’re very pleased with the number of newbies. 24 of them have signed up for 3 x one to one one-hour coaching sessions to encourage eventual joining. We ask them to pay £20 for these sessions and if they join it’s knocked off their joining fee. We “opened” at 1000 officially but people arrived from 0920! It was quite hectic but very pleasing.

  22. A telling Neil Oliver

    https://twitter.com/GBNEWS/status/1517917528957325314?s=20&t=-iE-U_F1dTnVBBwzMFkxSg
    “Those who demand apologies are not in the business of accepting apologies and to offer them is to bare your throat to the wolf”
    I’ve lost the links but yesterday I watched a black man reading Thomas Sowell on slavery which revealed the massive efforts and cost to the British Empire in ending this foul institution over many parts the world( I never knew we sank Brazilian slave ships in harbour)
    The constant theme was his shock and horror and the repeated question “Why was I never taught any of this in school”
    The simple answer is the race-baiters have made damn sure it ain’t taught it doesn’t fit their victimhood/compo culture

    1. And to add insult to injury the man with the well fitting St George’s day gloves knocked out the challenger (Mr Whyte) last night how institutionally racist of him. Some thing else for the already ‘over hackneyed’ to moan about.

  23. Good Moaning.
    Good article in the Sunday Telly. Very long, but very informative.
    This paragraph is quite eye popping; I’m just praying that no British government has been this stupid.

    “The Germans even allowed Russian companies to control large parts of their energy storage facilities and refineries, meaning that when the invasion of Ukraine began in February, stocks of oil and gas were low. This was another factor in persuading Berlin that an early exit from Russian hydrocarbons was impossible.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/04/24/arrogant-incompetent-corrupt-war-shattering-delusions-german/

    1. As Britain got rid of the storage facilities a few years ago, we do not have this particular problem.

      1. Meanwhile, across the pond, pResident Biden is using up the strategic oil reserves, built up under Trump, in a futile attempt to avoid higher fuel prices whilst begging to e.g. Venezuela for increased oil production.

  25. Earl and Countess of Wessex met by protests on second leg of Caribbean tour. 24 april 2022.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/673c79ee511aecb1c3e1b463134426b7dbb3bd5b005943f2e89f3cfb3a981a2a.png

    The Earl and Countess of Wessex were met with banners of protest on their visit to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines on Saturday.

    A group of around 15 people stood outside Government House on the island with banners such as “end to colonialism” and “Compensation Now”.

    Other banners included “down with neo colonialism” and “Britain your debt is outstanding”.

    This is just a scam to rip some cash out of Whitey. This said I do not see the purpose in these low level royal visits to places that have long forgotten their links to the UK; apart of course as a destination for Social Security scroungers and drug runners.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2022/04/23/earl-countess-wessex-met-protests-second-leg-caribbean-tour/

    1. I have no respect for those greedy beggars calling for “reparation.” Give them a First Class ticket back to where their ancestors came from.

      1. Perhaps they should make “reparation” to us for all the lives lost and money spent on Britain’s efforts to halt the slave trade? Presumably any further aid or development money that we might offer in future will be refused on the grounds that it is tainted by our colonial past??

        1. It was the British taxpayers who bought the slaves their freedom – a debt which was only paid off fairly recently.

      2. Or, better yet, BB2, demand that they pay for their Great-grandparents ticket from the African shithole to their current ‘Land of the Free.’

    2. It’s behind you! Turn your heads and you will see the wires. Telephone, electricity all provided by Whitey. Your contribution, if any, was to dig the holes for thr poles.

      1. Thomas Sowell has said a lot about slavery but he is not that popular because he tells the truth which is not a nice thing to do now a days, it bursts the bubble of political correctness and the smug false superiority of the Woke.

    4. Instead of whinging and incessantly moaning at every given opportunity what have any of them done to better themselves or improve their circumstances.
      Three letters fit the set in stone attitude SFA.
      And you with the blue signs, perhaps you need to apply for compensation from the country that sold your ancestors in the first place, If you can be bothered that is. But what ever you do don’t mention the better life you lead now than those who share your DNA on the west coast of Africa.

        1. Exactly, if anyone wants to go there on holiday it costs a small fortune. I would bet my house on the fact that not one of them has ever been back to the place (to see how well off they all are) where their supposed their ancestors came from………A least I’ve been back to Yorkshire a few times 😃🤗 ayoop toop thoop .

    6. Clearly orchestated – the E & C of W have no responsibility for their ancestral arrival on these islands.

    7. I sailed into the beautiful and completely shambolic Caribbean town of St George’s in January 1985 a year or so after the Americans had clumsily ‘restored order’ after a revolt. Margaret Thatcher was not impressed because the US had gone in without any reference to her.

      As I sailed around the Caribbean I wrote a song, Hey Skip*, about our travels and the little boys who rowed their make-shift, home-made dinghies to your boat and offered you a range of services and pestered you to buy things. (First chorus: Hey Skip, Hey Skip, wanna buy some limes? I can introduce you to my sister, I can show you good times)

      Here is the verse about Grenada:

      As I sailed into Grenada the US Army was there
      Wearing short pants and T shirts and driving Jeeps everywhere
      They screamed and whistled and waved machine guns as they drove by past me
      It made me think that it is not true that worse things happen at sea.
      So Hey Skip, Hey Skip wanna buy some limes? etc)

      * Skip is short for ‘skipper’.

    8. I sailed into the beautiful and completely shambolic Caribbean town of St George’s in January 1985 a year or so after the Americans had clumsily ‘restored order’ after a revolt. Margaret Thatcher was not impressed because the US had gone in without any reference to her.

      As I sailed around the Caribbean I wrote a song, Hey Skip*, about our travels and the little boys who rowed their make-shift, home-made dinghies to your boat and offered you a range of services and pestered you to buy things. (First chorus: Hey Skip, Hey Skip, wanna buy some limes? I can introduce you to my sister, I can show you good times)

      Here is the verse about Grenada:

      As I sailed into Grenada the US Army was there
      Wearing short pants and T shirts and driving Jeeps everywhere
      They screamed and whistled and waved machine guns as they drove by past me
      It made me think that it is not true that worse things happen at sea.
      So Hey Skip, Hey Skip wanna buy some limes? etc)

      * Skip is short for ‘skipper’.

    9. If you want compensation then get it from Italy. The Romans made slaves of Britons, so it’s really their fault.

      Or, you could simply STFU and realise that road you’re blockading was built with out money. If we called for compensation, you’d find we owned every single one of you, and ten generations hence in free labour.

      Grow up, you stupid children.

      1. Those who went to live in Britain often get social security and don’t have to work; those who stayed in Grenada don’t get nuffink. This ain’t fair – we deserve compensation from the Honky!

  26. 352144+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,
    Sunday 24 April: A drifting Government and a hopeless opposition: where do true Tories go now?

    Where do they go now ?not to much of a brain teaser that.
    They have had decades following the heath path so are well steeped in treachery, major
    brought the tory (ino) into the light followed by the wretch cameron singing the praises of the eu in a missive then charging the peoples for the print & postage.

    The may creature was a placement in the leadership farce ALL politico’s complicit gove the assassin / pm candidate,fat turk the victim, leadsom found the kitchen to hot
    ALL laying down as a path for the already selected mayday.

    Then johnson took up the treacherous cause with the “deal” & setting up a nautical
    trojan horse in the shape of the RNLI at DOVER.

    No matter what the future consequences are as we learn from the past the party name is the fools magnet.

    1. Never again can I vote Conservative. The current party espouses none of the values they should. High taxes, waste, big state, debt, massive public sector – what precisely do the half a million civil servants in Whitehall do?

      Reducing pensions, making the poor poorer, punishing work, widening the wealth gap, removing the incentive t invest and better yourself, reducing state intereference… not one of these does the currernt Tory party propose. Instead we get socialism, a planned economy, massive uncontrolled immigration, soaring crime and abundant waste.

    1. There’s a bit in the Captain America first film where Steve Rogers is asked :

      “So you want to kill Nazis?”
      Rogers replies “I don’t want to kill anyone. I don’t like bullies.”

      That pretty much sums up my approach to war. Evil must be opposed. Whether the fascist Left, the green tyranny, the evil of state oppression, the attempted genocide of our society by the looting mob, the cultural destroying communists – all must be opposed and when they start the next war I will fight them for my son’s future and my wife’s safety. Obliteration is all they offer, so that is what they must endure.

      But war generally is pointless. A waste of life, materiel and time. Communication is far preferred, and markets above that. When one group goes beyond discussion and into armed conflict everyone has already lost. I don’t know enough about Ukraine or Russia’s history to look at one side or the other. The EU clearly hasn’t helped at all with it nosing pressures to join the various ‘communities’.

      I do not believe the media. It lies habitually, reflexively to suit a narrative. Perhaps that’s the saddest part. It had the choice to present the truth – the BBC especially – and chose to create an enemy.

      1. That the West has systematically blocked out the voice of Russia is the main thing that tells me the West is lying and afraid of the truth. After all if you are telling the truth you would not be afraid of what your opposition was saying but you would want to hear them for the possibility of an opening for dialogue. The fact that the West has systematically cut off all avenues and even demonized ordinary people who happen to be Russian but have nothing to do with politics, is the behaviour of people who fear truth and want the lie to prevail. In essence it is the behaviour of bullies who almost always are cowards to because they know they are guilty. And as all of us who know about the promises made to Russia after the dissolution of the USSR know, it is the West which is the guilty party for what has happened and that the Ukrainian government has been the willing stooge and proxy for the USA which has never forgiven Russia for depriving it of its excuse for an eternal foe which, in its own Orwellian militaristic state of being of constant conflict, the USA needs.

      1. I think they all are. I have seen Macron sniffing, Johnson, Gove. Definitely Zelensky.

    2. A little birdie for me today.
      Wordle 309 3/6

      ⬜⬜🟨⬜🟨
      ⬜🟨🟩🟨⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  29. 352144+ up ticks,
    Well worth a repeat,

    Yesterday 23 April was the 406th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death,a great & very apt quote for now is,

    “With inky blots & rotten parchment bonds: that England, that was was wont to conquer others, hath made a shameful conquest of itself.” (John of Gaunt, Richard II).

    England could never had been laid as low as it is today without the deliberate betrayal of our leaders, from the top down.

    1. 352144+ up ticks,

      O2O,
      That Shakespeare post was set up by that so far right, old racist Gerard Batten.

    2. I was refused personal independence payment recently by the DWP. I can walk around the house and garden. I struggle to walk Dolly. Normally have to stop several times. I attempted to walk back from the dentist in town yesterday (less than a mile) but only got 100 yards before i had to call a taxi. There seems plenty of money for… etc etc.

      1. Hi Phizzee, I looked into PIP a while back at the insistence of others. In the end I didn’t apply for reasons that I won’t go into. I did however speak to Citizens Advice about the subject and they mentioned that it is not unusual for PIP to be refused on the initial application but granted on appeal. CA have a specialist unit that deals with such things and it may be worth giving them a call.

        1. I had exactly the same experience. I didn’t apply because they take my husbands income into account, and although I’ve worked most of my life (except for 5 years with the children) I found it demeaning that my husband was expected to look after me!! Pity I’m not a refugee/illegal/pikey or similar!

          3. I’m sure he does look after you anyway, Sue, regardless of anyone else’s opinion. That’s what husbands do.

          6. Oh he does! But it was the financial stuff that made me mad! Patronising in the extreme! It was their bluddy fault for raising the pension age!

          7. We have to soldier on to 70 here, up from 67 a few years ago. Not convinced I’ll last that long…

          14. That’s what my Grandfather used to say – although less often after 60 and not at all once past about 68!!

          17. That I’m very well aware of. In 5 years I have gone from looking after my garden and greenhouses to someone who can’t even walk the 100 yards that Pip mentioned. Sometimes from the room that I’m sitting in now, where the computer is, to my bedroom, perhaps 30 paces, is a struggle and, sometimes I can’t make dinner, it is to much of a struggle. Decay, I understand is inevitable. But as long as my mind is intact and I’m not in overwhelming pain, I will be happy.

          19. Of course I’m joking, however for some people it would probably be for the best. My wee neighbour died aged 94 in December. She told me a couple of years ago that things had gone downhill once she turned 60. On the brightside, she preferred to die at home, rather than in a home, and was supported in her desire by her son and daughter who along with carers visited every day once she was less mobile at 92.

          20. Actually when I was in hospital the other day there was a man in the bed opposite me that I thought was really old. I was somewhat disturbed to find out that he was born in the same year as me. He already looked like he had one foot in the grave.

          21. My father died at 39, his father at 50, his grandfather at 72, gtgrandfather also 72. The women mostly lived a lot longer.

          22. My Farther had had several strokes and died at 84 it was for the best he became a head in bed. My Mother was 90 one her brothers was 93, elder one smoked too much and was in his 50s, her younger sister was 90 and her elder sister was 96 she lived in the sunny climes of QLD and nearly always had a wee dram before going to bed. speaking of which, i’m just off the Aldi to see what bargains they have in the single malt varieties.

          23. Good genes can be passed down by females and males – it’s a lottery as to which we end up with. I’m older now than all of my male ancestors in the paternal line but there were some longer lived ones in the maternal line.

          24. My Mama was 78 when she died, my brother was also 78 when he died.

            I’m 78 in May…

            …figure it out!

          26. Personally, J, I’m not bothered. If it happens, so be it, but thank you for the concern.

          28. They didn’t have much on display in Aldi WGC I then went to Tesco. I paid a bit more but at least i was able to buy some.

          30. I bought a Jura for 30. and another 12 year old single for 23. I always add three ice cubes cant drink it neat.

          31. I never knew my Scots grandfather- I was 6 months old when he died. My Scots granny was 90 when she went. English grands were 84 and 85 respectively- however my parents were 59 and 63. My brother was 57 so I have outlived them all at the ripe old age of 68.

          32. My father’s father died in 1931, so long before my time. I was just under two when my other grandfather died – so I have no memory of him, either. My mum’s mother came to live with us when I was five, so I do remember her. My other grandmother lived to 87, but she was a bit of a recluse, so I only remember one or two visits.

          35. Caroline is still being described by many of our students as the best French teacher our students have ever had – but she has only just turned 60 and so she has many lucid years to go. I am 76 this year but I am still able to contribute to the business and, as many of our students are studying English for “A” level as well as French, I can engage in relevant conversation and I often find I know the set books which I last taught over thirty years ago rather better than many of the students taking “A” level this year. And I have not yet lost the ability to make most of our students laugh and I have a good fund of stories which, of course, I have to tell in French as we have a French Only Conversation Rule when our students are with us.

          36. Recent pictures you posted make her look well under 60s, Rastus. Tell her to hurry up and look something even close to her age!

          37. They do – but not necessarily financially. OH and I have always kept our finances separate, we both pay into a household current account for the bills, and the rest is our own.

          39. When I was first married to the first OH, I made the mistake of turning my current account into a joint one. We didn’t argue about money (just everything else) but I did resent having to use his money to buy him a present or that kind of thing.

          40. #ustoo – except we take the bills individually, so SWMBO pays the ‘leccy, I pay repairs, snow clearing. That kind of thing.

          41. Everything I own belongs to Caroline and everything she owns belongs to me.

            In 34 years of marriage we have never once had a row about money.

          42. We don’t either, but we prefer to keep our financial affairs separate. My money if anything is left, will go to my children. His money, if anything is left, will go to his niece and nephew. The house belongs to both of us.

          43. MB and I have always had separate bank accounts. We each cover certain expenses, an arrangement which evolved over time.
            Since we’ve clocked up 58 years, it must work for us.

          44. PIP is not currently means tested, You can get it regardless of income or savings.

          45. Yes, Jack! You’re right! Sorry, have mixed PIP up with Universal Credit! They wouldn’t give me that either!!
            My pore brain!

      3. Pip. You need to make it clear that you can’t function with ordinary things, housework, gardening. Can you use a hoover? No. Or: “Yes, but I have to stop and start because the simplest thing requires frequent breaks to gather oneself”. etc. I am not saying that you have to lie, I’m simply saying you must indicate that daily tasks are a struggle and that you do need help with them. And don’t hold back because it makes you feel uncomfortable.

      1. I feared that that was the case but apparently the amount of money you can borrow on this scheme is not enough to finance full-time studies.

    4. Given that 70% of Muslims in this country are entirely welfare dependent one wonders if they can sublet a state owned property.

    5. I am totally disgusted. I have no flabber left to be be ghasted any more!

      BUT

      According to the website (which Caroline looked up to prevent me from exploding) the actual amount of money you can borrow is in the hundreds rather than the thousands of pounds and not enough to see you through any full-time studies.

    1. Grease Smogg has been minister for Brexit Opportunities since February 8th. Has anybody heard him utter one word about invoking Article 16 and setting Britain free from the EU in Northern Ireland?

      Has Greasy mist the chance to keel the pot? He certainly doesn’t seem to be buttering any parsnips.

      The Conservatives got elected to get Brexit done; they will be thrown out for a botched job without having exploited the Brexit opportunities properly.

        1. Good morning, Ndovu

          What’s in it? Is it yet another fraudulent ploy to make us think something is being done when it won’t change anything? I am full of ‘satiable curtiosity‘! ‘Please would you direct me to a link which will give some more information about this?

  32. Good morning to all. Lovely weather, sunny, clear blue skies, and a comfortable 51f.

    Today is Orthodox Easter Sunday so, being Orthodox I just wanted to post something but not labour the religious schtick which is not something I am comfortable doing. Although there is something I want to address on those lines but I will deal with that in a separate post because it is a response to remarks by a couple of people. So here is a traditional short Sunday Easter chant that I hope you all enjoy. Peace to you all!

    Russian Orthodox Chant for Easter – “The Angel Cried, Christ is Risen”
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVr_Wsm7RuY

    3. That is absolutely beautiful. I wonder if we will ever be able to visit Russia again?

    1. Well, if you express any of your own contrary thoughts, you will be cancelled from the Earth. Just go along with the narrative and collect your food credits. Sherry will only be available at the top table in Davos.

      2. Noooo! You can’t deprive Plum of her sherry! That would be like me not having me Pinot ;-))

  35. It seems inevitable that Toyboy Macron will still be the president of France when tomorrow dawns.

    French conservatives torn between ‘unbearable’ Emmanuel Macron and ‘unknown’ Marine Le Pen
    The country’s Right-wing is facing an identity crisis following the collapse of its traditional Républicains party

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/04/23/french-conservatives-torn-unbearable-emmanuel-macron-unknown/

    BTL

    Macron’s dramatic down-styling in dress trying to mimic a baseball-cap-wearing adolescent wearing shades (or last week the scruffy president of the Ukraine) is surely attracting him more contempt and derision than respect from all age groups. Perhaps he remembers that he managed to woo his 40 year old wife when he really was an adolescent of 15 and thinks that the just-past-puberty look will prove to be a winner once again
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6136fea1c254bc6551c95a2fb584495a9e25fa915a942388b057fe441ffbeeb9.jpg .

    Any reputation that France ever had for sartorial elegance is being blown as highly out of the water as if it had been blown up by the explosives sent to Russia by France and Germany

    1. And who could have failed to have been impressed by the merkin (The pubic hairpiece) he sported last week when he provocatively undid three or more shirt buttons to reveal it in its full luxuriant glory?

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/dd8c1a6651dcab50286acdee9aed01f9f4ddbdc0dc49af75c7cdb44f1e4a982d.jpg

      I suppose that if voters in the US are stupid enough to vote for Biden then voters in France are just as capable of making fools of themselves.

      As in most so-called democracies abstention or none of the above is the only reasonable option

      1. There is only one suitable description, what a complete W⚓………….
        Do they have such an expression in France Richard ?

          2. After leaving college, I worked for a year or so in a French patisserie. The patissiers (for they were French) didn’t speak any English – I spoke a bit of French so spoke to them in French. They called the pot that they used to shake icing sugar over the cakes ‘le branleu’ – I had no reason to suspect anything untoward….until one day the boss (also French) was working in the bakery and I told him I would get le branleu for him.
            V embarrassing when the patissiers explained why he laughed.

    5. Humans, being an ever more stupid species as time passes, will continue to vote worse and worse imbeciles into power. The progressively rapid deterioration in the intellect, of the most clever and inventive species ever to have evolved, could not possibly have been foreseen just a century ago.

      1. “… the most clever and inventive species that we know of ever to have evolved…”

  36. UK lamb exports are back up to pre-Brexit levels. Is the BBC heralding this good news? No. The HMRC is, but the BBC is blocking that news to you!

        1. My father use to echo that he spent a lot of time in North Africa in WW2. “Never trust and arab son”.

    2. The BBC regularly spins pro Brexit articles. It can’t acknowledge that it has been a good thing.

      Infuriatingly, we could be agenuine powerhouse if the state had let us. Instead we cling to EU regulation and dogma. The corporation tax hike, high income taxes, high wealth taxes – all designed to cripple the country.

      Imagine if as soon as we left Boris had said ‘Right, corporation tax is now 10%. Income tax 22. No NI, not VAT. No council tax. No foreign aid. We’re going for broke, with significant cuts to state spending, removing all these regulations (wee, hra, water, cap, fisheries) – and a host of others. Real freedom. A market based economy. Covid hits, he says ok, we’ve got a problem. This is what we’re doing… furlough, but once furlough ends the money is recouped through cuts to state spending but scrapping those failed and useless quangos and departments that were useless.

      The only way to grow an economy is by cutting taxes and shredding the state. If he’d done the above now we’d have massive inward investment, an incredible spending surge, a huge boost in real incomes. The Left would be furious, the grauiand practically on fire with rage. All provng they are the right decisions.

      1. Don’t forget the Online Harm Bill is probably a mirror of the one going through the EU.

        1. It’s giving us a lot of work at the moment as people seek to avoid it. Government is monumentally dumb. They keep trying to legislation oppression.

      2. I cannot argue, Wibbles and what you propose, if put into the Conservative manifesto, might just win them the next election. Otherwise – into the darkness for ever.

  37. Electrician wins battles over ‘hate incident’ on his record

    POLICE handed an electrician a “noncrime hate incident” without him knowing, after he refused to work with a customer who he feared would not pay the bill.
    Kevin Mills, 63, arrived at a client’s house in Maidstone, Kent, to install a bathroom mirror, where he discovered an additional £50 of materials would be needed.
    When the client objected and insisted upon keeping suction couplers purchased for the job, Mr Mills determined that trust had broken down and he would not complete the work.

    As he began to leave, Mr Mills told the client who he believed was behaving churlishly that “I’m not working for someone like you,” or words to that effect. He said the woman pursued him as he gathered his tools, calling him “a t—” and “unprofessional”. Mr Mills says the client, known only as AB, then threw a cup of hot tea at him and slammed the front door shut.
    The electrician phoned Kent Police to report an assault following the incident on Feb 12, 2019 and was later informed that no further action would be taken.

    But more than two years later, he realised he had been handed a “noncrime hate incident” (NCHI), which are not crimes but still show on enhanced DBS checks. The police record said that Mr Mills was suspected of carrying out a racial hate incident, which he later discovered was for his alleged words, “I’m not working for someone like you”, which he says was directed at the client’s manner, not her minority ethnicity.

    The Free Speech Union (FSU) intervened to raise concerns about Mr Mills’ freedom of expression, right to a private life and his data privacy, prompting Kent Police this month to agree to finally delete the record.

    Under police guidance for NCHIs, any action perceived to be motivated by hostility towards religion, race or transgender identity must be recorded “irrespective of whether there is any evidence to identify the hate element”. The Court of Appeal ruled that the guidance unlawfully interferes with the right to free expression following a challenge in December. Around 120,000 NCHIs were recorded by police forces in England and Wales between 2014 and 2019.

    Mr Mills said: “I would like an apology from Kent Police. If I was to tender for work in certain places like a school then [the NCHI] may well affect me. ”Superintendent Pete Steenhuis, at Kent Police, said: “Kent Police has agreed to delete its record of the noncrime hate incident.

    If any bitch throws a hot cup of tea over me, then I am going to reported for something much more than a “hate noncrime”.

    1. You’d think you’d take the professional’s advice on what’s the right thing to do. That’s why you hire them, after all.

      My only frustration with tradesmen is their not calling you back or emailing, or texting and not taking a quality first approach. There’s a point at which the cost isn’t an issue, but I do want the best job done that can be. If they say ‘that’s another £200’, fine. I’ll pay it if it means a better end result.

      1. Advice to all if you employ a trades person,…………. get more than a mobile number and ask to see their up to date public liability insurance.
        I was carrying out some work for some one i had known for years he had remarried and his new wife ‘knew everything’ there was to know.
        She took over the daily running of the work and giving out her orders. We had plumbers putting in and fixing door frames and lots of other things going on that were not conducive to getting a satisfactory finish all around. I had recommended plasterers they were excellent, because of her interfering (project management) she mess up a sequence of events. The plasters ran out of work and went to catch up on another job in London.
        Bringing things forward she insisted the external rendering was carried out in case it rained !! the guys were too busy to be given 4 hours notice to re-arrive the next day. So she got hold of some others who happened not o be working at the time and were from eastern Europe.
        They completely ruined the brand new and huge double glazed ‘garden vista’ floor to ceiling lounge doors. They sloshed a lot of sand and cement render on the glass out side and left it to dry and when they tried to remove it, the glass was heavily scratched thus ruining the doors/windows. They of course had no public liability insurance and did not give a toss, their mobile was switched off and they disappeared. It cost theses people thousands to replace all the damaged glass. But lesson learned ? Not really the plumbers also cut the bottoms off the door frames to make them fit easily. And when the new doors arrived it was discovered they all had to be cut down, thus losing the manufacturers warranties. And it was of course everyone else fault. I left them to it soon after.

        1. We insist on the work being invoiced including VAT (company must have VAT registration), and tell the company that we will be expecting professional work – so, real scaffolding, and we’ll be examining the workforce’s worksite permits (issued by the government Labour Authority) to say they are legitimate. It costs, but it’s not reasonable that firms that do the job properly and pay their taxes are undercut. That way lies a crap situation as found in Greece not too long ago.

      2. I tell the tradesman that, within reason, cost is not an issue. I want to be able to look at the job afterwards, and say with pleasure “That’s a good job!”, and I’m willing to pay for that.

    2. Why is police “guidance” that an incident of this sort is even recorded? The client threw a cup of tea at him and yet he is the one to have some non-crime recorded! Beggars belief.

    3. Under police guidance for NCHIs, any action perceived to be motivated
      by hostility towards religion, race or transgender identity must be
      recorded “irrespective of whether there is any evidence to identify the
      hate element”.

      Except of course it is a Wokist saying it about it to/about a Heterosexual Effnic Brit

    4. Aah, George, I see your avatar has gone for the 1984 look. I’m not sure if it’s an improvement.

    1. £1m in councillor expenses. What for? I’d imagine a slew of ‘home improvement’ or vehicle taxes, lots of new shiny cars in the council car park, no doubt.

      1. Councils are like the NHS. Run for the benefit of the employees and not the public.

        1. Sadly, yes. It really is time to control what they do and simply get rid of them. Most councillors are utterly useless. In fact, so are most MPs.

        2. To be fair, the NHS would run muuuch more smoothly without patients, many of whom are a pain in the aris.

          1. Nice one Stormy. 😂😂
            When I was a sales manager the customers were the bane of my life.

    1. Personally, I think it’s bloody ridiculous. I am a woman and will therefore use a women’s loo. Enough of this BS.

      1. Yes, but what if you saw a 6 foot bloke in there, hoofing up his dress peeing standing up – then came out waving it about and claiming ‘he’s a wahman, innit, what can ya do!’

        For an adult, this might simply be disgusting. Now imagine there’s a little girl going in there with her Mum and the bloke in a dress is doing that – as has already been done.

        1. Yes, indeed, a stupid and sorry situation. And the “law” would be on the side of the 6 ft person.

        2. I fail to understand what the problem is. At work, we have unisex toilets. The cubicle, with a ceiling-to-floor door, opens from a lobby. Each cubicle is equipped with cludgie, sink, soap, paper towel dispenser and tampon bin. All finished & washed up, one exits into the lobby. Nobody sees one partly unclad, no whangs are waved in public… works fine.

          1. Well, that makes sense- not a lot of that these days in this country or the USA.

          2. That works well in Europe with the nice enclosed single cabins but when you get over to the US, doors are half height and barely cover the nether regions!

            I wonder how woke crap would go in Arizona? One golf club we visited had separate mens and women’s washrooms, but in the washrooms, cubicles were completely open – no doors of any kind.

          3. I encountered doorless cubicles in California and New York State. It seems to be a commonplace occurrence Stateside.

          4. Having lived in the US since 1979, I have never come across doorless cubicles such as you describe, unless you are referring to Gents only?? ;-))

          5. Hi, Jill. Yes, I never ventured into the Ladies. I do believe that the doorless cubicle I encountered in New York State had once had some form of door attached (the hinge holes were still present), so it might be appropriate to think that someone, at some stage, had kicked it in!

          6. On excercise with the National Guard years ago, the ablutions block in our billet was a room with six toilets in 🤭

          7. I have no problem with unisex lavs where there is either – one for everyone’s use; or separate cubicles (as you describe).

            The difficulty is where there is general use of facilities and access through an area used in common. I would certainly NOT wish to go into a women’s loo and find lots of ladies adjusting their clothing, doing their make up and gossiping.

      2. Why not just replace the Ladies and Gents lavatories with the new simplified signs which don’t get bogged down with sex or gender issues or debates :

        WITH PENISES ——/——- WITHOUT PENISES

        It could be hailed as

        The

        WILLY ——–/——– NILLY

        System

        (Maybe an artistic Nottler could sketch some appropriate designs for the signs above the doors of each respective lavatory)

  40. Some good news for a change….

    If there is one thing that is common among NoTTLer’s I suspect it is that we are all readers of books,our tastes may vary widely but we share an addiction to the written word.

    Amid the mass wokery the failure of publishers to support their current authors let alone new ones who don’t “fit” the current narrative is shameful.

    Arise Forum

    ‘I don’t care what a bunch of 19-year-old gender-studies students think’

    So says the boss of Forum, a new publishing imprint that’s offering a home to ‘cancelled’ authors

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-to-read/dont-care-bunch-19-year-old-gender-studies-students-think/

    BTL

    “The way for us to fight back against the

    spineless capitulation of Business to the Woke Fascists is to take our

    custom elsewhere.”

    What a dreadful indictment of the country that we have become. Where people are silenced.

    “It is bad enouh if this happens by majority consent.
    But so much worse because a small number of very noisy bullies are
    intimidating the majority.

    This is no loger a tolerant country that supports free
    speech. It is a country where minority , bigoted opinion dominates.”
    Hear Hear!!
    I shall check their books out!!

    1. It’s a clear example of corporatism, where business gets in bed with the state and in return receives promotion through the state. It’s fundamentally wrong.

        1. You’re right Blackbox2 – I’m wrong in my definition. I forget the term where companies actively buy favourable legislation form the state – perhaps just corruption?

        2. Benito Mussolini (speaking of corporate fascism) “The concept of fascism is dependent on the merger of corporations with the state. The power inherent in government is combined with corporate power, this brings the majority of power in a nation under a small group of individuals. This is known as an Oligarchy.”
          So there you go blackbox. The perfect quote to fit your contention.

    2. Thanks for the tip. I gave up on newly published books in about 2016-2017 – everything has to pass through a woke filter. I refuse to buy it. Will definitely check this publisher out.

    4. It’s not just the “woke” idiots- in the US and probably here too, religious extremists try to ban and have books removed from libraries, something which makes my blood boil. To me, if you don’t think you’ll like the subject matter then don’t read it- same as the TV, if you don’t like it- turn it off.
      I am fully capable, as are most people, of choosing what I want to read and I don’t need some under educated numpty telling me my choices are wrong or unsuitable.
      In GA I have dealt with these busybodies who want books removed from library shelves and not covered in class rooms. Most of the time they haven’t even read the book/books they’re objecting to.
      Books are for reading and learning from- for example, use Huck Finn and Uncle Tom’s Cabin to educate- not remove them because they might offend a segment of society.

      1. That’s never, ever been enough for the Left though. Throughout history they’ve set about destroying what they hate lest others encounter something that questions their view.

        Hitler did it, Stalin did it, Mao – the Left never change.

        1. Did you see my post the other day Wibbs about a school board in Kansas? They banned Charlotte’s Web because talking animals are unnatural and blasphemous! Don’t these morons realise it’s fiction?

      2. I used to do a unit in the library with the 2nd graders- fiction and non-fiction. I would use a fiction book, let’s say Lyle, Lyle Crocodile and also show non-fiction books about crocodiles. Teach the little guys the difference. They soon learn.

      3. The operative word in your last sentence is ‘might’. Take the UK law on hate speech. All it takes is a third party to hear it and believe it ‘might’ offend someone who isn’t even present and the alleged offender can be arrested and prosecuted.

    5. For one glorious minute, I thought that this was the re-birth of “Forum” magazine – a great treat in the 1960s…..!!!

      Those old enough will know what I mean…!

    6. A Study Of Reading Habits

      “When getting my nose in a book
      Cured most things short of school,
      It was worth ruining my eyes
      To know I could still keep cool,
      And deal out the old right hook
      To dirty dogs twice my size.

      Later, with inch-thick specs,
      Evil was just my lark:
      Me and my coat and fangs
      Had ripping times in the dark.
      The women I clubbed with sex!
      I broke them up like meringues.

      Don’t read much now: the dude
      Who lets the girl down before
      The hero arrives, the chap
      Who’s yellow and keeps the store
      Seem far too familiar. Get stewed:
      Books are a load of crap.

      (Philip Larkin: Poet and librarian at the University of Hull)

    7. If only we had a Government (and Opposition) that stood for the rights of the Majority.

    8. Book reading, I just sent this to a Spanish friend:

      Hola Enrique,
      A colleague on NTTL (Phizzee), told us that he was reading a book, written by the first drummer of Genesis – Christopher Stewart – called Driving Over Lemons. Written as a result of him leaving England and buying a small farm in the Alpujarras region of Andalucia.

      Since I thought I knew something of the place, I bought the book and, finding that I knew nothing of that area, was entranced by his narrative. Entranced enough to buy its sequel, A Parrot in a Pepper Tree, quickly followed by the Almond Blossom Appreciation Society.

      Yes, I’m an avid reader and, with a limited knowledge of Spanish, I am amused by his stories, interspersed with Spanish and an accompanying translation. One that really amused me was the tale of an evening being entertained by an ancient octet (whose collective age was about seven hundred years) and one song they sang, included the phrase, Si tu me quieres, Meteré un pepinon en tu buzón. I don’t think I need to translate for you but it made me laugh.

      Another instance was his attending a hospital in Granada and wondering about the crowds, even to the point of finding a Marching Band slouching along – only to discover that it was Din de la Toma – which reminded me of a Remembrance Day Parade through York where the Mayor said he was delighted to see the Army marched, the Navy walked and the Air Force shuffled.

      For non-Spanish speakers, the phrase, “Si tu me quieres, Meteré un pepinon en tu buzón.” means, “If you love me I shall put a cucumber in your letter-box.”

      Aah, life. I thoroughly recommend those books which I’m sure you’ll enjoy – altogether, on Kindle they only cost £6.70.

      1. Glad you liked my recommendation. I have bought the next three books too. I got the paperback versions, second hand for the princely sum of £7.

        I would recommend anyone buy these books. Amusing, entertaining and sunshine on the page.

  41. Best lunch ever… thick slices of sourdough bread bked very early today and dipped in minced chillies (Sambal oelek)… washed down with rough red wine. Tasty, simple…

    2. I bought some Trinidad scorpion hot chilli sauce. It’s so hot i just show it to the food.

      1. I once picked up a bottle of “Dave’s Insanity” hot sauce when I was working in New York.
        I swear my fingers were still tingling later in the day, so I went back to the shop to buy some.
        It didn’t take much to make a chilli dish unpleasantly hot.

        The company now makes an even hotter version: Dave’s Ultimate Insanity. I don’t propose to try it

        1. He probably uses the California Reaper. Supposed to be the hottest chilli at 2.2 million Scoville units of heat.

          On Grizz’s advice i also bought some Apple cider vinegar for indigestion. Seems to work. I found some with added bacteria called ‘Mother’. Gives you a good gut balance making digestion easier.

          1. In earlier days when folk made their own vinegar, it usually developed a layer of “mother.” This was scraped off to be used for tummy problems. Those earlier people weren’t daft.

          2. Big pharma continuously discredits such remedies in order to sell more of their expensive drugs which don’t always work as well.
            Whenever i was coming down with a cold i would get cold sores. I would have to buy those tiny little tubes of zovirax at £5 a time and it didn’t really work.
            Then through the wonders of the Internet i discovered Lysine. It occurs naturally in high protein foods. You can also get it in tablet form from Health food shops.
            Not had a cold sore in years now.
            Did my GP mention this? Did she buggery.

          3. My mum was convinced that apple cider vinegar helped with her arthritis. I think the acupuncture sessions at York hospital were actually more effective for the joint pains.

        2. A few years ago my very patient wife and I tried a Naga infused pork scratching [1 each] from a stall at the Chatsworth fair – very hot – couldn’t speak for at least 5 minutes!

    1. That surely must be a hate crime or incitement to violence , if I could give a flying f**k I would find that deeply offensive, but I don’t ,only sorrow for the state of mind of someone so bitter and deluded that they could say such a thing. I would hate to live in her head.

      1. My comment could equally be construed as a hate crime and an incitement.
        But as you note, one would not wish to be her.

    2. TBF, she’s clearly had a hard life. 59 going on 79. No wonder she’s bitter at people who are and look 40-50.

    4. Most of these eco-fanatics live in Stroud, where XR originated in 2018. One of their first stunts was defacement of road signs and parking a hideously painted car on a local green patch in town. It was there for weeks before eventually being removed.

      Stroud is quite a nice town (though I don’t go there much) but it is full of climate fanatics and nutters.

  43. Good afternoon. Somehow the propaganda of poor Ukraine defending democracy and NATO defending us all against a Russian bogeyman sits oddly with the astonishing piles of western munitions just captured by the Russians near Kharkiv. In what world do the people inserting this stuff into Ukraine want peace? We need to wise up to the evil that is being done in our name. Johnson already has the blood of thousands of Britons on his hands – a few people in Eastern Europe is a bagatelle for him. Wherever true Tories go it is not anywhere near the man.

    https://www.tarableu.com/thousands-of-tons-of-western-arms-nato-wants-peace/

  44. Tory Jamie Wallis tells of rape ordeal in first interview since becoming UK’s first openly trans MP. 24 April 2022.

    Britain’s first openly transgender MP has revealed he is ready to begin the process of transitioning ‘as quickly as possible’ – as he used a TV interview to describe how ‘part of him died’ following his rape ordeal last year.

    Jamie Wallis, the Conservative MP for Bridgend, last month became the first MP to come out as trans as he spoke of having been diagnosed with gender dysphoria.

    The 37-year-old, who still prefers to be known as he/him for the time being, was widely praised by MPs across the House of Commons.

    You have to wonder if he mentioned this in his interviews by the party apparatchiks or to the voters in his election campaign. At one time the newspapers would have sent someone down to his constituency to make enquiries but alas those days are past. He is quite clearly a ringer but for who? He is certainly no politician at all let alone a conservative one. Has the local Conservative Party been nobbled by outsiders being voted onto its committee? I would love to know how it was done!

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10747903/Tory-Jamie-Wallis-tells-rape-ordeal-interview-UKs-openly-trans-MP.html

    2. Well if we are all incinerated in the coming conflagration this probable autogynephile will be able to draw satisfaction that for a couple of seconds some attention was on him.

    3. Well if we are all incinerated in the coming conflagration this probable autogynephile will be able to draw satisfaction that for a couple of seconds some attention was on him.

    4. We should not mock him. The process of transitioning is painful, both emotionally and physically. We should all give him support during this difficult time. After the hormone treatment and the re-alignment surgery, the final process of transitioning from male to female is the most painful:- they shrink your brain and make your mouth bigger.

      2. No! We definitely should mock him! Perhaps that may get through to his sad little ‘brain’ that no one takes him seriously.

    5. You haven’t got ‘gender dysphoria’. You’re just spoiled and silly. You need therapy to unite your whole self and for someone else to tell you to grow up.

      1. If it’s anything, it’s sex dysphoria but, since you were not born a hermaphrodite, I suspect your X and Y chromosomes may give you a clue.

      2. Good grief! This man has serious problems! Mentally defective, whinging and Welsh! He’s more to be pitied than scorned, I can assure you!@ Billy Connolly!

  45. Vow to ban prosecutions of Troubles veterans: Ministers plan to introduce law preventing more trials of former British soldiers who fought in Northern Ireland in Queen’s Speech next month
    A new law is thought to try and bring trials linked to the Troubles to an end
    Legislation is expected to introduce plans including a statute of limitations
    Trials with veterans from the Troubles often collapse due to lack of evidence

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10748123/Vow-ban-prosecutions-Troubles-veterans-Ministers-plan-introduce-law-Queens-Speech.html?login#readerCommentsCommand-message-field

    Wasn’t this promised in the 2019 Manifesto? Why has it taken so long? Will it actually happen?

    We need The Proper Conservative Party which actually honours its election pledges without delay. Are there enough Conservative MPs with the testicular strength to form such a splinter group or seek by-election to form such a party? I doubt it – in which case let’s all stand by for a Starmer/Rayner government in two to three years time!

    2. No need to introduce legislation. Just issue every member of the armed forces serving in Northern Ireland between 1969 and the Good Friday agreement the equivalent of an ”On-the-run letter” – the equivalent of what was issued to the IRA.

  46. OK, doom and gloom everywhere but yet the Sun’s shining and the local Lions have organised a classic car rally on our local open green space, I trundled along in a fairly glum frame of mind which soon lifted when I found myself in a large crowd, unmasked both young and old and all hideously white all enjoying themselves hugely ,with an accordion/sax duo playing frenchlike tunes in the background it could have been pre-war (WW2) times. A quick look over the sea wall and I could see the Sailing Club out as well. I’ve returned home in a benign state soon to be amplified by a bootle of Thacher’s Vintage.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/43db46ed2e4045af54d8ee45477488ce1f8d13f844a1cee809a9c17016ab56f5.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/92a87e5a45966103ded72eceff845bbda76a2059c7538cd63f2e07771381b50c.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c90abce1f07340e78d8377b5e8bf029a903c27be11864eb93081312abe563000.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4b447e84f0b993b8474fcb83823438b048840957bb8989f3d74bd196540e9350.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/25ac1ae1113e1d6dc69f4b719e65bce6884feb4053d67f709e4c7402f433ef7b.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/98cd282549e5190f5f8088b156c54d3b350636ce52cb3599f4c3ec02234169c3.jpg

      2. I’ve never got on with cider despite trying loads of it in my youth. I only use it in cooking. Cask-conditioned ale is my tipple of choice.

        1. I love cask ale too, and a very select few pilsners. Weissbier. Trappist beer. Not so much in he evening, or I’m up weeing half th night… :-((
          Best IPA I ever had is brewed here in Norway – Nøgne Ø IPA. English style (as opposed to US style, where there’s too much hop) and the right strength of 8,5%. Absolutely top brew, it is!

    4. What a beautiful way to spend the day!! Tried to identify some of the cars, but gave up!

  47. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10748079/Knifeman-stabs-priest-elderly-nun-inside-Nice-church-barbaric-attack.html

    ???

    Who would this benefit, I wonder.

    Knifeman shouting ‘we have to kill Macron’ stabs priest and elderly nun in Nice church in barbaric election day attack he may have been plotting ‘for days’ – as cops arrest man, 31, at scene
    A ‘disturbed’ knifeman attacked a priest and a nun at a church in Nice on April 24
    He said: ‘We have to kill Macron’ as France votes in its Presidential election today
    Father Krzysztof Rudzinski, 59, is in hospital after the Saint Pierre d’Arène attack
    Police arrested a Frenchman, 31, from Frejus after the priest was knifed 20 times
    The mayor of Nice said the attacker had bought a 7cm knife ‘a few days’ ago

    6. He is – apparently – a well known nut-case, a frequenter of loony-bins, called Kevin – which, to be honest, is not the sort of name a slammer chooses.

  48. Wickedpedia!

    “Wikipedia editors are under fire this week for removing the entry for Rosemont Seneca Partners, the investment company connected to Hunter Biden and his alleged multimillion dollar influence peddling schemes.

    The site bizarrely claimed that the company was “not notable.” The timing itself is notable given the new disclosure that Hunter Biden’s business partner, Eric Schwerin, made at least 19 visits to the White House and other official locations between 2009 and 2015. That included a meeting with then-Vice President Joe Biden despite Biden’s repeated claim that he knew nothing about his son’s business dealings. Schwerin was the president of Rosemont Seneca”

    So how come ‘White’ is bad except when used to whitewash?

    1. What’s this? The Left censoring published material to hide corruption and fraud? Surely not.

      1. You want censorship? Trudeau and hangers on have just declared documents relating to the truckers protest to be cabinet confidential. Therefore the review mandated to support his invoking the Emergencies Act cannot access documents relevant to the action.

        One of the protest leaders is still in prison after two months, they keep finding excuses to refuse bail.

    1. Flippin Four for me, sweetie … x
      Wordle 309 4/6

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

      2. Four here again, but I coulda been a contender with a three!
        Wordle 309 4/6

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

  50. Has this been aired, if so apols for reposting .

    Angela Rayner blasts Tories over Basic Instinct claims: Labour deputy accuses Boris allies of ‘resorting to desperate smears to save his skin’ over claims she ‘puts him off his stride’ by crossing and uncrossing her legs at PMQs

    Labour’s deputy leader hits out at ‘perverted smears’ that she tries to distract PM
    Angela Rayner claimed to copy Sharon Stone’s scene in 1992 film Basic Instinct

    One MP: ‘She has admitted as much when enjoying drinks with us on the terrace’
    In furious retort, she accuses the PM of ‘dragging the Tory Party into the sewer’
    She wins support from across the political divide at Westminster over claims

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10748141/Labour-deputy-Angela-Rayner-blasts-Tories-sexist-misogynistic-Basic-Instinct-claims.html

    2. Does the stupid woman seriously imagine anyone with eyes would find her vaguely attractive? Deluded cow!

          5. Oddly enough, our immediate next door neighbour, Robert, worked most of his life for Del Monte! He is known locally as….

      3. I suppose if you were living in a sewer you might. I’m sure you would bump into her down there.

      4. Last week I suggested that Miriam Margolyes could be used as a poster girl for LGBT to help sway men to take a positive decision to become practising homosexuals. The Deputy leader of the Labour Party could be another candidate.

        Failing that, some churches which require total celibacy from their priests could recruit these two for their recruiting campaigns.

        1. Can you imagine the woman in Fatal Attraction wearing bovver boots?
          Oops edit: I really meant Basic instinct! Amazing the things that pop into your head!

    3. Apparently Rees Mogg is going to have a good hard look into it.
      It’s all causing a big stink in Parliament

    4. Apparently, BPAPM has distanced himself from the story and says he he respects her as a politician.

      3. Does he genuinely respect her? If so why and for what does he respect her? Is he bluffing, being economical with the truth, delivering a terminological inexactitude, fibbing, dissembling, telling a porky or lying or are we all in need of a better Thesaurus?

  51. Mmm… gin & tonic, with a slice of lime.
    :-D)
    Goes well with the sunshine and tropical 9C we have just now.

    1. I’ll join you later in the day, currently at 11.45am it’s sunshine and 76 degrees F Best day of the year so far!!

        1. 63 – is that an age, or a distance? ;-))
          The interweb tells me it’s 17 7/32 C.

          3. Well, at least I’m not being rude and suggestive today….like another I could name.

          4. Crusts off of course and cut into oblongs. Just as Her Maj likes them. You can drink more Gin that way…So her Ma’am might have said. :@)

    1. I thought she would be too busy dealing with all the “refugees” she has in her various houses.

        2. Unfortunately you could be right; mentally deficient people can do strange things.

    3. They have launched a full scale assault on the countryside, because it is the last bastion of white British people. Churches to be closed, farmers paid to leave the land, criticism because it’s not “diverse” enough. No doubt the people she wants to open it up to will be non-white.

      1. The last time we saw such a desecration of our land and culture was when the jumped up Norman arrived. Our ancestors must be turning in their graves.

      2. There is plenty of evidence that yer bames do not LIKE the countryside. If they did, there is nothing to stop them going there.

        1. But the countryside is racist ! It’s why they are not comfortable there. Plus the fact there a few if any KFC’s.

      3. They have taken ownership, yet know nothing about our trees and wild flowers , the history of our villages and the squabbles between landowners and their tenants ..

        Yvette Cooper wobbles her head around like a one of those strange little toys one used to see on the rear shelf of a Ford Cortina .

        1. In the late sixties I took a summer job with a local builder (Hayward and Wooster) based in Walcot in Bath.

          My first assignment was to dig up bones in a small cemetery attached to a funerary chapel (now long gone and replaced by a hideous Hilton Hotel). The bones were collected from a cholera pit dating from 1847 and I had to sieve the excavated earth to collect bone fragments and in addition to count the number of skulls.

          After a few weeks we excavated deeper and sheet piles were driven and pumps installed as we excavated below the adjacent river Avon. Finally we found perfectly preserved bones and skulls which the visiting archaeologist pronounced were Roman. A beautiful white skull with perfect teeth was retrieved but went missing from the site. We also found leather sandals which were taken to Bristol for preservation.

          A few days later I noticed one of the other workers on the site displayed the skull in the rear window of his Ford Cortina.

          1. Fascinating!
            I’m not a fan of displaying dead animals, of any type. Even in bits.

      4. The Ukraine war shows just how vulnerable food supply lines are – so, getting farmers off the land will result in a Zimbabwe situation. Loss of competence and ability to grow food. What kind of idiot doesn’t see that?

        1. The only possible conclusion is that it’s being engineered on purpose to get people to accept bugburgers or some other globalist scam like the digital id and CBDC. Nobody is stupid enough not to see the consequences of increasing the population and decreasing the food supply.
          In the US, meat processing plants are mysteriously burning down, but Britain is smaller, so they can simply close down farming.

          1. Plus the fact that there is a serious drought in the SE of the USA, so agricultural production will be far lower

            this Autumn in the USA

          2. I have read suspicions that the weather is being influenced. A couple of years ago, I would have laughed at that. Now, who knows?

    4. The last thing the countryside needs is city folk in it. They have no idea how to behave.

    5. We had a big cleanup day here yesterday. The council provided all if the black bags needed and the locals volunteered to go out and scavenge the crap.

      After all the place has to be in a pristine condition before the tourists dump this year’s litter in the hedgerows.

          8. Yeah! I hated it! When your older sister is the perfect pupil, Head girl etc etc then you come along and aren’t! They even called me Janice for about 3 years!

  54. Hello , it’s 16c atm – practically a heatwave ( not ).

    I’m doing two courses atm – one on WWI poetry and the second on the Glorious Revolution .
    I’m reading William and Mary by Henri Van der Zee, highly recommended, apparently, it reads like a novel instead of a meaty history book and I’m struggling with that a little .

    Edited- I am also keeping an eye on the French election today, another priest and nun have been stabbed but that’ll not get much of a mention. France needs to change direction and a change of leadership but I think they’ll get more of Macron . The exit poll is at 7pm I believe.

    1. Evening, Alfred’s Feisty Daughter.
      Just finished reading “Chaucer’s People” – which rambles over far more mediaeval social history than just the Canterbury Pilgrims.
      Now about to start “The White Ship” by St. Diana’s baby bro.

      1. Good evening , ” Chaucer’s People ” sounds a very interesting read , I shall take a peek. We did visit Lavenham a few weeks back, beautiful
        medieval buildings. An intruiging period too .

        1. Completely random fact here! My maternal grandparents had their honeymoon in Lavenham (about 1920ish) and they gave the name to their house in Gateshead! It is still painted in gold on the fanlight over the front door!

          1. There is a long running family joke that on my mother’s side we are descended from the De Veres.
            When my cousin lived in Lavenham, the De Very cottage was just round the corner from her house. We used to walk past and comment about reclaiming our rightful heritage.

          3. Thank you Lady of Wessex! They must have set my mum and dad off as well, our house was called Mostyn after the Mostyn hotel in London where they stayed before jetting/propping off to Jersey in 1952

          4. Thank you Lady of Wessex! They must have set my mum and dad off as well, our house was called Mostyn after the Mostyn hotel in London where they stayed before jetting/propping off to Jersey in 1952

        2. It is a good read. Much more is covered than just the characters; they are a spring board into something far more detailed.

  56. That’s me for today. More warm sun – but bitter blustery wind. More watering done (sighs…)

    I do hope I have not been “rude and suggestive” as was “rudely suggested” by one of our number. I always try to be the opposite, as you all know well.

    I’ll rejoin you on Saturday (unless the paperwork turns out to be wrong and we are back home tomorrow!!)

    Have a spiffing week, playing nicely –

    A samedi.

    3. Enjoy yourselves , a lovely escape , and please relax and don’t worry.

      You may need some warm clothes , according to the weather outlook .

        3. Bill Bryson always says to cross the road with a group of nuns…..even the mad Roman drivers won’t mow down a nun.

    6. Enjoy, Bill!
      Be sure to show appreciation of all the admin carried out by MR!

    8. BTW, don’t use a credit card in a Rome taxi. There will be a “fault” in the transmision, do it again, get billed twice. Romans are all thieves.

  58. Can anyone think of a reason why a group of 20-30 tulips, well established for around forty years, should suddenly disappear?
    Planted in grass near the house, no trace of them this year. Two other bulbs, about twenty feet away, are flowering as usual. The land hasn’t been poisoned or disturbed.

      1. Yikes, what is tulip virus and how could they catch it???
        They are well isolated from other flowers, it is a house in the middle of fields.

        1. Tulip breaking virus is one of five plant viruses of the family Potyviridae that cause color-breaking of tulip flowers. These viruses infect plants in only two genera of the family Liliaceae: tulips and lilies.

          PS Possibly linked to Covid………..

      1. Rodents was my first thought, but tulip bulbs are usually quite deep and I can’t believe they would get every single bulb.

          1. Just searched and found “Animals like Rabbits, Deer, Mice, Rats, Voles, Squirrels, Moles and Chipmunks eat Tulip bulbs.”

            There are a lot of moles in the garden…they don’t usually come that near the house though.

          2. I like rabbits, too. Not to eat, though.
            Firstborn’s farm has a hare the size of a Shetland pony. Magical in white, so he is.

          3. Moles don’t tend to eat such things, but other creatures happily use their tunnels.
            On a more likely note, it may just be that many have died of old age and then their rotting affected the rest. 30-40 years is an extraordinary life for such a patch even with natural replacement.

    3. Theft. Human or squirrel.
      Somebody stole my Brother’s front garden from Hersham once, some decades ago.
      Unbelievable.

      1. TBH, I was hoping to light on an alternative theory to theft…people can be awful.

    5. No clue. That seems rather odd! Have you spilt some sort of chemical in the area? That’s all I can think of other than moles, but you would notice them.

        1. My garden is full of moles. I HATE the wretched things.
          I have had them burrowing under plants and although they disturb the roots I’ve never seen evidence of them eating vegetation/bulbs.
          If the bulbs are being eaten my money would be on an opportunist rodent using their tunnels.

          1. Shotgun with slugs is fun. Rarely does one hit a mole, but when you shoot at them you can hear the furry buggers shit themselves even under feet of soil!

          2. I set various types of trap and so far have only ever caught one.
            I’m fairly sure I’ve clobbered a few when I’ve stamped hard on the mound when they have been digging.
            The problem is that if you manage to kill one the territory is soon taken over by another.

          3. The output from a diesel engine, passed through a tube into the nearest mole-hill, will generally have the desired effect.

          4. An old wives’ tale.
            At best it merely moves them on. The runs are generally too long and they are quickly blocked.

          5. I don’t think shooting the slugs in my garden would work, there are too many of them…

          6. Shotgun slugs are a large lead cylinder the size of a small oildrum… shot through a barrel with no choke!

          7. Shotgun with slugs is fun. Rarely does one hit a mole, but when you shoot at them you can hear the furry buggers shit themselves even under feet of soil!

          9. Quite!
            The really dreadful aspect of them is that even one can produce the results in your link.

      1. If it was theft, it could have been done last year. The grass grows quite long in this spot after they’ve flowered.

      1. Good heavens. I shall take care not to plant the same bulbs as my neighbours in future!

    9. Do you have squirrels locally? I have not been able to keep tulips beyond the first year, nor crocuses due to squirrels digging them up.

    10. We have a clump of red and yellow tulips (think child’s colouring book). They have appeared for several years without fail. Last year – nothing/nada/zilch. This year, just the yellow ones have appeared. I think the bulbs just give up the ghost.
      We had Queen of the Night in the front garden; two good years, but never seen again.
      I think, the deeper the colour, the more quickly the bulbs become exhausted.

      1. That is interesting. I wonder if the yellow ones were small bulbs that didn’t flower the year there was nothing?

        1. Possibly. Maybe they just recovered after a year’s rest.
          I know tulips are somewhat temperamental.

          1. Tulips are a flower I care naught for – give me roses, fuchsia or love lies bleeding. All much better and smelling beautiful.

  59. Started planning 40th wedding anniversary celebrations this afternoon :-D)
    Then reality kicks in… Of the original guest list, most are dead.
    Mother is too doolally to attend.
    Many friends are the other side of the world. It’s some money to fly in from Korea for a weekend…
    The remainder are not keen to travel to Norway, and I at least not too eager to travel to the UK and have the party in tin scout hut by MiL house – still a travel issue for thte remainder Uk-based invitees. Sicily – will be same problem. Bugger.
    One alternative is that North York Moor railway will do a table for 4 in their Pullman diner for a mere £310, with food. But not on anniversary day (a Sunday). Accommodation and travel etc extra.
    Have pinged a number of folk about willingness to travel, availability, etc. No enthusiasic responses. Bastards.
    Getting married to SWMBO is undoubtedly the best thing that ever happened to me, or ever will, and it jerks my chain that celebration of that event is actually likely to be us two and the 2 lads having a carry-out curry with a bottle of champagne.
    Shit.

    2. Take her away for a very dirty weekend.

      BoB, Phizzee or BT can probably recommend suitable mud based venues

    4. Go somewhere romantic….nice meal, lotsa plonk and some cheek to cheek dancing.

    5. My aunt and uncle did the NYM railway for their Diamond Wedding anniversary! 20 of us in the two carriages. It was spectacular but as you say, so many people missing!
      Do what you want for the day, with the people you love. That’s what’s important.

    6. We are in the same boat, when it was our 50th, we decided to go to a local inn for a lovely dinner with appropriate wine, no worries about driving home.
      Children arranged for a bottle of champers with chocolate covered strawberries to be in our room for when we arrived.

    7. Just go away and celebrate your anniversary wherever you went for your honeymoon.

      Before booking, best check with the boss that you agree on where you went.

    8. Celebrations involving other people are not necessary .. She is your main concern .. jet off somewhere nice for a short weekend .. and do something different .

      No photo to share?

    9. You might find, Paul that many NoTTLers might be willing to attend – travel permitting.

  60. Is it time to ban boxing….?

    Tyson Fury defended his WBC heavyweight belt on Saturday, defeating Dillian Whyte by sixth-round KO in front of 94,000 fans at Wembley Stadium.

    2. Honestly Plum, I kept hearing and seeing the name; I thought people were on about a new vacuum cleaner….
      I’ll get me apron.

          1. I like tidy – and the Polish racing-snake can sort the dust… in about 2/3 of a millisecond. My God, she’s quick.

    3. No.
      Folk want the shit beaten out of them for money, fine by me. Buy insurance & get on with it. Die, if it suits you.
      Far too much banning these days.

      2. That’s exactly how I feel. I would once have said that it’s wrong for two people to beat the shit out of one another for money but frankly I no longer care. They can abolish the Marquis of Queensbury rules and fight to the death if they so choose. Just don’t involve me.

    4. The last time that I watched a boxing match was on February 25, 1964, when 22-year-old Cassius Clay shocked the odds-makers by dethroning world heavyweight boxing champ Sonny Liston in a seventh-round technical knockout.

      1. I admit to loving it when our ‘Enery put him on his arse. Shame that ‘Enery didn’t win.

    6. No. It’s between consenting adults. But I don’t regard a competition the purpose of which is to inflict as much physical damage on another person as a sport.

    7. That is a tricky question for the reason that the great fights are a real spectacle.

      Who can forget Cassius Clay versus Henry Cooper or as he became Muhammed Ali versus Liston, Frazier and Foreman?

      Tyson Fury defeated Klitschko, a massive Ukrainian bully (are there any other sorts) who had held world titles for almost a decade, thrashed Deontay Wilder three times in America and now destroyed another massive puncher in Dillian Whyte with a crippling body shot followed by a murderous uppercut.

      I suppose the trick is to retire at the top preferably intact and this is what Tyson Fury has promised. With his winnings he has no need of more money.

    8. No. Pugilism is a natural state for most animal species. Animals (which humans are) have evolved to fight to defend and protect family, tribe, clan, species and nation. You’ll be wanting to “ban” war next. Or even brawls outside pubs. It will never happen: it is ingrained deep in our psyche.

      And please don’t tell me that we are too “intelligent” a species to want to continue fisticuffs. The evidence is out there that we are not. Banning fighting and boxing is what the Lefties want. Instead of having us fight to defend the realm they want us to meekly accept that they can fill the country with insurgents who are hostile to us nationals, and that we should simply go along with it without complaint.

  61. It appears that the Little Napoleon, that shit Macron, has secured a further 5 year term as French President. God help France, or not as you may wish.

    1. I recognise that the early projections in France are normally extremely accurate.
      However, it has happened before that the major cities have produced unexpected results.
      Did you ever think that the blob would allow a Le Pen victory?
      What is interesting is that the vote for the so-called far right appears to have increased, yet again.

      1. Every single BBC news bulletin concerning the French Presidential Election refers to Marine Le Pen as the ‘far-right’ candidate.

        1. Of course; even though many of her policies have more in common with those of the communists than Macron.

          2. Err….
            I think I know what I said.
            Was your reply intended for someone else?
            };-))

        2. She’s as far Right as the Nazis. That is, the Far Left.
          Probably a lousy choice, but what’s the alternative?

      2. Had Macron lost then the EU will have been killed off permanently and we would return to a more sensible arrangement of nation states with mutual trade agreements.

        The vote for Macron, a pathetic quarter of those eligible to vote, represents nothing much and then a half of those comprised stupid students and other first time voters, thus making the vote meaningless.

        The French are a busted flush and as with the British, need to sort themselves out pronto.

  62. A heartwarming story from the Sunshine State:

    “According to the Pensacola News Journal, the sheriff wasn’t sure which homeowner shot at 32-year-old Brandon Joseph Harris, who has since been arrested and accused of committing a series of break-ins on Wednesday evening.
    “We don’t know what homeowner shot at him.
    “I guess they think they did something wrong, which they did not.

    “Whoever that was, you’re not in trouble. Come see us. We have a gun safety class we put on every other Saturday, and if you take that, you’ll shoot a lot better, and hopefully, you’ll save the taxpayers money,” Johnson said.

    The suspect has been arrested 17 times since the age of 13 and has been sent to prison for six-and-a-half years for a home invasion.
    Johnson said: “Some people just don’t learn. For us, he is job security. We deal with him all the time. Hopefully, this time he will go, and he won’t get out.”

    1. One has to ask what someone with 17 previous arrests is doing in the public. After the third offence, arrest them then chain them in a sewer and forget about them.

      1. Three strikes and you’re out – electric chair or lethal injection. I don’t care, get rid of the trash.

  63. First it was statues, then it was street names and books by white authors. Now left-wing radicals have cricket and knitting in their woke sights as they aim to decolonise Britain — and they’ve used millions in taxpayers’ money to do it.

    Taxpayers’ cash is being spent to decolonise English museums, which depict a history written by ‘white, wealthy, able-bodied men’.

    Arts Council England has poured millions of hardworking Britons’ money into Museum Development England, which said museums in the country, including attractions dedicated to cricket and knitwear, needed help with ‘equity and inclusion’.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10748375/Taxpayers-cash-Arts-Council-England-spent-decolonising-museums.html

    1. You know, this is what happens to third world airports … radicals are always changing their blooming names / street names/ and anything else they don’t like .

      This is our country , how dare the wokist anti white nutters decide to cancel our history .. they need a strong boot up their bums or a thick ear… and kicked out of Britain.

          1. We traditionally leave it to the very last second. It’s what we do. And then we go back to find our specs….

      2. Never mind the strong boot, Maggie, I think a red-hot poker would do a better job. Check out out Edward !! (1327).

    2. I seem to recall that England tends to get thrashed by most countries when playing Cricket

    3. Wait until some of these oiks see a painting of the signers of the Constitution of the USA. All rich white men. No women, no blacks; which when I was still substitute teaching in US I did a lot of 5th grade Social Studies and I had to point that out.

    1. I was stationed there in the 1960s – quite remote, so the slammers will have much countryside to roam.

    2. Rees Mogg did say that each village in the UK has room to build at
      least two council homes!!!! that was about a year ago.

      1. Doesn’t know what he’s talking about. There is no mains sewage in our village – how is that going to work, are they going to install expensive sewage systems for each house? They’ll have to have big gardens if so…

    3. It’s not so much the principle of serving them as the sheer danger for women. Female workers have been attacked.

    1. Won’t make any difference, you, stupid French twats, voted him in – again. – get over it and suck it up.

    2. Quel dommage que vous, les singes de l’abandon mangeurs de fromage, ayez une fois de plus opté pour l’option facile.

  67. Goodnight all, have been listening to Vivaldi – wot a surprise;-)
    Pain relentless today. Sorry if I have been a pain.
    I wish you all a good night.

    1. Sleep well, Lotl. So sorry about your pain, is there nothing you can take, at least to help relieve the pain. Night night

    2. Good morning Ann
      I understand it’s World Penguin Day and we wish you a happy day.
      Are you having fish today as usual? :-))

        1. We’re having salmon and prawns in a sweet chilli sauce, red onion, halved cherry tomatoes, garlic and lemon juice. Lots of black pepper and a sprinkle of salt.
          Yum

    1. Wonderful place to visit, maybe go back for another visit this summer, too much to learn in just one visit.

  72. OK, so what’s the French equivalent for ‘gluttons for punishment’?

Comments are closed.