Sunday 24 September: Labour shows no passion for backing Britain – preferring to copy the EU

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504 thoughts on “Sunday 24 September: Labour shows no passion for backing Britain – preferring to copy the EU

  1. Good morrow, Gentlefolk, today’s story

    A Take-Over
    A woman went into a pet store to buy her husband a pet. After looking around she realised that all the pets were too expensive. She went to the counter and questioned the clerk. “I wanted to buy my husband a pet, but all of yours are so expensive.”

    “Well”, said the clerk, “I have a huge bullfrog in the back for $50.00. Would you like to see it?”

    “$50.00 for a frog?” Asked the woman.

    The clerk said. “It’s a special frog, it gives blowjobs!”

    The woman did not particularly like giving head, so she thought this was a heck of a deal. She’d get her husband a gift he’d surely enjoy, and she’d never have to give head again.

    The woman decided to buy the frog. She took it home to her husband and explained the strange gift. Of course, the husband was a bit sceptical, but said he’d try it out for sure that night.

    The woman went to bed that night, relieved to know that she’d never have to give another blowjob. Around two in the morning, she woke up to hear pots and pans banging around in the kitchen. She got up to go see what was going on. When she got to the kitchen, she saw her husband and the frog, sitting at the kitchen table looking through cookbooks. “What are you two doing out here at this hour?” she asked.

    The husband looks up to her and says, “If I can teach this frog to cook, YOUR ARSE IS OUTTA HERE!”

  2. Good Moaning.
    Beautiful sky for at least ten minutes.
    And now ….. Nepo Babies in Whitehall. Who’d ‘a’ thunk it?

    “https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/09/23/chris-wormald-blood-infection-inquiry/

    Mandarin handling blood infection inquiry recused himself after four years

    Sir Chris Wormald stepped down from the inquiry when his father was called to provide evidence

    23 September 2023 • 8:39pm

    Sir Chris Wormald played down his father’s role in the importation and distribution of contaminated blood products

    The top civil servant in charge of the health department quietly recused himself from working on the infected blood scandal after dismissing concerns over his father’s role in the disaster, The Telegraph can reveal.

    Sir Chris Wormald, the permanent secretary, liaised with campaigners on infected blood for four years before stepping back in March 2021, when the inquiry called his father to provide evidence, citing “a personal connection to a witness”.

    Documents show Sir Chris changed his position in private, having previously played down his father Peter Wormald’s own role in the importation and distribution of contaminated blood products when he was an undersecretary in the Department of Health from 1978 to 1981.

    The news comes in the same week as the Infected Blood Inquiry postponed its final report to March 2024. Some 1,250 people with haemophilia were infected with HIV by medical treatment in the 1980s, while up to 6,250 were infected with hepatitis C. Some 26,800 people also contracted hepatitis C from blood transfusions and at least 2,900 had died by 2019.

    In June 2017, Sir Chris told Baroness Lynne Featherstone that his father had been a Department of Health official during the period when infected blood products were imported into the UK. He said that his father, Peter, had “no recollection of being involved in these issues, and there is no evidence from any of the records we have come across that he is,” according to minutes taken by the Department of Health.

    However in 2021 Sir Chris absented himself from anything related to the inquiry. The following year his father submitted a 78-page witness statement to the blood Inquiry in which it said that he was “quite heavily involved in a number of issues”, including the running of Britain’s Blood Products Laboratory and attending meetings with American pharmaceutical companies that made Factor VIII contaminated with HIV and hepatitis C.

    “It was common currency amongst my medical colleagues that imported blood products carried a much higher risk of transmitting infections,” Peter Wormald said in the statement.

    ‘Never-ending scandal’

    There was no public announcement about Sir Chris’s decision to recuse himself and a second permanent secretary, Shona Dunn, was appointed to deal with the issue. Jason Evans, director of the Factor 8 campaign group, discovered the arrangement through a Freedom of Information request.

    “Our community will be outraged by this revelation,” said Mr Evans. “It’s a never-ending scandal with new layers of injustice emerging frequently.”

    In the five years before Sir Chris stepped back, he is likely to have advised ministers about whether to hold a public inquiry and the disclosure of historic documents.

    “The inquiry had long been refused after Sir Chris’s team of officials repeatedly advised ministers that all documents on the subject were already in the public domain or destroyed,” said Mr Evans.

    Sir Chris has previously apologised to two former health ministers, Jane Ellison and Nicola Blackwood, for having incorrectly told them all documents related to infected blood had been made available through the National Archives when there were in fact thousands that had never been released.

    Ministers misled Parliament

    In letters of apology, Sir Chris acknowledged multiple occasions when ministers had misled Parliament as a result of having received false information. He said: “I apologise that you were advised incorrectly on these occasions.”

    “The fact that the top civil servant in the department peddling these falsehoods had such a conflict of interest raises enormous questions,” said Mr Evans. “How was this allowed to go on for so long?”

    Mr Evans added: “Given the clear extent of Peter Wormald’s involvement in these events, it’s impossible to believe that the department was not aware of this conflict sooner.”

    A spokesman for the Department of Health and Social Care said: “The infected blood tragedy should never have happened and the ongoing public inquiry was set up to get to the truth and give families the answers they deserve.”

    They added: “We are committed to being open and transparent with the inquiry, including disclosing all historical documents.” “

    1. I just became suspicious with the wall to wall media condemnation coverage, and lack of scrutiny, it usually means that there is some sort of cover up or fix going on.

      1. His claw marks are engraved on DHSC door jambs.
        His heel marks have scarred the parquet flooring all the way to the front door.

    2. “…played down his father Peter Wormald’s own role in the importation and distribution of contaminated blood products…”

      Bl**dy Septic speak. Why do they keep reverse engineering nouns?
      Importation indeed.

      And why is ‘Expiration’ date creeping onto all those forms where you have to fill in your bank card deets?

    3. Morning all.

      So yet another of our “beloved Institutions” has been proven corrupt. And those poor people from way back in the 80s who were infected. My God, how I loathe these people who have such power over us.

    4. Morning all.

      So yet another of our “beloved Institutions” has been proven corrupt. And those poor people from way back in the 80s who were infected. My God, how I loathe these people who have such power over us.

  3. I wish someone else would ask this: What if Lucy Letby is not guilty? Peter Hitchens. 24 September 2023,

    So now I must ask: What if Lucy Letby is not guilty? Actually I very much wish somebody else in the national media would raise this. I have enough enemies as it is. But it looks as if it falls to me. Would it be bearable if her conviction was mistaken? This young woman has been condemned to die in prison. She has, since her conviction, been subjected to some very severe public condemnation. She has had to endure the (wholly justified and understandable) anger and grief of the parents of the babies she has been convicted of killing.

    I have to confess that I do not know, or more accurately, that I have no opinion about Letby. I didn’t follow the trial due to my finite stocks of interest and compassion. I have no presumption of her guilt; my belief such as it was; in the criminal justice system, has long since elapsed. To come to a considered opinion I would need to read a book (maybe several) about her to decide. If I am going to take an interest perhaps Nottlers could give me a few pointers; particularly our ex-nurses!

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-12552809/peter-hitchens-lucy-letby-not-guilty.html

    1. There was a very good piece in DS a week or so ago which made it clear there should be an appeal as the evidence against her was all circumstantial.

      1. This raises the admissibility of evidence in criminal trials. Ultimately, a jury must pass a verdict “beyond reasonable doubt”. There was reasonable doubt over a number of the charges, but crucially there was not in others. It is up to the jury to decide in the end on available, whether it be circumstantial or otherwise. The judge, in his summing up, should have directed the jury as to whether circumstantial evidence can prove a case beyond reasonable doubt, based on Habeas Corpus, but it is for the jury not the judge to come to a verdict.

        In this case, there was a body, since the infants did die under the charge of the hospital employing Lucy Letby. If she hadn’t done it, then who did? The consultant paediatricians were placed under suspicion and were investigated, and this should have come out in court. Whilst management negligence is responsible for a large number of deaths in hospital, this too should have been investigated, and if cutbacks or corner-cutting under orders were a contributory factor, then this should have been aired in court, or at least raised by the Defence.

  4. Labour shows no passion for backing Britain – preferring to copy the EU

    I don’t know what Labour are the party of but it certainly is not the party for the working people and a civilised nation state

    1. Labour is like those autorenewals that bump up the cost of insurance at the end of the term, requiring a day’s graft fighting “upgraded” security bloatware to extricate oneself from.

      They take it for granted that if the public have run out of patience with Conservatives, then power will automatically fall into their lap. No need to do anything other than to bump up the price, because they can.

  5. 377091+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Sunday 24 September: Labour shows no passion for backing Britain – preferring to copy the EU

    Many of us,gaining strength in numbers daily, in the black, financially sound, patriotic party UKIP under the Gerard Batten
    leadership tried unsuccessfully to convince the electorate of this in regards to the “governing ” parties” but the magnet pull of “party before Country voter” and treacherous covert friends
    within the UKIP party put paid to that.

    The treacherous moves appertaining to the 2019 general election has led to peoples dying prematurely
    ( orchestrated collateral damage) and a series of catastrophic actions via the political “governing WEF cartel with royal seal, that has made these Isles a fit place place for
    paedophiles, rapist, and any other worldwide worthless waster that wishes to reside here.

    In my book the current lab/lib/con coalition supporter / voter
    done it rhetorically speaking, in their trousers, BIG TIME.

    1. Farage found out that leading UKIP is like herding cats. UKIP is at heart a libertarian party with a healthy disregard for imposed discipline, be it from Brussels or from a party leader. That way, inconvenient truths can come out, and be dealt with honestly.

      The rot set in before the admirable Gerard Batten was hounded out of the party for daring to admit Tommy Robinson into the fold. The Irish street fighter may not to be the taste of many in Middle England, but he does have a point about militant Islam. So long as he keeps away from the black shirts. It was the expulsion of Godfrey Bloom and David Silvester that nobbled UKIP, denying the party of its unique selling proposition – a party not afraid to upset the consensus or lay oneself open to ridicule in the quest for the truth, and all in a spirit of fun and jest. I do not think either of these two were malicious, despite being somewhat politically courageous if they thought they could win over Liberal Democrats.

      The Stoke-on-Trent Central by-election did for the party. If the party leader standing in a key marginal in a Leave-voting part of the industrial Midlands, and up against some pretty mediocre candidates from the mainstream parties, could not romp home comfortably, then where could UKIP break through?

      The 2019 General Election was all about the anarchy that overtook Parliament for much of that year, after 42 Remainer Tories crossed the floor and then the majority Opposition denied the hapless Boris Johnson his obligation to resign and call an election. The public responded by voting what they thought of this mayhem and gave Johnson his majority and be damned.

      1. The Stoke by-election was a disaster, which many of us there at the launch predicted. There was an excellent local candidate who should have been standing. A stranger to the region (who hadn’t even done his research on the 5 towns) was never going to get elected.

        1. Paul Nuttall was from Merseyside and his heart was really in Bootle. He made a number of schoolboy errors during the campaign that, had UKIP been a competent party, would have been worked out before his candidacy and, as you say, a popular local candidate put up. Nuttall could then concentrate his activities building up party support in Merseyside.

          2015 was the last general election where local public hustings were allowed, rather than set piece leadership statements on TV in the American presidential manner. Even then, the rules were quite strict – all questions to be submitted for vetting a week in advance, no follow-up questions from the floor, no discussion between candidates, and the topics kept to a list approved by the platform. Despite that, I did manage to get some indication as to the calibre of the candidates, and the Labour man was the best of the five standing and is now an Independent councillor. The Green got caught looking at naughty pictures online and is now an unperson. The appalling Liberal Democrat defected to the Tories after the election. The Tory got in comfortably and is now a junior minister. A bear of little brain, she puts in a good appearance at local functions and doesn’t rock the boat too much in Westminster.

          The UKIP candidate was somewhat brave pushing for cut in overseas aid in a Methodist hall full of Liberal Democrats (whose vote was up for grabs at that election) but that’s the fun of politics. I suggested afterwards that UKIP could amend its policy somewhat, targeting aid to be an incentive for young men to stay in the countries and build them up, rather than migrating here for a better life. Better than building megadams that silt up after five years, or going to the oligarchs’ Mercedes fund, which is how the mainstream parties go about aid. I also had reservations about their tax policy and their dislike of environmentalists. However, I felt they were right about the EU, and their devil-may-care opposition to woke political correctness was for me a breath of fresh air.

          I would like to see UKIP revive in the centre, rather than the Thatcherite Right, with an emphasis on personal freedom, local power and enterprise, decent public services properly funded, all this Equality & Diversity nonsense cut back robustly, especially when it interferes with freedom of speech and thought. An amalgam of Reclaim, Reform, SDP and above all a vehicle for Independents to gain real power over the rotten mainstream. In the past “Independence” meant freedom from the shackles of Brussels, but I think it can go much further than that, and could also mean freedom from the shackles of anyone that will do us down.

  6. Horrible Histories – Stonehenge

    So in 4000 BC a tribe of industrious Africans made a flotilla of dinghies out of Hippo hide then made the long journey up the West coast of Africa, stopped off in Spain for a bit of practice then headed up North and landed at what is now Bournemouth.
    Then they headed up to Wales and excavated some Sarsen stones then returned back south carefully keeping to 20 mph ( monoliths per hour ) and went on to build Stonehenge.
    But alas too late they realised that they had built it on a main road from London to the South West, then got fed up with the cold climate and paddled back home.

    1. And after walking all the way from central Africa,
      You forgot that the French supplied them with boats to cross the channel.

  7. 377091+ up ticks,

    Double that with spot checks on how many MPs wear opposite sex underwear to work, should thin the field quite considerable.

    MPs who believe ‘women have a penis’ will be named and shamed ahead of general election
    A new website will allow voters to instantly find out whether their MP thinks women must be born female

    1. Should also be asking all Parliamentary candidates.
      Most will lie, but at least it will be on record.

    2. MPs who believe ‘women have a penis’…

      IMO I do not think that there exist many MPs who truly believe that a ‘woman’ can have a penis. The problem is that the current crop of MPs appears to contain rather too many malleable individuals who are prepared to support any current ‘woke’ or fashionable idea if they believe it will enhance their prospects: this fashion includes the lunacy of believing that a ‘woman’ has a penis and a ‘man’ has a cervix and suffers with menstruation each month.
      The rapid rise and adoption of these ideas by MPs etc. is indicative of their malleability, naivety and lack of ability to think seriously about real issues. Sadly, these ridiculous ideas outrank what the electorate wants from their elected representative but should the political fashion move away from the alphabet soup and trans phenomena these MPs will change their stance in the blink of an eye. We are poorly served by our elected representatives.

      1. 377091+ up ticks,

        KtK,
        I do agree with all but” we are poorly served by our elected representatives”.

        I do put that down as self – inflicted in a great many cases.

      2. A large number of MPs in the Conservative Party are actually LibDems. It’s the only way they can taste power.

      1. Just wet up here, looks like it’s going to be a miserable day – ah yes the word dreich describes it perfectly

      1. A case for striking off.
        They have done as much damage as any incompetent cancer surgeon or a bungler with the vaginal mesh.

  8. BBC apologises after accidentally showing old clip of Huw Edwards. 24 September 2023.

    The BBC has apologised after disgraced presenter Huw Edwards unexpectedly appeared on BBC One on Saturday when an old clip was played by accident.

    Edwards hasn’t appeared on the channel since he was named publicly as the star being investigated following allegations of sexual misconduct earlier this year.

    The BBC is not nearly so coy about Russel Brand’s alleged escapades. The news clip I watched regarded them as proved.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/09/23/bbc-one-apologise-huw-edwards-clip-accident-allegations/

    1. Below the comments, there is a photo of him and a headline saying he’s had 19 years of loveless marriage. Are we supposed to feel sorry for him ?

    2. Interesting but sad story in the DM from Andrew Sachs’s granddaughter whose life was ruined by the actions of the completely repulsive Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross.

      Apparently she finds Ross the more repulsive of the two because Brand paid for her rehab after their cruel mockery destroyed her life and the relationships within her family.

      Is it not time that the anonymity of those making accusations against celebrities ten years or more after the event were considered? Of course the criminal charges against Brand should be settled in court and until charges have been officially made.

      What does sub judice mean?

  9. Morning all 🙂😊
    I think it’s been raining all night, but it’s brighter
    at the moment, a lovely day in Padstow yesterday. Followed by a birthday celebration dinner at the Pig Hotel restaurant at Harlyn Bay. What a magnificent old building.
    ‘One’ well three of us had fish, its the thing to do when you’re that close to the coast. And one had roast pork.
    The labour party couldn’t run a bath, so how did we arrive at such a point in our history when it’s pretty obvious that the majority of our political classes and Whitehall are absolutely and utterly useless.

    1. Beneath the Letby case in Peter Hitchen’s column is this kernel of truth:

      To me, King Charles’s visit to France was deeply shocking on two counts. His blatant partisanship on the side of green zealotry, just about tolerable when he was heir to the throne, looks especially improper now that a major party in the state is at last beginning to grasp that net zero means national suicide.

      There are millions who do not share his view, and he is their King too. He should respect them by keeping his political opinions to himself.

      1. The idea that it’s disrespectful to air one’s opinions can only come from the King’s unique position as constitutional monarch and head of state. If the Prime Minister – or anybody holding or aspiring to hold political office, come to that – were to say that they are keeping their opinions to themselves and declining to share them – whether about the climate, the environment or any other topic over which they’d be expected to exercise influence – we’d regard that as both disrespectful and an affront to democracy.

        Part of me wants to know what the King’s opinions are so as to make a more informed judgement about the man and to have some insight about how he might be influencing policymaking in private. After all, he does have an audience with the Prime Minister on a regular basis.

        Would the person who wrote that stern admonition below-the-line have been equally forceful had the King let it be known that he thought the Green movement and climate alarmism were being driven by cranks, wierdos and, worst of all, would-be tyrants determined to crush individual freedom and liberty by imposing draconian laws on us all in the spurious claim of wanting to save the planet?

          1. Thank you, Fiscal. I’d mistakenly formed the impression the words were written by a respondent to Hitchens.

        1. But, but – he SAID that he would stop pontificating about political and controversial issues on the day he acceded to the throne.

          He has reneged on that.

        2. ‘Morning, DW.

          “Part of me wants to know what the King’s opinions are so as to make a more informed judgement about the man…” I understand what you are saying, but ask yourself this question:

          Do we know the late Queen’s views on green matters?

          No, of course not because she never expressed a view, one way or the other, on this subject in public And that is exactly how it should be with our monarch. He has tremendous influence to do good works behind the scenes – the Prince’s Trust was but one – but thinking he can save the planet when the need for such action his highly debatable and should not be paraded. Furthermore, Not Zero is a political issue, and that’s another very good reason to stay out of it.

          1. It is time that the many scientists who believe that carbon dioxide is entirely beneficial were given the space in the MSM to put their views and produce their evidence. Even those who want Net Zero curtailed are rarely prepared to dispute the initial premise that carbon dioxide is ‘a bad thing’.

            I would be far more prepared to consider whether or not we have a climate crisis if we were allowed to see both sides of the argument about carbon. I would also be more prepared to consider the safety of the Covid jabs if evidence on both sides was freely presented and not censored.

            As it is I am convinced that both global warming and the Covid jabs are scams designed to control and impoverish us.

        3. But the great global warming scam is a highly political matter and the whole point of a constitutional monarchy is that the King or Queen keeps out of politics. The Idiot King’s mother understood that – he is living up to the epithet and does not.

        4. I believe that Charles’ political opinions are likely to reach a far larger audience than yours or mine.

          He is also in a position of almost unimaginable opulence and privilege and thus likely to influence many more people. For these reasons he should stay out of politics.

          Charles is a campaigner and will be telling us which party to vote for given half a chance.

      2. Well said. In his rarified circle he obviously doesn’t understand, in his position, just how contentious this scam really is. He has already been dissuaded from trotting off to some climate change conference or other, but remains besotted by it and, sooner or later, is going to come a cropper.

    2. I didn’t follow the case myself but when i heard her behaviour could have been motivated because a Doctor she fancied would be the person called if a baby was in trouble it made me think they were presenting hearsay and malicious gossip.

      I too have my doubts.

  10. Good morning all,

    A drizzly start to the day at McPhee Towers but it should clear up by midday. Wind in the South, 15℃ rising to 18℃.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/53288805d609a749065adebc12abf88fe4fda105106155ceaaf0c471f03da0a9.png

    Man Who Thinks A Woman Can Clearly Have A Penis Leads Army of Sexually Confused EU Fruit-Loops and Climate Nut-Jobs On a Bike Ride.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9264851c785233fd691ccaecb3583fa0ae21ea7df97b6456582038707c9dd9f3.png

    All a bit disquieting as I’m heading off into deep Lib Dum territory today for a week of sea air.

    1. Politicians will jump on any bandwagon to try to promote their interests in current trends.
      No matter how obvious that is, or how stupid they look.
      Not one hi vis jacket or helmet in sight.

    2. Ah, Mr Davey, the chief Limp Dumb and master of the cheesy PR stunt/photo op. Fortunately no discernable or believable policies, so we can rest easy.

    3. The Lib/Dems have the mentality of children without the innocence of children.

      I am sure that some of us when we were little were interested to see how we were different from the other sex. Who did not ask a companion: “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours?”

      1. When I was four years old I was in a tent with a ten year old…..when his mother arrived – I ran home. I think he got a telling off.

        1. Reminds me of the little girl who came in and said “Little Johnny next door has a willie like a peanut” Mother said “Very small?” “No” said the little girl “Salty”

      2. and the little girl saying “My mum says if you have one of these you can have as many of those as you want”

  11. Good morning all,

    A drizzly start to the day at McPhee Towers but it should clear up by midday. Wind in the South, 15℃ rising to 18℃.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/53288805d609a749065adebc12abf88fe4fda105106155ceaaf0c471f03da0a9.png

    Man Who Thinks A Woman Can Clearly Have A Penis Leads Army of Sexually Confused EU Fruit-Loops and Climate Nut-Jobs On a Bike Ride.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9264851c785233fd691ccaecb3583fa0ae21ea7df97b6456582038707c9dd9f3.png

    All a bit disquieting as I’m heading off into deep Lib Dum territory today for a week of sea air.

  12. Floyd in the field

    SIR –During training at Mons Officer Cadet School, we were on exercise on
    Dartmoor living in slit trenches when the smell of glorious cooking (Letters, September 17) wafted across from a trench some yards away.

    It was inhabited by Keith Floyd, who had the same one-man compo pack of
    dried food as the rest of us, but he had added his secret ingredients of
    onions and Marmite.

    It made the difference between inedible and edible.

    George Bastin
    North Woodchester, Gloucestershire.

    Wiki says Floyd was always badgering the army chefs to produce better food for the troops. I know what he would say about it now. Not fit for dogs !

    1. Excellent matey, I hope this is shown every where.
      Funny how as soon as someone tells the truth about politicians they try to stop them. They can’t cover it up any longer.

    2. Good morning, Bob

      Please repost this or give me a link – I cannot see the ‘Good one.’

    3. Ah, but they refuse to. They want them here. That’s the fundamental reality. The state wants the nation ruined by these criminals.

      The little woman blithering demanding a question is typical statist: avoid the truth, don’t address the issue, hide being process.

      1. Maybe my internet connection is especially weak today. I cannot see Bob’s post – please would you repost it or give me a link?

    1. I was just about to pop this one up. I don’t see the point of it. Doesn’t it just ignore the politicians’ well-known propensity to lie?
      Far safer not to vote for anyone in the Tri-jambe of the Uniparty.

    2. I was just about to pop this one up. I don’t see the point of it. Doesn’t it just ignore the politicians’ well-known propensity to lie?
      Far safer not to vote for anyone in the Tri-jambe of the Uniparty.

    3. I don’t want them named and shamed. Having an opinion is fine. I don’t care if an MP thinks the Earth is flat. He’s wrong, but he is allowed to hold that opinion. That’s the basis of free will.

      What can never, ever be allowed is opinion to become law against all evidence of fact. That’s what the Left want – for opinion to override truth. It is pure 1984:

      “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”

      1. But the political class has so little respect for the TGU (The Great Unwashed) that they have lost the right to expect respect or even consideration from TGU.

        And the political class depend on expressing their opinions in order to win votes so surely if the TGU want to know their views on a topic which has obsessed the MSM for some time then TGU has every right to know what each of their elected representatives thinks about this matter?

    4. Named, is one thing. Shamed, however, is quite another. The MPs who hold that view are, in all probability, quite proud and honoured to do so and think themselves superior – more evolved, even – than those who endeavour to mock them.

      As for appearing naked in the HoC, it runs the risk of reviving divisions along Cromwellian and Roundhead lines.

      1. Would grown ups be proud of believing in fairy tales? Would they be proud of ignoring biological fact? After all they tell us to follow the science!

        [Yes, I know about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle]

        And if circumcised men and uncircumcised men can be identified by their genitalia what about the women? After all there are several Muslim women MPs who, poor things, might have suffered this barbaric Islamic ritual?

  13. ‘Morning all! Is the DT on a mission to close down all comment again? Last night I could comment on the article about naming and shaming MPs who believe women can have a penis. Lo and behold, today that has disappeared, along with the Jenny Harries rubbish, and the infected blood scandal! Talk about being ‘cancelled’!

    1. ‘Morning, Sue. Spotted in the BTL posts just now:

      David Arrowsmith
      46 MIN AGO
      The only woman I know of who had a penis, albeit for a short while, was Lorena Bobbitt.

    2. Good morning Sue

      I was cancelled by the DT over 2 years ago , the censors clamped down on my comments and critical opinion of the Sussexes and Boris

      The DT has lost it’s cut and thrust , as has the Times and Mail .

      In fact all the National newspapers are now a bunch of fibbing wuzzes

      1. I put up a BTL comment in the DT fairly recently which, within 2 minutes had received 20 up votes; I checked ½ hour later to see how it was faring only to find that it had been taken down.

        The MSM as well as the political establishment are frightened of people expressing views that go against their prescribed narratives.

        1. Morning R

          One of my comments received more than fifty upvotes , and 2 days later I had an email from the DT telling me I had contravened their terms and conditions (blah blah)

    3. I agree. There are fewer and fewer articles in the DT which allow comments and those that do allow them sometimes close the comments sections down.

      This must be because the DT is becoming more and more alarmed by the fact that TGU (The Great Unwashed) have views that the politicians and the MSM do not want to hear.

      1. Thank you, pet! I haven’t tried running yet…but at least I managed to get out of bed at 7! I don’t think much of the damp and clammy weather, though! 🙄😘

    4. At least you haven’t been shadow-banned, Sue, as I have been since January last year for posting links to videos of Drs Mike Yeadon and Wolfgang Wodarg about Covid and the “vaccines”.

        1. I don’t think I’m actually banned but I am certainly under surveillance.

          Some of my comments stay up, and some – like Angela Rayner’s knickers – seem to come down fairly quickly!

    5. When that happened last time it gave birth, by the grace of Geoff, to NoTTL. Goes to show that good can come out of bad.

      1. Apologies! The comments are now open! P’raps the DT read this forum?🤔
        Edit: Except the Harries drivel!

  14. I’ve been listening to this interview with Enoch Powell recorded in 1987 when he was 75. It’s long( 3h 50 min) but it’s rivetting. I’m taking it in episodes. In the opening minutes he describes his absolute conviction that Nazi Germany was a serious threat to Britain and the Empire and that he could see in 1935 that there would be a war and that he would do his damndest to enlist and fight. He despised Baldwin and Chamberlain and said his greatest fear was that “Our country would be overwhelmed without fighting”.

    He must be spinning in his grave, to use a worn-out cliché.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_Se_QDKeC8&t=4978s

    1. There are always people in a society who want to destroy it and replace the existing society with their own vision. The problem is, that vision is a nightmarish authoritarian hellscape of control and restriction, domination and abuse.

      That always leads to conflict. I can see the same in our current times. The problem with being a normal person is you think other people are the same – that they think the same, act the same. That if you say ‘I think bins are silly!’ they’ll not say ‘Right! I’m reporting you to the state!’ but ‘yeah, it is daft that we can’t put X in Y.’

      The enemy within is always there as long as tolerance exists. The problem is, if you become intolerant then you become the enemy – and they know this. They know your revulsion of what they are is what allows them to continue eroding our lives.

    2. The trivial political class and MSM seem preoccupied with the question: “What is a woman?”

      Perhaps we should consider the question: “What is a man?”

      “He was a man take him for all in all, I shall not look upon his like again”

      [Hamlet’s description of his father.]

      * * * * * *

      He only in a general honest thought
      And common good to all, made one of them.
      His life was gentle, and the elements
      So mixed in him that Nature might stand up
      And say to all the world, “This was a man.”

      [Antony’s description of Brutus in contrast to the other assassins of Julius Caesar]

      * * * * * *

      and Hamlet again in a more ironic vein:

      What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty, In form and moving how express and admirable, In action how like an Angel, In apprehension how like a god, The beauty of the world, The paragon of animals.

      1. A Man’s A Man for A’ That.

        Is there for honest Poverty
        That hings his head, an’ a’ that;
        The coward slave – we pass him by,
        We dare be poor for a’ that!
        For a’ that, an’ a’ that.
        Our toils obscure an’ a’ that,
        The rank is but the guinea’s stamp,
        The Man’s the gowd for a’ that.

        What though on hamely fare we dine,
        Wear hodden grey, an’ a that;
        Gie fools their silks, and knaves their wine;
        A Man’s a Man for a’ that:
        For a’ that, and a’ that,
        Their tinsel show, an’ a’ that;
        The honest man, tho’ e’er sae poor,
        Is king o’ men for a’ that.

        Ye see yon birkie, ca’d a lord,
        Wha struts, an’ stares, an’ a’ that;
        Tho’ hundreds worship at his word,
        He’s but a coof for a’ that:
        For a’ that, an’ a’ that,
        His ribband, star, an’ a’ that:
        The man o’ independent mind
        He looks an’ laughs at a’ that.

        A prince can mak a belted knight,
        A marquis, duke, an’ a’ that;
        But an honest man’s abon his might,
        Gude faith, he maunna fa’ that!
        For a’ that, an’ a’ that,
        Their dignities an’ a’ that;
        The pith o’ sense, an’ pride o’ worth,
        Are higher rank than a’ that.

        Then let us pray that come it may,
        (As come it will for a’ that,)
        That Sense and Worth, o’er a’ the earth,
        Shall bear the gree, an’ a’ that.
        For a’ that, an’ a’ that,
        It’s coming yet for a’ that,
        That Man to Man, the world o’er,
        Shall brothers be for a’ that

        Rabbie Burns.

    3. Good morning F.

      My late parents lived in Africa for decades , more years there than over here . My mother and father enjoyed the expat lifestyle, and the rewarding work with acceptable salary .. although their life style was not with out its difficulties .

      They both served in the RN during the war , so most of the expats they mixed with were also WW2 service veterans ( late twenties early thirties in the 1950’s etc , who were qualified engineers , doctors , surveyors , shipping , pilots etc etc

      Many did not want to live under a British political system because of the chaos of British post war living .

      My father and mother visited the UK a little more frequently in the early 1980’s.

      Poor things were shocked to the marrowbone when they arrived at Heathrow as they passed through passport control , manned by blacks, and other nationalities … None of the “welcome back to Britain Sir ” that he received in the 1960’s.

      I won’t tell you about their experience at Waterloo station …

      My comment to them was , well why on earth weren’t you here to voice an opinion ..

      His answer was , ” Your mother and I gave away four years of our life when we served this country during WW2, we assumed the UK was in safe hands ”

      I daren’t say anything else , because WE have allowed Britain to deteriorate rapidly, and who on earth could have imagined that our capital city is being ruined by a Muslim, and the government is headed by a Hindu, and the opposition is as Red as it has ever been , and plunging deep down the same way as Venezuala ( yes I know, so excuse the exaggeration )

      1. Our neighbour who lives mainly in France was born and bred in JHB
        ironically she lived about a mile from were I was staying in JHB.
        She has told me many stories about SA now. She’s off to stay with her mother and sister who now live in Simonstown. The naval base is no longer in operation.
        One of my niece’s still lives in Somerset West in the Cape.
        But I often wonder how much longer she might be there.
        The ANC government seems to be in the process of changing the names of English sounding cities and towns.
        Port Elizabeth is one.

          1. It’s a wonderful country its such a shame about the people who think they run it. Most of them are usually only interested in themselves.
            Oh hang on a mo……

      2. Apologies rastus but no, we didn’t. WE were not given a choice when Blair forced 10 million foreigners on us. He just did it to ‘rub the Right’s nose in diversity’. SAme as the invasion of criminal welfare shoppers now. No one wants it, but they’re forced on us.

        I want a country which is valued and respected by hard working visitors who contribute and respect this nation. I don’t want to hear foreign languages spoken by people treating it as a doss house without respect or dignity for the privilege of living in this great nation. I want welfare to promote work, effort and merit not laziness and apathy.

        This chaos, this big state, high tax, foreigner infested mess has been forced on us.

    4. Credit also to the interviewer – Conrad Wood – perfect example of the interviewer’s art.

  15. Marion, Mongo’s breeder has had a request that new puppy buyers meet the sire and mother, so Mongo has been brushed and scrubbed dutifully in readiness. He has regular claw trims so those are ok, but with his winter coat he’s decidedly fluffy.

    I know he’ll be fine around new people and will show he’s a gentle, calm and well mannered dog. I also know he can decide to be a stubborn oaf sometimes and while a good father to the puppies – sitting there calmly as they climbed over him – it’s still an unfamiliar environment.

    As Junior is a good example of his best nature, he’s coming along too. The real danger is we bring one of the small ones home with us. Still, off we go!

    1. Have a great doggie day. Give in to temptation !

      Dolly is seven years and six months now. I got Harry so she would have company and when she goes i will still have a dog. When he gets to her age i will get him a little playmate so the cycle continues.

          1. Noooooo! Two behemoths is more than enough! The meet is at 11 and while only five mins away, I’m expecting Mongo to decide he won’t get in/want to drive.

          2. You don’t really get a choice. He’s in! He won’t go in the boot, so he’s sat in the passenger seat with the belt around him and his harness in a dog seatbelt affair. It won’t stop him reaching out a paw to try to steer or change gear.

            We’re properly off now!

      1. There were many dogs in Padstow yesterday. I can’t resist stroking Labs. And chatting to the owners.

    1. Whereabouts in Cornwall?

      I had an idyllic childhood in St Mawes with many good friends who are still my good friends and dinghies to sail and sea to swim in. Our house looked straight out to sea and on a clear day you could see the Manacles on the Lizard Peninsular.

      Here is the house which my maternal grandfather, the steam locomotive engineer, Charles Bowen-Cooke, built in the first decade of the 20th century and here is the view from the house looking out to sea.

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1e4ea0c9e36c722abab101aacbe8428e4e47ffe44fb4fd2029f4e119ca69f5ad.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/71d455c335c60812e314b31de63b787ee5e53888a7b40834aae4b43ec28f3c8b.png

    2. Whereabouts in Cornwall?

      I had an idyllic childhood in St Mawes with many good friends who are still my good friends and dinghies to sail and sea to swim in. Our house looked straight out to sea and on a clear day you could see the Manacles on the Lizard Peninsular.

      Here is the house which my maternal grandfather, the steam locomotive engineer, Charles Bowen-Cooke, built in the first decade of the 20th century and here is the view from the house looking out to sea.

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1e4ea0c9e36c722abab101aacbe8428e4e47ffe44fb4fd2029f4e119ca69f5ad.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/71d455c335c60812e314b31de63b787ee5e53888a7b40834aae4b43ec28f3c8b.png

  16. ‘As President Putin pointed out, the West is truly an empire of lies’. 24 September 2023.

    Russia’s top diplomat denounced the United States and the West on Saturday as self-interested defenders of a fading international order, but he didn’t discuss his country’s war in Ukraine in his speech to the UN General Assembly.

    This is (ironically) probably the literal truth. It’s not just the Elites either. Quite insignificant people will now tell you blatant untruths at the drop of a hat. I recently had a shop assistant telling me something that she certainly knew to be untrue and to cap it she must have known that I knew it too. This did not faze her in the slightest.

    It is hard to avoid the conclusion that this is due to the decline of Christianity with its precepts on truthfulness. No one else pays any attention to it. The Muslims actually regard lying to be permissible, even honourable, if it is in the interests of the Faith.

    It should be obvious that no Society can survive that has no respect for the truth and you only have to read Nottl to discover how far we have fallen.

    https://www.france24.com/en/video/20230923-as-president-putin-pointed-out-the-west-is-truly-an-empire-of-lies

      1. Isn’t one of the 10 commandments “Love thy neighbour”? That can get you injured – Moses should have added “- but don’t get caught”

        1. It’s like the joke about the priest who couldn’t find his bicycle and assumed it had been stolen. He decided to base his sermon on the ten commandments, with the emphasis on “thou shalt not steal”. When he got to the VIth commandment, he remembered where he left it.

  17. As we resume a social life, many items seem to be AWOL.
    Attic? Shed? (whisper it) Charity Shop? Barn not a million miles away from the MCTC?
    Ho hum. Lots of washing up between courses beckons.
    (And, yes …. I HAVE looked in the cupboard grot hole under the stairs.)

    1. Do tell us what is missing Anne , shall I guess?

      Steak knives, soup bowls, , dessert dishes , or small plates ?

      I have stashed a dinner service away that we were given as a wedding present 55 years ago .. we have not needed to use it ..coffee cups , meat servers, teapots , ornate glass jugs, and pickle spoons and forks, not dishwasher proof .

      1. 6 more wine glasses; yes, I have seen them in a box – but God knows where.
        Pudding bowls? Shrug. (Cereal bowls were ugly, so I know they went to a charity shop.). Various veg dishes etc…. Serving utensils (last spotted when looking for a winter coat – I think …)
        And it took me ages to make a pud I’ve done a hundred times. Everything is in a different place and I hadn’t realised what a slick operation I conducted at Allan Towers.

      2. I still have my wedding present china dinner service – but it’s a bit fragile to use these days.

        A few of the plates are ok but others have suffered a bit.

        We tend to use the kitchen plates every day, and OH’s service (robust Denby ware) when anyone comes for dinner.

    2. MCTC – or the Motor Cycle Training Centre for inmates who didn’t want their families to know they were in nick.

  18. As we resume a social life, many items seem to be AWOL.
    Attic? Shed? (whisper it) Charity Shop? Barn not a million miles away from the MCTC?
    Ho hum. Lots of washing up between courses beckons.
    (And, yes …. I HAVE looked in the cupboard grot hole under the stairs.)

  19. I tried reposting the Tw@ter post Richard requested and got this message:-
    “You must authenticate the user or provide author_name and author_email”

    Anyone else had similar problems?

  20. Hallo all! Thought I would do a post so you all know I’m still in the land of the living albeit rather badly impaired. At night I now have a machine that helps me breath. Still, I’m not here to give you a litany of my ills but to say that I am going to make an effort to post, at least once a day so that I keep my hand in, as it were. I’m trying to make up my mind whether to buy ‘Dragon speak’ which converts speech to words on the page. Dragon is pretty expensive but I’m at the point where typing is actually an effort, so much so it deters me from communicating. But, I miss saying hallo to everyone and keeping up with what you all are saying.

    In truth nothing much changes, does it? The Ukraine disaster continues, it’s going to take a lot for the country to recover, over two hundred thousand dead. A staggering number of young men for the pleasure of the corrupt in Washington and NATO.
    They are still trying to get Trump.
    We are still being dragged into the EU thus proving that democracy is dead in the UK
    and now we have corrupt politicians deciding Russel Brands fate without the benefit of a trail.
    And now, apparently Labour wants to make it illegal to criticise Islam.
    Nothing much changes indeed, because all of the above save Brand was going on when I last posted some months ago.
    Still, I do hope that all of you are well? And, as I said, will try to keep my hand in by posting or commenting on something once a day.

    1. Your comments are always welcome here, Johnathan, even more so knowing that it’s something of a struggle for you. Keep battling on.

    2. Good morning Johnathan.
      Sorry to hear of your travails. Hope you can keep going as you always have something interesting going say.

    3. I’ve been thinking about you Johnathan, in your long absence. It sounds as though your health has taken a turn for the worse. I do hope you will be able to post when you can.

    4. Hello Johnathan! Lovely to see you, but sorry to hear of your struggles. Stay optimistic and KBO!

    5. Good Morning. I use Dragon Speak, I find the translation very good provided you train it properly. The most difficult thing I found was preparing what to speak before actually dictating the words, it is an art in itself. I’d recommend getting one of the free dictation applications to try out the way of working before commiting to Dragon, which as you say is not cheap. Miscosoft Dictate isn’t bad, and may well do what you want without having to buy Dragon.

      https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/use-voice-typing-to-talk-instead-of-type-on-your-pc-fec94565-c4bd-329d-e59a-af033fa5689f

    6. Hello Johnathan,

      Good morning from a warm Dorset , windy and dampish, and Moh is playing golf in his shorts , another match .

      My goodness, despite the impossible situation you are in with your terrible breathing problem, you sound remarkably up beat , and on top of the current mess the country is in .

      Did you say you were living in West Sussex, I do hope you have kind helpful people around you.

      Do you have family around you to assist with little / huge tasks?

      Please don’t feel abandoned , Nottlers are always listening and reading , even if they are not writing stuff, they are all thoughtful amusing people .

    7. I’m sorry to hear of your woes. I hope you do find you’re able to type occasionally to keep in touch, or that you can get the software. Have you tried crowdfunding? I don’t know how one goes about it but it does seem to be all the rage. Knowing Nottlers, we like to look after our own so I’m sure a few squids would be sent by people on here.

      BTW, will it be illegal to criticise Christianity, Buddhism, Sikhism, Jaininsm, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Hinduism, Druidism, Judaism, Scientology……. too?

  21. Lefty Democrat Mayor gets what he wants then whines about it being too difficult.

    ‘The migrant crisis will destroy my city’, New York

    Mayor Eric Adams declares as the city battles to cope with the influx of

    thousands drawn there by Joe Biden’s open-door policy, TOM LEONARD

    writes.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12553667/Mayor-Eric-Adams-declares-migrant-crisis-destroy-Democrat-run-New-York-City-battles-cope-influx-thousands-drawn-Joe-Bidens-open-door-policy.html

      1. Many knock on effects i’m sure. Destroying tourism being one. Now who would have such a dastardly plan? Hmm let me ponder.

    1. Why should we change our way of life to pander to these minorities. They must be ignored and put in their place.

      1. Isn’t ignoring them and putting them in their place a contradiction? Unless ignoring them is putting them in their place.

      2. It’s purely a commercial action by Tesco. They hope to attract more Muslim customers by giving them the confidence to shop there. It could, of course, backfire if people who hate Muslims, and deciding to boycott Tesco, outnumber Muslims.

        1. Muslims prefer rustled sheep to Tesco as some naughty people keep chucking packs of bacon into the halal fridges.

  22. Axe looms over HS2 as costs set to soar by £8bn. 24 September 2023.

    Rishi Sunak could axe the second half of HS2 as soon as this week after an £8 billion increase in costs put the scheme on course to wipe out the budget for other transport projects.

    Mr Sunak and Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor, are expected to meet early this week to finalise plans to scrap phase two of the troubled railway line, from Birmingham to the North.

    The whole thing needs to be chopped. I can remember when it was first touted on Nottl. We all knew that it was a scam! A Hundred Billion to get you to Manchester fifteen minutes earlier? Even if it were possible was it desirable?

    It’s not alone of course. The NHS. The MoD. They are all ongoing catastrophes. One wonders; or at least I do, whether past collapsing civilisations had similar problems. Were Assyrian chariots as good at the end as they were during the Empire? We know the legions were seriously degraded before the collapse of Rome and the decadence of Babylon is a byword even now.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/09/23/hs2-second-leg-birmingham-to-manchester-faces-axe-costs/

    1. It’s still not too late to abandon the London-Birmingham section.

      And work has already started on the Manchester leg with the recent completion of a bridge under the WCML near Lichfield.

    2. The axe is not big enough – they need to stop the part to Birmingham, and restore the land to its owners!

    3. So in a nutshell what you are saying Minty is that just like Sodom we are well and truly bu@@ered!

      Afternoon one and all

    4. In its original form having a fast link from central London to Manchester has some merit. What we have now is outer London to not central Birmingham which offers little advantage to most people. From here, Bracknell, I would go Cross Country from Reading in two and a half hours or so to get to Birmingham New Street, or drive in not much longer. To go via London with a couple of changes to get to Old Oak Common would take much longer. It probably benefits just a small number of people who have easy access to the Elizabeth line to get to OOC. And they still think they can fill 12 carriages or so with six or more trains an hour…..

      I will be in my eighties before it even opens so it is a not in my lifetime white elephant.

    1. I think some of them might be taking the p…
      Very funny though – until you remember that the good old taxpayer will be footing the bill…

    2. I think some of them might be taking the p…
      Very funny though – until you remember that the good old taxpayer will be footing the bill…

    1. Afternoon Phizz. They are right to do so. Why take the very real risk of being arrested for something you are doing at the behest of the Government?

  23. “ According to Mayor Eric Adams, 10,000 migrants are now arriving every month in New York, worsening the nightmare for an already cramped city that has seen more than 113,000 people come since spring 2022. (By comparison, 45,755 migrants crossed the Channel to the UK in all of 2022.)”.

    The above is in the Mail Online today. I think the comparison is meant to make us feel well, that’s not many, is it. Bugger off is what I say.

    1. I did the same at our bowls club and it ranged between 25% and 45%. The look of surprise on their faces was a sight to behold.

    2. I wonder if the Idiot King, Gove, Johnson, May, Sunak, and others are aware that CO2 constitutes only 0.04% of the earth’s atmosphere and if it falls below 0.02% plant life will not survive.

      Even if they do know it is probably irrelevant as far as they are concerned because the global warming scam has nothing to do with the environment and everything to do with manipulating and impoverishing us to get ready for the Great Reset.

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0694fde59d3be3febbcfb5e20570b58646d000a1fbe19f15b71376ff0b5752a1.png

      Here’s a rather flattering picture of our King.

    1. When i went the travelator had been installed. The Jewels were there but there was no Brucie bonus or cuddly toy.

    2. It looks edible! I don’t remember seeing that one when I went as a child to see the Crown jewels in 1959. We queued for ages on a very hot day.

        1. The summer of 1959 was very warm. My mum took me out of school (shock – horror) I knew which school I would be going to in September and she’d spent months making us clothes. We stayed in Sussex Gardens in a small hotel for two weeks in June, and I remember seeing and hearing the Horse Guards going by in the mornings. We did all the sights and visited friends and family.

          I think it was a lot more educational and memorable than a couple of weeks of school.

          In September, when I started at the High School, it was still very warm , so girls who had the summer uniform were allowed to go on wearing it for the first few weeks of term.

          1. I remember summer 1959. We were seated in class by order of merit and I was fourth, behind three girls, and seated next to the classroom window. The venetian blinds and open windows didn’t have any effect, it was boiling and very uncomfortable. Miss Lee was our teacher and despite being a dead ringer for Popeye’s Olive Oyl she was a brilliant teacher. Fred Boyes took us for our final year and he was equally brilliant: those two teachers enabled so many working class kids from a council estate to pass the 11+ and reach grammar school.

          2. When I started at the grammar school in September 1959, I had some NHS round tortoiseshell glasses, which I refused to wear. Consequently I couldn’t see the blackboard, so I had to swap with someone and sit right at the front. Other than that, we sat in alphabetical order.
            Miss Harper was our form mistress – she was a dragon. She taught Geography. Later on, she left the school and went to teach in Kenya, and sent some interesting letters back to the school. She wasn’t quite such a dragon by then.
            In my class of 36 there were six Carol(e)s, five Ann(e)s and four Marys.

          3. I remember that summer, I was just about to start my second year at Grammar School that September. We were three or four days away from having standpipes fitted – the word ‘drought’ was mentioned a lot. Then the rains came after the first week or so in September and that was that – normal British autumn had commenced.

  24. We are in a lovely rented cottage at Malham Cove in the Dales. Weather not great but lots of great dog walks and splendid pubs. We are having dinner tonight at Beck Hall where we stayed for two Christmases several years ago. It involves having quite a lot of medicine.

      1. Thank you. Mrs D has been diagnosed with OCPD and recently couldn’t walk more than 50 yds. Water tablets are helping. She sees the GP again next week and if the water loss is good they will shock her heart into a normal rythm.

          1. Sorry, me no lookee further than my nose! Understand now. Alf had AF for nearly a year before having an ablation in October 2014. All fine now.

        1. Argh! Sounds horrific – I hope it goes swimmingly for Delgirl. I’ll keep all digits crossed for her.

        2. Sorry Delboy but I don’t understand. Obsessive compulsive personality disorder? Did you mean COPD, in which case I understand she couldn’t walk more than 50 yards but not the water tablets helping or why shocking her heart may be required.

          1. You are right of course. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. We are walking the Springer in the Dales this week and my wife is doing well.

  25. Suella Braverman orders review of armed policing after officer’s murder charge. 24 September 2023

    Braverman said: “We depend on our brave firearms officers to protect us from the most dangerous and violent in society.

    “In the interest of public safety they have to make split-second decisions under extraordinary pressures.

    “They mustn’t fear ending up in the dock for carrying out their duties. Officers risking their lives to keep us safe have my full backing and I will do everything in my power to support them.

    “That’s why I have launched a review to ensure they have the confidence to do their jobs while protecting us all.”

    Meanwhile, the Met is supporting officers who have stepped back from firearms duties to help them “fully understand the genuinely held concerns that they have”, a spokesperson said.

    Double tongued twaddle. They haven’t let the guy out who was charged last week.

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/sep/24/suella-braverman-orders-review-of-armed-policing-after-officers-charge

    1. Not sure what you mean by “They haven’t let the guy out who was charged last week.” The officer, referred to as ‘NX121′ was bailed at the Magistrates’ hearing on Thursday 21st September.

          1. It would have been sent to the Crown Court (Old Bailey) who will decide which Crown Court will hear the case. That’s where any decisions will be taken.

    2. Not sure what you mean by “They haven’t let the guy out who was charged last week.” The officer, referred to as ‘NX121′ was bailed at the Magistrates’ hearing on Thursday 21st September.

    3. “We depend on our brave firearms officers to protect us from the most dangerous and violent in society.

      Does she means the vax dealing, lockdown supporting and climate change pushing idiotic shower in the HoC? Courtesy of Herr Schwab & Co. If only.

        1. Ah – I see. Pick up the nibble on a toothpick – eat – then shove toothpick in face. Very decorative.

    1. No doubt it eats vegetation. You’d never see a carnivore (who naturally have fully-developed brains) doing that.

  26. Ed Davey has a Michael Howard moment.

    Ed Davey refuses seven times to answer if Lib Dems would reverse Brexit

    Leader deflects Victoria Derbyshire’s probing on whether fourth-largest party wants UK to rejoin the EU

    By Dominic Penna, POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT • 24 September 2023 • 12:27pm

    Sir Ed Davey has refused seven times to say whether the Liberal Democrats want the country to rejoin the European Union.

    Britain’s fourth-largest party is facing questions about its Brexit policy after a number of conflicting statements from senior figures and a push by Labour to seek closer trading arrangements. Sir Ed said last week that rejoining the EU is “off the table” for the time being because voters are more concerned about other issues.

    But Layla Moran, the Liberal Democrats’ foreign affairs spokesman, told activists “we want to rejoin” during a fringe event on Saturday at the party’s annual conference in Bournemouth. A Liberal Democrat spokesman then refused to be drawn on the question beyond saying the party wanted to be “at the heart of Europe” and it was a “priority” to rewrite the Brexit deal agreed by Boris Johnson.

    Britain’s future relationship with Brussels has risen up the political agenda after footage emerged of Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, insisting Britain would not diverge from EU regulations if he became prime minister after the next election.

    Questions one, two and three

    Asked by the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire whether planned to “go quiet” on Brexit, Sir Ed said: “We want Britain to be at the heart of Europe, but we’re also deeply realistic about what’s going to have to be done to enable us to improve our relations with Europe. European politicians don’t trust Britain anymore.”

    Pressed on whether he wanted to rejoin in the long-term, Sir Ed replied he had been “really clear that Britain has to be at the heart of Europe”, but then refused to confirm whether this meant full membership.

    Four. And five

    When asked a fourth time, he said rejoining the EU was “currently … not on the table” but, after being asked to clarify his policy, responded: “I really want and the Liberal Democrats really want to rebuild that trust, rebuild that relationship so we can be at the heart of Europe. That is going to take time. We have to take the British people with us.”

    Number six

    Challenged about whether some of his supporters may feel “let down” by his lack of an immediate plan to re-enter the trade bloc, Sir Ed replied: “I think when people hear our policies they really get that we are the pro-European party.”

    And finally…

    In a seventh refusal to answer Ms Derbyshire’s questions on the subject, Sir Ed said he was “focusing in on” a four-pronged approach which would see the party rejoin the Single Market in the long term, but offers no clarity on the EU itself.

    At the general election in 2019, the Liberal Democrats said they would “stop Brexit and build a brighter future”, promising to cancel Britain’s departure without putting it to a public vote. But they returned just 11 MPs and fewer than four million votes as Boris Johnson’s vow to “get Brexit done” propelled the Conservatives to a landslide 80-seat majority.

    Since Sir Ed replaced Jo Swinson as party leader, the Liberal Democrats have focused less on Europe, instead prioritising issues including GP appointments and the sewage crisis, which they believe can help them unseat dozens of Tory MPs at the next national poll.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/09/24/ed-davey-fails-to-clear-up-lib-dems-policy-on-brexit/

    I like Layla Moran. She brightens the day with her madness and ensures the LibDumbs remain a comedy fringe event. I hope they invite Indigo Rumbelow to one of their meetings. I’d almost be prepared to pay to watch that!

    1. In 2013, Layla Moran and her then boyfriend Richard Davis were briefly questioned by police, after she slapped him during an argument in their hotel room at the Liberal Democrat Federal Conference. No charge was brought, but the relationship subsequently ended. She has subsequently announced that she is pan sexual.

      She looks as if she is a woman not to meddle with and doubtless wielded a pretty vicious hockey stick when she was at Roedean. She has recently announced that she has fallen in love with a wonderful woman though she did not say whether or not her inamorata has or does not have a penis.

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/96217886cbc4d3801f6088e3ece4f9b94795196fb6e4cf2cfc5cbc7f5e80f0bb.png

      The appropriately named band Harper’s Bizarre has just the song for her.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kANJs0D0JqM

        1. I’ve never heard the term ‘pan sexual’ before, I thought it might be sex with a slow cooker or something

    2. We can’t possibly be “at the heart of Europe” because geographically we are an island off the coast. If he means at the heart of the EU, that would be more honest – disastrous for the country, but nearer the truth.

    1. Speaking of honesty i recently decided to grow a mustache again. My friend said ‘but with your wavy hair, aren’t you afraid you will look like a 70’s pornstar?’
      I said ‘I was a 70’s pornstar’.

      ….pin drop…

  27. There were some comments the other day on people receiving renewal notices from the DT for silly amounts. My subs aren’t due for renewal until November but last year I paid £149 plus another £30 for the crossword site. I thought it was a bit steep then but never complained. Am I really to expect £250 or so this time? What was the result when you phoned to cancel, were you offered something realistic.
    These days I do little more than scan most of the articles but read the letters and BTL comments. Not worth £250!!

      1. I also paid £19. Got the 3 months for £1, then cancelled by phone and they just kept offering lower prices!

    1. If you phone to cancel, they offer you £9.99 for six months, then it’s bumped up to £19.99 per month (unless you cancel).

    2. Um……………Where do i begin…………………Tell them no !..Then they drop the price. Tell them you are on a low income and they will drop it further…….Tell them you are considering taking a subscription with another paper and they will drop it further.

      Tell them you will use Pressreader instead.

      COMPLAIN !

    3. About 4 months ago I paid £49 for the year, its will go up to a huge amount afterwards
      Another phone call will be needed. I see many people being offered £19 for the year.

  28. Grrrhhh,top tip for Dame whatsernane of Waitrose
    STOCK THE BLOODY SHELVES!!!
    No button mushrooms,eschallots or braising steak and insult to injury only Chorlewood pap bread available
    That’s my Boeuf Bourginon buggered!!
    Yes,yes I know other supermarkets are available but I was too irritable to bother

    1. I hadn’t seen eschallots in Morrisons for many months – but they had some the other day! So much better for cooking than the little round shallots.

      1. If the class became emotional and lachrymose when their English teacher, who loved literary allusions and quotations, read Tennyson’s poem about the lady who had to sit weaving at her loom the pupils were told that ‘nothing is here for tears’ [Milton; Lycidas] and the tears live in an onion that should water this sorrow [Enobarbus: Antony and Cleopatra]

          1. I bought the above poster for the CU Faculty of English. I think something a little more avant gard, modernistic, a statement piece, had been expected but all the students loved it. Job done, as far as I was concerned. I felt the very small detail of the lit lantern at the prow gave it such an air of intrigue and engaged the viewer to look further.

      2. Yes, they’ve been back for some weeks now at Tavistock Morrisons. Echalion shallots. So much easier to just cut the ends off and peel.

      3. St John the Baptist, Puttenham, had its Harvest Festival today. Reasonably well attended (compared to the usual handful), and the Rector had asked for shoe boxes, filled with non-perishable goods. The perishable stuff mostly varieties of squash, one huge marrow, and (under a chair at the back of church), a sack of shallots. We took these to the neighbouring church, to be auctioned after the Harvest Lunch.

        It turned out that the “shallots” were actually daffodil bulbs. Dear Reader, this misunderstanding was spotted before anything was sold.

        Phew…

          1. No, they’re poisonous! I’ve just bought a sack today. Will have to start planting soon, weather permitting.

        1. It’s our harvest festival next Sunday (and Shocklach the Sunday after). I’ll be going to two harvest suppers in a fortnight!

    2. Waitrose/JohnLewis is fucked. Use Ocado M&S. Online. Never let me down. If you like vanity shops Waitrose works. If you need something……..forget it.
      Is there an item you are missing that i could send you?

    3. If you were making a
      Boeuf Bourginon for guests…………………not me obvs….you need to start 3 days earlier !

        1. If he was making it for me i would bring so much wine he could bathe in it. Then we would re-bottle it and send it to you.

    4. Other independent butchers, bakers, (candlestick-makers), grocers, greengrocers, fishmongers and delicatessens are also available, Rik.

      ALL of them selling far better quality food than what is available in ANY ‘super’market!

          1. 80 miles although Tescos and Lidl are in Dingwall 69 miles away. Thankfully Tescos deliver to the village every day.
            However Dingwall still has a High St with free parking and lots of little shops (butchers, cake shops, newsagents, chandlers, chemists etc with the usual charity shops and a Wimpy Bar

          2. Indeed, it’s the only one I know about but as far as I know there’s no MacDonalds or Burgerking there.

    5. Having braved darkest Goldsworth Park, full shelves are the least you are entitled to expect, Rik. Of course you may have been to West Byfleet, but the same applies. Sainsburys are no better; they now place strips of cardboard in the fridge shelves, making them look more occupied, and have rows of stuff, but no columns…

      Are Morrisons or M&S not more convenient for you? Or even Tesco Metro?

      As it happens, I went by train to Woking a few days ago, walked to Lion Retail Park and bought some comestibles from Aldi and ASDA. Aldi didn’t have the Chilean Shieaz I was after, but ASDA had my usual tea bags at half the price of most supermarkets. And I called in to Boz the greengrocer before returning home.

      1. Morrisons getting very expensive now Waitrose often cheaper I also hit Aldi today to stock up on my new favourite Priimitivo two supermarkets was my limit {:^))

        Lion car parking is atrocious
        Tesco Metro pathetic
        Boz is very good

        1. Agreed x 3.

          I only learned that Aldi had supplanted Halfords last week. The easiest Aldi from here is at Blackwater, providing I get a GWR train early morning. It’s very near to the station. Lion was risky, even as a pedestrian. I walked there, since buses in Oriental Road are hourly, and it was 15 mins away on foot, and threatening to piss down. No problem getting a bus back to the station, and there was time to visit Boz. He does Normandy Market on Friday mornings, but that’s a half hour walk away.

          Tesco Metro, Woking sounds as bad as the equivalent in Bridge Street, Guildford. Its saving grace is that it’s possible to walk there, buy essentials, and return to Platform 6, and take the same train home. Easier still with M&S Food at the station…

    1. Par here.

      Wordle 827 4/6

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

    2. Leading to my sixteenth double bogey.

      Wordle 827 6/6

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

      1. The thugs beating old ladies at the lockdown protests were wearing uniforms with the EU flag on their sleeves.

        1. It has been that way for some time. Obviously you wouldn’t expect someone in crowd control to have to beat back people from a village they may one day return to so…………….Just like with Catalan. The local police and firecrews stood up and protected their friends and families against the bussed in paramitatary thugs who had been bussed in from Barecelona.
          For old people not being a threat at all and then being treated so much violence in the middle of London is beyond.

  29. Video emerges of Vladimir Putin in shell suit on 1990s Finland trip. 24 September 2023

    Video footage has emerged showing an awkward-looking Vladimir Putin wearing a shell suit and sporting a longer haircut on a visit to Finland during the early 1990s.

    The Finnish broadcaster YLE obtained the previously unseen amateur film from an anonymous source. It was shot on a May Day holiday soon after Putin – then about 40 and a KGB officer – had become an adviser to Anatoly Sobchak, the mayor of St Petersburg at the time.

    In the video, Putin and Sobchak play table tennis against the mayor’s bodyguards. At one point, Putin cracks a smile. He repeatedly scratches his neck.

    The horror!

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/24/video-emerges-of-vladimir-putin-in-shell-suit-on-1990s-finland-trip

      1. Not so much that Ukrainian forces are having their ass kicked by far superior Russian forces on a daily basis. All the news media is mere pro-western propaganda and the precise opposite to the Truth.

        Joe Biden will likely drop dead shortly, that or wheeled away to some care facility. The neo-cons left in the White House will likely ditch the Ukrainians altogether and pass funding to the EU and UK in order to concentrate on the next enemy China.

        The US government is presently in disarray. This is because it has an unelected President, a Puppet Resident, controlled by Obama and the Clintons and their international backers. The wretched Biden is now exposed to be the corrupt minnow that we all suspected. The most corrupted leaders are the Obamas and Clinton’s, whose organisational skills have secured them billions. The Biden crime family are by comparison mere amateurs in the craft of graft, dealing in mere tens of millions, petty cash in the big scheme of things.

        The Ukrainian war is spent. The Americans can no longer afford to fund it and other governments in the west are feeling the pinch. The UK has invested billions in materiel and by so doing depleted its own stocks. Much the same applies to Germany and Poland.

        As far as I am able to tell, both Germany and Poland are now being berated by Zelensky for not doing more. I suppose the dwarf puppet comedian is expecting German and Polish troops to be sent to his disastrous front lines.

        Only the neo-cons in the USA could have contrived such an industrial scale disaster in geopolitics and foreign policy as we have witnessed under the Biden regime.

        May God help us all.

  30. Whitehall wokery won’t be stopped unless we overhaul the Equality Act

    A web of laws and obligations are allowing officials to put diversity before delivery. It must change

    FRED DE FOSSARD • 23 September 2023 • 7:48pm

    It is difficult to overstate how much damage the 2010 Equality Act (EA) has inflicted on the public sector, with the recent warnings from senior civil servants over Whitehall wokery just the latest manifestation.

    A web of laws and obligations, stemming from the EA and its public sector equality duty have created a new value system, reinforced by case law and precedent, which is upending how departments are run and shows no sign of fading.

    Perhaps most importantly, the EA introduced the concept of protected characteristics – of which there are now nine – in law. This created obvious inconsistencies, and led to inevitable situations where one marginalised group could be accused of marginalising another marginalised group.

    The public sector equality duty mandates public authorities to advance the cause of non-discrimination as defined by the Act. This turbocharges the equality agenda, instead of simply guarding against undue discrimination. It has completely changed the way the Government operates.

    High-profile examples include RAF recruitment, where senior officers blocked the promotion of white male fighter pilots in the interest of diversity, and the highly contentious issue of gender recognition.

    But consider also the latest, 52-page Diversity, Inclusion and Equality report produced by HS2 Ltd, the organisation struggling to build the high-speed rail route between London and Birmingham. It lists the ways in which it is reducing inequality through the construction of a railway line, featuring a lengthy segment detailing the millions of pounds in grants it has awarded for this purpose. It also sets out its plans to reduce the proportion of white men in the workforce to build the line. By contrast, just 12 pages are devoted towards the rather more pertinent issue of tunnelling costs. Our society is being racialised, even down to infrastructure projects.

    David Cameron pledged to end the mandatory use of equality impact assessments while he was prime minister, but they remain today, and the cottage industry [intentional pun?] associated with them only gets bigger, the rent-seeking more expensive.

    This has a chilling effect when it comes to policymaking. In the run-up to the 2021 Autumn Statement, lawyers in the Department for Levelling Up refused to approve submissions for funding without an equality impact assessment, citing the public sector equality duty. The scenario was posed that high street redevelopment could be refused if it wasn’t proven to increase equality. These legal objections were overruled, but nonetheless indicate where priorities and emphasis are placed in some areas of government. They become tools to block action, and narrow the window for discussion.

    Similarly, following the judicial review of Dido Harding’s appointment to run test and trace on equality grounds – because ministers did not pay due regard to equality concerns in her appointment in a time of emergency – a new precedent has been set which may derail future public appointments of vital importance. Before Health Secretary Steve Barclay mandated that all senior Civil Service hires must be advertised externally by default, Cabinet Office civil servants attempted to refuse the announcement without an equality impact assessment. It was an extraordinary turn of events.

    Conservative MPs and ministers will get nowhere in their fight against Left-wing orthodoxy in Whitehall without dismantling its legal underpinning. The Equality Act has created an ever-expanding industry for its own enforcement, with even a dedicated quango to monitor it. Any promises to dismantle Whitehall wokery are meaningless without structural reform.

    Such reform is long overdue. There may be little time to enact it.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/09/23/whitehall-wokery-wont-stopped-unless-overhaul-equality-act/

    1. Oh, we haven’t seen that little issue – not even in the real press.

      I would guess that Trudeau stacked the parliamentary gallery with Ukrainians. Deputy PM Freeland probably helped decide who was honoured to be there – her Ukrainian grandfather was an nazti collaberator.

      Also this is not new behaviour. On his first disastrous trip to India, numbnuts took along an Indian chef to prepare some fancy banquet – he just happened to be in the Indian governments bad books. (yes that’s right, he flew an Indian cook out to India to cook Indian food).

      Unfortunately short of rioting in the streets, there is nothing we can do to unseat this buffoon.

        1. He has never come up with an original recipe. He either copies, or (mainly) trashes, those of others.

      1. Russell Brand was a choirboy compared with Rolf Harris and the BBC and Royal favourite Jimmy Savile. You might include Huw Edwards in the recurring accounts of BBC hypocrisy.

  31. Elsewhere, Kosovo is kicking off again and the Pope has criticised Poland for not supporting Ukraine with armaments.

    Tin hats at the ready…

      1. The pope should just STFU about Ukraine – he obviously doesn’t do enough research into the background!

    1. The Poles have given most of their armaments to Ukraine and are now attempting to replace their exhausted stocks with more modern versions.

      The Pope is another WEF stooge and despised by most Catholics. His opinions count for little whilst he sits on a mountain of Nazi gold and many other stolen trinkets.

    2. The Poles have given most of their armaments to Ukraine and are now attempting to replace their exhausted stocks with more modern versions.

      The Pope is another WEF stooge and despised by most Catholics. His opinions count for little whilst he sits on a mountain of Nazi gold and many other stolen trinkets.

    1. The neighbour then exited the tenement block, which included six separate residences, and waited for firefighters to arrive.

      Tenements lol.

      Discarded cigarette butts were also found all over the floor of the flat.

      Is this the red road?

  32. Evelyn Hall. Lovely day out again slight drizzle towards the end. Blimey those hills are punishing. It’s a long time since we have been there. Pre Doc Martin.
    Another scare being processed at the moment.
    The Victorian disease of Tuberculosis is taking hold.
    I wonder how that managed to come into the country.
    Another fur king mistake by our useless idiot government.

    1. The article i posted recently said it was about people coming here from where TB is still prevalent. On thinking about it it suggests to me that this is another go at getting everyone injected.

  33. I was staggered to hear a report on BBC radio 4 at lunchtime yesterday suggesting that perhaps, just perhaps, the Ukrainian nationalists are not God’s gift to democracy and that perhaps, just perhaps the Russians had a case to invade to protect Russian leaning Ukrainians.

      1. It seemed that he had relatives/friends over there and for me it was a balanced overview, judging by what I have read elsewhere, but who knows?

    1. So sad to see a promising career in journalism terminated so abruptly.
      Still, Burger King are recruiting.

    2. As we have seen recently with WW2 re-enactments the BBC don’t like people dressing up in Nazi uniforms they prefer the real ones.

    1. What??? Scotland is at war with Wales? I hope the Aussies sort out their sheep ! Did i miss something?

  34. Soldiers are on standby to protect Britain from terror attacks after firearms officers handed in their guns over a decision to charge a Metropolitan Police firearms officer with the murder of a young black man.

    The Ministry of Defence announced it was ready to send in troops to confront terrorists in the absence of sufficient police cover. “We have accepted a military aid to the civil authorities request from the Home Office to provide routine counterterrorism contingency support to the Metropolitan Police, should it be needed,” the ministry said.

    Soldiers will protect the public only from terrorism, rather than performing tasks such as policing criminal gangs.

    Emergency powers to call in the armed forces are usually deployed for big events such as the London Olympics, bomb disposal or flooding, and the need to bring in the military shows how far Scotland Yard has been stretched by firearms officers withdrawing their services. The soldiers will have no powers of arrest.

    The Metropolitan Police said the ministry would “provide the Met with counterterrorism support should it be needed. This is a contingency option that would only be used in specific circumstances and where an appropriate policing response was not available. Armed forces personnel will not be used in a routine policing capacity. We will keep the need for the support under constant review.”

    Braverman launches review
    It came after Suella Braverman, the home secretary, intervened in the row over the murder charge by announcing a review into how armed police can avoid being tried in court for doing their duties.

    Firearms officers have been handing in their weapons in protest against the case of a colleague who faces potential life imprisonment for shooting dead Chris Kaba, 24, an unarmed man.

    Braverman’s announcement, made on Twitter/X, included a news report illustrated with a picture of demonstrators carrying a placard that showed the alleged murder victim and the slogan “Justice for Chris Kaba”.

    In a series of three tweets she wrote: “We depend on our brave firearms officers to protect us from the most dangerous and violent in society. In the interest of public safety they have to make split-second decisions under extraordinary pressures.

    “They mustn’t fear ending up in the dock for carrying out their duties. Officers risking their lives to keep us safe have my full backing and I will do everything in my power to support them. That’s why I have launched a review to ensure they have the confidence to do their jobs while protecting us all.”

    Although Braverman is expected to mark National Police Memorial Day, which honours police officers who have died on duty, in Cardiff on Sunday her tweets did not refer to the event.

    An unnamed officer, known only as NX121, was charged on Wednesday with the murder of Kaba, who was shot in September last year after the car he was driving and was hemmed in by a police vehicle in Streatham Hill, south London.

    The news report Braverman included was about armed Met officers refusing to carry guns in response to the murder charge.

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/chris-kaba-met-police-firearm-guns-2v7fdgkts

    So , has this government not forgotten the criminalising of soldiers who are now elderly veterans, who served in Northern Ireland who who were doing their duty?

    1. ‘They’ have not forgotten. ‘They’ just want it so.
      The armed troops won’t be British troops just as in Ukraine they are not Ukrainian troops.

    2. Why is the ‘young black man’ always painted as some sort of saint in the press? He’s a thug and a criminal. The really funny thing is government wants to fill ever more of the police force with these wasters.

      The fundamental problem is immigration. Specifically uncontrolled, illegal welfare gimmigration. It’s flooded our country with drugs, prostitution, violence, theft. The state then forces more of it, while cutting back the thin blue line to ensure things get even worse.

      The correct solution was to lock and bar the door to keep out the foreign criminal, strengthen the borders, expand the police force and have law support justice. But that’d be sensible policy, not Left wingery.

        1. Mola ,

          I saw the photo of your gorgeous dog , very handsome , but quite strangely I wasn’t allowed to leave a comment because there was a lock symbol stopping me doing so?

          1. I think the mods close the comments after 24/36 (?) hrs, Belle – and replying by ‘notifications’ can be problematic – if you click on the ‘view in discussion’ next to ‘reply’ it will take you to the page and you can reply on the blog discussion page but once the 24/36 hr time frame has elapsed that is that regardless.

    3. Chris Kaba, the 24-year-old rapper known as Madix or Mad Itch, was a member of 67, a hip hop collectivebased in Brixton, south London.

      He was already known to police prior to the incident in which he was shot by an armed Metropolitan Police officer, having driven a car said to have been linked to a firearms incident the day before. Kaba did not own the car.

      Kaba had been charged in 2018 with possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence in relation to an incident on Dec 30 2017.

      Found guilty at Snaresbrook Crown Court in January 2019, he was sentenced to four years in a young offenders’ institute. He was
      released in 2021.

      Kaba is suspected of being involved in a nightclub gun attack just days earlier. He was allegedly one of a group of five men suspected of conspiring to murder a rival at a Notting Hill Carnival after-party held in east London.

      The victim was attending an event at the Oval Space nightclub in Cambridge Heath in the early hours of Aug 30 when the incident took place.

      After being shot at on the dancefloor, the 23-year-old was chased from the venue into the street by a gunman who shot him twice.

      Four men appeared at Thames Magistrates’ Court on Oct 28 and were remanded in custody having been charged with conspiracy to murder.

      The Telegraph understands the prosecution case will allege that Kaba was involved in the plotting of the attack and was present at the time of the shooting.

      Kaba was due to be married and was expecting a baby with his fiancé.

      His fiancé’s mother, Kim Alleyne, said: “He was so loved. He was so funny. He was super kind. Crazy. He was always happy. He’d do anything for you.”

  35. Soldiers are on standby to protect Britain from terror attacks after firearms officers handed in their guns over a decision to charge a Metropolitan Police firearms officer with the murder of a young black man.

    The Ministry of Defence announced it was ready to send in troops to confront terrorists in the absence of sufficient police cover. “We have accepted a military aid to the civil authorities request from the Home Office to provide routine counterterrorism contingency support to the Metropolitan Police, should it be needed,” the ministry said.

    Soldiers will protect the public only from terrorism, rather than performing tasks such as policing criminal gangs.

    Emergency powers to call in the armed forces are usually deployed for big events such as the London Olympics, bomb disposal or flooding, and the need to bring in the military shows how far Scotland Yard has been stretched by firearms officers withdrawing their services. The soldiers will have no powers of arrest.

    The Metropolitan Police said the ministry would “provide the Met with counterterrorism support should it be needed. This is a contingency option that would only be used in specific circumstances and where an appropriate policing response was not available. Armed forces personnel will not be used in a routine policing capacity. We will keep the need for the support under constant review.”

    Braverman launches review
    It came after Suella Braverman, the home secretary, intervened in the row over the murder charge by announcing a review into how armed police can avoid being tried in court for doing their duties.

    Firearms officers have been handing in their weapons in protest against the case of a colleague who faces potential life imprisonment for shooting dead Chris Kaba, 24, an unarmed man.

    Braverman’s announcement, made on Twitter/X, included a news report illustrated with a picture of demonstrators carrying a placard that showed the alleged murder victim and the slogan “Justice for Chris Kaba”.

    In a series of three tweets she wrote: “We depend on our brave firearms officers to protect us from the most dangerous and violent in society. In the interest of public safety they have to make split-second decisions under extraordinary pressures.

    “They mustn’t fear ending up in the dock for carrying out their duties. Officers risking their lives to keep us safe have my full backing and I will do everything in my power to support them. That’s why I have launched a review to ensure they have the confidence to do their jobs while protecting us all.”

    Although Braverman is expected to mark National Police Memorial Day, which honours police officers who have died on duty, in Cardiff on Sunday her tweets did not refer to the event.

    An unnamed officer, known only as NX121, was charged on Wednesday with the murder of Kaba, who was shot in September last year after the car he was driving and was hemmed in by a police vehicle in Streatham Hill, south London.

    The news report Braverman included was about armed Met officers refusing to carry guns in response to the murder charge.

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/chris-kaba-met-police-firearm-guns-2v7fdgkts

    So , has this government not forgotten the criminalising of soldiers who are now elderly veterans, who served in Northern Ireland who who were doing their duty?

  36. FEARS are growing in Downing Street for the health of Larry the Cat.

    No10’s much-loved chief mouser has been in poor health for some time.

    Government officials have been working on an emergency communications plan to decide how to break the news to the nation when he does pass away.

    It is expected the news will be announced in an official social media post.

    A Westminster source said: “Larry is much loved not only in Downing Street but across the country.

    “No one wants to think the worst, but unfortunately we must prepare for it.”

    Stray tabby cat Larry is 16 years-old – which is around 84 in cat years.
    He was adopted from Battersea back in February 2011, and was originally intended to be a pet for David Cameron’s young children.

    But the moggy stayed on after Mr Cameron quit in 2016.

    Describing the beloved pet, Downing Street’s website states: “Larry spends his days greeting guests to the house, inspecting security defences and testing antique furniture for napping quality.

    “His day-to-day responsibilities also include contemplating a solution to the mouse occupancy of the house.”

    https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/politics/24104700/larry-the-cat-ill/

  37. Mongo was a perfect gentleman and the epitome of his breed. He greeted the family with his usual paw handshake (which nearly pulled the bloke over) and was well behaved throughout, although very clearly he was getting tired in the afternoon and flopped down beside Junior and didn’t really want to get up again. He was very good around the female and the puppies.

    Marion did say Mongo was a very well mannered dog who’d been brought up well, in a loving family his whole life, spoiled rotten with good food and whose training had started early and had taken a long time. It was funny seeing Marion – who’s about 5’2 and tiny beside Mongo, who is nearly 3 foot tall sat down and outweighs her twice over and he just look at her with utter adoration, fluffy and doe eyed.

    The family were a bit nervous of how big he was – his head is at desk height – but that’s why they meet and greet. Their children loved him and he was very careful not to knock them over by sitting still a lot. The puppies were lovely, but Junior wasn’t really interested which says something for the great brute.

    They asked really good questions like do they really only eat twice a day, what must they not have, why do they get such a ‘real food’ diet, what about grooming and claw snipping, how often to brush fur and teeth, what types of brushes, how do we pay for them all (I said he has his own bank account. They laughed until I showed them his card), what vet do we visit, what are his insurance costs and some really good, long term questions like did he/does he have a sleeping crate (Juniors floor), how often should they replace harnesses, how do I walk them in winter and summer. In all, they seemed to be thinking of the dog, not the puppy.

    In all, folk were happy all round, Marion having visited their home twice has given them the OK and they’re choosing a puppy next month.

    It was indicative of how knackered he was as Mongo slept the whole way home and happily shuffled down the ramp and went straight to Junior’s room.

  38. Just had an e-mail, stepson was safely moved to his new, probably temporary, flat in Stoke t’other day.
    Another load off my mind!

    And that’s me off to bed.
    G’night all!

  39. Back now after dinner – and yet more Rugby, but we’re about to switch over and watch the last part of “The woman in the wall”.

    Before you ask – we had smoked salmon and prawns to start, finished off an already opened bottle of Chilean sauvignan;
    followed by roast shoulder of lamb, with new potatoes, leek, courgettes (with tomato) and sugar snaps, with which I opened a bottle of Dark Corner – very good and soft, much like Black Stump. I overcooked the lamb slightly – should have taken it out of the oven while I did the veg.

    1. Sounds very tasty, I had a pork medallion, a piece of chicken breast (cold from yesterday), cabbage and a potato followed by an apple – I live a simple life 😥

        1. I always have one decent cooked meal a day – I’ve always done the cooking so it’s no big deal

  40. Evening, all. Been a bit wild and wet today and that was only the weather 🙂 Dangerous gusts according to the local rag – weather warning! Danger, Will Robinson, danger!

    Labour has surely always been more interested in international socialism than in improving the lot of this country. Have they only just noticed?

  41. Brilliant win for wales 40 – 6, great to see the Aussie supporters leaving before the end out of disgust

  42. Kate Moss ‘moonbathes’ to absorb lunar energy as part of her wellness regime.
    Kate Moss has revealed that she spends her nights lying under the light of the moon to soak up lunar energy in an ayurvedic practice known as “moonbathing”. The supermodel told The Sunday Times that she had adopted the ancient technique in order to absorb the lunar rays, which are believed to have numerous health and spiritual benefits. Moonbathing, believed to be thousands of years old, flips the concept of sunbathing on its head, and involves lying down or going for a walk in a restful and private place under the moonlight. Proponents claim it helps to treat diseases such as hives, rashes, hypertension, migraines, and other inflammatory conditions, as well as soothing excess heat and anger. Ms Moss, 49, said she uses the full light of the moon to cleanse and charge her crystals, which she puts on a tray and leaves outside in the garden.

    Considering the moon is a lump of rock and the light from the moon is reflected sunlight this must be as cranky as it gets.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/09/24/kate-moss-moonbathing-absorb-lunary-energy-ayurvedic-energy/

  43. Good night, chums. It’s been a relaxing weekend for me, although I did get a few garden jobs done. Sleep well, and I’ll see you all tomorrow.

      1. Good morning.
        After tossing & turning for an hour and a half, the DT & self are sat u with mugs of tea.

        1. 5.05am. Still wordle awakle

          Wordle 828 3/6

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

          I’ll give it ’till 6.00am then I’ll make a cup of tea unless I miraculously drop off.

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