Sunday 25 August: A dose of economic wisdom could help Rachel Reeves in her quest for growth

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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670 thoughts on “Sunday 25 August: A dose of economic wisdom could help Rachel Reeves in her quest for growth”

  2. Morning, all Y'all. Sunny, clouding over. Watched a cloud blow off the hill opposite earlier – like some kind of forest fire!

    1. Meanwhile in important news, some perma-tanned ‘celeb’ with improbable looking eyebrows has split from her tattooed partner.

    1. Must be something in the air today.

      Wordle 1,163 2/6

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    1. I see it’s turned from not terror related to terror related.
      Whoever could have guessed?

      1. ISIS has claimed responsibility.
        Even if it wasn't them, it shows what the maniacs wish to do.

      2. At least German plod mentions it rather sooner.
        Not that's much comfort to the deceased.

  6. Some nice news, for once:

    “A WEATHER vane that was bought in a salvage yard helped to reunite the families of a Lancaster bomber crew that were all killed on their way home from a raid on Nazi Germany.
    Helen Theron bought the weather vane, which was fashioned into the shape of a Second World War Lancaster bomber, with her late husband John from a scrapyard in Epsom, Surrey, in 2009.
    Upon closer inspection, she discovered that on the side of the weathervane was what appeared to be a serial number JB453.
    She established that this number was the identifying marker for a Lancaster bomber that had crashed in Blankenburg, in Germany’s Harz mountains, on its return from a bombing raid in January 1944, killing all onboard.
    As part of her research, Mrs Theron traced and contacted descendants of the Lancaster’s crew.
    Now those young men, who came from Britain, Ireland, South Africa and Canada, are to be remembered at a wreath-laying ceremony in Berlin.
    She told The Telegraph: “It’s been a huge privilege to be able to pass on what I found out about the men’s last mission to relatives who didn’t know much of what had happened. We filled in a lot of gaps for them.” The wreath laying ceremony to commemorate those who flew in the ill-fated bomber is being organised at the British war ceremony in Berlin on Sept 13 by Mrs Theron and her friend Tony Aston, the author of The Bomber and the Weathervane, with the help of the Royal British Legion.
    The following day a plaque paying tribute to the men will be unveiled at the site of the crash and a tree planted in their memory.
    Attending the ceremonies will be the defence attaches for the British Army and Canadian Air Force, alongside the men’s families.
    The crew of JB453 were typically young, all in their early 20s, when they carried out their last fatal mission. Over
    the course of the Second World War, 44 per cent of Bomber Command crews were killed while serving, the highest rate of attrition of any Allied unit. Each man was a volunteer.
    The weathervane has since been classified by the International Bomber Command Centre as a war memorial and was officially unveiled at Mrs Theron’s home in September 2021.
    Mrs Theron plans to leave the weathervane in her will to RAF Wyton, in Cambridgeshire, where JB453 was based.
    She said: “If we’d put it straight on the roof as soon as we moved house we wouldn’t have noticed the engraved serial number. I immediately wondered what it meant.””

      1. Yes it was. The poor lads. Marvellous effort at defeating actual Nazism by the combined forces of the Commonwealth. And now look where we are.

        1. One of the most shameful episodes of the recent Normandy landing celebrations was when British troops parachuting in for the celebrations were forced to present their passports for stamping before they were permitted into France.

          1. From Coffee House, the Spectator

            The Islamists want to silence music the way they have free speech
            Comments Share 25 August 2024, 12:26pm
            The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack on Friday at a festival in Germany that left three people dead and many more wounded. In a statement they said one of their ‘soldiers’ carried out the attack ‘as revenge against Muslims in Palestine and everywhere’.

            As soon as news broke of Friday’s attack in the town of Solingen, fifteen miles east of Düsseldorf, seasoned observers of Islamist extremism knew who to blame.

            Despite the risible posturing of western governments in recent years that far-right fanatics pose as great a threat to our way of life as Islamic extremists, the people aren’t fooled. It’s not the far-right who have murdered priests, police officers, schoolteachers, journalists and Jewish children. Nor have they targeted music venues which is clearly the new strategy of Islamist terrorists.

            It began in 2015, when an Islamic State terror cell massacred 130 people at the Bataclan theatre in Paris, where they had gathered to watch a heavy metal band.

            Two years later a suicide bomber killed 22 people, mostly youngsters, in Manchester as they danced to the American singer Ariana Grande.

            In March this year, Islamic State gunmen murdered 137 people in Moscow as they attended a concert by the rock band Picnic. In the wake of that attack, some western journalists linked the targeting of Picnic to their support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

            Islamic State slaughtered 145 people in Moscow’s Crocus City Hall for the same reason they did in the Bataclan and for the same reason they planned to at a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna earlier this month.

            Most popular
            Sean Thomas
            It’s time to get rid of your pet

            Acting on information provided by foreign intelligence services, Austrian police arrested three young men described as ‘ISIS sympathisers’, who were preparing to launch a suicide attack during the concert.

            Islamic extremists consider listening to music a sin. When the Islamic State established its caliphate in Iraq and Syria a decade ago it banned the sale and the playing of music. ‘Stringed instruments and songs are forbidden in Islam because they distract from the evocation of God and the Koran, and are a source of trouble and corruption for the heart,’ they said in a statement.

            Claiming that music is illicit is also a means for Islamists to reinforce the ‘them’ and ‘us’ narrative in the west; in taking responsibility for the attack in Paris in November 2015, Islamic State described France as the ‘capital of prostitution and obscenity’.

            Their strategy is working. In December last year an extensive survey about French Muslims and their relationship with religion and secularism found that 49 percent of Muslim pupils in French schools absented themselves from music lessons on religious grounds.

            Claiming that music is illicit is also a means for Islamists to reinforce the ‘them’ and ‘us’ narrative in the west
            What the Islamists hate (and fear) most is music from the mouths of young liberated women who are free to wear and say what they like. Taylor Swift, who has built a huge army of many millions of fans around the world – known as ‘Swifties’ – embodies this emancipation.

            In an interview with Elle magazine in 2019, Swift said that the Manchester bombing two years earlier had left her ‘completely terrified to go on tour’. Not just for own safety, but the millions of fans attending her shows.

            Austrian police may have averted a catastrophe this month but in a sense the Islamic State can still celebrate a victory; Swift’s three concerts in Vienna were cancelled so they silenced the music.

            This is what the Islamists ultimately want, to rid or at least restrict music in Europe. They will be encouraged by the success they have had in restricting freedom of expression in the ten years since they murdered the staff of Charlie Hebdo. ‘Je suis Charlie’, cried Europe as one in the immediate aftermath, but who now has the courage to criticise Islam?

            ‘We have to live bravely in order to truly feel alive, and that means not being ruled by our greatest fears,’ said Swift in 2019.

            The Islamists know that Europe is not a continent brimming with courage. Teachers, journalists and politicians now self-censor to avoid causing offence and endangering themselves. How long before musicians and music teachers pack away their instruments for good?

  10. Blow me.
    Until a fortnight or so ago, I'd never ever heard of Fratton.
    Now it's appeared amongst list of statistics on places where 25% of inhabitants are on housing benefit.
    Would I have even noticed if I hadn't had to change trains there on my way to the Costa del Fareham?

      1. That's exactly how I felt as I hovered uncertainly on the platform.
        To cross the bridge or not to cross the bridge; that was the question

    2. Yo anne

      Fratton Park is a football ground in Portsmouth, Portsea Island, England and is the home of Portsmouth F.C. Fratton Park's location on Portsea Island is unique in English professional football, as it is the only professional English football ground not located on the mainland of Great Britain.[3] Fratton Park has been the only home football ground in Portsmouth F.C.'s entire history.

    3. Fratton is one of the most densely populated places in the UK. Lines and lines of small terraced houses laid out on a grid. Chav central.

  11. Morning all 🙂😊
    Clear blue sky lovely sunshine. Only about 10 degs. A bit nippy.
    I don't have the impression the current chance- eller has a clue what economic wisdom is.
    She seems only interested in financial unrest and robbing us oldies who have worked and saved all our lives.
    If she extended the tax allowances on savings withdrawals, instead of taxing anything over 12,750 people might use their savings while they can still get pleasure from the money and the spending increases would benefit the general economy.
    But she seems only to be on a path of revenge.

  15. Write to MPs, even if ignored you need to counter the brainwashing they receive from the over-masters. Your MPs need to be confronted with the lie that they are acting in their constituents' best interests and in the country's best interests. Apply for benefits, there are loads on offer out there. Do your research. They must be forced to recognise that the system is unsustainable. Do not pay bills by direct debit. Don't make it easy for them to collect. Constantly question what kids are being taught at school. Teachers are easy to brainwash but hate criticism. Nicely but constantly ask for info on what is being taught and air concerns. You don't need to get angry just be persistent. Tell energy companies you cannot afford their bills and make them chase payments. Renegotiate bills as much as you can. Do not just passively pay up. It will cost them huge amounts to chase up if most people did this. Complain at everything. Do not purchase rotten media. They must be starved out of existence. Everyone's circumstances are different. Find your own ways to be non-compliant. Persistence is the key. There are lots of creative ways to undermine.

      2. The English (British?) complain amongst themselves ABOUT everything, Herr Oberst. Jelly person (not a wasp) is suggesting we complain TO those who create problems for us in order to create problems for THEM in the hope that they will wake up and mend their ways.

        1. The English are never happy but when they're grumbling – and even then they're not best pleased.

    2. Some very sensible and creative advice, jellybean, although autocorrect won't let me use your proper name. (Good morning, btw.)

    3. I never use direct debit; I don't want anybody being able to take money out of my account when they feel like it. I've finally got through to the TV Licensing people that I don't watch TV any more and so don't need a licence. They say they've accepted that – watch this space.

    1. 🙂
      MB has decided not to risk his life.
      Smugness for cutting the grass on a dry day can be a fatal condition.

      1. It is frowned upon around us if one does grass cutting or other noisy gardening on a Sunday

          2. Oh well. C'st a la vie – or possibly not.
            Is there much paperwork when claiming a widow's pension?

        2. I remember it well, in Morphett Vale just south of Adelaide.
          Sunday mornings……the noisiest lawnmower competition.

          1. Strimmers are also peace shatterers.

            On Sundays the noisiest things around here are cars and the occasional farmer using a tractor, and the hunting dogs during the season.

          2. The noisiest thing round me any day of the week is the cat farting (or it may be me)

          3. When I took Kadi for a walk this morning, I met a neighbour walking her dog. Kadi barked and the other dog, a pug, joined in. Then a former pupil turned up with his dog (a chihuahua). By now all three of them were raising the roof. I said I hoped nobody was looking forward to a lie in …

          5. We had something similar when we lived out in the boondocks.
            Bloody thing was always breaking down; probably cost more in maintenance than a car.

        4. Sometimes it's unavoidable. Notable that those same neighbours then usually complain about overgrown hedges.

        5. My neighbour is replacing her decking. Angle grinder, power drill and hammering. I'm sure it will continue all day tomorrow.
          The selfish fucking bitch.

          1. I once lived next door to a policeman who did that all bank holiday weekend, from Friday afternoon to Monday night.
            Eventually I crossed over and gave him a piece of my mind.

            He was most apologetic, he didn’t realise how loud it was. He was wearing ear protectors.

    1. The scientists are suggesting this may go on and off for years.

      The world seems to be be harvesting a very rich crop of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions at the moment, not to mention lots of activity on the sun.

      But hey ho, it’s granny’s wood burner causing global warming.

      1. Wood burners provide heat the state cannot control. If you are able to do that the state cannot control you. It has nothing to force your behaviour with.

    1. It's interesting how only one side of the issue is referenced, isn't it?

      It's not 'Hamas assault provokes Israeli defence response'. Oh no. That wouldn't suit the narrative.

    1. Government notice:
      The next bank holiday in England and Wales is 26 August. Summer bank holiday.

  21. Policing of the Notting Hill Carnival.
    Imagine police actions if Little -Oozing-in-the-Mud WI put on such a show.

    "Scotland Yard strongly rejects claims it applies two-tier policing to the event, saying its officers will intervene to make arrests whenever necessary.

    Commander Charmain Brenyah said: “Officers will be maintaining a vigilant presence in and around the carnival in an effort to identify and intervene against anyone intent on committing violence.

    “They will use their search powers where there are grounds to do so in order to take weapons off the streets.”

    Commander Brenyah has admitted the sheer weight of numbers attending presents a potential danger and is a “serious cause for concern”.'

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d44e5fb4fad18e00b24d8b32aadfc6a8f4c997e74479f2f7ae00ca34a572ef00.jpg

    1. Perhaps they should do what they have already done to St George's day parades and celebrations and also make stupid excuses to ban them. And also ban the Notting Hill carnival. It would obviously save tax payer's millions. That's surely beneficial to all.
      But hang on………..

      1. They should just be made to hold Carnival on Shrove Tuesday where it belongs. Carnival translates as farewell to meat.

      2. Selective Indignation is the bedfellow of selective policing and selective justice.

        1. It's the same as 'buying' favours.
          That's why the slammers get away with what they get away with. They probably threaten to riot or else. As would be the case if the Notting Hill carnival was cancelled.
          It's easier to control 'stand alone' whitey, they will have more to lose as in jobs which have a serious effect on a family etc.

          1. Also have a serious effect on the taxes from whitey that get spaffed on all the ones who are allowed to get away with what they get away with.

          2. One thing I have noticed our not too bright political idiots haven’t thought of. Unless they are being nasty again..
            Since they have slightly increased the uk pension payments, they didn’t allow the same gap between the pension payments and the top tax level. So any pensioner who now like to withdraw from their savings funds will either have to pay more tax on the withdrawal or reduce the amount.
            Meaning less spending money in the economy.

          3. Unless they simply take all their 25% tax free as a lump sum. The rest will be totally taxable when it becomes payable, but you can defer that or take it in tranches up ’til your 75th birthday

      3. Selective Indignation is the bedfellow of selective policing and selective justice.

        1. Yes, into water where there were divers to come to his aid if he cocked it up, which he did, and he didn't do the necessary pre-para course which is much harder than just jumping out of an aircraft. The minimum number of jumps necessary to just qualify for the wing was eight – day and night time, with the first couple usually from a static balloon at 800 ft – like dropping down a well shaft. A lot of the lads really didn't like balloon jumps.

          1. I apologise but this reminds me of the schoolyard version of the Battle Hymn of the Republic. He jumped out of an aeroplane without a parachute. They scraped him off the runway like a tin of tomato soup. Glory, glory what a helluva way to die. We’d never heard of hate speech when I was at school. We just laughed.

      3. Neither is he an Admiral but he wears the uniform as he does with other branches of the services. Winston Churchill wore the uniform of an Air Commodore – he'd never served!

          1. AH Bliar took it away from the royal family.
            That is typical of a labour government they seem to hate anything they assume is stationed above working class.

        2. Good morning Alec and everyone.
          WSC served in the army in the late 19th century and was briefly in uniform during the First World War. At some stage he took flying lessons, probably in the 1920s – 1930s; I once met the daughter of his pilot/flying instructor. IIRC he crash landed and it was felt prudent that he would be safer as a passenger.

          1. Morning Tim, thanks for that info. Presumably he was learning to fly as a civilian

    4. Radio 3 have just played a piece by Wallen. Dull and instantly forgettable but nothing worse than that. It’s music but not memorable. No bing bang bong.

    5. Golly Gosh.
      Quelle Surprise.
      Chase my Aunt F@nny round the gasworks.
      Well, I'll go to the bottom of my stairs.
      etc …….

    2. Somebody had a new set of colouring crayons to use during the school holidays by the looks of it.

    4. There was a young g man from Westphalia
      Who painted his arse like a dahlia
      A penny a smell
      Was all very well
      But tuppence a lick was a failure.

  25. MPs return to Parliament next week. Expect some fun facts from Sir 2TK in his state of the nation speech.
    Clearly Nigel Farage caused the riots.
    Clearly Tommy Robinson partly responsible.
    Clearly Elon Musk made it worse by spreading lies.
    'Well respected & trusted hipster pollster' Savanta confirms what we all clearly know.. the nation wholeheartedly support Sir Keir Starmer & he did a great job in making room in the prisons by freeing the oppressed.

    You can see where this is leading.. like in the aftermath of Kristallnacht the Nazi party seized the chance to improve its financial strength by taking over Jewish property. Expect an appropriation of taxation; your property.

  26. Has there been any far right riots in Germany after the latest outrage?
    If not then maybe it is because they told the truth about the killer instead of trying to hide it.

  27. Tories need to show they’re serious about dramatic cuts to immigration. 25 August 2024.

    The latest figures show that some of the measures we put in place are starting to have an impact. But we must not let Labour think this is job done – stronger steps are needed urgently. It isn’t reasonable to expect communities to take people in the numbers we have been experiencing. It can put huge pressure on local infrastructure, on schools, on GPs and hospitals. And too often employers are pulling the migration lever without looking to the potential of British talent right here.

    TOP COMMENT BELOW THE LINE.

    Peter Holmes.

    Party members and the electorate have been telling you and your colleagues this for years Mr Stride and you chose not to listen. Your article contains the usual "we must think about" rather than "we will definitely do this, no ifs no buts".

    Yes Nigel Farage does tell it as it is. A pity that you and your colleagues did nothing about it when you had the chance. If you were a man in the street like me who would you vote for, someone like Farage who has consistently said what he believes or the Conservatives who have spent the last 14 years lying to me?

    Amen to that Mr Holmes.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/24/tories-need-to-show-theyre-serious-about-immigration-cuts/

    1. None of them offer anything. In the meanwhile Labour enact all sorts of nonsense, dribbling idiocy and the Tories squabble over who gets to be head boy.

      There are bigger issues at stake.

      Where's Sunhat? Why isn't he opposing Labour? Oh! He can't, because what they're doing is Tory policy!

      1. Enough of this sitting on (reinforced) fences. Them Tories lost the election the day that Mr Sunak became PM.

  28. Good morning all,

    Sunny at McPhee Towers, wind South-West, cool at 13℃ rising to 18℃. A second day of interior redecoration beckons.

    Now, about this business of the far-right and rioters being summarily being jailed by arrogant, performative judges in kangaroo courts without the presence of juries and the absence of further riots since while nothing has been done, or will be done, to address the root causes.

    It's funny that we haven't heard from any of the friends and family of the jailed.

    Does anyone else think, as I do, that much of the rioting was astro-turfed by agents-provocateurs acting for the state and it is these agents-provocateurs (and crisis actors) who have been jailed and that they will be quietly released when no-one is looking? Or even, haven't been locked up at all.

    It all played into Kim-Jong-Kier's hands, didn't it?

    1. Meanwhile, it was that Priti Patel who indirectly caused the death of Mike Lynch, his daughter and his friends.

  29. Good morning, chums, I had a much-needed long lie-in this morning. And thank you, Geoff, for today's NoTTLe site. Only just made Wordle in six.

    Wordle 1,163 6/6

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  31. Morning! Lucky fourth guess. One of those where too many words share the same letters.

    Wordle 1,163 4/6

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  32. CAPTION CONTEST (ALL ABOARD THE GRAY-VY TRAIN EDITION)

    https://i0.wp.com/order-order.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/TELEMMGLPICT000352877885_17133822086000_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqX9bjHiwLnzqli-gJ5VBMRBGdgX1oOk6H-rBdM5hTR7k.jpeg?resize=1152%2C720&ssl=1

    stephen dean
    2d
    The Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu lookalike competition this year attracted a strong field.

    Ted
    2d
    Just when they thought it was safe to go outside.
    https://image.vuukle.com/7099d094-8f9d-46c2-8af2-ad0729a6e816-f8b07d4f-230d-482d-8e6d-888474a12866

    TIME to CTRL ALT & DEL
    2d
    50 shades of corruption

    Gary Laconic Jr.
    2d
    Behind every grey man there's a Gray woman.

    Send in the Clones
    2d
    Look out Keir, I've just seen that Clarkson bloke coming round the corner.
    https://image.vuukle.com/9670a951-74ab-4708-8ca2-2bd6e9486225-0b872ff7-99d8-4557-ac28-b073daf39e69

    Brian R
    2d
    "Look, Sue, you have a reflection! How is that even possible?"

    1. Re the last two items:

      I hope that Jeremy Clarkson has grown a particularly strong crop of garlic!

  34. In the absence of Sir Jasper, a long-winded joke.
    Last week, we took some friends out to a new restaurant, and noticed that the waiter who took our order carried a spoon in his shirt pocket. It seemed a little strange.
    When the waiter brought our water and cutlery, I noticed he also had a spoon in his shirt pocket. Then I looked around and saw that all the staff had spoons in their pockets.
    When the waiter came back to serve our soup I asked, "Why the spoon?" "Well, "he explained, "the restaurant’s owners hired Andersen Consulting to revamp all our processes. After several months of analysis, they concluded that the spoon was the most frequently dropped piece of cutlery. It represents a drop frequency of approximately 3 spoons per table per hour. If our staff are better prepared, we can reduce the number of trips back to the kitchen and save 15 man-hours per shift."
    As luck would have it, I dropped my spoon and he was able to replace it with his spare. "I’ll get another spoon next time I go to the kitchen instead of making an extra trip to get it right now." I was impressed.
    I also noticed that there was a string hanging out of the waiter’s zip on his trousers. Looking around, I noticed that all the waiters had the same string hanging from their flies. So before he walked off, I asked the waiter, "Excuse me, but can you tell me why you have that string right there?"
    "Oh, certainly!" Then he lowered his voice. "Not everyone is so observant. That consulting firm I mentioned also found out that we can save time in the rest-room. By tying this string to the tip of you know what, we can pull it out without touching it and eliminate the need to wash our hands, shortening the time spent in the rest-room by 76.39 per cent."
    I asked "After you get it out, how do you put it back?"
    "Well," he whispered, "I don’t know about the others, but I use the spoon."

        1. He upset several Nottlers with a vile post. When people complained and the post was deleted he went off like a toddler having a tantrum and refused to accept he was in the wrong.
          All he had to do was accept the mods decision and move on.

          1. I missed all that.
            I think one of my posts went missing Friday. It was only a joke but WTF.
            Of course I might have just forgotten to click on comment.
            it wouldn't have been the first time.

  35. The school we've been working with on a contract has been controlled by the local authority that we complete a 74 page form on 'climate impact'. This goes with the other 20 pages of 'diversity investment'.

    We're expected to fill in the material composition of the products we install down to grams and an impact assessment of radiation. Dear life.

    Our solicitory fellow who does this stuff set out that the same for the local private dentists – and all their medical compliance – was about 50k. The school is going to cost us well over 4 times that in time wasted alone. All time that has to be billed and added to the cost. He's adding on 40% for re-work. This is before a single track of cable is laid. He reckons the final billable will be over 3 quarters of a million – for so little work we could do it in a weekend and be out by Monday.

    1. Reports coming out various organisations (esp USA) are quietly ditching DEI. Can only hope true, and that the word spreads.

  36. 'Morning All
    Comrades, things will get worse, before they get worse! This is a sacrifice your betters are happy for you to make. As they jet the globe, feast on the finest food known to man, doing the great work of the Globalist empire, know that your sacrifice is not in vain – Utopia is but a short hop, skip and jump away! This time it'll work!

    A few inconveniences now, and the survivors will live large in a brave new world!

    COMRADES REJOICE!*
    * That pile of skulls in the corner is an illusion………

    1. Starmer's problem is he doesn't seem to understand that he, and government generally, can only make things worse. To make things better is easy: cut taxes, go away. But he can't. He needs to feel he has done something. What he doesn't realise is that there is nothing he can do. He's lived a life of meddling using legalese to get his way. Now, naturally, he sees bureaucracy as that means.

      1. Agree, and I would add that ideology is his go to for solutions. Bring back practical politics, I say. No more, sitting around blaming the class system, Tory Scum, or the latest Frankenstein ideologies. Fix the potholes and pavements for a start. This man won't do that. He eats and drinks ideologies and gobbles up political time thinking how he can wangle his ruinous beliefs into legalese. That is his idea of being PM. And his associates are the same. All thought and no do. Unfortunately, they aren't that bright so even their thinking is low tier.

      2. Wonder why he didn't feel he had to do some/anything about Rotherham (and other) girls, wibbling?

    2. What was that song?

      'Give me just a little more time,
      And our love will surely grow…'

      In this case, it will grow into a Frankenstein state.

    3. YOU WILL HAVE NOTHING AND YOU WILL BE HAPPY

      (Claus Schwab)

      YOU WILL HAVE NOTHING AND I DON'T GIVE A TOSS WHETHER YOU WILL BE HAPPY

      (Keir Starmer)

    4. YOU WILL HAVE NOTHING AND YOU WILL BE HAPPY

      (Claus Schwab)

      YOU WILL HAVE NOTHING AND I DON'T GIVE A TOSS WHETHER YOU WILL BE HAPPY

      (Keir Starmer)

    1. I was moved by the reception of the audience to RFK. It demonstrated that there are millions of decent people in the USA but not on the Democrat side. A more straightforward version with RFK's entrance, without commentary. Thus the full impact of his reception. Republicans paying tribute to an honourable Democrat, honourable and thus exiled from his own party.
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BR3fuaKrEwU

      1. It seems to me- in general terms, that those who support the Democrats are programmed- or even brainwashed by the MSM and are in danger of losing their humanity- which we have seen in totalitarian states. This is a scary development so let's hope the DT/RFK alliance offers a genuine way of avoiding this potentially nightmarish future.

        1. I agree, the Democrats are sick, psychologically and spiritually sick. What can you say about a party that has a mobile abortion clinic parked at its convention and advocates surgery on supposed transgender children. How can anyone in good conscience vote for such a party?

          With regard to RFK, it would be great is if Trump offered him a prominent role in his government. I know he has already been offered a post, but I mean something far more prestigious on the lines of Secretary of State as an example. Be a President unifying the people by a gesture transcending his own party, that would be great.

          1. I think RFK has his areas of expertise- and personal interest- health being primary- and the "Forever Wars" and CIA involvement in them and the deaths of his father and uncle being also, massively important. On that basis, healthcare and a commission into assassinations which has been mentioned would be obvious. He could then go on to get himself elected as Governor of California in the future. I think we all realise we are at a pivotal point in world history and if it goes the Democrats way, the Globalists and Deep State and their Big Tech allies will have won. A scary prospect.,

          2. I agree. But I doubt that RFK could ever be the Governor of California, it is a lost cause. I loved the state but in 40 years I witnessed a great state going to rot. The cities are unsafe, filthy and going to seed and people are fleeing. By the time I left I was relieved to go and not for one moment do I miss it. California is a dead state, a failure and it will continue to fail. Its days are over. Only a fool would run for governor in that state and RFK is no fool.

  38. Good morning, all. Sunny start after yesterday's welcome rain.

    If I'm sufficiently patient I'm sure to see and hear the grass and weeds growing.😎

    More on the weather/climate: I hope that the handwringing climate gurus have taken notice of this calamity and that the resultant data has been gathered and inserted into their models. Accuracy is so very important in scientific research, especially when that research has such important repercussions for the World and its population.

    https://x.com/robinmonotti/status/1827341546049474948
    By my reckoning i.e. one UK gallon of water has a mass of 10lbs and one UK ton has a mass of 2,240 lbs then:

    (40,000,000,000 x 10)/2240 = 178,571, 428 tons of vaporised water was injected into the stratosphere. A bit less if the the US gallon was used but still a huge number. Add in the dust etc…

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/26b9c661745449fd4618d2c2d2291c08a666c5dcae4c53ca10f9841d5897172f.png

    1. Good grief, Korky, just because it was bucketing down with rain yesterday did you HAVE to spend all day indoors doing such pointless research? Couldn't you just have read a book? (Good morning, btw.) PS – With all the wild winds about recently, is your new greenhouse still standing, or has it flown away to the Land of Oz?

      1. Morning, Elsie.

        No research yesterday, all performed in a few minutes this morning.

        As of yesterday afternoon the new shed was intact. It is anchored by 4 x M8 bolts through steel brackets into the concrete base. I expect it to withstand the odd 40mph gust, above that…

    4. I would say: welll, d’rrr. I thought every one knew this. Except the Leftards of course

      1. Many people in my circle do not understand this nor do they understand that the CV-19 potion is not a “vaccine”. Some have had as many as 6 or 7 inoculations and are keen to get more in the hope that they won’t get sick and die. These people are in the main smart and have successfully held down responsible jobs with large companies and government agencies. I am amazed at these people’s lack of engagement in what I see as major problems.

          1. Not all are unidirectional in any way or form. I worked with some of these people on a major national project for a few years and I got to know them well. I will admit that I remain baffled that they have fallen for the ‘scam’.

          2. No, I wouldn’t presume to say that many smart people were unidirectional – just that being smart doesn’t invariably mean being universally smart…

    1. Hope Not Hate.. looks like a Leftie.. grins smugly like a Leftie.. spouts lies like a Leftie
      dunno, could be a Leftie.

      1. Relatively innocent, as it was supposedly built for Roman Catholics in the late 13th century, well after the Fourth Crusade which had led to the sack of Constantinople. (see: Unintended Consequences) For a while John Aubrey lived at Broad Chalke.

  41. Starmer: Things will get worse before they get better
    PM warns of ‘deep rot’ at heart of Britain and insists that he will take tough decisions

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/24/keir-starmer-labour-things-get-worse-before-getting-better/

    The worst is not
    So long as we can say 'This is the worst.'

    [Edgar in King Lear]

    I very seldom agree with the odious Starmer – but he is right: things are only going to get worse and there wll be no hope that things will get any better until he and his odious government are gone.

        1. I'm not thinking Reeves, my thought is the nightmare of all nightmares, up there with Blair. Khan.

      2. When they dont have a clue, which is usually the case. It's in the script of any new government. Blame everything on anyone else.

    3. Though there was a lot of thuggish behaviour in the rioting the rioters were responding to a situation that was caused by the government. The government and Whitehall is where the deep rot is.

      1. There has also been pretty thuggish behaviour from left-wingers and immigrants for several years. How about that?

    1. So many angry people in the UK. I would feel very nervous if everyone were allowed to carry a gun.

    2. If you sprayed deep heat into someones eyes that would be considered an assault even if you were being attacked.
      I carry and indelible dye spray.

  44. Its begun………
    "Pavel Durov left Russia when the government tried to control his social media company, Telegram. But in the end, it wasn’t Putin who arrested him for allowing the public to exercise free speech. It was a western country, a Biden administration ally and enthusiastic NATO member, that locked him away. Pavel Durov sits in a French jail tonight, a living warning to any platform owner who refuses to censor the truth at the behest of governments and intel agencies. Darkness is descending fast on the formerly free world."
    Tucker Carlson
    . https://x.com/jakeshieldsajj/status/1827454453202731333?t=siQO82-gwknQbt5sydUskA&s=19

    2. As Colonel Nathan R Jessup said "You can't handle the truth"! meaning in reality and now of course the 'They'.

    3. Jailed for criminal complacency through lack of moderators on the platform.

      IMO any system can be abused by criminals. What the authorities really don't like is the end to end encryption. It makes it difficult to spy on citizens and they don't like that at all.

  45. Today's fact:

    One inch of rain on one acre of ground is equal to 100 tons of water. That's about 75 tons on ground the size of a football pitch.

      1. See the edited version.

        The preferred size for many professional teams' stadiums is 115 by 74 yards. Which would make it 85 tons. The average size of a football pitch is smaller than the professional grounds.

        1. At ten tons per acre, that would be 1.6 x 10 = 16 tons. I think your original post of 100 tons per acre was correct, but the acreage of a football pitch was wrong, so the multiplication came out as 750 tons instead of 160 tons.

          1. Tonnes of Water
            When you are standing in the sea facing the land, and a big wave comes and knocks you over, don't forget that a cubic metre of water weighs a tonne. Ever since studying Microbiology and checking the local sea water (in 1960 before beaches were cleaned up), I may paddle in the sea but I NEVER swim in it. You are just going through the MOTIONS.

          2. Once took a boat trip in Benidorm and there were massive brown swirls of sewage in the water, washing toward the beaches, which were nearby. Lots of people in the water.

      2. See the edited version.

        The preferred size for many professional teams' stadiums is 115 by 74 yards. Which would make it 85 tons. The average size of a football pitch is smaller than the professional grounds.

      3. The official size of a football pitch (FA, UEFA and FIFA) is 100–130 yards long [90–120 metres] by 50–100 yards wide [45–90 metres], with the provision that it cannot be square. 110 yards by 70 yards [100 metres by 65 metres] is just an average.

        1. 115 by 74 yards seems to be the size adopted by most premier league clubs. 100 yards width would be far too big.
          Edit: 74 yards width.

          1. Up to its closure in 2007 (due to a gas explosion) Belle Vue, the ground of Doncaster Rovers, was the only English football league side that had a full-width pitch of 100 yards.

      4. A pedant writes:
        Yes, I agree, a football pitch at 110 x 70 yards would attract 159 Imperial tons of rainwater per inch of rain.
        When I lived in New York years ago I was told that "A Pint is a Pound, the World around". I countered with "A Pint of pure water weighs a Pound and a Quarter". That's why a US Gallon is only 80% of an Imperial Gallon and their Pint weighs only 16 ounces, not 20.

        1. Many other countries and areas struggle with standardising a pint.

          Imperial pint: 568ml
          US pint: 473ml
          Flemish pintje: 250ml
          India: 330ml
          South Australia: 425ml
          Rest of Australia: 570ml
          Royal pint pinte du roi 952ml
          Canadian pint pinte de bière 1,136ml
          Scottish pint joug (obsolete) 1,696ml

          I wonder if that is where the Scottish expression, "Gi' us a joug (jug) o' heavy, Jimmy!" came from?

          1. I got grade 8 – but I thought that was an achievement not to get grade 9………… Now grade 9 is the top grade in this Topsy Turvey country.

          2. In the year I took it (1967), the examining board gave pass grades ‘A’ to ‘E’, then ‘O’ (absolute minimum), then ‘F’ to ‘H’ (fail). I got grade ‘O’!

          4. That was A-level grading, surely. O-levels were 1-6 pass, 7-9 fail. From 1975 they went to A-C pass, D and E fail.

          6. Individual boards were not allowed to set their own gradings. After all, exams were national.

          7. I know that ours (NUJMB) had numbers. I am pretty sure others (Associated Board, for instance) had letters.

          8. No. At the time, at my school, we took GCE ‘O’-Levels from both the London and Oxford examining boards. In 1967, in the ‘O’-Levels I took, the grades were A,B,C,D,E,O (passes) and F,G,H fails. The following year, 1968, when I sat another batch of ‘O’-Levels, the grades were changed and reduced to A,C,E (pass) and F,H (fail). I still have my certificates. ‘A’-levels (which I took in 1970) were unchanged with A ,B,C,D,E (passes) and F,G,H (fails). There was also an ‘O’ grade (compensatory ‘O’-Level pass) between pass and fail.

      6. Football pitches vary in size, your dimensions aren't near to the maximum i.e. 100 yards wide x 130 yards long – I thought, harking back to my refereeing days 50+ years ago – the max length was 120 yards so I checked. Not that I ever measured a pitch to make sure that it met the requirements!😎

        Having played on pitches marked out at both the minimum requirements and very close to the maximum I know which I preferred to play on, and it wasn't the small pitch.

    2. Fact Checker
      Hi Ped, since school I always thought that one inch of rain on one acre weighed almost exactly 100 tons, not 10 tons, so I checked.
      Let's stay with Imperial measurements:
      One acre is 4,840 square yards. One square yard is 36×36 or 1,296 square inches, so multiplying up, one acre is 6,272,640 square inches.
      So one inch of rain on that acre would total 6,272,640 cubic inches. OK so far?
      One cubic inch of water weighs 0.58 ounces, so multiplying 6,272,640 by 0.58 yields 3,638,131.2 ounces per acre.
      There are 35,840 ounces in an Imperial ton (2,240 pounds x 16 ounces per pound), so dividing 3,638,131.2 by 35,840 yields 101.5 tons.
      So my school teacher was right, it IS just over 100 tons.
      Any advance on 100 tons per acre?

      1. Rainfall/Inches per Acre
        1 Inch per Acre

        Results:
        Cubic Inches
        6272640.00
        Cubic Feet
        3630.00
        Cubic Metres
        102.79
        Litres
        102790.15
        US Gallons
        27154.29
        Imperial Gallons
        22610.67
        Short Tons
        113.31 (US)
        Long Tons
        101.17(Imperial)
        Metric Tons
        102.79

        You are correct. I did it right first time then changed it.

  46. Today's fact:

    One inch of rain on one acre of ground is equal to 10 tons of water. That's about 7.5 tons on ground the size of a football pitch.

    1. I think most drivers in Sweden have one of those, Spikey.

      They don't have a fucking clue which lane they are in!

      1. The French leave their indicators on because they think it makes the car look pretty.

        The Italians don't know what indicators or traffic lights are for.

          3. On the safety first principle, I assume that any indicator blinking means they are going to cross my bow rather than turn off where they are indicating.

            By and large it works well.

  49. MPox Vax is Safe
    Trying to upload a short video file but Disqus says it won't go. Will try to replace it with a web link instead. Watch this space.
    EDIT Nope, it's available only as an MP4 file so Disqus won't accept that format. Sorry!

    1. As the Mpox vax appears to be repurposed from the smallpox vax, those of us who had that as children are probably ok thanks. I don't want any more jabs of any sort.

        1. No – I’m off to Brazil next month and most of my 10 year jabs are now on the margins……. but they will have to do.

  50. MPox Vax is Safe
    Trying to upload a short video file but Disqus says it won't go. Will try to replace it with a web link instead. Watch this space.
    EDIT Nope, it's available only as an MP4 file so Disqus won't accept that format. Sorry!

  51. Curbs on immigration are needed to combat drug gangs, says Swedish minister

    The Sunday Telegraph, 25 Aug 2024, By James Crisp, EUROPE EDITOR

    Maria Malmer Stenergard has been the minister for migration in 2022 when her party formed a coalition with the democrats

    SWEDEN must drive down immigration and improve integration to tackle its drug gangs problem, the minister responsible for cutting asylum seeker numbers to the lowest since 1997 has said. The country now has more emigrants than immigrants for the first time in 50 years after toughening asylum rules since a Conservative-led coalition took power in 2022.

    Maria Malmer Stenergard, the minister for migration, blamed large-scale immigration and poor integration for a string of social issues, including the violent crime epidemic that has tarnished the Scandinavian country’s once peaceful image. “Large-scale immigration, combined with a lack of efficient integration, has led to widespread social exclusion, with many people suffering as a result. This includes overcrowded housing, poor educational outcomes, honour-related oppression, and crime,” said Ms Malmer Stenergard.

    This year, police warned that 62,000 people are linked to gangs in Sweden, which now has the highest gun-crime death rate in the EU and has witnessed bombings and shootings spread to the suburbs from its cities.

    Ms Malmer Stenergard said: “Unfor- tunately, we observe higher crime rates among those born abroad and second-generation immigrants. We want to take responsibility for the shortcomings in integration. However, we cannot do so if high levels of immigration continue.” She added: “We do not have a specific numerical target, but asylum immigration must remain at low levels for an extended period if we are to reverse the trend of widespread social exclusion.”

    She is a member of the centre-Right Moderate Party, which has led a coalition government since 2022. Her department said this month that while asylum applications in other EU countries had “stabilised at a high level”, they had continued to decline in Sweden.

    By July 28, 5,600 asylum claims were made, a drop of 27 per cent compared to the same period last year. This means Sweden is on track for its lowest number of claims in about 26 years. Ms Malmer Stenergard said: “From day one, we have been clear that those who come to Sweden with the intention of staying must learn the language as quickly as possible, become self-sufficient, and respect Swedish values. We have tightened regulations regarding family reunification and citizenship, instructed authorities to prioritise returns and revocations, and are currently reviewing our entire legislation.”

    Ms Stenergard denied the clampdown was excessive and said all legislation was carefully scrutinised to ensure it complied with EU law and the European Convention on Human Rights.

    Ms Malmer Stenergard said Sweden’s asylum offer was too generous in the past. “We have a humane and legally sound policy, but our goal is to align ourselves with other countries. In the past, we have stood out, which has resulted in a disproportionately high number of people seeking asylum in Sweden specifically,” she added. “Now, we must focus on integration if we are to remain an open country that can continue to help those fleeing conflict.”

    Ms Malmer Stenergard said the government still had “much work to do”, including reforming the asylum reception system, establishing return centres and tightening citizenship laws. Other policies being considered include revoking citizenship for people with dual citizenship if they commit serious crimes such as terrorism, or lied when applying. Naturalised citizens and families of migrants could also be offered money to leave the country as part of a voluntary return scheme that already offers refugees about £720 and travel costs. The welfare system also needs to be overhauled, the minister said, with new caps and qualification requirements on benefits, “Currently, one-third of foreign-born individuals are not self-sufficient – this is not sustainable in the long run if we are to maintain our welfare model,” Ms Malmer Stenergard said.

    Ulf Kristersson, the prime minister and Moderate leader, governs with the support of the hard-Right Sweden Democrats, which was partly founded by Nazi sympathisers.

    It became the second-largest party after the 2022 elections, which ousted the Left-wing government in a campaign dominated by concerns over migration and crime but is not part of the coalition of Moderates, Liberals and Christian Democrats. Asked how much influence the Sweden Democrats wielded, Ms Malmer Stenargard said: “We are four parties united in our agreement to tighten immigration and improve integration. This is a significant strength.”

    I am an Englishman, now a naturalised Swedish citizen living in Sweden who struggles with learning the Swedish language to a conversational level but is self-sufficient.

    This is fair report, in the main, but spoilt when the reporter felt the need to call the Sweden Democrats "hard-Right" and "founded by Nazi sympathisers". There is no such entity as "hard-Right" (nor "far-Right" nor "extreme-Right" for that matter), and the Nazis (National Socialists) were totalitarians (in the manner of ALL totalitarians) of the far-LEFT.

    1. Sigh. This is tiresome.

      The Nazis were Left wing. Fascism is Left wing.

      All evil is Left wing. What got the Right protesting? The deaths of children. What gets the Left rioting? not getting their own way.

      1. That's precisely what I said in my comment. And therein lies the problem. Those on the Left, who insist they are always right (small case r), call all the other factions of the Left — i.e. those whom they disagree with — far-Right!

        What they are far too stupid to assimilate is the fact that the Right does not go in for mob-handedness (or totalitarianism). Only the various, disparate, cretinous factions of the Left do that.

      2. From Coffee House, the Spectator

        Lorraine Kelly’s Brexit holiday shame
        Comments Share 25 August 2024, 10:23am
        Congratulations to the artist formerly known as Lorraine Kelly, for taking the gong for this weekend’s most tasteless media appearance. Having repeatedly failed to turn up to host her own show on ITV, the self-styled ‘chatty persona’ decided to take a turn on a rival channel, pitching up to Times Radio on Saturday for an interview on – what else? – her travel plans.

        The Scottish sage moaned to host Hugo Rifkind about the ‘awful’ post-Brexit queues, declaring that ‘people were lied to’ and ‘didn’t know’ what they voted for in the 2016 EU referendum. ‘I’m fed up with going away to Europe and kind of apologising, you feel embarrassed’ she added. But it was what followed which really distinguished Kelly from the standard Remainer fare. She told Rifkind about returning from Scotland’s recent international football match against Germany:

        Coming back though, again, we nearly missed our flight. Because they had all this, and it’s this kind of segregation, you feel like some kind of like untermensch, you know, you are standing in this other queue for ages and then you have to go up to a different place to get your passport looked at and all the rest of it and it’s just awful and it’s going backwards.

        ‘Untermensch’ of course means ‘subhuman’, and was the Nazis’ infamous way of referring to Jews, Roma, and other peoples they targeted for genocide. As Tory peer Lord Wolfson noted:

        A few generations back, my family knew what it was to be treated as an “untermensch”. And they also had to stand in long queues. But not for passports.

        Something for Kelly to reflect on perhaps.

        2. She might also reflect that it is the vindictiveness of the EU that is responsible for her being treated worse than the UK treats EU citizens. Such a nice bunch of people: no wonder she wants to be one of them.

        3. I've travelled to the EU (by plane and Eurostar) about 7 times since we (sort of ) left. Only once, at Schiphol, was I in a segregated queue due to failure of passport automatic gates. Otherwise, I've queued with EU passport holders and the only difference is that after using the passport gates, getting a stamp on my passport which has taken no more that a few moments. Hardly an encumbrance.

    2. Sweden is so bad that it is likely that immigration has dropped because even immigrants don't want to go there; not least ones who want to work and contribute.

        1. Fair enough. I only go by what I read and I accept that the UK is very possibly worse, in many ways. But immigrant gangs make some Swedish areas far worse – from what I have read. I accept that some areas of Sweden will be untouched, like the UK, for now.

          1. There are, indeed, immigrant gangs causing havoc in Stockholm, Göteborg and Malmö, but the rest of this (extremely vast) country is relatively free from this.

            Compare this with the UK where there is hardly a town or city anywhere that is not affected in a big way by the direct effects of forced ‘multiculturalism’.

    3. I'm glad to see the use of the term "immigrant" which in the UK, has become a dirty word. I make the distinction that "migrant" is a temporary condition, such as "migrant workers", those who move around looking for work and "immigrant" which is one who intends to settle permanently. I class all of those arriving in the UK, legally or illegally, as immigrants..

  52. Just done a turn round the garden. Sunny it may be but it is JOLLY nippy. And everything is wet – so I'll defer garden work until after lunch.

    2. It's clouded over here and chilly too – our next door neighbour is attacking the bushes between the two gardens. They've got a bit high for us.

    3. Aye, the carpets have that mossy feel that comes from cooler temps. It's just feet being warmer than they are, but still.

    4. Aye, the carpets have that mossy feel that comes from cooler temps. It's just feet being warmer than they are, but still.

  53. Good morning from the Abbey Bridge Cafe on the A68 just coming into Jedburgh.
    Falstone Show was good and the weather excellent!

    A bit chilly overnight and the season is definitely turning. Still warm enough under three ex-BR Sleeper woolen blankets!

    A bit of a problem this morning as the van battery had run flat, but luckily a local lad stopped to use the recycling bins gave me a jump-start. I now know not to leave the lead to the leisure battery plugged in when the engine is not running!!

    Once running and packed away for travelling, an excellent run up past Kielder, Slaughtree then following the minor roads to the A68 just South of Jedburgh.
    Planning to stop inn Jedburgh for a short while then Kelso, Coldstream and drop down the A697 via Cornhill to Wooler.
    Some pictures of the show:-
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7a8d65afd3607b53e37dc7e90578c835b14ac7933ca35cf51a322b0ded063d58.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/23eb57f75cb20c630e034d961126311ce7f2151531417cf9a353c2c8065c7585.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7b09527db4e7ffa1d3b1dc6a2e061c3afed3435628dd31c3d0f3f887d66414ef.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/44ed5f240739cda32039161de64e5d2a7def38f1e2bcb0bf7736c38c15908976.jpg
    The young lad in the green top took a second:-
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e432b162ebc6fe26c574c7f495c27464d94748d1bd1b929c41489c8496d1dee8.jpg
    The ewe being shown by the lass on the right nearly leapt the hurdles with her astride it's back!!! https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/34f4899ba33cc0c2f99ddbe25a9e3c13a9103ff3fbfd155e71bf8d2fbab3b9a7.jpg

    2. The borders of Scotland is a beautiful area. Lovely train journey from Newcastle to Edinburgh. Just a treat in itself.

    3. It's odd. They don't look like suicide machines. That said, my uncle – who keeps a few sheep and pigs and cows has said that they'd leap on to a chainsaw if one were nearby. Daft buggers.

  54. A few more of the show:-
    Of course the WI were in attendance:-
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/17dc581cfdd0136a397e8f467fa7b93dabfd8e643a1fd69f60295121399600a4.jpg
    And quite a few craft stalls:-
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/585c7ee7f172739515706f186f9a53c6ed8f4bd2bf4e5c676946fdf1c8dfcc7d.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bd279572e3ab2042d74b2ad6f3abd441ff8025118cad2aa2a11e2ced1cea526f.jpg
    Including some beautiful woolen knittings:-
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f7b998fb9d4aa9ae94bd85bba4932f0b3ea55f5bfd96f6e1e47f750c1324ac96.jpg
    Some hounds:-
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0c8e4adbbf3cc5fd534fe2d09f6a3d0724497b6e53b46cb9a81c2f82f4c375d9.jpg
    And a LOT of Border Terriers!
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9e54b527a135f66ff56d4780b3c6edc14013cbd676ab32cc7ba7474d4f2d80df.jpg

  58. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/25/kirstie-allsopp-reported-social-services-son-interrailing/
    Kirstie Allsopp questioned by social services over decision to let 15 year-old go interrailing

    Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea reportedly open file on TV presenter after referral

    You'd think the social workers of RBKC had enough to do without harassing people like this.

    T_B – how old were you when you flew back and forth to Nigeria on your own? I didn't do anything like that but I did walk to school on my own from the age of 5 or 6 when my older friend got tired of being the supervisor. and I was home on my own during the school holidays from the age of 6 when my grandmother died.

    1. Last sentence, me too, my mother was the only mother who worked (from choice, not necessity). I also remember being left on my own in hotel rooms, when away for the weekend at the races.

      1. My father died when I was still under five, so I started school after the Easter that year, and was five in July. Grandma came to live with us, but she got vascular dementia and died less than two years later. Mum worked full time till she retired at 67.

        1. Sorry to read about your dad, that’s tough at such a young age. I think it’s true to say that ‘neglect’ can take many forms…I know some children who seem too protected to me. I’m an only child, and quite resilient, if I say so myself – your Mum sounds cut from similar cloth:-)

          1. Yes – she was very self-sufficient. When she wasn't at work she would be reading or listening to music, or both. She never got a telly. The family joke when she was young was that she wouldn't notice if the house was on fire till the pages of her book curled up………..

            When we bought this house, the clincher was the amount of room we had for the books…….. and the LPs. She died in 1989, and I still miss her.

          2. I remember my dad fetching home a B&W TV and showing me Flowerpot Men, Andy Pandy, also a puppy one time, my mother not impressed with any of it. Your mum is indeed cut from the same cloth as I am…books…LPs…more books. Not surprised you miss her, you should, and not forget. I think of all my gone before relatives, on a daily basis 🙂

          3. Over the years, I have done a lot of family history research……… and made contact with some long lost cousins who shared some interesting photos and documents. My mum had quite a few cousins, but only kept in touch with two of them – one was Betty – who had a son, David. We made contact some years ago and he passed on a lot of gossip, photos and all sorts. I went to see him (only once) and we had a boozy evening. We exchanged a lot of emails, but he stopped communicating a few years ago and subsequently died in 2021.

            Another cousin, on my father’s side, lives in New Zealand, but he came here on a visit and spent a weekend – we visited some of the places where they lived. He prepared a book (which he sent me a copy of) for a reunion in NZ of that side of the family in 2011. While he was researching for that, a long lost photo album turned up…….. of Victorian photos sent from the family in UK. Through him I was also able to make contact with cousins in Devon – my father’s cousin is 98 and still alive.

          4. My mum did very similar, built a huge family tree, spent hours in the Research Library. When she died, I gave it all to my youngest. There used to be a website where you could post DNA results, and find long lost relatives through that. Mine is a bit odd, quite a % is Russian…hmm…don’t know how that happened!

          5. I've not gone down the DNA route – I had no objection while I was researching, just didn't get round to doing it. Nowadays I'm glad I didn't, with the amount of tracking and lack of privacy I prefer to keep my DNA to myself.

          7. You can still share DNA results via Ancestry and find out a lot that way. Lots of relatives and some surprises too. I got a bit burnt out with FH in 2020 & 21 when we couldn't do much else.

          8. No telly – but I was able to see some things with neighbours. Our next door neighbour was a good friend to me when I was young – when the dark evenings came I'd go next door for a cuppa and some telly.

          9. Yes, I had one too…a middle aged chap, nature fan…we used to put breadcrumbs down outside, then catch the pigeons came down to feed…string through the letterbox which wrapped round their feet. Needless to say my mother stopped me. Saw him many years later in a pub, I started crying, he’d been a good father sub to me. He’d lost it by then, couldn’t remember me.

          10. I'm sorry your Mum is gone, Ndovu. Not looking forward to that event, even though Mum (known as Bee) is away with the fairies and waiting for God. A turning-point in life.

          11. It is a turning point. My first marriage was on the rocks at the time but I could never bring myself to tell her that. She was perfectly compos mentis till the end, but sometimes in her own world of books and didn't notice things. One of the last times I saw her in hospital, she was watching the old dear in the opposite bed, ripping up tissues. Mum had gone in for 'tests' but she came out dead a week later. My ex did what he could and I couldn't blame him for that – he sorted out her flat, etc. But we parted a few months later.

          12. Oh, man.
            That's sad: Good that your ex was some help.
            At least we won't have to sort out selling Mother's house (done 18 months ago), car and other stuff.
            Still, it'll be hard to be an orphan when it comes… although I have had to be mostly independent since 8 years old, it's still good to have loved ones in the train.

          15. The other side of that coin is you don't have to consider (or argue!) with anyone else when it comes to making important decisions.

          17. The turning point was exacerbated when everyone realized that I wax now the oldest in our family and they started to turn to me for advice!

          18. Even if you've got a sibling, if the gap between you is large, you might as well be an only child!

          19. Indeed, I’ve known siblings close in age who don’t like each other at all. Just been laughing at Hitler Parodies, he was listening to Kamala Harris…always someone worse off 😀

    2. I first walked home alone from primary school at the age of 5. When I was 7, I moved to a school that was 2 bus rides away with about a half mile walk at each end. Usually I was accompanied by my 10 year old sister but the under 8s had a half day on Wednesdays so I travelled on my own then (I also travelled alone after big sis went up to the senior school as they were released later than the juniors) . There were no mobile phones and no free bus passes so I also had to manage the money. If I wanted to free up a penny for 4 black jacks or fruit salads, I could add a mile to the walking bit.
      I wasn’t fat and my mental health was in sparkling form even if I was a bit shy and nerdy.

      1. Yes – and there was dinner money to take as well. I remember going to the little local shop on the way home sometimes to buy some small sweets…..love hearts…….sweet cigarettes…. etc, by the penny.

      2. Me too, Lola! My sister is 5 years older than me so she’d moved on before I got there, except senior school! No problems at all with 4 buses a day and crossing the Tyne twice!

      3. I walked to school (about 2 miles over the canal and along a busy road ) once I left infants. When I went to grammar school I either cycled or took a bus two miles and walked the other two miles (up hill and down dale). It was considered normal.

    3. Me, I flew Kano – LHR alone since I was 8 years old. BOAC, then British Caledonian, until I wss 16, always alone. (story of my life…)
      The whole journey was Midlands – London – Nigeria (and the reverse).

  59. If anyone is interested in the sinking of Mike Lynch's yacht BAYSIAN and wondering if there was a conspiracy behind it, I have an article on the subject in Free Speech.

    Please read it and let me know what you think.

    freespeechbacklash.com

    1. Here's what I posted on your freespeech web site:

      What amuses me are the claims by people who (justifiably) criticise the government and its departments and agencies for exploring the frontiers of ineptitude yet also allege that those same organisations somehow have the wit, wisdom and competence to plan and implement complex conspiracies.

      2. Well, I think there is Marxist impetus behind some of their decisions, and that conspiracies is as good a word as any to describe some of their machinations. I abjure the word, 'complex' though. I think their aims are pretty clear as is their lack of intelligence. Milimarx's green mania is pretty clear. It's obviously about control. He must be a fairly recent convert, if not. He never mentioned it on his Ed Stone, for example.

        1. He didn't put it on the Ed Stone as it was an obvious vote loser – but he'd already had the Climate change act passed.

          1. And then Treason May finished off the job. Ghastly woman, she doesn't even have the excuse of admitting to marxism.

        2. He didn't put it on the Ed Stone as it was an obvious vote loser – but he'd already had the Climate change act passed.

        3. His father was dyed in the wool marxist immigrant (did very well in our capitalists country though). What's bred in the bone…

      3. Well, I think there is Marxist impetus behind some of their decisions, and that conspiracies is as good a word as any to describe some of their machinations. I abjure the word, 'complex' though. I think their aims are pretty clear as is their lack of intelligence. Milimarx's green mania is pretty clear. It's obviously about control. He must be a fairly recent convert, if not. He never mentioned it on his Ed Stone, for example.

      4. Some people are good at somethings and bad at others. Same with governments. Generally, they are bad at providing services but good at looking after their own interests.

        But this sinking was an accident.

        1. Do governments look after their own interests or is it that many individual members of a government have the same greed, arrogance and self-interest and work to further that rather than work together?

    3. Should something heavy have broken loose, either on deck or internally, thereby puncturing the hull, this would have allowed rapid incursion of water and swift sinking of the yacht. To date, here is no evidence of severe damage to the vessel..

      In the absence of such catastrophic damage, rapid incursion of large volumes of water can only have entered the hull via hatches and portholes.

      Upon receiving a forecast of severe weather, the Captain and crew should have 'battened down the hatches' – and secured all internal doors and portholes as a matter of urgency. There are questions to be answered.

      So, could the sinking have somehow been planned or pre-arranged? I doubt it; one cannot control the weather.

      1. Someone could have infiltrated the crew and waited for an opportune moment. Investigators need to look closely into their backgrounds.

      2. Why / who would anyone conspire to an uncertain event like a sinking? Incompetence, more likely.

    2. It could well be, Citroen1….they do so many shades of green, many of them very similar. The sort of thing I look at for several minutes, then put down and slowly back away….

      1. Janice Turner, of the DT, mocked Farrow and Ball twee names by calling one Housemaid's Quim. And aren't vegans up in arms because one is called Dead Salmon? I think they should modernise, maybe call one Ang's Scum. Or Starmer's bile.

  62. A British version of the tweet below could have any number of Home Secretaries, including the present incumbent, with RIBs galore disgorging their unstoppable cargoes of young men.

    https://x.com/wdunlap/status/1827403810387718586
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ac12008a487afa8973214bea03ad6fefc9b3854b22be2d6ff636dd3a9a24f642.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ebe9fe3909382e51ab21cdae8a8fe809f04b46dd15d00f848434d74151d5c357.png

    We'll need a list like this around 2026.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8a9b458e8e73f860fa9c7d5d066aa69929f97aec98fb67c176e37fb33822e112.png

  63. https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/46a251ef5fab8616983a50bf524740984b3c5102/0_0_3661_2441/master/3661.jpg?width=700&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=708f15e258290d84921d5fd7d762c798
    Who’s the fairest? A pair of bonnet macaques check themselves out in the side mirror of a motor-scooter in Chandigarh, India

    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/11fc8853cc574badaa86985923c55363a8f76781/0_0_4419_2896/master/4419.jpg?width=700&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=4f04b47f56f690ed8f933fa6f26f32ee
    A kingfisher perched at RSPB Rainham Marshes Nature Reserve in Purfleet, UK

    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/1b29a357d5bdd1dcdc0e34de5547160a6c6d806b/0_0_5472_3648/master/5472.jpg?width=700&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=83a378ea6c057f8b5ecad0cb768fa26f
    A hummingbird perches on a branch in Mindo, Ecuador

    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/67179e4120c6ff6ca1a2cdf1e713e383359386d5/0_0_5616_3744/master/5616.jpg?width=700&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=278a0117097a5d929a02d473bc683558
    Wild donkeys, or kiang, grazing on the Tibetan plateau in Ngari

      2. I am planning a lunch date at Rules. Possibly October but the date is fluid at the moment. Would you care to join us? You would make up the party to a table for six.

        1. Would love to. Thank you. Rules in Covent Garden? If I were choosing a date in October, I’d go with Friday 25th. Can’t do Saturday 19th, as I’m going to a daytime concert.

          1. That would be great. All the others you have already met so no surprises !.. one or two are a little bit mad but hey ho…I have asked Herts for your email. Not sure why i don’t already have it but we will fine tune the arrangements nearer the time.

            https://rules.co.uk/

  64. All Saints at Broad Chalke, eight miles or so west of Salisbury, and a couple of miles north of the Dorset Cursus.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0656a8e8a6f4450640446b3fbbee69d9a2de5ba139e5933d641a3ea3fd3d7c08.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6c3384675551391fd83c52a00410a81fc4a0748ecef8bc4975f9306240a35540.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7cbdd9bf9e8ac0a4029dccd371c2decdd86262b770a9f84d00b4a6a10b230d7a.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/722a2bb8124ec2c2c212b9a647f842c14a4aabe53487298eb369abb72e1ce1b3.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2d3aceb9925cc21db95f7d75656856ccf8e7c1bc92cc6d290ecedcdad8e9e1b3.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2238941d2faec0b9aca605933a35fe49581fab807b7cba4d6c4a6d86f1bd8b19.jpg

    3. Beautiful little church. Love the window!
      That's the kind of place where God can be found. Even then, you have to earch a bit.

    4. Very nice. Our vicar is giving a talk on the symbolism in the stained glass windows next week. I'm looking forward to that.

  65. Ladbroke Grove station is closed but the trains are still packed with revellers. They all pour off at Westbourne Park. Closing a station doesn’t disperse the crowds. It just moves the problem.

      1. don't miss…
        The Windrush Generation Legacy Association Charity (WGLA),
        London Fire Brigade (LFB),
        Croydon Supplementary Education Project (CSEP) and
        Transport for London (TfL) floats.

        3. Has the Transport for London float broken down yet – or gone on strike because not enough money is being thrown at it?

      2. Why have chaos, indiscipline and lawlessness been rebranded as 'carnival'?

        If you noticed anything like that on a petri-dish, or through a microscope, you would apply a very strong bleach or antibiotic.

        1. Most of it takes place in and around Ladbroke Grove/Portobello Market and I’m in Shepherds Bush Road but I can hear it from here. Granted I have my windows open but even so?

      3. Now, that float that has the message, return to the mothetland. Dont you get 3 years chokey for shouting that if you are white… Must phone plod or maybe just bang my head on a brick wall

  66. 392410 + up ticks,

    We the decent indigenous peoples of the nation have gone far beyond standing for the five card trick that is now very defunct and old hat.

    The politico shysters are now openly operating whilst cutting fuel payments for the elderly, then upping defence spending in defence of the nation, all the while bringing foreign troop types in through DOVER on a daily basis, and these have proved to be of a very dangerous unchecked nature.

    The majority voter is now aiding & abetting politico's, in your face, no pretence, warmongers, and seeking the profits to be made from worldwide suffering and life long injuries & death.

    2. 392410+ up ticks,

      O2O,

      The shell game is being played by the politico's
      finance for dementia drug treatment via "nice"
      is too expensive for the low return benefits BUT monies for shells to make peoples seriously DEAD is plentiful.

      The shell game is often portrayed as a gambling game, but in reality, when a wager for money is made, it is almost always a confidence trick

  67. I think that I am going straight to hell.

    We were out for a coffee and there was some woman acting prima donnaish. Mugging comes out with the not so original Darling you are not attractive enough to get special treatment.
    You know those suddenly quiet moments- I chose one for my observation.

        1. I once said to a lady Nottler i met for the first time …’oh, i expected a grey haired old lady with a bun’.

          I was suffering from Foot in Mouth at the time.

          4. What sort of bun? Currant bun? Bath bun? Saffron bun? Hot Cross Bun?

            C'mon, we must be told!

    1. I commented that if you start from the premise that ‘racism is pervasive in our society’ then you’re going to get this sort of cr@p being peddled.

        1. Gawd knows, Tine! I’ve been meaning to say how lovely it was to see a photo of you at Phizzees garden party! It looked like a great event!

          1. It was great, but the photos of me weren’t – I am very un-photogenic! Never mind – the photos weren’t for a dating site so what matters is the atmos., which was great fun!

      3. ‘racism is pervasive in our society’

        Whitey can do nothing right

        Bamey can do nothing wrong

    2. Documents claim that encouraging "anti-racist" teacher training will help to maintain a diverse teaching workforce, and will help to close the attainment gap between white and non-white pupils.

      The Scottish "anti-racism framework", drawn up by the Scottish Council of Deans of Education and endorsed by 10 universities, states that changes to the way in which teachers are taught will "disrupt the centrality of whiteness and enable different ways of seeing, thinking and doing".

      This process may involve more references to colonialism and racism in lessons, and instilling an understanding of the "impact of whiteness".

      This, it says, will help teachers project a "white racial identity grounded in reality and allyship" in the classroom, free from "false notions of superiority".

      I thought it was the white pupils who were falling behind…

    3. And there's me believing the statistics that it's white boys from deprived areas of England that fare worst of all in the education stakes.

    4. Somebody should point out to the numbskulls that we are in EUROPE. Europeans are white skinned.

  72. – So Starmer is saying that things are going to get worse because of a £ 20 billion Tory black hole.
    But Labour has been complaining about the last 14 years of austerity for the last 14 years.
    So how big would the black hole have been without all that austerity, I wonder?

  73. Just "harvested" the Charlotte potatoes. What a nizzletripe crop. About seven pounds in total. On the other hand, another four pounds + of raspberries….

    Cloudy now, and chilly.

    2. I only sowed a few, but I wasn't disappointed with the result. Will try again next year.

  74. At least Starmer can relax now, the Notting Hill Carnival will all go off so much more peacefully with all those far right people in jail.

  75. Just left daughter in her new house in Southampton. Very exciting! Her whole life ahead of her. New (first) job next week!

    1. Good luck and best wishes.
      Our number three is about to land at LHR after taking a job in Dubai over 4 months ago. First trip home for a family occasion next Saturday. I bet he'll find it a bit cooler.

        2. Here ? He seems to be getting on all right. His fiancee has a good well paid job to go to at the end of next month.

    2. Wonderful. Let the journey begin.

      Early nights. Limited alcohol. Plenty of hobbies and family time. Food is very important. No processed muck.

      What sort of job? Not asking for details just a general idea.

      1. Like her old mum. She is training to be a Chartered Accountant!!!

        (A bit of a “shoot me now” moment from me. She had wanted to be a doctor but was the wrong year to get a place at Med School – the year prior was the first Covid year and everyone got the grades after the algorithm fiasco and the Universities were paying kids £10k to defer a year, with the obvious detrimental impact on the year below).

          1. Thank you. She’s a lovely girl but can be stubborn. No idea where she gets it from!!!

      2. Like her old mum. She is training to be a Chartered Accountant!!!

        (A bit of a “shoot me now” moment from me. She had wanted to be a doctor but was the wrong year to get a place at Med School – the year prior was the first Covid year and everyone got the grades after the algorithm fiasco and the Universities were paying kids £10k to defer a year, with the obvious detrimental impact on the year below).

      3. Like her old mum. She is training to be a Chartered Accountant!!!

        (A bit of a “shoot me now” moment from me. She had wanted to be a doctor but was the wrong year to get a place at Med School – the year prior was the first Covid year and everyone got the grades after the algorithm fiasco and the Universities were paying kids £10k to defer a year, with the obvious detrimental impact on the year below).

    1. You did seem a little shocked and i am sorry about that. But since you have got to know me you know how loveable and huggable i really am. :@)

      1. No I wasn’t shocked, just surprised because I’v never felt like a grey-haired old lady with a bun. But you never know, we’ll see in 20 year’ time or so (except that I couldn’t be faffing around with buns, shorter hair or pony-tail).

  77. I'm a bit late on these things, some days

    Wordle 1,163 3/6

    🟨⬜🟨⬜🟩
    🟩⬜🟩🟩🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    3. About the only true thing Two Tier has admitted to (although I don't hold out much hope of its getting better any time soon).

  79. Kirstie Allsopp questioned by social services over decision to let 15 year-old go interrailing
    Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea reportedly open file on TV presenter after referral
     https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/25/kirstie-allsopp-reported-social-services-son-interrailing/

    One of my nephews hitchhiked alone from the UK to Greece when he was 15.

    When he was 18 he went to work in an outward bound school in Australia on a VSO scheme. During this year he did a circumnavigation of Australia by getting jobs on tramp steamers.

    He then went to BRNC Dartmouth and became a naval officer.

    2. European trip for a 15 year old lad probably safer than him walking in certain parts of London.

      1. He went to school at Kelly College in Tavistock on the edge of Dartmoor and was keen on cross country running and the Ten Tors so he was a very hardy lad.

    1. Well done Odd one today with good starting words.

      Wordle 1,163 2/6

      🟨⬜⬜🟨🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

        1. I must start doing that…I think when I tried before, I copied it to Word or something but then couldn’t get it online…help, please? Mostly I crash n burn…

          2. Thanks, Rusty T….I copied your message then sent it to myself, as a reminder – will give it a go…

        2. Wordle 1,163 X/6

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

          This is it? from today??!!!

          2. It’s a situation with which I’m familiar, lacoste, especially with games of all descriptions 😀 but I will try again tomorrow….

    3. Wow. Well done. Par for me.

      Wordle 1,163 4/6

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

    4. That was odd.

      Wordle 1,163 3/6

      ⬜⬜🟨🟨🟨
      🟩🟨🟩🟨🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    5. On fire Rene, on fire!!

      Potentially tricky, given so many options , relieved to get a par……

      Wordle 1,163 4/6

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

  81. WELSH FIRST MINISTER EMBARKS ON ‘LISTENING’ TOUR WITH NO QUESTIONS

    You’d be forgiven for thinking First Minister Morgan’s Listening Tour of Wales – designed to ensure “everyone’s voice is heard” – would involve taking questions from the public. It doesn’t…

    Wales’ new Labour leader has carefully planned her tour to have zero events where people can turn up and ask questions or put points to her, despite its claim to give “everyone a chance to contribute”. No doubt those lucky enough to grace Morgan’s presence will be handpicked Labour supporters…

    It is no wonder Morgan, who recently took over as leader after Vaughan Gething’s disastrous 78-day premiership, doesn’t want to face the Welsh public. Cymru lags behind its regional UK counterparts in almost every measure. NHS waiting times are longer. Educational attainment is lower. Not to mention Wales’ continued fury with Labour’s 20mph speed limits, which has now put the kibosh on a cycling race as cars won’t be able keep up with the bikes. Don’t take questions you don’t want to give answers to…

  83. ALL OF THE TUC’S MADDEST MOTIONS

    Motions are in for the Trades Union Congress’ annual meeting next month in Brighton. Delegates’ votes on them will decide the political and lobbying direction the TUC will take. Unions bosses have renewed energy now Labour is in and are gunning for more pay rises from a permissive government. More strikes are already on the way…

    Apart from pushing for bumper pay deals, union chiefs have crafted a list of some truly insane and/or idiotic motions. Guido gives you some of the worst below:

    The Educational Institute of Scotland wants repeals of the 2016 Trade Union Act and 2023 Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act, outlaws on zero-hour contracts, and devolution of “employment law fully to the devolved administrations.” More fun for the SNP and Welsh Labour…

    The Artists’ Union England wants a “prohibition of the use of AI in workplaces without explicit collective agreement” and “legislation to protect workers against the use of AI in workplaces.” UNITE joins in by calling for a bill that “ensures trade unions have the right to be consulted and to negotiate on the use of AI.” Luddites gonna luddite…
    The University College Union wants the TUC to lobby for “a decolonised curriculum in the prison education system.” That’ll fix the prisons…

    UNISON demands that the TUC raises “awareness of Reform’s policies for the workplace and society” and provides “training courses, resources and support for unions in tackling the politics of far right.” The cherry on the cake is a commitment to “organising and recruiting migrant workers.” Do they think staff need therapy to deal with Nigel?
    The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy wants to tackle the gender pay gap by challenging “the status quo of senior leadership positions in public services being ‘full-time’ roles.” Got to break down that “taboo of working at senior levels on a part-time basis”…

    The Royal College of Midwives demand a “campaign for mandatory neurodiversity awareness training for all NHS staff as part of their EDI mandatory training.” Just what the NHS needs to get productive again…
    The TUC Black Workers Conference wants “legislation to make ethnicity pay gap reporting mandatory and for this to become a standard practice in employers’ policies and procedures.” More paper-pushing woke drudgery…
    The FDA looks to seize on Partygate and the “betting scandal” by introducing a “fully independent body which will have the authority to independently investigate and determine outcomes of breaches of the ministerial code, free from political interference.” Maybe Labour can fill that with its cronies too?

    The British Dietetic Association wants “a statutory right to accessible, affordable and nutritious food.” How’s that going to work?

    The Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union demands the UK sets a “national maximum working temperature and put in place a heat wave furlough scheme.” Which means they’ll do a “Heat Strike” this summer “when temperatures go above 36 degrees.” If you can’t take the heat, get out of the bakery…
    Accord wants to raise capital gains tax to income tax levels and apply national insurance to investment income, as well as ending “special treatment” of AIM shares. ‘Poof’ goes Labour’s promised “growth”…

    The Fire Brigade Union is pushing for a motion to “repeal of all anti-union laws and for positive legal rights for trade unions.” Goodbye to the Thatcher revolution…
    Union bosses are no doubt itching to unveil some of their even kookier ideas once they secure more concessions from Labour over the coming months. “Get round the table” because “the adults are back in the room”…

    3. The right to nutritious food is certainly a good one. Define nutritious food. I see you vil eet ze bugs being on the menu. Adults? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Yeah, right.

      1. My knoweldge of which food is nutritious is the polar opposite of what those creatures think is nutritious.

    2. Dont expect that he would expect any favours for a £half a mill bung. Nothing like a bit of institutional corruption, he must feel well at home..

    3. £500,000? Gosh, that’s cheap. Do the rates come on a sliding scale, depending on DEI points and level of access? If I give £100,000, can I use the loo?

    1. does anyone believe the ShitLibs have any intention of relinquishing power?
      they have a system, and they'll to stick it.
      failing that they'll find a non-slopey roof and finish the job.

  86. That's me gone. Grey and overcast and decidedly chilly. Need some warming medicine in 15 minutes.

    Have a smashing evening

    A demain – DV.

  88. A nice school, just 5 miles away from us. I was working in a factory at 15, having me bum pinched by the female workers.

      1. Most of the 'ladies' concerned are probably pushing up daisies, and despite my blushing, I secretly enjoyed it.

  89. Evening, all. Not long back from being a kulcha vulcha. Went to the gardens of a stately home to listen to a string quartet. Very good they were, too. Shame about the global boiling appalling weather. Cold strong wind and 10/10ths cloud. Kadi, apart from being windswept, was grumpy because it went on beyond his teatime. I had buttery chicken and pilau rice, washed down with a pino grigio, while he had his usual meat and kibble plus water.

    Reading went okay at church this morning. People said I did it well – at least nobody said they a) couldn't hear me and b) couldn't understand what I said.

    I am afraid Rayner is a lost cause. No amount of doses of economic wisdom would turn her from a rabid lefty into somebody who understood what it takes to encourage the economy to grow.

  90. We've got the bbc news on and they seem to be finding it difficult not to show their bias weighted support for terrorism.
    Ending with joy as a very elder ( i think 103) lady took a supported parachute jump on her birthday.
    A fabulous achievement.

    1. From Coffee House, the Spectator

      The arrest of Pavel Durov raises awkward questions
      Comments Share 25 August 2024, 5:06pm
      Pavel Durov, Russian-born founder of the Telegram messaging and social media app, has been arrested in France for failing to comply with official demands to regulate content posted by users on his app. According to a warrant issued by France’s Ofmin – an office tasked with preventing violence against minors – Durov’s alleged offences include abetting fraud, drug trafficking, cyberbullying, organised crime, child pornography and the promotion of terrorism.

      The arrest of the 39-year-old Durov – a French, Saint Kitts and Nevis and United Arab Emirates citizen – is set to become a battle royal between advocates of free speech and those who seek to regulate it. Elon Musk, owner of Twitter, has been among the first to rush to Durov’s defence, tweeting ‘Liberte. Liberte! Liberte?’ as the news broke. Musk also asked why Mark Zuckerberg has not been arrested over the use of Instagram by pedophiles – and answered his own question with the claim that ‘Instagram has a massive child exploitation problem, but no arrest for Zuck, as he censors free speech and gives governments backdoor access to user data… he already caved into censorship pressure.’

      In 2018, the Kremlin attempted to shut down access to Telegram in Russia
      To many free speech advocates, the arrest of Durov for hosting a platform on which unacceptable things are said feels like a very 20th century solution to a 21st century problem. Indeed, some accuse French authorities of repeating what the Kremlin tried and failed to do in 2014, when the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) demanded access to the personal data of users of Durov’s earlier social media product, vKontakte, a Russian version of Facebook. Durov resolutely refused, was forced to sell his company to more Kremlin-friendly owners and fled Russia. From his new base in Dubai, Durov founded Telegram as a communication and social media app that would be free of censorship and government interference. Telegram’s 900 million active users ‘love the independence… the privacy, the freedom’ of the platform, Durov told Tucker Carlson in April.

      In 2018, the Kremlin attempted to shut down access to Telegram in Russia on the grounds that it was hosting ‘terrorism and extremism’ on the platform. Russian authorities played a months-long game of whack-a-mole by attempting to block servers that hosted Telegram before giving up on the attempt. Now, paradoxically enough, Telegram is used not only by top Russian leaders but also extreme nationalist bloggers and opposition activists. More, the platform is one of the last outlets by which independent media can communicate with supporters in Russia and Belarus – as well as across the former Soviet Union. ‘Telegram has also become the largest resource of information in Ukraine,’ tweeted Iuliia Mendel, Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky’s former press secretary who met Durov with her boss. ‘It is [where] Ukrainians get most of their news.’ According to a recent survey, 69 per cent of Russians said that Telegram was also their main source of news – and the platform has over 300 million users in India.

      Christo Grozev, whose investigations with the Bellingcat open source intelligence network have helped to expose Kremlin corruption, was also once a staunch supporter of Telegram’s independence – but after Durov’s arrest tweeted that ‘unfortunately, his refusal to cooperate with the FSB in support of freedom of speech has been completely offset by his refusal to cooperate with others [intelligence agencies] to stop the misuse of Telegram for nefarious purposes.’ However, other messaging apps such as Signal – the favoured comms app for the Ukrainian military – have far stronger encryption than Telegram. Indeed, unlike WhatsApp and Signal, Telegram posts and messages are only end-to-end encrypted if users activate that feature manually, and only a tiny fraction do.

      Pro-Ukraine bloggers have delighted in the news on the grounds that Telegram is also used for such dark purposes as Russian ultranationalist propaganda and Russian military commanders communications. The Russian government, which itself hounded Durov into exile, has also protested his arrest. ‘He thought his biggest problems were in Russia and left’, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev wrote on his Telegram channel. ‘He wanted to be a brilliant “citizen of the world,” living well without a homeland… He miscalculated. To our common enemies, he is still Russian – unpredictable and dangerous, of different blood.’

      Though Durov – like Elon Musk – has consistently positioned himself as a free speech absolutist, in reality Telegram’s user guidelines ban ‘terrorist content, scams, illegal pornography or the promotion of violence.’ Telegram also removed Isis-linked channels in 2019, and white supremacist groups linked to the storming of the US Capitol building in 2021.

      There has been speculation that Durov’s arrest is linked to his most recent trip to Baku, Azerbaijan, where he reportedly attempted to meet with Vladimir Putin during a state visit last week. In recent weeks the Kremlin has begun suppressing access to Youtube and WhatsApp in Russia in the wake of Ukraine’s Kursk incursion. There is speculation that Durov may have been attempting to persuade Putin to leave Telegram alone – but the Russian leader refused to meet him. The fact that Durov flew from Baku to Paris in his private plane, knowing that the French had a longstanding warrant out for his arrest, is one of the unanswered mysteries of this story.

      In any case, the France’s arrest of Durov is set to raise some awkward questions. Do the French authorities believe that paedophiles, fascists and Islamists will somehow cease to communicate, or indeed cease to exist, if the founder of Telegram is put in jail? Telegram may not be widely used in the UK, but Durov’s arrest throws current UK free speech debates into sharp focus too. In a supposedly free society, what is the proper relationship between the authorities and internet speech, and who is responsible for policing it?

      2. This from the DT:

        "Kremlin propagandists and Western free speech advocates lined up to criticise Mr Durov’s arrest."

      1. 392410 + up ticks,

        Evening B3,
        You know the score Bob, then they come for the not so far right then they ………

  93. 3 dogs, washed, shampooed, nails trimmed £175.

    Dog food for the week, £80. Cream for Lucy's paw rash – £50. Mongo teeth clea – free, as I did it, but the bruute leant on my arm as he doesn't like the back ones being scrubbed and I don't blame him. A bone for each of them from the butchermans, £25. Harness and radio tag for Lucy, £50. She has, apparently, never worn a collar. She certainly didn't like it even loosely.

    Silly pink bow the Warqueen bought her, £2. She now has a bank account as well – with Starling. She has more money than I do.

      1. Honestly still not sure. She's been with us a few weeks now and she can't 'not' be groomed and scrubbed even if going to someone else.

        The couple who were going to adopt have had a severe illness – a recurrence of prostate cancer so they have said they can't.

        It's a big cost as she's still under 1, so shorter walks, care for terrain and so on. Oscar ignores her, which is lovely of him, Mongo likes everyone but he prefers Junior's company. They're happy enough together as they were sprawled across the living room floor – it's 6m long and it was like twister crossing it.

        Marion is keeping an eye out but the longer she's here the harder it'll be to let her go. She's happy. Lucy spent today almost on my lap reading a book.

    4. I have struck gold. My little doggies were costing £40 a time for grooming and clipping every three months. The breeder who sold them to me is now also my cleaner and she just does the doggies as a matter of course.

      Not only do i get the dogs done but i get my house cleaned in the bargain !

      And she does the glands…..shudders.

      1. Not the anal glands? I remember once asking the vet to do this for me on our rescue nightmare mongrel. The vet had already been doing something unspeakable with the horses and was togged up in a sort of mega rubbersuit with goggles and a head torch. Anyway, dog very growly and bitey due to history so I had to hold him in front (ie clasp his head between my knees) whilst vet went in behind with the business glove. Unfortunately, at this point the postman drove into the yard, did a double take, turned around and drove out muttering "you people…"

          3. 🎵 Those were the days my friend 🎵

            Honestly ! I'm beginning to look like a gorilla !

            Recently, Nottlers commented on my long hair. I just thank goodness the day wasn't so hot that i was wearing shorts.

      2. I bought a pair of clippers and I do Kadi with the help of my cleaner who either clips while I hold him or vice versa. Oscar was an altogether different kettle of fish!

          1. He had magnificent teeth – and wasn't afraid to use them! To be fair to him, he did only nip. He never bit and never broke the skin.

        2. Dolly has quite a few tags. I leave it to the professionals. I do stay with her though.

    1. I've huge respect for instrument players. I have absolutely no favility in that area whatsoever: the warqueen plays the piano to grade something high (she used to do recitals in some hall somewhere) and the violin (which she still practices but I've no talent for music at all. I am positively tin eared (it annoys me a little, to be honest).

  95. I have just been banned from X (formerly known as Twitter) for the use of 'violent language'. A poster had asked what would we say to Robert de Niro, who has said he would leave the country (again) if Trump wins the election. My offering: "I would tell him not to stand upon the order of thy going, and I hope the door hits you on the backside on the way out."

    Edit: I changed him to you for consistency.

    1. De Niro is a berk.

      I don't think you're missing anything from the banning. You can still read 'tweets'. I can't work out the threading though.

          4. There's another one with RFK jr with the twosome doing the rounds – it's quite impressive the three of them strutting their stuff.

          2. I just love the song.
            They wrote it in a bar watching young ladies arriving with much older fellas.

          3. It's quite a yank thing, I think Eddy, but i know what you mean. And it's a brilliant song.

          4. The music was written (and played) by Don Felder. When he presented his music to Henley and Frey, they wrote the lyrics and took the whole credit for the song. This caused a huge fall out and Felder was frozen out.

          5. I read something similar to that some time ago. I also read they lived in London in the early days.
            We saw them at the old Wembley.
            Had to leave slightly early to get away to pick up our boys from grandparents. We were walking through the carpark and they drove past in two limos and they all waved to us. Which was nice.

            It’s no worse than Elton John freezing out Bernie Taupin from the credits.

          7. Love playing them, too, and great harmonies. Hotel California kind of sums up our relationship with the EU, wouldn'tcha say?

          10. I was thinking also "you can stab it with your steely knives, but you just can't kill the Beast"

          11. 🟨🟨⬜🟨🟨
            🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜
            🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜
            🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
            Hi Conway, c'est moi (KJ/Kate)….this is from the other day, can you see it OK plse?

          12. I can see it, but it's rather meaningless to me! I can see it's Wordle and you took four goes.

          13. Sorry about that, not good with tech stuff, will try again – Rusty Twig sent me details to try………….

          14. No, it's fine. It's just like all the other Wordle posts. It's just I don't do Wordle 🙂

          17. Well done. 5 today. Too many possibilities.
            Wordle 1,163 5/6

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

          18. Wordle 1,164 4/6

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

            Can’t believe it, in four! Made my own self day :-DD

          19. I saw them live at the old Wembley Stadium in 1996 on their Hell Freezes Over tour. It was sublime, and Joe Walsh was magnificent, especially when he sang four of his own songs.

            The only shame, for me, was that Randy Meisner was still not part of the band. His inimitable vocals on Take It To The Limit would have been the icing on the cake.

        3. It;s not that, with him (honest). It's the fact that he's really socking it to our shitty government and couldn't care less what flack they try on him.

      2. Oooh, be careful….. things may not be what they seem. It is only a 12 hour ban, and I don’t suppose it was instigated by Elon, I can’t imagine he personally said “ban her for 12 hours”! I should add I am a bit of a drama queen….!

      1. It’s just a 12 hour ban, so my offence is only minor even though classified as ‘violent’! I was really annoyed….. I can read posts, I just can’t contribute in anyway until tomorrow. It has been worse – that was for saying ‘monkey see, monkey do’! Twitter, as it was then, is very sensitive about monkeys, it necessitated a 7 day ban. Also ‘the worm turned’ got me another temporary ban.

        1. Good grief, always been a fan of Elon Musk…how in heck can you be banned for this language after the language he himself used the other day….(I won't repeat it, but you prob remember it, something about foot, face, eff word)…

    4. The short term bans are to protect the site from possible litigation from people who have made a great deal of money from their careers and are at the end of the day…..actors. Pathetic creatures needing constant adoration so they can validate their shallow existence.

      1. OMG I may be sued?!! Yes, I was told to delete my post and the countdown to my release would start as soon as I had deleted it.

  96. A Parish priest is driving his Bishop to church when a lawyer steps out in front of the car. The priest swerves extravagantly and slams on the brakes. Nevertheless, their is a bang and the lawyer can be seen in the rear view mirror, lying in the road. The priest puts his head in his hands and says "i'm so sorry , Father, I thought I was going to miss him" to which the Bishop replied "yes, i thought so too, but don't worry, my son. I got him with the door"

    1. I was told this actually happened… A chap used to be given a lift to work every day in a Reliant Robin and every day they had to swerve to avoid an aggressive goose. Then one day the driver said to his passenger: "I'm going to have that goose, so when we go past it fling open your door and that will get it". As instructed when the goose appeared the driver shouted: "open the door!" Whereupon the door was flung open, there was a mighty bang and the passenger door flew off!

  98. Popping off now it's been a pretty good but long day.
    Good night all. 😴
    Sad about old Tom, I missed it, what actually happened ?

    1. He objected to one of his posts being taken down. He thought nottlers should be okay with "a bit of smut". Then he took his joke book and went.

        1. It was his reaction to being told that made him leave.

          I am sure we would all welcome him back.

          1. Did I miss something? I hadn’t seen him and was going to ask if he’d been around before I phoned him! I’ve not been about much!

        2. I missed the one that caused the furore; it had been deleted by the time I got here and it was all over bar the shouting.

          1. To be fair, Connors (and i'm not one of the ones that officially objected) it was dire – truly disgusting – and did not have the merit of being funny. Sir J dug his heels in, though, which is very sad, as he seems such a dear man. It was not "just a bit of smut", though, it was on another level entirely

          2. I'm in the unfortunate position of not knowing what the offending post was – everyone is shuffling around mutttering about how disgraceful it was.
            Can somebody please re-post so we can make our own judgement!! (with 'spoilers' if necessary)

            Edit: PS I miss his daily (recycled) jokes!!

          3. I don't know what the post was either; as I wrote, it had gone by the time I arrived. I can well believe it was foul, though. Most nottlers are broadminded and not prudish. It must have been dire to merit that reaction.

          4. Well, yes, but I’d still like to see it and make up my own mind.

            You say it must have been dire (and I’ve no doubt it was) but how can you make a considered opinion without seeing the offending post?

            There’s an element of censorship in play here, and, whilst I understand the actions of the moderators, it might be useful if there was a statement as to why, exactly, the post was removed.

            I also cant stand not to know what’s going on!!!

          7. Depends on what it says – if it’s mailed to me I might get the wrong impression!

            Oh go on, just send the bones of it (with the spoiler function if necessary) – I’m getting fed up with this fannying around…..

          8. I read the comment, and they were an extensive collection of the worst 'bad taste' jokes that I have ever encountered in my life, and I have a pretty robust sense of humour. Thankfully, I can't remember any of them.

          10. With all due respect, O, I’ll be the judge of that. ps I’m reasonably robust…..

          11. I know how you feel – I also need to see for myself. Ask Geoff, he maybe will show you and you may not feel as others did. I ignored it. But it is very rare for people to even downtick on here, let alone ask for a post to be removed. Even with your quirkiy sense of humour, we are not talking funny,

          13. It was a very long post, Double Horse, with loads and loads of two line “jokes” that were just awful. Ask Geoff to email it to you, if you’re that curious

          14. I am curious, O, I dont like being subject to any form of censorship, thin ends etc (but of course I would never level that at this site).

            I’ll shut up now as it’s nobody’s fault…. grrrrr again ….. but thanks for your indulgence x

          15. I do understand and i do agree re free speech . But we all need to be protective of Geoff, who gallantly carries the can for all our sins on here.

            if I remember rightly, the first "joke" for example was" What is better than winning a medal in the paralympics? Not being a *retard," Which rather sets the tone. You can judge from that whether you want to read the rest, which do deteriorate even further.

            *he might have used another equally unpleasant word = can't remember.

            I am only supplying this to try to ease your curiosity, 4G

      2. That particular post was well beyond “a bit of smut” – quite revolting, and I spent 35 years in the RN so I am used to smut!!

      3. I think Sue got it right when she said he just put in the next page without reviewing. But then he dug his heels in – if he'd read it beforehand he would have seen what we saw, which really was dire. .

        1. I got the impression that regardless he was going to be upset that people objected and he felt he was the injured party, whatever the true facts of the case.

          1. I agree, but am very, very sorry that he felt like that and hope that he will return here

          2. I've known Tom (on this forum) some time. I feel he can, at times, be his own worst enemy.

          3. Aren't we all. Connors? The sad thing with Tom is that he complains of unhappiness due to isolation and now he has cut himself off from a hugely supportive community just to prove a quite ridiculous point

          4. He's been complaining about isolation for a while but he's been given the solution (he lives in RAF sheltered housing and all he had to do was contact RAFA and he would have been put in touch with a befriender) and never done anything about it although I've given him the details on more than one occasion and told him that HE has to make the contact; people can't do it for him.

          5. God helps them who help themselves and God help those who don’t – springs to mind.

  99. That's me done for today. Spent the morning on the Archery field with a recurve bow and great instructors (one an old school ex-police firearms chap) Good night all.

  100. Well, I think I'll have an early night. So Good Night, chums, sleep well, and see you all tomorrow.

  101. Well, I don’t suppose it was him personally, I think the offending phrase was ‘hit you’ and it was taken out of context by a computer somewhere. I won’t take offence at our lovely Elon just yet!

  102. I can well believe it. I just can't comment because I never saw anything – honest, guv! 🙂

    1. TR must be hanging out in a foreign country, given that he still appears to be a free man. There is not a chance for him here. I listened to the black belt barrister on the online safety Act. Basically, you can be charged for just about anything you say on electronic media. Hang on, there is a knock at the door….

    1. Let us never forget the rot that has eaten away at the judiciary in these troubled times. It is not possible to say what I think of these judges for fear of having a lifetime being kept warm and fed in a small room by the state. But I will never forget their judgements.

    2. Let us never forget the rot that has eaten away at the judiciary in these troubled times. It is not possible to say what I think of these judges for fear of having a lifetime being kept warm and fed in a small room by the state. But I will never forget their judgements.

    3. why is it an imprisonable offence to wave an England flag within our realm? It can't be, can it?

      1. Recent 'hate' legislation and the 'on line safety Act' have not really been examined closely by anyone. But the State has been quick to use the wide ranging powers contained therein which few people noticed. The OL safetly bill was built around stupid teens topping themselves after looking at the internet, but the clever lawyers built in a pleathora of sections for the state to use against its detractors. We have been oppressed without noticing it.

    5. The judiciary have been captured by Soros globalists for the last several decades. The Masonry connections have existed for a century and more, not only infecting the judges but also the Metropolitan Police and the many institutions they preside over such as The Court Service.

      I speak with some experience as an Architect. It is impossible to gain Court Service work without some Freemasonic rank. This explains the abysmal quality of the Court buildings built in the last fifty years.

      The Supreme Court is the prize example of a beautiful building, Middlesex Guildhall, desecrated by buffoons and now populated by legal placement puppets.

  105. We've noticed it alright. It's just that we can see no way of stopping it. It is relentless.

  106. What are your thoughts on the idea that it is cruel to ride horses, as the Telegraph is now saying? (off into basket now, just too depressed to carry on)

    3. Stupidity, as Grizzly says, is a true epidemic that is sweeping this country at an alarming rate.

  108. Robert F Kennedy Jnr has put paid to Kamala Harris, the Democrats and the Deep State. We can all breathe more easily.

    A Trump Vance Kennedy ticket is now unassailable.

    The icing on the cake is the imminent defeat of Ukraine for which Two Tier Keir Starmer is about to pay an enormous price having pledged our support to Ukraine in perpetuity without having either the authority or our agreement to such imbecilic excess. Nobody voted for this stupid fucker.

    I wager Starmer will be out of office and in ignominy by the US Presidential election in early November.

Comments are closed.