Sunday 25 December: Like Churchill, President Zelensky has inspired his country to heroic resistance

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

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

518 thoughts on “Sunday 25 December: Like Churchill, President Zelensky has inspired his country to heroic resistance”

  1. Home from Midnight Mass, thought I may as well post the new page now.

    And wishing a suitably Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all residents of Nottleland…

    1. Thank you, Geoff for a year’s worth of fun, companionship and help.

      My very best wishes to you and our NoTTLer fraternity.

    2. My sincere thanks to you, Geoff (formerly MiddleLandExile or MLE) for creating such a wonderful site which has enriched my life so joyously over the years and continues to do so with friends old and new.

      1. As I’ve said elsewhere, Stig deserves the credit. I merely used his research to ‘entice’ former DT Letters Breakfast Club types to go elsewhere. Happy Christmas, and best wishes for the New Year…

        1. Well, my sincere thanks to Stig too, Geoff, for helping to set it up. And, of course, for all NoTTLers for making it such warm and welcoming place.

    3. ‘Morning, Geoff. Thanks for another year of Nottlr debate, a shining example of how it should be done!

      May you and yours enjoy a happy and peaceful Christmas.

      And now, for you and your band of followers, a poem sent to me late yesterday:

      Well, happy Christmas mateys, you can’t get on a train,
      The Border Force is striking, so you can’t get on a plane,
      The nurses on the picket line feel underpaid and wronged,
      And if you need an ambulance, the wait could be prolonged.
      No turkey on the table, the blighter’s got the flu,
      Here’s a Yuletide sausage, one’ll have to do, Let’s raise a glass of water, with blankets on our knees,
      And drink to festive merriment, as we gently freeze.

      Pam Ayres 2022

      Happy Crimbo!

      1. ‘Afternoon, Hugh. Gotta love Pam Ayres. I’ve managed to source a couple of stuffed turkey breasts from cookfood.net (a whole bird could last me till Easter (which, coincidentally, is when I’m hoping most of my Christmas Seasonal Holidays* cards will have arrived. *see Google…

    4. ‘Morning, Geoff. Thanks for another year of Nottlr debate, a shining example of how it should be done!

      May you and yours enjoy a happy and peaceful Christmas.

      And now, for you and your band of followers, a poem sent to me late yesterday:

      Well, happy Christmas mateys, you can’t get on a train,
      The Border Force is striking, so you can’t get on a plane,
      The nurses on the picket line feel underpaid and wronged,
      And if you need an ambulance, the wait could be prolonged.
      No turkey on the table, the blighter’s got the flu,
      Here’s a Yuletide sausage, one’ll have to do, Let’s raise a glass of water, with blankets on our knees,
      And drink to festive merriment, as we gently freeze.

      Pam Ayres 2022

      Happy Crimbo!

    6. Merry Christmas, and thank you for this site. Although i have never met any Nottlers, I feel amongst like-minded friends.

          1. Hi Paul. I might possibly be in East Devon (Topsham) next week for a few days, RMT permitting. There’s not much in the way of trains between the two, and I assume that neither of us are driving. But I’m more than happy to meet up if we can sort out the logistics…

          2. Our (fixed) itinerary is Mon & Tues in Cardiff, Wed return to N Devon, smart lunch Thurs, home Friday, so tbh, I don’t see much opportunity, I’m afraid.
            That’s a right bugger.

        2. Hi, Jools. Glad to hear OH is home. I think it’s possible to have genuine online friends without ever meeting them. But it’s even better if you can meet them.

    9. Merry Christmas Geoff, this oasis of thought in the midst of the supine media information desert does more for mental health than ‘care in the community will ever achieve. Thank you for your efforts. Merry Christmas to all Nottlers.

      1. And the same to you, FTC. Rik made a similar comment. Perhaps if we enlisted H & M as Nottlers, their undoubted Mental Health Ishoos could be resolved, and they’s shut the fuck up? Thought not…

  2. Good morning, Geoff, and thank you.

    A Merry Christmas to all Nottlers and I wish you good health and happiness in 2023.

    4. Good morning and Merry Christmas to you John and your loved ones.
      Good to see you this day.

  3. Here is a toast, to all Nottlers, that I wanted to post Christmas Eve, but couldn’t remember all the words, (not in the right order, that is)

    Here’s to you and yours from us and ours, May us and ours have it in our powers,
    To do the same for you and yours, As you and yours have done for us and ours.

    From one of my Dad’s perennial toasts that come out at this time of year.

  4. ¡Feliz Navidad to all Nottlers!
    Some of you culture vultures may recall a songsmith and academic called Tom Lehrer; popular from the 1950s onwards, he is one mighty generous old cove.

    https://tomlehrersongs.com/
    Christmas comes but once a year; my apologies if the link was posted earlier, and please note Mr Lehrer clearly states that the website will be taken down in the not too distant future.

    1. Tom Lehrer was definitely of my time. I was growing up during the 1950s and his work was considered quite naughty at that time.

      1. At a time when aging rockers sell their back catalogues for big bucks, and streaming companies make billions on the backs of others, Tom Lehrer’s decision is wonderful.

      2. I’m nominating Spartie for sainthood.
        He had his breakfast an hour late today – and didn’t complain or even give me SIGNIFICANT LOOKS.

  6. Good morrow, Gentlefolks, today’s story. Have a Merry Christmas. :
    Brilliant Repartee

    For those who no longer listen to the ‘Today’ programme on Radio 4, this was the standard many years ago and this was repartee at its best:

    Right at the end of the programme one day, there was a discussion about the obscene cost of entry into Premiership football games – the cheapest £60, and £100 per game is common.

    An older chap being interviewed said he could recall many years ago arriving at the turnstile (it was probably West Ham United or Queen’s Park Rangers) to be told “That will be 10 Quid Mate”.

    “What!” the old chap said “I could get a woman for that!”

    The guy on the turnstile said…
    “Not for 45 minutes each way you wouldn’t – and a brass band in the Interval!”

    1. And a very good one on this happy Christmas Day, Tom. Thanks for all your morning humour. Long may it continue.

  7. I’ve had my cup (mug) of tea and at 05:37, I’m going back to bed – have a good and merry day y’all.

  8. Nobody likes the Rwanda scheme, but controlling migration demands tough choices. 25 December 2022.

    It follows from these four statements that we need to find a way of prioritising, of deciding who has the stronger case. And, if we do that, we need to find a way of turning back those whose claims we reject. If people can elbow their way to the front of the queue by paying traffickers, the system collapses.

    Which brings us to the Rwanda scheme. No one, from first principles, supports the transportation of illicit entrants from Kent to the Great Lakes. You don’t, I don’t, bishops don’t and Rishi Sunak doesn’t. Quite apart from the expense, there is something faintly distasteful about loading people onto flights to a country they have never set eyes on.

    It beggars belief that there is anyone still prepared to believe this guff! There’s more chance of my being sent to Rwanda than any Channel Hopping Albanian!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/12/24/nobody-likes-rwanda-scheme-controlling-migration-demands-tough/

    1. …there is something faintly distasteful about loading people onto flights to a country they have never set eyes on.

      I find being invaded from the sea and having to accommodate the unwelcome invaders who have never set their eyes on my Country, very distasteful.

    2. No, I don’t support it either. It’s an immense waste of money. Far better to turn them back in the channel. and prevent them ever getting here.

    3. I don’t think they do believe it, but the media and the blob does love a good wallow in the old fake outrage.

    4. It’s getting to the point where we might ‘volunteer’ to go to Rwanda and leave the Leftwaffe to it. Transferring pensions to a Rwandan post office will allow us to meet up for a weekly get together and the winters will be warmer.

  9. Merry Christmas to all us Nottlers! I hope you all have a wonderful day and everything you could wish for. Forget your troubles for a brief time and enjoy the spirit of the season and the joy of new birth! 😘🎄⛄️🍾

  14. Russia ‘killing for pleasure’ Zelensky tells world after market square missile attack. 25 December 2022.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ff6b218c13455c03029f3ce8c81b8dcfe357c975f4946329ec687b65ff5cd8b4.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/282f3c75c3489d81b6ea0012fe2228c855620f0a58936d2e5e54d83c3f1f95c1.png ”

    Russia bombed a busy marketplace in the recently-recaptured city of Kherson on Christmas Eve “for the sake of intimidation and pleasure”, Ukraine’s president said.

    At least eight people were killed and 58 wounded, officials said, when shells hit the city centre on Saturday morning leaving bloodied corpses scattered on the ground and shops burning.

    Though I’ve read countless examples of Lies and Disinformation about this War in the MSM I only comment on them occasionally. This is mostly because I don’t want to bore everyone and the PTB have whole armies of people writing this stuff and I’m only me! I covered this one yesterday but it is such an egregious example of Ukie Propaganda that I couldn’t resist it.

    You will note in the quote that they can’t even decide what actually happened. Missile strike; Bombed or Shelled. You pays your money and you takes your choice.

    The photographs show the same scene only differently. In the time between the first and second, one body has disappeared and the scene has gained a table and parasol. The hamminess of the acting appears to be a particular product of Ukrainian Culture.

    It’s tempting to put all this down to the Ukie Security Services but I wonder if it is in fact Private Enterprise raising its ugly head. There’s a market for this stuff and they pay well for it. All you need are a a couple of cars from the scrapyard (most of those used have flat tyres) a few dummies and a camera and it’s not like Mark Kermode is going to be examining the footage. Hey Presto. It’s an atrocity!

    Ukraine is now a war economy and to those of us who remember the Vietnam business it brings back memories of a rural society swamped by American largesse. Billions of Dollars, Pounds, Euros, and Foreign Aid of all kinds, are now being pumped into Ukraine and the Elites Bank Accounts so it would not be unnatural that a few entrepreneurs would like their share of the goodies. It’s impossible to know for sure, and certainly no one is going to tell us, but Ukraine is probably the world’s largest ever Black Market.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/12/24/russia-killing-pleasure-zelensky-tells-world-market-square-missile/

    1. Spot on. Zelensky is a place man put there by the CIA. He has the dirt on the Bidens and the Deep State Swamp Creatures of the US government. The latter use Ukraine for funnelling US taxpayer dollars back to themselves. The FTX donations to both Democrat and RINOs has exposed what we all suspected.

      Zelensky is not fit to tie Churchill’s bootlaces. He is a poison dwarf.

    2. The idea of it being ‘Christmas Eve’ is also suspect. A Ukrainian acquaintance of mine, no fan of Putin, celebrates Christmas on 6th January as the Orthodox Church uses the Julian calendar.

      A minor detail in the scheme of things but yet another error in the soap opera script that is the Zelensky Show.

  15. Russia ‘killing for pleasure’ Zelensky tells world after market square missile attack. 25 December 2022.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ff6b218c13455c03029f3ce8c81b8dcfe357c975f4946329ec687b65ff5cd8b4.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/282f3c75c3489d81b6ea0012fe2228c855620f0a58936d2e5e54d83c3f1f95c1.png ”

    Russia bombed a busy marketplace in the recently-recaptured city of Kherson on Christmas Eve “for the sake of intimidation and pleasure”, Ukraine’s president said.

    At least eight people were killed and 58 wounded, officials said, when shells hit the city centre on Saturday morning leaving bloodied corpses scattered on the ground and shops burning.

    Though I’ve read countless examples of Lies and Disinformation about this War in the MSM I only comment on them occasionally. This is mostly because I don’t want to bore everyone and the PTB have whole armies of people writing this stuff and I’m only me! I covered this one yesterday but it is such an egregious example of Ukie Propaganda that I couldn’t resist it.

    You will note in the quote that they can’t even decide what actually happened. Missile strike; Bombed or Shelled. You pays your money and you takes your choice.

    The photographs show the same scene only differently. In the time between the first and second, one body has disappeared and the scene has gained a table and parasol. The hamminess of the acting appears to be a particular product of Ukrainian Culture.

    It’s tempting to put all this down to the Ukie Security Services but I wonder if it is in fact Private Enterprise raising its ugly head. There’s a market for this stuff and they pay well for it. All you need are a a couple of cars from the scrapyard (most of those used have flat tyres) a few dummies and a camera and it’s not like Mark Kermode is going to be examining the footage. Hey Presto. It’s an atrocity!

    Ukraine is now a war economy and to those of us who remember the Vietnam business it brings back memories of a rural society swamped by American largesse. Billions of Dollars, Pounds, Euros, and Foreign Aid of all kinds, are now being pumped into Ukraine and the Elites Bank Accounts so it would not be unnatural that a few entrepreneurs would like their share of the goodies. It’s impossible to know for sure, and certainly no one is going to tell us, but Ukraine is probably the world’s largest ever Black Market.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/12/24/russia-killing-pleasure-zelensky-tells-world-market-square-missile/

  18. 369301+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Sunday 25 December: Like Churchill, President Zelensky has inspired his country to heroic resistance

    When ALL eyes are turned to following a star the odious overseers
    still slip in nasty propaganda

    Well meant advice from Ogga1 for 2023 ( need NOT be heeded),in regards to the ballot booth “shape up or ship our”…. to rwanda, we are currently in the throes of losing a nation this time next year we could very well be singing ode to joy, or shuffling along with a prayer mat tucked under the arm.

    These Isles are being handed over daily piecemeal by it’s political
    overseers to an alien force, this country has, via the ballot booth become one big Trojan gelding, it’s balls being sacrificed on the altar of, in name only parties, lab/lib/con/current ukip the
    Country killing coalition.

      1. 369301+ up ticks,

        Morning N,
        Have a nice one N and let us find the New year brings enlightenment to many just what they really have been supporting vote wise for decades.

      1. 369301+ up ticks,

        Afternoon C,

        Christmas greetings C,

        In regards to the down ticker I hope not,it’s input was conformation of being on target.

  20. Morning all.

    A Merry Christmas to each and every one of you.

    I’m off to spend the day with family, Ho Ho Ho!

  21. There are moments when the glamour model wife is absolutely stunning. Glorious in all her fluffy delight. Then there’s today, when she’s put on my threadbare dressing gown, hasn’t slept enough and had too much to drink last night.

    I still love her – but she’d better put more effort in!

  22. Attempting to keep the mood a tad lighter on this special day. However, we mustn’t take our eyes off of the ball, the bastards never rest.
    Courtesy of the BabylonBee.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/70f3777e5f3f40da76a897dc0799aba7a01ec6ad31272da0f634b1f2f6b1a002.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/50b1c4469bdb7769b624012002c7505fad029e5afd58725df4f3c129badf116c.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b280239e6decfeddfc30249aabe6de603f84973582a0166b42d0a26cb76421c7.png

  23. Just a quick visit, good morning all 🎅 Happy Christmas 🎄 to everyone. Have a lovely time.
    Many thanks to Geoff for your dedication and deliverance. 😊👍 we would be nothing with out you.

  24. Merry Christmas Folks!

    Trevor V the Turkey launched successfully at 7:30 am at 170 o Fan. Should be done by 11:30 and laid to rest (for one hour) for lunch with all the family!

    Whatever your plans for today I hope you all have a happy one and will join me around noon in raising a glass of medicine to Geoff!

    2. Skronk, you’re organised. Lunch is when I’m finished cooking it. Heck, folk here won’t finish breakfast until 11!

  25. Bit late on here today, got sidetracked watching a Stan & Ollie film on Talking Pictures

    I think I woke up the family laughing,

  26. ‘Morning All

    The very best of Christmas to all of the NoTTL crew and especially Geoff who has done more for mental health than huge swathes of the NHS……..

    Off to sister’s shortly for Slow roasted shoulder of lamb and all the trimmings

    Meanwhile……..

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/18cc34271c592043e0e9612f3e082b8d84ed758bfdad21a0f1af2642716f8a0b.jpg

    https://static.boredpanda.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/meme_1_line_700A-5bfd589880c29__700.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e58417b20815c145fc3b43e2f3f7e1b266878ea5d0eb4b6863d9eeb0025bdd83.jpg

    1. Mongo goes log pulling with me for exercise. He’s pulled our tree down many times and dashed about with it.

      It took Junior standing in front of it and saying no for him to stop.

    2. Just warming up the big old the bird to room temp ready to go into the oven.
      I do like roast lamb but the turkey is a family tradition.
      Doggo is licking her lips all ready.
      Slayders folks have a lovely day 😊

    3. Hey – that’s what we’re having! I got the recipe last year from the DT and it was so good we’re having the same again.

    4. Just love the dog one Rik. Thanks and have a lovely day at your sister’s.

      MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE xxx

    6. Thank you Rik. You make a good point. When the DT pulled Disqus comments, they clearly couldn’t care less about their BTL ‘community’. I was a relative latecomer to that happy band of posters, but the vacuum they created at breakfast time was a great loss. Stig should take much of the credit for posting lists of ‘regulars’. So in the early hours of 1st April 2016, I merely thought “well, someone needs to do it. I might as well.” In one sense, I created a monster. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine it would still be around nearly seven years later.

      My input these days is fairly negligible. Posting the new page each day gives me a reason to get out of bed, and it barely takes a minute. I feel the site has become an oasis of sanity in a dysfunctional world. That’s not my doing – it’s down to each and every Nottler. Other oases exist – TCW springs to mind.

      Just keep those memes coming, and Merry Christmas… 🎄🎄 🙂

      2. Thank you Geoff for this small corner of sanity in a hostile world. TCW terrifies me and I frequently seek refuge on nttl. It reminds me of how I perceived life to be in the 1950s.

  27. Good morning and a Merry Christmas all.
    Thank you Geoff for all you do and have done for us. I agree with Rik that you have created a great community of diverse, there’s a word I didn’t think I’d use, people who have the common good at heart.
    Everyone enjoy themselves with the friends and family you share today with.
    Off to son, dil and grandson a bit later for Christmas dinner. It seems to be the one day it’s not called lunch. Hooray.

    2. Thank you, John, and a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and Maggie. “All I do”, frankly isn’t very much in the scheme of things. It takes around a minute of copying and pasting for each new page. The text at the top of the page is in a Word document with date fields, so I don’t even have to think about what day it is. I quite like the self-imposed deadline of 7 am each morning. Without it, I could get lazy in retirement…

      2. Geoff, you are like the man with the key to the safe. He may ‘only’ unlock the safe but without the key holders input nobody could get at their money. You are the key holder.

  29. Happy Christmas day everyone

    Do have a blessed and wonderful Christmas but remember brussel sprouts are devil’s balls and nasty little things that you only have to eat once a year x

    1. They are very small and fiddly this year so they take twice as long to peel. But even OH managed to eat a couple last night and said they tasted nicer than he thought

  30. Happy Christmas, all Y’all!
    Hissing down with rain here in North Devon. Hope your weather is better.

    2. Very clever.
      Talking of decorations, we have been watching the programmes on stately homes decorating for Christmas.
      Given the splendour and the number of people involved, do they actually make a profit on the exercise?

        1. I think Holkham was the last programme we watched.
          We have travelled as far as Capel St. Mary in the past few days. Can’t cope with more excitement.

          1. Hit and run trip?
            North of the line Orford – Lavenham and you’re in wild country; here be MONSTERS!😉

          4. Reminds me of living in Hindhead. You could buy jaccuzis, ride-on lawnmowers or BMWs. Food, not so much. So my bright red company Mondeo used to be pointed at by small children. “Mummy, what sort of BMW is that?”

  33. Merry Christmas everyone!

    Churchill and Zelensky? I never knew WSC was a money laundering drag act?

  34. Like Churchill, President Zelensky has inspired his country to heroic resistance

    Zelensky is much better than Churchill,

    Churchill could only get loans in exchange for the Empire.

    Zelensky gets given Billions

    I suppose he is surrendering his country to the forces of globalism though, at the end of the day.

    2. When I see things like this it’s the folk now having to buy a new car, or who can’t now drive to the shops/family. Through no fault of their own except the actions of brutal criminal thugs they likely didn’t want in their country anyway, they’ve got to deal with useless insurance companies.

      1. 369301+ up ticks,

        Morning Lim,

        Eventually they will get round to warm air blowers instead of solid fuel (coal) heaters inside vehicles.

        One spark could trigger a revolution..

        1. Yes. When the Gilets Jaunes and others gathered outside the Elysée a couple of years ago, the army had a helecopter on ready to lift Macron to safety.

          The French do moan for a long time, but when they have really had enough they tend to shorten their leaders.

  36. A good point made here:
    Flexible working
    SIR – A large proportion of people cannot work from home – probably the majority. Construction, manufacturing, retail, transportation, retail, distribution, plumbers, electricians, gardeners, cleaners – the list goes on.

    Those who can work from home should be careful what they wish for. It means someone overseas could do their job at a lower rate.

    The recent government proposals to make flexible working the default for employees put staff at the top of the agenda, with customers not even mentioned. One afternoon I phoned an organisation and was told that most of its staff work in the mornings. It was suggested I call back then. I didn’t. I took my business elsewhere.

    Les Sharp
    Hersham, Surrey

    1. Strangely enough, as I work almost exclusively on the phone and computer for our largest national public security organisation, I have occasionally wondered whether I could not live in my house in Auvergne and do the same job.

      At the moment they are insisting we come in twice a week (in my new role), previously it was three times. The organisation are saving on office space as well.
      I think it will still be a while before they farm this off to some philipino, but you never know, the way things are going.

  37. Good Morning friends,

    May you all have the Merriest of Christmases and look forward to a happy & healthy 2023

  40. Good Moaning, Everyone.
    Have a lovely day.
    Try not to catch the inevitable Christmas ‘something going about’.

    2. Too late, I fear the DT may have a nondescript winter lurgy. She was up for a hot lemon in the small hours.

    3. My neighbour whom i am dining with today has told me she is full of cold but we are going for it anyway.

        1. Happy Christmas to you and yours.

          Dosed up in advance. When i get back i will use a nasal spray and gargle with whiskey.

      2. Best of luck. Will up to date?

        When I told neighbour that the MR had a cold – she declined to come fr a drink….”don’t want to be near her when she is ill…”

        I replied that the MR was NOT ill – she had a cold…..

        1. Thanks and yes the Will is up to date.

          I expect you are making that poor woman cook your Christmas dinner !

          1. Hush your mouth!

            The MR is at church. When she returns, we will go to Blakeney to see the sea – taking with us a flask of trombetti soup and sausage sandwiches.

            This evening, there will be a light supper. Yes, the MR cooks it. She adores catering.

          5. Ditto.

            Oddly, French mustard is unavailable in France because of a world shortage of mustard seed.
            Yer French get their mustard seed from Canada.

            In the UK, on the other hand, mustard seed is readily available……

  41. Good morning and a Merry Christmas to one and all!
    4°C outside and looking a bit dull and miserable, but at least it’s not raining!

  43. 369301 + up ticks,

    Ogga1,

    Send him to a pakistani nick.

    Gerard Batten
    @gjb2021
    ·
    Dec 22
    There is a struggle between the piss takers & the system. So far the piss takers are winning by a mile.

    Put him in the wing with the rapists & pedos & ask them to do a spot of baby sitting.

    https://gettr.com/post/p22oan7a0be

    1. We have mentally ill people in our society, or maybe this one is just taking the pee. The real crime here is those who indulge these type of fantasies.

  44. Happy Christmas to all of you.

    We have had a little Christmas miracle cross fingers . Jack woke from his floppy state leaning over head tilt yesterday evening .. and he walked with a stagger to the patio door and went outside and wee’d .. he came back inside and drank on his own .. no syringe needed.. I had earlier had to give him 4 large syringe full of water every hour .. to get his fluid balance back up .. he also ate a little bit of food.. I am amazed by his stoicness and strength . His chest is very rattly but he is on antibiotics and half a Stugeron for his motion sickness , plus his other pills . . He slept well next to our bed and came down stairs with Jerry carrying him , outside for a wee , and then his breakfast and more pills .. now asleep next to my chair . How long this continues , cross fingers , no one knows , but we thought we had lost him yesterday. He is still a bit wobbly, like standing on the deck of a yacht, rolling .

    All of your good wishes must have reached here and given us more time with Jack . Thank you everyone .

    Moh is really lurgy ridden , not Covid .

    No 1 son ran in the Weymouth 5k park run yesterday, and cleared off this morning to run in the 5kChristmas day park run , there is no holding him back .

    Oh well , yes it is a mild day, and drizzling , and there are loads of black birds running after each other , and the pigeons are doing what pigeons do !

    1. Happy Christmas, Maggie.
      And thank goodness; fingers firmly crossed.
      Funny you should mention pigeons, there’s one cooing like heck outside our window. Thinking back, we’ve not heard them for weeks.

    2. So pleased to hear this Belle, our pets manage to KBO just as we do. May you have a peaceful, worry-free Christmas. Peace of mind is the best gift of all. I hope your man gets through Christmas comfortably, it is horrid having a lurgy at this time of the year. Happy Christmas to you and your family.

      1. Caviar comes from the virgin sturgeon
        The virgin sturgeon’s a very fine fish
        The virgin sturgeon needs no urgin’
        That’s why caviar is my dish

    4. Oh no – I missed that yesterday – has Jack had a stroke? I hope he continues to recover.

      We’re well here, and J is gradually getting back to somewhere near normal. Younger son is here, and the elder one due to arrive at some time today. Time to get busy in the kitchen…..

    6. Happy Christmas to you, Maggiea, nd your family and doggies. Glad Jack has come back closer to normality, paws crossed for him.

    7. Had a cough this last two days, thought I was going to be cold-ey for Christmas, but washed it out with a goodly volume of fine local ale last night. Feeling much improved today, despite the occasional sneeze.

  45. Good morning, dear Nottlers. Overcast and gloomy here. I have now got to dig out my party frock (and probably the iron) to get ready to go to our younger son’s home for Christmas lunch/dinner. Our son and his wife are recovering from the same virus from which I am recuperating. Two days ago our elder grandson was sick during the night, his mum later awoke to find her eye lid painful and swollen requiring antibiotics, their younger son had a temperature of just over 100F. He doesn’t want to be more than five seconds away from mummy. The inlaws had just arrived, yesterday our son’s wife’s father was sick. And we are venturing forth into this hell-hole in two hours time.

    Oh, happy, happy Christmas. See you all later.

    1. Oh dear…..I hope you survive it! I think you should have said you were still too ill to go……

        1. A bit frail, but gradually getting back to somewhere near normal – taking his 14 different meds……. it’s good to have him here at home.

    2. Oh dear…..I hope you survive it! I think you should have said you were still too ill to go……

  46. Joyeux Noel, a tous!
    And is Graham choosing the most absurd and annoying titles from the DT to give us something to rant at in the morning, or is it all this rubbish?

  47. 369301+ up ticks,

    When the incoming numbers finally make the indigenous a minority, will they have a say in whether or not Rwanda is suitable for them ?

    Nobody likes the Rwanda scheme, but controlling migration demands tough choices
    Too many commentators, including among the clergy, seem to think that trade-offs can be avoided

    Would they be of the same mindset if it were English / British that were going ?

  48. The best BTL comment to appear on a Yuletide DT article on the the Duke and Duchess of Sussex was a simple comment by a woman called Eileen Briers. She puts Clarkson in the shade!

    All I want to read about this vile narcissistic pair is their obituaries .

    2. A bit harsh. I thought it was too good to be true that they wanted to disappear into obscurity, and it was.

      1. Obscurity beckons though. When they run out of dishing the dirt and people are generally bored with their whinging, as they inevitably will be, what have they got left?

        She a reasonably employable TV actress… and him? He’s not the sharpest knife in the draw.

        2. actress? yes, she certainly deserves an Oscar for her acting so far
          Him? he’s just cockeyed

    3. When they said theye were disappearing into obscurity for a ‘private life’ I thought, fair dues.

      Then they went to stay at a massive mansion and started bleating on social media. At that point any respect for them evapporated. She is clearly a typical narcissist who is using the children for leverage, he’s lost and feeding her with his own spite. When Charles finally gives in and removes their titles they will have nothing and she’ll leave him and he will be alone.

      She’s erased any sense of baalnce in a frenzied need to sell out HIS family. She knows it’s time limited.

      The who farce is disgusting. The saddest part is now much Harry is being used and can’t see it.

      1. Muslims are well known for their mental health problems but that doesn’t stop them jumping the queue.

        If we still had the asylums those wreckages of men could be treated for their drug problems and PTSD.

        1. Yup. We had chronic patients who would ‘escape’ every so often. We knew exactly where to find them (and it wasn’t in a cosy house provided by the tax payer).

  52. Enough already! It has been snowing without a break since Friday morning so I guess that a white Christmas is in order. It is going to be quiet as well, all roads in the county were closed on friday night and they have not yet been re-opened.

    Ah well, plenty of wine, the car is nicely tucked up inside and we don’t need to go anywhere. Time for an old fashioned Mery Christmas.

  53. Moronic question of the day

    “an expert witness for the British Columbia College of Nurses and Midwives (BCCNM) said lesbians must examine why they are not attracted to heterosexual males who identify as women and therefore believe themselves to be lesbians.”

    1. That’s a two bottles of Bailey’s question.
      (Glug, glug, glug ….) And the arnsher ish ….. “Who caresh ……”
      Thud.

    2. Because heterosexual males who identify as women are not women.

      Glad to see the alphabet people are at war with each other.

    3. I have been a Lesbian since 1961
      Love making love to wimmen

      All those who joined the RN, as opposed to the WRNS, at the same time as I did were too, were too

    4. You’d think the answer was obvious – because they’re men – but the Left cant cope with facts.

  54. “Christmas is about light in the darkness…on Christmas Day, I have no wish to look backwards into the dark. The longest night is behind us now…light and warmth must return.”

    Neil Oliver’s Christmas message last year. If only he had known what lay ahead…

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35XtHDcrwA4

    1. I’m sorry mate. It’s going to get a lot worse before it can get better. It’ll get better the moment the useless politicians are removed from damaging our country. Then things will improve.

  55. Merry Christmas to all!
    Sprouts defrosted and gradual preparations to commence. The Chianti last night was super and we have another bottle to go with Tom Turkey.
    Have a great day, Y’all.

    1. Righty, do those preparations involve a bin liner? I hope so. Save people from this most awful of vegetables.

      1. Sprouts really are appalling. It’s Nature’s joke to cram all the flavour [sic] of a savoy cabbage into a bud not two inches in diameter.

          1. No one – absolutely no one likes sprouts. Some people pretend they do, but they’re sufferong a vegetablist Stockholm syndrome.

            Help is on the way!

          3. I like sprouts. I have tried for over 60 years to grow them. Never the remotest success. And at 19p a pound…what is point??

          4. I remember as a child that my mother wasn’t successful with sprouts for several years, but at a certain point she must have figured them out, because we had copious amounts of fresh sprouts after that.
            I thought the same as you until I started buying my veg at the farm shop and sprouts are one of the most expensive things there! They are also a lot fresher than the supermarket ones.

          5. Funny thing, growing veg. I produce fabulous tomatoes, beans, beetroot and onions (and salad stuff), broccoli, cav nero and curly kale. But FAIL dismally on peas, cauliflour, sprouts, celery, fennel..

          6. Ha!
            I tried peas a couple of years ago, and they produced very little. Not sure why.
            Tried cauliflowers last year, very disappointing. They didn’t heart up at all, and were very tough (I probably left them too long in the vain hope that they might get a bit more substantial).

            I’m currently planning the vegetable garden for next year – I want to grow the most expensive things as well as stuff that will stay in the garden or keep into the winter.
            I live near a lot of potato farmers, so can always get those, but was thinking of trying sweet potatoes instead, because they cost a fortune in the shops and should keep into the winter.
            Also going to grow a lot of small pumpkins and squashes – I have one from last year’s harvest, and it’s still good.
            Am going to try Savoy cabbages, sprouts and leeks for fresh veg in autumn/winter.
            Beans are a necessity because they’re so good for the soil, plus they’re expensive and nice, so a double bonus.

            I recently discovered that lamb’s lettuce can be grown all year round in the garden. Was talking to a woman I met who said that when she was a child in the 60s she remembers scraping snow off the lamb’s lettuce for a winter salad.

          7. Where is Jennifer SP when we need her!
            Peas and cauliflowers are more successfully grown on a large scale, because the substandard items can simply be rejected; peas via machine sorting and cauliflowers by the picking team. There was a cauliflower field near here earlier this year and the sheep prospered on the vast amounts of leftovers.

        1. As long as there’s good gravy, I’d be happy with a meal of sage & onion stuffing on it’s own.
          Sprouts for the next meal… 😀

          3. I’m about to cook cubed roast potatoes in the air fryer, vichy carrots and a large steak, followed by clootie dumpling and cream. Bugger the B/S level

          4. When I were Nobutalad, Yorkshire Pudding (Flat n. Thick) with Gravy always the First Course at my grandma’s house

          7. And there were local sayings about the more Pudding you ate, the more meat you would get. Of course, if you filled up with YP, you would not have much room for the meat.

          8. I mix some sage and onion with hot water to form a loose paste and add it to mashed spuds. Fashion the spuds into a round shape, sprinkle grated cheese on top and put under the grill

    3. Have a good one LotL. Just waiting for the Beef Rib to cook, should be eating by 5. FinLaw and my mother as guests.

  56. Reading about and looking at pictures of the snowbound state of middle America, I’m amazed that these areas were explored and settled a couple of centuries ago when housing, clothing and transport were nowhere near as efficient as they are now.
    I know this doesn’t happen to the same degree every year, but it happens often enough to make those areas pretty inhospitable to human life.

    1. CT could be as bad. You were OK as long as the power stayed on but otherwise it was horrible.

    2. The wagon trains of settlers have always amazed me. Immigrants like that made the US, and it’s not surprising that the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution was what it was.

          1. No, they were heading west and a nasty snowstorm occurred and they were stranded. Long story short, they resorted to cannibalism- human kebabs.
            There is still a pass in the mountain range called the Donner Pass. I will have to google to refresh my memory.

        2. I’ve seen the odd documentary about it. Started the donner kebab trade I believe. Bad joke, sorry.

        4. Cripes, I’ve just read about it.
          Not yer average Christmas read, but it certainly added to the sum of my knowledge.

      2. Quite. Imagine weeks – probably months – kipping down in a tent on wheels. And the natives were not welcoming: like driving through Tower Hamlets.

        1. There’s only one western I know of that showed some of the worst parts of the journey. An old one, but well worth watching. ‘The Big Trail’, made in 1930.

          1. Just flying out to the west coast is enough. Seemingly endless mountains and you have to wonder at how they found a way for the horse drawn wagons to travel through the rockies

          2. Emptied them and lowered them by ropes and pulleys, animals and all. Check out ‘The Way West’ and ‘The Big Trail’ films.

  57. Dinner in the Wibbling household is going to be around 3pm. Everyone is complaining and hungry.

    Except the MiL, who is blotto and pinned down by Ozzie. Mongo and Junior are floating about raiding sausage rolls and cheese biscuits from yesterday,

  58. I’ve just found a Christmas present for my wife’s mother in the loft. I’ll take it up to her later

    Her: I want another baby.
    Me: That’s a relief. I didn’t like this one either.

    “I hope Santa puts a new watch in my stocking!” laughed the wife.
    “Why don’t you hang up your knickers?” hubby replied, “You might get a grandfather clock.

    1. If the ML lived in the loft she’d be in the same house and murder before lunch time. There’s a reason we moved her out!

  59. I wish the makers of avocadoes could find another toy to put in them. I’m tired of the wooden balls.

  60. Lunch delayed… MiL turned the oven to grill, not cook. Time for another cider or 2 before we eat, then.

    1. I sympathise with your MiL – the cooker in the house in France was unbelievably complicated and easy to get wrong. Useless symbols inadequately explained.

  62. Well, that was fun. Went to the beach at Blakeney. They wanted MONEY on Christmas Day, for heaven’s sake. It never occurred to me or the MR to take some cash. Moved along the coast. Next place wanted MONEY.

    Had the TROMBETTI soup – delicious plus the sossage sangwidges.

    Then came home. Went for our usual walk round the fields!! No one asked for MONEY.

    Then, as I was changing my footwear, discovered an infestation of mites/fleas/aphids in the porch …. So last hour spent disinfecting, washing machine full blast….

    Bet The woke joke “king” doesn’t have to do all that.

      1. Just the sodding carpark. Grrr.

        However, had it NOT been for our crossness, we would not have discovered the insect infestation….!!!

        1. When Christo was at Gresham’s we made a tour of the Norfolk coast with him and were very shocked to see how much they wanted for parking in completely deserted carparks so we refused to pay.

  63. Just listened to and watched the King’s Speech. It was a typically rehearsed and good speech but am I not alone in detecting a certain insincerity. The King is afterall a globalist and de facto believes in population reduction and rule by a powerful elite.

    There is high hypocrisy in fine words when our own government houses illegals in five star hotels whilst our veterans are left to rough sleeping on the streets of our cities, when migrants rape our children and stab each other, when the imports ruin the peaceful
    lives of the majority with thieving and drug trafficking. It is no credit to us that many are reliant on food banks; this is not a good or creditable thing as portrayed. There are many good people but very few good politicians.

    1. His belief in people… So he fired his Mother’s Lady in Waiting at the drop of a hat and continues to crap on his brother. I see.

        1. Quite. If King Charles believed in people and their best interests he would not be slavishly promoting the Net Zero and Great Reset agendas of the WEF and the WHO among other ‘private clubs’ comprised of billionaires.

          The preponderance of fucking useless wind generators standing idle having consumed billions in subsidies for already wealthy landowners and acres of solar panels, now covered in snow, has led directly to the energy poverty the real reasons for which he tries to ignore.

          I weep for our nation with this over privileged fool at its head.

          2. Whilst not disagreeing with you, Charles III has even less influence over events than the motley, dysfunctional collection of spivs in the HoC.The levers of power are all very well, but they’re not connected to anything. As long as the Snivel Serpents rule the roost, there’s no poin in voting, since the politicos have zero influence.

    2. I also found it very fake.
      I think it came across as a bit of a sermon, but I’m used to hearing sermons from vicars who really do believe in what they’re saying, and I did not get that feeling from Charles.
      And what was with the clips of the royal family interspersed with O Little Town of Bethlehem at the end?!
      I did a double take when “no ear may hear his coming” was played along with film of Charles advancing down the street.

      You can’t get away from it, that Charles was bemoaning the hardships caused to ordinary people by the actions of him and his billionaire chums at Chatham House/Pilgrims/Bilderberg/WEF.

  64. Just listened to and watched the King’s Speech. It was a typically rehearsed and good speech but am I not alone in detecting a certain insincerity. The King is afterall a globalist and de facto believes in population reduction and rule by a powerful elite.

    There is high hypocrisy in fine words when our own government houses illegals in five star hotels whilst our veterans are left to rough sleeping on the streets of our cities, when migrants rape our children and stab each other, when the imports ruin the peaceful
    lives of the majority with thieving and drug trafficking. It is no credit to us that many are reliant on food banks; this is not a good or creditable thing as portrayed. There are many good people but very few good politicians.

  65. The King’s speech ..

    So we really are a multi racial , multi faith country .. Confirmed by him .

    We are done for , well and truly.

    He used politics to his own advantage .. The spoilt pampered King of many castles .

    1. I note Charles kept going on about The Light
      But he is one of the architects of insuring that nobody can afford to switch on the light

  66. “Charles pointedly praised the selfless dedication of our “emergency services who work tirelessly to keep us all safe”.”

    Er – are they not all on strike?

    1. Same comment made here.
      How about praise to the humble taxpayer, without whom none of this would be possible?

  67. Friend just rang from England, said Charlie made a very good King’s Speech. Good, about time he did something right.

      1. Judging by the other replies my mate must have missed it too. He really must learn the difference between the weather forecast and the King’s Speech.

      2. I only watched it because Jim, our Irish friend who is spending Christmas with us, wanted to watch it. Caroline, Henry and Jessica all gave it a miss.

    2. Too anodyne – too embracing of faiths other than Christianity for my taste.

      I shall never forgive him and his elder son for the way they treated Lady Hussey. And the poor old woman felt obliged to make an apology to the mock African charlatan, Fullanus, which was a very grave mistake.

  69. I ought to have put these recordings up before now. I found them 13 years ago when Heffer wrote the article in the Telegraph that I have included in full below. It was one paragraph that made me search for RVW’s piece:

    For my favourite, though, we have to go back to Vaughan Williams, and his setting of This is the Truth Sent from Above, which begins his Fantasia on Christmas Carols. It is a ravishingly beautiful tune in a minor key that conveys not just the awe that Christians feel at the notion of the Creation, and the story of the Bible, but also the full hardness, darkness and bleakness of the English winter. It is magnificent – too magnificent, I fear, ever to have untutored congregants at a carol service let loose on it. But you may just hear it this Christmas, and I hope you will see exactly what I mean if you do.

    I found several recordings that were warm, lush and operatic – anything but hard, dark and bleak – before stumbling upon this. It’s not a great recording technically and some of the comments criticise it for being too slow and the soloist a little flat in places. But the rather dry sound and the hard, echoing acoustic give This is the Truth Sent from Above just that wintry feeling that Heffer describes.

    Unfortunately the work is split into two:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FRtBVYYMW4

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JveXl0bLM1I

    I’d rather not hark to any more herald angels

    Simon Heffer longs to hear the old, traditional and unusual Christmas carols that rarely get an outing now

    Simon Heffer • 19 December 2009 • 6:12pm

    Nothing has given me more pleasure this week than the discovery that the Christmas carol While Shepherds Watched their Flocks by Night was once sung to the tune of On Ilkley Moor Baht ‘At. The BBC performed a rare public service in playing a performance of the carol with the familiar words set to this jolly tune, and I doubt I was the only member of the audience who thought it sounded a remarkable improvement. Is it too much to hope that at any carol service one has to attend in future years the change might be made, and we could all have a chance to sing along with the new tune? Perhaps the movement will start in Yorkshire, and work its way outwards.

    Each of us has a Christmas carol that stirs the blood and captures the very idea of what we think the festive season is meant to be: whether it be a profound religious sensibility, or an amalgam of nostalgia. The trouble is (and this is an unfashionable statement, but I shall make it none the less) that there may be only one or two carols that have that effect. The days have long gone for me, I fear, where I would find most of the rest acceptably jolly or charming. I find too many of them dirge-like, using remarkably few notes of the scale and sung at a plodding pace. Perhaps this was a ruse developed long ago to mask the fact that most people who form congregations are tone-deaf, and cannot sing, and so need all the help they can get.

    An examination of the hymnbook discloses that some of the worst offenders are old, dull, German tunes, or ones that have turned up from various other parts of stodgy Mitteleuropa. Yet they have enormous popularity, one suspects for sentimental rather than for aesthetic reasons, and they stick in the carol service programme like pieces of old chewing gum. If I never hear Silent Night again, it will be too soon. Yet there are also some surprises. The tune for Hark, the Herald Angels Sing may be an uplifting dirge, but it is a dirge none the less: and it was written by Mendelssohn, though for a cantata celebrating the development of printing. It was never intended as a Christmas carol, or to have any religious purpose whatsoever. That did not stop some meddlesome Victorian pinching the tune, putting it to words by an 18th-century divine, and plaguing us all with it ever since. My heart sinks when I see it in its inevitable place on a service sheet: for it seems one can no more have a carol service without it than one can have roast beef without Yorkshire pudding.

    The same is true of two other carols that seem to top and tail every service: Once in Royal David’s City, with its obligatory piping treble, and O Come All Ye Faithful, another offering from the dirge school of carolling. The origins of its tune appear to be lost in the central European swamps. Once in Royal David’s City is another early Victorian abomination, with words by Mrs C F Alexander set by H J Gauntlett, who clearly lacked only an X Factor to project his considerable talents more profoundly upon history. Perhaps it is only decades of hearing these same old tunes that has caused me to become jaded about them: perhaps they aren’t that bad after all. However, they certainly fail to excite: and perhaps it is a cue for those who plan carol services to vary the diet a bit, and to stop regarding certain tunes as compulsory.

    I must emphasise that I do not mean by this that those participating in these events should have inflicted on them carols from that ghastly sub-genre of happy-clappy, guitar-twanging, tambourine-thumping gruesomeness that has intruded into even the best carol services since the 1960s. I mean concentrating on some of the wonderful old tunes that most services regard as optional extras, but which are uniformly superb.

    Many of these are good because they have borrowed tunes from English folk-songs: rather as the old version of While Shepherds Watched… did. Indeed, when Vaughan Williams edited the English Hymnal in 1906, he pillaged the canon of English folk-songs to illuminate the words of many hymns. Perhaps the best known is O Little Town of Bethlehem, which was a Sussex folk-tune before it became one of the jollier carols.

    Apparently, the Church used to object to the secular nature of so many of these rather jolly tunes, associating any sense of enjoyment of music in a religious context with the influence of Satan. That was why it took so long for On Ilkley Moor to be approved by them for a carol, and presumably why any pompous tune by Mendelssohn (or any other composer, for that matter) won instant acceptance. By the time the Revd Mr Dearmer asked Vaughan Williams to do the English Hymnal at the beginning of the last century, those unenlightened times had passed, and those attending the services of the Church of England could at last participate in some decent music. Vaughan Williams himself was an agnostic, and perhaps it was his lack of encumbrance by any religious sensibilities – and particularly by some of those rather unattractive Victorian pieties – that gave him such success in the medium of church music.

    The best tunes do occasionally turn up in carol services, and are sometimes even entrusted to the congregation to sing. At Advent there are Hills of the North, Rejoice! and O Come, O Come Emmanuel, the former a tune by an English contemporary of Vaughan Williams, Martin Shaw, written in 1915, the latter a medieval French number. Then, as the great day approaches, there is Holst’s magnificent setting of In the Bleak Mid-Winter, Sullivan’s It Came Upon the Midnight Clear (words not by Gilbert, but by an American clergyman), and the 18th-century Lo, He Comes with Clouds Descending, from the era of Arne and Boyce, before English music’s century or so in the deep freeze.

    For my favourite, though, we have to go back to Vaughan Williams, and his setting of This is the Truth Sent from Above, which begins his Fantasia on Christmas Carols. It is a ravishingly beautiful tune in a minor key that conveys not just the awe that Christians feel at the notion of the Creation, and the story of the Bible, but also the full hardness, darkness and bleakness of the English winter. It is magnificent – too magnificent, I fear, ever to have untutored congregants at a carol service let loose on it. But you may just hear it this Christmas, and I hope you will see exactly what I mean if you do.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/simonheffer/6845544/Id-rather-not-hark-to-any-more-herald-angels.html

    2. Heffer has a point. Many carols are dismal dirges.

      Edit:
      My wife was watching the service in Westminster Abbey sponsored by the Princess of Wales.

      I never imagined that anyone would think some woman from the theatre singing that ghastly ‘Walking in the Air’ tune was in any way appropriate given the great depth of our own Christian musical heritage. I left the room in disbelief. These ‘Royals’ seem to me to be a bunch of uneducated philistines. God help us.

    3. But but, Wesley actually wrote Hark How All The Welkin Rings, not Hark the Herald. Sang While Shepherds Watched to the Ilkley Moor tune in church last week.

    4. “Nothing has given me more pleasure this week than the discovery that the Christmas carol While Shepherds Watched their Flocks by Night was once sung to the tune of On Ilkley Moor Baht ‘At.”

      That would work well on I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue.

  70. I thought the King made a good address. It was predominately Christian in message with a passing nod to those of other faiths.
    Always the bloody same here- Liz Truss was dismissed and now no-one wants the King.
    Have a merry remains of Christmas. I’m off.

    3. How do, Hat. Good to see from you, and hope you and yours are keeping well.
      Happy Christmas!

    5. Hi Hatman! Nice to see you! Hope Hanukkah is going well and the festive season is happy for you!

    6. Pud! Thanks for posting. Hope you are well. Happy Hanukkah!

      I think the likelihood of 2023 being happy and prosperous is… unlikely. We’re ruled by eejits. But let’s be positive.

    8. What ho! Hat.
      Long time no see.
      I’m pleased to observe that you’re still alive and kicking, long may it continue.
      All the very best to you and yours.
      I’m sure I speak for many:
      Return here more frequently, you’re missed.

  73. Well, the DT was actually ok when she got out of bed and we’ve all pulled together and got the Christmas Dinner done.

    Got a start made on the dishes and managed over 3/4 of them before back began aching and I had to stop. So sat relaxing listening to this:-
    https://youtu.be/FhgVJc6RZnQ

    After it finishes I’ll see if anyone else finished the dishes.
    Dr. Daughter & her boyfriend are due to arrive late tonight until Tuesday morning.

    1. Thanks, BoB. When I was involved with Mildenhall Music Club, we hosted the Norwich Waits. Lots of authentic instruments, but I wasn’t over impressed withbthe thinly-disguised analogue Philicorda GM 751. Thought they were an East Anglian thing. Clearly, I was wrong. I once had a GM 761, but I’m better now…

  74. Hallo all. Been out all day as my fellow acolyte in church this morning took me home for Christmas lunch with her family. Very kind. She’s Polish so we’ve had a good old natter about you know what. We agree that the Americans are up to no good and the Ukes will suffer as a result. I asked whether Ukrainian is just a regional dialect and was told yes, of course.

    2. Hi, Sue. Glad to see you made it home from Midnight Mass unmolested. I’ve played for five services in the last 24 hours. Two Crib services, which were very well attended – almost to pre Covid levels. Both reached three figures. Midnight Mass at Seale attracted 22 souls, but last year there were 12. Thanks, Welby, you utter oxygen thief.

      9 am Communion in the Saxon church at Wanborough. About a dozen worshippers. Don’t care – it’s my favourite church in the parish. On to Puttenham at 10.30, where we had twenty-odd, and a choir of one. But we still managed the Willcocks descants to Adeste Fidelis and Hark the Herald.

      The only way is up. Happy Christmas.

      1. I well remember services at our local church in the 50s with only about 12 there but sadly that church is now redundant.

      2. There weren’t as many last night as in previous years, but there were a good number in my usual church this morning (and about 24 in the choir compared with 8 last night!), which was pretty good considering a lot of people will have gone to Midnight Mass last night.

  75. I am signing off early. Zoom calls etc await. Then supper – the rest of the mutton accompanied by my almost last bottle of Ch Leoville-Barton 1986. The books say it is still at its peak. I have no idea because all wine tastes much the same to me…

    However, the MR has a tremendous palate – so she will either be delighted or not. And if not, I have an excellent “ordinary” red Domaine Grand Mayne – an outfit which I commend to NoTTLers who like a decent wine at a reasonable price. Especially interesting in Jan when they have their sales….

    Then I have to watch the woke joke “king” (about whose wittering BTLers on The Grimes are wetting themselves with adoration. So I know it will be shyte).

    So have a lovely evening. Tomorrow is another day.

    A demain

      1. And all the very best to you, Geoff – and, as always, very may thanks for creating this tribe of miscreants!!

    2. I, too, am off shortly. All I did of consequence today is spend two hours (12 noon to 2 pm) cooking my Christmas lunch of roast legs of lamb with all the trimmings: carrots, peas, sweetcorn, roast potatoes, brussel sprouts, pigs in blankets and cauliflower cheese, all washed down with a glass and a half of Argentinian Malbec. For dessert I had a light lemon fool. So it’s a quick surf of the Net to learn about The Donner party and (maybe) the King’s Speech (Charles III’s telecast, not the Colin Firth film). Scrooge with Alastair Sim will have to wait until tomorrow. A very good night to you all and sleep well.

        2. Prefer the French Malbec as the Argentinian version is a bit flat – the French has more body.

    3. We had a chateau bottled Bordeaux 2010 which was quite good. Not much sediment. The glasses we use on Christmas day were bought by my parents in 1946. The wine went well with the slow-roasted lamb shoulder.

      1. We’ve been eating off plain crockery and drinking out of kitchen glasses.
        The posh stuff is somewhere in a box – but whether in one of the Allan Towers’ packing stations or in a barn near the MCTC, is a moot point.

    4. Bill – I was expecting to see all my grandchildren on i-pad this evening but my 2 grand daughters are trapped by the bad weather in the USA and can’t can’t fly down from Portland Oregon to Texas for reunion with their brother and his wife and their parents.
      Perhaps I will see them next Saturday or Sunday.

    5. You will be alright with Chateau Leoville-Barton 1986. The same wines graded on the 1855 Classification have not altered in the intervening years, as far as I am aware.

  76. A man and a woman drowned in the River Tawe at 3am this morning near Swansea. Their car had driven into the water and their bodies were found in the water near the car. [Daily Telegraph]

      1. I don’t know Ndovu but it seems they managed to get out but drowned. Perhaps an accident? The DT didn’t name them.

  77. Greetings from France.
    We’ve had a Christian Christmas day, friends from various denominations, celebrating the day with much laughter, what more can one wish for?

    I hope you have all enjoyed togetherness.

  78. Dashing in to wish you all a Merry Christmas!! Currently juggling making dinner in an unfamiliar kitchen – I do like a challenge.

    I got a red plastic shower sponge thingy in my stocking this morning and (naturally) pinned it in my hair. No-one has noticed yet! 🤣🤣

      1. Nope. Currently in glamorous, rainy Solihull. Although therr was a nice sky between dog walk and cooking dinner.

        Except I can’t post it in a reply. 🤣 Never mind!

    3. Different kitchens – especially cookers – were an absolute curse in my private nursing days.
      You were trying to build up the patient’s confidence and praying you neither burnt the food nor blew up the house.

  80. I am now looking at the “news”, having just written about enjoying a Christian Christmas.

    My oh my, the Muslims in our community are as shitty as ever: now there’s a surprise.

    Liverpool star Mo Salah is criticised by Muslim fans for his picture of a Christmas tree alongside his wife and daughters with ‘#MerryChristmas’ on social media
    Mohamed Salah put his now traditional Christmas picture on social media
    The Liverpool star posted a photo with his family alongside a Christmas tree
    Salah has been accused of ‘cursing’ Liverpool with his annual festive post

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-11572735/Liverpool-star-Mo-Salah-criticised-Muslim-fans-Christmas-tree-post.html

    1. It’s a tiny minority of people. I had a wish for a happy Christmas from my Muslim chum and I wished him the same. He’s celebrating with his daughters – although his Christmas umper is truly hilariously bad.

      1. Probably true, but that tiny minority get publicity far beyond what they deserve.

        His truly hilariously bad Christmas “umper” would that be a camel by any chance?

        1. He had shepherds dancing back with donkeys. Green on red on white. Ghastly colours.

          And yes, but I’d present that the negative and abusive group don’t get *enough* publicity to identify and villify them.

      2. I’ve just had Christmas wishes sent from Muslim friends in Oman.
        After the last 2 years, it seems that shops and hotels have pulled the stops out with their festive celebrations.

    2. The US is meddling to ensure it keeps selling arms. However it’s notable that they’re giving away all the old equipment that’s cold war era and buying new to replace it.

      No wonder the defence industry wants the war to continue.

    3. Its a one sided battle at the mo with NATO attacking Russia. The time will come when Vlad decides that there will be little difference if he fights back and NATO formally enters the war. Vlad must make a move or this war will go on for years, I feel that time is soon.

      1. It’s all about the Dollar and US hegemony: it’s time someone put the US back in their box. The problem is that the administration they have at the moment, would think nothing of seeing Europe burn, if they achieved the result hoped for.

        1. Time is probably on Russia’s side; they only have to wait until the dollar collapses and BRICS have got a gold-backed international exchange currency up and running.

          1. The problem is that ‘backing the tiger into a corner – USA’ Russia maybe able to wait. Europe cannot, unless their governments see sense and ignore US pressure.
            We ‘UK’ on the other hand, will probably back the US, with unfortunate consequences.

          2. The Europeans seem to have meekly accepted their fate of being forcibly deindustrialised. Interestingly however, Germany seems to be dragging its heels on sending weaponry to Ukraine. Last week they claimed that all their tanks were mysteriously not working!

        2. When the Soviet Union collapsed, I said that was bad, as there was then no counterweight to the US.
          Looks like I was right.
          Bugger.

    1. I didn’t listen to every word, but that wasn’t the message I got. He speeched a dull and wetter version of those his Mother made, but then, he doesn’t have the experience yet. Kind of, middle-of-the-road.

        1. One lives in hope.
          Kong Harald does an excellent speech. This year may well be his last. Old, and not well.

    5. I think Muslims should be offended as much as possible. Until their welfare dependency is 0.7% rather than 70% they can shove off.

      1. I have a recording of ‘Sure on this shining night’ on a CD featuring the great soprano Roberta Alexander. It includes other wondrous compositions of Samuel Barber including Knoxville: Summer of 1915.

      2. Who was your assistant organist, Geoff? One of the two male singers, OR one of the two female singers, OR the male conductor? Surely not Samuel Barber, Benjamin Britten or Cecile Saint-Saens? Lol.

          1. Look for their rendition of “It’s A Sin To Tell A Lie”, Andrew. And let me know what you think.

          3. Got a cup of coffee and went on YouTube.
            “It’s A Sin To Tell A Lie”

            Country & Western? is not a musical genre that I particularly like.
            Having said that: they are certainly fun/talented, have bookmarked a few links for tonight when I can use my hifi.

  85. Evening, all. Merry Christmas! The writer of the headline letter has been drinking the Bbc koolade by the looks of things.

  88. We are advised not to judge all muslims on the action of a few lunatics, but we are advised to judge the actions of all gun owners on the action of a few lunatics.
    Strange, that.

    1. In the same way that every lunatic gun/knife/axe man is, by default — before big government admits it’s a muslim – a ‘Far Right Nazi sympathiser (ignoring that the Nazi’s were Left wing).

  90. The biggest governments in the world can’t stop a virus from spreading, but reckon they can stop the climate from changing, if you would only pay more tax.

    1. My anecdotal evidence from friends and colleagues agrees with that. More vaxx = more attacks of covid.

      1. Paul, in church and my group of retirement bunbgalows, they can’t restrain themselves from boasting that they’ve had their nth Covid jab. Fast forward a week or two, and they all have Covid.
        ‘Tis inexplicable, except it isn’t…

          1. My brother wished me a happy Xmas and said he has just got over Covid but was lucky because he was upto date with his boosters.
            Was shocked when I told him I’d not had Covid but then again, probably because I’d not had any gene therapy jabs.
            Such is life.

      2. And worse.

        Several of our friends who were jabbed up to the eyeballs got Covid at the same time as we did. For us it was no more than a mild cold – for them it was quite nasty.

        And now look at the USA suffering the worst winter ever – the New Ice Age is coming so we must put global warming scaremongering on the back burner in the deep freeze for the next millennia.

    2. While not stasticilly relevant, I’m surrounded by people who dutifully have their seventeenth booster.Two weeks later, they’re recovering from yet amnother nasty bout of Covid.

      But – imagine how much worse they would have been without the vaxx. Ha!

      1. It seems the British will slip to being an ethnic minority in their own country with barely a whimper, but with their vaccine passports.

  92. A friend of mine ives in Chicago, and tells me it’s not that dangerous.
    He works as a tail gunner on a school bus.

    3. Hmm. Helped by Mum?
      I was an expert at faking my children’s art and handicraft assignments that they were too inept or unenthusiastic to do. I became very good at the exact level that the teacher would accept without suspecting that it had been done by a parent.

      “Make a whale” er, dear teacher, my clueless child has KEINE AHNUNG how to make a b***y whale!
      I was particularly proud of that one, because several other mothers got hauled over the coals for turning in perfect whales that obviously hadn’t been done by a 7 year old!

    1. Muslims are VERY good at Killing People. Merry Mohammed’s day to you, now go out and kill an infidel. Hypocritical bastard.

    2. Our Muslim somali neighbours brought us two bags of chocolates and said Merry Christmas.
      Our Christian neighbours didn’t give a flying fornication.

    1. No, Belle, Boris was not one of us. He sold his soul to the globalists long ago, like most of them.

      1. Spot on. Johnson is no more a man for the people than Sunak is. He’s a fraud, I didn’t elect him, or anyone else for that matter, they’re all cut from the same cloth. Untrustworthy, the lot of them.

        1. Good morning, Korky. Just waiting for Geoff to post Monday’s NoTTLe page whilst listening to “Let’s Fall In Love” (see top of this page.)

          1. Morning, Elsie. I listened to that a few moments ago. First time I’ve of heard of Duchin and so I looked him up on Google. Tragic short lives for both him and his wife.

  97. Farbod Christmas 🎅🏽
    @EmergencyBod
    ·
    Dec 24
    Nothing will ever more perfectly summarise our country than our millionaire married to a billionaire Prime Minister, ‘volunteering’ at a community kitchen (photo op), asking a man “Do you work in business?”, to then be told by the man, “No. I’m homeless”.

    1. Te 64,000 dollar question is – would he be there is the film crew were not? I’m fortunate to know a well known fellow, a TV chap. I also know when a press crew rocked up at a soup kitchen he said ‘No, I’m not working now. No interviews. Either get stuck in or please go.’

      In all, i thought that thoroughly decent. What I didn’t know is that he funds it – all on the QT. When you see his own home, what he makes per episode and what not, yeah, it’s small beer, but he does it. He could keep it.

    2. He might know the current price of oil and gas on the international markets, but he won’t know (or worry) about what his county’s population has now to pay for heating bills.

  101. GB News
    @GBNEWS
    ·
    8h
    ‘You’re either a defender of the faith, or you’re not.’

    Following the King’s Speech, Gavin Ashenden, former Chaplain to Queen Elizabeth II, says he is concerned the Royal Family is becoming a ‘multi-culturally, multi-faith monarchy.’

    1. The very origin of the term makes it logically impossible to convert Faith to a plural, surely!?

  102. When you wake up at 3:45. having collapsed in front of the TV (Showing Open Golf Championships of yesteryear), the previous day’s NTTL provides a great update on news and opinion. Such a free speech forum in 2022. How much longer have we got?

    1. Good morning, Lewis. You are a man of obvious taste – this is my kind of music, too. Have you ever heard of Angel Radio and of Serenade Radio? They are well worth listening to.

      1. No, I haven’t heard of those Elsie. My current listening is dominated by 40* CDs I recently bought at a local Hospice charity shop … mostly American rarities, covering the years 1925-50.

        * Set me back £12 at least … clearly, some enthusiasts collection had been cleared out

    2. I see from your upvote to “Let’s Fall In Love” that you are up already, Minty, so a very Good morning to you. And it seems that you share our taste for good music.

Comments are closed.