Sunday 27 April: Why the Supreme Court’s trans ruling won’t lead to an anti-woke backlash

Posted on by Geoff Graham

An unofficial place to discuss the Telegraph letters, established when the DT website turned off its commenting 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.

462 thoughts on “Sunday 27 April: Why the Supreme Court’s trans ruling won’t lead to an anti-woke backlash”

  1. Good morning, chums, and thanks Geoff for today's new NoTTLe site. If, like Maggie and Tango-dancing Katy, you are interested in my early life in Argentina, please return to this post within the next hour or so. By then I should have added some details which you may or may not be interested in.

    Wordle 1,408 4/6

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    1. Good morning Elsie and all
      Wordle 1,408 5/6

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    2. At the end of World War Two, the cash-strapped British Government struck a deal with the Argentine Government to exchange technical know-how in making jet engines (for their Air Force) for corned beef (for the British people). My father, who worked for Rolls-Royce, was sent out on his own to supervise the construction of these engines in Córdoba. After a couple of these visits Dad took us, his three youngest children, with him in early 1953 for his next two year visit; our mother was at the time ill and in hospital. We were sent out to a boarding school in the Córdoba hills, which is where I learnt Spanish and how to swim. It was a very happy period of my life.

      On our return to the UK in early 1955 my two sisters soon found employment since the school-leaving age then was only 15, but – being a minor – I returned with my father, where he met up with an English-speaking widow. They set up as a couple and so followed the most miserable three years of my life, for my new "step-mother" made my life hell on earth. We now lived in Córdoba city instead of my being far away in the hills, so my contact with this woman was constant. In a previous post when Conway suggested that once children grow up they can overcome their childhood unhappiness I have previously explained to him that I did not suffer "unhappiness" but rather "constant daily misery", and that to this day I find it a struggle to overcome.

      I have returned as an adult to Argentina many times, even making contact with my former city school-teacher and his family. The above couple of paragraphs will have to suffice for now. I am off to Plymouth tomorrow for the final three days of April, so shall be absent from this site until the first day of May (Thursday). Play nicely whilst I am away. With best wishes from your chum, Elsie.

      2. Ahhh , Elsie .

        I suspected there were issues in your earlier life , do you have contact with your siblings , are they younger than you?

        Writing about that particular period of unhappiness will relieve you of pent up anxieties , but returning to places that contained some misery for you , probably helps confront bad memories .

        Funny thing , childhood , part of that child in us never really leaves .

        ( I wish I still sucked my thumb for comfort)

        1. Maggie, I was the youngest of four siblings. The eldest died over 10 years, and the next eldest died early this year. My remaining sibling lives in an old folk's home in New Zealand and is in poor health, both physically and mentally.

      3. When I was backpacking round South America on 1996/97, I was in BA and would read the BA English language newspaper (now sadly defunct I think). There was mention of a touring Cricket match in Quilmes, so I set off to find it and I had a very happy day, talking to elderly 2nd (or was it 3rd?) gen English Argentinians (perfect English) and they told me about how their families had moved out in the 1900s to build the railways etc.

        One particularly nice man then arranged for his grand children (no English) to take me out in the evening.

        1. A lovely story, Less Info Required. One can find kind people everywhere in my experience.

    1. And anyone who is black gets a medal just for turning up, but that's somehow not patronising and racist.

    1. I don't know how anyone can miss that the the government is running this operation to import millions of rootless single young men into Britain now.
      Starmer's too stupid even to make his lies convincing. "Smash the gangs" was so obviously fake when he said it.

      The old Britain is gone and will never return. Only sleeping fools, white liberals who have succeeded in the system and BBC listeners still have faith in it. The fight now is to build something worthwhile with the best of the people who are here – and there are many good ones.

      1. The only valid response to the rubber boat invaders involves machine guns and plenty ammo.

      1. When you heat steel past 'red hot', it becomes — progressively — orange, then yellow, then white. Then it melts!

        Those clueless weather presenters think that white and yellow would be much cooler than red. Clueless cretins that they are.

    3. And why the sea is boiling hot,
      [And whether pigs have wings…]

      With apologies to Lewis Carroll.

      2. Introduction: More Beasts for Worse Children
        Hilaire Belloc

        The parents of the learned child
        (His father and his mother)
        Were utterly aghast to note
        The facts he would at random quote
        On creatures curious, rare, and wild;
        And wondering, ask each other:
        "An idle little child like this,
        How is it that he knows
        What years of close analysis
        Are powerless to disclose?
        Our brains are trained, our books are big,
        And yet we always fail
        To answer why the Guinea-pig
        Is born without a tail.
        Or why the Wanderoo should rant
        In wild, unmeaning rhymes,
        Whereas the Indian Elephant
        Will only read The Times.
        Perhaps he found a way to slip
        Unnoticed to the Zoo,
        And gave the Pachyderm a tip,
        Or pumped the Wanderoo.
        Or even by an artful plan
        Deceived our watchful eyes,
        And interviewed the Pelican,
        Who is extremely wise."
        "Oh! no," said he, in humble tone,
        With shy but conscious look,
        "Such facts I never could have known
        But for this little book."

    4. The highest daily maximum temperature ever recorded for April in the UK was 29.4°C at Camden Square London on 16 April 1949. Only May and September have longer standing records for this parameter. For highest daily minimum temperature (warmest night or dawn), the April record of 15.9°C was set at Kenley Airfield, Greater London on 19 April 2018. Funnily enough, May and September also have the longest standing records for this parameter. Why those two particular months are holding out longest against the warming trends shown by the other 10 months is a puzzle to me.

      https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/climate/maps-and-data/uk-climate-extremes

      1. I’ve been to Kenley. It’s surrounded by housing although there is a bit of green there. They were gliding so the thermals must have been okay.

    1. That gate reminds me of the huge, signed, arched wooden gateways to large ranches in many an American cowboy film. Those edifices stood in the middle of nowhere with no fence on either side.

  11. I see that Trump is being called out for wearing a dark blue suit to the popes funeral.

    But nobody is asking why Zelenski wore a suit and not his uniform.
    Or who paid for Starmer's suit.

    1. Why was Zelensky even there, let alone in the front row?
      Oh silly me. It was a mafia funeral.

    2. Made me laugh this morning; one of the hymns had the line “trump shall pass from sea to sea “ or something similar.

  12. Morning all! Bright and sunny 🌞 heatwave on the way….
    We're helping at an Earth day event this afternoon. We'll be talking to people about swifts. None of yer global boiling thanks.

    1. Last night, my book club friend (a clever paediatrician, whose son is studying economics in the Netherlands “Beacause it’s free” and the son has a German passsort courtesy of his father) said the son had failed a “Sustainability” exam and how it wasn’t taught well and anyway, shouldn’t it just be integrated into the syllabus now as it should be “in everything we do”.

      This is what I’m up against.

  13. After a pretty miserable start to spring so far we are finally getting some decent warm weather, finally kicking off the climate change season.
    Ed will be pleased.

    1. I had formed the impression that spring has been glorious thus far with long spells of dry, bright weather and crystal clear nights. It's been one of the best springs I can recall.

  15. Major Tory donor defects to Reform with £1m gift. 27 April 2025.

    One of the Conservatives’ biggest donors of recent times has defected to Reform UK and pledged £1 million to help Nigel Farage “bring this country back to its glory”.

    Bassim Haidar, who gave the Tories more than £700,000 during Rishi Sunak’s premiership, resigned his membership earlier this year, saying the party had “lost its way”.

    The suspicion here must be that Reform is to become an Islamic Wooden Horse to take the City of Westminster.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/04/27/major-tory-donor-defects-to-reform-with-1m-donation/

  16. Chris Eubank Jr defeated his rival Conor Benn in an epic thunderous fight at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium..

    The only bit of excitement there all season. LOL

    2. I noticed that Sky News was giving extensive coverage to this bout in the preceding days and hours. I then discovered that Sky had the broadcasting rights for the fight on its Box Office service. It was clearly promoting the match in the guise of "news".

  17. Good morning all.
    A tad under 8°C outside and a bright sunny morning.

    I've another lot of auction purchases to pick up on Tuesday from Market Rasen so I'm heading off early and having a couple of nights camping in the van.
    Will probably leave mid-dayish.

  20. Good morning, all. Very misty at 05:45 this morning. Now, blue sky and a nice warmish day in the offing.

    Yesterday afternoon I was a guest at a garden party with 8 others. Over fours hours the chat covered a range of topics e.g. wine, Italy, one lady guest is Italian, and finally around to the weather. The latter was the opening for me to bring up the Sun dimming controversy and the surprise was that only I and my lady friend, with whom I've discussed this topic, knew about Starmer's experimental plan or had noticed the lingering chemical trails in the sky over the last few years. My photographs of the sky from August last and the £50M price tag of Starmer's folly came as a complete surprise to them. This is how the political class get away with this dangerous nonsense i.e. apathy, ignorance and the MSM.

    Here are two views re the admission from Starmer, maybe so, maybe not.

    https://x.com/Silent_Scre4mer/status/1916027195438305480

  21. Alternative Mnemonics.

    SIR – After 50 years, I still remember the mnemonic (Letters, April 20) for the carpal bones of the wrist: “She lay terribly p—-d trying to count hedgehogs”. [For: Scaphoid, Lunate, Triquetrum, Pisiform, Trapezium, Trapezoid, Capitate, Hamate.]

    Such a shame that so much else has been lost to memory in retirement.

    Dr Glenn Ralphs
    Harvington, Worcestershire

    The mnemonic taught at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals used the alternative names for two of those bones: Lunate becoming semilunate; and triquetrum becoming cuneiform.

    Their equally amusing chant was: "Simple Simon couldn't pee, thus through curious habits". [For Scaphoid, Semilunate, Cuneiform, Pisiform, Trapezium, Trapezoid, Capitate, Hamate.]

    1. Naughty Medical Mnemonics
      When I learned my Pathology over 60 years ago, we had to memorise, in order, the names and functions of the twelve cranial nerves that emanate from the brain to send, receive and control the functions of the body. In computing terms they made up the body's Wiring and Operating System.

      They were (then) Olfactory (Smell), Optic (Vision), Oculomotor (Eye movement: pupils & Eyelids), Trochlear (Eye movement: up-down, left-right), Trigeminal (Facial sensation, Tasting, Jaw movements), Abducens (Abduction of eyes), Facial (Facial expressions), Auditory (Hearing & Balance), Glossopharyngeal (Tasting & swallowing), Vagus (Digestion), Accessory (Movement of head & shoulders) and Hypoglossal (Tongue movements).

      Trigger Warning:
      The scatological mnemonic (still firmly remembered over sixty years later) was Oh, Oh, Oh, To Touch And Feel A Girl's Va…a And Hy..n.

      Probably changed now that over 50 percent of UK Medical students are female.

    2. Naughty Medical Mnemonics
      When I learned my Pathology over 60 years ago, we had to memorise, in order, the names and functions of the twelve cranial nerves that emanate from the brain to send, receive and control the functions of the body. In computing terms they made up part of the body's Wiring and Operating System.

      They were (then) Olfactory (Smell), Optic (Vision), Oculomotor (Eye movement: pupils & Eyelids), Trochlear (Eye movement: up-down, left-right), Trigeminal (Facial sensation, Tasting, Jaw movements), Abducens (Abduction of eyes), Facial (Facial expressions), Auditory (Hearing & Balance), Glossopharyngeal (Tasting & swallowing), Vagus (Digestion), Accessory (Movement of head & shoulders) and Hypoglossal (Tongue movements).

      Trigger Warning:
      The scatological mnemonic (still firmly remembered over sixty years later) was Oh, Oh, Oh, To Touch And Feel A Girl's Va…a And Hy..n.

      Probably changed now that over 50 percent of UK Medical students are female.

      1. I remember Dorothy Hy..n, the British sprinter who ran in the 100m and 200m at the Rome and Tokyo Olympics in 1960 and 1964 respectively.😉

        1. Grizz, She was actually a Hyman, not the other word. Let's see if it gets past the Disqus mindbleach.

  23. An excellent letter:-

    SIR – The plaque on the empty plinth that formerly carried a statue of Edward Colston (Comment, April 20)misses out much that is relevant to the man, particularly the fact that he left equal sums of money to his long-term servants in 1720, one of whom was black.

    Colston was a highly successful merchant long before his involvement in the slave trade, which came about in 1680 when he became a director of the Royal African Company, which traded in gold, silver, ivory and slaves.

    In 1689 he was appointed deputy governor, a post he held for just one year. In the same year, he transferred most of his holdings in the company to the new King William III. Colston withdrew from the company completely two years later, and returned to private business. As far as I am aware, thereafter he did not own any slaves or have anything to do with the trade.

    Significantly, there is no record of Colston being involved in any philanthropic activity in Bristol until the year he resigned from the company. Having embraced philanthropy, Colston gave away, in Bristol alone, the equivalent of many millions of pounds to good causes, including the endowment of schools, hospitals, churches and almshouses. In London and elsewhere he matched these incredibly generous donations to good causes. All this suggests that Colston, a devout Christian, saw the error of his ways and attempted to atone for his sins.

    Amazing Grace was written by a repentant slave-ship captain; it includes the line “[I] was blind but now I see”. In the absence of any evidence to the contrary, I would suggest that Colston was also blind before seeing the light. All statues of him were intended to praise his philanthropy, not his previous involvement in the slave trade.

    Nicholas Young
    London W13

    1. Christianity gives the message of redemption and forgiveness if one repents and sees the errors of one's ways.

      Woke and Islam are cruel and unforgiving. Once you have crossed their lines there is never any way back!

  24. Morning all 🙂😊
    A decent start to an estimated mini heat wave week. Almost double figures right now.
    We watched part one of a lovely railway journey through NZ, Kiwi Rail last night.
    Oh how I wish we lived there with our family.
    Only a few,minutes ago saw a clip from FB from an English town or city……what an absolute tip it was. Litter dropped all over the Streets. Except for two coppers standing chatting not an indigenous member of the public in sight.

  25. A letter and BTL Comment:-

    Cadet funding

    SIR – I could not agree more with Nick Solomon’s letter (April 20) regarding his experience of the Junior Leaders Regiment.

    The Cadet Forces have given many teenagers self-discipline, independence and a sense of purpose, which have stood them in good stead – whether or not they have subsequently pursued a military career. It beggars belief, therefore, that at a time of difficulty in recruitment and retention of full-time military personnel, these organisations are being starved of funding, and their excellent training undermined by health and safety procedures.

    Given the considerable benefits of such training for life, if not a career in the Armed Forces, the sums involved are a drop in the ocean.

    Sqn Ldr Clive Goddard (retd)
    Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex

    Robert Spowart 2 min ago
    Given his comments on the way the Cadet Forces are being allowed to wither on the vine, I think Sqn Ldr Clive Goddard (retd) is fully justified in using his former rank.

    As a former Army Cadet myself who did follow up with 11½y in the Sappers I can only agree with his opinion.

    1. Hello Bob,

      Strange really , as Moh is a football fan, just viewing the stadiums around the UK full of cheering shouting young men , and considering the stadiums host maybe 60, 000 per game .. where are the recruiters for the Armed services ?

      Sport used to be a huge draw for the services , rugby, football cricket, athletics, ski ing, bobsleigh , horse riding sailing , so many participated and enjoyed service life because of the fitness and opportunities besides learning a trade or an even higher skill .

      People pay good money for watching a sport , now if the idiot Starmer were to make living quarters and married quarters 1st rate , instead of accommodating the blinking migrants who are costing the country £ billions.. Just by allowing family life for servicemen to be more attractive and secure for children and wives , and … dare I say it , feeding single service men properly , instead of the poor quality food they are are provided with , and accommodating them properly , and making sure their clothing and combat equipment … boots / shoes are the best !

    2. When I was at Blundell's everybody had to join the CCF from their second term and stayed in it for the rest of their time at school.

      We were roughly divided into two groups – Corps Swats and Corps Shags.

      I was in the latter group.

      We had to take exams: Cert A Part 1 and Cert A Part 2 and when we had passed these we had the chance to move to other sections such as the RN section, the RAF section or the Commando Section. I joined the RN section but I was not a star cadet – however I did enjoy going to Dartmouth and sailing whalers on Field Days, taking a large collapsible canvas boat to the Tiverton Canal and constructing shearlegs and I did pass an exam entitling me to have two red arm stripes on my blue uniform.

      Those who were keener than I acquired three stripes and those who wanted to go into the forces were given pips and were called 'under officers.'

      1. I joined our school's CCF in the Army section in 1956. But my first aerobatic trip in a plane during Summmer camp made me switch to the RAF section. In 1957 I won a National Flying Scholarship and learned to fly in April 1958 (for FREE, as they say nowadays). I re-started in my sixties at Manston until it was closed as an airport (apart from Polar Helicopters, that is). The last time I actually landed a light plane was September 2023 in Brisbane. You never forget – it's like riding a bike.
        When my elder son trained as a private pilot in California at his own expense, it cost around US$8,000 (£6,500). I just checked on Google and the average cost of a PPL (Private Pilot's Licence) in the UK is now between £12,500 and £17,000. Yikes!

  26. Re the London Marathon.. why isn't that daft female getting out amongst the crowds , the brave jolly sporting people who have entered the race, instead of focusing on the blinking studio and commentators opinions ..

    I want to see the atmosphere , the people , not personality waffle .

    Typical BBC. We are not interested in gobbledegook.

    Son has just gone out for an hours run .

    He did so well in the Poole park 5k yesterday , came 10th , timing was terrific , he is after all 56yrs old .

    He has put his name down for the Marathon many times , but the list fills so quickly .

    1. A friend of mine is doing the Great South Run raising funds for the British Heart Foundation.

      I bunged her a tenner and wrote in the comments

      'make sure your toes point forward and don't run like a duck like you did last time'.

        1. Did the curry cook off yesterday.

          I won of course with my King Prawn Jalfrezi.

          The others did a Lamb Balti and a Lamb Bhuna. Plus a Chicken Korma for those that don't like the heat.

          I used my Massala Dabba for relishes and pickles plus Bhajis, Pakoras and Naans.

          Today i am making sweet and sour chicken with the leftover bits and bobs.

          And….Mary Berry's Knickerbocker Glory.

          No mince in sight.

          2. Mary Berry? Awful up-herself woman.

            I once saw her giving a cooking demonstration on a stall at the NEC cooking exhibition.

            Every two minutes she interrupted her dialogue to push her book, “These recipes are in my book, which I have numerous copies here for sale!”

            Over and over again, ad nauseam. I wandered off after ten minutes of that claptrap.

  27. My guess is that the Cadet Forces attract the "wrong" kind of young person for today's wokerie.

      1. I was thinking, patriotic – the sort of person who might want to defend their country.

  28. The seemingly good thing that came out of the trading was a far better way of life for all of their descendents.
    I can't imagine many if any travelling back to their country of origin trying to make a new life.
    I wonder in the future how the modern version of slave trading will look to people. All Government run boat loads of them sent across from the French coast many times a day. But no jobs to fill just sit around Iving off the British taxpayers. But doing as much complaining as those descendants of the old slave trading.

    1. There appears to be no reverse Atlantic Trade Triangle.
      We're not even getting our glass beads and bolts of calico returned to us.

  29. 404753+ up ticks,

    May one ask,

    Is a multi scaffold to be parked outside
    the Criminally nut houses of parliament, on the peoples agenda.

    Surely the peoples could soften the warning if they wish by working with a legal government body by seeing if the hung process would mature these pair of political WEF criminally insane , with royal seal, right royal tossers.
    https://x.com/bobscartoons/status/1916153002416558484

  30. Major Tory donor defects to Reform with £1m gift
    Bassim Haidar predicts that other wealthy individuals will follow suit to back Nigel Farage’s party
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/04/27/major-tory-donor-defects-to-reform-with-1m-donation/


    "Mr Haidar is a serious man with serious friends: he is a member of the World Economic Forum, which meets at Davos every year, and built his fortune on modernising the communications networks in Nigeria."

    The internet is rather reticent about his religion but he is a Nigerian born of Lebanese nationality so people will probably draw their own conclusions whether or not it is explicit on line.

    Should we be worried that Islam is taking over the UK — has it now got Nigel Farage and the 'New World Order' Reform Party clearly in its sights?

    1. Morning Richard, I saw your BTL item on Colston in today's Torygraff. Did you see mine further down on User Guides?
      In the 1950s I used to walk past the Colston statue every morning on the way to the Grammar School up Park Street. It was quicker to walk from Old Market (through the still bomb-damaged streets) across the centre of Bristol than to linger on a slow-moving bus, stuck in morning traffic.
      Removing (or perhaps expunging) the name of the philanthropic Colston from Bristol would require years of major surgery.

    2. Morning Richard, I saw your BTL item on Colston in today's Torygraff. Did you see mine further down on User Guides?
      In the 1950s I used to walk past the Colston statue every morning on the way to the Grammar School up Park Street. It was quicker to walk from Old Market (through the still bomb-damaged streets) across the centre of Bristol than to linger on a slow-moving bus, stuck in morning traffic.
      Removing (or perhaps expunging) the name of the philanthropic Colston from Bristol would require years of major surgery.

    3. Morning Richard, I saw your BTL item on Colston in today's Torygraff. Did you see mine further down on User Guides?
      In the 1950s I used to walk past the Colston statue every morning on the way to the Grammar School up Park Street. It was quicker to walk from Old Market (through the still bomb-damaged streets) across the centre of Bristol than to linger on a slow-moving bus, stuck in morning traffic.
      Removing (or perhaps expunging) the name of the philanthropic Colston from Bristol would require years of major surgery.

    1. disgusting and unsportsmanlike. Would expect better of the Swiss. Minus points to them.

  32. 'Morning All
    Weekend Medley
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3cf00e450b9d99e351af9bb1b4b5619ad392f358d6e7e8d892747ec6c1a387e6.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/95fd24b308f4e7f31ce35e846a08c03ba10c0fd3e4155caa391dc0b79f22b100.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f8920d25ddc9b9c6d8864de21e333c64c000faba1fbf95fac98649c70caa352b.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a8e895e68192172bd55cc747ca5e190028dc36bce99d38794ef6e7255860fe6a.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/870a2c5ffbee91f1fb63fdd4c9af4fc0b6b54492239ae93f89f3e3d4012789db.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/31c25e88aa1bb356c55bc5b1b0968937b2a60c827cd245b16744f79e17e5ef4f.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/26bd389860841536c2092f73d330c8c153f50ca16de4d27a0851da31cf84a1c7.gif
    http://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1f3010f3279018b53d04a2a517122223f0932ad6f6601628d703baf9d73dd52d.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1e55c7da8f955d22d9ed29bacdd695aac4e49f391c6e14470fc0a16cf78bd1b6.jpg

  33. Yo and Good Moaning from a sunny C d S.

    SWMBO has just shown me Faceache article that lists all the places Starmer is going to unload immigrants onto us.

    He intends to spread an alien army throughout UK.

    You can see it at EU-I voted leave

    1. Morning OLT ,

      Link to the list please .

      Starmer is unleashing the devil everywhere ..

      We do not owe mud hut non believers , gob spitting , women abusers , dog haters, 6 times a day prayer kneelers anything ..

      Unless this a new type of slavery , and he has plans ?

    2. The full list of towns and cities where taxpayers could end up paying the rent for Channel crossing migrants has been revealed.

      According to the website of Serco, one of three private contractors working for the Home Office, the firm's full dispersal portfolio currently spans across 120 local authorities.

      It comes just hours after Serco was revealed to be offering landlords five-year guaranteed full rent deals at the taxpayer's expense.

      The list is split into three areas, the North West, the Midlands and the East of England, with Serco admitting: "We are continuing to work with new Local Authorities across our region to extend the Serco footprint." However, the company's website also stated: "All areas are currently closed for Procurement in the North West."

      The towns listed in the East of England are:

      ・Babergh/Mid Suffolk

      ・Breckland

      ・Broadlands/South Norfolk

      ・Cambridge

      ・East Cambridgeshire

      ・East Suffolk

      ・Fenland

      ・Great Yarmouth

      ・Ipswich

      ・Kings Lynn & West Norfolk

      ・Mid Suffolk

      ・North Norfolk

      ・Norwich

      ・Peterborough

      ・South Cambridgeshire (Cambourne, Sawston)

      ・South Norfolk

      ・West Suffolk (Bury, Newmarket, Brandon, Haverhill, Mildenhall)

      The towns and cities listed in the Midlands are:

      ・Amber Valley

      ・Ashfield

      ・Bassetlaw

      ・Birmingham

      ・Blaby

      ・Bolsover

      ・Boston

      ・Bromsgrove and Redditch

      ・Broxtowe

      ・Cannock Chase

      ・Charnwood

      ・Chesterfield

      ・Derby

      ・Derbyshire Dales

      ・Dudley

      ・East Lindsey

      ・East Staffordshire (Burton-upon-Trent and Uttoxeter)

      Erewash (Derbyshire)

      ・Gedling

      ・Harborough

      ・Herefordshire County

      ・High Peak

      ・Hinkley & Bosworth

      ・Huntingdonshire

      ・Leicester

      ・Lincoln

      ・Lichfield

      ・Malvern Hills

      ・Mansfield

      ・Melton

      ・Newark and Sherwood

      ・Newcastle-under-Lyme

      ・North East Derbyshire

      ・North Kesteven (Lincolnshire)

      ・North Northamptonshire (Kettering, Corby, Wellingborough)

      ・North Warwickshire

      ・North West Leicestershire (Coalville)

      ・Nottingham

      ・Nuneaton and Bedworth

      ・Oadby & Wigston

      ・Rugby

      ・Rushcliffe

      ・Rutland

      ・Sandwell

      ・Shropshire

      ・Solihull

      ・South Derbyshire (Swadlincote)

      ・South Holland

      ・South Kesteven (Lincolnshire)

      ・South Staffordshire

      ・Stafford

      ・Staffordshire Moorlands

      ・Stoke-on-Trent

      ・Stratford-on-Avon

      ・Tamworth

      ・Telford and Wrekin

      ・Walsall

      ・Warwick ( Leamington Spa, Kenilworth)

      ・West Lindsey

      ・West Northamptonshire (Northampton & Daventry)

      ・Wolverhampton

      ・Worcester

      ・Wychavon

      ・Wyre Forest

      The towns and cities listed in the North West are:

      ・Allerdale

      ・Barrow-in-Furness

      ・Blackburn & Darwen

      ・Blackpool

      ・Bolton

      ・Burnley

      ・Bury

      ・Carlisle

      ・Cheshire East

      ・Cheshire West and Chester

      ・Chorley

      ・Copeland

      ・Eden (Penrith)

      ・Flyde

      ・Halton

      ・Hyndburn

      ・Knowsley

      ・Lancaster

      ・Liverpool

      ・Manchester

      ・Oldham

      ・Pendle

      ・Preston

      ・Ribble Valley

      ・Rochdale

      ・Rossendale

      ・Salford

      ・Sefton

      ・South Lakeland

      ・South Ribble

      ・Stockport

      ・St Helens

      ・Tameside

      ・Trafford

      ・Warrington

      ・West Lancashire

      ・Wigan

      ・Wirral

      ・Wyre

      There are approximately 1.3 million people on the social housing waiting list as cheaper private rented accommodation is in high demand.

      One council leader told LBC: "It’s Serco who are encouraging landlords to exploit taxpayers, then it’s blamed on councils because of the impact it has on local rents, services and social cohesion. I don’t think it’s good for the fabric of society or the individuals involved."

      A Home Office spokesman said the department is "intensifying" collaboration with France and other countries over tackling gangs' business models, and introducing tougher enforcement powers under new legislation.

      More crime , rape and pillage gobbing , and the stink of curry, vanishing pet animals , farm animals , the blinking Muezzim call , mosques and squalor!

      1. A lot of those names in your long list, Maggie, are neither towns nor cities. They are constituencies and geographical or administrative areas.

        No one ever says, "I think I'll go and wander around the shopping area in Breckland." If they did they would be hugely disappointed. 😉

          1. I have visited the area many times to partake in some excellent birdwatching. Woodlarks, stone curlews and red-backed shrikes being annual summer visitors.

          2. We do miss the Green Woodpeckers,Barn & Tawney Owls.etc. The wild life was fantastic.

          3. I get green woodpeckers in my garden here, and I sometimes hear tawny owls. The last barn owl I saw was in the field behind my home when I lived at Briston.

      2. WE DO NOT NEED MORE LEGISLATION. There is far too much already. All HMG is doing is tying the British public up in knots, stamping out any chance of free speech.

  34. The "You couldn't make it up files" get an outing
    A council boss convicted of drink-driving and failing to stop after crashing his car received a “golden goodbye” pay-off of almost £90,000 of taxpayers’ money.

    Bayo Dosunmu “stepped down” from his £190,000-a-year role as chief executive at Labour-run Lambeth council after he was arrested in June 2024.

    He was later disqualified from driving for two years after admitting a series of motoring offences.

    Newly released documents have revealed that Dosunmu, 46, received £87,879 after he and the council “agreed to jointly enter into a settlement agreement” following the “unexpected and unprecedented emergency situation”.
    What was wrong with a settlement should have been gross misconduct and on the street 5 minutes later minus his ID and phone and with his desk toys in a cardboard box

        1. And, of course, his diverse pals on the council will have ensured that his treatment was fair – according to the law of the jungle…

          1. This sort of thing has gone on for so long.
            30+ years ago, Colchester Borough Council got rid of a couple of useless Heads of Dept.
            The list of cash and goodies to quietly offload them was a revelation.

    2. Ethnic sensitivities.
      Though how he could inflict more damage on Lambeth's council's reputation is a mystery.

  35. Right, that's me logging off and buggering off for a couple of days.
    The North Lincs Coast looks like a destination!
    TTFN all.

    2. Makes the Bayeux Tapestry look like it was done by blind monkeys.

      Remember to shield from the sun.

    4. Absolutely stunning, Anne! I love it and the movement you’ve created! ⭐️

      1. It was a kit; admittedly, as I am incapable of slavishly following orders, I fiddled around with it.
        But it gave me ideas and introduced me to new techniques.
        After an initial "Bloody Hell, what HAVE I taken on?" I thoroughly enjoyed doing it.

        1. I have a friend who has always been ‘crafty’, and since her husband died very suddenly, has been filling her days with learning and applying new ideas. She has produced some beautiful stuff, and although nothing will fill the huge hole in her life, it’s certainly helping her.

          1. I am very fidgety at the moment.
            I have the frame set up for my next project, but am having to wait for a couple of background materials to be delivered.
            I can't just watch telly like wot MB does.

          2. I know the feeling! And it’s the World Championship snooker at the moment…

      1. I agree. One where corals lie, perhaps. Certainly less fraught than this one.

        Congratulations, Anne.

    6. Artist statement
      "My work explores the relationship between the Military-Industrial Complex and sea shell ethics with influences as diverse as Derrida and Miles Davis, new tensions are manufactured from both opaque and transparent dialogues.
      Ever since I was a pre-adolescent I have been fascinated by the traditional understanding of the human condition. What starts out as hope soon becomes manipulated into a tragedy of lust, leaving only a sense of decadence and the inevitability of a new synthesis.
      As momentary derivatives become transformed through boundaried and critical practice, the viewer is left with an insight into the inaccuracies of our era."

      https://www.artybollocks.com/generator.html

      3. In my early internet days, I found myself getting into protracted tit for tat arguments with people I had no wish to interact with. I would often terminate the exchange with some such bollox as "As Emmanuel Von Hilwarthausen once said,…" followed by some philosophical sounding guff.
        Clearly thinking I was quoting some profundity, I would picture them trying a web search for Emmanuel Von Hilwarthausen to dispute my posts yet further.
        Hilwarthausen is a small village in Lower Saxony where I once went on exercise, not a real bloke. They were unlikely to come back once they realised they had been fooled.

  39. It has special glass to protect it.
    The hallway is not particularly sunny; I chose the wrong moment to take pikkies.

  41. Well, a loaf baked (and very good it looks); load of washing hung out; greenhouse opened up and watered; AND – it is pleasantly warm out.

      2. Loaves out of a tin always look good. I'm not keen on a baked bread splat-style loaf…

          1. Not really for me, Grizz. Too much crust for the bread – difficult to cut for anything other than wiping up sauce…

          2. Slice off the top third. Hollow out. Fill with rare roast beef and gravy. Put top back on.

            See how long you can stay away…

          5. I find it easy to slice, Paul, and the slices fit nicely in the toaster. Also the shape of the slices are a far better fit for a few rashers of decent dry-cured back bacon.

    1. Clucking Bell.
      Did it belong to the late Mme Arcati?
      Should I call her up and ask?

  43. Sandown Park was packed with the very best of Esher's Youth & Beauty yesterday afternoon. There were exotic sights and sounds that one seldom comes across in rural Wiltshire. By contrast, all the horses looked to be in fine fettle and immaculately turned out. I had the winner of the first race at 33/1 which funded the entire trip.

  46. Just in from the garden. Much tidy done, dead stuff clipped off and piled up ready for a tip trip. My God, but we have a lot of pots – for seeds, seedlings, mature plants, ones that hook on things, ones that go over the balcony rail, troughs on legs, trays, you name it… Problem is, where to keep them?

          1. We have a fine tradition of jumble sales every spring & autumn, for the benefit of schools bands. Mush went out to the local school earlier this week, more will be going shortly.

  47. "…fleeing war and terror". Disingenuous twaddle; the invaders coming through Dover are not fleeing war etc. Almost exclusively young men who do not have the appearance of desperate people fleeing terror.

    The Trojan Horse of asylum is being used by the governments, past and present, to have this Country hollowed out from the inside. Securing housing/homes for these people for 5 more years doesn't have the ring of "smashing the gangs" or of "securing our borders".

    https://x.com/LizaRosen0000/status/1916311897525149883

    3. Of course it is an ethnic Englishman who is encouraging compassion for the incomers – he doesn't seem to have a great deal for the people who are being displaced.

    1. Yeah well.. good luck with that. Try buying & selling the damn stuff. And don't get me started on storage fees.

    1. I wonder how long it will be before the scales fall off the eyes of Richard Tice and Lee Anderson about the narcissistic Nigel Farage?

    2. "If you want change vote Reform."

      Translation: If you want to enact the necessary radical restoration necessary to avert a civil war.. vote for Farage's Conform Ltd for now.. then dump them when the right party finally makes an appearance. Failing that.. stock up on food & solar panels and prep for civil war.

      You aint the real deal bruv.

    3. "If you want change vote Reform."

      Translation: If you want to enact the necessary radical restoration necessary to avert a civil war.. vote for Farage's Conform Ltd for now.. then dump them when the right party finally makes an appearance. Failing that.. stock up on food & solar panels and prep for civil war.

      You aint the real deal bruv.

    1. Just a thought?

      Is Dianne Abbott a Catholic? I ask because if she is then she could easily be fast-tracked into being a cardinal and from there to become the first black, female, vacuum-headed Popess!

  52. A good line from the email we got with Matt's cartoons this week:

    The biggest challenge in a marathon begins as soon as you cross the finish line – not telling everyone you meet that you did it.

    That rings a few bells! I certainly never have and never will run a marathon but I have sailed across the Atlantic and back in my small sailing boat and have never been shy of mentioning it!

    1. Our latest gas bill, shows gas is 9p per cubic mrtre.

      A pityTrudeau stopped us exporting gas to anywhere but the US.

      1. How do they work out the volume of gas?

        Surely it can be subject to compression (or rarefaction)?

        1. They probably think of the amount that they need to charge and then double it. If that doesn’t work, they ignore the real reading and use an exaggerated estimate.

          I believe that they use sea level pressure at some known temperature.

      2. Our bill is priced in kWh so the calorific value plays a significant part in how much we are charged. Before 2022 it was never more than 39.7 but since then it has been up as high as 40.3 so has been more expensive per unit. I know not why.

    2. Could easily be wrong, often am, others correct me please? but don't we import gas from Norway, rather than frack for our own. We shouldn't need to import energy, still have oil North Sea I think.

      1. Yep, we also import massive amounts of fracked gas from America.

        Miliband is a liar, a crook and utterly corrupt. The entire green con is a socailist tax scam.

    3. Resilience to extremism should make life easier for the indigenous natives (oxymoron) as the incomers will not bealowed to declare their hate all the time.

      Just off to see the nurse

    6. Sod of Khunt. You're a vicios, nasty muslim who if welfare were not rife in London would still be in pakiland.

  56. Just had a jousting session with an idiotic Septic on YouTube (they keep coming back for more).

    In response to a post of mine he/she/it wrote:

    IMHO you Brits still pronounce
    ALUMINUM wrong
    by saying A-LU- MI-NI-UM
    This is insane rubbish!!
    The word ALUMINUM has only 1 "i" in it, but your " Standard English" inserts a second "i" . . . Why???
    This makes no sense at all. . .😂😂😂

    I replied:

    By your 'insane' retort it is clear you have not done any research. Please allow me to educate you.

    In 1808, the Englishman, Sir Humphry Davy, identified the existence of the metal in alum, which he at first named "alumium" and later "aluminum." Davy proposed the name aluminum when referring to the element in his 1812 book Elements of Chemical Philosophy, despite his previous use of "alumium." The official name "aluminium" was adopted to conform with the -ium names of most other elements.

    The 1828 Webster's Dictionary used the "aluminum" spelling, which it maintained in later editions. In 1925, the American Chemical Society (ACS) decided to go from aluminium back to the original aluminum, putting the United States in the "aluminum" group. In recent years, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry( IUPAC) had identified "aluminium" as the proper spelling, but it didn't catch on in North America, since the ACS used aluminum. The IUPAC periodic table presently lists both spellings and says both words are perfectly acceptable.

    Happy now, Yank?

    England: responsible for more inventions and discoveries — by a country mile — than any other nation on earth.

    1. Good afternoon, Grizzly.

      I enjoy your expression: Please allow me to educate you.

      As teachers Caroline and I both know how these words can strike terror into the hearts of those in front of us!

      And where do you stand on nuclear or nucular?

      1. I think that would have been my reaction to teachers as a child (I was a bit precocious and must have annoyed my teachers to death), but now it really rubs me up the wrong way. I got jnto a lot of arguments with woke Murcans before woke was identified as such, and it was a key phrase (that, 'educate yourself' and 'I educated her on trans rights'). I soon realised that education meant re-education as in camps, with no dissent permitted, and the brainless patronising now makes me want to bite even when the phrase is used innocently.

        Gosh, sorry. Didn't mean to rant! 🤣

        1. Talking of Mercanisms …. I still love "Get mediaeval on your ass".
          It conjures up a Quasimodo like stump-toothed peasant being whopped by a Norman Rah (even allowing for Merkan confusion between buttocks and donkey).

          1. A phrase used in Pulp Fiction when head gangster takes his revenge on the man who tied him up and raped him. The implication was that it would involve a welding torch, if I recall correctly.

      3. The only person in the public eye I ever heard saying "nucular" was GW Bush, who was definitely not the sharpest knife in the box.

    2. When I posted the video link to Idiocracy the other day the youtube comments were embarrassing. So many people whinging that standards had fallen and that we were living that now – seemingly unaware of their own appalling spelling, grammar and sentence construction.

      It was depressing – people don't seem aware of how thick they are.

    3. Honestly, as someone who has lived in and visited multiple English speaking countries, who cares? Just load the translation table when you land. Both some Americans and Brits take this stuff far too seriously. As long as the meaning is understtod, the language has done its job. Languages are not preserved in aspic, and "British" English has usage and phrases that were not used when I lived there – and new ones keep popping up, as they do in every language. Like "swerving" being used instead of avoiding., a fairly recent phenomenon.

      English has become the Esperanto of our time, and that is something to be proud of. Hard to think back in the 1950's our school offered Esperanto classes, and there was even an "O" level, I seem to recall. Now that would have been a total waste of effort. Besides, as I was already taking Latin, French and German, another language would have been a further distraction from Maths and the sciences.

  58. McFadden: There’s Nothing New About Renting Private Accommodation for Channel Migrants
     https://youtu.be/7XVSQA-aJsQ
    April 27 2025 @ 11:20

    Kendo Nagasaki
    1h
    There’s nothing new about Syphilis either, but that doesn’t mean I want it

    Artifex
    2h
    Massive anti-immigration protest march in Dublin yesterday, not reported in UK media. Presumably, knowing about it would "not be conducive to the public good".

    Netzero
    2h
    This is the true state of the labour party today. They send out their bully to say that this appalling policy is the norm. It's truly shocking. Vote Reform every single time.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1e3fd3c9df2ba2bab882a1c64049661441e8707cb6f9d664fd90f1197245ef95.png

    2. McFadden isn't wrong, but the numbers are much much higher today, he must know that unless he's an imbecile.

      1. Plus, landlords weren't kicking out British tenants to get the government funding for housing immigrants, like they are now. Mind you, many landlords aren't indigenous, so why would they care?

  59. While waiting to see if out-of-date sun-dried tomato and cheddar bread mix still has some oomph in it, I read the Spekkie report on the rahs disrupting the London Marathon.

    As ever, the BTL comments are pure gold:

    Pravda Verify

    Willow, lol! I guess Poppy couldn’t make it today.

    Reply

    Seabury Pongleton – Pravda Verify

    She's not back from skiing with Tarquin and Jonty until next week.

    Reply

    Harry Williams – Pravda Verify

    And Jemimah and Arabella are too busy lobbying for the 18-30 EU exchange scheme .

    Reply

    Mark Knight – Harry Williams

    And how could one forget Indigo and Cressida

    Reply

    CLB – Mark Knight

    Babes, I heard that poor Inny and Cressy are on hunger strike because of the totally hateful
    Supreme Court decision last week.

    1. Where are Tristram, Rupert, Izzy and Abby?

      It's too bloody early for Henley, Ascot and Glyndebourne.

      1. Collecting their completed essays on "Branwell Bronte: In Wuthering Heights Did He Affirm His Support For Black Lives Matter"? from the impoverished students who have to pay their own way.
        Mummy threatened to cancel their summer jaunt round Europe if they lost marks for missed deadlines – again.

    1. Unfortunately Sir Arthur Evans was a very poor archaeologist and much of the present remains of the Palace of Minos at Knossos have been ruined by his interventions.

      I recall concrete lintels painted brown above openings to resemble timber and Dolphin paintings so over-restored as to be suspected.

  61. Afternoon, all, from a sunbaked Cheshire and Shropshire. It was cool (as always) in church but I went to a plant fair over the border and it must be 20 degrees at least. We had the woke intercessionist this morning who was praising the late Pope and saying how wonderful he was. I wonder if she knows about the cover ups- probably not as she gets her info from the Bbc.
    We need a pushback against wokeism, but I can’t see it happening any time soon.

    1. Have they named the muslim terrorist responsible yet or is the media still desperately failing to gaslight?

    2. On social media.. they say the perp is a long haired wealthy Filippino or similar.. and very bad at driving.

  63. Undercover police officer Simon McLean warns gangland hitmen are firebombing homes and terrorising the streets of UK cities and claims 'organised crime has taken over'..

    Items 9 & 14 on David Betz's road map to civil war is bumbling along nicely..

    9/ police considered untrustworthy, pathetic failure and a dark menace.. TICK..
    14/ "the feral city". Essentially ungoverned. Crumbling infrastructure. No go zones. Private security. Negotiated police control. Corrupt communities. TICK..

    1. For clarity, from Chat GPT:
      David Betz is a British scholar specializing in war studies, and he's well known for his work on insurgency, information warfare, and modern conflict. He’s a professor at King's College London. In particular, Betz has written about how **modern Western societies** might drift into **civil conflict**, not through a sudden, traditional civil war, but via a **gradual and fragmented process**.

      He doesn’t have a single formal "road map to civil war" chart, but his ideas — especially from writings like *Carnage and Connectivity* (2015) and various essays — suggest something like this **progression**:

      ### David Betz’s "Road Map" to (Modern) Civil War (Synthesized)
      1. **Loss of Faith in Political Institutions**
      – People no longer trust elections, courts, media, or government officials.
      – Political polarization becomes extreme.
      2. **Hyper-Fragmentation of Society**
      – Communities lose a sense of shared national identity.
      – Ideological and cultural "tribes" replace loyalty to the nation.
      3. **Information Disorder**
      – Truth becomes subjective.
      – Disinformation, propaganda, and "weaponized narratives" dominate public life.
      4. **State Loses Monopoly on Violence**
      – Private security, militias, armed groups grow.
      – Police and military become politicized or fragment internally.
      5. **Low-Intensity, Persistent Violence**
      – Assassinations, riots, sabotage, and localized fighting.
      – No clear "front lines" — violence is sporadic but constant.
      6. **Legitimacy Crisis**
      – Governments can't maintain law and order.
      – Citizens turn to alternative authorities (gangs, warlords, militias).
      7. **Formal Secession or Collapse**
      – Parts of the country effectively break away (either formally or informally).
      – The central government may technically still exist, but it's hollow.

      **Key Betz Ideas:**
      – **Civil wars today aren't like the American Civil War** (1861–65) — big armies and clear battlefields — but more like slow, messy disintegration.
      – **Information is as important as bullets** — controlling narratives is as vital as controlling territory.
      – **Violence is decentralized** — no big armies, just lots of small conflicts.

    2. English took its place as the world language. A good statement to make if you want to get the French upset.

  66. Quality Control report.
    Out-of-date (BB end of June 2024) tomato and cheddar bread mix was perfectly fine.
    A lovely flavoursome dense loaf that goes well with … just about anything.

      1. Yes, it was. I suspect it was on special offer and I bought the packet, shoved it in a cupboard … and. … er …..

        1. We may be moving to somewhere a bit further from the shops than we are at the moment (5 mins) so I might get used to a bit of emergency bread-making…

  67. Wokeism seems to be effecting many, many people in so many different ways. It's almost become another religion. Seemingly Internet based.

  68. I'm sure the humanitarian Big Ange wanted Dorneywood for all those huddled masses on the Kent beaches.
    At least one boatload could be accommodated.

    1. Nah – she wanted to do a chavs party in the grounds "look wot I got. Gissannuver vodka and red bull."

  69. Could have been worse. It could have been Worrall Thompson and he would have tried to mug you.

    1. I wouldn’t have presented myself before that nonce.

      The best display at the exhibition was a baking section by Linda Collister and Anthony Blake. I bought two books from them: The Bread Book (which I still have) and The Baking Book (retained by my ex-wife).
      It was from these people that I learnt about the superior flour milled at Leatheringsett watermill in Norfolk by miller Mike Thurlow (now, sadly, deceased). The flour still milled there is the best I’ve ever come across, especially the spelt.

  71. "Let me tell you 'what now'. I'mma call a couple of hard, pipe-hitting niggas to go to work on the Homes here, with a pair of pliers and a blowtorch. You hear me talkin', Hillbilly boy? I ain't through with you by a damned sight. I'mma get mediæval on your ass!"

  72. "Let me tell you 'what now'. I'mma call a couple of hard, pipe-hitting niggas to go to work on the Homes here, with a pair of pliers and a blowtorch. You hear me talkin', Hillbilly boy? I ain't through with you by a damned sight. I'mma get mediæval on your ass!"

  74. That's about a cat-and-a-half's worth of matted fluff removed from Little Cat. All the huge lumps gone, and a couple of ticks removed, too.
    That's better! He's taken to rolling somewhere that has a lot of fine sand, which then gets deposited in the house… Grr!

  75. Me too! The first time I went, I was so eager to see the palace I’d only seen in pictures. It was quite a disappointment, and although I loved the friezes and throne etc the colours were a bit overwhelming.

  76. I have some Hallow’een cupcakes in the cupboard from a few years ago! Would you like them?

  81. Of course, nobody stupid is aware of their own stupidity because the assessment of intelligence itself requires a high level of intelligence. Dunning-Kruger Effect.

  82. We have to suspect, wibbling, that immigration and energy/green policies are somehow linked. The general public seem to want neither – so who voted for Labour to form government….certain members of the population and green zealots, perhaps. I understand someone just needs a NI number to register to vote, quite simple.

  83. Anyone?

    Disqus Classic is going away

    Beginning May 2025, we’ll no longer support the Disqus Classic design introduced prior to 2022. If you’re still using the Classic version, your comments will automatically switch to the current Disqus design – no action required.

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  85. I went here after my breakfast, Holy Rood, Shillingstone.

    The church was probably founded around 1090AD and there are hints within the church of its very long history. They include a Saxon relic of the head of St Birinus (now in above the main door); some tiny 12th century windows, a 13th century font, 15th century gargoyles on the tower and an 18th century sundial. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1cc11ff28f07b4ed8f843fab1897d85199ce23a3984807ce7483f2de77bb0eb2.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/50bf9d8c43988687485f5c30aed0d8a530d6501dab6e107f89211ae5ce60f82c.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c7f130ccab2c149ab339caa4ebfc033cb885b5ed0a1e872ea70157a135d88093.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/df6dd37b14f92997e9b7b11c92e4b6c0e21973282335b7a1ec3be317a9dc999c.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/37358279d0cb8d7990b62bb2775c4bcb653b4b55d8666b93ca60e2dcf2a74396.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c70f3958434abb6c2666bc782619eb2308a4bf7bc4daa207eb947884301de287.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d8b0468e0b201406fbc015594fe3ef63948f8f7833c3c5796b603f1c75d90a72.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/980034c44e4d1e77a07c1fde380a1cec7fd7a68d5e776201c5a75ccdee3efb11.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/91bc1188de84eb01254644312c84fac4695f09f2de36ee4b290a6bc029096378.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/88706500733fca60d6bf806c6c7128d88140eb7c9c7ba18a141d7c252c28407e.jpg

    1. A lovely church. One of my Army colleagues is buried there, and I sang in a concert there two years ago.

        1. If when the disruptive little one said "Roll over!" they had all rolled over towards the disruptive little one he would have ended up on the floor and the rest of them could then have had a decent night's sleep. Lol.

  95. Firstborn just attended a diabetes course at his locak hospital.
    Lunch was bread and topping, not entirely in keeping with the dietary advice… he just peeled the topping off and ate that.

  96. Did you know that humans are the only species to have evolved a rotating shoulder joint that permits us to throw things?

    No other animal … ever … can chuck things with power.

  97. Apparently Palestinian 'activitists' during the marathon have daubed red paint on the structure of tower bridge.

    1. Let's hope they get the same sentencing as the twits who threw paint on the van Gogh (I think it was).

    1. The main reason for doubling the cupboard space in the Dower House was to have more shelving to store stuff I could forget.

  104. In your photo that loaf looks much bigger than a 1lb tin loaf. I would have thought it was maybe at least 3lb.

  105. If you click on the tiny down arrow, to the right of your username at the top of the page, you will see a drop-down menu with a choice of 'New Disqus' or 'Classic Disqus'. You may click back and forth between the two to see the difference.

    Whenever I upgrade my software it defaults to 'New Disqus' so I choose 'Classic Disqus' because (IMHO) it looks better.

    3. In Sweden cheese is called ost [pron: "oost"].

      Try putting a smile on your chops while saying that!

  109. Wordle No. 1,408 4/6

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

    Wordle 27 Apr 2025

    A verdant Par Four?

    1. You're good, I struggled again

      Wordle 1,408 5/6

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

    2. You're good, I struggled again

      Wordle 1,408 5/6

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

    3. Very lucky to get away with a par….. I remembered my old maxim – When in trouble you just play in a W – worked today!

      Wordle 1,408 4/6

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

    4. Very lucky to get away with a par….. I remembered my old maxim – When in trouble you just play in a W – worked today!

      Wordle 1,408 4/6

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

    5. Birdie today.
      Wordle 1,408 3/6

      ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜
      ⬜⬜🟩⬜🟨
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      1. Me too

        Wordle 1,408 5/6

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

    7. Yep!

      Wordle 1,408 4/6

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

      1. Well done.
        Wordle 1,408 4/6

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

    8. Hah, a 2 here, but just got home and too tired to think much. My frequent first word only gave me one vowel so I looked back at Elsie's go this morning and found a 'd' (sadly I know her 1st word). Would have taken me too much effort without help tonight.

      Wordle 1,408 2/6

      ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  110. Wordle No. 1,408 4/6

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

    Wordle 27 Apr 2025

    A verdant Par Four?

  111. They should be put in the same room as the Indian demonstrators that have been terrorizing Toronto. Let them fight it out in peace.

  116. While we were out at the Earth Day event – some excitement happened in our garden – a swarm of bees! Anyway they were collected by a bee keeper and taken to a local village where a hive awaited them.
    We had a good afternoon talking to people about swifts, it was sunny but rather chilly in the shade. Plenty of people there, various stalls and also a group of musicians.

    1. Many years ago we had a swarm of bees down the chimney. But first of all they swarmed all over the car before deciding that indoors was a better bet. They took up residence for a while in the third bedroom. It was exactly the same sort of weather as today, when the air is still and 'heavy', and a similar time of year. There is a rhyme about the swarming of bees and the month but it escapes me now, something like a swarm of bees in May isn't worth a load of hay….!

      1. My brother and I used to camp in the garden when we were little. One day the tent went dark and noisy. Guess what? Long wait. Parents unworried. Beekeeper arrived and removed Queen. Etc.. Those were the days – the days when we jumped on bikes and ponies without protective clothing and generally ran wild as children. I'm sure it was better for us.

        1. It was better, opopanax. Thanks to 24/7 news/online, paedos arrested etc…parents now think children at risk much more than they did when I was young (ok 70+ years ago, and yes paedos were around then).

          1. There were police on the streets (and in the countryside) then, though. I never felt threatened when I was growing up, despite roaming in the woods with my dog and cycling miles.

          2. I didn’t either, a group of us. Small village, everyone knew everyone. Very different now, sometimes neighbour doesn’t know next door neighbour well. A few years ago, someone reported a chap had a gun, police out in droves, someone else reported for viewing childporn..not so much action, oddly.

          3. We do all know each other here – so it is much like life was in the past. It's one of the good things about living in this little hamlet.

          4. I used to wander off over the fields on my own, or with a friend – never came to any harm.

          5. Exactly, Ndovu. I did similarly with dog, pre-vaccine days. Don’t walk as far now, but ‘gaining on it’ 🙂

          6. Tee hee – even our 3 mile walk to school involved passing a known flasher (which we didn't understand but knew to avoid)

          7. Children are neither stupid nor uninformed, opo…additionally all over internet now.

        2. We certainly enjoyed more freedom, I wandered foot loose and fancy free from a very young age.
          Kids are better looked after nowadays. Greater safety precautions in cars, playgrounds; children driven to school. I walked or went on the bus
          I knew kids who had been killed whilst walking home from school. I spent months in hospital having been run over in the dark when I was 12. A bus ran over my brother's foot when he was 5. A friend was run down by 3 different ice cream trucks buying ice cream. Both my sisters lost their front teeth diving off bicycles when small. The list goes on.
          The freedom I enjoyed would be the envy of my little grandsons but it came at a price.

          1. When I had just given birth to my first child someone gave me a book called "The Magical Child" which posited the idea that children are better off losing a limb than losing their innate connection to the noumenon. I am inclined to agree, as I remember this connection with the universal (from my own childhood). I very clearly remember being protected by a higher force and being invulnerable despite some of the awful things that happened to me. Watching from above, invulnerable. I wish I had retained that perspective. Sometimes it recurs.

          2. I don't agree about losing a limb but I will go along with the idea of being looked after.
            My Dad always believed that someone was watching over him until he died relatively young at 59.
            Probably all an illusion
            Kids are better looked after these days by real people and not guardian angels any more.

    2. "A swarm in May is worth a load of hay,
      A swarm in June is worth a silver spoon,
      A swarm in July is not worth a fly".

  117. That's me gone. A very pleasant day. Warm and sunny – spent most of the afternoon reading in the garden.

    The film Conclave was quite well acted. It lacked the tension that builds in the book. The unexpected event in the Sistine (I am trying not to write spoilers) and the ending remain ridiculous – as they did in the novel. Fiennes was extremely convincing.

    Have a jolly evening – preparing for even more roasting weather tomorrow – global boiling at its worst = possibly 22ºC. Phew wot a scorcher etc.

    A demain.

  120. Early start tomorrow to go with grandson to Cardiff hospital for Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastronomy (PEG) tube insertion. His disorder has worsened considerably in the last week. He has to be fed with mashed up food but is having great difficulty digesting it. His hands can't manipulate properly and energy levels are at rock bottom. Strange though he has not lost weight as yet.

      1. Indeed. It will give a choice of feeding by mouth when he wants to. I hope he lies still while they do the procedure and doesn't try to pull it out.

        1. Oh, poor little love. These things can be very uncomfortable. He has my sympathy in spades.

        2. I had a similar gastro tube investigation (diverticulitis)..was knocked out first. They'll know what to do, but ask the nurse in attendance for details afore they start? You'll be there for him when he comes round, good luck.

    10. Is that the one where he'll be fed direct via the tube? Good luck. Hope all goes well.

    13. I recently had an Endoscopy experience in Addenbrookes. In my case a camera was inserted via mouth to remove a bile duct obstruction (gallstone) and insert a pigtail stent.

      There were about a dozen or so patients undergoing various Endoscopy operations. I was relieved at the speed of my own operation, throat numbed by spray and semi-conscious after injection I did feel pain but glad to have received the treatment.

      All the best and fingers crossed for your grandson.

  121. Better than me…had to stop trying, was wasting my time….fambly still do it every day tho. Husband/daughter very competitive, who can get to Wordle first, and complete it first in the shortest time:-D

      1. I’ve done it with drawing, painting, since I retired, lacoste…more my thing, just don’t have that analytical type brain I guess:-DD

  122. As part of my “read all the books i have but haven’t read yet” project, i am ploughing through Axel Munthe’s “The Story of San Michele”.

    My dad said: your grandmother (his mother, b. 1904) had a copy of that, from the Readers’ Digest book club she was in.

    I am reading it backwards, because that’s what i do, but it is very interesting.

    Axel Munthe was born in Sweden in 1857 and studied medicine in Paris and opened his first practice in France. But he also spends a lot of time in Naples. The book has vignettes about his time with the Laps, his practice and patients in Paris and Naples, the work he did with the syphilic prostitutes, in the cholera outbreaks in Naples and with orphans or children given up by their unmarried mothers to convents or, given with an “endowment” to (essentially) child traffickers, who farmed them out to poor families for the income they provided those poor families.

    He describes his wealthy ex-pat patients, wealthy bored women who have hysteria, and the duel he once fought. There is a passing reference to the horrors of Verdun.

    It is an interesting book. The situation regarding medicine, the passing of the old way of life with the coming modernity of the steam engine, and the gulf between the poverty and hunger of the poor and the boredom of those with too much.

    Wiki notes “He was married to a wealthy Englishwoman and spent most of his adult life in Italy.” But i didn’t read any reference to his wife.

    2. We read The Story of San Michele in the sixties at Technical School. Many years later I read that its author, Axel Munthe, lived in Wimbledon for some years. There will be a Blue Plaque on the relevant property for sure.

    3. LER, you are reading one of your books backwards? Have you been drinking tonight?

  124. Could be worse..

    Portugal population 10,6 million now overwhelmed with 10% enrichment with a Socialist Party in power..
    Ireland population 5,3 million now fully strengthened with 22% diversity and business-as-usual uniparty coalition in power..

    Bye bye Ireland..
    Bye bye Iberia.

        1. Do "Irish" nationals still have the right to come here willy nilly? If so, it is way past time that was stopped.

  126. Another wonderful second generation immigrant import. His father, "Ralph" (actually originally called Adolphe) came here in 1940. Some thanks, eh?

  127. I also meant to mention, as i sat outside reading my book, i saw what looked like a wren enter our bird box. Only for a minute. But i am hoping as well as being a frogmummy i may also be a birdmummy.

    My neighbour said they had bluetits in their bird box three years running but not last year. We must have had them them the year before, i remember bluetits once in the first Lockdown.

    we have a lot of magpies unfortunately (and there have been fights between the magpies and squirrels which the magpies have lost). (I have a hop and a bramble which i train up the wooden post).

    Will repost photo

      1. They do when they fight, Hertslass…very loudly. And they dig up where they think they buried hazlenuts (but didn't)…

        1. I've just dug up a hazel sapling for a friend. One my amnesiac squirrel planted and forgot about. Squirrels can make a very loud chirping noise, high up in the branches.

          1. They do, Conway, especially this time of year. Have seen a few scrappy fights. They come to the bird feeder, but if dog goes to open door they soon skedaddle.

          2. Probably I don't hear because I'm rather deaf and don't have my aids in all the time. Magpies however squawk and squawk and drive me nuts.

          3. Daughter's car cpmpletely trashed by magpie shit today. My goodness they are a menace, Very beautiful, though

    3. Are your squirrels greys, LIR…they're absolute thugs, rob my birdfeeder every day, rob baby birds/eggs from nests…and previously killed the few remaining reds. They are shot, but others just take their place.

        1. They are, Paul. Very delicate but very fierce. Smaller and lighter than greys unfortunately who are real bruisers. Also, where greys are pretty much all in the same mould, reds often slightly different in coat colour/size especially tail.

          2. Yes indeed. I occasionally find one, possibly an accident or been caught…the cells rub off onto my hand if I pick it up. I’ve seen a couple going back and forth in a patch of sunlight…males fighting for attention of females, sunlight picking up their colours. Nature’s always a wonderful thing, for me:-)

  128. Germany hides behind a certain national feeling of guilt. Merkel opened the doors and was encouraged by German guilt. We don't have anything to feel guilty about.

  129. Germany hides behind a certain national feeling of guilt. Merkel opened the doors and was encouraged by German guilt. We don't have anything to feel guilty about.

      1. Here's your chance to make a trip to Hotel California.
        I'm sure Megan could do with a few spare jars. With that saving the Sussexes could afford their own security.

  134. 30 years ago I visited Jordan and was told that they have a moderate climate with highs of no more than 45 degrees Celsius. How did we get from that to 20 degrees being a heatwave?

    1. 42C in Northern Nigeria was a hot day.
      53C in Kuwaiti desert was "comfortable". 63C inside the corrugated iron compound surrounding the wellheads was a bit heavy.
      The munitions lying around, and the occasional burned-out vehicle, were not pleasant.

    2. It's not even in England. Used to be 80°F (27°C) was considered a heatwave as I recall.

      Here it's more when it gets above 90°F, or 32°C. But then in the areas of the country where it gets hot, we have air conditioning, plus humidor drastically affects how hot one feels. I remember happily chasing the kids around in Nevada, when it was over 100°f but very low humidity. On the other hand, that same temp where I live is just plain nasty – hot and sticky.

      1. While I was cutting the grass this sunny afternoon my south-facing conservatory was at 44 degrees Celsius. Even that's not unbearable.

    3. It was 36 – 42 while we were in Brazil last year. Pretty warm but not unbearably so.

  135. By systematic gaslighting from those who wish to have total control over the Universe but since they cannot do this content themselves with creating serfs.

  136. Arguably, 'The Science' is a much abused term. Scientists are not 'Know-Alls; rather, they are institutional sceptics – they take a lot of convincing.

    Bill Gates doesn't qualify; he's a dangerous, billionaire, techno-nerd.

    Science is a systematic approach to understanding the world, involving observation, experimentation, and the formulation of testable hypotheses to explain natural phenomena. It aims to build and organize knowledge about the universe, often using a method called the scientific method. This method involves making observations, asking questions, formulating hypotheses, conducting experiments, analyzing data, and drawing conclusions.

  137. We had a Bach evening……. Andreas Scholl singing three cantatas……..the first cd of his that I bought about 25 years ago and it's still a favourite.
    Followed by violin concertos and the fabulous chaconne.

    1. Lovely. The Ferrier competition on Friday featured a very young Chinese countertenor called Zheng Jiang who was rather wonderful. He’s still studying with Ben Johnson at the Royal College of Music but will be one to watch.

      1. A very good Chinese tenor was the lead in the ROH Turandot we saw in the live cinema broadcast the other week.

    1. No, they chose a contralto called Lily Mo Browne. Rich creamy voice but all the charm of a lump of lard. The judges doubtless have their reasons. Interestingly she’s studying with the same teacher as the countertenor.

  139. Telegraph Reporters
    27 April 2025 5:58pm BST
    The French Navy escorted a boat carrying 50 migrants across the Channel on Sunday morning.

    The vessel was shadowed by a French warship through “dangerous” conditions before a British Border Force craft intercepted and took it to Dover.

    Dozens of men packed on the boat as it left France, one of several to make the crossing in the busiest shipping lane in the world.

    One fisherman described the conditions as “appalling”.

    “There was zero visibility out there. The boat with migrants on board was very low and dangerous,” he said.

    “Conditions were appalling. The French Navy escorted it across the Channel and then a Border Force boat took it to Dover.”

    The news comes as the number of migrants to cross the Channel this year reached 9,600.

    More arrivals were recorded in January to April than in the equivalent four-month period in any year since data on Channel crossings began in 2018.

    Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, has accused Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, of losing “control of our borders”.

    “Starmer’s claims to smash the gangs lie in tatters,” he said in mid April. “Having cancelled the Rwanda deterrent before it started and with no replacement, Starmer’s only plan for border protection is to pray for bad weather.”

    Migrant boats making the crossing often do so in treacherous conditions Credit: Steven Finn
    A Home Office spokesman said it was “intensifying” collaboration with France and other countries over tackling people smuggling gangs’ business models, and introducing tougher enforcement powers under new legislation.

    “We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security,” he said.

    “That’s why this Government is investing in border security, increasing returns to their highest levels for more than half a decade, and imposing a major crackdown on illegal working to end the false promise of jobs used by gangs to sell spaces on boats.”

    Join the conversation

    Peter UK
    1 min ago
    Why would the French do that?

    The intention is to dump all their human garbage on the UK.

    Comment by Peter UK.

    PU

    Peter UK
    3 min ago
    Saudi Arabian border authority shoot dead illegal immigrants as they land on the beach or at point of entry over land border.

    Over 1,000 of them shot dead in 2024.

    The numbers are well down this year.

    Comment by David Sant.

    DS

    David Sant
    5 min ago
    The French are taking the iss out of us.

    They could stop this in a heartbeat!

    Reform must promise tough love with these illegal trespassers!

    Reply by M J Edwards.

    MJ

    M J Edwards
    3 min ago
    Spot on the Dutch and Belgians stop the boats on the beach, no immigration from there. The French just wave them goodbye while pocketing Starmer’s millions!

    Comment by Jimmy Boy.

    JB

    Jimmy Boy
    6 min ago
    Sink the damned thing.

    Comment by Ian Hardy.

    IH

    Ian Hardy
    6 min ago
    Why not just bring them over in French Navy ships.. saves on buying rubber boats etc. in fact why not just put them on Eurostar and cut out the wet bit altogether. Bloody French

    Comment by fred arrandale.

    fa

    fred arrandale
    10 min ago
    Refuse them entry to our country and turn them around and escort them back to France. Spray them with a dye to ensure nobody gets through a second time, Starmer and Cooper are liars they will do nothing until we have riots in the street

    .

    3. "Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, has accused Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, of losing “control of our borders”."

      The Tories of course had total control of our borders, The lying scum are as bad as each other.

  141. Well, chums, it's now 11.30 pm, normally my bedtime is at 11 pm. But I shall hang about here until just after midnight finalising various bits and pieces ready for my trip to Plymouth tomorrow. Then, as the clock strikes midnight, I shall attempt Monday's Wordle and post it here. Then I shall "disappear" until next month (Thursday the 1st of May) when – like James Bond – I shall be back.

      1. Just some time out with some chums, molamola, but nothing to do with fishing. If fish are involved, then it will only be if we decide to enjoy a fish supper. Lol.

  143. And here is my WORDLE solution for Friday. I am particularly pleased with this because I was able to use a tip I learnt on this site a week or so ago, namely if you have reached stage 5 and found several possibilities, then think of a word containing all of the possible letters and enter it as a word in line 5. This will show you if a letter is in the final solution or not, thus enabling you to complete your sixth and final attempt correctly. Yippee!

    Wordle 1,409 6/6

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

Comments are closed.