Sunday 27 March: As the Russian army flails, Western nations must keep up the pressure

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.

789 thoughts on “Sunday 27 March: As the Russian army flails, Western nations must keep up the pressure”

    1. BST arrives and the forecast is for cooler weather here in N Essex, of course.😎

      Morning, HJ.

        2. Bright overcast here in Derbyshire now.
          It is still a very pleasant day though.

  2. Morning everyone. There’s been nothing from Harry Meneely lately so I assume that he’s been arrested or silenced by the Finnish Secret Police.

  3. SIR – It is ironic that, while Border Force and the RNLI taxi growing numbers of illegal immigrants to our shores, the entry of Ukrainian refugees is being delayed by onerous visa processing.

    Those crossing the Channel illegally appear to be mainly young men; the Ukrainians, on the other hand, are mostly women and children, since the men have bravely remained to defend their sovereign country.

    The question is unavoidable: for all its rhetoric, is the Home Office really fit for purpose?

    David Hutchinson
    Nutley, East Sussex

    I think we all know the answer to that, Mr Hutchinson, which makes your question a rhetorical one!

    1. The Home Office is bringing the illegal criminal migrants here deliberately out of revenge for Brexit. It is intentionally flooding this country with vermin out of spite.

      Frankly, until Moldova is complaining it can’t take any more immigrants, when Latvia and Lithuania are creaking, when Italy, Germany Turkey are full – demonstrably full – then we should take some Ukrainians. This gormless idea we must feed the world is stupid.

    2. This naïve fool really thinks that, “…the men have bravely remained to defend their sovereign country.” Obviously a nut from Nutley.

      All men of fighting age – including trans – are barred from leaving the country, as they form the basis of a conscript army, by order of Zelensky the Ukranian mad Hitlerite.

  5. Will the Conservatives be blamed for Britain’s coming immiseration? 27 March 2022.

    The question now is who gets the blame. Britain is about to become much poorer. Almost all of us will find that we can no longer afford things. A country can’t pay people to stay away from work for the better part of two years without a hit to its prosperity. That much is certain. What remains uncertain is whether voters will see falling living standards as a consequence of the lockdowns and the Ukrainian war, or as a result of Tory policy.

    Well they are going to blame Russia of course though even there it is the sanctions that will do the real damage. These; aside from being mostly criminal and illegal, will exacerbate the situation beyond measure. A complete collapse of the world’s financial system is not beyond possibility.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/03/26/will-conservatives-blamed-britains-coming-immiseration/

    1. Not only ‘not beyond possibility’, but planned, I believe. Fasten your seatbelts.

    2. The evident and inevitable collapse of our way of life will be blamed on covid, Ukraine and climate change.

      The government’s response will be higher taxes, more climate change taxes, dforced net zero and an even bigger state. It will not occur to them – because they lie habitually, even to themselves, that it was all both obviously, clearly and blatantly their own miserable fault for making us poorer.

      The endless stream of taxation will make no difference to ecology, unemployment will soar, people will die from starvation and cold. F this bunch of b’tards. The whole treacherous bunch need to be put against a wall and shot, repeatedly.

    3. I think the Americans must have pulled the rug out from under the dollar on purpose in order to collapse it in a fashion controlled by them. I can think of no other reason why they would have removed the dollar as the world’s reserve currency.
      Detached from oil, it’s now backed by…nothing.

    4. They could blame the collapse of the world ‘s financial system on Russia but the real reason would be to usher in the digital currency they’ve been planning for so long.

  6. SIR – I wholeheartedly concur with the outrage expressed in recent letters about Britain’s treatment of Ukrainian refugees.

    When I applied to host a family in my large house I was directed to a charity called Naccom, whose website basically said that because I do not live near a city I did not qualify. I sent an email but of course received no reply.

    The website of the Government’s Homes for Ukraine scheme states: “The United Kingdom has a long and proud history of helping others in their hour of need.”

    My experience of trying to help suggests that this is piffle.

    Richard Gowland
    Heacham, Norfolk

    Never mind, Richard Rowland, you can now invite some of our own street-sleepers to stay in your large house.

    We look forward to reading about it.

    1. Play nicely. Mr Gowland is a retired engineer in his late seventies. All his contact details are on the web, and he appears to be respectable, if possibly a little naive. He is a member of his local church.

      1. All the more reason to look after homeless veterans then rather than virtue signalling over foreigners.

  7. SIR – Fraser Nelson suggests that the Chancellor dug in his heels over the planned National Insurance increase in order to demonstrate to his neighbour at No 10 that increased spending has to be funded, somehow, from tax revenue.

    That’s all very well, but it won’t be the Prime Minister who bears the pain of the increase; it will be many of the least well-off.

    Far better, surely, if the Chancellor had insisted on savings rather than tax increases – for example, through cancelling HS2 and the statutory obligations related to net zero. (Both of these measures, incidentally, would probably be applauded by a large majority of Conservative voters, especially in the “Red Wall” seats upon whose votes the Conservatives’ survival in office beyond the next election depends.)

    You are right to ask: “What does the Tory party stand for?” (Leading Article, March 25). It is a question that has puzzled me for more than a decade.

    John Waine
    Nuneaton, Warwickshire

    SIR – Rishi Sunak says every penny of public money will be wisely spent.

    He may be hoping that people have already forgotten about the millions spent over the past two years on unusable personal protective equipment, plus the £37 billion for Test and Trace’s incompetence. Financial prudence and wisdom are now urgently required.

    Sally Lawton
    Kirtlington, Oxfordshire

    Yes, we eagerly await the introduction of the war on waste…

    1. Yes, we eagerly await the introduction of the war on waste…

      …with the introduction of: a new Cabinet post, under secretaries, civil servants (not forgetting diversity, equality, environmental and uncle Tom Cobley and all, types) and the long term leasing of office blocks in major cities. 🙄

      1. Every contract government writes must have a failure clause. When those are met, the people signing them – the upper CS, takes the flak. A few years without pay for utter incompetence would make them barely competent. Instead they’re serial meeters who all agree to think the same way – failure and demand money.

    2. Every penny the government spends is wasted money. It isn’t wisely spent at all. Money wisely spent is done so by the earner, because it’s theirs. The very statement is offensive. Quangos, diversity officers, equalities officers, unionists, shami feckin chakrabalti, criminal gimmigrants, appallingly designed tanks, FRES, the F35 debacle, NHS trusts, Cressida Dick, parties, test and trace app – I mean… dear freekin life. We specced out an equivalent monitoring system with real time tracking, a database scaling to absurd heights and couldn’t get it over 5 million – including hiring two contractor teams of 20 in India.

      The state is useless and wasteful. For every nurse there’s an administrator. For every adminsitrator a quangocrat, lobbyist or charidde demanding money to push gay rights or trans things. Burn the lot of them.

    3. It really is astonishing that Dido Harding managed to squander 37 billion on Test and Trace, or rather was completely unable to rein in the people who did. That alone is an epitaph on our age.

    5. John Waine’s question reminds me of the Monty Python’s Charladies’ Philosophical Group who were discussing existentialism and liberty. They decided that they needed to ask Jean-Paul Sartre to resolve an important question so they all piled into a phone box and called him up.

      They got through to a woman, and, having ascertained that she was Mrs Jean-Paul they asked her if Jean-Paul was free. She went off to see and came back a few moments later saying: “He’s been trying to answer that question for the last fifty years.”

  8. SIR – The Institute for Fiscal Studies says that a median earner on an annual salary of £27,500 will be £360 worse off in the next financial year, and that seven out of eight employees will pay more tax (report, March 24).

    The key words here are “earner” and “employees”. Those over retirement age whose state and career pensions combined – or other sources – bring them incomes well over £27,500 will not be a penny worse off, being exempt from National Insurance contributions.

    Given that 2.5 per cent of the NI rate is now specifically for the funding of the NHS and care homes, and has nothing whatsoever to do with the state pension, and that those over retirement age are the greatest users of these services, there is no justification for not adding at least 2.5 per cent to their tax burden too. A simple change to their tax codes could achieve it.

    The idea that age alone – regardless of income – justifies a free ride, while working people pick up the tab and those with little more than the state pension coming in struggle to survive, is quite wrong.

    David Cockerham
    Bearsted, Kent

    I wonder if he has thought about how this country achieved its prosperity and standard of living if it wasn’t as a result of the efforts of those now retired?

    1. I wonder if he has thought about how this country achieved its prosperity and standard of living if it wasn’t as a result of the efforts of those now retired?

      Morning Hugh. We gave them a prosperous and secure state and they have destroyed both!

    2. Mr Cockerham – those people have already earned their pensions and paid for them. What’s that? No, they haven’t? The state has squandered it on boondoggles, quangos, trough, non-jobs, windmills and HS2? Ah yes. Perhaps if big government were not such a wasteful, cretinous oaf you wouldn’t be demanding people pay twice for something they’ve already paid for.

      This endless ‘mke someone else pay!’ is utterly absurd. Everyone is paying, pensioners more because they’ve no protection against the biggest taxes – stealth taxes and inflation (which is a stealth tax). The solution, Mr Cockerham, is to accept that the state must do less for you now. After all, will you really miss 5.5billion worth of diversity officers?

    4. David Cockerham would be better directing his ire at those who have never contributed and have no intention of working. POS.

    5. One wonders if he would be so cavalier about taxing pensioners when he gets to retirement.

      But he’s probably an eighteen-year-old, barely out of nappies.

    6. I don’t suppose he’s thought that people who have an extra (i e occupational) pension paid in over the years for it. My pensions don’t come anywhere near £27k, but I don’t pay NICs (if the TPA had its way, combining NICs and Income Tax, I would).

  9. SIR – What has happened to the tiny black mice that used to dart about the track beds of London Underground stations? Two years ago, I used to see them every time I travelled. In the past few months, I have seen none.

    Have they starved during lockdown? If so, will Transport for London take steps to reintroduce them? Over the decades, they must have raised the spirits of millions of commuters.

    Nick Baxter
    London SW11

    Perhaps TFL has reduced their numbers in the hope that they are less likely to disrupt services by chewing through cables?

    1. They went on a black looting mouse rampage and smashed up the next door white mice’s home. The underground staff are now setting about clearing up the mess left behind and charging the white mice for the damage.

      Oh, hang on. That’s just a metaphor for our society…

    2. Officially, they are victims of the great WuFlu Pandemic and have been added to the number of ‘victims’.

  10. White House backtracks on Biden’s claim that Putin can’t stay in power. 27 March 2022.

    In his speech in Warsaw today, Joe Biden said of Vladimir Putin: ‘For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power.’ This comes after Biden condemned Putin as a war criminal and ‘a butcher’. So, what did Biden mean by this? At first blush, it looks like a call for either a palace coup or a popular uprising in Russia – the two ways that Putin could be ousted from power. But the White House has been quick to downplay the remark, telling US reporters: ‘The President’s point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbours or the region. He was not discussing Putin’s power in Russia, or regime change.’

    But it’s still out there! Knowing Biden’s fragile mental state both the assertion and the denial were certainly planned in advance. Such a threat of course makes the possibility of some form of rapprochement much more difficult and reinforces the view that the forces behind NATO are intent on widening and deepening the war. It takes no great imagination to see where we are headed!

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/white-house-backtracks-on-biden-claim-that-putin-can-t-stay-in-power

    1. Biden was probably talking about himself. The mentally infirm often refer to themselves in the third person.

      2. Oh dear. I have referred to myself in the third person in my head since I was a child and read far too much fiction which was in the third person. I started identifying myself with book characters.
        Oh well, I’ll know that I’m mentally infirm when I start blurting it out aloud.

        1. I never used to like ‘ I ‘ books when I was a child. Always preferred the third person.

          1. It is interesting that P.G. Wodehouse wrote his two most successful series of novels using different narrative styles. The Bertie Wooster/Jeeves stories were told by Bertie* in the first person; the Blandings novels were related by an external observer.

            (* PGW wrote one story with Jeeves being the first person narrator; I did not think it worked very well.)

          3. Yes, I remember coming across books written in the first person for the first time, and finding it rather disconcerting.

        2. I had a phase of reading ‘pony’ books.
          When I discovered it wasn’t all riding out on interesting adventures, that phase died a death.

    2. Comment found in the DM, but seen elsewhere too.

      The Kremlin hit back at Biden’s description of Putin saying ‘a state leader must remain sober-minded’.

      ‘Such personal insults are narrowing down the window of opportunity for our bilateral relations under the current (US) administration. One should be aware of this,’ said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

  12. There has been reference on Nottl to the Rustat hearing, although as far as I can see Charles Moore’s recent (and excellent) column on this subject hasn’t been posted, so apologies if this is a duplication:

    COMMENT
    The Rustat hearing at Cambridge should be a turning point in the war against woke

    A judge has rejected Jesus College’s attempt to remove the memorial. This should give all such “anti-racist” institutions pause for thought

    CHARLES MOORE
    25 March 2022 • 9:30pm

    Without intending any disrespect, I think one can say that a judgment in the Consistory Court of the Diocese of Ely would not normally affect our public life. The Church of England is “by law established”, so ecclesiastical law is part of English law but usually this need not trouble the scorers.

    This week, not so. A carefully argued judgment by Judge David Hodge forbade the removal of a 17th-century memorial from the chapel of Jesus College, Cambridge. It will help protect our heritage, expose weak leadership in our great institutions and help turn the tide of jiggery-wokery.

    Before I explain why, please excuse some recent history.

    Two years ago, as the world became infected by a plague which the Chinese regime had tried to hide, I came across the website of the China Centre at Jesus College. Its wording struck me. It made no pretence to academic detachment. Using Xi Jinping’s pet phrase “national rejuvenation”, it praised the “extraordinary transformation” wrought by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership.

    Further inquiry showed a pervasive yet opaque college engagement with CCP-backed bodies. Professor Peter Nolan, who runs the centre, would not speak publicly about it. The college’s wider China engagement included a UK/China Global Issues Dialogue Centre, conferences (some not ostensibly China-related), receptions, prize-givings, oily speeches in Beijing etc, backed enthusiastically by Cambridge’s vice-chancellor. No forum criticised the Chinese regime – holding events, for example, about the suppression of Hong Kong or the enslavement of the Uyghurs. Only this month did Jesus finally print figures showing that the college has taken nearly £1.5 million from regime-controlled Chinese sources in the past five years. I think that will prove a conservative estimate.

    Journalistically, I had hit a rich seam. Controversy rose. Distinguished alumni expressed unease.

    At the same time, Jesus College, so reticent about China, turned on another source of its money. Tobias Rustat, a 17th-century supporter of King Charles II, rewarded for his loyalty in the long years of exile, could not hit back, being dead. Rustat’s donations still pay for college benefactions today.

    Given extra impetus by the Black Lives Matter pile-on after the murder of George Floyd in May 2020, the college has a Legacy of Slavery Working Party (LSWP). In June 2020, I discovered that Rustat was being what George Orwell called “unpersoned” by the LSWP because of his links with the slave trade. In November 2020, the new Master, Sonita Alleyne, said his Grinling Gibbons memorial in the chapel should be removed. Because it is in a Grade 1-listed church, this required legal permission from the Diocese of Ely. The college would petition for this. “The Church is very supportive of our considerations,” added the Master, unwisely pre-empting any court case.

    As early as June, an old colleague had put me in touch with a Jesuan friend (as the alumni are called). He and his Jesuan contemporaries did not like the trashing of a great college benefactor. They suspected the charges against Rustat were factually weak. They felt that alumni, always courted by the college for their money, should not be ignored here.

    They wrote to the Master but got no satisfaction. As the plan to remove Rustat’s statue grew, I asked heritage experts about the law. I learnt that the bar for removing a leading piece of heritage from a church is, rightly, very high. The burden of proof would lie on the college.

    In discussion, the Jesuan and I agreed Jesus College should bear that burden in court. He consulted the large numbers of interested alumni. He won strong backing. Sixty-five signed up as the “parties opponent” in court, ready to share any costs.

    Hence the contested case. As is required, numerous learned bodies were consulted. Most came down, on conservation and heritage grounds, against moving the Rustat memorial. The alumni did proper historical research. Their suspicions were confirmed: although Rustat had indeed invested in a company which traded in slaves, he had lost money by doing so (serves him right, perhaps). His wealth had other sources. Contrary to the LSWP, he gave no slavery money to Jesus.

    Last month, the court hearing took place dramatically – in chapel, beside the Rustat memorial. I went to Cambridge to watch. Most college witnesses seemed a little unsteady on the Rustat facts. The Master herself barely addressed them, preferring to make an emotional speech as if shaped for “anti-racist” learning materials rather than the issues before the court. Unless Rustat went, she said, she would not – could not – pray in the chapel.

    On Wednesday, Judge Hodge published his 108-page judgment. The removal of the Rustat memorial would indeed cause “notable” damage to the heritage of the chapel, he said. He did not accept the college’s view that the mission of the Church was harmed by Rustat continuing to stay in the chapel after 330 years there.

    Although carefully moderate in tone, as good judges are, he was tough on the conduct of the college authorities. The chair of the LSWP, Dr Véronique Mottier, had been “an underwhelming witness’” who was “firmly wedded to her own entrenched opinions and unwilling to recognise any views other than her own”. In several answers, she had “not been frank”; in one, she had been “untruthful”.

    The facts about Rustat did matter, the judge said. A student member of the LSWP had emailed all undergraduates saying that Rustat “amassed much of his wealth from the Royal African Company that captured and shipped more enslaved African women, men and children to the Americas than any other single institution during the entire period of the transatlantic slave trade”. This stirred up students to support the removal, but it was factually wrong in relation to Rustat. The LSWP never corrected this error, so the college put out “a false narrative” against its own benefactor and never corrected it.

    In essence, the judge was saying to Jesus College: “You are wrong in law. You did not do your homework properly. You have not dealt fairly with critics.”

    How could this ancient, learned charitable institution have got itself into such expensive litigation and reputational damage? How could it not see the hypocrisy of aerating (on factually inadequate grounds) about someone who died more than three centuries ago, while failing to confront the evil done to human dignity by the CCP regime whose money it was trousering?

    These issues go wider than one college. The Rustat judgment should encourage all lovers of heritage to resist such removals, backed by the law. It should also deter all leaders and institutions tempted to play to the woke gallery.

    I am afraid one figure who emerges poorly from this unnecessary adventure is the Archbishop of Canterbury. While his own Church’s court was deliberating the Rustat case, Justin Welby exclaimed publicly, “Why is it such agony to remove a memorial to slavery?” It reminded me how he plunged into the case of the late Bishop George Bell, falsely accusing him of paedophile acts, and years later apologised. The answer to the Archbishop’s question is Judge Hodge’s judgment itself. The Rustat monument is not a memorial to slavery, but to philanthropy. The fact that Rustat had done some bad things is not decisive: “From a Christian perspective, every memorial is a memorial to a sinner.”

    Start from that forgiving, Christian premise, and we might begin to get some of these contests over heritage right.

    * * *

    An equally good leading BTL:

    Milon Chowdhury
    1 DAY AGO
    This is disturbing on a number of levels. First, that an academic institution ties in itself in knots over a chapel memorial, indicating that it doesn’t have anything better to do with its time. Second, that irrational emotion was allowed to outweigh sober and objective assessment of the evidence. Third, the hypocrisy in blindly accepting donations from a government renowned for its human rights abuses while angrily condemning an historic benefactor for investing in trade that was legal hundreds of years ago, and in any event was not the source of his beneficence. Fourth, that the memorial would have been unceremoniously damaged and removed by the College were it not for the legal requirement to get an order from the Consistory Court. Thank goodness the alumni fought this. I suspect there will be many more fights like this. The barbarians and vandals are well and truly inside the gates.

    1. … and the fact that one court has kept its head in this instance does not change the direction of travel. The Wokesters and Globalists have no reverse gear. This will come back in a little while.

    2. “I am afraid one figure who emerges poorly from this unnecessary adventure is the Archbishop of Canterbury.”
      I would sooooooo like to be surprised.

      1. Yo anne

        Archbishop of Canterbury.

        Shirley, you mean the Imam of Kent

        imam, Arabic imām (“leader,” “model”), in a general sense, one who leads Muslim worshippers in prayer. In a global sense,
        imam is used to refer to the head of the Muslim community (ummah). The title is found in the Qurʾān several times to
        refer to leaders and to Abraham.

        1. Unless in his kitchen, I’m not sure the ABC does much praying; particularly praying of a Christian nature.

      2. Has anybody got a good word to say about Justin Welby?

        No, I thought not

        (The sooner he is Just Out and gone forever the better)

  13. “British intelligence operative’s involvement in Ukraine crisis signals false flag attacks ahead” Grayzone. 27 March 2022.

    “Shadowy UK intel figure Hamish de Bretton-Gordon was at the forefront of chemical weapons deceptions in Syria. Now in Ukraine, he’s up to his old tricks again.

    With Washington and its NATO allies forced to watch from the sidelines as Russia’s military advances across Eastern Ukraine and encircles Kiev, US and British officials have resorted to a troubling tactic that could trigger a massive escalation. Following similar claims by his Secretary of State and ambassador the United Nations, US President Joseph Biden has declared that Russia will pay a “severe price” if it uses chemical weapons in Ukraine.

    Yes it’s pretty obvious that they are preparing a False Flag chemical attack in Ukraine so as to provide a justification for NATO’s direct involvement.

    https://turcopolier.com/british-intelligence-operatives-involvement-in-ukraine-crisis-signals-false-flag-attacks-ahead-grayzone/

  16. Clocks all changed on this most stupid ritual, invented of course by the Germans and we followed. Lets stick with GMT. and nor Berlin time.

    2. Ah, but has everyone, who doesn’t have radio-controlled time-pieces, remembered?

      2. We have internet time and clock time.
        I use clock time to check the internet times really have updated, then upate the clock times…
        I’ll get me coat…

      3. We have internet time and clock time.
        I use clock time to check the internet times really have updated, then upate the clock times…
        I’ll get me coat…

      1. Not sure of any benefits for Scots in moving from GMT to BST. However, I do remember the problems caused in the early 70s when it was decided one year to keep to BST throughout the winter months.

        It meant that some northern parts didn’t see dawn until well after 9am. Unlike the 70s when most walked to school, the modern day school run of Chelsea tractors would be attempted in the dark. It’s horrendous enough in the light of day.

        Strangely, no one, to my knowledge, has suggested the far more sensible notion of leaving the clocks on GMT all year round. After all, the clocks were set by the natural position of the Sun, not the machinations of the politicians.

        1. The Victorians managed perfectly well on permanent GMT.
          They are my yardstick for any change. Did the arrangement work between 1837 and 1901? If so, Leave It Alone.

  17. Good Moaning.
    Aarrgghh …. ooohhhh ….. erk ……. nobody told me I had muscles there.
    MB and I finally got round to sorting out the cooker. Two ovens, a lot of grease, knackered oven lights and ‘walls’ that you can take out. Putting them back was a work out in itself. Some very interesting positions were required – particularly when you are trying to avoid coming into contact with nasty chemicals.
    I now know why I avoided anything other than a token swipe with a detergent laden cloth for longer than a conscientious hussif would allow. On the plus side, we did have the right sized oven bulb in stock; heck, I even found it where I thought I’d put it.

      1. Even worse, I find things that I have forgotten and then duplicated.
        I was very logical in this case; I put the bulb in the light bulb store. And, miraculously, it hadn’t moved.

        1. That is one small annoyance that Best Beloved has, she uses something, puts it down, wherever and the next time she wants to use it, spends (wastes) hours looking for it. She wouldn’t last 5 minutes working on aircraft!

          1. I’m fine as long as I don’t decide to re-organise things.
            Since MB is more laid back, I only have myself to blame.

          2. SWMBO is like that.
            Except, in the middle of the process, I have usually fallen over it / got tangled in it / needed to use the space/the thing underneath it, and become enraged at the mess and out it / thrown it away.
            Morning, Tom!

        2. It’s the quickest way to find something you know you have – buy a replacement.

    2. God Moaning,
      I’m a lazy bugger. Every 6 months a nice chap comes round and does all that for me and he only charges £50. I go out for lunch while he’s at it.

      1. I have thought about that. Judging by the vans, several people in this leafy suburb do the same as you.
        However, since some repairs were needed, I’m not sure that the acid bath chaps undertake such work.

  19. Good morning all.
    It’s still 07:36 GMT by my body clock! Bright with scattered cloud and 1½°C outside.

    2. Wishing you a very Happy Birthday, Spikey! Hope you have a wonderful music-filled day and love to you! 🍾🎂🎉

    5. Happy Birthday Spike ! Spoil yourself, go out and tow some cars…even if they don’t need it. :@)

      1. Happy birthday, 81 is a particularly auspicious age, 3 to the 4th and 9 squared, the sum of its digits also being 3 squared.

          1. Missed your lottery once in a life time chance.
            Unlucky.
            The three ages one might be alive where it works squared and to the fourth are 1, 64 and 81
            64 doesn’t do the summing trick, which is why 81 is the more auspicious.
            Edit OOPs Forgot 16, 32, where similar multiple powerings greater than cubed are possible!

            I see they are showing your biopic on the horrorchannel at 9 tonight.

    1. And look at the little jingoists who feature prominently in the comments! Mind you – it is the Fail!

    1. Many Happy Returns, Belle! Hope you have a wonderful day being spoiled by the men in your life! Love to you!🌹🍾🎂

    5. The most happiest of Birthdays to you Maggie. I hope you enjoy the mop and bucket husband Richard has bought for you !

    6. Happy birthday, Maggie!

      And Happy Mothering Sunday to all Nottler mums. Not being a mother and not having had a mother for some time, it tends to creep up on me unawares.

      2. While I share your sentiments – when I was a child (with two much older brothers) – Mothering Sunday was just another Sunday to go to church.

        The event was never marked. And my mother and her sisters did not do anything to “celebrate” their mother.

        It all came as a complete surprise/shock when I married.

    8. Apologies to Caroline! I missed your birthday, so many belated wishes to you! Did you make your own cake again? 🌹💕🎂

      1. Good morning Sue,

        I admit that I am pretty useless – but I am not totally useless so I represent that remark! But No – I made it as I did last year.

        (Caroline also posted a photo of me making up a chocolate cake mix. The cake is delicious and Caroline and I are looking forward to having another slice or two at tea time today when we shall think about True Belle and Spikey)

    13. Happy birthday Maggie.
      Hope you have a really good day even though you’re not feeling well.
      Get well soon and have your rearranged birthday bash.

  26. There is a discussion abot how Peace in Ukraine can be brokered
    Simples:

    Peace in Ukraine!

    Simples, get Blair in, he has history of peace keeping

    The terrorists will be lauded

    The troops will be prosecuted

    Dissenters will be murdered

  27. 351669+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    May one ask does the majority voter feel any jubilation in seeing their political creation really taking shape in the form of the United Kingdom being occupied piecemeal.

    Courtesy of the treacherous voting pattern the city gates will be closed to the deep rooted indigenous as an alien sheikdom will be the governing force.

    The approach will be paying a toll at the city gates from a kneeling position, already being practised in other quarters.

    The lab/lib/con coalition are crying out for a party of strength to shoulder their woes ( many self inflicted)
    following an islamic path via the polling booth is surely their aim.

    https://youtu.be/gx4MRcKaIMU

      1. He’s probably already kept going by frequent jolts of electricity to keep things ticking over.

    3. The funny thing is that I came across this immediately after reading an article which actually DID say the same thing about Biden. It was a quite surreal moment to be honest and I had to double check.

      The difference between the two articles was in the speaker of the words. The one was the demented president of the United States who really cannot be held responsible for his words. The other was a respected US congressman who also referred to Biden as an embarrassment to the United States and said that it could not be allowed to continue. A recent opinion poll suggests that 70% of the US electorate agree with the congressman.

    4. The funny thing is that I came across this immediately after reading an article which actually DID say the same thing about Biden. It was a quite surreal moment to be honest and I had to double check.

      The difference between the two articles was in the speaker of the words. The one was the demented president of the United States who really cannot be held responsible for his words. The other was a respected US congressman who also referred to Biden as an embarrassment to the United States and said that it could not be allowed to continue. A recent opinion poll suggests that 70% of the US electorate agree with the congressman.

  29. “SIR – What has happened to the tiny black mice that used to dart about the track beds of London Underground stations? Two years ago, I used to see them every time I travelled. In the past few months, I have seen none.

    Have they starved during lockdown? If so, will Transport for London take steps to reintroduce them? Over the decades, they must have raised the spirits of millions of commuters.

    Nick Baxter
    London SW11”

    Rats ate them.

  30. And in cat news….

    G & P are great outdoor cats. They really just come in to eat and sleep. They often make a thing about trying not to come in when we go to bed. Though when they do, they trot into the kitchen and into their baskets. Sweeeet.

    We are going to be away at the end of April for a few nights and prefer that the cats stay here rather than go to the 7-star cattery. So, last night, at bedtime, we escorted them to the porch, where their baskets were ready. Food was supplied. We wished them goodnight.

    Well, this morning.!! They were both in the porch; the food had gone. BUT the sulks. Pickles ignored us; Gus is on the settee pointedly facing away from us!!

    Quite funny, really!!

      1. World domination is what Dobby the naked cat, is planning! We had the twins staying last night, and Hector the nanny-dog, whined every time they made a noise! Eventually I had to go in with the boys, and Dobby came too! He spent the night patrolling the cots!

    2. They need company while you are away to minimise separation anxiety. Get a Uke family in to hold the fort.

      1. Stupid boy!

        Interestingly, they are not “people cats”. Having seen them every day for over 16½ months, I realise now that they are essentially feral cats living an appearance of domestic life. They are not lapcats; they tolerate being stroked and picked up. But they never voluntarily get very close to either of us. Or Mighty Mo, our cleaner. They are not “company” in the way our previous three cats were – each of who would leap onto a lap or bed at the drop of tin of Whiskas..

        But they are happy; they put up with us; and they give us great joy. Wouldn’t be without them.

        2. Morning Bilty,
          My cats were self sufficient when younger. They’re about 8yo now and for the past year or so have become gradually more affectionate and seek out contact, snuggling onto my lap (or just under my chin) when I watch TV. . Perhaps yours will follow the same pattern.

          1. I wonder. Bob and Thompson, and later, Mousie (all gingers, Mousie female), were lapcats from six weeks. Always seeking a lap or warm bed.

            G & P – who don’t remember any other home – have never done that. As babies they did climb up my legs (ouch) to get to my lap – but soon jumped off. They are affectionate to each other – but simply rub along with us.

      3. I read yesterday that Sadick Kahnt is against people from Ukraine coming to England on account that have enough space for them.
        Probably not the right hue of beliefs for his preferences.
        And also read that there are now at least 8 million people living in the UK between the ages of 16 and 65 who have never, nor are ever likely to make a contribution to the coffers they more then we rely on to support the NHS pension funds and the much abused benefits system.
        80% of the government income is used to support the NHS and benefits.

        1. Let’s cut (no slash) benefits and then watch the exodus, not only of the illegals but our own home-grown scroungers.

          1. I’ve been saying that for years and certainly regarding the NHS treatment.
            We were staying in a hotel in Singapore on our way to Oz and a lady with two young children staying over children had to deposit 3,000 pounds because a her son of 4 year old was ill.
            I have a feeling that the NHS as we know it is on the down turn right now and it seems they are trying to encourage more people to take private insurance.

  31. Since it is Sunday and all that and another beautiful day. I thought I would post this. I thought it fascinating because, of course, at one time Turkey was one of the great centres of Christianity. Besides the Hagia Sophia, think the Cappadocian Fathers, Basil the Great, Gregory of Nyssa, and Gregory Nazianzus. Their theology is still well worth reading today. Anyway, “Turkic Orthodox Christian Chants But You Rediscovered The True Faith Of Your Lands”
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFVNLltea9U

    1. We met a very civilised Turk in the next Marina berth to ours in Marmaris. He was the son of a diplomat and had received much of his education in Paris and spoke fluent French and English and had himself worked in international diplomacy. He said that he was nominally a Muslim (but he enjoyed wine and pork – and often sailed his boat over to the Greek islands to refresh his supplies) and that he thought that a great mistake was made when Turkey decided on Islam rather than Christianity.

      1. I don’t think they exactly “decided” Rastus, like North Africa, they were conquered and had little choice in the matter unless, of course you wished to be murdered.

  32. A big thank you to all my Nottler friends for the birthday card which came yesterday, I’m touched

    1. Touched – well, you wrote it!
      ;-))
      Have a grand day, Spikey, hope it turns out better than you could wish for.

    2. Happy birthday, Sir. I hope you are enjoying your retirement and have a brilliant day.

  33. Another potentially good thing in the works: Elon Musk asks ‘is a new platform needed?’ after Twitter free speech criticism
    Musk’s 79.1 million followers immediately called on him to either buy Twitter himself or build a new platform. “”Given that Twitter serves as the de facto public town square, failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy,” Musk tweeted Saturday. “What should be done?”

    2. Who’s principles, though?

      A youtube fellow, Sydney Watson ( https://www.youtube.com/c/SydneyWatson/videos ) has recently been banned from Patreon until she removes ‘covid misinformation’ (I think), or, in other terms, you can’t use our service until you publicise our attitudes on not only an unrelated, but unaffiliated and separate platform.

      It’s sheer blackmail. ‘Right think’ enforcement by an unaccountable, unelected blob. These Lefties really have no concept of where they are forcing this nonsense.

      1. Sydney speaks sense. She is an Aussie living in the US.
        Good looking lass, too.

      2. Elon Musk regards the first amendment as the principles on which our society is based.
        “1. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”
        It’s pretty clear and it should be the incorporated into the constitution of the UK instead of the mealy mouthed rubbish we currently have to put up with.

  34. Prince William is saying in various articles in the MSM that he does not expect to be the head of the Commonwealth.

    Who gets the most out of the Commonwealth – Britain or the other countries in the Commonwealth?

    You could argue that Britain dumped the Commonwealth in 1973 and now the Commonwealth is dumping us back!

    1. Watching the woke Left eat themselves alive as the efforts feminists fought for are trampled under the Left wing oppression of the weirdo lobby is quite funny, if it were not so serious.

      While it won’t happen, if we don’t stop this silliness now the lunatics will genuinely be running the asylum. That doesn’t mean dismissing the trans people’s health issues, their wishes nor ignoring their wishes – it means treating them with respect, but as people who need help, not pandering.

      2. “Endometriosis is a condition where tissue similar to the lining of the womb starts to grow in other places, such as the ovaries and fallopian tubes. Endometriosis can affect women of any age. It’s a long-term condition that can have a significant impact on your life, but there are treatments that can help.’

        From the NHS website. Defund it NOW!!!!!

        https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/endometriosis/

      3. A response to Ben Procter
        Hey cunt-face, has endometriosis addled your brain?
        EDIT
        Apologies, the spoiler didn’t work as anticipated

        1. I don’t have your birthday on my list – if you would like to let me have it I shall add your name and then we can all give you our best wishes when the day comes?

          1. Thank you. It is 24 October 1948. Slowly but surely death approaches. Just to be cheerful about it.

          2. I’m a youngster compared to you. I’m 58 but i have started feeling my own mortality. It is why it is important to get what one can out of life and have fun. Lunch with friends and generally enjoying oneself.

          3. I completely agree Pip. The things I have done thinking that they were important, and now, looking back, they were such trivia. Enjoying oneself and “following ones own weird”, as Alan Watts put it. Much more important.

          5. There are many here, Johnathan, older than that and we approach the grim reaper with a smile and a carborundam stone to sharpen his scythe.

          1. Well, that was cheerful. The name of the film is “Eraser”, correct? And, no, not like that. only erased from my best wishes for today.

  38. If these intolerant, backward savages can’t accept that there is no harm in showing a picture of their chief paed0, then they are welcome to leave. I have no doubt they would happily show insulting cartoons of Jesus but that’s different in their eyes.
    The teacher who was hounded out of his job and his home is still in hiding, and will probably never be truly free. Why aren’t he and his family being given new identities? Plenty of despicable vile criminals are afforded this protection after serving their pathetic sentences.
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10655679/Teacher-30-hiding-fleeing-showing-pupils-cartoon-Prophet-Mohammed.html

  39. A hidden crisis is hitting the property market
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/uk/hidden-crisis-hitting-property-market/

    The trouble is that a rise in property prices is a disaster for some; a fall in property prices is a disaster for others!

    BTL

    In the long term the only solution will be to have a maximum loan for house purchase of three times net income or twice joint net income and an obligatory deposit of 10%. Schemes throwing money into a generally inflated market place make the situation worse by causing even more inflation.

    A fixed interest rate (say 5%) throughout the term of the mortgage should be considered. This might seem expensive now when interest rates are low but it would mean that house buyers would know to what they were committing themselves at outset and would prevent the disaster home owners faced at the end of the 1980s when interest rates rose through the roof and many lost their homes.

    1. At the height of the interest crisis in the 1980s, when mortgages could be 17%, I acted for a chap who was paying his last mortgage instalment – on an LCC 35 year mortgage at 3½% fixed throughout.

      1. We used to offer people the choice of either extending the mortgage or increasing their payment or a combination to avoid too large an increase in monthly outgoings. Most people just put up and paid up at the higher levels.

        However, it was staggering how many people didn’t realise that by not increasing their payments that they would not have repaid the mortgage within the originally agreed term. Trying to help people caused us no end of problems down the line.

      2. I had a mortgage at 15% and when the rate reduced I kept paying the same amount. Result – mortgage paid off after 5 years and I’ve never had one since

        2. We did that accidentally, our lives were so busy with two teenage boys and jobs, that we forgot to reduce our payments on one occasion when interest rates dropped – so we had a nice surprise when we discovered we had actually paid off our mortgage years earlier than expected.

      1. He’s been behaving like a spoilt child. Very similar to the equally useless Dick and cohorts in Canberra.

    3. We have already seen that, and the Croatian bloke – mollicating Toy Boy Trud.

      One wonders whether there were any others courageous enough to speak out..

      1. Not most of the Canadian media. It took several days for the story to appear be suitably positioned – it became two extreme right MEPs rant at God.

    4. The next trick is going to be a joint fund raiser for Ukraine.
      Little potato and von der Leyen are partnering in a social media blitz to raise money.

      Just when you thought that he couldn’t sink any lower, the black face groper goes off on another self centered photo op.

      1. IMHO Vonderlying and her mafia partners are the cause of the problems in Ukraine.

    1. A big Mac Yawn.

      I expect Mrs Murrell is at home today with her children…..{:¬))))

  42. Happy birthday T B and Spikey 🤩🥂🍻🌺🌷 have a good day, we went to a picnic party yesterday for our Eldest daughter in law. It seems march is a popular time for births, around 12 months after the summer holidays………Yesterday a little girl was picking daisies and handing them to me what a lovey gesture that was.
    I’ve just been talking on the phone to Bruce near Melbourne, they have been at Silver Leaves on Phillip Island decorating their shared holiday home.
    The only reason i buy lottery tickets, it’s come up up for sale soon. Right on the beach.

    1. Remember that Mother’s Day (Mothering Sunday) is 9 months after Father’s Day.

      1. My birthday is nine months after Christmas… 🤗
        The family have started to arrive 11 including our 6 year old GS and two 2 year olds.

        1. Mine is nine months after Boxing Day (according to my mother, and she should know!) 🙂

  43. Awaiting moderation on DT Letters Page

    After reading your article on saving energy, my wife and I fell into dispute over whether it is more economical to boil water on
    the gas hob or in the electric kettle. Can anyone resolve this?

    Do not let the water boil or overfill kettle

    Amount of energy to raise

    I kg Water from 98 to 99 Deg C = 1001.43 Calories
    I kg Water from 99 to 101 Deg C = 542,755.98 Calories

    101 Deg C is the point at which the water has boiled, is bubbling like mad and turned ito steam.

    We measure water required, ie 2 cupfuls
    Have a selectable Variable Temperature kettle.
    We heat it to 80 deg for coffee, 90 for tea

    Remember it uses 500 time more energy to boil it, the leave to to cool, drink (cffee should not have biling water anyway)

    We often heat water to 70 deg for washing up etc in the kettle, rather than have gas Combi Boiler flash up for just 20 seconds of water

    1. Sound advice Triers to which I will add just one thing – only boil as much as you have to eg. if you’re making 2 cups of tea, measure 2 cups of water to put in the kettle.. My kettle is always dry after I’ve made the tea.
      The reason for the calorie difference is the Latent Heat of Evaporation

      1. Which is why kettles should be made with a cut out option at 99 degrees. The difference for cooking purposes, for tea etc, is irrelevant and non discernable. But don’t expect any of our arts/political science numbskull politicos to even grasp such a concept.

    2. All very sound advice, OLT. However, what if one’s young son tries to boil an electric kettle by putting it on the gas hob? Very expensive kitchen fire.

    3. Shout at the moronic, damaging, offensive government for ever having to make you work it out. Energy should be abundant. We’re held back by a lack of it. We need energy like there’s no tomorrow, masses of it.

      Our entire incompetent trough of useless wasters should be allowed energy for 10% of their day and forbidden it the rest of the time. For that 10% it includes everything – want suits dry cleaned? No energy. Want to wash? Ohh, careful now!

      Hold them hostage to the same restrictions they’re chaining us with.

      1. We also need to invest massively in our industrial and manufacturing heritage, in a great effort to revive it.

  45. 1855 was driest year in UK history, volunteer research project finds. 27 March 2022.

    A new driest year in British history has been found after a massive project in which thousands of volunteer citizen scientists helped unearth Victorian climate data.

    That work has resulted in new findings, including that 1855 is now the driest year on record, with just 786.5mm of rain. It was previously thought to be 1887.

    Many noticed that May 2020 was particularly dry, and it was indeed believed to be the driest month on record for many regions and England as a whole. But the new data shifts the record back to May 1844, when only 8.3mm of rain fell in England.

    This was undoubtedly due to those new-fangled steam locomotives!

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/mar/25/1855-was-driest-year-in-uk-history-volunteer-research-project-finds

    1. Now, does the guardian continue with it’s rant to discuss the EU’s forbiddance that we build reservoirs? Thought not.

      What about dredging rivers to carry water about more smoothly? No? Why then, is it blithering on about water when it won’t address the two basic fundamentals water companies have asked for?

      Oh! it’s bashing on about ‘climate change’ – and has found inconvinient answers to questions I’ll bet it now wishes it hadn’t asked.

        1. Though tiny, the seeds, if you can collect enough of them, make a nice addition to stews etc.

  46. OT but has anyone seen the Google cartoon thingy for Mothering Sunday? No? Well apparently all mothers are blick!! Whoulda guessed?

    1. My mother isn’t, and apparently has already complained that she didn’t get a card from me (been very ill and too busy packing) and didn’t like the flowers my sister sent, as they ‘weren’t packed well and were the wrong colour.’

      I don’t quite know why sister bothers. Mother will never, ever be happy.

      1. Mine complained years ago that I didn’t send her a present or flowers for Mother’s Day.
        I said I didn’t believe in this stuff, and that she has a birthday to receive flowers…

        1. I haven’t heard from my son but Mothers’ Day is in May in the US so that’s when he’ll email for that;-))

          2. At my boarding prep school they made up little posies of violets which were put in a box for us to send to our mothers for Mothering Sunday and the cost of postage was taken from our pocket money accounts.

        2. Afternoon Paul.

          It’s the same with Valentine’s Day, just another ruse by commerce to fleece people. If you care sufficiently for someone you can buy them chocolates, flowers or a Ferrari any day of the year!

        3. Afternoon Paul.

          It’s the same with Valentine’s Day, just another ruse by commerce to fleece people. If you care sufficiently for someone you can buy them chocolates, flowers or a Ferrari any day of the year!

        5. My mother had no truck with that nonsense, had no patience for it. Her attitude to being a mother, an actual quote: “I gave birth to you what else do you want?” Woe betide though, if you forgot her birthday. Contrary to the quote, she was actually a very kind and sweet mother. Came home one day crying, the school was forcing me, a left hander, to write right handed. She bombed down there like a Valkyrie, steam coming out of both ears and gave the headmaster and the teacher hell. I was out in the corridor and could hear every word. I think that taught me that it is good to defy authorities. But I used to buy her flowers and things like after eights, all the time.

      2. Every year I sent my mother a Mother’s Day card and every year she swore I hadn’t but added, “Never mind, I put out last year’s”. I asked, given that you said that last year too, how come there IS a last year’s card? Ah well, I still wish she were here. RIP Mum.

      1. I was born in the Sudan but my mother, my father and both my sisters are white. We must be hideously privileged!

          1. Like many little boys with elder sisters I was enslaved by them!

            It is my general impression that older brothers are far kinder and nicer to their younger sisters than older sisters are to their younger brothers.

            Agree or disagree?

          2. Tend to agree- I was fairly rotten to my little brother but he certainly got his revenge! Anytime a boy phoned me, my brother would get his violin and play Hearts and Flowers beside the phone. Little swine;-))
            It’s funny without him though.

          3. Most definitely agree. My elder sister is a gaslighter. Though i never had any problems with my elder brother he was very selfish. He would go off to his bedroom and eat Mars Bars in secret so he didn’t have to share.

          4. I agree. I have an older sister, I never mention her. She was a bully to me as a child and the result is we never got on. When she became a police woman and then married a Chief Inspector, the things I heard from them caused me, in the end, not to speak to her at all. I have known for over 50 years that the police are corrupt. After that she became the grand I AM for something to do with education for the entire South East, to my mind, more opportunity for her to bully people. It has been over 50 yeas now since I have had contact with her. I assume she is still alive?

          6. Sadists and bullies are attracted to careers which offer them the chance to persecute vulnerable people which is why some teachers, some priests, some nurses and doctors, some lawyers, some policemen and women, some traffic wardens and all those who work for HMRC choose the careers they do choose!

            (Many I have missed out?)

          7. I too, Johnathan, have a sister, 4 years older than me and might be somewhere in USA but also might be dead.

            I think that, as the youngest of 9, I may be the sole survivor. I do know that 7 are dead.

          10. I was the eldest and constantly bullied by my parents to do countless chores. The next son did fewer chores and was not bullied. The next three: son, daughter, son, were not bullied and never did any chores whatsoever. All the bullying in my family came from my parents.

          11. You turned out right though didn’t you….Perhaps that was their plan for their ‘golden boy’.

          12. Are you sure about that? They fucked with my mind from day one and I’m not sure that I’ve ever recovered. I’m sure Philip Larkin had me in mind for This Be The Verse. I know I’ve followed its sage advice.

  47. A Nottler posted yesterday about the 14 year old boy who fell 430 feet to his death. The boy in question was 6 feet 5 inches tall and weighed 300lb.

    The restraint wasn’t locked in position. They are over each should restraints that click locked. I would be surprised if he could get it into locked position given the size of him. Staff also should have checked each restraint. Lawyers are suing.

    2. I suspect that the checker would have had reservations about rooting about in the wobbly crotch area for fear of being accused of what they call ‘groping’ these days.

    3. I saw a photo of the boy. He was in serious need of a diet. Gargantuan, should not have been allowed on the ride. I noticed that other rides had refused him entry.

    5. I’ve been to Disney World in Orlando three times; I do not know this theme park in the news. All Disney World rides have, or had, height and weight advisories- some rides my young son couldn’t go on because he wasn’t tall enough. Other rides have restrictions for height and weight.
      Given that I don’t like heights, I wouldn’t go on a ride like the one in the news anyway.
      It’s very sad but who knows all the factors involved. He certainly was a big lad and, even if a budding football player, that kind of weight at his age is not good.

        1. Yes, I read that- it wasn’t there when I went to Orlando. Orlando in those days was a bit of a dump, apart from the parks.

          1. Just more of the same nowadays.

            We used to hold annual kickoff events in Orlando and one of our evening treats was a night at a theme park. A thousand drunken idiots playing on the rides but noone ever got hurt!

          2. I haven’t been to the one in Florida but have gone frequently to Disney Land in LA. I’m brave enough to have ridden the Pirate ride and Alice in Wonderlands teacups. But everything else you can keep. Basically anything that gets me off the ground more than two feet is an object of terror.

    6. They would be suing no matter what happened. Some sleezy lawyer would pick up the case for a percentage of the profits.

  48. 351669+ up ticks,

    breitbart,

    UK Govt Pressures YouTube to Censor Video of Defence Sec’s Embarrassing Call with Fake Ukrainian Prime Minister

    Anything said about the daily lies, deceit & rhetorical pelt meted out to the indigenous peoples of the United Kingdom via the “government”

      1. Me neither.
        Wordle 281 4/6

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

        1. But that Vasily wasn’t a Ukrainian boxer or a Russian president.

          Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko were the boxers; Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin is the president.

  54. No 10 plans another tax rebate after backlash
    The chancellor is considering proposals for a new council tax rebate after his spring statement failed to allay panic in No 10 over the spiralling cost-of-living crisis.
    Rishi Sunak is already weighing up another multibillion-pound package to help shield households from a further surge in fuel bills this autumn……

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b0b9d1e914fa9bc673b660f24c3523e2e2b7db0dffc23a55d4f778004daab21b.jpg

  55. 351669 up ticks,

    That’s rich,

    ‘I Would Not Use Those Words’ – Macron Criticises Biden’s Anti-Putin Rhetoric as Undermining Chance of Peace

    Peace ?
    Alms for the poor is not to be confused with arms for the
    poor arms dealers, think about it maco.

  56. Hamilton 16th in qualifying 🙂 🙂

    So much for his seven WCs’ not being down to driving the best car.

  57. Wordle 281 3/6

    ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜
    🟨⬜🟨⬜🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    🙂🙂

  58. Have your say: NoTTlers

    Should UK scrap clock change after Brits vote to keep Daylight Saving Time?
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/37512fa7694fbf62a96285bcf01fb8032bca1f2e4818fb7ed3a563a62e42f7e0.jpg

    CLOCK changes last night put the UK one hour ahead, with British Summer Time (BST) now in effect for another seven months. Should the UK scrap clock changes?
    https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1586936/UK-scrap-daylight-savings-time-have-your-say-evg

    I don’t care…..

    1. I think we should keep on putting the clocks back in Autumn and Spring. That we way we get an extra hour in bed every six months or so.

        1. Putting the clocks back gains us an extra hour in bed. I propose we do this Autumn and Spring.

        2. We have had to abandon Easter Course 1 which was to have started today but we have ten students lined up on Courses 2 and 3 in April and our Summer courses are almost half booked so we might well find some more and be able to emerge from the great scamdemic and build our lives up again.

          Virtually every last Sunday in March for the last 32 years has seen us going off to pick up students from the overnight Portsmouth/St Malo ferry so the one advantage of having to abandon the March course was that we had a lie in until Caroline had to go off to play at Mass.

    2. Messing about with clocks is nothing more than idiocy. Noon marks the midpoint of the day and I hate my circadian rhythms being messed with at the whim of cretinous politicians.

      If people want to have lighter evenings the simply get up an hour earlier and go to bed an hour earlier; after all that is precisely what you do when the clocks are twatted about with. Those who work 9–5 in the winter are simply working 8–4 in summer.

    3. Yes, we should stop changing the clock, but I’d prefer keeping year round GMT.

    4. It’s a pain twice a year but on balance I’d rather keep it. I like it when we suddenly get light evenings at this time of year. I remember when they tried BST all year round about 50 years ago and it was dark till lunchtime. GMT all year round would be better than that but certainly not BST.

    6. #NorMe, Plum.

      This is my 78th year of jiggery-pokery with the clocks. I may well have become used to it.

  59. An unusual event in church this morning. We began the service with the Prayer Book rite for the Churching of Women. A young mother in the congregation had requested it, having recently given birth. Apparently it’s gaining in popularity among the latest wave of feminists. In this case, the baby may live to regret his mother naming him Merlin…but otherwise it was quite a treat.

      1. Could have been worse; could have been called Griffon 🙂 Lots of horse power, anyway.

    4. Didn’t Merlin progress backwards through time?

      When priests are more in word than matter,
      When brewers mar their malt with water,
      When nobles are their tailors’ tutors,
      No heretics burned but wenches’ suitors,
      When every case in law is right,
      No squire in debt nor no poor knight,
      When slanders do not live in tongues,
      Nor cutpurses come not to throngs,
      When usurers tell their gold i’ th’ field,
      And bawds and whores do churches build—
      Then shall the realm of Albion
      Come to great confusion.
      Then comes the time, who lives to see ’t,
      That going shall be used with feet.
      This prophecy Merlin shall make, for I live before his time.

      [King Lear’s Fool)

    6. It amuses me when they read the Banns; the priest states “if any of ye know just impediment, etc”, but the rest of the service is in modern English! I’ve never come across a Churching of Women, but maybe, if it’s becoming popular, we may be having some in the future.

      1. Thanksgiving for the survival of the Mother, even where the child does not survive childbirth.
        A throwback to harsher times.

      2. I have an Irsh friend who uses “Ye”. She speaks beautiful English, makes the language work hard to mean exactly what she wants, add in the soft accent and intelligence, and… well,… easy to fall in love! <3

      3. I remember it from those days to Ditchingham church, although it made no sense to a 7 year old..

  61. Dubai throws open the doors for the rich Russians escaping sanctions. 27 march 2022.

    On the tarmac of Dubai airport, half way along its main runway, a small terminal has been doing brisk business this month. Daily flights have disgorged dozens of Russians – many among the wealthiest figures in Vladimir Putin’s inner circle.

    A short VIP welcome and limousine ride later, and the oligarchs are into a world that cares little about Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine or the attempts to punish Putin, and has instead willingly embraced his enablers.

    Perhaps more than anywhere else in the world, the oligarchs, and other cashed-up Russians are welcome in Dubai, along with their riches, which are flooding to the United Arab Emirates in unprecedented amounts – often via discreet means.

    Sanctions! Lol! Make no mistake the Arabs have noticed this thieving of Private and National assets. Within a year or so I expect to see them set up their own Central Banks so as to avoid the same fate as Russia should they disagree with the United States at some point. This will also of course impact on the UK which will lose its status as the world’s largest money laundry! Talk about shooting yourself in the foot!

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/26/dubai-throws-open-the-doors-for-the-rich-russians-escaping-sanctions

      1. When I lived in Oman, I hated traveling by road via the UAE and Dubai. Unfortunately Oman has three separate sections: Oman proper, Madha, and the Musandam, so it was sometimes unavoidable. It was alway a relief entering Oman again from the UAE, the people were more polite, the driving was less hostile and the country in almost all cases, cleaner !
        Dubai is glits on steroids, as long as one doesn’t think of looking beyond the tourist traps.
        PS. The Sultanate of Oman is the oldest independent country in the whole of the Middle East, with human occupation from the Palaeolithic period.

        1. About 5/6 years ago we were visiting our family in Dubai and had booked an Arabian cruise, visiting Oman along the way. We walked along the Main Street and there were lots of police/military lining the road, that had been closed to traffic, at intervals. We wondered why and asked a policeman what it was all for. He told us the President of Iran had come to “have an argument” with the Sultan!

          We saw the motorcade, it drove along the road in Range Rovers with machine guns on top. Most impressive.

          1. Oman and Iran have had a close, sometimes tumultuous relationship for many years.
            Iran provided a squadron of F4’s and ground troops in aid when communist Yemen tried to invade during the early 70’s.

          2. Were only there for a few hours, walked through the gold market and along the main road and back again, that’s all. A member of our bowls club was in the British Army and was in Oman for several years. Came back home and his wife divorced him! (Don’t know if the two were connected or if she stayed in the U.K.).

          3. There has been a military protectorate agreement between Oman and UK since the 1700’s.
            There are a lot of ‘loan service’ Officers and SNCO’s from all UK branches, SAS, Army, Navy and RAF.

          5. So the U.K. isn’t the absolute dregs of society then in some countries’ eyes. That’s quite refreshing to hear.

          6. You would be surprised just how many people regret our passing when you go to many of these countries we used to control.

          7. Far from it: when out and about in the desert or mountains and if I visited some of the isolated villages, I would get asked (my arabic is terrible) am I English or American? When I said English, it was coffee, fruit and dates then long conversations about how UK helped Oman.

          1. Lots !!
            Especially Bronze and Iron Age, some interesting rock art and standing in the middle of a flint mound in the (now) desert and find broken arrow heads discarded by the maker is quite something.
            Some large forts from the time when Portugal tried to exert its power on Oman, until they threw them out by military defeat.
            I could go on for pages about their history., an interest I had while there.
            PS. There is a Jewish cemetery, Christian cemetery and functioning Catholic along with Protestant churches also a Hindu temple.

          3. Lots !!
            Especially Bronze and Iron Age, some interesting rock art and standing in the middle of a flint mound in the (now) desert and find broken arrow heads discarded by the maker is quite something.
            Some large forts from the time when Portugal tried to exert its power on Oman, until they threw them out by military defeat.
            I could go on for pages about their history., an interest I had while there.
            PS. There is a Jewish cemetery, Christian cemetery and functioning Catholic along with Protestant churches also a Hindu temple.

          4. Lots !!
            Especially Bronze and Iron Age, some interesting rock art and standing in the middle of a flint mound in the (now) desert and find broken arrow heads discarded by the maker is quite something.
            Some large forts from the time when Portugal tried to exert its power on Oman, until they threw them out by military defeat.
            I could go on for pages about their history., an interest I had while there.
            PS. There is a Jewish cemetery, Christian cemetery and functioning Catholic along with Protestant churches also a Hindu temple.

        1. I used to stuff my face with sweets that the money destined for the plate provided. My need for sweets was bigger than them wasting it on starving Ethiopeans !

          4. My first (Irish wife) had to provide pennies for the black babies, back in 1950s Dublin.

          5. That’s like trying to give them MRE’s. Fortunately, for some perverse reason, I liked MRE’s so they got no chance of rejecting mine.

          7. Meals ready to eat (US military) also known as ‘Meals rejected by Ethiopians’.

            Sorry NtN, forget sometimes that acronyms should be in full.

      2. Walked with the Father 2 plus miles over fields and lanes to Ditchinham, St Mary’s church and then back again, before Sunday Lunch (note George).

        I cannot remember the rest of the day – probably outside, climbing trees, catching rabbits or some such. 7 & 10 year old boys.

    2. It used to be my favourite day of the week…..now it seems no different to any weekday :-((

      1. I loved Saturdays…..As a child I went to Saturday morning pics with
        school friends …bags of crisps and sweet fizzy drinks were de rigueur!
        Sundays were restricted to school homework, clean shoes and uniform pressed ready for Monday morning…

        1. I always did my homework on Sunday mornings. My entire school career, I wished I was one of those people with iron self control who would get it out of the way on Friday evening or Saturday morning!

          1. I left my homework until Sunday afternoons…a) because I am a serial procrastinator and b) it got me out of going round to see the grandparents which my dad dragooned us into every Sunday.
            Everyone else went and I put on Radio Caroline and did my homework in peace and quiet until they came home again.

          4. I don’t know about iron self control, but I always wanted to get mine out of the way asap!

    3. I used to hate Mondays – till I went part time, four days a week and Monday was my non-working day.

    4. No, I quite like Sundays. The choir in church is magnificent and I can have a coffee and a chat with friends afterwards. Because it was Mothering Sunday, we even had cake (and after the Platinum Jubilee Thanksgiving Service there will be Prosecco!).

  63. You can fool all of the people some of the time, all of the people some of the time but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.

    Rishi Sunak thought that if everybody had been taken in by the Great Mendacity of the Covid Scamdemic that he could easily fool everybody people into thinking he was lowering taxes as he raised them.

    I think he’s been rumbled.

    1. 351668+ up ticks,

      Afternoon R ,
      That does not apply to current lab/lib/con member / voters.

  64. HAPPY HOUR – You couldn’t make it up….

    PUPILS in Scotland are to be told how the Loch Ness Monster ingrains bias against the Scots thanks to woke education chiefs.
    https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1587031/scotland-news-loch-ness-monster-woke-bias-education

    The idea that Nessie is a symbol of England’s domination over Scotland will be taught in schools north of the border. Youngsters are to be taught that class played a part in creating the legend and stories about the mysterious creature related to Scottish independence.

    1. I saw that and it’s arrant nonsense. The first supposed sightings of Nessie were back in the middle ages by monks who lived in a monastery on the shore of the Loch. Possible they’d been nipping at the national drink or the communion wine.
      The other option is that Nessie was invented by the Scottish Tourist Board to encourage visitors.

      2. Yes the monks at Fort Augustus probably were the first to think they saw something for the reasons you mentioned – of course the Tourist Board has jumped on the bandwagon and there is a huge industry up here who’s sole purpose is to relieve the tourists of their cash and of course it brings a lot of employment. Most of the souvenirs are tat made in China

        1. I recall Les Dawson’s joke about when his mother in law visited the Loch; the Monster got out and picketed the Loch;-)

      1. Seriously, that has been suggested. Not Wee Crankie but, as the Loch is a sea Loch, big fishes can swim in and out. Someone once mooted that what people assumed was a monster, was in fact 2 or 3 sturgeon swimming alongside each other, creating the impression of a humped back monster.
        Not for one minute am I saying that Wee Crankie isn’t a monster.

  65. That’s me for today. What a treat – a day where the weather was quite different from the gloom forecast. Tomorrow WILL be grey – mostly.

    Have a spiffing evening. Prog about the Falklands and how we OUGHT to have fought the campaign. Isn’t hindsight a wonderful thing?

    A demain.

    1. I note the blurb makes no mention of the MSM disclosing operational matters in their broadcasts!

  67. Piccie time!
    I’ve been busy up the “garden” getting ready for the next bit of wall building on the Lower Wall.
    These were taken t’other day after I’d cemented a couple of rocks in place to get ready to put that bloody big bugger, lying in front of the wall, in place.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/93df21cb06f19d0826a086351c6d389698743779f95e811890246385eaa68f4d.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6ed6336617f2e95fb1b2edc00ef71e8c18fb8a08732fb68c84ad95bc1cf8de8b.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0484b7ea7ed827ef251c81ae64072799bd1af67b1d00b867409ac6714cb0733e.jpg

    1. If you don’t already own one, I really recommend getting a two metre plus heavy duty iron spike; great for levering heavy things into position and levering out tree roots etc.
      As Archimedes said, ‘If you give me a lever and a place to stand, I can move the world.
      I’ve been shifting oak logs easily that I couldn’t start to lift if they were an eighth of the size

      1. I’ve got a couple of crowbars and a pickaxe, so I’m not short of leverage!

        1. The thing I have makes the average crow bar look like a child’s toy.
          It is brilliant, much much better than my traditional crow bars, which I now seldom use.
          It was recommended to me by a local professional. It’s great for gouging holes for fence posts too.

          2. It isn’t hinged, but it has a point at one end and a spatulated bit at the other. What I find useful is that the bar itself is quite heavy so the additional weight helps with the movement around the fulcrum. Essentially it’s a glorified tooth pick!

          4. I use mine for all sorts of heavy jobs around the garden.
            Its only disadvantage is that I find it seems to be gaining weight as I get older and weaker!

      2. We have two tanker bars* on the smallholding – invaluable! And two sets of these strange claws with handles that tighten the harder you lift. Excellent for shifting timber.

        * Big fcukoff bars used by tank crews in track resetting work.

    2. Today, I got the big lump, at least 2½cwt, in place, single handed too!

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/749c32efa5fdf8b32e3b31a5b23dc441ea4af325651d3e36bda7deb44e66ad61.jpg

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/44625733035550dd2ddc3bec38127b9d8aa3a4f2bbb74010a0a552fcf4892f54.jpg

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9ec055b7c108139013142f5965a72c5b31f6b23ef363bf12ef28b6457a9e60af.jpg

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7adf45666c518ef2ee16632a4b3ff42564677cc800577e1b00e2a36d298ee6cb.jpg

        2. That is not the yard, that is the bit of Derbyshire hillside that misleadingly passes its self off as “My Garden,” but yes, I am terracing it!

    3. You put us all to shame, Robert.

      When do your Uke refugees arrive? You’d better get the roof on!!

    2. How can you buy “half-dead and rotting flowers”? Did they not look first?

      1. It would seem to me rather obvious that you check, especially from a supermarket, they have a habit, you are all familiar with, of putting decidedly dead and near dead plants out for display. A habit that always annoys me. I tend to complain when I see that because it is inconsiderate to do that. Yes, I know some people might find that eccentric but they are living things and their is no excuse to kill them because someone can’t be bothered to water them.

        1. Indeed. It’s a living thing that doesn’t deserve neglect.
          We bought an Amaryllis “5p or we throw it away” – in 1986, from Woolworth in Newport Pagnell. It’s now got a double-trumpet a bit over a metre above the bulb, in a beautiful, very pale pink.
          Good value, eh?
          SWMBO bought two more for Kr 19,- a week ago. Just rehoused them in decent pots.

          1. I bought a couple of Christmas trees after Christmas that were half price. Repotted them and they’re flourishing.

          2. I bought a very sad miniature rose for 9pence in Home Bargains! It is now, after 18 months, looking delightful and flowered beautifully last summer.

    1. There are many people in whose company I will have to keep very, very schtum.
      Two years of being viewed as a stroppy contrarian ……….

    2. Even a stopped clock is right twice a day. Michael bloody Gove said ‘we’ve had enough of experts’. Damn right. Those of us who are awake, worked out that lockdowns and other non-pharmaceutical interventions were utter bollops, mid March 2020.

      Only this morning, a choir member turned up, apologising for the fact that her OH (no less than a High Court judge) wouldn’t be coming today, since he’s ‘tested positive for Covid.’ ‘Oh dear’, says I. ‘Is he very ill?’ ‘No. he’s fine, but he’s tested positive,’

      Lots of parishioners have ‘had Covid’ recently. All have had their jabs and boosters. Hmmm…

      1. 351668+ up ticks,

        Evening GG,

        Walked into town Saturday with an Austrian lady she said “haven’t seen you at mass lately”, I said I did not hold with the mask issue she agreed with my reasoning but continues to wear a mask, I said of my mistrust of the government she agreed saying she could not vote in a GE but said she would still vote for the best of the worst in by elections as for pharmaceuticals she agreed they were bordering on being murder Inc.but was awaitin her booster.

        Tis like an macabre ongoing black comedy.

      2. Hi Geoff. vw here can’t sleep. Why on earth do people test themselves? It’s beyond me.

  72. Evening, all. Is the Russian army “flailing” (sic)? It’s been a fine day here, but my local rag is warning of snow in the near future! Whatever happened to global warming? Oscar went to church this morning – it was a family service, so I asked if I might bring him as he is my “family” now. Everyone was very taken with him and, amazingly, he was on his very best behaviour! I wondered what he’d do when the organ got going, but he was quiet. He just gave them a quiet note in the second hymn, but shut up when I shushed him. Then we went out for the day at a local garden to admire the drifts of daffs.

    1. You should be very proud of yourself. It’s your love and guidance that has brought him to such a happy state.

      1. I was extremely proud of Oscar. He lay down at my feet and hardly anybody knew he was there until we got up to go.

    2. That sounds like the kind of day that soothes the soul, Conners. Can you bottle it and sell it?

    3. Good Evening Conway. It seems that the West has become accustomed to flash and awe or whatever it was called. War in a day, as it were. The Russians go slow and surround and cut off cities, a considerably slower process designed too kill the minimum amount of private citizens. I noticed in the papers to day there isn’t a word about the fact that they have taken Mariupol. They have discovered mass graves there, another thing you wont hear anything about since they were obviously done while the Ukrainians were in control. They Russians were supposed to be being driven back. Put simply, the Russians continue to advance but apparently no one in the West understands their tactics and if they do, they aren’t allowed to speak.
      Photo of Oscar?

          1. Indeed he is; like a teddy bear. Unfortunately, due to his history (he’s a rescue dog who was put in for rehoming when he was nearly 12 and seems to have been mistreated) he is really a grizzly. Mind you, to be fair, he has mellowed a lot in the last nine months (i e since I took him over).

          2. I wish I was healthy enough to do that. I have been watching a lot of videos about rescue dogs, how they are neglected and how people foster them before they are sent off to a new home. Some specialize in old dogs. It is hard for me to fathom how people can abandon their dogs so cruelly. The laws should be much tougher about the right to own a dog. I think it is inherently wrong that you can just have one as though they were little more than objects and then dispose of them as they wish. It is, to my mind, as evil as abandoning a child, in the sense that your pets give you love and affection and all they need from you is reciprocation and protection.

          3. I got him direct from Cheshire Dogs’ Home. He had, seemingly, previously been in a family, but when his owner couldn’t look after him any more, the “family” didn’t want him. I’d lost my old boy (17.5 yrs) last April, so I wanted a dog to fill the empty space. Judging by his hang-ups (he’d leap up and bite my feet if I walked past him when he was lying down and hang on to my trouser bottoms if I tried to step over him!) he’d not been treated kindly. I still have difficulty brushing him and have to muzzle him for the groomer (which is better than what used to happen – he was sent to the vet to be sedated to be clipped!).

          6. I watched the Penelope one – why are they all bound up and on a ruddy chain of all things?As for humongous – you ain’t seen nothing dear.

            You put a dog like that in a harness or you ask them to stay. A collar will break their necks when they pull – and they will pull.

            Mongo goes to a chum of mine and is pamperred stupid but he’s not silly enough to wave a hair dryer at him, just lots of brushing and towelling and you try not to get into the deep fur – it takes forever to dry which is uncomfortable for them.

          7. If the dog behaved that way she wouldn’t put a chin on them. She does it simply to keep the dog from jumping out of the stall, that’s all. Your friend my do it one way but she was trained to do it another. The dogs she treats hardly look the worse for it and don’t seem to object.

          8. I used to have a bull mastiff, name of Bouncer. On seeing a deer he pulled, twisted and flung himself about furiously in order to chase the deer. The collar, despite his size, did not choke him but he certainly injured me in the process, I have a permanently injured left shoulder as a result. I have never heard in 70 years of a dog having its neck broken by a collar.

          9. You’ve obviously done a good job, Connors.

            I can only wish you both the very best of love and life.

          10. Thanks, Tom. Lots of patience, forbearance, consistency and treats 🙂 I hope this time next year, he’ll be like a normal dog.

          17. There have been times when I’ve despaired, Paul! Then you see a bit of improvement and it makes it all worthwhile. When I see his tail wagging, it makes me smile.

          1. That’s the problem. I have to be very quick to say, “don’t touch him!” when people go to pat him on the head. For whatever reason, he really hates being touched on the head.

          2. I always chat with dogs as if they were human beings.
            I wouldn’t touch a human being without some signal; the same with dogs.

          3. …and I treat babies the same, Anne. It works.

            With dogs, offer your clenched fist. They’ll sniff but if they want to bite, it’ll not do your fist much damage.

          4. We taught our two boys when they were small to ask permission of the owner before touching the animal.

          5. You wouldn’t believe the stupidity of some people. I explain about him not liking being touched and then some idiot will go ahead and pat him anyway. When he threatens them (he doesn’t touch them) they look surprised and say, “where did that come from?” Well, it came from the fact I told you repeatedly he didn’t like being touched on the head and you just did! Duh!

    4. My ex and still good friend’s ‘grand-dog’ has stayed with me on occasion. Maddie the Schnauzer has attended choir practice several times, so she’s no stranger to Church. But a few weeks ago, while I stayed with Maddie and her Grandma in Devon, we went to have a look at Crediton. There’s a huge church there, and we had a wander round. But Maddie does this thing which I describe as her ‘spatchcock chicken’ impression. Just before we left, she did this, combined with weird movements, never seen before. We decided she had been filled with the Holy Spirit. ‘Be careful,’ I said to Dianne. ‘Next time you tell her to ‘heel’, she’ll be finding the nearest sick person and laying paws on them…’

      1. I did think before hand I might ask the vicar to cast out Oscar’s demons, but they weren’t in evidence today 🙂

  73. Evening, all. Is the Russian army “flailing” (sic)? It’s been a fine day here, but my local rag is warning of snow in the near future! Whatever happened to global warming? Oscar went to church this morning – it was a family service, so I asked if I might bring him as he is my “family” now. Everyone was very taken with him and, amazingly, he was on his very best behaviour! I wondered what he’d do when the organ got going, but he was quiet. He just gave them a quiet note in the second hymn, but shut up when I shushed him. Then we went out for the day at a local garden to admire the drifts of daffs.

      1. Mine was a bit messy.
        Wordle 281 4/6

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

          2. I don’t believe you …

            You got from final letter ‘H’
            to that word by Divine Inspiration …
            Perhaps you are Organic …

          6. Why is it pronounced “apostro-fee” and not “App-o-stroaf”?
            Asking for a friend…

          8. Certainly all Greek to me.
            Σίγουρα όλα ελληνικά για μένα.

    3. Do we all get the same puzzle each Day?

      I don’t get these 5-square illustrations.
      I have never signed on.
      I enter ‘New York Times Wordle’ in the address line ~ and get an entry.
      They have record of my previous attempts – and comments.

      They don’t tell me the Puzzle Number – nor give me a coloured diagram???

          3. Hopefully. It’s a bit dry for some folk’s taste, but It has served me well. Some of it was undoubtedly inherited from my Dad, but I do my best to keep the flame burning. I don’t take myself too seriously, ever. In woke circles (I’m thinking Church of England), it doesn’t go down well. But they need someone like me to play the traditional hymns, so I’m fairly untouchable. For now…

          4. If anyone picks on you little Bro- give me the nod. Will be there with me knuckle dusters on ;-))

        1. I have no idea what it’s all about. But then again, never any good with crosswords either – all gobbledygook.

          1. Funny you should say that Andrew, I thought the next phase was online crosswords or stuff you SUDOKU!

            Life gets silly, don’t it man?

          5. That is one puzzle I CANNOT do! Codewords, Crosswords, anything with words in fact, all fine. Numbers? No way!

          10. Look for the squares with the most of the same number – that’ll likely be ‘e’.

            The rest just follows with your knowledge of English words.

          13. It works with letters, and I don’t see why it wouldn’t with shapes or colours.

        2. Not by me Paul- I don’t get it either. Mind you, my concentration is at zero these days.

          1. I struggle… A couple of years ago, at Junior Niece’s wedding, we wre breakfasting with Mother who, mid sentence, suddenly broke out with “OOH! LOOK! A SQUIRREL!” at high volume – silencing all conversation. (Squirrel was on the lawn outside…) – and causing much giggling!

          2. I struggle… A couple of years ago, at Junior Niece’s wedding, we wre breakfasting with Mother who, mid sentence, suddenly broke out with “OOH! LOOK! A SQUIRREL!” at high volume – silencing all conversation. (Squirrel was on the lawn outside…) – and causing much giggling!

          3. The thing is, Ann, it takes me away from things I’d rather not think about for just a while.

          4. I totally get that- that’s why I always have my nose in a book. Can’t focus on puzzles right now. Another week of appointments coming up so really have to concentrate on all of that stuff- pain though it is.

        4. Go to ‘Wordle – The New York Times’
          Have a guess at a word with a couple of vowels in it. Enter that and see the result. If you guess a correct letter in the correct place in the 5 letter word it will appear in green. Any letter not in today’s word will be grey ie don’t use it in your next attempt. A guessed letter that is in the word but in the wrong place appears in yellow. The 5 letter guesses have to comprise a recognised word. Elimination plays a large part in it. I enjoy it as a relaxation, although I had to think hard and long for today’s answer.

          2. Ah, there’s something that I haven’t seen occur yet. Set by the NY Times I’m wondering if they’ll use American spellings at all.

          5. Indeed.
            Too much exposure to Merkin.
            Corrected a millisecond I saw it… :-((

        5. PS. There’s only one a day so it doesn’t take all day. As far as I’m aware there’s no time limit except for presumably the midnight start of a new word.

          2. It says 2 hrs to the new one so it must adjust automatically to one’s time zone, it’s just coming up to 10pm here.

    4. Beginner’s luck Wordle 281 3/6

      ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨
      ⬜🟩🟨⬜🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  75. One of the things about working on the Wall is that when I pick a rock up, I never know what i’m going to find.
    Oolitic limestone full of fossils? https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7b22d8038c32a013456158d42bf866f3abe0f00d313213ffa0fd77de97556ef6.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3117bde187215e4c17d01ffb40d908db4a043ad4988af2a1a62d498aaee6968c.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/47fb24f303f5931ec76938d48afa9280c9c8b0e2a1638dbf35e3ac7dff24bf59.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2e3e300b4c593fe5eee3871a40dbe0942c97404820aa31a06b292f14733d28db.jpg

        1. Probably a crinoid stem.
          I think the oval fossil might be an embryo still in the egg.

    2. I used to have a large collection of these that my uncles had collected when we had the quarries on Longstone Edge. I’m afraid they were lost in one of the many moves since the 1950s. I think my cousin gave some to her school museum.

    3. I used to have a large collection of these that my uncles had collected when we had the quarries on Longstone Edge. I’m afraid they were lost in one of the many moves since the 1950s. I think my cousin gave some to her school museum.

    4. Or I might pick up a lump of basalt with quartzite veins running through it:-
      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/11e408e54bfd7445cbc61f4beb052215ad7a4367956ce173ae01afa10102628d.jpg

      Or how about some barytes? Locally known as “heavy spar” and a source of barium.
      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/227c16374ab52732d06e23cbe15445af648b072df0e57d20b2e68a7ec516d6dd.jpg

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b3d880fc4dfaa009f4a48d0393fb2190bed8c7b44317a26a58869148599e82eb.jpg

      Or Fluorspar, used as a flux in aluminium refining I believe:- https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2829a0f05284357d3b7a24796b15f7d7fcc5f1c7765a72eebddc8b1c7709de24.jpg

      1. Those were the minerals my family produced . They did a roaring export trade with Germany before WW2!

      2. And every now and again I’ll pick up a lump of apparent limestone and think, “Bloody hell that’s a bit heavy!”
        A closer look reveals the bluish/silvery flecks in the rock that indicates Galena, lead ore:-
        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b434c2fda034b7859e1bf8b6f85c4d39bdcb31598ce1da94331472fe8d188dd8.jpg

        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/381a27168b22d99c7aca5f63b5fdfb6e6659040c3fa87b0696210376d69f75d7.jpg

        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3a58b9281b118ab1126923b08c137455a2d5c782452dad7c5b98bea8ce981391.jpg

        Ball Eye Galena, from the Ball Eye mine complex up the hill behind me, apparently has an unusually high percentage of silver.Enough to be interesting, but not enough to make separation from the lead commercially viable.

        2. I went on a week long Geography and Geology field trip in Derbyshire in 1970- maybe 71, can’t totally recall. You could do field visits with all that in the rocks. Wonderful.

          2. I did London Os and As and I did Geography for both but there was a Geology section in both.

          3. Likewise O&A’s ( not sure which Examining Board) plus S level geography and a separate Geology O level

    4. How on earth, in March, can a bleak Scottish island blaze like that?
      How did it catch fire if there are no inhabitants?
      And why does it seem to have stopped as suddenly as it started?

      1. There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio
        Than are dreamt of in your (our) philosophy.

        Very peculiar.

        1. It doesn’t add up. Dried grass during a hot summer is one thing … but this seems a strange place at a strange time of year.

      2. We saw several large fires on Dartmoor from Kit Hill the other day from about 10 miles away. Don’t know if they were acts of arson on not.

        1. Just checked. It was last Tuesday and it was manmade but accidental. They were ‘swaling’, a controlled (haha) burning of gorse that got out of hand.

    5. Maybe preparation for the new (gimmegrunt) inhabitants.

      Please, God, I wish it were so.

        1. We have to contain the bastards somewhere, Spikey, prior to ensuring their deportation.

      1. That’s what someone on the mainland said- the cries of the birds were awful.

          1. To be honest I think it was deliberate by Gruniard Estate – there will be an investigation I’m sure

          2. Spikey, this is what we are like now…conspiracies. You live near there so will have more info about weather etc than we do- but automatically we assume the worst. And who really knows? If indeed wild campers, was it accidental or deliberate? No thought, as Mola said, for all the nesting sea birds.

          3. There were 2 people seen leaving the island in a kayak just before the blaze started, yet someone has said it was a deliberate burn by the fire service. Shame for the Sea Eagles and bird. Luckily no humans or sheep on the island at the moment. The blaze seemed to have started along the west coast of the island and the prevailing breeze took it across the island. The weather was warm and sunny yesterday but the previous days were a bit damp so I withdraw my statement about the ground being tinder dry. I will report again if i learn anything new

          5. Ground often is very dry after winter. No water runs into it as it’s frozen, and the ice & snow covering often just evaporates. Vegetation is very dry, too. Big fire risk.

          6. It is here. A large section of protected Marsh went up, a little way up the Dee estuary from me last week. Suggested arson by 3 teenagers.

          7. It is here. A large section of protected Marsh went up, a little way up the Dee estuary from me last week. Suggested arson by 3 teenagers.

      4. Tinder dry in western Scotland???
        I didn’t know that was even a possibility! We are having a very dry spring, sorry I mean we are in the middle of an urgent climate crisis.

  77. I’m surprised not to have seen Maggie (True-Belle) on today, so I had to offer her Birthday Wishes on Ar5ebook.

    I hope she got them.

  78. Roast beef, yorkshire pud, roast spuds – and Polish horseradish that could strip paint, for dinner – followed by imported strawberries (Spanish) – really good meal, so it was. Another SWMBO triumph.

        1. Yes, I appreciated that – it’s a quote from Clear & Present Danger. to be used during similar enquiries!!

  80. Work day tomorrow, so hitting the hay.
    Have a good zed, all Y’all, and see from you tomorrow.
    Zzzz…..

  83. I know some folk on here dislike Lewis Hamilton but he is in my view infinitely to be preferred to Max Verstappen. Verstappen is like a spoilt brat with an entitlement complex way beyond his expertise as an F1 Driver.

    Whilst some suppose that Hamilton won 7 championships because he had the best car that might well be part of his success but I suggest there is a lot more to it. Race craft is something that few possess and Hamilton has it. I doubt that Verstappen will ever match Hamilton. He is a dangerous driver and petulant with it.

    I expect Mercedes will rectify any deficiencies in their cars and become competitive soon.

  84. Have just listened to Bella figlia dell’amore- the quartet from Rigoletto and am now off to bed perchance to sleep.
    Sleep well y’all and keep those bed bugs away.

  85. Another week of government disinformation.

    Our government consists of liars and charlatans. They have no technical understanding of matters requiring some scientific nous, seem unable to seek or else take technical or scientific advice and appear to bumble along with their pathetic PPE degrees in ‘fuck all’ bolstered by an innate sense of entitlement gifted by their private school ‘education’.

    I have news for you arrogant fuckers, your time is up and you will be consigned to the dustbin of history. You are a disgrace and unworthy of our further support. You burnt your boats, now sink and drown.

    1. Indeed, Bob.
      But the perpetually offended / discriminated against / whingeing don’t accept logic and facts. So, I suspect you’re preaching to the converted.

  88. I hate the clock timeshift.
    Got up an hour early just to match the clock, and by tonight will be knackered as a result. Already feeling hung over by that missing hour… argh!

Comments are closed.