Sunday 27 October: Britain’s role in ending the slave trade should absolve us of any debt in the present day

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

633 thoughts on “Sunday 27 October: Britain’s role in ending the slave trade should absolve us of any debt in the present day”

    1. 395348+ up ticks,

      O2O,

      To my mind it means

      That an over-abundance of
      political / pharmaceutical manufactured knowledge (which is the root of current evilness ) can be and is torturous to be burdened with.

    2. The most poignant & damning comment..

      I totally agree….and the same goes for the medical community….how could so many stay silent on the issue….and now warn their patients?

        1. They are also wedded to the pharma industry telling them (certifying) that the drug is safe, rather than questioning it, observing the results and reports themselves. They are not of a scientific bent. They just jab.

  3. We should use GMT from midnight to midday, and BST from midday to midnight. Stupid idea? No more stupid than imagining that we can increase the hours of daylight by messing about with the clocks.

    1. That would effectively abolish the hour between 12 noon and 1pm, which would no longer exist and play havoc with lunch. We'd get up later and go to bed earlier. An extra hour in bed would probably do us good.

      I actually go into hibernation mode when GMT comes in, making an evening working in daylight a fond memory of summer.

      My own preference is to bring forward BST to the beginning of March, rather than the end. Why prolong winter another three weeks? It's depressing.

      2. My preference is to stop messing with the clocks and keep GMT all year round like the radio amateurs. Today is the first day I've felt well and energised since March. You don't get any more hours of daylight. If you want evenings working in daylight, keep your clocks on BST and fool yourself. Leave the rest of us alone!

    2. Totally agree!!!! It always makes me mad when idiots say you get “more daylight” say with BST throughout the year. If this is the case, we can move the clocks forward 12 hours and have permanent daylight!!!

  7. Guten Morgen, liebe Leser (you didn't know I was a polyglot)
    Today's Long Tale – First in a series about Lawyers
    An Australian lawyer was visiting Bangkok. He went to the most exclusive Escort Agency and asked if he could take Sue- Lin to dinner.
    “Yes,” said the Madam. “It will cost you $300 for Sue- Lin’s company. No sex. And she must be back here, at 11 p.m.”
    Sue-Lin was the most beautiful Eurasian creature the lawyer had ever seen. He wined her and dined her, but before returning her home, he gave her $1,000. “This is a gift,” he said. Sue-Lin told him that he was a wonderful and generous man. '
    “Will you have dinner with me again tomorrow night?” he asked.
    “Oh yes,” she replied. “I will cancel all my previous arrangements.”
    So the next night, the lawyer wined and dined Sue-Lin again. He could not get over her beauty, and at the end of the evening, gave her another $1,000 and said, “Sue-Lin, this is for you.”
    Sue-Lin was overcome with gratitude and had a tear in her eye. “You are the most generous person I have ever met,” she said.
    “Would you come to dinner with me again tomorrow night?” asked the lawyer.
    “Of course I will!” said Sue-Lin. “I will do anything for such a kind, generous man."
    So he wined and dined Sue-Lin again, and took her back to her apartment, where he gave her another $1,000. This overwhelmed Sue-Lin. She fell into the lawyer’s arms and then onto the bed, where they made passionate love until three in the morning. The lawyer told Sue-Lin that he had to leave as he was catching a plane for Sydney at six o’clock that morning.
    “Sydney!” said Sue-Lin. “You didn’t tell me you came from Sydney! I have a sister who lives in Sydney!”
    “Yes, I know,” said the lawyer. “She sent you the $3,000."

    1. Good morning, rough common, I enjoyed your joke for today. And I was quite happy to read that you are a polyglot; just as long as you are not pollyparrot. Lol.

  8. An Apology in advance to Bill Thomas
    Since the Budget next Wednesday is under the leadership </sarc> of a Lawyer, I have chosen the next three days-worth of Tales to be about Lawyers. This means no disrespect to our dear Bill, who I believe is still suffering from some lurgi. It is just raising two fingers to our "leader" (no, Geoff, not you).
    Signed: Roughcommon. There – it's just 07:00.

  9. Good morning all.
    T'Lad is occupying the sitting room so I'm exiled to the laptop this morning.
    DT & self both had an early night so were wide awake at what would have been 07:00!
    A beautiful but chilly start with 0°C on the Yard Thermometer.

    1. 395348+ up ticks,

      O2O,

      The politico / pharmaceutical nasties
      supplied the scamming material the
      trusting fools, even when the masks were proved as useless, done the rest, ongoing.

    2. In 2021, I once had to sit through a concert wearing a mask and felt very ill at the end.

      They didn't listen to the science when they pushed this gesture to make normal people feel something was being done. The effects of Covid are proportional to the load, and the less exposure to the virus the better. Concentrating virus-laden air in front of the mouth and nose for hours seems an utterly stupid thing to be doing if one wants to remain well.

      The main purpose was to prevent one's own germs spreading to others via airborne droplets. A far better compromise solution was a transparent plastic screen visor, which stopped any expelled material, which then dropped downwards rather than out, keeping it away from being breathed in.

      2. During the winter months around 28,000 people die from influenza. During the Covid years there was not a single reported case of flu. Strange, that.
        EDIT: added 'reported'.

        2. I heard a doctor on radio who was asked why flu seemed to have disappeared since covid came along. He replied that it was due to masks and distancing. Then why, I ask, didn't those measures also stop covid?

      1. I had to be tested when visiting Elderly Chum.
        In principle I objected strongly to the measure, but EC was still well enough to recognise me and appreciate the company. So I did it for her sake.
        The bug obviously decided it had met its match as I never tested positive.

        1. I had an expensive ‘fit to fly’ cursory swipe of the throat before I could travel to Kenya early in 2022. They also enforced masking on the flight. It was an ordeal I would not want to repeat. I have never knowingly had ‘covid’ though it could have been the bug I had in January 2020 which left me with a dry cough.

        2. Same for me when visiting MOH in the care home. I didn't want to be tested, but it was that or go back home.

      2. Never wore a mask even when shopping and never tested. Can’t believe people still test themselves (bowls club member!).

        1. Was tested once by Dr at a checkup for blood pressure etc. Turns out I'd had Covid – never really noticed anything much except for a sniffle… good old Vit D3! Been taking it for years, never even had a winter cold since I started taking it.

    4. Can’t understand why anybody followed the mask rule. Early on in the scamdemic Eve the WHO said that masks were not particularly helpful. It was purely a political decision to help instil fear along with all the other rules and regulations imposed on the population.

      2. Made the (unthinking) population reckon something was being done to protect them from the lethal virus.

  11. Good morning, chums. And thanks for today's NoTTLe site, Geoff.

    Wordle 1,226 5/6

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    1. Morning! Hate too many Wordle options!

      Wordle 1,226 5/6

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  12. I have this arrangement with the BBC on Sunday mornings, when I turn on the religious programme 'Sunday' and listen to what they have to say until LBGT issues come up, and I then turn it off.

    Today, I lasted about two minutes in before the presenter insisted on pushing criticism of the Pope for failing to say enough about LBGT rights in his latest pronouncement. By no means a record, alas.

    Do you think I'll ever hear the show to the end?

          1. Life is too short to suffer propaganda. The BBC has its fair chance not to laden religion with LGBT issues, just to please their favourites. If for once they can offer an intelligent review instead of pushing an agenda, then yes, I would listen to the end.

  13. 395348+ up ticks,

    Gerard Batten
    @gjb2021

    ·
    14h

    A great day today at Tommy Robinson’s Rally in Westminster. Thousands ordinary decent peoplewho love their country & support Tommy – an incredibly brave patriot!

    Finishing the day with a pint with two new friends, John, of Irish heritage, & Steve my ‘security, who are typical examples of the patriotic crowd gathered from all over the country.

    Not a far-right bald-headed, drunken thug to be found.

    Was that not ,if I remember right, the farage description of the UKIP march in 2018 / 19 under your leadership.

    Drunken,skin headed knuckle draggers, OGGA1

    1. I notice a nice picture on pg 2 of the Terriblegraph, marred by the vicious slur that it was a “far-right” march. Lazy, troped journalism.

      1. I'd be curious to know how many either on the march or sympathetic to it were Liberal Democrats, Socialists, Greens or anything other than the Thatcher/Blair/Starmer wing of Market Globalism.

        I have a suspicion that there are far more than the London pundits and conventional political analysts geared to America care to admit, and that patriotism is not exclusively Right Wing.

      2. 395348+ up ticks,

        Morning MIR,

        Goes to show how such a small word SO, omitted, can make such a large truthful difference.

    2. I notice a nice picture on pg 2 of the Terriblegraph, marred by the vicious slur that it was a “far-right” march. Lazy, troped journalism.

      3. 395348+ + up ticks,

        Morning DW,

        In the case of Gerard Batten collateral damage, with farage it was malicious intent.

          1. Reminds me of the story of the old bull and the young bull who surveyed a field full of young and fertile cows.

            "Let's run down into this field and have a few of these cows!" said the enthusiastic young bull.

            "Let's walk down and have the lot!" said the old bull.

      2. 395348+up ticks,

        Morning G,
        Listen up baldy, currently you are what your political betters (“the elite) want you to be…
        in their dreams.

          1. 395348+ up tick,

            G,
            Delicate situation,

            Last to know can be painful but I believe it was well known among
            ” top secret, irish jig makers” and has been known in the past to be blackmail material among politico’s.

          2. Think how much money you save on expensive shampoo and haircuts, Grizz. Quicker to dry off after a shower.
            (An expat Yorkshireman rites)

          4. Think how much money you save on expensive shampoo and haircuts, Grizz. Quicker to dry off after a shower.
            (An expat Yorkshireman rites)

      3. Good morning, Grizzly

        I am happy to use the avatar I now use. I am not afraid of the naked truth and my expansive un-hirsute pate gives me a certain je ne sais quoi .

        You are more shy than I am and so you often wear a good selection of hats in your many avatars!

        2. Good afternoon, Rastus.

          There are two sorts of chap in this world: those with hair, and those with hats.

          I live in a more northerly clime than you so baring my bonce to the elements, at this time of year, is quite out of the question.🕵🏻‍♂️

    6. Apparently there were no arrests, which is fantastic. I'm sure that disappointed the MSM and their ability to slur the decent people on the demonstration. I have been trying to find an estimate of number that attended. Have you any idea? I have heard one to two hundred thousand, obviously a wild estimate but fantastic if true. Farage was lambasted several times and deservedly so, in my opinion.

      1. 395348+ up ticks,

        Morning JR,

        I see one post 300.000 so I would be tempted to believe, as in seeing your 100.000 / 200.000 to say 150,000, a bloody great crowd in all respects, anyway.

      2. As I suggested here yesterday Nigel Farage and the Reform Party risk self-demolition if they don't accept the sincerity, authenticity and credibility of Tommy Robinson.

        Nigel Farage has revealed himself to be simultaneously both a snob and and inverted snob by his contempt for Tommy Robinson on the one hand and Old Etonians such as Johnson and Cameron on the other!

        1. I don't agree with your first paragraph Richard. Farage is playing the canny game of a seasoned political operative. His way will bear more fruit.

        2. If there were really 300,000 people at that demo, that is an awful lot of votes to lose. Especially since at the last demo, by a show of hands, almost all suggested that they would vote Reform.

  18. Sunshiney morning to you all .
    No breeze , 7c.

    Robert Louis Stevenson

    In the other gardens
    And all up in the vale,
    From the autumn bonfires
    See the smoke trail!

    Pleasant summer over,
    And all the summer flowers,
    The red fire blazes,
    The grey smoke towers.

    Sing a song of seasons!
    Something bright in all!
    Flowers in the summer,
    Fires in the fall!

  19. Quiet in the Telegraph They must have worn everyone out writing all those anti-Russia propaganda articles. Ten by my count. It's still fatal to your comments to mention Mr Lynch or even point out the censorship. It gets you deleted. One gentleman said he was sick of it and letting his subsription lapse. Gone shortly after. Along with my commiserations.

    1. H Araminta. Here is another Lynch, Micheal Lynch, the rabid communist trade unionist and his involvement in the pro-Palestinian and anti Tommy Robinson marches. The guy talking is a Scotsman. Hope you understand what he's saying, I had to turn on sub titles!!!

      EXCLUSIVE Trade Unions FUND anti Tommy Robinson protests. Instructions to fund costs to local branch

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-P8p6F3Fs0

    2. No mention of yesterday's march.
      Presumably the Hard/Extreme/Far Right didn't get violent enough.

      1. Morning KP. It is arbitrary as well to increase the confusion of posting. That way no one can claim that it is biassed.

  20. Good Morning All 😊 Sun out there after two rather gloomy days.
    I thought that I would post this because it is fascinating. It is the entire interview of Trump by Joe Rogan a couple of days ago. It's so interesting and enjoyable that I actually watched the entire three hours in one go.

    Joe Rogan Experience #2219 – Donald Trump
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBMoPUAeLnY

  22. Morning, all Y'all.
    Grey, drizzle. Bacon and strong coffee for brekker, so not a bad start to the day!

  23. Good Moaning.
    The sun is shining.
    Should I pull the blankets over my head and wait for the apocalypse?

    1. Prof Fenton always good, as is Kathy Gyngell, have followed both for long time. Gyngell in particular big supporter of Steyn, as am I.

  26. G'morning all,

    Sunny at McPhee Towers, North-East wind veering South, 8℃ to 13℃ later.

    Not a very exciting day fishing yesterday. River level down which was good although it's still a tad too high. However, it is beginning to clear with most of the bottom now visible except in the deepest parts. Grayling just refused to play despite the ideal weather. Still, it was a lovely Autumn day by the river and if we didn't have the ocasional day like that the good days wouldn't be memorable.

    I'm pleased I don't watch this Satanic rubbish.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c911f63e766d7a2344808df1d1af92d3986f01da9a61a689d87ddd2f5b44f7fb.png

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2024/10/26/strictly-come-dancing-2024-halloween-week-wynne-evans-chris/

    Can we possibly sink any lower? Yes, we can.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2a27755f6cae4aa113f74d417c4a5f53bbb7ef5ef308daa2eaa83b3c29092fa8.png

    Off to ring the church bells.

    1. If that is what passes for TV now, I certainly don't regret not having one. I have a 34" computer monitor in the bedroom, it's just as good, if not better than a TV. Great for watching state occasions and other special events. You really don't need a TV now a days.

    2. Good morning FP

      For years and years Moh has ogled at SCD..

      I just stay quiet and do something else .. I cannot stand the raucous shrieking and narcissistic insincere ramblings.

      Moh has ignored it this year, he is tired of it , same old same old nonsense ..
      I haven't influenced him .. he has had enough .. and it is no longer a talent show .. no longer fun.

      1. A lot of the audience noise (whooping, whistling etc.) is dubbed on to create 'excitement' for the viewer. The sparkly, glittery graphics are there for the same reason. It all gives a false impression of the studio atmosphere. It’s a tired format, year-on-year repetitive and most of the 'celebrities' are nonentities.

        No doubt the BBC will continue to milk the format with the nightly spin-off programmes.

        Just ghastly.

        1. The format is a massive best seller. I heard an additional forty countries bought it in the last year alone. For my part, I’d watch a dancing competition but a circus freak show doesn’t interest me.

        1. Call me an old bore (and many do) I just don't watch any telly – apart from a documentary or two and films. No news, politics, current affairs – no soaps, no "blockbuster" dramas, no dancing or cooking or motoring shows. Blessed relief.

          1. Very similar here, Bill. I watch some things on Netflix (I always like Big Bang Theory), GBN terrestrial, that’s about it. (Wouldn’t dream of calling you an old bore, but if indeed you are, so am I and we’re not alone 😁

          2. I watch more television than I would care to admit. In my defence i sleep though most of what is shown.

          3. Nor do I. No telly when I was growing up and I could happily live without it now. I've never been into films either.

          5. I've been TV free for nearly 20 years. The only time I see any TV is in my club. I just cannot stand the whooping audiences and dumbed-down dross on offer.

      3. OH was a dancer in his youth – he used to enjoy watching Strictly – but he stopped watching it a couple of years ago – maybe when they started with the same sex pairs……I don't know as I seldom gave it more than the odd glance while I was cooking dinner.

        1. I've never watched it, although I used to dance when I was younger (old time, Scottish and folk).

  27. It was where the late Queen first met a dashing young naval cadet called Philip Mountbatten, and where the current King and the next one underwent military training.

    But now the Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth – which has trained officers for more than 160 years – could be facing the axe in Labour's defence review.

    Former Defence Secretary Lord Robertson is leading a 'root and branch' report into the Armed Forces, and sources close to the review have raised fears that the Devon base could already be in his sights.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14006597/Royal-Navy-King-Charles-Prince-William-axe-Labour.html

    One Navy source said last night: 'I have been to Dartmouth recently and, yes, it is in need of a lot of love. Everywhere you look, buildings are in need of maintenance and we do have a shrinking navy and fewer officers. It is very difficult to justify keeping Dartmouth open when so much revenue is needed to maintain it, but there will be a battle to keep it open.'

    Last night, former defence minister Tobias Ellwood said closing Dartmouth would be 'a betrayal of our Navy's proud heritage and status', adding: 'It's renowned as the premier naval officer training academy in the world.'

    An MoD spokesman said the college 'remains the home of officer training for the Royal Navy and no such closure decision has been made'.

    1. "Strivers" has become the latest buzz word spun by our rulers, to add to "hardworking" and all the other words intended to exclude and punish the less favoured.

      Given the eagerness to resume the gravy train that is "infrastructure investment", especially the demolition of fine old Victorian hospitals to be replaced by designer statements on PFI at huge cost to the taxpayer and the NHS, may I presume that "strivers" are any shafter and con artist that can get their snouts in the trough, and shut out those who are actually doing something for the country?

      I presume that those charged with protecting the country in times of looming war are not considered "strivers".

    2. Blair tried to close it, and the legalities scuppered him.

      Let's see what the latest bunch of clowns can do.

    3. Many of my friends including my best man and one of my nephews passed through BRNC Dartmouth.

      When I was at Blundell's I played rugby for the 2nd XV against one of the naval college's teams. We were delighted that when we came off the field each one of us was handed a full pint tankard of beer.

      1. My son graduated from Dartmouth and his passing-out parade was one of the proudest days of my life. He's now a LtCmdr in the Silent Service.

    4. An MoD spokesman said the college 'remains the home of officer training for the Royal Navy and no such closure decision has been made'.

      So that's it then, certain to close.

    5. Remember that the bean counters closed Greenwich! They have form for ignoring history and tradition – too expensive to maintain allegedly but we have money for African climate con projects, foreign aid to countries who loathe us and the whole DEI money pit.

    6. Where will the future Naval types be trained? Or is the idea to close the armed forces totally, by preventing recruit training?

    7. Actually, with our Armed Forces now so small, there's a good case for integrating officer training into a single establishment with a common basic military syllabus followed by a special-to-service phase.

  28. Elon Musk has been in regular contact with Putin for two years, says report. 27 October 2024.

    Elon Musk, the world’s richest man who is now central to Donald Trump’s election campaign, has been in regular contact with Vladimir Putin for the past two years, according to a report in the US.

    The Wall Street Journal, citing several in-post and former US, European and Russian officials, reported that the conversations between the two men ranged from the personal to the geopolitical and included a request from the Russian leader not to activate his Starlink satellite internet service over Taiwan as a favour to the Chinese leader and Putin ally, Xi Jinping.

    I don’t actually believe this. It’s the usual mix of rumour and hearsay with lashings of innuendo. The same charge was levelled at Mr Trump last week. This said it is not actually illegal to speak to Mr Putin. Mr Musk has of course entered the political fray with his support of the hopefully, next President, and is thus subject to the same forces. It's a dirty political world out there.

    https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/oct/25/elon-musk-has-been-in-regular-contact-with-putin-for-two-years-say-reports

    1. On the subject of Trump & co, Putin & co, I just disbelieve everything read & said in the press.

      1. There are so many pinches of salt nowadays that you have to take when reading anything sourced in the media that you shouldn't ever have to buy any to run your water softener.

    2. You know, considering the importance of both men, it would be foolish not to speak to Putin if Putin requested it. But then the war mongering fools and their acolytes obviously see no redeeming value in Churchills words that it is better to Jaw, jaw, jaw, than war, war, war.

      1. It is sickening that the war in the Ukraine could so easily have been prevented had not the vainglorious Biden, Johnson and Zelenskyy been gagging for war.

        The day after Trump becomes president the war will end Tomorrow; if Harris becomes president it will go on to the last syllable of recorded time. (I.e. until there is a nuclear war)

          1. In the old days they often were. Now the thugs cower in their comfy offices freely giving instructions for young men to murder each other.

          2. In the old days they often were. Now the thugs cower in their comfy offices freely giving instructions for young men to murder each other.

        1. Hicks and answers:
          About as accurate as Doomsday Rock.

          Steele created the 2020 Trump Russian dossier, later shown to be false.

        2. Tucker? Or Tommy This or Tommy That or Tommy go Away.

          We have a friend called Barbara Bibb – in the house to the left of her lived a chap called Jimmy Best and to the right a woman called Miss Tucker.

        3. Tucker? Or Tommy This or Tommy That or Tommy go Away.

          We have a friend called Barbara Bibb – in the house to the left of her lived a chap called Jimmy Best and to the right a woman called Miss Tucker.

          4. Even my central heating clock changes itself like the car. Oven clock change about 5 secs.

  31. On topic for once. Britain used its imperial force to put an end to slavery wherever it had influence, and that was over 150 years ago and has remained so ever since. The warmth shown by King Charles III towards the native Samoans gives lie to the gratuitious and offensive insult offered up in America that the royals are somehow institutionally racist, something also denied emphatically by the Prince of Wales.

    Not the same could be said of the United States of America, which fought a civil war over the issue and half the nation enthusiastically supported slavery. Martin Luther King "had a dream" – what was that about, and was he not referring to his own country, not the UK? Then there are the Muslim countries, which have been pro-slavery for many centuries. Then there is China, which uses forced labour in some of its provinces. Russia has its own work camps for those deemed politically expedient. Even civilised Germany was most definitely pro-slavery less than a century ago.

    Why aren't they expected to make reparations towards the descendants of those who sold their neighbours and now cream off the world's wealth in marinas and holiday villas for the super-rich and bigger Mercedes for their governors?

    1. Those of us who have worked were slaves to the tax system ..

      A percentage of our money has been used for the welfare of the useless and feckless.

      1. I wouldn't mind public money being used for the welfare of the useless and feckless if what came out of it were folk were were useful and diligent.

        Instead it is the grabbers who benefit primarily from tax policy and spending decisions.

  32. Has anyone sen posts recently from Sir Jasper? Don't recall any yesterday or the day before.

    1. SirJasper
      johnathanrackham
      20 hours ago
      Have a happy, happy day, Johnathan, followed by 364 happy unbirthdays.

    2. I spoke to him on Friday. He’d had a nurse practitioner in, and she’d taken bloods. She was going to speak to the GP and get back to him. He doesn’t want to go to hospital but I think that’s where he might be! He was supposed to phone me!

      2. I rang him a few days ago but that was just to check if his phone was working. It was a bit intermittent.

  33. Very pleased that a mere 15,000 "far right" people turned out in Lunnon*, yesterday. Obviously Our Susan (and others) took part in a quite different, peaceful turnout of 300,000 – which was so well organised, no reporting was needed.

    EDIT * That should be Yaxley-Lunnon, of course.

      1. Or made im into a B1tch

        The RSPCA wholeheartedly supports the principle of equal opportunities in employment and opposes all forms of unfair discrimination on the grounds of colour, race, nationality, ethnic or national origin, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, religion or belief, age or disability.

          4. One suggestion for it is that they don’t photograph as well so people aren’t attracted to the publicity and don’t come to see them. I don’t care what colour my dog is, frankly. I’ve had a red setter, a grey wolfhound cross, a black Patterdale cross, a fawn Cairn/Border cross, a white, tan and and grey fox terrier and now the blond himbo Kadi.

  37. The Third Man is on BBC 2 at 1215 GMT. I have seen it before but I shall record it to watch it again later.

      2. I am told that the movie “The Madness of King George” was originally entitled “The Madness of King George III” but there were fears that American audiences would want to see part 2 and 3 before watching the sequel.

          2. He would say they were paronising racist bigots unfairly taking accommodation and jobs from poor indigenous Indians. He wouldn't even see the hypocrisy of our own situation.

    2. It'll cure any neck ache.

      makes extensive use of Dutch angle shots, to emphasize the main character's alienation in a foreign environment. Director Carol Reed has said that William Wyler gave him a spirit level after seeing the film, to sardonically encourage him to use more traditional shooting angles.

      1. I heard that the speech about the Swiss only being able to produce the Cuckoo Clock after so many years of democracy was written by Orson Welles

    3. One of my favourite movies. I believe Graham Greene wrote the script before the book. Carol Reed changed the ending and Greene in the end conceded he liked Reed’s idea better.
      I have it on DVD

  38. The DT seems to have now removed all reference to yesterday's white supremacist insurrection fuelled by fascism.

    2. Just went. out of curiosity, to see the Daily Mails story on the demo. not a single word did I see.

          2. True – but she will revel in it as will her associates. I wonder if the child has a father?

        3. Interesting that this retarded pink-haired bitch considers herself to be "upper middle clarse".

          I wonder what other members of the drum-banging pretentious class think of that? I bet they're all harrumphing into their pink gins and moaning about it to their Sybil Fawlty wives.

      3. Yes, big fat zero. Piece about a woman who can't do housework because she has a couple of dozen orgasms per day, tho. Go figure.

    3. It's your own fault, there were no riots, no fights and no looting of expensive shops.

      I bet that the media all had their hard right extremist stories lined up and ready to go but then had to spike them when nothing happened.

      1. The print version of the Telegaffe managed to use "far right" several times, plus the "real name Yaxley-Lennon" bit and a logic defying mention of the threat to Churchill's statue from a "far right" group?!

      2. Have you been following the seven part series in the DT about the demise of Canada under Turdeau?

        1. Reading them every day and becoming more depressed by them, that series should be mandatory reading for Canadians.

          The articles paint an accurate view of what has happened to Canada and that is particularly true for today's article by Eric Kaufmmann that describes the loss of a Canadian identity.

          2. There are still twenty percent brain dead enough to say they will vote liberal, another twenty percent would vote for the even lefter NDP.

            The woke are embedded at all levels of public service including many universities and school boards, their policies have allowed youth to be corrupted and right wing thinking rejected. There is a big hill for Poilievre to climb before we get back to normality.

            There is a bill before parliament that would make it a crime to question the accepted narrative on first nation residential school genocide. It matters not that no graves have been identified or that many that attended residential schools remember them with pride, if you question the narrative then prison awaits. That is just one of many bills that would shut down free speech.

  39. BBC article

    "Georgia's pro-EU opposition says vote stolen as ruling party claims victory"

    'Electoral fraud', 'not going to accept the result', Russian influence' etc. Sound familiar?

  40. Not bad:
    Wordle 1,226 5/6

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

    1. Another blind guess found the answer
      Wordle 1,226 4/6

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

      2. Wordle 1,226 4/6

        ⬜⬜🟨🟩🟨
        🟩🟩⬜🟩⬜
        🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜
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        Mine too…hope this posts OK…crikey looks like I might be successful posting, for once….

      3. Wordle 1,226 4/6

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

        Mine too…hope this posts OK…crikey looks like I might be successful posting, for once….

      4. Wordle 1,226 4/6

        ⬜⬜🟨🟩🟨
        🟩🟩⬜🟩⬜
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        Mine too…hope this posts OK…crikey looks like I might be successful posting, for once….

  41. Hello everyone – published now is Free Speech' s account of our attendance at the huge and very good natured march on Parliament Square yesterday. Mark Smith also has some choice and still relevant quotes from the Iron Lady – sorely missed – and the Duke adds to our growing list of gripes, in his case the corrupt BBC .

    Please do read and comment, dear readers, as your support and participation is as important as anything else.

    1. For those interested I posted the full Rogan/ Trump interview earlier this morning. So you have to scroll almost to the first few posts this morning to find it.

    2. What do ya mean.. three minutes of pre-planned scripted politcal lingo with nervous weird cackle is good enough for Janet Daley (American-born conservative journalist at DT).

    2. They had a very annoying bulletin by a dark haired young woman extolling the "anti-fascist" counter march, where she expressed the view that these were people genuinely concerned about the Far Right Racist Thugs and how peaceful this pro-Kaba, pro-Hamas, anti=Brit lot were. That was at about 3pm ish. There were hardly any people there, but she assured us that there had been "hundreds of thousands" (!) just a moment ago, but having made their peaceful point most were now going home. That was all, at that point.

      Serious doubts re GBN in general on my part. They are going the way of all flesh.

      1. I think they're bending over backwards so much to avoid being attacked that they've effectively been neutered.

        1. They need to take a long hard look at the demise of the Conservative party to see where such pussilamity leads.

        2. That would be a counter-productive thing to do. Wonder if there's been a fall-out, difference of direction.

      2. I agree opopanex. Used to be an avid viewer of GBN. Now I hardly watch it apart from clips on You Tube.

  44. I subscribe to the free Taxpayers' Alliance so get regular emails from them. They have devised an online tool to contact local MPs with a host of letters to choose from. You just attach your postcode and name to the pre-written letter of your choice. The following is an excerpt from the email they sent me today:

    'We’re thrilled to announce the launch of our new Write to Your MP tool, a vital resource that will make it easier for taxpayers to contact their representatives on issues that matter to them. Political engagement is crucial now more than ever, and with this tool, you can make your voice heard on the issues that matter most. You can find the full list of letters available here. All you need to do is put in your postcode, your email address and name and it will automatically send the letter to your local representative.

    Ask them why public sector workers continue to enjoy gold-plated, unfunded pensions while many hard pressed households face tax rises on their own private pensions. Demand they unfreeze tax thresholds, oppose rises in alcohol duty or fuel duty, and insist they put a stop to the envy-driven tax raid on private schools. Make it clear that it’s time they wake up and prioritise your interests over their own extravagant spending habits.'

    My words: I think MPs must be confronted with their ideological treason. Silence means complicity and acceptance to them.

    1. Thanks for the info but I've found that if you are looking for a pointless, unproductive way to spend a few minutes then writing to your MP is a good one. You either get a standard reply (from the 'helper') or just ignored.

      1. You could raise a quarter of a million people and march through London and still be ignored, although if you really make a nuisance of yourself, you get a 'do not pass go proceed to jail card'.

        1. The Countryside March way back when was counted in and out by officials at way beyond 400K marchers. The BBC etc. only gave airtime to a few crusties heckling aggressively from a little stand, from which they soon departed when marchers threw coins onto the ground, for which they scrabbled. Police estimates were, of course, of way, way fewer attendees. Then the hatred was primarily aimed at the countryside. They got us with F&M, though – boy, did they break our hearts. A dry run for the Scamdemic, orchestrated by Fergusson and Blair.

          4. My pleasure, KP! I'm glad you mentioned foxhunting. The rush to extinguish drag and trail hunting reveals just how little this spiteful move has ever had to do with animal welfare.

          5. The antis are emboldened by having Labour lickspittles in power. We've seen far more of them recently and they've started using lawfare – making generic allegations about blocking drives etc. The police are following it up when they should be telling the antis off for wasting police time.

      2. The point is to keep challenging them on their groupthink. They think everyone agrees with them and it upsets them when they realise that we don’t.

    3. I haven't had this email yet – or more likely, because I haven't looked at my emails today, I haven't accessed it yet. I've got a Limp Dim MP.

  45. I subscribe to the free Taxpayers' Alliance so get regular emails from them. They have devised an online tool to contact local MPs with a host of letters to choose from. You just attach your postcode and name to the pre-written letter of your choice. The following is an excerpt from the email they sent me today:

    'We’re thrilled to announce the launch of our new Write to Your MP tool, a vital resource that will make it easier for taxpayers to contact their representatives on issues that matter to them. Political engagement is crucial now more than ever, and with this tool, you can make your voice heard on the issues that matter most. You can find the full list of letters available here. All you need to do is put in your postcode, your email address and name and it will automatically send the letter to your local representative.

    Ask them why public sector workers continue to enjoy gold-plated, unfunded pensions while many hard pressed households face tax rises on their own private pensions. Demand they unfreeze tax thresholds, oppose rises in alcohol duty or fuel duty, and insist they put a stop to the envy-driven tax raid on private schools. Make it clear that it’s time they wake up and prioritise your interests over their own extravagant spending habits.'

    My words: I think MPs must be confronted with their ideological treason. Silence means complicity and acceptance to them.

  46. Phew!
    3 hours of graft, starting with clearing out the ferrous scrap pile, about a ton and loading it into the van, followed by clearing out between two of the containers, where the bulk of the pile was and hacking back on a load of brambles.
    Having t'Lad here is a great help.

          2. Thanks, Grizz…I found a new (free) page which happily seems to have accepted me..here’s one for you 😘

        1. If he's a Green voter, he probably thinks Starmer's not extreme enough.
          How does he think the 'carbon' is going to be eliminated? Not thought the details through!

  49. One of the drawbacks of home delivery by supermarkets is the standard pestering to 'review items you've bought'. Today's email asks me to review:

    Good Boy Meaty Treaty Chewy Chicken Twisters Dog Treats

    I've asked the hound what he thought of them but he heard 'treats' and thought he was going to get another one. I suppose I could try chewing one myself and leave a review. Only marginally better than being asked to review toilet tissue.

    1. Just tell them that the dog treats go well with your morning tea and that they are a tasty inexpensive replacement for hobnobs.

    3. The family pooch of my childhood liked Good Boy chocolate drops. I tried one and it tasted foul. Once buttered a Bonio too. Wouldn’t recommend either but the dog loved them. Mind, he was also very fond of garlic sausage.

      1. The only food my late hound ever refused was raw chicken liver. I had mixed some into his evening meal and he – very neatly – removed each piece and placed it beside the dish.

      2. Charlie wouldn't touch dog choc drops. Haven't tried Kadi with them. I suspect he'd be fine – he likes most things that are edible.

  50. Women’s Equality party to abolish itself. 26 October 2024.

    So. Farewell then the Women’s Equality party. Founded to much fanfare by Sandi Toksvig and Catherine Mayer in 2015, the self-proclaimed ‘intersectional feminist organisation’ has decided to push for its own abolition at a special conference next month. It comes after a decade of stunning electoral success that saw them win a single seat in Hampshire in this year’s local elections. At this general, they then fielded four candidates across the country who won a combined total of 1,275 votes. How will Westminster cope with their absence?

    The pity of it was that it was ever brought into existence. The Women’s Liberation movement has almost destroyed the West. A party devoted solely to the interests of one section of the community could never do anything but harm. The prejudiced laws it pioneered and engendered has undermined the very foundations of the West. Laws must apply equally to all or they are instruments of division and oppression. We can see this around us in the Affirmative Action that places the interests of incomers over that of the indigenous people of these islands. It has destroyed the homogeneity of society. It has created a Hobbesian struggle of all against all.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/womens-equality-party-to-abolish-itself/

    3. The women’s party that supported Islam, abortion and “gender self-identification”. All bad for women.

    4. 8 years down the line:

      Tina Smith, real name Anthonia Cholmondeley-Featherstone-Haugh, founder of the far Left Women's Equality party has been arrested and held on remand for publishing hurty words about transgenders taking women's trophies.

  51. I recently posted a video of diamonds in a flow of oxygen in a lab being converted into CO2.
    It is blindingly obvious that reversing the process (CO2 = C + O2) would turn what the Government wants to bury underground into two very valuable commodities. Well the scientific community is already on the right track:

    https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/modern-alchemists-turn-airborne-co2-into-diamonds/

    Surely, if we can make rockets fly backwards, then we have the knowledge to reverse this simple laboratory experiment.

    It would not only solve the cost of burying CO2 underground but also resolve the massive debt that Labour claim they have inherited from the Tories whilst also providing the Chancellor with a breath of some fresh air as well of some of her best friends.

    2. Someone should tell Millibollix about Nigeria, quite a number of deaths when CO2 leakage occurred naturally from a lake. That's even without burying it – hopefully not in limestone caverns.

      1. Meanwhile in the UK a firm drilling a 100 metre deep hole for a heat pump to suck heat of the earth released natural methane from an underground source. Global warming almost stopped by capping the well but it still leaks and residents have to be evacuated for months.

          2. Thanks Angie, what a terrible catastrophe. Poor homeowners. And ongoing, possibly some time before it’s capped. It could happen to any area, if mad Milliband gets his way, although I think who looks likely to scupper them at present is Reeves.

          3. I didn’t realise that drilling down 100 metres was necessary for any form of heat pump. This situation looks far worse than having an EV catching fire in the driveway.

          4. I didn’t either…how many homes/businesses are going to do that, even if they have the available space. We’re on limestone scale…good luck with that (not going to happen). Why on earth would we want to throw out something that’s working ie. gas..oil..mains electric..

    3. How will the CO2 be captured (from the atmosphere?) – how much power will that require? How effective is that? How will it be compressed and pumped along a pipeline for injection? What's the power consumption for that, and where will that power come from?
      I suspect this is just a politicians thought – utter effing bollix.

  52. I recently posted a video of diamonds in a flow of oxygen in a lab being converted into CO2.
    It is blindingly obvious that reversing the process (CO2 = C + O2) would turn what the Government wants to bury underground into two very valuable commodities. Well the scientific community is already on the right track:

    https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/modern-alchemists-turn-airborne-co2-into-diamonds/

    Surely, if we can make rockets fly backwards, then we have the knowledge to reverse this simple laboratory experiment.

    It would not only solve the cost of burying CO2 underground but also resolve the massive debt that Labour claim they have inherited from the Tories whilst also providing the Chancellor with a breath of some fresh air as well of some of her best friends.

  53. I recently posted a video of diamonds in a flow of oxygen in a lab being converted into CO2.
    It is blindingly obvious that reversing the process (CO2 = C + O2) would turn what the Government wants to bury underground into two very valuable commodities. Well the scientific community is already on the right track:

    https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/modern-alchemists-turn-airborne-co2-into-diamonds/

    Surely, if we can make rockets fly backwards, then we have the knowledge to reverse this simple laboratory experiment.

    It would not only solve the cost of burying CO2 underground but also resolve the massive debt that Labour claim they have inherited from the Tories whilst also providing the Chancellor with a breath of some fresh air as well of some of her best friends.

  54. Man charged over stabbing of woman and two children in Dagenham. 27 October 2024.

    A spokesman for the Met Police said: “Kulvinder Ram was arrested following a stabbing in First Avenue, Dagenham on Friday, 25 October.”

    Kulvinder Ram, 48, will appear in custody at Barkingside Magistrates’ Court on Monday charged with three counts of attempted murder, police said.

    It is a family job.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/27/man-charged-after-woman-children-stabbed-dagenham/

    2. Hang on a minute.. not so fast.
      This isn't the very same Garage worker Kulvinder Ram who sliced n stabbed his missus in 2009?

      A jealous lover who slashed and stabbed the mother of his three children 17 times and left her to die in a field near Wolverhampton was today beginning a 14-year prison sentence.

        1. ..put his foot on her stomach to accelerate the bleeding and she was in so much pain she wanted to die.

          Ram was told by Judge John Warner the case was aggravated by the fact he was the subject of a supervision order at the time for an earlier attack on her.

      1. There have been some. Never reported with quite the same prominence as those from the Ropery.

      1. Up to a point, maharajah. They can (and do) turn nasty – especially when white people say anything controversial about their, er, religion. Remember the mob that forced a cinema in west London NOT to screen an innocuous film? And their "community leader" (who was always on the Today prog doing "Vile Thought for the Day) and is now a Lord – said that white people should beware because Sikhs fight back…..

    1. Is that Beyoncé?
      I want my money back, she didn't sing and only mumbled a few words of half-praise.

  57. I have the integrity to be leader, says Badenoch in swipe at Jenrick
    Leadership front-runner discusses family, reparations and her rival’s track record ahead of final vote

    “Self praise is no praise at all.”

    — Lord Byron

    "The louder he (or she?) talked of his (or her) honour, the faster we counted our spoons."

    1. A future for the Tories
      SIR – It really does not matter how many good proposals the two remaining candidates for the leadership of the Conservative Party have for what they will do when in power (Letters, October 20); they will not be able to implement them for at least five years. What is needed now is a leader who can revitalise the party, whip its MPs into line and create a national enthusiasm for it prior to the next election.

      While Robert Jenrick comes across as a serious man, he is certainly a grey one. His opponent, Kemi Badenoch, is much more dynamic and exudes a greater enthusiasm. She’s for me.

      Peter Munro
      Wincanton, Somerset

        1. The lack of Conservatives in the Conservative Party is the fundamental problem they face. And seem unwilling to address.

  58. Ooooo.. same age.. same name.
    Wouldn't it be grand if he was let out early by Sir Keir of Rotherham.

  59. Well 14 years on from 2009 would have seen him out last year without any remission of sentence?

    1. Assuming, of course, he hadn't been released in 2014, 2016 & 2020.. then sent back each time for stabby offences.
      You never know in upside-down clown world.

  60. Gorgeous afternoon. While resting between digging out large quantities of earth/builders' rubble to make space for eventual new roses – sat in the warm sunshine. Very agreeable.

  61. Just in from a bimble around here. Saint Michael's at Kingston Maurward, just outside Dorchester. This is where his widow had the heart of Thomas Hardy buried when his ashes were interned in Poets Corner in Westminster Abbey. It is a beautiful place, set in beautiful countryside.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7b5a0f373a3ff061e938dc3f22a4e1c6f696fd32750b969d1184be95cdbcae8f.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/06e091ce140c279cef99b74ddf9a90dd9a96ed164607c98b205c267d1cbde10c.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5747a68c83055214599739872a795f852425634a26e3eeba3b6968651474fafe.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d47f8480a5e62b7d9d4770fb9f72e632417042d5be55c5f8f95e9bfd46d47042.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d060e2f8d5e2e71ea2b7b2cddf4b1ffa28ef1f2bb804a6ef9f1a685931b5ba78.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f8b5053a0e90b1de630ad0b71f4199a2f031be86206f99e17fa32016b9aaa3ed.jpg

      1. That one is Norman, which begs the question, how many babies has it seen in the last thousand years?

        2. This thread reminded me of a poem by John Betjeman.

          The Wykehamist

          Broad of Church and broad of mind,
          Broad before and broad behind,
          A keen ecclesiologist,
          A rather dirty Wykehamist.
          'Tis not for us to wonder why
          He wears that curious knitted tie;
          We should not cast reflections on
          The very slightest kind of don.
          We should not giggle as we like
          At his appearance on his bike;
          It's something to become a bore,
          And more than that, at twenty-four.
          It's something too to know your wants
          And go full pelt for Norman fonts.
          Just now the chestnut trees are dark
          And full with shadow in the park,
          And “six o'clock!” St. Mary calls
          Above the mellow college walls.
          The evening stretches arms to twist
          And captivate her Wykehamist.
          But not for him these autumn days,
          He shuts them out with heavy baize;
          He gives his Ovaltine a stir
          And nibbles at a “petit beurre”,
          And, satisfying fleshy wants,
          He settles down to Norman fonts.

      3. We have a font story at Barts but not the baptismal one (though there’s one of those as well). In the 18th century the Lady Chapel was hired out to be used as a printing works. It’s where the teenage Benjamin Franklin did his apprenticeship and he invented a font of the printed variety.

    2. Stinsford is so pretty .

      That is the last resting place of Cecil Day-Lewis who was the Poet Laureate from 1968 until his death in 1972. He was also the father of the great actor Daniel Day-Lewis. He was a great admirer of Thomas Hardy and it was his request to be buried in the same place.

        2. Thanks. I’ve not heard of him, so I must do some investigation. A style not too dissimilar to Burne-Jones, I suppose.

        3. Just looked him up on Wikipedia, which includes this: "Holiday spent much time at the studios of Sir Edward Burne-Jones, where groups of artists would meet to discuss, exchange and pool ideas. The influence of Burne-Jones can be seen in Holiday's work."
          So I'm quite pleased with myself for thinking of Burne-Jones but also that it wasn't quite right for him. 🙂

  62. We have had an enjoyable few hours in Weymouth .

    Lots of locals and daytrippers walking /swimming in the sea , blue sky / blue sea , 16c, glorious October weather .

    Families were with their children , and their dogs were swimming in the sea as well . Lots of activity , and the donkeys were back out of retirement , young children loving the heehaws and a pleasant donkey ride along the beach .

    Everywhere , and I mean everywhere , even along the quayside , the pubs and cafes were doing a roaring business..

    Some one commented to me that watching all the feasting and drinking activities was like watching the last days of the Roman Empire before Labour destroys everything on Wednesday . I was leaning on the railings overlooking the harbour, with my back to the happy drinkers and eaters sitting outside of the various pubs. The fishing boats had just unloaded their days work , but blow that because there were also some very nice yachts to admire .

    Moh asked me who was that talking to me , and I said , I haven't a clue but the bod's observation was the same as mine , and put quite eloquently ..

    We walked around through the touristy bit of the town centre , some shops were dead , we looked in the window of one of the many phone shops , my old Apple 6 needs updating , and as we were comparing 2nd hand prices that were displayed in the window, a sweet wobbly headed Asian chap leapt out of the shop and asked if we needed assistance with choosing a phone.. good heavens he was so quick .. we had only just paused for breath as we looked in the shop window .. phone shops are spreading , as are barber shops and vape shops and tattoo studios .

    I thanked him for his attention , and said we will call in next time we are in Weymouth ( blah blah)

    On the way into Weymouth there are a couple of quite top of the range second hand car dealerships .. there were , because the forecourt was empty ..

    Loads of big homes for sale , and smaller homes , probably second homes , Airbnb etc..

    This Chancellor is wreaking insecurity and havoc before she has even announced her plans for the economy

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/10/26/capital-gains-raid-rachel-reeves-budget-businesses/
    Businesses shut up shop ahead of Rachel Reeves’s ‘growth Budget’
    More than 1,600 directors wind down companies in October over capital gains fears .

    RC

    Richard Carlson
    2 hrs ago
    Does anyone really think the wealthy got that way by paying huge percentages of their earning or assets in tax when they create the wealth or pass it on to their children. Many also have dual citizenship in a tax haven county. They have very smart people who are ten steps ahead of these socialists booking their profits elsewhere. Make no mistake, those wealthy that are leaving are not bringing their cash but following it as it has already moved well before them.

    Comment by Michael Taylor.

    MT

    Michael Taylor
    2 hrs ago
    "Growth budget".

    The only thing she is going to grow are the number of unemployed people.

    Reply by David Moore.

    DM

    David Moore
    1 hr ago
    Bullseye!

    Reply by Paul Cook.

    PC

    Paul Cook
    58 min ago
    And probably the Civil Service and the public sector

    Comment by stephen eyre.

    se

    stephen eyre
    2 hrs ago
    It’s not as if people don’t pay enough tax and see with their own eyes that their returns on public services investment is at 3rd world levels of return. Increasing taxes yet again to invest more into a bloated and inefficient blob is why nobody is willing to accept it anymore. A 10 year NHS improvement plan, again? Labour are completely out of their depth and minds

    1. No one disrespects our Keir.. no one.

      Labour MP Mike Amesbury sucker punched a male constituent and hit him repeatedly while he lay on the ground.

      Hitting someone with their hands in their pockets & looking the other way.. would land you inside.. if you resided in Stockport.
      CCTV doesn't lie.

      If convicted.. could trigger a by-election.. 14,696 majority with Reform 2nd. Easy win for Nige.

        2. Apparently a Manchester United supporter, that should get him an extra 6 months for gross stupidity.

  65. I’m up to my oxters in apple and tomato chutney! 6lbs apples from our trees, plus the same of tomatoes, and onions. 5pts malt vinegar, pickling spice and chillis. Just softening now, and then the soft brown sugar! Had a small disaster as my dear old man chucked out all my jam jars when we replaced the shed! He says he told me! 🤔 Anyway I had to go and buy some from Hobbycraft! Man, they’re not cheap!

      1. Oh thank you Bill! Just what I need! I spent yesterday drying and wrapping about half a ton of apples, (according to your instructions) and putting them in boxes in the dark!
        I’m afraid I’ll have to decline your kind offer!

        2. Would it have been easier to do them with a light on and then put them in a dark place, Sue?

          Runs very fast.

      1. What did I say, Phizzee? My old man threw them out! Keep up at the back! It’s not after 7 is it?

    3. If you are on a local social media page, you could ask if anyone has any unwanted jars. I saw such a request recently, and there were several who offered spare jars. Alternatively, if there is a 'cheapie' shop nearby, either independent or B&M/Home Bargains type place, they would be considerably cheaper than Hobbycraft. Even B&Q might be cheaper.

      1. The thing was, I saw them online @ £5 for 12! Thought I’d ordered them to pick up but hadn’t so had to pay £8! I wasn’t amused! I knew about B&Q but forgot!

        1. You sound like me, though slightly different situation. Earlier in the year, I took up an offer of free Amazon Prime for a month. I was certain that I had cancelled it, and then my bank statement showed otherwise, so I tried again – even took a screen shot (for my memory). They took the payment again. I had to then do it with supervision from MH! Sharks, make it difficult to actually cancel, probably deliberately set up that way.

      2. I just about live in Home Bargains, according to my old man! Couldn’t get them – seasonal and all that!

        1. The nearest Home Bargains is 15 miles away, never been. But I recently went into a B&M where my brother lives – lots of tat but some decent stuff. Our son & partner bought side tables at Home Bargains, they are ok. We have a local independent cheapie shop – again, plenty of tat, but great prices for store boxes, stationery ….. and jars. 🙂

          1. I buy all my cleaning stuff, washing tabs, kitchen roll etc, plus soap, shampoos and children’s drawing and painting things! Ooh and cat and bird food!

          4. Plenty of people rave about TK Max. The few times I went in one, it seemed like a massive jumble sale with little order to anything.

          5. Yes! I’m not too keen, but I did get a fantastic silk dress and expensive hat, at silly prices! Handbags are good as well, but it is a bit of a bazaar!

      3. A couple of years ago Ann Allan ran out of jars and mentioned it on here. So I drove round and gave her many of my empty ones. I would gladly have helped you Sue Mac, but Ann lives just 5 minutes away, whereas driving to Scotland would take far too long. Lol.

    4. To my shame, this year, due to the pressure of other minor tasks needing to be done, I've ignored my apples.

  66. Sitting in my hotel room in Kraków awaiting flight to Birmingham and reflecting gloomily, despairing about ………………………………my wife's closest Birmingham friends.

    A couple with Polish antecedents …. he (now in late 80s), she a decade younger. He (a non-smoker) has recently (2022) had a lung cancer, but now in remission.

    I was aware this couple went in for boosters
    But, I supposed that, despite them being NORMIES, they'd stopped this some time back.

    Now my wife has informed me that they both had their latest booster a week ago. Gosh, they're not just NORMIES, they are the full GUINEA-PIGS or LAB-RATS.*****

    ***** The female NORMIE developed an infection a couple of days ago and ………
    …. being a normie, tested herself …… and has declared that SHE HAS COVID!!!!@@@

    But, being an ULTRA-NORMIE also means that she is saying "luckily the boosters mean that our latest covid infection will not be fatal" [eat your heart out, genetic microbiologists, such as Jasper Ridley]

    GIVE ME STRENGTH, OH LORD.

    2. I wonder about my dear friend whose grade/stage 1 cancer rapidly spread to stage 4. After she had the mastectomy (& lymph nodes were all clear), she had the booster, because her 'safety net' chemo tablets would badly damage her immune system. Within a few weeks of the booster, metastases were found.

  67. ‘It could be devastating’: Why the landed gentry is dreading Labour’s Budget
    Rachel Reeves’s plot to tax wealthy landowners could spell the end for farmers
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/tax/labour-budget-it-landed-gentry-apr-bpr-impact/

    BTL

    Anyone who has studied Chaucer's Canterbury Tales will know that reeves were often very much despised.

    A reeve was a local official, in particular the chief magistrate of a town or district in Anglo-Saxon England and an official supervising a landowner's estate.

    Officious and small minded are applicable epithets to apply when describing the reeves in Medieval England just as they are applicable for Rachel Reeves today.

  69. Has Lady Victoria Sponge been heard of lately?

    Just asking as "Lord" Comical Alli is wondering, too.

    1. Sir Keir likes to keep his wife away from politics. And from politicians by the look of it.

      2. From what I gather – it is she who has turfed him out. No wonder he lurks in Samoa…

        1. Guido Fawkes had a great article about Lady Vic yesterday! The comments were positively libellous!

    2. Sir Keir likes to keep his wife away from politics. And from politicians by the look of it.

    1. No Labour sleaze – going straight for physical intimidation.

      I see he got the boot it there too.

      What a vile man.

      Still, that’s MPs for you these days.

      2. He should face criminal charges and immediately be forced to resign his lucrative MP position.

  73. Merely 4.45pm in the afternoon and already nearly dark .
    closed the curtains, put the lamps on and shall read a book .

      1. It was a stunner this morning. Bright blue sky. Point of information, today is Reformation Sunday when we give thanks for those who translated the Bible into the vernacular (amongst other things). Bible Sunday should be the second Sunday in Advent, but they messed around with it today and we had that Collect ("read, mark, learn and inwardly digest" as I was exhorted at school).

          1. I didn’t, either, until the priest mentioned it at the beginning of the service. My aim is to inform and educate 🙂

    4. As the light faded, our village was hosting the annual charity 'hunt and haunt' treasure hunt. Lots of excited children dressed up as ghosts etc (all accompanied by adults), roaming the village looking for clues. They only knock on doors of homes with a lit pumpkin.
      The obnoxious teenagers wait until Halloween to play pranks.

  74. Out of Town on Talking Pictures TV. It's got a PG rating? Topics are fly fishing, a chap making a bee skep, and a little bit on traction engines. Is that likely to corrupt the young?

      1. If Fiscal is around, Jack has just landed a Grayling from a chalk stream on Salisbury Plain

    2. PG because it is awfully lacking in effnics and those mentally damaged ones who think they are something other than their chromosomes prove. Kids indoctrinated with all the inappropriate sexualising lessons at school will be 'confused/distressed' and might start to question what their teachers have been telling them.

  75. A blondish Birdie Three?

    Wordle 1,226 3/6
    🟨⬜⬜🟨⬜
    ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Well done, I managed the same.

      Wordle 1,226 3/6

      🟨⬜⬜🟨⬜
      ⬜⬜🟨🟩🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    2. Wow. I made hard work of it.

      Wordle 1,226 5/6

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

    3. Well done, Rene, boring par here…..

      Wordle 1,226 4/6

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

    1. Hmm. I won’t donate to Wiki. It’s too Woke; been taken over by the left-wing “activists”

          1. If the gullible, lunatic 'wokies' could read even a few comments on Nottle, their heads would explode.

    2. Used to receive an email from Jimmy W most years (Wikipedia), not for some time though – I still use it.

    3. I used to donate to them. They won't see another penny from me, since they are ridiculously supportive of all things great reset related.
      Two examples:
      No criticism of the sacred manmade climate change via CO2 theory is permitted on Wikipedia
      They try to blur and play down the grooming gangs with a page on "Grooming gangs moral panic in the UK"

  77. By all accounts the Unite the Kingdom march had a huge turnout and all went off peacefully despite the counter protesting agitators.

    Obviously the mainstream media has given it little mention of it.

    As the protest was against this and the last government, not sure why some people felt the need for an anti protest to defend this and the last governments record.

    Presumably they like a disunited two tier kingdom, but in any event, why do they have to counter protest? why not just arrange their own march to to celebrate this and the last governments record, if that is what they want.

    Or it makes them just look like politically supported and funded brownshirts, trying to prevent the right to protest, it all seems very fascistic really

    1. Oh come on – the perlice said there were 15,000 far-left agitators – of whom, maddeningly, only one was arrested.

      The other mob was out looking for a fight. Which DIDN'T happen – so one of them hit a perliceman and was arrested.

      No wonder the diligent press don't bother to report the event accurately. They desperately wanted to see Lunnon in flames with thousands banged up. Curses all round, I guess.

      1. They have been practising not seeing protests by sensible people ever since the anti-Hunting Bill marches. Hundreds of thousands of peaceful demonstrators and not a mention on the beeb. I was glad I was in Mongolia when the police beat up the Countryside Alliance marchers. I dodged a bullet.

    2. Obviously the mainstream media has given it little mention of it.

      The DT report went "far right, far right, far right", ad nauseam.

      And why would WSC's statue need to be protected from patriots?

      And, in other news, it's lucky that the "terrorist" <sarc> Yaxley-Lennon chap</sarc> opted for a PIN code on his phone. I wake mine with a fingerprint, or a facial scan. In which case, they'd have taken his fingers. Or his face…

  78. Well, there you are. 17.23 and it is a diverse as your hat outside. And it will only get worse. I hate this time of year. No bright side to look on.

    1. I look forward to this time of year, Bill. The actual time and my body clock are in alignment and it's LIGHT in the mornings! Actually, a lovely bright light this morning because it was a sunny day. Very cold, but sunny.

        1. I don't have gout – I have lots of ailments, but thankfully drinking port has not affected me so far 🙂

  79. Just back from a trip to Cardiff to visit our lad. He shares a house in Roath with three other lads.

    We had to take our hoover because the one the landlord supplied didn’t work. We took out lad out for a meal last night night and by the time we got back the flat mates had hoovered the whole house.

    We took them out for a few pints. They are lovely, lovely lads. It breaks my heart to know no employer will take then, because of “DEI”.

  80. Evening, all. I seemed to have lots of time today for some reason! I am amazed I have any teeth left! The intercessions in church were led by a woke woman who referred to "the images we saw on TV of people digging through rubble in Gaza" (I don't see such images and if I did, I'd blame it on islam) and how we should be welcoming to refugees (who have travelled through dozens of safe countries? I don't think so) so we could have a just society (and what is just about being invaded, I asked myself). And then she prayed for a miracle – that the government would be fiscally responsible when they set the budget! I couldn't restrain a laugh at that! I knew it would be bad because of who was doing it, but really, she surpassed herself today!

    Of course we shouldn't pay reparations. They got far more out of it than we ever did from owning slaves (and none of my family ever owned a slave, so hands off my money!).

    1. It's the way these wokies always assume blithely that we all share their privilege and their preferences…
      I am still fuming over the curate (living in a house provided by the Church!) who tried to make "we in our comfortable homes" feel guilty about people coming across the channel in small boats. Clearly no idea about giant rents, mortgages etc, or that there are people without central heating and double glazing.

      1. It's like the bishopette of Birkenhead who told us off one Harvest Festival for not saving the planet; we should "get out of our gas-guzzlers". Bearing in mind it is a rural parish where SUVs are necessary to negotiate the muddy fields, she could have been a bit more sensitive. She came out to the car park and got into the Porsche that was parked in front of my "gas-guzzling" Aygo!

    2. Lucky you. Two services today, as normal. HC featured Bartimaeus. Morning Prayer had Luke 14.1-14. Our Rector preached on this without having prepared his sermon. A former Army chaplain, he related a story about his early days in a certain regiment. Seated next to a new mother, she needed the loo. But the tradition in the regiment was that no-one could leave the table before the Commanding Officer.

      He led her from the meal, much to the consternation of those present. Next weekday, he was hauled over the coals, and faced his CO. "How can you explain this outrageous breach of tradition?" His response was based on Luke 14:1-14, and was fully accepted.

      1. We had a retired priest today. I'm not keen because he doesn't elevate the host among other things. He started the sermon with an anecdote about his time in the seminary (or whatever the CofE equivalent is). Then the microphone failed. When the batteries had been replaced he carried on as though he'd missed out a great chunk! It was eminently forgettable, but had to do with the scriptures, I think.

    3. One of the things I don’t miss about AS Fulham is those stream of consciousness lefty intercessions. Mind we didn’t have even standard intercessions this morning, as instead there was the annual Act of Remembrance for the Rough Riders.

  81. Time for me to go – still 20 minutes before bottle opening time. Grrr. Good bit of gardening. The MR slaving away making tomata – the pounds and pounds of green tomatoes we picked so as to clear the ground (and greenhouse) have astounded us by ripening much more quickly than usual. There will be another 3 lbs of sauce in an hour's time.

    Cats discombobulated by time change – hanging about at 3.30 ostentatiously tapping their paws. Now sleeping (and fed). Lucky sods.

    Have a jolly evening (and thanks to Made in Britain (I am sure he had another soubriquet…) for the heads up on TPTV). I lurve those old newsreel type docus.

    A demain.

    1. The artist originally known as Richard II, Bill. And Tier5Inmate before that. It just means that all the people who block me are still exposed to my wit and humour………………

          2. Oooh! Carlisle and Moffat are VERY difficult to navigate, I’ll have you know! (As if you didn’t!)

          3. Fear not, pet – according to the S Grimes a BLIND man has invented a much better type of satnav…..

          5. My dear husband has missed the Abington turn off, on the way to our daughters house, on two occasions! The next one is Moffat and quite a detour!

          6. In the last 20 years I've only missed a turn twice. There was a common denominator…………
            you were the front seat passenger!

    2. I had no idea about time change until I noticed 'looks a bit darker earlier, maybe bad weather'…I'm with the cats, we're all animals 😀 love the picture you paint of them tapping their paws…then sleeping 🙂

      1. Kadi asked for his tea an hour early. Unfortunately for him, we were out at a cafe at the time (I had a cappuccino, he had a puppaccino). He had to wait until we got back.

        1. What breed is Kadi, Conway? Vet once told me 'mixed (i.e.mongrel) breed the healthiest, all animals (including us, presumably – which reminds me I once had my dna checked..oh dear..I'm not really a Brit at all…I'll get me coat….

          3. Ollie? Do you mean Oscar? Unfortunately, Oscar the Fox Terrier had to be put to sleep in February. He had an incurable neurological disease. Kadi does tend to keep close. One of his nicknames is "Velcro". 🙂

          4. Cairns and Westies look quite alike dont they?

            I havent had a dog since I was quite young (always mongrels) but if I were to get one now it would definitely be a Westie! They're wonderful little dogs…..

        2. New neighbours 2 doors away have a dog that’s a cross between a Husky and a Pomeranian.
          An unusual, to say the least, and can’t imagine the breeding process.

      2. Er – I’m quite fond of cats…(apparently!!) Having had cats for most of the last 50 years (nearly) – they give me endless delight. I can easily go very soppy when a cat comes running towards me with his tail raised in greeting…

  82. I stink of smoke!
    After loading the van, I went up the hill to one of the cleared sections and began burning a heap of brash.
    Not, I hasted to add, by the simple expedient of lighting a fire under it, but, to avoid incinerating any sleeping animals, by lighting a small fire and feeding it with twigs etc from the brash heap.
    An absolutely beautiful day today, I suspect it is going to be a rather cold night. Presuming that is, that it does not cloud over.
    Enjoying a mug of tea and will be going for a bath afterwards.

  83. From Coffee House, the Spectator

    Why Spaniards keep being killed by bulls
    Jim Lawley27 October 2024, 8:33am
    A 57-year-old man was gored and killed during the bull running through the streets of Vall d’Uixo (population 31,000) in Spain last weekend. It was the third goring in three days in the town. In 2023 a total of eight people were killed by bulls in Spain during such events; the year before 23 died.

    In 2023 more than a thousand people in the Valencia region required medical treatment after being trampled or gored
    While in a formal bullfight it is the matador (literally ‘killer’) who almost invariably emerges victorious, in the streets the aggressive, astonishingly fast, half-ton bull sweeps all before it. The dangers were well illustrated a few years ago by dramatic footage on national television showing a bull swerving off a village street, crashing through the front door of a house and surprising a family in their dining room. Fortunately on that occasion no one was hurt but a great deal of furniture and crockery was smashed.

    In the Valencia region alone there are nearly 9,000 taurine festivals each year. In 2023 in addition to the fatalities, more than a thousand people in the region required medical treatment after being trampled or gored. An animal rights spokesman commented: ‘Besides the cruelty to the animals that we always condemn, we shouldn’t overlook the fact that the medical treatment for these totally avoidable injuries is paid for out of the public purse – something that nobody mentions when the money that bullfighting supposedly generates is discussed.’

    Many Spaniards regard bullfighting as a barbaric anachronism, the cruel and cowardly torturing of a dumb animal. It is already outlawed in some regions, and many would like to see it abolished everywhere. Spain’s left-wing national government wouldn’t dare go that far but earlier this year it did cancel the annual award for the national bullfighting prize worth £25,000.

    Most popular
    David Butterfield
    Decline and fall: how university education became infantilised

    The prize is likely to be restored when the right-wing parties, the Partido Popular and Vox, are next in power. Conservatives understand the importance of bull running as a traditional and central part of village fiestas in Spain. For many Spanish men it’s one of the high spots of their year – an eagerly anticipated opportunity to show courage and virility and to experience an irresistible adrenalin rush by running as close to the bulls as possible for as long as possible.

    Immortalised in Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, the most famous bull runs of all are at Pamplona in the Fiestas de San Fermín in July. At eight o’clock every morning millions of Spaniards watch on television as the six bulls that are to be killed that afternoon chase the runners through the streets to the ring: there’s no commentary at all – just the sight and sound of the live action. A ‘clean’ run only takes a couple of minutes, but heart-stopping seconds go by if a bull has to be dragged off someone who’s been caught and gored. This year no one was killed but about 50 people needed hospital treatment.

    For the hotel and tourism industry, the San Fermín fiesta is said to represent 25 per cent of the annual turnover. Nationwide, in figures that are disputed by animal-rights activists, the bullfighting industry is said to create employment for nearly 200,000 people. Its exotic appeal also attracts many tourists.

    Apart from these economic benefits, bull running and bullfighting are also of great cultural significance. The Osborne bulls – huge black silhouetted images of bulls on hilltops across the country – have been declared part of the ‘cultural and artistic heritage of the people of Spain’. Celebrated in the art of Goya and Picasso and in the poetry of Federico García Lorca, bullfighting has long formed part of Spain’s perceived national identity. In his famous essay on duende (a state of heightened emotion and awareness of death) Lorca relates how with three magnificent passes Saint Teresa of Avila once stopped a charging bull in its tracks.

    For a significant minority of Spaniards bullfighting is the so-called fiesta nacional, an ancient ritual and an art form. With deep roots and centuries of tradition, it is certainly hard to imagine Spain without bull running and bullfights: the ranches, the bullrings, the expertise, the traditional way of life and the public demand are not going to disappear overnight. Spain’s previous king, Juan Carlos I, once predicted that the day the European Union prohibited bullfighting would be the day that Spain left the EU.

    1. From Comments, the spectator

      Angela Shanahan
      6 hours ago edited
      I once went to a huge bullfight in one of the world's biggest arenas. When I saw the size of those creatures I was shocked. My first thought was " good luck to the matadors".Most of the bulls were the same height as their human opponents . Believe me, the odds are seriously weighted against the matadors . But the climax of that afternoon was really astonishing. One of the matadors who was doing pretty well passing and turning when suddenly, mid pass , he was gored by a gigantic grey bull.
      Initially, it was an extremely upsetting thing to watch .I thought he would die. The bull tossed him up in the air then threw him around on his horns like a helicopter. However, to my utter astonishment after the bull hurled him to the ground he picked up his muleta and sword, and though his legs were literally shaking , he started swearing at the bull. Then as it came to him again, he managed to aim his sword and killed the bull with one thrust. What a feat! The crowd erupted, stamping cheering, and girls throwing their bras into the ring. I'll never forget it. My sister ( minus her bra) and I ran down to the exit to see him being carried away by the ambulance. His name was Jesus and all the girls were screaming Chu chus! The whole thing was one of the most thrilling, memorable experiences of my life. Those bulls are specially bred and are huge. They looked like they came off a cave wall! It is a great spectacle, and the bulls end up being eaten anyway.
      Share ›
      −
      M
      Mark Kennedy Angela Shanahan
      5 hours ago
      Weighted against the matadors? You might want to rethink that. The bull always dies – the matador rarely.
      Share ›
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      M
      Margaret Robinson Angela Shanahan
      5 hours ago
      Shame on you!
      How is it weighted in the bull’s favour after the blood-letting carried out by the picadors before the ‘fight’ starts?
      I’ve never been to a bullfight and never would, but film I’ve seen of them would suggest that you aren’t telling the truth about the bulls’ size.
      Share ›

      1. More comments

        Ion Moldovan
        6 hours ago
        The despicable left is trying to destroy European cultures everywhere and at all times. If it’s anything masculine, if it’s involving any type of fighting or weapons it’s even more of a target. It doesn’t matter how old the custom is or how harmless ( see foxhunting). It’s such a pleasure to see some countries resist leftie propaganda. Why did the Tories not find the courage to make fox hunting legal again? Why should some people’s entertainment and cultural expression be subject to public opinion anyway? If that was the case why not ban islam all over Europe, I bet is not that popular anywhere with the natives
        Share ›
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        D
        DQL Ion Moldovan
        5 hours ago
        Some culture that revels in torturing animals.
        Share ›
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        I
        Ion Moldovan DQL
        5 hours ago
        Preferable to islamisation ,feminism,the alphabet lot and whatever other hideousness the left would have us live under. I’d rather have duelling legalised than any of that. And the Chinese would rather bound women’s legs again instead of that. And the Indians would rather burn their widows again instead of that. And the Russians would rather be serfs all over again instead of that . And so on and so forth. It’s only the West that allows itself to be destroyed by leftists. Until one day when it will decide to fight back, there’s hoping the good side will win the upcoming civil war
        Share ›
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        G
        God knows. Ion Moldovan
        an hour ago
        What has any of that got to do with the torture of animals???
        Share ›

      3. Brava Angela !

        You write like Hemingway. And you explain why Matadors do it:

        What a feat! The crowd erupted, stamping cheering, and girls throwing their bras into the ring.

    2. As you live in Spain, do you have any opinions about the contents of the article you have pasted?

      1. I went to quite a few corridas when i was young, the first time, I remember with two older English friends, old hands in Spain anxious to explain the mechanism of bull fighting and of course threatening to disown me if I became squeamish.
        I enjoyed the spectacles immensely, very exciting, like watching a spy thriller, maybe more than that because the torero was in real danger.
        I never went to Pamplona but bull runs are common in many villages a reminder of when bulls were herded from place to place in search of good grazing vegetation. Often they would be run through the town on their way to green pastures.
        The fighting bull is bred for the bull ring. It is pampered throughout its life, the corrida lasts only fifteen minutes and should the bull lose, which normally happens, although not always, it is sacrificed and used for its meat, which is what happens to most grazing animals.
        There is nothing particularly cruel about this blood sport, animals are hunted and killed all over the world.
        i stopped going many years ago, my family ( wife, children and I suppose grandchildren too) are all against bull fighting. I admit that I don't really want that kind of relationship with animals. I have relatives in North America who thrive on killing deer, ducks and really anything that moves. In Britain of course there is a whole upper class which also revels in the slaughter of animals for pleasure.
        In Spain, especially in the cities, and among younger people bull fighting is not popular and I wonder sometimes how they manage to keep it going. But they do and I think it forms part of the culture.

        1. Similar viewpoint. Fighting bulls are indeed pampered, and traditionally reared with minimum human contact. The industry provides much needed employment in rural areas of Andalucia. Many years ago I was with a group who were invited to a reception near Cadiz where there was an opportunity (!) to enter a training ring with several juvenile 'toros bravos', calves really. Some of the younger Brit guests took part, and quickly discovered how to vault over the 2 metre high stockade.

          One guy described it as more terrifying than sailing in the Southern Ocean

  84. From Coffee House, the Spectator

    Police probe alleged Labour MP assault
    Steerpike26 October 2024, 3:04pm
    It’s a big week for Labour ahead of the Budget on Wednesday. So it is somewhat sub-optimal then that a viral video threatens to derail their carefully calculated media grid. In footage shot by a member of the public early this morning, Labour MP for Runcorn and Helsby Mike Amesbury appeared to threaten a man who has been knocked onto the road in Frodsham, Cheshire.

    Amesbury shouted at the floored man: ‘You won’t ever threaten me again, will you? You won’t ever threaten me again.’ After others pointed out that he’s the local MP, he responded: ‘Yes I am, and you won’t threaten the MP ever again, will you?’ One onlooker quipped ‘The MP for Gobshites…’

    In a statement issued to Mr S, Amesbury confirmed that he was involved in an incident ‘that took place after I felt threatened on the street following an evening out with friends’. He said that he contacted Cheshire police to report the incident and confirmed that he would cooperate with them in their inquiries. ‘I remain fully committed to working hard for the people of Runcorn and Helsby, and am determined to remain an open and accessible MP for our community.’

    A spokesperson for the Labour party said:

    We are aware of an incident that took place last night. We understand that Mike Amesbury MP approached Cheshire Police to report what happened this morning himself and that he will cooperate with any inquiries they have.

    A spokesman for Cheshire police told Steerpike that they were probing the incident:

    At 2.48am on Saturday 26 October, police were called to reports of an assault in Frodsham. A caller reported he had been assaulted by a man in Main Street. Enquiries are ongoing.

    Will the Whips’ Office now get involved?

    1. Nah – the wanqueur will claim that the hitee had "threatened him" (possibly with a hurty tweet) and that his pre-emptive strike was justified to stop matey from saying another, er, hurty thing.

      Inspector Corner of the Yard said: "We fully appreciate the hurt that the MP suffered from this far-right, drooling, sproat and his very restrained effort at self-protection was entirely justified. When the hitee comes out of intensive care, we'll throw the book at him and find a place in Cur Ikea's empty prisons. Trial? No – we don't bother with them, any more," he added.

    2. He'll get the same treatment as the Pakis who assaulted the Police Officers at Manchester Airport – i.e. time will drag by and nothing will be done, hoping that people will forget about it.

  87. Now eating my all-time favourite biscuit: Stroopwaffel.
    This one is less sweet than is usual, but just as wonderful!

    2. I loved those when I was stationed in Maastricht. Never had another until I had my first visit to Amsterdam in 2008. Then found out that Lidl sold them. Double joy!

  88. Tastes better!
    Dutch waffle biscuits sandwiching golden syrup.
    Food of the Gods, so it is.

    1. I was disturbed by very loud noise this afternoon that sounded like someone drilling – on a Sunday afternoon ffs – but when I went out to investigate, it turned out to be a woman in the hostel next door clearing leaves (from our tree) out of their back yard with a device that was sucking them up. The yard looked much tidier when she’d finished but her timing was crap.

      1. Those things are incredibly loud. The gardener who looks after the gardens just under my office window seems to love his leaf blower – it seems to run from about June to December!

  91. SIR – As Kiwi taxpayers are only too well aware, once the door to reparations is opened, you can never get it closed. Billions of dollars have been given to Maori over the last 20 years, but not only do the claims keep coming, they also get larger. A recent claim from one of the northern tribes is for NZ$8 billion (£3.7 billion).

    When Europeans came to New Zealand it was populated by tribes who were frequently in conflict with each other. Sir Apirana Ngata, one of the greatest Maori statesmen, commented on Britain’s colonisation, “but for the shield of the sovereignty handed over by the Maori to Her Majesty and her descendants I doubt whether there would be a free Maori race in New Zealand today…I doubt whether any native race has been so well treated by a European people as the Maori of New Zealand”.

    Geoff Marshall
    Auckland, New Zealand

    Richard Halstead
    1 hr ago
    I've just had a comment automatically removed and the only thing I can think of to possibly cause that is my reference to B lack slaves. Is the word B lack now also banned? The DT needs a feedback loop to explain its take on morality.

    Comment by Stephanie Clarkson.

    SC

    Stephanie Clarkson
    1 hr ago
    The Maori are not the original indigenous people in New Zealand. They invaded New Zealand and killed all the original inhabitants.

    Reply by Rodney Williams.

    RW

    Rodney Williams
    1 hr ago
    And possibly ate them as well.

    Reply by DAVID DAVIES.

    DD

    DAVID DAVIES
    1 hr ago
    It's OK to kill people if you're not white, they're in the clear.

    (Me chortling to myself … )

  92. Likely:-) I’m very sorry to read about of Oscar…have been there, two dogs in one day at one time – one was just very old and no longer mobile, the other had an autoimmune disease which the vets couldn’t figure out – he couldn’t eat, used to stand over his bowl salivating, had many tests – I decided when he reached a certain low weight he should go, heartbreaking. Love the nickname Velcro, speaks volumes 😀

  96. Right! That’s 20 jars of chutney potted and now cooling. I am slurping my way through a delicious 500ml mango flavoured first dose laxative in preparation for tomorrow, so I may not be commenting very much…..

  97. Oh fiddlesticks ! I've just made a very nice lemon, butter and dill sauce to go with our salmon fillets that are in the oven, not realising ( until it was too late ) that the fish is smoked . Maybe too much of a contrast of flavours, even the wine has a hint of lemon , grrrrrrr !

  100. The violent liebour MP has been suspended. He needs to be sacked. Regardless of whether or not he is convicted of affray/GBH or whatever, nobody who takes part in violence should ever be allowed to hold any public office.
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14008209/Labour-MP-Mike-Amesbury-SUSPENDED-sucker-punching-constituent-beating-lay-ground-Shocking-CCTV-shows-moment-attack-unfolded-MP-claimed-man-threatened-him.html
    Edit: No comments allowed below the article. What a surprise.

    1. Shades of yesteryear:

      Scottish MP goes berserk in House of Commons bar brawl
      Eric Joyce, a former major in the Black Watch, is said to have “flipped” and lashed out in a rage against at least four fellow MPs before being dragged away in handcuffs. Last night, police said he had been charged with three counts of common assault and released on bail. He was told to appear at West London Magistrates Court on March 7.

      “There was blood spilled. It was like the Wild West in there,” one MP said. Mr Joyce was suspended from the Labour Party ­yesterday pending a police investigation into assault allegations.

      [Express Feb 2012]

    2. I know what you mean but it must be quite difficult if some halfwit is screaming abuse in your face – I know I'd whack them!

      Didnt do Prescott any harm (Two Jabs!)…..

      1. TB excused his deputy PM's behaviour by saying:
        "John will be John!"

        So "Mike could still be Mike!" to avoid prosecution by a former
        head of the CPS.

  101. Been on site with the new fellow – I say new, he's running projects on his own. 192 2.5GB and 24 10GB ports, split WAN internet access with two connections. It's a really high end set up with cameras, VOIP, automatic door controls (it's really cool – you can walk up to them and the door opens if you're wearing your pass, have your phone on you or.. and this is the scary bit – are in the face ID database (that's not on for everyone except the very techie boss man).

    All a managed service contract including updates, support and storage upgrades by 50%. The hardware is paid for, upgrades are part of maintenance contract that's sufficient to pay new boy's salary. The deal was he got 15% of any profit his unit made at year end on top. I think he's going to do very well.

    It's interesting for me as I've shied away from this bigger, more integrated stuff as it's harder to break out of it when there's a problem and you're reliant on one provider for support, replacement and spares but equally when fellow showed me the dashboard and monitoring, set up from deliberate failures for the logging it was rather good.

    Anyway, all a bit boring for most, but I think over time we'll migrate over to this new stuff, especially for our oldest customer who's using truly ancient wifi kit. Now to clean teeth and go to bedfordshire.

      1. Aye, sorry, didn't mean to over waffle. It's a bit of a change technology wise for me. Made me a feel a bit of a dinosaur having kept to a 'scattergun' approach.

    2. I'm glad someone on here is au fait with the idiosyncrasies of asynchronous technologies……!

    3. I note from the latest EV adverts that cars with electric propulsion can drive wirelessly right through the cloud.

    1. Yet an ice ride could be better than travelling in an EV bus with overheated Lions. They do off with a bit of a roar

  104. Well, chums, it's now well past my bedtime. Good night, sleep well, and I'll see you all tomorrow.

  105. Well, chums, it's now well past my bedtime. Good night, sleep well, and I'll see you all tomorrow.

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