Sunday 28 May: CofE’s reorganisation shows it is planning to dismantle the proven parish-priest system

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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458 thoughts on “Sunday 28 May: CofE’s reorganisation shows it is planning to dismantle the proven parish-priest system”

  1. Good morrow, Gentlefolks, today’s story

    Translation

    A Mafia Godfather finds out that one of his accountants has screwed him for three million bucks.

    This accountant happens to be deaf, so the Godfather brings along a Lawyer who knows sign language to translate. The Godfather asks the underling, “Where is the 3 million bucks you embezzled from me?”

    The interpreter Lawyer, using sign language, asks the accountant where the 3 million dollars is hidden.

    The accountant signs back, “I don’t know what you are talking about.”

    The Lawyer tells the Godfather, “He says he doesn’t know what you’re talking about.”

    That’s when the Godfather pulls out a 9mm pistol, puts it to the accountant’s temple, cocks it and says, “Ask him again!”

    The Lawyer signs to the underling, “He’ll kill you for sure if you don’t tell him!”

    The accountant signs back, “OK! You win! The money is in a brown briefcase, buried behind the shed in my cousin Enzo’s backyard in Queens!”

    The Godfather asks the interpreter, “Well… what’d he say?”

    To which the Lawyer replies, “He says you don’t have the balls to pull the trigger.”

  2. “Sunak ‘to urge supermarkets to cap price of food basics amid inflation’ (sky news)

    PM needs to slash government spending so we can slash all taxes. (JN)

    1. A completely cynical move. The Supermarkets are not going to cap their prices on such a request!

      1. Let ’em lose out to Aldi and/or Lidl. That’ll but a crimp in their business, greedy bar stewards.

        1. Sunak nees to sort our country out not tell people how to run their business.

      2. 372700+ up ticks,

        Morning AS,
        On par with going down to the Dover beach and telling the waves of incoming morally illegals to GO BACK.

      3. Why should they when most of the cost are taxes? Companies do not pay for anything. Every cost is passed on to the customer. my time, fuel, the van costs, van taxes, van servicing, equipment costs, all our heating bills, all company taxes are passed on to our customers.

        Our accountant itemises it and more than half our bill amount is tax. More than HALF.

        1. The sheer expense of employing people adds to the cost, and retail is very reliant on manpower.

    2. If the Government helped British farming we would all benefit from lower food prices.

      This hypnotic fascination with importing food from the EU must stop.

    3. If the Government helped British farming we would all benefit from lower food prices.

      The hypnotic fascination with importing food from the EU must stop.

    4. But it plays to the ignorance of the public. He can then blame them for making goods expensive. After all, that’s where the costs are. That these are just passed on government taxes and regulation is beyond the comprehension of most of the public.

      It’s desperately cynical and every journalist should be asking why government is deliberately making goods expensive.

    5. Price capping. How did that work out for Saggy May and the energy providers? Why would any private company take advice from politicians/snivel serpents who have never had to compete in the marketplace?

      I expect this will end in higher prices and the taxpayer digging deeper to make up the difference.

      1. I seem to recall Labour tried wage capping in the seventies – that worked well, didn’t it?

    1. Sunny, still 6°C in The Borders. Promising 16°C at 15:00. We’ll see.

      Strange Message, ” You must authenticate the user or provide author_name and author_email” How, why no other indication.

  5. ‘Useless’ watchdog tells staff to focus on diversity. 28 May 2023.

    The watchdog, which is overseen by Kemi Badenoch, the Business Secretary, exists to aid consumers, businesses and the UK economy by tackling unfair behaviour and ensuring that markets are competitive. But in recent years the watchdog has been criticised for taking an increasingly hard line on technology takeovers, which fails to encourage growth.

    The best aid to competitiveness would be the abolition of this organisation and its ilk..

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/05/27/competition-watchdog-tenth-working-time-equality-diversity/?li_source=LI&li_medium=liftigniter-rhr

    1. What is “unfair behaviour”? Being better at business than the competition? Taking more risk?

    3. “Taxpayer funded watchdog”? More wastage of the Poor Bloody Taxpayer’s hard earned money.

  6. Good morning, chums. Another glorious sunny day today. And another Bank Holiday tomorrow – I’ve never known such a plethora of Bank Holidays as this year in my life.

    3. Monday is also a holiday in the US- Memorial Day, when all the dead of all wars are remembered.

      1. And where urban Blacks visit Florida and cause non-stop mayhem I believe!

        1. I wouldn’t know. My Memorial weekends were spent ferrying son to parades with which ever band he was in at the time- until he could drive himself.

        1. I prefer to call it Good Sense, ‘cos it ain’t that common, but most on here possess it to the nth degree.

        2. As always there’s three groups – those who questioned and were abused. Those who believed, and were lauded, only to be proved gullible and the third who will never understand.

    1. Are these curbs on migration going to be in the, oh, say ten million mark? After all, the state doesnt’t want to stop immigration – either criminal or economic. It wants more of both to destroy this country.

  9. 372700+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    As we have learnt in the past, and sad to say still learning shown quite clearly via the voting pattern that you need sound footings for any long term success.

    IMHO the basis for forming a religious order using a chopping block as a corner stone could only end in tears,and bare in mind the polling booth dictates that the potential take over squad (cult) also favour the chopping block as has been proved.

    Letters: CofE’s reorganisation shows it is planning to dismantle the proven parish-priest system

    Yet another political overseers odious WEF/NWO/ RESET tendril slithering into place, awaiting the dangerous misguided support
    to be once again given by the majority voter.

    By the by,

    Only a lab/lib/con/current ukip member would brick up religious hidy holes

  10. Red tape can’t be allowed to hold up the Holocaust memorial any longer. 28 may 2023.

    The Nazi concentration camp survivor Manfred Goldberg was 84 when David Cameron promised a British memorial to the Holocaust. “Last month I celebrated my 93rd birthday and I pray to be able to attend the opening of this important project,” he says on the government website.

    We don’t want a Holocaust Memorial and we don’t need one. Cameron, the architect of the Libyan debacle, had no moral authority to suggest it. We played no part in it and have no obligations to its victims.

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/may/27/cut-loose-uk-holocaust-memorial-to-end-delays

    1. Isn’t it a reminder of the evils of fascism? The power of the state to control people’s lives, to demand and dictate how others live and to never, ever do so again?

      2. :-). The technique has been well and truly learnt.
        As the past three years have demonstrated.

      3. No, it’s a statement that only the “right” (National SOCIALISM, anyone?) can be evil.

    2. Why is this such an important matter, some 78 years after the event?
      This is virtue signalling on steroids – or, rather, taxpayers’ money.

  11. Good morning folks.
    As planned I have arrived at Devizes Wharf and can therefore repeat my offer of afternoon tea for any Nottler who is free to come along. It would be extremely helpful if anyone is able to attend to let the catering manager (i.e. me) know by replying below before noon.
    Thanks
    Stephen

    2. Let’s hope all goes well, Stephen. It’s too far a haul for me from Southern Scotland, even though I know Devizes well, having lived just up the road in both Chippenham and Corsham.

    3. Wonderful! Wish I could join, been years since I was in Devizes, but the swim is just too far from here – and the USS Gerald R Ford is in the way, too, blocking out the light.
      Enjoy!

    4. Appreciate the offer. Have a lovely time. If your boat could navigate the Colne – or even the Stour – then I would love to join you.

          1. To avert civil war i halve them and put jam on one lot and cream on the other. People can reassemble them however they like.

    6. I would love to join in but alas duty calls 🙁
      Save us a teacake for next time.

    7. I do hope someone is able to take you up on your kind offer. If not, just remember we still like you !

  12. Morning, all Y’all.
    Cloudy & a chilly wind. Just about to have fried breakfast, then resume farm work.

  13. Morning, all Y’all.
    Cloudy & a chilly wind. Just about to have fried breakfast, then resume farm work.

  16. Good Moaning.
    ANOTHER Bank Holiday. And with good weather.
    It’s a sign …. I’m not sure of what …. but – mark my words – no good will come of it ….. (mutter, chunter, grizzle ……………………)

    2. Look on the bright side, Annie. (Good morning, btw.) At least it will give you a chance to finish your fence painting. Lol.

        1. All done and dusted – part from 3 panels that are behind shrubs containing nesting birds.

    3. Someone was saying to me in church this morning how we seemed to have more extremes of weather these days. I replied that we always had had; I remembered the drought of 1976. Oh yes, she said, we thought it would never rain and it didn’t until September when it started to drizzle. People have short memories and are drinking the koolade. They need to be reminded.

  17. Ukraine’s Counter-Offensive Sputters As Russian Jets Decimate Zelensky’s Troops. 28 May 2023.

    Ukraine’s much-hyped counteroffensive appears to be sputtering, if not already dead, under relentless Russian pounding of Ukrainian weapons and ammunition stockpiles; and troop staging points.

    This article is from the Eurasian Times by a former Indian Jaguar pilot and analyst. Its difference to the anodyne reports in the West’s MSM is quite startling. I’m sceptical about all the reporting on the battlefield but this seems to carry with it its own credibility rating in the level of detail. One is left with the impression that he’s getting reports directly from a Russian source. Well worth a read to those interested.

    https://eurasiantimes.com/storm-shadow-disappoints-ukraines-counter-offensive-sputters/

    1. We keep getting these ‘Russia is being defeated’ Ukraine is winning! when all that’s happening is people are dying for a war no one really wants.

      The Crimea is ethnically Russia. It wants to be Russian. Why this conflict continues to be stoked rather then brought to an end by adults is beyond me. Scarily, that adult might have to be China, as it is sure isn’t the infantile Biden.

    2. Interesting article! Good find.
      “The Su-24MR is a reconnaissance variant of the Su-24M. The number of Su-24MRs in Ukrainian inventory at the start of the war is speculated to be 10. It’s believed that 4 Su-24MRs have since been lost in the conflict.

      Effectively, Reznikov revealed that Ukraine now has just 6 Storm Shadow launch platforms in service! The revelation wasn’t smart unless it was disinformation. However, a paucity of launch platforms could explain the limited use of Storm Shadow missiles in the run-up to the Ukrainian counteroffensive.

      It was earlier speculated that Ukrainian Su-24M fighter-bombers were upgraded to carry Storm Shadow missiles in Poland starting in November 2022. Yes, six months before the UK officially announced its intent to transfer Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine!

      However, according to retired Deputy Commander of the People’s Militia of the DPR, Eduard Basurin, the aircraft with the tail number 60 did not leave the country for the upgrade to launch Storm Shadow missiles. This means UK military personnel upgraded the aircraft while based in Ukraine.

  18. Good morning all.
    A full 10°C outside with bright sunshine and a cloudy sky.

    I see from the Letters Headline that the intentions of the Archpillock of Cunterbury are becoming obvious.

  19. ‘Morning, Peeps. A lovely start to the day. Currently 13°C and a promise of 20°. Scorchio! Dury calls on Ashdown Forest today, and probably a very busy one with weather like this. I predict at least one (illegal) BBQ, probably some sheep worrying and the inevitable fly-tipping. And the fire risk will climb ever higher until we get some rain…

    A good letter, in my view:

    SIR – Rishi Sunak’s long-promised urgent review of sex education lessons (“I will protect children from extreme gender views”, report, May 21) will not be enough to keep children safe.

    If the Prime Minister and his Government were truly committed to safeguarding in schools, they would agree to a public inquiry. Having the Department for Education marking its own homework will do nothing to combat a deeply worrying capture by ideologues.

    We need a forensic inquiry into the inappropriate materials and ideas that are being fed to schoolchildren, especially by unregistered outside agencies. Adults keen on telling them about violent pornography, kinks and fetishes don’t belong in the classroom.

    Tanya Carter
    Tracy Shaw
    Safe Schools Alliance
    London W1

    The final sentence is, of course, a statement of the bleedin’ obvious, but in some quarters obviously still needs to be repeated…

  22. ‘Morning All

    Bleugh…….

    http://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8be877d604a8e48f0ceaf5ffbb3b03d7b04e1f3d3deaee0b3760a4c4d64b9571.jpg

    Rest of the medley

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7b0be277bae6125de3304f51f26ec3746431c5c49443307cb7ecda945e3eb3fc.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/52c6d1f398d6df9a99cff56661e488709a8b68efee35fa5e6ce34ec9bf23f30c.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e0cbc0e97f238dac75f688e7431626a2a06959531d402a07d6fdfaad16741761.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b7ecf73f0c8ab547aaa6da212f73e4a584972c991e79fb99dc2f8ecc1b66fde2.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b6dbec9326af77c3b50c7b9a47c507aed34997e65b46fa2f63da51713d1e4fa7.jpg

    And off back to bed

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/54ae9a078a72a5955fda68ad9ad544b9044fe0adfecf2aa2839ac01e79c7328f.gif

  23. SIR – The immediate need in this debate is for the Government to install heat pumps in Downing Street, then publish the cost per square metre of floor area. This then needs to be followed up by an analysis of the financial saving compared to gas, and an assessment of noise and the effectiveness of the heating.

    John Knox
    Fenby, East Yorkshire

    Silly idea, Mr Knox – being a government contract it will come in at least double the proper cost and the money will have to be borrowed.

    1. It’s amazing how most of us got called tin foil hat conspiracy theorists a few years back for just mentioning what is now happening in reality.

      1. Q: What’s the difference between a conspiracy theorist and ordinary folk?
        A: about three years.

  27. CofE’s reorganisation shows it is planning to dismantle the proven parish-priest system

    I thought the plan was to dismantle the whole shebang.
    Including the country as well

      1. Welby is an “agenda contributor” member of the World Economic Forum. No man can serve two masters. He’s “actually evil”.

      2. Welby is an “agenda contributor” member of the World Economic Forum. No man can serve two masters. He’s “actually evil”.

      3. My money would be on the last; he was an oil man put in place by Cameron. The only missing bit of his evil CV is if he’d been endorsed by Blair!

    1. Not sure how well it will go down on facebook, but I’ll save it for the appropriate post

  30. SIR – You report (May 21) that the Navy is testing a navigation system that can’t be hacked, which is a risk with GPS.

    When I went to sea 72 years ago we used a system that was safe from hacking – it consisted of a sextant, a chronometer, a set of tables and a compass.

    Maurice Burbidge
    Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex

    …and clear skies! No good without those.

    1. Being in pedantic mood, even with all of Mr Burbidge’s listed tools I find that charts are immensely helpful?

  31. Where’s the buzz?
    SIR – Has anyone noticed a lack of bumblebees this year? Our garden would normally be buzzing by now, but so far we have seen none.

    We did have a very wet December and lots of frosts early this year. Could this be the cause?

    Jen Webb
    Chandler’s Ford, Hampshire

    They are all at Janus Towers, indulging in a feeding frenzy on our elderly laburnum! The buzzing is so loud people walking by are stopping to identify where it is coming from.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/dfa3b7eb670c763b8339e158c3a9935fa2a42e3a1c890c77ea343db06c3eef3d.jpg

    1. We have a few. Also have large white butterflies. I saw three performing an aerial dance passing through the trees yesterday with several more following on.

    2. Can’t see them, Hugh J. Must make a note to pay a visit to SpecSavers. Lol.

    3. Some years ago (pre 2010) I rescued a bumble bee which was attacking a window pane; the bee was covered in mites, varroa or similar. There has to be a correlation between changing patterns of agriculture and human activity, and wildlife across Britain.

      1. We plan hive health inspection this afternoon, followed by installation of extra boxes for honey collection.

    4. ‘Morning, Hugh. We have plenty over here, as well as an increasing number of honey bees.

      The Orange-Tip butterflies (my favourite) have been giving us dazzling displays on their frequent visits to the garden, as have the Brimstones.

    5. We’ve had quite a few bees too. I saw a couple of butterflies also the other day.

  32. Good morning all,

    A little bit of cloud about overhead McPhee Towers this morning. Wind persisting Nor’-East, temperature 14℃ with a forecast of 20℃. a lovely day on the banks of the River Lambourn yesterday with a few trout beguiled by my feathered offerings. Today is for the garden with some plants to put in as well as grass to cut and paths to sweep.

    Yesterday, TCW published the transcript of Lord Frost’s recent speech to the Global Warming Policy Foundation https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/its-not-dark-yet-but-its-getting-there//.

    It’s weak beer. The Great White Hope for the Conservative Party still accepts that we should ‘de-carbonise’ and does nothing, nothing at all, to attack the lies on which the whole climate charade is based.

    1. If Lord Frost genuinely believes that carbon dioxide poses a serious threat to the planet then he will never do anything to restrain the greens’ fanatical ambition to effect the destruction of our livelihoods and way of life.

      But is there any main-stream politician in Britain who openly dares to challenge the nonsense?

      1. I can’t think of one. Not one. I suppose Andrew Bridgen might get around to it but he’s no longer mainstream.

      2. Mark Steyn was one, on GBnews, Richard. But he was “cancelled” and left for the USA where he still fights the good fight despite his dicky ticker.

    2. I thought that when I read it. The acceptance of the carbon theory is everywhere (except, presumably, among people who learnt about photosynthesis and who are interested in gardening).

    2. Thank You BoB, nicked for ar5ebook. Maybe a determination to get banned.

      They quickly disappear.

      1. Morning Bob. It will look a little like that. Watching telly. With no telly!

  35. Good morning, all. Late on parade. Overcast and strong east wind….again.

  36. Ukraine’s chaotic scramble for fresh troops as recruiters go into overdrive. 26 may 2023.

    Kyiv in desperate push to replenish its battle-stricken military ahead of a looming counter-offensive .

    Is this true? Compare it the usual articles about the coming Ukie counteroffensive that is going to sweep the Russian Army off the battlefield and my earlier post. Someone is going to look pretty stupid soon.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/05/27/ukraine-chaotic-scramble-recruit-fresh-troops/

  37. Good morning dear NoTTLers!

    Lovely, sunny and blue sky outside. I have just finished watching the TR-produced and apparently banned over here film (American release) Silenced. It is quite long and I have had to do it in two sittings over a couple of days.

    My, it is an indictment of what is going on – whether one agrees with TR’s politics is not really the point here, IMO he puts a compelling case showing lies, cover-ups and the corruption that is in our country.

    Out of consideration for Geoff and this forum I don’t feel I can put a link to it on here, but it is worth watching.

      1. Yes, it is hard going. But the content is a disgraceful indictment of our politicians, our police, our media and our judiciary.

    1. One evening, loafing on couches at university my chum said ‘That elephant has 5 legs!’

      It took a moment before the penny dropped.

    2. Good morning Alec.

      My caption would be “I can’t read, write or pollute the planet, but I happen to be much stronger and heavier than that log over there.

      Yup, the one that is drifting silently towards us.”

      2. Had that once. Rowing a small partly canvas boat on a lake in Nigeria, heading towards a tree stump when the top got up and swam off…

  39. Good morning all, beautiful morning here , and Moh playing golf again .

    Where is Peddy the Viking .. I want to tell him about my beautiful honey scented yellow buddleia. He recommended that I pruned it hard back, which was done in 2021.. no flowers last year, but this year it looks lovely , little yellow round bobble like flowers , and now the tree looks really healthy .

    We had to remove the white fleshed peach tree , it was clobbered badly before Christmas, and no real sign of budding a few weeks ago . The fruit we had from it were small green firm white fleshed fruit, small but so sweet and delicious.. very sad to lose it . That was grown from a stone from the tree in Moh’s mother’s garden … which she grew from stones she brought back from Adelaide in the ’90s. She managed to grow 3 trees .. the fruit was larger than ours .

    The countryside looks beautiful , clothed in white and pink blossom , and the deep pink candles of the chestnut trees are heavenly.

    No butterflies , no moths , no insects .. no toads , no frogs , no damsel flies , no migrant birds swooping and screaming .. WHY

    1. We didn’t notice any spawn in the pond this year, then suddenly it was full of tadpoles. Some damselflies mating yesterday.
      Some buzzing around the bee hotels on the wall.
      Our swifts are back and sitting on eggs. I think the harder than usual winter and chilly spring delayed things but they are here now.

    2. The damsel flies are all in Cheshire by the looks of things. The air was thick with them as I walked by the lake – or do I mean dragon flies? Blue bodies, wide wingspan and very fast.

        1. Them’s the ones. They moved too quickly for me to get a shot of them. I did take a photo at Hever Castle before lockdown, but I lost all those photos when my drive died.

  40. I think the Idiot King should spend the winters in an unheated shed in one of his gardens in the UK so that he feels what it is like to be unable to afford to keep warm because of green tyrannies.

    Remember King Lear, Shakespeare’s mad king, who went out into the storm and ranted and raved? In between his horrible outbursts he had a moment of self-awareness when he tries to rip the clothes that are keeping him warm off his back and sees that he has not experienced the hardships of his subjects and has not paid enough attention to the matter.

    “Poor naked wretches, whereso’er you are,
    That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm,
    How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides,
    Your loop’d and window’d raggedness, defend you
    From seasons such as these? O, I have ta’en
    Too little care of this! Take physic, pomp;
    Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel,
    That thou mayst shake the superflux to them,
    And show the heavens more just.”

    The Idiot King lacks mad King Lear’s wisdom and has far too much of the ‘superflux’ and far too little concept of the effects his lunatic greenery will have on the poor wretched people.

    1. He knows perfectly well what he is doing. It will be good enough for the peasants.

  41. Early doors birdie three today

    Wordle 708 3/6

    ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜
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    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Par Four today.

      Wordle 708 4/6
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      🟩🟩🟩⬜⬜
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    2. Comment not needed.

      Wordle 708 6/6

      ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜
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    3. Ah, here’s the Wordlers.
      Par here.
      Wordle 708 4/6

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

      1. I certainly will or I’ll be 106+ and I don’t want to reach those doddering heights.

  43. Help please?

    A recent edition of NOTTL featured a very funny cartoon of “Jake the peg” pallbearers at Rolf Harris’ funeral, I was sure that I had saved it, but it’s nowhere to be found.

    Can I request a repost or a message showing it please?

    Vince

    2. That Ulrika Blondisson has been complaining that Rolf’s hands allegedly inspected her valleys.

      Cheer up old lady, soon your admirers will be looking at pastures new.

  44. ‘Scuse my ignorance , but could this be the reason our roads are in a terrible condition

    Sir Keir Starmer will announce plans to block all new North Sea oil and gas developments and limit borrowing to green investment only as part of a radical blueprint to make Britain a “clean energy superpower”.

    The Labour leader is expected to set out his net zero energy policy when he launches his latest “national mission” in Scotland next month. It will include a pledge to ban all new North Sea oil and gas licences, signalling a seismic shift in decades of UK energy policy.

    It will be one of Starmer’s five key pledges to the electorate and opens up a clear dividing line with the Conservative Party over a critical issue facing the UK as next year’s general election approaches. Rishi Sunak has backed further oil and gas exploration in the country’s energy security strategy.

    Starmer will also announce that a Labour government would only borrow to invest in green enterprises, another dramatic departure from policies enacted by successive UK governments. The Labour source added: “We’ll set out our fiscal plans in full at the election, showing how we will invest in jobs and industries of the future while meeting our fiscal rules.”

    The party expects the plan to create up to half a million jobs in the renewables industry, including at least 50,000 in Scotland. The move is expected to offset developments in the dwindling North Sea oil and gas fields that directly employ more than 20,000 workers and provide an estimated further 200,000 jobs onshore.

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/starmer-plans-to-block-all-new-north-sea-oil-and-gas-developments-lqr2tc66k

    As petroleum production increased, the by-product bitumen became available in greater quantities and largely supplanted coal tar. The macadam construction process quickly became obsolete because of the onerous and impractical manual labour required. The somewhat similar tar and chip method, also known as (bituminous) surface treatment (BST) or “chip-seal”, remains popular

    Tar is a dark brown or black viscous liquid of hydrocarbons and free carbon, obtained from a wide variety of organic materials through destructive distillation. Tar can be produced from coal, wood, petroleum, or peat.[1]

    Mineral products resembling tar can be produced from fossil hydrocarbons, such as petroleum. Coal tar is produced from coal as a byproduct of coke production.

      1. 372700+ up ticks,

        Afternoon WS,

        Any net zero politico’s are suffering from divine wind, the kamikaze campaign.

    3. 372700 + up ticks,

      Afternoon TB.

      Nothing yet on lifting the stigma tag on paedophilia in view of making it a national hobby then, probably saving that for nearer the general Election.

    4. The only possible redeeming aspect of this move is that every other western country is adopting the same suicidal policies to kill industry and the standard of living.

      Well except the far eastern countries that is. The Chinese must be having a laugh.

  45. That’s the wood out the front of the carport shifted and stacked. Stack now half refilled so having a mug of tea and then getting the electric chainsaw out to do an hour’s or so of log cutting.

    1. I am sure you must have changed the shape and topography of Derbyshire by now;-)

  46. I am interested in the growth of artificial Intelligence.

    It occurred to me last night that the software engineers will have to design for the different categories of user, which in itself will be fraught with risk for management.
    Put simply, women and men communicate differently, and ChatGPT will need to develop a profile for each user.

          1. Nor do I. Don’t twit, facebook or instagram. I email and phone. Someone wants to talk they can email or phone me.

  47. I am interested in the growth of artificial Intelligence.

    It occurred to me last night that the software engineers will have to design for the different categories of user, which in itself will be fraught with risk for management.
    Put simply, women and men communicate differently, and ChatGPT will need to develop a profile for each user.

  49. It’s funny old weather we are having this year, you get a sunny day which is quite pleasant in full sun buts it’s still chilly indoors with the windows open and in the shade.

    No humidity I suppose

  51. Lots of sawing done, but paused because the chainsaw needs sharpening.

      2. What did you do to it, corimm? Mine is steadfastly refusing to produce any flowers, although there’s plenty of foliage.

          1. Thanks. I saw an amazing wisteria when I was walking Kadi this morning and complimented the woman on it; she said she’d had to really cut it back this year, so that’s obviously where I’ve been going wrong.

      3. Ours flowers annually but this year it has been exceptionally ploliferous – hence I thought it deserved being recorded.

    1. It’s already ugly. A strong global force should have stepped in and backed both sides off. Instead, the oaf Sunak, desperate to be seen as a tough leader made everything worse.

      1. Sunak is a WEF stooge placement. Sunak also happens to have financial links with Moderna and his wife’s father is invested in the vaccine scam.

        Sunak is an evil little man. The weapons sent by Sunak to Ukraine will prove useless and serve only to cause Russia to distance us.

        Ukraine is corrupt and the Zelensky regime additionally incompetent. Faced with a highly professional Russian Army, Air Force and Navy the Ukrainians are exposed as very dangerous amateurs.

        As with most of the conflicts around the world this latest in Ukraine is organised by US neo-cons. Those presently pushing the war are retreads from the Clinton and Obama administrations and thoroughly wicked and evil morons.

        1. Victoria Nuland (“Under Secretary for Political Affairs”) is the key player in stirring up conflict yet how many of the “I stand with Ukraine” idiots even know she exists?

    1. I was at Twickenham yesterday watching the match. These idiots were soundly booed, and when one of them was brought to the ground by stewards, the booing turned to cheering. How these morons can think that their actions will persuade anyone to have sympathy with their cause is beyond me.

      1. I don’t think they give a stuff. It’s not about their grand cause, it’s about them. Spoiled, Left wing, lazy entitled wasters demanding other people do what they say.

          1. If plod did their job they’d stop. However, as with so many other things, everything is back to front.

        2. The Ashes are on this year. Expect more of the same from these cretins at some of the matches.

          1. They might get away with it at oh-so-polite Lord’s and The Oval. They’ll be pushing their luck at Brum, Leeds and Manchester…

      2. If only we could recreate The Den, Millwall, c1970 and persuade the little innocents to try it on there…

      3. I think they are beyond converting anyone – they are far, far down a rabbit hole of their own making, where they alone are saving the planet.
        They will happily see us killed or put into concentration camps to further this agenda – they are that brainwashed.

    2. One of the idiots was a GP, who was waffling about “they are keeping us addicted to fossil fuels even they know it’s killing us. I am not prepared to let them get away with mass murder“. How someone who is so obviously an intellectual pygmy and scientifically illiterate to boot ever managed to qualify as a doctor is worrying – I’m just glad he’s not my GP!

  55. And in other news. It is our custom, after supper, for each of us to have a small bowl of chopped apple and dried fruit.

    Last night, we used the very last two apples of the 2022 crop.

    I thought you’d all like to know.

        1. I meant the ones that lasted this long?

          My Bramleys are usually finished by Christmas – too many of them have rotted. I was planning to bottle stewed apple this year, but as it happens, the tree has decided to have a rest, and we have hardly any apples.

          1. No. Eat raw. I follow yer French who make no distinction between “eaters” and “cookers”…!

    3. Stop paying them welfare and they’ll go. If they don’t, they’ve got to be got rid of.

      This sewage complain about slavery and demand ‘de wights’ but they just prove they should be collared and chained. They’re revolting. Labour’s children.

  59. Harvey Evans loved bikes and motorcycles. At 15 he was already an experienced rider, having gone off-road up the mountains with his father every week since he was three.

    His family indulged his interest with an electric motorcycle as an early 16th birthday present and last Monday he and his friend Kyrees Sullivan, 16, were speeding around their Cardiff housing estate on it.

    At one point, with a police van following them, they appear to have reached 28mph. Moments later they crashed. Both died. Their deaths raise serious questions about the safety of the powerful electric motorbikes and mopeds being bought and used by young people around the country, in some cases, for criminal purposes.

    “There is a trend now, no different to 15 years ago, when everybody on the estates had a petrol-powered pit-bike,” said Jamie Masterman, director of Urban Moto, an electric moped retailer with Ministry of Defence contracts to supply Britain’s special forces with the vehicles.

    “Thieves and criminals are choosing electric mopeds for the same reason special forces use them — they’re lightweight, make no noise, and can accelerate quickly.”

    Industry experts examining CCTV footage taken minutes before the crash say the bike the boys were riding looks similar to a Sur-Ron electric motorcycle moped, costing £4,495. Weighing just 51kg, they have a top speed of 30mph, although they can be modified for off-road use. The model and whether the rider had the correct licence for on-road riding forms part of a South Wales Police investigation.

    On-the-road riders of electric mopeds must be 16 or older, with a provisional moped licence and Compulsory Basic Training certificate (CBT).

    Harvey and Kyrees were not wearing helmets at the time of the crash. It was not clear which of the boys was driving.

    “Sadly it was only a matter of time before something like this happened,” said Canon Jan Gould, who has led the Church of Resurrection in Ely for 17 years. “There are just so many of these boys whizzing around the estate on these electric machines now. It was literally an accident waiting to happen.”

    In recent years, police forces in the UK and Ireland have been warning about such bikes being used by criminal gangs to transport drugs quickly to customers. London has been blighted by masked robbers on e-mopeds and motorbikes.

    The Met’s Operation Venice was set up specifically to tackle “motorcycle- enabled crime”, targeting robbery hotspots in central, south and west London, with 180 victims attacked each week. The team is authorised to use “tactical contact” to bump suspects off mopeds or e-bikes, in a game of cat and mouse across the capital.

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/electric-motorbikes-literally-an-accident-waiting-to-happen-6c3fr3l0b

    And their community rioted and trashed everything ..

    2. His parents bought it as a birthday present,next year they were going to buy him insurance and a helmet…………….

    3. And they will be setting up a Go Fund Me page for the funeral expenses no doubt. Who paid for the bike?

    4. Do the parents have over £4,000 spare cash for every child’s birthday present?

        1. Probably not. Ill-gotten gains?
          Edit: I meant the bike was probably not stolen.

    5. There’s some controversy over the reporting of this incident on a video shown by Sky News and the BBC.
      Watch when the police van suddenly appears in the video shown by the BBC. On the Sky version the police van appears quite some time and hence distance behind the bikers. The van turns left but the bikers went straight on.

      https://twitter.com/LozzaFox/status/1662448579842134016

      1. Interesting… wonder why the BBC felt the need to trim time out of the clip, giving the impression that the police were chasing the two lads on the scooter. Were they trying to “adjust” the story?

  60. Harvey Evans loved bikes and motorcycles. At 15 he was already an experienced rider, having gone off-road up the mountains with his father every week since he was three.

    His family indulged his interest with an electric motorcycle as an early 16th birthday present and last Monday he and his friend Kyrees Sullivan, 16, were speeding around their Cardiff housing estate on it.

    At one point, with a police van following them, they appear to have reached 28mph. Moments later they crashed. Both died. Their deaths raise serious questions about the safety of the powerful electric motorbikes and mopeds being bought and used by young people around the country, in some cases, for criminal purposes.

    “There is a trend now, no different to 15 years ago, when everybody on the estates had a petrol-powered pit-bike,” said Jamie Masterman, director of Urban Moto, an electric moped retailer with Ministry of Defence contracts to supply Britain’s special forces with the vehicles.

    “Thieves and criminals are choosing electric mopeds for the same reason special forces use them — they’re lightweight, make no noise, and can accelerate quickly.”

    Industry experts examining CCTV footage taken minutes before the crash say the bike the boys were riding looks similar to a Sur-Ron electric motorcycle moped, costing £4,495. Weighing just 51kg, they have a top speed of 30mph, although they can be modified for off-road use. The model and whether the rider had the correct licence for on-road riding forms part of a South Wales Police investigation.

    On-the-road riders of electric mopeds must be 16 or older, with a provisional moped licence and Compulsory Basic Training certificate (CBT).

    Harvey and Kyrees were not wearing helmets at the time of the crash. It was not clear which of the boys was driving.

    “Sadly it was only a matter of time before something like this happened,” said Canon Jan Gould, who has led the Church of Resurrection in Ely for 17 years. “There are just so many of these boys whizzing around the estate on these electric machines now. It was literally an accident waiting to happen.”

    In recent years, police forces in the UK and Ireland have been warning about such bikes being used by criminal gangs to transport drugs quickly to customers. London has been blighted by masked robbers on e-mopeds and motorbikes.

    The Met’s Operation Venice was set up specifically to tackle “motorcycle- enabled crime”, targeting robbery hotspots in central, south and west London, with 180 victims attacked each week. The team is authorised to use “tactical contact” to bump suspects off mopeds or e-bikes, in a game of cat and mouse across the capital.

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/electric-motorbikes-literally-an-accident-waiting-to-happen-6c3fr3l0b

    And their community rioted and trashed everything ..

  61. Evening, all. The CofE certainlly seems to be attempting to dismantle the church I used to attend by backing the rector against the congregation. Thankfully, she’s away this evening in Cambridge (I’m tempted to say their loss is our gain!) so many of us in the Diaspora will be going back for evensong. Amazingly, considering she keeps complaining she doesn’t get any time off, she’ll be away again in a fortnight, so guess where I’ll be worshipping for that Sunday. Numbers have dropped drastically and takings are way down. Strange that the diocese doesn’t seem worried at the loss of income and support.

    1. Evening, Conwy.

      “They” want to close the church. Simple. Deter the congregation; reduce the services. Income severely reduced. Even fewer come – “not viable”. Close.

      You read it here first.

      1. The church where I grew up and was married first time round was closed last year. My elder son was baptised there and my mother’s funeral service. Her ashes are interred in my grandmother’s grave. I stopped going to church years ago.

          1. I went to the Cof E church school – that closed many years ago now. We used to go to the church quite often for services or lessons as it was just a short walk from the school. Mr Kell was the vicar then. Later, the vicar was Mr Beresford Davies, who was the one who officiated at my wedding, and the christening of my son. He used to come and visit Mum sometimes – he was too poorly by the time of her funeral so that was taken by Mr O’Brien, who also officiated at the interment of her ashes. I was sorry to hear of the closure of the church – it had been an important part of my life.

          3. Slowly but surely one’s sense of belonging, one’s past, is erased. Whether deliberately or through stupidity, I don’t know.

          4. Slowly but surely one’s sense of belonging, one’s past, is erased. Whether deliberately or through stupidity, I don’t know.

      2. That did cross my mind when the Archdeacon suggested to us at the PCC meeting that we could drastically reduce our parish share (because the rectorette had alienated so many that they had cancelled their standing orders).

    2. Evening, Conwy.

      “They” want to close the church. Simple. Deter the congregation; reduce the services. Income severely reduced. Even fewer come – “not viable”. Close.

      You read it here first.

    3. It’s difficult, Conners. I’m Director of Music for a rural parish of four churches. Two have choirs and pipe organs. Choir practice now takes place in one church. Since I’m no longer Verger at the other one, I don’t have a key. And I don’t live dacross the road any more.

      Average attendance at choir practice,is less than three. For two churches. Sometimes less than one. Which makes the £30 taxi fare somewhat annoying.

      Our Rector was wittering on about Revival this morning, today being Pentecost.

      Then I look at the remaining congregation, post-Covid.

      Rural parishes are dying. Bloody Welby either agrees with this, or he doesn’t care…

      2. My view is that it’s deliberate. We had a sermon about making the most of our talents, whatever they may be. We also ended up with lighted candles to take the light of Christ into the world. I was not quite cynical enough to remark that we’d all have to rely on candles if the government got its way!

          1. I thought I’d pushed my luck already with pointing out the great drought of 1976 🙂

      3. Both, I suspect. I am not a church goer but I would hate to see these wonderful buildings closed or turned into something else.

  62. I’m really not into Wendyball. but I’ve spent the last couple of hours watching Carlisle United at Wem-ber-ley.
    In 66 years, I’ve attended their matches four times – they never won in my presence.
    But all credit to Paul Simpson and the lads…

  63. Having spent rather more time than I would like unsuccessfully avoiding traffic jams, this forgotten gem saved my sanity. Possibly other drivers wondered why a mad woman was singing and laughing as we shuffled forward round the latest futile effort to repair potholes/gas mains/faulty traffic lights.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJBq7HY46oI

      1. The old joke used to be “a vase of flowers” but that no longer works with modern TVs. 🙂

      1. True statement of the year. Although there are 4 episodes of ‘Allo ‘Allo on tonight. We’ll watch a couple.

        1. We got ourselves a Google Chromecast dongle for the telly, and watch the likes of Foyle’s War from YouTube. Or a cooking programme featuring Uncle Roger taking the pee out of Jamie Oliver. Or railway modelling. Or whatever we want, really. So rarely watch broadcast TV these days.

  65. A gardener in Norfolk has been told he faces an investigation over his lawnmower after receiving noise complaints from his neighbours.

    Malcolm Starr, 73, was told by council officials that they are planning to visit his property in the village of Holme-next-the-Sea, near Hunstanton, to monitor the machine with sound-recording equipment following the complaints.

    They warned him that if they consider the noise to be a “nuisance”, he could be served with a noise abatement order, or even find himself in court.

    Mr Starr says he does not know who has grassed him up to West Norfolk council, but that whoever did should “get a life”.

    But he has been an outspoken figure in his village, where the high proportion of second homes has been a source of controversy.

    He and his wife Claudia, who rent out a string of holiday lets in the area, were last year threatened with legal action by the same council after it received a complaint over a sign they had put up to promote their business without getting official permission.

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/electric-motorbikes-literally-an-accident-waiting-to-happen-6c3fr3l0b

    Suffolk Punch and Mountfield in this house hold . A couple of the neighbours have ride ons.

    Also the hedges will need doing next month .. not a whirry sounding one , more a heavy duty !
    We don’t use strimmers on the edges just long edging shears .

    1. I suspect there is more to Mr Starr and this story than we have been told….

          1. It must be wonderful to be so wealthy that you can hire people to make noise for you!

  66. That’s me gone – for this dreary, cold inhospitable day. The sun shone once or twice, but the bitter easterly wind made the outside temp of 14ºC feel like just above freezing. Stove going. Cats show no inclination to go out – they can spot a miserable day when they see it… And to think it is June in a few days… {:¬((

    Anyway, have a spiffing evening. For any of you who are interested and were unable to travel to The Netherlands to see “THE” Vermeer exhibition (and who missed the excellent film shown in select cinemas) there is a prog on Tuesday on BBC4 about it. We have set the recorder. It’ll be a cracking good show.

    A demain

      1. Been gorgeous here today again! And looks set for the whole week. Sun and heat in England- the end of the world must be nigh ;-))

        1. Been mainly cloudy here most of the day – and an annoying wind. Didn’t feel much like gardening today.

          1. We have wind too. Delayed the opeining and checking of the beehives.
            TBH, it’s pigging cold!

          3. The hives are buried in snow – excellent insulation, and the wee buggers are smart at generating heat by buzzing violently when blocked in.
            We also provide sugar for them, and they take that down into the hive and store it.
            Nature is really clever!

        2. Promised us a sweaty weekend – nothing. Freezing my butt off. Now the hot weather has been shortened from a long weekend to Wednesday… and 30C to 25C.
          Looking for flights to Bahrain for summer, just to warm my bones.

          1. I met a nice lady from Bahrain on a bus yesterday afternoon. She complained about the warm sunny weather in London. She said, “We get enough of this at home. I come to England because I like cloudy and damp”! She’s here for a week and had been buying up Selfridges 😀.

          2. Find out when she’s going home- because it will rain as as soon as she leaves!

    2. Global warming seems to involve me freezing my arse off pretty well all the time. Just redonned a sweater – and it’s midsummer in 3 weeks! The daffs are barely in bud, the apple blossom will be out during the week, it’s all so delayed. It’s barely rained, too.
      We’re heading for a lack of food, due to stupid politicians and cold weather.

      1. Failed harvests and food shortages lead to unrest. Add in hot weather and we could be sitting on a powder keg.

        1. Wait till they ban fertilisers here and try to ban farmers like they did in Holland.

    3. Very warm here Bill.

      No sign of any swallows , housemartins , swifts , butterflies etc .. just a blue sky with vapour trails .

    4. We’ve had a brilliant day. In fact, the wind – when it arrived – was a blessing as I could get on with creating a garden table outside without being smitten with heat stroke..
      Freebie gate leg table top from a few doors down for the top and an old Singer treadle machine base for the legs. And we still have the gate legs themselves for a new stand for a brass tiffin table top that we’ve had since forever.
      Give me freebies and something that’s been hanging about for yonks plus sand paper and paint, and I’m like a pig in straw.

      1. What’s a “tiffin table top”, Anne? I suspect Mother might have had one of those.

          1. Yes, but what’s special about a tiffin top that gives it it’s name?

          4. I don’t have a choice; I don’t have a butler’s tray (or a butler, for that matter – although I do know a chap who used to be a butler).

        2. A tiffin table was a large brass tray balanced on carved legs.
          The legs were often pretty spindly and collapsed. During out youth, we bought one from a second hand shop. The legs disintegrated shortly afterwards and the tray became a large brass object sometimes used as a fire screen.
          With bit of perseverance, we may be able to resurrect it with the spare barley sugar oak wood legs that I have left from demolishing the freebie gate leg table.

          1. Get a couple of old fashioned trestles and balance it on those.
            Not pretty, but certainly practical.
            You can use the trestles to balance the paste board next time you wallpaper!

          2. I have one of those (inherited from a friend of my mother’s). It’s still going on its original legs, but they were screwed together (originally they would have folded up) to stabilise them.

          3. I suspected something like that.
            Mother has a large brass-top table with 8 legs that folded together.
            I hope it gets delivered whole in a couple of weeks.
            Thanks for giving it a name!

  67. The Tories are proposing food caps to control the price of food.

    A price caused by energy price rigging. I cannot understand if thy’re malignant, stupid or just plain mendacious. I understand they’re desperate to point at someone else to blame for their incompetence – and this works, as far too many people are plain thick, but this is insanity. This communist, planned economy attitude does not work.

    It’salready caused shortages, the next is famine. Then I’m going to kill them all. Personally. This insanity has got to stop. The state has got to be stopped and the stupidity off green unravelled and pure, plain markets restored and energy made abundant, not rationed. Anythng else is going to end in slaughter.

      1. Stupid people aren’t malignant, they’re just stupid.

        I am simply running out of energy to be frustrated. The state has caused this mess. It has forced inflation. The taxes and market rigging energy policy enforced by this government (same one for 25 miserable years) has got to be stopped, permanently. Government must be put through a wood chipper.

        They’re now dangerous. Sunak is frightened and scared people will realise that this mess IS the fault of the state and specifically his taxes and the demented net zero insanity. They’ve got to go – now. Shut the damned thing down.

        1. The inflation was caused by Sunak while he was Chancellor – the furlough payments were made by ramping up QE – funny money. He and the BoE are to blame.

          1. He broke the back, yes. However since Brown we’ve been borrowing a billion and a half more than is raised every day. Osborne printed money throughout his tenure, Brown suppressed interest rates for a decde to borrow 12 trillion. We’re over 18 trillion in debt as a country. Sunak just did the final damage.

            The sad thing – beyond rage, anger, fear – is that people still look to big fat state for help. Nationalising energy (when they practically already have – that’s why energy is so expensive), nationalising food, thinking super markets are ‘profiteering’. Hell, the state keeps using ‘unearned income’ to refer to share dividends or capital gains and the like. It’s horrific how thick people are and how willing the state is to abuse them.

            They have got to go. Now.

          2. Sunak advocates for a CBDC. He wants total control over what we spend, where we spend it and what we spend it on.

            The evil little shit has said as much. Is nobody listening?

      1. It joke from Uncle Roger on YouTube.
        It works better with a Chinese accent. Don’t know how to type that way…

  69. 372700+ up ticks,

    May one ask,

    How can this be right, NOT that he should have been denied the drug but in financing a war that is none of our doing and also financing what can in many respects be seen as a pharmaceutical / political life taking SCAM.

    Dt,
    Lockerbie bomber lived three more years helped by cancer drug denied to NHS patients
    Oncologist says al-Megrahi treated with abiraterone, probably imported from US, as drug was not then available from health service

    1. I was never convinced that he was guilty.
      I think he took one for the team so his family was set up for life.
      It was the evidence from Maltese haberdasher who was apparently so short of custom that he could remember a pair of basic striped pyjamas being bought from his shop, that made me question the whole ‘legal’ process.

    1. And the net figure is a con. The gross number of welfare gimmegrunts incoming minus the number of working people who left the country in the same period.

    2. Yes, but they then bring their families with them, easily tripling that number.

      I forget the stats but from memory – that’s 70 million litres of water, a Hinkey point, a hospital, 2 police stations, 2 firestations, 6 primary schools, 2 high schools, a university, about a dozen doctors surgeries, sewage farms, roads, tips…

      It goes on and on and on. Thousands of acres used up and 6 times that amount arrived this year.

      They’ve got to go. All of them. Now. If one is left here then they breed, horrifically. Get rid of them. Put them on a tanker and leave them there. If Lefty lawyers complain, then they can join their clients.

      1. Further, Trudeau just announced a change to immigration rules to increase the number of family reunions.

        More grannies on benefits is surely going to help increase per capita GDP.

  73. Purchased some English Asparagus for tea earlier. The young girl at the checkout said:”They are always coming off”. I replied “Well they are reputed to be an aphrodisiac!”
    It was only then I realised that she was referring to the price tag that had got separated from the bunch….

  74. That was very lucky.

    We went up to a “night market” for food, drink, live music, fireworks etc etc.
    We then discovered that they did not take cash at any of the stalls and one had to buy lots of vouchers from a central till and then queue separately for food, drink, and the various courses.
    We decided we couldn’t be bothered with the hassle.

    We returned home and as we left the general area the clouds opened, torrential rain, gale-force gusts and a 10 degree drop in temperature almost instantaneously.
    .
    I feel very sorry for the organisers, the place was absolutely heaving with people and there is nowhere near enough shelter for even a tenth of the attendance. I have no idea how or if they will handle refunds on the vouchers.

      1. It is for the organisers.
        It’s an all day event and I hope they made enough by 7pm to cover all the costs.
        For these sorts of things nearly the whole commune gets involved, it’s all voluntary and generally they are very good fun.

        This is the first time we’ve been to one where cash did not seem to be accepted anywhere.

        1. I’m not in France, but – post Covid – the collection plate at weddings and funerals was empty. People simply don’t carry cash any longer.

          BT offered to survey one of our churches, with a view to installing broadband. The survey would only cost £300.00…

          Our churches still happily take cash. But three out of four now accept card payments. We use 4G internet, and it works. Bugger BT. The fourth church will follow, soon.

          1. All these tiny adjustments to the way we live are accumulating, and accumulating, and ALL, but all of them diminish our way of life.
            Conspiracy? Pass me a tinfoil hat…

          3. There are tapping machines dotted around in church. Someone complained at the APCM that stewardship giving is down but it turns out that online payments have risen by a lot more than stewardship has fallen and can still be gift aided.

          4. We found that by far the most money in the good box came from visitors midweek and Saturdays!

          5. There was a dog charity outside Morrisons last Thursday. Looked decent so made sure I had a couple of fivers in my wallet after shopping as I left. Got out the cash as I pushed my loaded trolley. Oh no, they wanted bank details and a monthly contribution. I said no chance, and put the cash away and wheeled me trolley off.

          6. There was some cancer charity asking for money outside the supermarket the other week. Would I like to donate? No, I said, I’ve already got cancer- want to donate to me? No response.

          7. The only charity I give to now is Alzheimers Scotland – I’ve sold 2 of my keyboards and given the proceeds of over £1500 to them last week, I’ve still got some others to sell and they’ll get that money too

          9. Our local radio station is having a fund raising effort at the moment. We wandered into the station last night and they were prepared to take any deform of money – cash, credit card, debit, cheque, e-transfer or IOU.

            There again, they are a small group without any expensive directors or managers on staff. He’ll, they even let me broadcast – once.

          10. I’ve been slowly withdrawing cash from my account and have now accumulated £1500.00 – securely hidden, I might add – as my buffer against CBDC.

          11. If you tell us where it is, we will do our best to divert the currency policevwhen they come calling.

    2. Annoying for the organisers, stallholders and customers. Why not just let stallholders and customers decide if they want to use cash or other means of payment?

      1. I’m not sure why it was done that way.
        I suspect that they were trying to keep track centrally and worried that some people might be creaming off.
        For this time of year it’s a big event around here.
        I think that for most of such events during the summer the stallholders pay a fee and then take what profit they can, but this one seems to be entirely in the commune.

  75. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/66b57e1ad171e41628494924eff5a5a979dee3ae9d6f9479e8035461b7350b73.jpg Apropos nothing, yesterday I was sorting through a box of memorabilia (i.e. crap) and I came across a mint-condition (still in its original packaging) £1 coin that I acquired as a result of a Ty-Phoo tea promotion back in 1983.

    I checked online to see what it might be worth at today’s prices and I discovered the following:

    1. It is worthless at face value since it is no longer legal tender (replaced by the new 12-edged coin).
    2. 1983 had the highest ever issue of £1 coins, 443,000,000 were minted that year alone.

    I might find some mug on eBay willing to give me a quid for it; otherwise it might make a nice trinket.

          4. I spent a whole week-end in London on just a fiver. The ‘Forces Return’ from Kings Lynn was 24/6.

          5. Forces Returns were scrubbed in 1970 when the “Military Salary” was brought in. We got an extra leave warrant per year in compensation.
            The next year the tw@s brought out the Student Railcard.

          8. There was a famous Benson & Hedges magazine ad captioned “All you need for a good night out” which showed a fiver, a packet of B & H and (I think) a red carnation.

      2. Deo Grace is spelt wrongly with an ‘e’ instead of an ‘a’

        By the Grace of God in Latin is “Dei gratia”. Often written just as D.G. on coins.

        1. It doesn’t say “Deo Grace”, Tom.

          It says, mainly in initials: DG REG FD [Dei Gratia; Reg (Regina, or Queen); Fid Def (“Fidei Defensor”, or “Defender of the Faith”).]

    2. I know they’re not legal tender but I got one in my change a few days ago and passed it on in the local shop, so there’s still a few about

  76. I recently came across a photo album belonging to my wife’s late cousin. His father was a rear gunner on a Handley Page Halifax bomber during WWII.

    Other effects seem to have disappeared as some woman ‘hands on healer’ obtained Power of Attorney over his affairs during Covid when his cousins were unable to visit him in a hospice in Bridlington. The bitch sold his house and pocketed the cash from the sale handing just a couple of small boxes of his personal effects to his cousins.

    A few of the photos from Yorkshire Air Museum where one of the aircraft has been reassembled from the parts from other Halifax wrecks. The wings are from the transport version of the Halifax bomber, the Hastings used in the Berlin Airlift.

    We were a fine country now traduced by evil politicians on the make. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/baade3d74a51273fdb2310df9115fb073caeb7ea41b285d55fcdb4f6dd004af2.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b46f8116ff5cb83f7f5d1ddf32ca46bbafabd178443c79bbdbb31d24633298af.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a61436d00fbf1dfde2c947979b4f19206c2fe50b2fb9e957c87cd2f412904840.jpg

  77. Breaking News – The government have announced that they are going to solve the immigration problem and the inability for sick people to see a doctor in one short stroke.

    They are going to get immigration officials to swap jobs with doctors receptionists

    1. If he’s going to try and divorce her in CA then he will be left with nothing. The term ” A Californian Divorce” means just that.

      1. I shouldn’t laugh, because there but for the Grace go most people.
        Apparently he refused to have a pre-nup because he knew they were perfectly matched.

        1. He definitely needs a lawyer or two then.

          Will she be claiming the crown jewels and one of the palaces in her “fair” settlement.

          1. He should hire those well known lawyers, Bill and Killary.
            Her life expectancy would move from decades to days.

          3. She will keep the title and the kids and get as much dosh as she can from Harry and the Royal Family.
            I was initially supportive of the marriage as I thought it might be a good thing. When she found out she couldn’t work her way up the ladder, so to speak, that’s when they scarpered to CA.
            I resent what they have said about this country and, if nothing else, I consider Harry to be a traitor.

          4. A small correction, Ann. When they crossed the pond it was to Canada as they said they hated President Trump and would never live in the USA as long as he was President. But they “changed their minds” and moved to California before Trump “lost” the 2020 election because (I seem to recall) Covid-19 meant that borders would be closed. Can anyone on here correct me?

          5. Yes, I had forgotten that they first went to Canada. To be honest, I try to ignore as much as I can.

          6. A small correction, Ann. When they crossed the pond it was to Canada as they said they hated President Trump and would never live in the USA as long as he was President. But they “changed their minds” and moved to California before Trump “lost” the 2020 election because (I seem to recall) Covid-19 meant that borders would be closed. Can anyone on here correct me?

    2. I’m going to forget I just saw this and not watch it or read anything about it.

    3. Much as I despise H&M, having now listened to that, I have to say that I hope the news “reporters”, sorry gossip mongers, suffer exactly the same type of marital/partner trauma themselves that they appear to be revelling in regarding H&M.

    4. “We previously reported that the Duke of Sussex has been accused of having a private room at a lavish hotel complex in Los Angeles held on stand-by for him to get away from his family.”

      Royal biographer Angela Levin, who has written numerous books about the monarchy, claimed that Meghan was planning to break up with Harry and leave him lonely in America.

      “I think she’s a careful plotter, and my feeling is that Harry is actually doing something that is negative, that’s upsetting, that will make you feel he hasn’t succeeded, that is very lowering.

      “And that Meghan is going the other way and going around in gold and going to perhaps get a big part in a film and having a very good new agent.

      “So she is absolutely separating from him. As you said, she hasn’t been anywhere where he really needed her. He’s got a mental health issue and he needs somebody there to prop him up.

      “Anyone would actually, but she keeps away. So he’s doing all the nasty stuff, and she’s sailing on ahead. And I think that’s the beginning of the end of it for him because she’s planning.

      “In my opinion, here is what she is doing, she was making sure that he’s in a hopeless situation so that she can get the children and he’s completely isolated from his family and friends.”

      The couple put on a public display of affection at a LA Lakers game last month, but Meghan seemed to rebuff her husband’s attempt to give her a smooch when the Kiss Cam spotlighted them. https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/uk-news/prince-harry-faces-slow-separation-30075875

  79. Goodnight and God bless, Gentlefolk. Early to bed to try and break this sleeplessness habit.

    2. I find Midnight news with a small glass of brandy (+water) invariably successful; however, when the news is really boring, I wake up to an unfinished nightcap!

      1. Just missed 1:23 as I gave up and made tea after !;30 but I’ve seen 2:34 and 3:45 is a minute away. I expect I’ll see 4:56 as well. Written at 3:45.

        1. Currently 04:32. ‘Twill soon be o4:56 and I’m still wide awake and eating smoked salmon on brown bread laced with lemon juice, washed down with Whisky and Dry.

    1. Win, lose or show, excuse the Americanism, elections will never again be seen as a fair democratic process.

      1. I thought it was win, place or show; win the race, come second (place) or third (show) – from betting on American horse racing. We would have win or place (each way) in racing or win, lose or draw for other sports.

    2. Has anyone in Downing Street or the White House cried foul yet? Has the pot called the kettle black?

    3. My understanding is that today’s second (run off) election was called because Edrogan’s majority a couple of weeks ago was considered insufficient because his lead was only 2%. Today’s results give him a lead just over 4% which is apparently sufficient. Whatever one thinks of the integrity of the election it is reported that the party which came third a fortnight ago stepped down and asked their supporters to vote for Edrogan. So I don’t consider your sarcasm appropriate, Sos. Anyone can call “foul” without providing evidence.

      1. Ever heard of corruption?

        What makes you think that the leaders of the third party were not “encouraged” to do what they did?

        1. I keep an open mind on that, Sos, but to state categorically that the election was totally fixed without any evidence to back up your view is not, to my mind, definitive.

  82. Chain saw sharpened so the last few logs in front or the carport will be cut, chopped & stacked tomorrow.
    Then it’s shift the saw horse back up the “garden” to cut up sufficient of the logs up there to fill the pantry stack.

    Jobs outstanding:-
    Shift ½ton of concrete ballast
    Dig out for next section of footings for Bob’s Folly

    And that’s me off to bed.
    G’night all.

    1. After reading that, I think I am ready to go to bed also. Need a bit more nerve tonic first.

  83. Good night, chums. This evening I watched an Ingmar Bergman film (SHAME – 1968) and tomorrow night it will be another Bergman film (HOUR OF THE WOLF – 1968). I enjoyed tonight’s film and am looking forward to tomorrow night’s. Sleep well, chums.

  87. Nerve tonic not working all that well… but am heading to bed anyway. God, I hope these NHS oiks get going because I am at the end of my rope. Pain relentless today.
    Sorry for the whinge but it don’t half bloody hurt.
    I wish Y’all good sleep.

  89. Rumours abound about Ginge and Cringe’s divorcing.
    What a glorious feeling of schadenfreude.

    1. Agreed, they deserve to hate each other – both charlatans in their own ways.

  90. Good morrow, Peeps and gentlefolk, Another night of total wakefulness and I’m pissed with it. What do I do? Pot the black and swallow the cue. No chance.

    I shall, as usual, just sleep the day away. It’s a bastard when there is no support for one’s loneliness, Isolation and feelings of being cast adrift.

      1. It’s a helluva plea and you don’t need to follow through, unless you feel you might make a difference.

      3. Have you contacted her lately? You might find she still cares about your welfare.

        1. Drink is a depressant – don’t go down that route. Find something you enjoy. Listen to music, watch a film, read a book.

    1. That’s because we’ve moved to today’s page. You’ll find some replies on your story. Stay with your friends here Tom.

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