Sunday 28 September: Will Gaza’s problems really be solved by putting Tony Blair in charge?

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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628 thoughts on “Sunday 28 September: Will Gaza’s problems really be solved by putting Tony Blair in charge?”

  3. Good morning, chums. And thanks, Geoff, for today's new NoTTLe site. Struggled with Wordle today, so had to turn to Hints and Tips to get a Double Bogey.

    Wordle 1,562 6/6

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    1. Good morning Elsie and all
      Wordle defeated us today – son and self working together couldn't get it in six attempts!

  5. Will Gaza’s problems really be solved by putting Tony Blair in charge?

    It looks like Gaza has been completely destroyed, so what more harm could Blair do?
    I thought Blair's specialty was wrecking functioning nation states.

    1. I do hope Blair is sent to Gaza.
      And that Mossad have his coordinates.
      I doubt he carries a pager; he has plebs to do that for him.

    3. Apocalypse?

      Eyeless in Gaza at the mill with slaves.

      But John Milton reminded us of how Samson brought down the temple of the Philistines about their heads killing both them and himself.

    1. When Osborne raised VAT, we were thinking about buying a couple of recliner chairs.
      I made the purchase a few weeks earlier than planned. Saved us some tax; not a huge amount, but it was the principle.

      1. A while ago the chancellor announced a VAT increase on electrical goods weeks before it came into force. I bought all the stuff I needed (small fridge, vacuum cleaner etc) and saved a lot of tax. The lunatics have no grasp on how ordinary people think.

      1. There's going to be one anyway. If the government did what they need to do to balance the books, there'd be a politicial crisis and very likely riots on the streets.
        Redwood is financially illiterate if he doesn't understand that.

    3. I like Redwood, Johnny, Thatcher always listed to him. He has a daily blog, been subscribed a long time.

  7. Morning All 🙂😊🤗
    Grey grey and more grey outside, only just double figures. Rainy Sunday on the way,
    a reflection on the state of our nation.
    And WFT has anything got to do with Blair ?
    Anything at all…….

      1. One of their palacial 'dwellings' is in Buckinghamshire close to Chequers. He had a 3 mtr high brick wall built around the whole property. And still uses his ex pm rights to 24 hr armed protection.
        Have you seen the 2010 film The Ghost Writer ? It doesn't actually mention their name but he gets his deserved comeuppance in it.
        Pierce Brosnon, Ewen McGregor.

        1. Thanks Eddy. No surprises here. Cherie Blair occasionally working for clients taking action against UK government, or so I read. Always follow the ability to have influence and make money. Not seen the film, Roman Polanski? based on a book, will check them out.

          1. Around 2012-13. We were in Stigiliano not far from Sienna we had just arrived at an HPB Destination. The word was that the evening before the blairs had arrived at reception and were demanding to be allowed to stay overnight. But were turned away. As it is a private bond holders accommodation only.
            The word was they had been staying with the ex Italian president Silvio ‘Burlesque phoney’ and there had been a difference of opinion causing them to leave.

          2. Silvio likely to throw them a party they didn’t want to attend, and didn’t want to talk politics with them/be influenced by them either. Different ends political spectrum. What larks, Eddy 🙂

    1. What was disruptive about that? The school board just used any excuse not to have to listen to her.

  10. Good morning all.
    Damp and overcast after overnight rain, still air and 12½°C on the thermometer. Misty up the valley.

  12. 2,097,000 on the petition now, but “sign-rate” obviously slowing. The usual areas “opting out” (London, Ofbridge, Bristol, Northern Ireland etc).

    The Winston Marshall Show has an interesting interview with Jake Wallis Simpson. Towards the end, Jake goes into Two-Tier’s unconscionable actions over recognising “Palestine” – essentially he wants Israel to lose, and Mr Marshall, whom I admire, calls Starmer a mid-wit, caught up in all of the bluster and propaganda and losing his moral clarity. We (mostly) know this, but it’s lovely to hear someone else say it.

  13. Morning, all Y'all.
    Sunny. Out soon, to collect cats from their holiday accommodation.
    Lovely to wake up in my own bed, drink the coffee I prefer… east, west, home is best!

  14. Someone I know very well did a few hours' work on the black three summers ago. There was no digital ID then. Will this shameless individual find it harder to evade his responsibilities if digital ID is introduced?

    1. It depends if they decree we need a digitally-verified authority to get out of bed. Or to stay in bed.

      Either way, all good reason for Plod to divert from arresting burglars, stabbers or amateur rapists.

      Edit – all paid for from the Police & Crime Commissioner precept on your Council Tax, doubled if you have property you cannot sell.

      1. It's only a matter of time before we need the government's permission to get out of bed if the digital id is imposed.

    2. To be effective against working on the black, all money would have to be tracked – and the only way to do that effectively would be to cancel cash.
      Hmm… where's all this heading?

  15. A letter and BTL Response:-

    Welcome back
    SIR – I was born after the Second World War in what was still a Dutch colony, the Dutch East Indies. My ancestors had sailed around the world many centuries ago and settled there.

    I left when I was younger, but have returned many times to what is now known as Indonesia. Without fail, when I show them my (now) British passport, they spot that my place of birth was on one of their islands and I always get a most generous welcome.

    How childish for present-day activists and leaders to admonish bygone generations for their colonial actions and demand reparations (Letters, September 21).

    Hanneke Coates-Hoorn
    London SW1

    Hanneke Coates-Hoorn's comments regarding her experience in the former Dutch East Indies colonies highlight the way Cultural Marxism's "Critical Theory" has grossly distorted political discourse.
    Everything about those you oppose MUST be subject to continual criticism and done without ANY reference to whatever good may have been done.
    Hence Colonialism MUST be presented as an evil and any positive effects ignored.
    Ditto with Slavery where British efforts to stamp out the foul trade are rarely mentioned.

    1. My family and I were part of colonialism. Parents worked to establish two universities in NIgeria, first in the South then in the North, sponsored by the British government. In fact, Father was P4 in the Northern univeristy. I was along 'cos I was 18 months old at the beginning. Last visit, aged 16. I still miss the place.
      What bastards, eh, were the UK government and my Dad, for working hugely hard to bring Nigeria forward, by educating their own people to be the technical and business leaders of the future, so they didn't need to hire expats to design, build and run plant that could make the country self-sufficient in earning it's own money?

        1. Someone mentioned Mau Mau in a BTL comment and I posted this response:-

          R. Spowart
          1 hr ago
          Reply to Thomas Tank
          Message Actions
          Mention of Mau Mau always prompts me to wonder why detailed reports on the scenes of Mau Mau atrocities by investigating Police Officers have never been disclosed.

          I suspect that if they were it would place the allegations of torture being used against Mau Mau suspects in a VERY different light.

          Again, an example of Cultural Marxist Critical Theory in action.

          2. And my Aunt Vera was there.

            When my mother went to stay with her on her farm near Nairobi she was given a loaded pistol to take with her to her bedroom when she retired for the night!

            My mother was very glad that she did not have to use it.

          3. As Britain had already stated it's intention to withdraw from Africa before the Mau Mau uprising started, it should NOT be considered as part of an "Independence Struggle", but rather a pre-independence Power Grab by one particular tribal faction against the other tribes.

        2. Quite often, the improvements made by the white man were deliberately destroyed by blacks, as they meant that the “wrong” people became better off, and this wasn’t acceptable to the powers-that-be/chief, and other useless people who reckoned that they should be rich as a result of other bugger’s efforts.

      3. My paternal grandfather was a GP in Willand – a small village near Tiverton in Devon. He had eleven children.

        My father was the governor of the Northern Province of the Sudan.

        Uncle Leonard was a farmer in Rhodesia – he and his sons created farms out of wilderness which employed thousands and brought great wealth to the country and its peoiple.

        Uncle Hugh was the pioneer in the study and preservation of African music and dance – he was awarded a doctorate at Capetown University and set up the African Musical Library.

        Aunt Decima and her husbavd were medical doctors and missionaries in Rwanda.

        Aunt Vera and her husband farmed in Kneya.

        Aunt Evelyn was a headmistress in Nigeria.

        Of those who did not make their lives in Africa: Aunt Lilian was a doctor who set up a private maternity home in Salisbury; Uncle John was a GP in Exeter and Uncle Basil was a surgeon GP in Norwich. Aunt Marjorie was a horticulturist and Uncle Geoffrey died in France in 1915 aged 19 in WW1.

  16. If somebody in a high position avoided paying inheritance tax.. the very same tax he implemented that is driving farmers to suicide.. would that be as bad as floating around & vaping in a rubber dinghy outside yr tax free holiday home?

    In a droning sinusy yodel©MG.. Let me make this clear.. I wasn't aware of this, in any case it's within UN international Law of our Land.. the land wot I love.

    Questions for Keir Starmer over field he put in trust
    Seven acres that sold for almost £300,000 were in a legal structure that meant the land was excluded from his parents’ estate

  17. Good Morning!

    Today we move on to the dangers of the 5G network, which Mark Steele claims include serious illness, surveillance, crowd control and even de-population. Serious claims, so read his opinions in The 5G Death Ray Plan and let us know what you think.

    This sinister government's sinister plan to introduce a totalitarian surveillance state by means of digital ID is covered in Digital Dictatorship: Why We Must Reject Digital ID that sets out the lies behind Starmer's claims and outline the catastrophic consequences if he is allowed to get away with it.

    Energy Watch: Over the last 24 hours: Britain's average power requirement was 29.5 GW, sourced from Gas, 29.5%; Solar, 0%: Wind 35.6%; Imports, 16.2%; Biomass, 8.5%; Nuclear 8.5% and Miscellaneous, 1.8%.

    Digital ID, as proposed by our evil government, is a very sinister move towards totalitarian oppression. Please sign the petition opposing it; https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/730194 and ask all your friends, colleagues and family to do so. Over 2,100,000 have.

        1. No worries – I was awake far too long yesterday and feeling a bit spiky today. Once cats are home and more good coffee administered, I might be human… no guarantees, mind!

    4. 5g death ray.

      For a spectrum that, if you put a sheet of paper in front of it blocks the signal. Hell, our 5G network is so sporadic and woolly it's a wonder it works at all.

      2. It can't be that weak – the signal goes through walls and windows.

        I think the theory is that the frequency could do the damage, not the power. There have apparently been experiments with feeding or injecting rats with something (graphene oxide?) and then being able to make them stay in one corner of an area by blasting the rest of it with a particular frequency. I haven't looked into it so I can't say I have an opinion about it. But I did see some research back in the 80s that was to do with psychological effects of EMR at different frequencies – can't remember much about it now.

  20. Courtesy of Wayne Dunlap's X timeline.

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    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/120811d71557dbc12c5ce3349c6fb1723384dc8cc4413aa3287c187ec1986c25.png

    1. As with all flu variants, there are degrees of infection. SARS will kill you, quickly by closing up your lungs in minutes. At the other end mild flu will make your nose run and have you buying soup.

      I do not doubt covid was highly infectious and, for some quite dangerous – but then flu is quite dangerous for some – the very old, the immuno compromised – such as folk like me with asthma.

      However the lock down approach was idiotic, same as the 'oh my goodness! It's coming back!' once lock down ended, which was even to a simpleton like me, obvious what would happen.

      The real virus was the terror and fear spread by the state to make people obey, to keep them frightened to ensure obedience. There was no consistent message of facts and data. We were told what we had to do, not given the information to make up our own minds. Then, of course, the weak minded, stupid, and desperate to be controlled group leapt to obey because they were afraid.

      You always think that your fellow man is a decent, normal sort much like you. Then you realise they're a pathetic, unthinking savage happy to obey orders – regardless of how obscene they are. That was the real terror that came from covid.

      On the jeans thing: the Leftists hate, unthinkingly. They're utterly insane. They've even forgotten what they really want, so obsessed have they become with their fictional, entirely invented enemy so all they have left is hatred. It's sad – but also dangerous and we cannot permit them a say any more. They cannot ever set an agenda politically. The Left must be stopped before their demented, psychopathic misanthropy does any more damage.

  24. Blimey. Even in China, a 35% rake off is considered a bit much.

    Mr Ellison, the world's second richest man, has donated or pledged a staggering £257million for the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change.
    Tech giant Oracle, has a £700million IT deal with four Whitehall departments.
    Mr Ellison's organisations have enjoyed astonishing access to the very top of Government.

    2. Has she been asked what gives her an entitlement to a free house?

      If England is not good enough for her then why does she not go to a Muslim country where the state will doubtless give her and her family lavish accommodation in which to live?

      (And what's the point of wearing Islamic dress when you then put lipstick on your lips and make-up on the rest of your face?)

  26. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/48124ab9057d9e6d7dd817696deea98a38cd1813e0f671289dacd901b9f274ec.png
    The song must go on: saving Britain’s birds.

    SIR – Roger Morgan-Grenville’s article (“Britain’s birds are disappearing: our useless Government is not bringing them back”, Comment, September 26) is a poignant reminder of what’s slipping through our fingers. But if the curlew’s haunting call is fading, the chorus of the UK’s songbirds is perilously close to silence. It is a matter of supreme urgency that we tackle the causes of songbird decline including habitat loss, pesticide use, predation (including from domestic cats), disease, and changes in land use.

    The Government’s wild bird indicators measure the yearly population change in a range of species. Of the farmland specialist songbird species included, 85 per cent show long-term declines since 1970, with nearly a quarter of species seeing their numbers halve (at best). Not one shows a strong increase. Woodland songbirds fare little better: 55 per cent are in decline.

    These aren’t fringe birds. The tree sparrow (down 94 per cent) was once a familiar sight in the countryside, and the willow tit (down 97 per cent) was a quiet presence in damp woodland. The decline of songbirds reflects wider pressures on insects, wild plants, and the ecosystems that support us all. Indeed, they are among the clearest indicators of nature’s health.

    While government agri-environment schemes are helping birds such as the skylark to slowly recover, these schemes are nearing their end. We urgently need cohesive policy, long-term support for farmers, and national commitment to restoring habitats.
    Let’s act before we lose those melodies that once stitched together hedgerows, gardens, and farmland, and the dawn chorus becomes a distant memory.

    Sue Morgan
    CEO Songbird Survival
    Diss, Norfolk.

    The only reason why there are too few songbirds is because there are far, far, FAR too many humans polluting the planet! Humans — by a country league — are the most ridiculous, unintelligent and idiotic species ever to have evolved. They have unilaterally given themselves cretinous "rights" over all other living things. Their imbecilic progress towards making this planet a one-species haven is a measure of their cluelessness about — anything — and a litmus-paper test for their own rapid, soon-to-come annihilation at their own hands. Just what is it about biodiversity they cannot comprehend?

    Governments are busy rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic while all around them falls apart. There were just 2·5 billion people on the planet 74 short years ago when I was born, Now there are 8·25 billion, occupying the same tiny space in the universe. This is more than a tripling within my own lifetime! [Since late 2022, fewer than three years back, another quarter of a billion have already been procreated and added to that incessantly growing number. Most of whom do not have access to sustenance, shelter nor potable water.]

    On a lighter note, tree sparrows Passer montanus are commonplace here in Skåne, being the most populous species in my own garden, outnumbering the house sparrow P. domesticus by ten-to one here.

        1. Getting my act together very slowly. Got by with very little paracetamol yesterday but might need a bit more today. I can have up to 4 grams a day and 2.5 should be enough. It’s still the safest painkiller and if I’m pregnant, the Vatican need to be informed. I venture out a couple of times a day for walking exercise but tire easily. Blood tests on Tuesday and meds review on Friday. Seeing the surgical team again the following Wednesday and begin the cardiac rehab course the day after.

      3. Do you remember Oscar Wilde's story The Happy Prince in which all the swallows fly south except one who stays to help the golden statue of the prince?

        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/858f4b39f528ae0dc112ac09e3d68e136e04bd68f1cccf58622e8eacc4cfe116.png
        High above the city, on a tall column, stood the statue of the Happy Prince. He was gilded all over with thin leaves of fine gold, for eyes he had two bright sapphires, and a large red ruby glowed on his sword-hilt.

        He was very much admired indeed. “He is as beautiful as a weathercock,” remarked one of the Town Councillors who wished to gain a reputation for having artistic tastes; “only not quite so useful,” he added, fearing lest people should think him unpractical, which he really was not.

        “Why can’t you be like the Happy Prince?” asked a sensible mother of her little boy who was crying for the moon. “The Happy Prince never dreams of crying for anything.”

        “I am glad there is some one in the world who is quite happy,” muttered a disappointed man as he gazed at the wonderful statue.

        “He looks just like an angel,” said the Charity Children as they came out of the cathedral in their bright scarlet cloaks and their clean white pinafores.

        “How do you know?” said the Mathematical Master, “you have never seen one.”

        “Ah! but we have, in our dreams,” answered the children; and the Mathematical Master frowned and looked very severe, for he did not approve of children dreaming.

        One night there flew over the city a little Swallow. His friends had gone away to Egypt six weeks before, but he had stayed behind, for he was in love with the most beautiful Reed. He had met her early in the spring as he was flying down the river after a big yellow moth, and had been so attracted by her slender waist that he had stopped to talk to her.

        “Shall I love you?” said the Swallow, who liked to come to the point at once, and the Reed made him a low bow. So he flew round and round her, touching the water with his wings, and making silver ripples. This was his courtship, and it lasted all through the summer.

        “It is a ridiculous attachment,” twittered the other Swallows; “she has no money, and far too many relations”; and indeed the river was quite full of Reeds. Then, when the autumn came they all flew away.

        After they had gone he felt lonely, and began to tire of his lady-love. “She has no conversation,” he said, “and I am afraid that she is a coquette, for she is always flirting with the wind.” And certainly, whenever the wind blew, the Reed made the most graceful curtseys. “I admit that she is domestic,” he continued, “but I love travelling, and my wife, consequently, should love travelling also.”

        “Will you come away with me?” he said finally to her; but the Reed shook her head, she was so attached to her home.

        “You have been trifling with me,” he cried. “I am off to the Pyramids. Good-bye!” and he flew away.

        All day long he flew, and at night-time he arrived at the city. “Where shall I put up?” he said; “I hope the town has made preparations.”

        Then he saw the statue on the tall column.

        “I will put up there,” he cried; “it is a fine position, with plenty of fresh air.” So he alighted just between the feet of the Happy Prince.

        “I have a golden bedroom,” he said softly to himself as he looked round, and he prepared to go to sleep; but just as he was putting his head under his wing a large drop of water fell on him. “What a curious thing!” he cried; “there is not a single cloud in the sky, the stars are quite clear and bright, and yet it is raining. The climate in the north of Europe is really dreadful. The Reed used to like the rain, but that was merely her selfishness.”

        Then another drop fell.

        “What is the use of a statue if it cannot keep the rain off?” he said; “I must look for a good chimney-pot,” and he determined to fly away.

        But before he had opened his wings, a third drop fell, and he looked up, and saw—Ah! what did he see?

        The eyes of the Happy Prince were filled with tears, and tears were running down his golden cheeks. His face was so beautiful in the moonlight that the little Swallow was filled with pity.

        “Who are you?” he said.

        “I am the Happy Prince.”

        “Why are you weeping then?” asked the Swallow; “you have quite drenched me.”

        “When I was alive and had a human heart,” answered the statue, “I did not know what tears were, for I lived in the Palace of Sans-Souci, where sorrow is not allowed to enter. In the daytime I played with my companions in the garden, and in the evening I led the dance in the Great Hall. Round the garden ran a very lofty wall, but I never cared to ask what lay beyond it, everything about me was so beautiful. My courtiers called me the Happy Prince, and happy indeed I was, if pleasure be happiness. So I lived, and so I died. And now that I am dead they have set me up here so high that I can see all the ugliness and all the misery of my city, and though my heart is made of lead yet I cannot chose but weep.”

        “What! is he not solid gold?” said the Swallow to himself. He was too polite to make any personal remarks out loud.

        “Far away,” continued the statue in a low musical voice, “far away in a little street there is a poor house. One of the windows is open, and through it I can see a woman seated at a table. Her face is thin and worn, and she has coarse, red hands, all pricked by the needle, for she is a seamstress. She is embroidering passion-flowers on a satin gown for the loveliest of the Queen’s maids-of-honour to wear at the next Court-ball. In a bed in the corner of the room her little boy is lying ill. He has a fever, and is asking for oranges. His mother has nothing to give him but river water, so he is crying. Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow, will you not bring her the ruby out of my sword-hilt? My feet are fastened to this pedestal and I cannot move.”

        “I am waited for in Egypt,” said the Swallow. “My friends are flying up and down the Nile, and talking to the large lotus-flowers. Soon they will go to sleep in the tomb of the great King. The King is there himself in his painted coffin. He is wrapped in yellow linen, and embalmed with spices. Round his neck is a chain of pale green jade, and his hands are like withered leaves.”

        “Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow,” said the Prince, “will you not stay with me for one night, and be my messenger? The boy is so thirsty, and the mother so sad.”

        “I don’t think I like boys,” answered the Swallow. “Last summer, when I was staying on the river, there were two rude boys, the miller’s sons, who were always throwing stones at me. They never hit me, of course; we swallows fly far too well for that, and besides, I come of a family famous for its agility; but still, it was a mark of disrespect.”

        But the Happy Prince looked so sad that the little Swallow was sorry. “It is very cold here,” he said; “but I will stay with you for one night, and be your messenger.”

        “Thank you, little Swallow,” said the Prince.

        So the Swallow picked out the great ruby from the Prince’s sword, and flew away with it in his beak over the roofs of the town.

        He passed by the cathedral tower, where the white marble angels were sculptured. He passed by the palace and heard the sound of dancing. A beautiful girl came out on the balcony with her lover. “How wonderful the stars are,” he said to her, “and how wonderful is the power of love!”

        “I hope my dress will be ready in time for the State-ball,” she answered; “I have ordered passion-flowers to be embroidered on it; but the seamstresses are so lazy.”

        He passed over the river, and saw the lanterns hanging to the masts of the ships. He passed over the Ghetto, and saw the old Jews bargaining with each other, and weighing out money in copper scales. At last he came to the poor house and looked in. The boy was tossing feverishly on his bed, and the mother had fallen asleep, she was so tired. In he hopped, and laid the great ruby on the table beside the woman’s thimble. Then he flew gently round the bed, fanning the boy’s forehead with his wings. “How cool I feel,” said the boy, “I must be getting better”; and he sank into a delicious slumber.

        Then the Swallow flew back to the Happy Prince, and told him what he had done. “It is curious,” he remarked, “but I feel quite warm now, although it is so cold.”

        “That is because you have done a good action,” said the Prince. And the little Swallow began to think, and then he fell asleep. Thinking always made him sleepy.

        When day broke he flew down to the river and had a bath. “What a remarkable phenomenon,” said the Professor of Ornithology as he was passing over the bridge. “A swallow in winter!” And he wrote a long letter about it to the local newspaper. Every one quoted it, it was full of so many words that they could not understand.

        “To-night I go to Egypt,” said the Swallow, and he was in high spirits at the prospect. He visited all the public monuments, and sat a long time on top of the church steeple. Wherever he went the Sparrows chirruped, and said to each other, “What a distinguished stranger!” so he enjoyed himself very much.

        When the moon rose he flew back to the Happy Prince. “Have you any commissions for Egypt?” he cried; “I am just starting.”

        “Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow,” said the Prince, “will you not stay with me one night longer?”

        “I am waited for in Egypt,” answered the Swallow. “To-morrow my friends will fly up to the Second Cataract. The river-horse couches there among the bulrushes, and on a great granite throne sits the God Memnon. All night long he watches the stars, and when the morning star shines he utters one cry of joy, and then he is silent. At noon the yellow lions come down to the water’s edge to drink. They have eyes like green beryls, and their roar is louder than the roar of the cataract.”

        “Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow,” said the Prince, “far away across the city I see a young man in a garret. He is leaning over a desk covered with papers, and in a tumbler by his side there is a bunch of withered violets. His hair is brown and crisp, and his lips are red as a pomegranate, and he has large and dreamy eyes. He is trying to finish a play for the Director of the Theatre, but he is too cold to write any more. There is no fire in the grate, and hunger has made him faint.”

        “I will wait with you one night longer,” said the Swallow, who really had a good heart. “Shall I take him another ruby?”

        “Alas! I have no ruby now,” said the Prince; “my eyes are all that I have left. They are made of rare sapphires, which were brought out of India a thousand years ago. Pluck out one of them and take it to him. He will sell it to the jeweller, and buy food and firewood, and finish his play.”

        “Dear Prince,” said the Swallow, “I cannot do that”; and he began to weep.

        “Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow,” said the Prince, “do as I command you.”

        So the Swallow plucked out the Prince’s eye, and flew away to the student’s garret. It was easy enough to get in, as there was a hole in the roof. Through this he darted, and came into the room. The young man had his head buried in his hands, so he did not hear the flutter of the bird’s wings, and when he looked up he found the beautiful sapphire lying on the withered violets.

        “I am beginning to be appreciated,” he cried; “this is from some great admirer. Now I can finish my play,” and he looked quite happy.

        The next day the Swallow flew down to the harbour. He sat on the mast of a large vessel and watched the sailors hauling big chests out of the hold with ropes. “Heave a-hoy!” they shouted as each chest came up. “I am going to Egypt”! cried the Swallow, but nobody minded, and when the moon rose he flew back to the Happy Prince.

        “I am come to bid you good-bye,” he cried.

        “Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow,” said the Prince, “will you not stay with me one night longer?”

        “It is winter,” answered the Swallow, “and the chill snow will soon be here. In Egypt the sun is warm on the green palm-trees, and the crocodiles lie in the mud and look lazily about them. My companions are building a nest in the Temple of Baalbec, and the pink and white doves are watching them, and cooing to each other. Dear Prince, I must leave you, but I will never forget you, and next spring I will bring you back two beautiful jewels in place of those you have given away. The ruby shall be redder than a red rose, and the sapphire shall be as blue as the great sea.”

        “In the square below,” said the Happy Prince, “there stands a little match-girl. She has let her matches fall in the gutter, and they are all spoiled. Her father will beat her if she does not bring home some money, and she is crying. She has no shoes or stockings, and her little head is bare. Pluck out my other eye, and give it to her, and her father will not beat her.”

        “I will stay with you one night longer,” said the Swallow, “but I cannot pluck out your eye. You would be quite blind then.”

        “Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow,” said the Prince, “do as I command you.”

        So he plucked out the Prince’s other eye, and darted down with it. He swooped past the match-girl, and slipped the jewel into the palm of her hand. “What a lovely bit of glass,” cried the little girl; and she ran home, laughing.

        Then the Swallow came back to the Prince. “You are blind now,” he said, “so I will stay with you always.”

        “No, little Swallow,” said the poor Prince, “you must go away to Egypt.”

        “I will stay with you always,” said the Swallow, and he slept at the Prince’s feet.

        All the next day he sat on the Prince’s shoulder, and told him stories of what he had seen in strange lands. He told him of the red ibises, who stand in long rows on the banks of the Nile, and catch gold-fish in their beaks; of the Sphinx, who is as old as the world itself, and lives in the desert, and knows everything; of the merchants, who walk slowly by the side of their camels, and carry amber beads in their hands; of the King of the Mountains of the Moon, who is as black as ebony, and worships a large crystal; of the great green snake that sleeps in a palm-tree, and has twenty priests to feed it with honey-cakes; and of the pygmies who sail over a big lake on large flat leaves, and are always at war with the butterflies.

        “Dear little Swallow,” said the Prince, “you tell me of marvellous things, but more marvellous than anything is the suffering of men and of women. There is no Mystery so great as Misery. Fly over my city, little Swallow, and tell me what you see there.”

        So the Swallow flew over the great city, and saw the rich making merry in their beautiful houses, while the beggars were sitting at the gates. He flew into dark lanes, and saw the white faces of starving children looking out listlessly at the black streets. Under the archway of a bridge two little boys were lying in one another’s arms to try and keep themselves warm. “How hungry we are!” they said. “You must not lie here,” shouted the Watchman, and they wandered out into the rain.

        Then he flew back and told the Prince what he had seen.

        “I am covered with fine gold,” said the Prince, “you must take it off, leaf by leaf, and give it to my poor; the living always think that gold can make them happy.”

        Leaf after leaf of the fine gold the Swallow picked off, till the Happy Prince looked quite dull and grey. Leaf after leaf of the fine gold he brought to the poor, and the children’s faces grew rosier, and they laughed and played games in the street. “We have bread now!” they cried.

        Then the snow came, and after the snow came the frost. The streets looked as if they were made of silver, they were so bright and glistening; long icicles like crystal daggers hung down from the eaves of the houses, everybody went about in furs, and the little boys wore scarlet caps and skated on the ice.

        The poor little Swallow grew colder and colder, but he would not leave the Prince, he loved him too well. He picked up crumbs outside the baker’s door when the baker was not looking and tried to keep himself warm by flapping his wings.

        But at last he knew that he was going to die. He had just strength to fly up to the Prince’s shoulder once more. “Good-bye, dear Prince!” he murmured, “will you let me kiss your hand?”

        “I am glad that you are going to Egypt at last, little Swallow,” said the Prince, “you have stayed too long here; but you must kiss me on the lips, for I love you.”

        “It is not to Egypt that I am going,” said the Swallow. “I am going to the House of Death. Death is the brother of Sleep, is he not?”

        And he kissed the Happy Prince on the lips, and fell down dead at his feet.

        At that moment a curious crack sounded inside the statue, as if something had broken. The fact is that the leaden heart had snapped right in two. It certainly was a dreadfully hard frost.

        Early the next morning the Mayor was walking in the square below in company with the Town Councillors. As they passed the column he looked up at the statue: “Dear me! how shabby the Happy Prince looks!” he said.

        “How shabby indeed!” cried the Town Councillors, who always agreed with the Mayor; and they went up to look at it.

        “The ruby has fallen out of his sword, his eyes are gone, and he is golden no longer,” said the Mayor in fact, “he is little better than a beggar!”

        “Little better than a beggar,” said the Town Councillors.

        “And here is actually a dead bird at his feet!” continued the Mayor. “We must really issue a proclamation that birds are not to be allowed to die here.” And the Town Clerk made a note of the suggestion.

        So they pulled down the statue of the Happy Prince. “As he is no longer beautiful he is no longer useful,” said the Art Professor at the University.

        Then they melted the statue in a furnace, and the Mayor held a meeting of the Corporation to decide what was to be done with the metal. “We must have another statue, of course,” he said, “and it shall be a statue of myself.”

        “Of myself,” said each of the Town Councillors, and they quarrelled. When I last heard of them they were quarrelling still.

        “What a strange thing!” said the overseer of the workmen at the foundry. “This broken lead heart will not melt in the furnace. We must throw it away.” So they threw it on a dust-heap where the dead Swallow was also lying.

        “Bring me the two most precious things in the city,” said God to one of His Angels; and the Angel brought Him the leaden heart and the dead bird.

        “You have rightly chosen,” said God, “for in my garden of Paradise this little bird shall sing for evermore, and in my city of gold the Happy Prince shall praise me.”

    2. I don't think I have ever seen so many small birds flitting around in our garden as I have seen this year.

    3. House sparrows abundant here and dunnocks fairly common, but tree sparrows have we none. As to the human population, I agree there are too many of us. There will come a point at which our numbers reduce drastically. Currently we're booming, but a bust could be just around the corner in one form or another.

      1. I wish I could share your optimism. Unfortunately I can’t.

        The only ways that human overpopulation can be reduced, alas, are: global famine/drought; pollution of drinking water worldwide; a naturally-occurring disaster (massive meteorite); a global pandemic of a (probably) manufactured disease; or global nuclear warfare (or a combination of all those).

        A lot of ‘global’ in that thesis but that’s how it will be. When you have a massively out-of-control imbecilic population governed by witless, clueless, gormless and dangerous cretins, this is what will happen. No ‘deity’ will save you; just as one didn’t save the dinosaurs.

    5. Sadly a rare sight now, even out here in the countryside.

      As for people. We are heading for population crash. It is already happening and has become very obvious in China. Ghost towns abound and even a couple of ghost cities exist.

      How much has China's population decreased? Shocking! It explains many questions

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UM57HhM8yV8

  29. THE phrase “come on, lads” is an offensive term that players should avoid, a football association has claimed.

    Berks and Bucks FA has published an inclusive language guide advising that “come on team” should be used instead as a gender-neutral alternative.

    What is the etymology of Berkshire [Berks]? Is it a county full of them?

    Is the other mob a coterie of clowns that merely Bucks normality?

    2. Berkshire born and Berkshire bred
      Strong of arm and thick of head

      as people in Oxfordshire used to say…

    1. “Not found”

      Was it about Starmfuehrer putting land into trust to avoid IHT?

      “Labour – it’s different when we do it”

          1. “The louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons.”
            ― Ralph Waldo Emerson, The Conduct of Life: By Ralph Waldo Emerson

            Hypocrisy is Starmer's favourite vice – he can't resit it,

  31. Britain embraced authoritarianism long before Starmer’s ID cards
    Starmer won’t stop illegal migration. But he could leave us with a China-style social credit system
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/09/27/id-cards-will-be-a-disaster/

    BTL

    Starmer knows that his days in government are numbered which is why he wants to do as much damage to the country as he can while he can still do it.

    When he lies in his coffin there will be an odious smirking, Ozymandian sneer on his repulsive features saying: "I may be gone – but my diabolic works will live on."

    1. Much as I am reluctant to use Godwin's Law, I can picture Stoma and his apparatchiks in their bunker, planning the next three years of devastating this country.
      And that's before they declare a national emergency to over-ride the general election.

  32. Starmer announced the Digital ID for access to work and he and others tried to sell this move as a method to curb immigration. Oh, how we scorned this nonsense as we all suspected it was just the tip of a very large wedge to force open the door to totalitarian/authoritarian control.

    And, we were correct: here is Dr Tenpenny reporting on the UN's latest scheme. Starmer must be fuming that the UN has released the real plan for Digital ID so soon after his performance last week. We really do have a fight on our hands.

    https://x.com/karma44921039/status/1972003500197662979

    1. She's talking about current day China and, as I said yesterday, it is turning into a disaster as the CCP has control and makes sure that all finance is under their control making them fabulously rich while everyone else becomes poor. Even now the middle class, for what it was worth in China, is being devastated as, like parasites, the CCP sucks all the money it can from them. Such totalitarianism, full control over peoples lives is paradise to the psychopaths that want to control us. In China there are now death vans. You can be tried and executed within minutes for infractions, real or unreal, against the CCP. These are used against protestors as well as criminals and are tied into the industry of organ transplants so even life and death are under the regimes control,.

      1. The UN has let the cat out of the bag and Starmer et al. have been exposed as duplicitous rogues.

        The first step must be to isolate the Starmer wing of the Labour party; I cannot believe that solid support exists for this within the party as a whole. The majority of sitting Labour MPs will be kicked out at the next election and they may as well go into oblivion with their consciences clear. I shall be writing to my MP this week and attach Dr Tenpenny's revelation to the email.

        Second, the opposition parties must be lobbied to declare their opposition to Starmer 's and his crew's disastrous plans. Farage & Co must create a vast political upheaval over this revelation.

        1. Good afternoon, Korky

          Please would you give me a link so I can send this clip to my friends.?

      2. The World Health Organisation is simply a satellite part of the United Nations.

        The United Nations is nothing more than a puppet of the World Economic Forum.

      1. Almost as good as Serpentine raised or Royal Park Goose or Swan served with cous cous and a spicy sauce?

        1. Stuff a swan with a goose.
          Stuff the goose with a duck.
          Stuuf the duck with a capon.
          Stuff the capon with a pheasant.
          Stuff the pheasant with a guinea fowl.
          Stuff the guinea fowl with a grouse.
          Stuff the grouse with a partridge.
          Stuff the partridge with a quail.
          Stuff the quail with a lark.

          This — and many other variations of 'fowl-within-fowl' recipes — have been a feature of royal banquets in Great Britain and France (and elsewhere) for centuries.

    3. Was there a Russia — not to mention a Russian ambassador — in 1664?

      [Or is this some pun on a chilled cat-piss lager commercial?]

  34. Mornin all,

    "Why is the system overriding me?"

    This YouTube video reports this as having been recorded on the flight deck recorder before the fated Air India 787 crash:

    Air India 171’s Official Report REVEALS Something Nobody Expected – YouTube
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-kI56uJ2XQ

    A previous YouTube video I posted on disqus relating to the Air India crash solicited a comment of 'complete rubbish'.

    Yet the Air India crash evidence on video does suggest that the pilots on the doomed aircraft were not in control of the aircraft after leaving the runway.

      1. Sorry, I'm not interested in airplane stuff but this video is relevant because I have the same problem with my boiler which seems to have taken control of ignition and heating without me demanding it.

        i.e. "Why is the system overriding me?'.

        I posted this to prove that my BAXI System boiler was exactly doing that:

        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3bbbe260ffdaf9d4b17b04febac67821cb8dbbc741b969720c767b98b5bea5ad.gif
        Google AI said this was not possible.

    2. I remember watching a crash of the new fly by wire aircraft at Farnborough, I think it was. The pilot could see he was going to crash into the ridge and hauled on the stick to pull up and over. The plane started to respond then put down again and hit the ground. I am convinced that the computer said “outside the envelope “ and reduced the input.

    3. I'm afraid this vid not reliable. He references the "official report" but apart from brief details in the initial report, the final report has not been released. So, unless the commentator has access to inside information, he cannot base any of the things he is talking about on evidence. Several of his comments are just wrong, there was a Mayday call to ATC. The aircraft was gliding without power, although one engine was restarted but it did not have time to produce meaningful thrust. There has been nothing reported that I have seen that cockpit controls "were over ridden" or any "digital whisper". Although the data recorders were damaged and needed specialist handling, the data was recovered. The preliminary report from the Indian AAIB gives the details of all the facts released so far. https://aaib.gov.in/What's%20New%20Assets/Preliminary%20Report%20VT-ANB.pdf

    4. I'm afraid this vid not reliable. He references the "official report" but apart from brief details in the initial report, the final report has not been released. So, unless the commentator has access to inside information, he cannot base any of the things he is talking about on evidence. Several of his comments are just wrong, there was a Mayday call to ATC. The aircraft was gliding without power, although one engine was restarted but it did not have time to produce meaningful thrust. There has been nothing reported that I have seen that cockpit controls "were over ridden" or any "digital whisper". Although the data recorders were damaged and needed specialist handling, the data was recovered. The preliminary report from the Indian AAIB gives the details of all the facts released so far. https://aaib.gov.in/What's%20New%20Assets/Preliminary%20Report%20VT-ANB.pdf

  35. Mornin all,

    "Why is the system overriding me?"

    This YouTube video reports this as having been recorded on the flight deck recorder before the fated Air India 787 crash:

    Air India 171’s Official Report REVEALS Something Nobody Expected – YouTube
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-kI56uJ2XQ

    A previous YouTube video I posted on disqus relating to the Air India crash solicited a comment of 'complete rubbish'.

    Yet the Air India crash evidence on video does suggest that the pilots on the doomed aircraft were not in control of the aircraft after leaving the runway.

  36. A teacher was giving her young class a history lesson on the tale of Robin Hood. "Can anyone tell me the name of Robin Hood's girlfriend?"

    Little Billy raises his hand and says "Yes Miss, it's Trudy Glenn."

    "No Billy, good try but the answer is Maid Marion."

    Billy was puzzled at this and said, "But Miss, what about the song?'' '' Robin Hood, Robin Hood, riding Trudy Glenn.''…..

    You learn something every day.

  37. Morniong all! Cool and overcast here is West Sussex but quite pleasant non the less.

    I listened to this earlier this morning. Victor Davis Hanson. One of my favorite thinkers to listen to. This is especially interesting because toward the end he talks about us, the English, what we are doing to ourselves and whither we go. Like so many in the USA he is truly worried about us. In fact like many people there, he seems to care more about us than our own intellectuals. But I would not really call Hanson an intellectual because he is grounded in, being not only a professor at Stanford, but a highly successful farmer, inheriting a farm that has been in his family for generations.

    "People Have No Idea What's About To Happen After Trump's Response To Ilhan Omar!" – Victor Hanson

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OolTaO1RgNw

  38. I’ve got my dander up on the Digital ID threat, which I consider to be an existential one, especially combined with digital currency (and maybe 5G!). So I think we need a campaign that crosses party and ideological boundaries to oppose it.

    I intend to propose this to Lowe, who I think would be an ideal figurehead, but also to Farage, T Robinson, Katie Hopkins, Habid and all the other figures on the Right I can think of. We also need the Left to join in. Corbyn? Galloway? Anyone else?

    I have drafted a suggested appeal for leadership, which I propose sending to all and sundry, including other online magazines such as TCW’s Kathy Gingell. All advice and suggestions welcome.

    After the above introduction:

    “I suggest that the campaign frames digital ID as a threat to civil liberties, privacy, and autonomy for all, regardless of party affiliation, political ideology, race, sex and creed. We must all join together to ensure that the Government’s plan is thwarted and must, therefore make it plain that we will not comply and that will embark upon a campaign pf peaceful resistance and civil disobedience until the threat is dropped.

    We need to mobilise grassroots support and amplify public awareness; to create visible solidarity through the Pledge below. Policymakers must be made aware that they are stirring a hornet’s nest. I suggest that a key component should be the Pledge “I Will Not Comply”, which I have drafted as follows:

    “I believe that freedom, privacy, and human dignity are non-negotiable rights. I reject the imposition of a compulsory digital ID system, which threatens to track, monitor, and control law-abiding citizens. I will not comply with digital ID.
    I will not consent to surrendering my rights, my privacy, or my independence and I pledge to stand with others who value liberty, and to resist, peacefully, the introduction of digital ID.”

    Other suggestions for a mass, grass roots campaign, which may be funded by crowd-funding, are badges/stickers/graphic for social media (e.g., profile picture overlay) and car windows, T-shirts and placards : “I will not comply with digital ID.”

    We need a storytelling campaign, to outline the myriad of hacked and failed centralised digital data-bases, and to collect and public testimonies on why people refuse. Maybe a YouTube Channel, giving information and video clips of ordinary citizens stating: “I will not comply because…”

    We should create posters, stickers, and flyers in local communities. Rallies and demonstrations framed as “Freedom Gatherings” and local groups to host discussions and film screenings about surveillance and digital rights.
    Of course, we need to sign the petition and to write to MPs and local representatives.”

    Any suggestions? We cannot let this drop.

    1. The social democrat party?
      Don't know any names, but they are libertarian left, aren't they?
      From what I'm seeing on social media, people across the left are worried about it. The only ones who aren't are sitting in Parliament I think.

    2. Apparently, digital ID will require a smartphone.
      What if you don't have one? Will HMG give you one, and pay the connection fees?
      What if you can't use one – Mother can't, too daft.
      Will it require reliable signal? That's a laugh in the UK.
      Will the app be properly secure, almost impossible to hack or steal the ID? If it's HMG, I wouldn't think so.
      What happens when you get a new phone? How will the data be transferred, and deleted seurely from the old one?
      How will the ID be secured from unauthorised access? Lose the phone, lose the ID?
      And why does the UK need yet another ID, once you have NI or NHS numbers? How, exactly, will it stop working illegally or being illegally in the country?

      1. Having spent most of my cash yesterday I didn’t have enough left to pay for something I needed. The card reader wouldn’t work because the signal was too poor. I ended up taking the item and promising to send them a cheque to the address they gave me. Trust is not entirely dead. The cheque has been posted but it won’t go until Monday and I only had second class stamps. I must look trustworthy; this is the second time that’s happened.

  39. Not an easy answer again today:
    Wordle 1,562 5/6

    ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
    ⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜
    ⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩
    ⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      1. My 2nd line started with what turned out to be the last letter. Not much choice on the 3rd word.

        Wordle 1,562 3/6

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

  40. I an still in Wolverhampton as i am helping my aged parents pick up my injured niece from Birmingham airport. The choices are to drive (my preferred option, notwithstanding the motorway being shut because HS2) or the train (my parents’ preferred option).

    Parking at Birmingham is a racket. It is impossible to get information on how to park to help pick up people with disabilities- they just tell you to take a shuttle bus to P5 – and when i try to pre-book an hour’s parking today (save 70%!!) the cost returned is £70.

    There is something very wrong in this country. I want the old country back, when we weren’t inundated with people and you weren’t constantly on edge.

    1. £70 for an hour's parking?? I know it's a while since we flew from Birmingham but that is ridiculous.

      1. that’s to “pre-book” At short notice. We could just pay to park when we get there, but when I went in February to pick Dad up, there were no spaces in any of the car parks, which got a bit stressful.

        1. I think there may be better short term rates at the rail station, its 2 mins from there on the mono rail. I just paid £71 for 8 days prebooking, with a 5 mins bus ride in.

    2. Surely if the niece is in a wheelchair, the airport people must take her to a place where a vehicle can stop for a few minutes to pick her up.

      1. She isn’t in a wheelchair; she just cannot walk far (and has therefore booked “assistance” for her light which, it turns out in Dubai included a wheelchair for which she was very grateful). Ditto my 86 year old dad. If you have a “blue badge” you are dandy; if you are merely old, no one makes any allowance at all. It’s the old cliff-edge all over again. Lots of priority for people with children – which aren’t a problem, I managed fine without taking advantage of special privileges (on principle) when mine were little, and they are only 16 months apart – but no allowances for people who are recuperating after operations or who are just old.

        I mean, if there were, people would take advantage- as we see in the “mother and baby” spots at supermarkets.

        We are going on the train now. I decided the stress of trains being cancelled was better than the stress of parking at Birmingham airport.

      2. She isn’t in a wheelchair; she just cannot walk far (and has therefore booked “assistance” for her light which, it turns out in Dubai included a wheelchair for which she was very grateful). Ditto my 86 year old dad. If you have a “blue badge” you are dandy; if you are merely old, no one makes any allowance at all. It’s the old cliff-edge all over again. Lots of priority for people with children – which aren’t a problem, I managed fine without taking advantage of special privileges (on principle) when mine were little, and they are only 16 months apart – but no allowances for people who are recuperating after operations or who are just old.

        I mean, if there were, people would take advantage- as we see in the “mother and baby” spots at supermarkets.

        We are going on the train now. I decided the stress of trains being cancelled was better than the stress of parking at Birmingham airport.

    3. This morning, Sonny Boy Senior and I were discussing where he could park in a town where he has lived all his life (apart from 3 years in Bristol) without getting fined.
      Twice this year, when I have bothered to drive anywhere near the town centre, I have ended up with a fine; a couple of hundred yards is suddenly designated a bus lane with v. poor signage.
      I have given up and shopping complexes outside town have benefitted.
      Now, I only bother if I have next to nothing to buy because loaded bags on a bus or walking home are just too much hassle.

      1. Same in the town centre where I live. Parking severely restricted. If I want to buy a loaf of bread, I'm not going to park in the car park and walk 300 metres – I want to stop outside the bakery!

    4. I discovered when I went to Welshpool that parking is no longer free for blue badge holders. I had real difficulty trying to obtain a parking ticket (insufficient cash because I didn’t know I would need it and it wouldn’t read my card). Worse when it failed despite my having chosen English it reverted to Welsh and nobody in the queue understood what was needed. In the end, a kind Samaritan in the form of a young woman who used her phone to pay paid my parking and refused the offer of all the cash I had. The kindness of strangers, eh?

      1. There’s still quite a chilly wind. Especially out of the sunshine. But I warmed up by digging a hole and pulled out quite a few stones.

  44. A dull start to the day suddenly brightened up as I was clearing some logs from between a couple of the containers!
    Bright and sunny out there now and just about to do a mug of tea before getting some cooking started.

    Salmon, a herby white sauce, potatoes, steamed red cabbage and peas.

  45. 413623+up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Sunday 28 September: Will Gaza’s problems really be solved by putting Tony Blair in charge?

    This political role model for evilness, had the political shout in England as PM for ten years and set in motion
    everything evil we are suffering today.

    The "ratters" blair followers, have no fear for the "Miranda" line dying out he has an offspring ready to take up the reigns,
    So for war continuation, blair's your man.

    The Gaza's problems would really go into overdrive
    with the cottaging spectre from the park public toilet
    taking a hand.

    1. Just dump him there. He can wander around indulging his Messiah complex.
      Mossad and IDF will have all his phone numbers and deal with him accordingly.

  46. Well, collecting the cats from the cattery didn't go so well.
    Carrying Little Cat in his box out of the door, SWMBO turned her ankle and fell down the last few stairs. Little's cat box burst open nd he fled, direction unknown, whilst I hurried down to pick SWMBO up. Fortunately, she's not badly hurt (sitting in sofa dulling the pain by administering coffee), but Little is still AWOL in an area where he's a total stranger.Two hours searching failed to give a result, the cattery owner has talked to all the neighbours, and we hope that Little will turn up shortly.
    Fingers X'ed.

    1. Consider a GPS tracker to go on a cat collar.

      Hope SWMBO is okay. If it swells up you might want to consider an X-Ray.

      I fell off a Tor in Scotland and damaged my ankle. The X-Ray showed i had a bone splinter but no point in having an operation.

      1. Poor Little was scared by being dropped in his box, and fled. Then, being in a strange area, scared some more. We searched for over 2 hours, including making familiar noises (the car, me talking to him), but all with no result.
        The cattery folk will spread the word and pictures, and hopefully he'll be caught soon. Big Cat is all on edge without his friend.

        1. Can you take big cat in his box to where little cat was last seen?

          Sound, scent or sight might encourage little cat to return.

    2. Good grief. What a nightmare.
      And when both of you were tired after a non-relaxing trip to Blighty.
      Fingers firmly crossed. How good are the Weegies on anima rescue?

      1. Pretty smart. The cattery is distributing photos and advising neighbours, and Little has an ID chip, so hopefully he'll be nabbed and returned soon.

    3. This is why those tracker things exist. Goodness knows I got tired of looking for Beast when we were temporarily in charge of him.

    4. Oh blimey, Paul! How awful for SWMBO and Little Cat! What a shock they both must have got! I’m sure he will return as soon as he’s peckish, and I hope your dear lady is OK! Sending good wishes to you all. 🥰

    5. Oh, shit, Paul. That's a nightmare scenario. Fingers tightly crossed for a happy and positive outcome.

    7. Same thing happened to me but I was lucky the cat froze where it landed and I was able to pick it up. Hope you find the little chap

  47. Garden lights "bathed" and put to bed for the winter.
    (And no, I did not read them a bedtime story!)

  48. Why do I get told off for buying a new switch and yet the Warqueen can buy a camera that's 5 times as much?

    As it is, we both need to sort the driveway.

  49. The Guradian:
    A lesson from Harold Wilson for Keir Starmer: don’t let the right undermine Labour’s achievements
    “Harold Wilson once said that the Labour party is a moral crusade or it is nothing.”
    Crusade? LOL.. Moral?.. LOL

    Fast forward to now..
    Starmer says Reform's plan to strip migrants of 'settled status' is 'RACIST and immoral'

    1. The Left think what they do is righteous and glorious. They never understand that no one wants what they want.

      Oh, it's a moral crusade – a crusade against morality.

    2. Remember that the Crusades were undertaken in order to supress the diabolic spread of of Islam!

      Starmer should remember this if he wants to embark upon a Crusade.

    3. Remember that the Crusades were undertaken in order to supress the diabolic spread of of Islam!

      Starmer should remember this if he want to embark upon a Crusade.

    4. It is racist and immoral. He's revealed his true intentions. Control immigration, protect the borders. Great. Start harrassing respectable people as they are doing in America. No way would I support that
      Hrs probably responsible fo some of what has happened in the last ten years. Meddling without responsibility.

      1. Racist? They are not being persecuted for their race, they are being removed because of illegality. Immoral? What is immoral is letting criminals profit from their crimes.

        1. Focus! People with indefinite leave to remain in the UK are not being removed for illegality. They are being targeted because they are foreign residents.

      1. I buy jars of cherries like that one. I turn the juice into a jelly and pour it into four glass serving dishes with the cherries. I then top that with an almond panna cotta and decorate it with amaretto biscuits.

        Or, at least, I used to before I gave up sugar.

  50. The Guradian:
    A lesson from Harold Wilson for Keir Starmer: don’t let the right undermine Labour’s achievements
    “Harold Wilson once said that the Labour party is a moral crusade or it is nothing.”
    Crusade? LOL.. Moral?.. LOL

    Fast forward to now..
    Starmer says Reform's plan to strip migrants of 'settled status' is 'RACIST and immoral'

  51. Stay classy 'Murica.. U S A.. U S A..

    McIlroy was subjected to relentless abuse throughout the day with Heather McMahan first tee emcee leading chants of 'f*** you Rory'..

    emcee.. LOL

    1. McIlroy spends much of his golfing time in the USA on the PGA tour. It's time for him to consider other options. As for McMahan, she should be dismissed forthwith, but I'm not holding my breath.

      1. The ringleader of the vile chants aimed at Rory McIlroy at the Ryder Cup has reportedly lost her job.

    2. You expect this sort of behaviour at football matches but American golf supporters seem determined to reaffirm that America has gone from barbarism to decadence without the intervening stage of culture.

  52. 413623+ up ticks,

    May one ask,
    All this Gaza gazing at the labour conference, closer to home will anything be mentioned about the Rochdale grooming gang survivor one Charlotte Tetley and her suicide, seeing as they, the lab. party "rattees," along with the police were prime movers in, via their pro invasion campaign, the very long term cover up.

    Lets face it the labour conference must be on par with a mini Nuremberg rally.

    2. Already I find I have less disposable income so I have cut down on everything I can. It isn’t rocket science but far beyond the understanding of socialists who don’t interact with real people in the real world.

    3. My husband has just called and in conversation said a former colleague of his, whose 3 precious children went to private school, is trying to get her youngest into the state system as they cannot afford it now, and has been told by Ealing council the nearest school place is 60 miles away. It’s anecdotal- but may be true.

      1. Not surprised. The state system was overstretched already, without this extra demand.
        Hard on the children, though.

    4. High-wealth individuals likely already left, wibbling. And the ones who wish to move funds overseas likely already talking to IFAs, or already have and made arrangements.

      1. That's what happened here when Labour was elected. They all moved their residence to/close to Switzerland.

  55. Afternoon all. Back from church and cooking a lamb leg steak for lunch. It was harvest festival and I read the Deuteronomy passage that talks about the land that the Lord gave. I couldn’t help thinking that OUR land is being taken from us.

    Gaza’s problems will never be solved while islam exists and Tony Blair is not the answer to any question, let alone solving a problem.

    1. I cannot think of any practical or political question to which Tony Blair is the answer.

      Scurrilous questions …….. where to begin!

    2. We all know that Tony Blair is not the answer to any question. But if he was plonked in downtown Gaza….[John Betjeman poem re:Slough]

      1. Maybe he would be kidnapped tho, Citroen1, and end up in a tunnel…and where would we be then……perhaps do a swap for the hostages?..

          2. Quite a number from current LP members/supporters/MPs, for as long as they think he’s a winner. You n me and others – made of different metal.

    1. BBC i Player not available in your region.

      I listened to a broadcast this morning and was impressed by the speaker. Probably Danny Kruger. A calm and reasoned speaker. he would be an asset to the Reform party.

      2. He is already in the Reform Party.

        But he should have resigned his seat and run in a by election as both Douglas Carswell and Mark Rewckless did when they left the Conservative Party to join UKIP.

  57. Just been digging a hole for planting a clematis which my lovely next door neighbour has given me. The old one died in the frost a couple of years ago.

      1. Looks good, Ndovu, can't quite make out the lable? (had a Nelly Moser in the past, one I planted current house doing well, they're tough plants, any weather it seems).

        1. It’s a Montana Mayleen. Scented apparently. It’s to replace a Montana Rubens which lasted 25 years but died in the frost a couple of years ago. I left the remains of the old one for the new one to hold on to. It used to be lovely on that corner. It’s north facing so a cold spot.

          1. Looks really lovely, perhaps similar to Old Man’s Beard..I had one of those over a high wall when I had a walled garden (loved that). Winters haven’t been so cold last few years but that’s bound to change anytime soon. Porridge calls, see you later N x

    1. They'll be calling it racist soon.
      As the idiots were calling the flag waving marches this morning on bbc tv.
      I don't think they even thought to mention that anyone could have joined those marches. But let's be frank those who didn't, for a particular reason could have been displaying racist objections.

  59. Off to the first concert of the Music Society season shortly. Back later. Got to change out of my gardening togs.

  61. Will Gaza's problems really be solved by putting Tony Blair in charge?
    er, No.

    If that were a Mastermind question even Lammy would get it right.

    2. Someone posted on Facebook about aircraft landing at ManchesterAirport from Gaza on a regular basis with upto 500 people a time on board.

  62. Woman is 'gang raped in St Mary's Church's churchyard in Banbury, Oxfordshire by group of men' as police launch urgent probe into 'horrific' crime

    Police confirm that Coulter's Law is now in force which states that the longer it takes the news media to identify a rape gang, the less likely it is to be white male.

    1. Straight to Comments still open LOL.

      Police will be conducting house to house and CCTV enquiries as they hunt for the perpetrators.
      House to house inquiries? Should try hotel to hotel

      So the poor woman was so traumatised that she was incapable of giving a description of any of the men.
      No doubt the police are withholding this information to avoid stirring up hatred, or to protect their human rights

      All details apart from a description of the attackers tells you all you need to know…

      If the perpetrators turn out to be white, will the posters here be apologising?

      Engineers or Doctors?

      Gang rape is a very traditional British crime

      The welsh again

    2. Straight to Comments still open LOL.

      Police will be conducting house to house and CCTV enquiries as they hunt for the perpetrators.
      House to house inquiries? Should try hotel to hotel

      So the poor woman was so traumatised that she was incapable of giving a description of any of the men.
      No doubt the police are withholding this information to avoid stirring up hatred, or to protect their human rights

      All details apart from a description of the attackers tells you all you need to know…

      If the perpetrators turn out to be white, will the posters here be apologising?

      Engineers or Doctors?

    3. Very sad to note a churchyard, kbhoy…possibly devoid of local population activity. At one time, graveyards were kept clean, tidy of litter and weed-free. Perhaps this one was, and also possibly cameras (many households now have their own camera/s, with an alert to mobile).

    5. My home town. How many times did I walk past that church as a school boy, examining the fossils in its red ironstone walls?

      It's the town's only Grade 1 listed building, and an unusual church with its round tower and Byzantine interior.

      1. A new cultural strategy has been launched, which is aimed at making Banbury a vibrant cultural destination and economic hub.
        Banbury Guardian

    6. My home town. How many times did I walk past that church as a school boy, examining the fossils in its red ironstone walls?

      It's the town's only Grade 1 listed building, and an unusual church with its round tower and byzantine interior.

  63. My slow roasted tomato soup is doing very well. Red onions garden herbs garlic.
    Delicious flavour.

      1. Well instead of boiling of frying the tommies I chopped them up with garlic, red onions, lots of garden herbs, olive oil and a splash of water a little salt and pepper and slow roasted as the recipe suggested..
        And a very good result. 🤗

    3. "Cap'n, engine room, the cosmic wind has stopped blowing and we can't move! I want the dilithium drive back!"

  65. Phillipson’s latest attack on private schools will hurt vulnerable children – all for £4m a year
    The Education Secretary is hunting for Labour votes with a populist go at the supposedly undeserving
     https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/tax/news/phillipsons-attack-on-private-schools-hurt-wrong-children/

    BTL

    The level of sheer spite, envy and determination to ruin the lives of children that this sadistic woman has leads me to suspect that she is in grave need of psychiatric treatment.

    She must be mad – this level of nastiness must go very far beyond the normal limits of what is and what is not sane.

    1. You'll have heard the phrase, Richard…'the ayes have it, the ayes have it'….it equally applies to most if not all politician's eyes, a cold and hard conviction shows itself. TBlair a fine example.

  67. Having to comfort Big Cat, who is distraught that Little Cat is missing. He patrols the house and garden, looking for Little Cat, and is looking depressed.
    Poor old cat.

    1. Do you have a cat harness so that you could walk him where little cat disappeared, like a blood hound.

        2. I posted earlier that you could take big cat in his box and see if meowing/scent might attract little cat.

        3. Good luck with that.
          We tried harness with both of our cats, their immediate response would be to flop down and refuse to move.

    2. I really hope that Little Cat is soon found safe-and-well, Paul.

      Findus seems to have a bit of an eye infection so we shall contact the vet again tomorrow. He is a little 'down-in-the-dumps' and not as active as usual but we think that might be an adverse reaction to worming tablets. In a few weeks time he has to go and have some more teeth removed since his gum infection seems to have returned.

      Pets can be a worry at times.

        2. He’s gorgeous, Paul! You and Big Cat must be worried sick, but as someone pointed out, he knows he escaped from somewhere that fed him. He’ll be back! Sending love to you!

    3. Large black cat in garden today, similar build to a Maine cat. Perhaps an escapee, perhaps not. Not seen it previously. Dog freaked out, it was bigger than she is.

  68. 413623+ up ticks,

    Anyone any answers ?

    Britain to build drone wall to protect Europe from Russia
    UK will mass-produce unmanned aircraft to tackle incursion threat, says Defence Secretary

    WHO WILL PROTECT THE GENUINE BRIT from these odious political overseers ?

    In my book farage is in the chocolate fireguard class
    ALL "look at me" rhetoric NO leading over the top first action.

    Reform party torso, easily led but OK, leadership needs
    deep coat of looking at for such an important issue AKA the last stand.

    Common sense IF APPLIED would dictate having also a fall back party as in the shape of the,
    Farmers Food and Freedom Party

    Sadly common sense is a very rare earth commodity, among the herd, I'm no great shakes but I do know where my loyalty lies.

          1. It is from a poem: The Gates of Damascus.

            by James Elroy Flecker

            Postern of Fate, the Desert Gate, Disaster’s Cavern, Fort of Fear,
            The Portal of Baghdad am I, and Doorway of Diarbekir.

            The Persian Dawn with new desires may net the flushing mountain spires:
            But my gaunt buttress still rejects the suppliance of those mellow fires.

            Pass not beneath, O Caravan, or pass not singing. Have you heard
            That silence where the birds are dead yet something pipeth like a bird?

            Pass not beneath! Men say there blows in stony deserts still a rose
            But with no scarlet to her leaf — and from whose heart no perfume flows.

            Wilt thou bloom red where she buds pale, thy sister rose? Wilt thou not fail
            When noonday flashes like a flail? Leave nightingale the caravan!

            Pass then, pass all! “Baghdad!” ye cry, and down the billows of blue sky
            Ye beat the bell that beats to hell, and who shall thrust you back? Not I.

            The Sun who flashes through the head and paints the shadows green and red,
            The Sun shall eat thy fleshless dead, O Caravan, O Caravan!

            And one who licks his lips for thirst with fevered eyes shall face in fear
            The palms that wave, the streams that burst, his last mirage, O Caravan!

            And one — the bird-voiced Singing-man — shall fall behind thee, Caravan!
            And God shall meet him in the night, and he shall sing as best he can.

            And one the Bedouin shall slay, and one, sand-stricken on the way
            Go dark and blind; and one shall say — “How lonely is the Caravan!”

            Pass out beneath, O Caravan, Doom’s Caravan, Death’s Caravan!
            I had not told ye, fools, so much, save that I heard your Singing-man.

        1. One of my colleagues at the school where I used to teach used to have this poster on the wall of his classroom immediately behind his desk.

      2. If a man shouts in the middle of a forest and there’s no woman who can hear him, is he still wrong?

  72. Paul – I share your misery. Two crumbs of comfort. He knows where he ran from. He know that the cattery feeds him. Once he has got over his fright – he'll almost certainly work out that the cattery is the place to go back to.

    Secondly, cats are self-sufficient. If we disappeared, G & P would survive quite happily hunting and killing.

    A good suggestion from Sos to take BC in his carrier (or on a harness; the cattery may have one you can borrow.

    All our fingers and toes are crossed.

    1. Hope LC turns up soon.

      My window cleaner left the security gate open. Dolly decided to take herself walkies. Of course Harry followed. His nose is never far from her back end.
      I saw them sniffing around a doorstep three houses down.
      I called her. She came trotting up to me. Harry right behind her.

      They are a worry. I'm thinking of putting a little seat on her back so Harry can ride in style.

  73. Wordle No. 1,562 3/6

    ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨
    ⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    Wordle 28 Sep 2025

    Sticky for Birdie Three?

    1. Well done – you pulled that out of nowhere! Another rubbish word I thought, bogey here….

      C'mon Europe!!

      Wordle 1,562 5/6

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

    2. Well that didn't start well

      Wordle 1,562 6/6

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

      Rather like the US Rydr cup really! Tee hee.

    5. A par with helpful hints today.

      Wordle 1,562 4/6

      ⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜
      ⬜🟩⬜🟩⬜
      ⬜🟩⬜🟩⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  74. Today there was an "Animal Blessing" service in our church.

    The Rector asked the Lord to get St Anthony and St Francis on the case of the Missing Little Cat in Oslo.

          1. Over here there are local facebook groups you can post pics of lost pets to. Everything is worth a try.

        2. Check the local Chinese restaurant? Used to be common – tastes like chicken. Chow Mein anyways.

          1. We are probably only half a step away from being RC, but as my RC friend points out, you get a choice, we are told what we’re doing.

  75. Well nobody can deny, the PM appears to have put in acres of fieldwork on inheritance tax.
    Protecting his Assets.

  77. So it looks like the home crowds that are attending this years Ryder Cup have been infiltrated by a bunch of Democrats by their behaviour.

    2. You look at Sir Robert Peel; a double first in both Mathematics & Classics at Oxford.
      Keir Starmer; An A, a B & a C at A-Level in a selective school.
      David Starkey

    4. The bit i don't understand: he's clearly not thick, so why is he refusing to see that everything he is doing is wrong? Why is he not realising this and changing direction?

      Stupid people doing stupid things I understand. He's malignant.

  79. Just to muck up your blood pressure.

    Data obtained by The Telegraph shows:
    A pupil in Cambridgeshire travelled 48 miles to and from school every day in an ambulance at a cost of £66,500 a year
    In Blackpool, a pupil travelled 165 miles accompanied by a parent to and from school every day at a cost of £32,300 a year
    In Cheshire, a pupil with behavioural difficulties is escorted 64 miles to and from school every day at a cost of £44,460

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/09/28/council-spends-950-daily-special-needs-child-to-school/

    1. That certainly proves how outrageously inflated the transportation costs per mile are in Cambridgeshire as compared to Lancashire or Cheshire. Overpriviledged pooftahs.

    2. Birmingham City Council has spent millions on taxis for children. The taxi firm is owned by the brother of one of the councillors.

    4. This is routine, I think. Someone I know is looking after foster children, both of whom have a diagnosis (the foster parents get paid more for children with special needs which probably has nothing to do with the previous foster parents getting the diagnoses).
      Anyway the children each attend a different special school and they are ferried there and back by taxi.

        1. There is a deeply sinister add for foster parents on one of the northern hotspots websites showing a picture of a bearded man dressed for the desert with his arm around a little blond girl, with two other juvenile whiteys snuggling up to him. It's really either a tad naive or very, very, very blatant, isn't it?

    5. Why are we hearing about so many children who are diagnosed with neuro diverse symptoms .
      What has caused this ?

      Post WW2 , lots of children suffered from shell shock , traumatised because of wartime experiences , bombs , shelters , lack of nutrition , bombed homes , loss of family etc, but many many children survived and became successful adults.

      We are all reading day after day of children with birth difficulties and learning problems , but why ?
      Modern babies are born and brought up , many are so much more advanced than decades ago, their learning curves are amazing , so what is going on now .. why are modern children so damaged emotionally?

      The only damaged children I saw when I was at school were youngsters who are damaged by polio/ measles/ whooping cough and scarlet fever , and rickets , and if children were slow learners , they were classified as backward , and placed into to special classes at the same school .

      It appears to me that most modern children are victims of a rich over indulged society !

      1. Yep. As you say, the ability to pay means they choose to. Until the money simply isn't there the state will keep spending it.

        My brother's severely autistic. To a degree so am I. Our parents took us to school. We would sometimes get the bus and yes, he'd struggle with that but he did it, with support from his friends.

        It's simple 'we have the money, so we'll spend it'. Some children do need more help. The parents should provide that.

        1. Wibbling ,

          Have you ever wondered why you might be autistic, did your parents have problems in their families , would your mother have had certain drugs during pregnancy for example .

          There appears to be so many children these days beyond the spectrum , I am wondering whether exposure to chemicals during pregnancy , chemicals like insecticides/ fumes from sewage farms , agricultural sprays , parents who smoked cigarettes , even fumes from traffic / chemicals from clothes that have been dry cleaned , moth retardant , paint / carpets /plastics . baby food / baby formula etc etc ..

          Sorry not being judgemental , because I have also tried to analyse my younger son is strong , left handed and has a male partner .. the pair of them are wonderful, but why do sons have a different preference .

          They have both been with me this weekend , and it has been a joyful happy experience , they are now back on the IOW .. trains were cancelled and they had to travel by bus to Southampton to catch the ferry , what a way to run a country .

          2. Maybe it's just the vagaries of human nature, and not a pathology at all? It is weird how much normal human emotion and variety is medicalised these days.

      2. There was just one boy at my village primary school who was 'backward' and a couple of brothers who were on the slow side but had plenty of extra help with reading etc.

    6. The most obvious question is why. Why an ambulance, for example. What does the child need that requires such medical care?

      A 30 mile round trip isn't rational. Thats Soton to Havant or so on every day. Why are there not schools closer the child could attend? If there are not, then why isn't the council being practical and starting one?

      1. My grandson has a 60 mile round trip to his special school and the council fortunately pays expenses. Now he is wheelchair bound they are organising a wheelchair accessible taxi with a chaperone.

      2. Because there aren't, Wibbs. Speaking from the other end, when my son was of school age the "taxi" to the special needs school was a cause of fear and loathing, as was the school itself., where my son was confined to a padded cell. Eventually, after numerous life-threatening crises, he was granted a place at a residential school many miles away, which wasn't ideal (nor was it what it said on the tin) but was the least worst solution. It spared us the jumping off a bridge together or the armed response unit alternatives. You may say how brilliantly you would have coped differently and so, probably, would I, if hadn't been living through this for most of his life.

        NB: I would not not have had him for all the tea in China.and he has a vanishingly rare talent for spreading joy. Not, of course, anything valued in our mechanistic society.

  80. https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/adaef831a1c7352fec5ce0807611bc2556ae3bb9/0_0_5472_3648/master/5472.jpg?width=880&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=d7ada8435fad5e7a598374cb108cd6bd Tidy … a red squirrel in Wales. The Wildlife Trust of South & West Wales has launched a campaign in response to a proposed energy park development that threatens to destroy 40 hectares of forest, home to one of the last red squirrel populations in Wales. There are just three populations of red squirrels left

    Apartheid
     https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/a09a5ea9efedc90a9617d24a33b4555a5242a5cd/0_0_8192_5464/master/8192.jpg?width=880&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=f767272aa99079f414d8773764865a92 An albino squirrel stands out against the greenery in Cape Town, South Africa

    1. Been killed by greys, who are larger and more aggressive, and also rob bird nests, both eggs and baby birds.

      1. And here, the greys that are everywhere, are in places being replaced by black squirrels – where we used to live being an example. The greys apparently do a form of "white flight" when faced with the black ones…

        They are about the same size as greys, and are apparently a mutant version of them.

        2. I must look out for those, thanks, jack. Here, the greys are lured and trapped with peanuts, then popped. I’ve seen the trap but not the bodies, and no-one admits to it….

          1. I have greys living in my attic (above my bedroom). Luckily, husband is deaf and not aware of this, otherwise he'd shoot them. I would so much rather reds, but do find the greys engaging. This years batch play in a tree outside my window and are very cute, nice to wake up to.

            One of the few sensible initiatives embarked upon by the welsh lot – a rarity of which I approve – is the re-introduction of the Pine Marten, which is alleged to discourage the grey squirrel. I love Pine martens and do hope this will be a success.

          2. As with all young ‘uns, greys are cute. The males turn into bovver boys, here anyway. Oh you lucky son of a gun to have Pine Martens..I’ve read they love a chunk of bread smeared with jam…have you ever tried to photograph them? I really hope they’ll be successful, although they possibly do that by nest robbing?

          3. Haven't seen one here for decades, KJ. Just hoping! As an aside, I am a fan of mustelids in general, and always used to have pet ferrets. Don't anymore, but daughter still does. They are a delight. Did you know that badgers are also mustelids?

          4. Fascinating. I must have a try at drawing one. Ferrets are absolutely lethal killers, not seen one for years – or stoats, the beggar used to get into my hens time to time. Not seen a badger for a long time either setts fallen into disuse…far too much house building going on and resulting higher volume of traffic…nature and human lives don’t mix as much today as they did in the past.

          5. We stayed one year in a cottage in Scotland – where the pine marten was a regular visitor. The owners had made a feeding station, and it would walk along the window sill, and along the branch to a platform where we could put a jam sandwich or an egg. I took some not very good photos but it was quite fascinating to watch.

          6. I am so envious! It seems sad they rob birds nests, take eggs, young birds…all part of nature I guess, finding it’s own balance. Humans, other hand….currently watching Godfather (1974!) all merrily killing each other.

    2. It's great to see they're being re-established in various areas – they are so much more attractive than the greys, who I always think just look like rats with bushy tails……. plus they are naturally indigenous, and the greys arent!
      As an aside I noticed that in Scotland they are controlling them by re-inroducing pine martens (which is a good thing in itself) a natural squirrel predator – apparently the red squirrels, being lighter than the greys, can escape the pine marten by moving to the thinner and lighter branches of a tree, whereas the greys cant and get taken by the pine marten. Natural selection!

        1. Indeed, provided its done thoughtfully and sensitively.

          Actually I had to edit that – hunting for ecological reasons is fine, hunting for the pleasure in killing animals I have a bit of a problem with…….

      2. We have numerous martens and lots of red squirrels, they are pleasure to watch on the rare occasions when they are visible.
        The reds are much easier to spot here, but the way a marten moves in the undergrowth and thence into the trees is a sight to behold.
        A marten in the roof is not good news. They tend to nest at one end and use the other end for ablutions. One discovers the problem when the ceiling falls down.

        We managed to hear it in the gite well before it caused the problem and we evicted the little beast.

        Imagine Phizzee taking up residence in your attic and you'll get the idea.

    1. There used to be a school fund to assist those who paased Entrance but otherwise couldn't afford to attend. My school did that – not publicised and no names, no pack drill, but there was a fund for it.
      I was sponsored by HMG (see comments hours ago), so my Father didn't have to pay from his own account.

    1. Funny because when I was teaching, special needs children were in normal classes, usually without any support.

      1. As with my post below lots of people are getting rich over it.
        Also there are so many more children 'diagnosed' with special needs now.
        First cousin marriage is accelerating that.

          3. It's not quite as big – but it's still big enough and I love it! Us big nosed buggers have to stick together!

          5. Nah, all props have big noses (you know what they say – big hands, big feet, big nose….. big disappointment!)

            Mine has been bust that many times it looks like it has been taken off and put back on upside down……

          7. Definitely a No. 8! Remember the very sadly missed Andy Ripley? Tanking up the field like a cart horse, with his hair flowing, and his nose well in front! What a glorious sight!

          8. He was a great athlete also, I remember him winning all the Superstars (remember them?) events including the Grand Final – I seem to recall my Mum had a soft spot for him.

          10. Definitely a No. 8! Remember the very sadly missed Andy Ripley? Tanking up the field like a cart horse, with his hair flowing, and his nose well in front! What a glorious sight!

    1. Be fair, Starmer hasn't actually done anything himself other than appoint morons to positions of power, it's those cretins who are doing the damage.
      Starmer is merely the facilitator, obeying his masters at the WEF/EU/UN.

    2. Well, Starmer has done something. He sold us out to the hated EU. He intends to force compulsory ID cards. He keeps lying about everything. Every. Damned. Thing. Persistently, consistently.

  88. At school we used to play a silly game called "Spot the looney"

    A respected congressman has claimed that advanced alien beings could be hiding out in 'five or six' underwater UFO bases right off the US coast.

    Tennessee congressman Tim Burchett, a member of the House Oversight Committee overseeing UFO reports, drew massive attention on social media after saying that he believed there were alien 'entities' currently living in deep-water areas on Earth.

    Boy, oh boy, would this guy have been a shoo-in.
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-15138459/Entities-underwater-UFO-bases-US-congressman.html

    1. This is Tennessee, home of the Scopes trial among other things. Very "Christian"….

      A friend and his wife moved there back in the 1980's. They arrived, furniture delivered, then there was a knock on their door – a neighbour welcoming them, and inviting them to go to church with them on Sunday. Then another neighbour, same invite, different church. And another, and another. At which point they stopped answering the door…

          3. He’s probably hiding away somewhere near the cattery. Or maybe he has a homing instinct and is making his way home………how far would he have to walk to get to you?

    3. As long as they uttered "Ally's Snackbar" before slashing each others' throats, what's the problem?

  90. Woman raped by group of men in Oxfordshire churchyard
    Police believe ‘Good Samaritan’ tried to help the victim and urge her to come forward
     https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/09/28/woman-raped-group-men-oxfordshire-churchyard/

    "It is not known how many men were involved in the alleged assault and no description of the attackers has been issued by police."

    I wonder why this sentence arouses our suspicions – in fact no description of the attackers usually means they are NOT WHITE

      1. Then you'll have plod out attacking these groups to ensure muslim can continue unhindered.

        They're already letting off the paedophiles and attacking those exposing them. Odd that this started when muslim started being the most entrapped group.

    3. Every comment under that item in the DM makes the same points:
      Nearby hotel?
      No description?
      Information being deliberately withheld.
      Obviously not white.

    4. Sad, isn't it how predictable the state response is to protect the dindu gimmigrant.

      It's obvious this appalling crime was carried out by blacks or muslim. It's revolting that Starmer endorses these appalling rapes and attacks those who find rape abhorent.

    5. I think from memory in the US there is Coulter’s Law. This states that the longer it takes the mainstream media to report the ethnicity of the criminal (shooter) then the more certain that the criminal is black.

      1. You're right but the wilful denial of absolute medical fact stuns and depresses me! The 'Envy of the World' (with a nod to Mr. Thomas) is really a gift that just keeps on giving…….

  93. There is something desperately wrong with how the hard Left panders to the muslim. They're a problem. A nasty, vicious, cancerous problem. They should be dealt with, not endorsed.

  94. Goodnight everyone. I’ve taken some strong painkillers and I am off to bed with a hot water bottle to rest up.

          2. Bit scary today saw a large black cat long body and tail, flattish face. Dog started barking like mad after initial stunned silence. Then it binked off, dog sniffing all around. Cat at minimum double dog size, she’s a good sized border terrier. Yikes! Xx

    1. Lots of tomatoes are sourced from China. Even Italian tomatoes have been adulterated. Even your tubes of tom puree.

      The management of the NT are more concerned about being able to buy low and sell high.

    1. Fabulous – I always wonder how she knows which ones she has fed when they're all squawking at her!!

          4. They probably have to shut their beaks to swallow the food they’ve been given. So the parents go for the open ones.

      2. Don't really know, G4…except if a single cuckoo is raised the small bird will feed it until it itself dies…..

    3. Wonderful! Our bluetits laid eight eggs two years running. Sadly most did not survive to fledging, The first lot died one by one and the parents disposed of the little corpses – each time we looked another had gone. The following year there were three left to fledge. The box wasn't used this year.

      1. Husband has made boxes, all to online instructions, birds still prefer any old nook or cranny. I suspect the new wood gives off some kind of scent they don't care for. Bigger box for tawny owls been more successful, but they still prefer old hollow tree. I hope they return to use your box – don't clean it out or varnish it etc might that help?

        1. The old nesting material was removed, but it hasn't been cleaned or varnished. The first year, when all the chicks died, it was new, so the painted exterior might have had something to do with it. I hope it will be used again in the spring. All our swift boxes that were occupied did well, apart from the one that had been stuffed full of straw by starlings. We saw the little chick stagger out of the nest . We found the little mummified corpse a few months later when our neighbour went up and took it down for us. The parents deserted but hopefully they will be back to try again next year.

          1. Think you’re right about the paint. Maybe try not clearing out, each female likes to do her own decorating 😀 I remember the swift boxes and being envious! And yes, I must find a few little corpses each year, very sad – that’s nature, all a bit raw sometimes. Good luck for next year x

      2. One thing I've noticed in recent years is the absence of dead fledglings on the ground. I don't know whether that's because of fewer fledglings each spring or of better survival rates, but they used to be commonplace in years gone by, far less so nowadays.

        1. The year the bluetits lost all eight chicks (2022) we didn’t find any dead ones on the ground so I think they must have disposed of them further afield. But on the camera each day the live chick count went down. I don’t know what the reason is for seeing fewer on the ground.

  100. A beautiful day after a dull and very unpromising start and a totally clear sky as I type this, so I expect a rather chillier morning tomorrow!
    A first touch of frost perhaps?

    Not really a lot done today, but with a decent day forecast tomorrow, I hope to get a mix of cement done and some more of the stone facing to the lower terrace wall done.
    And, with that, I'm off to bed.
    Goodnight all.

  101. The concert this afternoon was wonderful – if you have a chance to see/hear the Paddington Trio – very young and top class players.
    Sadly, getting there was stressful – J was driving, and he's used to using an automatic. so he kept forgetting to change gear, and drove very slowly. So we were a bit later arriving than planned, so I did my usual, and dashed on ahead, leaving him to walk at his pace. But he'd forgotten where we were going………and how to get there. I thought he might have crept in at the back…… but he hadn't. At the interval, he arrived with a member of the Cathedral 'friends' who had shown him the way. He missed the first half, which was excellent.
    Still. I've learnt from that experience – we leave half an hour earlier, I drive, and we walk round together. I walk much faster than he does, but I'll have to slow down to his pace.

    1. I, too, have learned how to make allowances for the slower ambulations of others. It's mildly frustrating but better than urging them to walk faster, stressing both them and me. Yes, leaving earlier than you once would have done is the way to go.

      1. I shouldn’t have left him to make his own way there ( a five minute walk from where we left the car). It’s a learning curve for me to mitigate what is probably the early stages of dementia. He was always able to find his way to the venue before, but a few minutes behind me.

  102. I'm off now as well I was hoping to find the Ryder cup had been won by Europe by now.
    Interestingly I use to to play quite often at Verulum golf club St Albans..
    I believe it's where Sam Ryder originally introduced a trophy to encourage a competition one afternoon all those years ago.
    It gave the then players something to do after lunch. A nice course. 🏌‍♂️🏌‍♀️🏌🤷👍

    1. I'm watching right now – it seems, unbelievably, as though Europe might blow it! aaargh, those loudmouthed effing Yanks!!l

  103. Good evening, all. This has been an interesting day for me. After 54 years as a humble village organist, I've retired. Not through choice, but my contract terminates at the end of the month. The parish cannot longer afford me, apparently.

    In fairness, my original contract would have teminated at the old retirement age of 65, so I've gained around 3.5 years of extra employment.

    I was treated to a valedictory service this morning, where a "pop-up" choir did a remarkably adventurous programme. I muddled through the accompaniment, since I still have vision issues, which prevent me from reading music. They're improving, glacially, but I'm confident they'll be sorted in the end. But, I got there without disaster.

    So – over to the volunteers. Today's choir won't be the future, sadly. It was largely driven by a family of excellent musicians, who mostly don't live in the village. One of whom is one of the volunteer organists from now on. He's also a senior High Court judge in Wales. While I used to have a flexible arrangement with John Laing Construction, where weekday funerals were concerned, I can't see the Judiciary being as flexible. Add an Eton College Housemaster and his Son.

    This morning's service was genuinely lovely, and I'm humbled by the response to my tenure.

    I very much hope the new arrangement will succeed. I won't be holding my breath…

      1. I have plans. Somewhat dependent on restoration of my vision, but I'm heading in the right direction there, albeit slowly.

        There's a "virtual pipe organ" to be built, as soon as I can tell which end of a soldeing iron to hold…

        I have plans for Sunday worship. After 54 years of being "chained" to village organs, I'm going to tour the cathedrals, and other churches where music is done proper, like.

        This may involve Saturday night Travelodge stays – so what?

        1. Travelodge? Dont knock it – unless you're sharing it with several hundred 'migrants' – no problem however, they might all be Seventh Day Adventists….

    2. Good that it went well today, Geoff. I made it to Evensong for the first tine since 24 Aug. Sat down throughout except for the creed. Is your sight problem related to diabetes? There was a lady in my ward in the hospital who was diabetic and after heart bypass surgery was experiencing sight loss which I think wasn’t expected to be permanent.

      1. Glad to hear, Sue. Logistics permitting, I'm tempted to join you, one of these days. St Bart's in this parish differs somewhat from yours: You prolly weren't used as a cow shed. Or, for that matter, as a training ground for Special Operations Executive in WW2…

      2. Hi, Sue. Diabetes it is. The retinal bleed in the “good eye”was dur to blood vessels growing that shouldn’t have, due to diabetes. All the offending vessels have been zapped with lasers. I don’t think I’ve bled since the last laser session, thankfully.

    3. 'Evening Geoff…mixed news, some sadness. Hope you can continue with keyboard playing somehow (If you want to), or even take up a new hobby. I've found best to keep my mind busy, the days I don't feel physically well. Good luck – and please keep posting here? Love, Kate xxx

      1. Hi Kate. I'm sad, in the sense that I still had something to offer, despite the vision issues.

        Practically, the Parish is in dire financial straits, and they can't afford me. I've offered a way forward, but the "Great and good" have better ideas. They won't work. They have rto be allowed to fail. I hope they don't, since I feel I need to move on.

        I wasn't just organist. I was Verger at one of the churches in the Parish, and despite being moved out of the parish five years ago, I still know more about that building than anyone else alive. The Rector understands this. Churshwardens? Less so.

        Bottom line is that I'll move my worship elsewhere, but I'll keep doing the printing for the parish, since it just paid for a full set of toner cartridges, and – frankly – the logistics of moving "my" printer elsewhere are too stressful.

        Meanwhile, I have plans to explore Cathedral worship, where someone else takes all the responsibility. Bliss…

        1. I understand, Geoff. Your Parish won’t be the only one, by a long chalk – the future of village churches looks a bit bleak. Your worship will surely be welcomed, the more the better – I look forward to reading your thoughts/experience if you post an update please? Good of you to continue printing – I know how much those cartridges cost. Our newsletter doesn’t publish as often, and covers more than one parish – possibly online version is the way forward. Would also like to read your thoughts on Cathedral worship, enjoy the freedom. G’night Geoff, sleep well! x

          1. Thanks, Kate.

            I hear we have a new Dean at Guildford Cathedral. Our Rector had a long conversation with him and deemed hin "A Good Thing."

            I'll explore, but building the place on the top of Stag Hill didn't exactly aid accessibility*.

            I can always make the 10 minute journey by train to Guildford (that includes the walk from home to Platform 1), and get a taxi from the station rank.

            At least the journey back to the station is downhill…

            *I once noticed a tactile model of the Cathedral, proudly displayed, for the blind and visually impaired. Brilliant. Except it was locked in a Perspex case, so any passing blind barstewards couldn't pass their grubby fingers over it.

          2. I’m more and more reminded the past is a foreign country, Geoff. We’re getting old, and unfortunately can’t turn the clock back. I thought all public buildings had to have accessibility now? Make a fuss?! Bit of a trend for Perspex boxes, I guess they do their job – not a fan myself, but as you say, rob anything now. Nil carborundum and all that. Have a good kip x and see you next time x

          3. With regard to your Rector's report on the new Dean of Guildford, I would have thought that almost anyone would be an improvement on the sometime magenta-haired woman who was the previous Dean.

          5. Quiite so. Being somewhat disabled, with the state of pavements in Guildford, the decision to place the new Cathedral on a mountain peak (I exaggerate somewhat) left something to be desired. But there are always taxis at the station (not least because the idiots in the Borough Council have issued far more Hackney Cab licences than would meet the demand.

            At least the return walk to the station is downhill…

          6. Back in the 1960s when they were still finishing off Guildford Cathedral, my newlywed wife and I popped inside and were delighted with the 'Buy a Brick' scheme whereby we could buy a brick each for 2s 6d, (equivalent to £5 these days), write our names on them in thick Carpenters' pencil and have them built into the tower. They are still there on Stag Hill for all I know. Prince Philip's and Queen Elizabeth II's bricks are apparently still on display.

          7. When I attend, I’ll take a lump hammer and a bolster chisel, and attempt to find them…

            Might take a while. I’m aware of the scheme, but I was a few hundred miles North at the time, and no older than four…

          8. Back in the 1960s when they were still finishing off Guildford Cathedral, my newlywed wife and I popped inside and were delighted with the 'Buy a Brick' scheme whereby we could buy a brick each for 2s 6d, (equivalent to £5 these days), write our names on them in thick Carpenters' pencil and have them built into the tower. They are still there on Stag Hill for all I know. Prince Philip's and Queen Elizabeth II's bricks are apparently still on display.

          9. The best bricklayer I had the pleasure of working with, Michael Brum, did his apprenticeship on Guildford Cathedral.

            We worked together on several projects at Hampton Court Palace. These included the restoration of the Great Kitchen Chimneys and numerous chimney restorations particularly around the Base Court.

            The latter are ornate chimneys, facsimiles of Tudor ones, and built using soft ‘Rubbers’ viz. oversized bricks cut to gauge with wire bow-saws and then to shape in wooden cutting boxes to shapes designed to achieve the various barley twist and other spiral patterns.

          10. Hi, John.

            Did your bricklayer understand the concept of aligning perpends? I’m afraid I think the brickwork in the cathedral is utter rubbish. It adds to the sense of an “ecclesiastical power station”. Not alllis lost, though. It’s better internally, assuming they’ve now got rid of the asbestos.

            I hear positive comments re. the new Dean.

            My career with Laing began in Carlisle. A spell in General Works gave me an insight into the stonemasons at Carlisle Cathedral. They were awesome craftsmen, as I’m sure you can imagine.

          11. If you visit Hampton Court look out for the reconstructed Wren niche in the gardens. Michael Brum rebuilt one of the niches to perfection.

            I never cared much for the design of Guildford Cathedral. The Architect was Sir Edward Maufe. He designed a number of London churches but was by no means as accomplished as Sir Edwin Lutyens. I would have loved to have seen the Metropolitan Cathedral in Liverpool originally designed by Lutyens built to completion. The Lutyens scheme was cancelled after completion of the crypt, slabbed over and to which was planted “Paddy’s Wigwam” by Sir Frederick Gibberd (for whom I worked briefly in the seventies).

          12. +1 for Lutyens. I’ve never been to Paddy’s Wigwam, but I’ve been to the Anglican Cathedral a couple of times, Once just as a visitor in search of lunch, having been bitterly disappointed by Radisson Blu’s idea of a cooked breakfast. The other was the ex’s son’s graduation.

            Next day, I was invited to my former Rector’s thatched Tudor cottage in Catherington. They took me to Winchester for an organ recital. “What do you think of the organ?” they asked. “It’s OK, but a bit small”, I replied. (Liverpool is the largest organ in the UK).
            I view Guildford Cathedral’s architecture as a sort of “ecclesiastical power station”. The interior is better.

          13. John Deal was our architect for quinquennial inspections. He designed a toilet / kitchen addition for St John, Puttenham. Most of the village were agin it. In the end, he designed an extention which, perhaps ten years later, is indistinguishable from the rest of the building. He arranged for some repairs to the tower at St Laurence, Seale to be carried out by Peter Harknett. Britain’s oldest steeplejack, whose career dwarfed my 54 years as an organist.

            John Deal related a tale about Peter: he once bet Peter that he wouldn’t ride a bicycle around the tower parapet at Guildford. He lost the bet.

          14. The best bricklayer I had the pleasure of working with, Michael Brum, did his apprenticeship on Guildford Cathedral.

            We worked together on several projects at Hampton Court Palace. These included the restoration of the Great Kitchen Chimneys and numerous chimney restorations particularly around the Base Court.

            The latter are ornate chimneys, facsimiles of Tudor ones, and built using soft ‘Rubbers’ viz. oversized bricks cut to gauge with wire bow-saws and then to shape in wooden cutting boxes to shapes designed to achieve the various barley twist and other spiral patterns.

        2. The Church of England is so inept. I have completed the occasional project for the Church Commissioners. They have substantial investments and invest in both property acquisition and development.

          We should ask what they do with the money. Poor investments in fashionable eco projects and other woke nonsense I suspect.

          As with our political class we need to witness a clear out at the top. They too have lost sight of their purpose and continue to ignore the sentiments and aspirations of their flock.

          1. Don’t get me started, John. I’m done with the CofE.

            Thankfully, our (OK – my former) ex Army Chaplain Rector is the opposite of woke, and has a running battle with the Diocese.

            He’s put quite a few noses ot of joint in the Parish, but he’s basically sound, and his ser ons go where most Anglican priests would – I imagine – fear to tread.

    5. So! You are an unaffordable luxury, Geoff. As are all purveyors of beauty and skill in this Godforsaken age. Gezuntheit!

          1. This.

            Incidentally, when I was D of Mus. at St Alban, Hindhead, we had none other than Sheila Armstrong in the choir. When they recorded the original sketch for radio, she was present in the studio, with Eric, Ernie and Andre…

          2. Wow – touched by greatness!

            PS When Andre Previn died I couldnt help laughing that, despite the numerous accolades he had received – Four Oscars, Ten Grammys, principal conductor of the LSO (and many others!) – all that was ever shown on TV was that sketch with Morecambe & Wise.

            I do hope he wouldnt have been disappointed!

    6. Best wishes, Geoff. I'm not often forthcoming when it comes to praise, but I do appreciate your efforts in keeping this forum open and, despite my ignorance of matters ecclesiastical, I hope you can find a perch somewhere in the church which is as rewarding to you as you have been to others.

      1. Thanks, David. I have a few options in mind, but there’s no hurry. But – notwithstanding Nottle – much of my social life was just deleted. Sunday School, Cubs, Scouts, Church Youth Club – the latter led to running a mobile disco. I did the tech stuff. As a DJ I could clear a dance floor instantly.

        There’s a church in Guildford, a short walk from the station, which seems interesting. I suspect there’s more chance of meeting people there than at the Cathedral. I could possibly join their choir. Only time will tell…

    8. Bless you Geoff! Sending very best wishes for the future, and good luck with your plans! Hope to see you again soon! 🥰

  104. Shane Lowry – You beauty!! Europe retains the Ryder Cup!! Yee-hah suck on that you loudmouthed Yanks!!

      1. So, GGGGaspar, which then is Keegan Bradley, the USA captain? A "loudmouthed Yank" or a man who is "extraordinarily gracious in defeat"?

        1. He's a loudmouthed Yank who just happens to be extraordinarily gracious in defeat – before they lost he was charging around the course challenging various rulings and whipping up the crowd……

    1. It is true, but somebody pointed out that the WEF has disappeared. It was big during covid but you never hear anything about it now. Does anyone even know that Schwab has retired and there's a new man running it now? Also Common Purpose, they are still going as far as I know. The Fabians have been around forever with their wolf in sheep's clothing logo, but they're suddenly the go-to group for everyone to get upset about.
      Nothing on X is organic, it all depends on what the algorithms promote.

      1. 413635+ up ticks,

        Morning BB2,

        I see X as a market stall with wares on show, leaving the peoples to select and comment on.

        1. Ogga, everything you see on X is tightly controlled by its algorithms, which promote what it wants to promote. Censorship upped its game, that’s all.

    1. What a complete asshole…. I would like to think that, at some time in the future, he will reap as he has sown but I wont hold my breath over the bewigged fuckwit.

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