Sunday 29 August: Britain must brace for a world where America no longer calls the shots

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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650 thoughts on “Sunday 29 August: Britain must brace for a world where America no longer calls the shots”

  1. Final British troops leave Afghanistan to end 20-year campaign. 29 August 2021.

    The prime minister, Boris Johnson, said now was a time to reflect on the UK’s mission in Afghanistan.

    “Twenty years ago, in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, the first British soldier set foot on Afghan soil aiming to create a brighter future for the country and all its people,” he said.

    “The departure of the last British soldiers from the country is a moment to reflect on everything we have sacrificed and everything we have achieved in the last two decades.

    “The nature of our engagement in Afghanistan may have changed, but our goals for the country have not. We will now use all the diplomatic and humanitarian tools at our disposal to preserve the gains of the last 20 years and give the Afghan people the future they deserve.”

    Morning everyone. This is vainglorious posturing from the leader of a decadent political class which feels nothing for the soldiers whose lives they have sacrificed in a cause with neither sense nor virtue. The coalition of western forces; the greatest agglomeration of Military and Economic Power in the world, has just suffered utter defeat at the hands of a rag tag army of Muslim Jihadists. It is very probably the worst result since Manzikert which eventually saw the end of the Byzantine Empire and the extinction of Eastern Christianity. Kabul will have similar effects. The expulsion from Iraq will be next and the West’s competitors most notably China will be enormously encouraged. One cannot but feel that the seizure of Taiwan must now be on the cards. All this, the geopolitical outcome, is bad enough but it is against the background of a decadent west, a hollowed out civilisation without Conviction or Belief, particularly in Europe and the UK where the people are without purpose and whose leaders personify cowardice, corruption and self-interest. Like Ancient Babylon the writing is on the wall!

    Mene Mene Tekel Upharsin.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/28/final-uk-evacuation-flight-leaves-kabul-airport-in-afghanistan

    1. Morning Minty et al.

      I always struggle with translations. Does it translate as:

      ‘Many, many take it up ar5e?’

    2. Couldn’t find the Latin for ‘I got my arse kicked’. Anyone? Closest I could find:

      veni, vidi, perdidi → I came, I saw, I lost

    3. Until a year ago, I’d never used the word “bloviating”. In the past 12 months I’ve made up for that neglect.

  2. Some supportive letters about Heat Pumps with caveats. I still want to stay with my gas boiler.

      2. Good morning all.

        Full sun here , amazing blue sky, first fine morning for about a week .

        I am certain we had a frost last night , dogs were let out into the garden at about 01.30 hrs , as was I , and the air had that brrrrr factor , as did the grass.

  6. New terror attack ‘highly likely in next 24-36 hours’, says Biden. 29 August 2021.

    In a statement, the president said: ““The situation on the ground continues to be extremely dangerous, and the threat of terrorist attacks on the airport remains high. Our commanders informed me that an attack is highly likely in the next 24-36 hours.”

    Biden is going to wait till it happens before killing a few goatherds in retribution one assumes?

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2021/aug/28/afghanistan-live-news-uks-ability-to-process-evacuations-extremely-reduced-as-us-on-alert-for-further-attacks?page=with:block-612a87088f08b30431f84fe6#block-612a87088f08b30431f84fe6

    1. 338221+ up ticks,
      Morning AS,
      I believe many will be thinking “our boris will beat biden
      rhetorically any day of the week”.

    2. High on a hill was a lonely goatherd
      Lay ee odl lay ee odl lay hee hoo
      Loud was the voice of the lonely goatherd
      Lay ee odl lay ee odl-oo

      Folks in a town that was quite remote heard
      Lay ee odl lay ee BOOM hoo
      No sound from the goatherd’s throat was heard
      Lay ee odl lay ee odl-oo

      A President in a castle over promoted
      Lay ee odl lay ee odl lay hee hoo
      Had ordered men with a load
      To off the goatherd
      Lay ee odl lay ee odl-oo

  7. 338221+ up ticks,
    Morning Each,

    Sunday 29 August: Britain must brace for a world where America no longer calls the shots,

    So on completing the circle looking back through history we are once again masters of our own destiny only this time, sham masters of our own destiny.

    We are in NO WAY capable either politically,physically, morally able to stand alone and fight as we once did, we are going through an appeasement, acceptance age with the peoples consent there is no doubt of that.

    The kapo force is building daily via indigenous ( uniform will be supplied) & DOVER illegals employed.

    GB news, would I house a refugee NO emphatically NO even if I had a 100 empty rooms doing that you, I believe, are making yourself legally responsible for their actions ongoing,besides YOU will be aiding &
    abetting the political overseers in their “Take Great Britain down” campaign.

    May be disagreeable news to many but the family & Country come ahead of “the party”

    By the by, the weather we cannot change, the governance overseers, we CAN.

    ing

  8. ‘Morning, Peeps.

    I would like to think that this may prove to be the long-awaited fightback against wokery, but I fear that it is already so deeply entrenched (BBC etc) that the cause is already lost:

    Top scholars launch fightback against woke brigade’s ‘blatantly false’ reading of history

    Leading academics join forces for History Reclaimed campaign, aimed at calling out misleading narratives about historical figures

    By
    Camilla Turner,
    EDUCATION EDITOR
    29 August 2021 • 6:00am

    In academic circles, there has been growing consternation at the steady march of “woke” ideology which has seen statues pulled down, university degrees “decolonised” and museum exhibits relabelled or removed altogether.

    Now some of the country’s most eminent professors have decided that enough is enough.

    No longer content to stay silent, they are mounting a fightback as they say “distortions” and “blatantly false” readings of history have become so widespread that they threaten to undermine Western civilisation.

    Robert Tombs, emeritus professor of History at the University of Cambridge, said that there has been increasing “alarm” among his colleagues at the sustained attack that historical figures have come under in recent years.

    “Pulling down Colston is one thing, but cancelling Gladstone, Robert Peel, Churchill… This is not simply an attack on people connected with slavery. It is an attack on our whole historical tradition,” he said.

    “I think the wokeness is probably coming from a very active minority, but one which is in fact rather influential in academia and in institutions like museums. But I don’t think it has very much public support.

    “The argument has been very one-way. It has been their views imposed on everyone else. This is often based on a very distorted view of history and in a sense it can be seen as a way to undermine the whole of Western civilisation, culture and tradition.

    “There are plenty of academics of repute who do not go along with this view, which is in fact very partial. I thought, I am sure others think this too, and started contacting other people. And it started there.”

    After enlisting the support of more than 40 leading intellectuals, Prof Tombs is now launching a new campaign called History Reclaimed, which is aimed at “calling out” misleading or one-sided narratives about historical figures or events.

    A website will be published on Sunday with articles from some of the world’s foremost scholars on contentious issues such as Empire, slavery and critical race theory.

    The History Reclaimed site will be co-edited by Prof Tombs and David Abulafia, emeritus professor of Mediterranean history at Cambridge.

    Writing in The Telegraph, Prof Abulafia explains that the project “aims to recover ways of looking at the past that are being pushed to one side by ideologically-driven distortions about what happened in history”.

    The campaign has enlisted the support of several Oxford dons, including Nigel Biggar, regius professor of moral and pastoral theology; Lawrence Goldman, emeritus professor and an expert in British and American history; and Sir Noel Malcolm, a senior research fellow.

    Academics from across Europe, Canada, New Zealand and the US have also lent their support to the project, including Prof Niall Ferguson, a senior fellow at Stanford University, and Prof Simon Haines, who leads the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation in Sydney.

    The website’s intended audience is the general public who are not experts in history, but are concerned by what they have read, according to Prof Tombs.

    “You read in the paper that Churchill is a racist and you think could that really be true? The idea is to publish short and accessible pieces which they could read,” he explained.

    “Our articles could also be read by ministers, civil servants, trustees of museums and galleries, or local authorities who may come under pressure.”

    ‘If no one speaks up, woke ideology will monopolise debate’
    Last summer, Black Lives Matter supporters compiled a “hit list” of dozens of statues across the country.

    Statues of historical figures including Sir Francis Drake, Nancy Astor, Christopher Columbus and William Gladstone should be toppled “for celebrating slavery and racism”, campaigners said.

    Prof Tombs said: “There must be local councillors who think, what is the truth about this? Should we pull it down or put up an explanation or what? We will provide what I hope will be solid and historical explanations.”

    Academics fear that if no one speaks up, the “woke” ideology will continue to monopolise public debate.

    “We are pushing back against a very simplistic narrative about slavery and colonialsim that has taken hold,” said Prof Doug Stokes, an expert in international relations at Exeter University who sits on the editorial committee of History Reclaimed.

    “Unless we push back, this will continue to be imposed on the British public. Broadly speaking, this country has played a hugely progressive role in history: the Magna Carta; the abolition movement; fighting against the Nazis. People should feel proud of that.”

    1. “Broadly speaking, this country has played a hugely progressive role in history…” Strike me Pink!, old boy. That is the biggest understatement of all time!
      Most of history is full of wars. While exciting at the time, they mostly promoted the development of weaponry for bigger and better wars (if you like that sort of thing).
      What we did is save knowledge in monasteries through the Dark Ages. We developed agriculture and science,and medicine. We invented the Industrial Revolution and thus every technical innovation thereafter. We gave birth to the Enlightenment, to novels and literature. We invented leisure time and universal schooling. We abolished slavery and devised co-operative societies.
      Broadly speaking, of course.

    1. The tin bath will be out shortly on the floor once the water in pots is heated. Then the wife has to deal with his clothes and the dirty dishes. His wife’s job is never done. Some pits had communal baths so that some of the coal dust could be removed and cabinets for a change of clothing. Very hard work for the pair of them.

        1. I used to turn a smaller mangle in the 40s. A real threat to big-busted elderly ladies.

          1. Hence the saying, “I never laughed so much since my Grannie caught her left tit in the mangle”!

          4. We had a mangle at home when I was a boy and I used to turn the handle for the laundry maid. And at prep school we used to sing the chorus of Never Let Your Braces Dangle though the words we sang were not quite the same:

            Never let your braces dangle, never let your braces dangle
            One old sport, he got caught standing by the kitchen mangle.
            Through the rollers – oh what fun –
            Flat as a piece of linoleum
            Now he sings in Kingdom Come
            ‘Never let your braces dangle.’

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VamRn-gKSgI

        3. When we lived out in the boondocks in a old farmhouse during the 1950s, we had Calor gas for hot water. It was heated up in a boiler like that. It was in the bathroom and we ladled hot water into the bath or carried it through to the kitchen in a bucket.
          We had Calor gas lighting in the kitchen and sitting room – elsewhere was torches and candles – even my mother’s iron was powered by Calor gas.
          We had an Aunt Elsie in the bathroom, but fortunately the bath actually had a drain into the septic tank. AE had to be emptied into an outside drain about every 3 days. The water all came via a manual pump from a borehole out in the garden.

          1. My ‘bitz’ relate to living in large Cityi in late 1940’s/1950s

            When I ‘left home’ at nearly 17 years old,we stillnply out the outside Cludge (and a ‘potty’ at night on the landing.

            Wedid have a bath, in what had been the Pantry, and a Gas Geyser for that and the kitchen sink

            The washing was still done in t’The Copper’

        4. We had something similar when I was growing up. Often I wander around museums and think “we had one of those!” 🙂

      2. 338221+ up ticks,
        Morning Cs,
        Mentioned to the Mrs the tin bath played a big part in the daily routine, my dad was a colliery worker at 14 in
        Newcastle, his cap was bigger than him.

        1. Some of the older coal mines did not adopt pithead baths until after Nationalisation.

  10. Joe Biden ‘holds grudges’ and will punish Britain for Afghanistan criticism, allies say. 29 August 2021.

    Joe Biden “will remember” comments about his mental acuity emanating from senior figures in the UK, and will “bear a grudge” against Britain, sources told the Telegraph.

    “The Brits have their view. But they should be careful. What’s been said is offensive and he will remember it. He actually has a long memory,” a US source told the Telegraph.

    The source added: “The president is not ‘gaga’. He’s actually picked up his game quite a bit since the campaign.”

    His games picked up? Thank God he wasn’t on a downer! He’s just led the West to its greatest and very probably its terminal defeat!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2021/08/29/joe-biden-holds-grudges-will-punish-britain-afghanistan-criticism/

    5. O! let me not be mad, not mad, sweet heaven;
      Keep me in temper; I would not be mad!

      Shakespeare could have written the character of King Lear just for Joe Biden but the sad thing is that he lacks the self-awareness even to play the role with any understanding.

    6. Senile patients do have a long memory. That’s why many of them talk to their mothers and fathers but don’t recognise spouses or children.

  11. Good morning from a bright & dry Derbyshire. Cloudy with scattered blue bits and 10°C.

  14. Carolyn Bates makes some good points in a BTL Comment:-

    Carolyn Bates
    29 Aug 2021 6:06AM
    I do not agree that we can no longer rely on America. The US is our closest ally, and will remain so. Biden is the one who has let us down, but he has also let down the US and the world.

    That it has taken this catastrophe for most of the British Press to see Biden for what he is, is shocking, when most of their readership have been aware of it for the past nine months. That a president could destroy the country, and its reputation, in such a short time is abhorrent.

    However, it is one man, President Trump, who has had to face a constant, and unrelenting attack on his persona since the last election by Big Tech, the MSM, and left-leaning news channels, and now, they have the absolute audacity to suddenly begin criticising Biden when they have done absolutely everything they could, to destroy the reputation of the one and only man, who can now save the US.

    They created Trump Derangement Syndrome, and this is the result – a terrorist super state in the Middle East, which is armed to the hilt thanks to Biden, an America that is on her knees and left reeling by the inadequacy of the illegitimate president, and a people who now consider themselves at war with Afghanistan due to the loss of thirteen Marines, most of whom, were not even born when the twin towers were attacked.

    The world is a lot less safe than when Trump was in Office and will continue to be so, for every day Biden is left in the White House.

    1. Have the ordinary Democrat Party voters, along with some obvious electoral fraud, finally realised what they have done? Voting for a compos mentis serial underachiever/non-achiever would have been foolhardy but to vote for someone who does not have full control of his mental faculties is going to the extreme end of stupidity. You reap what you sow doesn’t cover what the Democrat voters have done as their action has global implications, as the Afghanistan fiasco is displaying by the hour.

      1. To be fair, many Democrat voters had no idea who they were voting for.
        After all, they’d been dead for years!

        2. Many of us here never believed that Biden had won the election honestly but even some of my intelligent friends thought I was falling into the trap of a conspiracy theory in saying and thinking so.

          Now of course more and more people are prepared to voice their doubts about the veracity of the election. But however disastrous Biden is as president the fact of the matter is that he either did or did not win the election fairly. I have never swerved from the view that he and his party cheated.

          1. I actually think that Trump’s supporters also cheated – after all they are all Americans playing politics together. It all came down perhaps to who cheated better.

            If you think about it, if you are going to lead your nation into battle, isn’t that a good a way as any for the public to choose their champion? Churchill won the war by cheating Hitler; Chamberlain was an honest man who would never have done such a thing.

        3. And the rest were voting machines. When did the Yanks lose the ability to put pencil to paper?

          4. Surely the answer is to do what they do in London. Diane Abbott is a black woman and therefore eminently qualified to teach maths.

      2. Ordinary Democrat Party voters? Mainly BAMES and commies and Pentagon experts I guess.
        Edit: I am not blind to Mr Trump’s many faults.

    2. Trump’s hedonistic capriciousness followed by Biden’s lack of guile or indeed any spark of intelligence beyond sitting in his armchair burbling in his soup reminds me of two British kings – Edward VII and George V.

      Tum-Tum lived in a world precariously balanced between inbred cousins controlling Europe, holding together a stability that relied on expert diplomacy that was evaporating like the mist and leaving the whole edifice perched on a house of cards with five rickety kings and no aces. The Stamp Collector really hadn’t a clue. They shaved the hair of those Russian princesses before they shot them.

      As with events from a century ago, I see Biden as more a continuation of Trump’s policy of pulling out of foreign adventures bad for business, and betraying his friends in the most horrible way possible and forcing them to throw in their lot with their enemies, begging for mercy.

      The difference was that Trump had the chutzpah to get away with it; Biden doesn’t.

    2. Looking the wrong way as usual.

      The Taliban are not the new Afghan reality. Isis-K is. They happen to be fanatical Islamics. Which is why our government pretends otherwise. They so like the goatfuckers.

      1. Had you ever heard of ISIS-K until two weeks ago?
        The US seems to have conveniently discovered them so they could clear the crowds gathering at Kabul airport !!

          1. Ah, yes. Looking on the bright side, this new bunch of jihadis are being kind enough to keep the US advised in advance of their planned atrocities.

          2. Possibly showing their gratitude for all the new high spec equipment that Biden gave them.

          3. They probably did.
            Some moron at the CIA will have concluded that a massive civil war might eliminate hordes of them on both sides. They could send trained jihadists in all directions, even harming China Iran and Pakistan.They could even have thought it would be a good idea to leave the wherewithal to make the killing sprees even more efficient.

            They also will have considered that trained Jihadists will be sent out in all directs, including China, Pakistan and Iran

        4. Harry, I am puzzled as to how one body-worn explosive device could kill almost 200 people in a crowd.

    3. “We must be clear-eyed about the Taliban and use all levers at our disposal to attempt to moderate appease them.”

    4. How is being clear-eyed about the Taliban compatible with letting 1000s of unvetted young muslim men invade our southern shores and immediately putting them into 4-star accommodation, rather than into chains on aN prison ship?

  17. 338221+ up ticks,
    Dt,
    Live Afghanistan: Boris Johnson says UK departure mission ‘unlike anything we’ve seen in our lifetimes’ – latest news

    Has Dunkirk been erased from history then on account no doubt because the Government were on the side of the peoples.

      2. And the landings were so close together, if you missed, you just carried on back to your starting airport, refuelled, and were knitted back into the pattern. No circling & trying again.
        A depressing number of crashes, too.

    1. So vaxx stops

      Cancer
      Broken limbs
      Stomach ache
      Heart problems
      Anxiety
      Flu
      etc

      It is a proven fact, that Covid has stopped the treatment for all the above, causing many deaths

      1. 338221+ up ticks,
        Morning OLT,
        The jab although untested via time for odious consequence has been taken up by many a person.

        The orchestrated fear campaign accounts for a lot.

        In a short amount of time the daily mounting of sufferers
        via neglect WILL without doubt outnumber the
        covid ( flu variant) casualties.

    2. So vaxx stops

      Cancer
      Broken lims
      Stomach ache
      Heart problems
      Anxiety
      Flu
      etc

      It is a proven fact, that Covid has stoped the treatment for all the above, causing many deaths

    3. Cheap enough get-out from taking an unknown and failing potion into one’s body.

      Steven in London obviously hasn’t done his research on why anyone should take a jab that contains last year’s potion to combat this year’s “new variant”.

  19. Dead Beat

    It’s spring and the bear comes out of his cave.

    His knees are wobbling and he’s a total wreck.

    He’s all skin and bones with big circles under his eyes.

    So his brother looks at him and says: “You look awful! Didn’t you hibernate all winter like you were supposed to?”

    To which the bear replies: “Hibernate?! Holy shit! I thought you said masturbate!”

  20. Cats, eh?

    G & P go out at 5 am. Breakfast at 7 am. Gus on the doorstep. No sign of Pickles. Waited an hour. No sign. Scoured road, verges for corpse. Nothing. Walked for miles round garden and adjoining fields. Nothing. Resigned to fate.

    Five minutes ago, the MR heard a faint squeak (neither of them miaow) outside front door. Pickles. “Where’s my breakfast?”

      1. I expect he was hunting. When in that mode, he’ll ignore you if you are six feet away…..

        Makes you anxious, though.

    2. Last night we forgot to shut the door to the ‘snug’ where Spartie usually sleeps.
      Small dog appeared on our bed, looking very smug. We resigned ourselves to ‘one night only’ as a treat. He thanked us by being sick at 5.00 am.
      As is normally the case with dogs, he was fine – us, not so much.

    3. Ruddy beasts, cats. When you call them, they ignore you. When you’re busy, they won’t leave you alone.

      Then they sit with you in the attic, fall asleep, then you close it up and the blighters then squeak to be let down.

    4. During the warm summer days of next summer they will be off for days at a time. They are so engrossed in their cat-world they just forget the time and day. Just warning you, be prepared…!

      2. Bring back Wenger.

        They are so appalling at the moment that I would not be surprised to see them relegated.

          1. “….And deliver us from relegation,
            For mine is the TV rights, the munnee and the glory,
            For ever and ever,
            Amen”….

    2. Even after 2 coffees, I’m not sure what’s happening.
      Would you graciously enlighten me (and Spartacus)?

    3. Sings..
      My old man said “Be an Arsenal fan”
      I said “F*ck, sh*t b*ll*cks you’re a c*ck”

      One of my favourite football chants. Pithy and to the point.
      🙂

        1. Some ladies can suprise with their langwidge.

          It’s her being in the army and that.

          1. I think someone has hacked Stormies account.

            I have met the lady in question and butter wouldn’t melt….as it were.

          3. I hear worse than I have ever uttered from little darlings who wouldn’t be seen within five miles of a beret.

  22. We have no political party to represent those with traditional British values – the Conservative Party has betrayed us completely.

    I do not like M. Macron – he is a small-minded vindictive little twerp but in a very short period of time he set up a new political party and became the president of France.

    I know it is a naive question to ask but why have the British failed to produce a decent politician who can break away from the mould and lead Britain out of the quagmire?

    2. Politics is such a discredited occupation that no-one with any capability would go near it. While there are some with genuine goals it is now an occupation by its very nature filled with egoists, self aggrandisers, two faced self promoters, backstabbers, weaklings and those who, through privilege and accident of birth, have never had to do anything in their lives. Those who can, do, those who can’t, teach, those who can’t teach become politicians.

    4. 338221+ up ticks,
      Morning R,
      The glaring mistake is ” there is no longer, nor has there been for at least three decades a “Conservative party”

      Mass people power / support NOW behind a fringe patriotic party is what is needed, my choice is Anne Marie Waters, FOR BRITAIN.

      YOU build new parties they don’t come in flat packs.

      A person cannot, if they wish to retain some political self respect, continue to support / vote lab/lib/con, peoples are too well aware of what this odious coalition has done
      & to continue to support them is to condone their actions.

      1. But the Conservative Party does still survive.
        No, I do not mean the Blairite New Labor Lite, Conservative-in-name-only clique that has usurped control of the Party, but there are still the Grass Roots Tories clinging on and desperately hoping for a true Conservative to appear as leader.

        Sadly, unless they themselves are prepared to grasp the nettle and seize control of their Constituency Parties, they are doomed to eternal disapointment.

        1. Anyone with conservative views would surely not get through any screening process to even stand as an MP, let alone be allowed to rise in the ranks.

        2. 338221+ up ticks,
          Morning Bob,
          As the grass roots of the real UKIP under Gerard Batten are still in evidence the difference being the Batten brigade would NOT support the ersatz uKiP currently in play.

          All the while real Torys are hoping ( now for at least three decades) many are still voting for the tory (ino) cartel.

          All the while the lab/lib/con are finding support / votes
          the decent peoples of these Isles are without doubt doomed,maybe a more “normal lifestyle ” as was, will be found under the imams , mullahs shortly.

      1. Unfortunately, although we have three churches in our village, we have no mosque so I wouldn’t want to subject her/him to the trauma that would cause.

    4. A sizeable proportion admitted that they don’t want refugees near them, the rest lied about it to look good.
      I saw a video a while back of people being asked this question. What those saying that they had a room did after being presented with a ‘refugee’ to look after immediately was hilarious.

        1. If I had space….

          I think the wealthy fellows should take on a fair few – they’ll change their minds very quickly. Notable that in the group asked, 2 are clearly not natives, the two who would don’t live in London, 2 haven’t got the space.

          The Rich say yes, the poor can’t, one immigrant says improve where they live (why is that our responsibility?) and another is very likely gaming the tax payer.

    2. I wore four different cap badges during my career:
      OUOTC
      WRAC
      RGJ
      AGC (SPS)
      I would be happy to sign back on to a new unit, the LGSNANTLOT Brigade
      Let’s Get Serious Now And Nuke The Lot Of Them

          2. 🙂
            Although RGJ never carried colours – they were represented on the cap badge.
            There you are – a bit of Regimental history for free.

          3. Music to the ears of this one-time Sapper – 23697014. The Queen and I had a brief engagement. Two weeks before they invalided me out. Best thing the Army ever did!

          4. W0475300 – I had one of the Army’s oldest numbers by the time I left, having been issued it in 1983 when I was in the OTC and then served on and off until 2018 with the same number assigned when I re-enlisted.

            Edit: oldest women’s numbers

          9. Certainly not.
            Yes, I was 16, but I enlisted with the consent of my parents into the Army Apprentices training scheme where I was taught a trade as well given military training.
            However, I was not eligible to be deployed on active service until I reached 18.

            When the tossers in Amnesty International began equating Boy Entry into the Armed Forces with the habit by rebels and terrorists in Africa of dragooning 10 year olds into their rag-tag groups, I was bloody livid.

          10. When the sixth form were agitating for the vote at 16 (because they could legally get married) I used to ask them if they’d like the age at which they could serve on the front line lowered, too. Um …

          11. And we never toasted the Queen at Regimental dinners. As we had Royal in our title, our loyalty was taken as given.

          12. Interesting. We (Royal Air Force) gave the loyal toast at dining out nights. Clearly our loyalty needed a boost 🙂

  25. The bodies of the 13 service personnel killed in Kabul a few days ago have arrived back on American soil.

    No one from the White House was there to meet them.

    George Floyd was not amongst the fallen it seems.

    4. Did black lives not matter?

      Increasingly it seems that the Left are so convinced of their self righteousness they’re not bothered about the deathtoll – physical, psychological or economic.

    1. One wonders why the artist chose the Napoleonic theme. Another over ambitious and abject failure.

        1. The Froglés have always been a bit sensitive about their records in combat.
          On our U3A visit to the Houses of parliament a few years ago, the amusing guide told us the story of when De Gaul paid a visit and refused to walk through the gallery between the Lords and the Commons because there are two huge paintings next to each other on the same wall. One of the victory at Waterloo and the other of the same conclusion at Trafalgar. Special hooks are still to be seen fixed in the wall along side the paintings. It was proposed the offending objects would be covered, but apparently the old git was ushered through the tradesman’s entrance instead. Shame he bowed his head In the film Day of the Jackal.

  27. Good Moaning. Came across this in the DT.

    https://citizenfreepress.com/breaking/mother-of-fallen-marine-calls-into-radio-show-this-is-heartbreaking/

    “Mother of fallen Marine calls into radio show and raises hell at Biden…

    Kathy McCollum — ‘That feckless dementia-ridden piece of crap Joe Biden’

    The mother of slain U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum

    “My son was one of the marines that died yesterday,” she continued. “20 years and six months old. Getting ready to come home from freaking’ Jordan to be with his wife to watch the birth of his son. And that dementia ridden piece of crap just sent my son to die. I woke up at 4’o’clock this morning to marines at my door telling me my son was dead.”

    “So, to have right on before me to have to listen to that piece of crap to talk about diplomatic crap with Taliban terrorists who just freaking blew up my son and no, nothing, to not say anything about … ‘oh my God I’m so sorry.”

    “My son is gone, and I just want all you Democrats who cheated in the election, or who voted for him legitimately, you just killed my son,” she said. “With a dementia ridden piece of crap who doesn’t even know he’s in the White House who still thinks he’s a senator.“

    1. That’s very very sad indeed and fortunately the lady has had the chance to air her grief. Perhaps it will result in the termination of his few useless months at the top job. And there will be a serious investigation of how he came to that position when he quite obviously was not fit for purpose.

  28. Smart motorways systems dubbed ‘Die Now’ crashed three times in just four days

    In an exclusive investigation, The Telegraph reveals how bugs in the UK’s road signalling systems are putting motorists’ lives in danger

    Signals across hundreds of miles of the M1, M4, M5 and M62 could not be changed prompting a “horrified” whistleblower at National Highways, the
    rebranded Highways England, to warn “someone is going to get killed”.

    Any Safety conscious oeranisation MUST encourage the OPEN reporting of Safety Issues: itt MUST NOT be whistle-blowing:

    Statistics show that ‘nearly’ individual accidents may happen around 100 times before it all goes wrong. Anonymous or open reporting would highlight these

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/08/28/smart-motorways-systems-dubbed-die-now-crashed-three-times-just/?li_source=LI&li_medium=liftigniter-rhr

    2. Morning all.
      It’s not the roads as I have so often previously said, it is the stupid drivers. I would estimate that around 40% of drivers on our roads today have never passed any sort of driving examination or practical test in the UK. Even if you asked the majority of road users what was the last traffic sign you pass, they wouldn’t have a clue. Especially when it comes to speed limits signs.

      1. Nottinghamshire Council figure sticks up for the Taliban
        41 mins ago Share
        A Nottinghamshire council official appointed by the Queen has provoked outrage after declaring the bloodthirsty Taliban should be given the “benefit of the doubt”.

        Musharraf Hussain, the deputy lord lieutenant of Nottinghamshire County Council gave his unguarded views to a BBC reporter, pointing out that the fanatical Muslim group has “made it absolutely clear that they will respect women and they will ensure that human rights are abided by,” in spite of reports surfacing soon after the fall of Kabul that individuals were being targeted and snuffed out.

        However, some of Mr Hussain’s comments will have struck a chord with no-nonsense Brits infuriated by the political establishment’s outcry to house a large proportion of the 500,000 Afghans expected to flee their country over the next twelve months.

        Afghans “are not fleeing for their lives as such really,” Hussain told the BBC’s Frances Finn.

        “They are economic migrants as such as it’s an opportunity for them to escape the poverty of the country,” added the Muslim community leader and author of the Majestic Quran, a plain English translation.

        He pointedly added that there was a huge pull factor to go with the Taliban push (which he was shamelessly playing down).

        Afghans “are not fleeing for their lives,” he repeated. “They are actually taking an amazing opportunity that is being provided to get asylum in the West.

        Tory MP for Bassetlaw, Brendan Clarke-Smith reacted angrily to Hussain’s comments, telling the Telegraph: “Deputy Lieutenants are expected to have a strong commitment to our democratic values, the rule of law and human rights and I would hope that this commitment is upheld by all those taking up the office.

        “I think it is deeply inappropriate to refer to those who are most vulnerable, and those who have helped the UK and our armed forces as ‘economic migrants’.

        “Perhaps Dr Hussain should speak to my constituent who came into my office yesterday in floods of tears and in desperation over the safety of her family members.”

        In his BBC interview, Hussain, a former chairman of the Association of Muslim Schools and – bizarrely he was also previously, the chairman of the Christian Muslim forum – said: “ I think a very important thing in our relationships is to actually trust people, give them the benefit of the doubt.

        “On the other hand, our conflicts and our wars and our problems all begin when we mistrust people, when we don’t take their word.

        “It is really important that we give the benefit of the doubt to them. “I’m really pleased to hear that even our Prime Minister said we’ve got to just see how they keep their word.”

        Finn highlighted Afghanistan’s medieval rule under the Taliban before they were ousted by NATO forces at the beginning of the century.

        Defending the brutal Muslim group, he said: “Well, first of all let me make it absolutely clear that they are not the same people as in the 90s. Those were obviously very belligerent and foolish actions…

        “They have made it absolutely clear that they will respect women and they will ensure that human rights are abided by.”

        1. Respect for women has a somewhat different manifestation in islamic countries to what it means in the West. Being tied to the kitchen and breeding leaves little time for going to work or shopping and the men respect this, of course.

        2. Hussain is one of 53 Deputy Lieutenants of Nottinghamshire. There is only one Lord Lieutenant and one Vice-Lord Lieutenant.
          Deputies are appointed by the Lord Lieutenant. The reference to the County Council is red herring. Deputies may be councillors or may not be. Possible confusion because the list is on the County Council website.

          Edit, PS As a muslim Mr Hussain will be a practitioner of “taqiyya”, ie lying to infidels when it suits, in order to defend or protect islam and muslims. The Taliban are muslims.

          https://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/council-and-democracy/lord-lieutenant/deputy-lieutenants/musharraf-hussain

        3. TB, if muslim women really object to the behaviour of their menfolk, why do they produce so many babies?

          1. Because the men treat them with less respect than they do non-muslim women – purely there for the savages to enjoy themselves on. Also more kids = more Islam.

      2. Known in my youth as “Essex Teeth”. There were a lot of them about when I was a child.

          2. Most of the adults are dead; those still above the daisies probably now wear falsies.

          3. Son caught a set in his pond-dipping tent at the seaside one day – I wondered how they got washed out to sea…….

  30. We’ve been doing it all wrong…..FFS

    https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/garden/1483259/gardening-birds-attract-wildlife-biodiversity-bird-feeder-garden-tasks-expert-tips

    Bird feeders are killing birds, biologist warns as populations see ‘catastrophic decline’
    A CONSERVATION biologist has shared important information regarding garden birds. Professor Alexander Lees said that some birds can catch diseases at bird feeders, and other species are declining because of them.

    2. ‘Morning, Plum.

      The Express specialises in bringing up old stories & publishing them as the latest news.

    3. It’s been said for years that the massive decline in greenfinches was due to some disease which could have been spread by dirty feeders. We have actually seen one or two this year, the first for many years.

      1. It’s her brain which needs the shave (personally, I find her quite attractive).

    2. That’s what you get when the person in charge reads cue cards, which is also what Boros was doing in the most recent full parliamentary meeting being held. Straight out for the series Yes Prime Minister.

    3. Lionel Shriver is a perfect example, in my opinion, of how a supposedly intelligent person can be so stupid. It calls into question how it is that these sort of people lord it over us as if there opinions were pearls from heaven whilst they are so obviously thick to anyone with an average I.Q. can see their stupidity. I and most people here will never have a column in the illustrious Spectator in order to air our opinions. Just what, it terms of insight, intelligence or rationality, does she have that makes her opinions worth publishing?

    4. The Spectator is becoming more and more a woke, leftie waste of time. Add the coterie of the chums of Carrion – in the magazine and at No 10….

      Makes one weep for the old days, when it was a strong, Conservative journal.

    5. Has any publication even doubted the result of the US election?
      The Spectator was a big disappointment for me, with their coverage of the election steal and the false flag insurrection, what is it they are afraid of?

    6. As the corrupt media propaganda has moved in the last week to put Biden in the crosshairs we know fine well that the Black Hats have had their use of him and he is now surplus to requirements. The intention is to move the Harris creature (who was never electable at any time) into the White House asap as she is the fervent slave of the faux-communist agenda intended to make us all think we must subdue our personal individuality in favour of the collective, supposed to be the community but in fact the interests of the small psychopathic group that want to control the planet. Life as we have known it is ending, but we have a choice, to bend the knee or defy the Beast. It’s that simple and that horrible.

  32. Morning to all!

    “European Nato leaders should by now be reading the writing on the wall and increasing their defence spending. I fear that the days of relying on America to take the lead are long gone.”

    This is a partial transcript of the letter to the editor that is todays Notl headline. The first part is about how America has abandoned Afghanistan to it fate. To which, as I pointed out yesterday it isn’t America that abandoned Afghanistan, it was the Biden administration. It would not have happened on Trumps watch. And, as I also said yesterday. If you want to go ahead and undermine the USA, fine, but on your own head be it because it a pernicious and far more dangerous act than most anything else if you want to expose the West to real danger.

    As to the above quote. There is no way that Europe can replace the USA in terms of fighting the enemy. I wonder how many people are aware that the USA forces are set up in such a way that they can fight three major wars simultaneously on land, sea, and air? And how is Europe going to supplant Nato when most of these countries wont even pay their pledged percentage of money to Nato but have spent their corrupt time hiding behind America? The idea that we can no longer rely on the USA is simply ludicrous and suffers from a delusion of competence, which is to say, there isn’t any when it comes to the Europeans. If China was to seriously sabre rattle the only thing you would get from Europe is hot air and a promise from the EU that it will jump as high as China instructs but only, please don’t invade us!

    But it is obvious that the UK needs to up its defense spending, I quote: ” the United Kingdom spent the eighth most on defense, less than the United States, China, Saudi Arabia, India, France and Russia, and Germany. In terms of military spending as a share of GDP, the UK was behind ten other countries in 2019, especially Saudi Arabia which spent 8 percent of it’s GDP on defense.” That is not good enough by any means, in fact it is disgraceful.. We should be in the top three or four if we want our battleship Island and our sovereignty to survive.

    And, by the way. Thoroughly recommend the article by Ayan Hirshi Ali in the Telegraph today.

    1. “We should be in the top three or four if we want our battleship”

      Our sailor agrees with you but says he can’t sail it on his own.

    2. IMHO the article by Mrs Ferguson is a bucket of drivel.
      I don’t know how to explain this succinctly, but the art of Defence should be to prevent and avoid wars, not fight them.
      Most acts of state violence/hostility, eg drone attacks, are an admission of failure.
      Yes, there are some discreet ways in which current trends in the UK could be slowed down, but there is no political will to do so.

  34. Salespeople required – must be enthusiastic and willing to learn:

    KABUL—Now that Allah has seen fit to bless the Taliban with bountiful weapons and equipment from the U.S. Military, terrorists around Afghanistan have built an already thriving chain of U.S. Army Surplus stores.

    “We need weapons to kill and subjugate the Afghan people under Sharia Law, but there’s just too much gear here!” said local Taliban leader Bob Muhammed. “There’s, like, billions of dollars and 20 years worth of weaponry around here, and now I can build a thriving business out of selling my wares to other terrorist folk who happen to pass through! Allah be praised!”

    Although the merchandise will not be available to the general public (for obvious reasons), Muhammed’s Army Surplus will feature a full selection of deadly weaponry, ammunition, combat boots, MREs, helmets, hashish, and whatever else a soldier of Allah may need.

    https://babylonbee.com/news/taliban-opens-chain-of-us-army-surplus-stores

  35. Salespeople required – must be enthusiastic and willing to learn:

    KABUL—Now that Allah has seen fit to bless the Taliban with bountiful weapons and equipment from the U.S. Military, terrorists around Afghanistan have built an already thriving chain of U.S. Army Surplus stores.

    “We need weapons to kill and subjugate the Afghan people under Sharia Law, but there’s just too much gear here!” said local Taliban leader Bob Muhammed. “There’s, like, billions of dollars and 20 years worth of weaponry around here, and now I can build a thriving business out of selling my wares to other terrorist folk who happen to pass through! Allah be praised!”

    Although the merchandise will not be available to the general public (for obvious reasons), Muhammed’s Army Surplus will feature a full selection of deadly weaponry, ammunition, combat boots, MREs, helmets, hashish, and whatever else a soldier of Allah may need.

    https://babylonbee.com/news/taliban-opens-chain-of-us-army-surplus-stores

  37. According to the Sunday express on line it seems that the reason there are shortages in the supermarkets is because of a computer error the program has crashed which deals with import export of food from the EU. I expect the Spanish agriculturalist are pulling their hair out as their produce rots away in front of them. It seems we are currently (scuz the pun) buying in produce from Peru, Morocco and Africa. How green is that ? But I expect this is some sort of feeble excuse to defend the Brussels mafia who are usually behind any such ‘glitch’ that might be an inconvenience to the British Brexiteers. I’m planting lettuce and other salad crops in my green house later this week.

        1. Arrogant fool more like it. And a hater of democracy with contempt for the voters.

      3. Mr Adonis, we’ve left. We’re not going back. Stop wasting your time and our money.

      4. The benefits of rejoining would be ??? open borders mass immigration? doing it already , paying the EU vast amounts of money?? doing it already , obeying the EU and letting them do whatever they want to us – – doing it already.

      6. Who would join the EU now but a bloody fool or a zombie? Or someone living high on the hog sausage like the lordling.

      8. Lard Adonis – a man who will bend over forwards to help his fellow friends:

        Labour politician Lord Andrew Adonis has spoken about his decision to come out as gay.

        The 56-year-old, who served in a number of ministerial roles under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, has decided to talk about his sexuality because he feels as though “you should be completely honest and open in public about who you are”.

        There had to be some connection – something they had in common.

        1. What does he being gay have to do with the price of tomatoes? Who cares? I never dreamt of shagging the useless bastard anyway. Is he trying for a free pass to something?

    2. Die-hard Remainers would be happy to see us all starving if the fault could be pinned on Brexit. “I told you so”.

    3. Thought I should warn you, lettuce needs a certain number of hours of daylight or it runs quickly to seed. The later in the year, the less chance of a decent crop unless you use artificial light.

      1. Thanks Conners. The green house is in full sun all day it’s worth a try but not worth the electricity and all the faffing involved.

  38. I haven’t checked the lottery numbers yet. Just about to. If I’ve won, I won’t bother posting on here, you’ll hear the whoop.

    1. I know I haven’t – I never buy a ticket. My son called it the “stupid tax” when it first started – “the tax you don’t have to pay”.

      1. It’s just a bit of fun – I used to do the football pools before the advent of the Lottery. Some of the proceeds go to good causes. A couple of pounds a week won’t break the bank.

        1. Months ago, as I got a few things from the minimart shop , and my lottery tickets, the man behind me ( not a clue who he was ) piped up “Waste of money them “. I moved to one side to put my change in my pocket to hear him then ask for his “Usual 400 cigs please”.

      2. Hmm… which makes it a choice – not a tax. As you can’t avoid taxes. You can choose not to buy a lottery ticket.

        I play when there are rollovers and big money. Honestly, beyond clearing the mortgage and setting up for a reasonable pension I don’t know what I’d do with it. Yes, it’d be nice to build a house but I’ve already asked the warqueen about building a library in the field – we’d have to buy the field first.

        Poor people think money buys stuff. Rich people use money to buy people. I would use money to buy time. Not having to work, spending more time with junior and Mongo, she could retire tomorrow and spend her days making things for Etsy.

      3. Well, £2 a week is worth it for that frisson of anticipation when you check the numbers. Cheaper than a pint.

  39. 338221+ up ticks,

    Lest we forget you will be betting your life on it,

    breitbart,

    French Newsaper Argues Taliban-Connected Migrants ‘Not Necessarily a Terrorist Threat

    1. Whenever you see ‘not necessarily’ in this context, you know flippin’ well that we know, and we know that they know, that they are jolly well going to be a threat, and not only a ‘just’ threat.

      1. Nothing to do with France wanting to give all theirs – – to us? How nice of those Frenchies.

    1. Next year the view could be a housing estate where nobody speaks English, but all of it is paid for by those who do.

      1. Maybe. A holiday camp type place near Jedburgh has just finished building a dozen large huts, for holidaymakers. It is their business and work started before Covid.
        The accommodation looks a lot like barracks.

    3. Eh? A combine harvester surely cuts and threshes as one continuous process; the corn (wheat, barley, seeds, beans, etc) is accumulated in a hopper before discharge into a bulk trailer, and the straw and chaff is discharged in a line along the ground behind the combine. If the drivers stopped work suddenly, it would be due to a machinery breakdown, or an injury or a rainstorm.

      1. Well your operational descriptions are right. That is what was happening last evening. The grain from the combines went directly from the harvester, through the hopper into the accompanying trailer. The tractors with the trailers of grain passed our house at regular intervals on the way to storage. No breakdowns, 2 combines doing the same thing.

        Edit. The combines are now stationary, discharging grain from internal storage into trailer. Two different methods and one bamboozled observer…me.

        1. That’s how they work in the field around us. The combine harvester does the first pass around the edge of the field, storing the grain internally and then offloading it into the trailer on the next pass when the tractor pulling it is able travel alongside.

    4. I’m jealous,as it means most of the year you’re looking out on glorious fields of growing crops. Oh for that sort of view.

      1. True. It is one of the better aspects of living here. Some years they keep sheep in the field, so we get many more flies than usual, and they are already plentiful, including the ones I call MiL-7 s as they have the same silhouette as the helicopter.

      2. When I was small, messed with one in Nigeria, and it pinched me with it’s forelegs. Like shutting your finger in the door, it was. Remarkably painful.

    2. In ’70 2 friends & I took a Morris Minor down through Jugoland (which was still communist) as far as Korčula, on a camping holiday. We drank local wine in the evenings in the tent. One night one of the tin mugs was left on the tilt with a residue of wine in it. A small praying mantis came from nowhere, climbed into the mug, drank its fill & staggered out again.

      1. I love the way she (following on from your theme) dips her little paw in the water to check it out first of all.

        2. They would be blown out to our vessel occasionally and I’m afraid we used to feed them locusts. They would neatly and fussily nip off their wings and legs and discard them.

  43. From bbc.co.uk:
    After the pandemic hit, the number of treatment sessions claimed on the Welsh NHS fell by 97%, from 1.1m in January to March 2020, to 22,713 in April to June 2020, as missed appointments in England topped 19 million.

  45. MRD comment of the year:

    “A Foreign Office spokesman said: “This has been the biggest and most challenging evacuation in living memory — a team effort that would not have been possible without the Foreign Office.””

    2. …a team effort that would not have been possible without the Foreign Office.

      Without the Foreign office it would not have been necessary!

  46. 338221+ up ticks,
    Seemingly Victoria Atkins is a leading figure concerning Afghanistan refugees resettlement, we are short of HGV drivers due in many respects
    to the poor pay, & field workers due to dependency on the eu.

    V Atkins is mp for a rural farming area in Lincolnshire may one ask ” when ALL the existing foreign dots in placements of power are joined together within these Isles will Lincolnshire be the centre of Afghanistan MK2 in construct”

    Lest we forget, 48 % of the electorate wanted to do their time under a foreign power.

    1. We have just found out, that they wish to store Nuclear Waste in Lincolnshire

      That should keep everyone away

    1. I have an old English friend who lives in New Orleans and he was wiped out by Katrina. He is now messaging me in fear of Ida. Every year I suggest that he moves but they all seem to enjoy living below sea level in a hurricane area. Doh.

      1. In between calls to panic and get the hell out of town, the authorities are telling people that New Orleans is in a better condition than it was back in the days of Katrina.

      2. I can understand that, New Orleans is a wonderful place although the humidity is awful.

      1. Canada is still using pistols from 1940, the replacement purchase has issues.

        If it comes to a fight, our lot will be at a serious disadvantage.

        2. Nowt wrong with a 1940s pistol. Likely the P35 Browning Hi-Power. Excellent sidearm. I’d like one myself.

      2. Due to further cutbacks ( down to providing the world with free lives ) could you now amend that to ” our soldier ” – we can’t afford any more.

        1. His name is ‘Tommy’
          Our one sailor is ‘Jack’
          and the Crab is ‘Biggles’

          Our PoliceMEN are Wendy, Cynthia, Doris and Cressida

  49. The Doomsday clock was at 100 seconds to midnight. I wonder where Joe Biden has placed it after the Afghanistan debacle.

    1. Since Sleepy Joe doesn’t know what time of day it is, or indeed what day of the week it is…

    1. The Rocket appears to have hit a house near the airport and the police say a child was killed. 2 security officials say the the USA military carried out a strike in Kabul targeting suspected IS-K militants. It is unclear if there is any connection with the blast reported north-west of the airport. Friendly fire?

  51. Gosh, it is cold outdoors. Just been gathering winter fuel to use tonight…and picking a few raspberries – I practically lost all feeling in my hands.

    3. I was just wondering about your cats and where they go.

      Old friend of ours has a very fluffy clever cat, she roosts in trees , either up in an elderly oak tree or inside the thickness of a Cypress tree , she prefers to roost and to keep her eye on things , brilliant mouser and dragon fly catcher !

          1. Or you can get Apple tags, or any number of other, much lighter pod type things.

            Admittedly, even an Apple tag is going to be quite heavy for a cat, but with one on Mongo’s collar (a loose floppy thing he could probably slip out of) it’s nice to now where he is.

            (We also use one on the wife’s telephone to know when to leave the house. Neither of us liked standing on the train platform wondering if the 7:40 was on time or not.

  52. BBC: The United States has carried out a military strike in Kabul!

    Probably a couple of stray goatherds!

      1. They’ve just posted that it was a suicide car bomb Stephen. I wonder if it had a large X on the roof?

    2. Sky news reporting that a drone destroyed a vehicle carrying a substantial amount of explosive material. towards Kabul airport

    2. Bunty was my sister’s magazine. I had Whizzer and Chips. I was allowed to read Bunty when she decided she had finished with it.

    1. Amazing, not ONE mention of the real reason; the applying of IR35 to freelance truck-drivers.

      1. If they have many customers, that would be OK, but if they are mainly contracted to one firm, that is regarded as employment rather than self employment. As I understand it.
        Also, this nu-labour IR35 is affecting digger drivers, which has increased the projected costs of such white elephants as the Human Sacrifice 2 railway line from Londonistan to Bombingham.

    2. One lorry and three small white cars? – on a 4 lane wide motorway – Not another vehicle ? Looks odd.

  55. BBC: UK’s twenty-year military operation in Afghanistan is now ended.

    The BBC is peddling the line that this is merely a withdrawal and not a catastrophe of the First Order!

      1. The BBC and its staff are also scared of offending a certain group of people and becoming targets, so will hear nothing bad said against them.

    2. The BBC will be throwing a celebratory party for the successful removal of Western forces from Moolem territory. Next objective the Caliphate of Bradfordislam and the other sub-caliphates in the North of England. Champers all round!

  56. Michael Gove’s bizarre dance moves. 29 August 2021.

    https://youtu.be/f7oHoiuziI8

    One gob-smacked punter was quoted in the Daily Record as saying: ‘Michael Gove walked into O’Neills at around 1.15am, the pub was just about closing. I’m almost sure he was by himself. I heard people saying, ‘he’s a Tory MP’ others asked ‘Who’s Michael Gove?’ and were Googling him. Soon people went up for photos. The Tories aren’t too popular in Scotland but people were generally quite nice to him. It’s fair to say he’d had a good few shandies when he arrived at O’Neill’s.’

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/watch-michael-gove-s-bizarre-dance-moves

      1. His Wiki entry reads:

        “Graeme Andrew Logan was born on 26 August 1967.[2][3] His biological mother, whom he originally believed to have been an unmarried Edinburgh student, was in fact a 23-year-old cookery demonstrator.[2] Gove regarded his birthplace as Edinburgh until it was revealed in a biography in 2019 that he was born in a maternity hospital in Fonthill Road, Aberdeen.[4] Logan was put into care soon after he was born. At the age of four months he was adopted by a Labour-supporting couple in Aberdeen, Ernest and Christine Gove, by whom he was brought up.[5] After he joined the Gove family, Logan’s name was changed to Michael Andrew Gove.[2] His adoptive father, Ernest, ran a fish processing business and his adoptive mother, Christine, was a lab assistant at the University of Aberdeen, before working at the Aberdeen School for the Deaf.[6]

        Gove, his adoptive parents, and his sister Angela lived in a small property in the Kittybrewster area of Aberdeen,[4] before relocating to Rosehill Drive.[7] He was educated at two state schools (Sunnybank Primary School and Kittybrewster Primary School),[7] and later, on the recommendation of his primary school teacher,[8] he sat and passed the entrance exam for the independent Robert Gordon’s College.[9] In October 2012, he wrote an apology letter to his former French teacher for misbehaving in class.[10] Gove joined the Labour Party in 1983[11] and campaigned on behalf of the party for the 1983 general election.[12] Outside of school, he spent time as a Sunday school teacher at Causewayend Church.[12] As he entered sixth year he had to apply for a scholarship as his family fell on difficult economic circumstances.[5] He passed the scholarship exam and served as a school prefect in his final two years.[13]

        From 1985 to 1988 he read English at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford,[14][15] during which time he joined the Conservative Party.[16] He became a member of the Oxford University Conservative Association and was secretary of Aberdeen South Young Conservatives.[17] He helped to write speeches for Cabinet and Shadow Cabinet ministers, including Peter Lilley and Michael Howard.[18] During his first year, he met future Prime Minister Boris Johnson and helped him become elected President of the Oxford Union.[19] In an interview with Andrew Gimson, Gove remarked that at Oxford, Johnson was “quite the most brilliant extempore speaker of his generation.”[20] Gove was elected as Oxford Union President a year after Johnson.[21] He graduated with an upper second.[22]

        He appears to have had a good run to date…..

        1. “He became a member of the Oxford University Conservative Association”
          No he didn’t.
          Gove was red hot Labour at Oxford, and was quite nasty about the Conservatives.
          Also this hagiography manages not to mention the Moynihan Plate, a silver debating trophy that disappeared during Gove’s Union Presidency.

          4. The Moynihan Plate affair would be dismissed as ancient history.
            As for Gove’s militantly left wing background, it is common knowledge, as he often supported left wing causes and laid into the ruling Tories in Union debates. We were all gobsmacked when about 5 minutes after graduating, he popped up as a member of the Conservative Party!
            It is well known that people in the party didn’t trust him for years. I still don’t, but then I am no longer in the Conservative Party.

          5. Well, neither Glove nor any other members of this so-called “government” support Conservatism.

          6. I have never regarded Gove as a conservative. Shouldn’t be in the Conservative party at all.

          7. I don’t regard ANY of them in Parliament pretending to be in that party as Conservatives.

          10. 338221+ up ticks,
            Evening BB2,
            He could very well have been doing charlie in the bog alright, charlie lynton that is, after all they are a coalition.

          1. Coke or MDMA the drugs of choice for dancing in a nightclub.

            I never touched Coke but i did MDMA a few times. Wild times of a debauched youth.

  57. Is anyone in contact with Elf ‘n Safety? I worry that Hatman’s departure may have been due to his poor health rather than him disagreeing with typical Nottler banter.
    He is a rare bird and I hope he isn’t falling off his perch.

        1. I just had a look back on his profile for his post to Plum, and he was disagreeing with someone else about the vaccines, so I don’t think it’s personal that he decided to leave us. He comes and goes from time to time.

          1. His decision was rather odd, I thought. Many on here, although disagreeing with the government approach, have still had the vaccine. And he is normally right behind about 95% of views on here. Each to his own. He disappeared as MHMCMB for a while.

        1. Did they? I have to say I haven’t visited his other blogs for a long time. But perhaps he’s disabled them. I saw from Eddy’s post this morning that he is really quite unwell.

  58. Just lit the stove and put on thick trousers and a warm sweater. The “forecast” is no Sun here until Friday afternoon. So much fr the “heatwave”….

      1. That’s enough of your cheek.

        Twenty yeas ago, I would be out in shorts and a t-shirt when the weather was like it is today. Not any more. That is one of the many reasons that will miss our trip to France in two weeks. The temp would have been mid-20ºs; the sea still over 20º and one would have just felt like basking.

          1. Kent is the coldest county in the South East of England. Don’t know why but perhaps it’s because it has the sea on three sides?

          2. Nah – the weather has been so wet, local farmers are not irrigating as they usually do.

          3. Yose will be able to sell watter, when the drought starts, at the next lockdoon, yose will

  60. It’s all happening down-under…….

    “In a chilling development, Australians in New South Wales, which includes the city of Sydney, are to be granted extra “freedom” if they are fully vaccinated, with residents allowed to “leave home for an hour of recreation on top of their exercise hour.”

    3. WTF? I mean really, WTF? An extra hour of recreation if they are vaxxed?
      “Oh thank you, thank you almighty Government, for granting us this privilege to go outside our houses for a whole extra hour!”

      2. In the words of the White House press spokesman, Jen Psaki, this is a ‘global pandemic’.

        Says it all really; the whole debacle, lockdowns, poisonous jabs, brutal police tactics, arming and submission to terrorists, societal chaos with removal of civil rights and mandated curfews was all planned from the start.

        This will not end well.

        1. Moving to Sweden was the best decision I personally made in my entire 70 years. No question about it. I’m more than happy that I didn’t choose to move to Australia instead.

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rj3KPogm06Q&list=WL&index=50 Life in Sweden During COVID Pandemic 2021- Pros of No lockdown and No Mandatory Masking

          Please watch the video and read the comments beneath it. My favourite comment (among many) is:

          “Sweden: An island of calm and sanity in a hysterical world!”

          Skål to that!

    2. Looks like someone who would be an annoying, elf-righteous member of the local council.

      1. That look could be cured if she was to be invited for a ride in an open top sports car…..

      2. Did you see her with Simon Callow in a rather quaint little comedy called Chance in a Million?

        2. For better or worse, my main memory of the series was Callow being able to down a pint of beer in one go!

      2. My favourite quote: “You’d have thought we’d done this before!”.
        Used often these days.

    1. The execrable Biden had the nerve to turn up at the airport when the plane landed with the bodies. If I had been one of the family members I would have demanded his removal because he is responsible for their deaths. I would have found his presence intolerable.

    2. Don’t worry though! Our councils are desperate to steal the property we’ve earned should we fall ill. For some reason, their lack of financial planning gives them the excuse to steal our homes.

  65. Grand Prix in Belgium took place in wet conditions behind the safety car just after 5 this afternoon. The race was red flagged after 2 laps and half points were awarded as no one could overtake under safety car rules. Hamilton was 3rd ,Russel second and Verstappen was first. A total farce.

      1. 1. To award Half points for the teams’ efforts and performance. Full points would be too much and no points wouldn’t recognise the teams’ achievements in qualifying.
        2. To give spectators some spectacle.
        3. Sidestep having to refund spectators by being able to say that racing had taken place.

        2. Hamilton and Vettel both interviewed said how sorry they felt for the fans who had spent hours in the rain waiting and that they had hoped to be able to put on a race because they had all paid for tickets.

          Empty words. Hamilton could refund them all from his own pocket and not notice the change.

  66. Afghan refugees could rescue MoD from costly housing crisis

    MPs want to use a PFI deal with Guy Hands that is costing the state millions to help Afghan refugees

    and just incase, everywhere is too quiet, they have a Harrier GR7 to play with

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2021/08/29/afghan-refugees-could-rescue-mod-costly-housing-crisis/

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/business/2021/08/27/TELEMMGLPICT000269188179_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqpVlberWd9EgFPZtcLiMQf0Rf_Wk3V23H2268P_XkPxc.jpeg?imwidth=680

    4. That article barely touches on the many nightmares from that contract.

      That PFI deal was an outrageous dereliction of duty and a triumph of dogma over common sense. It was obvious that the financiers were only interested in screwing as much money as they could and that they saw servicemen as ‘little people’ and taxpayers as fools to be milked.

      1. People with commercial experience always take the State for mugs – successfully.

  67. That’s me gone for this miserable day. Time for some mulled wine.

    Apparently, it is a “holiday” tomorrow. Will anyone notice??

    A demain

    2. Mulled wine?
      Mulled wine????

      You fink it’s Christmas or sumfing?

      Hell’s teeth, here we have suffered yet another fine day, no clouds, sunny and warm but not too hot, pool 27 cooling and very pleasant.

      Gawd it’s a hard life here.

      Just come in from a pleasant evening with friends, eating outside until dark.

        1. Worst summer since we arrived, but the last ten days were very good and a few coming up are supposed to be, then back to rain.

    1. One of the best bits of advice I ever heard was that when you are fifty, you will either be reaping the benefits of the good decisions you made when younger, or paying the cost of the bad ones. So you have to make sure they are good ones.

      Unfortunately I learned this piece of wisdom when I was fifty.

      1. When I was fifty, I had been married for one year to my second husband. That was a good decision. The bad one was marrying the first one, though I don’t regret having the two sons.

    2. Can’t really think of anything, though I wish I had been a bit more on the ball with investments.

      1. As a Merchant / Investment Banker for ten years, I was quite good at making investments for my clients – and monitoring their progress.

        When I went to Canada, my successor ‘cut himself a bit of the action’; his key investments failed – and he was sacked …

        Some years later, that investment bank was wound up.

        Sad.

    4. What about you Plum , do tell.

      My early married mistakes were being invited to Tupperware parties and feeling obliged to buy one or two things .

      Joining a book club , and buying books I didn’t enjoy .

      Polaroid camera , another waste of money !

        1. I threw away last year, my last Tupperware, which was the cake saver .. huge plastic container with a great lid.

          I kept my parrot seed in it .. the container was probably 45 years old , because Happy parrot was 36 when he died this time last year.

          Everything was taken to the tip when he died , cage and all .

          My utility room has little furry visitors during the winter , so the Tupperware was ideal, the mice couldn’t get into it , however the mice managed to kidnap piles of raw peanuts in their shells , how they knew , I had no idea , maybe because I kept the peanuts in a less secure container ?

          1. We were given a Tupperware jug and lid, and a cream cracker holder, also with a lid, for an engagement present (in 1981)! The cracker thing went by the board years ago, but the jug I use every night for my bedside water! Yesterday the handle broke! What to do? I guess 40 years is pretty good!

      2. Book Clubs used inertia selling for their Book of the Month. You really had to cancel them as soon as the booklet arrived.

    7. I always bro0ugh books. So I have no regrets. What I regret is losing them because now many of them are way out of my reach financially. I looked up two on Amazon a few days ago and one, A King’s Book of Kings: The Shah-nameh of Shah Tahmasp is worth £268.99 and the other in pristine condition, Naum Gabo: Sechzig Jahre Konstruktivismus : mit dem OEuvre-Katalog der Konstruktionen und Skulpturen is worth £2,390,06. which blew my mind, I paid less than $100.00 for it. Considering that I also had a complete reproduction of the book of Kells and facsimiles of Medieval Books of Hours. I dread to think what my library would be worth now a days. I had to leave it all in the USA.

        1. No but I get a bit inattentive at this time of night! But just looked up another book I had. Tres Riches Heures of Jean Duke of Berry. It is now worth $579.95. It’s enough to make you weep!

          By way of a PS. I’m now going to watch: Among the Mosques: A Journey Across Muslim Britain — Why Prof. Ed Husain is Worried.

          The New Cultural Forum. If anyone is interested.

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAXDniO11l4&t=27s

      2. #Me Too. Some of my Biggles books are worth a lot, but I only paid 8/6 for them (first editions)!

      3. Don’t believe the prices on the internet.
        I write from a reasonable amount of experience {:-((

        1. No not at all. I was forced to leave them behind due to a vicious divorce from someone I always refer to as ‘The Daughter of the Antichrist.’ A marriage that was a mistake on the rebound from the death of my wife and which left me completely broke. It was a huge library consisting of three walls of a two car garage. Never counted them all but several thousand books.

          1. My goodness, Johnathan. You lost your wife (illness?) and then were fleeced by a gold digger. My heart goes out to you.

    8. A ‘illman Himp. Biggest pile of cack ever!

      [“Hi say, ‘ave you hany hantifreeze for a ‘illman Himp?”]

      2. Our first car.
        We had a hairy journey up to the Lake District with the thing piled up, inside and out, with camping equipment, two smallish boys and our first dog – also a chihuahua.
        The boys lay on top of all the bedding etc and were squished up against the roof.

  69. I’m just listening to the Delingpod with Dan Astin-Gregory, and about 45 minutes in, JD says that journalists’ salaries have collapsed, because the press are using young, inexperienced, cheap journalists, while accepting money from dodgy billionaires to keep themselves solvent.
    Looks like a death spiral, because it’s years since I paid for a broadsheet newspaper, and I used to read one every day. The quality doesn’t justify a subscription, and there is no other practical option.

    1. Since the msm don’t seem to care about holding the PTB to account, then fuck them.

      1. Yes; the landscape of Victorian institutions that we inherited from our parents and grandparents is truly dead and gone. Fortunately there is a wild west of independent media out there!

      1. One of the biggest weaknesses of the independent media sector is that they haven’t worked out a way to charge people for content.
        I did suggest to Kathy Gyngell once, that TCW and other independents like the Delingpod and the Catholic discussion site (can’t remember its name, but they are good) should join together so that people could pay one subscription for a group of organisations.
        Her argument was that it would be difficult to divvy up the profits. I would have thought that would be possible to overcome, based on page clicks or something like that.

  71. Hurricane Ida has made landfall in Louisiana as extremely dangerous category 4 storm with maximum sustained winds of 150mph.
    The USA has nothing to smile about at the moment.

      3. I was just looking for Ronnie Barker’s ‘Gail warning’ sketch, but can’t find it.

    2. I’ve just heard on Talk radio that it’s 16 years to the day since Hurricane Katrina hit the same place.

  72. Evening, all. The lead letter-writer should have phrased it as “Britain must brace for a world where China calls the shots”. It’s been a lovely day here. BCP Morning Prayer at church, all about forgiveness (I much prefer “comfortable words”), I’ve booked a meal out a week on Friday and to cap it all, we had bright sunshine (I took my post prandial glass of red into the garden and was so comfortable on the lounger I fell asleep and so did Oscar).

    1. Wonderful evening here too Conners. Red wine in the sun… good book… couldn’t be better.

      2. Len Deighton – which one? I took a book out with me, too, but didn’t get very far (“Action Stations 3” Wartime Airfields of the North West).

        1. This is “Spy Sinker”, the #6, the second trilogy of 3 books featuring Bernard Sampson.
          Berlin Game, Mexico Set, London Match
          Hook, Line, Sinker
          Faith, Hope, Charity
          All excellent. Very well crafted, good, tight story, and it helps that I identify with the main character…

          1. I don’t know those. I’ve read Bomber and Fighter (quelle surprise!) and maybe one more.

        2. This is “Spy Sinker”, the #6, the second trilogy of 3 books featuring Bernard Sampson.
          Berlin Game, Mexico Set, London Match
          Hook, Line, Sinker
          Faith, Hope, Charity
          All excellent. Very well crafted, good, tight story, and it helps that I identify with the main character…

        3. Deighton wrote a number of good books about the war, too: Bomber, Fighter, Blitzkrieg, Goodbye Mickey Mouse… probably my favourite author. I’ve read these books many times, and the story is still good telling.

        4. Deighton wrote a number ogf good books about the war, too: Bomber, Fighter, Blitzkrieg, Goodbye Mickey Mouse… probably my favourite author. I’ve read these books many times, and the story is still good telling.

      1. Thank you, Anne. I’ve just been reading a book on human factors in aviation and in the chapter on “stress” I used to tick all of the boxes! No wonder I was ill!

    3. Its been a wonderful week in Argyllshire, Conners: afternoon sunshine, blue skies and temps of 20 to 24C …

      1. That’s good. It has often been a dull start here, but brightened up later. It didn’t bother with the dull start today, although it was a touch cooler 🙂

        1. None here, ppm; I’m a stones-throw from the River Clyde which is about three miles wide at this point.

    1. It makes us ineffective. My local rag had an article claiming deporting someone to Afghanistan before the Taliban was “shameful”. No it wasn’t. We need to send the whole lot back.

    2. Why did the Afghan Army run away, why didn’t they fight back , they had the manpower and the training and equipment .

      I think the were all cowards , actually .

      1. The Afghan Army was not trained to
        operate without US Air support. When the Biden dolt ordered the abandonment of the US military airport facilities they were exposed and incapable of effective operation.

        Whatever way the US government try to spin it Biden was the direct cause of the ensuing mayhem. The demented evil fool is after all the supposed Commander in Chief. I would not put him in charge of a whelk stall or, more topically, an ice cream van.

  74. Good night all.

    Vigil off to a good start, but whatever happened to that first mug of coffee?

    1. So You’re saying, Peter, (© Cathy Newman) that you are in training to be a Vigilante? Good night, Peter, and to all on here. An early night for me for a change.

  77. I reckon the game is up for the globalist elites and their enforcers.

    Fauci is quite perverted and mad and should be detained under an appropriate mental health order and charged with crimes against humanity. The same goes for the CCP sponsored SAGE idiots advising the UK government at every stage. The same goes for Boris Johnson’s cabinet who have acquiesced in one of the greatest and most dishonourable crimes of the centuries. This lot bear comparison with the Third Reich. Fauci is the equivalent of Goebbels.

    International arrest warrants should be pursued for the globalists behind the Covid global scamdemic. We all know who they are and we know only too well the ‘young global leaders’ who have been complicit in the ongoing crime and in the promotion of pure evil.

    We simply cannot go on turning a blind eye to the multi-faceted conspiracy that we have endured for the past decade or more.

    In the USA it is blindingly obvious that Biden is an utterly corrupt and demented individual for whom nobody voted compared with the vote for President Trump. Biden should be incarcerated and put on trial for treason.

  79. From Monday’s first letter
    “I would definitely say I am committed to both my patients and the NHS.”
    Dr A Oliver

    Well I should think so, if you’ve got only two patients.

  80. Here’s one for you – good morning, all Y’all.
    Firstborn has an excellent crop of blackberries – picked about 5kg yesterday, about a small bucketfull. Looked up the retail price, and that bucketful would retail at Kr 1 000! That’s £100!! Well, eff me – never bought blackberries at a shop, didn’t know the price, but now I do!

    2. Please Sir, please could you approve ”I Bought Myself A Politician”.

      Thanks !

      Polly

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