Sunday 29 January: The NHS skimped on software and now doctors and nurses are fleeing in frustrationSunday 29 January:

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707 thoughts on “Sunday 29 January: The NHS skimped on software and now doctors and nurses are fleeing in frustrationSunday 29 January:

    1. 370449+ up ticks,

      Morning AS,

      Don’t gloat, I was up, lit the wood burner, done last nights washing up, stuck three darts from
      9′ into a picture of the cabinet and sheared 6 sheep.

  1. There really is a Remainer plan to rejoin the EU by stealth. 29 January 2023.

    For six years, I dismissed it as a conspiracy theory, an example of my fellow Brexiteers being unable to take yes for an answer. But the evidence kept piling up until I had to admit that they were on to something. There really does seem to be a plot to overturn Brexit.

    Wow! Imagine that! Who would ever have guessed?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/01/28/evidence-undeniable-really-remainer-plan-rejoin-eu-stealth/

    1. 370449 + up ticks,

      AS,

      Been on the cards since 25 / 6 / 2016
      treacherous treasa confirmed it finally with the 9 month delay.

    2. WTF does he think The Coward Cameron bailed out of No.10 in the aftermath of the vote?

      1. What does Cameron do now? He certainly knew what Brexit meant but didn’t stay to carry it out.

    1. Looks like me after I’ve carted boxes of ‘necessary’ gubbins in and out of the Noddy car.

        1. We have more help next week, until actual moving day when the big one arrives.
          To be frank, I need the exercise; the past few days have shown just how debilitating it is to wait on pen pushers to do their job.

  2. 370449+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    NHS skimped on software and now doctors and nurses are fleeing in frustration Sunday 29 January:

    The pub landlord did alright, where has he retired to ?

    I do believe it has come down to, we pump more dosh into the NHS in which case our 5* hotel guest’s will suffer via the lifestyle they have come to expect is due them.

    How about HS2 and those dependent on it’s weekly stipend they could fall foul of lack of funding.

    But the biggest danger is lack of finance for the war effort, how can the ukraine be expected to trigger World War three on its
    lonesome & without our monetary & material input, I ask you.

    Let the electoral majority decide.get a result then close down the NHS.

  3. So what are the risks of serious adverse reaction to the Covid ‘Vaccines’ compared to the numbers of hospital admissions prevented by the ‘vaccines’ ? Here’s a devastating analysis of the UK Health Authority’s own figures by Dr John Campbell. If you cant spare the 11 minutes to watch the entire video jump to around minute 10 and be utterly dismayed by our government’s supine actions.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbFayD_S_54

  4. Good Moaning.
    Do not drink tea or coffee while reading this – unless you fancy buying a new ‘pooter.
    I think the keys to the asylum will be found in the Krankie’s handbag

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/01/28/nicola-sturgeon-approves-another-trans-prisoners-move-womens/

    “Nicola Sturgeon approves another trans prisoner’s move to women’s prison

    Tiffany Scott, formerly known as Andrew Burns, has been described as ‘one of the most menacing people’ inside Scottish jails

    By Lizzie Roberts 28 January 2023 • 7:02pm

    Tiffany Scott, formerly known as Andrew Burns (centre), has stalked a 13-year-old girl and attacked female staff while held in a men’s prison

    Tiffany Scott, formerly known as Andrew Burns (centre), has stalked a 13-year-old girl and attacked female staff while held in a men’s prison Credit: Central Scotland News Agency

    Nicola Sturgeon was last night engulfed in a fresh transgender row after it emerged another biologically male prisoner had their move to a women’s prison approved.

    Tiffany Scott, formerly known as Andrew Burns, stalked a 13-year-old girl, attacked female staff while held in a men’s prison and has been described as “one of the most menacing people” inside Scottish jails.

    The Scottish Tories said on Saturday that the decision to approve the transfer was “absolutely appalling” and poses a “grave risk” to the safety of women, including prison staff.

    It comes after Ms Sturgeon was this week forced to u-turn on allowing Isla Bryson, who was convicted of raping two women while named Adam Graham, to be housed in a women’s prison.

    Ms Sturgeon announced the move following a huge backlash. Bryson, 31, who has not legally changed gender or medically transitioned, was taken to Cornton Vale women’s prison after being convicted of raping two women on Tuesday.

    Nicola Sturgeon was this week forced to u-turn on allowing Isla Bryson, who was convicted of raping two women while named Adam Graham, to be housed in a women’s prison

    Nicola Sturgeon was this week forced to u-turn on allowing Isla Bryson, who was convicted of raping two women while named Adam Graham, to be housed in a women’s prison Credit: Unpixs

    But by Thursday night Ms Sturgeon was forced to announce that Bryson would be moved to a male prison.

    The u-turn came less than 24 hours after Keith Brown, Scottish Justice Secretary, had also said ministers would not interfere with the process.

    It has now emerged that Scott, from Kinglassie, Fife, has been approved to move to a women’s jail after identifying as female. The transfer had previously been refused but senior managers reversed the decision in recent weeks, according to the Daily Record, which first reported the case.

    The Telegraph understands Scott will not be moved to Cornton Vale and the transfer will not be immediate.

    Scott has a string of convictions for assaults, vandalisms and making false allegations against prison officers.

    While still identifying as Burns, the 31-year-old assaulted a nurse while escaping from a hospital in Cheshire in 2010, and, in 2013, was sentenced to 14 months for stalking a 13-year-old girl from Polmont Prison, Falkirk, by sending letters.

    In 2016 Burns came out as transgender and changed name to Tiffany Scott. Scott also reportedly goes by the name Mitzababy, and prison staff were previously told to address Scott as “Mighty Almighty”, or Obi-Wan Kenobi. Scott is not undergoing treatment and has not medically transitioned, it is understood.

    Rachael Hamilton MSP, Scottish Conservative equalities spokesperson: ‘The fact that such a violent and dangerous criminal is set to be transferred to a women’s prison is absolutely appalling’

    Rachael Hamilton MSP: ‘The fact that such a violent and dangerous criminal is set to be transferred to a women’s prison is absolutely appalling’ Credit: Getty Images Europe/Ken Jack

    Female prison officers allegedly refused to strip-search Scott in 2016, with a prison source at the time complaining to the Daily Record that the “full-time menace… makes it his daily business to be as difficult and awkward as possible”.

    Following the recent transfer approval, a source told the newspaper Scott will probably be admitted to HMP Stirling later this year and, initially, held in segregation.

    “This will very possibly lead to full integration with the main prison,” they added.

    “This highly disturbed prisoner has attacked female staff during time in prison, admitted stalking a young girl and has been one of the most menacing people inside Scottish jails. It’s madness to send her to a women’s jail.”

    ‘Absolutely appalling’

    Rachael Hamilton MSP, Scottish Conservative equalities spokesperson, said: “The fact that such a violent and dangerous criminal is set to be transferred to a women’s prison is absolutely appalling.

    “It is clear that Tiffany Scott continues to present a grave risk to the safety of any women that come in contact with them – even trained prison staff. The idea that this violent individual may soon have access to scores of vulnerable women within our prison estate is truly repellent.”

    She added that, despite Sturgeon’s assurances, the Scottish Prison Service’s (SPS’s) risk assessment “is clearly not fit for purpose if this dangerous offender has been approved for transfer to a women’s jail”.

    “Nicola Sturgeon has already u-turned under public pressure to belatedly remove double-rapist Isla Bryson from a women’s jail, she must now intervene to block the transfer of this violent individual before it takes place, or knowingly risk the safety of some of Scotland’s most vulnerable women,” said Ms Hamilton.

    Put transfer of trans inmates ‘on hold’

    Russell Findlay, Scottish Tory justice spokesman, said all transfers of trans inmates to female prisons must be put on hold.

    SPS guidance published in 2014 stated that a prisoner’s accommodation should “reflect the gender in which the person in custody is currently living”.

    The policy is currently being reviewed and the process is “nearing completion,” according to the Scottish Government.

    A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The placement of prisoners is an operational matter for the Scottish Prison Service who use comprehensive individualised risk assessments to inform decisions, such as the appropriate location of transgender people in custody.”

    An SPS spokesperson said they would not comment on individual cases.

    The spokesperson added: “Decisions by the SPS as to the most appropriate location to accommodate transgender people are made on an individualised basis, informed by a multi-disciplinary assessment of both risk and need.

    “Such decisions seek to protect both the wellbeing and rights of the individual as well as the welfare and rights of others around them, including staff, in order to achieve an outcome that balances risks and promotes the safety of all.

    “Where there are any concerns about any risks posed by an individual, either to themselves or others, we retain the ability to keep them separate from the mainstream population until an agreed management plan is in place.” “

      1. How much longer can the evil lipless one go on? But what’s waiting in the wings after she’s been defenestrated? Who’s next up from the Scots Nazis?

    1. When you get an article copied out like that, no pictures it’s easy to see how much repetition there is.

    2. When you get an article copied out like that, no pictures it’s easy to see how much repetition there is.

    3. Again, the Terriblegraph refers to these men as “her”. If I hadn’t already cancelled my sub in 2020 I certainly would now.

    4. I would urge the women in Corton Vale to gang up on these pseudo women and rip their genitals off.

      That’s the potential harm removed.

      1. I just hope they channel their inner great-granny and indulge in a spot of rapid herring gutting.

      2. The prison staff should buy the rubber rings and the applying tool used to castrate young lambs without anaesthetic.. Just be certain to include both the tran’s testicles within the ring. Swift, bloodless and the pain soon disappears [ from the lambs].

    5. Recent BTL Comment:-

      Thomas Donnelly
      JUST NOW
      Sturgeon is loving this.
      It distracts all the attention from her wholesale destruction of the Scottish economy, health service, education and infrastructure – and from her insane independence demagoguery.
      Expect a new individual ‘Jemima-formerly-known-as-Jimmy-the-rapist’ trans-issue every week to keep us occupied – accompanied by the ever-present stench of the Krankie Cabal.

  5. Good moaning all,

    Cloudy but calm at McPhee Towers and 4℃ which is the warmest start to the day for a while. Looks as if it’s going to be quite nice down on the coast so once we’ve got our act together we’ll be off for a walk along the South coast path at Keyhaven.

    A possible talking point for the day regarding the origins of the evil American geo-political war in Ukraine is the shooting down of MH17 in 2014. Like the Nordstream pipeline the Russians had nothing to do with it. It was about bringing to and end the projected Southstream pipline under the Black Sea. Kees Van Der Pijl is a Dutch author who knows a thing or two. Here he is on Jerm Warfare:

    https://odysee.com/@jermwarfare:2/Kees-vd-Pijl:f

  6. Good morning, all. Grey but dry – so far.

    Wedding TERRIBLY Essex…..more follows. Must make a loaf now.

  7. Army spied on lockdown critics: Sceptics, including our own Peter Hitchens. 29 January 2023.

    Documents obtained by the civil liberties group Big Brother Watch, and shared exclusively with this newspaper, exposed the work of Government cells such as the Counter Disinformation Unit, based in the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, and the Rapid Response Unit in the Cabinet Office.

    But the most secretive is the MoD’s 77th Brigade, which deploys ‘non-lethal engagement and legitimate non-military levers as a means to adapt behaviours of adversaries’.

    According to a whistleblower who worked for the brigade during the lockdowns, the unit strayed far beyond its remit of targeting foreign powers.

    They said that British citizens’ social media accounts were scrutinised – a sinister activity that the Ministry of Defence, in public, repeatedly denied doing.

    Papers show the outfits were tasked with countering ‘disinformation’ and ‘harmful narratives… from purported experts’, with civil servants and artificial intelligence deployed to ‘scrape’ social media for keywords such as ‘ventilators’ that would have been of interest.

    The information was then used to orchestrate Government responses to criticisms of policies such as the stay-at-home order, when police were given power to issue fines and break up gatherings.

    It also allowed Ministers to push social media platforms to remove posts and promote Government-approved lines.

    I’ve put this up for the Information’s sake. You can never know too much about the UK Government’s war against its people. If there is a lesson to be learned here it is the depth of the moral corruption that lies at the heart of the British State. We have the military spying on and distorting the legitimate views of the population in support of political ends. The police being tasked with the suppression of expert opinion. No wonder it’s falling apart. It is rotten to its very core!

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11687675/Army-spied-lockdown-critics-Sceptics-including-Peter-Hitchens-suspected-watched.html

      1. Only a mass rising as all the organs of the state and our cultural institutions seem to be captured.

      2. Morning Oberst. It won’t be me. I’m too old. It will vanish in the coming Caliphate!

      3. A stray tactical nuke during PMQs or, for a bigger bang for our buck, during the opening of Parliament would be a good start. Pitchforks and torches would see off the pretend parliaments in Belfast, Cardiff and Edinburgh. Then time to start on the mayors. It’ll all be over by Christmas.

    1. Did the rot start with Major or with Blair? Cameron and Clegg were probably even more destructive.

    1. Enoch Powell predicted this would happen but the idiot politicians silenced him and ignored him.. Worse is to follow as our politicians have no answer to this behaviour.

      1. Your comment, Clyde, and the watering meme, amalgamated and posted on Ar5ebook.

        I shall probably be banned for it, but I’ve been trying to find out how to cancel my account.

    2. There is only one choice – assimilation or they leave. The state has got to be stopped from destroying our entire way of life, society and culture.

      If the foreigner refuses to integrate and abandon their barbarism then they must be treated as such.

    1. First I’ve heard of him. This country would be flying high now if he’d been in charge of the ‘government’.
      The top heavy civil service would cleaner and more efficient.
      Unlike the continous Farage observations that come to nothing, what he says has either happened or should have happened.
      But having not been to Eaton or have friends who have, as brave and honest man in British politics, he’s pushing the brown stuff up with proverbial Hill.

    2. I’ve sent a message to The Highwire re Andrew Bridgen’s interview asking if they would consider doing a piece on him. It’s important that he gets all the attention he can to help push his agenda on the “vaccine”.

    3. A repost after a silly typo was noted the customary ½ second after pressing send!

      An excellent LISTEN.
      He was also an early supporter of the Sub-postmasters over the Horizon scandal which has still not been fully resolved.

    4. It doesn’t just not make sense. It’s criminal.
      We get out of this mess wiith a Nüremburg 2. With the State on trial.

  8. Morning all,

    Yesterday I put back my original Hyundai battery after charging to full into my Kona EV Electric before current drain testing.

    This was the open circuit voltage: https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/be94c257fffafeb8a1bc1635526dd71d71caaa9d3a6dcbe2f11495ff7ccdfa72.jpg

    There are two voltmeters – the second one with a state of charge indicator: https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ac68e99d7fa53932434d13f65825d005863e35303e2cbad9286aeaaf862f5cb4.jpg

    This second image shows the voltage drop due to the load of both voltage meters.

          1. No. I didn’t regret buying thr Hyundai Kona.
            It was probably the first BEV made that broke the range anxiety barrier.
            My requiement was to be able to get to our lodge 50 miles away and back home without charging.
            Also I wanted to be independent of garages that were ripping me off pretending to service my diesel and giving it an MOT pass when they knew it would throw up a PDF warning light within a few miles.
            I had three years guaranteed on my latest driving blicence renewal and I wanted a high performance car as probably my last one as long as it had a three year warranty.

            My diesel had to go – it was losing value fast and time was running out post lockdown for an EV replacement that would be exempt from other car taxes at least for three years.

            I sat when parked in the Kona working out how all the controls worked without realising that without movement the vehicle would not charge its own 12 volt startup battery which I wrecked in four months.

            Yes, Hyundai do have 12 volt battery replacement problems but I’m waiting for battery manufacturers to come up with a solution specfic for the needs of battery electriic vehicles (BEVs).

            Obers first born is a Hyundai Master Technician and we are already working on it.

    1. ‘Scuse me while I nip up the road and put 30 quid’s worth of planet zapper into the Noddy car tank.
      Be back in 15 minutes – with choc chip cookies and bargain bog rolls as well as a full tank.

      1. I was thinking of getting a mobile scooter like a Noddy car but that has a quite simple electric motor and will not get damaged after the battery runs flat.

        That is because it uses a LiFePO4 battery:

        https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B084C49QQV?ref=em_1p_0_ti&ref_=pe_2443691_771531521

        This looks like a super candidate as a reliable auxiliary battery for Battery EVs but you will see why when you see the alteratives.

        It looks as though one should choose the Mercedes AA EV variant as a reliable electric means of transport! 😉

  9. Good Morrow, Gentlefolk. Here is today’s story, late but I deserved a lie-in:

    Oh To Be Eight again!

    A man was sitting on the edge of the bed, watching his wife, who was looking at herself in the mirror. Since her birthday was not far off, he asked what she’d like to have for her birthday.

    ‘I’d like to be eight again’, she replied, still looking in the mirror.

    On the morning of her birthday, he arose early, made her a nice big bowl of Coco Pops, and then took her to “Adventure World” theme park.

    What a day! He put her on every ride in the park; the Death Slide, the Wall of Fear, the Screaming Roller Coaster, everything there was.

    Five hours later they staggered out of the theme park. Her head was reeling and her stomach felt upside down. He then took her to a McDonald’s where he ordered her a Happy Meal with extra fries and a chocolate milkshake.

    Then it was off to a movie, popcorn, a soft drink, and her favourite lollies, M&M’s. What a fabulous adventure!

    Finally, she wobbled home with her husband and collapsed into bed exhausted.

    He leaned over his wife with a big smile and lovingly asked, ‘Well Dear, what was it like being eight again?

    Her eyes slowly opened and her expression suddenly changed.

    ‘I meant my dress size, you f@*#*! retard!’

    The moral of the story: Even when a man is listening, he is gonna get it wrong.

  10. Well, that wedding. The main thing is that the happy pair showed that they really WERE very happy together, and as the chap is the MR’s favourite nephew, she was delighted.

    The bride – who is a charming, intelligent woman with a very serious job, weighs at least 20 stone. Her matron of honour – who made a very amusing speech – approaching 30 stone The MR said that she hadn’t known that Greek chitons were available that large…!! A great deal of that awful “whooping” that Essex (and other common) folk do all the time. A shoddy sound system so that 90% of the speeches were inaudible – even to people with good hearing!

    Lots of generally overweight people – though, happily, apart from one, NONE of the children. Men in ill-fitting suits and very long light brown shoes.

    No expense had been spared on the “venue” – an Edwardian house south of Newmarket hired out for these things. Very similar to a visit to a crematorium. Lots of waiting in undersized rooms for the next “thing” to happen. The place was very unwelcoming. Lots of small rooms, corridors and awkwardness – also the main decor was BLACK – so cheerful, don’t you think? Unsmiling staff.

    Goodish meal – eventually. Drinks flowed. I never touched a drop as I knew (with dread) that I’d have to drive home in the dark. We made it to be greeted by two cats. One in the house – one in the porch. Got the fire going and had a well-deserved glass…. Then watched an excellent PBS prog about the 1954 nuclear bomb testing.

    And so to bed.

    1. Good morning, Bill. I know what a chiton is but I’m trying to remember, is it pronounced key-ton or kite-un?

    2. I enjoy getting home from my brief outings almost more than going out these days. Yesterday I was in the city of Cardiff for a wander whilst Mrs Pea met with friends to exchange gossip. The people seem to get darker despite not much sunlight and the sight of gangs of Uber Eats riders ready to mow me down on their electrically powered bikes seem to have increased. I am a great people watcher, picked up by a tour in MoD London and commuting in from Bushey. But I feel less and less connected with the mass of city folk. 20 ton Tess and her friends seem to have started their hen night early and with shocking attires. Maybe attractive if you are drunk. Individuals with jewellery dangling from their nostrils make me shudder, an old lady who is obviously a care in the community staring at the moon and a black Christian lady with a loudspeaker preaching hellfire. The slammers were also out in a tent preaching peace but looking aggressive. Even the indigenous ladies make themselves unattractive with torn jeans, I remember my days at university in London and living in Kensington admiring the smart young ladies of the day. I guess I must have got old, I shall stick to my local, the Fox and Hounds, in future. I am heartened by the lengthening days and spring approaching after this raw winter and a ski trip booked in March. Hopefully, the slopes will be white.

    3. When I married I was 125kg, the warqueen half of that. We’d been practicing the lift from Dirty Dancing so we could do it as she came up the aisle – the only other person who knew was her late Dad. My jacket had to be specially made as when I moved, the back and arm tore. I wasn’t overweight then.

      I’m fat now, and despite training, despite eating less, I am still fat. I hate it. It’s difficult to explain the degree of self loathing it causes. None of my clothes fit properly. They’re either too short, too long, or too tight and then they rip.

      As for shoes – don’t even bother. You’re looked at like an alien when you say ‘do you have size 12/13s?’ As regards small rooms – at nearly 2 metres tall and wide every room is too small. Every door handle looks designed for a midget.

      I hated our wedding day because our parents wanted it, and wanted the dress up bit. Our real wedding was on a cliff, with two lovely strangers (Hullo Millie and Fred) as witnesses 7 months prior.

      And a black hotel is pretty duff – silly colour for inside but whatever colour you paint things someone won’t like it – my mother for example, who complained about every single decision we made and had to be told to but out as it was our wedding, and she was welcome to not come.

      1. Can be difficult for big people to lose weight as they get slightly older. At a guess you have to help to feed Junior, so you may be spending too much time alongside easy-carbs.
        Swimming could work, because you can pace yourself.

  11. Morning all, I have just skipped through some online newspapers web sites whilst drinking my coffee.
    We must be living in an asylum and the patients are in charge, councils are buying electric waste collection vehicles (only £2.5m) which can’t be used off road and dog poo is building up in beauty spots, a church is draping a pride flag over its alter, wind farms could earn more switched off producing no power.
    And that is only 3 examples from one newspaper.
    I’m going back up in my loft where sanity reigns.
    See you laters.

  12. Igor’s latest substack post well worth a read. Sorry can’t seem to paste it here on my phone.
    Edit.
    Is Geert’s Prediction of a Deadlier Covid Variant Coming True?

  13. Sunday service on the radio this morning referring to the Holocaust.

    Camps and Germany recalled as always, but there is another side.
    An horrific article.

    Holocaust Europe wants to cover up: A shocking new book by a leading academic details how countries from Norway to France colluded in the mass slaughter of the Jews. No wonder they’re now rewriting history to hide the truth

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11685693/How-European-countries-Norway-France-colluded-Holocaust-mass-slaughter-Jews.html

    1. No surprise.
      Most of the east European countries already had a history of anti-semitism. Many of the concentration camp guards were Lithuanians.
      There was a reason why Danish Jews survived; congrats to the Jarls vikings.

      1. I believe that whoever loses the Ukraine war can almost certainly expect repercussions and it will be the trigger for mass movement of refugees. I wonder where they will head and what sort of welcome they will receive.

      2. Almost everywhere has a history of anti-semitism.
        In my English prep school, early 70s, Jew was used as an insult, for example.
        But not all were antisemitic in Norway: there was a concerted effort to protect, hide & evacuate Jews who were to be rounded up for deportation. Many refused to believe it and didn’t flee, sadly.

      1. In general, possibly, specifics, I’m not so sure.
        I hadn’t heard of the pig sty example.

        And how much of this is being taught in schools, very, very little I would wager.

    2. Not to mention the infamous Ukiland police of Warsaw Ghetto fame
      Oh wait,Ukiland Nazis,say it ain’t so…………

    3. The Dutch were at it, too. My Dutch policeman friend wrote a book about Dutch collaboration during the war.

  14. ‘Morning, Peeps. Heatwave (8°C) promised today. I’ll believe it when it happens.

    Headline in the DT:

    Plumbers’ ‘thick white male’ image could derail UK net zero ambitions

    Experts raise concerns that image problems in plumbing could stop recruitment of people needed to install heat pumps

    * * *

    The BTL posters are not happy – in fact I’m surprised that some of the comments have not been removed. Here is one of the less angry contributions:

    Gary Chambers
    8 HRS AGO
    This article is clown world to a tee. Firstly, anybody with a trade is clearly not thick. Second, the idiots in the grandly titled ‘Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’ have likely never had a job and would probably struggle to wire a plug… but they’re the elite, because they know all about pronouns and unconscious bias.
    Third, for a plumber to learn how to fit a heat pump, it is not ‘upskilling’ it is diversifying or training. Upskilling indeed, talk about patronising…. why doest the author try fitting a boiler, central heating system, underfloor heating etc.
    Finally, the fact that 95% of plumbers are white males probably says more about white males than it does plumbing. In other words you need to be smart, practical and hard working to be a plumber and most middle aged white males are just that. I can’t wait to see GenZ delivering a carbon neutral future when half of them can’t even work out if they are a man or a woman.

    * * *

    For me this paragraph from the article jumped off the page, and even raised a smile:

    “Mica May, co-director of Stopcocks Women Plumbers, told The Telegraph that the industry “is not presenting an attractive face” for prospective plumbers.”

    Apart from the fact that they (obviously) do not employ male plumbers, the name is pure genius!

      1. Yes, his comment hits the nail on the head.
        This article just sums up the appalling arrogance of brainwashed, pen pushing graduates in Britain. Truly appalling.
        If we’re talking about the difference between a plumber and an “expert” from the Department of Business etc, I know which one I’d rather my daughter married.

    1. Let’s think about this: who would you rather see when your life is a water logged, stinking hell?
      A plumber with a white van, lots of knowledge and a big monkey wrench or a smart arris granny who can discuss the significance of the Wife of Bath in English literature?

    2. I know for a fact that tradesmen (and I use that term advisedly) are not stupid but a lot of their clients treat them as if they were. Rude and condescending. I wouldn’t put up with it.

      There are some women, I know, in the trades but they are vanishingly small.

      I think all white tradesmen should down tools. That would make TPTB sit up and think.

    3. An enthusiastic seconder here. Just having had a visit from our very pleasant and likeable, youngish plumber of choice who has fixed our pressurised hot water tank so that it stops over-flowing and delivers gas-fired, piping hot water on demand, I agree with every word.

      I wonder how Stopcocks would deal with an old man’s u-bend?

    4. What a terrible, bigoted headline.
      The real problem is people who think plumbers are thick, and think that it’s a problem that they are mainly white in a mainly white country.

          1. No – I recall Blair on TV spouting “We glory in multiculturalism”. The Queen’s speech one year even contained the words “Britain is a multicultural country”. Well they might glory in multiculti but it has destroyed our lovely country, which will now never return.

            I guess our generation is lucky to be able to remember days when we were civilised.

        1. Given the number of phrases within quotation marks in the article as a whole is it possible that it’s a direct quote rather than journalistic cowardice?

          1. I think it is a quote (unattributed) – I think it’s cowardice to hide behind a quote like that.

    1. Go’morgen, min ven.

      Jeg har lige svaret din hilsen fra i går. Jeg er stadigvæk ægerlig over at vi ikke mødtes da jeg var i Köbenhavn sidst…men det var en trist tid.

      1. Godmorgen min gode ven. Jeg er ked af, at det var en trist tid for dig at komme til København. Hvis du nogensinde har lyst til at tale om det, ved du, hvor jeg er. Store kram kommer til dig.😘

  15. Ahh, bless. Of course you don’t, Mike (last paragraph):

    “A LONDON council has made almost £2million in four months by fining motorists for entering Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs).

    Labour-run Haringey council issued more than 60,000 penalty charge notices between September and December after introducing three LTNs on a trial basis.

    The council has been accused of using motorists as “cash cows” to boost its income. And it has been claimed that the LTNs have only moved polluting traffic to surrounding areas.

    Angelo Tsangarides, of Tottenham Young Conservatives, who used Freedom of Information laws to obtain details of the fines, described the money raised as an “LTN cash grab”.

    Two thirds of the fines were issued to motorists from outside the borough. It emerged last year that the council expects to raise £5.7million from LTNs in one year.

    Cllr Mike Hakata, deputy leader at Haringey council, said: “We don’t want to fine anyone, from inside or outside the borough, and our expectation and hope is that compliance will be high.”“

  16. The UN FINALLY blames Putin-backed Syrian regime for 2018 gas attack that killed 43. 29 January 2023.

    The global chemical weapons watchdog has said its investigators found ‘reasonable grounds to believe’ Syria’s air force dropped two cylinders containing chlorine gas on the city of Douma in April 2018, killing 43 people.

    One of the cylinders hit the roof of a three-storey residential building and ruptured, ‘rapidly released toxic gas, chlorine, in very high concentrations, which rapidly dispersed within the building killing 43 named individuals and affecting dozens more’, according to the report.

    A second cylinder burst through the roof of another building into an apartment below and only partially ruptured, ‘mildly affecting those who first arrived at the scene’, the report added.

    Well after many tribulations they have finally managed to get it out. I suppose the dissenting voices at OPCW have now been purged and sufficient time has passed for the details to fade in people’s memory. This was probably the most wicked of all the chemical False Flag operations carried out to blacken the name of the Syrian Government. It involved the cold blooded murder of over thirty men who were deliberately suffocated to stage the scene. Almost certainly with the connivance of the White Helmets.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11685479/The-FINALLY-blames-Putin-backed-Syrian-regime-2018-gas-attack-killed-43.html

    1. Only five years late.
      Be good if some journo collected all the misleading blame statements and published them – “So who told the truth then?”

    2. I recall the empty canisters were actually marked Made in Saudi Arabia but I expect that’s been forgotten along with any other inconvenient details.

    3. Given the timing of the publication, a cynic might think the ground was being laid for a similar atrocity in Ukraine.

  17. The MR tells me that Fishi has – finally – sacked the Slimy Wog. Took his time, eh?

          1. He, Sunak, needs to be identified as a majority shareholder in Moderna, via his holding company.

            Reportedly 6 million shares, reported in yesterday’s NTTL.

    1. The last I saw was that it is just while an investigation takes place and if he’s exonerated he will be guaranteed a return to cabinet.
      Guilty until proven innocent, isn’t that the wrong way around?

      Either way, he should have fallen on his sword, not waited for the push.

      1. TBF to Richi, he has actually done things the way they used to be done until …. The Twatter Age.

    2. Mr T,
      I enjoy the banter and the occasional nuggets of information on this blog, but it is wrong to describe anyone as a ‘Slimy Wog’, at least in print.

        1. Reminds me of a solicitor who was ‘stalked’ at his home by some clients who were hoping to obtain citizenship.
          In the end he fixed a crucifix to his front door.

    3. Import the 3rd world become the third world.
      Elect 3rd World politicians, expect 3rd World standards of probity.

        1. All these bastards are that. Abbott, Spamhead Javid, Stupidly (Forrin Sec), Olowogsu, Chuckus Yermunny (remember him?)….the end is listless.

      1. Is she taking the Blue Mink line (from their execrable 1970s dirge, Melting Pot) about “… turning out coffee-coloured people by the score”?

    1. He reminds of the very things a dog leaves behind.
      But he’s not alone in that description of things on the green benches.

  18. Could any sophisticated NoTTLer tell me why young women have tattoos between their should blades where – most of the time – no one can see them; and they can never see them?

    All very odd to me.

    1. “If you can read this, I’m the wrong way round” ?
      Or for the Essex girl
      “Other side up”

    2. I suppose the only advantage would be that one wouldn’t have to see the hideous tattoo oneself, but merely inflict it upon others.

      1. I can think of better ways of spending £100…. They also look soooooo good on massively fat flesh…!!

    3. Apart from it getting light far too early, one of the curses of summer is all the tats on display.

          1. The extraordinary thing, Jules, is that she is clearly an intelligent and very amusing woman with two delightful THIN children.

          2. That’s ok then…..must be just hormonal – and perhaps she got the tat when she was young and foolish.

    4. I was most unimpressed with the fact that David Dimbleby and Judi Dench have both been ‘inked’ and showed the daubs to the tv cameras. David Cameron’s wife also has a tattooed ankle. “How very common,” as my dear old mother would have said.

    1. Not a Rowling fan, but it’s definitely Rowling 1, Sturgeon nil.

      The Pfizer / Project Veritas cartoon is racist – the Pfizer man was mixed race. But baddies must always be shown as white and blonde, even when they’re not.

    2. Phantom power ? Surely greedy scumbags who line their already adequately stuffed pockets and bank accounts with even more unearned money, whilst the public are suffering, but with dignity.
      These people are an absolute disgrace as representatives to the human race.

    3. Re Peter Hitchens…quite an old photo as DPM cammo was phased out in 2016, to be replaced by MTP. (Not a lot of people know that, and probably didn’t want to either!)

    1. I have a vague recollection that one of the objections to the vaccines, or perhaps it was a particular batch of them, was that traces of metal had been found.

  19. PS – apropos my wedding comments – I don;t want anyone to think I am a snob, or anything…!!

    Just genuinely confused by the way they other half (insert your own figure) live.

    1. One of my friends is currently helping to create a wedding dress for her step son’s fiancee.
      The decorations she has made are wonderful and we chatted happily about the work and materials involved. Her voice went expressionless when she uttered the words “size 20”.

      1. Yo Fizz

        I agree

        I am sure, that Bill has absolutely no idea how to mend shoes

        When snob first began to be found in print, it was used as a term for a shoemaker, or cobbler.

  20. Mr Selves is, as always, on very good form…

    Martin Selves
    2 HRS AGO
    This News paper is full on Remain, and a not so secret Establishment trying its best to sort it. I wrote this piece in another article, but it will sit well here. I was challenged why I wanted Brexit ….
    Do I regret in any way voting for Brexit and leaving the EU? Hell No. My only regret it was left in the hands of the Brino Politicians and the Establishment that still plan for the UK to return. Theresa May had a promising start, but gradually fell under the spell of Brussels. As she struggled out of bed at 3am, time after time, and flew to Brussels from RAF Northolt, she met her match in Barnier and Verhofstat, and gradually they build a Brexit, designed by Sir Ollie Robbins in the UK, and the rest is History. Boris Johnson got what he wanted, and he forgot all about Brexit as he went Green.
    This is simply our Politicians not having the Will to fulfil the demand of Brexit, even with an 80 seat majority. Bercow, Heseltine and the Supreme Court did their very best to wreck everything, and when they failed the Establishment and probably a majority in the HoC decided to adopt a go slow on implementation. And that is where we are today. Virtually nothing has been achieved.

    MS

    Martin Selves
    2 HRS AGO
    and followed up with …..
    I was a Brexiteer, before the name existed, for at least 15 years. It was clear to everyone if they looked, that the EU;s intention was to form a Single Federal State. Barnier on TV said he wanted it done by 2025, and the Brandy drinking President (name?) said the same thing. Covid has delayed this. What it meant was the UK would lose its name, and would be divided up into Regions. The Daily Mirror even published a Map of it. This Plan very much still exists, but it has become very difficult to find. As the UK was rubbed out, so would be the Monarchy and our Armed Forces, all absorbed into the Federal State Army. Our NHS would have gone (no bad thing) and so much more. Our wealth would have been distributed to the less wealth Federal States. Gone would be the names of Italy, France, Portugal ….. crazy you say? The awful truth is it is still being designed, and the New Map of Europe modified every year. That is why I wanted out. This what they want. I don’t.

    * * *

    My father was a very early member of UKIP and I too joined in my time. He would be very pleased by these comments.

      1. Plus, if you are of colour (any hue) you get an immediate 5 step lead over anyone else.

        For the sake of diversity, donchaknow.

        Well I, for one ,don’t think that any of the carp that we have to put up with is worth it for the sake of diversity. In fact nothing is worth doing simply for the sake of diversity – as if diversity is in itself a glorious aim. It isn’t.

    1. But Maggie, who checks/vets the vetters! For example the perlice don’t check their own entries, ample evidence of rogue officers, regulatory bodies just seem to be jobs for the boys etc.etc. Look at the scamdemic – millions made by companies set up weeks before procurement, etc.etc. We seem to be so corrup in the U.K. where, years ago, I thought we were a shining example of honesty in Parliament and local government. How naive was I!

      1. I am certain it is – had the “fine” not been a silly number, it might have been more credible.

        Anyway, slammers threaten dog owners all the time.

    1. This surely cannot be true – are there any links to verify this story?

      In any case this chap should be locked in a cage with a few hungry and savage rottweilers.

  21. Was just going to pay for removals of the stuff from Mother’s house to us, that ended in Pickfords London as the removals company went bust. Pickfords recommended a company, they quoted, and I was about to pay, then remembered (learning from experience) I hadn’t looked them up on Tripadvisor or whatever.
    Good thing I did! Cor, some terrible reviews! Many saying lost boxes, no contact after payment received, all kinds of crap.
    So, me no pay, searching for a new removals company. Is everybody a crook in the UK? Starts with Zahawi and runs down to the meanest bum, it looks like. I’ll use a Norwegian outfit for this now, even though it’s more expensive

      1. Noel D Abel? They had a weekly auction in the 60’s, is it still there? I furnished my first house through their auction for less than £100

        1. Changed hands a couple of times since then. Our first move in 1984 was when “The Colonel” was still in charge!!

      2. Thanks, Bill. Their reviews are excellent, so pinged them to discuss a move.
        Looks like not everybody in UK is a crook, then.
        Looks like I might owe you!

    1. May I suggest that you pay by credit card, which comes with built in insurance for transactions in excess of £100 IIRC.
      Edit: I know a Brit who lives in Norway, I could ask him if he ever has any furniture sent out.

    2. I used Hoults to get my Dads stuff from here to Greece. They were wonderful and, despite been held in storage for a couple of months, everything arrived un damaged on the day they promised! And they were a very reasonable price!

      1. That sounds a lot better than the local firm I used to bring my stuff from Shrewsbury to North Shropshire! It’s only 20 miles, but things never got picked up from the other house (and the new owners subsequently denied all knowledge of them), the removal company managed to gouge a long strip out of the top of my piano because, although I told them there was a piano to move, they failed to bring a piano truck, and various light shades got damaged.

    3. Are these the things you wanted to keep, that went missing after you’d sent them off? I hope they eventually arrive.

      1. Yes. The original company went bust, the gear ended up in Pickfords, now I want it delivered. Paid for that once already.
        Seems to be a complicated business.

        1. At least you managed to track them down. Hopefully you can get a reliable firm to deliver. Bill’s suggestion sounds a good one. Then get compensation from Pickfords.

  22. After inspection, the front right spring of Second Son’s car is broken and twisted out of place.
    Bugger!
    That’ll cost, and the car is unsafe to drive to the workshop for attention, even.

      1. Our home-grown garage mechanic Olaf can handle it – except he’s 2 hours drive away, and the car is fit to drive on to a low-loader only.

          1. Huh. That’s nothing.
            Firstborn has 4 cars and 2 tractors all on his own. And a massive motorbike.

  23. Finally, looking to add a plug socket in the living room. Can’t find the breaker that disconnects the supply to the junction box I’m going to tap in to – a concern, because I won’t use it if it isn’t on a breaker. That way leads to fires, and in a wooden house, that’s severe.
    About to trip all the breakers and see if it comes on as they are replaced one-by-one.
    Gee, why are things so difficult?

        1. Leg is quite sore today but- drum roll- he’s made it upstairs on foot two nights in a row and made it down this morning alone, so I could have an extra half hour in bed.
          Still eating well.
          Hoping to get the physio going this week and the staples come out on Wednesday.
          Thanks for asking.

          1. Along the wound. And, according to the nurse, they use a tool very similar to the sort we’d use to remove a staple from paper, to remove them. Neither of us is looking forward to this but the nurse said it doesn’t hurt. Well, they all say that, don’t they?

          2. If it is similar to my experience after my knee replacement it will be very quick and he’ll hardly feel it, not even as bad as having a large splinter removed.
            I hope so. I had around 30 prised out.

          3. My scar, from the lower calf, up into the groin had over 100 staples to be extracted.

            The nurse was quite gentle and most didn’t hurt – some did.

  24. SWMBO teaching Second Son how to make marmalade! It’s very comforting, watching and listening to a mother teach her 21-year old about cooking. Kind of old-fashioned, cosy and lovely. I’ll have a beer!

      1. I used half the amount of sugar and then set it with a bit of gelatin. I don’t like sickly sweet food.

      2. Nah. Bugger-all sugar, it’s sharp as a scolds tongue. Lovely! Nothing like shop-bought marmalade which these days seems to consist of orangey-brown coloured corn syrup.

      3. I make chutney (can’t stand marmalade) – but reduce the sugar by more than half. Much better flavour.

      1. Problem is, with marmalade taht good, I don’t like the bought stuff – and we don’t have enough home-made to last a year!

    1. It’s the body camera footage of the arrest of the black criminal who was beaten to death by black plod.

      Notable that the criminal runs away. Why did he run away?

      1. 1. There is no evidence that he was a criminal, being stopped when driving a car, for a putative offence, does not make one a criminal. Road traffic offences are not crimes.
        2. If five blokes were beating me for no lawful reason, I would run too.

        1. Questions I’ve asked:-

          OK, so what happened before the video started?
          Why was Tyre Nichols stopped?
          Did he stop immediately or was there a chase?
          Why are the Police so aggressive?
          Was their aggressive and, quite frankly, OTT violent conduct the reason why he broke free and ran?
          Were those Officers were given a Drug & Alcohol test after the incident and if so, what were the results?

    2. Thanks for posting that, Grizzly. It certainly does show the assault by the five police officers, unlike the one posted by one of our number yesterday, when nothing at all was shown (everything was black for the first half of the film).

    1. I’ve often thought HS2 to be just a giant scam to create pointless employment for tens of thousands of unnecessary jobsworths on six figure salaries. It is the representation of the EU itself: massive expense, no value, no purpose never intended to provide a useful product.

      1. Shirley a money laundering exercise. It’s swallowed up way more money than it costs to build a railway yet there’s no railway. Contracts worth billions awarded to private entities and paid from the public purse but nothing, or very little, ever delivered. Covid contracts likewise.

    1. Bozrah is in New London County which is on the coast. It’s not a highly populated area. New London is the home of Electric Boat in Groton. The river that flows to the sea there is the Thames….pronounced to rhyme with aims.

        1. Groton was the name of the Winthrop Manor in East Anglia. John Winthrop Sr. was Governor of Mass. and John Winthrop Jr. was one of the first governors of CT. There are a lot of English names in the area.
          John Jr., although a Puritan, was not as fanatical as many others.
          He also started the first iron foundry in NE at Saugus.

          1. There are a lot of (mis pronounced) English names in the area.

            Not just in Merkinland.

            I was hospitalised in Tasmania, to a place called Launceston, mispronounced as Lawn ces ton.

      1. Groton is a small village near Sudbury and Boxford in Suffolk. The village pub, the Fox and Hounds, was one of the first village pubs to provide decent cooked food back in the early 70s. Still going strong.

  25. Send Kyiv F-16 jets, US military officials tell Pentagon. 29 January 2023.

    US military officials have reportedly begun urging the Pentagon to approve sending F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine to help defend against Russian missile and drone attacks.

    “I don’t think we are opposed,” a senior defence department official told Politico.

    A top aide to Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian President, on Saturday said Ukraine and its Western allies are engaged in “fast-track” talks on the possibility of equipping it with warplanes and long-range weapons like ATACMS ballistic missiles.

    All of this is eerily familiar to those of us who are old enough to remember the Vietnam War. The mission creep. The urge to reinforce failure. The lies. The babble about Freedom and Democracy; neither of which these two states were/are blessed. The thing is this one won’t follow the usual pattern of the US legging it for the nearest exit. It will probably be a European Armageddon!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/01/29/ukraine-russia-war-news-putin-bakhmut-offensive-jets-sanctions/

      1. Russia Today call it Kiev and so did Oleg the Viking who legend has it founded Kiev but hey, what did he know.

  26. What I thought when going out the garden to fill up the bird feeders would be a quiet morning followed by a read of the paper took a bit of a downturn when I noticed the manhole was overflowing down the side way.

    I’m putting in a chitty for time and a turd for that.

    At least the experience isn’t so bad after covid and losing my sense of smell.

    Sorry if anyone is eating lunch

    1. Not to worry, we have a road closed off due to a water main bursting. As you wander past you can see the problem clearly. It hasn’t burst, council failure to clear culverts has caused a weed to wrap around the pipe, crushing it. The water was originally clear, then full of mud, it’s now… well… the water people are pumping sand through.

      1. When I came out to fill the hods this morning, one of the bird feeders was on the ground. I suspect a large bird had managed to grip onto it and the weight had broken the string.

          1. There is a squirrel that takes the hazelnuts from my tree (and buries them, then forgets to dig them up again so I keep finding hazel saplings everywhere!), but I haven’t seen him at the bird feeders (which are just outside the kitchen window, hanging from the overhang of the stable.

    2. Sewers is my department. Including the arm round the U-bend. Apparently, all that kind of stuff makes her throw.

    3. My husband and our neighbour spent a happy 3 hours clearing our main drains a couple of weeks ago! If we hadn’t known him quite well before, we certainly did afterwards! It was only a chance remark on his part that we knew it wasn’t just our drain, as the loo, shower, bath and basin were all gurgling and backing up!

  27. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/01/28/evidence-undeniable-really-remainer-plan-rejoin-eu-stealth/

    Mr Hannan is a bit slow here. It was inevitable that from the outset remain would continue to fight to rechain the UK to the hated EU. The entire state machine is dedicaated to this purpose. Hunt’s socialist tax hiking policies are evidence of this. Sunak’s refusal to remove EU law, to deal with Northern Ireland, to diverge tax and policy wise from the hated EU is just more proof.

    Then there’s massive uncontrolled gimmigration, a clear and obvious assault to spite those who voted for Brexit hoping to end the destruction of our economy. Where Mr Hannan is wrong though is that the remoaners will never, ever give up. They’ll use every penny of public money, making the state so obese it breaks the country to force us back into the hated EU.

    1. LORD Hannan. Lord Moore (Charles). SIR Keir (Almost-There). Lord Hague. Lord Kinnock. Baroness Kinnock. The creme de la creme du Blob is to be found in the other place.

    2. LORD Hannan. Lord Moore (Charles). SIR Keir (Almost-There). Lord Hague. Lord Kinnock. Baroness Kinnock. The creme de la creme du Blob is to be found in the other place.

  28. With Zahawi gone the BBC’s campaign to get him sacked has finally succeeded. Who is next on their hit list I wonder?

    1. There was no alternative. Shunk couldn’t eep blasting out the rhetoric of high tax good, freedom bad, big state good, private wealth bad while a clear example of the damaging effect of high taxes sits beside him, could he?

      1. Sunak, “Private Wealth bad.

        When will he donate his and his wife’s fortunes to the treasury?

        Yeah, right – never.

        1. Sunak’s wealth is tied to Moderna and much of it is therefore derived from us taxpayers through government contracts to purchase Covid clotshots and funding of manufacturing plants.

    1. Fits with this p_m from Conwomen

      ‘We Have Been Lied To About Every Part of the COVID Pandemic warns
      Dr. Michael Yeadon – former chief scientist & vice-president of the
      allergy & respiratory research division of Pfizer

      ‘ … “We’ve
      been lied to by government officials & corporate types about
      absolutely everything to deal with this so-called virus pandemic,” said
      Yeadon Tuesday. “The severity of the public health threats, the
      necessity to lockdown, asymptomatic transmission, the use of masks, mask
      testing, and finally, vaccines. Every single part of the narrative is a
      lie, scientifically proven.”

      Yeadon goes on to detail his
      findings and stresses the importance of anyone listening to this
      interview to personally spread the word.

      “They’re not frightened
      of me because they figure I won’t be heard. So please listen, what I ask
      is for you to memorize two or three of the powerful things I just told
      you & tell ten other people. The mass media is never going to tell
      them.”

      Additionally, Yeadon said the globalists’ system of
      full-spectrum control is ready to enter its operation phase – and the
      key ingredients, digital ID and central bank digital currencies are
      about to be implemented.

      “Digital ID is the heart of tyranny,”
      said Yeadon. ‘We are near the point where they’ll say: ‘If you don’t get
      your next jab, you won’t be allowed to buy gasoline, travel, or buy
      food.’ This system is ready to go.’

      1. Just look at the 5 minute neighbourhoods springing up everywhere, that you need permission to leave. Under what authority, I ask?

      1. One or two off us opted out of medical record electronic data sharing when we were given the chance to do so about a decade ago. However, I’m not sure that they have honoured my instruction as I still get pestered from time to time by the health authorities with offers to vaccinate me; so I can only conclude that the health authorities have access to local GPs data bases. I can only assume that when GB writes he has left the NHS permanently he uses a Private GP. [I suspect in the case of a serious pandemic Private GPs will be compelled to hand over data on those who have not be ‘vaccinated’.

    1. The scan should only take one to two weeks. Sooner if it is urgent.

      Such a careless person is Nahdim. Besides owing millions in tax we also heated his stables for him. Lucky he didn’t have a moat or a duck house too.

      I don’t believe it was careless. It was intentional. It’s a cultural thing.

      1. Yes, but the expenses farce was just insulting all round. Even more reason to move the lot of them into IR35. The idea that there’s a separate department in HMRC dedicated to MPs is idiotic. They’re staff, dammit.

    2. Hate MRI. Face in a wee cage, all horribly claustrophobic, bed jerking back & forth, terrible grinding noises… Ugh. CT is much less stressful!

  29. Right, new plug socket attached to wall, breaker identified, new electric wall heater attached, and factory setting of +35C modified to a more pleasant 18C.
    I’ll put the tools away, and have a beer.

    1. Don’t over do it. You are not long released from hospital. I’m not talking about the beer here.

      1. The only hard bit was getting my head in a corner close enough to see what’s going on. The rest just involved folding up like a men-knife & drilling holes.
        All done now. Perched in sofa, smug expression on face.

    2. I trust that you identified the breaker before installing the socket.

      Or do you like playing dangerously?

        1. It’s quite funny when that does happen. I fell backward a good 2 feet. Left me rather dazed and fuzzy.

      1. Breaker identified. Tripped them all and waited for the line to come live as I reinstated them. Naturally, it’s on the same circuit as the outdoors path heater.

        1. Naturally, it’s on the same circuit as the outdoors path heater.

          Ye God’s! He’s a one man Climate Changer!

          1. Common up here in’t frozen north, an electric path heater. Some have driveway heaters too, where that’s steep.

          2. SWMBO slipped a couple-3 years ago on the old steps, and broke her coccyx. When we renewed the steps, we had a heater built-in. Used once so far this winter, to shift the last of overnight ice.

          3. A heater – to warm her coccyx? That’s really thoughtful, Paul – though a tad uncomfortable for your Beloved…!!

          4. OOOWWWWW! My sympathy to her! I impacted my coccyx on a semi-frozen mole hill 20odd years ago when I came of a sledge and it still causes problems occasionally.

    1. Zumba? Don’t be daft. That’s Yoga or Pilates – warrior 1 with cactus arms. The mats are a giveaway.

    2. Hold ’em down you Zulu Warrior,
      Hold’em down you Zulu Chief,
      Chief! Chief! Chief! Chief
      Ar-Delle zumba zumba zumba.

      1. Eight of us did the Zulu warrior in our squadron bar in Verden in about 1976. Followed by a naked conga through the three storey block (bar was on the top floor) and the streaked round the block pursued by the guard. Happy days.

  30. Keir Starmer is worth £7.7 million. How much does he keep off-shore. How much tax does he pay. Is any one of these shysters even close to clean. Picking off one is so meaningless.

    1. I honestly don’t care. People seem to think Zahawi has commited some sort of capital crime. All he’s done is minimise his tax liability.His accountant screwed up and suddenly it all becomes public.

      The problem is normal people -the rest of us – can’t get our mate Matt to hand us a massive contract for PPE on the fly as we set up a fake company to handle all that tax payers cash. We know they’re corrupt. We know they’re bent. Why would Starmer, Cameron, Shunk give up million quid jobs to be leader of the opposition if they didn’t expect the trough after office?

      No, the problem is that they know there is nothing we can do to stop them. Nothing we can do to avoid their crippling, abusive taxes. It is anger that we’re forced to pay for them, greed that we can’t have some of it, but under it all, and the thing most are ignorant of, the knowledge that we’re powerless. That’s what annoys people, the inability to kick the crooks from making our lives miserable.

      1. Let us not complain about Comrade Zahawi; if the figures are correct, he had to pay a penalty of 20% as a result of an error by a tax accountant.

        20% and no prosecution, sounds like a precedent.

  31. Off Topic. I have one of those robot floor cleaners. Every time i use it it drives Dolly crazy with lots of barking. Harry has just worked out how to switch it on. :@(

    1. My Golden, Henry used to play vacuum gladiators. He’d plant himself in front of it, bum in the air and when I moved it, he’d bark and jump at it and then get ready for the next attack. Took ages to hoover the big living room.

      1. Oscar used to try to bite the nozzle when my cleaner hoovered the dining room. Now he’s completely blase and just carries on sleeping until he’s moved. He’s come a LONG way!

    2. A chum has one and the first time Mongo saw it (as a Puppy) he set about trying to ride on it. When it went back to the base station we found this daft little dog frantically wagging his tail and trying to nose the robot hoover for another go.

      At that point I knew he wasn’t as bright as his sire.

  32. I am afraid I made a terrible blunder earlier, when giving Paul a tip about having his son’s car seen to.

    My friend Mr Rashid’s Norwegian pal is, of course, call MOlaf….

  33. My Hyundai Kona Ultimate has gone four months and then displayed a warning electrical sign on start up.

    It not surprising because as AF says – absolutely everthing in a BEV relies on an electrical supply:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e1185d542049115e2dcff7c1340f7a18de6c8323808de185cfa2a7fcc4ce034f.jpg

    This means a a fair amount. of curent on start up and this has to come from the auxiliary battery so I decided to measure it with this circuit:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ccfc73e43acd8a91bacb795990efc03ef2c3ec0541d735deb90fdc4d415ffc89.jpg

    Here’s the wiring to the auxiliary battery:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d5fb86b46e92ebb675b1dc4634a319989f53aace9563cd69671a0017e7532630.jpg

    and here’s a close up of the battery voltmeter/state of charge meter and the ammeter:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/036c858c8cca5a51e086de2bad5047c0d18e398f4458da9d4d81709a92e95ec3.jpg

    The Kona’s auxiliary battery fell to just above 11 volts showing a red LED and the current flow to the electrics was about three amps. This was before any attempt was made to press the vehicles Start/Stop button.

    1. Ask a silly question:
      Is there a single button that turns everything off apart from the ability to use the Start/Stop button and once started then turn everything else back on?

        1. Why wouldn’t a mechanical circuit breaker work, like on a circuit board?
          I’ve only a very, very minimal level of electrical knowledge but it would appear to be an easy and logical solution.

          1. A mechanical push on/push off button could be used as a circuit breaker to disable a battery connection as in this catalogue:

            https://www.cuidevices.com/blog/push-button-switches-101

            When I said no in anwering your question I was referring to a simple single contact push button. You are right in your suggestion of a mechanical circuit breaker should it be a push.on/push off type.

            The problem with that however is that you can’t tell from the button position if you have disabled an electrical circuit or not and that would require an indicating lamp ( and that would need a power source)

          2. The simplest vehicle I’ve had to take responibikity for was my daughter’s horsebox. She asked me to test drive it before hrr purchase and It looked as though it would do to transport her horse with her budget of £3k.

            Thr Dodge chassis with the horsebox came to 5.8 tons.
            There there no sensors in it for anything. Even the diesel flow to the engine had to shut off with a manual valve pull to turn off the engine.

          3. Diesels like that were/are used in ocean going yachts where you don’t get recovery trucks to bring a replacement battery to turn the engine over to start it – but then you’ve got wind power to get to the nearest port.

            In the case of my daughter’s horse box I would get her diesel engine sorted at a chandlers in Levington. The engine would probably have gone on for ever but the box couldn’t the pressure washing as parr of the MOT preparation.

    1. Rather similar to the way Richard SK immediately started getting hate mail after posting his Net Zero petition.

    1. Sunak is profiting from the Moderna ‘vaccine’ the patents for which were lodged years before the ‘pandemic’.

      If people continue to die or fall gravely unwell following vaccination and multiple boosters in the numbers projected, Sunak will be at the head of the roll in Nuremberg II.

      Corruption and malfeasance in public office applies to most of the politicians who have promoted and profited from a ‘vaccine’ which causes blood clotting and numerous other illnesses.

      The serious adverse reactions anmultiple deaths caused by Covid policies enacted by the clowns in governments around the world will haunt the lot of them in the near future.

    2. Those stats are also discussed by Joel Smalley in his latest piece. He blames the bivalent vaccines killing off immunity.

  34. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b80f57092af7bff5a1fa2aa978722f790f39d354908c742a182b47cb02f6413a.png Few food items have as many regional names as those small (usually round) pieces of bread that accompany soup or are used for small sandwiches. None of the following 28 regional names are ‘wrong’, just different. What do you call yours?

    Bap
    Bara
    Barmcake
    Batch
    Bin-lid
    Breadcake
    Bridie
    Bulkie
    Bun
    Buttery
    Cob
    Huffkin
    Lardycake
    Morning roll
    Muffin
    Nudger
    Oggie
    Ovenbottom
    Roll
    Rowie
    Scotch roll
    Scuffler
    Softie
    Stotty
    Teacake
    Vienna roll
    Whitecake
    Wig.

    Now, I realise that some of these names also refer to other items, but the above list is what various people in the UK call their cobs [I routinely use the word ‘cob’ since I am from Derbyshire, the heart of cobland].

      1. cob kob, n a a short-legged stong horse; a male swan; a lump of coal; a rounded object; a cob-loaf, a bread roll; the axis of a head of maize; a cobnut; an irregularly-shaped Spanish-American dollar of the 17c to 19c; a building material made of clay and chopped straw; a wicker basket used by sowers; a gull, esp the great black-backed gull. vt to strike; to thump on the buttocks; to throw.

        1. That’s just plain wrong. A lardycake is the absolute peak of British baking and should NOT be confused with a semmel!

          1. Don’t tell me; go and tell those who wish to call them a ‘lardycake’ that, in your opinion, they are ‘wrong’.

            I posted this as an experiment to discover how hidebound people are, with their own preferences and prejudices, and it didn’t take me long to confirm that suspicion, did it?

          2. Oh lighten up! I reserve the most emotion for really important issues of the day.
            Actually, it is wrong, because lard is not a major ingredient of rolls, so it’s misleading to describe them as lardycakes, surely.

          3. I need to lighten up? You are the one throwing your teddy out of the cot demanding that people who do not share your opinion are “wrong”.

            And, for your information, lard is indeed a requisite ingredient in a cob (roll, bap, bun. batch, etc…). I bake a batch of cobs once a fortnight:

            500g strong white bread flour
            150g water
            150g cold milk
            26g lard
            14g dried yeast
            10g salt
            12g sugar.

          4. She wasn’t rude. Just speaking her mind. Don’t be so sensitive, Grizz – it’s all that living in the soft Sweden…

          5. I have made that recipe loads of times for loaves, but lard isn’t the defining ingredient.

            I think you’re mistaking joking for “throwing your teddy out of the cot.”

          6. For a standard loaf I use this recipe:

            500g strong white bread flour
            280g cold water
            10g salt
            12g fresh yeast (or 5g dried yeast)

            And I always let it rise overnight, in a cool place, to improve the flavour.

            Lard is necessary in cobs, but not necessary in a loaf. I get all my recipes from professional bakers.

          7. His recipe is quite wrong, of course!! I add two tablespoons of olive oil to my mix; and 10 g of sugar. Grizz blathers on that the sugar is not needed. Well, he is wrong again!!

          8. Why on earth do you need sugar in a standard loaf? There is more than sufficient natural sugar present in the flour to feed the yeast. Olive oil is OK if you want an Italian-style loaf.

          9. I’m buggered if I can remember their name. All I can remember is that they were a standard cob recipe, with a cross cut into them and then they were brushed with malt syrup and sprinkled with sea salt before baking.

          10. Trying to understand the German I understand that those are prepared in a similar way to pretzels, in that they are dipped for a minute in a solution of boiling water and bicarbonate of soda to give it that shiny crust when baked.

          11. He is a northerner, born and bread.
            At least this thread has cleared up any misunderstandings – when Grizzly (or anyone else) talks about eating a cob with his soup, I shall not fear that he has butchered a horse.

          12. I need to lighten up? You are the one throwing your teddy out of the cot demanding that people who do not share your opinion are “wrong”.

            And, for your information, lard is indeed a requisite ingredient in a cob (roll, bap, bun. batch, etc…). I bake a batch of cobs once a fortnight:

            500g strong white bread flour
            150g water
            150g cold milk
            26g lard
            14g dried yeast
            10g salt
            12g sugar.

        2. I’m a Midlander originally and we would have said bap or roll (though we were fairly posh). A cob (roll) is a deliciously crusty roll. In my view.

          1. I’m originally from Worcestershire and I agree with you (although I’ve travelled widely in the UK and know there are lots of variations).

        3. I’m a Midlander originally and we would have said bap or roll (though we were fairly posh). A cob (roll) is a deliciously crusty roll. In my view.

        4. A stottie is not a bread-bun/Bap.
          It’s a flatbread apparently put into the oven as it was warming up after a single proving to provide something for the family before the main baking was completed.

        5. Shropshire, Staffordshire and Worcestershire seem, according to that map, to use morning roll and batch. In all my 18 years of living in the latter and nearly 50 years of living in the former, I never heard them referred to as that!

        1. They are to some people. As I said in my OP, none of the names are ‘wrong’, despite many people’s irrational prejudices, they are simply different.

    1. Cob is a lump material made of clay, marl and chalk mixed with gravel and straw as a bonding agent. Used for construction of walls, especially in parts of the West Country.

      (they must be hungry, them Northerners)

        1. When I was a branch manager in Cambridge, I used to have the Devil’s own job persuading HO that clunch was real and a perfectly normal building material in East Anglia

      1. SWMBOs parents house is cob; mustn’t get too dry or too wet, can only be faced with lime plaster & lime wash… complicated stuff.

      1. Nah, if it was a white kid they’d be all over it, smearing as a ‘far right extremist’ or nazi sympathiser.

      1. It appears there were three involved, the knife wielder and a boy who was stabbed and the girl who was killed, hence the charges of murder and attempted murder, which would fit with your assessment.
        Possibly an ex-boyfriend or one who wanted to be the boyfriend.
        Although it may also have a racial element too, because stabbing tends to be more common amongst certain communities.

          1. A child killed, not much older than our granddaughters, such a terrible waste of a young life, whatever the reasons.
            Knife crime has become commonplace, and for that I do blame the enrichment of diversity.

          2. Agreed. It is a tragedy. I seem to recall some tosspot politician promising to “crack down” on the sale of knives.

          3. Tosspot indeed.
            The gimmegrant animal that killed the young man recently just took the knife from a kitchen drawer.

          4. It isn’t the SALE of knives that needs a crackdown (that will catch anybody who needs to replace a kitchen knife), it’s the CARRYING of knives and the continuance of the knife culture – in the name of cultural diversity – that’s the problem.

    1. A candle-lighting service has been held at Hexham Abbey
      So that’ll make it all fine again.

      1. The poor kids are growing up thinking this violence is normal, and that feckin candles are an appropriate response!

        1. I always wondered what it was like for the children growing up in Ulster during the troubles? How they felt when there were days, weeks, months, without a bombing?

          1. There is a book that was on the CSE reading list many years ago called Across the Barricades by Joan Lingard. It is a sort of Romeo and Juliet story between a Protestant teenager and a Catholic one. It addresses the troubles and how it affected the youngsters. They keep their romance secret because the families won’t like it.

    2. It’s too easy to jump to the obvious conclusion. But this is Hexham in Northumberland, voted the happiest place to live in Britain in 2019 and 2021.

      My guess is that the knife culture has spread throughout the entire younger generation. It must be stamped on, and stamped on hard. If it means making examples of hapless teenagers, so be it.

      1. We were there, staying with friends, the week the Queen died. It’s still a very English place.

  35. To survive, Rishi Sunak must take on the “Bregretters”
    Three years after Brexit, just one in five think it is going well. From migration to growth, the Tories should maximise the benefits
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/01/29/survive-rishi-sunak-must-take-bregretters/

    Percival Wrattstrangler is still beating his same old drum! He clearly thinks that the Bellman’s approach in The Hunting of the Snark – which was to say What I tell you three times is true is the best way to get his point across.

    BTL

    I was a keen advocate for Brexit but as soon as Nigel Farage withdrew his Brexit Party candidates from contesting seats held by remainer Conservative MPs I knew that the game was probably already over. And the final nail in the coffin came when both Gove and Johnson arrived in Brussels on the eve of the deal being struck and bullied Lord Frost into giving way on both British fishing waters and Northern Ireland it was clear that Brexit would never be allowed to succeed.

    What we must learn from this is that democracy no longer exists in Britain.
    The people wanted Brexit by a significant majority but MPs in the House of Commons, lords in the House of Lords, civil servants in Whitehall, the BBC an the majority of the MSM did not want it. Ergo the people can get stuffed!

    1. I saw on a newspaper stall that one of the rags (the “Independent” possibly) had a headline about regretting Brexit, but not being ready to go back into the EU. Regretting Brexit? We haven’t bloody had it yet!

      1. We had some pink, fluffy clouds about an hour ago but not as good as those!
        edit: pink, not pick.

        1. It was quite amazing, it extended 180 degrees across the sky from the east round to the west. I watched it for a long time from the bedroom window. I don’t think the photograph does it justice.

        1. It’s South Cambridgeshire. It’s the same sunset (i.e. same evening) but about 70 mikes or so slightly south west or so of North Norfolk.

  36. The School fighting the Cost of Living Crisis

    It was 5 o’clock today on a Sunday afternoon and, uncharacteristically for me, I turned on Radio 4 to catch the news.

    Following on was a program called “The School fighting the Cost of Living Crisis” about a primary school (somewhere) that is feeding all the children who attend from its socially deprived catchment area. Parents who are struggling with bills are also encouraged to bring their laundry in to do at the school.

    Fascinated, I began to listen further. One mother said she and her partner had four children, two dogs and two cats, living in a two-bedroom apartment. They had divided the childrens’ bedroom with a makeshift screen to give the older ones a bit of privacy. This reminded me of my late mother, born in 1912 as the youngest of 11 surviving children, fortunately mostly girls, so they could possibly share beds in top-and-tail fashion common in Edwardian times.

    Listening to the radio, I began to wonder “if you have not enough income to manage one or two children, why have you produced four, and then gone on to have two dogs and two cats?” Surely, most girls and women in 2023 Britain know what causes children to be conceived.

    Is there just a complete lack of understanding that children cost a LOT of money to bring up, and if you have not the funds, perhaps you shouldn’t go on recklessly having more. “Oh, I always wanted a big family” is a recurring theme. “My partner and I both work – I don’t want to be dependent on Benefits, but with the big increases in the price of food and heating, I had to apply and visit food banks”.

    I don’t know if the answer is to instil in ALL children at an early age the idea that if you can’t afford it, you cannot have it. Perhaps they think that “the Government” should provide for everything.

    A Revolution may be coming, but I doubt it.

    1. They might be fattening the animals for the oven… Or some of the children, come to that…

    2. Afternoon RC. Fecklessness is the product of Socialism where it is always someone else who picks up the bill!

    3. Afternoon RC. Fecklessness is the product of Socialism where it is always someone else who picks up the bill!

    4. It’s a difficult choice. If the ex and I had carefully planned our children according to what we could afford, I would probably have had one child when I was about 38!
      I had four, and we went from abject poverty in the early days to all of them attending private school. Children don’t notice that the family’s poor until they are about five anyway.
      I think the problem nowadays is that nobody knows how to cook any more. Even with food price rises, you can still feed a family very cheaply if you know how – which almost nobody does. Food banks and free meals will always attract many customers.

      1. I was in front of a woman in the supermarket a week or so ago and she had 5 boxes of roast beef dinners. The woman in front had 4 packs of frozen Yorkshire puds. I don’t get it. We’re finishing homemade beef stew tonight and I have mixed batter for Yorkies.
        I suspect that domestic science is no longer taught- but having failed DS O level I basically taught myself to cook.

        1. We had two years of needlework (I achieved very little) and one year of cookery (ditto) at school. Yet I can cook, though hardly cordon bleu standard. Tonight we’re having a pot roasted brisket of beef, with veggies, and I will do some roastie spuds. I cook from scratch most days from fresh ingredients. For lunch today we had homemade soup, using the remains of the chicken from the other day to make stock.

          It doesn’t take an expert chef to provide nutricious meals from fresh meat and veg. I do use some jars of sauce (Chinese or Indian for example ) but with fresh chicken and veg.

          1. I make stock everytime we have a roast- got a lot of chicken and lamb stock in the freezer. Also all the marinara I made in the summer from all those tomatoes our neighbour gave us.

          2. SWMBO makes stock & puts it in the fridge.
            Once it has a satisfying layer of turquoise fur on it, I throw it away.

          3. It freezes very well, actually. I keep our poultry bones in a bag in the deepfreeze and make a great load of stock in the pressure cooker when the bag is unmanageably full. When it’s cooked, I remove all the bones and veg and boil it right down to intensify the flavour. I then pour the stuff into little aluminium ramekins that go into the deep freeze – because it’s been boiled down, I only ever need one ramekin at a time. By the time I’ve finished all the ramekins, I’ve usually collected enough bones to start all over again.

          4. SWMBO makes stock & puts it in the fridge.
            Once it has a satisfying layer of turquoise fur on it, I throw it away.

          5. HG taught the boys to cook; always starting from fresh ingredients and then how to use leftovers, bones for stock, vegetables for bubble and squeak etc etc
            All three are excellent cooks, one even won an amateur reality TV show cookery competition and still appears on TV.
            And by his own admission he isn’t as good as his brothers and all of them agree HG is Queen in the kitchen.

            If there was any justice whatsoever in the world I would weight 25 stone!

          6. Hmm, Don’t have your e-mail, Jules, Please allow Hertslass to send me your e-mail address.

          1. One of my friends left a brace of pheasant hanging outside our back door after a shoot. I plucked them (lots of practice as a child when that was my job) and MOH drew and cooked them. They were delicious.

        2. I have to plead guilty to buying frozen Yorkshire puds – mine refuse to rise. I follow the recipe, but the puds refuse to co-operate!

          1. Don’t use a recipe- eyeball it and use plain flour. That’s what makes them rise. For one- 1 egg, a little milk, plain flour and some salt. Whisk until thoroughly blended. Oven hot. A little lard in a tray- I make individual ones so use a muffin/cupcake pan- when the lard is melted add the mix and bake.
            Don’t peek but check after 15 mins or so. By then they should be cooked and you can leave them in longer if they need it.
            Oh yum.

          2. Don’t use a recipe? How on earth am I to know what goes into the stuff and how much of it? Then there is the temperature of the oven to approximate (bearing in mind I am cooking with solid fuel). MOH used to cook like that (a bit of this, a pinch of that, try it and see), but I never could.

          3. Perhaps you don’t have the fat hot enough. My mum used to say the fat had to be smoking when you poured the batter in otherwise it wouldn’t rise.

      2. For a while, we’d buy offal from the butcher (the locals wouldn’t habe it, so it was cheap) and vegetables late on Saturday (cheap), and that was all we could afford. Ate well, drank water, but it wasn’t much fun. I’m not sure there were food banks, at least we could afford food, so wouldn’t have used them anyway.
        One gets quite good at incorporating yesterdays leftovers into todays dinner. One evening, we even made mash from yesterdays potato peelings. Was a bit gritty, if I recall.

        1. I’m not fond of offal, so don’t really buy it, though steak and kidney is good, if you can find the kidney – haven’t seen it sold together for years.

          1. This was 1981 or so.
            East End of London, both Bow and Isle of Dogs.
            We ate a lot of liver, garnished with a strip of bacon.

          2. I can’t stand the taste of liver. It makes me feel sick. After three days on the train to Moscow with no buffet car (and the food ran out on the second day!) I arrived at the hotel to find the meal was liver. I tried, I really tried, but I couldn’t manage it.

          3. Surprisingly a packet of Lambs’ Liver in M&S is about £1.20 and will probably feed 3 adults. Bacon on the other had is £2.50 to £3 per pack….

          4. Over here in Ontario I don’t think that you can get offal other than liver unless you find a farm that butchers its own meat. I don’t know where the off cuts go but everything comes out onto the shelves as steaks or roasts. Maybe the mince and sausages hide a few sins.

            We were in a rural supermarket in South Carolina a couple of years ago and they were the opposite to our supermarkets, kidneys, jowls and unidentifiable bits was all that they sold.

          5. Indeed it was. Affluent Hilton Head supermarkets sold real meat but out in the wilderness, nothing was wasted.

          6. I went to a Piggly Wiggly on Hilton Head. Prior to that I thought it was Fannie Flagg being funny.

        1. During the summer, we eat food that cooks faster, because I am using the electric hotplates.
          Eg tinned baked beans, beefburgers, salads, quick vegetable soups, 5 minute pasta.
          In the winter, (cooking on the woodstove) we make the expensive slow cooking casseroles or baked beans that take longer.
          I have given up using the oven at all because of the cost. We used it at Christmas, that’s all. I also don’t use electric gadgets apart from a stick blender. No mixer, toaster etc.

    5. One doesn’t appreciate the value of money, nor how difficult it is to come by, until one doesn’t have any. Then you learn, but often it’s too late – especially f you have a football team of ankle-biters. Firstborn appreciates money now he has to earn it, and sometimes go without when the mortgage falls due, but Second Son is still in the position of aprent-parachute. He knows of what we speak, but not having experience, doesn’t understand. He wants to rent his own place, and then he’ll learn.

  37. That’s me for today. More logs shifted – though, to my relief, with the MR’s help.

    Have a jolly evening.

    A demain.

    1. 15 wheel barrow loads of branch trimmings, which are only any good for a bonfire, moved today.

      I have only dented the pile of branches still to be trimmed and it is getting to the point that when the time comes the bonfire will be visible from space.

      On the plus side, I have several cubic metres of wood for seasoning and eventual use in the wood burners.

      1. Are you allowed to have bonfires in your part of the world? They’re banned here in Brittany. We’re lucky with the déchetterie just a few minutes from here; we can do a round trip with a trailer full of trimmings in a quarter of an hour.

          1. True, but actually it is a surprisingly well organised recycling depot. most things are separated out, the real garbage heads for tout venant.

        1. Still allowed, probably because the déchetterie couldn’t cope.
          I suspect it will be banned eventually.
          Wood is still very much a crop around here and what doesn’t get logged or chipped gets burnt.

        2. Bonfires were banned in GA USA on Sundays. Any other day was OK- mind you , that was some years ago now.

  38. Bogey Five today. Not much luck with first 3 shots.

    Wordle 589 5/6
    ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
    🟨⬜⬜🟨⬜
    ⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜
    ⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Par 4

      Wordle 589 4/6

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

      1. Gaupe – beautiful animal.Firstborn has at least one living in his forest – we’ve seen the paw- prints!

        1. When we moved here, the property had been empty for three years.
          At the boundary next to the forest I was convinced I saw a lynx; too big to get through the fence but up and over the post in a flash. The shape and particularly the tufted ears were what made me think it was a lynx and we haven’t seen it since.

          1. If it was.

            But interestingly, I’ve spotted a few things that the locals didn’t know were around here, including a Grand Duc owl.
            So who knows, perhaps my eyes didn’t deceive me.

          2. If that’s a Eurasian eagle owl, I was lucky enough to see one on Richmond Hill about 40 years ago. Turned out to be an escapee.

          3. Ours was wild, we’ve been to within 10 feet of it.

            Quite an experience, they are a lot bigger than TV programmes might make one think.

    1. Happily it doesn’t mention pubs, but that’s probably because they won’t even last to the end of this decade.

      1. The check out I went through in the supermarket yesterday, I know the woman slightly from what was our local. I asked if she’d been there recently and she said no because it’s got really expensive.
        We haven’t been for ages for obvious reasons nowadays. To be honest, we don’t miss it that much; it became rather cliquey.

  39. I bet giraffes don’t even know what farts smell like.
    Doesn’t it piss you off when even your milk has a date on Valetines, but you don¨t.
    If at first you don’t succeed, drink whisky. You’ll be amazed how quickly you don’t care!

    1. Engage with people you can see yourself working with in the future – does he understand representative politics? Democracy? Good grief, these people are staff. They’re less than any other employee.

      I’m sure he thinks that’s where political decisions are made but he forgets his place- under our boot.

    2. Well he is right about Westminster and other parliaments just being tribal shouting places.

      So what is he going to do to change the way parliament works? Do the opposition ever respond to a government initiative by agreeing and offering improvements, do the government ever respond with “God idea, let’s work together on that”?

      If he just wants to talk with people that he agrees with, save money on trips to Davos and just have a caucus meeting at home.

      1. All the time. Most government work is done in across bench meetings with all parties represented. This is why so little gets done. The governing party just presents the legislation.

        I’m sure at Davos having it all decided for them by shady undemocratic figures appeals, but that isn’t how democracy works, and it’s time they were reminded of this – brutally.

        1. The Canadian Deputy PM is on the board at WEF, I am sure that she went to get her marching orders for the upcoming session in parliament.

        2. He forgets that he works for us, the British people of these isles. If he seeks wider horizons, he is in the wrong job.

    3. Ah, the Member for Davos and the Trilateral Commission. This man must NEVER become PM.

      1. The Labour Party certainly know how to pick them: Foot in mouth, Kinnochio, Smithy, Devil-eyed Blair, One-eyed Snot Gobbler Brown, Comrade Corbyn and now Starmer, this idiot replica of an Easter Island statue, most of it stuck beneath the ground. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/58a0d37ded13de3c787317a2d716edf6b857fd29d5cf20ca17c4513eaee97661.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d73dac4fc15a9099bbb007cddc3aaa4235b9bc3367ed4f4baf166e313df94f80.jpg

  40. 370445+ up ticks,

    May one ask,

    If the United Kingdom Dairy herd ( taxpayers in the main) were under attack who would jump to our defence, could it be the illegal army protecting their interests, the police, only if the gay bars are shut, the security wallahs will be busy watching over the RNLi

    Better learn a hymn or two seeing as the salvation Army is about the last option.

  41. Today’s final comment on this weekend’s test on a 12 volt auxiliary battery in a Hyundai Kona Ultimate 64 kW BEV delivered at end September 2022. It diplayed this warning at Switch ON into park mode:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/de9366842dfc6d982a06ec8c517c18dc1469cae76ae939823af48e81dfde4960.jpg

    An advanced battery tester reported a healthy battery both before and after the test:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b0e1c114a9f1514b8ff6ed1460fb71b13a1b085469f51606b3aa14608daed84e.jpg
    Friday

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c3a362308d7820d76584ae25413e951a121dfddc821ac2600e649b5b8a07b3a4.jpg
    Sunday

    Both before and after connecting the 12 volt auxiliary battery to the Kona it measured 100% healthy but on connectiin to the vehicle a 3 amp current drain was accompanied with a rapidly declining terrminal voltage stsrting from 12 volts.
    It was disconnected before reaching below 11 volts after less than a minute.

    Comment:

    This behaviour is characteristic of a common problem associated with a complete breakdown in EVs requiring the attendance of a recovery truck. This phenonemon can occur despite the main traction battery being adequately charged (in this case over 70% full).

    https://www.mkbattery.com/blog/why-do-lead-acid-batteries-
    fail#:~:text=Once%20the%20water%20begins%20to,longer%20hold%20a%20full%20charge.

    1. It’s like smartymeters: when the PTB know that you post on NTTL, they can quietly mess with you through your toys.

      1. I deliberately reclined connection of my vehicle to remote radio control help and didn’t have a working smartphone when I collected the vehicle from the dealer. I have not checked yet if the vehicle has been subject to downloads.
        The vehicle has been completely disasbled (12 volt battery disconnected) since 9th January 2023.

  42. in 2014, Belgium sold it’s old Leopard 1s to a weapon dealer, for Euro 15,000 each.
    The government now want them back to give to the Ukes, and he’s ready to sell, but at Euro 500,000.
    Clearly a good businessman!

    1. For some time, its been the likelihood of a full scale retaliation on Russia that stops Vlad using the UK for target practise. A time may come when that balance changes. Just hope they pick Westminster as the aiming point, the odd one may fall short in Brixton and clear some of our other problems.

      1. There would be a certain degree of irony if a number of the so called self declared ‘Nuclear Free’ London Boroughs were engulfed – but few folk left around to enjoy the irony….

    2. The Wehrmacht could not defeat the Russians in a tank war. History about to repeat itself if this lunacy continues with the difference being nukes this time around.

  43. Evening, all. Just back from a beautifully sung Evensong at which I read the lesson at a few moments’ notice before the service started! Fortunately, it was only Malachi and there weren’t any difficult words 🙂

  44. Signing off now- waiting to see what this week will bring. Physio, I hope, and staples removed on Weds.
    Goodnight Y’all and sleep well. Am knackered.

  45. The phantom EV auxiliary 12 volt battery drain.

    Hyundai are not the only battery EVs with the phantom current drain that I’m investigating.
    Tesla owners world wide are having the same problem:

    https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/longer-term-ohmmu-experiences.248177/

    The OHMMU solution for BEVs – Tesla.owner weighs up the cost of what OHMMU claims to make your BEV last forever:

    I decided against getting it [the OHMMU 12 volt battery replacement] simply because of cost. When I sat down and looked at it, the Ohmmu was > $400 and the OEM battery was $85. I came to the conclusion that I could simply buy a new OEM 12V battery pre emptively every 2 years, and the “break even” on the ohmmu was greater than 4 swaps, or 8 years… provided it had no issues during that time.

    Edited with highlighted quote showing a Tesla owner’s dilemma when choosing between the OEM BEV battery under warranty and an ‘improved’ OHMMU ‘ lifetime’ auxiliary battery solution.

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