Sunday 4 May: The Labour Party has failed to grasp that the mood of the country is turning against it

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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423 thoughts on “Sunday 4 May: The Labour Party has failed to grasp that the mood of the country is turning against it”

  1. Good morning, chums. And thanks, Geoff, for today's new NoTTLe page. If I am not mistaken I am first today. Yippee!

    Wordle 1,415 6/6

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    1. Good morning Elsie and all
      Wordle 1,415 5/6

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    1. A tad over +5C just now, despite the sun – and rapdly approaching clouds…

  7. Morning all,

    US claims UK and EU will become the dumping ground for unwanted Chinese manufactured US imports.
    Could Nigel be heading for Governor of the next American state?

  9. Ed Miliband Purges Dame Mary Archer: Dissent on Net Zero Not Tolerated

    On Friday, Dame Mary, wife of Tory peer Lord Archer, was dragged into the department and kicked off the board with no warning. Allies say it was payback for her agreeing with Tony Blair’s recent claim that the government’s net zero plan is “doomed to fail.”

    Sir Christopher Chope MP didn’t mince words:
    “They’re desperate to crush all opposition to their net zero fanaticism… They refuse to listen to anyone who disagrees.”

  10. A Haeppy Star Wars Day to one and all.
    May the Fourth be with you!
    A pleasantly cool start to the day, but it looks like we had a rather brief rain shower earlier. A pleasantly cool tad under 10°C on the thermometer.
    Certainly a cooler day yesterday, didn't quite make 16°C.

    1. The fourth is strong in this one. we must be careful. They'll soon be back … and in bigger numbers!

  12. 404963+up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Going back,and you can bet your bollocks many did intentionally, "forget" for the good of THE PARTY, and, as seen cover up the
    diabolical paki paedophilre ongoing activities.

    Still the electorate supported the importing paki paedophile party, hence triggering the odious paedofess as in, ALL governing parties became paki paedophile import parties, and still the tribals gave their X of consent.

    Years later and many a child lifechangingly abused still the augment continues and still the paedo import parties are finding support, it brings feeling of utter disgust to a free born English bloke, I do swear to that.

    Child Sexual Exploitation in Rotherham – Alexis Jay report

    Granicus
    https://content.govdelivery.com › file_attachments
    PDF
    10 Sept 2014 — 1997 and 2013, conducted by Alexis Jay OBE, was published by Rotherham Borough Council. (which commissioned it) on 26 August 2014. The Leader …

  14. * Waltzes in * Good Morning everyone, a cooler start to the day. Spring is clearly over .

  15. 404963+ up ticks,

    I am doubly sure many would bring their own tents & primus if escorted from the beach to the hotel grounds.

    Anti invasion m
    Means KEEPING A LARGE GAP BETWIXT FOREIGN FEET AND ENGLISH SOIL.

    The question most important today is " Is the reform parties
    pro English in regards to the protection of the English coastline
    from the OUTSET / NOW" as every day going forward is helping to build an anti English opposition army.

    https://x.com/dave24144975/status/1918391572259111178

    1. I suggested care for calais go there and stay there – in the meantime their accounts should be frozen and their funding looked at very carefully.

    1. Yes, Katie did a good job there!
      Utter vandalism converting food-producing land to industrial wastelands.

    2. I saw that the other day, it's an absolute nightmare all that useless garbage has been produced overseas and shipped around the world. Who in there right state to mental health would have even considered this let alone letting it happen.
      She's fantastic.

    3. If that had been done by a bloke they'd have physically thrown him off the site – well done Katie

  17. 404963+ up ticks,

    I don't believe giving the celebrations the WEF royal seal will work his "subjects" are awakening.

    King Charles to lead greatest VE Day celebration in years
    Special 80th anniversary events include military procession, commemorative installations and concert

  19. Good Moaning.
    Thumbs up for the Jarlsvikings.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14675845/liberal-Danes-Asylum-claims-plummeted.html

    EXCLUSIVEThe country that has cut asylum claims by 90% by banning the burkha and refusing benefits to migrants who don't learn their language, revealed by SUE REID

    Two bullet holes from the bad old days still scar the black metal doorway of Ishmail Schbaita’s busy corner shop in Copenhagen.

    The migrant gangster who haphazardly fired the shots from a 9mm pistol during a drugs turf war has long disappeared from this once-dangerous suburb of Norrebro in the Danish capital.

    He was deported as Denmark cracked down on rising crime caused, to a large degree, by the uncontrolled wave of 1.3 million migrants, which swept into Europe ten years ago, changing the face of the Continent for ever.

    Denmark was not immune to the consequences of thousands of foreigners settling on their patch. But its Left-leaning government, which came to power in 2019, promised to curb migration to ‘protect Danishness’ – and acted on the pledge…

    The country famously banned the burka, the garment fully covering the face and body worn by devout Islamic women who’d been brought to the country by their husbands. New rules came in compelling all newcomers and their children to learn Danish or lose asylum-seeker benefits.

    A stone’s throw from Mr Schbaita’s shop, residents of a notorious housing estate, Mjolnerparken – which had been categorised officially by Denmark as a ‘ghetto for non-Westerners’ – were moved around the country to stop a ‘parallel’ foreign society growing up.

    ‘Now the area is 99 per cent safer,’ Palestinian-born Mr Schbaita, 62, told us last week as he sat outside his shop in the evening sun during a rare spring heatwave. ‘There are few bullets or gangs. Many who lived in the ghetto have been dispersed. The criminals in Mjolnerparken have been deported. Denmark did what it promised us.’

    Indeed, the country is considered a model for successful control of immigration.

    Ndam Carlson Agwo spends his days collecting returnable plastic bottles to earn pocket money
    Ndam Carlson Agwo spends his days collecting returnable plastic bottles to earn pocket money
    It is a stark lesson for Labour. Immigration dominated last Thursday’s local elections when the party, with its dismal record on border control, suffered an astounding defeat at the hands of Nigel Farage’s Reform, which has pledged to deport foreign criminals if it ever wins control in Westminster. And it is clear Denmark’s hardline stance is now firmly on Sir Keir Starmer’s radar.

    In February, the Prime Minister met his Danish counterpart, Mette Fredericksen, in Downing Street to hear about her approach. Her government had recently insisted that out-of-control immigration had become a ‘threat to the daily life of Europe’ and that she would like to bring numbers down to near zero.

    At the heart of the policy is a determination to protect the livelihoods of working-class Danes, to safeguard their jobs and to stop schools and welfare systems from being overwhelmed by newcomers.

    The proof of the pudding is in the eating. Government statistics show that in Danish schools, the lower the age of pupils, the more Danes there are in the class.

    This is an indication that the proportion of young ethnic minority families here is falling – and it is the reverse of what is happening in much of England’s education system where last year 37 per cent of pupils were from a minority ethnic background.

    A side benefit for Ms Fredericksen’s Social Democrats is that her policy has effectively pulled the rug from under the feet of her Right-wing political opponents who have similar views to the Reform Party. The Scandinavian example shows that even a Left-leaning government can get a grip on immigration if it uses common sense.

    Danish immigration minister Kaare Dybvad Bek has made it clear: ‘We stand very hard against giving migrants the right to remain here. If you’re rejected as an asylum seeker, you have a very low possibility of staying in Denmark.’

    Asylum applications have dropped by almost 90 per cent over the past decade. Last year they plummeted to 2,333, while the UK total hit a record 108,138.

    And yet there’s no doubt that Denmark, with a population of just six million, once had a huge problem – asylum requests here reached 21,316 in 2015 as the rush of migrants entered Europe at the invitation of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

    However, it appears to have controlled numbers by quite deliberately introducing a hostile environment for migrants. Asylum-seekers refused the right to stay are denied benefits. They get food, served three times a day, at the country’s two deportation camps, one of which was visited last week by The Mail on Sunday.

    They are sent to the camps to await removal by the Danish Returns Agency, which gets extra funds for results.

    Controversially, Denmark’s border force has powers to confiscate items such as jewellery and watches from incoming migrants to help fund the cost of their stay. ‘The officials will even remove the gold carried by a widow whose husband gifted it to her in case he died in battle and she needed to escape to Europe,’ one politician on the Danish Left complained to me in Copenhagen.

    Migrants who tire of Denmark and return home voluntarily are given a £4,500 sweetener to leave. And if a migrant’s country of origin is deemed ‘safe’, such as Syria after the recent fall of President Bashar al-Assad, even a successful asylum seeker can lose Danish residency and face being returned home.

    Crucially, the ‘ghetto law’ has led to government regeneration of inner-city neighbourhoods which had to cope with large migrant influxes after 2015.

    Places such as Mjolnerparken have been transformed into hipster areas with trendy boutiques, vegan coffee bars, workspaces and new-build housing blocks.

    A wildly successful overseas PR campaign was also launched on social media. The message from Copenhagen was that migrants were not welcome and this quickly put off many from even attempting to enter the country.

    Denmark crucially publishes league tables of criminal convictions based on the perpetrators’ national origins, something the UK does not do, although Home Secretary Yvette Cooper recently agreed to publish such data by the end of this year.

    These tables offer incontrovertible evidence that offences, particularly by foreign-born gang members, became an increasing problem after 2015. It is a hard truth but it has bolstered public support for cutting migration.

    Last week, an hour’s drive outside Copenhagen, we visited an area that has both a deportation centre, called Sjaelsmark, for migrants on the way out of the country, and a reception holding centre, Sandholm, for those waiting to come in.

    The residents of both camps catch buses and bicycle into the nearby town of Allerod during the day, as they wait for Danish officialdom to decide on their futures.

    It was in this pleasant town that we met and talked to some of the migrants themselves.

    Many were whiling away their time by gathering discarded plastic bottles and drinks’ cans from bins and the street, then taking the rubbish to shops, which weigh what they have gathered and pay them for what they have picked up. The system keeps the town clean and gives the camp residents pocket money ‘for alcohol and cigarettes’, I was told by one young African carrying a bag full of refuse on his way to a shop collection point.

    ‘It also gives us something to do.’ His day’s haul was worth about £11, he estimated with a grin.

    There is no doubt about the migration crackdown’s efficiency. But this has been achieved only by adopting tough measures – and, inevitably, some individuals get caught in the net who perhaps don’t deserve to.

    Ndam Carlson Agwo speaks to Sue Reid outside the Sjaelsmark deportation centre
    Ms Frederiksen has said she would like to bring immigration numbers down to near zero
    Migrants wave to a smuggler's boat in an attempt to cross the English Channel, on the beach of Gravelines,in northern France
    New rules came in compelling all newcomers and their children to learn Danish or lose asylum-seeker benefit

    At a bus stop, we met an Iranian woman of 28 who could not speak Danish or English and had been living in the Sjaelsmark deportation centre for six months.

    She cannot be returned to her nation’s tyrannical Islamic regime because it is not deemed to be a safe country, and so she is in limbo. ‘I have nothing. I go nowhere,’ she said.

    Another Sjaelsmark resident was an Iraqi Kurd of 23, who arrived in Denmark as a 13-year-old unaccompanied migrant during the massive influx of 2015.

    ‘I was a child when I walked through the Balkans to get here,’ said the man, who suffers physical and mental health problems. ‘Now I need drugs every day from the doctor to get my head straight. Please can I have a cigarette?’ he asked, putting out his shaking hands for my packet.

    Former MEP Soren Sondergard, a Left-wing immigration expert, cited a Syrian family – an accountant father and psychiatrist mother with two children – whom he met recently. They, too, came to Denmark during the 2015 migration wave.

    To qualify for citizenship, a migrant has to work for four-and-a-half years in a full-time job. This meant that the couple had to choose which of them should get citizenship in a quirk of the rules.

    ‘The husband works full-time as a driving instructor. The mother is a part-time kindergarten helper because one of them must care for the children. The result is that only he has been able to get his papers,’ said Mr Sondergard.

    Then there is Ndam Carlson Agwo, a 48-year-old, English-speaking Cameroonian lawyer, who has been in Denmark for two-and-a-half years but was earmarked for deportation last month and brought to Sjaelsmark.

    Carlson, as he likes to be known, is a divorcee with three children who fled to Europe after an arrest warrant was put out for him by Cameroon’s authoritarian government. His crime was to have given legal advice to arrested activists from the ‘marginalised’ English-speaking community who are involved in a civil war against the Francophone government.

    Today, Carlson has one small room with an iron bed in the deportation camp. It has a notice outside the door warning of rats. He has been there for a month ‘looking at the ceiling and waiting’.

    Every day at 2pm, he goes down to the main building of the huge former military camp and peers at a notice on the wall. It has the names of those who must catch the bus that day for deportation.

    ‘I was told on Monday I may go at any moment,’ he explained. ‘I have my suitcase packed. I cannot go back to Cameroon.

    ‘I am in mental agony thinking about it. They will put me in prison and leave me there.

    ‘I had no idea that liberal Denmark does not help asylum seekers any more, even desperate people like me,’ he added in his fine English accent. ‘It is hard for me to accept that.’

    But accept it he must, for Denmark is resolute. The country is living through a remarkable success story, one in which the government believes borders matter and the Danish should choose who comes to live here.

    It is a system other European countries grappling with their own immigration problems, including the UK, look at in envy. And who can blame them, as more and more come to our doors and knock – only to be let in.

    1. I just looked up where we stayed in 2014 – on a visit to my old school friend and her husband – now sadly both terminally ill – he with alzheimers and she with cancer. They took us about and about but we stayed in an airbnb.

      She warned us against staying in Norrebro – but we actually stayed in Westerbro – which was a nice little area. Near the old Carlsberg brewery, and apart from one bearded man, followed by his hijab and black garb-wearing wife, we saw no obvious diversity.

    2. It's time the UK did something similar – not going to happen under this dreadful government.

    3. We should do similar.

      Start off with the easy things: absolutely no welfare for life. No housing, child, unemployment benefit.
      No religious dress whatsoever.
      No speaking foreign in public.
      Expectation of being able to speak, read and write English to at least GCSE level (although notably 20% of kids fail this – I imagine these are also dindus).
      No right to vote until at least 5 years with no criminal convictions and evidence of minimum tax paid.

      Make them leave.

    1. One correction "we're moving in the right direction"…….NO you're moving in a far and extreme left direction.
      And you know it.

    2. In other words, the beatings will continue until morale Labour vote count improves.

    3. How in the name of sanity can Starmer proclim that they're moving in the 'right' direction whenevery single indicator shows we are worse off than ever?

    4. He may say that he 'get's it', but that is just to placate the masses.

      1. Very sad but it will be repaired. There's a lot of Spitfires being converted to 2 seaters for the developing flight experience companies but at over £5k for a trip I think I'd give it a miss

          1. Probably needs re-skinning underneath, a new prop, engine will need stripping to see if there's any damage to the crankshaft etc. Then there's the 2 occupants laundry bill

      2. Oh dear….there is an airfield near us where they fly Spits and the extremely noisy Catalina for pleasure. Duxford, the whole museum is excellent.

  23. Good morning. Does the Labour Party care about the mood of the country? It might be easier for them if the people could be fooled but they’ll steamroller their agenda through regardless.

    1. Starmer obviously hasn't heard the saying "When you're in a hole, stop digging".

  24. 404963+ up ticks,

    Being a species of bitch she has a right to a point of view I believe she is suffering from mouth distemper.

    Labour minister dismisses rape gangs as ‘dog whistle’ issue
    Leader of the House of Commons faces calls to resign over ‘disgusting betrayal of victims’

    2. "I was challenging the political point scoring around it, not the issue itself."

      No you weren't. You have an alliance with the Pakistani voters, and are willing to turn a blind eye.

      1. Indeed. They have stock phrases they routinely use to “shut people up”/close down the debate.

        Racist. Fascist. Far-right. Dog-whistle. “Not safe”. “Safe and effective”. In all cases they need to be called out. – what do you mean by “not safe”? Etc. they can’t answer because there is no answer.

      2. She was openly defending the Labour/Left's tolerance of and encouragement of child rape by pakistani paedophile muslims. Worse, she wanted desperately to shut the whole debate down.

        This is how Labour think.

    4. BB Barrister has become more political these days, he seems to have a child in private school. He is absolutely livid over the remarks.

  25. 404963+ up ticks,

    May one ask,

    Will the Kent council under the control of "nige" and the reform
    party take action against the "invasion" or, start a series of discussions on " When an invasion is not really an invasion"

    Just asking as a patriot.

    1. What action could they take? Kent County Council doesn’t have the power to intervene. It would be a rebel action outside the established framework and anyone could do that.

      1. 404963+ up ticks,

        Morning SE,

        Surely they could ,with countrywide people power backing, enforce trespassing laws along the Dover beachhead and employ very harsh ( not lethal ) back up actions in regards
        to protecting home turf and more importantly family

        1. Enforce trespassing laws against the agents of Whitehall? Good luck with that. Pitchforks and flaming torches maybe.

          1. Someone relatively famous recently got a visit from Plod for referencing pitchforks and torches (as a tongue-in-cheek reference to a Simpsons episode).

            Or yes, it was Geoff, from Geoff Buys Cars. And it was do do with the Malvern Hills farrago.

          3. 404963+ up ticks.

            SE,
            The latter of your post should be at the fore,
            IMHO it will come to that and should have decades ago, the battle now will be that much harder with every day that passes.

        2. If people stood up to the importing of hundreds of thousands of criminal gimmigrants you can guarantee the state would literally turn guns upon them. Nothing will be permitted to stop the destruction of this country by the Left.

          1. 404963+up ticks,

            Afternoon W,

            I cannot for the life of me,maybe, see the likes of the armed forces turning on family members in support of government orders, but I can see in all reality, the reverse action taking place.

    2. Morning Ogga.
      I think you might be suggesting that this is where he will start to back off.
      As I have all ready mentioned and always expected.

      1. 404963+ up ticks,

        Morning RE,

        2019 proves the case of being very wary of”nige” he has enough odious past baggage for a mule train.

  26. Morning All 🙂😊
    Sunny some moving cloud but only 10c, add another c and there's a pop song or two with strong lyrics in the background there.
    I think the labour party are well aware of the way the people of these small islands have reacted to their treason. But obviously don't give a damn. Someone or a higher authority needs to step in before it gets completely out of hand.
    And now for something completely different a Wales vs China snooker final in Sheffield 🤗

    1. Wasn't that first try the result of a knock on ?
      The ball left his grasp for a split second only ……but !?

  28. Can anyone please explain the function of a "mayor" over a large rural area?

    I had always believed that mayors preside over towns, boroughs and cities, but never in the countryside or over multiple urban areas.

      1. Probably stemming from EU times.

        I remember at the time the argument was that it means better democracy. But I am b or convinced the cost outweighs the benefits.

    3. Dunno.. but here's an olde relevant fun fact
      To maintain its dependence on and loyalty to the Crown, the position was forbidden to the leaders of clan groups.

  29. Eight people have been arrested in Swindon, west London, Stockport, Rochdale & Manchester for plotting a terrorist attack.

    And what about the tubby little grandparents, all the wives, the eighty odd siblings and children?

    I guess..
    Carry on as you were.. going further and faster to make things happen.
    moving in the right direction, making people feel the benefits of change.

    1. Hah! They've not done very well so far, have they? We still have windmills being built and ar7 starting up.

    1. I was out and about in Twickenham yesterday afternoon. Lovely day. Hideously white, happy, indigenous Brits looking forward to a nice day out. We must get this match banned.

    2. Did you see the Leinster v Northampton European semi-final? What a fabulous game and Northampton pulled off the shock of the season by winning 37-34.
      A number of their players (Freeman, Mitchell, Smith, Pollock) will have booked their places on the Lions Tour!

  33. “Sir – Commenting on Labour’s by-election loss in Runcorn and Helsby, and in council seats across England (report, May 2), Ellie Reeves, the party’s chairman, said that the Government must go “further and faster” but that “change doesn’t happen overnight”.
    This, in a nutshell, shows that the Labour Party does not understand the public mood. It is losing voters to Reform UK because of its laissez-faire attitude to illegal immigration, increased taxes (which have led to businesses large and small going bust), its betrayal of pensioners, and its lying over countless promises made in its general election manifesto. Martin Henry Good Easter, Essex”

    Mr Henry did not mention “climate change”, which got me thinking.

    Who is most likely to believe in “climate change”? Or, more importantly, who is most likely not to believe in “the climate emergency”/“man-made global warming”/“10 years to save the planet”?

    Before I insult anyone, who here thinks CO2 is destroying the planet and needs to be removed, and therefore that we need to eliminate the use of fossil fuels and fill the fields with solar panels and bird mincers?

    1. All the fear has been stoked by an apparent rise in global temperature of 1.5deg and the increase has been assigned to Co2. However, the timescale is nothing but a second in time on this Earth when considering the change, we may see a fall in the next century, who knows. We will only know when we can look back over the centuries covering this period. And whilst we are at it, how does one come up with a singular temperature of the globe? Satellites are very clever these days but examining the measured data from 100 years ago will not be comparing like with like.

      1. I am a strident “climate denier”, but that doesn’t mean I think we should waste the earth’s resources. Far from it. We should be mindful of them and use them wisely and temperately.

        But so many people seem to believe this climate scam and I am trying to work out the psychological profile. It seems I am very much in the minority (though probably not on here).

        It is cold here especially compared to yesterday and wonder if Phizee is still in his thongs (as the Australians would say)?

        1. I am very much against waste and believe in recycling, although I am sceptical about how much actually does get reused and not sent to India. The whole scale importation of tat from China which fills the environment with halloween junk and all manner of plastic rubbish is a disgrace, perhaps there should be tariffs! My son of 40 is rather like me in his thinking but is careful what he posts as he still enjoys his job at JPM in CW. My daughter is one of those in the modern generation who doesn't follow the news at all.

  34. Pinched from The Spectator BTL about the future of Mrs Badenoch:

    "Badenough is part of the problem, tainted with the stench of a rotten party.
    Why wasn't she speaking out against mass immigration, high taxes and the insanity of net zero whilst a minister? Don't talk to me about collective responsibility, that suggests someone more interested in keeping their job than their principles.

    Until the Tories flush out everyone associated with the last government there is no hope for their redemption. Their 'broad church' and 'one nation' Lib Dims made the Tories a Siamese twin of the Labour party, and they will pay dear for that for a generation.

    I was a Tory member for over 40 years, but burnt my membership card when Sunak was appointed PM (he was no leader) and joined Reform. I can't ever see myself voting for them again. Fock 'em.

    1. You're not alone, Bill. I've not been a member of the party, but always voted Conservative post-Thatcher, often doubting. I vote Reform now, even if they're unsuccessful I won't go back to the Conservatives. I mentioned on the Spectator, not everyone including politicians and journos/bloggers realises the extent of the cold hard fury in Northern towns and cities.

  35. Mandy Rice Davis award:

    “– We agree that more – and more accurate – information for prospective students is absolutely essential if they are to make informed choices about their futures. That is why we would like to move away from the Office for Students graduate outcomes and employability data that Paul Wiltshire quoted in Julie Henry’s article (Features, April 27), which only goes up to 15 months after leaving university.

    When student earnings are measured using the Government’s Longitudinal Education Outcomes data across a career lifetime, the average graduate’s earnings outstrip the non-graduates by more than £100,0000, even once higher taxes and student loan repayments are taken into account. What’s more, graduates are at least twice as likely to be in employment than those who didn’t go to university.
    For the vast majority of students, university pays off.
    Vivienne Stern
    Chief executive, Universities UK London WC1”

    1. Clever people tend to earn more than not-so-clever people, whether they go to university or not.

  37. I completely and utterly disagree with David Frost over this remark:

    “So far the Reform gang has bullied the Conservatives right off the electoral map.”

    No. Conservatives became non-Lib nods-Dem and gave it away.

  38. We have been in England for a few days.

    It has been a traumatic week as on May 1st we went to the funeral of my much loved sister, Belinda, who died aged 89. I lost my other sister, Mary, 15 years ago so I am the sole remaining child of my parents.

    Of course at occasions like funerals and weddings one sees family members and friends whom one may not have seen for decades and it brings home just how important it is to not lose touch with one's roots.

    Although I saw very little of Belinda since we moved to France 36 years ago I miss her very much.

    2. My sympathy Richard.
      My sister died 10 years ago and I've a brother left, but he rarely gets in touch.

    6. I'm very sorry to hear about your sister. Sending condolences.
      I know what you mean about family, and only seeing them at funerals and weddings, where we share that bond, and are able to reminisce. Even though we may not see them much, it is good to know we have family.

      Some 14 years ago, at the funeral tea after one of my many aunts had died, both the minister and the photographer from the local rag remarked on what a strong family we were – cousins (and several of our own 'children') from far and wide; us from 500 miles away and another cousin from nearer 600 miles away.
      Now that all the aunts and uncles have gone, it is a sobering thought that it the turn of the cousins next, though 4 of the 17 cousins have already gone.

  39. We have been in England for a few days.

    It has been a traumatic week as on May 1st we went to the funeral of my much loved sister, Belinda, who died aged 89. I lost my other sister, Mary, 15 years ago so I am the sole remaining child of my parents.

    Of course at occasions like funerals and weddings one sees family members and friends whom one may not have seen for decades and it brings home just how important it is to not lose touch with one's roots.

    Although I saw very little of Belinda since we moved to France 36 years ago I miss her very much.

    1. I was also glad to see (in the S Grimes) that writers selecting The Lions make no mention of the one-trick show pony!

      1. I agree he's overrated but he still might sneak in? (that's Marcus Smith of Harlequins and England if anyone wonders who we are on about).
        Touring teams like flexibility and he can play at stand-off or full-back…..
        (Edited to correct club)

          1. I think we've had this discussion before – I agree with a lot of what you say about him but think you're a little harsh…..

          4. What (as an old codger) I do find encouraging is the number of very young players who are showing great skill. One just hopes that they don’t peak at 23, or are spoiled by the adulation.

          5. Yes – from yesterday's game Pollock and (Fin) Smith very young – Freeman is only 24!

  42. Bluss – it is cold today. Cloudy – spits and spots of rain and a bitter north wind. Stove lit.

        1. You are only 20 miles away from me. You coming to my party? You can bring the doggies.

  43. Net Zero – an unreliable policy for sustainable power generation?

    This article gives a good explanation of the situation on the Iberian grid on the lead up to the major power blackout:

    https://theconversation.com/spain-portugal-blackouts-what-actually-happened-and-what-can-iberia-and-europe-learn-from-it-255666

    Whilst it does not come to a full technical explanation of the primary cause it does however point to the improper management of the power networks being undertaken by politicians who have a 100% renewable policy for sustainable energy.

    1. I don't think we will ever be told what the problem/cause was because it is bound to be related to unreliables in some manner. The lie cannot of 'green' cannot be questioned, you will have socialism forced on you.

    2. It seems there was an overload because the sun was shining, nuclear was not shut off in time, the mountain top reservoirs were full and the French suddenly turned off their demand for Spanish energy. There was just too much of the stuff around to keep the grid AC frequency stable, so the whole caboodle tripped.

      It seems that with more solar panels coming into the grid, there need to be more ways to sink excess energy. Electrolysing water is one way; bitcoin generation another. When it is beyond the wit of Government, entrepreneurs with some technical engineering knowledge and good business skills might well be able to profit by buying excess energy from the grid when it is cheap, squirreling it away somehow, and then selling it back when the sun goes in and prices rise.

      1. Ironically there is so much expensive free energy around that it becomes negatively priced and there’s nowhere to store it or control it adequately to stop interconnected grids going unstable.

        It’s a technoeconopolicital problem.

        1. Rather than using Lithium-based technology, which relies on rare earths mined from dubious regimes, batteries using the same processes can be made using Sodium ions. Sodium Chloride is cheap and abundant. Sodium-ion batteries using seawater are less efficient, larger and heavier than lithium-ion batteries, but buried underground, this is not a problem.

  44. Kemi Badenoch ‘will not chase Farage to the Right’
    Tory leader faces rising disquiet from her own MPs who have called for a radical change of course
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/05/03/kemi-badenoch-will-not-chase-farage-to-the-right/

    BTL

    It is untrue to say she has lost the plot – she never had the plot in the first place.

    Does the leader of the Conservative Party not understand that if the party had not moved so far to the left and if it had seen to it that a proper Brexit was put in place then Farage's party would not have got off the ground and the Conservatives would probably still be in government

    1. The Conservative Party is being squeezed by Reform on one side and by the Liberal Democrats on the other. Their legacy of five prime ministers since the Brexit Referendum has made a mockery of their once-held reputation for strength and stability (about as plausible a claim from one of their PMs as "Change" is to Starmer's).

      I voted Leave in 2016, but from a Liberal perspective – deeply suspicious of global corporate control over rule-making in Brussels and its effect on all British institutions, but I actually approve of EU engagement on cultural and environmental issues, contrary to many Leavers on the Right. Through Brexit, we removed the British institutions' primary excuse for incompetence, exposing them to direct public scrutiny, and it has not been pretty.

      What is a proper Brexit? Perhaps we should get our own house in order before we can lecture the continentals about sound government?

      Thanks to the latest election results, we can now have proper evidence whether Farage's party is up to the job.

    2. She's a dud.

      She hasn't a clue about the history of the UK.. Magna Carta, the English Constitution, property rights, common law, the fragility of parliamentary democracy, parliamentary sovereignty, the importance of keeping lawyers away from power.. and the importance of borders.

      Why should she..??
      "Her mother's vagina briefly hoovered over Britain.. she was then whisked away to Nigeria & the USA until grown up."

    1. If they are okay with facilitating the industrial scale rape of children, and complicit in the cover up.. they are capable of any thing.

      1. In the cowboy film Waterhole # 3, the character played by James Coburn was caught in a barn by a farmer, after just having made love to the farmer's (very willing) teenage daughter. The father aimed a shotgun at Coburn acusing him of "statutory rape" (sex with a minor, in UK parlance).

        Coburn's laconic reply was: "That wasn't really rape; it was more like assault with a friendly weapon!"

      2. In these cases, 'gently' won't be the opposite of 'violently' Bill. Some cases of rape are beyond evil, especially minors.

    2. Gosh, I recon I have lived a sheltered life compared to what's going on out there.

    4. A hotbed, Phiz…Damian Thompson wrote a piece about the young priests in the Vatican I think both on Unherd and Spectator, and there have been scandals in America and elsewhere mostly relating to children different ages boys and girls. Not only religious ones, but also sports coaches and likely others. And now we learn from Charlie Roberts GBN , if we hadn't already from Anne Cryer and Mark Steyn ~2008 onwards about grooming gangs UK. Parents can't watch their children 24/7, there has to be a way of telling them to watch out for this – many children seem already aware which is a good thing but also a loss of childhood. It no longer upsets me, just makes me bloody angry.

      1. It seems to me, Kate, that just as so many 'Trans' blokes become such — since it gives them a wonderful opportunity to act out their perversions; then the same applies to why so many kiddy-fiddlers are attracted to the priesthood.

        1. There you go, Mr G:-) Good morning btw x. Dang, it’s afternoon now (here, anyway). Kiddy-fiddlers are everywhere Grizzly, increased exponentially (get me, big words for a Sunday) with internet use.

  47. I have been bitten by some sort of giant winged scorpion on my bottom. It's bally painful.

    1. Go to A&E, wibbling, if it's like ours all seats will be filled so you'll have to stand (less painful). Seriously, if no better in a few hours, go – you may have been stung – did the insect die, if so possibly left part of its sting in your bum. Poultice might draw it out, if not..antibiotics.

      1. Prob easier to go to a pharmacy unless you fancy a day in a waiting room.

        1. Most pharmacies now part of GP surgeries. Better bet is Asda, but then trolleys in the queue too.

          1. I think it would be right to say that most GPs surgeries now employ a pharmacist as they know more about the drugs than the doctors.
            Our grandson is coming to the end of his final, 4th, year of his Master of Pharmacy degree and will the have to spend the next year working 50% in a doctors surgery and 50% in a community pharmacy to gain his registration as a M Pharm. He will then be qualified to prescribe medication.
            A tough degree.

          3. Agree, all counts, Alf – and congratulations to your grandson. My husband was diagnosed Type 2 decades ago, more and more meds as the years went by. Changed his diet to carnivore, been off all meds for a couple of years. I honestly believe we’re over-medicalised, over-prescribed as a nation, some doctors believe so too – was only when he twisted his foot and I had to take him to A&E (surgery closed), the doctor there couldn’t believe the different meds he was on. Our surgery actually has a Diabetes Nurse who can subscribe on her own without asking GP advice. I think it was Sunak’s parents who were/are pharmacists, he opened the door to them prescribing more, being able to see patients.

  48. Crossbow attack suspect put 'massacre' plans online
    Pub crawl crossbow violence raises misogyny concerns

    It's not just the case itself which is disturbing but the use of the word 'misogyny'. The capacity to commit acts of gratuitous violence is, sadly, in the nature of Man but not all men exercise it. Does the media give more publicity to cases involving older white men? Was the African Welshman a problem for them?

    It's not just women who will be scared by this but young men of good character, damned by association.

  50. "Labour minister sorry over grooming gangs remark"… apology accepted by 2Tk for nasty outburst. Lucy Conolly makes nasty remarks, 30 months porridge. Very Poor legal advice to plead guilty to incitement.

  51. I have a trip to Weymouth coming up. Taking my 90 year old Aunt Mary out to lunch.

    I haven't been in years and so looked on tripadvisor for a restaurant. And i struck gold !

    A proper French restaurant with a French chef and rude waiters. Perfect.

    https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g190817-d10196317-Reviews-Restaurant_Les_Enfants_Terribles-Weymouth_Dorset_England.html

    Some of the responses to reviews are hilarious. I get a Fawlty Towers vibe from it.

    The seafood looks fantastique !

    1. Yo Fizz

      You will need to go"Floppy Watching" to see the first Fair Maiden sunbathing topless this year.

      Was a sport when I lived there

    5. Sounds like a perfect restaurant, I hope your aunt has a lovely day .
      Love seafood very much .

      1. Thanks. I intend to make sure she does. Recovering from a stroke. Mary is also the last surviving member of my Mothers family. Not counting all the nephews, nieces and grandchildren of course.

    1. It's sole purpose is to destroy this country and give them Left power through control over the basics of life.

      It is intended to retard human progress. It's not about energy, it's definitely not about the environment. It's just another Left wing control system.

  55. About to have roast duck with Saville orange and port gravy served with roasted new potatoes and various green veggies. Not forgetting a decent red wine .

    1. Enjoy !

      I am just tucking in to rack of lamb and Cyprus new potatoes. Plus a large glass of Margaux.

      1. Cyprus? Don't they grow local new spuds in yer 'Ampshire?

        And I bet that 'Margaux' is not a première grand cru, first growth, Château Margaux.

        1. Château Le Coteau 2016.

          The Jersey Royals we get here have been stored in sand for at least 12 months. Don't taste like they aught.

          1. My favourite new spuds, when I lived in the UK were the full-flavoured and delicious Boston kidneys.

    2. Chicken roasting as we speak.
      Stuffed with thyme stuffing, to be served with cauli, carrots, cabbage, roast squash and some Jersey Royals.
      Gravy obvs – Welsh style (really salty)

    3. Chicken roasting as we speak.
      Stuffed with thyme stuffing, to be served with cauli, carrots, cabbage, roast squash and some Jersey Royals.
      Gravy obvs – Welsh style (really salty)

    1. I wonder if the smug look remains when their heads are detached from their bodies.

    2. An unwise move by the late gentleman to allow his propensities to become well known.

    3. The queers know not what they’re doing. Blind to the realities of life death.

      1. They need to stay away from talll buildings, or their abiliies to sviate might be tested.

  57. So the recent election results put the liblabcon parties way back into the minority party bracket and Reform as the only nationwide mainstream majority Party, on 32%
    The minority parties only really have their diehard pockets of resistance now.

    1. They love minorities so much that they have now become minorities themselves. Fools.

    3. The bloke in the middle is dressed as Blippi! (erstwhile TV favourite of my grandson)

      1. Michael Portillo visited Maldon in the most recent series of Great British Railway Journeys (16:18, Chelmsford to Tollesbury) but, sadly, didn't feature the mud race.

        1. Thanks for reminder, William..haven’t watched for a long while, must re-start…

          1. As ever I made some notes when moved to do so:

            16:13
            In Wolverhampton, Portillo talks to a professor of languages specialising in dialect, especially Black Country, which, she says, is "under pressure from standard English and schooling."

            Nothing else causing it, Babs?

            16:14
            At the site of the HS2 terminal in Brummagem:
            "Most of the developed countries in the world have decided that they need a network of high-speed lines. Britain has stuttered and stammered its way, this is our only and this is our only high-speed project and a lot of people want it to stop here. But are we really saying that all those other countries have got it wrong and we, uniquely, can get by on Victorian infrastructure? (points towards to the New Street route). That would be very bold and possibly very foolish."

            Look out for the 84-year-old button-die engraver with a steadier hand than many much younger.

            16:15
            Having travelled from Ironbridge through the Black Country to Brummagem, Portillo reflected on the Industrial Revolution, how it came about, the riches and the squalor, the pollution and the deaths: "Without that industrial revolution, we would not be today the prosperous, well-fed, healthy and leisured people that we are today. To our ancestors we owe a tremendous debt of gratitude."

          2. Thank you William. 16:15 is my number one. Even in my small village, the railway line ran through, stopped, all on board. Personal vehicles (i.e. cars) stopped all that 😒 apparently the local Grammar School was built because the railway brought in pupils from miles away, by rail.

          3. When I wrote "Having travelled from Ironbridge through the Black Country to Brummagem…" I was referring to the whole week (from 16:11), not just that edition.

          5. HS2 will terminate at the city's original railway station in Curzon Street, a good half mile from New Street. Now what I would call joined up thinking.

          7. As ever I made some notes when moved to do so:

            16:13
            In Wolverhampton, Portillo talks to a professor of languages specialising in dialect, especially Black Country, which, she says, is "under pressure from standard English and schooling."

            Nothing else causing it, Babs?

            16:14
            At the site of the HS2 terminal in Brummagem:
            "Most of the developed countries in the world have decided that they need a network of high-speed lines. Britain has stuttered and stammered its way, this is our only and this is our only high-speed project and a lot of people want it to stop here. But are we really saying that all those other countries have got it wrong and we, uniquely, can get by on Victorian infrastructure? (points towards to the New Street route). That would be very bold and possibly very foolish."

            Look out for the 84-year-old button-die engraver with a steadier hand than many much younger.

            16:15
            Having travelled from Ironbridge through the Black Country to Brummagem, Portillo reflected on the Industrial Revolution, how it came about, the riches and the squalor, the pollution and the deaths: "Without that industrial revolution, we would not be today the prosperous, well-fed, healthy and leisured people that we are today. To our ancestors we owe a tremendous debt of gratitude."

        3. That looks like classy mud. hey should have tried further down the Blackwater and enjoyed the mud at Bradwell where it is really deep and gooey, the bright coloured hat would have been needed to find the sunken hero.

          My mother certainly disproved of my getting bogged down in mud like that.

  60. 404963+ up tick,

    Now with all your new found power via the peoples on top of the
    multitudes of the past who worked giving you a platform, and you repaid by treating them so treacherously, I believe you owe us one as in " Ask in the house WHY TOMMY ROBINSON IS STILL BEING INCARCERATED.

    1. Do you have an update on his current situation, ogga (last I heard he was in solitary, prison ruled by Muslim gangs).

      1. 404963+ up ticks,

        Afternoon KJ,

        Only what is general knowledge,I was visiting Thameside prison which is virtually attached to Belmarch, all run by serco, am led to believe the mussies have a firm grip on proceedings.

        1. Exactly, the gangs are in charge apparently. I’m not certain of TR’s current situation, condition. Hopefully someone who knows will post.

  61. Just finished baking a corned beef, onion and potato pie and a batch of oatcakes in time to watch the snooker

      1. I'm about to try it Sue – if you don't hear from me again it was the pie 😘

  62. Here are more reasons to review ones patronage of the Co-op from the DT:
    " ‘I’ll protect trans people to the end,’ vows Co-op boss. Interview: Shirine Khoury-Haq says non-binary people bring a ‘massive business benefit’ "
    A few extracts:
    "The Co-op’s Beirut-born chief executive wrote to its 54,000 staff in the wake of last month’s Supreme Court ruling saying she would “continue to advocate” for them and “speak out against hate”. More than 1,000 staff identify as trans or non-binary."

    "However, Co-op has said it will wait until the EHRC publishes full guidance, expected in June, and until then will allow staff to “continue to use toilets and changing facilities in accordance with their gender identity.”

    Ms Khoury-Haq’s staunch support of trans staff risks attracting attention from gender-critical campaigners, who for years have accused companies of promoting trans ideology under the banner of equality.

    She said Co-op would continue to be a “safe place for people, where they can do a great job but also be themselves”, adding: “If that’s ‘woke’, I’m fine with it.”"

    Also:
    "Aside from the Co-op, Ms Khoury-Haq also co-chairs the Net Zero Council alongside Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, reprising a role she held with the previous government. The advisory group was set up to help businesses and the Government work together on net zero as Britain races to decarbonise its energy system by 2030."
    Full text at: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/05/04/ill-protect-trans-people-to-the-end-vows-co-op-boss/

    1. The founders of the Co-operative movement must be turning in their graves…….

      1. I remember my mum having her Co-op book, David – stamped each time she bought something. Different world. Imagine all my deceased family spinning.

        1. I've still got a cheque dated 1960 from the Co-op for 1 shilling – I wonder if they'll cash it? x

          1. I think there’s a Co-op Bank? Wonder what value now if you’d invested it, Alec 😄 x I wish I could go back to 1960…sigh…

        2. When we were sent down the road to the co-op, Mum always reminded us, 'Don't forget the divi.' (1960s)

          2. I have a vague memory that we had to tell the cashier Mum’s divi number, but you may be right. Just because I don’t remember a book, doesn’t mean we didn’t have one!

          3. It’s only a vague memory I have:-) There was the General Co-op (foodstuff) and also a Draper’s where they sold clothes, shoes etc. They were a boon to a small village, but as the bus service improved shopper numbers gradually fell.

        3. When we were sent down the road to the co-op, Mum always reminded us, 'Don't forget the divi.' (1960s)

        4. My Norfolk Nan lived with us and her Co-op divi number was used when the baker was paid, Mom's number was used for the milkman.

          1. The Co-op opened a large department store, a lot of thieving by the staff (and customers). Ensured the post-war model wouldn’t last. My parents actually liked wartime for one thing ‘everyone seemed to pull together’. Socialism = naivety, sometimes.

    2. 1000 out of 54000 staff identify as trans or non-binary? That is almost 2%. I doubt that anything like 2% of the adult population of the UK identify as trans or non-binary, so either the Co-op acts as a magnet for mentally-disturbed individuals or it is telling porkies.

    3. In a sane world she’d be sent home to Beirut to spout this rubbish.

    7. Meaning 53,000 people are not mentally ill. Who really matters? The tiny, irrelevant minority or the insane nutjob wasters soaking up all the attention with their desperate fantasies?

      1. That’s pretty much the comment i made on Pressreader underneath that article

  63. From the Tellygraff
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/05/04/illegal-migrants-britain-easy-money-deliveroo-jobs/

    Telegraph reporter (posing as migrant)
    I just arrived in Paris and want to go to England. My friend said you could help me?
    People smuggler
    Yes, perfect. It’s very easy. Where in Paris are you?
    Telegraph reporter (posing as migrant)
    I arrived recently and don’t know the name of this area. I’m also worried about how to earn money in Britain.
    People smuggler
    Great, no problem. It’s easy—just take a train to Calais. The weather isn’t good at the moment, but come here, and in a couple of days, Inshallah, with God’s power, I’ll send you. You’ll be able to make money very easily.
    Telegraph reporter (posing as migrant)
    How can I earn money there?
    People smuggler
    My dear brother, I’ll send you there, and you’ll make money very easily. Come tomorrow or the day after. I send many people, and they find work just by having a bike and delivering food — it’s easy. Come here, and I’ll tell you how. There are plenty of jobs there, and you’ll have a hotel room to rest in after work.
    After a while, once your asylum is sorted, you can get a better job with the help of God.
    Telegraph reporter (posing as migrant)
    Is England better than France? Should I even go there?
    People smuggler
    Yes, it’s much better. There are so many opportunities because it’s an industrial country with a lot of money. France is also good, but you have to work harder, and it’s more difficult to get asylum. It depends on you — if you work hard, you’ll be fine anywhere.
    Telegraph reporter (posing as migrant)
    How safe is the crossing?
    People smuggler
    Listen, brother, come here. I’ll give you a life jacket for your safety and put you on a boat. It’s very, very easy—don’t worry at all. My work is guaranteed, and everyone who has travelled with me is happy. You can ask around.
    Don’t speak to anyone else. I’ll charge you 1,600 euros and send you in three days.

    1. It sounds as if 'the gangs' are actually in the UK. Therefore the first effort must be to stop funding them as they're all going to be dindus – as muslim is utterly corrupt – thus clearly labour are refusing to find fault and 'smash them'. They want their vote.

      We must make it so uncomfortable for the dindu that they simply leave, and if they don't go willingly, make them.

    1. Birthratte is a response to economic and technical progress.

      We live longer, we have more time, we want careers and we start families later.
      We are also heavily taxed by a Left wing state, so cannot responsibly afford to havee as many children.
      Therefore we have fewer children later in life and fewer of them.
      There's a reason the chavs and gimmigrants are outbreeding us: they live off our money. They don't work they get paid anyway. They have the same rewards without the effort.

      Thus the unintelligent, the waster, the foreigner breeds on our cash. Failure is rewarded by the careful, responsible is punished.

      It is Idiocracy made real. The solution is simple: sack half the state. Scrap welfare. Abandon the socialist idiocy forced on us. Let society recover naturally. Yes, that means fewer people but that's a good thing. We just don't need 85 million people in this country. 20 million would be too many.

      Look at where we are heading and where we should be and the contrast is terrifying: over populated, with a thick, welfare dependent, ueducated bunch of tattoed chavs with no practical skills or value and hordes of dindu moped drug paedos or a disiciplined, intelligent, highly educated small workforce building the future?

      What do folk want? Mega City 1 crossed with Mogadishu or a British Utopia?

  65. Etymology corner.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b6b37ad512f11e45ef4d296577425ebec7009d5f988a2cc9633fbec95a4ff6a2.png The beautiful cowslips are now in bloom everywhere. I love them

    They have always provided me with a dilemma though. Are they "cow's lips" … or "cow slips". This has puzzled me for donkey's yonks.

    To put me out of my misery I have now researched this [in both Chambers' and the OED] I have discovered that not only are both suppositions wrong, the answer is much stranger than I thought. My lexicons both state:

    cowslip kow' slip, n a species of primrose (Primula veris) …
    … [OE cūslyppe, from cū cow, and slyppe slime, ie cow-dung]

    So there you have it: cowslip means cowshit!

    1. We've got a great crop of them this year on the Common. Primroses last month were good too. And Bluebells are out now. Wood anemones and wild garlic too.

      1. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/03c64680e556e4997739820bae12fdf89f0cf28742f9cfb68006a304f72c5767.png
        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8ad2d7271fcd29fe4ac7deb18eaf433d3378f1a3aaf7d19edd96da8a5e36e2c6.png
        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ff3ede195aa4ffdbb7ef80860f051e95c8781c1a89f17eb446e51099f78a6b54.png Our woodlands are awash, wall-to-wall, with wood anemones (we don't get bluebell woods here). The fields of lesser celandine are now fading though.

        2. Wood anemones, so fragile, so beautiful. I once picked some when I was a few years old, can still remember the telling off I got from my dad. Lovely photos, Grizz, thanks.

      2. The river bank has all of those in abundance, but most of them are just starting to go over and some foxgloves are just starting to flower.

    2. Interesting – but why are they named after cow-dung? Most plants/flowers grow better with a little 'manure' so that wouldnt be unique to them…..

      1. You will have to ask the Old English who named it. Neither Chambers nor the OED provided a 'why'.

        1. Google to the rescue! Seems I was wrong…….

          Cowslips are called "cowslips" because they often grow in areas where cows have been grazing and where the ground is moist or boggy, sometimes referred to as "cow-slop". The term is thought to be a euphemism for cow dung, as these plants thrive in nutrient-rich soil from cow manure.

      1. It’s nine years since I last saw a bluebell wood. I walked through one annually when I lived in England.

        1. There’s nothing like it! There are still some good things about this country.

    1. Have you ever watched Big Bang Theory, Ndovu – the guys had a young Chinese working with them, very very clever.(Think his name was Dennis Kim, or similar.) They introduced him to girls and booze…problem solved.

      1. Never watched that – but many Chinese are very clever and talented – and single -minded and hard working. They have a terrible government – but I don’t blame the people themselves.

        1. It’s quite funny, American. Yes they are as you say. Quite a bit of trouble in China at present if reports to be believed.

    1. 404963+ up ticks,

      Remember the stupendously, criminally stupid days post 24/6/2016 " WE WON, no need of the old genuine UKIP now,currently we have a second, well undeserved, chance, build on it via the
      FF&F party as a safety net, as sure as GOD made little green apples and lab/ lib/con supporter voters are mass paedophile lovers things WILL, without a shadow of doubt currently take the NWO route to mass incarceration.

      1. Some are, others are the 'ordinary' homeless, increasing in number.

        1. Well, they have just to look forward to the 1½ million new “homes” that the Growler will have built in the next six weeks…..

    2. Don't really know what to make of that. It seems anyone can break the law with impunity.

      Wy haven't they somewhere to live? If these are pikeys, arrest, flog and hang them. They're vermin at the best of times.

      1. I've sent the Gypsy Council your address, so that some of their "advisors" can drop by….

  69. I watched Conclave yesterday evening.
    Very good. I enjoyed it very much…right up until the last five minutes. As I don't know who's seen it I'll 'spoilerise' my criticism
    Bl**dy wokeness had to be brought into it. A bit of a plot twist but totally unnecessary.

    1. I know, I watched and it pissed me off. Now with the revelations the people's Pope was protecting paedos and rapists makes me sick.
      People of the political Left seem to revel in child abuse, rape, torture and sadism.

      They are satanic and the sooner Christ brings the Rapture the better.

  70. Wordle No. 1,415 3/6

    🟨🟩⬜⬜⬜
    ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    Wordle 4 May 2025

    Old and miserable Birdie Three?

    1. Well done. Me too.

      Wordle 1,415 3/6

      ⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜
      ⬜🟩🟨⬜⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    2. Likewise!

      Wordle 1,415 3/6

      🟩⬜⬜⬜🟨
      🟨⬜⬜🟩⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    3. May I join you

      Wordle 1,415 3/6

      ⬜⬜🟩🟨⬜
      🟩⬜🟨⬜⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

        1. Thanks muchly.

          We actually had more birdies on the golf course yesterday than I manage with wordle

    5. Love the birdies but par for me today.

      Wordle 1,415 4/6

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

      1. About time, Sue, I was getting an inferiority complex…. (but that's not unusual tbh)

      2. #metoo.
        Wordle 1,415 4/6

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

  72. Just remembering a conversation i had with my 26 year old niece on Friday. She was complaining her electricity bills were “£80 a month”.

    I asked how often she sent in meter readings.

    She had no idea what i was talking about.

    (and i know they do not have a smartmeter because she is living in my brother’s London house which I have been managing for the past 28 years).

  73. Just remembering a conversation i had with my 26 year old niece on Friday. She was complaining her electricity bills were “£80 a month”.

    I asked how often she sent in meter readings.

    She had no idea what i was talking about.

    (and i know they do not have a smartmeter because she is living in my brother’s London house which I have been managing for the past 28 years).

    2. Oh dear.
      Sounds like she could be due a nasty shock when the meter is eventually read!

    1. Any Starmer-induced 'closer ties' with Brussels will infuriate POTUS and could have a dangerously negative effect on British- USA trade.

    2. Any Starmer-induced 'closer ties' with Brussels will infuriate POTUS and could have a dangerously negative effect on British- USA trade.

    3. "Starmer prepares to welcome European leaders to London…" SOME European leaders to London. Probably not the Norwegians, nor the Swiss, nor the Serbs, nor the Russians, nor the Israelis.

  75. That's me for this cold and unwelcoming day. The only good news is that the five (yes, FIVE in the packet) seeds of Cucumber "Socrates" have all germinated.

    Looking forward to the flypast tomorrow. Have a spiffing evening sitting close to your fires/woodburners.

    A demain

    2. If you expand the photo you'll just see a peloton of French soldiers cycling backwards…..

      1. Sharpe? 'Get off that bloody 'orse yo' bastard!' Sean Bean at his best!

        1. Season 4 just starting…I think Sean Bean is likely playing himself 😀 There’s some good character acting, King George for one. They never seem to stop to eat, or sleep….

          1. Sean Bean? Is that pronounced "seen been" or "shaun born"?😉

            He cannot lose his Sheffield dialect, no matter how hard he tries. And the tattoo on his left shoulder ["100% Blade", he is a Sheffield United fan] has to be covered up when he is filmed with little clothing on.

          2. Sometimes it’s spelt Shaun but always pronounced Shawn, and it’s spelt Bean but always pronounced Been. I know you know. Didn’t know about the tatt. Been married I think 5 times. I suspect he’s playing himself in Sharp. Good morning, btw 🙂

          4. Good morning, Grizz…sun shining here (on the righteous, obvs) hope for you too 😊

          5. Good afternoon, Kate (sorry I’m late!).

            Same here but still a tad on the cool side after yesterday’s wash-out!😊

          6. Hello Grizz…I’m late too, sorry ..not used to hot weather 🙄..conked out after watching VE day celebrations earlier, good turnout – all roads here very quiet, no walkers, a day of reflection for some including me.

    4. You may joke but Starmer has invited the Ukrainians to take part in our celebrations tomorrow. Watch out for Nazi insignia on their marching soldiers’ uniforms.

    1. Silly cow, she should be doing time, if for no other reason, for being so utterly up her own arse.

    2. The one thing for certain is she’s not at all sorry .
      Another example of 2 tier Britain.

  79. Enjoyed a day out in East Suffolk. Passed through a couple of heavy showers at Ipswich and Woodbridge and had light spots of rain falling most of the day.

    Called in at the Friday Street Kitchen (a few miles from Snape and Aldeburgh) for a snack and was disturbed to see large areas fenced off and flattened adjacent to the A12. First thought was, "surely not building houses here"; on asking questions in the café about the changes I found out that these areas are truck holding areas for Sizewell C construction. How long that project will last is anyone's guess.

    Bought a few items in the very best Farm Shop around and my friend found a nice glass fruit bowl in the barn that is stocked with all sorts of items e.g. curios, antiques and what I would consider junk.

    Moving on to Orford (caught sight of a spotted deer (Fallow?) in the woods alongside the road) to the Kings Head Inn for a pint of Adnam's Bitter. Chatting to the young barman was revealing: at 20 yo he is thoroughly disillusioned with the UK, citing no prospects nor future. He is shortly moving to California where he has both a job and an apartment lined up. I wished him well and asked him to give my best wishes to Gavin Newsom – Ho, Ho, Ho!

    Too cold for exploring this part of Orford and so set off for the final destination, the Ramsholt Arms, for our main meal. Devil of a place to find, thought I would remember from last year; one wrong turn and a stop to allow two hares to run up the lane and into the adjoining field, but arrived on time. Fair roast beef meal but not a match for what the Bricklayer's Arms at Little Bentley serves up for the same money.

    All three eateries were very busy, a good sign for them but talking to a couple of men at The Ramsholt pub I found out that the Ferry Boat Inn down river (the Deben) at Felixstowe Ferry closed in January last. Tenancy up for renewal.

    All in all a pleasant break from gardening and housework. A plus, the Kings Head Inn at Orford: excellent beer and what appears to be a good pub menu.

  80. Visited here this afternoon for prayers and a little contemplation:

    St. Mary's Church in Winterborne Whitechurch, Dorset, has a rich history spanning from the 13th to the 20th centuries. The original church was built in the 13th century, with additions made in the 14th and 15th centuries. The church features a 15th-century pulpit, a 1450 font with vine carvings, and unique carvings on the arches supporting the tower. The church also has a Saxon cross on the outside wall. In the 19th century, the nave was rebuilt, and further alterations were made in the 1844. The church was damaged by fire in 1867. Key Historical Features and Events:Early Norman Period: The church's foundation dates back to the early Norman period, potentially with a Saxon cross incorporated into the north wall. 13th Century: The chancel was built around 1200, and traces of former transepts exist. 14th Century: The crossing was rebuilt after the collapse of an earlier tower. 15th Century: The south chapel and central tower were added, along with the current pulpit and font. 1844: The nave was completely rebuilt, and north and south aisles and the south porch were added by architect Benjamin Ferrey. 1867: The church was damaged by fire. 19th Century: The church was further modified, including the addition of a sixth bell in 1990. Parish Hall: The parish hall, once used as a school and entertainment venue, is being restored and is now a village meeting place. Non-conformist Preacher: John Wesley, the grandfather of the Methodists, was the vicar of Winterborne Whitechurch in the 17th century.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/abd07dc8729b4d35fe3d9ae2a379e62b05cbb69d0891e931822d1dda6e93d521.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/61beb819033522ed2864cbaa55c69cf7cfe7a71567dd9246bb2d7b914a07dfca.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8476d4b3fdf662126a72631eb6242254122e176e608033bafdb10a34d7ab3323.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e764ca0009c769a6aaa4c006834446e9161a3ae7a51576321ff7755bfecd7a4f.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ac7acb9311c498879c2195595ad012f35b4f153b19214a1614f1711faaab385d.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6221770f2562b69893fe68d5dc84cd79a50c6e90963308fe0187f64e3a261345.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7ea5211d043aa37d88455b2c4e0c6944673841bafd63923ddf99932ea619c7f8.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1e708e085f340019ebbf4a476b9ec1cbf6815eba77f20b01ef47ae6c77f7428d.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d8c5e424a3242a8c73051d0af5cc53eeab76d7bd5c3f8ccdf8412c51915d86d0.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1e00248757ae2f1a1550e614cd4705b87eeafff4d2d94873bcb638ff55d51f6d.jpg

    1. Wonderful stained glass, looks in great condition. Would love to try my hand at it.

    2. A really good place to contemplate. Not fancy, just pure and simple, no distractions. The sort of place that would talk to your soul. And maybe cause your eyes to leak…

    1. There will many who actually believe that.
      Never mind that everything is so dry, and it was probably started by some moron's disposable barbeque or a dropped cigarette end.

  82. I'm always amazed (still!) at how many extraordinarily beautiful churches survive despite that mass murderer Henry VIII and his Reformation! I think our churches define us and could serve to hold back the invading hordes…….

    1. Well said, David. Have you seen Ben Maton, on YouTube…I like his videos very much 🙂

      1. I think he's that organist chappy isnt he KJ? I have seen him a little bit and I was impressed!

        1. He is indeed, David, very knowledgeable. Occasionally has his brother with him, they're very much alike.

    1. You're not boring, Sue..and neither is your church, a visual treat, thanks x

      1. I think it dark and forbidding. The craftsmanship is no doubt superb but the space is unwelcoming.

  86. Latest Breaking News

    The Pink Panther has now turned turquoise
    Durham, Durham, Durham Durham Durham

    1. It's like when he stood on that insect!

      Dead Ant, Dead Ant, Dead Ant, Dead Ant Dead Ant Dead Ant….

  87. I've put the blanket back on our bed as despite it being 20'c it doesn't feel warm.

    1. To be fair, I think we've been spoilt by a fabulous April (at least it was up here in the frozen North!) – the next couple of weeks are looking very good also, a slight concern over the lack of rainfall – hosepipe bans and stand-pipes await!

    2. Our heating clicked on at 5pm – apparently, it was only 17c indoors.

      1. My living room thermometer still says 24c but we’re in for a cold week so it will go down. The heating will go on on 1st October. It’s in the terms of the lease. I do tend to sleep a little better when it’s cold.

        1. At night, we always have the bedroom window open throughout the winter, no matter how cold it is outside.

        2. Our house never gets that warm in winter. Admittedly, we couldn’t afford to have the heating that high, but even if we wanted to be snug, our feeble boiler is simply incapable of that.

  88. Latest Breaking News

    Serious power and internet outages are expected Tuesday morning as Lefty researchers go back to work after the bank holiday weekend and fire up their computers all over the country, searching through the social media history of every Reform candidate elected in last Thursday's elections.
    While trying to find something to misrepresent them with.
    Then straight out on mainstream media, by the time the truth catches up with it they will be onto someone else.
    We all know the format by now.

    1. That will certainly be their mission. They'll probably be so keen they might start tomorrow.

          1. Working From Home, mola….should that be WTF (What the F….) or WTA (What the Actual). I understand a number of CSs (Civil Servants, or should that be UCSs Uncivil Servants) still WFH….sorry for all this nonsense….

    1. Yes, "Go back to that enormous beach of sand where your blokes screw the goats, and leave us in peace!"

    2. FO back to your sh*thole fly-ridden God forsaken country and stay there!

      2. Irony is, Sue…probably born and bred here. Some years ago, can't remember which village South coast, day warm and sunny – pub lunch. We sat outside, ordered, starting eating, a young family came to sit at our table, father, young daughter, and another figure, silent, completely covered – sitting away from the man and child, didn't eat or drink anything. Never forgotten it.

    2. Can't see one, Sue…I'd settle for Thatcher…can't see one of her either..

  96. Does Germany have some sort of VE Day with self-flagellating accompanied by music?

      1. Interesting, Bill, but I had no idea that Nazi filmakers had invented the Cinemascope ratio in the 1940s. Lol.

    2. I'm reminded of the film, Das Boot, about the German U-boat crew and their missions in the Atlantic. They were depicted as loyal, patriotic Germans doing their national duty but largely unimpressed by National Socialist rhetoric. I don't know how representative that was. The regime's representative on board was not held in high esteem but the crew were conscious of not disparaging the cause or what was demanded of them for fear of what might be fed back to their superiors. It was a great film. It captured the fear, tension and exhilaration of their efforts to sink Allied shipping and, when they were attacked back at their Atlantic base, you could not help but feel bad for their fate. The regime was monstrous but the individual combatants were just as courageous and self-sacrificing as those on our side and of our Allies. Like here, their will be a handful of survivors still living. I like to think that they are not objects of shame.

      1. It was a wonderful film/series, I can't remember which. The 'political' officer got fragged at some stage I seem to remember.
        It certainly humanised them.

  97. After a much cooler day today, that's me off to bed!
    Goodnight all.

  100. Well, chums, it's bedtime for Elsie. So Good Night all, sleep well, and see you all tomorow.

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