Sunday 5 January: Labour’s tax raid on private education will not improve the lot of state school pupils

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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610 thoughts on “Sunday 5 January: Labour’s tax raid on private education will not improve the lot of state school pupils”

  2. Good morning, chums, and thanks to Geoff, as ever, for his new NoTTLe page.

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    1. Good morning Elsie and all
      Wordle 1,296 5/6

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    1. The rule of law was abandoned to sustain the myth that diversity is our strength, destroying the lives of thousands of vulnerable white working class girls in the process.

      Yes and Jenrick was one of those who abandoned it.

      1. And continued to abandon it for years whilst he and his party were in power.
        I applaud his decision to tweet such comments, for it only reminds people how the Conservative Party of which he is a member is so culpable in what has happened.
        Keep going Jenrick, you are doing a grand job for Reform UK.

      2. Yes and Jenrick was one of those who abandoned it.

        Amazing how a crushing electoral defeat and the distinct possibility of the imminent collapse of one's party causes a complete 180 degrees turn in one's opinion on contentious matters previously ignored. I'm not sure that hypocrite is a sufficiently strong word to describe the likes of Jenrick et al.

    3. And, very conveniently timed, there is a 3 part "documentary" on Channel 4 [?] this week about a fake grooming accusation by some girl which smeared a whole community! A sad tale, no doubt, but also a very handy squirrel?

  7. Good Moaning???

    "Pass down the trough, Napoleon, let a little one get his fair share"….. Snuffle ….. BURP ……

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/01/04/home-office-officials-spent-10000-of-taxpayer-money-meal/

    "Home Office officials spend £10,000 of taxpayer money on ‘extravagant’ meal at London restaurant

    Civil servants defend expenditure and claim meeting with Italian counterparts was vital in trying to stop Channel boats

    04 January 2025 12:02pm GMT

    Home Office civil servants spent more than £10,000 of taxpayers’ money on an “extravagant” meal at a London skyscraper restaurant.

    The “outrageous” bill has been slammed by critics who claim there is “no excuse” for the pricey dinner at Searcys at The Gherkin.

    However, Home Office officials defended the expenditure which saw staff host their Italian counterparts in a meeting they say was vital in trying to stop Channel boats.

    According to a report by The Sun, government credit card spending showed the £10,350 November bill.

    The civil servants are said to have had “exceptional permission” to pay for the “reception and dinner” at the swanky high-rise restaurant using a government procurement card.

    The UK-Italian dinner was held by a research and strategy team for a combined 45 officials.

    John O’Connell, the chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “There can be no excuse for this outrageous extravagance.

    “Whoever approved this needs to be given a good dressing-down.”

    A Home Office spokesman told The Sun: “The event required a secure venue and contributed to the development of crucial agreements to enhance information sharing.”

    Searcys boasts 360-degree views of the city and is spread out across the top three floors of the 180m-tall Gherkin.

    Areas of the venue are available for corporate and private hire including for weddings, as well as booking members of the public.

    The Home Office was approached by The Telegraph for comment."

    1. The money was no doubt wasted, as Italians are unlikely to have been impressed with any food they ate in Britain.

      1. I'm rather mystified by the adulation of Italian food.
        It's all right, but I cannot see that it's worth all the praise.
        (And yes, I do know it goes beyond pasta and pizza.)

        1. I love Italian cucina povera – pasta, pizza and the other peasant foods. That's the joy of it, simple, well-cooked ingredients, no fancy, tasty wines and powerful coffee. Refained stuff, requiring you know your way around a sea of cutlery is not for me.

          1. Poverty being the mother of invention. The first time i had pizza cappricciosa i was in heaven. Who would have thought artichokes and boiled eggs would work on a pizza?

          2. I have to admit, I'd rather have cheese on toast than pizza.
            A good strong cheddar with a slick of mustard over it.

        2. Linguini vongole is to die for ! The last time i had it the bastards used jarred clams. I was not amused.

        3. it's the philosophy that counts – buy the absolute best you can afford (whether it's an expensive item or a really cheap one) and fail to f*** it up. It celebrates the best in everything.

          Well, that's why I like it, anyway.

        4. There is a mysterious force-field around Italy that makes all exported Italian food taste less good when you export it.

    3. And such largesse has resulted in how many people smugglers being put out of business??

      3. The ridiculous restaurant "critics" in the weekend papers often boast that their lunch was a mere £175 (before drinks and service charge). Even today's S Grimes – the ubiquitous Ivers woman spent £58 on a bottle of red plonk…..

    5. That one meal cost more than many people's annual state pension payments. After working for more than 40 years.

    6. Yeah , £230 each, for a meal .. entertaining Italians .

      Gawd , I wonder how much each mouthful cost?

      What else do officials use government credit cards for?

  8. Good morning all.
    We currently have a layer of VERY wet snow outside but given the light drizzle and temperature hovering slightly above freezing, it may not stay long.
    Currently 1.3°C with a max of 2.8 and a 0.7 min.

  9. Morning all.

    Our leading article at FSB today, ' It’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy That’ , is on Farage & Co’s response to malevolent MSM questioning about Tommy Robinson. On the one hand Reform is growing, but on the other, many supporters feel unhappy about the party leadership’s hostile attitude to Robinson, and see it as a sign that Reform is, at heart, an Establishment party, unlikely to provide the insurrectionary leadership many think is required.  We have a poll asking how you think Reform should respond to questions about TR, and hope you’ll join the debate.

    We also urge you to read Iain Hunter’s exploration into our Common Law , something we all need to understand now, especially as the Woke Tyranny is seeking to ban legal speech that they consider harmful. Under common law they have no right to do this, as free speech is an inalienable right.

    Energy watch 07.10: Demand: 28.955GW. Supply: Hydrocarbons 7.2%; Wind 44.4%; Imports 19.8%, Biomass 8.1% and Nuclear 17.2%

    Here we can see why UK energy bills are just about the highest in the world. Cheap gas-fired power stations, which have to be paid to remain on stand-by, are unused while they very expensively import almost 20% of our electricity from abroad – all in the name of Net Zero and low carbon emissions that are utterly pointless.

    https://www.freespeechbacklash.com/

    1. If you know their name, they're in the game….
      Realistically, there is no way Tommy Robinson isn't compromised by now. Reform certainly is (mainstream media coverage – tick. Billionaire donations – tick. Links to the City of London – tick)
      The Reform – TR clash is just another theatre piece for us to pick sides and waste our energy on.

    2. The "No, but I understand it" answer implies to me "No, but I approve" – I don't approve, but I believe I understand: they reckon he's an oik, will put others off joining, so don't want him.

        1. As I have said frequently on this forum Farage is a snob.

          Just as Blair looked down on Prescott Farage looks down on Robinson. But Farage, the former pupil of Dulwich College, is also an inverted snob who pours scorn of the Conservatives who went to Eton and Oxbridge!

          Hilaire Belloc's Garden Party is amusing on the topic of 'class'

          The rich arrived in pairs
          And also in Rolls Royces
          They talked of their affairs
          In loud and strident voices.

          The poor arrived in Fords
          Whose features they resembled
          And laughed to see so many lords
          And ladies all assembled.

          The people in between
          Looked underdone and harassed
          And out of place and mean
          And horribly embarrassed.

    3. I have been banging on about Farage's response to Tommy Robinson for some time on this forum.

      Farage must be questioned thoroughly about just where The Reform Party's views the Pakistani rape gangs differs from what Tommy Robinson is saying.

      Is Reform's line on mass uncontrolled immigration not the same as Tommy Robinson's? Indeed I would like Farage not to concentrate on Tommy Robinson's personality but to discuss his actual philosophical and political views. Farage is keen to stress that his party is unlike the other parties in that he does not run away from discussing key issues and so he must not evade the 'TR problem' that he has.

      I posted this under an article in The Conservative Woman this morning:

      Surely Farage must admit that the way that Tommy has been treated by the UK state brings international contempt upon us – both Elon Musk and Jordan Peterson can see this – why can't Farage?

      My respect for Farage would grow if he had the courage to admit that he was wrong about Tommy Robinson. He was a snob and did not want his party, UKIP, to attract the riff raff .

      But Tommy Robinson has grown up and so should Farage. Tommy presents his views very coherently and lucidly. Yes, his language is a bit rough for some people's tastes but this should not blind people to the good sense he utters.

  10. When the work was being done for the new radio controlled signal system on the Mid-Wales Lines, I did several babysitting shifts to look after some radio technicians, including a couple of Italians.
    For one stint I took in a "Cromford Growler" pork pie our late and much missed local butcher used to make and some of Peak District Dairy's Crumbly Lancashire Cheese. The Italian lads absolutely loved them!

    2. Wouldn't have worked with these guys.

      Can you imagine how pretentious an Italian civil servant is !

  11. G'Day all,

    Well, the snow event turned into a damp squib at Castle McPhee. It's melting rapidly in the rain, wind in the Sou'-West, 9-12℃ today.

    It's not just a question of government ditching this, all the councils that have already adopted it must do so too…….

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8ae1792cdb1f4368a0eb5c2fc96e80e3f4369cec5e959f7b35806edee22b8610.png
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/01/04/islamophobia-grooming-gangs-whistleblowers-free-speech/

    …especially since the whole motivation for it is Koranic. These 250,000 girls were all kuffar, you see, so that makes it alright in their eyes. I don't see why we should bear the cost of jailing them here. Fine them a ruinous amount, strip them of citizenship and deport them. Their supportive families too. Oh, and castrate them.

    1. Noooooo.

      Don't listen to em, Sir Keir. Plough ahead with the Blasphemy Law. I could do with a laugh.

    3. Don't me wrong I can't stand any of them.
      And the vast majority of brits can't stand him or any of his ministers. But thus problem has been going on for around fourty years.
      They people who call themselves politicians are to blame for wrecking our country and its culture and social structure. They are useless and they stink…..all of them.
      Sticks and stone's etc as the old saying goes…..it's time for action.

  15. 399700+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Weatherwise it could not have worked out better for the
    political S(tool) and co, the cullingmass campaign that is, not forgetting the part the tactical voter played also in putting the odious one into power.

    The antics and actions of dangerous demented ED the RED must be suspended told rhetorically twice to cease with his actions, if he continues in his NON compliance mode then very stronger measures MUST be employed involving suspension.

    We are being denied heat via power stations being closed down & dismantled,shale NOT being opened up in times of need as an
    emergency power source even, all pre planned to take down the indigenous,and in many cases working successfully WITH the indigenous aiding & abetting.

    ALL in the name of RESET via the WEF / MWO/ with royal seal.

    Dt,
    Live Widespread power cuts as UK braces for heavy snow and rare freezing rain

  16. Good morning, all. Drove home last evening at around 21:30 and a light drizzle was falling. The gritters were out and doing a good job around the town. This morning at around 06:00 the car had a light covering of snow, however, rain is now falling and all evidence of snow has disappeared.

    Miliband minor is intent on spending £Billions of pounds the Country doesn't have on destroying valuable agricultural land by covering it in solar panels.

    Unlike the science around Global Warming/Ice Age approaching/Climate Change (a term chosen to cover all bases) the science is 100% correct re solar panels i.e. if the Sun isn't shining they produce – no matter how many there are in situ – bugger all.

    Evidence:

    Just after 06:00.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f559313682bac00381a743855217e50dcba2c38c0bdd6a64382e7bc3b5e47b81.png
    07:45

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5297a3a6c69c8d4994f02035928939c8ab27a5be36bdf99c0acefd3ba6181e0d.png
    Little wonder that Labour MPs and some Cabinet members are beginning to suffer from squeaky bum syndrome as a vast amount of cash is being wasted on something that only works some of the daytime, never at night and is susceptible to storm damage.

    We're at the mercy of Net Zero zealots and they need to be reined in now.

    1. We had solar panels on Mianda. On long sunny summer days these gave us all the electrickery we needed but in the autumn, winter and spring we had to run the engine or use a use petrol fuelled generator if we were at anchor rather than in a marina connected to shore power.

      As you can see in the photo both boats have solar panels and a wind generator. Our wind generator ceased to function when a gale sent one of the blades into orbit and it was not worth while repairing it as the power it provided was so unreliable.

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/45de5123a86c7cd83b0712225d5877da015ccd5c82cd4fb1bf09636ed95d38b0.jpg

    2. When I drove to church this morning, the solar panels on the roof of the house opposite were covered in snow. It was also dull and overcast. My first thought was, "they aren't producing anything".

      1. Has he issued any kind of statement yet, do you know, Ndovu – he's a bit like Macavity…his presence always felt, but no sightings…

      2. This situation has been well known for a long number of years, Rastus. A lot of shock, a lot of hand-wringing today. Let's see what's done about it. I'm guessing (hopefully wrongly) we may see a couple of arrests but otherwise the caravan moves on. Except for Tommy Robinson, obviously – still banged up in solitary.

  19. 'Morning All
    Medley time
    I think the first one may be one of the three that got some poor sod banged up but frankly I'm past caring
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2bdd185616718c06cabf8ca2711a0c40400059cdd0f9232ed04be7e3ea789b45.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/87f96776582cf982679a67a60981e5b94decc47f0e6b66ab09e2430642231de3.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c7a91a8c3c62b8c9c19ea81b72162ded652ee8184be56df04070deeeb6275bfa.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fce7f3db9a0f4ee6947a982106a0e4cf0efc0fa396f540aed3fdcdc70a5f7ad9.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4dbf1977090f94902db5264ba8d2692793ad30a0d90456001aefcc66a661ce23.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d00c657ead13d325fd9ef4c955d51b6f8fd397e42901a7789b88ba747411f7d2.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1459de2f9df14cc6f659ae474884b0efcb6f873c9d1c43415ce24e3f96cd50c2.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c5ebde5f2a79ce6e8c4bd35574090edad1ece08f5e5fb0e918d7abe18fb2a83c.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1c3802580c0d62b1ad2df99eb2f7620a679475ab1e43945b01e8c27d9def916a.jpg

    1. To coin a phrase "Ain't that the absolute truth"?
      And All of it caused by our pathetic and useless political idiots.

    2. Excellent collection as ever, Rik. Laying my usual fiver on nothing will change….move along there…as per..

  20. Morning, all Y'all.
    Bright today; the downside being that it's -12C, and the house takes a few days to adjust to the new temperatures, so indoors, it's chilly.

  25. 399700+ up ticks,

    Telegraph View
    The price of net zero is now too high to bear
    Time and time again, we find the state adopting an approach that wilfully destroys value in the name of environmental progress

    Along with HS2 it is openly transparently blood obvious the political arm of the WEF / NWO / RESET with royal seal are winning hands down and being financed via anti BRIT scams when screwing the tax payer BIG TIME.

    IN THE NAME OF DEMOLISHING THE UNITED KINGDOM AND ALL PATRIOTS WITHIN.

      2. Ah but how many Virtue Signalling points do they have? You need to think these things through.

        Try China (but not Hongkong),
        Household electricity in China amounting to 7.8 cents per kilowatt-hour in March 2024.
        Also subsidised freight & courier.
        A door to door sample package over huge distances can be as little as £3.

      3. 399700+ up ticks,

        Morning C1,

        Probably because the other nations are not as good at selecting their ruling political overseers as we are.

        Proof being as Donald Duck said
        ” The bills have it, the bills have it”.

        2. Beautiful cat Rastus. Part of the wildlife where you live? I was under the impression that they were not tamable but there seem to be quite a few videos on You Tube of people that have them as pets, rescued as lost kittens.

  26. What next for Nick Clegg, the Meta man who made £100m?

    If true, it shows up Call Me Dave for being such an abject flop.

  28. Morning all 🙂😊
    I haven't seen any 'news' today but I expect there has been an over reation by them caused by the two inches of snow overnight. 😂🤣

        1. To be fair – I was in Switzerland many years ago when there was a massive blizzard – four feet of snow fell in 12 hours. It completely blocked the railway line. Staff and passengers alike were bewildered that the trains were not running – and then very late!

          2. A few years ago, there was so much snow in Northern Norway that it reached the upstairs windows of houses, and the occupants had to tunnel their way out of the front door.
            A bit of transport disruption in such circumstances can be expected.

  29. Good morning all. It’s 10 degrees C here though it feels like 5 with the wind and it’s pouring with rain. Miserable.

  30. I think you may find they are somewhat misleading, due to a "cherrypicked" time/date.
    It doesn't change the fact UK prices are some of the highest.
    Someone posted a refutation earlier.

      1. Like shits that piss in the night?

        (By changing just one consonant and one vowel one can adapt the cliché about passing ships!)

  33. Hallo all. Wretched day, dark and very wet but, at least it is quite warm.

    Today is Sunday and I forgot to wish everyone a Happy New Year. So Happy New Year to everyone, I'm not sure that it will be peaceful but, as the Chinese curse goes: "May you live in interesting times." seem to be the measure for the year ahead.

    On Tuesday it is Orthodox Christmas. Upon which I will post the usual but, in todays Telegraph there was an interesting article that might give some food for thought. So I replicate it here. Long article, apologies. Hopefully, Britain will catch on because we are certainly not going to get a Christian revival from the usual suspects. But we need it if we are going to fight back against the enemy. Atheism, agnosticism and a vague sort of belief in something up there is not going to hack it. We were an Orthodox country for centuries, there is no reason to suppose we can't be again.

    Young, single men are leaving traditional churches. They found a more ‘masculine’ alternative
    New parishes are planned across US to accommodate ‘tsunami’ of male worshippers who have converted since pandemic

    Susie Coen
    US Correspondent
    04 January 2025 5:15pm GMT
    Young, single men are flocking to the Orthodox church after discovering the “masculine” Christian religion through online influencers.

    Some converts said they felt disillusioned with the “feminisation” of the Protestant church and were attracted to the “authenticity” of Orthodoxy, which they claim pushes them physically and mentally.

    Priests are now planning to open new parishes to accommodate the “tsunami” of young men who have converted since the pandemic.

    They say that most of the new converts found the Orthodox church by watching YouTube videos or listening to podcasts.

    Matthew Ryan, a former atheist, found Orthodoxy after he saw a comment about good and evil on YouTube after “hitting rock bottom”.

    The science teacher, 41, who had moved to Salt Lake City in 2022 to escape New York’s “draconian” Covid rules, began researching the Bible.

    This eventually led him to a one-hour YouTube video in which a Protestant visits an Orthodox church and speaks to a priest.

    “I watched that, and I was like, OK, this makes a lot of sense,” Mr Ryan said.

    “What really drew me to Orthodoxy… was the structure, the guidance, the authenticity and the historicity”, he said.

    Mr Ryan, who was baptised into the Orthodox church in September, is among scores of men who have joined the strict church since the pandemic.

    A 2023 survey by the Orthodox Studies Institute of Orthodox clergy in 20 parishes across 15 states found there had been a 80 per cent increase in the number of converts to the Orthodox church in 2022, compared with pre-pandemic levels in 2019.

    Of these, 60 per cent were men, compared with 54 per cent in 2019.

    Many of them had been drawn to the “masculine” nature of church, which puts emphasis on denial and pushing yourself physically.

    Worshippers must stand for long services, which can last upwards of five hours. They must fast, too, sometimes for up to 40 days.

    This, some felt, was in stark contrast to other religious denominations where they felt the church had been “feminised”.

    Emmanuel Castillo, 32, converted to the Orthodox church in 2019, a journey that started when he began reading the Bible while he was guarding al-Qaeda prisoners in Guantanamo Bay.

    The former wrestler belonged to a Protestant church, but felt his services were not too different to his Saturday night in a bar.

    They had the “same kind of lighting, same kind of music, same kind of the same feeling, and after reading the gospels and the book of Acts, you know, I knew that’s not how they worshipped 2000 years ago, I kind of knew, hey, I’m, I don’t think I’m in the right church.”

    Searching for something he felt “embodied the teachings and practices of the early Christians”, in 2018 he found St Ignatius Orthodox Christian Church near his home in Mesa, Arizona.

    The father of two, who has since left the military, was baptised the following year.

    His Instagram page is filled with images showing off his muscular physique alongside quotes from Bible verses.

    Mr Castillo is open about his faith with his thousands of online followers and receives scores of messages from young men interested in the Orthodox church.

    He believes part of the surge in men converting to the Orthodox church is a rejection of the “feminisation” of other denominations.

    “It’s unfortunate that feminism has kind of sunk its teeth into all of our organisations to include Christianity,” he said.

    He said that at Protestant churches, the majority of the leaders “aren’t good, strong men”, whereas the Orthodox church leaders are more like “father figures”.

    He said: “They look like men. They look like fathers, they’re strong, spiritually, mentally, physically… I think young men right now are yearning to follow a good father.”

    Jesus Christ, he thinks, is the “perfect example of masculinity”, someone capable “of calling down all of Heaven’s armies to destroy his enemies” but who instead chose to serve others.

    “I’m very comfortable with physicality and because of my Orthodox faith, I’m also very comfortable at just, you know, being soft and kind… but being capable also of violence towards, you know, those who would do harm to those I love… I think young men, too, they want that.”

    Father Paul Truebenbach agrees that part of what is drawing young men to the Orthodox church is because they “naturally want to be masculine, in the most positive sense of the word”.

    Fr Truebenbach, who was the priest Mr Ryan watched on YouTube video when he was looking into Orthodoxy, has seen the number of converts in his congregation triple since the pandemic. Most of these are single, young men in their 20s.

    “It’s a tougher form of Christianity… I think a lot of men have embraced that and realised this is a form of self-denial with real results that actually brings peace and joy to the heart like nothing else”, said Fr Truebenbach, of Saints Peter and Paul Orthodox Church in Salt Lake City.

    He said that men in his parish have started taking cold plunges, as well as making their fasts more extreme to push themselves.

    Father Timothy Pavlatos, who leads St Katherine Greek Orthodox Church in Chandler, Arizona, agrees that the “challenge” of the Orthodox church appeals to many young men.

    “Orthodoxy is challenging in the physical sense too, and it requires a lot… they live in a world where it’s instant gratification and just take what you want, what you feel you want, what you think you need, Orthodoxy is the opposite of that, it’s denying yourself.”

    Whereas before the pandemic a maximum of six people would convert annually, this year he currently has 29 catechumens – people studying the Orthodox faith.

    Of these, he said, the majority found the church online.

    He had to enlist volunteers to help with the “tsunami of people coming in” and they are looking at starting new Orthodox churches nearby.

    Dr Sarah Riccardi-Swartz, an assistant professor of religion and anthropology at Northeastern University, whose research looks at recent Orthodox converts in the US, said that she started seeing an increase in people seeking out Orthodoxy from 2016.

    She said this increased “dramatically” during the pandemic, to what she refers to in her upcoming book as the “Covid conversion period”.

    Dr Riccardi-Swart said: “We were at home for a lot of 2020 and even some of 2021, people had time to create content and find content online, and we saw in that period the rise of young males and males in general, who were Orthodox or interested in becoming Orthodox, creating content for people to find Orthodox.”

    She said part of the appeal to young men is there is a phenomenon called “muscular Christianity” and the desire for “a sort of strong-man religion”, which she said is not unique to Orthodoxy.

    “You have people finding Orthodoxy and saying, ‘Hey, this is sort of masculine, this is militarised, this is really hard on my body, it’s aesthetically challenging”, she said.

    But she added that alongside the language of strictness and militarisation, she has noticed “problematic ideological issues”, such as misogyny, voiced by some converts online.

    It is hard to get an accurate picture of how many Orthodox Christians there are in the US because of a lack of data.

    The most up-to-date figures are from 2010, when the Pew Research Center found that 0.5 per cent of the US population was Orthodox.

    Seraphim Holland, a priest at the St Nicholas Orthodox Church in McKinney, Texas, has also witnessed the surge of converts in recent years.

    His congregation has tripled in size since the pandemic, and the main temple cannot accommodate the 200 people who attend the church on Sundays, so there are now two services.

    Most of the new converts found the church online and around 60 per cent are unmarried men.

    Mr Holland said that one aspect that appeals to newcomers is that while other churches are being drawn into rows about cultural issues, such as debates around the LGBTQ community, the Orthodox church does not shift.

    “I think there’s a lot with those sorts of things… society kind of goes to the new thing, and people feel pressured to believe the new thing, to talk about the new thing, to accept the new thing. We don’t feel that pressure”, he said.

    He added: “We are not anti-LGBTQ… we are pro-Christian morality.”

    One of the recent converts at Mr Holland’s parish is Longin, 23, who found his Protestant church started to feel “empty” to him.

    The small-engine mechanic, who had been studying theology at the time, became interested in the Orthodox church when he began hearing about the “martyrs” who had been persecuted.

    This, combined with the world “shutting down” during the pandemic, prompted him “to look for something that gave me that same drive, which I guess the evangelical church didn’t really have”, he said.

    “You have the worship, you know, the guitars and the drums and stuff, and then you sit down for a sermon, and then that’s kind of it, you know,” he said.

    This was in stark contrast to the Orthodox church in McKinney, Texas, where he found worshippers standing for lengthy services.

    “I just went to go see and I haven’t really looked back since,” he said.

  34. Exclusive — Dr. Andrew Huff: Coronavirus Timeline ‘Giant Scandal to Subvert’ Trump

    https://media.breitbart.com/media/2025/01/Fauci-Swears-an-Oath-640×480.jpeg

    Officials knew about the coronavirus breakout in the fall of 2019 — sooner than they claim — and the biotechnology used to create the virus developed in the U.S. and was then exported to China, Dr. Andrew Huff, author of The Truth About Wuhan: How I Uncovered the Biggest Lie in History, said on Breitbart News Saturday.

    Huff walked through some of the revelations, stating that “when you really boil this down, most of the biotechnology, or the advanced technology that was used to engineer SARS-CoV-2, was developed in the United States – primarily at the University of North Carolina with Dr. Ralph Baric – and illegally exported to the Chinese.”

    “So there’s so many different crazy facets of this story … The recent development just two weeks ago, there’s an article published in The Sun which shows that senior intelligence officials had informed senior Pentagon officials that the disease had been spreading in China in early October 2019,” he said, noting that this is not the same timeline the public was offered.

    “If you look at what the U.S. government had been told, telling us, what Dr. Anthony Fauci had been telling us, Dr. Birx and all these corrupt individuals, was that this disease started spreading on the planet in December 2019,” he said, explaining that the timeline is simply not true.

    Huff said he used to work in the “classified space of developing intelligence tools for infectious diseases, specifically.” If one looks at the proper chain of command and how long it would take that information to work through the proper channels to be validated, “it really looks like the disease started spreading in late August, early September, 2019.”

    “So what we really have here is a giant scandal to subvert the President of the United States at the time: Donald Trump,” Huff said.

    “So what the heck were all these Pentagon and intelligence officials doing? Why wasn’t the president notified? And really, you know, you step back and said, look at what is this. It’s treason. And I’m really excited for RFK to come to office,” he said, predicting there will be accountability for all of the corrupt health, intelligence, and health security officials that were involved in the giant coverup.

    “At best, Dr Fauci is guilty of 25 million counts of negligent criminal homicide. So they knew that the Wuhan Institute of Virology was a leaky lab, but they allowed the research to go on. They illegally exported the technology. They didn’t have the proper safety controls in place from a risk management perspective on the United States side and with the contractors involved with this research,” he said, adding, “And on top of it, you’re giving advanced biotechnology to an enemy of the United States.”

    “All of this is illegal. … So in U.S. law, if the president issues a pardon to someone, and the person accepts the pardon, it’s an admission of guilt of the crimes. And if you look at all the individuals involved with the cover up, the export of this technology, that is a violation of the RICO Act. And you can use, you know, basically the same kind of criminal process and prosecution that they use against mobsters to go after someone like Anthony Fauci and all his conspirators,” he continued.

    “So even if they pardon Anthony Fauci, if he accepts the pardon, it then incriminates everyone involved in the RICO, and they’re all guilty. So you know, if they go and they pardon Anthony Fauci with a blanket pardon, he accepts it, well, he condemns everyone else in the government who’s, who is involved in this operation,” Huff added.

    https://www.breitbart.com/radio/2025/01/04/exclusive-dr-andrew-huff-coronavirus-timeline-giant-scandal-to-subvert-trump/

  35. Good morning all ,

    Fierce night time gale has now blown through , windy and very wet and mild at the moment , and can you believe the temperature is 13c.. heating turned off.

    Birds are fluttering and feeding off the feeders.

    Yes, this is warmish South Dorset !

      1. You can bet that Musk knows a lot about a lot of politicians/public figures. He won't keep quiet.

      2. Don't why he pleaded guilty.. should have copied the IRA and turned his back.

        As for solitary confinement at HMP Woodhill..
        jeez if I was TR I'd want solitary. That place is captured with Progressive gaolers and filled with jihadis.

          2. I think Katie's losing it a bit. She has a lot of good points but the way she delivers them is getting a bit pantomimish. ( Is there such a word?)

        2. That's the point of solitary…he's on his own. Apart from guards, obvs. Hmm.. we'll see how it goes.

        3. The point is he committed a civil offence. He should not be in solitary or in a high security prison. This is obvious cruel and unusual punishment. Normally for a civil offense you would be in a very low security prison. As he complains. He has never been allowed a jury trial. He has always been tried by a judge with an obvious agenda. They are now going to try him under the terrorism act. Not because he is a terrorist but because they used that to detain him. It means yet more persecution and yet more jail time and, by the way, a fine of thousands of pounds that he obviously can't pay. In short Robinson is being persecuted deliberately. Their aim is to drive him insane or have him give up and run. That is obvious to anyone who has been paying close attention.

          I posted this yesterday. Evidently you haven't heard it

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiKZnXWeAAg&t=1364s

          1. Exactly, johnathan, thanks. They're hoping for a mental breakdown, keeping him in solitary. Plus it makes him a target.

      1. Wesley Paul William Streeting (/ˈstriːtɪŋ/; born 21 January 1983) is a British politician who has served as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care since July 2024.[1] A member of the Labour Party, he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ilford North since 2015.

        Brought up in Stepney, Streeting attended Westminster City School. He read history at the University of Cambridge and was President of the Cambridge Students' Union from 2004 to 2005. He was the president of the National Union of Students (NUS) from 2008 to 2010. He also worked for Progress, a Labour Party-related organisation, for a year before working in the public sector. In 2010, he was elected to the Redbridge London Borough Council for the Labour Party and became Deputy Leader of the council in May 2014. Streeting was elected to parliament as MP for Ilford North in the 2015 general election and resigned as the council's deputy leader before standing down as a councillor in 2018. He was reelected to Parliament in both the 2017 and 2019 general elections.

        Following Keir Starmer's election as Labour Party leader in the leadership election, he joined the frontbench as Shadow Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury in April 2020. He became the Shadow Minister for Schools in October 2020 after the resignation of Margaret Greenwood before joining the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Secretary of State for Child Poverty in the May 2021 British shadow cabinet reshuffle. In the November 2021 shadow cabinet reshuffle, Streeting became, following a promotion by Starmer, the Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care; a position he remained in until July 2024. Following Labour's victory in the general election, Streeting was appointed Secretary of State for Health and Social Care in the Starmer cabinet. He declared the NHS to be broken and has vowed to resolve the junior doctor strikes and decrease waiting times.

        Early life and education
        Wesley Streeting was born on 21 January 1983 in Stepney.[2][3][4] His parents were teenagers when he was born.[3] He has five brothers, a sister and a stepsister.[3][5] His maternal grandfather was an armed robber who spent time in prison, and his grandmother became embroiled in his crimes and ended up in Holloway Prison, where she met Christine Keeler (a key figure in the Profumo affair). According to Streeting, they "stayed in touch, they became friends". His grandmother was released from prison to give birth to his mother at Whittington Hospital.[3]

        Streeting's two grandfathers, both named Bill, were key figures in his youth. His maternal grandfather, Bill Crowley, was acquainted with the infamous East End Krays.[3] He was "really well-read and well-informed", and engaged his grandson in lively discussions about religion and politics. Streeting's paternal grandfather served in the Second World War in the Royal Navy and later in the merchant navy before becoming a civil engineer. He recalled: "He was the grandad I was closest to. He was a traditional working-class Tory."[3]

        Streeting grew up living in a council flat.[6][7] He recalls Conservative Party politicians, particularly Ann Widdecombe, in the 1990s "denigrating single-parent families like mine, which I took quite personally".[3] He was educated at Westminster City School,[2] a comprehensive state school in Victoria, London. He went on to study history at Selwyn College, Cambridge graduating in 2004.[8][9] Streeting briefly left the Labour Party because he opposed its decision to enter the Iraq War.[10]

        Streeting came out as gay in his second year of university.[3] He was elected President of Cambridge Students' Union for the 2004–05 academic year,[2] a sabbatical officer role. As president, he campaigned against the proposed closure of Cambridge University's architecture department.[11]

          1. Considering today's sleuths can find out almost any secret, past or present, some politicians are very stupid. As Peta would say 'some people are really stupid'…she likely meant to include certain politicians.

      3. He hasn't the polish of his great uncles (?) who kept East London in order during the 1960s.

    4. I wonder if a person's sexual orientation affects they way in which he or she thinks about the rape gangs?

  39. Just reading on Fox that President Trump wants to buy Greenland but they are't going for it. If there was a referendum for Britain to become the 51st state. Would you vote for it?

    1. We'd have to have the right to opt out each time there is a Democrat president like Biden!

  40. Just another of our political idiots that relies on habitual and pathological lying. Mass lying down and rolling over when they can't handle the simple truth.

    2. Thoroughly disappointed in him because of his backing of Farage in the downright scurrilous remarks that Farage made about Tommy Robinson. How low can you get when you say that Tommy is doing what he is doing to make living. Farage is not in the gutter, he's the overflowing cess pit of malice, ego and spite that the gutter flows in to. His aim is to be the head of a resurrected Tory Party and then PM. He has no intention of deporting illegals and no intention of curbing Islam. he's using his own brand of taqiyya on the British public for his own ambition. We are merely the cannon fodder to get him there. He is politics as usual.

        1. I haven’t been since UKIP. Unfortunately he does nothing to assuage my distrust of him. I wish it were otherwise.

      2. OkeyDokey.. let's win back power by voting for.. er?
        Laurence? LOL.
        Gerald? LOL.
        Rod? LOL.
        Ben? LOL.
        Tommy? He isn't a politician.

        Sooooo 5 more years of Labour. Great that showed em.

        1. No. I will vote for Reform but not because of Farage but in the hopes that Rupert Lowe doesn’t become to popular that Farage gets rid of him. A typical maneuver of Farage’s that those of us who were with him when he was UKIP are quite familiar with. He destroyed that out of spite, and he removed Ben Habib from Reform for the same reason. But if you are expecting curbs on immigration, etc, etc, etc. Think again, Farage will do none of that nor will he do much to reform anything else. Ideally I would like Rupert in charge and Ben reinstated.

      3. Don't know that I fully agree, jonathan…but I've started to monitor Farage's statements more closely post-Habib (which I think was disgraceful, including Tice). Holding off supporting/future voting accordingly.

    3. Thoroughly disappointed in him because of his backing of Farage in the downright scurrilous remarks that Farage made about Tommy Robinson. How low can you get when you say that Tommy is doing what he is doing to make living. Farage is not in the gutter, he's the overflowing cess pit of malice, ego and spite that the gutter flows in to. His aim is to be the head of a resurrected Tory Party and then PM. He has no intention of deporting illegals and no intention of curbing Islam. he's using his own brand of taqiyya on the British public for his own ambition. We are merely the cannon fodder to get him there. He is politics as usual.

    4. Heckled by Tommy supporters..
      so he asked them to come up and speak.. or leave.
      Deadly silence.
      Lefties lovin the split.

    5. Heckled by Tommy supporters..
      so he asked them to come up and speak.. or leave.
      Deadly silence.
      Lefties lovin the split.

      2. Love sausage, indeed. Such innocence. Share my love sausage? Chance would be a fine thing.

    1. Within seconds the moronic progressives counter attack..

      As early as Monday morning, President Joe Biden is reportedly planning to ban new offshore oil and gas development across 625 million acres (250 million hectares) of US coastal territory, according to Bloomberg sources.

      Ed Millipede says.. Go Team Joe.

      1. Then the Donald can unban it once he's been admitted as POTUS.
        No big deal. The uncertainty is worse – will play merry hell in the stockmarkets.

      2. I'm surprised Joe Biden has time for such things, given the huge number of scumbags he might want to pardon?

    2. Dear, darling, Mr. Trump
      (May I call you Donald?)
      I am sure that the USA needs a 51st. state with an hereditary Mozzie loving governor.
      Love and kisses
      xxxxxxx

    1. Yep.. clever.
      Except "he spent years & years dripping acid on the foundations of Judeo Christendom."
      Gavin Ashenden.

      So he wasn't that clever after all.

      1. His brother, Peter, started off just as left wing as Christopher but now has moved very much to the right.

  48. Wes Streeting accuses Elon Musk of making ‘disgraceful smears’ against Jess Phillips. 5 January 2025.

    Mr Streeting told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: “It is a disgraceful smear of a great woman who has spent her life supporting victims of the kind of violence that Elon Musk and others say that they’re against.

    “And it’s all very well sitting there – and I’m not just talking about Musk, I talk about armchair critics on social media. It’s all very easy to sit there and fire off something in haste and click send.

    “People like Keir Starmer and Jess Phillips have done the hard yards of actually locking up wife beaters, rapists, paedophiles. They’re good people with great records outside politics.”

    Mr Streetings excuse was of course to avoid mentioning Musk’s comments at all and talk about something else. It is odd how politicians believe that this perennial gambit fools the people.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/01/05/jess-phillips-victim-disgraceful-smear-elon-musk-grooming/

    1. Hmm – TTK having a great record of locking up rapists and paedophiles?? People posting memes and "far right thugs" maybe, but "grooming gangs" and people called Savile, not so much! What did CPS stand for – couldn't prosecute Satan, wasn't it??

      1. He much prefers to lock up middle-class white people who say things he doesn't like.

    3. This is bog standard Leftie manoeuvres straight out of the Leftie manual. Been seeing it for years in the US.
      Leftie MSN presenter softly asks Leftie a delicate question.. Leftie proudly asserts the exact opposite of the truth.

      Vice President Kamala Harris called for further tightening of asylum restrictions as she sought to project a tougher stance on illegal migration and address one of her biggest vulnerabilities in the November election

    1. I saw the mistake and corrected it only moments after I posted it! You must have seen the post in its original incorrect and uncorrected form.

      1. Starmer should be called 'Justice' – not only should he be done but should be seen to be done

  51. We have received today several messages from French chums in our former home of Laure Minervois. Mainly family news – people the MR knew as teenagers are now grandparents!!

    One friend explained that her mother in law's house was empty (and could be used by her now separated son-in-law) because the old lady was in a "home". But that "home" is different. Some really switched on person in the village converted a house into a residence for just four elderly villagers. 24/7 care by village people. A communal kitchen and living space. A room each. So the four oldies are still in their own village and are looked after by people they have known for many years.

    Just imagine such an idea in villages throughout the UK.

    There are many things yer French do well.

    2. Of course, people could always look after their own kin but that is not the fashion in this vibrant western world. In fact, the best care for the elderly is provided in their own homes by paid carers or family. I'm sure it is very common and maintains dignity and independence. The problem arises when the older ones go gaga and need close care. I realise that not everyone has the resources to look after aged relatives but the day when they are put in a home for professional care can be put off and maybe avoided altogether. Between my sister and myself, we managed both parents to the end but if they had become immobile, I did not feel that I could give appropriate care and they would have been packed off to a home. The French solution sounds great but I'm not sure about who is responsible for the overall running or financing of the "home". There is another solution, get a much younger wife, ahem..

      1. Also if they become violent or disturbed at night.
        There is a limit to what family members can cope with.

        1. That is why in the end my Grandma had to go into the mental hospital where she died not long afterwards. She had been having hallucinations (possibly caused by the medication she was on) and smashing the window with a poker as she thought three men were coming in was the last straw for my mother, who was working full time to keep body and soul together and I was only six.

    6. Our friend, Jim, is 89 and is in an excellent nursing home in Pleudihen, a small village in Brittany, which is no more than 300 metres from his home. He has a pension which more than covers the cost of being in the home so he does not need to sell his house and indeed, when his family come to visit him from England they can stay in his house.

      Of course he misses his home but every Saturday Caroline cooks lunch for him at our own home and we collect him from the nursing home so he can eat the meal in his own home with us. When the weather is fine Caroline can easily wheel him in his wheel-chair as the short journey takes only a couple of minutes – if it is cold or wet the wheel chair can be folded up to fit in the back of Caroline's Fiat Panda.

    7. Sounds a wonderful idea. Believe it or not Alf and I have mentioned doing that kind of thing where are, Surrey, sadly we don’t own a big enough place or know anyone with a place that could be converted.

    1. Unbelievable. There are no words to describe the depravity of the police, let alone the rapists.

    3. Can I point out that, after reporting on Anne Cryer's initial statements on the Pakistani Rape Gangs in Keighley in 2003, Andrew Norfolk allowed himself to be silenced for 8 years before compiling his 2011 "expose"?
      Can I also point out that he was forced into doing so because the British National Party had taken up the issue in Rotherham and were gaining a huge amount of local support for doing so?
      The BNP involvement largely began when a local woman, Marlene Guest, who incidentally had previously stood for election to the local council under the LibDem banner, abruptly defected to the BNP because none of the other parties were interested in taking up the matter of the sexual abuse and exploitation of young girls for fear of appearing "racist" or "Islamophobic".

  53. Apropos the £10000 dinner in the PO Tower There were forty five of them. What ratio I wonder. Probably five Italians and forty civil servants.

    2. Sickening. There are questions to be answered, such as whether an agreement had already been reached, and who authorised the meal.

    3. £10,000 is that all? Trudeau can blow $100,000 on meals for him and his sycophants during a trip across the Atlantic.

    1. Would be great to hear thousands of demonstrators bellowing that out in a sing along outside number 10 or the House of Commons.

  56. Ezra Levant is a Canadian lawyer who represents Tommy in legal matters.

    Tommy Robinson RISKED his life to report on Britain's grooming gangs

    By the way. For those who are not clear about what Farage said about Tommy Robinson Forward to 10:20 minutes and you can hear him in his own words.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acw-ePFaLxw

    1. But Tommy Robinson is a political prisoner.

      He is in prison for what he has said and what he thinks and not for any violent behaviour. Indeed, at all the rallies where TR was involved he stressed that his followers should avoid violence at all costs. Indeed, when there was violence it was instigated by those opposed to his ideas. I also suspect that the PTB aided and abetted some of this.

      Farage is very wrong to avoid admitting where the Reform Party's philosophy and Tommy Robinson's are more or less identical. Farage is also very wrong not to admit the TR has been abysmally treated by the police and virtually all politicians in Lib/Lab/Con.

      He does not need to admit TR to the Reform Party to be honest about TR's opinions.

      2. Agents provocateur.
        A favourite ploy of the British government after the Napoleonic Wars, when there was unemployment and strife.

      3. Yep. Looks that way.
        Could have played this better.. copy & pasted Douglas Murray's take.

    1. I heard someone on the radio a while back, could have been an expert saying that people are over monitoring their bodies with all these devices.

      1. Having had a pulse oximeter to hand for several decades now, I am able to see if several vital signs are showing abnormal behaviour should I be feeling out of sorts.

        The advantage of having a plesythmographic display on the device is useful in determining if I am flat lining.🤔
        I am not shocked after getting such a display because I know it's just a feature of low peripheral infusion during cold weather.

    2. Pasta on it's own is probably ok. It's what else goes into it that's the problem. I'll admit though, I've been looking more carefully at the ingredients of even our good stuff.

    3. This is why Kennedy will be such a boon to America. He will literally save thousands if not millions of lives by acting against the garbage that American companies put in food.

    1. Great sheets of it coming down here. None of the dogs went for a morning walk. Closest was an outside trip to the potty pads.

      1. I took Spartie out for a 'functional' walk when it stopped raining.
        It began again at our furthest point from the house.
        "Rainwater is good for the hair" I muttered to myself through gritted teeth.

        1. I've just been out for a walk – mist and slush everywhere and then it started the sleet equivalent of drizzle! Not pleasant but worth it!

  60. Now the shit is about to hit our economy. Your favourite banker, WEF star and net zero fanatic Mark Carney has let it be known that he will stand for leadership of the liberal party.

    That is assuming Trudeau steps down. The idiot prince has called a caucus meeting for Wednesday when he is expected to tell his assembled clapping seals if he intends to stay on as PM or not.

    We haven't seen the litle shit since before his finance minister resigned, that's over three weeks now.

      1. Probably quite a valid substitution, they have to be quite callous to do what they have done to Canada.

  61. Exciting!
    Just had a live test of the smoke detectors – the stove door was ajar, smoke escaped, and BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
    What a racket – but the system works!

    1. Yeah, right. Wait until you try to turn the damned things off – as you bring down part of the ceiling….

    2. I had that when MOH burned the toast. All hell let loose – smoke everywhere and infernal noise!

  62. https://order-order.com/2025/01/05/streeting-we-have-been-making-unpopular-decisions-for-the-good-of-the-long-term/#comments

    Satan Claws
    21m

    What he really means:

    We, the liblabcon have Been Making Unpopular Decisions for the Good of our Long Term

    ambition since 2016, to wreck the UK and it's economy. Then we can claim that we will be better off in the EU with a worse and more expensive deal. To further this end, Brexit can never be seen to be working

    .

    Should add: It's not just me who believes this is the intent!

    1. I loved this BTL about Streeting – "Has the look and glib scripted sound of a trainee double glazing salesman."

      1. To describe Peter Mandelson in a song I wrote I borrowed the phrase 'glib and oily' from King Lear's daughter Cordelia.

        I also described one of the headmasters for whom I once worked as having the specious plausibility of a double glazing salesman in a sharp M&S suit.

      1. Simply relating my experience in a flat we rented. The designer of the device had clearly never used one; nor tried to turn it off when the bleeping continued long – LONG – after the tiny waft of steam had evaporated. I thought of using a heavy hammer – but couldn’t find one. Removed device – which was then impossible to put back – and left on the table when we departed…..

  64. A Force 12 plus gale was blowing when this picture was taken from the bridge as HMS BELLONA plunged through mountainous seas whilst helping to protect a Russian convoy. On the convoy a U-Boat was sunk and several German aircraft were shot down.

    Sailing in the Arctic, and for that matter the Antarctic taught me that what was particularly unpleasant was the way the sea spray would be lifted from the wave, immediately turn to small ice chips and then proceed to scour the skin from any exposed surface, and no matter how good your foul weather gear you would have icy rivulets of water running down your neck before too long.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b3970be6acadbfd3e8d4b6b822c88137c4239ff000d23dc3b129e555dc3730f1.jpg

    1. A navy person I know reminded me that ships had sluices to get rid of water on deck – and below. She pointed out that otherwise it'd just sit there.

      He also pointed out that the areas most likely to flood were the loos – because the pipes were too small.

      How true that is, I don't know. I do know americaland has this problem after being caught short on board one during a refit.

      1. Properly called scuppers, which would often disappear in foul weather after being 'goffered' (hit by a large wave).
        The only ships I had that discharged sewage straight over the side had none return valves fitted at the sea end of the pipework. However on the older Leanders (and Modified Type 12) I had it wasn't unusual for these to fail open and the result was know as 'getting your own back'. Not nice, especially when you consider the four or five other 'heads' emptying into the same pipe.
        Right, now I grossed everyone out I will stop there.

        2. It's interesting. Genuinely, how mankind has developed is inextricably linked to two things: sewerage and shopping trollies.

          Don't believe me? I'll give you a thesis on the rise of shopping trolleys in parallel with rising private wealth, the middle class and from that all modern economies. All down to poo and trolleys.

        3. And there was I enjoying a cuppa and a slice of Christmas pudding …. thinking "why does it always taste better in January?"

      2. Bucket and Chuck It is the best policy In such weather if you are at sea on a small boat.

        Clearing a blocked loo in storm-tossed seas is not a very pleasant job but it has to be done as I know from experience.

    2. 20+ years at sea but I never made it into the Arctic or Antarctic circles, I'm glad to say.

          1. Not too sure about a couple of the trips, but certainly north of 68.8 degrees while climbing in the Lofotens!

    3. Yes, sadly. They've proved themselves intentionally opposed to everything we believe in and they, along with the hard Left 'progressive' have dragged the UK back decades. All that hard won tolerance, decency and disinterest prevalent in the 90's has been made into resistance and anger because the Left were not happy with disinterest. They demanded subservience.

      Nothign is ever sufficient for the nutcase, fascist Left.

    4. No.
      Eventually yes.
      Firstly, all Progressive Liberals should be removed from power and the military & police force.. and made to wear a pink conical hat with two flags on top.. one EU & the other Rainbow.

    5. Islam is totally incompatible with Western values; it has no place here. It most certainly should NOT be encouraged.

    1. Elon is right. None of TR’s detractors are addressing the fact that he is being held as a category B prisoner for a category D conviction. The reason for that is political.

      2. And Farage has completely ignored this.

        Let us hope Nigel Farage can avoid making such blunders in future.

        I am beginning to think that Rupert Lowe would be a better leader of the Reform Party. Nigel Farage makes much of the fact that he had another career before entering politics but Rupert Lowe's career outside politics was far more impressive.

    2. Sometimes it takes an outsider to point out the bleedin obvious then hopefully the insiders will realise that something is amiss.

      Yer Donald has been going on at Trudeau about the totally inadequate immigration policies in Canada and there has been more response from politicians than we have seen for years.
      Not from Trudeau of course, he is still in hiding but provincial premiers have stepped up to implement US Canada border controls.

    3. Nigel Farage could come seriously unstuck on this issue.

      He should be able to admit:

      i) That TR's ideas and the Reform Party's ideas are very much in line with each other on several key issues;

      ii) That Tommy Robinson has been cruelly and unjustifiably treated by the PTB and the MSM and he should not be in prison for a civil rather than a criminal offence.

      These two admissions need not lead to Farage having to welcome TR into his party

      If Farage is incapable of doing this his support will ebb away. If he cannot stand up for justice for those whom he dislikes as well as for those whom he wishes to woo then for what and for whom will he stand up?

      (That is the great thing about Toby Young's Free Speech Union – which defends those whose free speech has been curtailed regardless of their point of view)

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bbb5af29a078f91d30c63e7f76b1824837be2fadf79da91167e89cf7856acfec.png

      (Listen to the other side)

    2. Tommy has made it clear that he has no interest in running a political party, his interest is in social reform.

    3. I think Farage is afraid of losing the middle ground voters.. and then losing the battle and the war.

    1. No need to be so aggressive, just stop translation services and only process claims in English. No need to begin deporting them until they start arriving at claims offices with forms already filled out.

      If you get deported from Canada, they actually charge a fee for throwing you out. Using bureaucratic logic, if you don't pay when you leave you will be required to pay the fee when you return to Canada.

    2. I've said for years that if the government wants to save money the first place to start is translation services. They cost a fortune. English only. If they don't understand, they pay for their own interpreters. It isn't as though English isn't a world language.

      2. Are you talking about Musk? If so I would not agree because Farage has been assuming a lot of things about Musk. Suggesting that when he got to America he would set Elon straight on Tommy Robinson was presumptuous and foolish. He also thought that Elon had the reason for Robinsons internment wrong. To which Elon told Farage he didn't need correcting because he was well aware of the reason. It is Farage who has been over reaching, I suspect because he thinks that as Trumps buddy, Elon will listen to him as ambassador of British affairs. Farage will always end up tripping over his own ego.

      3. When you remember all the horrible comments made from here and our leaders about the awful orange man who is about to become President of the US, I think he has every right!

    2. I'm not impressed with the host of this item. Apart from the last few seconds he always refers to Mr Musk as "Elon Musk" but always refers (except as noted at the very end) to Mr Farage as "Farage". This to me suggests inherent bias.

      2. He does refer to NF in full several times throughout. He also calls Tommy Robinson "Tommy". It is often the case that people refer to their own country's people by one name as a kind of shorthand, especially if they refer to them quite often in the video..

      3. May do Elsie. But what he is reporting is accurate. Musk does not like to be told that he is in error and that he will be corrected by Farage when he sees him at Mar a Lago. In fact on the matter at hand Musk is better informed than Farage as Ben Habib pointed out yesterday.

    3. Yeah.. he doesn't even talk about killing all the Muzzies..

      Great. I think it was Katie Hopkins that said.. "You can always trust the right wing to start quarreling just as they are about to win."

    4. Yeah.. he doesn't even talk about killing all the Muzzies..

      Great. I think it was Katie Hopkins that said.. "You can always trust the right wing to start quarreling just as they are about to win."

    5. It's not his duty, but I think he may have realised that Nigel could be a bit of a spoofer.
      The best thing to have done IMHO would have been to have waited until Reform had actually been elected.

  73. Good afternoon Nottlers! Christmas has been removed chez nous, and before you tell me it’s not Epiphany until tomorrow, I have the twins at 8am and I didn’t fancy clearing around them!
    It’s been a wonderful time for us with all the family together. Our younger nephew flew back to Athens this am with his lovely wife and daughter, and my sister and BiL go back on Thursday.
    Many good wishes to all, and hope for a happy and peaceful 2025 for our nation and our families. 💕

    2. Took ours down today. The house feels dull and sad without the lights and the same decorations we have had all our married lives out & glittering.
      Sigh…

      1. We didn't put any up – apart from all the cards. I asked younger son when he arrived if he'd like the tree indoors and the decs up and he said he wasn't bothered and it would be hard for J to get them back into the loft.

    3. Mine will be taken down tomorrow between coming back from the RAFA meeting and going back out to the Epiphany service at church. I had a surprise stint at serving this morning – someone hadn't turned up so I was drafted. The priest asked if I only served when he was officiating (he only comes on the first Sunday in the month and it so happened that it was my turn last month).

  74. Where Eagles Dare just starting on BBC2. I can remember, years ago, watching the film while working on a survey in the Irish Sea in bad weather – the projector had to be lashed to the mess table!! The opening sequence is really atmospheric when you have serious ship movement added!

    1. Just finished watching ‘Kelly’s Heroes’ as I was clearing away!I think it’s my very favourite film!

    2. I'm not sure that German helicopter existed then and how did it managed to land in the 'Court yard' of the castle.

      1. I've never been sure about that helicopter – maybe a Nottler can help? A lot of odd things in the film – for example, if Mary took so long to clip her parachute, how come she landed in the same valley; how come only the bad guys went through the car windscreen when Smith & Schaffer escape, and my favourite – why take the three traitors with them when they leave? Smith has the names, he knows they are traitors and he and Schaffer have already slaughtered half the German army – why not just kill them in the castle???

        Still a film I enjoy though!

    3. When my niece's were about three and five I taught them to say "Broadsword calling Danny Boy".
      They used to go up to my father and whisper it in his ear. It would have him in stitches.

      Aah, I miss me Dad.

  75. He has every right to make comments – but Farage has been instrumental for years in bringing Reform up to where is now. And I don't think Farage made nasty comments about Trump.

  76. My favourite cartoon of 2024

    By Matt Pritchett
    Telegraph Cartoonist

    Hello,

    Happy new year! I hope you brought the new year in in style and have also had some time to reflect on the year that passed.

    In 2024, the Telegraph office oversaw coverage of two major elections, three national scandals, five escaped horses outside our building, and I had 265 cartoons published. Here's a look back at the ones you loved the most for each month of the year.

    https://telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/newsletters/Matt/2024/xmas/Tel-Matt-January.png
    We started the year off with a bang, as the post office scandal provided ample inspiration. Now, a year later, we're on to new horizons as the Government has absolutely nothing to do with the system that led to 900 wrongful prosecutions… oh, wait…
    https://telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/newsletters/Matt/2024/xmas/Tel-Matt-February.png
    Pothole damage in the UK is so bad that vigilante gardeners have taken to filling them in with plants and Rod Stewart has been forced to sell his luxury sports cars. The Glastonbury legend simply couldn't rock and roll with the rocks and holes…

    https://telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/newsletters/Matt/2024/xmas/Tel-Matt-March.png
    Angela Rayner was the source of many a cartoon this year, from her somewhat mysterious living arrangements…

    https://telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/newsletters/Matt/2024/xmas/Tel-Matt-April.png
    …to the scandal surrounding the selling of her and her husband's former council houses for profit, utilising a scheme she's now trying to get rid of.

    https://telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/newsletters/Matt/2024/xmas/Tel-Matt-May.png
    It seems a lifetime ago that Rishi Sunak gambled on an early election and campaigned on bringing back mandatory national service. He may have come second in the election, but he was ranked third in an Ipsos poll of least popular prime ministers of all time… somehow losing out on first place to Keir Starmer yet again.

    https://telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/newsletters/Matt/2024/xmas/Tel-Matt-June.png Ah yes, this was when Donald Trump, aged 78, was running a presidential campaign heavily reliant upon being younger than an 82 year old Biden. Quite the speedy u-turn on that line when a spritely 62 year old Kamala Harris joined the race.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/15ce855bd03ce4417ee501cc0dc726ca1af074bd8e04fcd03ca83fd67cead174.png

    You can spend hours on a clever joke based on the Euros, but at the end of the day, sometimes you have to give British readers what they truly want: cartoons about bad weather.

    https://telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/newsletters/Matt/2024/xmas/Tel-Matt-August.png
    Many devoted readers will remember that prison overcrowding was a common theme for last year's sketches. I drew prisoners complaining that there was no one left in jail to learn their craft from, people asking their neighbours to water their plants for a week as they were being sent to prison for armed robbery, and a "See you again soon" sign.

    https://telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/newsletters/Matt/2024/xmas/Tel-Matt-September.png

    Robin Hood, the Seven Dwarves and Guy Fawkes are my favourite recurring characters. This year I'm aiming to somehow crowbar them all into one cartoon. Wish me luck!

    https://telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/newsletters/Matt/2024/xmas/Tel-Matt-October.png
    I am predicting we're about to enter the first January health kick in which everyone will still be routinely reaching for the fridge door… to grab their Ozempic injections, of course.

    https://telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/newsletters/Matt/2024/xmas/Tel-Matt-November.png
    I found out at the Telegraph's Christmas quiz this year that one of our Front Page newsletter editors had planned to send a newsletter with the subject line "Starmer, Starmer, farmer harmer," but thought better of it. I'm glad it can have its moment of glory in our silly newsletter instead.

    That's all from me!

    I hope you're having a lovely first weekend in the new year,

    Matt

    PS: This last one is my own favourite. It's from March and somehow it still has legs.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/feddb20c5ded283a9cdec6ca6713a15bc8b01da17086414e84b4a2aea3d030bc.png
    My favourite cartoon

  78. Happy and healthy NY to you and yours from me and Dolly. Harry farted so i will assume he concurs.

      1. Hello Ndovu, think it means something along the lines of 'agree' 'concur' ' back at ya' that sort of thing…could easily be wrong tho x

  84. I never put any up. A wreath on the door. A 2ft LED tree on the side board and the cards of course.

    I have a plaster ceiling with plaster cornices. Not sticking anything on that.

    1. Our ceiling is too high to put anything up there. It would have been just the small Christmas tree in its pot, with the decs that go on it. It saves all the bother of dismantling it.

  85. What a joke

    https://media.breitbart.com/media/2025/01/bono-640×480.jpg
    U2 frontman Bono was among a host of people Saturday who received the highest U.S. civilian honour, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, from outgoing president Joe Biden.

    As Breitbart News reported, other recipients included Hillary Clinton, Vogue editor Anna Wintour, George Soros, designer Ralph Lauren, actors Denzel Washington and Michael J. Fox alongside conservationist Jane Goodall.

    Dublin-born Bono, whose real name is Paul David Hewson, has already been awarded the highest cultural honour of France and received an honorary knighthood.

    The BBC notes he is known for campaigning against poverty and supporting those with HIV/Aids.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0a66be6ebe37d8573e4d75992cb613bd8c3b7a591cb8589aadf4120af0c58778.png

      1. You missed out the word 'always', Bill…usually when he's fondling them. An absolute disgrace to the USA, and the US Presidency, and not forgetting Ukraine. B'stard.

    2. My favourite Bono story was when he walked on stage clapping his hands slowly and grandly announced;
      'Every time I clap my hands a child in Africa dies of starvation' – to which a shout came from the audience;
      'Well stop f*cking clapping then!!'

    5. The fact that Biden included Soros, Hillary and Bonio shows what an honour that medal is! /sarc

      1. Don't often say this, but imo Biden is a complete and utter arse because of Ukraine, he and son have a lot of blood on their hands.

  88. Musk has form on being a petulant man-child..

    "Elon Musk calls British diver in Thai cave rescue 'pedo' in baseless attack.."
    Then doubled down.. and again.

      3. Maybe it's true ?

        He spent a lot of dosh to dig up some dirt.. got excited when he thought he found some.. but it turned out he was scammed.
        Then ungraciously tried to spin it as a "well known term in South Africa that means kind & gentle".

        Should be careful spouting lies like that in Thailand.

        1. Also, egg on face when Vernon Unsworth crawled through the insanely dangerous tight space and made first contact.
          Congratulations? Nah.

    1. I must admit that I am not over fond of shaven-headed, tattooed thugs myself but this does not mean that when they speak the truth clearly and resonantly they should be ignored.

      Tommy Robinson disapproves of Pakistani rape gangs and he is quite right to express his disapproval of them.

      1. 399700+ up ticks,

        Evening R,
        My serious belief is if you replaced farage with Tommy Robinson we would be on a very patriotic winner.

        Ask yourself what is farage’s real reason for being anti Tommy?

    1. Well played Rene, I thought that was potentially a tough word – happy with a par here….

      Wordle 1,296 4/6

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

          2. Blizzards, ten feet snow drifts, avalanches……and all with the temp at about 5ºC. Amazing, Mother Nature…

          6. Chepstow was abandoned after two races – ground unraceable, it said. Much snow in the Chepstow area?

          7. I live very close, Connors, and no – there was some disappointingly sparse overnight snow on high ground (eg us) followed by a quick melt. which left much standing water. Chepstow racecourse does, though, have a history of a trappy surface (usually attributed to "leatherjackets"). It was probably just swamped. I feel sorry, too, for our horses as the fields are a sudden mudbath – no wind, so nothing dries or moves and inexplicable streams run through the stables. Loadsa hifi food and big cuddles to compensate!

          8. The first time I went to Chepstow (on my way home from Fos Las) racing had been abandoned because of nematodes. I had to go back another time – and frankly, I wasn't impressed by the layout and the lack of signage.

          9. Chepstow used to be one of the most beautiful little country racecourses, Connors, a joy to attend. It has been remodelled. I also now actively dislike Cheltenham (which I loved for so very many years) now, for the same corporate reasons.

          10. I haven’t been to Cheltenham for years – and never to the Festival because it’s too crowded. I went to the Thomas Pink (as the November meeting was then called – shows how long ago!) and enjoyed that, but then it was hospitality courtesy of Channel 4 Racing, so a bit special.

          12. No, that's the Friday. The Gold Cup on the Saturday is now sponsored by Paddy Power and the Sunday by Unibet. It's had various sponsors over the years.

    2. Well done. Par for me.

      Wordle 1,296 4/6

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

      1. Wordle 1,296 3/6

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

        I have tried a new way of sending my divots, Sue: success, I hope?

    3. A close call here. Got there by pure elimination.

      Wordle 1,296 5/6

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

    4. Another good day

      Wordle 1,296 3/6

      ⬜🟨⬜🟨🟨
      ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  94. It is beginning to dawn on me that Elon Musk has deliberately built up Nigel Farage in order to then bring him down. .

    This is pretty cruel but it does not improve Nigel Farage's reputation as a smart chap of whom not many people can take advantage.

    "As flies to wanton boys are we to the Gods
    They kill us for their sport."

    [King Lear]

    I don't know why Musk should do this other than for his own sadistic amusement and it may well backfire on him. Most decent British people do not care much for sadists.

    1. It's an odd one.

      My take on it is that Musk is looking too much at what he regards as Robinson's political imprisonment for speaking out "Free Speech", which is dear to his heart, and too little at how total acceptance of Robinson by Farage and Reform could be counter-productive.

      Robinson and particularly his former EDL support, even though he's distanced himself, makes for a marmite character and may well put off far more potential Reform supporters than he will bring in. Farage is aware of that.

      I think Katie Hopkins, below, has put it well as to how the Robinson thorn could be approached.

      2. If TR became leader of Reform – I think that many thousands of former Conservatives who joined would leave in droves.

      3. There are separate issues.
        Yes, Robinson has been imprisoned – and in solitary – because he inconveniently raised matters that particularly affect his tier of society. I doubt the average lawyer is too worried about their daughter hanging around kebab shops for lack of anything else to do.
        Next, he would appear to have deliberately cocked a snook at the British legal system.
        Which brings us to the next dilemma; how corrupt and authoritarian is the British legal system and at what stage does it need to be challenged? And would someone less abrasive be able to do the same thing in a rather more presentable manner? i.e. play the Establishment at their own game?

        1. Part of me thinks he brings it on himself and I don’t believe that in the long term self-immolation achieves all that much, beyond the instant impact.
          My best bet for someone to do the challenging that you are suggesting is Rupert Lowe.

        2. Anne, I find Tommy deeply irritating even though he's right (not a fan of the exaggerated cheeky chappie persona). What he's being subjected to, though, is cruel and unusual punishment. It would not kill the likes of Tice and Farage to call this out

    2. Reminds me of the old joke that Australians think themselves so smart and clever that they can never be victims of confidence tricks!!

    1. Keep shining the light on the death cult.. it's the best disinfectant.
      Perhaps, even Talcum X will wake up. Doubt it.

    1. He's good isn't he, Ndovu, often reports on AfD. Watching/listening to Weidel, I think she'll do it – cue collective German breakdown.

    1. That reminds me – Mid-morning, I went downstairs to find that Pickles had been copiously sick over the mat in front of the stove.

      He appeared unconcerned…..

      1. Natch, no longer Pickles' problem….is s/he ok now, my experience both cats and dogs…vomit..spring back to life…'well, hello there'….

        1. Right as rain, thank you. He is a greedy animal and the otherwise delightful, cat-loving neighbours feed him…grrr.

          1. Children seem to be able to do similarly, Bill. Many animals seem to eat that way, otherwise next in line get a quick grab. Neighbours mean well, but really shouldn’t feed other’s pets unless by agreement…just my view 🙂

          2. Agreed. When walking with Oscar I'll always ask a dog's companion if it would be ok to give the dog a morsel of venison, or beef, or whatever treats I've got for Oscar.

          7. Me2, mola…good manners, surely would do similarly if it was a child? Then you get the ones tell you a to z about their pet/child…it’s a dog and I love it…but it’s a dog….!

          8. We have – gently – tried to discourage…..to no avail. And we DON’T want to fall out with them….

      2. Last night, Kadi was lying on his rug when I heard the unmistakable sounds of him throwing up. Cleared it away, put him out. Two seconds later, he wanted to come back in and be fed again.

      3. Some while ago I went downstairs early in the morning, barefoot, and stepped in a pool of cold cat sick strategically placed at the bottom of the stairs… Yukk!

  98. That's me gone for this blizzard-ridden day. A very warm night ahead; 12ºC at midnight… Rain tomorrow – then some sunshine. Tuesday onwards – a bit chilly…so I'll remember to wear an extra woolly.

    Have a spiffing evening.

    A demain.

  99. It's behind a paywall, which can be bypassed.
    Along article, worth reading.

    Dirty little secret behind the West's net zero dash for electric cars: Ed Miliband wants us all to drive them, but mass-mining of the nickel needed for EV batteries threatens to have devastating ecological impact

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14252015/Dirty-little-secret-Wests-net-zero-dash-electric-cars-Ed-Miliband-mass-mining-nickel-EV-batteries-ecological-impact.html
    Concluding paragraphs:

    At least 5,331 hectares of tropical forests have been cut to make way for mining concessions on Halmahera, according to analysis by Climate Rights International and the University of California, Berkeley.

    The five coal-fired power plants at Indonesia Weda Bay Industrial Park will ultimately become 12 and, once fully operational, use more coal than Spain or Brazil in a single year.

    And it's only just begun. Global nickel demand is expected to increase by 61 per cent by 2040 to meet the growing demand for EV batteries.

    Krista Shennum, a Climate Rights International researcher, describes it as 'perverse' that, while the purpose of the EV transition is to reduce the carbon emissions of the motor industry, the nickel industry in Halmahera has a 'massive carbon footprint' that is 'directly contributing to the climate crisis'.

    And then there is the plight of the miners themselves.

    Although there is no evidence of human rights abuses at the park in Halmahera, there is at a nickel plant on Sulawesi island.

    A report by China Labour Watch alleged instances of forced labour, violence and dangerous conditions leading to deaths of workers at the Indonesian Morowali Industrial Plant.

    The facility is run by the Tsinghshan Group, one of three Chinese companies behind the Indonesia Weda Bay Industrial Park.

    Neither the industrial park nor Tsingshan Group responded to requests for comment. But Huayou Cobalt Co, one of the other Chinese partners at Weda Bay Industrial Park, told Climate Rights International that it is 'committed to maintaining sustainable and socially responsible operations' at its factories. It added that land acquisition is carried out after legal consultations and negotiations within the community.

    Is all this what Ed Miliband had in mind when he said he wanted to spearhead an electric car 'revolution'?

    Labour's reluctance to temper EV targets set by the previous Tory government has already been blamed for the closure of a Vauxhall plant in Luton, but ministers may not have expected to be cited in the destruction of the indigenous peoples of Halmahera.

    Survival International highlights a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between the UK and Indonesian governments to establish a strategic partnership on critical minerals, including nickel.

    Details have not been made public, but Survival’s senior researcher Sophie Grig told The Mail that the deal is 'likely to bring deadly nickel to British shores' unless 'urgent steps are taken' to ensure it does not come from the Hongana Manyawa territory.

    A Foreign Office spokesperson said the MOU is 'not a trade agreement' but is designed 'to support the development and promotion of best practices in critical minerals mining and processing'.

    It is worth stressing that none of this means electric cars cannot be sustainable.

    Climate Rights International points out that nickel smelting can be powered by renewable energy, while collective action from global leaders can improve the 'appalling labour and environmental practices' that blights the industry.

    All car manufacturers who have agreements with Indonesian nickel say they have sustainability and human rights policies in place to ensure ethical supply chains.

    But Supriyadi Sudirman, a 31-year-old activist from Sagea, has an uncompromising message for his young British counterparts, who spend their time gluing themselves to goalposts in the name of saving the planet.

    'You know nothing of where EVs come from, of where nickel comes from,' he says. 'It comes from the blood of the Halmaheran people. What you think is your future is our destruction.

    'None of this is for us.'

    This is electric cars' – and Ed Miliband's – inconvenient truth.

      1. That's sci-fi, mola….'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep' Philip K Dick (released as Blade Runner, with Harrison Ford).

          1. I’ve read a few of his works in my misguided youth :-D, he wrote many whilst under the influence, a high school drop-out.

    2. "Krista Shennum, a Climate Rights International researcher …" Is that a well-remunerated non-job? How can the climate have rights? With rights come responsibilities. What responsibilities does the climate have (other than to exist)?

      1. I think the "responsibilities" are those of allowing all species to thrive.
        If human devastation destroys habitats they are also eliminating those rights and responsibilities.
        It might be a poor name, but the objectives are worthwhile; as long as they stick to the achievable rather than the nonsensical.

        Yes, Miliband, I'm looking at you.

    3. It's all bollix, as people are realising. Price of 2nd hand petrol/diesel cars going up…and up..

    4. Miliband is a maniac, see the mote in his eye ..

      He has no idea , he is power crazy , probably a snorter , and he has ruined our home grown energy resources .

      1. Nope.
        Starmer and his government of all the talentless is the main reason for the membership surge

          3. It’s one thing to have an interest in horses, another thing to lose one’s shirt (or worse). I think I posted a while ago, I came home one day to find husband and neighbour had devised a betting scheme, something to do with the number of vowels in horses’ names, a round robin thing or something…felt quite faint for a few moments before the explosion….

          5. Certainly not in betting if you don’t know anything about form etc….I was once at the races (can’t remember location)…saw some stable girls punching horses..not my scene, felt quite sick…

    3. You do? You may be right, kowloonbhoy…he's looking a bit bored, I think…some of the fizz gone out, he's done it before..

  102. "Broadsword to Danny Boy"
    .
    "Broadsword to Danny Boy"
    .
    ."Broadsword to ..AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAArrrggghhh"

    1. The crazy thing about that film is that when Michael Hordern makes contact with Richard Burton using the "Broadsword" and "Danny Boy" code names to confuse any possible German soldiers listening in, that they then discuss their plans in full in plain English which defeats the whole purpose of the code names.

    2. I think I read nearly all, if not all, of Alistair Maclean's novels when I was younger. It scares me now that I did. They were all so bloody predictable, always a traitor (or 2 or more) in our midst. I enjoyed the books at the time, but the films they made of them were almost (perhaps excluding WED) all totally awful. Can we find an enjoyer of the films Ice Station Zebra or Fear is the Key?

      1. I think HMS Ulysses is one of the best (and most draining) books that I have read – I'm amazed it was never turned into a film!

        1. Absolutely! I was just looking for a film of it. I can still feel the cold generated in the book when reading it. Was there a traitor on board, I can't remember.

        2. Odd that they didn't film it, as you say it was a cracker, evocative as well as his first novel.

      2. From recollection, one thing to be said for Alistair Maclean's novels was that there was always at least one word that was new to me.

        1. I remember discovering antidisestablishmentarianism when a teenager and never forgot it.

      3. In my teens I read every Dick Francis book.
        I've always wondered why none was made into a film or a series.

        1. I'm still reading them (only now it's his son, Felix, who writes them). They were always well researched.

          1. I know what you mean, but actually, only one book that I recall had a sex scene in it. It was contrived and sat ill with the rest of the novel. To my knowledge it wasn't repeated.

  103. Evening, all. Snowmageddon arrived just as I was going to bed last night – a thin covering that was mostly washed away by rain by this morning! The papers are still full of yellow warnings, though.

    It seems from the headline that people still haven't recognised the real purpose of the attack on private education. It was never about improving the lot of state schools (the only way to do that is to reinstate grammar schools, purge lefty teachers and reintroduce rigour and discipline), it was always about destroying the education of those whose parents wanted them to have a decent education and were prepared to go without and scrimp and save to provide it.

    1. They want all school/university leavers toeing the socialist/woke line as well. Distorted history lessons, science (only that which fits the current agenda) and literature that reflects the current lefty sociological LGBTQFFS views.

    2. Evening Conners.
      We had a decent fall of VERY wet snow which, because of slightly above freezing temperatures and some light drizzle, has turned rather slushy.
      We're supposed to be having rain overnight and more snow tomorrow again with temperatures hovering around zero.

      1. It's 3.5 degrees C here at the moment. If it freezes it will be interesting going to the RAFA meeting tomorrow as my exit road (now a dead end) never gets gritted. Once I'm on the main thoroughfares it's okay.

        1. Hopefully OK if temp keeps up, bit lower here according to BBC weather app…feels warmer tho…

    3. Exactly, Conway. I have young grandchildren…remember lockdowns? The school work sent out was quite basic, dread to think how young children in eg high rise blocks, locked up, coped with all that. Mine had a fab time, work set by their mother, otherwise pool in garden, sun shining. I didn't have much trust in politicians/government previously, now pretty much zero.

      1. The lockdowns were especially damaging for children – and how people coped in high rise blocks I don't know. I think the fallout from lockdowns are still being seen in the way children are falling behind.

        1. I think you’re absolutely right. Grandson likes gaming, his mother (my daughter) kept him at his schoolwork. A good lad, a lot of distractions nowadays, Ndovu. His mates are all pretty similar. I still have memory problems stemming from vaccine (Cominarty). A cruel and wicked time all round, Pfizer continuing to coin it. And governments, various medics, politicians…a lot to answer for.

  104. Looking at the Chepstow forecast…0% chance….was the going too soft, Conway? (that sounds like I know something about racing, but as with Manuel…I know nothing….)

    1. All I know is what I read on the Racing Post results website. Abandoned due to the ground being unraceable. Didn't mention snow, but there could have been standing water, I suppose, where it melted. It was the only meeting in the UK on, anyway. Plumpton was off.

      1. You’re a betting man, Conway? I’m no longer allowed, stocks n shares were my thing. Wish I’d had shares in Space X, just got a note to say providing Italian gov’t comms….surely the Meloni effect….

          1. oh wow….I’ve heard of that…I know depends on the horse, have to research, I was interested one time. I honestly think it’s always in the blood. Bought a house one time, going through the deeds discovered an ancestor of my mother’s had owned the property…lost it in a card game….

  105. Predictably, I haven't seen the films, but I have read the books. It was so long ago now I can't remember any of them!

  106. Oh well I've not done much today I avoided a walk early this afternoon after getting wet feeding the local birds. Erin did go alone and I told her she'd get wet but……
    Now she's scanning Netflix. No thanks.
    So one way or another it's good night from me folks.

    1. Nothing done outside. Hardly surprising given the slushy snow covering the place, but I finally got my tax return done!

  107. Today it was Saint Michael and All Angels, Coombe Bissett, about five (ish) miles west of Salisbury:

    The oldest part of St Michael's, the south aisle, is from the 12th century. The chancel was built in the 13th and the tower (with stair-turret) added in the 14th; the nave and north transept are 15th-century. Restoration in 1845 by T.H. Wyatt included the rebuilding of the west front, reducing the length of the building. The church is a Grade I listed building. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b71def0c7d6b196356f950fcf2c0390ed8ba82a5aed739258e7e0bdf501a7b63.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fb9acd70da84ab69d35729a68ead5921c58f07d09bc19f8582584997212cd688.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/efa03646df90b347b793034ef09b90b1e25c29792e74fa1e2f7aeac1c4d102a1.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e2a8d6f4540841df252180597bcbb508f3008185d6c0c2725eb6cba0e384e89e.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8d61701062b1ba0b94817b9aa8ffe17dfd0374c044ee6b60b825851d7a0e17f5.jpg

      1. Was there a photo of a WC ?- I must have missed it….

        Reminds me of the old TV Programme – In Like Flint!

      1. Thankfully, he is not Oscar, who would guard it fiercely until he could wolf it down again – yuk, yuk and double yuk!

    1. Like the music, video a bit wet, thanks Sue. All reds dead here, killed by the greys – just one of those at present – trapped and killed. Rutger Hauer was fab in the Blade Runner film.

      2. Find out who wrote it and publicly ask why they support the mechanised rape of child by muslim.

        1. It's the "proving" that the problem is mainly white men that riles me so much.

          Perverts, molesters, and rapists exist throughout society, both in the UK and every colour and creed everywhere; but what is different is the sheer scale and numbers of the Paki-Musi gang rapists now in the UK.

          1. The home office produced that report and deliberately ignored the percentage/population issue and thus set out the lie.

            We know it's pakistani muslims. The rest of the country knows. The muslim know. The state knows. That's why we want rid of the vermin. An article spewing Left wing lies cannot turn the tide of revulsion normal, white Britons felt at the disgusting abuses muslim pakistanis perpetrated on children.

          3. And the refusal of authorities whose job is to protect, to actually do anything about it.

          4. It needs to be acknowledged that these rapes are not sexually motivated as such but are rape as an act of war – a war crime, in other words. These horrible creatures are subjugating our country to their revolting creed child by child.

        2. You will never get an answer, wibbling. All these people are faceless and unaccountable for their dreary deeds

    2. Perhaps pointing to the 40+ pakistani muslim child rapists in jail would balance the issue?

      This is why wikipedia is untrustworthy. It has an agenda and anyone can create an article: such as the hate no hope group desperate to cover up the truth.

  113. Another joining of the dots re Starmer's direction of travel. It would appear from his grovelling that moslems and islam come before anything else. Concerns about moslem women… That's rich!

    I do not think that this is current as it mentions being the leader of the Labour party, not PM.

    It is subtitled, therefore you do not need to hear the nasal whine.

    https://x.com/RadioGenoa/status/1875942895376859313

    1. "…a devastating rise in Islamophobia leaving people fearful in their own country…"

      Three lies in 12 words. One of the greatest distortions of the truth of the world ever uttered by a Western politician.

      Jeez…

      1. The truth is, … a devastating rise in islam [is] leaving people fearful in their own country …

        2. Quite. Starmer’s words are mere projection. He is imputing prejudice onto the native population whereas the deep prejudice in evidence is held by Muslims on non-Muslims.

          1. You only have to look at the koran to see what they are told to think about non-muslims.

  114. Fed up with all the bad news. It's horrible and depressing.
    Had dinner and cleared up.
    It's too early to go to bed.

      1. We haven't got the telly on – earlier on OH was watching some footie. I'd happily live without the telly.

    2. We need to deport them All, Wives and children as well. Enough of this filthy scum. I want my country back!

      1. Another day is done, I'm exhausted so i wish all my fellow NoTTLers' a goodnight, schhone schlaf bis morgen fruh.

  115. Fed up with all the bad news. It's horrible and depressing.
    Had dinner and cleared up.
    It's too early to go to bed.

    2. "Why did it take so long?" These meaning-free word salads do not concoct themselves. Just wait.

    1. Why do these inquiries take so bloody long. It’s like the so called covid inquiry. We all know what it’s going to say, that health officials acted quickly to save us all from … to save the NHS and lockdown should have happened sooner and for longer. Complete whitewash. No intention of looking at the experimental gene therapy jabs or the damage they have caused.

  118. Why has Musk blanked Farage .. is it because 2 is company 3 is a crowd .. and will Trump follow suit.

    I think Musk is a maniac , dangerous , and manipulative , he wants to be King of the world , that is what power and money does.

    1. I think Nigel wants to be in sole control – of everything. He is not a team player and if he doesn't get what he wants, he tends to throw his toys out of the pram. I have met him several times.

      1. Indeed he does., BoB. He needs to stop slagging him off, for a start. I am not a particular fan of either man but what Farage is doing is not a good look, when he could so easily just shut his trap. or talk about the free speech dimension to Tommy's incarceration – and the cruel and unusual punishment dimension. for that matter.

        2. Tommy Robinson, I admire his courage and the views he now holds. The MSM just want to bash Nigel Farage over the head with TR's past names and allegiances to make a division in what's becoming an actual threat to the MSM's masters.
          NF needs to talk, in general, about the evils of political policing and incarceration.

    3. I think Musk is an honest man and not given to telling pretty lies. A true maverick. Clearly not very tactful. My kinda guy. Farage does very much need to arrest his fall into the glob.

    4. I honestly don't know, Maggie. I just don't want the most promising thing, Reform UK, to get splintered like Ukip et al.

      1. Neither do I , I feel Farage has to climb down a bit and focus more on issues here, rather than cosying up to Trump and Musk ..

        I think the relationship is volatile between all three , I really do .

    5. I think we should all, Musk included, pipe down until the inauguration. I don't see Musk as a dangerous maniac, but i do think he needs to remember he has no electoral mandate whatever, and should avoid his occasional descents into foul speech. He has much to offer and has already done more than most of us to scunner the global pestilence.

    6. Musk did the world a favour when he bought Twitter and sacked the majority of the workforce who had spent most of their time censoring posts on the direction of the Biden criminal regime.

      Without Musk several astronauts would be living on the Imternational Space Station with no chance of relief.

      As far as I know Reform is still wholly owned by Farage. Reform needs to be reformed. Talented people have felt uncomfortable under Farage. Rupert Lowe would be a better leader.

  120. Late to the party. Got it in 3.
    Wordle 1,296 3/6

    ⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜
    🟨⬜⬜🟩🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    2. Excellent! I took the long way round.
      Wordle 1,296 5/6

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

  121. The Government has spent £27million on interpreters for non-English speaking benefit claimants since 2019, it has emerged.

    The Department for Work and Pensions has boosted spending on interpretation services in the last five years.

    The highest yearly spend was in 2022, when the department spent £8million – up from £1.7 million in 2019.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14251803/Government-spent-27million-taxpayers-money-interpreters-non-English-speaking-benefit-claimants-2019.html

    1. Hence the pot holes etc,, Our local lanes are becoming arroyos, impassible in some cases yet still designated public highways – which they should be, I doubt the third world will enjoy them.

    2. A bit late seeing your post, Belle, but I personally have decided not to use the phrase “iThe government spent … the Department for Work and Pensions spent … From now on I shall try to remember to put You, the British taxpayer has spent … just to bring home the fact that HMG is spending our money.

      HMG takes from us to give to other (mostly undeserving) people.

    2. It's very good. My only, or at least, largest dispute would be about the Earth's human population size. It's at a bloated figure and heading for disaster for the planet. I'm not keen on zoos ever since my first few visits. If a zoo had species representative of their population numbers on the Earth, then I imagine that insects would be the most on display. At the other end would be mammals with a smaller diversity, and at the same time, smaller numbers.
      We are (fast) becoming the locust-like plague of this planet.
      Humans, (and our dwellings and infrastructure) just have a look around you, (I live in the sticks these days, but even so) are far too numerous.

      By all means, call me a nutter.

      1. Not sure that I agree save for some very specifically infested regions! I think however that mankind does not buck the restrictions that Nature imposes, and as we are now seeing around the world – and for apparently varying reasons where it is understood, – fertility has dropped to a path heading for extinction if it is not reversed. So Nature may take your position already, it seems.

        1. Fertility rates have decreased just as infant mortality rates have decreased. The world’s human population continues to increase.

  126. Goodnight, all. Rayburn is stoked and hot water bottles are warming the bed. Two fingers to Two Tier Keir.

  127. Well, chums, I overslept once again this evening, so at last I'm now off to bed. Sleep well, and see you all tomorrow morning.

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