Sunday 5 November: The public needs clarity on how extremism is defined and policed

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Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here.

427 thoughts on “Sunday 5 November: The public needs clarity on how extremism is defined and policed

  1. The public needs clarity on how extremism is defined and policed

    We already know and it appears that they were set up for an Arab country

    1. Many of the crimes perpetrated by Muslim demonstrators, such as throwing items at the Police, and

      riotous assembly, are already covered by the laws of this country.

      Why demand new and more detailed definitions of extremism before taking action?

      It’s just a way of avoiding applying the law equally…………..which is just what Elon Musk pointed out

      a few weeks ago.

      1. I think it is all a ruse to bring in ever more repressive laws.
        The Black Lives Matter agenda never kicked off as expected, now they are going for Holy War

        1. Spot on.
          All this nonsense, including the initial attack on Israel and the boatloads of young, military age men imported by our government, is aimed at fermenting conflict from which we are supposed to beg the government to save us – which they will do by enslaving us – and they hope that the coming currency collapses will be blamed on war rather than on the parasite classes.

          1. Just as the Spanish finally expelled the Moors from Spain we must expel Islam from Britain – but we mustn’t take several centuries to do so!

  2. 378435+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,
    If that truly is the case then joe public has to open his bloody eyes

    November: The public needs clarity on how extremism is defined and policed
    Joe public voting majority rely, in the main, on the political top rankers of their party leadership who in turn and action clearly define it as “nothing to worry about here, move along” & as for their employees the police, the potential terrorist receives 5* treatment from when they step ashore at Dover.

    When they, the potential terrorist is settled in its 5* accommodation they seek out the nearest anti Brit march.

    The march / assembly of potential terrorist WILL receive full police protection whereas the indigenous WILL witness the law in action even if they contemplate a silent prayer
    in a NON PRAYER area.

    Tell me please, who among the indigenous and in their right mind would, repeatedly call for more of the same via the
    polling stations ?

  3. Ukraine has blown its best chance to defeat Putin. 4 November 2023.

    Whatever happens, we – Britain – must continue to support the more noble, if difficult, pathway to ultimate victory. Give Ukraine the air superiority, combat engineering and artillery it needs to change the battlefield. For as things stand, only Putin may emerge victorious.

    I posted a comment about this article yesterday. http://disq.us/p/2wgba6f

    This is just to observe that this entire Telegraph comments section has since been deleted! It’s par for the course as far as Ukraine is concerned I’m afraid. The only support is from 77 Brigade Trolls!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/11/04/ukraine-has-blown-its-best-chance-to-defeat-putin/

    1. I am no admirer of President Putin, but cancelling the BTL comments is not a clever tactic.

    2. Ukraine never had a chance without air support – and some clapped out F16s did not amount to support.
      It was ever a matter of time and bodycount.
      What has happened is monstrous.

  4. Morning, all. Overcast, dull and damp here in N Essex.

    Where is this going?

    This officer is protecting the mob rule and aggression of certain demographics and their useful idiots because there is more of them than the individual or small group.
    Now, if it had been a veteran in a crowd waving a Union Flag in the face of a non-indigenous peaceful counter protester how would that officer have behaved?
    Clue: here is video evidence of patriots merely holding a Union Flags being spoken to by the police. It’s looking more and more as though the Met has lost its direction.

    https://twitter.com/SuzanneEvans1/status/1720896434466095434

    https://twitter.com/DVATW/status/1720853855666110547

      1. Suspect we’re a bit further North than you are.
        Morning, N. Hope all’s well with you!

  5. 378435+ up ticks,

    Dt

    Many rough sleepers who bed down on the streets have made a “lifestyle choice”, Suella Braverman has said, as she unveiled plans to restrict tents for homeless people…

    Tell that to the indigenous ex marine underneath the viaduct.

  6. Good Moaning.
    The ex-Mrs Gove cooking on gas.
    As an aside, I wonder what inspired the name of the organisation “Sisters Uncut”?

    “BETTER late than never, I suppose. Two women were pictured at a pro-Palestinian rally last month with images of paragliders pinned to their clothes – allegedly in a gesture of support for the terrorists who swept into Israel kidnapping, raping, mutilating and murdering civilians at a music festival.

    Now, Heba Alhayey, 29, and Pauline Ankunda, 26, have been accused of supporting Hamas and are due to appear in court. The police are still trying to identify others, but in some cases it is proving difficult, not least because so many suspects wore traditional Islamic dress, which often conceals the face.

    Muslim friends of mine are horrified at the way the veil is being weaponised in this way, and so am I. I’m proud of how religiously inclusive Britain is, and the fact that British Muslims – unlike their counterparts in France – are free to express their faith in the way they dress.

    To see that freedom abused by a hateful minority is not only profoundly distressing, it also deepens cultural divides and makes life unnecessarily difficult for the vast majority of British Muslims who have no desire to participate in any sort of violent jihad.

    But even this isn’t the most depressing aspect of this endorsement for what is in essence an offshoot of ISIS, the Nigerian jihadi group Boko Haram, the Taliban and every other misogynistic death cult inspired by extremist religious beliefs rolled into one.

    It is a fact that so many of the people voicing support for the actions of Hamas – on our streets and online – are women, and many of them surprisingly young.

    Women, condoning and encouraging and in many cases even celebrating the rape, murder and mutilation of other women. Women, glorifying a terrorist group funded by an oppressive regime – Iran – that tortures and kills its own girls and women for daring to defy draconian religious strictures.

    Women such as the so-called ‘feminist group’ Sisters Uncut, who shut down London’s Liverpool Street Station last week with a pro-Palestinian demonstration where calls for a ceasefire in Gaza led to some distinctly questionable anti-Israel sentiment being voiced.

    That same day, further details emerged about atrocities perpetrated by Hamas terrorists, including mothers having their babies ripped from their bellies and their breasts sliced off.

    Call me old-fashioned, but protesting in support of such actions does not strike me as especially ‘sisterly’, or for that matter ‘feminist’.

    Not only that, it’s also remarkably short-sighted. Because if Hamas – whose aim is not only the elimination of all Jews in the Middle East but also the imposition of a global caliphate under Islamic law – had their way, all women would be subject to a set of limitations very much along the same lines as those imposed on girls and women in Iran and other oppressive fundamentalist regimes, such as the Taliban.

    As a mother of a daughter, I cannot understand why any female in their right mind would support the enslavement and oppression of other women.

    I can’t imagine looking at my own beautiful, vibrant, happy daughter and thinking: ‘I wish someone would come along and take away all her rights to an education, possibly subject her to female genital mutilation and force her into a life of servitude.’

    It’s a bit like those carrying a ‘Queers for Palestine’ banner. Do these people have any idea what it’s like being a member of the LGBTQ community somewhere like Iran?

    Is it just ignorance? Stupidity? Or just extreme wokery, in the sense that young people have been so conditioned to romanticise the underdog that they will forgive any depths of depravity perpetrated in their name?

    ‘Resistance is justified when Palestine is occupied,’ they shouted in London yesterday, alongside ‘Smash the Zionist settler state.’ Utterly chilling. One can only conclude that such people’s loathing of Israel and the Jews is so strong that it trumps all other forms of reason, such as the fact that the Jewish homeland is one of the very few places in that part of the world where everyone – women, gays, trans, the disabled – can be certain their human rights are protected.

    If you despise someone or something to your own detriment, you are a fool. But if you despise that person or group to the point where you will condone inhuman acts of savagery against them, then, well… I don’t care what kind of paradise you’ve been promised, in my book you are going straight to hell.”

    1. Oh wake up Sarah Vine.
      Who do you think was at the forefront of the wave of Islamism that swept the muslim world in the 80s?
      Young women of course!
      Who do you think funds Sisters Uncut, BLM and the other organisations currently whipping up crowds of gullible fools on the streets? Did you even bother to check before you wrote this half-baked, ignorant piece of controlled opposition?

    2. “Is it just ignorance? Stupidity? Or just extreme wokery, in the sense that young people have been so conditioned to romanticise the underdog that they will forgive any depths of depravity perpetrated in their name?”

      So writes Vine, thus revealing her own complete misunderstanding of what is going on. Such doublethink is deliberate. It’s straight out of the neo-Marxist playbook and is designed to provide a distraction while at the same time creating the chaos which is the prelude to the normalisation of authoritarian rule.

    3. You can wrap yourself up in a bin bag, but try wearing a crucifix or cross if you’re Christian.

  7. Good morning all.

    Amazingly beautiful start to the day, sunshine and blue sky ,slight breeze .

    I was awake at 6am , Pip spaniel needed a visit to the garden .. I lingered before I let him loose , I didn’t want him woofing at the neighbours cats ,I knew they are about because the security lights came on . Superb early colours in the sky..

    When I let the dog out into the garden , a robin was singing his heart out , so blackbird hadn’t spoken , as the first bird .

    Son is now up and about getting ready to commence a 10mile run . It will be muddy , but good on him .

    There are some very fine areas around here for running, cycling and dog walking .. many people take advantage of this area’s beautiful countryside.

    Moh and I were up and about yesterday dodging the sharp showers , we visited the small market in Wareham down near the River Frome… which had flooded and taken up some space in the carpark . My main reason for visiting the market was to buy another giant Papaya, delicious , but they had sold out this time , so brought home a couple of pounds of Egremont Russets.

    The water meadows are full of water all the way from here to Wareham .. and can you believe a seal found its way up the Wareham channel (River Frome) from Poole harbour. We all saw it popping it’s head up near Wareham bridge , the rain was sheeting down , and the market stalls were covered by a huge marquee.

    I tried to take a photo of the seal, but my phone was nearly dead again ( despite my new battery)

    Hey ho.

    Daren’t look at the news this morning !

    The DT letters are grim .

    1. Good morning TB,

      “so blackbird hadn’t spoken , as the first bird .”
      Surely it was blackbird who woke the robin!

  8. Good morning Tootle Monde,

    Bright start at the McPhee’s and it should stay dry, wind in the West, 7℃ > 11℃ today. Leaf sweeping and raking beckons after I’ve been to ring the church bells.

    Before I do here’s a something which may make some spit out their reddy-brek.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e8797e4354df05dc5bcb8f84a881139dbbc13d3d025748c05f898914a4ff4f74.png

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/11/04/mod-to-cut-ties-with-muslim-council-of-britain/

    The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) will no longer be allowed to identify and endorse military chaplains after it emerged that it had a formal arrangement with the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to do so despite a government-wide ban on engaging with the group. ‘’

    The Telegraph understands that ministers ordered the MoD to cut ties with the body after this newspaper revealed last week that the MCB was endorsing imams to become chaplains in the armed forces. The department is now investigating how the arrangement came about.

    Senior Tories described the arrangement as “shocking”, given the ban on Whitehall engagement, which was reinforced in a letter to all departments in 2020, by Robert Jenrick, the then communities secretary.

    The ban was initially brought in under Gordon Brown when he was prime minister in 2009. Speaking in a House of Lords debate on Israel and Gaza last month, Lord Godson, the Conservative peer, said: “The previous Labour government under Gordon Brown rightly cut contact with the Muslim Council of Britain in 2009, after its then deputy secretary-general signed the Istanbul declaration, calling for attacks on Royal Navy vessels enforcing a UN weapons blockade on Hamas-run Gaza.” Lord Godson urged Lord Ahmad, a Foreign Office minister, to “reaffirm” the Government’s “non-engagement policy”.

    It later emerged that the MoD had confirmed in a letter in 2021 that “the MoD does have an arrangement to consult with the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) in the appointment of imams to the armed services … MCB is one of many endorsing authorities used by the MoD.”

    Formal terms of reference for “endorsing authorities” stated that they “are required to identify appropriate candidates and endorse them as suitable for consideration for selection.”

    A post on the MCB website dated July 26 states that the first imam to receive a commission in the Royal Air Force had been “endorsed by the MCB”.

    On Friday, an MoD spokesman told The Telegraph: “The UK Government has a long-standing policy of not engaging with the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), which is unchanged. The MoD complies with this policy. However, some contact with the MCB has been identified which we immediately stopped and we are investigating.”

    Earlier this year, an official review of the Prevent counter-extremism programme said: “The MCB is subject to a ‘no-engagement’ policy by ministers because of unresolved extremism concerns.”

    Last week, the MCB said: “Whether the government likes it or not, the Muslim Council of Britain is the largest British body representing a broad spectrum of our diverse British Muslim communities.”

    On Saturday, the spokesman claimed that the MCB’s involvement never amounted to “nominating” military chaplains, adding: “We will always support British Muslims taking part in our Armed Forces.”

    Of course they do. How handy for them to have a cadre of fighting men, trained by our own armed forces, upon whom they can all when they wish the jihad to kick off here.

    Then we read this in the letters:

    SIR – I note that, following the chants of “jihad” during protests in London (report, October 22), the Metropolitan Police was advised by “specialist counter-terrorism officers” with “particular knowledge in this area” (and also, reportedly, as regards flags that were waved on the same day).

    Who are these specialists? For example, if they come from the Muslim community, the appearance of bias may arise (which is not saying that they are or may be biased), just as it would if those officers were Jewish.

    This concern is heightened when one reads that Mohammed Kozbar, chair of the Finsbury Park mosque and deputy-general of the Muslim Council of Britain – a man who has praised the founder of Hamas – advises the Crown Prosecution Service as part of a “scrutiny panel” on hate crime (report, October 29).

    Surely it would be wise for the Government to call for further information on these matters, so that the use of such “specialists” and “advisers” might be subjected to the most intense scrutiny. Only then might public concern about the advice these bodies are receiving be allayed.

    Richard Benny
    Cobham, Surrey

    What could possibly go wrong, I wonder? It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that those who are running our once-great nation on our behalf really do have a death wish.

      1. The adder in the bosom.

        The fire in the bedding.

        Unless we can get rid of the enemies within then we shall be lost.

    1. Strange how Muslims here in the UK manage to have a political voice when our so called experienced politicians / military should know that the barstewards will cut our throats for sixpence and HAVE NO LOYALTY to the generous Christian country that gave them succour

  9. Good morning all.
    A bit delayed due to being up for an hour in the small hours.
    A lovely bright start with sunshine but a chilly 5°C outside. Actually forecast to remain dry for the day!

  10. Caught my eye – from today’s letters:

    New walking
    SIR – The young are always amazed to think they have invented something new (“TikTok users invent a new craze… walking”, report, October 29).

    Not so. I have been “silent walking” for 50 years accompanied by my dogs. I have never eulogised about the benefits; it is just what I do.

    Nick Kester
    Wattisfield, Suffolk

    1. We call it a bill, in the USA they call it a check and in Spain it’s referred to as ‘la cuenta’ or ‘la dolorosa’. The technical term is an ‘invoice’.

      1. “Il Conto” in Italian.
        “Regningen” in Weegie, “Kvitto” – Swedish
        “Das Rechnung” – German.

        1. “Il Conto” ; an acquaintance of a friend used to style himself as Count aristocratic name; someone else in the circle remarked sotto voce, ‘A Count? one letter too many’.

        2. “Il Conto” ; an acquaintance of a friend used to style himself as Count aristocratic name; someone else in the circle remarked sotto voce, ‘A Count? one letter too many’.

        3. “Il Conto” ; an acquaintance of a friend used to style himself as Count aristocratic name; someone else in the circle remarked sotto voce, ‘A Count? one letter too many’.

          1. Ah… my bad. 🙁
            When I’m unsure, I say it to myself, and the one that sounds “right” usually is…

      2. Yanks also routinely spell cheque as ‘check’; ever since the retard, Noah Webster, advised them to do so in his retard’s dictionary.

      1. Chequered? Formula One Grands Prix end with the waving of a chequered flag, not a ‘check flag’.

    2. Once, in an eating and drinking establishment in the USA I requested “The William”, having had one too many. Utter bafflement.

    3. Aren’t you being slightly hypocritical about the American English (that is its name, regardless of what you think) dialect when you yourself speak and understand Yorkshire dialect?

      1. What’s hypocritical about protecting Standard English (as spoken all over the UK) against the incessant onslaught of vapid and retarded Americanese?

        As for me “speaking” a Yorkshire dialect; I am from Derbyshire.

          1. And Jake Thackray’s song The Bantam Cock celebrates the antics one member of his flock of poultry whose sexual appetites had to slaked on a variety of different avian species:

            It was a grand upstanding bantam cock so brisk and stiff and spy
            With a springy step and a jaunty plume and a purposeful look in his eye, in his little black blinking eye.
            I took him to the coop and I introduced him to my seventeen wide-eyed hens
            He tupped and he tupped as a hero tups then he bowed from the waist to them all
            Then he up and he tupped them all again.
            And then upon the peace of my ducks and geese he rudely did intrude
            With glazed eyes and open mouths they bore it all with fortitude – and a little bit of gratitude!

            and so on

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hQhi4oyH6k

        1. This is a public forum and the writer of the letter could read your comment. As well as being rude, it’s factually incorrect. Why can’t you just accept American as a dialect of English without feeling the need to insult it?
          I like dialects – they add interest to the linguistic landscape that would not exist if everyone spoke standard English.

          1. Oh please do behave yourself. This column is for the light-hearted, the intellectually adventurous, and for giving opinions, some of which may not suit all tastes. We live and let live. It is not for the anally-retentive or those who wish to instruct others what is right or wrong (in their sometimes skewed opinion).

            As for “accepting that American is a dialect of English”, how does that work with the written form of the language, where no accents or dialects are heard? I stand my ground: the American written form of the language is retarded; and the spoken version is nothing but a series of indecipherable grunted slang.

  11. Fashion sense
    SIR – Jean Routledge (Letters, October 29) asks how the 2 per cent of the population who have green eyes should choose clothes to match.

    Of more importance to me is how the 8 per cent of British men with colour blindness can choose clothes to match anything. This might explain the reaction I sometimes get to my (apparently bright) red jumpers.

    William T Nuttall
    Rossendale, Lancashire

    One of the many advantages of having a wife, Billy, me old mate. She can guide and instruct in tasteful colours and styles.

    1. The green eyes question is easy – you just wait until forest green comes into fashion, and then buy all the tops you can that show up your green eyes, which lasts until the next time it comes into fashion.

      1. ‘Tops’? What colour for the bottoms?

        What happened to ‘shirts’, ‘blouses’, ‘chemises’, ‘tee-shirts’, ‘jerseys’, ‘jumpers’, sweaters’, ‘pullovers’ … etc ?

          1. Good morning, sweet Maggiebelle

            Thongs aren’t what they used to be – the song that used to be played on a G string fiddle!

        1. Typing out that list takes too much time, so I use a short, single word understood by everyone, to refer to the lot of them.

          And in any case, there are no “jumpers” or “sweaters” in our house!

          1. I wear a 100% wool jumper all autumn and winter (not the same one, in case you ask). In spring and summer I wear a tee-shirt.

  12. Good morning, all. Late on parade – computer and internet playing up.

    Whatever happened to the “war” in the Ukraine?

    1. Ukraine never got the coverage that Gaza is getting, for some reason, almost as if they want to stir up public feeling

      1. Yeah, funny that. One could almost imagine that Ukraine was for money-laundering and Gaza is for civil war….

      2. I doubt very much that there will be as much encouragement as there was for taking in Ukraine refugees, when it comes to Gaza.

    2. Morning! An honest headline would, as you well know, go along the lines of, “Damn, those nazis in Kiev let us down and Isis are yesterday, so let’s fund Hamas to start another war while the online harms bill goes in under the radar and we sign the suckers up to the WHO plandemic treaty and screw them on climate change”.

    3. It was lost months ago and doomed to failure from the outset. The war was promoted by the western countries in the mistaken belief that they could achieve regime change. They underestimated the strength and determination of the Russians and Putin.

  13. Morning all 🙂😊
    Lovely sunny day should be good for our family Christening at mid day.
    Extremism is defined by our government and Whitehall.
    It’s become perfectly obvious that they don’t have a clue how to confront the situation we are now in. It’s been building up for a long time.
    But very worryingly they have obviously ignored it. Now because of this our country is in desperate trouble. Guy Fawkes’ plot was a triviality compared to what we have now.
    And it’s commonly know as an own goal.

    1. They are like rabbits in the headlights, frozen into inaction. We are now seeing the true quality of those in Cabinet.

    2. Governments only ever react never anticiapate. They find comfort in appeasment never confrontation and that is what is now needed. They will do nothing valuable until it is totaly out of hand. They are the scum of the earth in most cases.

  14. Has the publicity department of Marks and Spencer been infiltrated by Muslims? I can see no other reason for the Rattner-like company destroying advertisement which has come out which attacks Christmas.

    1. I posted this last week, and it backs up the infiltration of M+S.

      Son no 2 rang me earlier to ask how things were going, he lives in Sussex.

      We chatted about this and that and he then told me a terrible story .

      He used to comment on F/B , catching up with friends and cousins etc .

      The company he works for is M+S.

      He mentioned to his friend that his Grandma (my mother )was killed in a car crash in SA years ago by a drugged up black man driver ..this comment was made on F/B last Autumn .

      My son then told me that M+S spy on their staff on F/B and someone spotted him and his comment , reported him . he was hauled up by the company HR , his pay rise was stopped for a year and he was sent for Diversity training , because he had described the driver of the car that killed his Grandma.

      How disgraceful and shocking is that , he has worked for M+S for over 20 years , he has been victimised and reduced to rack and ruin , and they have used Woke techniques to bully him .

      Gawd help us all

      1. Time for a new employer. All trust lost, gotta move on.
        Ask the basis for the punishment. Was he responding as M&S employee, or just as a private citizen? What right does M&S have to censor their staff when their staff member was not representing the company? Is this written in the company behaviour guidelines?

        1. The question in my mind is: Who would wish to destroy a large and well-known Jewish company? And how better to achieve this than by infiltration?

          1. Unless he’s employed in a figurehead role as a representative of the company, I agree, Bill.

          2. It’s tricky, though, when people like Gary Lineker pontificate in public (i mean are given too much publicity). Laws have been passed in U.K. that never should have been – “hate” laws. They muddle everything and now we all self-censor.

      2. If only he’d written “drugged-up organism”. I say that on the understanding that “drugged up” is not yet addictophobic.

      3. I regard this as over-reach on the part of M&S, but they probably think your son would not have mentioned the driver’s colour had he been white, hence their touchiness about the way he thinks.

        1. Yes David , agree.

          The unhappy event happened in South Africa during the 1980’s , we were here living in the UK, and my sons were young teenagers .

          Car crashes are common place out there , sadly .

          1. My friends were involved in an accident in South Africa a few years ago – they were in a hire car, which was damaged, but they escaped fairly lightly – mainly seatbelt bruising and whiplash injuries.

        2. We always know that when a chap has committed a violent crime then if he is described as a white man he is a white man. If no mention of his colour is given we now assume he is black or brown.

    2. It got roundly criticised on Twitt, though some people liked it and said how much they hated Christmas.
      I can’t forget that in my son’s GCSE class (the only year any of my children spent in the UK state education system!), some muslim kids went round asking everyone if they celebrated Christmas, and if the kids said yes, they started verbally abusing them and forcing them to justify themselves.

  15. Church bells audible. Unfortunately, not a peal, but a pair of bells, a peal being one of the few things I miss from the UK.
    The singe/double bell sounds so mournful, like a funeral.

      1. Used to have one of those to ring in the start of the school day when I was nobbut a lad.

      1. Like the young lad bellringing when the rope got caught round his willie – the vicar tolled him off

    1. I’m just off to ring the church bells here. We have a ring of 8 bells. A few ’rounds’ and ‘called changes’ this morning. Nothing too fancy.

    1. Just two words are appropriate, dangerous pratts.
      I’m sure that there are many more suitable but……

    2. Without the approval of sovereign nation states or the marshalling of economic resources beyond their immediate means?

      “Here, we need a vast military-style campaign to marshal the strength of the global private sector. With trillions at its disposal – far beyond global GDP and, with the greatest respect, beyond even the governments of the world’s leaders – it offers the only real prospect of achieving fundamental economic transition.”

      https://www.holyrood.com/news/view,prince-charles-says-time-has-run-out-for-world-leaders-to-act-on-climate-change-17986

      Context is all important when the words of others are filleted. Whether King Charles, or Prince as he was then, is or isn’t an idiot doesn’t concern me here. (It doesn’t much concern me away from here. King George III was deranged at times and the country didn’t go to the dogs). I happen to disagree with his alarmism. The point is, though, that he wasn’t suggesting that decisions be taken without the approval of sovereign nation states. All he was saying is that the resources of the private sector be marshalled, as if in wartime, to tackle what he thinks is a global crisis. (I don’t). That would be much akin to the way governments in two world wars marshalled private sector resources to support the war effort. Those decisions were not taken out of the hands of sovereign nation states.

      1. Nah, the Left call someone a conspiracy theorist because deriding your enemies reduces the power of their message.

  16. Rishi Sunak says King’s Speech will strengthen British society. 5 November 2023.

    Mr Sunak said: “This will be the first King’s Speech in 70 years and the legislation we will bring forward is part of our plan to build a better future for the next 70.

    “Just as I have done with energy security, net zero, illegal migration and HS2, the King’s Speech will take the long-term decisions to address the challenges this country faces, not the easy way out with short-term gimmicks.

    “As we take the necessary steps to halve inflation and reduce debt, we will legislate to grow the economy, by supporting innovative businesses and protecting consumers.

    Even now after many years of listening to the utter bollocks of politicians they can still surprise me! That someone could write such twaddle, or even worse, that he doesn’t know it’s twaddle, is sort of mind numbing. It speaks of someone who is completly divorced from the real world!

    https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/rishi-sunak-king-parliament-charles-british-b1118233.html

    1. If the cretin really thinks he’s done anything positive to improve our situation as regards “energy security, net zero, illegal migration and HS2” then he really has lot the plot, if indeed he ever had it!

      1. It’s his job to say those things. The don’t have to be true, but he’d be failing in his duty to himself to remain as Prime Minister beyond the next General Election were he to say otherwise.

        1. There I must disagree – it’s not his job to tell outright lies! He also, in my view, has no legitimate claim to be PM!

          1. He hasn’t said outright lies but merely said something vague. All he has said is that he’s made decisions about long-term objectives without, in this particular address, stating what those decisions are, but they are about HS2, Net Zero, illegal migration and energy security. He doesn’t say whether the decisions are for the best or popular.

          2. That comment brings to mind the Met arguing about the precise meaning of various chants – Sunak is a liar, however he tries to dress it up as, seemingly, are most politicians today.

    2. Governments like inflation as it reduces the value of debt so halving inflation and reducing debt are contradictory statements.

    3. We are not energy secure as we’re continuing to be reliant on unreliable windmills in other countries. Net zero is a tax scam. Criminal welfare shopping continues apace, and nothing has – or will – change there while this WEF globalist sits in office. HS2 was a farce from the outset that hasn’t been scrapped, merely the funds are going to be wasted elsewhere.

      You cannot legislate to grow the economy. Workers do that. Your legislation just adds debt and tax. You cannot halve inflation while you keep borrowing tens of billions a month and destroying the currency through QE.

      The man lies habitually. You have to wonder if he even knows he is any more. What the public want from government is this:

      Low taxes, a small, efficient public service. That’s IT.

    4. Is it me or didn’t Her Majesty have a Platinum Jubilee to celebrate 70 years on the Throne? Surely there would have been Queen’s Speeches during that time and it will have been MORE THAN 70 years since there was a King’s Speech?

  17. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/63c7a0519d3da9d77383e75471d7b0fb0461e1975abaeab20b884232b90d7e0f.png
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2023/11/05/king-charles-75th-birthday-one-son-by-his-side/

    BTL

    Family divisions are always sad especially when all the dirty linen is washed and then aired in public.

    However I do wish King Charles had more common sense and kept out of politics.

    There is a strong body of scientific opinion which believes that man-made climate change and global warming are myths and that Net Zero is a money grabbing scam. Does it ever occur to the king that he might be wrong – or is his mind completely closed?

      1. I knew someone who attended Gordonstoun when the lad king was boarding in the same year as him.

        Spoilt , slow at games , rather dumb , in a clever ponderous sort of way.

        The King to be ..

        Apparently he was the same at Dartmouth.

        Not a bit like his father .

        1. I recall comic sketches from the 1970s/1980s that had Phillip berating Charles for being a dumbass. So, they were right, it seems.

          1. My experience as a schoolmaster makes me think that those who are bullied fall into two types: those who are determined to stop other people from being bullied and those who become bullies themselves.

            I wonder which category the Idiot King falls into?

          2. I ‘m afraid I don’t see your point/generalisation, it’s no fun being bullied and my experience suggests there are several other utterly different scenarios, including those who get bullied to the point of withdrawal and even suicide; those who fight back and are left alone in future, but do not go either of your suggested routes.
            I can’t think of a single instance where a bullied individual has gone on to be a bully themselves and very few who tried to stop bullying.
            Those who stepped i on behalf of the bullied were neither bullies themselves, nor bullied, they didn’t accept any attempt and didn’t approve of it..

        2. “Spoilt , slow at games , rather dumb ,” sounds like moi.
          Gordonstoun was not the ideal choice, imho.

    1. Net Zero is more than a money-grabbing scam, it’s intentional civilisation-destruction.

    2. He’s in bed with the WEF, globalists etc. therefore he’s in accord with their plans and ideology. I don’t believe he’s been fooled into supporting the globalists even accepting that he’s not the sharpest knife in the draw.

      1. Is the Idiot King’s idiocy so idiotic that he cannot see that falling in line with the WEF, UN and WHO does not serve his own interests any more than it serves the best interests of Britain?

    3. Charles believes it because he lives in a bubble. The WEF pushes it because it’s another forced step toward socialism with them in control.

      They forget history – they always end up shooting themselves in a bunker as liberators bear down on them. I just wish they’d shoot themselves first and save us the millions of deaths. Be nice is every Lefty, remoaner, statist would do the same.

  18. Booking flights to MiL for Christmas (always assuming it hasn’t been cancelled and replaced by Eid…). Cor, what a price! What an effin’ hassle – booking sites are a royal pain, and we’ll need an overnight at Brizzl airport on arrival. Slightly convenient, as next day visit to Mother in Penarth, and then to Bideford…
    I’d rather stay at home, TBH. Done enough travelling as a younger man – and guess who is buying KLM so we can get a seat or four??

    1. The Ptb don’t want anyone using cheap flights any more – that’s one reason for nearly killing off the airline industry in 2020.

    2. I have to make a decision about when best to book return rail tickets for travel either side of the Christmas bank holidays. It has been made something of a lottery since rail union members recently voted in favour of giving the leaders permission to take industrial action for a further six months. If I book too soon, travel might be disrupted. If I leave it too late, seats will be either expensive or fully booked.

      1. See if there has been a pattern of strike days historically , ie. are there any days of the week which have been strike-free.

    1. Considering people have been warning of the muslim threat for decades and the state continues to pour their acid into this country by now it’s simple malice.

  19. Those who yearn to be politicians are, by virtue of that yearning, unlikely to be suitable. The best politicians are likely to be those who don’t want to be and, if left to their own devices, would never seek to be. Those best fitted for it must be identified and somehow encouraged/persuaded/coerced/forced into politics against their own free will.

    1. I would prefer no MPs under be age of 40 and for each person who wants to become an MP to be able to prove that he or is she has been successful in his or her previous occupation.

  20. David Berglas, pioneering British television magician whose show was watched by 19 million – obituary, 5 November 2023.

    David Berglas, who has died aged 97, was one of the first magicians to appear on British television; by the mid 1950s he had become a household name, and had fostered a reputation for pulling off spectacular stunts.

    I remember Berglas from my own childhood. His “tricks” were quite astonishing. I don’t think that I’ve seen them equalled since.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2023/11/04/david-berglas-pioneering-british-television-magician-magic/

    1. I confess to not knowing of him. My earliest memory of a television magician is of David Nixon.

  21. Zoe Strimpel – worth a read.
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/11/04/germany-puts-britain-to-shame-with-firm-support-for-jews/
    Germany puts Britain to shame with its zero tolerance of anti-Semitism
    Informed by their history, the Germans have displayed remarkable moral clarity in supporting Jews. Britain, meanwhile, has simply failed

    Last week, the German vice-chancellor Robert Habeck, a Green politician, gave a speech about anti-Semitism which carried a refreshing – and sadly unique – moral clarity. He dealt movingly with Germany’s own unique responsibility to Israel and the safety and security of the Jewish homeland, then articulated the responsibility of any civilised nation towards its own Jews.

    This, of course, means not allowing terror-cheering marches to go ahead under the guise of Lefty ideals like anti-imperialism; and it means cracking down on Islamist anti-Semitism.

    “To be clear,” said Habeck, “anti-Semitism is not to be tolerated in any form – whatsoever. The scale of the Islamist demonstrations in Berlin and other cities in Germany is unacceptable and needs a tough political response.” He even grasped this all-important nettle: that the “both sides argument is misleading here. Hamas is a murderous terrorist group.”

    I also found it comforting when he said: “Whoever lives here does so according to the rules of this country… This means that burning Israeli flags is a criminal offence, as is praising Hamas terror. Any German citizen who does this will have to answer for such offences in court; those who are not German citizens will also risk their residency status. Anyone who does not yet have a residence permit will have provided a reason to be deported.”

  22. Zoe Strimpel – worth a read.
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/11/04/germany-puts-britain-to-shame-with-firm-support-for-jews/
    Germany puts Britain to shame with its zero tolerance of anti-Semitism
    Informed by their history, the Germans have displayed remarkable moral clarity in supporting Jews. Britain, meanwhile, has simply failed

    Last week, the German vice-chancellor Robert Habeck, a Green politician, gave a speech about anti-Semitism which carried a refreshing – and sadly unique – moral clarity. He dealt movingly with Germany’s own unique responsibility to Israel and the safety and security of the Jewish homeland, then articulated the responsibility of any civilised nation towards its own Jews.

    This, of course, means not allowing terror-cheering marches to go ahead under the guise of Lefty ideals like anti-imperialism; and it means cracking down on Islamist anti-Semitism.

    “To be clear,” said Habeck, “anti-Semitism is not to be tolerated in any form – whatsoever. The scale of the Islamist demonstrations in Berlin and other cities in Germany is unacceptable and needs a tough political response.” He even grasped this all-important nettle: that the “both sides argument is misleading here. Hamas is a murderous terrorist group.”

    I also found it comforting when he said: “Whoever lives here does so according to the rules of this country… This means that burning Israeli flags is a criminal offence, as is praising Hamas terror. Any German citizen who does this will have to answer for such offences in court; those who are not German citizens will also risk their residency status. Anyone who does not yet have a residence permit will have provided a reason to be deported.”

      1. 378435+ up ticks,

        Afternoon S,

        Next Weekend could very well be the trigger and could very well set off a chain reaction that would make Mr Fawkes green with envy.

        I am more strongly seeing and judging
        a current / ongoing lab/lib/con vote as an act of aiding & abetting terrorism
        Tis after all their creation constructed
        over these past four decades.

    1. 378435+ up ticks,
      O2O,
      What to do with them
      Bring in emergency
      law as in war time .
      First stop Belmarsh, if from foreign climes RAPID deportation,if indigenous deportation to parents home country along with all family members.

  23. “Nearly two-thirds of all German citizens want the country’s federal government to impose a ban on migration from predominantly Muslim nations, a damning survey has revealed.

    Polling conducted by INSA on behalf of the Bild tabloid newspaper showed that 61 percent of respondents now advocate refusing any more migrants from Islamic countries with many explaining they no longer feel safe in their own country and believe an increasing number of new arrivals despise German society.

    A majority of voters from every political party except for the German Green Party supported a ban on Muslim immigration.”

    Meanwhile currently on BBC Radio 3 some chappie with a foreign accent telling Michael Berkly that Braverman is wrong to say that the current Asylum law needs sorting. Said Berk didn’t ask how many ‘asylum seekers’ the UK should admit eg 1 million, 10 million, 100 million etc….

    1. I know a fair few immigrants. They come here, get jobs, work hard and are no more trouble than any Briton. Poles, Lithuanians, Ukrainians, Turks, Nigerian – none are a problem.

      Then you get the muslims who are uppity, welfare dependent, refuse to integrate continuing their own culture here.

      Why do they come here to carry on living as they did?

      1. Because they are tlod to by the Mullers, to prepare for what we are seeing now. Regretably its only the begining, and our MPs wil do nothing until they are forced to.

      2. “Why do they come here to carry on living as they did?”

        ‘cos the bennies are better and we’re softer.

  24. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/11/05/guardian-bbc-swept-up-wave-anti-semitism-israel-gaza-war/

    I’m confused. The Graiduan and BBC are both institutionally Left wing. Thus they are desperately biased, utterly bigoted and frenziedly hypocritical. They love muslim because normal people find them difficult and intrusive into society – which they are. They demand massive state expense which the Left love, because a big state means lots of power taken away from the individual – another Left wing mantra.

        1. It would be extremely impractical always to read the whole blog to see if someone else had not already posted something before you.

          I often post things that have already been posted and I always apologise when it is brought to my attention. So you have behaved impeccably and don’t deserve any condemnation!

  25. Strange how the discussion here is frequently about the Muslim hordes but for a few days, the lead story in the Daily Mail has been about that Rooney Tottie.

    1. In the bear one, why did he crop and then crop again the video? Why, when getting out did he not check in both directions and behind him? Why, before opening the flap did he not look out of a small gap initially, or simply listen?

      1. Should have had a significant firearm in bear country.
        But I guess the smell resulting from shitting himself must have driven the bear away!

  26. US ‘will be hit hard’ if no ceasefire in Gaza, Iran threatens. 5 November 2023.

    Iran has threatened the United States it will “be hit hard” if no ceasefire is implemented in Gaza.

    “Our advice to the Americans is to immediately stop the war in Gaza and implement a ceasefire, otherwise they will be hit hard,” defence minister Mohammad-Reza Ashtiani told Iran’s Tasnim news agency.

    Iran considers the US, Israel’s foremost ally, to be “militarily-involved” in the conflict that erupted in the wake of Hamas’ October 7 attack.

    I’m sure that will help things along! I’m not greatly concerned about Iran of itself. It is not a direct danger to us here in the UK. It will stop the oil in the Gulf of course and what with swearing off Russian Oil that will make for really entertaining times until it is restored. It is the possibility of it expanding beyond even the Middle East. The world at the moment appears to me to closely resemble that prior to WWII where events metastasized and dragged it into ruin except of course that they did not possess Weapons of Mass Destruction!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/11/05/israel-gaza-latest-news-updates-hamas-palestine-day-30-live/

  27. How the West was lost, Part 1. 5 November 2023.

    We have recently witnessed the West in thrall to Black Lives Matter. Buildings lit up, marches through our cities, politicians, sports players and police kneeling, riots, sections of US cities taken over by anarchists, cries to defund the police taken seriously, and all because a drug-addled violent criminal died in an altercation with police. That George Floyd was killed is regrettable, but that his subsequent lionisation became the cause of such chaos is even more regrettable.

    We must accept that the West is falling. Undermined and weakened, it appears no longer willing or able to defend itself and the values which created it and which have brought so much benefit to the wider world. The question we face is whether we are resigned to allowing it to fade into the sunset, a beautiful memory, or whether we are willing to face up to our responsibility to future generations to pass on to them something worth defending.

    Well there’s not much that we can do as individuals. The Political Elites have taken us up this path and we are screwed. The only people who look as though they might get past this are Russia and the Visegrad States. It is no coincidence that all have direct experience of Marxist thought and method.

    https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/how-the-west-was-lost-part-1/

  28. 378435+ up ticks,

    When the time comes as it surely must,no mercy to be shown.

    NN
    @UnityNewsNet
    ·
    8m
    Gove and Braverman propose new laws on ‘extremists undermining the UK’.

    GB News types etc YAYAYAY this is just what we need!

    Extremists may include those not ’embracing diversity’ or ‘tackling discrimination’.

    It really is just too funny.

    https://x.com/UnityNewsNet/status/1721180239726887398?s=20

    1. 378435+ up ticks,

      O2O,
      The braverman has done a Marilyn Monroe over the grill and her true colours are showing.

  29. 378435+ up ticks,
    Gerard Batten
    @gjb2021
    ·
    Sep 25
    ‘A global coup by an international mafia. The next phony crisis will be economic & environmental’. Archbishop Vigano sums it all up nicely in a minute.
    Translate post
    English
    1 Click News
    @Lee2021
    ·
    Sep 24
    Archbishop Vigano tells humanity that we are undergoing a global coup d’état and urges everyone to fight back or lose everything.

    “This is the 4th Industrial Revolution :

    1. Lovely, my favourite flower, but I can’t grow them! In the wilds of West Virginia, it’s open cafe for the local deer population!! Only solid fencing will keep them out and to be honest, I love watching them.

    2. Roses are reddish
      Violets are bluish if it wasn’t for Christmas
      we’d all be fighting HAMAS…

        1. Turning on themselves?

          Top Hamas military commander claims October 7 attacks were never meant to target Israeli civilians as he breaks ranks to criticise terror group’s leaders ‘who changed the plan last-minute’ in extraordinary intervention

          https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12712397/Top-Hamas-military-commander-claims-October-7-attacks-never-meant-target-Israeli-civilians-breaks-ranks-criticise-terror-groups-exiled-leaders-changed-plan-minute-extraordinary-intervention.html

  30. Well, that was interesting. We journeyed to Sheringham – to go to the launderette. Haven’t been to one for 42 years – and that was in New England.

    The prices, my dear, the prices. The visit was required because Pickles vomited copiously over a single bed duvet…..our washing machine is too small. And we don’t have dryer. And, OF COURSE, parking is not free, even on a Sunday. So £20 poorer….

    The curious thing was that many shops were open and the rather dull little town was heaving.

    The sea was rough and grey and very uninviting.

    1. Christo used to cycle from Gresham’s to Sheringham on Sunday mornings to go to mass.

  31. Those of us lucky enough to have spent an evening with Bob Moran at
    the Bloomsbury Theatre last night (with a second show tonight) were
    treated to a heartening and uplifting experience hosted with brilliance
    by the cartoonist who has done so much to cut through the dense fog of
    lies and half-truths and moral timidity that have plagued ordinary
    people trying to find a way through.

    Bob’s work has heart and, by God, it has edge. His political comment through his 2B pencil has
    shocking vulgarity on occasion that has been practically unseen in the
    genre in recent years and which makes him a worthy heir to Rowlandson
    and Hogarth. But, just as importantly, he understands the fundamental
    building blocks that form human civilisation of love, kindness and
    mutual support. He is not seeing those qualities in the disgusting mass
    of parasites that have risen to the top of the pond of public life
    around the world and, it’s great to have confirmed by his enthusiastic
    reception, he is not alone.

    1. I wonder when, if ever, he will be “rehabilitated,” his talent deserves a much wider audience.

        1. I meant back into the MSM.

          I am always surprised how much even prints are being put up for.
          I won a few small Christian Adams originals, but I doubt they are worth a fraction of what larger ones’ prints sell for.

    2. I’m delighted to know that his original drawings command exorbitant prices. Good luck to him.

  32. The Battle of the Messines Ridge, 7th – 14th June 1917.

    Troops of the 12th Battalion, East Surrey Regiment, who attacked on the first morning of the battle (7th June), 11th June 1917.
    The capture of Messines Ridge was a preliminary operation that took place just prior to the Battle of Passchendaele (Third Battle of Ypres). High-explosive mines placed under the German lines were used to devastating effect, and the blast from the explosions could be heard in London some 130 miles distant.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4d349559a7b0bca175d16f878997f0b11fddfdd3ac0bfd6d0747cd3efb9ecbd9.jpg

    1. I believe that there is at least one mine with explosives still left that didn’t detonate and that could conceivably even explode., although it is extremely unlikely.

          1. The preliminary barrage for the Somme offensive used well over a million shells, an estimated 10% of which were ‘duds’.

          2. When driving through the areas it is a stark reminder when one observes unexploded ordnance at the sides of fields rising to the surface well over a 100 years after the event..

  33. Further to the post below:

    Private William Hackett VC (11th June 1873 – 27th June 1916), 254th Tunnelling Company, Corps of Royal Engineers.

    On 22nd-23rd June 1916 at Shaftesbury Avenue Mine, near Givenchy, France, he was entombed with four others in a gallery owing to the explosion of an enemy mine. After working for 20 hours, a hole was made through fallen earth and broken timber, and the outside party was met. Sapper Hackett helped three of the men through the hole and could easily have followed, but refused to leave the fourth, who had been seriously injured, saying,” I am a tunneller, I must look after the others first.” Meantime, the hole was getting smaller, yet he still refused to leave his injured comrade. Finally, the gallery collapsed, and though the rescue party worked desperately for four days the attempt to reach the two men failed. Sapper Hackett well knowing the nature of sliding earth, the chances against him, deliberately gave his life for his comrade.

    He died officially on 27th June 1916 and is commemorated on the Ploegsteert Memorial, Belgium. However, he could not have survived that long after the tunnel collapsed on 23rd June. The man with him, Thomas Collins, is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial and his date of death is given as 22nd June 1916, even though its known he was alive on the 23rd. Field Marshal Evelyn Wood VC, described Hackett’s actions as “the most divine-like act of self-sacrifice of which I have read.”

    https://i0.wp.com/victoriacrossonline.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/1-142.jpg?resize=283%2C478&is-pending-load=1#038;ssl=1

  34. That’s me for this adventurous day. Launderette; walk along the coast; watery sunshine.

    Have a jolly evening

    A demain

  35. The Holy Grail (for me at least) of Wordle, an eagle.

    Wordle 869 2/6

    🟨🟨⬜⬜🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Four here

      Wordle 869 4/6

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

    2. Now here’s a laugh. I got a virus scam message on my phone so cleared my browsing history and cookies. Meant I had to do Wordle again. I made exactly the same mistakes and got the same score!
      Wordle 869 5/6

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

    3. I waxhappy with aware for me birdie

      Wordle 869 3/6

      ⬜⬜⬜🟩🟩
      ⬜🟩🟩⬜⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  36. Unpleasant thought for the day:

    If the Remembrance is disrupted on the 11th or worse still, next Sunday, and the veterans beat 99 flavours of shit out of the young protesting Hamasians, what will the police do and who will get the blame ?

      1. Here:

        Tensions grow over pro-Palestine protest on Remembrance Day: British patriots wave Union flags in counter-demo at the Cenotaph after war memorials are draped in Palestinian flag amid fears huge march could spark clashes on November 11

        https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12712717/Tensions-grow-pro-Palestine-protest-Remembrance-Day-British-patriots-wave-Union-flags-counter-demo-Cenotaph-war-memorials-draped-Palestinian-flag-amid-fears-huge-march-spark-clashes-November-11.html

        1. Bookies won’t be taking any bets on Queers For Palestine v. Football Lads Alliance.

  37. OK
    Does anyone still think we’re not stuffed?

    Revealed: Hard-Left activist who led ‘from the river to the sea’ chant at pro-Palestine rally is Met Police adviser – while ‘leadership coordinator’ at Scotland Yard says support for Israel should be investigated as a ‘hate crime’
    Attiq Malik is chairman of ‘strategic advisory body’ London Communities Forum

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12712683/Hard-Left-activist-led-river-sea-chant-pro-Palestine-rally-Met-Police-adviser-leadership-coordinator-Scotland-Yard-says-support-Israel-investigated-hate-crime.html

  38. The utterly evil bastard in me says:
    “Well, well, what a surprise, those with connections always escape.”

    Humza Yousaf reveals his in-laws are ‘safe’ and back in Britain after they were ‘trapped’ in Gaza as Israel pounded Palestinian enclave
    Humza Yousaf posted on X to say his in-laws are ‘safe’ and back in Britain

    Good luck to them, and I’m happy when people escape the carnage.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12712667/Humza-Yousaf-reveals-laws-safe-Britain-trapped-Gaza-Israel-pounded-Palestinian-enclave.html

    1. I think the Egyptians opened the border to those with a foreign passport for a few hours. As they should have done!

  39. Baked apples for pudding! Lovely, it’s been a long time since I had any.
    Bizarrely, the suppliers to the supermarkets are offering apples from the southern hemisphere ONLY! So, from out of season, whereas the local greengrocer (run by Turks, and the only shop that doesn’t sell skis and guns that I am more than willing to go into due to the freshness and choice of food!) has a huge choice of Norway-grown apples, including the two large Aroma we just ate… how weird is that?

    1. Just imagine, if they were shipped back to where they came from, and we gave them even half that money, they would be regarded as rich locally.
      FOAD you pigs.

          1. Same here. On cassette, though. And there was a bit missing from the end. Now long lost, but I’m tempted to download the album from somewhere – perhaps Amazon. I do like Maddy Prior (who is ten years my senior). I thought she had Cumbrian roots, but apparently I’m mistaken.

      1. I’ve thought that myself. It could prove cheaper in the long run to UK taxpayers subsidising these people who contribute nothing to the economy, and would benefit the recipients, allowing them to live much more comfortably in their home countries. A win-win?

    2. The idiot ignores several basic facts.

      The UN demands we keep taking in criminal immigrants.
      It demands high taxes.
      It wants us to pay for the entire world.

      High taxes, massive uncontrolled gimmigration and huge government is going to result in poverty – that doesn’t mean we should increase welfare. It means we should create jobs and get people working. We do that by reducing welfare entitlement.

  40. I suppose better late than Never. I’ve been charping all morning:

    Good morrow, Gentlefolk. today’s story (not very funny but I have to put something up)

    Complimentary Bar

    Just as his favourite bar opens for the day, a guy walks in and to his surprise hears a voice saying, “Those are really nice shoes you’re wearing.”

    He looks round but he’s the first customer. No-one else is there but the bartender. Again, this voice is heard, “That suit you have on is real sharp, too!”

    The customer asks the bartender, “Say, Mike, did you hear that? Who said that?”

    Mike points to a bowl on the bar and replies, “It was the complimentary peanuts.”

      1. From the Indian for bed, a common use in ‘force’s slang meaning spending time in/on your charpoy (i.e. sleeping)

        1. Thank you! I may have to adopt it for my own use (as in, when talking to myself, as much of my conversation is now in Spanish 🤪), since I like to read lying flat on my stomach.

          1. I would like to be in your attendance and gently stroking your nether regions while you read.

          2. 🤣🤣 Probably wouldn’t help my concentration.

            Plus, I’ve been known to bite… 😉

  41. The Uselessness of The Covid Inquiry

    Peter Hitchens, 5 November 2023 9:06 AM

    The Covid inquiry should be treated as severely as the people of this country were treated by the government during the Great Panic of 2020-2021. All involved should be told to go home and stay there. They should be free to do some daily exercise, but otherwise not permitted to bother us again. We will lose nothing by this. We all know that their report will say – as I predicted long ago – that ‘we’ did not ‘lock down’ soon enough or hard enough.

    It is perfectly obvious that they are not interested in any serious consideration of the possibility that the whole thing was a ghastly mistake, made in a condition of outright panic by people unqualified to run a parish council.

    How do we know this? We know it because of the inquiry’s treatment of Professor Carl Heneghan, one of the few courageous and uncrushable scientists who stood out against the national closedown policy at the time. Prof Heneghan is a practising GP, closely in touch with the actual daily workings of the NHS, as well as being a distinguished academic. In 2013, the Health Service Journal listed him as one of the 100 top clinical leaders, which its editor described as ‘a list of people who excel in their own professional specialism but whose impact extends beyond their immediate sphere’.

    Yet during the long months when fanatics and zealots demanded the stoppage of the entire country on the basis of what are now obviously false assumptions, Dr Heneghan’s distinction counted for little. You might think that, after Sweden’s far more successful handling of Covid, achieved by following ideas similar to Dr Heneghan’s, his status might now have risen. You might think that the Covid inquiry would treat him as something of a star turn, someone to be listened to with care and respect. But no, as he himself puts it in a rather frightening article in ‘The Spectator’: ‘I gave evidence at the inquiry last week. I had submitted a 74-page statement on what I thought it should discuss. Instead, the main topic was rude words in old Whats-App messages.’ He described how ‘the KC questioning me launched into an attack on my credentials. I’m a clinical epidemiologist and author of 450 peer-reviewed publications.’

    The minds which were closed at the start of the panic are still as closed as ever. The establishment, who turned a drama into a crisis, who bankrupted the country, wrecked the education of millions of children and students, mangled the NHS and launched the biggest attack on personal freedom in modern times, have learned nothing and remembered nothing from the disaster. Quite soon, they will do it all again. It will not be exactly the same, but very similar. For it will be based on the same impulse, to distil fear into power.

    https://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2023/11/the-uselessness-of-the-covid-inquiry-propaganda-on-the-bbc-and-the-attack-on-personal-service.html

    1. Excellent precis. The powers that be can’t afford to be completely wrong in every respect.

    2. “You might think that the Covid inquiry would treat him as something of a star turn, someone to be listened to with care and respect.”
      No. He made them all look stupid, so, in that British way, he must have revenge taken on him.

    3. I fail to see why nobody in the UK was able to:
      – Plot the infection etc statistics as a function of time, and compare them with the model predictions (This was published IN THE FUCKING NEWSPAPER here in Norway, daily, to show how the two matched – or didn’t
      – Plot the data for comparison, both with total country infections & deaths, but comparison with typical Influenza data, and typical death rates – I did this, baed on data published in Norway, Sweden & UK on the Web. That’s what you get by being run by a bunch of Oxbridge wankers, and yet another reason I don’t live in your benighted island. Nobody seems to be able to do anything properly, not even fuck things up.

      1. Thanks, Paul. Plenty of UK folk were able to do that, but were ridiculed, silenced and cancelled. Carl Heneghan springs to mind, but there were many others.

        This benighted island remains home, I’m afraid. At my time of life, there’s nowhere else to go. Sadly. I’m too old to learn Hungarian…

        1. The frustration gets to me, Geoff, that so many people are unable/unwilling to learn and understand. Technicaal things run by people who cannot do any form of maths, sneer at those who can, don’t understand graphs, and so on. All those Oxbridge graduates, couldn’t even serve ice-cream in a bowl. And yet, self-perpetuating idiots… ARGH!

    4. Mr Hitchens seems to forget that the role of an inquiry is to put the officials in the clear, not to provide any practical information.

    1. Bugger. There goes another irony meter. They’re not cheap, you know…

      In the unlikely event that my path crosses with that of Mr R. Taylor of this parish, I’ll point him to this video…

  42. FUCK Disney.
    Woke beyond belief.
    I hope the entire edifice is bankrupted.

    Fury as Disney recreate 7/7 terrorist attack in London that killed 52 for TV show: Double decker bus is torn to shreds on capital’s streets just two miles from scene of the 2005 outrage – as survivors and victims’ relatives say they were NOT warned

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12712917/Fury-Disney-recreate-7-7-terrorist-attack-London-killed-52-people-including-image-mangled-red-double-decker-bus-shocked-world-new-TV-drama.html

    1. Disney are desperately woke, but remember what we were told about the muslim terrorist bomber? It was the same tired, mentally ill lone wolf tripe. It was a muslim gimmigrant. We all knew it, but the state and a comically compliant media keep hiding the truth

  43. It’s late I know but this editon of Triggernometry with Douglas Murray on the Hamas marches in London is an absolute scorcher. Don’t miss it – it could be taken down. The “Trigger” boys are clearly worried by some of the things Douglas said. I’ll put it up again tomorrow if it’s still there!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqzdnPjPhW0

    1. His notable comment was if the Left want to play the ‘local owns the land then that also applies to Britain’. But the Left are hypocrites through and through.

    1. Or even their graves. Certainly my great grandfather would be. He was a Cameron Highlander and fought in the Egyptian campaign of the 1880s.

      1. Not my spelling !

        Many will be horrified to view this cultural appropriation by Muslims .

        It is the equivalent of the Black and White minstrels blacking their faces and causing outrage amongst the bames !

    2. Or even their graves. Certainly my great grandfather would be. He was a Cameron Highlander and fought in the Egyptian campaign of the 1880s.

    3. Wrong colours if a Palestinian vitrtue signal is intended. The tartan fad is a nonsense like so much else propagated by the Royals a century or more past.

      A bit like those massive honorific medals and sashes they both have designed for and award themselves.

  44. Evening, all. Been a busy day with church and then a meeting in the afternoon. Just catching up on yesterday’s Breeders’ Cup recording.

    The Rayburn is lit. I’ve managed to cut my finger when I pulled the bottom drawer of the freezer and it broke into sharp shards.

    Extremism will be defined to suit the PTB.

      1. I don’t know what is in that little square, I guess it is an emoji that Microsoft doesn’t won’t recognise

        1. On my phone it’s a little yellow face with 💤 to show it’s sleeping. It tends to pop up when I write ‘good night’

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