Sunday 7 September: Two glaring missed opportunities in Keir Starmer’s Cabinet reshuffle

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575 thoughts on “Sunday 7 September: Two glaring missed opportunities in Keir Starmer’s Cabinet reshuffle

  1. Good morning, chums. And thanks, Geoff, for the new NoTTLE page. Another Bogey for Wordle. And, as another week begins, I am full of energy with lots of jobs to do.

    Wordle 1,541 5/6

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    1. Good morning Elsie and all
      I have plenty of jobs to do, but not much energy…
      Wordle 1,541 4/6

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      1. #metoo (Monday 16.23).
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  2. Good morning, chums. And thanks, Geoff, for the new NoTTLE page. Another Bogey for Wordle. And, as another week begins, I am full of energy with lots of jobs to do.

    Wordle 1,541 5/6

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    1. 1 min onwards .. there is absolutely zero chance of any one serious being allowed to share that stage with Farage.

      "Hundreds of people chose not the listen to Nigel Farage and go to the fringe talks with David Starkey.."
      Great. Where they would learn that there is absolutely zero chance of any one serious being allowed to share a stage with Farage.

  3. Two glaring missed opportunities in Keir Starmer’s Cabinet reshuffle

    Another F U cabinet reshuffle

    Failing Upwards

  4. 412385+up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Sunday 7 September: Two glaring missed opportunities in Keir Starmer’s Cabinet reshuffle

    This statement is as if the TOOL was a pro English PM
    when he is anything but, he is honest in one respect when he said he preferred Davos to the HP sauce factory, peoples no brurry listen.

    Truth be told he is a brilliant strategist so far as the destruction of these Isles are concerned, this is clearly seen via keeping his major asset milliband in place.

    No gas lorries visiting towns on culling missions for him, his end game is starvation of the indigenous masses as and when the accommodation department
    works in sync with the incoming invasion craft.

    Supporting the farmers is a major very necessary
    BIG TIME anti milliband move, the alternative being
    3D printed dinners.

  5. Morning, all Y'all.
    Just watching a huge rainfall sweeping towrds us… looks like an indoor kind of day.

  6. 412385+ up ticks,

    Are the "beware tread with care" whispers gaining volume ?

    A second patriotic party is required as a safety net
    second front party, English politics is riddled through & through with treachery.

    Dt,
    Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg: I’ll advise Farage on how to govern this country
    The former Tory Cabinet minister said repealing human rights legislation would stop the Civil Service from ‘obstructing’ Reform’s policies

      1. 412395+ up ticks,

        Morning RE,

        He escorted treacherous treasa to the wire 2/3 times when she was going to do something….. again.

  7. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8e1n4d14kro
    We have these annually in Norway, including the sounding of the air raid sirens – but why would you opt out? Can you also opt out of the incoming air raid?

    Can users opt out of receiving emergency alerts?
    The government strongly recommends that users enable devices to receive emergency alerts, but it is possible to opt out.

    This can be done by searching in your phone's settings for "emergency alerts" and turning off "severe alerts" and "extreme alerts".

    The government has published a guide on how to opt out of the test.

    1. There is no brief on what to do if the phone siren goes for real. Air raid sirens are specific. Should I run to the nuclear shelter, build an arc or buy toilet rolls, I think we should be told! I see the exercise as keeping the populace in fear.. Us oldies can see through the ruse but the new generation hangs on every command that comes from their screens. Become ungovernable. Mine is off, Settings/Notifications/Alerts. Morning, rain here..

      1. Mine got turned off before the last one. That went off when we were on a train and they were not in unison but all popping off over a couple of minutes.

      2. Both ours are turned off. WTF use is an emergency alert? As you say, just another step in scare/fear/control tactics.

    2. There is no brief on what to do if the phone siren goes for real. Air raid sirens are specific. Should I run to the nuclear shelter, build an arc or buy toilet rolls, I think we should be told! I see the exercise as keeping the populace in fear.. Us oldies can see through the ruse but the new generation hangs on every command that comes from their screens. Mine is off, Settings/Notifications/Alerts. Morning, rain here..

      1. I reckon there should be no choice – like choosing not to hear an air raid siren? You should be informed – what you do after that is up to you.

        1. I know you have been abroad a while Paul, but this is Starmer’s government that’s doing this. They don’t have our best interests at heart.

    3. What events in Norway lead to an alert? The last two in the UK have been warnings of stormy weather.

      1. We have an annual test, but it’s typically intended for air raid. What it means is “Crisis! Listen to radio/watch TV for more info.”

    4. It's like the covid masks Oberst – it does nothing constructive and is conditioning the population to be afraid and obey.
      If there are air-raids, people will learn in about 2 seconds – all this "training" is not for our benefit!

  8. Good morning all, dull day might rain , Son has just arrived home after running 20k !

    Look at this ..

    More than 1,000 migrants are thought to have crossed the English Channel on Saturday.

    The figure is the biggest daily total since May, in which more than 1,195 migrants arrived in the UK in a single day.

    Saturday's arrivals takes the total number of Channel arrivals so far this year to more than 30,000.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15073415/1000-migrants-cross-English-Channel-day-Labour-pledged-shut-asylum-seeker-hotels.html

    1. We can not cope with those already here. Those boats HAVE to be stopped and those here already deported.

    1. Morning, good to see and also using the correct description for the Tape…..not duck as many people like to mistakenly say 😉

        1. Another mistake is White Rhino's.
          The word is Wide as in the mouth development over many centuries to help them graze.
          It's was originally an Afrikaans word (Wyd) for wide mouth.

  9. Morning All 🙂😊
    Sunny and warmer than yesterday.
    I'm not sure of the two glaring opportunities that starmer missed in the reshuffle, except he could have resigned and taken the rest of them with him.
    Let's get our country back from the edges of total fatality.

  10. Reposted from late last night

    Sunday 7th September, 2026

    Araminta Smade

    (The Mighty Minty)

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/451b0df5a7c18debed370e03925e3c739625ebea4fb5f0999bef0a474d641a4b.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8d132c48bfb17d867190facfb1e895bf0bcedec8daec6515d2ef37c24bf9bae8.png

    We hope all is well with you and that you will visit the forum again soon as you are much missed and a much treasured member of the Nottler family.

    With very best wishes,

    Caroline and Rastus

    1. Happy birthday Minty. Miss you on here and often think of you.But have a wonderful day on your 79th! Long Time and many more to go, I hope.

    2. Grattis på födelsedagen, Araminta. Hope you are well and that you are enjoying a cracking day.👍🏻🎂😊🥂🎉

    3. Happy Birthday, Minty. I'm a bit late to the party. I hope you have had a lovely day. I miss your posts, do stop by here sometime.🎊🎁🥂🍾🎉🎂

  11. Perhaps the hundreds of illegals could be housed in the extra homes that most Labour MPs seem to have..

    Just an idea…

  12. The Labour Government is set to close down migrant hotels and house residents in former military barracks in a fresh bid to take control of the small boats crisis.

    Of course they will.. then hope no one notices Serco buying up every single available low cost housing for migrants.

    1. 412385+ up ticks,

      O2O,

      Do your peoples do any de-nutting, honour killing, pardophilic work down your neck of the woods ?

    2. Go on give us all a larf.
      Ask her.. what about her people..

      They love your country
      They love your flag
      They love your people

      Just like Ash Sarkar waering the Lionesses shirt.. she came out in a rash and started convulsing.

    3. Cabinet reshuffle – Only Starmer could stir a barrel of sh*t and come up with something worse. Will this country survive until 2029 without resorting to civil war?

      1. 412385+ up ticks,

        Afternoon Per,

        Best part of four years ” the great impossible”
        best part of four months most like.

    1. Is it wise to have tolerance for the beliefs of those who refuse to tolerate our beliefs and despise us, wish to destroy our values, and wipe out our historical laws based on Christian ethics?

    2. An accurate observation when it comes to Ilhan Omar. Unfortunately there are plenty of people like her in UK politics. I trust they will be removed at the next G.E.

    1. Isn't a pedophile a foot fetishist?

      Paedophiles are those who sexually abuse children.

  13. If HMRC caught anyone other than a Labour politician trying to evade £40,000 in tax that person would be heavily fined and sent to prison. Ignorance is no defence in the face of the law for us normal people – why shouldn't it be for Rayner?

    Yet more two-tier justice!

  14. Trying to read letters at the Telegraph and getting this

    TELEGRAPH MEDIA GROUP HOLDINGS Ltd
    Access Restricted
    Thank you for your interest. Unauthorised access is prohibited. To access this content, you must have prior permission and a valid contract. Please contact our team at licensing@telegraph.co.uk to discuss licensing options.

    Reference ID: 0.6424c317.1757233410.c1d89df8

    Does anyone know what this is. Can't read any of the commentators either.

      1. Hi Storm! Yes I'm a subscriber and yes to your other remark. It has occurred to me that I might be being gagged because I am very blunt in what I say about controversial subjects, deliberately so, in order to push against the censorship rules so the're blocking my access. I use a VPN so, I wonder, is it they are blocking that?

        Solved problem. Changing country on the VPN did it. I wonder if this is going to be a game of catch up each time they figure out I'm using a VPN?

          1. Yep. I know what a VPN is but don’t understand how you can use one from another country.

          2. I have a subscription to protonmail, which includes proton vpn. I have the kill switch activated, which means my computer won't go onto the internet until the vpn is activated.
            There are various settings – you can connect to the nearest VPN server, or to a random country, or you can bring up the country list and select the country.
            You then get an encrypted connection to the VPN computer, and then it sends out your internet connection, but it looks as though it comes from the VPN computer.
            Occasionally you get a random ban on some website because some criminal has just used that vpn, you just switch to another vpn server if so.
            If you read the small print in protonmail, there are other variants, eg you can go via TOR, but they are slower.

            Protonmail does a free vpn service, you get a choice of 3 random countries each time you connect.

          3. You don’t. It is the receiver that thinks your’e in a different country. So, if I pick “Guatemala” the Telegraph computer thinks that I’m there. But you can switch countries at your leisure.

          1. See my other remarks to people Ndovu. I always use a VPN. Don’t start the day without being connected to Nord.

        1. Sometimes internet connection goes down. Try again in a little while, check your provider website (if you can).

          1. Hi KJ. Sorted it out by changing country on my VPN. God knows why that worked but it did.

          2. Good news…what was it set to, and what did you change it to please, johnathan? will tell him in the Workshop – thanks, Kate x

          3. Hi KJ. I had it set to the USA. So I Switched to England. Then I switched back to the USA and it worked! That may be because with the USA you can pick different cities. Which would indicate a different computer dialing in to the Telegraph.

          4. Good news. Things seemed to get mixed up yesterday connection wise – we were missing the emergency alert, for one thing. Good job not the real thing 😀

  15. Excuse me for saying this , but..

    Swapping Angela Rayner
    for David Lammy
    is like changing underpants you've p*ssed in to ones you've sh*t in..🧐

    1. The body graffiti on the arms of the woman police officer on the left of the photo tells us much about the sort of people who are recruited into the police 'service' today.

      1. If the tattooed were barred from police recruitment, the pool of eligible candidates would be more than halved. It saddens me that so many have resorted to body graffiti but the fact remains that the police would have a serious recruitment problem if they were excluded.

      1. 412385+ up ticks,

        Morning Pip,

        HIGH TREASON
        British police officers have just arrested a disabled senior citizen who happens to be a British veteran of the Royal Air Force for putting up a sign reading “I am against genocide.” I support the Palestinian action.

    2. How ridiculous can the people get who think they run this sadly now stupid country.
      They even got special constables more accustomed to wheel chair height. With their names on their arms.

  16. Well that's a surprise..

    Reform UK member Sarah White from Chigwell charged with flying a Union flag from the council offices was not.. [drumroll].. banned from the Reform Conference in Birmingham.

  17. Interesting letter and the image I have of lambs bursting out of blue plastic bags as they put on weight is mind boggling

    Eagle deterrent .

    SIR – When I was in the Highlands a few years ago, a farmer explained to me how she prevented golden eagles from preying on her lambs. She told me that she clothed the newborns in bright-blue plastic bags, which deterred the predators from attacking them. Eventually, after putting on weight, the lambs burst out of the bags, but by then they were too heavy for the birds to carry away.

    Would something similar not work for the foals that are falling prey to the white-tailed eagles on South Uist (“Eagles ‘snatching’ Shetland pony foals”, report, September 1)?

    John Lees
    Hove, East Sussex

    I was really thinking crisp packets with the little blue salt packet.

  18. Con Coughlin
    Defence and Foreign Affairs Editor
    06 September 2025 5:49pm BST
    Con Coughlin

    The changing of the guard at the Foreign Office, where the more measured figure of Yvette Cooper is replacing the hapless David Lammy as Foreign Secretary, should result in the Starmer government adopting a more balanced approach to its dealings with the Middle East. Cooper’s first tweet in her new role did repeat the Foreign Office’s discredited line about famine in Gaza, but that is hardly a surprise.

    From the moment Lammy took up his position at King Charles Street in the summer of 2024, his tenure has been marked by his vociferous anti-Israel stance, an attitude that has resulted in relations between London and Jerusalem reaching an all-time nadir.

    One of Lammy’s first acts as foreign secretary was to support spurious efforts by the International Criminal Court to prosecute Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu for war crimes.

    Taken at a time when the Israeli leader was involved in a brutal conflict against genocidal Hamas terrorists following the October 7 attacks in 2023, Lammy’s move was guaranteed to provoke a major diplomatic fall-out with the Israelis. It also became an unnecessary source of tension with the Trump administration.

    By throwing his weight behind ill-conceived efforts to demonise Netanyahu, Lammy was no doubt hoping to consolidate his standing among hard-Left Labour activists, whose hatred of Israel has resulted in accusations of blatant anti-Semitism.

    The reality, though, was that his stance caused a profound schism in UK-Israel relations, to the extent that the Israeli prime minister declined to meet the foreign secretary when he visited Israel last year.

    Subsequently, Lammy has responded to this diplomatic humiliation by maintaining his uncompromising stance on Israel, issuing a number of restrictions on UK arms exports to Israel and throwing his weight behind ill-conceived international efforts to formally recognise a Palestinian state before one has actually come into being.

    Nor have Lammy’s vehement anti-Israel policies only been a source of friction with Israel. His one-sided approach has meant that the UK has often found itself sidelined on some of the other major issues facing the Middle East region, such as curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions and confronting Islamist terrorism.

    It could well have been because of Lammy’s antics at the Foreign Office that the Trump administration kept Downing Street in complete ignorance about its plans to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities in the summer, an operation that has set back Tehran’s attempts to develop a stockpile of nuclear warheads by many years.

    Ms Cooper’s appointment to replace Lammy will raise hopes – both in London and Washington – that the Starmer government will adopt a more nuanced, and less confrontational, approach to the many complex challenges facing the modern-day Middle East.

    During her term as Home Secretary, one of Cooper’s more notable actions was her decision to proscribe the hard Left, anti-Israel group Palestine Action under anti-terrorism action.

    She also publicly defended the UK police authorities after more than 500 people were arrested in August after staging a Palestine Action protest outside parliament. Cooper said that many supporters of the group did not “know the full nature” of those running the group, insisting it was “not a non-violent organisation”.

    Cooper’s strong track record against anti-Israel groups acting outside the law stands in stark contrast to the extreme anti-Israel policies pursued by her predecessor.

    The hope now is that her appointment as Foreign Secretary will result in the Starmer government repairing relations with Israel. Starmer has an early test next week. Labour backbenchers are calling on the Prime Minister to refuse to meet Israeli President Isaac Herzog when he visits London next week. Cooper must advise him to ignore them.

    Chris OConnor
    3 min ago
    I don’t see Cooper changing the DNA of the FO, which is anti-Israel, and pro-Arab.

    It’s a shame really, but there we are.

    sc

    susan collins
    8 min ago
    That the Co-op can ban imports from Israel I find chilling, Who would ever think this could happen in the UK? and it happened under Lammy. What damage can he do now in his new role? edited

    1. Lammy was merely a foghorn for the Foreign Office.
      I wonder if the FO is as Muslimifucked as the Home Office.
      I suspect so, and that's on top of their traditional position as identified by Chris O'Connor

  19. Laura Kuenessberg sits and scowls at people who don't agree with her own opinions.
    Once again she had a pre loaded leftie guests arrangement.

    1. Cob the tv licence, Eddy…convert to subscription. I'm told the licence is for all terrestrial tv, so what…all subscription?

    2. BBC interviews, always so desperate to push how unbiased they are typically go like this:

      Leftist is introduced as 'academic/professor or 'thought leader' when is really a hard Left, Labour supporting, climate nutter unionist communist who's never had a job: Leftist gets 5 minutes of uninterrupted waffle time, with maybe 1 or 2 softball questions to reinforce their view.

      Righty is introduced as business man who recently made half his workforce redundant (from group of 2, and it was a retirement) and accused of something nefarious and evil. He starts speaking and is interrupted by interviewer 5 seconds in, with an affronting and diversionary question. Answers politely and continues. Is interrupted again with deliberately ad hom nonsense such as 'what about zee cheeldreeenn' or some stupid statement like 'so you want to kill the poor?' Rinse repeat for 5 minutes to ensure the Righty is never given a chance to present their argument.

      End with the Leftist for another minute of waffle, sum up with typical BBC farce such as 'this man wants to savce the world from your poison. What do you say to that?' and ask Righty begins to speak, cut him off with an 'we're out of time and see BBC wonk say 'So it's a choice between the planet and decency or the Far Right.'

      And Al Beeb proclaims it is fair by giving both sides equal time, but never equal opportunity.

  20. Good Morning!

    Today we ask A Dangerous Question for Dangerous Times: Would the British Army Turn Its Guns on the People? a question few want asked, let alone answered. But as the enmity between the Establishment and the People grows, it is becoming pertinent indeed. What do you think?

    Have you read the two short articles by Paul Sutton, the first asking WHO IS WORKING CLASS NOW? and giving examples of working classness and containing a really very good poem, the second Paul lamenting THE FALL OF A POLITICAL GIANT . Yes folk, he's talking about the Red Ripper, Angela Raynor!

    Energy Watch: Over the last 24 hours: Britain's average power requirement was 28.7 GW, sourced from Gas, 12.8%; Solar, 8.7%: Wind 42.5%; Imports, 16.6%; Biomass, 5.4%; Nuclear 11.6% and Miscellaneous, 2.7%. Look at the volatility: yesterday gas supplied 26.9% of our needs. Today it's only 12.8%. It's no way to build a reliable supply network.

    freespeechbacklash.com

  21. Good Morning!

    Today we ask A Dangerous Question for Dangerous Times: Would the British Army Turn Its Guns on the People? a question few want asked, let alone answered. But as the enmity between the Establishment and the People grows, it is becoming pertinent indeed. What do you think?

    Have you read the two short articles by Paul Sutton, the first asking WHO IS WORKING CLASS NOW? and giving examples of working classness and containing a really very good poem, the second Paul lamenting THE FALL OF A POLITICAL GIANT . Yes folk, he's talking about the Red Ripper, Angela Raynor!

    Energy Watch: Over the last 24 hours: Britain's average power requirement was 28.7 GW, sourced from Gas, 12.8%; Solar, 8.7%: Wind 42.5%; Imports, 16.6%; Biomass, 5.4%; Nuclear 11.6% and Miscellaneous, 2.7%. Look at the volatility: yesterday gas supplied 26.9% of our needs. Today it's only 12.8%. It's no way to build a reliable supply network.

    freespeechbacklash.com

    1. Graphology makes astrology look respectable. (I believe the French set great store by it.)

    2. Would Lady Victoria's conclusions match those or multiply them manyfold?

      I reckon he's the most brazen liar PM since Lloyd George..

      1. Does she exist though, Lewis? I don't recall seeing her for months. Dennis was often out and about with Maggie.

      2. One of his odder lies – in his profuse praise of the crooked Rayner – was he was proud of someone who had built one and a half million houses….

        Nothing like that has happened – just a vague "pledge".

      3. I don't know if he understands he is lying. I honestly don't believe he has the ability to distinguish reality from his own fictional narrative.

        It could be because these people surround themselves with those lying to them to disguise their own failure, to pretend that their socialist idiocy should be continued? It's incomprehensible given the obvious reality.

        Or maybe they're lying intentionally, knowing they're lying? Doing so to propagate their fiction as if it were truth?

        Goebbel's tried the same thing. In fact, almost all demented, insane, evil mass murdering Lefty dictators have done this.

    3. Would Lady Victoria's conclusions match those or multiply them manyfold?

      I reckon he's the most brazen liar PM since Lloyd George..

    4. I could see that a mile off.

      As I posted here two days ago:

      Send for the graphologist immediately – this is an emergency..

  22. Good morning, dear NoTTLers.

    Since the last enforced "alarm" that was blasted out on mobiles in this country some years ago, I have got a new mobile. I have forgotten what I did last time to avoid being blasted – there was a way one could disable it.

    Can anyone remember, please, or is there a new way of disabling it this time?

    Just seen, Oberst also wrote how to, below.

        1. Ok…we no longer have a landline, kept going down. Smart phones very useful keeping in touch…all the news too, say nothing of the apps Instagram etc….you might like it if you try it:-)

          1. Well, at Kings Lynn railway station, one can ONLY use the carpark by downloading an app on a mobile phone. No other payment is permitted.

          2. Good that one of you has, they’re not going anywhere anytime soon. The gift that keeps giving, Bill. Or annoying with constant dinging (but sound can be turned off, mine is.)

          3. Good point…above my paygrade, just asked and told ‘fibre optic’ from B4RN, very very fast’

          4. I don't have a landline either. My internet connection is via a modem with SIM card which uses the mobile network.

        2. but but how do you suppose you are going to create some fungible ERC20 tokens using the Ethereum blockchain to send some Tether to your non-custodial wallet?

      1. I wonder if soon it cannot be opted out of? Then what if it's a video message, to every TV, on every channel?

        Before you know it, we'll be wearing Guy Fawkes masks.

        Hell, we already have snoops 'fingermen' and a free speech suppression squad.

        1. It reminds me of the Eloi marching into the caves to be killed by the Morlocks on an "all clear", I think it was.

    1. My afternoon tea was disrupted by the cacophony. I eventually found out how to turn it off and so did the others after a while.

  23. Good morning, dear NoTTLers.

    Since the last enforced "alarm" that was blasted out on mobiles in this country some years ago, I have got a new mobile. I have forgotten what I did last time to avoid being blasted – there was a way one could disable it.

    Can anyone remember, please, or is there a new way of disabling it this time?

  24. Thought for the day..

    Import the third world, become the third world.
    Import the Tories, become the Tories.

    1. For some inexplicably perverse and incomprehensible reason Dorries lusts after Boris Johnson – Farage has made a very grave error welcoming her to the Reform Party.

      The reason Farage got rid of both Lowe and Habib was that he wanted no potential challenge to his leadership. Dorries clearly wants Boris Johnson in the Reform Party hoping that he will then supplant Farage.

      1. Exactly my thoughts, Rastus. Johnson was on GBN a few evenings ago, looking and sounding very pleased with himself. Something's going on.

        1. He, among many other politicians, has absolutely no reason to be pleased with him/her self!

          1. They are so fab, everything changed with warmer weather, now cooling – look forward to their return 🙂

      1. That's how it works. Boeing became McDonnel Douglas by buying the company and keeping it's management. Now Boeing is crap, too.

  25. Emergency Alert Drill

    I was making a hole in my fence yesterday to secure it.
    My battery powered drill alerted me by suddenly stopping when I realised that I should immediately cease what I was doing and go indoors to recharge it.

    Thank goodness we have a reliable electrical supply system.🤔

  26. https://davidturver.substack.com/p/offshore-wind-decommissioning-timebomb

    Water all over again. Utility bought by a foreign investor outside of a market, soaked for cash handed over by the government and at the end all costs born by the tax payer – again.

    Government really, really needs putting through a blender so it cannot dump this nonsense on the tax payer. If Miliband and the department personnel were made personally liable for life to two generations then they'd be far more careful with our money.

  27. Wandering about the garden just now, I observed three things.

    Those apple trees which are bearing fruit and LOADED.

    I haven't see so many acorns for at least 25 years. There are millions this year.

    We are plagued by moles working their "clever little tunnels" about one inch below the surface – thus large quantities of infuriating hillocks.
    This is a new tactic by the moles. G & P who, when younger, delighted in catching them have given up. Been there, done that, they hint.

    Nice and warm, to – looking forward to some useful work in t'garden after lunch.

      1. The three tiny pears I salvaged from the brash of the pear tree I rather drastically pollarded have ripened but a VERY astringent. However the one I actually tried has yielded five viable looking seeds so I think I will try planting them and see if the sprout.

        1. I took a couple of bags of pears to church for people to help themselves. I still have a lot left for home consumption.

          1. I did have plans to do a couple of out door jobs whilst the plums were simmering, but the rain has knocked that on the head, including tidying up round the stump of the tree I pruned. If you can call cutting an excess 20' of trunk off the thing "pruning"!!
            I've another two pears planted up the hillside, one of which might be better off being moved, and one still in a pot that I picked up on it's last legs at a VERY cut price from Morrison's, down to £3½ from £20, that has recovered quite well after being repotted.
            It had been repotted by someone in Morrison's and partnered by another sickly fruit tree, this time an apple, but it looks like that one is dead. However it's also been repotted in a fresh soil/compost mixture and will be left until next summer to see if anything comes of it.
            At the same time as I bought those two, I also picked up, again down to £3½ from £20, an apple that has recovered since being repotted. I plan planting it and the pear up the hill during the winter as well as a potted sweet chestnut sapling that is looking very healthy.

    1. I think the abundance of fruit is due to the fine spring which produced lots of blossom and a warm summer to ripen the fruit. Not a prediction for winter.

    1. I think the assumption is he actually had a plan beyond soundbites.

      Labour's intent, same as the Tories' was enforced decline and continued invasion. The criminal invaders could be turned back. It just takes political will. The economy could so easily be recovered and grow, but the state doesn't want that.

      The carnage and chaos is being forced on us deliberately. That's the real intent. Everything else is lies.

  28. Good afternoon. Not too bad with Wordle but weather misérable:
    Wordle 1,541 4/6
    ⬜🟨🟨⬜⬜
    ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨
    🟩🟨⬜🟨🟨
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Par four, too. Quite sunny here, but a nip in the air.
      Wordle 1,541 4/6

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

    1. Much like the Lords, the Left stack the deck.

      Which implies a huge concern with the entire state machine. It elects it's own so the entire lot must be Left wing. The public sector attracts such types who crave power without responsibility.

    2. The politicisation of the judiciary is turning out to be even more thorough than Tony and Cherie Blair expected it to be. They were ably assisted by (Lord) Charlie Faulkener (Glenalmond & Queen's Cambridge). Evil.

      1. 412385+ up ticks,

        Afternoon C1,
        I wonder is anthony, charlie, lynton, took the old beak with him, on cottaging expeditions ?

        1. Tony and Charlie shared a flat in London. They had met as teenage public schoolboys in Scotland (Fettes and Glenalmond respectively)

  29. Oh dear, whilst dealing with phone call from Stepson wanting more money, I realised it was raining, so got the Grad. Son to go up and bring in the washing I'd hung out earlier.
    I've my 2nd batch of plum jam boiling away at the moment. Hope it sets better than yesterdays batch.

      1. He has given me control of one of his accounts, what I refer to as his Reserve Account, into which I transfer his benefits every month.
        I then drip feed it back into his Spending Account so he does not run short of money, keeping an eye on his Gas & Electric accounts as I do so.

        He has taken back control of the reserve account a couple of times, but invariably comes back to asking me to take back control again as he can spend a whole months benefit in less than a couple of weeks.

  30. Quote of the Day

    Professor John Curtice is not sold on the reshuffle’s ability to fix growth:

    “Getting the economy growing, getting people to feel that they’re actually getting to be better off, that is still a central challenge, and a reshuffle is not going to change that.. The public have repeatedly said … that they don’t know what he stands for, and it’s the absence of a sense of direction, and therefore of leadership, that I think is one of the fundamental political reasons, at least, that the popularity of this government has fallen below any other newly elected government.”

    Let me tell you, Prof. We NoTTLers are quite sure the economy is going down the tubes.

    1. Oh, there's leadership and a direction. It's just leading in poverty, immiseration, debt, waste, suppression, oppression and socialism.

      All Labour intend to do is make everything fail to achieve their own ends.

  31. Dame Emily Thornberry laments 'things just don't seem to be working'.

    However, great news she's found out where the answers are.. "I think the answers are out there, but I think we need to continue to listen and learn from the public."
    'The last thing we want is to go from a position where it was thought we would be in for two terms to hand our country over to Farage.'

    Married to Lord Justice of Appeal Sir Christopher Nugee, sent her son to private school 14 miles from her home in Islington, and has a property portfolio of £4.6 million. LOL

    1. may as well move this comment here..

      Dame Emily Thornberry laments 'things just don't seem to be working'.

      However, great news she's found out where the answers are.. "I think the answers are out there, but I think we need to continue to listen and learn from the public."
      'The last thing we want is to go from a position where it was thought we would be in for two terms to hand our country over to Farage.'

      Married to Lord Justice of Appeal Sir Christopher Nugee, sent her son to private school 14 miles from her home in Islington, and has a property portfolio of £4.6 million. LOL

      Two terms! LOL
      It's a dead cert that Labour & The Tory parties are no more. Dead. Gone.

      The default position is a multi-decade civil war.. unless Farage undoes Blair. And he won't be doing that.

      1. Gosh, one might almost think that a Labour party that despises the St George cross and men who drive white vans can't make things work…

    2. A laughable joke. The last thing Labour ever do is listen to the public. Nuget has no intent of doing so either.

      Just another Lefty hypocrite.

        1. It's curious how sides are being taken in Ireland over the Middle East. The Irish government (and Sinn Fein) support the 'Palestinians' [sic] but do the ordinary Irish? Loyalists support Israel but throughout the whole island there is Loyalist and Republican opposition to mass immigration and, of course, some of those immigrants will be sympathetic to 'Palestine' [sic].

          It's a merry old jig, to be sure, to be sure.

          1. Dates back to the Crusades and beyond.
            In an over-generalised nutshell, Roman Catholic crusaders sacked Orthodox Christian Constantinople.
            The Muslims then took Constantinople, and the displaced Christians took a dislike to Catholics.
            Meanwhile the Catholics continued to blame the Jews for killing Jesus Christ, and for daring to charge them compound interest.
            When the Reformation started to spread its wings, Protestants, Jews and Orthodox Christians became some sort of eternal joint bogeyman for the Catholics.
            As Islam relentlessly oppressed the Jews, Catholics (may have) felt some empathy for Muslims. My enemy's enemy is my friend, etc.

  32. We had our morning walk , warm weather blue sky , and looking inland , there were stormy clouds , but none where we were.

    There were several enthusiastic bird watchers , and a couple of lovely elderly widowed men who were spending a week down this way from Walsall .. they were amusing and just so full of humour .. and jokingly said , you will remember us , we are the only white blokes you will meet from the Birmingham area .

    They were lovely and warm hearted , with gentle voices , no snarling or anything like that, tall and good looking .. but they both agreed they could have thrown a brick at the current Labour bunch , who they agreed were clueless , and blamed all past and present politicians for mucking up the UK with migrants .

    They both had had businesses , and yes , the one I was chatting to had had a tool making company , and he laughed at Starmer and his daft repetitive rants about his toolmaker father.

    The problem with tool making companies he said is the reliance on repetitive stuff from China , and cheap Chinese steel , and the fragility and lack of longevity with equipment , which apparently his company had to correct and repair .

    He suggested that all these warships will end up with huge problems because of the lack of skills amongst the workforce .. and the government will look for the cheapest shoddiest option.

    Well from birdwatching to politics, I guess they thought we were soft protected Southerners , who have no idea what is going on in the old industrial belt of GB ..

    Then the subject wound round to the illegals , and hotels and HMO's in their area , their opinion was all darkies have sex on their minds the minute they land in the UK , and will do sex thing with anything .. it seems the law is on the side of migrants ..

    Life sounds terrible for many, how dare politicians crucify the lives of good people , the spreading migrant problem is like a plague , something that spread so rapidly like Covid .

    I feel deeply disturbed and anxious when nice people tell us about life like that , why doesn't the media talk more , and act ?

    1. Complicity, Belle. The media exist in much the same bubble as the statists. They're all mostly metropolitian, Left wing. Look at how GB News has been treated by OFCOM. Yet more desperate control freakery to suppress any dissenting voice. They can't stand it.

      Like the incestuous FT, OBR, Wash Post, Treasury they all recruit from one another, all get and give the same posts on the same bigwig boards. All for saying the right things to the right people.

    1. I'd like to esnd Jezzbollah there, and all the fellow traveller Leftists. They never want to live in a real communist country. I assume that's because they like eating food.

      Odd that Labour are doing everything possible to turn the UK into a communist country with it's moronic industrial policies – which destroy industry, food policy – which says not to grow food, energy policy, which sets about destroying energy generation…

      The list goes on.

    1. Ah well, a bigoted racist, Britain hating Lefty who loves muslim and wants the pollution here.

      She'll fit right in to the home office.

  33. One of the funniest articles ever published in the Speccie…

    John McTernan
    Starmer has played this reshuffle well
    6 September 2025, 2:19pm

    Keir Starmer knows not to waste a crisis. The loss of Angela Rayner has been a huge blow to his government. She was the most charismatic politician on the front bench of the Labour government. Her ability to go toe to toe with populist politicians was a huge asset, particularly as the relentless rise of Reform continues. And on the backbench she will still be one of the most charismatic politicians in the country.

    Yet the waters close swiftly over former politicians as Keir Starmer’s ruthless reshuffle shows. There was an elegance in the moves that reflected deep thought about the shape of the cabinet that the Prime Minister wanted. This is the real reset moment, not the shakeup in the No. 10 staff. This is not a shift to the right as some have suggested – the soft left policies of rail nationalisation, climate transition, and employment rights remains. This is an elevation of the doers, fixers and communicators.

    Two ‘ministers for the Today programme’ – the politicians sent out by No 10 on the stickiest days because they never slip up – are now in cabinet. Darren Jones, recently appointed to the new role of Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister, is now Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster: a vacancy that was created by the elevation of Pat McFadden, former Political Secretary to Tony Blair, to the cabinet to run a new super-ministry combining the Department for Work and Pensions with responsibility for skills transferred from the Department for Education. This gives him the scope to come back to the vexed issue of welfare reform by showing that there are successful routes back into work for those on sickness benefits. Though top of his agenda will be lifting the two-child limit, which has to happen because otherwise this would be the first Labour government not to cut child poverty.

    The elevation of David Lammy to Deputy Prime Minister is a clear recognition of his central role in the undoubted success this Labour government has had abroad. Lammy’s clear doctrine of ‘progressive realism’ has given a North Star to every aspect of foreign policy. Internationally, Keir Starmer, John Healey and David Lammy have always sought to engage with the world as it really is, but always worked – at CHOGM, in NATO, with the EU – to make it a better one. Now he has to articulate a similar through line in domestic policy which has so far lacked a reform principle that could unite health reform, welfare reform, prison reform, education reform, and local government reform. Without a framing principle, domestic policy has floated unmoored. Lammy’s elevation to this position also gives him a platform to challenge the divisive racialisation of politics by both the Tories and Reform.

    Success on the international stage – where he is highly respected – is a clear reason why Douglas Alexander was promoted from Minister for Trade Policy and Economic Security to Secretary of State for Scotland. He is a heavy hitter and former cabinet minister from the New Labour and is just the type of ‘wartime consigliere’ needed as Labour in Scotland face a threat from two types of nationalism – traditional Scottish nationalism and Reform’s British nationalism which is surging in popularity.

    All the other cabinet moves strengthen the roles of those who can ‘grip’ issues and lead. Steve Reed, successful reformer as a modernising council leader in London, takes on the housing ministry where he has to turbocharge the progress made in deregulation. His priority will be solve the stalling of housebuilding in London which will mean addressing the sclerotic bureaucracy of the new Building Safety Regulator and the cost burdens of other policies such as the hastily adopted ‘two staircase’ one.

    Peter Kyle’s success in Science and Technology is recognised with a move to run the whole of government’s industrial strategy. Shabana Mahmood has long wanted to run the Home Office and now has a chance to shine. Her seriousness on crime will be reassuring to the working-class voters Labour has lost to both Reform and independents, but her test will be delivering on irregular migration. She showed decisiveness and operational skill when dealing with the prison overcrowding crisis she inherited from the Tory government. Now she must show she can control the boats. The framework is in place thanks to the work done with France by Yvette Cooper who has been promoted to Foreign Secretary where she has the opportunity to become the Margaret Beckett of this government.

    This is an invigorating reshuffle. A difficult hand has been played well by No. 10, with a stronger cabinet emerging. As his biographer Tom Baldwin has observed it has always been Keir Starmer’s way to get things right second time. So, this is truly Phase 2 of the Labour government – and with elections in London, Wales and Scotland next May in less than a year there be a referendum on how well the changes have gone.

    Written by
    John McTernan was political secretary to Tony Blair

    ****************************************

    Trojan
    a day ago edited
    Were you drunk when you wrote this or is it satire?
    Darren Jones is the man who said that the majority of boat people were women and children. Lammy success abroad – what are you thinking?
    This is a very embarrassing admission that Starmer’s first choices for his cabinet were useless and this is a desperate attempt to stir up his team.
    Definitely up there as one of the worst articles ever written here but then I see that you were connected with Blair so obviously have no connection with reality.

    William Doonan Trojan
    a day ago
    Angela Rayner one of the most charismatic politicians in the country?

    Which country’s that?

    MikeBrighton William Doonan
    a day ago edited
    I can still never forget her ‘we need that moneh’ incident with Andrew Neil who patiently eviscerated her.

    Julia H MikeBrighton
    21 hours ago
    My toes still curl just thinking about that interview.

    Exonian
    a day ago
    This must be the funniest article the Spectator has run in years. Comedy gold.

    Spectator User Exonian
    21 hours ago
    And contender for the best joke of the year:

    “The elevation of David Lammy to Deputy Prime Minister is a clear recognition of his central role in the undoubted success this Labour government has had abroad“

    Nicola Grevatt Spectator User
    21 hours ago edited
    I know – that almost made me pee myself. Whatever McTernan’s on, I want some!

      1. I read a recent article in the Dreary Mirror by some clown called Kevin Maguire. Almost identical left wing drivel. Do they really believe the baloney they have written or is it a CV application for employment at the BBC? Either way they should be locked up and given treatment for mental impairment.

    1. "…delivering on irregular migration…"

      In only four words, two sins against language and good sense.

      1. I couldn't quite make it out earlier today on Facebook it showed an old guy in a wheelchair wearing his service medals being lifted out and carried off for supposedly holding a placard that mentioned treason.

      2. Well, they are, I suppose.

        Every day they deliver criminal gimmigrants on us. If that's not highly irregular I don't know what is.

        This won't stop, you know. The invasion will be forced on us until the entire state machine has it's face smacked into the pavement, nose broken and bloody, eye socket cracked, lip bleeding, teeth shattered and still it will sneer and snarl that we deserve it ass revenge for Brexit.

    2. Not bad.. right up there with his New Statesman article.

      Tractor production up 45% Glorious DEI dimocracy Five Year Plan bountiful success many wheat strong NHS workers rejoice.
      by John McTernan

  34. 412385+ up ticks,

    I do believe that we should enjoy the luxury of believing for a short while the TOOL was doing something right to benefit these Isles when in reality it was for training purposes.

    When the alarm goes off it will shock many living fraudulently on state benefits whilst standing up to their lower lip in warm comforting shite, as it signifies
    douse those king eddies its " back on your head time "
    the new found Kapos ( another 1000 just landed) will be in close attendance.

    1. OOh Well I think we will make if after all.
      The ioreish are getting a good thrashing in the rugby by the kiwi girls in Brighton.

      1. Me too, Sue. I didn't buy a phone in order that the govt can think it can attempt to instil fear in my heart. However, our son's and his wife's phone went off whilst we were sitting round the table.

      2. Me too, Sue. I didn't buy a phone in order that the govt can think it can attempt to instil fear in my heart. However, our son's and his wife's phone went off whilst we were sitting round the table.

      1. My birthday list says Conway's birthday is on September 9th – is this correct? I don't have the year?

        I have posted the Birthday List above. Please let me know if there are any errors?

        1. That’s correct. I had a premature celebration because I have to attend a meeting on the day itself.

  35. PLEASE CHECK THIS LIST FOR ERRORS AND OMISSIONS & AND PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU WANT TO BE ADDED OR TAKEN OFF

    02 January – 1947 : Poppiesmum
    08 January – 1941 : Rough Common
    09 January – **** : thayaric
    10 January – 1960 : hopon
    16 January – 1941 : Legal Beagle
    18 January – 1963 : Stormy
    23 January – 1951 : Damask Rose
    23 January – 1960 : Kifaru
    27 January – 1948 : Citroen 1

    10 February -1949 : Korky the Kat (Dandy Front Pager)
    11 February- 1964 : Phizzee
    22 February- 1965 : AW Kamau
    22 February- 1951 : Grizzly (Alan/George)
    24 February- 1941 : Sguest
    28 February- 1956 :Jeremy Morfey
    28 February- 1944: Per

    02 March- **** : Garlands
    05 March—– 1957 : Sue MacFarlane
    08 March—– 1957 : Geoff Graham
    26 March—– 1962 : Caroline Tracey
    27 March—– 1947 : True Belle aka Maggiebelle aka The golf widow
    27 March—– 1941 : Fallick Alec

    19 April——- 1954 : Devonian in Kent
    22 April——–1950 :Jay Sands
    26 April——- **** : Harry Kobeans

    06 May———1949 Dave Sergeant
    18 May———****: Hertslass
    24 May——– 1944 : Sir Jasper (NoToNanny) (Tom)

    01 June——- 1952 Bob of Bonsall
    02 June——–1939: Clydesider
    08 June——– **** : Still Bleau
    09 June——- 1947 : Johnny Norfolk
    09 June——– 1947 : Horace Pendleton
    23 June——– 1961 : Oberstleutnant (Paul)
    25th June——-1952 : Corimmobile
    01 July———-1946: Rastus C Tastey (Richard)
    12 July——— 1956 : David Wainwright/Stigenace
    18 July——— 1941: lacoste
    19 July——— 1948: Ndovu (jules)
    21 July———-1960: Made in Britain
    26 July——— 1936 : Delboy
    29 July———- 1944 : Lewis Duckworth
    30 July———- 1946 : Alf the Great

    01 August—— 1950 : Datz
    03 August—— 1954 : molamola
    10 August—— 1967 : ourmaninmunich
    18 August—— **** : ashesthandust (Katy)
    19 August——- 1951 : Hugh Janus

    04 September- 1948 : Joseph B Fox
    07 September- 1946 : Araminta Smade (Mighty Minty)
    09 September ———: Conway (Connors)
    11 September- 1947 : Peter Anderson (ex peddytheviking)
    12 September- 1946 : Ready Eddy (ex Eh Calm Down)
    13 September- **** : Anne Allan (The Pushy Nurse)
    15 September- **** : veryoldman
    26 September- **** : Feargal the Cat
    30 September 1944 : One Last Try

    07 October—– 1960 : Bob 3
    11 October—– 1944 : Hardcastle Craggs
    25 October—– 1955 : Sue Edison
    26 October——-1948: Jonathan Rackham

    12 November- ***** : Cochrane
    14 November 1955: James Gatehouse

    01 December– 1956 : Sean Stanley-Adams
    06 December– 1943 : Duncan Mac
    10 December– **** : Audrey, Me, & Dunster
    16 December– **** : Plum
    21 December– 1945 : Elsie Bloodaxe
    (E&OE)

    (Last Updated : 21/01/25)

          1. Did he die on May the 4th? The list you reproduced above suggested his birthday was May the 24th.

        1. Tom died early this year.
          I remember getting a call from his mobile, and being delighted that he was calling, only to find it was Judith calling to announce his passing.
          That was a bad day. RiP, Tom, man.

          1. Sorry Bob. I posted and a mod put it up as a banner for the day.

            I know you have family difficulties you have to deal with so no surprise you missed the post.

            Our friend Jill Earley AKA Garlands died 25th August 2025.

            Her funeral is at St Mary’s Church Wollaston on the 25th September.

            I would type more but snot and tears wont stop

  36. We are giving away an old table. So far, one person has said 'interested'. All lower case, nothing else.

    Their next post was 'how much', all lower case. It's free, you blithering cretin fool. Can you not read? No introduction, no comprehension. Just a thick, annoying idiot.

          1. Should be a greater handicap then…!
            I am not as sympathetic as that comment could have been read…it is inexcusable to live in a country and not bother to speak its language. Unfortunately, that includes many Britons abroad.

    1. Gosh – just imagine all those buildings filled with the very much needed economic migrants…..

    2. The water close to the horizon is the top end of the Oslofjord.
      When we moved here, 20 years ago, it was a charming little town with lots of white wooden houses and a few low-rise blocks. Now it's like a mouth filled with broken teeth.

    1. The article is right up to the point of people fighting back. We are, but the state is pushing back harder. The entrenched racist Left are desperate to set their own narrative and the media are compliant with that.

      Only when the group out number the leftists and plod 5:1 or more will the farce begin to end. Leftists are cowards, and being forced to realise they're an irrelevant minority will send them running. No doubt plod will kick off at Starmer's demand but that'll just create even more of a backlash.

      There are not enough plod to stop everyone – but what's the end result? Tearing the dindus apart limb from limb? It won't stop the state pouring ever more of the vermin on us.

      1. Given what the Tories did and didn't do for 14 years i would say she is planning more of the same. Farage won't be any better.

        1. Agree. Have come to conclusion Civil Service run everything, permanently. Think a chap called Wormald or similar the real PM.

          1. Or 70%. It's not as if there seem to be many brakes of them. Perhaps the remaining % are pathetic lefties who just go along with it all.

          2. Getting in to key positions is what they are doing. Doesn't matter how few of them there are when they control the levers of power.

          1. Anyone who keeps banging on about her Biafran heritage……(yawns – and votes for someone else…)

  37. Wordle No. 1,541 3/6

    ⬜🟨⬜🟨🟨
    ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    Wordle 7 Sep 2025

    Keynote for Birdie Three?

    1. I’ve had a bad day but I did manage a par.

      Wordle 1,541 4/6

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

        1. Bad health. Side effects of opioid painkillers. I won’t elaborate but the pain is intense.

          1. I hope it will ease over the coming days. When you are able. Movement will help. Don't try to run a marathon but gentle walking back and forth.
            I am not qualified to give advice but the cardio works better if it is made to work.

            So sorry to hear you are in pain.

          2. Wasn't sure whether to gine thumbs up or down vis a vis the pain.
            Hope you get relief from it soonest. Can't take it, me.

    2. Pick an option, any option – no not that one. So another par.

      Wordle 1,541 4/6

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

    3. Well done. Good starter word leads to a straightforward birdie – about bloody time!

      Wordle 1,541 3/6

      🟩⬜⬜🟨🟩
      🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    4. Well done. Similar here.

      Wordle 1,541 3/6

      ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨
      ⬜🟨⬜🟨🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

        1. I have become lazy. When the housework needs doing i call the cleaner. When the garden needs putting to bed i call the gardener.

          1. What do you mean, I don't pay her? That's a hate crime – five armed police are on their way.

          2. I only call Deliveroo for fags, booze, drugs and prostitutes.

            Never for a takeaway. I do have standards !

        2. 15 years here and have had a good time of it, despite a heart attack causing the early retirement.

        3. 13 years from the 'day job'. I retire as a church organist in three weeks, as was announced today. Not entirely happy about that, but… church politics*. I've being doing it in a number of churches since I was 14, so perhaps i'm due a change.

          *Think Westminster politics, but dirtier… 😊

          1. Sorry that you feel pushed out, Geoff. That's not good. Hope that means you will have time for other projects & organs… if you see what I mean!

          2. I have plans, Paul…

            Guildford is seven minutes away by train. The Cathedral perches atop Stag Hill, which may as well be a bloody mountain.

            A shorter walk from the station is St Nicholas. Spiky Anglo-Catholic it may well be, but I’m cool with that. I’ve watched a few of their services on YouTube. They have a decent organ and a choir. They seem OK to me.

            But, after 54 years of being chained to a village/suburbam organ, I’m keen to experience church music “as it should be done”.

            So, perhaps once a month, I’ll book a Saturday night in a Travelodge, and enjoy Cathedral worship the following morning.

            Much of my social life has been involved with the Church for a long time.

            A reset is in order…

          3. I’m OK, Paul. The parish is on its knees, financially. Since much of my social life is involved with my “soon to be former” church, I merely need to find another one. I have one in mind.

  38. That's me for today. An agreeable one. Useful gardening done.

    Have a jolly evening.

    A demain.

  39. I am confused , what is the difference between deputy leader and deputy prime minister , what was Raynor and what is Lammy , and why is everyone fighting for deputy leader position .

    Was Raynor deputy leader as well as deputy prime minister .. sorry to sound fick!

    1. By the 'laws/constitution' of the Labour Party, the Deputy Leader of the Party is elected by the Laboiur Party membership. The Deputy Prime Minister (of a Labour government) is appointed by the PM. It's asking for trouble if the PM does not appoint the DL as his deputy PM.

      The Tories have no such arrangement. Reform will be dissolved by Farage if any attempt is made not to crown Farage as King of Everything for Ever. That was Nagsman's opinion of Farage and I concur with her.

        1. Dwang, Maggie? I've only ever encountered the word as a Scots version of 'noggin'. Hence at Borders General Hospital, we had a carpenter who specialised in inserting noggins, universally known as "Derek Dwang". And an assistant in the QS department who measured them, called "Ann Dwang"…

    2. It's quite simple, Belle.

      Just chant after me…

      Starmer is a wanker

      and Lammy is a plank.

      Rayner is the odd one out because she's a total cunt.

    3. "I am confused , what is the difference between deputy leader and deputy prime minister"

      Same single digit IQ but a different badge on their chests?

      (Edited badge from star.)

    4. Is it important? Knowing the difference has no effect on me because I have no say or influence.

    1. Yes, it was mentioned on the BBC website weather forecast that I watched after lunch. It's just a normal total lunar eclipse.

      1. Interesting though, the sort of thing that kids should see to gain some perspective of our planet and solar system.

      1. Rises about 7:30 in the east, 7:55 in the west but totality is visible only briefly in the east.

    2. Total eclipse. The sun behind the planet and the moon on the other side. I think. Should be a good view if you have a clear sky.

          1. And it's only just September.
            Our floor warmers have been on a while, and I could smell that someone had lit a fire earlier today.
            Going to be a hard winter, I fear.

          2. I know. That’s why I’m burning off cuts and a bit of coal rather than putting the heating on. It just needs the chill taken off.

          3. I was uncomfortably hot and sweaty earlier today. Even now, I wish it were cooler. I cannot wait for autumn's proper arrival, if only not to saturate any shirt I wear. I do not anticipate switching on any heating for at least another month.

          4. I remarked in church this morning that I always feel the cold, so when other people are in shorts and tee shirts, I'm usually wearing a jacket and/or a pullover.

    3. The Moon passed through Earth's shadow, giving it a reddish appearance, hence the soubriquet, 'Blood Moon'. It was most visible close to the horizon between about 7 and 9 pm towards the East. A clear sky and an elevated vantage point offered the best view. Neither were available at my time and place, so I missed it, much to my disappointment.

      1. I have never used that word in my life, and I absolutely hate it. I heard it from a mother in the playground when I took the boys to school! 😱

        1. I know. I have also noticed how roughened Nottlers have become over the years.

          Daily Telegraph readers who would never use such vulgar language do now.

      2. We noticed. The "Norty Words filter" is turned off here. I spent my working life in construction, so nothing shocks me. And I've issued quite a few C-words, etc. But there's a time and a place. Only this morning, I conversed with an MBE, a former High Sheriff (and current Deputy Lieutenant) and a High Court judge. Sosraboc's 'handle' sums them all up pefectly well. But one grits one's teeth, smiles, and converses with them. That's life.

        1. In the vein of Julie Waters as Mrs Payne. She had it right then and now it is much worse.

          My dear Geoff. Try working as a Waiter. I give you Blair's Down and out in London and Paris.

  40. Well, chums, my first post this morning said that I had lots to do and was full of energy. However, as Robbie Burns once said. "the best laid plans of mice and men gang aft agley". Somehow I have done virtually nothing today but sleep and feel exhausted. Drat and Double Drat! Now I'm off to bed again. See you all tomorrow.

  41. Well, chums, my first post this morning said that I had lots to do and was full of energy. However, as Robbie Burns once said. "the best laid plans of mice and men gang aft agley". Somehow I have done virtually nothing today but sleep and feel exhausted. Drat and Double Drat! Now I'm off to bed again. See you all tomorrow.

    1. Sleep is good. Refreshes the parts other actions cannot reach.
      Dont stress.
      Sees i morgen, Elsie. Sov godt!

      1. I'll be orrff soon. I've got to get up early to put our car in for a full service.
        And walk home.
        We had a walk in the woods this afternoon. Feeling it now.
        Popping off in 20 minutes.
        Good night all Nottlers sleep well.
        😴

      1. Tired Nature's sweet restorer, balmy sleep,
        He, like the world, his ready visit pays
        Where fortune smiles: the wretched he forsakes,
        And lights on lids unsullied by a tear.

        [Edward Young]

    1. Been a couple of times to Dublin…
      Once on a Rugby Tour
      Once on a Stag do
      Memories of both are clouded by the haze of alcohol……
      Brilliant place though!

        1. I would suspect about 25% of the time – the other 75% was spent drinking.. there's nothing that can beat a pint of Guinness in Ireland, although it takes them a bloody age to pour it….
          On the Rugby tour we went south to play against a side called Young Munster (sounds like a junior team doesnt it?) but turned out to be a top Irish side with a couple of Irish internationals playing.
          They had a pretty big grandstand and a crowd of several hundreds. We lost by 20 odd points.

          1. Yes, they were a great bunch of lads and we didnt take any shite from anyone.

            The worst thing was that our President, who was a highly respected solicitor by trade, insisted on walking around Dublin in a Bowler Hat, with all the symbolism that implies. There were a few tense situations but we got out alive!

          2. I have been in catering all my life and had the pleasure of the odd rugby club doooos.

            My staff were for the most part safe but…a Bowler?

          3. One glass of Guinness makes me feel stuffed. I don't much like the taste of it and I feel bloated afterwards. I'm not willing to go to the time and expense of discovering whether it's better in Ireland.

          4. To be honest I dont particularly like, or drink, Guinness here – but I can promise you that it is totally different in Ireland, very smooth – but if, fundamentally, you dont like it, you still wont like it!
            I wouldnt advocate going to Ireland just to taste the Guinness, but if you ever do find yourself in the Emerald Isle – and it's a great place to visit – then make sure you do try it!

          5. That's why you ask for two pints to statrt, so you can order the third when you finished the first, and the flow isn't interrupted.

  42. I had to laugh earlier the bbc antiques road show in Rochdale. I don't think it worked out quite as well as they might have expected for that area. If you get my drift……

      1. Yes your right, I'm sure I did hear something mentioned about Rochdale, its only 30 miles away.

  43. I cleaned up my laptop, and once again I had to sign back into everything .. X is being difficult, my old Twitter account which I had subscribed to when Twitter first started was signed in on an email that no longer exists , my X sign in has always been difficult because of an email I have used for probably five years or more .. I am so frustrated because x say I am not me !

    1. I tried to cash in a few thousand Premium Bonds using my iPhone and was thwarted at every attempt by the NS&I App. I eventually worked out that I had to bypass the bot on the helpline and insist on speaking to a person.

      Fortunately I had exhausted my many expletives on the bot before calming myself.

      I was able to conduct the transaction by speaking to a real person without resort to the App.

      I do wonder whether some of these organisations delight in making things difficult for ordinary folk. There are just so many obstacles such as timing out, # keys not working, passwords having to be reset and bloody PIN numbers changed. They say it is for security reasons but I have my doubts believing instead that the many questions are merely intended to garner more personal information.

      I remain a conspiracy theorist for the simple reason that my every conspiracy has proven right from the Covid jabs to the flu jabs and beyond.

      1. Totally agree, something has gone terribly wrong all round, the smart are says have shoved a huge spanner in the works.

    2. We are having the same problem with virgin media. They are an absolute nightmare. There's no way to get in touch with them to speak about the problems. I've written to their complaints department. Had a letter back but no further action. I've sent an email to our politician. She has reacted and VM came back with excuses. Hopefully she will sort it out soon so we can change our supplier.

  44. Reform UK, despite years of publicity, endless television appearances, and multiple elections, took five and a half years to get to 30,000 subscribers. Advance UK has done it in a little over eight weeks.

    It is a movement that draws its strength not from Westminster, but from the towns and villages, the cities and counties, where Britain’s true heart beats.
    They are not following a personality cult. They are rallying to a cause: the restoration of a proud, independent, prosperous, sovereign United Kingdom.

    On the 27th of this month in Newcastle, Advance UK will formally launch as a registered political party.

    1. Reform hasn't been in existence for " five and a half years".

      Are 'subscribers' the same as paying members?

      As of today, 204,306 people are paying members of Reform UK.

      "Reform UK, despite years of publicity, endless television appearances, and multiple elections, took five and a half years to get to 30,000 subscribers. Advance UK has done it in a little over eight weeks."

      "On 4 January 2021 the party's name change to Reform UK was approved by the Electoral Commission."

  45. No eclipse visible here because of the low cloud, though the rising land behind the house would probably have blocked it anyway. However, the muggy air has passed and now there's now a clear sky and a sparkling full moon with just a few little lumps of cloud passing across it.

    It might be 11pm but the back door's open and the fresh air is flowing in…

    1. At the bottom of the Tamar valley here, we saw no eclipse. By the time the Moon was visible it was full again. A cool and pleasant night hopefully.

    2. Being in a valley, the Moon was not visible here until long after the eclipse, but it certainly was clear through the night.

  46. The fire has died down, so I'm off to bed. So far I have resisted filling a hot water bottle, but it came close last night! Goodnight, all.

    1. Morning DB and BB, I’m just waiting for Monday’s NoTTL to open so that I can be first in.

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