Tuesday 15 April: The Church of England must face the cold reality of its net zero drive

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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506 thoughts on “Tuesday 15 April: The Church of England must face the cold reality of its net zero drive”

  1. Good morning, chums. And thanks, Geoff, for this morning's new NoTTLe site.

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    1. Good morning Elsie and all
      Your third guess must have been pretty creative!
      Wordle 1,396 4/6

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      1. My standard starter word includes every vowel except for E and the vowel-like sounding Y, so my second word included one of those two (but at the end of the word, which was in the wrong place). So on my third attempt I tried a word which moved it to a different place and included two other letters. Miraculously, this gave me two more letters placed correctly in third and fourth position, plus one which, since it was not at the end of the word, just had to be my second letter. Hence the solution was easy to find.

  4. Good morning all.
    An overcast but milder start to the day with a tad under 8Ā°C on the thermometer and an intermittent light drizzle.

    1. There is a path between the feminist takeover of the law and fat rats. This strike would not have happened were it not for the dinnerladies and their team of lawyers (who themselves grew considerably fatter than cats over it) bankrupting the city.

      1. There is more to it than that. If the equality legislation hadnā€™t been framed in such a way as to allow the grounds for dispute it would not have happened. As usual it goes back to government.

        1. Sadly, it also goes back to 14 years of the Conservatives being too wet to amend/repeal the act.

      2. There is more to it than that. If the equality legislation hadnā€™t been framed in such a way as to allow the grounds for dispute it would not have happened. As usual it goes back to government.

    3. "Oooh, look. I've just found Fatima. Silly girl. Shame about the honour killing."

    1. There needs to be an additional character for this cartoon for it to work for me. To the right of the demure and modestly dressed lady is a swarthy character with a black bin liner to place over her to preserve her modesty and to stop her seeing what is going on. Then Miliband can plonk his device on her head.

      P.S. Isn't bin Liner a Saudi prince who set up a shipping company for black cargo that matters?

  8. Morning, all Y'all.
    Grey, chilly, raining. Many of the forest fire warnings have disappeared overnight, thank goodness!

    1. Good morning, Paul. The rain which will fall for most of this morning will enable me to use the lawn edging tool in my garden this afternoon to tidy up the edges of my back lawn more easily than the back-breaking chore I found it to be a couple of days ago. I did no gardening yesterday because I went with around 50 – an amazingly high number – of other Seniors to watch MR BURTON at my local Curzon cinema. I can highly recommend it.

  9. Starmer Refuses to Delegate Power to Rayner While on Holiday

    It was confirmed today that Starmer is now abroad on holiday for ā€œa few days.ā€ Shtum on whereā€¦

    There are no plans for pictures ā€“ Keir and co are said to have flown commercially and privately paid for travel. Labour PMs have form when it comes to delegation of powers during a holiday. Tony Blair, for example, handed powers to John Prescott in 1998 and Gordon Brown to Harriet Harman in 2009. Not so much faith in the DPM this time roundā€¦

    No responsibilities have been delegated to Deputy PM Angela Rayner and normal ā€œarrangements are in placeā€ involving no temporary cession of responsibility to Ange. Not that she has an office or staff which could take overā€¦

    In previous cases the DPM would just work in No 10 while the boss was on a foreign beach. Keir locked the door on his way outā€¦

    April 14 2025 @ 17:13

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

    Sir Jimmy Savile OBE
    13h
    Sir Keir told me they did actually leave her in charge once, last summer, but when he found out she was using the nuclear codes as her lottery numbers, he decided never again.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f5241a9017bc176c7a6f2564440c3915043cad9b9699292e6b05d6de320a9964.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/af1f37d1e4b71a435e7d03db8b757d4c78d73701fdb983cf0250c2c6a21fd7b7.png
    Shaitan šŸ‘æ
    Massey Ferguson
    10h
    Vote Labour…
    The party of honesty and integrity.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/aa369861bc1a96fec3a7a1547c5f93dfe4c360833fc4b22f55cb4b8cc854e6d1.png

      1. Its now 12C stopped raining and brightening up… Empty of customers at Sainsbury so easy shop

  12. The Grimes

    Labour backed Chinese investment in critical UK infrastructure
    Ed Miliband promised ā€˜close co-operationā€™ with Beijing a month before the government wrested control of British Steel from Jingye

    Steel war shows extent of Chinaā€™s grip on UKā€™s critical infrastructure
    Jingyeā€™s actions in Scunthorpe serve as a warning to the government to distance itself from Beijing

    2. This applies to the Americans too…

      At what point do treaties based on commercial contracts and business interests take precedence over national security? I doubt either Washington or Beijing would be prepared to compromise their capacity to defend their land from a prospective foe in order to preserve the fortunes of the favoured, however important they are.

    3. It's our last two governments that have wrecked this country's industries.
      This country was built on coal.
      It's still there under the solar panels and windmills built in China.

      1. Morning Ellie šŸ˜Š
        At one stage the experimental wind Mills were being built at a factory in the Isle of Wight. But one of our own political classes had family contacts in Denmark and the rest of the windmills have been made there.

  13. The ships crucial to saving Britainā€™s steel industry. 15 April 2025.

    The scramble has become bound up with the passage of two ships carrying fuel for the countryā€™s last remaining blast furnaces in Scunthorpe: Amstel Tiger and Navios Alegria. Without the safe arrival of their cargo, the Lincolnshire plant could fall silent.

    The vessels are understood to be laden with almost 100,000 tonnes of coking coal ordered by British Steel to feed Scunthorpeā€™s furnaces, which once extinguished are almost impossible to restart.

    Lol. Only the UKā€™s Political Elites could have engineered a UK without coal.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/04/14/the-ships-crucial-to-saving-britains-steel-industry/

    1. "Scunthorpeā€™s furnaces, which once extinguished are almost impossible to restart." – yes, because once they start to cool, the firebrick lining will contract, crack up and collapse into the centre of the furnace. This means they would need rebuilt before being relit, and the relighting is a lengthy process as it needs done slowly so the expansions can be accommodated. So, more correctly, delete the word "almost".

      1. Morning Obs, funny you should mention that. Back in the day, around 1975 my business partner and I went to the Scunthorpe steel works to help replace a damaged nose arch in one of the rolling Mills. The furnace had been off for 10 days and the floor was still very hot. It took around three days. But we managed the job. When we had finished the new timber formwork, we were approached by a union rep asking to see our membership documents. Ian booted it as we drove off leaving him in total dismay. For us it was a very different world all those huge glowing ingots on railway trucks.

    2. Ergo, the British Steel industry is vulnerable to a modest naval encounter; where are the escorts?

    3. Whatever happened to the:
      Dirty British coaster with a salt-caked smoke stack,
      Butting through the channel in the mad March days,
      With a cargo of Tyne coal,
      Road-rails, pig-lead,
      Firewood, iron-ware, and cheap tin trays.

        1. I was just trying to remember those verses.
          I was surprised to find the verse we all know is actually the last in the poem.

          "Quinquireme of Nineveh from distant Ophir,
          Rowing home to haven in sunny Palestine,
          With a cargo of ivory,
          And apes and peacocks,
          Sandalwood, cedarwood, and sweet white wine.

          Stately Spanish galleon coming from the Isthmus,
          Dipping through the Tropics by the palm-green shores,
          With a cargo of diamonds,
          Emeralds, amethysts,
          Topazes, and cinnamon, and gold moidores."

          1. IIt was the first verse which caught me at the age of about eleven and which sails first into mind.

            I always was a bit of a sucker for flowery language

    4. Captain James Cook started his marine voyages on a collier, but the coal wasn't foreign.

    5. We should have been warned. Attleeā€™s government put bread on ration. Something even six years of war and blockade hadnā€™t managed!

  14. A couple of letters about the Birmingham Bin Men's Strike:-

    Birminghamā€™s mess

    SIR ā€“ It must be embarrassing for the Deputy Prime Minister that she has to rely on the Army to sort out the mess in Birmingham (report, April 14).

    The Army is there to protect our sovereignty, not clear up rubbish arising from a petty union dispute.

    Bill Todd
    Whitton, Middlesex

    SIR ā€“ In March 1975, as a young troop commander in the Royal Engineers, I led a detachment of sappers, armed with earth-moving equipment and tipper lorries, to help clear 70,000 tons of uncollected rubbish from the streets of Glasgow.

    The Daily Telegraph of March 20 1975 reported the two main dangers we faced ā€“ enormous brown rats and angry picket lines. We suffered no casualties from either source.

    Never had we enjoyed more free beer and ice cream than that we received from grateful Glaswegians.

    David Thomson
    Harpenden, Hertfordshire

    1. There was the time that the dockers were on strike, and the army moved in. They found that they could do the dockers' work far more efficiently than the dockers.

      1. In 2012, security for the Olympics was outsourced to Serco, the ideologically correct answer to public service along with G4S.

        Wasn't the army brought in after event organisers found that Serco were brilliant at making out bills and paying their executives, but not so hot on guarding athletes?

        The public's answer (and Government is representative of the public, else the Firm would be running things) was to cut the army whilst providing better incentives for Serco executives and their ilk.

        2. Trust the Germans to have a word for it.
          If only they could find a word for dunkelflaute they could enjoy a spot of schadenfreude.

          1. So you're saying "I hate those meeses to pieces" (copyright Hanna Barbera cartoons), Grizzly? (Good morning, btw.)

          2. Good morning, Auntie Elsie.

            As a child I found those meeces obscene! One of them, Dixie, only wore a waistcoat to hide his modesty while the other, Pixie, only wore a bow tie!

          3. Which cartoon cat said that he hated those mieces to pieces?

            And in the great rat killing competition what, respectively, were the names of Galahad Threepwood's and Sir Gregory Parsloe-Parsloe's terriers and which one won and why?

          6. One of my two elder sisters used to read GIRL, the sister magazine to EAGLE for boys, with its front cover story of two schoolgirl friends called Wendy and Jinx. I always reckoned that Wendy was the blonde and Jinx was the brunette. In fact it was the opposite!

          9. 1. Correct.
            2. Sir Gregory Parsloe-Parloe's dog was Banjo; Galahad Threepwood's was Towser.

            Banjo won the contest because, before the event took place, Sir Gregory had managed surreptitiously to feed Towser a very full dish of steak and onions which ruined his ability to compete and so Banjo won hands down. Gally detected the bounder of a baronet's skulduggery when he smelt the pungent smell of onions on Towser's breath.

            (When the news in our dismal world becomes too oppressive the one that P.G. Wodehouse has created is a far more pleasant world in which to escape.

          12. I added that in a reply to Richardā€™s post. As I did it via notifications, I did see your post.

          13. I wonder if the feeding Towser with onions was a further sign of Sir Gregory's duplicity. .

            I did not know that onions were toxic to dogs. We never knowingly fed our dogs onions and they were always in very good health and enjoyed their food.

            Rumpole lived to the age of 12 which is a good age for a boxer

            Here is a picture of him as a puppy trying to feast upon my beard with no consequent ill effects.

            https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/57672b6cfea90c07986dafc8ec5c2566ee3c62d8251a9e0dea52156df20de89f.jpg

          15. I totally agree, Richard. Anything by P G Wodehouse is hilarious and can be read again and again for non-stop chortles.

      4. I just watched one (not a rat of course) removing our household rubbish in our cul-de -sac. Making lots of noise by Throwing each of the small bins of kitchen waste on to the grass verges after tipping the bagged contents into his larger hand propelled wheely bin.
        A couple of years ago one of the half filled wheely bins was found abandoned in local woodland. I suspect he'd had enough and walked off. Probably not back to where he came from.

          4. There is nowhere in the house that he will not explore. This was the first time I had found him mooching around inside the shower cubicle so I closed the screens on him to take the photo.
            He remained bemused but never shows any form of anxiety. We have never seen or heard him growl, hiss or spit. He is the most friendly male (former ‘tom’) cat that I’ve ever known.

    3. Harpenden, a nice town where many celebrities and famous footballers live. About to ruined by a new development in its green countryside.
      Hundreds of new homes.

        1. Most of them will be social housing projects , belonging to housing associations who will not give a damn about their tenants nor the tidiness of the front and back gardens , the tenants will breed dogs and cats for extra cash , their back gardens will be full of hen huts and rats .

          The space allowed for homes like that will be minimal, no room for push chairs , bicycles or even a car or two, let alone where to put wheelie bins .. of which there will be several.

        2. It’s not just that LIR, it’s the future demands on the already stretched established resources, from medical treatment, schooling, gas water electricity, more traffic, sewage, etc, etc. They never really allow for all these aspects. All of this is based solely on company profits.

          1. And increase in revenue in the form of council tax, of course. They have built a large estate (actually two estates contiguous) next to a town where electricity supplies are inadequate, people canā€™t get GP or dentist appointments, there is no local work and the sewers are ancient. Oh, and for good measure, the land is soggy. Kerching!

    2. From a seaside village in Valencia
      Light rain showers and a gentle breeze
      19 degrees.
      Easter weather as bad as every year in spite of being a late Easter.

  17. We have NO ONE in government who has any engineering experience, no political nous , no commonsense , they are just mothy gits , who are hell bent on their socialist agenda which will reduce us to the status of Venezuela.

  18. Good morning, all. It is good because, at last, some decent rain is falling.

    Sad, but IMHO, true, Reform UK has fallen into the same category as the rest of the political wastrels. Reform needs to put clear blue water between themselves and the flotsam in Parliament if they are to prove that they really are the party of reform. Mass immigration is the number one issue: the Country cannot not afford, both financially and culturally, the continuation of this globalist wet dream. We know from past experience that not one of the other parties in contention for power/power sharing is willing to end the immigration fiasco, no matter what they may declare as their policy.

    https://x.com/Dahshur11/status/1911915774886682678

  19. Good Morning!

    In his short but powerful article, LUCY CONNOLLY DENIED ACCESS TO DAUGHTER AGAIN , Paul Sutton rages at the injustice perpetrated against Lucy Connolly by our corrupt and wokely biased judicial system, a decision, like all too many these days, that puts our country to shame. Please read and tell us what you think, and vote under the article on the case itself, and on the judiciary in general at the top of the Today page.

    Did you read Nanumagaā€™s very funny last two chapters of his book-in-writing, Brexit Redux ? Please help him complete them by making a comment, giving advice, or constructive criticism. Thereā€™ll always be an England, and Frederica visited it last week and writes lyrically and eloquently to remind as what itā€™s like. Read her A Pocket Full of England and be charmed at the memories it evokes.

    Energy watch 07.00: Demand: 27.69 GW. Total UK Production: 20.88 GW from: Hydrocarbons 40.6%; Wind 8.2%; Imports 25.4%; Biomass 9.7%; Nuclear 14.6%. Solar: 0%.

    Todayā€™s figures fully demonstrate the volatility of ā€˜renewablesā€™. Yesterday (at 07.30) wind and solar were producing 30.9% and 3.1% of our electricity. Today (at 07.30), they are producing 7.6% and 0.6% respectively. The solution? Import more from France!

    freespeechbacklash.com

  20. You can always vote for the party that no one will recognise.. just the way it is.

    Integrity Party | Political Party

    2. Yo kb

      Integrity Party | Political Party

      In Welsh, those two phrases are a Dai Kotomy

      a division or contrast between two things that are or are represented as being opposed or entirely different.

    3. Why not name themselves The Corruption Party?

      After all, the electorate have routinely voted those of that persuasion into power for at least a couple of centuries.

  21. The never-ending war in the Sudan was initially described as being brown on black. Has this changed, or are our brave MSM reluctant to concede that racism is not confined wicked Whitey?

      1. Of course not. It is tribist.

        A tribe is a subdivision of race in the taxonomic classification of living organisms.

        That's why the idiotic expression "human race" is puerile. Humans are a species.

        Life: A living entity
        Domain: Eukarya
        Kingdom: Animalia
        Phylum: Chordata
        Class: Mammalia
        Order: Primates
        Family: Hominidae
        Genus: Homo
        Species: Sapiens
        Sub-species: sapiens
        Race: Caucasian
        Tribe: Briton

    2. As many Nottlers already know my father used to be the governor of The Northern Sudan.

      Since the white British left the Sudan the country has had, endless civil war, religious persecution, economic collapse, genocide, plague, famine, the collapse of infrastructure and education and finally partition.

      Was whitey to blame for what happened since leaving or should Whitey have never gone to Africa in the first place?

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6f02caaa58ef387f556bd1ff7fcbebb1a0e6730651f05970a70eade3fe973580.jpg

  22. Morning all šŸ™‚šŸ˜Š
    Wet outside its been on the cards for a couple of weeks. It seems to me that under instructions the C of E might have been working for sometime to lessen its influence in this ever changing world.

  24. That's the general idea Sos probably religion involved as well…..you know the format.

    1. In the case of Sudan I would guess religion might be an even greater factor than colour.

      1. I have never been able to come to terms with what that POS Mugabe did to the people he new would never vote for him. Tribal indifference. He had about twenty thousand murdered. Their bodies were discovered in old mine shafts. And he got away with all of it.
        Harold Wilson started that.

    1. No. Even our wars with Germany were not racist, as Germans are ethnically much the same as us. The war in the Sudan started, at least, between Arabs (brown) and Negroes (black). Let us recall that Arabs were very good at enslaving Negroes (still are, so I'm told).

      1. I recommend you read Barbarossa by J Dimbleby, the Germans were certainly racists, even if we weren't.

      1. I really like what they've done at the "Islamic Party".. straight to the point.. simple message.. "Sharia Law".

        Or Rayner & Jess Phillip's new movement..
        Teens watching Adolescence together Society.
        Compulsory viewing of documentary Adolescence, a technical masterpiece that exposes the darkest corners of incel culture and male rage.
        Check out the website http://www.tw ats.com

        1. I hope at the beginning they point out it was based on a true story but the perpetrator wasnā€™t white. Then I woke up.

    3. 404401+ up ticks,

      Morning KB,
      The longest journey starts with the first step.

      By the same token

      First look at the remains of Great Britain after the ravaging it has received over the last 40 years at the hands of the lab/lib/con mass uncontrolled immigration / government controlled/ mass pedophile umbrella
      coalition party and the damage the tribal voters have achieved,firstly.

    4. The Integrity Party is dedicated to promoting social cohesion, strong institutions, functional economic systems, open communication, cultural identity, innovation, participation and governance, education and knowledge, social safety nets, and conflict resolution. Our specific goals include uniting the kingdom and making Britain great for its people, society, and investment and growth. We aim to achieve these goals through community outreach programs, policy proposals, and campaigns.

      It looks like a Wooden Horse.

      1. Well he isn't going to win many voters with that word salad, which I suspect was also generated by ChatGPT!

    5. The use of AI generated images is a terrible mistake. The whole website looks as though someone said "Chat GPT, give me a website for a party to rival Reform"
      Still, these things are superficial, will wait and see how it develops. But if he doesn't talk to Kurten, it won't look good, since Heritage has been the main refuge for people who saw through Reform.

      1. I hope he will talk to Nick Tenconi as well. Reform refused to cooperate regarding campaigning. All the others were amenable.

    6. Looks like itā€™s going to try to do too much too soon. Do they have any members yet?
      Start with the basics.
      Rule of Law applied without fear nor favour.

      1. Countries and political parties with 'Democratic' in their names are invariably undemocratic.

        I wonder if it is wise to put a word like 'Integrity' in a political party's name – isn't it tempting fate to turn into the opposite of what its name is meant to imply?

        1. Maybe it's better to dispense with the name for now, as the Jews do with their God?

          Gather up a few like minds in a united spirit of camaraderie and see where it leads. Or, as the political adviser Daniel Roche (who once played a spirited lad in a BBC sitcom, which seemed to be based on Larry from the old Giles cartoons) once said – throw stuff against a wall and see what sticks.

    7. I see this lovely idea on the list of candidateā€™s responsibilities – "Campaign Honesty: Candidates are expected to be truthful in all statements made during the campaign, avoiding false or misleading claims." Can't see them attracting potential candidates from any other party! I'm also very wary about "empowering".

    8. I see this lovely idea on the list of candidateā€™s responsibilities – "Campaign Honesty: Candidates are expected to be truthful in all statements made during the campaign, avoiding false or misleading claims." Can't see them attracting potential candidates from any other party! I'm also very wary about "empowering".

    9. Motherhood and apple pie so far.

      Not that there is anything wrong with motherhood and apple pie until it gets into the real world and starts to change (or rather as Starmer put it, to "CHANGE").

  27. One to ponder Mr Miliband.
    https://www.alumni.cam.ac.uk/magazine/issue-104/photosynthesis-is-a-superpower?

    Take some carbon dioxide and throw in a little water. Add sunlight and chlorophyll. What do you get? Oxygen, sugarā€¦ and the key to life on Earth. Photosynthesis is the plant superpower, and this ability to convert light energy ā€“ the most abundant energy source on Earth ā€“ into chemicals is what keeps us humans alive. But what if we could develop a hack that allows us to siphon off some energy from this process? Are clean energy systems that rewire photosynthesis actually such an improbable idea?

    I suspect it will be like fusion power has been, always just out of reach

    1. His dedication to indifference fends away reality and the acceptance of the truth.
      And as we can observe from the front bench, yer kant fix stoopid.

    2. The answer to that quote is so obvious and is as much within reach, and always has been, as the apple on the tree.

    1. A Swedish friend thinks the plural for mouse is mices.

      I haven't corrected him since I love it when he says that.

  29. Princess of Wales celebrates her ā€˜spiritualā€™ connection to nature. 15 April 2025.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/18061ee47579bece616001c496db33cd9e862938e311ab98329678bb68211eb6.png
    The Princess of Wales said she had found a ā€œvery spiritual, very intenseā€ emotional connection to nature, which had brought her peace.

    In a video promoting the Scouts in her role as joint president, the Princess spoke of her relationship with nature as she continued her return to work while in remission from cancer, saying the outdoors had been ā€œa place to balanceā€ in ā€œa very busy worldā€.

    Last month, she travelled to the Lake District to meet Dwayne Fields, the new Chief Scout, and youngsters on the shores of Lake Windermere.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2025/04/14/princess-of-wales-spiritual-connection-to-nature-scouts/

    2. I thought she was visiting bongo-bongo land – then to my surprise, it turns out to be Engerland.

    3. It's real name is Duana, not Dwayne

      Duana is a feminine name of Irish and Gaelic origin, meaning "dark and swarthy," and it's considered the feminine form of Duane. Another possibility, though less direct, could be Wayna, the feminine form of Wayne

      1. Me being a bit sniffy about Dwayne Fields , I daresay he is safe being a black Chief Scout , because a white one could be accused of all sorts of fibbing things , whereas the lad above has all the protection of diversity ?

        I cannot see black lads from Clapham, Croydon or Tower Hamlets being attracted to the scout ethos !

        2. Having never heard of him nor seen his waffling on social media abou diversity maybe, just maybe he's a decent bloke who cares about the scouting organisation and enthusing boys with that same passion for service and nature.

          As Chris Rock said, there's black people and niggers, and there's black people, muslims (who disappear into society) and 'the diversity'.

      1. I profoundly disagree. I find her immensely attractive, and if I were a handsome prince rather than a wannabe frog, I'd marry her as much for the aura around her as her practicality and devotion to family.

        She does her best with what she's got.

        1. Yes, but I am not happy at the focus on her weight. She used to be a really healthy shape and has been pushed on to this waif diet.

          1. That astonishes me. She was always quite slim, but like many brides, was eager to lose weight to fit into her wedding dress. Even in middle age, she hardly needs to diet to stop getting fat, but she may well need it to prevent a flare-up of her cancer.

      2. I used to sit by the sea front, on the beach with the tide thundering away and find it incredibly relaxing. It was 'elemental' and maybe that could be called 'spiritual'. A deep connection to something greater than myself.

        1. I thought long and hard during a pilgrimage to Walsingham about the nature of gender. My thoughts were then rubbished and perverted by society much to my dismay. Their concept of Equality was rather conformity to one norm.

          In short, whilst God is masculine and is the great fertiliser and enabler, we refer to the Earth as our mother, as indeed the universe and all that is in it, including your waves on the beach. Unlike some conventional Christians, I have no problem with the spirituality of this feminine side of God.

          1. A visit to any church or cathedral and hugging the large pillars that have witnessed a thousand years of spirituality or chaos , but I believe the hand of God guided the great stone masons who created huge structures when this country when the myth of received Christianity caused political explosions ..

            But try hugging one of those huge pillars and listen to your heart beat harder!

          2. If you go up into the gallery of St Paul's you can hear your heartbeat bouncing round and round the dome.

          3. What always amazes me is when you look at the columns they are often constructed of different size blocks stacked on top of each other, but are always perfectly level as are the vast majority of the massive collection of building parts. Very clever considering they had no sprit levels, probably had plumb bobs but i doubt if what we now know as water levels were in use at the time.

          4. Have you read Ken Follett's "The Pillars of the Earth"? Some fascinating info on mediaeval building methods in that novel.

          6. Throughout history when religions spread to other countries they start off by looking at the local mythology and subverting it. We didn't necessarily have a male 'god' figure. Our man was the green man, which Christianity made into the devil. The Earth Mother made into Mary.

            Same as the Norse 'God' lost an eye to align him with Odin.

        1. Vodka, Peach Schnapps and Cranbury juice. A nice Summer cocktail. I normally order by the jug.

          1. Do you buy your 'Cranbury' juice online or do you visit the town of 'Cranbury' to buy it?

      4. What makes you doubt it? Her dreadful disease experience could easily have caused great spiritual awakening I would have thought.

        1. I don’t think she would survive long in her current position if she had had a great spiritual awakening.

      1. I think he could be a good choice. If it can encourage more black kids to join the crime rate will drop.

  30. I mean to post this every Tuesday but then let it go. Today however I cannnot.

    It concerns the disgusting detritus all over the roads which i encounter every Tuesday on my cycle through Roehampton.

    On the estate, and particularly on the High Street, bin bags are left out overnight for next day collection. The foxes and birds ravage the bags and strew the rubbish everywhere. Every Tuesday without fail. There are no sanctions or apparent requirements to put the bags in vermin-proof bins.

    Sometimes i loathe this country; other times i hate it.

      1. I have no idea, bit if they do, they arenā€™t using them. You would think the residents would get fed up of it every single week

    1. Makes the incomers feel at home, surrounded by rubbish.
      And they can catch & eat the rats.

  33. Yo and Good Moaning to you all, from a dark, dank, cold ans wet C d S

    New windows into back bedroom, & door and window into back of 'shed', went in like magic.

    Now we must move back all the things that we moved about for the window men to do their work. It may take some time.

    1. For a while, Crowley lived in a house a short walk from where I now live. It made way for a housing estate a few decades ago, but I note that there is no building on the site of his house.

        1. Bill you are Maurice Micklewhite, aka Michael Caine, and I claim my five bob postal order. Lol.

      2. Say the Lord’s Prayer every time you pass it. A little demon will be crying somewhere.

        1. No i don’t think so Bill. . He was supposedly a Black Magician of Great Power. They used to hold Black Masses in the borough. For some reason my memory of him is tangled with that of Dennis Wheatley

      2. Don’t know – and don’t want to know too much about him. A nasty pretentious little fellow who saw an opportunity to make himself important by serving satan.

  35. If I were to start up a new party and somehow get into Government, the first thing I would do would be to put at least 2p on all rates of Income Tax. This buys headroom for what I would do next.

    In order to restore national morale most effectively, I would subsidise the pay of all cooks and cleaners, one for one, so that their pay effectively doubles. The least they would earn would be twice minimum wage.

    With the nation properly fed and not made miserable by squalor, productivity could really get going.

    With any luck, this growth would enable me to cut all taxes that impact on domestic and business overheads (starting with Council Tax, business rates and VAT), so that they can price competitively and yet still be profitable enough to make it worthwhile. Britain was built by those in sheds who could live modestly and could afford to explore niches, often profitably in the long run.

    Since most folk disagree with nearly everything I believe in, I doubt I'd ever get elected though!

    1. The trouble is Jeremy another 2p on income would destroy even more jobs.
      If you had said cut income tax by 2p I would have been with you. Margaret Thatcher proved that by reducing personal taxes the revenue increased because people could see it was worth working.
      Cutting benefits would be high on my agenda. If you pay people not to work well they wonā€™t as we see every day.
      Unfortunately socialists canā€™t see that.

    2. Putting another 2p on income tax I don't necessarily disagree with.

      The mass of stealth taxes that hit the lowest earners hardest is a desperate and spiteful attempt to avoid hiking income tax.

      However I do disagree with rigging pay. Pay is set by the market. A better approach is to leave pay to be set by employers with a much lower minimum wage and a far higher tax allowance, say, Ā£20,000. With all stealth taxes removed the lowest earners keep more of what they earn and don't start paying tax until a far higher point. The market sets their wages and economic value.

      Government just takes far less from far more.

      In addition, you set a tax rate of 18% flat, with no higher and upper rate. These tax systems have been proven to return the most tax revenue. The problem we have is the state is a bloated, corpulent leviathan that consumes so much and returns so little.

      1. As a starting mechanism, I agree that the free market is the best regulator, for the same reason one doesn't introduce cane toads or rabbits into Australia without creating even bigger problems than there were before.

        However, all markets are susceptible to manipulation, often by malign and powerful interests. A garden left to its own devices soon becomes a mass of aggressive weeds and can hardly feed a nation. One of Government's duties in a civilised nation is to manipulate the market in the public interest, but aware all the time of any consequences, seen or unseen.

        Many things, essential to the wellbeing of a group of people, cannot be valued by the market, and their loss may not impact directly on the quarterly return, but my goodness it can make pretty well everything unworkable. I gave two examples, which are woefully undervalued by the market. These are worth public investment, paid for out of taxes.

        Alf questions whether Income Tax is the right tax for the job. We differ here – I argue that many more jobs are lost through stealth taxation and extra charges which add to overheads, whatever they are called. Whilst the take home pay may be less, it can pay for more things, so balances out.

        1. The gardener though, is the market itself. If there's opportunity to buy a superior product that is not held back by the regulation and taxation that the entrenched industry has imposed (as the EU does) then you get faster, more flexible competitors.

          You are – respectfully (and I do mean that) wrong in thinking government should manipulate markets. The soviets tried this. Labour try this. It's been tried endlessly 'for the good of the people' and it always, always fails. This is why normal parties are opposing the Left wing ones – Milei being the best example, Trump a sort of example.

      2. Iā€™m a big believer in everyone contributing to the tax burden. The moment you have lots of ā€œPaulsā€ who donā€™t pay any taxes for all the services they receive, the more they are inclined to demand the ā€œPetersā€ pay more and more and more

    3. William Shirer wrote The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. In it he describes how the Nazis siezed power, and used three essential things. First the support of a large popular organisation such as trades unions, second create a climate of fear in the population, to which the party has the only solution, third massive use of propaganda to push the fear and single party solution. The Integrity Party haven't even found the playing field yet, where is their plan to obtain power? Not a chance.

    4. Since most folk disagree..

      There is a growing realisation within the financial clever clogg community that the neo-classical model of economics ie. "Trickle-Down" is bust. It actually broke in 2007 and nothing has changed.
      The replacement will be the "Bubble Up" model. In layman terms.. you keep the lower echelons "flush".. because they are customers. If customers don't have money businesses go bust. Then govts concentrate on the "support" of business but never "serve" them. Oh and btw a country can only spend as much as its unemployment & resources.

      1. Capitalism: the unequal sharing of rewards. Trickle down DOES work, the problem is folk expect this to mean the bloke at the top being impoverished. It really means that everyone gains, but some more than others. After all, if you're spaffing Ā£10m into a factory you want to make 20m out of it. The bloke on 18k as a cleaner isn't going to get a share of that 10m, but he IS getting Ā£18K he didn't before.

        You can fiddle the economy by borrowing short and saving long. Truss presented this but the Left hated the idea of a growing, wealthy economy and for some reason – I think – the main attempt was to hammer fracking permanently.

        1. "Bubble Up" is still capitalism.

          You claim Trickle Down does WORK = Essentially the swapping of a fixed income debt (no interest) for a floating government debt, then hey presto, lending is boosted in the system, tax revenues increase and growth is maintained.

          However, the big problemo arises when it doesn't work and growth isn't maintained (2010-11). ie. your Neo-classical trickle-down model wasn't that good after all but you continue ploughing on as if nothing was wrong (2011-2025).

          1. Of course the biggest threat/worry is..

            When TRICKLE DOWN implodes again.. the Lefties will claim that this proves capitalism is a busted flush and Marxism is clearly the way forward.

          2. Of course the biggest threat/worry is..

            When TRICKLE DOWN implodes again.. the Lefties will claim that this proves capitalism is a busted flush and Marxism is clearly the way forward.

          3. Trickle down economics has nothing to do with government spending. If the state takes money form one, and gives it to another hat's destroying wealth, not creating it.

            That is Keynes's philosophy, that spending is good and government can create growth through it but it's a nonsense. If it's wanted, the market will provide it. Infrastructure does create jobs, but that's practically welfare.

            I don't think it's a case of it exploding as it's basic capitalism and left alone, markets are self repairing and without legislation and regulation operates far more fluidly and efficiently.

      2. I think it broke when we had mass EU (and now ex-EU) immigration, undercutting UK wages and sending the money ā€œback homeā€. So no ā€œtrickle downā€ there. Also, all the foreign holidays.

      1. I’ve thought it of course, but only in my darkest moments. Otherwise, I think they are wrong.

  36. I have just had a slightly disturbing (though not surprising) email. Our local MP is going to give a talk, to which I as a member of a church congregation, have been invited. We are asked not to circulate the invitation widely, for security reasons.

    Can't help wondering whether that is shorthand for "I don't want to talk to anyone who might criticise me" and how this person expects to get people's votes when any meetings with the general public are so restricted?

    1. You have obviously been screened to be "suitable". Go there and barrack the tosser. Politely.

    6. I have had an invitation to the Lord Lieutenantā€™s garden party. Details of the date, time and venue are freely available.

  37. Green projects to skip queue for grid connections
    Ed Miliband says move will help companies get ā€˜clean energy they need to drive growth and create jobsā€™

    Green projects will skip the queue for connections to the electricity grid in a bid to boost growth.

    Solar farms and wind turbines can currently wait up to 15 years to secure connections to the grid, under a first-come-first-served system.

    The queue is clogged up by so-called ā€œzombie projectsā€ that are not yet built but have priority to be connected, slowing down other developments.

    Under Government plans to stimulate growth, green projects, as well as those that are strategically beneficial, such as AI data centres, will be able to jump to the front of the queue.

    ———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

    We will end up similar to African countries , they have all the sunshine and solar in the world , but guess what , their grid network ain't working

    The government haven't a clue . I doubt whether there are any engineers in this present Labour party . Miliband is a money man , he has wrought chaos by scamming this oil / gas/ coal industrial country of ours with idiotic ideas that have broken our country with uneconomic ruinous solutions .. And now there are idiots who want to rewild farmland and in order to restore the countryside to pre stone age agriculture .. strip farming and beavers … utter twerps!

    (I read the article and just felt pure fury) hence my comment on here

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/04/15/green-projects-to-skip-queue-for-grid-connections/

    1. Never mind engineers; none of this lot has had a proper productive job where they have had to perform.

    2. Nobody can try to claim that this destruction isn't deliberate now. Milliband is one of those international marxists who thinks everything has to be destroyed before you can enslave the people, I mean build a communist utopia. I doubt very much that he believes in any magic powers of CO2.

    3. On very rare occasions the UK produces evidence of being entirely self sufficient on renewable enegy.
      By contast, Iceland claims to be consistently achieving 99% – but how?
      https://youtu.be/2PfIxXLTO1k?si=fDq8lE2uf0FE64jv
      This video shows the economic viability of a long term off grid solution for many parts of the UK – and without having to erect a single pylon!

      1. We are currently generating about 200w, as it's overcast. Making dinner used about 3kw. The house uses about 300w not doing a lot.

        The problem the UK has is cost. Tradesmen to install solar are expensive, even with 0% offers. Getting batteries in is expensive. Adding to solar is even more expensive. Labour have just hiked all our taxes which will be passed on to customers.

        In that environment, very few people are going to invest in something that'll take a long time to return value.

        1. What is even more inhibiting are the revelations that certain Government aided insulated properties are becoming unmortageable and properties with solar panels fitted on the roof may have restricted insurability.

  38. "Under Government plans to stimulate growth…"

    I read that as "simulate". More accurate.

          1. Hear you, Sam. I know a number of younger would-be Nottlers, working hard to stay in place. They and the future generally worry me.

    1. Labour thinks (actually knows) most of the electorate are thick, which is why they act as they do. They know they can get away with it.

  42. Miliband isn't a money man. He's a troughing waster. A fanatic, psychotic who has done incredible damage to the country.

    1. I was amused to see, on Google Maps, that the house sign I put up in 1968 is still there!

  44. Morning all. I would definitely be cold without the Rayburn. Dull, 10/10ths cloud and precipitation of some sort highly likely by the look of things. Our church is cold even in summer. In winter we have to dress for an arctic expedition.

    1. What a difference a day make, eh? We have had a lot of rain, cold – stove going. Cats aggrieved.

      1. Dog apparently sleeping in basket in front of log burner, one eye open, deaf as a post. If I move, instantly follows me…

        1. Winston sleeps with his eyes open. I canā€™t move without heā€™s up and with me. I am sure some of his problems are psychological rather than physical. He is anxious. Not surprising really; I am his fourth owner and heā€™s only two and a half. Thatā€™s a change of owner on average every eight months.

          1. Poor Winston…does he suffer from dry eye, or keep blinking hopefully. Definitely psychological I’d say…mine is very similar, when he sleeps I find myself creeping about to not wake him. I’ve had him since he was several weeks old. Both of them have hit the owner jackpot šŸ™‚ Did you get Winston from a shelter? Have you tried any type of dog medication?..mine (15 years) has milk thistle for his digestion, other one (13 years) has turmeric for joints. Vets are way too expensive these days, no surprise the surgery is usually empty, as is car park.

          2. He has runny eyes so I treat him with Hycosan (from the optician – it’s what the vet recommended for Oscar). Winston was rehomed, i e he didn’t go through a rescue centre, I got him direct from the mother of his last owner who, I was told, was having a baby and couldn’t cope with him. He is seriously in need of keeping on the right track, so that is very time-consuming, but he’s a lovely dog, albeit very lively – he’s only two and a half, so what can I expect, especially as he’s a beagle? -and he seems to be happy. He’s certainly friendly (compared with Oscar when I first got him, an alligator would have been considered friendly!).

          3. Very fortunate to have you as his owner…yes two and a half roughly equal to twenties human? I was working long hours at that age, but still out and about nightlife (speaking of which, very few bats this year as yet). Ah beagles…wasn’t there a cartoon strip – daily mail – fred? Mind, friend of mine had a springer – verdit, never again. Oscar landed on his paws with you, probably any dog would…you think you’ll have any more, I’m not sure I will.

          4. Fred was a basset hound, I think. I don’t know if I’ll have any more. It depends on how long these two last and the state of my health. If I do, it will be a rescue. Oscar was a challenge, but turned out a lovely and loving dog in the end (but he didn’t suffer fools gladly!).

          5. Very similar here…I hope my two go before I do, heartbreaking though that would be. At one time, rescues were glad for you to take a dog (or cat) and leave a donation – now, you purchase one, at least in rescues locally. Oscar sounds the sort of dog to respect šŸ™‚

          6. Oscar cost me Ā£130 from the Manchester and Cheshire Dogs Home! He would have been more had he been a bitch and younger (he was nearly 12). Absolute profiteering, if you ask me – and don’t get me started on importing dogs from Romania or Cyprus ..! There are plenty of dogs here that need homes.

          7. Hear you Conway…vets are similar. Patterdale has a problem with liver, just old age..vet did blood tests, scans, prescribed various nutrafen tabs which didn’t do anything…hundreds of Ā£s..no wonder place empty. Online some think Milk Thistle good cost ~Ā£12 he seems ok for now. I know someone went to Romania to get a dog ..customs etc cost quite a bit. Dogs uk put down if no home found. People who breed their pets to sell pups on websites as bad. Rant over…goodnight Conway šŸ™‚

          9. Good morning, Conway :-))….after the sun and warmth, overcast and cool. Birds are singing though..

    1. The bearded chappie has a very disjointed way of expressing himself – rapid bursts, odd pauses. Sounds a bit like the way the tossers who do the weather forecast speak.

      1. 404401+ up ticks,

        Morning BT,

        I found him to be understandable and humorous, would not be surprised to hear him speak multi tongue.

  46. Lunch calls – early today as leaving at 1 to go to the lecture. Back about 4.30. Play nicely.

  47. Good Moa Afternoon.
    Doesn't time fly when you're having fun? Or doing the square root of bu88erall on a dull grey day.
    We both forgot to bring in the seat cushions last night; utility room is a trifle steamy and soggy.

    The Brum situations reminds of Kipling.
    "And it's Tommy this
    And Tommy that;
    And Tommy "go away'".
    But it's "thank you, Mr Atkins"
    When the bands rats begin to play."

    1. What is happening in Brum is probably the same as one of the reasons most of them left their own countries in the first place.
      I'm have a day off today due to the weather. I Might go out and drag our emptied bins in soon.

      1. I have to put my bin out for emptying. Here in the sticks we are always behind šŸ˜€

  48. Just in case anyone missed this gem from yesterday's Space Adventure

    Quote of the day

    ā€˜Iā€™m really feeling that divine feminine right now.ā€™

    ā€“ Katy Perry touches down from space in Jeff Bezosā€™s rocket. She had been reading a book on string theory as preparation.

    4. 'Space' Adventure?

      All this crap about going into 'space' cracks me up. The altitude this little rocket reached was 63 miles above the earth's surface. 63 miles is 1/63rd of the radius of this planet (3,963 miles). That distance is the same as it is from the centre of London to Bury St Edmunds, Folkestone or Portsmouth.

      Hardly the stuff of Star Wars.

      2. Iā€™m just amused by the thought of half a dozen airhead women in a phallic projectile.

    5. Sir John Thomas
      Brooky
      3h
      Bezos didnā€™t tell them he had snuck Russel Brand on board, thatā€™s what all the screaming was aboutā€¦

  49. I've just realised that I posted this little item a few hours ago on yesterday's NTTL. Here it is again, for what it's worth.
    Japanese Coal
    I was amused to see reports in the media of a shipment of "Japanese Coal" arriving for Scunthorpe.
    While Japan had numerous coal mines in the past, primarily in the 1960s, it no longer has any active domestic coal mines.
    Most of its coal comes from Australia, followed by Indonesia, Russia and the USA.
    So perhaps "Coal from Japan", rather than "Japanese Coal".

    1. Thatā€™s a bit like Russian gas, isnā€™t it, where Russian goods are a no no except via somewhere else and so to Europe.

    2. That photograph is a loaded cannon. While it may be true that some former miners fell on hard times, most remained as clean, tidy and house-proud as they had always been. I grew up in a mining community and the houses of miners were invariably well-presented.

      On the other side I have entered many a filthy "middle-class" hovel.

      1. Hello, Grizz…I was raised in a similar house until I'd say '55..a back-to-back terrace, one up one down, WC end of street in a long row, cold tap only in house (no bathroom), gas poker to light coal fire. Always clean though. I had one illness after another until I was around six years old, when we moved to a 2 bed council house with bathroom, separate WC. RfKJr is completely right what he says about housing. The place I grew up in was completely demolished, replaced with flats for older people (I bought one for my dad).

          1. Do you also remember as I do, Conway – ice on the windows, on the inside šŸ™‚ (early double glazing)..

          4. Oh yes and the water in the glass on the bedside table frozen. We only had a fire in the bedroom grate if we were ill.

          5. No bedside table. No bedroom grate :-DD I remember being ill for weeks….mumps, measles, chicken pox (I was a bridesmaid for my aunt, the dress was yellow as was I)…

          6. My mother used a match – and she was very nifty with a sheet of the Telegraph to get it going. I tried it once and nearly set the place on fire.

          7. I remember holding a sheet of newspaper over the aperture to draw the fire. After a few near misses, my father made a metal version with a slot at the bottom for the air and a handle to hold it in place (but you needed protection for your hands as that tended to get rather warm!).

        2. Greetings, Katy. For the first four-and-a-half years of my life I lived with mum and dad with his parents in their lovely modern 1930s semi, with a large garden and hen coops at the bottom, overlooking open countryside. My father had the option of purchasing that house from his mother but declined to live in an ugly pebble-dashed semi on a coal board estate in a village nearby. We remained there for 14Ā½ years before they moved to an equally dismal brick-built semi on a council estate. I never lived in a house without a bathroom.

          I didn’t remain there for long (I loathed the place) since I had joined the police and was offered a lovely large detached police authority-owned house on a charming and quiet road among professional people. That house had once been used as a superintendent’s house but since all superintendents now had their own homes it went on the rota of police houses. I would have bought it had it become available and I been able to at the time.

          My uncle lived in a house very similar to your first home. It had just a cold tap in the kitchen sink and later had a hot tap attached to the boiler behind the open coal fire in the lounge. Bath time for his family was in a large galvanised tub brought out of the pantry and placed on the hearth.

          1. Greetings back at you Grizzly:-) The semi sounds grand, very similar to my own grandparents – I remember the bathroom, the bath was green, and black tiles..I appreciated the hot water but not so much the decor. I remember the galvanised bath tub, I was first, my parents afterwards. And the cold tap too. We had a cellar, my dad broke the bulb trying to whack a wasp, bulb never replaced – not much of a handyman :-). There were police houses in my village, a couple of stone semis, I never went in one but they looked the part. I think with my dad he would get talking in the pub, others would egg him on, ply him with drink and he would act accordingly – in those days, no-one locked their door (there was only one), he would roll home – one time going to next door, where he tried to get into bed with the old lady who lived there. I left home the day I turned 17, at that time the legal age to leave without being brought back.

    3. Went through a major chunk of my school years sleeping on an "iron bedstead". We had a hard mattress, one pillow, sheets, one blanket issued and were required to provide a "travel rug" to go over the blanket. Plus our dressing gowns in winter. Windows open all year round in the dorms. Woke up one morning with snow on my bed.

      I suppose the idea was to get us toughened up for National Service, which I avoided by a couple of years. My plan had been to sign up for a short service commission. With 5 years of CCF, plus being a qualified Signals Instructor, and from a "good" school, doncha know, I apparently would have been accepted. 3 years as a Second Lieutenant, as against 2 as a squaddie seemed like a good trade off..

      1. When I took my Home Nursing certificate for the St John's Ambulance Brigade (I was a cadet) in the 1960s we had to chant, verbatim, the 'proper' way to make a bed for a patient with a long-term illness.

        Iron bedstead (wooden ones can harbour germs!).
        Sacking over the springs.
        Mattress (sprung or feather).
        Top sheet.
        Rubber sheet (for under the buttocks).
        Drawsheet ( a cotton sheet folded and placed across the top of the rubber sheet, one end longer than the other so that it didn't need changing every time the patient had been incontinent, you just pulled the cleaner part through!).
        Single sheet.
        Two woollen blankets.
        Counterpane or Eiderdown.

        Even back then I thought this was just a tad over-the-top and it came across as very 17th century!

      2. Never had snow on the bed, but the rest fits me from aged 8 to 18.
        Apart from the military bit.

  52. He might be a wartime veteran , many British soldiers were POWs in Germany and MADE to work in the mines .I believe a lot of Green Howards were captured and suffered hugely working underground . VE day news was a relief re the terrible conditions POW's were living in .

    1. My Father In Law was captured in Belgium and forced with some of his colleagues to mainly march all the way to Poland where they were imprisoned for 5 years. They were the lucky one's, the rest of his battalion of The Durham Light Infantry. Were lined up and shot on the spot by the gestapo.

      1. My dad was similarly lucky, Eddy…parachuted into France, shot in leg by Germans, fellow soldiers carried him to safety – otherwise I wouldn't be here šŸ™‚ I only found out about this at his funeral, he never spoke about the war unless in drink with his buddies.

          1. My dad did, with male relatives (all in different forces) and his mates (usually army). I would get short shrift if I tried to earwig. He tried to join the army age 14 (no jobs, that would be ’35, tried again at 16 ’37)…he loved the army (three square meals, own bed (he had four brothers), motorbikes to ride about on) …until ‘the ***** war came along.’ Then the France experience. He was out in Java end of the war, offered a job to manage rubber plantation but my mother wouldn’t go out there, instead went to Blackpool with mates and spent all their savings (I suspect my grandfather had something to do with that, he didn’t like my dad). Anyhow, dad came home, again to no jobs, no savings, but my mother. Worked in woollen textiles until retirement. Heavy drinker when someone else buying šŸ™‚ I didn’t know any of this until his funeral, spent his last few years in a care home, cursing at the care workers – he mistook them for my mother.

    1. Not at all concerned about the mental and physical concerns of the whole population of our country who are very concerned about being raped and/or murdered by said illegal immigrants which was the cause, rightly, of the unrest amongst the indigenous population.

      1. Relativists wilfully refuse to understand per capita and will doggedly insist that the savage is not more likely to attack than the civilised man.

        2. They could try living in the inner cities here, and they would quickly be disabused of that notion.

          1. Black Americans are about 13% of the population aren't they and way over represented in the violent crime figures but if you show even the official police figures to a BLM supporter they'll simply say that it isn't true. Been there, tried that.

    1. 15 secs.. whoa a Scottish lass.

      though progressive bots were quick to 'like' & comment..

      TBH I don't have a problem with this. They are respecting the culture and taking part. As long as they take their litter home afterwards no problems at all for me..

      Looks like theyā€™re having fun and enjoying Scotland, even though itā€™s Baltic! Iā€™m sure theyā€™ll clean up after themselves and notch it up as a fabulous tripā€¦ happy to see this.. we need more happy tourists soaking up the culture..

  56. And another doin the rounds.. this Leftie joke aged well as they say.
    .
    https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=746984580977885

    Those that don't have a FB account..

    Smug Leftie "alleged comdian" Stewart Lee:
    taxi driver.. "Oh these days if you say you're English, you'll get arrested and thrown in jail."

    Leftie audience burst into spontaneous hoots of laughter.. at the pathetic faaar right cab driver making a typical hysterical assertion.

    (12 April 2025 Footage shows a man being arrested in Leeds after shouting ā€œCome on Englandā€ while walking past a pro Gaza..)

    1. While the chap who chanted ā€œEnglandā€ was arrested and slung into a police van. QED I would have thought.

  57. Just been to Lidl, lotsa common veg, ie pot8o's, car rots, Mr Grizzly etc are 15 pence a time

        1. It really is sickening. We have so many issues of our own that need sorting out. I know it is about projecting soft power but they hate and despise up anyway.
          France being a prime example.

  60. Excerpts from Puccini's La La BohƩme.
    I find it ironic when we, in the West are continually being told that we must "Decolonise" our culture as it is far too White and "Euro-centric" that the Japanese Fujiwara Opera Company has produced such a fine production as this.
    https://youtu.be/sZ7WguU63QM?si=GgfmadCrxPGv4av9

    1. I've attended a production of La BohĆØme on two occasions. At Sydney Opera House and at the Theatre Royal, Norwich.

    2. Had a bit of trouble with the closed captions – they did not seem to match the music. Perhaps I need new specs…

    3. Apparently she couldn't read properly.
      Obviously misread Clinton's memo.
      "Hold my calls and sack my cook".

  62. Gosh!! A stunning lecture. Chantal Brotherton-Ratcliffe – your go-to (ugh) person if you want to know how 15th to 18th century painters, er, painted.
    Quite brilliant.

    Have I missed anything while I was out?

  63. Wordle No. 1,396 3/6

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    ā¬œā¬œšŸŸØšŸŸØā¬œ
    šŸŸ©šŸŸ©šŸŸ©šŸŸ©šŸŸ©

    Wordle 15 Apr 2025

    A bloodless Birdie Three?

    1. Pale par.

      Wordle 1,396 4/6

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    2. Nice one – same here…..

      Wordle 1,396 3/6

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    3. The name of my village in North Essex as it happens.

      Wordle 1,396 3/6

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      ā¬œā¬œā¬œšŸŸ©ā¬œ
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    4. Well done A lucky eagle here.

      Wordle 1,396 2/6

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    5. Birdie as well
      Wordle 1,396 3/6

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    6. Oh not again!

      Wordle 1,396 2/6

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      šŸŸ©šŸŸ©šŸŸ©šŸŸ©šŸŸ©

  64. Irony Alert.

    Linsey Farnsworth, who represents Amber Valley, accused the Reform leader of breaking parliamentary protocol. You were in my constituency where you appear to have attended without notifying me as required by the rules of courtesies and behaviour of the House. Care to apologise?!!"

    The good people of America & The President are still waiting for an apology from your lot.

    1. The idea that that lot of assorted robbers, cronies, cowards, promise breakers, liars, fools, knaves, general offences, oxygen thieves, oafs, bolting-hutches of beastliness, stuffed bags of guts, boot-lickers and clack-dishes abide by any standards of protocol is risible! They expect honour among themselves, but they treat us with contempt.

    3. Wow. Talk about passive aggressive! Is she Liebour, or non-Lib non-Dem i wonder?

  66. More envy of the world.
    Well that was fun.
    Having waited a whole week from referral to the appointment:

    Four hours in the hospital for a scintigraphy, of which 2 1/2 hours was preparation, 45 minutes was inside the machine and 15 minutes was awaiting the pictures to be developed.
    I can see why those with claustrophobia might not like the very noisy process.

    An hour after that I had the consultant's medical analysis and conclusions in my personal on-line health file. That was faster than the time it took me to get home.

    The machine appeared to have been made in Britain and all the visible wording was in English.
    They were pushing patients through one after the other, almost like a conveyor belt, optimising the use. I believe it's the only such centre in the Dordogne, (9,000 sq km) and also takes patients from regions on the edge as required.

    This is all very proactive, catch it early, investigate, treat before it gets serious, if at all possible.

    1. Good luck with the treatment when it comes along.

      PS Still waiting after five months for an initial appointment at the Hearing Clinic…..

      3. You mean you can't walk in to Audika, make an appointment in a few days, get tested, get a referral and get an appointment a few days later?
        I did.
        BUT, Gawd aren't hearing aids an awful price!!!

        1. Yes – especially if, as a friend did, you drop one the size of a pebble on a gravel carpark….

          I could go private, but the cost is prohibitive. I am not a retired banker, you see.

          1. My OH paid a fortune to Boots for hearing tests and hearing aids. Then a few months later lost one. He won't wear the odd one now.

          3. I haven't lost mine, but for some reason they keep on stopping working. Then I have the hassle with audiology to get them looked at and sorted. It isn't the batteries because I change those. It isn't long since I got them sorted out and now they've stopped working again šŸ™

          4. How often do you clean the earpiece covers and the little wax catchers, assuming yours have them?

          6. Check with whoever supplied them.
            I realise they’re not all the same, but mine have some tiny traps on top of the entry to the “mechanical” part of the aid, these have to be changed periodically.
            A plastic bit, covering the inner ear piece, can be gently eased off and cleaned of wax too.

          7. He got fed up with his. My hearing isn’t good but I’ve resisted doing anything about it.

          9. Are hearing aids free for over 70s?
            While some individuals over 70 may be eligible for free hearing aids on the NHS, it depends on individual circumstances. Contact your local NHS audiology department for more information. The process for obtaining an NHS hearing aid typically begins with a referral from a General Practitioner (GP) to an NHS hearing aid provider. However, in some areas like Norfolk, individuals aged 50 and over can self-refer for a hearing test and hearing aid fitting without needing a GP referralā€‹

            https://www.earpros.com/uk/blog/free-hearing-aids-for-pensioners

            Mine are rechargeable, I couldn't cope with tiny batteries.

          10. “Contact your local NHS audiology department ”

            What a larf. That was done nearly six months ago. Waiting list which lasts until you die,

          13. Joking aside.
            If your carte vitale is still valid, you might be able to do it here on a couple of holiday weeks.
            Book Audika before you arrive, get tested, book the audiologist, get tested, order the aids.
            Unless there is something particularly unusual about your hearing it should (ha ha) be straightforward, AND quicker than being envied by the world.

          14. The moment you leave France and return to the UK, the CV is immediately deactivated! You then have the palaver of getting back into the E of the W.

          15. You can get hearing aids free on the NHS, but if you lose one you have to pay to replace it.

  67. Lord Young Tables Amendments To Block ā€˜Banter Banā€™ in Raynerā€™s Employment Rights Bill

    Raynerā€™s much-loathed Employment Rights Bill is now in the Lords, with Committee Stage kicking off on 29 April. Free speech warrior and Tory peer Lord Toby Young is already making use of his new role, tabling a series of amendments to block the ā€˜banter banā€™ ā€“ Clause 20 ā€“ which would require employers to protect staff from third-party ā€œnon-sexual harassmentā€. Translation: employers in the hospitality sector could be legally obliged to police visitors for potentially hurtful words overheard by staff. Cue spiralling legal bills and punters getting booted from venues for uttering anything that might cause offenceā€¦

    Lord Youngā€™s amendments include: ā€œthe definition of ā€˜harassmentā€™ cannot include conversation or speech involving the expression of an opinion on a political, moral, religious or social matter, provided the opinion is not indecent or grossly offensive,ā€ and that the banter ban should not apply to employers in the hospitality sector, sports venues, or higher education settings. He also highlights a growing legal dilemma: what happens when different protected characteristics under the Equality Act come into conflict? Sticks and stonesā€¦

    15 April 2025 @ 17:00

    https://order-order.com/2025/04/15/lord-young-tables-amendments-to-block-banter-ban-in-rayners-employment-rights-bill/

    1. A good try – but Cur Ikea Slammer will reverse any "victory" when the Bill returns to the Commons.

      1. The last one – once upon a time that would have been a good joke…. {:Ā¬((

      3. Excellent but ironically our present government mentioned a black hole several times since no body seemed to have voted them in and have donated a lot of our money to countries we are not familiar with. Is this just another passing back hole….. Or permanent ?

  68. It's raining! First time for ages! Can't remember when we last had any – half the things in my pots are looking very brown and may not survive but we'll see.

    1. It rained until after lunch. All the water butts have refilled. Phew! I know we have a well, but delay using that until the summer, relying on butts being regularly filled by the Almighty.

      1. Seems to have stopped already so not enough yet. Maybe drizzling now. More due tomorrow according to my phone and fine again on Thursday.

        1. Much the same here. It tells me the outside temperature is 11 degrees, but it feels like 6!

          2. It gives me a "feels like" temperature depending on the wind chill. My computer has just flashed up a "rain warning", but the local rag hasn't been screaming "amber weather warning!" so presumably it will only be light showers.

    5. Yes, i got soaked on the way in and the way home. And also on the way home a car sped past me through a huge long deep channel of water (it could have slowed down and/or moved into the outside lane where there was no water. I was in a cycle lane separated from the road by a strip of grass. I came back fuming; i hate people at the best of times, let alone selfish stupid unthinking omes).

  69. I'm back inside now after planting the last of my spuds and chopping up some prunings ready to burn when conditions are favourable. It perhaps isn't as cold as yesterday (wind not so strong), but it's hardly balmy.

    1. Potatoes will wait until Good Friday – as they do every year. Creature of habit, me!

      Interestingly, when we lived in Laure, our Spanish neighbours were appalled that we planted ANYTHING on a Friday, let alone Good Friday. It was risking the wrath of, er, Somebody!

      1. I shall be busy on Good Friday (and Holy Saturday and Easter Day) so as I had time to day I made a point of carpe diem.

          2. It would be a brill idea, but, being damselfish, I know my plaice and am casting off.

            A demain.

  70. That's me for this day of three halves. First rain till after munch. Then watery sunshine, then cold but in between the best lecture I have heard for several months. A speaker 150% on to of her material; excellent slides and the use thereof; not a note to be seen. Spellbinding.

    Have a jolly evening.

    A demain.

    1. Evidently you like being lectured to by ladies who know their stuff. The MR trained you well.

  71. Update on my weather app, or rather my laptop. From "rain warning" we have moved on to "rain coming" and – oh joy! – "Temps to drop". The Rayburn will remain lit for a while, by the look of things.

    2. One has to take a step back and wonder who is trying to sabotage the anti wef vote by splitting it.

  73. Girlies coming in for some flak.. for failing to look out the window and instead do lots of selfies & product placement. Yes that's Katy Perry staring into the wall mounted camera.
    BTL comments are funny.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/59114612003d87d56e3f6d74467755fe6a0e6624ade448bc06080f363903effc.png
    Wahmenā€¦doing the jobs chimps wonā€™t do in space anymore.

    "That's one small social media post for a few women, one giant cringe from all mankind."

    Bezos spent millions for ninety minuets of quiet.

    As The Muppets said "Pigs in Space"

    Leave it to a woman to claim that sheā€™s trusting in herself instead of the team of male engineers who sheā€™d never look at.

    2. I think they're all a little unfair – I think they showed a lot of balls (?) going up in that unfortunately-shaped craft.

      It has been statistically proved that space travel is thousands (if not millions) of times more dangerous than any other form of travel – OK thats because there has been a small number of space-related deaths from a relatively microscopically tiny amount of flights.

      Very well done to them all!!

      1. We used military force in Iraq and Afghanistan to support our national interests. Why the reticence in stopping the invaders now.

    4. A disaster? Labour love these vermin. They've no interest in stopping them.

      Folk pointed out that parliament could act when it wanted to, therefore it doesn't want to and is happy for the dross to keep pouring in.

  76. "But then this dispute is not really about money, or jobs ā€“ or even, for that matter, bins. Itā€™s about who is really running Britain: Keir Starmer ā€“ or Graham and her colleagues at Unite.

    Looking at the mess in Birmingham, the answer is all too clear. Not to put too fine a point on it, Rayner has basically handed Labourā€™s backside to the unions. Thanks to her proposed labour reforms ā€“ promising to repeal anti-strike laws, making it much harder to fire poor workers, giving people full employment rights from day one and a raft of other measures currently going through Parliament ā€“ the Government couldnā€™t stand up to them even if it wanted to."

    Ex-Mrs Gove on the 70's revisited.

    3. Nah, burning them because they are cathode ray tube TVs, these can read the innermost thoughs of your mind. The LED flat-screen one's, you have to TELL them what you're thinking, so you can keep the thoughts a secret…

  81. A wet day and a good opportunity to bake. Two large Bloomers and two medium whole meal granary loafs. That will keep us going for a couple of weeks.
    Hopefully back in the garden tmz.
    Grandson coming in the morning. I'm taking Wife to opthalmology in the afternoon.
    Aye aye.
    Hopefully Back in the morning, not too early as was today. An hour till bed time. Watching Ben Fogle on his strange travels. Battery low…….
    Night all. šŸ˜“

  82. A wet day and a good opportunity to bake. Two large Bloomers and two medium whole meal granary loafs. That will keep us going for a couple of weeks.
    Hopefully back in the garden tmz.
    Grandson coming in the morning. I'm taking Wife to opthalmology in the afternoon.
    Aye aye.
    Hopefully Back in the morning, not too early as was today. An hour till bed time. Watching Ben Fogle on his strange travels. Battery low…….
    Night all. šŸ˜“

    1. It will fail, as do all little upstart noggie-pog parties. It will start off in a promising manner before one or more of its prospective MPs shows their true corrupt colours and it all goes tits up.

      It was thus ever the case, ad infinitum, ad nauseam.

  84. Floats in as the sun sets . Good evening, hope you've had a good day .

    2. The Marxist inspired reversal of the Industrial Revolution is well underway; we do not have any competent politicians opposing the efforts of Mr Millipede.

  88. Michael Deacon
    If black actors can play white people, why not the other way round?
    Since the summer of Black Lives Matter, a peculiar double standard has emerged in casting

    Michael Deacon
    Columnist

    Congratulations to Ncuti Gatwa, the star of Doctor Who, on landing an exciting new role. Heā€™s been cast in Born with Teeth, a Royal Shakespeare Company play about the relationship between the Bard and his fellow Elizabethan playwright Christopher Marlowe. Mr Gatwa says the play is ā€œlike no version of Shakespeare and Marlowe that Iā€™ve ever seen beforeā€.

    I can well believe it. Not least because Mr Gatwa is to play Marlowe. Who, like most people in England in the early 1590s, was white.

    To be clear: I mean no disrespect to Mr Gatwa. Heā€™s a talented actor. In any case, thereā€™s nothing unusual, these days, about hiring a non-white actor to play a white historical figure. We saw it last year in the BBCā€™s adaptation of Wolf Hall, set in the 1530s, and indeed in a 2023 episode of Doctor Who, with a mixed-race actor playing Isaac Newton.

    The only reason I mention it is that, in this day and age, I somehow find it hard to imagine a white actor being hired to play a black historical figure. While Mr Gatwa gets to play Marlowe, the writer of Tamburlaine and Doctor Faustus, I somehow doubt that, say, Keira Knightley would be cast to play the Nobel Prize-winning African-American novelist Toni Morrison, or that Hugh Grant would get the nod to portray the great Nigerian author Chinua Achebe. I tend to suspect that such casting would be considered not just inauthentic, but disrespectful. If not downright racist.

    Nowadays, in fact, casting white actors to play black characters is unacceptable even in cartoons. This may seem curious, given that a cartoonā€™s audience is unable to see what race the actors are. None the less, we know itā€™s true, because in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, the Fox TV network announced: ā€œThe Simpsons will no longer have white actors voice non-white characters.ā€ As a result, Harry Shearer, who is white, no longer voices the character of Dr Hibbert, who is black.

    The same happened on another popular US cartoon, Family Guy. For 20 years, the character of Cleveland Brown, who is black, had been voiced by Mike Henry, who is white. But after the Black Lives Matter protests, Mr Henry announced that he was quitting the role, saying: ā€œPersons of colour should play characters of colour.ā€

    In summary, then, here are the new rules. A black actor may play a real-life historical figure who was white. But a white actor may not even provide the voice for a completely fictional character who is black. Please update your records accordingly.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/04/15/black-actors-play-white-people-ncuti-gatwa-marlowe/

    1. This sort of stuff enrages me.

      'Positive' discrimination is discrimination – full stop.

      Accordingly, I'm amazed some of these barmy actions and pronouncements are not challenged legally – even the much reviled ECHR would surely have to find in favour of a white person discriminated against, solely because of the colour of their skin -wouldnt they???

        1. I dont have a problem with ‘diversity’, I really dont.

          I do, however, have a massive problem with discriminatory actions against anybody, because of their colour…….

        1. I considered using one of your devices (ie *sarc*) but I hoped it would not be necessary!

    3. It bothers me that it is historically inaccurate. The race replacement is just desperate, because if they didn't the truth that white folks invented everything would be obvious, but they have to re-write history. The Left always do. They're insane.

      It is, literally Orwellian.

      ā€œEvery record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.ā€
      ā€• George Orwell, 1984

      1. Yeah, I spotted that when Robert Powell played Jesus, and Charlton Heston played Moses. And of course Todd Armstrong in Jason and the Argonauts.

    2. Keir Starmer issued his Easter message in 2024 on Easter Sunday. As for Lent and Palm Sunday, I neither know nor care what he has said or not said in this or previous years. Whatever he might happen to say on these notable dates in the Christian calendar, Starmer haters would reject them as insincere. Why the eagerness that he say something that will be dismissed out of hand? Yes, he sucks up to other faiths. He wants to be Prime Minister beyond 2029 and an Artificial Intelligence has probably calculated that he'll win more votes than he loses by being more ingratiating with followers of other religions than those of Christianity. Let's face it, who are the voters who would gladly support a Starmer-led administration if only he would issue Lent and Palm Sunday messages? I bet none of you here feeling aggrieved about his lack of overt support for Christianity would vote for Starmer's Labour in 2029 if only he'd post some superficial sycophancies.

  90. Just finished watching the original All Creatures Great and Small with Robert Hardy .
    Found it delightful and gentle but rather sad the country has changed so much .
    I've started to reread the books again .

    1. It is indeed a beautiful programme, added to by the fact that it was based on reality.

  91. And I'm off to bed.
    Did not go to Stoke as planned as Stepson said he'd rather I came over tomorrow.

      1. Radio Europe's choice of illustration comes from a 2017 drugs raid on a house in Grimsby.

        Police raids launched in East Marsh Grimsby

        Large numbers of police have mounted an anti-drugs operation in Grimsby
        Bookmark

        By Peter CraigReporter
        Updated16:49, 17 AUG 2017

        https://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/news/live-police-raids-launched-east-337544

        I cannot find any account of the 45-year-old woman sentenced to 9 months in prison for something she posted on Facebook.

        Excuse me for having grave doubts about the authenticity of Radio Europe's claim.

        1. No name, no location, no date – I have a very strong feeling this is either a fabrication or erroneous in some major detail that makes it impossible to find in any other report.

  94. Well, chums, it's now my bedtime. So Good Night to you all, sleep well, and I shall see you all tomorrow.

    1. Hi Geoff.
      All the links for Wednesdays page are fcuked up, and point to the D Tel letters page, not the NTTL page.

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