Saturday 3 August: The Southport riots point to wider problems in British society

Posted on by Geoff Graham

An unofficial place to discuss the Telegraph letters, established when the DT website turned off its commenting facility (now reinstated, but we prefer ours),
Intelligent, polite, good-humoured debate is welcome, whether on or off topic. Differing opinions are encouraged, but rudeness or personal attacks on other posters will not be tolerated. Posts which – in the opinion of the moderators – make this a less than cordial environment, are likely to be removed, without prior warning.  Persistent offenders will be banned.

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

917 thoughts on “Saturday 3 August: The Southport riots point to wider problems in British society”

  2. Good morning, chums, and thank you, Geoff, for today new NoTTLe page. Only just managed to get today's Wordle in six.

    Wordle 1,141 6/6

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  3. Good morrow, Gentlefolk, today’s (recycled) story

    Good luck Mr. Gorsky!

    When Apollo Mission Astronaut Neil Armstrong first walked on the moon, he not only gave his famous "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind!" statement but followed it by several remarks — usual com traffic — between him, the other astronauts and Mission Control.
    Just before he re-entered the lander, however, he made the enigmatic remark "Good luck Mr. Gorsky!"
    Many people at NASA thought it was a casual remark concerning some rival Soviet Cosmonaut. However, upon checking, there was no Gorsky in either the Russian or American space programs. Over the years many people questioned Armstrong as to what the "Good luck Mr. Gorsky!" statement meant, but Armstrong always just smiled.
    Just last year (on July 5, 1995 in Tampa Bay, FL) while answering questions following a speech, a reporter brought up the 26 year old question to Armstrong. This time he finally responded. Mr. Gorsky had finally died, and so Neil Armstrong felt he could answer the question.
    When he was a kid, he was playing baseball with a friend in the backyard. His friend hit a fly ball, which landed in the front of his neighbour’s bedroom window. His neighbours were Mr. and Mrs. Gorsky. As he leaned down to pick up the ball, young Armstrong heard Mrs. Gorsky shouting at Mr. Gorsky.
    "Oral sex! You want oral sex?! You'll get oral sex when the kid next door walks on the moon!"

  5. Good Moaning.
    Pleasantly cool at the moment.
    Tellygraff still in funk mode; no comments under Letters to the Editor.
    Being an utter snob, I'm surprised at a Beeb executive living in, or possibly near, Billericay.

    "SIR – Craig Simpson’s article (“BBC accused of sitting on internal report about Edwards”, August 2) highlights the invidious position in which the BBC now finds itself.

    Huw Edwards rose to fame following many years of reporting for BBC television, where his skills proved to be of sufficient standing that he was offered a job on the Six O’Clock News.

    No one saw him as an eventual replacement for Sir Robin Day or even David Dimbleby, but presenting the main news bulletins was within his reach.

    As a BBC executive at the time, I remember contracting him for that role. The contract he signed contained the vital clause: “You shall not take any action which will bring the BBC into disrepute”. It seems he broke that clause, for which he should have been dismissed.

    Quite why the BBC did not take the action it was bound to, only Tim Davie can answer.

    Vin Harrop
    Billericay, Essex"

    1. Given their blithe disregard of the political bias shown by many of the BBC’s highly remunerated ‘stars’, one assumes that those standard contracts went in the shredder long ago.

    3. That has already been explained elsewhere; once criminal charges were pending, it would have been impossible to dismiss Mr Edwards without implying guilt, and the criminal justice process depends on an assumption of innocence.

      1. But he had brought the BBC into disrepute through his proven actions, even if they were not illegal.
        I used to belong to a profession with a regulator that cuts off a doctor’s livelihood on the basis that 3 people don’t approve of something they did that was perfectly legal but is deemed to have brought the profession into disrepute.

  6. 390823+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Saturday 3 August: The Southport riots point to wider problems in British society

    The bloody understatement of the century, could it just be that at long last the PEOPLES RESET has been triggered ?

    As is the current state of affairs within society today someone,
    in this case horrifically sadly, had to die before a continuous ongoing odious situation was given true, in depth attention.

    IMHO the peoples saying NO MORE in a positive manner will have the desired effect.

    I can see some peoples going OTT will meet with disapproval in some quarters BUT, in the making of omelettes as the saying goes some eggs must be broken.

    I truly believe that in this instance the end, beneficial to the peoples justifies the means.

  7. Sunderland police station set on fire amid riot. 3 August 2024.

    A Sunderland police station caught fire as riots continued to spread after three girls were killed at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport.

    Hundreds of people took to the streets in Liverpool and Sunderland on Friday night in the latest in a series of demonstrations thought to have been orchestrated by hard-Right protesters.

    There probably hasn’t been as much domestic disinformation since the Reichstag fire. If it gets worse for the government expect a Gleiwitz Incident with Russia. It’s worth pointing out that the seven protesters arrested for the Southport riot are, as far as is known, home grown.

    No Comments Allowed.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/02/southport-attack-latest-axel-rudakubana-riots/

      1. Not to mention that the plan to reinstate various closed railways by this supposedly "green" government has been scrapped-to make savings-presumably to spend that £11 billion on foreign "climate" initiatives. Beyond insane.

        1. Surely there must be some legal mechanism to remove a government which is so inept and destructive. These people are traitors. How can they be allowed to continue like this?

          1. It is an "elective dictatorship" and it can roll on regardless. What is so frustrating is these railway reinstatements were sensible local infrastructure projects bringing real benefits locally but that presumably has no traction with these loonies.

  9. Police officer sacked after punching two women in row about Meghan Markle. 3 August 2024.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ef85c6941200325bc475d5cd85914aaa66078732526e0535787e5e3b0d4e4df8.png

    A senior police officer who hit two women after an argument about Meghan Markle and race on the day of the King’s Coronation while off-duty has been sacked.

    Insp Tola Munro, from South Bristol, dragged one woman to the ground and punched her before hitting another in the face on May 6 last year, a misconduct tribunal was told.

    The former president of the National Black Police Association “completely lost control of himself” when a discussion about the Duchess of Sussex and race became heated and personal, the BBC reported.

    You couldn't make it up!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/02/police-officer-punched-two-women-meghan-markle/

    2. BTL:

      Michael Cooke
      13 HRS AGO
      Former President of the Black Police Association, who is President of the White Police Association?

      Chris Phillips
      13 HRS AGO
      Reply to Michael Cooke – view message
      Ahh yes. A White Police Association wouldn't be allowed under equality laws. But a Black one gets a free pass. Funny that.

  11. Morning all – getting ready for another long day fundraising. Cool and cloudy here with some damp on the ground.

  12. Good morning all.
    A dull 13½°C start today with a heavy overcast and, taking a milk bottle out, I see we've had a very brief shower.
    No BTL Comments allowed on the DT Letters Page. 2nd day in a row.

    1. My BTL comment:

      "We are the indigenous, white inhabitants of these Islands and all we ask is that immigrants integrate into our society. Jews and Hindus have managed it, why can't others?"

      1. Create a bell curve of the IQs of Jews, another of Hindus, another of Sub Saharan Africans, another of Caribbean imports and another of Muslims.
        Compare the results and I think you may see an answer.

        1. Cultural Marxists/relativists deny that inherited IQ exists, just as they deny biological sex. The evidence for both is clearly established of course but it’s at odds with their ideology. Serious evolutionary biologists estimate up to 80% of intelligence is genetic and infant nutrition has more impact than education but try arguing the point with lefty thickos. Impossible.

    2. My BTL comment:

      "We are the indigenous, white inhabitants of these Islands and all we ask is that immigrants integrate into our society. Jews and Hindus have managed it, why can't others?"

  15. Good lead letter today:-

    SIR – Politicians have rightly been quick to condemn the violence on Britain’s streets in recent days (“Starmer blames riots on far-Right plotters”, report, August 2).

    However, minsters and police have failed to address other disturbing and criminal activities of recent times, and in so doing are ignoring the fact that the anger in the country goes a lot wider and deeper than the rare, symptomatic actions of a handful of extremists.

    Many, for example, point to a degree of two-tier policing in regard to protests. If this perception is not reversed, it is difficult to see how the anger will abate.

    Barrie Bowen
    Steyning, West Sussex

  16. Russia’s war games extend far beyond Ukraine. Nicholas Soames. 3 August 2024.

    A case in point is Libya, the former stronghold of Muammar Gaddafi. Using the ongoing civil tensions and flare ups between the UN-backed government of Abdelhamid Dbeibeh in the West and the warlord General Haftar in the East, Putin has fully supported Haftar’s bid to create a new dynasty that will take Libya back into dictatorship.

    This new friendship has not only enabled him to flow his mercenary forces into the country and beyond, destabilising much of sub-Saharan Africa in the process, but it has also allowed discussions to begin on a new Russian nuclear submarine base to be constructed in the Libyan port of Tobruk. To my mind, this evokes a Cuban Missile Crisis scenario, only this time with Europe in the crosshairs and the Mediterranean Sea a possible new battleground for Western Europe.

    More Russian scaremongering. Soames must have dreamed this up in his bath. It is Geo-politics for the mentally retarded. No mention here that Libya was destroyed by the West in another of those catastrophic wars in the Middle East that have done more harm to us than any projected enemy. Just in passing why would the Russians want a nuclear submarine base far from their home that would be vulnerable in the extreme?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/02/russias-war-games-extend-far-beyond-ukraine/

  17. 'Morning All
    Fuckwits,fuckwits everywhere
    "Traders who sell knives used in attacks should be prosecuted, says judge "
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/02/traders-who-sell-knives-used-attacks-should-be-prosecuted/
    That'll sort it………………..(sarc)
    Medley
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/30d47b2d06cc8d83d8a2de8bcda97ada19505047db4054835e797318e12ec5ab.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f3872ed1975c87ede2be3f6d95d7b34461b90e313399837a6e588051b4861928.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c524dc3f59ee6264d7d2362b36a4947471225fed92b85b1e0e12e451190dc6fb.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1959e7bd231bfa405d1b4ea8196c2708811eb807b50ea84f8331a38855c19f57.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/477a5af9d0cf7a6babfcb8f26348507459831046e918ba58e8185350aa219c73.jpg
    https://x.com/LeoKearse/status/1819525841279209683

  18. This is how we Brits Prepare for World War III

    Britain’s nuclear submarine software contract handed to Belarusian engineers

    Fears that coding work outsourced to Russia and its allies could pose national security threat

    Camilla Turner
    2 August 2024 • 9:24pm

    Britain’s nuclear submarine engineers use software that was designed in Russia and Belarus, in contravention of Ministry of Defence rules, The Telegraph can reveal.

    The software should have been created by UK-based staff with security clearance, but its design was partially outsourced to developers in Siberia and Minsk, the capital of Belarus.

    There are fears that the code built by the Russian and Belarussian developers could be exploited to reveal the location of Britain’s submarines.

    The Telegraph understands that the MoD considered the security breach a serious threat to UK defence and launched an investigation.

    The inquiry discovered that the firm that outsourced the work – on a staff intranet for nuclear submarine engineers – to Russia and Belarus initially kept it secret and discussed whether it could disguise where the workers were based by giving them fake names of dead British people.

    As well as the UK’s submarine fleet, there are fears that further defence capabilities could have been compromised because it has emerged that a previous project was also outsourced to developers in Minsk.

    National security in jeopardy
    On Friday, experts warned that the UK’s national security could have been jeopardised if personal details of those with classified knowledge of Britain’s nuclear submarine fleet fell into the wrong hands, leaving them exposed to blackmail or targeted attacks.

    Ben Wallace, the former defence secretary, said the breach “potentially left us vulnerable to the undermining of our national security”. He added: “Time and time again, countries like China and Russia have targeted the supply chains of our defence contractors. This is not a new phenomenon.”

    James Cartlidge, the shadow defence secretary, said it was an “absolute imperative” to ensure “our most sensitive defence programmes have total resilience and security”.

    Rolls-Royce Submarines, which designs and runs the UK’s nuclear submarine fleet on behalf of the Royal Navy, wanted to upgrade its staff intranet and had subcontracted the work to WM Reply, a digital consultancy firm.

    WM Reply then used developers based in Belarus – Russia’s closest ally – one of whom was actually working from home in Tomsk, Siberia, according to documents submitted to the MoD’s inquiry.

    The intranet system included personal details of all Rolls-Royce Submarines employees as well as the organisational structure of those working on the UK’s submarine fleet.

    In the summer of 2020, staff at WM Reply began to sound the alarm over the security implications of using Belarusian staff for the project and suggested that Rolls-Royce should be informed.

    By November, a team meeting – a transcript of which was provided to MoD investigators – revealed the serious concerns of some staff members.

    But they were told by superiors there was no need to “panic” and that Rolls-Royce should not be informed as there was a risk it might cancel the project if it found out.

    It was only in the spring of 2021, when concerns were reported directly to Rolls-Royce, that an investigation was launched. The matter was subsequently brought to the MoD in the summer of 2022, triggering a further investigation which concluded in February last year.

    Dr Marion Messmer, senior research fellow at the think-tank Chatham House, said that allowing Belarusian and Russian developers to work on this kind of project constituted a clear “national security risk”.

    Any rogue actors gaining access to personal data of those working on the UK’s submarine fleet carried a risk of “blackmail or a targeted attack”, she said.

    “From a strategic perspective, the great thing about the submarines is that they are very hard to detect and very mobile. If anyone had access to a tracking system that shows where submarines are at all times, that would give them a huge strategic advantage – if planning an attack on the UK they could first target the nuclear submarines and disable Trident.”

    A Rolls-Royce spokesman said: “We can categorically state that at no point was there any risk of data, classified or otherwise, being accessed or made available to non-security cleared individuals. It is not possible for non-security cleared individuals to access any sensitive data via our company intranet. It is used to provide business updates, wellbeing support and a channel for collaboration between our colleagues.

    “All our suppliers comply with strict security requirements. Once we were made aware of these allegations that clearly breached these requirements, and following a rigorous internal investigation that concluded in 2021, Rolls-Royce Submarines ceased working with WM Reply. We have not awarded them any further contracts.”

    Rolls-Royce said it had carried out full IT security checks on any coding before it was introduced to its network. The company is understood to be confident that WM Reply employees and their subcontractors did not have access to information on secure servers.

    A spokesman for WM Reply denied the claim that its actions could have endangered national security.

    “WM Reply regularly reviews its delivery processes and procedures, respects the needs and processes of its customers and enjoys transparent and long-standing relationships with those customers,” they said.

    An MoD spokesman said: “This matter was fully investigated by Rolls-Royce. As they have said, at no point was the integrity of the system compromised.”

    How Russian link to submarine software was kept secret
    By Camilla Turner

    It was several minutes into a conference call between WM Reply staff members when one employee summed up the concerns of those in the meeting.

    “We are talking about serious stuff here, this is our defence … this could screw the company if it got out,” they said.

    Having won a contract from Rolls-Royce Submarines to carry out an upgrade of its intranet, the digital consultancy’s team had spent much of the call trying to work out how they could cover up the fact sensitive work was to be carried out by developers in Belarus, an ally of Russia so close some describe it as a vassal state.

    As one of them put it: “I think as soon as we mention Minsk … I think they will just go wahhhh!”

    During the brainstorming session, one employee suggested WM Reply could hide the involvement of offshore developers by concealing their Belarusian-sounding names. This could be achieved, it was suggested, by using the names of “dead people in the UK” instead.

    The Microsoft Teams video conference call, which took place in November 2020, is at the centre of revelations about how highly sensitive work was outsourced to people in Belarus and Russia.

    Rolls-Royce Submarines, which runs Britain’s fleet of nuclear submarines on behalf of the Ministry of Defence, stipulated that the work on its intranet upgrade should only be carried out by UK-based security-cleared individuals.

    Those working on the project for WM Reply in the UK, who did have security clearance, were told they should obtain advice before even travelling to certain countries where “special security restrictions” applied, which included Belarus and Russia.

    The Teams call – a transcript of which was passed to MoD investigators – took place towards the end of the “discovery” phase of the work and just days before the project was officially due to start. By this point, some of those working on the project at WM Reply were becoming uncomfortable about using coders based out of an office in Minsk in apparent contravention of the instructions from the MoD.

    Various options were discussed by senior managers at WM Reply about ways to conceal the identities of the Belarusian coders from Rolls-Royce, such as having one British developer compile all the software which was produced in Belarus to make it look as though the entire code had been created in the UK.

    Another employee on the call stated Rolls-Royce must not be told about the Belarusian developers, saying: “We can’t tell them we are doing this, unfortunately.”

    Another team member asked why, if they were not doing anything wrong, could Rolls-Royce not be informed?

    A more senior team member warned against escalating the concerns to a higher level of management, saying this could lead to them deciding to “completely pull the plug” on the project and risk losing a contract worth half a million pounds.

    They went on to reassure other team members by claiming that the risk was “minimal” given that they had already undertaken previous projects for Rolls-Royce using developers in Minsk without any problems.

    They argued that they could make it “secure” so the Minsk team “don’t even know what they are working on” and told staff to stop “talking each other into a panic” about it.

    After the meeting, the senior employee at WM Reply told the team they had spoken to a contractor at Rolls-Royce who indicated he was happy for offshore workers without security clearance to take part in the project “where required to achieve accelerated timelines and only in the WM environment”.

    However, it was not explicitly stated to Rolls-Royce that this involved using workers based in Belarus or Russia, according to documents studied by the MoD.

    It was alleged WM Reply wanted to use developers based out of an office in the Belarusian capital of Minsk to cut costs, according to documents submitted to the MoD’s inquiry. Developers in Belarus would have cost “substantially less” than those in the UK, so contracting them for the project – worth around half a million pounds in total – would “increase the profit margin”, it was claimed.

    Dr Marion Messmer, senior research fellow at Chatham House, a think tank, said that IT and software development work was increasingly outsourced to agencies in countries such as Belarus, Russia, Poland and Ukraine which was “done as a cost-cutting measure”.

    “This could be completely harmless but it becomes a huge security concern if it is work on critical national infrastructure,” she said.

    James Cartlidge, the shadow defence minister, said: “The country needs to be reassured that everything is being done to look into this.”

    He added that a “much greater focus on the resilience of supply chains” is needed across the board, in both the public and private sectors.

    ‘Over-reliance on certain suppliers’
    Mr Cartlidge, a former minister for defence procurement, said that when he was in the MoD, officials were looking at supply chains, in particular the issue of ensuring the UK did not become “over-reliant on certain suppliers for items that are significant for our critical infrastructure”.

    Ed Arnold, at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies, said in this case there was a “principal security threat” of state-sponsored sabotage but also the potential for information to fall into the hands of criminals.

    “The issue with data these days is you can store it pretty quickly and easily. Once you lose control of the data, you can’t get it back,” he said.

    “It would give a state actor a pretty good intelligence start point. If you want to compromise systems, you need to first work out who to target. If you can get a dataset which does the pre-sifting for you, it means that subsequent approaches and targeted pitches are more productive.”

    He said that Russia, the closest ally of Belarus, is one of the “primary” national security threats to the UK. “The threat is made up of capability, opportunity, intent – they have it all,” he said.

    “The MoD should be asking itself, ‘What if there wasn’t a whistleblower?’ This wasn’t the MoD identifying the problem, it wasn’t Rolls-Royce. If it hadn’t been alerted to this, there would potentially be a vulnerability that could have been used and exploited for a longer period of time.”

    Confident in security
    Rolls-Royce, which launched an investigation into what happened after it was contacted directly about the issue in spring 2021, says it is confident its intranet is secure.

    A spokesman said that all software or development work that was subcontracted out, including “off-the-shelf” software packages, went through rigorous security testing before being considered for use.

    It said it carried out IT “health checks” annually across all of its networks and regularly took part in exercises with the National Cyber Security Centre to ensure networks remain secure.

    A spokesman for WM Reply said it denied the claim its actions could have endangered national security. “WM Reply regularly reviews its delivery processes and procedures, respects the needs and processes of its customers and enjoys transparent and long-standing relationships with those customers,” it said.

    Georgina Halford-Hall, chief executive of Whistleblowers UK, said: “There were multiple whistleblowers here who were doing the right thing and raising concerns.

    “In a case like this, one would expect that the company would take matters seriously and act on the evidence provided by the whistleblower. But rather than acting on the concerns, they closed it down. The whistleblowers felt ignored, sidelined, and targeted by their employer.”

    She is among those campaigning for whistleblowing laws that could result in companies being fined millions of pounds for attempted cover-ups.

    Ministers are being urged to back a Whistleblowing Bill which will also outlaw non-disclosure agreements
    and set up a new tribunal where whistleblowing cases will be heard.

    Previous iterations of the Whistleblowing Bill – which have been introduced in both the Commons and the Lords – received backing from senior Labour figures including Dame Margaret Hodge and Lord Browne, who was defence secretary under Sir Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

    Campaigners hope the Bill, which would protect whistleblowers from criminal or civil action being taken against them, will win the backing of Sir Keir Starmer’s government.

    The current whistleblowing regime enables workers to bring an employment tribunal claim against their organisation if they are dismissed or treated unfairly at work because they have made a “protected disclosure” about wrongdoing.

    These protections were set up in the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (PIDA) but many are deterred by the cost and complexity of the system. The legislation would see people compensated for any loss they experienced – such as being dismissed from their job – as a result of their whistleblowing.

    It would also set up a regulator, the Office of the Whistleblower, to investigate protected disclosures. It would set minimum standards for workplace whistleblowing policies, monitor and enforce compliance, and bring prosecutions.

    Civil penalties – with a maximum fine set at 10 per cent of a company’s turnover up to £18 million – would be levied for those who fail to comply with an order from the Office of the Whistleblower. And a new criminal offence of subjecting a whistleblower to detriment is included in the draft bill, which carries a maximum jail term of 18 months.

    Ms Halford-Hall is also urging the legal watchdog, which oversees the professional conduct of lawyers, to ensure that solicitors firms are not allowed to facilitate cover-ups of national security issues.

    “It is time that the SRA stopped pussyfooting around with this and brought forward meaningful regulations and serious consequences for lawyers,” Ms Halford-Hall said. “Every lawyer should be compelled to report national security or other safeguarding issues to the relevant regulators and/or the police.”

    1. lotta fuss about nothing.. as WM Reply had already undertaken previous projects for Rolls-Royce using developers in Minsk and are pretty sure that there weren't any problems.
      (CEO Richard Acreman shouts to back of office.. Dave, you heard of any problems?).

      in any case they.. regularly review its delivery processes and procedures, respect the needs and processes of its customers and enjoy transparent and long-standing relationships with their customers.

    2. lotta fuss about nothing.. as WM Reply had already undertaken previous projects for Rolls-Royce using developers in Minsk and are pretty sure that there weren't any problems.
      (CEO Richard Acreman shouts to back of office.. Dave, you heard of any problems?).

      in any case they.. regularly review its delivery processes and procedures, respect the needs and processes of its customers and enjoy transparent and long-standing relationships with their customers.

  19. Ah! The Letters page has been opened for comments!
    Staggers back in amazement!

  20. Norman Wilson
    9 HRS AGO
    Either utter stupidity or treason.

    Marc Standing
    9 HRS AGO
    Reply to Norman Wilson
    Well if the civil service were involved its probably both.

  22. Great Britain has just won another gold medal. Team BBC has repeated the phrase 'Far right' more than seven thousand times in two days, breaking their previous record of six thousand four hundred the previous week. We won't be beaten, said a spokesthing, we have the blessing and assistance of WEF and dozens of British and international propaganda newspapers to drive us on.

    1. How can they be far-right when they are protesting about the murders of mixed race children? One of those little girls was British and of a mixed race heritage, I think. Another of them has a Spanish name. This is about the murdering of not just British children, but children everywhere – and it being enabled by British politicians.

  24. Good morning all,

    A bit of a dreich, drizzle-laden start at Castle McPhee. Wind in the West, 17℃ rising to 22℃ later as the skies clear.

    What, in the name of all that's Holy, is this creature doing at the BBC Proms?

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fe2c3bf086ffbf1efdee9f54c8d60c10a1b80e883dceff43613cb002f543952a.png

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/concerts/sam-smith-bbc-proms-2024-review/

    Having asked that, it is clearly a deliberate action designed to wind up conservative Britain. The best course would be just to ignore it.

    1. It's like toddlers stamping their feet to get attention.
      Switch on convenient blindness and deafness.

    3. Earmarked to take over Huw Edwards job at the BBC but won't work for measly £500.000 a year, Has his gender re-affirming surgery and several boyfriends/husbands to support.

    2. Wishing you a very Happy Birthday, molamola! Hope you have a wonderful 70th and all goes swimmingly!🍺🎂🥂🍷🎉

    9. Grattis på födelsedagen, Mr Sunfish. Hope it's a good 'un.👍🏻🎂🐡🐠🐟🍺😊

    10. Happy Birthday to the nicest fish I know!! 🙂

      Wishing you a wonderful day, and a great year to come.

      Love from a very rainy Buenos Aires x

  26. Tougher laws are needed to take down misinformation and incitement.. There has been much debate about the long delayed Online Harms Bill…

    Two-Keir Starmer to ban complaining.

    1. During the era of the USSR my Polish uncle who lived in Essex used to communicate with his friends and family back home in mutually understood code and metaphor, because at the Polish end they were being listened to. They got away with it.

      1. A few years ago William Clouston (leader of the SDP) wrote a very interesting article for Spiked. It referred to his experience of living in Poland before the collapse of the Soviet Union and warned that the 3 tiers of ‘truth’ that obtained there were now affecting the UK. The tiers were: 1. ‘Truths’ spoken in the public domain; ‘truths’ spoken among friends and colleagues; real truths that were only shared with immediate family and very close friends.
        The article can probably be retrieved by entering Clouston in the search facility on the Spiked site.

    1. Ask him where he considers the boundaries of Palestine are.

      If it was put to a vote at the UN, Israel would cease to exist.

    2. What business is it of his? His job is to attend to the nation's spiritual void. If he can't or won't do that, he should be gone.

      1. Curiously, for most of his life Justin Welby believed that he was half-jewish, until he discovered that his father was not his biological father. My point is that there is a chasm between liberal-lefties and those who support Israel's right to exist.

    3. Welby is mad, bad and dangerous to know (originally said about Byron) but it certainly applies to Welby.

      2. Byron was much more fun than Welby. When my brother worked at John Murray, the publishers in Albermarle St., his waste paper basket was the fireplace where John Murray II burnt Byron's memoirs because they were too scandalous for publication.

    4. Ending Welby's occupation of Lambeth Palace is moral necessity, says Rastus C. Tastey.

    5. Silly hyperbole. He's no more capable of destroying Christianity than a pin-prick can lead to fatal haemorrhaging.

      1. He closed the churches when they were most needed, he operates a policy of co-operation when anti-Christian laws are passed – no protest, no Church militant for him. If the pin prick is deep enough into an artery …?

        1. So what? Even if the Church of England were to die, Christianity would thrive without it. Do you think for one moment that Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodox Christianity, US Baptists and numerous others rely on a thriving CofE for their survival?

          1. Depends on who’s in charge of those churches. If Welby manages to turn them as well ….

    1. Another sad example of how stupid and ignorant all the Dopey Wokies are. What point are they trying to make ?

    2. But it's not a grand event.
      There's an awful lot of empty seats in the stadia.
      There's bugger-all on the news.
      There's bugger-all in YouTube.
      There's no excitement on Nottl.
      Nobody in the office is talking about it, except to say that having men fight women is unacceptable.
      Looks like it's a total flop.

      1. When I went to get lunch at work yesterday one of the canteen staff, a young black woman, was trying to make her male colleague understand why it’s wrong to let a man beat up a woman. I pitched in, so the poor lad had two women having a go at him – but only verbally!

        1. Good on you, Sue.
          Anyone with an ounce of humanity can see that having males, with their superior strength and ability to take punishment by heavier build, fight with women, in or out of the ring, is unacceptable. And, anyone with XY chromosomes is male. End of.

      1. They are already bigging him up as a choirboy and charity fund raiser.
        Next: he was deliberately provoked by the girls and their teachers; so it is all their fault.

        1. I got so frustrated with the news reports last night that I found myself yelling the N word at the television, as in, “No the problem is not the “far right”, the problem is the n@gger who murdered three kids”. I take it my neighbours didn’t hear and report me, as the police haven’t arrived to knock down my door – which is open anyway as it’s still too warm in here!

          1. I also screamed silently , Moh was asleep on the sofa , and I stressed over the wounding of the Lt Colonel, we haven't heard how he is ..

            Here I am less than a mile from the Royal Tank Regiment , we see soldiers coming to the village to top up their hunger, our local bakery provides many delicious breads and pastries / cakes etc .

            The army is sort of on leave at present , no tank or firing practise on the Army ranges which are part of our areas of natural beauty, tourist are here by the thousand , many cultures!!!!

          2. Allegedly. Always use 'allegedly' once a suspect has been charged.

            As for problems, people of different ethnicities who are not self-employed are now destined for employment within the public control sector. No SME can afford to hire them, unless it is already operated by bames, pocs etc. (small or medium enterprise)

          3. 20 years ago, I would have been appalled at the sort of language I find myself using now.

          4. The heart of the problem is the open door immigration policy combined with multi-culturalism. Had we had controlled immigration and made the incomers integrate, I doubt we'd be seeing the problems we have now.

        2. He's an actor. His showbiz background is all over Twitt.
          And we have still only seen one photo of each of the victims….

    3. That ain't pink, it's fuchsia.
      Once again the PTB have fuchsed up.
      RIP Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine.
      RIP Emily Grace Jones, of Bolton.

    5. Light up buildings, light candles, lay flowers, place teddy bears. Do something? No.

      1. Always think such a terrible waste of teddy bears which could be giving comfort to a living child.

    6. Such empty gestures from hollowed out virtue signallers are not a surprise. Decided at a COBRA meeting?

      Nothing will change until more and more people become enraged at this useless shower's behaviour.

      Looking at the voting figures it was the always Labour tribal voters supported by the stay-at-home non-voters who put Smarmer into No 10 – he polled fewer votes than Corbyn received in 2019 – when the Tories had a 80 seat majority.

      Corbyn received >10.2 Million votes in 2019 and Smarmer received >9.6 Million in 2024.

  31. Allowing Muslim Pro-Palestine demonstrations every weekend without any police attempt to control them has been the policy of both this and the last government.

    Hasn't this encouraged the anti-Muslim riots in the streets by showing the rioters that if they are nasty enough – as the Muslim demonstrations are – they may get away with it?

    1. It appears that the start of ww3 is taking place on our streets Richard.
      Perhaps the 'powers that be' our political idiots will accept that they have made a very serious mistake in allowing Islam to try and dominate our culture and social structure.

      What was the French Argentine punch-up about at the Olympics?
      Did Andy Murray change his shirt again?

      1. It was in one of the Agreements (Barcelona or Marrakesh) it was declared that the UK would allow and encourage the spread of islam. Which is why you see schoolchildren being taken to mosques. No doubt the PM of the day and those following on were paid handsomely for this. There are echoes of declaration in Starmer's speech last Monday. The treachery and betrayal of the people of the United Kingdom is immense by those whose first duty is the safeguarding and security of those people.

    2. Starmer gave the green light to islam last Monday. Its followers now know if they murder us in the streets the state will do… not a lot.

      1. Hello pm,

        How is your pup doing , over the sickness bout I hope?

        Starmer took the knee , Kow towed to the Muslims , has not corrected the Khan dictator , has poor judgement on everything , and has failed to realise the fedupness of people who have been overloaded with a different culture , all parts of the country , especially the strong hearted North of England , forgotten but now frustrated , enough is enough.

        The countryside has been over run with rustlers, pinching goats , sheep and farm equipment and grain .

        Our roads are full of careless drivers of Audis , BMW's and Mercs , driven by foreign people who probably haven't got a licence, never mind never passed a test , they don't care , they gesticulate and shout and harass, they walk into our village shops and demand … dare I say portable throwaway BBQ kits , they poo and pee everywhere , I have a pleasant curry plant growing in my garden , but to come across curry stinking poo on heathland is another story!

        1. Hello Belle,

          Pup is doing ok, it was a 12-24 hour bug, possibly something he ate. He perked up the next day, which is more than could be said for ourselves (we were really tired). Family bbq today in Biggleswade, the Swindon Two contingent staying with us overnight. Not having had much sleep on Wednesday night I have found the preparations (i.e. our contribution) for the bbq and overnight stay really tiring in the run-up.

          It all sounds a nightmare down in Dorset – it is calm yet in this part of the world and if I didn't read about what was going on in the wider world I would be none the wiser, apart from the building work going on around. I must admit I am wondering for how much longer we will be able to safely walk along our local fields and hedgerows. I am scared for the future, but part of me is relieved that people are waking up although in so doing they are walking into a govt trap (see how Starmer goaded the public in his speech on Monday to get them where he wanted, and now it appears that he is sauntering off on his hollibobs – more goading…) what is the alternative – that is to be overwhelmed by islam and everything lost. We, the public, have been placed between a rock and a hard place and now, having taken the head off the boil, we must apply pressure in planning and acting strategically.

  32. Allowing Muslim Pro-Palestine demonstrations every weekend without any police attempt to control them has been the policy of both this and the last government.

    Hasn't this encouraged the anti-Muslim riots in the streets by showing the rioters that if they are nasty enough – as the Muslim demonstrations are – they may get away with it?

  33. 390823+ up ticks

    Dt
    We need a new approach to integration
    It is time to be honest and clear-eyed about the challenges of diversity as well as its benefits

    The "new approach" via the "far right racist, had enough decent folk" peoples, is integration =s separation as in COUNTRIES APART.

  34. Morning all 🙂😊
    Grey and very slightly wet.
    More later no doubt, we have a family and friends birthday bbq later today.
    Already it seems that the cause of the Southport 'riot' seems to have been pushed aside by the government and the press.
    Those poor innocent little children were attacked and murdered by someone whose intention was more than obvious.
    And last night More serious disturbances occurred in Sunderland. Mosque and police station set alight. There seems to be a connection.

    1. Morning Eddy,

      I do hope your family BBQ is a lovely event , weather clearing here .

      Re the riots etc , wrong but how terrible so much damage has been done , however my view is that Starmer is so wrong in dissing Brits in favour of protecting Mosques which are the centre of all that is wrong with this country , hosting idle illiterate males who control their women , child abusers , and people who plot and plan the takeover of our town halls, egged on by diversity loving Islington champagne socialists .. and two tier policing !

      Who are the people who voted for this Labour party?

      1. The problem is, how does one get one's feelings across?
        When you are ignored, rejected, dissed at every turn by government and the press (same thing, really) – and then they set the police on you. What's the alternative to getting attention? It's not helped by professional propagandists making shit up about the cause, double standards that are now obvious, and of course people will speculate when the info from government is both lacking and misleading. Folk have had enough of it. I fear the violence will get worse, and thank God I live abroad.

          1. That’s my worry, Tom. When will either a panicked copper or the Army fire on the demonstrators? Before, I believed that they, as individuals, would refuse, but having seen video of blatant provocation, I no longer trust the innate decency of white Brits to defy orders to shoot unarmed fellow-citizens.
            God help us all.

      1. The Beginnings
        It was not part of their blood,
        It came to them very late
        With long arrears to make good,
        When the English began to hate.

        They were not easily moved,
        They were icy-willing to wait
        Till every count should be proved,
        ‘Ere the English began to hate.

        Their voices were even and low,
        Their eyes were level and straight.
        There was neither sign nor show,
        When the English began to hate.

        It was not preached to the crowd,
        It was not taught by the State.
        No man spoke it aloud,
        When the English began to hate.

        It was not suddenly bred,
        It will not swiftly abate,
        Through the chill years ahead,
        When Time shall count from the date
        That the English began to hate.

        Though all we made depart,
        The old commandments stand:
        "In patience keep your heart,
        In strength lift up your hand."

        No easy hopes or lies
        Shall bring us to our goal,

          3. True – “c” doesn’t feature much in Norwegian, so the fingers automatically go to “k”…

  36. We need to fire more mosques and let the Islamists know that they're NOT welcome here, despite the virtue-signallers and their pathetic signs.

  38. Morning Eddy,

    I do hope your family BBQ is a lovely event , weather clearing here .

    Re the riots etc , wrong but how terrible so much damage has been done , however my view is that Starmer is so wrong in dissing Brits in favour of protecting Mosques which are the centre of all that is wrong with this country , hosting idle illiterate males who control their women , child abusers , and people who plot and plan the takeover of our town halls, egged on by diversity loving Islington champagne socialists .. and two tier policing !

    Who are the people who voted for this Labour party?

  39. 390823+ up ticks,

    I am in no way being callous but these young girls, RIP, deaths must carry into the future, enlightenment as to our present odious standing as a nation.

    Rectification of our evil nasty state as a country surely started on Monday the 29th, this nationwide political slate MUST be wiped clean.

    Lest we forget.

      1. 390823+ up ticks,

        Morning SJ,
        Has been korected
        “lest we forget” to err is human.

    3. By the same token I would guess that you are in no way being sutherland or ti kanawa either.

      1. Same here!
        Wordle 1,141 4/6

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

        1. Wordle 1,141 4/6

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

    1. 390823+ up ticks,

      Morning C1,
      I stand corrected, 5 bob postal order in post.

      Korected.

  42. SIR – Sir Keir Starmer has sworn to make the streets safe again. Good.

    Can we assume this includes ensuring the safety of all Jewish people in the wake of ongoing protests – or of the Batley Grammar School teacher who showed his class a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad and has now been in hiding with his family, fearing for their lives, for more than three years?

    Mick Ferrie
    Mawnan Smith, Cornwall

    Wow, and that letter was allowed , good .

    My letters/ and comments on the DT have been cancelled for over three years .

    2. He's said that, but what he means is 'suppress and silence those dissenting from the state line', not safe for people, not safe for children from violent thugs who want to kill them.

    3. He's said that, but what he means is 'suppress and silence those dissenting from the state line', not safe for people, not safe for children from violent thugs who want to kill them.

    4. Good morning (just), Belle
      Silly Micky. Surely, he should realise by now that it is only the safety of the savages that matters.

    2. The EU's aim is NOT peace. It is expansionist control and socialism. Has been from the beginning.

        1. I think there are 3 sides to every story. Yours, mine and the truth.

          Orban has the least to lose by telling the truth, but it is 'his truth' as he sees the world for his benefit. There's nothing wrong with that, but it must be considered.

  44. Breaking News
    Keir Starmer wins gold at Paris 2024 in the Limbo dancing.
    Onlookers said no one, absolutely no one, could get as low as him.

  46. Director of Big Brother Watch, Silkie Carlo, says:

    The Prime Minister’s alarming pledge today to roll out facial recognition in an apparent response to recent disorder is a pledge to plunder more vital police resources on mass surveillance that threatens rather than protects democracy. This AI surveillance turns members of the public into walking ID cards, is dangerously inaccurate and has no explicit legal basis in the UK. Whilst common in Russia and China, live facial recognition is banned in Europe.

    It’s deeply worrying that the Prime Minister totally failed to address the causes of the violent, racist thuggery we have witnessed in Britain this week, let alone his failure to even address the causes of the heinous knife crime that has cruelly taken so many lives. To promise the country ineffective AI surveillance in these circumstances was frankly tone deaf and will give the public absolutely no confidence that this government has the competence or conviction to get tough on the causes of these crimes and protect the public.

  47. Spent yesterday having NewNewfie groomed and claws trimmed. She is eating and has gained a bit, but is still 30g rather than the healthier 38-40. Her ribs are sunken, too. Anyone going near the food bowl has her retreat into the bed, so some git has clearly taken her bowl away from her. I suppose being overly kind if the dog doesn't eat you take it up, but sometimes they eat, then come back, especially if they're nervous.

    Mongo and Oscar both confused as they've never been denied any room and Junior is struggling to keep the big fellow occupied as he wants to say hello. It's a credit to him that when Junior said 'No, Mongo, stay.' he did. Oscar has become overly protective again and is needing body checks to remind him who is boss.

    Lucy whined a bit during the night so pootled down to make a fuss of her and give her more food. Marion the breeder visits around 10 along with someone from the canine defence league to look in. There's been lots of 'can we keep her' and the answer is a firm 'we'll see how the boys take to her'.

    As I can see her wearing a pink ribbon to go with the silly hats and sunglasses Mongo is dressed in.

    2. I know of a semi-retired couple who have (or had) four or five Newfies. Not sure of the current situation, but I could drop them a line if your guest needs a permanent home.

      1. Might be handy. I know Marion has a few folk lined up, one who have recently lost their 12 year old Newfoundland.

  48. Hi all! Nice day here, sunny and it is going to stay cool, thank God. My head is in a weird fog, dizzy and somewhat difficult to see. The result of fatigue brought on by the heat. So I am so glad it is over. I suspect I will have to spend most of the day in bed recovering. Hope that it was the end of high heat for the summer.

    This was interesting. A ghost from the past in the present. I'm inclined to agree with his observations.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WD7uiauoawE

        2. I think it's you Sir J. He's wearing a headset over a hat – looks like a baseball cap.

    2. Me2. Always food for thought, even if I don't agree with him. His analysis pretty spot on here, his solution probably to throw out our voting/government/civil servants system, to be replaced with his own ideas…maybe he'll cover that in future video.

    3. He takes a phenomenally long time to get to the point. It's as if he's speaking a verbal essay on political ideology with every utterance.

      1. It's because he has a tendency to think of several things at the same time. Ideas running parallel to each other, as it were.

  49. Great BLT comment from the letters.

    Alan Rowe
    12 MIN AGO
    We have the Extreme Muslims and those that have had enough of this bloody nonsense are deemed The Extreme Right.
    The politicians and Police didn't put this sort of effort in when The Extreme Muslims and The Extreme Left were kicking off !

    1. Yo, rob

      "From a seaside village in Valencia"

      Is that you, ot the picture above

  57. 'C' in Swedish is pronounced 'Say', while 'K' is pronounced 'Coe'.

    Curiously (to me) 'A' is pronounced 'R'; 'E' is pronounced 'A'; 'I' is pronounced 'E'; 'R' is pronounced 'Err'; 'G' is pronounced 'Gay'; 'J' is pronounced 'Yee'; 'H' is pronounced 'Ho'; 'O' is pronounced 'Ooh'; 'W' (double U) is pronounced 'Dooble Vay' (double V).

    1. As you know, it depends on the diacritic used, George. I used to know the Swedish alphabet plus its extra three letters.

          1. It's easier to say them than to write their sounds efficiently in English.

            Same as 'sju' (for seven). It sounds nothing like it looks. English has no equivalent.

    2. Much the same here, Grizz. Except “J” is Yod, “H” is haw, “W” is dobbeltvay

  58. Folk may have noticed my own typings getting increasingly typo laden. My essential tremor is while not massively worse, is cretainly intrusive where before it was annoying.

    There's a trial of direct brain lesion therapy that can help it and almost cure it, so I've asked to be involved. The docs wanted to try beta blockers but I can't due to warfarin, so this was my next hope.

    If I could hold a paint brush again and hold, let alone write with a pen it'd be a huge thing.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5vmzLcrn_8

    1. First of all. I do not care a fig about misspelling, what is important is that people get their ideas across. You will never find me being a grammar Nazi.
      second. I wish you all the good in the world. Anything that works in curtailing your tremor without harming you further is worth trying. When would you start the sound wave therapy?
      Have you tried marijuana as a temporary respite from the tremors? If not, ask your doctor, it is legal on prescription now.
      I think I wrote on here sometime ago that I used to grow it for the old age pensioners around here, that was several years ago now. Unfortunately I can't do it anymore It helps a multitude of problems from pain to relieving cancer symptoms. And no, I didn't charge. To make a profit wasn't my purpose at all. It was to provide a service that the stupidity of the system wouldn't.

      1. Johnathan, I happily accept the normal typos in postings but will object when dyslexia lures and the totally wrong word is used. Pardon my little pun.

        1. Using the wrong word is not a matter of getting an idea across, it is to muddle an idea. I am not talking about that sort of thing at all. But I allow leeway because I have no idea of what is going on with a person that is communicating with me in print and may be suffering from some sort of affliction, because I am in that position and learn from it. I thus prefer to err on the side of generosity and compassion because those traits are important to me. Lazy people criticise and bring down because, essentially, they live in their own world where it is easier to destroy rather than build. There are psychological reasons why people do that, none of them good. So I prefer to do the opposite, offer a hand, not a slap.

          1. Wrong, Johnathan, it's just that I love my language and even though I speak and can get by in other languages I still think English may be the most precise and concise tongue, it needs respect.

          2. I love the language too. But we get along fine in it without the need for policing like the French do with their language. Currently English is spoken as a national language in 57 States and in 28 non sovereign entities, what ever that may mean and it is the world language, spoken almost everywhere you might go. The English language is doing wonderfully. It is exuberant and endlessly creative and it is, I would say, a form of hubris to think there is a right or wrong way of being for the language.
            This is English
            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csfyrRqc5TU
            So is this
            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03iwAY4KlIU
            and this
            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QCgqQdmr0M
            and this
            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZ8o9GV6t6k

    2. I hope you find a solution soon.

      Forgive me for being rude but are you sure it isn't alcohol related? Delireum tremens? It doesn't just give you the shakes but brain fog too.

  59. Just done a nice walk along the Thames near Henley. The local Regatta is on. Beautiful part of the country. Will get on to the comments below, then on to FSB to have a comment on the Gossip section. Busy busy, friend’s bbq this afternoon and have promised to make salads.

  60. IMHO PM That ‘agreement’ further proves how stupid our politicians reall.
    are.
    They obviously never think anything through, when their terrible mistakes come to light they are always ready to blame everyone else for the dreadful mess-ups (polite) they make. There’s no end to it.

  61. That was precisely why British governments for the past 30 years have made it nigh impossible for the law abiding to own a gun.
    They knew Enoch Powell was right, and were determined to create a cowed, powerless population where only state employees and criminals have serious fire power.
    In our youth, guns were licensed but without the hysteria. In our youth, there was little gun crime and life was pleasanter and safer.

  62. On waking earlier I thought I would investigate the cause of the terrible pain I have in my right hip. 16 years have gone by and it seems that the titanium, cobalt hip joint has had its life. And is now ruining mine. Appointment Monday morning for a check. But I think I already know the answer. I wonder how long they will keep me waiting for a nesecary replacement ?

  63. 28th July 2020:

    Something dawned on me the other day – public debate in Britain is eerily like what I experienced behind the Iron Curtain in the 1980s.

    I went to Warsaw in 1987. A friend had decided, after graduating in Britain, to study urban design at the city’s university. Given the brutality of Warsaw’s Soviet-style architecture, this might have seemed a curious choice. But he was also a dissident and a fervent supporter of the Solidarity movement, and he hoped to see his country free itself from Soviet control. Despite Poland being in a state of post-martial law, I accepted the invitation to visit him.

    On arrival, I was warned to be careful about what I said. I took it for granted that my foreigner’s guest room at the university was bugged. I accepted the special paperwork that was required if I wished to travel outside the radius of the city, requiring many rubber stamps. I also accepted, on leaving the country, a party official taking my last remaining US dollars as a bribe after I mistakenly got on the wrong train to the West (my actual 11am train had already mysteriously left at 9am).

    Recent food shortages made it clear that the Soviet system was crumbling. Most Poles profoundly resented communism. And yet these truths could not be uttered publicly. An entire population was subdued.

    Polish friends carefully explained to me that the truth during this period came in three different varieties. First, there was ‘Pravda-truth’. This was a species of ‘truth’ published in official newspapers and broadcast on radio and television. It was blatant state propaganda designed to control and demoralise people. It was false and no Poles believed it – not even the ones who produced it.

    Secondly, there was ‘workplace truth’. These were things fellow citizens said to each other in factories, hospitals, shops and other places of employment. Workplace truth was closer to the truth, but people still had to be careful. Colleagues sometimes could be trusted, but not always.

    Finally, there was what Poles called ‘dinner-table truth’, which were the things people said at home with family or very close friends. This was the real truth.

    I remember being puzzled at such a complex system of truths and half-truths, public truths and private ones. It seemed almost unintelligible to someone living in the West which, at that time, enjoyed relatively free speech. Poles knew what was true and what was untrue and had devised a system to accommodate both things in their lives.

    Thirty-five years on, Eastern Europe and the UK appear to have swapped places. I first saw glimpses of this after the 2016 Brexit vote, when Leave-supporting friends in academia said they were too scared openly to endorse a view held by 52 per cent of the electorate. They feared being socially ostracised, condemned as racists or sacked from their jobs.

    This sounded too familiar. As progressives wage a relentless culture war against free expression, I think it’s worth directly comparing our situation to 1980s Poland.

    Our state broadcaster is a purveyor of its own type of Pravda-truth. Far from being impartial, the BBC is staffed overwhelmingly by people holding liberal outlooks, and its coverage of the recent Black Lives Matter moral panic has been woeful.

    Academic research that suggests there is no racial disparity in US police shootings (even from lofty institutions such as Harvard) is ignored by the corporation. Instead, it pumps out inflammatory headlines such as ‘Why do US cops keep killing unarmed black men?’. Failing to appraise the research around US police violence is reckless, statistically naive, dishonest, and likely has an ulterior political motive. Like the propagandists in 1980s Poland, those inside the BBC must know the real truth. But instead, they publish a form of Pravda-truth.

    Another similarity to Eastern Bloc Poland is the climate of fear and suspicion. In the workplace, many British people are at risk of being ostracised, denied promotions and even of losing their jobs outright if they dare express views that run contrary to the Pravda-truth of progressivism. How can we call ourselves a free society if we fear sincerely expressing our convictions to our friends and colleagues?

    This brings us to the question of how we should respond to the rise of Pravda-truth. In the 1980s, Poles resisted stoically, often resorting to humour. Metaphor and sarcasm were frequently and creatively used as truth-bearers, and jokes were used to expose the ridiculousness of the official narrative.

    In the UK, I think we can expect more and more people to start ridiculing the establishment’s duplicitousness and hypocrisy. When the BBC described protests that left 35 officers injured as being ‘largely peaceful’, many non-ideologues responded with parody and sarcasm. Such humour allows us concisely to signal to each other that we are not alone in our doubts and disbelief.

    However, I think it would be even better to be more direct. We must defend our right to free speech by asserting this right more forcefully, by speaking the truth openly and publicly. Many of us fear speaking out precisely because we feel alone and isolated, which has allowed the forceful minority of hyper-progressives to dominate our public discourse. The most potent way to disempower them is to show to those around you that decent, level-headed people do not need to play the game of Pravda-truth.­­­

    1. He has written a handful of interesting articles which i will now have to read! I was always a bit anti-SDP in the old days but i’m starting to give them the time of day again.

    3. I studied in Moscow before Glasnost' – current climate reminds me very much of those days.

  64. 28th July 2020:

    Something dawned on me the other day – public debate in Britain is eerily like what I experienced behind the Iron Curtain in the 1980s.

    I went to Warsaw in 1987. A friend had decided, after graduating in Britain, to study urban design at the city’s university. Given the brutality of Warsaw’s Soviet-style architecture, this might have seemed a curious choice. But he was also a dissident and a fervent supporter of the Solidarity movement, and he hoped to see his country free itself from Soviet control. Despite Poland being in a state of post-martial law, I accepted the invitation to visit him.

    On arrival, I was warned to be careful about what I said. I took it for granted that my foreigner’s guest room at the university was bugged. I accepted the special paperwork that was required if I wished to travel outside the radius of the city, requiring many rubber stamps. I also accepted, on leaving the country, a party official taking my last remaining US dollars as a bribe after I mistakenly got on the wrong train to the West (my actual 11am train had already mysteriously left at 9am).

    Recent food shortages made it clear that the Soviet system was crumbling. Most Poles profoundly resented communism. And yet these truths could not be uttered publicly. An entire population was subdued.

    Polish friends carefully explained to me that the truth during this period came in three different varieties. First, there was ‘Pravda-truth’. This was a species of ‘truth’ published in official newspapers and broadcast on radio and television. It was blatant state propaganda designed to control and demoralise people. It was false and no Poles believed it – not even the ones who produced it.

    Secondly, there was ‘workplace truth’. These were things fellow citizens said to each other in factories, hospitals, shops and other places of employment. Workplace truth was closer to the truth, but people still had to be careful. Colleagues sometimes could be trusted, but not always.

    Finally, there was what Poles called ‘dinner-table truth’, which were the things people said at home with family or very close friends. This was the real truth.

    I remember being puzzled at such a complex system of truths and half-truths, public truths and private ones. It seemed almost unintelligible to someone living in the West which, at that time, enjoyed relatively free speech. Poles knew what was true and what was untrue and had devised a system to accommodate both things in their lives.

    Thirty-five years on, Eastern Europe and the UK appear to have swapped places. I first saw glimpses of this after the 2016 Brexit vote, when Leave-supporting friends in academia said they were too scared openly to endorse a view held by 52 per cent of the electorate. They feared being socially ostracised, condemned as racists or sacked from their jobs.

    This sounded too familiar. As progressives wage a relentless culture war against free expression, I think it’s worth directly comparing our situation to 1980s Poland.

    Our state broadcaster is a purveyor of its own type of Pravda-truth. Far from being impartial, the BBC is staffed overwhelmingly by people holding liberal outlooks, and its coverage of the recent Black Lives Matter moral panic has been woeful.

    Academic research that suggests there is no racial disparity in US police shootings (even from lofty institutions such as Harvard) is ignored by the corporation. Instead, it pumps out inflammatory headlines such as ‘Why do US cops keep killing unarmed black men?’. Failing to appraise the research around US police violence is reckless, statistically naive, dishonest, and likely has an ulterior political motive. Like the propagandists in 1980s Poland, those inside the BBC must know the real truth. But instead, they publish a form of Pravda-truth.

    Another similarity to Eastern Bloc Poland is the climate of fear and suspicion. In the workplace, many British people are at risk of being ostracised, denied promotions and even of losing their jobs outright if they dare express views that run contrary to the Pravda-truth of progressivism. How can we call ourselves a free society if we fear sincerely expressing our convictions to our friends and colleagues?

    This brings us to the question of how we should respond to the rise of Pravda-truth. In the 1980s, Poles resisted stoically, often resorting to humour. Metaphor and sarcasm were frequently and creatively used as truth-bearers, and jokes were used to expose the ridiculousness of the official narrative.

    In the UK, I think we can expect more and more people to start ridiculing the establishment’s duplicitousness and hypocrisy. When the BBC described protests that left 35 officers injured as being ‘largely peaceful’, many non-ideologues responded with parody and sarcasm. Such humour allows us concisely to signal to each other that we are not alone in our doubts and disbelief.

    However, I think it would be even better to be more direct. We must defend our right to free speech by asserting this right more forcefully, by speaking the truth openly and publicly. Many of us fear speaking out precisely because we feel alone and isolated, which has allowed the forceful minority of hyper-progressives to dominate our public discourse. The most potent way to disempower them is to show to those around you that decent, level-headed people do not need to play the game of Pravda-truth.­­­

    1. If Starmer were to resign as PM, does that mean that the Deputy Prime Minister would take over?

      Angela Rayner. AAAAARGHHHH!!!!

        1. Between Angela Raynor and Kamala Harris they will put back women's rights a century. Well done girls !

    3. I’ve had three attempts at signing but the email doesn’t arrive. Just sent myself a message from my work address and that came through straight away so it doesn’t seem to be Apple or gmail.

        1. Yes, I was but it doesn’t send the verification email. Sent a couple of emails to myself from Outlook to gmail and that’s working OK.

          1. Some glitches there today, I think…I’ve had several emails from them now…so looks like I might have signed quite a few times 😀

        2. Yes, I was but it doesn’t send the verification email. Sent a couple of emails to myself from Outlook to gmail and that’s working OK.

  72. Why this petition matters

    Started by James Andrew
    To: The Labour Party Leadership
    We, the undersigned citizens of Great Britain, express our deep concern regarding the recent actions and statements made by Sir Keir Starmer, the leader of the Labour Party. We believe that his leadership has been divisive and detrimental to the party and the country as a whole.

    Reasons for Our Call:

    Lack of Effective Leadership: Sir Keir Starmer’s tenure as leader has been marked by indecisiveness, lack of clear direction, and failure to effectively communicate the party’s vision.

    Failure to Address the Southport Murders: The brutal murders of three innocent little girls in Southport demand urgent attention. Sir Keir Starmer’s lack of action and empathy in response to this tragedy is deeply concerning.

    Insensitive Remarks: His recent characterization of concerned citizens as “thugs” is unacceptable. As elected representatives, leaders should engage in respectful dialogue with the public, not resort to name-calling.

    Prioritization of British Citizens: We urge Sir Keir Starmer to put the interests of British people first. While it is essential to address global issues, our citizens’ well-being and concerns must remain paramount.

    Our Demand:

    We call for the immediate resignation of Sir Keir Starmer as leader of the Labour Party. We believe that a change in leadership is necessary to restore trust, unity, and a clear sense of purpose within the party.

    Your voice matters, and collective action can bring about positive change! 🇬🇧✊

    Dear Supporters,

    As we rally together in our pursuit of justice, let us remember the three innocent little girls whose lives were brutally taken in Southport. They are not just names; they are the embodiment of hope, dreams, and futures cut short. Their memory fuels our determination.

    But this fight is not only for them. It’s for our children—the ones who play in sun-drenched parks, who dream of stars, and who deserve safety in their homeland. It’s for the generations yet unborn—their laughter, their potential, their right to grow up unafraid.

    Let us raise our voices, sign this petition, and demand accountability. Let us do it for the children who can no longer speak, and for the children who will inherit the world we shape today. Together, we can create a safer, more compassionate future.

    In solidarity, James Andrew

    3. Changing the leader would be the Westminster equivalent of rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. They're Labour; it's what they do.

  73. – We keep hearing a lot about having a crackdown on the mostly peaceful protests all over the country from the PM.
    He is calling them all sorts of dehumanising names for some reason.
    But wasn't Two Tier Keir the man along with Angela that knelt before George Floyd and BLM protests while they were burning down large parts of cities in the USA and were having far worse protests over here at the time.
    Not sure how many police were injured in that period.

  74. This was posted earlier: https://x.com/LeoKearse/status/1819525841279209683
    Here's the Independent article:
    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/rachel-reeves-brexit-immigration-labour-mp-riots-uk-conference-speech-a7334266.html

    She said: "We have got to get this right because there are bubbling tensions in this country that I just think could explode. You had those riots in 2011… If riots started again in Leeds and bits of my constituency – it's like a tinderbox."

    Shadow Home Secretary Andy Burnham used his speech on Wednesday morning to warn the party must "face up fully" to the fact that millions of its supporters had "voted for change on immigration".

    BTW, Harehills isn't in her constituency but I don't suppose The Reiver thought that the rioters would be the immigrants.

    Coincidentally, the 2011 riots saw the burning of the Croydon furniture store House of Reeves…

    3. I'm not signing it. What would be the point? A vain hope that a more agreeable Labour Party leader would emerge from the process and become the Prime Minister? Anything else is just pie-in-the-sky. There will be no General Election before 2029.

        1. I’m fine, Bill. It’s others, some on here, who piss me off. A one month absence – a self-vowed imposition made on June 30th for the whole of July – has given me a degree of detachment and different perspective which, for the time being, has helped spare me from overstepping the bounds of propriety.

          1. Was it particular individuals that got up your nose? Or the tenor of comments generally? The forum has deteriorated rather, lately.

          2. This will be my last attempt at responding, Bill. Previous efforts have been thwarted by either a frozen screen or a requirement to refresh the page.

            It’s a mixture of the two. Some are tiresomely repetitious, posting the same moans and groans several times each week. Others make demands which bear no relationship to what’s remotely possible. Deport them all, they might say, or arrest them all for treason. It’s like insisting that the skies be green and the seas pink. Then there are preposterous claims such as that vaccines are killing millions at the behest of evildoers behind the scenes. It’s like being in the company of drunken pub bores. I much preferred it when opinions and comments were more measured and that contributors were more astute than to repeat any unsubstantiated bollocks they’ve just read on social media.

  77. Well, you know what , it was the combined spirit and strength of the Brits and can do that won 2 World wars , who fought in overseas wars and confronted all sorts of conflicts .

    The young chaps who are labelled far right thugs have that energy and can do strength , but the army and navy and Royal Marines are missing out on recruiting the energy that those young men have .

    Chaps from the North have dealt with border raiders from time immemorial , centuries ..

    At least we are seeing some teeth..

    The poor police would probably change sides knowing that the Labour wallahs didn't give a tinkers stuff about the trouble that so many illegals have caused the country , who the hell wants to be confronted by a sword wielding maniac?

      1. From Coffee House

        Unlike 1997, Labour has failed to finish off the Tories
        Comments Share 3 August 2024, 7:00am
        Although Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour government has been in office less than a month, similarities between this year’s election and Tony Blair’s 1997 victory end with the size of Starmer’s House of Commons majority – just 13 seats shy of Blair’s in 1997. Just four days into Blair’s government, Gordon Brown stunned the country with his announcement that he was going to make the Bank of England independent. Two of Brown’s four Conservative predecessors as Chancellor, Nigel Lawson and Norman Lamont, had used their resignation speeches to advocate Bank independence. The other two, John Major and Kenneth Clarke, had been strongly opposed. Brown came into the Treasury with a fully worked out plan for Bank independence.

        Not only had Labour won a huge election victory, not only was it all about ‘Cool Britannia’: Labour stormed the commanding heights of economic policy. They were the economic modernisers now. It made the defeated Tories look not merely irrelevant but like out-of-date fossils from a bygone age.

        The shock of the Blair revolution was more than presentational
        The contrast with the current Chancellor could hardly be greater. Rachel Reeves introduced herself to the country by picking a fight with her predecessor and branding him a ‘liar’. Her motive is transparent and her manner disingenuous. She will have an uphill struggle persuading voters that she didn’t come into office with a bunch of tax rises in her handbag and Jeremy Hunt lined up as the fall guy. It’s a way to burn through political capital, but not a particularly productive one.

        Heavily trailed among those non-pre-planned tax rises is speculation Reeves will seek to equalise the rates of capital gains tax (CGT) and income tax. Doubtless, the Chancellor will remind us on 30th October that equalising CGT and income tax had first been undertaken by none other than Nigel Lawson in his penultimate budget of 1988. This saw the top rate of income tax cut from 60 per cent to 40 per cent, and capital gains for the top rate taxpayer increased from 30 per cent to 40 per cent.

        Lawson softened the blow by indexing gains against inflation, so that people wouldn’t pay tax on inflationary gains. In the three years to June of this year, inflation measured by the Consumer Prices Index, rose by 18.7 per cent. Should Reeves decide not to restore inflation indexation, it would mean that a top rate taxpayer would pay CGT of 8.4 per cent merely for the privilege of maintaining the real value of their investments.

        Reeves is less likely to say that it had been Gordon Brown in his first budget who introduced taper relief on CGT, so that the longer an asset was held, the lower the rate. As with Bank independence, New Labour’s reform of CGT demonstrated its progressive economic credentials. (Brown’s abolition of advanced corporation tax relief was the first and most damaging of his stealth tax raids, this one on pension funds. Being stealthy, its damage was less widely appreciated at the time.) Subsequent Labour budgets saw the taper become more generous until the 2007 budget, when Alastair Darling scrapped the taper altogether and reintroduced a flat rate, this time at 18 per cent, compared with the 30 per cent rate before Lawson’s budget.

        As Nobel laureate Robert Lucas argued, if you tax capital heavily, you end up with less capital. During this summer’s election, Starmer promised: ‘Wealth creation is our number one priority.’ But since then, there has hardly been a whisper from the new Prime Minister about wealth creation. Budget day will likely reveal that this number one priority has ended up in the same place as Labour’s dumped pledge to cut energy bills by £300.

        The Chancellor’s decision to cancel badly needed road schemes provides further evidence that, unlike Gordon Brown, Reeves came into government bereft of any fresh ideas on how to improve economic performance. These schemes are crying out for private financing remunerated by road tolls, as in the case of the Silvertown tunnel Transport for London is developing in east London, which will charge drivers to pass through it. A radical Chancellor would have seized the opportunity to find ways to finance and develop public infrastructure privately.

        A forward-looking Chancellor would also know that net zero opens up a genuine, rather than contrived, hole in the public finances. In its July 2021 fiscal risks report, the Office for Budget Responsibility estimated that net zero will lead to a reduction in tax revenues equivalent to 1.1 per cent of GDP by 2050-51. To avoid rises in non-road user taxation, fuel duties will need to be supplemented and eventually replaced by per mile road charging. Tolling to finance new and improved roads would demonstrate the benefits of this approach and avoid public sector infrastructure fiascos such as HS2.

        The shock of the Blair revolution was more than presentational. Blair and Brown came into office armed with the policy work they’d undertaken in opposition. On the central issue of the economy, the defeated Tories were left with nowhere to go. It precipitated the party’s collective nervous breakdown and the Conservatives entered a prolonged period of self-administered modernisation therapy.

        By contrast, Rachel Reeves’s ploy of blaming her predecessor for the allegedly undisclosed state of the public finances has acted like electro-convulsive therapy for today’s Tories. They proceeded to do what they weren’t meant to. They picked themselves up from the floor and started to fight back. The extent to which they persuade voters of their case is secondary to the fact that they are acting like a serious opposition, moreover one that, on this issue, leaves Nigel Farage and his Reform MPs mute and sidelined.

        Tony Blair’s greatest political accomplishment was to persuade Conservative politicians that they had to jettison conservatism if they wanted to win an election. It saw David Cameron promote himself as the heir to Blair. It is impossible to conceive any future Conservative leader describing themselves as the heir to Sir Keir.

        Having spent most of his time as Labour leader purging his party of Corbynism, Sir Keir brings no new solutions to the serious economic problems facing the country. As a lawyer, he should know that his government’s economic priorities have been pre-empted by the Climate Change Act which requires his government to enact policies to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

        Starmer’s effect on the Conservative party is the opposite to Blair’s. His government provides a daily reminder why they became Conservatives in the first place. That is quite an accomplishment in less than four weeks.

    3. the combined spirit and strength of the Brits..

      ah, that was different.. the government was on the UKs side that time.. Now you have the following batting for the other side..

      treacherous ex-Prime Ministers, a treacherous Civil Service, a treacherous state broadcaster, a treacherous Opposition, a treacherous undergrowth of NGOs, a treacherous House of Lords, a treacherous Electoral Commission, a treacherous academia, a treacherous police farce, a treacherous judiciary, a treacherous London mayor, treacherous Muslim Councils, a treacherous National Trust, a treacherous Supreme Court, a treacherous Speaker of the Commons, a treacherous Parliament, ,a treacherous Holyrood, a treacherous POTUS and every single 275 treacherous UK Diplomats.

      oh.. and a treacherous RSPCA.

  79. President Kamala would make Biden’s green energy madness look like nothing

    Goodbye US oil and gas industry, hello blackouts. It’d be like having AOC in charge of energy

    DAVID BLACKMON
    2 August 2024 • 5:02pm

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/en-us/comment/2024/08/02/TELEMMGLPICT000109689765_17226132200020_trans_NvBQzQNjv4Bq9-zn32UdN-2qebTEmhS1ZchKDu3GQk7WOwEY0CqJhkw.jpeg?imwidth=680
    A piper plays as the tanker carrying the first shipment of US shale gas passes under the Forth Bridge en route to the Grangemouth terminal in Scotland, 2016. The UK and other European nations are heavily dependent on US gas imports since the Ukraine war broke out CREDIT: Russell Cheyne/Reuters

    “We can see what we believe can be, unburdened by what has been.”

    It’s a phrase presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris has been fond of repeating in almost every speech she’s made in recent years, though many observers remain puzzled as to why. Harris seems to think it may capture the imagination of a nation, and perhaps time will prove her right.

    Where energy and climate policy are concerned, Harris has just become unburdened by the need to conform her beliefs and goals to the official policies of the Biden administration. Before agreeing to become Biden’s running mate in 2020, Harris had expressed views on this key topic ranging well to Biden’s political left. If she wins the vote on November 5, she will be free to see what can be in this policy realm.

    I could go into great detail here, but the simplest way to understand Harris’s philosophy related to energy policy boils down to two things: She wants to ban hydraulic fracturing, and she was so in favor of the Green New Deal when she signed up to be a co-sponsor of it that she was willing to kill the Senate filibuster to see it enacted. While neither of those proposals have gone anywhere in the congress, they are radical policy positions that align Harris less with Joe Biden and more with the likes of radical New York congressperson Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

    https://cf.eip.telegraph.co.uk/illustrator-embed/content/3f1d4e6d7722ca53d01c58f0d29f9c7459494f93/1719420882926.jpg

    Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is a safe, mature, well-regulated industrial process first used in the United States in the late 1940s. It is a process that remained non-controversial until, starting around 2000, its deployment for use in developing the massive oil and gas shale formations across the country revitalized a domestic industry that had been largely moribund across two decades.

    Since that time, as the central technology driving the shale revolution in the US, fracking has driven the creation of tens of thousands of high-paying jobs and hundreds of billions of dollars in economic growth. Across the Great Recession of 2008-2013, the oil and gas industry was essentially the only growth industry in the US economy. America’s allies have recently been very grateful that the USA has become a huge oil and gas exporter, as they have sought to find alternatives to Russian supplies following Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

    Harris not only does not want to acknowledge fracking as a key economic driver, she wants to ban it outright. That is a position that seems likely to haunt her campaign in key oil and gas states like New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan.

    Harris’s support for the Green New Deal essentially amounts to an endorsement of the transformation of the United States from a free society based on a free market economy to an authoritarian form of government. It is a comprehensive plan for the literal transformation of the entire US economy driven by Soviet-style command-and-control regulations.

    When the plan was introduced as a bill in the US Senate in 2019, Republican leader Mitch McConnell called it, “Just a good old-fashioned, state-planned economy. Garden-variety 20th-century socialism. Our Democratic colleagues have taken all the debunked philosophies of the last hundred years, rolled them into one giant package, and thrown a little ‘green’ paint on them to make them look new.”

    Major labor unions like the AFL-CIO, normally supporters of proposals by the Democratic Party, also opposed the plan, telling the AP at the time that the plan makes promises “that are not achievable or realistic,” and saying the union “will not stand by and allow threats to our members’ jobs and their families’ standard of living go unanswered.”

    Refusing to bow to economic and technological reality, the Biden/Harris administration has ploughed ahead with a raft of command-and-control regulations that appear to have used the Green New Deal as a planning document. Those include impossible-to-achieve power plant emissions standards that will force the closing of dozens, if not hundreds of coal and natural gas power plants even as electricity demand explodes, along with tailpipe emissions limits and mileage requirements designed to force carmakers to market electric vehicles the American public is increasingly reluctant to buy. These and many other Biden/Harris regulatory actions are the very essence of the kind of economy-killing central planning envisioned by the Green New Deal.

    Taken together, these two policy positions on fracking and the Green New Deal describe the essence of the Kamala Harris energy policy philosophy: If it can be described as “green,” it’s good, and if it involves the dreaded fossil fuels, it’s bad, and economic consequences and societal displacements be damned.

    It all adds up to a terrible way to run a country.

    David Blackmon had a 40 year career in the US energy industry, the last 23 years of which were spent in the public policy arena, managing regulatory and legislative issues for various companies. He continues to write and podcast on energy matters

        1. The text, Philip, like much on here, is too wordy and lengthy to be bothered with, but thank you for the abbreviation definition.

          2. Because I hate unclarified acronyms and abbreviations – that's where the laziness manifests itself.

        2. During Covid, Phizzee, there was a photo of her at some do or another, wearing a white silk dress (almost like a wedding dress) with 'Tax The Rich' painted on it in large red lettering. No mask. Just a few feet away, a waitress waiting to serve drinks, masked. Perhaps she was making fun of herself? Not too sure about that.

          2. Alexandria Occasional Cortex as she is otherwise known. Being of little brain.

      2. Think of the worst, craziest, whiniest lefty in British politics.
        Then multiply by ten.
        You have Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez

    2. Unlike the UK.. where the Blair-EU-funded supreme court can overrule parliament, cabinet & local govt (I kid you not).. in the USA the president can only mess things up on public land. The rest of it, on private land, is unaffected.
      could be wrong.. I suppose they could (try &) tell Texas to stop drilling.

  82. East Anglia beware…

    ‘There’ll be no countryside left’: Opposition to pylons puts UK carbon targets at risk

    Infrastructure essential to decarbonise electricity generation by 2030 met with resistance by those affected

    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/fcf5ac75af2c126a9e73ad9912a36057846dd68b/0_23_3444_2067/master/3444.jpg?width=700&dpr=2&s=none More than 600,000km of power lines will have to be unrolled across the UK over the next few years for the country to properly decarbonise

    Fiona Harvey, Jillian Ambrose and Patrick Barkham
    Sat 3 Aug 2024 05.00 BST

    Tucked away beyond the industrial landscapes of north-east Derbyshire and the M1 corridor, the Amber Valley is an oasis of greenery: ancient trees, listed buildings and public footpaths that are increasingly popular with tourists.

    But Katie Hirst, a local resident, fears that appreciative visitors will vanish along with the unspoilt landscape if a route of 50-metre-high pylons is brought down the valley as National Grid intends.

    “People come here for wonderful walks and the unspoilt landscape, and that would be gone, and the economy would really suffer,” said Hirst, a co-founder of Save Amber Valley Environment (Save), one of a growing number of grassroots groups opposed to pylon schemes across the country.

    According to Hirst, farmers in the Amber Valley have diversified into tourism and visitors to these Peak District fringes increasingly support local jobs for young people.

    “It’s terrifying, to be honest,” she said. “It feels like the government has got this 2030 deadline and that’s all that matters.

    “Covid taught everybody how much these open green spaces are needed. If this carries on, there’ll be no countryside left. Where will people come and allow their mental health to recover?”

    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0c409a611b8ef7c1284f406532998219c019d0e9/0_360_5400_3240/master/5400.jpg?width=620&dpr=2&s=none The Amber Valley in Derbyshire, where National Grid intends to build a route of 50-metre-high pylons.

    More than 600,000km of power lines will have to be unrolled across the UK over the next few years for the country to properly decarbonise. But the pylons and the renewable infrastructure that will carry them are already causing anxiety and resistance.

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/aug/03/therell-be-no-countryside-left-opposition-to-pylons-puts-uk-carbon-targets-at-risk

    2. Tch tch don't these NIMBYs realise that the countryside will have to be destroyed in order to save the planet?
      Your rabbit hutch in the nearest 15 minute city awaits…

    3. So where will 600,000km of cable come from and the associated pylons to carry the cable? Not forgetting of course the skilled linesman to put these things together.

      A minor detail I suppose.

    4. They can just link the electricity cables from house to house – Labour's housebuilding programme has to put them somewhere, doesn't it?

    1. I have a message for you Chief Super. The 'community' is already divided because the muslims won't integrate.

      1. For a lawyer he isn't terribly intelligent. That is the impression I get from his blundering around like a drunken sailor on the issues at hand.

  84. There seems to be a lot of argument today about commenters not getting straight to the 👉.

  88. Shades of our truckers convoy in England now – except that we saw no violence from the protesters that justified any heavy handed response.

    How long is it going to be before Starmer does a Trudeau and invokes martial law?

  90. Britain needs to be recivilised – the Victorians prove that it can be done

    Our society is not well. From Southend to Southport, violence has blighted our streets. But we have managed to cure these ills before

    ROBERT TOMBS • 2 August 2024 • 7:30pm

    Few of us over the last few days can have escaped a sickening feeling that something terrible was happening in Britain. Most horrific was the nightmarish killing of children in Southport. A series of events – some connected, some coincidental (the violent affray in Southend) – recall Yeats's alarming vision from the 1920s: "Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world/ The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere/ The ceremony of innocence is drowned."

    The ceremony of innocence: little girls dancing. Nothing could more deeply outrage every instinct of right and decency than the act of taking a kitchen knife to those vulnerable and trusting souls. There followed savage and impotent rage, seemingly stirred up by trouble makers – including the Russians – and aimed at an inoffensive neighbourhood mosque. Righteous anger degenerated into "mere anarchy". Is Britain becoming a land where people take wanton violence into the streets, as in the United States or France?

    Yes, frightening things are happening in our society, but to begin to understand them we need to take a longer view. Drunken riots and attacks on minority places of worship were commonplace in England well into the 19th century. Catholic and Dissenting chapels were then the targets. Arson and intimidation were methods of economic bargaining. Trade unionists used violence against unpopular employers and blacklegs, and as late as the 1860s a house in Sheffield was dynamited. Then something remarkable happened. Over a couple of generations a violent and disorderly society became peaceful.

    Drunkenness continuously declined, as did all crime. During the 1920s and 30s many prisons were closed. George Orwell was stating a commonplace in 1940 about the "gentleness of English civilisation … You notice it the instant you set foot on English soil."

    It was no less obvious in 1955 to the anthropologist Geoffrey Gorer: the English were "gentle, courteous and orderly … you hardly ever see a fight in a bar … football crowds are as orderly as church meetings."

    The change began not in the 2020s but after the Second World War. Teddy Boys met to fight with bicycle chains and flick knives. Mods and Rockers terrorised seaside towns in the 1960s. Football hooliganism became a national disgrace, with the nadir in Brussels in 1985 when 38 spectators died due to drunken violence by Liverpool supporters. Crime doubled between 1957 and 1967, and doubled again by 1977. There were 200 robberies in 1937; 1,200 in 1957; 14,000 by 1977. In 1937, only 800 criminals were serving sentences over three years; by 1997 there were 23,000; today, of the 97,000 prisoners in the UK, 55,000 are serving sentences over four years.

    How can we begin to explain this staggering deterioration? During the Victorian period, there was a powerful consensus that a violent and disorderly society had to be tamed. Politicians, churches, charities, trade unions, schools, the police and ordinary people in their neighbourhoods co-operated. There remained a "rough" element, but as crime figures show, respectability eventually became the norm. There was a price to be paid: conformity, deference, sometimes harsh treatment of the non-conformist, ultimately the gallows.

    In the 1960s, this restraint was deliberately thrown off. The Labour home secretary Roy Jenkins instituted "a more civilised, more free and less hidebound society". That is what we now have throughout the West, and it too has its benefits as well as its costs.

    What seemed a civilised choice to Jenkins changed its nature with the breakdown of the old industrial system with its relatively orderly and patriarchal society. Family stability collapsed. Long-term and inter-generational unemployment created a new "underclass" – the late Victorian term was rediscovered. Society was not merely "permissive", it was broken.

    These processes were well under way before the onset of mass immigration in the Blair years. But the arrival year after year of large numbers of strangers with different beliefs, behaviour and expectations inevitably added a further element of social disintegration.

    This was even celebrated in a new ideological vision that rejected integration, mocked tradition, espoused "diversity" and fomented resentful identity politics. Christian families from the West Indies and Africa, and respectable Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs have brought counter-elements of stability and good citizenship often superior to those of the indigenous population.

    Nevertheless, of today's prison population, 27 per cent are from ethnic minorities, and 12 per cent are foreign nationals. Young black and Muslim men are greatly over-represented, as are Eastern Europeans. It cannot be coincidental that they originate from the most violent parts of the world and of the Continent.

    Violence and disorder are not, of course, a British phenomenon. We are about average in Europe. The riots in Southport and Hartlepool are strikingly similar to those in Dublin in November 2023 following a knife attack on three young children by a North African. Many European countries have seen similar acts of violence by immigrants and similar acts of angry retaliation. Perverse links have grown between crime, alienation, mental disorder and Muslim extremism, of which prisons have become hotbeds.

    As in the cases of Southport and Dublin, retaliatory violence has undoubtedly been stirred up by radical groups, whose small size does not prevent them from raising a mob through social media. These mob reactions are often misdirected, and innocent people have suffered. Such collective acts of violence are an alarming sign of a deep malaise in Western countries, including ours.

    The cause throughout history is always the same: the breakdown of political trust. I suggested earlier that there had once been a consensus that social order had to be created and defended. That consensus has long gone and shows little sign of returning.

    Politicians and institutions are unwilling or unable to maintain a stable and orderly society. Identity politics and unrestrained individualism have conquered, promoted by Left-wing ideology and Right-wing economics.

    Yet for a diverse and individualistic society to function, more commitment is required from its citizens, not less. The Victorian age had many ways of making people toe the line. As one Russian asylum seeker put it, "your neighbour, your butcher, your tailor, family, club, parish keep you under supervision and perform the duties of a policeman".

    Without such sanctions, people need to accept restraints willingly, and they need to learn to do so. Community, family and school are essential. Southport still seems to preserve willing community solidarity. There are many places in Britain of which this can be said.

    But "the duties of a policeman" when all else fails do need actual policemen. Those who command them, including the politicians who are ultimately responsible, have presided over a catastrophic collapse in basic policing and public confidence. This is partly down to money and numbers, but that does not explain wide disparities in police performance. Nor does it explain why some forms of disorder are tolerated. The police, like any quango, too often pander to fashionable elite priorities.

    The law must be consistently enforced without fear or favour. Angry people must not think that they have the right and even duty to take it into their own hands. That is the first step towards a civilised society. For further steps to follow, we shall need a generational change of culture that is barely even on the horizon.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/02/britain-needs-to-be-recivilised/

    1. 'As in the cases of Southport and Dublin, retaliatory violence has undoubtedly been stirred up by radical groups, whose small size does not prevent them from raising a mob through social media. These mob reactions are often misdirected, and innocent people have suffered. Such collective acts of violence are an alarming sign of a deep malaise in Western countries, including ours'.

      I think you will find that is the muslims who create flashmobs of angry berobed people. The white folk are playing catchup.

    2. What a stupid, naive article! There is no comparison between early Victorian Britain and the uncivilised mob of illegal young men that we have today. By encouraging asylum claims, the whole of Europe has attracted every criminal from the third world, and it's been going on for at least thirty years.

      1. Robert Tombs is well-liked on here, especially for a being a Cambridge man who sticks up for the British Empire in the face of so much opposition from academia, but I thought this article was, well, mixed at best. He is absolutely correct on human nature and the attraction to mob violence, which can occur within the tribe – passing fashions like Teddy Boys, Mods and Rockers, punks or the more enduring football hooliganism – or between i.e. national, racial, religious. However, he's a bit too generous on immigration. It doesn't matter how good some are. If even a only minority of an immigrant minority is bad, it's very bad for everyone. That's human nature. He does write: "for a diverse and individualistic society to function, more commitment is required from its citizens, not less" but only hints at the reason for diversity and why it has brought greater potential for friction.

  91. Officer punched two women in Meghan row

    The Daily Telegraph: Saturday, 3 Aug, 2024. By Daily Telegraph Reporter

    A SENIOR police officer who hit two women after talking about Meghan Markle on the day of the King’s Coronation while off-duty has been sacked.

    Insp Tola Munro, from South Bristol, dragged one woman to the ground and punched her before hitting another in the face on May 6 last year, a misconduct tribunal was told. The former president of the National Black Police Association “completely lost control of himself ” when a discussion about the Duchess of Sussex and race became heated and personal, the BBC reported.

    Mr Munro denied the allegations, insisting he was “provoked” and had acted in self-defence. But barrister Mark Ley-Morgan, representing Avon and Somerset Police, accused him of telling “an absolute pack of lies”. The senior officer has been sacked after he was found guilty of gross misconduct.

    Jane Jones, the legally qualified tribunal chair, labelled the incident a “terrible irony” because Mr Munro had helped tackle violence against women.
    Supt Mark Edgington, head of the Professional Standards Department, said: “There is no place in policing for an officer who is found to have assaulted any member of the public.

    As if I weren't already fully aware of how deplorable the standards in my former profession had become in the time since I retired. This obsession of rapidly promoting those of an ethnic background — for no palpable reason other than their background — was always doomed to failure.

    Trouble is, how do you explain that to the fucking cretins who run the show?

      1. And a flaming torch. Mind, it didn’t work out too well for Wat Tyler and John Ball.

          4. Isn't he the chap who wanted to see his name in lights WatT….. I'll get my coat…

  92. Women are under vicious attack – and too few liberal progressives seem to care

    Feminism may turn out to be a short-lived civil rights movement if we don't wake up to the threat that females now face

    CAMILLA TOMINEYASSOCIATE EDITOR2 August 2024 • 6:00pm

    Femicide appears to have become the "new black" this year. Misogyny has always been in fashion in one guise or another.

    In the early 20th century it took the form of men trying to stop women having the vote. In the 1940s and 50s, it was the expectation that a woman's place was in the home. When women rebelled and burned their bras in the 1960s and 70s, they were accused of being dangerous feminists.

    Women have since been criticised for both earning a living, and staying at home to look after their children. They have had to put up with being sexually harassed at work, spawning the MeToo movement, been historically underpaid for generations compared with their male colleagues, and cruelly let down by a criminal justice system that has never done enough to protect them from men trying to rape and abuse them.

    Then came the trans extremist movement which once again saw some men – identifying as female – trying to subjugate women by invading their spaces. We've seen academic women including Kathleen Stock hounded out of universities, successful women like J K Rowling disowned by the very people she made famous, and ordinary women smeared as bigots simply for trying to stand up for the sisterhood and children's safeguarding.

    Until this week, however, I don't recall ever seeing a woman be actively put in harm's way in the name of "inclusivity". In arguably the most grotesque example of rampant wokery the world has ever witnessed, Thursday saw Italian boxer Angela Carini – an athlete so tough she is nicknamed "the Tiger" – having to abandon a bout in just 46 seconds, after being pummelled by an opponent with XY chromosomes.

    With excessively high testosterone levels, the Algerian fighter Imane Khelif did not meet the International Boxing Association's gender eligibility criteria to compete within the female category and was banned from their events last year. Khelif was nevertheless permitted to compete in the Olympic Games because, as Mark Adams, spokesman for the International Olympic Committee, put it, she has a "female passport". This, despite the fact that the Court of Arbitration for Sport formally established that human biology, rather than legal status or gender identity, should be the only means of determining an insuperable male advantage. (Adams, incidentally, was one of the best men at the Prime Minister's wedding).

    Khelif may be a woman on her passport, but the IBA's tests revealed the boxer to be biologically male. Khelif's supporters want to make this all about semantics, sensitivities and sensibilities. They're saying Khelif is a victim of "a witchhunt". But what this case demonstrates is simply another attempt to sacrifice women's safety on the altar of progressiveness. Khelif is not transgender, but anyone with XY chromosomes must surely fight men, not women. Not just in the name of fairness, but because the alternative could put female competitors in danger. In 2022, Khelif landed shots of such force on Mexico's Brianda Tamara that the beaten fighter said she was grateful simply to escape the ring alive.

    This isn't sport – it's sending women boxers on a potential suicide mission. It's not equality, either, since there is nothing equal about allowing female boxers in the ring with someone who can punch up to 2.6 times harder. Organisations like the IOC have become so blinded by ideology that they are prioritising hurt feelings over the threat of physical harm. Some are attempting to portray Khelif as the injured party in this, when of course it is Carini, a woman trained for years only to have her Olympic dreams dashed in seconds, who is the victim.

    This shameful episode is just the latest in a long list of recent examples of how humiliating – and outright dangerous – the world has become for women. It isn't just that we are being forced to compromise our safety to share female-only spaces with biological men. Try being a woman on the internet – now awash with violent pornography, a burgeoning incel movement and toxic influencers like Andrew Tate.

    Despite all the advances made since the women's liberation movement more than half a century ago, women seem to be no better protected.

    Today, police in Britain receive a domestic abuse-related call every 30 seconds. We were starkly reminded of the threat posed to women when Carol Hunt, 61, and her daughters Hannah, 28, and Louise, 25, died from crossbow bolt injuries at their home in Bushey last month. The tragic case has understandably provoked outrage – but the sorry truth is that, on average, one woman is killed by an abusive partner or ex-partner every five days in England and Wales.

    Covid wreaked such havoc on the court system that victims of domestic violence are having to wait years for justice. Only this week, I heard of a family friend who was the victim of a coercive controlling husband for 20 years. Despite the court having initially found in her favour she has to wait months for the courts to resolve the financial issues. With her ex refusing to co-operate at all on the division of their assets, she has been left in complete limbo with two children until the justice system can get its act together.

    Yet at least her case got to court. The same cannot be said for the majority of rape victims in this country. As Dame Vera Baird, the Victims' Commissioner, pointed out in 2021, the distressing truth is that if a woman is raped in the UK today, her chances of seeing justice are thin. Since 2016-17, we have seen what she described as "a catastrophic" decline in rape prosecutions.

    And now this horrific Southport episode. How long did it take for the focus to shift from the fact that a dance class of young girls aged six to 10 had been brutally attacked by a male suspect? A day? Maybe two. Amid all the talk about broken Britain, and "enough is enough" – and debates around whether those protesting and rioting are all "far-Right" or not – we seem to have forgotten that this was yet another attack on females. You simply could not conceive of anything more "girly" than a Taylor Swift dance workshop, staffed by dance teachers and yoga instructors. Were they – like the largely female audience at the Manchester Arena Ariana Grande in 2017 – seen as easy targets?

    Keir Starmer was right to condemn the "gangs of thugs" who "got on trains and buses" to cause mayhem in Southport. But where was the condemnation of the two brothers at Manchester Airport who broke a female police officer's nose?

    What was particularly telling about the scenes outside Downing Street on Thursday night was how many women were present (some of whom ended up being man-handled by police). Were they all far-Right thugs and football hooligans? Or is it more likely that they are women desperate for someone to finally stand up for them and their daughters?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/02/women-are-under-vicious-attack-and-too-few-liberals-care/

    1. Women are under vicious attack – and too few liberal progressives seem to care.

      Forever whining.

        1. From what I have learnt of my generation, my parents, grand parents, and stories about my great grandparent. The idea that women were somehow subservient seems to be largely a fiction invented by modern feminists. I know that with my grandparents, my birth father, to distinguish him from my stepfather, and my mothers family, both husbands had to hand over their wages to their wives and it was only after they had determined what was needed that the grandfathers got back what was left that they could use as 'pocket money'.

          1. I meant it was a bit harsh to criticise women who complain about being assaulted in changing rooms or beaten up in sporting contests by men pretending to be women.

          4. I remember my mother holding the purse strings and giving my father a couple of half crowns from his wages for a few beers at the local inn on a Friday.

    2. An interesting event regarding women in a Canadian parliamentary committee this week.

      A domestic abuse victim was invited to speak before a special session of the Committee on Womens Rights. She gave a concise presentation that described much of the pain that she has suffered before the floor was opened to questions from committee members.

      Almost immediately a Liberal committee member (one of Trudeaus feminist, caring MPs) tried to shut down the debate and introduce an attack on the hidden conservative agenda on abortion. Arguments between MPs became so heated that the witness just walked out of the committee.

      Note. Although for the past ten years, the conservatives have repeatedly said they have no desire to change abortion laws, the liberals continue to try and make it an issue.

  93. Well, that's the grass cut, the roses dead-headed, the cat-mint trimmed and the Virginia creeper pruned. A gardening tip: Don't even think of planting a Virginia creeper against a wall of your house, even one of the lesser varieties such as we have (a Henryana). It's work forevermore keeping it under control. Once a fortnight I have to get up a bl**dy ladder and deal with it.

      1. My Jasmine is out the far end of the garden at the end of some decking. Plenty of room for it to go mad but it stubbornly refuses to do anything. I think i'm going to pour fuel on it and set it on fire.

        4. Sounds like some interesting entertainment for drunken pensioners. Just check the fire insurance on the house before handing anyone matches..

          1. I was going to use Magic flash paper as napkins but i didn’t want to set everyone’s pacemakers off !

        5. I have a large 'Confederate Jasmine' growing over a trellis at my front door. My bedroom is only 12 feet or so from the door. It's wonderful to go to sleep or wake up to the perfume wafting into the cottage.

          2. Pip. I am suggesting Confederate Jasmine because it is as tough as nails. I do nothing to it at all, not even water it and it is in terrible soil. But it rewards me abundantly every year for a long season.

    3. Mine is against a fence, rather than against the house – although it's constantly trying to reach the house.

  94. Donald Trump has accepted the offer from Fox News to debate with VP Kamala Harris. That one might even be worth watching provided it isn't edited.

    1. I loved the TV ad where the old boy, J.R.Hartley, is looking for the book about fishing which he wrote many years ago.

      And I also loved Michael Horderen talking about fishing although I have never been a skilful angler myself.

      https://www.google.com/search?q=Hartly+fishing+book+ad&oq=Hartly+fishing+book+ad+&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIJCAEQIRgKGKAB0gEJMjE5NDBqMGo3qAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:ffd4a455,vid:r2TilNclT8k,st:0

  96. Trump is incapable of taking the patient, high ground, scholarly approach needed to deal with Harris. He will engage with her, and that saying about not arguing with stupid people on the internet will apply.

        1. He is extremely smart. It isn't well known that his uncle, whom he was close to, was a famous physicist in his day. He was the man tasked with vetting all of Tessler's papers/inventions to make sure that non of it could prove to be a danger to the USA and, of course, confiscate anything that would be advantageous to keep secret.

          And, I quote:

          Obama's CSA ( a Princeton prof) who overlapped Trump by a year has said how surprised he was that Trump was the only person in the White House with whom he could have a scientific discussion. (On cyclotrons.)John Paul Holdren (Sewickley, Pennsylvania, March 1, 1944) is an American scientist who served as the senior advisor to President Barack Obama on science and technology issues through his roles as Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Co-Chair of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST).[

  97. Iranian state TV presenters warn of imminent attack on Israel. 3 A ugust 2024.

    Iranian broadcasters are warning of an imminent attack by Iran on Israel as the threat of a new regional conflict grows.

    Over the past 24 hours, several news channels close to the Iranian regime have painted a bleak picture of how Iran might retaliate for the killing of a top Hamas leader in Tehran on Wednesday.

    Quite frankly Armageddon has never looked so good.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/08/03/israel-hamas-war-latest-news-iran-us/

    1. We can only hope that Israel has the willingness and ability to take out and destroy any nuclear capability they might have.

      1. Reported somewhere in mountainous terrain, Sir J. They (and the US) will know its location. Acceleration can only end badly, for both countries and also the West.

        1. I don't agree, Kate. It can only send a powerful message to Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houtis and other like-minded organisations. The message being, "You're next."

          1. I guess it depends on who knows who has what., Sir J ..my money if I was a bet placing woman would be on Israel and the US. I've seen it reported Iran wants a deal with the US…hmm…seems an odd way to go about it. What we need to be concerned about are their Western proxies/supporters, especially UK, odd various authorities only seem to be admitting to that lately, again possibly not a good sign.

  98. My chimney hasn't been swept for at least 16 years so I decided to do it myself with a kit off Amazon. Dead easy, no mess, cost less than getting a sweep to do it and the kit is available for the future so no more paying for it to be done.

        1. Mercifully dead. It's Dick Van Dyke murdering a cockney accent in Mary Poppins.

    2. I have my chimneys (3 of them in regular use) swept yearly. I'm not sure, given my arthritic hands, that I could cope with doing the job myself.

      1. From Coffee House, the Spectator

        Keir Starmer’s riot crisis
        Comments Share 3 August 2024, 8:40am
        Just a month into the Labour ascendancy and its first major political crisis has already taken shape. It is not the looming tax-raising Budget Rachel Reeves is preparing in contravention of assurances made during the election campaign about her party’s plans being fully funded. It is instead something much more visceral and basic: a breakdown in law and order.

        On the first BBC Question Time programme after the election, Andrew Marr gave his thoughts on what the new Starmer administration would mean. ‘For the first time in many of our lives, actually Britain looks like a little haven of peace and stability,’ he declared. He was referring to parliamentary stability – but outside of Westminster, things haven’t looked very stable of late.

        Starmer is in acute danger of alienating millions of voters
        We have had the Harehills riot in Leeds; the attack on police at Manchester Airport and a subsequent intimidatory protest in support of the instigators outside Rochdale police station; disturbances in Whitechapel, East London linked to events in Bangladesh; a very serious attack on a British soldier in uniform in Kent; the gruesome Southport murders followed by mini-riots in that town and in Hartlepool and London; aggressive demonstrations in Newton Heath in Manchester and in Aldershot connected to local unhappiness about accommodation for Channel migrants; a spate of stabbings in London notable even by the dismal standards of our knife-happy capital; gangs of youths from out of town battling each other with machetes on the sea front at Southend and as many as 35 protest planned across the country this weekend.

        Through most of this period, Yvette Cooper has responded mainly with an earnest furrowed brow and concerned owlish eyes, reminding those of us of a certain age – my age – of the notoriously hesitant Coronation Street character Mavis Wilton (‘I just don’t really know, Derek’).

        On Thursday, robocop finally arrived on the scene in the shape of the Prime Minister reprising his response to the 2011 summer riots, which took place when he was Director of Public Prosecutions. Back then, Sir Keir Starmer spearheaded fast summary justice that got a grip on events by jailing perpetrators and signalling to potential copycat offenders that they could be next.

        This time he was in similar no-nonsense mode, declaring directly at a specially convened Downing Street press conference: ‘I will not permit, under any circumstances, a breakdown in law and order on our streets.’

        He was right to make this clear. There is almost nothing so terrifying for citizens as the realisation that law and order is in abeyance and that criminally-minded people in their neighbourhoods have cottoned on to this.

        And yet, Starmer and Labour now have a very major problem. It is, to put things at their mildest, that a perception is growing that Labour is presiding over a two-tier response to disorder. Matt Goodwin, an academic and author, made this point recently. ‘It’s about allowing double-standard policing where it’s okay to protest if you’re anti-Israel and anti-West. But you can’t protest if you’re from the white majority, because then you’re considered to be a far-right extremist. That’s what’s frustrating a lot of people in Britain today: that sense of imbalance.’

        For example, after the Manchester Airport altercation, the local Labour MP Paul Waugh met with the family of the men involved. Those men were at the time being presented as innocent victims of police brutality after one of them was kicked in the head by a police officer. ‘It is clear they are deeply traumatised by what happened…This is a hardworking Rochdale family, some of whose members are police officers themselves, and are therefore particularly shocked at what they have witnessed,’ he declared.

        And in the wake of the Harehills riot (which Rod Liddle writes about here), Labour-run Leeds city council held a meeting with representatives of the Roma community at which it promised an urgent review into the child protection case that sparked it. ‘The Romanian and Roma community have played a fantastic role in the community and have contributed much to the diversity and richness of Harehills,’ said an official statement from the council.

        It is an interesting contrast that the disorder of this week followed the failure of the state to protect children, while the Harehills riot began as protest by a minority community against the state trying to deliver child protection. Yet there is no Labour panjandrum on hand to meet with working-class communities at the end of their tether and reduced to rage (audible when Keir Starmer was heckled earlier this week)

        Yes, it has been an ugly week. Yes, it is good that police did not run away from troublemakers in Southport, Hartlepool or Whitehall, as they did at one point in the face of the street violence in Leeds.

        But by focusing almost entirely on just one source of disorder, Starmer is in acute danger of alienating millions of voters in scores of working class constituencies that Labour won back by default amid the Tory general election collapse. As the Reform MP Lee Anderson has warned him: ‘You’re not reading the room.’

  100. Small fund-raiser for t'Church this morning. It stayed dry until the last five minutes, thank goodness. Raised about £300.

    Since normal people took over the PCC (well, some of them) – two changes have made a great difference. Refreshments = NO CHARGE – make a donation if you like. Took £92. Books – likewise. Pick as many as you want – put in the plastic bag provided – make a donation. £100.

  101. I think there is a deliberate campaign to provoke us.

    Daily Telegraph

    Churchill portrait to get ‘colonialism and racism’ warning label at Tory council
    Winston Churchill’s portrait will hang alongside an explanation of his links to “racism, slavery and colonialism” in a Tory-controlled council headquarters.
    Following a review of its artworks, Hertfordshire County Council will now display “contextual information” about subjects alongside pictures.
    These include portraits of Lord Palmerston and Viscount Melbourne, the 19th-century prime ministers.

    The Telegraph understands that paintings currently in storage flagged as having links to colonialism or racism will remain out of public view until they can be suitably redisplayed.

    The Churchill portrait is a 1967 painting made after his death in imitation of a 1943 print of the wartime prime minister. It is understood that the work had been hung in an office at Hertfordshire’s county hall.
    Churchill has been the subject of criticism from Left-wing groups, particularly after Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, for his support of the British Empire and his alleged “white supremacist” views.

    In 2021, Churchill College Cambridge held a symposium in which academics criticised Churchill’s legacy and black studies professor Kehind Andrews claimed he led an empire which was “worse than the Nazis”.
    Other figures targeted
    A portrait of William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne remains in storage in Hertfordshire county hall and will require contextual information when it emerges. His time as prime minister saw the first opium war, and the accession of Queen Victoria as monarch of a global empire.

    Information will also be required for the currently out-of-sight painting of Henry John Temple, Viscount Palmerston, who led the United Kingdom during the expansion of its empire in the 19th century, and remained neutral in the American Civil War.

    The image of the other empire-era prime minister, Robert Arthur Talbot, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, has been flagged for contextualisation when it comes out of storage.

    A portrait of Edward Bulwer-Lytton, a 19th-century colonial secretary and a cultured figure who was once offered the crown of Greece, has also been flagged.

    A painting of Cecil Rhodes, who expanded the British Empire in southern Africa, will have contextual information added, as will an image of Robert Bulwer-Lytton, who has been criticised for his handling of the Indian famine of the 1870s.

    ‘Not a priority’
    Hertfordshire County Council said the work of recontextualisation has not yet taken place, and is not a priority, as the council works to improve the “packaging of items remaining in storage and identifying conservation needs in the collection”.

    Portraits have been a political battleground in disputes over Britain’s colonial history. Last year Horsham District Council identified a painting depicting Joseph Marryat, a former local MP, as problematic due to his links to the slave trade.

    In 2021, a portrait of Sir Thomas Picton, hero of Waterloo, was removed from National Museum Cardiff as part of plans to “decolonise” the artwork, before being redisplayed.

    Earlier this year a pro-Palestine protestor damaged a portrait of Lord Balfour, a former prime minister and one of the chief supporters of creating a Jewish homeland in Palestine.

    1. Definitely designed to provoke us. We're now in a sunspot maximum, when people are generally more active. 80% of wars break out during sunspot maxiums.
      Lockdowns were imposed during a sunspot minimum when people are generally less active.
      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9716ee8000fb873b3702ce47c60ecb0c8c3796fa8ee4541a52a1f0bcf7a1c693.jpg
      The yen is imploding and Alasdair Macleod is not too optimistic about the US stock market
      https://kingworldnews.com/weekly-wrap-with-alasdair-macleod-08-03-2024/
      So there is plenty for them to want to distract us from

      1. Also in a comment on the DT, the Bank of England have very quietly said that they were responsible for the ‘crash’, not Liz Truss! Can’t find a reference – will keep digging!

          1. Truss was pretty good, imo, talking with Mogg other evening. I'd vote for her if she returned (doubt she will).

        3. But we knew that at the time. BoE had Al-Beeb on-side though, and a tame Lamestream Media

        4. CAPX had the info, some time ago, but not reported MSM, Sue – I guess it just suited everyone else to kick her and Kwarteng into long grass. Think he was on Mogg recently, talking about it, Truss was.

          1. Thankyou KJ. I wouldn’t normally take the DT as gospel but it did seem to confirm what a lot of people were rumbling about!

          2. Thanks, Sue. Possibly JRM had good viewing figures that particular night 🙂 Have watched GBN from day one, something seems to be going on with Farage…we’ll see…Kate 🙂

          3. I try to watch GBN, Kate, but the constant boring breaks cause me to cancel it and start again later.

          4. I only watch Farage @7pm, sometimes him/Tice – don’t watch the Friday night one. I watched Mogg only because Truss was being interviewed. When I think of it, just about the only terrestrial TV I do watch. Currently re-watching Mad Men (Amazon). I don’t like the commercial breaks either, immune to advertising 😀

          1. You are probably right, BB” but it will come to a head under this parliamentary misrepresentation.

    2. Definitely designed to provoke us. We're now in a sunspot maximum, when people are generally more active. 80% of wars break out during sunspot maxiums.
      Lockdowns were imposed during a sunspot minimum when people are generally less active.
      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9716ee8000fb873b3702ce47c60ecb0c8c3796fa8ee4541a52a1f0bcf7a1c693.jpg
      The yen is imploding and Alasdair Macleod is not too optimistic about the US stock market
      https://kingworldnews.com/weekly-wrap-with-alasdair-macleod-08-03-2024/
      So there is plenty for them to want to distract us from

    3. Best have glass in front of the canvas lest the idiots do a just stop oil type demonstration and throw paint over the picture of a revered leader.

    4. The purpose of these "notices" is to tell you, if you are a believer in the worth of British history that you are the racist, the bigot or the imperialist. The historical fact presented in these isn't relevant. They aren't there to inform. They're designed to act as a mirror to your own problem.

      They wonder then why riots begin when at every turn people are being castigated by authority.

    5. The purpose of these "notices" is to tell you, if you are a believer in the worth of British history that you are the racist, the bigot or the imperialist. The historical fact presented in these isn't relevant. They aren't there to inform. They're designed to act as a mirror to your own problem.

      They wonder then why riots begin when at every turn people are being castigated by authority.

    6. Will it also mention that he was beastly to those nice Germans who were trying to kill us?

    2. And that's the point. The government and its cohort of bien pensants have failed to understand what is going on. All he's done is summarise the obvious there.

      Sir Kneelalot will never in a month of Sundays ever acquire the basic equipment necessary to understand the point being made. He's like his predecessor. He'll retreat to his limo and probably say something like, "Did you hear what that woman said. She's a complete bigot."

      1. The violence allows the authorities to ignore the underlying issues.

        if the protests of the past few days had been completely violence free with not a brick thrown or curse uttered, it would have been harder to punish these extreme right EDL, Tommy Robinson loving extremists.
        Of course, they would still have ignored the real problem.

        1. I’d say it allows them to focus on the immediate problem, but not to ignore it. A subtle distinction I know, but relevant.

          The problem government has is that the underlying issue isn’t going away even if they suppress the violence successfully. This one’s like trying to keep bubbles from coming to the surface once you unscrew the lid of a pop bottle.

          1. This is more like preventing the unscrewing of a pop bottle but constantly shaking it.

  104. To everyone who is furious about the Algerian boxer; it seems that though this person might be one of those few who have a genuine genetic problem (XY chromosomes and female reproductive organs).
    There are childhood photos of her growing up as a girl.
    There is a video in French that was produced in Algeria before the Olympics where she is interviewed and a little about her history. She's definitely not seen as a transwoman in Algeria.

    This summer seems to be dominated by a series of media and alternative media stories designed to make people angry and upset, and to make us not know what's real and what's fake.

    1. Same as that African runner a few years back, do you remember? She was disqualified because tests determined she was male. Forgotten her name unfortunately.

    2. Same as that African runner a few years back, do you remember? She was disqualified because tests determined she was male. Forgotten her name unfortunately.

          1. LE français…

            EDIT

            Unless you intended to refer to the lady – in which case it should be LA française...

          1. I disagree. I think she's very andogynous – sometimes I get female vibes and sometimes male vibes.

            The point is though, that we got angry because we thought she was a man pretending to be a woman, whereas it seems that she genuinely does have characteristics of both sexes and has done all her life.
            The sports bodies ought to have firm rules, eg that nobody with XY chromosomes is allowed to compete in women's sport.

          2. Sorry we don’t agree on this 🙂 I’d have thought various sports bodies could come up with answers, think I suggested earlier – testing, handicap etc. Sport for all, and all that.

    5. The term 'transwoman' is misleading and shouldn't be used. The persons featured are chromosomally male but developmental error results in them not having full developed external male sexual organs. They may still have undescended testicles and will still produce testosterone. In terms of physical build and strength they are essentially male.

      1. 'Transwoman' is a man who is role-playing as a woman.
        Without knowing the exact details of this person's medical history, it's not possible to comment, but it does seem that doctors decided at her birth that she was a girl.
        There do seem to be several athletes in a similar situation at the moment, eg Castor Semanya and the Taiwanese boxer at the Olympics

        1. "doctors decided at her birth that she was a girl."

          Because there was obvious sign of maleness!

          1. It seems likely that the Algerian boxer experienced 5-alpha reductase 2 deficiency. This is a deficiency in an enzyme that changes testosterone into dihydrotestosterone, the latter being the hormone involved in the development of the external male genitalia. The presentation at birth can vary (see Wikipedia link below) but it is quite possible that in this case there were no external organs giving the usual indication of maleness. Or the development was ambiguous, in which case the doctors would indeed have to decide, using only the information available to them at the time.

            Other physical aspects of development associated with maleness – strength, muscle mass, etc. – are produced under the influence of testosterone, so are not affected by the enzyme deficiency. More info here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5%CE%B1-Reductase_2_deficiency

          3. Do you remember Kathleen Ferrier, BB2? The jaw of a man, voice of an angel (if you believe angels are male, as I do)…

          4. Supposed to be sexless according to the orthodoxy KJ, but funny enough always seem to pop up described as men in the bible.

          5. I reckon Semenya types always been around, James…possibly in order to survive they may have said they were messengers from various gods, and so forth. To be a time traveller eh…:-D

          6. It could be, of course, that the Algerian "person" is just very fit and strong.

            I would certainly NOT wish to get into a boxing ring against my former soldier neighbour. She is a large and very strong lady – can carry a sack of cement under each arm.

            The losing women in the bouts so far seem to be very small: I am surprised that some are in the same weight category.

          7. Could be, training schedules and all that…neighbour sounds like one of my friends, very useful person and fab with it. I’d have thought various rules could have been brought into play by now – Olympic committee/s seem good at that, especially if funding involved.

          9. Definitely always been around, but not in significant numbers. A biological certainty I’d have said.

          10. Full agreement, James. Good we’re not all alike, I reckon – how boring would that be 😀

          11. They have and it's no mystery. Those who declare "We're XX or XY and that's it!" are only theoretically correct. XX and XY is the program, the logic if you like but there are many recorded chromosomal and developmental errors that lead to some individuals growing up to be not quite one sex or the other. There are also individuals who have an extra X or Y chromosome. We could summarise it by saying that some people have the correct program installed but it doesn't execute properly while in others the programme is corrupted on installation.

          12. Yes indeed, it’s nothing new. You’d expect a full range of permissible possibilities in any system, biological or otherwise. You shouldn’t expect an equal distribution across the range, though. Software and its execution is a good metaphor for expressing how this one arises.

          13. They have and it's no mystery. Those who declare "We're XX or XY and that's it!" are only theoretically correct. XX and XY is the program, the logic if you like but there are many recorded chromosomal and developmental errors that lead to some individuals growing up to be not quite one sex or the other. There are also individuals who have an extra X or Y chromosome. We could summarise it by saying that some people have the correct program installed but it doesn't execute properly while in others the programme is corrupted on installation.

          14. They have and it's no mystery. Those who declare "We're XX or XY and that's it!" are only theoretically correct. XX and XY is the program, the logic if you like but there are many recorded chromosomal and developmental errors that lead to some individuals growing up to be not quite one sex or the other. There are also individuals who have an extra X or Y chromosome. We could summarise it by saying that some people have the correct program installed but it doesn't execute properly while in others the programme is corrupted on installation.

          17. I know we're in the realm of personal judgement, but having listened to some of the video interview, I would not say that the boxer has a very feminine voice – it's not as feminine as the (clearly female) interviewer, but neither is it a deep bass masculine voice. I would say 'intermediate' pitch. I've been involved with choral singing all my life, and some (unmistakeably) masculine men can have quite high voices. Vocal pitch is not a completely clear distinctive attribute.
            [Edit for typo.]

          18. It's very hard to fake though, and although men can have high voices, if I heard her voice I wouldn't think it was a man.

        2. "doctors decided at her birth that she was a girl."

          Because there was obvious sign of maleness!

        3. A 'Widow Twankey' would be an apposite description for such weirdos.

          Or an 'Old Mother Riley'.

    6. The term 'transwoman' is misleading and shouldn't be used. The persons featured are chromosomally male but developmental error results in them not having full developed external male sexual organs. They may still have undescended testicles and will still produce testosterone. In terms of physical build and strength they are essentially male.

    7. You might be interested in my reply to William Stanier, below, about 5-alpha reductase-2 deficiency.

  105. So much for the BBC Olympics coverage – they push the “Extra” facility on iPlayer but when I tried today as I was bored with men’s gymnastics the only 2 options were, er, men’s gymnastics or ping pong!! No sign of the advertised Skeet final, which I wanted to see!

    2. Surely skeet would hardly be left wing enough for the beeb.

      We cannot get coverage of the golf in Canada. The inglorious cbc has all broadcast rights and have chosen not to broadcast any golf even though they have about six or seven channels repeating just two or three feeds..
      The US based Golf channel is showing all of the event in the US but even though we normally can see golf chann3l programs, the cbc have stopped the broadcast here.

    3. No thanks to the BBC but I see Vincent Hancock (USA) has won the skeet – that is, I think, his 4th gold medal in that event in 4 successive games!!

      At last – a report about 2 hours after the event!

      Just checked the red button again; still just 2 options, one of which is exactly the same as BBC1 – what is the logic of that??

      1. She no longer runs for medals, but still runs, has fathered several children. Identifies as a man..also, there are several South American villages where all babies are identified as females until their testicles descend.

          1. Welcome, James 🙂 Also, imo – running one thing, boxing quite another, as I think one of the (female) boxers has said.

        3. That could be awkward. According to Wikipedia
          Semenya has said that she was born with a vagina and internal undescended testes, but that she has no uterus or fallopian tubes and does not menstruate

      2. She no longer runs for medals, but still runs, has fathered several children. Identifies as a man..also, there are several South American villages where all babies are identified as females until their testicles descend.

      3. I seem to remember they prescribed something to reduce testosterone before she would be eligible to compete. Whether she complied or not, I don't know.

        That's what is a bit strange about the boxer's case. Where someone is on the physiological borders then XY chromosome plus high testosterone usually means a male representation is given. It's odd they came down otherwise in her case. I don't know if Semenya is XX or XY.

        1. I remember the discussion at the time around CS, James – separate category etc…but I think the cases are so few was judged to be unnecessary.

          1. Understood. Some are calling for a separate category. I think that's a non starter really. So few cases, yes, but increasingly I see the few cases being attracted to athletics, especially from less successful countries for medals as the prizes are let's face it, low hanging fruit.

          2. Agree re: no separate category, James. Possibly testing prior to event, followed by a handicap? (Not a sports fan, so no idea how practical that would be :-D)

        2. Semenya apparently refused to take the testosterone reducing drugs and that is why they banned her (again from Wikipedia so maybe it's false).

      4. I seem to remember they prescribed something to reduce testosterone before she would be eligible to compete. Whether she complied or not, I don't know.

        That's what is a bit strange about the boxer's case. Where someone is on the physiological borders then XY chromosome plus high testosterone usually means a male representation is given. It's odd they came down otherwise in her case. I don't know if Semenya is XX or XY.

      5. I don’t think she competes anymore but she did “come out” as lesbian/male and married a female fellow athlete in South Africa.

  108. I told a lie earlier. The little church "do" this morning raised:

    Refreshments £92.59
    Tombola £108.00
    Stallholders £40.00
    Bake Stall £255.60
    Books £173.16

    Almost enough to pay for the "slavery" plaque….(joke…)

  109. – So the police have been given extra powers to stop and search at the protests today.

    Sources say they are on the lookout for bus passes, old hankies, werthers originals, bibles and concealed walking sticks.

  113. 390823+ up ticks,

    Dt,
    Far-Right groups clash with police as unrest spreads across
    country

    Truth-speak,

    So far-Right groups clash with police as unrest spreads across country, 10,000 plus prisoners got / are getting early release, are you thinking what i'm thinking, 10,000 out / 10,000 indigenous IN.
    I truthfully put nothing past these political overseers and their
    in-house capo fifth column.

      1. Old Man No 1 to Old Man No 2: “In the West, men over the age of 70 have sex on average twice a month. In China, it is twice a year”.

        Old Man No 2: “I never knew that I was Chinese”.

    1. I'm surprised plod didn't seize the microphone and start a stand-off between a peaceful protest and the brutal plod Stasi.

  117. A dreadful Bogey Five!

    Wordle 1,141 5/6
    🟩⬜🟩⬜🟩
    🟩⬜🟩⬜🟩
    🟩⬜🟩⬜🟩
    🟩🟨🟩⬜🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Par here, lots of choices.

      Wordle 1,141 4/6

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

          1. Of course ceolacanths are estimated to live up to 100 years – so there's plenty of time ahead for you!

    2. Nearly a five but I changed my mind, purely on the basis that my first choice is rarely the right one :-))

      Wordle 1,141 4/6

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

    3. See me after class for a good whipping boy!

      Oh, sorry i thought i was an employee of the BBC for a moment.

    4. Ah, must repost my first ever eagle two
      Wordle 1,141 2/6

      🟩🟩⬜⬜🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. What sort of person would be okay with letting someone with a man's strength compete with a woman in the boxing ring?
      Boxing has been divided up by body weight to prevent serious harm.
      But that doesn't account for strength.
      What are they thinking, these are only amateurs.
      These Lefties put their weird dogma before safety.

      1. Cassius Clay was an amateur – but beat the shit out of his opponents in the 1960 Olympics.

          1. "What are they thinking, these are only amateurs."

            I was simply reply to your line, mon vieux.

          1. I am just the sort that Julius Caesar would have liked to have had about him.

            I am sleek-headed, I sleep well at night and I am decidedly fat.

            Allhallows put on a production of Twelfth Night and the head boy played Malvolio. I would have liked to have played Sir Toby Belch as I had the figure for it but as the piece was performed exclusively by pupils the role was given to a boy padded out with cushions under his doublets.

        8. There was a MASSIVE irony in him rejecting his "Slave Name" and becoming "Muhamad Ali" in that the original Cassius Marcellus Clay was a staunch emancipationist who withed to see the end of slavery, whilst the name Muhamad Ali was shared by an Arab slave trader who force marched thousands of Africans across the Sahara to the slave markets of North Africa.

    1. I'm fairly sure that clip is quite old, I recall seeing it, or something very similar, a while ago.

        1. Sorry Rik-Redux, but until I see something that shows it is categorically today, I'll hold judgement.
          The bastards have been marching and protesting like that for years.
          The date of the posting is not necessarily the date of the clip.

          However, I would not be at all surprised if it's true.

      1. It's the home of Wedgwood where if you spend long enough in the museum your eyes glaze over!

        1. When I attended courses at Stone – I resisted trying to get a ‘stone’s throw from Stoke’ in the comment – on my way home I would make a visit to Wedgewood’s factory and buy some ‘seconds’ at a knock-down prices.

          1. CTS Stone, that brings back memories as does The Wayfarer and Labour In Vain.

            You can tell what my priorities were back then.

          2. Never went to the Wayfarer and the ‘Labour’ was a dump in my early days but was modernised later on and became quite a good pub.

        2. When I attended courses at Stone – I resisted trying to get a ‘stone’s throw from Stoke’ in the comment – on my way home I would make a visit to Wedgewood’s factory and buy some ‘seconds’ at a knock-down prices.

  131. That's me for this day of several halves. Fresh morning; drizzle; sunshine ; cold snap mid-afternoon; now sunny enough to sit out in 15 minutes at wine o'clock.

    Have a jolly evening. I think my closing comment last evening bout sharpening your machetes was coser to the bone that I had expected…

    A demain. More shed painting awaits me…{:¬((

  133. Another day is done, too many boring breaks on GBN so, I wish you a goodnight and may God bless all you Gentlefolk. If we are spared! Bis morgen früh.

  134. Another day is done, too many boring breaks on GBN so, I wish you a goodnight and may God bless all you Gentlefolk. If we are spared! Bis morgen früh.

  135. People have 'the right to feel safe', Yvette Cooper says

    Asked what the government can do to stop the disorder, she says the police need to take the lead on operations where there has been violence, disorder and thuggery. But the government will provide its full backing in making sure those responsible face the law, she says.

    Some suspects have already been arrested and are in custody, with more arrests expected, she says.

    People have "the right to feel safe", Cooper adds.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c0jqjxe8d1yt

    Is that a universal right?

    1. The 'law' is subject to both Magna Carta and Common Law. Both of which precede Parliament by many years

        1. Any bill, after. 1215, is superceded by Magna Carta and it enshrines Common Law. Hence successive parliaments hate it but cannot repreal it. Bone up on English law, its constitution and origins. You’ll be surprised what you discover.

        1. Not all those who vote Labour do so for safety. For some it'll be a case of feeling a little less unsafe doing so than voting in a way that makes an alternative outcome fractionally more like!y.

    4. Are the "expected" arrests of the "grab one" type or will real evidence be required? Asking for a Patriot.

    5. Cooper, define people?

      You lot have trouble defining a woman despite chromosomal evidence. People is a whole new ball game.

      1. There are other ways of defining a woman. One is to accept, without any independent evidence, a declaration of someone's self-perception.

        It's not one I'd agree with but why not just accept, without question, whatever anybody says about themselves?

    8. I can understand the government deploring the violent reaction in the streets to the murder of three little girls but unless they understand that not all the people who are outraged by these savage murders are extreme right wing thugs but ordinary people they will not address the problem.

      And while we're on the subject it is not just extreme right wing fascists who feel outraged that so little was said or done by the politicians about Pakistani Muslim rape gangs. Indeed a Labour MP actually said that the victims of such rapes should shut up in the interests of diversity

      Cause and effect.

      If politicians tried to show that they understand why people have risen up they might make more progress.

      1. It's taken longer than I expected. I just wish it hadn't taken the murder of three little girls to start the pushback. That gets to me, so it does.

      2. If i remember correctly, the MP you refer to said no such thing. She 'liked' – briefly, before cancelling it soon after and without prompting – a Facebook message expressing that sentiment posted by someone else.

  137. Indeed, but it doesn’t prove that those two clips are from today.

    Given the state of tension everywhere, I would have expected there to be an obvious police presence, and yes, I do recognise that that is what the clip posters are complaining about.

    1. In this particular case I find it extremely difficult to accept that the Southport stabbings were staged, let alone not real.

      I read it through to the end and was not impressed. Perhaps I should look a lot further than the conclusion I came to from the article.

      That the writer is more than somewhat sanctimonious.

      1. If you have time and are interested in this particular rabbit hole, Richard D Hall's film on the Jo Cox murder is very interesting.

          1. So did I, but the video is compelling. It focuses on the "far right extremist" convicted of the crime.

          2. I have always thought the 'far right extremist' was a very weak case and was not the guilty party.

      2. From Coffee House, the Spectator

        Is Farage already sick of being an MP?
        Comments Share 2 August 2024, 1:44pm
        Nigel Farage was elected as MP for Clacton by a solid margin of 8,405. Four other Reform UK candidates were returned, and the party won 4.1 million votes. This surely was the beginning of a great change, the breaking of the mould of right-wing electoral politics. Farage spoke excitedly of creating a ‘bridgehead in parliament’ and said his party was ‘coming for Labour’ while it let the Conservatives ‘tear themselves apart’. Yet four weeks after the election, has the House of Commons proved disappointing for its new boy?

        There has been plenty of news for Farage to attach himself to. The Just Stop Oil protests at Heathrow enraged him, leading him to describe the group’s activities as ‘domestic soft terrorism’. There has been serious public disorder in Southend and central London, and of course the tragic stabbings in Southport at the beginning of the week have spiralled into a bitter and violent series of battles between police and right-wing agitators. Farage even found time to vent his fury at the ‘wokeness’ of the Royal Air Force in dropping 14 Squadron’s nickname of ‘The Crusaders’.

        Parliament, however, has not given Farage or Reform UK much assistance in their craving for attention. For a while, Jim Allister, MP for North Antrim and leader of Northern Ireland’s Traditional Unionist Voice party, considered formally taking the Reform UK whip in the House of Commons. The additional MP would have unlocked extra public funding for Reform, but in the end Allister decided against the move. Recently, the party’s chief whip, Lee Anderson, complained that Reform UK would not be represented on any of the House of Commons’s select committees, though a party that makes up 0.75 per cent of Members of Parliament would not usually be represented anyway.

        Most popular
        Patrick O’Flynn
        Keir Starmer’s riot crisis

        Farage himself has hardly thrown himself into his parliamentary duties. He has spoken twice: once on the re-election of Sir Lindsay Hoyle as speaker, when all party leaders were expected to make a contribution, and once in the debate on the King’s Speech, when he spoke for ten minutes. He took part in his first two divisions that same day. Otherwise, he has asked no questions in the chamber, submitted no questions for a written answer, and signed no Early Day Motions. He is not just a fainter voice in parliament than many expected, but barely a voice at all.

        The violence in Southport this week showed that Farage’s real instincts are still that of the populist and of a man who prefers an unchallenged, uncritical platform. On Tuesday, Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, made a statement to the House on the situation in Southport. Farage’s colleague Lee Anderson made a strangely anodyne contribution, ‘commending’ the Home Secretary and asking her to ‘send our love’ to the grieving families and emergency workers in Southport.

        Farage’s approach was different. Forty-five minutes before the home secretary even stood up in the House of Commons, he had posted a video to social media which struck a much darker note. He asked rhetorically ‘whether the truth is being withheld from us’ by the police about the circumstances of the stabbings, and raised the idea that the suspect had been monitored by the security services. The message was clear: this is sinister, it is the tip of an iceberg that involves the forces of the state deceiving the British public, and it all stems from the original sin of mass immigration.

        He did not make these arguments in the House of Commons: he does not seem to have been present for the HomeSsecretary’s statement. The reasons are obvious. First, as the leader of a small party, he would have been a bit player in the parliamentary drama, appearing after the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats in the dramatis personae. He would also have been vigorously challenged on his slyly inflammatory arguments. Why would he want to expose himself to that, when he can cut out the middleman and have an uninterrupted monologue on the internet?

        Nigel Farage is a showman, a politician with keen instincts for attracting attention but fundamentally dedicated to his own advancement, through the UK Independence party, then the Brexit Party and now Reform UK. The ability to add the letters ‘MP’ to his name will no doubt have been an ego boost, but there are suggestions that being a Member of Parliament does not suit his tactics or even his skill set. This week has been illustrative: while Farage and his party have made the most of the tragic and criminal behaviour in Southport, they have not done so in the House of Commons. Instead the MP for Clacton has found easier, less challenging ways of putting across his views. He might find this parliament a long five years.

        1. There’s a problem with your cut and paste here Rob as Patrick O’Flynn’s byline appears in the middle of it (I see you pasted his article separately). NOTTLERS may mistakenly think that P O’F wrote the second bit but the whole of this absolute pile of ordure was penned by Eliot somebody or other who is a former HOC clerk.
          The Spectator was pushing a similar hit job on Farage in another article by Rupert Darwall (? Who he) who is also trying to sugggest the Tories are providing much better opposition than reform. The comments below both articles point out the extraordinary idiocy of both pieces as parliament is in recess less than a month after the GE and Reform has a princely total of 5 seats.
          It is noticeable that the silence from the Liberal Democrats (72 seats) is deafening.

      3. An individual has been charged with the murder of 3 named individuals. The incident was not staged, so he is a bit off the rails there. The whys and wherefores can be debated ad infinitum. However, the young who sit in their rooms for hours on the internet are prime territory for radiclisation. Killing randomly with knives is not normally a Christian prediliction, although the Nottingham murderer may be the exception to the rule.

      4. Just a consideration of how many would have to be parties to the falsehoods should immediately discredit such notions. However, how the story is presented might very well be subject to bias and dishonourable motives and, as Miriaf points out, children are at much greater risk from those they know and from traffic accidents, for example. The reason it has attracted such media attention is the sheer rarity of maniacs attacking children unknown to them as well as the numbers involved. It's not just the 3 dead children but 5 others and 2 adults critically injured in the attack.

        1. I don't have a tremendous amount of time for the "millions die of other causes" argument either, nor do I follow the "if it saves one life" mantra, particularly when the saving is from their own stupidity and inconveniences thousands.

        2. False flag events have been staged in the past. Not really that many people have to be in on it. Everyone just assumes that other people know the stuff they don't, and the media cooperates by not asking quesitons and reporting what they're told to report.

          Watch the Richard D Hall film about the Jo Cox murder, it really is an eye opener.
          (I know you will say that you don't want to , but then if you don't look into such things, how can you be qualified to comment knowledgeably on them?)

          1. In this particular case, those named would not be dead, or even exist, the critically injured would have been fabricated and all those emergency personnel would have to pretend they were not trying to save the lives of stab victims. Those who claim to have seen bloody victims would either have to have been duped or paid to go along with this. Those who 'survive' and were 'present' would have to.pretend for the rest of their lives that they were witnesses to a life-changing atrocity and all those in the named hospitals' emergency and critical care units would have to pretend they were caring for non-existent victims. That's just off the top of my head. I'm sure there would have to be numerous others having to be paid or duped into being parties to such a grand fabrication.

          2. You’re assuming too much. But you aren’t interested in finding out more about false flags, so it’s kind of pointless talking about it.

  139. Seems that Harris has turned down an offer from Trump for a debate on TV.
    Is that a mistake? Will it be used against her? Is she "frit", as the Blessed Maggie once said?

    1. I posted earlier that Trump had accepted and thought it would be a laugh to watch. No surprise the dim witted black African American has refused. Given her heritage is India.

    2. The story now extends to say she won't debate on Fox, but instead urges him to attend the agreed debate on ABC, 10 September.

    3. could be a mistake.. it may only become clearer after the passage of time.. and that is "The Significance Of The Passage Of Time"..

    1. 390823+ up ticks,

      O2O,
      16

      9

      9

      Gerard Batten
      @gjb2021

      ·
      Aug 2

      This is the film a judge banned Tommy from showing.

      It shows the truth about the ‘libel’ case that bankrupted him, & the lies spread by the MSM. It shows his complete innocence & how his evidence was suppressed.

      It’s 1.5 hours but please watch it – & please pass it on far & wide.

      Wide distribution of this film may be the only thing standing between Tommy & two more years in prison.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0z7rV…
      Silenced — A Documentary by Tommy Robinson ( FULL MOVIE )

      “Silenced” is a documentary that was originally made by Tommy Robinson. In the film, he uncovers an unholy alliance between the government and the media and …

      http://www.youtube.com

        1. Lots of politically charged ones seem to be unavailable here, depending upon what's featured.
          I think it may be something to do with one of Macron's child protection initiatives.

    2. I don't blame them.. why not? they know they are immune from prosecution and it brings everyone one step closer to an Islamic state.
      .. has Fahir and his brother Ammad been chraged yet? Nah.

      what exactly does it take for a Roper to get charged? Head-butt a customer in Starbucks.. nah. Then deck a policewoman.. nah.

  141. And introduce him to Isabella of Castile. It took her ten years to plan and execute the expulsion of the Moors from Spain but they’d been there centuries and no one else had succeeded.

      1. The Jews had been collaborators, in that they paid the jizya tax, while the catholics suffered barbarous treatment. It may not suit our worldview but it wasn’t gratuitous.

  142. And introduce him to Isabella of Castile. It took her ten years to plan and execute the expulsion of the Moors from Spain but they’d been there centuries and no one else had succeeded.

  143. I will take every step necessary to keep you safe.. says Two-Keir Starmer.
    And blame anyone but Islam.

    I betcha Greater Manchester Police will not charge the Muzzie brothers for decking the airport poilce.
    They have form on caving in to the Muslim mafia..

    Despite having identified 97 potential abusers, GMP closed down Operation Augusta in 2005, leaving them free to prey on even more vulnerable girls.

  145. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/64bef04fec12e0532b8672e651a3df3663cb08df8379a8be1b82c219cd9fd4de.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/69b5fef598907502d074f5a9f015e2913ec5c3bc06a8f3ecd82f498414486cdb.jpg
    Where's Philip?

    I brought my deep-fat fryer out of storage this afternoon and charged it up with 2·75 kg of clarified beef tallow. I then fried some triple-cooked chips and some battered haddock fillets (skin on, of course!) and served them with my last two pickled onions and a large portion of Tom's nightmare (mushy peas).

    The chips were crisp on the outside, soft in the middle, bone dry and tasted heavenly. There was not a speck of grease anywhere on the plate, unlike what you invariably get when you cook in poisonous and greasy seed oils (or Castrol).

    Maldon sea salt and Sarsons malt vinegar and the job's a good 'un.

    2. I asked for mushy peas at a fish and chip shop near us. Despite mushy peas being an item on the menu, the server claimed that they had never served them and had no idea of how to prepare them.

      I would happily take Toms portion.

        3. I never knew that, Spikey. Must look around more carefully on my next trip to Aldi.

          1. I've seen mushy peas in Lidl, but I don't buy them, so can't comment on quality, only availability.

  147. For what it's worth:

    Fridman told Musk, "I wish you could go into Washington for a week and be the head of the committee for making government smaller."

    Musk responded, "I have discussed with Trump the idea of a government efficiency commission … and I would be willing to be apart of that commission."

    The billionaire continued by saying that when you remove all the waste in government, well, "You're attacking the Matrix at that point … Matrix will fight back."

    Additionally, Musk revealed 7 reasons why he’s voting for Donald Trump

    1. Elon Musk was astounded when Trump fist-pumped and shouted, “Fight!” shortly after getting shot in the face. “You can't feign bravery in a situation like that,” he said.

    2. Musk seeks a leader “who is strong and courageous to represent the country.”

    3. He wants someone tough to deal with world leaders who are pretty tough themselves. “Poor guy [Biden] has trouble climbing a flight of stairs, and the other one's first pumping after getting shot. This is no comparison.”

    4. Musk wants “a secure border. We don't have a secure border.”

    5. He wants someone who can deliver “safe and clean cities.”

    6. Musk Thinks Trump is the better candidate to reduce spending. He’s concerned about this issue because “we're currently spending at a rate that is bankrupting the country.”

    7. Musk aligns with Trump’s vision to cut bureaucratic bloat. He wants someone who will “reduce the size of government.”

  148. Oh dear what can the matter be…
    " Boeing's crewed Starliner spacecraft mission to the International Space Station was initially expected to last just a few days, but it has stretched into weeks and now two months.

    The two astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, have been stranded on the ISS following Starliner's helium leaks and failing thrusters in early June.
    NASA and Boeing have been working to resolve Starliner's issues, but progress has been limited.

    The big story here is that, after two months, Boeing has yet to publicly ask Elon Musk's SpaceX for help. Optically, this would be a major blow to Boeing's image, especially considering the series of mid-air mishaps involving its 737Max commercial jets. Additionally, it's an election year for the Biden administration, which has been on a crusade against Trump and his supporters, but also is very anti-Musk. Any rescue mission by SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft is undesirable news flow for Democrats.

    However, a new report from Ars Technica, citing various sources, indicates SpaceX could be publicly called up to save the day.
    Here's more from Ars Technica:

    For a long time, it seemed almost certain that the astronauts would return to Earth inside Starliner. However, there has been a lot of recent activity at NASA, Boeing, and SpaceX that suggests that Wilmore and Williams could come home aboard a Crew Dragon spacecraft rather than Starliner.
    One informed source said it was greater than a 50-50 chance that the crew would come back on Dragon. Another source said it was significantly more likely than not they would. To be clear, NASA has not made a final decision. This probably will not happen until at least next week. It is likely that Jim Free, NASA's associate administrator, will make the call.

    On Thursday evening, NASA spokesperson Josh Finch told Ars, "NASA is evaluating all options for the return of agency astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams from the International Space Station as safely as possible. No decisions have been made and the agency will continue to provide updates on its planning."

    X users are wondering why the stranded Starliner story is not huge news.

          1. Wasn’t that HMS Zulu’s song after a few beers?

            Another Tribal Class warship – HMS Ashanti – had the song “it’s only a shanty in old shanty town”.

            All long gone along with most of the Navy.

          2. We used to sing it after rugby matches, often during timed pint chugging contests.
            I’m unsure of the origin, yours seems a good explanation.

          3. I wasn’t implying that that was the origin, simply a comment about its use. I imagine that it would be very woke these days.

          5. Wasn’t that HMS Zulu’s song after a few beers?

            Another Tribal Class warship – HMS Ashanti – had the song “it’s only a shanty in old shanty town”.

            All long gone along with most of the Navy.

    2. A conspiracy theorist writes:
      Musk gets called in.
      SpaceX dragon is sabotaged and crashes, killing the astronauts.
      Musk and Trump are blamed.

      2. See what recent events have done to previously trusting folk? In my case, I don't believe a word of whats in MSM any more, there are too many lies, evasions and omissions.

  149. Can't this idiot government see what real anger is ..

    I cannot believe this new idiot PM has put the safety of controlling bum raising gown wearing worshippers who leave every few hours to pray to Allah , who need prayer rooms in every office , building site , hospital , and insist on Halal slaughtered animal meat to consume , who hate dogs , beat their children, cut their daughter's private parts, are allowed to have numerous wives and many children .

    Starmer has ignored the safety of people who attend concerts , ride on buses , the underground , walk in parks , and enjoy wearing poppies, celebrate Easter Christmas and hear church bells ringing .

    This is My country , and I think our tolerance is now being challenged .

    Sir idiot Starmer needs to love us more , and not suck up to the people who terrify him and us , the sword and knife and bomb wielding Muslims .

    1. Maybe it's because they terrify him more than us. Some people might say that needs to change.

    1. I thought loads of people would tell me that they had heard from Geoff…seriously. Has anyone heard from him? He didn't say anything about gonig away yesterday

      1. I thought I'd be able to tell you I had, so looked back today – no message/s, no uptick/s, sorry. He'll possibly be around tomorrow, later in the day perhaps…

    1. As I wrote yesterday:
      "Belfast, eh? Wouldn't there be a beautiful irony if citizens from south of the border linked arms with those from the north to demonstrate against immigration throughout the island? I'd like to see Starmer tell a temporary alliance of Loyalist and Republican hardnuts that they're just racists and fascists."

      Well, there might not have been RoI Catholics there but it's a start. Mind you, I'd be interested to know how the Rainbow Hamas crowd bagged the prime space in front the City Hall.

  154. Evening, all. Been pretty much perfect conditions for working in the garden today; dry and fair, but not too hot. As a result, I've spent a long time weeding and preparing a new seating area (only to find that I didn't have the weed suppressant membrane I thought I'd got, after all – I did find the dog's paddling pool, though, for when it gets really hot again). I expect I shall find it difficult to move tomorrow 🙁

    I'd like to know what "wider" problems in society they're thinking of. There isn't much bigger a problem than the govt importing hordes of people who hate us and prioritising them over the natives.

    1. Hot bath and toddy before bed can help, Conway. Dog generally digs up our suppressant anyway. Completely agree biggest problem of our times.

      1. Alas, I am still without hot water (the ordered coil for the oil heating failed to materialise) and it's too hot to light the Rayburn to supply any. To compound the problem, I'm having an alcohol-free day. The suppressant will be covered with gravel, so I doubt Kadi will bother.

        1. At least it's not winter:-( regret to read alcohol-free day, mine's a Patterdale, once he starts he can't stop….dog on a mission…

          2. If it were winter, it wouldn't be a problem – the Rayburn would be lit and I'd have lashings of hot water!

          3. Ha…stubborn as a mule 😀 Has the most expressive face/eyes I’ve ever seen on a dog. Had him since 8 weeks old, now 14+ years, sleeping a lot. Bestie:-)

        2. ‘the ordered coil for the oil heating failed to materialise”. You could always try the pill.

  156. We can all go back quite a few years on here and what is happening today was what most of us all predicted would happen.

    1. Perhaps they could try starting by defining what isn't a woman.

      I'm not concerned with nearly a woman, I'm not bothered by transexuals, I don't think identifying as a woman or dressing as a woman or even having your meat and two veg extracted makes you a woman

      What you have left probably will be a woman.

      Let's start:
      I believe someone with XY chromosomes isn't.

        1. Those were the days.

          That was normal, they usually became lovely young women who understood the male of the species.

  158. Thought for the day.
    Would all the athletes winning medals on the track in the Olympic games, who hail from former slave owning British colonies, have done as well if the slave owners hadn't been careful to optimise their breeding programmes?

    1. Probably not. The Atlantic crossing weeded out the weakest for starters? They didn’t exactly cruise in state rooms?

      1. Selection of the fittest even applies to us humans, although by a quirk of nature we, unlike most creatures, have the ability to protect and nurture the least fit.
        And boy-oh-boy are we now paying for that.

    2. My thought was sheer delight at the victory of the St Lucia sprinter in the women's 100 meters. A public park on the Caribbean island was given over to a big screen transmission of the race. The joy of those there was infectious. Never before has St Lucia won an olympic medal (so I was told, so not verified).

  162. Robert Wilkinson
    @robertwlk
    I have this recurring nightmare where not only am I forced to become vegan, but I'm the only one on a desert island and there's nobody to tell.

    1. That's almost as good as this from the 1970s:

      'What's the difference between a duck?'
      'One of its legs is both the same….

      1. And me, Lola, reminds me very much of my father…both unreconstructed Yorkshire men….

          2. The very one !

            Fred had humour and quick repartee , whereas Boycott is droll and sparing with speech apart from when he was commenting or making a point .

          5. Thank you Mm, will watch that later ..

            We are sitting here jaws open watching the BBC news .. The government hasn’t got it , the message I mean ..

    3. Saw it in the Telegaffe, but couldn't read it. Good news! Worlds greatest Yorkshireman – he'll tell you himself.

      "The former England opening batsman played in 108 Tests between 1964 and 1982, scoring 8,114 runs including 22 centuries. Boycott, who played first-class cricket for Yorkshire, averaged 56.83 as a batter with more than 48,000 runs and 151 centuries."

    5. Boycott had numerous critics.

      I was a great admirer and believe that England would have lost many more matches in a poor run in that era, but for his dogged determination.

      Collapse after collapse was held back by his skill at holding down an end.

      Greatly under-rated in my view.

    7. Sorry, meant as a reply to Belle's comment about Fred Truman a few comments lower.

  164. If these riots suggest one thing, it is that there are far, far more far right thugs in Britain than one would ever have thought possible.

    What is really strange is that, according to the MSM, the riots have little if nothing to do with the opposite side of the coin joining in, let alone the religious groups who may well be the real underlying cause of the national discontent.

  166. Robert Wilkinson
    @robertwlk
    Dropped a copy of Great Expectations on my foot.
    It hurts like the Dickens .

      1. What larks, eh, Pip?

        PS – Strange to see these Dickens posts. Especially since I am off to Portsmouth next week for the annual Dickens Fellowship annual conference. I'm taking my laptop with me, but will only post sporadically – it's an action-packed week.

    4. We all had flu and sore throats so our home became Bleak House with Great Expectorations.

  168. Breaking News
    Labour have ordered the police to especially look out for Far Right stereotypes so beware if you –
    Like drinking warm beer, support early closing on Sunday, watching cricket on a balmy afternoon on the village green, giving up your seat for a woman on the bus or train, holding open the door for people to pass through first, walking to the corner shop for the Sunday paper, listening to the wireless, polishing your brogues in the evening, wearing a jacket in hot weather, taking a brolly with you incase of rain, pottering in the greenhouse, that sort of thing, really nasty.
    These people are a danger to world peace, the sooner they are replaced the better for the planet.
    If you see one do not try to tackle them, inform the police immediately

    2. The 2pm closing on a Sunday afternoon is so ingrained that it still doesn't feel quite right going to my local on a Sunday when the have the odd acoustic duo or trio at 4pm.

      1. It was 1.55pm closing at the Rising Sun in Little Hampden, Buckinghamshire on a hot Sunday in the lovely summer of 1984. There was a big queue of thirsty punters. Even for that genteel part of the world in the much more civilised 1980s it was quite a row that followed yet no chairs were overturned nor glasses smashed, though 'twas a close run thing…

        1. The best bit was buying 2 or 3 extra pints towards 2 o'clock and supping them in peace while playing darts or chatting until 3 o'clock.

      2. I've long since shed any residual feeling that the Sunday hours of my youth still prevail.

    3. The 2pm closing on a Sunday afternoon is so ingrained that it still doesn't feel quite right going to my local on a Sunday when the have the odd acoustic duo or trio at 4pm.

    4. The beer you refer to is not warm. Nor is it chilled. It's cool, just like the cellar it is drawn from.

      Yes, I'm rather particular about this.

      1. I believe that the same applies to good red wine. It should be taken at room temperature, whether that is the temperature of the cave in which it is sampled or else the room in your house in which you are drinking it.

        I discovered years ago that the best Californian red wine can be served from a fridge without harming its taste and drinkability.

  169. We had 7oz fillet steak each this evening with chips and tender stem broccoli. Can recommend Morrisons for the steak. Saturday they have an excellent offer of 20% off steak. Two steaks for £10.50. Outstanding value and qu.

    1. I wish that we could get decent steaks that small over here. It seems that quantity is more important than quality in most cases.

      1. I have worked in the industry and have never understood how anyone could eat such a large piece of meat. 18/32oz T-Bone etc…..
        Of course i understand people who have very energetic type jobs have big appetites/needs. But it always surprised me.

        My advice about steaks is you buy the cut you want. Portion it up to how you would like to see it on your plate. Freeze the rest.

        When you take the portion/s out….leave in the fridge for a few days. Then cook as you like it.
        After you have cooked it…leave it alone for the same amount of time. Then plate.

      2. Ours were cut at the butcher’s counter to our specifications. Morrison’s are the only supermarket to do that.
        We bought a 1.5kg piece of fillet a couple of Christmas’s ago and made a fabulous Wellington.

  170. interesting. As you may know, I live in ultra-Liberal la-la~land, in the sunny uplands of Richmond upon Thames

        2. lol looks grammatically ok I can confirm I am pissed as a newt and happy for it🙂

  171. Where is Phizzee?

    This afternoon , Moh and I drove to Weymouth and visited one of their out of town stores , Dunhelm. Moh sat in the car listening to the radio, I wasn't long in there although he thought I was .

    I bought a kingsize 7 tog duvet , our old one needs to be taken to the laundry, 15 tog , and so hot in weather like this .. Moh was rather shocked , he does feel the cold.

    We then drove into Weymouth , seaside looked glorious , packed out , sea was azure , families swimming etc prom packed out with people .. no where to park , anywhere ..

    We should have driven home , except I drove in a westerly direction out the other side of Weymouth , on the Fleet side of the harbour to make amends for the shopping trip and bill !!

    We headed for the Moonfleet Manor , which was always a favourite place to take visitors for tea and a stroll along the Fleet(Barnes Wallis bouncing bomb practise area) to look at the wading birds etc. https://luxuryfamilyhotels.co.uk/locations/moonfleet-manor/

    It must be a couple or more years since we visited it .. and I was horrified .. it is now so 21st century interior whereas before it was old Colonial , some thing from the Raj or Kenya , comforting , cosy and full of wonderful photos and paintings and ornaments, such ambiance . The furniture and deep sofas , and some veranda items , and plants are gone .
    Now a designer has got to work and I guess the Colonial past is now out of fashion and bad taste .

    A younger generation of smart holiday maker was apparent , and an older generation has vanished apart from us .

    We ordered a pot of tea for 2 , and I had a small slice of lemon cake , beautifully presented .. we ate in their lovely garden . Yikes , the bill is another story !

    1. Luv Denelm, hate Weymouth (long story 1995 hockey festival Easter got parking ticket on Easter Sunday (and player of the Tournanament))

    2. When driving from Lyme Regis to Keyhaven, near Lymington where my parents lived, I sometimes turned right at Bridport and took the road to Weymouth and then, via the ferry, on to Poole and thence Bournemouth, Christchurch, New Milton and Milford-o-Sea.

    3. I tried on many occasions to draw you to an assignation (afternoon tea ..ahem) at the Moonfleet. Missed your chance now lovey.
      You do get one last chance……………………….my party on the 10th. I will even introduce Richard to my good friend Garry who is also a golf fanatic. Just don't mention football because WW3 will happen sooner than anyone could believe.
      Love the pics of your boys on Facebook.

    4. My story is similar but dates back over twenty years. In the seventies I was working on a project at the University of Sheffield. I had studied there and obtained my first degree their early seventies.

      I would attend site meetings, forego lunch and stop-off at The Haycock Inn in Wansford off the A1 on my return to London in the evening. There I would relax in one of their several rooms, sitting in ample country furniture beside a log fire and enjoying a traditional English supper.

      Years later I was driving North on the A1 and thought it would be a good idea to stop at the Haycock Inn for lunch especially since I had waxed lyrical to my wife Carol about my memories of the place a decade or more earlier.

      We were greeted by a greasy smooth chap in a suit with a carnation in his buttonhole. Instead of the old English Coaching Inn of my memories I found us guided to a sort of modernistic greenhouse addition to the Inn with a white conglomerate travertine floor (fake limestone) and those ghastly spindly tables and equally nasty and uncomfortable seats so favoured by modern designers. My heart sank and I grieved for my extinguished memory of England.

    5. My story is similar but dates back over twenty years. In the seventies I was working on a project at the University of Sheffield. I had studied there and obtained my first degree their early seventies.

      I would attend site meetings, forego lunch and stop-off at The Haycock Inn in Wansford off the A1 on my return to London in the evening. There I would relax in one of their several rooms, sitting in ample country furniture beside a log fire and enjoying a traditional English supper.

      Years later I was driving North on the A1 and thought it would be a good idea to stop at the Haycock Inn for lunch especially since I had waxed lyrical to my wife Carol about my memories of the place a decade or more earlier.

      We were greeted by a greasy smooth chap in a suit with a carnation in his buttonhole. Instead of the old English Coaching Inn of my memories I found us guided to a sort of modernistic greenhouse addition to the Inn with a white conglomerate travertine floor (fake limestone) and those ghastly spindly tables and equally nasty and uncomfortable seats so favoured by modern designers. My heart sank and I grieved for my extinguished memory of England.

  172. Where is Phizzee?

    This afternoon , Moh and I drove to Weymouth and visited one of their out of town stores , Dunhelm. Moh sat in the car listening to the radio, I wasn't long in there although he thought I was .

    I bought a kingsize 7 tog duvet , our old one needs to be taken to the laundry, 15 tog , and so hot in weather like this .. Moh was rather shocked , he does feel the cold.

    We then drove into Weymouth , seaside looked glorious , packed out , sea was azure , families swimming etc prom packed out with people .. no where to park , anywhere ..

    We should have driven home , except I drove in a westerly direction out the other side of Weymouth , on the Fleet side of the harbour to make amends for the shopping trip and bill !!

    We headed for the Moonfleet Manor , which was always a favourite place to take visitors for tea and a stroll along the Fleet(Barnes Wallis bouncing bomb practise area) to look at the wading birds etc. https://luxuryfamilyhotels.co.uk/locations/moonfleet-manor/

    It must be a couple or more years since we visited it .. and I was horrified .. it is now so 21st century interior whereas before it was old Colonial , some thing from the Raj or Kenya , comforting , cosy and full of wonderful photos and paintings and ornaments, such ambiance . The furniture and deep sofas , and some veranda items , and plants are gone .
    Now a designer has got to work and I guess the Colonial past is now out of fashion and bad taste .

    A younger generation of smart holiday maker was apparent , and an older generation has vanished apart from us .

    We ordered a pot of tea for 2 , and I had a small slice of lemon cake , beautifully presented .. we ate in their lovely garden . Yikes , the bill is another story !

      1. "Lo! some we loved, the loveliest and best
        That Time and Fate of all their Vintage prest,
        Have drunk their Cup a Round or two before,
        And one by one crept silently to Rest."

        So good night Mir and all

  174. Well, no Geoff at all today, hope he's OK.
    And that's me off to bed.
    G'night all.

    3. No Geoff? The page didn't post itself, you know… 🙂

      Been busy cancelling my Telegraph subscription (don't worry, I can still copy the Letters URL without subscribing), then playing for a wedding, tackling the North Face of my ironing mountain, and finally being distracted by Youtube videos.

        1. Thanks. Days often go by without me posting anything. Depends whether I have anything to say. And after just one month of our new alien overlords, I find my interest in politics is waning.

      4. Thank goodness you are okay, I wondered whether you were stranded , locked in playing the organ in a remote location .

        Ironing?

        Use a capful of fabric conditioner in your final rinse , only shirts will need a press , if that ,if they are hung on hangers . All the rest even will be fine .. and trousers / jeans really do respond to the little extra in the final rinse.

        1. Funny, i focused on “paying for a wedding” before working out i had misread it!!!

      6. That's a relief! There was no "Todays page is here (link) from yesterday, for example, and no sign from you otherwise. We were concerned…

  175. Well, no Geoff at all today, hope he's OK.
    And that's me off to bed.
    G'night all.

  176. for the avoidance of doubt.

    Love this blog. Love you all.

    Speaking as one of the youngsters (? Possibly? Am a mere 57, husband is 50, feel we are keeping tradition alive):

      1. I wish I could have what you are drinking , my goodness , life in Richmond sounds much more exciting than here in the sleepy sticks , especially as you have a husband younger than my 2 sons !

        God, those were the days .

        1. My sister Mary was 11 years younger than her second husband and had two children with him to add to the four she had with her first husband.

          I am sixteen years older than Caroline. How many Nottlers have spouses who are significantly younger or older than they are?

          2. The ex Mr Cup, who I was together with for thirty years, was sixteen years older than me.

          4. Not significantly younger or older, but I've had one 3 years older and now have one 3 years younger.

    3. I spoke for half an hour with my brother who still lives in Onslow Road, if you know it, for half an hour last last night. Unfortunately he still watches the BBC and is totally unaware of what's going on. I mentioned a few things and I'm afraid he just laughed, and with no maliciousness at all thought I was just joking and pretending to be a conspiracist. I might go and visit him next year and fish the Thames for a day or two with him but I won't mention my views as he seems content.

      1. There isn't much we can do unless we are prepared to go and fight against our own police in the streets. Never felt much like doing that over the last 50 years.

        Don't shatter his dreams.

    4. Who let you in ??? We don't tolerate Johnny come lately or flibbertigerberts you know !

      1. Anyone younger than my wife is a baby!

        Caroline was born in 1962 – you were born in 1964.

        1. …and I was born in 1944 so benefited from a 1940s/1950s upbringing and education.

    5. oumanInmunich's birthday coming up next week. He is currently 56 and will be 57 on 10th August.

      If you would like to give me your date of birth I shall put you on the Nottlers' birthday list.

  177. for the avoidance of doubt.

    Love this blog. Love you all.

    Speaking as one of the youngsters (? Possibly? Am a mere 57, husband is 50, feel we are keeping tradition alive):

        1. You’re right I’m sure…he’ll find out how much he has coming weeks and months between Rayner and Reeves🤣

      5. Starmer is a below average lawyer. He was promoted above his work grade or ‘station in life’ by Blair from memory and given instructions as to what he could and could not do in the office of Attorney General. Those instructions were handed down from the Davos crowd and left to the UK government placemen to implement.

        Starmer was positioned by the WEF globalist cabal as a sort of favourite son with his credentials viz. an enthusiastic member of the Trilateral Commission.

        These global entities sieve through all possible recruits in order to identify the most pliable candidates and those with no minds of their own, those who have the propensity to follow as opposed to those who have the propensity to become leaders.

        That in a nutshell is the reason that we are now stuck with an Epsilon Semi Moron as Prime Minister and a cabinet of useless retreads from the Blair era in government.

        These fools cannot last in government for more than a few months. Public unrest over their #Refugees Welcome heritage plus their inability to address public unrest on our streets spells their doom. The defeat of Ukraine by the Russians should be the eventual tipping point when Europeans realise that we and them will have to meet the tab. I am talking about billions and possibly trillions in reconstruction costs for what is left of Ukraine (assuming anything of value is left).

        1. Starmer seems to me to be quite a weak man, such people can be dangerous – easily swayed. Influenced by Blair with Soros’ wealth. Public unrest will continue for the foreseeable, as will immigration problems. A dismal time indeed. I can’t see Ukraine lasting any longer than the dollar payments, which will stop with Trump election if not earlier. Putin has stated quite categorically he’s only interested in the four oblasts, and the rest can be rubble as far as he’s concerned. Interesting times, corimmobile…

      6. Starmer is a below average lawyer. He was promoted above his work grade or ‘station in life’ by Blair from memory and given instructions as to what he could and could not do in the office of Attorney General. Those instructions were handed down from the Davos crowd and left to the UK government placemen to implement.

        Starmer was positioned by the WEF globalist cabal as a sort of favourite son with his credentials viz. an enthusiastic member of the Trilateral Commission.

        These global entities sieve through all possible recruits in order to identify the most pliable candidates and those with no minds of their own, those who have the propensity to follow as opposed to those who have the propensity to become leaders.

        That in a nutshell is the reason that we are now stuck with an Epsilon Semi Moron as Prime Minister and a cabinet of useless retreads from the Blair era in government.

        These fools cannot last in government for more than a few months. Public unrest over their #Refugees Welcome heritage plus their inability to address public unrest on our streets spells their doom. The defeat of Ukraine by the Russians should be the eventual tipping point when Europeans realise that we and them will have to meet the tab. I am talking about billions and possibly trillions in reconstruction costs for what is left of Ukraine (assuming anything of value is left).

  179. – Breaking News –
    Do you own a pair of Galoshes, an old Morris Oxford, wear slightly yellowing Y-fronts and an old M&S cardi, do you sing along to Stars On Sunday, bleach your drains on a regular basis, wash out your dustbin with Jews Fluid, creosote the fence, have a small veg plot in the garden?
    You could be Far Right.
    Please report to you nearest concentration camp with your papers.

        1. Too late! You are clearly antisemitic which makes you far right. Hmm, but it’s the left that is antisemitic so you must be far left. But perhaps you simply self-identify with being far right, or is it far left? It’s enough to drive you round the bend, with or without Jeyes Fluid.

    2. Armed services officers rank .. spaniel or labrador , gardening gloves , favourite leather shoes , never worn jeans or t shirt , always voted Tory , composts the waste vegetables , clips the hedges , hates long grass etc

      Yeah , far right .

    3. I think many of that type of people were at the event this weekend having an enjoyable time. Far too many grossly obese people, both male and female and some serious tattoos, but nobody was rioting. They were ordinary working class people at a steam fair with many vintage vehicles on display.

  180. Well, it's just turned 10 pm and bed calls. Good Night, chums, sleep well and see you all tomorrow morning.

  182. I've felt a whole lot better since I stopped watching the news – and now I've stopped watching TV altogether and given up my licence. Defund the Bbc!

      1. I hung on because I liked watching the racing, but now I can watch ITV X and catch up. The coverage was becoming so woke I wasn't particularly enjoying it, anyway, so if I don't get to see it, I probably shan't miss it. I can still read the results and watch the races online.

      2. I am sure you have noticed how some/several Nottlers have panic attacks if you dare to post the page 5 minutes late………….I suggest you use a static page similar to the emergency broadcast telling everyone that life will continue as normal once you've chosen which feet you are wearing that day !

        Or do what i would do and tell them to

    2. Last count was half a million, and that was a while ago. Actually got a visit by the goons after 6 months after not renewing. No thanks!

  183. Pick me up off the floor. BBC1's 10pm news included the obvious reports – far-right anti-immigration v. anti-fascists – but then…

    "The police are under pressure but some have accused them of double standards. Listen to this officer outside a mosque in Stoke: 'If you've got any weapons, get rid of them' he appears to say, 'we're not going to make any arrests.' "

    The rest was predictable, mind you, though it was not unreasonable to ask: "What has this to do with events in Southport this week?"

    1. It’s all ‘managing’ the situation. The slaughter of three innocent little children is to be quietly sidelines, the story becomes “the far right rioters”.

  184. Um … I need the copper coil to be inserted into the hot water tank so the oil central heating can raise the temperature of the water. If there's a pill to do that, I'd like to see it – I'm fed up of having no hot water!

  185. It can still be a good place if the right attitude prevails. Not one directed by media but how we interact with each other.

  186. Another day fundraising today, then some dinner, then bed. Busy busy but we had a good day. Pics on Facebook if anyone still uses it. Not much diversity there today but I did see one black family. Plenty of ordinary people having a good time today. Also had time for a look round at the animals- including camels, Shire horses, Shetland ponies and ferrets. Lots of dogs there including a white lurcher with pointy ears like Anubis.

    1. Happy that you had a good day, Jules, and can only wish that tomorrow is as rewarding.

    2. The black/brown families we see at these events are normals.
      Shame there aren't more of them and i believe they feel the same.
      Love ferrets i saw at the last show . Endearing, funny and really stinky!

  187. I mentioned that a while ago when we watched the news , 2 tier policing because the government is scared of the wrath of the muzzies.

    1. This we have known for a long time, Maggie, ever since Rotherham and Rochdale – Pakistani rape gangs. (Shudders).

          1. Absolutely fabulous. You have just lost 99% of the remaining people that can still focus on their screens……….. :@)

    1. The Police have been politicised for decades. They have long been corrupted and have become mere tools of the state.

      Personally I avoid the Police at every opportunity. I would no longer cooperate with them for the simple reason that they are both clueless and utterly useless.

      The present Police ‘Service’ are serving the politicians and no longer serve the people of this country. This has been obvious for decades.

      The loyal citizens of our country now protesting en masse are viewed as miscreants by the Police. I trust that eventually the Police will be brought to book for their ridiculous political bias and their senior management brought before the Courts to explain their actions and hopefully be brought to account for their actions.

      1. About a year ago, i said at work that i wouldn’t piss on plod if he were on fire and my boss was shocked. On Friday we had a conversation and it was clear he had moved over to my side of the argument.

        When the Government has annoyed goody-tow-shoed people like him, you know the country is in trouble.

        1. I said similar about folks on here. The type of people who wouldn't ordinarily use swear words. Now they do.

      2. About a year ago, i said at work that i wouldn’t piss on plod if he were on fire and my boss was shocked. On Friday we had a conversation and it was clear he had moved over to my side of the argument.

        When the Government has annoyed goody-tow-shoed people like him, you know the country is in trouble.

    2. This is often the case with me too, BoB. Last night (i.e. this Sunday morning) I awoke at 12.30 am, went downstairs for a cooling glass of milk and checked my bank balance (to ensure no hacking had occurred) then did the Wordle (ready for 7 am) and then, unusually, watched an episode of Maigret on the TPTV site. then back to bed at around 3 am for another 3 hours of sleep. "What larks, eh, Pip?" After 7 am it will be time for several sessions of gardening, ready for the weeds to grow whilst I am away with Dickens lovers at our annual conference.

  195. Who just can't get the word….FAIL again!

    Wordle 1,142 X/6

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

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