Thursday 1 May: Sir Tony Blair’s intervention and the fallacy at the heart of net zero

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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.

482 thoughts on “Thursday 1 May: Sir Tony Blair’s intervention and the fallacy at the heart of net zero”

    1. ‘Morning Minty! Have you washed your face in i
      this May Day morning dew?

      2. Morning, Sue.
        I've had 61 May mornings knowing to whom I'm married.
        A cuppa and a quick NOTTL will suffice.

  3. 404861+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,
    I know this is a malady that besets many of the current judges but surely stricter attention must be paid in regards who we judge fit to cast sentences and protect the peoples.

    The question is " how long does it take for a judges brain to develop fully"
    https://x.com/SandraWeeden/status/1917799367164993685

    1. Does hearing of this and similar decisions make you angry, enraged even? If so, then take a little time and think why this is happening. Next, change your vote from the Uni-party i.e. Labour, Tory, Green and LibDem. It's simple, just a couple of strokes from a black pen, not a pencil.

      1. 404861+ up ticks,

        Morning KtK,

        Good advice,
        Never bothered me, been a UKIP member in the main since Kilroy Silk up until Gerard Batten ( the best PM we never had) treacherous termination via the ukip party nec & farage,

      2. Today, I have a choice of five names representing each of the five parties in contention (and sadly Reform too has shown itself too by be from the Uni-party as their "beloved leader" trims his beliefs to fit the Overton Window, throwing out dissidents such as Rupert Lowe).

        In the absence of any I have much confidence in, I look at the actual candidates and choose whichever one has the best character and attitude, regardless of party. With enough of them, perhaps they can improve the parties from within. Voting for utter numpties because they wear the correct label perpetuates national decline.

        1. Our Reform candidate for the Council is an engineer and local businessman who runs his own company providing services to the farming and quarrying industries in the area, providing and supporting a number of jobs for local people.

    2. Any funeral director can tell you when a judge's brain matures to peak condition.

  4. Good morning, chums – I'm back! A pinch and a punch and white rabbits – May day! And thanks, Geoff, for today's new NoTTLe page.

    Wordle 1,412 3/6

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    1. Good morning Elsie and all
      Wordle 1,412 3/6

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      1. Not really. I've not yet learnt how to segue The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill into While My Guitar Gently Weeps using 'Ayup' as a link!

  6. The year is racing away with us. Happy May Day and good luck to anyone allowed to vote today.

    Andrew Gold (Heretics) has a short podcast (he does YouTube too) about the lady footballer Eni someone and Isn Wright. I think he was very fair and it’s worth a listen. He also points a finger at ITV and the Culture that created this woman. Sadly no transcript and the blurb doesn’t do it justice.

    https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/heretics/id1515932214?i=1000705620440

  7. Good Moaning.
    A broadside from Allister Heath in the DT.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/04/30/britain-has-just-24-hours-to-teach-starmer-a-lesson-labour/

    I can finally see how Labour’s abominable misrule will be brought to an end

    This tax raising, wealth destroying, opportunity wrecking Government is the worst since the 1970s

    Allister Heath30 April 2025 6:55pm BST

    We are only ten months into the Starmerite era, but this Government is already ready for the scrapheap. Rarely has a political project unravelled so rapidly, so comprehensively and with so little hope of redemption. Labour will stagger on, of course, for what feels like an eternity, inflicting yet more misery on our poor country, but the voters it has betrayed will never forgive it.

    Those who can must reward the Labour Party with the mother of all political shellackings at the English local elections on Thursday: this is the most over-rated Government of modern times, a noxious mix of incompetence, nastiness and untrustworthiness. Its second-rate apparatchiks are exacerbating every one of our pathologies, and vandalising the little that still works in Broken Britain: the Government’s reverse Midas touch is something to behold.

    Sir Keir Starmer, it turns out, didn’t have a plan. He is failing on almost every metric that matters, from the national debt to illegal immigration. He will dilute Brexit and ruin state education, two great legacies of the Tory years. He is wrong about almost everything, and right about close to nothing.

    His Government is soulless, obsessed with process, procedure and legalisms, congenitally unable to give the public the change it so craves. It lacks any kind of vision, other than reflexive cod-egalitarianism, progressivism and big statism, and is unable to comprehend the needs and desires of the aspirational working class and petite bourgeoisie.

    It is neither a Government of dreamers, nor of doers, and it cannot execute, lead or enthuse. It can break, but not build; it can redistribute, but not grow; it can regulate, but not liberate. It is cowardly, picking on defenceless private school children, while sucking up to its powerful union paymasters. Oozing negativity, it hides its fundamental vacuousness behind a veil of chippiness, class war and socialistic policies that are accelerating this country’s ruination.

    Labour’s social engineers don’t understand that they exist to serve the people, and to help them improve their lives, not to endlessly constrain, challenge, impoverish, bully or brainwash them. The result is a toxic anti-consumerism, an inability to take immigration control seriously, an unserious approach to “petty crime”, an obsession with “resetting” ties with the EU by selling out UK fisheries and regulatory independence, and a scandalous lack of interest in how only the free market can deliver rising living standards.

    The Government has already been knocked sideways by the vibe shift on trans issues and women’s rights. Many of its MPs are furious, and cling to a doomed woke ideology. They may soon face further discombobulation over net zero, which is pushing the country towards blackouts and requires urgent moderation, and our membership of the European Convention of Human Rights, which prevents us from controlling our borders. Labour’s electoral coalition is fraying, with its Left flank departing for the Greens or pro-Gaza Independents, its working class electorate to Reform and “centrists” to the Lib Dems.

    Yet it is the fury of the apolitical wing of Middle England that should most terrify Starmer. Labour portrayed itself as reassuringly technocratic at the general election, but this was a false prospectus: it stands for the tax-consuming producer class, not for taxpayers and users of public services.

    It doesn’t have the first idea how to deliver prosperity or growth, loathes and distrusts capitalism and is presiding over the greatest exodus of wealth creators since the brain drain of the 1970s.

    It will prove powerless to reform the public sector, to crack down on crime or to solve the housing crisis. Ministers’ lack of managerial experience have ensured that the Blob has retained control. They are rightly scrapping NHS England, but the rest of that bureaucratic behemoth remains untouched. Throwing yet more non-existent billions at it won’t fix waiting lists or endemic malpractice. The Home Office remains a disaster zone.

    Housebuilding and infrastructure may eventually tick up, but not by enough to compensate for extreme levels of immigration or to substantially rectify our deficit of roads, power plants, prisons or water reservoirs.

    Like socialists always do, this Labour government is running out of other people’s money. Our public finances feel dangerously Latin American. The budget deficit rose to £151.9 billion in 2024-2025, the kind of shortfall that might be acceptable in wartime or in a pandemic but that is shockingly irresponsible today. Rachel Reeves has failed to tell the public the truth: we cannot afford such large annual increases in spending on benefits and the NHS when the economy is barely growing in per capita terms.

    What will happen if the world tips into a real recession, perhaps caused by Trumpian tariff idiocy, or if the UK suddenly needs to spend a lot more on the military? Would Labour need to call in the IMF, as in the 1970s? Taxes are already heading to a record high: what will Reeves target next?

    Will she freeze income tax thresholds again, dragging yet more people into higher tax bands? Will she eventually feel obliged to impose a catastrophic wealth tax, chasing away the last billionaires, entrepreneurs and former non-doms?

    Arthur Laffer, author of the eponymous curve, was right: above certain levels, higher tax can reduce receipts. It normally takes longer for Left-wing parties to rediscover this eternal truth, so perhaps we should be thankful that Reeves’s gambit unravelled so quickly. She now appears to realise that energy costs inflated by net zero are accelerating the deindustrialisation of Britain, but remains in denial about her job-destroying National Insurance raid and addiction to cheap foreign labour.

    There is, of course, the odd policy that Labour has got right, including on Ukraine. To placate Donald Trump, Starmer is increasing defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP, paying for it by cutting foreign aid back to 0.3 per cent of GDP, a modest step in the right direction.

    Yet his overall record is catastrophically poor: this is the worst Government since the 1970s. If there is any justice in this world, Labour will suffer its greatest ever defeat in this week’s elections.

    1. "reassuringly technocratic?"
      There is nothing reassuring about technocracy, that horrific project to make 1984 and Brave New World realities!

    2. Relying on the same old tribe of London-based special advisers and professional grifters that Starmer himself epitomises, is it any surprise that CHANGE UK actually meant MORE OF THE SAME?

      It is a fallacy for rightwingers here on this forum to think what bears the LABOUR brand label has any Socialistic principle – for Starmer's party, forged in his image, has betrayed the Left every bit as much as any Conservative PM in my lifetime, and re-establishes Tony Blair as Heir to Thatcher in the hearts of those that march for the People.

      For me, the pledge not to raise Income Tax was idiotic when there was so much public demand to put right wilful negligence of our public services and our national investment for many years by those who use their professional expertise to swindle the public. Better to be up front about the need for a higher tax rate, but then tackle the cause of this need for higher tax – the waste, the goldplating, the empire building and the appetite for bling that infests all levels in both the public and private sector, and concentrate on using this money to drop overheads and make it both profitable and a pleasure to live, work and to do business in the UK.

    1. Looking at the cartoon, gimmegrants will soon not need a boat to cross the channel.

      They wil be able to walk across the Floating Bridge

  11. Good morning, all. Sunny with highest temperature of the week forecast before cooler weather appears over the Bank Holiday and into next week.

    Adverts on TV have changed beyond recognition here, we know the reason and many are not memorable. However, this Volvo advert with Belgian martial arts film star Jean-Claude Van Damme performing his "split" is eye-catching. Concealed safety measures were used but nevertheless it's quite a performance.

    https://x.com/aliscodes/status/1917474844058193987
    Google:

    Legendary actor Jean-Claude Van Damme would perform the Epic Split while standing on the trucks' side mirrors. But this wasn't just a stunt… There was a deeper purpose behind it. The ad showcased Volvo's dynamic steering system with unprecedented precision: Going backward is more difficult than going forward.

    Is the Van Damme Volvo advert real?
    The Epic Split – Wikipedia
    Following three days of rehearsals, the stunt footage featuring van Damme was recorded in a single take. Van Damme was protected by a hidden safety harness and wire not visible in the final result. A small platform was fitted to each truck behind the wing mirrors to support Van Damme's feet during the stunt.

  12. Good morning all.
    A bright and beautiful start to the day with an almost warm tad under 9°C outside.
    Lovely!

        1. Filled the last of the big pots for my tomatoes and chilli peppers. All the seedlings and small plants are waiting in the conservatory. I will be watching the weather closely before i risk putting them all out.

  15. Sir Tony Blair’s intervention and the fallacy at the heart of net zero

    Proof that Trump is still winning

  18. I see that the TDF mainstream media are making a big thing about the USA shrinking economy according to the latest figures.
    But are the growth figures always a good thing.
    We can have good growth and bad growth.
    What looks good on paper can mean in reality a country being hollowed out of all it's industry, culture, population change, huge rise in crime, shortage of living accommodation, a strain on public services and a countryside being built over.
    Clearly growth on it's own isn't a good thing and deciding our future based upon it is madness.

  19. How can any person on the second tier for housing, jobs and benefits and on the top tier for discrimination ever think that a Labour vote is a positive option for them or their family?

    1. They would still vote Labour if you stuck a red rosette on an Isis jihadi.
      Actually 30% of Labour candidates are now jihadis.

    2. You’d be surprised. Class hatred and TDS are frothing at the mouth in some posts on line. Logic seldom gets a look in.

      1. That's why I do not subscribe to the class war. It is so tribal. nasty and intolerant.

        1. It isn’t even relevant most of the time. Writing, “he doesn’t look as if he is interested in the working classes” is crass. How can you tell anyway and it’s actions that speak louder than looks (Starmer, are you listening?).

  20. Spain's blackout could have been a nuclear weapons test in space: Evidence of attack as experts warn 'cataclysm' can knock out entire grid in seconds – and Russia may be to blame.

    Didn't take them long…

    1. We are all blinkered sitting ducks waiting blithely for the next global atrocity.

      1. Ayup, young Grizzly, you've changed your hat (was it yesterday's) from a John Lennon Beatles cap to a black homburg. Are you now Winston Churchill? Lol.

        1. I’d love a homburg, Auntie Elsie, but that’s just a pork pie hat (à la Bob3 … or Popeye Doyle). [The John Lennon’s ‘Beatles” cap is a Breton fisherman’s].
          My trouser cuffs are dirty, my shoes are laced-up, wrong and my overcoat is too long.

    2. "Yeah, right – of course it is" I think is the correct response! Obviously Russia, just as it's always Putin/Isreal that breaks a cease fire!

  23. Hampstead Ladies’ Pond fails to ban trans women

    City of London Corporation keeps self-ID policy despite Supreme Court ruling
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/briefs/2025/04/30/TELEMMGLPICT000422163241_17460352317750_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqgsaO8O78rhmZrDxTlQBjdP4Xpit_DMGvdp2n7FDd82k.jpeg?imwidth=1280
    The ‘Women Only’ sign at the entrance to Kenwood Ladies’ Pond in Hampstead Heath Credit: Belinda Jiao

    Daniel Martin
    30 April 2025 9:10pm BST

    Hampstead Heath Ladies’ Pond has refused to ban transgender women despite a Supreme Court ruling.

    The women-only bathing spot is maintaining its inclusive policy even though the UK’s highest court has found that trans women are not legally female.

    Kenwood Ladies’ Pond, which opened a century ago for women and girls, became a flashpoint in the debate over trans rights after the City of London Corporation adopted a self-ID policy in 2019.

    Gender-critical feminists have fought to “reclaim” the pond – the UK’s sole women-only natural bathing pool – but their campaign has been contested bitterly by trans activists, including India Willoughby, the broadcaster.

    On Wednesday, the London authority – which also oversees the neighbouring Hampstead Heath men’s and mixed ponds – confirmed its self-ID policy would “remain in effect at this time” while it considered the implications of the Supreme Court judgment.

    The decision not to suspend pond access for trans women drew sharp criticism from feminist campaigners, who called the policy “invasive, discriminatory and unlawful”.

    A prominent barrister told The Telegraph that continuing to label the ponds as “men’s” and “ladies’” could now expose the corporation to legal challenge.

    Sarah Vine KC said that if the City of London Corporation wished to maintain its gender self-ID stance, it “should not describe the ponds as anything other than mixed-sex”.

    She said: “Any continued description of two of the ponds as ‘men’s’ and ‘ladies’ will expose the Corporation to discrimination claims; the practical effect of doing so is far more likely to result in a de facto single sex facility for men, who can enjoy the consequential privacy, with no corresponding provision for women.”

    She added: “This is despite the fact that women’s overall need for safety and privacy is generally higher than that of men.”
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/briefs/2025/04/30/TELEMMGLPICT000307642786_17460380950430_trans_NvBQzQNjv4Bq-1mRoscdjk9tCfg89ry5wswZgCewa-xkrckcIXHk6m8.jpeg?imwidth=680 A woman wears a placard shaped like a life buoy ring, reading: "The only buoy allowed."

    Venice Allan, 49, a feminist activist at the centre of a campaign to restore the pond as a single-sex space, told The Telegraph she was not surprised by the local authority’s response.

    “It doesn’t surprise me in the slightest that the Corporation is trying to fudge this,” she said.

    Ms Allan was the first woman to be banned from the Kenwood Ladies’ Pond Association, which represents regular users, after objecting to biological men being granted access.

    Explaining her passion for the issue, she told The Telegraph that women “need women’s spaces for our safety, privacy and dignity, and also – in this case – for our joy”.

    “The ponds are stunningly beautiful and special to any woman who goes. Going for the first time when I was 21 was one of my first experiences of a women-only space that wasn’t utilitarian. I thought: ‘Oh wow, this is what women-only spaces can be like.’

    “There’s no splashing, shouting or pushing in, like in most mixed pools where boys and men dominate.”

    On Aug 27 2022, she participated in a “Let Women Swim” protest on Hampstead Heath against the gender self-ID policy. The campaign was opposed by prominent trans women including Willoughby.

    On the morning of the protest, Willoughby, who is in a long-running row with JK Rowling over trans rights, sunbathed beside the ladies pool wearing a bikini and posted a picture online, saying it was “a great way to keep fit”.

    Fiona McAnena, director of campaigns at the human rights charity Sex Matters, told The Telegraph: “Feminist campaigners have been telling the City of London for years that its policy allowing men into facilities such as Kenwood Ladies’ Pond on Hampstead Heath is invasive, discriminatory and unlawful, but those women were ignored.

    “Now the Supreme Court’s decision makes the inclusion of men in designated women’s spaces untenable.

    “The City of London and those managing women’s swimming facilities need to admit defeat and immediately restore boundaries that respect the safety, dignity and privacy of women who have the right to expect clear rules based on biological sex.

    “Each day the City of London and other local authorities delay aligning their policies on women’s spaces with the law is one more day at serious risk of legal action.”

    ‘Is compliant with existing UK law’
    On Wednesday a spokesman for the City of London Corporation told The Telegraph its policy was not unlawful.

    He said: “These accusations are completely false. The City Corporation is compliant with existing UK law.

    “In line with other affected organisations we are carefully considering the judgment and awaiting statutory guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission – which service providers must take into account.

    He added that “a carefully considered decision… will be take in due course” and that the corporation was “committed to providing a safe… environment for all”.

    **********************
    Stuart Ansell
    10 hrs ago
    So the city of London corporation is committed to provide a safe environment for all…….except women of course!

    Sand Banked
    10 hrs ago
    Why can't they just go in the mixed pond?

    This is yet another example of trans men acting like men instead of the 'women' they assume to be. What a load of unpleasant bullying, voyeuristic creatures they reveal themselves to be by their actions.

    1. As Sand Banked commented – why cant they just go to the mixed pool?

      Because it isn’t about what they say it is a out. It is about power. Like Islam.

    2. I have to believe that a word in the third sentence of Daniel Martin's item (above) was deliberate.
      'Kenwood Ladies’ Pond, which opened a century ago for women and girls, became a flashpoint in the debate'
      The word flash in flashpoint sticks out a mile.

  25. Sums up why Farage Ltd will win big today..

    Ghanaian asylum seeker Winfred Kwabla Dogbey has been allowed to remain in the UK by Judge Khan as he would endure a "rapid and severe decline in his mental health".. and of course would be a breach of his article three rights under the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR).

    Foreign Judge.. foreign court.. supports foreigner.

    1. Maybe these aresholes of judges should be made legally responsible for the good conduct of the pieces of shite they allow to remain – a bail bond of £1 million dependent on good behaviour would likely do.

      2. Absolutely, perhaps the all loving judge should have been made to take the POS home with him/her.

      1. From the Spekkie.

        https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-radical-barristers-who-really-lay-down-the-law-in-britain/

        The radical barristers who really lay down the law in Britain

        Ross Clark

        The facade of Garden Court Chambers in Lincoln’s Inn Fields is reassuringly traditional. The barristers who work there occupy buildings which were once home to the Earl of Sandwich and the Tory prime minister Spencer Perceval. If there were any building in London in which wigs and gowns would seem a natural form of dress, it would be here.

        But the facade is just that. For behind the pedimented Georgian windows there operates arguably the most radically effective cell of left-wing activists in Britain. Barristers are supposed to adhere to the cab-rank principle: they act for the first client who comes calling. Many of Garden Court’s lawyers, however, though they operate across a wide range of cases, appear to be united by one thing – their unerring tendency to champion the most left-wing causes conceivable.

        The chambers have recently been in the news as the home of Franck Magennis, a proudly communist barrister who is acting pro bono for Hamas in its quest to overturn the government’s decision to classify it as a terrorist group. (Garden Court said in a statement last month: ‘The barrister concerned has chosen to undertake this application and publicise it in his individual capacity. This in no way indicates that Garden Court Chambers supports his client.’)

        Magennis’s social media posts offer illuminating perspectives on contemporary issues. He extended ‘full solidarity’ to the Irish Republican rap group Kneecap after they proclaimed ‘Up Hamas! Up Hezbollah!’ at one of their concerts. He celebrated having some time off from work over Easter so he could catch up on essential reading, Marxism and Transgender Liberation – Confronting Transphobia on the British Left by Red Fightback.And he shared with his online followers the request from his mother that they ‘watch an anti-Zionist film tonight’, adding: ‘Any suggestions gratefully received.’ The irony of deprecating transphobia and acting for Hamas may be lost on Magennis, but he is far from the only barrister at Garden Court whose radicalism is either out in the open or is otherwise thinly disguised.

        Several of the chambers’ lawyers simultaneously work as barristers representing asylum seekers in immigration tribunals and as judges sitting in those same tribunals. There is no doubting the skill or zeal of Garden Court’s advocates when it comes to securing the continued presence in Britain of a variety of intriguing individuals. But the question remains as to whether lawyers who advertise their determination to prevent people being deported should also be the judges deciding on deportation cases.

        Among one of Garden Court’s most accomplished barristers is Rebecca Chapman. She has three decades of experience representing clients with asylum claims, with a particular focus on unaccompanied minors and those facing persecution on account of their gender or sexual orientation. She also has substantial experience in Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), claims based on family life, and Article 3, claims based on health and medical conditions. In 2021 she co-authored A Practical Guide to Health and Medical Cases in Immigration Law.

        Chapman, however, also works part-time as a judge in the Upper Tier Immigration Tribunal, where she recently granted two Albanian lesbians the right to stay in Britain on the grounds that Albania is a patriarchy and homophobia is rampant in rural areas, even though the country’s law forbids discrimination against people on the grounds of sexual orientation.

        One of Chapman’s colleagues, Greg O Ceallaigh KC, is another barrister-cum-judge in the Upper Tier Immigration Tribunal. He gave a sense of the thinking he brings to that responsibility when, prior to his appointment, he reposted on LinkedIn a demand by the Asylum Aid charity for the repeal of the Illegal Migration Act. In another social media post he suggested that the Tory party should be ‘dealt with as you would deal with the Nazis’.

        Other Garden Court barristers have displayed signal success in ensuring that convicted criminals can stay in the country. Patrick Lewis managed to ensure a Jamaican rapist avoided deportation on human-rights grounds, since the crimes the man committed in this country meant he was not eligible for witness protection in the Caribbean. Eva Doerr helped an Albanian offender to stay in Britain because sending him back to the Balkans would mean he could only communicate with his 15-year-old stepson via Zoom, which would be unfair on the boy.

        The main tool used by Garden Court’s barristers to keep criminals in the UK is an inventive interpretation of the right to a family life. Well-meaning clauses written into the ECHR in 1950 have been stretched by lawyers to challenge governments that try to tackle illegal migration.

        Garden Court’s housing team is led by Liz Davies KC, who was deselected as a Labour candidate for being too left-wing. She briefly chaired a Trotskyist umbrella organisation called Socialist Alliance. One of her protégés in Garden Court is Nick Bano, whose polemic Against Landlords makes the case for driving ‘landlords and house price speculators from the face of the Earth’. He proposes, among other things, a 100 per cent capital gains tax on property and cites Das Kapital as his principal influence.

        In addition to its housing team, Garden Court has an entire protest rights team who act for climate-change activists causing obstruction or criminal damage. Although they don’t always win, they can often find enough sympathetic jurists to extract perverse verdicts. Garden Court barrister Michael Goold did not deny that six Extinction Rebellion activists had used an old fire engine to spray red paint over the Treasury in 2019, but convinced the jury that ‘anyone who knew the full scale of the climate crisis would have consented to the damage’ and that therefore this ‘provided them with a defence of lawful excuse’. In other words, I can damage your property if I think you ought to share my beliefs.

        Extinction Rebellion activists climb down a fire truck after spraying red paint on the Treasury building in London, 3 October 2019 Getty Images
        Using the ‘climate crisis’ as a tool to change policy, challenge governments and get the courts to embed left-wing principles was a feature of one of Garden Court’s most notable recent successes. The chambers acted for a group of elderly Swiss citizens who claimed their government had breached their right to family life by taking insufficient action to counter climate change, thus making it too dangerous for them to go outside in a heatwave.

        The case was heard by the European Court of Human Rights, which found in favour of Garden Court’s arguments. In this landmark ruling, the chambers’ barristers established that a dedicated team of activist lawyers can overrule the policies of a democratically elected government if they use the provisions of the ECHR with sufficient tenacity and guile. The former Supreme Court judge Jonathan Sumption has warned against ‘law’s expanding empire’ over the domain of elected politicians. No group of lawyers has contributed more to this process than Garden Court.

        The success of the chambers in making a mockery of migration law shows just how much power has drained away from our elected representatives to the courts in recent years. The fact it attracts lawyers of undoubted intellect and skill is a demonstration of how many idealistic left-wing minds pursue a career in law, rather than politics, as their way to change the world.

        Not every progressive lawyer is welcome in Garden Court, though. One of its former barristers, Allison Bailey, who is a criminal defence specialist and a campaigner for racial equality, found her comrades turning against her when she came out as a gender-critical feminist. She opposed the chambers becoming members of Stonewall’s Diversity Champions scheme and she expressed her view – which has been subsequently upheld by the Supreme Court – that no one can change biological sex. The chambers tweeted that it was going to investigate her for ‘transphobia’. One person deeply involved in the case against Bailey was Maya Sikand KC, Keir Starmer’s ex-girlfriend, who was then at Garden Court. Bailey left the chambers soon afterwards but won compensation and is pursuing Stonewall through the Court of Appeal.

        It is clear that Garden Court’s barristers are idealists, gifted advocates and politically passionate. There is much to admire in their willingness to fight so hard and effectively for their clients. But their propensity to act again and again for left-wing causes undermines the cab-rank principle that barristers should not be judged for their clients any more than taxi drivers should be criticised for their passengers.

        Any suggestion it is mere coincidence that Garden Court barristers bring so many cases against the state on behalf of asylum seekers, protestors and even terrorists is belied by how many of them openly champion their hard-left views. And while Garden Court racks up victories, the manner in which it has pushed the boundaries of the ECHR and sought to extend the remit of the right to family life to the point of absurdity leaves the ECHR looking less like a neutral instrument of law and more like a weapon in an ideological battle. Activist lawyers are going to triumph more often than not so long as our elected representatives keep handing them the ammunition to fight. The limp suggestion this week from the Home Secretary that the government should ‘review’ how the ECHR is interpreted in the courts will have done little to deter the idealists of Garden Court. (The chambers were approached for comment about this article but no reply had been received by the time we went to press. However, they have previously said members of the independent Bar should not be conflated with their clients’ interests or views.)

        Given that in many sensitive migration and asylum cases, judgments are made by lawyers who are open about their ideological opposition to tough border controls, the public might understandably think that our legal system is not operating with the impartiality it should. If the same lawyers who champion asylum seekers with criminal convictions or defend vandalism on the grounds of ideology cannot also tolerate a gender-critical feminist in their midst, then such worries will only worsen. For those who believe the rule of law matters, the expanding role of Garden Court’s lawyers in our national life may well be a cause for concern.

        Additional reporting by Sophia Falkner

        1. Pro Bono Publico
          4 hours ago
          A brave and timely article. However, the authors should now expect a flood of condemnation from august figures (many of whom know the truth in their hearts) about the need tor fearless and independent barristers like these not to be identified with their clients causes.
          The truth and the reality is here however that a more egregious group of left-wingers, Trotskyites, communists, antisemites, anti-Zionists, anarchists, indeed anti anything normal, several recruited from the Irish bar, never trod shoe leather together in a set of chambers.
          It is madness that people who publicly express these kind of radical views should be appointed to sit as part time judges, which several of them are.

          Steve Aucock
          4 hours ago
          "leaves the ECHR looking less like a neutral instrument of law and more like a weapon in an ideological battle"

          As many of us "uneducated" saw from the outset.

          Time to repeal the U.K.'s adherence to it and reverse the precedents that have been "won".

          An0nymousBosch Steve Aucock
          3 hours ago
          Just a note: It seems to me that this article was inspired by a superb comment made here by Bill Rees two weeks ago, underneath Rod Liddle's article "Sack the judges".

          It was Bill Rees who first noted that Rebecca Chapman is somehow allowed to act as both judge and and advocate in asylum cases. He earned a staggering and well-deserved +242 upvotes for this revelation, which came as shock to me and I suspect many others.

          Perhaps the Spectator's professional writers and editors could occasionally acknowledge the role of commenters below the line in guiding its editorial output?

          David Richardson
          4 hours ago
          The joining of the dots presents an appalling picture, and illustrates the scale of the problem and intractability. And Starmer is closer to these types of people than the majority of the British public

          DJ Crossed Arms
          4 hours ago
          You left out Sir Keir Starmer from the list of radical lawyers,a man responsible for illegal migrants being given benefits and who has spent half a lifetime covering up for rape gangs….Evil!

          John Gee
          4 hours ago
          The Human Rights Act. Cooked up by Human Rights lawyers for the sole benefit of feathering their nest.

          1. Missus Blair set up Matrix Chambers on the strength of her insider knowledge.

          2. Well said John Gee – you'll also find most human rights lawyers are immigrants too, the whole judicial system wants cleaning out

        2. "But the question remains as to whether lawyers who advertise their determination to prevent people being deported should also be the judges deciding on deportation cases." Shirley a clear conflict of interest, but I don't expect TTK to do anything about it!

  26. Captain Sensible
    12h
    When I went to the health food shop, a large bottle of Omega 3 Fatty Acids fell on me. Fortunately I only received super fish oil injuries.

    Mr Davies
    Captain Sensible
    12h
    Cods' wallop.

      5. Well, as the DT has just observed, after you get hooked on fishy puns and jokes, you can't help casting a line to see what bites!

    3. Ah bit that was in 2022. The past is a different country…

  28. Good Morning!

    There's something not quite right about Jeremy Corbyn according to Nanumaga, as entertainingly explains in Jeremy Corbyn and a Conspiracy Theory Which Doesn’t Quite Add Up . Please read and comment, as Nanu may be looking in, despite him being on the far side of the world. And no, it's not Corbyn being a Russian spy. He didn't get passed the first interview for that.

    Zhang Yingyue has a delicious piece, The Spirit of China, a slightly tongue-in-cheek essay on the Chinese and food , and it's very real connection with the life force that the Chinese try to harness. Please, please read, and leave lots of lovely comments.

    Iain Hunter continues his analyses the intellectual roots of the woke globalist virus, exposing it for the elitist conspiracy that it is. Please read The Beginning, Part Two , as it is in our opinion essential knowledge for those seeking to understand what is happening and why we are undergoing a collapse of western civilisation.

    Energy watch 07.30: Demand: 28.9 GW. Total UK Production: 22.35 GW from: Hydrocarbons 35.9%; Wind 9.3%; Imports 23%; Biomass 9.9%; Nuclear 10.9%. Solar: 6.2%.

    freespeechbacklash.com

  29. Morning, all Y'all.
    Bank holiday here for May 1, so a bit slower than usual in getting going.

    2. En mai, fais ce qu'il te plai^t. Usually accompanied by a bunch of muguet des bois (lily of the valley).

    1. On a good note, somewhere is being swept, even if bin contents are not being collected

    1. O/T, I failed to see your comment last week, until after comments were closed. I went down to Walsall/Coventry last weekend to attend a former RAF buddy's 60th birthday bash. The gathering consisted of air processing photographers, with few ground photographers, and me, the one former photographic interpreter (I always chose my friends through personality rather than promotion prospects). Most of the gathering joined up between 1976 and 1981 (I joined in September 1977) and a good couple of days were had almost recalling our tales of derring do – when it was obvious that many of the shenanigans should have been filed under derring don't.

      1. I wonder if the two Flight Sergeants that ran the Pre-NI Battalion Photographer/Processor course I went on in Jan '79 were there?

        1. The gathering consisted of a few former Flight Sergeants and Warrant Officers but none gained those ranks until the late 1990s early 2000s.
          Coincidentally, as an airman I was detached to RIC(NI) in Jan 79, again in May 1980, and Aug 1981.
          Went back as a Sgt for a two year tour 1991-1992. A great working environment as the RE Search Advisers and Army Air Corp aircrew were fellow SNCOs and we could (and did) talk in straight lines.

  32. Yo andGood Moaning all, from a warm and sunny C d S.

    Let us hope that today's election/election brings an improvement in the Political climate, as well as the meatetearmeteroWhether
    Weather one

  35. Now I'm in a slightly better mood, following the Van Insurance Fiasco of yesterday, some piccies!
    Left home Sunday and, skirting round Mansfield and Lincoln, made my way to the former RAF North Cotes, now reduced to a tiny little private airstrip and the North Cotes Flying Club where I parked up and had a mug of tea. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fe28d8ebb5cc49a9e300453235c8902620b4d8df628242ef7223d096f70f4bde.jpg Watched a couple of aircraft take off and land and had an enjoyable chat with a couple of old blokes who joined me at the picnic table. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b68942b967de058d712a001d8bd419882e2eeb6250f47a5f519d8873171930c0.jpg I then went for a walk, going past the old 25 yard Sten gun range, now taken over by a local shooting club who appeared to be hosting some sort of event entailing the firing of lost of ammunition, whereupon I got shouted at and asked, rather forcefully, not to take photographs!! https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d80ac47d4364697a51451927aa0e2a7f3bc243aa7b598a012843d49402931571.jpg Walked along one of the flood defence bermes to North Cotes Point where I got a good view of Spurn Head on the opposite side of the Humber Estuary; https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b466d5f6f0e06a96a9387358a90e0580bf40f6bf1e451469d9f00262f9909e8f.jpg Followed the sea berme past Tetney Marshes Nature Reserve https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1309a56f4549f9b18647c98f33911c661d19c99b2f9d642a576f9e7978753c4d.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2a1b744df49a678d8bd663a3db265ab02470e6ccf58a5ab281f653656aedff7c.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e439382d68e96a19b61068592f22df30d0491a63aaa029fc17c8f02646dc813b.jpg to the sluice gates that now control the efflux from the old Louth Canal, disused for just over 100 years.
    The pipe crossing the canal in the middleground carries oil from the discharging anchorage off North Cotes Point to the Oil Storage Terminal at Tetney Lock. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a398688bb43fe757d8b5c821965f107e4f489f33bc86eb218892d2dc6a0fdf99.jpg End of Part One!

    1. Ok seems this was about the Grooming Gangs, and the artist formerly known as Stephen Yaxley-Lennon is mentioned in dispatches.

      This was interesting from a recent Nick Buckley* podcast

      ““…But the party [Reform] clearly states that people who are members of the EDL card, John, that was the same policy in the Brexit party and in UKIP. I think this is a distraction.

      I think Tommy Robinson is a distraction. He's very popular in certain sectors of the community. I just don't understand why reform keep wanting this fight, keep wanting to discuss Tommy Robinson.

      It shouldn't be a discussion. It should be, well, Tommy Robinson, well, we haven't got the pin on Tommy Robinson because he's not allowed to join the party because of our constitution….

      …It's another issue. I don't know why reform keep falling into this trap. And I'm sure this trap is being laid by the opposition to reform UK, the Tories and Labour.

      They want this discussion because first of all, it connects reform UK with Tommy Robinson, even though he doesn't want to join and he wouldn't be able to join. But it also annoys reform UK supporters that they're keeping someone like him out of the party. Reform UK should go out of their way not to discuss Tommy Robinson.

      And when they have to, just close the conversation down with, well, he's not allowed to join. So until members change the policy, there's no discussion to have it.

      Okay. And just on Tommy then, as I say, he doesn't, as far as I know, want to join the party….”

      From Nick Talks: Growing Up, Politics, Reform UK, Tommy The Bogeyman Or Hero, 18 Apr 2025
      https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/nick-talks/id1643721749?i=1000704029024&r=2317
      This material may be protected by copyright.

      *per Wiki:
      Nicholas Brendan Buckley MBE (born April 1968) is a British charity worker and independent political candidate, formerly representing Reform UK. He spent 15 years working with the homeless. In 2011, he founded The Mancunian Way, a charity which dismissed him in 2020 after he posted an article critical of the Black Lives Matter movement. However, the board of trustees later resigned and Buckley was reinstated.

    2. Ok seems this was about the Grooming Gangs, and the artist formerly known as Stephen Yaxley-Lennon is mentioned in dispatches.

      This was interesting from a recent Nick Buckley* podcast

      ““…But the party [Reform] clearly states that people who are members of the EDL card, John, that was the same policy in the Brexit party and in UKIP. I think this is a distraction.

      I think Tommy Robinson is a distraction. He's very popular in certain sectors of the community. I just don't understand why reform keep wanting this fight, keep wanting to discuss Tommy Robinson.

      It shouldn't be a discussion. It should be, well, Tommy Robinson, well, we haven't got the pin on Tommy Robinson because he's not allowed to join the party because of our constitution….

      …It's another issue. I don't know why reform keep falling into this trap. And I'm sure this trap is being laid by the opposition to reform UK, the Tories and Labour.

      They want this discussion because first of all, it connects reform UK with Tommy Robinson, even though he doesn't want to join and he wouldn't be able to join. But it also annoys reform UK supporters that they're keeping someone like him out of the party. Reform UK should go out of their way not to discuss Tommy Robinson.

      And when they have to, just close the conversation down with, well, he's not allowed to join. So until members change the policy, there's no discussion to have it.

      Okay. And just on Tommy then, as I say, he doesn't, as far as I know, want to join the party….”

      From Nick Talks: Growing Up, Politics, Reform UK, Tommy The Bogeyman Or Hero, 18 Apr 2025
      https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/nick-talks/id1643721749?i=1000704029024&r=2317
      This material may be protected by copyright.

      *per Wiki:
      Nicholas Brendan Buckley MBE (born April 1968) is a British charity worker and independent political candidate, formerly representing Reform UK. He spent 15 years working with the homeless. In 2011, he founded The Mancunian Way, a charity which dismissed him in 2020 after he posted an article critical of the Black Lives Matter movement. However, the board of trustees later resigned and Buckley was reinstated.

  38. The White House confirmed The United States and Ukraine have signed an agreement over access to Ukraine's natural resources..

    The very same minerals mentioned in UK and Ukraine landmark 100 Year Partnership signed on 16 Jan 2025?
    It also cements the UK as a preferred partner for Ukraine’s energy sector, critical minerals strategy and green steel production.

    Green steel production? LOL
    What? Ed tells advises them to close down the plants.

      1. And use our remaining resources to fashion him a pair of concrete boots.

        3. It is a shame we no longer build concrete bridges over motorways. I suppose we might loosely strap the goofy moron to the blade of one of his beloved turbines (tip speed 300mph) or failing that stake him out over one of his equally beloved solar panels and leave him to fry.

        4. It is a shame we no longer build concrete bridges over motorways. I suppose we might loosely strap the goofy moron to the blade of one of his beloved turbines (tip speed 300mph) or failing that stake him out over one of his equally beloved solar panels and leave him to fry.

    2. Fanciful thinking since Russia has already secured the major industrial areas.

      Putin is most unlikely to leave the Russian majority in Odessa to the same continuing persecution it has experienced under the neo-Nazi regime of Zelensky. Putin’s foreign minister has stated as much.

    3. When I went to vote the chap on the desk greeted me by name (I used to teach him). Then he asked to see my ID! It won’t change our way of life- yet another lie.

  41. Morning all 🙂😊
    Dear oh dear this horrible bout of gastroenteritis is giving me a lot of gyp 😵‍💫☹️.
    It's a bit like my memories of Cur Toe knee B liar.

    1. Oh dear. Not nice.
      Shitting through the eye of a needle and feeling as if you're using sand paper instead of toilet paper?

        1. No.
          Bad enough with Dr. Daughter having a growing string of medical related abbreviations after her name!

      2. You’ve got it Bob. A little over a week ago our 5 year old grandson was picked up from his school. He walked into our lounge and threw up all over the floor. His parents have had it, my good lady and now i have.
        It’s horrible. I can’t even get out to vote.

    2. How long has this gone on for?
      Do you have anything to control it? By now, you should have passed the troublesome bugs.

      1. Theres is No control, my last meal was Monday evening. But I ate a small amount of pasta last night. I wish I hadn’t.
        I’ve had acid reflux all night.

          1. I spent Tuesday in hospital.
            But didn’t think it would have not been appropriate to have mentioned it. As I was in there for other reasons.
            There is a lot of it going around at the moment.
            Our son his wife and children were okay after 3 days. I’m gradually getting back to normal. What ever that is these days. 🤗🤔

      1. G'day Babs I wish it was that easy, there's been a lot of movement down under.

    4. I feel for you R E; you must have passed it on to me as I've not been very well today, either.

  42. Cue headmaster call for social services to have little girl taken into care.

  43. We contacted a client the other week to let the know higher bandwidth, more powerful switches were out and if they wanted to segregate / upgrade their voice network for their telephones.

    As we know they're bandwidth hungry being a video company they're going for it, so later on this month we're replacing their 2.5gb old kit for new 10GB ones, with 10gb to the desktop as well and 100gb to the servers at core level.

    This is the sort of thing I both love – because it's new kit – and loathe, because you can guarantee something important will break. They're fairly redundant in set up though with two real time mirrored storage boxes (we did that) and two routers in failover so we can cable everything up to the new one without buggering up their live set up, then, when they finish for the day with their on site techie fellow switch over to the new kit, and repeat the cable monkeying.

    It's our first big job after the April tax hammering, so would carry us salaries wise through to July.

    A part of me dislikes how we think about this – it's not tech, it's not a customer, it's paying wages but sadly that's the problem these days.

    1. I scanned you post, saw the word “band” and “switches” on the second line and thought you were on about sandwiches! Funny how the mind works…or maybe kust mine…

    2. I didn't understand that your horizons are that short, Wibbers. That's got to be a bit butt-clenching.
      The project I'm on is just a tiny bit late, but the man-hours budget has enough slack that, if we could find any spare manpower, we could bring them on and catch up – although there's not much schedule slack left. The jacket sails away in about 3 weeks, and then parts of the deck through to the end of summer this year. There's a lot to do in follow-on, so we'll not be demobilised for a few months yet.

      1. We've got much better at time accounting and recording, we try to do as much as possible after hours so as to disrupt as little as possible.

        It is a bit squeaky bum but it'll give the customer a real leg up.

  44. Lord Harris of Haringey (Lab)

    Chair, National Preparedness Commission London SW1

    Or, as we would call it, The Department of Common Sense and Forward Planning.

    By the time he and his Quango get involved, it is Too. Three, or even Four late

    1. Preparedness commission? What the flipping flip flop?

      There are entire government departments who's sole intent is to run down the country. There are endless ineffectual regulators.

      Why do we need a commission duplicating the work of other useless entities already not doing their job?

  45. Jess days are numbered. A muslim will take her seat at the next election.

  46. Piccies from Sunday, Part 2:-
    The sluice at Tetney Haven is fairly recent, the canal used to be tidal right up to Tetney Lock but now is little more than a large drain.
    More of Tetney Lock later.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/70d95082895708c844c5f76ae9388506ac510e5666b18f8784d898bd928572d8.jpg The tide was in so quite a height difference between the seaward and upstream sides of the gates:- https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/93ebeaea84072c7a7702257f6ca9328f99c8f81ac838f4b65812fb147f939284.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/214f63a9086e8ae45ec4433a047fa14360443fa12e0b795ed363366cc9603074.jpg Still a few examples of the airfield defences scattered about, more of which later. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/cfa0de09590e8dd7db2fee5217dc231436e2ad9910e25d03fdf99fac7ee3916f.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/070679766c42cc97dcc7d6437d27c5cde35af2db5c5765a44cc5d06c27bd3df2.jpg From the sluice I followed the berme round, https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/cc02cf4eb0be67894088d7549e8303b3e86257ad8d91a6cdb2219edaf1db85ec.jpg back to the range where shooting had stopped for the day https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5e9baedb675110168ba818b1c19e4b67f15e4316123155ba27f2d93e8d343aec.jpg And I was rather impressed by the owl box the gun club had put up on the corner of their property. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/68a407ca41e3159ba232b05fd3f490fcfb9fd1b085750dbefce03bded83c8440.jpg

  47. I can finally see how Labour’s abominable misrule will be brought to an end

    This tax raising, wealth destroying, opportunity wrecking Government is the worst since the 1970s

    30 April 2025 6:55pm BST
    Allister Heath

    We are only ten months into the Starmerite era, but this Government is already ready for the scrapheap. Rarely has a political project unravelled so rapidly, so comprehensively and with so little hope of redemption. Labour will stagger on, of course, for what feels like an eternity, inflicting yet more misery on our poor country, but the voters it has betrayed will never forgive it.

    Those who can must reward the Labour Party with the mother of all political shellackings at the English local elections on Thursday: this is the most over-rated Government of modern times, a noxious mix of incompetence, nastiness and untrustworthiness. Its second-rate apparatchiks are exacerbating every one of our pathologies, and vandalising the little that still works in Broken Britain: the Government’s reverse Midas touch is something to behold.

    Sir Keir Starmer, it turns out, didn’t have a plan. He is failing on almost every metric that matters, from the national debt to illegal immigration. He will dilute Brexit and ruin state education, two great legacies of the Tory years. He is wrong about almost everything, and right about close to nothing.

    His Government is soulless, obsessed with process, procedure and legalisms, congenitally unable to give the public the change it so craves. It lacks any kind of vision, other than reflexive cod-egalitarianism, progressivism and big statism, and is unable to comprehend the needs and desires of the aspirational working class and petite bourgeoisie.

    It is neither a Government of dreamers, nor of doers, and it cannot execute, lead or enthuse. It can break, but not build; it can redistribute, but not grow; it can regulate, but not liberate. It is cowardly, picking on defenceless private school children, while sucking up to its powerful union paymasters. Oozing negativity, it hides its fundamental vacuousness behind a veil of chippiness, class war and socialistic policies that are accelerating this country’s ruination.

    Labour’s social engineers don’t understand that they exist to serve the people, and to help them improve their lives, not to endlessly constrain, challenge, impoverish, bully or brainwash them. The result is a toxic anti-consumerism, an inability to take immigration control seriously, an unserious approach to “petty crime”, an obsession with “resetting” ties with the EU by selling out UK fisheries and regulatory independence, and a scandalous lack of interest in how only the free market can deliver rising living standards.

    The Government has already been knocked sideways by the vibe shift on trans issues and women’s rights. Many of its MPs are furious, and cling to a doomed woke ideology. They may soon face further discombobulation over net zero, which is pushing the country towards blackouts and requires urgent moderation, and our membership of the European Convention of Human Rights, which prevents us from controlling our borders. Labour’s electoral coalition is fraying, with its Left flank departing for the Greens or pro-Gaza Independents, its working class electorate to Reform and “centrists” to the Lib Dems.

    Yet it is the fury of the apolitical wing of Middle England that should most terrify Starmer. Labour portrayed itself as reassuringly technocratic at the general election, but this was a false prospectus: it stands for the tax-consuming producer class, not for taxpayers and users of public services.

    It doesn’t have the first idea how to deliver prosperity or growth, loathes and distrusts capitalism and is presiding over the greatest exodus of wealth creators since the brain drain of the 1970s.

    It will prove powerless to reform the public sector, to crack down on crime or to solve the housing crisis. Ministers’ lack of managerial experience have ensured that the Blob has retained control. They are rightly scrapping NHS England, but the rest of that bureaucratic behemoth remains untouched. Throwing yet more non-existent billions at it won’t fix waiting lists or endemic malpractice. The Home Office remains a disaster zone.

    Housebuilding and infrastructure may eventually tick up, but not by enough to compensate for extreme levels of immigration or to substantially rectify our deficit of roads, power plants, prisons or water reservoirs.

    Like socialists always do, this Labour government is running out of other people’s money. Our public finances feel dangerously Latin American. The budget deficit rose to £151.9 billion in 2024-2025, the kind of shortfall that might be acceptable in wartime or in a pandemic but that is shockingly irresponsible today. Rachel Reeves has failed to tell the public the truth: we cannot afford such large annual increases in spending on benefits and the NHS when the economy is barely growing in per capita terms.

    What will happen if the world tips into a real recession, perhaps caused by Trumpian tariff idiocy, or if the UK suddenly needs to spend a lot more on the military? Would Labour need to call in the IMF, as in the 1970s? Taxes are already heading to a record high: what will Reeves target next?

    Will she freeze income tax thresholds again, dragging yet more people into higher tax bands? Will she eventually feel obliged to impose a catastrophic wealth tax, chasing away the last billionaires, entrepreneurs and former non-doms?

    Arthur Laffer, author of the eponymous curve, was right: above certain levels, higher tax can reduce receipts. It normally takes longer for Left-wing parties to rediscover this eternal truth, so perhaps we should be thankful that Reeves’s gambit unravelled so quickly. She now appears to realise that energy costs inflated by net zero are accelerating the deindustrialisation of Britain, but remains in denial about her job-destroying National Insurance raid and addiction to cheap foreign labour.

    There is, of course, the odd policy that Labour has got right, including on Ukraine. To placate Donald Trump, Starmer is increasing defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP, paying for it by cutting foreign aid back to 0.3 per cent of GDP, a modest step in the right direction.

    Yet his overall record is catastrophically poor: this is the worst Government since the 1970s. If there is any justice in this world, Labour will suffer its greatest ever defeat in this week’s elections.

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

    Jasper Derbyshire
    9 hrs ago
    Reply to carl turner – view message
    Parasitoid wasps inject their eggs into caterpillars. The eggs hatch and eat the caterpillar from the inside, mostly feasting on bodily fluids and avoiding the vital organs, to keep it alive for as long as possible for their own benefit.

    Sounds a bit like how our culture and goodwill is being hijacked for the benefit of others……..

    1. Does the British public want change? Most people I talk to want to go back to when things worked properly.

  49. Guido's Quote of the Day

    Tony Blair’s former adviser John McTernan spoke to Trevor Phillips on Times Radio about the locals and the TBI Net Zero report which has caused a Labour meltdown:

    “Labour are toast. There’s nothing that can be done in the next 24 hours that can change the election results. You look at all the focus groups, if you go to any of them, what do people associate the Labour Party with? Taking winter fuel payments away from pensioners. Why are they attacking pensioners? Why are they now attacking the disabled? That’s what people are saying. It’s on the doorstep in Runcorn. It’s on the doorstep everywhere. So Labour have crazy conditions. This election has nothing to do with net zero. Tony Blair is saying, there’s a huge debate. It’s not called the Tony Blair Institute for English local government elections, it’s the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change.”

      1. Perhaps he could be put in that pottery kiln before it's much cooler…

        1. He keeps reappearing like a bad smell but does anyone take any notice now?

      1. Strange that it didn't catch fire after all those years. Other building seem to burn so easily now.

    2. That's sad – both for tradition and the folk who lose their job. With the knock-on of reduced local taxes and increased expenditure.

    3. Oh dear if they can't manage, but where is Ginge going to get the trillion or so bricks from to build all of her effing stupid houses?

  51. Local election day today. I just had a look to see what we'd be voting for – and much as it goes against the grain I shall probably vote for the local district councillor – "Green" – she's active locally at getting things done; she got our potholes filled in; she helps with getting swift boxes and bricks installed; and she was the only one who bothered to send out a leaflet.
    No information on any of the blokes – Reform, Limp dim or Labour; only the other woman – Tory. So after due consideration I'll vote for Chloe. She probably supports things I don't – like Net Zero – but she hasn't a bat in hell's chance of making that happen.

    1. That's how the Greens have gained a foothold here in R&B – they're blurry good councillors. But they do badly at general elections, which is a comfort.

    2. That's how the Greens have gained a foothold here in R&B – they're blurry good councillors. But they do badly at general elections, which is a comfort.

  53. Strap fucking back!
    The bloody letter, dated the 16th of April advising me that my van insurance had been cancelled on the 15th has only JUST arrived.
    I've just phoned Direct Line to advise them of that and had the helpline operator laughing when, after apologising for giving her the ear bashing, told her that the person who made the decision to cancel my policy deserved shagging with a barbed wire pole!

    1. Because the policy was cancelled, I've had to take out a new one and, because they already have my details, I allowed them to have the policy, but with a warning that I am considering going elsewhere when it comes up for renewal.
      But it astounds me that they felt justified cancelling the policy simply because I cancelled the direct debit mandate when it was fully paid up and still had 8 months to run, did so without warning me that they were about to cancel it and then it took another 16 days after cancellation for the cancellation letter to get to me!
      Thank GOD I didn't have a shunt during those 16 days!

      I now need to work out:-
      Hhow much the cancelled policy cost per day
      How many days it had left to run
      And then compare the refund they "kindly" sent to my bank account to how much they actually owe me!

  55. Holy smoke.
    Yesterday, I saw my first case of someone I know using Ozempic to lose weight.
    Yes, she had some spare flesh, but now she is unrecognisable. I thought Belsen was liberated 80 years ago.

    1. I've lost 10 pounds on Furosemide. Initially I thought I was on diuretics just to reduce the fluid retention on my feet and ankles but apparently it's primarily because there was fluid on my lungs. I was just under 9 stone and now I'm just over 8 stone. I'm a short arse too though, just over 5 feet and my clothes still fit.

      1. "I'm a short arse too though, just over 5 feet…"

        The sweetest things come in small packages!😘

        1. My dear mother used to tell me that poison comes in small bottles! But she was a dispenser!

        1. Tastes better, too!
          Firstborn has converted us to using ghee for frying…

      5. I was prescribed Furosemide but it interfered with my social life.
        I still take if I know I'm staying at home most of the day.

    2. I lost well over four stones by eating pork fat, beef fat and lamb fat while passing on the veggies and desserts.

      I find that works better than any drugs.

    3. I lost well over four stones by eating pork fat, beef fat and lamb fat while passing on the veggies and desserts.

      I find that works better than any drugs.

  56. Good morning all,

    Sticky cloudy weather, warm , still and the 1st of May .

    From where I am sitting , I can see my neighbours blossoming fruit trees , apples .. and the birds , sparrows , black birds starlings are going hell for leather after what, I don't know , perhaps ants or grubs .

    I had another uncomfortable night , half of which was spent in the early hours on the settee, with a bowl by my side .. just in case .. Do I have a blocked bile duct , the doctor hinted that might be the case . Waiting for a tube examination.

    My sisters arrive here with us for the last leg of their trip to England on Saturday .. the last thing I want at the moment .. I have been busy cleaning the house , massive tidy up, garden looks nice , but I feel terrible .. and my wretched car problems have only increased my anxiety .

    1. Oh no…..it's rotten feeling ill – and having to deal with visitors – even if they are your sisters – it's bad timing.

    3. Sending a whole pantechnicon of hugs for you, Maggie.
      You deserve, and need, them!

      1. Doctor sent off for urgent referral for tube examination ..

        What I don't understand if my bloods are clear etc why all the palavar inside ..

    5. Sending all love and good wishes to you, Belle! I do hope you feel better for your lovely visitors! My sister arrives next week as well!

    6. Time for you to rest up. Get your husband and son to put their aprons on and do the entertaining ! While you sit and chat with your sisters.

      1. Sounds like a good plan – T_B's already done the hard work tidying up the house.

          2. They are, aren’t they.

            Anyway. I can’t sit gossiping with you. I have pots to scour and clinkers to riddle.

    7. I recently experienced a blocked bile duct. If you have this problem you will have a jaundiced complexion and urine will be darker than usual.

  57. Very busy market. Big queues at all the stalls. Good news.

    Home now – very warm – won't last, of course, back to normal tomorrow.

  58. New World beating Industries

    Oarspeople for our seagoing ships
    Teams to pull buses, taxis, lorries, vans etc round the country
    Each family with will be allocated two new arrivals to pull that car.
    Treadmills for power stations
    etc

    2. Late Mum in law, now would be over 100yrs + lived in a tiny Hampshire village where everything was delivered by carters, some with two horses , and the mail, or groceries by little hooded cart and pony .. We have some old grainy photos of such .. and old hay wagons harvesting .. there were so many horses in those days , even though many had been wasted during WW1

      AND.. both Moh's grandparents rode horses during WW1..

      Paternal grandfather of Moh was a small man and he rode on the team of 6/8 horses pulling heavy Artillery in France

      His maternal grandfather was part of a mounted brigade, and rode horses in Belgium

      1. Our milk was delivered from the farm by horse and cart – Charlie the milkman would give me a ride to the end of the road……. greengrocer also had a horse and cart when I was a child.

        1. Where I grew up our milk (Express Dairy) was delivered by horse and cart. What a shame we didn't have cameras handy back then.

          1. I have got one photo of me on the milk cart, taken by the parent of some visiting children.

          2. Lovely fond memories.
            I heard our local milkie Doug went to live in Devon after he’d retired. And lived well into his 90s. Fit as a fiddle.

          3. Our milkman had a horse and, yes, he was called Ernie. Actually, he was called Wally but Mom kept using his predecessor's name. He used to whistle to the horse, who would pull forward the requisite distance to the next stop. My brother once whistled and the horse pulled forward. Expecting the milkman's wrath, he legged it.

          4. As kids we use to keep a bucket and spade handy to collect the poo for our fathers gardens.

      2. MOH’s grandfather was a groom and served in the military. We have a picture of him in uniform with a pillbox hat and we still have his spurs.

        2. I think my great grandfather was one of those, but as my grandfather abandoned my grandma in 1946 (leaving her with a 3-year old and 8-year old), I really don’t care.

  59. Allison Pearson cleared by press regulator after police complaint

    Columnist is suing Essex force to ‘determine the truth’ about officers’ Remembrance Sunday visit to her home

    01 May 2025 6:00am BST
    Gordon Rayner

    Essex Police is facing criticism after the press regulator threw out its complaint about The Telegraph’s reporting of its investigation of Allison Pearson.

    The force claimed that a column by Pearson and a news report of a visit made to her home by officers on Remembrance Sunday last year were inaccurate, but the Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso) found that its complaint was without foundation.

    Mark Lewis, Pearson’s lawyer, said he was “bemused as to why the police found it appropriate to file a report to a regulator” in the first place.

    Pearson was visited by two officers at her home, who told her she was being investigated over a tweet she had posted on X one year earlier – and subsequently deleted – that a complainant claimed had stirred up racial hatred.
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2025/04/30/TELEMMGLPICT000402639357_17460392733480_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqaRL1kC4G7DT9ZsZm6Pe3PUikPYR0xYwuEBLwP9UFqPg.jpeg?imwidth=680
    Allison Pearson speaking at a public meeting in London in November Credit: Elliott Franks

    The Essex force claimed that The Telegraph’s reporting was inaccurate because Pearson had said she was told she was being investigated for a non-crime hate incident (NCHI), when the force said she was actually the subject of a criminal investigation.

    But Ipso said The Telegraph had correctly reported Essex Police’s written statement that the inquiry was into a criminal offence, notwithstanding Pearson’s belief that she had been told on her doorstep that it was a NCHI.

    In its ruling, Ipso said that when The Telegraph had put Pearson’s claims to the force before publication, its response “made clear that the police were investigating the matter as a criminal offence [but] the position regarding what the writer had been told during the visit had not been disputed or corrected”.

    By including Essex Police’s response to Pearson’s claims, “care had been taken not to publish inaccurate information”, Ipso said.

    Pearson is suing Essex Police and the Essex Police and Crime Commissioner for damages.

    Mr Lewis said: “I welcome this ruling so that we can press ahead with Allison’s claim against Essex Police to determine the truth about what happened on that Remembrance Sunday.”

    Pearson said: “I am delighted that Ipso has confirmed I was entitled to tell the public what happened to me on the morning of Remembrance Sunday over a tweet deleted a year earlier. I felt it was in the public interest, and still do.

    “My legal team will now pursue my case against Essex Police and the commissioner of police.”

    Essex Police has been contacted for comment.

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

    David Farnsworth
    4 hrs ago
    Yes sue the living daylights out of them.

    But it is matterless to them because it only involves ratepayers money.

    Could you open another front by referring them to the Inspector of Constabulary or similar?

    People at the top of Essex Police clearly need to be cleared out.

    James lukaszewicz
    2 hrs ago
    Reply to David Farnsworth – view message
    Don't settle out of court. Bring them into the light and show them up to public glare and ridicule.

    Jonathan Hull
    4 hrs ago
    Free speech is dying in this country due to non crime hate speech nonsense.

    I hope Allison wins and the likes of the Essex Constabulary go back to tackling real crime.

  60. WATCH: Channel 4’s Heartbreaking Rape Gang Documentary
    https://youtu.be/gQauklAQwzg
    Last night Channel 4 aired a harrowing documentary, Groomed: A National Scandal, following the stories of five survivors of rape gangs. It lays bare how the “racist” card was shamelessly played to allow rapists to walk free, while young victims were silenced and ignored…

    The programme, the result of 30 years’ work by journalist and filmmaker Anna Hall, uncovers how the Home Office suppressed a report identifying more than 330 young women at risk from Asian grooming gangs – because it was deemed “toxic.” One survivor tells Hall: “They’re not gonna stop… It’s actually organised crime.” Hall hears from a Blackpool care home manager that despite denials from officials, the scale of abuse today is “worse than ever”…

    At PMQs yesterday, Kemi Badenoch took aim at Starmer over the rape gang scandal. After pledging to pursue five local investigations, Labour quietly tried to water them down – until public backlash forced a u-turn. Now after almost everyone promised a national inquiry it seems the only one moving forward is ex-Reform MP Rupert Lowe’s, which has already raised over £611,000 so far. Will Starmer push for this actual documentary to be watched by all MPs and aired in classrooms like he did with Netflix’s fictional series Adolescence?

    1 May 2025 @ 10:25

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

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bf14e237d45b304e4b9c2ffd93457b66759bdf6a751099abbba61972c6f7b17d.png Beebsplaining
    47m
    Will this be compulsory viewing in all schools and have Naga Bumchutney asking every guest if they have viewed it🤔 If not why not🤔
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d2390ae9a66b8bbd780d361d5d994df9981affff39a7d0cd36a16b80e7232bed.png
    Pookie
    49m
    God I hope that this absolutely blows the lid off this, sends shockwaves through Whitehall and police forces and has all those guilty of looking the other way very scared of being exposed.
    The Post Office scandal has nothing on this – and look what a TV programme did there.

    Bruce Everiss
    38m
    This is still going on. Worse than ever. After decades of the police and local government doing next to nothing.
    It is everywhere that there is a certain community.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2f74a42d789b12b2c18936321fba467f523f95a02e88cf8d8b6b2c8e59787c65.png
    Rob Ellis
    54m
    I wonder if the government will weaponise this in the same way as they have with Adolescence. Call me a sceptic but I’m thinking not, because this will certainly not fit their rhetoric

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/234aa5484c51626d105a2464ab4304088a7b66e8c3bcedae2bdc8a77712f4301.png

    2. All political parties are part of the cover-up. Too furious to continue.

  61. Some news on AdBlue ( stuff that modern cars have , and when the wretched additive crystallises , it bungs the system up , and is so costly to repair. )

    A wise man has told us , get Adblue deleted .. simple .. instead of having new tank and all that rigmarole .. which costs £1500 ( universal price for the job ) Adblue removal costs less , much less, but only specialised garages undertake to do it because it has to be attached to computer system.

    All modern cars have Ad blue , and things start to go wrong when one is restricted to low mileage and small journeys in urban areas …. The so called Adblue system needs long journeys and heat from the engine to sort out engine particulates .. Phew, my goodness , I am now fully informed .. and need to save some money .. but so delighted that there are patient experts who are kind and like to tell the truth .
    So the carbon / low what ever zero is a money making scam , and ULEZ must be raking it in with low emission cars that go wrong in ten minutes !!

    Apparently farmers have their Ad blue deleted from their tractors, and heavy farm machinery .. Farmers have wised up to all the scams and expensive repairs their machinery requires .

      1. It's clearly unnecessary then – my car (2007) has never failed an emissions test so what does the AdBlue matter?

          1. Nor old ones! I had a read on Google about AdBlue and apparently it was brought in in 2015 to comply with EU rules.

        2. Diesel exhaust fluid (DEF; also known as AUS 32 and sometimes marketed as AdBlue[3]) is a liquid used to reduce the amount of air pollution created by a diesel engine. Specifically, DEF is an aqueous urea solution made with 32.5% urea and 67.5% deionized water. DEF is consumed in a selective catalytic reduction (SCR) that lowers the concentration of nitrogen oxides (NOx) in the diesel exhaust emissions from a diesel engine.

          Pretty good summary from Wikipedia.

          Incidentally, VW (and others) got caught out because the engineering lab at West Virginia University developed a "drive by" pollution measurement system, which showed those diesels recording much higher pollution levels than their officially declared numbers. Turns out they had fiddled the original tests.

          The whole push on diesel pollution seems to be working as it is rare these days to see a heavy truck here belching black smoke.

      3. Excellent! Well done!
        If the garage has any problems getting the van's DPF regenerated then I'll be doing something similar.

    2. AdBlue is one of the big downsides of diesels, which thankfully are few are far between in cars here. Since diesel is rather more expensive than petrol, and neither are that pricey, the mpg advantage sort of goes away.

      Then of course VW's emissions cheating did not help the cause. They were forced to offer buy backs to their diesel owners here, plus damages. A friend had a Golf diesel, almost new, and given that he liked it, he elected to keep it. VW sent him a fat cheque as compensation for the drop in value, and the dealer installed a remedial kit to fix the pollution problems – a bigger AdBlue tank, as I recall, plus the inevitable reprogram of the computer.

    3. A while ago , my brother-in-law was talking about the price of Ad blue, which I do not use, in our parlour (it was a Sunday, so that is the Posh word for it)

      Next time I went on-line to my Amazon account, it was quoting me prices for Ad blue

      The bitch (Alexa) in the corner hears all, and acts on it

      1. I won't have the evil thing in the house.
        We are surveilled quite enough without deliberately bringing a spy into the house.

    4. "All:modern cars have adblue". NO! Most modern DIESEL cars use adblue!

    5. MB has an ageing diesel estate car; a VW Golf.
      I have warned him as he only potters about in it. He hadn't even heard of AdBlue.
      Pleased to hear your semi good news.

    6. When I used to work in insurance, prob. about 15 years ago now, I was chatting to our Marine claims adjuster and he said the cargo ships had been forced to use some new type of fuel and it caused all the engines to malfunction. And then there was a big battle with the insurers, who were not happy at having to bear the cost. Understandably.

    2. When I used to scrutinise ballot papers you saw some interesting anatomical details 🙂

    5. Ahh, my childhood holidays in Porthmadog, sneaking into Portmerion from the beach without paying.

  65. Just been outside for a while – it's lovely but too warm to work. I've got planting to do, pots to tidy and all manner of other things that need doing.

  67. I picked off a load of dandelion clocks…….. actually digging them out takes too much energy.

  68. Tomorrow will be back to normal. Temp = about 12ºC. You'll be glad of something to keep you warm..!

          1. Google Translate gives it as “cheerful” and other sources say that, from the original Malay, it is “capable”. In the 3 years I spent there and quaffed a goodly amount of Tiger beer, I remained cheerful but mostly less than capable. “Alert” seems more dignified.

  71. Problems associated with connecting and disconnecting a variety of unstable electrical generators like solar and wind farms to a national alternating current grid relate to synchronising with the grid in advance and avoidance of grid instability after a disconnection following an over supply.

    It is summed up in this statement from an industry source:

    "The problem wasn't so much the massive entry of renewables, rather the lack of synchronous generation," the source said.

    https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/sanchez-pressed-explain-spains-blackout-grid-says-solar-not-blame-2025-04-30/

    I think Tony Blair has come to realise this but thinks that the timely rapid deployment of electrical switching required in an unstable synchronised electrical grid can be devolved to Artificial Intelligence.

  72. Farage had better win 522 seats today.. or he's busted flush.

    If you are a Labour candidate.. you have no shame. The front & face to convince people to vote for:

    they said £26 bln blackhole yet spaffed £s like a kid in a candy shop..
    £3.6 bill to Zelensky for next 100 yrs..
    £90 bill for Chagos..
    Promised smash the gangs..
    instead offered them free houses..
    2TK personally intervened & fast tracked & gave bogus legal advice to make sure people ended up in jail.. for memes.
    cover up of Southport..
    IHT farmers out of existence.
    cover up of pdf gangs.

    shame on them, and shame on voters.

  73. Spent a couple of hours clearing out a load of ground elder that's been allowed to run riot for too long and I'm now about to see the diabetes nurse.
    Might load up the Monday photos when I get back.
    See you later.

  74. Corbyn Doubles Down in Support of Kneecap as Counter Terror Police Launch Investigation

    On the same morning that counter terror police began a full investigation into Kneecap one man has come out in support of the band. You guessed it…

    Jezza’s Peace and Justice Project has released statement backing the trio:

    “This past week has seen a clear, concerted attempt to censor and ultimately deplatform @KNEECAPCEOL. In a democracy, no political figures or political parties should have the right to dictate who does and does not play at music festivals or gigs. The question of agreeing with KNEECAP’s political views is irrelevant: it is in the key interests of every artist that all creative expression be protected in a society that values culture, and that this interference campaign is condemned and ridiculed.”

    A classic doubling down after Corbo did a video with the group in 2023 and called them “inspiring.” Labour MP David Taylor asked in the Commons this week if Corbyn would apologise. There’s your answer…

    May 1 2025 @ 12:14

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

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/977dd1a178cffef9a1f0e17b5152d0a66f9c3502995fcef4c42625b29fc0006d.png
    Surprise!!!
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a04baa1b90f48141143fa8b2cb805defa088a98fc297a8692088652d2f665f83.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c73a91ebcc9b49c7fa9f71a0b1816455a3c6d69dd5dd3b41e8cb11d6a1958bca.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0487270c591fb94a192e8a1e3066ddd8e6a8e757d959776ef8a43e97829af442.png

    1. Jeremy Corbyn has been criticised for saying it was a "tragedy" that Osama Bin Laden was killed rather than being put on trial.

      The Labour leadership frontrunner made the remarks in 2011, shortly after the al-Qaeda chief was shot dead.

      A spokesman for Mr Corbyn defended the remarks saying he was "a total opponent of al-Qaeda, all it stands for".

      https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34106214

      1. al-Qaeda are mostly arab slammers. Corbyn prefers the non arab slammer groups.

    2. I prefer to honour those who died to keep the UK free in two world wars against nazism.

      1. Whereas Corbyn mourns the Germans.

        The stupid man said that cutting state spending internationally was a race to the bottom. That would be a good thing, forcing countries to improve their services and offerings.

    1. Of course the Met Office has been collecting weather data since 1884 and the earth is estimated to be 4.5 billion years old.

      1. And now they have continuous, constant access digital monitoring, where until recently they had a mercury thermometer nailed to a tree, to which they had to hike.

        And now, in my opinion, they are likely to cheat.

          2. As I say William, they cheat.

            You will often hear it said that ‘today was the hottest on record. 50C at Heathrow!

            (Courtesy of tarmac reflected heat and a passing jet.)

          3. It used to be "in the shade". Now, however… what is the matter with these charlatans?

          4. Then there are the reports from weather stations that just simply don't exist …

      2. The entirety of the planet was hotter than humankind has ever documented it during its creation and, no doubt, for several millennia afterwards. If the idea is correct that a collision.with Earth created the moon, that event, too, would have resulted in heat the likes of which no human has ever recorded other than in volcanoes and their lava flows, in nuclear explosions, in furnaces and in scientific experiments. Therefore, May 1st temperature records were set across the entire world before May 1st was created/invented.

          3. I don't know what your question is suggesting, Grizz, but if it's a veiled accusation that I'm using a woke neologism, I reject it.

            The earliest known use of the noun humankind is in the early 1500s. OED's earliest evidence for humankind is from around 1504, in the writing of Stephen Hawes, poet. humankind is formed within English, by compounding. Etymons: human adj., kind n.

          4. I'm not suggesting owt, Stig.
            All I know is that (despite your aging of that 'neologism') the term mankind has been the generally accepted usage for centuries and the trite (and clumsy) 'humankind' only made a resurgence when wokeness popped its ugly head up.

          5. All I know is that there was no knowing avoidance of mankind when composing my post.

      3. Until recently, the MO's dataset went back only to 1910. It was extended with the help of the public submitting historic records going back further.

      4. Do you read Paul Homewood, Sue? The guy 'Not a Lot of People Know That'…often records where the Met Office get their numbers from. Another one is 'Climate Change Despatch'. Climate changes, always has, always will (unless we blow the place up, then it will be hot and then cold).

  79. Afternoon, all. Another scorcher! I took the dogs out early to vote and even so it was very warm.
    Any intervention by Blair is seriously bad news for the country.

          3. I did, thanks Alec. Good morning 🙂 sunny here, must be righteous……..

          4. Sun trying to break through, hope it remains dry as I’m cutting up some trees felled yesterday x

          5. Good luck, trust you’re wearing safety gear…hands, head, eyes, ears etc…Someone’s knocking out a window frame here (seal has broken, so far the glass hasn’t – thankful for that. Mess everywhere….sob…)

          6. Gloves only Kate – the chainsaw is a cordless one and is very quiet, mostly done now (2pm), just some clearing up of the mess now x

          7. Here, the clear-up from Storm Desmond continues, did a lot of damage. Upside is, will have logs to burn which will outlast me. It was very shocking to see after the initial blast, the pathway cleared as though by a typhoon, trees uprooted and down like matchsticks. Quiet chainsaw sounds good! Hope you have a rest now x

          8. I expect I’ll be splitting the logs tomorrow – thank god I’ve got an hydraulic splitter , I’ve got about 5 years supply of logs for my woodburner and about 60 trees to fall back on if I run out x

          9. Morning Kate – hope it keeps dry I'm cutting up some trees felled yesterday x

    2. My dogs can't vote. I think they should be allowed to as they're more sensible than the idiot proles.

      2. Currently 21C here, heading for 27 this pm. Low humidity, so comfortable spring weather. Definitely summer uniform time – shorts and short sleeve casual tops – I'll stay that way until October.

    6. Did Kadi and Winston vote for the same candidate, Conners? I would imagine that Winston might well vote Conservative. Lol.

      2. Mongo would vote monster raving loony, Oscar's a Tory. Lucy would spoil her paper, because she's clever.

  80. There's a very good reason that East Germans who lived under the constant threat of Stasi surveillance will never allow an Alexa (or similar device) into their homes.

  83. Children associate Yorkshire accent with ‘lack of intelligence’

    CHILDREN as young as five assume people with Yorkshire accents are not clever, a study has found. Research on 27 youngsters from Essex found they subconsciously linked intelligence with southern English accents instead.

    They were played samples of three accents – Yorkshire, Essex and received pronunciation – by researchers at the University of Essex.
    The children were asked to link the accents with two cartoon characters: the “very clever” Ziggy, who they were told could read, speak and write well, and the “not very clever” Zoggy, who lacked such skills. Across all measures, the children showed a strong association between received pronunciation – typically described as a middle-class accent – and cleverness.

    Ella Jeffries, a lecturer in linguistics at the University of Essex, told the Conversation website: “This accords with what we know about how children will grow up to associate standard English as the ‘correct’ form in the UK. “Our research suggests that by age five, this association is already fairly well-entrenched.” For one of the measures, the children associated the Yorkshire accent with a lack of intelligence.

    Dr Jeffries, who led the study, said: “This corresponds with the prevalent accent prejudice against northern accents in the UK.“Worryingly, this finding again suggests that bias may have already become embedded in children who are only just starting school.”

    BTL comments:

    Rubbish ! Utter rubbish ! Born and bred in Barnsley [MA, PhD (Cantab)].

    Clearly the 27 children were educationally sub-normal. Well, they are from Essex.

    Essex! Of all places! Essex.

    That's quite rich coming from a county where they all sound like grunting retards. Essex people cannot even touch their top front teeth with their tongues to pronounce an 'L'. When they attempt to grunt words like "Hospital" it comes out as "Hos-pit-oo". And words with a similar ending to "Stranger" come out as "Strange-ah!" Theirs is a ghastly and emetic noise of a dialect!

    1. "27 youngsters from Essex" Yeah, right. Like the Christian Welsh lad. The two Lancashire lads who accidently broke a WP's nose….

    2. Twenty years ago it was a brummy accent, but nowadays I suspect few inhabitants even speak English.

      1. Blast. Didn’t readundery and posted exactly the same!

    3. Used to be Essex accents ranged from almost Cockney to more East Anglia rural, depending on which part of Essex people came from. Where we lived, the locals had proper Essex accents, whereas the incomers were mostly Londoners and brought cockney with them.

    5. Used to be the Brummie accent (says a proud Wulfrunian)

  84. Minister Refuses to Rule Out UK Becoming an EU Rule-Taker

    This morning in the Commons Tory MP Harriet Baldwin questioned the government over the new Regulation and Metrology Bill – a bill that effectively grants the secretary of state sweeping powers to unilaterally adopt EU rules without parliamentary scrutiny. Baldwin asked trade minister Douglas Alexander whether the government would rule out the “UK becoming an EU rule-taker”. Alexander refused:

    “I’m slightly worried that the question adds two and two together and gets about 97. The fact is the act recognises the need to find a way forward on standards with the European Union.”

    Meanwhile the EU is reportedly threatening to impose a time limit on any agreement aimed at reducing red tape on British food and drink exports – unless it secures long-term access to UK fishing waters ahead of the EU-UK summit. As a Labour councillor touted yesterday, Starmer’s ‘Trojan Horse’ plan to rejoin the EU is well underway…

    May 1 2025 @ 12:30

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3f9d6af11a63811ee880f469d45df0346c5dda865a7d6010f3ee3834c2835081.png Bob Burger
    3h
    EU threatening ? Wasn't President Trump the bad guy last week.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ef615fcb16cae37f67a07f95e23510039bf0e6249eb8f837435ed3fcd047f66e.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f0baceffa3be65093d09b4bb12021f7b8d8a0a152ff7f147786632bb925ed683.png

  85. Good Day, Nottlers all!

    I decided to spend this Bank Holiday morning varnishing my skyscape, whose cardboard frame I have painstakingly cobbled together with the 'help' of sellotape which doesn't stick, and glue which is only good for one use.

    This is what happened… it's supposed to be an area of dark contrast to the sweeping colour of the skies.

    AAAAAAAARGH!! This doesn't usually happen with spray varnish.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ebc4a119ac070cf69704fb39cf8b1fbf986acd4b68be0511a15f64e54a8979ca.jpg Onwards and upwards!

    3. Oh dear!
      A bit like me selecting manual exposure to cope with church interiors and then forgetting to put it back to auto when I'm taking some outside shots!

    4. Oh dear!
      A bit like me selecting manual exposure to cope with church interiors and then forgetting to put it back to auto when I'm taking some outside shots!

  86. Monday's Photos, Part One
    After getting back to the van after my Sunday walk, I had a mug of tea and a bite to eat, then trundled a couple of miles to Tetney Lock where I had a couple of pints in the village pub and spent the night in their car park.
    Woke early and did my 1st mug of tea and my bowl of porridge and was entertained by some sparrows whilst eating it. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/84c648bbc01907e13afd402cb6b078de83f58f512fcb4c3752343dd6c151f544.jpg I then started a walk down alongside the Louth Canal.
    The bridge replaced the old one and also replaced the sea lock. The canal had been tidal up to this point previously. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/442e10a950d8d07675a678360d1ce3d87e3e3d5790c1fa48a64ddc124545edab.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2352b08d75cdf6c6670567d540cca24186f6f4a7b90ed226f94eeeb76f960b7e.jpg A bit to seaward from the bridge is the 2nd of the modern sluice gates on the canal. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/cff16e0814e018ba312d5f0a81fb20b66e83306d1e4edb11f1a42c57966a955c.jpg And there is a drainage cut going away from the canal on the opposite bank https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e5acc47543b6406fcd9522658b7d1cffab020c87ec180d6d3b3499e56c34355b.jpg And the inevitable swan and a pair of ducks https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3be9dd0e590e95993719fa8377077c57572c165f514bacf2c378379d8679da6f.jpg And a couple of geese https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4d15629d515afde4853b204943f1d2a84da984b536f3cbd782db9cf9e60a897f.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/10205877f493dc31f327c661d5d10e01962c12a8d6c60118bd79bb8fc8ddae04.jpg End of Monday Part One!

  87. Monday's Photos, Part Two
    Every time I got near the gees they, with much loud honking and flapping of wings, took flight along the canal, initially away from me, then up past me https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/989df8f596a9cc787704660852da4f89bd272c0cfde394ddd53e74a470f87fb7.jpg And no, it's not a modern art installation, but part of the pipeline from the discharge mooring off North Cotes Point as it crosses over another drainage channel. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/adb4f04c42182d587745ad02446027501bd6ce5f8abdc88408dc894ae31e0def.jpg More of the airfield defenses on the other bank of the canal, more of which later. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0944273970fb63df37aa1a669ab774fdfb092198c02ba786daa9112028fc9492.jpg And back to the sea sluice I saw on Sunday's walk. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6cc06690e9a1013d005956ecaa2325f9ea133c42520b9b8efe2282c045bca167.jpg The tide was in a bit further than on Sunday https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0ec024dea9c934172f1fd058f22257c3c2e6f46673cf14ba9212a143d9a1841c.jpg And this is the pipe going over that drain https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/804a0f5b8b27700009899caf34f21f251c9136daf920c53c61100815054011d5.jpg And a closer look at that pill box https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a897f235425fd2153eec253985ae2499c85368c1816e11894b59c18e807365d5.jpg With an air raid shelter next to it https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/65a04583ab4ee85793535ef5c6202bcfd4558d6608079dfca86ddc6e43151896.jpg More of which in the next part.

    1. 404861+ up ticks,

      O2O,
      Also a peoples guardian
      the whole
      disappear /reappear need take no more than
      24 hours,the establishment would stand aghast at the fight back audacity from the herd they had manipulated & abused for decades.

  89. Oooooo upset the apple cart.. that would.

    "We will get him into House of Commons!" Shock offer to Tommy Robinson to become a UKIP MP
    UKIP leader Nick Tenconi joins Dan to make an extraordinary offer to the imprisoned Tommy Robinson.

    That's just ensured he spends the rest of his life in prison. Suppose he could do a Bobby Sands?

  90. Wordle No. 1,412 3/6

    ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨
    ⬜⬜🟨⬜🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    Wordle 1 May 2025

    Masterly Birdie Three?

    1. They know what the most popular starter word is…

      Wordle 1,412 2/6

      🟩🟩⬜🟨⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

        2. It is a popular one, lacoste, but I invariably stick with A U D I O.

      5. Well done Sue! I thought I was going to get it in two, but turned out to be three

    3. I feel a little off the pace with a bog-standard par!

      Wordle 1,412 4/6

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

    4. Well done. I made a lucky eagle.

      Wordle 1,412 2/6

      🟩⬜⬜⬜🟨
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  92. Lord Ashcroft Book Raises Fresh Questions for Starmer Over Savile Scandal

    The Jimmy Savile CPS scandal has reared its head again – this time in Lord Ashcroft’s new biography of Starmer, Red Flag. Co-conspirators will remember that two police forces – Surrey and Sussex – investigated Savile for 30 months over sex abuse allegations. The Crown Prosecution Service helped them. In October 2009 the CPS advised that the case should be dropped.

    Starmer has always said that he was never aware the CPS even looked into Savile between 2007 and 2009 – he was DPP from October of 2008. A 2013 review commissioned by Starmer’s then-chief legal adviser Alison Levitt concluded that only one CPS lawyer (granted anonymity) handled the Savile inquiry before dropping it – the inference being that the mystery lawyer acted in isolation. Ashcroft asks in his book if this is plausible…

    The book claims that between 2007 and 2009 Surrey Police informed other organisations about its investigation into Savile:

    1. Surrey County Council’s children’s services.
    2. Barnardo’s.
    3. West Yorkshire Police child protection unit.

    From 2008 several Sun journalists also knew Savile was under suspicion. Ashcroft writes:

    “Savile was not some unknown figure. He was one of the most famous men in Britain, a stalwart of the BBC and the charity world, a knight of the realm, and a sometime friend of the royal family who had once been trusted by senior politicians including Margaret Thatcher… Who decided that Starmer should be kept in the dark about the Savile investigation?”

    Starmer’s CPS colleague Alison Levitt, who cleared the organisation of wrongdoing in the matter, was given a political peerage in December of last year and sits in the House of Lords for the Labour Party. The media rounded on Boris for raising the CPS’ failure to pursue Savile despite Starmer claiming he would always carry the can for decisions taken by organisations he ran. Ashcroft raises awkward questions for the PM…

    May 1 2025 @ 15:30

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

    Beebsplaining
    30m
    So how likley this lack of knowledge and also, we are supposed to believe now , no knowledge of the Harrods boss🤔
    At the very least he seems hardly in control, as he likes to proffer adnausieam🙄
    I sense total b0llocks and incompetency, like most of 2tier's statements end up proving
    But then tweet something on faceache and it's legal defcon1 and klink by Monday🤔
    As per Rosie don't expect an apology either, what a item he is🤔
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ce747f059d76b3f959d6c023922b07398be0f0bf8de5af41a108fb100cd7fb2d.png
    Sir John Thomas
    22m
    He failed to bring Jim to justice, he’s failed to smash the gangs, he’s failed to bring justice to the victims of grooming gangs, he leads a party racked with allegations of corruption. Is there a living being inhabiting the walking body that is Starmer because he seems immune to shame and is utterly soulless..

    1. Let's finally have a breakdown of who voted him into No.10…male/female/trans…age…postcode….employment or not ethnicity…religion…you get my drift……

      1. The voting sounds more like a Conclave. Previous votes get the fahrenheit 451 treatment.

  93. Oh what on earth is happening in our country ?
    Two huge 'wild fires' peak district and Yorkshire Moors. I'm sure that these multiple fires are not accidents. Someone is out there starting them all. The media of course are blaming 'the dry conditions'. It's spring there is more greenery than at any other time of year.

    1. Also just on 5 news, huge wild fires in Israel. More than have ever happened.
      But no where else nearby.

    2. I suppose it could just be caused by litter droppers breaking bottles and the sun being focused on dry material.

      1. Quite. We haven't had any REAL rain – just occasional drizzle – for about five weeks. The surface is tinder (cue there) dry.

        1. That used to be a common cause for wildfires before global boiling became the go-to answer for everything.

          3. If i may….The fags tossed out of moving vehicles would be more apposite given our new friends.

            They tend to be a bit wet so they don't cause fires. Hurrah !

    3. It has been dry. Large parts of England have had less than an inch of rain in the last two months.

      1. Not as dry as many other parts of the world where such fires don’t seem to happen.

      1. I don’t think people walk miles up hills across moorland to have a bbq.

        1. Quite right..they drive there, to a flat area where a few cars can be parked, walk a little then have their barbie ‘nature dontcha know’, leave their crap behind instead of talking it home – an accidental/careless fire. More often, teens on bikes, setting a fire deliberately. They don’t have to walk miles for it to spread rapidly.

    5. The other day a senior Fire Service Officer was being interviewed about the wildfires. He stated that they are all started by human activity (accidental or intentional) but that weather conditions enabled the spread of the fires.

      1. Sounds logical. We are due lightning strikes soon though. Wrath of the Gods and all that.

        I hope he can keep his job.

    6. I was on Kinder Scout at Easter and the whole moor at the top was squelchy and boggy. It won’t be combusting naturally.

  94. That's me for today. Phew, wot a scorcher etc (yawns). Cool tomorrow, north wind and temps around 13ºC max for the foreseeable. Possibility of a small bonfire…

    Half way through racy biography – average crap, really, but quite amusing.

    Have a jolly evening counting the votes you would have cast if your election hadn't been cancelled.

    A demain

    1. 'Climate Change Despatch' (and blogger Chris Morrison) report similarly UK.

      1. Yet it's not being stopped. The Left are continuing their assault on normality.

  96. Stress this week has been getting to me. Need some relaxation.
    Hopefully see all Y'all in the morning.

    2. Blimey, I really enjoy your input on here – and the Scandi take on life generally!

      Hope all's well buddy, take it easy…….

  97. Well, no-one else appears to be posting so here goes;

    Me and 'er indoors are going to Ambleside tomorrow for brekkers at Hayes Garden Centre (they do a mean bacon buttie with maple syrup!!!) then on to Glenridding and a boat trip around Ullswater – second longest in the Lakes at about 7 miles.

    Been very very quiet up here this week – I guess Easter having just gone and May Bank just coming up – so looking forward to another idyllic day!

    3. I have dispensation to wfh tomorrow following the great Bike Theft on Tuesday. Husband is launching the Boat tomorrow in Cornwall. Was hoping for a night in with my bottle of wine but remembered my friend who always goes through a tough time around now (anniversary of her brother dying, parents both dead, estranged but on good terms with her son’s father. So we went to the pub for a few hours. Nice evening. Came back for a cup of tea on our outside patio and were assailed by why looked like flying cockroaches. I don’t think they were cockroaches – we are not aware of a problem – but they were big things and flying around. Ugh.

    1. Careful!!!! people have been sent down for less (that woman got nearly three years for saying she wasnt bothered if migrant hotels were burnt down), all you need is some leftie halfwit to report the post and you could be in real trouble.
      Dont give the bastards the opportunity……

      1. With the state of justice in this country you're probably right, but the Left have to be told no, repeatedly until their ideology is shattered at their feet and they left broken and beaten.

          1. Wibbs has his own concerns. We should not be silenced even when we feel angry and post things that might upset people who aren't even here or offended.

            Personally. I am fucking annoyed that no one has posted a fool proof recipe for a Coke Float.

  99. A pleasant walk up to vote with the DT & Graduate Son, then to the Kings Head and the Barley Mow and back home again.
    Very strange lighting outside and we've just had a short gust of wind that's blown a big stream of blossom off next door's apple tree.
    There's a lot of elm seed come down too.

    2. The wind got up a bit here a couple of hours ago but it's very still here now and overcast. It all clouded over a while ago.

      1. The sun succumbed to being 'dimmed' here about 4.00. It really was like a prolonged dimmer switch activated over half an hour, and then all rays were extinguished.

    2. While London is polluted with brown sewage, no one will get a look in. The white folk in London are Lefty wets. The vast majority are brown welfare dependent wasters.

      If we stopped paying them to breed and live they'd go and this country would be vastly improved.

      1. 404861+up ticks,

        Evening W,

        Regardless of the mayor contest I would dearly like to see him trigger his and his ilks brand of opposition when he steps up to the plate.

      2. I utterly loathe the (now ubiquitous) expression “black and brown peeple”. What about “yellow peeple”? I think we should be told.

        Or is “yellow peeple” racist for some reason?

    1. True, so I usually look for a word containing both E and Y (a sound-alike I) in my second attempt.

  102. Yep. There used to be a rush on as to who could get there first! Nowadays, people just complain about horse muck.

    1. Because of it, my old dad had a lovely roses and chrysanthemums in our front garden inside a neatly trimmed hedge. I’ve seen it since, it’s all covered in concrete as if it was turned into a ramp. Horrible.

    1. Quiet here but then we aren't suffering massive black flux. I think that is what they mean.

    2. Is Nottingham full of ladies dressed in orange, like the one at the top right hand corner? Lol.

          1. I know it is a bit off but…trace the infinity symbol as you lay in you're bed. Focus on that. And keep doing it.

            My feet and calves are on fire in this heat but…distraction helps.

          2. Good night. Full church for the regular monthly Evensong in the City tonight. A high percentage of under 35s too. The attraction (as well as the wine afterwards) was the preacher. Rowan Williams. He spoke well and kept to the theme of the New Testament reading. Not bowled over but then I’m not a huge fan. A decent sermon though.

  107. 404861 up ticks,

    I mean everything was going along cosyily
    until the Jay report acted as a red hot poker entering the bloated arse of the rotherham authorities,
    police /councilors,etc/etc.

    Now look where we are, thousands of racist up in arms because their kids had been raped & abused surely that was to allow DEI a smooth passage and the replacement coup to be a seamless enterprise.

    https://x.com/PDA_too/status/1917838312884076830

    1. Maggie Oliver’s “Three Girls” was first aired inn2017…..which was 8 years ago now…and nothing happened (not that nothing should happen now)

  109. I have decided to dye all my grubby white towels this weekend, so have had to weigh them as I have no idea what they weigh in grams. Turns out they weigh 2-3lbs or in modern parlance between 675. & 810 grams.

    Takes me back th the great Book Weighing of – ? 2023?

  110. Well, chums, it's that time again so I'm off to bed. So Good Night, sleep well, and I hope to see you all early tomorrow morning.

  111. I demand a manual recount.
    Best of three?
    They didn't know what they were voting for.
    It's only advisory.
    Wot about the red bus.

        1. Wow. In the days when I supported Goldsmith (Zac), I think he once won a by election here by 47 votes and I thought that was close!,,

    2. Amazingly, it appears that there was a recount. The initial count suggested Reform won by only four votes, so six votes is an improvement. It seems that despite their previous local MP getting drunk and knocking a man to the floor and then kicking him, and despite the behaviour of the incoming Labour government generally, local voters still are happy to vote Labour. Incroyable.

      1. Aaron Bastani of Novara Media been doing a tour of Runcorn.. my word Us Labours are a nasty piece of work. Spouting the ususl slogans.. Reform are lidderally fascists committing genocide.

    3. Amazingly, it appears that there was a recount. The initial count suggested Reform won by only four votes, so six votes is an improvement. It seems that despite their previous local MP getting drunk and knocking a man to the floor and then kicking him, and despite the behaviour of the incoming Labour government generally, local voters still are happy to vote Labour. Incroyable.

    4. Amazingly, it appears that there was a recount. The initial count suggested Reform won by only four votes, so six votes is an improvement. It seems that despite their previous local MP getting drunk and knocking a man to the floor and then kicking him, and despite the behaviour of the incoming Labour government generally, local voters still are happy to vote Labour. Incroyable.

  114. You’ll be fit after all that work, well done! I’m not allowed splitting, or chainsaw work…so stacking it is, I can throw and stack without looking. Similar when we play hoops- I glance, turn away and throw, lands 90-odd% of the time – the oddest thing. Perhaps something to do with hand to eye co-ordination, from drawing? 😆 ‘night, Alec, sleep well..see you tmrw x

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