Thursday 10 October: Watch wealth flee the country as Labour dismantles private education

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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748 thoughts on “Thursday 10 October: Watch wealth flee the country as Labour dismantles private education”

    1. 394437 + up ticks,

      Morning JN,

      Westminster 100% continuing shower for the foreseeable future,

      1. For once we had blue skies here, too (lovely flying weather). Unfortunately for me, I wasn't able to get out into the garden due to other commitments.

    1. I think Starmer has got a bit confused with Uncle Albert of 'Only Fools and Horses' and his tall stories of being torpedoed during WWII.

    2. I am not going to jump on him over this.
      Apparently his uncle was on Antelope that was lost after being bombed, so I am not going to dishonour his service on a gallant ship.

      1. Agreed, "torpedoed" tends to be a catch-all for a ship being sunk by an enemy.
        It isn't accurate, but I suspect that many laypeople use it mistakenly.

  5. 'Morning one and all, especially, Geoff, and a big thank you to him for all his sterling efforts on our behalf.

  7. Good morning, chums. And thank you for today's NoTTLe site, Geoff.

    Wordle 1,209 5/6

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    1. Thanks for the upvote, Sue Mac (and Good Morning, btw.) OT It's just occurred to me, are you any relation to the famous Yma Sumac? Lol.

    2. Good morning Elsie
      Wordle 1,209 4/6

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  8. Good afternoon sleepyheads. So boring without you. I don’t like being 6 hours ahead. I have got used to the funny toilets though (by which i mean, the automatic seat-lifting, closing and flushing and warm seat).

      1. In the days when fagging was rife in public schools there were 'bum fags'. This had nothing to do with buggery and everything to do with a fag having to go and sit on a cold seat in an unheated outside lavatory block to warm it up for his prefect.

    2. Meanwhile, I have had yet another text inviting me to book for a flu jab and, how honoured I am, I am also eligible for a free Covid-19 jab.

      1. MOH was offered a combined 'flu and Covid jab.

        Thought it sounded dubious so wisely refused.

        1. I've not heard of them being as a combined jab. Wise move to decline that. It would be interesting to know what proportion of 'eligible' people take up the offer of either this combined jab or the separate convid jab.

  11. The West is sleepwalking into nuclear disaster. Hamish de Crettin-Gordon. 9 October 2024.

    Recent warnings by Ken McCallum, head of MI5, of sabotage and covert attacks from Russian and Iranian secret services, should not be delinked from what is happening in Tehran’s WMD programme. Russian and Iranian agents will no doubt be looking for vulnerabilities in our own nuclear power stations and other critical national infrastructure, but this will also be at the forefront of MI5 and MI6 operations.

    Both Russia and Iran have a pathological hatred of all things British, and our new government must concentrate on our security.

    This is the Lynch Mob speaking. Gordon was probably foaming at the mouth while he typed it. The tone of this diatribe is strongly reminiscent of the official pre-war rhetoric of Nazi Germany and Japan. The reality is that neither Russia nor Iran pose a threat to the UK. Both are too remote, hence the fictitious accusations of sabotage. A rabble rousing stratagem.

    There is no evidence that their general populations (I assume this is whom Gordon is talking about) possess a pathological hatred for the UK. You need look no further than Westminster for this. This is not to say that individuals are always bursting with tolerance as any Englishman who has been to Australia could testify There are several polities on the planet that I disapprove of but I possess no hatred for their people. It would be an absurdity.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/09/west-sleepwalking-nuclear-disaster-middle-east-iran-russia/

    1. When I saw the headline, I hoped for an instant that common sense was coming out of Hamish's mouth. Fat chance! He's a malign fool who wouldn't know pathological hatred if it bit him on the butt.

    2. They keep ramping up the rhetoric – will there be a false flag sabotage to "prove" it? I don't believe a word of it.

  12. The West is sleepwalking into nuclear disaster. Hamish de Crettin-Gordon. 9 October 2024.

    Recent warnings by Ken McCallum, head of MI5, of sabotage and covert attacks from Russian and Iranian secret services, should not be delinked from what is happening in Tehran’s WMD programme. Russian and Iranian agents will no doubt be looking for vulnerabilities in our own nuclear power stations and other critical national infrastructure, but this will also be at the forefront of MI5 and MI6 operations.

    Both Russia and Iran have a pathological hatred of all things British, and our new government must concentrate on our security.

    This is the Lynch Mob speaking. Gordon was probably foaming at the mouth while he typed it. The tone of this diatribe is strongly reminiscent of the official pre-war rhetoric of Nazi Germany and Japan. The reality is that neither Russia nor Iran pose a threat to the UK. Both are too remote, hence the fictitious accusations of sabotage. A rabble rousing stratagem.

    There is no evidence that their general populations (I assume this is whom Gordon is talking about) possess a pathological hatred for the UK. You need look no further than Westminster for this. This is not to say that individuals are always bursting with tolerance as any Englishman who has been to Australia could testify There are several polities on the planet that I disapprove of but I possess no hatred for their people. It would be an absurdity.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/09/west-sleepwalking-nuclear-disaster-middle-east-iran-russia/

  13. Good Morning All, especially Geoff
    Today's Tale
    The young man was showing off his new sports car to his girlfriend. She was thrilled at the speed.
    “If I do 150kph, will you take off your clothes?” he smirked.
    “Yes!” said his adventurous girlfriend.
    And as he got up to 150, she peeled off all her clothes. Unable to keep his eyes on the road, the car skidded onto the gravel and flipped over. The naked girl was thrown clear, but he was jammed between the back of the seat and the steering wheel.
    “Go and get help!” he cried.
    “But I can’t! I’m naked and my clothes are gone!”
    “Take my shoe,” he said, “and cover yourself.”
    Holding the shoe over her pubes, the girl ran down the road and found a service station. Still holding the shoe between her legs, she pleaded to the service station proprietor, “Please help me! My boyfriend’s stuck!”
    The proprietor looked at the shoe and said, “There’s nothing I can do. He’s in too far.”

      1. Yes, Sir J, I read somewhere that there are only 6 or 7 basic themes for a joke story. Don't know whether that's true.

        2. Like the one where the lady gets her toe stuck in the bath tap and uses a bowler hat to protect her modesty.

  15. Watch wealth flee the country as Labour dismantles private education

    I was only saying the other day that this policy will backfire on Labour as it will hit their new core voters.
    Those Asian immigrants are very big on education and haven't got that Lefty dogmatic approach to having their children's education levelled down to the lowest common denominator in the interest of equality.
    Where I live we have a mixture of schools and you hardly see a white child going in or coming out of the selective schools.

  16. I'm receiving a lot of bad comments on FB for calling the Hurricane in Florida just a lot of hot air.

    1. Don't know about the hurricane but there's certainly a lot of media hot air which could be enough to generate an area of low pressure over Broadcasting House and other such places which could develop into a deep depression with some associated high winds, hurricanes even.

    2. Former Commissioner of the London Fire Brigade DEI hire.. Dany Cotton says "Stay where you are, try to get out into the open."

  17. Good morning, all. Overcast with light rain and a breeze rustling the trees at the moment. However, the BBC weather forecast for today is somewhat different:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/95e0fdb74ad566846b58bad61be5b466b3e32d6110717f5ac497353843bec88a.png

    The same for Norwich and London, each with differing windspeeds in the 1,000s of mph range. Worrying, or a glitch?

    Weather Radar forecast is more in line with what I'm currently observing.

  18. 394437 + up ticks,

    Thursday 10 October: Watch wealth flee the country as Labour dismantles private education

    So finally ALL the treacherous efforts of the lab/lib/con mass governing controlled / morally illegal immigration / foreign paedophile umbrella coalition party, over the last three plus decades and due to the continuing efforts of party members & voters coming to fruition.

    Great success al-round in taking down a nation, so onwards and downwards with " the end is night " in sight.

    1. Plenty more room for Labour Change..

      Power cuts.
      Three day week.
      Unions on perma strike.
      A run on the £.
      Inflation hits 21%
      Emma Thompson's return to the 70s “a cake-filled misery-laden grey old island.”

    2. The very reason my much travelled father decided to haul my siblings and mother off to South Africa in 1967, he did not want to live in a Labour led Britain, especially under Harold Wilson.

      1. My family's experience exactly – onto the Windsor Castle in March '67 bound for Cape Town.

    1. Daylight has arrived, dull overcast, just finished my 2nd mug of tea and about to make 3rd and do the DT's tea & bowl of Weetabix.

  21. Good day all,

    Grey and wet at Castle McPhee. No sign of the hurricane force winds yet, but a bit cool at 7℃ rising to 10℃.

    The leftist bullshit marches on.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8f66758379a8bd4bc5b541857e0815a8b19e5ffc20d632ba50d85f948510896c.png

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/10/10/reeves-needs-25bn-of-tax-rises-to-avoid-austerity-ifs-warns/

    So, they want her to take more from us to avoid public sector austerity. In other words, they wish to transfer more austerity on to us, the long-suffering people, as if the current level of the regime's tax burden and the engineered inflation hasn't done enough damage.

    1. Too stoopid to even understand what allowing hundreds of thousands of people to invade our country and live off the already heavily scammed British taxpayers.
      The black hole government !

      1. Massive uncontrolled gimmigration was about creating a permanent state beholden voting block.

        It dismantles any Right minded party as the effnick vote has to be accounted for, it creates a permanent welfare class demanding more state spending, it creates an ever larger executive to have to deal with the criminality, which then has the public demanding more spending.

        In addition, massive uncontrolled gimmigration has the intended effect of undermining the culture and society of a country as the welfare dependent, criminal gimmigrant doesn't care about the country or nation. They share none of our values or history – they're beholden to the state: not the society. Big, left wing government loves that.

        It wasn't an accident. It's deliberate.

        1. But who administered the deliberate demolition of a once civilised country ? And why, what gain is there in it ? Are their heads queezed into a compost bin and all festering in one pot ?

    2. This from a woman who apparently had a debit/credit card withdrawn for overspending – seems she's trying to do the same with the UK economy?

      1. Labour always waste even more money than the socialist Tories.

        What she forgets is high taxes automatically create austerity – on the private sector, thus crushing investment and wealth creation, job creation.

        They cannot think beyond their own pathetic, parasitic mindset.

    3. The Uniparty all wanted a high tax economy.

      It was only Reform that wanted a low tax economy.

      Most voters wanted the Uniparty, so why are they whining?

      1. People are dumb. Apologies, but most folk have absolutely no idea what they're thinking at any one time. Those who vote Labour especially. It's a 'guhuh, gotta vote for them, they give money to da pourrr!'

        Labour voters are stupid. Lefty voters should be permanently excluded from having a vote because their entire ideology is determined to make people poorer, unhappier and miserable. They think they'll make people happier and better off, but they're too thick to understand that their attitudes always – ALWAYS – have the exact opposite effect.

  22. Good morning. How are the mighty fallen….
    https://rmx.news/article/poland-now-has-more-gold-reserves-than-the-uk/
    Setting ourselves up for third world status.

    Re the headline; why would anyone stay in the UK to pay for everyone else's children's schooling as well as their own children, as well as VAT, when they can move to the EU and get the school fees subsidised in tacit recognition that they are also contributing via taxes, PLUS the small fees they do pay are tax deductible?
    Bonus: less woke crap in schools and if you choose carefully, more affordable housing.

    1. I really hope there's no exemption for military personnel’s children.
      Mass exodus of highly trained stale white pilots & NCOs.. to be replaced by strong sassy independent black women.

    2. Interesting that Poland shows no sign of preparing to join the euro (despite its treaty obligation to do so).

  23. Steve McQueen’s odyssey ranks among the greatest war films ever made. 10 August 2024.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/729bf7c6d764a10d805d1ce37920f8d72e98b9dc05cc65729913136dafd3343e.png
    Blitz, which opened the 68th London Film Festival this evening, presents a teeming snapshot of the city at a pivotal point in time. Its Oliver Twist is George Ashby (Elliott Heffernan), a nine-year-old evacuee, whose mother Rita (Saoirse Ronan) tearfully sends him off from Paddington Station with a cardboard tag around his neck.

    The year is 1940, and with the Luftwaffe raining bombs on the industrialised East End by night, its cosy brick-built terraces are no longer safe. But for George, the countryside also holds little appeal, largely because Rita won’t be there. So an hour into the trip, he hops off the train and vows to make his way back.

    Yes folks. You’ve guessed it. Couldn’t McQueen have made do with a lesbian dwarf.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/blitz-review-steve-mcqueen-saoirse-ronan/

      1. No no no… remember your Orwell:

        “Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.”

    2. 1940s London: How many coloured kids were there, being shipped away by a white mother?

      1. Saw a nice new word yesterday- these things are now called blackverts, not adverts….

    5. Yes, nothing invokes the Blitz spirit more than an Irish Republican mother with a black son. Ah! The good old days

      2. All the bleck fathers were in Europe fighting the evil white Naazis while the white Brits were sunbathing in North Africa waiting for the Caribbean Commandos to arrive and drive out the camel killing Panzer Battalions hiding in the bazaars and brothels in Cairo and Tunis.

    1. You had a great trip, I hope? Only been once (to Rio, for a meeting), but I know several Brazilians, and the city and them are great!

    3. Hello J,

      Sounds as if your brief hol was an amazing experience , were you deep into the rainforest, or was the area you were in a tourist designated area , the way the game reserves are in Africa?

      1. The Pantonal is a large wetland, though very dry with the wet reduced to small areas where the wildlife congregated. It’s tourist oriented because of the wildlife viewing. Similar but different. The farms there are mainly cattle and horse ranches with lots of wide open spaces rather than rainforest.

  26. The West is sleepwalking into nuclear disaster
    Our leaders must let Israel eliminate the menace of Iranian atomic weapons for the longer term

    Hamish de Bretton-Gordon 09 October 2024 6:13pm BST

    As Israel decides how to respond to the 180 ballistic missiles fired from Iran last week, the Iranian nuclear weapons programme is centred in Prime Minister Netanyahu’s gunsights. The West, through subtle diplomacy – and no doubt even subtler spycraft – has thus far prevented the ayatollahs from gaining the ultimate weapon to subjugate the Israeli state and the West. Until October 7 2023, the Middle Eastern melting pot of hate and distrust has simmered just below critical, but it is now set to explode.

    Recent warnings by Ken McCallum, head of MI5, of sabotage and covert attacks from Russian and Iranian secret services, should not be delinked from what is happening in Tehran’s WMD programme. Russian and Iranian agents will no doubt be looking for vulnerabilities in our own nuclear power stations and other critical national infrastructure, but this will also be at the forefront of MI5 and MI6 operations.

    Both Russia and Iran have a pathological hatred of all things British, and our new government must concentrate on our security.

    It must learn to place defence above any desire to appease the hard Left and the dinner party woke by giving away – with undue haste – everything to do with our past, like the strategically important Chagos Islands: and most especially not to supporters of our adversaries like China.

    There is much talk about the existential threat to the Israeli state of the war with Iran. Less discussed is the existential threat to the rule of the ayatollahs if they cannot protect Iran from Israeli attack, which seems increasingly likely.

    The simmering resentment against the tyrannical rule of the mullahs and most especially the suppression of women and youth culture, could ignite into a full-scale popular revolution. This almost happened recently, after hundreds of females were mysteriously poisoned and draconian rules over face coverings met with widespread protests.

    Iran has two uranium mines and processing facilities, including three known uranium enrichment plants. Combined with its ballistic missile capabilities, it has all the ingredients for a viable nuclear weapon capable of striking Israel and the West.

    Though heavily scrutinised by the US and the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran has been in the nuclear arena since the 1950s. In recent years it has managed to avoid the closest scrutiny, especially when then president Trump withdrew his support for the Iran nuclear deal. It is highly possible that Putin, in return for supplies of weapons, may have given nuclear know-how to Iran, most especially as he wants Western eyes on the Middle East and not his misadventure in Eastern Europe.

    However, with 95 per cent of Iranian missiles fired at Israel so far failing to reach their target, there is huge doubt that a nuclear tipped one would fare any differently. More likely it would be destroyed above one of a number of Arab states. This would suit the ayatollahs as another method to ignite the Middle East. Hence the Iranian nuclear programme must be neutralised.

    It’s also important not to make the mistake of thinking that Iran is the same as Russia. Almost continuous nuclear bluster since Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, followed by a complete lack of action, may be lulling some in the West into underestimating the potential for use of an Iranian nuclear weapon.

    This would be unwise. Iran’s involvement in the Hamas atrocities of October 7 2023 should make even the most blinkered and inexperienced politicians realise that for the ayatollahs to press the “red button” against Israel would not take much soul searching in Tehran. The mullahs see the destruction of Israel as their god-given task.

    Many of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) are as corrupt and as evil as their allies in Moscow, but with absolutely no regard for the second and third order implications of an Iranian nuclear strike. That could lead to a global nuclear conflict, as Israel would no doubt launch its own nuclear weapons towards Iran in return.

    Israel undoubtedly has nukes at the moment and Iran does not. This is a nuclear deterrence equilibrium that Biden and Starmer would do well to maintain. The ayatollahs are in an Israeli nuclear headlock and they know it: the timid West, apparently including the outgoing and shattered US president, seems more persuaded by Tehran than Jerusalem.

    The whole planet wants a ceasefire and peace in the Middle East and the only obvious route to it today seems to be longer-term elimination of Iran’s nuclear capability. This is in the grasp of Israeli missiles and fighter jets. Iran without its terror proxies and nuclear weapons programme is a diminishing threat to the planet, which is in everybody’s interests.

    Even if Biden and Starmer are not prepared to unshackle Ukraine against Russia, they must surely see the benefits of allowing Israel to neutralise the Iranian nuclear programme – and so bring the world back from the precipice of apocalypse for the foreseeable future.

    1. "the route to peace is to attack Iran"

      I was a bit surprised to learn that some people are still unaware that attacking Iran has been a goal of the neo-cons since the turn of the century.
      Of course they are going to tell us that Iran is the most evil country on the planet and nuking it is the only way to peace. How else will they get people's support for the attack that they have long wanted to carry out?

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNt7s_Wed_4

    2. Putin was an invited invader, though. Iran is run by a bunch of utter nutters who are so blinded by their own psychotic religion they cannot see what they're doing is wrong.

      1. Actually we're all dead and now living in a parallel universe after ww3 kicked off last night.

      2. Ooh. Hot enough to cremate the ‘sausages’ …….. I wonder if the English Channel had similar temperatures …… boil the ‘sausages.’

      1. We are dealing with sociopaths who want to form a one world government. They have always been open about it. People have to get that simple fact into their heads.

      2. It's not worth taking the risk. Besides, what did the Northern Irish do to deserve this medical tyranny?

    3. BBC for Soton shows 224mph / kph winds (there's no label so not sure on the units used.

      On the upside, it'd mean washing dries quickly.

    2. He's desperate to appear relevant when he's not. He couldn't understand he had over used the 'My father was a tool maker' nonsense because his marketing people had said 'use this! It'll humanise you, you robotic statist detached twit!'

  33. From the Substack of Peter McCullough & John Leake:

    I once heard Thomas Sowell observe that many large state agencies are unable to solve problems because doing so would put all of the people who work for them out of their jobs. Such is the unhappy logic of many major enterprises upon which millions of people depend for their livelihoods.

    Plato made a similar observation in the Republic when Socrates observes that we see a proliferation of doctors and lawyers in a society in which people are NOT properly taking care of themselves and tending to their business.

    Incidentally, Socrates was famous for his extraordinarily robust constitution, which was attributed to his habit of eating and drinking very little. During the Peloponnesian War against Sparta, he distinguished himself as not only a brave and effective soldier, but also for being totally unbothered by the war’s hardships and deprivations. During the Great Plague of Athens in 430 B.C., he was completely immune to the illness.

    Just as robust health is bad for the medical industry and diplomacy is bad for the defense industry, a lack of infectious disease pandemics is bad for Big Pharma. This morning I was reminded of this when I saw the following Pfizer stock price chart:
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/12257e3a382ab080eeded34c21e6511c624a6e1b15e11032b9d67823fb349e44.jpg

    Pfizer’s fortunes have become entirely dependent on its COVID-19 vaccine.
    (the rest of the article is at https://petermcculloughmd.substack.com/p/pfizer-needs-another-pandemic )

    If you take out the 2020 – 2024 blip due to covid vaccines, Pfizer's stock seems to be on a downward trend line…

    1. This is the fundamental issue: improving things would see those making the improvements redundant. We just don't need massive government departments, endless quangos and gargantuan politicised administration. We do not need an invasion of foreigners.

      We should be scrapping welfare to make work pay, but the state cannot understand that because it wants to look like the good guy by handing out other people's money – because it refuses to understand the consequence of that largess. It also means relying upon the market to provide the jobs and can't permit that as it has no control over them.

      At every level, big government fails because it cannot see past it's own failure.

  34. Morning all 🙂😊
    Weather wise ? Same as usual.
    Government wise ?……. they haven't got a clue regarding the damage they are doing, but they're insistence on overall vindictiveness would be almost amusing if it wasn't damaging many people's lives. Almost a version of Passport to Pimlico.
    They are being as 'silly' as the script was.
    Can't they just come up with a plan that is worthwhile or are they just too stoopid ?

    1. It's not stupidity, it's mendacity. Reeves cannot see beyond her own narrow perception. Milioaf is a demented, psychotic loon. Starmer doesn't understand why he can't grift and trough, as he complained everyone else (in his circle) did.

      None of them have the interest or wit to actually make a positive impact on the country because it negatively affects their ideological position. To them, they want money, so they will take money. That action has no consequences whatsoever. Raynor thinks giving people a big bundle of unearned freebies is a good thing because she has never had to ever earn anything in her life.

      They're all corrupt, useless, incompetent, thoroughly stupid troughers who've done absolutely nothing of use and don't understand that there are no solutions – only trade offs.

  35. 394437+ up ticks,

    Good stuff that"tactical voting" in some respects, tis on par with
    introducing a lighted fag end to the arse end of a leech.

    In the treachery stakes the over ALL Capo dei capi
    Wef / Nwo active cartel agents, will be named in Nov.

    Cleverly out of Tory race ‘after tactical voting backfires’
    Former home secretary slumps to last place in the final ballot of MPs, with Robert Jenrick and Kemi Badenoch through to final two

    1. I think the tories are showing us that they are now on level par with Labour and their current game of 'spot the difference' is going to cost them very dearly.

  36. From Vigilant Fox:

    "An anonymous source told Chris Martenson that during a town meeting, it was revealed that Chimney Rock, North Carolina, (recently devastated by the biggest hurricane since 1916) would be bulldozed and that the remaining homes were “no longer theirs.”
    The explanation for this move was that the “federal government owned it all.”
    The source questioned, “What crazy play for land this is,” pointing to the presence of lithium mines nearby."

    If true, this would be a repeat of the Lahaina disaster capitalism playbook. Apparently the locals have been resisting expansion of lithium mines. Would like to see the reported land grab confirmed though. Difficult when the media appears to be ignoring the hurricane.

      1. It’s a catch phrase which means something like making a profit out of disasters, i.e. disasters are capital, I think.

  37. Joan Bakewell should take being called ‘the thinking man’s crumpet’ as a compliment
    The Labour peer’s recent regret over the label doesn’t tally with what she has said before
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/09/joan-bakewell-thinking-mans-crumpet-is-a-compliment/

    BTL Comment :

    "Voudriez-vous un petit morceau de comment va votre père?"

    An expression seldom – if ever – used in France but used in the UK in the days when Joan Bakewell was considered rather appealing!

    1. Saudi Arabia’s growing influence in Britain

      SIR – Saudi Arabia’s latest acquisition is a 40 per cent stake in Selfridges (Business, October 8). Have we really thought through the implications of the increasing influence in this country of an Islamic absolute monarchy? Political change is a creeping process. Are we ready for it?

      Cameron Morice
      Reading, Berkshire

      So, what else don't we know?

      1. At this rate we will be half owned by the Saudis and the other half owned by the Chinese! What a choice!

        1. The wind farm owners are either Spain or Denmark. Almost nothing of the crippling taxes we pay for unreliable, inefficient, intermittent crushingly expensive energy comes to the UK.

        2. As the vast majority of our oil comes from Saudi Arabia how can sad dick and stop oil allow this to happen. This is entirely against the anti pollution principles they are set on.

    2. Any advert with some swarthy foreigner and a bearded child molester should be banned. Bring back women in their pants.

          1. Even of you don't like her style of underwear she does super interviews on Sky Art…..about Art.

            Impressive personality and a joy to listen to.

      2. Pants? Or even some footwear. Who remembers the T Elliott posters for boots etc in the late 1960s and 1970s? The baa-lambs (twin models, young) would surely be banned today, and were risque on the Underground even in the 1970s.

      1. The irony is that Farage thinks Jenrick is the better of the two candidates. He was on GBN last night saying as much. He's very critical of Badenoch. Personally I think they both talk but don't walk.

        1. Isn't that the curse these days? We're saddled with politicians who spout gibberish but who's hands have been tied by the very institutions they set up.

          The Tories had 14 years to unravel the mess the Left had created. The endless quangos, the constant fighting from the politically stuffed Upper house, the squabbling and delaying tactics of publicly funded lawyers fighting against the public using public money. At every step the establishment stops rational legislation getting through.

          Politicians are desperate for ego points. Headlines, articles, positive press. They're sunk without it yet the dismantling of the prison of statism gets them none of that but is the only thing that needs to be done to allow any positive activity whatsoever.

          1. Labour are only intent on the destruction of this country, we are going to be the the real basket case of Europe and all thanks to the incompetence of the torys. So I hope they are proud of themselves.

        2. 99% of politicians very similar, Sue (good morning 🙂 did you see Johnson on the CT Show, he's 100% nonsense, rather have anyone than him – seemed to me to possibly be indicating a return to GB politics..the joy…

        3. Farage is correct. Jenrick will increase the standing of the TINO party more than Badenoch, which will be detrimental to the Reform Party. We need as many disgruntled Tories as possible if Reform is to be a potent force after the next election.

        4. Apparently Badenoch was rude to him, and he does carry a grudge. But that doesn't make him a bad person, because do do i.

    2. He doesn't offer anything new. I can guarantee as soon as he gets into office he'll instantly say 'oh, we can't do anything I campaigned on, sorry' and continue a business as usual big state high tax Left wing nonsense.

        1. I'd argue we need more than that. A change of party isn't enough. We need direct democracy, an overhaul of who can vote and a complete removal of the state from levying taxes without our permission or consent. We need referism, where the state has to ask us if we accept their budget and if we don't, they can't do anything.

    3. Good morning, Rastus…thanks for the first (hope not the last) laugh of the day, re Jenrick…in his dreams :-DD

    4. Good morning, Rastus…thanks for the first (hope not the last) laugh of the day, re Jenrick…in his dreams :-DD

    1. That's rather interesting. Maybe seeing thousands of jobs being destroyed by the green Left have kicked some of the less moronic Welsh into rethinking their daft attitudes.

    2. If the bloody (excuse my French) Tories and Reform could just sort themselves out, we wouldn’t be in the mess we ars in. We could be 12 points ahead.

        1. It is time for the old corpse to die; we need a new right of centre party which really is right of centre. This party may or may not be Reform but it is certainly NOT the Conservative Party.

      2. No, no, no! The Conservatives would make lots of promises and then betray reform and thus destroy them as a viable alternative. The reality is that the MSM politicians are playing 20th century politics which are no longer valid and inadequate to the task at hand.

        The more I listen to the tech savvy youngsters on 'The Lotus Eaters' and on X, I realize that they have better answers than does our generation. It pains me to say so, but their understanding of what to do and how, is better than ours save in one respect. We carry the knowledge of the world before the infiltration and triumph of the culturally Marxist ideology and thus have invaluable real world knowledge that enables us to help them. But they have the practical knowledge to negotiate through this world, it is theirs and they understand it, we don't. Youngsters are ready to go but even Reform is slow to utilize them. The youngsters want to start a youth wing of Reform but the powers that be simply don't understand the advantage. The advantage is obvious, it's their world and they understand it. Their "hero" is Viktor Oban and his political party which has a youth wing that is amazing, the most active section of the party and truly conservative to the core. Simply put, conservatism is the new rebellion amongst the young but they are not, in the UK, being utilized or being allowed to organize.

        1. Ah, yes. I was writing on the premise that the conservatives have not morphed into the uniparty (whcih the current bunch have).

  41. I have posted this video over on the Telegraph letters' page. As the Government proceeds to pillage taxpayers, we have the beginning of another huge Green Boondoggle with Miliputian's £22 billion Green Juggernaut now set to roll over us. This will waste billions but make insiders rich at the expense of the ordinary people. This film from Robert F Kennedy Jr explores the insidious nature of the Green industry as beloved by these dangerous politicians. An interesting aspect of this film, is when disaster occurred, it was because- and here we go again, the computer models used did not include certain aspects that any sensible and competent civil engineer would examine when it came to pipeline construction. We see the whole Climate Change nonsense underpinned by dodgy computer models, we saw a serial failure and mad computer modeller being allowed to conjure up "we're all going to die" predictions over the so-called "pandemic" and on and on it goes. A very worthwhile watch- 26 minutes long.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llcvrKDJRo0

    1. 'Green' was only ever intended to be yet another system of having rich lefties get richer from the backs of poor workers. It is just the latest weapon to force socialism.

        1. When the state demanded people be told a lie, and schools forced to preach the lie what did anyone expect? Why else did Blair remove the demand for balanced reporting of 'climate change'? It was nothing more than a control system.

        2. That's because the narrative is intertwined with phenomena which are truly worrying and which need to be addressed, such as pollution (e.g plastic, and overconsumption of cheap tat from China), and loss of insect populations due to intensive agriculture. It takes thought to untangle the threads, and most people.don't have time for that.

  42. After dinner had one o f those 'entire conversation in a few looks' with the Warqueen and things are back to normal. For now.

    Her throwing out that she was jealous of my relationship with my gym wife was a bit of a surprise.

    Anyway – notable bit of news folk seem to have missed. Apparently there are 750,000 criminal gimmigrants in the country, or 1 for every 100 of the population. Which means the population is at least 75,000,000 – many millions of whom are themselves immigrants.

    When none of the criminal gimmigrants are working and over two thirds of the immigrants are utterly welfare dependent that means some 20% of the foreign population of the whole country are welfare dependent. Add in the public sector and native welfare dependency and we have well over 60% of the population being welfare dependent. Then the workers have families of their own and suddenly we see that a third are having to support the other two thirds.

    Then Reeves goes on about having to impose austerity is she cannot hike taxes dramatically and we see an obvious problem with an even more obvious solution: The state cannot see past it's own interests and Reeves is thick.

    Big government is always going to demand more or itself because the idea of closing the OBR and 1200 other quangos is beyond it. It wants to exist. Reeves also cannot understand that hiking taxes creates unemployment. She lacks the ability to think beyond her own narrow attitudes. The demand that the OBR never be sidelined again is laughable, as it is the problem.

    We all know what will happen if taxes are hiked (and they will be). Unemployment will rise, welfare demands will rise and as the jobs are permanently destroyed inter generational welfare will become enforced. The only 'jobs' left will be in the state.

    Oh well. If only we had a party comprised of people with competence, experience and ability who've lived in the real world.

      1. Yep, Tesco footfall suggests close to 85 million. ASDA and Sainsbury's about the same.

        The country is grossly overpopulated. Some immigrants are great. In fact, many of those who work, contribute, abide by the law, pay taxes – wonderful. But they too need medical care and houses, schools and eventually pensions (which wile they've contributed to they've not contributed 'enough' to).

        Yes, you're not going to balance a Polish actuary against a Northern layabout as the layabout will never be able to do the job but the local is competing against the world, not other Britons.

        However, the reverse is also true. Britons can now compete with any one else (no doubt we're taking work from an English speaking Chinese fellow when we translate their UIs for them).

    2. "If only we had a party comprised of people with competence, experience and ability who've lived in the real world."
      One out of four would be a good start.

    3. People won’t bother to work. Why should they? It’s a rational response. I would have retired last year except for Jeremy Hunt’s decision to abolish the Lifetime Allowance. This year I am packing as much as I can into my pension, to avoid having to pay tax on it. I already took out as much as I could tax-free to pre-empt any budget changes – hence the acquisition of the house in Southampton earlier this year for my children. I hadn’t planned on being so generous; but would rather they benefit than the taxman.

    4. People won’t bother to work. Why should they? It’s a rational response. I would have retired last year except for Jeremy Hunt’s decision to abolish the Lifetime Allowance. This year I am packing as much as I can into my pension, to avoid having to pay tax on it. I already took out as much as I could tax-free to pre-empt any budget changes – hence the acquisition of the house in Southampton earlier this year for my children. I hadn’t planned on being so generous; but would rather they benefit than the taxman.

  43. Morning Nottlers, it's that time again.

    Free Speech's 's new article, by Iain Hunter, is a thought provoking piece entitled " Unacceptable Opinions ". Mr Hunter sets out a list of opinions currently unacceptable in polite society (i.e. the drawing rooms of Islington and Hampstead) and one or two that might raise eyebrows even in the robust, impolite society I prefer.

    Please do read and comment, as we need the support of the many first class posters on this excellent site.

    And as ever, please do sign up for our newsletter, and follow us on X (Twitter) , Facebook , Instagram and Threads , should you be brave enough to venture to those wild lands.

    https://www.freespeechbacklash.com/

    Cheers, Tom

    1. I'm amazed at how many thoughtful and well-researched articles you put up, Tom. How did you find all those authors? I can see why the articles aren't in the MSM, they present complicated subjects properly, not just as "Putin Bad" kind of slogans, and they take time to read and digest.
      Thanks for your and your contributor's work. Superb!

      1. Thanks. I don’t know how it happened. It just did. Most are ex-Speccie readers who I nvited to look at the site, and then asked it they wanted to write an article. I still want more mind, so think about it yourself!

        They do like comments though Oberst, so I encourage folk to read and leave a comment behind, positive or negative.

  44. Just looking in – bonfire half finished. Everything, unfortunately, a bit damp. So am having a coffee and doing the crossword and will go out again in half an hour. MR is seeing to t'market.

      1. Just think about it, stupid. One burns half the material available for burning. Sheesh…

      2. Or how can it be half-finished ?It's either finished or it isn't. If half of what you wanted to burn has burned, then you have actually had two bonfires. Not half of one bonfire. Sheesh.

  46. 'Morning All
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fadba0325bc5300502ea46a89b81095cbd62a2b39a7d4078bebe908fc342ba37.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/30a500bb11efad4aaba936f41d38ebfa77b5f74aa41517f4add590c64031f4bf.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/447f7850548fa5a22f6f0a1323f5862b68134e3da95f9d53de9a83211d7404e3.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1c407722154ff0e542f1c78c945b693d36930e571d980b3fa12574eec14a4129.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/840866eab9e31074052395abbc501cfae67a170c0a78fa318be174e61da04ab8.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b7a028ebdb6640bc2853b2cc4cbc9fd7fbf6f46e444dc75415a2b91be9e77eee.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fc760e066cdffdb74cab60db8a257a5dd2c3f48cd8aa99d8d0d1a6cc74283b6e.png

    1. Not sure Twitter is thriving. Musk did the right thing but the Left mobilised to manipulate advertisers to avoid i. He's now taking them to court over that abuse of market.

      1. Malvolio was not born great, he did not achieve greatness but he had greatness thrust upon him just as Spotty Muldoon had spots thrust upon him.

        Were Reeves and Cooper born evil, did they acquire evil or did they have evil thrust upon them?

  47. "Oh, look! A squirrel!" moment.
    Red squirrel climbing up the outside of the garage to get under the eaves and out of the torrential rain. Beautiful browny-copper colour, so it is.

  48. Not easy:
    Wordle 1,209 5/6

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

    1. Probably lucky recovery. I had an alternative Starter word which would have solved in two but made the wrong selection.

      Wordle 1,209 3/6

      🟨⬜🟨🟨⬜
      🟩🟨🟨⬜🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  49. As a rule I deplore the odd comment on various fora calling for the death of our enemies by torture without doubt some men (and women) simply need killing,let it be done cleanly with the noose or the bullet
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f1649c0d8c0973790c801b8f8fca3c26b6afe40cf8fe77ded2dce9fa7aa08cb4.jpg
    However as with any rule there are exceptions if the link below is even remotely accurate I want to see the Embankment lined with crosses
    Crucify them crucify them all..
    https://x.com/thecoastguy/status/1844083927797117197
    https://x.com/thecoastguy/status/1844083927797117197

    2. Is there a correlation being looked for, or are there other impacting factors, such as diet, living conditions, genetic disparity, demographic?

  50. Off to have lunch now with my two old schoolfriends. So many topics to avoid………..but I can bore the pants off them with my trip to Brazil.

  52. I used to get so excited whenever I saw a red squirrel in Germany! Such exquisite colours! (My friends thought I was nuts! 🤣🤣)

  53. NHS hospital tells staff not to describe babies as ‘born’ male or female
    Guidance encourages term ‘assigned’ as a more ‘accurate’ depiction

    Michael Searles
    Health Correspondent.
    Tim Sigsworth
    Related Topics
    NHS (National Health Service), Transgender, LGBTQ
    10 October 2024 12:32am BST

    316
    An NHS hospital has urged staff not to describe babies as being “born male or female”.

    Guidance developed by the James Paget University Hospitals Trust in Great Yarmouth said its staff should use the phrase “assigned female/male at birth” instead.

    It claims this “accurately depicts the situation of what happens at birth” and also describes other “inclusive language dos and don’ts” for its staff.

    The document, called Celebrating Pride, includes an “LGBTQ+ glossary” with definitions for the range of terminology that should be used. It also has a list of words and phrases to avoid in order not upset patients.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/09/nhs-hospital-in-great-yarmouth-gender-language-guidance/?fbclid=IwY2xjawF0hjRleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHXGq2X-9d359wD7fr8Q0d5vKhbr_Fj9CaAQUS-8D7zvxZ6DoDtfxTnbdTQ_aem_YvEn4D6ta75DMheW8IGiog

    RH

    R Hutton
    4 min ago
    I'll solve this:

    Born with winkle-boy

    No winkle-girl

    No grant funding necessary.

    Comment by Andrew Peterson.

    AP

    Andrew Peterson
    6 min ago
    And Rachel Reeves doesn't know where to start filling her alleged black hole!

    2. Nonsense, it doesn't "accurately depicts the situation of what happens at birth". It takes no specialist knowledge, still less anyone employed by the NHS to decide that factually, at birth, a child is either male or female. Any individual suggesting otherwise, working in a hospital, should be fired on the spot. The birth of a child is not an occasion for insane politics and such a person with these sort of opinions should be deemed unsafe and unfit to work in the NHS.

      1. That would take management and political backbones.
        Neither are in evidence as this farce follows their agenda.
        Want to change things? Hope people change their voting ways.

        1. I joined Reform, very reluctantly because I don't trust Farage. But it doesn't look like there are any other alternatives.

      2. They need some sensible midperson to “assign” an obvious boy as a female gender and vice versa. After a week or so the parents will be up in arms, demanding proper observation of sex rather rhan assignment of gender

      3. Instead such morons are recruited by the NHS at a ridiculous cost. The NHS would be better off spending the money trying to find a cure for stupid.

      4. Instead such morons are recruited by the NHS at a ridiculous cost. The NHS would be better off spending the money trying to find a cure for stupid.

  56. I see that the Stupidly failed vote rigging lending malarkey was master minded by, wait for it, Grant Shitts. What a brain on legs that tosser is.

      1. So Cleverly (I'm assuming he's the one taking an involuntary dismount) is riding for Godolphin?

    2. Good God, imagine having Grant Shapps as your campaign manager! Fking amateurs!

      The only remaining question is…is Gove managing Jenrick, Badenoch or both of them?

  57. Morning all. Another dark day, no rain and not all that cold either. It's the sort of day when you feel like going back to bed dozing and hanging out with pastries preferably with whipped cream and chocolate.

    Just started The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles. Not much to say about it yet. Who else has read it and any advice?

    2. I recall a passage which describes the remedy for those who clip coins which involved removing some body part and the “testicles beneath” of the coin clipper.

  58. Florida wall to wall MSM coverage North Carolina?? Not so much
    "So "hurricane" Milton is now a cat.1 storm, already? Some mobile homes have been destroyed, a crane blew down, and there's a lot of people without power. Hardly "the most destructive weather event for a century" that they were hyping.
    I love it that mother nature keeps screwing with their narrative, making them all look like even bigger %rseh@les than before."
    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FeRwN5_aAAAqRjf.jpg

    1. Did you see the BBC forecast, for winds of around 800mph..now described as 'a glitch' by chief weather woman. Were they somehow making hay out of Florida's woes, a Republican Senator in deSantis.

      1. You must have it bad, we are only forecasted 586mph.
        I expect it to be named Hurricane Kier.

    2. Curious how a non-event is hyped up while the victims of the genuinely huge storm are ignored…

    3. Houses in Florida have to be resilient. It is usually the case that mobile structures, caravan parks and older timber framed houses represent the most damaged areas.

      Power lines are always vulnerable to storm damage. It is the combination of heavy rain and high winds that causes most damage.

  59. Not to be missed' Now on Radio 4 (45 minutes)

    Nile Rogers tells John Wilson about his bohemian upbringing in 1950s New York with his mother and stepfather who were both drug users and his own drug soaked 50 year career with his bands Chic and Sister Sledge, and collaborations with artists including Diana Ross, David Bowie, Duran Duran, Madonna, Daft Punk and Beyoncé. Not forgetting the untimely death by pneumonia.(Ha ha ha) of Bernard Edwards in 1996 shortly after he played a gig with Rogers in Tokyo.

    1. Nice to see our European “friends and partners” being true to form.
      Whilst the people of these countries have no particular ill will against us, the political agents continue in their malignant ways.
      They have never forgiven us for the audacity of voting to leave.

      1. If every country in the EU was granted a Brexit style referendum on the same day I wonder how many would remain?
        Not many would be my guess.

          2. Probably, Germany or France where I can speak the languages or Spain where I lived for 5 yeas. I can get by in Spanish and Swedish but Sweden gouges you for tax!

      2. Or for saving their skins in two World Wars, and in France's case beating their pint-size dictator Napoleon.

        1. We done what we have done in the past because it was best for the UK at that time.
          The same could be said about 2016 and the vote to leave, the only difference was previously the Government agreed with what was done, after all even if we took a neutral position in 1939 Hitler would have eventually threatened our very existence . The 2016 referendum result I believe the right result for our country but our politicians showed themselves like the EU bureaucrats, they despised us for daring to vote against their wishes.

    2. A strong UK (I know, I know) would, in that case, require Spanish people who come to the UK to have passports (not Euro ID cards) and a £20 visa. That would stop their nonsense.

    3. The border was closed for more than 13 years depriving 15.000 Spaniards of an occupation. A question of politicians cutting off their own peoples nose to spite the British enemy.
      I had the honour to parade through the streets of Gibraltar when we were granted the Freedom of the town and country of Gibraltar. It was still a closed border then. It partially reopened in Dec 1982 and fully in 1986.

    4. Not going to happen until Lammy offers Spain a few billion pounds to pay for the Soanish troops that will be stationed in Gibraltar.

  62. End of a wonderful career.

    Rafael Nadal, the 22-time Grand Slam champion, will retire from tennis at the end of this season.

    The 38-year-old will represent Spain in his final appearance at next month's Davis Cup Finals in Malaga.

    1. I got as far as this.

      "On the anniversary of the events of October 7, 2023, when Hamas fighters from Gaza attacked Israeli civilians at an adjacent music festival following years of anti-Palestinian oppression,…"

          1. The Scots whose clans were always fighting each other.? Who didn't have the ability to show their intelligence until the English had some say in the financing (well certainly did after James VI/I) made available by England? Those poor oppressed Scots?

      1. I think she’s just an old fashioned journalist. I would like to think that if the Israelis were treated the way they are treating the Gazans she would go for their abusers. I could be wrong!

    1. She is also (so I'm informed) one of these "artistes" who perform in public in their underwear.

          1. Also there are whispers that she and her husband are up to their necks in the latest Hollywood sx/pdophile/drugs/satanic doings scandal.

        1. Au contraire. find her gross and very unattractive. There is an English black woman – who goes by one name only – who emulates her. I don’t care for her, either.

    2. That's Beyonce? In all honesty I thought she was white. But then I don't keep up with what passes for pop music now. It's all annoying shrieking.

      2. Apparently black, brown and other people who don't consider themselves to be white, have a large market in skin whiteners. Like we have bronzers. Make of that what you will, but in the case of bronzers I don't think there is any "grass is greener" element to it..

      3. Apparently black, brown and other people who don't consider themselves to be white, have a large market in skin whiteners. Like we have bronzers. Make of that what you will, but in the case of bronzers I don't think there is any "grass is greener" element to it..

    4. Because, despite all the disadvantages her ethnicity has inflicted on her, she has succeeded beyond the wildest dreams of most of us. On the other hand, despite all the advantages – privileges – which our ethnicity has conferred on us, we've miserably failed to achieve even a modest fraction of her success.

  65. I don't follow creekit these days – but when was the last time an England XI scored over 800 runs in an innings?

      1. How long do you have? I find trying to discuss the sport of cricket and all its vagaries with ingenues to the sport a difficult task; you really need to be born with it to take it all in. However, I shall endeavour.

        The winner of a cricket match is the team that amasses a higher aggregate total of runs over two innings. If one team amasses a really high number of runs in one of their innings without losing all their wickets, the captain might consider that his team may be capable of bowling out the opposing team, twice, before they can score a large enough total of runs to overtake his own side's total. In that case he may 'declare' his own team's innings closed and then put his opponents in to bat.

        The term 'declaration' simply means to announce that his team are satisfied with their run total and invite the other team to try to beat it.

        1. I must add that the remaining time in the match and its weather prospects also influence a declaration decision and its timing.

          As the team aggregate or individual batters approach a landmark total, such as a century, multiples thereof or a team or personal best, a declaration decision might be delayed to allow the target to be achieved. Get it wrong and a captain can be taken to task for poor judgment, either to the cost of the team or an individual.

          Mainly, though, the captain has to take heed of any opportunity to give his bowlers the time to either bowl out the opposition to a defeat or, at least, to give his batters a modest target score and the time to achieve it if required to bat again.

          It's quite a mental juggling act and can backfire if the opposition scores quickly and sets a lead which gives its bowlers a chance to inflict defeat on a captain making a reckless declaration.

          As some competitions approach their climax, one or perhaps both sides only need to draw to achieve an end, such as secure a title, avoid relegation, achieve promotion or win a series, in which case there will be less incentive to declare in an effort to win the match in progress, no matter how propitious the circumstances.

          Obviously, I've complicated and muddied the waters somewhat, but I felt an explanation of what might incentivise a declaration decision, or delay/discourage one, needed to be set out.

    3. Another Yorkshireman, Brook, outscored Root's 262 in hitting 317, tied for 20th in the list of highest individual scores in test cricket. He became the sixth Englishman to make a triple-hundred, and the first since Graham Gooch in 1990.

      1. Also Brook and Root's stand of 454 is (comfortably) England's highest of all time and the total of 823-7 the fourth highest in Test cricket.
        An astonishing day!

        1. Followed by a partial collapse by Pakistan. Call me an old cynic, and many do, but match fixing springs to mind – given that the pitch yielded 1379 runs for the first two innings.

          1. I know what you mean but Pakistan did dig in at the end to take it into the last day.

            Additionally pitches always become more bowler-friendly as the game progresses – it'll probably spin like a top tomorrow!

          2. I know what you mean but Pakistan did dig in at the end to take it into the last day.

            Additionally pitches always become more bowler-friendly as the game progresses – it'll probably spin like a top tomorrow!

          3. Explanations offered by the Sky commentary team included fatigue – not just physical, but mental as well – of the Pakistani batsmen, who had spent so many hours labouring in the field, and the pitch beginning to add some variability – sideways swing – to the efforts of the England bowlers, who were also comparatively fresh having spent most of the day with their feet up with Root and Brook occupying the crease for much of the time.

          1. Yes, it’s inevitable on such an amazing day there would be a whole host of records set including some more obscure ones like it only being about the 3rd time ever two batsmen in the same innings had scores in excess of 250.
            All achieved at 5.5 runs per over!!

  66. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/10/10/reeves-plans-to-lure-back-foreign-cash-concierge-service/

    In the artcile reeves details her complete lack of awareness for how business works. No doubt she thinks that massively subsidised industry is something to be proud of. It might be on paper. £200bn chucked at one company means massive profits for that company which is then taxed and the 'investor' gets a return.

    But… the subsidy comes from tax payers. It's stolen 'real wealth'. That's a loss to the country, not a benefit. The investment is simply a guarantee from the government that tax payers will be forced to keep paying them, regardless of the value of their investment.

    If someone said to me – we'll pay you £1000 for two years, risk free if you invest 10,000 then I'd leap at it. We all would. However when you find out that the government is taking £1500 off you to pay the £1000 suddenly you're not making any money. The only place nonsense like this makes sense is in the mind of government accountants and the Treasury.

    Reeves – as we've said before – cannot see past her own ideology. She cannot see why she is wrong. Making it easy to invest here through an expensive government quango is utterly the wrong decision. If investment wanted to come here it wouldn't need a quango to help them.

    1. I have a finite income.
      Increase my involuntary expenses (such as a local tax) and there's less to pay the voluntary (eg: pub, restaurants, flower shops, food, etc), and so their takings go down.
      Some will respond by laying of shop assistants; they will all pay less tax as there's less income to be taxed…
      Repeat over all the inhabitants, and the govt tax take goes up from income, goes down from business, and the unemployment goes up.
      All so government can waste my income for me.

      1. To government, they've raised more tax. That's all they count. They don't bother counting the cost of the tax rise because that'd prove them to be utter morons.

      2. Yup. My income has dropped by £200, so I've cut back. The TV tax has gone out of the window, the county council isn't getting paid extra to empty my green bin and I'm only going to tax the Motorhome for six months. They have "saved" £200, I've reduced my payments by £395.75 which means they've actually lost £195.75. Labournomics.

  68. This story was featured on GB News yesterday. This is the only media report I've found so far. Lewis involved again, unsurprisingly.

    The Windrush business was simply a cock-up, going back to the days of paper records. And the idea that the Home Office implements 'policies that continue to disadvantage people of color' is absurd. It's been doing quite the opposite for the last decade!

    British lawmakers urge home secretary to address racism in country's immigration policies

    A group of British lawmakers wrote to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper on Tuesday urging her to acknowledge the links between racism and the country's immigration legislation as the government prepares to introduce new laws on border security, asylum and immigration.

    The 25 Black, Asian and ethnic minority members of parliament (MPs) highlighted concerns that Britain's immigration framework "cannot be uncoupled from racism and the exclusion of people of color."

    Their letter came in response to the recent release of a previously suppressed Home Office report on the origins of the Windrush scandal.

    The report revealed that immigration legislation from 1950 to 1981 was "designed at least in part to reduce the number of people with black or brown skin who were permitted to live and work in the UK."

    This report, titled "The Historical Roots of the Windrush Scandal," was buried by the Home Office but has now resurfaced, prompting calls for a significant reassessment of how immigration policy is framed.

    Written by Labour MP Clive Lewis and signed by lawmakers including Diane Abbott, Bell Ribeiro-Addy and Marsha de Cordova, the letter stresses the need for urgent reflection on how current immigration narratives risk creating "enabling environments for racism."

    The MPs argue that "deep-seated institutional and cultural failures" within the Home Office led to the suppression of the report and contributed to policies that continue to disadvantage people of color.

    The letter calls for action to prevent another Windrush scandal, a reference to the 2018 debacle in which thousands of legal UK residents, many of Caribbean heritage, were wrongly classified as illegal immigrants.

    It also criticizes the government's handling of the Windrush compensation scheme, which has been repeatedly condemned for delays in payments to those affected.

    The MPs demanded improvements to the scheme, stating that it represents "continued failures" in the government's efforts to repair the damage caused by the scandal.

    Following a summer of heightened awareness of racial injustice, the MPs argue that this is an opportunity for the government to address systemic racism within immigration policies.

    "The government has an important opportunity to recognize the conclusions of this report and shift the dial. This means action to acknowledge the links between racism and hostile migration policies," the letter states.

    https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/british-lawmakers-urge-home-secretary-to-address-racism-in-country-s-immigration-polices-ahead-of-new-legislation/3355878

    1. There's a "vibe" going around the US documented on YT, and surprisingly supported by the blacks that have got their act together.. anyhow the "vibe"is captured in the title.
      I Went To a Black Owned Business And it Ended Badly AGAIN!!!
      by Black Bigalow

      Black Bigalow aint no Louis Theroux and can waffle a bit but you get the picture.
      Oh and read the comments.
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJ70W2xRLCw&t=2s

      1. Lamont, I am a black woman and my experience with black owned businesses in the past, present and recently has not been good at all. So trust I understand what you went through. I am now at the point that I no longer want to support black owned businesses. Now when I walk into any business and blacked owned businesses, if there is no greeting, attitude or the workers acting like they don’t want to be bothered..I walk right back out..I refused to spend my money for sh**ty service no matter what nationality owns it.

        Im black and i work on cars on the side and i usually turn down black customers because they expect me to look at their car for free and basically want you to fix a $500 problem for $40 also now anything that breaks on that car after i work on it no matter how much time has passed or what part it is automatically my fault or something i did …ignorance

        As a white man raised by a Jamaican woman I was taught to read the room if you make eye contact and first reaction is you wouldn't sit at a table with that person then why trust them to prep your food

        1. "Black-owned businesses?"

          Oh, you mean the Blanket, Bowl and Stick Company Ltd?

          Oh dear, I forgot. Blankets, bowls and sticks were invented by white Britons.

      2. Boring fart.

        I think his attitude stinks. If that comes across to the black guys then no wonder they fuck him around.

        He also contradicts himself about visits to black owned businesses.

        Also…$120 to $130 to replace a flat on a scooter???

        He sounds like he is full of shit.

      3. This is unfair. It isn't 'black owned business' that's the issue. It's people not caring about the job they do. One of the electricians I work with is black. I couldn't care less. He's the best sparky I've ever known. I know he won't just do a good job, I know it'll be neat, tidy, that' he'll leave the site clean and properly documented, in time.

        There are plenty of shoddy workers. Their colour isn't relevant.

        1. Indeed. There are plenty of blacks that have got their act together..
          However, there is an underlying "vibe" brewing & festering amongst the black community in the US.
          And unfortunately their colour is relevant.. very relevant.

          I is the messenger bruv.. don't cut me legs off and call me shorty.

        2. Two highly intelligent brothers, of Jamaican extraction, worked in the maintenance department of a company I worked at. One was a maintenance fitter the other an electrician. They were exceedingly bright, amiable and hard-working. The chap who was a fitter also maintained the private cars of staff and employees (including the members of the board) as a side-line. He was reliable and not expensive; only charging for parts since he did most of his work during the working day (in the time he was not on-call to maintain factory machinery)..

          He applied to become a Justice of the Peace and was successful. He also provided me with an exceptional work reference when I left for other employment. I cannot speak highly enough of those two brothers.

          2. Martin Luther King is now despised by the BLM and the left for saying that it is the quality of your character which is more important than the colour of your skin.

          3. That's the truly sad thing. The hard left have done so much damage to tolerance, decency and genuine integration.

    2. Just confirming that when you want to find racism, you will find racism.
      Maybe a few billion pounds for reconciliation will help heal the wounds (well that is the Canadian way with first nations frifters).

      1. I was surprised when older grandchild started school to be told that every morning they have to chant out some sort of 'gratitude' for being on 'first nation' land.

  69. Praying at home may be illegal under Scots abortion law, campaigners fear

    Residents told that being on private property is no bar to prosecution under new legislation

    Janet Eastham, Acting Religious and Social Affairs Editor • 9th October 2024 8:09pm

    Praying at home may be a criminal offence under new Scottish abortion laws, the SNP Government has warned.

    New legislation took effect across Scotland last month, establishing 200-metre "safe access zones" around all abortion clinics. Residents in these zones have been warned they could be in breach of the Abortion Services Act (Scotland) 2024 if they do "anything" that "would cause harassment, alarm, or distress" to staff and patients, even if this activity is carried out in the privacy of their own home.

    Pro-life campaigners fear that praying in these zones will be considered an offence following the arrests of several activists for harassment and public order-related offences in England and Northern Ireland.

    Guidance published by the Scottish Government to accompany the law change lists "religious preaching" and "silent vigils" as examples of activities that could be prohibited if conducted with "intent or recklessness".

    A letter sent to residents in an Edinburgh "safe access zone," seen by The Telegraph, warned they could face criminal prosecution for actions carried out at home.

    It said: "In general, the offences apply in public places within the safe access zones. However, activities in a private place (such as a house) within the area between the protected premises and the boundary of a zone could be an offence if they can be seen or heard within the zone and are done intentionally or recklessly." †

    It said that less serious offences violating the buffer zone law could result in fines of up to £10,000, with the most serious offences incurring an unlimited fine.

    Campaigners have told The Telegraph they fear Holyrood's implementation of the buffer zone law could restrict religious expression within private residences. One Edinburgh resident said she was "surprised" to receive such a letter. "As a Christian, I pray all the time," the young woman said, adding: "To think that this could now be a criminal offence, even within the vicinity of my own home, is truly unbelievable."

    Michael Robinson, executive director of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, told The Telegraph: "This sinister and deeply Orwellian guidance suggests that the buffer zone legislation could be used to control and regulate religious activity on private property, including displaying a Bible verse saying all life is sacred in their window, or someone silently praying in their front garden – or even their front room if they are seen or heard from the street."

    He added: "Most ordinary people, regardless of their views on abortion, would find it excessive and wrong to threaten individuals with hefty fines for praying in their own homes."

    England and Wales will enact similar legislation at the end of October.

    The English legislation criminalises activities "in any location" within a 150-metre radius of abortion providers which could deter or distress staff and patients, if those activities are "visible from a public highway, public right of way, open space to which the public have access, or the curtilage of an abortion clinic".

    Andrea Williams, chief executive of Christian Concern, said her organisation would "vigilantly" monitor how buffer zone legislation was applied across Britain, adding that these laws are "regressive" and a form of "state overreach".

    In August, West Midlands Police apologised and paid £13,000 to a Christian charity volunteer who said her arrest for silently praying outside an abortion clinic violated her human rights.

    Isabel Vaughan-Spruce was arrested in November 2022, and again in March last year, outside a clinic which had been covered by a local Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO). After the case against her collapsed, Ms Vaughan-Spruce issued a claim against the force for two wrongful arrests and false imprisonments, assault and battery, and for a breach of her human rights.

    A Scottish Government spokesman said: "Safe access zones are designed to safeguard a woman's right to access healthcare. The legislation that creates them intentionally does not criminalise any particular behaviour, including prayer."

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/09/praying-at-home-may-be-illegal-under-scottish-abortion-law/

    † I have a vision of wild-eyed, shock-haired Scottish pastors bellowing imprecations out of the windows of their town houses at pro-abortionists demonstrating in the streets below…

    1. I wouldn't put anything past SNP and SNP voters. They hate the English and England with a passion, still to blame for everything not to their agenda, hate them as tourists but happy to take their money. Speaking of which, gone very quiet about the missing 600k…possibly England has it buried somewhere….

      1. I went to a Pub once in Scotland while traveling to Skye. There was a restaurant attached. I asked at the Bar if there was any chance of something to eat. They said no.

        It only happened the once but it's not something you forget.

        1. Definitely not. Some are worse than others, sometimes not easy to tell if they’re just nasty to everyone, or only the English. Mind, if I had to live under the SNP and trying to not mention the missing £600k I’d prob be ratty too:-DD how much longer can they keep up the charade…

          1. We did turn up at this fine country house where we walked in and found a Bar area. There were no other customers. A nice chap did say hello. I asked if we could have two G&T's. He said yes and went off to get some ice.
            It was only afterwards that i thought to myself it wasn't actually a public Bar. :@(

          3. I don't recall.

            What made me think about it afterwards was there were no clues to it being public. Also there was no till.

        2. We were on holiday in the lake District. It was a more remote corner. We had rented a very small caravan, on the drive of the owner. very good value and we had little money. There was a pub a short walk away. We went in for an evening meal and the place went quiet. We ate our meal in near silence.. not to be detered I talked Mrs N into going again the next night. This time i went to the bar and started talking to the owner. I asked why it had gone quiet last night and the same has happened again. He said well the people in here do not know who you are, you may be tax inspectors or something like that. I said tax inspectors do not stay in Mr & Mrs ***** driveway caravan.and that was it, we were treated like long lost friends and had wonderful time in there for the rest of the week.
          There is often good reason for being treated like this.

          1. Thank you for sharing your experience.

            I can understand why people would be suspicious and it is such a shame that tax inspectors sometimes don't make it out alive.

          3. Reminds me of our next-door neighbour's nephew oop north. On holiday on the north Yorkshire moors, her nephew went off to pay the bill for their night's farm B&B stay. He asked the landlady how she would like to be paid…. 'oooh' she said 'cash please, but don't let the taxman know!' He came out laughing to himself because he was, in fact, a taxman on holiday. He never let on, he had bigger fish to catch.

          4. For the best.

            I noticed a drugs drop and pick up when at a bus stop in Malta. Just stayed cool. Not my business.

      2. Yet it was Scotland that wanted the union as the were bankrupt.
        I know many Scots and most like the English.

        1. Yes, wonder if they’re happy with the outcome.
          Me2, seems the ones just over the border are the unhappiest.

        2. I once read that there are more people who associate with Scotland living outside of the country than there are Scots living in the county.
          I saw two today.

          1. A bit like the Irish. I once dated an Irishman who lived here, and who was scathing about the Ol' Oireland singing and posturing here and in the States. "They wouldn't go back to live in Ireland if you paid them to" was his comment.

          2. I’ve met Scots in various part of the world and whilst demonstrating their nationalism, they say they would never go back to live.

        3. Sorry I didn't see your Johnny N. Quite right – THEY wanted it. All I want is a jolly big wall so that all the immigrants that they want to take don't slither down here.

    2. Give them their independence; let them become a horrible example to the civilised world.

      1. It’s not “independence”. They joined a voluntary union. They want to secede from this union. Don’t let them dictate the language.

        1. They pushed for the Union – just ask them about Darien, they were bankrupt and needed England.

        2. How else would you describe it? Some people want Scotland to be independent. Nobody's 'dictating the language', just using English.

          1. It’s not “independence”. We are in a Union. There is no external “power”. The Scots are part of the UK Parliament. So, they can secede from the Union. But they cannot attain “indpendence”.

  70. Keir n. a large empty vessel in which fibres are boiled, bleached or dyed.

    'Empty vessel' being appropriate.

    The Labour Party was born under one-tier Keir Hardie. Let's hope it dies (dyes!) under two-tier Keir Starmer, and never raises its miserable head again.

  71. There is a documentary about the death of Lord Mountbatten at ten o'clock on TV tonight. While I am not one of his fans there is the possibility at this remove in time that one might hear something outside the previous narrative.

        1. He launched the Great Reset, which advertised itself with the slogan “you will own nothing”, so it’s pretty clear that he doesn’t care much about our individual lives.

          1. It's the same old story if these treasonous activities don't actually effect them they don't seem to give a toss.

        2. Same way as Charles II sold the country out to the French by the Treaty of Dover. Plus cela change …

          1. They are not always what are claimed to be.
            I’m not sure his mother would have approved of what’s happening to this country now.

  73. 394437+ up ticks,

    The coalition partners are currently having a leadership farce for when lab. blows out, the cons will, courtesy of the "tactical voter"
    be back in favour to administer the coup de grace to old blighty.

    Old bobby jenrick has past experience in
    people smuggling, AKA immigration and much favoured by the odious puppeteers, so I believe the show will continue, as is / as was.
    https://x.com/EssexPR/status/1844065447429406836

    1. 394437+ up ticks,

      Desperate stakes call for desperate measures
      to be taken It is the only exit of sanity to take although personally I would Not trust farage as far as I could throw the coloured abbot.

      First break the vicious treacherous dangerous close shop grip, the lab/lib/aon coalition has on the nation.

      https://x.com/LeeHurstComic/status/1844259006103130216

      1. I have my doubts about Farage but I prefer him to Jenrick, Badenoch, Starmer, Reeves, Davey.

        1. 394437 + up ticks,

          Afternoon R,
          The farage chap has shown his true colours, and many found them to be unacceptable, in my book reform is tory MK 2 and the farage chap has come in from the cold.
          Many brexit / reform candidates have seen the true farage in prior action & still have sore feet as proof.

          Sample,
          Nigel Farage has near-total control of Brexit party, …

          The Guardian
          https://www.theguardian.com › politics › apr › nigel-far…
          18 Apr 2019 — Former Ukip leader can only be removed by no-confidence vote by board, which he can appoint.

          Democratic to the letter.

        1. Ah Rastus, Rastus…first time I went to see a live band Cliff & the Shadows, my goodness – decades ago. Thanks for memory:-) x

      4. Disappointed that we didn't get the 8712 mph winds, perhaps the Met Office put the decimal point in the wrong place. I think 8.172 mph was close.

  75. Well despite the unexpected rain, I managed to burn ALL the garden waste. Very satisfying.

    I wouldn't vote for Badenoch or Jenrick because they are not Conservatives. However, Jenrick is wooden. Badenoch would tear Cur Ikea to shreds at PMQs.

    1. I overhead Jenrick speak of the need for "change". Adopting the banal language and slogans of Labour does him no favours.

      2. I heard he's the only candidate to say we should leave ECHR, but I can't find any confirmation. Other than that, his mouth's too small.

        1. There would be complications and consequences, not all favourable, of leaving the European Convention of Human Rights. This is rather lengthy but does spell out clearly what they are.

          Leaving the European Convention on Human Rights

          DATE
          15 May 2024

          AUTHORS
          Dr Alice Donald
          Dr Joelle Grogan

          THEME
          Constitution and governance

          Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has indicated that withdrawal from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) could be on the agenda if the UK’s membership frustrates policy on illegal immigration or endangers national security. This follows an ‘interim measure’ from the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in June 2022, which effectively prevented the first flight carrying asylum seekers from being sent to Rwanda until the UK courts had fully considered the issue, and the UK Supreme Court’s judgment in November 2023 that the Rwanda policy is unlawful.

          Joelle Grogan and Alice Donald explain what steps the UK would have to take to leave the ECHR, whether states have left before, and what the likely consequences would be.

          What are the steps for the UK to leave the ECHR?

          The European Convention on Human Rights is a treaty of the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe. Not to be confused with the European Union, the Council of Europe is an international organisation of 46 member states which was formed after World War II to promote democracy, human rights and the rule of law.

          It is a condition of Council of Europe membership that states ratify (agree to be bound by) the ECHR. Thus, if the UK withdrew from the ECHR, it would probably also have to leave the Council of Europe. Likewise, a state that leaves the Council of Europe also exits the ECHR.

          To leave the ECHR and the Council of Europe, steps would have to be taken at both the international and domestic levels.

          At the international level, to leave the ECHR, a state must formally notify the Council of Europe of its intention to withdraw with six months’ notice. The UK would still have obligations arising from its membership before the notification became effective. Under international law, judgments issued by the ECtHR against the UK before its withdrawal would still have to be implemented.

          At the domestic level within the UK, it is likely that the government would have to seek the approval of Parliament before notifying its intention to withdraw through an Act of Parliament.

          Can the UK leave the ECHR without the approval of Parliament?

          It is likely that parliamentary approval would be needed to leave the ECHR. The UK government normally exercises prerogative powers (executive power exercised without parliamentary consent) in the area of foreign affairs to, for example, enter into international treaties and to withdraw from them.

          However, following both the legal and political precedent set by the Brexit process, the government is unlikely to be able to use a prerogative power to leave the ECHR (and Council of Europe) without parliamentary approval.

          It is now a legal precedent that the government cannot use its prerogative powers in relation to foreign affairs to change domestic law or to ‘frustrate the purpose of any statute, suspend its operation, or remove statutory rights’.

          As the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA) gives effect to ECHR rights within the UK, and a large body of human rights law relies on it, leaving the ECHR without repealing the HRA would have the effect of ‘frustrating’ the operation of the Act.

          It is therefore most likely that Parliament would have to pass an Act repealing the HRA, which would also provide parliamentary approval for withdrawal from the ECHR.

          Has any state withdrawn from the Council of Europe before?

          The only state ever to have withdrawn is Greece, which, facing expulsion due to abuses committed under military rule, left in 1970. Greece was readmitted in 1974 once democracy was restored.

          Russia was expelled from the Council of Europe following the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Russia and Belarus are the only European states outside the Council of Europe (Kosovo is also not a member, but its application to join is currently being considered).

          Could the UK leave the ECHR but keep the Human Rights Act as it is?

          No. The HRA incorporates ECHR rights into UK law. It cannot operate separately from the ECHR without removing references to the ECHR.

          Which rights does the ECHR protect in the UK?

          The Convention contains 14 articles, each representing a basic human right or freedom, including the rights to life, to liberty and security, to a fair trial, to respect for private and family life, to freedom of expression and assembly, and freedom of religion and belief. It also prohibits torture and cruel or degrading treatment, slavery and discrimination.

          Since its creation, member states have added extra rights to the ECHR. These have been in the form of ‘protocols’, and include the right to education, the right to free elections, and the prohibition on the use of the death penalty. Member states can choose whether or not to ratify the additional protocols.

          Could a Bill of Rights replace the HRA?

          Successive governments since 2007 have suggested that the HRA should be either reformed or replaced with a Bill of Rights out of concern that human rights were impacting politically sensitive areas (e.g. migration, security and anti-terrorism policies) or where a judgment by the European Court of Human Rights was seen as making a decision that should properly be up to Parliament.

          These proposals did not involve plans for the UK to leave the ECHR. The vast majority of respondents to the two most recent government consultations in 2021 and 2022, were in favour of keeping the HRA and not introducing a Bill of Rights.

          In June 2022, however, the then Secretary of State for Justice, Dominic Raab, introduced a Bill of Rights Bill which aimed to repeal and replace the HRA. The Bill would have significantly changed the means by which human rights are protected and enforced in the UK, making it harder for people to bring claims. The government clarified at the time that the UK would remain a party to the ECHR. The Bill failed to progress through Parliament.

          Proposals have also been made to strengthen human rights protection in the UK, either via a Bill of Rights or other legislative means; for example, Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights has proposed enshrining the right to protest and giving effect in UK law to other international human rights treaties such as the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

          Are ECHR rights already protected by the common law?

          The term common law refers to the body of law made by the judiciary, based on custom and precedent, as distinct from laws passed by Parliament or regulations adopted by the executive. Rights which are recognised at, and rooted in, the common law include personal security, personal liberty and private property, along with the rights needed to secure them, such as access to justice. Common law principles include legality, accountability and open justice.

          Certain rights, such as the rights to life, to a fair trial and to freedom of expression, are recognised both in the common law and in the ECHR. Significant human rights cases have relied on the common law; for example, on the prohibition of evidence obtained by torture. Thus, experts describe the common law and the ECHR as ‘distinct, overlapping and complementary systems for protecting human rights’.

          However, the common law protection for human rights is not as extensive as that guaranteed by the ECHR. The ECHR, as interpreted by the ECtHR and by UK courts under the HRA, protects a broader range of rights than the common law has thus far recognised. For example, experts note that the ECHR alone offers redress to victims of crime who have been failed by state investigations or whom the state has failed to protect from harm, like the bereaved families of the Hillsborough tragedy and the victims of the ‘black cab’ rapist, John Worboys. The common law did not prevent children subject to corporal punishment or gay people facing discrimination who, prior to the HRA, took their cases to the ECtHR.

          In addition, the HRA offers several forms of protection that do not feature in the common law. For instance, it allows higher UK courts to issue declarations of incompatibility when they find that a law cannot be interpreted in a way that makes it compatible with ECHR rights. Such declarations signal to ministers and Parliament that the law needs to be revised. Declarations of incompatibility have never been issued at common law.

          Further, the HRA requires public authorities to respect Convention rights in their everyday actions and decisions, with the aim of preventing human rights violations, while the common law focuses more narrowly on the courts as the means by which rights can be protected, predicated on case-by-case decisions.

          Another significant difference is that the HRA/ECHR system creates obligations under international and not only UK law (for example, to legislate compatibly with human rights and amend laws that breach rights), while the common law does not.

          What would be the consequences for devolution if the UK withdrew from the ECHR?

          Protection of ECHR rights through the HRA is embedded within the statutes through which devolved powers are exercised in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. If the HRA was amended or repealed and/or a Bill of Rights was enacted covering the devolved nations, the devolution statutes would need to be amended.

          The Joint Committee on Human Rights has said that, given the significant impact on the devolved settlements, the government should not pursue reform of the HRA without the consent of the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Senedd and the Northern Ireland Assembly. Evidence submitted to Parliament suggests that such consent is unlikely to be given.

          Overall, what would be the consequences for people living in the UK if the UK withdrew from the ECHR?

          The impact of withdrawal on people in the UK would depend partly on what, if anything, replaced the HRA.

          A new Bill of Rights could contain a catalogue of rights that was similarly or identically worded to existing ECHR rights. However, the most important factor would be how these rights would be protected in practice; for example, whether a new Bill of Rights would, like the HRA, legally oblige state bodies to uphold rights in all of their decisions and actions and allow higher courts to declare laws incompatible with human rights.

          In all events, if the UK withdrew from the ECHR, people in the UK would lose the ability to take their case to the ECtHR if they do not get a remedy for a violation of their rights through the UK courts. Withdrawal would also mean that the UK would not be subject to the same kind of international scrutiny of its human rights record as it is under the ECHR, under which states review each other’s actions to ensure that rights are upheld across Europe.

          The UK would continue to be part of other international treaties which enshrine the same or similar rights, including, for example, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; however, these international documents have much weaker enforcement mechanisms and are not enshrined in UK law. This means that people in the UK would not necessarily be able to rely on them in court to protect their rights.

          What would be the international consequences for the UK if it withdrew from the ECHR?

          If the UK withdrew from the ECHR, there would be inevitable international consequences.

          The Belfast/Good Friday agreement requires the ECHR to be part of the law in Northern Ireland. There is no way for the UK to leave the ECHR without violating the agreement, causing issues for the peace settlement in Northern Ireland, as well as the UK’s relationship with Ireland, the EU and the US.

          Relations with the EU would also be further strained by withdrawal. The UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement, which governs the post-Brexit relationship, commits both the UK and EU explicitly to the ECHR when it comes to human rights protection, particularly in security and judicial cooperation. The EU has stated that if the UK left the ECHR, it would terminate this part of the agreement, which could effectively stop, for example, the extradition of criminal suspects from the EU to face trial in the UK.

          Experts also observe that withdrawal would be at odds with the UK’s Integrated Review of security, defence, development and foreign policy which refers to the UK’s commitment to international law and universal human rights.

          Beyond this, the UK currently has one of the strongest records of compliance with the ECHR. Withdrawal would set a precedent for other countries with far worse records, and weaken the UK’s capacity to advocate for human rights internationally, as well as its reputation for holding itself and others to account.

          Experts observe that withdrawal would also run counter to the UK’s strategic priorities, such as tackling aggression from Russia and China and supporting Ukraine. The government has stated its commitment to multilateralism, i.e. fostering international cooperation, through organisations such as the Council of Europe, to tackle shared challenges like terrorism, organised crime and climate change.

          By Dr Joelle Grogan, Senior Researcher, UK in a Changing Europe, and Dr Alice Donald, Professor of Human Rights Law, Middlesex University.

          https://ukandeu.ac.uk/explainers/leaving-the-european-convention-on-human-rights/

          1. Thanks, David – I’ll read it all later, for some reason my scroll button isn’t working properly at the moment. Some years ago I had an online conversation with someone in the Home Office, if I have the gist of what you say correct, would chime with that conversation. ‘You’ll never leave’. Is it possibly yet another Blair Special?

          2. What did we do before the ECHR? Our rights were protected by (a) Common Law (everything is allowed unless a law forbids it), (b) the Bill of Rights, (c) Habeas Corpus and (d) other Constitutional rights including Magna Carta.

          3. (I think I replied to you earlier but it seems to have disappeared )I can’t read all this, David, as for some reason my screen seems unable to scroll it either way. However, I get the gist of it what you say. A further consideration is that I was told a while ago (apparently by someone in government) that ECHR is embedded in the NI Agreement (hence UVdL’s visit with Sunak to see the Queen), it had to be so because the NI Agreement ensured parity with the Republic, and therefore ECHR applied to ALL parts of Ireland – what do you make of that please? Whichever way, it seems we have no way out of ECHR. Sorry to be a pain and ask more questions, and not to be able to read your reply in full. Kate

        2. He is not a good looking man. He has a mean sour-looking face – not the sort of person whose company I would seek.

          Of course it is superficial to judge people by their appearance but we all do it and it is surprising to find out just how accurate one's first impressions were.

    3. Hmmm, trying to change the subject?
      Plumber friend wondered if a simple woodburner would work in your garden annex, with perhaps some form of fan to move heat to the other room. Then I remembered the air conditioner combined with an air-to-air heat pump. They start at around £600, and usually consist of a wall mounted exterior unit with a slim interior unit. Typically consume about 1kw and blow out warm air, 3kw equivalent. Technology tried and tested throughout South East Asia, but almost verboten in the UK because the PTB want people to install overpriced air-to-water heat pumps. Brands include Daikin, Mittsubishi and LG. For example:
      Mitsubishi SRK35ZSP-W Air Conditioner Heat Pump
      https://www.saturnsales.co.uk/SRK35ZSP-W-Wall-Mounted-Heat-Pump.html

      1. Thank you. All I asked was whether any NoTTLer had experience of a particular make of electric heater!

        The two rooms are part of the house but, for technical reasons at the time of building – 1988 – it was not possible to connect them to the existing CH system.

        I am grateful to everyone who made a range of suggestions – all of which were completely impractical!

        This thread is now closed (Ed).

    4. None of the Conservatives are conservative! Would love to hear two tier free gear Starmer torn to shreds!

  76. Apparently Trump returned to Butler Pennsylvania (where he was shot) and picked up from the moment when he was shot. When he was shot, he was saying “As I was saying”…and he started the rally with the words “As I was saying…”

    You don’t have to like the guy to recognise he’s a good speaker and has a sense of humour. Unlike our Lefty friends.

    3. Neither do you have to like the guy to vote for him. If he's going in the direction you wish to travel, and the other candidates are not, that's all you need. Actually, I like him.

  77. Apparently Trump returned to Butler Pennsylvania (where he was shot) and picked up from the moment when he was shot. When he was shot, he was saying “As I was saying”…and he started the rally with the words “As I was saying…”

    You don’t have to like the guy to recognise he’s a good speaker and has a sense of humour. Unlike our Lefty friends.

  79. The world is heading for doomsday – and humanity for a brush with extinction. 10 October 2024.

    Running your country as a sort of Ponzi scheme in which successive waves of immigrants replace the previous ones makes a sort of sense from the perspective of the Treasury but raises fundamental questions about what a country actually is. Britain has certainly seen large population movements in the past: as the Celts might have noted some time ago, however, these can lead to quite large cultural changes.

    It would be remarkable if the scale of immigration required to keep things economically as they are didn’t lead to a significant pushback.

    Perhaps more relevant, however, is the observation that as with all Ponzi schemes, this one would eventually collapse. As birth rates fall down around the world, the pool of surplus labour from the developing world we’ve been drawing on will begin to dwindle. In other words, countries that go down this path would be completely transformed, only to run into the same fundamental question they began with.

    I think that it will collapse long before then. It’s already showing signs of instability and the present governments solutions aren’t helping. If I had to guess the UK and Europe will be the first to go. The US by virtue of its wealth and space will endure much longer.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/10/10/world-heading-doomsday-humanity-brush-extinction/

    1. But we don't import surplus labour to meet "our requirements". We import people who are to a great extent spongers and wasters, who do not work, or who work in jobs where they claim benefits, thus negating their presence in our workforce and actually costing us to have them. We have enough unemployed here to meet any labour shortage, both present and future. The incomers have more than enough children to replace them, so the whole argument that we need to keep importing them is a complete fallacy.

      We don't need to replace every person who dies or leaves this country – who the heck can justify this? Big business – yes but that is for $$$, not because they are benign Luddites.

        1. But, of course, if she (if it IS a she) turned up for interview and you declined to employ her – you run the risk of an employment tribunal case for "discrimination".

        3. I think they are in the minority, though. It does indicate a lack of judgement, if not brain cells. It is a bit hard to look beneath the surface of the skin, sometimes! :o)

    2. Honestly i just wish they would hurry up, drop the bomb and put us all out of our misery

  81. It's OK, put your tinfoil hats away, BBC Vilify have spoken:

    No, Hurricane Milton was not 'engineered'

    False claims suggesting that Hurricane Milton was “engineered” and that the weather in Florida is being “manipulated” have been spreading on social media.

    There is no technology that allows humans to create and control hurricanes.

    But on platforms like X and TikTok, posts alleging – without evidence – that the US government is secretly controlling the weather have been viewed millions of times.

    Many were published by accounts known for spreading conspiracy theories, as well as misinformation about Covid-19 or vaccines.

    On Wednesday, US President Joe Biden described the claims, external as "beyond ridiculous", adding "it's so stupid, it's got to stop".

    He was responding to Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who in recent days suggested on her social media accounts that the US government "can control the weather".

    Five short paragraphs manage to shoe horn in blaming Musk (X), referencing Covid and vaccines, a quote from the world's leading climatologist (a Mr Joseph Biden), and a pop at a Republican.

    1. Fearful of the repercussions of not broadcasting warnings in sufficiently apocalyptic terms, authorities are more inclined to overstate, rather than understate, the severity of impending storms. Cynics might say that the warnings, rather than the reality, will linger longer in our collective memory banks and add to the weight of 'evidence' that weather is becoming more violent. That might become the case but I doubt that it's the intention. As for the notion that governments can engineer hurricanes and suchlike, I say it's baloney.

      1. The rest of the BBC article was just full of human driven climate change propaganda with the usual 'we're all going to die' encouragement. It did accept that cloud seeding takes place.

        1. After success recently in Dubai I have been of the opinion that the 'THEY' have been seeding the clouds all over Europe.

      3. It is baloney but associating these silly ideas with genuine questions about, say, lockdown or the cashless society allows people of bad intent to dismiss all enquiry and dissent as nutty conspiracy theory.

      4. One side effect will probably be that of the boy who cried wolf. When there really IS a humdinger on the way, people will shrug and mutter, "yeah, yeah! Heard it all before and nothing much happened."

  83. Well, after sorting out mousetraps, 8 this week so far, and getting the dinner on, I went up the hill with the Husqy and got a good start made on getting the last of the medium sized logs brought down. I'm running out of space to put them!

    Now sat relaxing after dinner with a mug of tea and Tchaikovsky's 4th on Radio 3.

    1. Last night, I watched part of an episode about Alaska. The crazy way they were moving logs up a steep hill with several hair pin bends was quite impressive. Definitely a community effort.

    1. Wikipedia liss fascism as right wing. They describe Hitler as right wing. They're wrong. That's the problem with an encyclopaedia anyone can edit.

    1. Having spent the first part of my working life as an employee and the second part self-employed I have contempt for politicians who have no experience at all of what it is like only to have the income you can generate for yourself.

      1. I was self employed for many years, but suffered the slings and arrows of not getting the a full pension despite working in the UK for 47 years.

    2. It's not just IQ, success in business is a result of planning and common sense. One of the phrases the political classes would very seldom use is "What happens if we ….."
      I think we have to admit that generally speaking, our parliament is actually useless.

  86. Centrist Tories refuse to back Badenoch or Jenrick
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/10/10/politics-latest-news-keir-starmer-tory-leadership-contest/

    Too many europhile lefties in the party – of course this is why the Conservatives failed to deliver a proper Brexit, failed to tell the truth about the Net Zero scam, lied about the safety of the Covid jabs, failed to control immigration and lost the election by a staggering margin.

    There is no place for a left of Centre Conservative Party in Britain – nobody wants it. I suggest that the 'Centrist' (leftist) Conservatives join the Lib.Dems and the right of centre Conservatives apply to join Reform – if Reform will have them.

    1. Lord Ken Clarke, the former justice secretary, is the group’s president and a list of its patrons includes Sir John Major and Lord Heseltine.

      Tells you all you need to know.

      1. They, along with May and Cameron, did more than anyone to destroy the Conservative Party completely.

        Of course Heselslime and Clarke should have been expelled from the party for treachery but no party leader had the testicular strenght to do it.

  89. A patterned Par Four!

    Wordle 1,209 4/6
    🟨⬜⬜⬜🟩
    ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
    🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    2. Fluked a 3! Huzzah!

      Wordle 1,209 3/6

      ⬜🟩⬜🟨🟨
      ⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    4. Me too.

      Wordle 1,209 4/6

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

    5. Late with a bogey which matches the way I golfed today

      Wordle 1,209 5/6

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

      2. Me too. Starmer has just too many skeletons in his locker. He was a shitty lawyer and turned a blind eye to the evil crimes of Savile and the Pakistani rape gangs. More recently he remained silent on the BBC deviants including Hugh Edwards and many more.

        Starmer has deep ties with Blair and Cherie Blair’s Matrix Chambers which have made billions from human rights actions. He has just given away overseas assets to Mauritius shovelling more millions down the throats of his lawyer friends and leaving our interests exposed to China.

        Starmer is just a rotten corrupt politico with no skills and pisspoor judgement. He is a managerial technocrat sinking in the stifling bucket of filth which is the current Labour Party.

    2. Is he autistic, bi-polar or does he suffer from NPD (Narcissistic Personality Disorder)?

      There is certainly something very strange about him. The technical term for him in French is

      UN BALLON BIZARRE

      (which can be translated into English as: an odd ball.)

    3. I think we should be careful what we wish for – the programme would not change, and Lord knows who we would get as Prime Minister, but it wouldn't be good.

      1. First they took away the rights of the Chagossians and we said nothing because they were just a bunch of fishermen from the Indian Ocean…

  92. from Coffee house, the Spectator

    My plans for The Spectator
    Michael Gove00:00
    Michael Gove has narrated this article for you to listen to.

    Shortly after Boris Johnson was selected as the Conservative candidate for Henley, he invited me to lunch at The Spectator. It was, he said, to be an intimate affair. The magazine’s then proprietor, Conrad Black, had made it known that he expected Boris to stand down as editor now that he was embarking on a political career. Speculation as to who might succeed him was intense among ambitious young journalists. And I was one of those at the time who harboured secret hopes. Was this invitation a sign of favour, a laying-on of hands, the anointing of an heir? On arriving at lunch I discovered that there were other guests. Three of them. All of whom were fellow hacks who had also been either tipped as Boris’s successor or had welcomed their names being canvassed. As we sat around the table, we realised that Boris had invited us there to be teased and tested in a form of journalistic Squid Game. Who would break first? In the end it didn’t matter. By the time the last crumbs were being cleared away it had become apparent that none of us was there to be welcomed into the vacant editor’s chair, because the editor wasn’t going to vacate it. And so Boris continued to enjoy the best job in the world for several years more. And in due course he also managed to bag the second-best one. For my assessment of how he did, do read my review.

    I recall that act of Johnsonian mischief because, 20 years later, I now occupy the chair he once graced. Since then the magazine has prospered mightily. Boris, Matt d’Ancona and, most recently and most powerfully, my predecessor Fraser Nelson have built circulation, grown subscriptions, broken scoops, entertained, informed and provoked to the point where The Spectator was acquired by a new proprietor for a sum five times its value when Conrad owned it. Taking over after their successes is daunting, like following Jacky Fisher at the Admiralty or De Gaulle at the Elysée. But what I hope I can do is bring the precious essence of The Spectator to even more readers – that sense of mischief, the commitment to stylish writing, incisive commentary, original and provocative opinion and love of freedom.

    Freedom? Oi, Gove, I can hear some readers cry. Weren’t you the Torquemada of lockdown, the Covid Cromwell who bound this country in a web of restrictions during the pandemic that reduced the British public to the status of compliant sheeple? Well, I shan’t attempt to re-litigate now the painful compromises of that time. Good men and women can differ on what was right. But I was involved in decision-making then as a politician. I am now relieved of that responsibility, to the relief of many. I am, once more, a journalist. And it is the role of journalists, particularly Spectator editors, to challenge authority, champion liberty and above all, defend free speech. That freedom must extend to knowing the editor’s opinion is only one of many and his past as a minister is of only historical interest and certainly no sort of ideological guide. Writers in this magazine should never and will never follow any party line. The only requirement is that they should be the sort of people you’d want to invite to a party.

    The best magazines are parties on paper. A tidbit of political gossip here, a whiff of glamour there, humour running throughout everything, naughtiness indulged. And you, dear readers, are the people who make the party work. Your opinions, your contributions, your orders from Jonathan Ray’s peerless Wine Club, your entries to our competitions, your presence at our events. I first joined the party (of Spectator readers that is, not the Conservative party) as a teenager in Aberdeen. Alexander Chancellor was the editor then, one of an illustrious succession that included Charles Moore, Dominic Lawson and Frank Johnson before Boris, Matt and Fraser. Alexander succeeded as editor because he knew that while The Spectator was a magazine that covered politics, indeed covered it better than any rival, it was not a political magazine. It should have the best writers on foreign affairs, food, music, new books, culture generally and human frailty everywhere. I never made it to No. 11 but Alexander is the Chancellor I most want to emulate.

    1. I wonder if you would you defer posting Spectator stuff until a Friday? I know it is available online on Thursdays, but I do like to see it in the (gold plated) magazine first!

      It is bad enough to read Glove; to hear him would be utterly appalling!! Back stabbing, coat-turning lockdown addict – " an absolute shower" © Terry-Thomas.

        1. Maybe – but it is ALSO in the magazine – I have cut and pasted the heading:

          My plans for The Spectator
          From magazine issue:
          12 October 2024

          Click on the mag and it's there.

          1. Some time ago someone told me off for pasting an article from the magazine so I made a point of only using the daily offering of ‘latest from Coffee House’. Sorry if Gove has already become ubiquitous. I imagine that this is a taste of things to come.

    2. Gove is now the Editor of the Spectator? Not a match made in heaven – Gove is too fond of the dark arts and lacks the certain light touch required, I would have thought. Besides, too many people hate him and are not amused by him.

  93. That's me gone for today. Bonfire completed. All outdoor tomatoes picked…..three huge buckets. The toms are now safely stored in cardboard boxes packed with newspaper to provide fruit in the winter. (We did this today because the Wet Office predicts three successive nights with low temperatures close to zero….global boiling, doncha know).

    Have a spiffing evening.

    A demain.

    1. Thanks for the reminder, Bill – I realised I needed to pick the rest of mine – a colander full – not as many as yours.

      1. We were astounded!! After such a shyte start to the season – when nothing grew for weeks and weeks.

        1. We didn't start picking til mid-August – they were very late. But the last couple of bunches of Follia are nearly ripe. I was too late for some of the cherry toms which had already died.

  94. Shock for the day, Jenrick is actually right about something.

    Non, merci! Tory leadership hopeful Robert Jenrick claims Emmanuel Macron doesn't want to fix the Channel migrant crisis 'as punishment for Brexit' and reveals French president 'rejected migrant swap deal last year'

  97. From the Telegraph today

    Let’s replace Bonfire Night fireworks with laser shows, says Labour MP
    ‘It’s kinder to animals, safer for people and better for environment,’ declares Andrew Pakes who backs curb on use of Nov 5 pyrotechnics

    Charles Hymas

    A Labour MP has backed a report calling for laser light shows to replace fireworks on Bonfire Night.

    More than 60 per cent of the public would support fully or partially replacing Nov 5 fireworks with alternatives such as lasers, drones or “silent” displays because of the impact on animals and the environment, according to the report by the Social Market Foundation (SMF), a think tank.

    The SMF has recommended new restrictions on the noise levels and size of fireworks as well as giving councils powers to designate “firework-free zones” and to put on alternative laser light or drone shows rather than traditional pyrotechnics.

    In a foreword to the report, Andrew Pakes, an MP who has been campaigning on the issue, said the proposals offered “practical steps for reducing the harm fireworks cause, without taking away from the joy they bring”.

    “Around the world, countries are starting to use alternatives like drones, light shows and quieter fireworks, proving that we can celebrate in ways that are kinder to animals, safer for people and better for the environment,” he added.

    Traditional fireworks
    Could traditional fireworks be replaced by environmentally-friendly alternatives for Nov 5? Mike Harrington/Digital Vision
    Nearly a quarter (24 per cent) of those surveyed believed the UK should stop using traditional fireworks and use alternatives, compared with just 10 per cent who wanted to maintain the status quo.

    A quarter (25 per cent) believed the UK should keep traditional fireworks while sometimes using alternatives.

    A further 42 per cent believe there should be greater use of alternatives and less use of fireworks, though they should be retained.

    The report said England and Wales should follow the example of Scotland where councils can designate “firework-free zones” in areas where the pyrotechnics are likely to have a greater impact on animals, the environment and vulnerable people.

    It recommended that once these were set up, local councils should organise their own alternative displays and draw on examples such as Japan where drone displays, light shows and “quiet fireworks” are incorporated into traditional shows.

    The report’s authors said this would help introduce the alternatives and their use to the public, which the SMF polling indicated would in turn increase their popularity.

    Andrew Pakes
    Andrew Pakes wrote the foreword to a think tank report suggesting replacing Nov 5 fireworks with greener alternatives Joe Giddens/PA
    The recommended tougher regulation would see the maximum noise level of all traditional fireworks reduced from 120 decibels to 90 decibels, that would be equivalent to cutting it down from the sound of a thunderclap to a truck in traffic.

    The report also proposed limiting the sale of consumer fireworks to indoor or handheld fireworks or those designed for use in a confined outdoor space, and only to specialised or licensed shops.

    Dani Payne, SMF senior researcher, said: “The overwhelming public support for alternative firework displays, as revealed by our research, shows that there is a real opportunity here for the Government to listen to the public’s concerns and take steps toward better, safer firework use.”

    The SMF was associated with the Conservatives in the 1990s – and was sometimes called John Major’s favourite think tank.

    In the late 1990s, it moved closer to New Labour and was associated with the party’s public service reform.

    1. I do feel sorry for the dogs and cats and I know someone who once had her fingernails blown off and burst an eardrum when a rocket went off in her hand but such accidents are rare and on the whole, I favour organised displays of real pyrotechnics.

      1. I spend a lot of time in Valencia where fireworks are let off maybe not every day but often enough especially in the summer. And very often during the day only for the noise value. Our dogs always used to suffer with the bangs. For that matter during thunder storms too. Our poor little schnauzer used to take refuge in the bathroom and whimper under the sink.
        No one in the region has ever suggested replacing traditional fireworks with lasers nor restricting them to only one night a year.

          1. I think George Orwell said the English have bad teeth and the Spanish are cruel to animals. Some exaggeration I think. Dogs and cats are generally much cherished by their owners in Spain. Lots of foreigners get upset by bull fighting (as do many Spanish people). Animals were purged from the circus long ago and there are laws protecting the welfare of farm animals.

          4. Sorry, you’re right. It was goats thrown off a tower. It was donkeys in the Peropalo in Villanueva de la Vera,
            .

          6. ‘montado sobre un burro’ that is sitting on a donkey and paraded around the town. No question of ill treatment in Wikipedia. But whatever you think George Orwell exaggerated I think. Between Spain and England there have always been myths, narratives and fables perhaps caused by mutual jealousy, rivalry and the memories of the Spanish Armada and Sir Francis Drake.

          8. Whyever not? I paid a fortune years ago for Larousse, never use it. Any information I require is almost always at my fingertips in Wikipedia. Beats all the encyclopedias and reference books we have collected over the years.

          10. Any error is speedily rectified. Unlike print editions where errors remain permanently unless you buy the annual. The advantage of wikipedia is you can find just about anything you might care to think about.

    2. Only if we can have the Commons and Lords packed to the gunnels with peers and MPs and have one last Guy Fawkes, but successfully this time.

    3. What a miserable bunch. Of course Bonfire Night is a long-standing British tradition, so its days must be numbered.
      There may be a case for limiting the loudest fireworks – our windows rattle when the biggest bangers go off at the village display, and we are several 100 yards away.

          1. Made me feel just a little sad. I remember my mother used to make treacle toffee and toffee apples as the mothers had done when she was growing up. One year to celebrate the end of the war neighbourhood parties burnt not a Guy but an effigy of Hitler and on VJ day the emperor of Japan. It’s very easy to be frivolous and throw our culture and traditions out the window with such disdain. Once gone the connections with our parents and grandparents never come back.

          2. That is what they are aiming for. Those who have no roots and no culture have no attachment to a native land.

    4. Interesting how results such as the survey are presented.

      More than 60 per cent of the public would support fully or partially replacing Nov 5 fireworks with alternatives
      Nearly a quarter (24 per cent) of those surveyed believed the UK should stop using traditional fireworks and use alternatives, compared with just 10 per cent who wanted to maintain the status quo.
      A quarter (25 per cent) believed the UK should keep traditional fireworks while sometimes using alternatives.
      A further 42 per cent believe there should be greater use of alternatives and less use of fireworks, though they should be retained.

      Of course, you could say that 77% of those surveyed wanted to keep traditional fireworks though 67% of them were receptive to occasional alternatives.

        2. Ooooh, that would be discrimination – they would have to be exempt. Thank goodness we don't have fireworks at Christmas.

        3. Ooooh, that would be discrimination – they would have to be exempt. Thank goodness we don't have fireworks at Christmas.

        4. Ooooh, that would be discrimination – they would have to be exempt. Thank goodness we don't have fireworks at Christmas.

    5. 394437+ upticks,

      Evening R2,

      Lets replace bonfire night with a very realistic successful re-enactment, be more beneficial to the Nation.

    6. I'd prefer proper fireworks, but not as loud. I don't ever remember displays being the equivalent of El Alamein when I was younger.

        1. I'm not keen on the bangers. As a child I hated Jumping Jacks. And Catherine wheels used to come off their pins and spin out of control.

        2. Hotel near us occasionally has receptions following marriage ceremonies. Always dj's/live bands..and fireworks, not roman candles and sparklers..the big booming ones…

          1. In the seventies when I lived in Clapham Common the Labour Council provided an extravagant Fireworks Display on Clapham Common adjacent to the Windmill pub.

            My memory of those events was the long drawn out loudspeaker speech by some hoary voiced woman councillor telling us all how grateful we should be for the council’s largesse.

            Afterwards it was not unusual to see couples having sexual intercourse in the bushes and even in the open.

        3. The bangs used to scare me a lot when I was a child. I can understand how some animals feel.

          1. My memory of childhood fireworks is of the sound of distant ambulance sirens, that and the sight of the matron in the children’s’ home intercepting a rocket in the neck (Muller’s Homes in Uphill near Weston super Mare in the sixties).

            Living under thatch as I do I dread Fireworks Night. I also dread children’s parties where they release Chinese Lanterns into the night sky with no regard whatsoever as to where they might become entangled or where they might land. Cameron when asked to ban the latter stated that he “did not wish to become a party pooper”. Cameron sums up the vacuous nature of political nous in our country. The man is a fucking idiot as are his successors.

    7. Nostagia, selective memory and ageing may be distorting my recollections, but it seems that fireworks are less prevalent now than in my childhood and youth of the 1960s and 1970s. Halloween has rather overtaken Bonfire Night in autumn's celebrations.

    8. Fortunately Mr Pakes does not make any recommendation in quieting Diwali or Eid fireworks.

      I wonder why?

  98. Seems a fair enough exchange.

    Surely even the dimmest person can see now that this is just another attack on English culture?

      2. To be fair, the horses and dogs do NOT like Bonfire Night because of the loud bangs, but instead of banning it, the power of the fireworks should be reduced and displays should be restricted to November the 5th (not the weeks leading up to and following it).

        1. I agree re one night only.
          But in the great scheme of things I suspect the animals will be over the night by dawn the following day plus one.

          2. Seriously.
            How many animals die because of bangs on Guy Fawkes night, and of those how many will have been close to death anyway?

          3. They run away in a panic and break through fences, break a leg, or get out onto the road and get run over. Don't have the figures but the BHS (British Horse Society, not Home Stores) has been collecting stats for horses. Don't know if anyone has done it for dogs.

          4. I suspect that that problem is as much to do with the owner/keepers not taking precautions.

            I’m afraid that I’m not of the school of thought that says “if it saves even one life it should be banned”

          5. Not in my experience. I am not of that school of thought, either. I don't like bans. I would prefer mitigation – limiting the power and restricting the displays to the day itself. I know that my previous dog suffered a lot of stress from the loud bangs from a display half a mile away. It was only when he went deaf that he could cope with Bonfire Night. I took all the precautions I could. It didn't help. I had to keep him on a lead when I let him out in the garden or he would have run away in terror.

          7. If I hadn't kept him on a lead when I let him out, he might not have survived the night – I live near a busy road.

          8. Strange, but when our old cat is with us she doesn't seem to bother at all about the bangs, and she's not deaf. I have no idea what she is like when we are not there but I suspect she still isn't too bothered, lucky cat!

          9. My setter didn’t bother, but my other dogs have all disliked it. They have tried to hide, climb on my shoulders, run away …

          10. I believe it's known as "gun shy". Some animals suffer and some don't. One of our previous dogs used to quiver in the cellar during thunderstorms and fireworks. We have also had a cat and a pony that were similarly terrified. I think it is physiological and actually hurts physically for these animals. Mercifully, our present batch seem unfussed, even when they are shooting around the farm.

          11. My brother’s GSD was the same. My red setter is the only dog I’ve had who was unaffected. I should think, based on that, that more dogs are affected than not.

          12. Working gundogs aren't (or those that are, are screened out). Thinking back, having always had at least one dog, I can only think of two that were affected (over more years than I care to mention 🙂 ). Luck of the draw, maybe. But it's not something you can habituate them to, which is why I think it's physiological.

          13. Too many fireworks, and too many leisure horses; few horses are kept close to people, ie in stables adjoining residential properties or farmyards.

          14. Largely because these days people have to have their horses at livery. There often isn’t room for a stable near the house.

        1. Reminds me of the crazy 'diet' some (mostly females) were on some years ago…eat all you like, go to the bathroom and vomit, result always stay thin. To re-quote Peta J again 'some people are really stupid:….

          4. Bulima nervosa is actually a pretty nasty condition – sufferers often compulsively binge on food before bringing it up. They are compelled to eat in the first place – sort of comfort eating.

          5. The constant vomiting and the resultant acid eats away at the enamel on the sufferer's teeth, I believe.

          7. The Romans had a dedicated vomitorium for that kind of thing. So that they could eat more at their feasts.

  101. So now that we are a green energy superpower, with vast resources of wind and holes in the ground for burying CO2.
    When will be as wealthy as a nation with the middle eastern countries that have all the oil and gas reserves?

    2. Hopefully, when the world goes tits-up, instead of falling back to the stone age, someone may remember all the carbon we have beneath our feet, and King Coal will fuel a new industrial age. With a lot fewer people, obviously.

  102. Evening, all. Been to a very uplifting memorial service this afternoon for an ex-Mosquito pilot who flew with the Pathfinders after he'd completed 30 missions on Wellingtons. In all, he completed 70 ops and then went on to marry three times and live to 103! He was still flying (albeit with a co-pilot) as a centenarian. A remarkable man – RIP.

    As to the headline, watch wealth flee the country as Labour prepares its budget.

    1. A few weeks ago, we met with our financial adviser. I raised the idea of handing over a chunk of savings to each of our offspring, partly because both could make good use of extra funds, but mostly out of concern for what the thieving, spiteful chancellor will do in the budget. We don't have anywhere near enough to flee overseas, but enough to spare for our sons.

      1. Like many parents these days who live long lives, an inheritance when the children are 60+ will not be as much use if it is given earlier. Paying off a chunk of mortgage is not only satisfying but will also save a lot of interest payments over the years.

          2. Did you men IFAs Janet or own decisions – or even both:-D my experience of IFAs is that they’re affiliated usually to one outfit – you have the stocks someone else picks, they may be monitored quarterly half yearly annually whatever – you may have a say roughly where you want to invest eg green energy (I wouldn’t) but not individual companies and that could be important. Plus I found it quite good fun sussing things out and keeping an eye on it – there’s various software available to do that (and there’s another idea for investment). Pays your money, takes your choice – beats letting someone else do it then finding out your pension isn’t what you anticipated.

    3. "…watch wealth flee the country as Labour prepares its budget."

      As it did in the Labour years of the 70s (see elsewhere).

  103. 50 years ago today – the date and the day – Labour's victory in the second general election of 1974 that led to four and a half years of misery.

    Mind you, compared with the state of the country today, 1974-79 looks like a golden age…

      1. I'm not sure that all of us will last the five years for another salvation…the country might not last them!

        1. My father always advised that if one is being taken down by a gang ALWAYS ensure you take one with you.

    2. My recollections of those years are mostly happy ones. Sure, the news was gloomy, but life was good. The trouble with news broadcasting is that it spreads despondency. Don't watch, listen to or read it.

    3. My recollections of those years are mostly happy ones. Sure, the news was gloomy, but life was good. The trouble with news broadcasting is that it spreads despondency. Don't watch, listen to or read it.

  104. Here's one for you:
    In the pub this evening, talking with Second Son, he was asking why is everybody so shit scared of everything – global warming, climate change, nuclear power, yuo name it (and most have no idea about what they talk about). Additionally, politicians seem to egg on the fear – blacks, V Putin, you name it. I suggested that, generally, fold need something to be afraid of, and in the past, one was taught to fear God. Now God seems to be irrelevant, people fear and and every damned stupid thing, to the extent of a) being politically malleable, and b)being almost catatonic.
    Thoughts?

    1. When you stop believing in something, you don't believe in nothing, you believe in anything, so they say. The government stokes up fear to keep the population cowed and thus easily manipulated.

        2. Indeed it was!

          Remote and ineffectual don
          That dared attack my Chesterton.

          (Hilaire Belloc)

    2. Control.
      Also part of the move towards one world govt. They want big "threats" that require world-scale "solutions". There aren't any, so they have to manufacture them.
      Climate change, aliens, plagues.

      This goes back a long way. People didn't really buy aliens, and they have made some good attempts, eg Roswell. Incredibly, the last attempt was only last year, when the Mail published an article about fossilised alien corpses being found in Mexico. Tucker Carlson actually pushed that story, but when it became clear that nobody was buying it, they dropped it.

      But they have had more success with climate change and pandemics.
      Hence the proposed Pandemic Treaty, which is one world government by the back door "to manage pandemics"

        1. Amazing!
          I’ve always thought it was quite a coincidence that the aliens made a showing at Roswell just when the US was all hyped up about space travel, instead of landing in the eighteenth century, for example.

          2. It'd amazing that these aliens seem to cross the solar system without detection, then somehow all crash in New Mexico or Arizona…

    3. A lot of it's online, Paul, in various places, and it's relentless. Also, as I found out from a young relative some years ago – in schools. Further, a neighbour who attends church is almost frit of CO2 having listened to what the CofE seems to be saying (almost a new religion!). Didn't really want to listen when I started blathering on about 'look around you, how green everything is, crop yields up, this is much better than drought..the climate will change again because that's what it does…and so on and so on, I gave up…

      1. You could point out the formula for photosynthesis – how CO2 and H2O are taken in to create carbohydrate and give off oxygen. CO2 is essential plant food.

        1. Get a better crop of tomatoes… add CO2 to the greenhouse.
          The clouds coming out of a cooling tower are water vapour, not smoke
          Tzernobyl was a poor design badly maintained and even worse run…
          and so on, osv…

        2. I could, good suggestion, thanks…but some prefer to just believe what they read online or watch on TV, the easier options…

    4. They (politicians) are trying to put the people back in the box on how we live. Doing it by fear and stelth. So many are falling for it. Covid is the best example and I saw a mask wearer in the supermatket last week.

      1. There were mask wearers on the plane coming back from Brazil last Thursday and this week the post office woman was wearing one.
        We had some very dusty drives in an open truck last week and some people wore masks for that – there was no way I was going to wear one so I just pulled my scarf up over my face when something went by in a cloud of dust.

  105. Message for Stephenroi:

    A few days ago I said I'd get the figs for >45s attending our sexual health clinic. As it happenes I processed September's data today.
    Total seèn 4856
    F: 2672
    M: 2184
    F:

    Total >45yos seen: 688
    F: 378
    M: 310

    So there you go 🙂

    2. Ah, but.
      Do you collate figures on how many of these patients "knew each other in the biblical sense"?

      1. If positive infection then yup. We contact partners to tell them they should get tested (that's if the index patient can remember or even knew their name and number in the first place!)

        2. That is terrible .

          So I do hope that none of the afflicted/ infected were NHS staff.

          One upon a time acquiring an STD was a punishable offence .

          1. The single lads at in 23 Sqn. at Hameln had a couple of young "ladies" staying in the barracks over one Christmas and in the New Year, instead of issuing train warrants for the Special Treatment Centre in Hanover, they had to lay on a 4t Bedford wagon!!

      1. Looking at the numbers one recalls Terry Wogan's comments on the TV documentary about Bonobo Monkeys…
        "They were at it like knives!!"

        1. They were and still are – it's the bonobo way of having a cohesive society…not so sure about humans tho…

          1. Oh I think 8+Billion people indicates that that we too are "at it like knives" (And probably also explains the rise in knife crime!)

          4. Ah yes, good old antibiotics…I occasionally read we 'have to find new ways of dealing with disease because antibiotics are running out of options…wonder what that might entail…I know! vax baby vax! I guess knives are easier to purchase than guns?

          5. Some of us are, others (indigenous Brits for example,) don't reproduce their own number. Though of course they might still be at it like knives, just in a more responsible way.

            It's funny that in the animal kingdom generally, the lower the intelligence level, the greater the number of offspring…

          8. Sorry I didn't explain well, bonobos exchange within small groups, and don't have STD's, whereas humans don't and do…think there was a case (in Greece?) a few years ago where a local man was convicted of deliberately infecting tourists with STD, one way of protesting tourism I guess…

      2. Looking at the numbers one recalls Terry Wogan's comments on the TV documentary about Bonobo Monkeys…
        "They were at it like knives!!"

    4. Used to be known as the Gum Clinic. Mentioned this to a current nurse recently, and she told me that someone did once turn up with toothache.

  107. Oevr 20 years ago, this chap seemed to presage the way the world — and, in particular, the UK — was going.

    "All empires have their great days and past. The ancient Egyptians built the pyramids, but they were reduced to racing about on camels.

    I think we've had our day too. I don't want to seem like a diehard but if you think about it, England's great days: the invention and perfection of steam engines and industrial machinery in the late 18th and early 19th centuries; the canals and the coal mines and the factories; the zeal and the optimism; and the empire that — even when I was a child — spanned the world.

    When you think of what we've come to in our national and personal life it can only be seen as terminal decline. From about 1790 to 1914 we led the world and, since then, in almost every way we've been running downhill."

    Fred Dibnah
    Engineer and Steeplejack
    1938–2004.

    2. We have an elderly man , no not really elderly elderly , but he is wrought with pain in his back , nearly bent over double , he lives in our road , and we see him struggling up to the local shop with his small terrier to fetch his newspaper .

      He likes to walk up the road , he will chat to everyone , he was a miner , a Nottinghamshire miner .. his days down the pits caused the gnarled state of his spine .

      He always chats to me if I am out and about , and I always say to him "Let me fetch your paper for you ". and he says he needs to get out and about ..

      He told me there used to be 49 coal mines in the Nottingham area , and now there are none left .

      When I mentioned that my very last proper house coal delivery came from Eastern Europe , last year , he just shook his head .

      Did you know this?
      …
      England imports coal from a number of countries, including:
      United States
      In 2023, the US was the largest exporter of coal to the UK, accounting for 45% of the total.
      Australia
      Australia was the second largest exporter of coal to the UK in 2023, accounting for 13% of the total.
      European Union
      The European Union was the third largest exporter of coal to the UK in 2023, accounting for 11% of the total.
      Colombia
      In the second quarter of 2024, Colombia was the largest provider of coal to the UK, accounting for 29% of the total.
      South Africa
      In the second quarter of 2024, South Africa was the third largest provider of coal to the UK, accounting for 17% of the total.
      Coal made up 2.4% of the UK's energy demand in 2023, down from 2.7% in 2022.

      How much unmined coal is left in the UK?
      The UK has identified hard coal resources of 3 560 million tonnes, although total resources could be as large as 187 billion tonnes. About 80 million tonnes of the economically recoverable reserves are available in shallow deposits capable of being extracted by surface mining.

          2. 🙄 Anthracite nuggets, our supplier became centralised ..

            We had to ring up Sheffield to order our fuel , and you can imagine their reaction when the government put a halt to the import of house coal .

            Yes, it is illegal to sell traditional house coal for domestic use in England, but not in Scotland or Wales:
            England: It has been illegal to sell traditional house coal in England since May 1, 2023. This is part of the government's Clean Air Strategy to improve air quality.
            Scotland and Wales: There is no ban on household coal in these nations.

            Some exceptions to the ban include:
            Traditional house coal extracted and sold from the Forest of Dean
            Heritage venues, steam railways, and steam vehicles
            The ban is part of a series of restrictions on the sale of coal and wet wood for home burning, including:
            Wet wood in units under 2m3 is unlawful to sell
            Wet wood in larger volumes must be sold with advice on how to dry it before burning
            All manufactured solid fuels must have a low sulfur content and only emit a small amount of smoke
            The government is promoting the use of cleaner burning fuels such as smokeless coal and wood logs.

          3. Our wood suppliers are disappearing fast. The red tape now incurred selling fire wood is financially prohibitive. We still have a couple of sources that bypass the daftness while still supplying excellent dry logs.

    3. I always admred old Fred he made a lot of sense at the time and still knew how to have a bit of fun.

  108. From Coffee House, the Spectator
    Guardian deletes controversial 7 October review
    Steerpike10 October 2024, 5:31pm
    Uh oh. To the Grauniad, where trouble is afoot. It transpires that the paper’s review of One Day in October, a harrowing Channel 4 documentary about the tragedy of the 7 October terror attack on Israel by Hamas, has caused quite a stir. So much so that it has, in fact, been deleted and wiped entirely from the Guardian’s website.

    The review had ruffled feathers after suggesting that the documentary had portrayed Gazans as ‘testosterone-crazed Hamas killers’:

    If you want to understand why Hamas murdered civilians, though, One Day in October won’t help. Indeed, it does a good job of demonising Gazans, first as testosterone-crazed Hamas killers, later as shameless civilian looters, asset-stripping the kibbutz while bodies lay in the street and the terrified living hid.

    It went on:

    Despite such evident evil, I am reminded of Cy Endfield’s film Zulu, with its nameless hordes of African warriors pitted against British protagonists with whom we were encouraged to identify. TV and cinematic narratives often work as othering machines in this way. At its worst One Day in October, if unwittingly, follows the same pattern.

    All our sympathies are with relatable Israelis. A mother texting farewell messages as she dies from gunshot wounds. A girl sending cute pictures of her playing with friends to her mum, who is cowering in a toilet cubicle, hoping the terrorists she can hear breathing outside can’t hear her. By contrast, Hamas terrorists are a generalised menace on CCTV, their motivates beyond One Day in October’s remit.

    It’s certainly quite the take…

    But after an online backlash, it appears that the Guardian has opted to remove the piece altogether, ‘pending review’. The paper could have defended the publication of the piece – or acknowledged its flaws – and yet it seems this beacon of transparency has opted for, um, neither option. So much for journalistic integrity, eh?

  109. Well , we have had supper , steak and kidney pie,( shortcrust), baked potato, kale and chard , carrots and RBG.

    Delicious pie bought from a butcher 's shop .. and I mean delicious , packed with meat , very tasty ..cooked / heated up in our air fryer for 25 mts at 180c.. finished the baked potatoes off in the air fryer, crisped them up, after cooking them in the microwave for 11mts..

    Kale at the moment, is fresh , delicious and grown in Lincolnshire and the carrots the same . Back to winter veg, but I do hope the floods in the midlands haven't hindered the future gathering of the crop.

    1. I bought some "Haslet Balls" (think bloody huge faggots) in Scunthorpe Market last month and defrosted a couple of them for today.
      Cut them in half and did them in gravy with potato croquettes, carrots, turnip parsnip and cabbage steamed with a bit of cauliflower that needed using up.
      Could easily have just used one between us they were that big!

      1. Hello Bob

        Sounds like a tasty supper.

        I sometimes buy Garden News magazine , the October 12th issue features a foot operated log splitter for £69.99, no need to use a heavy axe.. the name of the machine is Logmaster

        Would that be more helpful than what you are currently using ?

        Of course , I know nothing , but it might be helpful?

        1. Could be, but I enjoy the exercise of swinging the axe!!
          You ought to have seen me driving in the 3′ long pins for an OPH earth anchor set with a 14lb sledge hammer when I was with 23 Amphibious Engineer Squadron!

  112. So much interference into the way we live.
    We have a shedful of logs for the winter. It's well dried.

  113. At least I am self sufficient regarding firewood.
    Though I am running out of convenient places to stack the logs at the moment!

  118. 394437+ up ticks,

    Ho sweet poetic justice, they even turn on their own ilk.

    Dt,
    Tory centrists warn they may bin leadership ballots
    Cleverly supporters claim they will spoil their votes after the surprise exit of their contender

    1. Not voting for either remaining candidate is a reasonable course of action if neither appeals. The only other option is to vote for the candidate who is less unappealing than the other, either in the opinion of centrist Conservative party members or in what they think will be the more likely opinion of the mass of voters come the next General Election. I'm unclear how poetic justice comes into this.

      1. It would appear that skulduggery on the part of Cleverley's backers accidentally got him eliminated.

  120. Some of you may remember a while ago I expressed my doubts about the new (diversely coloured) Bishop of Wolverhampton. I've now received (as a round robin to members of the diocese, not to me personally) an abject, grovelling apology from him for not knowing the polity of the CofE. He went to Germany to ordain a (black) bishop in a non-CofE church.* How could anyone who's got as far as being appointed a bishop NOT know the polity of the church in which he's about to become a member of the hierarchy? Well, if you're appointed to fulfil the diversity quota, very easily, it appears.
    * https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2024/6-september/news/uk/next-bishop-of-wolverhampton-regrets-part-in-non-canonical-ordination

    1. Oh my goodness.

      The Bishop is learning quickly that apologising after the event is such an easy way out .

      I wonder how else he is using his power , and what is his character like ?

      You know as well as I do how his appointment will pan out , you can't take Africa out of an African , can you.

      His interpretation of God and his goodness will differ hugely .

      1. He is already suspect in my eyes for concentrating on Kenyans for his work in London and supporting BLM. I don't see him as having any connection with this country or, clearly, the CofE. Mind you, Lichfield is only concerned with diversity. It isn't bothered about putting off those of us indigenous who form the bulk of the congregations, at least round here.

    2. I take an interest in this, obvs (having been confirmed by a former Bishop of Wolverhampton), so thank you for keeping me updated

      1. I expect Wolverhampton has changed a lot since you were there unless you’ve been a recent regular visitor. The latest appears to be that he thinks (and he’s probably right) that all will be forgiven, the “error” overlooked and it will be business as usual. Will the Wulfrunians rise up and complain? I’ve no idea. I’d like to see them protest and oppose having someone imposed on them in the cause of diversity, but will they?

        1. I’m sure they won’t, Conners, but I’ll ask my parents.

          I do visit fairly regularly. It is my home. But once my parents and aunty pass away, I’ll only have a few schoolfriends left there; my cousins and brother have all moved away (as have I). It used to be a wonderful place, but now the merit is in being near the Shropshire (and Staffordshire) border. My parents would rather drive 40 miles to Shrewsbury than 4 miles into Wolverhampton to shop.

    3. Why are they promoting someone to be a Bishop who appears to be no more than a temporary part time member of the Church of England?

  121. Well, chums, I'm now off to bed. Good Night, sleep well and I hope to see you all bright and early tomorrow.

    1. Why stop at treason? How vanilla are you? Cannot you do them for rape, paedophilia, necrophilia, torture and murder?

        1. I would bring in shop lifting as well, no point in pussy footing around. Would soon stop the epidemic with minimum use of resources..

      2. 394437+ up ticks,

        Evening DW,

        You cannot top “topping” for Treason ,

        All the other odious actions currently are either awarded compensation, or given a minimal sentence via the revolving revolting door.

        The lab/lib/con coalition party and supporting membership have made criminality pay.

    2. You think he couldn't get more stupid, but no! He continues to surpass his crass idiocy every day.

    3. Sounds like cakesim to me.

      Butlins on trouble. Some “trans” troublemakers making out they were “hurt” by security giards asking men with beards to come out of the women’s loos. “we are inclusive” says Butlins. But not inclusive for women and girls, and at the end of the day there are more of them than trans-activists who get their kicks from causing trouble. Butlins – go Woke, go broke.

    4. That tweet would have more credibility had it not put in quotation marks something that Miliband did not actually say in the video clip. I don't even consider it to be a fair paraphrase of Miliband's words.

      1. 394495+ up ticks,

        Morning DW,

        Listen up,
        If his odious ilk can do my likes for silent prayer, then it is open season on politico’s of his criminally imbecile nature.

      2. He actually says that we only have to "hear" the women, but we have to "emphasize and recognise the pain" of the trans people (men). IMO the wrongly quoted words certainly convey the gist of what Miliband says. If anything he gives the men more importance than the women.

    2. Whichever side one supports, that is VERY inappropriate behaviour. She should not be working in a hospital.

      1. Maybe she is one of those foreign imported NHS workers, like those Nigerians whose qualifications are apparently not quite kosher…

  126. Friday 11th October, 2024

    Hardcastle Craggs

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fdbd73a4314be7cf48cd5cf6313624fb291152ef7de62ef94af41b68c7264e35.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f75ccfb6bd85def69825568622dde4a22e87c908f64eac068db19b7e77812703.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f15108925be65a9a2608d8e25edca14c950fe7218c958fddb1d38927a117d0b9.png

    With very best wishes,

    Caroline and Rastus

    We always enjoy your posts – we need more of them!

    1. What an utter disgrace that our UK government has become. Starmer embracing a war criminal responsible for the deaths of over 600,000 of his soldiers in a battle, battles they had no hope of ever winning. To that we might add a figure of another 300,000 for those Ukrainians wounded or otherwise disabled in battle.

      This Starmer character is pure evil and a blot on the face of humanity.

      We are left to ask what financial interest this moron 2TK has actually invested in Ukraine. It is most definitely not in the interests of the UK to engage with this Zelenskyy monster and madness to invite this war criminal to even enter the UK.

  129. “Pay per mile inevitable on Britain’s roads”

    Well, yes, ever since they installed all the monitoring equipment (“for your safety”).

    “We pay for all other services as we use them. I don’t see why road users should be any different” says the “infrastructure tsar” (who is probably confident he will grt his mileage paid back on expenses, from the taxpayer).

    I thought we already paid for road use, via Vehicle Excise Dity? You can bet your life they won’t abolish that when they introduce pay-per-mile.

    1. More to the point, fuel duty is a straightforward pay per mile mechanism, although somewhat undermined by the increasing use of electric vehicles and hybrids

      1. They can put fuel duty on charging electric cars, though.
        A pay-per-mile infrastructure is also a travel controlling infrastructure on individual vehicles or people.

        1. Wasn't it Blair who first wished to build surveillance gantries all over the country

          in order to control the people?

    2. Do we get a discount for pot holes and speed bumps, road works, delays and all the other issues that are now associated with motoring ?

  133. I meant IFAs.

    Everyone we know who has dealt with IFAs have been disappointed.
    MOH did his own research, and after 12 years of retirement his SIPP is now worth 25% more than when he retired.
    No commission payments make a great deal of difference.

    1. Brilliant, good for MOH! agree re commission payments….a number of dead-legs masquerading as IFAs – the best we came across was a chap from the NFU (we have insurance with them), he took one look at current return statements and said ‘I can’t do better than that, stick with it’.

  135. 394495+ up ticks,

    Always been the feelings of many voters but for the last three plus decades kicked into touch by the majority voters.

    All these decades totally ignoring the evil. nasty dangerous . actions taken by the lab/lib/con pro eu/wef/nwo political assets
    coalition.

    The name of the party was ALWAYS put before the parties odious actions were considered.

    https://x.com/FlowersEnglish/status/1844684142547452133

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