Thursday 11 August: Voters are tiring of the Tories’ hot air as the energy crisis deepens

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

455 thoughts on “Thursday 11 August: Voters are tiring of the Tories’ hot air as the energy crisis deepens”

  1. ‘Morning, Peeps (and well done Geoff).

    An unpleasantly warm night, to be followed by a most undesirable 29°C this afternoon.

    Today’s leading letter,

     SIR – As the debate continues over who should be the next prime minister, all we hear are arguments about whether the solution to the critical challenges facing Britain is to take more money from us or let us keep more money to cope with the rising cost of living.

    Nobody, however, is telling us what is being done, now, to address the problems that are threatening to bring the country to its knees.

    What practical action is being taken to secure our energy supplies – not to mention fix the NHS and stop uncontrolled immigration? It is high time that someone in this Government actually started governing.

    Thomas Le Cocq
    Batcombe, Somerset

    And if they did tell you, Mr Le Cocq,  would you believe them?  I certainly wouldn’t.

    A BTL poster writes;

    Mike Pitman
    8 MIN AGO
    First letter Mr Le Cocq. As an outsider looking in, with no vote in the UK, I too am bewildered by the prolonged process of finding a new Tory party leader. Hours of valuable air time and acres of column inches seem to be consumed and wasted nationally in a ‘hustings’ (DT’s word) for an election in which only 200,000 electors can vote! Why is Boris not governing? He is still your Prime Minister? Why is not the Deputy PM making any noise if Boris is silent on holiday? Why is Parliament not recalled to start sorting out solutions to the cost of living problems, many of which have been well rehearsed on this forum in recent weeks? Why was a simple ballot paper and a personal manifesto simply not sent to the 200,000 Tory members with a vote weeks ago? Someone needs to get a grip on the UK government.

    * * *

    Well said!

    1. “Threatening to bring the country to its knees.” It’s already on its knees.

    2. Morning, all. The weather is…

      Mr Le Coq

      What practical action is being taken to secure our energy supplies…

      Good job I’d stopped eating my porridge before I read the above, otherwise I’d have had a bit of a mess to clean up.
      I thought it was clear that our current ‘political class’ not only do not do practical but their ideologically tuned brains make them incapable of doing so. They do a narrow theoretical political line that rarely comes anywhere near sensible practical solutions and this is one of the main reasons we find ourselves in the mire (being polite here).
      If workable practical decisions were the norm within the political class then the items you mention would not be an issue, nor would a) HS2 continue to blight the treasury b) we’d have a working water ‘grid’ c) sufficient nuclear power – the list is close to endless.

    3. Someone needs to get a grip on the UK government.

      Preferably by its throat for as long as it takes to either force some sense into the numbskulls claiming to run the Country, or choke the life from it and get a new start: problem being, where would we find people of the calibre required?

  3. SIR – Has a prime minister of this country ever left office with such apparent disregard for the enormous problems being left behind?

    Cameron Morice
    Reading, Berkshire

    Probably not, Mr Morice, although you may be forgiven for thinking that he has left office, when in fact he was only booted out as party leader – a pity that they even managed to mess that up by leaving him in No10 doing apparently bugger-all.  (“Another fine mess…” etc.)  However, look on the bright side; he isn’t swanning around factories, building sites and military establishments any more, dressed up to look anything but the part, so I’m grateful for that!

      1. Don’t overlook Cameron – the heir to Blair – who departed when he was daft enough to ask the electorate a question and he didn’t like the answer, leaving Brexit in limbo from which it has never recovered.

        1. He did, but the damage Blair and his wrecking crew caused is still being felt and new things discovered.

          1. I agree, Blair left depth charges/booby traps throughout the political/civil service world.

            His protégé in NZ is a prime example but many of his minions are out of the public eye subverting civil agencies to the WEF bent.

  4. Good Morning! Sun is shining. It’s Summer. (It’s official – sunshine two days running.). I may go outside.

  5. SIR – My wife and I attended the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, and what a joyous experience it was.

    The city looked magnificent. It was clean and tidy, with a wonderful festival vibe. The volunteers were friendly and helpful, while the buses to and from the Alexander Stadium and the management of the crowds were superbly organised. The atmosphere within the stadium was electric, with fantastic support for all of the athletes. The “friendly games” is a description richly deserved. Well done, Birmingham.

    Richard Neal
    Child Okeford, Dorset

    And so it damn well should have been, Mr Neal , when £800m was spent on the event!

  7. At least someone likes the Anglo-sphere

    The drab white left and its minority whipping class consists of the worst people in the world. They are the worst because they have fostered a culture that encourages destroying the things they secretly admire and promoting the things they privately hold in contempt. The left cannot stand being reminded of achievements it has never achieved and thus assumes moral superiority in order to circumvent personal integrity. Unfortunately, the most destructive representative of this phenomenon is today’s watered-down WASP, who insists upon milquetoasting his heritage into soggy oblivion by taking the best of his traditions and putting them to work in the service of his own self-subversion. It is a curious state of affairs.

    We need the old snob appeal back, the Puritan fortitude, the club-that-won’t-have-you refusing to see this country roll over and play dead to a lewd and lurid globo-communist takeover, if for no other reason than the fact that life in this country worked a whole lot better when American life was far more Anglo-Saxon. Enough said.

    “At home, ere I sailed o’er the billowy brine,
    A large and a liberal outlook was mine,
    The faults of the Briton
    Appeared to be written
    In letters remarkably fine.
    —Punch, “Caelum, non animum,” Sept. 26, 1906

    https://www.takimag.com/article/the-late-great-american-anglo/

  8. ‘Morning All

    Our pathetic “leaders” are having a giraffe at our expense…….

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f9ebaaa0e78000a78f649edcd78a0691343ca32309f26fda2e2eb7b4608139f0.gif

    Meanwhile on NoTTL

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/708691fec2b07738a80ccead6eb7009af149643327dd6e1e5e4acf0cbf066ccd.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/98142369e9be83d56849140ab5d68c65343776b817d60a73dd8d014e351afade.jpg

    With a touch of Modern Life thrown in…….

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d21c6584794cff881ae371cadc6853e2734a39fec54161d73c2745e3ac6bb6ef.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a56f183b0069b1dccebd2a552b4932cc06cc5f45773e42fd8ce82c32f14848ed.jpg

    1. The giraffe is off to a cocktail bar – he is inviting us all to join him saying: “The highballs are on me fellas!”

  9. The horrifying truth behind the coming collapse of basketcase Britain. Allister Heath. 11 August 2022.

    Looming power cuts, rocketing bills, water shortages, dysfunctional public services, sky-high taxes, a failing economy: Britain’s slide into crisis, our staggering seemingly accelerating decline, is tragic yet unsurprising. We are nearing the endgame, the final denouement, of a quarter century of political, intellectual and moral failure in which most of our political class has been complicit.

    Statist ideology, historical naivety, cowardice and short-termism have crippled our country. Orthodox thinking has turned out to be wrong in almost all areas that matter, from the economy to energy to planning. Politicians of both parties are to blame, but the rot started on that sunny day in May 1997 when a fresh-faced Tony Blair swept away John Major’s sleaze-addled government in a misplaced wave of optimism. For a while, many were fooled – Blairism was the original cakeism – but it marked the beginning of the end of Britain’s renaissance, our return to the technocratic consensus that first ruined us in the 1970s.

    With his recent articles Heath could qualify for membership of Nottl. Lol! Except of course that even now he cannot find it in himself to mention Mass Immigration.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/08/10/horrifying-truth-behind-coming-collapse-basketcase-britain/

    1. “Imagine, just imagine, if, as Margaret Thatcher had wanted, we had built a nuclear power station a year…”

      What? Help us out here. I have read that the Thatcher government refused a CEGB request to build more nukes in order to make the sale of the power industry more attractive and to avoid a long-term debt for the nation.

      1. And yet big government has made energy hideously expensive through tax (conventional fuels) and subsidy (windmills) thus breaking the market entirely.

    1. I remember the backlash against paedophiles in the 80s – was too young to have been aware of the excesses of the 70s. Never thought that backlash against paeophiles would be reversed – the sickos really are in charge, despite the majority condeming them and their appalling beliefs.

    2. If you want to have sex with children then you are a paedophile. That’s what the Latin term means.

  11. Good morning all, a sunny day here on the Costa Clyde, temps up to 70F have been forecast. Shorts have been deployed for the golf course.

    1. I spoke to Plum on Tuesday evening. She is home and her daughter (& partner) are staying with her. She has had a severe case of Covid and will take time to recuperate. She is not in a hurry to get back on line, so do not expect to see online in the near future.

      1. If you speak again, please pass on encouragement for speedy rehabilitation.
        I hope she’s fit enough for a small sherry and a wordle or two.

      3. What a worrying time for Plum and her family. Fingers crossed for a speedy and complete recovery. Thanks for the update, Lacoste.

      5. Poor Plum

        I guessed there was a real problem . So pleased you have spoken to her .

        She must have been really poorly, how terrible .

        If you speak to her again , please convey our best wishes for a gentle but speedy recovery.

      6. Please pass on our (vw as well) good wishes for a speedy recovery should you contact her again.

      8. Thanks Lacoste – I am glad she is back at home. I hope she recovers quickly. If you speak to her again please give her my best wishes.

      9. Poor Plum. That’s not fun. Hope she’s better soon.
        Thanks for the update, Lacoste. I assume you passed on all our good wishes and positive thoughts to her.

      10. Good for you. I have not been able to get in touch since I spoke to her in hospital, but they did say that she had been discharged. We did have a lovely but brief texting, though.

        At least she is at home with her lovely garden and someone to look after her.

        Thank you and please send her my very best wishes.

      11. Good for you. I have not been able to get in touch since I spoke to her in hospital, but they did say that she had been discharged. We did have a lovely but brief texting, though.

        At least she is at home with her lovely garden and someone to look after her.

        Thank you and please send her my very best wishes.

    1. To be approved you have to present a proposal to a governing body. Those academics decide on the intellectual reasoning and how the work will benefit society. Blame the PhD approval board.

  15. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1de4b1e61ae5d35f3ce40e63b3bf8cbc84f26e99c66ad0fec5889d70c79ebb75.jpg
    Cute spelling…
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/43dcac97a6f0c629823e103f4360a34ecb69301a75ea6accf05442f800367aa2.jpg
    A video on reddit, that I couldn’t find a direct link for. Jaw-dropping level of delusion in US politics from the Vice-President.
    https://www.reddit.com/r/Wallstreetsilver/comments/wleb75/what_living_in_a_delusion_looks_like/

    1. I don’t get the ten donkey one. Is it implying that you pretend there are 5 at the bottom even though the 5 have moved to the top?

      1. I don’t know how to tell you this kindly, Wibbling, but if you turned the page upside down to check, you would be the 10th donkey.

      2. You are a too-literal techie!
        Anyone who turns the picture upside down in the belief that nine donkies turn into ten, is the extra donkie themselves….!
        (I admit that I am also a techie, and it took me a moment to realise that (but I didn’t turn the picture upside down!))

  17. 355032+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Thursday 11 August: Voters are tiring of the Tories’ hot air as the energy crisis deepens

    They might well be tiring but that will NOT stop the proven fools supporting and voting for an, in name only tory look alike, party,.

    No matter the manifesto’s / policies tis the name, even seen clearly as
    counterfeit still gets the support / vote.

    Voting for ones demise in the united Kingdom is seemingly now a very dangerous pastime, i believe they even have a JAB for it.

    1. There is so much ignorance in why we’re in this mess that some fool is calling for energy to be nationalised. It effectively is – that’s the blasted problem.

      Why don’t people understand this?

  18. Good morning, again. Back from market. We were there by 8.15 – still nicely cool. Much warmer now. Off to water the trombetti.

    No news again, I see.

    1. Out for a walk along the canal this morning – not that early as I finished around 0930 but even then it was just a very pleasant 20 degrees – I seem to recall it’s summer, so I’m at a loss to understand the hysteria!

        1. I tried to post the above as Still Bleau but “it” keeps telling me I can’t post images unless I’m logged in – which I am!!

    2. “Off to water the trombetti.”
      The radiator leaking again I suppose. These damn Italian cars.

  19. There is an opinion piece in the DT suggesting that 20 mph speed limits are, along with the banning of cars powered by fossil fuels, another part of the plan to get us all to abandon cars as too expensive and impractical to be worth having one. In fact it may become totally impractical for people living outside town to bother to go to work at all.

    I should imagine the loss of money from taxes on petrol and diesel and road tax will cripple the country financially even more than it is already crippled. And how will insurance companies specialising in car insurance cope?

      1. 355032+ up ricks,

        Morning Anne,

        Seems like in today’s society that could be his downfall , that he didn’t / doesn’t.

        1. Good morning, ogga

          Who is he? What did he do? How long was his sentence? Why has he been let out?

          1. 355032+ up ticks,

            Morning R,

            I was groomed by woman at bus stop & passed around …https://www.thesun.co.uk › news › rotherham-sex-ring-vi…
            asghar bostan from http://www.thesun.co.uk
            6 Apr 2022 — Asghar Bostan – the first man to rape El when she was 15 and he 47 – was jailed for nine years in 2018. Throughout the trial and beyond, El was

          2. 355032+ up ticks,

            Afternoon R,
            I believe he has been let out to vote on the leadership farce.

  21. Good Moaning.
    Off to visit Elderly Chum this morning.
    I have warned MB to hand me the gin bottle – heavily laced with Valium – on my return,

    1. I should make it clear to all NoTTLers that I am not the “Elderly Chum” to whom Annie refers. Lol.

  22. Good morning ,

    Have any of you read this

    Tea and sugar are colonial spoils, say castle officials after race row
    Nottingham Castle undertook work to probe colonial connections in its history after the attraction was embroiled in a long-running race row

    Tea and sugar are the “spoils of empire”, curators have said, as part of work to decolonise an historic English castle.

    Nottingham Castle, now a museum and art gallery, has undertaken work to probe colonial connections in its history after the attraction was embroiled in a long-running race row over its alleged treatment of staff.

    The “English staples of tea and sugar” are the “spoils of empire”, according to a new information sign erected as part of this decolonising work, which states that such imperial spoils “are everywhere”.

    The sign for the benefit of visitors to the castle – most famous for its legendary links to Robin Hood – states that being aware of imperial connections is “imperative” in order to “combat issues such as racism, white nationalism, and xenophobia”.

    A quote by Marxist historian Stuart Hall is included on the sign, which states: “There is no understanding Englishness without understanding its imperial and colonial dimensions.”

    The sign explains that the decolonisation project at Nottingham Castle aims to present objects “with a non-Eurocentric bias”, adding: “There was a peaceful way in which colonisers took distant lands and those indigenous to it.”

    The signage further states that decolonisation work is not intended to “shame those who benefit from the fruits of empire” but to “highlight hidden histories and narratives that museums often choose to remain neutral or silent about”.

    The drive to decolonise Nottingham Castle comes amid continued criticism of the attraction’s leadership over the handling of an alleged racist incident at the site in 2021.

    In an open letter some staff stated this “led to an environment of fear, distrust and extremely low morale among staff of all backgrounds, but particularly those of colour”, additionally raising concerns about “toxic culture” at the castle. A formal complaint was lodged and a petition was launched calling for the board to step down.

    As staff continued to criticise the board of trusses at the castle over its lack of diversity and handling of the alleged 2021 incident, the Nottingham Castle sought to recruit a new curator to unearth “hidden histories” in its collection in relation to “current discourse around representation, decolonisation and historical colonial practices within museums”.

    The advertisement for the post also prioritised the ability “To identify and invite guest curators from diverse backgrounds to bring new perspectives to our collections through a series of events and interventions”.

    The castle was undergoing a £30 million refurbishment backed by the National Lottery heritage Fund and Arts Council England, and new decolonising signage was introduced following the publicly funded overhaul of the site, which reopened in the summer of 2021.

    It is understood that some staff are concerned that the decolonisation work does not directly address their own concerns with the running of the castle.

    Nottingham Castle has been investigated twice in relation to safeguarding concerns following the alleged racist incident in 2021, when a curator claimed her grandchildren were the victim of a hate incident at the hands of members of the public when visiting, and that her concerns were not dealt with properly by the castle.

    A Charity Commission probe concluded in January 2022 with the regulator stating that it “did not find evidence of wrongdoing by Nottingham Castle Trust trustees”.

    A spokeswoman for the Nottingham Castle Trust said at the time: “The board has thanked the Charity Commission and has accepted its advice and guidance.

    “Detail on the improvements that have already been made, as well as changes that are planned, will be announced by the Trust’s leadership team in the coming days.”

    A second investigation by HR group The People Factor did find failings.

    Couple of brilliant comments

    DS

    Douglas Smith
    6 HRS AGO
    If they want to put this in context, they should add “however, slavery continues to this day in the Middle East, Africa and some Asian countries including China”.
    And then add “as we learn from history we ban all nationals of these nations from entering these premisses unless they sign a declaration protesting against their government”

    SA

    Strix Aluco
    6 HRS AGO
    Better to take direct action against this kind of madness. The protestors against drag-queen’s performing to young children have shown the way.
    The attention of protestors should also be turned on the Marxist lunatics running our museums and universities — life should be made as difficult as possible for them for their presumption they can impose their agenda on the majority.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/08/10/tea-sugar-colonial-spoils-say-castle-officials-race-row/

    2. “As staff continued to criticise the board of trusses at the castle over its lack of diversity and handling of the alleged 2021 incident, “

      They obviously don’t have much support, Belle.

    3. It’s clearly a severe case of group testiculation – lots of people waving their arms in the air while talking a load of bollox.

      1. That brought back memories, the “full strength” with cork tips were my grandfather’s favourite.

    5. “A quote by Marxist historian Stuart Hall is included on the sign, which states: “There is no understanding Englishness without understanding its imperial and colonial dimensions.””
      I don’t suppose that Mr Hall knows that the tea plantations in India and Ceylon were mostly the work of Scotsmen? British certainly, but not English.
      Or that the accidental Empire was just business, not conquest? See “John Company” for details, Mr Hall.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_India_Company

    6. If Europeans travelled and conquered and yet despite being equally fond of conquest and a great deal more fond of violence, the conquered failed to travel and conquer us, how does that make the failure ours and not theirs?

    7. Oh good, let’s all stop drinking tea and eating sugar and watch the economies of countries exporting those products collapse. Oh wait a moment, the WEF has already ensured that Sri Lanka collapses by destroying their tea harvest anyway.

  23. Britain really is broken and we can’t afford to fix it

    Nothing works, everything is expensive and we’re all too busy arguing to figure out any solutions.

    Yet another Telegraph Journalist stumbles across the truth that he could have read on Nottl anytime in the last five years!. I cannot help feelings of profound schadenfreude even though I’m as screwed as everyone else!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/08/11/britain-really-broken-cant-afford-fix/

    1. I know – Allison Pearson is another. Perhaps it is dawning to our once-investigative journalists that the result of all the mayhem they have kept quiet about and indeed attempted to lie to cover up all knowledge of the problem may, just may, involve them as well.

    2. For those of us who thought we were bright enough but not exceptionally bright it is rather a shock to discover how very much brighter we are than most of the politicians!

      1. I used to point out to my children that virtually everybody they mixed with had an IQ of 100 or more and that when they were thinking how stupid somebody they knew could be, that they should remember that 50% of the population were even worse and 50% of those, much worse still.

      2. Hi Rastus,

        This was floating around on the internet about five years ago. See anything familiar?

        “As with the USA, the UK has developed into a war between makers and takers with the Elite, the very rich and internationally

        mobile (Branson, movie stars etc.) taking advantage, as if celebrity status and MSM publicity gives you power over hard working

        tax payers that are fed up carrying the weight of public sector workers, criminals, illegal immigrants, career benefit claimants, a myriad

        of minority groups and socialist lovies, all of which are wreckers when not holding power.

        This is a war we cannot afford to lose”.

  24. In a small Italian village a priest, from a devout order that banned alcohol, was discussing with the wine merchant cherry brandy and that he was partial to a tipple in private. The wine merchant said to the priest he would send him a case of cherry brandy but only if he acknowledged it with an advert in the local newspaper.
    The priest thought for a few minutes and then agreed. The wine merchant sent the priest his case of cherry brandy. The following week an advert appeared as follows.

    I thank our local wine merchant for his gift of a case of cherries and the spirit in which they were sent.

  25. Rishi Sunak insists he would prefer to lose Tory leadership race than win on a false promise… as photos reveal he donned a well-worn pair of shoes for latest hustings ( DM )

    Maybe Mr Bojangles would do a better job and would lead us a merrier dance!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_K0UKms267c

  26. I received a text message from the wife of a good friend and local builder, whom I have known and worked with for twenty years, to say that he passed away suddenly two weeks ago.

    My friend was 60 years old and had taken all available jabs. He implored me to take the jabs too but I refused saying these ‘vaccines’ were untested and thereby experimental and that I had no intention of submitting to the experiment.

    I am sure that this is yet another example of ‘sudden death syndrome’ or whatever name they are using to explain such occurrences.

    I loathe our corrupt political class and its perverted medical establishment. I only hope that the bastards will be brought to account.

    1. Sorry to hear that. I guess you would have put some work his way when you moved. The excess deaths of people who are not elderly are running way above normal this year.

      I had the two AZ jabs with no ill effects, except possibly a stiff shoulder. I think I dodged a bullet there and definitely won’t be having any more.

      1. A few days ago a friend of a friend in good health suddenly collapsed and died at home. She was 63.

        Even before the post mortem was conducted the local hospital informed her husband that it was an heart attack.

      2. Can’t remember if I mentioned this before but when I saw the doc last Friday, I told him about the red spots on my arms, which had all gone of course! Sods law. I was there because of my swollen feet which began after AZ jab 2.
        Not only did this doctor say he’d heard of the red spots etc but he did not clam up about it and made a note of it. Ditto my feet which are likely to be the result of several factors….including increasing age 🙁
        That was a first in an NHS office.

        1. Good! And I think you mentioned the red spots to him (or another doc) before. I found something about the red spots a week or two ago – called ‘hives’ which I posted to you as a reply – not sure if you saw it. don’t think I could find it again but it did seem to mention something very similar to yours.

          There are so many adverse effects now that were not mentioned or known when I had my jabs early in 2021 but I went ahead because of my travel plans. I knew then that it was coercion but so much more has become known about now.

          1. Yep, 2021 was when we had our jabs…not boosters – no way. We only had them because because of all the hype we worried that we might not be allowed into shops if we weren’t jabbed. We should have had more faith in Ashish who didn’t fuss and didn’t require masks either.

          2. My trip was already booked and paid for so there was no way I was not going – I knew the jabs would be required for travel. Of course, it had to be postponed twice – finally went in February this year. I had my jabs in early Feb and April last year – which was before all the bad news about heart attacks etc came out.

            OH was bullied into having one booster but won’t have any more. He sees the nurse regularly but I keep away from the surgery. While I’m in good health I’m not going to be coerced into any more treatment of any kind.

    2. The trouble is that there are so many lying bastards that they will never be brought to book. And perhaps the reason why they haven’t dealt with the Pakistani rape gangs is because the problem is beyond their ability to sort it out! And climate change too!

    3. So sorry for you, Moh and I have lost friends recently .

      The shock of losing so called healthy pals is unbearable .

      I now have puffed up ankles and I feel quite dizzy when I stand up or bend over .. Will I be next ,, I feel very fearful.

    4. Given the medical science we have no, and the pathology skills, there is no unexplained death. There are coincidences, but the basic reality is that the state is trying desperately to force 1 +1 to equal 5.

    5. SWMBOs brother died of a massive heart attack in March last year, shortly after the nth “vaccination”.

    1. Inside filthy London prison where inmates locked up for 22 hours with no windows in some cells
      Piles of litter had built up in the prison and cells were full of graffiti.

      Photos from inside one of London’s most famous prisons have revealed the filthy conditions inmates are kept in for up to 22 hours at a time. A damning report found that HMP Wandsworth was overcrowded with “very poor” living conditions for prisoners.

      Piles of litter had built up, cells were full of graffiti and there were broken windows across the grounds. There was also a serious hygiene problem as inmates can only wash their clothes once every two weeks and bedsheets were being used to stop bird poo from falling through the netting. While steps were taken to control vermin, rubbish continued to be thrown from cell windows which added to the problem.

      https://www.mylondon.news/news/south-london-news/inside-filthy-london-prison-inmates-24656766?fbclid=IwAR1mBbemHOaCzaqAyQyw8BlhmUSbJXn4Rz2nU4039i0TlzISmNtWfve0OOw

      Good, they deserve it .. They should all be shipped off to a South American prison.. I expect Wandsworth is full of Blacks and Muzzies .

      I pity the prison warders though ,can’t be pleasant for them either.

      2. As I read it I found myself thinking … good, what’s the problem? Ah, the rubbish thrown from cell windows. Easy. Board them up.

      3. I don’t have too much sympathy with prisoners but they could at least be put on cleaning duties.

      4. When I was at school we had a system of fagging which meant that the boys aged 13 – 14 were responsible for keeping the house clean: brushing dry floors in the boot room and the dressing room, mopping bathroom floors, cleaning basins, baths and lavatories and dusting horizontal surfaces in the corridors and making sure everything was spotless. We had to do this each night after prep and the fagging was inspected. If you got a fail it was entered in the fagging book. If you got to five fails in the book the prefects asked the housemaster for permission to beat you with up to six strokes of the cane. I was beaten several times for being a bad and incompetent fag!

        Blundell’s had a reputation for being tough and indeed two British Rugby Lions captains in the 1950s went there (Clem Thomas and Richard Sharp) and it hadn’t got any softer when I was there from 1960 – 1964. As Evelyn Waugh wrote in Decline and Fall:

        “…any one who has been to an English public school will always feel comparatively at home in prison. It is the people brought up in the gay intimacy of the slums, Paul learned, who find prison so soul destroying.”

        2. My OH went to a public day school. He was very small (still is) and was regularly beaten by bigger boys and the masters. It damaged his self-esteem greatly. He was afraid to tell his parents who I think would have been horrified if they’d known.

          The way you (and he ) were treated was nothing short of child abuse – it may have seemed normal to you but you wouldn’t have wanted that for your sons.

    1. It’s a bit of a muddly statement. What’s the point of earning money is you have no goal? Equally, you can’t achieve without having money.

      Where it falls over is folk forgetting their goals in making money (the Warqueen), or not enough money for their goals (Junior). In fact, they’re a good microcosm of our economy. One requires subsidy, the other resents paying for it all.

      Let’s say, as a basic rate tax payer I have two jobs. The first one my main job, and I do another working bar for £10 an hour. Very quickly, working two jobs becomes untenable as I am tired and have no life and the tenner an hour I get for it becomes £3 after all the taxes are paid.

      The sentiment I agree with. The reality is… it’s not that simple.

      1. Some young people expect their dreams to fall into their lap. The primary aim of a job is to be able to support yourself. Anything else is bonus; that does not mean you shouldn’t work towards your achieving your goals.

    2. Ego is a toughie. In itself, just self awareness. I know a lady vicar who claims an IQ of 130 and loves to rail against “ego” but when I asked if she knows the distinction between egoist and egotist (an Ayn Rand obsession), she admitted that she didn’t.

      2. There are also: egocentric (self-centred); egomania (abnormal egotism); and ego-trip (an action or experience which inflates one’s good opinion of oneself).

  29. OT – Could a wealthy and generous NoTTLer who subscribes to the Telegraph (if there are any left) please cut and paste an article – which starts:

    “Post-Brexit travel to the EU is about to become very different
    What are ETIAS and EES? Plus everything you need to know about when the EU will start fingerprinting and charging UK arrivals

    By
    Nick Trend,
    CHIEF CONSUMER AND CULTURE EDITOR
    10 August 2022 • 2:47pm”

          2. It wasn’t easy to get. I had to cheat the system. I have stopped paying the Wokeygraf since it changed editor.

        2. Post-Brexit travel to the EU is about to become very different

          What are ETIAS and EES? Plus everything you need to know about when the EU will start fingerprinting and charging UK arrivals

          Brexit may be “done”, but from the traveller’s point of view, the full implications of what it means for our holidays are only just becoming apparent. And I’m not talking about the short-term problems – the chaos at Dover, the queues at airport immigration desks and the 90-day limit on the time we can spend in EU countries. What is going to feel very very different – and a lot more bureaucratic – are the new border control systems which are due to be put in place by the EU next year.

          Although the Government negotiated post-Brexit “visa-free” visits for British holidaymakers travelling to Spain, Italy, Greece and so on, the EU is changing its systems so that we will soon have to apply and pay for an electronic pass before we travel. Valid for three years, it will be required for any UK citizen entering the Schengen area – the border-free zone which includes the vast majority of member states, plus Norway, Iceland, Switzerland and Lichtenstein. And, in a separate move, the EU will also be requiring us to upload our fingerprints and other biometric data to a European-wide computer system.

          Before you bang your fist in fury, this isn’t some terrible Brexit retribution from Brussels. We are simply experiencing the inevitable inconveniences of losing our EU citizenship. In fact, we are just one of more than 50 countries whose citizens don’t require a visa to visit the bloc and will therefore have to use the new system and register their biometric data.

          The American model

          Essentially, what Brussels is doing is following the American ESTA model which allows us to visit the United States without a visa, as long as we have registered our details and filled out the questionnaire on its computerised immigration system before we travel. The aim of both this and the new EU system, known as the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS), is to improve security at the border, screening for undesirable or dangerous visitors, and make it harder to forge or use stolen documents.

          So, how will the ETIAS work when it does finally come in? Essentially, you will have to go through a process which is not so different from what we had to do when Covid-related travel systems were introduced. Using either a new app or the website, you will need to upload some personal information including your passport details, and then answer a series of security questions about any criminal offences you may have committed, and health questions concerning certain medical conditions, infectious or contagious diseases. Finally, you will have to pay a €7 application fee. The EU says that most applications will then be processed “within minutes”.

          Assuming you are successful, you will be issued with a pass which, combined with your passport, entitles you to visit the EU for 90 days in every 180-day period. It will last for three years, or until the expiry of your passport, whichever comes first. As well as being automatically checked at the border, your ETIAS pass will also have to be shown to your airline, train or ferry company before you travel. The EU says that attempting to cross the border without an ETIAS “could have serious consequences, including denial of entry to the Schengen member country.”

          Not before next year

          Quite when the ETIAS will be operational is not certain. You won’t have to worry about it just yet, however. Its development has been a tortuous process and the start date has been pushed back several times. The latest news is that it will be introduced from “late 2023.”

          In the meantime, another major change is planned: the EU’s new Entry and Exit System (EES), which will automatically check the validity of passports and ETIAS passes (or visas) of visitors from countries outside the Schengen area each time they cross an EU external border. It is due to be implemented in May 2023 and will replace the system of manually stamping passports, which is currently the only way that border officials can monitor whether or not visitors remain within their 90-day limit for visa-free travel.

          Fingerprints and facial images

          It sounds as though it should make life easier, but it is controversial among privacy campaigners because the new system will require you to register your fingerprints and an image of your face. These will then be stored in the form of biometric data on the EU’s computers.

          This sort of monitoring for security and identity purposes is not unprecedented. The US has been collecting the fingerprints of tourists at its borders for many years. And they are required for entry into China and with some types of visa at the UK border. But a spokesperson for human rights charity Privacy International expressed concern about the process: “These policies are created without any clear need, but because it’s seen as a border security initiative… the normal scrutiny that one would expect of a mass surveillance exercise doesn’t apply. Biometric systems deal with highly sensitive data that can be used against you, and are prone to fault and abuse. They could be used to misidentify you, and lead to miscarriages of justice.”

          In practice, however, if you want to enjoy a holiday in Europe, there won’t be much you can do about it.

          All your questions answered

          Although Britain is no longer a member of the EU, UK citizens are entitled to visit the bloc without a visa (up to a maximum of 90 days in any 180-day period). Currently that system is policed by border officials manually stamping our passports. Soon however, we will be required to go through a new process of online checks known as the ETIAS which must be completed in advance of travel.

          What is the ETIAS exactly?

          When it is introduced next year, the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) will be the EU’s way of automatically checking the credentials of visitors who don’t require a visa and who want to enter the Schengen zone. It will be used for tourism and business travellers and for stays up to the 90-day limit.

          What is the Schengen zone?

          The zone comprises 26 European countries (22 from the EU plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland), that have abolished all internal border controls. Another four EU states, Hungary, Bulgaria, Croatia and Cyprus are expected to join Schengen in due course though, in the meantime, UK citizens will still need to apply for an ETIAS pass to visit them.

          The full list of countries requiring the pass is as follows: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. British citizens will not need an ETIAS pass to travel to the Republic of Ireland.

          When will the ETIAS be implemented?

          The ETIAS was previously scheduled to begin at the end of this year, was then pushed back until May 2023 and has now been delayed until “late 2023”.

          How do I apply for an ETIAS pass and how much is it?

          You will have to make the application online, although the official website and an alternative app are not yet ready. There is a one-off €7 fee and you will be issued with a pass which lasts for three years, or until the expiry of your passport, whichever comes first. Your ETIAS pass will have to be shown to your airline, train or ferry company before you travel. The EU says that attempting to cross the border without an ETIAS “could have serious consequences, including denial of entry to the Schengen member country.”

          What information do you need to provide for an ETIAS pass?

          For the online ETIAS application, you will need a valid passport from a qualifying country and an email address. You will also have to complete some personal information including your full name, date of birth and country of residency. And, at the end of the process, there will be some security and health questions (see below). You will then have to pay the €7 application fee with a debit or credit card. The EU says that most applications “will be processed within minutes”.

          What happens to the information that you give the EU?

          All applications are automatically checked against a series of security databases, including EUROPOL, Interpol and a special watchlist which includes certain individuals on the UN list of war criminals, and people who have committed or are likely to commit terrorist or major criminal offences.

          What are the ETIAS health questions?

          We don’t yet know the exact questions which will be asked yet, but there will be a series asking about whether you have suffered, or are suffering from certain medical conditions, infectious or contagious diseases. These will then be automatically checked against a database. If you fail these checks, a more detailed investigation will follow to confirm whether or not an ETIAS pass will be issued.

          What are the ETIAS security questions?

          Applicants will be asked to declare if they have a criminal record which include criminal damage, terrorism, violence, drug or people trafficking or sexual assault within the last 10 years (20 years for terrorism).

          Can you get an ETIAS if you have a criminal record?

          The EU says that yes, you will “in most cases, providing information about a criminal record won’t contravene the requirements of an ETIAS visa waiver. However, some serious offences could lead to a refusal.” In such cases they would need to apply for an appropriate Schengen visa from the embassy of the country to which they are travelling.

          What is the difference between ETIAS and EES?The EES is the EU’s new Entry/Exit system which will automatically register and track visitors from countries outside the Schengen area – whether they hold visas or an ETIAS pass – each time they cross an EU external border. It will replace the system of manually stamping passports, which is currently the only way that border officials can monitor whether or not visitors, such as those from the UK, remain within their 90-day limit for visa-free travel.

          The new system will register the person’s name, travel document, biometric data (fingerprints and facial images) and the date and place of entry and exit. You will have to register your photos and fingerprints which will be stored in the form of biometric data.

          The EES is supposed to come into force in May 2023, but it is far from certain that it will be feasible to implement the system before The ETIAS is ready.

          Where can I find out more?

          For updates and more detailed information see the EU’s ETIAS website: etiasvisa.com.

      1. Of course we won’t. Because we are stupid fools – who deserve to be mocked by Europeans.

      2. If one lived in a constituency which has one of the three or four Tory MPs left – one could ask that MP to demand that HMG DOES reciprocate..

        Sadly – for me – the so-called “Tory” is nothing more than an eco-freak Limp Dumb. Utter tosser.

        1. Ours is on maternity leave – again.
          The last time I wrote to her she eventually rssponded with an illiterate copy/paste job – quite incoherent.

    3. Post-Brexit travel to the EU is about to become very different
      What are ETIAS and EES? Plus everything you need to know about when the EU will start fingerprinting and charging UK arrivals

      By
      Nick Trend,
      CHIEF CONSUMER AND CULTURE EDITOR
      10 August 2022 • 2:47pm
      Brexit may be “done”, but from the traveller’s point of view, the full implications of what it means for our holidays are only just becoming apparent. And I’m not talking about the short-term problems – the chaos at Dover, the queues at airport immigration desks and the 90-day limit on the time we can spend in EU countries. What is going to feel very very different – and a lot more bureaucratic – are the new border control systems which are due to be put in place by the EU next year.

      Although the Government negotiated post-Brexit “visa-free” visits for British holidaymakers travelling to Spain, Italy, Greece and so on, the EU is changing its systems so that we will soon have to apply and pay for an electronic pass before we travel. Valid for three years, it will be required for any UK citizen entering the Schengen area – the border-free zone which includes the vast majority of member states, plus Norway, Iceland, Switzerland and Lichtenstein. And, in a separate move, the EU will also be requiring us to upload our fingerprints and other biometric data to a European-wide computer system.

      Before you bang your fist in fury, this isn’t some terrible Brexit retribution from Brussels. We are simply experiencing the inevitable inconveniences of losing our EU citizenship. In fact, we are just one of more than 50 countries whose citizens don’t require a visa to visit the bloc and will therefore have to use the new system and register their biometric data.

      The American model
      Essentially, what Brussels is doing is following the American ESTA model which allows us to visit the United States without a visa, as long as we have registered our details and filled out the questionnaire on its computerised immigration system before we travel. The aim of both this and the new EU system, known as the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS), is to improve security at the border, screening for undesirable or dangerous visitors, and make it harder to forge or use stolen documents.

      So, how will the ETIAS work when it does finally come in? Essentially, you will have to go through a process which is not so different from what we had to do when Covid-related travel systems were introduced. Using either a new app or the website, you will need to upload some personal information including your passport details, and then answer a series of security questions about any criminal offences you may have committed, and health questions concerning certain medical conditions, infectious or contagious diseases. Finally, you will have to pay a €7 application fee. The EU says that most applications will then be processed “within minutes”.

      Assuming you are successful, you will be issued with a pass which, combined with your passport, entitles you to visit the EU for 90 days in every 180-day period. It will last for three years, or until the expiry of your passport, whichever comes first. As well as being automatically checked at the border, your ETIAS pass will also have to be shown to your airline, train or ferry company before you travel. The EU says that attempting to cross the border without an ETIAS “could have serious consequences, including denial of entry to the Schengen member country.”

      Not before next year
      Quite when the ETIAS will be operational is not certain. You won’t have to worry about it just yet, however. Its development has been a tortuous process and the start date has been pushed back several times. The latest news is that it will be introduced from “late 2023.”

      In the meantime, another major change is planned: the EU’s new Entry and Exit System (EES), which will automatically check the validity of passports and ETIAS passes (or visas) of visitors from countries outside the Schengen area each time they cross an EU external border. It is due to be implemented in May 2023 and will replace the system of manually stamping passports, which is currently the only way that border officials can monitor whether or not visitors remain within their 90-day limit for visa-free travel.

      Fingerprints and facial images
      It sounds as though it should make life easier, but it is controversial among privacy campaigners because the new system will require you to register your fingerprints and an image of your face. These will then be stored in the form of biometric data on the EU’s computers.

      This sort of monitoring for security and identity purposes is not unprecedented. The US has been collecting the fingerprints of tourists at its borders for many years. And they are required for entry into China and with some types of visa at the UK border. But a spokesperson for human rights charity Privacy International expressed concern about the process: “These policies are created without any clear need, but because it’s seen as a border security initiative… the normal scrutiny that one would expect of a mass surveillance exercise doesn’t apply. Biometric systems deal with highly sensitive data that can be used against you, and are prone to fault and abuse. They could be used to misidentify you, and lead to miscarriages of justice.”

      In practice, however, if you want to enjoy a holiday in Europe, there won’t be much you can do about it.

      All your questions answered
      Although Britain is no longer a member of the EU, UK citizens are entitled to visit the bloc without a visa (up to a maximum of 90 days in any 180-day period). Currently that system is policed by border officials manually stamping our passports. Soon however, we will be required to go through a new process of online checks known as the ETIAS which must be completed in advance of travel.

      What is the ETIAS exactly?
      When it is introduced next year, the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) will be the EU’s way of automatically checking the credentials of visitors who don’t require a visa and who want to enter the Schengen zone. It will be used for tourism and business travellers and for stays up to the 90-day limit.

      What is the Schengen zone?
      The zone comprises 26 European countries (22 from the EU plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland), that have abolished all internal border controls. Another four EU states, Hungary, Bulgaria, Croatia and Cyprus are expected to join Schengen in due course though, in the meantime, UK citizens will still need to apply for an ETIAS pass to visit them.

      The full list of countries requiring the pass is as follows: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. British citizens will not need an ETIAS pass to travel to the Republic of Ireland.

      When will the ETIAS be implemented?
      The ETIAS was previously scheduled to begin at the end of this year, was then pushed back until May 2023 and has now been delayed until “late 2023”.

      How do I apply for an ETIAS pass and how much is it?
      You will have to make the application online, although the official website and an alternative app are not yet ready. There is a one-off €7 fee and you will be issued with a pass which lasts for three years, or until the expiry of your passport, whichever comes first. Your ETIAS pass will have to be shown to your airline, train or ferry company before you travel. The EU says that attempting to cross the border without an ETIAS “could have serious consequences, including denial of entry to the Schengen member country.”

      What information do you need to provide for an ETIAS pass?
      For the online ETIAS application, you will need a valid passport from a qualifying country and an email address. You will also have to complete some personal information including your full name, date of birth and country of residency. And, at the end of the process, there will be some security and health questions (see below). You will then have to pay the €7 application fee with a debit or credit card. The EU says that most applications “will be processed within minutes”.

      What happens to the information that you give the EU?
      All applications are automatically checked against a series of security databases, including EUROPOL, Interpol and a special watchlist which includes certain individuals on the UN list of war criminals, and people who have committed or are likely to commit terrorist or major criminal offences.

      What are the ETIAS health questions?
      We don’t yet know the exact questions which will be asked yet, but there will be a series asking about whether you have suffered, or are suffering from certain medical conditions, infectious or contagious diseases. These will then be automatically checked against a database. If you fail these checks, a more detailed investigation will follow to confirm whether or not an ETIAS pass will be issued.

      What are the ETIAS security questions?
      Applicants will be asked to declare if they have a criminal record which include criminal damage, terrorism, violence, drug or people trafficking or sexual assault within the last 10 years (20 years for terrorism).

      Can you get an ETIAS if you have a criminal record?
      The EU says that yes, you will “in most cases, providing information about a criminal record won’t contravene the requirements of an ETIAS visa waiver. However, some serious offences could lead to a refusal.” In such cases they would need to apply for an appropriate Schengen visa from the embassy of the country to which they are travelling.

      What is the difference between ETIAS and EES?
      The EES is the EU’s new Entry/Exit system which will automatically register and track visitors from countries outside the Schengen area – whether they hold visas or an ETIAS pass – each time they cross an EU external border. It will replace the system of manually stamping passports, which is currently the only way that border officials can monitor whether or not visitors, such as those from the UK, remain within their 90-day limit for visa-free travel.

      The new system will register the person’s name, travel document, biometric data (fingerprints and facial images) and the date and place of entry and exit. You will have to register your photos and fingerprints which will be stored in the form of biometric data.

      The EES is supposed to come into force in May 2023, but it is far from certain that it will be feasible to implement the system before The ETIAS is ready.

      Where can I find out more?
      For updates and more detailed information see the EU’s ETIAS website: etiasvisa.com.

      2. It will be fascinating to see how EUSSR apply these rules to the tens of thousands of illegal arrivals every year….

        1. They get free transport to a transit camp near Calais until a dingy comes available – there is a waiting list, you know.

          2. Dunno what happens to them but the Idiots in charge of UK immigration will find a way of getting them here.

  31. We must relish Shetland’s careworn hero while we can.

    Have you noticed how many TV detectives have a trademark coat? I sometimes wonder if it’s a compulsory police requirement. There’s Columbo’s crumpled cream raincoat, Bergerac’s leather bomber, Vera’s dusty brown gabardine, Saga Norén’s olive military number, Marcella’s Woolrich parka and Olivia Colman’s orange cagoule in Broadchurch. To that sensibly clad roll call, we can add DI Jimmy Perez’s black peacoat – always buttoned up tightly, collars turned up against the windswept climes and forces of evil.

    As McMurder-mystery Shetland (BBC One) returned for its seventh run, Perez (Douglas Henshall) – gasp! – wasn’t wearing it. Instead he was suited and booted for an appearance before a disciplinary committee – fallout from the tumultuous series finale last time around, which saw him suspended from duty.

    Happily, he soon resumed his role, donned his signature garment and was reunited with sidekick Tosh (Alison O’donnell). The duo investigated the disappearance of vulnerable young man Connor (Nicholas Nunn), whose hobbies were wild swimming and graphic novels. How very 2022. His family had recently relocated to the isles. The plot thickened when Perez uncovered why they fled Glasgow.

    Sinister threats were issued. Several locals looked decidedly shifty. An equinox party and a spot of amateur witchcraft (“It’s like Salem around here,” noted Tosh drily) lent a frisson of folk horror to proceedings. It wasn’t long before a fishing boat found a body in the water. As artist Lloyd Anderson (Patrick Robinson) sagely said: “He was too sensitive for this world. He took on board all the bad stuff and it ate away at him.” He meant Connor but it might well have been the world-weary Perez.

    This Ann Cleeves adaptation is a high-class police procedural – subtle, unshowy but hauntingly powerful and highly atmospheric. With its bleakly beautiful setting, meaningful stares and slow-burning plots, it’s Nordic noir transplanted to the Scottish archipelago’s rugged landscape.

    Relish our hero while you can because Henshall will hang up his peacoat when he’s cracked this six-part case. After a decade in the role, he’s keen to explore pastures new. Shetland will sail on with a new protagonist, yet to be unveiled. At least Perez’s name isn’t in the show’s title like Scottish predecessor Taggart, which continued long after DCI Jim Taggart himself had gone to the great incident room in the sky. Whoever takes over has a tough task matching up to Henshall’s charismatically careworn performance. I also look forward to scrutinising their coat.

    The producers of Shetland will inevitably ruin the programme since Perez’s replacement will inevitably be: black; brown; oriental; gay; lesbian; transvestite; disabled; any combination of the preceding; or … worst of all … Cockney!

    1. It was a good first episode – I don’t watch much telly but we did watch last night. I think we must have missed some of the earlier series but we have watched the last few years.

      1. I preferred the two-parters of the first two series. Six episodes is stretching it.

    1. Corporations are not the problem. Unaccountable government is. While legislation can be bought and paid for we will have corruption. When the state can levy whatever taxes it likes, we will have corruption.

      The solution is simple: referism, recall and direct democracy. Why, in the name of flippin’ trousers can they refuse our wishes? These people are staff, for goodness sake. If we want fuel duty scrapped, they scrap fuel duty. If we want 20% savings made, they make them. They are not there to tell us how to live. We are here to instruct them on what we expect them to do.

      1. Electing people with real life experience might help, instead of career-focussed drips with degrees in PPE.

      2. Ah but you need government to make the unpopular but necessary decisions!

        At least that is whet village idiot Trudeau is saying about carbon taxes and his never ending efforts to push us into poverty and starvation.

          1. He is a simple soul and only understands base elements, not compounds. However, he does know more about everything than everyone else which is why they ignored the farmers when coming up with their latest greenhouse gas scheme.

            Apparently Canada uses more fertilizer per capita than other nation, a fact that ignores the minor point that we have a limited population and export a lot of foodstuffs from those enormous farms on the prairies.

          3. Utterly expensive as well, those combines can be over a million dollars each.

            The way that the government are pushing the cuts in fertilizer usage, you would think that farmers are just wasting money on unnecessary fertilizer.

          4. Farm machinery costs a fortune – even a small tractor-borne mower or a 3 share reversible plough cost huge amounts.

      3. The principal remains the same…

        In 1815, Nathan Rothschild made his famous statement: “I care not what puppet is placed upon the throne of England to rule the Empire on which the sun never sets. The man who controls the British money supply controls the British Empire, and I control the British money supply.”

        1. Probably still true today. “Chancellor if you don’t support x.y.or Z then you will find the UK’s ability to borrow significant sums on the international money markets will be substantially diminished….you do need to borrow large sums do you not…..”

        3. Instantly I suspected the authenticity of that quote. It’s just a typical piece of anti-Rothschild nonsense.

          Nathan Mayer Rothschild assisted in an important part of the later Peninsular campaign by gathering sufficient specie (£600,000 in French coins) in January 1814, needed by Wellington to pay for soldiers and supplies in France; Nathan and his brothers also urgently raised funds for the British in the form of bullion in 1815, prior to the events that culminated in the Battle of Waterloo. Henry Bathurst referred to him as ‘our Jew’.

  33. Talking of border control, I was ‘arrested’ taken to a police station and fined €198 for overstaying 7 days in France. Luckily they held up the boat while the idiots processed my fine. New rules, monsieur, new rules!

    2. I am surprised that they made them wait, I thought that one of those rubber dinghies set off for England every few minutes, there would have been no harm putting you on the next one.

      Seriously, we must try using our Canadian passports in France just to see how new rules would apply to us.

  34. I managed 8 weeks of hellish heat without biting someone in half. That’s a new record. Yes, our solicitor was right, yes, I needed to make a decision, yes, I’ve put it off and equally yes, a biro will survive being embedded into a tabletop.

    1. A woman I used to know who was chair of the board of visitors for Holloway prison told me she was once called in to talk to a prisoner who’d embedded a biro in her own thigh.

      2. Afternoon Sue

        When I was a pupil at a rather good primary school, we were using knibbed pens , the sort you dip into the desk inkwell to do our written work .

        I sat at a twin type of school desk with another girl who was incredibly bolshi. She had a fidgetty moment which irritated me .. I felt a surge of pain in my left thigh , the wretch stabbed me right through my school tunic with her inked knibbed pen , it hurt like hell, and I had small dark mark on my thigh for years . Still a faint mark , my mother thought I would have developed blood poisoning , but I didn’t .

        The 11 year old girl monster was ticked off by the head master , and a letter to her parents

          2. Of course you were, Bill. We would expect nothing less. I apparently was very popular with the Gels.

          3. Do you still receive the CZ mag ..

            Latest issue shows a young boy about to go to school courtesy of an RAF armed guard protecting the school wagon .. mother in the background .

          7. Yes, some kids did and do still suffer from neglect. So many schools in the US now offer free breakfasts….and I expect it’s the same over here.

          8. In my case once my eldest sister left home there was no one to help me with breakfast. My mother was out the door at 5.30 am for work and my father was often working away on Welsh or German building sites. My brothers would gulp down the last of the milk before walking out the door. Had to make my own lunch too which ended up as months and months of cheese sandwiches.
            I don’t expect the tiny violins to come out but it did teach me a salutary lesson. My family are selfish and uncaring and i am glad most of them are dead.

          10. I was door monitor in one class, chair monitor in another and blackboard monitor in another. Unpaid labour.

  35. This should be of interest to all NoTTLers, especially those who have letters published in the DT. It’s an article in The Spectator from Christopher Howse, the outgoing DT Letters Editor.

    Letters to a daily newspaper have a curious power to gain an impetus of their own. ‘I owned a Triumph Herald many decades ago,’ wrote Robert Brown of Crosby to the Telegraph in January. ‘She was my first love. On cold winter nights I would keep her warm with an old mackintosh thrown over her engine under the bonnet. Perhaps it was this that protected her from a thief one night. She was driven off our drive on to the road but steadfastly refused to go any further.’

    It soon became clear that we’d hit a seam of experience in recent history, when lives and loves were expressed through small British cars of doubtful reliability. ‘While I was driving my Herald in the 1970s,’ wrote Karen Mullan of Hove, ‘the passenger door flew open on a bend, and my handbag and dog fell out. Happily both were retrieved without injury.’

    Too much give in the Herald chassis often meant that the doors opened unexpectedly. ‘I found some old bed iron in my father’s workshop,’ wrote Henry Harvey from Dittisham, Devon, ‘and our local blacksmith kindly welded it for me. No unsuspecting girlfriend was ever ejected afterwards.’

    ‘In the 1960s I owned a Triumph Herald convertible,’ wrote Kenneth Vickers of Blackpool. ‘It was my first car and my pride and joy. When I last took it to the garage for its MOT, the testing mechanic said that, if I chose to leave it with him, he could dispose of it. I went home on the bus in tears.’

    Just because readers were keen to recount tales of Triumphs and disasters did not mean they neglected high politics. I have been letters editor of the Daily Telegraph since 2005 and am moving on to other tasks at the paper. The government takes notice of what Telegraph readers write. Or, if it doesn’t, it’s doing even worse than readers suspect. For a generation, an underlying simmer of anger at politicians has been discernible in letters to the editor, turning into a rolling boil at times such as the mad spring days of 2019 leading up to Theresa May’s resignation, when parliament tried to take business into its own hands, as a sort of Committee of Public Safety with Oliver Letwin its unlikely Danton.

    The letters had boiled over entirely ten years earlier over the revelation of the MPs’ expenses scandal. Day after day, the paper received 1,200, 1,500, even 1,800 letters from readers. The normal daily base rate at the Telegraph is 600. Every one is read. So if it takes a minute to read each, that’s ten hours’ work. We share it out among the small team on the letters desk.

    It adds up: thousands of letters a week, hundreds of thousands a year, a few million in the years I’ve been at it. It’s like shaking hands with the readers.

    Some people write every day. We have a rule of thumb for no one to appear more than once a month. There isn’t much green ink, because only a few dozen write by hand. In the 1990s a postal strike meant difficult days for my predecessor; now it wouldn’t make a dent. We did mend the office fax machine because dear old Frederick Forsyth liked to write in by fax. It also proved useful in confirming the authenticity of letters from the double agent Oleg Gordievsky; you could see that it was his typewriting.

    Now reaction is instant. Instead of receiving a letter the day after a defeat or a death and publishing it on the third day, readers can email and see their letters online at a minute past midnight.

    The nature of letters is different from quasi-anonymous comments posted below articles online, too often resembling a sort of 2 a.m. delirium, like drunks overheard in a provincial bus station. A letters page is enjoyable to read because the writers are identifiable and put in an effort, and their contributions are curated. As the letter on the opposite page here from Vida Saunders indicates, newspapers and magazines become part of people’s lives.

    Though letters on important issues of the day go at the top, the most important decision is which to put in the bottom right-hand corner, where funny letters go or those spotting an unnoticed trend. One day in 2015 we put this letter there: ‘I was interested to read about the teddy bear that accompanied a Battle of Britain pilot as I too have a little bear, with my maiden name tape sewn on it, which I gave to my fiancé to take with him on his operations over Germany during the second world war. ‘He was a Mosquito nightfighter pilot and flew 50 ops accompanied by my bear, and together they won the DFC.

    ‘We were married for 50 years but now, sadly, I just have the bear.

    ‘Jean Mellows, Dorking, Surrey.’

    It was a perfect short letter: factual, poignant, reticent. It had a huge response on social media. We later published an interview with the author and published the little bear’s photo, with the DFC.

    The letters page, whether in The Spectator or the Daily Telegraph, brings people together precisely because it is not generally about them, but about subjects in which they find a common interest. It’s a forum and, like a real forum, people walk about sociably, talking with one another.

    Heaven knows there’s been enough to discuss, with Brexit, Covid, war and taxes. But last year came a surprise crop of quotations from school reports, many of which would not be countenanced today, some making the best of things, others indifferent or cruel. But they were memorable and I was grateful to pass them on.

    ‘Nigel is the best of the non-swimmers’; ‘Penny’s country dancing has improved greatly this term’; ‘Wendy is a nice girl who means well’; ‘I cannot understand what makes his parents keep him on at school’; ‘A dull boy who perks up at the prospect of food’; ‘Bowen is extremely fluent. Unfortunately not in French’; ‘Barber is the kind of child who gets paint inside his overalls’; ‘She uses too much solder’; ‘It doesn’t look like Iain will be getting a new bike for Christmas

  36. Phew,

    The couple that are buying our house just came for a pre-closing visit.

    Even though over here sale contracts are legally binding once an offer is accepted, I was expecting a bit of push back on the price and a request / demand to negotiate a lower price – especially since their house remains unsold and prices are falling rapidly in a dead market.

    It was anything but that, they are still keen to move in and were just looking to measure a few things and get advice on things mechanical.

    It must be nice to be able to afford to spend close to a million dollars just like that!

    Back to unpacking – no we haven’t moved yet but the boss keeps packing essentials.

      1. Thank God it is not like that here. If the buyer pulls out now they lose their deposit and we can sue them for any costs that result.

  37. Pictured: Winners of the Nature TTL Photographer of the Year Awards 2022

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2022/08/10/TELEMMGLPICT000305456037_trans_NvBQzQNjv4Bqne9Sb_JA93Ef1fjlS82WPtCG_fgP-Pq6rEqaq9XKuMY.jpeg?imwidth=640
    A male eastern gobbleguts carries eggs in its mouth for a month before they hatch

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2022/08/10/TELEMMGLPICT000305456014_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqZgEkZX3M936N5BQK4Va8RWtT0gK_6EfZT336f62EI5U.jpeg?imwidth=640
    A caracal with its flamingo dinner

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2022/08/10/TELEMMGLPICT000305456018_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqaRL1kC4G7DT9ZsZm6Pe3PWH28ZiNHzwg9svuZLxrn1U.jpeg?imwidth=640
    A heavy smoker in the Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2022/08/10/TELEMMGLPICT000305456035_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqZgEkZX3M936N5BQK4Va8RWtT0gK_6EfZT336f62EI5U.jpeg?imwidth=640
    A lunar rainbow set against the northern lights at Godafoss, a spectacular waterfall in Iceland

    2. NatureTTL, NaTTL, NTTL, hang on a moment, where exactly did they find that acronym?
      Geoffrey, is there an Intellectual Property expert in the house?

  38. Pictured: Winners of the Nature TTL Photographer of the Year Awards 2022

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2022/08/10/TELEMMGLPICT000305456037_trans_NvBQzQNjv4Bqne9Sb_JA93Ef1fjlS82WPtCG_fgP-Pq6rEqaq9XKuMY.jpeg?imwidth=640
    A male eastern gobbleguts carries eggs in its mouth for a month before they hatch

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2022/08/10/TELEMMGLPICT000305456014_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqZgEkZX3M936N5BQK4Va8RWtT0gK_6EfZT336f62EI5U.jpeg?imwidth=640
    A caracal with its flamingo dinner

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2022/08/10/TELEMMGLPICT000305456018_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqaRL1kC4G7DT9ZsZm6Pe3PWH28ZiNHzwg9svuZLxrn1U.jpeg?imwidth=640
    A heavy smoker in the Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2022/08/10/TELEMMGLPICT000305456035_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqZgEkZX3M936N5BQK4Va8RWtT0gK_6EfZT336f62EI5U.jpeg?imwidth=640
    A lunar rainbow set against the northern lights at Godafoss, a spectacular waterfall in Iceland

  39. Post-lockdown health continues to suffer

    The public inquiry into the handling of the pandemic needs to establish whether lockdown triggered an even bigger public health calamity

    TELEGRAPH VIEW • 11 August 2022

    For months now, the number of deaths in England and Wales has been running above expectations. At the height of the pandemic, excess fatalities were attributed to Covid but that is no longer the case. Fewer than one in 10 deaths is currently caused by the virus.

    The latest ONS figures show the number of deaths to be 18 per cent above the five-year average, amounting to 1,895 excess fatalities. In the middle of summer, with respiratory diseases largely in abeyance and the worst effects of Covid suppressed by the vaccines, this is a startling anomaly.

    While hard evidence is difficult to come by, the anecdotal explanation is that so many people were discouraged from using the NHS during the pandemic that they are now succumbing to illnesses that were diagnosed too late or not at all.

    Heavy-handed “Protect the NHS” sloganising led to the closure of GP clinics and a widespread sense that it was somehow wrong to use the system. The consequences are now apparent, with a backlog of treatments that will take years to clear and the late presentation of ailments.

    There has been a large increase in deaths taking place at home. To what extent are these linked to slow emergency ambulance responses caused by the knock-on effect of a lack of available hospital beds? Clinicians say they are not certain why this is happening but it is hard to believe it is not the unintended, though predicted, consequence of relentlessly focusing on one disease.

    The public inquiry into the handling of the pandemic needs to establish whether this triggered an even bigger public health calamity whose ramifications have yet to be fully appreciated.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/08/11/post-lockdown-health-continues-suffer/

    BTL (in summary):
    Allison Pearson apart, where have you been, DT?
    What about vaccine deaths?
    What the psychological warfare?

  40. The return of polio exposes the folly of mass Covid vaccination for children

    Polio’s effects in children are severe – yet the rush to completely shut down Covid may hinder our ability to counter the old disease

    ROBERT DINGWALL • 11 August 2022

    I was 72 last week, which means that I am just able to remember my parents’ anxiety every summer about the regular outbreaks of polio in the UK. Several hundred children died each year. Many survivors needed long-term treatment in “iron lungs”, early types of respirator, because their muscles were too weakened to breathe on their own. Some permanent degree of paralysis was common. In later life, a post-polio syndrome emerged as the ageing process compromised the body’s adaptations to the damage caused by the infection. My generation includes victims of this virus. We take it very seriously.

    Everything changed after 1956, when mass vaccination arrived in the UK. While there were early safety issues, improvements in design and manufacturing eliminated these risks. Polio vaccines have been used worldwide for 70 years to the point where the virus is on the brink of eradication. The last UK case was in 1984 and Europe has been officially polio-free since 2002. The only outbreaks since have been associated with migration from places where the virus continues to circulate, although some parts of Europe have undesirably low vaccination rates.

    This is why there is such concern about the situation in north London, where polio virus, which lives in the gut, has been detected in sewage at a community level. One type of vaccine uses a weakened virus which is excreted for a while after the vaccination. This can mutate back to a more dangerous form, which seems to have happened in London. The UK does not use this vaccine, which has advantages in other contexts that outweigh that risk.

    London has long had much lower vaccination rates than the rest of the UK. Its ethnic mix means that many groups are not easily reached by community health services because of their distinctive languages or cultures. Housing pressures mean that people are frequently moving around and it is hard to keep track of children to remind parents or carers about vaccination schedules. There are also challenges in recruiting and retaining staff in community health and primary care, because they experience the same difficulties in finding stable housing and maintaining an acceptable quality of life on the salaries offered.

    I saw the problems 50 years ago when I was doing research with health visitors in what is now Docklands. But they have been aggravated by the squeeze on local government and NHS funding over the last ten years, by poor workforce planning, and by a lack of consideration for the collateral impacts of Covid.

    Parental confidence in all vaccines seems to have been shaken by the controversy around Covid-19 vaccines for children. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation was created in 1963 from a previous group advising on polio vaccines. Its work has kept Britain’s children safe for 60 years. But when it has been challenged on individual recommendations, as with whooping cough in the 1970s, MMR in the 1990s or Independent Sage on Covid-19, the effects seem to spill over.

    The system is not broken but it needs serious fixing, if it is to protect North London children. Some of this is about absolute levels of resource to support engagement with parents from diverse backgrounds in ways that match their language and culture. More immediately, the NHS could stop diverting energies into the promotion of Covid vaccinations for children. JCVI have clearly stated that there is little to be gained from this, except where there are strong clinical indications.

    Why promote a vaccine for an infection that is generally mild in children ahead of a vaccine for an infection that has devastating consequences for a significant proportion of its victims, including children? It is time to subject Covid interventions to the same assessments of cost, risk and benefit that would be applied to any other activity by the health services.

    Robert Dingwall is Professor of Sociology at Nottingham Trent University

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/08/11/return-polio-exposes-folly-mass-covid-vaccination-children/

    The Professor’s opinions are more powerful for being expressed so moderately.

      1. “One type of vaccine uses a weakened virus which is excreted for a while
        after the vaccination. This can mutate back to a more dangerous form,
        which seems to have happened in London. The UK does not use this
        vaccine, which has advantages in other contexts that outweigh that risk.”

        He carefully avoids saying that this is brought here by immigrants.

        1. Every filthy disease that we erradicated has been brought back into the UK by foreigners .

          All the Poxes , Aids , TB, Polio , the Virus , and goodness knows what else .

          1. The other point he avoids making is that the African children are vaccinated courtesy of the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation.

          2. Which was a leaky vaccine and caused an emergence of the virus which was more fiercely resistant to any of the polio vaccines.

      2. It is a complete mystery which can only be solved by employing thousands of researchers with personal experience of living in infected areas in their previous homeland. The government may/will have to increase income tax to pay for it – but persons on benefits will not be affected, of course.

      3. There were plenty of explanations in the DT yesterday.
        Well …. until the whole BTL facility was vaporised.

  41. Just spent the most wonderful day with Ashes. We had a very nice lunch at the beach then Ashes went for a swim. I paddled. What an amazing bod ! Then back to my place drinking iced Gin in the garden room. I passed on the messages and hugs.

    Message to Bob of Bonsall… You both have great singing voices and on your travels you must meet up. Ashes is doing the South Coast at the moment but your time will come !

    1. Absolutely spiffing afternoon! I am unaccountably tired now so will bid you all adieu for today – must have been the sun and my swim; nothing to do with the succession of stonking gins that Phizzee so generously poured down my throat . . .

  42. Did a spot of acclimatisation earlier today by cycling 16miles along the canal towpath to Bradford on Avon and back. Fortunately 2/3rds of the journey was in shade from the trees lining the path. I won’t be so fortunate tomorrow when the forecast is for 32C and I’ve got a skip being delivered and around 4 tons of rocks and stones to shift. On Monday 5 tons of top soil is being delivered. At least 50 wheelbarrow loads will need to be shifted from the front garden to the back garden. I suspect I might just lose some weight….

      2. I know, I know … You’ll be thinking ‘His brains will melt like butter… What is he man or teacake?’

        The answer will of course be: ‘Teacake!’

    4. At least you’ll be able to use a wheelbarrow!
      The several tons I’ve carted up the hill had to be carried!

  43. Moh is playing golf today nr Blandford .. I queried the idea of playing in such heat … his answer was “well most who are playing are mid to late seventies and more”.

    I expect he will be late home , and he has another game tomorrow .

    I had to do some shopping in Wareham .. the carpark was like a furnace . The small Sainsbury branch was cool and welcoming .. I searched for a watermelon , no luck sadly. Watermelon chopped up into small pieces and then put in a dish in the fridge is delicious , even the dogs enjoy a small chunk . Suppose everyone has latched onto that idea .

    When I had completed my shopping , stepping out of the shop door .. just about everyone who walked out of the shop gasped with shock as the heat hit them .

      1. Half a cantaloup, seeds removed, crushed ice and a measure of Cointreau. But that’s just me.
        Cantaloup frappe.

        1. Remove seeds, chop, then freeze, the cantaloupe, skip crushed ice and more room for Cointreau.

          1. I like the cut of your jib. After freezing add crushed ice and blend. Pour into a highball and top with Cointreau. Add a straw. Grown up slushy.

        2. In 1967 at the age of 13, I went on the school’s ‘French Exchange’ trip and had a three week stay with a family in a Normandy Farmhouse. I managed to buy a litre bottle of Cointreau as a present for my parents. 40 years later my father gave it back to me unopened. It didn’t remain in that virginal state for long…..

          1. In 1978 i went on a French trip to Paris for a week. As we boarded the ferry which was 6 hours late due to strikes, my French teacher (Mrs Lord) was not in the best of moods.

            That evening she booked a table in the restaurant for us 14 plus two teachers. We had a nice meal.

            When it came to pay the bill she flatly refused. An argument ensued where she said quite loudly that as we missed our already paid for dinner at the place we were staying that she wasn’t going to pay twice !

            That night all members of the union were called out. She had another blazing row with the Purser over blankets for the top deck loungers. Under union rules he wasn’t allowed to unlock the cabinet.

            She said ‘ So there are no staff prepared to help with the children?’ He Said ‘ No, they were not allowed’.

            We all had cabins that night and there were no staff in the cafe in the morning so we just helped ourselves to whatever we liked.
            Mrs Lord got promoted to Goddess in our eyes.

          2. Normandy? Shoulda been Calvados shurely.
            Known for when you need a post prandial ‘trou Normande’

          1. When we went to our little bistro on Friday, my husband had a Cointreau with a black coffee.

          7. The gripewater flavour comes from caraway seeds. I make my own Swedish snaps by infusing caraway seeds in 60% vodka.

          10. Have you met Alf? Nothing but nothing would stop him doing anything except for a direct hit from an exocet.

          15. That’s the problem with speaking both languages, which have similar words.

            I think Peddy could have had those problems.

        1. Watermelon’s OK if someone takes the seeds out, otherwise I can’t be a*sed with it.

      3. I like watermelon, cantaloupe, charentais, ogen and gallia melons. I find honeydew melons bland and overrated.

        2. Melon with a sprinkling of salt – I get some odd looks, but trust me, it enhances the flavour immensly

          1. Some people think that adding salt to caramel somehow enhances it. I know that it ruins it.

  44. Heyup all!
    Got home 11:30 after picking up t’Lad’s tool cabinet and have been partially de-kitting the van to make space for the stull I’m picking up from Bury tomorrow. I think t’lad owes me a tank full of diesel by now!

    Had a bit of a snooze and began sorting out the photos.
    Here’s a selection of yesterday’s photos.
    Going up Bredon Hill from Bredon’s Norton.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0a7437b554fc2d4f859c410feae7824566e2debbcb2e5d5e73eaa92fdd131d14.jpg

    Looking South from fairly close to the top of the ridge:-
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7b44ede94385de9880b8b8e88e364db5390d28c8dd4b26f207e0eaadc2b07022.jpg

    Got into the woodland that runs along the top of the escarpment and, deciding to have a bit of a snooze beneath a beech tree, thought “That will make a nice picture”:-
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/33ccc8ef3388aa46e4adfd13928455d78cf9b2aa2e47d1c3693fa6e75cb50ab1.jpg

    Looking across to the Malverns:-
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5b228578b3f8b0be32fe9ddace054c26033f9c5c2b8968e9f16fd020d28cb861.jpg

    Banbury Stone Tower, built as a folly, now used as a “rent-a-twig” & mobile phone base:-
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b3abaeaa8b0fa81c1c147310aad5a361eba11583e8538ff94d6d827d4e9d76f6.jpg

    A bit closer to the tower showing the Iron Age earthworks:-
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/559c29528bc2e9bb6ef516db229a7bff2479917a2d4a8f2ac0ce60461217d328.jpg

        1. The Banbury Stone is the little outcrop of harder limestone about 40 yards away; from a certain angle it looks like an elephant. On older maps it’s marked as ‘Banbury Stone’. The tower is Parson’s Folly, sometimes known as Bredon Tower. On some maps there is no mention of it; on others it’s marked as ‘Summer House’.

          The modern OS map has put the two together.

  46. That’s me for today. Quite warm again… Just done the watering – takes 45 minutes. Tomorrow and Saturday extra strong eldest grandson can do the leg work! I’ll direct ops.

    Have a jolly evening.

    A demain.

  47. Continuing the photos:-
    Here’s some decrepit and sweaty old bugger in need of a beard trim and haircut!
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d03dc65fd13f0d19167657202c66d349b1d99b781f9570348bde5a613c9b9de5.jpg

    Walked back along the ridge for a footpath dropping down the scarp slope of the hill:-
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/46025375abe08772694bb3fa08f534790741a49a696e650ea0f2f4375e72dd74.jpg

    A look back up towards the tower:-
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/deb581f994fe8a7c98e1be925c0318946b77d3a1c9602e6fb3b1027f2e21ad98.jpg

    A rather fine looking Elizabethan(?) manor house:-
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/94a11da8848f7c19925ec39b2e4457e97840dcc779200f613e172bef22d8bf5f.jpg

    Spot the Birdie 1:-
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/068943e95bbe598485649057e2672f5f761ab1a57a11860755ee40cadd1995f8.jpg

    Spot the Birdie 2:-
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e5d42e755d47f0949007ee041be1ab2dabd81f60c93d7728c373868234864024.jpg

    A sparrowhawk, I think!
    Not brilliant photos but given a hand held 300mm lens and a focusing system that insisted on focussing on the wrong thing, not too bad!

    1. Just a quick, maybe helpful thought?
      Does your camera have an ‘AF on’ button on the back or the option to designate buttons for other purposes?
      Because if so, take the AF from the shutter button and assign it to another, it’s ‘AF on’ for my Nikon cameras. Commonly known as back button focus and once pressed, it locks onto the subject you wish in focus and does not change when the shutter is tripped.

      1. You can walk along a path with nettles & brambles heavily encroaching upon it if you want, but don’t expect me to!

          1. Same as my day wear kilt socks.
            If you disagree, you’re racist (or summat)
            :-;9

          1. I am never wrong. Just gravely misunderstood. pouts
            It’s just that the socks didn’t match the rest of his ensemble !

        1. Off course. I don’t have an Italian mama to clean my shoes for me.
          Ashes sends love and hugs. You should see this woman !

          2. Already done. I did after an afternoon of Gin take her up the back passage…..To get to my car to take her home. Innocent face.

        1. No, Richard, Iskareen was designed by Sparkman & Stephens and built by A/B Neglinge-Varvet yard of Sweden and launched in 1938.

      1. The last time I had a haircut from a professional barber was 34 year ago – since then Caroline has done it for me. For some strange reason she doesn’t trust me to cut her hair! My mother cut my father’s hair too but she did not allow him to cut hers either

        1. Since Covid restrictions, I haven’t troubled the hairdressing profession. Bought clippers. Don’t have much hair these days (on my head, at least), but a quick #4 keeps it tidy. Doubt whether I’ll ever trouble a barber again, though the Turkish one on the road to Aldershot has an effective way of dealing with ear & nose hair, as do his compatriots in.. er.. Türkiye…

      1. ‘And if this thing is called apathy then I don’t care about that either’

        memorable line from a fellow schoolboy poet 50 + years ago….

      2. There is no apathy when those affected are those without reputations or good jobs to lose. See poll tax riots.

      3. Perhaps. I suspect that a solution will be offered that suits the agenda, and this will be grabbed by the hungry. The line of least resistance. See Sri Lanka for further information.

      4. At 78, why should I give a flying fcuk about the apathy that currently rules?

        Let ’em find out for themselves. 650 step-ladders and many yards of piano wire might just influence them.

    1. One of the best and most moving interpretations that I’ve heard from S&Gs Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. albums original.

      1. Listened to the Voces8 version and thought it very pleasant. I think the finale would have been better is there was only one choir member singing ‘The sound of Silence’.

  52. Goodnight, Gentlefolk and God bless, I shall look forward to catching up with you all, in the morning’s light.

  54. Good (very early) morning all – Friday’s new page is here. Since I’m awake, and just in case Mr William Gates buggers up my laptop again with another overnight update…

        1. Will do! Was actually thinking of that the other day, started musing about what we might be able to play/sing together if we had the chance and got lost in music in my head 🙂

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