Thursday 11 February: Parliament must not sanction 10 years in jail on the say-so of a minister

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2021/02/11/letters-parliament-must-not-sanction-10-years-jail-say-so-minister/

1,034 thoughts on “Thursday 11 February: Parliament must not sanction 10 years in jail on the say-so of a minister”

  3. EU chief’s Moscow humiliation is sign of bloc disunity on Russia, say experts. 1i February 2021.

    The former Spanish foreign minister told MEPs on Tuesday he had wanted to see if Moscow was “interested in a serious attempt to reverse the deterioration of our relations, and seize the opportunity to have a more constructive dialogue”.

    The answer was clear, he said: “They are not.” Russia had “not fulfilled expectations of becoming a modern democracy”, he said, and was “progressively disconnecting itself from Europe, looking at democratic values as an existential threat”.

    Morning everyone. EU? Democracy? He’s having a laugh! One wonders that the Russians with their history are as tolerant of it as they are and this is not to mention its meddling on Russia’s borders.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/11/eu-chiefs-moscow-humiliation-is-sign-of-bloc-disunity-on-russia-say-experts

      3. Good morning Phizzee. And many happy returns of the day today young man. Do hope today finds you in ruder health and that things continue ie to improve.

  5. On the BBC news this morning Professor Peacock stated that the “Kent variant” Coronavirus would spread rapidly, and would be around for ten years.

    We wonder whether this statement will give impetus to the Government to stop the continual inflow of migrants into Kent?

    Or at least give the illegal immigrants compulsory health checks when they arrive?

    2. 329291+ up ticks,
      Morning J,
      As the wretch cameron did, pledged to reduce the numbers then promptly raised them.

      1. Ogga, this was a comment in the Press in 2016:

        For a man with no management skills, no leadership qualities, no vision and only a very tenuous grasp of the truth, Cameron rose higher

        than many would have thought possible.

        1. janetjH, the same could be said about the present incumbent of No 10. Why are politicians, especially those who attain high office, such blatant liars? They have no moral compass at all.

        2. It was his turn. In his point of view, and, sadly, the view of all too many others.
          Morning, Janet.

        3. 329291+ up ticks,
          Morning J,
          It matters not that is patently obvious in regards to the leader,
          that could be and has been, two faced, deceitful, treacherous apes given carte blanche under the con servative umbrella.

          major the curry addict, the wretch cameron, leg over clegg, mayday, plus yet to be seen in full bloom amnesties R me johnson.

          It is “the party” that is the deciding factor in the polling booth
          lab, ( proven treacherous sh!te)
          lib, ( most honest sh!te in so far as being NONE other than pro eu )
          con, ( proven treacherous sh!te )

      2. Ogga, this was a comment in the Press in 2016:

        For a man with no management skills, no leadership qualities, no vision and only a very tenuous grasp of the truth, Cameron rose higher

        than many would have thought possible.

  6. 329291+ up ticks,
    Morning Each,
    “Parliament must not sanction 10 years in jail on the say-so of a minister”

    Why ?
    Worse issues have been sanctioned before, activated and still running.

    As a country we could never have achieved such an odious standing without continuing to support such ministers & party’s.

    Facts have to be faced these politico’s are not new upstarts many are long in the tooth, short in patriotism & integrity and been around, and supported in one form or another, for years.

  7. Morning all

    Here are the covid letters….

    SIR – When the executive proposes a law that gives the state the power to incarcerate its citizens, it is only right that the legislature scrutinises such a law with great care.

    If Parliament allows the Secretary of State for Health to make sweeping laws under the guise of emergency powers, it is an outrage. To make lying on a travel document imprisonable in this manner is especially egregious.

    It is time that Parliament, and in particular Sir Keir Starmer, the Leader of the Opposition, did their job to restrain the power-mad zeal of this Government.

    Sir Keir, of all people, should know the damage that poorly made criminal law can do, and the enduring harm to society of this erosion of constitutional principles and of the rule of law.

    Nicholas Higgs

    London W1

    SIR – The driver with a history of offences who killed my granddaughter has now been sentenced for death by dangerous driving to six years and nine months. Go to a red list country and conceal it and you could get 10 years.

    Joyce Bellingham

    Hassocks, West Sussex

    SIR – There is one very simple way to avoid the 10-year jail sentence for lying about travelling to Portugal. Don’t lie.

    Nigel Adams

    Hertford

    SIR – Lord Sumption (Commentary, February 10) rightly highlights the comparison between the proposed jail term for breaking Covid travel restrictions and other serious crimes.

    Those guilty of death threats or sexual offences against minors should face sentences of more than 10 years.

    Shaun Whyte

    Alnmouth, Northumberland

    SIR – I endorse Lord Sumption’s piece, but it is important to note that 10 years is a maximum, not the fixed, proposed sentence. Judicial independence will ensure that, in the event of such a miscreant coming before a court, fairness will guide the outcome. Sentences will range from an absolute discharge through community sentences to immediate incarceration.

    It is difficult to imagine the level of egregiousness to justify the maximum of 10 years’ immediate imprisonment.

    Rev His Honour Peter Morrell

    Nassington, Northamptonshire

    SIR – Every evening on television I am invited to look coronavirus sufferers in the eye and “tell them I’m doing everything I can to stop the spread”.

    Meanwhile, until Monday, flights arrive full of passengers from red-listed countries. To millions who have done their best, the public health videos are an insult from a government that still leaves the stable door open.

    Stuart C Smith

    Houghton, Huntingdonshire

    SIR – A holiday can restore balance and discernment. I commend one to the Health Secretary.

    Dr Gershom Sleightholme

    London SW1

    1. Well Rev His Honour Peter Morell,
      Judicial independence will ensure that, in the event of such a miscreant coming before a court, fairness will guide the outcome.
      Not if your name is Tommy…

  8. Morning again

    SIR – It is astonishing that the commission appointed by Oriel College to decide on the fate of the Cecil Rhodes statue (report, February 8) contains not a single expert on art or architecture, nor any of the scholars working on Rhodes’s legacy.

    Several members seem to have already expressed a desire for the statue to be removed, along with the bronze portrait-plaque.

    The commission’s two public sessions displayed a shocking ignorance about planning issues. It was also implied, regardless of the facts, that the statue has put off ethnic-minority applicants.

    Alexandra Hyde

    Southminster, Essex

    1. Take the statue – lose the scholarships and all monies donated by Rhodes.
      Seems only fair.

      1. And cancel all the degrees that were awarded to recipients of those tainted scholarships too.

        Oh, and while we’re about it, sack all those Rhodes scholars from their posts because their degree certificates are no longer valid.

        That’s the way woke works isn’t it?

  9. Anthem for England

    SIR – As a player of rugby from 1967 to 2005, and an ardent supporter of England, it has always irritated me that we did not have our own anthem (Letters, February 10). God Save the Queen is the national anthem, and England should have its own. Jerusalem is the runaway favourite.

    Simon Dilloway

    North Lopham, Norfolk

    SIR – Surely every patriotic English person knows deep down that our real anthem is I Vow to Thee, My Country?

    The music of Gustav Holst asks no questions and Cecil Spring Rice’s poem stands the test of time. England’s sports teams should adopt it at once.

    Paul Schofield

    Chawton, Hampshire

      2. “The English, the English, the English are best
        I wouldn’t give tuppence for all of the rest!”
        (Flanders & Swann)

  10. Grattis på födelsedagen till Philip!

    Wishing you a very happy birthday, food-filled and pain-free! 👍🏻🍷🎂♒️

  11. Gold star performance

    SIR – My daughter has just been given an award by her village primary school. She was very pleased and excited, and it has been pinned to the kitchen noticeboard.

    My daughter is 45. The award was for being the best home-schooling parent.

    Clova Reid

    Gordon, Berwickshire

  12. ‘Morning, Peeps.

    Short but powerful:

    SIR – The driver with a history of offences who killed my granddaughter has now been sentenced for death by dangerous driving to six years and nine months. Go to a red list country and conceal it and you could get 10 years.

    Joyce Bellingham
    Hassocks, West Sussex

    1. YouGov has a long history of finding answers that the Government likes.

      That’s why they get so much Government money.

      1. YouGov is very choosy who it polls on any matters that could be considered political. Any suggestion that the respondent is conservative, and they are never asked again.

    2. I read it as the opposite Korky. Morning BTW. To me JHB wants the public to be angry with the politicians locking us down.

      2. Good morning, vw.

        I do not doubt that she wants the people to be angry, I follow her Twitter feed every day, but she doesn’t contest the figures in the poll. She, like most thinking people, knows that YouGov is a government mouthpiece and she should call them out especially as Talk Radio is touted as the single mainline media dissenting voice at the moment.

        1. Good morning, Front Pager

          As eggs go she’s a good’un. I don’t think there are many flies on her and she is nobody’s fool.

        2. Sorry Korky, I misunderstood you.

          I like her very much but haven’t made a point of listening to her show, she’s on a bit early for us late people.

    3. I rarely agree with Dominic Grieve, but his description of this appallingly stupid idea of Halfcock’s as “disproportionate” seems to be a step in the right direction. As for YouGov polls…

      1. Hancock is out of control and on a power trip. He is able to behave as he does because the Country has a quite useless man at the helm. A real leader would have disposed of Hancock’s services as soon as the care home debacle became public last year but Johnson appears to have given Hancock free rein. One really has to wonder who is the organ grinder and who is the monkey when looking at this despicable duo.

        1. Morning, Korky.
          Halfcock is a lightning rod.
          He is disposable. Legislation is being deliberately distorted for immediate political gain.

          1. I fear it isn’t just for immediate political gain, it is to establish precedents for future use.

        2. It could be a case of providing enough rope, for when the inevitable enquiries begin into the lockdown debacle, putting Handcock firmly in the frame.

          Or, it could be that he’s being used as a crash test dummy, trialing the ever more bizarre policies from Westminster (not just HMG as Sir Keef Hindsight and co. appear to be nodding any legislation through with minor quibbles on timing).

          Either way, I expect Handcock will be well rewarded for his endeavours by those raking in the cash from his exploits. A small price to pay for losing his seat.

          2. His address book must be bulging by now, and a lucrative future beyond politics surely beckons. Whilst it fair to say that Handycock has been dealt a bum hand, the time for disposing of his services is long past. Johnson will find that his continued incompetent presence will appear on the charge sheet when he eventually faces the day of reckoning.

            Manners – ‘morning Feargal.

          3. His address book must be bulging by now, and a lucrative future beyond politics surely beckons. Whilst it fair to say that Handycock has been dealt a bum hand, the time for disposing of his services is long past. Johnson will find that his continued incompetent presence will appear on the charge sheet when he eventually faces the day of reckoning.

            Manners – ‘morning Feargal.

  14. Yo All

    Mr Halfcock must get his prioritie right

    He is pictured wearing a mask marked “Protect the NHS”

    Why single out the NHS for protection. why not
    “Protect Bus Drivers”
    “Protect Miners” (oops you have sacked all those)
    “Protect Our Armed Forces” (oops you have sacked all those) etc

    The country needs residents to get the ‘Wartime Spririt’ when we all looked after (and protected) each other

    We need a proper Border Force, not Border Farce

    We need the illegal immigration tackled: you cannot vaccinate people you do not know exist

    To get the people working together we need to show All Lives Matter and that Woke Is A Joke

    How can you take this government seriuosly when the term Breastfeeding isruled to be wrong

    and Chest Feeding to be right. It i all out of Blackdder!

    I wonder how long this will last as a BTL comment

    1. Chestfeeding is stupid. It’s mammary tissue that’s the milk bar, not a collection of bones and cartilage. Men have breasts too – so what’s wrong with the term? I fail to understand…

  16. ‘Morning again.

    The depravity and sheer bloody cruelty of the Japs in wartime is well known, but this experience takes the breath away and is almost impossible to imagine:

    Dennis Morley, Royal Scots bandsman who survived a Japanese massacre – obituary

    Captured in Hong Kong, he was on the Lisbon Maru when it was torpedoed, leading to the enemy firing on the prisoners, killing 828

    By
    Telegraph Obituaries
    10 February 2021 • 2:22pm

    Dennis Morley, who has died aged 101, served with the Royal Scots (the Royal Regiment) in the defence of Hong Kong, and subsequently survived the sinking of the Japanese freighter, Lisbon Maru, when it was torpedoed by an American submarine; he was believed to have been the last survivor of the sinking.

    Japan attacked Hong Kong early on December 8 1941 and the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Scots, flanked by two Indian battalions, were deployed in a defensive line across the New Territories. Morley, a bandsman in HQ Company, was a stretcher bearer and was in the thick of the fighting. His battalion, however, was greatly outnumbered and took heavy losses.

    The survivors were evacuated to Hong Kong Island, but after a week of bombing and shelling, the Japanese launched an invasion of the island itself. The Royal Scots, defending Mount Nicholson, overlooking Wong Nai Chung Gap in the island’s centre, saw more fierce fighting. Morley was admitted to St Albert’s Hospital suffering from battle fatigue.

    Three other front-line hospitals were the scenes of rapes of nurses and massacres of patients and medical staff, and on the morning of December 23 Japanese soldiers burst into St Albert’s. A Japanese officer was lying in the hospital morgue and a nurse, Mary Currie, with great presence of mind, covered his body with a Japanese flag in a gesture of respect. Morley was taken prisoner but he believed that this action saved their lives.

    Morley was incarcerated in Sham Shui Po PoW Camp, a former British Army barracks. He and his best friend, Paul Connolly, discussed escaping, but Connolly broke out on his own; he was recaptured and executed.

    In 1942 Morley survived an epidemic of diphtheria, and at the end of September, together with some 1,800 fellow British PoWs and about 800 Japanese army personnel, he embarked on the armed Japanese freighter Lisbon Maru, bound for Japan.

    Down in the hold, in the most squalid conditions, the PoWs were being transported to work in Japan in order to release Japanese manpower for their armed forces. An American submarine, however, tracked the vessel and, on the morning of October 1, torpedoed it. It bore no markings to show that it was carrying British PoWs.

    The Japanese battened down the holds to ensure the prisoners could not escape and were then taken off the listing ship by a destroyer. The PoWs had no food, water, fresh air or toilet facilities. Many were suffering from dysentery and other serious diseases. The air became increasingly foul and the conditions intolerable; some men died during the night.

    After 24 hours the ship started to sink and the PoWs were able to cut through the hatch covers. Japanese guards fired on those who reached the deck, while others who escaped were machine-gunned in the water by Japanese soldiers on rescue ships. In all, 828 men died in the atrocity.

    It was not until some Chinese fishermen started to pull PoWs out of the water that the Japanese began to do the same. Morley was picked up by one of the Japanese ships but was always grateful to the Chinese fishermen whose heroic action prevented a complete massacre.

    When he reached the deck, in contrast to the murderous actions of the Japanese soldiers, a Japanese sailor gave him a cigarette and a cup of green tea, which he said tasted like nectar. The survivors were rounded up and taken to Shanghai and thence to Japan, where many would die of exposure, disease, malnutrition, and exhaustion.

    Morley spent the rest of the war at Kobe House PoW Camp, where he worked as a stevedore in the docks and at the airport. After he got a hernia he was given an easier job operating the cranes.

    In June 1945 the camp was destroyed by a series of incendiary raids by American bombers. Morley was finally liberated by American forces and returned to England by way of Vancouver and Halifax, Nova Scotia.

    Dennis John Morley Hickenbottom was born in London on October 26 1919, changing his surname to Morley after the Second World War. He left school to serve an apprenticeship with Philips Radios at Mitcham in Surrey.

    Morley wanted to travel and enlisted with the Royal Scots as a band boy. He was posted to the 2nd Battalion in Lahore, India, but in 1938 he accompanied the battalion to Hong Kong. As a bandsman who played the drums and the French horn, he had plenty of outside engagements. He met and fell in love with a young woman whose brother served in the Seaforth Highlanders in Shanghai, but war intervened.

    After the war, Morley worked for Hoffmans Manufacturing, then for an insurance company, and subsequently for British Petroleum. He did not want to retire, and for some years he worked voluntarily in a computer business.

    He revisited Hong Kong several times and also returned to Japan. He was able eventually to forgive his captors for the suffering he had endured, and regarded those events as over and done with.

    For the last 15 years he had lived with his daughter near Stroud in Gloucestershire. His main interest was walking, and Snowdonia, the Forest of Dean and the Lake District were particular favourites.

    Shortly before he died, he was delighted to learn that a memorial to the victims of the Lisbon Maru is to be built at the National Memorial Arboretum. He had been planning to attend the Dedication in October later this year.

    Dennis Morley married, first, in 1951, Phyllis Grace Edmunds. She died of cancer aged 30, and in 1952 he married Eva Starkey. She also predeceased him, and he is survived by a daughter of his first marriage.

    Dennis Morley, born October 26 1919, died January 3 2021

    2. ‘The Knights of Bushido’ by Lord Russell of Liverpool, covers the Japanese atrocities of the 1930s and 1940s in a dry, non-sensationalist way. It’s still a harrowing but worthwhile read. I’m can’t recall if it was suggested reading by a Nottler or Puffin but happy to return the favour.

  17. Dame Cressida Dick may go within year in wake of Operation Midland fiasco. 11 February 2021.

    Dame Cressida Dick may step down as Metropolitan Police Commissioner within a year amid the continuing furore over her force’s handling of the catastrophic Operation Midland inquiry.

    Lady Brittan, the widow of former home secretary Leon Brittan, has launched a withering attack on the Met Police, accusing its leadership of lacking a “strong moral compass” and a culture of “cover up and flick away”.

    Well aside from being the most incompetent Commissioner in history she should never have been appointed after the De Menezes fiasco alone. It’s pretty obvious that the only reason she made it is because she’s a lesbian and the Elites are obsessed with “equality”!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/02/10/dame-cressida-dick-may-go-within-year-wake-operation-midland/?li_source=LI&li_medium=liftigniter-rhr

          1. Birthday greetings, Phil. I’ll look forward to buying you a bowl of gin before too long……

      2. Happy Birthday. I hope Dolly gave you something nice, rather than memorable.
        (Note to Dolly, being sick on the bedspread is memorable, but definitely doesn’t add to the birthday vibe.)

      1. Why give her a year’s warning so that she has plenty of time to hide/amend all the incriminating paperwork?

      2. Better the Devil’s Dyke you know!

        I guarantee that her replacement will be a tad duskier and a lot more ‘diverse’ that even she was.

      1. Her father was the Dean of Students at UEA.

        Nothing queer about Professor Marcus Dick – he had the reputation of being a randy old goat

    4. Let’s just hope she doesn’t get promoted out like the subordinate who actually ran Operation Midland.

      1. Good morning Phizzee.
        Happy birthday and my very best wishes .

        I really hope your health blip is sorted out very soon .

        Grey skies are going to clear up 🍰🥂💐

    1. There are times when you just feel so totally chuffing helpless in the face of all this bullshonet.

      1. That’s why they’re doing it – to break us, in readiness for the next stage of the takeover. Imagine what the vast majority of us would say and do if we were brought through time from 2-3 years ago to today and shown what’s been happening? The frog in boiling water analogy is quite apt, as is the lectures given by Yuri Bezmenov about the tactics of subversion.

    2. There are times when you just feel so totally chuffing helpless in the face of all this bullshonet.

  21. Holy Prostitutes

    A man is driving down a deserted stretch of highway when he notices a sign out of the corner of his eye. It reads:

    SISTERS OF ST. FRANCIS HOUSE OF PROSTITUTION – 10 MILES

    He thinks this is a figment of his imagination and drives on without second thought. Soon he sees another sign which reads:

    SISTERS OF ST. FRANCIS HOUSE OF PROSTITUTION – 5 MILES

    Suddenly he begins to realise that these signs are for real and drives past a third sign saying:

    SISTERS OF ST. FRANCIS HOUSE OF PROSTITUTION – NEXT RIGHT

    His curiosity gets the best of him and he pulls into the drive. On the far side of the parking lot is a stone building with a small sign next to the door reading:

    SISTERS OF ST. FRANCIS

    He parks the car, climbs the steps and rings the bell. The door is answered by a nun in a long black habit who asks, ‘What may we do for you, my son?’

    He answers, ‘I saw your signs along the highway and was interested in possibly doing business…’

    ‘Very well, my son. Please follow me.’

    He is led through many winding passages and is soon quite disoriented. The nun stops at a closed door and tells the man, ‘Please knock on this door.’

    He does so and another nun in a long habit, holding a tin cup answers the door. This nun instructs, ‘Please place $100 in the cup then go through the large wooden door at the end of the hallway.’

    He puts $100 in the cup, eagerly trots down the hall and slips through the door pulling it shut behind him.

    The door locks, and he finds himself back in the parking lot facing another sign:

    GO IN PEACE. YOU HAVE JUST BEEN SCREWED BY THE SISTERS OF ST. FRANCIS. SERVES YOU RIGHT, YOU SINNER

          5. I’m not a huge fan of country music, in general, but I do like Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings.

      1. By coincidence, I was listening to 10cc’s ‘Sheet Music’ yesterday. If the Leftwaffe ever discover their albums they will have a hissy fit at the non-woke, tongue-in-cheek lyrics the band wrote.

        1. Wonderful stuff, isn’t it, Feargal?

          I have 10cc’s first four albums on vinyl. I shall be giving them some more playing when my new turntable arrives.

          Oh, Effendi is a classic; its lyrics would melt the snowflakes.

          In the middle of a caravan
          On a four wheel drive oasis
          There’s a man with a thought in mind
          To cash in on the desert faces
          He’s got a truckload of Yorkshire girls
          For your harem going places
          And the border bums never saw
          The guns in the whisky cases

          There’s a real, big demand
          And it’s written in the palm of his hand
          He’s gonna change the face of the desert
          He’s gonna sweep away the sand

          Hang on sheik, I’ve got a yellow streak
          I ain’t here, I’m a mirage
          Get back Des, keep it under your fez
          And don’t give us away in the massage

          Look what I did for the pyramid
          I put a pool in and made it pay
          I built an elevator and a film theater
          And I shipped it to the U.S.A.

          ‘Cause there’s a real big demand
          And it’s written in the palm of my hand
          I’m gonna change the face of the desert
          I’m gonna sweep away the sand

          Hang on friends
          There’s a lot more goodies in the pipeline
          So this ain’t the time to close the deal
          Here’s the deal…

          Ooh, now you’ve got a Howitzer all of your own
          Ooh, and a Panzer division to chauffeur you home
          Gun running is fun
          But hang on, friends, hang on friends…

          Allah be praised, there’s a whole new craze
          We’re gonna shoot up the foreign legion
          And it’s up with the sheik
          And down with the Frog
          We’re gonna liberate the region

          Oh Effendi, we’re gonna bury your head in the sand
          Oh Effendi, you better get off my doggone land

          Hey, Prince of the moonbeams
          Son of the sun,
          Light of a thousand stars
          Your gorillas are urban
          And there’s bourbon on your turban
          And the sun shines out of your ass

          Oh Effendi, I’m gonna grovel in your wake
          Oh Effendi, it’s all been a big mistake

          You’re gonna cut out my liver
          If I don’t deliver
          Things are getting out of hand
          I’m going to ride off into the sunset and
          Make a deal with the promised land
          Goodbye friends
          There’s no more goodies in the pipeline…

          1. Indeed, it is wonderful. I also have the first four albums on vinyl; ‘The Original Soundtrack’ was the first album I bought’. It’s just a pity that the pressures of the time, i.e. an album per year or else, caused the split. In an ideal world, Godley & Creme would have had a ‘sabbatical’, recorded ‘Consequences’ and returned to the fold.
            Gouldman and Stewart were proven songwriters, as you pointed out at the top of this thread, but I think they benefited from the more acerbic wit of their band mates. As ‘Deceptive Bends’ sadly proved.

  24. On the recommendation of Duncan Mac i ordered 2 pair of Arbroath Smokies. They arrived yesterday. A big bowl of Cullen Skink as a birthday treat.

          1. A horrible film, it is the only time where HG and I walked out at half time.
            I regretted taking her, she found it most unpleasant.

            (in those days our cinema had an ice-cream-interval)

          5. I loved it. And the film that it was a sequel to: “If!”

            Malcolm McDowell is a mesmerising actor.

  25. Good morning all from a lovely bright & sunny, but bloody freezing, -5°C on the yard thermometer, Derbyshire Dales.

    Just been over on Going Postal flagging a dozen servings of spam.

    1. Good morning, Bob. Also lovely, bright and sunny here in Skåne, but bloody freezing at -8ºC on my yard thermometer.

    2. What are you doing over there needlessly frittering your time away like that? 🙂

      No snow in my part of Eas Anglia/Home Counties, but managed to get down to -9degC during the night. Luckily the sun is out and warming everything up to a barmy 0degC…

  26. Repost from midnight last night

    Thursday 11th February 2021

    Phizzee

    Have a very enjoyable birthday

    and

    Many Very Happy Returns

    With very best wishes from

    Caroline and Rastus

    And we wish you good health in the coming year.

    57 today – and you are still almost the youngest on the birthday list!

  27. Good morning, all. Late on parade. Overslept. Relief, I suppose.

    Blue sky; sunshine – no more snow expected. No newspaper. BUT we did have post at 4.45 pm yesterday…

    1. ‘Morning, Bill, our Postie made it at 09:30 this morning, Milko didn’t but his normal time is about 01:00 and I wouldn’t want to risk icy roads at that time; I wonder if he’ll try during the day.

      1. Morning NTN – Our bin men on time as usual this morning despite overnight snow. Post not due until about 3.30 pm.

    1. This is an absolute outrage. Isn’t it Boris’s job to stop this vandalism (and ignore the screaming from the Guardian and assorted wokes)?

      This is all part of the destruction of western civilisation by people who hold the indigenous population in utter contempt, along with a hatred of British heritage, culture and traditions.

      Among other things, apparently they plan to target a statue of Queen Elizabeth ! which has been there for 465 years – until this malevolent lot came along.

      1. Johnson has no job. He has absolutely no idea what being Prime Minister means. He reacts to the last person who spoke to him – and the ghastly Carrion makes sure it is she.

        The man is a living nightmare.

      2. 329291+ up ticks,
        Morning S,
        If this is seen as an outrage why then do these party’s get re-elected time after time after time,
        is it because on entering the polling booth erases
        ALL odious actions of the past by the political lab/lib/con close shop, as in the three monkeys rule.

    2. Extermination of White English – and the white English are taxed to pay for their own extermination.

    4. Foreigners, gimmigrants, weirdos and wasters. The sort of people who do not remotely reflect this country.

  31. OT my old man had his Pfizer vax on Tuesday at Falkirk Town Hall, at 5.30pm. All was very well organised into bays and volunteers directing the sheep around to their vaccinators. They were all Army medics from London, up here for 30 days and working 12 hour shifts, 6 days a week. After checking details, the medic had to call for a nurse to ask the questions that he wasn’t allowed to ask! Allergies, drugs etc. As I say, the procedural bit was well run but because the Army don’t work for the NHS Scotland, they can’t ask questions! The medics who are trained for battlefield tracheotomies etc can’t be trusted to do basics! Of course there was also a shortage of nurses!

      1. He may well have done! I’m still on the drugs! However, we’re in Falkirk not Forfar! Although Greggs Bridies aren’t too bad!

          1. I posted the other night that SiL and his uncle were stuck on A90 at Forfar having been to Aberdeen market to look at a bull! He got back to the Borders about midnight! As my daughter said ” what silly bu**er goes to Aberdeen in an amber warning?”

          2. ♫ “There’s mony a slushy mess in the Howe o’ Auchterless
            There’s piles o’ driftin’ snow in the Garioch-o
            Ye cannae see fae sleet o’er the bonnie Braes o’ Gight
            An’ ma wee car went aff the road in Fyvie-o” ♫
            — Traditional (Aberdeen)

    2. I had mine i the new Falkirk College building on 1st Feb – great service – in/out 30 mins.
      New college building looks good – it will be on Hire Purchase no doubt and cost 2 or 3 times as much as buildings paid for by public borrowing.

        1. A local nurse – so many booths but it seemed that they could process more than the actual numbers. It took longer asking your name & address etc etc rather than having it pre-loaded or an postcode finder e.g. FK11AA and house number is lot quicker/more accurate than typing the full address.

          1. Yes, that’s what my OM said. They seemed to having a break so only 6 of the 12 bays were being used.

      1. And idiots are elected to Parliament as they’re pretty useless at anything else. He is a prime example.

          1. Yes, I agree but to change things you need more alternatives on the ballot paper. If that doesn’t happen then do you propose we don’t vote. It would make a difference if there was a ‘None of the above’ option and those votes read out by the Returning Officer.

          6. Democracy is of course an illusion when the candidates are carefully chosen and controlled and people are taught that a vote is wasted if not cast for the already powerful and therefore most likely to win?

            It almost amounts to False Consciousness, in the Marxist sense of the proles not comprehending the nature of their oppression.

          10. Democracy, in its proper sense, is not practiced any more. The current system (as you clearly describe) is an elective oligarchy.

            In a true democracy the electorate initially select the candidates who are then put up for election. Any of those selected candidates who then subsequently fail after election can be swiftly deselected.

            The biggest problem is the party system. Abolish that and you are then on the road to true democracy. All independent MPs who think the same way—their views would have been obtained at the initial selection process—then can band together loosely at voting times to effect their policies.

    4. He IS a power crazed maniac. I have never liked him, an over promoted politician that I would never trust to run anything.

    5. More integrated? Like WE pay – and all the illegals get prioritised free treatment and translators?

    6. Right from the World Economic Forum playbook. Don’t forget that he is very chummy with Klaus, having been Digital Minister beforehand and going to Davos about 3-4 years ago…

  35. I’t our grand daughters first birthday to today. She is 48 hours younger than our second grandson. Just popping off to see her now in our family bubble.

      2. True story: Some years ago my father inserted his key into the garage door lock and at that point the cast iron gutter above full of ice broke away and sheared the key in the lock. He wasn’t injured.

    2. If you use the sharp end of an icicle from a rural location and scratch S. O. C. [ s*d *ff c*vid ] onto your arm, then you are guaranteed to be free of the virus. Just read that on whatsapp … must be true.

    1. Morning T-B – I wonder what the purpose these magnificent performances achieve for the starlings. I’ve seen, keeping warm, exchanging information such as where the best feeding grounds are and to avoid predators such as peregrine falcons.

    3. Given there’s no sense of a ripple as they change direction, how do they retain such a formation?

  38. Gus and Pickles went out into the snow of their own accord. Then refused to come back.

    I had to boot up and go out to chivvy them in! Too damned cold to take pix.

    1. 329291+ up ticks,
      Morning Rik,

      ogga1 21 hours ago
      329273+ up ticks,
      If the same voting pattern is adhered to in the near future that has got us into our odious state as a state it will be inclusive of Zil lane & fast train.

      London central main mosque to Birmingham central main mosque
      HS2 = 45 minutes.

      The rotherham odious issue was only a prototype in sentencing the guilty
      pakistani offenders, since then it seems very much like it has been work in progress to reduce the time spent incarcerated to a point where supporting these mass uncontrolled immigration party’s can get many of the supporters parents, doing more hard time than the proven paedophile felons.

      breitbart.
      Short Sentences for Two Paedophiles Hunting for Girls as Young as 10

      So keep in mind if giving succour to paedophilia is your bag then a lab/lib/con coalition candidate is a must for you in May, while looking for more of the same.

  40. 329291+ up ticks,
    Speedboat Britain: UK Has Now Vaccinated More People Than Whole of EU Combined.

    This could also be showing the power the brown envelope holds.

      1. 329291+ up ticks,
        Morning JN,
        Not under the lab/lib/con overseers it won’t, and why should it ?
        this is not, at this moment in time to be the worst issue that the electorate via the polling booth have condoned.
        I say “at this moment in time ” because we do not know the consequences of the jab, only TIME will tell that.

  41. Docs telephoned Mrs N yesterday asking is she had received the letter from the NHS about arranging to have the jab. Mrs N said that both of us have decided not to have it. She was so pleasant and said she will remove our names so that we will not be troubled again. Result. have a jab and nothing changes because they do not understand enough about them. What a con for a 99% survival rate flu type virus..

  42. Two old guys were playing golf when a funeral procession passed them on a nearby road. One guy stood facing it, removed his cap and bowed his head. His pal said “Crikey you’re not usually this compassionate and respectful, what’s up?” The guy replied “It’s the least I can do – we’ve been married for 40 years”

    1. Thanks VOB. :@)

      Everyone has given me their birthday wishes. I’m just waiting For JSP and i’ll have the full set.

      3. Would you like me to give you a temporary downvote in the meantime? I promise to take it back when the permanent one arrives…

      5. Haven’t seen much of peddy for a day or two – but has he sent his best wishes yet or has he decided to have a saucy weekend with JSP instead?

        1. PTV rarely wishes anyone happy birthday which is fine. It’s not obligatory.

          I think he is staying away after the blowback from Nottlers on his unwarranted attack on Conway.

  44. Every day there is a little more discovered about the “trade deal” the negotiating of which took so very long. It seems that there is nothing in it that is comfortable for the UK, never mind advantageous.
    Here are the thoughts of the man responsible for tieing it all up for us.-
    “The UK’s chief Brexit negotiator has criticised the EU for its actions since the trade deal agreed by the two sides came into force six weeks ago.
    Lord David Frost said the relationship had been “more than bumpy” and more “problematic” than he had hoped.
    He told a committee the EU’s threat to increase controls on vaccine exports to Northern Ireland, as well as “niggling border issues”, were two examples.
    Lord Frost called for “a different spirit” from Brussels going forward.
    Asked about his thoughts on the situation, Cabinet Officer Minister Michael Gove compared it to a bumpy start to a flight, saying: “We all know that when an aeroplane takes off, that is the point where you sometime get an increased level of turbulence.
    “But eventually, you then reach a cruising altitude and the crew tell you to take your seatbelt off and enjoy a gin and tonic and some peanuts.
    He added: “We are not at the gin and tonic and peanut stage yet, but I am confident we will be.”
    Well, that all seems fairly relaxed. His use of the word “hoped” is a little disconcerting as it was his job to dot the “i”s and cross the”t”s.
    I’m not sure that Lord Frost would be quite so relaxed if he were to be locked in a room with a few fish exporters to discuss the “niggling border issues”.

    Here is the latest horror. The EU may allow us to send UK steel to NI. That’s nice.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-56002176
    https://uk.yahoo.com/news/eu-rejects-most-uk-demands-235439531.html

      1. How was anybody stupid enough to think Boris Johnson’s surrender deal was any better for the UK than his surrender WA? Haven’t the EU broken the whole spirit of what was agreed to such an extent that the whole deal and WA must now be cancelled?

        1. As has been repeatedly shown the EU will put the boot in at every opportunity.

          The only thing that Boris gets out of it is internationally we look like the reasonable party.

    2. So the EU has introduced an indefinite ban on our shellfish. Weren’t they all insisting, just a few days ago, that our fish was their fish?

      Why do we even keep on talking to them, they have been obstructive ever since we voted out. They have never negotiated “in good faith” as the WA stipulated.

      1. I read somewhere that if we cut their quota in 2026 we will have to pay them compensation…

        1. If they don’t want want our shellfish they obviously don’t want our fish as it comes from the same water.

      2. We all knew the EU was both nasty and treacherous. Now everyone can see that it is even nastier and more treacherous than anyone imagined.

        If the government has any integrity they will announce that both the WA and the deal have been nullified by the EU’s behaviour.

    3. The moment the deal was struck many of us here knew it was a mistake and that we shoud have left the EU with our borders in N. Ireland intact and with our fishing territories restored.

      Events since then have proved that Nigel Farage was an idiot to say this shabby ‘deal’ was a satisfactory outcome.

  47. More BP raising fodder:

    “People should wait for Boris Johnson to set out his roadmap on February 22 before booking their summer holiday, the Health Secretary has said, despite confirming he has already booked his.

    Matt Hancock said it was “just a matter of fact” that he has booked a summer holiday in Cornwall, while stressing that the public must be “patient” to learn if they can do the same. “

    2. Don’t hold your breath while Johnson finds a “roadmap” to get us out of the mess that he created.

      That tw@ couldn’t find his own arse, using both hands and a flashlight.

    3. If he has already booked his holiday, and is telling people not to book theirs yet, he should set an example by cancelling his holiday and re-booking it when everyone else is able to do so.

      2. You could always pack a sniper rifle and do us all a favour. Nottlers will come and visit you i’m sure.

          1. I think my dear old Father in Law was in one of those episodes in the UK. He was driving a Limo.

          2. Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causam.

            Vergil.

            (Happy is he who can understand the cause of things.)

  50. 329291+ up ticks,
    We have been winning the race to the bottom for decades, we had two old labour broads that were having talks with PIE decades ago, one is still active in parliament today, there was mention of the age of consent going down to 12.

    ALL the while the electorate are condoning mass uncontrolled immigration
    parties more rotherhams will be uncovered after the cover ups have been revealed & like rotherham suitable rewards have been issue to establishment employees for concealing the truth to protect the peoples.

    Carry on down the same voting road and shortly armed vigilantes will be a must on maternity ward doors.

    French Government Seeks to set Age for Sexual Consent at 15

    1. The age of consent in France has been 15 for some years now. The real outrage in France is that they are debating allowing abortions up to the very day before birth is expected. To clear up the ambiguity of this there is probably a movement to plead for post natal abortion up to one year after birth.

      1. 329291+ up ticks,
        Afternoon R,
        Regarding the UK currently nothing would surprise me as in seeing nursery schools with nurseries.

      2. I’ve wondered why infanticide was not allowed up to the age of 16 years. A lot fairer on the kid and on society. If the child is suitable to fit into society, then it will live. If not, it will have had a chance to show otherwise, but will have failed.
        Far better than killing a baby in the womb just because the mother that conceived it does not want it. (Some females use abortion as birth control, having had more than one abortion.)

  51. “Europe’s oldest person, French nun Sister Andre, turns 117 on Thursday after surviving Covid-19 last month and living through two world wars, with a special birthday feast including foie gras and baked Alaska.

    Born Lucile Randon on Feb 11, 1904, Sister Andre said she didn’t realise she had caught the coronavirus, which infected 81 residents of her retirement home in the south-east city of Toulon, killing 10 of them.

    “I’m told that I got it,” the nun told the AFP news agency from her home, where she sat basking in the winter sun, her eyes closed and hands clasped in prayer.

    “I was very tired, it’s true, but I didn’t realise it,” she added in a steady, strong voice that belies her years……

    2. Apparently a lot of nuns live to a ripe old age. One theory is that few of them develop gynaecological complications due to them having no pathogens introduced as a result of coition with a male.

      2. So (@Cathy Whoever)What you’re saying is that if you can avoid being scr***d by men, you’ll feel as though you’ve lived forever?

        1. There be a bit o’ an anomaly there, bonny lass. Eh?

          It’s a bit like, ‘keep off the booze and live forever (in misery) or get legless once in a while and have a smile on yer chops’.

  52. I see that the Telegraph’s Orange Man Bad campaign is ramping back up again, with the following article showing the ‘chilling’ video (warning – some may find these events upsetting – my reaction – is that IT? A warning for leftist snowflakes?) of some congresswoman talking and VP Mike pence and some others walking normally down some stairs.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/02/11/donald-trump-impeachment-trial-moment-mike-pence-fled-safety/

    ‘Fled’ my backside. This is as bad as AOC’s lies about her experiences. What does the Telegraph do – just copy ‘n’ paste coverage from CNN, MSNBC or the New York Times/Washington Post? Don’t give the papre your money any more and cancel your subscription (yearly ones will just run out when it normally would roll over to the following year and get charged again).

    2. Ignore that senate grand standing, it is just hysterical self centered twaddle established party lines and it will end in a vote along those same party lines.

      Nothing new will be said, nothing new will be learnt, just a few days of play acting (see the democrats crying at the terror of it). The vote may trip into a few more votes in favour of guilty, but nowhere near the number needed.

      Waste of time. The real action is probably going on in the background where they are calculating where the votes are and that will decide Trumps future.

      1. I agree it’s just a showtrial – they need a ‘supermajority’, which they ain’t gonna get. On the other hand, the Dems are trying to persue some other part of the US Constitution which never was used for this but can be passed on a simple majority.

    2. Is this confirmed? Amazing how it comes just as the DT posts a piece heavily criticising him for his actions during his long tenure as Health Secretary as reagrds prep for any pandemic.

    1. How long till every soddin’hotel here is full of freeloaders – being waited on? – So much for PP and her sidekick – Dan Dan the immigration man.

      1. The locals were out protesting in October last year, we drove past the camp several times while on holiday nearby.
        The illegals were often seen walking along the road.

    3. The trouble with church leaders is …they have nothing to do, as nobody goes to church and nobody actually votes for them, or indeed welcomes their interference in the opinions of the public who expect through their reasons for voting that the elected government do as they are told to do.

      1. 329291+up ticks,
        RE,
        And when the governance group does not do as the peoples via the polling booth require them to do, again,again,again then some more, why do the people return them to power again,again,again,and some more ?

    4. If it’s ‘unfit for purpose and entirely inappropriate’, it’s because the illegal immigrants have trashed the place.

      2. If our hapless and feeble minded government want to be elected again, they need to send these freeloaders off back to where they came from and do themselves and everyone else in the country a favour.

          2. Given the majority of incomers have not had a structured education, particularly the Africans their IQ will be below the national average.

            Easier to control.

            However, in the case of Muslims it will all blow up in their faces.

      3. The Archbishop failed in his primary duty of care to the congregants by running away on sabbatical.

        He is an absolute disgrace

        Posted in the wrong place. Soddit.

        1. ….. you forgot to mention he’s also a heretic and a blasphemer.

          …. I’ll get me Bell, Book & Candle.

          1. Given his previous job worshipping at the altar of Mammon why did they think he was just the person they needed?

            If the scales had fallen from his eyes.
            If he had had an epiphany.
            If he finally saw the light.

            I could accept him.

            None of those things happened. He doesn’t have a religious bone in his body and I pray that Almighty Lord God in his infinite wisdom strikes down the charlatan.

          5. Welby never had a religious vocation nor underwent an epiphany, he was always a politician

            I reckon he saw the CoE as a means to enter the political arena but without the inconvenience of having to stand for election

          7. “When religion and politics travel in the same cart,
            the riders believe nothing can stand in their way. Their movements
            become headlong – faster and faster and faster. They put aside all
            thoughts of obstacles and forget the precipice does not show itself to
            the man in a blind rush until it’s too late.” Frank Herbert.

            He can’t be that stupid can he?

        2. Thomas Cranmer was burnt at the stake in Oxford in 1556.

          Just because Welby has fewer principles and far less integrity he should not necessarily be denied the same treatment.

      4. Supply them with bricks, mortar and paint and let them rebuild how they want it. Then put a fence around the whole perimeter with armed guards outside. If they refuse to do it, no food.

    5. “Church Leaders” need to get their priorities sorted out; so far they’ve been really unimpressive during the panicdemic.

    6. Put them up in churches and see what happens.

      And why would Church leaders care? They’ve been busy trashing Christianity and our heritage for long enough.

    1. It’s sickening and that’s all part of the planned take over of our long established culture and why the pubs will have no beer. Or be shut down altogether.
      Shouting from the minarets had to happen in the middle ages because 1200 plus years ago people didn’t have watches or even know what the time was.
      And now speakers ??? Why was this allowed in this the 21st century ?
      That will set a precedent across the whole country.

    2. 329291+ up ticks,
      Afternoon W,
      It has been a long time coming but will shortly echo throughout these Isles join the dots nationwide and check islamic ideology positions of power countrywide councils etc.

      The instruction manual resting between the dispatch boxes in parliament, oath taking on manual and permission to lie to non believers within.

      Halal fodder on parliamentry canteen menu.

      All facts known and obviously condoned by the party members the ballot booth confirms that.

      The peoples were forewarned of the dangers of islamic ideology in the “Road to freedom” in 2014 by that far right racist Gerard Batten named as such by those that put their trust in the lab/lib/con coalition party.

      1. “…Gerard Batten …”

        Back at the 2016 UKIP leadership contest you rejected the Batten sponsored Lisa Duffy and instead voted for the Nigel stooge Diane James to replace your then hero Nigel. Just saying.

        1. I have seen her for weeks they don’t recognize people easily. And I was dressed up for the out door cold as i entered the front door. But we got there, she was all smiles and raspberries. Lovely.

    3. That reminds me of the Gerber baby food faux pas, when they tried to sell jars of baby food to Somalians, who thought it was made of ground up Caucasian babies.

    4. At first glance, I thought that was my beloved leader and I wondered what Trudeau had been up to this time.

      As if he would have done anything!

  59. Biden vs Merkel: the battle over Russian gas is heating up. 11 February 2021.

    Since its inception, the pipeline —which runs directly from Russia to Germany — has been opposed by many in Europe who share America’s concerns about dependency on Russian energy. Some see it as a ploy to allow Russia to stop sending gas via Ukraine so it can escalate the conflict there. After the arrest of Alexei Navalny, the European parliament voted to cancel the project, to no avail. In Poland, one minister even compared it to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. That’s a vast exaggeration, but it’s indicative of the conspiracy theories that Nord Stream 2 has spawned. The Germans, for example, peddle the story that the Americans are against the project because they want to sell their own liquid natural gas to Europeans. That is not true either.

    Actually it is! America’s LNG is twice the price of the Russian product and there is no way it can compete on a level playing field hence all the double dealing to try and block this pipeline. Merkel resists, not because she’s a Russian Agent (though she probably is) but because the Americans would have them over a barrel (Lol) and it would eat into their industrial costs and affect their Balance of Payments!

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/biden-vs-merkel-the-battle-over-russian-gas-is-heating-up

    1. We are dependant on the interconnector from France. What could possibly go wrong? Macron has already threatened to shut it off.

      1. And you think that you have problems?

        The pipeline carrying oil from Alberta to Ontario includes a stretch through the US side of Lake Michigan. Under Bidens tutelage, they are threatening to stop use of the pipeline in May. Trudeau has naturally said sweet nothing about this even though it will have major repercussions for Eastern Canada.

  60. BBC lunchtime news:
    “In the last hour, plans to extend the HS2 railway from the West Midlands to Crewe have been approved by Parliament and received Royal Assent. The Prime Minister has described it as a landmark moment in what he called ‘the country’s infrastructure revolution’ but critics say the project had no business case and will damage the environment.”

      1. It would be extremely amusing if, every now and then, there wasn’t enough available power to drive the HST at faster than 60mph.

      3. No need – just take out the seats and install stationary exercise bikes with dynamos…

    4. Covid will travel to the North, from Kent, so much more quikclyeresterer

      (Together with the Dover boys)

    2. It turns out my twatter account was suspended months ago, not quite sure if it can be reinstated.
      I would like it to be restored, then I can cancel it. 😉

      1. I was suspended for five months last year for no apparent reason. I couldn’t unsuspend it as I didn’t have a working phone at the time. I hassled them with appeals and was eventually allowed back in September. I’ve seen far worse than this on there.

        1. The majority of posters on here understand each others humour and sensibilities. Which is why i don’t take offence when Bill calls me a stupid boy. Even when he means it.

          Different on twitter and faceache. Too impersonal.

          1. Never used Faceache but I’ve tried Twitter. It lasted two weeks and then I came under a strong attack for some innocent remarks I’d made comparing a full-blood Paki*, born in Scotland, who claims to be a Scot, with a mouse, born in an aquarium, who claims to be a fish. I was reported to Polis Scotland for “hate-speech” but nothing came of it.

            They accused me of being a racist …. I mean me? Would you believe it? They were probably all niggers and wogs anyway.

            * Humza Yousaf MSP (“Justice Secretary)

          3. They were probably all basics.
            Scotland is about to be shackled by “hate speech” legislation that will put everyone in prison. Not just house arrest.
            Will we ever know what the arrested person said about Captain Moore? While at least one court has ruled that there is no law against being offended, that is set to change.

          4. I think there was a tweet posted here some days ago.
            It was an unkind observation, IIRC, but not worthy of arrest. Even for a vicar.

          5. But…but…Duncan! The ghastly little slammer wears a kilt and did his swearing in on the slammer killing manual!

          6. Good lord! That is excitable stuff.

            I used it once to complain about the Ribena recipe changing. I think we wore the marketing people down. I don’t blame them, to be honest.

            However, yes, it’s completely pointless. I can see why companies might use it as a promotions thing but the very concept is idiotic.

    3. As I’ve been a good girl and deleted that Tweet apparently I will be allowed back in 12 hours 24 minutes…….

      I will have to save the rest of my bile for here until then!

    2. The Government should take heed – this is a clear warning to change our ways.

      If we don’t start accelerating Global Warming PDQ, we’ll soon be freezing to death in a New Ice Age.

      2. Back in the ’70s that was the big scare – the New Ice Age. Then they realised they couldn’t make enough money out of it.

    3. BBBBrrrrrrruuuuudddddyyyyyyyy GGGGlllllllllooooooobbbbaaalllllll wwwwwwwwwaaaaaammmmmmmmiiiiiinnnnnnggggggg

      I hate it

      1. Ah, that’s why they changed it to climate change. The game was up, so they fiddled the rules. A bit like ‘bugger! We’re losing this football game! Quick, pick the ball up and run with it!’

  64. Thought for the day…?

    “gizzin • 7 days ago
    Where did it all come from? It was never mentioned before the election or even stated in their manifesto…. Its just come out of the air and none of us want it so they have to go at the next GE.
    7•Reply•Share

    Jack S gizzin • 7 days ago
    Agreed. So who do we vote for next General Election?
    5 1•Edit•Reply•Share”

    We masses are still waiting for an answer.

    (Ignore the downvote. Dez downvotes all my comments, even the ones he agrees with. Needless to say he’s a Nigel fan :-))

      1. I assume he means the PC/wokery/Reset. ws.

        Like most on the fora he’s long on problems and short on solutions.

        1. Solutions are very easy. The problem is they’re unpopular because people are dim.

          Actually, no, that’s not fair. People are uneducated .

          1. “…The problem is they’re unpopular…”

            Same reason we masses don’t vote for the SWP,SLP, Communist Party at elections w.

  65. Is this a suitable question for an exam

    In detail, compare the Hans Christian Andersen, story ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’, with the world’s
    obedience of Wokeism

      1. Firstborn had an essay question at school some years ago:
        “Did you like the (set) book?”
        He wondered how you get 2 pages out of “No”.
        Daft teacher, setting a closed question, without the necessary “give your reasons”. Implying it isn’t enough.

          3. Looking at Rastus’s birthday list it might be you, but there are at least 10 in the appropriate age range and that’s only the war-babes, the shelters were still common enough in gardens after the war, for a bit of illicit hanky panky for many of them.

          4. I know that I was conceived in what is now the dining-room in the Beauchamp Arms Hotel at Buckenham Ferry on the south side of the River Yare in Norfolk. My Mother was the licensee in 1943-4 and that was her bedroom.

        3. As a youngster we spent many a happy hour exploring the underground bunker down on the shore at Ballyholme. Vaguely aware it was something to do with WW2

          1. A friend of ours had one called Spider and when you sat down he would reverse up to you and sit on your knee, front paws on the floor! It was like being sat on by a horse (I imagine!)

          2. They’re tremendous lap dogs, but are also aware that they can’t quite fit properly and don’t really know why as they remember they used to.

            I gave up with the great beast and now we both usually sit on the floor.

          5. You want to try living next door to a Great Dane. Who knew they could make so much noise going up and down the stairs.

          7. Dolly does scritchy scritchy scritchy as she skids across the wooden floors. Crashes into the patio windows then runs the other way.

            If i’m bored i just chuck the odd biscuit for laughs.

          8. It’s a myth that giant breeds need to eat a lot. They need a bit more as puppies, but my Newf has a cup of his dog food and usually half a roast chicken breast, can of tuna or salmon in some pasta twice a day. It’s not a lot of food for an 86kg dog.

          1. I actually thought of it because he has three word name. That and I’d just walked back to my second bedroom past the cabinet with all my DVDs, and just happened to glance at the Stargate SG-1 boxset I got for Christmas.

          3. Just bored and hungry. I really need to have my lunch, but every time I’m about to step away from my computer, someone posts something amusing. Please stop – I might starve to death!

      5. Right. You’ve heard of Washington Irving, the American writer of The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow, Rip Van Winkle and The Sketch Book Of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent?

        Well, it’s not him!

  71. Sorry to bother you. I’m just having a quick audit of this list.

    Please let me know there any errors or omissions which I need to rectify?

    02 January – 1947 : Poppiesmum
    07 January – **** : Lady of the Lake
    08 January – 1941 : Rough Common
    09 January – **** : thayaric
    10 January – 1960 : hopon
    16 January – 1941 : Legal Beagle
    18 January – **** : Stormy
    21 January – **** : Nagsman
    23 January – 1951 : Damask Rose
    27 January – 1948 : Citroen 1
    10 February -1949 : Korky the Kat (Dandy Front Pager)
    11 February- 1964 : Phizzee
    22 February- 1951 : Grizzly
    24 February- 1941 : Sguest
    28 February- 1956 :Jeremy Morfey
    29 February- **** : Ped
    05 March—– 1957 : Sue MacFarlane
    08 March—– **** : Geoff Graham
    26 March—– 1962 : Caroline Tracey
    27 March—– 1947 : Maggiebelle
    27 March—– 1941 : Fallick Alec
    19 April——- **** : Devonian in Kent
    22 April——–1950 :Jay Sands
    26 April——- **** : Harry Kobeans
    24 May——– 1944 : NoToNanny
    08 June——– **** : Still Bleau
    09 June——- 1947 : Johnny Norfolk
    09 June——– 1947 : Horace Pendleton
    23 June——– 1957 : Oberstleutnant
    25 June——– 1952 : corimmobile
    01 July——— 1946 : Rastus C Tastey
    12 July——— 1956 : David Wainwright/Stigenace
    18 July——— 1941: lacoste
    19 July——— 1948: Ndovu
    26 July——— 1936 : Delboy
    29 July———- 1944 : Lewis Duckworth
    30 July———- 1946 : Alf the Great
    01 August—— 1950 : Datz
    03 August—— 1954 : molamola
    10 August—— 1967 : ourmaninmunich
    14 August ——-1944 jillthelass
    18 August—— **** : ashesthandust
    19 August——- 1951 : Hugh Janus
    04 September- 1948 : Joseph B Fox
    07 September- **** : Araminta Smade
    11 September- 1947 : peddytheviking
    12 September- 1946 : Ready Eddy
    13 September- **** : Anne Allan
    15 September- **** : veryveryveryoldfella
    26 September- **** : Feargal the Cat
    30 September 1944 : One Last Try
    07 October—– 1960 : Bob 3
    11 October—– 1944 : Hardcastle Craggs
    25 October—– 1955 : Sue Edison
    12 November- ***** : Cochrane
    01 December– 1956 : Sean Stanley-Adams
    06 December– 1943 : Duncan Mac
    10 December– **** : Aethelfled
    16 December– **** : Plum
    21 December– 1945 : Elsie Bloodaxe

    (E&OE)

          2. Can be spiky I agree, but she gets an awful lot of unpleasant responses. If folk don’t like what she writes, they can just block her or bite their (metaphorical) tongue.

          7. Like many here I crack the occasional ‘off colour’ joke and I admit that prudes do not like my sense of humour.

          8. Her last reply to Rastus:

            “Now I have downvoted you again for a piece of egregious personal abuse.
            I am far more clear-headed than you are, I’m not at all vindictive, and
            I don’t spend my time speculating on what goes on in the bedrooms of
            others. You, on the other hand, are simply a dirty old man.”

          9. I have blocked her so I cannot see her posts and respond to them.

            I admit that I have pretty normal sexual instincts and feelings and a very lovely wife to whom I have – and always shall be – completely faithful and unlike JSP I am not in favour of the extermination unborn children. Indeed once one has oneself become a father or a mother one’s ideas on this subject change. I may be wrong but from what I gather JSP has not had children and does not have a husband.

            The poor woman has an obsessive revulsion of all things sexual which strikes me as at odds with her career in agriculture. Let us hope that her alliance with Peddy will invigorate the more libidinous facet of her personality if it exists..

          11. I don’t really take offence very easily but I do object to the hectoring tone Jennifer adopts and the fact that she absolutely HAS to be right – even when she isn’t! She has an amazing store of knowledge but she ought to realise that we’re not children. Apart from that, nae probs! OK not altogether no problem! I’m going to assume that she will be reading this so I think we’d all prefer you not to speak to us as though we were dirt!

          13. And an ever-ready personal anecdote to back up her assertions: “My niece’s brother in law’s vet’s uncle had a similar experience just the other day…”

        1. I’m on the list but I didn’t see a notification yesterday. As it was my birthday I wasn’t around much and so checked this morning in case I missed it and hadn’t acknowledged any good wishes that had been posted. I looked and looked…

          2. Thank you, Ndovu. If I had been missed I wasn’t going to mention it but then Rastus put up the list. I had a good day rounded off with an excellent takeaway meal with our son and family and a final glass of port from a bottle bought by a friend.

          3. It looks as hough Rastus may have inadvertently forgotten to post the happy event for us all to see. I didn’t see it anyway. Glad you had a good day.

          6. Do you think that as recompense RTC should wish you a very happy unbirthday for the rest of the month?

            Anyway, a belated happy birthday and may you live to be as old as a French nun.

          7. No, is the answer to your question. I am not in the least bothered by not having my birthday mentioned. I was not going to mention it until RTC put up his list and the possibility of someone else noticing my birthday was yesterday. RTC does the notifications as a pleasant gesture and all credit to him for doing so. First thing this morning I was concerned that I had missed acknowledging any good wishes and therefore could be thought of as being dismissive of RTC and Nottlers.
            Thank you for your kind wishes.

          8. My first thought was that I had missed it yesterday!

            Anyway, all the very best of good fortune for your unbirthdays..

          9. So sorry Korky! Very Happy Belated Birthday! Hope you had a wonderful day and don’t feel too left out! 😘🎂🍾

          10. Mea culpa. Very sorry, my friend. I did not transfer it to my written list from which I work. I am an incompetent idiot – (I wish more politicians would be honest enough to make such an admission)

            Next one of my list is 22nd Feb – and I would NOT dare miss that, Anyone else before then?

          11. Rastus, forgetting my birthday is the very least of our worries in these troubled times. I wasn’t around much on the day and my reason for checking for the announcement was because I was concerned that I might have missed Nottlers’ responses and not thanked them for their kindness. That would never do. It’s a kind gesture and I think all Nottlers are grateful for your efforts.

      3. My goodness – I cannot understand why you are not on the written list.

        You are one of the Nottlers whom we all most love and admire.

        I am so sorry.

        PLEASE PLEASE FELLOW NOTTLERS LET ME KNOW IF I HAVE MADE ANY OMISSIONS.

        I AM CLEARLY GETTING SENILE.

  73. Just back from a three mile walk. Very agreeable. The countryside looks splendidly white. Of course, when the weather warms up on Sunday and thereafter, the beeboids will be slavering about “dangerous flooding”.

    1. “…the beeboids will be slavering about “dangerous flooding”.

      Most of us will never know that. Most of us take no notice of the Beeb.

    2. Amazing in my council area, that despite me and others reporting loads of road gullys being blocked – mostly before the first lockdown, not ONE has been cleared, even though most council road maintenance staff only work outside and have had loads of opportunities over the past 10 months to work in relatively safe conditions with much less traffic than usual.

      Cue moans on the council website when the thaw happens about people ‘chucking oils and fats down the drains and blocking them’ causing local floods, arther than via blocked road drains and gullys.

      For once, I’m glad I live on a private (but not ‘posh’) housing development where we get our road drains cleared at least once a year by paying for it ourselves (service charge), in addition to having to pay the full Council Tax. We also get a good number of grit (well, salt) bins, though admitedly we have to spread it around ourselves.

      1. Last month, before the weather worsened, the council sent a man with a digger to “clear the gullies” – he simply dug chunks out of the verge at random places – doing nothing at all to deal with surface water drainage.

        Next week, when it thaws, most of the lanes will be virtually impassable.

      2. Our council road maintenance staff seem to be working doubly hard this month and next as most of the roads round here are closed for something.

  74. All is not yet lost. Even the woke BBC website hasn’t gotten round to re-naming the grave at Sunderland Point.
    Likely some beeboid will crap themselves if they ever spot it 🙂

    3. Disgraceful:

      Not a

      Bame
      BLM
      Crossdresser
      Physically handicapped
      Blind
      Deaf
      Dumb
      Midget
      Giant
      etc
      in sight

    1. “Robert Jenrick quit: Why is the Housing Secretary being pressured to resign?
      GOVERNMENT minister Robert Jenrick has found himself in the proverbial hot water this week as a growing scandal regarding his involvement with a big-money housing scheme has come to the boil.”

      That Robert Jenrick?

      EDIT: Typo, that time of the day.

      Unless my memory is playing tricks, the scandal involved the owner of the Daily Express.

    1. If the media know something we don’t, Jeremy Hunt is favourite to replace Boris.
      Lord help us if that happens.

  78. Some light relief.

    Subject: FW: Thoughts from MENSA

    Here is the Washington Post’s Mensa Invitational which once again asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition. Here are the winners:

    1. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of time.

    2. Ignoranus : A person who’s both stupid and an asshole.

    3. Intaxication : Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.

    4. Reintarnation : Coming back to life as a hillbilly.

    5. Bozone ( n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.

    6. Foreploy : Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.

    7. Giraffiti : Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.

    8. Sarchasm : The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn’t get it.

    9. Inoculatte : To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

    10. Osteopornosis : A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)

    11. Karmageddon : It’s like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it’s like, a serious bummer.

    12. Decafalon (n.): The gruelling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.

    13. Glibido : All talk and no action.

    14. Dopeler Effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

    15. Arachnoleptic Fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you’ve accidentally walked through a spider web.

    16. Beelzebug (n.) : Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.

    17. Caterpallor ( n.): The colour you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you’re eating.

    The Washington Post has also published the winning submissions to its yearly contest, in which readers are asked to supply alternate meanings for common words. And the winners are:

    1. coffee , n. the person upon whom one coughs.

    2. flabbergasted , adj. appalled by discovering how much weight one has gained.

    3. abdicate , v. to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.

    4 esplanade , v. to attempt an explanation while drunk.

    5. willy-nilly , adj. impotent.

    6. negligent , adj. absent-mindedly answering the door when wearing only a nightgown.

    7. lymph , v. to walk with a lisp.

    8. gargoyle , n. olive-flavoured mouthwash.

    9. flatulence , n. emergency vehicle that picks up someone who has been run over by a steamroller.

    10. balderdash , n. a rapidly receding hairline.

    11. testicle , n. a humorous question on an exam.

    12. rectitude , n. the formal, dignified bearing adopted by proctologists.

    13. pokemon , n.. a Rastafarian proctologist.

    14. oyster , n. a person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddishisms.

    15. Frisbeetarianism , n. the belief that, after death, the soul flies up onto the roof and gets stuck there.

    16. circumvent , n. an opening in the front of boxer shorts worn by Jewish men.

    2. My own favourite personal coinage:

      arseholic, adj, innate dependency on being an inveterate arsehole.

      1. The guy who sent it to me was an executive in the advertising industry he has a great sense of humour/ we always have a few drinks and tell old jokes when we meet up. Not seen him for over a year sadly.
        I’m ticking over, trying to work on some more to reply. Over a glass of……..😉

    3. List 1

      I thought that No.2 (or should that be #2 in honour of our US friends) meant an astronomer who doesn’t believes the seventh planet.exists…or…

      No. 4 – the inventor of the modern road surface comes back from the grave to help fill in a load of potholes across the UK.

      No. 5 – One of the Dukes of Hazzard joins an Irish popular beat combo.

      List 2

      No. 11 – something that forms if a bloke pees himself in freezing conditions.

      No. 13 – Jabbing an Irishman?

      1. Whatever made her have it? I suppose she was assured that it would be perfectly safe – I have read that in the last week or so. They will tell you anything, they have no idea at all.

    2. “Turn your speakers up and listen to this !”
      Pass on that T_B.
      Listening to Duane Eddy and ‘Peter Gunn’ on auto-replay

    2. It was minus 18c in Perth Scotland over night but 28c during the same hour in its namesake in Oz. Steve told me that it’s been a bit chilly over night 14c.
      Glow ball warming at it’s most awkward period ? Not a mention of what’s occurring from all those experts though.

  83. I have been very seriously wrong and stupid in the conclusions I reached:

    i) I thought that the whole point of leaving the EU with a deal was to avoid the misery and disruption of no deal.

    ii) I thought that once a Covid vaccine had been found life would quickly return to normal.

    Will anyone admit to being just as stupid as I am?

    2. I never believed in leaving the EU with a deal ( soft Brexit ).
      I never believed in a vaccine for a non pandemic.

      1. To be honest I am just a hypocrite – I pretended to believe what they wanted me to believe! My feeble attempts at irony will probably be made illegal in the new order.

        1. 329291+up ticks,
          Evening R,
          You now sound like you are accepting the
          lab/lib/con coalition re-set campaign.

          I repeat when saying the 6th May will tell a story.

          1. There is a difference between accepting that that is what they may want and what I am prepared to accept.

      3. 329291+ up ticks,
        Evening B3,
        Same as that, as for there were no other options
        regarding the voting pattern that is on par with
        ” I was following orders”
        When the three party’s are proven sh!te you don’t
        vote for the least amount.

        1. It was posting that nonsense all day every day that had you banned from Breitbart.
          Even the loons over there had had enough of your mindless posts.

          Who should we vote for next election? Batten? You’re a late-comer to the Batten cause.

    3. I will send a letter to my MP if you wish Richard I wonder what he might have to say.
      You know where i am.

    4. “Will anyone admit to being just as stupid as I am?”

      December ’19 GE what were our options RCT?

      1. I had no options at all.

        Mr Blair disenfranchised me after I had been living in France for 15 years. If he truly believed in the EU then why did he not make sure that if I lost my vote in the UK it would be replaced by a vote in the EU country in which I was resident? I am not allowed to vote in France because I am a British citizen and do not have French nationality.

        And in 2016 Cameron said that British people resident in EU countries would be allowed to vote in the EU referendum. But, stinking little tosspot that he is, he went back on his word.

  84. I will just report a bit of news about the lack of free speech in Japan:

    Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games chief Yoshiro Mori is expected to resign Thursday after he sparked equal measures of outrage and blushes in Japan by claiming women talk too much in meetings.

    Far be it from me to express an opinion on the matter!

      1. Apparently Hollywood is interested in making a film of it. They must be really desperate to make cheap and easy to shoot films at the moment. The Full Monty it ain’t.

          1. Not her!
            }:-((
            SWMBO is perfect! Could almost be a Yorkshire lass (she’s from Lunnon, but well trained).

  85. Organised Resistance Begins???

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ba805b19866228e2ffe6b7012869682ae2f34e511833be465a13324071b1edc9.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6a5d93f64f71a19cf0d7fab35a747cbdfe599eaee9fbd88ca92ba425d5981741.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4b4bb0d42ef54a633c50ad48724b29396b98ac8519e859b20be6156875551458.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6bf9329c62313e4c9bcd808d83d17a4e44c0d3eaacb4c91ebb79a25f68d3b80c.jpg

    Seems to be these people,might throw them a few quid

    https://thewhiterose.uk/

    1. When can we expect Organised Resistance against the vandalism in London by Khan’s ‘Monuments Commission’?

      3. I think the biggest danger London faces is Khans purchase of ‘N’ of those vote counting machines the DemonRats used to fiddle the vote.

        He is desperate to be re-elected in May. The Electoral Commission should ban their use, but then…

      1. So, you big I am, what do YOU actually do, other than try to wind people up and pretend to be hard?

        1. Nowt Sos. As one of the “brainwashed masses, sheeple”, I’m waiting for the keyboard warriors to show themselves. We’re still waiting.

    3. What’s the betting Plod will be soon onto them, round their house and arresting them for ‘spreading the virus via lefletting illegally on public X, Y or Z’ or…sedition? Someone round my way wrote a one-page pamphlet during the early part of the first lockdown that essentially encompassed all that, posting it on street light poles, etc. Never seen any more on my walks since.

    2. If it wasn’t for an occasional visit to the the further/far-right fora most Brits wouldn’t know the the BBC still existed.
      Let alone provide links to their output. Just saying Plum.
      Average age of the few remaining loyal BBC consumers is 60yo for men, 61yo for women.

      1. And yet they put on programmes that most 60year olds don’t want to watch.
        Why pander to the woke and the yoof, when they don’t watch it?

        1. They do watch it when they want, not often, but they don’t pay. Younger women who they have hooked on the Soap Operas will pay, not many more.

    3. The Left have already tried to get potentially financial backers and advertisers to pull out, and it hasn’t even broadcast anything yet. They must be REALLY scared. Brillo must be doing something right. I’ll give it a chance – just one, mind you.

      1. BBC News delivered by biased presenters. If it wasn’t for the licence fee the BBC would have failed years ago.
        Why do they think so many viewers have turned off?

        1. Indeed – I was viewing a livestream today on YT that said that the Beeb were now trying to find around £400M of extra cuts this year, but what the articles the person referred to didn’t say was that this was mostly because the Beeb made some really bad and woke decisions concerning their two biggest earners abroad – Top Gear and Doctor WHO, which lead to both earning significantly less money from overseas rights and mechandise. And that was before loads of people stopped paying their licence fee.

      2. Brillo tearing Labours Angela Eagle to shreds on the Daily Politics is still a classic example of car-crash interviews.

      3. Doesn’t mean anything, they would do that whatever. It’s just an exercise in power.

    4. I hope that what they do is broadcast their program, and have the whole thing on a +1 hour catch-up. You wouldn’t need a TV licence to watch that.

    5. I hope that what they do is broadcast their program, and have the whole thing on a +1 hour catch-up. You wouldn’t need a TV licence to watch that.

  87. That’s me for the day. A lovely sunny but cold one. Delightful walk at the end of which we met two other walkers – who live in the village but whom I have not seen since 1992. Weird. Very chatty. It was as though we had met last week. For years I have wondered whether they belonged to some secretive sect.

    To watch the second and third of Puccini’s “Trittico” which the ROH is putting out for £3…..talk about a bargain.

    A demain.

  88. Night All,cooking and wine call………….

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f68942c786e754dbc95fa922a3ea70e64454508028d6e1d582f0aab9d4b80615.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2a71cf27bb99a0383b7b9e24b49030a463079afe1fdef0aeb206e0a31ce51201.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0bb85b0939c5e582ce4251d5aa5fd7a7cd0236eb40d9316d76a00f459ded4f3b.jpg

    https://media.gab.com/system/media_attachments/files/065/078/389/original/bc3a8903f3e18742.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/63dcc846dac842fa40fe034d2e408c070142f656aed34eefc33459455c785295.jpg

    1. I give up. You NTTLers inhabit a different planet to the rest of we working-age British.

      ETA: 6 replies waiting. Might leave them to next week.

      2. The planet was a different place when most of us were of working age – a better one. We were allowed to go on holidays, leave our homes, see our friends and family, go to pubs, concerts, all without having to wear a mask.

          1. Edward Heath took us into it. We didn’t have a say until 1975. Heath lied and told us it was a trading organisation when he knew very well its true nature.

          2. It’s no longer permitted to criticize Heath. He was a transsexual dyke who discovered he was gay after he transitioned. Ticks every box.

          6. De Gaulle adjudged that the UK would be competition for France in the EEC. He thought that France could contend with and obtain parity with Germany and that the UK would be too obstructive to French ambitions. He proved to be correct.

            In order for the UK to be admitted to the EEC De Gaulle exacted a disabling price on UK membership. This was expressly the Common Agriculture (& Fisheries) Policies whereby we subsidised inefficient French farmers, left wine lakes, butter mountains, thousands of tons of rotten tomatoes, thousands of tons of rotten apples, wine lakes and threw perfectly good fish into the sea.

            We have as a nation witnessed decades of this nonsense and wish to be finally completely extricated from it.

          8. I never believed the EEC would be content to remain a trade organisation, I suspected it would morph into a political entity. It wasn’t hard to see, so I voted to leave it in 1975. We Eurosceptics lost but unlike the current Remoaners, we respected the democratic will of the British people.

            Nothing if not persistent, I voted “Leave” again in 2016 and this time we won. I loved the smell of Brexit that morning – it smelt like ….. victory!

          12. ‘Old timers’?

            No, the EU wasn’t. From the outset it was designed as a political entity to control the nations of Europe.

          13. Ahem. We “old-timers” had NO say in being taken in to the “common market” (as it was touted) in 1972/3. It was the GOVERNMENT (for whom many of us hadn’t voted). When Wilson gave us the referendum in 1975 it was whether to stay in, not join, the “common market” (that was actually on the ballot paper).

        1. Not again! On the plus side, I only managed 2 comments last time.
          Seems I wasn’t respectful enough of Kippers 🙂

          1. Jack, there are some people you just have to ignore. Don’t talk to them, don’t reply when they speak to you. That way you avoid the insults and invective – a lot of them are very short fuse and any disagreement immediately brings out ‘moron’ and worse. GG is OK actually, but many are not. It will be that way anywhere, unless you find an echo chamber, which I know you don’t want.

          2. I have no problems with the abuse/ad homs. Centre-right posting on further/far-right fora it comes with the territory RTD.

            An afternoon on Breitbart, NTTL etc I still don’t know who I should vote for next General Election.

          3. I don’t think many here will vote for the Tories again. Certainly not Labour or LimpDim. Who does that leave?

          4. The Monster Raving Loony Party, if standing, are worth a punt. Otherwise any Independent. This is the only way of sending the message. Other than spoiling your ballot.

          5. I have believed, for a long time now, that there should be a “none of the above” box. If nota wins, nobody gets elected and a new ballot, with completely different candidates, should be taken.

          7. Indeed.

            But eventually one might get an independent who really is independent and will represent the “people” rather than a party.

            True story: My mother started in local and then regional politics because she genuinely wanted to achieve something and represent the people of her locality. It started off as a protest group where there was nobody who could speak up for the locals and she acted as spokesman.

            She was elected as an independent and promoted what the “people” wanted, she spent a lot of time speaking to her constituents.

            She eventually rose through local government ranks.
            She was asked by all three parties, Lib Lab and Con to stand as their potential MP, none of them had a clue why she was doing what she did and they all assumed her politics was theirs. Wrong in bold capital letters!

            She refused them all. She would have been a shoo in as MP, her LG votes showed that.

            I thought she was crazy, but she was still the most bloody-minded, articulate and honest person I’ve ever met.

          10. Give you that one. Seems in ’79 traditional Labour voters voted Maggie to scupper the unions.
            The original ‘Red Wall.”?

          13. 2019 General Election, MRLP often polled more votes than the UKIP candidate
            I only looked at half the results.
            Unlike UKIP, For Britain etc the Loonies don’t expect us to take them seriously.

          23. I find Breitbart London fairly polite. Insults are rare and people offer differing views that they have thought about. I never ever get into a discussion about the 2A on BB unless I am being a naughty boy and having fun. I have a policy. Any reply with an insult, I don’t respond; two gratuitous insults/sneers from a poster and I don’t respond to them for a long time.

          24. Agreed. There are some rational regulars over on Breitbart. Wading through all the dross to find them is a bit of a chore.

          26. Have you noticed how many American fans the parrot has over there?
            As I learnt to my cost.

            ETA: 28 downvotes is still a record for one of my replies.

          30. First, this is not a far right forum. 2nd, you are NOT centre right.

            Vote for whoever you want. It’ll make no difference.

          31. “First, this is not a far right forum. 2nd, you are NOT centre right.”

            2019 General Election result. Still in denial w?

          36. Now you are just being naughty, you know perfectly well what I meant. Not in fact sure what you meant by it though, I only know it as Market Requirement Document.

          50. I’m glad that I saw that before responding to an earlier post.

            Jack S may not be everyone’s cup of tea and in my view he takes a pleasure in stirring, but he’s seldom rude seldom foul mouthed and gives as good as he gets, relatively politely.

            We need a few like him to encourage debate.

          1. Can you give us an example of the arrogance you claim to see in others but not in yourself?

          2. You could scroll back through previous NTTL/Breitbart/Guido Fawkes threads ws. Save me the trouble.

          3. So, no answer then?

            Nottlers no more speak for the whole ‘silent majority’ than you do for the whole of the ‘working-age British’.

          6. You’re making that usual sad assumption Lefties so often do that because you think it, everyone else does too.

            We don’t. You’re in the minority. If you don’t like common sense and incredulity at the insanity of this back to front bonkers work, nip back to the guardian where they can indulge their fantasies of how high taxes are good and massive public spending creates jobs, wealth and growth.

            *Snigger*

          7. To those out here on the fringes of the Right 95% of British voters are Socialists/Marxists.
            We majority can live with that.

        1. Seems a couple of hours on further/far-right fora was enough to flip me over the edge Ob.
          Only so much BS we “sheeple ” can read before we come back at them with a reality check.

          2. Election time we can only vote for the options on the ballot paper. That’s reality.
            Clowns such as Nigel, Batten AMW and their opposite numbers on the Left are not options.

      6. I am aged 68 and still working, albeit despite my business having been partially wrecked by our stupid government with its nonsensical lockdowns and vaccination ‘escape clause’ shenanigans.

      7. You can’t go – as far as I recall you are the only one from Northern Ireland using this forum. We have a handful of Scots and loads of English folk plus a few in the Foreign Legion. How the hell can we manage : “There was an Englishman, Irishman and Scotsman” approach to life if you depart?

          1. Well truth be told I did get a bit of a buzz walking through the door of No 10 a couple of decades ago. However, I think the machinery of government couldn’t cope with my JFDI style of management. 🙂

  89. Given the wokerati have struck again today, I thought I’d just post the current No.1 trending hashtag today in support of Gina Carano:

    #CancelDisneyPlus

      1. She’s an ex-MMA (mixed martial arts) athlete who’s now an actor, most recetly working on the Star Wars spin-off TV series ‘The Mandalorian’. She was reportly ‘fired’ by the production company (Lucasfilm) for putting up a post on Instagram liking one that said the current woke fad of turning on your neighbour reminds them of the actions of ordinary people in Germany in the 1930s and 40s against their Jewish neighbours.

        Quite a few prominent conservative/sane centrist YouTubers have been all over this ‘cancel culture’ story today.

        1. Thankyou for that explanation!

          Actually all this snitching on neighbours and curtain twitching to see who’s having a get-together is very much like Germany in the 30s. It’s easy to see how that developed.

      1. I used to enjoy driving in Oz because there are so many ” The Big”… followed by an implausibly large whatever it was, and a jokey caption like that one.

        1. We used to call her ‘Spanner Eyes’

          ‘Cos every time she looked at me, my nuts tightened.

          1. A lunatic escapes; rapes some women in the launderette and disappears.

            The next day the headline reads:
            Nut screws washers and bolts.
            I thang yew too…!!

          2. A lunatic escapes; rapes some women in the launderette and disappears.

            The next day the headline reads:
            Nut screws washers and bolts.
            I thang yew too…!!

      2. Certainly not the US ‘cos they’d call it a ‘wrench’. ‘Get your nuts wrenched’ doesn’t quite have the same wring (sic).

    1. Pickles: “I’ve looked and I’ve looked and I still can’t see where that lawyer’s hidden my balls.”

        1. Give me a minute while I run that through Google Translate…

          ETA: “”Kill them all; God will know His own” Works for me.

        2. Give me a minute while I run that through Google Translate…

          ETA: “”Kill them all; God will know His own” Works for me.

          4. I wouldn’t know. But is it true Doncaster have just splashed out £50,000 to buy a second supporter so they can sing;”You’ll never walk alone” as a duet?

          7. Not Islamic, Stephen, just the norm in Medieval times. Christianity has moved on but Islam has stood still.

            And how we have moved on! Today, in our enlightened society, you’re no longer allowed to burn heretics at the stake …. even if they deserve it.

          9. “Kill them. For the Lord knows those that are His own.” Allegedly spoken by the Commander of the crusade against the Albigensians in the 13th Century.

          13. “This brutal massacre was the first major battle in the Albigensian Crusade called by Pope Innocent III against the Cathars…”

            Now I got it.

          18. Don’t recall the Albigensians, but you reminded me the Crusades are high on my ‘to read again’ list. Cheers.

          22. or to maintain a religion that was contolled by the Pope and his ‘church;

            He did not want the peaants praying directly to God, cutting out the need (to pay) for priest
            bishops, archbishops, cardinals and himself the Pope

            Additionally virtually only ‘the church people could read and write, so the peasant were limited in what they could do: a bit like Cocidtime now

          23. That was the Reformation. The Cathars insisted that the body was evil while the soul was good.
            The Cathars determined that procreation was bad and to be avoided. No future in that so it had to be eradicated.

  93. Yet another Nigel thread over on Breitbart.
    Apart from a few Americans, does anyone still take him seriously? He had his chance and he blew it.

    1. Having campaigned for some twenty-nine years, Nigel Farage deserves the credit for a successful Brexit.

      He forced David Cameron to hold a Brexit Referendum – and won.

      He encouraged Boris Johnson to go for Brexit and facilitated the vote; Boris won.

      We are, finally, out, out, out.

      Perhaps you were sleeping in Seattle ?

      1. As campaigner for Brexit Nigel was top notch.
        As a party leader he was utterly useless. Twice.
        Feel free to disagree.

        1. NF was an effective and voluble MEP leader of the Brits in the EU Parliament.

          With the UK FPTP system, UKIP had no chance of rational representation.

          With FPTP, we got Jo Swinson and Ed Davey …

          1. Even the large majority of we Leavers never trusted Nigel enough to vote for him and his smoke & mirror parties. 5.5 million at the 2019 EU elections was the most he ever managed.
            “You can fool some of the people some of the time…”

        2. He has said that he is not a politician, but that by nature he is a campaigner. He is a splendid orator.

          1. Good afternoon, Mum.

            I am in two minds about N.F.

            I met him and listened to him speak,
            several times; I was always impressed
            by his ability [through speech] to inspire
            people.
            After the Referendum Mr. Farage
            appeared to fall apart: too much stress?
            or too little support from his back room staff?
            … whom he had continually ignored and refused
            to accept he needed, to run a successful Political
            Party.

            Mr Farage’s greatest mistake was his inability to
            realise that [as J.D. so eloquently stated]
            ‘No man is an island
            Entire unto Himself.’

          2. I think that sums him up very well. He is a very persuasive speaker simply by offering up the facts of the matter for the inspection of the listener. The truth always rang loud and clear. I think people expected too much from him – on the result of the referendum he considered his job completed, it is as simple as that.

  94. Insanity?

    “Dating app Bumble, which made its name by putting women in charge of making contact with potential mates, has soared to a market value of more than $13bn after listing shares.
    Its Wall Street success made 31-year-old boss Whitney Wolfe Herd a rare self-made female billionaire.
    Bumble, which also owns Badoo, is one of less than two dozen US firms to list publicly while led by a female founder.
    Shares in the firm debuted at $43 apiece, valuing it at over $8bn.
    But in opening trade on Thursday they shot up to more than $76 each, making the firm worth more than $13bn (£9.4bn).”

    5. There are different types of Gorilla glue. This clown seems to have used the superglue variety…

    1. How Croydon became a hotbed for vaccine misinformation
      Misinformation on social media is turning BAME groups against the vaccine. Community leaders say they expect the problem to get worse

      By
      Morgan Meaker
      6 February 2021 • 1:49pm
      When a TikTok user filmed himself shouting “liar” at England’s chief medical officer in a London food market this week, the video gave a glimpse of the fevered Covid conspiracies spreading among young people on social media.

      Particularly in diverse parts of the capital, researchers are raising the alarm about online misinformation which is fuelling intense government mistrust and persuading Black and Asian minority ethnic (BAME) communities, already disproportionately affected by the virus, to shun the vaccine.

      There are fears this is already having an impact. A study released last week by Nuffield Health, found just 20.5pc of black people had been vaccinated so far compared with 42.5pc of white people.

      In North Croydon, one of the capital’s most ethnically diverse constituencies, where more than 60pc of people are from Black, Asian or minority ethnicity (BAME) communities, the medical director of the local NHS Trust, Dr Nnenna Osuji, Medical Director of Croydon NHS Trust, said: “Right now, this misinformation is costing lives.”

      Inflaming distrust in government
      Outside the local Croydon University Hospital, passer-by Tim* outlines the far-fetched conspiracy that he believes lies behind the Covid-19 vaccine. He speaks slowly and carefully, as if trying to explain something complicated to a child without making them feel stupid. “You need to open your mind,” he nudges.

      Leaning against the wall that separates the hospital garden from the pavement thoroughfare, the 31-year-old falsely states the virus has been created by a “New World Order” to scare people into taking the vaccine. The vaccines are really an attempt to kill-off large numbers to get the human population under control and protect natural resources. He offers no evidence to support these beliefs.

      Tim knows these ideas are considered conspiracies. They are entirely untrue. But false and dangerous opinions are finding new audiences as people, locked-down inside and stuck online, look for new ways to understand the pandemic. Will he take the vaccine? The short answer is no.

      Ideas like Tim’s are causing deep concern among Croydon’s community leaders. “When we first did our survey, the word “culling” kept coming up over and over again,” says Ima Miah, chief executive of Croydon’s Asian Resource Centre, explaining how the false theory that Covid was a big government conspiracy to kill BAME people is a sentiment that still resonates.

      Screenshot of a Facebook post showing an anti-vaccine conspiracy theory
      When the World Economic Forum posted a video on its YouTube channel last week, advocating for a “Great Reset” or a new type of capitalism that prioritises the planet, conspiracy websites claimed this was proof of efforts to carry out population control in order to save the planet. The theory was referenced twice during The Telegraph’s conversations with people on the street in Croydon.
      Tackling online misinformation in communities like Croydon will be a major test for the Government. Conspiracies are running rampant on apps like WhatsApp and combating it requires deep and nuanced cultural knowledge.

      Words such as “airborne” mean entirely different things in Bengali, while some groups, such as the south Asian Silhetti community, communicate in an oral language. “How do you get literature across to an oral language?” asks Miah. “You don’t, you have to speak to them, you have to do videos.”

      One December survey, taken during an online event hosted by the Croydon BME forum, showed 34 per cent of attendees said they were not likely to take the vaccine, with 25 per cent still undecided.

      The trend appears to be reflected in the number of people attending their vaccine appointments too. “We know we’re not getting the same uptake across the entire population,” says Croydon’s Dr Osuji.

      At the same time Croydon NHS was brainstorming how to combat social media misinformation, the local hospital experienced first-hand what it was like to feature in a viral anti-vaccine campaign.

      On Dec 30, a video was posted to the anti-vaccine, anti-lockdown Instagram page, Stand Up Surrey, showing deserted corridors inside Croydon’s University Hospital. Dr Osuji said the corridors were empty because patients were being cared for on dedicated Covid wards. “Remember that individuals won’t be allowed to just wander onto the wards,” she said.

      These sections of the hospital, which are currently treating 200 people for Covid, are not mentioned in the video. “Despite the lies the Government are telling us the hospitals are not overwhelmed,” said the man behind the camera, who never shows his face. The video has been watched more than 80,000 times on Instagram alone.

      Screenshot of vaccine misinformation on Instagram
      In response to a viral video which said the government was lying about Covid because the corridors at Croydon Hospital were empty, Dr Nnenna Osuji, Medical Director of Croydon NHS Trust, said: “We all need to just remember the set up of a hospital. I don’t expect to see patients on the corridors in the middle of the night… Remember, of course, that individuals won’t be allowed to just wander onto the wards.”
      Abbas Panjwani, a fact checker at Full Fact, says it is too early to understand how much online misinformation is fueling vaccine hesitancy. “However, it has big audiences. It has a lot of shares,” he says.

      Conspiracies are finding fertile territory among ethnic minority groups, which have long-standing grievances about racism and medical inequality.

      “I don’t trust the Government,” said Lisa*, a 45-year-old support worker, passing Croydon hospital, who has already declined her vaccine. “I’ve heard a lot of conspiracy theories,” she says, describing how six or seven warnings about the vaccine arrive every day over WhatsApp.

      “Sometimes I don’t have time to watch or read them all.”

      Researchers say the significance of encrypted apps like WhatsApp are making the phenomenon harder to track and understand. “WhatsApp is popular for everyone but it’s very popular for ethnic minority communities,” says Panjwani.

      To study the opaque platform, groups like Full Fact have to rely on messages that are either screenshotted or forwarded to them. There’s no search function. “Our ability to see what sort of misinformation is out there and affecting certain communities is limited,” he says.

      WhatsApp has tried to crack down on chain messages. After rumours spread by WhatsApp chains were linked to killings and lynching attempts in India, in 2019 the Facebook-owned company imposed global restrictions on forwarding, meaning a message forwarded five times from its original sender would be appear with a “Forwarded many times” labels.

      However, still the misinformation keeps coming. Lisa* says some messages falsely claim the Government is trying to eradicate the current financial system so it can be replaced by Bitcoin; others mistakenly that artificial intelligence has made the large workforce redundant so the Government is attempting to use the vaccine as an attempt to wipe them out.

      There is no evidence for any of the theories Lisa cites. But phenomenons like the pro-Trump QAnon movement demonstrate how even far-fetched ideas with no basis in reality can snowball online, eventually spiralling into violence.

      Like QAnon, the anti-vaccination content spreading in Britain also features distortions that weave together misinformation and truth, making it difficult to disentangle the two.

      In June, a speech by Matt Hancock triggered suspicion online after the health secretary suggested BAME groups could be prioritised for the vaccine once it had been approved by regulators, due to multiple studies showing these groups had been badly affected by the virus.

      A screenshot of anti-vaccine misinformation on YouTube
      On YouTube, a video misrepresenting a speech made by Health Secretary Matt Hancock went viral during the summer
      In response, a video posted to YouTube blended Hancock’s comments with false claims the Government wanted to trial untested and dangerous vaccines on Black Britons. Vaccines currently being deployed in the UK have all been approved by the medical regulator and there are currently no plans to prioritise people according to ethnicity.

      “We’re not a vulnerable group when it comes to getting jobs, access to jobs, getting better healthcare, getting better social housing,” said the British person filming the video. “Wake up people, especially Africans – they’re coming for you.” So far, the video has been watched almost 50,000 times.

      The anti-vaccine influencer industry
      “This is not a grassroots thing of people spontaneously deciding that they don’t trust vaccines,” says Imran Ahmed, the CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH).

      “This is a crisis driven by a very sophisticated bunch of actors, taking advantage of a moment in time, which they see as a great opportunity.”

      Ahmed describes an industry of influencers trying to “target” anti-vaccination messages at Black Britons and African Americans. “Who’s one of the biggest proponents of the idea that black boys shouldn’t be vaccinated? Robert F. Kennedy Jr,” he says.

      Members of the public wait in a queue to receive a dose of a Covid-19 vaccination, at a temporary centre set up at Selhurst Park football stadium, home ground of English Premiere League football team Crystal Palace, in Croydon
      Members of the public wait in a queue to receive a dose of a Covid-19 vaccination, at a temporary centre set up at Selhurst Park football stadium, home ground of English Premiere League football team Crystal Palace, in Croydon CREDIT: AFP
      President Kennedy’s nephew, who has more than 700,000 followers on Instagram, has emerged as one of the most virulent anti-vaccine influencers online and his posts frequently falsely tell BAME groups they cannot trust the vaccine by referencing the Tuskegee syphilis study.

      The 1932 medical study, where 399 African Americans with syphilis did not receive the correct treatment for the disease, has been transformed into an online rallying cry in both the US and UK to persuade Black people the vaccine can’t be trusted. Medical experts stress the vaccine has already been consensually tested on people from a range of ethnicities and has been approved by regulators around the world.

      “Think of [targeted misinformation] in the same way that you would the marketing of the product,” says the CCDH’s Ahmed. “The people at the very top, the anti-vaxxers, they tailor their messages for specific communities… This is about the micro targeting of messaging for communities to play on pre-existing concerns that they may have.”

      Croydon’s community groups, churches and mosques have been mobilising against the misinformation, holding Zoom Q&As with local doctors and sharing short videos on WhatsApp immediately debunking false claims. Already they’ve seen success. Polls consistently show a drop in vaccine hesitancy when people can put their questions directly to local medical experts.

      There have also been myths about the ingredients not being not permissible in Muslim, Jewish and some Christian communities.

      Miah of the Asian Resource Centre, crediting a campaign by the British Islamic Medical Association, said these beliefs had now been demystified.

      But community leaders expect the problem to get worse before it gets better as the NHS tries to encourage younger people, who spend more time on social media, to get vaccinated.

      “You have a lot of young people say Covid is not real,” says Andrew Brown, CEO of the Croydon BME forum, adding the group has even resorted to organising over-65 online events so the comment section on Zoom is not hijacked by young people persuading older attendees not to take the vaccine.

      Croydon’s Dr Osuji reiterates more work needs to be done. “We need to get the message out around what is accurate, around what is true.”

      *Names have been changed.

      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2021/02/06/croydon-became-hotbed-vaccine-misinformation/

      1. ” “You need to open your mind,” he nudges.

        Leaning against the wall that separates the hospital garden from the pavement thoroughfare, the 31-year-old falsely states the virus has been created by a “New World Order” to scare people into taking the vaccine. The vaccines are really an attempt to kill-off large numbers to get the human population under control and protect natural resources. He offers no evidence to support these beliefs.

        Tim knows these ideas are considered conspiracies. They are entirely untrue. ”

        But Tim offers no reasons into why he should open his mind, in very much the same way that the ’31 year old’ offers no evidence to support his beliefs. Tim says ‘the ideas are considered conspiracies. They are entirely untrue.’ But again he gives no evidence to support this. We have to accept that they are ‘entirely untrue’ at his face value. QED, mes amies.

        1. We halve an epidemic. It is not and never was a pandemic. It is a manufactured crisis. Sensible folk will not submit to yet another untested vaccine evidently derived from previously harmful failed vaccines.

          In our village I have identified multiple village idiots, first they turned out on their gates banging pots and pans for ‘our NHS’ and now they boast about the efficiency of the administration of the Covid Jabs without ever contemplating that it might kill them prematurely.

          There is no longer such a thing as the village idiot. The village idiots are the majority of the villagers.

        2. We halve an epidemic. It is not and never was a pandemic. It is a manufactured crisis. Sensible folk will not submit to yet another untested vaccine evidently derived from previously harmful failed vaccines.

          In our village I have identified multiple village idiots, first they turned out on their gates banging pots and pans for ‘our NHS’ and now they boast about the efficiency of the administration of the Covid Jabs without ever contemplating that it might kill them prematurely.

          There is no longer such a thing as the village idiot. The village idiots are the majority of the villagers.

    3. I’ve had another Twitter suspension today!

      Hi Ndovu 🇬🇧 ,

      Your account, @hoglet3 has been locked for violating the Twitter Rules.

      Specifically for:

      Violating our rules against promoting or encouraging suicide or self-harm.

      You may not promote or encourage suicide or self-harm. When we receive
      reports that a person is threatening suicide or self-harm, we may take a
      number of steps to assist them, such as reaching out to that person and
      providing resources such as contact information for our mental health
      partners.

        1. I replied to someone who tweeted about Matt Hancock.

          Ndovu 🇬🇧

          @hoglet3

          @TheGoodStatsMan He could break his neck jumping off the cliffs.Or maybe drown in the sea.

          4. Oh – you mean my profile on here? It was Hatman in 2016 – he followed me everywhere I went, along with his sidekick Spamfritter. It was Rik and Geoff who advised me to make it private and I’ve kept it so since then.

          5. Spamfritter turned up on Breitbart posting as Horace Cope. I had a bit of fun with him over there until he disappeared. Ironic that baggie & Truth Revealed fell out over who was and wasn’t a troll on TR’s blog.

          6. TR left the blog last year when he lost patience with some who argued with him about Covid medications and he disagreed. It’s mostly politics and a lot less banter than here.

          9. Richard Jones ring a bell? I replied to one of his posts over on Breitbart. The downvotes says it all.

    1. Unbelievable Belle! The same is happening on Benbecula in the Western Isles! Surrounded by all this snow and freezing weather it seems so odd.

          3. I have many happy memories of Benbecula and the Uists. The Creagorry pub claimed to have more varieties of whisky than anywhere else in the world. I tried as many as I could but I don’t think I even got past the bottles on the bar top. It still had spittoons in the corner of the bar – necessary of course.
            https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7KiwipVOKrI/VHSZ4V4oA7I/AAAAAAACGfA/4glpeUtMYk8/s1600/Old%2BPhotograph%2BCreagorry%2BPub%2BBenbecula%2BScotland.jpg
            Memories.

          8. I have many happy memories of Benbecula and the Uists. The Creagorry pub claimed to have more varieties of whisky than anywhere else in the world. I tried as many as I could but I don’t think I even got past the bottles on the bar top. It still had spittoons in the corner of the bar – necessary of course.
            https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7KiwipVOKrI/VHSZ4V4oA7I/AAAAAAACGfA/4glpeUtMYk8/s1600/Old%2BPhotograph%2BCreagorry%2BPub%2BBenbecula%2BScotland.jpg
            Memories.

      4. Probably the same sort of people who tried to cut up our village green one very wet winter using a Land Rover a few years ago. When they were accosted by a local, a knife was drawn. Yet another attack on our history, culture and way of life. We later learned that ours was not the only village green to get this attention.

    2. My MiL when she was a child, living in Bittaford, near Ivybridge, was taken up Brent Tor to see Plymouth ablaze as a result of the German bombers….

    1. We’re being failed by an organisation that was formed to defend and protect the decent population.

        1. Oh how exciting! Well done! A friend of ours often has a photo on the Scottish Beeb website in the weekend pictures!

  101. How to be the cat’s whiskers on Zoom – without making an idiot of yourself: Our guide to video call app’s filters, backgrounds and flattering lights
    The Zoom video call featuring a Texan attorney as a cat has gone viral this week
    In the footage he’s heard frantically attempting to turn the Snap Camera filter off
    Here’s how to recreate the filter along with other ways to make colleagues laugh

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-9244983/How-transform-CAT-Zoom-Tips-tricks-spice-video-call.html

        1. And Obama talking about his muslim faith.
          Yet the media went on and on and on about Trump’s clumsily worded speeches, none of which were as damning as these.

  103. I already thought Chief of the Defence Staff General Sir Nick Carter sounded like an employee of Open Society….. and then he said……………

    ”There will be a big choice between totalitarian surveillance and citizen empowerment, and there will be a big choice between global solidarity and nationalist isolation. The differences between the way Western democracies and authoritarian states such as China have responded to the pandemic will result in people questioning which form of government they prefer, Sir Nick said. “How have nations done that are democratic as opposed to those that are less democratic? It has brought things into better perspective,”

    ”Nationalist isolation” sounds like a sneering criticism of nation states and a liking for globalism…… so Open Society General Sir Nick-Soros I think looks a near certainty……..

    ”We build strong relationships with officials, politicians, NGOs and other actors”….. probably including very senior officers.

    Appointed by Treasa in 2018….. birds of a feather flock together.

    2. General Sir Nick Carter should not be concerning himself with “global solidarity”, he should leave politics to politicians. He’s paid to worry about the defence of our nation state, isolated or not.

      The clue is in the job title – Chief of the Defence Staff.

        1. I don’t think so, Polly, just a fellow-traveler. He doesn’t want to rock the boat or go against the narrative while he’s chasing his peerage.

          (a cynic writes)

          1. Maybe… but a lot of ”coincidences” usually means no coincidences… and there are a lot..

          2. Maybe… but a lot of ”coincidences” usually means no coincidences… and there are a lot..

          3. Soros actively cultivates people in positions of power. They get invitations to Davos or Common Purpose training etc, according to level. We proles just don’t realise it.
            edit: and that’s not just theoretical – that’s what I’ve heard from people who have received these invitations!

          4. Soros actively cultivates people in positions of power. They get invitations to Davos or Common Purpose training etc, according to level. We proles just don’t realise it.
            edit: and that’s not just theoretical – that’s what I’ve heard from people who have received these invitations!

      3. Nick Carter is a common purpose stooge. He should be taken out and shot as the traitor he is. He can join Cressida for a last cigarette.

      4. Nick Carter is a common purpose stooge. He should be taken out and shot as the traitor he is. He can join Cressida for a last cigarette.

    3. There’s been nothing democratic about the response to the pandemic. Democracy has been suspended for the past year.

          1. We haven’t had a meaningful election since about 2001, before it dawned on the Tories that signing up to globalism was not optional.

          2. It didn’t change anything, though, did it? Most places didn’t have much choice on the ballot paper.

  104. Moh and I exchanging words..
    The Tories have been in power for over 10 years .. what have they done for us , they have allowed a huge amount of damage to take to our border security and cultural peace of mind. Why have they allowed black supremacy to climb all over us and trash everything .. allowing a drug gang and spiv epidemic to get out of hand .

    George Osborne and Cameron and their austerity programme has determined society is now well and truly broken.

    1. ”We leverage policy, legislation and political influence… and build strong relationships with officials, politicians, NGOs and other actors”.

    2. They are globalist puppets, not Conservatives. Austerity is Labour’s favourite stick to beat the Tories with, but as far as I can see, it’s irrelevant in the bigger picture. Austerity didn’t pull down statues or produce lockdown – the NHS totters permanently from one fiasco to the next, and the people who should be paying for healthcare via their (social in most cases) health insurance are instead hoodwinked into blaming the government!

  106. Just a question. ‘My Theresa’ run banner adverts on the DT, which must cost a penny or two, but when I click on them I get “Access Denied” from their Apache web-server. Can anyone guess what is going on here, or are they just as gob-smackingly incompetent as they appear.

    BTW It’s a German company flogging women’s clothes. I suspect access to actual product will be denied on the grounds of cost.

  107. Goodnight, all. Keep warm – a balmy minus 2 degrees C here. I’ve stoked up the Rayburn and got my hot water bottles ready!

  108. Anyway… the big clue to what has happened in the UK is that Tony Blair met with George Soros in New York in April 1996 to do deals and start a financial and political partnership if Blair won the following year… and David Cameron really was the heir to Blair, complete with the strong Soros connection.

    So the UK was subverted by Soros and his foundation, Open Society London, over 20 years ago, and pretty well everything of a progressive nature is a direct consequence of what was agreed in New York.

    It’s probable, imho, that the subversion started even earlier… at Davos 1990, which would explain some of the mysteries of 1990 – 1997.

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