Thursday 11 July: The Prime Minister’s rhetoric on defence is at odds with the hard reality

Posted on by Geoff Graham

An unofficial place to discuss the Telegraph letters, established when the DT website turned off its commenting facility (now reinstated, but we prefer ours),
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Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here.

703 thoughts on “Thursday 11 July: The Prime Minister’s rhetoric on defence is at odds with the hard reality”

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

    Another American Story

    One winter, the President was out for his daily run when he saw some writing on a nearby snowdrift. Taking a closer look at the yellow snow, he was enraged when he saw that it spelled out JOE BIDEN SUCKS!

    As soon as he got back to the White House, he ordered the Secret Service to find out who was responsible.

    Two days later, as Biden sat in the Oval Office, the head of the Secret Service came in and announced, "Sir, we've finished analysing the evidence. I have good news and bad news."

    "What's the good news?" asked Bill.

    "Well sir, It's Trump’s urine."

    "What?" Joe screamed. "That's the good news?! What the hell's the bad news?"

    "Well sir, our handwriting expert says it's Jill’s handwriting.”

  3. Good morning, chums, and thank you Geoff for Thursday's NoTTLe site.. Enjoy your day, fellow NoTTLers. This evening is my monthly Curry Group, so nothing to shop for nor to prepare, and no washing up afterwards. Bliss!

    Wordle 1,118 5/6

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

    1. A phew here.

      Wordle 1,118 6/6

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

  5. Prince of Wales: I truly believe we can end homelessness. 11 July 2024.

    The Prince of Wales will say on Thursday that he “truly” believes homelessness can be “ended”, despite it blighting the lives of “far too many people”.

    Prince William is marking the first year of his project to solve homelessness, which will report its progress in building community links to make homelessness “rare, brief and unrepeated”.

    As daft as his Dad.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2024/07/11/prince-of-wales-truly-believe-we-can-end-homelessness/

    1. To end homelessness one would need to open the Mental asylums. There are many reasons for homelessness. One of the main ones is not being able to cope with modern life.

      Good morning.

      1. Morning Phizzee. Large numbers of people entering at will don't help either.

      2. Exactly the point I made in a posting.
        The mental hospitals were not perfect; no human institution can ever be that.
        But, they provided shelter, warmth, food and cleanliness to those who were sadly unable to cope with the outside world. AND – regular medication for both mental and physical conditions.
        They also provided protection to the population from the violent minority. (They were a minority – either through type of illness or age. One helpful long stay patient I remember – he practically ran the ward – was an elderly chap who was originally sent to Severalls because in his youth he had bumped off his father with a garden spade.)

    3. Is he going to stop the boats and advocate removing foreign criminals to free up housing?

    2. Pretty obvious that neither Smarmer nor Bliar understand who REALLY started that war – USA/NATO and Zelensky.

  9. China a ‘decisive enabler’ of Russia’s war in Ukraine, says Nato in stern rebuke. 11 July 2024.

    Nato leaders have urged China “to cease all material and political support to Russia’s war effort,” adding that Beijing has become a large-scale supporter of Russia’s “defence industrial base”.

    “This includes the transfer of dual-use materials, such as weapons components, equipment, and raw materials that serve as inputs for Russia’s defence sector,” the declaration said.

    That the West is performing the same services; indeed vastly exceeding them, for Ukraine is of course beside the point.

    You should be in no doubt that these morons are gearing up for full scale War.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/11/nato-summit-russia-ukraine-war-china-enabler

  10. China a ‘decisive enabler’ of Russia’s war in Ukraine, says Nato in stern rebuke. 11 July 2024.

    Nato leaders have urged China “to cease all material and political support to Russia’s war effort,” adding that Beijing has become a large-scale supporter of Russia’s “defence industrial base”.

    “This includes the transfer of dual-use materials, such as weapons components, equipment, and raw materials that serve as inputs for Russia’s defence sector,” the declaration said.

    That the West is performing the same services; indeed vastly exceeding them, for Ukraine is of course beside the point.

    You should be in no doubt that these morons are gearing up for full scale War.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/11/nato-summit-russia-ukraine-war-china-enabler

  12. 389669+ up ticks,
    's
    Morning Each,

    Thursday 11 July: The Prime Minister’s rhetoric on defence is at odds with the hard reality

    I totally agree, I do believe the enemy's troops are already in place, at the tax payers expense and their numbers being increased daily.

    We the peoples, are not looking at, seeing or wanting to believe
    what is, as they say,"the big picture"

    One way or tother the whole kit & caboodle is going to end in blood and tears much of it of our own making.

    You cannot make pets of rouge politic crocodiles.

  13. Visitors to Germany are shocked at how far the country has fallen. 10 July 2024

    For people like John Kampfner, the author of the comic-sounding yet deadly serious book Why the Germans do it Better, Germany is a beacon of the bloc that we in Blighty ought to be emulating. They are more “open”, greener, more peace-loving, more cooperative. Kinder.

    But as the struggling economy, disillusioned, powerless-feeling populace and once beautiful streets of its cities attest, Germany is none of those things. It is a country that has drawn all the wrong lessons from its darkest tendencies. Instead of devoting itself to keeping its people safe and happy, and to taking a positive pride in the best parts of its culture, it has instead dispensed with all discernment by opening the floodgates to people who ought to be carefully vetted before being handed the keys. In doing so it has vandalised itself, massively strengthening the country’s Right-wing platform.

    The story of the West everywhere.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/07/10/visitors-to-germany-shocked-at-how-far-country-fallen/

    1. We're beginning to see the effects of immigration in Norway, too. Article in the local rag about youth gangs with knives, machetes and guns prowling the town centres in Oslo suburbs. Police deny any problem… Personal safety never used to be a problem, but now, in our modern, improved, society.
      Maybe tooling up is a partial solution when shopping?
      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2b4c1e4703e1231703c7ef8bda6ba87971d32ae06ebd04bed1c0e67a79ad6b19.jpg

      1. It's all the Dopey Wokies dear.
        🎶They put their left arm in, their left arm out, do theDopeyWokey and shake it all about……knees bend arms raised rah rah rah 🎶

  14. Medley
    https://media.greatawakening.win/post/vosFyMJhft8w.jpeg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d39b52ac72b5b7e48a92bcc2f93105575d818b17728a736f90a9efe76ab41d05.jpg
    https://accordingtohoyt.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/1654115420375879685.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fe1a2b9d170f543838780520543a03d54afbb8560d825483834f1bfb0699d887.png
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/23664cd1742dbc5242d7f71df97ac7a40f320426e236ba424cda77725ef6da04.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fa906f16b9dfa9f0e209e07719079eda5bb218ac41ad703253cdbb4f77c2187e.jpg

  15. As one to whom Wendyball is an unknown activity – I thought how remarkably similar were the goals scored yesterday by one bame and that scored the day before by the Spanish bame (or equivalent).

    An what was all that buggerment in extra time with half the teams being replaced – with a minute to go? Just asking…(yawns and drops off).

    1. From England's perspective, deliberate time wasting, pure and simple.
      From Spain's, praying for a saviour to produce a miracle goal.

      EDIT should have written Netherlands.

        1. It should, but tends not to be in full. It's not an exact science.
          Spain, as I said, praying for their bame to do the business first time he gets the ball.

          Edit should be Netherlands again.
          Two plonker posts.

        2. PS
          Oops!
          I should have put Netherlands and then compounded the error by repeating it.

      1. If I ruled the world, "full caps" would only be awarded to players in the starting line-up. All others would be awarded a mention in dispatches, although any points they scored as substitutes would be recoded in their total.

  16. 389669+ up ticks,

    Do we really know and consent to, what has just been returned to power, I just cannot get the cannister around how one can have a General Election whilst the excess deaths is remaining unexplained.

    The nearest I can get to an explanation is that we have put in place a a new Capo Dei Capi. https://x.com/SandraWeeden/status/1811282616726737401

  17. Morning, all Y'all.
    NOT raining! I guess there's none left in the sky after yesterday.

    1. It's all here; streets are awash in places and my drains are starting to flood again.

  18. Good morning all.
    A damp 9°C start this morning. Dull with overnight/early morning rain tailing off to a fine drizzle.

  19. Good morning, all. Overcast and dry here in N Essex.

    Yesterday Wibbling put up a good post on "sustainable towns" listing many of the requirements to meet the criterion of "sustainable".
    The other side of this particular coin is the continued huge influx of people: net immigration in 2023, 685,000. I took a look at Sheffield – England's fourth largest city – population a shade under 600,000; ergo the UK would require one and a large bit Sheffields annually to accommodate this influx.

    Taking a look at a map of Sheffield exposes the infrastructure required to run such a conurbation and building 1.5 million houses/homes over 5 years isn't going to fix that problem. The cost of the houses/homes will be in the £100s of billions and as for the infrastructure? Where is the money coming from for just one year's net immigration?

    Now, we have Araminta's comment re the Prince of Wails on homelessness. Has this clown prince looked at any statistics pertaining to net immigration, costs of house building, land usage, infrastructure in general etc.? If he had, and understood the statistics, he wouldn't be making crass statements. Is he now a mouthpiece for this far left government?

    Follow the houses/homes promises with Miliband minor's profligate ideas on energy i.e. estimates not in billions but trillion(s) by 2030 and it's clear that neither of these grandiose schemes can possibly succeed in their proposed purpose.

    Proposals for a "wealth fund" just shy of £8 billion pounds is pure political chicanery.

    If expectations from this government were for dire outcomes then we haven't been disappointed and we're only a week in!

  20. Starmer vows to be ‘robust’ with China. 11 July 2024.

    Sir Keir Starmer has vowed to be “robust” with China, as Nato was set to issue its first official rebuke to Beijing over its military support for Russia.

    The Prime Minister, who is in Washington for the 75th anniversary Nato summit, said he was willing to challenge China on human rights and security concerns.

    Words without meaning.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/07/10/starmer-vows-to-be-robust-with-china/

    3. Comparing headlines in Free Speech Backlash yesterday, there were papers saying Starmer wanted more NATO spending whilst at the same time cutting the defence budget… wonder how that works? Do we have Starmernomics yet?

    4. What about our human rights and security concerns – seems "we" have a much lower priority!

    7. He'll insist on naming the dishes rather than just pointing to no. 21, no.43 and no. 72?
      And order an English beer?

  21. Good morning all,

    A sunny morning at McPhee Towers, wind in the West, 12℃ rising to low 20's today. A good day for the Chem-trailers to get airborne.

    Is anybody else have trouble with the DT website server? I can't get on at the moment.

    Anyway, here's a terrific substack on the Starmer government.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7697a90d923e0c175693de4f1238da37b0d181f2c03b6a311a68abf58ea9f9b7.png

    Well, here in the UK we have a new Trilaterist. . . . . er, sorry, I meant Labour government, led by the charismatic Keir Starmer. Likened to a wet dish rag, and not without good reason, Keir Starmer now commands the so-called “government” with a whopping 170+ seat majority after nearly 80% of the British electorate didn’t vote for either him or the Labour party.

    This all makes sense because people imagine that representative democracy has something to do with democracy, which it doesn’t. Still, who cares! Government is a crap idea anyway, so, if we are going to be ruled by anyone, why not the man who went out of his way to avoid prosecuting Britain’s worst ever paedophile, necrophiliac pimp and was still listed as a “former” member of the Trilateral Commission in 2022 with their little accompanying explanatory note: “former members in public service.”

    He’s not an active member of the Trilateral Commission. Honest, he’s not!

    Why should we care you may ask? Well, the Trilateral Commission that Keir serves, sorry, there I go again, “served,” is just a Rockefeller aligned globalist think tank that promotes ideas like the “pursuit of the European unification.” This is one component of its plan to form a global government with the added North American and Asia-Pacific union completing the tripod of its regional poles. You could call the Trilateralists’ long-planned technocratic, global dictatorship “multipolar.”

    The Trilateral Commissions—that Keir Starmer definitely does not serve for the moment—brings together a global public-private partnership of policymakers, business leaders, media moguls and selected academics, who have taken it upon themselves to decide what the “solutions to some of the world’s toughest problems” are. The policy “solutions” it wants are not going to be promoted by the new UK prime minster because he’s a “former” member, you see?

    Sure, you voted to leave the EU but now you’ve elected to rejoin it. OK, so you didn’t vote to have policy decisions forced upon you by some remote oligarch run think tank either. Maybe world government isn’t what you thought you were supporting. But that’s all just too bad. Unfortunately for you, and the rest of us, if you voted in the UK general election, this is what you voted for, so you don’t have any right to complain.

    Of course, the largest single group of voters didn’t elect any government at all and do have a right to complain. With 60% general election turnout—the turnout was below 50% in 59 constituencies—Labour’s paltry 20.4% of the total possible vote was resoundingly trounced by the 40% of the UK electorate who couldn’t be arsed to vote for anyone. The most popular choice in the UK, by a considerable margin, was no government.

    Whether it was apathy, the wet and absolutely bloody freezing July weather—global warming eh?—or just the terminally depressing prospect of having to partake in the state’s quinquennial anointment ceremony, who knows? And frankly, who gives a damn?

    The government was threatening us with violence if we didn’t comply and obey yesterday—a threat it can certainly back up by the way—and the government is still threatening us with the same today. Yesterday the government was blue, today it is red, what’s the difference apart from a Downing Street wallpaper change? It’s still the same government.

    Globalist thinks tanks like the Trilateral Commission were controlling government policy yesterday and they still are today. Your “vote” meant absolutely jack-shit.

    Still, It’s nice to imagine you have some sort of democratic oversight, I guess. That is, of course, if controlling what other people do is something that matters to you.

    So what have we got as an alleged “government” at the end of the day?

    About 20.4% percent of the electorate successfully imposed the tyranny of their favourite gang on the rest of us. Thanks to the absurdity that is representative democracy, this small minority have chosen Keir Starmer to be the consecrated talking-head fronting whatever policies the oligarchs want to foist on the rest of us. Of the remaining 79.6% of voters, about half wanted a different gang to wave flags for, but the other half didn’t want any gang at all.

    A tiny minority, who certainly didn’t vote, think the idea of forcing someone else to do what you want by sticking a cross in a box once every five years is not only—literally—a box-ticking exercise, but also an absolutely appalling and morally bankrupt thing to do.

    With 34% of the votes cast, Labour gets 64% of parliamentary seats because reasons. This means it doesn’t have to listen to anybody at all for the next five years. Although it will certainly be listening to a bunch of parasitic oligarchs because that is who government always listens to and actually serves.

    The so-called UK government, which is really just a relatively minor “enabling” partner in the global public-private partnership, has absolutely no legitimate democratic mandate at all.

    Which is yet another reason, in a very long list of excellent reasons, to ignore it completely.

    If anyone would like to subscribe to Iain Davis's Substack, here's the link:
    https://substack.com/home/post/p-146313888?source=queue&autoPlay=false

    1. When the remainers were arguing that people who didn't vote should be included in the against leaving numbers I commented that by not voting you accept the outcome, whichever way it falls.
      Much as I dislike the Starmer situation, I would make the same observation.

      1. 33% is still not a mandate. What is outrageous is that 33% of the votes resulted in 66% of the seats. FPTP may work when there are only two parties. When there are half a dozen or more, it doesn't.

        1. True.
          But if it had been PR we/they would still be arguing about the make-up of the Govt, let alone the likely legislation and then continuing throughout the entire term and smaller king-maker parties would have power out of all proportion to their support, although I accept that the current situation also gives the same.
          I'm afraid I'm with ogga1 on this, we've brought it upon ourselves. Unfortunately.

        2. 33% of 60%.
          Of course, the other 40% were happy with things as they were ( isn't that the correct line?).

      2. At least with the Brexit vote you were either for or against.

        In the FPTP that we have at the moment more people will vote against the government than for it.

    2. Me too with the front page problem. I have been clicking on other pages then re-directing to News etc. It's The Man Upstairs hinting that I should stop wasting time and do some work.

    1. 389669+ up ticks,

      O2O,

      Old kneeler cannot lead over the top when the whistle blows, on account of, would you believe it, a rogue knee.

  23. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/eeaaa60cb16dced7f208c390c25577a06660f7074e4d268d247376ba3af3ffd8.png
    I remember Huntley & Palmer's biscuits well from my childhood. I also remember that there were dozens of other manufacturers of biscuits in those days, most of whom seem to have disappeared. I recall:

    Burton's
    Crawford's
    Fox's
    Gray Dunn
    Jacob's
    MacFarlane-Lang
    McVitie & Price
    Meredith & Drew
    Peek Freans
    Tunnock's
    Weston's

    I wonder how many I've missed (national brands, not locals)?

    1. Aberffraw biscuits are said to be Britain's oldest biscuit! The Welsh shortbread is pressed with the shape of a scallop shell and are made with high quality ingredients to create a rich, buttery shortbread.

    2. Tunnocks is still on the go. Only a few years ago SNP supporters started a boycott when Tunnocks changed the Saltire to the Union Flag on products destined for the overseas market.

      I have some of their caramel wafers in the cupboard.

      1. Tunnock’s caramel wafers are OK but I really loved the originals from Gray Dunn & Co.

  24. Courtesy of Wayne Dunlap on X and one other.

    The eyes have it!

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/208445b4563d9a2846d1cb1a48d7a086de04d04ccee1a5fdbfb2070ddc5efc7f.png

    A metaphor for the UK.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/493d71c31be78d587d988e7c128ece5cba7f0fda897b452d382425c18275a2d5.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/79a1d0e0fb31b9f42667f98653906432acb429719aff93da8adebb090f882e23.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/83cfc6d893ec0704146473e80dd1d07f791cc701199e36499c1b59ac15796c7c.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5546aafc45d8f197823dfa1066146e533e1558161667ca84150676c2fe6e8145.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bc95936690dc2a37bd4c319234f7fbf927d6e2726d137cfc5900e3aa9eeff65f.png

        1. I can't stand heights and this fear is getting worse as I grow older.

          How I managed to work as a roustabout on a gas rig in the North Sea when I was a student is beyond my understanding. I wouldn't go near one now!

          There was a James Bond film with a setting over the Golden Gate Bridge – that was more than terrifying enough for me.

          But the film that actually made me jump out of my seat was Wait Until Dark with Audrey Hepburn playing a blind gilr.

          https://www.google.com/search?q=James+Bond+Film+setting+over+Golden+Gate+Bridge+clip&sca_esv=4206a373bb569601&ei=fJuPZrzLO8zgkdUPhui1uAE&ved=0ahUKEwi8-b6yzJ6HAxVMcKQEHQZ0DRcQ4dUDCA8&oq=James+Bond+Film+setting+over+Golden+Gate+Bridge+clip&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiNEphbWVzIEJvbmQgRmlsbSBzZXR0aW5nIG92ZXIgR29sZGVuIEdhdGUgQnJpZGdlIGNsaXAyBRAhGKABMgUQIRigAUi8fFC1DFj5ZXABeAGQAQCYAbEBoAHNA6oBAzAuM7gBDMgBAPgBAZgCBKAC9APCAgoQABiwAxjWBBhHwgIKECEYoAEYwwQYCpgDAIgGAZAGCJIHAzEuM6AHmws&sclient=gws-wiz-serp#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:a315e4b1,vid:gsEKClO8Xyk,st:0

          1. Reminds me of the Irish miner who wouldn't come to the surface 'cos he couldn't stand heights

          2. I remember WUD. I thought the then 20 something MB was about to have a heart attack.

      1. Sorry belle, I didn’t receive it. I haven’t rejected any articles at all. Please re-send it on the submit article page, or email it to me at freespeechbacklash@gmail.com. Perhaps you sent it when we were tweaking the site.

    2. Good piece, Tom. Always follow the money and the promotions, go hand in hand. (Lovely photo btw..)

  26. Netherlands players and pundits furious about England’s controversial VAR penalty
    Denzel Dumfries challenged Harry Kane in apparently regulation fashion, but received a yellow card and cost his side a penalty
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2024/07/10/never-penalty-pundits-amazed-england-netherlands-euro-2024/

    Let's reopen the debate:

    Did that goal England scored in the 1966 World Cup Final actually cross the line?

    Anything to take our minds off Starmer's cabinet appointments

    1. Was the penalty awarded to Holland a foul ? When both players tackle for the ball, now it seems the player that makes the most of it by rolling around on the ground, gets the favour.
      That referee has a previous serious misconduct record. Mr Bung.
      And 1966 ? Russian lines man, England v Germany close was good enough. Certain memories prevale.
      And still do.
      I think Spain are the best side and I will be very surprised if England win.
      Shame the 'referee' at Wastemonster doesn't have a red card.

    2. I have often said that had today's goal-line technology been available in 1966 then that 'goal' would have been instantly disallowed, since it was clear to all with 20-20 vision that it didn't go over the goal line.

      As a 15-year old at the time, watching the match on a small Bush monochrome CRT telly, my 20-20 vision was dumbfounded when the 'goal' was given.

  27. Morning all 🙂😊
    Lovely sunny start again, chilly wind.
    Just to mention in passing, another win.
    Not ousted by the southern exit.
    The Southgate.
    And the,latest in PM's ? What do we expect from a staunch far leftie who doesn't even like our country, its culture and social structure.
    5 years of Hell for the general public and our hardworking tax payer's.

    1. Omg it just emphasis the idiots we now have in all departments from the top down.

      1. Councillor Amjid Wazir OBE, cabinet member for city pride, enforcement and sustainability advised: “This matter has been resolved and all liability discharged.

        “We remind residents and businesses that fly-tipping is an offence and all perpetrators will be met with a fixed penalty notice.”

        Sinecure!

    1. I think this headline is a ruse. You already will pay tax if you have a second pension. After the scare stories, Labour will with great generosity allow us all a state pension but include pension pots in the estate. There is a lot of wealth in private pensions and the move would not cost anyone alive a cent. It exempts the feckless who have not saved and clobbers the 'rich' who have 2nd pensions. What's not to like!

  30. There are many nutters around .

    We used to be a signatory years ago for someone who held a gun licence ..

    The individual involved started to have family issues , and spent hours in the pub , he needed his licence for rough shooting etc and during the season .

    We had a problem when he appeared at the door and requested our signature at the time of the year when he ne needed to renew it.

    We said sorry , not this time , we would prefer you not to renew , and back down for a while .

    He hasn't spoken to us for years now, and he still uses his gun.

    Were we being too judgemental?

    2. I think this happens many country areas, have been told it does. Probably just an administration task, box-ticking, anyway:-(

    2. They keep testing their wings, but so far nobody has made that first flight.
      MB remarked that mother looks knackered.

  32. 389669+ up ticks,

    Anybody got Mr Putings Dacha address, for me Ogga ! in view of making a personal non aggression pact with him.

    1. The postal address is: Vladimir Putin, 23, Ulitsa Ilyinka, 103132, Moscow, Russia.

      The knocking you can hear is Mi6 at the front door.

        1. Say what you like about Vlad, but at least he writes instructions in clear English.

    1. "The Women of Windrush Opera". But, but, but…there was only one woman on board the HMT Empire Windrush and she was a stowaway?

  35. How pay-per-mile would make your car work for the tax man
    The dawn of electric vehicles risks a yawning gap in the Labour government’s coffers

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/07/11/how-pay-per-mile-would-make-your-car-work-for-the-tax-man/

    The opening sentence sets the tone for the rest of this rather poor piece of propaganda

    "The dawn of the electric car might be good for the environment, but it’s about to cause an almighty headache for the tax man."

    BTL

    In fact it might be extremely bad for the environment and completely irrelevant as far as the faux climate scare is concerned!

    1. We already do pay per mile. It's called fuel duty. At some point the state has to cu spending. There's simply no alternative, even for the nutcase Left. Every tax hike destroys jobs. Every lost job means more welfare, which eradicates the hiked tax BUT the spending the tax was supposed to raise has already gone ahead, so government has now reduced revenue and doubly overspent. Those jobs destroyed won't come back.

      It's like my quip yesterday – invest in candles so when the lights go out you're coining it – but if no one can make, let alone buy the candles you're stuffed.

      Lefty greeniacs are morons. They are incapable of putting 2 +2 to make 4. When there isn't enough power we can't build the things that would generate more. It'll take longer to do anything. A power station doesn't magically appear. It needs fuel, energy to build it. Destroy the generating base and you can't build.

      1. The pay by mile tax should only apply to electric vehicles not ICE ones!

  37. China lashes out at ‘belligerent’ and ‘lying’ Nato. 11 July 2024.

    China has responded angrily to a planned statement from Nato’s Washington summit, saying it is full of provocation and lies.

    The draft communiqué is set to accuse China of being a “decisive enabler” of Russia’s war in Ukraine and will detail Beijing’s supply of weapons, equipment and raw material to Moscow.

    Lol. Who would ever have thought that I would find myself agreeing with the Chinese Communist Party?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/07/11/russia-ukraine-zelensky-putin-war-china/

    1. When we're arming Ukraine it's a bit rich to whinge at China. Why are we so eager to continue this daft conflict? What am I missing?

  38. Isn't it strange how people who were not even born in1966 are now clinging on to the idiotic history of football..

    It's coming home ..

    How the hell to people cling onto a bit of pathetic history like that, especially when we had an all English white national football team , yet are not weeping their hearts out to see how an English team is not that English , and the UK now is not the UK those of us who were around then remember .

    Does no one else remember what Germany was like in those days , Iron curtain days?

    Idiots , all of them.

    Sorry to sound shouty .

    1. It's pride. A wish to see us succeed, to stand up and say 'we did this'. That it's a game of football and not something tangible like economic success, a massive budget surplus, lowest taxes, highest standard of living, the abolition of homelessness – something worthwhile.

    2. "Coming home" was coined in 1996 when the Euros were staged in England, the first major tournament to be played here since the 1966 World Cup.

      England had just three black players in the squad, Paul Ince, Sol Campbell and Les Ferdinand. Ince played in all three group matches and the semi-final, Campbell came on as sub in one group match. Ferdinand didn't play.

  39. £89669+ up ticks,

    As you well know I and my colleagues would be first over the top on hearing the whistle but for this accursed whistle deafness we suffer as a political body.

    Dt,

    Keir Starmer approves use of British Storm Shadow missiles inside Russia
    Volodymyr Zelensky thanks Prime Minister for lifting a ban on Ukraine hitting targets across the border using donated Western weapons

    1. Dear Mother of God ..

      What can he be thinking .. now stirring the pot..

      It will soon be goodbye to all that .

      Give the Dombass back to Russia ..

      1. Now there is talk of all our water rates will be going up by around 100 pounds a year. With all the houses laybore are planning to build there won't be enough water to go round.
        And a mention on 'vine' this morning of making it illegal to booze in public. Clearly a desire to punish indigenous brits by the kneelers.
        Can you imagine a family picnic on the beach, or in (what will be left of) the British countryside and 'old bill' arriving to arrest everyone for having a glass of wine or a beer.

      2. Crumbs; I'd better spend the value of the Dower House and any savings before they glow in the dark.
        Wouldn't want the grandchildren to pay advance death duties because probate is delayed.

    3. Hang on. That's not self defence. That's a proxy war. Damned fool man. He should be ending the conflict, not encouraging it.

    3. Wish I was there…sketchbook/paints…:-( hope the fish bite but you don't get midges…..

  41. So what you are saying ogga is that I've just wasted 2 hours of what's remaining of my life clearing out the shed? 🙁

    1. Nahh, shed clearing is always a good idea. It's such a stupid situation. Ukraine annoyed Crimean region by shelling it. Crimea then asked for help from Russia. Putin, seeing a weak, dependent West said 'OK' and moved in – bringing some tanks with him. Since then other nations have funded Ukraine's money laundering – err, military efforts – with old equipment.

      No one seems to want the conflict to end.

      1. It's the equivalent of taking mistaken clothes purchases to the charity shop.

  44. Labour radicals hurt about last night's England win.. dontcha fret, plenty for Lefties to cheer about as..
    Sir Keir of Rotherham set to release all pdfs on early release on 12 yr sentences. Not that he wanted them in gaol in the first place.

    1. Sod the indigenous biological girls, eh? Who cares about them, after all?

  45. Labour radicals hurt about last night's England win.. dontcha fret, plenty for Lefties to cheer about as..
    Sir Keir of Rotherham set to release all pdfs on early release on 12 yr sentences. Not that he wanted them in gaol in the first place.

    5. His movies have been losing money lately. Perhaps he should try politics? He's rich enough and has all the right connections. These day it hardly matters if no-one wants to vote for him – as long as all the right people are happy, that can be fixed.

  47. Adverting to the outstanding (aka "fluke") result for Engerland last evening……it seems to me that penalties are ALWAYS controversial. Might it not be an interesting experiment to have some matches where ther are NO penalties? Could stop the goal-mouth melées, tripping, diving etc ….

    (Drops off, again).

  48. Thanks Kate. I’m really pleased with the articles written by readers. makes me try to up my own game.

    1. Welcome, Tom. Just seen the headline all immigrants legal and otherwise to be granted amnesty…if that’s true, could be one of your next pieces?

      1. I think it’s almost certainly true, and yes, immigration is a subject very much on the table.

    1. What and not allow Prosecution and defence lawyers teams to earn their (legal aid) fees? !!

      1. How on earth could Ophelia get her new pony?
        Or Tristan afford his doss year as a spad?

    2. Same conversation has taken place in the Dower House this morning.
      Simple solution.

    4. It might upset his older brother …. who is in prison for a rather horrific murder.

      1. I think he did the foul deed in the hope of joining his brother in the same prison.

  51. Systematic suppression of the truth – covid vaccines are linked to cancer and death
    Professor Angus Dalgleish : https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/systematic-suppression-of-the-truth-covid-vaccines-are-linked-to-cancer-and-death/

    BTL

    I am old – I am 78

    I have had no Covid jabs but I take a drop of vitamin D and a zinc pill each day

    Two years ago I had covid – or at least the test said I had it. I spend half a day in bed and slept and the following day I was fine and up and about again.

    Strangely enough several of my friends and family members had the same strain of Covid as I had at the same time. All of them were fully jabbed and some of them were quite ill.

    Of course my experience would be deemed statistically irrelevant but I find it strange that some statistics are relevant when they support the PTB's point of view and are irrelevant, and must be suppressed, when they do not.

    1. The jacket, hat, transport that got him there are all reliant on oil. Thus we should take those away from him then drop a large amount of rock on his head.

      Yes, it's cruel to the rock, but it'd do the world a favour and get this gormless moron from damaging the economy any more..

    2. Is this the face of reason or the face of a demented megalomaniac?

      Is this a trick question?

    4. Mr Tastey, please could you refrain from from posting photos of living politicians. BTL comments are appearing at full throttle, eg "He really is a crazed, bug eyed little Fascist isn't he. The apple doesn't fall from from the Communist tree. ".

      1. I think you are confusing that (insert your own expletives) with the CEO of Thames Water…..

    7. This was predicted by David Starkey.. special expurt committees will overrule parliament and ban all oil exploration on land, and in the sea.. especially near The Falklands.. enforced by the Supreme Court. Forever. At least until the revolution.

      1. Shell etc….. will merely register in a sensible country like Norway.
        The North Sea is comparatively small and I'm sure the goodies can be reached from other potential development sites.

          1. They'll shift anything in UK to Norway.
            There's a large, unfinished office block in the Thames south bank that has been under construction for years.

    8. His title; Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero.

      Are these not basically mutually exclusive?

    10. Welcome to the Canadian experience. For nine years, Trudeau has prevented exploitation of gas and oil reserves over here.

  55. "They" reckon.. with the determination of our psychopathic overlords to relocate the whole of Africa towards Europe.. football as a spectacle will be reduced to watching a load of tall muscular Africans sprinting up and down the pitch. Not much skill. Very physical, with the majority of shots ballooning up into the stands. just like Dembélé.

    Countries such as Iceland, Wales, Scotland, Finland & Russia will be forced to join the women's footie.

    1. That cathedral has suffered so much – almost destroyed in the War; rebuilt. New spire. glorious west front restored and cleaned

  57. Someone has been feeding meat to Allister Heath.
    Apart from his first solution, which swerves the topic of mass immigration, this is a good article.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/07/10/tories-dont-deserve-recover-until-recognise-scale-betrayal/

    "The Tories betrayed Britain – and too many still refuse to admit it

    Some Conservative MPs will have to leave the party if it is to forge a new, more coherent voter coalition

    Allister Heath10 July 2024 • 7:45pm

    It is time for some brutal honesty. The Tories suffered their worst defeat since 1834 because they took their electors for fools, betrayed Britain and plunged our country into a vortex of decline. They broke their promises: where are the 40 new hospitals, lower taxes and reduced immigration? They squandered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reboot Britain after Brexit, sabotaging a historic political realignment, and selling millions of voters down the river.

    They lost control of the machinery of government, gave up on growth, stranded millions on welfare, turned their back on the ownership society, taxed and regulated with abandon, shrugged off a baby-bust and rising anomie, and presided over miserable public services and a decrepit infrastructure. They refused to allocate land to housing out of fear of a backlash, and then were wiped out anyway, while ruining the dreams of a generation.

    They blundered into an extreme version of net zero, and then declined to build the grid infrastructure and nuclear power stations required to prevent blackouts. They slashed the Armed Forces, failed to build enough prisons, imploded the courts system, decriminalised many property crimes and tolerated lax policing. They accepted radical gender ideology, including operations on children, until they were forced to backtrack by a few heroic feminists and ministers. They allowed critical race theory to run unchecked, leading to the persecution and cancellation of their own supporters and a generalised demonisation of conservative values.

    They embraced manifesto-defying levels of immigration, but blocked the construction of the housing and infrastructure required to cope. They took the relative success of Britain’s integration model for granted, and allowed a catastrophic regression on extremism, Islamism, anti-Semitism and sectarianism. They sought to out-spend Labour on the NHS, but presided over a collapse in productivity, inhumane waiting lists and scandals. They memory-holed the historic disaster that were lockdowns, learning nothing from the lack of pandemic preparation or the disastrous inflation, debt and labour market implosion.

    While the best Conservative ministers were men and women of integrity, too many of their colleagues governed as if politics were a game, a means to status; a significant minority of Tory MPs and advisers could have been members of Labour or the Lib Dems. The party promoted nonentities. The worst offenders combined staggering incompetence and breathtaking insouciance with barely believable levels of self-entitlement.

    Some turned out to be insufferably snobby, privately dismissing their more principled activists or colleagues as “nutters”. These were often the same people who saw nothing amiss in waging war on core supporters, as with their assault on private cars or the imposition of crippling marginal tax rates on professionals, and would virtue-signal to retain invitations to dinner parties. Bizarrely, such Tories In Name Only also imagined that they retained a natural monopoly over Right-wing voters, and never took Nigel Farage seriously.

    More generally, too few Tories engaged with deep ideas: with laudable exceptions, there was little interest in the great works of conservatism or classical liberalism, from Burke and Oakeshott to Hayek and Nozick, and abject levels of ignorance of economic theory, especially the pro-market thinking that inspired every successful recent centre-Right government worldwide. Many couldn’t give any kind of answer when asked what their favourite conservative book was, and one former cabinet minister even cited an HR manual as their inspiration.

    Little wonder that they often spoke as Right-wingers but governed as social democrats. They deferred to Left-wing (but nominally “neutral”) apparatchiks such as Torsten Bell of the Resolution Foundation, Chris Stark of the Climate Change Committee or Sir Patrick Vallance, formerly chief scientific adviser. These three men are now, respectively: a Labour MP; the leader of Starmer’s clean energy taskforce; and a Labour minister. Mugs, anybody?

    Margaret Thatcher was a conservative-classical liberal fusionist. William Buckley wrote that “a conservative is someone who stands athwart history, yelling Stop”; by that definition, the Tories, 2010-24 weren’t conservative. Milton Friedman defined a libertarian as somebody who believed that “a society that puts equality… ahead of freedom will end up with neither equality nor freedom”. By that definition, the Tories weren’t libertarians, either. So what were they?

    Every Tory prime minister since 2010 shares in the blame. All are jointly responsible for the party’s lack of any legacy, apart from a de jure Brexit. Yet despite this unforgivable record, I still don’t detect any genuine remorse, any real contrition, any meaningful reflection, any realistic understanding of the scale of the apocalypse.

    A necessary, but not sufficient, condition for a Tory rebirth is for the party to reunite the Right. It should be a broadish church, home to a range of opinions, but within narrower centre-Right parameters. There should no longer be room for those who believe in higher taxes, for advocates of extreme gender and woke ideology, for Rejoiners, for the soft on crime, for those too scared to confront Islamist extremism. The Tories must commit to much lower levels of immigration, and a gentler approach to decarbonisation. A small number of Tory MPs may not fit into this new, more coherent coalition: the sooner they leave the better.

    Yet adding Conservative and Reform votes together wouldn’t have delivered victory. Many Tory sympathisers refused to vote, and others backed Leftist parties. Once they have consolidated their Right-flank with sounder policies, the Tories need to woo aspirational middle England, young and old alike, offering distinctive conservative solutions to the problems of interest to floating voters. They need to ooze competence, honesty and unity.

    Three major changes are required. First, the Tories must embrace mass private house building, including new suburbs and towns. Second, they must prioritise growth in every part of the UK and higher GDP per capita: the Tories must learn to love capitalism, the City, small business and investors once again. Third, they need to offer better healthcare, inspired by a more European model.

    The Tory party has failed the country, and hasn’t reached its electoral floor. It must change in every way, or die."

    1. Given that the Tories will do absolutely none of these things what happens now? Labour oversee the continued decline of this country, eventually, without question, forcing the three day week and electoral oblivion.

      But it won't be a three day week. They've got clever. It'll be localised brown outs and temporary blackouts. Not long enough to reall affect people, not enough to stop everything, but just enough to push the power demand down so the dismantling of our energy supply isn't noticed. Just enough so that the energy companies are 'forced' to raise energy prices at high demand times. This is the ultimate purpose of 'green' after all – to prevent us having energy on demand, but controlled.

      The Tories need to:

      Cut welfare. Stop paying people to breed. Stop giving them houses.
      Cut taxes on businesses and all the stealth taxes. Folk ignore that not only is a third of their income stolen directly,but another third comes in indirect taxation. Tax freedom day should fall at the end of March at the latest.

      Then the state must simply be dismantled, brick by brick so it can never cause these sorts of problems again.

      1. All well and good but how does a platform of cutting benefits get you elected when the electorate live on and expect the state to support them.

      2. Substitute REFORM for TORIES and we'll get the lot plus taxation threshold only when your monthly income exceeds £2,000.

    2. That's a lot of words to state the fact that the gutless Tories were following someone else's agenda.

      Heath's next piece should be exposing just who is behind that agenda and who in the Tory hierarchy was running the show.

      His second piece should be the first piece repeated on the Labour party. Let's find out what/who is making our politicians tick.

    3. I hope the modern version of the Tory party dies .
      Allister Heath is spot on .. my thoughts exactly ..

      We have been conned and mugged .

    4. I disagree that they failed to release enough land for building. We have far too many houses built in the countryside (on green fields) here.

      2. They import all the unwanted people, then we have to build over our country to provide more houses for those unwanted people to live it. It's sick, sick, sick.

        1. I couldn’t agree more. County wastes money on a “climate emergency department” yet permits the building of 600+ houses on farmland for which ancient hedgerows and mature trees were ripped up and felled.

          1. It’s hardly ecologically “green” to import millions more people who will use more gas, oil and electricity either…

    5. Of course they did all that. They did it on the specific instructions of their puppet-masters, the WEF.

      1. …and don't the WEF also have Smarmer and his lefty cohort in their pocket, George?

  58. I'll say this for George Clooney: he has not been displaced as coffee adverts champ by some hunky BAME guy.

    1. Put a spud on the floor here and Mongo'll look at it for hours. He just stands there, tail wagging, head fixed fervently down, staring at the potato.

      Junior called him away once and he looked up, looked at the spud, looked at Junior and seemed utterly confused.

      A sensitive, feeling fellow he may be but he's still dim.

  60. Card payments refused across the UK in “nationwide” issue affecting supermarkets and other retailers. Supermarkets such as Sainsbury’s issued warnings to customers that they are temporarily “cash only” earlier today while they attempted to solve the issue. Visa and Mastercard are investigating. 600 reports of Visa issues and 100 reports of Mastercard issues by 10am today.
    CBDC anyone.,……….

    1. Time for a universal return to 'Cash only' and a nationwide drive for serviceable ATMs.

    2. More a case that the intermediary has had a problem and is temporarily not accepting payments.

      There are a dozen or so racks of servers, multiply redundant, load balanced. Outages cost tens of thousands a second, even at fractional charges.

    3. Funny that. Here's the Netherlands being pushed into a cashless society.

      R-R, your report shows just how vulnerable the digital system can be. In addition, what a tool to hand to our discredited politicians, a server outage bringing havoc to people's lives.

    4. It’s probably just an experimental outage organised by TPTB, just a fore-runner of what’s to come. Like the Covid exercise. This is what will happen when we are finally forced into CBDC.

      1. I was a smidge rude about Sir Kneeler. So it's no cash and starvation for me.

    6. I've told the story before but that happened one evening in Westfield shopping centre at White City. None of the retailers there could take contactless payments. There was a young woman in front of me at the manned checkout in M&S food hall trying to pay for groceries with her phone. I had cash and so did the woman behind me. The guy on the till offered to keep her groceries for her while she went to draw out cash with her card. She looked at him with a horrified expression and said, "I don't carry a CARD"! She'll still be first in the queue for The Mark of the Beast. Sooo convenient, obvs :-))

    7. I am soooooo tempted to nip down to Sainsburys and offer my barely used – but uncomfortable – trainers in exchange for a pint of milk and couple of bog rolls. As I have a Nectar card, would they throw in a sliced loaf to compensate for the inconvenience?

  61. "Oil and gas licensing will not reduce energy costs for households and businesses … will not enhance energy security, and offers no plan for the future of the UK’s offshore energy communities".

    These are lies, plain and simple. Why is he allowed to say these things when they are blatant, outright lies?

    1. "The pound in your pocket will not be devalued." Another blatant lie from an earlier Labour government after a 14% devaluation of the pound. They simply cannot help themselves, can they?

  62. So we now have six Reform MP's in Westminster for the first time ever and now England gets into the semi finals for the first time on foreign soil.
    Isn't that amazing.
    It certainly gives the country a lift in these dark times under a Labour government

    1. Call me a cynic – and many (most) do – but I am waiting for the first case of Reform MP sleaze to be reported….

      1. I imagine the BBC, granuaid, Mirror, Sun, telegraph…. express… mail… channel 4….ITV… I'm sure there's more… are spending vast sums doing everything they can to dig dirt. The Left hate dissent.

        1. Stand-by for “Richard Tice was mean to me in kindergarten says mother of 3’, ‘I saw Nigel Farage park on a zebra crossing zig-zags says 93 year old lollipop lady and local treasure’.

      2. Surely one of them must have a dog that can do a Nazi salute.
        Or a parrot intoning Sieg Heil.

      1. This is about Jim Allister, MP for North Antrim, standing for Traditional Unionist Voice. There has been talk for several days of him taking the Reform whip but I haven't seen it confirmed yet.

  63. Raining. Extraordinary. Who could possibly have foreseen it? Puts paid to all garden work this arvo….

          3. Still no. You have to go back rather further – you would have been aged about 6 at the time!

            Alec Guinness played Malvolio, Ralph Richardson played Toby Belch, and Joan Plowright played Viola.

          5. I said: "… who plays Feste is in this filmed version of the play?" and gave a link showing the chap singing the song.

            I even gave you a strong hint in my follow up. Your generation seems to want it too easy!

  65. Ha a very busy morning , more laundry , beds sort etc , and other stuff.

    Moh and I also ran around the garden feeding the garden plants ..

    Strange because whilst we were busy doing that , there was a kill near the bird table .. large feathers scattered , pigeon victim?

    Sunshine so strong , that duvet covers and sheets etc dried in over an hour .

        3. Not the one who was a steady sort of bloke in the song about Cats on the rooftops and cats on the tiles?

      1. It doesn't say. Just wondered how many people would press play. …innocent face… :@)

          2. "Course I did.
            And you won't admit to getting wrong!
            Neh neh di neh neh …..

    4. Yes it is. It was undergoing renovation. Details of damage not clear yet but the mayor has said that the fire was caused by the works.

      1. How convenient (for those trying to erase the Christian faith in Europe)

      2. The spire of Rouen is a metal construction. As with the fire at Notre Dame the fire was caused deliberately and with the use of an accelerant. The scaffold was utilised to gain access.

        Muslims have been attacking hundreds of churches in France and many have been destroyed. The French authorities are in denial.

        1. I knew that, but what they have not either said or established is if the roof timbers are damaged. What you say is perfectly possible of course, but I live in France and I am sure that if “hundreds” of churches have been attacked and destroyed it would not be possible to keep that under wraps.

    1. Golly Gosh. Wouldn't we all like to be surprised.
      I wonder if parents swallowed any doubts and put on their 'liberal' face?

      2. The girl was 25 so what choice would they have had? Apparently it was an abusive relationship and she had finally found the courage to break it off but he had got very nasty. The mother confided to friends that she was worried about it.

        2. Parents of adult children learn to perfect the rictus smile.
          Any other reaction means that the relationship lasts even longer.

  70. Getting in the final of the Euros, it's not like the World Cup where Europeans have to play people from all over the world, is it.

  71. News not exclusive to the Daily Wail.

    "Two suitcases feared to contain human remains have been found by officers in a 'disturbing incident' – as police launch a manhunt to find the person who left them there.

    Officers were called to the famous Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol just before midnight after onlookers said a man had been seen behaving suspiciously.

    When they arrived ten minutes later, in the early hours of this morning, they discovered two suitcases set down near to each other……..

    He was taken to the bridge in a taxi, which has been seized and the driver is assisting the force with their enquiries……."

    1. The corpse will be female; most likely of breeding age.
    2. The alleged perp's name will not be Smith.
    3. The taxi driver will be a male relative of Not-Mr.Smith.

    The later details will include A* student and "kept himself to himself".

      1. :-). Would Nan break the code of honour?
        Maybe the old tart spoke to the postman while unveiled.

  74. US to deploy hypersonic missiles in Germany that could strike Russia. 11 July 2024.

    Germany will host hypersonic missiles capable of striking deep inside Russia even if Donald Trump returns as president, defence minister Boris Pistorius has said.

    As the United States announced at the Nato summit in Washington that it would deploy the powerful weapons in Germany for the first time since the Cold War, Berlin seemed confident this would happen regardless of whether Joe Biden loses the election race.

    If you have a “bucket list” I would suggest that you crack on with it.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/07/11/us-to-deploy-hypersonic-missiles-in-germany/

  75. One of the victims – a "daughter" of the unfortunate chap who is now a widower looks north african. Perhaps she was adopted.

    1. I doubt it. One of the daughters who died was a beautician and I don't think either of them looked the way they would have done without any…shall we say assistance. So many of the young do it these days, you just need to look at photos of the so-called "influencers". It is a very sad story and I don't think we should either speculate or mock.

  76. Apparently, one Lt-Gen Juril Sodol has been responsible for the ddeaths of more Ukraininan soldiers than any Russian general, according to Ukie officers. They say it's due to incompetence, cronyism, stealing and more.

  78. Sorry about the capitals…

    A PLANE IS ON ITS WAY TO TORONTO , WHEN A BLONDE IN ECONOMY CLASS GETS UP AND MOVES TO THE FIRST CLASS SECTION AND SITS DOWN.
    THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT WATCHES HER DO THIS AND ASKS TO SEE HER TICKET.
    SHE THEN TELLS THE BLONDE THAT SHE PAID FOR ECONOMY CLASS AND THAT SHE WILL HAVE TO SIT IN THE BACK.
    THE BLONDE REPLIES, "I'M BLONDE, I'M BEAUTIFUL, I'M GOING TO TORONTO AND I'M STAYING RIGHT HERE."
    THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT GOES INTO THE COCKPIT AND TELLS THE PILOT AND THE CO-PILOT THAT THERE IS A BLONDE BIMBO SITTING IN FIRST CLASS, THAT BELONGS IN ECONOMY AND WON'T MOVE BACK TO HER SEAT.
    THE CO-PILOT GOES BACK TO THE BLONDE AND TRIES TO EXPLAIN THAT BECAUSE SHE ONLY PAID FOR ECONOMY SHE WILL HAVE TO LEAVE AND RETURN TO HER SEAT.
    THE BLONDE REPLIES, "I'M BLONDE, I'M BEAUTIFUL, I'M GOING TO TORONTO AND I'M STAYING RIGHT HERE."
    THE CO-PILOT TELLS THE PILOT THAT HE PROBABLY SHOULD HAVE THE POLICE WAITING WHEN THEY LAND TO ARREST THIS BLONDE WOMAN WHO WON'T LISTEN TO REASON.
    THE PILOT SAYS, "YOU SAY SHE IS A BLONDE? I'LL
    HANDLE THIS, I'M MARRIED TO A BLONDE. I SPEAK BLONDE."
    HE GOES BACK TO THE BLONDE AND WHISPERS IN HER EAR, AND SHE SAYS, "OH, I'M SORRY." AND GETS UP AND GOES BACK TO HER SEAT IN ECONOMY.
    THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT AND CO-PILOT ARE AMAZED AND ASKED HIM WHAT HE SAID TO MAKE HER MOVE WITHOUT ANY FUSS.
    "I TOLD HER, 'FIRST CLASS ISN'T GOING TO TORONTO."

      1. I was on the night train to Berlin Zoologischer Garten. The second half of the train was better appointed and was decoupling for Switzerland. I was tempted to …er…make a mistake.

        1. Back in the 1970s, when I stayed with an exchange family in Bavaria, I took the train to Munich one day.
          On the return leg, I was terrified that I might be in the wrong part of the train – half was being decoupled at one station for its onward journey into the DDR.

        1. I never stated that I had copyright. I merely stated that I had published the story here some time ago.

  79. BBC broadcast covering the shocking persecution faced by African migrant families in Northern Ireland. These families have been forced to leave their communities in fear for their lives due to racist attacks. Watch as I dive deep into this heartbreaking story, discuss the implications, and share my thoughts on the urgent need for change.

    What's the matter with these communities? Don't they realise there's global boiling emergency, and Africa needs to be relocated asap filling every corner of every parish & shire. Ange says so.
    The fun hasn't even started and already they're whinging.

    1. I was told years ago that there were very few migrants in Northern Ireland becasue, "the Irish don't make them welcome". This was from a work colleague who moved to Belfast from Leicester for that very reason.

    1. Mohammad Imane cut the throat of a 57-year-old French man for supporting Israel.

      Ah well.. as the progressives say in USA.. context.. context.

      Or, if you prefer Owen Jones' take.. "Art".

    2. Mohammad Imane cut the throat of a 57-year-old French man for supporting Israel.

      Ah well.. as the progressives say in USA.. context.. context.

      Or, if you prefer Owen Jones' take.. "Art".

    3. They are absolute barbarians and they are over here. How much more evidence do we need?

      Or, will the French put it down to “mental health” issues, as our Plod does?

  81. If anyone is interested there is a new film called 'Kingdom of the planet of the apes'. Good CGI and prosthetics.

          1. Only by two hours, granny. :@)

            My play now is if i bait you enough you will come to my party just to give me a slap !

  82. The Crossbow murderer is allegedly 'in serious condition' – althoughr the police fired no shots.

    Was he beaten/ injured by the police or injured by one – or more – of his victims?

        1. We tried to retrieve him your honour to give him succour but then he fought us……………..So we made sure the second time.

  83. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e1ef3c459e42d8919e088c1fb7c05ae3effdf1c7347fcb2dbc7ecf3dae5ef255.jpg
    Where's Paul?

    T'other day, you asked me about Sarson's malt vinegar and I mentioned I bought mine from BritSuperstore. I've just been into my pantry and discovered this lot from my last online shopping expedition. It's a good job that I looked since I discovered that I am completely out of Branston pickle (the yellow jar in the photo is their excellent piccalilli).

    2. Just used that mushroom ketchup to add zing to a sauce.
      I have to buy it online, as I've never seen it in even the poshest of shops.

      1. Damn fool woman! Anchovy sauce ! Miso Paste ! Henderson's ! Mushroom sauce Geo Watkins is sold by Tesco.

  85. Now that Ed Miliband has implemented the policy of 'Just Stop Oil', where does the Scottish Economy go from here?

    In a matter of days, the Labour Party has created the absurd role – Minister for Industry – that will bring it crashing down.

    1. One thing you can pattern is that whereever government interferes, less of that is produced. Thus a minister for industry has the role of destroying industry.

  86. OT – a serious question – please don't make facetious replies.

    Does any NoTTLer bank online with Santander? If so, have you had very recent problems trying to pay existing payees?

    1. No, but my NatWest online banking recently went through a number of new security iterations and sought to "verify" payees as confirmed bank details. I had to reinput the relevant ISAN details for some but not all of my regular payees.

      1. Thanks. The MR has the same problem as I now do – different devices etc. An hour on the phone to some one at Santander gets one no where. Well, not very far. The problem has been referred to the “technical staff”.

        I suspect that the introduction of the OTP may have “knocked” some other part of the system. And as more and more customers try to make payments – they’ll have to look into it.

        It is extremely alarming to have thousands of £££ which you cannot use.

          1. The reason Bill has thousands is because he doesn't buy anything except for cheesey knock offs from the market.

          3. He thinks he is getting a bargain but it is much more likely to give him food poisoning. Not possible to sell top end cheeses at low prices unless they have been repackaged and labelled.

          4. What's a top end cheese? Folk here get cheddar – extra mature. Anything else is frowned upon.

            I do like Bavarian smoked and she likes Rambol though. I buy 3 packs a month and thinking of 4.

          5. Tunworth. Baron Bigod. Better than the Froggies produce. Those cheeses will actually make you make hmmmmm noises.

          7. Be quiet at the back.
            It is a question of taste buds and other things. Like coriander/cilantro. To some people it tastes wonderful sprinkled over curry. To others it tastes tinny metallic.

          9. Trust me. I'm a foodie. I have bought parsley from the supermarket and it tasted like grass cuttings. The Terroir is important.
            If you eat a tricolour salad in Italy it is not possible to reproduce it from Tesco.

          12. I've tried fresh coriander all over the world, often not by choice, it's the devil's plant. Ground seed is another matter entirely.

          13. My reaction my whole life. Until I tried it mixed with fresh lime juice. A revelation!!

          14. Thanks, Katy, I shall try it, I've always got a few fresh limes about the house as I like it mixed with fresh orange juice.

          15. Baron Bigod is nearish to us. Support your local industries and all that.
            Their cheese and butter are excellent.
            Talking of local food, the one Tiptree disappointment is their mango chutney; sweet and bland.

          17. Just looked them up. Processed factory made cheeses. Why don't you just buy that pseudo cheese innertube.
            I knew you are a So'ton lad but really?

          21. Last time we were in Yarkshire we went to the cheese factory/shop. Erin spent so much time looking around the gift shop I did the whole free sample section and came out. Then we both went into the samples section. I didn't need any lunch after that. So there is such a thing as a free lunch.

          27. In that case i am sorry if you are worried but your money is most certainly okay at the moment. They just need to reboot the servers.

          28. One of the problems is that one is dealing with junior staff who (a) have no technical knowledge beyond what the menu on their screen tells them to say (b) do not understand hat there may well be a real problem with the bank’s systems and (c) fob one off by suggesting that you change your browser…

            I know the money is safe – but inaccessible – other than by spending an hour on the phone.

          30. A chum I know proudly tells me the AS400 for his insurance company hasn't been rebooted in his lifetime. He's 61. I suggested that they'd lost the key for where the power button is.

          34. Ah, thank you. I have been playing around with the thought of diversifying, but the thought that it would be so easy for a couple of novices like ourselves to get conned has made me nervous.

          36. Presumably you can go into the branch and they will make the transfers for you.
            If worst comes to the very worst you could use it as security for a separate loan.
            Expensive, but doable.

        2. Honestly Bill, I would move away from Santander and keep your current account with First Direct. While not perfect, they actually answer the phone rather than trap you in an IVR.

          That said, we've multiple accounts now. I used to bank with only one for everything but our isas are with Vanguard and wealthify and others. Mongo and living expenses are with Starling, Junior and Oscar with Monzo, her bank is Barclays (apparently she has never needed to ring them), mine First, the company with Halifax.

          I simply don't trust banks.

          I was with Santander – then one Christmas they blocked a purchase and an automated thing called my phone. I ignored it and continued the purchase.

          Around May time they rang me up and said 'Hello, it's about a fraud action on your account'.
          I said 'Oh, when from?'
          The chap rather apologetically said 'December.'

          If they don't take security seriously enough to have a person ring you up, then they don't take it seriously at all.

          1. I expect you – being young – rely on telephone banking (as with Starling, for example). I don’t have a smart phone. The MR does but refuses to get banking (with anyone) on it.

          3. It horrifies me to see people just holding their phone to a till. I can't think what they'd do if the phone was lost/stolen/broken.

          4. I long for the olden days when you could totter into your bank b/society, pass-book clutched in hand and have your cash signed in (or signed out) by a proper person. Internet banking scares me stiff, it really worries me that our hard-earned will disappear from sight if I press a wrong key whilst thinking, or just disappear anyway. We use Halifax and Lloyds, last night we transferred a four figure sum to our son for our grandson, Lloyds to Halifax to son's bank and it was fine.

          5. Our local Barclays is a chines takeaway. Has been for 25 years all the other reachable branches have also closed now it's a parking charge to visit the banks.

          6. I keep a small online account for the odd times when I need to do transfers – normally to grandchildren at birthdays and Christmas.
            If anyone hits that, they will not get rich.

    2. I do. Not finding any problems with making payments and have made 2 recently.

      1. Thanks. Made one on 1 July – no problem. Since then have to open account with OTP – everything shows. Click on “pay existing payee” – list comes up OK. Click on desired payee. Bloody red wheel and “don’t leave this page”…

    3. Early this week I could not make a transfer from HBoS but the web site stated there was a tech problem. Next morn all was ok.

        1. I still haven't received payment from selling your house from under you. Would you care to help?

        2. Another topic. HMRC has not yet cashed the £10 cheque I sent alongside a stinging letter re SA! On the other hand, grant of probate took just 18 days, after HMRC eventually processed the IHT form. I should start offering my services…

    4. There has been a glitch with a lot of servers that serve online banking. Should be sorted soon.

        1. Santander took over TSB and they rushed through development and testing. Total fuck up. A bit like the Horizon scandal. Tell the MR to switch to Nationwide.

          1. Oddly enough, we both have a/cs with NWBS. Trouble is that to start regular, full-time banking one needs to transfer funds from, er, Santander……

    6. Hello, Bill. I have had two savings accounts with Santander since it was Abbey National. I transfer money to other accounts without any problems.

          1. Just try – one – initiate – you don’t need actually to send anything (except to me, of course…)

    8. Have you tried Googling Santander Issues? There are some, but it wanted me to log in to read about it, and I don't have a Santander bank account.

    9. If banking online via a personal computer, try deleting all your cookies (not Conway's macaroons). If that doesn't work, phone the bank in case they have automatically frozen the user account because of suspicious activity.

    10. I do have online banking with Santander but haven't been online recently.

    2. As the warqueen said 'chilly willy'. Then there was something crude about it being hard then going floppy and wet.

  89. A pendant Par Four?

    Wordle 1,118 4/6
    ⬜🟨🟨⬜⬜
    🟨⬜🟨⬜🟨
    🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Me too.

      Wordle 1,118 4/6

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      ⬜🟩⬜🟩⬜
      🟩🟩⬜🟩⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      2. Wordle 1,118 5/6

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

    2. Pedestrian par as well

      Wordle 1,118 4/6

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

    3. A nasty phew for me.

      Wordle 1,118 6/6

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

    4. Same as, a relief after yesterday!….

      Wordle 1,118 4/6

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

      1. Been sunny here today. We've got a busy weekend of fundraising coming up so sure to rain then.

    2. Quite nice here today; rain held off, temperature up to 22C, Firstborn's mate rocked up with tractor & trailer, and with a great deal of heaving, we got the old combine out from the trees and loaded onto the trailer. Now taken away for scrap. Man, but the flies and gnats were a plague.
      We also got the honey room prepped for grouting and plumbing, so quite a bit of progress today. Sun shining now, as well.
      A celebratory beer, followed by a celebratory snooze or 3…

      2. Closest we've got to a named room for a specific purpose is 'Junior's toy room' or 'the [beeeep] box – which is a small room about 3x2m where all sorts of cruft lives, including 2 16 port 100gb switches.

        I do like the idea of a honey room.

        1. I do too, my dad had what he called 'the box room'….it was a cupboard, set into the wall…

        2. The barn has several rooms:
          Hay room – where the hay was stored & dried. Now home to two classic Minis, under restoration, and a pile of wood, pallets…
          Honey room – where the honey processing gear is kept
          Satellite room – not used for much except seems to be half filled with old satellite dishes
          Freezer room – holds massive chest freezer
          Tool room – for farm hand tools
          Pump room – cellar where the water pump is located
          Two garages – filled with Series 3 landy LWB and a BMW.

          1. I'm in awe, Paul.
            Here, I have:
            Hall
            Lounge
            Bedroom
            Kitchen
            Lobby – where access to Lounge, Wet Room, Boiler Cupboard, Airing Cupboard, and Bedroom coincide
            Wet Room
            Cupboards as above, plus Hall Cupboard and Bedroom Wardrobe.
            "Print Room" – a use clearly not envisaged by Lord Taylor of Taylor Woodrow fame, who was instrumental in setting up this local Housing Society, but as "Keeper of the Parish Printer", it had to go somewhere…

          2. If one has a barn, there’s plenty of choice… just trying to prevent the rooms becoming junk room #1, #2, #3 and so on…

    4. My reasoning is that jungles are good for wildlife, Ndovu, so much so my offspring would call me 'Poison Ivy…some sort of villain, apparently.

    5. New landlord has belatedly realised that there are some communal areas to be maintained. They even sent out an email with examples of acceptable and otherwise grounds maintenance. Gardeners turned up the following day. We have six properties. They cut the grass of only four of them. There's a large area betwixt our footpaths and the carriageway. It hasn't been touched this year. This was perhaps OK in "no mow May". While the ox-eye daisies were flowering, it was still probably OK.

      Today, a solitary bloke turned up. He did the communal area between Nos 7 and 9, and the front "lawns" of Nos 1, 3, 5. and 7. But left Nos 9 and 11.

  91. A man police want to speak to after two suitcases containing human remains were found on Clifton Suspension Bridge has been pictured for the first time.

    It's a pasty ginger-haired church-going Christian white man..

    Oh my mistake.. it's not.

    1. It's a genuine WTF moment, isn't it? The state keeps ignoring the problems the diversity cause.

      1. My local rag is starting to raise the shutters a bit. There's an article with a photo of an ace of spades under the title "man LINKED to Telford" (my emphasis) "wanted for rape". We have moved on from "Telford man" and no photo.

      2. In other news, a Polish soldier was killed by a spear throwing savage… err, criminal gimmigrant.

        This is an invasion. It's time to start shooting them.

  93. That's me gone for the cold, wet unpleasant (and worrying) day.

    Have a spiffing evening.

    A demain.

  94. Evening, all. As you are probably aware, due to the cool, wet weather (today no different) I have the Rayburn lit. As a friend was coming over for coffee and I didn't have any biscuits to offer, I decided to make some. I did worry I'd spend so long looking for a recipe for which I had the ingredients I wouldn't have had time to make them before my guest arrived, but in the end, I found a wartime recipe for "macaroons". If I say so myself, they were edible! Great relief.

    As for the headline, Starmer is at odds with reality.

    1. I attempted some madelaines earlier today, lemon dipped in white chocolate.

      I assume no one liked them as they have all gone. It's not possible for 30 + mini cakes to be eaten in 10 mins so I assume they're in the bin.

      1. I think it's entirely possible, home made mads..how many people were stuffing 'em down…:-D

    2. I once had an Aga, Conway..came with a Mary Berry Aga Cookbook. Sigh, loved it, apart from when the kids home from Uni draped over it, after they'd finally surfaced………

      1. The Rayburn is similar, but runs the central heating as well. I have several cookbooks (a bit of an understatement as I'm a bookaholic) but I don't think I have any specifically for cooking with solid fuel. I do have Rayburn stainless steel pans.

        1. Excellent, especially for winter – warm radiators AND a casserole. It was a different way of cooking and I found the Berry book useful. Still miss it, had always wanted one. The Aga was LPG, and yes needed different pans. What was the solid fuel you used, Conway?

  96. Watching the Lord's test match between England and West Indies, I am quite astonished at how pale a complexion their wicketkeeper has.

    2. 'England and West Indies test match at Lord's cricket ground' (MCC) perhaps, Griz?

      1. England used to tour under the MCC banner, many decades ago, but they only play as England these days.

    3. It's a mismatch, it might have been over in two days… it's such a shame just how poor the Windies have become, I remember them from the 70s/80s when they were terrific – anybody fancy facing Ambrose/Walsh/Marshall etc etc??

      1. I have loved watching test matches since my childhood especially when Australia, West Indies and (in the 1960s) South Africa were the opposition.

        Austrailia have occasionally put out some poor touring teams but they always come back with a strong squad after defeats.

        Unfortunately the West Indies, since the time their teams were captained by Clive Lloyd and Viv Richards (who, coincidentally, were seen chatting together today at Lord's) have never put out a team since of that same high standard.

        I also lament the fabulous South African teams of Graeme Pollock, Eddie Barlow, Mike Procter and Colin Bland et al.

        1. Gosh, yes, I agree about the Saffers – I'd also add Barry Richards to your list, possibly the best opening batsman I've ever seen – and recall just how sad it was that they never really played that much together due to the apartheid bans…..

      2. I had a ticket for the Saturday 1996 Test Match at Edgbaston when England were essentially defeated in 2 days (Inthink there was ten minutes of play or something on the Saturday). In the end we flew to Dublin to watch a hockey tournament instead.

        1. I was at the England v West Indies game in 2000 – I’d booked a box at Headingley on the Friday for our customers (it was a great facility and a tremendous day out, I did it several times).

          Andy Caddick ran through them with 4 wickets in one over and it was over by mid-afternoon I think. We didnt care, we’d had a great day out – but I think the powers that be must have been fuming over the lost revenue (like today!).

  98. Feeling irritated. Went to use a Halifax cash machine in Westfield and their machines are not dispensing. I won’t be beat so I accosted two security guards and asked if they knew of any other machines in the centre. There used to be lots but most are now gone. I was directed to the exchange bureau just inside the main entrance, which I’d never noticed before but they were right, it has two cash machines dispensing pounds and euros. I did most of my shopping with cash after all but I’m not impressed!

    1. I paid for my coal delivery on Tuesday. I usually pay cash but the coal merchant rang me up to ask me to pay by cheque. Paying in cash would have cost them £50 in fees. Cashing a cheque was only 85p. Clearly the banks don't want us to use cash.

      1. Despite how useless, obnoxious and annoying banks are, they are, fundamentally; greedy. They'll take your money in any form. It is government that levies the costs.

        Government wants control over what you use. When they say 'cash will always be available' what they really mean – as with the vaccine farce – is they'll make using it so expensive, so awkward and so difficult that if you do, your life is impossible. But, they'll say, you can use it.

        1. Yes, cards are 'so convenient'…not when you forget the pin, as I've done occasionally……

          1. Your 'Smart phone' with face ID two clicks and the money zips out of your bank account into that of the goods supplier…..

          2. My three month old Galaxy S24 Ultra acquied a broken screen, noted on Monday. Still don't know what happened. The official Samsung screen protector let me down. Samsung account led me to EE in Reading, being the nearest approved repairer.

            You will recall my last watery visit to that town.

            I was expecting a bill between £300 and £400 for the repair. It cost £200.

            I'm sort of happy-ish… 😟

      2. Supposed to be something to do with drug dealing, Conway…or apparently drug usage….

    2. I tried to pay some cash into HSBC today and the machines would not take the new “King Charles” notes and and there was no counter to pay them in at. So I now have a number of new notes that I need to make a separate trip to a different bank to pay them in. Hmm. Progress?

      1. Haven't seen any of those yet, but bet that they look like Mickey Mouse/Monopoly money

    3. Agree, Sue – use it or lose it. Some cash machines are no longer 24hr, and many are non-existent (similar to bank branches, with the onset of online banking). We had a spate of cash machines being ripped out of the wall some years ago (JCB driver, wouldn't have been at all obvious would it), the holes bricked over and never replaced. I've thought for some time CBDC will be here near future…no signs yet, think Sunak was in favour. Perhaps Reeves pick up the baton.

    4. Yo Sue,

      Recently SWMBO and me(or is it 'I'? ) went to the closest Halifax branch to our abode, ( 35 mile round trip) to deposit some coins and open a Savings Account.

      They could not change our small change into pound coins (they had none) and the only way we could open a Savings Account was come back 10 days later to see a video about 'savings'

      My wife used to work in a bank….

    5. Yo Sue,

      Recently SWMBO and me(or is it 'I'? ) went to the closest Halifax branch to our abode, ( 35 mile round trip) to deposit some coins and open a Savings Account.

      They could not change our small change into pound coins (they had none) and the only way we could open a Savings Account was come back 10 days later to see a video about 'savings'

      My wife used to work in a bank….

    1. Wonder what they'll think after the Biden/Starmer interview…I've seen only a small amount of footage, a silent one.

      1. Starmer looked like a man suddenly let into a club, expecting it to be a practical joke at his expense.

        1. He always looks a bit bewildered….wait til he finds his blasted feet we likely won’t be joking then….

          2. Good morning Sir J, hope you had a good night 🙂 I think Biden's just the puppet, someone else pulling the strings. Reportedly his wife and son. Starmer, we know who's behind him (T. Blair)..be back in the Single Market before we know it, and take it from there…

  100. Would the Democrats favour a world war with Putin rather than let Trump become President ?

    We have the same problems here, the Conservatives would rather have a Labour government than properly leave the EU

    1. Do you know, I think they would. I don't think they can see past their own bigotry and spite.

    1. The entire government should be stopped. In a democracy when he announced this we, the public would laugh, then say no. Exploration will continue and all taxes will be revoked. Between his spluttering he signs it off. If he refuses he is sacked. If he fights it from the back benches then he is jailed.

      The state needs a boot put on it's neck as a reminder that we, the tax payer, are master.

      The comments were funny though. So many, so quickly crashed the publishing engine.

  103. Interesting. Presumably if I lose it/gets nicked/sell it, the new owner can just change the setting, once they’ve accessed it?

    1. Oh that takes me back! Stoking the central heating boiler in the kitchen with a hod of coke!

      1. We used to use a form of coke (Cosycoke) for the first Rayburn we had. This is a slightly more sophisticated version (it has bars rather than a round riddler).

    2. Oh that takes me back! Stoking the central heating boiler in the kitchen with a hod of coke!

    3. Ok thanks…when I was a teen, worked weekends in a pub out in the sticks, very old Aga in the kitchen..we used to feed it all sorts, left over burgers, stained beer mats etc.intermingled with the coke….that’s what we called the fuel at that time:-D

      1. Strictly speaking, as it's multifuel, it will burn anything. I don't get much left over (chicken bones, potato peelings and the like).

        1. Sounds very much like the one I spent my mis-spent youth with…good for you, Conway. Wish I still had one:-)

          1. Our first one cost us £20 – £10 for the Rayburn and £10 to the chap who helped us carry it up the steps from the basement kitchen of the house it was in to put in the back of the Landrover! We then bought a wrap around boiler so it would run the central heating. When my MiL died and we had a small legacy we bought a brand new Rayburn Royale. When MOH was moaning about the work (which I did!) and wanted oil central heating I said okay, provided we keep the Rayburn as well. Proved to be a wise move – the oil didn't keep the house anything like warm enough in the really cold weather. I must admit, I did think I would be having a break from filling hods and stoking the Rayburn in July. Normally I only run it from November to April. I would normally be using the oil for chilly days at this time of year, but the immersion went kaput and until I get a new coil to restore heating the water by oil, I need to have the Rayburn going to have hot water for baths, hair washing, cleaning, etc. The added bonus, of course, is that I can cook on it. Until very recently I didn't have a cooker (I sold the electric one and the gas one hadn't been delivered and installed).

          2. Great narrative, Conway – sound quite a bit like MOH, he’s always up for new ventures that involve welding or woodwork or getting me to hold a panel at 90 degrees or something. I think he’d live in a hut in the wood for preference. We have oil now, he put in underfloor heating and made the wooden floor. It takes around two hours to really warm the place, so woodburner stands in during meantime. There was a time the electricity went out for several weeks during flooding, I cooked on the woodburner – was easy, simple and quick. Hope you like your new gas cooker – I once had gas rings, electric cooker, good combo. Gas is very responsive, and quick to cook a meal.

  106. I would like to propose a few folk for the Knights of the Round Table 2024:

    Candace Owen
    Douglas Murray
    Elon Musk
    Thomas Sowell
    Jordan Peterson
    Neil Oliver
    John Campbell
    Nigel Farage

    who else?

          2. Context is everything, but I've seen too many in a similar vein to suggest it's unintentional.

          3. I wonder if her words mightn't have been twisted? I don't see her as an anti-Jewish bigot and I can also see her point (if I interpret it correctly) that some really evil movers and shakers in the global would-be control network do happen to be ethnically Jewish and do, like evil people who happen to be eg black, hide behind the "any critic is a racist" construction. This is the first I've heard of this, btw.

          5. Please give further examples, sos. Also, what is her expressed view on the situation in Israel, if you know? I just see a stitch-up here but retain an open mind as far as is possible.

    3. Archbishop Vigano. He’s just been excommunicated by the Holy Office, aka The Inquisition. Speaks out against the globalist new world order and is definitely one of the good guys.

      2. It's knights of the round table not ladies in waiting.

        Runs far far away and hides.

        1. I believe that Round Table (RTBI and all that) as well as Rotary and other service clubs accepted women as members nowadays.I

          3. The "Grey Belt" seems to be a rather weaselly term that will encompass anywhere that one of their chosen troughers can make lloadsadosh concreting over. These people are even more corrupt than their predecessors.

    2. The rebranding of the AONBs in England as National Landscapes shall strengthen their purpose, bringing them in line with National Parks. The shift should also enable additional funding sources and an increase in the profile of AONBs nationally.

      AONBs will not become planning bodies as National Parks are, but it is likely that we could see the introduction of additional powers. This will enable the AONBs to provide comments that carry a further weight in the assessment of planning applications than existing. It could ultimately lead to further difficulty for those wishing to undertake development within these designated areas, bringing constraints in line with those already experienced by members living within National Parks. Going forward, the designation of AONBs shall still be recognised in planning legislation as Article 2(3) land.

          1. "No permanent friends, nor permanent enemies , merely permanent interests…"

      1. Is that 'Feral' Williams? – Because I'm happy, Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof (?)….

      2. It amused me when I was in Oz that a country fair advertised a class in the car show for "feral utes". Alas, I never got to see one to find out what they looked like.

  109. A damp day with several showers stopping me do a quick job on the van.
    I've got the leisure battery and fridge secured down and have cut down the frame of the sleeping bench to allow for the fridge, but could not get the plywood sheet trimmed off.
    Will try again tomorrow.

    And with that, I'm off to bed.

    Good night all.

  110. Following on from Millipede's decision to overrule the oilfield quango comes this story. You may remember the Supreme Court's highly inventive interpretation of the CCA and planning law that led it to reject an application for oil drilling in Surrey. Now the plans for a new Cumbrian mine to produce high-grade coking coal for steel-making are likely to to be rejected for the same reason.

    Government decision to approve new coal mine was unlawful, declares Labour

    Deputy PM Angela Rayner reverses support for Cumbria pit over environmental impact

    Jonathan Leake • 11 July 2024 • 7:49pm

    Plans for a new coal mine in Cumbria risk being dashed after the Government admitted that the decision to approve it was unlawful.
    In a potentially lethal blow to what would have been Britain's first new coal mine in 30 years, Labour has withdrawn support for the project amid concerns over its environmental impact.

    The proposed coal mine was awarded planning permission back in 2022, sparking an immediate backlash from green activists.
    Both Friends of the Earth (FoE) and South Lakes Action on Climate Change (Slacc) have sued the Government to stop the project, with a three-day hearing scheduled to take place in the High Court next week.

    However, Angela Rayner, the new Deputy Prime Minister, has now told Whitehall officials to abandon its legal defence of the proposal on the basis it should not have received planning permission in the first place.

    While the Government will no longer be an active participant in the case, the company behind the site, West Cumbria Mining, is expected to keep fighting to keep it alive.

    ……

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/07/11/decision-to-approve-cumbrian-coal-mine-was-unlawful/

    2. I'll get investment in China onto the agenda tomorrow. Youse are doomed with that kind of idiocy in charge.

      1. Er, no. Insofar as a squint is also known as a strabismus, yes. But it isn’t a “lazy eye” and, it being a birth defect, the cosmetic surgery was done at 18 months but the vision is peripheral and can’t be corrected.

        1. Have you read Anthony Burgess at all, Sue? Wasn't meaning to trivialise what must be very debilitating, just a reference to "Earthly Powers" and the (anti)hero's beautiful sister.

    5. Oh dear, I've just looked in my wallet at £480 worth of twenties and discovered 10 of them are Charley's. I shall try to palm some off on Saturday's charter fishing trip.

        1. The cost of fishing charters has soared in price and has actually increased at the same pace that the quality of fishing has decreased.

        2. I always keep about £300 in mine. Never know when i met get the urge to visit a brothel cocktail bar.

      2. Don’t try phi g them into a bank using an automated machine, is all I’m going to advise

  115. In his case I wonder whether it is him or the posts he highlights.
    I'm beginning to have my doubts about him.

    1. Two things (Ok 3):

      I do not trust anything the Guardian says as factual

      It was a disgrace that Israel supplied arms for the massacre of Armenians, and I don't understand why they did this

      I stand with Israel – Am Yisrael Chai. Criticism where criticism is due, though (not to include cynical condemnation, based on terrorist lies, of the justified Israeli response to the continual atrocities of Hamas).

      1. I agree re wariness over the Grauniad
        I don’t know enough on the Armenian thing to comment, I was adding a link re Owens’ approach to Israel
        Totally agree re Hamas.
        The Mengele aspect is sufficient of itself for me to be very wary of her.
        A stitch up?, possibly, but it doesn’t look good.
        https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13619487/candace-owens-eviscerated-holocaust-denial-auschwitz.html

        Perhaps, like David Cole, it’s been taken totally out of context to damn her forever.

        1. The Hitler thing (as a slur) has been attempted before, several years ago. I just don't think she's like that – I think she tries to be very honest and see all sides, which is the kiss of death these days. Of course I could be wrong, it's not unknown!

  118. Don’t really know – if it is true it is a shame as she struck me as an articulate young woman with potential to bid for the Presidency…

    1. Essentially it appears that it's not about a Biden Presidency but about other Democrats chances of re-election and 4 more years of control to carry on their ruination of the USA.

    2. Yo Ol

      The person, with hand that works Biden, has repetitive strain injury….

  122. Yes, I agree. I have Calor in the motorhome. This cooker is Calor and doesn't rely on electricity (although it is plugged in for the oven light and the automatic ignition). I have a windup torch to see what's in the oven and matches and a refillable lighter for the ignition. When the power cuts come, I shall at least be able to have hot drinks and food. If I had the land, I'd have a reed bed for sewage and a bore hole for water (not anywhere near each other, obviously!)

    1. Ah, we did exactly the same with motorhome (no longer have it, was super noisy). You sound like twin brothers:-) We live in a country area, shared septic tanks have often caused arguments in the past, not so much now as everyone on mains although we’re not. It used to smell really bad when we moved here until I researched exactly what waste you could put through it, been ok for years (touch wood). Neighbour had a reed bed put in, several years ago, cost circa 10k, everyone thought she was mad (back to the future and all that 🙂 Never known anyone to have a bore hole, guess you’d have to be near a reliable spring – they often dry up here/change direction. Came out of the house one day, some chaps drove up in a car, got out and started to changing into wetsuits and air tanks on their backs. I said ‘excuse me….what etc…’ they were investigating as many of the springs and caves they could, I never saw them again but the car disappeared. No way would I ever venture underground!

  123. Whe I was driving home from work yesterday evening the Red Arrows flew overhead, slowly but in formation.
    I thought they were grounded.

    1. BofB Memorial Flight aircraft are still grounded, I believe, after the Spitfire accident.

    2. Very much in action. Performing today and tomorrow at Goodwood. Back to nine of them.

      1. Back in the '70s I shared a mess with them at Little Rissington (CFS). They operated from the satellite airfield at Kemble.

        2. Me too. They had Gnats then – sorry, they flew Gnats then. Do you still have your silver pelican from when you left Little Rissington?

          2. It was a very pleasant little station in a pleasant part of the country. Now long closed, of course, like all but a handful of stations.

          3. I believe it was turned into a trading estate. Someone told me he'd been there a few years ago. I wonder if the Queen's Loo was still there.

          4. During Gulf War 1 it was set up as some sort of stand-by hospital for US forces but I don’t think it was ever used. I was driving in the area a few years ago and I couldn’t even find the place so you nay be right in that it is now a trading estate.

          5. I haven't been in that part of the world for years. It's only hearsay. You're right, it was very pleasant, but when I was there I was walking around in low cloud!

          6. As for the Queen’s Loo – probably nothing more than a convenience for a collector now.

    1. She really has to be talking sarcastically , otherwise she needs a brain transplant.

  126. It's coming up to my bedtime (10 pm) so I'll wish you all a Good Night, chums. Sleep well and I hope to see you all, rested and full of vim and vigour and ready for the morrow.

          2. Ultimately, no. But each failure to catch me and allow me to celebrate a birthday is a bonus.

          6. I'm keeping my spirits down with a large slug of whisky in my coffee. Works well!

  130. Another day is done so,I've taken my magnesium bullet, hoping for sleep. I wish you a goodnight and may God bless all you Gentlefolk. If we are spared! Bis morgen früh.

    1. Another night when sleep escapes me so, at 04:30. I am up, being still awake and going to make a mug of tea…

    1. 'Morning, Geoff and thank you for all the hard work and great effort you have put in to keep us all going. Well done!

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