Thursday 11 March: Shame is being poured on the Royal family by accusing unnamed people of unspecified crimes

Posted on by Geoff Graham

An unofficial place to discuss the Telegraph letters, established when the DT website turned off its comments facility (now reinstated, but not as good as ours),
Intelligent, polite, good-humoured debate is welcome, whether on or off topic. Differing opinions are encouraged, but rudeness or personal attacks on other posters will not be tolerated. Posts which – in the opinion of the moderators – make this a less than cordial environment, are likely to be removed, without prior warning.  Persistent offenders will be banned.

Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2021/03/11/letters-shame-poured-royal-family-accusing-unnamed-people-unspecified/

900 thoughts on “Thursday 11 March: Shame is being poured on the Royal family by accusing unnamed people of unspecified crimes”

  1. Good morning, all. Gale blowing still.

    Good morning, Geoff – hope all is well.

      1. I was hoping all is well. You you, “Comment çà va?”

        A morning greeting. There is nothing wrong with the Boss.

        Do keep up!

    2. Very gusty here in N Essex and the rain has ceased but is forecast to continue on and off to around noon. Could be fun hanging out the washing in 40mph gusts but if I succeed then drying will not be a problem.😎

    4. Good morning Bill. All well, thanks. Apart from an interrupted night’s sleep from something blowing around the garden. Turned out to be an empty Donald Russell polystyrene box which I’d left outside, 🙄

    2. Morning everyone, the gale continues.

      I’m out, when, in the Winter’s blast,
      The zun, a-runnèn lowly round,
      Do mark the sheädes the hedge do cast
      At noon, in hoarvrost, on the ground,
      I’m out when snow’s a-lyèn white
      In keen-aïr’d vields that I do pass,
      An’ moonbeams, vrom above, do smite
      On ice an’ sleeper’s window-glass.
      I’m out o’ door,
      When win’ do zweep,
      By hangèn steep,
      Or hollow deep,
      At Lindenore.
      O welcome is the lewth a-vound
      By rustlèn copse, or ivied bank,
      Or by the haÿ-rick, weather-brown’d
      By barken-grass, a-springèn rank;
      Or where the waggon, vrom the team
      A-freed, is well a-housed vrom wet,
      An’ on the dousty cart-house beam
      Do hang the cobweb’s white-lin’d net.
      While storms do roar,
      An’ win’ do zweep,
      By hangèn steep,
      Or hollow deep,
      At Lindenore.
      An’ when a good day’s work’s a-done
      An’ I do rest, the while a squall
      Do rumble in the hollow tun,
      An’ ivy-stems do whip the wall.
      Then in the house do sound about
      My ears, dear vaïces vull or thin,
      A praÿèn vor the souls vur out
      At sea, an’ cry wi’ bibb’rèn chin–
      Oh! shut the door.
      What soul can sleep,
      Upon the deep,
      When storms do zweep
      At Lindenore.

      William Barnes

      1. Good morning, Maggie. I think your computer is due for its annual service. Your spell-checker seems to be up the spout!

        :-))

          1. I can sleep through just about anything, Maggie, gales included. However, last night I kept waking to visit the loo so I had a bit of a restless night. After my morning scroll through the NoTTL site I plan to do my thrice-monthly shop for groceries (including a visit to the local garden centre to see what I can see), then back home and straight to bed. I plan to make today my “day of rest”.

      2. Lovely pome – spellings a bit zuzpect. Must have gone to one of those modren polytechs/univarsities.

    1. Then let us hope we don’t get Chinapocalypse…..The temperature in the South China Sea appears to be increasing. Even the Frogs are joining in….

      Morning Minty et al.

    1. Zappa was a much-derided sage in his time. He also offered this indisputable evidence of the human condition:

      “Some scientists claim that hydrogen, because it is so plentiful, is the basic building block of the universe. I dispute that. I say there is more stupidity than hydrogen, and that is the basic building block of the universe.”

          2. Oi! You’ve pinched my joke, Annie. If you must do so, please add “(© Elsie)” to your post. (Good morning, btw.)

      2. He was also a fine musician – his album Hot Rats is one of my Desert Island Discs. No matter how often I hear it, it retains its freshness and ability to surprise.

  6. Good morning. Spring still seems so far away. After three weeks of mild weather, winter returned this morning with a vengeance. I am currently suffering a snowstorm on a strong southerly blizzard!

    1. Snowing here too, Grizz. Not particularly cold, but I was hoping we were done with winter this year. Bugger.
      Hope you’re keeping well.
      Shovelling snow at breakfast time is good exercise, so SWMBO tells me…

      1. Morning, Paul. Our snow is forecast to soon turn to rain for the rest of the day, so should be gone by evening.

        Yes, I’m fine, thanks. Hope you are well too.

  7. No early comments on the DT letters this morning but several letters on the Sussex subject. One letter wanting a Stranraer to Larne tunnel as soon as possible. He claims it will open up the West of Ireland ports to trade from many countries. BJ is introducing a study in the near future to estimate if the project would be economically worthwhile. I have my doubts.

      1. Yet we keep hearing that the Arctic ice sheet is melting and ships will soon be able to pass through the North West passage even through Winter.

  9. Opinions silenced
    Piers Morgan was entitled to express his opinion – and it’s at least conceivable that it’s widely shared
    TELEGRAPH VIEW
    10 March 2021 • 8:30pm

    The resignation of Piers Morgan from his role hosting the Good Morning Britain news show is further collateral damage from the interview given by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to Oprah Winfrey broadcast this week.

    Arguably, it is the least important consequence given the impact on the Royal family and the unjustified international opprobrium that has attached to the UK following the couple’s assertion that they were driven from these shores by racism.

    But what has happened to Mr Morgan is significant because it is further evidence of the growing and insidious tendency to shut out views that do not conform to a set of opinions considered “acceptable”. Mr Morgan was taken to task by the weather presenter on Good Morning Britain for declaring that he did “not believe a word” the Duchess had said about her mental health issues or her battle against racism.

    He walked off the set, returned later, and then quit rather than apologise. More than 41,000 complaints were lodged with Ofcom, while the Duchess reportedly complained to ITV itself. Had the on-air contretemps not happened, perhaps the matter would never have developed in the way it did. But it is just as likely that the regulator and ITV would have demanded the retraction, which Mr Morgan was not prepared to offer. Ofcom was investigating the comments on the somewhat specious grounds that they undermined efforts to improve mental health.

    Despite the complaints, it is at least conceivable that Mr Morgan’s opinion is widely shared; but even if it isn’t, he is entitled to express it, as indeed are those who don’t agree with him. Closing down debate, however, is a dangerous way to proceed.

    Hear, hear. And so say all the hundreds of commenters ‘below the line’. Oh wait – no comments allowed. Hypocritical, much?

    1. While the DT is largely closed to comments, some are getting through, and appearing (for the moment) on the 7th March letters page. I particularly liked this one:

      Angus Long
      11 Mar 2021 12:13AM
      I see comment on the 11th has been stopped too. Well here is my post and to hell with the craven DT:

      Meghan was visiting a primary school. In one of the classes they were in the middle of a discussion related to words and their meanings.

      The teacher asked Meghan if she would like to lead the discussion on the word “tragedy”, so the attention seeking soap star asked the class for an example of a “tragedy”.

      One little boy stood up and offered: “If my best friend, who lives on a farm, is playing in the field and a tractor runs over him and kills him, that would be a ‘tragedy'”.

      “No,” said Meghan, “that would be an accident.”

      A little girl raised her hand: “If a school bus carrying fifty children drove over a cliff, killing everyone inside, that would be a tragedy.”

      “I’m afraid not,” explained Meghan “That’s what we would call a great loss.”

      The room went silent. No other children volunteered. Meghan searched the room. “Isn’t there someone here who can give me an example of tragedy?”

      Finally, at the back of the room, a small boy raised his hand…In a quiet voice he said: “If the aeroplane carrying you and your husband was struck by a “friendly fire” missile and blown to smithereens, that would be a tragedy.”

      “Fantastic!” exclaimed Meghan. “That’s right. And can you tell me why that would be a tragedy?”

      “Well,” says the boy “It has to be a tragedy, because it certainly wouldn’t be a great loss and it probably wouldn’t be a blinking accident either.”

      2. God, I’m getting old. I had to read it all because I couldn’t remember the end. 🙄 😏 😣 😥 🙂

    2. It’s all a bit ironic really, that Morgan who has spent his career being totally obnoxious and wrong on virtually every issue of the day has now finally said something that is true and the masses agree with and he has to resign for it.

      1. Morgan is a populist.

        Why did Morgan turn against Trump having once been a friend of his?

    3. Piers Morgan was entitled to express his opinion – and it’s at least conceivable that it’s widely shared

      It’s an absolute certainty that his opinion is widely shared.

  10. Society of Editors Chief Ian Murray has resigned after writing to say Editors were not racists. He should have stood his ground. This country has no backbone.

  11. The NYT’s royal blunder. 11 March 2021.

    Trebles all round at the New York Times after another dose of anti-British bile. Mr S last week noted that the Gray Lady’s news reporting of Covid in the UK mixed misrepresentation with outdated figures. This week the newspaper has followed this up with the inevitable crowing comment piece to follow Harry and Meghan’s Oprah interview. Titled ‘Down with the British Monarchy’ it mocks the Queen as ‘some utterly random rich wastrel’ and claims her own ‘claim to legitimacy’ is being ‘the child of the child of the child of someone who was, centuries ago, the nation’s biggest gangster.’

    The New York Times was for over a century one of the most respected newspapers; not only in the United States, but in the entire world. It was a champion of Free Speech and the enemy of the too powerful state, the Pentagon Papers were probably its apogee. Its present views of the UK are Juvenile in the extreme while it is now become the plaything of the intelligence services, who have driven out the voices of Reason and Truth, and made propaganda its main product!

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-nyt-s-royal-blunder

    1. The paucity of the NYT ‘world view’ was made obvious to one and all the minute Mark Thompson walked into the editors job direct from his stint as DG of the bBC.
      To paraphrase; turds of a feather stick together.

  12. Morning all

    SIR – The Royal family is suffering the ignominy of being tried in the court of public opinion for an unspecified crime committed by an unnamed person.

    Paul Blundell

    Daventry, Northamptonshire

    SIR – Surely what the Oprah interview has taught us is that the Duchess of Sussex lacks gratitude and class and the Duke lacks maturity and respect.

    The Queen must be devastated.

    Veronica Timperley

    London W1

    SIR – “Recollections may vary” is a most generous response to vitriolic attack. Poor Harry has forfeited his inheritance for a mess of Hollywood potage.

    Elizabeth Nickerson

    Colchester, Essex

    SIR – Has anyone asked the Queen if she’s OK?

    Dr Graham Blackbourn

    Linlithgow, West Lothian

    SIR – There is a yawning gulf between an unsubstantiated allegation and a revelation supported by evidence.

    What the Duchess of Sussex, supported by the obedient Duke, uttered on a lawn in California was a litany of allegations without a shred of proof.

    ADVERTISING

    How sad to see that two of your lady columnists chose to swallow them hook, line and sinker.

    Frederick Forsyth

    Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire

    SIR – Has thought been given to Archie and his little sister growing up without a relationship with any blood relatives apart from one grandmother? No cousins, aunts or uncles, grandparents or great-grandparents to share their lives with.

    How will they feel when old enough to realise how much they have missed out on: that they could have had a loving relationship with the Queen?

    Sue King

    Sidmouth, Devon

    SIR – In view of Prince Harry’s estrangement from his father, do we assume that he will financially support Archie when he reaches the age of 36?

    Val Brooks

    Bristol

    SIR – What a wonderful language we enjoy. I have fond memories of the civil servant who admitted to being “economical with the truth” and now, from the Palace statement, we can add “recollections may vary”.

    Anthony Round

    Bloxham, Oxfordshire

    SIR – “My truth” is that I saw this coming.

    Jayne Burdon

    Doncaster, South Yorkshire

    Advertisement

    ADVERTISING

    SIR – If people like Piers Morgan are sacked for expressing an opinion, we are lost.

    Victoria Cockburn

    Bishops Castle, Shropshire

    SIR – Although we hear and see, we may not speak. We have learnt much in the past three days.

    Myrth Russell

    Helensburgh, Dunbartonshire

    SIR – Prince Harry has a heavy emotional investment in mental health issues. If his wife needed help to the point, indeed, where she felt suicidal, why didn’t he himself make arrangements for her to see somebody suitable? It doesn’t add up.

    Alan Duncalf

    Bampton, Devon

    SIR – The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s revelation of comments made to the Duke regarding his unborn baby’s skin colour have caused widespread condemnation. However, by not identifying the person responsible, they have managed to cause the maximum damage without risking rebuttal.

    If the allegation is true then they should name the individual and stand by their convictions.

    Colin Goodchild

    Newcastle upon Tyne

    SIR – My husband is Indian; I am white. We have four beautiful daughters.

    Advertisement

    When expecting each child we were as excited to see what shade they would be as we were to discover their sex. Our families were equally interested. Never did we feel it to be racist. Two daughters have beautiful Indian colouring, one is beautifully white and one is beautifully in-between.

    Sally Tamhne

    Leicester

    SIR – What on earth was the Archbishop of Canterbury thinking, in allowing Meghan (and presumably Harry) to believe that their “backyard” charade constituted their real wedding three days before the genuine article?

    John Birkett

    St Andrews, Fife

    SIR – I do wonder whether Meghan is already contracted with Netflix to play herself in future series of The Crown.

    Michael Durham

    Worthing, West Sussex

    SIR – Where does Meghan get her waterproof mascara?

    Judith Harckham

    Southampton

    SIR – On the bright side, at least Meghan doesn’t use that dreadful California Croak.

    David Ellis

    Ellon, Aberdeenshire

  13. Joyful sound

    SIR – What an absolute joy, while taking my daily exercise, to pass a primary school playground and hear the almost deafening sound of children enjoying their lunch break together.

    Janice Clay

    Haslemere, Surrey

  14. Morning again

    Downing Street decor

    SIR – I am baffled that thousands of pounds could be spent on redecorating Boris Johnson’s Downing Street abode.

    As an Army wife in my thirties, I was delighted by the provision of a new seat for the lavatory at each posting.

    Sue McFadzean

    Swansea

    1. Good morning Epi

      It appears to me that Boris and his squeeze seem to confident that they will be living in the flat above for the long term , another 10 years?

      It is government property , isn’t ?

    2. “I am baffled that thousands of pounds could be spent on redecorating Boris Johnson’s Downing Street abode.”
      Please do try to keep up, Sue. Have you any idea how much decent wallpaper costs? Never mind sofas and soft furnishings…
      Please have look at this as it may jog your memory:

      http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/80599.stm

      1. Do Prime Ministers pay rent when in No 10?
        They should pay for chosen refurbs themselves with the tax payer responsible for essential upkeep and repair.

  15. Any chance the wind will blow Ginge & Minge out of our lives?
    Judging by the UK gutter press, we have months more to endure of this, both the turgid twosome and MSM will not be happy until they have destroyed the Monarchy and indeed the country itself.

  16. So many people are talking about the monarchy. But most of them do not seem to understand that the monarchy is a system of government, not dependent on ‘celebs’ in the US or polls in tabloid newspapers. It also endures through generations of members of the Royal Family and is not dependent on current members of the family, whatever its critics say about them. It has served this country very well, through thick and thin for many centuries.

    Furthermore, it should be remembered that the Queen is the Queen of sixteen countries, all constitutional monarchies. She has served all these countries for nearly 70 years with great distinction.

    The alternative is a republic, undoubtedly socialist, of which the Head of State would almost certainly be a politician. I doubt if many people want this!

    1. HM the Queen or President Johnson, and in an earlier time President Blair.
      It is time the people wake up and start to make their voices heard.
      Love him or hate him, and I do detest the fella, Piers Morgan should have the right to state he does not believe the well delivered lines of a second rate actress.

        2. I agree with him entirely. The pair are nasty, self-seeking narcissists.

          But I do wish he had not given up on Brexit so easily – why did he say that the Johnson/Gove deal with the EU was acceptable when it is a complete disaster just as the surrender WA is.

          1. I think you might have another source of ‘music’ open on your machine – the clips play fine for me.

    2. HM the Queen or President Johnson, and in an earlier time President Blair.
      It is time the people wake up and start to make their voices heard.
      Love him or hate him, and I do detest the fella, Piers Morgan should have the right to state he does not believe the well delivered lines of a second rate actress.

    3. I admire your restraint Sguest for using the word politician without a string of powerful adjexpletives before it!

      1. I think that the poor quality of our politicians in recent years speaks for itself. Few of them seem to be there to serve their country but rather to push their personal agendas and enrich themselves at the same time.

        I suspect that many MPs, especially some of the particularly vapid ones in the Labour Party, are only there for the money. How many of them could hold down a job outside parliament that pays a salary of £81,932, plus pensions, perks and expenses so generous that they would put many commercial enterprises out of business? (To make matters worse, it is the ever suffering taxpayers who have to foot the bill for this ‘generosity’).

        Nothing will change until people have to meet certain standards of education and solid practical experience in particular fields, before offering themselves for election.

  17. ‘Morning, all. Illustrating Scotland’s continuing headlong fall, ever deeper into the abyss of full-blown fascism, here’s the latest report from the Daily Express.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/dfa2c23cfd8ad11b5f1bb9581bc544ef511fb08e420fb6bd4aba0fd10e19cf9f.png

    But defending the legalisation, Scottish Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf said in the Scottish Parliament: “We must remember why this Bill is so necessary, every day in Scotland there are an estimated 18 hate crimes committed.”

    Eighteen hate crimes a day? What nonsense! How does that Paki bastard arrive at that number? As Mrs. Mac reminds me, there are more than eighteen “hate crimes” committed just at my breakfast table alone, especially if Humza Yousaf’s name crops up on the news.

    ….. I’ll get me prison bag.
    :¬(

    2. On the other hand, if Wee Eck and Mrs Murrell sat at the dinner table – they’d each commit enough crimes to go to chokey for years…

    3. The madness will continue until they are thrown out at the ballot box.
      The madness has spread south to the rest of the UK, the cure is the same though, voting to get rid of them before Dominion voting machines or postal voting becomes the norm.

      1. And the alternative is…? They are all the same! Fascist control freaks, the lot of them!
        What’s needed will involve lamp-posts.

        1. Morning Obs, being a believer in democracy I could go along with your lamp-post suggestion, just as long there is a majority in favour of it.
          Of course you get to pick the crowd who then get to vote on your suggestion, seems very fair and proper to my mind. 😉

    4. Yo DM

      How does that Paki bastard arrive at that number?
      He commits 17 of them ranting against the English…. whoops, that WILL NOT be a crime

    5. The muslim Yousaf does not say that the new law is designed to protect muslims and illegal immigrants from cruel comments about child rape, parasitism, murder, burkhas, and general social degradation associated with those from the Northern part of the subcontinent.

    6. “Scottish Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf …”

      Time was when Caledonian leaders had such proud names as: Kenneth, Donald, Malcolm, Alexander, Robert and … Duncan!

  18. Boris Johnson demands ‘immediate’ release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe in call with Iran’s president. 11 march 2021.

    Boris Johnson has demanded the immediate release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian mother detained in Iran on dubious spying charges, in a combative phone call with the regime’s president.

    Or in other words Boris having done his bit to get this poor woman gaoled in the first place now tries to keep her there!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/03/10/boris-johnson-demands-immediate-release-nazanin-zaghari-ratcliffe/

    1. N Z-R has been treated badly and has had a horrible time. And, apparently continues to have a horrible time. Possibly her parents are not exactly having the time of their lives, either.
      However, one does have to question the wisdom of going to Iran to show off a sprog; a sprog that mysteriously appears to be back in England. N Z-R is female, she is some sort of writer/journalist, she married an Englishman and she has dual nationality which Iran doesn’t recognise.
      I’m not sticking up for Iran, but I am sticking up for logical thinking.
      Morning, Minty.

      1. Boris did drop her in it at the beginning when as Home Secretary he said she was there to teach Journalists how to report the truth. A Red Rag to an Islamic Bull!

        1. I agree, and that episode reflects badly on Johnson and the Ayatollahs.
          However, the nature of the present Iranian regime has been known for forty years, so both Johnson and N Z-R were being stupid.
          In the sixties, I worked with a Latvian woman who had escaped ahead of the Russians after the war and had married an Englishman. Her only contact with her family was the occasional censored letter with possibly a photograph enclosed. Sadly, that is the reality if you escape from a repressive regime. I do think we have lost the ability to understand the meaning of the word tyranny.

      2. I do not feel very much sympathy for her. All of this could have been avoided if she had simply stayed out of the country. People like her and her husband have a sense of overweening entitlement. As members of the chatterati the rules that afflict lesser mortals not apply to them. Nor, it seems, do they. Most people who get themselves detained by regimes less soppy than that of the UK are left to lump it. They do not have endless articles in the Press and on the BBC. They do not have Prime Ministers phoning dictators to tell them where they get off.

    2. Smoke and mirrors, Araminta, smoke and mirrors.

      It’s, look at me, I am a sensitive human being, really I am. I’m not an unfeeling, hard-hearted lying politician with an agenda I can’t share with you, because if I did let you in on my nasty plans you would riot and kick me from here to kingdom come. Anything and everything that Johnson says, does or says he is planning to do, should come with a mandatory Truth Warning.

    3. Yo Minty

      Iran’s president. demands the release (in advance) of Political Prisoner Tommy Robinson.

      This is for the next time. Just as well he has stayed quiet over Ginge and Cringe

    4. Making demands that will not be met makes one look foolish.

      Johnson demanded that our ‘friends’ in the EU honoured the spirit of the WA and the deal.

      “Up yours with nails on – you can’t demand anything and we certainly shall never accede to your demands! Indeed we shall never accede to anything you ask even if you bow, scrape, abase yourself and grovel, flatter and beg in your most sycophantic manner. So piss off you fat, impotent peroxide head!

  21. Good Moaning.
    Since I can’t get my highlights done until April, I must be having a senior, rather than a blonde, moment. I can’t remember if i’ve posted this Unherd article. I found it interesting.

    https://unherd.com/2021/03/did-modernity-erupt-from-a-volcano/?tl_inbound=1&tl_groups%5B0%5D=18743&tl_period_type=3&mc_cid=20e771dbbb&mc_eid=3b0897cf14

    “How modernity erupted from a volcano

    Natural disasters have affected our history far more than politics

    Paul Lay

    The summer of the year 1783 was an amazing and portentous one, and full of horrible phenomena, wrote the parson-naturalist Gilbert White:

    “…for besides the alarming meteors and tremendous thunder‐storms that affrighted and distressed the different counties of this kingdom, the peculiar haze, or smokey fog, that prevailed for many weeks in this island, and in every part of Europe, and even beyond its limits, was a most extraordinary appearance, unlike anything known within the memory of man.”

    According to White, July had been fiercely hot: “butchers’ meat could hardly be eaten on the day after it was killed; and the flies swarmed so in the lanes and hedges”. On 18 August a fireball was seen to course across the skies of southern England. That month and into September, the dank air was tainted with acid aerosol. As many as 25,000 Britons are believed to have died from associated respiratory disease and malaria. And all the while, crops were failing and livestock perishing, meaning the summer of suffering was followed by a winter of dearth and hunger.

    The cause of all this misery was Laki, a huge volcanic fissure, 23km long, in the south-east of Iceland. Its eruption, beginning on 8 June 1783, brought the island’s life to a standstill for eight months. Jón Steingrímsson, an Icelandic pastor, described the initial impact: “Great cliffs and slabs of rock were swept along, tumbling about like large whales swimming [a very Icelandic metaphor], red-hot and glowing.” All in all, the eruption disgorged almost 15 cubic kilometres of lava, the greatest single amount ever recorded.

    Steingrímsson noted that in the wake of the disaster, a mysterious illness affected his flock — both human and animal:

    “Ridges, growths, and bristle appeared on their ribs, the backs of their hands, their feet, legs, and joints. Their bodies became bloated, the insides of their mouths and their gums swelled and cracked, causing excruciating pains and toothaches.”

    A “haze” of sulphur dioxide from the eruption had created acid rains, which singed leaves and bark and irritated human flesh. An excess of fluorine in the air caused the bloating and swelling described by Steingrímsson. Almost a quarter of the nation’s human population died during this time, and more than 60% of its grazing livestock. “Those people who did not have enough supplies of food to last them through these times of pestilence suffered great pain.”

    The phenomenon, and the tragedy, reached far beyond Iceland; it went global when the “haze” entered the jet stream, soon reaching the Continent. Ash from the eruption travelled as far as Venice, where the haze was so rich in iron that magnets were used to attract it. Italy had already suffered its own seismic tragedy that year: in February and March, Sicily and Calabria had been struck by a series of earthquakes that killed as many as 50,000 people. A tsunami broke over the beach at Scilla, where people were sheltering from their town’s collapsing buildings. 1,500 died.

    Meanwhile in Bohemia, a teacher named Antonin Kodytek recorded that “the rising sun could not be seen due to the fires… from six to nine o’ clock the sun looked like a red hot iron ball”. Across Europe, temperatures fell around 1.5 degrees below average. Crops were damaged by acid rain. Monsoons failed, parts of the River Nile dried up and numerous ice floes were spotted in the normally tropical climes of the Gulf of Mexico. The Mississippi froze at New Orleans. Charleston harbour became a skating rink. Famine was recorded in Japan and the Indian subcontinent.

    But perhaps the greatest impact of this lost year of harvests was felt in France — where food shortages, famine and febrile conspiracies became tinder for the fire of the French Revolution.

    By 1783, France had suffered decades of poor harvests. And whereas once ailing crops had been seen as the will of God, by the 1770s they had taken on new meaning. Feast and famine were no longer accepted as part of the cycle of life, but had become the subjects of wild conspiracy theories.

    At this time the monarch, Louis XVI, was also known by the title of le premier boulanger du royaume. It was his patrician duty, as the representative of God on earth, to provide his people with a basic diet, and for most that meant bread, however coarse. The wheat harvest took on enormous significance — a matter of life and death, and one open to outlandish and paranoid claims. Grain merchants became hated figures, for it was believed that they short-changed the people, mixing grain with inferior ingredients, even crushed bones. Allegations that they withheld public grain from the royal stores were commonplace. It was a way of rationally explaining the effects of nature, designed for an increasingly rational age.

    The disturbances known as the Flour Wars of April and May 1775, which took place all over France, forced the king’s hand. He instructed his Controller General of Finances, Turgot, to impose a standard price on wheat. This was very much against the Controller General’s instincts at a time when économistes such as Vincent de Gournay, adherents of the invisible hand, were advocating laissez-faire policies.

    But nature made a mockery of the king’s response. Poor harvests continued. And then Laki arrived, adding flooding and frost to the rack and ruin. One French priest exorcised a dust cloud, but to no effect. A cycle of extreme, unpredictable weather kicked in, which destabilised a society seeking new answers to old problems.

    The spring of 1788, for instance, saw drought take hold. Conspiracy and climate gripped one another tightly in a general panic — the Great Fear — caused by baseless rumours of a plot by the aristocracy to starve peasants and workers. This alleged Pacte de Famine was a factor, too, in the Réveillon Riots of April 1789, another stone on the path to Revolution and Modernity.

    A crisis combining climate change and conspiracy. Our age seems well seeded for such a thing. If French peasants of the 18th century, all too familiar with the vagaries of laughing chance and the fragility of nature, can fall prey to such thinking, then populations far more used to having control over their comfortable lives will surely seek “rational” explanations for their misfortune. The discourse surrounding the origins and course of Covid-19, for instance, demonstrates just how difficult it is for the modern mind to deal with contingency. There is a deep need to believe that nothing happens by chance.

    That modern mind was forged around the time of Laki. The decades before its eruption had seen an explosion — sorry — of interest in vulcanology, which attracted the attention of Enlightenment philosophers. Immanuel Kant claimed that an erupting volcano was an example of the “dynamic sublime”, impressive in the immediacy of its might. Edmund Burke, in his great reaction to the events across the Channel, Reflections on the Revolution in France, humanised Kant’s insight. He references a Horatian myth about the philosopher Empedocles, who, “in cold blood, is said to have leaped into the flames of a volcanic revolution”. Burke calls this compulsion towards sublime destruction the Empedocles Complex. According to the philosopher David McCallum, he was defining an “extreme psychological state inducing its sufferer to throw himself or herself into the red-hot heat of Revolution in a mad identification with its terrible power”.

    European Revolutionaries and Romantics adored the idea of a tragic figure defying God, monarch, or any other fixture of a capricious natural order. The age of Robespierre, of Danton, of Marat was also that of Shelley’s Prometheus Unbound and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein: the Modern Prometheus. The god who brought fire to humankind was the idol of those who sought to create the world anew, unfettered by nature and its contingencies, which had caused so many to suffer.

    Whereas before the Enlightenment, natural disasters were accepted as God’s will, the fathers of modernity politicised the years and lives lost to them, blaming the random on design, the contingent on conspiracy, skewering the order of things when nature wreaks havoc.

    Now we look at countries that have “succeeded” in their fight against the virus — New Zealand, Israel, Taiwan, South Korea, Vietnam — seeking to learn lessons, believing that it was solely the rational acts of politicians and public bodies that brought them success. In doing so, we fail to acknowledge the contingency in those stories: New Zealand’s geographical isolation; Taiwan, South Korea and Israel’s military footing; the experience of SARS in Asia; the lack of obesity in Vietnam. Britain’s new-found success in the vaccination programme is similarly contingent — you might call it “lucky” — founded on the gambling instincts of venture capitalism, a highly centralised health service trusted by the people it serves, and access to world class universities. Policy made in the moment can only do so much.

    Soon after its Revolution, France returned to monarchy on a grander scale, in the shape of the Emperor Napoleon, who dressed old-fashioned imperialism in brand new clothing. But Napoleon understood one thing the revolutionaries didn’t: contingency. Rehashing an old saying of Cardinal Mazarin, Louis XIV’s great diplomat, the Emperor is said to have asked of his generals not “is he skilful?”, but rather “is he lucky?”. Though it seems flippant, it’s an important and enduring insight. The role luck plays in our lives, as individuals, as nations, is a reality we will always find hard to bear.”

      1. And how. We have been up to the edge of the lava field; beyond that, you have pay extra and crunching across cinders is not our idea of fun.

    2. France more or less bankrupted itself by joining the American colonists in the Revolutionary War. Britain, despite having to fight the Colonists, the French, the Spanish and the Dutch in what had morphed into a great power world war did not bankrupt itself. France – under the Ancien Regime was a shambolic set up which was steeped in privilege and antiquated rules and regulations that controlled everything. This, of course, is pretty much mirrored by the EU with its rules for every occasion. Having bad weather which damaged harvests was a real problem for the whole of Europe. France was also hit by the murrain- cutting a swathe through livestock and meanwhile a reforming minister began to attack all those privileges- to make the wealthy pay taxes and not load them all on the poorer people and consequently unleashed the forces that brought the whole rotten edifice tumbling down.

      1. I gather the newly ennobled (Noblesse de Robe) were also a trigger for the revolution. They insisted on every crossed ‘t’ and dotted ‘i’ being adhered to in their paperwork and caused real suffering amongst their tenants and servants. The old aristos (Noblesse d’Epee) were more relaxed and, like our real toffs, understood and respected their underlings.
        Louis XIV’s centralising all the nobility in Versailles hardly helped matters as it detached them from their roots.

        1. French society had become completely glacial and polarised- the ancient “epee” noble families- many being impoverished looked down their noses at the nouveau “robe” nobles. New nobility was not being created, so wealthy merchants felt they were “locked out” of the inner circles of prestige. Of course, getting noble sons to marry the daughters of wealthy merchants became a way to finance the impecunious nobles but the reforming minister’s attempt to reform the tax system and make the wealthy pay some tax began an “aristocratic revolution” which in 1789 led to the calling of the Estates General for the first time since 1614. When convened, the powerful First and Second Estate ( clergy and nobility) decided to buttress their privileges and sidestepped tax reform and began to concern themselves with their own power. Consequently, the Third Estate decided to act independently declaring itself to be a “National Assembly” and appealed to the “people” and thus began the process most understand as the French Revolution as the King lost control and Paris erupted as the capital had become a tinderbox- the popular image of the Revolution, which was far more complex in its origin.

          1. In short; don’t p!ss off the middle class.
            An occurrence that has been repeated time out of number and one that oppressive regimes never learn.

    3. On a lesser note, one might argue that he eruption of Mount Tambora in 1815 what is now Indonesia was responsible for Mary Shelley penning ‘Frankenstein’. The increased rainfall (> 60% of normal) over the next few years following “The Year Without A Summer” led to the cold wet conditions that saw Shelley, Byron and Polidori cooped up overlooking Lake Geneva and writing to pass the time. That period saw not only the writing of ‘Frankenstein’ but also of Polidori’s ‘The Vampyre’, arguably the first vampire novel.

  22. 330198+ up ticks,
    Morning Each,
    My feelings are the Queen & prince Phil have a joint abundance of humour and moral fibre to overcome this
    overrated,orchestrated deflection type issue, to override this rhetorical twatology.

    Meanwhile while the Queen is being verbally attacked what may one ask, is being done covertly in the rest of the nest in
    real reality actions taken time ?

    For instance, london has fallen, how about the fall back second Capital city is that ” work in progress” to follow suit ?

    For instance,How is the DOVER invasion beachhead faring
    it does seem to have doubled up in potential troop numbers
    landing since cringe / ginge have taken centre stage ?

    For instance, Local councils, any indigenous being considered to be ask to join or is it new replacement stock from outside the UK realm.

    Priorities must surely be the order of the day NOT some
    utterings of an ex royal & squeeze, an issue that given life
    via the governance, MsM, plus human ovis giving the issue legs to run, ongoing.

    The issue is nowhere near the top reality threats concerning the United Kingdom, the political dangerous gloom,doom spreaders are still the lab/lib/con coalition group.

  23. The overwater tunnel to Ireland.

    Who pays for it

    And, if it starts in Scotland, will Wee Jimmy control it afer Scexit?

    1. OLT – It will be offered to the EU as a bribe to get Scotland back into the EU clutches.

    1. Well, I don’t know why he is waving. His wee car seems to be in danger of being swept away.

    2. Look Minty, that was the Bristol Channel during yesterday and this morning’s storm.
      It blew so hard I feel I have become closer to Mr Thomas in Norfolk.

    3. I found the film of the smaller waves pouring inexorably across such mundane objects as roads and gardens very frightening.

        1. Especially when related to everyday objects.
          It’s the human details that bring home the horror.

    4. And just think a new Nuclear power station is being built on the shores of the Bristol Channel a known location for a potential Tsunami. I just hope the designers have the wit to ensure that the emergency back up generators are located a good 50 feet above sea level.
      In the meantime Tepco are still decades away from dealing with the nuclear fuel in the destroyed Fukushima reactors which continues to pollute the Pacific Ocean….

  25. The BBC Radio News and the Independent both reporting that the NHS has recruited thousands of nurses from overseas to work in short staffed hospital wards. There are now voices being heard saying that this is to the disadvantage of the poorer countries which they come from- I agree.
    Nursing is an honourable profession and our youngsters should be encouraged to apply for nursing jobs.

    1. My youngster is just about to complete her nursing degree. I have mixed feelings, proud of her commitment, hard work and dedication, annoyed she has run up many thousands of pounds of debt doing so.

      1. These loan debts for nurses should be paid for by the NHS. The interest rate on the debt is far too high for the nurses and other students.
        Nurses surely do not need University degrees. They could be trained as in the past and those eager to develop their skills could be sent on selected courses paid for by the NHS and given a form of qualification degree to indicate their new skill.

        1. Better still the Government could increase nurse training places, make them free we might then not need to rely on so many workers from overseas. Furthermore they could also offer a percentage to overseas students (funded from the foreign aid budget – conditional on them returning to their home country on qualification)

          1. I agree Stephen and was editing my reply when I managed to wipe it out. I am retyping it at the moment. The nurses coming over are “trained nurses” according to the reports. We shall see

        2. I agree that if newly qualified medical staff work for the NHS for whatever length of time is deemed appropriate then the loan debts should be written off.
          If however they moved straight into private practice, the debt should be theirs.
          My view is if you obtain a degree and give back to the country something needed, the country should respond with student debt relief. Nursing, Doctors and Dentists primarily spring to mind although other vocations are no doubt appropriate.
          The £37bn spent on the failed Track and Trace could have been put to better use IMHO.

      2. As I have argued many times here. Student loans should be interest free as they are in more civilised countries than Britain. The present usurious rate of interest on student loans is nothing less than straight and dishonest theft.

        Teachers who work in the state schools and the NHS should have their student loans paid off in full after say about 8 years to encourage them not to leave.

        Repayment of the principal of the loans should be a charge against individual and corporate tax so that students can be debt free as soon as possible. It is in everybody’s interest not to have a working force bogged down with unrepayable loans until they are well into middle age.

    2. I think it is hard for a British person to get into medical school. Foreigners pay higher fees.

  26. Call me old-fashioned, but I am troubled this morning.

    A London woman disappears. Much searching. Then, yesterday, a man is arrested. He happens to be a policeman. His photograph and life story is plastered over the tabloids – and there is almost a page in The Grimes today.

    To me this is all wrong. I know the argument will be that he hasn’t been charged, so the press can have a field-day. But, but…I thought that the press used some degree of common-sense so as not to risk a future jury being prejudiced.

    And just imagine that the chap is released without charge and is never involved with the murder again. He has been blackened (sorry bames…it’s just a word in common use) and may never be able to recover his reputation. It’s the Christopher Jefferies scenario.

    Grrr.

    1. I agree, Bill. We have now reached the stage where if details are withheld, we know that the alleged perp is black – or at least an effnik.

    2. Bill, do you mean Christopher Jefferies, the schoolmaster from Clifton College with the multi-coloured hair? He was fair game as he was a British eccentric, so obviously, he was guilty of something- white privilege etc. I noticed that after he was exonerated, he tidied himself up- and became much less of a potential target.

        1. There was the case of Sion Jenkins- the father of the murdered Billie-Jo Jenkins as well. I spend time on the internet listening to Robert Barnes- a top lawyer. His insight into the Derek Chauvin trial is very interesting. He’s worth listening to as he knows what he is talking about. Here is his input on the George Floyd/ Chauvin murder trial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoRFmrgf90c

          3. Officer Chauvin is being railroaded in a political kangaroo court and, to ensure he gets convicted, the prosecution is determined to avoid evidence damaging to their case from being viewed by the public.
            What is becoming obvious is that George Floyd had a tactic when being arrested of feigning panic and fear to disconcert the arresting office and give him the chance to ditch incriminating evidence.

          4. Bob, it makes sense now. What you mention is exactly what Robert Barnes points out among other things. Also, the trial will not be broadcast and much of the pertinent information has not been released and the media reports avoid anything that strays from the very simplistic narrative that has been peddled thus far. Robert Barnes is the defence attorney for Kyle Rittenhouse and he has mentioned the large amount of media reports that have been designed to make his defence far more problematic. Likewise the prosecution has been up to various activities which have more of the same effect. Of course, Barnes has to be very cautious about what he says in all of this.

        2. There was the case of Sion Jenkins- the father of the murdered Billie-Jo Jenkins as well. I spend time on the internet listening to Robert Barnes- a top lawyer. His insight into the Derek Chauvin trial is very interesting. He’s worth listening to as he knows what he is talking about. Here is his input on the George Floyd/ Chauvin murder trial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoRFmrgf90c

    3. Bill, do you mean Christopher Jefferies, the schoolmaster from Clifton College with the multi-coloured hair? He was fair game as he was a British eccentric, so obviously, he was guilty of something- white privilege etc. I noticed that after he was exonerated, he tidied himself up- and became much less of a potential target.

    4. Interestingly, the use of the term “remains” – which have not yet been identified – suggests that either an attempt was made to destroy the body, or it is a different body, as in serial killer.
      The police chiefs are all over this in some contrast to the normal everyday killings in London.
      Dame Cressida Dick, who we may remember was responsible for the unlawful killing of an innocent man, said, “Our job is to patrol the streets and to protect people.” Well tell that to the peaceful demostrators at anti-lockdown rallies. Tell it to the lady who was punched to the ground by a heavily armoured policeman. Tell it to the man whose skull was cracked by a steel baton.
      Why is it that most of those in high public positions are liars and incompetents with no moral compass?

      1. ‘Mostly peaceful’ demonstrators.

        I have a lot of sympathy for the ground troops who do the real work and, perhaps their immediate superiors. However the Met is a complete farce of politicisation, interference and soft, wet liberals – which comes from the state machine.

      2. Cressida Dick was not responsible for the unlawful killing of an innocent man. No authority to lethal force was ever issued by her or any other senior officer. The officers who executed Menezes were extremely tardy in getting to Stockwell Station (they insisted on finishing their lengthy breakfast) and as result were too late to execute the non-lethal Stop outside the station that they had been ordered to undertake. Having cocked it up, they made up their own orders from there on, and lied to anyone who questioned them.

          1. And her orders were not followed. She can only be blamed for the orders she gave, or for having put subordinates in an impossible position. She did neither of those things, her subordinates disobeyed orders. It must be said the facilities she was given to control the situation made efficient operation nigh impossible and broke every rule in the book. She did well under the circumstances.

          2. Well, I disagree.
            As a consequence were the subordinates dismissed the police service in disgrace?

          3. The officers responsible did the usual Met trick. They all sat in a circle, pointed to the man to their left and said “He told me”/”He did it”. As a consequence of that, and also because of Countryman, that now provides reasonable suspicion of conspiracy and corrupt behaviour so they can all be sacked. The CPS concluded that there was insufficient evidence to prosecute any individual officer, basically because of the circle trick.

            Dick’s orders were entirely reasonable. The group of officers concerned had met for breakfast at a local TA facility and were supposed to be available (I forget the exact time) in good time to get to Stockwell Station to execute the non-lethal Stop. But they didn’t bother, they were entirely deliberately several minutes late getting started according to remarks reported by staff at the TA. When they got to Stockwell it dawned on them they were in very serious trouble and they panicked.

            At that time an officer could only be dismissed or disciplined on the basis of evidence sufficient for a criminal conviction, unlike any other occupation. That has changed subsequently.

          4. There you go.
            When I was in management I was trained on the job and on many courses over a number of years, including at the London Business School. I have also read many books on management and business.
            Never at any point did anyone ever say, if your subordinates fail to do what you tell them, and the whole plan and operation goes down the pan, just come back and say “It was not my fault”.
            It is the fault of the manager, senior officer, the person in charge, if subordinates do not do what is required. Nowhere in “The Winning Streak”, or “What They Don’tTeach You At Harvard Business School” does it say that, if you are in charge, you don’t have to carry the can. Because you do.

          5. If you were sacked as a result of your subordinates deliberately disobeying your instructions, then any Employment Tribunal would find in your favour. Your idea that a manager should be held responsible for the deliberate misdeeds of their subordinates is an inequitable fantasy. If they got it wrong because of a failure on your part you would be responsible, otherwise not. That has always been the system inn the military since year dot, and it is how has been in the many corporations I have worked with.

            I think you are being blinded by tour dislike of the woman. A dislike that I share.

          6. Well, possibly. Yet she came out of the debacle to a promotion and a “Dame”hood.

          7. I suspect she was put in to try and do something about the effectively autonomous groups that pretty much do as they please within the Met. I have the impression that she has not been a successful appointment. A job too far, possibly two jobs too far in her case.

            What the Met needs, and has always needed, is a hard bastard with solid political backing. Neither is likely to happen.

          8. I do have the impression that the everyday problems that women face have got worse. The first time I saw a woman being struck was in Glasgow in the seventies, the first time I saw it on a University campus was in the noughties. OTOH, whilst I used to intervene but I don’t any longer as the reaction of women I have helped has made it impossible.

            Builders always used to catcall a bit, but then if he was two floors up there was no immediate threat (the most important aspect), now it is commonplace.

          9. She was in charge and did not think anybody did anything wrong or unreasonable.

            Officers believed he was would-be suicide bomber Hussain Osman who
            lived in the same block of flats as the Brazilian. When the force was later found guilty of breaching health and safety laws, the jury cleared Ms Dick of blame.
            She spent three days giving evidence and told the jury she was told five times that surveillance officers thought a man they were following was Osman.
            Ms Dick said in 2007: “From the behaviours described to me, nervousness, agitation, sending text messages, using the telephone, getting on and off the bus, it all added to the picture of someone potentially intent on causing an explosion.”
            At a 2008 inquest, she said: “If you ask me whether I think anybody did anything wrong or unreasonable on the operation, I don’t think they did.”
            The inquest jury returned an open verdict, seen as demonstrating its members were unconvinced by the police account of events.

          11. There’s a lot of allegations – I don’t use that term negatively, just a a statement that there’s no attached proof – but if that’s so; in my book she is still responsible by dint of a lack of training, equipment and discipline.

            If – IF – there was a significant failure then she should have either aborted the operation due to a lack of preparedness and explicitly defined a no-shoot policy.

            If – again, IF that command ignored then the individuals responsible are murderers.

            Until the truth is actually available with all the facts there can be no attribution. If a judge – or, better a panel of judges have that information it is for them to determine outcomes.

            Again, IF there is such poor discipline and preparedness in the police force then it needs disbanding, as that’s not law enforcement, it’s just a bunch of state paid thugs in uniform.

          12. The truth is available. It is all in the very full report on the matter, I read it in precis when it was published. I had thought that Dick was responsible, but it is clear from the facts that she was not.

            It was all down to poor discipline within the Met, which has been a problem for 60 years, and continues to be a problem today.

          13. I’m not sure she did that well, but the police lied their socks off, so she was making decisions based on outright fabrications.

          14. The lies came after they had murdered someone, and knew it. She was in a ‘control room’ with poor communications and very loud background noise, trying to prevent a possible terrorist attack. Had her orders been followed it would have been a nothing, Menezes having a few bruises from being dumped on the pavement. She made a sound and correct plan to deal with the situation, but laziness and disobedience led to a murder.

          15. She most certainly did not “do well” by any stretch of the imagination. She sat at the head of a corrupt and deceitful operation, as you have pointed out, and then lied and lied again to get herself, and others, off the hook. If you think that that is doing well, you are seriously deluded.

        2. Are you saying that the two men who shot Jean Charles de Menezes were serving officers in the Metropolitan Police?

      1. You and Bill are right.

        The BBC and the Police’s behaviour revealing suspects’ identities over fake paedophile rings was pretty disgusting. They – and the rest of the MSM – have got to clean up their act or they will destroy the fairness of our justice system.

    6. I wonder if they would have given us so much information if the suspect had been BAME?

    7. Where are all the WLM protesters? A death at the hands of a police officer deserves the defacing of a few statues at least, surely.

  27. SIR – On Tuesday night I completed the Census. Many of the questions offered the option: “None of these apply.”
    Grammatically, it should of course read: “None of these applies.”
    Who is responsible?
    Rod Ireland
    Finstock, Oxfordshire

    Asking questions regarding the use of grammar in the Telegraph? That really is the “triumph of hope over experience” on a grand scale.

    2. No one lives in our house although it has a heat pump. I’ve no idea what a heat pump is, nor do I intend to fit one, I just want to ensure the idiots asking the questions have as little and useless information as possible.

    3. Maybe Peddy’s current absence from this forum is because he is planning to work as a grammar tsar for the DT?

        1. He used to attack me regularly as did his great friend JSP. I responded by blocking JSP’s posts and completely ignoring them while giving Peddy as good as I got by teasing him in a raggish, friendly manner.

          Funnily enough being nice and friendly to people who are trying to goad you makes them far more pissed off than repaying their aggression with aggression.

          This is why the Queen will beat Migraine – she will never descend to her level.

          1. Conway was upset and left us for a week after that – I managed to get him to email me. His life is difficult enough without that kind of attack, and he is among friends here.

            Peddy was inclined to home in on those with a perceived weakness – whether it was their grammar or other sore ponts. You could always argue from a position of strength.

            I usually declined to engage with JSP – but Geoff lost patience with her. They are both now languishing somewhere in the many pages of banned spammers.

          2. JSP was inclined to lash out without provocation or reason as I found to my cost once. Having had a reasoned and enjoyable chat, about things upon which we agreed, I suddenly found myself the subject of a tongue lashing for no apparent reason. That was the last time I ever engaged with her.

      2. You may recall that Simon Heffer tried to inject some basic understanding of grammar into the DT but gave up.

    5. Load of bowlocks. The statement means ‘Not (any) one of these apply. Grammatically it is correct.

      1. Actually, no. If you take out the deceptive ‘of these’ you will realise that not one … applies. You wouldn’t say ‘not one apply’, would you?

    1. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Try it a third time and I shall bite you!

      1. 330198+ up ticks,
        Morning R,
        Precisely, lessons that the electorate are in need of learning
        starting on say, the 6th May.

    2. She’s an actress – she can lie through her teeth and pretend she’s telling the truth – but “her truth” is not necessarily what the rest of us would recognise to be true. She’s a big hypocrite.

  30. What is journalism for? The short answer: truth. Clive Myrie. 11 March 2021.

    I’ll leave you with the words contained within the fairness doctrine, now consigned to history in America, but alive and well for many years to come, we all hope, in the regulations of Ofcom. Evans would no doubt agree.

    Licensees must not use their stations “for the private interest, whims or caprices of licensees, but in a manner which will serve the community generally as a whole. Broadcasters must provide adequate coverage of public issues, and ensure that coverage fairly represents opposing views.”

    The maintenance of democracy and a just and fair society. That is why we do what we do.

    Hypocrisy or self-delusion? No one who works for the BBC could possibly have a claim to to these principles! It is financed by extortion! A Neo-Liberal propaganda outlet. A Marxist mouthpiece.

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/mar/11/journalism-truth-strong-regulation-us-media-uk

    1. Clive Myrie, the very one who reported from a mortuary for 5mins in a fear and intimidation article for the BBC, yeah right.
      He wouldn’t know the truth if it bit him on his arse!

    3. The Guardian doesn’t hold to those principles. It might *think* it does, but at heart it is deeply, desperately biased.

      Honestly, I think they enjoy the supposed power they have.

    4. If Migraine is allowed her version of THE TRUTH then it is only fair that the BBC and the Guardian should be allowed to publish their TRUTH even if it is biased and untrue!

      1. Whether anyone listens to or reads their twisted ‘TRUTH’ is quite another matter.

  31. Good morning from a bright, sunny and bloody windy Derbyshire. 3°C in the yard and I’m VERY late up.

    I see the DT is kicking it’s paying subscribers in the teeth again.

  32. Good morning, my friends

    The hydrogen revolution is real and it will change the world
    The Paris Agreement forced countries to get creative with their energy sources and methods

    AMBROSE EVANS-PRITCHARD

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2021/03/11/hydrogen-revolution-real-will-change-world/

    I cannot comment very sensibly on this topic as I am not a scientist – and we know you have to be a scientist with fixed opinions which the politicians find acceptable for them to pay any attention. The science, we are assured, is after all “fixed” as far as climate change and global warming are concerned.

    Many foolish people, such as myself, think that man-made global warming is a scam which is being used to control us so I found this BTL comment relevant:

    Solar and wind are clearly not sensible options for the future unless and until the energy can be stored and used when it is needed. We cannot live in a world where dull, grey windless days will result in no power supply.

    If hydrogen becomes economically viable it will be a feasible option but I suspect that there are many powerful vested interests in both business and politics which will try to stop it happening.

      1. I’m sure the cost could come down by electrolysis using surplus wind energy in the night when demand was low and stored until required. Storage is the key.

        1. Alec – demand at night will be extremely high if we ever succumb to electric cars as is our PM’s plan. We will need high electricity production day and night.

          3. Just like this.

            https://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view;_ylt=AwrExdzrFkpgTAgAPzGJzbkF;_ylu=c2VjA3NyBHNsawNpbWcEb2lkAzczY2NhZmZkYmVhYmU1OGM3ZWIyYWM3MDNhMWZjMGFjBGdwb3MDMQRpdANiaW5n?back=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fp%3Dgas%2Bpowerd%2Bcars%2Bin%2BWWW2%26fr%3Daaplw%26fr2%3Dpiv-web%26tab%3Dorganic%26ri%3D1&w=1004&h=789&imgurl=4.bp.blogspot.com%2F-4dvGI1sYp8M%2FVqwu7v-ugWI%2FAAAAAAAEG0w%2FQJwUWnTT6OU%2Fs1600%2F12605356_1706553272923995_765923877307126970_o.jpg&rurl=https%3A%2F%2Fjustacarguy.blogspot.com%2F2016%2F01%2Fim-guessing-this-is-some-strange-ww2.html&size=357.9KB&p=gas+powered+cars+in+WWW2&oid=73ccaffdbeabe58c7eb2ac703a1fc0ac&fr2=piv-web&fr=aaplw&rw=gas+powered+cars+in+WWW2&tt=Just+A+Car+Guy%3A+I%26%2339%3Bm+guessing+this+is+some+strange+WW2+…&b=0&ni=21&no=1&ts=&tab=organic&sigr=Jnflog6ezzlv&sigb=vqECrl4hhDDN&sigi=irMipuQ8J3n1&sigt=hrSnN0cl3kFI&.crumb=uS9XWlcGAZE&fr=aaplw&fr2=piv-web

      2. Good morning, Delboy

        I think that A-EP is arguing that the production costs are falling and will continue to fall.

        Whether or not he is right I do not know but I am pretty sure that climate change is one of the biggest scams ever to be practised upon us.

    2. You’d think any businessman with an eye for making money and some foresight would invest in hydrogen fuel , the future is bleak (and dark) with the renewable brigade without backup from nuclear (fossil fuels will run out)

      1. Theer are companies selling hydrogen for vehicular use here in Norway. One of them, local to us, blew up at easter 2 years ago, with a hell of a bang. Nobody killed, but all H2 stations were then immediately closed.
        Handling hydrogen is a nightmare. Either it’s liquified by being colder than a witches tit or it diffuses through pretty well anything – and floats away or blows up!

    3. The science is “fixed”. This is the word that is used when a trial has been rigged.

    4. I’ve been discussing this topic on another forum. Whilst hydrogen is the most abundant element in the Universe, it certainly isn’t abundant on Earth. There’s only two ways it can be ‘produced’ at the moment in reasonable quantities:

      1. Deriving it from natural gas. Certainly NOT an environmentally-friendly method of production, and, of course, it uses a scarce resource that would inevitably put up the price of natural gas for consumers – 99.99% cannot switch their boiler to run on alternative fuels (hydrogen included [almost no boiler can]) and electricity (because most of it in the UK is produced by natural gas fired power stations).

      2. Split off from Oxygen in water. Whilst water is obviously abundant, there are several major problems with using this method. Fresh water is NOT abundant in most areas of the world, and existing sources are already under serious pressure from existing demand. Sea water is abundant, but is obviously not available inland, and also has to be desalinated first before the Oxygen and Hydrogen are split off.

      The whole process requires very large amounts of electrical power, far more so if desalination is required. A good example of the scale is that Toyota have a ‘fuel station’ serving 6 pallet lifters in a factory of theirs in Japan. It converts fresh water into Oxygen and Hydorgen, the latter being used to fuel the fuel cell pallet lifters. The fuel station is about the same size as a standard 8-pump petrol station. Sounds good? No – it requires a HUGE solar panel array on the roof of the factory to power it and can ONLY produce enough hydrogen to fuel those pallet lifters for ONE DAY.

      Imagine the water and solar array size needed to fuel the equivalent that one standard petrol station does for a week or two.

      For fuel cell vehicle away from the coastal regions, would sea water have to be pumped in a vast network of pipes inland? Or similar for hydogen, in a separate system to natural gas – hardly safe, and hydrogen has be significantly cooled to store in reasonably-sized containers as well as compressed. That too requires lots of electrical energy.

      Whilst the technology is improving, most of the ones currently being touted in the media are at a very early stage of development and won’t be capable of being upscaled (see above) – if they work as intended for many years, if it can at all.

      My opinion is that fossil fuels have not run their course, and the ‘environmental’ moves to ban new ICE cars by 2030 and similarly for household boilers are stupid and are playing into the hands of people with agendas who are NOT inline with the vast majority of people.

      1. Um, I was busy typing the simpleton’s version. I reached the same conclusion. Perhaps in some time soon to come we will be locked up in the same asylum?

        1. Coal, oil & gas currently produce 70% of energy consumption – I cannot see that changing substantially.
          Wind/solar is unreliable as shown in Texas & Germany in the past month – Texas also lost their thermal stations as water & gas supply pipes were not insulated as temps were -20 deg

          Oil/gas drilling & production in North Dakota was not really interrupted despite -46 deg temperatures

          1. Exactly. The greenies always conveniently forget that we still need power and heating when its dark and the wind doiesn’t blow, which happens mostly (at least in this country) in winter, when demand is also at its highest. Only nuclear (of either type) can provide a base load alternative to fossil fuels.

          2. All right for you. Up here in Scotland the only discernible difference between Summer and Winter is that in Summer the trees are bit greener and rain does not always freeze before hitting the ground.

          5. Weather forecast: If you can’t see the mountains, it’s raining. If you can see the mountains, it’s going to rain.

      2. Split off from Oxygen in water.

        We used to do this in an experiment in the Physics class at school using a device called a Hoffman’s Voltameter. The Science teacher would ignite the hydrogen produced in this manner.

    5. Producing hydrogen requires more electricity than the resulting hydrogen can produce. Hydrogen is not very portable either.
      There are various methods. See article below. Perhaps the most bizarre is using solar power to generate the electricity to power the process to split water by electrolysis to produce the hydrogen to drive the vehicle that services the solar panels.. (I made up the bit in italics.)
      If only we could explore underground and maybe find stuff laid down aeons ago, as a result of plant or animal matter being crushed, that we could easily use as fuel. What a boon that would be!

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

      1. You mean some sort of abundant fuel that was naturally laid down and could be mined or even pumped from the ground. Sounds a bit far fetched to me.

        1. I admit I used to read a lot of science fiction. Some of the very way out futuristic stories often featured extreme ideas like that, some even postulated that electricity might be produced in “atomic” power stations. If only.

      2. Some kind of mineral that gives off energy as some kind of radiation, you mean? That might work.

    6. Economically viable hydrogen would need to be transported on the gas network. Here’s an extract from a study.
      Huge infrastructure upgrade. Plenty of money to be made for the right people.

      2.2.1. High-pressure transmission and distribution pipes

      At ambient temperature and pressures below 100 bar, the principal integrity concern for high-strength steel is hydrogen embrittlement.
      Hydrogen will diffuse into any surface flaws that occur due to material defects, construction defects or corrosion, resulting in a loss of
      ductility, increased crack growth or initiation of new cracks. These will ultimately lead to material failure [20], [21], [22], [23].
      Higher pressures are thought to increase the likelihood of material failure although no threshold value has been defined independently of other factors [24], [25], [26].
      Hydrogen can be transported at high pressures using pipes constructed of softer steels that reduce the rate of embrittlement, and there is
      much industrial experience in this area spanning many decades [27]. This means that existing high-pressure natural gas pipelines are not
      suitable for hydrogen transport, but that a new national network of high-pressure pipelines could be constructed to transport hydrogen
      around the UK.

      More at:

      ScienceDirect

      1. Atomic Hydrogen will diffuse through steel and, due to the local stresses at defects opening the crystal lattices a bit, will collect and recombine into molecular hydrogen at any surface flaws that occur due to material defects, construction defects, stresses from welding. or corrosion, resulting in a loss of ductility, increased crack growth due to embrittlement resulting from the interstitial H2or initiation of new cracks. These will ultimately lead to material failure.
        Higher pressures are thought to increase the likelihood of material failure although no threshold value has been defined independently of other factors Bollocks. Increased pressure in a pipeline increases the wall stresses and thus the stresses at crack tips, thus making failure more likely – although you could argue that welding residual stresses would be enough on their own. I have heard piles of welded tubulars banging away at night as they cracked.

      2. Atomic Hydrogen will diffuse through steel and, due to the local stresses at defects opening the crystal lattices a bit, will collect and recombine into molecular hydrogen at any surface flaws that occur due to material defects, construction defects, stresses from welding. or corrosion, resulting in a loss of ductility, increased crack growth due to embrittlement resulting from the interstitial H2or initiation of new cracks. These will ultimately lead to material failure.
        Higher pressures are thought to increase the likelihood of material failure although no threshold value has been defined independently of other factors Bollocks. Increased pressure in a pipeline increases the wall stresses and thus the stresses at crack tips, thus making failure more likely – although you could argue that welding residual stresses would be enough on their own. I have heard piles of welded tubulars banging away at night as they cracked.

    7. Economically viable hydrogen would need to be transported on the gas network. Here’s an extract from a study.
      Huge infrastructure upgrade. Plenty of money to be made for the right people.

      2.2.1. High-pressure transmission and distribution pipes

      At ambient temperature and pressures below 100 bar, the principal integrity concern for high-strength steel is hydrogen embrittlement.
      Hydrogen will diffuse into any surface flaws that occur due to material defects, construction defects or corrosion, resulting in a loss of
      ductility, increased crack growth or initiation of new cracks. These will ultimately lead to material failure [20], [21], [22], [23].
      Higher pressures are thought to increase the likelihood of material failure although no threshold value has been defined independently of other factors [24], [25], [26].
      Hydrogen can be transported at high pressures using pipes constructed of softer steels that reduce the rate of embrittlement, and there is
      much industrial experience in this area spanning many decades [27]. This means that existing high-pressure natural gas pipelines are not
      suitable for hydrogen transport, but that a new national network of high-pressure pipelines could be constructed to transport hydrogen
      around the UK.

      More at:

      ScienceDirect

  33. Good morning, my friends

    The hydrogen revolution is real and it will change the world
    The Paris Agreement forced countries to get creative with their energy sources and methods

    AMBROSE EVANS-PRITCHARD

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2021/03/11/hydrogen-revolution-real-will-change-world/

    I cannot comment very sensibly on this topic as I am not a scientist – and we know you have to be a scientist with fixed opinions which the politicians find acceptable for them to pay any attention. The science, we are assured, is after all “fixed” as far as climate change and global warming are concerned.

    Many foolish people, such as myself, think that man-made global warming is a scam which is being used to control us so I found this BTL comment relevant:

    Solar and wind are clearly not sensible options for the future unless and until the energy can be stored and used when it is needed. We cannot live in a world where dull, grey windless days will result in no power supply.

    If hydrogen becomes economically viable it will be a feasible option but I suspect that there are many powerful vested interests in both business and politics which will try to stop it happening.

      1. 330198+ up ticks,
        Morning C,
        The same peoples that still support lab after what the Jay report revealed will surely find him a role model.

  35. Why Sharks Circle Before Attacking.

    Two great white sharks swimming in the ocean spied survivors of a sunken ship.

    “Follow me son” the father shark said to the son shark and they swam to the mass of people.

    “First we swim around them a few times with just the tip of our fins showing.”

    And they did.

    “Well done, son! Now we swim around them a few times with all of our fins showing.”

    And they did.

    “Now we eat everybody.”

    And they did.

    When they were both gorged, the son asked, “Dad, why didn’t we just eat them all at first? Why did we swim around and around them?”

    His wise father replied, “Because they taste better if you scare the shit out of them first!”

    1. An old bull and a young bull spotted a herd of cows in the field below…

      The young bull said to the old bull…”Let’s charge on down there and have a cow each”.

      The old bull replied…”Nope…just stoll down thus saving energy and have all of them”.

      (I don’t know how to grey out the punch line).

  36. DT Story

    How do you solve a ‘problem’ like Piers Morgan?
    A champion of free speech or just championing himself? The TV presenter is no martyr – he’s auditioning for his next gig

    NO COMMENTS ALLOWED

    Is the DT aware of just how stupid it makes itself look publishing articles about free speech and then not allowing free speech?

    1. Morning Rastus, crudely put I find people or organisations with their head up their arse are aware of very little.

    2. I’m sure Piers engineered the walkout ….He’s got another offer lined up.

      Anyone like to hazzard a guess…?

        2. The problem with Morgan is that, IMHO, he has no values – he likes to play both sides of the fence after seeing which way the wind is blowing at the time as effective clickbait. After all, he was editor of both The Daily Mirror and The Sun. Sometimes people agree with what he says, but very few people have a good general opinion of the man as far as I can see. I wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up as a ‘shock jock’, although I doubt if he would last long, given he pees off almost everyone, especially with his inflated ego.

          1. When I first saw and heard him I did not like him. I’ve avoided him and any mention of him over the years. However I did get the impressing that he was inconsistent.

  37. “PMQs: Sir Keir Starmer calls on Boris Johnson to put nurses’ pay to a vote”

    Far better than a pay rise for nurses would be a one off bonus, if we have to pay any extra at all. Indeed, this should have to be applied for, with an explanation of why the applicant thinks s/he deserves it.

    I have just woken up after a night shift where I was working alongside three nurses whose basic salary is £38K.
    These three work nights exclusively so you can add another 66% on top of that.

    During those eight hours, to earn their money, they dealt with three ‘phone calls from patients.

    That’s it. Oh, and they are still getting sandwiches, crisps, fruit and a drink provided every night. I’m not sure why the hospital exec has decided that they can’t shop but I can.

      1. Their chattering and laughter at the nurses station keeps the patients awake.

      2. They sleep through most of the shift when it is quiet. You can hear it in their voices when they answer the ‘phone.

    2. Interesting Stormy.
      Once more it appears the government have effed up everything they get their hands on. There is an outrage at ‘consultants ‘ being paid 6k per-day. And the overall out come of the whole project of track and trace was, it was an absolute disaster. How on this earth did It cost billions ? A prime example of government incompetence was how long it took to find the 4 people who had contracted the Brazilian variant.

    4. Or a performance bonus depending on box marking – if they have a similar system to what we had while I was a snivel serpent.

    5. £38k for a nurse? Blimey! And they think they ain’t well off? Nearly twice as much sick leave – which an unwritten rule says will be taken as holidays without question, nice pension and more holidays than the private sector, guaranteed nice cash for overtime.

      And they have the cheek to be looking at going on strike for a 2.1% pay rise, when they still have a job and perks, unlike most people in the private sector who face job and pay cuts over the coming months and years.

      And WE don’t get to do tiktok dance videos on company time.

  38. Daily Telegraph reporting that Denmark has suspended Astra-Zeneca vaccination due to blood clot fears.

    1. Clot was such a common word at my school in the 1950/60s – I suspect there are massive numbers of them amongst the governing classes of Europe …. and when they’re nursing a grudge, oh my …

      1. Yes Lewis it was common in my Public School in the 40s and 50s but seldom heard nowadays. Language in schools has deteriorated since those days.

        1. Clots were quite likely to be on the receiving end of a book (hardback) over the bonce (not usually from teachers).

      3. The best use of it was when Aneurin Bevan introduced the NHS.

        He was delighted to hear that they had named a medical condition for him. He hastened to a medical directory and quickly looked up the definition of an Aneurism, only to find that the definition is, “A bloody clot that ought to be removed immediately.”

    3. This is really causing fun over here. Literally in just over a week –

      Public health Canada approved AZ and the federal government got their hands on a million doses to distribute to the provinces.

      Then another federal department jumped in and said that it was not to be used on the over 65s, the provinces (they do the actual vaccinations) shifted tack and rushed in plans to use the AZ vaccine to vaccinate 60 to 65 year old.

      Now the nay saying department are having second thoughts, maybe the UK experience with AZ means that the vaccine is OK for all. So maybe scrap the under 65 plan and go back to oldies first!

      Premiers are not impressed.

  39. If the DT continue to block comments on their letters page (in spite of the DT ‘supporting’ free speech), we may soon experience a flood of new contributors to this site.

    1. The P!ssed offedness leaps from the few available BTL columns.
      The First Trollop obviously has powerful backers.

    2. At least the Letters Page from 7th March still has its comments facility, and many readers have cottoned on and are using it as the defacto comments facility for every Letters page since.

      I look forward to a wave of DT unsubs in the coming months.

  40. Here’s a test to see how alert the brain is…

    Below is a list of words that you must say out aloud as fast as you can from the top to the bottom three times in quick succession.

    trees
    trees
    trees
    said
    idiot
    this
    has
    times
    many
    How
    Trees
    Trees
    Trees

    Now read the words aloud from the bottom to the top.

  42. I see that the BBC has appointed Amol Rajan as a Today program presenter. This is Amol Rajan who became editor of the Independent and converted it from a moderately interesting paper into a completely inaccurate fascist liberal rant sheet.

    I’m sure he will do well on Today.

    1. Any white ones left? I ask because I never listen to any BBC news/politics/current affairs output.

          2. Before Trevor McDonald became a household name he was offered a job at the BBC. They told him they were looking for more black presenters. He turned them down. This was more than 20 years ago.

            The BBC is racist. Towards white people. Particularly men.

          3. It’s a bit longer than 20 years ago, Philip.

            Trevor McDonald started with ITN in 1973 and then became a newsreader in 1989. The Beeb must have tried to tap him up much longer ago.

          4. I couldn’t remember the date from his wiki page so i hedged my bets with ‘more than’.

          1. I havent seen a trans reading the news yet. I suppose it’s only a matter of time.

      2. On a similar theme, is it me or have well all noticed hwo practically EVERY advert on TV at the moment has at least one BAME actor/actress in them, often a majority of them in an advert? Are all these firms meekly bending the knee?

        2. They have all reacted to the BLM movement and brought more non-white people in to their ads; trouble is they’ve all done it at the same time and to every ad so it has completely skewed BAME representation to ten times what it should be in reflecting the UK population.

          1. Some advertisers reject white customers.

            Bear that in mind when deciding what to buy.

      3. They’ve now got a brown solicitor giving on-air advice.

        She’s called The Illegal Radical.

      4. Radio 4 is packed with Scotch Nats, Oirish Republicans, Welch Nationalists and pale-faced pufters. The other 90% are ‘persons of kullor’, trans-gender ‘comedipersons’ and followers of an obscure café owner. Not forgetting it is run mainly by chalk-faced half wits. Plenty of variety there.

  44. 330198+ up ticks,
    T blair,
    Seeing as the dangerous state & rising criminality due to him introducing mass uncontrolled immigration ( lab/lib/con ongoing policy) as a UK take down tool, & making the streets unsafe especially for women as witnessed.

    May one ask Anthony Charles Lynton aka bliar his views
    on loitering with intent & should it carry a heavy custodial sentence.

    breitbart,
    Blair Blames Brexit… for EU Vaccine Fiasco

  45. Yesterday in the Times page 14 i was shocked and horrified to read that at the eco hotel venue for the G7 summit in Carbis Bay the government aka un-civil service has given instruction with out seeking planning permission. To have mature trees (all ready done) felled in an area described as a haven for wild life and ground cleared for the construction of ‘Meeting rooms’ !
    Carbis bay hotel the AA Eco hotel of the year 2019-20. And Once more not unto the beach dear friends, Carbis bay will be shut down with climate change at the top of the G7 agenda. And once more you really couldn’t make it up could you, or any one but the political classes.

    Sorry I should have said Cornwall.

      1. Gleneagles summit a few years back was at an horrendous cost – miles of barricades, police from all over UK on overtime ………………. total was over £50 million or more depending on who you believe.

        Meantime local yokels in some areas ran amok as there was only a skeleton police staff – vandalism, arson, all over Scotland

        1. Ditto Glasgow Commonwealth Conference some years ago. All premises, including private homes within about half a mile of the Usher Hall were forcibly searched.

          1. ditto Toronto when the magnificent seven had a chinwag, the whole city centre was shut down.

      2. ‘Afternoon, Bill, at least the points made by Falkirkbairn, Horace and Richard, identify how aware the ‘Great and the Good‘ are, as to how much we hate them and, given the chance, a step-ladder and some piano-wire, where they would find themselves, lamp-posts or trees, it matters not.

    3. I’ve just looked up the hotel. it’s about as far west as you can go. Not a very green choice when you think how many vehicles will me travelling down, what with delegates aides, journalism security etc.

      Rooms and suites range from £400 -£4800 a night. Why cant they have their beano at somewhere more modest?

      Why was the gig booked ther in the first place if it hasn’t got meeting rooms?

      N

    4. I’ve just looked up the hotel. it’s about as far west as you can go. Not a very green choice when you think how many vehicles will me travelling down, what with delegates aides, journalism security etc.

      Rooms and suites range from £400 -£4800 a night. Why cant they have their beano at somewhere more modest?

      Why was the gig booked ther in the first place if it hasn’t got meeting rooms?

      N

      1. It is only a four star hotel and that must be like slumming it to our masters.

        Is it really going to happen? Trudeau hasn’t ventured out of his cottage (mansion to the likes of us) since last March, he even worshiped Biden in a zoom meeting!

        Very convenient for airports, where are they going to park Bidens 747 while they are talking climate change

      2. This G7 meeting was quietly announced sometime last year, in the middle of lock down not long after our planned family holiday near Trevose Head not far from Padstow, was cancelled as we were a then, a legal 6 adults with a 9 month old baby !!!

    1. 330198+ up ticks,
      O2O,

      David Poulden
      @DavidPoulden
      ·
      1h
      How embarrassing…
      @UKIP
      still haven’t paid up?? 😳 And what sort of a party sends emails like this to its members? 🧐
      – They should change their name to the rogue trader party…
      @DailyMailUK
      |
      @Daily_Express
      |
      @TheSun
      |
      @NeilUKIP

      1. I’m waiting for the counter suggestion that women should be curfewed instead for their own safety.

        Kn*b.

        1. I’m not entering into the pathetic attempt at a political wedge driving competition. 😉
          I know my place………….😄

        4. That would suit Pakistani Muslim men so they will probably do it.

          I finished watching ‘The Queen’s Gambit’. I was mesmorized. I enjoyed the hair, makeup and costumes. The Las Vegas of the 60’s. The cars. Just about everything really. It also made me long to visit Moscow.

          I know you weren’t over keen. Horses for courses.

          1. I don’t know what it’s like now, but when I was in Moscow, it was a very dull place with little in the shops, drunkards on the streets after dark and a big contrast between the show case main streets and the little izbushki that could have come straight from Baba Yaga in the back streets.

          2. Of course i don’t know when you were there but i expect it has loosened up a bit now.

            I did go to Budapest in Hungary and had a fantastic time. Dinner on a cruise boat going passed all those lit up buildings. Only cost £60 for two for a four course meal and unlimited wine.

            I also had an apartment on Andrassey St for £50 a night.

            i will post some pics next time i catch you.

          3. 1968. I went to Prague more recently and it was clear the older people working in the hotel still had the Iron Curtain mentality. The younger ones were much less rule oriented.

        5. Well, there is a virus about, you know and it affects men more than women. Or should I say more guardians and individuals. 😷.

      2. I wonder what cut-off age for “men” is being considered.

        Gangs of14 and 15 year old thugs are as, if not more, dangerous than the odd maniac.
        I also suspect that such a curfew would not deter dangerous predators and might even make their objectives easier, with few men on the streets.

    2. The wheels of the labour wagons fell off after Bair’s stint.
      It’s the only way they can grab a headline, jumping on other waggons and all heading down hill through bumpy ground and rapidly.

        1. Would that be wee Dodie Macfarlane (from Toon); or wee Shuggy Macfarlane (frae Fife)? 🤣

    6. They are trying to outdo the US Dems (and especially AOC) for rank stupidity.

      1. I suggest you keep an eye on AOC. IMHO there is a war coming within the Democrat party and it will be very nasty. When it starts I will buy popcorn.

      2. I believe that it is an orchestrated effort to divide the population along as many different fracture lines as possible in the hope of a great explosion which “they” think they will be able to use as the basis to “build back better”.

    7. Its staggering what supposedly sensible people say publicly. I have just listened to last night’s Moral Maze on the gruesome twosome. A person in charge of Black Studies at Birmingham was spouting on that the monarchy were white suprematists, colonialists and all the other isms that blacks carry in their bag of rocks. The rest of us were living on the backs of black and brown people and were institutionally racist as well. He junked the PoW scheme to help young people, many of them Bame, as just throwing a bit of money around to make himself feel good. Strewth, what cancerous attitudes we have allowed to develop in those from the communities.

      1. The more the MSM feed these creatures the worse they become and they can’t even see the obvious racism in their own attitudes and beliefs.

      2. “A person in charge of Black Studies at Birmingham…”

        Kehinde Andrews, a race-baiting troublemaker.

          1. Ash Sarkar was also on last night’s edition. She is only slightly less mad than Andrews.

        3. ‘troublemaker’ was kind of you. He is a demented charlatan. Had his ancestor’s not met a white man he no doubt would be extorting money and or s*x using an AK47 in some African Trumpian hole.

  49. Green Party peer calls for ALL MEN to face a 6pm CURFEW: Baroness Jones calls for law change to bar males from the street in wake of Sarah Everard murder to ‘make women feel safer and lessen discrimination’

    Baroness Jones made the comment in a discussion in the House of Lords during a debate on domestic violence last night.

    DM Story : https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9350711/Green-peer-calls-MEN-face-6pm-CURFEW-wake-Sarah-Everard-murder.html

    She’s quite right of course, men are disgusting pigs who should stay indoors to make sure that their wives remain exclusively in the bedroom or the kitchen.

    1. I do have the impression that the everyday problems that women face have got worse. The first time I saw a woman being struck was in Glasgow in the seventies, the first time I saw it on a University campus was in the noughties. OTOH, whilst I used to intervene I don’t any longer as the reaction of women I have helped has made it impossible.

      Builders always used to catcall a bit, but then if he was two floors up there was no immediate threat (the most important aspect), now it is commonplace..

      1. There have always been predators – as I found in the 60s when I was a teenager. Not an experience I would wish on anybody.

      2. I remember being shocked as a child when I saw a woman being hit by a man in a film. Most of us were brought up that only a man who was a bully or a cad would ever strike a woman. But when I was a child my mother often smacked me when I was naughty but my father seldom did.
        My sisters were seldom smacked (though they certainly deserved to be!) and then only by my mother and never by my father who was a very gentle man.

        One day I had exasperated my very dear and very favourite maiden Aunt Kitty who had to look after me while my parents were off gallivanting.

        “Richard,” she said, “if you go on doing that I shall smack you!”

        ” Will you smack me as hard as Mummy does or as hard as Daddy?”

        “As hard as Daddy,” she answered hoping to sound more frightening.

        “That’s all right then!” I said, laughing.

        She laughed too. I stopped being exasperating and avoided the smacking.

        Of course girls and women are far worse as bullies as they use psychology and blackmail far better than we men do. Kipling was bang to rights when he said that the female of the species is more deadly than the male.

        1. Ride a bike. You will find that women in 4x4s are as much given to physical bullying as men. I was bought up on ‘never hit a lady’ and I hold to that. A woman behaving like a fishwife and doing her best to be violent can get thumped as far as I am concerned.

          1. The was an old prostitute who roamed the streets and pubs of ill-repute in Chesterfield in the 1950s and 1960s. Her name was Sarah Marshall (she is still a town legend) and she had a number of young protégés under her spell.

            Very few men would take her on (few possessed the courage and she was infamous for knocking them out) and many of the older policemen of the time told me they would always give Sarah a wide berth if they could.

          2. Back in the 70s I remember watching a sexploitation flick where a ‘new’ prostitute had completed her first assignment with a bloke she quite fancied. The next one she fancied not at all and was bemoaning this in the ladies. A seasoned campaigner told her “You have to take the shit with the sugar honey”. I have always thought it a sound philosophy in life.

          5. The days of real women. Women landlords kept far better pubs than most men.Never any trouble, even in Portsmouth.

          8. My sister was screaming obscenities in my face whilst punching me in the head. I didn’t strike back although i have always wished i had.

            Instead i never spoke to her again. She for years was questioning other members of the family about my business, so i stopped speaking to them too.

        2. If i behaved badly my father would use his belt across my bare buttocks. If i was within reaching distance of my mother it was a slap round the head.

          One weekend we went roller skating. My father crashed into my mother. She went over and fractured her wrist. The next time my mother went to slap me she broke her wrist. I laughed.

          1. I remember being walloped outside a shoe shop in Swansea because I didnt like the shoes I was supposed to have for school.

        3. I remember in the late sixties With the future Mrs N we were sitting the The Guest House pub in Southport having a quite drink when this woman burst in and attacked her husband who was sitting on a bar stool and dragged him out of the pub hitting him with her handbag to much laughter of all those in there.

          What happpened to the real world.?

          PS wonderful beer served out of the barrel.

        4. My mother would hit me with a rolling pin.

          One day I came back from university, she went to hit me with it again and I broke it in two. Years later she then took out her anger on my cat.

          Once, long, long ago when junior was playing he toddled into one of mother’s endless pointless movement hindering furniture things and knocked it over, scratching the wood. This is a 3 year old and she went for him. The warqueen took a bawling child to the car, we left, mother has not seen him since and has nothing to do with him and never will again.

      3. Afternoon Rodger and all.

        Many years ago we were in a store and there was a child crying because he’d lost his mummy. So naturally I bent down to speak to him. Alf says if that happened nowadays he would be rather reluctant to try and help. It’s a great shame that men have been all lumped together under the “dangerous” label.

        And now that the majority of shoppers wear stupid face nappies I think most young children would be frightened to be approached by almost anyone.

        The wolf whistling builders were harmless but, thanks to the “feminists” , that has all been stamped out.

        1. back in the early 80s a small child shot out of a shopping centre and was about to run into the road. I restrained it with my outstretched arm. I went down on my hunkers and talked to the child, I also beckoned over a middle aged woman who had seen the whole thing.

          The mother came racing out a few minutes later screaming “He’s trying to abduct my daughter”. The middle aged lady turned out to be “South Wales forthright”, who you wouldn’t argue with from choice. The mother got it both barrels from her, including a finger stabbed very hard into her chest. She left the scene in tears with her daughter. Mrs middle aged gave her parting comment to me “Some women are so thick they shouldn’t be allowed children”.

        2. I found a little kiddie crying in Tesco because he had lost his mother. I stopped to ask him his name and what colour clothes his mother was wearing to see if I could see her. I took him to the customer desk and they treated me as if I was a child abductor. I offered to help look for the mother but the bloke was very offhand and snatched the child away from me without any recognition of thanks.

          1. Just be thankful you aren’t male; you would probably have been arrested and put on the paedophile register!

        3. Wolf whistling was horrible. It made me feel self conscious and embarrassed and it was always done by the least attractive, creepy looking men.

      4. It’s something we have to live with.
        Some years ago, I was riding my bike home late one night and had to stop at some temp traffic lights. It was in a very remote place with woodland each side of the road. I felt terribly vulnerable.
        When I recounted the story to my BiL, he was shocked and saddened when he realised what effect this had on me, whereas it probably wouldn’t have been a second thought for a bloke in the same position.

        1. Well… we blokes get attacked too, you know, and statistically more often than ladies. And, we get nervous, too.
          See https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/articles/thenatureofviolentcrimeinenglandandwales/yearendingmarch2017#which-groups-of-people-are-most-likely-to-be-victims-of-violent-crime

          Sex
          Men were more likely to be victims of CSEW violent crime than women (2.1% of males compared with 1.3% of females1, Figure 9). This was true for all types of violence, with the exception of acquaintance violence which showed no significant difference and domestic violence which showed the reverse trend (0.4% of females were victims compared to 0.2% of males).

        2. Well… we blokes get attacked too, you know, and statistically more often than ladies. And, we get nervous, too.
          See https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/articles/thenatureofviolentcrimeinenglandandwales/yearendingmarch2017#which-groups-of-people-are-most-likely-to-be-victims-of-violent-crime

          Sex
          Men were more likely to be victims of CSEW violent crime than women (2.1% of males compared with 1.3% of females1, Figure 9). This was true for all types of violence, with the exception of acquaintance violence which showed no significant difference and domestic violence which showed the reverse trend (0.4% of females were victims compared to 0.2% of males).

        3. Even in the glades around here I still worry when the warqueen takes on on the mare.

          I try to get to know her colleagues so someone is with her at the various train stations and since one event we use her phone tracker. It’s handy to know when her train would get in as well.

      5. It’s become common place because the Left have tried so hard to erode it.

        What used to be banter is now just abuse.

        1. In my opinion it has become more common because boys are taught mainly by women in secondary school, so they have fewer people than we had teaching them how to be a man. In tribal societies (from which we all spring) it is never the case that adolescent and teenage boys are insulated from the teaching of male elders.

    2. The only reason I can see for such an idiotic, ill-thought through suggestion is to create headlines for the Green party.

      If they wanted to drive a final nail into the high street, taking away half the potential customer base would achieve it.

      Not to mention all the jobs that are done by men outside 6 am to 6pm.

    3. As the latest suspect is in the police, perhaps the ban should include all police, fire and ambulance drivers. That will make everyone safe.

      What about a man who having self declared as a woman has just been released from a women’s prison. How is that person to be treated?

      1. Should be treated for mental illness and put into a lunatic asylum – along with most of the present politicians, police chiefs and media moguls.

      2. What about a man who having self declared as a woman has just been released from a women’s prison. How is that
        person man to be treated

      1. This woman will go hme to a nicely cowed husband in a nice Georgian mid terrace in a nice, leafy – if such exists – in London. She’ll pocket her £300 and put her £50 taxi fare on expenses. And her utilities, and probably mortgage. She’ll then go out to promote her idiocy and charge the 7 course dinner to the tax payer.

        Such people care nothing for the problem. They just want to shout loudly, never solve the problem.

    5. How may I contact that ‘Green Party Peeress’ and tell her (preferably to her gormless face) what an utterly stupid twat cow she is?

      2. @GreenJennyJones on Twitter is one way. I’ve just left my pennyworth on there.

          1. That she’s a stark raving lunatic theorizing in an insular bubble divorced from reality, as with so many of her ilk.

    6. Better yet Baroness Taff, put the curfew on women to prevent we men lusting after everything female after 18:00.

      I have to agree with George. This thinking displays just how stupid those in, or aspiring, to Government are

    8. “Bedroom or kitchen”? Of course. But I digress..
      If men fall in line with current thinking they will simply self-declare as female. No problems with a curfew then.

    10. It’s been very illegal to murder people for a long time now. That went well for Jill Dando, Sarah Everard, Suzy Lamplugh, didn’t it? So, how does one enforce such a curfew? Gangs of police officers (mostly male), perhaps?

    12. Would that include ambulance drivers, bus drivers, taxi drivers and every man and boy who works after 6pm?

  50. ‘Every woman should feel safe to walk our streets without fear’, says Priti Patel. 11 March 2021

    In a statement, Priti Patel said: “I am deeply saddened by the developments in the Sarah Everard investigation. My heartfelt thoughts and prayers are with Sarah, her family and friends at this unbearable time.

    “Many women have shared their stories and concerns online since Sarah’s disappearance last week. These are so powerful because each and every woman can relate. Every woman should feel safe to walk on our streets without fear of harassment or violence.

    Yes of course. We should all be able to walk the streets without being stabbed or blown up at concerts as well. Our daughters should be able to go their way without being sexually exploited by gangs of foreigners or the natives swamped by people storming the beaches! But we aren’t, so we will all have to make the best of it!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/03/11/sarah-everard-every-woman-should-feel-safe-walk-streets-without/

    1. “Every woman person should feel safe to walk on our streets without fear of harassment or violence or because of thousands of illegal migrants entering the United Kingdom…”

    2. “Every woman person should feel safe to walk on our streets without fear of harassment or violence or because of thousands of illegal migrants entering the United Kingdom…”

    3. I’m sure others have said, but to feel safe perhaps they could stop importing the problem?

      What about men feeling safe?

  51. The spammers are out in force again – so, as I’m about to knock off for some lunch – perhaps someone else could take over on the spam – zapping.

      1. You are just rude to folk. You don’t spam.

        But then, you deny being a Lefty so you’re a bit confused generally.

        1. You must find every General Election result a mystery w.
          You and the other 2% of voters out there on the fringes.

  52. From Save Our Statues. If you can, please send the Committee a polite e-mail.

    Although there has been much positive news recently with legislation being tabled to prevent the removal of physical heritage by local authorities in England, there does remain the likelihood that other public and private institutions will remove statues of national historical importance.

    The sad example of Oriel College Oxford’s review, titled ‘Oriel Rhodes Commission of Inquiry’, is perhaps the most prominent case in point.

    Following a tiny minority of hard left activists calling themselves ‘Rhodes Must Fall’, the College now appears to be upon the precipice of removing the Cecil Rhodes statue; placed to honour one of the college’s most principal benefactors.

    College governors initially called for the statue to be removed, and then established a so-called “independent commission” to “review” the case. We understand that the decision is imminent, also that Rhodes Must Fall’ activists have been corralling their followers, to overwhelm the College with correspondence in support of removal.

    We therefore issue this urgent plea for you to send in your support to retain the Rhodes statue and plaque to:
    Commission@oriel.ox.ac.uk

    No extensive writing is required (unless you wish). It is literally a formal short email with your name and address that would help the attempt to save this statue from being removed from Oxford City Centre.

    Rhodes Scholars are plentiful all over the English speaking world. They are cited in books and numerous c.v.’s of the distinguished. Do these morons think that is going to be erased?

      1. ..and transfer the money to the black (sic) hole known as the Foreign Aid budget.

      3. Sounds like a plan to me, while demanding that all previous Rhodes Scholars return their bursaries.

        1. And have their degrees cancelled, and being fired from the good jobs that they got mainly because they were Rhodes Scholars.

  53. Manchester University scraps the word ‘mother’. 11 March 2021.

    Arguably though it’s on gender where the most radical changes take place. From now on gender-neutral terms are in vogue in Manchester, which means that ‘man’, ‘woman’, ‘mother’ and ‘father’ are no longer appropriate for use in university materials, to be replaced by ‘individuals’ and ‘guardians’. Mr S imagines that things might become tricky on Mother’s Day this weekend, which will presumably now have to be styled ‘Guardian’s Day’.

    I’m working on a theory that all this loopiness is caused by the lack (something to be rectified soon one imagines) of a major war; after all these people are the Officer Class in Mufti and would be destroyed, as in WWI, in large numbers at the first outbreak of hostilities. Intellectuals, as represented by Universities, are as everyone knows incredibly stupid, they will believe literally anything, the more ridiculous the better, and are always the first on the Marxist bandwagon and remain Socialists to their dying day. What we need is some sort of selection process where they are culled as soon as they Graduate. Two out of every three would not seem to be an unreasonable number!

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/manchester-university-scraps-the-word-mother-

    1. Ignore all advice on suitable language you didn’t think of yourself. I prefer humankind but if one of these bast*rds told me I had to use it I would fall back on some other word. When the Labour Party’s women’s section said calling women ‘darling’ ‘love’ and or ‘sweetie’ was insulting I used all, often in conjunction, non stop thereafter. No complaints ever. Smiles, no less.

    2. Ignore all advice on suitable language you didn’t think of yourself. I prefer humankind but if one of these bast*rds told me I had to use it I would fall back on some other word. When the Labour Party’s women’s section said calling women ‘darling’ ‘love’ and or ‘sweetie’ was insulting I used all, often in conjunction, non stop thereafter. No complaints ever. Smiles, no less.

    5. I thank the Lord God, Our Father, that I never went to any university or ex-polytechnic but rather learned my trade and earned my living by joining the Royal Air Force as a boy, aged 15.

      When you read the drivel being spouted by these crass idiots, you wonder how they will survive when the religious among them find it difficult to say even the new-mangled version of The Lord’s Prayer and the Catholics will have problems with The Hail Mary.

      After rewriting the Bible and turning their attention to the Quran, they will find themselves so deeply enmeshed in futile exercises that there will be no time left to bend the easily malleable minds in their charge.

      I do so despair that all I can say is, “Don’t be silly.”

      1. What we need is for people to laugh at whoever comes out with this utter nonsense. For goodness sake don’t take it seriously.

      2. I refuse to mouth the new version of the Lord’s Prayer. Come to that, I stick to the BCP responses as well.

    6. The lot of them are the offsprings of Spanish recipients of Scottish semen providers

      Juan Kerrs all

    7. The ‘Man’ in Manchester is derived from the Brittonic mamm – ‘breast’, a local hill, or possibly from mamma ‘mother’, the name of the river goddess. It appears that the tits have now taken over the university. Gawd ‘elp us!

        1. The name is probably a tautology – hill, hill. The Wiki entry suggests mother hill because the ‘shaking’ causes little hills on its lower slopes. I think that is fanciful. Mam – hill, Tor, – craggy hill.
          Many places in the UK have tautological names. Pendle Hill in Lancashire is a triple tautology – The name combines the words for hill from three different languages. In the 13th century it was called Pennul, apparently from the Cumbric pen and Old English hyll, both meaning “hill”. The modern English “hill” was appended later when the meaning of the name had been forgotten. Bredon Hill in Worcestershire is another triple.

          1. Brill is another- the British word for a hill combined with one of the many Anglo-Saxon words for a hill.

          4. If you want a quadruple tautology, try Torpenhow Hill near Torpenhow in Cumbria: Tor=hill, Pen=hill, How=hill, so it is hillhillhill hill!

          5. “Pizza pie” (the popular name in the USA) is a tautology since “pizza” means pie.

  54. Just received our borough/county council leaflets and sent the following to our PCC.

    Good afternoon Mr Munro

    I have just received the Policing Surrey 2021/2022 leaflet and had a quick look at your expenses claim. I notice you have been reimbursed £704-odd for the alarm at your home.

    Please can you explain to me how this is a legitimate claim? Is it not a personal responsibility?

    Reply so far

    I will speak to the PCC and get back to you with a response to your question.

    1. “Dear vw

      I have spoken to the PCC and his response is – SOD OFF.

      Thank you for sharing your concern.”

      2. 🤣🤣🤣 I expect so Bill. It’s not too far from the replies from our MP but perhaps a little less direct!

    3. They don’t give a stuff. It’s a giant trough. Every year they take more from us and every year services decline but trougher salaries rise.

      All expenses should have to be approved by the public first and foremost, then passed to HMRC. It takes too long, they wail. Well, welcome to our world, wasters.

      Any rise in council tax must come with two caveats: the first that all councillors and management take a commensurate pay cut relative to increase x ten.

      The second that it invokes an immediate referendum where the jobs of those individuals are on the block. Any promotion or advertising they to bepaid for by themselves.

      1. What also makes my blood boil is the cost of the propaganda leaflets they send round, full of flowery, soothing, fatuous rubbish.

    4. They don’t give a stuff. It’s a giant trough. Every year they take more from us and every year services decline but trougher salaries rise.

      All expenses should have to be approved by the public first and foremost, then passed to HMRC. It takes too long, they wail. Well, welcome to our world, wasters.

      Any rise in council tax must come with two caveats: the first that all councillors and management take a commensurate pay cut relative to increase x ten.

      The second that it invokes an immediate referendum where the jobs of those individuals are on the block. Any promotion or advertising they to bepaid for by themselves.

  55. DT Headline

    The British monarchy hasn’t been this unpopular in the US since burning down the White House

    owsaboutsa

    A POTUS hasn’t been this unpopular in the UK since forever
    IRA Supporter
    Loves Ginge and Minge
    Can’t even walk and talk at the same time
    Interfering in UK and Afghanistan politics, but does not know about either
    Keeps asking where ‘Monica’ the presidential perk is.
    Loves Chinese, not the takeaway

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/03/11/british-monarchy-hasnt-unpopular-us-since-burning-white-house/
    etc

    1. The British monarchy hasn’t given a fig about the US since about 1760.
      Ungrateful kn*bs

  56. you think your lot are bad?

    It has been discovered that Trudeaus mob are using a Chinese firm to process visa applications from Chinese citizens wishing to visit Canada. The Chinese company are apparently closely linked to the Beijing police.

    We now have the sight of a minister defending the arrangement and claiming that there is no conflict of interest.

    1. He’s just trying to get ahead in “The Great Reset” by oiling up to his future masters.

      1. Also there was also three billion dollars in loans to Chinese companies last year.

        Thank heavens that we have imposed sanctions on China in response to the jailing of two Canadian businessmen, if relations were normal who knows what dumb dumb would have done?

    2. I heard on the Five minute hate that the Chinese government is imposing ‘administrators’ on the Hong Kong government to ensure they adhere closer to the party line.

      Mockingly, I’m sure Al Beeb would love to do the same thing to ensure their Left wing policies got through, but more it’s a worrying oppression.

  57. I’m intrigued, wondering which moderator removed the comment where I was less than complimentary to ogga re the readability of some of his comments.
    Either that, or some eejit has made ogga a mod 🙂

    1. Drawing attention to it doesn’t help anyone. If memory serves, ogga is not a well fellow and recovering.

      1. I didn’t know that w. Hope it’s nothing too serious.
        My view is that if he’s happy to dish it out then he should be prepared for a response now and then.
        I genuinely wish him well.

  58. Further to my comment below about the disappearance of the London woman, I have just watched a 2 minute video by Dick Head of the Yard – in which, to my amazement, she virtually said that the man in custody is “the man”.

    Put it another way, one was not left with any doubt about her views….

      1. He must be white then.

        If he had been of colour she would have been far more tactful, even obtuse

        1. Had he been BAME he would have been poor victim with mental health issues.
          That’s usually the excuse.

    2. If he hasn’t actually been charged then Dick of the Yard is totally out of order. It’s called ‘doing a Meagain’.

        1. Sorry, I will look again. It is about the Court of Appeal allowing … the security services to continue encouraging their informers to commit serious crimes in the national interest.

      2. They have found “human remains”…but it will take some time to identify them. Apparently.

    5. I watched that video posted yesterday on the George Floyd trial. Impartial and an interesting discussion about the technicalities of the trial. Of course, there will be riots however it pans out. Its on Court TV but I think watching months of that would be a trial of strength.

  59. Seems that the Astra Zeneca vaccine has some problems to do with blood clotting in Denmark & Austria, to the extent ta Norway has suspended it’s use. Oh, goody.
    }:-((

        1. So far 0.00073% of people who had the OAZ vaccine have had this problem. Rather more Pfizer recipients have exhibited dangerous side effects. The overall death rate from Covid in the UK is 0.18%. That’s the ‘positive test in the last 45 days” figure, “mentioned on the death cert.” is higher. LIfe is never safe.

          2. Yes, realized that halfway through posting, but it made me look up the figures and do a proper comparison, so I put it up anyway. It is always the numbers that count (that’s a joke too).

          4. I am not under 60, have no medical problems and I have had the jab (Pfizer). I know five people now who have the illness and were very very ill, all under 60 and still not fully recovered. One had had stage 3 cancer with chemo and radiotherapy, he says Covid was a lot worse. Also neighbours who have relatives who died, the youngest was 73.

            I am very happy to have had the jab which I did for selfish reasons, and happy that this will soon give herd immunity so that people like you who cannot safely have the jab are no longer at risk.

    3. Which is why we “anti-vaxxers” would rather wait a few years before deciding if the vaccine outweighs the risk.
      Until then, the limp-wristed bedwetters can cue up for it.

          2. “Obama Plaza, Moneygall.” South of the border those suckers love their plastic-Irish POTUS candidates.

        2. Bluddy NOTTLers catch me out every time 🙂
          I’m off back to Breitbart’s Tony Blair thread where I belong 🙂

          3. Not if my better half had her way 😉
            So far it’s a compromise. I do enough of the jobs on her to-do list to cover myself. In between, I catch up on the blogs/fora.

          1. Even I have to admit it was an obvious howler Rastus. I hold my hand up to that one 🙂

    4. 22 out of 3M recipients have experienced some problems with blood clotting. Fully reported all over the EU with several countries withdrawing the vaccine. The Pfizer vaccine has 36 cases of Immune thrombocytopenia which is very dangerous and also causes blood clots and has caused deaths. No reaction from the EU.

    5. A possibly bad batch. Rather strengthens my position of ‘wait and see’, given the long term testing is consisting of it being given to the entire population. It certainly justifies why testing over 5-10 years and not rushing things is the best policy for medicines generally.

      1. I agree. Was talking to my friend the other day, and we both agreed we would be at the back of the queue for as long as possible until we see how it pans out!

        1. Given that Gates and his population-controlling lot are partly funding this (amongst other agenda items), I will giving the vaccines a miss until there’s definitive, independent proof that they are safe long term (including fertility-wise and as regards adverse reactions to other viruses or new variants), and will instead keep myself as fit and healthy as possible to let my own immune system do the job it was designed for.

    6. I’d be OK, I’m on warfarin precisely to prevent blood clotting but, then I’m not taking any vaccine – who knows what happens in 5 -10 years?

          2. David Lammy, on your specialist subject of slavery, you have scored nothing.

            Turns out you’re just a nasty bigoted little man. Please, take your seat. A shame it’s in the commons.

    3. When you think how hard it was for clever white working class children to get into an elite university in the past with the bar set so high and so few places available and now they just open the floodgates for political correctness because they want a black middle class, black people in high status jobs all for the sake of appearances.
      Well I have nothing against that happening if they are capable and are that clever but what a mess they are going to create for the future if they cannot perform to that level.

      1. I daresay in three to four years’ time there will be a record number of firsts awarded too. God help industry and the professions.

      2. They will all go into jobs where they suck off the taxpayer teat. That’s our new ruling class you’re looking at, and they won’t be elected.

    6. Eton was never top of the Oxbridge league in my day – my school usually came above Eton.

      If Oxbridge are giving so many offers to disadvantaged kids, they won’t be able to maintain the same standards, because most of those kids won’t be able to keep up with the workload. They will arrive at the university having covered far less work, and accustomed to a far lower workload than all those evil kids from public schools, or back in the day, grammar schools.
      People who criticise this truth simply have no idea how much work is piled on kids in Oxbridge hothouse schools.

      1. I believe they found that making entrance to university in France easier, the drop-out rate after he first year was enormous.

        2. In France, everyone who has the Bac has the right to go to university; hence the high drop out rate.

    2. What a super idea – houses now so cold that people will die of pneumonia, but obviously it will be recorded as Covid!!

    3. What a super idea – houses now so cold that people will die of pneumonia, but obviously it will be recorded as Covid!!

      2. And if fresh air is good for you, why have people’s exercise periods been restricted? Why can’t people play golf? Why was I not allowed to have riding lessons in a 20m x 40m outdoor arena?

        1. They were determined to remove all reasons for people to go out. They knew they couldn’t stop people from shopping because although the supermarkets worked hard and well to supply people they didn’t and couldn’t arrange enough delivery slots in time. In fact the supermarkets have performed better than any government agency including the NHS. Perhaps they should be running the country !

    6. The quip quote in bggeresterer letters is

      PROTECT THE NHS, not Save Lives, and the Bar Stewards want a Big Pay Rise

      Were the Armed Servicefolk given one after WWI, WW!!, Korea, Falklands, etc all give a rise

      Were they Bullocks

      2. 330198+ up ticks,
        Afternoon OLT,
        By the governance parties they were given a share of the homeland
        as in “the pavement is my pillow”
        ALL condoned by the governance
        party coalition supporters / voters.

        1. “ALL condoned by the governance party coalition supporters / voters.”

          You’re an eejit ogga. The reason UKIP polled just 22,000 votes at the last General Election.
          Cameron’s “Swivel-eyed loons!” Probably the only time the electorate agreed with him.

      3. Another old-timer who seems to have forgotten Kenya and the Mau-Mau.
        Not to mention Singapore etc. the “Forgotten Army.”

    10. Schools tried that over here in the middle of winter.

      When it got down below minus twenty, school caretakers nailed the windows shut.

  67. Society of Editors chief Ian Murray resigns over response to Meghan and Harry interview

    Mr Murray insisted the British press was not racist

    This daft bugger has allowed himself to be cowed by the common ‘woke’ climate. If he had any guts and seriously believed that the British press was not racist, then have the guts to stand up like the unlikely hero, Piers Morgan and say, “That is my opinion and not necessarily that of the Society. Why you should get upset, unless you are racist, then get over it.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/03/11/society-editorschief-ian-murray-resigns-response-meghan-harry/

    1. Afternoon Nan. Judging by the present debate going on in Parliament, the Elites have gone as my Grandfather described it, “Wappy”!

  69. 330198+ up ticks,
    May one ask, could it be that currently the virus is mainly borne by governance overseer politico’s rhetoric, as in they talk a good pandemic.

    1. You’ve recovered then. Can’t say more, last time my comment was removed.
      Give me a clue WTF you’re on about 🙂 Suspect it’s something we already know.
      Long on problems, short on solutions.
      AKA: “If Batten is the answer it must have been a bluddy stupid question.”

      1. They already wear a Thobe or an Izar that look a lot like frocks, no need for new clothes.

    2. I’m already choosing frocks to wear to the Pub. I doubt i will be the only one. Something in satin i think. And a boa…

          2. No chance of me wearing heels in my condition. Perhaps i’ll lose the Boa. Wouldn’t want to do an Isadora Duncan in my wheelchair ! :@(

    3. OK, someone has to be childishly rude; even allowing for the aging process, what DOES she see in the mirror?

  71. According to the DT, La Splurgeon ignored complaints from young women who were groped by the SNP Chief Whip (ahem!).

    So accusations of sexual misconduct against an opponent that are politically useful, #webelieveher, we will not tolerate this behaviour etc.

    On the other hand, accusations against a political ally, tell her to stop whingeing and suck it up.

    Nope, no hint there of impropriety or hypocrisy by the ‘saviour of Scotland’. Anyone who makes a fuss is just picking on poor Splurgeon and doing down the Scots. She might cry, even.

  72. Weather wise , today has been magnificent .. sunshine then torrential rain, sleet , thunder , darkest clouds possible , huge gusts of wind , tree and chimney noise .

    We had to dash out this afternoon to a farm shop nearby , to get some dog food . Moh drove into what looked like a heavy snowstorm , it was so dark over Dorchester , five minutes later the weather had gone through.. interestingly the clouds lost their charcoal look and an amazing cloud covered the sky .. like globules of foam /froth / meringue..

    The clouds were Mammatus clouds , they were incredible , just hung over us when we were on the road home , and then another cloud formation of flat looking clouds that looked like rows of icicles , and the mammatus vanished ..

    The sun is shining now, but it is still very stormy with more rain to come.

  74. Nicked

    It never fucking ends……

    According
    to the director of Kew Gardens. In an interview with the Evening
    Standard, Richard Deverell has today spoken of his concerns about the
    history of the plants based in the Royal Botanic Gardens in south west
    London.

    We’re looking at our collections and how we bring
    new narratives’ adding ‘we’re clearly in part borne from the imperial
    period, from the imperial legacy. I recognise there is a lot to do.’

    He continued: ‘We have a lot to do to broaden the narrative around these
    plants, how they have been used around the world by indigenous
    communities, how they got to Britain… There are complex historical
    narratives here and what matters to us is that we tell these stories in a
    way that resonates with all the different communities we’re seeking to
    reach.’

    Richard Deverell’s previous job Chief Operating Officer of CBBC
    Jawdropping Wokebabble

    1. Is he going to rip out the banana palms and the cotton plants? Wanker.

      If we followed his twisted reasoning we would have to give up pepper and most spices. Or at least plaster them with a trigger warning.

        1. Simple rule of thumb. White pepper on English food and black pepper on everything else. :@)

          2. Garlands sent me some Keralan peppercorns. Fruity and hot. She said they suited my personality. (he lied)..:@)
            I just bought this for my neighbours birthday..https://www.amazon.co.uk/Different-Selection-Authentic-Inspired-Eat-Art/dp/B07MK554K9/ref=asc_df_B07MK554K9/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=375481220391&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=12137975658945131707&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9045334&hvtargid=pla-801590551371&psc=1&tag=&ref=&adgrpid=76300562785&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=375481220391&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=12137975658945131707&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9045334&hvtargid=pla-801590551371

      2. Pillocks like that should do a little more reading.

        I would recommend Frankopan’s Silks Roads.

        1. I recommend the book ‘Nutmeg’. It tells of the beginnings of the spice trade to Great Britain with a bit of piracy and the travails of those who sought the riches that could come from the trade.

    2. It’s the new normal, every white civilisation historic and scientific influence on the world is being airbrushed out.

      1. in a hundred years time we will have completely gone, the world will continue as if we had never existed.

    5. We just have too many incomers, from all nation arriving at Dover, so that they can see the plants that
      we pillaged, when we selling their fore(four) fathers, raping their women, stealing their mudhuts, keeping their
      kids in school all day, giving them health care, stopping them eating each other etc

          1. Best not to ask, Bill, unfortunately. It’s been a bad week for reasons too numerous to mention (and which, frankly, are best forgotten!).

        1. Some of those boxes aren’t bad but wine merchants still turn their noses up at them. I saw a bottling plant in Spain that puts a nice white into both bottles and boxes. You also don’t have to make a trip to the bottle bank every week. Or in your case every other day… :@)

  76. 330198+ up ticks,
    Heard on world at five the priti dastardly one is going on about the safety of women being paramount in today’s society, nothing said about the children running the paedophilia gauntlet on account of her party’s mass uncontrolled immigration input, ongoing,( DOVER ) and including potential paedophiles / allsorted felons.

    Then having a women singing the praises of harman the same harman who was conversing with PIE back in the seventies.
    The bit I find hard to understand is that these political wretches & parties still find support / votes and that tells me
    also that many parents are putting the party before the family.

    1. “Heard on world at five …”

      BBC 5Live?

      What would the Beeb do without it’s loyal audience. Probably out of business by now.

  77. That’s me for the day. Drizzle; gale; bright sunshine – G & P went out for half a hour. Trevor the painter has finished the four rooms. Will return in May to do the outside – and then the three remaining inside rooms.

    So, all in all, a positive day. Will sow tomato seeds tomorrow.

    The second part of the Welsh Art prog on BBC4 was excellent.

    A demain.

    1. ‘Welsh Art’; is that not an oxymoron, Bill ???

      [Takes shelter in over-sized daffodil …]

    2. It has taken me 40 years to get to the point after decorating lots of places i have lived to pay someone else to do a professional job.

      Nearly £2000 to do the whole lot and worth every penny. What made it even better was he did it while i was away on holiday !

    2. Should have kept his mouth shut; a) because he’s continuing the saga, b) because the less said the better and c) one always knows never to believe anything unless it’s been officially denied.

      1. He should have said…’I am not going to dignify that scurrilous question with an answer’. Next !

    3. What’s the betting that Oprah told them to introduce an accusation of racism to spice things up a bit? Oprah, this malevolent muckraker, would stand to make even more money. (I’m not for one minute excusing the vapid Migraine)!

      1. Oprah wouldn’t have needed to.
        Racism is the default for all those of mixed parentage.

    1. Why, out on the fringes, do you take this nonsense so seriously?
      It’s as if you’re trying to convince the rest of us we’re beat.

      1. Why do you never seem to put up any posts other than those criticising other posters and their posts/comments?

        Do you actually have anything to say yourself, or news items to comment on, or are you merely a bot fly, sent to irritate?

        1. I’m not over keen on typing. A reader rather than a contributor
          Only on the fringes of the Left/Right fora am I tempted to respond to the nonsense posted..
          I’ll ask again, why do you people not only read but search out this nonsense. Most of we centre-right don’t bother.

          2. Still the best forum. Missing the likes of Geoffrey Woolard, TCS and John Barry etc. but always a good read.

          3. Geoffrey popped in a couple of months ago and was welcomed, but he only wanted to crow.

          6. I was pleased to see him, and equally pleased when he left again. He just wanted to shout us down.

          9. Looks like he impressed his local voters as he did us. Shame really for an articulate and educated man to be so useless. He should have joined the Labour party and acted as a LibDem mole.

          14. Ah. Would that be Geoffrey Woollard who came here briefly to poke fun at us for doubting that Biden won the US Presidential election and who looked forward to a return to normalcy? That Geoffrey Woollard, a frigging idiot?

          15. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, providing it’s not outside of Geoff’s guidelines.

          16. Indeed they are.
            But I’m afraid that I have little time for those who only appear here to annoy the regulars.
            A different viewpoint? Fine. But doing an “Evilthatmendo”. No.
            (I’ve probably mistaken that particular remainomoron’s moniker)

            Stirring for the sake of stirring. To Hell with them.

          17. If I remember correctly, he had some interesting comments from time to time and not always as a remainer. Perhaps I may be getting him mixed up with someone else.

          19. I have been commenting on here long enough to appreciate the rules.

            By the way, anyone believing that a Biden presidency is good for America must be an authentic optimist. Biden is a corrupt and evil man and his ‘policies’ are proving already disastrous to the US economy.

            The world sees this. Time will tell, approximately a fortnight at the rate of deterioration of the nasty old fool’s faculties.

          20. Out on the fringes, some people can’t cope with opposing views corri.
            He might have gotten it wrong regards Brexit and the Tories, but he always stood his ground. Fair play to him.
            His comments were always worth reading.

          21. Woollard was a typical libdem.

            In his case a wealthy farmer raking in munificence from the EU as if it was his right.

            He didn’t actually stand his ground, he left when it became apparent that his side had lost, and he left in a huff.

            He returned briefly, as someone else noted, to gloat, but even then it back-fired in his face..

          22. I can cope with opposing views. I just thought Woollard’s severe Trump Derangement Syndrome a bit obvious.

            Biden is proving a disaster and those who might have voted for him must surely be regretting their vote.

          23. I can cope with opposing views. I just thought Woollard’s severe Trump Derangement Syndrome a bit obvious.

            Biden is proving a disaster and those who might have voted for him must surely be regretting their vote.

          24. I can cope with opposing views. I just thought Woollard’s severe Trump Derangement Syndrome a bit obvious.

            Biden is proving a disaster and those who might have voted for him must surely be regretting their vote.

          25. Ah. Would that be Geoffrey Woolard who came here briefly to poke fun at us for doubting that Biden won the US Presidential election and who looked forward to a return to normalcy? That Geoffrey Woolard, a frigging idiot?

          26. Search it out?
            It’s everywhere; and if people ignore it, what was fringe becomes the norm.

          27. Which begs the question, why didn’t today’s keyboard warriors not stop the Left before they established themselves.
            When I ask, the answer seems to be that they had different priorities back then. Career, mortgage family etc.
            Today, mortgage-free and guaranteed income, they spend their days telling each other we sheeple should put our lives on
            hold and do what the old-timers wouldn’t do themselves.
            Churchill? Maggie? Cromwell? Bollix. Old-timers talk a good game.

          28. More stirring horseshit from you.

            You’re a “keyboard warrior” and to be honest, not very good at it…

          29. You haven’t explained why you didn’t stop the Left back before they established themselves.

          30. The Left mentality is collective, the Right mentality is individualistic (broad brush here), so the Left organised as a group and the Right did not. As individuals, it’s often difficult to stop a movement.

          31. Not totally true.

            My years in a fairly, but no longer right-wing college were enjoyable.
            Lefties were donated to the Dean’s pond.
            The very pond that Andrew Marr visited a few years after I left, so the tradition continued.

    2. That is wicked beyond description. I hope all the children’s parents demand those cages are removed. If not, no children. It’s utterly degrading.

      1. How can they expect children to learn anything, like this. I do hope this is not for real.

    3. The headmaster needs to visit the local children’s playground after school to see that his /her infantile efforts are an effing nonsense!

      2. Masks are truly dangerous. They would spread disease not contain it. Masks are evidently part of the plan to kill us all off.

        That other Goebbels like character, Dr Fauci, wrote a paper demonstrating that the imposition of masks during the Spanish Flu epidemic actually contributed to deaths.

        1. As well as bacterial pnemonia, they provide the ideal breeding ground for the foundation of lung cancer.

      4. 330198+ up ticks,
        Evening Kp,
        I personally believe it to be the first rinse in the reset program.

    6. 330198+ up ticks,
      O2O,
      Maybe this could throw a little light on the origin of this post if proved factual it would damage the children ongoing, but the setup would be in keeping with what is taking place today.

      https://twitter.com/JohnLWalmsley/status/1370095661937528833

      Now rotherham WAS factual and the coverup for years uncovered by the JAY report HAS surely damaged, mentally scarring those children ongoing
      into adulthood.

      The governance parties responsible are still very much in play being supported and voted for, where is the logic ?

  81. Apparently, in the House of Commons, JESS PHILLIPs has been reading a list of murdered women all day long.

    I am intrigued; the list includes Maria Callas and David Cameron …

    1. I really enjoy those calls.

      They start off “I’m from Microsoft” or something similar.
      I immediately reply “No you’re not, you’re a conman.

      I tell them that they are liars and thieves, that their mothers would be ashamed of them, that Kali will plague their dreams.

      It’s great fun.

      1. Mine are like his, supposedly from BT. Sometimes I’ll get 2 or 3 a day. Some I play along with for a while, others I’ll just get it all off my chest with foul abuse.

        1. I find that “your mother would be ashamed of you” always causes them to stop in their tracks.
          I don’t swear at them.

      2. The best thing to do, if you’ve got the spare time, is to do a ‘Lenny’ (see above post) and keep them on the phone for ages, running up their phone bill doing nothing – noting that whilst they’re doing so, they can’t scam anyone else. They normally ring off…eventually.

        1. I do similarly, I tell them I’m having problems with my PC and can they be patient.

      3. I have suggested these before

        If ‘Microsoft’ want to fix your windows, you chat about some ( that need cleaning) in the 17th storey of a flats
        whilst they ramble on about ‘puters. They normally hangup

        If they ask you how you are… supturating piles, bad breath……etc

        1. It may be apocryphal, but there was a story a few years ago about an unsolicited call from a conservatory salesman. After half an hour of verbal jousting, the recipient of the call finally agreed to a visit from a rep.

          “My address? It’s Flat 12, Eighth Floor…” The caller hung up.

      4. Having enjoyed 15 years of peace, it came as a surprise, upon moving here, to receive around half a dozen unwanted calls a day. I bought a BT call-blocking phone. I transferred all the contacts from my mobile, via Bluetooth. Any caller not listed is asked to identify themselves. They never do…

        1. We don’t get any of those spam calls – mind you some people have trouble getting through……

    4. If you have a chatty five-year old, just hand the phone over to them. That way you can get on with your life.

    5. Firstborn put on an Indian accent and shouted down the phone: “Sanjeev! Sanjeev! Is that you, bastard? What you do? Why you call me when I am sitting close to you and working like a busy person? Can you not dial phone properly now?”
      Cracked me up, so it did!

    6. My brother took such a call just as he finished his dinner. He told the Indian to hang on until he switched his computer on. He then went and washed up the dishes, dried them and put them away and went back to the phone. The scammer was still hanging on. Told him to FO.

  84. Thought for the day and Araminta Smade in particular.
    A Brigade is typically 5,000 men.
    Presumably we have at least 77 brigades because we all know 77th brigade exists. They tell us so.

    77 x 5,000 = 385,000.
    The current strength of the British Army: As of 2020, the British Army comprises 80,040 regular full-time personnel and 30,020 reserve personnel.

    Now I may be wrong here, but I believe 110,060 is a fair way fewer than 385,000.
    Where are they all? Are we paying them, and barracking them, and feeding them?
    We should be told.

    Silly tin foil hat on!

    1. And p.s., that’s a lot of Brigadiers and even more senior officers being paid a small fortune; by my standards.

          2. Uncalled for Mr Grizzle

            His Leadership made D day work

            As did Mr Turing

            Good men both. now I am worried (so would they be) that gaynes will become compulsory, to get a job: it is now with the BBC

    3. In his column Capitol Stuff, published in the Daily News (New York City, N.Y.) of Tuesday 19th February 1946, John O’Donnell also dated Stalin’s question to the Yalta Conference—he evoked:

      the famous anecdote of the Roosevelt-Stalin exchange at Yalta. The American President after listening to Stalin announce his political intentions in eastern Europe, gently suggested:
      “Have you considered the attitude of the Pope in this demand?”
      “How many divisions has the Pope?” Stalin replied.

  85. I don’t have a TV licence so don’t watch live TV or iPlayer. However, circumstances dictate that I have Amazon Prime and one or two of you might like to take a look at this 10 episode series covering the Rise of Catherine the Great. It’s not a corner of history I was familiar with (The prospect of studying the Corn Laws put me off taking A level history). However, I thought this was a good production with English Subtitles:

    https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/video/detail/B072KV72W1/ref=atv_hm_hom_1_c_2LIVgA_4_7

    1. Looks interesting, the music sounds rather ‘Game of Thronesish’ and I’m not keen on subtitles. But as you say, I also know little about her and might give it a whirl.

      2. talking of Game of thrones, here’s a footnote:

        British royalty:
        Olga Constantinovna of Russia, great-great-granddaughter of Catherine, was the paternal grandmother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and his descendants which include Prince Charles, Prince of Wales; his son, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge; and William’s son, Prince George of Cambridge; the three direct heirs to the throne of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. She also was a maternal great-great-great-great-great grandmother of Prince Edward, 2nd Duke of Kent, Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy and Prince Michael of Kent through her great-great-great-great granddaughter Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent, and who are all grandchildren of King George V.

  86. “DVLA workers in Swansea to strike over Covid safety fears”;

    I wonder how long it will be before the Government realises that the whole DVLA edifice with 6000 employees is redundant and can be superceeded with an App for Driving Licences and Car Registration documents?

    1. DVLA NEVER EVER meet Joe/Josephine/Joeta/Joeboy/Joegirl Public etc in real life.

      Everything comes into them by paper, if you want to prolong the use of a Local Post Office, or on line.

      They really must stop ‘doing tongues, when they meet in corridors

      I suppose Boros could have the slogans

      Stay indoors Ditch the NHS Save the DVLA

    2. The Covid infection rates at the DVLC have been in fact exactly in line with infection rates in Swansea, but because it is a large employer there were a large number of them, so the online rag walesonline.co.uk made a big fuss about. Then they all started feeling sorry for themselves.

      Walesonline were not being Machiavellian in this, their reporters are just not very bright.

      1. Thanks for the info. Just over year ago I took a long walk through the City of London on my way to a Gresham Lecture. I was amazed at the sight of thousands of young office workers in offices sat at computer terminals. At the time I couldn’t help wondering how many would still be employed in a decade’s time with the advances in AI….?

        1. Throughout my working life I have heard about how IT will make Accounts Departments redundant, yet they have continued to grow and grow. AI will not supplant anybody in an office, in fact since Business Intelligence AI came on the scene it has caused the creation of a new department of people sitting at computers operating the BI system.

          The head count of 6,000 does seem rather high, but they do a lot more than Driving Licences and VED. Much of the work comes from legacy procedures that cannot be abandoned without govt. intervention. But if the govt. sets up an IT project to replace it all, it will turn out very expensive. The current staffing cost is about £200M pa and an IT project run by the Civil Service to replace it all would cost about £1Bn plus heavy conversion costs. You would still need at least 1,000 staff, with higher pay profile. And this being the Civil Service, the new IT system might never work. If the govt. found itself in the position that all traffic convictions had to be handed back and licence points deleted because of cock ups in the ‘new’ DVLC system, that would really hurt.

          1. I suspect an organisation like Amazon might be able to take the transition in its stride….:-(

          2. I doubt it. Bill Gates sold St.Tone the NHS IT system which cost £12Bn and delivered absolutely zero value the the NHS. Amazon would not be any better, they aren’t that good. Google were very good in their early days, but not now. To do it the govt. would have to go to a large IT organization with the right project experience (which Amazon doesn’t remotely have). It would be someone like SAP or Oracle, and their costs would make the current DVLC look cheap.

          3. I can remember installing telecommunications equipment for the NHS IT system in exchanges.
            I cannot remember commissioning it though or seeing it working, which leads me to wonder if any or all of it ever got switched on.

          4. Everyone in the IT business, except those working on the system (almost all American), were telling the govt. it was a disaster, the wrong way to do it. Tone wouldn’t listen. Like many with a background in law he had found someone to trust, and he trusted him. He didn’t realize that to Bill Gates he was just a sales target to be worked for maximum profit. St.Tone was an exceptionally naive customer, with lots of money.

  88. I think an apology is due in spades!:

    Crimean-Nogai raids in Eastern Europe

    Date 1468-1769

    Hundreds of thousands of Eastern European, Caucasian, and Central European people enslaved for sale in the Crimean slave market
    Devastation in the areas targeted by raids

    For over three centuries, the military of the Crimean Khanate and the Nogai Horde conducted slave raids primarily in lands controlled by Russia[a] and Lithuania-Poland[b] as well as other territories.

    Their main purpose was the capture of slaves,[1] most of whom were exported to the Ottoman slave markets in Constantinople or elsewhere in the Middle East. Genoese and Venetians merchants controlled the slave trade from Crimea to Western Europe. The raids were a drain of the human and economic resources of eastern Europe. They largely inhabited the “Wild Fields” – the steppe and forest-steppe land which extends from a hundred or so miles south of Moscow to the Black Sea and which now contains most of the Russian and Ukrainian population. The campaigns also played an important role in the development of the Cossacks.[2][3][4][5]

    Estimates of the number of people affected vary: Polish historian Bohdan Baranowski assumed that in the 17th century Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (present-day Poland, Ukraine and Belarus) lost an average of 20,000 yearly and as many as one million in all years combined from 1474 to 1694.[6] Mikhail Khodarkhovsky estimates that 150,000 to 200,000 people were abducted from Russia in the first 50 years of the 17th century.[7]

    The first major raid occurred in 1468 and was directed into the south-eastern border of Poland.[1] The last raid into Hungary took place in 1717.[8] In 1769 a last major Tatar raid, which took place during the Russo-Turkish War, saw the capture of 20,000 slaves.[9]

  89. Carrie versus Cumbria …

    Workington MP Mark Jenkinson told the Tory MP’s Whatsapp group that Mr Jenrick has “bowed to climate terrorists” and said the decision was a “kick in the teeth”.

    He pointed to the likely loss of £165m in private investment to his area.

    And former Minister Robert Goodwill added that the UK would be forced to buy steel “from those lovely Chinese people instead.”

    And the new mine would be in Copeland seat of Boris Johnson’s key aide Trudy Harrison.

    She is under pressure tonight to quit as the PM’s parliamentary bagcarrier.

    One MP said: “She’s been made to look a fool and should not put up with this.”

    Question for Boris:

    British Steel, investment and jobs – or Chinese Steel ?

    1. Excellent – I assume that will now stop the hatred of the English which I understand is often expressed in some quarters….

      1. Action stations
        Action stations
        Action stations

        Airborne Porcine Squadron incoming

        Man you mobiles for speed dailling Defence Solicitors

        (Too late in the day for the Legal Beagle, the kittens may help though)

        1. Claws, teeth and scent glands ready for deployment Sir, at your command.

          signed G*P Kitty Killers for hire. Merciless and Mercenary Pussies.

      2. Years ago I was working on the Hunterian Art Gallery and Macintosh House at Glasgow University.

        The contractor was John Laing and I recall the hostility the site operatives found for the despised ‘Architects from London’.

        The bog standard Scots have always hated the English. The English, by comparison, have more or less continued to applaud Scottish invention and acuity.

        We admire Stephenson and Watt, also their great architects. Also their great scientists.

        With Sturgeon in charge the magical cultural connection between Scotland and England is temporarily eviscerated.

        We have always loved Scotland and the Scots.

      3. Years ago I was working on the Hunterian Art Gallery and Macintosh House at Glasgow University.

        The contractor was John Laing and I recall the hostility the site operatives found for the despised ‘Architects from London’.

        The bog standard Scots have always hated the English. The English, by comparison, have more or less continued to applaud Scottish invention and acuity.

        We admire Stephenson and Watt, also their great architects. Also their great scientists.

        With Sturgeon in charge the magical cultural connection between Scotland and England is temporarily eviscerated.

        We have always loved Scotland and the Scots.

  91. When we look back on Hitler and the Holocaust we think how on earth did normally sentient industrious folk fall for it?

    So it is today as we listen to Johnson, Hancock, Whitty, Vallance, and Van Tam, how on earth did normally sentient industrious folk fall for it?

    We have been subjected to the utterances of a year long tissue of lies from these charlatans, have seen our jobs lost on a monumental scale, our industries almost destroyed and our young people denied formal education.

    And for what? A fake pandemic supported by corrupt politicians who hope to gain enormously from the largesse coming from the globalists, supporting government big pharmaceutical companies and flogging highly dubious vaccines and other genetic implants.

    I never thought that the British would fall for this shit in a thousand years yet here we are.

    2. So true. People just obey without question. They all think if they get corvid they are dead. Amazing.

    3. We also have curtain twitching snitchers looking out for two people having a coffee together, and our civil liberties have been stripped away. It’s easy now to see how the sensible German people in the 30s fell for this kind of thing.

      1. I have the Anthems in Eden by Shirley & Dolly on vinyl and Kathleen Ferrier’s mono recording of Orfeo et Euridice

  96. A brief good morning to anyone still awake.
    And for the 5th day in a row the Telegraph kicks it’s paying subscribers in the teeth by not allowing BTL Comments on it’s letters page.

    1. The Deep State News doesn’t want to hear from Normals but it wants their money.

      Esc bypasses the paywall.

  97. Back again, ‘cos, like BoB, I’ve checked the DT Letters and posted on the 7th March BTL, as if i was my Best Beloved, the following:

    judith ewing
    12 Mar 2021 2:42AM
    For those bereft of comments on the DT Letters there is an alternative at https://nttl.blog/

    However be aware, An unofficial place to discuss the Telegraph letters, established when the DT website originally turned off its comments facility (now reinstated, but not as good as ours), Intelligent, polite, good-humoured debate is welcome, whether on or off topic. Differing opinions are encouraged, but rudeness or personal attacks on other posters will not be tolerated. Posts which – in the opinion of the moderators – make this a less than cordial environment, are likely to be removed, without prior warning. Persistent offenders will be banned. Edit ()

    I hope I don’t overstep any other NTTL guidelines by doing this – it is obvious that The DT has left many people feeling lost and lonely.

    I shall try and repeat tomorrow but it depends at what hour I can drag myself out of my pit!

Comments are closed.