Thursday 12 December: The West must not sit idly by as its enemies look to shape the new Syria

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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593 thoughts on “Thursday 12 December: The West must not sit idly by as its enemies look to shape the new Syria”

  3. Early start today for some! I am dozing in bed, catching up on podcasts and panicking that i have to organise Christmas and i haven’t started yet. It’s the same every year – i know it’s coming but it still causes me anxiety.

    Still, i have a present for my aunty and i am looking at hotels to go away with my parents for a few days next year. The question is -where? I’m liking the look of Northumbria at the moment.

    1. No-one to buy for – I'm the sole survivor of 8 other siblings and for me Christmas is just another dreary, lonely day!

      2. I had two to protect (or rather put at ease) MB as his health is poor. If I were on my own, I wouldn't have bothered.
        The results a fortnight later took irony to new heights.

    3. And those who had jabs and have been troubled with heart conditions are no longer having jabs. Of any type whatsoever. 8

  8. Morning Geoff and the other insomniacs
    Today's Tales
    I heard you married again."
    “Yes, for the fourth time.”
    “What happened to the first three?”
    “They all died.”
    “What happened?”
    “My first wife ate poison mushrooms.”
    “How sad. What happened to your second wife?”
    “She ate poison mushrooms too.”
    “What about the third wife. Did she eat poison mushrooms?”
    “No, she died of a broken neck.”
    “Had an accident, eh?”
    “No. She wouldn’t eat her mushrooms.”

    The French couple asked their ten-year-old son what he wanted for Christmas.
    “I wanna watch,” he replied.
    So they let him.

  9. Good morning all.
    Still dark of course, but another mild and dry start to the day with a tad over 6°C on the New Yard Thermometer.
    According to the max/min read out on the New Thermometer, the temperature varied from 5.4° to 6.7°C.

      1. Morning, Paul. Following months of chiroppractic and massage I am walking normally and the sciatic leg is 95% good. I will definitely be playing bowls next year.

  11. Morning, all Y'all.
    Chilly, heavy frost, and still mostly dark. Bed seems very attractive just now – much scraping of car windows before leaving for work… 🙁

        1. Brrrrr! The lowest I have experienced, since I moved here, was –26ºC, and that was a tad parky, Tom.

          1. Even in the Dordogne we've been as low as -20°C; which came a real surprise, given how far South we are.
            Normally we get some frosts each year, usually in the -4 range and snow isn't an annual event.

  14. 398663+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Priorities, priorities,priorities,I would hazard a guess and strong feeling that while we were shaping a new Syria old England would be suffering a massive hammering shaping it,within the lab/lib/con forge along the WEF / NWO/ RESET construct.

    I truly believe for what it is worth that the time for England to continue to sit idly by has long passed, we are bursting at the seams with SHITE, one BIG sewerage plant of a nation created via the polling stations these last 30 plus years, that needs URGENT ATTENTION NOW.

    Thursday 12 December: The West must not sit idly by as its enemies look to shape the new Syria

  15. Good morning! Sitting around with just under two and a half hours to go before I can remove the heart monitor. Took molar’s advice last night. I don’t have a suitable t-shirt but was wearing a thin top yesterday and kept that on to hold all the bits in place overnight. Tempting to take a taxi to the clinic again today to return the monitor. Easy to hail a black cab on Shepherd’s Bush Green and so much easier than tube and bus. Worth the expense I think.

    2. Take care 'our Susan', those who have already been there know what you are going through. But it's worth it in the end. 🤗

  17. The new Thatcher? No, globalist Badenoch misses the big picture.

    There'll never be another Maggie (or Winston).

    HomePolitics The new Thatcher? No, globalist Badenoch misses the big picture

          1. The last time I proposed that, Duncan Mac ("Monarch of the Glen") an erstwhile and much missed NoTTLer, gave the same retort.

            I'll rephrase: Someone like Edward I (but who loves the Welsh and Scots) is what is needed.

      2. You need a young charismatic leader, a combo of;

        David Starkey —- for his clear understanding of the super successful English constitution model of governance and which bits of Brown & Blair's vandalism to undo.
        Dominic Cummings —- for his Machiavellian ruthlessness in dealing with Whitehall.
        Farage —- for his thick skin and ability to perform unscripted speeches.
        Churchill —- for his clever aphorisms.
        Elon Musk —- exceptional entrepreneurial track record & hands-on talent.

        and lastly you need someone who looks 'right' & sounds 'right'.
        Keir Starmer? Owen Jones? David Lammy? Liz Truss? Theresa May? And my favourite Anneliese Dodds.

        1. If you combined your last group and marketed it as an emetic you'd make a fortune, nobody could stomach such a mixture.

    1. Just another standard newspaper trope in Britain basically: sabre rattling. They're well behind the curve. It's already "shaped" and since the UK has absolved itself from any meaningful involvement by piling on in ICC it's position is actually irrelevant.

      At times like these you can trust the papers to shed about as much light on the situation as a spaceman shining his torch into a black hole.

  19. Good morning Nottlers, 1°C, cloudy and becalmed (again, or is that still?)) on the Costa Clyde.

  20. Egypt was allowed to deal with the Muslim Brotherhood. Do they just have a stronger more unified and better coordinated military? The MB have been killed or put under lock and key there and with minimal screeching from the loony left. How come? No jews involved? The loony left just distracted elsewhere?

    1. I suspect that if Egypt was exposed as Syria has been one might well find similar prisons for the opposition and palaces for the rulers.

    2. It does make you wonder, doesn’t it. Algeria dealt with its islamic terror problem a few years ago in a similar way.

  21. Judith Woods is wrong.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fd65f83acd9a2c8962bdff7d33dd2e1be9848c80945dde82b15f94fa0d0c4b7e.png
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/12/11/horrific-sara-sharif-murder/

    While I feel nothing but hatred and loathing for the savages who did this to a defenceless little girl I don't see why any of us who are not involved in national politics, local politics, schools, 'social services' or police should feel any shame whatsoever. That is where the failures lie.

    1. No Judith Woods.

      The guilt first of all belongs to the various government organisations who tried to appease members of

      a certain protected religion by ignoring the very obvious problem .

      The guilt also belongs to the Court who decided not to order deportation of the foreigners upon

      completion of their sentences.

    2. No comments on either of the Sharif stories. I think the neighbours and the school should have done more to alert social services but not our wider population. We have had these savages imposed on us against our will and better judgement.
      What has become of Sara's siblings? Still in Pakistan?

      1. I think so.
        As I read it (in the Daily Mail) the Pakistan police come out of this saga with more honour than a raft of British apparatchiks in social services and education.

    3. It's the usual nasty journalistic libel that they perpetrate against ordinary everyday people. They've been doing it for years and is one of the principle reasons I don't read them anymore.

      The mindless rejoinder is of course just as unpalatable: the shame is ours, the Daily Telegraph, because as those committed to speaking truth to power and exposing injustice we failed to look for it.

      As the Sun liked to say, "We're Sorry Folks".

    4. It's the usual nasty journalistic libel that they perpetrate against ordinary everyday people. They've been doing it for years and is one of the principle reasons I don't read them anymore.

      The mindless rejoinder is of course just as unpalatable: the shame is ours, the Daily Telegraph, because as those committed to speaking truth to power and exposing injustice we failed to look for it.

      As the Sun liked to say, "We're Sorry Folks".

    5. It's the usual nasty journalistic libel that they perpetrate against ordinary everyday people. They've been doing it for years and is one of the principle reasons I don't read them anymore.

      The mindless rejoinder is of course just as unpalatable: the shame is ours, the Daily Telegraph, because as those committed to speaking truth to power and exposing injustice we failed to look for it.

      As the Sun liked to say, "We're Sorry Folks".

    6. It's the usual nasty journalistic libel that they perpetrate against ordinary everyday people. They've been doing it for years and is one of the principle reasons I don't read them anymore.

      The mindless rejoinder is of course just as unpalatable: the shame is ours, the Daily Telegraph, because as those committed to speaking truth to power and exposing injustice we failed to look for it.

      As the Sun liked to say, "We're Sorry Folks".

    7. I don't think the people who write these articles realise how much we loathe the establishment that spawned this crime.

    8. She was dressed up as gaol bait for her "uncle's" benefit, as she was approaching the age where she might grow pubic hair.
      Fair skin and a British passport.
      I wonder if she was resisting such a fate?

    9. And where is the anger at the muslim pakistani paedophile's mechanised rape of children for years, all over the country? Why this one little girl when hundreds were abused?

  23. A strange look for a muslim girl. I see parallels with JonBenét Patricia Ramsey.

    Rest in peace little one.

    2. You are right on the trail; the photo would have been aimed at potential suitors in Islamo-stan.

  24. Iain Hunter, in Free Speech, exposes the ugly truth about one aspect of the punitive tax regime that is likely to get very much worse under this far left, grasping socialist government, tax on your house. There are worrying rumours that the kleptocrats in government who steal your money and then waste it on their approved groups and mad schemes, like carbon capture, are planning to tax you on ‘profit’ when you sell your house. In his article Taxed To Death Iain exposes the idea for the fraud that it is.

    Also today, we review a book, Truth Was My Crime , by Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff, about her journey to the ECHR after being charged with hate crimes for writing about Islam’s prophet’s marriage to a very young child. She lost, thus exposing the fact that two-tier justice runs right through the veins of woke-dominated Europe.

    Energy watch: Demand: 37.717 GW. Supply: Hydrocarbons 70.6%; Wind 5.3%; Imports 2.343%, Biomass 2.383% and Nuclear 10%. So, after all the ‘investment’, subsidies and talk of the green revolution by Mad Ed Miliband, wind source energy can only produce five percent of demand.

    freespeechbacklash.com

    1. We have a 'blocking high' at the moment which is normal at this time of year. No sun and no wind. But Minibrain wants us to rely on unreliables.

      1. He just wants to impose the totalitarian nightmare of net zero on us in my view. He couldn’t care less about security of supply.

      2. He just wants to impose the totalitarian nightmare of net zero on us in my view. He couldn’t care less about security of supply.

      3. And then when occasionally the wind does blow it rips apart a massive solar panel field in Wales, also rips the blades off wind turbines. And we'll be expected to pay in order to put it all back together. The more these are built then the worse it'll get.

        Apparently this is "all the science" though, so maybe I'm just speaking out of turn.

    2. Two tier everything in the EU. Who knew? Two Tier Keir is right on board with that, so no wonder he pines for the good old days of bureaucratic injustice.

    3. The Bank of England are responsible for house price inflation because they created all the extra money that had to go somewhere. Now their mates in the government want to steal some of that inflated currency from people. Pure wickedness, stealing people's time and energy which they only want to use to put a roof over their heads.

  26. I disagree Mac. We should be ashamed, ashamed for allowing a state of affairs to arise where a large, alien group thinks it has the right to carry on as if they were in the backward tribal areas of Pakistan.

    1. 'We' have had no choice but to have these savage medieval people imposed on our previously civilised country. We did not want or need them here.

      1. I fully understand Ndovu, and agree in part, but we carried on voting Labour and Tory despite all their broken promises on stiopping/limiting immigration.

        1. Not voting last July has let in this dreadful Labour government. Less than 20% of the electorate voted for them. The tories were incompetent but this lot are evil.

          2. Honestly, I don’t see much difference, and you could argue that voting Reform let labour in, and therefore we should all carry on voting Tory, regardless of how bad they get?

        2. I haven't voted in a general election since 2002 (?) because it became obvious that no party was keeping its promises to check mass immigration.

          1. The Only time I’ve voted was for brexit and this last time, when I voted Reform, but the collective we carries on voting Uniparty.

          3. And you shouldn’t accept collective guilt John. That’s not what I’m saying. But we are all part of a wider society and the society we belong to is collectively guilty, and being collectively punished.

        3. Not all of us. I haven't voted for any of the legacy parties since before 1997. If I had no alternative candidate to vote for I spoiled my ballot paper by writing on it "no X" where X was a policy espoused by the main parties to which I objected.

  27. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/12/12/households-face-extra-charges-to-pay-off-38bn-energy-debts/

    OK, a long article that equates to 'energy expensive, folk can't afford to pay, energy companies in debt.

    Well… what did anyone expect? This was inevitable and is nothing to do with the Russia/Ukraine conflict. Gas prices were spiking before then because of government policy. Government also made it illegal to cut off those customers who didn't pay.

    Hiking the standing charge was an attempt to mitigate the folk who couldn't pay by socialising those non-paying customers around everyone.

    It comes down to a simple, obvious problem: the government is trying to break a market. It is deliberately, intentionally rigging the energy market and, like all such efforts it breaks. This is the consequence of government policy.

    So many things would be resolved if the state simply buggered off and let markets do what they do.

  28. Lee Anderson is right. Here are 10 ways life is harder for men than women

    We may not all have fought in the Battle of The Somme, but life can be tough for us blokes

    Michael Deacon
    Columnist & Assistant Editor
    12 December 2024 7:00am GMT

    Lee Anderson, the hot-tempered Reform MP, has spent the week being the butt of Left-wing online ridicule. Yes, even more than usual. And it’s all because he made one of the biggest mistakes you can ever make on social media.

    In short: he dared to suggest that, at least sometimes, life is tougher for men than women.

    It all began when a woman on Twitter asked the following question. “Women deal with periods, pregnancy and menopause,” she wrote. “What do men have to deal with?”

    An honest answer might have been, “Women dealing with periods, pregnancy and menopause.” That, of course, would have landed Mr Anderson in quite enough trouble. His actual reply, however, managed to provoke an even greater uproar.

    It was: “Try the Battle of the Somme.”

    Obviously what he meant was: “In times of war, it tends to be men who get conscripted to fight and die on the front line, not women.” But, social media being what it is, almost everyone has chosen to ignore that, and instead pilloried him for appearing to suggest that fighting on the Somme in 1916 is a universal male experience.

    I for one, however, have some sympathy for Mr Anderson. Because, while I myself may never have fought on the Somme, or indeed in any other military conflict, I do think he’s got a point. Just as women are the only ones who have to endure periods, pregnancy and menopause, there really are problems in life that only us poor men have to endure.

    And here are 10 of them…

    1. Fat
    Yes, obviously women put on weight too. But at least they tend to do it in a consistent, uniform manner. To put it bluntly: if a woman is fat, she’s fat all over. A man, however, can develop a vast, pendulous beer belly while his arms and legs remain skinny. Which just makes him look ridiculous. Like a frog that’s swallowed a bowling ball.

    2. Eyebrows
    Around the age of 40, if you’re a man, these begin sprouting crazed, wiry tufts, making you resemble a grumpy owl. When hairdressers start asking you if you’d like them trimmed, it’s embarrassing enough. But in due course, something even more embarrassing happens. Hairdressers just trim them automatically, without even stopping to ask.

    3. Nasal hair
    Charles Darwin may have been one of the most influential thinkers in history, but I don’t believe he ever managed to explain the evolutionary purpose of middle-aged men growing a small forest in each of their nostrils. Or, later on, their ears.

    4. Silver fox envy
    Most women can’t stand it when their hair goes grey, so they dye it. Simple enough. For men, however, the issue is more complicated. Because when men go grey, like George Clooney, they somehow seem more attractive, elegant, serious. Which leaves those of us who still have our original hair colour feeling somehow less manly – like a squeaky-voiced 16-year-old boy who hasn’t gone through puberty. Perhaps we should do the opposite of women, and dye it grey.

    5. Jawline
    In our youth, strong and square. Yet in middle age, it loses definition, and goes all vague and wobbly like the coast of Norway. Which is of course why, around the age of 40, so many men grow beards. Mentioning no names, Prince Harry. Or William.

    6. Bladder
    In later life, shrivels to the size of a lentil – leading to weary, bleary-eyed trips to the loo at 2am. We might as well sleep in the bathroom, to save wearing out our slippers.

    7. Snoring
    All right, so our wives will argue that they’re the real victims here. But we suffer too. Obstructive sleep apnoea – around three times more common in men than women – can leave us at risk of high blood pressure, heart conditions and stroke. At the very least, we wake up feeling as if we’ve spent the whole night gargling a Brillo pad.

    8. Clothes shopping
    The bosses of high-street clothing chains have eyes only for women. Hence the vast and varied arrays of stylish outfits on offer to them. Men, by contrast, are treated as a dreary, dowdy afterthought. Which is why the men’s sections of such chains are so paltry, and invariably resemble a jumble sale held by the gild of retired Blue Peter presenters.

    9. Life expectancy
    Even if we aren’t forced to fight on the Somme, we die younger than women do. Then again, not every man may see this as a bad thing. To quote the comedian Simon Munnery: “Why do men die before their wives? Could it be because they want to?”

    10. Stiff upper lip
    Of course, I could have made some slightly more serious points here. Compared to women, men have vastly higher rates of alcoholism, drug addiction, homelessness and suicide. The problem, however, is that complaining about how hard it is to be a man is considered unmanly. So we tend not to do it. Unless, that is, we fancy getting monstered like Lee Anderson.

    ********************************************

    1 hr ago

    11, an easy target.

    Being a white single male indeed places me in a minority – a person people can attack and call all sorts of names and it’s perfectly fine!

    Apparently it perfectly fine to hurl terms like a misogynist, racist, homophobic transphobia, Islamophobic and any other phobic they want to call me.

    I’m none of those, but that’s ok to band me in

    Oh and right wing nazi

    1 hr ago

    Most of the dangerous jobs and hard jobs are done by men. We are expected to fight, to perform most constructions work, to fight fires, to mine, drill. The list goes on. It is passing strange that the women's rights seem to end at a certain threshold of danger and hard labour.

    The education system is predominated by females which means young males are adversely effected in a manner so egregious that if it was young girls it would be a national scandal. Mens health outcomes are vastly worse than women's, men's mental health issues are more or less ignored (this is very bad as while the young girl suicide rate is as high, men are much more efficient at killing themselves)

    First wave feminism I have some sympathy with, every subsequent wave is marxism critical theory in disguise.

    2. My Father (1895 – 195) fraught in both WW1 and WWII. My Mother didn't. She just raised six children!

    3. And. On top of that try getting divorced, losing everything including your children while the ex-wife sits pretty getting condolences for something she has chosen to do. Even getting tea and sympathy from the courts when in essence she is a thief and kidnapper who still has access to your wallet. And you are considerably poorer.

      1. I divorced my violent and controlling, abusive ex husband. He got his half share of the house. I even kept his life insurance policy paid up for him. Don't tar all women with the same brush.

    4. I do hope Anderson is sitting in a pub somewhere quietly chuckling over a glass of whisky. Winding up the permanently self righteous prigs among us is an honourable profession in my opinion, now that we aren't supposed to go fox hunting anymore.

    5. I do hope Anderson is sitting in a pub somewhere quietly chuckling over a glass of whisky. Winding up the permanently self righteous prigs among us is an honourable profession in my opinion, now that we aren't supposed to go fox hunting anymore.

    6. "Try the battle of the Somme" is a perfectly reasonable reply. Anyone except a half-wit would understand that men though the ages have fought in battles that were not always called after the Somme.

    7. The idea of women not being completely equal to men is funny and daft. Different, yes – they'll never be as strong or as fast as men are, our eyes are designed for different things – a woman's peripheral vision is vastly better than a man's but distance vision and angular calculation is inferior: one group is designed to guard the cave and pick berries, the other to lob spears at mammoths.

      All said and done, when anyone wants something built, made, designed, constructed, sold, made… they always ask a white man.

  30. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6f7db83f0287afe802a4ada06945515da430714470d9df969bbed6e43706c9e2.png SIR — While Rosemary J Wells (Letters, December 12) may well be correct in claiming that many Americanisms were the original English spellings
    of words that were retained after independence, she is incorrect in asserting that the British “added a U to words like ‘flavor’ etc”.

    In his excellent book, Have You Eaten Grandma, Gyles Brandreth informs us that it was the American, Noah Webster, “who did not approve of
    Dr Johnson’s ‘idiosyncratic’ spellings of certain words.”     As a consequence he introduced An American Dictionary of the English Language which, among other suggested changes (many of which were considered too absurd to adopt), he proposed dropping the U from words like ‘color’, ‘endeavor’, ‘flavor’ and ‘humor’.

    Webster also persuaded Americans to turn centre into ‘center’, theatre into ‘theater’, and to make defence ‘defense’, draught ‘draft’, gaol ‘jail’
    and plough ‘plow’. Clearly a lot of change from Standard English took place after the American Revolution.

    A Grizzly B
    Sweden.

    2. 2,500 copies were printed for the first edition of Mr Webster's dictionary; it remains one of the most significant books in the history of the USA. Some of his descendants live in the UK. He knew Thomas Jefferson, and started out as an abolitionist but softened his views later for (IMHO) pragmatic reasons.
      Edit: the word 'gotten' comes from Old English, and prior to that, Norse. As a name (not an adjective or verb) it is has agricultural origins, and can mean 'homestead' (as in 'small farm').

    3. "Webster also persuaded Americans to turn centre into ‘center’, theatre into ‘theater’, and to make defence ‘defense’, draught ‘draft’, gaol ‘jail’
      and plough ‘plow’. Clearly a lot of change from Standard English took place after the American Revolution."

      I am not aware of any expert that says they didn't. To the contrary most people are aware that the Americans changed spelling because the British is absurd in many instances. Centre is just pretentious and, as far as I understand it was done to emulate French, which was considered to be superior to English. But, as far as vocabulary goes, it is almost always terminology where the new word was introduced by the British who then, in their ethnocentricity, decided that the American were wrong and the English right based on nothing more than an ignorance of older British English terminology. Thus 'truck' is derived from the wheeled base on which a cannon was placed. Lorry is the innovation.
      TRUCK
      [vehicle] 1610s, originally "small solid wheel or roller" (especially one on which the carriages of a ship's guns were mounted), said to be probably from Latin trochus "iron hoop," from Greek trokhos "wheel," from trekhein "to run" The sense was extended to "cart for carrying heavy loads" (1774), especially strong and heavy two- and four-wheeled vehicles with a low body; then in American English to "motor vehicle for carrying heavy loads"

      LORRY
      1838, British railroad word, probably from verb lurry "to pull, tug" (1570s), which is of uncertain origin. Meaning "large motor vehicle for carrying goods on roads" (equivalent of U.S. truck (n.1)) is first attested 1911.

      As you can see Truck (1774) is much older than Lorry (1911)

      The same goes for most "American innovations", most are older than British English.

      1. "Webster also persuaded Americans to turn centre into ‘center’, theatre into ‘theater’, and to make defence ‘defense’, draught ‘draft’, gaol ‘jail’ and plough ‘plow’. Clearly a lot of change from Standard English took place after the American Revolution."

        That above passage you quoted are not my words, they are from Brandreth's book and are his words.

        I would suggest that words such as 'centre' were most probably introduced into English by the Norman invaders, so have become standard English for over a millennium.

        'The same goes for most "American innovations", most are older than British English.'

        I'm not sure what you mean by that. I abhor the expression "British English", I prefer to call it Standard English. And the fact that some things American are older than (British) English perplexes me.

        1. Actually Grizzly, I was aware that they were not your words. My apologies for not making that clear.
          What I meant by “American innovations” was words that people who speak British English think are American innovations when they are, in fact older British English words. Hence the ..most are older than British English. What I mean by ‘British English’ is modern or contemporary British English.
          I do have a problem with the idea of ‘standard English’ because who decides what is and what is not. Unlike the French we do not have an academy that decides. So, honestly, I don’t think we can say there is a ‘standard English’.
          As far as Centre v Center. This is what the etymological dictionary has to say: “The spelling with -re was popularized in Britain by Johnson’s dictionary (following Bailey’s), though -er is older and was used by Shakespeare, Milton, and Pope. So ‘center’ precedes ‘centre’. That the spelling , ‘center is older is not surprising since it is derived from, Latin ‘centrum’. Therefore the insertion of an ‘e’ after ‘t’ ins more logical for the sake of pronunciation.

          1. I do enjoy discussions on matters etymological, Johnathan. Here is an absorbing website, from none other than the Oxford English Dictionary which has been, for some time now, recognised as an arbiter on the English language.

            https://www.oed.com/dictionary/centre_n1?tl=true

            Interestingly it cites the earlier English usage of centre going back as far as Chaucer in the 14th century.

            The earliest appearance, in English, of center is — as you say — during the era of Shakespeare in the 16th century.

            Strangely, it also show John Wyclif using the alternative (but curious) sentre in the 15th century.

          2. Thanks for the link Grizzly. As you can tell, I too find etymology fascinating. There really is something magical about it. So going to save the link, go there and read.

          3. Thanks for the link Grizzly. As you can tell, I too find etymology fascinating. There really is something magical about it. So going to save the link, go there and read.

  31. As I said, Tom, national politics, local politics, schools, 'social services' or police. It's not as if they haven't been told by the rest of us.

    1. Inevitably. Always was going to be the case. They'll fret about terrorists coming from there, but once they get here they'll fret again about sending them back for the sake of their 'ooman roits. That's because they lack any basis for their moral framework. They're stuck between malign politics and sentiment.

      1. Fortunately always one step ahead Netanyahu spent some time and effort destroying some of the arms stores.

        1. Come on,…..😄 ‘on a scooter bibbing his hooter’ ? No harm unless the battery busts into flames.

  34. Webster, a sometime lawyer, teacher, essayist, abolitionist and father of eight hated Johnson. He maintained that the doctor had 'prepared his manuscripts in haste' because he was 'naturally indolent and seldom wrote until he was urged by want.'

    Webster also advocated: 'Ake' for ache, 'cloke' for cloak, 'dawter' for daughter, 'greef' for grief, 'grotesk' for grotesque, 'iland' for island, 'masheen' for machine, 'porpess' for porpoise, 'soop' for soup, 'steddy' for steady, and 'wimmin' for women. Sensibly they were all rejected.

    2. I was gifted a copy of his 1884 edition, had it rebound but lost it in multiple moves. So sad.

  36. Starmer Contributed to Disgraced Lawyer Phil Shiner’s Book on Iraq War

    https://order-order.com/2024/12/11/starmer-contributed-to-disgraced-lawyer-phil-shiners-book-on-iraq-war/

    Yesterday, disgraced former human rights lawyer Phil Shiner received a two-year suspended prison sentence after pleading guilty to three counts of fraud connected to his notorious cases against British soldiers in Iraq. Hacks have noted that Starmer, the self-proclaimed champion of justice, has quite the history with Shiner…

    Back in 2005, Starmer advised Shiner on a legal challenge aiming to stop peace activists’ taxes from funding military action. By 2006, he was representing a suspected terrorist in Iraq suing the UK government for unlawful detention—another case brought to him by Shiner. The collaboration didn’t end there…

    Guido’s spotted that in 2008, Starmer contributed an entire chapter to Shiner’s book The Iraq War and International Law. Shiner’s glowing foreword heaps praise on Starmer’s work:

    “The fact that the court may be required to consider political negotiations and discussions does not imply that the issue is non-justiciable. One need look no further than Keir Starmer’s chapter in this volume on the case of Al-Jedda for that proposition to be made good.”

    Starmer’s chapter titled “Responsibility for Troops Abroad: UN-Mandated Forces and Issues of Human Rights Accountability”, runs for 20 pages and delves into the “UN Security Council as a legislative body” and the “role of international law” . One human rights case Starmer discusses is that of Ruzhdi Saramati, who was detained for 6 months without trial by Kosovo Forces troops in 2001 on suspicion of attempted murder and illegal possession of a weapon (he was later convicted of attempted murder in 2002). Saramati alleged a breach of Article 5 of the ECHR for the detainment. The ECHR ruled that actions taken by Kosovo Forces were attributable to the UN, not individual states and as the ECHR lacked jurisdiction over the UN, the case was deemed inadmissible. The ruling prompted Starmer to conclude:

    “The obvious concern about the decision of the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights in Behrami/Saramati is that it might undermine the accountability of troops operating abroad that can be established through international human rights law. Such political accountability as there may be for the UN through the Security Council is no substitute for legal accountability under international human rights law. Either the approach taken in Behrami/Saramati, and perhaps the whole delegation thesis, has to be re-examined, or the accountability mechanisms of the UN have to be radically, and speedily, overhauled.”

    As Sir Keir boasted at PMQs, he spent five years as a human rights lawyer. Clearly, Shiner thought highly of his former colleague’s legal reflections. Looks like Haigh isn’t the only fraudster Starmer’s been cosy with…

    11 December 2024 @ 17:04

    2. Giacomo Jones
      11h

      So just to get this straight, I can be rude on Twitter and get banged up, but a lawyer can commit multiple acts of fraud and be let off with a suspended sentence?

      keith waites
      Giacomo Jones
      That's because you aren't one of Spanner's chums

      richard malim
      Most solicitors who relieve their clients of £200,000 wd expect to go prison. Why is the revolting (But not greedy or self enriching according to the judge as reported) Shiner treated differently? The Legal Aid Fund is taxpayers' money in effect as the payer, his client. I wd like to see how compassionate the judge (What planet was he on?) was concerning the judge towards the fate of those soldiers affected by his activities. If the Attorney General does not appeal the sentence, he should be sacked.

      GordoMcFatso
      The then “labour” government manufactures causes to get involved in the Iraq war, then allows fraudsters like Shiner to conduct a witch hunt against those sent to fight the manufactured war. The now “labour” government presides over a two tier justice system which sees people sent to prison for -amongst other things – shouting at a police dog, while this fraudster receives a suspended sentence, despite having caused decades of misery for those the chased through the courts. To say it stinks, especially given how connected he was with the government is an understatement.

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c5eb6ddd7abe1b863af1711625c27399409fd4d91b271b02bb1e7b16544a42dd.png
      Send in the Clones
      Err…… ten people here, included eight from the place from just down the road from the most "famous" escapee on the right. All on his watch.

      Meanwhile, he is still here, messing up all our lives with his wonderful EU dreams today. The EU really only want our money and subservience. Bit pathetic don't you think?

      Spanner is not fit for purpose.
      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f7192b79f92e1ae01a0459331874e9ad1d3a00e93ec9f252183a661293020eb5.jpg

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fa148f576c6941a22cc692044a9b558336b62bf10619927189794f7b71eb4331.jpg

  37. Good morning all. Usual, no sun and cold 5C. but at least it's dry.

    I have looked in the Telegraph today, and the Mail and Express. I see nothing at all about the farmers invading London yesterday. Is it me or did I imagine that? And if not, why the black out?

      1. Watching a woman talking on behalf of the farmers on GBN this morning she thought they were doing it just right. Typical English politeness. I think they should be spreading dung everywhere and flooding the houses of parliament with cow urine and the politicians London residences with feces and rotting produce. And stop producing food now. Make life an absolute misery for the cretins. The longer the farmers leave it the better it is for the Labour regime to become entrenched. They need life made hell for every politician that would try to ruin the farmers lives.

        1. On the continent last year they had a lot of local protests. Every small town and main road was clogged up at rush hour. Can't ignore that. It did annoy a lot of people I believe, but they are the ones who are too stupid to understand until they are hungry – and even then, they'll probably be the ones wanting to implement communism so that they can get their hands on their neighbours' food.

  38. Morning all 🙂😊
    Lighter grey today but that means colder as in 3 degs.
    Headline is exactly what the 'West' will do continue to blame Assad for everything that happened in Syria and eventually let it happen elsewhere. Whilst of course punishment is dished out to and onto the indigenous people of Britain and the rest of Europe.

  40. No Wordle today – I was given a clue and got it in one.
    I have a lot to do today and I don't want to do any of it. It will be hard work and it is freezing at the moment.
    Will resume tomorrow without cheating.

    2. I was starting to wish I'd had a clue.

      Wordle 1,272 6/6

      ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜
      ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜
      ⬜⬜🟩🟩⬜
      ⬜⬜🟩🟩🟩
      ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  42. From my daily audit newsletter.

    Nasdaq Diversity Rules Struck Down
    A US appeals court has ruled that Nasdaq’s diversity rules are illegal. Nasdaq introduced these rules following the George Floyd murder. The regulations require all Nasdaq listed companies to meet minimum criteria concerning racial and gender diversity or explain why they cannot. The rules were approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Following a suit brough by a right-leaning set of litigators, the court ruled that the 1934 and 1975 acts that govern the SEC do not give any power to the agency to regulate on these matters.
    Is decency and morality in society unravelling?

    I am pleased the court has seen sense.
    I believe he's wrong about decency and morality unravelling.
    It has already unravelled when small special interest groups are given the power to dictate what is moral and/or decent, to give special favour to their own.

    1. Let’s hope the same happens here. Our FCA and the bank of England and FRC unfortunately appear to be captured

  43. Sinister zealots are putting free speech under threat in Britain as never before. 12 December 2024.

    What has happened to our country, once the freest in Europe? Why did we cease to be the home of open debate, civilised disagreement and liberalism at its best? When did we sign away our right to free speech, our freedom to tell it as it is, to expose cant and lies and hypocrisy, to disagree with the powerful, fashionable and sanctimonious?

    How did it come to pass that a nation that always refused to be told what to do, that still cannot even tolerate ID cards, ended up acquiescing so meekly to the demise of free expression? The world is watching our descent into soft authoritarianism with great sadness.

    This is all heart-warming stuff but Mr Heath works for one of these “Zealots”. Not only that but this article is in their domain. Aside from the harassment I quite frequently have my posts “Removed” on the Telegraph and the one-sidedness of the censorship prevents any meaningful response to the Trolls (even the word Trolls triggers the automatic algorithm) so I restrict myself to a few terse comments. This is the nature of the beast. There is no independent MSM. Despite its protestations it is all owned by the Globalists and their Fellow Travellers.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/12/11/crazed-zealots-free-speech-under-threat-in-britain/

    1. Abi, Darling. If you're going to impose 100% IHT nobody would bother to accumulate significant sums for you t*ats to get your paws on.

    2. Who says the greater good is not better served by the children of the frugal inheriting from their parents?

    3. Why pay politicians and civil servants more than the average wage?. The vast amount of taxpayers' money saved in this way could be used for the common good.

      A panel of Nottlers should be appointed to determine what the common good is!

    4. If the money was genuinely spent on the greater good I'm sure that many would agree.

      However we all know that the money would be frittered away on politicians' pet projects, or

      else on projects where the politician concerned had a strong pecuniary interest.

      Abi appears delightfully innocent!

      1. As always, many would agree until they realised that they didn't get to define what "the greater good" might consist of…

    5. I had some friends that used to say that.

      Until they had children

      they also finally got married (for the tax advantages)

  45. NietzschesDog

    Appreciative of the 9/11 attacks,[24] al-Julani traveled from Damascus to Baghdad by bus just weeks before the 2003 invasion of Iraq, where he quickly rose through the ranks of Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI).[27] The Times of Israel newspaper claimed that al-Julani was a close associate of AQI leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

    Serious questions need to be asked as to why large sections of the media and political class are systematically whitewashing this individual, who is a positive enemy of the West.

    1. Tch tch hundreds of employees at the Ministry of Truth have been up all night changing the news reports.
      They need you to forget that he is an enemy of the West, in the same way that you were instructed to forget that we were heading into a new Ice Age (ca 1980), that the Iraqis were the good guys (ca 1990), that you can't vaccinate into a pandemic (2021) and any other stories that they might have changed 180°. Ask questions? you conspiracy theorist!

  48. 398663 + up ticks,

    Face facts, this culture / diversity shite cost lives, as with freedom of speech (you can't say that it COULD be offensive) so to keep that in place someone HAS to die.

    Someone has to die, some child has to satisfy mass paedcophilic lust daily, ongoing, stay silent is the way of RESET
    finding success.

    If it pays then reward whistle -blowers handsomely on proof of
    what is revealed.

    Dt,

    ‘Cultural sensitivities’ may have stopped teachers intervening to save Sara Sharif, MP suggests
    Urfan Sharif and Beinash Batool forced their daughter to wear a hijab after bruises become too noticeable

  52. Women’s lib, you’ve got a lot to answer for
    David Wright: December 12, 2024 –
    https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/womens-lib-youve-got-a-lot-to-answer-for/

    Here is my BTL under this article:

    I used to write satirical songs which I played to the accompaniment of my guitar. Here is the first verse (of six verses) of one I wrote 45 years ago!

    Women's Lib's destroying my libido
    And I just won't stand for it any more
    My macho's getting mangled
    My morale is sinking fast
    My self-esteem's not been so low before
    I used to wear the trousers in our happy little home
    I used to rule the roost in kingly style
    But Women's Lib's destroying my libido
    And I find it hard to even raise a smile!

    2. Just a flavour – Wiki: He later became the Chair of Matrix's Management Committee, and was appointed a deputy High Court judge in 2019. He has worked on numerous Supreme Court cases, including Lungowe v Vedanta Resources plc and Okpabi v Royal Dutch Shell plc. He also argued that Shamima Begum should have been allowed to return to the United Kingdom to participate in her appeal when he intervened for Liberty in Begum v Home Secretary. He represented former Guantánamo Bay detainee Abu Zubaydah in Zubaydah's Supreme Court case against the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). He has also been involved in multiple cases related to the war on terror, including representing victims in the Afghan unlawful killings inquiry, and the inquest into Corporal Stephen Allbutt's death in the Iraq War.

  56. Cattle, methane and the disturbing questions over Bovaer
    Brenda Baletti https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/drugging-cows-to-reduce-methane-emissions-scientists-question-safety-need/

    The Bellman in Lewis Carroll's Hunting of the Snark told us : "What I tell you three times is true

    This position is the same as that of the consensus who think that if they say the same thing in unison many times that that will make it true. Any rational person can see that no matter how many people believe a lie and spread that lie that lie is still a lie!

    BTL

    And there are still disgraceful conspiracy theorists who spread fake news, misinformation and disinformation about the safety and efficacy of the Covid jabs!

    These people seem to think that consensus has nothing to do with science. They say that a thousand scientists may claim that the vaccine is safe because the PTB will not give them funding if they go against the consensus. They also quote George Bernard Shaw who famously said : ‘All Progress Depends on the Unreasonable Man’ and Robert Frost who chose to take the less trodden path.

  58. I am not. I'm talking in general. Watched this morning, will post it if you want. A woman who divorced her husband after two weeks of marriage because she decided she was a lesbian. She still got 50% of all his stuff. 70% of marriages are instigated by women, often for the most trivial of reasons. I used to be active in the field working as an amicus curiae for an organization for fathers who lost their children due to divorce. The system, quite bluntly is disgusting. I am aware of one child killed by the mother due to neglect because the court refused to give custody to the father. But the mother still kept custody of the other child. Two father suicides and dozens of fathers who loved their children but were estranged, because the mothers used them as weapons against the fathers in vindictive retaliation. Were allowed to do it for years with the inaction of the courts as fathers pleaded for their children to be helped. But ending in the ruin of the children's lives.

    It used to be that fathers were given automatic custody of children and the history clearly shows that all participants in a divorce, in those days, faired better than before mother custody became the norm. There is a good reason for that. It is because women will use emotion as a weapon. Any psychologist worth their salt will tell you that it is so.

  61. Sinister zealots are putting free speech under threat in Britain as never before
    The press regulator must not allow itself to be used to stymie the expression of legitimate opinion
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/12/11/crazed-zealots-free-speech-under-threat-in-britain/

    BTL

    "What has happened to our country, once the freest in Europe? Why did we cease to be the home of open debate, civilised disagreement and liberalism at its best? When did we sign away our right to free speech, our freedom to tell it as it is, to expose cant and lies and hypocrisy, to disagree with the powerful, fashionable and sanctimonious?"

    What happened? Tony Blair opened the floodgates and encouraged aliens with alien values and an alien religion who despise our way of life and hate us to come and live in the UK. These people have already entered our establishment and have begun to impose their way of thinking upon us.

  62. Has the self important jumped up 'mayor' been handing out Ulez fines to the tractor
    drivers yet ?

  63. JK Rowling hits out at ‘mad’ trans ruling that could see Spectator quit press watchdog
    Author says no outlet should have to ‘assert a lie’

    JK Rowling appeared to criticise a “mad” ruling in a trans writer case by the Press watchdog against The Spectator.

    The Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso) upheld a complaint by Juno Dawson, a trans author, over an article calling her “a man who claims to be a woman”.

    The watchdog found that the description breached the Editor’s Code of Practice by discriminating against Dawson’s gender identity, even though it was not inaccurate.

    Wading into the row on Wednesday, Rowling shared posts on X, formerly Twitter, which criticised the ruling as “mad” and warned that no publication should be forced to “assert a lie”.

    The Telegraph understands that The Spectator is evaluating its relationship with Ipso in light of the decision, which was condemned by Michael Gove, the magazine’s new editor, as “outrageous”.

    The article in question was written by Gareth Roberts and focused on the stance taken by Nicola Sturgeon, the former Scottish first minister, on transgender rights.

    The piece stated that Ms Sturgeon “was interviewed by writer Juno Dawson, a man who claims to be a woman, and so the conversation naturally turned to gender”.

    Dawson complained to Ipso about this reference, alleging it was inaccurate, discriminatory and harassing.

    Ispo rejected the claims about harassment and inaccuracy but upheld the complaint about discrimination.

    Justifying the decision, the watchdog’s committee stated that “referring to the complainant as a man ‘claiming’ to be a woman was personally belittling and demeaning toward the complainant”, in a way that was both “pejorative and prejudicial”.

    This overtook Mr Roberts’ “right to express his views on the broader issues of a person’s sex and gender identity”, Ipso stated.

    ‘An outrageous decision’
    Writing in The Spectator, Mr Gove said he had “no doubt this is an outrageous decision, offensive to the principle of free speech and chilling in its effect on free expression”.

    It is understood that the magazine is considering operating outside of the current system of Press regulation rather than adopting an alternative regulator.

    The potential move was welcomed by free speech campaigners including Toby Young, the director of the Free Speech Union.

    He told The Telegraph: “The fundamental problem with Ipso’s latest judgement is that it’s gone beyond its remit of guarding against inaccuracy and press intrusion and made a political decision.

    “It has censured The Spectator for publishing an article that is in no way inaccurate or intrusive but which it disapproves of for political reasons. If a press regulator penalises a newspaper or magazine just because it doesn’t like its politics, it is no longer fit for purpose.”

    Mr Gove, who took over as editor of The Spectator from Fraser Nelson in October, after the article was published, added that defending free speech was not “some quixotic cause to be defended as a matter of purist principle”, but instead “has saved lives”.

    ‘Ipso is not fit for purpose’
    Helen Joyce, the director of advocacy at human-rights charity Sex Matters, called Ipso’s guidance “biased and illogical”.

    She told The Telegraph: “When it comes to reporting on issues of sex and gender, Ipso is not fit for purpose. It is supposed to be impartial, but its ruling on The Spectator put gender ideology ahead of accuracy about biological sex.

    “Ipso’s guidance is biased and illogical. Journalists and editors feel under pressure to accept the fringe belief that people can change sex as settled fact. The result is that excellent reporting is turned into gobbledegook during editing.

    “Readers are routinely confused and misled about serious issues: told that male sex criminals are women and that there is no biological reason for excluding male athletes from women’s sports, and left in the dark regarding the lack of evidence underpinning child gender medicine.”

    2. You mean that smug lefties like you and your smug husband actually exist, are allowed to vote and cause mayhem in the rational thinking classes. Have you considered suicide?

  65. Good Morning.
    (Definitely not the weather!)
    However, after an exchange of emails, the DT have restored their cryptic crossword to its original format, so I can print it out on one page.
    Power To The People!!!!!!

    "Dear Anne Allan,

    Thank you for your email and for taking the time to get in touch with us.

    Firstly, please accept our apologies for some of the issues we have had over the past few days with our print functionality on our crosswords.

    We have now rectified this issue and tomorrow's crosswords will not have the issue you previously encountered. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

    If there is anything else we can assist you with, please do not hesitate to contact us.

    Yours sincerely,

    Cyrus Engineer"

  66. Good Morning.
    (Definitely not the weather!)
    However, after an exchange of emails, the DT have restored their cryptic crossword to its original format, so I can print it out on one page.
    Power To The People!!!!!!

    "Dear Anne Allan,

    Thank you for your email and for taking the time to get in touch with us.

    Firstly, please accept our apologies for some of the issues we have had over the past few days with our print functionality on our crosswords.

    We have now rectified this issue and tomorrow's crosswords will not have the issue you previously encountered. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

    If there is anything else we can assist you with, please do not hesitate to contact us.

    Yours sincerely,

    Cyrus Engineer"

  67. I’m struggling to post my usual Wordle results for today, Sue Mac. What I was/am trying to post was that I only just got the Wordle in six; I also was attempting to thank Geoff, for Thursday’s NoTTLe site. Now let me try again: http://disq.us/p/31b1lr1 http://disq.us/p/31b1lr1 Drat and double drat, something’s gone horribly wrong today.

  69. “was interviewed by writer Juno Dawson, a man pretending to be a woman, which he isn't, he's just an insult to women"; better?

      1. "Well Mr sosraboc, you stand before this court charged with a hate crime, and must swear on this bible before testifying."

        "Yes your Honour,"

        " I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth: this man is a woman pretending to be a man, so help me God."

    2. And Lancashire!

      Wonderful swashbuckling batsman in what was then a great one-day team and a more than handy keeper.

        1. He was too busy polishing all the silverware we won – John Player Leagues, Gillette Cups – with that other proud Lancastrian, Clive Lloyd!!

          2. Yes, what a classy batsman, one of the best I’ve ever seen – there’s something about left-handers that makes them look more graceful and stylish eg Sobers, Lara, Gower etc

  71. "You will have nothing, but you will be happy"

    A policy statement by the WEF for BB2, and others

  72. "You will have nothing, but you will be happy"

    A policy statement by the WEF for BB2, and others

  73. As Reform has more members than the Conservative Party, it could be better

    argued that by voting Tory rather than Reform, the Tory voters allowed

    Labour in, who will change the nation beyond recognition in the next five years.

  74. Labour Creates Huge New “EU Hub” in Cabinet Office for Closer Relations With Bloc

    Labour is ploughing ahead with its vaunted EU “reset” – Starmer is due to meet the 27 European Council leaders on 3rd February, the first PM to do so since Brexit. Back at home the machinery of the blob is being squarely aimed towards the continent…

    Guido revealed in October that the Home Office was forming a new “Europe Hub” to forge closer ties to the bloc. Now Guido hears a massive new EU unit has set up in the all-powerful Cabinet Office. Primarily formed from staff in the FCDO’s old European Union Relations Directorate, the hub reports to Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden. So far the UK’s efforts for a reset have resulted in the EU advising member states to block our access to their energy markets…

    Around 60 staff are working in the unit on the third floor of the Cabinet Office. One civil servant with knowledge of the hub says it’s working towards “softening rough edges” with the EU on regulatory matters. The stagnant EU is determined to play hard ball – all while the UK pivots away from a fast-growing United States…

    12 December 2024 @ 10:30

    1. 20/20 Captain Hindsight and all that.. but..

      26th September 2022 the day a US Navy P8 drop its payload onto Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipelines.. signaled the beginning of the end of the EU.

      Sir Keir, however, will continue making Politburo announcements about the Great Leap foward & tractor production up 45% Glorious DEI dimocracy Five Year Plan bountiful success many wheat strong NHS workers rejoice.

    2. 20/20 Captain Hindsight and all that.. but..

      26th September 2022 the day a US Navy P8 drop its payload onto Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipelines.. signaled the beginning of the end of the EU.

      Sir Keir, however, will continue making Politburo announcements about the Great Leap foward & tractor production up 45% Glorious DEI dimocracy Five Year Plan bountiful success many wheat strong NHS workers rejoice.

    4. Around 60 staff are working shirking in the unit on the third floor of the Cabinet Office. Fixed it!!

  76. Well, I've read all of today's NoTTLe posts, but still can't post my Wordle results. So I shall now bow out and do other things for the rest of the day.

    1. Wordle working OK here.
      Wordle 1,272 5/6

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

  78. Yet another civil defence test alert.
    This time around the airport.
    I wonder what they know that we aren't being told.

        1. French ones only and always for the local area, probably no more than 20 miles as the crow flies.
          If it was very serious, I suspect the distance would be widened.

  80. What have we all done to have been hit by and saddled with this ?

    https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/other/it-s-not-bigotry-to-worry-about-migration-the-latest-figures-tell-a-complex-story/ar-AA1vGp4s?ocid=msedgntp&pc=U531&cvid=d0d99efff30a40c28e60ae61fd7ad6df&ei=165

    If the OBR is correct, by the end of this parliament migration will have boosted the UK’s population by 4 million in just eight years. The idea that this can happen without economic effects, without political ramifications and without the public noticing is for the birds.

    3. Quote from above: "The case for a more liberal approach is that the UK needs migrant workers".

      Yes, Mr Elliot , that could be so.

      However let me remind you that the ONS stated that 1.1 million migrants stated on their asylum

      paperwork that they had no intention of working once given settled status.

      Are you being too liberal, Mr Elliot?

    4. "Over the centuries, inward migration has been a feature of this country's history…"

      But never on this scale. Before the 20th century, those who came here were almost all European and were absorbed, disappearing into the background.

      1. Yes and that was fine and often their stories were interesting. But it's obviously all become horrible uncontrollable where a certain amount of control would have been and easy aspect on a small island. And now it's become a vast and unwelcome invasion. With obvious consequences and overall intentions of destroying our established culture and social structure. And It's not acceptable.

        1. Could be. At the moment there is a Muslim Party of Great Britain, which some have joined – remains to be seen if that makes progress, if the majority stick with Labour, or a more extreme party tries to rise (such a one may be banned?)

  84. Many new fans for Elon Musk in Canada this week.

    After Trudeau insulted everyone by lamenting how Harris not winning the presidency was a setback for women, Musk tweeted that Trudeau is an Insufferable tool.

    Numbnuts is now threatening sanctions against the US if Trump imposes tariffs – We are on the road to ruin.

    1. Elon Musk's wealth has just reached $440 billion. He's one smart cookie. More than Bill Gates and Geoff Bozos combined.

  85. Many new fans for Elon Musk in Canada this week.

    After Trudeau insulted everyone by lamenting how Harris not winning the presidency was a setback for women, Musk tweeted that Trudeau is an Insufferable tool.

    Numbnuts is now threatening sanctions against the US if Trump imposes tariffs – We are on the road to ruin.

    1. There are about 100 people in our London office. I am one of ten or so “head honchos”, one step down from the execs. One of the printers has needed its toner changing for at least three days. It’s so easy now – open a flap, take out the old toner, put in the new one. The whole thing takes about 30 seconds.

      So why am i literally the only person in the company who does this stuff?

        1. Clearly. One might have thought a responsible honcho wouldn't have waited three days before changing it.

          Although, to be fair, it sounds like the type of place that several people will be involved in the delivery chain to get it sent to Mir to do the magic.

      2. Are you the only one who passed the health and safety and diversity course regarding colour tone and how to change it without causing unnecessary suffering to the minority hires?

        2. Well, yes. That’s what annoys me. I wait it out…but still do it.

          Makes you wonder how they will cope when i leave in 2 years 4 months and 9 days.

      4. Our building management guys can be relied upon to change the toner cartridges. The people who really annoy me are the ones who set the printer to churn out hundreds of pages but don't bother to check the paper trays and walk away without waiting for their job to be completed. I then come after them to print two or three pages, fill the paper trays and have to wait while their hundreds of sheets come out first. I wait patiently then dump their job straight in the recycle bin. It's what their egos deserve. Too grand to stand at the printer? Tough!

      5. I had to change the cartridge (I only have a bog standard inkjet) yesterday. Could be because Kadi can't manage it and there is nobody else 🙂

    2. There are about 100 people in our London office. I am one of ten or so “head honchos”, one step down from the execs. One of the printers has needed its toner changing for at least three days. It’s so easy now – open a flap, take out the old toner, put in the new one. The whole thing takes about 30 seconds.

      So why am i literally the only person in the company who does this stuff?

  89. Geoff

    Can't bring myself to comment this morning after the

    " stress of my daily commute to work " in the rush hour with others of the private sector workers.

    Heaven forbid we make the civil servants endure this daily travel torture, however Fran looks like a she likes working at home from the settee with some cream buns
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/77369b761681fea6e9a742aa672b8c844ea6f3e6479e618e283d4714de46ed12.jpg
    stephen dean

    Looks as if she likes working from the Fridge.

    Ernest Nowell

    More chins than a Chinese telephone directory?

      2. Civil Service union PCS’ General Secretary Fran Heathcote lamented the “stress” of commuting for staff. She naturally blamed the ‘right-wing media’ for the whole affair:

      1. I would have loved a nice glass of red with my beef but as I was driving (as we all were) I stuck to water and coffee afterwards.

        1. Only 5pm….aaargh, too early for vodka….hope you have a nice glass of red, m-i-l’s tipple, enjoy Ndovu x

  91. Attorney General: Stripping Shamima Begum of citizenship was extremely draconian

    Lord Hermer says decision could expose 25-year-old to ‘targeted drone strikes’, which could have ‘fatal’ consequences https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2772fd9f06f92099a6f9d3944e33eb96f04ca56fbd5db5bb6004b46913a60041.jpg

    What she did had fatal consequences for others !!!

    As her defence lawyer, he should not be involved in any decision about her now.

    Trust Starmer to appoint him Attorney General !!!

    Comment by Mitchell Reid.
    3 hrs ago

    So Labour government going to allow a terrorist back into the U.K. ??

    2. 398663+ up ticks,

      Afternoon C1,

      ‘targeted drone strikes’,
      Gettway, is that so ?

      Then if in England innocents could suffer unless of course you confine her to the house of lords.

  92. 398663+ up ticks,

    The starmer tool should answer questions first in regards to allowing such murderous material in via DOVER first / last and to every bodies full satisfaction this question time, or take his malicious crew and get tafuck out of parliament within the hour.

    Cultural sensitivities KILL KIDS.

    Starmer: Questions need to be answered over Sara Sharif’s murder
    Starmer reflects on ‘shocking’ murder of 10-year-old girl amid calls for inquest to examine concerns over cultural sensitivities on case

    1. Chris Morrison writes on Daily Sceptic time to time. Always a dailyread, started subscribing when it was Lockdown Sceptic.

  94. Done some leaf clearing and chopsawing up the "garden", had a mug of tea and now off to Belper for some shopping.
    TTFN.

    1. Before the election I think most of us did not fully appreciate what a distressingly repulsive man Starmer actually is.

  97. Kebab shop bosses to pay £10,000 after more than 50 customers were poisoned at their takeaway – including boy, 11, left with life-changing illness.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14182709/Kebab-shop-bosses-pay-customers-poisoned-takeaway.html

    How does a person get Shigella?
    People get shigellosis by putting anything in their mouth that has touched infected feces, by eating or drinking food or water contaminated with the bacteria, or through contact with someone who is sick or has recently been sick with Shigella infection. It can also be spread sexually by oral-anal contact.

    Dirty fucking bastards.

    1. Food Hygiene Inspectors obviously not paid a recent visit, or if they have – lip service been paid. Moral is to not use take-aways (except perhaps F&C outfits).

      1. Portsmouth is the nearest city to where i live. It has hundreds of kebab and chicken shops. Take a look at the Food Standards Agency ratings You would be lucky to find one place with more than a one star rating.

        The FSA say they are understaffed but the places they do inspect never get closed down.

        1. Similarly with hotels etc…scramble to clean up prior to date of inspection, then as you were. Who the heck eats this stuff, each time I’ve had a take-away ended up cobbing half of it…visited Portsmouth a few years ago when I had to stay overnight, did a B&B which was great, but otherwise not so much…

          3. No. It's on Rightmove website. Basement flat for sale. It was much less shabby when i lived there. No graffiti or broken window sills in my day.

          4. Took a quick look….many flats for sale that area. I left home soon as I was of an age to not be brought back, bedsit..bit grim at times, luckily had a good canteen at work. Got through it. One of my children wanted to leave home mid/late teens – says it’s the only time can recall me saying outright no you’re not and if you leave I will fetch you back, with no discussion. Didn’t leave.

          5. I left home at 17 after a massive row. Living in a village it was difficult to find work.
            I got a job on a local farm. It was hard work. My mother said that as i was working i should pay rent. I asked how much did she want.
            She asked me how much i earned (£28 a week).
            She said all of it.
            I asked how was i to buy clothes or even lunch.
            I just got a cold stare so told her to fuck off and left.
            They never bothered looking for me. Not that i would have gone back.
            Slept under Southsea pier for a couple of weeks. I was lucky it was summer.
            Some students noticed me there and offered me a sofa. at their place.
            Managed to get a job.
            The rest as they say is history.

          6. Mine was similar, lived off beer others bought, and chips/gravy works canteen. My mother fell ill, went home then. They were both pretty cold people, my parents and with each other too. Admire the ‘fuck off’ Phiz, my dad would have brayed me:-D

          7. My father did advance on me. I emptied the contents of the chip pan on the floor. That slowed him down a bit.
            I had 5 brothers and sisters. Four of whom had left home. Mother needed more money for fags and bingo.

          8. Awful to read, Phiz…you have my support, and sympathy. I’m an only child, both parents work so home alone a lot. My father could be brutal, as was his father (too brutal to join Special Constables). I loved my grandmother, she had a very hard life but I never heard her complain – many miscarriages, five boys survived, all survived WW2. Hopefully things better today, but in some ways worse.

          10. I’m 61 in February. It was a long time ago.

            It did me a favour really. It got me out.

            There are people who i knew at the time from my age group who are still there !

            I have traveled. I have been to many places in Europe and Africa. They are stuck like a mosquito in amber.

            There was a later rapprochement with my parents. Though there are still memories that haunt me at times.

            I really can’t complain about my life.

          11. I left home at 17 after a massive row. Living in a village it was difficult to find work.
            I got a job on a local farm. It was hard work. My mother said that as i was working i should pay rent. I asked how much did she want.
            She asked me how much i earned (£28 a week).
            She said all of it.
            I asked how was i to buy clothes or even lunch.
            I just got a cold stare so told her to fuck off and left.
            They never bothered looking for me. Not that i would have gone back.
            Slept under Southsea pier for a couple of weeks. I was lucky it was summer.
            Some students noticed me there and offered me a sofa. at their place.
            Managed to get a job.
            The rest as they say is history.

          12. I drifted to London after leaving school because my ""A" level grades were not good enough for Oxbridge. After a couple of years working in an advertising agency I decided to go to university after all and ended up at UEA.

            This is one of the songs I wrote at the time:

            The city is a magnet and we're powerless to resist
            We are drawn and then enveloped and we can't see in the mist.
            Our hearts are filled with hope that the streets are paved with gold
            And we waste our youth in rented rooms that are sordid damp and cold.

            And I'm trying to find a meaning
            And I'm trying to write a song
            But the words come our as clichés and they don't seem to belong
            And the tune is just an echo of some other tune I've heard
            And my mind's become a vacuum with no music and no words

            So the city is my nightmare and I don't know why I came
            But I know if I was still 18 I'd go there just the same
            And Now that I am leaving there is still a part of me
            That wants to stay in London and it will not set me free.

            And I'm trying to say something – but I don't know what to say
            And I'm trying to find some idols who have not got feet of clay
            And I wish I were original and gave and earned respect
            And I wish my mind was real and not a pseudo-intellect

          13. Good one, Rastus – identify with a lot of it. Why I wouldn’t let mine leave early..in the event they hung on until well into 20’s.

          14. My elder son left school at 17, & went to Swansea University. Still lives in Swansea.
            The younger one lived at home for three years after university, then went to Switzerland in '99, and still lives there.

          15. Sound independent minded lads, Ndovu…a good thing in many ways, but can be a bit difficult for mums – I have a child, now decades old, doesn’t want any contact, I have to live with that. I guess it’s something if the two boys keep in touch, with you and each other. Their children will probably like being cousins, our experience anyway.

          17. Seems to be fairly typical now….my youngest had difficulty conceiving after having one child…sperm count (and fertile eggs) decreases with age, but they won’t be bothered about that just yet 🙂

          18. I'll see them at Christmas but otherwise not frequently these days. They do respond If I need some help with something online though.

      2. Funnily enough, tonight my neighbour asked if I had takeaways. I said never because I didn't know what was in them (nor how hygienically they'd been prepared).

        1. I don’t like them. When we’ve bought them in past years usually ended up throwing at least half away – rather have something on toast, if pushed for quick eat. A number of chippies esp local are still quite good…might need a small bank loan tho’ 😀

  98. Only had to read up on his record as DPP, Rastus, especially in connection with Rotherham et al girls. Perhaps Icke was right, and some really are lizards.

    1. If you read what Icke has to say and accept a lot of it is the use of euphemisms then most of what he says makes some sense.

      I know he has said some outlandish things but that is the only way he gets any publicity it seems to me.

          1. I did find it, and subscribed…not sure how long I’ll stick with it, but if it gets the old grey cells moving – no bad thing.

  99. The Conservatives are too untrustworthy to escape their doom spiral

    On the fifth anniversary of Boris Johnson’s election success, the Tory coalition has never looked more fragile

    12 December 2024 10:34am GMT
    John Curtice

    Boris Johnson’s success in the 2019 election, whose fifth anniversary falls today, was truly remarkable. In the European elections the previous May, the Conservative Party had slumped to just 9 per cent of the vote and an unprecedented fifth place. Even polls of vote intention for Westminster credited the party with just 25 per cent. There seemed little chance that just a few months later the party would win a general election with 45 per cent of the vote and an overall majority of 80.

    But the arrival of Boris Johnson in Downing St in July followed by his renegotiation of aspects of the EU Withdrawal Agreement in October fuelled a remarkable revival in Conservative fortunes. Then, shortly after the general election was called to end the parliamentary stalemate over Brexit, Nigel Farage pulled his Brexit Party candidates out of Conservative-held seats. That made it possible for Boris Johnson, with his cry of “Get Brexit Done”, to unite most of the pro-Brexit vote behind the Conservative Party. Mr. Johnson’s reputation as one of Britain’s best campaigners was affirmed.

    For nearly two years the new coalition of pro-Brexit voters Mr Johnson had forged looked as though it might prove durable. The Conservatives were never behind Labour in the polls and in May 2021even managed to gain the “red wall” seat of Hartlepool in a by-election. Johnson’s style of focusing on objectives rather than the niceties of process served him well in the search for a vaccine that would enable the country to escape the Covid lockdown.

    But in early December 2021 we learnt via the so-called “partygate” revelations that Downing St’s interpretation of the lockdown regulations had been more liberal than anywhere else in the country. On this, failure to follow process mattered to an electorate that, in adhering to the rules, had often made painful sacrifices. Support for the Conservatives plummeted by five points in little more than five weeks, enabling Labour to forge ahead for the first time.

    Eventually, of course, we learnt that the former Prime Minister had misled the Commons over “partygate”, while much of his own party decided they were no longer willing to serve under someone with an apparently loose relationship with the truth. That, followed by the débâcle of the Liz Truss fiscal event (again support fell by five points in five weeks), served to destroy the coalition of pro-Leave voters that had given Mr Johnson victory in 2019. This year, many of these voters opted to follow Nigel Farage’s banner once more.

    Parties have long been unable to rely on the loyalty of voters. According to British Election Study the proportion who support a party “very strongly” fell from 45 per cent in 1964 to 14 per cent by 2019. Consequently, by 2015 over 40 per cent were voting differently from the last election. Again in July over 40 per cent cast a different vote than in 2019.

    To that extent this year’s election was further testament to the apparent fickleness of voters in Britain today. But the Conservative party will struggle to recover from its record defeat in July unless it appreciates that its own actions did much to drive voters away from its ranks. Integrity and competence matter even more to volatile voters. And by July many voters had come to the conclusion that the Conservative party now no longer exhibited either quality.

    ***************************************************

    2 hrs ago

    I will never forgive the Johnson govt for:

    Lockdown

    Net zero

    Mass immigration

    It's almost that simple. Actually it isn't, when you think of all the terrible, democracy-crushing, nation-whacking Blair reforms that the Tories, in 14 years, failed to overturn. If anything, they doubled down on most of them.

    Time for something new. Time for a post-Tory, post-Labour Britain.

  100. The Conservatives are too untrustworthy to escape their doom spiral

    On the fifth anniversary of Boris Johnson’s election success, the Tory coalition has never looked more fragile

    12 December 2024 10:34am GMT
    John Curtice

    Boris Johnson’s success in the 2019 election, whose fifth anniversary falls today, was truly remarkable. In the European elections the previous May, the Conservative Party had slumped to just 9 per cent of the vote and an unprecedented fifth place. Even polls of vote intention for Westminster credited the party with just 25 per cent. There seemed little chance that just a few months later the party would win a general election with 45 per cent of the vote and an overall majority of 80.

    But the arrival of Boris Johnson in Downing St in July followed by his renegotiation of aspects of the EU Withdrawal Agreement in October fuelled a remarkable revival in Conservative fortunes. Then, shortly after the general election was called to end the parliamentary stalemate over Brexit, Nigel Farage pulled his Brexit Party candidates out of Conservative-held seats. That made it possible for Boris Johnson, with his cry of “Get Brexit Done”, to unite most of the pro-Brexit vote behind the Conservative Party. Mr. Johnson’s reputation as one of Britain’s best campaigners was affirmed.

    For nearly two years the new coalition of pro-Brexit voters Mr Johnson had forged looked as though it might prove durable. The Conservatives were never behind Labour in the polls and in May 2021even managed to gain the “red wall” seat of Hartlepool in a by-election. Johnson’s style of focusing on objectives rather than the niceties of process served him well in the search for a vaccine that would enable the country to escape the Covid lockdown.

    But in early December 2021 we learnt via the so-called “partygate” revelations that Downing St’s interpretation of the lockdown regulations had been more liberal than anywhere else in the country. On this, failure to follow process mattered to an electorate that, in adhering to the rules, had often made painful sacrifices. Support for the Conservatives plummeted by five points in little more than five weeks, enabling Labour to forge ahead for the first time.

    Eventually, of course, we learnt that the former Prime Minister had misled the Commons over “partygate”, while much of his own party decided they were no longer willing to serve under someone with an apparently loose relationship with the truth. That, followed by the débâcle of the Liz Truss fiscal event (again support fell by five points in five weeks), served to destroy the coalition of pro-Leave voters that had given Mr Johnson victory in 2019. This year, many of these voters opted to follow Nigel Farage’s banner once more.

    Parties have long been unable to rely on the loyalty of voters. According to British Election Study the proportion who support a party “very strongly” fell from 45 per cent in 1964 to 14 per cent by 2019. Consequently, by 2015 over 40 per cent were voting differently from the last election. Again in July over 40 per cent cast a different vote than in 2019.

    To that extent this year’s election was further testament to the apparent fickleness of voters in Britain today. But the Conservative party will struggle to recover from its record defeat in July unless it appreciates that its own actions did much to drive voters away from its ranks. Integrity and competence matter even more to volatile voters. And by July many voters had come to the conclusion that the Conservative party now no longer exhibited either quality.

    ***************************************************

    2 hrs ago

    I will never forgive the Johnson govt for:

    Lockdown

    Net zero

    Mass immigration

    It's almost that simple. Actually it isn't, when you think of all the terrible, democracy-crushing, nation-whacking Blair reforms that the Tories, in 14 years, failed to overturn. If anything, they doubled down on most of them.

    Time for something new. Time for a post-Tory, post-Labour Britain.

    1. I think at least the first one, a small baby possibly as SB quite young. Others followed, if reports to be believed.

  102. Tell it as it is, and the woke regime crumbles. It’s no wonder activists have free speech in their sights

    The press regulator must not allow itself to be used to stymie the expression of legitimate opinion
    1260

    Standing up for free speech: Michael Gove, The Spectator’s new editor, has lambasted Ipso’s absurd ruling this week against the magazine

    11 December 2024 7:24pm GMT
    Allister Heath

    What has happened to our country, once the freest in Europe? Why did we cease to be the home of open debate, civilised disagreement and liberalism at its best? When did we sign away our right to free speech, our freedom to tell it as it is, to expose cant and lies and hypocrisy, to disagree with the powerful, fashionable and sanctimonious?

    How did it come to pass that a nation that always refused to be told what to do, that still cannot even tolerate ID cards, ended up acquiescing so meekly to the demise of free expression? The world is watching our descent into soft authoritarianism with great sadness.
    Advertisement

    Unimpeded speech is the foundational freedom without which no other can survive, a prerequisite for any democratic polity. Frederick Douglass, the great American abolitionist, put it beautifully in 1860. “Liberty is meaningless where the right to utter one’s thoughts and opinions has ceased to exist,” he said. “That, of all rights, is the dread of tyrants. It is the right which they first of all strike down. They know its power.”

    Those in today’s world who seek to exercise power over us – the woke mob, “human rights” lawyers, pressure groups, bureaucrats, politicians, regulators, big tech companies, HR departments, the post-liberal intelligentsia, the know-it-alls, the propagandists – are fully aware that free speech is their very own kryptonite. They dread scrutiny, and fear being held to account.

    Their strategy to combat open and fearless expression can vary. Speech can be regulated or constrained by laws, directives or official guidance, as with ever-expanding privacy case law or “non-crime hate incidents”; bullying, shunning and cancelling dissidents can also work well, forging a toxic culture of self-censorship.

    There is no better way to stamp out dissent than to cite a “speech code”, or claim that “the science” isn’t being followed, or to dismiss somebody’s opinion as a “conspiracy theory” (even when it is not) or to warn that somebody’s feelings are being hurt.

    Several of the greatest global scandals of recent years could have been avoided had speech been freer. In Britain and Europe, cancel culture was deployed against anybody who questioned the scale and impact of mass migration, with sceptics smeared as racists. The Hunter Biden scandal was covered up, including by Facebook, which censored a New York Post story ahead of the 2020 elections. It became impossible to discuss the likelihood that Covid originated from an accidental lab leak in Wuhan; posts or articles would be removed from social media or search engines, and authors hounded as xenophobes.

    Yet while the Americans are fighting back, the situation in Britain keeps getting worse. Allison Pearson, my Telegraph colleague, was persecuted by the police over a tweet. Floyd Mayweather, the boxing legend, was harassed while shopping in London, apparently because of his laudable pro-Israel, anti-Hamas views.

    The newspaper industry’s regulator has joined in too. Earlier this year, The Spectator published a piece about an interview Nicola Sturgeon gave at a literary festival. Gareth Roberts, the author, wrote that the former Scottish first minister and advocate of gender self-ID “was interviewed by writer Juno Dawson, a man who claims to be a woman, and so the conversation naturally turned to gender”.

    Dawson complained to the Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso), the regulator which also oversees The Telegraph. Ipso ruled that while the piece was accurate and did not constitute harassment, it breached section 12.1 of the Editor’s Code, which states: “The press must avoid prejudicial or pejorative reference to an individual’s race, colour, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation or to any physical or mental illness or disability.” Ipso ruled that the reference to Dawson’s gender identity was pejorative and prejudicial.

    This was a deeply disappointing judgment by a regulator that appears to hold an overly expansive view of its own remit. It dismissed the author’s, and the publication’s, right to free speech and ability to state a view that I suspect the majority of the population would agree with. Ipso, which was set up as an alternative to effective state regulation, has strayed into the realm of taste and politics: it is imposing its views on the press, rather than making sure that facts and accuracy are maintained. Its claims to “uphold high editorial standards to protect the public and freedom of expression” ring hollow.

    At a time when extreme gender activism is in retreat, the press’s own regulator has, however inadvertently, done the zealots’ work for them, forcing journalists to follow the diktats of an unpopular ideology.

    I stand in solidarity with Michael Gove, The Spectator’s editor, and his predecessor, Fraser Nelson, who published the piece. Gove is right to defend his magazine’s right to free expression, protesting that “Dawson may have a Gender Recognition Certificate but no piece of paper, whatever it may say, can alter biological reality. Parliament may pass laws, but they cannot abolish Dawson’s Y chromosome.”

    In a world where posts on X, Elon Musk’s pro-free speech successor to Twitter, can get millions of views in minutes, newspapers and magazines cannot compete if they are banned from stating certain facts or expressing popular but non-woke opinions.

    Other decisions by Ipso have constrained the freedom of the press. An adjudication against Jeremy Clarkson in The Sun in 2022 – following complaints by pressure groups – overstepped the mark, restricting the freedom of columnists to be offensive and silly if they (and their editor) feel like it. Ipso has undermined open justice by ruling against Aberdeen Live in a court reporting case, weaponising Clause 4 of the Editor’s Code (which deals with intrusion into grief and shock) to introduce its own value judgments and interfering in editorial decisions.

    In an age where there is collapsing trust in all institutions, it is madness to prevent journalists from reporting all of the facts, or to make it too risky for columnists to tackle difficult subjects. Consigning free speech to a few US-based online platforms will further hollow out the British media.

    Enough is enough: America is rediscovering free speech, so why can’t we? We need to be able to express ourselves freely, limited only by common sense and the normal constraints of the law. If the current political establishment cannot give us back our liberty, we will elect a new one that can.

    *********************************************

    17 hrs ago

    Heres something that will get me in trouble. A man is a man is a man. He might want to dress up in women's clothes, he may be the female partner in a gay relationship, he may wear make-up, high heels, speak in a high pitch voice, grow his hair, pretend to be a woman, compete in sport as a woman but bad luck, he is still a man!

    13 hrs ago

    Well the "free speech champion" Michael Gove did sweet Lammy Adams whilst in government to counteract it. So don't hold your breath with him doing anything.

    18 hrs ago

    The media is complicit

    Why would you not allow comments on a sick twisted murderer?

    Reignited smacking debate?- the sick fiend battered a little child!

    Blocking and preventing comments I’d say is not allowing freedom of speech

    1. When a judge will not is unable to correctly define a man or woman we are in trouble, because the bedrock of society is the law.

  103. Given how the bug likely got into the food concerning a cultural norm we know the authorities will cover it up. In the interests of social cohesion.

    Suggesting some veg wasn't washed and contaminated the rest is rubbish.

    They gave themselves away by naming the bacterium.

      1. It's real and if anyone needs any more evidence that Trump is an actor playing a script for the same deep state that put Biden in power, they can ponder that Facebook boy has just donated to Trump according to social media gossip

  105. The Grimes

    "Nice one…"

    Labour’s pay rise for train drivers set to cause Christmas chaos

    Festive timetables in disarray as staff spurn overtime

    Passengers face rail misery this Christmas as train operators battle to convince drivers to work overtime shifts on their days off. Scores of services are being cancelled at the last minute because train operators do not have enough staff and drivers are rejecting overtime….

    1. They are probably finding that any extra work you do is benefitting the government as much as themselves. Once you are in the marginal tax rates of 42 or 62%, getting out of bed to slave for those on benefits looses its appeal.

  106. Please correct me if I am wrong (as I know you wiil) but am I spot-on with this hypothesis, or am I wide-of-the mark?

    If the prime remit (i.e the raison d'être) of a country's government is the safety — and defence — of the realm, then why have the past few administrations performed an about-turn on that fundamental concept?

    By actively assisting an invasion of an ever-growing foreign force — whose sole intent is to overrun and take over our precious homeland — then our past few governments have actively encouraged that aggressive infiltration and done nothing, whatsoever, to put a stop to it.

    This is a crime against the very population they were elected to protect. By becoming agents actively assisting this invasion (because, have no doubt, that is precisely what they are) they are continuing to commit crimes against the same indigenous population that put them in power. This is nothing less than treason and should be dealt with as such. Every single still-existing member of the governments of the past 33 years should be imprisoned and kept in custody until they are charged with — and tried for — their ongoing crimes against humanity.

    Dither, and all is lost.

    1. “Treason doth never prosper, what's the reason? For if it prosper, none dare call it treason”

    2. By becoming agents actively assisting this invasion (because, have no doubt, that is precisely what they are) they are continuing to commit crimes against the same indigenous population that put them in power.

      They are traitors all.

    3. It is, they did, they did, and we are. Otherwise all good, Grizz. (Except not much to report on the bird (wild) front today.)

    4. The only reason their has not been a major conflict,since the end of WWII, is *MAD.

      Therehave been wars 'by proxy' ie Korea, Vietnam, the Middle East etc, but the West and East have not engaged in conlict directly.

      All the Ban the bombers types can poke their head up their asses, they were more likely to cause a war than prevent one

      * MAD Mutual Assured Destruction
      Mutual assured destruction (MAD) is a doctrine of military strategy and national security policy which posits that a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by an attacker on a nuclear-armed defender with second-strike capabilities would result in the complete annihilation of both the attacker and the defender.

        1. Wot – like Libya is Syria's nearest neighbour (@ David Lammy, our foreign secretary in this magnificent government)

          2. Have seen it reported in multiple places, Rastus, but who knows? Could just be an all too believable meme. I do find it in accord with his track record.

          3. Much as I dislike Lammy, I wonder whether he was saying one doesn’t want a country like Libya as your nearest neighbour and it’s been taken out of context.

          4. Course. Nothing surprises me now as regards the ignorance, arrogance and thickness of this man, though.

  107. Geoff

    Can't bring myself to comment this morning after the

    " stress of my daily commute to work " in the rush hour with others of the private sector workers.

    Heaven forbid we make the civil servants endure this daily travel torture, however Fran looks like a she likes working at home from the settee with some cream buns

  110. Philip Womack
    Does Starmer hate music?
    His VAT tax raid is clearly discriminatory

    10 December 2024, 5:00am
    From Spectator Life

    Sometimes, on slow days, I picture Sir Keir Starmer and our Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, doing the can-can while sticking their fingers in their ears and singing ‘la la la I can’t hear you’, to a backdrop of mounting concerns about VAT on school fees. It recently emerged that Tony Blair (for it is he) was firmly against it back in the 1990s, on the sound basis that taxing parents for sending their children to school is a bit stupid. But Starmer is no Blair, more’s the pity. It is abundantly clear, now, that this is an education tax, pure and simple, and that it has some decidedly problematic consequences, foreseen or not.

    A part of me fears that the Labour party knows exactly what the consequences are, and simply doesn’t care. If you are a bold enough person to mention online that this tax will adversely affect you, you’ll receive responses along the lines of: ‘don’t go to the Caribbean on holiday’, or ‘here’s the world’s smallest violin’. Never mind that most private school parents can’t afford a B&B in Devon, or that the violin ‘joke’ was old when I was in short trousers. Proponents of this tax fall back on the dubious opinion that if you’re paying for it, you’re asking for it, and who cares if the little darlings don’t get their oboe lessons. Boo hoo.

    Yet there are serious issues with the tax. The major one is inconsistency. It treats education differently in different settings. The Labour party believes that education suddenly becomes toxic as soon as a teacher passes through private school gates. This, of course, is mad. Why should some forms of instruction be taxable, and others not? Institutions teaching English as a Foreign Language will continue to be exempt from VAT: there is no compelling reason for this. Similarly, there is no convincing answer to the question as to why compulsory education will be taxed, while voluntary education (nursery and university) won’t be; if anything, it should be the other way round.

    One bizarre ramification is that after-school clubs will be subjected to VAT, if they are run by a private school, and if they contain an element of education. God forbid if a child were to learn something! I can envisage a situation where government inspectors lurk around schools at 4.30 p.m., waiting to catch a roomful of five-year-olds in the act of opening a history book. Quick, Veronica, tax the buggers, they’re getting an unfair advantage! What I can’t envisage is an after-school club that doesn’t have an element of education in it. I’ve seen it applied to a funky dance group for four-year-olds. I don’t think they’re flossing to Pythagoras.

    ‘The public sector is the illness’: Javier Milei on his first year in office
    Perhaps Starmer wants our children, in that crucial hour or so between end of school and pick-up time, to stare blankly at the walls, intoning party mantras. ‘Plan for change… my father was a toolmaker…’ All of this might well push schools into crazy levels of obfuscation. I can imagine the long-suffering teachers quickly hiding anything that smacked of learning as the inspectors loom: ‘Those aren’t times tables! No education going on here, honest guvnor!’

    Another issue arises with music lessons. If a music teacher has a contract with a private school, VAT will be added to their lessons. Have them in your own home, and your bassoon lessons are magically tax-free. Freelance music teachers won’t charge VAT (unless they’re registered): which may mean employed music teachers losing permanent contracts, and will certainly mean less work for all of them as demand reduces. These changes do not affect state schools. And since music teaching is in crisis, and Sir Keir claims to play the flute, I wonder why this doesn’t bother him more. Either we approve of people taking music lessons, and render them VAT-free everywhere, or we don’t. To charge it at private schools but not in the state system is a straightforward case of discrimination.

    All of this, of course, is affecting parents’ decisions. Facing a 20 per cent raid on fees, most will be frantically totting up the sums. Piano? Nope. After-school chess? Out the window. This will have a knock-on effect, not only on the enrichment of pupils’ lives, but on the incomes of music teachers and club leaders. In the end, everyone loses.

    There’s still time to reverse this policy. But all I can see is Keir Starmer resolutely not listening, because he’s stuck in a world where top-hatted toffs whack toolmakers’ sons with their pearl-handled canes. This is not remotely representative of the world in which we live. What we need is a prime minister, and an education secretary, who understand this, and who look at what’s good in our education system, rather than seeking to crush it. Meanwhile, I’ll see you at Paint Drying Club. I’ll bring the Latin, you bring the Maths. Keep it under your hat.

    ****************************

    LindR
    2 days ago
    Some Labour guy was on the radio – he said he didn't care if the schools VAT didn't raise a penny – he wanted to see all British children in State School. They'll be after the Church Schools next, Alistair Campbell used to rant and rave about how awful they were

    William James-allison
    2 days ago
    Starmer hates anything that smacks of intellectualism, most stupid people do.

    1. From the first paragraph: 'It is abundantly clear, now, that this is an education tax, pure and simple ….'
      It is tax of envy and spite.

      1. Everything Labour does is out of envy and spite. The Hunting Act was envy and spite par excellence.

  111. Can you tell a good guy from a bad guy in the Middle East?
    Rod Liddle

    issue 14 December 2024

    Please excuse the tone of jubilation, but I have been dancing around my kitchen for the past couple of days, in a state well beyond elation, at the removal from power of Bashar al-Assad’s murderous regime in Syria and its successors who, I am convinced, are a little like our own Liberal Democrats, except with powerful rifles.

    An expert from a Washington D.C. thinktank told the BBC that some of the chaps who had marched through from Homs to Damascus were ‘moderates’. This was the line taken up, so far as I am aware, by the corporation itself and indeed most other broadcasters – hence my delight. It may be the case that some of them had previously been combatants for the Islamic State or al Qaeda – but we were told they had put that little bit of naughtiness behind them. We are all foolish and headstrong in our younger years, are we not? Even when it is discovered that the name under which these freedom-lovin’ democrats have been fighting – HTS – actually stands for ‘Chop off the infidel’s head and stick it on a pole’ or something, we should not rush to judgment too quickly. Anything is better than Assad, isn’t it?

    I don’t know why western liberals are like this, unless it is just a simple case of abiding stupidity. I mean, I understand where the impulse comes from: all regimes are inherently wicked and therefore any instance of ‘freedom fighters’ overthrowing a regime is to be welcomed because it must be for the better, because freedom fighters are good people who have been terribly transgressed and persecuted. That this is a grotesquely naive and mistaken assumption is proven every single time a regime is overthrown, without fail – and yet still they cleave to it. Assad was Nasty, so anybody who overthrows him must be Nice.

    I remember very clearly the euphoria in the voice of a chap on the BBC’s From Our Own Correspondent speaking in 1996 as the Taliban advanced on Kabul. This was a true working-class uprising, the bloke opined, and the people of Afghanistan were crying tears of joy. He made those blood-thirsty medieval savages sound like a kind of combination of the Green party and the Howard League for Penal Reform. We later discovered that they were not very much like that at all.

    Then there was the Arab Spring of 2010-12. This was cheered on, day after day, by the western broadcast media dispatched to Tripoli, Cairo, Tunis, Riyadh, Damascus and so on. Even Wikipedia still suggests that it was a mass movement of people who simply wanted freedom from authoritarian regimes, as was surely their right. This view was arrived at because the western journos spoke to a handful of literate middle-class activists in the capitals of each Arab nation who were not remotely representative of the general mood in the country. It was another example of wishful thinking.

    Now we have the overthrow of the ‘butcher’ Assad and the tacit assumption that whatever follows must be ‘better’. Now, I have no affection for the deposed thug. If, upon going for my yearly eye check-up, I saw old Bashar smirking from behind the ophthalmoscope, I would say my goodbyes and maybe consider private treatment. But it is a golden rule of Middle Eastern and North African politics that no matter how deranged and murderous the dictator, whoever is trying to oust him will be about ten times worse. That dictum probably goes for most of the third world, in fact.

    It would not matter very much if all it meant was that the cheerleaders for the usurpers were later to be proved wrong and we could all say: ‘Hey look, Orla – those freedom fighters you were talking about last month have started pushing gays off the top of large buildings and banning women from eating.’ But it isn’t – because that naivety, that stupidity, that wishful thinking lies at the heart of the West’s neo-liberal foreign policy. It is a basic misunderstanding of mankind and has lead to western-backed atrocities which are easily the match of anything the Arabs come up with themselves.

    The illegal invasion of Iraq was based upon just such a miscomprehension. If only we could oust Saddam Hussein from power, the grateful Iraqis would as one rise up, give their thanks, and in a scrupulously observed general election give their votes tothe Iraqi equivalent of Menzies Campbell. That did not happen, did it? And a good many Iraqis – those who aren’t actually dead – rather miss the brutal stability imposed by Saddam. A few years after that catastrophe, Tony Blair urged the Palestinians to go to the polls and back a nice sensible movement which might negotiate with the Israelis. What did the Palestinians do? They elected Hamas, which wishes to see Israel stricken from the map. Following this came the Arab Spring and a whole bunch of Islamist organisations, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, somewhat surprised at being suddenly championed by armchair warriors in north London.

    At the heart of this liberal delusion is the mistaken assumption that everybody in the world thinks the same way as they do and wishes for identical outcomes. It is a staggeringly arrogant, not to mention dim-witted, world view, and leads us to meddle where we shouldn’t be meddling and putting our faith in people who would be better off in the secure unit at Rampton. People do not wish for the same thing the world over, and it may just be that the dictators in the Middle East are the best of a really, really unpleasant bunch. You may view the Saudi royal family with grave distaste, but it is also sadly the case that if the Saudi Arabian people were allowed a free vote, someone far less palatable would be elected to office.

    Hell, it’s Christmas. I wish Syria good luck. But I also suspect they’re going to need an awful lot of it.

    ********************************

    nanumaga
    13 hours ago
    I’m increasingly drawn to the conclusion that a government led by Nigel Farage which included Rod Liddle, Douglas Murray, Jeremy Clarkson, Katherine Birbalsingh, and Sir John Redwood would be a very good idea.

    Ah well! Back to reality….

    ExToryVoter
    5 hours ago
    Cracking article Rod, articulating exactly how many of us view the situation. This liberal delusion goes back a long way; I well remember the aftermath of the Shah’s overthrow in 1979, with correspondents from the BBC dancing with excitement from one foot to the other about a new dawn for democracy. These cretins never learn.

    OldScrotum
    6 hours ago
    2004, S Iraq. I went to a Chaldean Christian Church for Christmas service, whilst working there for the CPA (If you want a perfect definition of wasteful failure, read about the CPA). No bodyguard needed. Four months later the Church was in ruins, congregation scattered or, mostly, murdered. They'd been there for over 2,000 years, but once Saddam was ousted, Mullahs ensured they were dealt with. Oh, and by then we were besieged in our compound for the crime of trying to bring Western Liberal values to a tribal hellhole.
    Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, it always ends the same.

    1. At the heart of this liberal delusion is the mistaken assumption that everybody in the world thinks the same way as they do and wishes for identical outcomes.

      Ahhh! Rod Liddle. The rare voice of reason in the MSM.

    2. Summary: western liberals are morons, and shouldn't be allowed anywhere near the levers of power for their own safety.. and ours.

    3. "I’m increasingly drawn to the conclusion that a government led by Nigel Farage which included Rod Liddle, Douglas Murray, Jeremy Clarkson, Katherine Birbalsingh, and Sir John Redwood would be a very good idea."

      I would add Rupert Lowe to the list!

    4. Whatever brand of savages take control in Syria, they are unlikely to be any better, and will likely be even worse.

    5. I look forward to seeing Angela Rayner taken to task for welcoming the fall of Assad. Doesn't she realise that what comes after one leader's deposal is always worse?

    6. I look forward to seeing Angela Rayner taken to task for welcoming the fall of Assad. Doesn't she realise that what comes after one leader's deposal is always worse?

  112. POLL: Tories Fall Behind Reform For First Time Since Election

    FindOutNow have just dropped a poll putting Reform ahead of the Tories for the first time since Labour took power. Reform are now on 25% – their highest percentage point on any poll. It’s grim reading for LOTO as the Tories fall behind to 23%. Last week the pollster saw Reform ahead of Labour, though these latest figures show them climbing back on top to 26%. Still only one point ahead of Reform…

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a2124ab975f9250d8a8e00f9b69e2e3341598584755bb31c1d22556045cf7756.png

    FindOutNow asked 5,043 adults how likely they would vote if there were a general election tomorrow, they “then ask those who say ‘definitely’ or ‘very likely’ what their vote choice would be” – a methodology other pollsters sneer at. Richard Tice tells Guido “We have all the momentum in British politics. A vote for the Tories is now clearly a wasted vote.” Meanwhile, Kemi still insists the Tories shouldn’t worry about Reform in the “immediate term”…

    12 December 2024 @ 14:06

      1. Public sector workers, snivel serpents and the don't-work-won't-work benefits parasites.
        Thick as …….

          1. I’m sure you weren’t that type of Civil Servant! It’s the same with teachers – not all are left-wing.

    3. And despite having the worst government in the history of British politics, most people surveyed still put Labour in the lead?

      You simply cannot educate excrement!

  113. Steve Evans
    2m
    O/t: Ed Miliband has bailed out wind turbine company Veritas. The amount has been kept secret …. What they also hoped you wouldn’t spot is that MP Stephen Kinnock’s WIFE Helle Thorning- Schmidt is a board director of Veritas. She’s also the ex PM of Denmark & sits on the oversight board of Meta AND The Klaus Schwab Foundation. What a wicked web they all weave.

        1. They wouldn’t know veritas if they tripped over it! Wasn’t Veritas a bathroom porcelain company?

    2. Kinnock, the barsteward, is MP for Port Talbot, where they have just allowed the Steel Worksto close

    3. Vestas ? HT-S is a board member of the Danish parent company. Independent but her address book must be useful.

          1. Is that a barging expression? One you use when propelling your barge through a tunnel using your feet on the roof of the tunnel?

          2. Don't you be rude about Our Stephen's erstwhile barge. It was not hauled by an old nag on the towpath but had its own engine. I've been on it…on the water… travelling at a speed of what must have been over 2 knots.

            Even more impressive was the ingenuity of the internal design and fitting out. Hugely practical and elegant in a very confined space – all dreamed up and installed by Le Roi.

  115. Yo and Good Moaning all.

    We have just come back from shopping, in a nearby Metropolis.

    We went into a Shoezone store that had 1,256 signs of various type, saying they were "Closing Down" and had a sale on.

    Being a nosy buffer, I asked one of the shop assistants "why"

    Because of the guvernmunt she said, rise in NI, wages etc, the PTB decided was no longer viable to keep their store open.

    1. They are just following the orders of the WEF. Make it impossible for small and medium sized businesses to operate which will leave the corporates in control of everything.

    2. I think our local Shoezones closed some months ago……..or they may not have and I just haven't been into town…….

          1. Shoezone are increasingly oncentrating on their larger stores and closing smaller branches.

            Ni changes will have hurt them.

    3. Much preferred to air freight in China made shoes from Temu. If they don't fit you can always.. bin them.. then buy the next size up or down.
      Continue until you find the right size.

          1. Thanks, yes – he was some number, a tough nut. Dancing in heaven now, heels and all, prostate got him.

          3. No, no,no…Sue – you weren’t to know, sorry I didn’t make it clear! Absolutely no need to apologise, at all. Kate x Quite like the image of him dancing in heaven, in his heels 😆

          6. Eye thang yew!! I have my mothers ashes in two spice jars in the dining room, and my father is buried on Mt. Penteli Athens in a cemetery with goats with bells grazing nearby!

          7. Sounds good, especially father. I have my many dogs ashes in tubs, with an extra few died at home, then buried in garden. My dad couldn’t decide when mum died, first we had the ashes buried in consecrated ground, then he wanted them lifting – had to get permission from the bish..re-scattered at the crem. Director told me it would be difficult to split one set of ashes out of the rest, vet tells me same thing re dogs….whatever, still a great comfort to sense them nearby. Definitely going to be with my current dog, going to haunt the hills together…

          8. One of my friends died a few months ago and his spaniel died a few days before he did. The dog was put in the coffin with him. His widow said she liked to think he wasn't alone.

          9. That would be my choice too, Conway. Haven’t horses had similar? Might you? Dog is doing good now, back to sleeping and eating. Going to keep him on the yogurt. I know it’s you when I see the wings. Thanks again, Kate x

          10. Good news about doggo. Keep him on the yoghurt. I used to let Oscar lick my yoghurt pot when I'd finished eating from it before I threw it away.

          15. Yes, actually getting on my nerves a little…pacing around, watching me eat (if he gets chance) …:-DDD

          16. Friend of mine in refuse business, tells me quite categorically the vast collections of ‘sorted’ recycled plastic usually gets burnt.

          18. Thanks Conway…non-French speaker here but I think you’re saying something along the lines of ‘that doesn’t surprise me’…if so, fully agree x!

          20. Whenever I travel abroad (not so much recently), someone regularly starts speaking to me in French, assuming wrongly that I am. Around half a century ago, would be compared to Audrey Hepburn…as if…😀…looks aren’t everything, thankfully.

          21. Thankfully, people don’t start speaking to me in Dutch (which is what people think I am when I go to France – those who don’t know me, that is).

          23. I do have a couple of pairs of Dutch clogs (I use them for gardening), but I don’t take them abroad with me.

          25. Sounds good, especially father. I have my many dogs ashes in tubs, with an extra few died at home, then buried in garden. My dad couldn’t decide when mum died, first we had the ashes buried in consecrated ground, then he wanted them lifting – had to get permission from the bish..re-scattered at the crem. Director told me it would be difficult to split one set of ashes out of the rest, vet tells me same thing re dogs….whatever, still a great comfort to sense them nearby. Definitely going to be with my current dog, going to haunt the hills together…

  116. Yo and Good Moaning all.

    We have just come back from shopping, in a nearby Metropolis.

    We went into a Shoezone store that had 1,256 signs of various type, saying they were "Closing Down" and had a sale on.

    Being a nosy buffer, I asked one of the shop assistants "why"

    Because of the guvernmunt she said, rise in NI, wages etc, the PTB decided was no longer viable to keep their store open.

    1. Your score says 4, Rene? Another wrong choice from me results in a disappointing bogey!

      Wordle 1,272 5/6

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

    2. I had a close call.

      Wordle 1,272 6/6

      ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜
      ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜
      ⬜⬜🟩🟩⬜
      ⬜⬜🟩🟩🟩
      ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    3. I had four possibles after eliminating half the alphabet and worked from the end of the alphabet.

      Wordle 1,272 4/6

      ⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜
      ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
      ⬜⬜🟩🟩🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      1. I’m here! Par today.

        Wordle 1,272 4/6

        ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜
        ⬜⬜🟩🟩⬜
        ⬜⬜🟩🟩⬜
        🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  120. Well, what a exciting day. Busy market this morning. Filled the car with (relatively) cheap petrol. The MR (who is slowly discarding surplus books (we have many thousands) sold one on her Amazon account to a London bookseller!!

    After lunch to the Spire hospital to see a man about my AF. On arrival was told that the appointment was at a different hospital a mile or two away…"Didn't you receive the details of the change?" The MR replied – tartly – that if we had we wouldn't be standing in front of her….. On arriving home, there WAS an e-mail with the change of detail – sent ten minutes AFTER our meeting had concluded. Grrr

    Anyway got to new place. Checkin is byway of being give a "pad" and to to fill all the pages in yourself.. They admin system is clearly even worse than the envy of the world….

    While swearing (I had not taken in my reading glasses as I saw no need…) an agreeable chap came and asked if I was me. T'was the consultant. AND – great joy – he was the chap I saw about AFs in 2006. Delightful man; oozes reassurance. Suggested – after a few tests – a pacemaker. So will think that over. Echocardiogram fixed for Sunday 29 Dec.

    Money well spent

    1. Sorry, Bill, but I had to laugh at your Freudian(?) slip in typing 'exiting day'!!

      Glad it eventually went well though!

    3. Well done, and good luck on making decision. I'm not good on those – try to ask myself on waking early what to do, usually does it.

      1. It was having to cancel our long-awaited and much anticipated trip to London for 3 days two weeks ago that forced me to face up to it. The MR was devastated. Hence the pyramids. Had I attempted o go to the GP, I'd be still waiting for an appointment and there would then be at least two weeks before a referral letter- followed by many weeks waiting for the Envy of the World to react. I have the money; I can't take it with me; I don't want the dinner lady to have any of it – no brainer.

    4. Well done you and well done the MR for putting the wind up these functionaries – so few of them still see their primary function as being Doctors to take care of the sick. They spend their time 'operating the NHS system' to fulfill the demands of the mad bureaucratic nightmare.

      1. I was slightly surprised that the Spire – expensive private hospital – should be so bloody inept.

        1. My visit to the Spire wasn't much better. An MRI scan showed a partial collapsed disc in my neck.
          The Doctor suggested it wasn't serious enough to operate on (surgeons being loathe to actually do surgical work at all).
          The terrible pain i was suffering had me bent over. My shoulders, arms and hands were on fire. The suggested treatment was Tramadol.
          I looked on google for my condition and certain yoga exercises were suggested. I also found on google that a Tens Machine could relieve the pain.
          Both these suggestions from Google stopped me from being addicted to open ended opiate addiction.
          And stopped me from killing him before i killed myself.

          I'm with Luigi Mangioni….

        2. I suffered similarly at the Spire at Impington, Cambridge. I was surprised at the ineptness. My introductory letter with registration form did not arrive, so I simply turned up on time. It arrived in the late afternoon the day following my appointment. I also received the same letter and form a week later, for the same appt. Not the Spire's fault, but my letter of referral from my gp did not arrive on time for the appt, if it has arrived at all. Preceding my appt, I had three attempts at getting an MRI scan at Milton Keynes because the machine had broken down, each time almost 100 miles round trip. Oh, they emailed and phoned to let us know, but half an hour after we had left home, we were well on our way.

          I hope all goes smoothly for you now!

      2. Quite possibly why Luigi Mangiano who assassinated the CEO of a health insurance company is getting so much support. Including a GoFundMe page to pay his legal costs !

        1. WTF is the point of throwing money away to help fund a murderer's legal costs, FFS?

          He is bang-to-rights (caught on CCTV) and will not get any lower sentence as a result of this 'funding'.

          4. I would destroy them intellectually. Most of my generation would. They are not on the same educational level as we were.

          6. He could argue it was justifiable homicide. Putting the spotlight on the sharp practices of the insurance company.

          7. He may argue whatever he wants to for as long and as loud as he wishes. The evidence suggests he is still a cold-blooded murderer.
            No legal defence of ‘justifiable homicide’ would ever hold sway with any court for the way he acted in killing a defenceless man in such a cowardly fashion.
            Or are you calling for the introduction of vigilante law? You would certainly regret doing so it it ever came to be.

        2. Possibly because Luigi Mangiano has a monobrow, and the killer quite distinctly has not. Plus he was arrested three days later wearing the same clothes, carrying the weapon etc. All a bit weird. Early commentary on the murder was that it looked like a professional job, but that all seems to have disappeared now.

      3. I don't know what most of them are doing anymore. The surgery waiting rooms are very sparsely populated these days. And appointments are very difficult to get. And at least three of them seem to be making their income from tv shows.

  122. Hmmm. I am one of the few NoTTLers who disapprove of mocking typos. Anyway, I have a carp kyebroad.

      1. Not funny, Robert. She has been worried sick about my AFs – imagining that I was about to expire each time.

        1. Good to have someone supporting you on hospital visits, also sometimes remember the details when you might not.

          3. Exactly. I find any med appt puts my bp up, don’t listen as closely as I should – easy to leave thinking you’ve heard one thing but they actually said something else. Better Half rec’d a letter today ‘confirming he should continue to use eye drops in both eyes’…he’s only had treatment on/in one eye and was previously told to put drops just in that one.

        2. Does the MR have anyone other than you? Hate to think how she would be on her own when you do eventually cark it.
          Not trying to be funny but where i live the neighbours are very supportive.

    1. I have pondered your unanswerable question about the Assads' offspring, who are aged 19, 21 and 23.
      Their mother has been diagnosed with leukaemia and will not make old bones.
      The youngsters will continue to exist in a gilded cage, albeit in exile, and there is no obvious escape route, as no western country would accept them.
      Anyway, 'cognitive dissonance' is the phrase that popped up; when one is disturbed by something or some event, the mind works to reduce the effect, typically by self justification (aka confirmation bias?).
      Eg, the restaurant meal was too expensive, but it was of course a very special occasion. Or: my Dad became a murderous dictator, but his enemies are equally horrible.

  125. I've already got one alongside.🍷
    Just been hearing from an old buddy who has a friend who seems to be on his last legs. And he's not getting much attention.

    1. 'They' only respond when you create a massive nuisance. Tell him to set fire to the local supermarket.
      Then all sorts of care options kick in.

        1. Obviously make sure no innocents are involved.
          Unless they happen to be part of the government !

          I do think it really is the case that the controllers are so lazy it is only when there is a fuss they will attempt to deal with it because if they don't they look bad.

          The response from the social services chief over Sara Sharif made it glaringly obvious that they don't take responsibility for anything.

          A multi-agency approach is required the fucking bitch said. As if they don't speak to each other or listen to each other. They are all part of the same shit crowd.

          1. Possibly diifficult to know in that situation which agency is complicit and which not as much – doubtless reams of notes, often computer database passing the parcel…. Yes 'something must be done'. Been previous cases Social Services, then the usual 'underfunded' 'understaffed' etc ( yes, all services straining under immigration – there it is again, that word). Nevertheless, nevertheless, an innocent beautiful child died following torture – did no-one (relatives, neighbours, school) recognise the signs? Glad they've been found guilty, now awaiting sentencing. Better not to say what I think that should be.

          4. Why are they even here? Half million £ house. Part time taxi driver no doubt receiving full benefits. Relatives in Pakistan all with their own houses. First class air tickets each way.

      2. Don't depend on getting attention then.
        There was a case over here recently where someone called the emergency number and the response was "Your call is important to us, please hold" . Not that being in the middle of a burglary where the villain is pointing a gun at you counts as important!

    1. For possibly the only time, Grizzly – I agree with the Met Office. SPO moving, should be cooler. Possibly harder winters ahead.

      1. "Chemtrails" could be explained by the upper atmosphere being cooler.
        This year certainly couldn't be described as hot! They lie through their teeth anyway.

          4. I remember hailstones damaging my car roof/bonnet (old Citroen CV) decades ago..😂 not seen any hailstones for years, didn’t know the reason – thanks BB2.

        2. Temperature of +15 °C – Temperature falls at a rate of 2 °C per 1,000 feet until the tropopause is reached at 36,000 feet above which the temperature is assumed to be constant at -57 °C. (The precise numbers are 1.98 °C, -56.5 °C and 36,090 feet)

    2. On the south coast of England this year i had two weeks of Summer. Coincided with Ashes visiting and then derobing to a bikini for a swim….Nice !

      The garden party was a beautiful sunny warm calm day. Though Citroen and Anne Allen did their wacky races stunt everything went well.

      The following day which was a Sunday was very hot and humid.

      If i had had the party on that day it would have been decidely uncomfortable for my guests. It was really hot.

      I think they use those figures to justify their rediculous pronouncements

      1. Phizzee!! You little shit for mentioning any such incident even obliquely. Pushy Nurse behaved impeccably throughout.

      2. Rid Phizzee! Rid! Not red! Rid!

        You have people over? Willingly? This is why I have dogs. Douse them in cold water, call them over and then say 'shake!'

        It's very funny.

    3. Considering that the Met office gets it wrong almost every year – because it builds green into it's models.

      1. If you fail at the Met Office, you go to Covid Investigation team
        or
        Is it the other way round?

    5. Fortunately due to atmospheric pressure and gravity, bull shit doesn't usually stand up very far on its own.
      By making examples of certain topics and certain people. Hopefully a further collapse is imminent.
      Something needs to be done about the WEF.

  128. They get paid per patient on their books…alive or dead
    They are doing lots of tests which they get paid for over and above. Where there is no follow ups.
    They also get extra payments for the jabs.
    The GP surgeries have been bought out by corporates.
    Much like un Care homes.

  130. The only purpose of government these days appears to be to set ever more arbitrary unachievable unpopular targets that will not have any discernable beneficial effect on the population or the environment even if achieved but the process of trying to achieve them will allow government to assume ever growing authoritarian power over us in all areas of our life.
    Taking away our rights and freedoms to object to our countryside being concreted over, to choose what car we can afford to drive or if we can drive at all, what unaffordable heating system we can have in our homes and what source of energy, what we can eat and drink and now even to have the right to a jury trial.
    That appears to be their only real purpose these days.

    2. Think I saw on Guido, McFadden heading up a new Unit with some sort of name to disguise applying for re-entry to youknowwhere….

  132. I'm feeling sleepy now. The soft pillows are beckoning. Tomorrow afternoon is a memorial service for someone I've only spoken with twice. After our first meeting and chat, with no other connections, it turned out that we were second cousins. His grandmother was my paternal grandfather's younger sister.
    Both originally from Scarborough.
    Another of the many strange coincidences in my life.
    Good night all. 😴

  134. " Good evening, you have reached the incontinence hotline …….. can you please hold?"

    With that, I shall bid you all goodnight.

  136. Evening, all. The stir fry evening went off okay – phew! No culinary disasters, I'm pleased to say.

    We need to keep out of Syria and keep Syrians out of the UK unless they are bona fide Christians.

    1. Wot, and not be leaders on the world stage. I'm hoping Sir Galahad and his trusty liege General Lammy will be first over the top to restore order amongst the natives.

  137. OK, chums, that's me off to bed. Good Night all, sleep soundly, and I shall see you all tomorrow.

  142. Oh well I'd better get on with baking some more bread were are down to our last half of a bloomer.

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