Thursday 16 February: Scotland has paid a heavy price for Sturgeon’s independence obsession

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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625 thoughts on “Thursday 16 February: Scotland has paid a heavy price for Sturgeon’s independence obsession”

  1. Good morrow, Gentlefolks, today’s story

    Ear Infection

    This is so true!

    They always ask at the surgery why you are there, and you have to tell them (in front of others) what’s wrong and sometimes it is embarrassing.

    There’s nothing worse than a Doctor’s Receptionist who insists you tell her what is wrong with you in a room full of other patients.
    I know most of us have experienced this, and I love the way this old guy handled it.

    The 65-year-old man walked into a crowded waiting room and approached the desk.
    The Receptionist said, ‘Yes sir, what are you seeing the Doctor for today?’
    ‘There’s something wrong with my dick’, he replied.

    The receptionist became irritated and said, ‘You shouldn’t come into a crowded waiting room and say things like that.’

    ‘Why not, you asked me what was wrong and I told you,’ he said.

    The Receptionist replied; ‘Now you’ve caused some embarrassment in this room full of people. You should have said there is something wrong with your ear or something and discussed the problem further with the Doctor in private.’

    The man replied, ‘You shouldn’t ask people questions in a roomful of strangers, if the answer could embarrass anyone. The man walked out, waited several minutes, and then re-entered.

    The Receptionist smiled smugly and asked, ‘Yes?’

    ‘There’s something wrong with my ear,’ he stated.

    The Receptionist nodded approvingly and smiled, knowing he had taken her advice. ‘And what is wrong with your ear, Sir?’


    ‘I can’t piss out of it,’ he replied.

    The waiting room erupted in laughter…
    Mess with seniors and you’re going to Lose

  2. 371153+up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    Letters: Scotland has paid a heavy price for Sturgeon’s independence obsession,

    In comparison not a quarter the price England has paid for its misguided adoration of the so treacherous lab/lib/con mass controlled morally illegal immigration / paedophile umbrella coalition party.

    The only success these Isles have had of late is getting precisely what the majority voted for, enjoy, worse times approaching in the near future.

    2. Ardern — out (fact).
      Sturgeon — out (fact).
      Trudeau — out (pipe dream)
      Macron — out (wishful thinking).
      Sunak —out (you wish!).
      Zelenskyy — out (too much fawning support).
      Putin — out (dream on).

  9. The desert oasis thwarting efforts to isolate Putin’s regime. 16 February 2023.

    Gulf’s willingness to embrace oligarchs’ riches is beginning to cause alarm in the West

    Earlier this month, Brian Nelson, US Treasury under-secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said the US was determined to aggressively enforce Russian sanctions in “permissive juristictions” which are continuing to do business with Russian entities.

    On a visit to the region in recent weeks, Nelson raised the issue of the MTS banking licence and despite the bank not being subject to sanctions, he expressed concerns about “financial connectivity with Russia, even via non-sanctioned banks”, the Financial Times reported.

    Unfortunately, despite all the propaganda, this is a majority of the world’s polities. As we sit here being reduced to poverty everyone else is getting richer at our expense.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/02/16/desert-oasis-thwarting-efforts-isolate-putins-regime/

  10. Morning all,

    Yesterday I had this shipped in from the Netherlands

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/66e9fadc22d633bd39521ff142d04e34bc49fbeeed835900ae852b12999d398d.jpg

    Up until now I’ve a digital car battery tester as an indicator on battery health but it is based on a load of empirical equations that guestimate what’s going on inside a battery:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a9900a666ecdb8092609ab9802a16757dafb4c287a39705fe0e018aab397fa90.jpg

    Using this analogue carbon pile load tester across a battery proved once and for all whether on not the auxiliary battery in my BEV could be trusted to get me around without breaking down.

    After passing with flying colours I monitored the battery performance on ignition from the 12 volt utility socket in the centre control panel:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9f8987a1fc793eee08b95748e7caf0df45cd623984f4a2b3b782589d582b0a0e.gif

    2. Please remind me what a BEV is , I think I know , but.

      Also if your car is causing you anxiety , why on earth don’t you replace it with an economical diesel car, and then you will be able to relax.

      I suspect you are bored to bits and need more stimulation , your mental energy is being wasted , perhaps you should be an advisor for a high tech company.

      Perhaps you are already?

      1. A BEV is a battery electric vehicle and is powered solely by a battery.
        I didn’t drive my diesel hard and long enough to feep its particulate filter clear and it clogged up. I was going to clear it with a parked regeneration but MOH didn’t want to have in the drive being heated up to over 500 degrees centigrade.

        I. traded it in for a BEV because I wanred to see if would do as a mobility scooter replacement.

        1. Mechanic told me that a regen can crack the concrete underneath a vehicle. Replacing the DPF can easily cost the best part of £1000, so an occasional hour on an uncrowded motorway is a lot easier.

  11. Morning all,

    Yesterday I had this shipped in from the Netherlands

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/66e9fadc22d633bd39521ff142d04e34bc49fbeeed835900ae852b12999d398d.jpg

    Up until now I’ve a digital car battery tester as an indicator on battery health but it is based on a load of empirical equations that guestimate what’s going on inside a battery:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a9900a666ecdb8092609ab9802a16757dafb4c287a39705fe0e018aab397fa90.jpg

    Using this analogue carbon pile load tester across a battery proved once and for all whether on not the auxiliary battery in my BEV could be trusted to get me around without breaking down.

    After passing with flying colours I monitored the battery performance on ignition from the 12 volt utility socket in the centre control panel:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9f8987a1fc793eee08b95748e7caf0df45cd623984f4a2b3b782589d582b0a0e.gif

  12. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/58cdc1a390114e4664b5ba625de173d74ef51e0fe479d63bb1f3185706b476ae.png No, little Jimmy, this isn’t any sort of “issue”. It is nothing more than another example of a sad individual who is eager to start yet another fatuous and pointless “debate”, on an inane theme, that will only prevent more interesting and pertinent topics being aired in an increasingly banal letters’ forum.

    The making of a sandwich is a personal preference and has nothing, whatsoever, to do with what school you attended, your perceived social standing, or your geographical origin. Some people toast bread on both sides when making cheese-on-toast; others toast one side only. We all have personal preferences —whoever we are, however we were educated, and wherever we come from — and, in any case, who the hell cares?

    1. But…….!

      Putting lettuce in meat sandwiches is just plain weird!

      (For the record; ‘council house’ upbringing)

        1. We were having lunch with our 4 year old granddaughter on Tuesday when she held out her cheese and ham sandwich and said, ‘Gran, is my sandwich upside down?’ Good question! If it had had tomato in it, it would have been!

          1. A policeman in Yorkshire was patrolling along the riverbank when he saw a young boy sitting there with a fishing rod. The lad was crying his eyes out. The policeman asked what had upset the lad, and the boy replied, “It’s me mate.” Pressing further the bobby received the reply, “Fallen in t’river!”. “When?” asked the concerned copper. “Couple o’ minutes since,” cried the boy.

            The police officer chucked off his helmet, removed his boots and tunic., and dived in. He submerged himself again and again for ten minutes trying to find anything but failed each time he surfaced. Eventually he shouted to the boy, “Tell me exactly what happened.” The boy replied:

            “I just opened me sandwich to see what were in it and t’mate fell out into t’river!” [‘mate’: Yorkshire dialect for meat.]

          2. Down on the Isle of Wight, a countryman’s midday repast was known as nammit, or nammet, to be carried in a nammit bag. Translates as ‘no meat’.
            Possibly a similar term may exist elsewhere.

          5. That word is particular to the North-east. “Snap” is the more common word in Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire.

      1. That’s the nature of this site, Joe. Didn’t you know, it is a Daily Telegraph Letter’s forum.

        95% of comments made on here are of a similar ilk.

        1. And this one, too. The MR bought one when she lived and worked in The Netherlands in the 1980s.

          1. Also, the chunks of cheese for sale in Swedish shops and supermarkets are, on average, four-to-six time larger than the pathetically small (and expensive) chunks routinely available in the UK.

          3. Västerbottensost is a worthy substitute for a strong cheddar. Grevé is a poor-man’s gruyère.

        2. We have 3:
          One flat blade, spade-type as your picture
          One flat blade but looks like a potato peeler – very narrow blade – for the rubberier cheeses (doesn’t stick to the spade part)
          One with S-shaped cutting edge – works best of all, and has a lovely smooth wood handle.

          I’ll get me anorak – the one with the fur-lined hood!

          2. Yo, Mr Effort! Is the radiator grille on a Triumph Herald good for grating cheese on? Or should I save up a bit more for a posher, de-luxe, Vitesse?

          3. There’s a type that has a vertical axis, and slowly screws itself down as you whirl the handle. Perfect for cutting slices off the top of the cheese.

    4. And it is NOT “wild” camping, you idiot. It is camping. Just as “wild” swimming is simply river swimming.

      1. Our old friend, Toots (who I’m still in contact with), is incandescent about the ineptitude — as a letters’ editor — of Orlando Bird, who took over, late last year, at the DT from Christopher Howse.

    7. With everything else that is going on in the world, why did the letters editor publish that drivel? As you say “who cares?”.

    8. Good morning Grizzly

      At least ‘the increasingly banal letters forum‘ still publishes your letters – it has stopped publishing mine – indeed The DT no longer even acknowledges the letters I email to it.

      Incidentally where were you at school!

  13. Why Biden Administration is worried about its fallout. 16 February 2023.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c6f30f4e317fec133bfd1781211b50e70c04b887b6a57fcd11694c568eec68ee.png

    If the report were to be true, it could come as a huge betrayal for Germany and other European powers that were relying on supply of natural gas from the pipeline. As such, the US and Norway are Berlin’s frontline allies.

    Well as can be seen from the montage they are keeping it out of the MSM! The American destruction of the pipeline is the explanation for Scholz’s reluctance with Ukraine. He cannot simply walk out on the war. For one thing his party and the opposition wouldn’t allow it and if they did it would destroy (the reason for their reticence) NATO and probably the EU. So he’s foot dragging and making sure the rest match any move that he’s forced to take. It’s hard not to admire Scholz. He’s trying to save Germany, since a Russian defeat will destroy Germany’s economic model which is based on cheap Russian gas! My guess he’s hoping that the whole effort will founder under American and EU duplicity. They will probably get rid of him!

    https://www.firstpost.com/opinion/seymour-hershs-nord-stream-report-why-biden-administration-is-worried-about-its-fallout-12159292.html

    1. I didn’t realise Hersh was so old and experienced. He’s uncovered a lot of US ill deeds in the past.

      1. Morning Ndovu. Yes I don’t think anyone like him could rise nowadays. They are all pretty much Intelligence moles now!

      2. Yes, Seymour Hersh helped to expose Pinkville; Jews are sensitive about massacres.
        During the slaughter at My Lai, the heroes were the crew of a helicopter, Hugh Thompson Jr, Glenn Andreotta and Lawrence Colburn.
        Tiny helicopter, just a three seater, a Hiller OH-23G Raven , but it was armed and, well you need to read the history. (thanks Wiki)

        1. My request was genuine.. So often something “current” is “posted” which is years old.

    2. This happened about fifteen years ago, when the Government were making doctors and nurses redundant.

      The New South Wales government sent a recruiting team to Britain, carefully checked their records, and recruited

      all the best ones.

    3. Given the way some Aussie politicians embraced their inner Fascist during lockdown, I might not take up their offer – they were arguably even worse than our pathetic bunch [apart from a few like Jeremy Rhyming Slang?]

      1. I was chatting with my old mate Bruce near Melbourne yesterday morning. His opinion of the Australian political classes is that they are worse than ours and there are far more of them.
        “They are all Greedy slime bags”.
        And many ossies are still wearing masks. And I’m not talking about Ned Kelly.

    4. Given the way some Aussie politicians embraced their inner Fascist during lockdown, I might not take up their offer – they were arguably even worse than our pathetic bunch [apart from a few like Jeremy Rhyming Slang?]

  17. Morning folks:

    There is a somewhat old expression that may soon be making a comeback:

    “Stick that in your pipe and smoke it”

    “The Russian mission to the United Nations said on Wednesday it is planning this meeting for Feb.22, and it comes after Moscow has demanded answers from the Biden administration related to allegations and reporting revealed by Hersh.

    While so far the mainstream media has by and large been completely silent on Hersh’s findings, Reuters has belatedly acknowledged it as follows on Wednesday:

    “U.S. investigative journalist Seymour Hersh wrote in a blog that an attack on the Russian-operated pipelines under the Baltic Sea was carried out last September at the direction of U.S. President Joe Biden.

    The White House has dismissed the report as “utterly false and complete fiction.”

    In the meantime:

    Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Seymour Hersh in a fresh interview with Germany’s Berliner Zeitung newspaper which follows up on his bombshell reporting How America Took Out The Nord Stream Pipeline, has provided more context to the Biden White House’s decision-making behind the brazen, high-risk covert op.

    “The President of the United States would rather see Germany freeze than [see] Germany possibly stop supporting Ukraine,” Hersh asserted.
    He explained that in reality the Ukraine conflict was “not going well for the West” and that it’s important to remember that Stream 2 “was put on hold by Germany itself, not international sanctions, and the US was afraid Germany would lift sanctions because of a cold winter.”

    That’s when the legendary investigative journalist emphasized:
    “The point is that Biden has decided to let the Germans freeze this winter. The President of the United States would rather see Germany freeze than [see] Germany possibly stop supporting Ukraine.”

    Hersh has also in a fresh update to his Substack teased that more details are coming based on his sources. “Stay tuned,” he said. “We are only on first base…” – writing that:

    “There may be more to learn about Joe Biden’s decision to prevent the German government from having second thoughts about the lack of cheap gas this winter.”

    1. The White House has dismissed the report as “utterly false and complete fiction.”

      Like the Steele dossier?

  18. Re Nicola Sturgeon.

    SIR – At last, something positive has come out of wokeism.

    Max Ingram
    Emneth, Norfolk

    A Nottler got published !

  19. Morning, all Y’all.
    Grey, foggy, warm. Slippery ice everywhere – have strapped huge cushion to backside just in case…

  20. Some spring cheer for you. I was out wandering (not very far) with my camera yesterday. Here are some photographs in the wooded area opposite our humble home, in the grounds of the local Hall. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/10d79f991f1d04501780d824970c2a33a8d5f18c9cf3bb13643351802b5ef727.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/68d1537934314946805014b7806ae02184ba2c5d2bccae3be5e6d723949e1ce0.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/289312305c422040daf1aa22af6f93f79969530e497fa8864a357cd296643ba6.jpg

    1. Our snowdrops and croci are fantastic this year. Hours of effort in the past – dividing and planting has paid dividends!

      1. Crocuses that we bought in France 7 years ago and promptly did nothing when we planted them here have come up this year!

          1. The conditions must have been just right for crocuses this year, some corms we brought back from France seven years ago and planted, have flowered for the first time.

    2. Hello PM

      So glad you enjoyed your walk in proper broad leaf woodland that is untampered with and intact .

      How lovely , celandines and snow drops are always on time , aren’t we so lucky to live in a country that has proper seasons , and we all know that we are edging to the end of winter and spring is around the corner.

    4. My snowdrops and winter aconites are just breaking into flower. It will be another month before my crocuses wake up.

      My first flowering plants this winter were the hellebores.

      1. My hellebores are out as are some of my crocuses and the red primrose plus most of my snowdrops. The winter flowering jasmine is also in bloom. The bergenias are just starting to show in bud. I do have some hyacinths out, but I grew those hydroponically indoors then transplanted them.

    7. 371153+ up ticks,

      Morning PM,

      God, in turn natures gift to us, sad to say waiting to be abused, prime building land is urgently needed for our daily arriving guests.

      The photographs are lovely and will, as with many areas, be a record of as things once were.

      By the by such photographic memories should be gifted to the tree museum.

    8. A very cheering sight. A few of the snowdrops we dug up (in the green) from late mother-in-law’s house in 2021 have sprouted this year.

  21. Russia flies two supersonic nuclear bombers over Norwegian Sea north of Scotland. 16 February 2023.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/25b1ecf71198c135b2530030385a04fe9c8d9677e52243ad1e4768b468d99012.png

    Russia has flown two supersonic nuclear bombers over the Norwegian Sea, to the north of Shetland, in a stark warning to the West.

    It comes hours after Vladimir Putin deployed his strategic aircraft over the Bering Sea, the body of water separating the US state of Alaska and Russia’s far-east.

    The moves are seen as a display of military strength to the West as Russia prepares to mark the first anniversary of the disastrous war in Ukraine on February 24.

    The map shows a Russian WarPlane overflying Scandinavia, one of whom is a member of NATO. Do they no longer teach geography in school?

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11752977/Russia-flies-two-supersonic-nuclear-bombers-Norwegian-Sea-north-Scotland.html

      1. It’s like when that Ruskie sub had the temerity to pass through the Strait of Dover. In daylight. On the surface. With an escort vessel. Through an international waterway. How dare they!

        2. I wonder if Mr Putin would allow us to rent a crewed sub to patrol the Calais to Dover stretch to deter inflatables?

    4. It’s an almost daily occurrence. They fly from places like Murmansk, in international airspace north of the North Cape and south down the North Sea towards the UK, recording and monitoring the response of NATO planes, radars etc.
      So, it’s nothing special at all. Why get so excited over it? Just business as usual.

  24. ‘Morning, Peeps. Damp start today – the weather, that is.

    SIR – Why is Ms Sturgeon stepping down as First Minister? Simple: she lost the trust of the Scottish people over the transgender issue.

    Michael Edwards
    Haslemere, Surrey

    Is this the whole reason, or is the ferry scandal finally about to catch up with her? And then there’s the disappearance of just over £500,000 from something called the Independence Fund. Oh yes, and her husband’s financial shenanigans with party funds as CEO of the Scottish Nasty Party. Take your pick! Perhaps the forthcoming police investigation will help to clarify things…

      1. ‘Morning, Alec. You are too kind. I think Mr Selves has put it far better:

        Martin Selves
        1 HR AGO
        Nigel Farage finished his piece in Nicola Sturgeon by saying she was a professional politician, “but was the most unpleasant person he had ever met in any walk of life”. I don’t normally disagree with him, but I think Michael Heseltine is worse.
        She has wasted years of tax payers money, probably billions of pounds, and only the money from the Barnet Formula kept Scotland afloat as she tried to ridicule HMG at every opportunity, and drag her nonsense through the Courts and her own Parliament. She resigned on the shirt tails of Trans rights, a truly heroic WOKE project that went badly wrong. It was a fitting end.
        If only she was alone, just her, a sad and solitary figure now pursuing her dream and ignoring all else to achieve it. But she isn’t. So many of our leading politicians and past Prime Ministers have dragged their feet when spikes and a starting block was needed.
        She leaves a Country whose security and health are far worse than ours, her Party in decline, and a BBC broken hearted. They tried their very best to promote her as a fallen weary hero, when she actually was a fallen weary failure.

      2. ‘Morning, Alec. You are too kind. I think Mr Selves has put it far better:

        Martin Selves
        1 HR AGO
        Nigel Farage finished his piece in Nicola Sturgeon by saying she was a professional politician, “but was the most unpleasant person he had ever met in any walk of life”. I don’t normally disagree with him, but I think Michael Heseltine is worse.
        She has wasted years of tax payers money, probably billions of pounds, and only the money from the Barnet Formula kept Scotland afloat as she tried to ridicule HMG at every opportunity, and drag her nonsense through the Courts and her own Parliament. She resigned on the shirt tails of Trans rights, a truly heroic WOKE project that went badly wrong. It was a fitting end.
        If only she was alone, just her, a sad and solitary figure now pursuing her dream and ignoring all else to achieve it. But she isn’t. So many of our leading politicians and past Prime Ministers have dragged their feet when spikes and a starting block was needed.
        She leaves a Country whose security and health are far worse than ours, her Party in decline, and a BBC broken hearted. They tried their very best to promote her as a fallen weary hero, when she actually was a fallen weary failure.

  28. SIR – Sir Keir Starmer has barred Jeremy Corbyn from standing as a Labour candidate at the next election.

    Yet for four years Sir Keir campaigned for a party with widespread anti-Semitic sentiments, and asked us to elect Mr Corbyn – whom he now states is unfit to be a Labour MP – to the highest office.

    Peter Hopper
    Stevenage, Hertfordshire

    Sir Kneel Korma is a politician, Mr Hopper, and only a mediocre one at that. What did you expect??

  30. A fair BTL comment pointing out that the Gender bullshite is not restricted to only the Left Wing parties.

    Michael Geddes
    1 HR AGO
    Amid our rejoicing at Sturgeon’s largely self inflicted downfall, let us remind ourselves that the vast majority of SNP MSPs voted for her insane gender legislation, as did almost all of the Labour group. Even a few Tories agreed with it. This means that we have a bizarrely large amount of elected representatives in Scotland with a deranged approach to gender identification, an issue that a bewildered population saw as totally absurd, bordering on insanity. The Scottish parliament voting on the gender self I.D. bill also confirmed that MSPs will generally vote in line with instructions from the leadership. As the UK parliament did over “special powers” and lockdowns.

    1. Why can’t these muppets get it into their thick heads that people have a SEX and not a f*cking ‘gender’.

      If I ever come across the word ‘gender’ on any official form that I fill in, I erase it, with a swipe of a felt-tip pen, and then write the word sex above it.

      1. And as for “…large amount of elected representatives…”

        Everything is an ‘amount’ these days!

      2. Morning Grizzly

        ‘What fresh linguistic hell is this?’ Viewers of BBC’s One Show baffled as Sam Smith reveals dream of becoming a ‘fisher-them’ in chat about secret love of fly fishing (before correcting presenter who ‘misgendered’ them as a ‘fisherman’)
        Sam Smith told One Show hosts they would like to be a ‘fisher-them’
        The unusual phrase left many viewers of the BBC chat show baffled

        https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-11755337/Viewers-BBCs-One-baffled-Sam-Smith-reveals-dream-fisher-them.html

        3. Hmm… so, this Sam Smith (not the purveyor of excellent ales, clearly) is a huthem, is they?

      3. Except you can’t on on-line forms. There you are stuck with the inanity of the child that put the form together.

  32. SIR – I live in the borough of Reigate and Banstead, so our local hospitals are in Epsom and St Helier. Epsom is a short drive away but appointments are often at St Helier, which is twice the distance and means paying the ultra-low emission zone charge (Letters, February 15), thus taxing health. Public transport can take well over an hour.

    Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, has not thought his proposals through.

    Roger Dring
    Tadworth, Surrey

    I think he has, Mr Dring, with the aid of a calculator!

    1. Keep up Mr Dring the current ‘mayor of Surrey’ is a complete and utter AH.
      Anyone who lives inside the M25 is being targeted by this POS.

  33. Good moaning all,

    A drizzly start to the day at McPhee Towers but the Sun is at its zenith here as we can scarcely contain our joy at the departure of the narcissistic Evil Witch of the North. There is also some amusement about what might follow her at the helm of the SNP, a party desperately short of anything you might call ‘talent’ or ability. The Clan Chief here is hoping for that fellow Hamza whotsisname who did the anti-white rant in Holyrood a couple of years back. Not only would secession be killed for good but we could see a backlash against Islam too.

    Another touted candidate is the lassie Forbes who is one of the ‘Wee Frees’ (look them up). That should set the cat among the pigeons.

  34. Rod Liddle
    Cancel the Vikings
    From magazine issue: 18 February 2023

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Rod-Liddle-Getty.jpg

    A little late in the day, perhaps, it has been pointed out to the intellectual colossi of South Tyneside Council that the Vikings may have been a bit right-of-centre and therefore ripe for a spot of cancelling. There is a statue, you see, of a couple of these marauding Norsemen outside a shopping centre in Jarrow. They are fat, hairy and possessed of aggressive facial expressions. Check out the queue at the nearby Greggs and it is as if that statue had somehow come to life, or a sort of life. The apple hasn’t fallen very far from the tree on Tyneside.

    The council, working in conjunction with Northumbria Police, spent an unrevealed amount of money on investigating statues and commemorative plaques in their manor which might possibly cause offence to people with skins thinner than the surface tension of water. The only two they found were an Edwardian statue of Queen Victoria outside the town hall in South Shields and the aforementioned Vikings, knocked up in the 1960s, in Jarrow.

    Victoria would, I daresay, be amused to discover that the combined intellects of the Northumbria filth and the slubberdegullions on the council posited the thesis that the Queen had connections to imperialism and colonisation. Did she? Really? Criminy, etc. Anyway, Vicky got an amber warning in the consequent report, which I think means she should desist from conquering foreign lands in future and perhaps go on some sort of course. The Vikings also received an amber warning, partly because of their connections to slavery and also because their legacy is sometimes revered by the millions of people in the UK who are members of white supremacist groups.

    I read somewhere that Halfdan Ragnarsson was incapable of taking the concept of misgendering seriously

    I think the Vikings got off rather lightly, frankly – but perhaps that is because they enslaved only us Britons and Saxons and we don’t matter. It only really counts if you enslave black people. There has been no mention of the Vikings’ famous propensity for pillage and murder, not to mention their perhaps outdated understanding of the term ‘consent’ when it came to womenfolk and what one might do with them. Our knowledge of the Vikings is limited because so little is written about them, the consequence of very few people being able to read or write back then – another striking similarity with the South Tyneside of today.

    But I am sure I read somewhere in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles that Halfdan Ragnarsson, briefly King of Northumbria and a commander of the Great Heathen Army, was incapable of taking the concept of ‘misgendering’ seriously and would fall about laughing whenever it was brought up by any of his HR executives. A little bit more digging by the coppers and the council would surely have resulted in the Vikings being awarded a red warning, rather than amber. The news that the Vikings employed slavery might at least have revealed to the council halfwits that slavery was not invented by a British man in about 1555 but had been employed by just about every powerful group since civilisation began, from the Shang dynasty in the second millennium bc in China to the Native Americans.

    It is quite possible that they do not know this, those councillors, such has been the welter of propaganda about Britain’s role in the slave trade and its uniquely wicked behaviour. A Turkish cab driver once told me that the Brits were the most evil people on earth because we invented slavery, apparently unaware that institutionalised slavery underpinned the economy of the Ottoman Empire long before we got our hands on West Africa. I suppose I could have enlightened him – mentioned the Romans and the Sumerians and so on – but it seemed a shame to disturb the world view he had been handed by the grievance merchants of the self-flagellating, idiotic white liberals and the dimbos in BLM. Fester in your pit of stupidity, Engin.

    South Tyneside has just announced that it will be raising its council tax for the coming financial year by a little under 5 per cent, so it should have even more money to spend on fatuous investigations which would stretch the credulity of an averagely bright infant. On the other hand, they are also planning to disperse ‘anti-poverty strategy officers’ throughout their fiefdom, who will, I expect, spend their time reporting people who have a strategy against poverty. I think that’s what the afore-mentioned job title means.

    Meanwhile, Northumbria Police is having to make large cuts to its budget this year and is on record as claiming to be the police force which has suffered greater underfunding, per head of population, than any other in the country over the past 13 years. Seems to me there’s still a bit of fat left to trim – until such time as when some drongo from South Tyneside rings up with a plan to investigate the racism and white supremacy inherent in a bunch of local commemorative plaques, and the coppers reply: ‘We’d love to. But we haven’t solved a single burglary in the past year and we’d really like to concentrate on that, for a while, thank you.’

    The trouble is, expunging our collective history is a congenial project and somewhat easier than tracking down some feral Mackem scrote who has just stabbed an old lady in the head and relieved her of her steak-bake. Neither Queen Victoria, up on her plinth, nor the two Vikings lowering over the good people of Jarrow, are able to flee the police, nor will they scream at them: ‘You’ll never take me alive, copper.’ In this, policing the past is a little like the penchant today’s constabularies have for pursuing real or imaginary hate crimes online. It can all be done very easily, no baton charge necessary. Of course they are not really combating what we might call ‘crime’, but when you weigh it all up, what is the theft of a bicycle or a car when compared to the hurt occasioned by a small blue plaque?

    3. I’m happy to have traced my ancestry back to 530 in Sweden via Norway and Normandy (Normans being a corruption of Norse men, i.e., Vikings).

  35. Morning all 😉 😊
    Horrible day, wet grey my plans for clearing my wildlife pond are on hold. I cleared most or our neighbours oak leaves from it yesterday but I have to find the leak in the liner. That means partially removing most of the water. I have a powerful pump, but it’s too much hassle so my plan was to move one of our plastic bins close by and bucket the water in. Then I can easily tip it back. And it keeps the tiny creatures buried in the silt safe. Just call me considerate 🙂

    I hope we are not going to be asked to have a whip round for poor old Scotland now.

    1. I haven’t cleared mine for several years now, but it’s nice fishing the newts and dragonfly larvae out and protecting them in the spare bin. Problem is the black bin now has a leak and has been relegated to rhubarb forcing duty…

      1. A couple of years ago a heron landed and ate about 4 frogs around day break. I’m going to have to net the pond when I’ve finished repairs.

        1. The heron had all our remaining fish a few years ago. Just a few newts and dragonfly larvae in there now.

          1. All the small pond fish were taken years ago. I don’t like netting but it’s the only option.
            As we all know, Frogs and toads are good for the garden keeping slugs and snail population down.

  36. They like cash….they don’t like CBDC

    Riots erupt in Nigerian cities as bank policy leads to scarcity of cash

    Angry protesters attack ATMs and block roads in frustration at lack of new banknotes days before election

    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/22af2ca2dc86793224157a1dec9235041a702015/0_0_5500_3300/master/5500.jpg?width=700&quality=45&dpr=2&s=none
    Bank lacking Nigeria’s new naira notes are seeing huge queues of frustrated customers.

    http://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/15/angry-protests-erupt-across-nigeria-against-scarcity-of-cash

  39. The Great Aussie worker raid! Western Australia launches cheeky bid to ‘steal’ more than 30,000 British doctors, nurses, police and teachers Down Under in a nod to the post-World War Two ‘Ten Pound Poms’ scheme
    Australian delegation will visit the UK this month in bid to lure 31,000 workers
    Are you a Brit who moved to Australia? What was your experience? Email rory.tingle@mailonline.co.uk

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11756093/Western-Australia-bid-lure-30-000-British-doctors-nurses-police-teachers-Under.html#i-f42f4deffbf50d3

    1. I was talking to a Zimbabwean the other day, who said that their government hospitals are now staffed only by no-hopers and students, because most of their staff have been lured to the West to work.
      There is better treatment than the NHS though, where you can go to a private practice.

      1. That is exactly a point I keep trying to make. Not just the NHS but the whole country is robbing these countries like Zimbabwe of the people they need to improve the living standards of their own citizens.

  41. Medley Time

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/87725b18933edbe0ddb15b57a7f1338f4680ceb086ad1b8cc35c6e9017144ca6.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d8fb6cc2fabf0c02c0beedd6d472550df4077c864db34197ccea48c543e46909.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2f18bf6462b9c202791325a003385a615de4868e3f76c22010dbdf3c18ec8d70.jpg

    https://media.greatawakening.win/post/TEHkzVqvC8X5.jpeg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/dc701539f6d40778054f3b984554f6992b1f556cbc062550932fb5d72bc275c9.jpg

    https://twitter.com/GonzaloLira1968/status/1625447761918189569?s=20

      2. Sorry, banning the death penalty and lying about so-called ‘life imprisonment’ is sick.

        Leaving 3 small children unattended while you go out for a meal is also sick.

  42. Good morning, chums. Busy, busy, busy this week. Off to the dentist now, so will see you all later.

  43. Douglas Murray
    Can you really be radicalised by Great British Railway Journeys?
    From magazine issue: 18 February 2023

    The late Robert Conquest adumbrated three rules of politics. Perhaps the most famous (also known as O’Sullivan’s law) is that ‘Any organisation not explicitly and constitutionally right-wing will sooner or later become left-wing’. I would like to add a fourth law: ‘Any programme set up by government will inevitably metastasise unless consciously cut back by observant officials.’

    Anyone in search of a textbook example need look no further than the government’s Prevent programme, into which the government’s official review was finally published last week. William Shawcross’s excellent comprehensive report contains many things worth lingering over. But one of the most interesting is what he uncovered about Prevent’s saunter into ‘right-wing extremism’. Because of course it was never going to be enough for a government programme set up to tackle one form of extremism to look only into that form of extremism. It is almost inevitable that the people taking part will come to feel that there are other forms of ‘extremism’ that they must also focus on and that there is something almost bigoted about pursuing the specific thing they were set up to address. Thus does the great boondoggle of government justify itself.

    Radicalisation could occur from reading C.S. Lewis, Tolkien,
    Huxley or Conrad. I kid you not

    In any case, it transpires that the programme’s attempts to address right-wing extremism were even more inept than some of its attempts to address Islamist extremism. In part this is because the Prevent programme was advised by left-wing activist groups like Hope not Hate. Such groups have long believed that the definition of far-right should encompass, for instance, many people who supported Brexit. From campaigning against the National Front and the BNP, such groups ended up campaigning against Ukip. In other words, they ended up trying to stigmatise opinions that were in many cases (such as on Brexit and immigration) shared by a majority of the British people. Quite the hustle, that.

    Last weekend the press reported on an analysis done by Prevent’s ‘Research Information and Communications Unit’ (RICU) in 2019. This analysis looked into social media users described as ‘actively patriotic and proud’. Oh no – anything but actively patriotic and proud! Anyhow, according to RICU there were warning signs if people absorbed information or opinions from ‘pro-Brexit and centre-right commentators’. These included Jacob Rees-Mogg, Melanie Phillips, Rod Liddle and yours truly. So everybody reading this column is at as much risk of being ‘radicalised’ as some young Muslim settling down with a tape recording of Ayman al-Zawahiri or Osama bin Laden, and Rees-Mogg becomes the equivalent of a finger–waving imam sending the young off to become martyrs in the cause of Allah. Which is strange because he never came across that way to me when we crossed paths at Conservative Philosophy Group meetings.

    I have since been able to look over some of this pathetic material provided at public expense and can confirm that it gets worse. In one RICU document a number of books are singled out, the possession or reading of which could point to severe wrongthink and therefore potential radicalisation. These include a book on the Rotherham rape gangs, books by Peter Hitchens, Melanie Phillips and – once again – me. Without wanting to beat my own drum, the book of mine that is singled out for this sinister treatment is my 2017 work The Strange Death of Europe. This book spent almost 20 weeks in the Sunday Times bestseller lists, has been translated into dozens of languages and was for some time the bestselling non-fiction book in the UK. So that is an awful lot of potential radicals just there.

    Like the attempt to delegitimise a book on the ‘grooming’ scandals in the north of England, it seems that RICU is so far off-track that it believes that books identifying the problem that it was itself set up to tackle are in fact a part of the problem. As I say, if you want a job for life, join a government programme that can end up forming a perfect circle of self-justification in such a fashion.

    When I first saw these documents I felt a sort of white-hot anger. But then I read on and saw that these same taxpayer-funded fools provide lists of other books shared by people who have sympathies with the ‘far-right and Brexit’. Key signs that people have fallen into this abyss include watching the Kenneth Clark TV series Civilisation, The Thick of It and Great British Railway Journeys. I need to stress again that I am not making this up. This has all been done on your dime and mine in order to stop ‘extremism’ in these islands.

    There is also a reading list of historical texts which produce red flags to RICU. These include Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes, John Locke’s Two Treatises of Government and Edmund Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France, as well as works by Thomas Carlyle and Adam Smith. Elsewhere RICU warns that radicalisation could occur from books by authors including C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Aldous Huxley and Joseph Conrad. I kid you not, though it seems that all satire is dead, but the list of suspect books also includes 1984 by George Orwell.

    So in general, I begin to feel in good company. If government agencies are going to compile lists of suspect books, then I am very happy to stand condemned alongside these fine people, both living and dead.

    But what does it say about our country that we could ever have got here? Prevent was meant to protect people. It evolved, in time, into something committed to going against almost everything about our country, including its people. People may be angry about this. But anger is not enough. I want accountability. I want names, Home Secretary. And then I want to hear of sackings by the score.

    1. Why the Left are involved in such things is beyond me. Hate not hope is a vicious, bitter group of Nazis. So desperate are they to erase others thy forget that this is precisely what their predecessors, the Nazis did.

    1. Yes, but they’re forced to sell way above market price because of contracts for difference. While big government rigs the energy market to hide the offensive costs of unreliables there can be no chance for rational energy policy.

  45. Good morning!
    Email news from Save the Parish

    “Given all the big stories that have hit the press recently about General Synod (the Church’s parliament), you would be forgiven for not noticing one little vote on a clause in the very boring-sounding ‘Miscellaneous Provisions Measure’. As is often the case, the more boring the name of a Bill, and the more controversial the matters that surround it, the more likely it is that something significant might lurk in the detail. This Miscellaneous Provisions Measure was no exception.

    Sitting quietly in clause 15 was a proposal to allow bishops unilaterally to sell parish land/parsonages during an interregnum. We spotted this and managed to achieve our first major Synod win as Save The Parish.

    The Revd Tom Woolford, a STP member, proposed what he described as ‘the soft and cuddly end’ of Save the Parish amendments! He asked to insert provisions into the Measure, ensuring that during an interregnum either the Priest-in-Charge would have the power of an incumbent to sell parish land, or that a bishop could only exercise that power if invited to do so by the PCC.

    Those proposing the Measure resisted the amendment… so a full-scale debate took place, which focused on the issue of trust, during which Revd Marcus Walker, our STP inspiration and chairman, invited the Archbishops to make good their promises to rebuild trust and to join STP in supporting the amendment. Very hearteningly, they did so; and the amendment was won.

    This is a really important moment. Firstly, it is the first time that Save The Parish has made a significant difference with respect to Synod legislation which would otherwise have gone unnoticed; secondly, it heralds (we hope) the first time that the further reduction of parish power over parish assets has been halted; and thirdly it suggests that the Archbishops may be listening to what we, and you, have been saying by indicating some openness to hear our concerns about the erosion of trust.

    Even with the Archbishops’ visible support, the vote was a close-run thing. It shows how important it is to have more members of General Synod whose hearts are in the parish – and how important it will be at the next election to have candidates standing for STP, and electors on Deanery Synods able to vote for them. This is why the Annual Parochial Church Meetings coming up this year are quite so important: they are when the Deanery Synod members from each parish are elected. In turn, Deanery Synod members are the electors of lay members of the next General Synod. Please consider standing. We know you are busy and only take on extra responsibilities seriously – but to be pragmatic you won’t need to attend every meeting but would acquire the power to ‘change the dial’ further in favour of the parish. The parishes have no representative trade body, although your vicar can join an union. Please help us to give the parishes a voice and allow us to increase the momentum which we are achieving.

    I am thrilled to say that recent events have shown that STP is a genuinely ‘broad Church’ in which people of very different views are united by their love of the parish system. My colleagues in General Synod reported that it was very noticeable that differences of opinion did not damage in any way the collegiality of STP. Those of us who volunteer in this cause are hugely grateful for your support, practical and financial, and above all the blessings of so many of you. Thank you! It makes all the work worthwhile. Please do join your Deanery Synod (as I have).

    Kind regards,

    1. We were all put under house arrest three years ago. I’ve not forgotten how we were deprived of our civil liberties.

      1. 371153+ up ricks,

        Morning N,

        I am in all seriousness when I say, then the maiming killing started.

        From then on no party before Country & the welfare of the indigenous peoples should hold sway in any polling booth.

        Justice MUST truly be sought.

        1. Perhaps to clarify whether or not the police are allowed to order individuals who have committed no crime to stay at home for no reason?

  49. Nord Stream explosions hard to cover up. 15February 2023.

    The report “How America Took Out the Nord Stream Pipeline” by Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Seymour Hersh states beyond any reasonable doubt that US President Joe Biden ordered the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines.

    Thus if it wasn’t clear before, it is emphatically clear now that the US will impose its proprietary version of “rules-based international order” by any means possible including committing a crime against humanity.

    The Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines are jointly owned by the Russian energy corporation Gazprom and four European energy companies. Nord Stream 1 had been providing low-cost natural gas from Russia to Germany, which redistributed some of it to other parts of Europe. Nord Stream 2 was in the process of coming on stream and would have doubled the supply to Europe.
    The explosions that took place on September 26, 2022, stopped the flow of Russian gas, and left hundreds of millions of Europeans facing the prospects of a cold winter.

    The economic consequences of the Nord Stream sabotage were the quadrupling of energy costs and triggering rampant inflation in Europe the likes of which hadn’t been seen for decades.

    President Biden wanted to make sure that Germany would strongly support Ukraine in its conflict with Russia. Blowing up the pipelines would ensure that Russia could no longer supply cheap energy to Europe and Germany wouldn’t have natural gas from Russia as a source of distraction from its support for Ukraine.

    Biden had absolutely no justification for destroying property that did not belong to the US. Doing so would be naked aggression, an act of war, devoid of concern that the people and economies of friendly allies would suffer. He wouldn’t care that to achieve his sense of security for the US required committing a war crime.

    Heretofore, we Americans have been telling the world that the United States of America is the citadel on top of the hill, a shining beacon of integrity and an example of what a freedom-loving democracy should be. Other nations are supposed to admire what we stand for and aspire to be just like us.

    The US suppresses other countries by force, intimidation or sanctions or a mixture of the above. Other nations comply with our demands not because they admire us but because they fear us.

    If the US did indeed destroy the pipelines as Hersh reports, some in the inner circle of the Biden administration might try to defend its action by claiming that it was a reprisal for Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. In fact, according to Hersh, planning to blow up the pipelines was under way months before the Russian invasion began.

    He further explained that the government of Norway was enlisted to help with the execution of the sabotage. One of the reasons for recruiting Norway was that it knew the shallow waters of the Baltic Sea better than anyone.

    “On September 26, 2022, a Norwegian Navy P8 surveillance plane made a seemingly routine flight and dropped a sonar buoy,” Hersh reports. “The signal spread underwater, initially to Nord Stream 2 and then on to Nord Stream 1. A few hours later, the high-powered C4 explosives were triggered and three of the four pipelines were put out of commission.”

    Norway’s participation is full of irony. The annual winner of the Nobel Peace Prize is selected by a committee appointed by the Norwegian parliament. One year, they rushed to give Peace Prize to incoming American president Barack Obama even before he assumed office.

    History will credit Obama as the president who first popularized the use of drones as deadly killing machines, cold-blooded and indiscriminate. They were deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq. In hindsight, these were not exactly the kind of credentials consistent with those of a Peace Prize laureate.

    In a podcast interview subsequent to his exposé of the Nord Stream explosion, Hersh said that putting the story together was not difficult. Any reasonably competent investigative reporter could have followed the trail of telltale clues leading directly to the White House.

    For months before the invasion of Ukraine and the explosion of the pipelines, President Biden and his foreign-policy team – national security adviser Jake Sullivan, Secretary of State Tony Blinken, and Victoria Nuland, the undersecretary of state for policy – had been vocal and consistent in their hostility to the two pipelines.

    Biden and Nuland even publicly hinted to the media that the pipelines would “go away.” At the press briefing that followed German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’ visit to Washington in February last year, Biden said, “If Russia invades … there will no longer be a Nord Stream 2. We will bring an end to it.”

    Undersecretary Nuland also said at a State Department briefing, lightly covered by the media, “I want to be very clear to you today. If Russia invades Ukraine, one way or another Nord Stream 2 will not move forward.”

    The reason the mainstream media did not bother to ask the obvious question as to who blew up the pipelines and why was either being lazy and uninquisitive or because they knew the answer and did not want to embarrass the Biden White House.

    Even after the publication of Hersh’s report, mainstream media outlets such as The Washington Post and The New York Times did not even bother to contact him and interview him. By deliberately ignoring this story, they are not living up to their obligation as members of the fourth estate and protecting their integrity. In other words, they have betrayed public trust and sold out to the White House.

    The US has always acted above the laws of other sovereign nations, even ignoring the laws of the United Nations. With compliant and docile media, the Biden team can go wild and run roughshod over anyone without a tinge of concern.
    The worldwide disrespect for the US will grow. In time, The US will find itself alone and friendless in a unipolar world of its own making.

    A reasonable precis of Hersh’s report notable only for it’s naivete about the American Empire and the role that the MSM plays in concealing its reality!

    https://asiatimes.com/2023/02/nord-stream-explosions-hard-to-cover-up/

    1. Unfortunately Britain will be clinging to the US’s coattails as it goes down.
      Blowing up NordStream2 was a shameful act of war from a country that feels threatened by Europe.

      1. “Labour government: For shame, arselickers.”
        Difficult to demonstrate this without a lot of investigation, but I was told that the British govt should never have allowed Norway to claim so much of the North Sea for gas and later, oil. Something to do with a continental shelf.

        1. Indeed, but the UK was happy to give it away, assuming it had bugger-all value. They were wrong.

  50. Nord Stream explosions hard to cover up. 15February 2023.

    The report “How America Took Out the Nord Stream Pipeline” by Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Seymour Hersh states beyond any reasonable doubt that US President Joe Biden ordered the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines.

    Thus if it wasn’t clear before, it is emphatically clear now that the US will impose its proprietary version of “rules-based international order” by any means possible including committing a crime against humanity.

    The Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines are jointly owned by the Russian energy corporation Gazprom and four European energy companies. Nord Stream 1 had been providing low-cost natural gas from Russia to Germany, which redistributed some of it to other parts of Europe. Nord Stream 2 was in the process of coming on stream and would have doubled the supply to Europe.
    The explosions that took place on September 26, 2022, stopped the flow of Russian gas, and left hundreds of millions of Europeans facing the prospects of a cold winter.

    The economic consequences of the Nord Stream sabotage were the quadrupling of energy costs and triggering rampant inflation in Europe the likes of which hadn’t been seen for decades.

    President Biden wanted to make sure that Germany would strongly support Ukraine in its conflict with Russia. Blowing up the pipelines would ensure that Russia could no longer supply cheap energy to Europe and Germany wouldn’t have natural gas from Russia as a source of distraction from its support for Ukraine.

    Biden had absolutely no justification for destroying property that did not belong to the US. Doing so would be naked aggression, an act of war, devoid of concern that the people and economies of friendly allies would suffer. He wouldn’t care that to achieve his sense of security for the US required committing a war crime.

    Heretofore, we Americans have been telling the world that the United States of America is the citadel on top of the hill, a shining beacon of integrity and an example of what a freedom-loving democracy should be. Other nations are supposed to admire what we stand for and aspire to be just like us.

    The US suppresses other countries by force, intimidation or sanctions or a mixture of the above. Other nations comply with our demands not because they admire us but because they fear us.

    If the US did indeed destroy the pipelines as Hersh reports, some in the inner circle of the Biden administration might try to defend its action by claiming that it was a reprisal for Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. In fact, according to Hersh, planning to blow up the pipelines was under way months before the Russian invasion began.

    He further explained that the government of Norway was enlisted to help with the execution of the sabotage. One of the reasons for recruiting Norway was that it knew the shallow waters of the Baltic Sea better than anyone.

    “On September 26, 2022, a Norwegian Navy P8 surveillance plane made a seemingly routine flight and dropped a sonar buoy,” Hersh reports. “The signal spread underwater, initially to Nord Stream 2 and then on to Nord Stream 1. A few hours later, the high-powered C4 explosives were triggered and three of the four pipelines were put out of commission.”

    Norway’s participation is full of irony. The annual winner of the Nobel Peace Prize is selected by a committee appointed by the Norwegian parliament. One year, they rushed to give Peace Prize to incoming American president Barack Obama even before he assumed office.

    History will credit Obama as the president who first popularized the use of drones as deadly killing machines, cold-blooded and indiscriminate. They were deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq. In hindsight, these were not exactly the kind of credentials consistent with those of a Peace Prize laureate.

    In a podcast interview subsequent to his exposé of the Nord Stream explosion, Hersh said that putting the story together was not difficult. Any reasonably competent investigative reporter could have followed the trail of telltale clues leading directly to the White House.

    For months before the invasion of Ukraine and the explosion of the pipelines, President Biden and his foreign-policy team – national security adviser Jake Sullivan, Secretary of State Tony Blinken, and Victoria Nuland, the undersecretary of state for policy – had been vocal and consistent in their hostility to the two pipelines.

    Biden and Nuland even publicly hinted to the media that the pipelines would “go away.” At the press briefing that followed German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’ visit to Washington in February last year, Biden said, “If Russia invades … there will no longer be a Nord Stream 2. We will bring an end to it.”

    Undersecretary Nuland also said at a State Department briefing, lightly covered by the media, “I want to be very clear to you today. If Russia invades Ukraine, one way or another Nord Stream 2 will not move forward.”

    The reason the mainstream media did not bother to ask the obvious question as to who blew up the pipelines and why was either being lazy and uninquisitive or because they knew the answer and did not want to embarrass the Biden White House.

    Even after the publication of Hersh’s report, mainstream media outlets such as The Washington Post and The New York Times did not even bother to contact him and interview him. By deliberately ignoring this story, they are not living up to their obligation as members of the fourth estate and protecting their integrity. In other words, they have betrayed public trust and sold out to the White House.

    The US has always acted above the laws of other sovereign nations, even ignoring the laws of the United Nations. With compliant and docile media, the Biden team can go wild and run roughshod over anyone without a tinge of concern.
    The worldwide disrespect for the US will grow. In time, The US will find itself alone and friendless in a unipolar world of its own making.

    A reasonable precis of Hersh’s report notable only for it’s naivete about the American Empire and the role that the MSM plays in concealing its reality!

    https://asiatimes.com/2023/02/nord-stream-explosions-hard-to-cover-up/

      2. Bill Gates is not “deluded” Bill Gates is a puppet master. Has enough money to live a fantastic lifestyle no matter how badly he and his buddies screw things up for the rest of humanity. They lie, as you might of noticed, almost as soon as they open their mouths as they diligently go ahead with their programme of enslaving humanity and controlling resources by which they can control us.

        1. All those who believe that we (and the world) can achieve Net-Zero, can only be deluded in their belief and thinking.

          1. Don’t agree.
            It may be deluded for the likes of Grant Shapps but for Gates it is strategy as he and his cohorts buy up the means for pretending to achieve net zero. These people are buying up the means to extract the rare minerals to make the batteries for cars, the means of production for all those solar panels. Buying up land to strangle food production, etc, etc, etc.

            There is no “climate catastrophe” on the horizon, since the year 2000, we have increased the the greening of the world by 30%.
            World population is heading for collapse, not an increase that will make resources a matter of contention.
            Since the 1960′ food production has increased by 70%
            But all you hear from people like Bill Gates is lies about disaster heading our way. You hear nothing but lies because they also control media and the truth is not able to get through to the masses. The thing I posted above on Russia and Ukraine is well addressed by Col. Macgregor and it is the very opposite of what people are being told. If you want an example of how heavily we are being misled, I strongly suggest you listen to that portion of his comments that start at 16 min in.

        2. He doesn’t have enough money to escape degeneration and death, though. You can’t buy off old age.

    2. Root Gates out of Britain. Send him and his vaccines and his buses-for-thee-not-for-me preaching back home.

        1. He is a pantomime villain – I suspect that he is expendable to his banker bosses.
          The normies will just about wake up enough to get rid of Schwab and Gates, and then victory will be declared – leaving the same elite in power as before.

          2. No, Bill, I really do think that Schwab, Gates, Fauci etc will be made examples of, while the likes of Rockefeller and Rothschild will quietly slip away, still in charge.
            We’re currently in a chaos phase, like the second world war. That will be succeeded by a rejuvenation phase at some point.

      1. I’m not making any suggestions but he seems to have become quite well off since his stint as housing minister.
        Which I think the increase in wealth he’s put down to his wife’s success.

    4. I found the appearance of the unelected Bill hiding behind Grant Shapps, quite literally, frightening. Elon Musk thinks he is evil, Elon Musk is right in my opinion.

      2. A few years ago it was announced complete with a photograph that he was in his local pub with friends having a pint.
        Local paper Journalism being what it is, showed him at a table alone in an empty bar with an inch taken off the pint.
        It Summed him up very well indeed my opinion.

        1. Yes, it’s all very shifty to have a Left wing globalist dedicated to climate change pushing an agenda in a British government department.

          As it is, the department shouldn’t exist at all. Energy should be managed by the market, not the state.

    5. How does he propose to have energy security and net zero at the same time? Ah, I see. By eroding our ability to produce energy we are inherently ‘secure’.

      Why is Bill Gates advising a British government department? His wishes and attitudes on Left wing globalism are at odds with our nations needs.

      1. No foreign national should be allowed to interfere with, or exert any form of control over, our government. Nobody in this country voted for Gates.

    6. When it get’s boiled down, what real difference is there between Gates and a Russian oligarch?

      2. Gates pretends he is the saviour who is saving the world. Russian oligarchs are only concerned about themselves.

        1. Gates made huge amounts of money by destroying or buying out his competitors/opponents and is still doing so.

  52. Good Morning to all. Miserable drizzly cold weather here in West Sussex. But rather than drizzle some heavy rain would be awfully nice.

    I found this really interesting and very worthwhile listening to. The first part is a short discussion about China and Taiwan. At 11:00 there are fascinating insights about what is really going on in American politics, specifically how Washington functions. At 16:00 the topic is Ukraine and Russia and the inevitability of a Russian victory. For those who don’t know who Douglas Macgregor is – short profile:

    “Douglas Abbott Macgregor is a retired U.S. Army colonel and government official, and an author, consultant, and television commentator. He played a significant role on the battlefield in the 1990-91 Gulf War and the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia”

    The Ukrainian army has been bled to death
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDHgQuNcL-g&list=TLPQMTYwMjIwMjOVbwgcWAOXFw&index=5

  54. Putin’s Russia to return to growth next year despite sanctions. 16 February 2023.

    Russia’s economy will return to growth next year as Vladimir Putin’s regime finds ways to avoid Western sanctions.

    The country’s economy contracted less than expected last year, in part as a result of high energy prices mitigating the impact of sanctions.

    Its gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to contract by 3pc in 2023 due to declining oil prices and the impact of sanctions but to bounce back with 1pc growth in 2024, according to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

    Go figure!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/02/16/ftse-100-markets-live-news-treasury-inflation-centrica-british/

      1. 371153+ up ticks,

        Afternoon R,

        Good post,

        Very revealing, Midazolam seems to play a big part.

        A must listen to.

      2. Elsewhere it describes Mr O’L as an antivaxxer who went to hospital when he himself caught covid early in 2022.

        1. Wasn’t the story that he actually went to hospital for something else entirely and tested positive for covid while there?

    1. They, their spattered throughout the article, what a nonsense, if anything the creature is an “it”.

          1. Working on a fishing boat is hard graft. That fat little slob wouldn’t last 5 minutes before he burst into tears and waddled back to his safe space.

  58. Just had a message from the hospital asking if I want to go through with my operation. I was going to call them to ask what the hell they were playing at waiting four months to remove kidney stones.

    The NHS is not fit for purpose.

    1. Yo W

      I had a callfrom my Eye people ; Left Eye being decataracted Tuesday 28th Feb, Two weeks and Two days after the Right one

      It feels odd, going round wearing a pair of ‘specs’ but with a lens only in the LH side.

      2. Just for the hell of it, I checked. It appears that the Ukes are still demanding convid vax, testing and isolation. The idea that you worry about catching a cold when entering a war zone really epitomises the absurdity of modern life. Mind, to be fair, “The FCDO advises against all travel to Ukraine”.

        1. I wonder if Johnson had all those things when he rocked up in Kiev the other day?

          Thought not…

    1. Perhaps some of the “Least in agreement” lot think they are part of the elite?? Boy [other “genders” are available, it seems] are they in for a shock!

    2. I am having difficulty with these stats. It looks like the poorer areas of the country are the conspiracy theorists and the richer areas are not. That does not reflect the views of Nottlers who tend to own their own homes and are educated. Or am i missing something?

      1. I feel as though I am the only person in South Cambridgeshire who does not go with the mainstream thinking, but then I am from oop north. I wonder if it is in the genes, does this distrust follow 17th century Civil War cavalier v. roundheads lines of demarkation, rather than it simply being attributed to immigrants – perhaps it is much older and an ingrained cultural response.

          12. I met a Lord General when i lived in Birmingham. Your son appears to be well on the way to that rank.

          17. I toyed with the idea of joining the Sealed Knot when I was a student, but I never got round to it.

        2. At my lunch date yesterday, I’m definitely the odd one out – the others all believe what they’re told.

          1. I have only met one other person unvaccinated in real life as opposed to blog and Twitter friends – that was one of my Waitrose delivery men. We almost hugged each other….. we couldn’t stop talking.

          2. My elder son is unvaxxed. The younger one has had at least one booster. I had just the two AZ ones (against my better judgement but I decided to take the risk as I had a trip booked.)

          3. Our sweep isn’t! I quite agree – it’s like a secret society!! He also sweeps Neil Oliver’s chimney!

          11. It was like meeting a long-lost relative. He stayed to chat for 45 minutes, I hope he wasn’t late delivering to his other customers.

          14. Something I always envy you ladies – the networking thing, being sociable… never worked out how that works.

          15. A male colleague is retiring next month, so we’re going to his retirement party – and he will be welcome to join us for lunch whenever he wants.

          16. I was a court usher and retired over 11 years ago. There were 7 of us, 1 died but the rest of us meet up every 3 or 4 months for lunch. Three ladies and 3 blokes. All good company.

        3. I live in an area where the countryside was Royalist and the bigger towns were for Parliament. I’m not sure that our attitudes are so very different these days.

        1. Nottlers tend to be filtered because the majority read the Telegraph. Probably why our site doesn’t have the levels of abuse as a lot of others.

          Given that…We have been the most cynical of initial news reports to any situation. After reading what the Pullitzer prize winner Seymour Hershy had to say about the Mai Lai massacre and cover up…the Abu Graib tortures, Watergate and all the lies told about the Bin Laden affair…I still find it difficult to consider myself or others on this site to be unusual…I think we are the ones that have our eyes and ears open.

          1. I know I keep banging on about it, but the Robert F Kennedy Jr book about Fauci has shocked even me!

          2. The Terriblegraph is terrible though, even if it is the best of a bad bunch. I’m glad I discovered my local library makes it available on Press Reader as I gave up my sub in June 2020 in disgust at its supine connivance in Lockdown and mask-wearing.

          3. This forum has a history you may not be aware of…but most of us read the broadsheets. Even had them delivered…the mugs we were !

          4. I used to have it delivered at my previous address – but then we moved here and there are no deliveries so we just bought the Saturday one. My mother always read the Telgraph and was very good at doing the crossword.

          5. That was me…I used to enjoy reading the real paper…

            I posted under my name when I was on the DT forum, but didn’t clock this forum until last year (?). But I was a very frequent poster for years on the DT….

          6. I actually had a real letter printed in the Terriblegraph c. 2007. Much to my father-in-law’s embarrassment as we have an unusual surname so it was fairly obvious I was related to him.

            I used to post under my maiden name when I was a DT subscriber…but didn’t twig the existence of this site till after I’d stopped subscribing. Not sure how I missed you, but I’m glad I’ve found you.

    3. Perhaps it is the demographic. After all, decent white folk think they have less reason to be suspicious of the state because usually it just robs them blind, rigs their market and makes their lives expensive. Of course, they don’t ‘know’ this because they’re too busy taking children to school, after school clubs, helping out at children’s events and generally being busy living their lives.

      The immigrants, meanwhile come from oppressive regimes where the state is authoritarian – like ours, except here they’re reliant on it for income and entertainment. They also cause most of the crime (not as individuals but as a demographic) and as a consequence trust plod far less, are heavily welfare dependent, unemployed, waiting for other people to be forced to pay for their housing, filling in forms for residency and what not.

      Thus it is only natural that the state dependents find the state to be unhelpful – they’ve no means or interest in doing anything that doesn’t depend on it, whereas the majority just want the state to go away and make petrol cheaper but as they’ve two incomes they can afford the higher cost.

      The state loves the welfare dependent group, hates the self reliant nuclear white family yet is desperately, completely reliant on it to pay for it’s horrific waste.

  61. Nicola Sturgeon is planning a second resignation if this one doesn’t work out.

    Source: Daily Mash

    1. Par Four for me.

      Wordle 607 4/6
      🟨⬜🟨⬜⬜
      🟨⬜🟨🟩⬜
      ⬜🟩🟨🟩⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  65. Just been watching a re-screening of an old episode of The Wednesday Play: Up The Junction (1965) on BBC iPlayer.

    I have to say that it is evident that no one at the BBC watched it prior to screening: they would have had dicky-fits at some of the dialogue. I wonder how many complaints that dialogue, such as this (reproduced below), will no doubt bring from the easily-offended Woke?

    “I’m selling a suit to a darky. ‘Yeah, I sell a lot of these suits to your sort of people’.”

    [Looking at a black baby in a cot]: “What a lovely little piccaninny!”

    “You see, the blacks have only got half the brain cells that we’ve got; they never had much civilisation. They’ve never even invented the wheel; can you imagine what berks they must be to go through life without inventing the wheel? Over-toasted Irishmen!”

    “She done her house up real posh; filled it with coloureds. Tasty, like the Black and White Minstrel Show. ‘What are you after? Bit of jungle juice, love?’ I asked her.”

    Oh for the old days.

    1. Maybe the censor did watch it, but fainted soon after.

      Although – think about it: the erasure and control over the past to force attitudes today. Where have we seen that before?

      “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.”

      “Orthodoxy means not thinking–not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness.”

      “We do not merely destroy our enemies; we change them.”

    2. They will have preceded it with a trigger warning that out-dated language and attitudes might cause offence.

    3. They will have preceded it with a trigger warning that out-dated language and attitudes might cause offence.

  66. Sizewell C

    The tourist industry will be crippled, with accommodation taken up by the itinerant workforce.

    Many towns would trade places with you by having workers in accommodation and not GimmY Grants

  67. Once upon a time mechanics used an acid Specific Gravity (S.G.) tester to find the State of Charge (S.O.C.) of a lead acid cell in an accumulator like the inboard one which was capable of turning over the Spifire MkVs Merlin engine.

    The MkV had 24 volt electrics so to find the voltage ncessary to turn over the engine you needed a 12 cell accuulator with each cell producing (SG + 0.84) volts. At full charge each cell should reach an SG of 1.3 so the voltmeter in the cockpit should read

    12 x (1.3 + 0.84) = 25.68 volts.

    The nominal voltage of the Spitfire’s inboard accumulator (24 volts) is marked as shown in this image of the instrument cluster but for a successful mission you’d be better off with a full charge of nearly 25.7 volts.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1fa745d443a035c0ca3246abf2aae452805fb426056abb7ae498e59355292776.jpg

    This is where battery electric vehicles (BEVs) fall down in not having an auxiliary battery state of charge voltmeter in the instrument cluster. I’ve plugged one in in my BEV so I can tell instantly if this critical part of the vehicles integrity becomes compromised:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9f8987a1fc793eee08b95748e7caf0df45cd623984f4a2b3b782589d582b0a0e.gif

    Note: It is of course a six cell battery running the 12 volt electrics.

      2. On the assumption that this saga will never end have you thought of junking this POS and getting yourself a proper petrol engined car.

        1. I’ve have wide ranging experience of various forms of combustion engined vehicle maintenance and rebuilding.
          The opportunity presented itself to trade in my ageing diesel for the latest battery electric vehicle that challenged the performance of the much more expensive but popular Tesla range.

          The features I am particulatly pleased with are heated and ventilated driver and passenger seats, heated steering wheel, lane assist steering and head up display with vehicle proximity display.

          It may be a big heavy battery on wheels but it has a sub seven second 0-60 mph and a top speed of over 100 mph. It also has an impressive energy efficiency of well over 4 miles per kWh.

          1. My reply was in a light hearted manner and not meant to offend.
            We have a Skoda Kodiak Edition. Not interested in the 0-60 time as I’m not sure I would ever use it. Has heated front seats, cruise control, speech control for telephone, sat nav, electric front seats with 3 presets, keyless entry and locking and unlocking. Most of our journeys are short and we return about 34 MPG. It’s a large SUV but I’m 6’5” and need room to be comfortable.

      1. Thankfully there are no gears in my BEV.
        The predominant failure mode in battery electric vehicles is a battery failure as Fallick_Alec well knows?

          1. Did Merlins ever have problems starting because of flat batteries?
            And could the pilot charge the battery sufficiently from the engine driven Merlin generator to start it again after stalling?

            These are both issues characteristic of BEVs where there are problems maintaining sufficient charge in the auxiliary battery due to improper management of the power available from the main traction battery.

          2. They were mainly started assisted by trolley acc. It was possible to restart after engine failure, but that was mainly due to fuel issues rather than dodgy electrics. You needed plenty of height (and the flames were spectacular!).

      1. It’s not, it’s quite amusing, but I can never transfer items from my Email to here.
        I’ll try another method.

        1. Beavers Geoff and Bob sit sunning themselves in the river.
          “Bob! It’s the hoomahns! Will you hide that bluddy concrete sack! Pretend we use sticks and stuff.”
          “Righto Geoff. Can’t give the game away”

  70. “Have you fed Mongo and Ozzie today?”
    “Yes, I put food down this morning.”
    “Why is Mongo trying to eat my curry then?”
    “Because he’s a piggy who’ll eat anything.”
    “He doesn’t like coconut. It makes him ill.”
    “I told you, I put food down.”
    “Two bowls, one each across the kitchen?”
    ….silence.

      1. Ah you see Mongo knows he’ll be fed again, so will wander off. He’s not the brightest, nor especially domineering.

        But he is hungry, and can’t now be fed until 6.

        1. My first dog Toby, a mutt, used to pick up his plastic dinner bowl and bash it against the wall when he wanted his grub.

          1. If I’m late with his second meal (the one with the medication in) Oscar will stare at the worktop where I keep his bowl and bark.

      2. Oscar guards his food and waits until Kadi has wolfed his share down before going to lick Kadi’s bowl (unless I scoop it up first).

        1. At least they will all be dead soon. Others need no longer apply. We are extending the death and destruction for political grandstanding and diseased organs like WEF/NATO .

          1. Yep. I immediately thought of the meat grinder cartoon. It’s gruesome so I won’t post it again.

          2. That cartoon reminded me of the one by Hogarth of the giant with a squirming person on his fork, poised for eating.

      2. Quite
        But technically, assuming they were flown in, all of them could apply perfectly legally as they could argue they were fleeing a warzone.

    3. Cannon fodder. Our government should be ashamed of themselves pandering to Zelensky, a Soros plant. Watching Zelensky country hopping to rapturous attention of WEF promoted politicians is sickening.

      We are witnessing the destruction of Ukraine by the intervention of Obama/Biden and especially the idiots Bunter and Sunak. We should keep well out of the conflict as it has no possible national interest to us and many downsides. We should not be providing money and arms nor threatening to put British soldiers on the ground to fight Russians.

      There is no possibility of a Russian defeat.They have likely already won.

      1. I noted that the Belarusians are being castigated for having Russian troops stationed there.
        I fail to see much difference between what they are doing and what we are doing.
        /sarc: apart from us arming the Ukrainians, us training the Ukrainians, us transporting the Ukrainians.
        The hypocrisy is sickening.

  72. As I have pointed out before on the fraud perpetuated about the Great Barrier Reef being damaged by so called global warming is proven false by the fact that the identical species of corals live in the much warmer waters around New Guinea. In fact die offs of the Great Barrier Reef are caused by cold water occasionally coming up from Antarctica. Odd that the ‘experts’ never publicise that.

    London, 16 February – In a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences scientists have discovered that some corals in the eastern Pacific are adapting to a warmer world by hosting more heat-tolerant algae.

    A new report recently published by the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF), using official data from all over the world, found that there is no statistically significant reduction in global coral reefs since reliable records began two decades ago. In fact, for the Great Barrier Reef, the world’s biggest reef system, a record breaking high coral cover has been recorded.

    Dr Peter Ridd, one of the world’s most eminent coral researchers, said

    “Scientists are being suspiciously pessimistic about the future of the worlds reefs, even when they find wonderful news such as this latest study from the Eastern Pacific. Why are they constantly peddling such doom?”

    Dr Peter Ridd is the scientist that was fired from James Cook University for disputing that global warming was causing damage to the Great Barrier Reef and won a court case against the university in which he was awarded over one million Australian dollars by the James Cook PC cretins.

    1. The argument goes that the colder water flow is caused by the Antarctic ice melt which is claimed to be caused by GW.
      I very much doubt that any records go back far enough to determine whether the flows are more akin to el Nino and el Nina.
      One seldom hears about crown of thorns starfish swarms which were causing considerable destruction. New hunting techniques are having promising results in killing them.

          1. I’m a linguist; I’ve spent my entire professional career sorting out mistakes of gender 🙂

          5. As I touch type, I used to get all sorts of wrong letters when using my French friend’s laptop. Do they not use full stops very often? Why have to shift to get them?

          6. I have two points with full stops, but the wretched thing turns on and off for no immediately obvious reasons.
            The “alt gr” key and the “ver num” key turn things on and off and with fat finger I often hit one without realising I’ve done so

    1. I think 1981 or 82 was the year that Fred Wedlock produced his record: The Oldest Swinger In Town

  76. EU renewing ban on sales of toilets to Russia on war anniversary. 16 February 2023.

    Another part of the EU trade ban is meant to strike at Russia’s industrial capacity more broadly speaking.

    This miscellaneous list includes “bidets, lavatory pans, flushing cisterns and similar sanitary ware”, as well as LEDs, hemp yarn, fork-lift trucks, mail-sorting machines, chimney pots, bricks, tyres, and even “pen nibs and nib points”.

    The toilets were among items first banned last October — and now feature in the renewed list designed to enter into force by 24 February, the first anniversary of the war.

    Well they are in in it now!

    https://euobserver.com/world/156725

    1. Russians use bidets ?….I thought we were supposed to think they were (fill in whatever idiotic characterisation you wish ) unsophisticated, warmongering rapists !

      2. We have a bidet in our bathroom upstairs and another one in our downstairs lavatory. In Turkey they have built-in bidet water squirts in their water closets.

          1. Oddly enough – not so much, these days, I have noticed. Houses built in the last 30 years end not to have them.

  77. Off topic
    The first plum blossoms appeared today, if the weather keeps warm the trees should be covered this time next week.

        4. Never mind the tennis – a new dog – perhaps a 2-year-old, rescue dog, will help bring her out of herself. what with the walking and the caring.

          Just a thought to maybe force her rehabilitation. Just let her know, we care, very much and I have to give something back to NoTTLers for my life.

      4. I talked to Plum at length just now; she is pleased and grateful for best wishes and concern from many Nottlers.

        As her tennis days are (probably) over; I keep encouraging her to find a dog!

        Her Covid 18 experience/ trauma has left her disinclined to use her laptop.

        She sounded more cheerful this evening!

        1. Poor Plum – re the tennis. That’s sad. It’s hard to come to the realisation that something is at an end… She has my sympathy.

    2. I remember that happening in Laure years ago. All the fruit was in blossom and doing well. Then, first week in may – a sudden, heavy frost. All burnt off – the vines, too.

      Watch the forecast…..

        1. Off topic as your reply to it is now locked.
          Thanks for the info on the solar panels the other day. 🙂
          Greedy coporate bastards are trying to build over 30 hectares of it on green belt in the lovely Hertfordshire countryside not far from where we live and George Bernard Shaw once lived.

      2. The plums are very sour and really only suitable for chutney, so we enjoy the blossom as blossom, rather than potential crop

        1. A record high 14C in our Ontario outpost yesterday, a record high.

          We quite like climate change!

        2. Round here it hasn’t.
          The main factor is almost certainly the tendency to get very clear skies, which allows the temperature to drop like a stone.
          We went out for supper on Tuesday, can’t think why, and the lady greeting us at the restaurant door was surprised I wasn’t wearing a coat. It was about 10C and I don’t generally feel the cold anywhere near as much as HG. It was -4C when we left the restaurant.

          2. HG drove home, we share the driving, I drive there she drives back.

            She’s not a boozer, so she’s happy to do so.

        3. The lovely magnolia next door was caught by frost last year and the year before. Full bloom one day – brown the next. Our open stellata one does better, and we are slightly lower.

  78. That’s me gone. Drizzle and a bit of rain on and off all day. Useless for filling wells etc. May be drier tomorrow but cloudy.

    Have a splendid evening.

    A demain.

  79. Saturday lunch ordered from out local small Italian trattoria. Arancini con Ragu! We discovered the chef is Sicilian, so asked about arancini, and… Yes!
    Plan to have a boozy Italian lunch, lasting as long as is allwed by the Management SWMBO. Missed that kind of relaxation… and the stress at work is killing me just now.

    1. Stress of work? You just had a weeks holiday in your local hospital, doesn’t that count as relaxation?

        1. Thankfully not.
          Paul was in a Scandinavian hospital, not the NHS disaster zones that you frequent.

  80. Am I alone in thinking (as the letters’ people were wont to say) that there are far too many people jumping on the Nicola Bulley bandwagon, seeking their five minutes of fame?
    It seems as if every hour on the hour some new “expert” is pontificating on TV, but adding precisely nothing.

    I can’t believe that they are helping the investigations or the family in any way whatsoever.

    1. No sos, you’re not alone! I find the whole thing absolutely horrific. The poor family have enough to deal with, without idiot plod telling the ghoulish media, all the family secrets.

        1. Nor do the media. Fauci admitting that the vaccines were never going to work (yes, he knew all along, he’s just come clean), Seymour Hersh naming the Nordstream culprits, the huge toxic smoke cloud in Ohio…but the Mail is crucifying this poor woman’s family, day after day.

          2. I simply don’t believe a word I read or hear these days. No matter which source it comes from. I make my own mind up.

          4. We are still able to exercise critical thinking – I wonder how many of today’s brainwashed kids are able to do so.

          5. The Russians have called a UN meeting over the US/Norway allegations apparently.
            Meanwhile the Germans are still pretending it never happened. 🙁

        2. It was so wrong of the police to refer to such personal details about alcohol and her menopause .

          Were they suggesting that her relationship with her partner was rocky.. and if she had a problem , why was she driving .

          Poor girl , all of us who have cousins , neices , friends and and indeed ourselves, when we are on our own walking our dogs , in quiet places .

          There was appeared to be no hint of personal problems when her best friend was interviewed ..

          A thought ran through my mind about cruel controlling coercive relationships , and partners who usually say appalling things about their partners .. when the the husband was the real villain who was driving his partner/ wife mad by denying his involvement with an affair or financial mismanagement .

          1. I do feel that there is more to this than meets the eye. Something isn’t right and none of it makes any sense.

          3. Yes, I thought that too. There was something about that photograph that didn’t sit right with me. There is more to all this than we are being told.

          4. Your post has confused me, Maggie. You ask “why was she driving?” I thought she was out walking the dog when she disappeared?

          6. OK, I get it now. But if I had young children and wanted to get them to school on time I would drive them there in the family car – however serious my drinking habits – if the alternative was to spend an hour on the bus? Is there a suggestion that the police found her drink driving and didn’t take any steps to ban her from driving?

    2. From one of the comments on the DT letters

      John Kirby
      1 HR AGO
      Re Nicola Bulley,,,
      I don’t think she would abandon two young girls
      unless she became subjected to a schizophrenic fugue.
      In this condition the person does not know where they are,
      or even who they are.
      Even so, the fact that she has not been found is a mystery.

    3. Unfortunately the public laps up all the sleb and voyeuristic news. Just the job really to keep the masses quiet.

    4. Poor Nicola.
      Obviously she has come to harm in some way.
      So sorry, & sorry for the family, her partner & sweet girls.

      1. Agreed, absolutely disgraceful.

        If by any chance she is still alive and trying to get her life together, how on earth will that encourage her to resurface?

      2. Yes, that made me uncomfortable. Why did we need to know? Unless they are preparing the ground for a no-solution…

      4. Her alcoholism is irrelevant.

        If anything, she would be taking out money from an ATM to pay for a binge, and the claim that

        she hasn’t withdrawn any money since she disappeared rather proves that she’s not on a blinder.

        1. Crikey, it seems from what I gather that she liked a few drinks. She would hardly have driven her daughters to school if she was drunk- surely? And yes, I know it does happen.
          There is something amiss.

        2. I don’t think the poor woman is alive now. I hope they find her body soon for her family’s sake.

  81. Here’s one to sign – Macron is proposing compulsory HPV vaccine for French children. No jabs should be mandatory..

    Je viens de signer la pétition “M. MACRON Vous ne pouvez pas rendre obligatoire le vaccin contre le papillomavirus”.
    Cette cause me tient à cœur et j’aimerais que le plus de monde possible
    soit au courant et signe cette pétition. Voici le lien:

    https://www.leslignesbougent.org/petitions/m-macron-vous-ne-pouvez-pas-rendre-obligatoire-le-vaccin-contre-le-papillomavirus-11303/

    Merci d’avance

    1. 371153+ up ticks,

      Evening N,

      Done, they forget to easily the occupation and the camps, the killing of the innocents.

    2. Signed. M. Macron may have done the same as UK governments do, i.e. acknowledge receipt of the petition and then do nothing. But at least I shall give it a try and see what happens in la belle France.

  82. Quote of the day

    ‘It’s like the old Soviet Union – the machine will pick a new leader not because they’re good but because they’ll keep the functionaries in their jobs.’

    – A Holyrood source to Katy Balls on Nicola Sturgeon’s successor

  85. Evening, all. The whole UK has been affected by Sturgeon’s obsession. I have never felt so antagonistic towards the Scots as I have since her toxic reign began.

    1. I’m sure that the SNP’s aim is to antagonise English people and make us so fed up with their constant whingeing that we will willingly grant the Scots another referendum in the hope that they will vote for independence. What this does, however, is to create a rift between English and Scots which, to people like myself with both English and Scottish heritage (and also Irish) is very disheartening.

      1. It’s always easier to blame someone else for one’s own uselessness. If Scotland was so smart, then they’ll be fine when they are cut adrift and have to fend for themselves – no Barnett…

        1. If they were independent, they could:
          – Set up an investment fund to invest the benefits of all the oil money
          – Reduce corporation tax and income tax to 10%, to stimulate inward investment and growth
          – Invest huge amounts of money to recreate a word-beating education system – like the one they had 20 or so years ago
          – Invest ocans of money in technology startups – hell, there’s so much talent in Scotland trying to do that, that they have to go abroad to make it work..
          and that’s enough for today. More improvement initiatives tomorrow, IICBA

          1. To improve the education, the first and highest priority is to remove all the ‘Common Purpose’ teachers and replace with old-fashioned but good teachers.

            Bring back and put an emphasis on discipline and the teaching of self-discipline.

            I’d volunteer but am too old and decrepit.

          2. When I lived in Nairn/Aberdeen 1990-1, Scottish education was one of the best you could get. Now, I wouldn’t wipe my feet on it. Politics fucked it up. That, and whining how unfair it all is.
            Return to the ols ways – not the tawse, but emphasis on teaching and learning, discipline, and consequences of your own actions.
            An old grizzled bugger like you would be perfect, Tom. I had several when I was a kid, and the class comedian only stepped out of line once… and we learned stuff.

          3. Thank you for the confidence, Paul, but I found it hard enough teaching adults, never mind today’s hellions.

          4. I could never teach adults….got to be children. Adults are more badly behaved in a group/class than children are. Some teacher workshops I have attended and staff meetings come to mind.
            And just look at this site ;-))

          9. Yes, I know but sometimes people have been known to be a bit much or rather naughty. I’m no saint myself and I freely acknowledge it.

          10. Which is why I used the words “most” and “quite” as there is always some room for exceptions.

          11. Well, I must confess to occasionally telling a NoTTLer or two that they are a Silly Sausage. Lol.

          12. I remember Mr Hodgkinson at junior school. Everyone was terrified of hime by you all paid attention and learned.

        2. Do we suffer, to a similar extent, with our relationship with the EU. I hate it with a vengeance but we know our snivel serpents gold plated all their diktats and they’re the ones that now want us back in.

        3. The trouble is, Herr Oberst, all the smart Scots – like me – have left and are staying away while the SNP ruins the place.

    2. I last visited Scotland 10 years ago. Up until that visit I thought if the Scots wanted independence then good luck to them. However, the folk I met there were kind and welcoming so much so that I reckoned both England and Scotland would be worse off in the event of a separation and am still sadden by such a prospect given our entwined history.

    3. I last visited Scotland 10 years ago. Up until that visit I thought if the Scots wanted independence then good luck to them. However, the folk I met there were kind and welcoming so much so that I reckoned both England and Scotland would be worse of in the event of a separation and am still sadden by such a prospect given our entwined history.

    2. There is a Highland Fault Line along the Great Glen. Nothing has moved recently but that doesn’t mean it won’t.

    3. There is a Highland Fault Line along the Great Glen. Nothing has moved recently but that doesn’t mean it won’t.

    7. Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh is an extinct volcano. There are several others around the UK. Roundhill in Bath is one such.

      All it takes is for the Americans to excite vibrations in the Earth’s crust with their high voltage ground radar technology to create havoc anywhere, especially on known fault lines as performed recently in Turkey/Syria.

      By the way, why are we still sending billions to that little creep Zelensky as opposed to assisting those suffering following the earthquakes in Turkey/Syria? Answers on a postcard addressed to Joe Biden Resident of the United States of America, copy to Sunak, Resident Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

      1. Turkey/Syria and Ohio.

        I saw an interesting piece of film on Twit, of a Turkish man addressing a Turkish audience (translated), where he claimed that Turkey has no debts to the IMF, and that’s why they will be attacked again and again until they are forced to take out more debts. Don’t know if true or not.

    1. Enoch Powell was a visionary. He knew that the importation of people from other substandard cultures would lead to disaster. He was spot on.

      Is it now possible to sort the mess created by uncontrolled immigration? I doubt it.

      Will Switzerland take me and let me live in piece in my twilight years? I doubt it.

      I level my hatred of our successive governments for reducing my country to the level of a Third World Shit-hole within a few decades. May they rot in hell.

    2. Vandals, parasites and savages.

      Come on plod, get the batons out and treat them as do little old ladies.

  92. Oh well, still coughing and sneezing.
    But I’ve sorted out the house and contents insurance. It’s seems Churchill have confirmed the payment but after looking at my online banking. It’s not been taken out of our bank account yet ? Oh dear, maybe someone else has paid for it.
    Erin’s watching the apprentice. I hate it and now even more so with those young ladies and their ‘altered faces’. Oh dear, too much sugar eh.
    Night all.
    Popping in the extra triple action black current Strepsil lozenge. Hexylresorcinol. Can’t be bad eh.

    1. Banking transactions remain ‘in transit’ for some hours even though they appear to take place immediately.

  96. Is anyone else as pissed off as I am about this…..the so called government brought all this chaos and mayhem upon us and yet, utility companies are raking in obscene profits, prices are going up everywhere, taxes are predicted to go up and the media is full of energy saving tips.
    Adverts on TV about how to turn things down, draw the curtains. How to make budget meals & etc.
    Excuse me, have I missed something? It was my belief that this government brought all this about but now it is up to us to economise and be frugal because it’s all our fault.
    This government has done NOTHING to solve or resolve anything- not prices, not immigration, not taxes and the list is endless.
    And the adverts about voter registration….forget it- I have been disenfranchised.

    1. They believe it is a price worth paying for the war in Europe. Of course, they haven’t asked you or I, who have to pay that price, but they will get that answer at the next election.

      1. Yes, but the trouble is that there is no party for whom one can vote and all the parties are united in that they don’t give a toss if you spoil your ballot paper, and mark it None Of The Above or abstain from voting all together.

      2. I doubt that Bunter, Sunak and the rest are that much bothered about the plight of the rest of us, those who mistakenly vote for these Robber Barons year after year.

        The war in Ukraine is about to rebound on these fools and bite them in the arse. Russia has won and nothing we do in fuelling the pointless loss of life on both sides will influence the outcome.

        Our donations are as nothing compared to the billions Obama/Biden are shovelling into the conflagration. We should stay well out of it and stop killing people.

        The present chaos in the world is entirely the result of having national leaders ‘installed’ by wider UN/WEF and WHO corruption, funded principally by Rothschild, Rockefeller, Gates and Soros.

        It may have started with demonic charlatans such as Blair and Bush and these have been followed by Obama, Clintons, Macron, Rutte, Fonda Lying, Johnson, Sunak, Ardern, and the rest. I suspect even wee Krankie, late of this Parish, was also enlisted such is the destruction she has wreaked on Scotland.

        We need to hold to the Truth and defeat these vile creatures and to reclaim our Rights.

      3. I doubt that Bunter, Sunak and the rest are that much bothered about the plight of the rest of us, those who mistakenly vote for these Robber Barons year after year.

        The war in Ukraine is about to rebound on these fools and bite them in the arse. Russia has won and nothing we do in fuelling the pointless loss of life on both sides will influence the outcome.

        Our donations are as nothing compared to the billions Obama/Biden are shovelling into the conflagration. We should stay well out of it and stop killing people.

        The present chaos in the world is entirely the result of having national leaders ‘installed’ by wider UN/WEF and WHO corruption, funded principally by Rothschild, Rockefeller, Gates and Soros.

        It may have started with demonic charlatans such as Blair and Bush and these have been followed by Obama, Clintons, Macron, Rutte, Fonda Lying, Johnson, Sunak, Ardern, and the rest. I suspect even wee Krankie, late of this Parish, was also enlisted such is the destruction she has wreaked on Scotland.

        We need to hold to the Truth and defeat these vile creatures and to reclaim our Rights.

      4. I doubt that Bunter, Sunak and the rest are that much bothered about the plight of the rest of us, those who mistakenly vote for these Robber Barons year after year.

        The war in Ukraine is about to rebound on these fools and bite them in the arse. Russia has won and nothing we do in fuelling the pointless loss of life on both sides will influence the outcome.

        Our donations are as nothing compared to the billions Obama/Biden are shovelling into the conflagration. We should stay well out of it and stop killing people.

        The present chaos in the world is entirely the result of having national leaders ‘installed’ by wider UN/WEF and WHO corruption, funded principally by Rothschild, Rockefeller, Gates and Soros.

        It may have started with demonic charlatans such as Blair and Bush and these have been followed by Obama, Clintons, Macron, Rutte, Fonda Lying, Johnson, Sunak, Ardern, and the rest. I suspect even wee Krankie, late of this Parish, was also enlisted such is the destruction she has wreaked on Scotland.

        We need to hold to the Truth and defeat these vile creatures and to reclaim our Rights.

    2. Yes, Ann, but we are not just disenfranchised, we are totally abandoned, even vilified by the bastards.

    3. It could be worse.

      Trudeau and his disciples are increasing carbon taxes in a deliberate attempt to penalize anyone who uses oil based resources. We get the benefits of inflation plus this idealigical driven inflation.

    4. This government is the cause of all our troubles and the propaganda about “obscene profits” is exactly what they want us to focus on, not them. More propaganda via TV advertising – close curtains, turn down thermostat, etc. etc. The government is an unmitigated disaster and Net Xero is behind it all. Plus removing our freedom to travel, the forthcoming CBDC, 15/20 minute cities.

      Our problem is no other PP has an alternative – they’re all in it together!

    5. The government has set this up and allowed it to happen. They are using the tax from the profits to subsidise the accommodation of the illegal immigrants.

    1. Here you are, Tom –
      https://www.facebook.com/theladymagazine/
      and for some background information
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lady_(magazine)
      You may have to ask the newsagent to get a copy in for you but I think I have seen it in Tesco but it may not have reached the backwaters of Moffat!

      I also thought it might be an idea to contact Age UK – it would be a perfectly reasonable thing to do as you are new to the area without contacts. https://www.ageuk.org.uk/ They could possibly point you in the right direction – the web site certainly looks positive.

      1. Thank you so much, Mum for all the trouble you’ve gone to find all this stuff. Much appreciated.

        1. You’re most welcome. If I think of anything else I’ll let you know and I’ll ask daughter-in-law if she has any ideas when I see her.

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