Thursday 17 August: Cancer proposals will fail without recruitment of more specialist staff

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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434 thoughts on “Thursday 17 August: Cancer proposals will fail without recruitment of more specialist staff”

  1. Good morrow, Gentlefolks, today’s story

    Irish Logic
    An Irish guy goes into a bar and asks the barkeep for 3 shots of Irish whiskey. The barkeep proceeds to pour 3 shots into a glass. The Irishman says “no, no, no…I want 3 shots in 3 separate glasses!”
    The barkeep obliges and pours 3 shots in 3 glasses. The Irishman drinks them down, pays for the booze and leaves the bar. This goes on every day for weeks, so the barkeep asks “why the 3 shots in the 3 glasses?”
    The Irishman replies “Well, I have 2 brothers back in Dublin and if I have 3 shots in three different glasses, I feel that we are drinking together.”
    Touched by the sentiment, the barkeep gladly pours 3 more drinks for the Irishman.
    Months pass and one day the Irishman comes into the bar and only orders 2 shots. Stunned, the barkeep offers his condolences to the Irishman for the death of one of his brothers.
    The Irishman says “Oh no, nobody died…I just quit drinking!”

    1. They aspire to this because they think it is inevitable and they want to be on the right side of history.
      They are reckless and dangerous people.

      Apart from that, back in Blighty from Auvergne and the Midi. Glorious weather most of the time, but not insanely hot.

    3. 375459+ up ticks,

      O2O,

      Wasn’t this Braine chap, along with G Batten two patriotic types ( fruitcakes) guilty of
      making a successful fist of the UKIP party in
      2018/19 in opposition to the lab/lib/con
      mass government controlled invading foreign forces, paedophile umbrella, coalition party.
      I am sure these pair were judged to be
      NOT of good standing within the party, via the current ukip nec.

    4. He’s such an arrogant little creature. Feels insecure, so takes it out on the cruel world by talking about his fellow men as “useless eaters” and theorising how (he) will be able to control them.
      The WEF is just pandering to him because its management are the same, and the whole gang of them is fuelled by a steady flow of dollars.
      That meme about handing the world over to psychopaths is spot on.

  5. Cancer proposals will fail without recruitment of more specialist staff

    Has there ever been a time when the NHS hasn’t wanted more money and staff?

    1. I fear it will only get worse.
      A lot of doctors and nurses are going into the private sector.
      And a kinder version of FOAD seems to be the only thing left for the NHS.

      1. Au contraire, France and Germany have functioning systems that rely on insurance based healthcare; put plainly, that creates some incentive for most adults to take at least some responsibility.

        1. Obviously, they have a different system. There’s nothing wrong with that. But its been pretty obvious for decades that our NHS would begin to fail. Because it was being overwhelmed by people who have never paid a single penny towards its upkeep.
          The problem as I suspect you may already realise is, if you already have a known health issue and are relying on your basic pension to live. You have two options die or starve.
          If you own your own property I suppose it might be sold to cover the costs. But where would that
          leave us ?

          1. The NHS was devised in 1948 to deal with a stable population and treat people who had paid into it. Neither proposition still holds so it is always going to fail unless the two conditions are remedied.

          2. The only remedy lies with our government and Whitehall.
            But they clearly have no idea what they are doing.

  6. Morning all 🙂😊
    Heavily grey out there today.
    With millions of people using the NHS who have never paid a penny towards its upkeep it’s never going to be able to cope.
    For most people who have existing problems they’ll not be able to afford private health
    care.
    I’ve been looking at current local planning applications on line 82 pages of it. Thousands of new homes planned for Hertfordshire alone.
    More destruction of green belt. How green can this possibly be. Destruction of wildlife habitat.
    And over population will damage local services and social structure. Schools can’t cope GP practices hospitals, road transport will massivly increase. Employment is already scarce for new arrivals, more money from the taxpayers to support benefits. The list is endless.
    Supplies of Gas water and electricity will also be effected. Along with even more waste and rubbish disposal problems.
    It’s stupid and annoying and another example of how our useless political classes have effed up everything they come into contact with.
    Wreckers.

  7. Good morning, chums. I hope you all slept well. Off now to do a bit of gardening before it gets too hot.

  8. Morning everyone. Just a few words, though these are of course completely inadequate; in support of LotL after her post yesterday. We wish you well.

    2. I have just read LotL’s awful news as well. What a devastating thing to be told, along with everything else she is dealing with.

      @LotL – I send my best wishes along with everyone else and hope that you don’t despair. There are excellent treatments and courses of management now.
      If you haven’t heard of it already, look up Maggie’s Centre, a wonderful support organisation. My BiL has found them very helpful over the past year

    3. Joining in with the good wishes, having gone back to read the awful news. Sending love, LotL X

    4. Indeed – I missed yesterdays post. After all she’s gone through recently, I Join everyone else wishing her well and hoping the treatment is successful

  9. SIR – The rustling of sweet and snack wrappers is not restricted to Proms concerts. It is even worse in cinemas.[…]
    Jim Corbett

    If food and drink were not allowed in cinemas, perhaps the sound projection wouldn’t have to be so loud

    1. There’s a misconception here, Stormy. Without the profit from ancillary sales, cinemas would probably go under. A large portion of the ticket sales (after paying 20% in VAT to the government of course) goes to the film distributors (Disney, Universal, etc.) who in effect pay the film makers. So without the profits from ancillary sales the cinema’s portion of the ticket price would be hard-pressed to cover staff and heating/air conditioning costs.

      The volume at which film soundtracks are played are a totally different matter.

  10. Fury of the silent majority is driving a global Right-wing counter-revolution. Allister Heath. 17 August 2023.

    Across the Western world, anger at a woke ruling elite is benefiting the Right – apart from in Britain.

    These are not happy times. Across the West, the vast majority of voters are fed up with the status quo, furious at the political class and desperate for alternatives. They believe society to be broken, that the post-industrial economy and globalisation generally aren’t working for them, and are angry at the vast cultural, social and technological changes that they feel have been foisted upon them.

    Almost wherever one looks, from New Zealand to the Netherlands, hundreds of millions no longer feel in control, valued or even consulted by the self-satisfied ruling class. In the UK, 70 per cent believe the country is moving in the wrong direction, a YouGov poll reveals. An NBC poll found 74 per cent of Americans saying their country is on the wrong track.

    In the last year or so Heath has become a fully-fledged Nottler and there are signs that a couple of his colleagues are inclining the same way. I read this particular article because I was interested in his sub-heading. Why is the UK not joining the Europeans in the increasing move to the right? I agree and thought he might tell me since I have no idea myself. Alas his answer (that the Tories are useless) though true is inadequate. There must be some other reason!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/08/16/fury-of-the-silent-majority-is-driving-a-global-right-wing/?li_source=LI&li_medium=liftigniter-rhr

    1. 375459+ up ticks,

      Morning AS,

      Could it be the only option left is a Westwide
      political culling campaign, in my book the politico’s have already started in the United Kingdom, thinning the herd that is.

    2. Maybe it’s because of elections that the move to the right has been apparent. We have to wait until next year for an election but are supposed to have a right of centre government in any case – but in reality they are socialist in what they’re doing.

      Down with the lot of them I say.

      BTW morning all.

    3. Because in those countries that have elected right-wing govts., the incumbent was left-wing. Yes, I know the Conservatives in the UK are left-wing, too. But they’re labelled as right-wing and they’re incumbent, so they’ll be slung for the only other alternative, in the normies’ eyes: Labour. We’re peverse, you see. We won’t vote for a new party until it gains legitimacy (through having elected MPs), but they can’t get legitimacy until they have elected MPs.

    1. Morning Bob. I think that what has happened is that the West has turned against reason. Political Correctness has undermined it. It has corrupted the thought processes of the Elites both Intellectual and Political.

  12. ‘Russian spies’ in UK suspected of drumming up support for pro-Putin party. 17 August 2023.

    Three suspected members of a Russian spy ring who were arrested in the UK are being investigated in their native Bulgaria amid fears they were part of a pro-Kremlin network and may have attempted to interfere with elections there.

    Prosecutors in Sofia, working alongside Bulgaria’s counter-espionage unit, are looking into the activities of Orlin Roussev, Biser Dzhambazov and Katrin Ivanova, who were detained in London and Norfolk in February on suspicion of spying for Russia.

    Investigators from Bulgaria’s electoral commission have also launched an investigation following suggestions that the trio may have sought to influence Bulgarian elections from the UK.

    They are struggling to make these people appear to be “Russian Spies” though I don’t suppose it helps that they aren’t Russian and don’t appear to have actually spied on anything!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/08/16/russian-spies-may-have-tried-interfere-bulgaria-elections/

      1. That’s what it’s all about. They’ve had it in for Russia since Tsarist times.

    2. Good morning Minty and everyone.
      I have no idea what the Bulgarians were doing, but the certainty is that they are EU citizens. They could have been working for some shadowy unit of the European Commission, possibly in order to undermine Brexit.

      If the Commission remains true to the concept of an ‘Europaarmee’, it will inevitably have made plans for its own military intelligence and secret police (aka anti-terrowrist gendarmerie, call it what you will). What is alarming is that the Bulgars appear to have been banged up for six months without having been charged.

  14. G’morning all,

    Cloudy skies over McPhee Towers, sunny periods mid afternoon, wind in the East 16℃ with a forecast of 22℃

    Wishi Washi refuses to countenenace a net zero referendum:

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/08/16/rishi-sunak-rules-out-net-zero-referendum/

    A few BTL comments:

    Justin Atick 4 MIN AGO
    Spoken like a true autocrat. We mustn’t ever give people a voice on how their money is wasted by the idiocies of our lawmakers.

    Simon Bailey 9 MIN AGO
    Never mind, if Rishi is too scared to have a referendum, we’ll make the election a referendum on his policies.

    J McIvor 11 MIN AGO
    Unfortunately we live in an elected dictatorship sustained under a veneer of democracy, they know full well the absurdity of the net zero agenda and that it would not bear the public scrutiny of a referendum.

    1. Morning All I appear to be frozen out of posting directly so I’ll drop the medley here

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/cb09f22a6ec18431dc99159f14b2ae6c5705c357859117c1c178ecd9658577bb.jpg

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/cab559e6472070b79ee1f3947b67ece2900996bfee33fdcaf8083ebad5ab7736.jpg

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d22eca52983c64eabba3bec75e66891629752291bddffba26fcad264404652fd.jpg

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2b2578ed143ca33a9a1244ef1b1191dd336cc63bd18308ffce5f02796e2b3a10.gif

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d650b8d0d2fb06ec5cd5facdcbaab310bb1f349291b8700aba4db409e9abb2e7.jpg

      Soylent Green already??

      http://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f5bc905c966b3717fbf9d3bff6e46dd91832f5b9bde4ec6c6fbb7d89fcc1ddfb.jpg

    2. In the local pub back in the 1970s there appeared a retired RAF gentleman, and he was soon promoted to Wing Commander on account of his um, manner of speech. The modern equivalent, at least from late next year, would surely be an ex-MP.
      The modern equivalent, at least from late 2024, would surely be an ex-MP. The point is that Mr Cameron and his pals only fell into the referendum trap because they were convinced that they, the elite Oxbridge class, could win. Not a mistake that the dinosaurs would want to ever repeat.

      1. You mean like the 75 who are standing down at the next election because they want to be as far away as possible when the shit hits the fan?

      2. It’s not wrong to assume people who ‘over do’ certain things are often involved in some sort of cover up.

  16. Good morning folks.

    Yesterday evening there was a short thread on what sort of pressure was brought to bear on world leaders to keep them in line with the WEF agenda.

    Here’s an interesting take on the subject:

    “Fired AG Leading Epstein Inquiry Reveals Virgin Islands’ Governor Pressured Her on Pedophile’s Behalf”

    https://www.leefang.com/p/fired-ag-leading-epstein-inquiry?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=1239256&post_id=136099539&isFreemail=true&utm_medium=email

    And an interesting BTL Comment:

    December 27, 2022 – USVI Attorney General Denise George filed a blistering and heavily redacted 30-page lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase. https://archive.is/xuHaw

    December 28, 2022 -Biden arrives in US Virgin Islands to relax between holidays. This is the first visit by a US President since 1948. https://archive.is/sR5cP

    January 3, 2023 – US Virgin Islands fires attorney general in Epstein cases. Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. did not provide a reason for relieving AG George. https://archive.is/EEM9x

    Hhmmm….

  17. Bonjour à tous!

    NON à l’achat de vaccins fantômes par la Commission européenne !

    Madame, Monsieur,

    La Commission européenne vient de conclure un nouvel accord avec Pfizer en prévision des futures pandémies.

    Pour garantir la capacité de production du laboratoire, la Commission européenne a accepté de payer avec l’argent de vos impôts une pré-commande annuelle pour 325 millions de doses de vaccins par an. (1)

    Vous allez payer une commande annuelle pour des vaccins destinés à prévenir des maladies qui n’existent pas encore !

    Le marché est conclu pour une durée de 4 ans, renouvelable une fois.

    Ces vaccins, de type ARN, prévus pour des maladies à venir, seraient fabriqués dans des usines installées en Irlande et en Belgique.

    Ces contrats portant sur des vaccins fantômes n’ont pas été révélés au public.

    Les élus ne les ont pas vus.

    Il n’y a pas eu de vote sur le sujet.

    C’est un transfert d’argent direct des comptes de l’Union européenne vers ceux de Pfizer.

    Cet accord intervient alors que :
    • les vaccins contre le COVID-19 se sont révélés inefficaces avec les variants : la plupart des personnes vaccinées ont eu une ou plusieurs fois le COVID-19 ; (2)
    • les vaccins contre le COVID-19 ont causé de très nombreux effets secondaires et notamment des myocardites et des péricardites chez les jeunes ; (3)
    • plusieurs gouvernements européens ont été épinglés pour les liens douteux avec le cabinet de lobbying McKinsey qui représente, entre autres clients, l’industrie pharmaceutique. (4)
    On donne des milliards d’euros à des entreprises pour des produits qui n’existent même pas.

    2. If we’d been given that sort of stuff to read in French lessons, rather than constant banging on about the minutiae of grammar, many more of our class would have continued up to at least ‘O’ level.
      I know grammar is important, but also let pupils loose on real language and help them through the dodgier bits.

      1. Indeed.
        I recall endless reading about Die Familie Wagner, who went shopping, horseriding, and one memorable lesson, went on holiday (in their car!).
        All in a book printed in the mid 1930s!
        Sigh.

      2. You teach to the test. If you don’t, and the pupil fails then the school doesn’t get as much money.

    3. For those who can’t read French.

      Hello everyone!
      NO to the purchase of ghost vaccines by the European Commission!
      Madam, Sir,
      The European Commission has just concluded a new agreement with Pfizer in anticipation of future pandemics.
      To guarantee the laboratory’s production capacity, the European Commission has agreed to pay with your tax money an annual pre-order for 325 million doses of vaccines per year. (1)
      You will pay an annual order for vaccines to prevent diseases that do not yet exist!
      The contract is concluded for a period of 4 years, renewable once.
      These RNA-type vaccines, planned for future diseases, would be manufactured in factories in Ireland and Belgium.
      These contracts for ghost vaccines have not been disclosed to the public.
      The elected officials did not see them.
      There was no vote on the subject.
      It is a direct transfer of money from European Union accounts to Pfizer’s.
      This agreement comes at a time when:
      • COVID-19 vaccines have been shown to be ineffective with variants: most people vaccinated have had one or more times COVID-19; (2)
      • COVID-19 vaccines have caused many side effects, including myocarditis and pericarditis in young people; (3)
      • several European governments have been pinned for the dubious links with the lobbying firm McKinsey, which represents, among other clients, the pharmaceutical industry. (4)
      Billions of euros are given to companies for products that do not even exist.

        1. Yes. It looks as though the programme for releasing new viruses is being worked out at present by Gates, WEF and WHO. When the WHO get their new treaty signed we will the be well and truly stitched up. The viruses are being worked on as well as the ‘vax Ines’.
          Another pandemic is due in 2025 and every couple of years after that.

          3. It’s dreadful. And they hate Russia and Vlad he wouldn’t put up with all these nasty people.

          4. It’s strange that the Conservatives have become communists and the communists have become conservatives. Topsy turvy world.

        1. I find that what you hear next usually goes along these lines:

          ‘It’s so hard to get ahead these days. You Leavers did this with Brexit! it’s your fault!’

  18. Putin’s plot to split the West may be succeeding. Con Coughlin. 17 August 2023.

    Indeed, British intelligence officials warn that there are now more Russian spies operating in Britain and Europe than at any time since the Cold War. At the same time there has been a significant upsurge in hostile Russian activity against key Western infrastructure, such as mapping key communications and energy networks that can be targeted in the event of an escalation in tensions with Moscow.

    A fleet of Russian spy ships was recently detected operating in the North Sea where they were suspected of identifying possible targets for sabotage operations. Russian attempts to test the readiness of Britain’s air defences, meanwhile, resulted in RAF Typhoon jets being scrambled to intercept Russian bombers earlier this week.

    This is of course unutterable tosh. Both in the headline and detail. (How can you possibly know how many Russian spies are operating in the West without knowing who they are and if the three outed this week are an example we have nothing to worry about. )

    Vlad is not plotting to split the West though he does keep making observations about it that are beginning to resonate here. Lionel Shriver’s seminal article (How the West Plays up to Putin’s Caricature) in last week’s Spectator and her subsequent TV interview are pretty gobsmacking (though not to seasoned Nottlers) since they support his view of it being decadent and corrupt. This is what is happening in the Ukraine War. Faith in the system is collapsing!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcpFJkZV0Kg

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/08/17/putins-plot-to-split-the-west-may-be-succeeding/

  19. Am busy today, so here is a thought for Lottie: might Ann qualify for Obamacare, and if so, would it be worth her returning to the USA for treatment? Presumably her son could investigate.

    1. Once the NHS has taken up your condition, its not that bad and doesnt involve moving continents when ill.

  21. Good Moaning.
    Nice bright and cooler morning, overshadowed by Lottie’s news.
    Where on earth does one begin?

    1. I couldn’t read all that Tom but, anyone with a TV would have noticed that Islam is being promoted beyond its capabilites. That of accepting the culture they have moved into.
      But they will never blend in unless they actually take over. Which unfortunately is on the cards.

    1. A reasonable summary of where we are except that it doesn’t go far enough. I’d add abolish political parties because they can be infiltrated, bought and corrupted, allow independent candidates only, return to the true constitution flowing from Magna Carta 1215 and the Act of Settlement 1701 which puts seperation of powers at the centre and re-establish the primacy of Common Law and Trial by Jury including genuine Jury Nullification.

    2. Where is today’s Robert Kett? George Loveless? Wat Tyler? Robert of Locksley? Guy Fawkes?*

      The only way to get rid of this scum is to take up arms and physically replace those wielding power. Balls and brains are a must. Trouble is neither balls nor brains are commonplace in modern-day UK. Those that possess a modicum of brains are already in positions of power.

      [*I had considered adding Benny Rothman, the organiser of the Mass Trespass on Kinder Scout in 1932; however, that twat was both a “communist leader and committed Jewish anti-fascist”, a complete and utter contradiction in terms.]

    3. 375459+ up ticks,

      Morning Rik,

      This is only news to the current criminally brain dead lab/lib/con supporter / voters
      AKA as ZOMS.

      One Gerard Batten tried to tell the herd this in
      rhetorical & written book form, only to be taken down by the ZOMS treachery department,

      He was outlining “Road to freedom”whilst the ZOMS were preaching “Road to RESET”

  24. Defrost freezer today., we do it every 4 months so it melts quick and takes about 2 hours from start to finish. Lots of tea drinking.

    2. Did ours Tuesday morning after I discovered one of the drawers had not been shut properly! Nightmare. Hair dryer did a great job!

      1. I clear goods into chill bags and put saucepans of hot water into freezer.
        Job done in – well – an hour or two.

      1. We have a perfectly good, large deepfreeze. The only problem with it is that the door seals need changing and, unfortunately, the only way to do that is to replace the whole door (and before anyone comes up with all sorts of “solutions”, believe me, we’ve tried them all!). As a new door costs more than half of a new deepfreeze, we understandably baulk at replacing it. But bad seals mean thing clogs up very quickly and, if I leave it too long, the temperature rises as the system simply cannot cope with getting through that amount of effective insulation. Result? I have to defrost the deepfreeze every six weeks to two months. The good thing about this is that I know, exactly, what is in my deepfreeze, and how many of you with large deepfreezes can say that?!

        1. One of life’s great mysteries is why freezers always – but always – have a cache of peas at the bottom.
          I firmly believe that if you hated peas and never ever stored a pack in your freezer, the little green blobs would still lurk in the recesses.
          They seem to be the escape artists of the vegetable world. Sweet corn is by comparison extremely timid and unenterprising.

          2. Yes, and how on earth does that happen? Over the years I’ve kept a collection of leftover socks; I have a small box full! They are useful for cleaning – shove one over your hand and hey presto, your hand turns into a duster.

        2. I do. My large deep-freezer has two large baskets hanging at either side of the top, where the contents are readily seen and available. Under the right-hand basket is a shelf (housing the motor) where containers of pre-cooked food can be stacked. The large space to the left of that, which goes down to the floor is largely filled by two stacks of three, large, lidded plastic storage boxes that are easy to remove and replace. I keep a small hard-backed notebook into which I write the contents of those boxes in pencil. For example, if I have eight packs of home-made sausages in a box, I write this down followed by eight / marks. Each time I remove a pack of sausages I erase an / mark, so I always know the contents of the freezer.

          This might come across as anally-retentive to some, but I never have any ‘surprises’ at the bottom of the freezer like many others do.

          1. I tried that when I had a chest freezer. I’m afraid I wasn’t assiduous enough to keep it up! Maybe something to do with having two small children and a business to run at the same time…

          2. Our big chest freezer is mostly filled with moose and deer, some frozen fruit. And pork from home-grown pigs.

        5. I have a written list of what is in my deep freeze! But it’s a big stand up one, so it’s all divided into drawers. It’s the chest ones where stuff lurks at the bottom for years!

  25. Good morning all. Hope you’re all keeping well.
    A beautiful bright sunny morning in Folkestone. Stopped at Reculver Tuesday night and not sure where I’ll be stopping tonight!
    I’ll find out when I get there.

  26. Morning all – going to be another very hot day up here – anyone got any clouds to spare?

    2. I will fart in your general direction if that’s any help.

      Dim and cloudy on the South Coast.

    3. We have some in Norf Essex.
      But we’re keeping them, so I can take Spartie for a walk in mild temperatures.

  27. “Earlier this year, the AfD demanded a ban on kosher and halal animal slaughter in Germany.”

    So, just like Denmark: that notorious bastion of Fascism.

    https://conservativehome.com/2023/08/17/germany-is-heading-for-a-crisis-unless-the-christian-democrats-stop-leaving-room-for-the-afd-to-flourish/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Thursday 17th August 2023&utm_content=Thursday 17th August 2023+CID_dfd67d3c32e10b164dbc1c8f57ed211e&utm_source=Daily Email&utm_term=Germany is heading for a crisis unless the Christian Democrats stop leaving room for the AfD to flourish

  29. Busy market. Nice piece of monkfish for supper. Cloudy and dull – boiling NOT.

    Any news today?

  30. The delays in diagnosing and treating cancer patients in the UK are inexcusable.

    A few years ago I was having a beer with a friend in Sousse (Tunisia). Another friend called and I invited him to join us. I asked him if he was feeling OK. He said that he was but that he has a small lump on his neck. I asked him if it hurt. When he said ‘no’ I told him to leave his beer and got immediately to a doctor. He was diagnosed with cancer of the pharynx (cavum). After lengthy treatment he recovered completely and now leads a normal healthy life.

    By the way, this particular cancer is prevalent in north-west Africa due to a virus and is also prevalent in Alaska due to the excessive consumption of salt cod!

    A couple of decades ago, the NHS used to send around 500 people per month to Tunisia for treatment, taking some of the pressure off the NHS in the UK. Why not now? The cost of treatment is around one third of that in the UK.

    Medical facilities in Tunisia are outstandingly good, with doctors trained in Europe and the latest medical equipment, much of it imported from the US. No waiting times!

    1. Did you read Lady of the Lake’s post last night? She and her husband were pushed from pillar to post by their local hospitals. He is now dead and she not only has skin cancer eating her face but has now been diagnosed with liver cancer.

      1. Ann is obviously not posting today. If you can, Jules, please pass on my best wishes for recovery, everywhere and, like all NoTTLers, let her know that we are behind her and are pouring love and hugs onto her with wishes to KBO. She’s been very strong so far.

    2. Your friend likely had to pay cash at the surgery, either before or after seeing the doctor.
      No see, no cash. That concentrates the mind.
      Glad he was sorted quickly.

      1. Currently, an initial consultation with a doctor costs the equivalent of about £15. A deposit is required to enter a clinic, paid in cash, credit card or other means.

        1. An acquaintance here damaged her back badly lifting a small case into the space above her cabin seat on board an aircraft at the end of lockdown .

          Her back deteriorated so badly that she was living on painkillers (local pain clinic had a long waiting list ) and the pain radiated down both legs . Consultation time for repair of two of her discs was listed for NEXT YEAR.

          She had her operation privately 3 months ago and it cost her 15K, a pensioners lot is not a wealthy one , because getting there along the way with private consultations was roughly the same amount.

          1. There’s many a neck I’d like to feel, with as much force as my hands can supply!

      2. It was in the centre of his left neck. Presumably a lymph note.

        I was aware of the danger because an employee of my company had something similar a few years before.

  31. Nice breezy morning , just as I like it .
    The wind in the leafy trees is a comforting sound .

    Why are the majority of the DT letters so vacant , who on earth wants to discuss the names of grandparents .

    Oh go on , we are not grandparents, so how can I join in the conversation ?

    So sad to hear of the death of Sir Michael Parkinson .

    1. Yes, sad about Sir Michael P. I wonder if BBC4 will schedule some of his best interviews. They have a compilation prog of his chats with Muhammad Ali which is quite poignant because it subtly charts Ali’s decline.

      1. Sir Michael was a true Yorkshire man , lovely humour and an excellent raconteur.

        We are all getting older , and it so nice to remember his progress and decentness through the years .

      2. Sometimes called, perhaps unkindly, a professional Yorkshireman (well, unkindly from those who meant it that way).

      4. Yes, sad about Sir Michael P. I wonder if BBC4 will schedule some of his best interviews. They have a compilation prog of his chats with Muhammad Ali which is quite poignant because it subtly charts Ali’s decline.

        Perhaps we should restore his proper name; Cassius Marcellus Clay;

        That’s HAT

        1. Indeed. His parents had much better taste in names. The interviews do show his cognitive decline.

    2. Sir Michael Parkinson – a universally loved and respected Yorkshireman – Woops! –

      Is that not an oxymoron?

      Don’t get me wrong; I’m a Parky Fan!

  32. Hello all, contrary to Tom’s view I am indeed posting- things just take longer.
    Slept well, only up once and woke at 9. No interruptions from people with sharp tools;-)
    The residents’ manager has been in and will pick me up a handful of food as I don’t fancy much. Gradually going to get round to things but it will take time.
    Your kind comments and support are helping so much. My sister in law is in touch everyday and later I shall get round to informing US friends.
    Sense and Sensibility is on this evening and I’m looking forward to it.
    Please forgive any gibberish and typos- morphine muddles the brain bit not to mention one’s typing;-)

    2. Sorry, dear lady, I thought that, given the horrific circumstances, you might have taken a day’s respite but, as I remarked, you are also very strong.

      My earlier recommendation stands, KBO with our love and hugs.

    3. Gibberish? Have you read some of the fish pun threads here? You are making a lot of sense.

      I vaguely remember those 5AM blood tests taken by trainee vampires with poor bedside manners.

      Those US calls are going to be tough, I hope that you are allowed Pinot with the morphine.

  33. Overslept this morning.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3e0133fdfdeae8f31612829eb0eac0bf566d07dbcc456d76a1945b211d87079a.png

    One of my sons got better “A” level grades than expected and he was given a place in a better university than in those which had given him offers.
    He has benefited greatly from this ‘university upgrade scheme’.

    After working in the world of computers for a couple of years he then went on to do a post-graduate M.Sc at a Russell Group University and was top of his year and awarded a distinction. His career has now taken off – something which might not have happened had he not exploited the fact that his initial “A” level grades were better than expected.

    But this scheme, though still available, is no longer promoted as it was 10 years ago so students who do better than their predicted “A” levels grades usually get lumbered with the consequences of their poor predictions – i.e. they do not get places in the better universities that their actual grades merited.

    So “A” level grades do affect your future at outset. The government, as usual, is being rather duplicitous.

    1. After about forty years working in IT, I was only once asked about my qualifications.

      After the company I worked for was taken over by the Incredibly Bad company, their HR department demanded copies of all degree transcripts. Rather than tell them that I had no degree, I took great delight in telling them that I had already sent copies of all transcripts. This went on for several months until I retired.

      I even went back on contract with the same job that I wasn’t qualified to do unless I had a Masters or better.

      1. Now “everybody” has a degree, a Masters has become a requirement. Except, it’s not necessary for most things, and the result is the holder of said Masters is underwhelmed, disappointed and bored, and leaves quite soon when they discover how mind-numbingly boring most work is.

  34. If you’re under 50, it’s time to jump ship – get out of Britain while you can. 17 August 2023

    The UK seems incapable of solving its own issues, and things are set to get worse.

    The historian Niall Ferguson once remarked that “if young Americans knew what was good for them, they would all be in the Tea Party”. If young British people knew what was good for them, they’d be on the next plane out of the country. Emigration is, after all, the time-honoured path to prosperity for those trapped in stagnating countries.

    Yet another Nottler springs forth from the pages of the Telegraph. Lol!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/08/17/under-50-time-jump-ship-leave-britain/

    1. But where to go? The resistance to the new world order is comming mainly from Russia, China and Africa, with South America willing but being more effectively bribed by Washington DC than the Africans, who resist. We gave Africa written language, law and Christianity and then we became degenerate so much of Africa now wants to use the tools we gave them to break free of us. In the long term, that may be good – but now?

      1. With canada going belly up, that is a question that I keep asking.

        Add in the need for health care and you are left with very few options that would not break the bank.

        Probably a few places in the Carribean/ central America come to mind.

          2. In five years will Humgary be involved in the Ukranian mess? Same with all of those eastern European countries.

            Our healthcare plan would probably be twice year trips back to Canada so that we retained health care and pension rights.

    2. Jack PQ
      1 MIN AGO
      England is a beautiful country. There are very few places in the world to match its climate and history. This article is hopeless. Your generation destroyed this country and now you tell my generation to abandon your mess, leaving it to the boat peoples and our new co-religionists. We actively need the energy of younger men and women to turn this nation around, give it a future and rebuild it. There is nowhere else like England. Others may flee to some awful sun parched desert in the Southern Hemisphere, but our islands need energy. So instead of encouraging mass emigration of the very best of our peoples, encourage them to ferment political revolt. Encourage them to abandon and punish the oligarchic parties!

      My thoughts exactly ..

      And this is how Robert Browning thought as well.

      Home Thoughts, from Abroad” is a poem by Robert Browning. It was written in 1845 while Browning was on a visit to northern Italy, and was first published in his Dramatic Romances and Lyrics.[1] It is considered an exemplary work of Romantic literature for its evocation of a sense of longing and sentimental references to natural beauty.

      Text
      The poem is written as a first person in which the speaker expresses feelings of homesickness through sentimental references to the English countryside.[2] The poem’s opening lines are renowned for their evocation of patriotic nostalgia:[3]

      Oh, to be in England Now that April’s there

      Browning makes sentimental references to the flora of an English springtime, including brushwood, elm trees and pear tree blossom and to the sound of birdsong from chaffinches, whitethroats, swallows and thrushes. The speaker in the poem concludes by stating that the blooming English buttercups will be brighter than the “gaudy melon-flower” seen growing in Italy.[2]

      Oh, to be in England
      Now that April’s there,
      And whoever wakes in England
      Sees, some morning, unaware,
      That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf
      Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf,
      While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough
      In England now!

      And after April, when May follows,
      And the whitethroat builds, and all the swallows!
      Hark, where my blossomed pear-tree in the hedge
      Leans to the field and scatters on the clover
      Blossoms and dewdrops at the bent spray’s edge.
      That’s the wise thrush; he sings each song twice over,
      Lest you should think he never could recapture
      The first fine careless rapture!
      And though the fields look rough with hoary dew,
      All will be gay when noontide wakes anew
      The buttercups, the little children’s dower
      Far brighter than this gaudy melon-flower!

    3. I’ve just posted this article to Christo and Henry. I wonder what they will make of it.

  35. Well please forgive the expletives which will follow but A-level results- what a sh*t-show. From what I can work out, it’s absolute carnage out there.

        1. We are generally happy. As my old grandma used to say, “You’ve got your family and your health”.

          Another lad I know, same age as my son (18) had a tragic stupid accident at school larking around 2 years ago and will never walk again (though he is out of hospital now). Any “problems” we may have, I always think now, are problems this lad and his family can only dream of having.

  36. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5a6dc375d686b9a89506fce9c422e8d1cce7843e1cbe7412487105880d866dba.png

    When I took my “A levels in the mid 1960s A grades were rare just as First-class degrees were very rare at the time. I didn’t get any A grades – just humble Bs or Cs! But Caroline got A grades in Spanish and French and a B in English in the late 1970s.

    Caroline is becoming very dispirited by the fact that she is now having to teach students aiming a A grades at “A” level grammatical points which they were expected to have mastered at “O” level and, as the Common Entrance French Paper we put up here last week showed, they should have mastered by the age of 13.

    Every year Caroline writes a new course book for our courses to make sure that all the topics are up to date. The first of these, which she wrote in 1990, is far too difficult for today’s students.

    1. Moh got 2 A levels which were required for General list entry to Dartmouth in 1964.

      What thrilled him was his physics teacher came to his house to tell him the results that he wanted .

      1. Good on MOH.
        I also got 2 A-levels, mostly because I was a lazy bastard and didn’t work hard enough.
        I also have 4 degrees, at various levels, so “go figure” as Merkins might put it.

      2. My headmaster made a point of telephoning all the A level candidates (only 18 of us in my year – it was a very small school) to tell us our results himself.

      3. I had a scholarship to Dartmouth which only required “any two” A levels – at any grade! Sadly the Navy later changed their collective mind and asked for 2 A levels, preferably from a very short list of Pure Maths, Applied Maths, Physics or Chemistry. Having spent far too much of my 6th Form time racing dinghies, I barely made the two passes, but my racing prowess did come in useful at Dartmouth!!

    2. Moh got 2 A levels which were required for General list entry to Dartmouth in 1964.

      What thrilled him was his physics teacher came to his house to tell him the results that he wanted .

    3. Some typical A level questions (I may have made them up):

      1) With regards to Magna Carta, give three reasons why Brexit was a bad idea.

      2) Describe in 500 words why Trump was evil.

      3) Referring to the Beveridge Report say why the NHS needs immigration.

      4) Give the link between Climate Change and Far Right Transphobic hate.

    4. I don’t think more than one or two of our sixth form (Grammar School in the mid-sixties) got A grades. Most of us got Bs.

  37. Having a bonfire today – but with a difference. The MR is in charge. Her idea – I simply advise from a distance. Very satisfying on all counts!

      2. I get that, from time to time. Not sure if it’s disqus playing up, or my tablet getting confused. A reboot often helps.

      3. Try clicking on the down arrow by your name at the top of the page; a menu will come up. If it says “Show media”, then click on that and that was the problem. If it says “Hide media” then that’s not your problem; but it may be worth to click that, re-boot disqus, and then “Show media” again.

      1. I know that Veeraswamy in Regent Street is the best (and probably the original) Indian Restaurant.

        I don’t frequent coffee houses.

      2. I can only remember one coffee bar in the late fifties early sixties, it was on the Finchley road near Swiss Cottage. Always pack and quite a few people playing chess.

  39. Debate Advice for Republicans: Issues, Not Oprah

    This humble pie crap began with Bill Clinton, who specifically requested that speakers at the 1992 Democratic National Convention tell stories of childhood deprivation (as documented by Ron Fournier, then of the Associated Press).
    The I-Feel-Your-Pain routine was a huge hit with urban liberals, but Clinton went on to lose the working-class vote. Not coincidentally, this was the precise moment the Democrats dumped the working class and became the party of Wall Street and welfare bums.
    Republican voters want issues, not Oprah.
    Candidates, we don’t care if you were born a poor black child (Steve Martin, “The Jerk”) or your wife is hell on wheels. Please just promise to build a wall and execute criminals.

    https://www.takimag.com/article/debate-advice-for-republicans-issues-not-oprah/

    1. Does Roger Helmer imagine he’s still an MEP?

      What’s this tide he’s referring to? If he thinks the electorate will vote in large numbers for fringe parties in the hope of securing a net zero referendum, I reckon he’ll be sorely disappointed.

        1. There is a tide in the affairs of men
          Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;

          The Conservatives have missed the boat, the bus and the train so many times that they cannot see the dangers of missing the high tide!

          In Brittany, where the tidal range is very wide, some ports are described as neap ports. This means that they should be only visited during neap tides or they risk being ‘neaped’ – that is that if they go aground during a spring tide they may be stranded and have to wait a fortnight before getting off.

          Omitted, all the voyage of their life
          Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
          On such a full sea are we now afloat,
          And we must take the current when it serves,
          Or lose our ventures.

          1. I remember being taught that about Brittany when I did a (maritime) navigation course as a student.

      3. Cheap shot. He couldn’t change his twit handle without losing all his followers presumably.

        I take it to mean the tide of people who are against net zero.

      4. Whether or not you believe in the climate change scam it is beyond doubt that the Net Zero target being slavishly followed by the Conservatives is leading to economic devastation and ruin.

        People who want to stop the net zero nonsense are very much in favour of having a referendum on the matter while those who are in favour of Net Zero are reluctant to have one as they fear they would lose.

        1. Large numbers of people might dislike Net Zero and wish to see it cancelled, but they won’t vote in either sufficient numbers or effective ways in an effort to bring it about.

          1. Without the pudding being brought forth and tried we don’t know the proof of it.

        2. I don’t want a referendum on NZ because I don’t want to risk it going the wrong way so we end up sticking with it. Just protest, campaign and rebel until it’s overturned.

          1. Even if we voted to end it, it would be like the EU referendum – ignored and thwarted.

      5. 375459+ up ticks,

        Afternoon DW,
        Why use a middle man go through to Roger on twitter.

        Has happened in 2016 so what is believed to be impossible, is possible.

        I do believe a referendum on the issue to be the soft
        option delaying the inevitable serious blood letting.

    2. Apols for being a pendant (hah!) but Canute was the king who took his courtiers to the shore to show them that he couldn’t control the tides.

      1. 375459+up ticks,

        Evening W,
        Did Mr Helmer say otherwise
        then ?
        I do believe Roger is agreeing with you.

    1. Big uptick for that.
      But I hope he rots from now on.
      I’ve just watch the bbc lunctime news.
      They had a feature on exam passes.
      I had to ask my good lady if the interviews were carried out in England.
      Not one student was white English.
      I supect that must be something attached to the bbc diversity policy.

    2. One third were born to one or both non-British parents. I suspect that another third are born of second/third generation non-British families too. We are being outbred!

    1. The BBC will always do this country down. They should be disbanded and sold off.

      1. But who will give the BBC a good price?

        I am reminded of Rosalind’s advice to Phoebe, the proud but plain and uncomely young peasant woman in As You Like It when she rejected the proposal of marriage and the love of the humble rustic swain, Silvius.

        “Sell at once, You are not for all markets!”

    2. When I speak old Brucie in Upper Ferntree Gully Vic.
      He often tells me the prices of food items they have to purchase. Always more expensive than the UK. Except for beer and most wines..

  43. I’m off to bed, hopefully for pain relief from a nagging throat, so I’ll say, God bless, Gentlefolk.

  44. I was listening to Radio 4 this morning sitting in my Electric Hyundai at the supermarket to see
    how much my range reduced keeping climate control and radio on:

    Saint-Saëns Organ Symphony with Anna Lapwood and the London Mozart Players
    How to Play
    Organist Anna Lapwood and the London Mozart Players invite us behind the scenes as they prepare to perform Saint-Saëns spectacular Symphony No 3 for orchestra and organ.

    My range, if I had kept them on, would have been reduced by three miles.

    On the other hand, the surround sound system in the car was fortuitously put through its paces when the organist surmised
    how the organ might sound through one’s hifi system when a moving phrase in D-flat major was played.

    1. I sat in a Bentley once and played back Figaro from a very high fidelity recording. It was like being bathed in sound.

      1. My BBC. password doesnn’t seem to work now but there’s a link to an earlier recording at the Albert Halll of Saint-Saëns spectacular Symphony No 3 for orchestra and organ.

  45. I’ve been learning about the techniques of gaining knowledge that are starting to evolve dramatically this year through the release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The scope of future learning through use of applications based on ChatGPT is virtually boundless.

    However, the limits of information retrieval using AI are limited by the way one interrogates an AI app through carefully phrased questions called prompts.

    It is important to appreciate the mechanism that AI uses to understand your prompts through understanding what LLMs are;

    https://youtu.be/zizonToFXDs

    You should then begin to comprehend the niceties of formulating productive prompts in your educational journey.

    Here are some useful tips on getting started some of which I’ve discovered though bad prompting:

    https://youtu.be/pmzZF2EnKaA

      1. Yes, because when it searches the internet and can’t find the answer to a prompt it will make up a reply that it should know to be false.

        You may consider this to be original thinking but if the prompter publishes this on the internet it can become so viral that it becomes the truth. Well it did know something that wasn’t on the internet – but the prompter put it on.

          1. I know that there are lots of true things on the internet that you couldn’t make up! 😉

    1. The truth of the matter is that many Muslims are not prepared to live peacefully alongside Christians. This means that multi-culturalism will never – and can never – work.

      Maybe we should accept that all Christians should leave the Middle East and that – by the same logic – all Muslims should leave Europe? Religious apartheid might prove to be the most humane way of avoiding more bloodshed and misery in the future.

      Strangely enough the people who would be quite happy for Christians to be expelled from the Middle East would be outraged at the thought of Muslims being expelled from Britain!

      1. I think some hard-core Christians will have a bit of trouble with the idea that the ME should be surrendered to Islam which is over 600 years the junior.

        2. Tell this to those who say the Crusades were Islamophobic and watch their heads begin to shake and their lips tremble.

    2. I believe this sort of dreadful act has already occurred in or near Luton.
      And a pub was damaged by fire last year.

  47. I appreciate that nobody really wants to think about covid any more, and neither do I.
    But if this article is correct, we must stay vigilant. Does anyone know about these nasal sprays? Are they offered to everyone? How are they supposed to work? When did flu vaccines(?) become the norm for children? Do the parents have the chance to give or withold consent?

    I personally will never voluntarily take part in any mass medication event now.
    https://www.informedconsentmatters.co.uk/post/urgent-call-to-action-protect-our-children

    1. This would appear to be another attempt via mass medication to see off some more of the population – those with compromised immune systems from the covid jab will be especially susceptible to the ‘shedding’ process caused by the weakened flu virus within the vaccine. And immunisation for any respiratory virus causes one to be more susceptible for any other respiratory virus going around that season. The flu jab at best is only 26% effective for a month.

      And there is this. They haven’t a clue. They make assumptions just like we do.
      https://twitter.com/DavidWolfe/status/1691952755080933420?s=20

      Thank you for posting the article.

      2. They’re talking about a nasal spray for flu. I have never heard of that.
        Perhaps they think it will be easier to persuade teenagers to take a nasal spray.
        I hope people won’t take it until we know what’s in it, and whether it’s been tested properly.
        I certainly wouldn’t consent for any of my children to take it if they were still in the school.

        2. Nasal sprays are given to dogs for Kennel Cough which is an upper respiratory tract infection in dogs. I will never take anything that is blanket coverage for the population ever – this is a hill I am prepared to die upon.

          A nasal spray sounds so easy, a quick squirt and then you are done! I can understand the appeal, but goodness knows what are its ingredients.

    2. I am in my late 70s. I am overweight. My wife is in her early 60s. When we both had Covid last year many of our friends and members of of the family also had it.

      We weren’t jabbed and in spite of – or because of – this we had Covid very mildly; however, the younger, fitter, healthier and fully jabbed and boosted of our friends and family were quite ill.

      On our courses our students are aged 16, 17 or 18. All our them have been fully jabbed but one boy, a fanatical Rugby player, had Covid twice and also had pericarditis twice and another also developed myocarditis after being jabbed and then got Covid.

      We will be told to ignore our own experiences because they are statistically irrelevant but it is hard not to wonder a bit!

      1. Yes, it is hard not to wonder a bit, but at the end of the day, I think we should all take note of our own health and knowledge, then act accordingly, plus life-style should be taken into consideration.

      3. Nearly every single person I spoke to during my two years of afib agreed it was the jabs that brought it on.
        But noticeably didn’t really pursue the conversation. I expect had been told not to.
        And we also caught covid around this time last year. But it was nothing worse than a bad cold.

  48. 12 pots of jam later…

    Along the lane leading up to our house there are large plum trees which shed their plums into the lane and the ditch running alongside. I gathered these during the courses and popped them into the deepfreeze for later use.

    As I defrosted my deepfreeze earlier, I have now used all the yellow plums (mirabelles) to make 12 pots of jam. The red plums from the lane are thawing in a large pot; similarly, the greengages from the garden in a separate pot. I’ll deal with these tomorrow and possibly the day after tomorrow.

    The joys of having something else to do when the students’ house is waiting to be cleaned!!!

        1. My dear old father once brought home some Irish made Potcheen he was told it was around 70%proof. Fire water.

          1. My great aunt used to make something she called Polish sherry, made from pea pods! I think it may have contained Brasso!

          4. I once read a report from a journalist who was investigating the poteen ‘trade’ in Ireland. He was put in contact with some shady people who blindfolded him and took him on a car journey. When they arrived at a location, deep in the woods, he was taken into a shed before the blindfold was removed, and he was given some poteen to sample.

            Afterwards, blind drunk, he was taken back to where he was picked up, again blindfolded, and set free. When he wrote the report he was asked what it felt like to get drunk on poteen. He said that it had roughly the same after effects as a mugging, and that it felt like being hit, hard, behind both knees, with a sledgehammer.

            I cannot be certain but I have a feeling that the journalist in question might have been A.A.Gill.

          5. With the youth club I belonged to as a teenager, in 1966 a group of us went to Prague by train for a couple of weeks.
            Some one got hold of a local spirit I think it was known as (spl) Mislovicsta.
            You had a glass of it and a glass of soda water. You had to down the shot and followed quickly with the soda water. One of my best friends tried it and managed to get the spirit in his eyes.
            He had a go to hospital to have his eyes syringed.
            We still laugh at that today when we meet up.

          6. The strongest I had was given to me by a former colleague who had a Polish wife. He gave me a taste of Wiśniówka [pron: ‘vishnufka’] a strong cherry vodka. It was like drinking hydrochloric acid!

          7. My father in law and others from his platoon were held in a prison camp in Poland WW2.
            They used potatoes to make their own version of rocket fuel.

          8. I’ve drunk enough beer and cheap plonk to sink a battleship but I cannot stand any spirits.

        1. Hi Caroline,
          Bash the frozen sloes whilst in the bag with a rolling pin, it breaks the skin making them more productive in juice and flavour.
          I’ve got a kilogram in our freezer.
          But not made any for over a year.
          Get yourself a still and make your own gin. We had a chap opposite our house who made excellent gin. But alas he moved a couple of years ago.

          2. I live in a country (Sweden) that has some weirdly odd and arcane rituals. Home distilling is as illegal here as it is in many other countries. However, many shops and supermarkets sell bottles of flavourings, specially manufactured for giving colour and flavour to home-made moonshine hooch!

          3. We can buy Moonshine in small bottles from the local liquor store, no label giving ingredients so who knows what went into it……!

          4. Here in France you can’t buy a still as a private individual, only specially licenced businesses can. But I suspect it is possible to make one from a basic chemistry kit…

          5. Made it from scratch. It was around 80% when it cooled. He added mineral water to make it consumable. Very nice indeed.

    2. Our middle son, his 4 year old son and wife went strawberry picking a couple of weeks ago. They made some delicious jam.

      1. I didn’t know four year olds could marry! As for putting children in jam… it’s a better use than some!

      2. A joke which should not be looked at by those who disapprove of vulgar stories which I sometimes hide behind a ‘spoiler’.

        Three newly married couples found themselves in the same hotel on their wedding night. While their brides were powdering their noses the grooms agreed that at breakfast the following morning they would each put the number of lumps of sugar in their coffee as the number of times they had consummated their marriage that night.

        At breakfast they were all seated at the same table. The first groom modestly put two lumps of sugar in his coffee cup; the second groom, with a smug look on his face, put 4 sugar lumps in his. The third groom, who looked very disgruntled ignored the sugar bowl, picked up a spoon and put in in the marmalade jar.

    3. A friend brought me some plums yesterday. They are sitting in a colander at the moment while I pluck up the energy to make them into jam (I do like plum jam). I have a funeral to attend tomorrow, so I’m not sure I’ll get around to it until Saturday.

    1. They both dserve U’s. Even then they’d spin how wonderful they are and carry on as before.

  50. The last of Junior’s Lego has moved in.

    No doubt folk are thinking one or two boxes. Oh no. 8 crates. What’s a crate, I hear you cry? Well, a crate has 20 slots in it – each about the size of a small kitchen drawer – these drawers are subdivided again.

    Each crate is over a metre high and half again wide. And full of small plastic bricks.

      1. Oh, we are very familiar with the tank traps that lego becomes!

        How are you doing, Milady?

        1. A very mixed bag. Good night’s sleep but face awful- the pain, you understand;-)
          Morphine really helps.
          Next week I have 2 visits from MacMillan and I’ve had a call from the Coroner’s office and the death cert. will be sent to me so then I can begin tentative funeral plans. She gave me a firm that offers of all kinds of plans.
          All so surreal still and would be easier of I had not my recent woes.
          Thanks for asking Wibbs.

          2. A single death certificate is not enough, you need about ten of them to satisfy the obstructive bureaucrats that you might come up against.

          4. When my sister died I purchased 10 but the majority of organisations that needed them copied and sent the back. I had 9 left after all the formalities were complete.

          6. Richardl is correct; you need at least two copies (I bought three when MOH died) of the death certificate.

      2. Oh, we are very familiar with the tank traps that lego becomes!

        How are you doing, Milady?

    3. Blackbox2’s Toy Theory: The volume of toys in a house with children is constant regardless of the number of children.

      We had about that much lego & Playmobil, but it was divided among four.

    4. We have a huge amount of our boys’ lego, colour-coded and stored in crates, in the attic. We also still have a large platform in what used to be the playroom and is now Henry and Jess’s room when they come to stay, with some of the more elaborate lego builds, including a large aeroplane. I can’t bring myself to break these up, and so there they stay!

  51. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f26f894f38b7c0e25ba4e6060614698c3e77e02942553d86e82b1e12b578214a.png
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/consumer-affairs/borrowing-books-from-children-could-trigger-inheritance-tax/

    BTL : “Ratty” Wrattstrangler

    Inheritance tax is sheer robbery. It must be scrapped – but can anyone see this weak and pathetic Conservative government doing so?

    The best way for Keir Starmer to upset the Conservatives would be if he promised that a Labour government would abolish Inheritance Tax.

    Everyone knows that he would make a U-Turn – as he does on everything he ever says – but it would certainly be fun to watch Sunak, Hunt, Gove and the rest of the Conservative MPs squirm a bit!

  52. This is an interesting article .

    England’s forgotten shire, that lives on in spirit if not in name
    ‘The delicate loveliness of England is seen here at its best,’ wrote Arthur Mee. If only one could find the place on a map.

    Where would you go to find the lowest point in Great Britain, England’s biggest meadow, oldest house, earliest church spire and oldest inn, the loveliest of England’s four bridge chapels, the castle where a Queen of England died of a broken heart, England’s most picturesque water mill and the village that gave its name to the king of cheeses?

    Huntingdonshire, England’s Forgotten Shire, that’s where. You won’t find it on any modern map, for it was erased in 1974, and yet this most English of counties lives on in spirit if not in name.

    Huntingdon, the handsome county town, slumbers by the River Great Ouse surrounded by what Daniel Defoe described as “the most beautiful meadows that I think are to be seen in England”. One of them, Portholme Meadow, is said to be the largest water meadow in the country.

    The long High Street, with its mostly Georgian shop fronts, follows the line of the Roman Ermine Street from London to York. At the top, Cromwell House occupies the site of the house where Oliver Cromwell was born in 1599. A short walk away is the schoolroom (now a museum) where Cromwell, and later Samuel Pepys, studied.

    Godmanchester, the Roman Durovigutum, is approached across the flood plains by a 13th-century arched causeway lined with lime trees. Rich in history the town boasts more than 100 listed buildings, many timber framed and from the 16th century or earlier.

    Downstream the pretty villages of Hemingford Abbots and Hemingford Grey moved the travel writer Arthur Mee to exclaim, “the delicate loveliness of England is seen here at its best”.

    The 12th-century moated Manor at Hemingford Grey (open to visitors) has a claim to being the oldest continually inhabited house in Britain. The Gunnings sisters, whose beauty cut a swathe through Georgian high society, were born and grew up in the Manor, which later became the home of Lucy Boston who based her Green Knowe children’s books on the house.

    The Hemingfords together host Britain’s oldest village rowing regatta, held on the Great Ouse since 1904.

    And much more ………………………..

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/united-kingdom/england/huntingdonshire-englands-forgotten-shire-river-ouse/

    1. There is a bridge over the Nene in Ayelsford, which bears the legend on one of its peers County of Huntingdon, and Soke of Peterborough on the other.

    2. It also has the only racecourse in England that I’ve visited where the owners’ stand gives you a worse view of the winning post than the ordinary racegoers’ stand. It was, of course, John Major’s constituency (Blair also had a constituency with a racecourse – Sedgefield).

  53. British Museum curator of 30 years accused of stealing artefacts. 17 August 2023.

    The man accused of stealing from the British Museum is a senior curator who worked there for 30 years, The Telegraph can reveal.

    Peter Higgs, who was sacked earlier this year as the curator of Mediterranean cultures, is an eminent expert on antiquities who has written books to accompany some of the museum’s major exhibitions.

    His family has protested his innocence and said they believe he will clear his name.

    Mr Higgs, 56, a father of two, had worked at the museum since 1993, but lost his job after his bosses accused him of stealing items including jewellery made of gold, semi-precious stones and glass that dated from between 1,500 BC and the 19th century AD.

    This is a little strange. Where are the Police in all this?

    No comments allowed either!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/08/17/british-museum-stolen-artefacts-peter-higgs-curator/

    2. Slight change of subject , but if you saw the black glowering security guard accepting the GBnews Keep Cash petition delivered by Nigel Farage at the door of No10 Downing street , one begins to wonder who the security guards were at the British Museum ?

    3. Slight change of subject , but if you saw the black glowering security guard accepting the GBnews Keep Cash petition delivered by Nigel Farage at the door of No10 Downing street , one begins to wonder who the security guards were at the British Museum ?

  54. Percentage of UK ethnicities claiming Child Benefit welfare payments:

    Bangladeshi: 34%
    Pakistani: 30%
    Black: 28%
    Asian: 24%
    Other Asian: 23%
    White Other: 23%
    Other: 21%
    Mixed: 20%
    Indian: 19%
    White British: 17%
    Chinese: 12%

  55. Another Par Four.

    Wordle 789 4/6
    ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
    ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
    🟩⬜🟩⬜🟨
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. An eagle after my fortuitous first word.
      Wordle 789 2/6

      🟩⬜🟩🟩⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    2. Three for me.

      Wordle 789 3/6

      🟩⬜🟩⬜⬜
      🟩⬜🟩⬜🟨
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      1. That they’re out breeding us at a rate of knots or that we’re forced to pay for it all?

        2. One day we will be gone, only the benefits class will remain, what will they do then?

  57. I’m on the mailing list for Barkers Shoes. In the final reductions of up to 60% off today are the following styles – Antony (sic), Charles, Lynton and Blair…

      1. Not looking for new shoes at the moment, but if pushed I would go fot the black suede Powell…

  58. That’s me gone. Bonfire about 90% gone. Good first effort by the MR.

    Have a spiffiing evening – I fear we have an “I, Claudius” fest in store….Experiar ne obdormiam mediante….

    A demain – after seeing Nurse again…..

      1. Superb performance from Sian Phillips if I recall correctly. Such favourites in that series, Brian Blessed, John Hurt, Derek Jacoby, Stratford Johns, all splendid, BBC at its best.

        1. All greats.
          I also remember her in the film ‘Dune’ as the Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam.. Played in the new incarnation of the same film by Helen Mirren !

          I also attended an ‘evening with’ Sian at the Mayflower Theatre Southampton.

          She was so in love with the idea of Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, Peter O’Toole threw all her clothes into the street. Peter leaving her with only his clothes.

          Another from the biography was Brian walking along Old Compton St and punching O’Toole’s lights out !

          Edited for Threw………………….

          1. Did you see the film, “Tea with the Dames” Maggie Smith, Judy Dench, Eileen Atkins and Jo Plowright?

          3. While I have your attention….bought some frozen Barramundi and was wondering the best way to cook it, does it need much for taste, or is it sufficient just pan fried?

          4. I’ve only eaten barramundi in Australia. It was delicious simply pan-fried in a little butter.

          5. That was my problem, I have only eaten it ‘downunder’ and it was so long ago that I cannot remember how it was cooked.

          8. With a couple of mates we drove to estuary of the Murray River
            And with our brick trowels and buckets spent a few hours digging cockles at Goolwa.
            Washed them in clean water so they purged themselves. Opened a couple of bottles of cold wine sat in our chairs and feasted on the raw cockles. Delicious memories.
            Did you eat yabbies ? Small fresh water cray fush.
            Catching those in small lakes cooking them and eating them out in the Bush was great.

          9. Yes, I had Yabbies in Sydney and they were delicious. I also had Mud Crab. I missed out on Moreton Bay Bugs and Blue Swimmer Crab though.

          10. I use to go to Ardrossan with the same guys. We used a broom handle with a tennis racket shape and size attachment with chicken wire. Knee deep in the shallow water when you saw a dark patch give it prod and the large blue crabs would come out waving their claws. Scooped up and put into a plastic box towed along with a rope around our waists. When filled cover with a wet sack. On the way back to Adelaide Trevor would phone his mother and she would light the fire under the water filled cauldron.
            Six or more of us use to sit around a table covered in newspaper in the garden eating the cooked crabs. And drinking coldies of course.

          11. I use to spend a bit of time fishing when we lived in Oz and caught a couple of barramundi.
            And a Port Jackson shark. Large but Not dangerous.

  60. Mods, please.

    How do I stop an unsolicited female voice reading my incoming and outgoing comments? – forever!

    4. Sounds like you got some text-to-speech software running. Try looking at your web browser extensions.

      If you can’t find it, try logging into disqus using a different web browser and see what happens. If the text-to-speech continues, then the problem is somewhere in your computer. If it stops, then the problem is in your web browser.

      If the problem is in your web browser, once you’ve saved your bookmarks it should be easy enough to uninstall and then re-install it. That should sort it out. Unless you’re using Apple, in which case I have no idea.

    8. Advice from MOH:

      If you look at the top bar you will see a capital A with two eyebrows on its right shoulder.

      Click on this and the drivelling woman will shut up.

      1. Why do all these caped clowns (and ‘superheroes’ in comics) have the rank of ‘Captain’. Don’t any ever get promoted to Major? Or Commodore?

    3. I always empathised with Mr Toad, the boastful bounder, who knew far more than the clever men at Oxford knew and was fearless when it came to driving motor cars ingeniously into a pond while poop, poop, pooping the horn.

  65. Yet another pilot……….

    Aug.17, 2023 – IndiGo Pilot for Nagpur-Pune flight collapses at boarding gate, declared dead in the hospital

    MUMBAI: An IndiGo pilot who was to operate a flight from Nagpur to Pune, India, fell
    unconscious and collapsed at the boarding gate on Aug.17, 2023. He was
    taken to a hospital where he was declared dead, said sources.

    This is the third case of sudden death involving pilots this week, with two of the deceased being Indian pilots.

    On
    Wednesday, a senior pilot with Qatar Airways, who was flying from Delhi
    to Doha as a passenger, fell in on board and died. The flight QR579 was
    diverted to Dubai following the medical emergency. The pilot had
    earlier worked with Alliance Air and SpikeJet.

    1. There seems to be a lot of pilots suffering sudden death on aeroplanes.

      Have the PTB declared whether they had been vaccinated against Covid?

      I seem to remember that the Covid vax was a condition of employment in certain British airlines.

  66. Just watching a lovely programme about Michael Parkinson, on a sad day.
    I’ll be turning in when it’s finished.
    Night all.
    Muhammad Ali going berserk, very rude about white people. People thought it was brain damage. It might have happened after he changed his mind name.

    2. Muhammed Ali suffered from Parkinson’s and his decline was curiously most evident in his appearances on Parkinson.

      Edit:
      I remember watching Cassius Clay versus Henry Cooper with my brothers and dad. We cheered when Cooper floored Clay but my dad, a man whose hero had been Freddie Mills, cautioned that Cooper had prominent eye sockets with vulnerable sharpish bone structure.

      And so it proved, fight stopped when blood flow from damaged eye sockets blinded Cooper.

    1. A film suggestion for you, Elsie. Voyage of the Damned, 1976. I’d never seen it before, but I was out of the country when it appeared. A based on ‘facts’ film about Jews being shipped off, but in 1939 as opposed to 1948(?) ‘Exodus’. It’s a spot and name the actor film. dozens of well known faces and a good story to boot.

      1. Thanks for the two suggestions, molamola. I am aware of both films, but have seen neither. Last night I watched Grizzly’s suggestion of the film noir EDGE OF THE CITY, however the only available copy on YouTube had been “colorised” from its original black and white, so I guess It was a film en coleur!!! Nonetheless, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

  69. Friday 18th August, 2023

    ashesthandust

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e281877e66f9640965428cfaf7612b736a56b10f037dc7830d6ff3f7e0f8aba9.png

    and very many more joyous celebrations

    I know we quoted Jack London for you last year – but it certainly bears repetition.

    “I would rather be ashes than dust!
    I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot.
    I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.
    The function of man is to live, not to exist.
    I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them.
    I shall use my time.”

    With very best wishes,

    Caroline and Rastus

      2. Happy Birthday, Ashes! I hope you have a wonderful day! Sending love and best wishes! 🌹🍾🥂

  70. Evening, all. Strange sort of day. I had previously made an appointment for the beginning of September to see a GP about my knees to get a referral. Today I had a phone call from the surgery saying they’d just got the letter from my physio (sent on Monday by email) and they had a cancellation. Could I make it this afternoon? I said I could and duly saw a doctor who agreed I needed a referral. I mentioned a couple of other things and was told that appointments were for dealing with only one thing at a time! I countered by pointing out that getting an appointment at all, never mind three, was next to impossible. The upshot is, the September appointment has been cancelled and replaced with one with a nurse for a review and another at another time with somebody else who deals with something else. No wonder you can’t get anything done! Nothing seems to be joined up.

    1. I find this so odd that surgeries will deal with only one problem at a time because the other problems may well present a clue to the first presented problem. It just goes to show that the nhs is interested only in alleviating symptoms and not getting to the source of an illness.

      2. Part of the problem, I gathered (because the doctor mentioned it ), was the time taken to write up the records of the appointment.

        1. And sometimes people have to start off with a minor problem before they can find the courage, or overcome the embarrassment, of what is truly concerning them.

          1. In this case, my physio had requested I make an appointment. If it isn’t medically recommended, I tend to avoid seeing a doctor if at all possible.

    2. Our doctor still ends a consultation with “Anything else?”.

      I guess that comes from a healthcare system that pays doctors for services performed – they are trying to upsell from a simple cold to referrals for other issues.

      1. I got the distinct impression that patients are a nuisance. Not all doctors at the practice are like that, but this one didn’t exactly seem pleased to listen to me. I got the distinct impression she thought I was inventing things (was I sure I had arthritis, had I had an MRI scan/X ray?). The answer to those was yes, but YEARS ago.

    3. Another example of the NHS suiting itself rather than the patient – that way, lies their own ruination.

    4. I saw a Respiratory Consultant on Wednesday morning who ordered an Echocardiogram. Had a call yesterday afternoon and the scan yesterday morning at 10.30. Excellent service.

      1. My lungs have been hopeless since I had Covid last year and the jabs.

        I am waiting to see a respiratory consultant and I have been provided with an inhaler . I am so upset .

        My Oxi readings can be as low as 91–96.

        1. I’ve just checked mine, Belle, varies between 94 – 97. Mostly 95 – 96. Perhaps it is our age as well. I don’t think I’ve got lung problems.

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