Thursday 2 May: The Conservative Party no longer represents the views of its members

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

Today’s letters (visible only to DT subscribers) are here.

719 thoughts on “Thursday 2 May: The Conservative Party no longer represents the views of its members”

  2. Good morrow, gentlefolk. Today’s (recycled) story

    HOW TO CALL THE POLICE WHEN YOU’RE OLD

    Phillip Hewitson, an elderly man, from Norwich, was going up to bed, when his wife told him that he’d left the light on in the garden shed, which she could see from the bedroom window. Philip opened the back door to go turn off the light, but saw that there were people in the shed stealing things.
    He phoned the police, who asked “Is someone in your house?”
    He said “No,” but some people are breaking into my garden shed and stealing from me.
    Then the police dispatcher said “All patrols are busy. You should lock your doors and an officer will be along when one is available.”
    Philip said, “Okay.”
    He hung up the phone and counted to 30.
    Then he phoned the police again.
    “Hello, I just called you a few seconds ago because there were people stealing things from my shed. Well you don’t have to worry about them now because I just shot them.” and he hung up.
    Within five minutes, Six Police Cars, a SWAT Team, a Helicopter, two Fire Trucks, a Paramedic, and an Ambulance showed up at the Hewitson’s residence, and caught the burglars red-handed.
    One of the Policemen said to Phillip, “I thought you said that you’d shot them!”
    Phillip said, “I thought you said there was nobody available!”

    1. What used to be funny, Sir Jasper, is now tragically and ironically true. But well done for lightening our mood – and a Good Morning to you. Now I am off to the polling station.

      1. A greeny communist demanded I vote. Comically he wanted me to vote for his pet causes. I reinded him that I had absolutely no representation in any political party, let alone local council. I can’t refuse the management board salaries, council tax increases regardless of my will, policies were implemented without my consulation. Voting didn’t matter. The voter is deliberately excluded. The state has no interest in serving the public.

        Only until it is forced to will there be any point voting – because then it will be voting for or against policy enactment and repeal to control the state and bring the damned useless wretched thing to heel.

          1. As far as I am aware, there is no election in Dumfries & Galloway this year.

          3. It looks like Scottish local councils hold elections every five years with the next in 2027. Some areas have Community Councils (not sure what they do) and if your area has one the elections will be in October 2024 – some Community Councils are disestablished which I assume means they no longer meet/work.

    2. What used to be funny, Sir Jasper, is now tragically and ironically true. But well done for lightening our mood – and a Good Morning to you. Now I am off to the polling station.

    3. What used to be funny, Sir Jasper, is now tragically and ironically true. But well done for lightening our mood – and a Good Morning to you. Now I am off to the polling station.

    4. The entire country resources would have arrived if Philip had used the wrong pronouns.

    5. Good morning,
      Sun is shining here – for now.
      Your story is, unfortunately, not very fictional these days.

  3. Good morning, chums. I hope you are all well. Here are my results for Wordle today:

    Wordle 1,048 4/6

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

    And now for a quick read of Sir Jasper’s and others’ posts, before shooting off to vote in the local elections. Enjoy your day.

    1. At this point no one cares if welfare shoppers are dealt with morally. They’re angry. Criminal;s pour into the country, aided by the very system that should keep them out. The state then puts them up in luxury at tax payers expense. Those criminals then went out and about raping, stealing and attacking people and not we find out the state has lost half of them because doing it’s job was just too difficult.

      It’s disgusting. If government refuses to do it’s job then it must be shut down and those causing the problem in Whitehall sacked. They must be punished. Not just politically but civil servants must be seen being shoved out on the street and forbidden ever working in the state again.

      1. There needs to be a mechanism where incompetent governments can be removed with maybe an interim cross–party installed for a while. 69% think Labour are unfit to govern; 85% think Conservatives are unfit to govern, according to a recent poll. How is it possible that such incompetent thugs/wastrels are allowed to rule our country?

          1. Unfortunately a cabal of zealots has evolved to exploit the system to ensure they stay in power. The political system should be constantly tweaked to mitigate against this. A constant watch should be kept out for loopholes. There is a grotesque abuse of power now. Look at the HOL for starters and its obese numbers. There should have been curbs introduced as soon as it became too overloaded. Improvement should be viewed as ongoing not set in stone to be exploited by idealogues who learn to scam a set system.

    1. They have had 14 years to make radical and significant change – 8 of that outside the chains of the EU. When they had the opportunity to repeal nonsense legislation they didn’t bother.

      Absolutely everything is worse. Taxes are higher, individual liberty strangled, massive debt has only increased, income has fallen in real terms, energy policies are absurd. The vaunted plan these gormless fools keep blithering on about is permanent, enforced decline.

      Meanwhile, the worker sees their earnings stolen and poured into the pockets of sewage from foreign countries. The sit, cold and dark while vermin flounce around in 4 and 5 star hotels.

      I hate them. The entire edifice of state. Burn it to the ground. It doesn’t serve, it is destructive, petulant and pointless.

          1. I have some chicken pieces in the freezer.
            I’ll get defrosting and marinading.

          2. Only just read this post, Annie. Are you nearly ready to start the BBQ? – in which case I’ll be over in two ticks. Or have you already enjoyed and awaiting for a kind NoTTLer to come along and help with the washing up? (If the latter, I think I’ll pass!) Lol.

      2. More than 3½ of those 8 years were spent inside the EU negotiating the terms of our exit.

        1. And 5 were spent fettered by Sir Nick, Sir Vince and Sir Ed although, as ‘gay marriage is my proudest achievement’ Dave and 6 jobs Georgie Porgie were the other to55ers in power, that may not have made as much difference as appears at first sight.

    2. A squirt of SBK solution will solve the problem as that product eradicates weeds but not grass.

      Sadly, I do not have a lawn, what I do have resembles a meadow containing a number of types of grass. If I didn’t mow it for a month when it’s likely to be growing rapidly it would be a total mess instead of just a bit of a mess. The uncut verges around the nearby estate where I grew up are testament to the idea of ‘letting things go wild’ – actually town city council parsimony where verge maintenance is concerned – and the mess that results.

  6. Donald Trump: London has ‘opened its doors to jihad’. 2 May 2024.

    Donald Trump has claimed London has become “unrecognisable” because it has “opened its doors to jihad” as he pledged not to let the same happen in the United States.

    The former president said that British “culture” had been eroded by tolerance of pro-Palestine protesters in London and Paris.

    There’s much praise for the Donald below the line but of course this is all well known to Nottlers and their ilk. The truth is that the West is Lost and Europe its worst example. It will take at most another ten or twenty years and it will be gone and its people with it. This is due solely to the Political Elites. They are our enemies.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/05/01/donald-trump-says-london-has-opened-its-doors-to-jihad/

  7. Nihilistic, ignorant pro-Palestinian protests are a harbinger of much worse to come

    Western society is being poisoned by the virus of ‘victimhood’ and entitlement

    ALLISTER HEATH
    1 May 2024 • 7:11pm

    Covid is long since over, but the protesters still wear face masks: the ignorant, entitled little delinquents running riot in so many of the world’s greatest universities are truly an embarrassment. The product of a catastrophic social experiment, of years of brainwashing and coddling, they embody all of the Western world’s most debilitating pathologies.

    Their childish, self-important antics would be risible were their normalisation of hatred not so ominous, their rejection of democratic, liberal and conservative norms alike not so terrifying. Previous generations of protesters at least had a cause, sometimes a very powerful and just one; this bunch are self-loathing, inchoate nihilists who hate the West, hate America, hate Britain, hate Israel, and want to tear down everything great about our civilisation.

    The keffiyeh-clad protesters claim to support the Palestinian cause, but are staggeringly ignorant about the realities of the Middle East. They entirely lack theological understanding. They don’t know any history, ancient or modern, and often readily admit as much. They have no idea how many peace deals the Palestinian establishment has rejected over the decades, and couldn’t really care less. They spout whatever fake news is fed to them via TikTok, or the latest made-up statistics from the Hamas health authorities.

    They wave LGBTQ+ flags while chanting “from the river to the sea”, not realising that gay people are routinely murdered in Islamist dictatorships. They purport to care about minorities, but all too frequently have been filmed engaging in despicable anti-Semitic hate speech, such as calling on Jews to “return to Poland”. They don’t understand the difference between free speech and intimidation, trespass and violence.

    They have no positive vision, no meaningful reality-based plan, nothing useful to contribute. They don’t care about Iranian women assaulted by the regime, or Coptic Christians who are being attacked in Egypt, or Hezbollah’s slow-motion religious cleansing of Lebanon. Their heart isn’t in the right place, and they should not be given the benefit of the doubt.

    They claim to hate nation-states and to believe in open borders, but their encampments look strangely like the “fascistic” countries they loathe: there are borders, entry points, guards, identity checks, enforcers, and the expulsion of any member of the out-group that dares to show up – in this case, “Zionists” who are banned from libraries or going to lectures. Joe Biden has disgraced himself for doing so little about a disgusting spectacle with echoes of the 1930s.

    The protesters’ problem is partly psychological, as exposed with brutal clarity by videos on social media. The most spoiled generation in history, used to being shielded from every threat by helicopter parents, they feel hard done by as the police belatedly storm their barricades.

    Many young activists have been turned into self-entitled narcissists by a culture that tells them that society owes them everything, that the world revolves around them, that great institutions must change to make them feel more comfortable, that there is such a thing as “their truth”. They find it hard to distinguish between virtue-signalling and actual deeds.

    They spend so long online or editing selfies that they aren’t always sure what is real life and what is fantasy. Hence ludicrous scenes of protesters play-acting what they wrongly believe to be happening in Gaza: students passing food through prison-style bars, a protester, oozing self-pity, asking for water lest she “die of dehydration”, demands for “humanitarian aid” from the university authorities.

    It’s a pathetic case of weakness being turned into the only moral value, of delusional activists so detached from the harsh reality of real wars that they believe those they demonstrate against owe them free food. It is cosplay politics, protest as a performance art, made for a gullible, easily manipulated smartphone generation that cannot distinguish fact from fiction.

    The protesters have been contaminated by two ideological viruses which have made them allergic to their own societies. They have swallowed the lie that the West is the fount of all evil, that we are racist and sexist, that our achievements are illusory, the product of looting and colonialism, and that we are destroying the planet. They feel shame, not pride, and believe in the need to forever atone for our sins and those of our ancestors.

    It is no coincidence that we almost never see British or American flags at pro-Palestine demonstrations on the streets of London, but always spot union flags (as well as Israeli and pre-revolutionary Iranian ones) at the pro-Israel counter-protests. The conflict is a proxy battle for the soul of the West.

    Young activists have been taught a simplistic theory of “social justice”: individuals, groups or countries that aren’t doing as well as they would expect are “victims” who “deserve” a lot more, and those that are doing better are “oppressors” who don’t deserve their wealth. The origins of this are partly Marxist and partly drawn from a residual cultural Christianity focused exclusively on the idea that “the meek shall inherit the earth”.

    This dichotomy has bred a defeatist culture of victimhood and entitlement which downplays individual agency, promotes welfarism, confiscatory taxation and rejects hard work. It has fuelled anti-Semitic and other conspiracy theories, and successful minorities are being targeted for vicious “reverse” discrimination.

    It has led to an inane assumption that all poor countries are automatically good and all rich ones inherently bad. Britain and America are uber-oppressors; China is treated with indifference or indulgence. The barbaric Iranian regime is viewed as an ally, as it opposes “the Great Satan”. Hamas, a genocidal dictatorship is, by definition, a “victim”; Israel, a multi-faith democracy, is the oppressor, even though the Israelis left Gaza in 2005 and even though Hamas raped, kidnapped and murdered Israelis.

    The horseshoe theory of politics has come true: traditionally far-Left and far-Right tropes have fused into a full-service, sickeningly authoritarian woke replacement ideology lapped up by those, especially young Westerners, who are losing trust in democracy. Don’t be fooled: the protests defiling universities may be naive, amateurish and solipsistic, but they are the harbinger of far worse to come.

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

    The conversation is now closed

    El Jefe
    8 HRS AGO
    How refreshing to read an article which describes the current (rather depressing) situation in a coherent and articulate manner.

      2. Pathetic wasters. Lock the doors and throw tear gas in every few minutes. Allow them out only once theyy personally burn any signs of protest.

        Then expel them. That’ll teach them something.

      1. He gets paid to say these things. What’s worrying is that comments are closed. Seems the Telegraph doesn’t like to hear dissent.

        1. Check BTL comments in the letters section.
          Often people circumvent the closing of comments via that route.
          We shouldn’t have to do it, but we are fast approaching a samizdat culture where typewriters are locked away at the end of the working day.

          1. Samizdat? That ship sailed a long time ago; if you knew of the controls that are embedded in computer printer software etc, you would never have thrown away your old typewriter.

        2. I used to like him when he was editor of City AM.

          He grew up in France, till hr was about 18, from memory

    3. The first time the wasters startedt their protest they should have been physically contained and then rammed into a Hercules and dropped on Gaza from 10,000 feet.

      Any further whinging or Lefty drivel about muslims should have been silenced. They’re not welcome, not wanted and must be made to leave – and to take the dossing middle class Left with them.

    5. Alistair Heath and Alison Pearson are the best regular writers the DT has.

    6. Just one correction, Citroen1: ” President Obama in his third illegal term has disgraced himself for doing through his proxy Biden so little about…”

  9. Good morning all, Sun just making a weak appearance, might be a pleasant day in NI.

    2. Heavy rain here all night in the Westcountry. Pleased I managed to take down a large rotten willow in the dry weather yesterday.

      1. What will you do with the wood?
        After the Great Storm of 1987, we had to chop up fallen poplar willows. The wood was pretty useless.

  10. The SNP hasn’t realised that ‘socially conservative’ is actually normal

    With ‘progressive’ leaders like Nicola Sturgeon and Humza Yousaf, the party in power has become the farthest Left in the UK

    ALLISON PEARSON
    1 May 2024 • 12:15pm

    As part of his pity pageant, Humza (you’ve only got) Yousaf (to blame) posted a photograph on Twitter of himself reading a bedtime story to his small daughter. The caption read: “Today of all days, remembering and being grateful for all the blessings I have in life.”

    Nauseating. Does the departing First Minister of Scotland really think he was doing the right thing for little girls like his own by pursuing gender identity policies which, if the SNP had its warped way, would have allowed children to carry on taking puberty blockers before proceeding to mutilation? That’s the thing about the advocates of “progressive” politics like Nicola Sturgeon and Yousaf. They accuse anybody who dares to oppose them of racism, misogyny and homophobia, while being the worst, most authoritarian bigots going.

    Kate Forbes, who came second to Humza in the leadership contest, is one senior SNP figure who deserves some credit for standing firm against Scotland’s appalling gender self-ID “reforms”, which would have allowed people to change their legally recognised sex faster than you can say, “Sorry, that rapist showing his willy in pink Lycra leggings really doesn’t belong in a women’s prison.”

    Yet, since Yousaf stood down, it is Forbes, a member of the Free Church of Scotland, who has been under attack for being “socially conservative”. (Or reflecting the views of the majority of Scots still in possession of any moral sense, as it’s also known.)

    Muslims are a minority group renowned for their social conservatism, but the SNP boys’ club had no difficulty electing a Muslim leader, even though Yousaf awkwardly skipped a key vote on gay marriage. (Anyone who thinks that was on purpose to avoid awkwardness within his gay-averse community is, of course, “white” and “racist”, which amount to the same thing in Yousaf’s chippy world view.)

    You may recall that one of Yousaf’s first acts in office, after Sturgeon departed in a stinking cloud, was to organise a Muslim prayer session in Bute House. It was the opposite of inclusive. In fact, it looked very much like a defiant marking of territory by a man who gave a speech in the Scottish Parliament spitting contempt because so many senior positions in the country were held by white people. The fact that Scotland’s population is 95 per cent white need be no bar to spurious allegations of institutional racism. He loves a hate crime, does Humza.

    The real prejudice here is against Forbes. She has committed the cardinal sin of being a Christian in oh-so-tolerant Scotland and is being called names so that any fresh bid she might be considering for the leadership is sabotaged. Actually, the SNP allows conscience votes, as other parties do, on matters such as abortion. And the Free Church’s stance on moral questions is nearly identical to, if not more liberal than, official Roman Catholic positions. Christianity, it seems, is the only “protected characteristic” that doesn’t count under the infamous Hate Crime Act (For the Protection of Humza Yousaf).

    But who is the real danger to Scotland? To hold on to power, the SNP got into bed with the Scottish Greens, who give every appearance of being stark staring bonkers. Despite the fact that NHS England banned puberty blockers following the Cass Review, the Greens thought NHS Scotland should keep prescribing unproven drugs to vulnerable children. They also bitterly opposed the decision to suspend Scotland’s statutory 2030 goal to reduce carbon emissions by 75 per cent, even though the Climate Change Committee recently stated that the target was no longer credible.

    When the SNP finally succumbed to reality and moved to suspend both puberty blockers and the 2030 emissions goal, the co-leader of the Greens, Lorna Slater, accused them of being “reactionary” because they had betrayed the marvellous, “progressive” politics that has done so much to make Scotland the basket case it is today. (On Tuesday, the broadcaster and proud Scot Andrew Neil damned the “Left-wing consensus” that has damaged his country in every department, from education to health.)

    To be fair, Slater has clearly spent so much time on the moral high ground that her brain may have been deprived of oxygen. Another explanation is that the poor woman is Canadian. Her native land now being the world capital of woke woo-woo.

    Astonishingly, all mainstream news bulletins on Monday night solemnly repeated an outlandishly biased version of events. The Greens, viewers were told, were upset by the “reactionary” SNP – actually the farthest Left party in the UK. Meanwhile, Forbes, she of the rather sensible economics reforms, was a dangerous conservative because she doesn’t believe you can turn boys into girls, or vice versa.

    I am sick of reporters treating Left-wing ideologues and their deranged views with weird courtesy. Why are eco-crazies and trans advocates who threaten JK Rowling and MSP Joanna Cherry dignified with the term “progressives”? Why are Tories always “far-Right” but Humza Yousaf is never “far-Left” (which he is) or “the authoritarian author” of the demented Hate Crimes Act?

    Such unmerited reverence and kid-glove treatment for the devolved Scottish government is what allowed Sturgeon, her now-arrested and charged husband, and their cronies to get away with so much for so long. Including a focus on identity politics and virtue signalling at the expense of the Scottish people. How’s that £110,000 SNP battle bus parked in the mother-in-law’s drive, Nicola?

    As I write, it looks very much like the Scottish Greens, who commanded a mere 1.3 per cent of the popular vote, have the whip hand when it comes to choosing the country’s new leader. He – almost certainly a he – will have to sign up again to those “progressive” policies. Hard to believe that 18th-century Edinburgh, home to Boswell the biographer, Hume the philosopher and Smith the economist – giants all – is now at the mercy of a Canadian called Laura.

    Worth recalling Adam Smith, I reckon, so wise on human dealings. “Man is an animal that makes bargains: no other animal does this – no dog exchanges bones with another.” The SNP is right down to the bones now.

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

    Bobs Yr Uncle
    17 HRS AGO
    My one political wish right now – above everything is to see Holyrood shut down. I hate to say I voted for it thinking it would enable Scotland to better manage and distribute its funding. Nothing more.
    I now hate it.
    Then to read that EVERY ex-first minister receives 1/2 FM’s pay (currently £52,000) for the REST OF THEIR LIFE !! is immoral and reduces me to such anger. I pay my taxes, and to understand that the likes of Yousaf, Sturgeon and Salmond are on the gravy train for decades ahead makes me want to puke.

    michael sharples
    17 HRS AGO
    Reply to Bobs Yr Uncle
    as john swinney has held the post before, if he gets it again, presumably he gets two 1/2`s..so all the £52k for the rest of his life…now we know why we wants the job…..its sickening.

    1. There are far too many stupid Lefties in government. I imagine it attracts like like flies to sewage. Power, happily isolated from the consequences of your own mental illness. A nice cushy expense account that you slap all the costs of your malignancy on others with. No need to produce anything of value, just keep costing money.

      Drag them out, throw them a sack and put them in a cave so they can learn the consequences of their mendacity.

    2. £52k isn’t much for that position – I would have thought it was much more.
      There are all the bennies and backhanders to add, though…

  11. 386729+ up ticks,

    Morning Each.

    Civil Service union tries to stop Rwanda flights with judicial review
    FDA’s application is first legal challenge to the landmark legislation and could reopen splits among Conservatives

    Start building a parallel civil service piecemeal, a department at a time, an Elliot Ness type construct, ( untouchables ).

    Award the existing anti British brigade the DCM ( don’t come Monday) along with a Chinaman ( a weekinlieu) department via department.
    Unless we get seriously real about these anti patriotic shysters and their political counterparts in the governing, maiming ,killing dictatorship we may as well run up the white flag to half mast signifying the death of a nation.

        1. 386729+ up ticks,

          Morning SJ,
          By piecemeal, to much confusion if done en ,masse, use them then lose them.

  12. Good morning all.
    A whole 7°C on the Yard thermometer this morning but somewhat dull and overcast.
    At least it’s not raining, yet, as I have a drive to Altrincham this morning.

    A small amount of ERNIE today, £100 for me and £75 for the DT. Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.

    1. Nothing a few rocket launchers wouldn’t solve. Note the lack of the diversity. Note the lack of crowds. This country is polluted with filth and it needs to be washed away.

    2. We need to organise churchbell ringing at the same time as the wailing.

      2. Church doors would have to be forced open with church officials forced aside and restrained to gain access to the bells.

  14. Canada: Conservative Leader Kicked Out of Parliament Session for Calling Justin Trudeau a ‘Wacko’

    https://media.breitbart.com/media/2022/08/GettyImages-1096327856-e1659780645508-640×479.jpg

    The leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, Pierre Poilievre, was removed from question period at the Parliament’s House of Commons on Tuesday after condemning radical leftist Justin Trudeau, branding his policies “wacko” and refusing to withdraw the insult.

    Trudeau responded to Poilievre’s condemnation by referring to him as “spineless” and accusing him of fraternizing with “white nationalist” groups, comments for which Speaker Greg Fergus neither demanded a retraction nor expelled Trudeau from the session.
    *
    *
    *
    https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/05/01/canada-conservative-leader-kicked-out-of-parliament-session-for-calling-justin-trudeau-a-wacko/

    The heated exchange occurred during a debate around Liberal Party support for policies to decriminalize the use of some drugs – and specifically the provincial government of British Columbia choosing to enact a program that decriminalized the use of opioids, methamphetamine, cocaine, and several other hard drugs, including in public places.

    1. California tried this. The end result was people leaving… the state. Businesses closed. Shops abandoned the place.

      Trudeau needs to have his face smashed into a concrete wall until it’s recognisable by dental records alone – and then from the teethbeing glued together. The creature is insane.

    2. The truth hurts.
      The west is definitely turning its back on freedom of speech.

    3. I cannot see there is a case against either man. They were debating, and using fruity language to make a point is part of the job.

      As there a number of naughty words that excite the autocensor online (although this site tries to avoid bowdlerising comments), Canada must have a list of unparliamentary language that warrants a suspension, as does Westminster. “Liar” is a well-known one. I’ve not known “wacko” to be proscribed, but there you go.

      1. ‘Wacko’ could refer to a nickname for the late Jackson M, a musician of color, thus a multilayered insult.

  16. Farmer is quizzed by police on suspicion of murder after man is shot dead and another seriously injured following suspected burglary at Peak District farmhouse

    A farmer was being quizzed by police tonight after a man was shot dead and another seriously injured following a suspected burglary.

    Officers were called to reports of a break-in at a remote Peak District farmhouse early this morning.

    They found a man with fatal injuries inside the property and another seriously hurt in the road outside around 1.20am. Both had been shot.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13372033/Farmer-arrested-suspicion-murder-blasting-dead-burglar-badly-injuring-broke-land.html

      1. I’m with the farmer who, not only has to deal with the trauma of taking life, now will have Plod all over him for ever, firearms confiscated, endless vindictive investigations followed by queues of people outside wanting to get at him.
        He’s going to have a bad time for quite a while. I hope his mates and neighbours rock up in his support.

    2. I really cannot see what the problem is with householders with legally held guns shooting threatening intruders breaking into their homes or businesses.

      1. Now expand that to the nation and we have a solution to the ‘home invasion’ of the entire country.

      2. It really is a case of (and I hope you’ll excuse my French) “F*ck about and find out.”.

        1. It would result in a 90% drop in burglaries overnight. ‘Break in and get your head blown off.’

          1. Problem would be, going equipped would very quickly include firearms for pre-emptive action after you kick the door in – regardless of who is inside.

          2. That’s a problem anyway. At least this way the burglars know there’s a good chance they will get shot themselves and stay away.
            Being defenceless is never an answer.

          3. In a just world the farmer has no case to answer whilst the surviving burglars get some sort of manslaughter. They made that happen, they actively contributed to the dead man’s fate.

      3. The problem might be if it was not a burglar at the door, but rather a lost rambler or a Jehovah’s Witness. The law allows for “reasonable force” to be used. Self defence is a legitimate reason for the shotgun to be used.

        Whilst this does not prevent the farmer being arrested or charged, if the attending police officer felt that there was a case, it is up to a jury to decide if reasonable force was used under the circumstances.

        What needs to be avoided is the escalation of the weaponry used in criminal activity, with lethal weapons becoming routine when “tooling up” for a job.

    3. That reminds me of the case of Tony Martin, the farmer who shot a burglar dead in his home in August 1999. He was found guilty of murder which was then reduced to manslaughter on appeal.

      1. I seem to remember that in that case Tony Martin had reported very many burglaries of his property to the police who did nothing.

        Public feeling was very much on Martin’s side.

        1. His problem was that he shot them in the back while fleeing. If he had shot them on the front he’d probably have been in the clear, especially is they were carrying crown bars or knives.

    4. Not the first time this has happened.
      Perhaps they were after his shot guns.

    5. well there’s at least one potential case for a loss of earnings claim, if he recovers.

  18. 386729+Up ticks,

    Where there’s a positive there is sure to be a negative, the covid lockdown proved to be disastrous in regards to health & safety.

    lockdown could prove beneficial regarding ALL universities instead of catering to unwinnable demands, that will, in its present form bring about serious injury and death.

    After all, they the students, are there to learn NOT to rhetorically burn the nation down.

  19. I’ve built a wood heap for insects, voles etc. Willow’s useless for logs.

    2. Took down a couple of ash a few years ago.
      Now, there’s firewood!

    3. It burns and is a useful hearth filler.
      Watch out for the sparks though.

  20. Voted early today in the London Mayoral election. On leaving was accosted by a person who said he’d never voted before and asked me how to do it. He then launched into a tirade about a ‘Tinpot Tyrant’. No idea, of course, who he was talking about.

    1. That’s a good sign if the apolitical are turning out to vote.
      On Referendum Day I voted at 9am and the clerks in the polling station told me that over 50% of potential voters had already voted. Then I had reports from elsewhere that people in northern towns etc were queuing to vote. It suggested that the unpolitical were turning out and they weren’t going to vote for the status quo. I was always confident we were going to vote Leave.

      1. People too often equate silence with agreement. It ain’t necessarily so.

        2. Funny you should say that Obs.
          On the flight back from Faro to UK yesterday it was clear that there were a lot of families of the same faith on board. Obviously all been to some sort of celebration in Portugal or Spain.
          By my word could they talk. I fathomed some were from the teaching profession. And it was so annoying to have one of their children kicking the back of my seat. Not enough for me to complain. I just kept quiet. I think it might have started something.
          Couldn’t get off quickly enough and our case was number 4 of many on the roundabout.

    2. I think he’s managed to make a lot of people in London Cross him off.
      I hope he’s gone by the end of the week.

          1. I’m confident that his margin of victory will well exceed the effects of any vote falsification.

  23. Right!
    That’s me off to Altrincham and possibly, as I’ve had no word from stepson since Monday, a possible detour on the return via Stoke.
    Will be heading up the village first to vote for the PCC and the brand new post of East Midlands Mayor!
    At least there is a reform candidate for both posts.

    1. And at least the Reform candidate wants to shut down the whole concept of a “combined mayor” in Notts/Derby – a massive waste that wasn’t supported by voters but which we are getting anyway!

  24. 386729+up ticks,

    Dt,
    Thursday 2 May: The Conservative Party no longer represents the views of its members

    With its political pedigree over these last three plus decades it has true Conservatives as members, that is a falsehood of great magnitude surely,surely.

    2. The DT belatedly points out the bleedin’ obvious again. Or put another way, slams door long after the horses have bolted.

  25. Good day all,

    Grey over McPhee Towers, wind in the North backing West, 10℃ going up to 14℃. No thunderstorm here last night.

    The headline pulled me in and then I saw the name Blair! Another name to add to the roll-call of globalist billionaires whose teets Blair has fastened on to.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/30c1230c41d2a9391ae4b27489db604f3408f210cfa9725bbb95e9dd7621c0d6.png

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/05/01/larry-ellison-oracle-backs-tony-blair-1bn-bet-on-britain/

    Larry Ellison, the founder of American software giant Oracle, announced last year that he was building a new research institute in Oxford to “help solve the world’s great problems”.

    The Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT) in Oxford, which is being headed by Sir John Bell, is working with former Labour prime minister Sir Tony Blair to create homegrown companies worth billions of pounds.

    “It’s absolutely a bet on Britain,” said Sir John, who is known for his role in steering the Covid vaccine rollout. “He could have placed this anywhere in the world and he’s chosen to place it here for a couple of reasons.

    “One is that we have some great universities and great scientists. And on the whole, the output of that science has not been very effectively exploited in the UK.

    “It’s a real opportunity to round some of that excellent science up and make it deliver at scale against the big global problems.”

    Here we go again: Invent a Problem; Orchestrate the Reaction, Provide the (ready-made) Solution.

    1. “Sir John, who is known for his role in steering the Covid vaccine rollout” ’nuff sed!!.

    2. Oxford and technology? Surely some mistake? At least the anagram sounds good, Eiot.

    3. Backing Britain? More like creaming off the best grads by camping on their doorstep. Nothing to do with backing Britain. Bill Gates bought his version on the West Cambridge site years ago. Britain won’t be benefitting, even if Oracle and MS will.

  26. Good day all,

    Grey over McPhee Towers, wind in the North backing West, 10℃ going up to 14℃. No thunderstorm here last night.

    The headline pulled me in and then I saw the name Blair! Another name to add to the roll-call of globalist billionaires whose teets Blair has fastened on to.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/30c1230c41d2a9391ae4b27489db604f3408f210cfa9725bbb95e9dd7621c0d6.png

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/05/01/larry-ellison-oracle-backs-tony-blair-1bn-bet-on-britain/

    Larry Ellison, the founder of American software giant Oracle, announced last year that he was building a new research institute in Oxford to “help solve the world’s great problems”.

    The Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT) in Oxford, which is being headed by Sir John Bell, is working with former Labour prime minister Sir Tony Blair to create homegrown companies worth billions of pounds.

    “It’s absolutely a bet on Britain,” said Sir John, who is known for his role in steering the Covid vaccine rollout. “He could have placed this anywhere in the world and he’s chosen to place it here for a couple of reasons.

    “One is that we have some great universities and great scientists. And on the whole, the output of that science has not been very effectively exploited in the UK.

    “It’s a real opportunity to round some of that excellent science up and make it deliver at scale against the big global problems.”

    Here we go again: Invent a Problem; Orchestrate the Reaction, Provide the (ready-made) Solution.

  27. The ONS claims that the Tories have 200,000 members, and Reform has 1,200,000 members.

    It would appear that a vote for Conservatives is a wasted vote.

    1. It is. It’s time they returned the favour Reform showed them last time around by standing down at key constituencies next time.

  28. Putin’s crushing new offensive could be the end of Ukraine. 2 May 2024.

    Ensuring that Russia is roundly defeated in Ukraine is vital not just in terms of deterring Putin from launching future acts of aggression in Europe: it is essential if the likes of China, Iran and North Korea are also to be made to understand that their antagonistic attitude towards the West will meet with the same resolute response as Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

    We can only hope that Coughlin’s headline is correct. Russia is the last opposition to the vast Globalist Tyranny that now rules the West!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/05/02/putins-crushing-new-offensive-could-end-ukraine/

    1. Good it parts but well worth listening to these words by Emma Webb. A few howlers – such as Shakespeare’s play Richard V !

      I posted this on St George’s Day but Emma Webb’s words call it back to mind.

      https://www.google.com/search?q=England+Ralph+Mc+Tell+slide+show&sca_esv=245dc9e7f862aecc&sca_upv=1&ei=FE0zZu-fGeOukdUPj–O0AE&ved=0ahUKEwjv-ZLXxO6FAxVjV6QEHY-3AxoQ4dUDCBA&oq=England+Ralph+Mc+Tell+slide+show&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiIEVuZ2xhbmQgUmFscGggTWMgVGVsbCBzbGlkZSBzaG93MgcQIRigARgKMgQQIRgKSN02UMgIWNsfcAF4AJABAJgBwQGgAewLqgEEMS4xMLgBDMgBAPgBAZgCDKACuwzCAgoQABiABBiwAxgNwgIJEAAYsAMYDRgewgILEAAYsAMYCBgNGB7CAg4QABiABBiwAxiGAxiKBcICCxAAGIAEGLADGKIEwgIGEAAYFhgewgIIEAAYCBgNGB7CAgsQABiABBiGAxiKBcICCBAAGIAEGKIEwgIGECEYFRgKmAMA4gMFEgExIECIBgGQBgeSBwQxLjExoAeqMQ&sclient=gws-wiz-serp#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:611e290b,vid:ZTwavrfsO44,st:0

  30. When I applied for a firearms cert a copper came round to interview me and check I had a secure cabinet for the guns. I asked him what the position was if I found a burglar in the house and shot him, he replied “Make sure when we find him he has a weapon in his hand and you’ll get away with it”

  31. Off to London today to see a man about money. Got a train to catch.

  32. The Tory Party no longer represents the views of its members? That could have been written any time since 1990.

    Changing subject, just spoken to a mate on holiday in Portugal who says it took him almost three hours to get through passport control on arrival. He reckons that they were deliberately making it unpleasant for folk on flights from Blighty. He also reckons it is now very expensive and overrun with Africans.

    I think I’ll to to Hungary this year.

        1. I liked the rhyme for Budapest in the song Rex Harrison sang in My Fair Lady:

          Every time we looked around
          There he was
          That hairy hound from Budapest
          Never leaving us alone
          Never have I ever known
          A ruder pest.

        2. I liked the rhyme for Budapest in the song Rex Harrison sang in My Fair Lady:

          Every time we looked around
          There he was
          That hairy hound from Budapest
          Never leaving us alone
          Never have I ever known
          A ruder pest.

      2. Our number one has to go there on business a few times a year and says the same.
        That might be our next trip out.

      3. I went there in 1983. Stayed a few days in Vienna, where they were celebrating the anniversary of Jan Sobieski’s victory against the Ottoman Turks (I wonder if that’s still allowed) then took a boat down the Danube to Budapest. Was with an old college friend who’d made some costumes for a film that was being shot in a field near Budaspest and we were allowed on set to watch the proceedings.

    2. It’s probable that I’ll never again venture outside the UK.

      1. You never know David, perhaps you’ll go to London or Birmingham some day.

        1. I have a routine November appointment at the Royal Brompton to look forward to. As it’s in Chelsea, it won’t yet feel like a foreign land.

          A new cardiologist was allocated to me some weeks ago. I guess he wants to familiarise himself with his patients. They’ll probably take some readings while I’m there.

          I might treat myself to a late breakfast at St. Luke’s after my morning appointment. It’s a rather charming church near the hospital and notable for being where Charles Dickens was married. It has a café which serves light meals and beverages in a very pleasant setting. Summer outdoors would be better but there are seats inside when the weather is less favourable.

          https://chelseaparish.org/community-outreach/cafe-portico/

          1. I know St Luke’s Chelsea, in Sydney Street? It’s a rather elegant regency building. I used to occasionally go to evensong there when I knew some of the choristers. Long since lost touch unfortunately.

  33. Morning all 🙂😊 back to normal after our week in Rocha Brava, rain and grey. Storms a-coming. Let’s me off cutting the lawn. And rest…. 😉
    Arrived home around 8pm. After we managed to find our way out of friggin Luton airport to where our son was waiting to pick us up.
    It’s not just the Conservative Party that no longer represents the people of this country. It’s the whole of Wastemonster and Whitehall.
    I have long ago, promised never to vote for a major party again. Between them all they have destroyed our country. Wrecked it !

  34. Coughlin’s reporting of the war in Ukraine has been appalling. He has lied, twisted the truth, reversed casualty figures, and done nothing but spout woke globalist propaganda.

    1. Thanks Ellie 🐘
      I’m being to……no hang on, actually a long time ago I wished we had stayed in Australia. And moved to WA South of Perth, it is wonderful.

  36. ‘Breaking in’ is quite different to knocking at the front door.
    Burglars are increasingly violent anyway and many are druggies. Your view leaves householders as effectively prey to criminals.

  37. And me then Bert Weadon.
    Hank Marvin. It all got too complicated after that.

  38. Good morning Eddy

    I am glad you have arrived back restored after a lovely holiday.

    We are being represented by low calibre pen pushers , who have no status or knowledge of the our cultural history .

    I don’t want to sound horrid , but the candidates who are seeking reelection today are feeble minions .

    Minions are a species of tiny yellow henchmen; they look like unusually dressed Mike and Ike candies. They’re earnestly driven by the desire to serve an evil boss, though they often screw up because they’re selfish, easily distracted, and generally inept. They vary in height, but it’s safe to say they’re between 2 and 3 feet tall (though closer to 2). They communicate using a gibberish language that’s understandable to them and a few people who have longstanding relationships with them. https://media1.giphy.com/media/HyanD1KpfzPiw/giphy-downsized-small.mp4

    2. Thanks TB 😊
      As I sat this morning with a coffee that nasty piece of work Vine was on TV for the few minutes i allowed him to be. And they were talking about people stealing goods from Food banks. It’s more than obvious who are the sort of people who would do that. Some how that moron Vine brought one of our cultural heroes into the conversation, suggesting his actions were the same sort of thing. Robin Hood.

    1. Eldorado was a failed soap opera set in Spain, populated by ex-pats and a sprinkle of Spanish locals.

  40. Comments from the DT letters

    John O’Connor
    13 MIN AGO
    In other news-Civil Service union tries to stop Rwanda flights with judicial review.
    What is the point of a government trying to run the country when it is obvious who actually does run it? Fourteen years of uselessness from the tories You could make a list(B B C -legal and illegal asylum seekers-devolution etc)but what would be the point?It is all too late now

    Reply by M Cleary.

    MC

    M Cleary
    7 MIN AGO
    The Civil Service seem to play with a deck of cards that has 53 jokers in the pack.

    Comment by Anthony Thomas.

    AT

    Anthony Thomas
    15 MIN AGO
    It would appear that the arch appeaser to the EU, Lord Cameron is giving away Gibraltars sovereignty for EU judges to decide.
    The Conservative Party certainly can produce traitors to this Country ad nauseam.

    Reply by Susie Preston.

    SP

    Susie Preston
    14 MIN AGO
    He’s a pocket-lining, Eton barrow boy/spiv.

    Comment by Sir Nige.

    SN

  41. Gibraltarians voted overwhelmingly to maintain loss of sovereignty with the most pro-EU vote of the referendum.

    1. ah, you’re talking about slight loss of sovereignty here & there.. Lord Cameron and Jack Straw before is negotiating a permanent complete and utter surrender of land, power and the all important choke point. Big difference.

      1. No. Not really kowloonbhoy.

        The Gibraltarians were given a clear choice whether to stay in the EU or not.

        95% of them voted to Remain in the EU.

        Let’s be democratic and give them what they voted for.

        1. Perhaps allow them another vote – indicating first and second preferences from three options. 1. Remain a British Overseas Territory, 2. Become a self-governing EU micro-state, 3. Become a Spanish territory.

          1. That’s an interesting suggestion.

            If we’re dissatisfied with the outcome of the next General Election could we have another vote with first and second preferences?

          2. I realised that three or more options might result in none commanding an overall majority. I expect a second preference would circumvent the risk of only a minority being satisfied.

          3. I noticed I only had one vote for London Mayor today. If memory serves, there used to be a second choice on the ballot paper? Apart from the staff, I had my local polling station to myself this morning.

          4. You’re correct about the second preference. It was available in 2021 and previously. I wonder what prompted the change to a simple first-past-the-post majority?

            Electoral system

            Nominations closed on 27 March.

            Following the Elections Act 2022, the 2024 election will use the first-past-the-post voting system. Prior elections had employed the supplementary vote system. The Greater London Authority considered changing to counting votes by hand instead of electronically to save money.

            All registered electors (including British, Commonwealth, Irish, and certain European Union citizens) living in London aged 18 or over will be entitled to vote in the mayoral election.

            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_London_mayoral_election#Electoral_system

          5. In the 2021 mayoral election, more second preference votes were cast for Khan than Bailey. Perhaps the government feared that Hall might win the first preference vote but come second after supplementary votes had been allocated.

          6. You must have omitted “Mohamed” from your name in your declaration to the electoral registration officer.

        2. The sad thing is, Janet, that our government does not appear to give two hoots about democracy. If it did we would be free and clear of the EU as we instructed the politicians to do.

    2. The way I see things now is Gibraltar , gateway to the Med.. could become as contentious an issue as the route from the Red sea into the Suez Canal.

      The Spanish / North African pirates might get ideas from the Houthis .

    3. Pro-EU but anti Spanish.
      Nevertheless Gibraltar is a strategic resource, and if necessary the USA and the Brits would have its civilian population evacuated in less than a month. In WWII the children were evacuated to British colonies such as the Caribbean, IIRC.

  42. Sad news, the original “Guitar Hero” Duane Eddy died two days ago. He was unquestionably one of the most influential guitar players ever- and he was known among serious players for his tone and feel. One of my friends did one of those old “package tours” in 1963 and it was headlined by Duane and Little Richard and he found himself sitting next to Little Richard on the coach quite a bit and being unable to answer his questions on fox hunting and the clothes worn by the huntsmen! One day while rehearsing at the Fairfield Halls, Duane Eddy complimented my friend on his guitar tone which, in simple terms meant he must have cracked the art of guitar noise as Duane Eddy was the ultimate ” tone monster” and was revered as such. When asked about his sound, he would say: “You had better ask Ry Cooder, because he knows more about my sound than I do!” Here a mid-60s cut for release in Japan which highlights his tone to good effect. RIP Duane Eddy, the guitarist’s guitarist.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UJHwJtMyjM

  43. I very much fear that you are right.

    I think London should no longer be our capital city and that all businesses decamp elsewhere!

    London can then lose its wealth as well as everything else that Khan has destroyed. A poor, lawless wilderness is, after all, just the sort of place from which the mayor’s ethic constituency came.

    1. A sound idea.
      Has anyone else wondered why you have to provide a photo id to vote in person, when postal voting seems so lax? Pushing people towards postal voting perhaps?

    1. Good morning Sue and all else. California is named after another imaginary ‘paradise’ so it is often confused with Eldorado. The Spanish novel is: “Las sergas de Esplandián.” and here is a paragraph that uses the name and suggests that it is a fabulous place with lots of gold

      The English translation, as it appeared in the Atlantic Monthly in March 1864:

      “Know, then, that, on the right hand of the Indies, there is an island called California, very close to the side of the Terrestrial Paradise, and it was peopled by black women, without any man among them, for they lived in the fashion of Amazons. They were of strong and hardy bodies, of ardent courage and great force. Their island was the strongest in all the world, with its steep cliffs and rocky shores. Their arms were all of gold, and so was the harness of the wild beasts which they tamed and rode. For, in the whole island, there was no metal but gold.”

  45. Russia uses First World War ‘chemical weapon’ against Ukrainian forces . 2 May 2024.

    Russia has used a chemical weapon designed to choke Ukrainians as it pounds front-line towns and villages.

    The US accused Russia of dropping chloropicrin – a toxic, lung-damaging agent used in CS gas and deployed in the First World War – in violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention.

    Chloropricin is more commonly known as Tear gas! They are dredging the propaganda swamp here.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/05/02/ukraine-russia-war-live-chemical-weapons/

  46. The Tories have had 14 years to halt the nonsense that Labour started when they were in power .

    The coalition Clegg and Cameron ruined everything here in the UK , and the German Merkel traitor should be strung up for murdering Europe .

    The Maybot sealed our fate by accepting thousands of illegals into Britain .. idiot woman

    1. I saw a lady at Faro Airport yesterday who looked very much like Teresa May. And a Similar age. But she turned out to be a nice friendly person with a sense of humour.

  47. Good morning All

    Wiltshire is not so attractive today. Overcast and wet.

  48. Yesterday evening the Telegraph posted a Matt Ridley article online about Covid-19 vaccines. It’s a balanced view about their drawbacks and of the policies imposed to maximise their take up.

    The true tragedy of the Covid-19 vaccines

    The jabs undoubtedly saved lives, but overblown claims sadly damaged the reputation of vaccination

    MATT RIDLEY
    1 May 2024 • 7:16pm

    Vaccination is one of mankind’s most miraculous innovations. The eradication of smallpox, and the retreat of measles and other cruel afflictions, mean that vaccines rival sanitation for first prize in the saving of lives. New jabs against malaria and melanoma promise great benefits. All the more reason to worry that Covid vaccines may have tarnished the technology’s reputation.

    Vaccines never have been without some side-effects and risks. They are harm-reduction interventions, not harm-elimination ones. Mistakes have been made in the past. Some polio jabs in the 1960s were contaminated with the monkey virus SV40. Vaccination campaigns in Africa that re-used needles may have helped spread HIV.

    The Covid jabs developed in 2020 undoubtedly reduced the severity of the virus for vulnerable people and contributed to the defeat of the pandemic – though the evolutionary replacement of harmful variants by the milder omicron types may have been a bigger factor. But the vaccines were not as effective or as safe as we were led to believe at first.

    Indeed, some public health officials exaggerated the benefits and underplayed some of the risks. Thrombosis caused by the AstraZeneca vaccine and myocarditis caused by the messenger-RNA vaccines of BioNTech and Pfizer have emerged as rare but serious side effects.

    The pandemic’s legacy now seems to include greater public mistrust of vaccines in general. Measles is on the rise. More people are refusing the MMR jab. A recent Unicef survey found that vaccine confidence had fallen in 52 out of 55 countries.

    Who is responsible? Public health officials tend to blame antivaxx campaigners with lurid conspiracy theories about Bill Gates, and they are partly right. But perhaps they should also look in the mirror. Misinformation came from both sides, and by overpromising what the vaccines could do, and demanding vaccine mandates, many scientists and government officials contributed to scepticism.

    For example, the US government tried to reassure people about messenger-RNA vaccines by implicitly criticising live vaccines like those used for measles: “The mRNA vaccines do not contain any live virus. Instead, they work by teaching our cells to make a harmless piece of a ‘spike protein’.” So, live vaccines are not “harmless”?

    America’s leading infectious-disease expert, Anthony Fauci, said in May 2021 that vaccination “makes it extremely unlikely – not impossible, but very, very low likelihood – that they’re going to transmit it … In other words, you become a dead end to the virus.” That turned out to be wrong, as he later admitted, with the jab doing little to prevent reinfection and transmission.

    Preventing transmission was the excuse used for vaccinating children, yet when that excuse evaporated, the policy continued. For young age groups, wrote a clutch of doctors in the BMJ in December 2021, “the harms of taking a vaccine are almost certain to outweigh the benefits”.

    Authoritarianism made the problem worse. France criminalised criticism of vaccine mandates; Canada froze the bank accounts of truckers for protesting against them. Part of the reason governments were so reckless in forcing vaccines was probably that they wanted an exit from lockdowns, which were imposed for longer and more often than promised.

    Some of us urged ministers not to claim too much for vaccines or pretend there would be no side effects as that would backfire. But the Government pressed ahead with mandates to prevent care-home workers going to work unless vaccinated. A study by doctors concluded: “Our data suggest that debate around mandates can arouse strong concerns and could entrench scepticism. Policymakers should proceed with caution.”

    This was compounded by a baffling refusal to acknowledge that natural immunity from Covid itself had a role in protecting people. In 2020 a paper in The Lancet stated that “there is no evidence for lasting protective immunity to SARS-CoV-2 following natural infection”. Yet we now know that it lasts longer and is more effective than the protection provided by a jab.

    The backlash against vaccines will go too far. Italy’s former health minister Roberto Speranza, who imposed vaccine mandates, can no longer walk in a street without angry Italians calling him a murderer. But public health officials worldwide must concede that overblown claims and underestimated risks of the vaccines developed during Covid have hurt the reputation of a valuable medical technology.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/05/01/the-true-tragedy-of-the-covid-19-vaccines/

    Just to be clear, Pfizer did not claim that transmission reduction was a benefit of its vaccine. They made plain at the time of emergency authorisation that they had yet to test this aspect of the vaccine.

  49. The annual poison pill is upon me, as it is upon pretty well everyone here – insurance renewal time.

    They put up my house insurance premium from £200 to over £300 with the helpful reminder “you have been with us for some time; you may find a better deal by shopping around”.

    The bad reviews for rival companies fall into various camps, or all of them:

    1. They quote low and then bump up the premium next year, making it hard to cancel the auto-renew, and forcing one to go through the same rigmarole each year.
    2. They subcontract claims to an outfit well skilled in dishonouring claims.
    3, They don’t answer the phone or respond to emails.
    4. They indulge in open fraud, for example charging your account for no good reason.
    5. There are so many hoops to jump through, and any slight variance or lack of documentation disqualifies your policy.

    It seems that insurance, as with most professional services is in this country these days is run as a placebo – to make one feel happy having done something, without any confidence that it actually does the job.

    Finally, regulators are useless.

    Am I being a tad cynical in my old age?

    1. No, just realistic. I had to take out home insurance to get a mortgage but once the mortgage was paid, I cancelled the insurance because the small print in the policy demanded things over which I have no control and with which I cannot comply. I have control and responsibility for everyting inside my flat but not the exterior or the rest of the building. There is insurance for the building, my share of which is paid via my service charge and that will have to suffice.

    2. Apparently the secret is to look for alternative quotes as soon as the reminder comes as all companies put up the premiums the closer you get to renewal date.

      1. Quite often, when you tell them about lower quotes from rival thieves, they will suddenly be able to offer you a special deal.

    3. Not cynical, it’s been happening for years.
      No. 3: Calls are generally answered fairly quickly when a potential new customer is wanting a quote.
      For those looking to make a query or change on an existing policy, or renew a policy, ” We are experiencing a higher than normal number of calls. Your call is important to us (Not as important as it is to the customer whose dosh you have), and is held in a queue. Bla bla bla followed by repetitious tinny music on a loop.”

  50. It’s been a year now since I said that Ukraine had lost the war. I still stand by that. If it were not for NATO/EU/USA and the drip feeding of weapons to Zelenskyy. Ukraine would be busy rebuilding instead of sending its youth to slaughter for a pointless appeasement of warmongers in the West.

  51. Morning all. Been awake since approx. 3 this morning, spectacular thunderstorm with lots of lightening. Fun! Today rather gloomy.

    With regards to todays letter in the Tele. As a Conservative I can only hope for the utter annihilation of the frauds in Westminster making room for a true Conservative party, to grow again, in the future.

    1. I think the thunderstorms will remain to the south and west of me. It did rain a bit overnight, though.

        1. Not a cloud in the sky up here – the sun shines on the righteous

    2. The storm woke me up at 2.am. Good thing really as Dolly needed comforting. I put her ear muffs on and took her to bed with me. Harry was oblivious.

      Good morning.

      2. I hear nothing at night – once my hearing aids are on the charger the world outside goes away. Bliss. 🙂

          1. Probably not – but not really bothered about that since it is so very unlikely

        2. I’m glad you get some benefit from partial deafness. Does an alarm still wake you, though? I wouldn’t want to sleep through it.

          1. I wake early – the daylight wakes me – and in the winter months the tractor lights in the yard tend to disturb one’s sleep 🙂

    3. It is not in the Labour Party’s interest for the Conservative Party to be completely wiped out – if it is completely wiped out a new party capable of offering serious opposition will arrive. Ideally the Labour Party should hope that the Conservative Party will win about 200 seats as this will make people think that there is still some life in the corpse and they will continue to vote for it delaying the emergence of a decent alternative.

      In order to build a strong new building one has to remove the existing structures completely and put in sound foundations.

      The existing Conservative Party is so decayed that it has to be wiped out completely before a new Conservative Party can come into being – patching it up and filling in the cracks will not do any good – we need something durable.

      This is why I think it is so important that the Conservative Party is completely wiped out. Reform may not yet be the answer but we have to begin somewhere.

      1. Agree with you Rastus. I used the word ‘annihilation’ for that reason. We are of one mind on the necessary demise of the current Conservative Party.

      2. It will be interesting to see how many seats Reform get in today’s local elections.
        We only have police commissioner role up for grabs, but there is a reform and an Independent standing.

  52. Rudyard Kipling wrote that it is dangerous to anger the English to the point of hatred. GB News is guilty of provoking Hate Crime.

    I find it difficult not to dislike Amy Nickel Turner, Benjamin Butterworth, Rebecca Reid and Michael Crick but that spectacularly foul woman on Jacob Rees- Mogg’s programme, Tessa Dunlop, inspires far more than mere dislike!

  53. OT – there has been an interesting series of letters in The Grimes about the ghastliness of “All things bright and beautiful” – based on the premise that as children are no longer brought up to hear (and learn) English hymns, they have no idea what to choose for their wedding/funeral etc. They vaguely know of ATB&B – also “Abide with me” – equally vacuous. To these I would add another horror: “The old rugged cross” – very popular in yer Narfurk.

    Feel free to add your own pet hates – contributions from organists/musicians/choristers extra welcome.

    1. Local elections day is such a good one for sneering at lowbrows.

      1. Sneering? Simply pointing out that there are other, nicer hymns. No local election here.

        1. And there is the actual reality for many of NO hymns.

          This is the newspaper where Matthew Parris wrote the “Clacton is horrendous” article + ‘Times Radio’ has a daily sneer at Reform supporters + Brexit ….

      2. Although we live ten minutes walk from the polling station I certainly will not be bothering. They never seem to manage to return the compliment.

        1. I really don’t feel like bothering. The only one who has made any effort to contact us with leaflets etc, is the incumbent Green councillor. I don’t know who is standing against her as they haven’t bothered to let us know. It’s a five mile round trip in the car so we may not bother.

          2. I’ve never not bothered before, as I do think it’s important to use our vote – but I’m a bit under the weather this week. Our parish council has been returned unopposed, so it’s just the District Councillor and the Police Commissioner to vote for (or not).

          3. Chatting with Bruce this afternoon he reminded me that it’s still a legal requirement to vote in Oz.
            I just can’t bring myself to vote for anyone.

          4. I certainly didn’t feel any enthusiasm to turn out on a wet day to vote for any of them.

    2. We had the hymns we especially love at our wedding: Love Divine All loves Excelling, My Song is Love Unknown and Dear Lord and Father of Mankind Forgive Our Foolish Ways.

      1. Love Divine as long as it’s sung to the Stainer melody and not the Welsh one which is more popular now. One of my brothers and his wife chose it for their wedding but didn’t realise they had to specify the tune. The organist played the Welsh tune and was met with silence. We all thought he was playing the wrong hymn.

        1. For my brother’s first wedding, I was told in no uncertain terms to sing out, so that the rest of the congregation would join in. No worries, said I, having checked they were hymns I knew.

          I still remember the feeling of panic as the organ started up and I realised that Catholics used different tunes… 🤣🤣

          (This wouldn’t have been a problem had the hymnbook contained notation. The lack of such is a bugbear of mine.)

          1. I can’t read music so have to pick up the tune by ear. After three verses I tend to have enough of an idea to make a decent go of it.

      2. Love Divine was also one of our wedding hymns. my dear old dad wanted us to include, ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’ and (in jest, as a nod to his wartime service in the Royal navy) ‘For those in peril on the sea.’
        We declined his choices but included ‘For those in Peril on the Sea’ at his funeral just 3 years later.

        1. I wanted “Eternal Father” at my first marriage, but the ex-RN vicar talked me out of it!

        2. I would have to check the order of service to see which hymns I chose for my first wedding 55 years ago…

          2. I think we probably had “Love divine”…..although it wasn’t very – or it didn’t last, anyway!

          3. That could have been the other one! I doubt MH remembers anything though. These days, I doubt he’d even notice if I wasn’t here. (Apart from no washing, cleaning or food shopping getting done …..)

    3. Don’t knock poor old Mrs Alexander who wrote the words of many hymns in the Ancient & Modern collection.

      This song by Ralph McTell looks at some bright and beautiful things which are roughly replaced. The final short guitar instrumental is a marvellous piece of irony.

      Well worth a listen:

      https://www.google.com/search?q=Bright+and+Beautiful+Thins+Ralph+Mc+Tell&oq=Bright+and+Beautiful+Thins+Ralph+Mc+Tell&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIJCAEQIRgKGKABMgkIAhAhGAoYoAEyCQgDECEYChigATIGCAQQIRgK0gEJMTQ4MDdqMGo3qAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:f86f9ca1,vid:TACftoYp0vc,st:0

      1. If children no longer appreciate her hymns, it’s their education that is at fault, not Mrs Alexander. There wouldn’t be any Nine Lessons and Carols at Christmans without Once in Royal David’s City and at Easter we still sing There is a Green Hill Far Away.

    4. I love Guide me, O Thou Great Redeemer and Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty! / Early in the morning our song shall rise to thee / Holy, holy, holy! Merciful and mighty / God in three persons, blessed Trinity!” but hate Amazing Grace

      2. Amazing Grace grates on me too, Belle.
        My favourite hymns are I Vow to Thee my Country and O Valiant Heart

    5. I really like ‘Old Rugged Cross’. Easy to sing and rousing. I put ‘The Battle Hymn of the Republic’ on our list along with Amazing Grace as often as I dare.

      1. The Old Rugged Cross is a funeral favourite….but I don’t think I’ll choose it for mine.

    6. “All things bright and beautiful”was my favourite at Primary school. My sister ruined it for me by choosing it for mothers funeral. But then she takes great pleasure in subtle abuse.

    7. Psalm 23 “The Lord’s my shepherd” tires from overexposure. Some time ago I mentioned on this ‘ere blog that I was going to a cousin’s (‘B’) funeral just outside Burford two weeks ago. R.C. event in a CofE church (no Requiem Mass, thank heavens) passed the chequered flag in 24 minutes flat. We had to sing Psalm 23 because B was a shepherd all his life and devoted to his flock of Suffolks which he showed all over the country. Physical abuse of any sentient creature was regarded as a mortal sin by him. However, I once watched him beat the living sh!t out of a baler that he had been working on all morning and still refused to knot the binder twine correctly. Verbal abuse was a wholly different matter and made liberally available to all beings.

      His parents, sister, and cousins never understood how he survived the full five years at Downside without being expelled. He was forever, quite deliberately, causing and getting into trouble. As much as anyone I have ever met, B qualified for Uncle Bill’s accolade, ‘A Known Troublemaker’.

      When the time came for B to deliver his son ‘C’ aged 13 to the tender mercies of boarding school, B’s departing words to the housemaster were “If he’s disobedient, beat him.”

      Several years later C was at RMA Sandhurst in pursuit of a career with The Black Watch. As many NoTTLers will know, the most important person is not the Commandant, usually a Major General with a very snazzy uniform and lots of medals, but the Academy Sergeant Major who holds the rank of warrant officer class 1. Almost always held by a guardsman, it is one of the most senior warrant officer appointments in the British Army. The AcSM’s impressions, views and recommendations follow an officer cadet throughout his career in the Army.

      C had been at home on weekend leave and was being dropped off by B when he spotted the AcSM striding towards them. C introduced his father, adding that the AcSM and his wife had recently announced that they were expecting their third child. B’s response was “Congratulations. Good to know that the British Army still has men who can shoot straight.”
      The AcSM never let C forget this.

      RIP Cousin B

      1. It’s a regular and very common mixture in California but always baguette style bread, preferably sourdough. Highly recommend, delicious mixture!

        1. On a grammatical point, is Marks & Spencer an ‘it’ or a ‘they’?

          3. You say ‘it’, Ndovu says ‘they’, but which is better? There’s only one way to find out. FIGHT!!!!

          4. OT, Stig. I’ve posted a reply to you on yesterday’s snooker thread.

          5. I’m not a fan of the modern way of naming things, especially shops. It will always be Marks & Sparks to me, never “M&S” (ugh!).

            Just as Kentucky Fried Chicken will never become “KFC”.

            I wonder, if Woolworth’s (Woolie’s) had still been around, would millennials insist on calling it “W’s”?

          7. In fact, the state of Kentucky copyrighted the name “Kentucky” about 30 years ago and tried to get KFC to pay royalties, so it was officially changed to just “KFC” and people didn’t seem to notice. What great brand recognition.

          9. Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer, two Jewish lads from Leeds, would probably plump for a ‘they’.

          10. I’m always unsure when faced with a single entity, in this case a business, which has the names of two or more people.

          12. Even Marks and Spencer has/have it both ways.

            Marks and Spencer is relaunching Sparks as a Digital First loyalty scheme, with a promise that Good Things Happen Every Time You Shop

            https://corporate.marksandspencer.com/media/press-releases/marks-spencer-relaunch-sparks

            Marks and Spencer are committed to using responsibly sourced raw materials including those
            of animal origin.

            https://corporate.marksandspencer.com/sites/marksandspencer/files/marks-spencer/c-and-h-animal-fibre/MS%20Animal%20Welfare%20Policy%203.0%20Jan%202023%20CH.pdf

          13. I’ve seen Morrison’s called “Morrison”. “Morrisons” and “Morrison’s”.

            I wonder what Ken would have thought about that?

          14. I had a friend who had three goldfish in a garden pond called Knight, Frank, and Rutley. ‘They’ or ‘fish’.

          15. My son had a pair that he called Black and Decker. As he is a person with very little language I found that rather remarkable. “Black” was as the word suggests and “Decker” was orange splodged with gold and black

          17. Spencer was born in Skipton, Yorkshire WR. He moved to Leeds when he was about twenty years old.. Marks was born in what is now Belarus. He moved to Leeds about ten years after Spencer. He established a stall in Leeds open market. At his stall, he used the slogan “Don’t Ask the Price – it’s a Penny”. To expand his business he partnered with Spencer, who managed the office and warehouse, and Marks continued to run the market stalls. Spencer wasn’t a Jew though.
            The rest is history.

        2. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5fbf91cba51fc193c9641cb035270ba8ab5b262c3af80409be38803810eec7b6.jpg I don’t buy sandwiches, I prefer to make my own, like what I’ve just had right now.

          Freshly-shelled prawns, hard-boiled egg and lettuce on a buttered home-baked bread cob with a little remoulade sauce. Served with a few slivers of home-made pork pie and a few tomatoes. It was really delicious.

          I will not eat again until Saturday under my self-imposed dietary régime.

      3. Looks a massive, packed sandwich that. Then you buy one and find it’s a quarter filled.

    1. I bought one for my Dad, who was a physicist, and he was delighted with it! You might even say, he was radiant!

  56. After cutting the grass last night I put the mower back in the shed. The cat didn’t come in last night but when I opened the shed a couple of minutes ago I got treated to a blast of feline abuse – she’d been in there all night

    2. The best solution to that is to get a robot mower. It says out all night, in all weathers and only comes in to hibernate for the winter. Best buy I’ve made in years.

      1. Just the start. Soon there will be robot cats, but they will still be in charge.

        2. The Japanese already have them, but then they (the Japs) are half robot already.

      2. How large an area does a remote cut, and in straight lines , and what about the grass cuttings, and how long does the battery charge last ..

        Our Gtech vacuum lasts for forty minutes , so I can only vacuum downstairs and perhaps the stairs then it runs out of uumph , recharge takes an hour or so before I can do upstairs . It is brilliant though , dust dog hair etc .. and so light to use .

        1. Ours is a Vax and only lasts about 20 minutes. Nothing like as good as the old plug in one that died.

        3. I have an a Husqvana 430x, which does my 3,050 sq. mr lawn very well. His working day is from 9-5 and I give him Sunday off. It takes about three days to cover that area, but once at the set length, it will keep the grass at that length all season. There are no visible grass clippings. The robot simply snips the top of the grass blade off as it grows, leaving tiny cuttings behind that feed the lawn. He (Tommy) usually runs for at least two and a half hours between feeds, which normally take 45-50 mins each, so he is actually working for over five hours a day. You can increase or decrease this, set a schedule and set cutting height on your phone. Brilliant! (You need to change the blades every two months – dead easy if you can use a screw driver.)

          The one thing I wasn’t happy about was that I had to buy Mrs Armstrong a robot hoover, a dyson, which she is very fond of. As it has to pull a vacuum it needs feeding every 40 or 50 mins though.

          1. Thank you so much for that info .

            Moh listened to me reciting your comment, with a lot of interest , how safe with pets, and how large ? and does Tommy navigate awkward corners / flower beds etc ?

          2. I don’t think it can harm pets, unless you have a small snake. Ours is about 70cm (28inch) long, just over 50 cm (20 inch) wide and 30cm (12 inch) high. Yes, it can get round awkward corners and around beds.

            (PS: No straight lines, no stripes.)

        1. You could have saved yourself much effort by employing a few Tiller Girls to do it for you.

      4. Look on YouTube at ‘moose attacks lawnmower getting too close’. I would post a link but each time I try, something goes wrong.
        It is hilarious (but perhaps not if you own the garden).

      5. I’m selling mine as it’s becoming too heavy for me to operate – I’ll just use my Flymo now

    5. A kitten I once had spent the night in my neighbour’s garage after being too inquisitive.

    6. Heard a story of an AA Patrolman who went on holiday for a week and locked next door’s cat in his garage.
      Poor bugger survived but the garage stank!

      1. I saw an AA guy sat at the side of the road crying uncontrollably – I thought “He’s heading for a breakdown”

      2. I saw an AA guy sat at the side of the road crying uncontrollably – I thought “He’s heading for a breakdown”

    1. Even after 40 years they still work, although of course they cannot spin as fast as modern politicians.

    3. The white sides will absorb light/ the black sides will radiate heat creating warm air and thrust …

      [My degree in Physics is sixty-one years old]

    1. Key words and phrases:
      “record breaking day so far this year.”

      1. Yep. More of the scum will be brought here by the taxi service.

        Get out there and shoot the scum!

    2. Funny thing – law abiding white native-born English people have to kowtow to Border Farce (often of colour) and explain politely why we wish to enter the country of our birth (and often say where we have been – as if it is any sodding business of theirs) – but these undocumented jungle-bunnies just walk ashore and are made welcome.

      1. And Ironically they are the same people who check us out at airports now.

          1. I remember in 1994 arriving in Amman airport in Jordan and all the women were taken one at a time into a cubicle to be frisked by a big strapping uniformed dyke. She seemed to model her appearance on Emma Peel and was rather brusque but clearly enjoying her work.

    4. There’s a minigun style weapon we use to shoot down missiles. It’s called the Phalanx.

      I suggest we get out to sea and use it on these wasters. 4000 rounds might be considered overkill but just send me the bill – oh, they already do in tax.

    5. As part of celebrating whiteness, global warming has now become so high that the approaches to UK shores are now shark infested by Great Whites:

      https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/27662433/great-white-shark-spotted-off-coast-of-uk-beach/

      The illegal immigrant inflatables have now been recognised by sharks as being full of UK asylum seekers

      “Hello chums! Welcome to the UK!”

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b4b67f1e1de5db37620d087b28416a512022e9df2d8ad1e0168cf235e230eacd.gif

    6. The Con party is on a hiding to nothing re illegal immigration. The French should easily e able to find out who is buying all the life belts worn by the boat people and to arrest them, likewise the rubber boats. And I believe we have British police working over in France. What the hell are they doing other than being part of the whole thing themselves.

    1. Ah, but of course – it’s the muslims who are complaining because they hate Israel. They want to get away scot free with all the abuse they can. Thus, law was passed to stop their malignant attitudes and of course, they don’t like it much.

  63. Been and voted,
    The mayor and assembly election is very low key.
    Nobody from any party hanging about to check who has voted.

    1. I saw. a picture earlier of the coach with only black people lined up along the pavement. So what does the DT publish – a picture of a white woman being arrested. How lopsided can they be.

  65. The only election is my area is for the Police Commissioner. I’ll give it a miss.

    2. Here in the East Midlands my local choice for PCC; Five candidates, all connected to mainstream political parties.

      Each and every one pledges the same actions to address the same local issues, blah blah blah increase police numbers blah blah focus on neighbourhoods blah blah target hotspots blah blah prioritise burglaries blah blah tackle anti-social behaviour blah blah etc etc…………..

      Not one novel idea or any hint of imagination, in fact a large helping of uninspiring ‘stodge’!

      Same story for the local elections.

      The personal benefit was only having to walk ~500 yards to scrawl NOTA on my ballot papers, I saw it as being my duty?

    3. We had a reform candidate for that so he got my vote. As did the Reform candidate for the new Mayor of this region.

      1. PS I’ve just noticed – there’s that ‘soros’ purple tie again….

  69. Russia seizes another village in ongoing offensive. 2 May 2024.

    Russia has claimed victory over a village in eastern Ukraine after bitter fighting amid Moscow’s renewed offensive.

    The village of Berdychi in the Donetsk region of Ukraine reported earlier that it had repelled 39 Russian attacks in one day.

    But today Russia’s defence ministry said they had successfully broken through the Ukrainian defences.

    That Ukie front is definitely squidgy!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/05/02/ukraine-russia-war-live-chemical-weapons/

    1. Come on – this is a feint by the Clown – who is about to declare total victory as Russia make an unconditional surrender. Do keep up, Minty!

  70. This seems to be such a heavy week of, mostly, bad news. And today in Birmingham we have council and West Midlands Mayoral elections …. and I think no Reform candidates. Hopefully, photo ID requirements will discourage lefty voters.

    1. It doesn’t stop postal voters. Lefty greeniac chum suggested it was important that anonymity be retained for some groups – yes, the locals. We’ve didn’t need ID before the diversity started cheating the system.

    2. We only had the PCC and Mayoral candidate for the new Mayorality of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, but at least had a Reform candidate for both.

    3. Three council seats to vote for in my ward and a Police & Crime Commissioner.. Not a Reform candidate amongst them. I spoilt my ballot papers.

  71. 99.99999 % of the time I a a ranting old fart angry at everything, regardless.

    However: sometimes (just sometimes) I’m proven right: https://order-order.com/2024/05/02/british-economy-to-stall-thanks-to-high-taxes/

    Shut the government down. Reduce it’s budget by 60% and forever prevent it spending any money – over a certain amount (cumulative as the swine will cheat) – without public agreement. Prevent any devaluation of currency. Abolish the use of QE and forbid it. If the nation’s finances are indebted, that debt is made liable against every single MP – current and past.

      1. Snivel serpents too. The railings around the Palace of Westminster could accommodate the trophies.

  72. Why are the BBC weather maps on fire? Is it none too subtle climate propaganda? 2 May 2024.

    It was back to northerly winds this morning where I live in the Fens, so much so that I had to go back upstairs and put on a thermal vest before venturing outside. But that’s not the impression you would have got from the weather map on last night’s BBC weather forecast.

    Where I live was coloured a rather fetching shade of orange. Britain’s attempt at spring so far this year has been like a barrel of water sitting atop a camping stove – it has taken an age even to become lukewarm. But already the weather maps seem to depict scorching heat waves.

    It turns out that BBC weather maps switch to yellow at a less than toasty 11 celsius and on to orange when the temperature is expected to reach 13 celsius. From 20 celsius upwards it is ever deeper shades of red. In the other direction, the weather only descends into blue when it is below freezing.

    I don’t know what colour they would be if we had a real heatwave à la 1976. Now that was hot! I was working outside and was almost roasted. Probably a guy with a flame thrower would come into the studio and incinerate the staff !

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/05/02/why-are-the-bbc-weather-maps-on-fire/

    1. Trying to frighten us its global warming and it is not. They refer to places as hot when they are warm.It borders on criminal what thry are doing

    2. “A guy with a flame thrower would come into the studio and incinerate the staff ”

      If only!

  73. The Conservative Parliamentary party has not represented the views of it’s member since Thatcher was ousted! Maybe apart from a brief period with Boris.
    What is the Parliamentary party actually for? If they don’t represent their own members and they don’t represent the country, then who do they represent?

      1. And perhaps those who can provide them with a well remunerated job, post politics?

  74. I do realise that I am a massive cynic and as a former risk analyst/manager I look at things from all sorts of directions but have recently turned my mind to Charities. Prompted by the African “Water Aid” appeal – yet again – I thought the place must be like a cullender if they have spent all the money of the years on wells.

    But I doubt they have – or even will. It would not be in their interests to do so. It is a bit like Cancer Research finding a universal cure for cancer. Would they want to do that? If they did they would loose the reason for their existence – and lots of highly paid jobs would disappear.

    So if by solving a problem you do yourself out of your reason to exist what do you do?

      1. They’ve got too much water at the moment! Heavy rains and floods in Kenya.

        1. ut lack of technology means they haven’t the reservoirs to store it or distribute it.

          1. They probably need some 18 year old middle class English boys and girls to come and dig the reservoirs while on a gap year. Or have gap years become passe?

      2. Longer term their birthrate will drop and education improve. The problem is hey have too many kids and are given money.

        Africa is just on benefits, with all the problems of breeding without restraint, no impetus to improve, permanent dependence that brings.

        1. Only the poor and those on state benefits can afford to have several children. Most of those who want to be self-sufficient and independent cannot afford to breed at the same level.

          Ergo the gene pool in the UK is tumbling in quality.

          A couple of days ago I related how my grandfather, a doctor in Devon, decided that Britain need better quality of people in it and so he had eleven children. One, a young officer, was killed in France in WW1 at the age of 19 – the remaining ten had successful and productive lives and none of them ever claimed benefits!

          All my uncles and aunts are now dead and so, I am afraid, is their Christian philosophy.

    2. As I often opine on NoTTLe the International Charities are the problem and not the solution. They’re a bit like food banks in the U.K. It’s a myth that food is too expensive for people to afford. A couple of examples for you for a family of 4. Based on Sainsbury’s, no doubt other supermarkets will be similar.
      Extra large chicken – £6.05 enough for 8 meals + 2kg British white potatoes – £1.90 + 1 kg carrots- 65p + 1 white cabbage – 80p. Total – £9.40 for 8 meals = £1.80 per meal. Who can’t afford that. When the meat is off the bone put them in a saucepan, cover with water and simmer for 2 hours and you will have the most flavoursome stock for either gravy or soup.
      Reintroduce cookery lessons in schools as a compulsory subject and cut the benefits. In fact a small proportion of the benefit money could pay for the ingredients.
      God helps those who help themselves and god help those who don’t. It is not my responsibility.

      1. I could easily get 20 meals out of an extra large chicken.

        Problem is they don’t know how to cook. They watch commercial television and are brainwashed into buying Pizza and burgers via Deliveroo. That sort of processed muck is made to be addictive.

        Plus they are couch potato lazy.

        1. That should be their problem, not mine or ours and definitely not the government either National nor Local.

  76. Re the Irish attempting to blame the English for their migrant problem.

    Perhaps we should remember the late Peter Sutherland.

    He was the United Nation’s Special Representative for International Migration from 2006 – 2017.
    His career encompassed spells as a European Commisioner, working for Goldman Sachs bank and as founding director of the World Trade
    Organisation. He also served on the Trilateral Commission and on the steering committee of the Bilderberg Group.

    In 2012 Peter Sutherland gave a speech to a House of Lords sub-committee, during which he said that the EU should “do its best to undermine” the “homogeneity” of its member states,.

    He told the House of Lords committee migration was a “crucial dynamic for economic growth” in some EU nations “however difficult it may be to
    explain this to the citizens of those states”.

    So there you go.
    The UN for years has been advocating for mass imigration into Europe. It has now certainly been successful in achieving that.
    I think we can agree that the homogeneity of Ireland has been comprehensively undermined.

    Imo it is supra-national bodies that are to blame here, not “the English”. Look at the people that Peter Sutherland worked for.
    By the way – Peter Sutherland was an Irishman, born in Dublin.

    1. But but…importing a massive dependent underclass does not produce economic growth.

      1. But aren’t they all highly educated engineers, doctors and similar? You mean they lied, and all we get is dangerous savages?

      2. Indeed not. But if the real motive was to reduce strong national identities by the mass importation of people from all over the world?

  79. Kate Forbes will not stand to be the next leader of the SNP, clearing the way for John Swinney to succeed Humza Yousaf as first minister of Scotland. Ms Forbes issued a statement this afternoon announcing that she will not put herself forward for the top job.
    She said Mr Swinney, who formally launched his leadership bid in Edinburgh this morning, would have her endorsement and support.

    She said: “I have concluded that the best way to deliver the urgent change Scotland needs is to join with John Swinney and advocate for that reform agenda within the Scottish Government. “I can therefore today announce that I will not be seeking nomination as the next SNP leader. John will therefore have my support and endorsement in any campaign to follow.”

    Mr Swinney issued a direct plea to Ms Forbes this morning to serve under his leadership as he said he wanted her to play a “significant part” in his administration. Nominations in the SNP leadership contest will close at midday on Monday. If no third candidate emerges to force a contest, Mr Swinney could be installed as first minister next week.

    Good news for Unionism. Swinney’s last go at SNP leader was a disaster and he is as woke as Sturgeon.

    1. Gosh! Wow! I’m absolutely amazed! 🤔 No…wait…I’m not! What a bunch of horrible creeps. ‘Sic a parcel o’ rogues’ is what ,I believe, Rabbie Burns opined!

      1. Forbes will also be tarnished by selling out for office under Sweeney and endorsing all his insane obsessions. What price her ‘principles’?

    2. Of course Kate Forbes’s extreme Christian views excluded her from office!

      However those holding Muslim views should not be excluded.

      BUT on many issues – such as homosexual marriage – Muslim views are more extreme, more vindictive and less tolerant and forgiving than Christian views.

    3. Swinnwy has never had a proper real world job. He has been in politics all his working life. It does not bode well for Scotland.

    4. Swinney joined the Scottish National Party (SNP) in 1979 at the age of 15, citing his anger at the way in which Scotland had been portrayed by television commentators at the Commonwealth Games. He quickly became a prominent figure in the party’s youth wing, the Young Scottish Nationalist, now known as the Young Scots for Independence (YSI). He served as the SNP’s Assistant National Secretary, before becoming the National Secretary in 1986, at the age of 22.
      He attended the University of Edinburgh, where he graduated with an Master of Arts Honours degree in politics in 1986.
      [Wiki]

      A childish political numpty?

  80. https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/f4fcb91d61c21698f51029aa58bf481774104d0d/374_955_8823_5295/master/8823.jpg?width=980&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=0c313098662d6445a5e18a22eaa3830b
    Young Farmers’ Meeting, Brecon, Wales, 1973

    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/e43549d72fa5950c57d6ee149fd5b951025fea0b/0_0_6000_4000/master/6000.jpg?width=700&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=edd8eb21113fade1f82fcdc201c05bc5
    The Beatles, London 1964

    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/c2a35b9c4e4c39ecec3270b92138d546490382ee/0_0_9141_5909/master/9141.jpg?width=700&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=493f2ac8b10fb5fdd2c819c9a4bbdffa
    Julie Christie, London, 1965

    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d939ef8e22e3a3cee2e9ea3179603ddc2eb173fd/0_0_4500_6750/master/4500.jpg?width=700&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=ab9db458addfa45544d41496763aa37f
    Churchill’s Funeral, London, 1965

    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/1d57773a1fbc5e8f7cbfff6de53c27966649906d/0_0_6120_4045/master/6120.jpg?width=700&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=efec1d6da0c5f4c4adc4fcaaddf2d7a1
    Sheep shearing, Snowdonia, 1997

    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/06f485f5dc27a70d5ea2beaee9e85f66a6d344b9/0_0_7200_10799/master/7200.jpg?width=700&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=c1bbafac55fe4c7ecd9aa1bc4e346075
    MG Car Owners’ Ball, Edinburgh, 1967

    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0ca7d69f69876c35c90ac62e9d12d78582cb23e9/0_0_3872_5808/master/3872.jpg?width=700&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=5a60302ea8421f29280d4a7de81abb68
    Monte Carlo, 1964

    1. Young Farmers Meet- Is the Far Right chap actively encouraging his teammate?

  81. I got back from my run about 2ish. Stepson is ok-ish but I think he’s heading for another stay in hospital.
    Quite a pleasant day’s driving really!

    I know who is going to win the elections today. The “can’t be arsed to vote” candidate!

    2. Not ideal news about your stepson, but at least you’ll know he’s safe if he gets admitted again.

    3. It took me quite a while to decide who NOT to vote for. In the end it was all of them.

      1. I went for the Reform candidate in our police commissioner election on the basis that he wasn’t liebour, non-con, or green.

        1. We really don’t need a police commissioner we need top police officers with experience of policing and not those university graduates who are parachuted in with a degree in underwater basket making and full of left wing bullsh it.

          1. Absolutely. But as we are stuck with the wasteful and expensive roles (and the accompanying departments of jobsworth pen-pushers), we may as well go for the least bad option.

          2. Last time I spoilt my ballot paper for the Police Commissioner. This time I stayed at home.

    1. Can we threaten them with deportation to Rwanda as well? That way they might just sod off back to Ireland.

          3. I’m sure you’ve sometimes mentioned going to church – even if you’re not a regular.

          4. Once a year. Remembrance Day. (Oh, and funerals, of course). But I ceased to be a believer when Jim died in 2016

    3. I didn’t know when I married Miss Right that it was really ‘Miss Always Right’.

  84. Rod Liddle
    Migration reality is biting in Ireland
    From magazine issue: 04 May 2024

    I was trying to work out which event gave me a greater sense of euphoria and contentment – the fall of Humza Yousaf or the birth of my daughter – when suddenly the Irish got themselves into a most terrible paddy and easily eclipsed both for sheer, untrammelled glee.

    This is turning into a very good year, although I daresay my permasmirk will be wiped clean towards the end of it. It is rare in politics for policies to have such an immediate effect that one can justifiably say: ‘See? Told you.’ But that is what has happened with the Rwanda stuff. Those who have argued that sending illegal asylum seekers to Rwanda is not a deterrent no longer have a leg to stand on. It is all the more piquant, of course, because the Irish have been clamouring for an open border with Northern Ireland since late June 2016 – so here it is, fill your boots.

    Better still, the Irish courts recently decided that the UK is not a safe country to which asylum seekers might be dispatched, on the grounds that we will send them to Africa. So the Irish have been stitched up like a kipper by that most magnificent of things, reality.

    In truth, they should be glad: all those migrants will now have a safe and welcoming place to live, rather than being subjected to the famous historic brutality of the Bruddish – that’s what you wanted, isn’t it? In all your rhetoric? Because the migrant crisis hardly impinged at all. It’s one thing bobbing about in a dinghy across 20 miles of the English Channel – the Irish Sea is a whole other caboodle.

    If I were the British home secretary I think I’d open a new refugee-processing centre in somewhere like Crossmaglen, with very clear directions to the border, or possibly a shuttle bus. Suddenly, from the Republic, the virtue-signalling has fallen rather quiet and been replaced by xenophobia – towards us and the migrants. But then it is always difficult to grandstand if you are in a peat bog, metaphorically of course. You just sink under the weight of your own stupid hubris. This is an uppance which has been a long time coming and has provided the rest of us, over here, with copious amounts of craic.

    By comparison, the SNP/Green business was just a belly-laugh, although it is worth making the point that exactly the same thing pricked that particular bubble, reality, with its big silver pin. Oh – and a conveniently held animus towards those awful people south of the border, the one strand of ideology which has kept the SNP in power for 15 years. As the Irish have long known, it is good to have someone nearby to blame. In alliance with the Greens, the Scottish government ventured ever further into the booby-hatch of the far left, never with much genuine support from the population (which is not so different from our population in its political inclinations – independence apart – when push comes to shove).

    It is a government which now, towards the end of its life, should have been sectioned and held down with leather straps. Independence is a perfectly reasonable aspiration and I disagree with many in this neck of the woods who suspect it would bring about Scotland’s ruin: there is no reason why it should, in the long run.

    No, it’s the rest of the stuff which was utterly untenable. The Scots might have put up with a health service almost as bad as that of Wales, but the self-flagellation of finishing cutting carbon emissions by three quarters inside six years was not just disastrous but almost an impossibility. Fantasy-land stuff. This was largely foisted upon them by the Greens, who still cleave to the idiotic notion, much as they cleave to the obnoxious and now thoroughly discredited transgender stuff they tried ramming down the throats of the Scottish people.

    After the Cass Review came out, I heard several Scottish Greens asserting that they would always abide by the scientific evidence while at the same time dissing the scientific evidence. I suppose that given the failure of independence, the SNP needed to trawl around somewhere for a raison d’être and thought they had found it in right-on, progressive politics. They are beginning to see that this was a catastrophic mistake.

    Do you remember the old Greens? Perhaps while they were still called the Ecology party and led by the school-masterish Jonathon Porritt? Or indeed those Greens who rather surprised the country by taking 2.3 million votes – more than 14 per cent – in the 1989 European parliament elections? In the minds of the people who voted for them – mostly the affluent middle-class – they were not the lefties we see today, even if by the turn of the 1990s that is very much the direction in which the party was heading.

    People voted Green, in much larger numbers than they do now, because they believed the party put protecting the environment as its first concern and this struck a chord. The policies which people liked were what are now regarded by the Green ideologues as ‘soft-green’ – being nice to animals, cutting down on the pesticides and not paving over the entire country to shove up millions of Barratt homes. These seem to me eminently sensible policies which would commend themselves to an awful lot of voters, such as those who supported the CPRE before it turned woke.

    When was it that the Greens decided that protecting the Earth required them to adopt the policies of identitarian idiocy and thus to lose a vast constituency of people who might have otherwise voted for them? The Greens now do best in our inner cities and have become a repository for the votes of people who think Labour has sold out. I voted for them once in the 1980s but would never do so now: they have swallowed an ideology which is essentially irrelevant to their own and which makes the voters run a mile.

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

    Westcollapse
    8 hours ago
    I, too, Rod have been wandering around with a smirk on my face to the extent that members of my family have asked why I have forsaken hurling pieces of semi-digested food at the TV screen and shouting foul-mouthed oaths into the ether, like Father Jack after downing a bottle of whiskey, when the dulcet tones of Nick Robinson spew forth from the radio.
    The SNP business was just nemesis inevitably catching up with the unhinged. But, the Irish imbroglio is a whole different level. Like you my first reaction was to fantasise about a massive migrant reception centre being built in South Armagh. It would be cheap because we would be forbidden from putting in any expensive security measures, to prevent absconding, because these upset the locals.
    My joy though comes from the reassurance of being proven to be 100% correct.
    Around 2018-2019 time I subscribed for about 3 months, until I could stand it no longer, to the Irish Times. The combination of stupidity, smug self-satisfaction, and anti-English vitriol, both above and below the line, took the breath away.
    A particular theme was how poorly the ‘xenophobic and racist’ English compared to the ‘warm, welcoming, lovely’ Irish in the field of hosting migrants.
    To much hilarity I pointed out that welcoming a few hundred hard-working, Catholic, Polish plumbers was not really modern migration. It was more having millions of people from some of the most violent, racist, homophobic and misogynistic places on the planet (a proportion of whom were a bit ‘choppy’ and/or ‘rapey) hove into view. I made a prediction, which promoted a torrent of abuse, along the lines that when the Irish had this rather different experience they’d quickly reveal themselves to be one of the most racist people in Europe. Two years in and they’re already at the ‘burn down migrant centres’ stage. A place we haven’t reached in 40 years.
    My house is currently littered with bags of popcorn.

    2. We should fly all our illegals straight to Belfast and then bus them to the border with a little map of where to cross and a couple of hundred Euros spending money.

    3. The Irish would rather lose everything than admit that they would have been far better off if they had ditched the EU and reunified Ireland not by trying to take Northern Ireland but by joining Northern Ireland in Brexit UK.

    4. The UK should extort millions of pounds (or should that be Euros) from the Republic of Ireland to stop migrants crossing the border from Northern Ireland. Then, taking a leaf from the French, do sweet FA to stop said migrants crossing from the UK to the Republic.

  85. The more I see and hear my fellow “Britons”, both those “educated” in the last 30 years and those who prefer a medieval culture, the less I want to pay taxes to provide public services for this rabble/mob. Certainly, I will focus on not leaving anything to be mopped up in inheritance tax ….. I am thinking of making late donations to Polish hospitals and charities to avoid this. My 3 grandchildren I will help, but I see them as indoctrinated, which reduces my e thusiasm. Top priority = no taxes to help Slammers.

    1. European medieval culture had much to recommend it. The last time I went inside Micklegate Bar in York, which admittedly was a long time ago, it still had it’s portcullis. Even then it looked as if it would have shattered on impact if dropped but one got the idea. Back when it was new it also from time to time sported severed human heads for decoration.
      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/76e0492597e77e0124d88812a2980a7b4bb8dcc59a74ff919d6bd84f67d76952.png

      1. I was stationed in Imphal Barracks from 83 – 85. One challenge was the Micklegate Run – a pint in every pub between the Ouse and the barbican. I fell short on both attempts. I went for a few nights about 5/6 years ago and was disappointed to find that there are now only a handfull of pubs on Micklegate.

  86. I realise I can vote Reform today …. in the West Midlands Mayoral Election.

  88. Oh deary me…

    Guardian to cut journalists’ jobs as it slides back into heavy losses
    The Guardian has launched a redundancy programme as the newspaper grapples with a sharp slowdown in advertising.

    Our reporters James Warrington and Matthew Field have the details:

    Katharine Viner, the left-leaning newspaper’s editor-in-chief, sent an email to staff on Thursday outlining plans for a “small number of voluntary redundancies” as it seeks to cut costs.

    The note, seen by The Telegraph, said an “advertising recession and challenging market conditions are impacting negatively on all media companies, including the Guardian”.

    The email added that The Guardian was now 60pc funded by its readers through sales and donations, cutting its reliance on advertising and newsstand sales.

    However, it said the business still had to make “difficult decisions” over budgets after warning the ad slump would drive the business to a £39m loss in 2023.

      2. And fire Polly Toynbee out of the other barrell (assuming she still writes for them as I haven’t looked at the Guardian since the early days of Viner)

  89. Oh dear! such a pity. I wonder when it’s sister organisation, the BBC, will realise how unpopular it is.

    Guardian to cut journalists’ jobs as it slides back into heavy losses

    Media outlet opens voluntary redundancy programme for its UK-based editorial staff

    James Warrington and Matthew Field
    2 May 2024 • 2:46pm

    The Guardian has launched a redundancy programme as the newspaper grapples with a sharp slowdown in advertising.

    Katharine Viner, the left-leaning newspaper’s editor-in-chief, sent an email to staff on Thursday outlining plans for a “small number of voluntary redundancies” as it seeks to cut costs.

    The note, seen by The Telegraph, said an “advertising recession and challenging market conditions are impacting negatively on all media companies, including the Guardian”.

    The email added that The Guardian was now 60pc funded by its readers through sales and donations, cutting its reliance on advertising and newsstand sales.

    However, it said the business still had to make “difficult decisions” over budgets after warning the ad slump would drive the business to a £39m loss in 2023.

    “We have sought to protect editorial budgets where possible, but, after careful consideration we have decided to open a limited voluntary redundancy scheme within the UK editorial department,” the note said.

    Ms Viner added: “Overall we are in a much stronger position than we were during the last downturn, with a well-established and successful digital reader revenue income stream.

    “This is really positive but there is still work to do to make our business digital-first, truly global, confidently sustainable.”

    The redundancy program is open to any employee in the UK editorial department who has been employed on a permanent or fixed-term contract for at least two years.

    It will not apply to its journalists in the US or Australia.

    Staff were warned of looming job losses in March as part of broader cost-cutting that has seen budgets trimmed across the media group.

    The Guardian has seen its headcount rise sharply since completing a three-year turnaround plan in 2019.

    The company employed 1,014 journalists last year, up from 860 in 2019, while staff costs increased by more than £30m over the same period.

    It comes as the newspaper is also locked in a dispute with unions over pay.

    The company has offered all staff a £2,000 salary uplift alongside a further 1pc increase for 2024. It said this represented an average pay increase of 3.7pc.

    However, the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) and Unite have refused the offer.

    2. It’s been going downhill for years. Most of the headlines ridiculously silly, no incentive to even read the articles. Impossible to respond in the comments section, anything controversial permits no postings. Threads are open only for a few hours and any post they don’t like is immediately deleted.
      It’s a poor excuse for a newspaper.

  90. Utter chaos re more flash flooding in a few villages around here .

    I am delighted to say that I received a reply from my MP this morning , I wrote a letter to him on Sunday .

    Do you know what , so pleased he was prompt , succinct and agreed with everything I wrote about .

    THE RETURN TO TRUE CONSERVATISM and its principles…

    Plus a bit more .. I am keeping stum about the rest , but I am sure he wasn’t trying to placate an angry me .

    1. There must be an election in the offing and afterwards back to business as usual…

          1. I am now 77 years old .

            I have no idea what lies ahead of me in a few years, but now , whilst I am of sane mind and ability , I will get up and vote and speak to those who represent this constituency, and I will protest and scream about the vanishing virtues of true Conservatism that need to be restored quickly.

          2. Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night
            BY DYLAN THOMAS

            Do not go gentle into that good night,
            Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
            Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

            Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
            Because their words had forked no lightning they
            Do not go gentle into that good night.

            Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
            Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
            Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

            Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
            And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
            Do not go gentle into that good night.

            Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
            Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
            Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

            And you, my father, there on the sad height,
            Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
            Do not go gentle into that good night.
            Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

    2. If heagreed with it why is his party determined to do the exact opposite?

  91. Consider the toxicity Sadiq Khan has faced as mayor. If he wins again, what a credit to him and London
    Zoe Williams

    Mayoral elections can seem set apart from the main drag of politics. People vote for individuals and their records, it’s not outlandish to stand as an independent, and even candidates within a party can float above it. It would be unusual, for example, to think “I can’t stand Rishi Sunak” (wait! That’s not the unusual bit) “therefore I won’t vote for Andy Street”. But even though they stand alone, paradoxically, you can see a huge amount about the bigger picture, globally as well as nationally, from these purportedly local ballots.

    Sadiq Khan has pretty unusual international name recognition for a city mayor, and the reason – no offence to him, his Hopper bus fares are good too – is that he has been the focus of racist and Islamophobic outbursts ever since Donald Trump called him a “stone cold loser” when the then-US president visited London in 2019.

    This has been interesting for two reasons. The first is the sheer contagion of anti-Muslim statements in mainstream politics and media, as well as attacks on Khan that are blatantly untrue and unfair, but slip in on the tide of normalised Islamophobia. You can trace a direct line from Trump’s outbursts to those of Lee Anderson, who was accused of racism this year, when he said “Islamists” had got control of Khan, who had “given our capital city away to his mates”. What started as an insinuation, that Muslims didn’t belong in public office, became an open statement through a process of transatlantic reiteration.

    In the layer below that, among those who facilitate what one might term “diet racism” – Fox News, GB News, sections of the Conservative party – it is now routine to describe London as a no-go area for Jewish people. This was a direct line of questioning to David Cameron by a Fox News anchor in April. The narrative is complicated by the fact that, in any single political speech or media encounter, there will be elisions and things left unsaid (except by Anderson, who leaves nothing unsaid). So Suella Braverman might describe pro-Gaza demonstrations as “hate marches”, but stop short of linking the hate to Khan; James Cleverly will take up the baton, and claim that the mayor talks “more about Gaza than black kids getting murdered in south-east London”, but stop short of drilling into those murders. That’s left to Susan Hall, the Conservative candidate for London mayor, who wrote that London was “under siege”, with “criminals ruling the streets”; these allegations were then given some statistical ballast by the Daily Mail, which claimed that gun crime had soared by 2,500% in London under Khan in a single year. That ballast was wrong, unfortunately, and corrected, but not before it had been repeated by the Tottenham Conservative Association, whence it found its way into the Telegraph.

    Read on and puke

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/may/02/islamophobia-london-mayoral-race-sadiq-khan-donald-trump

      1. Slammers hate dogs. I bet it is a fake. You can tell he isn’t a real dog person because of that stupid “harness”.

        1. A harness is better than a collar. Dogs have been strangled by their collars.

          1. Rubbish! Collars have been used for thousands of years. There are many ways in which unpleasant people can kill their animals.

          3. I have erased. I know how irked you were when all your upvotes disappeared. For some reason none of my votes disappeared. Must be because i am nice. :@)

          6. We had a family dog when I was young who got very upset if anyone tried to remove his collar. Leather collars can wear thin over time and need to be replaced but Mum was the only person he’d allow to do it for him and even then it made him anxious.

        2. Harnesses are better for my dog. He’s excitable and pig-headed, as well as being a gorgeous hound. He wears a collar but his lead is attached to his harness. I just have to be careful he doesn’t pull me down the steps to the riverbank.

      2. What’s the betting that that dog is ALSO on the electoral register…..

      3. ‘What do you think about ULEZ, Fido?’

        Dog: ‘Pleeease, can somebody get rid of this tosser’…..

    2. So the devil dishes out abuse and gets the response he deserves. Tough titty. These people are beyond parody.

    1. I think Americans use the term gimmegrants. If this is Labour’s strategy they will expect the recipients of largesse to vote for them forever. In which case Labour will have at least a couple of decades to finally bankrupt the country….

  93. “It Was Brutal”: 2nd Boeing-Linked Whistleblower Dies

    BY TYLER DURDEN
    THURSDAY, MAY 02, 2024 – 02:25 AM
    A whistleblower at Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems died Tuesday morning following a struggle with a ‘sudden, fast-spreading infection,’ the Seattle Times reports.
    45-year-old Joshua Dean, a former mechanical engineer and quality auditor from Wichita, Kansas, alleged that Spirit leadership ignored manufacturing defects on the 737 MAX, including ‘mechanics improperly drilling holes in the aft pressure bulkhead of the MAX.’ When he brought this up with management, he said that nothing was done about it. So he filed a safety complaint with the FAA – and said that Spirit had used him as a scapegoat while they lied to the agency about the defects.

    “After I was fired, Spirit AeroSystems [initially] did nothing to inform the FAA, and the public” regarding the bulkhead defects, said Dean in his complaint.
    In November, the FAA suggested to Dean in a letter that his claims had merit, writing “The investigation determined that your allegations were appropriately addressed under an FAA-approved safety program,” adding “However, due to the privacy provisions of those programs, specific details cannot be released.”
    Dean also gave a deposition in a Spirit shareholder lawsuit.
    The shareholder lawsuit alleging that Spirit management withheld information on the quality flaws and harmed stockholders was filed in December. Supporting the suit, Dean provided a deposition detailing his allegations.

    After a panel blew off a Boeing 737 MAX plane in January, bringing new attention to the quality lapses at Spirit, one of Dean’s former Spirit colleagues confirmed some of Dean’s allegations. -Seattle Times

    He had been in good health, and ‘was noted for having a healthy lifestyle,’ according to the report.
    He had been in critical condition for two weeks, according to his aunt Carol Parsons, who said he became ill and went to the hospital due to breathing difficulties. He was intubated, after which he developed pneumonia and then MRSA, a serious bacterial infection.
    His condition deteriorated rapidly, and he was airlifted from Wichita to a hospital in Oklahoma City, Parsons said. There he was put on an ECMO machine, which circulates and oxygenates a patient’s blood outside the body, taking over heart and lung function when a patient’s organs don’t work on their own. -Seattle Times

    Doctors had considered amputating both hands and both feet.
    “It was brutal what he went through,” said Parsons. “Heartbreaking.”

    Dean was fired in April 2023, after which he filed a complaint with the Department of Labor, alleging he had been terminated in retaliation for blowing the whistle.

  94. Consider the toxicity Sadiq Khan has faced as mayor. If he wins again, what a credit to him and London
    Zoe Williams

    Mayoral elections can seem set apart from the main drag of politics. People vote for individuals and their records, it’s not outlandish to stand as an independent, and even candidates within a party can float above it. It would be unusual, for example, to think “I can’t stand Rishi Sunak” (wait! That’s not the unusual bit) “therefore I won’t vote for Andy Street”. But even though they stand alone, paradoxically, you can see a huge amount about the bigger picture, globally as well as nationally, from these purportedly local ballots.

    Sadiq Khan has pretty unusual international name recognition for a city mayor, and the reason – no offence to him, his Hopper bus fares are good too – is that he has been the focus of racist and Islamophobic outbursts ever since Donald Trump called him a “stone cold loser” when the then-US president visited London in 2019.

    This has been interesting for two reasons. The first is the sheer contagion of anti-Muslim statements in mainstream politics and media, as well as attacks on Khan that are blatantly untrue and unfair, but slip in on the tide of normalised Islamophobia. You can trace a direct line from Trump’s outbursts to those of Lee Anderson, who was accused of racism this year, when he said “Islamists” had got control of Khan, who had “given our capital city away to his mates”. What started as an insinuation, that Muslims didn’t belong in public office, became an open statement through a process of transatlantic reiteration.

    In the layer below that, among those who facilitate what one might term “diet racism” – Fox News, GB News, sections of the Conservative party – it is now routine to describe London as a no-go area for Jewish people. This was a direct line of questioning to David Cameron by a Fox News anchor in April. The narrative is complicated by the fact that, in any single political speech or media encounter, there will be elisions and things left unsaid (except by Anderson, who leaves nothing unsaid). So Suella Braverman might describe pro-Gaza demonstrations as “hate marches”, but stop short of linking the hate to Khan; James Cleverly will take up the baton, and claim that the mayor talks “more about Gaza than black kids getting murdered in south-east London”, but stop short of drilling into those murders. That’s left to Susan Hall, the Conservative candidate for London mayor, who wrote that London was “under siege”, with “criminals ruling the streets”; these allegations were then given some statistical ballast by the Daily Mail, which claimed that gun crime had soared by 2,500% in London under Khan in a single year. That ballast was wrong, unfortunately, and corrected, but not before it had been repeated by the Tottenham Conservative Association, whence it found its way into the Telegraph.

    Read on and puke

    2. We let you do that for us. Why would I want to read anything by Zoe Williams? (Rhetorical question)

  95. Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark side of the moon album on Vinyl is selling for over £2000. Ebay here i come.

  96. M.V. Capulet.

    Complement:
    44 (9 dead and 35 survivors).
    11,200 tons of fuel oil.

    At 16.15 hours on 28th April 1941 the Capulet (Master Edward Henry Richardson, DSC) in convoy HX-121 was torpedoed by U-552 (Topp) south of Iceland. She broke her back, caught fire and was abandoned. Eight crew members and one of four gunners were lost. After HMS Douglas (D 90) (Cdr W.E. Banks, DSC, RN) tried to sink the tanker with gunfire, the destroyer picked up the master and 17 survivors and landed them at Londonderry. 17 survivors were rescued by the British rescue ship Zaafaran (Master Charles Kavanagh McGowan, DSC) and landed at Greenock on 1st May.
    At 21.14 hours on 2nd May, U-201 (Adalbert Schnee) found the drifting wreck of the Capulet and sank her by a coup de grâce.

    Type VIIC U-Boat U-552 was decommissioned in February 1945.
    Scuttled on 5th May 1945 at Wilhelmshaven, western entrance to Readerschleuse. Wreck broken up.

    Type VIIC U-Boat U-201 was sunk on 17th February 1943 in the North Atlantic east of Newfoundland by depth charges from the British destroyer HMS Viscount. 49 dead (all hands lost).

    https://uboat.net/media/allies/merchants/br/capulet.jpg

  97. A Par Four!

    Wordle 1,048 4/6
    ⬜⬜⬜🟩🟩
    ⬜⬜🟩🟩🟩
    ⬜⬜🟩🟩🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Well done. Five today.

      Wordle 1,048 5/6

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

    2. Thought I was lucky with the p[ar.
      Wordle 1,048 4/6

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

    3. Yes, well done folks, we’re all on the same page today!

      Wordle 1,048 4/6

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

  98. Breaking news:

    “Penny Mordaunt: I won’t be installed in No 10 like a new boiler”

    Hem – old boiler, more like, Petty Office Moron.

    1. “Photo ID introduced by evil Tories.. first time in “our” country.. that means there’s 900,000 Londoners eligible to vote but haven’t got photo ID. (gasp in background). 900,000. another gasp from Ava Evans dim Leftie trans-activist.
      “And what really concerns me 1 out 3 eligible young right-on Leftie Londoners aren’t on the electoral register. If that wasn’t bad enough only half of people under 30 vote, compared to more than 75% of stale white OAPs. This makes it unfair.”

      1. The reason so many have no photo ID is because they choose to operate under the radar in the black economy while claiming benefits under a different name.

        1. Some clever algo worked out from electricity & gas usage that there about 1 million undocumented residents in London when compared to the 2021 census.
          This is confirmed by anecdotal evidence provided by YT vlogger Simon Webb when he worked for Office for National Statistics in & around Hackney & Stoke Newington.. he witnessed some pretty terrifyingly crammed dormitories filled with You-Know-Whats.

          1. There are also many cars on the roads where the drivers have not passed their tests and are uninsured. The Police response is to back off. As we have already seen in other areas of Policing.
            The cameras and the ANPR is for the law abiding tax payer.

          2. The Police response is to back off.
            and here’s some proof. Plod confirmed he known to them.. has no insurance, no licence.
            https://youtu.be/GfLg5ltIJUw?t=38

      2. So they get in touch with their friends and relatives in the regions they still admire and ask them to include them in their deluge of postal votes.

    2. ” You can only vote once” – Unless you are one of my “brothers”, of course. (Sly smile…)

      1. I voted 3 times today: once specifically against Khan; and then against all the main parties on both the constituency vote and the list vote.

    3. I used a long since expired passport. I still bear sufficient resemblance to the much younger me. I then spoiled the ballot papers.

      1. I didn’t go in the end. Only the incumbent Green councillor bothered to send us a leaflet – she’s quite popular so I’m sure she will be returned again. She can manage without our votes and a five mile round trip. OH was asleep most of the afternoon and I’ve been busy doing some admin for the hedgehog hospital.

    5. Hardly matters does it? One photo of a black bag with suits for eyes is pretty much the same as any other. That is if they don’t have the imam collect postal votes for everyone.

      Same problem in the US with photo I, the demorcats were crying foul when some republican states tried to bring in photo ID. If it is a sudden change to the rules it might have an impact but how much notice do people need that photo ID will be required.

      Up here in ontario, we need two pieces of ID before voting, it hasn’t helped us elect a better (even viable) class of politicians.

    6. Ha! I used my bus pass. Does Khant think that makes voting a white boomer privilege? I didn’t vote for him of course. Not that it will make a blind bit of difference.

    7. A lot of those 900,000 without photographic ID probably ditched it in the Channel.

    8. But if you apply for a postal vote you don’t need any ID, just your NI number. You don’t need to be able to sign your name and you definitely don’t need to know your date of birth.

  101. Should have done better:
    Wordle 1,048 5/6

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

    1. Who?

      Me? You? Your great aunt Margaret? Hernán Cortés? Brian from the off-licence?

      Come on, we must be told!

    2. 4 today.

      Wordle 1,048 4/6

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

    3. Lucky again

      Wordle 1,048 3/6

      🟩🟨⬜⬜🟩
      ⬜🟩⬜🟨⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      1. The caption in what was once The Daily Telegraph referring to a ‘herd of sheep’. It’s not even a flock; I would suggest the word ‘livestock’.

  103. What is left of my old brain has just been fried!

    Today I bought a new Wi-Fi router system for the house, after advice from my bank that my difficulty in accessing my online UK bank’s website may have been due to an ancient (very slow) router. I enquired with my ISP and their advice was to upgrade. After all it is now a decade old.

    I bought a system of three small routers that sit in different parts of the house. I then had to try to learn, assimilate, and (hopefully) remember, the names of all the technological bits and bobs.

    D’oh!

    I first discovered that what used to be called a modem (modulator/demodulator) is now called GPON-ONT (Gigabit Passive Optical Network-Optical Network Terminal) 😲, which is used to connect an FTTH Gateway (Fibre-To-The-Home Gateway). This is then connected, first, to my Telephone Base Station and, secondly, to my new main Wi-Fi Router via an ethernet cable. [I’ve already worked out that the Optical Network bit is SO important it had to be said twice!]

    I’ve read as much as I can on the topic and also watched a few YouTube videos showing me just how “easy” it is to install! The parts of my ‘Boomer’ brain are now so awash with technological claptrap that I need to sit down.

    Tomorrow is another day and I shall wake up refreshed and ready to make all the necessary connections! 🥴

      1. I’ve toured the streets of the village in search of one but their parents call them in when they see me coming. I think they’re suspicious of an ancient old chap from afar.

        1. That’s what happens when you tow a cage on wheels and go around offering sweets to children while in a black suit…

          1. Can you remember those IKEA-type of flat-pack furniture outlets that used to be around in the UK?

            MFI (Made For Idiots) said that their furniture could be easily installed in five minutes by a 10-year old with a screwdriver. I toured the streets of my town for weeks on end and could I hell-as-like find a 10-year old with a screwdriver anywhere!

          6. Renamed BFI ( Brute Force & Ignorance) the only way to get the job done. If I remember correctly their ‘furniture’ was guaranteed to last all of 2 weeks… (if you were lucky…)

    2. Fortunately I have two techie sons who deal with that stuff for us. I bought a new laptop for myself for Christmas and my younger son set that up for me with a newer version of Debian Linux. He also got a more up to date booster for the kitchen as we have a very thick wall between this room and the kitchen. We now have internet access in there as well now.

    3. I find all this wonderful modern technology is continually ‘improved’ and tweaked until it is not longer fit for the purpose. Great in theory, but most of us just want something simple that works!

    5. I usually attempt this sort of change or upgrade when I’ve had too much to drink. The results are often interesting.

    6. I took a picture of how BT has replaced the old copper termination point (Network Termination NT point) with BT Smart Hub2 (connected to the Passive Optical Network PON
      You can remove your household internal wiring plug from the NT point and plug it instead into the green socket in the back of the Smart Hub2 (connected to the Passive Optical Network PON via fibre termination point).

      Your internal phone system should work exactly the same as before except that local calls to the exchange are no longer possible as your internal phones are now all VoIP phones and charged as if national/mobile calls.

      The other problem is that phone calls have to made as if they were being made from a smart phone with the added complication of simulating a flat battery when there is a mains failure in your.home.

      I’ve addressed these complications by investing in an additional mains powered VoIp handset with internal battery and SIM card which can be used for both phone and SMS outgoing calls to access usual emergency services during a mains power failure.

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/38bca8fdf715a946ddf40f66c88d6ac6b23d034ed347096bfa08e833c108afc8.jpg

    7. Young Grizzly this problem used to baffle me horrendously. Here is how I sometimes manage to work around the problem: let’s say that I don’t really know what “APP” means (Apparatus, Apple, Application, Appropriate, Appearance?) I then change the post to Spanish. If it says “APP quiere decir [APP means] Manzana” then I know that APP is short for Apple (Manzana in Spanish). You get the idea?

  106. Gosh – it’s a minute to wine – so I am off. Useful market – EXCELLENT cheese from Tiny – including a gorgonzola = 500 g for £1.50. Tesco have their 25% off wine – so benefited. Morrisons have a very complicated offer that you only discover you have NOT profited from when you look at the till receipt…! Then, this afternoon, to hours removing ivy from a wall. Tedious, dusty and a chore.

    Have a jolly evening (The History Boys is on t’telly – again)

    A demain – when rain is forecast. Typical as the MR is going to Narridge to have her hair done…

      1. There is a certain je ne sais quoi – oh, so very special – about a firm, young carrot…Excuse me…

  107. For the purposes of social cohesion no doubt.
    Still..a silver lining would be if one of them got Jeremy Vine…ooh hush my mouth

        1. Water off a fuck’s back.

          Still don’t know why you did it. Petulant!

          1. You said my statement was rubbish. I thought that very rude from a cat lover talking to a dog lover. But i forgive you. :@)

      2. The catalogue of video clips by “Cycling Mikey” provide a fascinating insight to the Leftie social engineering experiment.

        Cycling Mikey is a fully paid up Progressive Liberal.. proud of having a Muslim boss.. compassionate about smug drugglers.. and can’t bring himself to mention that 99.99% of all the mobile user offenders that are of Caribbean flavour.. have attacked him.

      3. The catalogue of video clips by “Cycling Mikey” provide a fascinating insight to the Leftie social engineering experiment.

        Cycling Mikey is a fully paid up Progressive Liberal.. proud of having a Muslim boss.. compassionate about smug drugglers.. and can’t bring himself to mention that 99.99% of all the mobile user offenders that are of Caribbean flavour.. have attacked him.

  110. Peckham: Protesters block coach over asylum seeker transfer

    The protesters said that Bibby Stockholm was not a suitable place to house asylum seekers, and those due to be taken there had built relations in the community in Peckham and did not want to be moved.

    “This is what community looks like,” and “No borders, no nations, stop deportations,” were among chants made by those gathered.

    I don’t suppose any of these mentally and morally retarded protestors will be offering rooms in their homes to the invaders. Sooner or later there will be an absolute meltdown somewhere in urban Britain and for the majority of the MSM it’ll still be the fault of Farage, Brexit, Johnson, the Tories or some imaginary right-wing force. The Left did this to us, to Europe, to civilisation. I want them to burn in their own fires.

    1. This will continue until the police arrive in sufficient numbers and physically prevent the protesters from doing it. Until then, there’s no point trying to deport anyone.

    2. Looking at Met police ‘performance’ in London today; perhaps they could have achieved more by ‘Working from Home’?

      They are severely incompetent and excruciatingly embarrassing.

    3. the protestors probably don’t have permanent homes in the area – I bet they are students from Goldsmiths or some similarly woke institution. I think it was in Peckham that an Asian convenience store owner was subjected to vile racist harassment from a mob of black citizens because he had the temerity to bodily remove a shop-lifter so I’m not too convinced about the tolerance and love of the local community.

    4. Since that post ‘Seeing is believing’ has reposted that clip to his own Twitter feed at least 27 times.

      1. 386729+ up ticks,

        Evening DW,
        Like wedding cake then, must have a taste for it.

    2. thoughts..?

      seven degrees?
      he says.. “it’s cuz I’m a Muslim..”
      er, Rochdale is 36% Muslim.

      I reckon he’s an oddball.

    4. There’s plenty of people in this country who have worked for around 50 years, paying taxes and NI who would never be able to claim benefits.
      Politicians take home more in benefits each fortnight than these poor buggers get in their annual state pension.

      1. I only have measly 2 figure state pension , why because I was a stay at home wife in my early married days because husband was in the RN , away for long periods and I had 2 small children ..It didn’t occur to us to buy my stamp contribution , we lived in the times of high interest rates and make do .. and later when I had self employed jobs , market research and funnily enough selling financial products and insurance , we had other things on our minds.

        Women weren’t really pension aware , I was a classic example !

        1. You’re right TB after being led into self employment by the Wilson government’s SET. I had absolutely no idea it would affect my pension. Every two months our MP draws not far short of my pension. He rents a property in London so he ‘can stay over’.
          Of course claimed on expenses.
          I think most of them do as well.
          SET:- Selective Employment Tax.

        2. The treatment of women who stay at home to bring up their children – which greatly benefits both children and society – is a national disgrace.

          1. Agree 100% – my wife gave up work to raise our boys – I dont recall getting a single benefit from the government to support that….

          3. How’s your site coming along? I might pop over and have a row with you on there 😉 ………

          4. Waiting for No.2 son to finalise it, I’ll get there, and your’e welcome.

          5. But think of all the income tax the stay-at-home mothers (I was one) are not paying, from which the govt will not be benefiting!

        3. My wife hardly worked in full time employment, Belle, but she now receives (albeit starting at the age of 66 years) double my OA pension. I worked outside the UK tax system for 25 years and didn’t top up my stamps either.
          Doesn’t your time as a mother with children count as equal to stamp paying dues?

          1. One used to be allowed seven years of non-stamp paying I think it was, for home protection duties.

  113. Brazilian charged with murdering a Nigerian announced by Indian Jaswant Narwal, Chief Crown Prosecutor.
    how very diverse.. so progressive.

  114. 386729+up ticks,

    This is surely a health & safety issue, the victims health and the intruders safety, burglary is a risky business as Mr Martin tried to teach them if they, the burgers, won’t listen it should be put down as self inflicted harm.

    As the wake up call is being heeded by more people daily I believe it will be open season on burgles etc,etc 24 / 7.

    https://x.com/EU_NO_MORE/status/1786024339038482924

    1. Self protection.
      I bet there will not be any mention at all of who the burglars were.

  115. I have been disenfranchised by the Woke leftists running this country.Fuck them, fuck them all to Hell.

    1. That the Left are seemingly everywhere is the big problem. They thrive in the state. Lots of money, no risk of being stopped, and eventually the lobbying for cash ends up being all they do.

      This is where much of public money goes – waste paying for dross demanding more money for themselves – the ‘climmate change committee’, for example. You will never find a normal on there because as soon as normal people are on it, it is disbanded so they become self perpetuating.

      Thus do the Left have so much control. They’re useless, incompetent, stupid, vicious and gormless but infesting every part of government.

  116. BBC presenter says calling animals by their English names is ‘jarring’

    Gillian Burke says she prefers to refer to them by their traditional Swahili names rather than those commonly used

    Telegraph Reporters • 2 May 2024 • 4:59pm

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6edbf52828e49ffcce3e7aca2d7cb67f1cf81d255cb701dae89bca5f788e37af.jpg
    Calling wild African animals by their English names is “jarring”, a Springwatch presenter has said.

    Gillian Burke said she prefers to refer to animals by their traditional Swahili names rather than those commonly used in the BBC’s acclaimed nature programmes. But the biologist acknowledged naming animals can be a “useful tool for storytelling”, as is often done by Springwatch with Freya the Golden Eagle among others.

    Writing in BBC Wildlife magazine, Burke said: “The English names for east Africa’s iconic wildlife – so heavily featured in natural history films and in this magazine – jar, at least to my ear. In my own writing, I prefer re-introducing these familiar animals by their Swahili names: ndovu (elephant), twiga (giraffe), fisi (hyena) and my personal favourite, because I used to love how my dad said it, kongoni (hartebeest).”

    Burke said Swahili was itself a combination of other languages and she would have to “dig deeper” to find the “true indigenous animal names”. Swahili is regarded as Africa’s most internationally recognised language.

    The presenter grew up in Nairobi, Kenya, and moved to Austria at age 10. She studied biology at Bristol University, afterwards becoming a natural history researcher and later a producer. She first appeared on Springwatch in 2017 and became a regular presenter alongside Chris Packham, Michaela Strachan, and Megan McCubbin.

    She added: “Perhaps it is this inequality in who gets to do the naming, and the sense that we are unwittingly wielding some form of power by naming wild animals.” †

    The presenter did acknowledge that “naming animals is a useful tool for storytelling”.

    She added: “It can help audiences connect with our animal characters and allows us to share experiences on social media. But naming is not just useful for us media luvvies, of course. Pet owners will know that naming is one of the first rituals that marks our bond with our companion animals.

    “In science, the binomial system of Latin names serves as an anchor point. No matter where scientists are in the world, they know they are talking about the same species. All this is well and good, but…what we call living things matters.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/05/02/bbc-presenter-says-calling-animals-english-names-jarring

    † Oh, just FO! English names in English-speaking countries and so on…

    I’m surprised she didn’t throw in ‘cultural imperialism’. What a silly ng’ombe.

    4. Did the BBC run an equal opportunities recruitment when they appointed Megan McCubbin?

    8. Lass, if you want to speak dindu, go do so in dindu. The Latin names are used because the original classifiers were white because while we were out exploring and dveloping the scientific method your lot were banging rocks together.

      What’s interesting is that many folk would be interested in your weird names out of etymological interest. Yes, we’re *that* far ahead of you that we study your language and culture as an oddity.

    11. One of the BTL comments was along the lines of ‘I wonder if the collar and cuffs match?’! I just called her aracebaiter in Swahili!

        1. It’s sometimes quite odd what you can get away with, but you can’t type stupid!

    12. One of the BTL comments was along the lines of ‘I wonder if the collar and cuffs match?’! I just called her aracebaiter in Swahili!

    13. “Swahili has a significant number of loanwords from other languages, mainly Arabic, as well as from Portuguese, English and German. Around fifteen percent of Swahili vocabulary consists of Arabic loanwords,[8] including the name of the language (سَوَاحِلي sawāḥilī, a plural adjectival form of an Arabic word meaning ‘of the coasts’). The loanwords date from the era of contact between Arab traders and the Bantu inhabitants of the east coast of Africa, which was also the time period when Swahili emerged as a lingua franca in the region.”

      They don’t seem to worry about borrowing from other languages.

      “The number of current Swahili speakers, be they native or second-language speakers, is estimated to be over 200 million, with Tanzania known to have most of the native speakers.”

      The current population of Africa is apparently 1,488,799,225. So only 13% of Africans speak Swahili. Out of interest alone, what do Swahili speakers call penguins?

    14. For goodness sake. Just go away. If she’s that ‘into’ her Swahili why didn’t she speak in it. Oh, could it be that people wouldn’t understand her?

  117. Scientists discover perfect temperature to drink beer.

    BEER really is more enjoyable when served cool, a study has found. Scientists say a perfect pint should be consumed at 5C, roughly the temperature at which the drink is stored in the fridge.

    It was found to be the ideal temperature for beer to be consumed as the chemicals “are more likely to be aligned in a way that enhances the taste”.

    Britain is often criticised by other nations for its habit of serving up room temperature ales, and the research means they have science on their side.

    The idea for the study was hatched when two scientists who were celebrating an academic publication with some drinks wondered why some beverages, such as red wine and sake, are better warm while others, such as lagers and white wine, are preferred cold.

    The team, from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, investigated how temperature affects surface tension depending on alcohol percentage, and found molecules in the drinks form clusters and chains at different levels of heat.

    “The preference for cold beer is supported by our findings,” Prof Lei Jiang, the study author, told The Telegraph.

    “Lower temperatures enhance the distinct sensory attributes of beer, making it more enjoyable for many consumers. The cooling effect amplifies certain taste sensations, allowing for a more refined experience.” As beer warms up, the surface tension decreases because “ethanol-water clusters” responsible for flavour have been disrupted.

    The more of these clusters there are, the better the taste, and they become more stable at cooler temperatures.

    This cluster-making process contributes to the distinct “ethanol-like” taste and burning sensation that characterises beer, the scientists say. “As the temperature rises, these clusters can change, leading to a different taste profile,” Prof Lei added. The study is published in the journal Matter.

    What a load of utter bollocks! Who funds (who trains) these idiots who call themselves ‘scientists’? It has been known since proper beer was first produced, over 500 years ago, that the optimum temperature for enjoying all the complex flavours of a cask-conditioned English ale is 13–15ºC. All knowledgeable drinkers of this premium brew have known that since Shakespeare was getting Anne Hathaway ready for some rumpy-pumpy. Any cooler and it is undrinkable and the subtleties are masked.

    As for that pale cat’s piss called lager (and 99% of the bilge drunk in Yankland is a form of lager) then chilling the damn stuff is the only way to make it close to palatable. However, discerners of proper beer wouldn’t give a XXXX for recycled, frozen cat’s piss.

    Every week, some “scientists” inform us that the way we have been doing things for millennia is “wrong”. Trouble is I never get the opportunity of discussing this bollocks with them face-to-face, mano a mano.

    1. The team, from the Chinese Academy of Sciences

      WTF do Chinks know about real ale?

    2. Isn’t it somewhat personal? The Warqueen likes her Thatcher’s blackcurrant to be slightly warmer. I lik mine ice cold. She puts ice in Bailey’s I prefer to cool the glass and bottle. We like the rare bottle pf Jam Shed to be slightly warmer, around room temp.

        1. I love the stuff. Or Kahula. hang on, no, I mean Amarula.

          Amarula on praline ice cream is something quite lovely.

      2. “Isn’t it somewhat personal?”

        No. Chilling real ale kills its subtle and complex flavours.

    3. Totally agree – I had a couple of pints of Loweswater Gold up here in Cumbria today – awesome beer that’s won a whole load of awards out of Hawkshead Brewery. If you ever get the chance, try it!

        1. No, I dont know the Kirkstyle, where’s that?

          It was at the Strickland Arms at Sizergh. Great pub, and decent food as well….

          1. Well, there’s one in Biggar, but the one I mean is in Loweswater!

          2. Ahhh right – Loweswater is a bit in the back of beyond, lovely area but so remote I dont get up there that much, if at all!

      2. I’ve not been up to Cumbria for 40 years-or-so. I did spend quite a bit of time in Lancaster in the early 1980s drinking, I think, Thwaites if my memory serves me correctly.

        1. Thwaites is a Blackburn brewery (I’m a Blackburn lad!) and I guess they might just get as far as Lancaster – the main Lancaster brewery historically was Mitchell’s (note, not Mitchell & Butlers).

          1. That’s reminded me. I drank both but can’t remember which brew I preferred.

            Moorhouse’s Pendle Witch Brew, from Burnley (no 4,000 holes there!), was another favourite.

    4. Well I rather liked the Super Bock 5.2% in Portugal.
      I prefer real ale. But there seems to be so many failed attempts at it in recent years, it’s become a bit more of a lucky dip these days.
      There use to be a good Camra pub just south of St Albans. On the wall in the gents there was a chalkboard for comments.
      Best one I saw was….Why is drinking Red Barrel similar to making love in a Punt.
      Because its effing close to water.

      Spoiler didn’t work. 🤔

        1. That’s what I do but it’s never worked on my phone.
          But does on my PC. 🤔

    5. Good proper beer should be drunk at room temp. if its too cold it kills the taste.
      Its like putting ice or very cold water in single malt whisky it kills the taste.
      If you have no taste just drink lager (pils).

    6. “Scientists discover perfect temperature to drink beer.”

      Anywhere between about 15°C and 30°C. Below that I’d have to wrap up and above that I’d drink iced white wine.

    7. When I worked in the licensed trade the brewers said that beee should be drunk at the temperature it’s brewed at. Ale is top brewed and warm, lager is bottom brewed and cold.

      1. Agreed, but I wouldn’t describe the optimum temperature for ale as ‘warm’. If you were in a room that had a temperature of 13–15ºC you would be far from being warm.

        I prefer to call ale temperature ‘cool’, and lager temperature ‘cold’.

        1. I used the words the Head Brewer at Mansfield Brewery used to me.

          1. I was brought up drinking Mansfield bitter. It was the most common beer in our area.
            Yanks also call our beer ‘warm’. Only because the freeze all the remaining flavour out of theirs.

          3. Have you ever been there? I’m from Chesterfield and there is a huge rivalry between the two towns. I used to have some bird-ringing chums in Mansfield and I never tired of telling them how crap their town was.

            I was highly delighted when someone published a book called “Britain’s Crap Towns” and Mansfield was prominent in it. The place is really dismal and without any character whatsoever.

          4. I have been there often but not for many years. It was the northernmost town when I was a sales manager for a multinational wine & spirit company in the ‘80s. My title was Regional Controller South East Brewery. Yes that’s right from Mansfield down the right hand side of England to Sussex and everything thing east looking after on-trade accounts with 4 salesman.

  118. I feel an early night approaching.
    I can’t stop yawning.
    Night all. 😴

    3. Ok Ok, I’ll do it first….

      Is it true what they say about men with big hands?? – they need big gloves? Ask OJ ………

    4. One seems to be very much bigger than the other. We are in Fiddler Crab territory here.

      1. I have a confession the only exercise when I approach any Gym is to curl a lip!

        1. I rang my local gym and said I wanted to join their Yoga classes.

          ‘How flexible are you?’ they asked

          ‘Well, I cant do Wednesdays……’ – I’ll get me coat…..

      1. Well, I have turned the volume up, and I cannot make out what they are listening to , bit of a strange one , isn’t it .

        The ball rolling thing is really clever though .

  125. Discussion some hours ago on Hymns. How many remember The English School Hymnal?

      1. Never mind. My top three are: Cwm Rhonda (Bread of Heaven), I Vow to Thee My Country and Jerusalem. There are many others that are also wonderful, of course, some mentioned here.

  126. Just back from a walk round the village.
    Up to the King’s head for a couple, then to Upper Town, drop down to the Head Of The Dale and down The Dale to the Barley Mow for a 3rd pint.
    Up through Puddle Hill Farm to the back Slaley Road, hence to Slaley and down Black Tor Road to Nether Green and down to home.
    And now for bed.
    Good night all.
    Plans for tomorrow include a visit to the house Welder Son is buying.
    Goodnight all.

    1. Reminds me of Fred Wedlock’s song The Jogger. He takes up jogging to lose weight, goes on a pub crawl/fast food binge and ends up putting on weight!

      Seeing it was closing time I had one for the road,
      Two for the pavement, three for the kerb
      And then I set off home

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQW6yHI0dz4

  127. Something to ponder on.

    A man named Tom Nicholson posted on his Facebook account the sports car that he had just bought and how a man approached and told him that the money used to buy this car could’ve fed thousands of less fortunate people.
    His response to this man made him famous on the internet. READ his story as stated on Facebook below:
    A guy looked at my Corvette the other day and said,
    “I wonder how many people could have been fed for the money that sports car cost?
    I replied I’m not sure;
    it fed a lot of families in Bowling Green, Kentucky who built it,
    it fed the people who make the tires,
    it fed the people who made the components that went into it,
    it fed the people in the copper mine who mined the copper for the wires,
    it fed people in at Caterpillar who make the trucks that haul the copper ore.
    It fed the trucking people who hauled it from the plant to the dealer
    and fed the people working at the dealership and their families.

    BUT,… I have to admit, I guess I really don’t know how many people it fed.
    That is the difference between capitalism and the welfare mentality.
    When you buy something, you put money in people’s pockets and give them dignity for their skills.
    When you give someone something for nothing, you rob them of their dignity and self-worth.
    Capitalism is freely giving your money in exchange for something of value.
    Socialism is having the government take your money against your will and give it to someone else for doing nothing    .

    1. Whatever else you say about him, he’s not a looker, is he?

  130. 386729+ up ticks,

    Pillow ponder,

    Fast approaching General Election time, or seemingly which ever of the three odious ,treacherous governing political overseeing
    parties are chosen to pursue a culling type,
    General Selection ongoing.

    Endgame,
    Work, left, work, left,
    Shower, right, shower, right, right,right. etc,etc.

    There are six million echoing whispers on the wind bearing witness to this currently, being a RESET replay of yesteryear.

    https://x.com/Raymond82310289/status/1786123366992138555

      1. 386784+ up ticks,

        Morning DW,

        Lest we forget, keep in mind
        bring me your twins for treatment.
        one josef mengele.

        History can easily be repeated.

  131. Well, chums, I’m off to bed now so I will say Good Night, and wish you a good night’s sleep. See you all tomorrow.

Comments are closed.