Thursday 2 September: Face-to-face contact underpins the practice of medicine – so why should GPs be exempt from it?

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

891 thoughts on “Thursday 2 September: Face-to-face contact underpins the practice of medicine – so why should GPs be exempt from it?”

    1. Morning.

      Some political commentators have compared Mr Biden to a Zombie, which I take to mean ‘he’s out of his depth’ …… 6 feet apparently…..

  3. Are doctors hiding to protect themselves from covid or from being sued when it all starts going wrong?

    1. Morning, Bob3.

      It started going wrong when the first adverse reaction to the “vaccines” appeared. The politicians have continued to ignore the growing death and maimed totals and they are currently trying to ignore the failure of the jabs by crowing about the new booster. If the report I heard is correct and the booster is the same formulation and interchangeable with the original “vaccine”, what is the point of it in a medical sense? Jabbing people with last year’s failing formula for this year’s variant, if such a thing truly exists, doesn’t make any sense. Of course, the whole show doesn’t make sense except to those imposing it on the people.

      1. 338393+ up ticks,
        Morning KtK,
        No surprise, it is following the same route as education,incarceration.accommodation.

        The only ation they are a success at is treacherous manipulation and this seems to find favour over the last three decades with a majority on the electorate.

      2. Everything about the mass vaccine roll out is insane to be fair, unless there is some other underhand clandestine purpose for doing it.

        1. The vaccine is the thin end of the wedge to open the way for the Digital Vaccine Passport.
          The digital vaccine passport opens the way to Digital ID.

          At the same time, the Wuhan Virus is being used as the thin end of another wedge to get people used to using electronic money instead of cash, ultimately leading to the abolition of cash and the introduction of a Central Bank controlled Digital Currency, (CBDC).

          Digital ID and the CBDC will then be brought together to monitor and, ultimately control what you are spending your money on.

          Welcome to the Social Credit System.

          2. 338393+ up ticks,
            Morning Bob,
            ALL gives reason for ( I repeat once again) the treacherous take down of Gerard Batten & the real UKIP a party successfully rising once again, financially sound ,members joining daily.

            Taken down in lieu of a £25 a pop for non membership of a pro johnson group,
            in the treachery department they certainly did us proud.

          3. Reading last night that a certain Mr Gates has patents pending or granted on control systems linked to digital IDs.

            If one doesn’t conform e.g. take your regular jab or disobey any demand made by a capricious dictator then one’s ability to leave home, buy food, seek medical help etc will be curtailed. Total authoritarian and dehumanising control. As the preacher sang in Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds, “The living will envy the dead.”

          4. Morning Korky and Nottlers.

            Exactly as I have posted for some time. Depressing, isn’t it! And to prevent access to your own money/assets eventually. Total control

          5. All the while Johnson & Co talk about the future as if life will continue to improve e.g. jobs, investment etc. Total shits, the lot of them.

          7. There are times when I cannot contain myself with regards to Johnson & Co. They belong in a cess pit, ergo my description of them. I meant no offence and I hope none taken.

          11. Exactly so Delboy.

            How was your Bowls season this year btw? The game is changing quite a lot we are finding. All games have become triples now in our part of the world with no teas after the game just tea and biscuits. Or tea and biscuits halfway through and drinks from the bar afterwards. Our club set up a forum to ask the members what they would like from their club and fewer friendlies has been suggested amongst other things.

          12. All rink games have become triples. Unfortunately, I injured my bowling arm and had to withdraw from all competitions. It’s OK now. We had club finals last Sunday and Monday. A lot of close games. After a very wet winter and spring the green never really dried out although we suspended watering. We used ground mats when the green was really tender but a number of our bowlers were tossing their woods beyond the mat and the green sustained quite a bit of damage. A lot of work for me and the green teams during the winter.

          13. Our green is in a pretty dire state with dollar spot and loose soil almost hexagonal in appearance. We’re consulting with 3 professional companies as our green teams have unfortunately a) cut the grass too short (4mm) and b) not watered when it was needed. Sorry to hear you with drew from the comps this year but good to hear your arm is ok now. A number of our bowlers also bowled/lobbed beyond the nets also causing damage. They seem to see the net as a challenge! Finals weekend this week. Should be good.

          14. If people thought Lenin, Marx, Stalin and Hitler were bad they are now sleepwalking into hell.

        2. The purpose is no longer clandestine, rather, it is in the open if people want to see it. It is about control and the next step is the “vaccine passport” that the government is talking about. The government’s publicity for this next step is underhand as its proponents are using the argument that it’s for health reasons when it’s really about total control of people’s lives, everything in fact that makes life worth living. Fear was generated deliberately to open the door to the “vaccine” and the latter was introduced to open the door for the “passport” and to control. The behavioural scientists aiding and abetting this rotten government should be ashamed of what they have done.

      3. When the vaccine was rolled out in UK we were forcefully told that both jabs must be of the same type of vaccine.

        We’ve heard from NZ that the Kiwis have been forcefully told that the two jabs must be of different vaccines.

    2. A good question. Must be hard propping up a slew of politicians’ and corrupt scientists’ lies like that.

  7. German Green Party accidentally leaves village street lights on for five days
    Party worker inadvertently covered sensor with election poster that read ‘There’s no getting round the climate target’
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2021/09/01/german-green-party-accidentally-leaves-village-street-lights/

    There were red faces in Germany’s Green Party after a campaign volunteer inadvertently left the lights on in an entire village for five days.

    Residents of Gross Berssen, a tiny village of 695 people near the Dutch border, were confused when their street lamps stopped switching off during daylight hours.

    When the local council investigated, it turned out a Green Party election worker had accidentally covered the light sensor for all the lamps in the village — with an election poster.

    The sensor, which turns the street lights on and off automatically at sunset and sunrise, is located on one of the lamp posts.

    To make matters worse, the poster in question bore the slogan: “There’s no getting round the climate target”.

    The hapless party volunteer has made it just that little bit harder for Gross Berssen to meet its climate target — and left the village with a hefty electricity bill.

    Oops.

      1. The one on our lamppost looks like a surveillance camera. Perhaps it is. Ours turns off at midnight.

  8. Goldsmiths considers removing ‘troubling’ Lord Nelson and Sir Francis Drake statues

    University opens up consultation on whether to remove monuments of maritime heroes over alleged slave trade links

    By Max Stephens
    1 September 2021 • 9:05pm

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2021/09/01/TELEMMGLPICT000269717278_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqPSGJeyftEP9WNF5nKPELKbFnE7heq-OXUN9p51zj21c.jpeg?imwidth=680
    The statues of Sir Francis Drake, Robert Blake, Lord Nelson and an anonymous naval figure on the front of the Goldsmiths building are being considered for removal CREDIT: Andrew Redington/Getty Images
    Goldsmiths University is considering removing “troubling” statues of Sir Francis Drake and Lord Nelson following student complaints.

    The south London university has launched a public consultation examining whether the 115-year-old monuments should be permanently removed from one of their buildings.

    A statue of the 17th-century admiral Robert Blake, who served as a naval commander under Oliver Cromwell, may also be removed along with an anonymous naval figure.

    The four statues stand on the facade of the Grade II-listed Deptford Town Hall which the university acquired in 1998.

    Their removal has been demanded by the student group Goldsmiths Anti-Racist Action, who occupied the town hall over the issue for 137 days in 2019.

    Academics at the university have now said it is “vital” that any decision on the future of the statues reflects “the wishes of the local community”.

    Respondents to the consultation will be asked if they would like the statues to be retained, removed or for historical context explainers to be added.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2021/09/01/TELEMMGLPICT000269716445_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqRo0U4xU-30oDveS4pXV-Vv4Xpit_DMGvdp2n7FDd82k.jpeg?imwidth=680
    Campaigners from Goldsmiths Anti-Racist Action occupied the town hall building for 137 days in 2019 CREDIT: David Rowe/Alamy Stock Photo
    University officials have also asked for the statues to be included in the Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm currently overseen by Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London.

    While Sir Francis Drake’s exploits as a naval commander against the Spanish have been celebrated by the history books, his early years as a slave trader along the west coast of Africa have come under recent scrutiny.

    Earlier this month, councillors in his home town of Tavistock, Devon revealed that a new information panel highlighting his “horrific slave trading actions” will adorn a 10ft-high bronze statue of the seafarer. This is despite 89 residents objecting to the council’s proposals, with only one letter of support.

    Last October, an exhibition at The Box Museum in Plymouth showcasing a silver gilt cup gifted to him by Queen Elizabeth I featured an explanatory note saying Drake’s voyages “marked the foundation of England’s slave trade”.

    No comments allowed

    Put the students in chains and weld them to the railings along the front of Goldsmiths

      1. 338393+ up ticks,
        Morning B3,
        Seeing as the country is in deep up to the eyebrows sh!te anyway, it makes no difference to target them “students” in a more ways to skin a cat way.
        See how the service industry supplies to the uni. think, I would imagine if ex servicemen / women are involved or any of a decent nature the effects would soon be felt.

        1. 338393+ up ticks,
          O2O,
          Sort of, bread,rolls, sorry your order cannot be filled at this time, electrics,
          your power supply is on the blink, sorry
          cannot be of help,at this time.
          Plumbing, your bogs are overflowing with treacherous bullsh!te, would like to assist but far to busy as our order computer says NO,sort of ?

      3. Why are these people only interested in white slavers? Plenty of evidence that people of all hues were involved in that awful trade. If the people pictured are so enraged by the very act of slavery why do they not return to their ancestral lands and purge the memory of it there? Is it because they would have to admit that slavery was a global enterprise for millennia and not just a ‘whitey’ thing?

        1. If they tried this crap back in Africa and Asia, they’d have to run fast to get away with their lives. It’s only ‘cos the UK is so pathetic that this crap has taken root there.

        2. There are still plenty in this country: Vietnamese running pot farms and working in nail bars; Romanians working in car washes; the mentally vulnerable tarmacing your drive under p!key ‘supervision’, prostitutes from around the globe in every town and city brothel.
          But they’re inconveniently alive, have powerful ’employers’ and are not black.

        3. Good morning KK

          Why don’t those blacks who are trying to dismantle the gifts that philanthropists bestowed on the nation , show some gratitude towards the good men who allowed the 2nd generation stone age minded individuals to persue bettering their thick little minds ?

          Why don’t they contact every black / yellow foreign white embassy in London and investigate the number of house slaves those embassadors use to make their own lives comfortable .

          I have heard reliably that there are slaves / servants attached to their foreign keepers.

          1. I’m still waiting for a reverse slave trade triangle.
            Not many US and Caribbean blacks seem interested in returning to their homelands or even trying to improve life for their distant relatives.

        4. If only the Routemaster Bus had not been secretly invented, in the 1700s, the buses, manned by Whities, would would not have
          been sent to Africa, to travel through the villages of Africa, collecting slaves and taking for them to ports where they were put
          on ships and sent to America

          If the above is untrue, Africans enslaved Africans

        5. White Gold: Giles Milton.
          …https://www.amazon.co.uk The Extraordinary Story of Thomas Pellow and North Africa’s One Million European slaves.

    2. ‘Morning, C1. I fear that the people who hate this country and those who made it great are about to claim further scalps. And shame on the DT for not permitting comments on the article.

    3. Since Goldsmiths almost certainly was founded using slave trade money, better close the whole place down and fire all employees.
      Do it by end of business Friday.

      1. Aye. I recall reading that it was rubbished, dead and buried – but I bet that there are dozens and dozens of people trying to resurrect it.

  9. Good morning to all. It’s another dry & dull start up here in Derbyshire with 9½°C on the yard thermometer.

    1. Lovely here – fresh, cool (10C) and sunny, 27+ forecast for this afternoon.
      Pity I’m in the office… 🙁

        1. Pub after work today – last chance to sit in warm sun & slurp a few beers.
          Hopefully with beautiful Polish friend.

    2. Lovely here – fresh, cool (10C) and sunny, 27+ forecast for this afternoon.
      Pity I’m in the office… 🙁

    3. Morning Bob – If you had £50000 in a standard bank account with interest rate 0.01% you would get £5 after one year.

      2. And they charge 6% interest on student loans – 60 times higher than the current BoE base rate of 0.1%.

        If this is not theft then what is it?

        One of the most useless organisations is the National Union of Students. It has become so obsessed with politics which have nothing to do with students’ daily lives that it has done nothing to stand up to governmental authoritarianism in order to protect its members’ actual interests.

        1. Anyone who takes unions seriously is a lazy shiite, whether at work or at university.
          One of my most blissful moments at university was when the girl at the desk in front of me had a total meltdown when faced with an ‘end of term’ exam. She had spent the entire 8 weeks busily rushing around doing SU stuff and had neglected to actually read anything or write an essay.
          Boy, did I enjoy my front seat schadenfreude.

  12. ‘Morning, Peeps.

    In today’s DT. The BTL commentators are just about united in their forceful dismissal of the current tsunami of eco-claptrap from our anti- Conservative PM, and I have posted a few of these at the end. Unfortunately no one seems to be listening.

    The government’s top-down environmentalism is anti-conservative
    We can tackle climate change without borrowing tools from the old socialist handbook

    MATTHEW LESH
    1 September 2021 • 1:05pm

    Extinction Rebellion are back to their old tricks. They have in recent days closed intersections and bridges in central London, occupied the Science Museum, St Paul’s and the World Wildlife Fund, and blockaded a dairy factory and Smithfield Market.

    The official response the last time this happened was lax: police allowed roads to be shut for weeks while officers danced with activists. They failed to uphold the law because it was too unfashionable. This time, thankfully, the authorities appear to be rapidly shutting down these disruptive protests.

    And yet, while activists are finally losing the war on the streets, their ideas have never been more influential in the halls of power. The government and devolved administrations across the UK are all in a state of groupthink on the environment; their ideas based on activist claims of a man-made apocalypse; their answer to every environmental question being a mixture of bans and taxes that solve nothing but will cost you more and more each year.

    This week saw reports about a tax on disposable nappies – initially confirmed by a Whitehall source then denied by the Prime Minister’s official spokesperson after a public backlash. As Joanna Williams writes in today’s Telegraph, this was just one of a number of proposals that disproportionately target women, forcing mothers back into drudgery. Unfortunately, such nanny state policies will have to take some getting used to.

    A ban on plastic straws, stirrers and cotton buds came into effect earlier this year. There are also plans afoot to ban single-use plastic plates, cutlery and polystyrene cups as well as a plastic packaging tax coming in from April next year. This is despite the UK’s miniscule contribution to global plastic waste in oceans. The government will also outlaw new petrol and diesel cars from 2030 and new gas boilers from the mid-2030s – costing tens of thousands of pounds per a household.

    Then there is the Environment Bill, which sets out a wide array of “targets, plans and policies” on everything from air quality and biodiversity to water and resource management. It’s got a delightful Soviet Five Year Plan feel to it. The Bill will also create five new duties on ministers across Whitehall including permanently adopting a European Union-style “precautionary principle”.

    We also have the new Office for Environmental Protection to look forward to, which we are told will hold other public bodies to account, as well as an environmental judicial review process. It all adds up to an entangling web of sclerotic bureaucratic processes that will do little to actually protect the environment.

    There’s a clear need to reduce emissions to tackle climate change and conserve the environment. But we need an approach that doesn’t borrow tools from the old socialist handbook. A new paper, out today from the Adam Smith Institute and the British Conservation Alliance, makes the case for a market-centric approach to environmental challenges.

    This will sound crazy to the typical screeching activist, but socialist economies are inevitably the least environmentally-friendly, with their arbitrary production targets, inefficient use of resources and lack of innovation. Countries with the most economic freedom perform 50 per cent better on Yale and Columbia universities’ Environmental Performance Index, while those with controlled economies perform worse.

    It’s thanks to market innovations that we are continuing to grow the economy while carbon emissions and resource-use are declining, that we are feeding more people using less land and pesticides and that the likes of cars are progressively more fuel efficient. We can also harness the power of the market to tackle the latest environmental challenges like climate change.

    In response to climate change, the Adam Smith Institute and the British Conservative Alliance are focusing on three areas. First, a border-adjusted carbon tax that would account for the costs to the environment while encouraging innovation. Second, embracing nuclear energy by addressing the high fixed costs to design. And third, a clean free trade agenda including abolishing tariffs and quotas on environmental goods and joining the Agreement on Climate Change, Trade and Sustainability.

    This approach would help improve the environment while avoiding the time-tested failure that is central planning. It’s an approach that could be applied across environmental issues, if only the government can get over their obsession with targets and plans.

    BTL selection:

    Colin Porter
    1 Sep 2021 2:02PM
    “If only the government can get over their obsession with targets and plans.” And if only Telegraph journalists could get over the same Climate Change obsession.

    There is no evidence and never has been that Climate Change is substantially man made. It is simply a theory, nothing else, proposed by environmentalists who present themselves as scientists. Scientists evaluate evidence. This lot are simply on a gravy train.

    Daley Male
    1 Sep 2021 4:57PM
    There is seemingly no upper limit to the stupidity of this Tory government.

    Bill Hickling
    1 Sep 2021 6:37PM
    It is all complete nonsense to blame carbon dioxide (four parts in ten thousand) for the catch-all “climate change”. The people protesting wouldn’t know the science if they fell over it.

    Their objectives are to change the capitalist system; a system and society that gave them their wealth, privilege, security and right to protest.

    DAVID DAVIES
    1 Sep 2021 5:26PM
    Three eminent climate scientists carried out research and concluded, “This result strongly suggests that increasing levels of CO2 will not lead to significant changes in earth temperature and that increases in CH4 and N2O will have very little discernable impact”.

    http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/journal/paperinfo?journalid=298&paperId=10060303

    Not that the media are going to bring this to your attention, it’s difficult to find using internet search engines because big tech doesn’t want you to read it.

    These scientists aren’t conspiracy theorists, fruitcakes or “deniers”, they are scientists who are more concerned with truth than they are with getting increased funding by helping to perpetuate the biggest scam the world has ever seen.

    …and there’s plenty more where these came from!

      1. Do you remember when gamekeepers hung a line of dead vermin along a fence?
        Towards the end of last term, a gate leading to a local school had masks hung along it in just the same manner. Someone was making a point.

    2. The greatest power that rescued women from drudgery was a reliable supply of electricity.
      Not just washing machines and disposable nappies, but the production of reliable contraception needs electricity.
      Sadly, at this rate, we will returning to cooking over open fires (and dodging the woke police trying to extinguish them) and bashing our washing on stones in a nearby river.

      1. Damned if I am going back to the days of using a hand turned mangle when we couldn’t afford a washing machine .

        Or lighting candles and using parrafin heaters when we next have a huge storm like the ones that affected us badly in the late 1980s / and the second in the ’90’s.

        1. If Carrie Antoinette has her way, you’ll have no choice.
          I remember the buckets of soaking nappies when the boys were small. And trying to dry the soggy towelling squares on an outside line on a pulley from the landing window.
          We bought an electric drying rack, but the electricity bills rocketed so it had to be abandoned.
          I gather studies have been made of the financial cost between reusable and disposable and there is little or no difference.

          1. My elder son discovered he could climb out of his cot and up on the window sill one day while I was up on the roof of the block hanging up the washing. Only a neighbour alerting me to him standing by the open window saved him. Somehow he’s reached the age of 50.

          3. Morning T-B – My elder son, as a toddler, had a trick of holding his breath until he went unconscious. It panicked me at first but he recovered quickly and once the novelty wore out he stopped.

          4. Thank goodness it did wear off.

            I have witnessed Moh’s face going black with rage , and his lips going blue , he has alwas been the same , and I am sure he used to do that as a child . It is very very alarming to observe .

          7. Spoilt Brat personality is the category that springs to my mind.
            But then, that’s my soft, caring side letting me down again.

          8. As we have heard….he does sulk and have tantrums. I blame the parents for not beating him enough.

          10. We discovered some 10/12 years after the event, that our sons had driven the dumper trucks around in the builders’ yard behind our house.
            We thought they learnt to drive very quickly, but put it down to natural Allan genius.

          12. Just the same here , and the buckets of Napisan diluted to soak them in ( terry towelling nappies )

            No nappy rash either .

            I still have my wooden foldable clothes horse , the one like a concertina / on deckchair principles

      2. I helped to build all 32 Pampers production lines installed at two plants in Germany.They supply all of Europe.

        1. The one downside of disposable nappies is that it makes parents very dilatory when it comes to potty training.
          As, apparently even reception class teachers can confirm.

        2. We used linen nappies rather than Pampers for reasons of economy rather than for virtue signalling. However we did use disposables when travelling. Fortunately our boys became clean very quickly.

        1. Ah, yes; the scrubbed white doorstep.
          A daily task whereas a bath was a weekly event, which was a priority I never understood.
          Fortunately, I come from a non-doorstep scrubbing background.

          1. The weekly bath in front of the hearth: galvanised steel and filled in relays from the kettle. First in was dad, then mum, then the brats.

          2. Elderly chum remembers the weekly Saturday bath in the kitchen. Her mother chose that time because Father went into Colchester for his weekly game of whist with his chums.
            (I have never dared to ask her when he had a bath.)

      5. …but the production of reliable contraception needs electricity.

        Now at last I understand what is meant by a coil.

    3. Morning Anne

      I suppose we will all have to take increased doses of Vit D to compensate for the lack of sunshine , ‘scuse me now whilst I munch my sunflower seeds!

        1. Tried that one winter – never had so many colds. And the flavour of the belches… Yukk!

          1. Blimey. That’s put off my cod’n’chips. Imagine if the cod sneezed itself out of the batter.

          2. Batter by far than the sneeze staying inside the batter. But, OTOH, no need for tartar sauce. Swings and roundabouts.

  14. Truce reached in Syria’s Deraa after months of fighting. 2 September 2021.

    A three-day ceasefire has taken hold in the besieged Syrian city of Deraa after weeks of intense attacks by pro-government forces on the rebel-held enclave, local sources told Al Jazeera.

    State news agency SANA reported some rebels had begun handing over their weapons in Deraa al-Balad on Wednesday. It added several government-run centres are expected to be open across the city for other rebels to hand over weaponry and “settle” any pending issues.

    Meanwhile, independent Syrian news outlet Step News said those who refuse the terms of the deal would be evacuated to the north western Idlib province. It is the last opposition-held bastion in the country where some three million people live – half of whom were displaced by previous government offensives in various areas across the country.

    Much as this report tries to avoid saying so this looks like a victory for Assad. However since the Taliban’s victory his position overall has become fraught with ambiguity. The jihadists have been enormously empowered and reinforcements for the rebels is a real possibility. Only Iranian and Russian diplomacy could avert such an outcome. This is something we must expect to see in the next few years. Irregular Islamic Forces in both the Middle East and Africa will grow in strength and effectiveness. Those States that are aligned with the West for whatever reasons will soon weaken their support and not a few will fall to ISIS and Al Qaeda. Islam is now on the offensive and Europe and the UK, decadent and corrupt, will soon succumb and become part of the Greater Caliphate!

    https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/9/1/truce-reached-in-syrias-deraa-after-months-of-fighting-reports

    2. Douglas Murray’s The Strange Death of Europe should be compulsory reading for all those in the Sixth Form. At the moment we are sleepwalking into having Islamic domination imposed upon us and nobody seems either to care or even to notice.

      I used to think that politicians were unaware of the grave threat – I now think that they actually want Britain to become an Islamic state with sharia law and the suppression of Christianity and all other non-Islamic religions.

    3. According to Prophetic narrations (hadiths) before the coming of the Messiah ‗an apocalyptic war’ will erupt in West Asia; during these moments Imam Mahdi will rise with the sword from the Kaa’ba and then soon after a ready massive army from the ‗nation of the east’ (Iran) will join Imam Mahdi.

      “A Nation will come from the east with black flags and they will ask for some goodness (authority) but the people will not give them, then, they will fight and win over those people. Now the people will give them what they asked for but they will not accept it until they will hand it over to a person from my progeny who will fill this earth with justice just as it was previously filled with oppression and tyranny. So if anyone of you finds this nation (i.e. from the east with black flags) then you must join them even if you have to crawl over ice”

      — Al-Barzanji in Isha’ah li Ashrat Al-Sa’a [7]

      Early Islam
      Greater Khorasan is a large territory that includes most of northern Afghanistan and north-eastern Iran. From a political point of view it also includes Transoxiana and Sistan. The region that is now known as Khorasan Province encompasses less than half of historical Khorasan; the rest of that region now belongs to Afghanistan. These black banners may be those with which Abu Muslim came and overthrew the Umayyad Caliphate in 132 AH.

      Islamist flags (since the late 1990s) consists of a white-on-black shahada.
      Jihadism
      Modern Jihadist organizations such as Al-Qaeda and ISIL also use black flags.[4][9]

      Justin O’Shea characterizes this hadith as “narrated by Abu Hurayrah but of questionable origin,”[3] and cites Will McCants’ description of a “mythology” in which one sign of the End Times is that a Shia army with yellow flags will arise to fight the (Sunni) black flags in Syria — a mythology promoted and exploited by ISIS.[3]

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

      This government of ours lives in capsule of naivety and ignorance .. they have NO idea how much they have endangered our sceptered Isle .

      I believe we are all in deep trouble .

  15. Good morning dear Nottlers

    The New expensive Petrol, what do you think of this ..

    “The Government is pushing E10 in a new initiative to help reach its carbon targets. It claims that ethanol — which is derived from crops such as wheat and other grains and sugar beet — is significantly cleaner than fossil fuels, because burning it creates less carbon dioxide (CO2).”

    Maggie says … hang on a minute, what happens when our fields host thousands of new homes , and suddenly areas of the country that grew crops for feeding us are used for raising Ethanol targets , but inconsistent weather creates waterlogging etc etc , we will be rather stuffed for the lack of food crops.

    Around here, farmers are growing fields of maize , animal feed and ethanol, there are more maize fields than ever, probably encouraged by the government .

    They add that raising petrol’s ethanol levels will also increase the cost of driving for many and, worse, could leave huge numbers of motorists with damaged vehicles or useless ones which cannot use the fuel because the engines are too old.

    Meanwhile, countless petrol garden mowers and other machinery such as strimmers and leaf blowers could be rendered inoperable because their engines cannot cope with the fuel.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9949311/Will-new-type-petrol-wreck-car-JOHN-NAISH-says-eco-credentials-arent-seem.html

    2. It makes about as much sense as the rest of the green agenda, that is to say, zero.
      Boris’s Zero Sense target.

    4. Good morning, Maggiebelle,

      All part of the government’s plan to destroy the whole rhythm of ordinary people’s lives.

    5. Its all a load of ***********.
      If you’re worried just upgrade to 98E..the next pump along.
      We have had it here in Finland for a couple of years…no problems.

        1. I run both my cars on 98E…no problems.
          They are both 1996 vintage..one a 2 Litre turbo,the other a 1600 injected engine.

    6. I mentioned it last night, I use Tesco premium unleaded. Its less than 10% more expensive but gives 10% more milage, its E5.

      3. Apparently, that will only be available for about 5 years.

        The plan is to stop everyone from having any sort of private transport. Back to the Middle Ages, sort of thing. Very Carrion.

        1. Some weeks ago a politician stated on the TV news that a considerable number of cars would have to be permanently removed from the roads to comply with our obligations under COP26.

          Obviously trying to discover how much public objection there would be.

          Answer — very little.

        2. It will be to hot to go anywhere by then. Stay indoors with the curtains closed, a bit like the last 18 months.

    7. ‘Meanwhile, countless petrol garden mowers and other machinery such as
      strimmers and leaf blowers could be rendered inoperable because their
      engines cannot cope with the fuel’.

      Don’t forget ‘they’ want you to rewild.

      1. Morning Phizzee

        Do you know, that idea ran through my mind .

        I wonder how councils will cope , re their Waste trucks and all the buses and equipment we pay for in our rates .

        1. Tut tut, Mags – they will be all electric. The perfect green solution – especially given that we don’t have enough capacity to generate all the leccy required….

  16. 338393+ up ticks,
    Morning Each,

    Dt,

    Britain could move nuclear submarines to France if Scotland backs independence

    This is probably an appeasement move part on the ” deal” no doubt a political kneeling job to make up for the July the 3 1940 actions.

    2. After a couple of years they will introduce euthanasia, which will cut the waiting lists quite a lot.

    4. As you well know, death within seven years of a positive PCR test will be designated as Covid while deaths within seven hours of the jab will continue to be pure coincidence.

  21. 338393+ up ticks,

    Many have taken up with ” the jab” tis only a little prick, NFAN,

    The passport, only like a ticket to travel……………………..NFAN.

    The invasion at DOVER, just another boatload……………NFAN

    All for the good of the lab/lib/con coalition……………………NFAN

  22. I’m glad someone else has experienced the poor sound quality of the BBC TV series Vigil – I found the same problem with the ‘LIne of Duty’ series……same production team. Talking of Vigil, the sub is like the Tardis – vastly bigger on the inside than the outside

    2. When we had a Licence and watched BBC, my lasting memory was that most programmes had loud musak, with incidental speech

    3. Thinking back, “Jamaica Inn’ tanked for the same reason.
      There is a reason why acting requires light and clear diction.

    4. I don’t watch this stuff on beeboid telly. But I did notice that the boat’s* commander is as black as your hat. Set me wondering how many ship’s captains in the Royal Navy are bames….

      * “Boat” is what yer matelots call submarines – for some reason…!

    5. I enjoyed the Agatha Christie on BBC4 on Monday. Good, clear diction & sufficient volume. I then switched to BBC2 for the 2nd episode of “Vigil” and could hardly make out a word. All the actors gabbling away at whisper level.

      1. Good – we’ve got that recorded for when we’ve finished “The Killing” and Beck and Baptiste.

    6. One of the “Line of Duty” main actors was killed off quickly and I thought the canteen was too clean and commodious. I only saw the first episode last night then watched the “War Room” which was based on G W Bush’s reaction to 9/11. It was very interesting.

  23. Play The Game

    A retiree was given a set of golf clubs by his co-workers. Thinking he’d try the game, he asked the local pro for lessons, explaining that he knew nothing whatever of the game. The pro showed him the stance and swing, then said, “Just hit the ball toward the flag on the first green.”

    The novice teed up and smacked the ball straight down the fairway and onto the green, where it stopped inches from the hole. “Now what?” the fellow asked the speechless pro.
    “Uh… you’re supposed to hit the ball into the cup.” the pro finally said, after he was able to speak again.

    “Oh great! NOW you tell me!” said the beginner in a disgusted tone.

    1. At this stage I take that as a threat to coerce folk into obeying and having the Emergency use authorised ‘vaccine’ and accepting Vaccine passports. God help us all if it is activated not only in OZ but around the world.

      1. Do the powers that be in Australia not understand viruses? Do they understand that you can carry it even if you’re vaccinated? Do they understand you can transmit it, even if you’re vaccinated?

        A vaccine only helps you. It doesn’t help anyone else. A mask helps other people be protected from the various bacteria and viruses we all inhale and exhale on a daily basis. That’s why we’re mostly immune to them – we’re constantly getting infected with them so I can sort of understand asking folk to wear a mask. But enforcing vaccination? No, that’s just abuse.

        Thankfully we don’t have the psychotic Labour idiots in charge. That’d be us otherwise – with the gimmigrants still going into hotels.

      1. 338393+ up ticks,
        P,
        We could be incarcerated in the best hotel on the planet still does not compensate for being
        footloose and fancy……..

    1. Salami tactics, or boiling frog. Small slices until you don’t realise you’re a slave of the state.

      Of course, all dressed up in anti terrorism (comical as the state is importing them by the boatload) or child protection, that great nonsense.

  27. On the subject of petrol, I have just got back from filling our Jazz (well it’s tank..Peddy) with unleaded: £40.00 +

    I have to fill the Disco later, the nice lady on the till said that I could arrange a second mortgage to pay for it’s fuel

      1. I paid about £60 last week to fill mine – shame when fuel prices were low last year I wasn’t going anywhere. At least it does about 500 miles on that.

        1. Snap. Did the same yesterday. 43 litres cost £67.58. And that will give me almost exactly 500 miles!

          2. Nah – petrol. Having had diesels since 1988 – we we concerned about the modern attack on diesel and decided on petrol.

            Have to think VERY carefully when at the pump!!

            When filling up yesterday, I explained to the MR about the new buggerment and why I was paying gold for fuel – “Oh,” she said, “We are using four star, then?”….

            Bless her!!

    2. Some garages/ petrol providers are giving out advice leaflets to drivers about the change. GBnews discussed this last night on Farage and apparently an E12 variant is a suitable fuel but 10p a litre more expensive. I advise you to check this out before filling up.

  28. MoH is an Executor. Nine weeks ago she completed the multiple forms for probate and IHT. The probate office told her that she would have to wait 8 weeks before they would take any enquiries. In the 9th week she telephoned the probate office to be told that they had yet to receive IHT paid confirmation from HMRC. (It was paid at the time of submission and receipt of forms acknowledged by HMRC). So today a phone call to the IHT office of HMRC established that although they aim to process IHT forms in 15 days, MOH’s application was still, 9 weeks on, in a queue of over 400 waiting to be processed. She now has to wait another week to find out whether her application has been processed and the Probate office notified. If they have she will only have to wait upt o three weeks to receive probate to enable her to proceed to wind up the deceased’s estate.

    And I thought Terry Gillam’s Film ‘Brazil was a satire – turns out to have been a documentary…

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRfoIyx8KfU

    1. No real consolation given the obvious hassle you are experiencing, but before Covid I applied online for probate for my late mother’s accounts. HMRC were fairly swift and the probate registry even more so – all very painless – and FAR quicker than actually getting the money released from Barclays! By contrast I have just applied for my late Dad’s RAF records – apparently “due to Covid” it might take a while!!

    2. Don’t you know we’re in the middle of a Deadly Pandemic? How can civil servants be expected to live up to their own high standards when they are working from home, which is just as efficient as coming to the office and saves the polar bears at the same time?

    3. Now let’s turn it on it’s head and there’s a ticket price to the service. Say £250. They don’t get paid until they’ve processed the claim. For every week after the first, they lose £50.

      Let’s not have it as a government agency, but a standalone office. Ostensibly it’s a quango, but one privately funded.

  29. American citizens are truly very generous:…

    “The Biden administration has pledged to provide Ukraine with an additional $60 million in military aid ahead of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s first face-to-face meeting with Biden, which is scheduled for Wednesday.”

    3. Good morning to everyone and another gloriously gloomy day here. My what a wonderful summer we are having! Hunter has been appointed special advisor to the Ukrainian President at a kick back of a million per week, 50% to the old man! Not true but more than possible considering how crooked the Biden’s are.

  31. Good late morning from an Anglo Saxon Queen with blooded axe and longbow in handbag .

    Apparently we are expected a 3 day heatwave next week, followed by weeks of storms,
    I don’t give a toss about a measly few days of over the top hot weather early autumn, too late .
    I’m not in hunkering down mode . Warm clothes, comfort food such as mashed potatoes and cannot be bothered with anything else for a few days of heatwave of which we’ll suffer for afterwards .

    1. Nah – the heatwave was LAST week – followed by THIS week – “Jam Tomorrow” we used to call it. It’s all bollox.

      1. I’m not very good at cake making, even the garden sparrows turn their noses up.
        Inherited cake making skills from my parents:-)

      1. I’d imagine that’s more likely to arrive. We’ll be on holiday down in Devon on the river Dart in a few weeks, don’t care it its chilly as long as its not wet .

  32. I got an email from the Electoral reform society today reminding me that the Voter ID bill is due in Parliament again next week. The government [ dictators] will spend £20million extra to provide for the ID for each election. The Electoral Reform Society have a petition for presentation to the government and is asking for support.

  33. Be interesting to see how Hungarian football fans react to Marxist-grovelling England footballers tonight. By all accounts relatively recent Hungarian history makes them strongly opposed to such inane gestures.

  34. Interesting.
    A Muslim has been convicted of hate speech against a convert to Islam. The convert would appear to be a homosexual.
    How any homosexual can be persuaded to become a Muslim is a mystery, but given that converts often turn into zealots the police should be tracking this guy as much as his oppressor.

    https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/omar-mohamad-uncle-omar-preacher-homophobic-remarks-speakers-corner-hyde-park-b953323.html?itm_source=Internal&itm_channel=homepage_banner&itm_campaign=breaking-news-ticker&itm_content=4

      2. Exactly what I was about to say but you beat me to it. Our special friend wants to see if fairies really can fly!

  35. Even medication reviews are done by telephone, how on earth can they know how well or unwell you are merely by speaking to you on the telephone. Covid is now the national ( if not international) illness and the medical profession is milking it for all its worth.

  36. Apropos the earlier discussion about women — properly — scrubbing doorsteps, as is their station, I present an invention dating from the industrial revolution (1873), which correctly and efficiently utilised “wasted female power” to operate a cradle rocker and milk churn simultaneously. This practical use of “latent female energy” is something forgotten in the mists of time and which, I propose, could easily be brought back today. The only thing missing, in this day and age, is the requisite discipline required for the device to work efficiently and competently.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8787e28b3f308886810d0fef449d12a0b372246b73d8fd35176c4dcb796d5976.jpg
    NEW DOMESTIC MOTOR

    The inventor of the device which we present not only employs the hitherto wasted female power to oscillate a cradle, but at one and the same time to vibrate the dasher of a churn. By this means, it will be observed, the hands are left free for darning stockings, sewing, or other light work while the entire individual is completely utilized.

    Fathers of large families of girls, Mormons, and others blessed with a superabundance of the gentler sex, are thus afforded an effective method of diverting the latent feminine energy, usually manifested in the pursuit of novels, beaux, embroidery, opera-boxes, and bonnets, into channels of useful and profitable labour.

    The apparatus consists of a lever A suspended from the ceiling or other suitable support from a swivelled hook and staple. In the extremities of the lever A are formed slots through which pass bolts and nuts which secure the adjustable arms B. To the eyes of the bolts are attached the ends of two ropes, which pass around double guide pulleys fastened to the floor and then to two single pulleys, arranged one beneath the forward and the other beneath the rear part of the rocking-chair. The ends of the ropes are secured, as shewn, to the rings of the latter.

    Near the extremities of the arms B sliding weights are placed, by moving which the lever can be properly balanced. Just inside the weights is secured on one arm the dasher of the churn, and at the other a cord communicating with a cradle rocker.

    2. The flaw in that is the woman sitting down. She ought to be slaving over a sink or washing copper…!!

      (Takes cover)

        1. That is the truth. I remember in Libya that the women would toil in the fields, more like scrubland to us. The men would sit under a tree, in the shade, smoking as they chatted and watched the animated tents did their thing. At least Libyan tents were white not black, so a small mercy there, I suppose.

          I remember one incident where, driving down the road, we spied a woman literally staggering along with an enormous pile of firewood on her back. Hubby was sitting on the donkey surveying the world in contentment. My father, outraged, stopped the car, hauled the wretch of the donkeys back and yelling at him in Arabic, ordered the man to put the wood on top the donkey. Meanwhile his missis was screaming and crying her head off because, no doubt, when they got home she would have received a beating for my fathers “discourteousness”.

          1. I rememember my mother asking my father to stop the car when we came across a dippa dappa, overladen with wood and gourds of water , and the Arab was driving this poor beast onwards by lashing it . Poor thing . it’s head was low as it struggled with the weight of it’s cargo . A donkey has much to bear .. and my mother got out of the car and snatched the whip , and remonstrated with the man.

            I don’t know what happened after that.

    3. Anyone who uses the term ‘the gentler sex’ hasn’t visited an all girls school or worked on a female locked ward.

        2. Wonderful films, lots of fun. I think everyone would have loved to go to a school like that.

      3. Or even played mixed hockey. The chaps were quite deferential and hesitant, the ladies were not.

  37. I’m supposed to have a yearly blood test to check if a main organ is behaving itself and working as it should. The year before last I couldn’t due to Covid and last year with my telephone medical review apt, I spoke to a strange Asian sounding doctor, I asked him for a blood test form and he replied ” we’re all busy atm, I’m sure you can understand, just ask for one later in the year and have you Covid symptoms such as a cough “. He couldn’t give a toss and there is the fact that they aren’t answering the phone to talk to parents anyway and ask you to do everything online of which doesn’t always work. It’s a disgrace.

      1. Hello Mr Viking, that’s a good idea,or I could send him a blooded arrow with a note attached .

    2. As I have reported this week, we are lucky in Fulmodeston. I needed a similar blood test – e-mailed and got an appt three days later. Needed to see nurse – e-mailed ad was seen 2 hours later. The MR wanted to see a Dr – e-mailed – seen the next morning face to face.

      1. When I lived in Mileham I had to arrange my BP and blood test. In Sussex they contact me and I go in for my revue,about a month befor the due date.

    3. I was contacted by my doctor to have my yeraly blood and BP test in june without problem. I am mask exempt .

      1. I’m pleased that you were able to, it does seem to be a matter of luck .
        Our surgery used to be a in a little building in the village, small but very good,
        but it’s now a huge medical centre and not the same.

    5. Because I’m on Warfarin, I have to have regular blood tests for INR (thinness of blood). During 2018-19 I had 31 tests and in 2020-21 (to date) I have had 22. All without incident in the booking thereof.

      1. I’m on Rivaroxaban and that requires no testing.
        Perhaps the downside is, there is no antidote.

    6. I had a blood test in October last year and in March this year, both at my usual surgery.

    7. I had a catheter put in, that was 10 days ago. The district nurse was supposed to visit me the next day. I’m still waiting. The result is that the hospital is supplying me with everything I need. My next door neighbour is picking everything up tomorrow. Can’t praise the hospital to highly. As for my local surgery and the district nurse, utterly useless.

  39. I just answered a comment to me. But it is something I would like to throw open to the older people here. I was born in occupied Germany in 1948 to provide a perspective of my attitude according to ones place in the generations that now live. Do you find, as I do, that the English have become far more coarse in terms of their sensibilities to others than when we were younger. I find that the sense of fairness, elementary decency, and simple compassion is fast disappearing to be replaced with a coarseness, a willingness to judge on the most superficial appearances. A sense of magnanimity that, to me, is a typical English attribute, has gone and our lives have become brutalized in a way that I do not think of as being truly English.

    2. Tolerance, the stiff upper lip, each to their own etc etc – all rapidly disappearing.

      Tiny example. IN Norwich Museum yesterday, the MR opened a door – two teenagers, the other side, immediately walked through. To be fair, they did thank her. But 20+years ago, they would have waited for the two people (combined ages 147) to go first.

      1. I think that in that particular instance politeness depends which way the door is opening.

        If I pull it towards me to open I hold it for others to pass, if I push it open I go through and then hold it for others.
        The point in this case is that they said thank you.

          1. Years ago, approaching a glass door to a shopping centre I could see a young woman, with a pushchair , I pulled the door open and stood back for her to come through. TEN people rushed past me and in front of the woman. . Not a word from any one of them, but plenty from me to them. As she pushed the pram through the open door one even strode OVER the child !!! – and carried on going. The look on the womans face was incredible. She thanked me and said ” Nice to see SOMONE has still got manners here” – I shouted to her – bad news – I’m not from here. ” Should have known THAT” came the reply as she walked off shaking her head in disbelief.

          2. If they were the large banging doors you were describing yesterday, surely they would have closed behind you, had you gone first? To hold them open as you pass through would cause both parties to be in the doorway simultaneously.

          3. Different door.

            I still believe that, once upon a time, the youngsters would have held back.

            As we now have in the UK a completely child-centred way of life – it would not occur to anyone under 40 to think of other people.

          4. I suspect you are right; it staggers me how rude the parents become if you suggest that you don’t want their little darlings running around your table in a restaurant or that they might consider being quieter in a library.

          5. One of the bigger culture-shocks which I experienced when i returned to Blighty was the high level of noise in libraries from adults.

      3. Visited a friend today (to drop off a birthday present) and the granddaughter (schools don’t go back until next week) constantly interrupted when adults were speaking. I bit my tongue, but she would have been told to wait and take her turn if she had been mine.

    4. Morning Jonathan. There is little doubt that the UK; and England in particular, has suffered not only a decline in behaviour; litter, language, public drunkenness and criminality etc. but an absolute collapse in morality. Look around! Drug taking. The State corruption of children. The Vacuity of mass entertainment. The decadence of the Political Elites. This is Babylon!

    5. We gave it all away in 1973 when Heath threw in the towel. I don’t have a country anymore, thankfully I’m on the way out so I don’t give a sh*t….

      1. Most of us on here are “on the way out” too Plum. Unfortunately we are so incensed at what is being done to the island, culture and people who built this place up, we can’t “don’t give a sh1t”. Not saying you are wrong, just some of us are still wasting our time at what the idiots are welcoming for themselves.

        When the “woke” REALLY wake up – they certainly won’t be able to get back from living in the UK 3rd world shothole, the one they so wanted. Of course, THAT will be OUR generations fault too.

        1. I feel totally helpless watching this country destroy itself. My vote is worthless unless used as a ‘none of the above’ protest…
          If the youngsters could tear themselves away from their smartphones occasionally they might just wake up in time…..
          .

        1. Me too. We have to do something, because the younger ones don’t have the life experience that we do. For example, they can’t remember things being any different.

    6. Yes they are far more ignorant of facts. They do not want to learn the realities of life and want to remain in childhood. They believe in their handheld brain.

    7. The BBC has led the slide of popular culture into brutishness all my life. If you are talking about books, music, films, broadcasts etc then yet it has become coarse, vulgar and obsessed with sex.
      The dumbing down of the school curriculum has also played a part – very few who went to school after about the mid 80s have had a Christian education, for example. They simply don’t even know what Christianity is all about. History too has suffered.
      Blair’s other wrecking measures like extended opening hours for pubs have played their part in normalising drunkenness.

      Ordinary people? I don’t know. I would say the above has had an impact. Somethings, once seen, can’t be unseen. However, think of Hogarth’s Gin Lane. This behaviour was always with us.
      It could be that what used to be called “the lower working class” is not more numerous, but is simply louder and more visible, thanks to the likes of the Daily Mail.

      1. …it has become coarse, vulgar and obsessed with sex.

        Yes particularly deviant sex of which it is an enthusiatic supporter and employer of its practitioners!

      2. It is not only louder and more visible, bb2, it is also more amongst us – at earlier points in history coarse behaviour was mostly restricted to certain areas. The bbc and other media has a lot to answer for by normalising the Hogarth type of behaviour on a monkey see, monkey do basis. And all deliberate, all part of the destruction of the middle classes and their values in their determination to follow Gramsci’s determination to “make the West so corrupt that it stinks”. And they have succeeded. We are just about there.

    12. Do you think it is anything to do with the fact that men, husbands & fathers used to be the ones to uphold honour, and set out the principles/ethics in the family? (Or not, of course, also).Quietly or no, ultimately they would probably decide.
      With the young couple I have mentioned, she is very emotional, vacillating, not particularly intelligent but barks out all the orders.
      He looks on like her puppy dog, and does as he is told, barely says a word.
      Men have lost authority…and while perhaps some of this was necessary for balance, I definitely think it has gone far too far the other way.

  41. Daily Express hedging their gender bets a bit here?:

    ‘Ellie Simmonds has retired from the Paralympics after his disqualification in the S6 400m freestyle final. The 26-year-old was reduced to tears speaking on Channel 4 after the race, admitting that she had planned to retire after Tokyo 2020’.

  42. Hi NoTTlers try –
    The Kindness Test.
    A huge public science project, wants to prove that it’s cool to be kind.
    TRY a little tenderness, so the classic song goes… now scientists are attempting to find out how kind we are as a nation and how it gives us a boost.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2810cd82b2d8cf721c66711d27162a39876e458e82b9a361fd88086a4483c96d.jpg

    https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1484896/the-kindness-test-public-science-project-cool-to-be-kind
    Get stuffed…..

    1. The amount of kindness in the world would increase expontentially if we got rid of socialism, big tech, the BBC etc.

    2. As in kindness waving in the world,? giving them free lives? telling them THEY get first housing? Free cash? Free lawyers? Free NHS? Free to enforce THEIR backward savage culture on us? free to show their gratitude by raping women ? – – kindness only works on people who understand what kindness is in the first place. Certainly NOT appreciated by ungrateful barbariic savages demanding we bow and scrape to their every whim.

    3. Studies in nature, tit for tat, and Game Theory, all suggest that co-operating is the best opening move and continues to be so as long as others do the same. It seems to me that some immigrants who came here made good moves, reciprocating the warmth and welcome that they received, Irish, Poles Italians.
      Some have not. The obvious most flagrant example are muslims. They have reject assimilation, and contributing to our society. Quite the opposite. They have mounted repeated unprovoked tracks, massacres, and created a climate of fear. Who does not feel a frisson of trepidation on public transport if there is a brown face or a burka visible?

    1. I wonder how many of the 57,000 complaints came from “Princess Pinocchio” as the Mail refers to her today?

      1. Or her “followers”?

        I wonder if there is a way – should one have a number of followers – to transfer the whole lot onto a complaining message.. To make it seem as though the whole world is up in arms.

        1. We need to get into space and give the woke Left their own moon. Same for the islamists. Labour voters can live on an asteroid somewhere in the Kuiper belt.

          Then, with unlimited space, and significantly more resources we can properly defend this planet and make it a veritable paradise free from the detritus of the Left.

      2. There are an awful lot of people who think Megan is the bees knees and awfully hard done by.

        These same people are usually wokists (who’ve never had an original thought yet are obsessed with green and Marxism – understanding none of it)

  44. OT. While watching University Challenge (despite the smug Paxman) I have been surprised at the almost complete ignorance of the basic geography of England.
    Presumably, it isn’t taught any more – and no one needs a map because the smart phone (and GPS) will do it all for them. Weird – to me, at any rate.

    1. Yes Bill and the same goes for using online dictionaries.

      There is no substitute for a proper dictionary.

      1. One of the things Jonathan Myles-Lea was very hot on, was proper printed books. Having been cancelled from various places on the t’internet, he was very aware of how fragile online information is.
        I am hanging onto my reference books.

        The other day I went to buy a walker’s map – they don’t stock them any more – everyone uses Google maps apparently – who is this “everyone” of whom you speak?
        My daughter and I have both been wrongly directed by Google maps – they are not as reliable as they look, plus the security of course.

        2. During my pootles throughout Europe in the days before mobile telephones and what not I learned myself a bit of Frog, Gherman and I-talian. I had a horrific accent, mangled most of the words, but I think that I tried was the thing most folk appreciated.

          I became fluent at saying ‘Ma Francais c’est ne pas bon’ and apologising a lot.

          These days kids take a telephone and it does the work for them, all the way to maps. No effort in finding the tourism place, trying to talk to people, getting a map, learning your bearings.

      2. I had a bit of fun with a real dictionary on my Swedish course in Kiel. There were me & 2 German students on the course, which was held in German – no problem for me. One morning we had a young Swedish tutor, still wet behind the ears, whose German was a little shaky.
        There are 2 verbs in German which are similar in spelling: vorschlagen – to suggest, and verschlagen – which has a variety of meanings depending on context. I asked the tutor about any similarity in Swedish. One of the Germans, who was a rival of mine, leapt down my throat & vehemently said there was no such word as the latter in the German language. I opened the dictionary in front of me & there it was: a whole column inch. I tossed the open book down in front of him & said, “Für ein Wort, das gar nicht existiert, hat es einen mächtigen Beitrag,” (“For a word which doesn’t even exist, it has a mighty big entry,”) You should have seen his face!

      3. I had a bit of fun with a real dictionary on my Swedish course in Kiel. There were me & 2 German students on the course, which was held in German – no problem for me. One morning we had a young Swedish tutor, still wet behind the ears, whose German was a little shaky.
        There are 2 verbs in German which are similar in spelling: vorschlagen – to suggest, and verschlagen – which has a variety of meanings depending on context. I asked the tutor about any similarity in Swedish. One of the Germans, who was a rival of mine, leapt down my throat & vehemently said there was no such word as the latter in the German language. I opened the dictionary in front of me & there it was: a whole column inch. I tossed the open book down in front of him & said, “Für ein Wort, das gar nicht existiert, hat es einen mächtigen Beitrag,” (“For a word which doesn’t even exist, it has a mighty big entry,”) You should have seen his face!

    2. The shipbuilding question was indeed embarrassing. However, it was a history question that caught my attention:

      “Which Persian dynasty was overthrown by the Arabs in the mid-7th century?”

      The Arabs? THE ARABS? So very BBC. Don’t mention the I-word!

          2. It’s an important point. Islam displaced Persia’s Zoroastrianism as it started out on its intercontinental tour of destruction.

            BTW, one of the students knew the answers to two of the questions on Persia. The one he didn’t know was about the establishment of Shia Islam in Persia at the start of the 16th century.

    4. I was appalled by that, too.

      On the shipbuilding questions in the program, for the first time in her life my wife got an answer none of the contestants did. Then a few moments later, she did it again. She may not have travelled much, but she has watched Portillo’s railway programmes.

    5. Sarc. Sometimes with regards to Paxo he gives the impression he already knew all of the answers, and it’s all so boring. I sometimes wonder if it’s because he has all of the answers to hand. Double Sarc. Or even Cutting Sarc.

          1. I was very disappointed when we finally went to see it/her a few years ago. And Greenwich market square was vey much like walking through the town at Djibouti. We couldn’t get on the DLR quickly enough.
            But we had a lovey day out on the tall ships a superb Birthday treat a trip on a Dutch sailing boat, with drinks and canapes, up yer old Father Thames to Tower bridge and back to Greenwich. I had some excellent photographs, but lost them all when my phone suddenly stopped working.

          2. Of course, the vessel posing as the Cutty Sark has been rebuilt at least twice after fires.

        1. Same here Bill, he’s just another horrible git.
          But could of course be replace with Ainsley Harriot. It’s only reading out questions and answers any one can do that.

    6. Sarc. Sometimes with regards to Paxo he gives the impression he already knew all of the answers, and it’s all so boring. I sometimes wonder if it’s because he has all of the answers to hand. Double Sarc. Or even Cutting Sarc.

  45. Ho hum, who to trust?

    Give Covid vaccine to children, says Gavin Williamson

    Think carefully about Covid booster jabs and roll-out to children, says expert ‘raises ethics questions’

    1. Depends on the “expert”…

      Anyone raises “ethical issues” is likely to disappear rapidly from the public gaze.

    2. Give Covid vaccine to children, says Gavin Williamson.

      This is as good a reason as any, and better than most, for doing nothing of the kind!

      1. A politician is telling you to have your child injected.
        Surely, this will wake a few people up?…surely?

        2. BBC radio presenters are telling teenagers to get jabbed too. Text the radio prog, ask what medical qualifications they have, and ask them if someone dies, after hearing the presenters advice and following it, would they feel responsible in any way?

          2. There’s a radio ad, on Greatest Hits, that has been running for at least three weeks advising the 18 – 30 cohort to get “vaccinated” so they don’t miss out on whatever 18 – 30 yo types do these days. The ad has been informing listeners all that time that two thirds or so of the cohort has been jabbed, the total hasn’t increased. If the campaign was as successful as the PTB claim then the total would be increasing and that increase would be big news in their campaign. I doubt that anyone outside of very few and very senior people know the true figure. The whole episode is a scam, so why not the figures of the jabbed. Johnson has moaned/raged on more than one occasion about the, “…significant minority,” that have not accepted his generous offer. Now his mad dash to get the kids done before the Winter flu season opens. The mad dash is also being copied in the USA and Canada, what do they know or suspect may happen?

  46. MANCHESTER United footballer Aaron Wan-Bissaka is due to appear at Skipton Magistrates’ Court to face a speeding matter next month.

    The 23-year-old right-black appeared in the dock at Manchester Magistrates’ Court yesterday, Wednesday, when he pleaded guilty to driving while disqualified, without a licence and without insurance, but will deny a speeding offence at a trial next year.
    He was then stopped while behind the wheel of his £160,000 Lamborghini Urus on June 23 in Manchester, where roadside police checks revealed, unbeknown to him, he had been banned from driving.

    Wan-Bissaka is still allowed to drive until the trial, a spokesman for the footballer told the PA news agency.

    Poor lad, didn’t know he had been convicted. My heart bleeds for him.

      1. Of course – the preferred colour – and he would be SOOO inconvenienced if he was stopped – he could just employ a chauffeur but probably hasn’t thought about that, Sure he can afford it.

    4. It’s so hard being a footballer. Was this the same one who thought he was going to be put in the VIP wing of a prison (as reported by the Daily Mail yesterday, so it must be true).

      1. On the football radio prog, the comment was made “They’re tired – 2 games in 48 hrs !!” – so 3 hrs work in 2 days?? Stop for a break after 45 minutes !! And the hourly rate was??? I feel SOOOOO sorry for them.

    5. He’ll pay ‘a fixer’ to get away with it. It has probably made him depressed and vulnerable with mental health issues.

    6. Beckham got caught on this one as well.

      The very expensive lawyer opened with
      “You have 5 days to contact the offender, don’t you?”
      Police man says “Yes, that is correct.”
      “And you sent the letter on the Tuesday, the 2nd day of the offence?”
      “Yes.”
      “And you sent it second class?”
      “Yes”
      “Well, my client didn’t receive it until Monday morning.”

      Case dismissed.

  47. Radio on about “Fresh Prince of Bel Air” restarting with a new “Will Smith” – – hope the new one is white – if not – – WHY NOT? Lots of shouting about black people playing white roles – so see if the reverse is ok – won’t hold my breath.

          1. She started her presenting career on BBC Look East. Probably lacking the desired impact. I make sure that I never watch C4 News John Snow being “hideously white” was enough to finish me off.

    2. It was once explained that people such as TV presenters were given their privileged, exalted and well paid positions solely on expertise popularity and on merit. This obviously is a concept that has been, as have many others have in broadcasting and TV content, thrown out with the bath water.

      1. They put their left leg in, their left leg out, do the dopey wokey and turn around, knee bend arm raise, blah blah blah.

  49. 338393+ up ticks,
    Worth a listen, maybe if you insist on continue being a mask wearer then as useless as I believe them to be steeped in iodine may bring some benefit, there again your @rse may fall off.

    Check it out with “your” MP, reverse his advice for assurance.

    https://youtu.be/troI-qjV0kc?t=2100

      1. 338393+ up ticks
        Afternoon W,
        That is a question for the politico number manipulators,

        I believe a great deal depends if the peoples fear element is lapsing, then the hung,drawn & quartered
        died of covid.

      2. I’ve lost count of the number of photos of people who have sadly died, and the elephant in the room is their weight.

    2. I have a cloth tape measure at home which is used for waist measurement (not trouser waist sizes). It is colour coded: So for men it is coloured green all the way up to 37″: Amber 37″ to 40″ and Red above 40″. Why these colours – results of postmortems…….

  50. Morning all, been busy making 2 kilos of bread. One kg white that makes two large Tins and one kg whole meal with granary and mixed seeds that makes 4 medium sized ‘artisan’ that means i have no idea how they’ll end up. My upper arms and shoulders arms are aching from being needy. 😉

    Face-to-face contact underpins the practice of medicine – so why should GPs be exempt from it?

    Has any one else considered the reason why GPs across the whole country have locked themselves away from Covid ? Is because they might have been forewarned of the consequences that as the ‘vaccine’ isn’t really a vaccine and just a further part of the human experiment and the side effects can not be monitored nor controlled. So unless they keep out of harms way they are in the dangerous to health front line. I was once told they are helping out with the jabs but how is that different from seeing patients in their surgeries. It makes no particular sense. And now apparently the ‘vaccines’ have been and are being altered, as they were obviously not up to expectations. Or the scare factor wasn’t quite working as well as the ‘THEY‘ thought. You only have to look at the way the authorities have over reacted in Australia and NZ for suspicions to have been raised several notches.

      1. Apparently after making inquiries/enquiries 😉 I was told it’s the right of a person seeking medical advice to be seen by a quack. Therefore as you rightly suggest Plum they are ducking out of it. What a tangled web (of feet) they weave when first they practice to deceive. I nest my case.

      2. Apparently after making inquiries/enquiries 😉 I was told it’s the right of a person seeking medical advice to be seen by a quack. Therefore as you rightly suggest Plum they are ducking out of it. What a tangled web (of feet) they weave when first they practice to deceive. I nest my case.

      3. Pay them according to patients seen not the number they have on their lists.
        Problem solved!

      4. I rather like the ancient Chinese tradition. You paid the doctor a fee while you were well. When you were sick you stopped paying him because it was his job to keep you well. Illness was considered a failure on the part of the doctor, not doing his job properly.

    2. I’m not convinced about the conspiracy part – there are so many, surely some would have let slip the secret? In any case, a secret isn’t a secret if you tell people.
      I reckon they saw they get paid for sitting on their arse in front of the PC, no pesky, sweaty, putrefying bodies to deal with, easy life, no loss of money. What’s not to like?

      1. I can fully understand why you say that Obs, nothing is at all clear, they would entitled not want so many patients, it’s similar to having to pay the compulsory TV licence fee and not watch BBC. But now in the UK, at least the once out of work rescued interpreters will be busy. I can’t quite imagine how registration with a GP might happen or a three way telephone consultation conversation might work. With no chance of a physical examination. Welcome to freely accessible UK. But not for the locals or those who actually are obliged to pay for it.

        1. I’d be willing to bet the newly arrived Afghanis and the south coast illegals, along with their free interpreters, will get to see proper GPs face-to-face. They won’t need to trouble themselves with attempting to register with a GP – the whole rigmarole will be done for them. Free prescriptions too.

          1. And tax rises are in the offing right now.
            Not only will there be face to face appointments the out of work interpreters will come in useful. and the appointment times of ten minutes for us, will be doubled for them.

      2. Actually, I think it’s pretty likely.
        You are a GP – you know that speaking out what you suspect about the vaccines will lose you money, get you aggro and may result in you losing your job. Plus actually researching the vaccines enough to give competent, informed advice will take hours of your time.
        Do you
        a) fearlessly tell the truth?
        b) Tell everyone to get the jab because you get paid, and when they mention side effects, laugh heartily, assure them that those are a myth, and tell them to book their booster?
        c) Hide away at home and avoid patients and their questions?

        Given human nature, most will opt for c).

        2. Some would. In all the 17 GPs in the country, one would have a conscience… Then do a Dr Kelly.

      1. Indeed. Not a “doctor” to be seen. But, there again, nurses are so much better at that sort of thing (and at tending and treating wounds) than often ham-fisted doctors.

        1. Doctors and needles are not a good combination.
          Stick to nurses and phlebotomists (aka vampires).

          2. Many years ago, a hospital doctor attempted to perform a blood test on me. Hopeless! After several failed attempts, he brought in a nurse who succeeded immediately. The doctor was from Transylvania (he told me this as he introduced himself) so should have had the blood taking down to a fine art…..

      2. Absolutely correct ATG, but i know there were some retired doctors helping out.
        The receptionist at our surgery told me “they were saving peoples lives by giving them the vaccine”.

        1. They cannot claim to be “saving peoples lives” unless that person is heading for certain death from no intervention.

      3. My second jab was done by the youngish, newish doctor from our practice ( he was wearing a name badge – couldn’t see much of his face) moonlighting at another practice where they were doing the jabs.

      4. First one done by a nurse in one of the linked practices; second one done by my GP in the surgery we normally use.

  51. Surprised to learn from R4 that 7cm of rain fell in Central Park yesterday. Did they mean 2 3/4″?

    1. And that’s another thing…grrr.

      2.75 inches… grrr

      7.65 ounces… grrr

      Will go and have a lie down…

      1. Even worse: 6.5′. I learnt all sorts of weights and measures from the back of an exercise book, kindly furnished by Surrey Education Authority. What’s more, I enjoyed.

  52. I have just received my investment back into my current account. Invested for one year with LLoyds fixed saver.

    Interest at 0.8% = £80

    The rate has just gone down to 0.02%.

    Should i…?
    A. Re-invest.
    B. Spend it.
    C. Burn it to keep warm.

    2. Send it to Calais to help buy another dinghy so more dangerous lying freeloaders can get here and enrich us ( themselves really ).

      Waiting for someone to do a charity ad/video where they appeal for donations “We only want a better life” – ( at your expense ) sung in 300 different languages – maybe even a catchy song and dance routine too?

    4. As a financial shake-up is thought by many people to be likely, I would plant it in something that can’t lose its value* (if you’re not likely to need it in a hurry).
      Obligatory link to We’re-all-doomed blog:
      https://australianvoice.livejournal.com/57270.html
      James Delingpole interviews a couple of financial bods last year who also thought that we’re all doomed. Plus there was a Mail article about six months ago that pointed out how overblown with recklessly printed cash the stock market is.

      *Investors are warned that if blackbox were a financial genius, she would be rich.

    5. That’s £10,000. My friend runs a discreet fund that only wealthy people can use, but he hates that the likes of Blair, Johnson and Starmer force him to keep it secret. He therefore allows others to invest with him secretly and will pay 10% every year; he’s made my £25,000 interest payment this year, so you can trust him. He’s successful, because he bought a £225,000 Ferrari the day after I gave him my £250,000 and he’s just had it shipped it out to his mansion in Nigeria.

    6. Actually, I have the same problem as you. Looking round for somewhere to park it. Gold is at its historically most expensive ever. Shares over-blown. Cryptos a gamble. Property too expensive, unless I get some hideous buy toilet. Woodland great for parking small amounts of capital, but brings no income. Paintings a gamble (my kind of price range is exactly the sort of artist that would get faked). Etc.

      1. I’ve got far too much sitting in my current account at the moment because I’m not going anywhere to spend it and there’s little point moving it to get 0.1 interest. I could put more in my ISA but then it might be near the peak.

        1. I’d be flush.

          Seriously, I think investments like that can be excellent. Parking spaces are another one that’s popular round where I live.

      3. I invested in Crypto currencies. I bought in to five. I have since withdrawn my initial stake and my investment stands at £580.

        Of course it is a case of only invest what you can afford to lose. Now i can’t lose anything because i have had my money back.

        I’m hoping either Cardano or Ethereum go interstellar like Bitcoin did. But it doesn’t matter one way or t’other.

    7. If you can manage the excitement, I receive a whole 0.1% on cash in my investment accounts. Needless to say, cash balances are quite low.

      I too, a chunk of the inheritance from MIL and invested it in boring bank and Telcom shares back in March. Not only are they paying a decent dividend (about 4%} but they have gone up in value.

        1. Royal Mint and Bullion by Post I saw recommended yesterday, and the advice to buy coins rather than bars (!!!) as they are more easily redeemable (is that the right word?) if you wish to exchange small accounts for cash. Then you can have sleepless nights with your loot stashed underneath your pillow in a velvet draw-string bag…!

          I am seriously starting to think about it now, though this process may well take a few years.

    9. At the current inflation rate better to buy something that will appreciate, such as gold or, more likely, colbalt or lithium. Inflation is destroying the value of our incomes.

  59. …hope for previously untreatable illnesses…

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/health-fitness/body/gene-silencing-jab-cholesterol-could-transform-health/

    What better way for doctors to attempt to achieve health targets and therefore performance ratings than finding a condition that is untreatable. This means GPs can keep endlessly prescribing drugs for an ‘illness’ they have discovered that the patient didn’t necessarily know they had by virtue of not having reached the global measurable targets set for the whole world population by the World Health Organisation.

    One of the problems faced by Big Pharma is the requirement for new drugs to be assessed in a Thorough QT/QTc in a standalone clinical study:

    https://www.nuventra.com/services/pharmacokinetics-pharmacodynamics/thorough-qt-tqt-study-design/

    A new drug tested in this way for therapeutic treatment of a given illness can be prescribed by a GP and will be labelled as such for that illness. However it is far easier to prescribe drugs that might possibly work alone or in combination to treat something else in dealing what they think could be an ‘untreatable illness’. These drugs are known to be prescribed as ‘off label’.

    An example of this is when Donald Trump sought a preventative treatment for COVID-19. His medical team did prescribe Hydroxychloroquine as an ‘off label’ preventative treatment but because the drug had not specifically been assessed for COVID-19 they took the added precaution of assessing Trump’s own increase in cardiac repolarization delay.

    It is possible that GPs are coming round to the conclusion that some illnesses, like not meeting the WHO cholesterol target, are actually untreatable. Many patients have found this out already after suffering from rhabdomyolytic muscular paralysis after treatment with statins.

    This recently announced cholesterol treatment involves an injectable form of a genetic PCSK9 inhibitor.

    Here’s the lowdown:

    https://www.heartuk.org.uk/getting-treatment/pcsk9-inhibitors

    1. I think a lot of these treatments for cholesterol, high blood pressure etc just interact with each other and make people more ill than if they were left alone.

      1. My GP couldn’t believe I had been taking the full doses of each the four drugs he had prescribed for hypertension after my blood pressure began reaching critically high levels.

        I told him I was ceasing them all forthwith against his advice.
        Instead of accepting that my hypertension was untreatable ( clinically defined as failure to respond to four coadministerd drugs) he withdrew his services from me as my GP.

        1. So did you get another one? As far as I can see, the more drugs people take, the more ill they get.

          2. People respond to drugs in different ways depending on their genetics.
            I found that my susceptibility to drugs resulted from my particularly long cardiac repolarising interval after confirming it on personal interpretive ecg machines.

            My primary care treatment became referred to a cardiac consultant after I referred myself to A&E during an episode of irregular heart rhythyns five years ago.

            I have an annual ecg and drug review with either the consultant or registrar. My new GP, whom I have never met, just signs off my repeat consultant presciptions.

      2. The lowering of ‘ideal’ blood pressure readings is a case in point.
        Effectively, the health experts expect an 80 year to have the same BP as a 20 year old. A goal achievable only with an awful lot of pill popping. Now, who would benefit from that, I wonder?

        1. Oddly enough, my GP (back in the days when one could actually see one) was worried about my BP. “Why?” I asked. “It’s the sort of level I would expect of a 17-year-old,” she said! “And that’s bad? Why exactly?” “Perhaps you’re just very fit,” she concluded. That, of course, was before lockdown. I am nowhere near as fit now.

  60. More from the bad losers camp. Femi is such a tit but entertainingly so.

    Wetherspoon is running out of beer – is this really the Brexit you voted for, Tim Martin?
    Can you imagine the entertainment value of watching Brexiteers argue with their past selves from 2016?

    Femi Oluwole

    https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/wetherspoon-tim-martin-beer-shortage-brexit-b1912497.html

    This Nigel Farage quote about Brexit not leading to ‘food shortages’ has aged terribly

    https://www.indy100.com/politics/nigel-farage-brexit-food-shortages-b1912382

    1. Next door neighbour came round this morning for coffee & chat – of course most of the problems we have at the moment are all the fault of Brexit. She’s a good friend but our politics are poles apart.

      1. And as we keep pointing out, the problems in our economy were in part created by our membership of the EU and most certainly exposed by Brexit.

    2. You need to get another photo taken of your self Independent Femi, you are looking rather smug and probably about nothing.
      And I imagine most people are more aware than the young lady is, that the EU and Brussels in particular the head quarters for a more dedicated version of the Sicilian mafia. And that’s basically why we left and since we did the Mafiosi have been doing their upmost to make things as difficult as possible for the UK. I wonder how long it might be until the Spanish farmers and fruit and veg growers kick up a stink as they cant can carry on with not selling tonnes of their produce to the UK. And it’s nothing to do with truck drivers, once again it all the mafia’s doing. The mafia have also stopped British drivers from driving on the continent by making their driving permits/licences null and void.

    4. The reason there are shortages is because of the supply chain, not Brexit. It’s just tiresome that they lie so glibly and pander to a willfully ignorant audience.

  61. More from the bad losers camp. Femi is such a tit but entertainingly so.

    Wetherspoon is running out of beer – is this really the Brexit you voted for, Tim Martin?
    Can you imagine the entertainment value of watching Brexiteers argue with their past selves from 2016?

    Femi Oluwole

    https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/wetherspoon-tim-martin-beer-shortage-brexit-b1912497.html

    This Nigel Farage quote about Brexit not leading to ‘food shortages’ has aged terribly

    https://www.indy100.com/politics/nigel-farage-brexit-food-shortages-b1912382

  62. More from the bad losers camp. Femi is such a tit but entertainingly so.

    Wetherspoon is running out of beer – is this really the Brexit you voted for, Tim Martin?
    Can you imagine the entertainment value of watching Brexiteers argue with their past selves from 2016?

    Femi Oluwole

    https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/wetherspoon-tim-martin-beer-shortage-brexit-b1912497.html

    This Nigel Farage quote about Brexit not leading to ‘food shortages’ has aged terribly

    https://www.indy100.com/politics/nigel-farage-brexit-food-shortages-b1912382

  63. Whyat on earth is this all about?

    British scientists are growing a new strain of WHEAT that has been genetically edited to reduce levels of asparagine – an amino acid linked to cancer when bread is toasted
    Experts from Rothamsted Research in Harpenden modified a strain of wheat
    Over the next five years they will plant and harvest the wheat to monitor changes
    It will be the first time wheat editing using a technique called CRISPR has been grown anywhere in the UK or Europe, but is in use in the US and China

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-9950917/British-scientists-growing-new-strain-gene-edited-wheat.html
    What is acrylamide?
    Acrylamide has been a very serious problem for food manufacturers since being discovered in food in 2002.

    It causes cancer in rodents and is considered ‘probably carcinogenic’ for humans.

    It occurs in bread and increases substantially when the bread is toasted, but is also present in other wheat products and many crop-derived foods that are fried, baked, roasted or toasted, including crisps and other snacks, chips, roast potatoes and coffee.

    1. Afternoon Belle. I have always eaten my toast burned. Consumed thousands of Bacon Sandwiches and I’m still here. No doubt when I finally drop dead someone will pronounce. “Those toast and bacon sarnies did it you know!”

    2. There wont be any land left to grow wheat on TB they government are building about one hundred thousand new homes on the Agricultural land.
      Not far from Rothampstead there’s a project to build at least 150plus homes on a small piece of ‘ex agricultural’ land.
      Indecently the old house where Eric Morecombe lived with his family, is on the Redbourn (B487) Road out of Harpinyarr (a very wealthy area) as the locals call it. His old home over looking the Golf course has been demolished and 4 built on the land, all around 1.8 million. Opposite the fields on the Rothampstead land.

        1. 😏 come on walter have you never had a problem with predictive text don’t get like Peddy the viking please………..

  64. When is the London Ulez expanding and who will have to pay? 2 September 2021.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3d97f349b02a19cff150c94e94e05a0036e98b6278ce7ed98816782eefe30fe3.jpg

    The ultra-low emission zone is due to expand from central London to the boundaries of the North and South Circular roads on October 25.

    City Hall estimates that about one in five vehicles in the enlarged 140 square mile zone will be liable to pay the Ulez £12.50-a-day levy, including 100,000 cars, 35,000 vans and 3,000 lorries.

    Here is everything you need to know ahead of the expansion, brought in to combat poor air quality in London, including who will be affected.

    I don’t live in London and I don’t own a car but I thought this interesting as an example of how everything dreamed up by Government always costs more. It is almost needless to say that I do not think that this will have the slightest effect on air quality!

    https://www.standard.co.uk/news/transport/when-ultra-low-emission-zone-ulez-expanding-who-will-have-pay-london-b942211.html

    1. Just another money-making scam that will make transport of essential items more expensive and also people like plumbers and building workers who need to use vans.

      1. Next they will make it active inside the M25.
        But not until they have built a few hundred thousand more houses in the vast green belt area.

    2. Tee hee- every diesel engined canal boat passing through London on the Ulez canal will not meet the clean air standards required!

      3. It always got me that you can drive over the LEZ on the M25 with the most foul smoky diesel with total impunity.

      1. It was expensive before they introduced the Zones. Parking was horrendously expensive if your job was going to take a week to finish.

        Only the richest and the poorest can afford to live there now. So much for diversity.

          3. Would’t bet on that, Missus. If a black foopballer (sic) can carry on driving with no licence, road tax or insurance -than thousands of similar non-wendyball players will do the same.

        2. Yes I’ve worked in those areas in the past, the main problem getting there is the traffic, then getting parked, sometimes parking is free except for a couple of hours in the middle of the day, so what do tradesmen do then, just lately they have introduced pedestrian and cycle only roads between certain times of the day, I have already had three tickets for driving down them unawares the signs are not very clear.
          The thing is you don’t get the ticket for about a week £ 65 in you pay quickly or £ 130 if you delay.
          Everyone i know has received one of these recently.
          A friend of mine went shopping in Kingston recently and got a £ 150 fine for dropping a dog end and a week later got another fine for a traffic offence.

    4. £600mn+ no doubt to be wasted on cycle lanes, traffic-calming (ie pollution increasing) initiatives but SFA on road repairs.

      1. Soon only the roads the elite go on will be repaired and kept smooth. WE won’t be allowed on, ANPR cameras will detect us. Auto destuct buttons remotely activated by computer will ensure we don’t do it again – EVER.

      2. Soon only the roads the elite go on will be repaired and kept smooth. WE won’t be allowed on, ANPR cameras will detect us. Auto destuct buttons remotely activated by computer will ensure we don’t do it again – EVER.

        2. If you live in London you don’t need to drive anyway; there are plentiful buses, trains and the Underground. It’s only out in the sticks you have to have your own transport (which the London-centric idiots in charge have absolutely no idea about).

      2. I have no intention of going to London ever again. “When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life.” So quoth Dr Samuel Johnson.

        Any relation to the Bumbling Boriis, one wonders?

    7. Just as long as it doesn’t reach Biggin Hill! I’ve given up going to Londonistan any way. The only reason I went was for the Battle of Britain service in the Abbey and that seems to have suffered Coviditis.

  65. 338393+ up ticks,

    So-Called Opposition: Labour MP Refuses to Confirm Whether Party Will Back Tories’ Vaccine Passports

    Opposition ? they are a coalition, have been for the last three decades
    I look upon the current supporter / voters as a multitude of chanty pot wrastlers in the main, so full of excreta.

  68. ‘Afternoon All

    Apparently the Aussie Truckers are going for it but the blockades are being totally censored

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/255532821921c7f78edd519e4aafe94cacfaa14e268ab780cf7dfc08272848d5.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8d9224165f692ab1a8fd900ce01c7d0917b39f353a2ed6872e4402237ce4bd41.jpg

    Police Forces all across Aus are “gearing” up for their violent response

    https://media.gab.com/system/media_attachments/files/083/816/275/original/6bf1ec917b4d3530.jpg

  69. As I wrote earlier American citizens are incredibly generous:

    “I have a dream keeper

    San Francisco thinks it may have an answer for its rising gun violence problem: Paying people to not pull the trigger.

    The idea is to provide the small number of San Franciscans who authorities believe are most at risk of shooting someone — or being shot — with an incentive to get help and stay out of trouble. It’s a solution that proponents say already has shown promise preventing gun crimes in other parts of California.

    At worst, the program could be called “cash for criminals,” like its predecessors in cities around the Bay Area. At best, it could save lives and tax dollars otherwise spent on incarceration.

    The program, which will launch as a pilot in October, is called the Dream Keeper Fellowship. It’s San Francisco’s latest iteration of a guaranteed-income program that will provide high-risk individuals with $300 a month as a start.

    Participants will be able to earn up to $200 more a month by hitting milestones in the program, such as landing a job interview, complying with probation or consistently meeting with a mentor.

    https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/a-local-solution-for-gun-violence-pay-people-300-a-month/

    3. Clearly the Leaders they have are not what they want.
      The Leaders they want are not what they need
      (Bad news coming)
      The Leaders they need cannot be obtained.

    4. One suspects that these “jobs” are merely vehicles for nepotism. They float off a couple of them on the new grants for whatever and then go through the motions of interviews and then Hey Presto Uncle Ali becomes a Head of Leadership on 75 grand a year with kick-backs for his nephew!

    8. I applied for a job a bit like that. They didn;’t select me, and I asked them why.

      Apparently I didn’t meet the person spec. I countered that the advert was unadulterated tripe and waffle, with no specific skills, requirements or activity and thus anyone could do it.

      They didn’t seem to understand.

    2. Not that I’m all that interested but if the refs were to send off a player for playacting i.e. cheating -the practice would soon stop.

      1. And the ref would be cancelled – never to appear again.

        People are mad. Some are paying £2,000 for a ticket to see the preening,self-obsessed Ronaldo turn out for Manchester. They would be mortified if this exemplary diver was sent off.

    3. Saw someone survive a 300+ mph crash at Santa Pod years ago. Only took him 4 seconds to get to that speed from standstill !! The engine ripped out ( safety design to do so ) and it ended up about 250 – 300 yds away in a field. Driver took to hospital, checked. Shook up but OK.

  72. Remember that daft bint from the slammer sharia mob? The one who said that the Taliban were lovely chaps?

    Funny how deafeningly silent she has been since her “brothers” starting killing women in Afghanistan….and gays and newsreaders etc etc (add the category of your choice…)

  75. Great. MB can’t have a routine blood test because there are no test tubes. He’ll have to ring again on Monday.

      1. Do we treat the people who pay taxes and pay for us – – or – do we line up ambulances and crews, paid for by the same people, at Dover to greet the invading replacements, who will NOT be paying any tax at all? Tough Decision.

        1. Walter, have you tried
          The Kindness Test, a huge public science project, wants to prove that it’s cool to be kind

          Thought not……

          1. In all honesty Plum, I have always been told, all through my life, that i’m a kind person. But – – Over the years I noticed that kindness wasn’t coming my way when I needed help. Everyone was either too busy,, got someting arranged or right at the last minute, call me amd apologise but couldn’t make it. I ALWAYS helped them if I said I would.Totalled up over the years, it has probably cost me several grand. Disappointed it was all one way – I started to give those that let me down, the same treatment. Suddenly, I, couldn’t make it, something arranged etc etc. I then became “the bad guy” – for doing to them, what they did to me.
            I have, very recently, had a truly wonderful compliment paid to me, by someone i’ve never met, but apparently, my texts over the last few years have been of great help to her. I wasn’t aware of this until she let me know. Too long a story to tell here, but her words did, genuinely, bring a tear to my eye.
            Sad that I get to being a pensioner before someone tells you how much you mean to them, even if they have never met you.

          4. Ta, I still class myself as a newbie outsider, working class, non uni educated slob. Quite honestly, You lot would cross the road to avoid me, based on looks alone. Others do. . . NOT joking.

          8. No, mate.
            Wouldn’t cross the road to avoid you. As an ugly bugger myself, we’d probably get on fine and end up in the pub having a swally or three together… Sigh… pub…

          9. Nowt wrong with being working class – all types here (even lawyers, FGS). Anyone who is obsessed with class isn’t worth dealing with, either, so anyone who shuns you because of that is making their life poorer by so doing.

          10. I have met quite a few Nottlers. People don’t really care about what someone looks like if they are well mannered. Oh, and stand a round ! :@)

            I never went to Uni either. State school boy me.

          11. I’m good at standing around, mostly looking at my feet and shuffling awkwardly… Oh! You mean buying beers! Why didn’t you say?
            I’ll get me anorak…

          12. Don’t be too sure. I suspect that most Nottlers take people as they find them.

            Yes, we all have our prejudices, but might it also be you avoiding people on looks/accent?

          13. I once mentioned that people avoided me, to a long time workmate. His answer – I know you’re not nasty, because i’ve known you for 20 years – – but – have you ANY idea how intimidating you are – just on looks alone? – it floored me !!

          14. Are you huge?
            I’m relatively small, just under 6ft and 12.5 stone, but was brought up by and had friends who were very large people by comparison. Most people might be intimidated, I just found them gentle giants.

          18. There are good and kind people out there, but well hidden as it’s not cool, and they tend to be taken advantage of.

          20. That’s what I thought, Walter, and I’m sorry your kindness has been taken advantage of. That’s not acceptable, but par for the course.
            I’m glad you got some positive feedback, even though it took most of a lifetime.
            I made a rule years ago: I’m fairly quick to criticise, but it’s only fair to be equally quick to give praise. Also, having been on the receiving end of kindness when recovering from a stroke, opened my eyes to how many actually kind people there are after all – but, as I wrote, mean is cool and kind is not, so most keep it well hidden.

          21. I feel your pain.
            I’m tired of phoning lonely people to see if they are ok especially on Sundays… it can be the loneliest day of the week if you don’t have family nearby.
            I have to wait one hell of a long time before they return the call to ask how I am……give me animals every time!

          22. You have articulated what I know goes through HG’s mind as she does her “duty” calls.

            Some are done daily.
            When a friend phones her it bucks her up enormously.
            Like you, for her Sunday is the worst.

          23. Been a long time since I was phoned for a friendly chat, as opposed to trying to sell me something.
            Last time Mother called was about 10+ years ago – she’s not capable now.
            But it gets dispiriting to be the one always reaching out (I hate that expression) with no return.
            Tell HG I feel for her. It’s definitely dispiriting.

          25. I must be lucky. I phone my friends and they phone me back on a regular basis. I’m in fairly regular text communication with others as well. My overseas friends email me regularly. What am I doing that others aren’t?

    4. Hope it can be sorted. Remember when such things were autoclaved and re-used, time and again..? Now just put into landfill. Appalling waste.

    5. OH was lucky last week – consultant said “We’ll do a blood test before you go” and it was done, even though the phlebotomist had finished, the nurse still did it.

    6. Amazon claim to have them for sale. The NHS should empty and sterilise the vaxx vials. They seem to have plenty of those?

      1. It seems, Sue that they are sealed with an internal vacuum, so cannot just be washed, sterilised and re-used.

    2. He read that flying lessons are free to every convert and he wants to work as a kamikaze for Islam.

    3. You can be sure that if the ‘preacher’ was a Christian the headline would have mentioned it.

    4. You can be sure that if the ‘preacher’ was a Christian the headline would have included it.

  80. ‘You couldn’t run a bath’: Matt Hancock’s fundraising page hijacked by fake Del Boy and PornHub accounts
    Dozens of people gave minimum £2 donation in return for chance to air their thoughts on former health secretary’s handling of pandemic
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/09/02/couldnt-run-bath-matt-hancocks-fundraising-page-hijacked-fake/

    Matt Hancock’s fundraising for next month’s London Marathon got off to a flying start after donors hijacked his Just Giving page pretending to be Del Boy, the Prime Minister and even his mother and joking that he “couldn’t run a bath”.

    The former health secretary raised more than £3,000 in days after he announced on the crowdfunding website that he would be running the 26-mile race on Oct 3 in aid of St Nicholas Hospice Care.

    It came as the married father-of-two was spotted on a romantic holiday in the Swiss Alps with his lover and former aide, Gina Coladangelo.

    The 42-year-old’s fundraising page went viral within hours of going live on Tuesday with dozens giving the minimum £2 donation in return for the chance to air their thoughts on his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.

    Mr Hancock was forced to resign in June after CCTV footage emerged of him breaching coronavirus social distancing restrictions by kissing and embracing married Ms Coladangelo, 44, a former non-executive director at the Department of Health and Social Care, in his Whitehall office.

    One contributor, posing as “Shirley Carter” said: “Well done Matthew! It’s been hard to be proud of you this past year or so, so this is great! Love Mum x”

    Another, pretending to be “Boris Johnson” said: “I just aspire to f*** the country as much as you f***ed your marriage.”

    A donor claiming to be “Dominic C” added: “You couldn’t run a bath,” while another posing as “Derek Trotter” from Only Fools and Horses commented: “Hi Matt, as per your personal hotmail message, here is my donation. Please send over the PPE contract as discussed. I’ve secured a great stock, almost as good as the spring water I bottled in Peckham.”

    This is a win-win for everyone. Hancock gets his donations whilst his critics get to say exactly what they think of him.

    1. Is he so thick that he thinks he can enter a marathon so soon after cheating spectacularly on his wife and family and not come in for a lot of stick? His lack of integrity is matched by his complete lack of self-awareness.

  81. In the DT this afternoon…I thought Ferguson was off SAGE – unless the paper has cocked up. Either way, if I never heard from Professor Pantsdown ever again it would still be too soon:

    The UK will see a “significant surge” in Covid-19 cases following the return of schools, but it is too early to say whether certain restrictions will need to be reintroduced, a leading scientist has said.

    Professor Neil Ferguson, who was a leading figure in the Government’s original Covid response in early 2020, said if daily cases start going above 100,000 to 150,000 there will be “significant demands on the health system”.

    Prof Ferguson, from Imperial College London and a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), said it will be for the Government to decide on potential measures.

    He said: “We expect to see quite a significant surge in cases, to some extent in hospitalisations, but whether that’s going to require any rolling back of the relaxation of restrictions is too early to say. It really depends on the level of healthcare demand.”

    He added that vaccination has changed the relationship between case numbers and hospitalisations – but surpassing 100,000 cases could lead to increased demand on the NHS and push the Government to decide “what the implications are for policy”.

    4. They should stop testing healthy people and let us get on with life. T he only ones who need testing are those ill enough to go into hospital.

    5. “significant demands on the health system”.__like welcoming 800+ a day into the UK through Dover, Thousands of Syrians, Thousands of Afghans, and millions from Hong Kong – and all the ones we AREN’T told about? All who have contributed nothing, 99% will need translators etc etc.

      1. …and all infested with disease that we had got rid of in UK – TB springs to mind – will they like Geronimo, be put down for our safety?

    1. I think this item is about the people “running” the religions rather than the adherents.

      Grooming is particularly associated with the practitioners of a certain cult and it seems that it can be found wherever they go.

      1. The point is that it’s promoted in the core texts of islam, unlike any other religion. If a Christian or a Hindu or a Buddhist takes a sex slave, he’s going against his religion.

        1. That being the case such actions of the Christian, Hindu or Buddhist are actually more reprehensible.

          1. The muslim has free will to choose to be a muslim or not, therefore his actions are equally reprehensible.

          3. So what? A crime is a crime. No decent person should belong to a religion that tacitly encourages it.

          4. I agree that a crime is a crime, but suggesting that all members of a cult/religion are the same is more than somewhat disingenuous.

            Plenty of people of all religions and for that matter none, pick and choose which parts they adhere to.

          5. There has to be a good theological reason to pick and choose. For example, in Christianity, it’s reasonable to say that where Jesus contradicts the Old Testament, we follow Jesus. Therefore we don’t stick to dietary rules or other stuff that belong to the Jewish religion or to Jewish history/tradition, if contradicted by Jesus. Liberals who try to pretend that Christianity is a sort of LBGT Marxism, are not Christians, they are fakes who cherry-pick from the New Testament.
            In islam, there is no good theological reason to bypass the rule that you should kill ex muslims (this is the one I know best). The Ahmadis are not convincing – they just don’t have good theological reasons to stick in islam but ignore the bits they don’t like. They are painting a false picture of islam that cannot be justified by its texts.
            Islam has plenty of cultish properties, for example the threat of shunning or violence towards people who leave the religion. This means that belonging to islam is not a matter of free will, because every muslim is coerced by these things. Plenty of ex muslims break out despite the threats, because they reject being encouraged to commit crimes.

            So in terms of how decent a person is, the ones who reject the cult despite the threats are the most decent, the ones who stay in it without really believing because of the threats are second, and the ones who believe in it whether they commit the crimes or justify and cover up for those who do, are culpable. For example the muslim women who think those “white girls” “deserve” what they get. From my experience, far more muslims belong in the third group than anyone in the UK wants to admit.

            I have met very many muslim women in my time, but only ever one who treated me as an equal. The others, without exception, let me know in small ways that they considered themselves superior. So yes, I am going to generalise based on my observations, and there is nothing disingenuous about that.

  85. Nicola Sturgeon’s ‘do what you’re told’ leadership style is all bark and no bite
    Can we take seriously a leader who demands support for her plans, not knowing what they are, but hurls insults to anyone questioning her?
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/09/02/nicola-sturgeons-do-told-leadership-style-bark-no-bite/

    English people who would much rather Scotland left the UK are getting seriously worried that Ms Sturgeon will destroy their hopes by persuading Scots to reject her maniacal howling for independence by her erratic and contemptuous behaviour.

    BTL

    1. Bbc News had an item about a Scots Tory MSP having to apologise for implying that Sturgeon ‘hated the English’. Why?

        1. But the driver had no qualms in playing the religion/race card, knowing that very often it is a ‘get-out-of-jail-free’ excuse.

  87. Shall be having a favourite French peasants dish for dinner, lots of onions. Simple but very nice.

  88. Our local greengrocer Boz has these strange misshapen looking “flat” peaches for sale
    Wow,just wow,like a taste bud transplant or a trip in a time machine,a reminder of what fruit used to and ought to taste like before the breeders bred out taste and bred in long life and suitability for years of nitrogen storage
    Needless to say only available for a short season,I shall make the most of it

    2. They are commonplace here and there is a nectarine equivalent.

      I am amused by the way any English market town raves about a once a fortnight (week if you’re lucky) farmer’s market; we have stalls by the dozen selling all sorts of local produce, from fruit and veg to cheese, meats, fish, prepared foods, spices delicatessen stalls, wines, preserves and bread and cakes. Not just on a Saturday, but several times a week in various parts of the town apart from the two main days of Wednesday and Saturday.

        1. That is so true, and they will turn up with a couple of crates and a chair, sell their produce and leave.

          It’s a social event as much as an opportunity to buy and whilst it is busier in tourist season the produce on offer is usually very local and even during the worst of winter, seasonal vegetables and preserves are available, walnuts, figs, prunes, stored apples and a host of things one would recognise from a green grocer in the 1950’s UK.

          1. Do you have itinerant tradesmen – different people who turn up on regular days with a van to sell fruit/veg/meat/eggs etc etc?

          2. Yes.

            Even in our hamlet of fewer than 50 people vans arrive weekly with fish, meat and vegetables. In and out in 20 minutes.
            The commune, fewer than 1,500 people, has a weekly market for three hours, with fresh fruit and veg, meats, fish, breads and cakes and pre-prepared meals, just re-heat and feast.

          3. In Laure (pop 1,000) we had:

            Wed & Fri:
            Hélène and her lorry of fruit and veg;
            M. Meyer butcher
            Poultry meat lady

            The village shops stocked virtually everything one needed. Indeed, there were those who thought it a bit off that M. Meyer came as we had a very good village butcher…whose wife was a cheese expert. As good a selection as you could find anywhere.

            The nearest “proper” market was in Carcassonne – Place Carnot – on Saturdays. Early on, we went there once or twice a month. Then, as we were settled, we used the local vans and, of course, grew a lot of our own.

          4. Because Bergerac is so close our village only has a bar/restaurant and a baker. The Friday market is it.

            But one can buy direct from some smallholders.

      1. Only if England “do an England” in the first session. If they survive until lunch they should eventually produce a big total.
        Famous last words!

  90. Sigh
    Leak in Mother’s kitchen, water every place, no useful info from carers apart from “Need a plumber”. No confirmation that the sink outflow was blocked, or anything helpful like that. So, another £100+ bill to take care of a minor problem, I expect.
    Ah, well, it keeps the local artisans in employment, I guess.

      1. Pictures would be beyond their capability, and likey they aren’t insured to do that, either. They can’t change a lightbulb, I have to pay a sparky about £40 for that – with the call-out charge – time cost and 20p for a fucking bulb. Spending someone else’s money is easy…
        They are undoubtedly lovely people, but utterly useless.

  91. That’s me for yet another dreary day. Killed 30 more caterpillars on the brassicas. That’s nearly 100 this week. Bastard things. Made a loaf. Emptied the ash bucket. Exciting, eh?

    Will be up early tomorrow. The joiner is coming – one of those very few tradesmen who arrive earlier than they said! Still, by this time tomorrow, half a dozen small but fiddly jobs will have been completed.

    Have a jolly evening praying for rain (so it will be fine tomorrow).

    A demain.

    1. Re caterpillars.

      Encourage wasps, they’ll do the work for you. As long as you leave them alone they will leave you alone. A wasp is a gardener,s friend and I speak as one who has been stung numerous times this year.

      1. There have been very few this year. I put net over the brassicas but failed to realise – until too late, that SMALL Cabbage Whites were able to penetrate it while LARGE Whites were not…..

        1. My bete noir is tiny slugs that get into leeks in particular but almost any root vegetable, they go under the skins and work their way though and what they don’t munch turns brown, One doesn’t see them until it’s harvest time.

    2. You made a caterpillar loaf ! Well i never.

      Have a pleasant evening. Nine days and counting !

      Why don’t you repost your begging sponsorship link?

      1. The MR is too modest. Anyway, your generous donation is more than anyone else here could afford!

    4. So that’s why there are no butterflies. I’m going to tell Chris (Kn*bhead)Packham to call off the survey.

    2. I can remember those far-off days when i believed the Prime Minister was in charge of Britain!!
      Or the US President carried some weight in governing the US.

    3. The danger is that even if people reject the vaccine, the digital ids will still be pushed through because they need them to impose a digital currency.
      It’s going to take more than refusing to show a vaxx passport to go to a restaurant – and most people don’t even have the common sense to do that.

  95. Regular Nottlers may remember my recent skirmish with Yodel – a strong contender for the most unreliable delivery service ever! I had asked my wine firm to not use them, and was under the impression that they had agreed. However, today my tracker says that it’s Yodel again and that we are delivery 84 of 95 – at 1800 he was on delivery 33 and, yet again, he’s slowed right down and has been in nearby Wirksworth [further away from the depot than we are!] for ages – I wonder who he knows there? Message to Yodel’s “Executive complaints department” in draft already.

    3. If you had details etc on your phone and could track the delivery van on your phone you could have intercepted it in a nearby town – whether he would have handed your delivery to you is a different matter.
      Months ago I had a delivery coming from Scotland. The firm texted me of the tracker number and the following day it was showing in my area, going in a totally haphazard, time and fuel consuming way. With 2 hrs to due delivery date I went out to the car – only to see the van pull up about 20 yds away? I shouted to the driver if he had anything for my address – quick dive into the van, reappeared with my item – but he was actually just following the list, in the order he;d been handed. Oddly enough, my item wasn’t marked on their system as delivered – until 2 hrs later.

      1. The trouble is he’s now on the far side of the main A6 and getting to it is tricky at present – the obvious road has been closed for repair for ages – supposed to be open in July 2021, then that went to Dec 21 and now it’s apparently “Summer 2022”!

    1. Can you even start to imagine the outcry if the UK took over that field, put all the tents in an orderly fashion and told all the illegals and Afghans etc that that was to be their home until they could be housed.

      And if we doubled down and said “if you don’t like it choose an alternative and we’ll fly you straight out”?

      1. Of course you are absolutely right. But the worrying questions are how and why did we get to this point?

    2. I’m glad they are being put to use – but what sort of people leave all that kit behind for others to clear up?

      1. These lightweight tents cost half of bugger-all, so it’s easier to abandon it than tke it home. What a waste of resources and plastic… maybe a deposit per tent should be paid, so £100 returnable when you pack up your tent and at least deposit it at the entrance.

        1. charities lap them up, ditto wellington boots and sleeping bags, and they are fed into charity shops.

        1. ??? The only bender I know of is one where you wake up the following morning not knowing what happened the previous night. Oh – there is another one, but we won’t go there.

    1. But when you go into the small print, it appears that hospitalisations and deaths are lower than average.

      We’re being conned.

      Again.

          3. PS

            Aran’s message for the United States and other wealthier nations
            considering boosters is stark: “Do not think that the boosters are the
            solution.”

      1. Quite. Even my jab-fiend brother no.3 has worked that out. Likewise, do more IQ tests and you’ll find more idiots.

      2. The PCR test is not to be trusted for a variety of reasons eg inexperienced people doing the tests, test not being done but results sent to the donor and some laboratories not up to requirements. The government has spent £billions on this testing fiasco.

    1. Solution – – give them temporary work visas – – employ them at immigration dept Home Office – – they can then make decisions on their own asylum applications !!!!

      Go on TB – at least a smile ?

          3. The wonder is that the mugs still fall for it. I think we may have had this discussion before on this site….

    1. Wonder if I’m alone in feeling an indifference towards the England team because of kneeling?

      4. I don’t like it, but wonder if they have a choice in the matter. Of course there is a choice, not just financially but socially. Their families, if they just stood instead, would suffer as well, I’m sure. It’s a nasty closed loop of PC shite. I hope they are just playing for their country.

      1. Even our woke Canadian news recognizes that Ivermectin has two uses, the horse dewormer is just stronger and less refined than the drug used on people.

    1. “Scotland too cold. Want big house in south of England. Also not want woman in charge of country”.

    2. A Tory MSP apologised for a remark the previous day in the Scottish Parliament.
      Nicola said all people would be welcome in Scotland and the Tory muttered ” not if you are English”

  106. If you weren’t already angry enough (and the writer doesn’t mention the many servicemen abandoned by the state, some living rough).

    Afghan veterans are getting settled here, but what about the Commonwealth soldiers who served with them?

    If we can change the criteria with a single pen-stroke for Afghan refugees, why not for those who’ve served this country for years?

    BEN OBESE-JECTY

    The announcement of Operation Warm Welcome in response to the resettlement of 8,500 Afghans evacuated under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) scheme, will see individuals and their families who worked for the British mission rightly granted Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) in the UK; part of a wider package designed to ensure that those resettling are given the essential support they need. The sad irony of such a generous and comprehensive offer to those experiencing the vicissitudes of Afghanistan is highlighted by the plight of our own Foreign and Commonwealth veterans. For them, many of whom will have served in Afghanistan, military service confers no such privilege.

    Currently, and in stark contrast to the scope of the ARAP scheme, Commonwealth veterans who wish to live in the UK after completing their service are required to apply for ILR for both themselves and their family members during a small 48-day window immediately upon discharge. There are no discounts for military service or preferential rates based on having placed themselves in harm’s way. An application to do so comes with a cost of £2,389 per person. In the United States non-US citizens become eligible for naturalisation upon receiving an honourable discharge from the US military. For anyone who has served since September 11th 2001, full US citizenship carries no financial cost.

    It is hard to reconcile why there is such reticence to simply waive the fees and grant these veterans ILR, instead forcing a small cohort of veterans roughly the same size as those eligible for the ARAP scheme to pay thousands of pounds to live in the country they have already proven their commitment to. The fees asking to be waived are not for full citizenship, merely the cost-free right to reside in the country they have spent years serving, to have the opportunity to earn a living, or access healthcare without charge.

    Operation Warm Welcome provides a significant upgrade to the current ARAP scheme following the full collapse of Afghanistan, replacing the UK visa entitling 5 years leave to enter the UK with Indefinite Leave to Remain. We may shortly face a situation where veterans of the Afghan National Army arriving under ARAP have greater residency rights than some veterans of the British Army. If we can expedite a scheme for Afghan refugees and change the criteria with a single pen-stroke, why can we not do so for those who have served this country bravely and dutifully for many years?

    June’s inchoate public consultation on immigration fees for Foreign and Commonwealth veterans was a step in the right direction but fell short of the package our veterans should be entitled to. The proposal that personnel should have completed 12 years’ service as a pre-requisite for the waiving of fees is a significantly limiting factor, with the average length of service for a soldier in the Regiments and Corps where the majority of these troops serve falling below that. The proposals are further hampered by a policy of non-retrospectivity, meaning that those who have already been discharged would find themselves ineligible.

    I know from personal experience that embarking upon a new career outside of the familiar structures of the armed forces is challenging enough without the additional hurdle of a potentially crippling financial burden to regularise your family’s immigration status in order to achieve the same start-state as British service-leavers. Waiving the £2,389 fee for all, reimbursing those who have already paid the financial penalty and granting the entitlement to apply for ILR retrospectively to those who were previously eligible, would all be progressive steps in addressing the disadvantage we place upon our foreign-born service personnel. At the very least, we owe those who have served the same basic privileges that they have risked their lives to defend.

    If we are serious about the aspiration to make this the best country in the world to be a veteran, we should start by ensuring that all our veterans are treated equally. We should certainly ensure that we treat our veterans as well as we treat those to whom we give refuge. It is high time we extended the “warm welcome” to our Foreign and Commonwealth veterans.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/09/02/afghan-veterans-getting-settled-commonwealth-soldiers-served/

    1. I agree with you, William; we should ensure we treat our own veterans at least as well as those (undeserving, in my view) to whom we have given refuge a free pass to benefits paid for by us. I would say better. Until our veterans have been housed and treated for PTSD and other mental problems brought on by service, we shouldn’t be letting anybody else in.

  107. Evening, all. The GPs aren’t exempt, they just act as though they were and because they are paid by numbers on the books rather than performance, they get away with it.

  108. A narrow victory for free speech

    Ofcom cleared Piers Morgan of breaching the broadcasting code, but its hesitancy is troubling

    TELEGRAPH VIEW

    There are plenty of criticisms that could be levelled at the TV presenter Piers Morgan, but the idea that he had no right to question claims made by the Duchess of Sussex is extraordinary. In her interview with Oprah Winfrey, the Duchess had spoken about her mental health and said that an unnamed member of the Royal family had queried what her son’s skin colour would be. Mr Morgan said on ITV’s Good Morning Britain that he did not “believe a word she said”.

    Ofcom, the regulator, received a record 58,000 complaints on the matter. It ruled yesterday that ITV did not breach the broadcasting code, saying that restricting Mr Morgan’s views would be “an unwarranted and chilling restriction” on free expression but it did deem his opinions to be “potentially harmful and offensive”.

    There has been a disturbing tendency in recent years to broaden the types of speech that can be silenced. Starting on university campuses, the idea has taken root that free expression should be curtailed in order to protect people from offence or to save them from “harm”. In some cases, there may be an argument for sensitivity. But the absurd logic of the complainants to Ofcom was that Mr Morgan should be required to believe the Duchess of Sussex’s comments, or shut up about it.

    It is astonishing that this needs to be said, but nobody has a right to be believed. This is doubly true for a public figure whose own words may have hurt other members of the Royal family. Ofcom said that its judgment was “finely balanced”. If by that it means that clearing Mr Morgan was anything other than the obvious decision, then it is an organisation in need of fresh leadership.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2021/09/02/narrow-victory-free-speech/

    1. Oh the Irony
      Was there ever such a despicable little shit as Piers Morgan,the libelling of our armed forces,the screaming for lockdown,yet he ends up as a free speech “hero”
      Spit…….

        1. Nah,Morgan has managed to do far more harm to a country I still love(gawd knows why) than the cheap yacht whore
          He’s right up ther with Bliar on the top seventeen* list for me
          * One mag in a Glock

          1. His ancestry is Irish. His late father was a dentist, who died (aged 31) as a result of a car crash near Dorking.

          2. ***Steps back and takes stock…

            I never watch the ‘shows’ on news telly.

            It just seemed the only rebuttal going at the moment to those fucking awful woke princesses.

  109. Nigel Farage had an ex Tory MP and Barrister on his last session tonight. Neither of them had a good word to say about our PM and the Barrister said the PM has few friends on the back benches. In their discussion they said the triple lock will probably go and the Chancellor may be considering making pensioners pay for their prescriptions. Johnson seems hell bent on self destruction and his party with him.
    On Monday NF is devoting his hour to the alliance between the UK and the USA – is it broken? He says he has top spokesmen from the USA in the debate. Donald Trump?

    1. Thought for the day.

      If pensioners had to pay for their prescriptions, would doctors be less willy nilly about what they prescribed and might many old people see a health benefit from fewer prescribed drugs?

      2. I think I can cope with, probably, my beta blocker, and dispense with the other 3 drugs. No doubt people on benefits and incomers will get free medication. I take aspirin as a blood thinner and spend £100 each year on test strips for my diabetes. I have enough medical equipment to monitor my health.

        1. Not sure that it is cheaper over a month but a word of warning…

          Omeprazole does have side effects.

          It can block the absorbtion of minerals and vitamins and other required nutrients because of its ability to reduce stomach acid.

          And in a younger man it causes limp dick. :@(

          1. I no longer take Omeprazole because it’s not recommended for long term use. Esomeprazole is okay, apparently. Now you tell me! 🙂

    3. I also thought it interesting that he didn’t blame Priti Patel for the illegal immigration problem but blamed him. Which supports my contention that if she was allowed to have ‘teeth’ she would do something. I think that Johnson uses people to hide behind because as the Barrister implied, Boris has no principles and no spine.

      1. It was an entertaining discussion. The Barrister had a very florid complexion enhanced by red glasses.

        1. I guess you know that he is an ex Tory MP? But I’m not familiar with him because I wasn’t in England during the Thatcher era.

    4. Make pensioners pay for the BBC that have said they want a more diverse younger audience.

      Make pensioners pay more for prescription medicines.

      Make pensioners lose out by abandoning the triple lock.

      This is not a Conservative Party.

    5. 338393+ up ticks,
      Evening Cs,
      The farage chap was very, very pro johnson to the extent of vote splitting whilst building a party up then standing many of the party’s candidate down in favour of johnson, one to be watched, closely.

    2. You’re probably asleep as I write this, Peter, but I hope you are having happy dreams. And a very good night to all still on this site. It is now 11.20 pm and I am off to bed.

  112. Yesterday I filled up at a Super Unleaded petrol pump marked as 99 Octane and E5.
    The Government apparently does not require it to contain 5% Ethanol but I’m expecting to get the same mpg from it as before.
    Apparently the mpg you get by going from E5 to E10 Unleaded petrol will be considerably less.

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