Thursday 21 April: Voters will have their chance to judge the PM – but for now he must stay

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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

589 thoughts on “Thursday 21 April: Voters will have their chance to judge the PM – but for now he must stay”

  1. Good morning all.
    Another bright if chilly start. Temperature down to a tad below 2°C outside.

    Slept better last night but woke up needing to clear out a load of chest crud.

  5. Voters will have their chance to judge the PM – but for now he must stay.

    Alas in any case, there is nobody else, they all appear to want to go further than Boris with all the madness

    1. 352119+ up ticks,

      Morning B3,
      He & party only stay by leave of the people as do
      lab/lib.
      by giving him /party a vote is giving carte blanche to their actions, this vote & whinge attitude of the electorate is the prime fault
      of our present odious condition as a nation.

    1. Why is Boris still wearing a poppy? Or could MSN not get a photographer out there.

      1. With the low standards of the current sub-editors, it’s just surprising that the chap Bozo’s hugging wasn’t carrying a tomahawk.

  7. ‘Morning, Peeps.

    Another fine, sunny day here on yer sarf coast. I didn’t expect to be watering parts of the garden in this of all months!

    Today’s leading letter:

    SIR – Enough is enough. Boris Johnson must stay and steer the country through the current Ukrainian crisis. There is no one better equipped to deal with this situation.

    When the next election comes, that will be the time for the country to decide on his future.

    Chris Rome
    Thruxton, Hampshire

    I have mixed views about Johnson remaining.  On the one hand a leadership election now would be disruptive, although most of the ‘weapons for Ukraine’ operation will be run by the MOD.  Johnson is just the front man, camera-fodder if you like.  On the other hand it is my view that his continued presence as PM is having a seriously negative effect and therefore the boil should be lanced before even more damage is done. 

    As an aside, No10 seems to have no understanding of what the attempt to put off the H of C investigation into his conduct looks like to the vast majority of normal people outside politics, and this has all the makings of yet another own goal.

    Oops…edited for obvious typo.

  8. SIR – I have just seen a job being advertised by NHS England that may solve many of its current challenges.

    I might apply for the role myself – if someone can explain what a “Horizon Scanning and Demand Signalling Engagement Manager” actually is.

    Richard Packer
    Westcott, Surrey

    From this bonkers job title, may we assume that the post is that of a planning manager?

    3. Yes. Someone who will predict who will get sick, and when, and how many and with what, and what resources will be needed. Preferred applicants will be statisticians, climate scientists and witch doctors, although gypsies and fortune tellers will be automatically short-listed

      1. …and preference will be given to the BAME community…in other words indigenous whitey need not apply? (Wouldn’t surprise me.)

    4. I applied for the head of the pensions actuarial service once. The job spec was such utter drivel that it needed absolutely no skills or ability whatsoever.

  9. SIR – The Just Stop Oil protests (report, April 18) serve only to wreak havoc across Britain and disrupt people’s lives. Far from helping protect our environment, these extreme methods, divisive tactics and false claims jeopardise public support for real action to combat climate change.

    We condemn the irresponsible and destructive protests, which hurt those who can least afford their cost. As with all Extinction Rebellion protests, closing roads and bridges, blocking emergency service vehicles and stopping people from travelling to work, school and hospital will not help to cut emissions.

    As members of the Conservative Environment Network, we will not allow the protesters to dominate the debate. We know much more must be done to tackle climate change, but to decarbonise our economy we must unite Britain with a credible, deliverable and affordable plan to achieve net zero by 2050.

    Calls to stop oil and gas overnight are naive and dangerous. We need an orderly transition, not an economic shutdown. Instead of XR’s wrecking ball, we need a green industrial revolution to protect our planet and build a more prosperous Britain.

    This Government’s Net Zero Strategy reflects the speed and the scale of change required to avoid the worst consequences of climate change. It sets out a path to deliver skilled jobs and new clean industries, levelling up communities across the country.

    Rather than senseless acts of disruption, this conservative approach holds the key to success in the fight against climate change.

    * * *

    This multi-sig letter (38 MPs and 1 peer) is, I’m sure, well intentioned, but depressingly they are still fine with the drive towards net zero. The “green industrial revolution” shows no sign of “a more prosperous Britain” being created; quite the reverse in fact.  If their intention is to head off a thrashing at the local elections I suspect that it will fail.  What a wasted opportunity to demonstrate that there are still a few real Conservaties left in Parliament.

    1. “… Reflects the speed and the scale of change required to avoid the worst consequences of climate change. It sets out a path to deliver skilled jobs and new clean industries, levelling up communities across the country…. ”

      My arse it does.

      Climate change is an invented fiction to soak tax. The net zero agenda achieves nothing apart from crippling public debt, crushing personal poverty, cold, hungry and miserable people. It will never ‘level up’ because the whole point of levelling is to take from one pile to put on another. You cannot level up, only down. That’s socialism, and does not work.

      We do not need a green industrial revolution because 1. we can’t afford to make anything because there’s too much tax and regulation, 2. We haven’t the skill base, 3. If we needed it, the market would already have provided it. Windmills and solar are not remotely renewable, both incredibly energy intensive, both wasteful and inefficient. They exist solely on subsidy.

      The only net zero drive we should push toward is for MPs. Pointless, ignorant, arrogant wind bags, the lot of them.

    2. That’s probably because there aren’t any real Conservatives in Parliament! I topped up my car today and there were (orderly) queues at the petrol station because it’s the cheapest around. Even so, the price has gone up 5ppl in the last week or so.

  10. SIR – Thank goodness for Jacob Rees-Mogg, who is tackling the scandal of civil servants still “working from home” head on (report, April 20).

    No one seems to be taking into account the monitoring, evaluation or supervision of staff, the transition 
of skills and the development of younger colleagues, or the casual conversations that can lead to innovative thinking.

    Let us see more people in positions of authority getting the country back to normality and on the move again.

    Mick Ferrie
    Mawnan Smith, Cornwall

    Unfortunately there is a huge difference between J R-M calling for a return to offices and making it happen.  I suspect that this is just more hot air in advance of the local elections.  Tony Manning has the right idea, but it will never be implemented:

    SIR – Accusing stay-at-home public- sector workers of “not pulling their weight” will have little effect.

    Threatening to stop their wages, or only paying them for the days they turn up for work in the office, will concentrate their minds.

    Tony Manning
    Barton-on-Sea, Hampshire

      1. Respectfully, if I’d gone in to the office my company would now be short about £30K because I’d have missed a panicked call from a customer.

        Where you are doesn’t matter. It simply doesn’t.

        1. It doesn’t seem t be the case for the DVLA? They seem unable to work from home, but maybe they are just useless everywhere??

    2. This morning a colleague and I logged in at 8am to conf call with our client about a network event. We agreed a schedule of works, set out what we would do. Then we had another meeting with our financey person to arrange the costing and billing. Another chap then pinged to ask if we could meet to discuss another project, and we’re on a third call. If I’d travelled into the office I’d do the exact same thing.

      Where you are doesn’t matter. What you do matters. The civil service is inefficient wherever it works from. That’s what needs to be addressed, not the location.

  11. Just a couple of the Johnson and Partygate letters:

    SIR – I am heartily sick of “Partygate” – but it appears the BBC is not.

    During the 40 minutes of the Today programme that I heard yesterday morning, one could have been forgiven for thinking that it was practically the only news.

    After Angela Rayner’s monologue on the subject I gave up to concentrate on the Telegraph. Your front page read: “BBC more critical of No 10 than Putin – PM.”. Quite.

    Alisdair Low
    Richmond, Surrey

    SIR – Having served as a Territorial officer, I would prefer to be led by Mr Johnson than Captain Hindsight, who recently seems to have been promoted to Major Whinger.

    Ben Howkins
    Northamptonshire

    1. Alisdair Low, “BBC more critical of No 10 than Putin – PM.” So Putin is also critical of No 10 but not as much as the BBC?

    2. The BBC has a weapon and is going to use it at every turn. It’s hatred of the Tories – despite that same government giving them the exact same policies as Labour – is visceral and immature.

    1. That is certainly interesting, Maggie.

      Only a few people in the far north of Lappland (Northern Norway, Sweden and Finland) still speak Saami these days. It is also intriguing to see how the language of modern-day Estonia still has a connection to Finnish and Magyar, which is still the language of present-day Hungary.

    3. I don’t like to mention it but most people cannot communicate when using the same language today.

      Illiteracy is rife, stupidity soaring.

    4. That map looks completely inaccurate to me. A Berber from the coast can still understand a Berber from the desert today, speaking the same language that was spoken in 600 AD. I don’t see the Viking language in north east England, or the Celtic in the Alpine region.

  15. Grattis på födelsedagen Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor. Hope you have a splendid day, Ma’am.

    1. Sir Kneel in one word? Difficult – hypocrite? Another word starting with w and ending anquer?

          1. I loved True Belles description of the kneeler as Easter Island statue head!!

    4. Failing.

      He’s not addressing the cost of living issue because he supports it.
      He’s not addressing high fuel costs because he supports them.
      He’s not addressing energy prices because he supports them.

      Starmer is stuck in a political bind. He advocates for a huge state, a massive public sector, he doesn’t like personal wealth (except that approved by the state), does nothing to approach the widening wealth gap – because he, like most politicians supports the punitive taxation of the wealthy, has no interest in reducing the amount of regulation, legalese and dementedly over complicated red tape (such as subsidising one group to reward it while punishing the majority), is desperately eager to be PC, not realising the public find this disgusting.

      Labour used to stand for something simple and practical. You work, you should keep your money, provide for yourself, save a bit, live with the state as aegis, not sofa. Labour have converted themselves into the party of the state machine, which is the exact opposite of what that working family needs.

      With Boris standing for exactly the same the only difference between them is their definition of a woman.

      2. The only thing going for Starmer is that he hasn’t actually (so far) CAUSED the problems (it’s more a case of so-called “conservative” governments having failed to repair the damage caused by Blair).

      1. Nigel was caught having a skinny dip next to Bournemouth pier a few years ago;-)

      2. Had a back molar removed yesterday. I’m convinced they love that part of the job.

  18. 352119+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,
    Thursday 21 April: Voters will have their chance to judge the PM – but for now he must stay

    So the yank cum turk is allowed to stay for now walking round the fireworks factory
    smoking.

    Wonder he did not take priti awful with him on the Indian trip and a trunk full of welfare
    literature along with a battalion of form filling
    advisors.
    Remember when manky mandy was abroad
    singing the praises of the welfare state awaiting them on landing.

    Manky mandy is I believe,the fat turks role model in a working mass uncontrolled immigration / paedophile umbrella coalition.

    A lab/lib/con vote is done at your peril but be sure of one thing the children WILL suffer
    going into the future.

    1. “Wonder he did not take … a trunk full of welfare literature along with a battalion of form filling advisors.”
      That may be because he does not work for NHS Scotland, or Scottish Universities. They scour Asia for applicants.

      1. 352119+ up ticks,
        Morning HP,
        The political poof was scouring Europe
        looking to round up & bring in to the UK replacement units years ago.

        He was skint one minute now in the zillionaire class.His pink savings piggy must have stairs to reach the slot.

    2. I know neither I nor war queen will vote Tory at the next GE. There’s no point. Others have said they won’t, but I suspect at the time it’ll be a case of hold your nose and avoid the worst case option.

      At this point I don’t care. We’re being controlled by a cabal who are all the same, sharing the same high tax, big state, social control, command economy nonsense. Voting is pointless because we do not live in a democracy, only the sham of such is offered. It seems the ultimate goal is absolute centralisation to create a command economy where the worker – not the citizen – is given the same regardless of their efforts and the state sequesters everything else, property included.

      Everything that could be done wrong, is being.

      A little hyperbolic, but still interesting: https://going-postal.com/2022/04/the-elite-theory-of-power/

      1. 352119+ up ticks,
        W,

        If that be the case which I also believe it to be then the majority of the electorate
        can honestly be tagged as shite graders.

      2. I’ll be spoiling my ballot paper (again) if there isn’t an alternative to Lib/Lab/Tory or Green.

    1. Good morning Delboy! Very random question, but do you post on an Osprey webcam site?

  20. When/if we get massive disturbances from that big orange thing in the sky, how will the man-made climate emergency scientists explain them away?

    Compared with the size of the sun these spots look like acne on a teenagers face yet are allegedly big enough to swallow the earth whole.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-10736877/Astronomers-discover-immense-swarms-sunspots-lead-solar-flares.html

    With a bit of luck they might blow the whole climate science scam out of the water and prove that the sun has far, far more to do with climate changing than man, short of all out nuclear war, could ever start to do.

    1. Strangely – and I hope this doesn’t sound like a told-you-so moment – for years now, ever since this scam started, I have always suspected that any warming of our climate has more to do with the sun than those who live on our planet. This is the one aspect that, I feel, has been overlooked… perhaps deliberately?

        1. ‘Morning, Sos, all the research I’ve ever done into the evil CO2 (a gas) in the atmosphere and the warming up the planet, despite China and India’s efforts and together with all the volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, CO2 is identified as a trace gas in the atmosphere, amounting to a mere 0.04% of the total.

          1. I agree that the amounts are relatively tiny.

            I think that the issue of it being a “trace gas” is sometimes a red herring, because I have little doubt that the ozone layer appeared to be being depleted by even smaller quantities of other trace gases and thus blaming CO2 in the same way was a convenient hook for the climate scammers.

            Mankind is certainly affecting the planet very adversely, but I don’t accept that it’s CO2 that’s the cause of even a fraction of the damage being done.

          2. Plastic is the evil. Profligate waste is the distributor. Plastic was very useful and almost necessary for safe food distribution. However, that requirement has passed. Our logistics have improved a lot. Our paper technologies are superlative. But plastic is cheap. We are destroying the planet for cheap. It is glamour, in the old sense, as we are being dazzled by an illusion.

          3. After all the fuss a couple of years ago about plastic pollution in the sea we now have billions of discarded plastic-covered face masks everywhere.

          4. The EU encouraged us to use plastic – blame them. However you’re entirely right. Everything around me is made from plastic except the desk I’m working on.

            The problem isn’t – to my mind – the material. It’s that we don’t recycle the blasted stuff.

          5. Oddly enough, the complete opposite is true for me. Everything, apart from the fabric on the chair, the carpet (both non-plastic), the IT equipment/covers, the board I’m using as a desk (that does have a plastic coating) and Oscar’s (formerly Charlie’s) bed, is wood, paper or cardboard.

          7. Yep.
            And the more aid that gets thrown at the starving masses the more starving masses get produced to consume it.

    2. Shhh! They’ll have to fall back on global warming!

      Nothing will stop the Left wing communist climate change agenda because it has absolutely nothing – not a thing – to do with ecology, environmental care or anything except being used as a tax vehicle.

      1. Quite. At my former church (in every sense) we were told that a man from the World Wildlife Fund was coming to speak about environmentalism.

        Firstly, he was an investment banker (and a WEF member) not an environmentalist and secondly he preached veganism, which is not environmentalism.

        When I complained I was told, “But he’s a Franciscan Tertiary”. I don’t care if he calls himself the Pope, it doesn’t change him or his agenda.

    3. When I mentioned sunspots in the discussion about global warming at the last RAFA talk, there was a comment from the back of the room, “trust the only other radio amateur here to mention that”! 🙂

    2. Good morning Grizzly and others. Sometimes it is sensible to avoid punctuation within a sentence which is why legal documents in England and Wales often restrict punctuation to full stops. Other supermarket chains prefer the expression “outdoor reared”.
      Anyone who is familiar with the A303 will have spotted several fields of contented pigs in the area near Stonehenge.

      1. Good afternoon Tim stop Most wills and many Acts of Parliament use stilted and unpunctuated language stop in a similar way stop to how old telegrams used the word stop stop.

        1. ‘Cos it’s amazing how much a comma can change the whole meaning of a sentence/paragraph/phrase. That’s why, to reduce the legal wrangles.

  22. Marine Le Pen repeats pledge to BAN the Muslim headscarf in public if she wins this weekend’s French presidential run-off – as her rival Emmanuel Macron says country faces CIVIL WAR if she does
    French president Macron said his rival may incite civil war with a headscarf ban
    Marine Le Pen has pledged to ban scarves in public if she wins Sunday run-off
    She called them ‘a uniform imposed by Islamists’ which leave women no choice

    If Macron genuinely believes that to be the case it suggests that there are far too many Muslims in France, with the power to intimidate the government and the rest of the population.
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10736853/French-presidential-debate-sees-Macron-accuse-Le-Pen-grip-Russia.html

    2. Morning! It’s shirley disingenuous to call the hijab a headscarf. The hijab is not what conventions of western dress recognise as a headscarf. It isn’t the silk square that HM wears?

      1. There is no picture of the ‘headscarf’ so we really don’t know what is being referred to. A headscarf ban would be ludicrous.

        1. It’s the hijab. I suspect the MSM is translating it as “headscarf” to make it appear innocuous. Probably Marine referred to it as “la voile”.

      2. No, dahlings, it is not. Personally, I buy mine from Hermes. My personal shopper chooses such nice ones.

    3. So far the rural areas of France are relatively Islam free – and in Dinan we do not even have one mosque but if we go 40 miles South to Rennes it is very different.

      1. We’ve noticed a very significant increase in this area over the last ten years.
        To quote a French friend, parts of the market look like Marrakesh.

    4. Macron needs to be reminded that secularism is an essential part of French society. The headscarf is a religious and political statement. Allez Marine!

      1. Indeed it is, but where does one stop the banning?
        Millions of incomers wear national dress, lots of religions have caps/hairstyles/turbans etc etc.

        My view is that if one wants to wear such things do it in your own home; but of course none of them have to when they are at home, it’s only when they are out and about that they do it.

        1. Why does anyone need to wear national dress? To say “I’m different and I don’t want to fit in,” obviously. The thing about the hijab (the niqab, the burka, etc) is that it is a political as well as a religious statement and an in-your-face challenge to other religions.

          1. Agreed 100%, except for particular days, say their saint’s day or equivalent or their independence day. Limit it to a couple of days a year.

  24. Good Morning All.
    “…PM- but for now he must stay.”
    That is like insisting that a blind drunk taxi driver must continue to drive your children home.

      2. I have suggested David Frost. ( I had expected the arrangements to be made over Xmas, but I was stupidly underestimating the puppetmasters. It is no longer just Tory grandees that make this decisions, but foreign manipulators. Yes, Soros, Schwaub et al, looking at you.)

    2. This reminds me of a joke from the days when you could say what you liked. I remember a friend of mine introducing his new girlfriend: “This is my new girlfriend called Virginia – Virgin for short but not for long!”

      2. I can remember but little of those days. I remember a girl called Virginia, at the badminton club in the 60s. She had to endure that line everywhere and at all times.

      3. Speaking of things you can’t say any more, have you listened to Fifty Years of I Haven’t a Clue? (R4) This is still on BBC Sounds and is, in my experience, a genuinely laugh out loud trip down memory lane. You will enjoy it if you share my over-developed sense of schoolboy humour and care not for the sanitized pap that passes for humour on the BBC now.

  26. Facebook posts disputing Bucha atrocities shared 208,000 times in a week. 21 april 2022.

    Francesca Visser, an analyst at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, said: “The findings show us that the challenges in confronting pro-Kremlin narratives and disinformation emanate from a wider set of actors than just Russian state media.

    “Despite the efforts of independent factcheckers and journalists on the ground who debunked many of the false narratives spread by sources tied to the Russian state, these narratives managed to gain traction among a wide audience.

    “It’s concerning that in the aftermath of the massacre, the most shared posts on Facebook are those casting doubt on the veracity of the images. It’s also concerning that posts coming from platforms and bloggers known for spreading false and misleading narratives are outperforming verified information.”

    Translation. Despite all the propaganda the peasants are still not swallowing it!

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/21/facebook-posts-disputing-bucha-atrocities-shared-208000-times-in-a-week

  27. ‘Morning All

    Here’s a cheerful little prophecy from a GP poster…………

    “Western Europe will collapse by December

    It will be the famine
    that causes it not a food shortage in Western Europe but a food shortage
    in Africa Which will cause an unprecedented crisis in Western Europe
    Somalia,
    Sudan, Egypt, Benin, Rwanda etc. they all get more than 80% of their
    grain from Ukraine + Russia. Those shipments are not leaving the black
    sea Putin is saving his grain for his own nation in preparation for the
    chaos

    Hundreds of millions of n…s and sand n…s will pour into western Europe as famine refugees PER MONTH
    Hundreds of millions more will die in first 3 – 5 weeks
    Billions will be dead by 2024 It will make the Great Chinese Famine look like a good time

    The 500+ million refugees in Western Europe will be further stressed by a
    lack of fuel in many western European countries that are totally reliant
    on the US and Russia for gas
    The US will abandon their western allies as a lost cause and will focus on energy needs at home”
    Meanwhile fertilizer prices have tripled,we are paying farmers to quit farming and busily covering productive land with solar panels and bird choppers
    What could possibly go wrong??

    1. What could possibly go wrong??

      When it’s over the great reset will commence unhindered?

    4. It’s a subject that the British MSM are completely ignoring, except for one lone voice on GB News.

      Oh, whilst talking about the British MSM, in foreign news sources there is considerable worry about the serious drought in SE of USA.

      Heard anything about that here?

      1. If I’d been at the charity ‘do’ where he was heckled, I’d have lobbed something heavier than bread rolls! He’s a nasty, spiteful, arrogant little racist!

      2. Did he really say that? I can’t find any link to it. The MSM probably agree with him and refuse to repeat it.

        1. He said it. It was a part of his stand up routine. I can’t find any links either. That was the last time i watched him.

          1. I remember. But I’m not going to watch a yard of Kumar to find it again. Life is too short.

      1. People laughed when Nish Kumar said he was going to become a comedian. Well they’re not laughing now.

        © Bob Monkhouse.

      2. Considering his ‘audience’ comprised only those teens who viewed his ‘comedy’ online via bBC3, perhaps it’s attempting to sell his shtick to an audience with a broader worldview that has exposed his lack of ability.

        His self-awareness is equally poor.

      1. Shades of Bob Monkhouse!

        They all laughed when I said I was going to be a comedian. They’re not laughing now!

          1. Many of us do that – it shows how many Nottlers have the same or similar thought processes.

            “He who follows is always behind.”

    4. Not because Kumar is a bigoted, spoiled, bitter Lefty moron who isn’t funny? Of course, it’s everyone else. Not him.

    1. This is the new truth that dare not speak its mind and dare not do anything about it..

      A couple of quotations spring to mind:

      ……. the best lack all conviction
      While the worst are full of passionate intensity.
      [W.B. Yeats]

      …… the grim wolf with privy paw
      Daily devours apace, and nothing said.
      [John Milton]

    2. Is the poster implying that pakistani muslims are paedophile rapists? No, that can’t be right.

      4% of the population yet 27% of prisoners. Could we please talk about this problem?

  31. Morning all, i wish i had time for this, grass to cut front and back and neighbours front. We take it in turns. I might have to take a bit of a rest at some point.
    Compost to dig out of bins for the garden veg and tomatoes.

          1. Never, ever, shovel snow. (But maybe pay one of the neighbour’s kids to do it.)

          2. The kitchen to be precise,which is why it’s safer for some of us (not me) than others, depending of the time spent there.

        2. I ended up with a real shiner from being in the garden once. I was playing football with Henry my Golden. We both went for the ball at the same time and his head collided with my cheek. Talk about seeing stars. Next day I looked as though I’d done a few rounds with Henry Cooper. Funny thing was that Henry knew he’d hurt me and was very contrite and cuddly.
          Dogs heads are hard!

          2. “I was playing football with Henry my Golden.”

            Wasn’t some idiot footballer in trouble recently for doing the same with his cat??

          3. He loved that football- American football shape, bright orange and he loved it. That and tennis balls. When it was new the football squeaked….luckily that stopped fairly soon.

          4. Rumpole (our boxer RIP) and I used to have dramatic wrestling matches. It was amazing that he could go for it with real gusto and take my arm in his jaws without ever hurting me. Strong, energetic, enthusiastic, playful and gentle – what a dog!

      1. I had to have a lay down for an hour Bill. The Cardiologist tells me from the recent ECGs my heart is strong, but all out of cinque. Or should that be sink ?

    1. The fuel consumption figure quoted is a bit high, but the point is still valid. When closely examined, EVERY green initiative falls flat on its face.

    2. Electric cars are not remotely green.

      Yet… how many such vehicles are needed for a normal ICE car?

    3. Mine is going to give me yet another telephone consultation next week – despite the fact she’s already identified the problem. What I want to know is, what are they going to do to TREAT it?

    2. We were surprised at this.

      Even more surprised that it wasn’t Tunbridge Wells council in their ceaseless war on motorists.

      1. If you want to see a real war on motorists, try Brighton. We stopped visiting the place some years ago now when they decided to fleece anything and everything on wheels.

          1. They have. The seafront and The Lanes are OK and it seems something is being done about the pavilion but the town centre is very run down.

          2. When I was a child, I was taken to see the Pavilion in Brighton. I didn’t take my own children there – too much of a nightmare. Perhaps this has something to do with the lack of repairs?

          2. Nice try, Hugh but a wee modification, if I may:

            “It is also (in my view) the capital of wokeism in SussexBritain“

    1. Wouldn’t it be comical if Her Majesty were one of us, ranting away about the oaf Boris.

      2. I’ve always had my suspicions about JenniferSP. All that agricultural knowledge!

      3. I’ve always had my suspicions about JenniferSP. All that agricultural knowledge!

      4. She would cement her popularity in the country and effectively stop all calls for a republic if she would let the sword slip sideways while knighting Tony Blair…just saying.

        1. If you really were Lillibet then ones would have an apostrophe (like this in case you’re wondering – one’s)

      6. I’m sure she’d welcome the chance, I think she’d also like to open up about Ginge and Cringe

  38. What the people of the West are up against. This report suggests that Muslim countries provoked the riots in Sweden yet a Swede is to blame.

    Sweden sees foreign countries playing role in recent riots

    Sweden’s justice minister says the government suspects that actors from abroad incited violent riots in several Swedish cities

    Sweden’s government suspects that actors from abroad incited violent riots in several Swedish cities last week, according to the country’s justice minister.

    Crowds threw rocks and burned cars and trash cans after a Danish far-right provocateur announced plans to hold meetings in Sweden. Rasmus Paludan has burned copies of the Quran at events in Denmark where he also bashes Islam, and the news he wanted to do the same in Sweden sparked anger.

    Paludan, who holds dual Danish-Swedish citizenship, “seems for some reason to hate Sweden and try to harm Sweden. I do not understand why” Justice Minister Morgan Johansson said.

    In an interview with Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet published Wednesday, Johansson referred to online claims that surfaced earlier this year about Swedish social service agencies allegedly kidnapping Muslim children.

    “There are many signs that they have been running here as well, campaigning and supporting this in various ways,” the minister said.

    The Foreign Ministry in Stockholm posted a Twitter thread in February devoted to what it termed “a disinformation campaign.” A Swedish agency established to counter misinformation said the kidnapping allegations could be traced to an Arabic-language site whose creator expressed support for the Islamic State group.

    “We see how the image of Sweden is set by some of these actors in the Middle East,” Aftonbladet quoted Johansson as saying. “It is also addressed by a couple of governments, in Iraq and in Iran.”

    After word of Paludan’s planned stunt reached Iran and the United Arab Emirates, the governments in Tehran and Dubai summoned Swedish diplomats to protest.

    A total of 26 police officers and 14 other individuals – protesters or other people – were injured in the riots, and 20 police vehicles destroyed or damaged, officials have said.

    The latest violence broke out Sunday night in Malmo, Sweden’s third-largest city, as an angry crowd of mainly young people set fire to tires, debris and garbage cans in an neighborhood known for high crime.

    Unrest and violent clashes were reported in several other Swedish cities. Three people were hurt in Norrkoping on Sunday as they were hit by ricochets when police fired warning shots.

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/sweden-ap-denmark-foreign-ministry-copenhagen-b2061610.html
    (via AP news wire)

      1. Indeed, it’s why the globalists/NWO are so keen that Western nations (and only Western nations) provide open borders to immigrants from 3rd world nations. It’s a deliberate ploy to sow societal unrest in the worlds most peaceful and prosperous nations.

    2. 352119+ up ticks,

      Morning WS,

      I did mention at the time of the may placement farce
      ALL main players had
      temp. equity cards that had to be returned after usage.

    3. Yes, actors from abroad were indeed the cause of the riots. They came from Sundan, Eritrea, Syria, Iran, Ethiopia… you invited them in. Stop blaming other people. You created this mess Mr Johansson. It’s your fault.

    5. You don’t understand why, Ms Johansson?
      Well, that’s the nub of the problem, right there.

  39. What the people of the West are up against. This report suggests that Muslims countries provoked the riots in Sweden yet a native Swede is to blame.

    Sweden sees foreign countries playing role in recent riots

    Sweden’s justice minister says the government suspects that actors from abroad incited violent riots in several Swedish cities

    Sweden’s government suspects that actors from abroad incited violent riots in several Swedish cities last week, according to the country’s justice minister.

    Crowds threw rocks and burned cars and trash cans after a Danish far-right provocateur announced plans to hold meetings in Sweden. Rasmus Paludan has burned copies of the Quran at events in Denmark where he also bashes Islam, and the news he wanted to do the same in Sweden sparked anger.

    Paludan, who holds dual Danish-Swedish citizenship, “seems for some reason to hate Sweden and try to harm Sweden. I do not understand why” Justice Minister Morgan Johansson said.

    In an interview with Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet published Wednesday, Johansson referred to online claims that surfaced earlier this year about Swedish social service agencies allegedly kidnapping Muslim children.

    “There are many signs that they have been running here as well, campaigning and supporting this in various ways,” the minister said.

    The Foreign Ministry in Stockholm posted a Twitter thread in February devoted to what it termed “a disinformation campaign.” A Swedish agency established to counter misinformation said the kidnapping allegations could be traced to an Arabic-language site whose creator expressed support for the Islamic State group.

    “We see how the image of Sweden is set by some of these actors in the Middle East,” Aftonbladet quoted Johansson as saying. “It is also addressed by a couple of governments, in Iraq and in Iran.”

    After word of Paludan’s planned stunt reached Iran and the United Arab Emirates, the governments in Tehran and Dubai summoned Swedish diplomats to protest.

    A total of 26 police officers and 14 other individuals – protesters or other people – were injured in the riots, and 20 police vehicles destroyed or damaged, officials have said.

    The latest violence broke out Sunday night in Malmo, Sweden’s third-largest city, as an angry crowd of mainly young people set fire to tires, debris and garbage cans in an neighborhood known for high crime.

    Unrest and violent clashes were reported in several other Swedish cities. Three people were hurt in Norrkoping on Sunday as they were hit by ricochets when police fired warning shots.

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/sweden-ap-denmark-foreign-ministry-copenhagen-b2061610.html
    (via AP news wire)

    1. All black male/white female and statistically that pairing is more likely to split up than its reverse, leaving the off-spring to be brought up by the mother.
      The sad thing is, from observation rather than hard evidence, that the woman will shack up again with a black male often more than once, and the same thing will happen each time.

    2. Considering the number of broken homes involving black men, the chances of such sticking around after the child is born is remote.

    3. This is clearly racist.
      It shows that black men don’t find black women attractive.
      The advertisers ought to be condemned for their un-wokeness.

    1. There is no need to go all the way to India to look and act the prat – you do well enough in the UK.

    2. What a complete and utter pratt he is. What an embarrassment. How far our once proud nation has sunk.

      These people are our replacements. If it wasn’t clear before, it certainly must be now. This is treason. We are betrayed. This is war.

    4. Surely Britain is a racist, colonialist nation which inflicted centuries of oppression and misery on India. Why would any Indian wish to come here?

      1. All Indians are fundamentally racist having had nearly a century of Crown rule in India learning not only democracy but also cultural hatred and separation. Lord Louis Mountbatten was sent to India to break up India’s own indigenous differences by partitioning India to defined areas and creating red lines for them to fight over.

        No wonder Indians find UK a home from home.

  43. Just off to take the MR to see a consultant at the (private) horsepiddle about having a benign lesion excised. I did offer to do it myself….

    Back later. Play nicely. Gorgeous afternoon in yer Narfurk.

  44. Boris is the British Macron – and he’s condemning our country to declinism and despair
    The PM and Emmanuel Macron have much in common, as increasingly do our two countries
    Allister Heath: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2022/04/20/boris-johnson-condemning-britain-french-style-declinism-despair/

    The difference is that Macron is likely to win this weekend but it is becoming increasingly obvious that The Conservatives will not win the next general election.

    Boris Johnson is useless but, as this BTLiner points out, there is nobody who could replace him? I agree with this poster that there must come a very real threat from within the Conservative Party that can hold a gun to his head and get him to remember why people voted for him in 2019.

    But who will replace him?

    The only hope is for a splinter group of Conservatives to form either from within the existing party or formally to split and join Richard Tice’s Reform Party.

    Johnson has moved too far away from many of the factors which got him elected in the first place. If he cannot do something about this – and especially he must get Brexit finalised and watertight – he is lost and if his backbenchers cannot see this they are lost too. Unless they pose a very realistic threat to him he will not do anything as, I suspect, he is fundamentally lazy.

  45. Boris is the British Macron – and he’s condemning our country to declinism and despair
    The PM and Emmanuel Macron have much in common, as increasingly do our two countries
    Allister Heath: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2022/04/20/boris-johnson-condemning-britain-french-style-declinism-despair/

    The differenc is that Macron is likely to win this weekend but it is becoming increasingly obvious that The Conservatives will not win the next general election.

    Boris Johnson is useless but, as this BTLiner points out, there is nobody who could replace him? I agree with this poster that there must come a very real threat from within the Conservative Party that can hold a gun to his head and get him to remember why people voted for him in 2019.

    But who will replace him?

    The only hope is for a splinter group of Conservatives to form either from within the existing party or formally to split and join Richard Tice’s Reform Party.

    Johnson has moved too far away from many of the factors which got him elected in the first place. If he cannot do something about this – and especially he must get Brexit finalised and watertight – he is lost and if his backbenchers cannot see this they are lost too. Unless they pose a very realist threat to him he will not do anything as, I suspect, he is fundamentally lazy.

  47. Queen immortalised as Barbie in honour of Platinum Jubilee
    The doll is fitted with an elegant ivory gown and blue sash and will be presented in a box inspired by Buckingham Palace
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2022/04/21/queen-elizabeth-barbie-doll-honour-platinum-jubilee/

    A spokesman for toy company Mattel said: “Since 1959, the Barbie brand’s purpose has been to inspire the limitless potential in every girl and remind them they can be anything.

    Yes, girls can be anything. Except the Queen, unless they are born or marry into the Royal Family.

    1. Little Prince George had better watch out for the generation of little girls brought up with Queen Barbie…

      I wouldn’t mind having that one myself – she could be friends with my Barbie Software Engineer that I bought a few years ago when it came out. I like Barbie, she has a very sweet face.

  48. West warns of Russian cyber-attacks as concerns rise over Putin’s nuclear rhetoric. 21 April 2022.

    The US and four of its closest allies have warned that “evolving intelligence” shows that Russia is contemplating cyber-attacks on countries backing Ukraine, as the Kremlin’s frustration grows at its failure to make military gains.

    If it’s not a Cyber Attack it’s a Chemical Attack or a Nuclear Attack. None of which have yet materialised. This is just Project Fear transposed to Geopolitics!

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/21/west-warns-of-russian-cyber-attacks-as-concerns-rise-over-putins-nuclear-rhetoric

    2. It is good news for the West that Russia has admitted that their 50 year old flagship missile cruiser caught fire most likely through outdated unexploded ordnance (UXO) stored in a way that promotes spontanous combustion.
      This absolves NATO from the accusation of involvement in the demise of the Russian vessel particularly as Russian military asset locations are now available online through social media and the Ukrainians anyway would have deployed a Russian based anti-ship missile.

      1. It is alleged that the Americans had a top notch spy plane in the air at the time reporting the exact position of the ship back to the Ukrainian missile team.
        It was visible on the public radar tracker and switched off its ID for three hours before retuning online after the Russian vessel exploded.

        1. I read somewhere that the USA was supplying information obtained from satellites and drones to the Ukraine, in real time.

    3. Well the WEF did a dry run for a cyber attack a couple of years ago, and they just have some nasty internet controlling laws coming up.
      My guess is that we shall see a massive cyber attack that will knock out the internet – but not long enough for people to start stringing up politicians – and the Russians will be blamed.
      They seem to have a perverse habit of warning us in advance of the latest atrocity they are about to commit.
      Hope everyone’s got enough food and necessities at home for when the supermarkets and petrol stations are closed..

      1. Just topped up the tank today. Have tinned goods to last a while, too, plus matches, firelighters, candles and kindling.

          2. Pretty well worn away, me. HM is in good shape for a 96-year-old. Long may it continue!

          8. Pretty well worn away, me. HM is in good shape for a 96-year-old. Long may it continue!

    4. They are, however, Highland ponies and not the Fells named in one of the MSM papers. Their prefix is Balmoral.

  52. Deep breaths everyone

    REVEALED: Afghan ‘TikTok migrant’ who posed in designer gear at a French ski resort before boasting about illegally crossing the Channel on a dinghy – then posted grinning photos in Britain

    EXCLUSIVE: DG Usama illegally crossed the Channel in a dinghy and was then taken ashore to Britain
    He is a TikTok ‘influencer’ who lives in Lyon in France and works in French ski resort town Annecy
    Photos show Usama posing for photos on Lake Annecy, France’s third biggest lake, last winter
    He is thought to have arrived in Paris in March and Calais in northern France in the middle of the month
    TikTok video posted on April 21 after the crossing shows Usama posing on a road in the UK

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10738627/Afghan-TikTok-migrant-posed-designer-gear-ski-resort-boasting-Channel-crossing.html

    1. So is he going back to Annecy? Did he come just to make his video and show how easy it is? He clearly doesn’t need asylum. Maybe a lunatic asylum……..

          1. We voted them in – well, not me; I haven’t voted for the mainstream parties since before 1997. We haven’t got out on the streets, though, have we?

  53. I note the LTA (Lawn Tennis Association) has banned all Russian/Belarussian
    players from all of it’s tournaments including Wimbledon. Nadine (the
    drunk lush) Dorries welcomed the move.
    I,for one welcome the return of collective guilt and punishment I look forward to Nadine welcoming the bulldozing of the 5 nearest mosques and the deportation of their entire congregations (and their relatives) after the next Moslem atrocity
    Oh Wait………….

  56. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/77d3fd5fc0c058b60da5b3e6299efdc5a5e5bdfaf1660eb099b4cf6b27f0f227.png I really do not have a clue what this idiot, Peter Bennett, is ranting on about in his letter about the “ghost town” of Cley-next-the-Sea in North Norfolk. Not only do I know Cley like the back of my hand (I lived nearby for years and visited the place frequently since 1981), but I have a good friend, a retired police superintendent, who lives nearby.

    I told her about this letter in today’s DT and she replied “Hogwash!” She then added, “The book shop is open, so is the art gallery, pottery, smokehouse and fruit shop. The pub is well and truly open. People were outside the pub under the awning on the opposite side of the road. The man selling the Sunday newspapers from his lounge is still there. No sign to me of an abandoned village. As you know, Cley is on the A149 coastal route. The housing estate behind appears thriving as do all the local car parks.”

    I’m guessing that Peter Bennett was upset by something on his trip (or didn’t find things to his taste). He comes across as one of those who writes negative reports on TripAdvisor as a hobby.

    1. For non-Norfolk Dumplings, Cley is pronounced cligh, cleye, can’t think of a better spelling. Hope you have better luck with Happisburgh and Wymondham.

  57. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10739087/Moment-cocaine-gang-exchange-cash-busy-street-unsuspecting-bystanders-walk-by.html#newcomment

    All part of Neather’s intent to rub the Right’s nose in diversity. Now. Are the rape gangs, the paedophiles, the daily knifings, the gangs, the violence, the crime, the drugs the massive welfare bill, the debt, the waste, the litter worth that rubbing?

    Perhaps we need to reverse this mess and start removing the vermin from this country by force.

    5. “I just keep doing about turns and he doesn’t have to do a thing – it’s a wrap!”

    6. Long ago the Greeks used to fix the turban to a Turk’s head with a nail. Just saying.

      1. The House of Commons Dramatic Society is thinking of putting on a special production of Othello . It is a toss up between Kwasi Kwarteng
        and David Lammy as to who gets the lead role but there is particular malignant and turbaned Turk who, although he does not have a walk on part, certainly gets a mention and I am sure that both Kwasi and David would revel in the chance of taking him by the throat while he makes a few offstage ad-lib deep-throated apologies!

        Set you down this;
        And say besides, that in Aleppo once,
        Where a malignant and a turbaned Turk
        Beat a Venetian and traduced the state,
        I took by the throat the circumcised dog,
        And smote him, thus.

        Michael Gove would make an ideal Iago and his wife, Emilia, could be played by Adultra Truss. Desdemona presents a casting dilemma but nobody would count on Diane Abbot for any counting role.

    8. I’d like you to thank the brain donor for me, Achmed. What was her name, Diane something-or-other?

  59. The BBC writing headlines that do not make sense, again. “The young rebels fighting for democracy in Myanmar”
    It is unlikely that an armed insurgency will result in the establishment of a democracy. It sets an example of the opposite, that is, that armed revolution will get you into power whereas votes will not. This may be another CIA stunt.
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-asia-61151314

    2. IIRC, Myanmar closed down their local branch of the Open Society. Therefore, they must be demonised, lest this disease of thinking for oneself should spread.

      1. I would guess that they may be Muslims fighting against their expulsion for terrorising native Burmese.

    4. Back to one over par (a bogey 5).
      Yet again, I thought of the correct one at three but two more ‘obvious’ choices spoilt it.
      Wordle 306 5/6

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

    5. A Sad Six for me today …
      Wordle 306 6/6

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

    6. A feeble 5 today.
      Wordle 306 5/6

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

  61. Back from Horsepiddle. The MR’s lesions are all benign. Nothing to do to any of them unless she wants the one on her forehead removed. Great relief all round – though she said she wasn’t worried….

    Now she is attacking the KLM paperwork for our trip to Rome. I am keeping well out of the way. As are G & P.

  63. Politics latest news: Boris Johnson says he has ‘nothing to hide’ after Government U-turns on partygate investigation
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/04/21/boris-johnson-partygate-investigation-vote-india-priti-patel/

    This report mentions the fact that Steve Baker, once one of the most vociferous supporters of Brexit along with Bill Cash and Mark Francois, is now calling for Johnson to resign.

    But whom will Baker support if Boris Johnson does resign and what will become of Brexit if he does?

    BTL

    Steve Baker was an ardent supporter of Brexit – far more so that either Jason Rees-Mogg or Boris Johnson.

    But is the leader who replaces Johnson going to champion Brexit, make it safe by getting rid of the N I Protocol and the ECHR, and take full advantage of the opportunities offered by a proper Brexit? Or will he or she let Brexit become more and more watered down until we might as well never have left the EU at all.

    And yet Steve Baker is calling for Boris Johnson’s resignation. Who does Mr Baker think will make Brexit secure if Johnson goes?

    1. Nothing to hide? That means he’s shredded all the evidence and got at the witnesses, then.

    5. I am SO jealous! My wisteria still looks like a stick that is just about thinking about putting out some leaves, never mind flowers.

      1. We have two others – a white one – to flower in about two weeks and a dark blue – similar.

  65. HAPPY HOUR – Happy Motoring NoTTlers.

    Watch TV in self-drive cars up to 37mph: Drivers stuck in traffic jams will be able to check emails and view shows under proposed new rule.
    Insurance firms – not drivers – will be liable for accidents in self-driving mode.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/37512fa7694fbf62a96285bcf01fb8032bca1f2e4818fb7ed3a563a62e42f7e0.jpg https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10733401/Watch-TV-self-drive-cars-37mph-Drivers-stuck-jams-check-emails-new-rules.html

    It will never work…………. there is nothing worth watching on TV!

    1. Drivers will be able to hand over control to their vehicle – although they must stay in a single lane and keep to below 37mph.

      Would that be up to the point of handing over control to their vehicle or afterwards?

    1. That is an incredible report with some disturbing truths. Why is the German government subsidising a far-left American organisation aimed at suppressing revelations about woke and left-wing ideology? There is something deeply sinister about this. (Don’t like his style of delivery but it has to be heard). Well done Fox News.

      1. A good question.
        It’s not that much different to the EU funding the BBC which it has done for more than decade and still is I believe.

          2. Top of the Class? I haven’t been that for some time (at Grammar School, Macgregor always managed to pip me for first place in the A stream).

  68. One of the bits of bumph the MR (and I) have to fill in – one each, natch – is a “health declaration”. It has six questions – and the answer “YES” to any of them means you will not be allowed on the plane.

    Can you imagine anyone buying tickets, booking hotels etc etc and then ticking one of the “YES” boxes?

    1. Will you have to have a pre-flight PCR test? Have you got your NHS app vax-pass on your phone?

      1. No tests. My “pass” is on paper. The MR (who has a phone) has both on it.

        Italy requires “special” masks….everywhere. In bed, I expect.

    2. You should try going to San Francisco and back to France. I did the journey three weeks ago. The worst, most complex journey I have every undertaken in my life. More paperwork than an attempted declaration of Brexit and trying to import a pork pie into Mecca. Worse still, I caught a stinking cold and chest infection on the return trip – and everyone was wearing masks (compulsory). I like the sunshine but I will look nearer home next time.

  69. Good evening NoTTLers.

    French woman who married and had lived here for 15 years is “humiliated” when asked by immigration authorities how long she is staying for, and asked for proof of her “settled status” – which she had not transferred to her current passport. Blames Brexit and our attitude.

    Well, IMO if you speak like a frog, look like a frog and haven’t transferred over your settled status, then given the French history of transporting criminals over here, I think she has a nerve. Yes, it is unfortunate, but she didn’t ensure that her status was up-to-date and to whine about Brexit and about our Border people for once trying to do their job, is just tough luck.

    It’s just a pity our immigration people are not so enthusiastic when it comes to our South coast.

    https://www.cheshire-live.co.uk/news/chester-cheshire-news/humiliation-manchester-airport-staff-ask-23743879#comments-wrapper

    2. Bong Soir

      Far be it for me to advise a French lady – but I’d just suggest that she reflects on how an Englishwoman, who had lived in yer France for 15 years and had NOT got her carte de sejour in order, would have been treated by the PAF.

      Sauce, goose and gander.

  70. My Beloved has just finished the form-filling. The forms were all supplied online by KLM. The MR is very IT savvy and literate and logical – but it still took her 2½ hours….. I have rewarded her with a glass of rosé (or three).

    What a loada bollox. And, mark my worms, it will all be reintroduced in yer France after Toy Boy romps home on Sunday.

    As they used to say after the War – “The End of the World is Nye.” (Most of you are far too young…!!!)

      1. Got it in one, Our Susan. The man at whose feet the blame for the world-beating NHS can be laid.

        1. The NHS as originally planned might have worked if he hadn’t for his hands on it.

    3. Aneurin Bevan, who introduced the NHS, was so chuffed that they’d named a disease for him – Aneurism.

      He rushed to a medical dictionery to check the definition:

      A bloody clot that ought to be removed, immediately.

  72. That’s me for this eventful day. Gorgeous weather – though a nip in the air, still. All seems set for our trip – the first holiday since 21 Marc 2020. In all that time, we have only spent four nights away from home. Weird!

    Have a smashing evening.

    A demain.

  73. I could have done without the visit of the grand monsters today; but I had a lovely day and so did MH their grandpa. They have grown up and their behaviour is much improved. They ate like food was going out of style and I taught the GMs a couple of rhymes. I got them to sit half way up the stairs with me and recited the AA Milne verse Halfway up the Stairs…. MH was quietly tickled pink.
    We sat out in the sun as the weather was gorgeous and it really was a lovely day. The kitchen looks like a devastated area but I don’t care- it was a really nice day.

      1. Don’t be- you should see the kitchen…
        Your day will come Paul, your lads just have to find the right lady.

        1. I am the tidy-up fairy here, so I’m not fazed. Would love some anklebiters, me. But hey…

      1. Thanks Conners. They are exhausting but getting better every time we see them. Given the amount of grub I made there isn’t much left!

        1. Age is (generally!) a great civiliser 🙂 I am hoping that as time goes on, Oscar will respond to constant reminders to be nice. He got his dew claw caught in his ID disc ring last night (I especially got a D shaped one because he got his leg hair caught in the split ring previously). Could I help him free it? He was all for having my fingers and not letting me anywhere near. In the end, turning himself inside out (on three legs), he fell down the stairs (he’d come to find me when I was in the bathroom upstairs) and freed himself that way. He is his own worst enemy!

          4. Yes, I think that was the case, judging by his behaviour. He is generally much better lately (he seems to think twice now about rushing over and biting my feet if he’s woken up, for a start), but trying to brush him or do anything with his paws is a nightmare.

          5. We know Lily had a happy life with her previous people, because she’s so relaxed and loving – she just wants food and a lap to sit on – both our neighbours also have rescue cats and you can tell they were neglected as they are both timid and not lap cats at all. It’s all down to socialisation when they are young.

          6. I’m hoping that time will cause him to realise he’s not going to be hurt and I only have his best interests at heart.

          7. My first Golden Lenny always managed to get one of his front paws caught in his collar. Don’t ask- never saw him do it, just saw a three legged dog coming at you.

          8. Presumably he didn’t try to rip your fingers off when you went to help him, though.

          9. No but he did develop epilepsy and that ended up making him rather unstable. Sadly, I had to let him go once he got to about 6 fits a day and was increasingly odd coming out of them. Such a shame, he was a lovely boy.

          10. Sometimes, saying goodbye is the kindest (and only) thing one can do. It’s a year yesterday that I had to have Charlie put to sleep. I miss him dreadfully, but it would have been selfish not to do the decent thing and end his suffering.

          13. I think it’s a case of “where there’s no sense, there’s no feeling”! He is old – he’s 12 – so he should know better, but past experiences are difficult to eradicate.

  74. Evening, all. Lovely day, if a slightly cold wind to make one wear a gilet despite the sun. As to the headline, WHY must he stay? He made the rules for us, but flouted them himself. No point in waiting until after the elections – if voting changed anything it would be banned. Action this day!

    1. Hmm – not just one, but two Ukrainian flag emojis. Halfcock needs to be thoroughly investigated about those contracts and probably a lot else.

      I’m impressed the kitten knows how to tap out when submitting.

    2. Hmm – not just one, but two Ukrainian flag emojis. Halfcock needs to be thoroughly investigated about those contracts and probably a lot else.

      I’m impressed the kitten knows how to tap out when submitting.

          2. Perhaps all the “elite” are disgusting perverts and utter bastards.
            And that includes moron, since he chooses to associate with them.

          3. His twatter comment says a lot about his lack of awareness and people skills!😱

      2. That’s the one! Revolting creep, but he’s apparently good at what he does! I’ll be giving him a body swerve!

      3. It’s one of the very few times I actually feel sorry for such types.
        It’s their job to attend such functions and every time a celebrity/VIP/politician shakes a hand a photograph is taken.
        I wouldn’t mind betting that one could even find pictures of the Queen shaking hands with utter creeps and perverts.
        Obama, Biden, Clintons W and H, Macron, Blair, Mandelson etc etc

        1. Precisely. The Queen sat for Rolf Harris and Prince Charles was big buddies with Jimmy Savile.

          Even Thatcher was persuaded that both were worth encouraging; remember her vomit inducing recitation of Rolf Harris’ silly song about ‘Two Little Boys’? or her tolerance of Savile as an ‘Angel of Mercy’ tending to paralysed children in Stoke Mandeville?

    2. Of course it’s fake! Talk TV starts on Monday and Morgan is joining (for how long I wonder?) This is obviously a PR stunt!

    3. Do you have a link, Phizzee? Want to share with screechy crazed teacher friend, but she won’t accept unattributed data…

    8. After lock down the stadiums were opened again.
      It was the roar of the greasepaint and the smell of the crowds.

  80. I didn’t know that : via John Ward:

    ”
    The Daily Post regional empire is owned by Reach plc…an entirely different kettle of fish.

    Reach owns both the Daily Express and the Daily Mirror, and is run by self-made Glaswegian multi-millionaire Jim Mullen Mullen is thus in charge of the UK’s traditionally working class Right and Left in one group. As such, he is by definition the UK’s most influential persuader of mass artisanal and traditional citizens, without whose trust the blocist EUNATO monopolist dystopians could not exist as a cultural force.

    It has been estimated that, during his career to date, Mr Mullen has cut 1200 jobs per year. But I would argue that – even if he has done that – he still could not exist as an independent “news” publisher without the tacit support of the British State.

    You will not find anything anti-EU, anti-NATO or anti-Zelenskyy in the news media controlled by Reach plc…a brand name which, in and of itself, carries with it the sense of sucker-filled tentacles reaching out for opinion control….as they retreat Octcopoidally back into the sea from Welsh beaches.

    But what you will find in Jim’s most recent existence as Head Honcho at Reach is two sets of trade unions who hate his guts, his greed and his collaboration with the global dystopians.”

    1. Practically every time you open a page in the Excess, or any of his other papers you get the Reach GDPR page come up and have to ‘confirm your choices’ not to share your info with them.

    1. Well, yes, it would. The problem I had is that every group presented a different data source, interpreted differently. It was a complete pigs breakfast to set a narrative, not tell the truth.

      1. I found the programme very interesting – I should like to see Mark Steyn defend the way he presented the statistics so that we can judge how accurate his conclusions are.

        I must say that an open debate is necessary – Mark Steyn is all in favour of open debate unlike most people in the MSM, social media and the politicians.

  83. Well, after a good start this morning, I got some logs chopped & stacked, then fitted one of the saw chains to my electric saw and began cutting the stack of logs I have up the garden and getting them stacked.

    Then I ran out of steam and felt bloody awful for a while.
    Still, at least I got something useful done!

    Won’t be long before bed. I’ve already have my augmented Lemsip and will need some Vick on my chest before bed. Just waiting for the R3 concert to finish. Holst’s Planets.
    Good night all.

    1. You shouldn’t exert yourself so much while you have an infection – you need to let your body get rid of it.

    3. “Still, at least I got something useful done!” Exactly, BoB, “Progress not Perfection” is the secret to achieving. Worrying about not reaching the target you hoped to reach is a recipe for stress and depression; focusing on progress, however small, will get you to your goal over time.

  84. MH is, for his sins, watching Dan Woodentop. He reported that Boris had been spinning yarn in India. MH said what was the difference- he spins yarns all the time. Yes, I know he’s MH but I thought that was funny.

    1. Have just been listening to it, for the first time. Hasn’t he got an annoying voice? I had to turn off though when the stupid trans-activist started spouting stupid nonsense about gay people being the same as trans people and not letting anyone else speak.

      (Edit. I assume you mean the GB News guy, Dan Wooton I think his name is?)

    2. Have just been listening to it, for the first time. Hasn’t he got an annoying voice? I had to turn off though when the stupid trans-activist started spouting stupid nonsense about gay people being the same as trans people and not letting anyone else speak.

      (Edit. I assume you mean the GB News guy, Dan Wooton I think his name is?)

  85. No surprise:

    “The Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) has the right to make a partnering U.S. lab wipe all data arising from their collaborative work, a legal document reveals.

    A memorandum of understanding (MOU) of cooperation, signed between the Wuhan lab and the Galveston National Laboratory at the University of Texas Medical Branch, makes it obligatory for each of the two labs to delete “secret files” or materials upon the request of the other party.

    “The party is entitled to ask the other to destroy and/or return the secret files, materials, and equipment without any backups,” states the MOU obtained by U.S. Right to Know, a nonprofit investigative research group focused on public health, through a freedom of information request.

    The MOU focused on promoting research and training cooperation between the two labs. It was signed in 2017 and stays in effect through this October. But the confidentiality terms would remain binding even after the agreement’s five-year duration expires, the agreement states.

    The document goes on to broadly define what materials are to be treated as “confidential,” opening the door to potentially all documents and data from any collaboration being subject to a deletion request.

    “All cooperation and exchange documents, details and materials shall be treated as confidential info by the parties,” the MOU states.

    The WIV has been at the center of the controversy due to growing speculation that the virus that causes COVID-19, which has now killed millions around the globe, may have leaked from the facility. The lab has denied these allegations but Beijing has blocked international investigators to data and records from the facility thus preventing any meaningful probe into the hypothesis.

    WIV and the Galveston National Laboratory formally declared their partnership the following year to “streamline future scientific and operational collaborations on dangerous pathogens,” according to a joint announcement in the journal Science.”

    2. Not for the first time being drunk has been used as a reason for ‘diminished responsibility’. Hopefully the jury will see through it.

      1. When I was a court usher I always thought being ‘in drink’, as defence solicitors called it, was a contributory factor rather than mitigation.
        Getting drunk was a personal choice.

  87. Handel’s Messiah – Academy of Ancient Music and a large glass of Lagavulin, is my parting action for today.
    Hope everyone has a peaceful night.

    1. Good night, Maggie, I hope your visit to the dentist went well today. Mine did.

  90. Good night, everyone. Just finished watching “Ladies In Lavender” which I had not seen before. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

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