Thursday 21 December: The SNP’s misguided budget shows contempt for hard-working Scots

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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470 thoughts on “Thursday 21 December: The SNP’s misguided budget shows contempt for hard-working Scots”

  1. Good morning, chums. Another day older, and deeper in… “stuff” to de-clutter. But not today, I’m taking the day off.

        1. What? I must have pressed on the downvote when trying to scroll down, by mistake. Apologies, no I certainly didn’t mean to do that!

  3. Wordle 915 4/6

    I did it in four – a splendid result. (Note: the first line ended with a grey square which I accidentally erased.)
    ⬜🟩⬜🟨
    ⬜🟩🟩⬜⬜
    ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Happy Birthday Elsie! Hope you have a wonderful day, and continue to lighten our lives with your glorious humour! Lots of good wishes…🎂🥂🎄🎉💕

      1. Thank you so much Sue Mac. And I’m glad to hear that you find my sense of humour to be “glorious”.

    2. Happy birthday 🎂 🥳 🎉 🎈 🎁 🍷Elsie – I hope the darkest day of the year is a good one for you!

  5. How Joe Biden gave green light to Ireland for Troubles ambush

    The president is fiercely proud of his Irish roots and gave his personal blessing for Dublin’s legal challenge against immunity legislation

    James Crisp, EUROPE EDITOR
    20 December 2023 • 9:04pm

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2023/12/20/TELEMMGLPICT000335200214_17031032822370_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqhxIBykwsigX1ySZvqBRpDtHhMh81Y8GqX3ipA8YMo0k.jpeg?imwidth=680

    You can bet your bottom dollar that Joe Biden will be taking a keen interest in Ireland’s lawsuit against Britain.

    The United States is not a member of the European Convention of Human Rights or its court. But it has long been obvious that Mr Biden’s special relationship is with Dublin and not with London.

    The president gave Dublin’s rare legal challenge his personal blessing when he met with Leo Varadkar, the prime minister of Ireland, just two months ago. The Irish government is disputing a new British law giving immunity to hundreds of soldiers during the Troubles.

    Mr Biden, who is fiercely proud of his Irish roots, offered Mr Varadkar his support in the case and the effective green light in New York in September.

    “I told him we had no specific ask at the moment, but we are very happy that he is continuing to keep abreast of issues in Ireland,” Mr Varadkar said after his powwow with the world’s most powerful man.

    The most Irish president since John F Kennedy and the second Catholic in the White House after him has form when it comes to intervening in rows between Ireland and the UK.

    When Boris Johnson’s government threatened to rip up the Northern Ireland Protocol Brexit treaty, Dublin picked up the phone to Washington.

    Trade deal
    Binning the Irish Sea border would break international law and undermine the Good Friday Agreement, Dublin told the president. It also put Ireland’s place in the EU’s Single Market at risk.

    Mr Biden warned Britain that it could forget any hopes of a US-UK trade deal – long seen as a prize of Brexit – if it tore up the treaty signed with the EU.

    It wasn’t the first time such threats had been issued from a man who says his hero is Wolfe Tone, an 18th century Irishman sentenced to death for leading a revolt against British rule

    He was vice-president to Barack Obama, when he warned Britons they would be at “the back of the queue” for any US trade deal if they voted to leave the EU.

    Relations with Britain warmed when Rishi Sunak became Prime Minister and signed the Windsor Framework, which replaced the Northern Ireland Protocol.

    But hopes for even the barest of bare bones “foundational” trade agreement, far short of a fully fledged deal, were dashed on Monday.

    The talks were shelved because senior Democrats did not want a deal welcoming more foreign-made products into America ahead of next year’s elections.

    Codename ‘Celtic’
    Mr Biden’s outspoken love for Ireland is such that he has published a family tree of his Irish ancestors and goes by the secret service codename “Celtic”.

    His ancestors fled a famine-ravaged Ireland for a better life in the US in around 1851 because of, in his words, “what the Brits were doing”.

    As a senator in 1985, Mr Biden opposed and watered down an extradition treaty with Britain that would have made it easier to bring to justice IRA terrorists.

    Senior unionists in Northern Ireland have accused Mr Biden of hating Britain and of harbouring dreams of a united Ireland.

    In April, this most green of presidents was given a rapturous welcome on a visit to Ireland, where he memorably confused the All Blacks rugby team with the hated British Black and Tans, constables recruited into the Royal Irish Constabulary.

    Before his victory lap, he stopped off in Northern Ireland.

    In Belfast, he urged the DUP to support Mr Sunak’s new Brexit deal for the region and dangled billions in investment before unionist eyes if they accepted the Irish Sea border.

    It wasn’t until a month later in New York, that the president revealed his true motivation – a deep distrust of Britain. He told a Democratic national committee fundraising reception that he went to Ireland to make sure the “Brits didn’t screw around”.

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

    L S Morgan
    10 HRS AGO
    Dear God. And still we’re told that Trump is the dangerous one.
    I’m about 100 times more Irish than this nasty old man, what is it with him?

    Michael Bamber
    10 HRS AGO
    Reply to L S Morgan
    Unpleasant, senile, deluded fake leprechaun.

    1. The president is fiercely proud of his Irish roots and gave his personal blessing for Dublin’s legal challenge against immunity legislation.

      Why we indulge the Irish is a mystery to me. Contrary to popular myth they are not our friends. This extends to the personal. You could construct a word closely parallel to anti-Semitism to describe their attitude to the Engish. I’ve seen it and felt it for myself. It’s a quite feral hatred devoid of any rationality and based on nationalist and racial prejudices!

    2. As someone has pointed out [above], I am much more Irish than that demented fraud who claims to be the POTUS – he needs to keep out of matters that don’t concern him. If the UK government haven’t yet realised that Biden hates us they are even stupider than I thought!

  6. Stephen Fry is right about anti-Semitism – and the Left is to blame

    Displays of righteousness seem to be enabling nasty people to behave as viciously as they wish

    MICHAEL DEACON, COLUMNIST & ASSISTANT EDITOR
    20 December 2023 • 6:36pm

    Every year, on Christmas Day, Channel 4 invites a public figure to deliver what it calls an Alternative Christmas Message. This year it’s going to be Stephen Fry. And he’s decided to devote his message to the alarming rise in anti-Semitism.

    “Knowing and loving this country as I do,” he will say, “I don’t believe that most Britons are OK living in a society that judges hatred of Jews to be the one acceptable form of racism.”

    Mr Fry, who has Jewish heritage himself, is absolutely right to speak out. Anti-Semitism has indeed become “the one acceptable form of racism”. What’s especially striking about this, however, is that it seems to be considered “acceptable” by the sort of people who are first to condemn all other forms of racism. That is, progressives.

    The author and comedian David Baddiel wrote an entire book on this subject, Jews Don’t Count, which was published in February 2021 – barely three months after the Equality and Human Rights Commission published the results of its inquiry into anti-Semitism in the Labour party.

    Mr Baddiel pointed out that many otherwise right-on people appear to experience uncharacteristic difficulty identifying this one form of prejudice.

    The truth of his words has become all the more obvious in the past two months. On October 7, the terrorist group Hamas carried out the rape and slaughter of 1,200 Israeli Jews. And, every Saturday since, Britain’s most righteous progressives have marched in defence not of Israel, but of Gaza – seemingly oblivious to the fact that, alongside them, are people waving anti-Semitic placards, and bellowing anti-Semitic chants.

    If any other minority were being abused in this way, you can be sure the progressives would notice, and immediately condemn it. Yet in this instance they either don’t notice it – or make excuses for it, denying that it’s anti-Semitic and wittering on about “context”.

    To be clear: I’m not suggesting for a moment that British progressives are secretly Nazis. I just think they’re suffering from unconscious bias. Which is a peculiar irony, because “unconscious bias” is a crime that they’re forever accusing everyone else of committing. Indeed they’re extremely keen on workplaces hosting special training sessions, in order to rid white people of their “unconscious bias” against black people.

    Yet I can only conclude that they themselves have an unconscious bias against Jews. When Israel goes to war against the terrorists who attacked it, British progressives immediately accuse it of “genocide”, and march through our cities in protest. Yet, when actual genocides were being carried out in Myanmar, Darfur and the Congo, where were all these marchers then? I don’t recall protests of anything like the same size against those genocides – or, for that matter, against the abuses of Muslim Uyghurs by China. Now, why could that be? What is it about the world’s only Jewish nation that provokes their ire so much more strongly?

    Then again, perhaps I’m being generous in suggesting that such bias is always unconscious. In some cases, it may be all too conscious. Just as trans rights activism can give cover for supposedly compassionate progressives to shout abuse at women, so pro-Palestinian activism can give cover for supposedly compassionate progressives to shout abuse at Jews. In both scenarios, outward support for a righteous cause enables nasty people to behave as viciously as they wish. Their hatred is cloaked in kindness.

    I suppose it’s clever, in a way. If you wish to get away with attacking an oppressed group, simply affect to be standing up for another.

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

    Elias Artifex
    10 HRS AGO
    Islam is a deeply antisemitic religion and (unless UK immigration policy is changed abruptly) Britain is destined to be a majority Muslim country within a few decades. Under these circumstances Jews have no future in Britain. This is the reality and it is the reality created by the elected government of the UK – to their undying shame!

    Michelle Page
    9 HRS AGO
    Reply to Elias Artifex – view message
    None of us will have a future here; not Jews, nor Christians, Sikhs, Hindus….basically no one who doesn’t subscribe to the religion of intolerance and violence.

      2. They don’t get a mention in official documents; you can be white but only British, Welsh, Irish or Scottish!

          1. Same here, but living in proximity to Wales and having gone to a Welsh University (where I was definitely a second class citizen) has made me entirely English!

  7. Good morning all,

    Still darkish here at McPhee Towers due to a heavy overcast. Remaining cloudy all day with the wind West-Nor’-West and temperature flat-lining at a warm at 11℃.

    SWMBO called me down from my eyrie last night to watch ‘Mike Yarwood on the BBC’ on Four. It was an hour long retrospective on MY fronted by Rory Bremner and a snapshot of better times. It feels strange to write that the early 1970s (three-day week, power cuts etc) were better times but I really believe they were. Or was it just my innocence, being in my early 20’s at the time?

    Anyway there were vintage pieces of Yarwood being Michael Parkinson while introducing Michael Parkinson who came on to interview him (Yarwood) and the same with Harold Wilson during Wilson’s short ill-fated attempt to be a chat-show host. MY’s mimicry of the mannerism’s of others was perfect. What came across throughout was what a clever, thoughful and decent man Mike Yarwood was. It’s a tragedy that his career ended in virtual obscurity doing end-of-pier shows with a psychosis about stage-fright. Who knows what the reason really was?

    There were a few minutes of MY with a gathering of children aged, I guess, around 10-12. Valerie Singleton ring-mistressed the proceedings as the children asked MY about his work. The children were well-dressed, articulate and asked intelligent questions. Of course, they may have been hand-picked and rehearsed, but the striking thing was that their sentences flowed – no hesitancy, no ‘umms’, ‘errs’, ‘likes’ or any street-argot which there would be these days. These children were in the process of having a real education at a time before the corruption set in. And they were all white.

    I wonder if the BBC knows what it is doing when it holds up a mirror to our recent past in that way?

          3. Dinna fash yersel, Elsie. S’not a very good ‘joke.

            The small girl is waiting by the fireplace to greet Father Christmas with a glass of milk (we had a non-traditional Father Christmas in the house where I grew up. Rather than milk, he insisted on whisky otherwise he wouldn’t leave us any presents) and a plate of biscuits (furthermore, we had to leave out carrots for the reindeer).

            The obnoxious small boy/brother is spoiling everything by asserting, using the modern vernacular, that Father Christmas doesn’t really exist….which all NoTTLers know is a falsehood because he does exist and he’s coming here on Sunday night. {:^))

    2. Is he the Rev Edward Kearne as a child? (Said vicar gave a “truth sermon” for 11 and 12 years olds about Father Christmas – it didn’t go down well).

  9. Whoops ….

    The downfall of the Nigerian mobile tycoon who tried to buy Sheffield United. Dozy Mmobuosi’s entire enterprise was a Potemkin business, American regulators say.

    Dozy Mmobuosi was riding high. Photographed for the cover of GQ Africa a year ago, he was pictured leaning forward thoughtfully, hands clasped, billed as the “tech entrepreneur changing the face of agriculture”. His business, Tingo Mobile, had started out providing mobile phones to rural farmers in Nigeria. But within just a few years, it had grown into a multibillion-dollar empire with a listing on New York’s Nasdaq stock exchange. To cap it all, the London-based tycoon soon revealed he was bidding to buy the Premier League football team Sheffield United – lining him up to become the only black majority owner of a top-flight team. There was just one small problem: Mmobuosi’s businesses, as they were commonly understood, may never have existed. That is the extraordinary claim made this week by American regulators, who accused the 45-year-old Nigerian businessman – real name, Mmobuosi Odogwu Banye – of perpetrating an ongoing fraud of “staggering” proportions. At its peak last year, his publicly traded company, Tingo Inc, was valued at $7.23bn (£5.7bn), according to Bloomberg data.

    Yet according to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the entire enterprise was a Potemkin business. It was built almost entirely on a mountain of sham documents, created to dupe Mmobuosi’s auditors and investors, court filings say. The allegations, if proven, are a stunning indictment of the ease with which stock market investors were duped by a business conjured out of “thin air”. They also raise troubling questions for regulators and auditors, who spotted red flags only after huge sums of money had already changed hands. “Beginning in at least 2019, Mmobuosi created fake financial statements and forged supporting material to falsely portray Tingo Mobile as a thriving and profitable enterprise with hundreds of millions of annual revenue, profit and available cash,” court documents filed by SEC said.

    “In reality, throughout 2019, the company had no meaningful operations or customers and about $15 in its bank account.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/12/21/downfall-of-nigerian-mobile-tycoon-buy-sheffield-united/

  11. Sir Kneeler wouldn’t prosecute Jimmy Savile or Rape Gangs but squirmed around this charmer…

    Starmer helped hate preacher Abu Qatada fight his deportation in court

    Labour leader represented the Islamist extremist in 2008 and had his arguments called ‘fallacious’ by an immigration judge

    Robert Mendick and Patrick Sawer
    20 December 2023 • 8:46pm

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2023/12/20/TELEMMGLPICT000037242068_17031042654500_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqoBoyx_R5Fm8icbD09kIPemdNgTXkCSyOPdfuWxlolq0.jpeg?imwidth=680

    Sir Keir Starmer represented Abu Qatada in court as the notorious hate preacher fought to avoid deportation from the UK.

    Qatada, described as Osama bin Laden’s ambassador in Europe, was represented by Sir Keir at a hearing in 2008. For a decade, British authorities had fought legal battles to have Qatada extradited to Jordan, where he was wanted on terrorism charges.

    The revelation of Sir Keir’s role comes as he and John Healey, the shadow defence secretary, will visit British troops deployed near the Russian border and stress Labour’s commitment to Nato on a visit to Estonia.

    Sir Keir, who polls suggest is on track to enter No 10 after next year’s general election, will pledge that a government led by him would ensure the UK plays a leading role in defending the High North and other regions against Russian aggression.

    Sir Keir, at the time a leading barrister, was one of a number of human rights lawyers who represented Qatada in myriad hearings.

    The future Labour leader, instructed by Birnberg Peirce, the human rights law firm, acted for Qatada at a Special Immigration Appeals Commission (Siac) hearing in June 2008.

    Two years earlier, Charles Clarke, the then home secretary, had ordered Qatada’s deportation, sparking years of legal wrangling. Theresa May finally succeeded in forcing Qatada’s return to Jordan in 2013.

    The total cost to the taxpayer of the long-running case was a reported £1.7 million. A year later, Qatada was acquitted in a Jordanian court of terror charges.

    In the 2006 hearing, Sir Keir argued a technical point of law as part of proceedings in which Qatada tried to resist both deportation and imprisonment.

    Sir Keir had argued that hearings concerning secret material being used against Qatada should be held in public. He also argued that Qatada’s civil rights – including the right to receive state benefits – were incorporated in English domestic law.

    Mr Justice Mitting threw out Sir Keir’s arguments, describing one part of his appeal as “fallacious”.

    At the hearing, Sir Keir submitted that “deportation and the revocation of refugee status both interfere with domestic civil rights”, according to the Siac judgment.

    Sir Keir had argued that Qatada should not be detained in jail while deportation proceedings had remained ongoing.

    Qatada arrived in the UK on a false passport in 1993 and was granted asylum a year later. In 1995, he issued a fatwa, saying it was justified to both kill Muslims who renounce their faith and kill their families. Four years later – and in the same year he was granted indefinite leave to remain in the UK – Qatada made a speech in which he effectively issued another fatwa advocating the killing of Jews, including children.

    There followed a series of hearings in which Qatada was held in jail, then freed and then returned to jail.

    Sir Keir’s involvement in the case came at a time, in June 2008, when Qatada was in jail, but he was subsequently released just a week after the hearing. Sir Keir does not appear to have played a role in securing Qatada’s release.

    A few months later, in November 2008, Sir Keir left private practice to take up the post of director of public prosecutions, and was successful in securing convictions against a number of terrorists.

    Senior Conservative MPs have questioned Sir Keir’s actions in representing notorious criminals and terror suspects. Supporters point out that under the cab rank rule, barristers must take jobs as they are offered unless under certain circumstances, such as being too busy.

    An analysis of cases in the public domain suggests Sir Keir represented – at some stage or other in proceedings – at least 18 Islamist terror suspects. In many of the cases, the suspects were placed under control orders and as a consequence not identified under the anonymity laws then in place.

    ‘Simply desperate attacks’
    Sir Keir’s spokesman has told The Telegraph: “Keir Starmer was the country’s most senior prosecutor, serving under Labour and Tory governments. During this time, he oversaw the first-ever prosecution of al-Qaeda terrorists, the jailing of the airline liquid bomb plotters and racist murderers of Stephen Lawrence. With his leadership, charge and conviction rates for sexual offences rose, victims were better supported, and the Crown Prosecution Service was positively reformed.

    “Of course, as a lawyer he has had to represent people whose views he doesn’t agree with – that’s what the job of a lawyer involves. These are simply desperate attacks from a Tory party that has given up on running the country.”

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/12/20/keir-starmer-helped-abu-qatada-fight-his-deportation/

      1. Yes of course. And they are just doing the job to the best of their ability. The fact that the Left and in particular Labour are enamoured with terrorist groups is beside the point. Corbyn/Hamas Biden/IRA.

  12. Power cut from 06:50 until 08:05
    Good morrow, Gentlefolk. today’s story

    The Word It Hinges Upon
    A blonde walks up to the clerk at a hardware store and says, “I would like to buy a set of hinges.”
    So the clerk says, “Would you like a screw for these hinges?”
    “No,” replies the blonde, “but I’ll blow you for that toaster up there!”

  13. Good morning, all. Overcast, dry and breezy at the moment. Strong winds forecast for later.

    President Trump explaining to Democrat Senator Schumer how it’s going to be re the USA’s southern border. Note: Schumer does not look at Trump during this ‘explanation’.

    https://twitter.com/TheGeneral_0/status/1737547661316649349

    Found this article on Schumer in The Intercept from 2016.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/cc4edbec09f1526156c9218d670561741f9ac510c494db502aa591ce139afdd8.png

    The Intercept

  14. ‘Morning All

    Low blood pressure?? this’ll sort it…….

    https://twitter.com/roneng1ish/status/1737222051180724342?s=61&t=Y0IVE-UcdX8lOqxTEHXI9w

    Rest

    https://twitter.com/CradleyBooper3/status/1737186139507703920?s=20

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f8ffba816aac7532028f8b18993f386df05bcc273b9e49753f80874ac85d8b8a.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/61eec9ad50ffad50a32515c14e99ba5b17b6f40d42b07424433091890007fd17.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6b38c3395e1f7f16d83a757f36115a7149a71864c82f1b2ee298e57cc04ed347.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e9dd14bbd606a8c10e839eb568f4a74682102e7a80a1b7d1af12250ec2e76163.jpg

    Finally

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/65765f5851aa1b5275927366b27aeb4ceb8e282691596a1a5fa8acef41ba155a.jpg

    1. On that last video, look at the name of the housing officer.
      That is where part of the problem lies.

        3. I was offered half price cigarettes in the last one i went to. I would have preferred someone who was trafficked and was good at housework.

  15. Good morning all.
    A howling gale through the night has brought down a few trees and it’s an unseasonably mild 8°C outside.
    Normally, we get high winds passing over the top of the valley with only scattered gusts reaching into the valley bottom. However, today the wind direction has it blowing through the valley. Fun for all!

  16. 379641+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    I have a great deal of liking for the sweaties having worked
    overseas on numerous sites with them.

    But may one ask, who was it that put the SNp into power ?

    The same question can be asked regarding the lab/lib/con
    mass uncontrolled/ controlled immigration / invasion supporting coalition in England, again,again & again.

    We are witnessing these two nations twining via a death wish,
    in regards to both countries and their childrens future.

    2. Glad you had a good sleep. You’ll probably feel the effects of the NN for the rest of the day.
      Take it easy.

  18. The incredible bulk: Phil Salt’s added weight driving career-best form

    Hardly suitable for a Family Newspaper…

    Batsman, who has been consuming 3,500 calories day to try to bulk up, has hit back-to-back T20 centuries for England in West Indies

    Tim Wigmore,
    DEPUTY CRICKET CORRESPONDENT, IN TRINIDAD & TOBAGO
    21 December 2023 • 7:00am

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/cricket/2023/12/20/TELEMMGLPICT000360540661_17031053148970_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqjetDlLkkivkos2TN100DmOt26bErWXWPU8E8czFiIzE.jpeg?imwidth=680
    *
    *
    *
    ‘He’s become smarter… picking his balls to score off’
    *
    *
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cricket/2023/12/21/phil-salt-added-weight-driving-career-best-england-form/

  19. 379641+ up ticks,

    With friends like these we have no need to import foreign enemies,

    Dt,
    Starmer helped hate preacher Abu Qatada fight his deportation in court
    Labour leader represented the Islamist extremist in 2008 and had his arguments called ‘fallacious’ by an immigration judge

    1. Clearly a very competent lawyer. If you think that the likes of Abu Qatada are not entitled to the full protection of the law, tell me who decides who is and who isn’t – you? Me? Some civil servant?

      1. Lawyers don’t have to act for those who wish to kill us. But by taking this case, he has shown his true colours and his support for the death cult.

          1. If only we had a literateur among us to complete the following!

            “So, now you give the Devil the benefit of law!”Sir Thomas More: “Yes! What would you do? Cut a great road through the…”

          2. “… law to get after the Devil?”
            William Roper: “Yes, I’d cut down every law in England to do that!”
            Sir Thomas More: “Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned ’round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat?”

            A Man for All Seasons – Robert Bolt.

          3. Another quotation from Bolt’s play which I remember was about a nasty chap, Sir Richard Rich who perjured himself to get Sir Thomas More convicted.

            “Why Richard, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world… but for Wales?”

            He couldn’t, surely, have been even worse that Drakeford?

          4. A cab can refuse to take a prospective passenger. The problem seems to be in applying such principles as if they are absolutes in a black or white way. The world simply doesn’t work like that and although one should strive for right to be done, there are limits. A lawyer can refuse to act if a client actually tells them that they are guilty, but in practice, how many lawyers who are not desperate for work take cases they really don’t want to? I knew a lawyer once who boasted that she had got a murderer off. That is wrong.

            As an aside, how much funding is made available to provide legal services for foreigners which is unavailable to the British who pay for it?

          5. Try getting a muslim taxi driver to take you and your guide dog. It’s clear some taxi drivers can and do refuse to take passengers.

          6. A cab can refuse to take a prospective passenger. The problem seems to be in applying such principles as if they are absolutes in a black or white way. The world simply doesn’t work like that and although one should strive for right to be done, there are limits. A lawyer can refuse to act if a client actually tells them that they are guilty, but in practice, how many lawyers who are not desperate for work take cases they really don’t want to? I knew a lawyer once who boasted that she had got a murderer off. That is wrong.

            As an aside, how much funding is made available to provide legal services for foreigners which is unavailable to the British who pay for it?

      2. 379641+ up ticks,

        Morning JBF,

        ” tell me who decides who is and who isn’t – you? Me? Some civil servant?”

        Whoever has the political shout of the day.

        I believe a good example from the past would be hitler.

      3. If the full protection of the law is not available to all (which it patently isn’t in its practise) then the likes of Abu Qatada should not be in the front line for its full protection.

    4. As old Horace Rumpole reminds us, a barrister is a taxicab for hire who must do his best for his clients no matter how repulsive they are.

      Starmer was, in spite of his complete lack of charm or charisma, a very competent advocate and the fact that he managed to convince juries and judges that his clients were innocent of the charges they faced shows how well he did his job.

      However his choice of clients to defend certainly was not very wise and the revulsion we have is understandable.

    1. Elizabethan London was full of black people who were busy inventing things. Contradict me and I’ll set Plod on you.

      3. The new Arthur re-work from The Winter King books has Guineve as an Indian. They won’t let it go. The Left are desperate to re-write history.

    2. Belgians. Beer and chips with mayo, they may have a point, not that I personally use mayonnaise except in dressings.

      1. A Michelin chef recently surprised Marcus Wareing by thickening a meat Jus with Mayonnaise. I haven’t tried it yet.

        2. Me too – introduced to it whilst serving in Germany in the early 60’s and Dutch nights out, until then I’d never heard of it. It was proper mayo too unlike the shite which is sold in jars now

  21. Assisted dying is a slippery slope – just look at the US, Canada and Holland.

    The Church of England has warned that countries where assisted dying is legal have shown that it can lead to a “slippery slope” where it becomes easier and easier to get help to end one’s life.

    In a submission to MPs, the Church said that when the law had been changed in other countries, such as Canada and the US, stringent safeguards had been dropped over time, opening up assisted dying to more and more people.

    This is true of course. We have the Abortion Act to provide practical proof. What was intended as a measure to help mothers in extremis has become a Child Murderers Charter. I personally would like the option of deciding for myself when it was time to go, but am not so foolish as to believe that anything involving the UK Government would be so simple. Before too long relatives would scanning the wills and ushering their elders into the clinics.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/12/21/assisted-dying-slippery-slope-church-of-england-warns/

          1. As long as water (alcohol) is available, I see no problem. The system will be abused I’m sure, but that doesn’t mean that one shouldn’t have a choice.

          2. I believe if you meet certain criteria you should be provided with vials of morphine on request. And die in your own bed at a time of your choosing.

          4. Criteria like degenerative diseases, terminal cancer and the like. You can plan ahead for these conditions and i don’t believe it is anyone elses business.

        1. Doctors used to prescribe those for terminally ill patients , very heavy pain relief in a medicine container ..

          I remember when I had a serious operation years ago, before key hole surgery was the norm , a severe pain killer was given to me and I imagined I was stuck to the ward ceiling , the ward staff were consoling me because I was yelling and struggling to stop myself floating away.

          To this day, I still believe the staff had overdosed me accidentally , and I stopped myself from dying .

    4. Yo Minty

      Will “Assisted dying” go down the same compulsory slope as
      the “Non Binary”
      and
      “All Whites are Racists”
      fiascos

  22. Morning, all Y’all.
    SWMBO said this morning how typically English our b&b is: cold (its a converted garage with tiled floor & no thermal break), draughty, the shower, at max, delivers a teacup of tepid water a minute, there are no horizontal surfaces to put shampoo, soap etc on in the bathroom where the tiled floor is positively arctic… And the bed is a put-u-up.
    We’ve become soft in our old age.

      2. Organised by MiL with neighbours, as return for favours. Didn’t know until we got here…

          1. We’ll survive.
            Now I have had coffee & a bacon butty, things are looking much more positive.

    2. Good morning OB

      Where are you, Wales or West Country ..

      Why on earth didn’t you check the B+B out , some places are very pukka.

      If it is that poor, check for bed bugs , apparently there is an epidemic of bedbugs .

      1. Near Bideford. The bnb is next door to In-laws, and loaned as returned favours. It’s brand-new, and nicely decorated, but the tiled floor & minimal heating make it rather chilly.
        We laid wood floors with underfloor heating mats at Firstborn’s place. Easy as. Nice & cosy, too.

    3. I always look at photos and read reviews of places i stay in. Premiere Inn would have at least been warm with a decent bathroom.

      1. Exactly. Travel Lodges and Premiere Inns are not glamorous, but they do provide the basics at a reasonable price.

          1. That doesn’t only happen in Premier Inns 🙁 I stayed in a hotel at Knighton that was supposed to be dog friendly. There were no facilities for the dog (for whose stay they charged!) and the fire door in the corridor outside my room kept swinging shut with a loud bang every time somebody went through (which they did until the early hours of the morning). the curtains were paper thin with a lamp outside the window and the mattress was like a board. I was due to stay several days but I left after one night and drove home to get some sleep!

          2. A lot of the door banging is poor maintenance or even installation of the door closing devices, usually springs with 2 stage hydraulic damping, which are supposed to close rapidly until nearly shut for the 1st stage, then slow down for the 2nd stage and close with little noise.
            There should be two screws to adjust the damping and I have, in the past, actually shown hotel staff how to adjust the bloody things!

          3. I was already fed up; the thought of getting up and applying a screwdriver to the hinges of that effing door was more than I was prepared to countenance! To add insult to injury the walls were thin and the bloke in the room next door snored like a buzz saw. At least he got some sleep!

          4. Been there, done it, got the tee shirt!
            At least the bloke snoring like a buzz saw wasn’t an active couple with a taste for toys!

      2. In other circumstances, that’s where we would choose, or maybe a local pub from the Good Beer Guide. Had excellent experience with both.

    4. I’m not sure that you can legitimately categorize your own choice of B&B as “typically English” without extensive experience of other English B&Bs. You may indeed have this, in which case perhaps B&Bs are not a good choice for you to stay in.

      It’s one thing to leave this country for preferred pastures new, it’s another to level criticisms unless they are substantiated.

      1. When we lived in Horsham & Newport Pagnell, Isle of Dogs, our places were exactly the same as I describe: cold, draughty, and a bit crap.
        MiLs house is none of these, however.

      2. That’s a bit harsh HL!

        Perhaps that’s all our friend Oberst could afford or be willing to pay for…………..

          1. That’s difficult, a bit like looking a gift horse…etc.

            Still, I thought it a bit harsh to describe somewhere as “typically English”. You may not like this country much, and goodness knows there is enough to dislike here nowadays. However, I much prefer to hear about how nice things are for you in Weegie-land.

      4. We usually stay in cheap places like Travellodge or Premier Inn which are consistently clean with good lavatorial and showering facilities in the UK.

        We have had some less happy experiences in France.

    6. Here’s the B&B I used in September, The Red Lion in Partney, Lincolnshire. Excellent accommodation and food, much better than the 3* hotel I used in Torquay in November. Of course, the personal touch also goes a long way in making a stay memorable.

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e91521c78e8bdd2e9262bef42bbae87c215f97e5a4f61c8f58d2370e76786b46.png
      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0adb5f7344e7436ebca43d5046182ffeaa09890a94290a7a61135b2f1886230f.png
      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b22105a2c4fd8a2a2de0cffa8255027a6e02385284f4a9c4166a6f3fa7fbb5c1.png
      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/27561b2e1bd09bffc6c605d0df1ec6ae54e1af6e767edec545edb48abb7e4460.png

      1. Good morning, Jules

        When Hamlet thought that his mum had, before his dad was dead, succumbed to his uncle/step father, an incestuous and adulterate beast, he delivered that rather misogynistic line:

        Frailty thy name is woman

        I could not possibly say whether or not that is a fair or true observation but one thing is true:

        Incompetence thy name is government.

        1. This government was certainly shown up to be incompetent and full of chancers by the convid scandals.

      2. That would have required many lorries to put that lot there. There are cameras covering all the roads leading to it. I would suggest councillors have been bribed and gave the company the nod to go ahead.

  24. Reposted from late last night

    Thursday 21st December, 2023

    Elsie Bloodaxe

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

    Like an old shellac gramophone record you’re

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e22220e0dca747353801383439db13b04996d74ef3f5d096acb097126ca4d97e.png

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/84e6800ded821fa75691e67cd45edf92a216eca54adf36a8f2141c552e077440.png

    We hope that Olaf and Harry Lime will be celebrating with you in spirit!

    Very best wishes,

    Caroline and Rastus

      1. Thank you, ashesthandust. I can see you waving and may treat myself to a glass of Argentinian Malbec tonight.

    2. “The COVID inquiry is not fit for purpose and is failing the many millions of lockdown victims”.

      Isn’t that the whole point of it?

      1. People have been prosecuted for cutting grass verges outside their homes. Whenever it happens you find a Labour or LibDem controlled council.

  29. Pope’s same-sex blessing could be a curse for priests
    The Conservative Woman: https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/popes-same-sex-blessing-could-be-a-curse-for-priests/

    Just at a time when the world needs Christianity to have strong, committed leadership we have been cursed with a senile, left-wing idiot, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, better known as Pope Francis, to the lead of the Roman Catholic Church and a left wing, evil anti-Christ, Justin Welby to lead the Anglican Church.

    1. Our politicians are completely determined to betray Britain and allow WHO to impose vaccination imperatives upon everyone.

      Starmer is probably as deeply in the WEF’s pockets as Sunak is and neither would dare defy its masters.

      .

      1. Had a quick dig re bodily autonomy and medical intervention. I came up with these:

        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/162cb276b2848d56c2bc7c491c18851c6b2aec318a15c493fc7f0e2d04fbfe86.png
        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5cdc5c4b6480dbffae79d614db01e65c7a1251e9a0bd5406bb2b5f9edd363b1b.png

        If these statements in the HRA and Supreme Court judgements remain current then will Sunak have the authority to hand over our rights to the WHO?
        This is important and if anyone knows more I am happy to be enlightened/corrected.

        1. Fine, they’ll say. Your rights are paramount.

          But business won’t employ you. You can’t drive as we’ll revoke your licence. Oh, and we’ve closed your bank account as well. You also won’t qualify for welfare as you’re a danger to others. If you try to stay with friends they will be treated the same as you.

          You have every right to say no. But if you do, we’ll destroy you life.

          2. No surprise in what you state, they wanted to do that during the Plandemic. There is the digital medical/vaccination record being touted, for your benefit, of course (really a control mechanism).
            Post the Plandemic and with all the problems that that incident has thrown up I’m wondering whether there will be greater reluctance from the people to comply with unelected people trying to impose diktats on the population. I know plenty of sheep are out there but if 50% or so of the population do not comply, then what?

  32. Reposted from late last night

    Thursday 21st December, 2023

    Elsie Bloodaxe

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

    Like an old shellac gramophone record you’re

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/84e6800ded821fa75691e67cd45edf92a216eca54adf36a8f2141c552e077440.png
    Very many happy returns.

    We hope that Olaf and Harry Lime will be celebrating with you in spirit!

    Very best wishes,

    Caroline and Rastus

    2. Many Happies, Olaf’s Relict.
      I hope you get two separate present, not a ‘big’ one to cover Christmas and birthday.

    3. Many Happies, Olaf’s Relict.
      I hope you get two separate present, not a ‘big’ one to cover Christmas and birthday.

  33. That 8″ elm was, in fact, an 8″ ash killed off by dieback! Now dealt with and another useful contribution made to the log stack.

  34. Off for a trip into Matlock.
    Logging off as we’re due to have the local fuses pulled so the ‘Leccy lads can sort out the cables that the big tree up Clatterway brought down.

    2. To Matlock or Matlock Bath, BoB? If the latter, can’t you wait until the power is restored before you have a bath? Lol.

          1. It’s been a pig’s arse of a job for them.
            There is a spring coming out of the rock face up the road from where they are working and the water forms a stream that runs down the gutter right through where they are working and even though they’ve dammed the stream to take it round the site, there is still a lot of water going through the site.

  35. Politicking from Putin that looks to me as if he’s poking a stick into a hornets’ nest of EU countries who may have claims on what is currently Ukraine while poking another stick into Ukraine/Zelensky. All delivered in a deadpan, almost disinterested, style. Be interesting to see how the always crazy-for-land and control EU hierarchy reacts.

    https://twitter.com/DVATW/status/1737802017295249522

    1. I wish the press had been honest about this region from the outset. Then folk would know what they’re talking about rather than blindly supporting Ukraine.

    2. In the likely event that Poland retrieves Galicia you may be certain that Germany will seek to reclaim Gdańsk (Danzig) and the corridor including Poznan (Posun) and Toruń (Thorn) and so on.

    5. Smart move…at a stroke he solves a lot of the post ‘war’ management problems as a large part of Ukraine will be managed by the three countries listed (assuming they take on the responsibility) – (a little Russian gas might act as a sweetener if required….)

  36. It will be a beautiful irony if the actions of the Bombay Bogshite finally lead to the UK leaving the ECHR.

    UK to defend veterans from Irish attack on Troubles law

    Military leaders and Tory MPs united in outrage, accusing Irish PM of meddling in British politics in trying to overturn soldiers’ immunity

    Robert Mendick, CHIEF REPORTER, James Crisp, EUROPE EDITOR and Charles Hymas, HOME AFFAIRS EDITOR
    20 December 2023 • 9:34pm

    The UK Government vowed on Wednesday to fight Ireland over its “misguided” legal challenge to a flagship British law that gives immunity to hundreds of soldiers involved in the Troubles. In an attack on Dublin’s leadership, the UK said it “profoundly regrets” the decision taken by Ireland to try to overturn Westminster legislation at the European Court of Human Rights.

    Military veterans along with senior Tory MPs joined the chorus of outrage, accusing the Irish of meddling in British politics in trying to overturn UK statute.

    In a near-unprecedented legal action, Leo Varadkar, Ireland’s prime minister, insisted he was left with “no option” but to mount an interstate lawsuit, lodged with the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. The only other time Ireland has taken such a legal course was more than 50 years ago, in 1971.

    The legal action has plunged London and Dublin into a bitter diplomatic row while threatening to open up hundreds of former soldiers to historical prosecutions. Senior Whitehall sources accused Ireland of gross hypocrisy in complaining that the UK was trying to curtail legal actions, claiming Dublin had failed to bring a single prosecution for serious crimes committed during the Troubles since the Good Friday Agreement was signed in 1998.

    One senior government source said: “Ireland needs to back off. The Irish Government, Sinn Fein and Joe Biden are all cut from the same cloth. But we are not going to climb down over this. We are confident we will win.”

    Ireland’s decision also led to renewed calls by the Right of the Conservative Party for the UK Government to reconsider its membership of the European Convention on Human Rights, a move that Rishi Sunak has tried to stave off while he tries to force through his Rwanda Bill.

    Ireland – with the blessing of Mr Biden – has launched its court case to try to overturn the Northern Ireland Troubles Act, which effectively prevents prosecutions for serious crimes of soldiers as well as paramilitaries on both sides. The law, promised in the Tories’ manifesto, gives an amnesty to all suspects provided they take part in an Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery.

    In a statement issued on Wednesday, night, Chris Heaton-Harris, the Northern Ireland Secretary, said: “The UK Government profoundly regrets the decision taken by the Irish government today to bring this unnecessary case against the UK.”

    He said the decision was particularly ill-judged because “it comes at a particularly sensitive time in Northern Ireland” while UK courts were already deciding whether the act breached human rights laws.

    Mr Heaton-Harris added: “The UK Government urged the Irish government, before considering action, to engage directly with the commission… It is a matter of considerable regret that it has chosen not to do so.”

    In a personal attack, he also questioned the insistence of Micheál Martin, Ireland’s deputy prime minister, that victims of the Troubles should achieve justice in the courts. He said: “They have been critical about our proposed approach on the grounds that it moves away from a focus on criminal prosecutions. We believe that the Irish government’s stated position on dealing with legacy issues is inconsistent and hard to reconcile with its own record.”

    He said Ireland had made no “concerted or sustained attempt” to pursue its own criminal investigations, and called on Dublin to “urgently clarify the number of criminal prosecutions brought in Ireland since 1998” when the Good Friday Agreement was signed. The UK Government, he said, would “continue robustly to defend the legislation” and accused the Irish authorities of bringing a “misguided action”.

    Mark Francois, chairman of the ERG group of Tory MPs, who also campaigned for the legislation to protect veterans, said: “Who actually runs this damn country? Is it the democratically elected Government, chosen from Parliament or an unelected, unaccountable foreign court? This legislation, which took many years of campaigning to achieve and which was then exhaustively debated, for around a year between both Houses, cannot possibly be allowed to be then overturned by an appeal to an activist foreign court. If it is, this should become a real issue at the forthcoming general election.”

    Jonathan Gullis, a former Tory minister said: “It would be completely wrong for the ECHR to interfere in any way with this legislation. I hope it will be immediately rejected. If not, this only goes to show why we, the UK, must withdraw from the ECHR to stop foreign courts meddling in our legislation.”

    Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, the leader of the DUP, which like Sinn Fein and the other major Northern Irish political parties, opposes any amnesty for Troubles-era killers, said the Government’s statement was “unusually strong”.

    He said it “calls out the double standards of the Irish Government who themselves have been operating a de facto amnesty for years and have failed to put in place any meaningful legacy process to deal with murders committed in their jurisdiction. These include Garda, Irish Army and Prison Officers cut down in cold blood as well as innocent victims murdered by the IRA using southern territory from which to launch attacks into Northern Ireland.”

    Hundreds of ex-British military and police officers could face prosecutions over historical crimes, including murder, if the Troubles Act is overturned. The Act provides an effective amnesty for paramilitaries as well and Whitehall sources say that few if any of these will be dragged through the courts because of a lack of evidence. However, military and police files leave British troops and police officers vulnerable to prosecutions, despite some alleged offences having taken place as much as half a century or more ago.

    One former RUC officer, who has been investigated five times over the shooting of an IRA commander in 1991, said he feared a fresh investigation if the European court sided with Dublin. The officer, now in his 60s, said: “I was living in total obscurity and I was quite happy but in the last few years following new inquiries it has really affected my emotional and mental health. I didn’t do anything wrong. This act has put a stop to fresh investigations but now I’m deeply concerned they could start again.”

    General Lord Dannatt, the former chief of the general staff, said: “This legacy Bill was passed by the authority of the Westminster parliament and covers Britain and Northern Ireland and it is a matter for our Government to pass legislation. I am fully aware that the Irish government and the US government don’t like it. We can listen to their concerns but it is not for them to take the UK government to the ECHR.”

    The Act was introduced in the wake of criticism about after high-profile trials of British veterans – aged in their 70s and 80s – who were taken to court in Belfast. It also ends a series of inquests being brought over historical deaths.

    But Mr Varadkar said his government had been left with “no option” but to bring the interstate legal case. He said the “strong” legal advice was that the UK Legacy Act breached the UN Convention on Human Rights. A number of victims of the Troubles are supporting a separate legal challenge in Belfast High Court.

    Speaking on Wednesday, Mr Varadkar said: “It is something that we’re genuinely doing with a sense of regret, and would prefer not to be in this position, but we did make a commitment to survivors in Northern Ireland and to the families of victims that we would stand by them, respect their wishes and also stand by the Good Friday Agreement, which specifically references the European Convention on Human Rights.”

    He added: “The UK Government decided for their own reasons, and of course they have the right to do this, to go down a different path… But we don’t agree with that.”

    Dublin has objections to the amnesty provisions, which grant immunity, and also argues the Act makes no provision for cross-border resolution of cases with an all-Ireland dimension.

    ECHR rules for the right to life and prohibition of torture require member states to investigate death and serious harm, which are independent, effective, subject to public scrutiny and involve the next of kin.

    The banning of court cases and inquests could put the UK at risk of non-compliance with Article 6 and Article 14 of the convention, which covers the right of access to a court and the right to an effective remedy.

    Mr Biden had offered Dublin his support in the dispute over the Legacy Act before Ireland launched its challenge. The US president discussed the issue with Mr Varadkar in September at a meeting during the UN General Assembly.

    “I told him we had no specific ask at the moment but we are very happy that he is continuing to keep abreast of issues in Ireland,” Mr Varadkar said at the time.

    On Wednesday bereaved families praised the Irish government for “giving them fresh hope” by challenging the Act.

    Emmett McConomy, whose 11-year-old brother Stephen died after being hit in the head by a plastic bullet as he played close to his home in the Bogside area of Londonderry, said: “Victims’ needs have been trampled across by the Government, they have been brushed aside and the only beneficiaries of this Act are the perpetrators of violence.

    “So to see the Irish government finally act upon what it suggested it may do is a relief. We’re happy it’s happening but it’s going to be several months of legal cases in Europe, which is several more months than some victims’ families won’t have – we’re not getting any younger – and we have to assume the British Government will fight this tooth and nail as they tend to when it comes to victims’ needs.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/12/20/ireland-take-uk-echr-troubles-era-case

    BTL:
    Martin Sleightholme
    You do wonder if the UK Government has any historical evidence on just how much support those in power in Dublin gave the IRA over the decades, that could be mysteriously leaked! Red faces all round I suspect. At least we can tell Biden to get lost now the false promise of a trade deal can no longer be used as a threat

    James Mason
    Of all the shabby moves that this carbuncle on the derriere of Irish politics, Mr Verruca, has made, this is the most egregious. It is nothing less than cheap grandstanding, a tawdry monument to his towering hypocrisy and lickspittle obeisance to the Anglophobic, Zombie Joe. Never mind that his IRA chums were all given free ‘get out of jail’ cards, he did sweet FA to bring the murderers responsible for the Omagh massacre to book even though they had been identified by the security forces. A loathsome, vindictive little man without a shred of integrity or moral compass.

    Sam Berill
    Ireland, once again, proving just how broken and insignificant their country is. They won’t condemn an immigrant stabbing a bunch of children in Dublin a few weeks back but they’ll happily keep bringing up a war they lost decades ago.

    1. Francois seems confused as it’s the WEF. Sunak and Hunt are just looking for their next trougher non-job. They have ‘handlers’ who are arranging the next six figure move up the sewer and will do nothing to jeopardise that, all hand in hand with a complicit, arrogant, destructive state.

    3. The UK government is more keen to prosecute them than are the Irish! Who’d want the British government coving their backs?

  37. It will be a beautiful irony if the actions of the Bombay Bogshite finally lead to the UK leaving the ECHR.

    UK to defend veterans from Irish attack on Troubles law

    Military leaders and Tory MPs united in outrage, accusing Irish PM of meddling in British politics in trying to overturn soldiers’ immunity

    Robert Mendick, CHIEF REPORTER, James Crisp, EUROPE EDITOR and Charles Hymas, HOME AFFAIRS EDITOR
    20 December 2023 • 9:34pm

    The UK Government vowed on Wednesday to fight Ireland over its “misguided” legal challenge to a flagship British law that gives immunity to hundreds of soldiers involved in the Troubles. In an attack on Dublin’s leadership, the UK said it “profoundly regrets” the decision taken by Ireland to try to overturn Westminster legislation at the European Court of Human Rights.

    Military veterans along with senior Tory MPs joined the chorus of outrage, accusing the Irish of meddling in British politics in trying to overturn UK statute.

    In a near-unprecedented legal action, Leo Varadkar, Ireland’s prime minister, insisted he was left with “no option” but to mount an interstate lawsuit, lodged with the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. The only other time Ireland has taken such a legal course was more than 50 years ago, in 1971.

    The legal action has plunged London and Dublin into a bitter diplomatic row while threatening to open up hundreds of former soldiers to historical prosecutions. Senior Whitehall sources accused Ireland of gross hypocrisy in complaining that the UK was trying to curtail legal actions, claiming Dublin had failed to bring a single prosecution for serious crimes committed during the Troubles since the Good Friday Agreement was signed in 1998.

    One senior government source said: “Ireland needs to back off. The Irish Government, Sinn Fein and Joe Biden are all cut from the same cloth. But we are not going to climb down over this. We are confident we will win.”

    Ireland’s decision also led to renewed calls by the Right of the Conservative Party for the UK Government to reconsider its membership of the European Convention on Human Rights, a move that Rishi Sunak has tried to stave off while he tries to force through his Rwanda Bill.

    Ireland – with the blessing of Mr Biden – has launched its court case to try to overturn the Northern Ireland Troubles Act, which effectively prevents prosecutions for serious crimes of soldiers as well as paramilitaries on both sides. The law, promised in the Tories’ manifesto, gives an amnesty to all suspects provided they take part in an Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery.

    In a statement issued on Wednesday, night, Chris Heaton-Harris, the Northern Ireland Secretary, said: “The UK Government profoundly regrets the decision taken by the Irish government today to bring this unnecessary case against the UK.”

    He said the decision was particularly ill-judged because “it comes at a particularly sensitive time in Northern Ireland” while UK courts were already deciding whether the act breached human rights laws.

    Mr Heaton-Harris added: “The UK Government urged the Irish government, before considering action, to engage directly with the commission… It is a matter of considerable regret that it has chosen not to do so.”

    In a personal attack, he also questioned the insistence of Micheál Martin, Ireland’s deputy prime minister, that victims of the Troubles should achieve justice in the courts. He said: “They have been critical about our proposed approach on the grounds that it moves away from a focus on criminal prosecutions. We believe that the Irish government’s stated position on dealing with legacy issues is inconsistent and hard to reconcile with its own record.”

    He said Ireland had made no “concerted or sustained attempt” to pursue its own criminal investigations, and called on Dublin to “urgently clarify the number of criminal prosecutions brought in Ireland since 1998” when the Good Friday Agreement was signed. The UK Government, he said, would “continue robustly to defend the legislation” and accused the Irish authorities of bringing a “misguided action”.

    Mark Francois, chairman of the ERG group of Tory MPs, who also campaigned for the legislation to protect veterans, said: “Who actually runs this damn country? Is it the democratically elected Government, chosen from Parliament or an unelected, unaccountable foreign court? This legislation, which took many years of campaigning to achieve and which was then exhaustively debated, for around a year between both Houses, cannot possibly be allowed to be then overturned by an appeal to an activist foreign court. If it is, this should become a real issue at the forthcoming general election.”

    Jonathan Gullis, a former Tory minister said: “It would be completely wrong for the ECHR to interfere in any way with this legislation. I hope it will be immediately rejected. If not, this only goes to show why we, the UK, must withdraw from the ECHR to stop foreign courts meddling in our legislation.”

    Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, the leader of the DUP, which like Sinn Fein and the other major Northern Irish political parties, opposes any amnesty for Troubles-era killers, said the Government’s statement was “unusually strong”.

    He said it “calls out the double standards of the Irish Government who themselves have been operating a de facto amnesty for years and have failed to put in place any meaningful legacy process to deal with murders committed in their jurisdiction. These include Garda, Irish Army and Prison Officers cut down in cold blood as well as innocent victims murdered by the IRA using southern territory from which to launch attacks into Northern Ireland.”

    Hundreds of ex-British military and police officers could face prosecutions over historical crimes, including murder, if the Troubles Act is overturned. The Act provides an effective amnesty for paramilitaries as well and Whitehall sources say that few if any of these will be dragged through the courts because of a lack of evidence. However, military and police files leave British troops and police officers vulnerable to prosecutions, despite some alleged offences having taken place as much as half a century or more ago.

    One former RUC officer, who has been investigated five times over the shooting of an IRA commander in 1991, said he feared a fresh investigation if the European court sided with Dublin. The officer, now in his 60s, said: “I was living in total obscurity and I was quite happy but in the last few years following new inquiries it has really affected my emotional and mental health. I didn’t do anything wrong. This act has put a stop to fresh investigations but now I’m deeply concerned they could start again.”

    General Lord Dannatt, the former chief of the general staff, said: “This legacy Bill was passed by the authority of the Westminster parliament and covers Britain and Northern Ireland and it is a matter for our Government to pass legislation. I am fully aware that the Irish government and the US government don’t like it. We can listen to their concerns but it is not for them to take the UK government to the ECHR.”

    The Act was introduced in the wake of criticism about after high-profile trials of British veterans – aged in their 70s and 80s – who were taken to court in Belfast. It also ends a series of inquests being brought over historical deaths.

    But Mr Varadkar said his government had been left with “no option” but to bring the interstate legal case. He said the “strong” legal advice was that the UK Legacy Act breached the UN Convention on Human Rights. A number of victims of the Troubles are supporting a separate legal challenge in Belfast High Court.

    Speaking on Wednesday, Mr Varadkar said: “It is something that we’re genuinely doing with a sense of regret, and would prefer not to be in this position, but we did make a commitment to survivors in Northern Ireland and to the families of victims that we would stand by them, respect their wishes and also stand by the Good Friday Agreement, which specifically references the European Convention on Human Rights.”

    He added: “The UK Government decided for their own reasons, and of course they have the right to do this, to go down a different path… But we don’t agree with that.”

    Dublin has objections to the amnesty provisions, which grant immunity, and also argues the Act makes no provision for cross-border resolution of cases with an all-Ireland dimension.

    ECHR rules for the right to life and prohibition of torture require member states to investigate death and serious harm, which are independent, effective, subject to public scrutiny and involve the next of kin.

    The banning of court cases and inquests could put the UK at risk of non-compliance with Article 6 and Article 14 of the convention, which covers the right of access to a court and the right to an effective remedy.

    Mr Biden had offered Dublin his support in the dispute over the Legacy Act before Ireland launched its challenge. The US president discussed the issue with Mr Varadkar in September at a meeting during the UN General Assembly.

    “I told him we had no specific ask at the moment but we are very happy that he is continuing to keep abreast of issues in Ireland,” Mr Varadkar said at the time.

    On Wednesday bereaved families praised the Irish government for “giving them fresh hope” by challenging the Act.

    Emmett McConomy, whose 11-year-old brother Stephen died after being hit in the head by a plastic bullet as he played close to his home in the Bogside area of Londonderry, said: “Victims’ needs have been trampled across by the Government, they have been brushed aside and the only beneficiaries of this Act are the perpetrators of violence.

    “So to see the Irish government finally act upon what it suggested it may do is a relief. We’re happy it’s happening but it’s going to be several months of legal cases in Europe, which is several more months than some victims’ families won’t have – we’re not getting any younger – and we have to assume the British Government will fight this tooth and nail as they tend to when it comes to victims’ needs.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/12/20/ireland-take-uk-echr-troubles-era-case

    BTL:
    Martin Sleightholme
    You do wonder if the UK Government has any historical evidence on just how much support those in power in Dublin gave the IRA over the decades, that could be mysteriously leaked! Red faces all round I suspect. At least we can tell Biden to get lost now the false promise of a trade deal can no longer be used as a threat

    James Mason
    Of all the shabby moves that this carbuncle on the derriere of Irish politics, Mr Verruca, has made, this is the most egregious. It is nothing less than cheap grandstanding, a tawdry monument to his towering hypocrisy and lickspittle obeisance to the Anglophobic, Zombie Joe. Never mind that his IRA chums were all given free ‘get out of jail’ cards, he did sweet FA to bring the murderers responsible for the Omagh massacre to book even though they had been identified by the security forces. A loathsome, vindictive little man without a shred of integrity or moral compass.

    Sam Berill
    Ireland, once again, proving just how broken and insignificant their country is. They won’t condemn an immigrant stabbing a bunch of children in Dublin a few weeks back but they’ll happily keep bringing up a war they lost decades ago.

  38. Well, whatever he turns our to be, Milei has certainly put the cat amongst the pigeons here in Argentina! I came out of a dance class at eleven last night to find half of Buenos Aires shouting and bashing pans (very rhythmically; I approve) to protest the absolutely massive changes he is going to push through.

    My bus route was blocked, but the driver, instead of immediately finding an alternative, nestled the vehicle in with the protestors and honked his horn for all he was worth.

    Then there was a very instructive (because I am learning to swear) shouting match with a passenger who wanted to get home.

    I videoed a bit but can’t upload it, sadly. What exciting times to be living through!

    1. I’m surprised, I thought he had broad popular support?

      Therer’s always going to be a fifth column of Lefties who love the gravy train. The solution is to identify them then humiliate them with their own greed on TV.

      1. All weirdo extremists have “broad popular support” BEFORE an election. Afterwards, the “broad popular supporters” are forced to face reality and scream and shout.

      2. Beware gatherings in main cities. How many people in Argentina? Then how many in the crowd? The rent-a-mobs love gathering in cities and being videoed and photographed. It makes them look like they are many. In reality, they’re no doubt relatively few.

      1. Nope, actual people. The unions have been telling everyone that he’s ripped workers’ right up.

        Mind you, he may well have, to some Degrees!!

    3. As a child in Argentina, our bowdlerised swearwords included “Pucha Miercoles!” (literally “Blow it, it’s Wednesday!”) I guess you are more familiar with the adult version which refers to a lady of ill-repute and what is excreted by the body after all the goodness of food has been taken out and the remains are deposited in the loo. Lol.

    2. We are forecast 50mph winds (good job it’s this side of the border or Pia would be getting a fine). It was certainly hard work walking to church this morning (but speedy getting home).

  41. PROJECT FEAR LIVES

    “Britain descends into travel chaos just days before Christmas: Euston station SHUTS, Eurostar trains are cancelled and dozens of BA flights are grounded as Storm Pia’s 80mph gales and strike action plunge country into mayhem”

    2. Why is anyone surprised? If it isn’t global catastrophe (formerly known as “winter weather”), it’s stikes.

  42. Ukraine to recall men from abroad to serve on the frontlines. 21 December 2023.

    Ukraine will recall men from abroad to serve on the frontlines of its war with Russia, the country’s defence minister has announced.

    Those between the ages of 25 and 60 will be expected to report for military service, Rustem Umerov said, adding there would be sanctions levelled against anyone who did not comply.

    He told media outlets Die Welt, Bild and Politico the move was “not a punishment” but “an honour”, describing the call backs as “invitations”, despite the threat to penalise those who refused to return.

    “We are still discussing what should happen if they don’t come voluntarily,” he said.

    That’s going to be popular! Not! What are they going to do if they don’t all return looking sheepish? European Arrest Warrants? Who is going to implement them? The UK government? The Government that cannot return one immigrant is going to round up people and send them back to serve in a losing war? Someone hasn’t thought this through!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/12/21/ukraine-russia-war-news-latest-putin-zelensky-live-updates/

    1. Wouldn’t this order just persuade Ukrainian men to stay abroad permanently instead of returning to the Ukraine sometime in the future? And isn’t it sexist these days for it only to apply to men, and not women as well?

    3. That upper age might have been common in the middle ages, but even in WW1 and WW2 I do not believe 60 years olds were required fo front line service.
      Ukraine has lost and I suspect will swiftly enjoy some significant race replacement, courtesy of the EU’s unwanted gimmegrants and the ME and Africa..

        1. Even so, Ukraine’s action seems extreme.

          Those that did may well have been physically stronger than their modern equivalents.

  44. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/68b3791a9c49dcb9cd0749ad04c22803ca20447ef44b77e00bc3c99ee46a180a.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d6cb81311de8779e930e07d05e972d2892299ab1891d678019e68234053acbad.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4279f4ce50b01bcf6d4908eae2bcfd3892a9e082b30600d2d3e2645a0575b8a7.jpg Where’s Maggie?

    Apropos our discussion, yesterday, on chest-freezer organisation, here are some snaps I took last month of the inside of my chest freezer. The two stacks of three, large, lidded plastic boxes are easily removed to add and take out food items. I enter details of food, in pencil, in the record book and erase items when removed for cooking or consumption.

    This weekend, after finishing making more pork pies, sausage rolls, and slab cake, I shall update the record book to bring it up-to-date. I’ve just been busy rendering well over a kilogram of lard and making two litres of pig’s trotter jelly for my pork pies (they are in big demand by the locals).

    Using a system, such as this, ensures that no long forgotten (and mummified) remains lurk in the depths.

    1. Is “Haagen-Dazs” Swedish for “Happy Days”, Grizzly, and do you pass it around on January the 1st to celebrate the New Year? Lol.

      1. Häagen-Dazs (note the umlaut, Auntie Elsie) is a made up, nonsense, name invented by its American owners because they thought that a brand that sounded Danish would be “cool”.

          1. I know that Haagen has an umlaut over the first “a” but I’m afraid I don’t know how to do it.

          1. Now look here, Uncle Bill. Much as I appreciate your birthday greetings, you need to stop confusing me with The Master (Mr. Harry Lime). Lol.

      2. Some good offers at this time of year. It’s why i have yet another freezer to take advantage. That’s four now.
        Tesco mark down Turkeys and joints to next to nothing on Christmas eve.

          1. I can understand you wanting fresh after living in France with their markets but you can get some really good offers when buying in bulk. And free delivery.

          2. We would never buy any meat or meat products through the post. Only fresh that one can see.

          3. They all do sale or return. If you are not happy with anything they credit the money back to your card. Donald Russel has the Royal Warrant. That’s good enough for me.

    3. I see you have also frozen some Trotters from “Only Fools And Horses” as well as some very Silly Sausages, Grizzly. I didn’t realise that you were also a cannibal. Lol.

    4. I see you have also frozen some Trotters from Only Fools And Horses as well as some very Silly Sausages, Grizzly. I didn’t realise that you were also a cannibal. Lol.

    5. I have done something similar. All the offal in the basket. Then a box of steaks and assorted beef. Packs of Donald Russel sausages and black pudding stacked 12 packs high. A box for lamb racks and a box for pork joints and chops. All the chicken in a bag on top as that gets used the most.
      Just bought a 2.5kg beef roasting joint 50% off at £15 which i will cut in to four joints.
      I hope you are selling those pies !

      2. Doesn’t labelling the contents of containers and stacking them neatly take away all the fun ina few months when you are looking for something to eat?

        1. I label them but find they usually peel off before they are used. So we do have the fun of not knowing what’s in each container.

        2. Yes a bit – it’s nice to get a surprise when you open a container and find the menu has changed

      3. Doesn’t labelling the contents of containers and stacking them neatly take away all the fun ina few months when you are looking for something to eat?

  47. Afternoon, all. Been to yet another funeral today. It’s that time of year (and life). He made it to 91, so not a bad innings.

    2. Funerals are pretty sparse over here nowadays.

      People still die but all we see is a notice in the local paper saying.Cremation has already taken place, a celebration of life will be arranged at a later date.

      That’s it, no getting together to reminisce, no sharing of memories.

      2. This has been my experience, Richard. In a genuine pandemic, one might have expected a glut of funerals. They certainly didn’t happen in Church. Nor were there any unusual number of departures mentioned in the weekly parish newsletter.

    1. I thought Starmer had plenty of policies; wreck the economy, borrow and spend wastefully, import loads of aliens who hate us, discriminate against the indigenous, destroy Christianity and the nuclear family, push perversion as standard … Have I left any out?

    2. Heaven forbid that’s true.
      The additional information is so riddled with errors that I suspect it’s wrong.

      To be honest I would have expected the Ukrainians to be claiming it was being used against them rather than the Russians, particularly if it is created by the Americans and they have an antidote.

    1. Another spoilt for choice 5.

      Wordle 915 5/6

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

      1. Not one to brag about birdies
        Wordle 915 4/6

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

    2. Do the Czechs have any peaceful people in their midst?
      Or is the more of the ‘lone wolf’ stuff?

    1. Lovely. I’m hoping for a white Christmas so i can throw snowballs with rocks in when they try and disrupt the Christmas market. Just taking a page out of the football fan handbook.

      1. You can just imagine her on Christmas morning can’t you. Sobbing her heart out on her own staring into a single vegan candle and wishing everyone else weren’t enjoying themselves quite so much.

    3. The whole point of any mid-Winter festival, whether it be Pagan, Christian or other religious or non-religious occasion, is to let one’s hair down and celebrate to counter the gloom of winter. People used to (and still do) put by money, food and drink to enjoy the event. The last thing anyone wants to do is to rein in the celebrations. The Puritans didn’t do too well when they banned Christmas festivities in the mid-17th century.

        2. As your daylight draws into longer spells, I again wish you and your crumbles and marmalades a splendid year.

    6. For what it’s worth, I played for the wedding of a somewhat distant, Bournemouth-based parishioner and his Polish fiancée a few years ago. At the reception, she divulged that she had attended university with Tusk.

      I played for Sam Tarry’s wedding to the delightful Julia Fozard, who popped a couple of his sprogs before he took up with the Ginger Growler.

      If I’d stayed in Cumbria, or Norfolk, I guess I wouldn’t have had to deal with these people. Then again, many years ago, as I followed Chris Bonington into the new offices of Cumberland Newspapers, he pointedly slammed the door in my face…

      1. If it’s any consolation, an old climbing partner of mine was given a lift by Bonington and managed to damage his car’s soft top with an umbrella, or so he says!

        1. Excellent! Though I just thought he was rather rude. Here in Surrey, that would have gone unnoticed. Everyone is like that. Less so in Cumbria, forty-odd years ago.

      1. He is like his father a Nazi sympathiser. He is hated by his countrymen but by leading the largest party his vote has again placed him in charge.

        I suspect that the failure of Ukraine to win a proxy war against Mighty Russia will cause him to be a little more careful in his pro-EU pronouncements in the future.

  58. Having checked my freezer to see what needs to be replenished on my shopping tomorrow, it seems my New Years’ resolution list starts after seeing the organised freezers pictured earlier, which puts me to shame!!! Thanks Mr Grizzly, Fallick Alec and Phizzee…have a very Merry Christmas fellas!!!

    1. Labeling does make life easier. Chore that it is. I wait until i see Welsh racks of lamb at 40% off and buy in bulk. I cut them down to two ribs and freeze. Takes minutes to defrost the small portions. Just in case any Nottler or Royalty are passing by.

      Have a wonderful Christmas to you and family.

      1. Will do, and you have a wonderful time too!!
        I always start off with good intentions, especially when much has been bought on sale and need to get it into the freezer promptly, and then I find I’ve run out of space so juggling things around messes my organisation up!!

    2. I only have a fridge freezer. Yet I’m quite capable of allowing things to fester in the darker reaches of those drawers. There are still things with an expiry date of December, though. Just not this December…
      There’s plenty of stuff which is still edible, and – since I currently have Covid, and can’t taste anything – this would be a good time to work my way through any edible produce. The risk is that it could be rotting, and my nose wouldn’t notice…

        2. It’s been very mild. Others report different experiences. ANd the lack of taste and smell saves me from bothering with special Christmas catering. It would be pointless. Fortunately, I can still taste red wine to some extent…

    1. “Labour is going to be comically dreadful. Starmer has no idea what to do with power and he has zero leadership ability so his entire administration will be geared to keeping a lid on a trainwreck of a party – most of which will we wokeling morons, politico spivs and quangocrats, with very few of them ever having had a real job.”

      And the alleged Conservatives are different?

      1. One slight fly in your ointment:
        Blair will be in control, pulling Starmer’s strings, and you can be damned sure that he will have learned his lessons regarding the destruction of Britain and will ensure that this time it will be complete and utter.

      2. Hopefully the alleged Cons won’t try to completely eradicate hunting. Blair’s £1m donation from the animal rights people did enough damage to the countryside and pest control, but not enough for the current lot of Labour urbanites.

    1. As usual the person to whom the question is addressed is taking no notice and is reading through his notes for the pre-written answer. What ill-mannered ignorant scumbags politicians are

      1. And the ghastly, smug and horribly biased ‘presiding officer’ never remonstrates with the hate-filled muzzie bastard masquerading as first minister.

    1. Don’t even go there, sos! A friend arrived yesterday with a card, and wouldn’t even come in the gate as her husband had just ‘tested positive’ for Convid! She told me that it was OK as the card had been in their porch for a couple of days!!🙄
      My OH hasn’t been very well!

      1. At long last, I’ve tested positive for Covid. It came from church. I’ll take it back there at the weekend (though I hope to be negative by then). I’ve sent 45 cards. At least, I sanitised my hands and tried not to breathe as I wrote them. But who knows?

        Signed

        Typhoid Mary…

        1. Ah Geoff! Forgive my cynicism but we seem to have forgotten/been brainwashed about how to deal with a cold, cough, temperature, aches and feeling ropey. It’s now got to be a ‘something’!

          3. Agreed, Sue. I remain sceptical, but what presented as a dry cough last Tuesday has transmogrified into something which I haven’t experienced before. Taste and smell have abandoned me, and lethargy has kicked in. I’ve twice missed the 7am deadline for the new page. This is different, but I confidently expect to overcome it. Without any help from mRNA…

          4. I hope you recover quickly. That you are still putting up the page each day, in spite of being ‘under the weather’ is much appreciated.

          5. Thanks. In truth, I’ve had worse colds. Covid seems to affect everyone differently. While I had the initial AZ jabs, against my better judgement, I’ve eschewed subsequent boosters, preferring to help my immune system with Vit D3, among others. Today’s LFT was almost negative. I needed a magnifying glass to see the faint line. Clear tomorrow, hopefully. I need to be, with four Christmas services to play for…

        2. Have the tests finally been refined so that they do not flag up related viruses are the dreaded lurgy? Or are they still liable to give false positives?

          1. I’m sceptical about LFT and PCR tests, Bob. I only ordered LFTs, when – thinking I had a mild cold – I was expected to turn up at a local care home last night , carol singing. Thought it might be frowned upon if it turned out to be Covid. In the event, the loss of taste and smell arrived a few hours before Amazon delivered the test kits. In fairness, the LFTs are detecting something. Yesterday, I was clearly positive. Today, the positive line was barely detectable.

    2. People with COVID/FLU illness are most contagious for the first 5 days of their illness. But that actually means they’re most contagious 1 to 2 days before they develop symptoms and until 2 to 3 days after their symptoms start

      1. I’m of the “let it rip” view.

        Either herd immunity is real or Covid cannot be treated or eradicated.

        Either way, vaccination doesn’t appear to work and neither do any of the other approaches, so just keep calm and carry on.

        2. I agree, whilst testing positive. I had 2 AZ jabs against my better judgement. They caused enough trouble, thank you very much. At least they weren’t mRNA. I started with a dry cough last Tuesday. By Saturday it had progressed through ‘productive’ to non-existent.

          Sunday, I had an email from a churchwarden who kindly gives me lifts to the villages, saying she’s tested positive. By Monday morning, I couldn’t taste anything. Confirmed later by LFT test…

          I hope to test negative by the weekend, else our six services will be devoid of an organist…

          1. That sounds hopeful. Sending best wishes that it’s soon all gone.
            Earlier on, I came across this letter sent by my keep fit’ instructor (aimed at oldies) in May 2020 when some lockdown restrictions were to be lifted. It reminded me of the convid stupidity and illogical ‘rules’ that anyone with half a brain could see through.
            This scan is part of the letter. There was no way I was going to follow such ridiculously illogical ‘rules’, never mind spend my time with those who believed in and slavishly followed these ‘rules’. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3f918c801dbf76c4a8a06ccbafb5bdbc1347a0eebd31df6b85abdd90bcd007ba.png
            That’s me off for some early zeds. All this frantic cleaning (major effort, such have been my slovenly ways this year…..) hasn’t been conducive to feeling full of energy.

  63. Tidings of Comfort & Joy!

    “Dozy Mmobuosi was riding high. Photographed for the cover of GQ Africa a year ago, he was pictured leaning forward thoughtfully, hands clasped, billed as the “tech entrepreneur changing the face of agriculture”.

    His business, Tingo Mobile, had started out providing mobile phones to rural farmers in Nigeria. But within just a few years, it had grown into a multibillion-dollar empire with a listing on New York’s Nasdaq stock exchange.

    To cap it all, the London-based tycoon soon revealed he was bidding to buy the Premier League football team Sheffield United – lining him up to become the only black majority owner of a top-flight team.

    There was just one small problem: Mmobuosi’s businesses, as they were commonly understood, may never have existed.
    That is the extraordinary claim made this week by American regulators, who accused the 45-year-old Nigerian businessman – real name, Mmobuosi Odogwu Banye – of perpetrating an ongoing fraud of “staggering” proportions.

    At its peak last year, his publicly traded company, Tingo Inc, was valued at $7.23bn (£5.7bn), according to Bloomberg data.”

    See you don’t have to be a Nigerian Prince to succeed!!

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4dec15abfb696f5dfb137192bb9f01d055d501ed1764865497267dfde046b17a.png

      2. Bobs Yr Uncle

        I’m still waiting on my £100 million from my long lost Nigerian relative.

        JW
        You as well? We must be related.

  65. Well, chums, it’s been a very enjoyable day for me. And I am very grateful to all of my friends on here who have wished me a Happy Birthday today. It’s good to know that so many of you care about me. So now I am off to bed and I wish you all a very Good Night, a restful sleep and good day tomorrow.

    1. I’m late on parade again, but just in time to say Penblwydd hapus, Elsie. 🙂🙂 , glad to hear you’ve had a good day.

      1. Not as late as me. Logged on about 2:40 a.m., and that’s the first time for many days. So much to do, but sleep is once again impossible.

      2. How dare you swear at me, Stormy?!?!? Oh, it’s Welsh for Happy Birthday! Thank you so much, Stormy. Lol.

  66. A decent walk up to the Barley Mow for a couple of pints of Titanic Plum Porter then over to the King’s Head for 1 pint of Rosie Nosie.
    The ‘Leccie Lads are still at it, over 12h since the first shift arrived, so I’ve just taken them a jog of coffee, mugs & milk for them.

    2. Good grief, Conners, don’t tell me that Mr & Mrs Rastus will soon be posting a reminder of a 2023-year-old’s birthday! Lol. (This meant to be funny not blasphemous.) Anyhow, a very Good Night to you – and Oscar and Kadi.

    3. This Ardern woman is guilty of High Crimes against Humanity.

      Whatever new globalist job she obtains she will always be remembered for her slavish adherence to the WEF and WHO mandates. This ghastly woman is responsible for mandating death and injury on millions of her compatriots.

      We should have guessed sooner when it was revealed that Ardern was a disciple of Tony Blair, a wretch standing proudly among some of the worst offenders with Bill Gates, Bezos, Zuckerberg and others of that ilk.

      All of these bloodsuckers need to be brought down and brought to justice. Their expropriated billions will not save them, nor their multi million dollar bunkers and security details. We have their number and it is as prophesied 666.

      2. From the NZ Press:

        Political insider and right-wing commentator Cameron Slater published an article ten days ago

        saying that out of all the politicians he has known (and he has known most since Muldoon

        in the 70s) Ardern is the only one he rates as truly evil.

  69. Well the drinks and nibbles turned out to be a fun evening with just our immediate neighbours and plenty of food. Lots of chat and we stumbled home about half an hour ago.

  70. Well the drinks and nibbles turned out to be a fun evening with just our immediate neighbours and plenty of food. Lots of chat and we stumbled home about half an hour ago.

  72. Ugh. Shocking headache. Out at Xmas party last night. Going into work now. Weather ok (just not me!)

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