Thursday 22 February: Prince William should know that politics and the monarchy don’t mix

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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501 thoughts on “Thursday 22 February: Prince William should know that politics and the monarchy don’t mix”

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

    ITALIAN MOTHER

    Mrs. Ravioli came to visit her son Antonio for dinner. He lived with a female roommate, Maria. During the course of the meal, his mother couldn’t help but notice how pretty Anthony’s roommate was.
    Over the course of the evening, while watching the two interact, she started to wonder if there was more between Anthony and his roommate than met the eye.
    Reading his Mum’s thoughts, Antonio volunteered, “I know what you must be thinking, but I assure you, Maria and I are just roommates.”
    About a week later, Maria came to Anthony, saying, “Ever since your mother came to dinner, I’ve been unable to find the silver sugar bowl. You don’t suppose she took it, do you?”
    “Well, I doubt it, but I’ll email her, just to be sure.” So he sat down and wrote an email:

    Dear Mama,
    I’m not saying that you “did” take the sugar bowl from my house; I’m not saying that you “did not” take it. But the fact remains that it has been missing ever since you were here for dinner.
    Your Loving Son
    Antonio

    Several days later, Antonio received a response email from his Mama which read:

    Dear Son,
    I’m not saying that you “do” sleep with Maria, and I’m not saying that you “do not” sleep with her. But the fact remains that, if she was sleeping in her OWN bed, she would have found the sugar bowl by now.
    Your Loving Mama

    1. An excellent one, Sir Jasper. (Good morning, btw.) And now I’m off to see how I get on with Wordle. Back shortly.

      Wordle 978 4/6

      Did it in four today.
      🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜
      ⬜⬜🟩🟩🟨
      ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      Incidentally, following yesterday’s post where I revealed that there had been far too many possible answers (it turned out to be MATCH) no-one replied to say that their own Wordle was also MATCH. Could any Wordlers confirm that this was the case?

      1. Good Morning, Elsie.

        Yes it was MATCH

        four today also

        Wordle 978 4/6

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

      2. Your par beats my bogey
        Wordle 978 5/6

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

        Several choices for that fourth letter and I chose the wrong one.

    1. The French press has noted the technical hitch in the enemy’s armed forces – and are revelling in it.

      1. Wode, dear, Wode…My cleaning lady has the real tramp stamps, top to toe. Proper laff, she is. We are going to Newbury Races 23rd March in the posh stands. She’ll turn a few heads.

  6. BTL@DTletters

    Pauline Maridor
    6 HRS AGO
    Wake up people… A vote for the Labour Party is a vote for the Islamist movement.
    That Muslims have now embedded themselves so deeply into our political and economic society; needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency.
    Today’s farce in Westminster was not about peace— it was about antisemitism and religious intolerance. Utterly disgraceful.
    A decade after the full horror that Pakistani Muslim gangs had raped more than 1,600 girls in Rotherham, further incidences of this abomination was exposed in Telford, where more than 1,000 girls were groomed and abused. Rochdale, Oxford, and Oldham report similar outrages.
    Police, councils, and government are all afraid of Muslim violence breaking out in cities.
    I suspect it is not so much the fear of violence and destruction itself — as they are afraid of having their impotence exposed.
    They want personal rings of steel to protect them from the realities of life in Britain today, leaving ordinary people to suffer the conditions they have created.
    Yet it should be obvious to any MPs with critical faculties that they are no longer representing us but presiding over an ever-more surveilled society which penalises the law-abiding, but harbours and normalises violence.
    Moreover, our political system cannot now auto-correct – with its refusal to recognise the legitimacy of the Brexit , Parliament crossed a psychological Rubicon.
    For all the sound and fury over Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng’s Thatcherite tribute act, the big story this week is that yet again neither government nor Parliament is remotely interested in the far more profound cultural unravelling of our society with the sectarian Israel/ /Hamas conflict.
    “It is like watching a nation busily engaged in heaping up its own funeral pyre,” – Enoch Powell EDITED

    Anastasias Revenge
    6 HRS AGO
    D S A Murray – “when so many British citizens apparently do not accept Israel’s right to exist”
    I would question just how many of those “British citizens” are actually British, or if they do hold a unicorn & lion passport, how dry the ink is on it.

    Anastasias Revenge
    6 HRS AGO
    Just heard on the news that the war in Yemen (Arab versus Arab) is over 300 days old… strangely enough there aren’t many calls for one side or the other to be excoriated in public.

  7. https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/25a3ed1549cc2ae41b5c420e0f254ab4a6532e13/0_0_3984_2656/master/3984.jpg?width=700&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=a6b47e5be54bd99719c1d553b1db84bb
    Madrid, Spain
    Farmers demonstrate over price pressures, taxes and green regulation as part of a Europe-wide protest

    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/2c5319fe79d2122b4687d87de4ace2e4a8e28361/0_0_4000_3013/master/4000.jpg?width=700&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=6f5f63c59a55c55b76f3855b9f2ddf43
    Calgary, Canada
    Curling fans take in the action at the annual women’s competition the Scotties Tournament of Hearts

    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/19e94b4cc7d9b5f0ab9d41e00c1b6560758b1de1/0_0_6238_4159/master/6238.jpg?width=700&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=addbb81c53f01d8e8643520b7f589f10
    San Francisco, US
    Surfers under the Golden Gate Bridge during rainy weather in California

  9. Civil servants want four-day week for same pay

    Biggest union representing public sector workers asks for ‘significant shortening’ of hours with no change to salary

    Camilla Turner, CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT and Lauren Shirreff
    21 February 2024 • 9:51pm

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2024/02/21/TELEMMGLPICT000364289010_17085444884220_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqRo0U4xU-30oDveS4pXV-Vv4Xpit_DMGvdp2n7FDd82k.jpeg?imwidth=680

    Civil servants are demanding a four-day week for the same pay, it has emerged.

    The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union, the biggest union representing public sector workers, has asked for a “significant shortening” of hours with no change to their salary.

    In a letter to the Cabinet Office, Fran Heathcote, the general secretary, also called for a pay rise and more annual leave.

    The union represents more than 200,000 civil servants across 213 government departments and agencies.

    The latest demand follows a campaign by civil servants at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for a four-day week on the grounds that this would boost staff well-being.

    Ms Heathcote wrote to John Glen, the Cabinet Office minister, ahead of the annual Civil Service pay review to demand a “significant shortening of the working week”, without specifying what this would entail.
    *
    *
    *
    *****************************

    “ A survey of PCS members across all government departments showed that 60 per cent would consider quitting their jobs if they were forced to return to the office three days a week.”
    Let’s do it, problem solved

    John Kernow
    10 HRS AGO
    Reply to fred smith
    None of them will quit, if you’re lazy and entitled where else can you make your way than in the public sector

    Graham Block
    10 HRS AGO
    Reply to fred smith
    When local government services are being cut is it any wonder that many people are dumping their rubbish everywhere: road sides are no better than in a third world country

    The Invisible Hand versus The Dead Hand
    7 HRS AGO
    Reply to fred smith – view message
    This is brilliant. The PCS has identified that there is capacity to reduce hours worked by 20%, supposedly for the same levels of productivity. The good news is that, based on this logic, we can achieve the same outcome by kicking 20% of public sector workers to the curb. Game on.

    2. …. “and more annual leave.”
      Make it permanent. “Here’s your holiday pay and your P45.”
      At least 50% should get that treatment. Same applies to MPs and Lords.
      As a starter.

  10. Prince William should know that politics and the monarchy don’t mix

    I think they are all just saying what will save them from getting attacked.

    1. Coincidentally, I’m sure, his new Private Secretary started last week. I wonder how long the probation period lasts?

  11. What happened during the Gaza ceasefire vote – and why Lindsay Hoyle is facing calls to resign. 22 February 2024.

    Sir Lindsay Hoyle is facing calls to quit after an extraordinary day when the Commons descended into chaos over a debate on Gaza.

    The Speaker enraged the Tories and the Scottish National Party by going against official advice to controversially select a Labour amendment.

    All this of course presupposes than anyone, let alone the Israeli’s, gives a damn what the House of Commons thinks!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/02/21/debate-gaza-commons-labour-tories-snp-row-lindsay-hoyle/

    2. Some uppity Jock, who holds the title of ‘SNP Westminster Leader’ threw a strop because he wasn’t credited as the instigator of the anti-Semitic vote that was about to take place. He also suffers from avascular necrosis, something that affects sperm whales due to excessive decompression. He, on the other hand, suffers from excessive wailing due to political suppression.

  12. What happened during the Gaza ceasefire vote – and why Lindsay Hoyle is facing calls to resign. 22 February 2024.

    Sir Lindsay Hoyle is facing calls to quit after an extraordinary day when the Commons descended into chaos over a debate on Gaza.

    The Speaker enraged the Tories and the Scottish National Party by going against official advice to controversially select a Labour amendment.

    All this of course presupposes than anyone, let alone the Israeli’s, gives a damn what the House of Commons thinks!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/02/21/debate-gaza-commons-labour-tories-snp-row-lindsay-hoyle/

  14. Europe clearly now wants Vladimir Putin to win. 22 February 2024.

    It is essential, therefore, that if a deadly escalation of conflict in Europe is to be avoided, the West redoubles its efforts to provide Kyiv with the weaponry it requires to prevail on the battlefield. Ukraine, after all, is not fighting this war just for its own survival. It is fighting to defend the entire Western alliance.

    It is fighting on behalf of the Political Elites. The Native Peoples of Europe have nothing to fear from a Russian Victory!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/02/22/europe-clearly-now-wants-vladimir-putin-to-win/

  15. 383777+ up ticks,

    Morning Each,

    The header comment author must surely know regardless of current continuous voting elements, sides have been taken, split asunder is unity betwixt peoples and politico’s via the politico’s actions it is now US vee them.

    WEF / NWO has declared their stance by their actions , only those lab/lib/con supporter / voters with eyes tight shut deny this is happening.

    Thursday 22 February: Prince William should know that politics and the monarchy don’t mix

  17. ‘Morning All

    All becomes clear,MP’s in tears at the threats to themselves and their families

    Good!! Feel what you have inflicted on us all by your weak woke polices!!

    How’s that teacher in Batley doing??

    https://twitter.com/MikeSouthWestUK/status/1760391776504893653?s=20

    no doubt they’ll be calling for even more protection for THEMSELVES

    Bugger the rest of us,gutless wonders………..

    Rest of the medley

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3117c64203feb6cb60a1c5be6179826583a0ff3f50c54d0b42e03f1617d3b050.jpg

    ONS

    https://twitter.com/KTHopkins/status/1760378396826030168

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4dcea03a7d5aaddf04b7e97bb57dd8aaa6f36aa6eeaedf16117e134a7eba5d99.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/178927a4de856c6f74d4402002e89e37436b3284d6f60f755259f1964bdb258a.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1d6bec393eb8425214a01e20f877a442c1cfbfe51f8092b985ed1c454cbcc9fe.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9ac0b86c20bb20d80fcfb0effda7beb075e9af7284f771dd19a0143d915583d9.jpg

  18. Good morning, all Y’all.
    Drizzle – on the snow & ice. Lovely (not). Much rain forecast.

    1. Something must be done! Harrumph! All because the spineless worms are beginning to understand what so many of their electorate have been going through since Blair threw the gimmegration floodgates open. Hell mend them.

  21. Good morning.
    Another chilly and wet start. 2½°C on the Yard Thermometer and it’s chucking it down.

      1. Yep!
        Despite the almost spring like weather a few days ago, it’s a reminder that we are sitll in the grip of winter.

  23. Funny Old World
    A few weeks ago we were told Russia was out of ammo and fighting with spades in trenches now we are supposed to believe Putin is poised to conquer Western Europe
    So I decided to check some numbers
    UK,Germany and France
    Combined annual military spend $178,000,000
    Russia
    Annual military spend $84.000.000
    Leaving out the REST of NATO that’s twice the Russian spend
    Something doesn’t add up…………………

    1. Morning, Rik.
      Did you lose some zeroes off the spending numbers? Only millions is far too small, surely?
      In any case, defence spending is only a way to put taxpayers money into “our favourite” contractors.

  24. Is it “for fun” though really, Robert? Or, a necessity which over the centuries turned into an event, a social thing to bind the community (in the truest sense of the word?).

    “ sir – Without getting involved in whether it is better or worse for foxes, for me the problem with fox hunting is how distasteful it is for people to want to kill things for fun. It has little to do with vermin control. Robert Pugh”

    1. Fox hunting has everything to do with vermin control. 90% of those killed where either old or diseased or both.

          1. Thanks, Auntie Elsie. No, they certainly didn’t, and nor did many others, it seems.👍🏻😊

      2. It’s a cull of the sick, the diseased, the old and the stupid. It results in the improvement of the species. Shooting, trapping and gassing are indiscriminate (and can lead to other species being inadvertantly targeted) and not as quick. Foxes are still killed because numbers have to be kept under control to protect lambs, etc.

    3. Whether or not one agrees Oscar Wilde put it more elegantly than Robert Pugh:

      “The unspeakable in pursuit of the uneatable.”

      1. From Act 1, A Woman of No Importance.

        MRS. ALLONBY. Horrid word ‘health.’

        LORD ILLINGWORTH. Silliest word in our language, and one knows so well the popular idea of health. The English country gentleman galloping after a fox – the unspeakable in full pursuit of the uneatable.

    4. Whether or not one agrees Oscar wild put it more effectively than Robert Pugh:

      The unspeakable in pursuit of the uneatable.

    5. People who hunt do not kill things for “fun” as you’d realise if you had ever seen a hunt, Robert. The huntsman controls the hounds who do the killing (whether they enjoy it or not who can tell?). The field ride to hounds for fun, but the vast majority of them will never have even seen a fox, let alone been there at the death. They enjoy riding fast over the countryside, jumping big hedges at speed and sipping a stirrup cup and gossiping at the covert side. Since Blair and his Prejudice Act nobody hunts a live quarry any more except the bloodhounds who hunt the clean boot.

  25. Good morning, all. Overcast, breezy and soggy at the moment. Thundery showers forecast.

    Dr David Martin on the can of worms that is the WHO.

    Dr. David Martin says Tedros is just a puppet with a “giant stick up his ass.”

    “But who’s moving the stick for the puppet?”

    https://twitter.com/i/status/1760447020811059651

    Does our government know and understand what the WHO is, what its aims are and who really controls this organisation? Certainly those dyed-in-the-wool globalists know but what about the voting fodder? It appears that the story being told is that the WHO will not be in a position to over-rule national sovereignty: there is a great deal of doubt about the veracity of that claim.

    It is imperative that any diktat from our government that has its roots in the WHO must be met with massive non-compliance. To comply will mean the end of society as we know it.

      1. Dr Martin has been on this case for years, he is a very outspoken and brave man. Is there a point in time where an outspoken person, who has released the facts, becomes close to untouchable? Untouchable because any physical attack on that person would strengthen their argument and expose the ill-doers for what they are?

    2. Tedros is also associated with the terrorist organisation Tigray People’s Liberation Front, who were the group behind the recent rioting in Den Haag.

      https://twitter.com/DaveAtherton20/status/1760323307100840154

      Post
      See new posts
      Conversation
      David Atherton
      @DaveAtherton20
      One of my followers journo
      @ShebaPushStart
      has put the Hague riots in its right context, she explains they are not Eritreans:

      “Sir with all due respect these are not Eritreans protesting over elections in the Ethiopian region of Tigray. These are Tigrayans who have immigrated by falsifying documents as Eritrean refugees, something that many people from this region use as a guarantee for asylum- very well documented especially in Europe, please look into it yourself.

      “They call themselves Brigade N Hamedu and they are an anti-Eritrean violent activist group who have attacked Eritrean festivals and community gatherings across the world since last year. Tigryans and Eritreans speak a common language and it’s almost impossible to tell Eritreans apart from Ethiopians but people within the community know and can make the distinction by accents or simply asking questions about where they are from and verifying.

      “These protest groups hate the Eritrean government and are sympathetic to the TPLF (Tigray Peoples Liberation Front). An incident in North Carolina just recently resulted in the arrest of a few of these individuals who identify as Tigrayans but pretend to be Eritrean opposition to create public unrest with the pure objective of attacking Eritreans who they see as supporters of the Eritrean government and also to get media attention and coverage to promote hate against the Eritrean community by any means necessary.

      “As an Ethiopian and Eritrean and someone who follows this closely I can provide further documentation and references to prove what I am saying if you are willing to listen. Publicizing this as Eritreans acting unorderly is absolutely wrong and damaging to the community that is actually the victim of these crimes.”

      1. Not only do we have a problem with mass immigration i.e. the numbers, our pathetic politicians have also allowed, or is that encouraged? the importation of the national, religious, tribal, cultural and societal problems of these people. Those responsible have created a time-bomb and the fuse has been lit, all that matters is the length of the fuse.

    4. So, what is being done about all these legal violations?

      NOTHING! i hear you cry and you’d be right. Roll on the day of reckoning.

  26. Good morning all ,

    Another wet day, strong breeze .

    I haven’t had a chance to top up my bird feeders , they are jammed up with damp feed, spilled seed on the grass has attracted a pair of bull finches , sparrows and chaffinches … the fat balls have been devoured by the starlings.

          1. Indeed, Paul. Only the press (and cartoonists) referred to it as a ‘baton’ or a ‘truncheon’. To police officers it was invariably a staff. We used to joke that there were three types of offence: laughable, staffable and arrestable.

            I say ‘referred’ since the old fashioned staffs are now history.

          3. It was certainly a comfort, at times, to know that I had a staff (made of lignum vitæ) down my trouser leg pocket.

    3. Should always approach these scum with a Taser – Scottish police are now going to be equipped with them at last

    4. Any scrote displaying that sort of aggression with me was invariably kicked — very hard — in the nuts before he could properly kick off.

      A householder once witnessed me doing that to a clown in the street. She immediately rang the police and gave praise for my ‘positive’ approach.

      Time for British police to catch up with the rest of the world and be fully armed, methinks. Get us some bosses with balls and only good can come of it.

      1. If it had been someone’s grannie on a non-governmental approved ‘protest’ march, he would have been pepper sprayed before he touched the door handle.

        1. Back in my day we didn’t have anything apart from a staff and our wit. I never drew my staff in anger (or defence). The only time I used it was to put a moribund cat out of its misery after it had been struck by a bus.

      2. This was a guy on active service who tacked a bloke bigger than him, without back-up, a tazer or a wooden baton! Who does he think he is, Superman?

        He got what he deserved for being unprepared.

  28. Good morning Nottlers, well it’s currently dry with a breeze. Just off to walk a football. A bit early as I have to pick up a teammate on the way as his car failed this morning’s fitness test.

  29. Ahem…………

    Cameron on the day of the Brexit Referendum:….
    “Let me be absolutely clear, I will absolutely abide by the results of the Brexit referendum, whatever they may be.
    The people have spoken and as befits my office I will absolutely deliver on that result to the British people”

    12 hours later……
    “I quit bye”……..💨

    Cameron in the Falklands yesterday……

    “Let me be absolutely clear, as long as the good people of the Falkland
    Islands wish to remain a British overseas territory, I will absolutely
    ensure, absolutely that the United Kingdom will absolutely never abandon
    these islands ”
    Bye Bye Falkland Islands
    Don’t cry for me Port Stanley.

    2. Most of the Islanders (4000) work in the fishing industry and agriculture. I don’t believe Cameron for a nano second that he gives a shit about such people.

    3. He’s just another money grabbing lying POS.
      I was hoping because there are probably still lots of weapons around in the islands, someone might pop him off.

    5. And let us remember all his talk of “a reformed European Union” that he spouted – asking us to vote to remain in that when we voted in the referendum – there was no “reformed” EU – they gave him nothing!

      1. Talk of a “reformed EU” was meaningless unless he could tell us what those reforms consisted of, in which case, they must have already been agreed. In which case, they are going to happen anyway.

    6. Remember the lie printed in the very expensive propaganda leaflet they set out? “This is your decision. Whatever you decide the government will implement it”. Yeah, right. Only if it’s to stay, obviously.

  30. Good day everyone and the 77th,

    Another wet one at Castle McPhee stopping me continuing to tidy the garden and paint the fences for spring. Wind in the South-West going West, 10℃ but dropping to 5℃ in the course of the afternoon.

    Michael Deacon has penned a good one today on the latest insanity from people who are supposed to be intelligent and educated.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6af31aa3aaf3d89523f11e7712e60c757054eb99997f77973d4c71b75983fe06.png

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/columnists/2024/02/22/voting-age-lowering-labour-government-polly-mackenzie/

    His ‘Way of the World’ still has some way to go to match Auberon Waugh and Michael Wharton but he’s getting there.

      1. I don’t think I could cock my leg any more thanks to arthritic joints 🙂 I see the National Distrust is to erect “wee posts” for dogs at a couple of their Midlands properties (Shugborough and Attingham). I’m not quite sure if they are to protect the buildings by keeping dogs at a distance or if they expect the dogs only to wee on these posts. If they do, they clearly have never owned a dog (and anyway, bitches’ pee is much more damaging).

    2. If small children are allowed to vote why not ensure that no candidates standing in an election have yet reached puberty (or over the age of 13 if they have tried to cheat the system by using puberty blockers)

  31. Good day everyone and the 77th,

    Another wet one at Castle McPhee stopping me continuing to tidy the garden and paint the fences for spring. Wind in the South-West going West, 10℃ but dropping to 5℃ in the course of the afternoon.

    Michael Deacon has penned a good one today on the latest insanity from people who are supposed to be intelligent and educated.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6af31aa3aaf3d89523f11e7712e60c757054eb99997f77973d4c71b75983fe06.png

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/columnists/2024/02/22/voting-age-lowering-labour-government-polly-mackenzie/

    His ‘Way of the World’ still has some way to go to match Auberon Waugh and Michael Wharton but he’s getting there.

  32. I have just received this by email. No debate on WHO who will doubtless be allowed to impose whatever they want without any protests from our evil politicians.

    I don’t like it.

    Dear Richard Tracey,

    The Petitions Committee decided not to debate the petition you signed – “End the UK’s membership of the World Health Organization”

    The Petitions Committee has decided not to schedule a debate on this petition.

    The Committee recognised the support that this petition has received. However, the issues raised by this petition have recently been discussed by MPs in other debates, including:

    A debate on e-petition 614335, “Do not sign any WHO Pandemic Treaty unless it is approved via public referendum”, which took place on 17 April 2023. You can read a transcript of this debate here: https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2023-04-17/debates/12BE683F-A25C-46E5-9FE9-B9C12CCDA9B7/PandemicPreventionPreparednessAndResponseInternationalAgreement

    A debate on e-petition 635904, “Hold a parliamentary vote on whether to reject amendments to the IHR 2005”, which took place on 18 December 2023. You can read a transcript of this debate here: https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2023-12-18/debates/945EBBB4-D052-4CF7-8109-B39FF7FF919D/InternationalHealthRegulations2005

    The petition: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/648609

    Find out more about the Petitions Committee: https://petition.parliament.uk/help#petitions-committee

    Thanks,
    The Petitions team
    UK Government and Parliament

    1. I received similar but filed it under ‘Government’ At 79 and seriously ill, I’m in no fit state to lead or partake in the revolution that is surely coming.

    4. Happy birthday AWK, hope you enjoy your day as much as I enjoy your articles on the Dark Continent.

  34. Thursday 22nd February, 2024

    Grizzly

    (aka Alan, George, the polymath: painter, gardener, cook, law enforcer, carnivore, dieter, grammarian, carpenter etc.)

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6ad17bc588076ac81e3b6bdb63755b046cbe4dd85d584f77b6a7eaba12c285ab.jpg

    and many more joyous birthdays,

    Have a good day and we give you our warmest greetings,

    Caroline and Rastus.

    (Here’s one of you favourites singing a song about Age!)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5sO0HbB5WY

      1. Thanks, Philip. This evening it will be roasted rib of beef, chunks of spud roasted with onion, garlic and thyme, mixed steamed veg, and a gravy that has been two days in the making (pressure-cooked beef oxtail stock). Pudding is buckwheat galette pancakes with a peach melba centre served with vanilla ice-cream and drizzled with golden syrup. The diet gets back on track again tomorrow! 🤪

    3. Happy Birthday Mr Grizz and of course Happy 365 Unbirthadays, til the next event.

      Remember, as the first 50 years are practice, you are only 23

    5. Happy Birthday, Grizzly, and may you have many happy returns of this day. Enjoy your day! 🎉🎉🥂🍾 🥮🥩🍗🥓🧀🎉🎉

    6. Many thanks, Caroline and Richard.

      No better way to start the day than listening to Jim.👍🏻😊

      2. Wishing you a very Happy Birthday, pet! And I sincerely hope that yer fadge isn’t ower femmer, yerbuggermar! Have a wonderful day, Mr. Grizz! 🎂🥂🎉🍷😘

  35. Good God!
    A Muslim Mosh Pit!!
    https://twitter.com/RadioGenoa/status/1760257547871650134

    From Wiki:-
    Moshing (also known as slam dancing or simply slamming)[1] is an extreme style of dancing in which participants push or slam into each other. Taking place in an area called the mosh pit (or simply the pit), it is typically performed to aggressive styles of live music such as punk rock and heavy metal.

    3. It’s a so horrendously sinister.
      How can any of that be remotely related to any form of religion.
      Was that at one the government run migration centres in the UK?
      Just askin’ ?

    5. Terrifying. Imagine that lot coming towards you down the road. Nutcases. It looks like a form of group hypnosis.

    6. I wonder if the Coop offers such funerals?
      Makes a change from using a motorbike and sidecar to carry the coffin.

  36. Morning all 🙂😊
    Same old outside, windy as well, very like a glimps of the future of our country. Grey and miserable.
    Not only have the ‘royals’ been involving themselves in politics.
    Rick Stein seemed to be making some sort of strong political statement when his recent cookery programme in Bristol was shown on bbc1.
    As were the Hairy Bikers the same evening.
    Speaking from a personal point of view, far too much pointless clap trap.
    Both now removed from our list of entertainment. Re thinking possible alternatives.
    But apart from watching trusted old films, now there are fewer alternatives available.

    1. What sort of political point?
      Eating farting cows? Cooking via Global warming? Sticking a wind turbine beside the cooker?

      1. Oh no not regarding cooking and eating.
        Immigration, from slightly paler decendants of windrush. And the more recently arrived, probably using invented reasons.
        All carefully sort out, as is frequently the case and as often as possible, presented as victims by the bbc.

  37. 🎶happy birthday day to you Grizz 🎶🍻
    I hope you enjoy your day.
    Same to Mahatma Happy Birthday. 🥂🍾

        1. Tack så mycket, Paul. Apart from the numbers always rising, never falling, I’ll do my best! 👍🏻😉

          1. Oooh! Happy Birthday, dear G, sung with gusto from rhe rooftops of Buenos Aires*!! Have a splendiferous day x x

            * Watched with utter bemusement by a tortoise. 🤣🤣

          2. If I wasn’t already having a splendiferous day, Katy, then your lovely message has certainly ensured I’m having one.

            Oh, to be in Buenos Aires to hear you! 😘😊

        1. Thanks, Nursey.

          21? That old chap who insists on standing and staring me out as I have a shave might not agree!🤣😘

  38. “when so many British citizens apparently do not accept Israel’s right to exist, let alone defend itself.”

    If protesters wish to heve a say about matters of concern in UK, first they must have Proof Positive that they are are infact “British”.

    Proof of British Identity must be produced to the ‘police’ managing these demonstrations.

    This would then exclude participation of the millions of Doveristas, who come to our country and try to destroy it

  39. Looking at the GB News interviewers trying to talk to the rabble outside Parliament last night the supporters (?) of Palestine repeatedly claim that the Israelis are practising ‘genocide’. This word is never effectively challenged in the MSM.

    What is genocide?

    Why do the supporters of Hamas say that it is Israel which is committing genocide? (Isn’t the technique of accusing your opponents of your own faults now called gaslighting?)

    Israel wants to wipe out an enemy which is trying to destroy their country, their religion and their race forever and will continue attacks such as October 7th until they have achieved this.

    It is surely Hamas and their supporters which wants to practise genocide and not the Israelis?

    2. I thought gaslighting was trying to force someone to question their own sense of reality, such as when you see your wife out with someone else they say ‘You were spying on me?’ to avoid confronting their deceit. Hamas are doing it by now pretending to be the victims when they deliberately started a war by trying to kill Jews.

      Oh woe, the evil Israeli’s are shooting at us!

  40. That’s a weight off my mind:
    Wordle 978 3/6

    ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨
    ⬜🟨🟨🟨⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      1. Marching with them. The Met Police have seemingly been instructed to protect this dangerous bunch of thugs.

        1. Sorry pm! I wasn’t doubting you, but it looked so false and I couldn’t find any reference to it! It’s just appeared in the DT 🙄

          1. I didn’t think you were doubting me, Sue, your comment was an opportunity for me to provide further information. I was shocked to see the projection on the Elizabeth Tower, it is symptomatic of our weakness during these times. I cannot believe we have come to this. If we saw this happen in another country we would say it has fallen to the enemy.

          2. It’s absolutely horrific. The police knew where the projector was and did absolutely nothing.

      1. One bit of sewage was intercepted by Westminster Bridge.
        Unfortunately, not before he could do lasting damage.

  42. Today’s Daily Service is led by a Woman of God – another one! The Archpric of Cantubray has certain preferences, me thinks.

  46. Back from t’market. Dry when we left home – dry when we got back. Rained heavily while we were AT the market!

  47. SIR – While almost all share Prince William’s humanitarian inclinations, fewer remember the Second World War and the fact that, to finish it, the Allies had to eradicate the Nazis.

    The terrorists of Hamas must be defeated if Israel is to feel confident of its safety. A war has to reach a conclusion; it cannot be a compromise that leaves the opening for future conflict. Unless Hamas fundamentally changes its ideology, to try to end the conflict without its eradication will leave a risk of further violence and destruction, which, in all probability, will spread to Western countries as Islamic activists migrate.

    Peter Williman
    Chatteris, Cambridgeshire

    Both William and Harry take after their Great Grandfather’s brother , Duke of Windsor who abdicated and who dallied with the Nazis, am I right or am I wrong .

    There is a very weak link in their pedigree , both chaps appear to me to be rather feeble minded .

    2. …the Allies had to eradicate the Nazis.

      Sadly, Mr Williman, the Allies executed some of the top Nazis but allowed others back into society, and more seriously, the Allies didn’t totally eradicate the ideology.

      Using the threat of an eastwards expanding NATO to threaten Russia is madness but is that idea just another iteration of Lebensraum? Russia has massive reserves of natural resources, what’s not to like. The 1930’s Nazis rushed their fences and lost. Perhaps slowly, slowly catchy monkey, is the new way?

    3. Mr Williman, the Nazi ideology continues to this day. They’ve changed their weapons to economics but the attitude, the arrogance, the desire for power and control has not changed one bit.

  49. Although I question if Prince William is doing this off his own bat. As I said yesterday, I wouldn’t be in the least surprised if he was asked to make such a pronouncement by the government that lacks the courage to be principled enough to stand unequivocally for Israel. However, I would like to point out that according to our Constitution he has every right to speak out on any subject he wishes. It is the monarch who is expected to be seen and not heard. The Prince of Wales is not so constitutionally restrained. Where this idea came from that he, or any other member of the family, cannot speak their mind, I don’t know. But it is not constitutional, like any other member of the public he is entitled to speak on any topic he so wishes until he becomes king. Then he must be silent.

    2. It’s the timing that is unfortunate.
      I don’t remember Wills talking about Burma, the Uyghurs, Yemen, Ukraine etc….
      The slaughter in those regions is or has been as bad.
      He has obliquely insulted an ally and give succour to a cult that wishes to destroy us.
      He has – also obliquely – thrown thousands of loyal and law abiding subjects to the lions.
      Ever since Old Noll let the Jews return to this country, they have been an asset. They have kept their culture and traditions without proselytising or imposing their beliefs on the majority population. Their would-be exterminators? Not so much.
      To think that the republican Cromwell was more far-sighted than our future monarch gives pause for thought.

      1. I don’t take issue with anything you say Anne.What I was focusing on is the idea that the Prince of Wales has to be silent. As I said, it isn’t in the constitution. On the contrary, until the reform of the House of Lords when most of the hereditary peers were thrown out, the Prince had a seat. The idea that the prince can’t speak is brand new, within our life time. I do not recall anything, constitutionally or otherwise, that declared that members of the royal family cannot speak. The King is exempt because all law flows from the king but members of the family are subject to the same laws as the rest of us and thus have a constitutional right to free speech.
        On a personal level, as you well know, I don’t think the Israelis should stop until they have exterminated Hamas. In fact I think they should annex Gaza and the lands claimed by the PA. Because as long as the so called Palestinians are there, there will never be peace. Israel will always be under threat and so will the Christian in the Holy Land which are being driven out by Islam.

      1. It’s funny. All folk have to do to live peaceful, quiet lives is… nothing. Not get in a balloon and drop bombs. That’s not an act of peace, it’s an act of war. The way to stop wars is such ferocious, brutal oppression and slaughter that the enemy stops wanting to fight back.

    4. I’ve not fully read the missive but I can’t see that calling for an end to the conflict in the middle east is a bad thing at all.

      The problem is one side want peace through the eradication of those they hate, the other just wants to be left alone. Why the Left – and state – in this country side with those wanting genocide is beyond me.

      1. Because the left see muslims as allies – they are stupid enough to think that if Labour get into power, those “allies” will stay true to the leftists’ agenda. They are too stupid to realise that they will be the first to go.

        1. Lefties work on the basis the enemy of my enemy is my friend, so twisted are they. They hate, unthinkingly, blindly anyone who does not agree with them. They simply use labels like pieces on a board to get advantage. They care no more for them than they do anything else.

          1. IMO lefties are not just twisted but they appear to be terminally thick. That’s why most people who are lefty when they are young (as I was), soon realise what the left animal actually is, and avoid it for the rest of their lives.

  50. Good Moaning.
    I am posting one of the most frustrating pictures I’ve ever taken.
    A garden down our road had a beautiful magnolia. About a week ago, just before it was due to bloom, the twonk living in that house cut the tree down.
    The branches he chucked into a back garden and I could reach through the railings and pick the twigs.
    I put them in a vase and crossed my fingers. Here is the result, though sadly the blooms don’t last long.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/258879864c5dd65c5c7efe5713caab3d66b1477ff93a7d8565f11d2f340508a5.png

      1. We have discussed that and MB has spare pots, so we’ll give it a go.
        The tree has been butchered; a reputable tree surgeon would neither have cut it now or made such an amateur job of it.
        Edit: MB has just checked online and has the details.
        GOOD! I am just so angry about the wanton damage. It will be good to reintroduce the tree in the same road.

          1. Looking at the tree, I suspect he did do it himself.
            The trunk is left, looking like a stump in a scene from the Western Front.
            The tags and drags on the lopped branches suggest an amateur on a ladder with a hand saw.

    4. What an absolute idiot. Unbelievable. Our next door neighbour’s Magnolia is on the point of opening and will be magnificent as long as the frost doesn’t return.

        1. Magnolias round our way usually fall foul of frosts.
          East Anglia faces the continong with its evil winters – as you know only too well.

          2. Maybe a West Country NOTTLer can tell us if magnolias last better in their balmy (I said BALMY) climate.

          4. West Sussex. There are plenty of magnolias here, they all do fine, small varieties and trees. What you don’t see and I miss, are Camellias.

          5. Plenty of camellias here. There are magnificent pink ones and red ones out at the moment, but mine are only in bud as yet.

  51. That video must have had you groaning in despair!
    On a more pleasant not, Happy Birthday.

    1. Many thanks, Bob.👍🏻😊

      I try not to think about how I would have handled that situation. It’s now a world I do not recognise.

    1. Sadly Greenswill isn’t “isolated” – the so called Conservatives are all much of a muchness – New Liebour lite!

    2. There is something very deeply sinister in Cameron’s appointment as foreign secretary.

  55. Why did the SNP want to talk about Gaza? Oh, it’s because Yousif, or whatever his name is, is a muslim. What Gaza has to do with Scotland is beyond me except it’s yet more Left wing antisemitism. This has no business in parliament and the SNPP should have reprimanded for their abuse of office.

    1. Hospitals might have been overwhelmed, but then, they always are. They’re overwhelmed because they’re appallingly managed. They’re appallingly managed because making the numbers look good for the department of health to say how great it is and needs more money for itself is their real goal. The goal is for the senior civil servants and the trust managers to pocket a pile of tax payers cash.

      Patient care is an annoyance they would rather do without.

          1. Ah – but never fear. The beeboids are going to remove from the catalogue all episodes that conatin “difficult” issues.

          2. That’s why I bought up the box sets of comedies I thought would be tampered with, before they were tampered with…

          3. Good idea. I am thinking of acquiring box sets of those programmes I record to watch later and then ditching the TV so I don’t have to pay the telly tax. It certainly isn’t value for money given the little amount of stuff I watch.

          4. Good idea too – just make sure that the box …sets haven’t already been subject to the woke censor.

    2. I didn’t bother watching the ITV programme because I feared it would be a load of unmitigated propaganda [aka lies] – seems I might have been right!?

      1. It just shows our NHS staff enjoying themselves making dance videos. You know, when they were totally overwhelmed with patients. Not!

  57. Labour’s dark arts blow up in Sir Lindsay’s face

    There were no winners in the Commons on Wednesday – only losers, most notably the Speaker and his political career

    MADELINE GRANT, PARLIAMENTARY SKETCHWRITER
    21 February 2024 • 10:36pm
    *
    *
    ****************************

    Michael Bamber
    12 HRS AGO
    It was reported this afternoon BY THE BBC as follows: Nick Watt, Newsnight’s political editor, wrote: “Senior Labour figures tell me @CommonsSpeaker was left in no doubt that Labour would bring him down after the General Election unless he called Labour’s Gaza amendment.
    The message was: you will need our votes to be re-elected as Speaker after election, with strong indications this would not be forthcoming if he failed to call the Labour amendment.”
    Blackmail to undermine the constitution and get Labour out of a hole.
    Disgusting and corrupt. Labour cannot be allowed into power.

    1. Be nice if none of them were elected, but then they’d likely say ‘oh, none of us got a majority so we’ll just carry on as we are.

    2. “Labour cannot be allowed into power.”

      Indeed, Citroën, they must not be allowed into power. Unfortunately the massed forces of the hard-of-thinking in the country will ensure they do achieve power.

          2. I cock something up every hour these days.

            I’m trying my hardest not to cock up tonight’s supper!

      3. Doesn’t look like there is an alternative, unfortunately. Rocks and hard places come to mind.

    4. By all accounts the Speaker is just as corrupt by succumbing to that blackmail. Being Speaker does seem to go to unimpressive little men’s heads nowadays, with a very few exceptions.

  58. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/02/21/terrifying-future-of-lazy-defenceless-near-bankrupt-britain

    I think the article by Mr Heath ignores the basic problem. It is not supply that is at issue. We were raising enough tax to provide for these services. The problem is demand. We don’t need more houses, we need fewer people. And fewer people taking without contributing. We need a grossly smaller public sector that provides services, not waffle.

    Simply put, the problem, as always, is government. It kept forcing more wasters in who will never work, giving them everything and now it is facing a crisis. That’s what happens when you force 1 person, previously paying for 4 to pay for 14 and then, because you’re an incompetent, bloated government incapable of producing anything decide to take another 30% of that single earner’s salary for yourself to keep the layabouts in free housing and hijabs.

    1. I often wonder if my own GP has been struck off. It takes three weeks to get an appointment.

        1. Oh yes I discovered he was at a private practice at least one day a week. No wonder we only get ten minutes.

  61. From the DT:
    A high-profile Catholic priest forced nuns to watch porn and take part in threesomes so as to “grow spiritually”, comparing group sex to the Holy Trinity, it has been claimed.
    One of Father Marko Rupnik’s alleged victims spoke publicly for the first time at a press conference in Rome on Wednesday, saying she was sexually abused for years at the community the priest, renowned worldwide for his religious art, founded in his native Slovenia.
    “He took me to pornographic theatres to help me ‘grow spiritually’,” claimed Gloria Branciani, who was a member of the community until 1994.
    “He said that I would not grow spiritually if I did not meet his sexual needs. We had another nun have sex with us because he said it was like the Trinity,” said Ms Branciani, referring to the Holy Trinity, a central tenet of Christianity.
    Priest reported in early 1990s
    “He was always protected by everyone, and everything that you could accuse him of was either minimised or denied.”

    A second nun, Mirjam Kovak, also speaking publicly for the first time, said she had been psychologically abused by Rupnik and that she had reported him to Jesuit officials as far back as the early 1990s. She said she had been repeatedly rebuffed and dismissed.
    Allegations surfaced about Rupnik’s behaviour in 2022, and last June, he was expelled from the Jesuits, the religious order to which Pope Francis belongs.
    More than 20 people, mostly former nuns, have accused Rupnik of abuse, either when he was the spiritual director of the community of nuns in Slovenia, or after he moved to Rome to pursue his career as an artist.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXFSK0ogeg4&t=72s

  62. The ultimate ‘Mickey Mouse degree’, with the lowest graduate salary
    Salary prospects are so poor that graduates could face almost £95,000 in student debt
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/jobs/schools-universities/hull-university-media-degree-worst-graduate-salary/

    Universities should be discouraged from offering Mickey Mouse degrees and students should not be encouraged to do them.

    But I cannot see what good it will do the nation to have a large section of the population bowed down by unrepayable debt throught their working lives.

    BTL

    I believe that students should contribute to the costs of their education but I do not believe they should be punished with usurious interest rates. In more civilised countries student loans are either interest free or less than 1%.

    Indigenous British students should be allowed to charge the repayment of the capital of their loan against their income tax and the companies for whom they work should be allowed to pay off students’ loans as a tax free perk for good service. Student loans for those working in public services – such as teaching and education – should be paid off in full by their employers after, say, eight years, to encourage them to stay in the state sectors.

    I cannot see how it is good for the morale or the productivity of graduates to spend virtually all their working lives in debt.

    1. And therein lies the anomaly. Those youngsters taking a job with in-house training not only learn on the job, they also get remunerated while doing so. Also they incur no debt.

      Their alternative is to pay through the nose for a Mickey Mouse degree while not earning, and then finding that degree does not qualify them for any type of job.

      To me (and those of us with an intact thinking ability) it is a “no-brainer”.

      1. 65 years on I am still glad that – having left school with 8 O Levels – I was articled for 5 years to a London solicitor where I learned the basics of my trade. No pay for the first two years – then a pittance. So I took an extra job in the evenings with the LCC as a “part-time secretary” at the East London College of Commerce (now the Islamic University of East Londonistan).

        That evening job had a very unexpected bonus. Law Society qualifying examinations were not within local authority grant schemes. So I was trying hard to save to meet the £500 fees. However, as an LCC employee, a grant was available – all the fees PLUS six months subsistence!!

        1. Indeed, Mr Effort, in general.

          However, many proper apprenticeships are not available these days, especially for trades and crafts. Other jobs provide in-house training for ingenues that don’t amount to a tied apprenticeship.

      3. That’s because Mickey Mouse degrees are largely a way for often pretty stupid kids to have a good time for three years, without thinking too much about the debt. Those who are concerned about the debt tend not to do Mickey Mouse degrees in the first place.

    2. University intake numbers are falling. I’m not sure if that’s because of loans but I assume the debt is something to do with it.

      We could simply make them fixed, so you borrow 10,000 and you pay back 10500. Fix the rate.

      1. My children won’t apply to British universities because of the debt.
        Places at prestigious universities going to foreign students and minorities, plus a lifetime of debt does tend to make the whole package less attractive.
        There is a cautionary tale in today’s Money Mail about a girl who is now earning 60K and paying 250 a month, and she’s not even paying the interest on her student debt let alone touching the capital.
        Nobody tells the kids this when they are racking up ‘qualifications’ at school.

    3. I wonder if it’s literally possible to do a degree in Mickey Mouse studies? Disney themselves offer “internships”. I suppose that means an apprentership of sorts? I always thought being interned was imprisonment. Two nations divided by one language and all that!

      1. Wiki:

        Examples
        Comedian Jay Leno quipped that “in college, philosophy majors study if the glass is half full or if the glass is half empty. See, this prepares them for careers later as waiters.”[4]

        In 2000, Staffordshire University received negative press coverage when a module on the sociological importance of football which had been designed for students taking sociology, sports science, or media studies was portrayed as a “degree in David Beckham Studies”.[5] A professor for the department stressed that the course would not focus on Beckham, and that the module examines “the rise of football from its folk origins in the 17th century, to the power it’s become and the central place it occupies in British culture, and indeed world culture, today”.[5] In July 2015, UK Independence Party MEP Louise Bours referred to the module on Question Time, but as though it was a full degree course.[citation needed] Other degrees deemed “Mickey Mouse” include “golf management” and “surf science”.[6] Durham University designed an optional module centred around Harry Potter to examine “prejudice, citizenship and bullying in modern society” as part of a B.A. degree in Education Studies.[7]

          1. That’s what I was trying to find out. Disney themselves certainly don’t appear to offer one, though they do seem to have their own college and offer training. I assume that’s training in film production or managing entertainment resorts though, which is probably quite useful?

    4. I’ve just come out of a work meeting where we were discussing our latest Graduate intake. We are going to take 4 this year and none next year. We had 1200 applicants for the position 4 positions. Word is that other financial services institutions are cutting back on recruitment even as the Unis pump graduates out into the system. I get that companies want “the best” but there are enough bright UK youngsters without adding overseas ones into the mix.

      A pox on Bliar and his education policy. A pox on greedy greedy university vice-Chancellors.

    4. There’s not even a blanket, a bowl and a stick in that museum.

      A white woman wove the blanket. A white bloke made the bowl. And the stick was nicked off a white pensioner.

    1. When we have to create a petition and parliament can decide whether or not to even debate it is NOT a democracy.

      When we can tell government what laws it will repeal and if government doesn’t like it and starts fighting us we sack those MPs and civil servants responsible for the hinderance of our will AND see the law repealed – that’s a democracy.

      We, in the UK do not live in a democracy at all, of any sort.

  65. – People were all shouting, just stop Hoyle!
    The day it all came to the boil,
    He said, Hoyle be back,
    When they called for the sack,
    Now he’s sat in a pointy hat of tin foil

    1. The the UK parliament is even debating Gaza, especially at the hence of a Palestinian muslim leader of a minority party full of known anti-Semites is beyond me. This is the fundamental problem. They’re just got too much money to waste.

    1. Very good – and VERY eccentric letter in The Grimes today:

      Sir, We dipterists note the Lyle’s golden syrup label change with regret, as we were not consulted (Feb 20). As specialist entomologists we can be pretty certain that the insects flying around the dead lion were not bees but Eristalis hoverflies, which breed in pools of corruption with larvae called rat-tailed maggots because they have long breathing tubes that enable them to inhale atmospheric air while submerged in rottenness. Adult Eristalis copy bees so well that Samson was deceived, as most people still are.

      As for Lyle’s taking the sting out of the label, not only do I agree with Ruth Watson (letter, Feb 21) on the merit of the original design but note that Eristalis hoverflies do not sting. As brilliant bee mimics, they don’t need to.
      Hugh Pennington
      Hoverfly collector for 50 years, Aberdeen

      1. Ah! Hugh Pennington! Ignored, then derided by the revolting Nikeliar during the Convid, despite Dr. Pennington being a professor of Bacteriology. Oddly enough, he does not support the Narsties!

    2. BTL:
      Joseph McFARLAND
      Relegion has nothing to do with it, the name of the game is VOTES. In the political arena a national disaster is always preferable to a party failure, regardless of damage or costs to the country or the people. The ruling party are simply chasing the Muslim vote as the country slips further into a regressive and barbaric Islamic state. The Britain two generations of our ancestors fought to save and preserve, no longer exists. Our politicians have achieved what Hitler couldn’t. Enjoy your forthcoming barbaric Islamic state, you deserve no better.

      EDIT:
      The syrup tin will retain the original image.

    3. But the whole point of identity politics IS to erase identity. What did folk think it was for? Same as the HRA is to erase rights, migration pact to permit invasions, modern slavery to make us slaves to the state.. every act of government is to destroy.

  67. Russia ‘threatened to shoot down French aircraft over Black Sea’. 22 February 2024.

    Russian forces threatened to shoot down a French patrol plane over the Black Sea in a signal of increasingly hostile behaviour.

    On Thursday, Sébastien Lecornu, France’s defence minister, said that Russia is returning to a “particularly aggressive” posture reminiscent of the former Soviet Union during the Cold War.

    “A month ago, to give you a very concrete example, a Russian air traffic control system threatened to shoot down French aircraft in the Black Sea when we were in a free international zone where we patrol,” he said on RTL radio.

    French plane over the Black Sea? That would be just South of Marseille then?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/02/22/russia-threatened-to-shoot-down-french-plane-in-black-sea/

    1. Flying over the Black Sea is fine. I’ve done that in a passenger aircraft going to Cyprus but patrolling the Black Sea is a different issue altogether. What legitimate reason do the French have for that?

      2. It’s exercising Freedom of Navigation and has been going on for ages; any country can do it, and many do. In short, it reflects the old adage “Use it or lose it”. Your passenger aircraft was able to fly over the Black Sea in part because Freedom of Navigation was upheld.

      3. Not sure you can just fly over the Black Sea without approval, the airspace will belong to someone. They may have been in Turkish airspace. The sea below, is another matter and different rules apply on water.

  68. In the late 1960s I was offered a place as an article clerk with a Solicitor specialising in company law. The weekly pay was the same rate as being paid as a messenger with the firm £7 per week. I escaped and went on to take A levels and a degree and then some professional exams. In later years I saw the numerous volumes on company law – since then I’ve never regretted my decision!

  69. The insistence that lawyers and accountants should have university degrees in absurd. In the ‘old days’ you served five year articles if you had “O” levels; 4 year articles if you had “A” levels and 3 year articles if you had a degree.

    When I went to university in 1966 less than 5% of the population did so. Several of my friends who graduated in 1966 became chartered accountants and did their training with large city firms like Price Waterhouse and professionally this put them in the fast line.

    I greatly enjoyed my time at university and wouldn’t have missed it for the world. During that time I did an enormous amount of reading, chasing pretty girls (and catching some of them!) and buzzing about in sports cars but not studying what I was supposed to be studying.

    My ‘education’ did not cost the state much as I was always taught in private schools and when I was at UEA I got the minimum maintenance grant and had to pay my tuition fees so my father had to foot the bills. Caroline’s father paid for her university studies too so we wanted no less for our children than we had had.

    Christo and Henry were properly funded by us so that when they left university with good worthwhile degrees and went into the world of work they were debt free. Since then we have not had to support them financially at all and both of them have good jobs and have already bought their own properties.

    (Henry did an M.Sc in Data Analytics and Computer Science while he was working in his job. He paid for this himself from the earnings he got from his work and was top of his year and awarded a Distinction. The fact that his first degree was a 2.1 in Politics and Philosophy means that he can express himself lucidly which puts him way ahead of most techies!)

      1. I think that depended on the degree you had. It was three years if your degree was not related.

        I have no idea what the situation is now.

        Inverted snobbery – we maligned graduates do not go around belittling and pitying the embittered people without degrees!

  70. That was nice!
    Just had my lunch.
    Fried an onion.
    Added a couple of crushed garlic cloves, a thumb sized bit of ginger, a couple of tomatoes and a red pepper beginning to show it’s age.
    Then two packs of M&S precooked tikka chicken pieces, pack of pineapple chunks.
    Finished off with an el-cheapo jar of curry sauce from the Co-op and a sprinkling of desicated coconut.

    Served on a bed of long grain whole rice augmented by an M&S pack of quinoa, rice and other bits.
    And accompanied by a warmed up Derbyshire Oatcake.

    You can’t accuse me of not being adventurous in my cooking!

    3. You can’t beat a pantry clear-out feast.

      I have a friend from Stoke-on-Trent who insists that Staffordshire oatcakes are the ‘original and best’ (despite being the same recipe). I just smile sweetly at him and tell him he is Potty from the Potteries.

    4. I recently bought a juicer and have been happily juicing raw ginger – I’ll never peel it again! A 7 ml shot in a smoothie is a wonderful start to the day.

    5. Just come home from Weymouth , what an experience , the rain gushing in a river down the White horse hill , main road into Weymouth, poured with rain , monsoon, but driving along the sea front , the sea was like silk, smooth calm and a lovely grey colour .

      Dashed into little Marks and Spencer ,Moh dropped me off , and he parked down near the pier for half an hour or so , whilst I looked at the limited array of clothes, I wanted a new bra , cotton , no bones , don’t need an uplift , and wasn’t to keen, everything in M and S appears to manufactured in Bangladesh , how can that be?

      So I then shopped for some food .. and Moh wanted one of those pork pie slices with egg in the middle .. so that is what I bought for him .

      I also bought a couple of little containers of jelly and fruit for an elderly lady and some cake , she will be one hundred yrs this year, who I was going to call in to see on the way back home .

      The rain had eased off by the time we left and the sun was beginning to shine ..people were arriving to give their dogs a gallop on the beach .

      Any way after my visit , we arrived home , but on the way back water had flowed down from the fields on to the road home , so the traffic and drivers actually were very good mannered , halting to let traffic through and vice versa, huge swathes of water , and the ditches were full .

      Back home safe and dry .. M+S carrot cake and a mug of tea .. Moh ate his Gala pork pie slice in the car .

  74. 383777+ up ticks,

    It will be no surprise to me when the lab party takes off its overcoat and reveals a mass multiplication of mullahs, the Quran
    situated in parliament betwixt the dispatch boxes will be running hot from OATH taking use, and a celebratory feast ( all governing parties) will be held in the parliamentary halal canteen.

    Heads of any opposition will be displayed on platters in the dining hall.

  81. A ponderous Par Four!

    Wordle 978 4/6
    ⬜🟨⬜🟨⬜
    ⬜🟩🟩⬜⬜
    ⬜🟩🟩⬜⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    2. Me too.

      Wordle 978 4/6

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

    3. There was a clue earlier so my 2 wasn’t obtained exactly fairly.

      Wordle 978 2/6

      ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

  82. Well that was utter bliss. First haircut and second hair wash since first eye done. It is only when you can’t do things that you realise how important they are! Another eye tomorrow. Everything should be over and done with by 12 March. The one tricky thing is the drops. If one lived alone, I’d imagine it would be a nightmare. Thankfully, my live in carer is adept.

        1. I had both eyes done about 4 years ago and only wish that the procedure had been available when I was a boy. My vision is now close to 20/20 and wvryth8ng on my dompufer skreed amd jeynoard is do mucg cleader. Seriously, go for it!

    2. If my turn eventually comes, the op on the right eye will have to be successful since the left one is like our politicians – it was born useless and can only get worse!

      1. I thought for a minute you were alluding to Conservative ones. But then I reread it and say if was the lefty giving you problems…

    3. Dear Bill ,

      Well done with all you are doing , good man .

      Glad your eyes are being sorted out , different modern techniques are wonderful .
      The drops are a problem but only temporary in light years.

      Take care xx

    4. Good luck.
      One of the quickest and most effective ops ever created.
      If it had been available 350 years ago, Milton would not have gone blind.

  83. That’s me gone. Yet another dreary, wet day. However, it should stop raining about 7 pm – with no more until Monday afternoon. Apart from another eye procedure tomorrow, we are also going to the funeral of a neighbour.

    A great Norfolk man from humble beginnings. Renowned plant expert. Poet. Deeply religious Methodist. An old-fashioned countryman.
    A thoughtful, generous and caring man. The MR asked him to preach at Gresham’s one Sunday. He held 600 young people spellbound.

    He’ll be missed by everyone in the village and for miles around.

    Have a jolly evening.

    A demain.

    1. A well delivered sermon can hold a congregation of schoolboys spellbound. I remember a couple from when I was a boy at Blundell’s.

      Has anyone come across the publication of the letters of Rochester Sneath (by Humphrey Berkeley) who pretended to be the headmaster of Selhurst, a fictional school.

      He wrote to the headmasters of various public schools and took most of them in. He wrote to the HM of Blundell’s accepting the invitation to preach at the school and asking if it could be arranged for someone to collect him from the station. The headmaster of Blundell’s was taken in, thought there was a confusion and reacted stiffly and stuffily and denied that he had ever sent an invitation to him to preach. Rochester Sneath was most indignant and replied equally stiffly saying he had been honoured by an invitation to attend a special function at Lambeth Palace with the Archbishop of Canterbury but had had to turn it down because of his prior engagement a Blundell’s.

      The headmaster of Winchester was not so easily taken in. Rochester Sneath wrote earnestly to him asking for advice on how to deal with ghosts. The HM of Winchester replied that Sneath should put down salt on the floors of the corridors of Sellhurst and then it should be taken up in pinches.

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/346058ae5e322ecb61ccde5e5daa0fbea67a2e113388bb564e08b32a04d83b1e.png

      1. Not only did I read the book, but somewhere I may even possess a signed copy. However,
        nothing dates like humour.

    2. My condolences on the loss of your neighbour, Bill. Do you know of an artist called Rachel Lockwood? Has a gallery (Pinkfoot) at Cley. Have just acquired a book of her paintings, “North Norfolk in paintings”. Very atmospheric.

  86. Recommendation.
    The Three Horseshoes, Fordham.
    More expensive than yer Friday night blow out pub, but well worth it.
    If you can produce a good atmosphere on a wet Thursday lunchtime in February with a clientele that is 90% old farts, then you’ve got it cracked.

    https://threehorseshoesfordham.com/

    1. Interesting, my grandmother was I think from Fordham. Miriam, she had at least one sibling, a sister Maude. Their father was a shoe maker. Their surname was Fordham. But they all went to North London to live. Very late 1800s.

    2. Thanks, Annie. Here’s a thought. We’ve generally managed to have a NoTTL anniversary lunch most years, on 1st April. They’ve generally been on my doorstep. There was a suggestion that we might seek a different location – possibly in East Anglia – this year. Fordham (not the one in Suffolk) clearly qualifies.

      So here’s the plan: Monday 1st April, lunch at the Three Horseshoes, Fordham. Colchester CO6 3NJ. Who’s up for it?

      Answer here, or email G3off.gr4ham1@gmail.com. Change the 3 to an ‘e’, and the ‘4’ to an ‘a’. Whatever…

      2. 1st April is Easter Monday this year so I won’t be at work. I’m up for a trip to Essex. An hour from Liverpool Street, apparently (as long as there aren’t any strikes or holiday engineering works).

    1. Whoever projected that must be foreign. Titles on (the majority of) British book spines read horizontally, starting from the top, or vertically, starting from the top. Yer typical EU publisher starts the title from the bottom.

  90. Evening, all. Been torrential rain here and really dull and miserable all day. Nice sunset briefly, though. I have put oil pastels to paper for the first time in over three years and produced an appalling sketch, but at least it’s a start. Things can only get better if I carry on.

    I doubt Woke Wills is bright enough to realise that his interventions are political.

    2. The problem would be solved if airlines always sat these blubberwallies in the same row, so that they can enjoy the pleasure of sitting next to a landwhale.
      Soon they would either pay for multiple seats or stop flying.

      1. This was brought home to me several years ago, when I joined Dianne on a school trip to Italy, primarily to look after her two youngest sprogs, whilst she took charge of the paying schoolgirls.

        Long queue at Naples airport, surrounded by landwhales. D’s luggage was deemed excessive. Rather than pay extra, she filled a litter bin with clothes she decided she could live without. But her ‘excess weight’ was more than overshadowed by any one of the queuing Brits’ above average BMI. Myself included.

        1. If I ruled the world….
          It would be Hell on earth…

          Charge by the kilo and the volume of the passengers and luggage.

          Weight and luggage and volume combined to create a price.
          Seats sized by passenger volume and priced accordingly. You need two seats? OK, you pay twice as much.

          5. Actually I reckon I would do a good job at ruling the world. I might make Wibbles my second-in-command. Or one another of you.

    4. My X-Tw@er comment:-

      Bearded Old Codger
      @BeardedBob7282
      Hands up those who agree that she looks to be an outlandish and bizarre freak with a strong dose of Toxic Narcissistic Personality Disorder?

    2. Why is it that every fanatic insists that the world follows their way of life and never accepts the principle of live and let live?
      They can never, ever, countenance the fact that they might be wrong.

    1. Bus driver:
      “I’m sorry officer, he blended into the tarmac so well that I didn’t see him and that’s why I ran him over”

      2. “It was a failure of communication Officer. I didn’t think he would be stupid enough to stay there as I drove forward. And clearly he thought I was going to stop….”

      3. Well it worked for the Imman this week who got off running someone over by saying he thought it was a sack of rubbish.

  95. I suppose turning the BT tower into a hotel is a whole lot better than demolition.
    When I was an apprentice I worked up at the top for a few days. Installing units we had made in the workshop, several mahogany frames and smallish cabinets for the viewing gallery.
    I expect they would have been ‘skipped’ years ago.
    With that and my new prescription antibiotics I’m off to bed soon.
    Good night all.

        2. I think they aready have it at the back of their minds. They are, after all, like dogs looking to mark their territory. Mind you, the churches will go first.

    2. The revolving restaurant was very popular until a bomb was planted near it. The Irish did the same thing with the PO tower in Dublin but the difference was every 5 minutes everyone got up and moved their table a couple of feet to the left

  96. Arguably, British Democracy collapsed last night in Westminster.

    Parliament ceased to function.
    The Speaker was compromised.
    The police failed to restrain the mob outside Westminster.
    The police made no effort to stop the genocidal message – From the river to the sea – projected onto the Elizabeth Tower.
    Our Military was entirely invisible.

    This may well prove to be our Day of Infamy.

    1. Good evening, Lacoste.

      For what it’s worth, I fervently believe that British democracy collapsed shortly after 23 June 2016.

      The incomer (pbuh) is merely filling the void.

    2. The above ‘lacoste’ letter was published in The Telegraph Letters-to-the Editor at 9.00am on Friday 23 February.

      2. 383777+ up ticks,

        C,
        Those that wanted to know KNEW.
        The others supported / voted lab/lib/con coalition party.

    2. You beat me to it. Here’s the full text.

      This is no longer the great country I knew. Islamists are bullying Britain into submission

      This isn’t just about my colleagues in Parliament. Our values and freedoms are under attack in all walks of life

      SUELLA BRAVERMAN • 22 February 2024 • 8:30pm

      They started with the Jews; there were stern words of disapproval from the top but things only got worse. The Islamist cranks and Left-wing extremists then took control of the streets; the police looked meekly on. They harassed teachers through the courts; our human rights and equalities laws were used against us. They threatened to kill an MP; he decided, justifiably, to leave public life. A respected peer, Lord Austin spoke out against terrorism and Islamism; he was suspended from a job he loves. They have hijacked a by-election in a deprived town in northern England. We see their influence in our judiciary, our legal profession and our universities.

      And then they came for Parliament. On a day when Keir Starmer should have shown strength of character, he bowed to the mob, abused his position, and undermined the integrity of Parliament. Conventions cast aside, the Speaker’s legitimacy destroyed, and democracy denied. Trust was shattered by Starmer’s grubby backroom deal. The mask has slipped: in hock to the Islamists, he is responsible for one of the most shameful days of our democracy. By effectively taking the Speaker hostage, he brought Parliament into disrepute. This is the behaviour of tyrants. Just imagine what Starmer would do as Prime Minister.

      The truth is that the Islamists, the extremists and the anti-Semites are in charge now. They have bullied the Labour Party, they have bullied our institutions, and now they have bullied our country into submission.

      But what is our response? Our leaders bury their heads in the sand, preferring the illusion of a “successful multicultural society”, terrified of being called “racist”. But the law has not changed, mass extremism parades itself proudly, campuses remain dangerous places for Jews, and Labour is still rotten to the core.

      Let’s not forget how, in the short term at least, we got here. On October 7, an Islamist death cult attacked one of our closest allies on a scale never before imagined. More than 1,200 citizens of Israel, the vast majority of them Jews, were butchered in their homes, communities and at a music festival. Many of the women were raped and then murdered. Another 250 people were kidnapped and taken back to the terrorists’ lairs, where many still languish.

      Now we’re told that Israel, in its noble mission to recover those poor hostages, must cease. Its defence forces must put away their weapons. Let’s hear from those naysayers, both inside and outside Parliament, the alternative, practical solution first.

      But this isn’t just about my colleagues in Parliament. Our values and freedoms are under attack in all walks of life.

      What is happening to our great country? That one which was respectful, welcoming, and where speaking your mind did not mean losing your job, or your life? Where different faiths and races co-existed peacefully? I remember that country, but it’s not the Britain I see now.

      We cannot accept defeat. We need to find our courage. But we can only do that with honesty and determination. That’s why we must resist the attacks against the Prevent programme, designed to tackle extremism in whatever form it takes and stop people being radicalised into terrorism. It has been labelled “Islamophobic” and “racist” because, in the main, it is set up to tackle the most dangerous terrorist ideology facing our country: Islamism.

      But Prevent needs urgent reform. It is disappointing that, one year on from when I started the programme of changes set out by Sir William Shawcross, there are now major shortcomings. This was one of my priorities as home secretary and improvements were on track when I updated Parliament after six months. But progress has stalled: we need to keep the spotlight on Hamas networks in the UK. We know that some on the marches have links to that Islamist terror group.

      We need to get over our cultural timidity to refer budding Islamists, where they are a threat, into the programme. The Government has failed if 75 per cent of MI5’s caseload consists of Islamist terrorism yet the proportion of Islamist referrals into Prevent is only 11 per cent and falling. It’s not Islamophobic to challenge Islamist fanatics; it’s a civic duty.

      Lastly, no progress has been made on introducing guidance to stop blasphemy laws being introduced by the backdoor. We cannot allow teachers to be hounded out of schools because a picture of Muhammad was shown, or children to be censured because a Koran was scuffed accidentally. In this country, it is perfectly lawful to criticise any religion or God. One may disagree passionately, but it is not criminal.

      None of this is easy. I’ve written about how the protests could be policed better. Others have set out how we can clean up campuses, mosques and councils and, more fundamentally, how we can promote better integration. I may have been sacked because I spoke out against the appeasement of Islamists, but I would do it again because we need to wake up to what we are sleep-walking into: a ghettoised society where free expression and British values are diluted. Where sharia law, the Islamist mob and anti-Semites take over communities. We need to overcome the fear of being labelled Islamophobic and speak truthfully. Enough of the hand-wringing and apologies. Turning a blind eye to fanatics has got us into this terrible situation: it needs to stop.

      This is a crisis. And the fightback must start now, with urgency, if we are to preserve the liberties we cherish and the privileges this country affords us all. If we are to have any chance of saving our country from the mob.

      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/02/22/islamists-are-bullying-britain-into-submission/

      Fine words and all that but the Prevent programme is next to useless. No genuine Muslim listens to reason, argument or persuasion. The numbers of Muslims (yes, Muslims, not Islamists) is near to ‘critical mass’. Did ‘different faiths and races co-exist peacefully’? Perhaps only when they knew there weren’t enough of them to make a noise.

      I’m repeating myself to point out that the moment was missed in 88-89 over the Salman Rushdie affair. That, following a decade of race riots, should have been warning enough. Mrs Thatcher had the courage to stand up to a band of third-rate despots in South America, the IRA and the Marxists who pushed the miners into a pointless and ruinous strike but would she have dared to face down the threat of militant Islam? Did she even see it as a threat? Perhaps she was distracted. She had her own problems by this time. For all her faults and errors, she towered above the pygmies who followed her but I don’t think even she would have been allowed to challenge The Ropery.

      1. “What is happening to our great country? That one which was respectful, welcoming, and where speaking your mind did not mean losing your job, or your life? Where different faiths and races co-existed peacefully?” You imported a load of muslims who are not respectful, welcoming or tolerant. To make matters worse, you criminalised speaking out against the damage that was being done.

        1. 383777+ up ticks,

          Evening C,

          Being considered by the lab/lib/con pro eu coalition GB was considered to be
          out-dated so was out-voted we have lost a decent Nation via the polling stations.

      2. “What is happening to our great country? That one which was respectful, welcoming, and where speaking your mind did not mean losing your job, or your life? Where different faiths and races co-existed peacefully?” You imported a load of muslims who are not respectful, welcoming or tolerant. To make matters worse, you criminalised speaking out against the damage that was being done.

    3. 383777+ up ticks,

      Evening W,

      May one ask, why did they continue supporting / voting for the mass uncontrolled immigration / foreign paedophile umbrella, coalition party then ?

    4. She’s not complaining, she has consistently tried to do something about it, including when she was Home Secretary. Have you forgotten that she made public how Sunak had sabotaged her attempts to stop the invasion?

  99. 383777+ up ticks,

    Pillow ponder,

    Bout the true strength of it,

    Suella Braverman: Islamists are in charge of Britain now
    Former home secretary’s comments come a day after backlash to Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle’s handling of Gaza ceasefire debate

    A successful win for the, “party before Country” brigade.

  100. Amy Winehouse and the fanaticism of the Israelophobes

    The defilement of her statue was an act of racial animus.

    Not content with pillorying living Jews, now they’re coming for the dead ones. Witness the desecration of the statue of Amy Winehouse in Camden Town in London…The shaming of Amy the Jew confirms that the line between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism is now so thin as to be virtually imperceptible.

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2024/02/20/amy-winehouse-and-the-fanaticism-of-the-israelophobes/

      3. I thought that she was an excellent singer, but sadly betrayed by her money-grubbing father.

    1. Why, despite 7th Oct, Manchester Arena, 7th July ’05 bombings, Bataclan,
      Ceylon Church bombings, the murders of Yazidi men & the rape and sexual enslavement of Yazidi women, plus the attacks on other Muslims by their co-religionists, is it always the Muslims who are oppressed?

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