Thursday 22 May: The Conservatives have a tried-and-tested method for regaining office

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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497 thoughts on “Thursday 22 May: The Conservatives have a tried-and-tested method for regaining office”

      1. Morning, Phil. Just back from walking the Springer for an hour. A nice day in prospect after the much needed rain of yesterday.

    1. Good morning, Minty. (Can't remember which language I meant to greet you in today!)

  4. Good morning, chums. And thanks, Geoff, for today's new NoTTLe site.

    Wordle 1,433 5/6

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    1. Good morning Elsie and all
      Wordle 1,433 5/6

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    2. The reason? It's enshrined into Law.. Tony Blair's The Human Rights Act which came into force in the UK in October 2000.

      See Lord Tom Bingham's most authorative book on law. The Human Rights law is.. anti democratic.. counter majoritarian.. and favours the minorities. He lists the minorities: the mentals, the criminal. the Roma. indulged by the police. If you dare challenge the noble lie you are jailed.
      David Starkey

    3. The reason? It's enshrined into Law.. Tony Blair's The Human Rights Act which came into force in the UK in October 2000.

      See Lord Tom Bingham's most authorative book on law. The Human Rights law is.. anti democratic.. counter majoritarian.. and favours the minorities. He lists the minorities: the mentals, the criminal. the Roma. indulged by the police. If you dare challenge the noble lie you are jailed.
      David Starkey

    4. The reason? It's enshrined into Law.. Tony Blair's The Human Rights Act which came into force in the UK in October 2000.

      See Lord Tom Bingham's most authorative book on law. The Human Rights law is.. anti democratic.. counter majoritarian.. and favours the minorities. He lists the minorities: the mentals, the criminal. the Roma. indulged by the police. If you dare challenge the noble lie you are jailed.
      David Starkey

    1. Only a month to midsummer, and I need a jumper.
      Have they been seeding the stratosphere too much and reflected all the sun away?
      Morning, Johnny.

      2. Do you have bank Holidays in Norway Obs ?
        That's how we managed changes in our weather. 🤗

    2. Only a month to midsummer, and I need a jumper.
      Have they been seeding the stratosphere too much and reflected all the sun away?
      Morning, Johnny.

  7. Good morning all.
    A dull start this morning with an overcast sky but still a tad over 10°C on the thermometer but still no rain forecast.

      1. But there is an endless supply of gullible kids who don't remember the last time round!

        1. My two don't, but they do recognise that money must come from somewhere. Both are in work, and so know at first hand how difficult it is to actually have a positive bank balance at the end of the month.

          1. Mine are pretty grounded too. I have high hopes for Gen Z. The millennials are mostly a lost cause!

      1. Helped massively by Gordon Brown’s destructive policies

        2. And Daft Vader is poking his nose in again.
          I expect Blair's been pulling strings as well.

  11. Yesterday we witnessed Trump still winning and doing his job as leader of the free world, no longer supporting despotic governments around the world based on and turning a blind eye to genocide based on skin colour race or religion, but saving lives on an equal basis with no two tier lefty agenda bias, why should the West turn a blind eye to what is happening in South Africa while back slapping their leaders with aid and investment.

  12. 406011+ up ticks,

    What we are seeing is these political overseers fighting on two fronts, the indigenous peoples, and their own treacherous ilk,
    the peoples ( especially the pensioners ) do not enter the equation.

    Dt,
    Rayner calls for curb on migrant benefits
    Leak reveals Deputy PM fought for tough restrictions in power struggle with Chancellor

    1. When we moved to Norway, there were no benefits to incomers. If you couldn't fund yourself, then you could fcuk right off, get in a plane, and fcuk off some more.
      How hard can it be to set up such a regime?

      1. After so many years of treachery – impossible without forced deportations.
        If you withdrew benefits from recent migrants now, there'd be millions in the country who would get hungry very quickly.

      2. I started working age 14, finally stopped age 65 and a bit more. Only benefits I ever claimed was SB once (off work several weeks after appendix op) and State Pension. UK is finished.

      3. That’s how it used to be here. When my dad’s parents came from Odessa in 1899 they weren’t given any state benefits. Dad always said his father had a job lined up and that was why he came. Odessa was a thriving international port then so it was possible.

      4. I have emigrated twice, once to SA aged 22 and Oz 1976.
        Both times I was interviewed and had to prove I had the ability to work and earn a living.

  13. Is our government turning our country into Stalag Britain (Starmalag) using politicised judiciary to impose well publicised and inordinately harsh prison sentences against people that come out against their agenda, just as happens in despotic countries around the world.
    I suppose the idea is to frighten the public and create a hostile environment while they impose oppressive laws and agendas.

    1. Well, they certainly have created a hostile environment, perhaps not as they expected.

  15. Morning, all Y'all.
    Trying to rain. Wish it would get on with it, we need the wet, and it'll wash the atmosphere too.

  18. Paedophiles and other sex criminals 'will be castrated' under new Government plans..
    Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood is said to be looking at plans to roll the treatment out across 20 prisons in England and Wales, ahead of a nationwide programme.

    She hasn't thought this through. Somehow, I can't see this going anywhere. The PIE politicos & Muslim faces across the chamber.

  19. Paedophiles and other sex criminals 'will be castrated' under new Government plans..
    Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood is said to be looking at plans to roll the treatment out across 20 prisons in England and Wales, ahead of a nationwide programme.

    She hasn't thought this through. Somehow, I can't see this going anywhere. The PIE politicos & Muslim faces across the chamber.

  20. 406011+ up ticks,

    Fodder for the thick stupid maladjusted dimwits who support these political treacherous serpents, YOU are not safe either
    this criminal cartel WILL devour its own in the pursuit of evilness.

    Dt,

    The rapists, paedophiles and terror offender given shorter sentences than Lucy Connolly
    Britain’s ‘two-tier justice system’ means you can get more jail time for an ill-judged tweet than for some of the worst offences imaginable

  21. Latest on the Pandemic treaty from James Roguski:

    "This Battle Over the "Pandemic Agreement" Continues…At this point in time, claiming victory or accepting defeat is premature.

    The “Pandemic Agreement” has NOT been finalized. Instead, the WHO has engaged in a theatrical reframing of their failure to truly conclude the negotiations in order to make it look like success.In a highly unusual step under international law, the 78th World Health Assembly (WHA78) decided to “adopt” the Pandemic Agreement in two parts."

    So the whole thing is going to drag on for another year, during which nobody will have the patience to follow the ins and outs. The WHO is patient, they can wait, and for reasons I have said often before, I don't think they are planning another lockdown pandemic until about 2031 anyway.

  22. Good morning, all. Grey and drizzling. Useless precipitation. Off to market shortly.

  23. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/86172920ed25691aaefba3becd3aac0ffa8810c02910a37a8c0ec11f626833e1.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7ac4dd537190c2412c923b468f61b4e20e2c0d6775fd9cf7f24b0001995a909e.png I posted last night on the Great British Strike, which, if you are free you should check out. 12 pm meet on Saturday 24th May, in all major UK towns and cities. Now is the time to start the challenge to the government. It will be small as there has been no publicity but the organiser acknowledges this. Get in on the ground floor. I will be at Downing St.

    There are more details on X and Facebook. Sadly i do neither. But i watched the video and found this on the X.

  24. 40601 up ticks,

    This signing has triggered the incubation period before going into mandatory action as in, indigenous whites only allowed out
    Mondays,Wednesdays, Fridays, Sundays.

    Starmer signs treaty giving WHO power to recommend lockdowns
    Critics fear global agreement will give unelected health officials influence over UK policy.

    The wonders of spiteful tactical voting are a sight to behold .

    1. 406011+ up ticks,

      O2O,

      Why leave out WHO from giving unelected health officials influence over UK polices, everyone else has it ?

  25. I cannot gather together my thoughts properly, however , I do admire those who manage to comment on the DTL page ..and just wonder why I have been black listed..

    Celia Butterfield
    4 min ago
    Rachel Reeves borrowed £20.2bn last month, as spending on public sector pay and benefits outstripped the extra tax revenues from her National Insurance (NI) raid.

    LAST MONTH. This is an eye watering amount. So this is how they paid for the Chagos Island “let’s pay to give our own property away” deal, how they paid to keep Starmer’s EU buddies happy, how they paid for God know how many more illegal boat people to be kept in clover and the brown envelopes bunged to the Border Force and RNLI . I am sick to the back teeth of this stupid woman and her total fiscal ignorance, sick of Ange thinking her building ideas would grow the economy,sick of Starmer, Lammy, Balls, Phillipson – oh, the whole blooming lot.

    The interest alone is mind boggling; balance the books? Not one has a clue?

    Jacqueline Sutch
    16 min ago
    With Lucy Connolly in prison for that post, Britain changed – this case has profound consequences that reach far beyond one family.

    She is being used to silence us, to stop OUR free speech. The longer and harsher she is punished, the more cowed the people are.

    We look on in disbelief, that a for eign rap ist can avoid a jail term, whilst WORDS can take you away from your family.

    Britain has changed. When will the fight back begin ?

    JS

    Jacqueline Sutch
    36 min ago
    In other news from poor beleaguered England.

    The new Pakistani mayor of Rotherham, Rukhsana Ismail, was inaugurated, she did not receive a single vote, but was picked by the city council.

    Already she is making a mockery of public office, by delivering her maiden speech in Urdu.

    This is not a gesture of inclusion but a calculated snub to the English-speaking public she supposedly serves.

  28. Morning all 🙂😊
    Sunny start no rain until the weekend.
    Hair cut later this morning.
    I wasn't able to watch the football last night but I've seen some of the 'highlights' a scrappy goal and only around 40% possession Spurs were considerably lucky. A bit of an expensive fiasco in the end for all of the fans.
    Very similar to what we have going on in Wastemonster and Whitehall at the moment.

    1. "Very similar to what we have going on in Wastemonster and Whitehall at the moment." – except that there are no fans, in fact, quite the opposite.

      1. Indeed, I’m surprised that they haven’t changed the name. White must be considered so offensive for them.

    1. Thanks Korky, saw it..Daubney not usually lost for words, took him a few secs to believe his own eyes…not alone there.

    2. The BBC this morning reported the flotilla but made no mention of the fact that it was diverted to allow illegals, escorted by the Frog navy and RNLI. to pass unhindered.

  32. Good Morning!

    Today in LUCY CONNOLLY AND WHY WE FAIL DEFENDING FREE SPEECH , Paul Sutton rages against the injustices being perpetrated on Lucy Connolly and points out that she said nothing wrong, and had nothing to even apologise for, let alone be jailed for, and that by prefacing any defence of her by disapproving of what she wrote in her tweet, as many do, they are falling into the totalitarian's trap. Tell us if you agree or not.

    If you missed it, Maryam Gholami's well-written and heartfelt plea – I slam, Moderation, and the Future of the West – for an alliance between moderate Muslims, which she says are the majority, and the patriotic conservative Right against both the Islamist extremists and the Globalist Establishment that nourishes them generated a lively debate. Not too late to contribute.

    Energy Watch: Over the last 24 hours: Britain's electric power was sourced from Gas, 21.3%; Solar, 8.9%: Wind 23.1%; Imports, 16.2%; Biomass, 10% and Nuclear, 18.6%.

    1. No worries, kb…he'll be off soon to Yureup…will we then have Ange as PM…

  34. "Starmer's "Constant U-turning, however, merely demonstrates a lack of conviction – not an enviable trait for a leader."

    With luck then, he will soon disappear, up his own backside (if it is vacant)

  35. Those so-called British politicians and functionaries who treat Britain with contempt deserve all the contempt we can heap upon them.

  36. "Starmer's "Constant U-turning, however, merely demonstrates a lack of conviction – not an enviable trait for a leader."

    With luck then, he will soon disappear up his own backside…..

  37. I don't know why, because she died last September, but I've had a few of the messages I exchanged with PetaJ being forwarded by different people (with no comment attached)….takes me aback a bit…

    1. Morning Kate, OT I don't know why but I can't reply to your last post of yesterday regarding the Highlands. If you're visiting we could meet up if you like – whereabouts are you? x

      1. Currently at home. Someone keeps changing the plans……selling up here, hoping to move to Scotland…not too far over the border. First valuer due shortly. Have a great time, Alex ..see you later x

          3. Thanks, N, will need it….was worse tho when we also moved business. But then I had more people to help. It may take time to find a buyer, meantime can be moving out gradually, downsizing.

          4. Why move?
            Giving up woodland would be a real wrench for me (not that I own any), never mind the house. Glad the dog isn't part of the sale…

          5. Moving North. I know what you mean about land, was quite something to stand on land I thought was mine, quite ridiculous really but I’d come a long way to do that. I think around 30 acres or so, a lot of woodland. Dog is very old, sleeping when not eating/drinking, or taking a pee. Had a dog since I was three/four years old, over 70 years now, will this be my last one…hmm…I seem to have had a life where things just kind of turn up and I go with the flow.

          6. That looks like a good and relaxed lifestyle!
            Hope the move goes off smoothly. Personally, it's one of my least favourite activities, moving house. And mid '70s isn't too old for a dog!

          7. I hope so too, thanks Paul. I hate it too, several times to date. I’m the one mid ’70s…dog is 15 years old, think that translates to mid-80s? he sleeps a lot now, wakes up for grub time…had him since he was 7 weeks old…I sat on the floor to play with the pups, he was sitting to one side but came over to me. Pups all marked similarly, so husband took a photo of him. Went back to collect him couple weeks later, photo not needed, came over to me again. Perhaps he did that with everyone 😀 …anyhow, been my shadow ever since.

  38. OMG. There really is an honest judge out there.

    A High Court judge has blocked Labour from concluding its negotiations on the Chagos Islands.

    2. As one barrister anonymously says, Judge Goss “doesn’t suffer fools gladly”.

  39. Today is the day when Starmer will betray the UK with the Chagos sell out.

    And a few British people may huff and puff a little but that won't stop this vast act of treason taking place.

    1. The Great British Strike. Saturday 24th, 12 pm. Everyone’s opportunity to “do something”.

    2. Only if the judge on the 10,30 hearing today is pro British and Chagossian rights.

      2. 406011+ up ticks,

        Morning DB

        And I do believe you are so very right,
        and if we adhere to the same tribal voting pattern,with our consent.

    4. Why did they come here in the first place? To leave the sh*t-hole countries they lived in. Why would they want to go back, when they can collect benefits from the British tax-payer?

  42. MAMA.. We are an independent, non-governmental organisation which works on tackling anti-Muslim hatred and therefore our work is not influenced or wholly shaped by Government.

    Independent LOL.

  44. Any landlords out there?

    Are you worried about the new laws going through Parliament under the Renters Rights Bill?

    How many of you are aware of the requirements under “Making Tax Digital” for Landlords? This is being phased in for landlords from April 2026 (landlords and sole traders with gross income > GBP 50k): from April 2027 for > £30k and April 2028 for £20k.

    1. MTD sounds a bit like the obligations of running a small business. I don't like ever more digitalisation, but there doesn't seem any way round this one, apart from joint ownership to push your rental income down.

      Renters don't need more rights, they need fewer people in the country putting pressure on the rental market….it just looks like an extra small burden on landlords, unless I have missed something?

    1. The big question for me upon reading about this vaccine cover-up horror show is:

      Do I bother sending it to the NORMIES who dominate my relatives and acquaintances?

    1. I suggested yesterday that Careers masters in schools should be able to tell pupils how to set about being influencers.

      How about careers advice for rent boys?

      [I am not sure what Evelyn Waugh had in mind when the principal character in his novel, The Loved One, was called Mr Joyboy!]

      1. One of my sons is an influencer of sorts I am slightly embarrassed to say…I think he ignored all the careers advice he was given in school and spent his teenage years building a network of friends across the world who share the same passions, and running an insanely popular discord server.

          1. Discord is a popular platform – anyone can start a server and then you ask to join it.
            (haven’t you got children you can consult about this kind of thing ?!)

        2. an 'influencer' (whatever that is) can only influence influenceable minds – ie the thick

          1. Not sure whether he influences people or not but he has quite a lot of fans. As you can guess, the content is more nerdy and jokey than female influencers posing in beauty spots.

    1. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/05/22/high-court-judge-blocks-starmer-chagos-deal/
      For those who can't read the Express without the ads……….

      A High Court judge has temporarily blocked Sir Keir Starmer from handing the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.

      The Prime Minister was set to attend a “virtual signing ceremony” with representatives from the Mauritian government to confirm the controversial handover deal.

      But a dramatic court ruling just before 2.30am on Thursday has now barred the Government from proceeding with the deal pending a further hearing later in the day.

      Mauritius was blindsided by the 11th-hour intervention and said it was considering the situation as of Thursday morning.

      “We have not received any court order, but we heard about a hearing which could lead to a court order,” a senior official in Mauritius told The Telegraph.

      “We are assessing the situation and waiting for feedback from London.”

      The legal challenge was brought by Bertrice Pompe, who was born on Diego Garcia and objected to the plan to lease back the US-UK military base at the expense of British taxpayers.

      The ruling issued by Mr Justice Goose and seen by The Telegraph said: “Pending the final determination of the claim or until further Order, it is Ordered that a stay of action by the Defendant is imposed that:

      “a. The Defendant shall take no conclusive or legally binding step to conclude its negotiations concerning the possible transfer of the British Indian Ocean Territory (also known as the Chagos Archipelago) to a foreign government or bind itself as to the particular terms of any such transfer.

      “b. The Defendant shall, in particular, not dispose of the territory in whole or in part. The Defendant is to maintain the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom over the British Indian Ocean Territory until further Order.”

      In his ruling, Mr Justice Goose said the matter will now return to the High Court at 10.30am on Thursday with the attendance of both Ms Pompe and the Foreign Office.

      1. Nothing will come of this. She needn't have bothered. No court action will stop the PM from doing as he wants. And should by some freak of nature this be successful the PM will just introduce new legislation.
        At the most she has delayed things for a few months, bit probably only days.

  50. High Court judge stops Starmer giveng away Chagos Islands. New hearing at 10.30.
    Reminiscent of Lord Denning’s “Be you ever so high the law is above you’
    That will no doubt change at 10.30.

  51. My fear is that virtually all the judges are in Starmer's pocket.

    Look how they ignored justice as far as Lucy Connolly is concerned.

  52. In the UK there is an annual limit on the total value of gifts you can give. It has been set (and stuck) at £3000 a year. Gifts above this value should incur a tax (on the giver) of 40%.There is some wiggle room of additional allowance of small gifts for birthdays. weddings etc.

    My question to the authorities is;

    Have any of the hundreds of thousands Turkish barbers, nail-,file parlour managers, drug-dealers, rent-boys, etc ever paid Gift Tax?

    A subsidiary question: has Lord Alli/Keir Starmer always paid the due tax on gifts? and payments for "roofing"?

    1. ever paid Gift Tax?

      The answer to that is Yes.
      HMRC uses bank data and tech like the Connect system to track gifts.
      More worryingly for The Mostly Peaceful.. sniffer dogs are now trained to identify notes as well as drugs. This happens all over the UK especially at airports.
      Plenty of YT vids showing customs officers seizing clumps of cash from airplane boarders.. Laughably large Muslim families distribute wads of £10,000 amongst the family members. "It's a family wedding" is the most popular excuse.

      1. Presumably, these
        £10,000 wads may well have arisen from income which has not been declared. Otherwise, £6,000 of the seized £10,000 should be returned.

        Also, if you have cheated by not declaring large amounts of income, you are subject to penalties. Goodness, Lester Piggott went to prison for underdeclaring.

      2. Distributing 10K among family members probably wouldn't break the law.
        The authorities just hate cash.
        Last time I travelled through Dover I was asked if I was carrying a large amount of cash (I wish!). I asked whether that would be illegal and the reply was No, but we just like to know about it.

    2. ever paid Gift Tax?

      The answer to that is Yes.
      HMRC uses bank data and tech like the Connect system to track gifts.
      More worryingly for The Mostly Peaceful.. sniffer dogs are now trained to identify notes as well as drugs. This happens all over the UK especially at airports.
      Plenty of YT vids showing customs officers seizing clumps of cash from airplane boarders.. Laughably large Muslim families distribute wads of £10,000 amongst the family members. "It's a family wedding" is the most popular excuse.

    3. Small gifts of £250 max are unlimited, but not to be given to those in receipt of the £3000. Now, if any Nottlers are wishing to deprive the revenue of this dreadful tax, my bank account is available by PM…

  55. A few days ago I made a reference on this forum to the film Thelma and Louise and I see that the DT is using the image for Ms Rayner and Ms Reeves.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/26ceec66c4d6ecac49fa22b49d39eaa106432662685fc1837557042173f7a837.png
    Mine was with reference to another Thelma – Thelma Flintstone – who also took a road trip with her friend Mrs Rubble:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3922cc7f0c68fbfccce1fde5ab0a6c09e7156fd0aa5e2fc3b632ef1680c19ce7.png

      1. Even though I am currently sitting down I stand corrected.

        Thelma is not a very usual name – indeed I have only once met a woman called Thelma – she was a woman who frequently cuckolded her poor husband who was a friend of mine. But how does one tell a chap what is going on? I admit I thought the kindest thing was to let him remain in ignorance.

        Eventually Thelma left her husband for a rather grubby estate agent and my friend then started using dating agencies which produced some rather peculiar women.

        I wonder what Nottlers think of dating agencies? I am very happy that I have never felt the need of using their services.

        1. Currently there's a lot of "Dating for mature people" sites advertising on NoTTL, with busty women who look to be in their late 20s. Not for me. I like the woman I have, couldn't get better than her.

          1. I tried a dating agency for over-50s when I was in London. Most of the men who replied had to be seen to be believed – photos of them unshaved, scowling, in their vests. 🙄

            Finally, a well-dressed, decent-looking man got in touch.

            He turned out to be the owner of the agency, asking me if I would like to be featured in their advertising… 🤣🤣 Um, no thanks.

            Mind you, I know two happily married couples who met through such, so who knows?

        3. Dating agencies or dating websites?
          Some human intervention is implied in the former.

          I just think that most people on dating websites are on there for a reason.
          I knew a man who found a very good relationship on one – until she started pressing him to divorce his wife and marry her, i.e. she was worried about her retirement. He refused, so she left him. This is not quite as bad as it sounds – it was in Germany, where divorcing costs an arm and a leg, so most couples just separate, but stay married, and it is tacitly understood that middle aged people will enter into new relationships whilst separated. But no use if you are looking for a meal ticket in retirement, of course.

  56. A few days ago I made a reference on this forum to the film Thelma and Louise and I see that the DT is using the image for Ms Rayner and Ms Reeves.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/26ceec66c4d6ecac49fa22b49d39eaa106432662685fc1837557042173f7a837.png
    Mine was with reference to another Thelma – Thelma Flintstone – who also took a road trip with her friend Mrs Rubble:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3922cc7f0c68fbfccce1fde5ab0a6c09e7156fd0aa5e2fc3b632ef1680c19ce7.png

    1. Won't happen, ogga. By the way, castration only changes the voice if it's done before puberty.

      1. Counter tenors were helped on their way before puberty and became castratos.

      2. 406011+ up ticks.

        Morning SE,

        I was led to believe due to the shock element, it is different if it is done via the two brick method, using thumb guards of course.

    2. The ECHR will blow that out of the water and it will cost British taxpayers millions in legal fees to be told something most Nottlers could tell them for nothing.

  58. Morning all. Sunny and cool here. High today is going to be 61f. Surprisingly low considering how warm it has been.

    I suppose most of you are aware of the ongoing persecution of Tommy Robinson hence the video I'm posting an explanation of the charges against him. But on top of the subject matter of this post, they also have lined up his persecution under the terrorist act for refusing to give his password for his phone. So, it looks like they are looking to lock him up for life or until he is murdered. I also discovered yesterday that there are 30 arrests per day now under various hate crime hurty words laws, that is over ten thousand a year Anyone doubt that we live in a police state? We need to seriously plead with the Americans to help us regain our freedom. I somehow doubt that the general public will take to the streets to protest left wing tyranny.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGO95Bf7aTQ&list=TLPQMjIwNTIwMjXQYXLnO4uHUQ&index=2

  59. Morning all. Sunny and cool here. High today is going to be 61f. Surprisingly low considering how warm it has been.

    I suppose most of you are aware of the ongoing persecution of Tommy Robinson hence the video I'm posting an explanation of the charges against him. But on top of the subject matter of this post, they also have lined up his persecution under the terrorist act for refusing to give his password for his phone. So, it looks like they are looking to lock him up for life or until he is murdered. I also discovered yesterday that there are 30 arrests per day now under various hate crime hurty words laws, that is over ten thousand a year Anyone doubt that we live in a police state? We need to seriously plead with the Americans to help us regain our freedom. I somehow doubt that the general public will take to the streets to protest left wing tyranny.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGO95Bf7aTQ&list=TLPQMjIwNTIwMjXQYXLnO4uHUQ&index=2

  60. Having done Ramaposa yesterday, my wish now is for Donald Trump having Keir Starmer sitting in the "hot chair" in the Oval Office and say "Roll the Free Speech Arrests in the UK Video JD!". Never has any British PM more deserved a monster humiliation in front of the world ….

    1. Starmer is so insensitive he would not understand that he was being humiliated – he would think he was being praised.

      Remember Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing. He was delighted when somebody said he was tedious – he aspired to be 'as tedious as a king.'

      This has entered our family vocabulary and when somebody is being tedious we tell him or her or me to stop being so kinglike. And of course since the accession of our new monarch the phrase has acquired even more relevance.

      1. Much Ado is one that has never come up on my radio. I shall try and watch it over the summer.

        1. Can you watch it on radio? Reminds me of the famous radio juggler of yesteryear.

          2. I was just teasing – predictive text just sits silently and then ambushes you without you noticing. My cat does the same thing on the stairs.

  61. Bluss, it was cold in the market today. To think it is a bank holiday on Monday. – of course, that explains the shite weather!

    2. Bill, I think there is a long established UKweather pattern where Eastern districts, esp East Anglia, suffers lower sunshine and more dea-frets than the Western half. By mid-summer the east starts to exceed in sunshine hours and to be drier than the west.

    3. Bill, I think there is a long established UKweather pattern where Eastern districts, esp East Anglia, suffers lower sunshine and more dea-frets than the Western half. By mid-summer the east starts to exceed in sunshine hours and to be drier than the west.

  62. From Coffee House the Spectator

    24 May 2025

    Coffee House
    Fabian Hoffmann
    Will Trump’s ‘Golden Dome’ missile shield ever be built?
    21 May 2025, 5:08pm

    Donald Trump has outlined his plans for a ‘Golden Dome’ missile defence system over the United States. The aim is to establish a shield capable of defending against all types of missile threats, including hypersonic missile systems, cruise missiles and nuclear-armed ballistic missiles.

    The name is a nod to Israel’s ‘Iron Dome’ missile defence system, which protects Israeli territory against short-range rockets and projectiles, including mortar and artillery rounds.

    The Golden Dome envisioned by Trump is very unlikely to be realised within the next three years

    According to the plan, the US Congress is being asked to provide an initial ‘down payment’ of $25 billion, followed by an additional $175 billion over the next three years. Trump stated that the project would be completed within his current term and claimed it would protect the US homeland with a success rate ‘very close to 100 per cent.’

    The most ambitious component of Golden Dome is its planned space-based interceptor system. The concept itself is not new. Space-based missile defence was first pursued by the Reagan administration nearly 40 years ago, but the effort was ultimately abandoned, primarily due to major technical challenges and its prohibitive costs.

    Since the Cold War, and especially over the past decade, missile defence technologies have advanced greatly. Nevertheless, the Golden Dome envisioned by Trump (along with its projected costs) is almost certainly unrealistic and very unlikely to be realised within the next three years.

    For one thing, several of the missile defence capabilities outlined by Trump, most notably space-based interceptors, do not currently exist in the US arsenal and would need to be developed from scratch. While the United States can likely use existing technologies to speed up the process, deploying a missile defence system in space will take years, if not decades.

    Cost will also be a major hurdle. An independent study by the Congressional Budget Office estimated that deploying an effective space-based interceptor system capable of reliably defending against a limited North Korean nuclear missile threat would cost between $160 and $540 billion over 20 years. A system designed to defend against the much larger arsenals of China and Russia would cost several times more, likely resulting in a multi-trillion-dollar price tag, and would almost certainly not be 100 per cent successful in defending America from missile attacks.

    While the costs of launching military systems into space has decreased drastically since the Cold War – thanks to the rise of private companies like Elon Musk’s SpaceX that now offer low-cost orbital launches – missile interceptor systems are still very expensive. Conservative estimates suggest that each space-based interceptor – the projectile which is launched to intercept an incoming missile threat – could cost between $100 million and $300 million over its lifetime. To be able to defend against missiles fired from all over the world at the United States, you would need thousands of these interceptors constantly in orbit.

    The United States would also need to drastically expand its space-based surveillance and early warning capabilities to support such a system. This would entail additional tens if not hundreds of billions in funding for satellites capable of detecting and tracking inbound missile threats.

    Beyond questions of cost and feasibility, serious political and military concerns remain. Even if the United States were to bear the immense expense of deploying a space-based missile defence system that is at least nominally capable of countering nuclear threats, there is little reason to believe that China and Russia would just stand back and let this happen. Both would almost certainly take steps – regardless of the cost – to maintain their retaliatory strike capabilities. It is likely they would either develop anti-satellite weapons or simply boost their warhead numbers.

    Indeed, the deployment of a Golden Dome would accelerate the militarisation of space, potentially prompting other countries to follow suit. This may not ultimately be in America’s long-term strategic interests.

    Finally, pursuing a comprehensive space-based missile defence system could divert resources and attention from other, more pressing missile defence priorities – some of which are already part of the broader Golden Dome project.

    In the coming years, the United States faces a growing missile threat from China. Beijing’s air, ship, and submarine-launched cruise and ballistic missiles will soon be capable of hitting high-value military and infrastructure targets on American soil. Defending against this will require a layered air and missile defence system along the US coastline, as well as protecting critical assets deeper inland.

    As the war in Ukraine has demonstrated, while feasible, this form of missile defence is costly. But it will become even more challenging to build if already constrained resources are funnelled into an extremely costly space-based missile defence system. For the cost of a single space-based interceptor, the United States could procure between 25 and 75 PAC-3 MSE interceptors – which can defend against a number of Chinese conventional missile threats.

    The opportunity cost of Trump’s vision is extremely high, and any serious pursuit would likely prove strategically disadvantageous to the United States.

    Written by
    Fabian Hoffmann
    Fabian Hoffmann is doctoral research fellow at the Oslo Nuclear Project at Oslo University.

  63. Irony Alert.

    Campaigners used human rights laws to warn that the Chagossian people had not been properly considered..
    as Human Rights lawyer attempts to give away your back garden to a random person from Finland, then renting it back off them for £100k a year.

    1. All hands on deck. Leftie trolls churning out the correct narratives by the second..

      it's International Law.. no one is above the Law..
      We can't break treaties.. we would be outcasts.. pariahs..
      Starmer managed to secure US access to the base for the next 99 years.
      The deal was approved by the UK parliament – the elected representatives of the people – so that Starmer has a mandate to sign it.
      The Chagos Islands used to belong to Mauritius. FACT.

  64. Irony Alert.

    Campaigners used human rights laws to warn that the Chagossian people had not been properly considered..
    as Human Rights lawyer attempts to give away your back garden to a random person from Finland, then renting it back off them for £100k a year.

  65. A couple of interesting articles on The Critic. (Both free to read.)
    On the CofE by Revd Marcus Walker, known to at least one nottler.
    https://thecritic.co.uk/anglican-churchgoers-need-the-real-thing/
    Quotes, firstly the good side: "… we shouldn’t ignore how isolating modern society is. Working from home is great if you have a spouse, a child, a dog and a garden. It’s a very different thing if you have a bedsit and no living room.

    Even if you do get into work, the spectral rise of HR has killed workplace socialising. Meeting other people — and meeting people across the age range — is something that is increasingly difficult to do.

    Churches are perfect for this, and the data from this poll really bears this out. If you don’t go to church, only 25 per cent of you will say “I feel close to people in my area”; 64 per cent of young churchgoers, by contrast, do.

    Why is that? They meet them — at church. And I have found this at my church: people join and quickly find themselves making friends, both in their own age groups and across the spectrum. Many say this is the only place they can do this now."

    And the bad side: "Whether it’s a joyful explosion of song and prayer with the Pentecostals or a Latin Mass and plainchant with the Romans, it’s solid unashamed stuff. (And it is very likely to be a Latin Mass that the young are attending if they’re Roman Catholic; that is very clearly where the energy is found.)

    What do they get with us Anglicans? Endless self-loathing from the episcopacy, sermons about every bien pensant soft-left cause found in the Guardian and liturgies written by a chatbot trained on HR manuals. If you don’t like yourself, your identity or your history, why on earth should anybody else?"

    And now for something completely different; the cause of the Spanish/Portuguese blackout.
    https://thecritic.co.uk/spains-blackout-cover-up-is-a-lesson-in-green-spin/
    Extract: "Energy realists worldwide are looking at our black Monday as a West-wide “solar Fukushima” — an inflection point that will push the pendulum back from two decades of green fanaticism towards a healthier, more resilient mix of power sources. Yet outside observers would be wrong to assume that the right lessons have been drawn from the Spanish power cuts. Our government’s spin campaign could become a playbook for green zealots elsewhere. By holding fast to dogma in the face of disaster, Spain’s left-wing leadership is proving that green follies are not just ungrounded in fact and reason but represent a sacrificial call to tolerate harm in pursuit of ideology."

    1. Marcus Walker is spot on as usual. Almost all the church people I come across are stuck in the paradigm of the 1960s where ever more informality, throwing out of traditions, apologising for believing in stuff you can't touch and talk of "Mother God" and saving the planet are the order of the day. They fail to understand that the mood of the young has shifted.

      1. I'm not sure that young people were ever entirely in favour of "informality, throwing out of traditions, apologising for believing in stuff you can't touch and talk of "Mother God"", rather that most of the church leadership were fooled into believing that they were.

        1. These things certainly don’t seem to have attracted them to the church!
          The Church of England is too large a landowner in local communities for us to allow it to die the death it merits…we have to make a push to save it from itself.

  66. From Coffee House the Spectator
    24 May 2025

    Coffee House
    Kate AndrewsKate Andrews
    Trump’s skewering of Cyril Ramaphosa was pure theatre
    22 May 2025, 6:29am

    We got another round of extraordinary scenes coming out of Donald Trump’s Oval Office yesterday. During his meeting with ​​Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa’s President, Trump asked his staffers to press play on video footage showing what appeared to be violent chants against white farmers.

    ‘We have thousands of stories talking about it, we have documentaries, we have news stories,’ the US President said over the audio. He would not let President Ramaphosa look away. The footage went on, to which President Ramaphosa finally responded: ‘This is not government policy.’ President Trump did not let up. ‘They’re being executed and they happen to be white, and most of them happen to be farmers, and that’s a tough situation.’

    Trump’s Oval Office is the new wild west in politics

    The exchange has revived the debate around what is really happening in South Africa. Trump calls it a ‘genocide’, recently offering 59 farmers refugee status in the United States. His detractors say this is not the case. Still, there is broad agreement that the ongoing tensions and growing violence against farmers (not just Afrikaners) is a dangerous and serious matter.

    But what is happening in the Oval Office is another matter entirely. The rulebook for visits and public presentations has been tossed out the window, into the Rose Garden, and seemingly set on fire. This is no longer the setting for pleasantries or the place to get out joint messaging – at least, that is by no means guaranteed. Trump’s Oval Office is the new wild west in politics: a place with no pre-agreed rules, where just about anything can happen.

    This seems to include practically all scenarios. If you’re in the good graces of the President, you can have a seemingly flawless visit, as the UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer experienced back in February. If you’re not, all kinds of antics can take place. Other people might start jumping in, as Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky experienced, when Vice President J.D. Vance decided to offer his two cents. Lights might be dimmed and videos might be played.

    It’s a performance, and the part played by the foreign leader isn’t realised until after the play has started. Who the audience is also plays a big part in which way it goes. Elon Musk was announced to be attending the meeting in the West Wing – showing up as one of the most vocal critics of the South African government and its Expropriation Bill, which has led to many of these farmland disputes. As the DoGE founder prepares to step back from his role slashing the state, the President certainly gave him a memorable performance to take back to the private sector.

    The lawlessness of the West Wing these days presents a predicament to its visitors and to its residents. Leaders showing up to greet the President can only guess what might happen on camera. But the President and his team may find leaders more hesitant to take the stage. That’s going to make these many trade deals Trump says he wants to negotiate more difficult to secure – especially if there are any other outstanding issues between the US and the visiting country (say, a country that does not meet its Nato requirements) that might be brought up.

    The Oval Office has long been one of the most powerful places to do business. Now, it’s a power untamed.

    A version of this article was first published in The Spectator’s world edition.

    Kate Andrews
    Written by
    Kate Andrews
    Kate Andrews is deputy editor of The Spectator’s World edition.

      1. 406011+ up ticks,

        BB2,

        Many a supermarket will be angry mobbed
        when the herd realise they are NOT the
        producers of food merely the conveyors.

        1. That’ll do them for the first three days or so….
          Supermarket plans are to become the producers too, and get rid of farmers – hydroponic salad towers in the store etc.

          1. 406011 +up ticks,

            Afternoon BB2,

            Good point, but that will only span the time until a gatese salad pill comes on line.

          2. I believe they are already doing experiments in making salad plants take up mRNA ‘vaccines’ in their leaves…I will be giving the hemlock salad a miss…

  69. So many failures then 'Bingo' !
    Wordle 1,433 4/6

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

  70. Cleaned the car today. Getting to be a bit of a routine – that's the second time this year.

    1. Can only hope it's not catching, Per. Least I no longer smoke. Most fun driving I ever had was landrover.

    2. My van needs cleaning. Especially after I parked below a pigeon roost!

  72. Spain has now had both an electrical grid blackout and more recently a mobile communications blackout.

    These are both events that could have been caused by sudden solar X-class solar flares. The reason for this is that renewable power sources are radio controlled in the near microwave radio spectrum shown here:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/95b9b103cb1b913581736c5783f4283fcae2eeb6795f9fa4ea28511a9b23dda6.jpg
    https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-13358-z

    The upshot of this is that an electrical management of a radio controlled renewable energy grid can be completely upset by solar activity.

    Here's another viewpoint on how Spain suffered a grid blackout after a sudden loss of renewable energy production resulting in the inability of inertia driven power sources to regulate the ensuing grid sychronous frquency drop.

    https://youtu.be/X25oEWjyXEg?si=4VMy3JETTwezIJRH

  73. Spain has now had both an electrical grid blackout and more recently a mobile communications blackout.

    These are both events that could have been caused by sudden solar X-class solar flares. The reason for this is that renewable power sources are radio controlled in the near microwave radio spectrum shown here:

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/95b9b103cb1b913581736c5783f4283fcae2eeb6795f9fa4ea28511a9b23dda6.jpg
    https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-13358-z

    The upshot of this is that an electrical management of a radio controlled renewable energy grid can be completely upset by solar activity.

    Here's another viewpoint on how Spain suffered a grid blackout after a sudden loss of renewable energy production resulting in the inability of inertia driven power sources to regulate the ensuing grid sychronous frquency drop.

    https://youtu.be/X25oEWjyXEg?si=4VMy3JETTwezIJRH

  76. Listening while i work to a Shaun Atwood podcast in Kweir Starmer’s nighttime proclivities. I don’t listen to most of them but occasionally they tickle my fancy.

    Towards the end he moves on to other issues. He has just made the point over 1 million men have died in the Ukraine/Russian meat-grinder.

    I am not a fan of Hamas. They should mot have committed the atrocities of October 2023, nor should they be holding hostages in torturous conditions. And yet all we hear, from the pro-Ukrainian/anti-Israel brigade, is about what’s going on in Gaza. Why do they not care about Russian/Ukrainian lives (rhetorical question).

  77. I received this in an email yesterday it certainly seems to be very important.

    Sending far and wide.
    Would the EU ever defend us?
    We need our own defence.
    ——————
    Vitally important…..

    Please SIGN this petition to ‘Hold a UK referendum before joining any defence and security pact with the EU‘

    https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/717489

    Then send this email to every person you know

    And read this….https:// http://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/labours-defence-sell-out-reverses-brexit-and-sweeps-away-our-sovereignty/

    The severity of our present situation, as a former sovereign nation state.

    Are we going to wait for the power cuts too….on the first cold day in October…?

  78. Bullshit, with an undertone of the threat to force genuine sick and disabled people to work.

    What position does this woman hold re the fit and able workshy? Plenty of the latter feeding off of the working population and tax paying pensioners. One reason why Rayner is floating a number of new ideas on tax streams e.g. taxing savings?

    https://x.com/leicesterliz/status/1925187496184316240

  79. 406011+up ticks,

    You gotta feel for the bloke,a bad haircut will get better in a week, an upsidedown warship somewhat longer, maybe starmer will recommend a crowd funding campaign.

    Then again we have a whole nation that has been treacherously turned over , raped & abused at 5 year intervals does old ping pong give us a thought ?

    Dt

    Kim Jong-un furious as new warship is crushed in launch failure
    Dictator says ‘criminal act’ has ruined ‘dignity’ of North Korea

    1. I reserve my sympathy for all who are involved in the building and launch of the ship.
      It's not safe to be too successful in North Korea…

  80. Rupert Lowes hints on X an 'interesting' PMQ time.

    Could the right honourable Member of Parliament (MP) for Holborn and St Pancras..

    Clarify whether the sausage terrorists arrested for bumming er bombing will be released..?
    Has the prime minister U-turned on his sexuality too?
    It's all very queer can we gets to the bottom of this..? fnar fnar

  81. Rupert Lowes hints on X an 'interesting' PMQ time.

    Could the right honourable Member of Parliament (MP) for Holborn and St Pancras..

    Clarify whether the sausage terrorists arrested for bumming er bombing will be released..?
    Has the prime minister U-turned on his sexuality too?
    It's all very queer can we gets to the bottom of this..? fnar fnar

  82. Rupert Lowes hints on X an 'interesting' PMQ time.

    Could the right honourable Member of Parliament (MP) for Holborn and St Pancras..

    Clarify whether the sausage terrorists arrested for bumming er bombing will be released..?
    Has the prime minister U-turned on his sexuality too?
    It's all very queer can we gets to the bottom of this..? fnar fnar

    1. In 1949, Stalin arranged several assassination attempts on the PM of Yugoslavia Josip Tito. In response, Tito wrote Stalin a letter: “Stop sending people to kill me. We’ve already captured five of them. If you don’t stop sending killers, I’ll send one to Moscow, and I won’t have to send a second”

  84. Off to the dentist – for the replacement apptmt caused by road works buggerment last week. Back about 4. With luck.

    5. So sorry to hear that Belle.
      If it’s by email I always check the sender. Don’t open the email tap on the address of the sender. If you don’t recognise it look further down and you can BOOCK THIS SENDER. Tap that.
      It won’t always block first time but we do that with all emails that are promising something for nothing.
      You can the forward that to report@phishing.gov.uk and they will take action.
      Hope this helps.

      1. I check my spam emails very day and delete them. They are usually filtered quite efficiently by gmail.

    6. So sorry to hear that Belle.
      If it’s by email I always check the sender. Don’t open the email tap on the address of the sender. If you don’t recognise it look further down and you can BOOCK THIS SENDER. Tap that.
      It won’t always block first time but we do that with all emails that are promising something for nothing.
      You can the forward that to report@phishing.gov.uk and they will take action.
      Hope this helps.

    1. Was it Cleverly started this ball rolling, Rastus? Anyone thought to ask the Chagosians what they want?

        1. I believe there’s quite a number living in London, perhaps they are two of them….good for them, anyway.

    2. The Telegraph is just the Mail with bigger words these days.
      "There’s no known term to describe being infatuated with one person while being married to another." – I can think of a few!!

        1. Clearly the Telegraph doesn#t do the Ten Commandments any more, but no doubt they will review your church services with points out of ten for the tea and biscuits afterwards!

  88. His mobile rang , he was in the garden cleaning his golf clubs .. he clings to his phone , I never know where mine is , and I am not really attached to my phone .

    He answered his phone then came into the kitchen, querying an unknown payment over £50 made this morning .. he was still on the phone and said the bank were on the line , and asked for details .. he gave them bank sort code and details .. 03330459560 was the number they rang on

    Treble checked with our bank after nearly having a heart attack, both of us .. and they confirmed scam , cancelled cards etc.

    Part of the treble check was using the landline because the call had come through on his mobile , he got the bank to confirm that the card had been cancelled ..

    Gawd , they are all out there to get us ..

    Who are those people , are they operating from inside prisons with their mobile phones?

    1. I get calls pretending to be bank security. They don't say which bank. They say a payment of £99 and a payment of £300 has been requested (usually to Amazon) . They ask if these payments are genuine and should they continue to make the payments. Press 1 to continue payments or press 2 to speak to our security team. Press 2 and you get through to sub-continental call centre which wheedles your bank details from you.

    2. It is normally an "unusual" Amazon Prime purchase. Your bank can sometimes ring you to question a transaction but will never ask for details (they already have them). If I am bored I will say I have 2 cards so give me the last 4 numbers of the one you are questioning. End of!

    3. Call centre anywhere in the world with an artificially generated voice.
      Good thing you checked up with your bank, hope there will be no ill effects.

    4. Oops… I get phishing all the time, several mails a day "There's a problem with your payment / parking charges / parcel delivery" and so on. Just click here to sort it out / pay again / log in to your bank and sort it out. I look at the originating email address which never has anything to do with the logos on the email, and in any case I'd never click on their links anyway – instead, log in to the bank through their website. They started with the phone, as well, as you describe. I have a number-finder app, and if it's not a number I recognise, I block it without answering. Been blocking a lot of calls from Tokyo recently…

    5. But don’t forget, the biggest threat to is is people saying hurty things in X. Or even just having opinions.

      Glad ot is OK. I have just got off an interesting live webinar with KPMG discussing cybersecurity.

    6. I never answer my mobile phone. My friends mostly know that. I'm happier using WhatsApp.

      I got a text from the bank a few weeks ago when I was making quite a large payment. I had to reply with a one word answer – yes or no to say if it was genuine.

        1. I normally have to give them a code when I use the card online. I hardly ever make voice calls.

    7. Hello Maggie…if you ever get a phone call purporting to be your bank/credit card company…take a note of the person's name/department/extension, and then call them back with the phone number on your bank/credit card statement (not the number the caller gives you). That way you should know you're talking to your bank, and not a scammer.

      1. The one time I did get an actual voice call from the bank (on the landline) it really was their fraud team asking if certain payments were genuine. They weren't. My card had been cloned – probably at a restaurant in London. This was a few years ago. Someone had used my card details at a Just Eat – (not me) and eventually the payments were refunded. They were onto it before I was.

        1. Phew…is it true banks/credit card companies no longer investigate scammed if under £100..£50..?

          1. I don't know. But I very often have to input a code to complete an online purchase. I think the Just Eat meals (several with in a very short timescale) amounted to about £50 but that was in 2019. They immediately cancelled my card and sent another very soon.

            More recently – I got caught by an American firm on my Barclaycard – I bought one thing and they kept billing me afterwards for other things. Barclaycard fraud team were very good and cancelled then all, including the one I actually authorised.

          2. I had some very odd emails yesterday evening, supposedly from DHL – so I put them in my spam folder which deleted them. I got an apology from DHL – think they’d been subject to spammers (that also went into spam folder :-D)

          3. I got several emails from my Aunty Mary about 3 months after she’d died! Quite a shock, but when I read I had to open the ‘pictures of the family’ I spammed them!

          4. I’ve had a few purporting to come from PetaJ, who died I think end of September last year. Internet a strange thing, and so can Disqus be – perhaps re-installing an old backup or something. Would be over the moon if actually from her!

          7. "We are having difficulty in delivery your parcel. Pease call this number so that we can sort out the problem"

          8. Don't……..I'm currently losing the will to live over two undelivered items – Yodel ! absolutely useless company. They've now told me to contact the retailer for more information. I keep telling their online chat people that my address and postcode is genuine and please deliver to my house. Yesterday their tracker showed that the driver was half a mile away and i was the next one on the list. Then it disappeared and went back to their depot.

            Today they had the cheek to tell me I could pick it up from their depot tomorrow.

          9. I only buy online, three sites – supermarket, Amazon, occasionally ebay. I do get a message to keep any dogs under control……..yap them to deafness…

          10. Dogs were rarely a problem before. Dog bites postman is really a rarity.

            I expect it has come about because lots of delivery drivers are from Muslim countries.

            Do you have Amazon Prime? Might be worth looking at if you have more than two deliveries a month.

            You also get lots of free kindle and telly.

          11. All of the above, Phiz 🙂 we have a family account, even tho at different addresses. I was one of the first buyers at Amazon UK, actually got a Christmas present first year, some kind of wooden puzzle..right up my street (not, gave it away)..I used to buy and sell books quite a lot, but not for a few years now.

          12. There are a couple of filling stations round here that I would prefer not to use and certainly only ever pay cash.

          13. My daughter got scammed for very small regular payments a few years ago. After about five months, she noticed (young people eh!), and told the bank – they refunded all the money – it was a known scammer apparently. The payments were different each month and were small sums like 6.20 – but adds up pretty quickly if you are scamming thousands, I suppose.

          14. Understandable in that she probably used her card for smaller amounts? Do banks ever give advice re scammers, don’t think I’ve ever seen any? Have banked with First Direct for many years, think it was the first online bank, no problems (as yet…:-)) (I mostly use the app).

        2. I had the same thing.
          Someone had tried phishing by buying something worth very little (£36 if I remember rightly).
          However since it was something to do with computer gaming – and was therefore totally different to my spending patter or age profile – the bank queried it and stopped the card. Again, they were onto it before I'd even noticed.

      1. Mine did once over a suspected scam but it was Call the number on your card NOW!

        Should have stuck to polishing his golf sticks!

  90. Lawyers slug in out in public over The Surrender Treaty..

    Mr Justice Chamberlain for The Traitors says: "I have concluded that the stay granted by Mr Justice Goose should be discharged and there should be no further interim relief."

    Sir James Eadie KC, representing the Foreign Office, says "It's a 'sad day' when one can't surrender peacefully.."

    Philip Rule KC, appearing on behalf of one of the two British women born on the islands and who successfully forced the delay overnight, said there had been a wider problem in bringing the challenge due to a cyber attack on the Legal Aid Agency earlier this month. LOL

  95. The catastrophists are out across every board.. after another bond spike. End of the US$ etc..

    What actually will happen if the whatsit hits the whatsits.. (taken from one of those heavy weight clever cloggs).

    The Fed to purchase any bond that drops below par and hold it to maturity, starting with the longest end. Preferably do that right before dropping interest rates. That approach puts the brakes on the hardest and would give the greatest scope for increased Federal spending or tax cuts.

    Ideally it should be coupled with the Treasury ceasing to issue anything other than 3 month Treasury Bills, short of Congress updating the law to treat the entire deficit as 'book debt' as the UK did in the 1860s.

      1. They are following an agenda. Intimidate and harass people to their view of acceptable behaviour.

        Like Alison Pearson she should kick up a massive stink with the chief constable using FSU 'Free Speech Union to back her up.

        Individually people will be frightened into compliance.

        Together we can knock some heads together and shame them into doing the right thing.

        1. There was a spate of farming equipment theft a few years ago. One farmer had his quad stolen, replaced it with a new one, claimed on insurance. Kept the replacement one in a locked garage, which was broken into and the new quad stolen too. Apparently quite common to return again a couple weeks later from initial theft, when original item replaced. Everyone has to have insurance, because the only police help is to give an insurance claim number.

          1. "There was a spate of farming equipment theft a few years ago."

            There was a big market for stolen farm machinery in the old communist countries when they joined the EU.

    2. Standard behaviour in an authoritarian dystopia. Join the Free Speech Union today.

  97. "Securing Britain's Future". LOL

    Let's see.. hmm.. has repeatedly done one hundred & eighty degrees opposite of what he's touted for last umpteenth time.
    That's a sell out surrender.

    1. "The cost of this is an average per year cost of £101 million."
      "The net overall cost is therefore £3.4 billion overall, that's over the 99 years. That is, as I mentioned a moment ago, the average £100 million per year, is about the same or slightly less than the running cost of an aircraft carrier minus the aircraft."

  99. Wordle No. 1,433 3/6

    ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
    ⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    Wordle 22 May 2025

    A brochure for Birdie Three?

    1. Steady as it goes

      Wordle 1,433 4/6

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

    2. Me too.

      Wordle 1,433 3/6

      ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
      🟨🟩⬜🟩⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

      3. A rare hole in two:
        Wordle 1,433 2/6

        🟨⬜🟩🟨🟩
        🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    3. A bit longer for me, even found a disease on the way.

      Wordle 1,433 5/6

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

    5. Well done – I was sure I had it in 4 but, alas, no – Bogey!

      Wordle 1,433 5/6

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

    6. Par here. I thought I had it in line three.

      Wordle 1,433 4/6

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

    7. Par here. I thought I had it in line three.

      Wordle 1,433 4/6

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

  101. Well sonny boy has just been wheeled into the OR for his bypass surgery. Now the waiting begins.

    4. Best wishes from me. They have done it lots of times. Make sure he follows the surgeons advice.

    6. Best wishes to the RichardI family; senior, junior and inbetweenies.
      Waiting and feeling useless seems to slow time down to a crawl.

    8. Healing vibes from here to you over there for your dear lad, he will feel so much better once the procedure heals and gives him a real purpose xxx

    1. How is just before birth different to just after? They want to be baby-killers?

      1. It has been rebranded as "reproductive health care", apparently, and to deny it to any woman (whatever that might be) is a form of genocide. Apparently.

        1. The thought really troubles me.
          How would you do it? Grab the newborn infant and smash it's head against the wall?
          Edit: The whole idea is utterly repulsive.

          1. I think these "full term abortions" are carried out by simply discarding the baby and letting it die, though I could be wrong. As you say, there seems to be no difference to infanticide.

          2. There's a never ending amount of tap dancing the Left are willing to perform to obfuscate their crimes.

          4. I've read about full-term abortion procedures, opo…horrendous. Senator John Kennedy has questioned a few heads of abortion centres, and the procedures used. They were all non-apologetic, and also female.

    2. It should be brought back from 24 weeks to a shorter time due to advances in medical science since the 24 week time was set. The politics of abortion are simply about the lust to kill at this point.

      1. It is about profit. The 'products of abortion' are sold on to the pharmaceuticals for research purposes and elsewhere. It is a very, very lucrative business. That is why no- one must be seen praying or having 'Christian thoughts' in the buffer zone to make pregnant women have second thoughts about their decision. The near to term are these babies, the greater the profit to governent. It is all totally, utterly repugnant.

    3. What do they do with the baby if it is still alive? Strangle it with its own umbilical cord???

      We have medics/doctors whinging on about assisted deaths for people with terminal painful conditions but they are prepared to do this?

      I would like an in depth survey done of those happy to do these things then fire them.

        1. Cutting a fully formed baby in pieces in the womb is the work of the Devil.

          2. It is happening. And this is happening in first world countries. I am fucking incensed.

            I mentioned in a post some time ago about Anders Breivik killing people on that island.

            He was trying to stop that murderous ideology.

            Since then we have had even more depravity.

          3. Even the thought has really upset me. Now trying to calm down with liberal application of good music and cheap wine. Not working too well, but better than nowt.
            Edit: Now totally discombobulated. How can folk do that?

          4. I remember it was you who was concerned about my post. His killing of young folks is in the tens. Now we are seeing in the thousands. Those he was against.

          5. Even the thought has really upset me. Now trying to calm down with liberal application of good music and cheap wine. Not working too well, but better than nowt.
            Edit: Now totally discombobulated. How can folk do that?

          6. Yep and the Hamas monsters who terrorised the Israelis on October the 7th , threw babies into bread ovens , murdered children , murdered murdered murdered , and the black fuzzy haired so called Hamas fighters showed no mercy for life , just the same attitudes they show during genocidal rages in Nigeria , Liberia , Mali , Congo , Sudan , South Africa , Syria, Iraq and everywhere their twisted wicked Muslim infected minds transmit their hate and barbarism to .

            Meanwhile here in the UK cruelty is becoming an everyday occurrence , babies, children , vulnerable teenagers, women , girls, boys , adult men , pensioners are the new victims of this Godless merciless society .. led by a traitor who interprets the law with a Trotskyist mindset .. and his black thug of a foreign minister and his starstruck hedonistic women ministers , the Eva Brauns of the front bench .. their glistening reptilian eyes .. stare ahead as their viperish tongues flicker , seeking new victims .

    1. 56.

      he is actually looking forward to being able to function and not feel tired all of the time.

  104. May have been the second wave, late 00’s…my time frame not too good post lockdowns/vaccine, but sounds about right.

  105. Big market for it in the "travelling" community that builds whatever they fancy, without the need for planning consent, wherever they fancy, by yer in the valleys, too.

    1. ‘Travellers’ might have been handy scouts but the thieves were well-established immigrants from the communist bloc — and some nasty bastards as well.

      1. The knee on neck restraint technique was the way the officers were trained and the Police chief who denied that was lying. Chauvin just did as he was trained to do.

        1. A pedant might claim that Chauvin had St George's face looking away from the knee and ankle whereas other cases had the head central or looking down the leg.
          It might seem trivial, but certainly in Judo the position of the strangle technique being applied made a big difference in getting a submission.

          2. You must have seen some different ones.
            All the pictures I’ve seen are flat on the ground.
            Head/ chin central or head looking down towards the ankle, not away from the knee.
            No indication that the head/neck might be on a kerb.

            Don’t get me wrong here, I think Chauvin was utterly stitched up and abandoned for political correctness.

          3. True. However it's worth looking at the autopsy of Mr Floyd. No damage to the windpipe was found.

          4. The whole thing was a stitch up.

            Floyd was an early death waiting to happen and Chauvin was the fall-guy.

      3. Minneapolis Police Training Officer accused of committing perjury during the St. George of Fentanyl Trial by an independent news outlet.
        Takes reporter and news outlet to court AND LOSES HER CASE because former colleagues were prepared to stand up in court and back the news outlets allegations!
        At long last, it looks like the shit may be about to hit the fan!

  107. That's me for today. Just off to water the greenhouse. Warm tomorrow – apparently; then cloud and rain – but milder – on Saturday.

    Any of you who like films and planes and war films with planes – might like to watch a prog on Sky Arts (I don;t know if they do catch up) about the making of The Dam Busters

    https://www.tvguide.co.uk/schedule/9016981f-d840-5832-bc60-b69f713559c1/classic-movies-the-story-of-the-dam-busters

    Three talking heads – two very irritating (especially the "presenter" bloke – one very good. Included footage of Barnes Wallis after the war.
    Took me back to my adolescence.

    Have a jolly evening

    A demain.

      1. Me too! I wish I had kept all those Pan Books with stories about the War. I had about 20. I suspect my mother threw them out….

      2. As I was born in 1952, my 1st read of The Dam Busters was about 12 or 13 years later.

    3. I have passed lots of "No farmers no food" banners along with "Stop the family farm tax" ones. What can we do to stop this evil lot that have got power?

      1. 406011+ up ticks,

        Afternoon C,

        I truly think build in support alongside Reform, a two prong defence of the nation
        is, IMO, the only way to go,anti all eggs in one basket.

    4. We need young people to protest, LOUDLY, because we oldies are too old. We need somebody well known to galvanise the public into protest, visible and loud. This is the first step to confiscation of property – yours and mine – without compensation.

      Remember Schwab? You will own nothing and be happy.

      Trouble is youngsters seem oblivious to what’s happening in the U.K. And a lot of adults too.

      1. 406011+up ticks,

        Evening VW,

        I do agree, there are many that are in for a very rude awakening.

      3. A lot of them appear to be in favour.

        Happy to say that particular disease has not made it here – except for certain subsets of the community.

  109. Afternoon, all. Funny weather again. Sunshine and rain. I am thinking of walking down to a pub later for an evening meal.

    The Cons have had their day, frankly. Who would believe them if they claimed to be conservative after all they've done? Trust, once lost, is hard to regain.

    1. I used to say to new members of my sales teams.
      I trust you from day one and expect that trust to be honoured. If you break that it won’t be me who has a problem it will be you who has the problem.

  111. I made it clear to all my boyfriends.. I'll do more than burn yer house down if I get aids.

  113. A thought triggered by the totally expected weaselly behaviour of Cur Stoma.
    Why can't the Chagos Islands be independent? Why do they have to be shackled to Mauritius?

    1. As Chagos the money couldn't be justified on a "per capita" whereas Mauritius has a fairly large population by comparison.

        1. They're next up to be compensated.

          Just after we give Gibraltar and millions a year to Spain and the Falklands where we donate billions to Argentina so they can extract oil.

  117. meant to mention, on my way home from work today, the whole Metropolitan Plod was out in Kensington. My guess is something to do with the Israeli embassy.

    EDIT. AI (which may be wrong) tells me:
    "There have been several police incidents in the High Street Kensington area today, including a road traffic collision in South Kensington that resulted in injuries, and a murder arrest after a shooting in West Kensington. There's also news of a 95-year-old woman who died in hospital after a fire in Kensington High Street.

    Here's a more detailed breakdown:

    Road Traffic Collision: Eleven people were injured, with nine taken to hospital, in an incident involving a car in Exhibition Road, South Kensington, which is being treated as a road-traffic collision. A man was detained by police.

    Murder Arrest: A man was arrested on suspicion of murder after a shooting in West Kensington.
    Kensington High Street Fire: A woman, 95, died in hospital days after a fire in Kensington High Street.

    Additionally, there have been other reports of disturbances and police presence in the area, including a disturbance at a property on Longridge Road, Kensington."

    1. My old stamping ground 75-78 at the local College. Lived in a dirty basement in Queens Gate Place.

      1. Mine too. Office on first floor in Alfred House in Alfred Place overlooking South Kensington Arcade and above a Lyon’s early seventies but with UCL educational postgrad breaks through to late eighties.

        Lunched at either The Queen's Elm on Fulham Road, The Barino Italian opposite, sometimes Dino’s, the Polish restaurant “Daquise” across the road , Chelsea Kitchen on Kings Road or sandwich bars in the vicinity on Bute Street.

        Our senior partner later Sir William Whitfield worked from his flat at 36A Queens Gate opposite the gates to Imperial College.

        I lived for a while in a flat in De Vere Gardens and shopped very occasionally in Derry and Toms and Barkers. BIBA scared me.

        1. Im afraid it was the IC student's union for me, 5 pints for a pound if I remember correctly but rather nice living round there and looking at the wealth.

    2. What's only getting sidelined?
      Keep helping all newcomers, surely?
      Acomplete Utopia naturally triumphs.
      Still, he is totalitarian

    1. You might want to note the word "pegging" has now been misappropriated for vulgar purposes.

  123. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/migrants-detected-crossing-the-english-channel-in-small-boats/migrants-detected-crossing-the-english-channel-in-small-boats-last-7-days

    LOOK, gasp and express outrage , then we will all be rounded up.. Nottlers in the clink .. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e4330c641f362808d6a68ef057a0f44499a8d2a1ed64176914be700ebabaa54c.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/de6ae69cb648c020e45ebfe73929b765324d2f1da96335c59e6b8a28938d067c.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/30bcee7503534911c03056fde476aa4b06ccfca2fa3068b45153433cbffe827e.jpg

  124. Does anyone here eat daylilies?
    This is from the substack of Robert Malone:
    " One of the easiest plants to grow is the daylily. Daylilies are not true lilies, which can be toxic. So, don’t confuse the two – if you plan on snacking on daylilies.
    Generally, we just use the flowers in salads, but the truth is that the entire plant is edible.
    The young shoots can be harvested in early spring and used in stir-fries or pastas. However, it is not recommended to eat the shoots raw, as there is a risk of hallucinations from consuming large amounts of the shoots in their raw state.
    The roots can be dug up from late fall to early spring and cooked like small potatoes. They can be prepared in various ways, including boiling, roasting, sautéing, or frying. They are sweet and quite tasty.
    The flower buds can be prepared by sautéing, frying, pickling, or boiling. They can also be blanched, plunged into cold water, and then frozen for later use.
    The flowers can be added to salads or used as a garnish. They can be fried like squash blossoms. To preserve the flowers for later use, they can be dehydrated."

    They can be a bit of a pest in my garden, so I might try some of the roots in winter when the garden's not producing much else.

    1. Yes the flowers – The yellow ones have a citrus flavour.

      Anthony House in Cornwall has a National Collection so if you are feeling peckish as soon as they are in flower pay a visit!

      1. I’ve heard that about the lemony flavour before, but I only have the orange ones in my garden at the moment! Their potential as winter veg intrigues me more.

        1. The range ones are palatable too in salads. If I was an entrepreneur I’d contract farmers from the Med to the tip of Scotland to plant fields of Day Lilies (which have to be picked daily) to be airfreighted to the factory which bags leaf salads for the major supermarkets so that the likes of M&S and Waitrose can charge a premium for their mixed leaf salads!

      1. Indeed.

        I was reflecting on attitudes to death and disaster, how today we routinely accept hundreds of deaths on the roads but have public inquiries for individual incidents (notably Ladbroke Grove where the Railway Inspectorate was superseded).

        At the time of Quintinshill, death and injury on the railways, especially amongst staff, was frequent. Today, 200+ deaths seems an enormous number but at the time men were dying daily in their hundreds at Gallipoli. Fifteen days earlier, almost 1,200 people had died in the sinking of RMS Lusitania.

        Are we safer today?

        1. It's a cliché
          No avoidable death is acceptable.

          Yet we fall over ourselves to try to prevent death and injury and appear to be quite content with abortion, relatively untested drugs (by past standards) inter-breeding etc. and wonder why there are so many physical, psychological and allergic problems.

          1. Well said. 250,000 Termination of pregnancies performed each year in the UK. It is not as if contraceptive products can't be obtained….

  127. And that's me off to bed.
    A day of lots of small jobs, but nothing major but at least the sun came out this afternoon.
    I see were forecast rain in the small hours of Saturday morning. Good. We could do with it.

  128. The BBC has been accused of downplaying the killings of white farmers in South Africa in its reporting.

    Robert Hersov, an influential South African businessman, criticised the broadcaster as “Leftist” and “woke” in its coverage of the issue, which rejected Donald Trump’s claims of a genocide.

    Mr Hersov said the broadcaster “should be disbanded”, adding: “There is no nuance in their coverage – they are just Leftist.”

    On Wednesday, Mr Trump ambushed Cyril Ramaphosa, the South African president, during their Oval Office meeting with footage he claimed showed white South Africans being persecuted.

    The US president ordered staffers to dim the lights and play a video showcasing what he called a genocide of white farmers to his South African counterpart.

    In the BBC’s analysis of the incident, headlined “Ramaphosa keeps cool during Trump’s choreographed onslaught”, it stated: “Trump was asked by a journalist about what it would take for him to be convinced that discredited claims of ‘white genocide’ in South Africa are untrue.”

    An accompanying article about the incident on the BBC website explained that claims of a genocide had been limited to circulation “among Right-wing groups” and “misleading information online”.

    But Mr Hersov, who was born and raised in South Africa and has lived in the country permanently again since 2017, claimed: “Donald Trump is 100 per cent right.

    “What’s going on in South Africa, driven by the ANC [African National Congress], is evil, egregious, pernicious and a real threat not just to minorities in South Africa, but to Western civilisation.

    “It is three times more likely to be killed in South Africa being a farmer than being a policeman… the most dangerous job in South Africa by far is being a farmer. The ANC government just brushes it under the mat and tries to dismiss it by saying South Africa is a violent country, [that] this is nothing special.”

    During Wednesday’s meeting in the Oval Office, Mr Trump accused South Africa of carrying out a “genocide” against white Afrikaner farmers, allegations it has vehemently denied.

    Claims backed by Musk
    In February, a South African high court ruled that the claims – backed by Elon Musk – of a “genocide” targeting white people were imaginary.

    Mr Musk, born in South Africa, has in recent years used social media to repeatedly claim a genocide is threatening its white population.

    After being shown the clips of what Mr Trump claimed were black South Africans making racist speeches and singing “kill the Boer” about white people, Mr Ramaphosa told the US president: “This is not government policy.”

    The South African president was flanked in the meeting by Ernie Els, one of the country’s top former golfers, and by Johann Rupert, a billionaire businessman who is an Afrikaner, meaning he is a descendant of Dutch and other European settlers.

    Mr Hersov, who is the chairman and founder of Invest Africa, accused Mr Ramaphosa’s party of being “racist, socialist, anti-American and anti-Semitic”.

    “The problem is the UK and the West have looked the other way, and it’s only under Donald Trump’s administration that these grievances have been highlighted,” he said.

    Talking to Mr Ramaphosa in the Oval Office, Mr Trump said: “You’re taking people’s land. And those people, in many cases, are being executed. They’re being executed and they happen to be white, and most of them happen to be farmers, and that’s a tough situation.”

    Earlier this month, the Trump administration admitted as refugees 59 white South Africans who have claimed they have been discriminated against because of their race.

    Meanwhile, the administration’s references to the Afrikaner people have elevated previous claims made by Mr Musk – who was also present at the White House meeting – that the South African government was allowing attacks on white farmers.

    Citing the 10 stages of genocide, which include discrimination, dehumanisation, persecution and extermination, Mr Hersov said: “If you look at those 10 factors…you’ll see a number of them are taking place simultaneously [in South Africa].

    “Even though there isn’t an extermination on a broader scale, like the Nazis with the Jews, a lot of what is happening has taken place not just against farmers, but against minorities. And not just against white minorities, but against whites, coloureds, Indians, Jews and Afrikaners.”

    He added that Mr Trump’s renewed spotlight on the issue was “crucial,” saying: “The ANC, for 30 years, have destroyed South Africa’s economy, broken South Africa’s democracy … Cyril Ramaphosa is 100 per cent responsible for the destruction of our economy and for the anti-white racism that is pervasive.”

    Mr Trump has cut off aid to South Africa over allegations that the country was mistreating its minority white population.

    Washington also expelled the country’s ambassador, accusing him of being a “race-baiting politician” who hates the US and its president.

    Experts in South Africa say there is no evidence of white people being targeted, although farmers of all races are victims of violent home invasions in a country that suffers from a very high crime rate.

    The South African leader had sought to use the meeting to set the record straight and salvage his country’s relationship with the US, which is at its lowest point since South Africa enforced its apartheid system of racial segregation, which ended in 1994.

    The BBC declined to comment.

    Paul Freeman
    1 min ago
    Anybody who marched in the anti-apartheid marches, who is now failing to ensure the safety and welfare of white farmers in South Africa has blood on their hands.

    Comment by eddie archer.

    ea

    eddie archer
    3 min ago
    Despite the lies, fantasies and Putin-appeasement which Trump indulges in, there are some initiatives he’s taken which are a worthy cause, this being one. Africa may well have been better off with its colonial rulers where many of the countries have become basket cases under their own leadership and are now embracing new colonialists in the form of China and Putlerland.

    Comment by Ian Wilkinson.

    IW

    Ian Wilkinson
    4 min ago
    Why on earth are we funding this biased, self regarding, self righteous organisation from our taxes, on pain of prosecution for watching it without a licence? If it’s as wonderful as it regards itself surely it should survive on its own commercially.

    Comment by Don Pasquale.

    DP

    Don Pasquale
    5 min ago
    They don’t bother with South Africa (or even Africa these days). I lived there for years. They have no clue what’s going on. Time to move on BBC. I don’t care whether you are partial but please at least do some serious analysis. It’s like the uk beyond London to the BBC. They just repeat the position they decided 25 years ago.

    Comment by Andrew Shelton.

    AS

    Andrew Shelton
    7 min ago
    When I read the BBC live page this morning, I could hardly believe the demeaning and dismissive tone the anti-white racism was being dealt with. As we all believe, it’s time the BBC was privatised and forced into the wilderness. Shameful hijacking by the left has ruined it.

    Comment by Ka-zonki Nuts.

    KN

    Ka-zonki Nuts
    8 min ago
    Zimbabwe here we come!

    Comment by Don Pasquale.

    DP

    Don Pasquale
    9 min ago
    They did their default setting of champion the old underdog. If only they would do serious analysis like they used to. South Africa is a very sad place now.

    Comment by Gordon Craig.

    GC

    Gordon Craig
    13 min ago
    So did the DT's own writer in the adjoining article. Hypocrisy writ large.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/05/22/bbc-accused-downplaying-white-farmer-killings-south-africa/

  129. The BBC has been accused of downplaying the killings of white farmers in South Africa in its reporting.

    Robert Hersov, an influential South African businessman, criticised the broadcaster as “Leftist” and “woke” in its coverage of the issue, which rejected Donald Trump’s claims of a genocide.

    Mr Hersov said the broadcaster “should be disbanded”, adding: “There is no nuance in their coverage – they are just Leftist.”

    On Wednesday, Mr Trump ambushed Cyril Ramaphosa, the South African president, during their Oval Office meeting with footage he claimed showed white South Africans being persecuted.

    The US president ordered staffers to dim the lights and play a video showcasing what he called a genocide of white farmers to his South African counterpart.

    In the BBC’s analysis of the incident, headlined “Ramaphosa keeps cool during Trump’s choreographed onslaught”, it stated: “Trump was asked by a journalist about what it would take for him to be convinced that discredited claims of ‘white genocide’ in South Africa are untrue.”

    An accompanying article about the incident on the BBC website explained that claims of a genocide had been limited to circulation “among Right-wing groups” and “misleading information online”.

    But Mr Hersov, who was born and raised in South Africa and has lived in the country permanently again since 2017, claimed: “Donald Trump is 100 per cent right.

    “What’s going on in South Africa, driven by the ANC [African National Congress], is evil, egregious, pernicious and a real threat not just to minorities in South Africa, but to Western civilisation.

    “It is three times more likely to be killed in South Africa being a farmer than being a policeman… the most dangerous job in South Africa by far is being a farmer. The ANC government just brushes it under the mat and tries to dismiss it by saying South Africa is a violent country, [that] this is nothing special.”

    During Wednesday’s meeting in the Oval Office, Mr Trump accused South Africa of carrying out a “genocide” against white Afrikaner farmers, allegations it has vehemently denied.

    Claims backed by Musk
    In February, a South African high court ruled that the claims – backed by Elon Musk – of a “genocide” targeting white people were imaginary.

    Mr Musk, born in South Africa, has in recent years used social media to repeatedly claim a genocide is threatening its white population.

    After being shown the clips of what Mr Trump claimed were black South Africans making racist speeches and singing “kill the Boer” about white people, Mr Ramaphosa told the US president: “This is not government policy.”

    The South African president was flanked in the meeting by Ernie Els, one of the country’s top former golfers, and by Johann Rupert, a billionaire businessman who is an Afrikaner, meaning he is a descendant of Dutch and other European settlers.

    Mr Hersov, who is the chairman and founder of Invest Africa, accused Mr Ramaphosa’s party of being “racist, socialist, anti-American and anti-Semitic”.

    “The problem is the UK and the West have looked the other way, and it’s only under Donald Trump’s administration that these grievances have been highlighted,” he said.

    Talking to Mr Ramaphosa in the Oval Office, Mr Trump said: “You’re taking people’s land. And those people, in many cases, are being executed. They’re being executed and they happen to be white, and most of them happen to be farmers, and that’s a tough situation.”

    Earlier this month, the Trump administration admitted as refugees 59 white South Africans who have claimed they have been discriminated against because of their race.

    Meanwhile, the administration’s references to the Afrikaner people have elevated previous claims made by Mr Musk – who was also present at the White House meeting – that the South African government was allowing attacks on white farmers.

    Citing the 10 stages of genocide, which include discrimination, dehumanisation, persecution and extermination, Mr Hersov said: “If you look at those 10 factors…you’ll see a number of them are taking place simultaneously [in South Africa].

    “Even though there isn’t an extermination on a broader scale, like the Nazis with the Jews, a lot of what is happening has taken place not just against farmers, but against minorities. And not just against white minorities, but against whites, coloureds, Indians, Jews and Afrikaners.”

    He added that Mr Trump’s renewed spotlight on the issue was “crucial,” saying: “The ANC, for 30 years, have destroyed South Africa’s economy, broken South Africa’s democracy … Cyril Ramaphosa is 100 per cent responsible for the destruction of our economy and for the anti-white racism that is pervasive.”

    Mr Trump has cut off aid to South Africa over allegations that the country was mistreating its minority white population.

    Washington also expelled the country’s ambassador, accusing him of being a “race-baiting politician” who hates the US and its president.

    Experts in South Africa say there is no evidence of white people being targeted, although farmers of all races are victims of violent home invasions in a country that suffers from a very high crime rate.

    The South African leader had sought to use the meeting to set the record straight and salvage his country’s relationship with the US, which is at its lowest point since South Africa enforced its apartheid system of racial segregation, which ended in 1994.

    The BBC declined to comment.

    Paul Freeman
    1 min ago
    Anybody who marched in the anti-apartheid marches, who is now failing to ensure the safety and welfare of white farmers in South Africa has blood on their hands.

    Comment by eddie archer.

    ea

    eddie archer
    3 min ago
    Despite the lies, fantasies and Putin-appeasement which Trump indulges in, there are some initiatives he’s taken which are a worthy cause, this being one. Africa may well have been better off with its colonial rulers where many of the countries have become basket cases under their own leadership and are now embracing new colonialists in the form of China and Putlerland.

    Comment by Ian Wilkinson.

    IW

    Ian Wilkinson
    4 min ago
    Why on earth are we funding this biased, self regarding, self righteous organisation from our taxes, on pain of prosecution for watching it without a licence? If it’s as wonderful as it regards itself surely it should survive on its own commercially.

    Comment by Don Pasquale.

    DP

    Don Pasquale
    5 min ago
    They don’t bother with South Africa (or even Africa these days). I lived there for years. They have no clue what’s going on. Time to move on BBC. I don’t care whether you are partial but please at least do some serious analysis. It’s like the uk beyond London to the BBC. They just repeat the position they decided 25 years ago.

    Comment by Andrew Shelton.

    AS

    Andrew Shelton
    7 min ago
    When I read the BBC live page this morning, I could hardly believe the demeaning and dismissive tone the anti-white racism was being dealt with. As we all believe, it’s time the BBC was privatised and forced into the wilderness. Shameful hijacking by the left has ruined it.

    Comment by Ka-zonki Nuts.

    KN

    Ka-zonki Nuts
    8 min ago
    Zimbabwe here we come!

    Comment by Don Pasquale.

    DP

    Don Pasquale
    9 min ago
    They did their default setting of champion the old underdog. If only they would do serious analysis like they used to. South Africa is a very sad place now.

    Comment by Gordon Craig.

    GC

    Gordon Craig
    13 min ago
    So did the DT's own writer in the adjoining article. Hypocrisy writ large.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/05/22/bbc-accused-downplaying-white-farmer-killings-south-africa/ …

  131. I am going to bid you all goodnight, although I haven't read all the comments. I've done a lot of walking and I'm tired.

  132. Nice big pay rises in the Public Sector after the government accepted salary recommendations from 'independent' (yeah, right!) pay review bodies.

    So that's 4% for teachers, but also doctors and dentists ffs – has anybody been to a dentist recently? Apparently they average about £150k pa…

    Junior doctors 'only' get 5.4% and are already planning strike action, again – 'do no harm' eh? Nurses and midwives get a bit less at 3.6% and they should be bloody grateful to their lords and masters…

    Who's paying for all this largesse?? Oh, yes, hang on, it's you and me……..

    1. Is this a dumb question, so where is the government getting the money from ..

      I mean the cruel vat penalty clobbering private pupils has backfired , hasn't it ?

      Teachers are teaching lefty subjects , doctors are doing damned all , and dentists , do they mean NHS dentists or all dentists ?

      MPs have given themselves a nice little pay rise as well .

      1. You have to ask that question? There are two options you or more borrowing.

      2. Crypto-communist states like ours will always look after their own apparatchiks.

        Suck the private sector dry, bankrupt them, then wonder where all the money is going to come from… what a shower of shite they really are.

    2. Thats nothing.

      The Canadian postal workers were offered an increase of 6% this year. They have rejected the offer and are asking for more which includes an additional 6 days personal time off, paid lunch breaks, five minute cleanup period before lunch (paid of course) , transgender benefits(?), no part time workers, no adjustment of delivery routes to adjust to demand and so on and so forth. You would think that the union might show some common sense when dealing with an effectively bankrupt organization – huh!

      And our completely private dentist (the only kind here) has just had the entire surgery redone with nice new marble tiles, obviously not hurting.

      2. And, won’t anyone think of the future unfunded pension liabilities?

  133. BBC4

    Ice cold in Alex … they have reached the bar … and they are going to have a drink NOW.

    Switch on and watch the last few minutes!!!!

    1. Excellent film.
      When I first watched it, only about 20y ago, I had one laugh.
      During the tense scene where they crossed the minefield and partially ran over a mine I recognised the mine as a dummy Mk.7 anti-tank mine, made of concrete!!

  136. Bedtime for Elsie. Good night chums, sleep well, and I'll see you all in the morning.

Comments are closed.