Thursday 23 June: Union strikes can only hamper the reforms needed on the rail network

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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608 thoughts on “Thursday 23 June: Union strikes can only hamper the reforms needed on the rail network”

  1. Good morning, all! I’m seeing the dawn break, misty in these peaceful woods, hoping for another beautiful day. It was utterly perfect yesterday, and I shifted my caravan to this site, calm and welcoming and equipped with a swimming pool!

    1. Not where I am, Bob3. (Good morning, btw.) But that will enable me to spend my hour in the garden today gently watering the entire garden in the late afternoon instead of bending and weeding in the midday sun.Have fun today.

    3. There you have it in crystal clear reality. Conclusive and irrebuttable proof of the accelerating rate of stupidity in the human species.

  8. Modern Life…….

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/224f29123b57b37d0160d93c7c7f4acdaf92b04b67f1949e2c99b45c3b382274.png

    https://scontent-cdg2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/289552688_7606689969402473_8145730280768297694_n.jpg?_nc_cat=102&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=5cd70e&_nc_ohc=F9iUzEmY38kAX97jKz0&_nc_ht=scontent-cdg2-1.xx&oh=00_AT8WiJfdapWWfyuS2VBjDy12iw_uxjw6q0NhyXxCMIJj2A&oe=62B86F79

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/09ec55b8af2a01d00da06d92e3a7d3e3e3bff0675efdd024316d9f42d0fb2a6f.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5355902b223fa5797dbafc6b16482bd4fc5c482e5c45d373ad5965e960cc7893.jpg

  9. Britain must be prepared to go to war with Russia. Con Coughlin. 23 June 2022.

    Even so, as General Sir Patrick Sanders, the Army’s newly-appointed Chief of the General Staff, has warned in his first rallying cry since taking command, British forces need to be prepared for swift mobilisation to eastern Europe and be “capable of beating Russia in battle”.

    Sir Patrick is arguing that, for all the investment in new technology, the military needs to reconstitute its traditional war-fighting skills to enable it to undertake precisely the type of state-on-state warfare that is currently taking place between Russia and Ukraine.

    I thought that they’d sent Coughlin to be dried out but he’s clearly back on the sauce! It would take at least five years to rebuild the British Army into a warfighting organisation capable of confronting Russia and even then it would have to involve NATO. No war between Russia and the West would remain conventional for very long. It would very quickly metastasise into a nuclear exchange. All this over a corrupt third rate country that three months ago 90% of the population couldn’t have found on a map? It makes Sarajevo 1914 look sensible!

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/06/23/britain-must-prepared-go-war-russia/

    1. Britain should be prepared to not contemplate going to war with Russia, or anyone else for that matter. Globalist Johnson, supported by Truss (pun intended), appears to want to stride around the World trying to create the myth that he is a statesman. Sabre rattling by a PM so far out of his depth in everything he comes into contact with is dangerous in the extreme. Now we have General Sanders and some hack from the Telegraph trying to do the backseat driving of the out-of-control car that Johnson has set in motion. A worthy PM would have had Sanders on the carpet for a fierce dressing down, sadly, we do not have such a PM.

  10. 353453+ up ticks ,

    Morning Each,

    Will the majority voter in the electorate put their vehicles & and the comforting sight of a coal fire. above misguided loyalty to the trio of
    odious ersatz named political party’s.

    Roger Helmer
    @RogerHelmerMEP
    ·
    8m
    Germany resists EU plans to scrap internal combustion engines. That’s days after it decided to reopen coal plants. Maybe the dawn of a new reality?

    1. Who is down voter disqus_E9pgG?

      And who is that poster whose posts are being systematically taken down?

      1. 353453+ up ticks,

        Morning R,
        My belief is the things you mention are NOT to my mind “outsiders” to this page.
        Same happened to UKIP under Batten leadership, inhouse covert initially, treachery by misguided tory (ino) party else.members.

        Party before ALL else reguardless.

  11. The Mail joins in the polio story

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10943987/NHS-plan-contain-polio-contacting-parents-unvaccinated-children-source-search-continues.html#comments

    For the moment comments remain open,unlike the DT who ran the story yesterday and first stopped comments and then removed them completely………

    Too many links to gimmegrants of course

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/46eacfbafc2327c11a77b617be9dfb6f24a0bb8891378dbb7bf8d5b268c820ad.jpg

  12. What happens if Russia turns off Europe’s gas supply this winter? 23 June 2022.

    Can Europe replace Russian gas by the winter?

    No chance. Before the war, Russia supplied 40% of Europe’s gas supplies, so limitations on storing gas or ramping up imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in certain countries including Germany make replacing Russian gas entirely near impossible in the short term. EU leaders have downplayed the likelihood of a total ban on Russian gas as it is seen as impractical and politically divisive.

    These sanctions are certainly bringing the Russians to their knees. Lol!

    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/jun/22/what-if-russia-cuts-europe-gas-exports-winter

    1. Its almost as if we have been preparing for this for a long time, by closing down our coal fired power stations and demolishing them and also reducing our gas storage capability.

    2. All based on the presumption that Russia, which controls the tap, will not turn it off.

  13. What happens if Russia turns off Europe’s gas supply this winter? 23 June 2022.

    Can Europe replace Russian gas by the winter?

    No chance. Before the war, Russia supplied 40% of Europe’s gas supplies, so limitations on storing gas or ramping up imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in certain countries including Germany make replacing Russian gas entirely near impossible in the short term. EU leaders have downplayed the likelihood of a total ban on Russian gas as it is seen as impractical and politically divisive.

    These sanctions are certainly bringing the Russians to their knees. Lol!

    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/jun/22/what-if-russia-cuts-europe-gas-exports-winter

  14. Morning, all. Cloudy without a breeze this morning in N Essex.

    Up just before 5, coffee and a quick look at last evening’s Nottle contributions then into garden before 6 to pick my first redcurrants of the season. In addition sprayed about half of my runner beans with a safe non-pesticide concoction to try and eliminate the worst blackfly infestation I have ever seen. Currants are cooking slowly before juice extraction and then will be turned into jelly. Busy two weeks ahead as the soft fruit ripen and the frequency of jelly making increases.

    1. ‘Morning, Korky. Plenty of blackfly trying to obliterate some – but not all – of our dahlias here. A lot worse than the invasion last year. So far have left the clean-up to the ants (no ladybirds so far) but msy have to intervene. My weapon of choice is soapy water, which usually does the trick after a couple of applications.

      1. Managed to rub off the dahlia infestation but the beans are wilting under the attack. I’ve seen only one ladybird this summer and I need legions of the little helpers. Last year I had had five runner bean plants and I couldn’t eat of give away all of the crop. It’s late June and I do not have any blossom yet. I sowed some beans a few days ago for a late crop and I am hoping the blackfly will have disappeared by the time the plants start climbing.

  15. National incident declared over polio virus findings in London sewage. 23 June 2022.

    Public health officials have declared a national incident after routine surveillance of wastewater in north and east London found evidence of community transmission of poliovirus for the first time.

    The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said waste from the Beckton sewage treatment works in Newham tested positive for vaccine-derived poliovirus in February and that further positive samples had been detected since.

    No cases of the disease or related paralysis have been reported, and the risk to the general public is considered low, but public health officials urged people to make sure that they and their families were up to date with polio vaccinations to reduce the risk of harm.

    Monkeypox has been a dismal failure so they’ve upgraded. If this doesn’t work it will be either Leprosy or the Bubonic Plague next.

    https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/jun/22/polio-uk-public-health-officials-declare-national-incident-over-poliovirus

      3. Do you know – if Boris Johnson stood up in the Commons and said ‘I’m not ending net zero. Instead of ‘carbon’ (a pointless term) I am looking to produce net zero waste.

        I want to see micro-robotics and bacteria recongestion of waste. I want us to aim for 90% recycled waste – not pretending we do, us really doing it. He could offer real incentives for every mobile phone to be recycled into the component parts. Some can’t be, such as the CPU but board solder,, gold, trace elements, plastics all could. It would be a truly herculean but, crucially achievable goal. It could spur robots into a genuinely, specific goal focussed end result. Real jobs in private enterprise.

        Imagine a country producing ant sized robots that strip a telephone to component pieces, then being paid per ton of material that could be re-used. Instead of shipping our plastic overseas, folk could send it here – raw materials, junk, and crucially real jobs, real industry.

    2. How many entries are there in the disease registry, especially viruses? Could be a long summer of fear ahead.

      1. Given that the NHS is funded by the tax payer these are not jobs. They’re an extension of the NHS and thus not contributing to the economy. As for science, this government is obsessed with green and deems ‘the science settled’.

      2. Given that the NHS is funded by the tax payer these are not jobs. They’re an extension of the NHS and thus not contributing to the economy. As for science, this government is obsessed with green and deems ‘the science settled’.

    2. Is Javid the Bald’s mate, Billy G, involved in the financing of this centre? With mRNA “vaccines” bobbing about in the toilet bowl awaiting a good flush, is it wise to invest in such a product? Why not look into therapeutic drugs that actually work and do not have the mystique of re-arranging one’s DNA hanging around them like a bad smell?

          1. Some time over the last fifty years it all slipped away from us, bit by bit. Any country that permits encouraging small boys to be castrated has gone over the edge.

          2. At the turn of the 20th century. Excellent literature, music and art had started its progressive decline and man learnt how to fly. Within 12 years of the Wright Brothers, aeroplanes were being used in warfare. The decline in civilisation has accelerated ever since.

            Anyone countering that hypothesis with tales of wonderful achievements in science, inventions and medicine is completely missing the point.

    2. But surely his son will have the example of his beloved prophet (PBUH) as a role model. He, too was a paedophile.

      2. This begs the question – was this a statuary rape and does the rapist live with the mother of his child and support them?

        If not then he should be castrated and then deported immediately to the Sahara Desert..

    3. I don’t think his son needs a role model on how to rape. That will come naturally.

    4. He’s a paedophile rapist. He should be flogged, beaten, every bone broken, then used to test napalm.

    6. He’s quite right.

      The court should agree to his appeal and deport his son at the same time.

  18. Possible 8 hour journey home, so we need to ‘get to it.’ Later – much later.

  19. Basket-case Britain is the definitive proof lockdown was an epic mistake

    The strikes, inflation, decay and incompetence: all are direct costs of the decision to shut down society

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/06/22/basket-case-britain-definitive-proof-lockdown-epic-mistake/
    That thumping sound?? It’s all the previous cheerleaders for “Moar Lockdown” jumping on the “It was all a mistake” bus
    No chance pal,we remember!! (And we told you so!!)

  20. ‘Morning, Peeps.

    SIR – When it comes to the introduction of new technology and unions’ opposition to it, history is not on the side of the rail workers.

    In the car industry back in the 1970s, the spot welder would carry the machine as a backpack; now robots do this and many other vehicle assembly tasks. Also in the 1970s, truckers vowed never to have tachographs (devices that monitor vehicles’ speed and driving time) and dockers fought the introduction of containerisation. In the 1980s, printers opposed the introduction of new technology in the form of desktop publishing.

    Unions representing workers in the above industries were among the strongest in Britain, yet all failed to turn the tide of new technology.

    Michael Porteous
    Windsor, Berkshire

    Not sure that Lynch and his chums are into this kind of logic…they are top notch when it comes to Spanish practices though.

  21. SIR – In addition to all the problems that would be created by a hard border with England (report, June 21), I wonder whether Nicola Sturgeon and the Scottish National Party have even bothered to consider the very serious detriment to the Scottish ship-building industry if Scotland leaves the United Kingdom.

    BAE is the prime contractor for rebuilding the Royal Navy with new fleets of frigates and destroyers, and much of this work is centred on the River Clyde. Independence would mean that future contracts would have to be placed elsewhere in the UK, in port cities such as Barrow, Belfast, Plymouth and Portsmouth, which have the facilities and skilled workforces for warship building.

    In addition, the large military bases in Scotland would need to be relocated. All this would lead to the loss of many thousands of well-paid jobs in that country, as well as those in supply chains and local economies.

    Ted Shorter
    Tonbridge, Kent

    Common sense versus political dogma? I think you are expecting far too much from the Fishwife, Mr Shorter. Besides, the ‘ferry fiasco’ has demonstrated that she is clueless when it comes to the important stuff.

    1. Of course, none that would actually be necessary. RFA ships are built in South Korea. (Remind me, what date was it the South Korea became part of the UK?). Lots of countries have bases in other countries. You do know that the US base at Guantanamo is in Cuba and that it’s continued existence has never been disputed despite the vicious treatment meted out to Cuba by the USA? The major contractor in respect of the electronic stuff on the new aircraft carriers was was carried out by Thales, a French company.
      No reason for any change unless your game is vicious, mean dog in the manger nastiness. You are short of stuff between your ears, Mr Shorter.

    2. Sturgeon is very good at blaming England for her failures but can’t get around the reality that it is *her fault*. She panders to her audience. She’s a ‘good’ politician in passing blame, avoiding responsibility and achieving absolutely nothing.

  22. Good morning all. Another bright start with 11°C outside. Clear sky and little cloud.

  23. SIR – I am alarmed by the news (June 21) that anti-tailgating systems are to 
be fitted in the majority of cars. My wife’s car had such a system fitted, and it almost caused several accidents before I disabled it.

    When you are in traffic in a town or at a roundabout and you see that the car ahead is turning, it’s normal to filter past – getting closer than you might otherwise to a car straight in front. Several times the car’s sensing system misinterpreted this action, causing the emergency braking to be activated, and forcing the car behind to stop quickly and unexpectedly. On each occasion I felt lucky not to have been hit from behind.

    These systems are dangerous and I don’t believe they will save lives.

    Ian Brent-Smith
    Bicester, Oxfordshire

    We all know that, Mr Double-Barrelled, it’s the idiots who dream up this guff who need to be reined in, like the loons who thought dumb motorways would be a good idea…

    1. It’s far simpler to just have tailgaters punished by fitting cameras to a car and if a vehicle is tailgating send the footage to plod who have the power to move £500 from the tailgater to the footage sender. It’d stop overnight.

    2. My car has it. I use it to enable me to let the car park as close as possibly to the greenery that borders the garden. It kindly puts the brakes on for me at the appropriate moment, without me having to bother.

  24. SIR – In 1948, aged 17, I joined the Women’s Land Army and served for two years before going to college (Letters, June 20). It was one of the most valuable experiences of my life.

    I stayed in a hostel with 40 other girls. It built me up physically, taught me to mix with all sorts of characters and gave me an insight into the rudiments of management by observing the practices of the farms on which I worked.

    Angela Lanyon
    Worcester

    Great idea, but the mountain of bureaucracy would be visible from space, Ms Lanyon.

    1. The DBS forms alone would involve the destruction of more trees than you could grow spuds.

      2. Similar here. I don’t see any evidence on the radar of the forecast thunder storms.

    3. Morning Del, here’s hoping for just the whiff of a breeze to clear the really muggy air.

    1. He is right, as he normally is. We are born without rights: if we keep our noses clean in the society in which we live, then we earn privileges as we grow up.

    2. Hitchens is simply repeating what I have been saying for decades. What gives humans greater “rights” over any other life-form? Only its self-accumulated arrogance and intrinsic selfishness.

  27. SIR – I trust today’s school leavers are not afraid of hard work in their gap year, which was a luxury few of my generation could afford to take.

    After leaving school, my friends and I picked potatoes. We were paid by the amount we picked, so earned enough to run our motorbikes and entertain our girlfriends.

    I highly recommend it – and what a way to get our country back on its feet after the pandemic.

    Michael J Menhenitt
    Exmouth, Devon

    Spud-picking is generally by machine now, so I’m not sure how many growers would be ready to employ humans, some without the work ethic, while their expensive equipment stands idle.

    1. My first ‘job’ was blackcurrant picking. I earned a fiver for a week’s work. 4/6 a bucket.

    2. Wishing you a very Happy Birthday, Paul! Hope you have a wonderful day! 😘🎂🍾

    6. Grattis på födelsdagen, Feldwebel Paul. Have a lovely day but don’t drink Cardiff dry of Brains SA. 👍🏻😉🎂🍺

    10. Happy birthday, Paul! Hope you have some good beverages lined up for later;-)

  30. SIR – I am struggling to understand how the police had the time to investigate a joke made by the comedian Joe Lycett that offended a single audience member (report, June 22), and yet apparently do not have the resources to follow up burglaries.

    Julian Pullan
    Bramley, Hampshire

    Quite so, Mr Pullan. I trust that someone has had the gumption to ask the relevant Police and Crime Commissioner WTF their ‘force’ is up to??

    1. They have invested public money to set up a specialist ‘Dopey Wokey’ hate crime monitoring section.
      They assume burglars enjoy their sidelines of breaking into people’s houses. And insurance will cover the losses, therfore it’s no longer considered a hate crime.

    2. Easy crimes make the numbers look good. The reality that no bugger cares about these things is irrelevant. AS soon as the equalities act, the race relations act and the HRA got in, it was a rent seekers paradise. Best thing this govt could do is repeal those laws immediately.

  31. Good morning all.

    My cynical little mind at work here .

    Polio was last seen in the 1950’s ,,,

    I wonder whether , dare I suggest.. the scores of immigrants on Windrush or evenPakistan and India helped it spread..

    Now the assumption is “The UK Health Security Agency believes a traveller, possibly from Pakistan, Afghanistan or Nigeria, shed the virus in their faeces after being given a live oral polio vaccine during an outbreak.”

    1. It was only a matter of time following Gates’s failed experiments with polio vaccines in Africa and India, that this particular plague set foot upon the shores of the UK. Not only did his ‘vaccine’ sterilise, maim and kill over 500,000 children, it produced a breakthrough infection which was fiercer than the original. The man should be taken out and shot, not presented to the world as some sort of saviour. Still, what can we expect in the topsy-turvy, money worshipping society we have become. As a society, we have got what we deserve, and all that goes with that.

      1. I know it is the latest arrivals …

        But the 1950’s arrivals probably caused the ’50s epidemic .

        So many children and adults were affected and put onto iron lungs ..

        Rows of iron lungs filled hospital wards at the height of the polio outbreaks of the 1940s and 1950s, helping children, and some adults, with bulbar polio and bulbospinal polio. A polio patient with a paralyzed diaphragm would typically spend two weeks inside an iron lung while recovering.

        1. I think it was already here in those days.

          I remember when they first brought out the vaccine – I had to walk up to the district nurse’s house about a mile away in about 1957 so I was 8 or 9. Then queue up with all the other kids waiting to be jabbed.

          Better sanitation probably did just as much as the vaccines to kill off the disease. People used to live in squalid housing in cities then.

          1. I can remember many children wearing callipers because they had a withered leg.

          2. Yes – and we had a customer years later (a man in his 60s), who had been polio damaged as a child.

    1. Here’s hoping. It was 20’c in the bedroom last night and 32 during the day. I watched the meter spin as the Warqueen had her ac on.

      1. My water butt’s are running out.
        A lot of it goes into the bird bath.🐦🦅🕊 not that I mind.

        1. I did want to rig up a system where an outside tap could refill the mare’s water, Mongo’s water bowl, Beasts’ bowl and be a hose for the garden.

          As with everything to do with this bloomin’ place as soon as you try to do one thing you find there’s another problem. That time it was the water pipes being this clay lark rather than moderns, which had the kitchen torn apart. A £200 project turned into over 10,000 of re-work. It meant our savings completely wiped out.

    2. Spotting here just as I was about to return to the garden. Radar shows showers bubbling up as the air moves inland from the coast. Shouldn’t be much, he says hopefully.

    1. All rather obvious, but let’s face it, half hte electorate shouldn’t be allowed to vote based on incompetence, ignorance or simply tribalism. Many millions contribute nothing to society – why should they have a say in things? Someone voting for Cameron because he ‘has nice hair?’

      If lockdown had been presented as a mitigation, never a solution then chances are we wouldn’t have bothered. The worker would have gone on working, the blicks gone on stabbing, politicians gone on lying.

        1. At one time, business owners had two votes: one for their home address and one for their business address.
          Then Labour realised that their voters tended not to be business owners.

          1. And those who rented their homes had no votes. Universal adult suffrage is relatively new, in our lifetimes.

          5. Yes. That kind of thing was what contributed to the Troubles around ten years later. That and Paras shooting dead some demonstrators.

    2. Since all that has happened the little respect I had for the political classes has now shrunk to zero. They have absolutely no consideration for the people who they rely on to put them in their meaningless place.
      I can’t think of anything that our current government has done that could be associated with respect towards the electorate.
      As I pointed out previously, last year alone between them, they took home almost 132 million pounds in expenses.

      1. 353453+ up ticks,

        Morning RE,
        But the majority of the electorate will not acknowledge tour truth saying, the reason being for the “good of ” the party”

        The political toxic trio’s actions are not new they go back openly for near on forty years with the herds consent.

    1. “…it’s ‘downright embarrassing’ Tories have had two…”

      But one of them was even worse than embarrassing.

      1. Margaret Thatcher proved to be a better prime minister than any of her colleagues would have been.

        Theresa May proved to be the worst Conservative prime minister in history.

        Surely the sex of the party leader should not be more important than whether or not he or she is capable of doing the job?

      2. From the moment, when somehow she became chairman of the Conservatives and all they could talk about was her ocelot shoes, I realised she was another wrong ‘un…

    4. Hattie Hatemen lost the last of her credibility when she supported her husband, Jack Dromey, when he stood for a seat that had an all-women shortlist.

      TBF, Hattie’s credibility had already been holed below the waterline when she turned up in her Peckham constituency to show how safe the streets were, wearing a stab vest and surrounded by a platoon of Met Plod.

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/395e7c8a3ac8151d99f20c45955676d7cc6619856909c8192fc1598aa3c505f6.jpg

    5. Hattie Hatemen lost the last of her credibility when she supported her husband, Jack Dromey, when he stood for a seat that had an all-women shortlist.

      TBF, Hattie’s credibility had already been holed below the waterline when she turned up in her Peckham constituency to show how safe the streets were, wearing a stab vest and surrounded by a platoon of Met Plod.

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/395e7c8a3ac8151d99f20c45955676d7cc6619856909c8192fc1598aa3c505f6.jpg

    6. Hattie Hatemen lost the last of her credibility when she supported her husband, Jack Dromey, when he stood for a seat that had an all-women shortlist.

      TBF, Hattie’s credibility had already been holed below the waterline when she turned up in her Peckham constituency to show how safe the streets were, wearing a stab vest and surrounded by a platoon of Met Plod.

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/395e7c8a3ac8151d99f20c45955676d7cc6619856909c8192fc1598aa3c505f6.jpg

  35. Good morning all.
    Tried to log on to nttl.blog via Sky. No luck.

    Eventually I discovered this message:
    “the site was blocked because it matched the following categories:
    Weapons,Violence, Gore and Hate”

    Certainly true that I once met someone who knew Al Gore, but that was 30+ years ago.

    2. I used to have a diminutive police sergeant on my shift who was know to one and all as “Sinex” … the little squirt that gets right up your nose!

  37. RT headlines. I cannot read the stories, and the BBC has little to offer.
    RT:
    Anthrax outbreak in southern Russia.
    UK arms stock pile drained by exports to Ukraine. (Nice picture of One O’Clock Gun blokes looking at empty smoking shell at Edinburgh Castle)
    Pro NATO government of Bulgaria is ousted.
    BRICS developing reserve currency.

    BBC does have a front page news story that Jerry Hall and Rupert Murdoch are rumoured to be splitting up.

      2. Maybe. I was hoping to contrast the serious journalism and actual news stories on RT with the salacious fluff that makes up most of the BBC reportage. (along with very sympathetic articles about illegal immigrants.)

      3. Quite possible. She doesn’t look terribly feminine; for some reason, the expression ‘ladyboy’ springs to mind.

  39. Teacher strike would be unforgivable, says Nadhim Zahawi
    Children have suffered enough following Covid pandemic, warns Education Secretary, after largest union threatens to walk out
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/06/22/teacher-strike-would-unforgivable-says-nadhim-zahawi/

    BTL

    I taught in an independent school. I never joined a union. I never went on strike.

    It is an unspoken rule amongst teachers in independent schools that they will never go on strike. Does anyone ask themselves why the gulf between private schools and state schools has widened so dramatically since the pandemic started? Private school pupils have survived lockdowns far better. I wonder why? Could it have anything to do with the priorities and the ethos of the teachers?

    1. Our media have not been able to resist stoking this up since the rail union mafia staged this terrible walkout.

    2. I think this is because if they go on strike they risk losing customers and thus losing their jobs. They exist in a market. State schools do not.

      That’s easily changed by the introduction of school vouchers.

      1. One of the first criminal actions that Blair committed was to abolish the assisted places scheme which enabled children whose academic needs were not met by their local state school to go to an independent school which could answer these needs without the parents having to pay fees.

        In France you are entitled to free education. You do not lose this entitlement if you decide to send your children to private schools – in effect you just pay the difference, if any.

        Before we took our children off sailing and home-schooling in the Med they went to catholic private schools. These were so well organised that they did not have to charge the parents any school fees.

        Indeed private catholic schools in France in areas of high immigration are the schools of first choice for many people of other faiths.

        As far as our courses are concerned we ‘exist in a market’ to use your phrase. If we strive to produce the very best courses we can we shall survive – if we fail to do this we shall drown. Over the years we have had students from virtually all the leading independent schools in Britain on our courses because Caroline’s teaching is so very highly rated. Look at our website if you have time: https://tracey-frenchcourses.weebly.com/

      2. However teachers in private schools would soon find jobs in the state sector, should their private school close down. Whether they would want to, of course, is another matter. They don’t have to put up with parents complaining their child is punished for something or other, the parents actually want their children to do well!

  40. Brexit remains ‘open wound’ for EU citizens living in UK

    Survey of EU nationals shows ‘profound and lasting’ impact of Brexit on sense of identity

    A Dutch man, 40, said: “I moved here as part of the same philosophy; now feel that common idea is gone and I feel like an immigrant.” Others said Brexit had changed their view of their country of origin: “I feel more German and more attached to Germany since 2016,” said a 45-year-old German woman in the UK.

    “I Hope my country of origin will never become as unfair and xenophobic as the UK is now,” said a French woman, aged 62. Another 64-year-old French-born woman in the UK for more than 40 years said: “I can barely express how hurt I am. I came to the UK in 1979 and worked in the NHS. I have felt betrayed, unheard, uncared for. I started to suffer from anxieties. I decided to apply for British citizenship, not because I wanted to be British, but so I could sleep at night again. When I got my British passport, I spat on it.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jun/23/brexit-remains-open-wound-eu-citizens-living-uk

    I doubt that many who were opposed to membership of the EU were particularly bothered by EU migrants in the country before 2004. How many did any of us encounter? There were barely a million here before then. It was the eastward expansion and the tidal wave from the old communist bloc that turned the country against the EU. The Guardian, not surprisingly, fails to mention this.

    1. I’ve no objection to most Europeans who came here to work. What about the thousands of Somalis with Dutch passports? And the ones from Albania? How come they are here? And the Romanians who came to plunder rather than work?

      The people moaning about this had the chance of ‘settled status’ without losing their own nationality – not that the EU countries reciprocated……. What about native English who have been swamped by immigrants so they are a minority in most of our cities?

      1. The guardian likes immigrants though. For some insane reason they think that massive uncontrolled gimmigration by a violent rapist group is a good thing. Mostly I believe, because it undermines this country.

        I don’t think they understand that this invading horde don’t and won’t ever think like them. The rapist criminal horde will destroy everything the Islington Left like. All the more reason for them to be lumbered with a dozen or so illegals each. Let’s see how they feel living with paedophiles and rapists.

        1. The Guardian staff must fear immigrants which would explain why the newspaper never dares to publicly criticise immigration.
          Look what happened to a fellow bunch of journos at Charlie Hebdo.

    2. If you wanted to be British then you’d respect the country and be grateful once you received proof. Brexit was an opportunity to leave a communist block and trade freely with the world. To set our own direction as every other country.

      But hey. It’s the guaridan rent seeking for sales amongst the petty small minded Left who hate this country.

  41. Brexit remains ‘open wound’ for EU citizens living in UK

    Survey of EU nationals shows ‘profound and lasting’ impact of Brexit on sense of identity

    A Dutch man, 40, said: “I moved here as part of the same philosophy; now feel that common idea is gone and I feel like an immigrant.” Others said Brexit had changed their view of their country of origin: “I feel more German and more attached to Germany since 2016,” said a 45-year-old German woman in the UK.

    “I Hope my country of origin will never become as unfair and xenophobic as the UK is now,” said a French woman, aged 62. Another 64-year-old French-born woman in the UK for more than 40 years said: “I can barely express how hurt I am. I came to the UK in 1979 and worked in the NHS. I have felt betrayed, unheard, uncared for. I started to suffer from anxieties. I decided to apply for British citizenship, not because I wanted to be British, but so I could sleep at night again. When I got my British passport, I spat on it.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jun/23/brexit-remains-open-wound-eu-citizens-living-uk

    I doubt that many who were opposed to membership of the EU were particularly bothered by EU migrants in the country before 2004. How many did any of us encounter? There were barely a million here before then. It was the eastward expansion and the tidal wave from the old communist bloc that turned the country against the EU. The Guardian, not surprisingly, fails to mention this.

  43. Marseille, Alexandria and Istanbul prepare for Mediterranean tsunami

    Risk of significant tsunami within next 30 years is nearly 100%, Unesco says, as it urges coastal cities to become ‘tsunami-ready’

    A tsunami could soon hit major cities on or near the Mediterranean Sea including Marseille, Alexandria and Istanbul, with a nearly 100% chance of a wave reaching more than a metre high in the next 30 years, according to Unesco. The risk of a tsunami in Mediterranean coastal communities is predicted to soar as sea levels rise.

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jun/23/marseille-alexandria-and-istanbul-prepare-for-mediterranean-tsunami

    Stop laughing at the back!

      1. We get loads of waves of a metre and more of course. But a body of water, miles in extent, a metre higher than the sea it moves through and travelling at hundreds of miles an hour, will cause an awful lot of damage as it comes ashore. It doesn’t just break on the beach like your everyday wave, it just keeps on rolling inland. It all depends on coastal topography of course.

        2. It’s not just the wave being a metre high, it’s also how deep the water movement associated with it goes.
          The movement of ordinary waves, generally stirred up by the wind, is quite shallow and superficial.
          The movement of a tsunami can reach down tens of metres which, when it reaches shallower water, has to go somewhere. Hence the effect it has when it reaches shore.

    2. When I read the headline my immediate reaction was that it would be a story about a Tsunami of gimmegrants.

      1. Sea level rise is Probably caused by all the expats swimming or peeing in it. The Spanish are about to hand out heavy fines for topping up the med.

    4. That will Probably be caused by the earthquake in Afghanistan. I’ve just seen the news footage of the taliban strolling around with their automatic weapons. That’ll make things better. (Sarc)
      And now our political classes are suggesting we should help them in some way or other. Really !
      Send them some money so they can spend it on more weapons and ammunition.

      1. We shouldn’t interfere.

        The Taliban are b#######s.

        Afghan is nothing to do with us , let Iran and corrupt Pakistan deall with humanitarian aid .

        It is a Muslim problem ..

        1. Totally agree TB.
          But I don’t doubt that our stupid government will try to annoy the general British public.
          For the good of relationships with the Islamic community.

          1. Good old ‘community relations’. The ones that allow the wholesale drugging and rape of underage girls.

        2. Much like the recent hoohaa about the film in Brum was a mohamaden problem. The film director was shia mohamaden, those opposed to his free speech were sunni mohamadens.

          I once had occasion to write to my Scottish Nationalist MP about their stupid stance on sectarian songs sung by the supporters of the two big Glasgow teams, treating such as a ‘hate crime’ and locking up offenders.

          Yet the same Scottish Nationalist Party was tripping over itself in a clamour to import a sectarian stramash that would make Celtic v Rangers look like Laurel and Hardy.

      2. But surely our money is tainted; we are non-believers who eat the wrong food and are allies of the Great Satan. If they accept our money they can wave goodbye to all those heavenly virgins.
        Or am I missing something?

        1. I think they have a word for that type of adverse or hypocritical behaviour.
          Not sure of spelling takria or something that sounds like that.
          I clearly remember my father after “durin’ the war” spending some time in Egypt and other parts of North Africa saying, never trust an Arab son !
          I had to fit 4 new kitchens in a block of flats in London owned by an oil company. The whole of the top floor was one occupied and a guarded apartment. Some of the items including some human going up and down in the lift left nothing to the imagination.

        2. Strange that out of the 52 Muslim nations in the world none has volunteered help or aid.

    5. The year before last, my favourite place, Ischia, suffered a small earthquake and a few houses were destroyed. However, across the bay Vesuvius continues to swell and despite that, they build houses further and further up the slopes… Like LA, the Big One remains awaited.

      1. The mingieness of the Italian government is partly to blame for that situation.
        It encourages the residents to move from a fertile, pleasant region …. by offering well below market price for their properties.

    6. The year before last, my favourite place, Ischia, suffered a small earthquake and a few houses were destroyed. However, across the bay Vesuvius continues to swell and despite that, they build houses further and further up the slopes… Like LA, the Big One remains awaited.

    7. Golly! The first time I stepped into the Med the waves were four feet high. A tsunami in 1965 – who knew?

    1. I’m actually serious. The attempt and effort these fools are putting into preventing this country from being a success – from copying those nations that have proven better, stronger, more resilient, market led economic structures must be stopped. These people are evil, self serving, stupid, spiteful scum.

      1. So has the UK, caused by big fat state. Poverty is also relative and applies to the immigrant workforce. Tough.

        1. Poverty there affects the natives and especially the elderly.

          The immigrants do well, most of them get highly paid and work in banks or similar jobs.

    3. And lots of dirigisme. Not the free-market paradise it’s sometimes cracked up to be.

      1. The state here does the same. Most of the problems are caused by big government corruption, fraud and theft. This is why it is grossly overfunded and must be reduced. If it has no money, and is properly constrained into effective paralysis then it can’t do any damage.

  47. ‘Morning again.

    Somehow the word “tough” doesn’t do this chap justice:

    Kazimerz Szmid, Polish paratrooper dropped over Arnhem during the ill-fated Operation Market Garden – obituary

    At the beginning of the war the Soviets drove Szmid and his family from their Polish village to be put to work in the bitter cold of Siberia

    ByTelegraph Obituaries 22 June 2022 • 3:27pm

    Kazimerz Szmid, who has died aged 97, was forced from his home in Poland to Siberia before arriving in England, where he joined the Polish Parachute Brigade. He was one of the last surviving Poles to fight during Operation Market Garden, the Allied attempt to capture the bridge at Arnhem.

    Szmid was a member of the First Battalion of the First Polish Independent Parachute Brigade, which had been formed in Scotland in September 1941.

    He arrived in England in June 1943 to begin his parachute training at Ringway (now Manchester Airport), which he completed in September. His battalion was based at Leslie in Scotland until May 1944, when it moved to Stamford, Lincs, in preparation for D-Day, coming under the command of the 1st British Airborne Division.

    Under its leader, Major General Stanislaw Sosabowski, the Polish Brigade trained on Salisbury Plain in anticipation of operations in Normandy, but it was not required.

    During the ill-fated operation at Arnhem, the Poles were due to be dropped on the third day, but bad weather delayed their involvement. In later years Szmid recalled the tension caused by the frequent postponements: “At the airfields the weather was poor – fog, we couldn’t take off – so we sat around all day hoping that it would clear. The flights were cancelled and we returned to barracks which were not expecting us. Nobody … slept or ate due to the tension.

    “The next day, the same poor weather conditions. However, our glider element had taken off the previous day from another location. Waiting, waiting, nothing we could do about it; we were so keyed up. Orders to board, travel to the edge of the runway, engines shut off, disembark. I took all of my 500-cigarette allowance and managed to smoke it all whilst waiting. In the evening the same order came through, drop postponed, and we stood down.”

    Eventually, Szmid and his colleagues took off on the afternoon of September 21 1944, but poor weather and confusion over radio messages resulted in some of the USAAF transport aircraft returning to base. As the 73 remaining aircraft approached the drop zone east of Driel on the south side of the lower Rhine, they came under heavy anti-aircraft fire and a number were shot down. The paratroopers were fired on as they descended, but 1,003 men landed safely.

    On landing, Szmid discovered that most of his battalion were in the aircraft that had turned back. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion and soon came under enemy fire. Lack of boats hindered the Poles’ attempt to cross the river to join up with the beleaguered British units. Once the battle to take the bridge at Arnhem had been lost, the Poles defended the crossing points to allow survivors to escape across the river from the north.

    Szmid’s unit marched to Nijmegen, where they spent a week guarding airfields, before boarding a ship in Ostend to return to their base at Stamford. In later life he commented: “It was difficult to see what else we could have done to assist in this operation, landing late and no river crossing equipment.”

    Kazimerz Szmid was born on a farm near Nieswiez in eastern Poland (now Nyasvizh, Belarus) on January 18 1925. He attended a local school in Zapole.

    During the early hours of February 19 1940, the Soviet secret police arrived in his village and ordered his family to pack a few belongings and walk through the snow to a railway station 12 miles away. There, with most of the villagers, they were herded into cattle trucks and locked in.

    Then began a nightmare journey during which many died of starvation, disease and the intense cold. Eventually they arrived in Siberia, where they were put to work in the forests. They toiled in temperatures as low as minus 40 C; food was scarce and Szmid’s mother exchanged her wedding ring for something to eat for her four children.

    In August 1941 the Soviets gave the Poles an amnesty against their unspecified “crimes” and they were told they could travel where they liked. A Polish army under General Anders was being formed in south Russia, and the family set off for Tashkent.

    But trains were unreliable and the family had to fend for themselves during the frequent stops and delays. While searching for food at one stop, Szmid and his father lost contact with the rest of the family. His father became ill and died shortly afterwards. Alone, the young Szmid buried him.

    He kept returning to the railway station in the hope that he would meet up with his mother, but to no avail. Desperately hungry, and in rags, with just one shoe, he saw a troop train carrying recruits for the new Polish Army; he was taken on board and fed.

    He travelled with them to Jalal-Abad, Kyrgyzstan, where, despite being too young, he persuaded a Polish officer to let him apply to join the 5th Kresowa Division, which he did in March 1942.

    He discovered that his mother and a sister were some 12 miles from his camp, and it became possible for them to work with the Polish army. In due course they left for Uganda, where they spent the rest of the war.

    In April 1942, General Anders’s army came under British command and moved to Persia (now Iran). They were taken by train to Iraq, where he was reunited with his brother, who had joined the 3rd Carpathian Rifle Division, which later fought in Italy. He also discovered that his elder sister was a driver in the Polish Army.

    In Iraq he volunteered for the Polish Parachute Brigade, travelled to Haifa in Palestine and boarded a troopship for England before heading for Leslie to begin his training.
    In the final weeks of the war in Europe, the Polish Brigade returned to Germany to provide part of the British occupation force, which became the British Army of the Rhine. Szmid and his colleagues were deeply resentful that, having become the fourth largest Allied army, the Poles were not invited to march in the Victory Parade through London, unlike some nations who had made minimal contributions.

    He came back to England in 1947 and joined the Polish Resettlement Corps. His brother returned from Italy, his sister reached London, and his mother and younger sister arrived a year later from Uganda. He was discharged from the Army in 1948 and made England his home, becoming a British citizen.

    Initially he worked as a coal miner in Mansfield, before spending 32 years working for Brown & Polson, the cornflour manufacturer. In 1990 he became the caretaker of the Polish Catholic Mission in Manchester. He was a member of the Polish Choir of St Moniuszko and the Union of Polish Paratroopers.

    Kazimerz Szmid married, in 1952, Kazimiera Wyszynska, who had been deported to Siberia when she was eight and orphaned. She and their son survive him.

    Kazimerz Szmid, born January 18 1925, died May 28 2022

    A BTL post with which I’m sure many here will agree:

    Michael Williams16 HRS AGO

    The refusal to allow the Poles to march in the Victory Parade is a stain on the British Government that wil never be expunged or forgotten by the Poles, nor should it be. It was a disgraceful and cowardly act by our leaders and if our current government, and the Royal Family, are willing to apologise, and offer regrets, to other countries for the past actions of the British then an apology to the Poles is well overdue.

    2. My school music teacher Mr Gorzkowski (spelling?) walked with a limp. He had been injured after being parachuted into Arnhem with the Polish Parachute Brigade..

  48. Treasury pockets extra £100 million in inheritance tax as average bill nears £266,000
    House prices and inflation have pushed many estates over IHT thresholds
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tax/inheritance/treasury-pockets-extra-100-million-inheritance-tax-average-bill/

    The idyllic cottage near Lymington that my parents bought for £4,000 in 1959 is now worth £1,436,000. It was sold years ago when my mother had to move into a nursing home but who, other than agents, speculators and the state has made any profit out of it?

    BTL

    Will people never understand that the state wants high property prices as higher property prices mean more money for the state in stamp duty and CGT and when a property owner dies the state rakes it in in inheritance tax?

    If our comfortable, pleasant middle-class house is worth less than the IHT threshold then when my wife and I die the whole of our estate will pass to our children to help them buy their own houses which will likely be within their financial range.

    But, if our house is worth several times the IHT threshold then the state will rub its hands in glee when we die and pocket the money and our children will find they have less money to buy their overpriced homes.

    And yet gullible people think that they are better off if their houses are grossly overpriced and the government is happy to continue their scams.

    1. Isn’t the family home exempt from inheritance tax? As it is, it’s an abomination of a tax that with countless others should be scrapped.

      1. It is considered to be part of the estate and if IHT free limits are exceeded then tax will be due.
        It is more than somewhat complicated.

        In the case of my family the IR got more than any of the beneficiaries.

        1. We’ve tried many times to get mother to sign the house into my sister and my name to avoid that miserable tax but the blasted woman won’t. She believes we’ll sell it under her. I’ve no interest in the money as I consider it my mothers to spend, but I don’t want the tax office to get a penny.

          1. My Land law is very out of date, it’s a pity BT isn’t around to explain.
            Ultimately the State will take your money; even if she did as you suggest she would need lots of legal advice, it is not nearly as straightforward as you might think and changes have made it even more complex to avoid the tax by the method you suggest.

          3. I can understand her reluctance.
            The prospect of unearned money twists people’s souls. Think the best of your family, but be prepared for the worst.

          4. We did invent a way whereby Mum gave it to us and basically ‘sold it’ with all the cash going into her bank account so it was hers, untouchable.

            But no. Although we’re talking about the same person who hasn’t seen her Grandson for 4 years after I found out she was slapping him as she had me. Heck, she was keeping Mongo in another room on his own as he would protect Junior.

          5. As I wrote above, it may not avoid that tax – obviously depending on circumstances. There are other ways to alleviate IHT.

          6. The only other solution would be, if there were charities which you trusted (a big ask) to vary the will post death (all beneficiaries must agree) and donate to said charity/ies up to the amount of the IHT. The Treasury therefore doesn’t get a penny. But unfortunately since Bliar’s reforms to the “third sector” I am not a huge fan of most charities.

        2. There are ways around it. But you would need advice, because the law (and therefore rules) change from time to time.

        3. There are ways around it. But you would need advice, because the law (and therefore rules) change from time to time.

    2. I’m one step ahead of them and signed over a large percentage of my house to the kids

      1. Unfortunately, unless you made over that part of your house before 18 March 1986 or you pay a market rent for that proportion of the house, in England at least that could be counted as a “gift with reservation” and still taxed on your death. At least it was the last time I recall. Things might have changed, but it is worth looking into, and checking.

        1. My solicitor didn’t see a problem but of course I come under Scottish law

          1. That why I made specific reference to England (and Wales, for that matter). It could also be that the property is valued at under the IHT threshold, or that some other mitigating procedures have been put in place.

      2. Unfortunately, unless you pay a market rent for that proportion of the house, in England at least that would be counted as a “gift with reservation” and still taxed. At least it was the last time I recall. Things might have changed, but it is worth looking into. and checking.

  49. Hi NoTTlers…..Don’t forgat to look under the mattress

    The Bank will be withdrawing the legal tender status of the paper £20 and £50 notes after September 30 2022, and it is encouraging anyone who has them at home to spend or deposit them at their bank or Post Office.

    2. I found some very old notes in an envelope behind a fridge in a house clearance about 20 years ago.
      Deceased family members.
      I was told to send them registered post to the BOE and they paid the money into my account. Which was nice.

    3. They want to abolish cash and until they do they want to know where every penny you have is so that they can steal it from you more easily.

    4. Already done that – changed it for a plastic one. The plastic ones are awful , they crease easily

      1. I thought slammers wouldn’t touch them, because they contained some ingredient derived from pigs. Soon got over that little nicety, didn’t they?

    5. I had a problem with gift money that I found in old birthday cards when we were clearing Elderly Chum’s house.
      They were a good 15 years old, so the post office couldn’t change them; I had to go to the bank.

    1. Another very offensive joke (an old one) which I must put behind the spoiler and ask those of a sensitive nature to not look at it.

      Q. Try to imagine (It’s easy if you try) what is hairy, dead and came in a yellow bag?
      A. John Lennon

  51. Ghislaine Maxwell should get up to 55 YEARS in prison for role in trafficking underage girls for ex boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein, prosecutors say
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10944471/Feds-Ghislaine-Maxwell-deserves-30-years-prison.html#newcomment

    Epstein was either murdered or secretly smuggled out of prison knowing that he would be killed instantly if he divulged the names of his clients. Does anybody seriously believe he committed suicide?

    With such rampant corruption in the US Prince Andrew would have been insane to have appeared in a US court just as it is insane for Assange to be extradited to face US Injustice.

    BTL
    Why haven’t the clients of the Epstein/Maxwell young girls sex trade been publicly named and shamed? Was Prince Andrew the only person involved? What about people like Clinton, Trump, Obama and Bill Gates who all made several trips to Epstein Island on the Lolita Express?

    1. It’s as if Ghislane trafficked all these girls but there were no customers? Are we meant to believe that?

    2. We should send all the members of the muzzie gangs, responsible for all the atrocities against young girls in British towns and cities, across to the U S of A for sentencing.

      1. The BLM would ensure that they were only found guilty if they were white.

    3. No doubt whatsername, the 17 y-o tart, was paid to bring proceedings against Prince Andrew, and will keep schtum about anyone else, lest she gets a ride in the Clinton coffin.

      It’s Americn thinking, isn’t it? Why let a Yank get the blame for anything if they can pin it on a Brit?

  52. Moh has a very bad cold , and is quietly watching cricket .

    Man and woman, aged 60 and 55, are charged with conspiring to bring a child from Nigeria to the UK to harvest their organs
    Nwanneka Ekweremadu, 55, and Ike Ekweremadu, 60, are both from Nigeria
    They will appear at Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court on Thursday afternoon
    Child alleged to have been trafficked for organs is now safe with the police
    By MARTIN ROBINSON, CHIEF REPORTER

    PUBLISHED: 11:05, 23 June 2022 | UPDATED: 11:14, 23 June 2022

    The investigation was launched after detectives were alerted to potential offences under modern slavery legislation in May 2022, the force said.

    In 2017 a former Nigerian government minister claimed that migrants from his country were having their organs harvested after being sold into slavery.

    Femi Fani-Kayode, a onetime aviation minister in Nigeria, claimed that 75 per cent of slaves who have their organs harvested in North Africa are from his country.

    The Cambridge University-educated lawyer added that the victims have their ‘bodies mutilated’ and are ‘roasted like suya [shish kebabs]’. He went on: ‘Roasted alive! This is what Libyans do to sub-Saharan Africans who are looking for a transit point to Europe.

    ‘They sell them into slavery and either murder, mutilate, torture or work them to death.’ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10945317/Man-woman-Nigeria-charged-conspiring-harvest-organs-child.html?ito=social-facebook&fbclid=IwAR3LgBT5UxmsNfhucrb28oR1YKvw9JyR2cWGbCnqTVRxWocG9KbOqKYk370

      1. He is very sniffy and bunged up . The cricket will keep him happy .
        Sadly his golf game a few days ago deyhdrated him , he was exhausted , he’d had a long day , and it was very warm . his nose looks very burnt .

        Cooler day here , very muggy and still.

        I have some shopping to do , visit a farm shop for dog food , a few bits and pieces for the fridge , and I will listen to the radio in the car as I bimble along my 12 mile route .

        1. Could be another outbreak of covid?

          Quite nice here today – just ordered an extra case of wine from Laithwaites at a big discount…….OH is about to do a call to Radio Glos to talk about hedgehogs.

      1. We need to send out the word , that if they are trafficked to the UK, they are in danger of having their organs stripped out by traffickers or eaten .

        I wonder how many illegal people end up as slaves or have their organs stripped out .

        It appears to me that if young girls can be given the cut here , that anything else is possible and done for a fee by rogue foreign doctors .

      2. It is our fault that we have not developed the Commonwealth into a free trade organisation. If we had, we and the world, would be in a different place.
        The Queen could have led the way. Spending a couple of weeks every year in each of her residences in Australia, New Zealand, West Indies, Canada, India, Fiji, The Gambia.

        Instead politicians pushed us into a “trading club” that turned out to be a fascist superstate.

    3. Some years ago, the torso of an African boy (probably from Nigeria) was found in the Thames. At the time, religious rituals were suspected, but this case makes you wonder.
      By these standards, the Africans who were merely traded to the plantations were being treated humanely.

      1. I would go along with that. Slaves were not cheap to buy. For comparison purposes, you do not get many people buying a new car and then hitting it with a pick handle.

    4. They want to bring that here. Hell, our border farce are importing that sort of savagery.

  53. Good Moaning (just).
    There is something very decadent about eating out for breakfast.
    (A reward for going through paperwork far too early in the morning; though, to be honest, there is never a good time for going through paperwork.)

  55. I am very fond of fine wine and have a book on the vineyards and vintages of Burgundy by Clive Coates. Very fond of cheeses and I like to paint . Might take a little trip to Burgundy at some point, one day .

      1. We’ve only been to France ( Paris ) once many years ago. Would very much like to see the medieval rural towns and villages as much as the countryside. We’re not city people really . Visited Rome which was beautiful but too crowded.. the same with Paris

        1. Plenty to choose from, all over France.
          The “D” roads are a pleasure to drive on. We go up and down avoiding the motorways and routes National as much as possible and will usually see more traffic in our first 50 UK miles after the tunnel than we do in the entire 500 miles of our journey north.

          3. We used to take the ferry from St Malo to Portsmouth but now it is far better and quicker door to door to drive from Brittany to Calais because the driving is so much more pleasant in France

  56. We need coal fired electricity generating plants to get us through the coming winter:

    The prospect of firing up coal-fired plants is “bitter” but essential, Habeck said. “To reduce gas consumption, less gas must be used to generate electricity. Coal-first power plants will have to be used more instead,” he said, adding that the aim is to have gas storage tanks filled ahead of winter.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/06/22/coal-plant-europe-germany-austria-netherlands-russia-gas/

    Nicola blew it when she demolished Scotland’s last coal fired plant.

    1. Open up mines here – importing coal defeats the object as does the import of wood fuel pellets

      1. They are still playing their local is best version of the global climate game. Never mind that global emissions increase, our little enclave is cleaner than yours!

        It is the same with Trudeau being happy to import oil but does everything he can to stop natural gas resources being developed.

        1. Exactly my point of view – moving all your dirty manufacturing [of windmills, EVs, batteries etc] to another country so that you can virtue signal is top level hypocrisy – the overall effect on the planet is still occurring.

  57. Boris and Carrie land in Rwanda as he faces a double by-election defeat in Wakefield and Tiverton TODAY that could spark new Tory revolt… and he’s due for showdown with Charles on Channel migrant plan

    DM Story: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10944737/Boris-Carrie-land-Rwanda-faces-double-election-defeat.html#newcomment

    BTL

    Either Prince Charles wants to meddle in politics or he wants to become king; he cannot and must not do both.

    If he does not like the government’s Rwanda policy then can he not undertake to accommodate, feed and clothe all illegal immigrants on his own property, give them pocket money and do it all at his own expense?

  58. 353453+ up ticks,

    May one ask,

    Why in heavens name would any sane person want to reestablish polio
    TB ect to these Isles,I can assume most strongly that the illegals
    are foreign kaki containers & on arriving at DOVER require a dump,
    if the latest ” “expert” “theories” contain any truth.

    1. Over 30 years ago, when working in the radiology department of a (private) hospital, anybody emigrating from the U.K. had to have a chest X-ray with a report from the Consultant Radiologist, as proof they did not have TB. We have never insisted on similar proofs of anybody coming to the U.K. TB has been imported from at least that time.

      BTW it was about that time that many NHS patients were sent to private hospitals for knee X-rays.

      1. When we emigrated to the US, we had to go for chest x-rays and blood work, to rule out TB and any venereal diseases. Mind you, the US INS was totally incompetent and when we finally went for these tests, we’d been in the country for 5 years- plenty of time to spread anything;-)

        1. I believe the US, Australia and NZ ban anyone with a history of Huntingdon’s Chorea in their family.
          I wonder if GB does the same thing?
          (I know its known origins are on the Essex/Suffolk border, but there’s been a lot of human movement and interbreeding in the past 400 years.)

          1. The Canadian immigration system has become so incompetent that before being approved as an immigrant, you will probably have died of any infections disease that you might have.

            That’s only for people applying under skilled worker rules, illiterate refugees still get in without delay.

          2. I don’t know. Anything is possible.
            This INS actually sent us a deportation order- the date on it? July 4th! Our immigration attorney sorted that one out.

      2. OK, get them a full battery of disease checks. If they fail any, into the incinerator. Then send them the bill.

        1. Surprise, surprise! Still, never mind. We have plenty of money, spare doctors and nurses and hospitals to take care of them all. I wouldn’t mind betting we have quite a few here in Woking. Also “groomers”.

    2. Diversity strength! Big city, get used to it… blah blah, other lies, blah blah.

    1. Only Europe, North America and their satellites are quarreling with Russia. The rest of the world, which is most of the world, wants none of it.

  60. Germany takes step closer to gas rationing. 23 June 2022.

    Germany has taken a step closer to gas rationing after a drop in supplies from Russia.

    The country has triggered the “alarm” stage of an emergency gas plan to deal with shortages, Germany’s economy ministry said.

    Vlad’s getting really worried now! Lol!

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-61908998

    2. There was a guest on RT yesterday talking about Russia, specifically in the East, using more gas because it’s cleaner than coal.

    1. His father and grandfather habitually (and incongruously) place(d) their hands in their jacket pockets.

      1. Must have been long jackets if they wanted to to play pocket billiards.

  63. BREAKING NEWS:

    As Vienna/Austria and certain parts of Germany are named as the best places to live in Europe…

    I Couldn’t live in Munich, or anywhere in Germany.

    There is too much noise from the security dogs who protect the Mill workers..

    YES!

    ??? The mills are alive with the hounds of Munich. ????

    NO! You get YOUR coat!

  66. Well, well, the receptionist from hell has a cousin in GA! You may recall my friend’s comment about that person deserving a boil on her buttocks.
    Friend was volunteering at a polling station yesterday for a run-off and was a witness in the vehicle taking the cast votes, the equipment etc to the counting place. She there encountered the most unhelpful woman imaginable. A bit of a run in but my friend won the day.
    Today, I get to choose where this person gets a boil! I love humour like this and being able to share it with a friend, albeit 3,000 miles away, is precious.
    Edited for wrong word.

  67. BBC ‘Hate Yorkshire County Cricket Club Week’ currently being repeated on Radio 4 at the moment. The last one went on for a month but the BBC don’t think it was effective as the club is still playing cricket. Someone said something hurty to a mun(sic) of asian origin – who spent a total of 8 years playing for Yorkshire in two separate periods. It must have been really hurty to have to return to such a hateful, racist organisation which made him captain of the team.

    https://scontent-cdg2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/290054144_10160366345734954_5276986073533974736_n.jpg?_nc_cat=108&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=g7UsxHcV_WIAX_xPp0q&_nc_ht=scontent-cdg2-1.xx&oh=00_AT_yhA3MNGhyAqm0TRJZA_LKKjZtNRZk74195u-LbpVhyQ&oe=62B9A296

    2. The fightback has started; and not before time if you ask me!

      ECB hosted Rafiq days before charges issued

      Former player watched Lord’s Test from a hospitality box Governing body accused of ‘bias’ in case against Yorkshire

      Azeem Rafiq was treated to corporate hospitality by the England and Wales Cricket Board during this month’s first Test at Lord’s, days before it issued charges over the Yorkshire racism scandal.

      The stunning revelation saw the governing body accused of a lack of independence and creating the perception of “bias” in its case against the club and the likes of former England players Michael Vaughan, Matthew Hoggard, Tim Bresnan and Gary Ballance.

      It followed an extraordinary attack on the ECB’S handling of the scandal by Yorkshire’s past four chairmen, who declared it unfit to expose the full story behind Rafiq’s damning accusations of abuse at the crisis county and the botched handling of them, and demanded a fully independent inquiry into the affair.

      Colin Graves, Steve Denison, Robin Smith and Roger Hutton told Telegraph Sport the revelation compounded a litany of concerns each of them had over the disciplinary proceedings opened against the club and individuals charged last week over the scandal.

      Those included that there had been no sign of Rafiq having been charged himself over an anti-semitic slur that emerged in November, despite him admitting to it.

      His appearance in the ECB’S corporate box on day one of the first Test between England and New Zealand was confirmed by a fellow guest, who said: “The great and the good of the ECB were taking it in turns to go and sit next to him.”

      Graves, himself chair of the ECB for five years until 2020, branded the governing body’s feting of Rafiq as “absolutely bizarre”: adding: “I just can’t get my head around it.”

      Denison, who said he attended the Test on the same day as Rafiq, added: “I didn’t realise he was a guest of the ECB. That’s just ridiculous in the circumstances. It shows a complete lack of independence all round. Bias might be a better word to use.”

      Smith said the ECB appeared to be endorsing “one side” of the case, while Hutton said: “It’s not a bright thing to do, in reality.”

      That Rafiq watched the match from the ECB’S box was confirmed by a fellow guest, who said: “I was absolutely amazed to see him there, to be honest, given what’s going on and given charges that are levelled now against certain Yorkshire players and ex-yorkshire players.”

      The guest said Rafiq was one of “at least 40 people” in the ECB’S box on the day, along with senior figures from the governing body, New Zealand Cricket and representatives from various religions.

      “It looked like they were trying too hard to say, ‘Look at us; aren’t we completely inclusive?’, with Rafiq front and centre,” the guest said. “Trust me, the great and the good of the ECB were taking it in turns to go and sit next to him.”

      Charges were finally announced on Wednesday last week over the Yorkshire racism scandal, with the crisis club and a number of individuals facing action over accusations made against them by Rafiq.

      Vaughan and the county’s sacked head coach Andrew Gale both face disciplinary hearings, with former Test trio Ballance, Hoggard and Bresnan reportedly among five others facing action. Those charged stood accused of breaching the

      ECB’S rules on improper conduct, its anti-discrimination code, or both.

      Vaughan and Bresnan have publicly denied making racially insensitive remarks, Ballance has admitted calling Rafiq “P—” as part of “banter” between them, while Hoggard and Gale have yet to comment.

      Rafiq’s fellow guest at Lord’s said: “This has got the potential to blow up in the ECB’S face, and Rafiq’s face.

      “The individuals who have been charged by the ECB, I suspect they will group together now and take very, very strong action.”

      The ECB declined to comment, citing a policy of never talking about hospitality guests, but a source proclaimed those accusing it of a lack of independence “probably don’t understand how the regulatory process works” there.

      That process involves officials from the governing body acting as investigators and then prosecutors under the oversight of an independently-chaired regulatory committee. Cases are heard by the Cricket Discipline Commission, which the ECB’S website describes as an “arm’s length” body, with disciplinary panels comprising “three independent and suitably qualified and experienced individuals”.

      However, investigations into recent major scandals in other sports have been outsourced to independent QCS.

      A spokesman for Rafiq referred enquiries on his client’s attendance at Lord’s to the governing body.

      It seems that the anti-Yorkshire bias at the BBC is matched by the same at the ECB. Time, methinks, for a change at the top in both organisations.

  68. Lord Frost accuses Boris Johnson of making ‘factually incorrect statements’
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/06/23/boris-johnson-news-strikes-wakefield-tiverton-byelection-brexit/

    What more lies are going to come out?

    What I would really like to know is the truth of what was said and done when Gove and Johnson both arrived in Brussels just before the ‘deal’ was agreed – the deal which spawned the monster of the Northern Ireland Protocol and the betrayal of British fishermen.

    Until the arrival of Johnson and Blair it looked as if Lord Frost was determined not to have a border in the Irish Sea and not to betray the fishermen. So what changed that at the last minute and enabled the rough beast, of a sell out deal its hour come round at last, to slouch into Brussels to be born.

    Two people could have saved Johnson: Cummings and Frost – why was Johnson too stupid not to be able to see that?

    1. I do not subscribe to the DT so cannot read the article. Lord Frost is really in the firing line now with statements like that.

      1. I could only read the first paragraph before the paywall descended. Would be good if Rastus could share it.

        1. Lord Frost has criticised Boris
          Johnson as he accused the Prime Minister of making “factually incorrect
          statements” about employment levels in the UK.

          The former Brexit minister said he wished Mr Johnson “would not say
          things like that which are obviously not true” in reference to a claim
          made by the PM that there are more people in work now than before the
          pandemic.

          Speaking at an event hosted by the UK in a Changing Europe think tank
          this morning, Lord Frost said: “I wish he would not say things like
          that which are obviously not true, making factually incorrect
          statements. But in the end it’s for the Prime Minister’s own party and
          MPs to decide is that how they want to do things or is it not.”

          The UK Statistics Authority has previously criticised Mr Johnson for making the employment claim.

          Sir David Norgrove, the chairman of the organisation, wrote to Mr
          Johnson in February and said the claim was “wrong” as he warned against
          the “selective use of data”.

          Downing Street said at lunchtime that Mr Johnson had recently made
          clear that he was referring specifically to the number of employees on
          payrolls “which is higher now than it was before the pandemic”.

          2. Open the DT as normal.
            Copy the web address.
            Open the 12 foot ladder.
            Bottom right of the screen, there’s a box – paste the DT address in there. Press “enter”.

          4. It was better than usual – it didn’t rain (firehose rain is normal on Sankthans), I had a few cards, and even a couple of presents. And some hugs fmo beautiful ladies (including SWMBO) as a bonus! Cake, and red medicine… and didn’t have to empty the dishwasher (but did have to take out the paper & plastic recycling))

        3. Lord Frost has criticised Boris Johnson as he accused the Prime Minister of making “factually incorrect statements” about employment levels in the UK.

          The former Brexit minister said he wished Mr Johnson “would not say things like that which are obviously not true” in reference to a claim made by the PM that there are more people in work now than before the pandemic.

          Speaking at an event hosted by the UK in a Changing Europe think tank this morning, Lord Frost said: “I wish he would not say things like that which are obviously not true, making factually incorrect statements.

          “But in the end it’s for the Prime Minister’s own party and MPs to decide is that how they want to do things or is it not.”

          The UK Statistics Authority has previously criticised Mr Johnson for making the employment claim.

          Sir David Norgrove, the chairman of the organisation, wrote to Mr Johnson in February and said the claim was “wrong” as he warned against the “selective use of data”.

          He said the “increase in the number of people who are on payrolls is more than offset by the reduction in the number of people who are self-employed” and so overall “the number of people in work is estimated to be around 600,000 fewer than at the start of the pandemic”.

          Downing Street said at lunchtime that Mr Johnson had recently made clear that he was referring specifically to the number of employees on payrolls rather than overall employment.

          The Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman said: “I would point to what he said in Parliament yesterday. He is referring to the number of people who are on payroll which is higher now than it was before the pandemic.

          “I think he has made that clear in the House on a couple of occasions.”

          1. Thankyou……… weasel words by Boris, aren’t they. Frosty seems much more precise.

  69. Well, after covid we were informed that monkeypox was the next ‘big’ disease to come along and be used to possibly lock us up again: can’t be too careful. However, as Rastus informed us yesterday, if we refrain from buggery and also do not visit dodgy ‘all male’ bathhouses we should be safe. Cue the new strain of polio, probably escaped from over zealous use of new potions in Africa and/or other shitholes and arrived here by rubber boat, ably assisted by Border Force or the RNLI.

    Well, the carnage doesn’t end there; a new ‘Super Gonorrhoea’ strain that is antibiotic resistant has popped up in Austria. One case, and again, if we refrain from using the dubious talents of Cambodian sex workers we may escape infection. Perhaps the guy forgot to wear his mask during the dirty deed? You can’t be too careful.

    Cambodian Sex Worker Gives Austrian Man a Clap for his Performance

    1. It’s only a matter of time before we have to be locked up for our own safety due to an imminent alien invasion. Super deadly Martians whose very gaze turns humans to stone. No worries. Stick a syringe in each arm, hide behind the sofa and wear three cloth masks and you might die from that – but you won’t be abducted.

      1. But, what about the Basilisks? Their gaze also turns people to stone. We can’t hurt their feelings…

    1. Further proof of the idiocy and idiots running the “education” system. And eradication of “Englishness”.

      1. Not quite. The real idiots (and their idiocy) remained sitting on their idiotic arses in a gormless stupor whilst the Left mustered their forces and took over education (as they did every other echelon of British society).

        If they had remained alert to the threat then it could have been prevented. They didn’t and it wasn’t.

    2. I saw that this morning and have already had a rant- poor husband; it’s tough being married to a Lit person. Poetry is not an area of expertise for me and I am lukewarm about Hardy, although have read some.
      This is just total and utter Bollocks. How can Larkin not be popular with the youth today…”Your mum and dad, they f*cked you up…” etc.
      As I have said many times, I would last about 10 mins in a school nowadays.
      Edit- and Wilfred Owen- some of the best and most moving WW I poetry ever. Dulce et decorum est, pro patria mori.
      Sod these people to the gates of hell.

    3. Trash those diamonds. Eat shit. It’s been unfairly discriminated against and given a bad name. Pick it up by the clean end and celebrate.

  71. Anyway. brave as a lion me- my mush and I are off to the shops to pick up a prescription for MH and to get milk etc, which of course, went nasty the day after husband went to the shops.
    I may be some time;-))

  72. Our pathetic energy regulator has overseen a total disaster. 23 June 2022.

    What does it take to set up an energy supplier in modern Britain? Worryingly very little in some instances. Not even prior knowledge or experience is needed, just a laptop and a bit of chutzpah – an oversight condemned by an utterly damning investigation into the failings of market regulator Ofgem.

    In a desperate but ultimately catastrophic bid to break the dominance of so-called Big Six providers, the watchdog allowed people with no idea of what they were doing to flood the market with new energy firms.

    Off-the-peg suppliers were set up from people’s homes by a semi-retired footballer turned law undergraduate; a former gurkha; other wannabe entrepreneurs, and councils. Many didn’t have any knowledge of the industry and funded their operations with customer deposits rather than their own money. Some successfully signed up hundreds of thousands of households.

    Household energy bills could pass the £3,000 mark for the first time ever when the next price cap rise kicks in, in October, making the findings of The National Audit Office (NAO) a timely reminder of the part the very body tasked with policing the industry has played in the horrible mess.

    The contents of the NAO’s report make for genuinely jaw-dropping reading. Customer credit balances were built up by effectively overcharging on monthly direct debits. In some cases those then disappeared as executives extracted millions of pounds in salaries and fees before the companies went under, with customers and taxpayers left to foot the bill.

    Incredibly, about £400m of customer deposits has vanished after nearly 30 suppliers went bust. But the cost to us as taxpayers from the vast clean-up effort is far greater – £2.7bn onto everyone’s bills, equivalent to £94 per household so far.

    Yet that doesn’t even account for the collapse of Bulb, the east London start-up that professed to be more than just your average, run-of-the-mill gas and electricity supplier. It sold “green energy” and came with hi-tech credentials, eventually wooing a staggering 1.7m customers.

    Bulb even made it onto a list of Europe’s 1,000 fastest growing companies as recently as March last year, compiled by the venerable Financial Times just months before the lights went out. The hit from its demise is estimated at a further £1.9bn, which again will fall on the taxpayer. But the NAO concedes the eventual figure could be higher.

    Thanks to so-called safety net procedures, customers from failed suppliers are taken on by rivals who are able to recoup costs of doing so via a levy charged on all customer bills.

    By adopting what the NAO called a ‘low bar’ approach to licensing new suppliers, Britain’s energy market quickly turned into something resembling the Wild West through a mixture of naivete, poor oversight and plain incompetence.

    In its defence, Ofgem protests that the severity of the spike in international gas and oil prices could not have been anticipated. That’s not entirely without merit. Nobody could predict the nearly six-fold jump in the weekly average wholesale price of gas between February and December 2021, but the regulator is guilty of far more than simply lacking a crystal ball.

    Not only did it “not do enough in the years that preceded it to ensure the energy supplier sector was resilient to external shocks”, the NAO said, it helped to create a market “that was vulnerable to large-scale shocks” and “increased the risk and cost” of firms failing.

    That is quite some record. It is genuinely hard to think of a more glaring case of complete regulatory failure in modern times than this. The FCA chalked up some shockers under the dubious guidance of now Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey, but the cost of his oversight is harder to quantify and cases few in number.

    What has happened in the energy market is clear, immediate and widespread – and has had a very discernible impact on consumers at a time of already significant hardship for so many.

    As the NAO says: “Consumers have borne the brunt of supplier failures at a time when many households are already under significant financial strain having seen their bills go up to record levels.”

    This cannot be allowed to happen again. Ofgem has said it accepts the NAO’s findings and is working to fix the problems raised, but can it really be trusted to get its own house in order after the mess that it has presided over?

    The early evidence isn’t encouraging. If the regulator was doing its job properly it would bring in measures to protect deposits right away. As Ofgem chief Jonathan Brearley concedes, in some instances customer cash has been treated like “an interest-free company credit card”.

    It’s a clever line but what does the watchdog propose to do about it? It has promised a “tough” clampdown but the devil is in the detail. The best Ofgem can manage is to say it is “minded to” bring in full ring-fencing requirements “as soon as possible”, which it concedes is unlikely to be before the end of the year, by which point energy bills will have spiked again, threatening further supplier insolvencies.

    First we must await the findings of a consultation so Ofgem can “better understand” the risks to the industry. It sounds like an open invite for suppliers to lobby hard for softer reform.

    That can’t be allowed to happen. The regulator needs to act hard and fast to protect vulnerable customers from further pain. It is now abundantly clear that its light-touch regime has been a colossal failure.

    Ofgem is just another example of a Public Organisation that is falling to bits.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/06/22/pathetic-energy-regulator-has-overseen-total-disaster/?li_source=LI&li_medium=liftigniter-rhr

    1. £3000 would be nice. We are looking at around that and more, plus £4000 for heating oil, plus £500 for coal…

  76. Bloody Hell:-

    Nigerian politician accused of trying to bring a child to UK to harvest organs
    Ike Ekweremadu and second defendant, Beatrice Nwanneka Ekweremadu, due to appear at court in London
    A Nigerian politician has been charged with plotting to harvest the organs of a child in the UK.

    Ike Ekweremadu, 60, a district senator and lawyer, has been charged alongside a second defendant, Beatrice Nwanneka Ekweremadu, 55, with conspiracy to arrange and/or facilitate travel of another person with a view to exploitation.

    Both have been remanded in custody and will appear at Uxbridge magistrates court in west London later on Thursday.

    The child – whose age and sex is unknown – has been taken into care.

    Organ harvesting involves removing parts of the body, often for commercial gain and against the will of the victim.

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/jun/23/man-woman-charged-trying-bring-child-uk-harvest-organs

    1. Bob if you bump into Lenny Henry ask him if this might be the type or part of his culture he wants this
      country to absorb ?

    1. The damned flags are all over Tesco. Makes me sick. Do what you want in your own bedroom, but leave everyone else alone.

        1. 50 years ago I saw a rat running along a food counter top when the shop was closed and haven’t used a Tesco since.

        2. Trouble is, they’re all doing it. Waitrose, Sainsburys, Morrisons, Aldi, Lidl…

          I might have to restrict my food shopping to Paki corner shops for a while…

    2. The first one reminds me of the old one: Incest – the game the whole family can play. Wife-swap – the game the whole neigbourhood can play.

    2. The one of the left is pumped both on her boobs and her mouth. Where next, I wonder?

    3. If someone kindly explained to these vacuum-heads that silicon and botox are a huge turn-off and will never be a turn-on; do you think they will possess a single neuron (between them) that will comprehend?

    1. A lot more movement in a kilt that normal shorts. Playing badminton in really baggy shorts is a definite advantage.

  80. I’ve discovered a new use for a Newfoundland. They’re an absolute babe magnet. There we were, sitting on the field bench thankful for the cooler day as I tipped some water out of the bladder for the great beast and along comes this glorious woman with… some other type of dog, looked like a Jack Russel.

    The Great Beast simply looks at her. Looks at dog. Drools. That might have been me. And we sit there talking about dogs. I ask if she’d mind watching him while I went to get more water from the centre across the way and we all end up over there and all the way the Great Beast is the perfect gentleman and doesn’t yip, bark, growl or complain as the rat thing fusses and bothers until he’s eventually carried.

    Then we show off Mongo’s party piece – that he can count to 2. He bats his paw twice and gets two treats. How do we know? Because if you only give him one, he humphs at you and bats his paw twice. Now we have a ‘play date’. I really don’t know how I’m going to explain this to the Warqueen.

    In contrast, we walked past some kids who were shouting and screaming and as he went to play I had to say ‘No, bad’ and he looked so sad.

      1. I have taught a friends dog ‘black’ and ‘white’. It has one black paw and one white paw and presents the correct one when asked.in in five languages.

          1. Now that’s impressive. When Mongo’s hungry he brings me his bowl but I’m quite good at feeding him at 10am and 6pm. The only time there’s been a nudge is when the Warqueen was in charge.

            He also has a big old tin bath outside and – the one thing I did right – was getting a big handle under the water butt that he can pull on to fill it up. He can’t quite close it again, but the tub is bigger than the butt so can’t go wrong.

          3. Big handle, put paw on it, water comes out. If he could turn it *off*, now that’d I’d be impressed with.

      2. And spell. They soon understand the word “vet” – so you start to spell it….forget it- they know. Fred, my second Golden taught himself how to open doors, gates and anything with a bolt. All of my dogs were smart but Fred could have won canine mastermind.

        3. Poppie can understand the verbally spelled word of ‘chew’. She understood the first time I used it. The context was I asked poppiesdad if he had remembered to get them from the pet shop.

      3. Many years ago, friends had a Border Collie who could spell. C-A-T-S, R-A-B-B-I-T-S, you name it.

        Maddie the Schnauzer is coming here tomorrow, for the weekend. She’s getting quite old, and – I think – rather deaf. I’ll set her a few maths tests if you like.

        1. I had a dog that was good at metalwork – you only had to say “cats” and he’d make a bolt for the door
          I’ll get me hat!

        2. I thought Oscar was going blind because he was walking into things, but today I trimmed the hair round his eyes and he seems to be able to see again!

      1. It’s a bit of a red letter day. Apparently HMRC owe me some tax. £13! I am tempted to write to them and demand the other £12,987

      1. He just isn’t that sort of dog. He’s a useless guard dog. I don’t leave him in the car because if someone were to break in he’d just look at them sorrowfully. The only dog to guilt a crook rather than bit them.

        1. Neither were my Goldens…..woof, woof but once someone was in the house, kisses and snuggles. They would have barked their heads off at a burglar but once in- he would have been their best friend.

    1. Astonishing! I’d love to be in the Kiwi’s dressing room at tea to hear the chat.

    2. Astonishing! I’d love to be in the Kiwi’s dressing room at tea to hear the chat.

    3. Astonishing! I’d love to be in the Kiwi’s dressing room at tea to hear the chat.

  82. Back from shopping trip, bought Moh a nice fresh cream chocolate eclair , to make him feel better , as he is sniffling and coughing ..

    Sat down with a mug of tea and the eclairs, cricket is on his laptop and wow , what did we witness , an absolutel amazing bit of wicket taking / catch or what ever it was .

    1. I buy fresh cream victoria sponges and freeze them . Then you can cut them in slices and think of it as a luxury icecream cake.

    2. I buy fresh cream victoria sponges and freeze them . Then you can cut them in slices and think of it as a luxury icecream cake.

    1. Yes. Was reading up on some of the polio stuff today- I don’t like to be uninformed.

    3. I recall at least one, if not two injections and then later the sugar cube. Possibly why people think it normal to have two or three of the covid injectables. It transpires now that all the vaccinations I’ve had over the years may be the reason I have psoriasis and food exercise allergy.

    5. One of my early junior school class mates caught polio, poor little chap had the old ‘iron lung’ treatment. And has never walk a step since without a strong limp.
      They live in Somerset now.
      We’re calling in to see him and his wife and to have dinner and of course a few bevies on the way to Cornwall in August.
      I’ve tried to get him to become a Nottler several times…….

    1. So where are these boats now? flogged back to the frogs I expect. Surely anyone with an eye could see where they were being supplied in France

          1. But OUR people could get them tracked. And then ask the frogs some pertinent questions.

          2. Indeed. Find out who bought the boats, by researching the supply chain then talking to the final seller. Then the buyers have fatal accidents. All of them.

          3. It’s revenge for all the historical beatings we have given them.
            And probably rescuing them from permanent nazi occupation.

    2. I am so angry with this useless pathetic so misnamed government.
      I can’t imagine how our grandchildren will cope with all of this post invasion.
      Thus useless government all need locking up why are we expected to pay their salaries ?
      Already these illegal entrants are costing us billions. And for what ?

      1. They will cope as we should have – Muslim Kristalnacht – all shops and mosques burned to the ground and ALL Muslims told to return to their Middle-Eastern, ideological roots.

        Not wanted in Europe. Want to fight us about it, then come on and try.

        Remember we are English.

        1. But also remember that it took 300 years for Spain to get shot of them.
          And they are back in small groups.
          And their having a pop at the whole of the rest of Europe now.
          Aided and abetted by our stupid political classes.

  85. For those who are interested: England v NZ 3rd Test – strange catch:

    Henry Nicholls was the victim of outrageous ill-fortune, hammering a lofted drive off Leach only for the ball to ricochet off the middle of non-striker Daryl Mitchell’s bat and into the hands of mid-off.

      1. This content is not available in your location. The thieving b’stard in Pentonville and immigrant hotels can though. Thanks anyway.

        1. All cricketers were asked to adopt a random number for their backs in order for the spectators to easily see who each player is at a distance. None of the numbers mean anything, it was simply a personal choice of each individual player.

          7. Visiting the place was a rite of passage: something that had to be done. The city is nothing to write home about; it’s nothing more than a rest stop on the Santa Fe railroad. The officers at the police precinct and sheriff’s department were another story though. They took me out on patrol and treated me like a VIP for a whole day. I was given a number of souvenirs of the place (including uniform badges and a helmet) and I was made to feel very welcome. My brother visited the city a few years ago and was not impressed at all by the place. “i>What a shithole!” was his considered summary.
            https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/538f5dc6de553e003f29a4bee43933c7c0f9f599fd0a5fc8fce3a9bab0870715.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d0a44cb860e97226764c693ef6157cf1f1dc75a45108a897f9dd35eb3c50c2f7.jpg

          8. While I’m unaware of anywhere called Graham, there are places which share the name of my home town city, Carlisle. But I expect Carlisle, PA, would be as disappointing as Barstow, so it’s not on my bucket list.

        2. Simply for identification by spectators. They should not be confused with the smaller numbers on the front of a shirt that indicates a player’s chronological position in the list of Test players for a country.

  86. Tedious requests by both sides, in the recent test series against New Zealand, to change an increasingly sub-standard Duke’s ball signals time for a change. I realise England favour the Duke’s ball for its ability to swing in English conditions; however, I feel that the Kookaburra ball should be adopted, as it is overseas. Once England’s bowlers are familiar with the Kookaburra at home, this will better prepare them for its routine use on tour.

    1. Snap!

      Wordle 369 4/6
      ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
      ⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
      #MeToo, sweetie ! … x

    2. Yup!

      Wordle 369 4/6

      ⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜
      ⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜
      ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    3. Miserable 5.

      Wordle 369 5/6

      ⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜
      🟩⬜🟩⬜⬜
      🟩⬜🟩🟩⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    4. 5!
      Wordle 369 5/6

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

      2. A three for me :

        Wordle 369 3/6

        ⬜⬜⬜🟩⬜
        ⬜⬜⬜🟩🟩
        🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    5. Wordle 369 5/6

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

  89. Getting beyond a joke.

    I took my passport renewal application in today. The office is shared by Service Canada and Service Ontario.

    It’s one big room but to go to a federal service desk, you must wear a mask. The Ontario Service desk is well if you want to! One big room! Is this covid virus so smart that it can differentiate between federal and provincial matters?

    Service, what service? The clerk was probably an nhs bureaucrat that Ann came up against.

    Then to cap it off, the silly woman had a list of system names with user’s and passwords pinned up on the wall. Her offhand response was that it is not a problem because I cannot access the systems. Honestly, who needs hackers.

    1. I posted earlier that I was going to the shop and a pitstop at Boots to pick up a prescription that was supposed to be there yesterday. Given all the construction at this centre, one needed a compass and a sherpa guide to find Boots.
      No prescription there- only phoned in this morning. Won’t be ready until Saturday. It is all ridiculous!
      I know we are not alone in being fed up to the back teeth with all this total nonsense.

    1. I look forward to the day a UK government states its intention to repeal the HRA and resign from the ECHR. Cities will burn…

        1. The supporters of human rights will always use the threat of violence in order to persuade others of their peaceful and tolerant ideas.

        2. The supporters of human rights will always use the threat of violence in order to persuade others of their peaceful and tolerant ideas.

    2. I sent a reply to the reply I had from lame duck Shapps. Told him and his government to grown some and stop being so pathetic.

    3. I have, a number of times over the years, suggested that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was composed by bored, drunken diplomats in a New York hotel on a wet Tuesday evening. They made up some nonsensical and preposterous propositions as a cynical spoof of reality. They presented their scrawled, ink-blobbed manuscript to their senior colleagues at the Assembly and the rest is history.

  91. Politically controlled murders ? Not beyond belief is it ?
    From a friend.

    https://beforeitsnews.com/opinion-conservative/2022/06/amazing-polly-wefs-schwab-was-optimistic-following-brutal-murder-of-uk-mp-must-video-3633023.html

    She was one of the young WEF global leaders…makes more sense now.
    I never believed a lot of what went on that day…i wonder why.
    I said Boris does not want Brexit that’s why he’s dragging his heels…seeing as he is also WEF it figures.

  93. Thank you all for the birthday wishes! Have spent the day at work, and once home, fell asleep in the sofa… now taking precautionary red medicine in case of covid infections!
    Cheersh!! Hic!

    1. Hope I am not too late to wish you a very Happy Birthday, along with many more to come!! Cheers!

      1. It’s never too late, Jill!
        Just added cake to soak up the medicine – my diabetes doctor would be apoplectic!

    2. At last you’ve appeared.

      I always try to give birthday wishes against one of the poster’s posts rather than the reminder.
      Many happy returns and keep up the good work of reminding us that Norway isn’t just fjords and expensive booze.
      Not too long until a well earned retirement.

      1. Thanks, Sos. #metoo.
        I was busy at work trying to understand what the Iranian discipline lead was on about, then home and a zed in the sofa.
        Retirement here is now 70… so some years to go yet.

    3. I’m sorry Obs I’ve been busy today. I hope you had a lovely meaningful eventful. 🤩🍻🍺🍺

      1. Hoi!
        I resemble that remark!
        Anyhow, after alcoholic refreshment, I’d likely make a flamethrower…

        2. I do hope that you have had a nice day. Many good wishes to you- you are a good friend to me and many others on this site. X

      2. #MeToo, Paul – and getting castigated for it.

        Almost the unkindest cut of all. ©The Goon Shows – 1950 and all that.

    7. Missed that! Singing “Happy Birthday” lustily in a vaguely up-and-right direction x

        1. I’m seldom right-on! 🤣 Majestic and tuneful, and I added the diva high note at the end just for you!

  94. Update …

    Nigerian senator and wife ‘plotted to traffic homeless 15-year-old boy to the UK and harvest his organs to give to their daughter who has kidney failure before being arrested at Heathrow with £20,000 in cash,’ court hears.

    How many times have they done that… under diplomatic immunity?

    Who are the wog doctors involved .. this is terrible , and the GMC and Uncle Tom Cobley and all need to start asking serious questions .

    1. He’ll be found guilty put in jail and it will cost our country 100 grand a year. Concrete boots and a helicopter flight into the Atlantic would be the answer.

          1. Whose? Prince Charles seems to have a proclivity for falling in with some very bad people. Does his staff not check people out?

          2. The Nigerian.
            Yes, Charles, Andrew and the others seem to be unable to tell a bad’un.

    2. It does make me wonder how many of the elites and our lords and masters might be doing similarly.
      The rules never seem to apply to the rule makers.

    3. This is a crime of Dr Mengelien horror.

      The Nigerian senator and wife ‘who plotted to traffic a homeless 15-year-old boy to the UK and harvest his organs to give to their daughter who has kidney failure’ should be hanged at that mound near Marble Arch.

      Subsequently, the mound should be named after the homeless 15-year-old boy.

    4. How many slave/corruption enclaves in our country have we heard of (and we probably haven’t heard of a significant proportion of them) since we were “enriched” by unasked, unwanted immigrants. We didn’t have half the problems/crimes/disruption to civilised life before that git Tony Blair got into office. He should swing – as should all who came after – especially TREASON MAY who, already on her way out of office (and arguably totally ultra vires her authority at that stage) signed the Barcelona Agreement, effectively allowing muslims a free pass into this country.

    5. Some Africans are sh!t at making a decent society. They were before white men ever landed there, and they are now. Only some of those in the rest of the world are descendants of those that were forcibly taken away from Africa (sold by their African “brothers” into slavery) in the first place.

      And they whinge, and they whine. Give them all a one-way ticket back to Africa.

    6. Some Africans are sh!t at making a decent society. They were before white men ever landed there, and they are now. Only some of those in the rest of the world are descendants of those that were forcibly taken away from Africa (sold by their African “brothers” into slavery) in the first place.

      And they whinge, and they whine. Give them all a one-way ticket back to Africa.

  95. Polio
    Curiouser and curiouser. My bold.

    Positive samples were first detected at a sewage plant in Beckton, which covers a population of 4million people in North and East London. Signs of it were first found in February.
    UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) bosses think a traveller, possibly from Pakistan, Afghanistan or Nigeria, shed the virus in their faeces after getting a live oral vaccine, which is used in some countries with current outbreaks as it has a rapid effect.
    It is likely that the individual then infected others by failing to wash their hands properly and contaminating food and drink or possibly through coughing and sneezing.

    If it spreads that easily and doesn’t result in cases immediately could it be that there might be a sudden explosion of people getting the disease catastrophically?

    1. There are so many things we aren’t being told .

      Remember the fiasco we all observed when Boris didn’t close our borders ar the beginning of Covid .. Air passengers were allowed in , flights to and from Asia weren’t stopped .

      The government are not taking public health seriously. They are allowing people smugglers to bring in thousands of people from 3rd world countries , we have too much trafficking of illegal bush meat .

      Remember foot and mouth .. that was started by a sandwich apparently.

      What has happened to the Africans who brought Ebola into Britain , who brought this Monkey pox in as well,

      We are indanger of being wiped out by carelessness. They don’t mind that we don’t matter .

      1. I doubt we’ll be wiped out because I’m still optimistic (naïve) enough to think the good guys outnumber the bad.

          2. Yes but you are not in those parts of France – and there are far many more parts, of the far smaller England, infested.

          3. Yes but you are not in those parts of France – and there are far many more parts, of the far smaller England, infested.

          4. Over the time we’ve been here it has certainly changed, and not for the better.

          6. It might surprise you, but we do go back, we do read the papers and we do talk to people other than Nottlers.
            The UK seems to be deteriorating faster, but you’re not alone.

          7. Being a smaller country, deterioration is going to be a lot more obvious and a lot faster.

    2. Of course, Sos and that’s what the WEF and Big Pharma are gambling on, in order to boost both panic (among the sheep) and profits (for Big Dirty Pharma).

      1. All the recent scares: Covid, STD’s, Ebola, monkeypox etc don’t particularly bother me, mainly because I believe that either they aren’t as lethal as made out, or I’m very unlikely to contract them, given my lifestyle, male hetero-sexual, only my wife.

        Polio, and to a slightly lesser extent TB, is a completely different kettle of fish. Virulent with dreadful consequences. Not good news for the younger generation and if one genuinely wanted to overwhelm the NHS as it is currently set up you could hardly choose better.

        1. The good thing about our generation is that we are likely to have been immunised against polio. I had several doses of the vaccine when I was a teenager.

    3. Why are we wasting money vaccinating these people? Return them to france. They’re not our problem. Hell, build a giant catapult.Don’t send them to Rwanda, send them back to france. Tow them back, destroy the boats. Then use the navy to prevent them coming back – using live rounds. Keep the coastguard out of it.

      Get. Rid. Of. Them.

      1. The ones bringing these things in might well be back from visiting family and friends and be entirely legal and even less monitored than the boat folk

    4. Yet another complete eff up by the effing useless powers that be.
      I’ve emigrated twice and both times had to have extensive medical checks and quite a few protective jabs.

  97. I’ve returned from the 700 mile round trip to the Scottish Borders and back but, since loads of wonga has been spent, please bear with me while I attempt to balance the Nanny accounts. Full reveal, probably tomorrow with the goings on and the side trips.

  99. EU awards Ukraine and Moldova candidate status

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-61891467

    This was featured on R4’s ‘Today’ this morning. The brief piece I heard did not mention the coup. This report includes only this:

    It was pro-EU protests that ousted Ukraine’s Russia-backed President Viktor Yanukovych in February 2014.
    That event in turn led to the annexation of Crimea and the separatist uprisings, the events that Ukrainians see as the start of the current war.

    Imagine how events of 1939 might have been reported by the current BBC:

    Hitler invades Poland, after which there was a little diplomatic row.

  100. EU awards Ukraine and Moldova candidate status

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-61891467

    This was featured on R4’s ‘Today’ this morning. The brief piece I heard did not mention the coup. This report includes only this:

    It was pro-EU protests that ousted Ukraine’s Russia-backed President Viktor Yanukovych in February 2014.
    That event in turn led to the annexation of Crimea and the separatist uprisings, the events that Ukrainians see as the start of the current war.

    Imagine how events of 1939 might have been reported by the current BBC:

    Hitler invades Poland, after which there was a little diplomatic row.

  101. EU awards Ukraine and Moldova candidate status

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-61891467

    This was featured on R4’s ‘Today’ this morning. The brief piece I heard did not mention the coup. This report includes only this:

    It was pro-EU protests that ousted Ukraine’s Russia-backed President Viktor Yanukovych in February 2014.
    That event in turn led to the annexation of Crimea and the separatist uprisings, the events that Ukrainians see as the start of the current war.

    Imagine how events of 1939 might have been reported by the current BBC:

    Hitler invades Poland, after which there was a little diplomatic row.

    3. I would certainly have enjoyed that, I’m surprised the patrons weren’t more enthusiastic.
      Is he a well known musician playing incognito?

      1. He is an incognito musician playing well. He is going round pubs etc that have pianos and giving the a try with his boogie-woogie style. I’ve forgotten his name* . There are several films on youtube.

        *Terry Miles and Pub Quest

    1. Husband already watching- I am going to listen to Neil Oliver’s podcast on YT.

  105. Night all, I’m popping orff to read my new Peter Mays book…..I may some time, it’s quite a lump.

      1. I honestly cannot recall the last time I saw a copper on foot on the beat- even here. Yep, they zoom past in cars but on foot- not once.

  107. Seriously people- Neil Oliver’s podcasts on You Tube are well worth it…tonight’s 22 was especially good- although they all have been. I learn so much from that guy.
    They are also a welcome distraction from all the other BS.

  108. And it’s goodnight from me- worn out but have accomplished more than I expected today. Going to sleep long and late- I hope.
    Take care Y’all and good luck to Tom for his future endeavours.

  109. Marine le Penn. Latest Tweet. (translated)
    I thank my 88 colleagues for the trust they place in me. Together, we will work with the sole objective of defending the national interest and the French people.

  111. Good evening to the few remaining – judging by the most recent posts, everyone has gone to bed!

  113. Once again, Goodnight – I may have a story for you in the morning. but for now, God bless..

      1. Thank you, Connors. I may be looking for temporary accommodation in the morning – Who may help?

Comments are closed.